American Masters Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey (1985– ) watch online HD

Geez, I've seen this about ten times in film school. It's still pretty interesting. Waldo Salt has written some great stuff, and some horrid stuff too. I think anyone who writes can see themselves in this man. If you want to visit the mind of a screenwriter, then I suppose this is a great place to start.

This documentary covers a lot of interesting and informative ground on screenwriter Waldo Salt, who managed to recover from being a victim of the 1950's Hollywood blacklist and went on to win well deserved Oscars for his sterling scripts for "Midnight Cowboy" and "Coming Home." Salt came to Hollywood at age 20, wrote his first script at age 22, and joined the Communist party at age 24. Moreover, Salt's father was a rightwing extremist and his mother was a recluse, Salt as a result of being blacklisted didn't write any movie scripts for eleven years, and as a direct result of this latter situation wound up writing for television under various pseudonyms. In addition, Salt was a fearless moralist with an intolerance for reality who approached screenwriting as an artist.

The testimonies from such folks as Jon Voight, Robert Redford, his wife Mary Davenport, daughter Jennifer Salt, fellow writers Ring Lardner Jr. and Paul Jarrico, director John Schlesinger, and producer Jerome Hellman further confirm Salt's status as a man of exceptional talent and integrity. Salt himself in his archive interview segments comes across as a real smart, modest, and amiable guy. A nice portrait of a true artist.