[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
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