Script Analysis: “Stan & Ollie” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read.

Today: A scene-by-scene breakdown of the script for the 2018 movie Stan & Ollie, screenplay by Jeff Pope.

IMDb plot summary: Laurel and Hardy, the world’s most famous comedy duo, attempt to reignite their film careers as they embark on what becomes their swan song — a grueling theatre tour of post-war Britain.

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

You may download the script for Stan & Ollie here.

Stan & Ollie
Scene by Scene Breakdown
By Andrew Lightfoot
GoIntoTheStory.com

P 1–3A: Comedy duo Olliver Hardy and Stan Laurel are in a dressing room. Hardy lights up a cigarette and tells Laurel about an ex-wife of his showing up and asking for money he did not have. They dress up and head off for the studio.

On the way, questions about Hardy’s gambling reminds him to ask Laurel to not bring up money to Hal. Hardy says they are still under contract and can’t change the terms, plus he has enough going on in his life. Laurel wants bigger wages or for him and Hardy to go off on their own.

A studio runner approaches them, Hardy hands him some money and instructs him to make a bet on a horse in a race in Santa Anita. Laurel insists they will be fine as long as Hardy stops gambling and not get married again, to which Hardy reveals that he proposed to a script supervisor for the studio named Lucille.

P 3A–10: The pair enter a studio where the finishing touches are being done on an old western set. It’s not long before Hal Roach, the studio boss, struts over to Laurel, enraged. He threatens to pull a moral clause on Laurel over a domestic disturbance from the night before. They have a small argument over money, divorces, and Laurel and Hardy leaving. All the while make-up girls work on Laurel and Hardy.
 
 This is eventually broken up by the director who wants to get on with filming. The guys take their place and they begin to shoot the scene. Soon the entire studio is entranced by Laurel and Hardy’s dance routine as the Avalon Boys sing “At the ball, that’s all”. We shift from filming in the studio to the full film playing in a theatre full of laughing movie-goers. Their dancing scene ends to a thunderous applause.

P 10 –12 Laurel and Hardy are now on a train going through the English countryside 16 years later and far unhealthier than before. They talk about events in their Robin Hood movie idea. One of which has Hardy swordfight on a floating log. Due to his bad knee that requires medication, Hardy isn’t confident he can pull this scene off.

P 12–14 A taxi drops the guys off outside an underwhelming guest house in Newcastle. They meet the tour promoter Delfont, whom greets them and leaves soon after to go see another of his acts. Hardy questions whether Delfont understands that the tour is just a thing until they get their movie up and going.

P 14–16 The guy’s head inside, having to bring in their own luggage and do a little skit for the receptionist, who loves it. She tells them her family are big fans and she never expected to have anyone famous stop by, but seems disappointed when told that they will be at the lower-class venue rather than the Theatre Royal.
 
 They get their room keys and with no bell boy, have to carry their luggage up themselves. Laurel tells Hardy to stop by his room later on to work on some lines.

P 17 — Hardy enters his room. It’s shabby and uninviting. He flops his luggage onto his bed and opens it up. A large storage of food can tumble out and into the floor. In the other room, Laurel is busy typing away on his battered typewriter while smoking a cigarette.

P 17–18 A short flashback of Laurel in the office of Joe Schenck with a contract from 20th Century Fox on the table between them. They wait for Hardy to show, but Laurel is convinced to sign right then and there and Hardy will do the same when he arrives.

P 18–19 Hardy calls his wife Lucille and plays up their whole situation a little bit. Lucille asks how Laurel is towards him.

P 19–21 Another flashback. This one is of Hardy showing up to a sound stage shoot. He gets prepped and takes his spot expecting to see Laurel there but when he looks at his fellow actor, he sees Harry Langdon, a Laurel look-alike. This is Roach’s attempt at replacing Laurel. Although not feeling good about it Hardy continues on to shoot the scene.

P 21–24 Now both in Laurel’s room they partake in cigarettes and Brandy, discuss their current lodging and future ones for when the girls show up, the food variety, and the producer Miffin. They end up acting out a scene idea Laurel had for their film. At the end of their skit they both end up stuck on their knees and laugh at the sight of themselves in the mirror.

P 24–26 Laurel is outside the Queen’s Hall Theatre calling his wife, Ida, using a phone box. She’s not happy hearing their lodgings state and venue that the show is at. She asks if Hardy is pulling his weight.

P 26–27 The guys are backstage, in costume, preparing for the curtain to drop. Laurel takes a peek through an opening in the curtain to see a half full house. The stage hand applying the fake cast to Hardy’s leg speaks to the two. He ends up being the grandson of a comedian that was a good friend of Laurel’s. Laurel asks how his grandfather is doing and is told he passed away, but did so doijg what he loved right up until the end. Laurel is saddened by the news.

