Pick a title that strikes your fancy

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  • Pick a title that strikes your fancy

    Combato: The Bill Underwood Story

    Learning To Kill

    How To Kill Your Enemy

    Teaching How To Kill

    The Little Giant Killer

    Killing the Enemy

    Kill Under Pressure

    To Kill or Die

    A Soldier's Silent Weapon

    Don't Mess With Bill

    The Inventor of Death

    The Teachers of Death

  • #2
    Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

    I liked "The Inventor of Death" and "The Teachers of Death" But without knowing what the hell your SP is about, we can't really make an educated answer.

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    • #3
      Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

      My problem with most of those titles is that they sound like the titles of a mercenary training manual on how to kill people. Now, that's interesting of itself, but it doesn't give me any real sense of your SP's plot, theme or overall story. Who wants to see some guy show off how easily he can kill people for two hours? Via pressure points, right? I now that's not what your story's about, but so far, the titles suggest little otherwise. For my money, the title should hint at Underwood's mission, why he's going around training people to kill in such a novel way.

      It doesn't sound like he was directly involved in any actual combat due to his size, 5 ft 2 in. It also doesn't sound like he ever killed anyone, too bad for your story. A quick look at his Wiki and elsewhere shows that his most interesting role was training assassins to kill Hitler, which of course failed. It seems like his later years turned into kind of a sideshow, with appearances on Carson, etc. If it were me, I'd run with the "The Super Six" angle, ala the "The Dirty Dozen," but I'd have to mess with history, do an "inspired by" and put Underwood directly in the action.

      Title: The Super Six and the Mission to Kill Hitler
      Last edited by bioprofessor; 08-29-2010, 04:32 AM.

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      • #4
        Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

        keep em coming...yeah Bio on the surface I would have to agree and yes you really don't have any idea what the story is about without reading the sp. However I just wanted to get a feel for the marquee value of the title. Originally the script was titled Combato: The Bill Underwood Story (Wiki doesn't have a clue what the real story is)

        I obtained the rights from the Underwood Family...the script has nothing to do with Hitler...it's about the man who devoted his entire life to self defense.

        On the surface it might sound boring but I assure you the man's life was so exciting a few sound bites on Johnny Carson, Real People, etc...doesn't come close to the real story...what you know about Bill Underwood has been placed there by people who only wanted to make a buck off his name by teaching Defendo which he is better known...however that takes place during the second half of his life. My story concentrates on the first half of his life and his journey to invent a deadly system of self defense and the obstacles to make Combato a reality (thousands of soldiers are alive as a result of his persistence prior to WWII)

        It's a Jack and the Beanstalk versus the Giant story.

        As a historian, teacher I was truly amazed and I think the audience will be as well when you go behind the scenes and uncover that truth is stranger than fiction...and in this case much more exciting.

        In any event I'm searching for a new title...come on guys and gals help me out.

        gdover

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        • #5
          Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

          oh...one other thing...with regards to killing...(I have actual recordings of him on cd describing some of his behind the lines action...recordings no one has ever heard since they were never made public...it's chilling...war in the raw...when you listen to this gentle person describing those years it's surreal in the horror as it is told matter of factly by Bill Underwood...

          yes he was a showman...but that come into play after WWII when he was working hard to make Defendo a household word...this story deals with Combato ( I know it sounds cartoonish) but the army manual he wrote is called Combato...and in reality the title should be "Combato: The Bill Underwood Story" but marketing says otherwise...so I need a new hook for a title.

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          • #6
            Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

            hey capper...I too liked the Inventor of Death...let's see what other Done Dealers say...

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            • #7
              Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

              A Better Way to Kill

              The Dean of Death

              The War Worker

              Corporal Combato

              The Combative Canadian

              Looking at pictures from COMBATO: THE ART OF SELF DEFENSE the subject seems like it could lend itself to a Will Ferrell style comedy. Maybe that's just my lens because I'm a comedy writer, but some of the actors and pictures are pretty funny.
              Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

              -Steve Trautmann
              3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

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              • #8
                Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

                Domo Arigato, Mr. Combato

                I don't know, that just popped into my head

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                • #9
                  Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

                  Hey Steve...oooh..I like some of those...The Combative Canadian...also some of the info you see on the web from martial arts sites the info is not accurate by any means...I spent two years researching the man and countless interviews with his only living daughter Patricia who is in her 70's living in Toronto, Canada...

                  my script has a feel to it like the "The Prestige"...or that other pic with Ed Norton playing the magician (can't think of the name right now)...also...to show you how dedicated I am to the story...I married his grandaughter...lol...wow!

