When I saw this theme, I immediately thought of one of my all time favorite films, Little Big Man (1970). In the opening, it seems that Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) is going to tell a story about himself: "I am, beyond a doubt, the last of the old-timers. My name is Jack Crabb. And I am the sole white survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn, uh, uh, popularly known as Custer's Last Stand." But in the end, he's realized it's not just his story. "Well, that's the story of this old Indian fighter. That's the story of the Human Beings, who was promised land where they could live in peace. Land that would be theirs as long as grass grow, wind blow, and the sky is blue." Or maybe he made it all up. As this scene with the snake-oil salesman Silas T. Meriweather points out, "the two legged creature will believe anything, the more preposterous the better." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7YeRBXEUTY

The Fisher King has a great legend telling moment. Jeff Bridges play Jack Lucas, a disgraced former shock jock whose ravings to an unstable listener led to a mass shooting. Robin Williams is Parry, a mentally disturbed homeless man who saves Jack from two thugs. The two strike up an unlikely friendship and one night Parry tells Jack the story of the Fisher King. Parry: It begins with the king as a boy, having to spend the night alone in the forest to prove his courage so he can become king. Now while he is spending the night alone he's visited by a sacred vision. Out of the fire appears the holy grail, symbol of God's divine grace. And a voice said to the boy, "You shall be keeper of the grail so that it may heal the hearts of men." But the boy was blinded by greater visions of a life filled with power and glory and beauty. And in this state of radical amazement he felt for a brief moment not like a boy, but invincible, like God, so he reached into the fire to take the grail, and the grail vanished, leaving him with his hand in the fire to be terribly wounded. Now as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper. Until one day, life for him lost its reason. He had no faith in any man, not even himself. He couldn't love or feel loved. He was sick with experience. He began to die. One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn't see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king, "What ails you friend?" The king replied, "I'm thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat". So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king. As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the holy grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, "How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?" And the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty." What's great about this is that the legend Parry tells is the story of the movie. Jack is the Fisher King whose quest for glory and power leaves him wounded and alone and Parry is the simple minded fool who saves him. It's everything you need to know about the movie and it's two main characters in one scene. Plus, Williams tells the story without doing a single funny voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN3bcE7ldHg

Possibly Mickey Rourke's finest acting job. Apologies, but I had to jerry-rig a quote from a raw transcript. If *anyone* has a pdf of the script, please let me know. Rumble Fish (1983) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fPIzvjiwqY BLACK POOL PLAYER He's a deep motherfucker. RUSTY JAMES I'm gonna be just like him, too. I'm gonna look like him. BLACK POOL PLAYER You ain't gonna never be like that. RUSTY JAMES How do you know? What the fuck do you know? I might look like him. BLACK POOL PLAYER You ain't gonna be like that, man. He's a prince. That's right. Give it time, buddy boy. Give it time. Know what he's like? Royalty in exile. You know what I mean?

