Buddy Boys: The Movie 3
Triumphs and Tribulations
(1997 script ~ never filmed)
Plot Synopsis
Character Analysis
Evolution of
The Script
Casting Options
The third installment of the series is a unique story but it is also a collection of the previous films best scenes reworked into a new presentation. In this story the T.P. Gang is being honored for all of the good work that they have done in the past. An awards ceremony is set to take place where the Mayor will give them the key to the city. As it turns out, the Mayor is corrupt and resents the fact that the T.P. Gang is being honored especially because they inadvertently have cost the Mayor millions in the black market. In the Mayor's opening scene, it is established that he created the Mr. Big crime wave. He was truly pulling Mr. Big's strings but never directly as to tie him together with the crimes. It is also established that the Mayor has pulled some strings to release a super criminal (Slip Wilcox) for a plan that will make the T.P. Gang look bad in the public eye.
The T.P. Gang makes there first appearance at the old trophy room located at Mr.Big's hideout. It's revealed that they all arrived under suspicious circumstances. The reason they were assembled is to find an old medallion that the museum believes Mr. Big stole during his crime wave. They find the piece and head to their celebration.
The celebration is a opportunity for members of society to pay honor to their heroes. The members speeches about the T.P. Gang cleverly lead into flashback sequences of the previous films best scenes. Some of the important society members on hand to honor the T.P. Gang are the movie theatre manager, a "reformed" Lightning Bolt and even Irving was asked to share his story. At the end of the ceremony a special guest speaker (Avery St. Claire the new museum director) takes the stage. He starts off by paying tribute to the efforts to recover the Golden Roll and the rescue mission of .James Copeland. Now the T.P. Gang gets honored, but before they can get off the stage, the Mayor announces that the medallion (which the T.P. Gang has) was stolen. The Mayor urges everyone to return home. The T.P. Gang returns to headquarters to work out the details.
At this point a news report comes on which incriminates the T.P. Gang in the crime. The Gang works hard and places a call to the police inspector to help them out. The inspector is an old friend and will stall for a few days, but told them he will eventually have to press charges. Now a series of strange clues come into T.P. Headquarters addressed to the Supplier. They are bizarre, but they don't make sense to him so the gang decides to proceed (but with caution.)
While all of this is going on, the old guys are up to their old tricks as well. They are staging a "jail break" of there own as they plan to bust out of the retirement home. The purpose is to carry out some secret plan
The Mayor then makes a second press conference. The purpose is to announce that a warrant has been issued for the T.P. Gang. He begs them to turn themselves in. Off camera he arranges the travel plans with his aid.
The T.P. Gang goes through more clues in attempt to uncover the identity of the person who set them up. At the same time, the payment and instructions for Wilcox have been confirmed. Barnes clues in the Mayor of the latest details. The scene goes back to T.P. Headquarters as the Gang gets closer to solving the case. The Mayor breaks in with another news cast, this time he may have slipped some information out that shouldn't have been revealed. The T.P. Gang pick up on this slip up and tie up the loose ends. Mike puts in a call to the Inspector because the T.P. Gang could never get to the Mayor in time or without being arrested.
A time gap occurs in the film. We jump a week into the future with a News Report that states Lansenbergh has broken the criminal plot, unveiled an archaeology heist and arrested Wilcox who turned states evidence clearing the T.P. Gang. The news report also suggests that the Mayor's private plane went down with no survivors.
The final scene of this story is the actual written final scene from the second film where the old guys finally get revenge by T.P.ing the Buddy Boys.
Buddy Boys: The Movie 3 introduces a lot of new characters. The reason is that the Bandits and Wolverines are shown in the film but that footage has already been shot. A new storyline needed new faces to help the evolution of the Buddy Boys. By now we are very familiar with the T.P. Gang (Joe McGroarty, Bill Shute and Michael Mowery.) The only other returning lead character would be Lightning Bolt (Brian McGroarty) and that is in a cameo. Once again a major storyline for the old guys was written. This is partly because they were cut from the sequel. So who are all the new characters?
Mayor Johnathan Jenkins takes no screen time at all to inform us that he is corrupt. It is Jenkins that pulled Mr. Big's strings and was responsible for the Bandits crime wave. The Mayor has a trusted aid named Barnes. Barnes is definitely a yes man but does have the knowledge to carry out these creative plots and still make it appear everything is fine at City Hall.
Congressman Dimsdale is the represents the local government. His role is to introduce the Mayor at the T.P. Gang's award ceremony. Also appearing at the ceremony is the local movie theatre manager Mr. Bellows who is there to tell tales about the T.P. Gang.
The newest villain Slip Wilcox, is really a pawn in the Mayor's plan. He agrees to help the Mayor in exchanged for a pardon. Returning to the script is the News Caster to deliver the timely updates.
Inspector Lassenbergh is the cop assigned to the T.P. Gangs case. He is also the one cracks the Mayor's dirty scheme by the films end. Adding a little depth to the Supplier, Jessica is introduced as a girlfriend but someone of her lines lead you to believe she may be evil.
The script was written so that it would not require many people to be in one place at one time. It was also written with a few number of returning characters for fear that a third film would be pressing it a little to much for some of the people to accept. Finally it will allow new villains to be introduced. The most amazing thing is that the action sequences would all be flashback sequences so nothing very demanding would be asked of the crew as well.
The script itself wasn't written until 1997. By this point getting some of the old cast members together would have been difficult anyway. So the next best thing was done. An informal poll of what the public thought were the best scenes was done. These scenes would be used as the flashback sequences throughout the film. The benefit here is that the Bandits could be well documented in the film but without haven't to film anything new. The script did call for Lightning Bolt (Brian McGroarty) to make a cameo. In actuality it could have been any Bandit other than Hammer. The writers felt as though he would be the most willing to take the role.
The most challenging scene would be the ceremony. That is where careful writing and could camera work can make a large gathering with only having a few people on set at any one time.
It was a very easy to write screenplay to write. It was calculated that the script could be shot in a couple weeks.
This script presented a lot of new characters. The T.P. Gang would multi task as the old guys. The fourth old guy Orville will be played by Chad Damiani. Chad would also be casted in the role of Mayor Johnathan Jenkins. The good friend of damiani and Shute, Steve Meagher is slated to play "Barnes", the Mayors aid. When writing the script, it was predetermined that Chad and Steve would have these roles, so as the role of Barnes was loosely based on another character that Meagher played. That character was "Bocco" the advertising agent in the One Size Fits Ed skit "Johnny Handle".
The other major character of Inspector Lassenbergh was offered to Lee Stanley. The beauty of this casting option is that Lassenbergh only appears on screen by himself. Since Lee lives in Virginia, his parts can be filmed at any time. Another reason why Lee was granted the role was because of the clues he leaves. Mowery wanted it to be one of his college friends since the clues were about that experience. Losing out on the Lassenbergh role was Dave Mitchell who would then be casted as the movie theatre manager Mr. Bellows.
The casting choices for the remaining supporting roles were as follows: Congressman Dimsdale would be played by Ed Casey. Jessica would be played by Michelle Anderson. Anderson who lived in Colorado at the time would film her scene and send it to Mowery for editing. For the News Caster, the writers wanted to bring back Frank Repici so that there would be some continuity in the Buddy Boy universe. Because of other projects, the filming of this script was delayed. As a result the roles of Avery St. Claire and Slip Wilcox were never given a serious casting.