# Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay

The following is a list of Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture, one of the Edgar Awards awarded to authors and others by the Mystery Writers of America. The "Best Motion Picture" award was first presented in 1946 and was discontinued after 2009.

## Winners
### 1940s

| Year | Writer(s) | Title |
| 1946 | John Paxton | Murder, My Sweet |
| 1947 | Anthony Veiller | The Killers |
| 1948 | John Paxton | Crossfire |
| 1949 | Jerome Cady, Jay Dratler, Leonard Hoffman, and Quentin Reynolds | Call Northside 777 |

### 1950s

| Year | Writer(s) | Title |
| 1950 | Mel Dinelli and Cornell Woolrich | The Window |
| 1951 | Ben Maddow | The Asphalt Jungle |
| 1952 | Michael Wilson | Detective Story |
| 1953 | Michael Wilson and Otto Lang | Five Fingers |
| 1954 | Sydney Boehm | The Big Heat |
| 1955 | John Michael Hayes | Rear Window |
| 1956 | Joseph Hayes | The Desperate Hours |
| 1957 | No Award Presented | No Award Presented |
| 1958 | Reginald Rose | 12 Angry Men |
| 1959 | Nathan E. Douglas and Harold Jacob Smith | The Defiant Ones |

### 1960s

| Year | Writer(s) | Title |
| 1960 | Ernest Lehman | North By Northwest |
| 1961 | Joseph Stefano | Psycho |
| 1962 | William Archibald and Truman Capote | The Innocents |
| 1963 | No Award Presented | No Award Presented |
| 1964 | Peter Stone | Charade |
| 1965 | Henry Farrell and Lukas Heller | Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte |
| 1966 | Paul Dehn and Guy Trosper | The Spy Who Came In From the Cold |
| 1967 | William Goldman | Harper |
| 1968 | Stirling Silliphant | In The Heat of the Night |
| 1969 | Harry Kleiner and Alan Trustman | Bullitt |

### 1970s

| Year | Writer(s) | Title |
| 1970 | Costa Gavras and Jorge Semprún | Z |
| 1971 | Elio Petri and Ugo Pirro | Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion |
| 1972 | Ernest Tidyman | The French Connection |
| 1973 | Anthony Shaffer | Sleuth |
| 1974 | Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim | The Last of Sheila |
| 1975 | Robert Towne | Chinatown |
| 1976 | David Rayfiel and Lorenzo Semple, Jr. | Three Days of the Condor |
| 1977 | Ernest Lehman | Family Plot |
| 1978 | Robert Benton | The Late Show |
| 1979 | William Goldman | Magic |

### 1980s

| Year | Writer(s) | Title |
| 1980 | Michael Crichton | The Great Train Robbery |
| 1981 | Joseph Wambaugh | The Black Marble |
| 1982 | Jeffrey Alan Fiskin | Cutter's Way |
| 1983 | Barrie Keeffe | The Long Good Friday |
| 1984 | Dennis Potter | Gorky Park |
| 1985 | Charles Fuller | A Soldier's Story |
| 1986 | William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace | Witness |
| 1987 | E. Max Frye | Something Wild |
| 1988 | Jim Kouf | Stakeout |
| 1989 | Errol Morris | The Thin Blue Line |

### 1990s

| Year | Writer(s) | Title |
| 1990 | Daniel Waters | Heathers |
| 1991 | Donald E. Westlake | The Grifters |
| 1992 | Ted Tally | The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1993 | Michael Tolkin | The Player |
| 1994 | Ebbe Roe Smith | Falling Down |
| 1995 | Quentin Tarantino | Pulp Fiction |
| 1996 | Christopher McQuarrie | The Usual Suspects |
| 1997 | Billy Bob Thornton | Sling Blade |
| 1998 | Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland | L.A. Confidential |
| 1999 | Scott Frank (screenplay) Elmore Leonard (novel) | Out of Sight |

### 2000s

| Year | Writer(s) | Title |
| 2000 | Guy Ritchie (screenplay) | Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels |
| 2001 | Stephen Gaghan (screenplay) Simon Moore (original mini-series) | Traffic |
| 2002 | Christopher Nolan | Memento |
| 2003 | Bill Condon | Chicago |
| 2004 | Steven Knight | Dirty Pretty Things |
| 2005 | Jean-Pierre Jeunet (screenplay) Sébastien Japrisot (novel) | A Very Long Engagement |
| 2006 | Stephen Gaghan (screenplay) Robert Baer (book) | Syriana |
| 2007 | William Monahan | The Departed |
| 2008 | Tony Gilroy | Michael Clayton |
| 2009 | Martin McDonagh | In Bruges |