TODAY'S NUGGET: Prizzi's Honor (1985) - Devious Plot Construction; Just Right Amount of Clarity & Information

[Quick Summary: Against everyone's wishes, Charley, an assassin for the Prizzi mobster family, falls for a blonde, who is also an assassin for hire.]

I don't say this about many scripts, but this one is dazzling.

I offer two reasons why:

1) DEVIOUS PLOT CONSTRUCTION.

The story is by Richard Condon, a novelist who delights in devious plot construction, and here he takes two absolutes - romantic love and the Prizzi's honor - and arranges a collision between them. Because all of the motivations are so direct and logical, the movie is able to make the most shocking decisions seem inevitable." - Roger Ebert

2) JUST RIGHT AMOUNT OF CLARITY & INFORMATION.

This script impressed me because the writers gave me just enough clarity, just enough information. 

I could tell because I was able to follow the current scene easily, and then pick up more crumbs later without being confused.

ex. The script begins with this scene:

TWO MEN STAND TOGETHER IN A HOSPITAL CORRIDOR LOOKING THROUGH THE GLASS WINDOW OF A HOSPITAL NURSERY.

DON CORRADO (putting arm around ANGELO PARTANNA, as they look down into bassinet at the infant): You son has lost his mother but he has gained another father. I am his father now, with you. I will be as one with you in protecting his future.

[Who are these men?  How do they know each other?  We do not know.

BUT it is clear that they have a bond...and that is enough for me to follow for now.

Then four pages later...]

 INT. CHURCH - DAY

...All the other men in the first four pews wear dinner jackets.  Directly behind Don Corrado sits ANGELO PARTANNA, his consigliere, a scrawny, bald, and relentlessly dapper man in his mid-70's....

[Ah ha! We learn here that Partanna works for Corrado.  

Notice that the writers waited until p. 5 to clarify who Corrado and Partanna were. They did not try to unload everything on p. 1.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was also very impressed how fast the script read, in large part because the motives were so clear.

ex. The first 25+ pgs. were essentially "boy looks for mystery girl" and I was mesmerized.

Prizzi's Honor (1985)(shooting script, rev.10/30/84)
Story and screenplay by Richard Condon and Janet Roach
Based on the novel by Richard Condon

TODAY'S NUGGET: Used Cars (1980) - Make the Intro to the Character Count

[Quick Summary: After his boss of a used car lot dies unexpectedly, Rudy stumbles along trying to keep the lot out of the hands of the boss' evil brother.]

The plot was ok,
This script was good.
This intro to Rudy was the best part,
Since the actions explain where his character stood.

ex. "EXT. AN EDSEL - DAWN

...Lucky Used Cars is on a 4-lane highway on the outskirts of a southwestern city. Behind it, an alley, some warehouses, and high-tension lines. And the desert.

We CRANE DOWN TO

A 1974 BUICK ELECTRA 225

Its repainted body can't hide the dents and nicks.  The driver's door is open.

We PUSH IN through the rear window, past the steering wheel, all the way into the dashboard, the speedometer, the ODOMETER: 98,577. Then, suddenly...CLICK!  It changes to 38,577!

A MAN pops up from under the dash and bangs his head on the steering wheel!

RUDY: Ow! Fuck!

This is RUDY RUSSO, 32. Rudy is handsome, smooth, a charmer, and a mover. And a liar.  His sartorial taste is a little loud. Rudy sprays some "R & L Essence of Vinyl" across the front seat, and sniffs it.

RUDY: Ahhh!"

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: When introducing your character through his/her actions, make it count.  Make it stand out. Don't start with boring or ambiguous.

Used Cars (1980)(2nd draft, 9/18/79)
by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale

TODAY'S NUGGET: 1941 (1979) - Establishing Fun Tone From the Start with Columbia Pictures Logo

[Quick Summary: In 1940, Americans are in a frenzy because they think the Japanese have invaded the mainland...but they have not.]

I did not like 1941 as much as its successor-in-tone, Airplane! (1980) though the formats are similar (gags, non-sequiturs, multiple stories, etc.)

