crazrick
Liger
Joined: 28 Mar 2008
Posts: 780
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 Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:42 am Post subject: crAZ piles of BS-- BAT-21 |
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TITLE: BAT*21-- 105 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094712/
GENRE: ???
This one has me kinda twisted; it seems to have elements of 3 of Blake's genres quite evenly spread throughout. Maybe because it is based on a novel which was based on a true-life story of a similar event, the movie-makers tried to tackle the story from several different angles, and surprisingly, it worked for a change...
The 'main' A Story would be Hambelton's struggle to get to friendly territory, so DWAP, right? The recon pilot who acts as Ham's eye-in-the-sky, Bird-Dog, is hung up with Institutionalized dilemmas, and as the two military men bond along the harrowing road to rescue and recovery, elements of Buddy Love creep in...
so, it seems only fair to call it a hyphenate; it is at least:
INSTITUTIONALIZED-DWAP
but, maybe more accurately, INSTITUTIONALIZED-DWAP/BUDDY LOVE
so, here are the requirements for each; I'll try to remember to highlight where these requirements pop up along the way...
DUDE WITH A PROBLEM
1) an innocent hero
2) a sudden event
3) a life-or-death battle in which the individual, a group or a tribe is at stake
BUDDY LOVE
1) and incomplete hero
2) a counterpart lacking some quality the hero has while posessing some quality the hero lacks
3) a complication that must be overcome for completion of hero
INSTITUTIONALIZED
1) a group
2) a choice, pitting the individual against the group
3) a sacrifice leading to join or rejoin, destroy the group, or death to the hero
now then, how does one theme come together to drive 3 genres in the right direction to tell a compelling story that actually makes a pretty good movie rather than a confused and confusing mess?
well, let's hope I can tell you...
SPOILERS AHEAD!
| Code: | OPENING IMAGE P1 Lieutenant-Colonel Iceal 'Ham' Hambleton innocently plays golf in Friendly Territory, during the Vietnam war.
SET-UP P1-10 Ham sent up to recon a strike against advancing Viet-Cong forces; his recon plane shot down, forcing the sudden event of Ham having to eject behind enemy lines. Ham= Bat-21, Captain Clarke= Bird-Dog, scout plane pilot who tracks Ham
THEME STATED P5 'I think you're too close' Ham tells his golf buddy, 'Too close to the ball... after you hit it...' Being too close to the action becomes a recurring theme.
But around minute 8 Clarke tells Ham 'I'm the lifeguard, you're the drowning man... listen to me, and I'll get you home. Fight me and I'll slap you around...' so chain-of-command is also important, Bat-21 accustomed to being a Lt. Colonel in a briefing room in a safe zone, not used to 'taking orders' from a lowly Captain in the field of battle.
CATALYST P12 Bat-21 ordered to stay put until daylight, but Viet-Cong find his gear in the paddy and track him, knowing he must be close... and Bat-21's life-or-death struggle is on!
DEBATE P12-25 Obey orders from life-guard Bird-Dog or go it alone? Bat-21 weighs his options during his first night in Hell; Bird-Dog wrestles with a similar debate as he takes it upon himself to see Ham thru his trials, sometimes coming into conflict with orders from Bird-Dog's superiors, and the genres begin to mingle
BREAK INTO 2 P25 Bat-21 survives one night; in what becomes Hambelton's contribution to the Institutionalized genre theme, Bat-21 recons enemy vehicular column movements, calls in air-strike via Bird-Dog, doing the job of fighting the war for the group, while fighting for his life alone except for Bird-Dog, his pal... WOW! 3 genres in one beat! can you dig it?
B STORY P30 Buddy Love between Bat-21 and Bird-Dog as the two men bond and earn respect but never really meet, while Bat-21 evades and makes way to safer ground; Bat-21 respects Bird-Dog for doing his job, closer to the action that Ham has ever been, while Clarke respects Bat-21's intelligence and resolve in the face of a tough couple of long days and nights ahead... Ham is the brains (although he didn't have brains enough to reject going up on the mission in the first place), Clarke is the brawn in the plane (although the irony of a little tin-can recon plane chasing down a survivor from a shot-down super-duper high-tech high-altitude reconnaisance plane is not lost on me!)
A & B stories dance thru most every beat to come, as Bat-21 struggles to survive while Bird-Dog flies to keep Bat-21 grounded and focused on that survival
FUN AND GAMES P30-55 Confused Bird-Dog tracks Bat-21 via Bat-21's elaborate golf-game map code, uncertain why Bat-21 must flee; introduced to Bird-Dog's fly-boy buddies at the base, playing cards, talking smack, having 'fun' in the middle of Hell, the promise of the premise in a story about various heroes and their various roles in a day-to-day struggle to survive somebody else's war...
MIDPOINT P55 Bat-21 scavanges for food, attacked by farmer; kills Farmer in self-defense. 'Too close...' to war zone, Bat-21 desperate for rescue; Clarke repeatedly reminded by his peers that he is on the edge of burning-out; Clarke remains steadfast in his resolve to guide Bat-21 to safety
BAD GUYS CLOSE IN P55-75 Burnt-out Bird-Dog learns of the mission behind Bat-21's recon mission-- to carpet-bomb and napalm the region; Bird-Dog must help Bat-21, and the clock is ticking...
ALL IS LOST P75 At the rescue site, Viet-Cong ambush, kill rescue crew while Bat-21 and Bird-Dog look on, helpless; rescue team leader out-ranks Clarke, orders him off, demands that Bat-21 flee for yet another night in hiding
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL P75-85 'Too close' to death, Bat-21 retreats and evades, follows orders from life-guard friend Bird-Dog to stay on course and play thru, tho Bird-Dog rages at command decision to withdraw
BREAK INTO 3 P85 Bat-21 decides 'I'm through killing...' he has changed from the war planner to the scared man, facing mortality and morality; meanwhile, Clarke cooks up a plot of his own, dealing with the complication of his mission vs his boss, to obey chain-of-command... or not...
FINALE P85-105 Napalm strike is imminent, Bird-Dog steals his Commander's armored helicopter to rescue Bat-21 at the 'final hole' river; by choosing to go after Bat-21, Clarke sacrifices his position in the Institution of the Air Force, in favor of his friendship, loyalty and promise to Hambelton to save his life; Bat-21 is saved from trap by Vietnamese civilian boy, makes 'trade agreement' with the boy, rather than killing in a none-too-subtle-but-brief commentary on diplomacy to avert the disaster and disgrace of an unwinable war-- being brought so close to the reality of the war has changed Hambelton forever
FINAL IMAGE P105 Bat-21 and Bird-Dog together on the '9th Green' after the napalm attack has destroyed all pursuit-- along with the whole 'golf course'-- behind them... their military careers may be over by the choices and changes they have made, but life and friendship endure, which goes toward answering all genre questions, DWAP, BL and Institutionalized alike... |
ok, I'm not too sure I hit on all the genre stuff as I saw it, but there you have it, Cats and Dawgs...
stay tuned for...
THE CUTTING EDGE
If you can't wait or want even more BS2 fun for hit movies, check out Blake Snyder's STC! smash hit follow-up, STC! Goes To The Movies, to read Blake's own beat sheets for 50 classic films. Order here:
https://www.blakesnyder.com/zencart/
Last edited by crazrick on Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:01 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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