Great Scene: “The Fabulous Baker Boys”

Here’s a great scene involving music: In the 1989 movie The Fabulous Baker Boys, Susie (Michelle Pfeiffer) vamping it up atop a Steinway piano in a slinky red dress, crooning “Makin’ Whoopee.”

The script version of the scene:

The movie version of the scene:

For a scene like this, the writer wants to convey the mood and tone of the moment, but don’t spell out every beat — let the actor act. And in this case, that’s precisely what writer-director Steve Kloves does. Check out those descriptors:

• Jack can be heard picking out a familiar TUNE, but showering it in blue notes, drawing it out, giving it smoke.
• Susie’s face drifts up INTO FRAME, her eyes closed, but the CAMERA CONTINUES to drop, moving like syrup down her body, over the silk that clings to her hips and thighs, down her legs to a pair of wicked arch-breaking heels.
• Caught somewhere between Ray Charles and Marilyn Monroe, Susie’s voice slides silkily from a whisper to a growl, her fingers running like sand over her body.
• As Jack knocks hell out of the bridge, Susie melts onto the piano like a kitten, stretching out languorously on her back.

“Showering… smoke… syrup… silk… clings… wicked… slides… growl… fingers… melts… kitten… languorously.”

Hm. What’s the subtext here? Gee, I dunno. Perhaps it’s — SEX?!

For more Great Scenes, go here.