Alexander Jacobs

Alexander Jacobs (1927–26 October 1979) was a screenwriter best known for his work in the action field. His writing style for Point Blank was very influential on Walter Hill.

Jacobs was born in London. He entered the British film industry in the 1940s, working in publicity and distribution. He wrote and directed for British TV and helped found the Free Cinema Group which was instrumental in the careers of such filmmakers as Tony Richardson, Lindsay Anderson and Karel Reisz.

In the 1960s he was assistant to producer David Deutsch on the film Catch Us If You Can (1965) directed by John Boorman and costume designed by Jacobs' wife, Sally. Boorman later wrote about Jacobs:

[He was] my real ally, the one whose opinion I came to depend on for making changes to the script... He looked not unlike Marty Feldman, the same square Jewish face. He had been a pro cyclist, competed in the Tour de France, and had smashed one side of his face in a bad fall. It had been rebuilt and a glass eye fitted, so that he had a similar disconcerting way of looking yet not looking at you, as Marty had. He was steeped in film and became my passionate advocate and counsellor.

Boorman says that one day Dave Clark, the star of the film, said "something insulting" to Sally ("he hated the clothes she made him wear" and Jacobs "flew into a rage. It was a terrifying sight. He frother at the mouth. He smashed his fist into Dave's face." Dave Clarke was unable to film for three days and Alex Jacobs was banished from the set.

When Boorman travelled to the US in November 1966 to make Point Blank he took Jacobs with him to write the script. "We had strong - that is to say, arrogant - views about films and film theory," said Boorman later. They wrote a draft in three weeks. According to one writer Point Blank was "a major achievement, a reworking of a classic gangster text into an explosive reverie on American alienation and madness."

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