Save the Cat Goes to the Movies (22 page)

B Story:
We meet the bad guys, including Gary Busey as Mr. Joshua and Mitchell Ryan as The General. Gary is key, as he’s Mel’s counterpart. This is a great example of the fine line between good guy and bad guy, for Mel and Gary are the dark and light sides of each other. We also have a classic “how bad is the bad guy?” moment: To demonstrate just how evil he is, The General tells minion Gary to hold out his arm, and G. Gordon Liddy-style, scorches his own henchman with a lighter as Gary twitches like he’s crazy (no, I mean in this movie).

Fun and Games:
Two partners: one suicidal, the other in a mid-life crisis. What better way to demo the “promise of the premise” than to have Mel stop a suicidal jumper by going to the top of the building, handcuffing himself to the guy, and leaping together onto a safety mat? Later, when Mel and Danny go to a suspect’s house — the last to see Ms. Hunsaker — there’s more gunplay as Mel shoots the man, who drowns in his pool. “You ever meet anybody you didn’t kill?” asks Danny. More fun as Danny takes Mel home, where Mel interacts with Danny’s flirtatious daughter. (“Mr. Riggs, would you like a tart?”) Next day at the LAPD shooting range, the two think a hooker, Dixie, might know something. The “Fun and Games” end with a perfect bit as Mel shoots a happy face in Danny’s target. Mel’s
button
on the scene: “Have a nice day.”

Midpoint:
The “stakes are raised” at Minute 65 when Mel and Danny go to Dixie’s house and an explosion destroys it; they’re almost killed. Kids describe a man they saw lurking there as having the same tattoo as Mel. Mel has a dark past — he was a Viet Nam Special Ops agent. Now we know the bad guys are Special Forces. A and B stories cross as Danny and Mel realize they have a
common enemy; this “complication” is about more than a suicidal girl.

Bad Guys Close In:
Conflict within the team as Danny and Mel confront Michael Hunsaker, who tells them what this is really about: His daughter was killed to keep him quiet. The General runs Shadow Company, an ex-CIA team now importing heroin. Suddenly we no longer have to remember his name, as Hunsaker is machine-gunned by Gary from a helicopter. Gary reports to The General “another problem exists”: The police may know about the whole operation.

All Is Lost:
While seeking more information from yet another hooker, Mel is “gunned down” by a drive-by Gary in a perfect “whiff of death” moment. Not really dead, Mel realizes he can fool the bad guys into thinking he is. Then Danny learns Gary kidnapped his daughter. Following the “All is Lost” rule, Danny is “worse off than when this movie started.”

Dark Night of the Soul:
Waiting by the phone, Mel tells Danny they’re going to “get bloody” to get his daughter back.

Break into Three:
They’ve been doing it pretty much Danny’s way: now they do it Mel’s way. “You’re going to have to trust me,” says Mel. A and B stories cross again as the call comes and the boys launch into action. By saving Danny’s daughter, maybe Mel can get over the loss of the woman in his life, too.

Finale:
There are three scenes of violence in the ending: (1) the desert where a rescue goes wrong; (2) back in Hollywood at the nightclub lair of The General, where Mel is tortured (he’s tortured a lot, have you noticed?); and (3) Danny’s house, where Mel has a showdown with Gary after Danny frees his daughter and dispatches The General. Mel beats Gary in a cool martial arts-fest; then Mel and Danny, guns blazing, kill Gary together.

Final Image:
Having come to terms with his wife’s death, Mel spends Christmas with Danny and his family. Danny is over his mid-life crisis, and Mel is no longer an insane person (no, I mean … nevermind!)

Of the romantic comedies featuring Meg and Tom, or Meg and Kevin, or Meg and Hugh, the imprimatur that made the world safe for the convenient use of Louis Armstrong tunes in lieu of actual screenwriting is director Rob Reiner’s urban fairy tale about Meg and Billy. And no “complication” in the way of two lovers — geography in
Sleepless in Seattle
, an outrageous accent in
French Kiss
, or a time-travelin’ portal in
Kate & Leopold
— can beat a man and a woman who are just too blockheaded to realize they’re perfect for each other.

