Larissa’s post yesterday about looking for real life prototypes for our romance heroes got me thinking about movie heroes, or, more specifically, those movies that could have been so good that really went very bad. (But, of course, didn’t stop me from watching them every single time they came on the T.V.) Please don’t try to figure out the exact train of thought from hero to bad movie - you’ll just make your own head hurt and why should all of us suffer?

I’ll give you my two favorite examples. The first is Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze. He’s a ‘cooler’, which is a step above a bouncer, the big gun they bring in to clean up a bar. He’s got a troubled past, can stitch himself up and can fight like no one’s business - all qualities I like in a man/hero. In the end, he gets the girl, works through his past and saves the town, although his best friend (who is also hero material) ends up dying. I’m sure in the treatment it got to studio execs it sounded great. But the dialogue was bad, the acting even worse and I’m sorry to say the movie was just all around cheesy. But I still watch it anyway, shaking my head the whole time at what could’ve been. I’ve actually got a partial novella inspired by the whole mess. (Make that unfinished project number eight billion)

The other movie that missed its mark was Basic, with John Travolta. I’ve watched it a bazillion times and I can’t figure out exactly what went wrong but something did. I mean, it’s got a really great plot, I love the ending, it involves military men (I don’t have to expand on this subject anymore, do I?) but something’s just wrong.

I tell myself that I obsess over these movies because it’s the writer in me, wanting to know exactly what went bad so I don’t make the same mistakes in my writing. But then I think - even though I whine about how bad these movies are, I still watch them.

What, exactly, does that say about me? Furthermore, what does it say about me that I cannot stop taking these freakin’ quizzes?

You Are Tequilla

When you drink, you’re serious about getting drunk! You’ll take any shot that’s offered up to you… Even if it tastes like sock sweat! And you’re never afraid of eating the worm.

My results say that I’ve been hanging around with Jake and the guys for a bit too long, I think…

Steph T.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 8th, 2004 at 9:07 pm and is filed under Writing Process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.