Shane Black Talks Screenwriting Tips
Quint at AICN caught up with Shane Black for a short but informative interview on writing!
Category: Celebs
To Have and Have Not (1944) directed by Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Walter Brennan / Z-View
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Director: Howard Hawks
Screenplay: Jules Furthman and William Faulkner based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway
Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan and Hoagy Carmichael.
Tagline: Humphrey Bogart…with his kind of woman in a powerful adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s most daring man-woman story!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Harry Morgan [Bogart] is a US citizen living on the island of Martinique in 1940. World War II rages in Europe but is just starting to reach Martinique. Morgan makes his living taking tourists on his fishing boat. When a group of freedom fighters approach Morgan about sneaking one of their own to safety using his boat, Morgan turns them down. It’s not his war and he won’t risk his boat or his neck.
Things change when Morgan meets Marie [Bacall], a young, tough, self-sufficient woman. One thing leads to another and Morgan finds himself falling for Marie and pulled into alliance with the freedom fighters…
… an alliance that could get them all killed.
Thoughts…
To Have and Have Not was Lauren Bacall’s first film. She was nervous during filming and discovered keeping her chin down and eyes up helped calm her. It also gave her the sultry look she became famous for.
Lauren Bacall was just 19 years old during filming. Humphrey Bogart was 44 and on his third marriage. Bogie and Bacall fell in love. He divorced his wife, and in 1945 were married. The marriage lasted until Bogart’s death in 1955. To Have and Have Not was the first of four films in which Bogie and Bacall co-starred.
Another hit for Bogart — one of his best. Walter Brennan is perfect as Bogart’s alcoholic friend.
Rating:
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) / Z-View
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
Director: Edward Zwick
Screenplay: Richard Wenk and Edward Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz based on the novel by Lee Child
Stars: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Aldis Hodge, Danika Yarosh, Patrick Heusinger, Holt McCallany and Robert Knepper.
The Pitch: “Let’s get Tom Cruise and make ‘Jack Reacher 2’!”
Tagline: Never give in, never give up, never go back.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
Jack Reacher finds himself framed for the murder of a military officer and on the run with Major Turner, a tough women officer also framed for murder because she was investigating the murder of two soldiers in her command. To complicate matters, they also have a teenage girl in tow who may or may not be Reacher’s child.
If you liked the first Jack Reacher movie, you should love this one. It starts with a bang, has a great cast and well-written script. There’s no real mystery to viewers who the bad guys are or how things will turn out, but the joy is the journey.
Cobie Smulders as Major Turner holds her own with Cruise in the action scenes and doesn’t come off as a damsel in distress. It was also cool to see Holt McCallany and Robert Knepper in smaller but important roles.
I liked Jack Reacher a lot and enjoyed Jack Reacher: Never Go Back even more.
Rating:
Master Minds (1949) / Z-View
Master Minds (1949)
Director: Jean Yarbrough
Screenplay: Charles R. Marion and Bert Lawrence (additional dialogue)
Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Garbriel Dell, Alan Napier and Glenn Strange.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put the East Side Kids in with a mad scientist and a monster!”
Tagline: THE CHILLS WILL ELECTRIFY YOU When The Bowery Boys Meet The Monster.
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The Bowery Boys find themselves in another creepy, old house when a mad scientist kidnaps Satch [Hall] because of his extraordinary brain! Wha- what?
When a bad tooth gives Satch the power to predict the future, Slip [Gorcey] puts him in a sideshow in order to make some fast cash. Mad scientist, Dr. Druzik [Napier] sees first-hand Satch’s ability and decides that Satch’s brain would be perfect for a transplant into his monster [Strange]. The usual hi-jinks ensue when the Boys set out to rescue Satch.
Master Minds is a cut above the previously reviewed East End Kids/Bowery Boys movies!
Rating:
The Tombstones of 25 Famous People
Eddie Deezen posted The Tombstones of 25 Famous People. You have to hand it to those that went out and left us with a smile. Here are three of my favorites…
- Mel Blanc: “That’s all folks.”
- Merv Griffin: “I will not be right back after this message.”
- Jackie Gleason: “And away we go.”
Ghosts on the Loose (1943) / Z-View
Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
Director: William Beaudine
Screenplay: Kenneth Higgins
Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Bela Lugosi and Ava Gardner.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put the East Side Kids in a creepy deserted mansion with a killer ghosts on the loose.”
