Page One: ‘Three Days of the Condor’ (1975)

Screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel

The movie version of the opening:

Such a 70s soundtrack! If you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend it. I found the spy part more interesting than the romance between Redford and Dunaway’s character, but I’m probably in the minority on that.

Screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. had an interesting career with several notable feature film credits including Papillon, The Parallax View, The Drowning Pool, and King Kong. He also was a writer-producer on the 60s Batman TV series. Here’s a lengthy interview with Sempel:

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

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