BUDDY BOYS: THE MOVIE
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(1990 script - filmed)
Plot
Synopsis
Characater
Analysis
The Writing of the Script
Casting Options
A local terrorist group, "the Bandits" headed by the never seen Mr. Big strike fear into the residence of a small town. The film begins with Mr. Big talking to Hammer (Anthony Salerno) on the phone. Mr. Big instructs the Bandits to take care of the new threat to their operation (Joe McGroaty). The Bandits proceed to jump Joe by surprise at the movie theatre. (Bill Shute) appears out of the night to help Joe out. Together they take an oath to take vengeance on the Bandits and clean up their town.
Along the way, the "T.P. Gang" as they're known, pick up a new member (Michael W. Mowery). He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Upon entering the T.P. Gangs secret hideout, Mike also vows to join the fight against the Bandits and clean up the town.
The two rival gangs battle each of in many comedic scenes revolving around toilet paper and larger than life adventures. This leads to the dramatic climax which brings the T.P. Gang face to face with their enemy, Mr. Big.
Buddy Boys: The Movie is the historic first film for the newly created production company entitled Golden Roll Productions. This film has deeply tied roots to the original writing sessions of 1990 when Bob Schoelkopf, Bill Shute and Michael W. Mowery set out to create a film. Some of the ideas included in the film were: a Mr. Big character, the car chase and the entire desert sequence.
The desert sequence is one of the best scenes captured in the film. This also happens to be the scene in which the most time was spent on. The scene has the deeper roots than any other to the 1990 writing sessions. Michael W. Mowery (the Supplier), Bill Shute (Brains of the Operation), Anthony Salerno (Hammer), Bob Schoelkopf, Brian McGroarty (Lightning Bolt) and Dave DeMatteo recorded some rare improvisational footage of this location the previous summer. None of that footage made the film however. Some of the footage did turn up in the Buddy Boys: Creation of the Desert Sequence special which was released in 1996. The desert was one of the first scenes written and the final scene filmed. Notice the name given to the desert Chavez. This is a direct reference to the character Lou Diamond Phillips portrayed in the two Young Guns films. They happen to be among the favorites of both Bill and Mike. Other Young Guns references which found their way into Buddy Boys: The Movie are the Bon Jovi songs, "Never Say Die" (which is the music bed for T.P. Gangs T.P.ing scene) and "Bang A Drum" (which plays during the closing credits). Bill suggested "Bang A Drum" because of the positive message it says. This tied in perfectly because Bill and Mike decided to dedicate the film to the memory of Mike's father.
Many of the films scenes may appear lengthy at times. This is because, when filming began, Mike didn't know how or where to edited the film. Originally Mike and Bill contacted Bill's Aunt (Nancy Napoli) who was working for a local television station in Philadelphia. The plan was to transfer of the the 1/2" tapes to 3/4" tapes. Then use the stations equipment to edit. Time restraints were starting to become a problem, so Mike invested in editing equipment of his own. Once he did this, editing as well as filming took on an entirely new prospective. Mowery reworked major scenes such as the car chase, desert sequence and the unmasking of Mr. Big to take advantage of the new found editing freedom. The end result was a majority of the scenes filmed after Mowery bought the editing equipment, became the better scenes in the film.
Even though Bill Shute goes unaccredited as a writer, two major scenes would not have been possible without his influence. First the diner scene in which the T.P. Gang gets set up by the Bandits women. This was the one scene that writer Mowery was unsure how to develop. In the original screenplay, the girls were a more integral part of the Bandits operations. The girls were cut from the Bandit meeting scenes because it was hard for everyone to be available at the same time. The guys could make it more frequently than the girls. Since the girls roles were not major, they were cut out. This created a problem because all of the previous dialogue was changed and the girls would now seem out of place. The diner scene however was a huge turning point in the film and their presence was necessary. Bill stepped in with two suggestions. First, he wrote a few lines where Loraine (Donna Morris) talks to Hammer on the phone. This establishes their role in the film. Next Bill wrote the old guys into the film as a diversion which would actually help the T.P. Gang hook up with the girls. The old guys were actually reborn here. Bill had originally created them for a play entitled Hey Do You Want A Donut?, which he wrote with Bob Schoelkopf (one of the films original concept creators). Two of the old guys were played by Bill Shute and Joe McGroaty. Michael W. Mowery would play another gentleman in the diner that did not have any associate to the other characters. This allowed the cast to interact with themselves in the scene. The end result was a long, but comedic scene.
The other scene in which Bill had some influence over was the car chase. While the actual writing of the scene was done by Mowery, the final segment in the scene was Shute's vision. This is the end of the chase where a truck pulls out and cuts off the Bandits and allows the T.P. Gang to get away. This scene would require Bill's character to purposely get caught by the Bandits. So they did not know Bill's true identity, Bill applied theatrical make to himself to disguise his face. The actual on scene disguise was portrayed by Bill's Uncle, Frank Repici. In retro spec, Mowery would have cut in a few shots of Bill turning into Frank intertwined through out the car chase so the audience could understand what has happening better.
