Irwin Shaw

Writing

Irwin Shaw

Born 1913-02-27 · The Bronx, New York, USA

Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: The Young Lions (1948), about the fate of three soldiers during World War II, which was made into a film of the same name starring Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, and Rich Man, Poor Man (1970), about the fate of two brothers and a sister in the post-World War II decades,[1] which in 1976 was made into a popular miniseries starring Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, and Susan Blakely.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Ulysses poster
6.5

A retelling of Homer's The Odyssey, focusing on Ulysses's ten-year journey home to Ithaca following the Trojan War, where he faces various mythical challenges while his wife Penelope fends off suitors.

Ulysses

1954

The Talk of the Town poster
7.3

Hilarity ensues when a falsely accused fugitive from justice hides at the house of his childhood friend, which she has recently rented to a high-principled law teacher.

The Talk of the Town

1942

Take One False Step poster
5.4

Catherine Sykes disappears after a midnight drive with Professor Andrew Gentling . When she's presumed murdered, his friend Martha convinces him that he's a prime suspect and should investigate before he's arrested.

Take One False Step

1949

Desire Under the Elms poster
6.8

Ephraim Cabot is an old man of amazing vitality who loves his New England farm with a greedy passion. Hating him, and sharing his greed, are the sons of two wives Cabot has overworked into early graves. Most bitter is Eben, whose mother had owned most of the farm, and who feels who should be sole heir. When the old man brings home a new wife, Anna, she becomes a fierce contender to inherit the farm. Two of the sons leave when Eben gives them the fare in return for their shares of the farm. Meanwhile, Anna tries to cause some sparks by rubbing up against Eben.

Desire Under the Elms

1958

Fire Down Below poster
5.7

Tony and Felix own a tramp boat, and sail around the Caribbean doing odd jobs and drinking a lot. They agree to ferry the beautiful but passportless Irena to another island. They both fall for her, leading to betrayal and a break-up of their partnership. Tony takes a job on a cargo ship. After a collision he finds himself trapped below deck with time running out (the ship is aflame), and only Felix, whom he hates and has sworn to kill, left to save him.

Fire Down Below

1957

Act of Love poster
6.9

While on holiday on the French Riviera, former soldier Robert Teller recounts his time in WWII-era France, where he meets and falls in love with a poor girl named Lise. However, they're unable to marry when Lise is accused of prostitution and Teller's commanding officer forbids the match. The couple's love is again tested when Teller learns the truth about his would-be wife's whereabouts.

Act of Love

1953

Commandos Strike at Dawn poster
5.5

A gentle widower with a small daughter finds his peaceful small rural village suddenly invaded by Nazis and, enraged in short order by their atrocities, becomes the leader of an aggressive underground movement.

Commandos Strike at Dawn

1942

I Want You poster
5.2

The scene is a small town in the Eastern United States, where the outbreak of hostilities in Korea has a profound effect on several people. WWII veteran Martin Greer wants to re-enlist, much to the dismay of his wife Nancy.

I Want You

1951

The Big Gamble poster
6.0

Irish seaman Vic Brennan persuades his Dublin family to finance a truck-hauling business in the remote African town of Jebanda. The only stipulation is that his cousin Samuel, a timid bank clerk, accompany Vic and his Corsican bride, Marie, to Africa and protect the family fortune.

The Big Gamble

1961

This Angry Age poster
6.1

20-year-old Joseph and his 16-year-old sister Suzanne live in the merciless conditions of an intemperate foreign land with their widowed mother. Their mother attempts to exert a hold on her children by involving them in the family's run-down rice plantation. However, the siblings seek liberation, and look for this in their romantic lives. Suzanne becomes involved with Michael and Joseph finds a love interest in Claude.

This Angry Age

1957

No artwork available
NR

A married couple treat themselves to a day out just by themselves. But the occasion is ruined by the husband's roving eye.

The Girls in Their Summer Dresses

1973

The Big Game poster
6.6

A quarterback stands against gangsters out to control the college sports scene.

The Big Game

1936

In the French Style poster
5.9

A young American art student must decide whether to stay in Paris with her boyfriend or go back to the U.S. when her wealthy father arrives to bring her back.

In the French Style

1963

In the French Style poster
5.9

A young American art student must decide whether to stay in Paris with her boyfriend or go back to the U.S. when her wealthy father arrives to bring her back.

In the French Style

1963

Bury the Dead poster
7.0

An expressionist and anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatizes the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to be buried. Each rises from a mass nameless grave to express his anguish.

Bury the Dead

1969