Tagline: You’ll yell with glee when these happy-go-lucky hooligans invade the shivery domain of the Man of a Thousand Horrors! It’s Chill-arious!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The East Side Kids (who would later grow into The Bowery Boys) find themselves in another creepy, old house with strange things going on. When the boys decide to surprise newlywed friends by fixing up their new house, they get confused on the address and end up in a haunted house.
If you’ve seen Spooks Run Wild you’re in for more of the same. I expected more from a horror comedy with Bela Lugosi, a spooky old house, Ava Gardner and the East Side Kids. Perhaps because I’ve seen the same gags done better with The Three Stooges and Abbott & Costello, my sights were set too high.
Rating:
Some Like It Hot (1959) / Z-View
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Director: Billy Wilder
Screenplay: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O’Brien and Joe E. Brown.
The Pitch: “Hey, Billy Wilder has an idea for a Marilyn Monroe comedy with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon!”
Tagline: The movie too HOT for words!
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
When musicians Joe [Curtis] and Jerry [Lemmon] witness a gangland execution and are seen by the killers, they know their days are numbered. The mob has placed a price on their heads and they have to get out of town. So Joe becomes Josephine, Jerry becomes Daphne and they join an all girl band headed for Florida by train.
Things become even more complicated when Joe falls for Sugar [Monroe] and millionaire Osgood Fielding the third, goes ga-ga for Daphne. The only way things could get worse is if the gangsters find them and guess what? Yep. The gangsters find them.
Monroe looks great. This is my favorite Jack Lemmon role. You won’t be disappointed.
Rating:
8 of Evel Knievel’s Most Memorable Stunts with Video!
Suzanne Raga and Mental_Floss take a look at 8 of Evel Knievel’s Most Memorable Stunts with Video!
Spooks Run Wild (1941) / Z-View
Spooks Run Wild (1941)
Director: Phil Rosen
Screenplay: Carl Foreman & Charles R. Marion … Jack Henley (additional dialogue)
Stars: Bela Lugosi, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall and Angelo Rossitto.
The Pitch: “Hey, let’s put the East Side Kids in a creepy deserted mansion with a killer on the loose.”
No Tagline
The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…
The East Side Kids (who would later grow into The Bowery Boys) find themselves sent to a rural summer camp. When the boys sneak out one night looking for some fun they find themselves in a creepy old house where the sinister looking Nardo (Lugosi) and his diminutive servant Luigi [Rossitto] live. They will soon learn that a killer is on the loose and closer than they can imagine.
I expected more from a horror comedy with Bela Lugosi, a spooky old house and the East Side Kids. Perhaps because I’ve seen the same gags done better with The Three Stooges and Abbott & Costello, my sights were set too high.
Rating:
George Romero, the NOTLD Restoration and His Thoughts on The Walking Dead, World War Z and More!
Yesterday The Hollywood Reporter posted Aaron Couch’s interview with George Romero. Here’s a taste then click over and read the whole thing…
- Night of the Living Dead is getting a restoration by the Museum of Modern Art and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, which brings it back to pristine condition!
- When asked about the future of his Living Dead franchise, Romero said: “I think really Brad Pitt killed it. The Walking Dead and Brad Pitt just sort of killed it all. The remake of Dawn of the Dead made money. I think pretty big money. Then Zombieland made money, and then all of a sudden, along comes Brad Pitt and he spends $400 million or whatever the hell to do World War Z.”
- Romero: “It’s not about the gore, it’s not about the horror element that are in them. It’s more about the message, for me. That’s what it is, and I’m using this platform to be able to show my feelings of what I think.”
I’m looking forward to seeing the restored Night of the Living Dead. I hope that the restoration doesn’t take away from the film’s horror. If it is too clean looking it may feel more like a movie.
While I can see where Romero is coming from, I don’t think that the bigger budget zombie movies are a bad thing… as long as they’re done well. ; )
“XXX: The Return of Xander Cage” Character Posters!
Hey! That’s Vin Diesel in XXX: Return of Xander Cage!
You can check out all of the other character posters for Xander’s return at JoBlo.com.
César Moreno’s “Creed” Poster!
César Moreno created this very cool Creed poster as a commission for one of his fans.
Source: César Moreno and JoBlo.com.
