Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Marty (1955) ~ Script Review

I am currently in the midst of a very chaotic semester. So I'm sure most of my posts will be my script reviews for class, which at this point are exclusively for classic films. Here is the one I wrote for one of my all-time favorites, Marty (1955).
I simply adore this film. Today this film couldn't be made, but it should. Marty, is 34-years old. All of his siblings have gotten married and now the pressure is on him to find a girl. He’s plain ugly and that gets in the way of his search for someone genuine, kind and who can love him for him and vice versa. Finding a mate is one of the most difficult tasks we have these days and Marty has a doozy of a time. We learn straight off the bat, what his problem is. As he's taking orders at the butcher shop, little old Italian ladies are telling him he should be ashamed of himself for not being married already. But what's excellent about the writing, especially his dialogue, is that he is so upbeat and optimistic about life that we don't feel bad for him. Rather, we want him to find someone because we care, not because we think he's pathetic. That is a sign of a really well-written and well-developed character! I love the inciting incident. At a ballroom, a rude doctor offers Marty $5 if he’ll take his plain jane date off his hands. Marty downright refuses, the doctor gets another stag, the plain jane refuses the replacement stag. Marty approaches her afterwards and they begin to connect.. Only a genuine guy would refuse the money, feel bad for the girl and try to cheer her up by asking her to dance. It shows us his motivations are completely unselfsih. It also sets us up for the major problem ahead, keeping the girl. And we root for him, through the story. He stumbles in his relationship with Clara. He runs on the mouth but she’s patient with him. His biggest challenge though is his mother who turns on him. She fears being alone for the rest of her life and knows Marty’s love interest will take him away.. His friends also turn on him, scared that they’ll lose their parter in crime in their sexual escapades. When Marty stands his ground and fights for the girl in the end, we know he’s come full circle.

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