Remember the Vanity Fair article about lost Ambersons?

[Kane76]

It's been reprinted in the book, Vanity Fair's Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories Behind the Making of 13 Iconic Films, available since December, but I just found out about it.

It also has articles of interest for a number of films, including Reds, Beatty's best film, in my opinion.

[tonyw]

It also has articles of interest for a number of films, including Reds, Beatty's best film, in my opinion.[/quote]

REDS would have been even better if Beatty had the courage to stick with Trevor Griffiths's original screenplay and not got Elaine May and Robert Towne to rewrite it.

[ToddBaesen]

TonyW:

What changes are you referring to in regard to the script for REDS?

I've never heard about a version that was better than what appeared on screen... can you elaborate why the original script was so much better?

Robert Towne and Elaine May aren't exactly hack writers, but I had never heard they had "improved" the script for REDS, but of course Towne's reputations was always that of a "script doctor."

If there is anything you can point to that backs up your claims, I'd like to hear about it...

[tonyw]

All I can do is refer you to the introduction by Trevor Giffiths to his teleplay for THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH, (his take on SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC) as well as the book POWERPLAYS by Mike Poole which deals with it. So far, I've not read any in-depth discussion of the changes and have two books about Griffith on order by inter-library loans, the most recent by John Tulloch published by Manchester University Press.

Trevor Griffiths is very busy at the moment working on a stage adaptation of his screenplay about Tom Paine, THESE ARE THE TIMES, which Richard Attenborough was to film in the 90s but now seems very far from any film version. Griffiths mentioned how busy he was to me when I emailed him about an article I was writing about David Mercer.

From what I've inferred from the references I've read to the changes, the original screenplay became a victim of Reagan's election at the time, something that also had much to do with the adverse reaction to Michael Cimino's HEAVEN'S GATE.

Griffiths has a Web site but I don't think there is much information there and, at this moment, assuming he would agree to an interview, would only do it at a pre-arranged time in London.

[ToddBaesen]

Thanks for the info... If you ever get to talk with Trevor Griffiths be sure to let us know where it appears, as I agree with KANE76 that REDS is Beatty's best film, and would be fascinated to see if the original Griffiths script was better than what ended up on screen!