Frank Blacks Style

[Guest Heath328]

I'm willing to bet that it was written in the script.

Here's my thing:

If you have insider knowledge that the "Taxi Driver" bit was written in the script, more power to you.

But, given Henriksen's flair for fully inhabiting his roles, it's not unreasonable to assume that the Travis Bickle bit was an ad lib that survived the final cut.

For instance, as the villain in the film "Hard Target," he tells a story about Masai warriors (I'm working from memory here) that was something he furnished, not the script writers.

Edited November 23, 2007 by Heath328

[ethsnafu]

Hi Heath,

Interesting post and your acumen with regards to Mister Henriksen is far better than my own. Whilst I am a vague abyss with Lance-isms I know a fair bit about Morgan and Wong. Whatever your perception of them may be they are devout and blatant assimilators. By their own admission they pepper their scripts with referential nods to TV shows, films, lines of dialogue, music, actors and, to be truthful, almost anything they have a penchant for will at some point appear, all lights flashing, in a script.

For anyone who has seen 'Year Of The Rat', an extra on 'Willard', will recall they talk at length about their passion for 'Taxi Driver' and they nod to it in numerous interviews as the follow quote illustrates:

""According to Glen, however, their family itself served as an early film school, as the two saw movies such as "The Wild Bunch" with their father and watched "All in the Family," "MASH" and Marx Brothers movies on TV when staying at his grandmother's house. In college, they absorbed movies such as "Taxi Driver" and "Dog Day Afternoon," watching each dozens of times. "It sounds more depressing than it was," Darin said.""

Now I would be the last man alive to suggest that anyone is wrong but given what I know about the magpie-esque scripting of M&W I would bet a pound or four that the homage to 'Taxi Driver' was their inclusion not Lance's.

I finish that by adding without any way to verify we could be both be right, which is cool by me.

Edited November 23, 2007 by ethsnafu

[Guest ZeusFaber]

Here's my thing:

If you have insider knowledge that the "Taxi Driver" bit was written in the script, more power to you.

But, given Henriksen's flair for fully inhabiting his roles, it's not unreasonable to assume that the Travis Bickle bit was an ad lib that survived the final cut.

Indeed, I haven't seen the script for this particular episode, so my bet is based on no more certain knowledge than your bet.

However, Lance Henriksen has stated on more than one occasion that he didn't quite understand or agree with the changes Morgan & Wong imposed on the show and his character during the second season. These changes included making Frank "lighter" and "cooler", and coming out with a one-liner pop-culture reference when pointing a gun is, to me, symptomatic of exactly those things. It's got M&W's version of the character written all over it.

It isn't impossible that it was an ad lib, no, but I'd certainly be willing to make a hefty bet that it was a scripted line. Maybe someone with a copy could settle it for us.

[ethsnafu]

It's got M&W's version of the character written all over it.

So dangerously correct as always my friend. Morgan and Wong are the indomitable masters of pop-culture, they are the script writing equivalent of Andy Wharol and have a great penchant for the derisive, the camp and the juxtapose. They have an all pervasive interest in taking the most businesslike and momentous scenes and draping them with flowery commonality. They are so fond of filling their world with constantly alarming moments of the 'cheap and tacky' that it wouldn't be astonishing to have Frank chewing over lines from a 'Carry On...' film. So, in this instance, I am waving my M&W flag for the sure and certain belief that any, or all, seen-it-somewhere-else bits came from the pen of M&W.

Edited November 24, 2007 by ethsnafu

[Guest Heath328]

You know, I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't factor in Morgan & Wong in regard to the "Taxi Driver" bit.

While I'm familiar with their work, I didn't think about their little idiosyncracies and how that might have played out with Season 2 in general and Frank Black specifically.

Good points made by all!

[ethsnafu]

Gosh Heath,

Never feel by embarrassed by anything you offer up the board and who's to say that either myself or Zues is right in our belief. If I felt embarrassed every time I got something woefully mixed up or outright wrong I'd be a permanent shade of scarlet, or even maroon, gosh let's say crimson even.

Edited November 24, 2007 by ethsnafu

[Guest Heath328]

No problem, Ethsnafu.

I think the consensus among all of us is that Frank's style, like the whole program, was organic and had several hands in the mix.

[Guest Laurent.]

I'm a bit late here.. looks like you've got the situation under control hehe.

Good point Zeus.. there are a lot of differences between the "Carter and Henriksen" Frank Black and the "Morgan and Wong" Frank. (The Black was voluntarily left out in the last one, how clever am I?)

I think Henriksen had a much more "quiet and wise" view of Frank Black (which always shined trough even as tormented as he was in season 1 and would become later on) and Morgan and Wong tried to make him something much cooler to look at on your friday nights. And I understand their decision, they wanted to raise the show's numbers and they knew that their best chance was with young male (I'd say 15 to 45 years old as a wild non-educated guess) which are used to more action-oriented hero with one liners and cool gun scenes. But I also understand that Lance felt a little bit betrayed, as the writing of his character would drift further and further away from what he knew about him.

[Guest ZeusFaber]

Exactly. But I don't think M&W's rebranding of the show and of Frank was entirely motivated by a desire to increase ratings. Quite possibly a part of it, as you say (ironic that they ended up sinking them), but I think a bigger factor was their own personal preferences for such things. For example, they said that they made Frank like Bobby Darin simply because they liked Bobby Darin, and bringing in nerdy sci-fi computer geeks is, I would imagine, how they see themselves and their fans (witness the Lone Gunmen).

I think they like cool dude heroes with trendy clothes, big guns, gadgets, and pop-culture one-liners, and thus they tried to remould Frank Black in that image. Lance Henriksen didn't like it, and I didn't either. I find it particularly fitting (and hilarious) that Darin Morgan crafted the ultimate parody of this type of character in the form of Rocket McGrane in the midst of all this.

[ethsnafu]

I concur that it is comforting to give an overview of a character based on your prejudices but the 'Frank' of 'Season Two' deserves more than ripping through 22 episodes to skim scant examples from the top of the custard that support your assertions. Whilst it is true that there is a tonal shift in the colour of 'Frank' it is worryingly absurd to conclude that 'Season Two' depicted him as a gun-toting-wisecrack artist who 'Morgan and Wong' enriched with nothing more than examples of their own interests. I am wholly respectful of the characterisation of Frank in 'Season One' but the eternally dour and yawningly profound is a grotesque misinterpretion of the human complex. A man enjoys a drink, listens to music, enjoys TV and quotes the odd bit of rubbish from his favourite film. In reality no individual submerses themselves in a quagmire of misery. I am a human, a fact that many may contest, and I cannot remember a second of my life that I didn't smile, sing a song, act macho (poorly) and so and so forth. Morgan and Wong decorated Frank with nuances, realities and idiosyncrasies. If you believe that any individual is silent, considered and morose in all moments of their life then you are sadly mistaken.

I may finish by adding that the issue of ratings is highly debatable since no soul has produced them, but, Millennium is an archaic thing and not one member of this group is here because of ratings. We are here out of an interest to discuss the stories and few of us are concerned with how many people watched what and when.

Edited November 26, 2007 by ethsnafu