FAVORITE SCREENPLAYS FROM
THE STAFF AT SCRIPT P.I.M.P.
These are some of our personal favorites, from “Annie Hall” to “Tampopo” and “The Graduate”. Some of these screenplays are actually better than the movies themselves; try reading it first if you haven’t seen the film yet, then watch it afterwards. It will give you a unique perspective on the development and production process. To find the scripts, check out our Screenplays to Buy or Screenplays Online directories.
THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1952)
Adapted by the film critic James Agee and the director John Huston
from the novel by C.S. Forester, the story at its core is spoof, disguised
for commercial purposes as wild adventure. Keeping this fantastical
plot above caricature was the writers' great trick. Katherine Hepburn,
as a prissy missionary, and Humphrey Bogart as a salty sea captain,
play on the boat as if it were a see-saw; their stage the theater
of opposites. The script is deliberately wordy as Bogart whittles
down and Hepburn talks it up- a great comedic romance.
ANNIE HALL (1977)
Woody Allen's original screenplay is seminal in that it is neither character
driven or plot-based, but anecdotal-based. He uses split screens, subtitles,
animation, and direct exchanges with the camera to convey his simplistic
thematic premise- relationships fail and we're quite not sure why. The
comedic sequences are original and much imitated, but after the vignettes
and gags have faded, a sad love story remains- the timeless tale of the
protagonist too in love with himself to be loved.
BARTON FINK (1991)
Written by Joel and Ethan Coen. A period piece, set in the early 1940's.
Black comedy? Satire? Of what? Hollywood? The writer's angst? The story
details a humorless, passionate writer, who after a hit play on Broadway,
makes a commitment to creating, "a living theater of, about, and
for the Common Man." He goes to Hollywood with the intention of "making
a difference." When he arrives in Hollywood, he is given an opportunity
to make a difference with a B wrestling picture. This is the setup into
a writer's dark descent into hell.
CASABLANCA (1942)
An adapted screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein and Howard
Koch based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and
Joan Alison. It's known as the great nostalgic film largely because the
lines are so quotable. When the Police question Rick about his motives,
he informs them, "I came to Casablanca for the waters. "…
"Waters? We're in the desert."… "I was misinformed."
The pitch- a cynical loser who makes the mistake of falling in love- there
may not be a more romantic protagonist that appeals to both men and women.
CHINATOWN (1974)
An original screenplay about water rights? Robert Towne's detective thriller
would be a difficult sell in today's marketplace. Often called the last
of the studio pictures in its collaboration- Evans, Polanski, and Towne,
toiled over a difficult, uncompromising work which could have only come
out of the seventies. The script is filled with double entendres and plot
repetitions, every clue comes back to repeat itself in a tightly wound
plot. Even the title comes back to repeat itself- the last scene an epic
capper. The story was a new interpretation on the noir genre- adhering
to the genre breed of existential loner- but creating a new breed of private
eye. Towne's Jake Gittes, in a slick white suit and snappy shades, christened
a new kind of private eye and a new kind of city, Los Angeles.
CITIZEN KANE (1941)
An original screenplay, written by Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz.
Story is a fictitious bio-pic of meglomaniac magnate Charles Foster Kane.
Kane was based on the newspaper tycoon, William Randolph Hearst. At the
time, it was considered career suicide to take on Hearst- today it would
be like writing the Rupert Murdoch story for Rupert Murdoch's Fox. Louis
B. Mayer, a friend of Hearst, offered to buy the movie print for $842,000
so he could destroy it. Due to negative publicity, the film was ultimately,
a box office failure. Structurally, the Rosebud device has been mimicked
to no end. Note the liberal fragmented narration.
CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1989)
Written by Woody Allen, is a dramatic comedy filled with moral ambiguities.
The film interweaves two stories- one serious, one comedic. The former
centers on a successful ophthalmologist whose afraid his lover will reveal
their affair to his wife. Fearing that he could lose his marriage, his
medical practice, and ultimately his social status for which he has worked
so hard, he puts out a hit on his lover. In the comedic story, a down
on his luck documentary filmmaker becomes enamored with the television
producer of a tribute he has been hired to produce by the brother-in-law
that he loathes. The filmmaker and the ophthalmologist don't meet until
the final scene in a chilling conversation of ethics and morality.