"Three O'Clock High" written by Richard Christian Matheson and Thomas Szollosi (I couldn't find the script online, so here's a transcript of the dialogue.) Girl Student #1: I’m telling you, this new guy is supposed to be a total psycho. I heard he broke another kid’s neck at his last school. Girl Student #2: Then he got kicked off the football team for pulling a knife on a coach. Girl Student #1: And all the coach did was grab him and the guy goes nuts. Girl Student #3: And this guy is supposed to be coming to our school? Girl Student #1: Today. Preppy Guy #1: After he broke that kid’s neck they tried to throw him in jail. The judge let him off. Preppy Guy #2: This guy ought to be locked up. Nerd #1: Did you hear what he did at Lincoln? They were supposed to be dissecting these pregnant sandsharks, but he refused to do it. Said sharks were his favorite animal. Nerd #2: Great a psychotic shark-lover. Nerd #1: So the teacher grabs him by the arm and tries to take him down to the office. Thing is the teacher didn’t know the guy was a touch-freak. Nerd #3: Touch-freak? Nerd #1: Yeah, he doesn’t like to be touched by anybody. He put the teacher in the hospital for three days. Nerd #2: Just because he touched him? This guy is definitely on tilt. Punk #1: That’s not even the whole story. After he duked the science teacher, they send the dude into continuation. And on the first day there he got into a fight with the three baddest dudes. Seriously totaled their asses -- at the same time. Punk #2: Have you heard about his brass knuckles? Punk #3 : Dude has brass knuckles? Punk #1: Yeah, always carries them with him and and uses them on special occassions. Jock #1: Serious? Jock #2: Totally serious. He’s also got this thing about being touched. Jock #3: I heard he one time broke a guy’s neck just because he touched him. Jock #1: Just because he touched him? Jock #2: He just decided he didn’t like to be touched. Jock #1: That’s completely weird. Jock #4: Does this guy play football? Jock #2: No. Jock #4: Good. Jock #1: He used to though. Remember the story about the guy who pulled a knife on his coach? Jock #2: Yeah. Jock #1: That’s him. Jock #2: Jesus. Brei: He was at continuation and he even took a swing at one of his teachers. And these guys aren’t your average history types. They’re like ex-cops or something. In fact, I heard the carry guns. Jerry: He came here from continuation? Brei: Uh-huh. That’s why they call it continuation. So you can continue murdering people and still graduate. Jerry: What’s this guy’s name anyway? Clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW-Y3QyK-aU Takeaway: If you need to give exposition, do it in an interesting way. All this dialogue is to set up the villain -- he's not just some tough badass high school kid -- he's the BADDEST. Notice what is repeated (being touched) and what is pointed out (brass knuckles). Hmmm...foreshadowing? And notice how the scene ends with a question from the hero about the villain. Already these characters are being "introduced" to each other and we're not even five minutes in.

A legend moment I’d love to put forward, but cannot find the script to back it up is from Waterworld (1995). It was a short, but satisfying moment as the young girl Enola is describing to her captors how her friend will save her. For a maligned movie I enjoyed it and this childlike framing of a ruthless hero is something I will always remember fondly.

this might be on repeat: but two moments: Toy story 3: Michael Arndt (Screenplay)Story by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Andrew Stanton clown's story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B61mxqYfTpc CHUCKLES: Yeah, I knew Lotso. He was a good toy. A friend. Me and him, we had the same kid -- Daisy... INT. DAISY'S LIVING ROOM - DAY - FLASHBACK A freckle-faced five-year-old, DAISY, unwraps a gift under a Christmas Tree and finds a fresh, smiling Lotso inside. CHUCKLES (VO): I was there when Lotso got unwrapped. She hugs him -- love at first sight. CHUCKLES (VO): Daisy loves us all, but lotso...Lotso was special. INT. DAISY'S HOUSE - DAY - FLASHBACKS QUICK CUTS: Daisy takes Lotso everywhere -- jumping through a lawn sprinkler; pushed on as wing; in bed while she reads to him, etc. He gazes lovingly at her. CHUCKLES (VO): They did everything together. You never seen a kid and a toy more in love. EXT. STATION WAGON - DAY - FLASHBACK Daisy sits in the back of a station wagon, Lotso in her lap. Chuckles and Baby are buckled in beside them. CHUCKLES (VO): One day, we took a drive... EXT. REST STOP - DAY - FLASHBACK At a rest stop, Daisy's family has lunch in the grass while Daisy plays happily with Lotso, Chuckles and Big Baby. CHUCKLES (VO): Hit a rest stop, had a little play time. Daisy's mom waves a sandwich. Daisy puts down the toys and runs to join her family. DISSOLVE TO: A sleeping Daisy is carried to the car. CHUCKLES (VO): After lunch, Daisy fell asleep. A seat belt is clicked around the sleeping Daisy. The car drives off. Daisy's toys sit up, their worst fears come true. DISSOLVE TO: Lotso peers down the road, keeping vigil as the sun sets. Days pass. Rain falls. The forgotten toys remain. CHUCKLES (VO): She never came back.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1): Screenplay by: Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K.Rowling (novel) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR939M48BG4 (couldn't find the exact script excerpt but here is what she says:) Hermione (VO): There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too treacherous to pass but they learned in the magical arts, the three brothers simply waved their wands and made a bridge. Before they could cross, however, they found their path blocked by a hooded figure. It was Death and he felt cheated. Cheated because travelers would normally drown in the river, but Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers on their magic and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him. The oldest asked for a wand more powerful with any existence so Death fashioned him a wand from an elder tree that stood nearby. The second brother decided he want to humiliate Death even further and asked for the power to recall loved ones from the grave so Death part a stone from the river and offer it to him. Finally Death turned to the third brother. A humble man, he asked for something that would allow him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And so it was that Death reluctantly handed over his own cloak of invisibility. The first brother traveled to a distant village while with the Elder Wand in hand, he killed a wizard with whom he had once quarrels. Drunk with the power that the Elder Wand given him, he bragged his invincibility. But that night, another wizard stole the wand and slit the brother's throat for good measure. And so Death took the first brother for his own. The second brother journeyed to his home when he took the stone in turn in thrice in hand. To his delight, the girl he once hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared before him. Yet soon she turned sad and cold for she did not belong in the mortal world. Driven mad by hopeless longing, the second brother killed himself so as to join her. And so Death took the second brother. As for the third brother, Death searched for many years but was never able to find him only when he attained a great age that the youngest brother shed the Cloak of Invisibility and give it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend and went with him gladly, departing this life as equals.

