Article: Modern Warfare Films from WWI to GWOT: 12 Movie Scripts Worth Reading (Script Library)

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Modern Warfare Films from WWI to GWOT: 12 Movie Scripts Worth Reading (Script Library)

Saving Private Ryan

1998 | War | Feature Film

Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action. [IMDb]

Screenplay by Robert Rodat
** Oscar-Nominated Screenplay **

Script version: Robert Rodat version (undated), and Frank Darabont version (photocopy), dated May 21, 1997(for educational purposes only)

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Black Hawk Down

The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis. [IMDb]

Written by Ken Nolan
Uncredited screenwriters: Mark Bowden, Stephen Gaghan, Steven Zaillian, Ezna Sands, Sam Shepard, Eric Roth
Based on the book "Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War" by Mark Bowden
Script version: Shooting Script, Numbered Scenes, dated 2001 (for educational purposes only)

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Full Metal Jacket

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue. [IMDb]

** Oscar-Nominated Screenplay **
Written by Stanley Kubrick & Michael Herr & Gustav Hasford
Based on the novel "The Short-Timers" by Gustav Hasford
Script version: Photocopy, not correctly formatted as a script (for educational purposes only)

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Platoon

1986 | War | Action | Drama | Feature Film

Chris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. [IMDb]

*** Oscar-Nominated Screenplay ***
Written by Oliver Stone
Script versions: Photocopy, dated April 1985 (for educational purposes)

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American Sniper

Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home with his family after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can't leave behind. [IMDb]

** Oscar-Nominated Screenplay **
Written by Jason Hall
Based on the book "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History" by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice
Script version: Final, Numbered Scenes (for educational purposes only)

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Flags of Our Fathers

The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in World War II. [IMDb]

Written by William Broyles Jr. and Paul Haggis
Based on the book "Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley with Ron Powers
Script version: Photocopy, credited to Paul Haggis, dated March 21, 2005 (for educational purposes only)

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Lone Survivor

2013 | War | Bio | Action | True Story | Based on a Book | Feature Film

Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare. [IMDb]

Written by Peter Berg
Based on the book "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10" by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson
Script version: Final, Numbered Scenes (for educational purposes only)

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Warfare

A platoon of Navy SEALs embark on a dangerous mission in Ramadi, Iraq, with the chaos and brotherhood of war retold through their memories of the event. [IMDb]

Written by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland
Script version: Final Shooting Script (for educational purposes only)

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Courage Under Fire

1996 | Mystery | War Action | Feature Film

A U.S. Army officer, despondent about a deadly mistake he made, investigates a female chopper commander's worthiness for the Medal of Honor. [IMDb]

Written by Patrick Sheane Duncan
Script version: First Draft (for educational purposes only)

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Letters from Iwo Jima

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it. [IMDb]

** Oscar-Nominated Screenplay **
Written by Iris Yamashita (Story by Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis)
Based on the book "Picture Letters from Commander in Chief" by Tadamichi Kuribayashi and Tsuyoko Yoshido
Script version: Photocopy, dated March 9, 2006 (for educational purposes only)

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Zero Dark Thirty

A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011. [IMDb]

** Oscar-Nominated Screenplay **
Written by Mark Boal
Script version: Dated October 3, 2011 (for educational purposes only)

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Gallipoli

Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I. [IMDb]

Written by David Williamson
Story by Peter Weir
Based on the novel "Tell England: A Study in a Generation" by Ernest Raymond (uncredited)
Script version: Final draft, photocopy, undated (for educational purposes only)

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