The Frank Darabont Script

[Kingsley]

And personally - I don't like how Indy is handled here. He's all pouty and depressed.

Personally, that was something I would have like to see.

Indy starts as a propper archaeologist, lonely but content with his now quiet work. The episode in area 51 takes him all he has away (work, reputation)... he becomes bitter and depressed. His own father tries to help him to react.
And the action takes him to meet Marion again. And then, in the course of the adventure, Indy becomes the hero again. At the end, he recovers his reputation, his lust for life, and the girl!



...........
Yes, a giant snake swallows him somewhere in the middle of the cript .
But I'm talking about the things I was missing in KOTCS, and not those I feel are not working.

 

[Salacious]

I really think that this screenplay is horrid!!

The bi-plane sequence would have really really been too unbelievable with Indy jumping from plane to plane and hanging upside down from a gun turret?? Wow. If this is legit, than Darabount deserves to be chased out of Hollywood. He wasted a year of his life on this...and complains when this BS is turned down by Lucas??

What is more surprising is that Spielberg and Ford really liked what Darabount brought to the table?? THIS SCRIPT WAS LIKED BY SPIELBERG AND FORD!!?!?

Yeah...no Indy V please. Thank God Lucas stepped in and put a stop to it. WHile I think KOTC was a weak movie, it is far superior to what this drivel is.

The only thing I liked about Darabount's draft was that he made it a bit darker with the ants leaving behind skeletons and that the waterfall sequence (as bad as that still is!!) had more to it with more bodies and soilders drowning and falling to their deaths I guess.

I really didnt like anything else in the script. The opening teaser was crap. The middle was crap. The waterfall and the biplane sequences are the major actions pieces in the film. Too many characters. And I felt the dialogue was terrible. I couldnt picture Indy saying half of what he said in this screenplay.

I think that Darabount has no clue as to whom Indy is.

There, I said it. Darabount...stop whining you ass!! If this is your screenplay...it sucks!!!

 

[James]

But I'm talking about the things I was missing in KOTCS, and not those I feel are not working.

I felt I got all of that stuff out of KOTCS anyway. When the government agent asks if Indy deserved any of his medals, Harrison Ford's look told me everything I needed to know about that entire subplot- and what Indy felt about it.

Of the 3 infamous scripts ("Saucermen", "Monkey King", "Gods"), I think I probably enjoyed this one the least. I felt like it was trying too hard to refer back to Raiders, and was actually kind've unpleasant in spots. Indy drunk and making an ass out of himself? Henry and Indy sharing a godawful melodramatic scene in their house? Indy reclaiming his fear of snakes? etc.

And why on earth would I want to see Marion married to some unlikable character? I don't even enjoy experiencing that with my own old flames.

 

[James]

And I felt the dialogue was terrible. I couldnt picture Indy saying half of what he said in this screenplay.

Definitely. There was one line he yelled to Marion (while flying the plane) that was painfully bad.

 

[FivemagicS]

Don't forget. Script to film changes alot of things. We actually need the Koepp script to rightfully compare the two.

 

[Salacious]

Definitely. There was one line he yelled to Marion (while flying the plane) that was painfully bad.

It wasnt just one line either! I didnt really enjoy their banter with each other in this screeplay.

I am just in shock that a guy like Darabount turned in such garbage. I've seen fanboy scripts billions of times better than this.

Just really shocking.

I am having a hard time accepting that this is legit.

Good for Lucas if it is though...redemption still has a name Darabount...and that name is George Lucas!

 

[agentsands77]

I am having a hard time accepting that this is legit.

We have no reason to believe it isn't (it matches with everything we've heard about the Darabont draft through reliable sources). And it's highly doubtful that a fan would create a fake Darabont script, of all things.

 

[nitzsche]

Yeah, this is tedious as hell. I'm frustrated and bored by this script. And I actually dislike Marion a lot in this. Comparing her in this to what we saw in KotCS, the verdict is "less is more".


Maybe this is only one of his earlier drafts and not the one he turned in, but this is all over the place, and like I keep saying, it's so far out of formula in spots that the characters become different people entirely.

Lucas was smart to hold out for something better. I think Spielberg and Ford were just losing patience with the whole process and wanted to get going with what they had, maybe make some stuff up as they went along.

But Lucas was looking for a more fun and frolicking adventure with some heart like the originals, not some exhaustive treatment of whining, self-pitying characters.

