[Quick Summary: After outlaw Roy Bean appoints himself judge and jury of Vinegaroon, TX, he encounters wild adventures and famous visitors.]
How do you get across the exaggeration of a tall tale? One key is that repetition can help the tone.
For example, this is the introduction of Bad Bob in today's script:
- Roy Bean has appointed himself the judge of the county.
- Nick the Grub has left the dangerous life of being one of Bean's deputies and has become an onion farmer.
- Bad Bob is an antagonist. He arrives at Nick's farm.
- Notice the number of actions that say "Bob is tough," piled on one after another.
- Notice also how quickly the actions happen in such a short period of time.
EXT. PRAIRIE - FULL SHOT - RIDER
...Bob looked around and dismounted. Nick the Grub had just come out of his hut and was feeding his horse and watering onions. He had a pot of water boiling for coffee. Bob strode over to him, looked the horse up and down and SHOT it between the eyes. It made a hideous SOUND and settled into the dust. [Action 1: Bob shoots a horse without thought or remorse.]
BOB (continuing): Cook it for me. [Action 2: Bob orders Nick to cook a horse, which is a meat that most westerners will not eat.]
Bob sat down and pulled out a huge onion from the ground. He dusted it off, then took a big bite out of it like it was an apple. He took another and washed them down with the scalding water. That's how mean he was. [Action 3 & 4: Bob eats an eye watering onion raw, then drinks scalding water.]
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Exaggeration is helped in a tall tale by the repetition of the outrageous actions, in both number and speed of delivery.
Audiences unconsciously compare this to real life, and know that repetition of this sort does not really occur.
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) (10/18/71 final draft)
by John Milius
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