Paul Schrader: Collected Screenplays Volume 1: Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Light Sleeper

by Christopher Hampton and Paul Schrader

Paul Schrader is US cinema's hardcore intellectual. This title collects three of his finest screenplays, Taxi Driver, American Gigolo and Light Sleeper, that form a kind of triptych devoted to a single, soulful character.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571210228
• ISBN13: 9780571210220
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Light Sleeper wins my sleeper award for best screenplay

(NOTE: While TAXI DRIVER [both the script and the film] is what pulled me to Schrader's writings, it is LIGHT SLEEPER that has made me a lifelong fan. What follows is a review of that remarkable script...though I must admit I'm not fan of the flick.) Part drug dealer, part counselor, all drifter, the forty-something character John LeTour of Paul Schrader's LIGHT SLEEPER is both charming and captivating. We might despise what he does for a living, but because he genuinely cares about the people that surround him, other readers may find themselves as I did: rooting for this unlikely hero. The script is a quick and delightful read because Schrader writes for his audience. Sure, ideally the screenplay will eventually serve as a blueprint for a film as this one did. But before it can make its way to the can it must first capture the attention, admiration, and accolades of the film financiers, actors, agents, cinematographer, studio execs, and more. One of the difficulties in reading most screenplays is the inclusion of industry formatting. Instead of using standard slug lines, Schrader begins one sequence with the title "CONFESSOR LETOUR." In the next line we learn when and where we are, but from the onset we understand the thrust of the story. Hence we read on anxious to learn about this remarkable character who is more than just a drug dealer to his clients, but a confidant, a counselor, an in-person hotline operator, and even--occasionally--a friend. The dialogue is equally enthralling. Call me picky, but I enjoy hearing characters actually speaking to each other--listening or deliberately not listening--rather than diving into tangents as the writer suddenly realizes he needs to develop a plot thread. Schrader also writes as people speak. In short sentences. Using nouns and verbs. One word, when necessary. Really. And an occasional simple expression, foul or not. It makes for a quick and enjoyable read, one that can easily fit into the hectic routine of just about any reader. Grab LIGHT SLEEPER (or the collection that contains it) and slip it into your beach bag, carry on, or glove box to read the next time you need to fill a few minutes. You'll be glad you did, even if the subject matter falls a bit outside your ordinary world.

Great Collection Of Screenplays

Reading a Paul Schrader screenplay is like reading a book. His writing style is so natural that you don't feel you reading a script but a text that can stand by it's own. This should be required reading for all screenwriters.

Great Value

Paul Schrader positions Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, and Light Sleeper as the first three film in a quartet depicting, as he puts it, "...a certain character... who drifts on the edge of urban society, always peeping, looking into the lives of others. He'd like to have a life of his own, but doesn't know how to get one." This character is angry in his 20s (Taxi Driver), narcissistic in his 30s (American Gigolo), and anxious in his 40s (Light Sleeper). In his brief introduction to the collected screenplays for these three films, Schrader announces the existence of a fourth script that will show this "certain character" in his 50s, after which "I'll retire him. It's getting too difficult to finance existential character studies." Schrader finds the genesis for this character in his own strict Calvinist upbringing and subsequent escape to LA, where he says "I was not unlike Travis Bickle: a bundle of tightly wrapped contradictions." He thus wrote the script to Taxi Driver in a chapter format "because I wanted to capture the seeming randomness of Travis' life..." Several years later finds the script for American Gigolo in a conventional format because "I was `in' Hollywood... and wanted scripts that looked like everyone else's." Light Sleeper, being an independent film, was able to return to the chapter format (for better or worse). Both Taxi Driver and Light Sleeper were previously published as single volumes by Faber & Faber, and in the case of Taxi Driver, it's shame to have lost the 14 page dialogue between Schrader and Martin Scorcese that was in that book. Still, it's hard to complain about getting three Schrader scripts in one book, and judging from the "1" in the title, further Schrader collections are forthcoming.