Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Seems Like A Good Day For A Car Chase

It just seems like a good day for a couple of car chases, so here are some you may never have seen before. THE MASTER'S TOUCH is an Italian crime film with Kirk Douglas, and one of the wildest car chases ever put on film. A destruction derby! Several flights of stairs, cement, car-on-car action...

THE MASTER'S TOUCH (1972 - Italy)


Luc Besson produced a series of movies called TAXI, and in the USA they cast Jimmy Fallon in the remake. Um, no. Here's one of the car chases from the original (yes, the people speak French and you won't know what they are saying - so what?).

TAXI (1998 - France)


- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:

TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Premise Promise - and HANCOCK - if your film is aboujt a drunken superhero, it is about a drunken superhero.
Dinner: Popeyes Chicken in NoHo.
Bicycle: Bike ride to get that chicken!
Pages: Well, plan was to blast out this article for Script and then work on the spec. Ended up goofing off. Did some writing on each, though.

4 comments:

Political Film Blog said...

Well the "Master's Touch" I found pretty bad all around. Boring, too long, and several more complex problems.

Both the "hero" and the "villain" are equal in this reckless endangerment of the city. Just looking at their actions in the chase, they seem to just be attempting to do as much damage as possible, and come very close to killing pedestrians (and even a cameraman in one shot).

This leaves questions about the character's morality, and that of the director and other filmmakers.

It's destruction for destruction's sake. They even forget to include a compelling reason for the chase during the chase itself.

And that's the other problem. A long series of car crashes and squealing tires is less effective if the reason for the chase isn't built into the chase itself. If, for example, the villain had the hero's daughter in the car with him, then this would be quite a different scene (and would probably affect the hero's driving and callous disregard for human life witnessed herein).

http://politicalfilm.wordpress.com/

James said...

Totally agree with your script tip.

Interesting you used Hancock (Tonight, He Comes). The original spec was much more like the part you disliked. It was a dark drama, with elements that were comedic because they were so dark -- like Hancock repeatedly shooting himself in the head to commit suicide, but unable to do so. Deep R stuff.

The studios developed the script into the part you like. The fun, drunken superhero. They wanted a PG-13 movie. That's really why there was a split in tone and genre.

Some exec probably read the coverage about a down on his luck superhero and some of the events and thought, "Hey, that's a great idea" and never bothered to read the script to experience the tone which was dark as hell.

I distinctly remember the first time I was handed that script to read. My boss handed me "Tonight, He Comes." I just looked at it and said "Seriously?" To which I was then informed Will Smith was attached to star.

I get why the script was made. I just thought it had a lot of things going against it, especially as a blockbuster spec. The title for one.

Funny thing is, I would have actually liked to have seen the movie you're describing Bill. What the first half of the movie was. What the studios were actually trying to develop it into.

wcmartell said...

I think this is going to be an issue for any of the odd Black List scripts that go to screen. The problem is, the studios are making films for the ticket buyers - and that means those films have to fit what those ticket buyers want to see. TONIGHT is a dark, gritty script (the opening in the SRO Hotel) - and that was never going to be a movie. It would never sell enough tickets to cover the cost of making it. So they story *had to* change... or they just would never have bought the script in the first place.

- Bill

Robin TJ Kershaw said...

Right!

http://www.guba.com/watch/3000009652

Plenty is available to read about this classic (banned) short film online. Please note all the red lights - real.

Your turn :)

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