DINER (1980)
A dialogue piece, written and directed by Barry Levinson, set in Baltimore
over Christmas in 1959. The script romanticizes late night male bonding-
staying up late, talking, debating, eating, ne'er a girl in sight. Despite
the comfort and allegiance to the diner, it is women- the lack of understanding
thereof, that leaves the guys befuddled and betwixt. Their earnest misogynistic
misunderstandings are wonderfully exaggerated in Eddie's insistence that
his wife pass a football trivia test before he will agree to marry her-
the topper is that her father is the one making sure the test is graded
fairly.
DR. STRANGLEOVE or HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING
AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964)
Based on the novel, "Red Alert" by Peter George, adapted by
Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, and George. Wicked satire on nuclear
war and military paranoia. Story begins on a frenzied pace as Strategic
Air Command has accidentally ordered a nuclear attack- the plans cannot
be recalled. It's a character-driven message movie, but the comedy and
astute observations are so seamlessly wedded that the tone achieves a
more cautionary gloom than any anti-nuclear documentary.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
Based on the novel by James M. Cain, written by Billy Wilder and Raymond
Chandler, script is full of calculated suspense. Can Fred MacMurray and
Barbara Stanwyck kill a man for insurance money and get away with it?
In a character twist, the most sympathetic character is ultimately the
insurance investigator (Edward G. Robinson) who studiously investigates
the suspects. Genre is classic pessimistic noir. Dialogue is witty- sexual
tension restrained due to the Production Code of the day. Still a ripe
storyline often remade and re-interpreted today.
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
A pure children's story, possibly Spielberg's best script, written by
Melissa Mathison. The story has the simplicity of a classic myth- a young
boy, fatherless and lost because his parents have separated, finds a miraculous
friend in an alien who has an inadvertently been left on earth by a visiting
spaceship. From this compact logline, a great yarn is spun. Mathison has
a great ear for children's dialogue- (the protagonist little boy is named
"Eliot" begins with "e" ends with "t").
She lightens the sci-fi themes with slapstick and humor, which adds to
the children's enlightenment and wonderment with the strange creature.
She pulls off the great trick of making this most unlikely of friendships
feel plausible.
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (1992)
Written by David Mamet from his Tony-award winning Broadway play. The
story chronicles seven salesmen selling fraudulent real estate titles-
Mamet skillfully juggles character arcs, as our sympathy goes out to the
sleazeballs. The majority of the action takes place in the makeshift office
and the Chinese restaurant across the street. Seamless adaptation from
stage to screen, the story feels appropriately claustrophobic.
THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
Francis Ford Coppola's sequel based on the novel by Mario Puzo enlarges
the scope and deepens the meaning of the original THE GODFATHER. The narrative
is so encompassing that the viewer is conscious of two films at once.
By deftly using the audience's emotional investment in the original, he
is able to use a cerebral flashback structure that spans almost seventy
years. The epiphanies reverberate- well over two hundred script pages;
amazingly the script ultimately leaves the audience wanting more.
THE GRADUATE (1967)
The first slacker film, written by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry (Henry
plays the hotel clerk), crosses genres of comedy, melodrama, and soap
opera. Benjamin Braddock is the rebel romantic representing all upper-middle
class graduate students resenting all upper-middle parents. The story
flails along as a romantic comedy love triangle, deftly juggling Benjamin's
seduction of Mrs. Robinson and his courtship of her daughter. The boudoir
scenes are particularly sharp. The script pokes fun at Benjamin's communication
problem- he has nothing to communicate- which is just what makes him absurdly
heroic.
HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)
An original screenplay by Colin Higgins. This satirical romantic comedy
was originally a twenty minute graduate thesis for UCLA student Higgins,
who showed it to his landlord, the wife of a film producer, who passed
it on to her husband… one of those stories… The film not only
got made, it became a cult classic. The script pairs a 20 year-old kid
obsessed with suicide and an 80 year-old bon vivant obsessed with life.
Of course, romance ensues. A novel and fresh perspective on the meaning
of life.
