BAD GUYS WIN

(Warning: Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know the endings of several movies.)

Last night I watched The Skeleton Key with Kate Hudson. Intriguing storyline steeped in Old Southern atmosphere. I was hooked. Then I reached the end. And the bad guys won. Ruined the movie for me as it did in Darkness. Didn’t like it.

There are only three possible endings: 1) Good guys win. 2) Bad guys win. 3) Nobody wins.

Back in the days of Old Hollywood, only two of the three endings were allowed. Good always defeated bad and, occasionally, nobody won. Examples of no one winning would be John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of Sierra Madre.

In the Sixties, the old Product Code was replaced with the Ratings Board and things changed. We saw new characters like the anti-heroes in Cool Hand Luke and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In those films, Law-and-Order destroyed Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) and Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) to protect Society. They played outside the rules and had to be stopped. The title characters in Spartacus and Braveheart rebelled against the corrupt powers in control and forfeited their lives for their actions.

In most movies the good-guys-win scenario is still used because it works. In Jaws, Alien, Aliens, Independence Day and countless others evil is defeated. The audience roots for the heroes to beat the bad guy (or thing) and they do. Usually at the high cost of supporting characters but they do. And we cheer. But occasionally (suspense-thrillers and horror movies being the prime culprits) evil wins out over good. Does it work? Does it make a satisfying story?

The answer: Sometimes. Or as my old novel workshop instructor used to say often -- Depends.

Chinatown, The Silence of the Lambs, Taxi Driver (yes, Travis Bickle is a bad guy), Witness for the Prosecution, and Body Heat are examples of the bad guys winning and the endings in these films are terrific. I don’t think they work in The Usual Suspects, Frailty, and Arlington Road. In The Godfather I and II, Michael Corleone defeats his family’s enemies but loses his soul in doing so. Look at Michael in the beginning of the first film – he’s a young, decorated veteran. Slowly he becomes worse than his enemies. (He was always smarter.) The Godfather films’ endings are much more powerful than if he’d been killed at the conclusion as would have happened in Old Hollywood. Other thrillers where the bad guys win include Basic Instinct, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Primal Fear.

In the horror field, the odds are even money on who will win between the good guys and bad guys. Sometimes the main good character survives but so does the bad guy. Examples of this type of ending would be Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Other times, the bad guys flat out win. Examples would be Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen (a personal favorite), Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Stepford Wives, Fallen, Jeepers Creepers, and Final Destination.

Do they work?

Sometimes.

What was my point here? Whether good, bad, or no one wins the ending has to be perfect for that particular story. Robert Towne’s screenplay for Chinatown is a perfect example of excellent screenwriting. It’s beautiful. Still director Roman Polanksi rewrote the original ending and Polanski’s ending is on-the-money. It is the right ending for that story.

Lesson in Storytelling

The other night I watched the western Wyatt Earp (1994). The movie was co-written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. It stars Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Dennis Quaid, Michael Madsen, Bill Pullman, and many others. Top of the line in all aspects. There is no debate about that. Wyatt Earp is the life story of a western lawman. I know the true story and the Hollywood version of the true story. It has been dramatized in film before, most notably in John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946) with Henry Fonda, The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, and Hour of the Gun (1967) with James Garner. It is an intriguing story that can resonate with each generation’s retelling.

Wyatt Earp despite its top-line cast and crew, despite its scope and earnest aspirations, does not work. It’s stiff and, the worst of all movie sins, boring. But it can be a learning experience. Watch it.

Then watch Tombstone (1993). This film was written by Kevin Jarre and directed by George Cosmatos. It stars Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Powers Boothe and Michael Biehn. It tells the same basic story as Wyatt Earp involving the same historical characters but in an hour’s less time. This movie works. The characters are vivid and more developed. The dialogue is memorable and individual. The suspense and action more involving. This film is in my top ten of westerns.

Watch both films. You’ll see the difference. It will be clear. Compare the dialogue and characters; hold up side-by-side the dramatic tone and suspense. Watch, learn. Now I need to review my latest writing. Did I create a Tombstone or a Wyatt Earp?

Story Responses

Received 4 responses to short story submissions I'd sent out. None were sales. Oh, well. Back in the mail they will go. One was a 125-day from Vestal Review, a flash webzine. (Had to resubmit this one. The editor, a good guy, couldn't find the original submission. Responded to the resub in less than a day.) One was to City Slab -- it was 125-days, too. The editor of Lone Star Stories responded the same day (it was an email sub by the way). The last one was 179-day response to a story I had withdrawn six weeks ago when an editor expressed interest in the story for his new anthology book. Do I move this from the "withdrawal" category to the "Rejection" column or leave it where it was? Decisions, decisions.

