I love reading about screenwriter’s who’ve written movies I’ve enjoyed throughout my lifetime. Since I’m a history buff, one of my old favorites was the 1966 historical epic Khartoum, which was beautifully written by playwright and screenwriter Robert Ardery. He was nominated for an academy award for this script and the superb cast included Lawrence Olivier, Charlton Heston, Michael Hordern and Ralph Richardson.
Ardery also penned the 1948 film version of The Three Musketeers, which featured Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, Vincent Price and Angela Lansbury, which was a post WWII box office hit. Another one of Ardery’s films I think was a gem was The Wonderful Country that offers a terrific performance from always cool Robert Mitchum.
The thing that amazes me about the Mid-Twentieth Century screenwriters was their versatility with genres; and in Ardery’s case, he was super adept with period piece material. As with many Hollywood writers, Robert Ardery isn’t a household name. However, I’m glad I spent some time today reading up on his career and have an appreciation for his creative accomplishments.
If you feel like showing any love for screenwriter’s whose work you’ve recently enjoyed, please add them to this thread.
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I'm impressed by the writings of Millard Kaufman along with the Directing style of John Sturges. Together they made a hell of a team.
So many to name but I’ll go with the ones that I’m heavily inspired by: John Sayles, George Romero, John Carpenter, Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppola, Akira Kurosawa, and Shane Black.
But there are other gems out there. Billy Wilder’s work on Stalag 17 as well as Hawks/Lederer’s work on Thing from Another World. I’m not a megafan of their work but those two films left a lasting impression on me.
Just my thoughts, take care guys.
Richard Price. Journalist to Novelist to Screenwriter & TV Writer. He's the go to guy for NYC crime
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Doug:
One of my favorite John Sturges movies is Bad Day at Black Rock. When I was a kid, Channel 9 in Los Angeles had a program every night called the Million Million-Dollar Movie. I watched The Magnificent Seven for the very first time and then watched it on the four subsequent evenings it was on.
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Charles W.
One could make an argument that Billy Wilder's The Apartment is the greatest romantic comedy ever made. When it came out in 1960, it was also one of the best movies about living in New York City.
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David M: I recently watched Price's Sea of Love with Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin. It's a standout crime Thriller.
I’m definitely going to checkout The Apartment and while I’m at it, maybe revisit Some Like It Hot and Seven Year Itch. That will be my once in a lifetime romantic comedy marathon haha.
Uncle Phil,
Bad Day at Black Rock is one of my favorite films of all time. It came out as the new fancy Technicolor process came into serious use. Sturges' use of color - the drab desert & the orange splash and the bright Ann Francis (per contract) is masterful. His character blocking - the railroad crossing scene in particular - is a Directing course in itself. The underlying discrimination theme was handled with grace & style. Yes it's one of my favorite films.
Doug: Great summary and I agree on all aspects. One of the first martial arts scenes ever filmed when Macreedy takes out bully Corey at the diner. Unexpected, badass moment.
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I met Ernest Borgnine on the set of Airwolf years later and he told me that it was one of his favorite scenes. I also liked Lee Marvin's washed up cowboy character. As a matter of fact, I like all the characters.
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Here's a cool fact about Ernest Borgnine. When I directed him in the feature Night Club, he actually had the script put in a binder that he'd had since the early sixties. Used the same one for all of his scripts! He also met with me at his home in the Hollywood Hills before filming to go over the character. He was a TRUE PROFESSIONAL ... even at 93! He always made people laugh on the set and one night where we just barely made our day (SAG penalties wouldn't have been so bad that day, so that wasn't the reason) we offered to let Ernie leave after getting the master and his close-up, but he insisted on feeding the other actor his dialogue off-screen. It showed A LOT to the cast and crew and we STILL made our day. A TRUE GENTLEMAN!
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Here's a photo that is not staged, but was taken of us on the set, going over the script. This one he autographed and his hanging on my wall in my private office at the production company ...
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Sam: What a fine actor! My favorite EB film was him playing Dutch Engstrom in Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece The Wild Bunch. The scenes between and William Holden are some of the best in Western film history. My second favorite was his performance as the Roman Centurion in Jesus of Nazareth. With all the heavy-hitters like Lawrence Olivier, Anthony Quinn and James Mason, EB had one big scene which he masterfully delivered lines taken from The New Testament. He proved he belonged with the best actors around.
Thanks for sharing your story.
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Those are fine examples of roles, but from here they all pale next to MARTY.