Raging Pages

The Writer's Guild of America (WGA) has honored Mardik Martin, senior faculty member in the Division of Writing for Screen & Television, by naming Raging Bull (1980) as one of the 101 greatest screenplays ever penned.

The award, announced on April 6, comes from a poll of the 12,000 professional film and television members in the WGA who were asked to choose up to 10 of their favorite produced screenplays that represented the finest achievements in film writing.

When the ballots were totaled, the story of prizefighter Jake LaMotta, written by Paul Schrader and Martin and directed by Martin Scorsese, ranked #76 on the WGA list.

Raging Bull was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning the Oscar for Robert De Niro and editor Thelma Schoonmaker. In addition to writing the script, Martin also appears on screen as the Copa waiter.

Martin's working relationship with Scorsese also includes Mean Streets (1973), Italianamerican (1974) and New York, New York (1977).

Alumni also secured a number of slots on the list including: #39 to David Ward for The Sting (1973); #42 to George Lucas for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (story); #56 to Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale for Back to the Future (1985) ; and #68 to George Lucas for Star Wars (1977).