Writers in the movies run the gamut

Bill Knight column for Thurs., Fri. or Sat., July 19, 20 or 21, 2018

Writers occur regularly in many movies worth seeing, and it’s not usually the self-indulgent, sheltered or haughty people fans may suspect. Films’ writers can be just as flawed and heroic, villainous and pathetic, inspiring and entertaining as cops or spies, doctors or lawyers, thugs or jocks.

As shown in this list – presented the week of the 119^th anniversary of Ernest Hemingway’s birth – movies’ writers also can be weak and strong, mysterious and victimized, menacing and uplifting.

Besides these are many others: “The Adventures of Mark Twain,” “The Adventures of a Young Man (based on a Hemingway story). “The Trials of Oscar Wilde,” “Misery,” “Adaptation,” “Julia” …

“Beloved Infidel” (1959). Gregory Peck is F. Scott Fitzgerald in this drama about a doomed romance Fitzgerald is working as a screenwriter, struggling with alcoholism and the demands of his ill wife, when he meets British gossip columnist Sheilah Graham.

“Devotion” (1943). Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland and Nancy Coleman portray Emily, Charlotte and Anne Bronte in this costume drama set in Victorian England, dealing with their hard-drinking musician brother Branwell (Arthur Kennedy) and handsome pastor Arthur Nichols (Paul Henreid).

“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998). Hunter S. Thompson’s quasi-autobiography was directed Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam starring Johnny Depp as the gonzo journalist. Thompson, accompanied by his goofy sidekick (Benicio Del Toro), leaves Los Angeles for Las Vegas in a drug-induced fog. The romp features an all-star cast: Cameron Diaz, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, James Woods, Tobey Maguire, Mark Harmon, Laraine Newman and Christina Ricci

“Finding Forrester” (2000). Sean Connery plays a reclusive author who becomes a mentor for a young scholar-athlete (Robert Brown). It co-stars Anna Paquin as a student and F. Murray Abraham as a suspicious professor.

“Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch” (2001). This Oscar-winning film has fine performances from Judi Dench s Murdoch and Jim Broadbent as her husband, who helps maintain their love through Alzheimer’s disease. Kate Winslet co-stars.

“The Jack London Story” (1943). Michael O’Shea has the title role in this biography co-starring Virginia Mayo and Susan Hayward. London’s life from oyster pirate, explorer and sailor to radical, war correspondent and writer provides a backdrop for exaggerated exploits.

“Mrs. Parker and The Vicious Circle” (1994). Jennifer Jason Leigh is riveting as Dorothy Parker, the alcoholic, talented writer tied to 1920s New York’s noted Algonquin Round Table. The intellectual friends drink too much, while Parker herself – at the epicenter– is flung from assignment to project to romance to Hollywood like a craft without a compass. The cast is outstanding, including Matthew Broderick as Charles MacArthur, Campbell Scott as Robert Benchley, Keith Carradine as Will Rogers, Gary Basaraba as Heywood Broun, plus Wallace Shawn, Gwyneth Paltrow and Stanley Tucci.

“Naked Lunch” (1991). Filmmaker David Cronenberg directed Peter Weller in an amusing, disturbing tale of author and exterminator Bill Lee, who accidentally kills his wife. Adapted from William Burroughs’ writings, “Naked Lunch” has the character leave for an exotic Mediterranean port, where he hopes to free his writing. Mathematicians, zookeepers, drug addicts and surfers combine to make this bizarre. Roy Scheider, Judy Davis and Ian Holm co-star.

“Reds” (1981). Warren Beatty wrote, produced, directed and starred in this biography about radical writer John Reed. Diane Keaton co-stars as writer and romantic interest Louise Bryant, with Jack Nicholson as Eugene O’Neill, Maureen Stapleton as Emma Goldman, plus Gene Hackman, George Plimpton and Paul Sorvino. It’s an epic with poignant moments. Nominated for four Oscars, it’s interspersed with interviews with Reed’s real-life colleagues.

“Shadowlands” (1993). British writer and theologian C.S. Lewis is the subject in this love story starring Anthony Hopkins as Lewis (author of the Narnia books). Debra Winger is Joy Gresham, an American free spirit and fan who leads Lewis to experience emotions and discovers a hidden depth in herself.

“Shakespeare in Love” (1998). Joseph Fiennes is the Bard in this farce, struggling to write plays like “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter.” Gwyneth Paltrow co-stars in the romantic comedy as an actress appearing on stage in drag (women weren’t permitted to act), and they fall in love. Ben Affleck and Judi Dench co-star.

“The Shining” (1980). Jack Nicholson is a troubled writer who accepts a job as a resort’s caretaker in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s bestseller. Gradually, a snow storm, isolation and writer’s block “possess” the writer. Shelley Duvall co-stars.

“Sunset Boulevard” (1950). William Holden is a desperate screenwriter drawn into a twisted relationship with silent-movie star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), who thinks a comeback is possible. Billy Wilder directed, with Jack Webb, Erich Von Stroheim and cameos by Cecil B. DeMille and Buster Keaton.