Script To Screen: “Fabulous Baker Boys”

The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) is a wonderful romantic comedy, written and directed by Steve Kloves who later went on to write 7 out of the 8 Harry Potter movies.

Setup: Frank and Jack Baker are professional musicians who play small clubs. They play schmaltzy music and have never needed a day job. Times are changing and dates are becoming more difficult to get so they interview female singers. They finally decide on Susie Diamond, a former ‘escort’ who needs some refinement, but the act begins to take off again, largely because of this scene:

INT. “KING’S MANOR” DINING ROOM - NIGHTA banner stretched between two chandeliers, proclaims
“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” As the CAMERA DESCENDS, 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.She’s standing on Jack’s Steinway. SUSIE
(cooing)
“Another bride, Another June,
Another sunny honeymoon.
Another season, Another reason,
To make whoopie...”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. SUSIE
“A lot of shoes, A lot of rice,
The groom is nervous, He answers twice,
It’s really killin’, The boy’s so willin’,
To make whoopie...”As Jack knocks hell out of the bridge, Susie melts onto
the piano like a kitten, stretching out languorously on
her back. On the dance floor, men in tuxedos sneak guilty
glances while their wives just stare, mouths agape. In
less that a minute, Susie’s managed to turn a dignified
resort hotel into a sizzling roadhouse. SUSIE
“Picture a little love nest,
Down where the roses cling,
Picture that same sweet love nest,
See what a year can bring...
(toying with Jack’s chin)
I tell you the boy’s washing dishes,
baby clothes,
He’s so ambitious,
Ooooh, I tell you he sews”Susie runs her fingers through Jack’s hair and slides
oh-so-slowly off the piano, slinking toward the audience,
and suddenly it’s apparent: she’s winning them over. SUSIE
It’s really killin’,
The boy’s so willin’
To make whoopee...”

The scene from the movie:

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 [emphasis added]:

• 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?!

I’ll see you in comments for a discussion of this terrific scene from The Fabulous Baker Boys.

One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it

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