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                  • #10
                    Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

                    comedy...yeah...Bill was a chubby little dude...and when you listen to the tapes of him talking...his dry sense of wit has you howling with laughter..

                    in one scene he describes a Zouave platoon from Algeria being blown to bits by the Germans as they marched in full regalia with band playing (they wore bright colored uniforms...this took place in World War One in Ypres) as he describes the action in his matter of fact commentary you can't help but snicker and laugh...but the underlying horror of what happens to the Zouaves is beyond description...bodies torn to shreds, heads lopped off, artillery shells landing dead center in the platoon...whew...it's one scene I have in the script that typifies the stupidity of war and the innocence of life.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: pick a title that strikes your fancy

                      Originally posted by gdover View Post
                      ...the script has nothing to do with Hitler...it's about the man who devoted his entire life to self defense.

                      ...what you know about Bill Underwood has been placed there by people who only wanted to make a buck off his name by teaching Defendo which he is better known...however that takes place during the second half of his life. My story concentrates on the first half of his life and his journey to invent a deadly system of self defense and the obstacles to make Combato a reality (thousands of soldiers are alive as a result of his persistence prior to WWII)

                      It's a Jack and the Beanstalk versus the Giant story.
                      gdover
                      Is this account from Fight Times e-Magazine accurate?

                      Under Intrepid and the BSC and because of his involvement with American Intelligence and Canadian and American military forces Underwood was commissioned to give combat instruction to unconventional forces at the Special Operations Executive's S.T.S.# 103 a.k.a. Camp-X...the very camp Ian Fleming trained at as a Spy and created his beloved character James Bond. Fleming modeled his character after Sir William Stevenson - Intrepid. Camp-X was the most critical Special Training School for the SOE outside of Europe. Underwood trained Spies and Assassins at the Camp and off-site at classified temporary training locations.

                      Amongst his activities with the BSC and SOE he trained highly specialized Assassination Squads of 6 team members. One such unit was known by some as "The Super Six". Their key objective was to be dropped behind enemy lines on a one way assassination mission to remove Hitler himself. Apparently, German Intelligence got word of the plan and begun to issue Hitler look-a-likes to make things difficult. The teams primary objective was abandoned and its members were re-assigned to seek and terminate German Intelligence Agents on the east coast of Canada and the United States.
                      If so, one could make an argument that his "entire life" was not devoted to self defense. I would argue that this is one of the more fascinating, and perhaps secretive, aspects of Underwood's life that should be in your SP if it's not already.

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                      • #12
                        I think I remember...

                        I think I remember watching something on TV back in the late 70s or early 80s about him and his style. It was so different from the Oriental Martial Arts, and not nearly as sexy, so I don't think that it got any respect. But I definitely recall a little old guy doing a demonstration and it seemed ridiculous that the moves he was using would actually work.

                        Could definitely be a cool script, especially if you stick to the early years. WWI is fascinating to me because of how the paradigm of war was changing. It was also the golden age of spies, which is one of my areas of interest.
                        Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

                        -Steve Trautmann
                        3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

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                        • #13
                          Re: Pick a title that strikes your fancy

                          yeah the script covers the period from 1907 to 1945...first half of his life I call Combato period...the second half from post WWII to 1981...called the Defendo period (also the sequel)

                          hey Bio...yeah your facts regarding the CIA, OSS, etc...Camp X in Oshawa are probably correct...however since it was classified...difficult to get the information in the proper sequence and the details...however some of my sources have indicated it did take place...according to his daughter Pat he traveled to New York quite often and met with government officials during the War...however since she was young she was left behind in the car while Dad took care of business...

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                          • #14
                            Re: Pick a title that strikes your fancy

                            Go with your first instinct: Combato: The Bill Underwood Story

                            Though I like the title The Inventor of Death, it is ultimately misleading, as he did not invent death. The title conjures images of some existential type of story.

                            I also like The Teachers of Death as a title but it leads me to think of some type of school related horror movie.

                            Titles that include the word kill are usually some type of b horror or action movie, except for To Kill a Mockingbird, maybe Killing Zoe, or the variation Death to Smoochy.

                            I have a vague recollection of Combato so I assume there will be others that do too. Familiarity can be a good thing. In this case the word combato is original enough to be not too familiar while conjuring the right image. Though I agree with the above poster that it does sound like it could be a Will Ferrel vehicle.

                            I can see the poster art: Combato! encased in one of those comic book bamblots, The Bill Underwood Story typed underneath in a 30's era font, with some similar era art or photography.

                            For what it's worth, I'm interested in seeing this story. Good luck!

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                            • #15
                              Re: Pick a title that strikes your fancy

                              I feel like "Combato" should come at the end and not be part of the main title.

                              e.g. "Mercernary Defense: A story of Combato"

                              "Extraordinary Defense"
                              "Combato"
                              "Defense Warrior"
                              "The Man Behind the Warrior"
                              "A Soldier's Defense"

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