TODAY'S NUGGET: Midnight Run (1988) - Intricate Setup-Payoffs in an Excellent Action-Comedy-Thriller

[Quick Summary: A stubborn former-cop-turned-bounty-hunter has to transport an equally stubborn, bail jumping accountant from NY to LA.]

I think the rousing success of this film was due to:
- 50% casting (an unlikely, equal pairing of De Niro* and Grodin) and
- 50% a strong script (two strong characters, motives, chemistry, conflict, irony).

The script is a fun and looks so easy.  However, on a closer examination, I am impressed at the high level of difficulty, as it is quite intricate.** 

First, every scene has great subtext and is doing double or triple duty. 

Second, every scene is dependent on other scenes for context, for setups and payoffs - whether it is the next scene, the previous, or even twenty scenes later.

For example, the scenes below is funny, but funnier if you know the context:
- Bail bondsman sent Walsh (protagonist) to pick up Bouchet, a bail jumper.
- Bail bondsman also sent Dorfler in case Walsh failed.
- Walsh got to Bouchet first, but Dorfler took the quarry into his car.
- Walsh outwitted Dorfler, and took Bouchet and Dorfler's car.
- Notice this scene reveals character (revenge on the unjust) and is also a payoff.

EXT. L.A. COUNTY JAIL PARKING LOT - NIGHT

Walsh drives down the street, slowing Dorfler's car outside of the L.A. County Jail parking lot. He pulls in. Part way.

INT. DORFLER'S CAR - NIGHT

Bouchet looks at Walsh.

WALSH: Open your door.

Bouchet, confused, opens the car door. Walsh does the same with his car door. Then he BACKS UP quickly.

EXT. L.A. COUNTY JAIL PARKING LOT - NIGHT

Both doors are RIPPED off the car by the two pillars at the entrance. Then, Walsh swings Dorfler's car into the parking lot through the exit. The tires EXPLODE as Walsh proceeds the wrong way over the metal teeth tha tblock incoming traffic. Walsh keeps moving and SLAMS into a brick wall, CRUNCHING the front end. Then Walsh puts it in reverse and ROARS into the parking spot he targets, CRUNCHING the rear end of the car against another brick wall.

INT. DORFLER'S CAR - NIGHT

Walsh looks at Bouchet.

WALSH: We get out here.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This script is a reminder that nothing this intricate and impeccable exists without a lot of hard work.

Midnight Run (1988)(7/31/87 draft)
by George Gallo

* "Here he proves to have comic timing of the best sort - the kind that allows dramatic scenes to develop amusing undertones while still working seriously on the surface. It's one thing to go openly for a laugh. It's harder to do what he does and allow the nature of the character to get the laughs, while the character himself never seems to be trying to be funny."

**In an interview with director Martin Brest, he said that the "script was intricate in structure that it required the two to come onto the Paramount lot on the weekend when no one was around and spread out eight folding tables in their garden area to chart out every scene. ("George actually said, "I can't take the pressure," Brest laughed,)"

TODAY'S NUGGET: Ronin (1998) - One Key to Seeing Past the Bad Writing to the Good Story

[Quick Summary: In Nice, France, a group of double-crossed mercenaries hunt down the traitor.]

Is there a big difference between bad writing and bad story? Yes.

How long does it take to figure out they are not the same? A LONG, LONG time.

What is the reason?  It is hard to understand the mechanics of WHY a story works.  It is much easier to fix one (writing), than the other (story).

For example, the narratives in this script were often overwritten and gun-happy:

The movie is essentially bereft of a plot. There's an explanation at the end, but it's arbitrary and unnecessary.

So why is the story still good?  For me, it was the emotional stakes.  Also:

“Ronin” is really about characters, locations and behavior.

As you read the two scenes below, try to ignore the length and amount of detail.  

Instead, pay attention to the flow from one scene to the next, i.e., how Deirdre behaves on the street ---> Watcher cleaning nails above. 

EXT. BACK OUTSIDE - SAME TIME.

The PAY PHONE makes a sharp noise as it's cracked back into the cradle. Deirdre stands at the phone booth, lost in thought. Then, without warning - Deirdre spins around, pulling TWO GUNS from inside her coat. The move is fast, performed with the grace of a professional killer, as Deirdre scans the horizon, but nobody seems to be watching. Deirdre  pockets her guns and steps into the shadows of the street, the better to watch -

THE BAR - And as Deirdre watches the bar we watch her.
PULLING BACK from Deirdre, UP INTO THE AIR and then MOVING THROUGH TO - 

INT. A CHEAP APARTMENT - SAME TIME

LOOKING THROUGH A WINDOW, down onto the street below. Barely visible we can see Deirdre. And staring at Deirdre - THE WATCHER. Somebody we're going to see periodically through the movie. Right now he's only a SILHOUETTE with a well-defined PAIR OF HANDS. And in those hands - A KNIFE. As the Watcher watches he slowly cleans his nails with the knife, methodically, perfectly. And he watches. First Deirdre, and then turning his attention to THE BAR. He's especially interested in the bar.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: What someone does and why (behavior and motive) are more compelling to watch than another twist of plot.