P 27–29 The guys do their show. Throughout the show Hardy’s knee gets worse and worse. Laurel notices this in between acts and at the end of the final scene sees Hardy having to push on his knee to straighten up again. Despite this he gives Laurel a nod and they finish the show off with their dance routine from “Way Out West”.

P 29–30 At a train station the next day they discuss the size of the audience and agree to not have Miffin see a show until they get bigger crowds, in case it might give him cold feet about the movie. Just after climbing the stairs they wonder about the time. Hardy goes to look at his watch and drops his luggage, which slides all the way down the stairs. Laurel has to go get it.

P 30–32 They are now seated in the restaurant cart on the train. Laurel wants to work on some scenes for their movie, but Hardy isn’t up for it due to his knee. He uses his cold tea to wash down 4 red pills. Laurel grows concerned after hearing that Hardy has already finished the blue pills, he warns Hardy about mixing them. The conversation soon turns to the comedian that Laurel knew who had passed away.

P 32–34 Laurel and Hardy are outside their next venue, the Empire Glasgow. Hardy smokes a cigarette just out of earshot of Laurel, who is in a phone booth trying to get in touch with Miffin. Hardy thinks he is calling his wife. Once Laurel is out, he hands Hardy a gift. It’s a beret, similar to one Laurel got earlier.

P 34–36 They enter the venue. An elderly woman is asking the manager who is playing Laurel and Hardy as they are retired. The guys walk past and say hello, leaving the elderly woman astonished.

The do their show and come up to the final dance routine. Laurel sees that Hardy’s knee is too bad to do the dance so he opts out having Hardy play the ukulele while he dances. Despite the change-up the crowd loves it.

P 36–39 Delfont meets Laurel and Hardy in a bar after the show. He hints at shutting the tour down early due to the lacking audience numbers and the unhealthy appearance of the guys. They protest not wanting to be done just yet. Their wives are coming and they need to do a show in London for Miffin. Delfont suggests they try and publicise the tour which will require a lot of time and effort. The guys agree.

P 39–40 Taking Delfont’s advice, Laurel and Hardy pose for camera crews in support of a new road safety program. With lollipop signs in hand they guide a group of school kids across the street. They put on a little skit for the cameras using the lollipop signs to strike one another.

P 40–41 A montage of venues and cities the guys travel to. Throughout this sequence we see their audience numbers increase, their fans waiting for them at train stations, and also the toll this takes on both Laurel and Hardy.
 
 P 41–42 They perform a skit for a crowd at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Plymouth. One of the guys will walk off stage looking for the other and with precise timing the other will walk into the stage from the opposite side.

P 42–43 Delfont meets the back stage after the show. He informs the guys that due to their recent rise in success they now have a show in London. Laurel and Hardy want to go out to dinner to celebrate but yet again Delfont has other plans made.

P 43–44 Laurel and Hardy are on a train bound for London, they practice their lines from their movie. Hardy asks Laurel if this movie is still going to happens saying his wife Lucille will ask about it. Laurel insures him that it is and that he has a meeting set up with Miffin next week.

P 45 Laurel walks out of their hotel in London dressed in business attire, full of expectation. Later on, outside a cinema, Laurel spots a poster of Abbott and Costello. On the poster it reads “Hollywood’s number one comedy duo”.

P 45 Hardy is walking through a tube station singling softly to himself. He sees a small florist stand and buys a red carnation.

P 45–46 Laurel enters Miffin’s office building in hopes to finally get in touch with him, but the receptionist informs Laurel that he is not in. Laurel decides to sit and wait.

P 46–48 Hardy shops for some jewellery for when Lucille arrives. He chooses a bracelet and finds out it’s the most expensive piece in the shop. Not able to afford it he leaves the shop and goes to a phone box where he calls up a man named Raymond and places a bet in a horse race in order to win enough money to purchase the bracelet.

P 48–50 Finally having enough with waiting Laurel gets up, strides past the receptionist, and enters Miffin’s office. It’s empty, but Miffin’s production executive shows up and informs Laurel that he couldn’t get the funds and that the movie was a no-go.

P 50 Hardy purchases the evening newspaper from a vendor and checks the races, he’s lost. He’s about to angrily slam the now balled up paper into a bin when he sees a bunch of schoolkids looking at him. He smiles and flutters his tie at them.

P 50–53 Laurel and Hardy wait outside their hotel for the wives to show up. They agree not to tell them about the appearances they’ve been doing and that the tour and movie are going well. Laurel can’t bring himself to tell Hardy about the movie. When the wives do show up Laurel includes them in a small skit for the news cameras nearby, much to Lucille’s annoyance.

