Apropos of nothing, here's a wonderful passage from the introduction to William Goldman's "Four Screenplays with Essays" (Applause, 1997). It's from the introduction to his screenplay for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
"I went to Russia a few years ago with a bunch of other screenwriters, and the high point of the trip for many of us was when we'd get invited into somebody's home, just sit around drinking vodka and talking with other screenwriters from across the world. And one night a few of us---I want to say the others were John (Patrick) Shanley and Larry Kasdan--were in a room talking with our peers and suddenly this one guy looked at me and you have to know this---they are nuts about movies in what used to be the Soviet Union. And of course, during the long terrible years they didn't get to see our movies, only the top Communists got to see those. But this strange thing began to happen: reels of film would be snuck out in the darkness and there were these impromptu black market screenings in the middle of the night and then the next morning the film would all be smuggled back.
"This guy looked at me and he said these words. 'Goldman,' he said. 'I see thees. I see thees weeth my eyes.' And here he pointed to his eyes with his index finger. 'I see man trade his bicycle for teeket to 'Butch Cassidy.'
"I made some standard self-deprecating horseshit reply but inside I was reeling. I remember I told myself it wasn't true, but the man's face said it was. Then I decided it was probably an old bicycle. But there was no such thing there then--any bicycle in that crumbling society was gold.
"Finally I realized this: we have to be very careful what stories we tell. Because we have no idea what we might be holding in our hands."
Friday, January 06, 2006
Bicycles and gold
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7 comments:
Great passage.
Hmmm... So how careful do you think Goldman was being about these stories when he sat down to write Dreamcatcher?
Sorry, pal, I couldn't resist. Love the blog... keep it up.
SB
That's real funny. You been away for a long time, so maybe you haven't heard: I don't shine shoes no more.
So go home and get your shinebox!
Great reference - especially since Goldman is so fond of reminding everyone that "Martin Scorsese doesn't know how to tell a story."
Seriously bro, I know there's some recieved wisdom that we're all supposed to bow down to Goldman - but the way he continues to hold forth in book after book like his Butch Cassidy script cured polio makes my teeth itch.
I've never been a fan of his work, probably because I don't find anachronisms to be, in and of themselves, particularly amusing. Goldman's scripts for Butch, Princess Bride and Maverick all follow the same formula: Take a period piece, but then have everyone talk really slangy and act contemporary... hilarity ensues.
His script for Dreamcatcher on the other hand, is some sort of modern crapsterpiece - one A.O. Scott clearly didn't remember a few weeks ago when writing his piece bemoaning why bad movies aren't "amazingly bad" anymore.
I know people who have Dreamcatcher parties - because when the retarded kid with cancer turns out to be an alien sent to save the world from slugs that explode out of their victim's rectums (except for the one that lodges in the hero's brain and turns him into a fey Englishman named Mr. Gay)-- who needs drugs?
It also has my favorite moment in any movie released that year - as Thomas Jane answers John Wayne's gun... the gun that has suddenly started ringing like a telephone, and says: "Jonesy... I had a feeling it would be you!"
(It took a second viewing before I stopped laughing for long enough to wonder who else he thought could possibly be calling him on John Wayne's gun.)
And to think Goldman spent the entire press tour for this film shit-talking Gangs Of New York. This guy's balls are so big he must have to carry them around in a wheelbarrow.
Take care,
Sean
Yeah, well, you know what they say: even a blind pig finds a truffle once in awhile. Or, to put it less colloquially, do as Goldman says, not as he does.
Over the years I've found that the guy's assessments of the relative storytelling strengths/weaknesses of Hollywood films are dead on (like his wonderful piece pointing out that the script for "Titanic" was so inherently crowd pleasing and had such momentum that the bad dialogue couldn't hurt it). What I like about the bicycle anecdote is Goldman's incredulity that "Butch Cassidy" could have seemed such a powerful draw to someone in such dire circumstances. I have a feeling every successful popular artist has a moment like that, where a project that he just kind of pounded out ended up having cultural currency and staying power.
"Dreamcatcher" was kind of amazing, in its way, though. Of all the King adaptations I've seen, it gets closest to the sheer wild-assed, making-it-up-as-I-go inventiveness that you experience when you read one of King's novels, specifically one of those super-duper long ones from the 80s or 90s that was nothing special, and was frankly rather silly pretty much all the way through, yet still kept you up all night.
I don't think you can blame Goldman for much of what made Dreamcatcher so awful. Most of that stuff is in Stephen King's book, which is even worse than the movie. There is something to be said for being too faithful to a source. (Great Gatsby, Mr. Coppola?)
King's books don't lend themselves too well to adaptation. The ones that work are usually due to a good director/actor combo (like Carrie, Misery and Shawshank) or a sense of gory daring (like The Dark Half). I'm not ashamed to say that I've liked some of the ones I shouldn't have (Creepshow) and disliked ones I should have loved (The Shining).
But I digress. Goldman's famous adage about the Oscars ("nobody knows anything") should remind him that he's included in that statement. I too think he has, to quote Dabney Coleman in Dragnet, "balls as big as church bells."
And he adapted Dreamcatcher for the money. I would have too. But then again, I'm a whore. 'Tis pity.
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