|
| Here's
a tricky task, even for you movie buffs: Try naming your favorite
screenwriter. Stumped? You're likely not alone. Though everyone seems to have
written one (even Ben Affleck), screenwriters generally rate somewhere
between key grips and best boys on the Hollywood recognition scale. The
obvious reason for this is the unglamorous nature of the job — not many of us
fantasize about hunching laboriously over a keyboard for months at a time. |
|
| There’s
also the issue of creative control to consider. Just as a great director and
cast can elevate a mediocre script, a not-so-adept director and Keanu Reeves
can distort a screenplay that works well on paper. Therefore, it can be tough
to gauge the value of any given screenwriter when their work is so dependent
on the decisions and talents of actors, directors and editors. Witness Akiva
Goldsman; lavished with an Oscar forA Beautiful
Mind (2001), Goldsman was slammed by critics
for his snore of a screenplay for The Da
Vinci Code (2006). |
|
| In
tribute to the ink-stained grunts who toil in the shadows (along with the
control freak directors who also write screenplays for their movies), I bring
you a list of the top 10 legendary screenwriters. Those on this list made it
because they have been able to buck the vagaries of a fickle trade and
consistently produce scripts that end up being great movies. |
|
| Number
10 |
|
| Robert
Benton |
| Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Superman (1978), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979),Places in the Heart (1984), Nobody’s Fool (1994) |
|
| The
Texan writer/director successfully reinvents himself every few years by
tackling a new genre with aplomb. After finding success with the shoot 'em up
classic Bonnie and Clyde,
Benton moved on with the surprisingly witty Superman script, which was followed almost immediately by the admirably
restrained family weeper, Kramer vs. Kramer, which won him an Oscar. Benton was at home in many formats,
but was most notable for bringing an authentic southern and rural sensibility
to his best work. He continues to write screenplays to this day, but hasn’t
tasted critical success since writing Paul Newman’s great role in Nobody’s Fool. |
|
| Crowning
achievement: Bonnie and
Clyde |
| The
great director Arthur Penn made this Oscar-winning film crackle with his
kinetic action scenes, but Benton’s screenplay was the dealmaker, capturing
the spirited charm of the infamous couple without glorifying their exploits. |
|
| Number
9 |
|
| William
Goldman |
| Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid (1969), All
the President’s Men(1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Princess Bride (1987), Misery (1990) |
|
| Goldman
is as versatile as Benton, but more prolific. Goldman is one of the few
screenwriters that have been able to maintain a healthy balance of both
critical and commercial success in a number of genres for more than 30 years
of writing. It’s hard to fathom that the same guy who wrote sober political
and military fare like All The President's Men and A Bridge Too Faralso created the screenplay for the darkly humorous Misery and the silly
western Maverick (1994). Goldman continues to write major screenplays into the
21st century, although like many on this list, he has hit a bit of a weak
spell. |
|
| Crowning
achievement: Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid |
| Goldman
may have tackled more serious subjects in other scripts, but the jewel on his
crown remains his wisecracking screenplay for arguably the greatest
"buddy" movie of all-time. |
|
| A
character master, a playwright and a war god… |
|
| Number
8 |
|
| Paul
Schrader |
| Taxi Driver (1976), American Gigolo (1980), Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Affliction (1997) |
|
| Schrader
was the perfect foil for Martin Scorsese’s rebel genius. Schrader's list of writing achievements
indicates his brilliant knack for capturing sympathetic angles of generally
unlikable characters. Many of Schrader’s best anti-heroes were also
inarticulate, which made it all the more impressive that he was able to make
such disaffected mumblers and uneducated goons seem so vividly real and
heartfelt. Paralleling Scorsese, Schrader's work has gained stature and
weight over the years after being initially underappreciated. Still, the fact
that he has never received an Oscar
nomination is yet another example of the
Academy’s poor taste. |
| |
| Crowning
achievement: Taxi Driver |
| |
|
| Number
7 |
|
| David
Mamet |
| The Postman Always Rings
Twice (1981), The
Untouchables (1987), The Verdict (1982), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Wag the Dog (1997) |
|
| The
prolific Mamet is first and foremost a playwright, and he has never strayed
far from the wordy, actor-reliant sensibility of stage scripts. But Mamet is
more than a dialogue addict — he’s a modern master of the moral dilemma.