Created from the real-life experiences of screenwriter Nora Ephron, and enhanced by the matching dating tales of director Reiner, the set-up is simple: the claim made by Billy on the first day he meets Meg that men and women cannot be friends. Men, Billy states, just want to sleep with women and nothing more. But hazzah! After a few broken relationships, and the agony of having Bruno Kirby as his best friend, Billy slowly begins to realize that
When Harry Met Sally …
he found perfect love.

Despite eerie similarities to
Annie Hall
and
Manhattan
, and a few moments that suffer from “a case of the cutes,” it’s the touchstone we look to as the “Rom-com Love” that tops them all. For when Billy surrenders and races through the streets to confess to Meg he loves it when she orders salad dressing on the side,
somebody
has transformed — him!

BL Type: Rom-com Love

BL Cousins:
Pat and Mike, Pretty Woman, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, French Kiss, Notting Hill, The Wedding Planner, Maid in Manhattan, Two Weeks Notice, Failure to Launch

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY …

Written by
Nora Ephron

Opening Image:
A running bit (previously used in
Reds)
is the “real” couples talking to the camera about how they met. Their stories detail the odd chase through life we lovers make, and the wrong turns that ultimately lead to the perfect match.

Set-Up:
Meet Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) on the last day of college, 1978. Billy kisses his girlfriend goodbye as Meg waits to drive with him from Chicago to New York. They are totally different types. She is straight-laced, organized, and perky. He is a slob, a front-seat philosopher, and by his reckoning, a ladies man. At a roadside diner, we introduce Meg’s penchant for specific ordering of meals. They seem an unlikely pair. He’s beer stein half-empty; she’s champagne flute half-full.

Theme Stated:
“It is impossible for a man and a woman to be friends.” Can, as Billy claims, men not resist the lure of sex and see women only as objects of lust? We shall see.

Catalyst:
“We are just going to be friends,” states Meg and thus the gauntlet is thrown down. Meg and Billy part in New York City with a “thanks for the ride and nice knowing you.” It seems like they may never see each other again … but we know better, don’t we!

Debate:
Is it over? Five years later: another departure, another shared trip. In a reverse of the first scene, a now older Billy sees Meg kissing her boyfriend goodbye at JFK. On the plane, we pick up where we left off: Meg is still naive and Billy is still a Neanderthal — yet getting married, much to Meg’s surprise. He proves he hasn’t changed with talk about how long he must hold a woman after sex. Is five seconds enough? Meg is horrified. By the time they land back in Chicago, the two reunited collegians decide they are still not right for each other. And Meg, for one, is glad she has a nice boyfriend whom she’s serious about.

Break into Two:
Five years later, they are full-fledged adults, both looking again. Meg broke up with her boyfriend, who refused to marry her. Billy is in the process of a painful divorce. We are in the present and will remain here for the duration. Meg sees Harry in a bookstore (“Someone is staring at you in Personal Growth”) and they agree to meet. Before they can be together, they must test the premise and see if men and women can be friends. They decide to give it a try.

B Story:
The B story here is Billy and Meg’s two friends, his best bud, Jess (Bruno Kirby), and Meg’s galpal, Marie (Carrie Fisher). In a sense, this film is a bit of a “four-hander” as Bruno and Carrie will get together and be the push Meg and Billy need to get them into Act Three. But for now they are Meg’s and Billy’s mentors, the ones they talk to about the theme of the movie.

Fun and Games:
Billy and Meg as friends. Two single people find solace talking about their exes, aerobics, yoga, food, and shopping. They go out to Chinese dinner, where Meg gets it her way as usual. OCD Meg and forever unhappy Billy do things lovers do, but do so as friends — watching
Casablanca
in their own beds while on the phone with each other, plus lots of afternoons at the museum — all the cute couple stuff without the complications of s-e-x. The two even root for each other when they have dates. During this part, Meg does her famous “orgasm in the deli” scene (what is more Fun and Games than that?), and both are free to be themselves. The whole time we know they are perfect together — why … don’t … they?

Midpoint:
At Minute 49 the stakes are raised at a New Year’s Eve party when they realize they’re falling for each other. They kiss as friends, trying to ignore the close call. To avoid this “complication,” they set each other up with their best friends as A and B stories now cross. But the plan backfires: Carrie and Bruno fall for each other instead.

