Save the Cat Goes to the Movies Read Online Free PDF

chest and skates away like a big, ugly baby — exactly at the place where Yaphet told John he “looked dead.” Now he is. The “fun” is over. A and B stories cross as Sigourney looks to Ian for an explanation.
    Bad Guys Close In: One by one the creature kills off the crew, and tension builds. I use the term Turn, Turn, Turn to describe how a movie plot must not only go forward, it must change and intensify to be successful — and the way the monster morphs throughout this film is a great example. The crew is always one step behind this supernatural beast, and the stress begins to show. Harry Dean gets it next, and then so does Tom in a really scary “Monster in the Air Duct” sequence. This beat, the male “hero” dying, was a surprise when the film premiered. Without “the leader,” both the crew — and we in the audience — see how unstoppable the alien is.
    All Is Lost: Finally in charge, Sigourney learns the truth from “Mother”: The company knew the alien was a killer, but sent
The Nostromo
to retrieve it because of its value; the “sin” of the company is exposed. Sigourney also discovers Ian is a robot — and a sex-crazed one at that. He even claims to “admire” the alien, that rat! In a battle with Ian, Sigourney is rescued by Yaphet, who clubs the cyborg. The “whiff of death” includes A and B stories crossing as the Half Man tells Sigourney she won’t survive.
    Dark Night of the Soul: The crew knows they’re going to die. Their despair is even greater thanks to their isolation.
    Break into Three: But wait, there’s hope! Sigourney has a plan: Destroy the ship and the alien, and flee in an escape pod.
    Finale: Foolishly Yaphet and another crew member die, leaving Sigourney and Jones, the cat. Sigourney shows Act Three Synthesis by combining her “loner” qualities with wisdom to emerge as the hero. By going back to “save the cat,” she proves she’s grown — and even though she lets the monster slip into her escape pod unnoticed, she shows ultimate strength when she pushes it out the door to die.
    Final Image: One survivor … plus cat … asleep at last.
FATAL ATTRACTION (1987)
    Much has been written about the metaphor this STD-era movie represents, but one thing is certain: It’s the best cautionary tale about fooling around at the office ever made.
    That Glenn Close! She is one scary lady. And while the real bad guy is Michael Douglas for beginning this affair in the first place, the magic trick director Adrian Lyne pulls off is making Michael seem like a victim — because it is
his
sin, infidelity, that brings the monster to his door.
    Fatal Attraction
represents a special brand of MITH, the “Domestic Monster,” as seen in films like
Single White Female
and
One Hour Photo.
Even comic versions of this tale, e.g.,
The Cable Guy
, owe a great debt to
Fatal Attraction
— and to Glenn. It is Glenn Close’s amazing performance — almost reasonable one minute, boiling bunnies the next — that lets the adulterous Michael off the hook, and makes even a ringing telephone seem scary.
    The lesson for writers wishing to add to this branch of MITH movie is clear. One word: primal. From the protection of family, to the “sin” which risks his family’s safety, to the pet Michael buys his little girl — a rabbit! — this is a tale about the risks and responsibilities of sex, told in a way that would be clear even to a caveman.
    MITH Type: Domestic Monster
    MITH Cousins:
Play Misty for Me, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Pacific Heights, Poison Ivy, The Fan, Single White Female, The Crush, Swimfan, The Cable Guy, One Hour Photo
    FATAL ATTRACTION
    Original Screenplay by
James Dearden
    Opening Image: Portrait of a happy family. Meet the Gallaghers — Dan (Michael Douglas) and, in the next room, his wife Beth (Anne Archer) and their androgynous child, Ellen (Ellen Latzen).
    Theme Stated: Anne gets territorial when her daughter plays with her lipstick. “Ellen, I don’t want you