The sharp-edged, stylized screenplay, by Ernest Lehman (known forSabrina (1954),The King and I (1956), and later forNorth by Northwest (1959),West Side Story (1961),The Sound of Music (1965), andWho""s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)) and the acclaimed left-wing American playwright Clifford Odets (known forGolden Boy (1939), Humoresque (1946)andThe Big Knife (1955)), was based on Lehman""s own original novelette (retitled asTell Me About It Tomorrowwhen published inCosmopolitanin 1950).She uses the photos as blackmail to ruin his reputation and turn the public against him.At one point earlier in the film, she remembers how Gantry had seduced and violated her when she was ""saved"" as a teenager, when asked if Gantry could save anybody:Can he? Ha, ha, ha, ha! Can he!? Anywhere, anytime.Her fiancee is a promising, but penniless legal student who plans to marry her after passing his exams (and becoming a "real lawyer").By Day Two, Israeli ground forces appeared on the verge of defeat.In the event that their ground forces were overrun, an Israeli A-4 jet took off on patrol with one nuclear bomb.