Rejections don't sting like they used to. I don't take it personally. You have to risk rejection in order to sell. I always remember that for the longest time Babe Ruth held the home run record in baseball. He also held the strike-out record. You can't hit the long ball if you don't swing.

My rejections stand currently at 385. But sales of fiction stories, reprints, and nonfiction articles stand at 79. That's about 19% if I don't count withdrawals and magazines that folded before responding. 13% if I include all submissions without reason. Not too bad. Can't complain.

In fact, I think I'll swing for the bleachers.

...Not...

Part 2

People continue to amaze me. I gave my assistant her "walking papers" today.

This is not about my ego. At first I was stunned by the investigation results. I felt betrayed. After all I trained this person, trusted her, and supported her aim to rise in management. At first I was pisssed but I shouldn't have been. There is only one person whose actions I can control. And that's me. There is only one person whose view of the world I can truly understand. Mine. I can't feel what another person is feeling (or believes) because I haven't lived their life. I can try and I do try but a lot times I just shake my head in disbelief.

This person was stealing product and giving it to friends and people she wanted to impress. We have several witnesses, several signed statements. Of course, my assistant never expected the staff to tell. She was too well respected and "loved" by the staff. That and no one wants to be labeled a snitch.

She forget one important thing though. Most people (despite what the news headlines say) are honest. Most people are not thieves. And they resent being made unwilling accomplishes.

When I told just part of the investigation results, she interrupted with the respond that this was a witch hunt -- that I had set her up because she didn't like one of my "pet" staff members. She added that the store would not survive without her. Oh, jeez, I guess I should be afraid.

Our store is a small cog in a big company. Most of us just want to do our jobs to the best of our abilities and go home to our families. We don't want to hurt anyone or be hurt ourselves. And if during the course of our work we can bring a little smile into one of our guests' lives then it's all cool. And if it disappears tomorrow perhaps someone will miss us a little.

But if it does end tomorrow I want it not to be for something stupid that I did and thought I could get away with it.

Okay, I'm done with the soap box. Who's gets it next?

S/F Films in 1981

Second year in the decade and a good year for s/f movies. At least in my humble opinion. Here we go:

The Oscar for Best Picture that year went to Chariots of Fire. Don’t remember much about this movie. It could be good; it could be bad. I don’t remember much about it except that it’s about athletes competing in the Olympics at the turn of the last century. This is what I do remember; it’s an early example of a music video. There’s a slow-motion scene of athletes running along the beach to a tune by Vangelis (and, yeah, I had to look up the composer's name).

These are the movies from 1981 that I do remember. And clearly. (Yes, I wonder about me sometimes, too.)

First is one of my favorite movies of all time – Raiders of the Lost Ark. The advertising tagline was: “The creators of JAWS (Spielberg) and STAR WARS (Lucas) now bring you the ultimate hero in the ultimate adventure.” And it was true. A terrific film. Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones and Karen Allen is Marion (the best of Indy’s leading ladies). And let’s not forget Paul Freeman as Belloq. He’s on my top-ten list of best villains.

Also that year: Superman 2 -- this movie is one of the best of the comic-book/graphic-novel adaptations. The Road Warrior -- the best Mel Gibson as Mad Max films. Both are solid entertainments.

In 1981 there were several good (but not great s/f) movies. The list would include: An American Werewolf in London, John Carpenter’s Escape from New York with Kurt Russell, John Boorman’s Excalibur, Outland with Sean Connery, Scanners with its classic head-exploding scene, Time Bandits, and Wolfen. All have their flaws but are definitely noteworthy.

At the other end of the scale were the sequels to Friday the 13th and Halloween. Freddy and Michael deserved better than these follow-ups. Damien grows up in The Final Conflict: Omen 3. The first movie in the trilogy is terrific, this film ain’t. On the bad scale were also: Clash of the Titans, Little Shop of Horrors (the musical), and Michael Crichton’s Looker.

On most movie guides they have the listing BOMB. I created a new one for the last film of this list – CRAP BOMB. Once I heard an actor (I think it was George Peppard) asked why he made a series of bad films. He called them his “alimony movies.” He said he took the projects so he could make his alimony payments. I bring this up because Richard Harris is in this film and I hope they paid him a lot of alimony money. The film on my CRAP BOMB list is Tarzan, the Ape Man. John and Bo Derek took a beloved character and “crapped” on him. I’ve seen home movies on old 8mm that were better than this. I’m done now.

Coming soon: 1982.

Fun, Fun ... Not

Back from the GM convention in San Diego. Went okay. Met some nice co-workers and was recognized for my store's successes. Not awarded but given a honorable mention. Not too bad considering my store is one of the quietest in the company and we beat out 155 other locations in two categories.

