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Post by Salzmank on Sept 13, 2017 15:51:00 GMT
I'm always charmed by the case of Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter, originally Salvatore Albert Lombino), who wrote a variety of things, including the long running 87th Precinct police procedurals, used both for TV and film. He claimed to have invented the "squadroom as character" motif, but I think that's not quite right, see Detective Story (1951). In the 80s he joked that Hill Street Blues owned him royalties and his characters would marvel about how eerily the TV shows mirrored their own lives. Anyway, he also did the screenplay for The Birds (1963), and Brooks' Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Kurosawa's High and Low (1963) were adapted from his novels. That covers some ground. McBain (the name under which I first knew him) is an impressive talent, certainly. His police-procedurals are very good, very well-written, emotionally mature, and often moving. The story behind the screenplay for The Birds is a bit of a mess--the story behind Marnie's screenplay, also involving McBain, even more so. The Birds is certainly the best screenplay he ever wrote, though. In terms of writers who wrote for Hitchcock, I find Ernest Lehman was one of the best; North by Northwest has one of the greatest scripts I know, and Lehman's other work is often excellent. (For example, if I'm remembering correctly, he also wrote the novella on which Sweet Smell of Success is based and the movie's first draft.) |
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