The 5 Greatest One Man Movies (3 That Aren’t Plus 3 That Should Be)
Danny Bowes and Film School Rejects present The 5 Greatest One Man Movies. The idea is that…
One Uniquely Talented Man is the only thing standing between paradise and the void.
No superheroes. No James Bond.
Ok. I agree with John Wick. Lock Out is an excellent choice. But the other three selections?
Really?
C’mon, man.
Here’s what should have been added in their place.
- Enter the Dragon. Sure, you’ve got John Saxon and Jim Kelly in addition to Bruce Lee, but Lee is the uniquely talented man sent in to get the goods on Han. Saxon and Kelly are nice additions to Lee’s story but it is Lee’s story.
- Escape from New York. How was Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken not on the list??? No explanation needed for why he should have been. Right?
- Rambo, First Blood Part II, Rambo III, or Rambo. Dealer’s choice or in this case writer’s choice but you HAVE to include Sylvester Stallone as Rambo on any Greatest One Man Movies list.
13 Running Facts About “The Fugitive”
Eric D. Snider and Mental_Floss present 13 Running Facts About The Fugitive. Here are three of my favorites…
2. IT WAS ALMOST ALEC BALDWIN INSTEAD OF HARRISON FORD.
Kopelson, a fan of the TV series, had been trying off and on to get the film made since the 1970s. It was finally about to happen in the early ’90s, with Alec Baldwin in the lead role and Walter Hill (48 Hrs.) as director, but Warner Bros. didn’t think Baldwin had enough star power. “With an expensive movie, the consideration is, what star can ‘open’ it,” Kopelson said, “and the studio wasn’t certain at that time that Alec could do it.” (By the way, this was the secondtime Baldwin had lost a role to Harrison Ford, who also replaced him as Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October sequel Patriot Games.)
9. HARRISON FORD WASN’T FAKING HIS BEFUDDLEMENT IN THE INTERROGATION SCENE.
To lend more realism to the scene where Dr. Kimble is first questioned by police, Davis had Ford and the other actors do it with only half a script—the cops’ half. Ford, not knowing in advance what the questions would be, had to ad lib responses in character. Naturally, this came across as being defensive and flustered, which was exactly what the situation called for. Acting!
13. THE DAM SCENE COST $2 MILLION, INCLUDING ABOUT $60,000 FOR DUMMIES.
The maze of tunnels leading to the dam were fake, and built in a Chicago warehouse. The last section of the tunnel—the part that opens over the dam, where Kimble and Gerard have their dramatic confrontation—was actually transported from Chicago to the Cheoah Dam in North Carolina, where it was rigged to look like it belonged there. For the big jump, there were no stuntmen involved. Ford himself (secured by a wire) did the shot where Kimble looks over the edge and considers jumping, and dummies were used for the plunge itself. Six Harrison Ford lookalike dummies were commissioned, each costing somewhere between $7000 and $12,000. They did not survive intact, much to the dismay of their manufacturer, who’d been hoping to re-rent them.
15 Farm-Fresh Facts About “Green Acres”
Stacy Conradt and Mental_Floss present 15 Farm-Fresh Facts About Green Acres. Here are three of my favorites…
2. THE WHOLE RIDICULOUS PREMISE WAS BASED IN REALITY.
If it seems a bit farfetched that a city slicker would leave a lucrative career in finance to rehab a dying farm without knowing a thing about agriculture, well, at least one person has tried it. “I got the idea from my stepfather when I was a kid,” Sommers, the show’s creator, said in a 1965 interview. “He wanted a farm in the worst way and he finally got one. I remember having to hoe potatoes. I hated it. I won’t even do the gardening at our home now, I was so resentful as a child.”
7. IT WAS ONE OF DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER’S FAVORITE SHOWS.
During his retirement years, keeping tabs on the residents of Hooterville became one of the former president’s favorite pastimes. The Eisenhowers loved the show so much that they deemed their valet’s pet pig “Arnold” and allowed it to freely roam their house—even letting it lounge on slip-covered chairs that their grandkids weren’t allowed to sit on.
9. MR. HANEY WAS BASED ON ELVIS PRESLEY’S MANAGER.
Actor Pat Buttram, who played Mr. Haney, met Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, on the set of the movie Roustabout, where Buttram played the owner of a carnival. He got the part of Mr. Haney just a year later—and later stated that he used Parker as inspiration for the Green Acres swindler.
