Screenwriting : Favorite film/script and why?? by Dillon Horner

First answer is Dark Knight for both.

Then the early draft of Pulp Fiction I got back in the 90’s haven’t seen this draft anywhere else.

Night Crawler is a good read. But the best is “Hell or High Water”. For recent reads.

Die Hard is my all time Favourite film. Already watched it twice this Holiday season.

I just loved Hotel Mumbai, i haven't read the script, but the movie was bonechilling. One could feel the fear these people experienced and I cried for the detail on him on his moped barefoot driving home. Excellent.

Hell or High Water is another one my favorites! Ben foster did great as did the rest of the cast.....I haven't seen hotel mumbai, ill have to check it out

I'm gonna say the overall quality of movies released in Nov/December 2019 have been the best two months I've ever remember. Big and small budgets, nobodies and household names:

Parasite, Uncut Gems, Honey Boy, JoJo Rabbit, The Farewell, Little Women, Just Mercy, The Lighthouse, Dolemite is My Name, Marriage Story, Knives Out, Queen and Slim, The Irishman, Ford v Ferrari, Dark Water.

I am seeing "1917" tonight- supposedly the movie is filmed in 8 minute continuous camera shots; no edits.

I can't wait to see Uncut Gems! Honey boy was great work....I still need to see The lighthouse....Marriage story was impressive work. Lots of great movies this year

Watched Marriage Story last night and was really impressed. The acting and directing was first class and was so well written. I can see this film winning a screenplay Oscar. Watching The Irishman tonight and will see if it lives up to expectations, I've always been a big Scorsese fan and hope the experience is a good one.

Dillon - specifically what is it that you find so remarkable or compelling about the script for August, Osage County? The The film itself was well acted by a top tier cast, the directing was well blocked and it was well edited. The cinematography was certainly adequate. I did think that they went a little heavy on some of the make-up. So, what does this have to do with the script?

Hi Doug - I'm aware 'August' started as a play and, as such, is more-so a play than a screenplay....Outside of that, my opinion is that great writing is great writing and 'August' has plenty....Simply put, I loved the characters. I could relate to most of them and the infamous 'dinner scene' is truly special in a chaotic kind of way. I love tension from the frameworks of a family setting.

Do you agree or no?

I, Tonya. It was a story that took risks with big payoffs, and the screenplay is an excellent example of Spartan description done well.

Dillon - I agree with your basic comments about August, Osage County; but I fail to see why you think it's so unique. There are lots of very fine scripts floating around and free for the studying. No single one rises to the pinnacle by itself. Read multiple scripts and learn from each. Your particular style will evolve - learn to love it. There will always be those who will disagree with it & you. So?

Stephen, I agree with you on I. Tonya, something I think I do well is sparse, but effective description, it's something I do naturally, but have worked on a good bit, too. I liked Hell or High Water as well. great scripts that suck you in.

CASABLANCA, hands down. - Because it's an eternal classic that combines history, mystery, intrigue, romance, drama, friendship, and even comedy. I also love the backstory of how the Epstein brothers were still tweaking the dialog as they shot! Much to the chagrin of Warner Brothers Execs. Every aspect of it is memorable - from how it was shot, to the location, actors, music, and those now infamous one-liners.

Im with @Craig for Dark Night and Pulp Fiction. Dark Knight had very deep psychological mind play between antagonist and protagonist to the extent where Joker admitted he actually needed Batman on some deep level. Pulp Fiction an early example of whacky non linear story, where one character walked into another characters storyline and we were totally sucked into each characters plight. Another favourite is Taxi Driver, deep psychology on mean street, with cool characters. Interestingly when Travis Bickle looks in the mirror and says “Are you looking at me?” it was NOT in the script but Martin Scorsese let Robert De Niro have full reign on his performance. The words were spot on though because it kinda said everything about Travis Bickle’s character, a war veteran in shit street desperately needing to belong and feel important again. Have to mention Shakespeare cos I began this journey been a fan and studied Guildhall n LAMDA when much younger. Most of his plays touch on all human emotion but my favourite is Macbeth and Othello.