P 53–56 The couples have dinner that evening. They discuss the tour and the movie. Lucille is concerned with Hardy, from the amount of salt he puts on his food, to his pills for his knee, to the sword fighting scene in their movie. Ida, Laurel’s wife, explains how when she was a dancer, she hurt her knee. She fought through her pain until it went away and believes Hardy can do the same. There seems to be a bit of friction between the wives in this scene.

P 56–57 Hardy and Lucille return to their hotel room where she re-arranges a bunch of flowers that Hardy has bought her. He’s bothered by not being able to get the bracelet for her. She tells him she only needs him, nothing else. Hardy asks about the trip over with Ida. She says exhausting and asks Hardy if Laurel is pushing him too hard. He admits the tour was harder than he first thought.

P 57–59 Ida and Laurel are at a bar. Ida tells Laurel that she thinks Lucille wears the pants in Hardy’s house and, considering the state that Hardy was in, that Hardy should thank Laurel for all that he has done for him. Laurel says that’s all in the past and it should stay there. Some drinks arrive at their table. Laurel tells Ida that he won’t drink anything, he just wants to smell it. Ida grabs the drink and downs it.

P 59–60 The guys do their next show, which is at the Palladium Theatre. It’s completely packed much to Delfont’s delight. It’s a big success.

P 60A –61 Delfont has arranged a little after party in the theatre’s bar after the show. Ida and Lucille are there but have been forgotten by Delfont. He is focused on the wealthier guests there. Upset, the women leave to find the guys.

P 61–65 Hardy and Laurel are still in the dressing room. Hardy is still full of energy from the show and reads from the script Laurel has been writing. Laurel is about to tell Hardy about the movie when Hardy asks a question about the scene and gets his imagination firing on all cylinders. Soon the guy’s walk out backstage and act out the scene with the swordfight on the log. At this point Ida and Lucille enter the theatre and watch. Ida is entranced while is Lucille concerned and as they finish the scene, she yells out that Hardy will not be going in that river.

P 65–73 They all return to the bar. Lucille’s bad mood soon sparks an argument between her and Ida when she questions Laurel about the non-existent shooting dates when the shooting is supposed to start in a matter of weeks. They both try and lay the blame on the other’s husband. This comes to a head when Ida mentions the film “Zenobia” which Hardy has done without Laurel.

The guys walk off to have a private chat where they too get into an argument. Hardy says it pained him to do the film without Laurel and that Laurel was too difficult and had a big chip on his shoulder. Laurel accuses Hardy of being a coward and never being there for when he tried to get a better deal for them.

The scene ends with Hardy tossing the beret Laurel got him back at him. Once Hardy’s back is turned Laurel picks up a bread roll and throws it at his head.

P 73 -74 Quick jumps from Hardy’s hotel room to Laurel’s hotel room. In both rooms the couple discuss what has happened. Both Laurel and Hardy say that this is it, after they complete the tour, it’s over. Their decisions are more or less edged on by their wives.

P 74 Laurel, in the lobby, is woken up by the concierge to let him know his taxi has arrived. Laurel asks if he has seen Hardy. He is told that Hardy left earlier.

P 74–78 Laurel arrives at a Holiday Camp where him and Hardy will be judges in a beauty contest. Laurel asks Hardy why he left without him. He doesn’t answer. His mood is made even more clear when Laurel offers to pour tea for Hardy, but Hardy insists the organizer of the event, who has been caught in all of this, do it instead.

This continues on throughout the event, until the winner is to be announced. Laurel bounds up on stage but Hardy stops midway up the steps. Just as Laurel is about to announce the winner, he sees Hardy collapse. He immediately rushes over to help.

P 78–80 Laurel gets Hardy back to the hotel by taxi and helps him into the building. Laurel asks the bell-boys for assistance but believing this to be an act they only watch and laugh as Laurel helps a very weak Hardy to the elevators. They go back to Hardy’s room where Lucille freaks out, calls for a doctor, and makes Laurel leave in quick succession.

Back in his own room Laurel can only look on dumbfounded as Ida removes his shoes for him. Both know there’s is nothing that can be said.

P 80–81 After examining Hardy, the doctor insists he be admitted in to a hospital immediately. He believes Hardy has suffered a mild heart attack. Hardy refuses saying he needs to finish the tour.

P 81–82 Laurel and Delfont have breakfast the next day, Laurel doesn’t eat. Delfont asks about Laurel working with others before he met Hardy as well as the film Hardy make without Laurel, then asks about hiring another talent to take Hardy’s place until he could return.

P 82–87 Laurel returns to Hardy’s room and is let in by Lucille. He gives Hardy a gift of two hard boiled eggs. Hardy has one and let’s Laurel have the other. Hardy let’s Laurel know that he is retiring and will be going back home as soon as they can. At first stunned by this, Laurel eventually accepts it. They go on to imagine acting out a new scene that Laurel thought up for the movie. Afterwards Laurel reveals what Delfont wants to do. Hardy encourages it saying “Well, that’s it. I’m retiring, and you’re going on with a new partner.”

