No discussion?

Alien and Return of the Living Dead, two classics. And Lifeforce was a wild ride, but I don't think it ended up quite the way he wanted.

Movie writers don't usually see a lot of love unless they're also directors, actors, or producers. It's one of the things I find frustrating about the film industry is how little respect writers get, generally, even though they're often the ones first imagining the story taking place on the screen. I've heard it said that a movie is made three times, in the writing, in the shooting (directing), and in the editing - yet, of those three jobs (writer, director, editor) we only really celebrate the director.

Not a lot of people are talking about Robert Towne, either.

Most of the great screenwriters you can name are probably directors. Quentin Tarantino, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Billy Wilder, Spike Lee, the Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, James L. Brooks - directors and/or actors to a one. There are exceptions like Aaron Sorkin and Nora Ephron who are more known for writing, but they're the exception, not the rule.