The film marked many firsts. For Mowery, it was his screen writing debut. He previously CO-wrote two plays You'll Never Guess What I Saw with buddy boy Joe McGroarty in 1989 and The Ever Amazing Dr. Crackpott 3: Igor In Hollywood in 1990. It also marked the transition of stage to film acting for Shute, Mowery and both Joe and Brian McGroarty. These were four of the leads who did many high school and community theatre productions. For the other three major villain characters of Mike Shute, Anthony Salerno and Brian Repici, this film marked their acting debuts. Finally, this film marked the debut production for Golden Roll Productions.
The T.P. Gang
No real stretch here. The T.P. Gang is based 50 / 50
between fact and fiction. The characters are based on friendship and real
life experiences (as seen in the special Buddy Boys: the Franchise DVD). While
they were given character names "Brains of the Operation", "Guts
and Glory" and "The Supplier", they were mere descriptive terms
about the attributes of the characters.
The Bandits
The role of Mr. Big was designed to bring a larger than
life character into the story. It was a way to make it appear the the villains
of the film were much larger than that of just the Bandits you see on film.
Mr. Big could best be compared to a mob boss or a leader of a rebel group.
His power is in his isolation. He has a long reign and is known to only a
few people if any at all.
Hammer is the leader of his group. A good soldier, Hammer takes orders without question. He has recruited his own followers and is one of only a handful of Bandits that could move up through the ranks. The other Bandit that posses the intellect or at least has the trust of Mr. Big is Slick. Although it is unclear if Slick is aware of Mr. Bigs' true identity, it is apparent that he is in tight with him. Serving as a messenger from Mr. Big to Hammer, Slick is Hammers most valuable aid and most likely successor.
The remaining Bandits are all hired muscle. Though they do provide specific functions, their primary responsibility is support. Lightning Bolt and the Enforcer round out Hammer's immediate circle of trusted point men. The second tier Bandits or the subordinates to Lightning Bolt and the Enforcer are Cuz, Xenophobe, Shock wave and Cyclone. These members are strictly there to do the muscle work in order to prove their worth.
The Bandits are a multi gender organization. The Bandits use their women (Mercedes, Ginger and Loraine) for espionage. They are there to penetrate the T.P. Gang and prevent them from following through on their plans.
The Old Guys
The purpose of the old guys in this film is strictly
comic relief. They are a digression from the darkness the script presents.
Actually it is the continuing story of Irving, Morty, Leaky and newcomer Charlie
last seen the stage production of Hey Do You Want A Donut?
The Extras
There are a few small parts that appear throughout the
film. The most notable is the "body and voice" of Mr. Big. Although
Mr.Big's identity isn't revealed, it was important to establish the character.
The most important extra is The Spy. The Spy is written as Joe's younger brother
who finds the T.P. Gang's headquarters. When the T.P. Gang forces him out,
he turns on them and joins the Bandits. This is what sets up a lot of the
action sequences in the film. Rounding out the extras are a cashier, two dates,
another old guy, a radio announcer and an athlete.
The idea of the script is well documented throughout the site. The ideas came from the 1990 writing sessions which also led to the desert location test shoot. This can be seen in the Creation of the Desert Sequence special. That is where the inspiration came from, but the following is the actual creation of the script and the writing process that brought it to life.
It all began when Michael Mowery was a Freshman at William Paterson College (now University) located in Wayne, NJ (just outside of New York City. He had helped a friend work on a few of his film projects and took an interest in the process himself. Before long, he had received approval to work on his own production. That is when Mike made a call to Bill Shute to see if he was willing to resurrect the old ideas. An eager Bill agreed.
The first challenge of the project
was to create a script that followed very specific requirements. The requirements
would have to meet three courses objectives. Those courses would be Filmmaking
I, Filmmaking II and Film Editing. These were attached to the paper written
about the experience. See it here:
click on the picture
for a larger version
The next step was to write the script. A lot of the
writing took place in the building pictured on the left. This is the "Towers"
residences dorm. A trivia question would actually be what room was the script
written in? The answer would be North Tower, room F4. Anyway, a treatment
was written (that is the plot synopsis above). From this treatment, different
thoughts were extracted as potential scenes. An example can be seen here:
click
on the picture for a larger version
Once the scene synopsis was complete, the actually script was written. To be completely honest, the ideas for the major sequences (desert, car chase, the golden roll (in the sequel) and other large scenes) were already conceived. It was a matter of writing dialogue around the those ideas to make a story. The writing process began shortly after Halloween 1990 and was completed (minus some retooling) in early December.
