Scott Frank is among the best writers working today. Frank has various credits to his name in television and film and typically works within the Western, crime, and political thriller genres.
While Frank’s career spans several decades, he received the most accolades for his work on the brilliant Netflix miniseries The Queen’s Gambit. In some cases, Frank collaborated with other writers amidst the creative process. Regardless, these are the 10 best movies and TV shows Frank has contributed to.
10 'The Interpreter' (2005)
The last film from the legendary filmmaker Sydney Pollack, The Interpreter, is a challenging political thriller that follows a United Nations interpreter (Nicole Kidman) who accidentally uncovers evidence of a conspiracy to stage a political assassination during a major summit.
Frank does an excellent job of weaving in political intrigue throughout the film so that the plot twists come as genuine surprises; the politics never get so confusing that they detract from the tension Pollack creates during individual set pieces. Frank’s dialogue is sharp, and it helps to have great actors like Kidman and Sean Penn there to deliver it.
9 'The Wolverine' (2013)
The Wolverine is perhaps the most underrated film within the entire X-Men franchise. After the disastrous attempt to tell Logan’s (Hugh Jackman) backstory in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, director James Mangold scaled back the production to tell a more focused story about Wolverine seeking a cure for his immortality by meeting an old ally in Japan.
The Wolverine features some of the best writing that deals with Logan’s internal struggle. As he faces the potential end of his life, Logan ponders what he has actually accomplished within his career as a superhero.
8 'Dead Again' (1991)
Kenneth Branagh’s ghostly thriller Dead Again may be the best “genre” film he has ever directed; while Thor, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Cinderella, and the Agatha Christie adaptations are all adequate modern blockbusters, Dead Again adds just the right amount of supernatural qualities to elevate it above other mystery films.
Dead Again follows the private detective Mike Church, who is hired to investigate the sudden appearance of an amnesiac woman (Emma Thompson) who appears upon the doorsteps of his childhood orphanage and may have some secret connections to the spiritual world.
7 'A Walk Among the Tombstones' (2014)
There have been a whole lot of Liam Neeson action movies released within the aftermath of Taken, but A Walk Among The Tombstones is far different from some of the generic thrillers that the great Irish star had appeared in. Neeson stars as an older, grizzled detective who ponders a mistake he made earlier in his career when he accidentally killed an innocent bystander during a shootout.
Frank also directed the film, creating a moody atmosphere that perfectly fits the gloomy story. It’s hopefully not the last time he will collaborate with Neeson.
6 'Godless' (2017)
Prior to directing The Queen’s Gambit, Frank also helmed the brilliant seven-part Netflix miniseries Godless. Godless is a throwback to classical Westerns. It tells an epic story about the ruthless outlaw Frank Griffith (Jeff Daniels) and his quest to find his young protege Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), who abandoned him to choose a more righteous path.
Goode awakens in a town completely dominated by women and must work alongside them and the quirky local sheriff (Scoot McNairy) to protect the community from the impending invasion by Frank and his team of outlaws.
5 'Get Shorty' (1995)
While Frank’s work tends to be a little more serious, Get Shorty is one of the funniest crime capers of the 1990s. The film follows the Miami-based criminal fixer Chili Palmer (John Travolta in one of his funniest roles) as he works undercover in Hollywood for the B-movie director Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) to get close to the leading lady Karen Flores (Rene Russo).
What’s interesting is that Frank doesn’t forsake the criminal conspiracy aspect at all; the film is just as sharply written as any modern crime thriller but happens to feature some hilarious satire of the film industry.
4 'Out of Sight' (1998)
One of Steven Soderbergh’s best movies, Out of Sight follows the cat burglar Jack Foley (George Clooney), who is forced to go on the run with the U.S. Marshall Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) after a robbery scheme goes awry. The film was adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name, but Frank’s Oscar-nominated screenplay perfectly combines the crime thriller and romantic comedy genres.
The film is considered among Soderbergh’s greatest achievements due to the fun nonlinear structure he uses to make the twists and turns even more exciting.
3 'Logan' (2017)
Logan is one of the greatest superhero movies ever made and took everything Frank and Mangold had mastered with The Wolverine and improved upon it even further. Frank abandoned the traditional format of the X-Men series to tell a story about an aging Logan and a mentally tormented Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), who live in isolation in a dystopian world that has rebelled against mutants.
The film draws inspiration from classic Westerns like Shane and Unforgiven with its grizzled hero. It earned Frank a surprising Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay alongside Mangold and co-writer Michael Green.
2 'Minority Report' (2002)
Minority Report is one of Steven Spielberg’s best modern films and showed incredible foresight into the development of technology; the notion of law enforcement being based on predetermined decisions is far more terrifying in a world wrestling with the consequences of developing artificial intelligence.
Frank expanded a Phillip K. Dick short story into a rich narrative that gave Tom Cruise one of his best characters ever. His performance as the former “Pre-Crime” officer Chief John Anderton combines the action star charisma that Cruise inherently has with a heartbreaking backstory.
1 'The Queen’s Gambit' (2020)
The Queen’s Gambit is Frank’s masterpiece. It takes a whole lot for chess to be exciting on screen, but Frank pulled it off with his creative choices as a filmmaker. Elizabeth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) is a terrific protagonist that Frank deconstructs over the course of seven episodes that detail her journey from troubled orphan to champion of her nation.
Frank combines the exciting chess tournament with a sense of Cold War paranoia and respectful conversations about mental health. While some may cry for a follow-up, the seven episodes that Frank left Netflix viewers with wrap up so perfectly that a sequel could never top them.