TITLE: ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE
FORM: SP PAGES: 113
AUTHOR: Christopher Landon
TIME: 1970’s SUBMITTED TO: I. Moussa
LOCATION: Chicago & other unspecified city locations CLT-UFA
SUBMITTED BY: Martin Schwermann
GENRE: Drama RECEIVED: November 12, 1997
ELEMENTS: Cast: JAMES WOODS, MELANIE GRIFFITH, Vincent Karthheiser & Natsha Gregson Wagner. Larry Clark is the director. Principal Photography is set to roll 12/97.
ANALYST: Karen Heckler COVERED: November 13, 1997
Logline: Two teen-aged run-aways are barely surviving until they meet an older couple who are criminals.
Structure: Good
Characterization: Excellent
Uniqueness of Storyline: Fair
Dialogue: Good
Uniqueness of Setting: Good
Cinematic Value: Good
READER RECOMMENDATION: MAYBE
Synopsis:
BOBBIE & ROSIE are teen-aged runaways, in love, & barely surviving on the street. Both were formerly abused, Bobbie physically & Rosie sexually. Now they’re both heroin addicts. Bobbie robs vending machines for cash. Rose hooks.
Bobbie gets caught by a SECURITY GUARD & is beaten senseless. He is tended to by MEL, a friend’s adult uncle. Mel is also a heroin addict, courtesy of Viet Nam. He had been in Med School. Now he is a thief. Mel brings Bobbie back to health and then teaches him the tricks of the trade. Mel takes Bobbie on a big score in Chicago. Along for the ride is Mel’s girl, SID, & Rosie.
Sid, also a heroin addict, befriends Rosie & cleans her up, feeds her, buys her clothes and mothers her. While the ladies shop, Mel & Bobbie hit a Dr. Feelgood clinic that specializes in prescription amphetamines. The take is fifty thousand plus a cache of drugs. Mel & Bobbie set up shop to wholesale the drugs at a bungalow-type inn outside town. For protection they buy themselves an arsenal from the REV. JAMES COOK.
We follow several of the drug transactions, which are each eventful in their own way until one goes very wrong. It goes violently, murderously wrong. Bobbie’s jaw gets broken & Mel gets shot in the stomach. They take the dead buyers’ money and head to the Rev. James’ for patching up. Rev. James’ operation heals them. Rosie, who was pregnant, has a miscarriage. She now wants out of this life. Bobbie is having second thoughts too. Yet as soon as Mel is ambulatory he is ready for action. There’s a jewel heist he wants a piece of.
Bobbie & Mel go meet JEWELS, a flamboyant Latino homosexual. The heist is his connection. Bobbie is scared to literal tears, but Mel reassures him. Promises to get out of town after this caper. They break in but the vault is EMPTY! It was the inside man, RICHARD JOHNSON, that double-crossed them.
Bobbie goes back to the hotel room to find Rosie dead, an o.d. He becomes an "animal." Bobbie leaves with Mel & Sid to go to Johnson’s house. He doesn’t tell the couple that Rosie is dead. Jewels meets them at Johnson’s house for the confrontation.
Jewels climbs the stairs to the bedroom first. Sounds of a struggle & gunfire is heard. Mel & Bobbie race upstairs to find Richard’s WIFE tied up & Jewels beating Richard to death. Bobbie puts a gun to Jewel’s head, ordering him to stop the brutality. The wife takes Sid & Mel to the pantry safe, leaving Richard & Jewels in Bobbie’s control. Richard pleads for his life. Encourages Bobbie to turn them all in. While Bobbie considers Richard’s logic, Jewels resumes the savage beating of Richard. Bobbie blows Jewels’ head off.
They leave with the money from the Johnson house. At a service station on a gas up & bathroom break, Mel tells Sid to buy a shovel. He’s has to kill Bobbie. He knows Bobbie can go to the police & cop a plea. As a juvenile, he’d be out by 18. Sid goes to the men’s room & warns Bobbie. Gives him a part of the jewel stake & tells him to run.
Sid returns to the car. Tells Mel to drive. He shoots her a knowing look & they go.
COMMENTS:
This is a well written but very grim screenplay. There is graphic violence, & graphic rough sex. I’ve glossed over the violence in the synopsis, but numerous confrontations erupt. Additionally, the reader / viewer is "treated to" the depths of physical abuse, sexual abuse, & drug addiction along with the poverty often associated with it. And the misery of this junkie / runaway lifestyle is very depressing. It really is a respite, comically and otherwise, when Mel takes Bobbie "into the life." But since that life is still one of crime: despair, tragedy & violence are still associated. Although the stakes are higher with Mel & Sid, the outcomes are the same. I was glad there was a redemption, at least for Bobbie, at the end.
The characters are plausible, believable & likable, despite their short-comings. The 1970’s are painted in day-glo & all its drug taking glory. Mel is quite witty and I’m sure that James Woods will play the life out of him. Melanie Griffith will also give the appropriate heart to Sid.
Larry Clark, the director of the feature length documentary, "Kids", certainly has the appropriate understanding and skills to do this project justice. Regardless of how well crafted, the film is still depressing. I felt beat up reading it. Sitting through it would be worse. I would never go and see this movie. Tickets will sell because of James Woods & the gritty subject matter. But blockbuster this is not. Therefore, I still have to rate this movie a MAYBE.
SCREENPLAY ANALYSIS
Title: "ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE"
Genre: Drama
Plot construction: Good
Introduction: Good
Conflict: Excellent
Climax: Good
Resolution: Excellent
Secondary Plot: Good
CHARACTERIZATION: Excellent
Development: Excellent
Motivation: Excellent
Interaction with other characters: Good
DRAMATIC POTENTIAL: Good
COMEDIC POTENTIAL: Good
NARRATIVE RHYTHM: Good
SCENIC RHYTHM: Good
DIALOGUE: Good
VISUAL POTENTIAL: Good
MOOD: Good
relevance to story: Good
TIME SETTING: Good
relevance to today: Good
AUDIENCE APPEAL: Fair
domestic: Fair
international: Fair