John's Favorite Screenplays

The majority of these scripts come from a fantastic web site. www.movie-page.com It's a fantastic site with great info and great scripts for download. Check it out.

The first one is just about everybodies favorite. Chinatown.

Written in 1973, this is the film that put Robert Towne on the map... along with The Last Detail, that same year. He has come across as THE screenwriter... along with William Goldman. Both men who's name is synonymous with screenwriting.

Robert Towne himself has done mostly re-writes for some of Hollywoods biggest films, including Marathon Man, Orca, Bonnie and Clyde, Heaven Can Wait, Swing Shift, 8 Million Ways to Die, Frantic... and many others. Recently he's written the two Mission: Impossible films... the stories coming under mixed reviews, especially MI:2.

Chinatown will remain one of the greatest scripts of all time.

The next script that is one of my favorites is My Own Private Idaho.

Based on the Shakespeare play Henry IV, and written by Gus Van Sant (his best writing, by far), this film is scary, funny, thought provoking... and above all, original, regardless of its Shakespeare roots. For my money, Idaho and Drugstore Cowboy are Sant's best films... both with an original voice behind them... a voice that I think became lost after Idaho.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is next... and it's such a wonderful piece of work, creating one of the greatest heroes in film. George Lucas and Philip Kaufman wrote the story of Indiana Jones. Lawrence Kasdan, who has such an incredible career in Hollywood, wrote the script. It's a poster-child for great action, adventure and humor.

Now, this next film, for my money, is the best script Tarantino has ever written. What's even better is, he doesn't act in it.

True Romance. Tarantino sold Romance for $50,000, and subsequently went on to make his other films... of which I think are good, but pale in comparision to this film, this script. Don't get me wrong, I dig his other work... but this one is pure. A homage to Tarantino's favorite writer, Elmore Leonard... and it shows, in a great way.

In 1999, my all time favorite movie... better than American Beauty, Being John Malkovich, The Sixth Sense, The Insider... (though not better than Election, which should have won that Academy Award...) was Galaxy Quest. The movie was completely original... based on something we see and here everyday from Trekkie's all over the country. The writing was smart, the characters were perfect. Conceived by David Howard, and written by Howard and Robert Gordon (who is writing the new MIB movie...) I'm sure we'll be seeing other good material from these two.

Next is one of my favorite horror scripts, by one of horror's best directors. Lord of Illusions is written/directed and based on a short story Clive Barker wrote in his novel Cabal (which turned into the underrated film Nightbreed, which I also loved). It's original storyline, great characters and incredible scares are a tribute to the horror genre that is, in my opinion, dying.

The Fifth Element, directed/written by Luc Besson, is one of those grand sci-fi epics that is a treat to watch and read. I read an article on the writing Besson did, and once he'd come up with the original plot... he had doubts about the film taking place in the future, and entertained the idea that it take place in the 1950's. A strange idea... but ultimately came to be what it is today... and it's a great piece.

There isn't much I can say about this next film, Se7en, written by Kevin Andrew Walker, an ex-Tower Records (NY) employee who has taken the screenwriting world by storm. Se7en, across the board, is a brilliant piece of work.

Being There is one of the best movies out of the seventies... directed by the great Hal Ashby. It has, by far, one of the best endings in a movie, ever. Written from the novel by Jerzy Kosinski (who also co-wrote the script), Robert C. Jones does a masterful job with this witty and often times sad story. This was Jones's second script. As of late... he's been a very successful editor on many movies... the most recent of which being Unconditional Love with Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett. Good for him for continuing to get work in Hollywood.

The last one is a film that I always thought should have been made into a television series. The concept is fantastic, the story was wonderful on so many levels... everything about it was entertaining and fun. I'm talking about Phil Alden Robinson's, Lawrence Lasker and Walter Parkes script Sneakers, which is one of my all time favorite espionage/thriller films.

Others to come, as they are typed/scanned/found!

All of the scripts are in PDF format - Enjoy them. They are not for sale, they are for educational purposes ONLY.

John Painz