Module 11 Thought - Just One

I wanted to piggy-back on a section of the module that dealt with the visual over the written. Clearly, you've guessed by now, that I enjoy a great story. Movies have been part of my life for quite some time.

I wish I could tell you I remember seeing Star Wars in the theater, but I was 2 years-old and apparently I spent most of it in the lobby crying. I do have countless other memories associated with the movies and storytelling.

I discovered Spielberg in the mid-80s while watching "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" one night on HBO and loving it, only to find out that there was a first movie. "What?! What's it called?!"

I cheered loudly from the front rows in the theater with my cousin while watching "Total Recall". The house was packed and we all loved watching Arnie dispatch his so-called friends be the stairs as they tried to ambush him.

My first day working as an usher at the local movie theater was the opening weekend of "In the Line of Fire" and "Interview With A Vampire" and it was crazy, especially when the cos-play people showed up dressed like vampires.

Belaboring the point is that I clearly have seen quite a bit. Bad and Good. One of my favorite moments in cinema comes from the movie "L.A. Confidential". If you haven't seen it, please do. It's great.

There's a moment in the movie when one of our leads, Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) is telling the story of why he wanted to be a cop to fellow detective, Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey). Vincennes is an officer who prefers to moonlight as a police consultant with Hollywood. Vincennes like the easy life and is often considered less-than by many of his fellow officers.

Exley tells Vincennes the story of Rollo Tomasi who had murdered Exley's father. Exley's dad was a cop, but at the time he was off-duty when Tomasi killed him. The story is not the moment and I won't ruin the dialogue for you, if you haven't seen it.

The moment is when Exley asks Vincennes why he became a cop and Vincennes freezes. Spacey plays the moment brilliantly as he searches for the answer to the question and you realize that Vincennes has been lost this whole time. He comes back with a line: "I don't remember", but he doesn't even need to say it. We already know this.

No dialogue could've explained the backstory of Jack Vincennes better than those few seconds of Jack searching for the answer to that question. It's always the example I think of when people talk about "show, don't tell" in writing.

If you're interested in re-living the scene: See below.