[Quick Summary: When Danny finds a magic ticket that allows him to go into movies, he helps his favorite action hero Slater fight crime.]
This is a great idea and I can see why they're trying to remake it ever since. However, I did get bored with the many action sequences.
On the other hand, I was impressed with the pacing and flow of action.
There's definite tempo (bad guys, good guys, build tension, crash!), but also knowing when to stretch and when to speed up.
In the scene below:
- Slater has been injured. It is all up to Danny on a girl's bike vs. bad guys in sedan.
- The writers make you feel how it feels to be Danny (headlights looming at him).
- They also secretly speed up our mind's eye (fall out window, lying on grass).
We're talking a TWO-TON SEDAN versus a GIRL'S FIVE SPEED. With Smurfs. They race toward each other. Collision imminent. DANNY is sweating. Teeth gritted. Eyes squeezed nearly shut.
DANNY: This is gonna work...it's a movie, I'm a good guy, this has got to work....
The headlights LOOM in front of him. Blinding. RUSHING FORWARD.
And it hits DANNY like a thunderbolt:
DANNY: I'm the comedy sidekick. Oh, shit, I'm the comedy sidekick. IT'S NOT GONNA WOOOOORRRK!
Needless to say, he swerves, jumps the curb, doing fifty, races for the edge of a hillside as we
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
SLATER appearing, huffing and puffing --way in the background, a TINY SCREAMING DANNY can be seen on a bicycle as he goes through a second story window.
Shouts. More breaking glass. Curses in Yiddish.
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
SLATER turns, sees DANNY falling out of another window, lying on the grass.
EXT. STREET - NIGHT
DANNY, groggy, as SLATER reaches him.
DANNY (a whisper): I think I scared 'em pretty good.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This script makes you feel what Danny is feeling in real time, which is due to pacing. Slow down for emphasis, faster over boring parts.
Last Action Hero (1993)(10/20/92 draft)
by Zak Penn and Adam Leff
Current draft by Shane Black and David Arnott
Production Polish by William Goldman
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