The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

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  • The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

    THE BRIGANDS OF RATTLEBORGE
    by Craig Zahler

    Western Drama

    A God-fearing Sheriff sets out for revenge after his wife and 60 of his townspeople are murdered during a devastating storm. But when the Sheriff alies with a mysterious gunman who also seeks revenge, he learns the high moral cost of retribution and must determine what "justice" truly means.

    As many of you may know, THE BRIGANDS OF RATTLEBORGE was the number-one rated script on 2006's "Blacklist," the place every screenwriter wants to get black-listed. This is a sort of unofficial poll taken of agents, managers and production companies about the best scripts they read in the prior year. BRIGANDS got the highest marks in 2006.

    Wanting to get black-listed myself, I had to get my hands on a copy of this script. With the help of a fellow DD'er (thanks, 12!), I was able to do so.

    First, and no surprise here, BRIGANDS is fantastic. I remember Chris Lockhart saying (paraphrase) "the best scripts haunt you long after you put them down." This one still haunts me. Not so much due to the gritty storytelling (think UNFORGIVEN meets DEADWOOD) and oft violent and heart-breaking subject matter, but rather because the story was so damn good.

    In a way, BRIGANDS is a frustrating script for a pre-pro to read. While it is exceedingly well written, the script violates many of the "rules" that are often squalked at us by parrots who think the forumla to greatness is written down in a book somewhere. Well, "nobody knows anything," right?

    The broken rules (in short): it's a Western (which probably didn't help it sell, which as far as I know, this one did not), it's not high concept in the least, it's 138 pages long and the writer increased the margins drastically to keep it that short, there are long, flowery prose descriptions of characters, settings and action, and the main story really doesn't get started until the halfway point (the rainstorm and robbery of Rattleborge). Hell, the guy doesn't even captalize his character introductions!

    But BRIGANDS was spectacular. The characters are unbelievably well-drawn. The dialogue is lyrical. The villains are nasty, evil and scary bastards. The story (once it kicks into gear on page 54) is a page turner that has the reader rooting for the good guys to suceed in their bloody, hateful quest. This all goes to prove the long-repeated sentiment: "write a great script and the rest will fall into place."

    The only thing I took issue with was the very end (the last 10 pages or so). I think it hits a good set of beats about revenge and the associated moral cost, but there was something that seemed a bit "Hollywood" about it after 130 pages of a decidedly non-Hollywood script. But this is incredibly minor -- read it on your own and decide for yourself. I won't ruin a great read. BRIGANDS is one of those scripts that make you forget you're reading a screenplay.

    THE BRIGANDS OF RATTLEBORGE will make you want to be a better writer.
    Last edited by Han Shot First; 05-25-2007, 02:38 PM.
    Reaction time is a factor, so please pay attention.

  • #2
    Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

    note: I wrote this review before reading Han's. It's funny looking at it now, as we both bring up a lot of the same points.

    My review of Rattleborge...

    Well this is sure to get the spec sale purists all riled up. How bout a Western? How bout no discernable protagonist for over half the script? How bout 138 pages? How bout a script where the inciting incident doesn’t happen until page 80?? I’m sure there will be plenty of people who will prepare their army of “buts” - *but*, the reality of the situation is this: This proves that the most important element in selling a script is a great story – plain and simple. It doesn’t matter if you follow the rules, or what genre you write, as long as what you write is entertaining. And boy does this script entertain.

    I’m going to go on record as saying that, in my opinion, this would be the greatest Western ever made. That’s not saying a whole lot as I pretty much hate Westerns. I’ve seen most of the big ones but I’ll be honest with you – I usually turn them off or fall asleep before they’re over. That’s not to say they’re bad films but there’s just simply nothing for me to identify with in any Western that’s ever been made. Even the highly touted Unforgiven – I’ve tried to watch it 3 times and still haven’t made it through the entire thing.

    So what makes this one different? The writer creates some amazing characters. Each character is distinct and interesting. He takes his time introducing them too – a full 70 pages (yes, 70). I can’t think of any screenwriting book that tells you to take 70 pages to introduce your characters but this script does it. And it’s better for it.

    The Brigand of Rattleborge starts interestingly enough. With two cowboys asking an Indian Chief to perform a fierce raindance to bring a terrible storm down on a nearby town. The idea is odd. Is this a fantasy film? Raindances aren’t real. Indians can’t really make it rain whenever they want. And yet somehow, someway…you believe that it’s possible. It’s a huge risk for the writer to take because as we find out later, the storm that is summoned is the driving force behind the entire story.

    It’s used as a cover by our band of bad guys to go in and steal from the town’s richest members (not surprisingly, all of the people we were introduced to). The movie then turns into a revenge film. The Sheriff (whose wife was raped and murdered) travels to the town where the leader of this brigand lives in order to settle the score.

    The script does two things very well. Knowing that it’s fighting an uphill battle by being a Western, it uses the most tried and true plot device there is to drive the story: Revenge. I literally think it’s impossible to make a movie where a person is tortured and killed by the bad guy, and not want the protagonist to enact revenge on that bad guy. Every time I read a revenge script or see a revenge movie I kick myself for not writing one myself because it ALWAYS works. And the writer does a great job of creating that rape/murder scene that instills in you a desire for our guys to get revenge no matter what the cost.

