A week ago I reviewed Best American Screenplays: First Series. You can read my review here. I ordered the next book in the series, also edited by Sam Thomas, and read the screenplays.
My favorite screenplay in this volume is James L. Brooks’s Terms of Endearment, a movie that I cannot watch without crying…no matter how many times I’ve seen it. Also very powerful is James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter.
The most fun reading is Billy Wilder and I.A. L. Diamond’s Some Like It Hot. And, I’m fond of David Ward’s The Sting, too.
How many of these movies have you seen? Any favorites here? GRADE: A
My question to you is: Why read the screenplay in a day & age when you can just watch the movie? Seriously, do the writings themselves add any insight? Is there more here than I see on the screen? And what did the actress say to the bishop?
Dan, I enjoy reading screenplays and then watching the movies. It adds to my understanding.
At times, the variations between the script, even the shooting script, and the released film are notable and not improvements. For all kinds of reasons, including the egos of directors and producers and, even worse, studio execs.
The story goes that when David Ward went on stage to claim the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for THE STING, he flashed a hand gesture used by con men to signify winning a successful scam against the suckers.
Fred, that’s a cool story! I hadn’t heard it before.
Do not know HOLY MATRIMONY, but I’ve seen the rest. I’ve read the CITIZEN KANE screenplay, and, of course, the McMurtry book TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.
Jeff, “Holy Matrimony is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy and starring Patricia Arquette and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The film tells the story of a beautiful thief, hiding in a small, isolated Hutterite community, who marries a young boy in order to retrieve a hidden fortune following the death of her boyfriend, who was also the older brother of her current husband. It was the final feature film directed by Nimoy.”
Jackie’s Bible, Rotten Tomatoes, gives Holy Matrimony a perfect ZERO percent rating based on 8 critics. Reading the plot, it sounds pretty bad.
Jeff, Jackie’s Bible, ROTTEN TOMATOES, may explain why no one on the blog has seen HOLY MATRIMONY.
George, that’s a different HOLY MATRIMONY than the 1943 movie with a screenplay written by Nunnally Johnson.
Deb, oops! Sorry about that! I haven’t seen either one!
I’ve seen all of them except HOLY MATRIMONY (I’ve never even heard of it). Of course, I had to go check it out: a 1943 movie with Monty Woolley (THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER) pretending to be his own (recently deceased) butler. My guess is it might have been required a little too much suspension of disbelief for an audience two years into WWII. However, I love THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, so I’ll check if I can find HOLY MATRIMONY on a streaming service somewhere and give it a look.
Deb, my local public Library has the DVD of HOLY MATRIMONY.
I’ve seen every film here except the last three listed on the cover. My favorite of the bunch is probably “The Treasure of Sierra Madre,” I film I love dearly which follows the Traven novel pretty closely while improving the flow adding a little more humanity.
You can’t beat the writing team of Wilder and Diamond and while “Some Like It Hot” isn’t my favorite effort of theirs (that would be “The Apartment”) it is a gem and does have one of the great, jawdropper last lines of dialog of any movie. “My Man Godfrey” is another favorite film that I curl up with whenever the world gets me down (and sadly, as timely now as when it was first released).
“Citizen Kane” is justifiably famous for many reasons including its screenplay, the coauthorship of which was hotly disputed by a number of writers some decades ago, most notably Pauline Kael who went on a crusade to give Mankiewicz sole honors. Peter Bogdanovich, along with a number of film scholars, later proved conclusively that Welles cowrote and rewrote a substantial amount of the script. Welles himself never disputed Mank’s significant contribution. In fact he even said that his favorite scene in the film (or any film) is the absolutely lovely “girl in the white dress” scene which was all Mank’s. It’s probably my favorite piece of film dialog of all time and one I’ve referenced in regard to my own life on more than a few occasions through the years.
“The Lion in Winter” is a fine piece of work but god, it’s a downer of a flick. It’s probably Goldman’s best work but I’m more partial to “Robin and Marion” (thematically similar and also a downer). I also have a big soft spot for his “They Might Be Giants,” an imperfect and at times frustrating film that I’d still recommend knowing your fondness for Sherlock Holmes pastiches.
I confess I’ve never warmed to any of James Brooks’s films but I’ll take anyone to the mat over his work in making “Mary Tyler Moore” the best written and produced comedy in the history of television.
I used to read a lot of screenplays when I first got into film watching and the experience was probably a better education in the process and appreciation than any college class I ever took. I can’t read music but I imagine it’s not unlike the joy of studying a beautifully written score.
Byron, I love your insights into these movies! I got into the habit of reading screenplays back in the 1970s when I used to go to the movies every week. So far, Diane and I have gone to the AMC Theater twice in 2025. Big difference!
I agree in re: ROBIN AND MARIAN (ROBIN AND MARION would be a “Nobody’s perfect!” situation) and THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS…the seriocomic films are more pleasant.
Even among MTM series, I’d plump for THE BOB NEWHART SHOW and the sometimes rushed WKRP over THE MTM SHOW, though I liked the last a lot as well. Among the non-sitcoms, LOU GRANT and ST. ELSEWHERE are monuments…HILL STREET BLUES a notch below, but that’s no shame.
“Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!”
Jeff, that could the motto of ICE.
“We don’t need no stinking warrants, unobstructed views of our faces,, nor real police training!”
Like most of the folks weighing in, I’ve never seen Holy Matrimony.
My favorite has gotta be The Lion in Winter. Great movie, great cast, and I’d recognize that soundtrack anywhere.
Beth, I’m very moved each time I watch THE LION IN THE WINTER. It’s a powerful film.
FUnny to include such a poor movie with such great ones. But maybe the screenplay is better than the film. I have bought two: MICHAEL CLAYTON and AGE OF INNOCENCE but never got around to reading them.
Patti, the screenwriter for MICHAEL CLAYTON, Tony Gilroy, is being praised for his work on Disney+ with ANDOR. Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy also wrote the script for ROGUE ONE. That’s a very high batting average!
Like nearly everyone, I’ve seen them all except the last Nimoy-directed film. Was the script compelling?
I rather like A NEW LEAF, the Elaine May film, as it was released, but gather the studio chewed it over some, and should read the screenplay there.
In a rather good list, I’ll plump for THE STING.
Cat on my lap as I type can be distracting. I won’t put THE STING ahead of CITIZEN KANE…but I did enjoy THE STING as much.
And it did stir only the quietest query in the back of mind…would a Nunnaly Johnson screenplay have been sitting on a shelf long enough for an aging/ailing Nimoy to be the first to direct it?
Todd, good question…
“_Holy Matrimony_ is a 1943 comedy film directed by John M. Stahl and released by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was based on the 1908 novel _Buried Alive_ by Arnold Bennett.[4] It stars Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields, with Laird Cregar, Una O’Connor, Alan Mowbray, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore, and George Zucco in supporting roles.
“Screenwriter Nunnally Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. ”
Well, that’s a pretty impressive cast for that time. (Even more impressive if one could gather them in non-animatronic form today, of course.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Matrimony_(1943_film)
And, having read the entry through, I’ve heard of DARLING OF THE DAY, the eventual Broadway musical version of the screenplay adaptation, which starred Vincent Price…I’ve heard the recording that was released at some point, at least in part, decades ago, amused by Price’s involvement.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_krYZ_AloswiacLD8GVhep0-XnX9kr9-U4 is a link to the LP release I heard.
Johnson had his name taken off the production…
https://www.vincentpricelegacy.uk/darling-of-the-day-1968/