[Quick Summary: After a hooker dies in front of her boyfriend and the p.i. she hired for protection, the two men uncover a political conspiracy while finding her killer.]
TWO THOUGHTS:
1) MISOGYNISTIC? Critics have called this film misogynistic (example here). On the page, I didn't particularly think so, but I can see how the overall film could be.
2) ESCALATING STAKES. Writer Shane Black is well known for his action scripts. One of the keys is that the stakes escalate in unpredictable ways.
Also, the combination of suspense (ex. we know the dynamite is going to explode) and surprise (ex. explosion has unexpected consequences) isn't formulaic.
For example, in the scene below:
- Hallenbeck is the p.i. Jimmy is the victim's boyfriend.
- They found dynamite on the victim's car.
- Hallenbeck takes the dynamite as evidence and moves it to his trunk.
- Suddenly, two thugs hold them up their car keys.
- Notice that the mixture of suspense and surprise seems to build organically, which adds to the thrill.
- Note: Though the slugline only says "interior", the action soon spills into the exterior parking lot.
INT. HALLENBECK'S PLYMOUTH - NIGHT
...Hallenbeck smiles. Calmly turns and throws the keys as far as he can. They land off in the woods.
HALLENBECK: Oops. Don't know my own strength.
TALL MAN: You dumb bastard, you're going to pay for that. Jake, open the trunk.
Jake steps forward, raises the Beretta to shoot open the lock. Hallenbeck tenses, waiting. Looks to a sloping hillside off to his left. Jake FIRES at the lock. The BULLET BLOWS THROUGH the TRUNK -- and HITS three live sticks of DYNAMITE. [I like that the action here is not telegraphed early. Jake raises his gun, but he might change his mind --> Hallenbeck reacts, waits --> Jake fires --> bullet hits --> dynamite.]
Joe is already throwing himself and Jimmy down the hillside as the night lights up like a sunburst. The trunk lid is blown fifty feet in the air.
Glass sprays in every direction... Jimmy and Joe careen down the hillside like rag puppets. Lurch to a stop at the bottom. Bruised. Bloody. [We expect the scene to end here, maybe with a quip.]
Side by side, sucking wind -- until a noise intrudes, the sound of CRUMPLING METAL... getting LOUDER. They look up -- and there's the flaming car tumbling end over end down the hill, toward them. [Instead, there is an unexpected surprise of a falling car. It's like "out of the pan, into the fire."]
JIMMY: Son of a bitch!
They dive aside just in time as the car plows past them and slams to a stop against a tree. Burns. Jimmy looks at Joe. Joe looks at Jimmy.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked the combination of 3/4 suspense and 1/4 surprise because:
a) it's purely about escalating stakes, and
b) the emotion feels genuine, uncalculated, and not following a set formula.
The Last Boy Scout (1991)(2/25/91 with additional revisions)
by Shane Black
Story by Shane Black and Greg Hicks