TODAY'S NUGGET: The Grifters (1990) - One of the Very Best Solutions to a Problematic Introduction

[Quick Summary: A small time con man is torn between his high-stakes con mother and con girlfriend, who have their own interests.]

I'm always interested in how writers solve story problems.  This novel was one of those problematic adaptations.

According to screenwriter and novelist Donald E. Westlake, he turned it down at first, and director Stephen Frears asked him why. 

"It's too gloomy," Westlake said. Frears said it wasn't if you looked at it from the mother's point of view, which was about "the price of survival." 

Still, Westlake saw other pressing problems:

The problem is the mother comes into the story third. The son has to come first and the girlfriend has to come second....[H]ow are you going to tell the audience that the third character on board is the one you're supposed to watch? And he [Frears] said the thing that they always say sooner or later: "Well, you're the writer."

So I said, "Alright, give me a week, and if I can find a way to let the audience know that they should watch the mother, then ok, I'll do it. But then otherwise, not."  He said, "Alright."

And then six days later, I called him and said how about we open with a triptych, where we see the three characters entering their lives through three different doors and three different locations. And that way, at least we're on a level playing field for who's our main character, and let the audience work it out. And that's what we did. (bold mine)

Wow! What a genius solution!

So when you read this scene (below), pay attention:
1) that it's not about the techniques (split screens, wipes), but how they're used to convey meaning (these three characters are equally important).  

2) that this kind of cinematic language is crucial for film, i.e. things seen but unspoken and understood, but may be less important in other art forms. 

EXT. RUIDOSO DOWNS - DAY

...WIDE SHOT, track in b.g., as Lilly parks the Chrysler, gets out, locks the car. As she walks toward the track, WIPE RIGHT, as SCENE TWO WIPES IN from the left. SCENE ONE CAMERA FOLLOWS Lilly as she walks across the large parking area. SPLIT SCREEN.

SCENE TWO:

EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY

Downtown Los Angeles, near the courts and the business section. ROY DILLION, 25, handsome and charming but self indulgent, parks his orange Honda convertible, gets out, picks up a large ledger book from the back seat, goes around to open the trunk.

AN ANGLE on the trunk, establishing the tools of the salesman's trade: catalogs, samples, ledgers full of manuals and product sheets. Roy adds the ledger from the back seat, shuts the trunk, walks away.

EXT. 6th STREET - DAY

Roy walks around the corner near a bar/restaurant. As he approaches it, WIPE LEFT, the two half-width scenes contracting to one-third each as SCENE THREE WIPES IN from the right.

SCENE ONE: Lilly approaches the track's entrance doors.

SCENE TWO: Roy approaches the bar.

SCENE THREE:

EXT. SANTA MONICA BOULEVARD - DAY

A baby blue Cadillac parks in front of a jeweler.

AN ANGLE on the driver's door as MYRA LANGTRY, 36, beautiful in an impersonal calculating way, gets out, carrying a small jewelry case, and locks the car. At first glance, Myra looks rather like Lilly. (Myra always wears large dangly earrings, and usually wears big-lensed dark sunglasses.)

SIMULTANEOUSLY:

SCENE ONE: Lilly enters the track.

SCENE TWO: Roy enters the bar.

SCENE THREE: Myra enters the jeweler's.

WIPE RIGHT AND LEFT, as SCENE TWO takes FULL SCREEN.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  So much of the writer's job is "if I can let the audience know..." without telling them.  

When I watched the film, I was truly impressed that I caught on so quickly, just with these visuals, and without being told.

The Grifters (1991)(2nd draft, March, 1989)
by Donald E. Westlake
Based on the novel by Jim Thompson