Read Online Save the Cat Goes to the Movies by Blake Snyder - Free Book Online
Authors: Blake Snyder
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selling maps to the star’s homes. She is the daughter of a woman Walter used to date and clearly hurt by his departure. Whiskey-voiced Tatum is poised between childhood and young ladyhood, but Walter needs her, and offers Tatum a bribe to get her to join the boys.
Fun and Games: As the quest unfolds, we see how difficult the Bears’ challenge will be. The “fun” is in watching them come together as a team. If there were ever underdogs worth rooting for, these are them. They become the “Bad News Bears.” As Tatum joins the misfits, the “upside-down version of the world” now includes girls. And when Walter recruits Jackie Earle, we know they’re going to get somewhere. He may be a juvenile delinquent, but he’s the best athlete in town. The team bonds further when Lupus is bullied and Tanner defends him. Being a Bear, even if a “booger-eating spaz,” now trumps everything. The Bears start to show promise; the “road” is now open and the “prize” may be attainable.
Midpoint: At Minute 58 the Bears win their first game, but it is a “false victory” that keeps getting falser. Will they become soulless weenies like the Yankees? The possibility exists, especially as Walter’s relationship with his charges becomes colder in the guise of being “professional.” When a player gets hurt, Walter is less concerned with the kid and more concerned with beating Vic. Walter has peaked and the “fun” has turned serious.
Bad Guys Close In: Walter has caught Little League fever and wants victory no matter what. He tells Jackie Earle to handle the ball — even if it means cutting out the other players.
All Is Lost: On the eve of the championship, Tatum begs Walter to have dinner with her and her mother after the game. Walter gets angry. He throws beer at Tatum and she cries.
Dark Night of the Soul: The result of going for gold is a “road apple”: Jackie Earle is ostracized by his teammates, and Tatum’s pitching arm is hurt.
Break into Three: After arguing, the Bears decide to play anyway.
Finale: The final game is a bookend of the first. Egged on by Vic, Walter wants to win at any cost. Having learned the Little League way, Walter has become one of them — and it isn’t pretty. But when Vic slaps his own son during a tense moment of the game, the truth of “doing a really fine thing” becomes apparent. Walter goes back to the old way, letting all the Bears play. Despite this, fate almost smiles on them; in the final play, they nearly win. But no. Afterward, in a great Synthesis moment, Walter gives the boys beer. Tanner throws their 2nd place trophy back at the Yankees, and all celebrate.
Final Image : As we pull back from the ball field, the American flag waves, dissolving into the Bears’ team photo. They’ve secured the prize — it just isn’t the one they expected.
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES (1987)
Between creating teen touchstones like
The Breakfast Club
and kid classics like
Home Alone
, writer-director John Hughes made one for adults. And though the hi-jinks of this “Buddy Fleece” are light, the quest Steve Martin is on is one of the most meaningful: to go home. Two days before Thanksgiving, Steve must get from New York to Chicago, and the only thing in his way is a snarled transportation system — and John Candy.
As a frozen-in-time moment before the handy use of cell phones and the Internet, Chicagoan Hughes paints an enduring portrait of mid-America. He dips again into icons like the wood-paneled lime green rent-a-car (from his first script,
National Lampoon’s Vacation)
, chipper airport employees discussing the little marshmallows in the Thanksgiving “Ambrosia,” and the strange lives of desperate men.
As marketing man Neal Page, Steve is out of touch with this America at the start. His dainty shoes, lush cashmere coat, and snappy fedora will be taken away and replaced with a general store deerstalker and boots. With a chill in the air, and frost on the ground
Fun and Games: As the quest unfolds, we see how difficult the Bears’ challenge will be. The “fun” is in watching them come together as a team. If there were ever underdogs worth rooting for, these are them. They become the “Bad News Bears.” As Tatum joins the misfits, the “upside-down version of the world” now includes girls. And when Walter recruits Jackie Earle, we know they’re going to get somewhere. He may be a juvenile delinquent, but he’s the best athlete in town. The team bonds further when Lupus is bullied and Tanner defends him. Being a Bear, even if a “booger-eating spaz,” now trumps everything. The Bears start to show promise; the “road” is now open and the “prize” may be attainable.
Midpoint: At Minute 58 the Bears win their first game, but it is a “false victory” that keeps getting falser. Will they become soulless weenies like the Yankees? The possibility exists, especially as Walter’s relationship with his charges becomes colder in the guise of being “professional.” When a player gets hurt, Walter is less concerned with the kid and more concerned with beating Vic. Walter has peaked and the “fun” has turned serious.
Bad Guys Close In: Walter has caught Little League fever and wants victory no matter what. He tells Jackie Earle to handle the ball — even if it means cutting out the other players.
All Is Lost: On the eve of the championship, Tatum begs Walter to have dinner with her and her mother after the game. Walter gets angry. He throws beer at Tatum and she cries.
Dark Night of the Soul: The result of going for gold is a “road apple”: Jackie Earle is ostracized by his teammates, and Tatum’s pitching arm is hurt.
Break into Three: After arguing, the Bears decide to play anyway.
Finale: The final game is a bookend of the first. Egged on by Vic, Walter wants to win at any cost. Having learned the Little League way, Walter has become one of them — and it isn’t pretty. But when Vic slaps his own son during a tense moment of the game, the truth of “doing a really fine thing” becomes apparent. Walter goes back to the old way, letting all the Bears play. Despite this, fate almost smiles on them; in the final play, they nearly win. But no. Afterward, in a great Synthesis moment, Walter gives the boys beer. Tanner throws their 2nd place trophy back at the Yankees, and all celebrate.
Final Image : As we pull back from the ball field, the American flag waves, dissolving into the Bears’ team photo. They’ve secured the prize — it just isn’t the one they expected.
PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES (1987)
Between creating teen touchstones like
The Breakfast Club
and kid classics like
Home Alone
, writer-director John Hughes made one for adults. And though the hi-jinks of this “Buddy Fleece” are light, the quest Steve Martin is on is one of the most meaningful: to go home. Two days before Thanksgiving, Steve must get from New York to Chicago, and the only thing in his way is a snarled transportation system — and John Candy.
As a frozen-in-time moment before the handy use of cell phones and the Internet, Chicagoan Hughes paints an enduring portrait of mid-America. He dips again into icons like the wood-paneled lime green rent-a-car (from his first script,
National Lampoon’s Vacation)
, chipper airport employees discussing the little marshmallows in the Thanksgiving “Ambrosia,” and the strange lives of desperate men.
As marketing man Neal Page, Steve is out of touch with this America at the start. His dainty shoes, lush cashmere coat, and snappy fedora will be taken away and replaced with a general store deerstalker and boots. With a chill in the air, and frost on the ground
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