Ronin (1998)(5/20/97 draft)
by David Mamet (screenplay) and J.D. Zeik (story)

TODAY'S NUGGET: Don't Look Now (1973) - The "Infamous" Sex Scene - On the Page vs. How It Was Executed

[Quick Summary: A restorer and his wife are in Venice, Italy to repair a church, but are haunted by visions of their recently drowned 7 yr. old daughter.]

I've heard a couple of things about Nicholas Roeg directed films.  The first is that you'll either love them, or really, really hate them.*

The second is that the sex scene in this film often gets cited, both negatively (too graphic and unflattering) and positively:

...probably for the first time since Christine’s death, the Baxters make love. This scene is celebrated for its passion and truthfulness, but its full emotional impact comes through the editing: The lovemaking is intercut with shots of John and Laura dressing afterwards, so that they are at once together and apart, now and later, passionate and preoccupied. There is a poignancy here beyond all reason; in a movie concerned with time, this is the sequence that insists that our future is contained in our present--that everything passes, even ecstasy.

However, on the page, this "infamous" scene is quite tame (see below).  

So, writers, remember: Film is a collaborative medium, i.e., what you write is the beginning, not the end, and relies on others' acting, execution, and editing.

INT. BEDROOM. DAY.

...The MAID bobs and leaves.

JOHN pours the drinks.

LAURA: She was pretty.

She comes and puts her arms round his neck.

LAURA: But not off duty. It's been a long time.

JOHN: Have a drink.

LAURA: Why. Lie down. You're all wet.

She takes another towel and spreads it on the bed. He look at her for a moment, then stretches out on the bed. She takes a towel and starts drying him.
She dries his ears, his throat, his chest. It is a very sensuous process.
She drops her own towel, and lies beside him, her fingers running through his hair.
He looks at her.
She kisses him slowly.
He slides over on top of her.

LAURA: Welcome home.

                                                                            FADE OVER:

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This is a reminder to me that the writer can't take all the credit and can't take all the blame either.  Films are the sum efforts of a group.

Don't Look Now (1973)
by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant
Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier

*Roger Ebert was a fan:

I’ve been though the film a shot at a time, paying close attention to the use of red as a marker in the visual scheme. It is a masterpiece of physical filmmaking, in the way the photography evokes mood and the editing underlines it with uncertainty.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - When They Shot Your Script & It Was Awful; Unconscious Transitions

[Quick Summary: In London, Dracula pursues Mina, who is soon to be married to Jonathan, who is trapped by Dracula's 'wives' in Transylvania.]

I could follow this script but it meandered between 4-5 characters and did not drive to a climax. It felt... muddled (?)*

However, I did appreciate two things that I learned:

1) SOMETIMES NO ONE SEES THE FLAW. The writer recounts here about seeing a first cut that was faithful to his script...and it was awful.

Why couldn’t we have solved this in the script development stage before shooting to avoid ending up in the editing room with a film that does not work? How did I not realize this in the writing stages? How did Francis Ford Coppola, the Maestro living legend, not see this coming?

Answer: Sometimes no one sees it and you have to shoot it to get perspective.

2) UNCONSCIOUS TRANSITIONS. On the page, I find it difficult to move an audience from one location to another without them realizing it.

I thought the writer of this script did a nice job of expressing the unknown looming around Mina, while moving us into Dracula's introduction using a shadow image:

...A grotesque SHADOW moves across them and the room to:

INT. CONSERVATORY - EVENING

MED. CLOSE UP MINA
Mina fixes herself in the mirror before she joins them. The SHADOW moves across the mirror. 

MINA: If I were a man, I know what I would do to make a girl love me.

Slowly, her hands reach up pressing her own breasts. The SHADOW darkens her.

EXT. CASTLE DOORWAY - NIGHT

THE SAME SHADOW - VIEW PANS
revealing what created the shadow: DRACULA, a tall old man. Hands long and hairy. Face riveting, handsome like a Tartar --and horrible at the same time. His eyes a cold vivid blue. He puts down a bowl of fruit and Oriental lantern (that made shadow grotesque) for his guest. He stands there like a statue. We PULL BACK to include Harker.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked that the shadow was used to foreshadow something scary is coming and also introduce us to Dracula.  Double duty!