THE ICE STORM (1997)
Adapted by James Schamus, based on the novel by Rick Moody, set in early
1970's, is one of the few period films capturing an era without pandering
or satirizing. Schamus keeps the characters' motives at bay, which is
part of the film's disturbing power. The script holds a particular empathy
for women; Joan Allen's character conveys the sad dignity of a woman who
can no longer ignore her husband's infidelity; her daughter, played by
Christina Ricci, is a feisty malcontent in the age of new sexual mores.
Funny, sad, poignant, and very American.
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
Based on the story "The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern,
adapted by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra, and Jo Swerling.
Familiar story of a guy with big dreams trapped in a small town. When
a greedy old banker threatens to drive him into financial ruin, he contemplates
suicide. A moralistic life-affirming fable, albeit overly-sentimental.
Beneath the schmaltz is true heartbreak. The script is still worth a serious
look for its morally determined tone and impeccable structure.
KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949)
Adapted by Robert Hamer and John Digton based on the novel ISRAEL RANK
by Roy Horniman, a black comedy about a young Englishman who is ninth
in line to inherit the position of Duke. He sets out to eliminate the
eight relatives. Alec Guinness plays all eight characters. Told with brimming
wit and caustic class satire. Today, it would be developed as high-concept-
a vehicle for a comic actor such as Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, or Robin
Williams…
THE LAST DETAIL (1973)
Another screenplay that could have only come out of the seventies. The
adapted screenplay from a novel by Darryl Poniscan, is conceived by Robert
Towne as a three character beer-swilling chamber piece- a study of dishonor
and male camaraderie in the military. Two navy veterans are assigned to
bring a hapless young court-martialed recruit to prison. The dialogue
is so natural (and profane), that the structure appears almost invisible-
Towne drops the anchor in the opening scenes- this sweet dumb kid must
go to prison. The audience must carry the impending sense of glumness,
as the weekend fun must come to an end and the veterans will inevitably
have to carry out their job.
LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1973)
Written in French by Bernardo Bertolucci and Franco Arcalli, based on
a story by Mr. Bertolucci, is an intense love story. The plot is love,
the dialogue is love, the motives are love, but no love is gained and
no love is really lost. The story details an American man whose wife has
committed suicide. He moves in with a young Parisian girl under the pretext
that she tell him absolutely nothing about her, not even her name. He
seeks only unadulterated passionate sex.
THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
Adapted by John Huston based on the novel by Dashiel Hammett, the novel
was originally made ten years earlier, and remade in Huston's directorial
debut. The story is in the pacing- quick-witted and always one step ahead
of the audience. Tightly structured, a benchmark in private eye mysteries-
the private eye, the mysterious dame, and the complex plot to gain possession
of the fabled maltese falcon statuette.
MASH (1970)
Ring Lardner Jr.'s script showcases over-lapping dialogue at its giddiest.
The comedy derives from the absurdity of war and the war-mongers that
revel in it. The story has a broad canvas, but it's anchored by its two
deadpan heroes- quick-witted cheerily cynical surgeons who are too good
at their jobs to be kicked out despite their antics. They're untouchable-
debonair clowns saving lives. At times the over-lapping banter seems like
a throwaway, but it works atmospherically, capturing the madness of war.
METROPOLITAN (1990)
Whit Stillman's screenplay is a low-key comedy manners amongst upper-east
side New York socialites. Stillman's script is closer to the affluent
romanticism of F. Scott Fitzgerald than any actual Fitzgerald script.
The dialogue is urbanely dry- a talky, high-literate movie- the heroine
references Jane Austen, and she plays out like a Jane Austen doomed romantic.
Stillman is fond of the turned phrase- UHB'S (the Urban Haute Bourgeoisie),
a character hurls the accusation- "You're a Fourierist?". What
makes the high-falutent, pseudo-intellectual talk so endearing is that
the characters are just kids, albeit rich kids, but all feeling the burden
of being UHB'S.
MY DINNER WITH ANDRE (1981)
Written by Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory based on a serious of discussions
Shawn had taped and then transcribed into a script. Shawn and Gregory
play not themselves exactly, but questioning, lost representative souls.
Most of the action takes place over dinner- two hours of talk about Andre's
worldly travels and Wally's sighs and nods, ultimately shifting to Wally's
domestic problems. The contrast of Andre's open-soul searching and Wally's
self-awareness makes the talk invigorating. What makes this unconventional
script a film, and not a play, is the way the writers have written their
emotional responses, via "beats", to take advantage of the film
closeup.