But, putting a damper on things, was a personal investigation I did at my store just prior to the convention. I discovered that one of my assistants (and my most senior staff member) has been stealing. Caught her and have witnesses. She's dust. Period. End of discussion. Damn. Sometimes people surprise you. They do incredibly stupid stuff then when they get caught (and they always do), they act like it's your fault. Oh, well, screw it ... and her. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time as they say.

Personal life in the toilet, too. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get outta bed in the morning. Well, things will get better. Or they won't.

Speculative Fiction in the Movies: 1980

Since I’d done a list of terrific and influential S/F in the 1970s, I decided to review the decade of the Eighties. I got as far as 1980. S/F was well represented in that year. So here’s my list (sure hope my resource material is correct):

The Oscar for Best Picture went to Ordinary People (not a good omen).

It should have gone to what has become a classic: George Lucas’ The Empire Strikes Back. For my money this is the best Star Wars film in the series. Slightly ahead of the first (or is it the third?) film in the series. This movie rocks. The characters are all in place and a few new ones have been added. Luke learns the ways of the Jedi from Yoda then faces mano-a-mano one of the great screen villains of all-time – Darth Vader. Leia and Han fall in love as they battle the Empire. Lando makes his first appearance. C3P0 and R2D2 are still the comic relief and let’s not forget Chewie or Jabba the Hut. The beginning battle on the ice planet Hoth would have been a climax in other films. Cool movie even with the cliffhanger ending (we moaned and groaned about that because we knew it’s be three years or more before the next film was released – then we went back and saw it again.)

But other terrific s/f films were released that year: The Shining (I loved King’s book and, for me, with a couple exceptions the movie was a disappointment), Superman 2 (one the best of the comic-book hero movies), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (we’d have to wait until the second film in the series for them to get it right), Mad Max (this introduced Mel Gibson to the world), Friday the Thirteenth (this welcomed Jason to the world), The Changeling (classic ghost story with George C. Scott), and Brian de Palma’s Dressed to Kill.

Plus there was Altered States, The Awakening, Battle Beyond the Stars (Roger Corman “big” budget film – a space opera remake of The Magnificent Seven), Death Ship, The Final Countdown (Kirk Douglas and the USS Nimitiz are transported back to Hawaii just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor), The Fog (a John Carpenter head-scratcher – why did they remake this?), He Knows You’re Alone (notably only because it had Tom Hanks’ first role in it) The Howling (strange little werewolf film that doesn’t take itself too seriously), Saturn 3 (how could you go wrong with Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett and Harvey Keitel? – watch this film and see how), Somewhere in Time (time travel romance) and Terror Train.

1981 coming soon. (After the GM convention in San Diego probably – gotta pay those pesky monthly bills that keep cropping up.)

YIPEEEE!!!!!

My copy of the signed contract for The Nest and my share of the option arrived in the mail today. I am beside myself. The science fiction-horror tale that Mark and I co-wrote is going to be made into a movie. A production company paid us real money for it. This is too coooool. A long-life dream has come true. Big smiles all around.

The Nest.

The experiment succeeded ... now no one is safe. A top-secret bio-research lab has gone on maximum alert. No one inside the building or any of the first investigators have emerged. Now a beautiful scientist and a team of Special Forces soldiers have entered the ten-story building to search for survivors. What they find has never walked the earth before. In the vein of Alien, Jeepers Creepers, Predator and Die Hard.

Updates will follow as they occur.

Okay. Once more: YIPEEEEEE!!!!!

Confession (Shhhhh.....)

Another Halloween has come and gone. I survived but I wasn't sure my cat, Sabrina, was going to. All the little ghosts and goblins and fairy princesses coming to the door freaked her out. She hid under my desk for the entire night. About half-way through Tuesday she seemed to come back to normal. I have a scaredy cat.

Okay, confession time. Don't tell anyone. I write horror stories and thrillers. I've killed off more characters in gruesome ways than you can think of. I try to keep up on the current market trends. I check out Fangoria regularly to see what's new in the genre. I check out the horror site at Barnes & Noble. I plan on renting Devil's Rejects and the new House of Wax to see what they are about. (Okay the one movie has Paris Hilton being murdered and that alone is worth the rental cost -- but I digress.)

The other day I rented Lost. Hadn't seen the show but wanted to see what all the fuss is about. It's mildly entertaining. Too much unexplained stuff. Even X-Files, one of my favorite shows of all time, had problems with this. Big build-up but lame pay-off. Endings are a bear. Plus the only interesting characters are Locke, Sawyer, and Hurley. Okay, the Said character had possibilities but they haven't done much with him so far. The main characters are too one-dimensional. Oh, well.