P 87–89 Laurel meets the new actor, Nobby Cook, backstage at the Palladium Theatre. Delfont smiles saying they will be terrific together and asks to have a run through of the hospital skit. Laurel agrees and walks off, but still within ear shot of Cook. As Laurel sees and listens to Cook recite his lines, we can start to see how this sudden change is affecting him. Delfont cues Laurel in.

P 89–91 Quick shots of Hardy in his bed being fed soup by Lucille in their hotel room and an advert poster for Laurel’s and Hard’s show but with a plaster banner strip saying that Nobby Cook would be appearing.

Laurel is in the dressing room applying his usual make-up for the show. He pauses and thinks. We see his thoughts as a scene from their Robin Hood movie. Laurel along with Hardy ride along a trail until they are stopped by Robin Hood. Hardy ends up trying to sword fight Robin Hood resulting in getting a crack on the head. Laurel laughs and this sparks a comedic fight between Hardy and Laurel. Hardy ends up being shoved in a river and when he rises, he pulls a large salmon from his pants.

Now back in the dressing room we see Laurel stare at himself in the mirror, crying.

P 91 Hardy is also crying back in his hotel room. Lucille chats away unaware.

P 91–92 Delfont and Ida take their seats for the show. Laurel takes a peek at the audience to see how busy the place is. He us uncomfortable doing this without Hardy. He looks over at Cook, who getting set up in the hospital bed. He sports a Hardy style moustache given to him by the make-up department. 
 
 Back in the audience, Delfon and Ida wait for the curtain to drop. Instead, the theatre manager walks out on stage to notify everyone that the show has been cancelled.

P 92–93 Ida finds Laurel in the theatre’s bar, smoking and drinking scotch. She stubs out his cigarette and downs his drink. Laurel tells Ida that in all their movies no other character knew of them and vice-versa. All they had and wanted was each other, the way it’s always been. Laurel agrees to go home, but wants to continue the dates in Ireland for Hardy’s sake.

P 93–94 Lucille informs Hardy that the doctor says he should be well enough to travel and that Laurel and Ida will be stopping by to say goodbye.

P 94–95 Laurel hears a knock at his door. He opens it to see Hardy, who has left his own room as soon as Lucille left. They look at each other for a bit until Hardy says “Come Stanley, I believe we have some engagements to fulfil”

P 95–97 They are all on board a steamer. Hardy tells the women to go on ahead below decks and Laurel and him will stay for a bit. Laurel hands Hardy his beret back, he smiles and immediately puts it on. Laurel then confesses about the movie not being made. Hardy reveals that he already knew about that, but didn’t prevent Laurel and himself from working on it because they needed something to do.

P 97 The steamer docks at Cobh Harbour in Ireland. The guys walk out onto the gangplank and stop after spotting the massive crowd of people of all ages waiting for them. The crowd cheers when they spot the comedy duo.

P 97–100Aa All posters for their show outside the Olympia theatre have a big sold out sign slapped on them. Ida and Lucille are in the front row. Delfont is next to them beaming with pride. The curtains part and Hardy and Laurel act out their hospital bed skit, the double door routine, and finally rush back stage to get re-dressed for the finale.

Laurel tells Hardy they don’t need to do the song, they could walk out and say good night. Hardy says he is fine and even gives Laurel an idea he had for their movie. As the curtains open the end to their years of acting becomes all too real for Hardy “It was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it Stan.” he walks out saying he will miss them when they are gone to which Laurel retorts “So will you” and gives Hardy a swift kick in the butt.

Hardy thanks the crowd and tells them they will finish the night off with a little dance. Lucille gets worried hearing this, but is calmed as Ida grabs her hand warmly. The music starts up and Hardy and Laurel start dancing. Despite his health Hardy keeps up well and matches Laurel step for step. They come together and grabs each other’s hands, the scene freezes.
 
 A caption appears ….

“Laurel and Hardy returned to America after the tour, but they never performed together again. Hardy’s health went into decline and, after a long illness, he died in August 1957.”

Writing Exercise: I encourage you to read the script, but short of that, if you’ve seen the movie, go through this scene-by-scene breakdown. What stands out to you about it from a structural standpoint?

If you’d like a PDF of the Stan & Ollie scene-by-scene breakdown, go here.

Major kudos to Andrew Lightfoot for doing today’s breakdown.

To see dozens more screenplay scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here.

To read dozens of Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis Series, go here.

Reading scripts is hugely important. Analyzing them even more so. If you want to work in Hollywood as a writer, you need to develop your critical analytical skills. This is one way to do that.

So seize this opportunity and join in the conversation!

I hope to see you in comments about today’s script: Stan & Ollie.