Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and plays in America. He received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some seventy films, including six Academy Award nominations and two wins.
After graduating from high school in 1910, Hecht ran away to Chicago, where, in his own words, he "haunted streets, whorehouses, police stations, courtrooms, theater stages, jails, saloons, slums, madhouses, fires, murders, riots, banquet halls, and bookshops." In the 1910s and 1920s, Hecht became a noted journalist, foreign correspondent, and literary figure. In the late 1920s, his co-authored, reporter-themed play, The Front Page, became a Broadway hit.
"You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din." In that same vein, fans of classic action-adventures won't find any better film than this exhilarating tale, directed by George Stevens. Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. star as cheeky soldiers of Queen and Empire who never run short of battlefield gallantry and chin-up heroics as they combat a murderous sect in colonial India. Stevens skillfully orchestrates teeming battle sequences and boisterous humor. And Sam Jaffe memorably plays the title role of the lowly water-bearer who yearns to be a solder and seizes the chance to prove his mettle. The years go by, but the fact remains: Gunga Din is "the Hollywood action-adventure yarn" (Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide). - Container.