The very first scene written was the movie theatre. This scene in itself was a tribute to the friendship formed during Highland Regional High Schools 1989 Musical West Side Story. The time spent on the musical formed a bond between Bill Shute, Joe McGroarty and Michael Mowery. As a complete coincidence, when a local movie theatre showed West Side Story, Shute and Mowery shot was film of the marquee and this scene was written around that. In a way the scene mimmicks the real friendship as it is the starting point where all the leads begin to meet and form the T.P. gang. Here for the first time is the actual hand written script by Michael Mowery of the movie theatre scene.
click on the picture for a
larger version
Another interesting story during the writing process was scene 35 (aka the Diner Sequence). Mowery had no problem with the rest of the script including writing dialogue for the Bandit women who in the script appeared in every Bandit scene. This scene however was a problem. There had to be a way to set up the T.P. Gang with the girls in order for the girls to prevent the Gang from proceeding with their plans. After many attempts and finding writers block along the way, Mowery turned to Shute for help with this scene. It didn't take long before Shute resurrected an old idea of his own. Reaching into the past, Bill dusted off the characters of an old theatre production. This is how the old guys became a part of Buddy Boys: The Movie. The theatre production can be scene in Theatre Series vol. 1. Here is a piece of Bill's hand written diner scene:
click on the picture for a
larger version
A lot has been made of the script and specials have been devoted to the different parts of film. For the most part, what you saw on film was the actual script. A few scenes were rewritten on the spot to accommodate the people and the shooting schedule, but there wasn't a real digression from the script. That was truly the greatest accomplishment when filming this project.
As previously eluded to, the roles of the T.P. Gang were written specifically for Bill Shute, Joe McGroarty and Michael Mowery.
The casting of the Bandits happened almost by default. Both Bill and Joe tapped their brothers to play roles in the film. Brian McGroarty was casted as Lightning Bolt and Mike Shute as the Enforcer. Staying within the family, the Shute's reached out to their cousin Brian Repici to perform the role as Slick. That final main Bandit (and the lead bad guy character) also became an easy decision. Anthony Salerno was approached because he was already friends with the Shute's and Repici. The positive of the casting is that the core is familiar with each other. The downside is that Salerno and Mike Shute haven't acted before.
The secondary Bandits did have some shuffling. The very first choice for the role of Cuz was Pete Mosiondz. Pete an experienced actor would bring some experience to the set. The reason he was being considered for Cuz is that role required a few additional scenes. Pete could not make the shooting schedule, so at the last minute, Jeff Wilkinson was plugged into the role. Jeff's brother Scott Wilkinson was then also considered for a cameo of Shock Wave who would appear in the desert sequence. The other Bandits to appear in the desert would Xenophobe and Cyclone. Xenophobe was originally casted as Shane Heipp. Ed Casey was casted as Cyclone (named as a tribute to the soccer team Ed, Scott and Michael Mowery all played for). Both Ed and Shane had scheduling conflicts with work the day the desert was filmed. Stepping in for Shae was Bryan Dietzman. Needing another Bandit for the desert, Ollie Sabitsana was contacted. Wanting originally to leave Cyclone as a tribute, a new name was needed for Ollie's character. That name became Jug Head. Literally walking to the desert location, the cast and crew ran into Chuck Weed. They asked him if he wanted to be in the film. When he agreed, he just assumed the role of Cyclone.
The Bandit women really wasn't a difficult task although it also saw some changes. It would go without saying that Bill's girlfriend at the time Susan Basile would be one of the characters. With Susan in place as Mercedes, the producers would look no further than her friends to fill out the remaining slots. The one friend that had the most interest was Jen Hackney. She was considered first for the role of Ginger, but was recasted as the Old Putz' young date. Attention was then turned to Charlene Lore to fill the role of Ginger. The final female Bandit was portrayed by Donna Morris in the role of Loraine.
Rounded out the female roles in the film would not be an easy process. As stated above, Jen Hackney was supposed to play the Old Putz' young date. She could only make one of the nights shooting so she was bumped in favor of Colleen Sampona. Speaking of dates, Joe McGroarty's character needed a date in the movies opening scene. Jean Marie Williams was casted and filmed the role at the movie theatre. When an audio problem was discovered with the tape the scene had to be reshot. Jean Marie could not make the shooting so she was replace by Lalena Baker. Depending on what version of the film you watch, either Lalena or Jean Marie will be in it.
A few side notes on casting. Both the restaurant manger (Dean) and the cashier in the convenience store (Mark Smith) received credit. Dean's role was a cameo for the hospitality that the restaurant provided. Mar Smith's character actually had lines written for the role. Another cameo was created to pay tribute to another friend. In the scene where the Bandits are waiting for Slick's arrival, the script called for them to be watching television. It was decided to cut to a clip of Bliase Kozeniewski playing baseball at the University of Georgia. The final supporting character is the of the radio announcer. Scott Wilkinson provided the voice of the DJ. He did an impression of Shadoe Stevens for the role.
Lastly, but certainly not least was the casting of the old guys. The script was written for four old guys. The three from the original stage production (Bill Shute, Bob Schoelkopf and Chris Divel) as well as a fourth character named Charlie. The role of Charlie was to be played by Joe McGroarty. Originally however (as documented in the Buddy Boys: Creation of the Desert Sequence special) Michael Mowery was to play the fourth old guy as Chris Divel was not originally considered for the film. When Bob back out of the film, the producers contacted Divel and he agreed to reprise his role. A shift occurred and Schoelkopf's and McGroarty's lines were merge into one role. Mowery then took the role of the other Old Putz at the diner as that role was yet to be casted.