Script Review: Total Recall (1990)

A review of a beautiful movie called "Total Recall". For those of you who have not seen this movie, I highly recommend it because it's a fantastic story. However, this does contain spoilers.



I'm going to walk-through and comment as I'm both reading and watching the movie side-by-side. So, here we go. I'm looking over at the script, it says "RED". It's not overly specific, but it gets to the main point on what to focus on. So, it's not a surprise when we see the opening credits as red and black. Pans over the landscape, and the first thing we notice is red. The audience has a good idea that it is, indeed, on Mars.

Okay, so we see the difference already between the script and the movie.

 Quaid starts to decompress.  HHHHNh!  His breath is drawn
 out.  His face puffs up.  Veins stand out in his skin.  His
 eyes bulge.  His tongue protrudes.  His nose and eyelids
 bleed.
 The woman rushes to him.  She kneels down over him.  They
 clasp hands.  His eyes explo...

The woman doesn't rush to him, but she does look genuinely distressed. So, my guess is that the script is more of a guideline than an actual set of rules for the movie. When it comes to the newscast, the woman adds more information than what's on script. (Okay, seriously, this script was really well thought out. Especially with the news and what they had to say. It may or may not had an influence on Quaid's experience?)

                         LORI
               You are somebody.  You're the man I
               love.
                         QUAID
               Bye.

The movie adds a hesitance that was not added in the script. Again, emphasizing that you can mess around with the script in production.

REeeeeeekallll... REkallRekallRekall

As great as the movie is, I'm really amused by the script. You can tell the writers (Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon) has a sense of humor. But it also gets a better sense of the atmosphere.

 TIFFANY, a bored, ornamental receptionist hides her     paraphernalia and greets Quaid.  A moment later, BOB McCLANE enters.  He's a former high school     jock.

These descriptions are short and straight to the point.

I'm pretty sure that some of the things that were in the script were either added onto or omitted because of post-production. No rain when Harry and the other guys gang up on Quaid.

                    HARRY
               Unh-uh, pal.  You've got yourself mixed
               up with somebody else.

Good foreshadowing

 Lori elbows him in the ribs, hits him in the balls, then     punches him in the face.

That happens. It's cool how they focused on what was going to happen in the film. It's like saying, this is what my vision is for how the movie is, so take it. But on the same note, it's just giving the sense of the action. There are no notes on how the shots should be taken (in other words, it's open to interpretation) UNLESS it's absolutely necessary.

thru OMITTED

I'm guessing it's a revision note. The pages that were previously there, aren't necessary anymore?

 EXT./INT. RICHTER'S CAR 

You can do both EXT. and INT.???

When the actors go off-script, you can tell that they're being snarky about it.

Who's going to drop?  Neither.

Answers his own rhetorical questions.

miniature VIDEODISC
     PLAYER/TV SET.

PFFFT, that's not miniature, that's a suitcase, my friend.

Another fire storm ensues.  No luck.

So blunt.

  ALARMS sound and METAL BARRIERS slide down over windows and
  doorways, sealing off the depressurized area:  SQQRRCHANG!
  SQQQRRCHANG!  SQQQRRCHANG!

The sound effects are beautiful in this script.

         MUTANT
Would you like to know the future?
        BENNY
Come on.  It's around the corner.

In the movie, Quaid says "what about the past?" The first time I watched it, I thought it was clever. I guess Schwarzenegger ad libbed that part.

PIYUNG!  The knife flies from Lori's hand.

Another beautiful example of sound effects.

                         QUAID
               By the way...ever heard of a company
               names Rekall?

                         MELINA
               I used to model for 'em, why?

                         QUAID
               Just wondering.

Guess what they omitted

Silence.  Dread.

Straight and to the point.

George unbuttons his shirt, revealing...A SMALL SECOND HEAD     GROWING FROM HIS CHEST!

WOAH, SHOCK FROM THE SCRIPT. IF IT'S SHOCKING TO THE VIEWER, IT'LL SHOCK THE SCRIPT TOO.

                        COHAAGEN
               No wonder he kept out of sight. 

     Richter, Benny, and several Security Police stand guard over
     Quaid and Melina, who are securely shackled.  Outside the
     picture windows, the city lights twinkle under a threatening
     violet sky.  Various scenes of suffocation in Venusville play
     on a bank of TV MONITORS.
     Cohaagen turns away and recovers his ebullient mood as he
     comes over to Quaid and claps him on the shoulder. 

                         COHAAGEN
               Well, my boy, you're a hero.

It's interesting how you have establishing scenes, but in the movie, it plays so seamlessly. That's the difference between pictures and words, I suppose.

Assistant 6 charges with a long metal pole.  Quaid pulls #5 in
front of him, like a shield.  #5 is skewered.

Shorthand instead of typing out "Assistant 5". Saves time. Saves space.

BRRTDBTRBDRTRTDBRTDBDRDBTTDRDBD!

So elegant

As the elevator passes through the hole cut in the metal, a sharp
     edge guillotines Richter's rifle in half.  Nasty.

Own commentary on situation. So, scripts have their own personality. I mean, no one wants to read a boring script.

SCREEEEEEEEAMMMmmiinnnggg...

Dramatic effect

They can breathe!  They stand and walk toward the blue sky.

198 INT. LAST RESORT - DAY                                           198
     Gasping for breath, the rebels find air!  They can
     breathe!

199 INT. HILTON HOTEL - DAY                                          199
     Everybody can breathe! 

201 EXT. VENUSVILLE PLAZA - DAY                                      201 

     Everybody can breathe, including Madame Fatima and daughter!

Now that I'm looking at the page numbers, did those sentences seriously take up one page each???