Now the confession ... I also picked up the first Disc of Desperate Housewives. I'm hooked. I shouldn't be. This isn't the type of show that usually interests me. There are, of course, the mystery elements. Why did Mary Alice kill herself? Who's Dana and is she the skeleton in the toy box? Who is Mike and what's he doing in the neighborhood? (If you know the answers to these questions -- please don't tell me.) But that's just part of why I'm hooked. It's funny, it's written well, and I like the four main characters. I hate to think what Susan's ditzy-accident prone life would be like if her daughter, Julie, wasn't there to save her from herself. Susan is just a plain likeable character. Lynette, too. Trying to take care of her kids and nothing seems to work. You feel for her. Loved the moments when she ordered the boys out of the car and left them, and when she told the alpha mom at the new school to step outside. Bree -- the Stepford version of June Cleaver. She's scary. Although I can't picture June telling Ward that she's willing to do anything he wants sexually. Then there's Gabrielle ... playing Mrs. Robinson with the teenaged gardener. Waiting for that to explode big time. I'm done now. Don't tell anyone what I just shared with you. I have my reputation to protect. Shhhh....

SCREENPLAY UPDATE

I am thrilled. To say the least. Talked to my friend, Mark, and he said the signed contracts from the production company had come back and our first check came. I should get my copies and my share in the mail this week. Whoa! This is amazing. I co-wrote a script that is going to be made into a “real” movie. This has been a dream since I was a kid. Audiences will be able to watch a movie that I helped create. Okay, the whole thing could collapse and never happen. I know that. It could turn out to be a dud. One never knows. But, on the other hand, it could turn out to be a cool little science fiction-horror film. Hey, I just hit the lottery. Yep. I did.

I want to tell everyone I see. I do. Some people will be excited for me, some won’t care. The ones that make me nervous however are the ones who say: “I have an idea for a movie.” Then they want to tell you all about it. Unless I know the person well, I learned a long time ago that I don’t want to hear their idea. Over the years, I have read a lot and seen a great deal of movies. I have filed away bits and pieces from magazine and newspaper articles. I have noted certain phases and ways of speaking. After a while, I don’t remember where I saw or heard the information I’m using in my writing. The last thing I want is to be accused of stealing someone else’s idea. I don’t steal from anyone. I observe and put it into my own words. So, what do I do when someone says they have an idea for a novel or screenplay. As I said unless I know them well, I suggest they take a college class – like I did – or go to Barnes & Noble and buy a book on creative writing or screenwriting.

Meanwhile, Mark and I have spitballed another idea. Does it have legs? We’ll see. Some ideas work out, others don’t. The research begins.

SMITTEN

Entertainment Weekly arrived in the mail this week with Charlize Theron on the cover.

She is a terrific actor and from interviews I've read or seen on television she is an intelligent and articulate person. Then again, I don't know her, she may be as I said a terrific actor.

But she is definitely a beautiful and lovely woman. Smitten is an old-fashioned word. It seems appropriate here however. I think I became a fan after I saw her in Cider House Rules.

Over the years I have found myself smitten by different female movie stars. On that list was Ursula Andress (Doctor No, The Southern Star), Jennifer Connelly (The Rocketeer), Grace Kelly (High Noon, Rear Window), Maureen O'Hara (The Quiet Man, Rio Grande), Deborah Shelton (Body Double), Raquel Welch (Bandolero!, The Three Musketeers), and Catherine Zeta-Jones (The Mask of Zorro, Chicago).

I don't know why I felt compelled to share this information. I can say that the EW cover with Charlize Theron wrapped only in a towel got my attention.

WRITING CREATIVELY … HOPEFULLY

Working on a new screenplay. In some ways it’s different than doing a short story or novel, in other ways it’s the same.

Create a compelling opening. Something that will hook the reader (or an audience later). Something that hasn’t been done a million times before. Be clean and intriguing.

Introduce the main characters. The biggest difference between prose and a screenplay is that you can’t tell scenes from a character’s POV. I mean you can sort of but not really. Okay, that was clear as mud. You can write a scene from one character’s POV but that’s not the same as getting into their head and writing the scene. That’s better. And a screenplay doesn’t have a voice like prose does. The closest example I can give of a novel and movie having a similar voice is To Kill a Mockingbird. Still (and TKAM is a great movie), it doesn’t have Harper Lee’s voice or way with words. On the other hand, when I reread the novel, Gregory Peck is Atticus Finch in my mind’s eye.

Back to creating. What is similar? Plot, characters and dialogue. Yes, both must have an engaging storyline, well-defined characters, and sharp dialogue.

In the new screenplay, I open with a short scene. None of the characters ever come in direct contact with the main and supporting characters. The scene sets up the world I’m taking the audience into.