    The second thing he does is create a great character in Abraham, the tortured former doctor whose own wife was raped and murdered by these bad guys and who insists on joining the Sheriff in his revenge quest. He has a suitcase full of instruments that allow him not just to kill, but to torture people (including himself). What he does to the man that killed his wife in the end is something so graphic I don’t know how they can possibly film it. It’s that bad. But the point is, it’s impossible to forget this guy – and a great reminder of how important it is to write at least one great character into your movie. Actors will be kicking themselves to play this role. And once some A-list actor is cast as Abraham, it will be easy as pie to get other great actors interested.

    Anyway, I loved this script. I can’t wait for the movie. And I highly recommend it for a read.
    Last edited by ScriptShadow; 09-09-2008, 07:59 PM.
    Script Reviews - 5 a week! http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/

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    • #3
      Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

      I can agree with a lot of the above.


      Two things that struck me:

      1) The first 70 pages should be 25 pages.

      2) Lots of unfilmables in the long descriptors.


      It's got some shades of Unforgiven, but to me it read more like a novel than a script. It is long.

      R.O.T.

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      • #4
        Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

        Beautifully written. It should be a novel.

        However...it does fall into, ahem, graphic mayhem and torture that, at least for me, didn't ring true for the time and place. It all seemed very surreal, as if it were taking place in an alternative West (sorta like SERAPHIM FALLS).

        And the ending was abrupt, almost an afterthought.

        But then I looked up what else the writer has done, and there's a project about "sadistic inmates" in a prison...so this does seem to be the territory he has staked out.
        http://www.pjmcilvaine.com/

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        • #5
          Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

          He's also assigned to pen the Robotech movie.
          -- Another Writer

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          • #6
            Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

            where can a fella get a copy of this script?

            if you have it, shoot here: [email protected]

            thanks

            [EDIT] * Got a copy, thanks!
            Last edited by loomzilla; 11-21-2008, 07:00 PM.

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            • #7
              Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

              If anyone could zap it to me I'd be grateful as well!!!!!
              pay for soup
              build a fort
              set that on fire

              jmb

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              • #8
                Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

                The greatest western ever-No Freaking Way! It sounds like Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magical realism meets Hostel 2 in a western. I don't deny its impact, because I don't want to dismiss the opinions of those of you who have read it; but which audiences can wait for half-a-movie: not young audiences who would like the gore, and defintely not older audiences who love traditional westerns.

                I think it would flop at theaters not matter how well it is written. I think Limama has it pegged perfectly when she said. "It should be a novel."

                As for me, no thank you. I love westerns, call me a conseravtive, and besides the greatest western is either Peckinpah's "Wild Bunch" , Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales," or Costner's "Dances With Wolves," and maybe "Unforgiven."

                "3:10 to Yuma" sort of sucked and it was too long and psychological, but have you noticed it still grossed 60 mil because of the loyal western audience fan base that would not go see "Brigands..." when their friends told them about the slow development in it and its sadistic ending. It sounds like the type of movie I would fall asleep at or walk out of.
                I want to be entertained almost immediately and I think audiences today are generally the same way.

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                • #9
                  Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

                  Let's call it a "Neo-Western".
                  http://www.pjmcilvaine.com/

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                  • #10
                    Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

                    I have it, if anyone here still doesn't.

                    My e-mail is: [email protected]

                    Great, massively ambitious (and successful) script.

                    -Jage

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                    • #11
                      Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

                      Would love to check out a copy:

                      [email protected]


                      Thank you,

                      TJ

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

                        I just finished reading it. To echo what has been said already: it's an amazing script to read and it haunts you well into the night.
                        The first 10 pages are some of the best I've ever read.
                        It breaks rules. F*ck the rules; enjoy the read and learn from it.
                        The midpoint of the script is where the sh*t hits the fan, but it's not the midpoint. It's 3 acts within 3 acts. Kinda like Superman.
                        The story is dense and rich, so f*cking rich.

                        I'm tired, need to sleep so I'll stop here.

                        Sleep tight cos there's a storm comin

                        "What's worse than being talked about? Not being talked about."

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                        • #13
                          Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

                          There are moments in the script that come across as supernatural, then it's pure Western, followed by SAW-type horror.
                          It skirts among three genres so perhaps scale back on the horror. I much prefer supernatural because it embodies suspense better than gore-horror.
                          Abrahams comes across as as a supernatural character. He's written so well, because we don't know much about him! Yet he's quite a rich, complex character in the script. How can that be? That's the genius of this script. I want to know more about him, so my imagination kicks in, searching far and wide, beyond the story, and that's why it's haunting. LESS is MORE.
                          "What's worse than being talked about? Not being talked about."

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                          • #14
                            Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

                            The devil is in the detail. SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT Each raindrop is significant. It's not just what we see, but also what we hear. The aural ambiance is moody and disconcerting.
                            "What's worse than being talked about? Not being talked about."

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: The Brigands of Rattleborge - Review

                              I think the character of Abraham sets up the ending torture scene quite well.
                              Script Reviews - 5 a week! http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/

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