RP McMurphy & Nurse Ratched from "Cuckoo's Nest" available at:

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/oneflewover.html

Ordinary People?

http://www.sendspace.com/file/wg2xmr

@Scott--side note: is there a science fiction category on the horizon or are we folding sci-fi into their secondary genres (Aliens into Action, Star Wars into fantasy?)?

@Nate: I'll add sci-fi to the list as it deserves its own category.

It definitely does :)

As good as it gets is already on the list, :D

@Scott: Of your list three are written by playwrights!

My list:

Amadeus
Being There
Blade Runner
Dr. Strangelove
Full Metal Jacket
Harold and Maude
The Last Detail
Midnight Cowboy
Taxi Driver
Sunset Boulevard

Scripts that I imagine should be relatively easy to come by: 'Groundhog Day', 'King of Comedy', 'Signs' (also a great example of low budget writing), 'Five Easy Pieces', 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' (is everything about character we should be aiming for!) 'The Apartment' and an 80s cult classic UK offering 'Educating Rita' which is driven by two fantastic characters.

Now there's a mixed bunch.

Greetings from London. :)

I think it would also be great to have writers watch the films so they won't have to generally limit themselves to the past thirty years. I really want to suggest Alan Squier from The Petrified Forest. The best I can find is the script for the stage play.

All About Eve - Every single major actor in the movie could've been nominated for an Academy Award. You could close your eyes and by dialogue alone, know which one is speaking.

Dog Day Afternoon - Great contained thriller but great characters reacting unexpectedly

A couple notable absences...

Fargo - I mean Marge is probably one of the great film characters of all time.

Rushmore - Max Fisher. 'nuff said

Amadeus - Saliari is also one of the great characters. He's both villain and protagonist at the same time. Not to mention Mozart as a punk. Couldn't ask for better characters.

L.A. Confidential - Now this is an exemplary ensemble of characters.