oops forgot the takeaways: Toy story 3: This is a setup for a great nemesis: not just someone who is flat-out bad, but that even the evil ones have a reason why they are so. Also, a more traditional use of a dark flashback, but done in an unencumbering, creative way that progresses the story along and still manages to keep the premise fresh and charming. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: A very traditional way to tell a story, but uses the visual parameters of a movie within a movie. The visuals accompanying this sequence is what makes this a very 'haunting' revelation to the storyline.

JAWS (1975) Peter Benchley (screenplay) and Carl Gottlieb (screenplay) Peter Benchley (novel) Hooper: You were on the Indianapolis? Brody: What happened? Quint: Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail fin. What we didn't know, was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named "The Battle of Waterloo" and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark will go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us... he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened... waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9S41Kplsbs Dialogue Takeaway: What's the takeaway besides "F#:(K, I'll never write a speech this good?" Seemingly everybody except for Aaron Sorkin has taken credit for this, but whoever wrote it uses sentence fragments, poetic language that contrasts innocence with predatory evil (the shark having "doll's eyes,") and a subtext of almost Biblical retribution - Quint begins and ends the speech with a reference to the men's mission, delivering the atomic bomb, arguably a crime against Nature, and we get that maybe Nature is getting her own back. But it's all delivered in a completely laid-back and conversational way, with a total absence of speechifying.

Stand By Me (1986) Novel by Stephen King Screenplay by Raynold Gideon & Bruce A. Evans Directed by Rob Reiner The legend of Lardass Hogan & the pie-eating contest Video clip --> http://cli.ps/g2tbj Transcript --> http://www.vaiden.net/barfarama.html

got this slightly wrong. Rumble Fish (1983) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fPIzvjiwqY BLACK POOL PLAYER He’s a deep motherfucker. RUSTY JAMES I’m gonna be just like him, too. I’m gonna look like him. BLACK POOL PLAYER You ain’t gonna never be like that. RUSTY JAMES How do you know? What the fuck do you know? I might look like him. BLACK POOL PLAYER You ain’t gonna be like at, man. He’s a prince. That’s right. RUSTY JAMES Give it time, buddy boy. Give it time. BLACK POOL PLAYER Know what he’s like? Royalty in exile. You know what I mean?

Got it, thanks. It posts tomorrow.