WHERE'S THE DRAMA?
Script Tools & Tutorials
22 INT RECOMMENDED NIGHT
NOTE: THIS LIST IS REGULARLY UPDATED
A selection of my favorite films, including docos and television series, in no particular order.
To more effectively explore and appreciate the dramatic grammar, view these in conjunction with the THE DRAMA REPORT - Interrogating Your Screenplay, which you can access via this website.
Recommended Films
FEATURES
City Lights (Charles Chaplin, Dir)
Samson & Delilah (Warwick Thornton, Dir)
The Rain People (Francis Ford Coppola, Dir)
The Plunderers (Joseph Pevney, Dir)
Divided We Fall (Czech - Directed by Jan Hřebejk)
Character (Dutch - Mike van Diem, Dir)
10 Canoes (Rolf de Heer, Dir)
Le Vieue de San Pierre [The Widow of San Pierre] (Patrice Leconte, Dir)
Lagaan (Ashutosh Gowariker, Dir)
Contempt (Jean Luc Goddard, Dir)
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? (Milton Katselas, Dir)
Open Hearts (Susanne Bier, Dir)
Runaway Train (Andrei Konchalovsky, Dir)
Central Station
(Walter Salles, Dir)
Behind the Sun
Doubt
Show Me Love (Lukas Moodysson, Dir)
The War Zone (Tim Roth, Dir)
Burnt by the Sun
Atanarjuat [The Fast Runner] (Zacharias Kunuk, Dir)
The Sound of Sparrows (Iranian film)
Blue Eyelids
53 Days of Winter
Once Were Warriors
Aliens
Jean de Florette & Manon des Sources
My Father’s Glory
My Mother’s Castle
The Browning Version (Mike Figgis, Dir)
Suddenly Last Summer
When A Stranger Calls (1979)
The Castle
Hud (Martin Ritt, Dir)
I'm Not Scared
Working Girl (Mike Nichols, Dir)
The Searchers 
(John Ford, Dir)
Stand by Me (Rob Reiner, Dir)
Il Postino
Yolngu Boy
Deliverance (John Boorman, Dir)
Chinatown (Roman Polanski, Dir)
Seven (Thriller)
Fallen (Thriller)
Tremors
The White Balloon (Iranian film)
Manhunter
Gaslight [w/ Ingrid Bergman] (George Cukor , Dir)
One-Eyed Jacks (Marlon Brando, Dir)
Jaws (Steven Speilberg, Dir)
Blackboards (Iranian film)
Die Hard (John McTiernan, Dir)
Whale Rider
Witness (Peter Weir, Dir)
A Jury of Her Peers (30-min – Oscar winner)
Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, Dir)
In the Name of the Father
Forbidden Games (Rene Clement, Dir)
Ponette (Jacques Doillon, Dir)
Nashville (Robert Altmann, Dir)
Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen, Dir)
The Godfather – Pts 1 and 2 (Francis Ford Coppola, Dir)
Duel (Steven Spielberg, Dir)
The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, Dir)
The Great Imposter
Harry, He's Here to Help (Dominik Moll, Dir)
The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach, Dir)
Pathfinder (Nils Gaup, Dir - Finnish)
Rashoman (Akira Kurosawa, Dir)
All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Dir)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman, Dir)
Evil ["Ondskan"] - (Mikael Håfström, Dir - Swedish)
High & Low (Akira Kurosawa, Dir)
Nature of the Beast
Matewan (John Sayles, Dir)
SHORT FILMS
Omnibus
One Froggy Evening
Birthday Boy (AFTRS)
The Saviour (AFTRS)
Show Me (AFTRS)
Sweet Night Good Heart
Neighbours (Canadian short)
The Nose (pinboard animation)
Signing Off (NZ short) by Robert Sarkies
TELEVISION
Death of a Salesman (w/ Lee J Cobb)
The Larry Sanders Show
Your Show of Shows & The Caesar Hour
Mark Twain Tonight (Television special)
The Wire
Out (BBC TV series)
Nowhere Man
The Man in the Glass Cage
Over There
Traffic (BBC mini-series)
A Very Britiss Coup (UK mini-series)
Oz (Seasons 1 & 2)
Queer As Folk (UK TV series)
Requiem for a Heavyweight
Edge of Darkness (BBC mini-series)
Dunera Boys
DOCUMENTARIES
Shoah
Best Boy
Grey Gardens
Bus 174
Capturing the Freidmans
The Staircase
Murder on a Sunday Morning
Brother’s Keeper
Sherman’s March
Saint Genet
Promises
One Day in September
Richard : the most interestingest person I’ve ever met Tarnation Divorce Iranian Style
The Unknown Chaplin
Titicut Follies
Touching the Void
Mr Death
Thin Blue Line
Dancing Outlaw
DIRECTORS
JOHN CASSAVETES:
A Woman Under the Influence
Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Gloria
INGMAR BERGMAN:
The Virgin Spring
Cries and Whispers
Scenes from a Marriage
EMIR KUSTERICA:
Time of the Gypsies
When Father Was Away on Business
Black Cat White Cat
Underground
SIDNEY LUMET:
Before the Devil Knows Your Dead Twelve Angry Men
The Pawnbroker
The Verdict
Network
Dog Day Afternoon
AKIRA KUROSAWA:
Rashoman
High and Low
Seven Samurai
SATYAJIT RAY:
Enemy of the People
Deliverance
The World of Apu
Aparajito
Pather Panjali