Did I expect too much from the creators early in their careers?*

I turned to Roger Ebert for clarification:

...the real problem with "1941", I think: This movie was never thought through on a basic level of character and story. All sorts of things are happening, but we're never clear why they have to happen and we haven't been told enough about the characters to care if they survive or not.

Ah ha! Oh well.  At least I learned from the script's great opening:

a) It plays with the Columbia Pictures logo in a playful way that was not often done until the 1980s.

b) It establishes a tongue-in-cheek tone right away.

ex.  "FADE IN:

COLUMBIA PICTURES LOGO

The Lady With The Torch -- proud, heroic.

We HEAR the sound of an air raid siren...and then the voice of EDDIE DEEZEN, yelling!

DEEZEN (V.O.): It's an air raid! Lights out! Lights out!

Of course, the Lady With The Torch is immobile.

DEEZEN (V.O.): Hey, you crazy broad, put that light out!!!

The Lady immediately reacts -- she blows out her torch and the screen goes pitch black!

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Ebert is right.  I cared more about the characters in Airplane! surviving than I did here, and it made all the difference. 

1941 (1979)(Revised 9th draft, 8/28/78)
by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale
Based on the story "The Night the Japs Attacked," by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale and John Milius

* This script and film are the combined talents of Spielberg + Zemekis + Gale + Milius + Belushi + Aykroyd. 

Also, the marketing tag line was: "Soon the screen will be bombarded by the most explosive barrage of #$%(& ever filmed"?

TODAY'S NUGGET: Brooklyn Rules (2007) - Characters' Attitudes as a Foreshadowing Tool

[Quick Summary: Three childhood friends have their loyalties tested in 1970s-1980s Brooklyn where they rub elbows with mobsters.]

This is a great film about the unwritten rules of guy friendship.

These three guys are almost always together, yet I could easily distinguish one from another because of distinct attitudes in dialogue and behavior.

How did the writer do this? 

I think it is because he establishes the characters' attitudes early as kids to foreshadow how they will react as adults.

For example, the scene below comes early in the script. 

Notice the three distinct ways that the three boys (Michael, Carmine and Bobby) react to the same situation:

ex. "EXT. WEEDS - BELT PARKWAY - (LATER THAT) DAY

...

BOBBY (O.S.): Holy shit! Guys, come here!

Michael and Carmine head off running toward Bobby's voice. In a small clearing off the parkway, a small clearing off the parkway, a '74 ELDORADO is parked, engine idling. Behind the wheel, a silk-suited THUG is slumped DEAD.  BLOOD TRICKLES from two exit wounds in his forehead.

CARMINE: Oh fuck!

BOBBY: Is he dead?

MICHAEL: No genius, he's pretending. Look, he even put his brains all over the windshield.

As the kids peer into the open window, Carmine spots a pack of MARLBOROS and a GOLD LIGHTER. He reaches in to take them.

BOBBY: What are you doing?!

Carmine lights a CIGARETTE, then admires his new LIGHTER.

CARMINE: He ain't gonna smoke 'em.

BOBBY (a beat; then): Maybe we should tell somebody.

MICHAEL: What are you, retarded?

CARMINE (looking in car): Think there's any money?

Michael leans in and pops the glove compartment. There, in plain view, is a nickel-plated .38 REVOLVER. He leans in and takes it.

MICHAEL: Whoa. Checkit out.

CARMINE: Holy shit, lemme see.

MICHAEL: No way, man. It's mine.

Michael slips the GUN in his jacket pocket, just as something in the car catches Bobby's eye.  He opens the passenger door.

CARMINE: The fuck you doin'?

Through the window, we see what Bobby is going for - an ANIMAL TRANSPORT CASE in the back seat. He unlocks the wire mesh front, then reaches in and removes a month-old, brown and white

BEAGLE PUPPY

who is very much alive. Bobby cradles the dog in his arms.

BOBBY: Hey puppy, you okay?

CARMINE: He's cute. Sharp teeth.

MICHAEL: What should we do with him?

BOBBY: Nothing. I'm keeping him.

We hear POLICE SIREN in the distance. A beat, then the BOYS exchange looks and take off running..."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The scene above looks like it is about boys finding a dead body...but it's really about what is most valued by each kid (character).

Brooklyn Rules (2007)(4/8/04 draft)
by Terence Winter