NETWORK (1976)
Paddy Chayesfsky's satire on television and a ratings hungry news industry.
The protagonist Howard Beale, a veteran newsman, is fired when his ratings
slip. The story hangs on the hook of a suicide threat- Beale announces
he will kill himself on national television and the ratings shoot through
the roof. Chayesfsky's script rises above high-concept; the premise only
a launching point for diatribe and soliloquy. The movie doesn't match
the script- Beale's potential as a protean Christ figure (the television
audience his congregation) is minimized to a ranting man sticking his
head out of the window.
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)
Written by James Agee, based on the novel by Davis Grubb. Set in the South
in the 1930's, setting is Southern gothic mixed with Mark Twain innocence.
The story is a creepy tale of religious fervor- the lines of morality
blatantly tattooed on the knuckles of the psychopathic preacher (played
by Robert Mitchum)- "LOVE" and "HATE". The suspense
builds as the preacher hones in on two sweet-natured children. Full of
humor, the suspense is often good fun when enhanced by the preacher's
outlandish machinations- he emerges as one of those evil black hats you
want to root for.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
An original screenplay by Ernest Lehman, a fast-paced yarn on the espionage
thriller. Lehman wisely doesn't take the thriller genre too seriously,
choosing not to cram the viewer with vague clues, allowing a frenetic
pace filled with sophisticated charm and romance. The story involves a
Madison Avenue executive who is mistaken for a Federal intelligence man
by foreign agents and kidnapped before being caught in a web of bizarre,
absurd, frightful, and humorous predicaments. The story climaxes on Mount
Rushmore.
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
Written by Lawrence Heuben and Bo Goldman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey
and the play by Dale Wasserman. Excellent choices in the adaptation: opting
to shift the novel's "pov" from the Chief's narration to the
film first person "pov" of McMurphy. The writers chose to change
the Nurse Ratched character from an obese monster to a slimmer, more sexually
ambiguous antagonist, electing to draw out McMurphy's sexual frustrations.
McMurphy has more flaws than most heroic protagonists- drinking, whoring,
statutory rape, but his character garners more sympathy as the system
of the State bears down on him. The writers also do an admirable job of
giving the rest of the supporting cast its due. Ultimately, a hybrid character-driven/ensemble
piece.
PAT GARRETT and BILLY THE KID (1973)
An original screenplay by Randolph Wurlitzer. The story is about an old
sheriff and his quest to gun down the outlaw Billy the Kid. The script
conveys the raw individual battles of the old west, but it also highlights
a seldom seen comedy of manners. Like a George Bernard Shaw cocktail party,
the West has its own code of etiquette- the brothel scene where James
Coburn gingerly walks downstairs after a satiating romp gives the audience
a comedic view into the downtime of gunslinger- Wurlitzer has a great
touch in portraying the day to day affairs of the wild west. Look for
Bob Dylan as a mute sidekick.
THE PLAYER (1992)
Adapted by Michael Tolkin from his eponymous novel, the script is part
suspense/satire, as a young studio exec becomes the chief suspect in a
murder investigation. The story has as much to say about the sordid dealings
of the film industry as it does about a man's crime and punishment guilt.
Tolkin pulls major coup in making this callous exec not only sympathetic,
but almost heroic. He cleverly plays into the audience's innate desire
for the criminal to get away with the crime.
RAGING BULL (1980)
Adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin based on a book by Jake La
Motta with Joseph Carter and Peter Savage, one of the few bio-pics that
doesn't get bogged down in the truth. Exceedingly violent and poetic,
the writers choose wisely not to explain La Motta in psychiatric or social
terms. The story is told through flashbacks, covering a wide span of years
from La Motta's first title fight to his fading career as a nightclub
entertainer. Writers chose wisely to stay away from non-fiction conceits-
not exactly a fight movie nor a film biography- closer to unsentimental
fiction.
