Sort a list of movies based on a viewed/not-viewed indicator

order_movies.py

"""order_movies.py
Sorts a list of movies stored in 'Movies to watch.txt'.
@author Hunter Gatewood
"""

FILE_NAME = 'Movies to watch.txt'


def sort_key(entry):
    """Form a sort key for ordering the movies.
    Ignores leading characters of the form '#' and 'the', capitalization
    ignored.
    """
    if len(entry) >= 4:
        if entry[:4].lower() == 'the ':
            return entry[4:]
    if len(entry) >= 5:
        if entry[:5].lower() == '#the ':
            return '#' + entry[5:]
    return entry

F = open(FILE_NAME, 'r+')

# Open the file and sort the movies into moviesList
MOVIES_STR = F.read()
moviesList = MOVIES_STR.split('\n')
while '' in moviesList:
    moviesList.remove('')
moviesList.pop(0)
moviesList = sorted(moviesList, key=sort_key)

# Close the file and then open for writing only (clears the file of text)
F.close()
F = open(FILE_NAME, 'w')

# Write the sorted movies to the file
F.write('Movies to watch\n\n')
for u in moviesList:
    F.write(u + '\n')
F.close()