disappointing (SPOILER)

I watched this because the screenwriter was William Goldman: "The Princess Bride" "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" "All the President's Men" "Misery"--so many great scripts. I kept waiting for some of his brilliant dialog, but it never happened. - intofilm

Keep in mind, though, that this was William Goldman's second credited screenplay, and the examples you give all came later.

Goldman was certainly the go-to scribe for films in the 1970s before becoming a "veteran presence" later on. I first knew him, before I started paying attention to who wrote movies (or who gets the credit for writing them, which is a whole other story), from his novel The Princess Bride, which I loved as a young teenager. Then I began learning about the films that he wrote, with some, such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, ones that I watched repeatedly as a kid, and others, such as Marathon Man and A Bridge Too Far, favorites in my teens and young adult years.

But time has a way of leveling things. I used to think that a line such as, "Boy, I got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals" (from Butch Cassidy) was really clever; now it just sounds glib, and some other bits of dialog from that movie sounds as if it was straining for that "Hollywood Hip" you mention in connection with Harper. (Yes, I realize that Butch Cassidy consciously aimed for anachronism, which is a mixed blessing in hindsight.)

As for Harper itself, I haven't seen it for years. As I post this, I have it on my DVR, having just recorded it from Turner Classic Movies as part of its celebration of Lauren Bacall. My recollection is that, as far as detective stories go, it wasn't supposed to be The Big Sleep in terms of plot complexity; it was supposed to be more of, as you note, a snapshot of then-contemporary chic, so I'll see how that holds up shortly. I do recall that, as a kid, Harper introduced me to the phrase "hot and bothered"--Pamela Tiffin helped to illustrate that for me.

------------------
"Build high for happiness." - Red Kangs. Red Kangs are the best Kangs.

reply share

add reply

formatting help

-- didn't impress you or make you laugh out loud, as it did me. Is it Goldman's best screenplay? Hardly. But it's also far from his worst (a trophy that goes to DREAMCATCHER, which, to be fair, Goldman was heavily rewritten on by director Lawrence Kasdan).

reply share

add reply

formatting help