Screenplay Vs Big Screen:

Fletch

            The film that I chose to do this screenplay over is entitled Fletch.  Phil Alden Robinson wrote the final draft of the screenplay for this filmfrom a draft by Andrew Bergman, which was based on a novel.  Michael Ritchie eventually picked it up and became the director for the film, with Peter Douglas and Alan Greisman on board as the producers.   Fletch is the story of an investigatory reporter named Irwin Fletcher who is trying to cover a story about drugs being pushed on a local beach in Los Angeles.  While undercover on the beach one day, a strange man by the name of Stanwyk mistakes him for a junkie and asks him to murder him for $50,000 dollars, because no one would notice if a drug addict bum disappeared for a while.  Stanwyk tells Fletch that he is dying of bone cancer and that he would just rather be dead. The story goes on with Fletch trying to uncover evidence as to why this man really wants to be murdered.  He finds out that he never had cancer, and that he had been married twice.  Stanwyk’s intentions were to pretend he was murdered by Fletch, but actually kill Fletch and burn his body so it looked like his own.  Then, take all the money from him second wife, and move to Rio with another woman.  Obviously Fletch does not let this happen.  In the screenplay for this film, it is set up very much like a detective story of sorts. The Fletch character goes on these little adventures to try to uncover some of the mysteries that surround this plot and it is all very intense.  There are a few puns thrown in every now and then, but for the most part, it is not all that funny to read.  When speaking about the film Fletchhowever, the director chose Chevy Chase to play the lead role, so naturally the film was a comedy, and he delivers some mundane lines in a way that only he could make funny.  

            There were noticeable changes in most aspects of the story Fletch when comparing the screenplay and the end film.  When comparing the plot for example, some scenes were added in, while others were changed or omitted completely.  The scene in the movie where Fletch dresses up as an engineer and infiltrates Boyd Aviation was not included in the screenplay.  It really did not add much to the plot, but aesthetically it added more costume changes for Chevy.  A scene that did not make it to the film is when Larry calls fletch and tells him that Frank was planning on firing him.  In the movie, he just kind of figures it out for himself.  Another omitted scene is when Fletch follows Alan and sees him buying gasoline.  This is definitely a plot hole now, because later, he already has in the letter that he knows he is going to catch something on fire, but he would not have known this at this point in the film yet.  

            When speaking on character, I think that Chevy Chase embodies Fletch very nicely.  He is definitely funnier than his character was originally written.  His demeanor and wardrobe all matched up except for the scene at John Boyd’s office.  He was dressed up like a stuck up snob, which again, just adds to the fun of costume changes. One addition that the film made that I did notice though was the back-story that they gave Mr. Underhill.  Although it was brief, it made him out to be quite a lowlife, so we do not feel as bad when Fletch charges all of his expenses to his account.  Also, I do love Tim Matheson, but when I was reading the screenplay, I imagined Stanwyk to be older, and more convincing of a cancer patient at the beginning of the film.  I just pictured someone who was cold, turned empathetic, then switched back to stone faced.  Matheson was just cold throughout the film, his character did not seem as dynamic as it did in the screenplay.  

            Moving on to the setting, the screenplay describes the film almost word for world.  For example, the realty house in Utah that belonged to Swarthout was exactly how I thought it would look.  The place was kind of run down and clearly not a million dollar corporation.  When Fletch was in Sally Ann Cavanough’s house though, the film built up the scene to be much more intense.  The anxious eighties music mixed with the low key lighting made it feel a lot scarier.  

            As for scene specifics, there were a few differences that I noticed.  Like with the

Dialogue.  It matched up pretty closely to the original screenplay, but had a few exceptions.  I have a feeling that Chevy Chase probably contributed to this however, because most of the changes from the script come from his quirky one liners, which were most likely ad -libbed over and over knowing him.  For example, when he is at the hospital pretending to be a doctor, he says his name is Rosenrosen, not Rosenpenis to the main surgeons.  Another time is when the lawyer notices his cash and Fletch tells him he saw his pimp today, when in the screenplay he says he found it in his taxicab.  Comedians are generally given leeway when it comes to these jokes, so I am not surprised. Also, the film added a voice over for Fletch so he was our narrator.  This gave the film a noir-esque feel to it, and made it seem like the detective story that the screenplay vibe was giving off.  The voice over helped to sort out the plotline as well, which has a lot going on.  

            Some subtle differences is when we are at Marvin and Velma’s house, Fletch is sitting on the porch talking with them, rather than on couches in the living room like the screenplay says.  This made it seem like Stanwyk comes from a very poor background, where his folks are just content sitting and talking on the porch to strangers. Another change was the very last scene. In the screenplay, Fletch goes to Rio alone and Gail ends up surprising him after some time apart.  In the movie, they run off together.  Their relationship seems to be a bigger deal on screen than it does on paper.  This is probably because Hollywood romanticizes relationships more and puts a bigger emphasis on that particular aspect of stories.

            All in all, I think that the film did an excellent job visualizing and bringing to life the story of the Fletch screenplay.  Chevy portrayed the Fletch character very well and the director made the movie aesthetically pleasing for an eighties audience.