The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky: The Screenplays Volume 2 Review

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(More customer reviews)I have just finished this particular collection of screenplays, two of which are Academy Award winners and I am knocked out, just completely bowled over by them.I've always been a fan of Chayefsky, ever since I first saw NETWORK (included), perhaps his best known film.I hadn't seen THE HOSPITAL and caught only part of ALTERED STATES on television once.Let me say, they are every bit as dark and funny and pertinent to today as NETWORK.
Brief summaries:NETWORK is a satire on Network television, the story of a news anchor who goes crazy (or not so crazy) and the ensuing descent of his network as they play to the lowest common denominator for ratings.Through Peter Finch, Chayefsky has bequeathed us the immortal line, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more."Fans of the film will notice this script contains some extra dialogue and one brief scene, all of which was probably shot, but which the great director Sidney Lumet saw fit to cut.It won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1976.
THE HOSPITAL script also won an Academy Award.Here Chayefsky satirizes a bevy of denizens in a large New York hospital complex and the activists of the surrounding neighborhood, making them all complicit in the killing of "God" who checked himself in as a patient.It's a fantastically snarky story, full of dialogue like
BOCK: What do you say Miss Drummond?
BARBARA: I expect you can call me Barbara, considering you ravished me three times last night.
BOCK: Three times?
BARBARA: Oh, look at him, pretending he didn't count.
Finally, there is ALTERED STATES, perhaps my favorite, which did not win any awards, and is considered somewhat of a failure as a film.Well there's a story behind that.Chayefsky, with his reputation (he also won a screenwriting Oscar for MARTY), was able to secure an unheard-of contract for the movie: not a single line could be changed.This is standard in theater, but film is considered a director's medium -- and the director, Ken Russel, was adamant about rewriting.He tried to change a few lines and Chayefsky shut him down.Russel retaliated by trying to film the dialogue in the worst way possible, having it interrupted by other sounds, turned down too low, having actors speak it in weird ways.After reading this script, one will agree this was a tragedy.ALTERED STATES is nothing less than Chayefsky's answer to every scientific and religious question.It packs a mind-blowing philosophical punch behind a science fiction story about a psychologist who regresses to a primitive consciousness.It is also completely, touchingly human in the end.
There are other volumes of his screenplays, teleplays and stageplays -- all of which I am now desperate to get my hands on and read.For anyone who reads screenplays, this book is an absolute essential.I'm going to keep it in a reverent place on my shelf.Staggeringly good.5/5 stars!

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A collection of screenplays by this brilliant writer. Includes: "The Hospital," "Network," and "Altered States."

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Randy Newman Anthology, Vol. 2 (Music for Film, Television and Theater) Review

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(More customer reviews)This second volume of Randy Newman sheet music is of the same high quality that Volume One was. The transcriptions are accurate and each song is detailed in the key it was recorded in. There are some excellent selections in this book, including 'Laugh and Be Happy', 'My Life is Good', 'Make Up Your Mind', 'The Ballad of the Three Amigos' and the two instrumental tracks from 'Avalon' and 'Awakenings'.

Perhaps the only 'problem', if you can call it that, is that the selections are mainly from particular movie soundtracks. I am a huge fan of Randy's songwriting and have all of his albums (including the box-set 'Guilty', which does have some of the film scores reproduced on Volume 2); however, I have not tracked down the soundtracks from 'Monsters Inc', 'Toy Story' and 'James and Giant Peach', for example. Further, the theatre piece 'The Education of Randy Newman' is, to the best of my knowledge, not available for public release. There is a song in the Volume 2 anthology called 'Stupid Little Songs' which is from that theatrical piece; however, given its unavailability, we really have no idea (apart from the how the music reads on the page) how Randy sings it or how it should go. Therefore, half of the music in this book is kind of inaccessible, in a sense of the word. You will need to be diligent to hunt down the other tracks that are not as easily accessible should you wish to play the music in Volume 2 as confidently and assuredly as you would with the music in Volume 1.

Nevertheless, it's Randy, and he writes well. I love his music and any addition to his sheet music ouevre is welcomed with open arms.

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Product Description:
Level 3-4.Arranged for Piano/Guitar With Lyrics by Michael Roth.31 selections featuring Randy Newman's award winning compositions and songs from film, television, and theater. This collection includes songs and several suites--piano adaptations of Newman's instrumental film music that shows a different side than his songs. These arrangements were assembled using the composers own notes and orchestrations, transcribing performances from various recordings, concerts and takedowns.
Each piece contains historical and contextual comments from Randy Newman.

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