Bad Guys Close In:
While out with Meg, Billy sees his ex-wife with her new boyfriend. Billy realizes his dating life is not getting better. At Bruno and Carrie’s new place, Billy predicts their future — and it isn’t pretty. He even fights with Meg, mad at her for not getting upset about anything. She fires back, saying his cavalier attitude about sex isn’t helping. Now the “bad guys” include both Meg and Billy seriously dating others. But what else can they do?

All Is Lost:
When Meg calls Billy because her ex is getting married, they make a fatal mistake and fall into bed. And though it all should be fine, the “death” is the death of their friendship — what are they now? The look on Billy’s face post-sex tells all: He still has the problem of figuring out how long to hold her before leaving.

Dark Night of the Soul:
Despite the joy of confessing the deed to Carrie and Bruno, Meg and Billy realize their error.

Break into Three:
They both decide to tell each other they made a mistake. Over dinner they do just that. By rejecting each other, they hope to save their friendship — but can they?

Finale:
A and B stories cross as the two attend Bruno and Carrie’s wedding — and fight. Bruno and Carrie propose a toast to Meg and Billy: “If Marie or I found either of them remotely attractive, we would not be here today.” It seems it’s over. Billy calls her, but Meg won’t answer. On New Year’s Eve, the separated lovers realize they need Synthesis. The
chase to the airport scene
that ends most rom-coms, here is Billy running through NYC to be with Meg. Finally they kiss — this time as true lovers.

Final Image:
A last couple: Billy and Meg tell the story of how they met.

The biggest movie ever made (at least when it was released) became the biggest hit of all time, and we would be remiss in our efforts if we didn’t try to understand why. You have a great primal set-up: a sinking ship in the middle of an icy sea, the historic brand name of
Titanic
promising glamour … and death. But what makes this story work is that it’s about two star-crossed lovers who yearn to be together whatever the odds.

And that
never
fails.

In the “Epic Love” category, the “complication” is bigger than the lovers. We’re talking about
Gone with the Wind
and even more recent movies like
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
and
True Lies.
Whether there’s a sweeping historic backdrop, or a globe-hopping adventure, the story is about a man and a woman who love and need each other — which is precisely what director and writer James Cameron understood when he took on this monumental project.

When we begin, the ill-fated nature of this relationship is seen in the differences between these two lovers. She is a pampered Victorian mama’s girl about to marry the wrong guy, and he’s a starving artist who wins his ticket to ride in a poker game before the greatest ship ever built takes off on its maiden — and doomed — voyage. Though we know the ending, and still hope for the best, we realize that a perfect love such as this often ends in tragedy — if we’re lucky!

BL Type: Epic Love

BL Cousins:
Gone with the Wind, Dr. Zhhivago, The Wind and the Lion, The Year of Living Dangerously, True Lies, The Last of the Mohicans, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Notebook, The Far Pavilions, The Painted Veil

TITANIC

Written by
James Cameron

Opening Image:
Sepia-tinted footage of
Titanic
launching. Now in the present, an underwater sub explores the wreckage of the ship. In the sub, Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) commands a robot camera into the ghostly hallways and staterooms. We will be cutting between past and present for the duration of the tale.

Set-Up:
Up top, the crew salvages an old safe. They were looking for a diamond and are disappointed. But inside is something more important: a drawing. Dated the day the ship went down, it’s a sketch of a nude girl wearing the very diamond they’re looking for: the “Heart of the Ocean” necklace. On the other side of the world, a 101-year-old woman, Rose (Gloria Stuart), sees the portrait on TV and claims the girl in the drawing is her. As Gloria is flown in by helicopter to the excavation ship, all wonder if she is who she claims. “Are you ready to go back to
Titanic?”
Bill asks her. At Minute 20, Gloria begins her story: “It’s been 84 years.
Titanic
was called the ship of dreams.” Now going back into the past again,
Titanic
launches. An old car is loaded on board as passengers arrive, and we meet Rose (Kate Winslet), a perfect Victorian “dish.” With her is her rich and pompous fiancé, Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). “To me,” Gloria says, “It was a slave ship taking me back to America in chains.”