John Paxton's work is distinguished by the mating of socially significant themes with potent drama. His choice of themes reflects his interest in probing contemporary problems; anti-Semitism, fascism, juvenile delinquency, suicide, and nuclear war were among the topics he addressed in his screenplays. Critics have praised his lack of didacticism and his ability to create suspenseful drama.

Paxton was born in Kansas City, Missouri, as he described years later at a Friends of UCLA Library screening of his film Kotch (1971), "under towering elms and maples, long gone, on Victor Street.... Happy boyhood in the Midwest, great deal of it riding free on trains alone or with my father, who managed dining cars, railroad hotels; also on farms in Kansas and Colorado...." Paxton attended Kansas City's Central High School where he joined the literary society, which forced him into writing under the threat of a fine.

At the University...