Last post…MAY 19?!
Good reader, I humbly apologize for the long absence. While I love the world of screenwriting, sometimes the best writing advice is a complete cleansing, just drop it and split–and the last two months of traveling 10,000+ miles from Pattaya, Thailand to Rio DJ, the shrimp and caipirinhas on Ipanema beach, qualifies. Now fully “cleansed”, it’s time for me to get back to work, both on my own screenwriting, and here at Script Gods.
I’ll be writing new posts shortly and will be happy to work with you, as ever, through consultancies on your own stuff.
For today, now that I’m back in Chicago, I feel like a Chicago-post is required. So here goes…
Been trying to figure the why in why a post about Nelson Algren would matter to new screenwriters. How about a cautionary tale, instructive to folks on what not to do? Nelson wasn’t the first writer to despise the film adaptation of his work. Disney made a little movie on that you might remember…
1. Disney’s Mary Poppins might be a cherished childhood memory for a lot of us, but for author P.L. Travers, it was a complete slap in the face. Despite having script approval, Travers’ edits were largely disregarded. Travers loathed the movie’s animated sequences and was perturbed that Mary Poppins’ strict side was downplayed. After some heated meetings, Travers reluctantly approved. She would have been shunned from the star-studded premiere had she not shamed a Disney exec into an invite. The 65-year-old Travers spent most of the movie crying and ultimately refused to let Disney touch the rest of the series.”–Stacy Conradt, Mental Floss.
- THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM
As demonstrated by two recent documentaries, Chicago’s poet of Western Avenue had rotten luck with his books being turned into movies. His hatred of the Otto Preminger-directed Man With The Golden Arm is well-documented. Algren felt it had lnothing to do with what he’d written and distanced himself from it. He also felt financially abused with the option and cheated from the pay back from the film’s gross receipts.
But Nelson didn’t exactly surround himself with high-priced lawyers. Whether or not he couldn’t afford legal help is beside the point. You gotta get a guy in a suit on your side when guys in suits are lining up on the other side of the negotiating table.
It’s easy to see Preminger and Hollywood taking advantage of Nelson, Chicago’s street poet laureate, who was busy documenting down-and-outs on our West Side. Just because you win the National Book Award in 1950 doesn’t mean the Hollywood finochios won’t try to USE you. Like we’ve talked about before, Good Reader, hire that entertainment lawyer when they come sniffing for your stuff.
Thing is, I like this movie! How you gonna beat Frank Sinatra as a junkie?! WAY over the top, melodramatic to the max? Sure. But the story of Frankie Machine and his attempt to get the heroin monkey off his back was nominated for three Oscars. It speaks to his artistic commitment that Algren dissed the movie–with three Oscar nods?!
“The film was controversial for its time; the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) refused to certify the film[5] because it showed drug addiction. The black-and-white film uniquely portrayed heroin as a serious literary topic as it rejected the standard “dope fiend” approach of the time. It was the first of its kind to tackle the marginalized issue of illicit drug use.[6] Because it dealt with the taboo subject of “narcotics,” Hollywood’s Production Code refused to grant a seal of approval for the film, and it was released without the MPAA’s seal of approval.”—WIKI
Don’t ask me how, but the film can be seen for free on YouTube(imagine what Nelson would think of that?)
Here’s Sinatra quitting cold turkey. Hyper-melodrama aside, wanna bet this movie will be around 100 years from now?
- WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
Someone who knows better, correct me on the rumor that Nelson sold the option on this one after a really bad night of poker. Love the man, hate the business skills. Legendary stuff that fits the Algren mythology. Two-fisted drinking, all-night poker playing on Wabansia. But Nelson, c’mon, fool me twice?
This movie was nominated for an Oscar too. And the casting, like Man With The Golden Arm, was classic– Laurence Harvey at the height of his acting prowess as Dove Linkhorn. Also one of the first movie’s for Jane Fonda, playing Kitty Twist. This is a pre-Barbarella Jane Fonda, and she is smoking…
