Richard Brooks (born Reuben Sax; May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Elmer Gantry (1960), with Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy, Shirley Jones and Patti Page. He was also nominated in the same category for Blackboard Jungle (1955), with Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Margaret Hayes, Sidney Poitier, Vic Morrow, and Paul Mazursky; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), with Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson, and Madeline Sherwood; The Professionals (1966), with Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale, Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy, and Woody Strode; and In Cold Blood (1967), with Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe, and Paul Stewart. The latter three he was also nominated for Best Director.
He made his directorial debut with Crisis (1950), with Cary Grant, José Ferrer, and Paula Raymond. Other directed films of the early 1950s include The Light Touch (1951), with Stewart Granger, Pier Angeli, and George Sanders; Deadline – U.S.A. (1952), with Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, and Kim Hunter; Battle Circus (1953), with Bogart, June Allyson, Keenan Wynn and Robert Keith; Take the High Ground! (1953), with Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, and Elaine Stewart; Flame of the Flesh (1954), with Lana Turner, Angeli, Carlos Thompson, and Bonar Colleano; and The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), with Taylor, Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Donna Reed, Eva Gabor, Kurt Kasznar, George Dolenz, Sandy Descher, Odette, and Roger Moore.
Films in the mid to late 1950s include The Last Hunt (1956), with Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Lloyd Nolan, Debra Paget, and Russ Tamblyn; The Catered Affair (1956), with Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Barry Fitzgerald, and Rod Taylor; Something of Value (1957), with Rock Hudson, Dana Wynter, Poitier, and Wendy Hiller; and The Brothers Karamazov (1958), with Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Claire Bloom, Lee J. Cobb, Albert Salmi, Richard Basehart, and William Shatner.
Other films in the 1960s include Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), with Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Madeleine Sherwood, Ed Begley Sr., Rip Torn, and Mildred Dunnock; Lord Jim (1965), with Peter O’Toole, James Mason, Curd Jürgens, Eli Wallach, Jack Hawkins, Paul Lukas, Akim Tamiroff, and Daliah Lavi; and The Happy Ending (1969), with Simmons, Forsythe, Jones, Lloyd Bridges, Teresa Wright, and Tina Louise.
Later films include Dollar$ (1971), with Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn; Bite the Bullet (1975), with Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, James Coburn, Ian Bannen, Jan-Michael Vincent, Ben Johnson, and Dabney Coleman; Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), with Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, William Atherton, Richard Kiley, and Richard Gere; Wrong Is Right (1982), with Sean Connery, Robert Conrad, George Grizzard, Hardy Krüger, Ron Moody, Leslie Nielsen, Katharine Ross, John Saxon, Henry Silva, G.D. Spradlin, Robert Webber, Rosalind Cash, and Angelo Bertolini; and Fever Pitch (1985), with Ryan O’Neal, Giancarlo Giannini, Chad Everett, and Catherine Hicks.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Men of Texas (1942) – directed by Ray Enright – additional dialogue
- Sin Town (1942) – directed by Ray Enright – additional dialogue
- Don Winslow of the Coast Guard (1943) – directed by Lewis D. Collins & Ray Taylor – additional dialogue
- White Savage (1943) – directed by Arthur Lubin – writer
- My Best Gal (1944) – directed by Anthony Mann – story
- Cobra Woman (1944) – directed by Robert Siodmak – co-writer
- The Killers (1946) – directed by Robert Siodmak – uncredited co-writer
- Swell Guy (1946) – directed by Frank Tuttle – writer
- Brute Force (1947) – directed by Jules Dassin – writer
- Crossfire (1947) – directed by Edward Dmytryk – based on his novel
- To the Victor (1948) – directed by Delmar Daves – writer
- Key Largo (1948) – directed by John Huston – co-writer
- Any Number Can Play (1949) – directed by Mervyn LeRoy – writer
- Mystery Street (1950) – directed by John Sturges – co-writer
- Crisis (1950) – director, writer
- Storm Warning (1951) – directed by Stuart Heisler – co-writer
- The Light Touch (1951) – director, writer
- Deadline – U.S.A. (1952) – director, writer
- Battle Circus (1953) – director, wrier
- Take the High Ground! (1953) – director
- Flame and the Flesh (1954) – director
- The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) – director, co-writer
- Blackboard Jungle (1955) – director, writer
- The Last Hunt (1956) – director, writer
- The Catered Affair (1956) – director
- Something of Value (1957) – director, writer
- The Brothers Karamazov (1958) – director, co-writer
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) – director, co-writer
- Elmer Gantry (1960) – director, writer
- Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) – director, writer
- Lord Jim (1965) – director, writer
- The Professionals (1966) – director, writer
- In Cold Blood (1967) – director, writer
- The Happy Ending (1969) – director, writer
- Dollar$ (1971) – director, writer
- Bite the Bullet (1975) – director, writer
- Looking For Mr. Goodbar (1977) – director, writer
- Wrong Is Right (1982) – director, writer
- Fever Pitch (1985) – director, writer
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