Although fairly diverse in subject matter, Mamet's films always seem to pivot
on a character's navigation of a moral question or decision, like Paul
Newman's conflicted, down-on-his-luck lawyer in The
Verdict. The fact that Mamet manages the
screenplay with a restrained detachment and without resorting to heavy-handed
emotional tactics makes him one of the best storytellers around. |
| |
| Crowning
achievement: Glengarry
Glen Ross |
| It’s a
tribute to the toughness of the dialogue in this adaptation of Mamet’s own
play that a story about real-estate salesmen, predominantly set in an office
and a restaurant, is as gripping and exciting as most action movies. |
|
| Number
6 |
|
| Francis
Ford Coppola |
|
|
| Coppola
comes with a few caveats. First, he concentrated almost all of his important
work into a single decade. Second, he is a great director, which makes it
difficult to know how much of his brilliance to attribute to his — often
shared — writing duties. On closer examination, nobody can deny the
rhetorical power and craft of his greatest scripts. From the blazingly
innovative opening scenes in The Godfather and Patton to Robert Duvall’s frightening “I love the smell of napalm in
the morning” speech inApocalypse Now, Coppola has created as many legendary, iconic moments as
anyone else on this list. |
|
| Crowning
achievement: Godfather
Part II |
| It’s
tough to choose between the first two Godfathers, but the epic, complicated dual storyline of Godfather Part II was an
ambitious triumph that could have easily belly-flopped in less capable hands. |
|
| The
original Scarface writer
and the man who survived marrying his wife’s adopted daughter… |
|
|
| Number
5 |
|
| Ben
Hecht |
| Scarface (1983), His Girl Friday (1940), Underworld (1927), The Scoundrel(1935), Wuthering Heights (1939) |
|
| Caustically
cynical about the Hollywood system, the legendary Hecht would often brag
about hammering out scripts in weeks, even days. Hecht was quoted as saying
that he got paid “tremendous sums of money for work that required no more
effort than a game of pinochle.” But if he didn't put much effort into his
scripts, it certainly doesn't show. Hecht wrote dozens of screenplays over
five decades in the business, and was an unaccredited script doctor on
countless other projects, including a little period piece called Gone with the Wind (1939). The
finest screenwriter of the silver screen's adolescent period, Hecht aptly won
the first screenwriting Oscar ever handed out in 1927 for his gangster dramaUnderworld. |
|
| Crowning
achievement: His
Girl Friday |
| You can
thank or blame Hecht for Julia Roberts’ entire career. His Girl Friday is an
adaptation of Hecht’s stage play The Front
Page, and is the original (and perhaps,
still the best) romantic comedy. |
|
| Number
4 |
|
| Woody
Allen |
| Take the Money and Run (1969), Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979),Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Crimes and
Misdemeanors (1989) |
|
| Marrying
your wife's adopted daughter will do nothing to
raise appreciation of your work. It tells you something, then, about the
strength of Allen's back catalogue that he's still ranked as an all-time
great. Allen's best screenplays, which have landed him a record 13 Oscars
nominations, ranged wildly from slapstick
farce (Take the
Money and Run) to haunting morality tales (Crimes and Misdemeanors) to fake
documentaries (Zelig,
1983), but all were characterized by Allen's ruthless self-awareness — or
self-mockery — and trademark neurotic humor. Allen suffered a serious late
career/post-scandal slump, but bounced back in 2005 with the strongMatch Point. |
| |
| Crowning
achievement: Annie
Hall |
| Some
might argue that the darker Manhattan is better, but the Oscar-winning Annie
Hall remains the perfect Allen screenplay —
poignant and hilarious. Diane Keaton's great turn as Annie underscores one of
Allen's hidden strengths — writing unique, believable and funny female
characters. |
|
| Number
3 |
|
| Oliver
Stone |
| Midnight Express (1978), Scarface (1983), Platoon (1986), Wall Street(1987), Born on the Fourth of
July (1989), JFK (1991) |
|
| Stone is known as a bit of an infant
terrible, but controversy and tyranny can't
detract from the uninterrupted string of great films he wrote from the late
‘70s to the early ‘90s. From the intensely personal grit of Platoon to the fabulously
entertaining paranoia of JFK, Stone's vicious wit is always front and center. He spews
lines and pursues angles that other screenwriters are too timid to write. It
was probably inevitable that his restless ambition would eventually overtake
his judgment — his most recent films have either been moderately ridiculous (Any Given Sunday, 1999) or utterly
preposterous (Alexander,
2004). But the talent is still there, and Stone may rebound with his upcoming
film about the September 11th tragedy. |
|
| Crowning
achievement: Scarface |
|
|
| A list
of firsts: Hollywood’s first rebel screenwriter and Oscar’s first Lifetime
Achievement Award to a writer… |
|
|
| Number
2 |
|
| Ernest
Lehman |
| The King and I (1956), North by Northwest (1959), West Side Story (1961),The Sound of Music (1965), Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Wolfe? (1966) |
|
|
|
| Crowning
achievement: North
by Northwest |
|
|
| Number
1 |
|
| Billy
Wilder |
| Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Sunset Boulevard(1950), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960) |
|
|
| |
| Crowning
achievement: Sunset
Boulevard |
| The
first cynical swipe at the hypocrisy of Hollywood, Sunset
Boulevard is alternately a dark comedy, a
horror movie and a compelling drama. It’s also one of the greatest films ever
made. |
|
| honorable
mention |
|
| Cameron
Crowe |
| Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Say Anything (1989), Jerry
Maguire(1996), Almost
Famous (2000) |
|
| Crowe
has distinguished himself through his canny use of pop music in his scripts.
He has uniquely managed to weave music into the narrative of his films. His
most famous example of this was when John Cusack blared Peter Gabriel's
"In Your Eyes” in Say Anything, which was supposed to be “Within Your Reach” by The
Replacements. Crowe has been able to fuse the plight of the characters with
the soul of the music so well that even grown men could be forgiven for
getting a little choked up. |
|
| Crowning
achievement: Fast Times at Ridgemont High |
| Crowe
spent time “undercover” at an actual high school to do research for his first
screenplay, and it paid off. Fast Times remains a rare and enduring teen classic because the
characters actually sound and look like real high school students. |
|
| writing
credit |
|
| Screenwriting
remains an underappreciated skill in the film industry. Creating a script
that is fresh, flowing and translates off the page is exceedingly hard.
Industry complaints rarely concern a dearth of quality actors or production
talent, but everyone always seems to be in desperate need of a good script.
Perhaps, then, an extra tip of the cap is owed to these screenwriters, who
managed the miraculous feat of succeeding with great consistency in a
decidedly inconsistent environment. |
|