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)(8/22/91 shooting script)
by Jim Hart

*I tend to agree with Roger Ebert's assessment: "The one thing the movie lacks is headlong narrative energy and coherence. There is no story we can follow well enough to care about."

TODAY'S NUGGET: Cold Mountain (2003) - 3 Obstacles in the Way of Romantic Longing

[Quick Summary: Inman, an injured Confederate soldier, makes his way home to his sweetheart Ada in Cold Mountain.]

This was a nice adaptation, well written, all about longing...but I got bored.  Here are my three reasons:

1) FEELINGS ALONE ARE NOT A FILM.  Inman meets Ada. He goes to war. She stays at Cold Mountain. They long for each other, which is very real.

But longing does not cause either to be pro-active or reactive (unlike guilt or shame) and thus have no repercussions or consequences for us to watch. 

I think this is better as a novel, and not a film.  Roger Ebert puts it better:

By the end of the film, you admire the artistry and the care, you know that the actors worked hard and are grateful for their labors, but you wonder who in God's name thought this was a promising scenario for a movie. It's not a story, it's an idea. Consider even the letters that Ada and Inman write to each other. You can have a perfectly good love story based on correspondence, but only, I think, if the letters arrive, are read and are replied to. There are times when we feel less like the audience than like the post office.

2) LACK OF SUSPENSE. Again, Roger Ebert puts it best:

Nothing takes the suspense out of Boy Meets Girl like your knowledge that Boy Has Already Met Star.

3) SECONDARY CHARACTERS STEAL THE SHOW. It's not good when I'm more interested in Veasey's antics than Inman's pining.

EXT. RIVER, EN ROUTE TO SALISBURY. DAY.

...On a parallel track across the river, RIDERS...impossible to say whether Home Guard or a Federal Raiding Party. Inman splashes out of the water, pushes Veasey down, silencing him. The riders pass. Veasey spots something shining in the grass, picks it up. IT'S A LONG TWO-HANDED SAW.

VEASEY (CONT'D): Hey! Look at this! (flexing it) This is a good saw.

INMAN (getting up): It's not yours. You take it, you make us another enemy. You're a Christian - don't you know your commandments?

VEASEY: You'll find the good Lord very flexible on the subject of property. We could do a lot with this saw...

Inman is vexed, walks away. Veasey follows, experimenting with the saw's music when flexed. Inman stalks on.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I think the key was #2.  If I am expecting a roller coaster and get flat plains, what am I rooting for?

Cold Mountain (2003)(Feb. 2002 draft)
by Anthony Minghella
Based on the novel by Charles Frazier

TODAY'S NUGGET: Spanglish (2004) - How to Stick the Landing of that Bittersweet Moment

[Quick Summary:  When a Mexican woman becomes a maid for a L.A. chef's family,  her inability to communicate brings surfaces the problems in both families.]

One of the things that Brooks' writing does well is stick the emotional landing.

I think the key is his story structure.  First we see the characters' wounds. Then when they make bad decisions, we understand, even if we don't agree with them.

For example, the scene below has a lot of setup:

-We have seen Flor (protagonist) connecting with her employers John and Deborah, who love each other by each have issues. 
-Deborah-Flor share being supportive mothers.  John-Flor share being aware of other people's needs.
-The night Deborah drops a bomb, John flees and runs into Flor. 
- He is in a crisis, wounded, and does not want to be alone.  He needs a friend and cooks her a meal.
- Emotions that have been rising finally break through in this moment of closeness.

INT. RESTAURANT KITCHEN - NIGHT

John and Flor sit at a small table int he kitchen...finishing the greatest late-night meal in the history of Western man. Flor motions that she is finished.

JOHN: That's it...That's it for you. (a shadow passes) I keep thinking I should tell you what happened to me tonight. But, I don't want to spoil this. I don't want to spoil this.

FLOR: I will remember every taste...forever.

JOHN (shy/his heart): I'm very glad you liked it.

FLOR: It's something watching you.

He looks up at her...she has not been seen like this for a very long time, if ever.. lit up by a man.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  That final line really stuck the landing for me.  

Everything has been building to this moment when she's finally being seen, but a cloud hangs over them.

Spanglish (2004)(undated)
by James L. Brooks

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Pianist (2002) - A Passive/Active Survivor + Suspense

[Quick Summary: Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish, Jewish, classical pianist, hides in Warsaw ghetto during WWII.]