Dark Knight is one of the only 'super-hero' films to actually frighten me. What Health Ledger did with that character will be talked about for decades to come. I am a big fan of 'psychological mind play' and I can only hope to write something half as good in my lifetime. Taxi Driver is another one of my favorites and even includes , for me, some of the best music ever.

Doug - I'll try and include why I think it's so unique here....Perhaps the themes in the story aren't unique. Indeed, the themes of growing old, addiction, depression, abuse and family turmoil have been written about since the days of Shakespeare. But I have never seen those common themes portrayed so uniquely, or in way so touching. I know I know, there are plenty of 'great' films about depression. Many great films about family. Many great films about growing old and there are plenty of great films about addiction. I guess my point is that I've never seen or read a story that so perfectly described ALL of these themes and then weaved them together in such a way that we almost don't see it. It takes multiple views for sure. THE FIRST 6 minutes of the film always get me......even though I am only 25 years old, I feel great empathy for the Sam Shepard character. RIP btw. Hopefully I better answered your question.....I would love to go into detail like this on other films so maybe you could share a few of yours??

Dillon, I'd be glad to sit down and share 'film' talk with you over a pint, but this is not the place.

My Favorite Movie is Get Shorty. Scott Frank was the first writer to REALLY, TRULY, SUCCESSFULLY adapt an Elmore Leonard novel with this. Just look at the scene where The Shylock, Chili Palmer (played by John Travolta) and the Coke Dealer (played by Delroy Lindo) talk about how easy it is to write a script. It's so funny to me, because I see it and hear it all the time, often times on here. I think this is one of the BEST SCENES in all of movies and I've often referred to this film, as an MGM New-Age CLASSIC!

So many great answers about modern day classics, but I also have to agree with Dan MaXx - there's some just released Oscar-worthy gems out there.

The Fifth Element, certainly one of the best. Film & screenplay. When you look at it all is clear, it is recommended multiple times. The explanations are superfluous.

Shawshank Redemption film and Script: Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is truly magnificent in the way the screenwriter shows and DOES NOT TELL as by my friend Dan Curry tells me but what I love are the following: Kelly's Heroes, The Big Red One, Where Eagles Dare and The Guns of Navarone.

The Hurt Locker for reasons I can't accurately express...

I'm extremely fond of The Man on Lincoln's Nose (the original title of North by Northwest). There is a miraculous mix of humor and suspense. There are half a dozen inventive and unforgettable set pieces, including perhaps the most famous in filmdom.

Are we talking about scripts? Or the filmed versions of the scripts? When I read the script for THE MATRIX I learned a great technique - the agent characters were described in computer terms. It was subtle, but I began thinking of them as machines long before the twist that this was not reality. That's a technique that I can use in my writing. I have many other favorite scripts - I have read hundreds.

The matrix blew my mind when I first saw it! You can't help but wonder what the brothers were smoking when they wrote it..........Yes lets talk about actual scripts.....Collateral is an amazing script, so is the new Star is Born with bradley cooper which i haven't seen mentioned yet

Debbie Croysdale if you can get hold of Pulp Fiction it is a great read. Plus you get to see stuff that looks good on the page, that would suck on film.

Vince and Jules were suppose to wear Green Dusters. Which probably looks like a Western when written. But two guys in sharp black suits, much cooler.

Plus during the “foot massage” debate. QT puts in a comment which tells you exactly how Sam Jackson

was going to play it.

Vince

You ever given a man a foot massage?

Jules knows he’s f###ed.

Michael Mann got the privilege to redo a movie with a modest production budget and starring Pacino & DeNiro.

