by Karel Segers

Ironically, the success of House of Games and his ensuing directing career might have been the nail in the coffin of Mamet’s screenwriting genius. Never did he reach the level of e.g. The Verdict again. Something Wag The Dog may have fun, but ridiculously overrated to my taste – and certainly not a huge success, given its star power.

I believe Brian De Palma has never reached the standard of The Untouchables again, either. So let’s reminisce about the good times.

UNTOUCHABLE

The Untouchables is a classic in every sense. Masterful storytelling, lush art direction, outstanding cinematography and solid performances, most of all by De Niro in his landmark role as Al Capone. Some people argue that Morricone’s outdated music score ruins a contemporary viewing of the film, but I don’t mind the added touch of melodrama. (De gustibus et coloribus… I also love Bowfinger) The Untouchables is textbook example of storytelling in the tradition of Aristotle, with a strong Hero’s Journey framework. It shows again how powerful movies pay off on these essential story elements.

THEMATIC QUESTION: WHAT ARE YOU PREPARED TO DO

Our movie moment follows right after the hero’s lowest point, when Eliot Ness’ mentor Malone is found murdered by Capone’s right hand guy Frank Nitti. The scene is a screenwriting master class in designing “The Ordeal”. Malone hands Ness two gifts before passing away: in the outer journey he gives Ness the time tables of the train Capone’s bookkeeper will be on and for the inner journey he reminds Ness “What are you prepared to do?” The question refers to an earlier scene where Malone explained that Ness can only succeed ‘the Chicago way’, which is basically an upgraded version of ‘an eye for an eye’. The Ordeal scene is preceded and followed by a brief shot showing Capone enjoying a night at the opera (the Shadow’s high point).

(I can’t seem to get the audio in sync with the picture – apologies for this)

THE MOMENT: CHICAGO TRAIN STATION STEPS

You may have noticed that most mainstream movies have a scene of travel or movement at the opening of Act Three. In this healthy tradition, David Mamet wrote a train chase in the script but De Palma had splurged most of the budget by the time they had to film it, so he had to improvise.

For years De Palma had toyed with the idea of paying homage to Sergei Eistenstein’s ‘odessa steps’ scene from Battleship Potemkin. Now the circumstances were handing it to him on a golden plate. When Ness (Costner) and Stone (Garcia) enter the train station and descend the steps, two marines cross them, going up. At this moment, every true movie buff subliminally makes the connection. Of what follows, most people will remember the spectacular Mexican standoff, but what makes this scene really work is the suspense leading up to it.

De Palma had been doing Hitchcock style exercises for over twenty years and here we see him at full maturity. The scene runs for six minutes before the first bullet is fired and another two before the standoff is fully established. A great example of a beautifully built, meaty scene with a totally satisfying climax. The purest of cinema.

– Karel Segers

(first published for ScripTips)

Karel Segers is a producer and script consultant who started in movies as a rights buyer for Europe’s largest pay TV group Canal+. Back then it was handy to speak 5 languages. Less so today in Australia.

Karel teaches, consults and lectures on screenwriting and the principles of storytelling to his 7-year old son Baxter and anyone else who listens.
He is also the boss of this blog.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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Some people speak of the Point of No Return. Because every strong plot point is in essence a point of no return, I don’t find this approach helpful. Both the Inciting Incident and the 1st Act Turning Point are almost always strong points of no return.

Mid points are often at a location very different from the rest of the movie (One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Untouchables), near rivers (The Queen, The Untouchables), bridges (A Fistful of Dynamite, The Untouchables) or cliffs (Butch & Sundance, The Incredibles, Forgetting Sarah Marshall). The ‘cliff mid points’ often include a jump into the unknown, showing the Hero’s newly found Faith.

At first sight, in the Untouchables there seems to be one Mid Point, mathematically placed right in the middle of the movie at 58mins (out of 112), at the end of Sequence D (fourth out of eight).

At closer inspection, there is a little more to it.

If Ness’ outer objective in the first half of the movie is ‘to catch Capone’, then this changes once they get hold of the bookkeeper’s ledger. Now the objective is ‘to catch the bookkeeper’ in order to decode the names of the recipients of money. The overall objective remains the same: ‘to protect the people of Chicago from violence by bringing Capone to justice’.

The Inner Journey is more complex, because two themes are at play: Ness’ struggle to stay within the law and his naivety around the effects of his type of work on a family life.

At the end of Sequence D, Ness shows he is willing to go beyond ‘The Law of the Land’ and adopt ‘The Chicago Way’. He shows this by replying to the mountie who disapproves of his methods by saying “Yeah? Well, you’re not from Chicago.”

A stronger mid point is yet to follow. Note that exactly halfway Sequence D, Ness kills one of Capone’s men.

Exactly halfway the next sequence, one of Capone’s men kills Wallace. The two killings form the transition into the second, darker half of the movie.

Both ‘families’ (Capone’s and that of the Untouchables) lost a member and they’re now both ‘Touchable’.

Soon after this reversal Hero and Shadow (the antagonist) will face each other for the first time, on the stairs at Capone’s hotel.

To summarise, the following reversals happen around the movie’s mid point:

Change of Ness’ approach:

1. Bring Capone to trial
2. Bring the bookkeeper to trial

Change of Ness’ morality:

1. The Law of the Land
2. The Law of Chicago

Change of energy, mood:

1. Untouchable
2. Touchable

These are not mere points of no return, they are complete reversals.

So, what’s there to learn?

The second act is by far the hardest to write, we all know that.  Creating a strong mid point or mid sequence is the first way of dealing with this.  You have successfully chopped the story into smaller, more manageable bits: you will only have to bridge story sections of 25-30mins (two sequences) maximum.

Although this may seem a purely structural device; it is not.  It is impossible to create a meaningful mid point without knowing exactly what your story and characters are about.  I really believe that once you have truly nailed the mid point (or sequence), your story will have its foundation and the other sequences will fall into place much more easily.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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