I WAS SURPRISED:

1) That this script dropped me in the middle of WWII and kept me so engaged that I forgot I was in this present world.

2) That the protagonist is so passive yet active.* 

Yet I couldn't stop watching. Why? It was the suspense of a man who could not control what befell him (environment), yet made decisions. What would he do next?

In the scene below, note how the man is trapped (passive) yet is still active (his reactions):

INT/EXT. 2ND APARTMENT - SZPILMAN & HIS POV - DAY

...SZPILMAN runs to the door, tries it but it's padlocked and can't open the door.

In panic, he runs back to the window.

His eyes grow wide with terror.

SZPILMAN & HIS POVE AGAIN - THE STREET

A GERMAN TANK bringing its gun to bear on the building next to his.

The gun jerks back and there's a great roaring noise.

The whole building shakes. SZPILMAN reels black, falls, gets to his feet and crawls back to the window

He sees the tank turret swiveling slowly, bringing the gun to bear directly on a lower floor of his building. The roaring noise again.

A terrific explosion. His windows are shattered. Glass everywhere. He is thrown back across the room. Smoke beings to billow and fill the room.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was impressed how this script made me empathize with the impact of helplessness and gratitude for small acts of kindness. 

It stirred me to want to act better, which is the highest compliment to the writer.

The Pianist (2002)(undated)
by Ronald Harwood
Based on the memoir by Wladyslaw Szpilman

*Roger Ebert give a better context to the impassiveness:

Some reviews of "The Pianist" have found it too detached, lacking urgency. Perhaps that impassive quality reflects what Polanski wants to say. Almost all of the Jews involved in the Holocaust were killed, so all of the survivor stories misrepresent the actual event by supplying an atypical ending. Often their buried message is that by courage and daring, these heroes saved themselves. Well, yes, some did, but most did not and--here is the crucial point--most could not. In this respect Tim Blake Nelson's "The Grey Zone" (2001) is tougher and more honest, by showing Jews trapped within a Nazi system that removed the possibility of moral choice.

By showing Szpilman as a survivor but not a fighter or a hero--as a man who does all he can to save himself, but would have died without enormous good luck and the kindness of a few non-Jews--Polanski is reflecting, I believe, his own deepest feelings: that he survived, but need not have, and that his mother died and left a wound that had never healed. (my underline)

TODAY'S NUGGET: Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) - Element of Danger in Comedy

[Quick Summary: Crazy d.j./airman Cronauer is assigned to the Armed Forces Radio Saigon and becomes wildly popular but is thwarted by his superiors.]

This script reads like a monkey swinging from a chandelier, trying to avoid crocodiles, which is NOT the the same as merely swinging from a chandelier.

There's an element of danger and risk in the first.

Or as Cronauer, the main character, says to his straight-as-an-arrow sidekick:

You know, sometimes it's nice to do things specifically so you'd get in trouble. It's called "fun." I'll just make up some stuff that's always true. (starts out, turns) Really. Do something risky once in a while. It's good for the complexion.

What makes it even better is that the antics aren't just for show, but skewer for a deeper purpose. For example:

INT. CONTROL ROOM - LATER

...CRONAUER (into mike): President Eisenhower's itinerary this month includes moving his hands in a circular motion and rotating his sport shirts...See you after lunch.

Cronauer shuts the mike. Garlick and Dreiwitz enter with a reel of recording tape.

GARLICK: Nixon press conference.

Cronauer is about to leave the room, but is intercepted by Hauk.

HAUK: Where do you imagine you're going?

CRONAUER: Lunch.

HAUK: You don't have time for lunch, Airman. You'll stay here and drink instant beverage or something. We promised our audience Nixon highlights by 4 PM. 

CRONAUER: Hey, come on...

HAUK: That's an order.

Hauk exits; Cronauer sighs, defeated. Meanwhile, Garlick has threaded the tape into a player.  Nixon's voice comes on.

NIXON (V.O.): ...question I've been asked many times...Critics of American foreign, draft resisters are soft. They're shallow and they have no purpose.

Cronauer smiles.

CRONAUER: He wants tape highlights? I'll give him tape highlights. Boys, let's edit.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was hooked because Cronauer's risk had a purpose, it was not stupid or thoughtless.

Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)(5/14/86 draft)
by Mitch Markowitz

TODAY'S NUGGET: Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) - The Moment of Despair (Team Breaks Up)

[Quick Summary: The story of how Loretta Webb married young to Doo Lynn, had 6 kids, and created her country singing career.]

