10 Greatest Films Written by Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was born in New York City in 1894 and raised in Wisconsin. After high school, he moved to Chicago where he began a career as a newspaper journalist. In 1921 he wrote and sold his first novel. In 1923, he started a newspaper called The Chicago Literary Times. In 1928, he had a very successful play on Broadway called The Front Page. That play would later be adapted into film, multiple times.
His first screenplay was for the 1927 film Underworld. Hecht was an extremely prolific screenwriter. He wrote fast and he wrote well. He has screen credits for around 150 films and is known to have gone uncredited for even more. He worked with Hollywood’s greatest directors, including Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock.
10. Rope (1948) — Based upon a play by Patrick Hamilton, this film tells the story of two men whom kill a man and then put his body into a chest and invite a bunch of people over for a party, with the chest in the room. Hitchcock took on quite the technical challenges with this film. Not only was it his first color film, but it is structured to appear to be one single long take.
“I’ve always wished for more artistic talent. Well, murder can be an art, too. The power to kill can be just as satisfying as the power to create.” — Brandon
9. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) — A police officer digs himself into a hole when he accidentally kills a suspect and then accidentally directs the blame towards the father of a woman with whom he has fallen in love.
“It’s a wonderful day. No job. Everybody against me. My poor dad sitting in a cell… and it’s a wonderful day. Isn’t that amazing?” — Morgan Taylor
8. Wuthering Heights (1939) — Laurence Olivier is noted as saying that it was during this film that Wyler taught him how to act on film. The film is, of course, and adaptation of the Emily Brontë novel.
“How can you stand here beside me and pretend not to remember? Not to know that my heart is breaking for you? That your face is the wonderful light burning in all this darkness?” — Heathcliff
7. Nothing Sacred (1937) — Carole Lombard’s only color film. This screwball comedy is about a reporter desperate for a good story who discovers a woman dying of radiation poisoning.
“I’ll tell you briefly what I think of newspaper men. The hand of God, reaching down into the mire, couldn’t elevate one of them to the depths of degradation!” — Dr. Enoch Downer
6. Gone with the Wind (1939) — a small romance overlaid on a massive backdrop of the American Civil War. Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, and Olivia de Havilland all give great performances. The adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s epic novel won eight Oscars.
“As God is my witness, as God is my witness they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.” — Scarlett O’hara
5. Scarface (1932) — Howard Hawks’ Scarface should have the honor of being the first talkie gangster film, but prolonged squabbles with censors delayed the release two years, allowing Little Caesar and Public Enemy to be released first. The film is based on the novel by Armitage Trail and is heavily influenced by events involving real-life gangster Al Capone.
The film depicts the rise and fall of a gangster named Tony Camonte (played by Paul Muni). For the time, it is quite violent. Scarface was remade in 1983 by director Brian DePalma. See the original, it is the best of the gangster films.
“Listen, Little Boy, in this business there’s only one law you gotta follow to keep out of trouble: Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doing it.” — Tony Camonte
4. Stagecoach (1939) — This is the film that made John Wayne a star. He had had one chance at the A-list in a movie that failed and had spent a decade doing B-movies. But in John Ford’s Stagecoach, he showed he had the stuff to be a star.
Stagecoach is the archetype of the movie in which a group of very dissimilar people must come together to survive a great challenge. Wayne plays “The Ringo Kid” a fugitive intent on avenging the murder of his father and brother. Also on the stagecoach are a gunslinging gambler (played with mustache-twirling glee by John Carradine), a corrupt banker, a prostitute, an alcoholic doctor, a pregnant woman, a meek salesman, and a marshal.
Their journey takes them through hazardous Apache territory which provides a stunning action scene as the stagecoach is chased across the desert by a swarm of Apache warriors. The stunt work is impressive, including a stunt in which a character is dragged under a team of horses and down the length of the stagecoach. It is this stunt to which the famed scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark pays homage.
“Well, I guess you can’t break out of prison and into society in the same week.” — Ringo
3. Strangers on a Train (1951) — Two strangers meet on a train and discuss their troubles. One suggests that they fix their troubles with the perfect crime and each kill the source of the other’s problem. Soon, one commits their crime and becomes insistent the other needs to commit theirs. Wonderfully dark and twisted.
“Everyone has somebody that they want to put out of the way. Oh now surely, Madam, you’re not going to tell me that there hasn’t been a time that you didn’t want to dispose of someone. Your husband, for instance?” — Bruno Anthony
2. Notorious (1946) — Alfred Hitchcock in the film that more than any other shows his genius for camera shots and setups, directs Cary Grant as a spy that recruits Ingrid Bergman to infiltrate the household of an enemy spy (Claude Rains).
“Miss Huberman is first, last, and always not a lady. She may be risking her life, but when it comes to being a lady, she doesn’t hold a candle to your wife, sitting in Washington, playing bridge with three other ladies of great honor and virtue.” — Devlin
1. His Girl Friday (1940) — In this Howard Hawks film, Cary Grant plays the editor of a newspaper. His ex-wife (Rosalind Russell) is his star reporter. When she says she is quitting to remarry, he does everything he can to win her back.
“You’ve got an old fashioned idea divorce is something that lasts forever, ’til death do us part.’ Why divorce doesn’t mean anything nowadays, Hildy, just a few words mumbled over you by a judge.” — Walter Burns
Other films considered for this list include: Spellbound, Underworld, A Farewell to Arms, Foreign Correspondent, Some Like it Hot, Monkey Business, Gilda, Angels with Dirty Faces, A Star is Born, Barbary Coast, Whirlpool, and Angel Face. What would make your list?
