[Quick Summary: After a neighbor is murdered in a mob hit, Gloria traipses around NYC trying to keep the neighbor's 8 y.o. son safe.]
I always thought John Cassavetes' scripts were well written and emotional, but not particularly illuminating for me.
That is, until this one, which truly is "written to be acted, not read."
On the page, there's not a lot of action. However, in the space BETWEEN the actors, the energy flows back and forth like a constantly revolving hourglass.
In the scene below:
- This aha! moment takes us from the end of act two into act three.
- Gloria has housed, fed, defended this kid against the mob for about 48 hrs.
- The kid and she have bonded a little, but she's ill-equipped to be a parent. He just wants the world to be ok again, to go home to a family that does not exist.
- Notice how this conflict and distrust flows back and forth in subtext.
EXT. BROADWAY & 157TH ST. DAY. (EARLY A.M.)
A CAR comes SCREECHING down the street. GLORIA freezes. She can't move. PHIL looks up at her.
PHIL: What's the matter?
GLORIA: Nothing.
PHIL: Tell me what it is. You got a pain? Was it the car? Did it scare you? [He's grown up a little & thinks about her.]
GLORIA looks up at PHIL.
GLORIA: I'm not doing the right thing. I should be sending you to a Boarding School. [Her a-ha! moment.]
PHIL: You mean an orphanage. [He's skeptical she cares.]
GLORIA: I mean, a Boarding School, you stupid, little twerp. [Not particularly patient.]
PHIL: Wrong. I'm with you. They're looking for both of us, remember? If they kill you, they kill me, right? Gloria, let me be honest with you. I'm crazy about you. Do I have a chance? [He's asking for reassurance that she can't give.]
GLORIA: No.
PHIL: Okay. Anyway, you're not Spanish like me. You're not my mother. You're not my father. You're not anybody to me. You're not enough for me. Okay, Gloria? [He's acting older than his years.]
GLORIA doesn't answer.
PHIL (continues): So, I'm going to go find family and some new friends and a girlfriend, too. You're a nice girl, Gloria, but you're not for me. [He will solve his own problems, naively.]
GLORIA: Okay, fine. [She does not know what to feel or do.]
PHIL (points at her eyes): You have no soul. [He thinks he's got it under control.]
GLORIA: Okay, fine. [She knows he does not, but does not want to argue.]
PHIL: You have nothing. But, you're very nice. [He rejects her, thinking he's wise.]
GLORIA: Okay. I'm going to be (turns, looks) at that bar across the street. I'm going to have a drink. If you want to join me, you can. If you want to run away, that's your problem. [She lets him make his own decisions, even if wrong...and he will.]
PHIL (waves): No. I've done my best to like you. I'm sorry. Goodbye Chiquita. Goodbye sucker.
GLORIA turns without regarding him again, crosses the street and enters a Bar.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Subtext adds a different energy in the flow and space between actors.
Gloria, aka One Summer Night (1980)(5th draft, 7/3/79)
by John Cassavetes
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