TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

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  • TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

    Couldn't just choose five, so here are my fav action scripts:

    Aliens
    Sam Hamm's Batman
    Star Wars
    The Terminator
    Raiders of the Lost Arc
    Paths of Glory
    Bridge on the River Kwai

    Action flowed real well for all of these, excellent descriptions, interesting characters, clear concise action, strong dialogue, and great pacing.
    "Can't we have one meeting that doesn't end with digging up a corpse?" -- Mayor Quimby

    "You've watched it! You can't unwatch it!" -- Narrator

  • #2
    Re: TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

    THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT has great action writing. (Probably most Shane Black scripts do, but LKG is the one I have handy.)

    The BOURNE scripts, the first two of which are up on Daily Script, are good, too.

    The pilot script for ALIAS reads really fast and tight. For that matter, though it's not an action script per se, the opening pages of the LOST pilot -- the stuff on the beach just after the crash -- are just spectacular. You're just right there in the chaos; it's a really exciting and moving read.

    A lot of action writing involves either moving back and forth between one thing and another, or building locations and events really quickly in a sequence. All of the scripts I mention do it really well so it's a compelling read, so you feel like you're in the action, instead of reading a bunch of slugs and having crap explained to you.
    The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter -- it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. - Mark Twain

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    • #3
      Re: TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

      I thought True Lies read well and was then put on film well. The use of the used car salesman subplot action scenes perked up the second act. There must have been an insane number of set-ups for James Cameron to direct (the script I saw had segments numbered thru 327 but some are using the same set-up).

      Just the opening involved scuba diving, ballroom dancing with Tia, explosions, killer dobermans, snowmobiles, skis, automatic weapons and Tom Arnold driving the van sideways on the ice. (and the helicopter was cut from the film).

      26 EXT. CHATEAU AND GROUNDS - NIGHT Harry sprints across the snow-covered lawn, through the trees. Guards with automatic weapons run after him, firing. The snow explodes around him with bullet hits. TWO DOBERMANS pelt toward Harry, leaping at him in perfect unison. He waits... and knocks their heads together in mid- leap with a crack like a baseball bat. The dogs drop to the snow, wobbling around like they're drunk.
      Even the "non-action" scenes had a lot of visual movement such as ballroom dancing and Mrs. Tasker's prostitute striptease.

      Classic Arnold Schwarzeneggar big budget fiesta, but the other Arnold (Tom Arnold) was either born to play his role, or gave the performance of his (short) career. I guess casting earned their pay for that one.


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      • #4
        Re: TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

        I haven't had a chance to get my hands on a copy as it's pretty hard to find but a poster here by the name of qualitycontrol swears by James V. Simpson's ARMORED....he says it changed his entire perspective on screenwriting.
        Last edited by CottonFitzsimmons; 09-13-2007, 08:04 PM.

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        • #5
          Re: TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

          I love the first Alien script... the concise, tight in-your-face writing is very inspiring to me

          Original Die Hard mixing the humor with the action, making a hero out of what seems to be an ordinary average Joe (not some kind of preconceived super hero going into the thing as today's style suggests)

          Crank is full of action... some say it's full of something else too
          "you have to write right, right?" -- Todd Gordon

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          • #6
            Re: TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

            48 HOURS - kind of where I learned to write action, Walter Hill gets you right in the middle of the shoot outs and car chases.

            ALIENS - same thing, just with Cameron.

            Shane Black Scripts - though I hate the aside stuff, he manages to make you see the action... and feel it.

            The key to all of this stuff is to make the reader feel the action - so that it;s not just words on the page, it's an *experience*.

            - Bill (see - I do write to you)
            Free Script Tips:
            http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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            • #7
              Re: TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

              LETHAL WEAPON was a damn good script.

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              • #8
                Re: TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

                Originally posted by Baby_Neill View Post
                Couldn't just choose five, so here are my fav action scripts:

                Aliens
                Sam Hamm's Batman
                Star Wars
                The Terminator
                Raiders of the Lost Arc
                Paths of Glory
                Bridge on the River Kwai

                Action flowed real well for all of these, excellent descriptions, interesting characters, clear concise action, strong dialogue, and great pacing.
                I've never read BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, but if it's an action script than the movie must differ greatly from the script. Or maybe I just don't know what an "action movie" is.

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                • #9
                  Re: TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

                  Originally posted by Writer1 View Post
                  I've never read BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, but if it's an action script than the movie must differ greatly from the script. Or maybe I just don't know what an "action movie" is.
                  BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and PATHS OF GLORY probably do fall more into the war/adventure categories. But I stand by my choices.

                  When Alec Guinness' character gets shot and then drops dead on the bomb detonator I thought that was a pretty cool death/explosion scene.... though, when Homer Simpson dropped dead and then his tongue rolled out and hit the nuclear destruct button, that was awesome too.
                  "Can't we have one meeting that doesn't end with digging up a corpse?" -- Mayor Quimby

                  "You've watched it! You can't unwatch it!" -- Narrator

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                  • #10
                    Re: TOP 5 Action Packed Scripts

                    I love BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI...it's one of my all-time favorites. But, aside from the sequence you mentioned, there really isn't much ACTION.

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