1/14/24
Newsletter #548
The Crack of Dawn
My buddy John, who was the head of sales for a large automotive parts company, warned me many years ago against making definitive sweeping generalizations, like all and every and never and always because they’re generally not true. I recently said to my friend Steve (and reported here) that “no one knows how to write a screenplay anymore.” His response was, “No one? Nobody?” and since I’d made such a sweeping generalization, I couldn’t back it up and said, “Well, it doesn’t seem like it,” or something stupid like that.
So, having canceled Netflix in disgust several years ago, I just joined back up. I was tired of explaining why I didn’t have it. Also, folks kept recommending movies on Netflix, and I thought, “Well, maybe there are good movies on Netflix that I’m missing.” For the most part, I’m correct in my assessment that most movies produced these days seem like they were written by kindergarteners with crayons. However, regarding my sweeping generalization that “nobody can write a functional screenplay anymore,” while mostly true, is not entirely true. Since I used a definitive “nobody,” I was quickly proven wrong. Yes, there are a few writers who can still write a fully functional screenplay, but not most.
So, using Netflix, I watched the regrettably titled, Operation Mincemeat (2021), starring Colin Firth, which sounds like a low budget follow-up to Rambo or something. But, of course, it’s not. It’s an intelligent, well-cast and acted, nicely directed, good looking film, that’s not only a true story, but it also has a well written, fully functional script. It’s not a great movie, but it’s a perfectly watchable and fully satisfying film. And its extra schtick, if you will, is that one of the lower ranked officers involved in the operation was Ian Fleming, who would go on to write the James Bond books.
Being the severe film geek that I am – and with absolutely no reference to this in Operation Mincemeat’s credits – five minutes after the film I began to suspect that it was some kind of remake of a British film called The Man Who Never Was (1956), and it is. In today’s parlance, it would probably be referred to as a “reboot,” since it’s not based on the previous film, it’s based on a non-fiction book about an actual event. In any case, both films tell the story of what is considered the biggest act of military deception during WWII – getting the Nazis to believe that the first big Allied invasion of Europe would be in Greece instead of Sicily. I haven’t seen the 1956 version in at least 40 years, though I recall that it was good. But I think Operation Mincemeat is probably a better film, if for no other reason than Colin Firth is a much more empathetic actor than was Clifton Webb, star of the earlier version.
As I watched the film, I could tell pretty quickly that it was written by a pro (Michelle Ashford), then I thought, “Since you clearly do know how to tell a structured story, let’s just see how far you’ll go?” Meaning, are you going to fill out these character’s lives, find a theme, possibly find some irony, and have it all mean something to the story and viewer at the end? Yes, she did. I thought Ms. Ashford did a skilled job of fleshing out the characters, which is saying a lot. But Operation Mincemeat (what a terrible title) is a perfectly fine film with professionally written screenplay by a knowledgeable writer.
So, my definitive statement is wrong. Out of curiosity, when I looked up the film’s credits, I looked up Michelle Ashford. Unsurprisingly to me, Ms. Ashford is two years younger than me, making her 63, and has many, many TV writing credits – the HBO series, The Pacific, and one episode of John Adams, among them – going all the way back to 1985. She knows how to write. She understands all of the possibilities available and uses many of them.
Therefore, because the plot is essential, but obvious – deceive the Germans into believing that the invasion will be in Greece, not Sicily, when we here in the present day know that it was Sicily – then the surprise in the story must come from elsewhere. It comes, of course, from the characters. The writer knows who these people are, and what their relationships mean to each other. The writing sets up a dynamic between the three leads, Colin Firth, Kelly Macdonald and Matthew Macfadyen, that is the true inner workings of its story, and it knows where it’s going and why it’s going there.
It’s not that nobody knows how to write a screenplay; it’s just that damn near nobody does know how to write a screenplay.
So, when Steve replied to me, “Nobody can write a screenplay? Nobody?” this “review” is the answer. No, I’m wrong. There are some older writers who still understand. I am not the sole keeper of this flickering flame.
And it probably doesn’t matter.
It’s -4 here in Detroit, but the sun is out.
P.S. I couldn’t have picked Matthew Macfayden out of a crowd two weeks ago. Though I’ve sworn off movies, I find that I just keep watching them. I am a big fan of the 1940 version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, both at their best. However, I am also a big fan of Keira Knightley. Finally, after only putting it off for 19 years, I watched the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice, and it’s pretty good. Keira Knightly is great, and young, but who was this guy playing Mr. Darcy, Laurence Olivier’s part? It was Matthew Macfayden. And though he’s a fine actor, he can’t come close to Olivier’s display of wounded pride. However, it should be noted that this 2005 version has a particularly good cast of young actresses. Playing Keira Knightley’s sisters are, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone and Carey Mulligan.