Swashbuckling screenwriter behind Rob Roy, Ulzana's Raid and Night Moves
Alan Sharp, who has died of brain cancer aged 79, once claimed that as a screenwriter he was most interested in "moral ambiguity, mixed motives and irony", all of which are applicable to two of his best movies, the western Ulzana's Raid (1972), directed by Robert Aldrich, and the thriller Night Moves (1975), directed by Arthur Penn. Most of his screenplays were written in the 1970s and reflect the era in which America was suffering the effects of the Vietnam war and post-Watergate paranoia. This goes some way to explaining the bleakness and cynical sense of destiny in Sharp's films, which he called "existential melodramas".
He was born in Alyth, near Dundee. Although the majority of his scripts were set in the Us, where he lived for many years, Scotland remained pre-eminent in his character and culture. His script for Rob Roy (1995), a...
Alan Sharp, who has died of brain cancer aged 79, once claimed that as a screenwriter he was most interested in "moral ambiguity, mixed motives and irony", all of which are applicable to two of his best movies, the western Ulzana's Raid (1972), directed by Robert Aldrich, and the thriller Night Moves (1975), directed by Arthur Penn. Most of his screenplays were written in the 1970s and reflect the era in which America was suffering the effects of the Vietnam war and post-Watergate paranoia. This goes some way to explaining the bleakness and cynical sense of destiny in Sharp's films, which he called "existential melodramas".
He was born in Alyth, near Dundee. Although the majority of his scripts were set in the Us, where he lived for many years, Scotland remained pre-eminent in his character and culture. His script for Rob Roy (1995), a...
- 2/14/2013
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Novelist and film and television writer Alan Sharp has died. Sharp passed away on February 8 in Los Angeles after a long illness, CAA said in a statement. He was 79. Sharp, a Scotland native, launched his writing career in 1965 with A Green Tree In Gedde. The acclaimed novel, initially banned in Scotland for its sexual content, won the 1967 Scottish Arts Council Award and was the first of a proposed trilogy. The second novel in the trilogy, The Wind Shifts, was published in 1968. The third, Don’t Cry, It’s Only A Picture Show, was left incomplete when Sharp relocated to Hollywood to focus on screenwriting for film and television. Sharp went on to pen screenplays for as many as 20 feature films, including Rob Roy, Night Moves, The Osterman Weekend, Little Treasure, and Dean Spanley. Sharp also wrote the screenplay for the mini-series Ben-Hur, which aired on CBC in Canada and ABC in the U.
- 2/11/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
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