It is stunningly well researched and, consequently, disturbingly plausible. It's an impressive and gripping book, notable not least for its air of authenticity. And also, incidentally, that he was as adroit at writing science fiction as he was in any other genre. Or probes beyond the outer limits of the human mind - as the Corgi "supershocker" paperback cover would have it.Ĭhayefsky wrote Altered States initially as a novel, impressively demonstrating that he was as talented in the prose form as he was in film or television scripts. Using hallucinogenic drugs and an isolation tank (sounds like fun) he explores the outer boundaries of human consciousness. His tirade "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more!" Is still frequently quoted (and misquoted, like "Play it again, Sam").īut we're concerned here with another Chayefsky classic, Altered States (great title, by the way) in which rogue scientist Edward Jessup suffers a very different kind of meltdown.
His celebrated and touching TV play Marty was made into a movie which won him the first of his three Oscars.Ĭhayefsky subsequently wrote a number of classic film scripts, perhaps most memorably the wonderful Network in which news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) suffers an unforgettable onscreen meltdown.
He started off in TV - in the golden days of live television. Paddy Chayefsky was perhaps the greatest American screenwriter.
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