Typical of Sayles scripts the story is worked out logically and thoroughly - it's simple but effective, there is good dialogue and decent characters. He also uses research well - the subs, Loch Ness, the oil industry - and the leftist politics are integrated skillfully rather than shoved down the throat. Good fun.
Various rantings on movies, books about movies, and other things to do with movies
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Script review – “Sea Dragon of Loch Ness” (1979) by John Sayles
Despite Sayles' success around this time writing genre movies, it's not hard to see why this wasn't made - it's too expensive, with lots of location shooting in Scotland, and underwater sequences, many of which involve a sub. It's a shame though because this is a pretty good script. Underwater oil drilling has woken up Nessie and she (or he) is not happy. Although Nessie is a tough piece of work, not to be messed with, she's not as bad as the creatures in Alligator or Piranha - indeed, she's allowed to live at the end. Like those other two movies, the heroes are an elder man and a younger woman who become romantically involved - he's into subs, she's into dangerous marine animals. The man also has a wise-cracking tough-talking kid who joins in on the adventures. And there's a rich Scottish lord who's financing the goodies.
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