The world of film is filled with unsung heroes. There are many names you wouldn't recognize, that played an integral part in the creation of some of your favorite movies. Late screenwriter Jeffrey Boam is definitely one of them. This UCLA graduate hustled on the fringe of the industry for much of the '70s, before breaking out with Dustin Hoffman's criminally-underrated 1978 drama "Straight Time". With his foot finally in the door, Boam developed a reputation for killer commercial instincts during the frenzied Reagan era, with his diverse work on David Cronenberg's "The Dead Zone", Joe Dante's "Innerspace", Joel Schumacher's "The Lost Boys", and George Roy Hill's "Funny Farm" comprising his most productive period. In the mid-'80s, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were stuck with inadequate scripts for the third Indiana Jones film. Boam entered with the winning formula in the summer of '87, and many consider the exuberant "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" to be just as good as the original. Jeff made a similar franchise rescue a year later, when mega-producer Joel Silver and director Richard Donner deemed Shane Black's "Lethal Weapon 2" script unconducive with their crowd-pleasing plans. Boam's rewrites added many humorous elements and expanded the role of hyperactive federal witness Leo Getz(memorably played by Joe Pesci), and most importantly, RIGGS SURVIVED the rip-roaring climax. Boam's voice was brought back for 1992's "Lethal Weapon 3", solidifying Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as cinema's premier buddy cop duo(his million-dollar salary likely kept him out of "LW4"). After being sidetracked by television jobs for a few years, a 53 year old Boam sadly succumbed to heart failure in the new millennium, with his last completed movie script being 1996's "The Phantom". There's no doubt that many filmmakers in the last two decades could have benefitted from his eight-hour-a-day writing sessions.
Filmography(nine produced screenplays, the successful ones are darkened)
"Straight Time"(1978)
"The Dead Zone"(1983)
"Innerspace"(1987)
"The Lost Boys"(1987)
"Funny Farm"(1988)
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"(1989)
"Lethal Weapon 2"(1989)
"Lethal Weapon 3"(1992)
"The Phantom"(1996)
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