Then I introduce the villain and lead secondary villain. Their nefarious plan is set into motion. What is happening is a direct and in-direct reaction to the opening scene. Direct reaction because if the opening had not occurred then the plan would not have been formed, in-direct because the people being involved in the plan have nothing to do with it except that the villain knows them all. This time it’s personal, as the old movie slogan goes. Hopefully also, I’ve established a good enough villain that the audience will ask two questions: 1) She’s capable of anything -- What will she do next? 2) How will the heroes ever escape from this evil person?

Okay. World set-up. Villain’s plan. Meet the heroes. For this screenplay, I decided I wanted non-professionals meaning no cops, FBI agents, former thieves or the like. Regular people. Subject to change of course, the lead female is a grade school teacher and the male a cross-country truck driver. Well, I cheated a little. The truck driver is a former Marine. This will be an action-horror-thriller after all.

Next comes the secondary characters. Must be intriguing in their own right but must not over shadow the heroes. I’ve had that happen before. A secondary character became so fun to write that I kept creating more scenes with them. In those cases I’ve had to re-think my main characters. Intriguing but not stock or clichéd. And one of them, a solid well-defined character, must be the first to go. Because, after that death, the audience knows that no one is safe.

Then we have dialogue. Must seem natural. No info dumps. I personally detest the scene at the end of a thriller when the villain tells how he did everything. Heck, if they’d shut up and just shoot the hero, they’d win. Got it? Oh, yeah, just one more thing … while I hate it when the villain does it, I don’t mind a bit when Columbo tells the villain how he did it and where he slipped up. Where was I? Oh, yeah, dialogue must sound natural and individual. That’s much tougher than it sounds. And it has to be more than one character does not use contractions and another always drops the g’s from any word ending in ‘ing.’ I admire good dialogue. Watch Deadwood and listen how the characters speak. Even the cursing is an art form. Read any Elmore Leonard novel and just look at the dialogue. Always remember to that the dialogue can’t jerk you out of the novel or screenplay. The audience can’t be marveling about how wonderful the writer is. It must sound like that character would say those words at that time. Yeah, tougher than it looks.

Oh, well, back to writing creatively … I hope.

See Blog Below for Details

I’m over my rant. Things change. Heroes pass and new heroes come. (Hopefully.) At some point Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, and Julia Roberts will be those old-time actors as will Charlize Theron, Christian Bale, and Katie Holmes. I remember Pong, Pac-Man and Doctor Mario. Someday Doom, Grand Theft Auto, and Sym City will be relics. All things have their time and are replaced. I’m sure younger people know who Marilyn and Bogie are (but I fear Bogie is fading, too). It is not the time in your life but the life in your time. If you catch my drift. Oh, well.

If you haven’t seen the movie, Cool Hand Luke with Paul Newman, watch it. It’s worth the time. Oh, yeah, it’s in color not crusty old black-and-white.

In conclusion, I will paraphrase the saying: “Those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it.”

Back to writing.

Feeling Old

I’m at work today and one of the college kids I work with made a comment—don’t remember what the comment was now—but I responded with a line from Cool Hand Luke. It was the classic line from Strother Martin: “What we have here is failure to communicate.” I even said it in my crummy Southern drawl--my crummy, not Strother's--because that’s how I hear it in my head. The kid gave me a blank look. I added that it was from a Paul Newman movie. He asked me if that was the singer who played in Las Vegas all the time. I felt so old at that moment.

I realize that I know a lot about movies. I’m not an expert by any means but I love the movies. I can hold a conversation on about any genre of motion pictures. I can recite favorite lines of dialogue or talk about the classics or about blockbusters or the B’s. Heck, I can even hold my own talking about silent films or foreign movies. I know the stars and characters actors. I write stories, novels, and screenplays. I need to know what has come before.

How could he not know Paul Newman? I could understand if I’d said James Cagney or Errol Flynn or Bette Davis or even James Dean. They had passed along before he was born. Newman was in his prime when I was in junior high. He’s still making films. He starred in The Hustler, Hud, The Verdict, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Harper, The Color of Money, Hombre, Road to Perdition, and others along with Cool Hand Luke. How?

I’m done with my rant. Does this matter in the long run? No, I guess not. It’s all relative. And it wasn't to him.

Now I’m taking my old, tired body to bed. Good night.

“Shaking it up here, boss.”

Day Off … Sorta

My day off. Went like this. Slept in till 7AM. Because of my job, I’m usually up at 4AM so this was sleeping in late. Got up, showered, shaved, and dressed. Went to the grocery store. Put groceries away. Paid bills. Put fresh litter in Sabrina’s box. Cleaned toilet. Sorted laundry. Straightened up and vacuumed bedroom. Had lunch and watched Morgan Freeman interview on Inside the Actor’s Studio.