 

[A_True_Believer]

I think it's funny now that so many people were complaining that the way Indy actually finds the skull in KOTCS is boring and tedious. If Darabont had his way, Indy would find the skull in a bowling bag while in a hotel room in Manhattan!

 

[Kingsley]

What I've learned with KOTCS is that there are a lot of Indy fans who like different things in a movie. And as much as Spielberg says "it's for the fans", Lucas is right saying they can't please all the fans.

I'm glad fans like James, eshine, Crusade>Raiders, Dovchenko or Peacock's-Eye enjoyed KOTCS and think its a good movie. Sadly I'm on the group of fans that think it isn't that good.

KOTCS has lots of things that are Indy trademark, just not some I and other fans regard more. And that's the reason it falls short in comparison to the others. You can like the old ones more or less, but the consensus is that they are a more fulfilled achievement.

I myself, again as Lucas says, would like to make my own Indy 4 movie as I imagine it in my mind.
I would gladly rewrite any script. But I would have much more work with Koepps script

If Darabont had his way, Indy would find the skull in a bowling bag while in a hotel room in Manhattan!

What's wrong with that?
I like this "out of it's element" approach to the McGuffin.

oh, oh... now I seem Darabonts advocate, lol


Note: sorry for the double posting.

 

[torao]

I love the bowling bag. Who would expect the artifact to be found that way and in that disguise?

 

[Peacock's-Eye]

It's carried in a canvas sack in KCS! And tossed around like a volley ball. I like both ideas - it deflates audience expectations - when you get to Akator, you're not prepared for the elaborate weirdness to come!

 

[Agent Spalko]

Two equally boring scripts riddled with preposterous plot contrivances. It just goes to show that the plot never lent itself naturally the way that Raiders or Crusade did. When you have a really good story it practically writes itself.

 

[agentsands77]

When you have a really good story it practically writes itself.

Not necessarily. There have been many, many great stories out there that were only worked after much sweat and tears.

 

[Agent Spalko]

Writing a script is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. You have to know where the pieces connect and where they fit together in the bigger picture. All too often most writer's blocks occur when trying to force pieces to fit that don't go together and justifying how they fit into the plot. That's when a lot of convoluted contrivances come about and that's where most scripts have problems. The fact that Indy 4 went through all of these different professional screenwriters who couldn't quite nail it proves that the problem lye in the story. You nail the story, the script will flow together. From what I have heard there were so many disagreements between the Big 3 that the scriptwriters had to Frankenstein all of their favorite ideas into a hackneyed story.

 

[agentsands77]

Writing a script is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

I know. I've done it a few times myself.

The fact that Indy 4 went through all of these different professional screenwriters who couldn't quite nail it proves that the problem lye in the story.

All it speaks to is the quality of the screenwriters. If you ask me, these scripts have flaws, but it's not in the story they're trying to tell. It's just in how the writers have added the tissue to the basic skeleton of the plot.

 

[Agent Spalko]

And so have I. One of the problems with Temple of Doom is that it was strung together with a bunch of leftover set pieces from Raiders. It's still a highly entertaining film because everybody involved in the production was at the top of their game. I see no evidence of that in KOTCS. I blame everyone involved. Even Williams who usually always delivers phones it in. It was a bad idea to begin with.

 

[Peacock's-Eye]

And so have I. One of the problems with Temple of Doom is that it was strung together with a bunch of leftover set pieces from Raiders. It's still a highly entertaining film because everybody involved in the production was at the top of their game. I see no evidence of that in KOTCS. I blame everyone involved. Even Williams who usually always delivers phones it in. It was a bad idea to begin with.

You're wasted here, AS!
You need to go to work for Spielberg as his career manager.
It'll all be successes for him from there!
He can live down the humiliation of producing a popular, 500million dollar grossing blockbuster. With you behind the throne, he won't be making these sorts of mistakes ever again!

Go to it, man! Your destiny awaits...

 

[TheLastCrusader]

And so have I. One of the problems with Temple of Doom is that it was strung together with a bunch of leftover set pieces from Raiders. It's still a highly entertaining film because everybody involved in the production was at the top of their game. I see no evidence of that in KOTCS. I blame everyone involved. Even Williams who usually always delivers phones it in. It was a bad idea to begin with.

Then what are you doing in a KotCS fan discussion, like, ALL THE TIME?

 

[Agent Spalko]

Somebody needed to slap Spielberg for this unforgivable atrocity. Seriously. I can't believe this is a Steven Spielberg film. His heart wasn't in this and it shows.