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John Milius
Writing

John Milius
Known For
Writing
Birthday
1944-04-11,St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Gender
Male
Biography
John Frederick Milius is an American filmmaker. He was one of the writers for the first two Dirty Harry films, received an Academy Award nomination as screenwriter of Apocalypse Now, and wrote and directed The Wind and the Lion, Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn. He wrote a number of iconic film lines such as "Charlie don't surf" and "I love the smell of napalm in the morning," from Apocalypse Now, and the famous Dirty Harry one-liners delivered by Clint Eastwood, including "Go ahead, make my day" and "Ask yourself one question, 'do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?". Milius also wrote the USS Indianapolis monologue in the film Jaws; the sequence performed by Robert Shaw. After his work on Rough Riders (1997), Milius became an instrumental force in lobbying Congress to award President Theodore Roosevelt the Medal of Honor (posthumously), for acts of conspicuous gallantry while in combat on San Juan Hill. Milius made two films featuring Roosevelt: The Wind and the Lion (where he was played by Brian Keith) and the made-for-TV film Rough Riders (where Tom Berenger took the role). The character of John Milner from the 1973 George Lucas film American Graffiti was inspired by Milius, who was a good friend of Lucas while they were at USC film school. Likewise, the character Walter Sobchak in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski, made by his friends the Coen Brothers, was partly based on Milius. The novella "Blind Jozef Pronek and Dead Souls" by Aleksandar Hemon features an episode with Milius, who is described as "sitting at a desk sucking on a cigar as long as a walking stick." In 2013 a documentary about his life, titled Milius, was released. Writer Nat Segaloff called Milius: "The best writer of the so-called USC Mafia, a tight-knit group that resuscitated—some say homogenised American cinema in the 1970s... Raised on Ford, Hawks, Lean and Kurosawa, shaped by filmmakers as disparate as Fellini and Delmer Daves, Milius favours history books over comic books, character over special effects, and heroes with roots in reality, time, place and customs. Milius' stories reflect his own deeply held ethic, which embraces the values of tradition, adventure, spiritualism, honour and an intense loyalty to friends... Although he privately chafes at his public image as a gun-toting, liberal baiting provocateur, he allows himself to be painted as such, at times even holding the brush. He plays the Hollywood game like a pro, yet sticks to his own rules; he is a romantic filmmaker who avoids love scenes; his movies contain violence, yet no death in them is without meaning." Milius himself once said: "Never compromise excellence. To write for someone else is the biggest mistake that any writer makes. You should be your biggest competitor, your biggest critic, your biggest fan, because you don’t know what anybody else thinks. How arrogant it is to assume that you know the market, that you know what’s popular today [...] Write what you want to see. Because if you don’t, you’re not going to have any true passion in it, and it’s not going to be done with any true artistry."

Filmography

The Searchers: An Appreciation

0

The Searchers: An Appreciation
2006-01-01

A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and 'The Searchers'

9

A Turning of the Earth: John Ford, John Wayne and 'The Searchers'
1998-01-01

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

7.923

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
1991-11-27

Hollywood Gangster

0

Hollywood Gangster
2008-12-27

Made in Hollywood: Die Welt des Raoul Walsh

0

Made in Hollywood: Die Welt des Raoul Walsh
2017-01-01

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

7.1

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
2003-03-09

Frazetta: Painting with Fire

6.6

Frazetta: Painting with Fire
2003-05-08

Iron and Beyond

6.4

Iron and Beyond
2002-11-15

7.6

Riding Giants
2004-07-09

Hell Hath No Fury: The Making of The Outlaw Josey Wales

7.5

Hell Hath No Fury: The Making of The Outlaw Josey Wales
1999-03-30

An Opera of Violence

6.8

An Opera of Violence
2003-11-18

Conan Unchained: The Making of 'Conan'

6.8

Conan Unchained: The Making of 'Conan'
2000-05-30

The Making of '1941'

6.7

The Making of '1941'
1996-05-28

7.1

Milius
2013-03-09

In the Teeth of Jaws

8

In the Teeth of Jaws
1997-01-01

A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American Zoetrope

7.6

A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American Zoetrope
2004-09-14

Jaws: The Inside Story

7.3

Jaws: The Inside Story
2010-06-16

Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul

6.3

Dino De Laurentiis: The Last Movie Mogul
2001-04-01

The Bridge on the River Kwai: An Appreciation by Filmmaker John Milius

8.5

The Bridge on the River Kwai: An Appreciation by Filmmaker John Milius
2000-11-21

Conan the Barbarian

6.81

Conan the Barbarian
1982-03-16

Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away

0

Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away
1986-01-01

Discovering Treasure: The Story of 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'

7.4

Discovering Treasure: The Story of 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'
2003-09-30

7

First Works
1989-10-10

Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic

7

Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic
2019-04-14

A Riddle of Steel: The Definitive History of Conan the Barbarian

8.5

A Riddle of Steel: The Definitive History of Conan the Barbarian
2019-08-31

6.2

Deadhead Miles
1972-08-08

A Moral Right: The Politics of Dirty Harry

4.5

A Moral Right: The Politics of Dirty Harry
2008-07-23

Dirty Harry: The Original

7.3

Dirty Harry: The Original
2001-11-20

The Business End: Violence in Cinema

8

The Business End: Violence in Cinema
2008-06-03

The Wages of Sin

7.5

The Wages of Sin
2003-11-18

Shotgun Freeway: Drives Through Lost L.A.

7

Shotgun Freeway: Drives Through Lost L.A.
1995-03-01

The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry

5.8

The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry
2008-07-23

The Lion Roars Again

6.5

The Lion Roars Again
1975-01-01

The Craft of Dirty Harry

6

The Craft of Dirty Harry
2008-06-03

The Evolution of Clint Eastwood

7

The Evolution of Clint Eastwood
2008-06-03

Something to Do with Death

6.3

Something to Do with Death
2003-11-18

5.6

Crazy Mama
1975-06-01

Between the Lines: The True Story of Surfers and the Vietnam War

0

Between the Lines: The True Story of Surfers and the Vietnam War
2008-06-26

7

The Emperor
1967-01-06