Worked on new screenplay. Tightened opening. Wrote two new scenes that introduced the heroes. Played with names of supporting characters. Gave them occupations. Tried to find “good” reason the villain wants revenge against them. Screenplay will only have fifteen characters (perhaps two more if scene warrants). Is fifteen too many? Maybe. Two characters are all ready on the fence. Could go either way for them. Exist, don’t exist. Supporting character or spear carrier? Not sure at the moment.

Basic premise and setting have been established. Villain and top henchman introduced. Heroes and supporting henchmen introduced. Now comes the gathering of all the characters. Is fifteen too many? I’ll know soon.

So will they…

{Another photo from Duluth MN}

Rewriting and "Time"

Two days ago I received a letter from a very nice editor asking that I rewrite and tighten the opening of the story (a reprint) I submitted to his magazine. He likes the story but the opening feels fat. No disagreement.

The story was one of the first I wrote and sold a long time ago. I'm a different writer now than I was then. Hopefully a better one. I would have written it differently today. But ... I literally don't have the time right now. I'm in the middle of a new screenplay and my writing partner and I are waiting for the rewrite notes from the production company on The Nest. I also have a full-time restaurant management job (gotta pay those pesky bills that crop up every month). I had to tell him "no" for the time being. Hated doing that but I had to. Short stories, like screenplays and novels and poems, take time and concentration. At least for me it does. I can't whip things out anymore. I agonize over finding the right word then the right phrase. I polish dialogue and characterizations. I want every piece I do to be the best it can be. Shoot. Anyway, back to work.

My Favorite Genre: The Western
Part Two

I decided to limit my favorites to ten. Nice round number. Then I realized I was leaving several terrific movies off the list. But I’m going to stick to ten. Decision made. Sometimes a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Yep. I also decided to would be only movies. Deadwood (Season One and Two) and Lonesome Dove (mini-series) are not on the list for that reason. Both are great. If you haven’t seen them, treat yourself. Here we go, pilgrim:

(in alphabetical order)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
This is just a flat-out fun movie. William Goldman’s script sings and there are numerous great moments and lines of dialogue. If you were an outlaw, you’d want to ride with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Katherine Ross has never looked lovelier. Plus Strother Martin has a wonderful character part.

Dances with Wolves
Kevin Costner as a Union officer who goes West and encounters the Sioux. Involving and breath taking. The Native Americans are the good guys and the US cavalry are the villains. An epic. Well told.

High Noon
Gary Cooper as the town marshal standing alone against four killers arriving in town for revenge. Watched this one countless times as a kid. Still enjoy it. Grace Kelly is Cooper’s bride and Katy Jurado is his former mistress (she’s also the former mistress of the head killer). Classic showdown.

The Magnificent Seven
Western remake of the Kurosawa film. This clicks. Seven gunfighters go to the aid of a Mexican village plagued by outlaws. Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, and Horst Buchholz are the seven. Eli Wallach plays Calvera, one of my favorite villains of all time. Classic musical score, too.

The Searchers
John Ford and John Wayne. Renegade Comanches murder the family of Wayne’s brother and kidnap Wayne’s niece. He vows to find her. And kill her since the Comanches have defiled her. This is Wayne’s best, most complex role and he’s a bad guy. Filled with classic moments and Ford’s stock company. The ending is perfect.

Shane
A gunfighter attempts to hang up his guns and settle down with a farming family. But his past (and expertise) catch up with him. Alan Ladd is Shane and Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, and Brandon De Wilde are the family. Jack Palance is the hired gun of the villains. Palance’s taunting and killing of Elisha Cook is a classic moment in a classic film.

Silverado
A rip-roaring adventure with Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover and Kevin Costner leading the good guys and Brian Dennehy heading up the bad guys. The West the way it should have been. Co-written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Great fun.

Tombstone
The story of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday in the Arizona boomtown. Solid retelling of the oft-filmed story. Kurt Russell is Wyatt and Val Kilmer has never been better as the consumptive Doc. Sam Elliot and Bill Paxton are Wyatt’s brothers. Powers Boothe and Michael Biehn are the head bad guys and they’re riveting.

Unforgiven
Dark, unrelenting. Three gunfighters ride out to kill two cowboys who “murdered” a whore and claim the bounty on them. A classic directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. Gene Hackman is the sheriff, Morgan Freeman is Eastwood’s partner, and Richard Harris is another gunfighter. All are terrific.

The Wild Bunch
Sam Peckinpah’s masterpiece. Outlaws on their last job who find a nobility within themselves that they didn’t know they had. Great complex characters and dialogue. Bloody and leathered. William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Warren Oates, Edmund O’Brien, and Ben Johnson have never been better. Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones are fantastic in supporting roles as members of the railroad posse. The walk to get Angel is classic movie-making.

