Screenwriter Rudolph Wurlitzer is considered "the individual most responsible for exploring this genre, having practically invented it himself in the late '60s and then helped to nurture it in the scripts of others", such as McBride's Glen and Randa, Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop, Cox's Walker, and Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Wurlitzer worked on the script of Gone Beaver, which Rosenbaum describes as "a visionary script" for Jim McBride.
Rudolph Wurlitzer is considered the key figure in exploring this genre, having pioneered it himself in the late 1960s and then helped develop it through his work with other writers, including those behind Glen, Two-Lane Blacktop, Walker, and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Wurlitzer contributed to the script of Gone Beaver, which Rosenbaum sees as a groundbreaking piece for Jim McBride.