Nobody ever talks about “LA Takedown”, which is word for word identical to “Heat”

https://youtu.be/ye6tmftzMoI

Dillon Horner - re: THE MATRIX - I can tell you exactly what the Walchowskis were smoking, classic Gnosticism. The only question is did they inhale, or was it an oblivious contact high? Because whether we realize it or not, we have each ingested a massive dose of esoteric teaching (or some would say programming / social engineering), courtesy of art and film. It's a bit complex, but you can find a great redux here - https://vocal.media/futurism/the-matrix-and-gnosticism

And if you want further 411 on this ubiquitous subject, just PM me. There's actually books about how it relates to some extremely popular films and the infamous yet often unsung sci-fi writer largely responsible for them (Philip K. Dick) - written by very credible and well-researched authors. I inadvertently spent quite a few years decoding this mystery wrapped in riddle trapped in an enigma myself. ;) To borrow a famous movie quote.

Just a few of the now famous movies known to be inspired by a PKD short story -

The Matrix

Blade Runner

Minority Report

The Adjustment Bureau

Total Recall

Robocop

and the popular Amazon series Man In The High Castle

So many gems of movies/scripts. So little space and time to mention all my favorites Dillon. But I'll talk about these: A Slender Thread, The Virgin Spring, Paris Can Wait, and Al Pacino's films from the 1970s to late 1990s.

With the exception of Paris Can Wait, these are not recent films but I think about the stellar work in these productions all the time. If I were teaching an Introduction to Film class, these films would be required viewing. Why?

A Slender Thread stars Sidney Poitier, Anne Bancroft, a young Ed Asner and a pre-Kojak Telly Savalas. Great script. Great, credible characters the cast created. If you really want to see the depths and transformative method of Sidney's and Anne's portrayal of a suicide prevention and what led up to it, see this movie. Sidney's character (a college student) is at wit's end in this one. Anne's character has the upper hand. Soundtrack fantastic. The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones.

The Virgin Spring with Max Von Sydow left a lasting impression on me when I first saw it as a youngster, and it was in black and white. Mr. Von Sydow credibly plays the length a devoted father goes through to avenge his daughter's murder.

Paris Can Wait, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola's wife Eleanor, is a precious gem too. Diane Lane portrays Eleanor, Alec Baldwin plays Frances and Arnaud Viard plays the guy who takes Eleanor on an excursion in and around Paris when Francis leaves to check on a production somewhere else in Europe. Great cinematography in this one!

What more can I say about Al's films? Evidence of his excellent artistry and commitment to it can be found, I think, in his films from the 1970s through 1990s. Pure genius of an actor. Credible. Focused. In each film he makes great choices with his expressions and movements.

P.S. - Another source of inspiration for THE MATRIX was its little known 1973 predecessor by the legendary director Rainer Werner Fassbinder himself - WORLD ON A WIRE. Which was actually a limited series made for German television at the time.

Interestingly enough, the American film THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR resembles the Fassbinder version of the "silumacron" (now popularly known as "The Simulation Theory") that THE MATRIX plays on, and it too was released in 1999.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070904/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Ok guys....True Detective......the writing has managed it's way inside me.....the philosophy....the acting....Matthew and Woody just knocked it out of the park.....the entire show just killed it.....I'm waiting for another series that can even get half-way to what the first series of True Detective managed to achieve.....I even have a couple episodes of the script printed out for me to read on

I'm not obligated to buy into anyone's paranoid anti-religious views either.

Unforgiven. Both the movie and screenplay (David Webb Peoples is amazing).

Once again: are we talking about favorite SCREENPLAYS (which you have READ) or favorite movies. These are two completely different things. You can learn about screenwriting from reading screenplays - because you learn writing techniques from reading. You have to read the script, not just see the movie made from the script.

Let's go with favorite scripts

favorite script is "Tombstone". I like the fact that so much of it was factual. The screenwriter, Kevin Jarre used courtroom testimony from the actual trials to write some of the dialogue around the gunfight at the OK corral. When writing the script, he studied a lot of resources that had been written about the different characters, and brought out the personality of the historical characters.

nother thread down the tubes...sad.