Left out so many. Including: Angel and the Badman, Bend of the River, The Big Country, Crossfire Trail, The Far Country, Fort Apache, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Gunfight at the OK Corral, Hidalgo, Lawman, The Man from Laramie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, My Darling Clementine, Open Range, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Posse, The Professionals, Red River, Ride the High Country, Rio Bravo, The Scalphunters, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Sons of Katie Elder, and 3:10 to Yuma.

Back to writing.

My Favorite Genre: The Western
Part One

The western has been my favorite genre since I can remember. It has definitely fallen out of favor. I know this, I write horror stories and thrillers after all. But, in my heart, it is the adventure of the West (the Hollywood West to be more accurate) that I truly enjoy. In another time and place, I would’ve written Westerns (I did as a kid). I know the conventions and the clichés and the outright historical lies. On the other hand, as times get more confusing and complex, I find refuge in the old Western tale. That doesn’t mean that all Westerns are simple white hats vs. bad hats scenarios. They’re not. Just take one peek at the great Deadwood series on HBO. Still, for the most part, things seem more clear-cut and straightforward in the Western. That doesn’t mean I’m thrilled with every Western. You couldn’t force me to sit through a Roy Rogers or Gene Autry western or any Spaghetti Western that doesn’t have The Man with No Name in it.

Plus the actors who played in some of my favorite Western films seemed larger-than-life and more heroic (and Gods knows we need all the heroes today that we can find – at least I do). The villains were more menacing and colorful; the landscape more awesome.

Some favorite Western male actors (definitely not all and not in any particular order and they weren’t always the good guy): Gary Cooper, John Wayne, James Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Clint Eastwood, Randolph Scott, Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Tom Selleck, Sam Elliot, Glenn Ford, Robert Mitchum, and Clint Walker.

Favorite female actors: Maureen O’Hara, Grace Kelly, Barbara Stanwyck, Katy Jurado, Shelley Winters, Jean Arthur, Vera Miles, Inger Stevens, and Katherine Ross.

Villains (when the good guys faced these guys you knew they were in trouble): Richard Boone, Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine, Eli Wallach, Arthur Kennedy, Richard Widmark, Telly Savalas, Powers Boothe, and Bruce Dern.

Then there were the great character actors in the Western. Once upon a time, maybe their names weren’t known but their faces were: Walter Brennan, Warren Oates, Strother Martin, Ben Johnson, Ward Bond, Edmund O’Brien, Woody Strode, Jack Elam, Robert Ryan, L.Q. Jones, Dennis Hopper, Lee Van Cleef, Elisha Cook, Edgar Buchanan, and John Carradine.

I’m sure I’ve left some wonderful actors out. Yep, I’m sure. In a few days, I’ll list my favorite Western films. The ones I can watch again and again.

I’ll conclude with the line from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

First Drafts and Other Stuff

Just finished the first draft of the new horror screenplay Mark and I have been working on called Deadlyville.

Now the rewriting begins. Here’s the editing line that I see most often – “What the **** were you thinking?” Yeah. Uh-huh. What worked at first inspiration, may not when reviewing the entire story. Characterizations may not seem consistent, Dialogue that seemed cool, doesn’t any longer.

And of course, the ending. Endings are bears. Always have been, always will be. It must seem inevitable but not predictable. The viewer must leave satisfied. But how do you do that in a fresh way? It’s tough. How many times can the villain (or creature) get back up before it’s really dead? (Worked in The Terminator.) Should the creature be blown up? (Worked in Jaws and Predator.) Should he/she/it fall from a high place or die by their own weapon? (The first is clichéd symbolism and the second is clichéd irony – always choose symbolism over irony, by the way.) That doesn’t mean a clichéd or shopworn ending is bad. Some can be completely satisfying. Beware the trick ending. Odds are Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents all ready used it and did it better. What to do, what to do?

* * *

In my DVD library are several movies that I really enjoy but will probably never be on a Top Ten List. (Then again?) So I picked ten movies that were not blockbusters but are cool. My perimeters for this List were it had to have a s/f element and be in my collection.
Here we go … in alphabetical order … Ten S/F Movies that are really cool but you may have never heard of them:

The Changling (1980) – A deliberately paced story given gravity by the presence of George C. Scott as a man attempting to unravel the mystery behind a haunting. When an empty but moving wheelchair can have you on the edge of your seat the movie rocks.

The Deep Blue Sea (1999) – Researchers at an undersea lab alter the brains of sharks and the sharks get pissed. With Samuel L. Jackson and LL Cool J. Always remember to never climb into the oven when the kitchen is flooding and a shark is after you.

Deep Rising (1998) – Hijackers force a salvage crew to take them to a luxury liner they plan to rob but when they arrive the ship is empty. Or is it? Early work by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing.) With Treat Williams as the hero. Or is he?