I liked this script very much because: 1) It reads faster than a greased pig, and 2) It builds and builds to the moment of despair.

First, it lays out how Doo worked so hard to get Loretta noticed.  

Second, we see that she's well on her way to success, but he no longer has purpose. 

She eventually catches him kissing another woman.  When she hits him with her purse, he injures a finger. 

The entire script has built to this heart wrenching scene when the team breaks up:

INT. HOUSE - NIGHT

...LORETTA: Ain't you gonna talk, Doo? I know what happened today, it wasn't about me wearin' no makeup. Why don't you talk to me?

DOOLITTLE (slowly): I think what I'm gonna do...is get me a job somewhere. Truck drivin', a mechanicin', somethin' I'm good at....

LORETTA: You're good at managin' me. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.

DOOLITTLE: Gettin' here's one thing. Bein' here's another. My job's done. So I'll just find me another'n.

LORETTA: If this is gonna break us up then I'll quit too, Doo. I mean it.

DOOLITTLE: Successful people can't quit, baby. (sees her holding her head) Got another one of your headaches?

She nods.

DOOLITTLE: Just like your daddy. Coal dust give him his headaches. I guess I'm what gives 'em to you... (takes something from his pocket) Figure it was about time.

It's a wedding ring. She looks at it, starts to cry. They hold each other.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The kid in me wants the team to stay together, but the adult in me knows Doolittle is right: "Gettin' here's one thing. Bein' here's another."

This is a good emotional space, as it keeps me rooting for them.

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)(undated)
by Thomas Rickman
Based on the book by Loretta Lynn with George Vecsey

TODAY'S NUGGET: Lucky You (2007) - WHERE the Writer Starts the Emotional Journey (Setup-Payoff)

[Quick Summary: An obsessed poker player, who is unlucky in real life, faces off with his estranged, obsessed poker player father in the World Series of Poker.]

I tend to avoid first drafts on this blog.  However I do make exceptions.

Today's script is a rare original story and script* from a 5 time Oscar nominee who is best known for adaptations.** 

I wanted to know: What set it apart? Why did Eric Bana, Robert Duvall, and Drew Barrymore sign on? What element(s) in the story sold it?

I think one element is WHERE the writer started Huck's emotional state:

- Huck is winning just enough to feed that addiction high. But he's really numb.
- When he meets Billie, he starts to feel good again.
- Huck's dad, however, is scared he's losing his edge, yet plows on.

I like the midpoint scene below because it is a PAYOFF of all the above:
- Huck is at a crossroads: Plow on like dad or take another path?
- Huck has just stolen Billie's paycheck, gambled it away.  He finally has the entry fee for his dream...so why does it feel so hollow?

INT. THE CAESARS PALACE - DAYBREAK

Day's dawning. The casino near empty. The dealers standing waiting for players at the crap table. A lone man at a blackjack table. The other blackjack dealers standing like penguins at the empty blackjack tables. The roulette dealer standing silently his arms crossed. And we see Huck, on the downside, slouched, his hands in his raincoat pockets, sitting on a couch in the lobby...the daylight coming in through the doors, painting him...and there's something not funny about any of it...not interesting...not colorful...there's something so lonely, it breaks you apart...

HUCK'S (V.O.): I don't know why...I'm so tired..everything seems, I don't know, empty...

Ge takes Billie's driver's license out of his pocket, looking at her picture...

HUCK'S (V.O.)(a beat, quietly, it's an effort): Pop quiz...Billie...Her middle name..? Is it: A. Anne...

...And the choices appear on the screen...

HUCK'S (V.O.): B. Carol. C. Catherine. or, D. Jessica.

...looking at her license....

HUCK'S (V.O.): If you said "B.," Carol...give yourself a gold star, you've been listening..

He motions to her name on her license...And he's quiet, looking at her picture...

HUCK'S (V.O.): She's pretty, huh? Break your heart pretty. I can't stop thinking about her.

And for no particular reason he takes the cash out of his raincoat pockets...he lays the packets of money on his chest...and as he sits slouched in the lobby with the money on him...and there's no satisfaction in it...the quiet casino behind him, the first light of the day coming in...And as he looks at Billie's photograph on her driver's license...

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked that the change was so organic.  

Huck consumes synthetic happiness--> feels real happiness w/Billie-->wakes up that synthetic is not so great.

Lucky You (2007)(6/21/02, 1st draft)
by Eric Roth
Story by Eric Roth

* Note: This first draft was eventually re-written by the director/writer Curtis Hanson. 

**Forrest Gump, The Insider, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, A Star is Born.