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  • BIRTH 11/04/1944
  • Country United States
  • MOVIES 9
  • SHOWRUNNER 1
  • DIRECTOR 7
  • SCRIPT 14
  • PRODUCTION 4

John Milius

John Frederick Milius is an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures. 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."

John Milius

Movies (9)

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Self
Frazetta: Painting with Fire
Frazetta: Painting with Fire
Himself
Jaws: The Inside Story
Jaws: The Inside Story
Self
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Self
The Lion Roars Again
The Lion Roars Again
Self
Conan Unchained: The Making of 'Conan'
Conan Unchained: The Making of 'Conan'
Self
Gladiateur, glaive et fantasmes
Gladiateur, glaive et fantasmes
Self - Filmmaker
Hell Hath No Fury: The Making of The Outlaw Josey Wales
Hell Hath No Fury: The Making of The Outlaw…
Narrator
Riding Giants
Riding Giants
John Milius

Showrunner

Rome
Rome

Director (7)

Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian
Red Dawn
Red Dawn
The Twilight Zone (1985)
The Twilight Zone (1985)
(1 episode)
The Wind and the Lion
The Wind and the Lion
Flight of the Intruder
Flight of the Intruder
Dillinger
Dillinger
Big Wednesday
Big Wednesday

Script (14)

Rome
Rome
(1 episode)
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian
Clear and Present Danger
Clear and Present Danger
1941
1941
Magnum Force
Magnum Force
Jeremiah Johnson
Jeremiah Johnson
Geronimo: An American Legend
Geronimo: An American Legend
Red Dawn
Red Dawn
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
The Wind and the Lion
The Wind and the Lion
Extreme Prejudice
Extreme Prejudice
Dillinger
Dillinger
Big Wednesday
Big Wednesday

Production (4)

1941
1941
Uncommon Valor
Uncommon Valor
Hardcore
Hardcore
Used Cars
Used Cars