Dog Soldiers (2002) – British soldiers on war maneuvers stumble onto a coven of werewolves. Terrific dialogue and suspense. Oh, yeah, plenty of blood, too. With Sean Pertwee.

Mysterious Island ( 1961) – A favorite since I was a kid. Union soldiers escape from a Confederate prison in a balloon and crash on a supposedly deserted island in the Pacific. Based on a novel by Jules Verne and special effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen. With Herbert Lom and Michael Callan (Who? Look them up.)

The Night Stalker (1972) – This was the highest rated TV movie ever in its day. Still pretty good. A vampire hunts his prey in 1970’s Las Vegas. Dig those clothes and hair styles! Darren McGavin is great as reporter Carl Kolchak.

The Relic (1996) – A vicious creature wrecks havoc in Chicago’s Natural History Museum. Creature designed by Stan Winston. With Penelope Ann Miller, Linda Hunt, and James Whitmore. (See comment at end of Mysterious Island.)

The Rocketeer ( 1991) – Set in the 1940’s. A barnstorming pilot finds a jetpack that the Nazis want. Really fun. Don’t let the Walt Disney Pictures label scare you away. With Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin and Timothy Dalton (as the bad guy modeled after actor Errol Flynn).

Soldier (1998) – A man is raised by the government to be a merciless, obedient soldier until he’s replaced (and literally thrown away) by a new breed of DNA-enhanced soldiers. With Kurt Russell and Gary Busey.

Tremors (1989) – Scary and funny, edge-of-your-seat suspense and good characters. Giant underground worms attack a small desolate town. Where did the worms come from? Who cares. But remember having survivalist nuts as neighbors might not be such a bad thing. With Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. And, of course, Reba McEntire and Michael Gross as the neighbors.

All are worth checking out.

Movies in my Life

I’m celebrating with a glass of Mountain Dew while our cat, Sabrina, moves between her salmon food and the backyard window. My friend, Mark, and I have had two screenplays optioned and the contracts have been signed. If nothing else happens, if the projects crash-and-burn tomorrow, this moment is worth it. Too cool.

I’ve always enjoyed the movies and, at different times, they’ve become touchstones in my life. If I let myself drift during a television broadcast of Rio Bravo or The Alamo, I can picture myself in my pajamas in the backseat of our family car watching these films at the drive-in theater. I saw Bambi for the first time at the long-gone now West Coast Theater in downtown Santa Ana with my mother and younger brother. Mom had worked at this theater when she was a teenager (she met my father there). After the movie, we got a tour of the projection booth.

In those days, we only had seven television stations and, as Jeff Foxworthy notes, if the President was giving a speech we were devastated because he was on every channel. I remember that Channel 9 would have the Million Dollar Movie and they would broadcast the same film all week long. I saw The Magnificent Seven and High Noon until I could recite the dialogue along with the characters.

In junior high, we moved from Orange County, CA, to Richardson, TX, a suburb of Dallas. There was a movie theater a few blocks away and my brother and I went there every Saturday afternoon. There we saw Cool Hand Luke, The Dirty Dozen, Planet of the Apes, and Wait Until Dark. I literally held my brother in his seat during the climax of To Kill a Mockingbird (do you remember when the studios used to re-release films before they went to television?). At that theater I saw my first James Bond movie. Actually it was a double bill of From Russia with Love and Thunderball. For a seventh-grade boy, this was cool beyond belief.

My father stopped going to the movies for some reason but one Father’s Day, my brother and I dragged him to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He loved it. I can still hear him laughing when I see the film today. It is a special memory. We didn’t know it at the time but he would not be with us for much longer after that.

My brother, Tim, and I fought during most of high school. We didn’t see eye-to-eye on much of anything. After I moved out of the house, and especially after the birth of his son, Brian, we become best friends again. Every time a western was released (and there weren’t many any longer), we’d get together and go see it. We saw Silverado and Clint Eastwood’s Pale Rider. Shortly after seeing Pale Rider, a drunk driver killed my brother. I miss him terribly. He would’ve gotten a big kick out of me selling a screenplay.

In 1997, I met Annie and her daughter, Katie. Fortune smiled on me. The first movie we saw together was Disney’s Hercules. I remember Annie crying through the entire movie of When Dreams May Come (the main characters in the film were Annie and Chris). I gave her my handkerchief because she’d used up all her Kleenex. Later she gave me tissue when I choked up at the end of Saving Private Ryan. Good memories. Recently, Katie and I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in IMAX. Enjoyed the movie but I’m not sure I want to see a film that big again.

Movies. They’re entertainment, a diversion for a short time. But…

...hopefully, someone will have a fond memory of the movies that Mark and I have written. That would be cool.

{Note: The picture is a waterfall in Duluth, MN, where my heart is.}