Frank Pierson

Writing

Frank Pierson

Born 1925-05-12 · Chappaqua, New York, USA

Frank Pierson (May 12, 1925 - July 23, 2012) was an American writer, producer and director for film and television, honoured with an Academy Award in the category "Best Writing, Original Screenplay" for the movie "Dog Day Afternoon". He was a Harvard graduate with an BA in Cultural Anthropology.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Dog Day Afternoon poster
7.9

Based on the true story of would-be Brooklyn bank robbers John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile. Sonny and Sal attempt a bank heist which quickly turns sour and escalates into a hostage situation and stand-off with the police. As Sonny's motives for the robbery are slowly revealed and things become more complicated, the heist turns into a media circus.

Dog Day Afternoon

1975

Cool Hand Luke poster
7.7

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.

Cool Hand Luke

1967

Presumed Innocent poster
6.8

Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions.

Presumed Innocent

1990

Conspiracy poster
7.3

At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.

Conspiracy

2001

Cat Ballou poster
6.4

A woman seeking revenge for her murdered father hires a famous gunman, but he's very different from what she expects.

Cat Ballou

1965

The Anderson Tapes poster
6.1

Thief Duke Anderson—just released from ten years in jail—takes up with his old girlfriend in her posh apartment block, and makes plans to rob the entire building. What he doesn't know is that his every move is being recorded on audio and video, although he is not the subject of any surveillance.

The Anderson Tapes

1971

A Star Is Born poster
6.0

Drunken, has-been rock star John Norman Howard falls in love with unknown singer Esther Hoffman after seeing her perform at a club. He lets her sing a few songs at one of his shows and she becomes the talk of the music industry. Esther's star begins to rise, while John's continues to fall. She tries desperately to get John to sober up and focus on his music, but it may be too late to save him.

A Star Is Born

1976

A Star Is Born poster
6.0

Drunken, has-been rock star John Norman Howard falls in love with unknown singer Esther Hoffman after seeing her perform at a club. He lets her sing a few songs at one of his shows and she becomes the talk of the music industry. Esther's star begins to rise, while John's continues to fall. She tries desperately to get John to sober up and focus on his music, but it may be too late to save him.

A Star Is Born

1976

Soldier's Girl poster
7.0

This true story, which takes place in Fort Campbell, KY, tells the heart-wrenching story of the life and tragic death of soldier Barry Winchell. His love for Calpernia Addams, a transgender nightclub performer, was misunderstood by his fellow soldiers and eventually led to his murder.

Soldier's Girl

2003

In Country poster
5.6

Samantha Hughes, a teenaged Kentucky girl, never knew her father, who died in Vietnam before her birth. Samantha lives with her uncle Emmett, who also served in Vietnam. Emmett hangs around with Tom, Earl, and Pete, three other Vietnam vets who, like Emmett, all have problems of one kind or another that relate to their war experiences. Samantha becomes obsessed with finding out about her father.

In Country

1989

Paradise poster
4.1

Televangelist Bobby Paradise "saw God" in some space debris when he was returning to Earth as an astronaut. Or at least he was convinced he did by his wife, a Cape Canaveral groupie at the time Bobby was with NASA. Now they have built up an extensive TV empire. When their proposal to merge with a somewhat tarnished mogul is investigated by the government, skeletons in the Paradise closet come to light and the family either rallies behind or disparages the enterprise.

Paradise

2004

Amanda Fallon poster
8.0

A dedicated family doctor tries to help a pregnant teen-ager.

Amanda Fallon

1973

King of the Gypsies poster
5.9

Zharko, leader of the Romanis in NYC, passes his position of leadership on to his unwilling grandson, Dave, leading to infighting between Dave and his father.

King of the Gypsies

1978

King of the Gypsies poster
5.9

Zharko, leader of the Romanis in NYC, passes his position of leadership on to his unwilling grandson, Dave, leading to infighting between Dave and his father.

King of the Gypsies

1978

The Looking Glass War poster
5.6

When a Polish sailor jumps ship in Britain, a couple of local intelligence operatives keep him under surveillance. Soon, he’s recruited to infiltrate a missile installation outside of East Berlin and bring back photos of the new rockets.

The Looking Glass War

1970

The Looking Glass War poster
5.6

When a Polish sailor jumps ship in Britain, a couple of local intelligence operatives keep him under surveillance. Soon, he’s recruited to infiltrate a missile installation outside of East Berlin and bring back photos of the new rockets.

The Looking Glass War

1970

Dirty Pictures poster
6.1

A Cincinnati museum director goes on trial in 1990 for exhibiting sadomasochistic photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorpe.

Dirty Pictures

2000

Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee poster
6.7

Mary Crow Dog, daughter of a desperately poor Indian family in South Dakota, is swept up in the protests of the 1960s and becomes sensitized to the injustices that society inflicts on her people. She aids the Lakota in their struggle for their rights: a struggle that culminates in an armed standoff with US government forces at the site of an 1890 massacre.

Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee

1994

Citizen Cohn poster
6.3

As lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn lies dying of AIDS in a private hospital room, ghosts from his past visit him as he reflects on his life and loves.

Citizen Cohn

1992

Truman poster
7.6

Biographical account of America's President for the latter part of WWII. Shows Truman's rise from small-town nobody to leader of the USA, his decision to use the Atomic Bomb against Japan, and subsequent election as the US' post-war President.

Truman

1995

The Happening poster
6.3

A group of young drifters kidnap wealthy businessman Roc Delmonico just for kicks. They keep him captive, demanding a ransom for his safe release. However there is no one - wife, Mafia associates or mother - willing to part with the $200,000 ransom. Demonico is dismayed that no one appears unduly concerned about his fate and joins forces with the kidnappers to plot his revenge, blackmailing his once nearest and dearest into parting with $3,000,000 in hush money.

The Happening

1967

Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture poster
7.0

Raymond Eames, a small-time drug dealer, has been sentenced to death for the shooting death of a policeman. After seven years of appeals are exhausted, the date of his execution arrives. His last request is that his execution be photographed. Eames selects Paul Marish, a jaded Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, who is convinced by his agent to visit the small town in Georgia. Sensing a big story, Marish's agent sends in a reporter from Time magazine, and together they begin to investigate the events surrounding the murder, in a small town where emotions are high and opinions are fixed.

Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture

1990

The Neon Ceiling poster
7.8

A housewife and her teenage daughter, fleeing their boring lives, stop in a diner in the California desert. She runs up against the diner's owner, a gruff, beer-drinking artist whose life's work is the neon sculptures he collects and attaches to the ceiling.

The Neon Ceiling

1971