THE HAMMER (new) & not so sizzling Paris

THE HAMMER - this looks surprisingly good. Boxers always make for great movies. You want to write a good flick -- write an original story about a boxer. This reminds me of another quote, (see below) about other "trusty" and stalwart screenplay characters:

I was watching a not very good Audrey Hepburn, Tony Curtis and William Holden fiasco about a screenwriter in Paris, it's of that bloated-studio era, 1960s when studios were going bankrupt and no one wanted to be in the movie making business (imagine!), PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES. I love Hepburn and Curtis and I couldn't even watch it in that escapist way or so bad it's good way... it was just too dated. And Audrey's character's line about movies: "I like a good robbery not all that current New Wave stuff where nothing happens" seemed straight out of a studio exec's "notes" at the time. This is the "Raging Bulls and Easy Rider" era of filmmaking (great book, btw) when indies took off and turned these bloated studio productions on their ear. Now some people might love it but it wasn't flashing "funny" on my radar today... maybe it's my new mom tiredness that is oh-so-tired, you know, I'm like so tired I've tired myself straight, or in this case -- awake. Bah duh dum.

Gabrielle is Audrey and William Holden plays Richard. The dated scenes that were cringe-worthy is that they play dual characters: hokey scenes with them as the characters Richard's writing about and a strange costume party with costumes out of Central Casting. I mean, they look like they were purchased down at "Ahhhs" on Wilshire. Sorry if seeing William Holden in a Target store Lone Ranger costume isn't even mildly entertaining. Okay, maybe mildly.

At any rate, there were a few catchy lines, being that I'm in the "script writing" business. But as you know I avoid snark around here, so on the positive side, some of the dialog is funny. Here's a few:

Gabrielle

What's the story about?

Richard

It's an action/suspense, uh, romantic melodrama with lots of comedy, of course. And, uh, deep down underneath, a substrata of social comment.

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Richard

I've got it! Of course, it means we'll have to start all over again, but that's not too serious. We've only got eight pages.

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RICHARD

Well, Miss Simpson, you happen to be wrong. Our Gabby happens to bethat most reliable, steadfast, and you-cannot-miss-with-no-matter-how-badly-you-write-it character in all popular literature: the prostitute with a heart of gold.

No, actually,
the P with the H of G is secondmost. The most is Frankenstein.
Sure, someone who creates or remakes another human being and either falls in love with it or it destroys him. It can go either way. That's what gives it such flexibility. Miss Simpson, did you ever realise that Frankenstein and My Fair Lady are the same story? One ends happily and the other one doesn't. Think about that for a while. But don't tell anybody. I'm saving it for the textbook on the art of screenplay writing.

CLASSIC!