Editing Ben Hecht (section)

===Styles of writing===
According to Siegel, "The talkie era put writers like Hecht at a premium because they could write dialogue in the quirky, idiosyncratic style of the common man. Hecht, in particular, was wonderful with slang, and he peppered his films with the argot of the streets. He also had a lively sense of humor and an uncanny ability to ground even the most outrageous stories successfully with credible, fast-paced plots."<ref name=Siegel/> Hecht, his friend [[Budd Schulberg]] wrote many years ago, "seemed the personification of the writer at the top of his game, the top of his world, not gnawing at doubting himself as great writers were said to do, but with every word and every gesture indicating the animal pleasure he took in writing well".<ref name=Eszterhas>Eszterhas, Joe. ''The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God'', Macmillan (2006)</ref>

"Movies", Hecht was to recall, "were seldom written. In 1927, they were yelled into existence in conferences that kept going in saloons, brothels, and all-night poker games. Movie sets roared with arguments and organ music."<ref name=Wilk/>

He was best known for two specific and contrasting types of film: crime thrillers and [[screwball comedies]].<ref name=Siegel/> Among crime thrillers, Hecht was responsible for such films as ''[[The Unholy Night]]'' (1929), the classic ''[[Scarface (1932 film)|Scarface]]'' (1932), and Hitchcock's ''[[Notorious (1946 film)|Notorious]]''. Among his comedies, there were ''[[The Front Page (1931 film)|The Front Page]]'', which led to many remakes, [[Noël Coward]]'s ''[[Design for Living (film)|Design for Living]]'' (1933), ''[[Twentieth Century (film)|Twentieth Century]]'', ''[[Nothing Sacred (film)|Nothing Sacred]]'', and [[Howard Hawks]]'s ''[[Monkey Business (1952 film)|Monkey Business]]'' (1952).

Film historian Richard Corliss wrote, "it is his crisp, frenetic, sensational prose and dialogue style that elevates his work above that of the dozens of other reporters who streamed west to cover and exploit Hollywood's biggest 'story': the talkie revolution."<ref name=Corliss/>{{rp|6}}