REAR WINDOW (1954)
Written by John Michael Hayes, based on the short story, "It Had
to Be Murder" by Cornell Woolrich, is a movie about curiosity. The
story of a crippled man who witnesses a murder immediately entwines the
audience, as the writers have put the audience and the hero in the same
boat- they've both witnessed the crime, now it's a race to find out the
killer. The script incredibly never pulls away from the audience, keeping
the killer at bay until the unsuspecting neighbor is identified. Remarkable
in its taut containment, for the most part story commits to just two locations-
the adjacent apartment buildings. The action, however, does not feel contained-
the audience wants more of the peep show, as the protagonist becomes more
engrossed in his guilty voyeuristic pleasure masked as civic duty.
RED (1994)
Written by Krzystof Kieslowski and Krzystof Piesiewicz in French with
English subtitles, is a story of coincidences, missed opportunities, and
ultimately fate. Story is shaped around a forlorn model who runs over
the dog of a grumpy former judge. The model is maligned in an ugly possessive
relationship, the judge deeply involved in eavesdropping on the phone
conversations of a law student and his lover. Though not a love story,
the script is about love- its power and redemption. The old judge has
loved and lost, the young model will love and lose, and eventually love
again.
ROCKY (1976)
An original screenplay by Sylvester Stallone, (it won the Academy Award
over Taxi Driver for Best Picture, denying Scorcese yet another Oscar).
It purportedly took Sly only three weeks to write the screenplay, whether
true or not, the fable of a dumb Philly palooka who gets his big chance
to fight the champ is a classic underdog tale. The script is structured
with Greek myth like simplicity (note the name Apollo Creed).
SHORT CUTS (1994)
Based on nine short stories and one poem (entitled "Lemonade")
by Raymond Carver, adapted by Frank Barhydt and Robert Altman into a wide
mosaic of Los Angeles. Barhydt broke the frames of the stories, allowing
the characters to enter into each other's stories. Reverberating themes
of alcoholism, infidelity, death, sexual exploitation and denial, these
inter-woven stories never seem contrived, but rather complimentary, often
colliding in unexpected confrontations. Dryly comical, the writers found
irony by digging deep. The irony is earned.
SMOKE (1995)
An original screenplay by the novelist Paul Auster based on a Christmas
story he wrote for the New York Times. The screenplay is more literary
than cinematic- the story feels as if you were viewing a tapestry of chapters
from a novel. It lacks any narrative artifice- the characters' wounds
from the past surface to propel the story. Auster uses the smoke shop
setting to remind us of all that is good in the mundane and idle- the
talk fades away, but it will be there again tomorrow. Of special note-
Harvey Keitel's ten minute Christmas story is a beautifully blend of voice
over and the visual.
TAMPOPO (1987)
A food farce (specifically a noodle shop farce) written and directed by
Juzo Itami. A sweetly earnest romance develops between a widow struggling
to get her bequeathed noodle shop off the ground and a solemn old-western
hero truck driver. The truck driver is part mentor, muse, and love interest.
Eating and sex commingle, and the adventure begins. The first epicurean
slapstick adventure romance. In the spoofy vein of NAKED GUN and AIRPLANE.
TAXI DRIVER (1976)
Paul Schrader's original screenplay of the alienated outsider. The story
is a haunting portrait of a man's attempt to find his place in the world.
The antagonist is the setting- New York city- the dirt and grime and smut
validates the character's resentment. Plot comes out of character. Travis
Bickle's introspection reaches such a boiling point that only a plot denouement
of gunfire can the complete the character arc. The tone crosses genres-
morphing from a love story of chagrin to a political assassination without
a lapse in pace. Schrader's lonely psychopath has spawned dozens of imitators,
but never has a man's raw helplessness been so visceral.
THE THIRD MAN (1950)
Written by Graham Greene, story has elements of melodrama, suspense, romance,
ultimately a ghost story. Story concerns a manhunt in Vienna- audience
never really sure if the man actually exists. Script is appropriately
obscure and fleeting- but not too much so. What is most impressive is
the flow of the script- story doesn't slow down for clues or romantic
subplot. Rather, momentum builds as the nuances take shape.
THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (1988)
Adapted by Jean-Claude Carriere and Phillip Kaufman based on the novel
by Milan Kundera, the story is an erotic and historical romp through Czechoslovakia
at the time of the Russian invasion. The protagonist, the story's lightness
of being, is a doctor who flits from woman to woman with reckless abandon.
He meets a young waitress who falls deeply in love with him. Her undying
faith ultimately weighs him down. An erotic epic love triangle.
