Homicide: A Screenplay

by David Mamet

Investigating the murder of an elderly Jewish woman in a Black ghetto, Bobby Gold, a homicide detective, is forced to come to terms with his own feelings about being Jewish

Genres: Theatre, Film

126 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

About the author

David Alan Mamet is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue and arcane stylized phrasing, as well as for his exploration of masculinity.

As a playwright, he received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997).

Mamet's recent books include The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary, with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, an acerbic commentary on the movie business.

Reviews

[Jim Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing script for a great indie film!

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I've enjoyed movies I've seen based on Mamet plays and screenplays (Glengarry Glenn Ross, for example) his dialog style is extremely hard to read. His adaptation of Chekov's The Cherry Orchard left me completely confused. This screenplay is no exception. While the subject matter was interesting, I still feel like half the story was left untold.