SCRIPTS: Peter Rabe's "Two-Face" and Semple's "The Joker's Last Laugh"

[bat-rss]

Although I made scripts available in our show notes over a week ago, I just realized that I never set up a thread to discuss them!

These two scripts are going to be discussed in SEPARATE EPISODES -- for reasons I refer to (in next week's episode!) as "podcast/life balance". Think of it as a two-parter. We're planning to record our TWO-FACE discussion on April 23 and THE JOKER'S LAST LAUGH roughly two weeks after that. So as to not spoil the second script for us, I think it'll be best to save the listener comments until "part two", so you've still got several weeks to comment here before we choose comments to quote on the show.

Here are the scripts:

TWO-FACE by Peter Rabe

The Joker's Last Laugh by Lorenzo Semple Jr.

[Ken Holtzhouser]

Ah, where to start?
I thought Peter Rabe's TWO-FACE was about one solid rewrite from being an excellent season two script. The script gives no specific instructions as to the bifurcated bandit's facial appearance, so the show could make him as grotesque or tame as they like. I imagine they would have given him a swarthy, Kingon-esque darker half with different color hair than his lighter side. Two-Face as a character was probably passed over by the producers due to his extreme appearance (and I'm sure they're still remembering the reaction to False Face), but this "dark greasepaint" solution fits the character as former actor and appeases potential audience reaction.
The Robots work better with this version of the script. Phony money, phony henchmen. His background in special effects juuuust about makes them plausible (well, Gotham City plausible) and fits his MO. The idea of discrediting Bruce Wayne pops up briefly and is tossed away, which is unfortunate. It would have been an interesting sub plot bubbling away in the background, as Batman has to defend himself on TWO fronts.
Facella is a name begging for a rewrite. Would "Doll-Face" have been so bad?
I suppose, so soon after The Puzzler, that the Shakespeare would have to go. It's unfortunate, because I did like the set up of quotations that sort of trailed off aimlessly. A year ago, when I was "fan casting" contemporary actors as Batman villains, I had Robert Wagner as Two-Face. Looking at the script, I still think he could have pulled it off, but he might not be as hammy as the part required.
I would categorize this as a disappointment. I know the rewrite was largely due to Cesar Romero's availability , but I wish there had been another "inventory" script to adapt into a Joker adventure

[Ken Holtzhouser]

Oh, and I forgot to mention the total rewrite needed for the cliffhanger. That drill? Nope nope nope. Better a helmet that "makes you a robot" or a headband of something less....well, grotesque. I don't think a current TV series would use that as a child friendly cliffhanger.

[High C]

Oh, and I forgot to mention the total rewrite needed for the cliffhanger. That drill? Nope nope nope. Better a helmet that "makes you a robot" or a headband of something less....well, grotesque. I don't think a current TV series would use that as a child friendly cliffhanger.

This is an excellent point. Even the mere hint of it (although we know they never would do it) would be rough for the kids.

Also, as you noted, Facilia is a rough name for the henchmoll. Difficult to pronounce. It doesn't exactly roll off an actor's tongue. That's the problem with having a crime novelist rather than a noir screenwriter--Rabe wasn't as used to thinking of the dialogue being read aloud.

My other problem with the deathtrap was I immediately realized Batman's plan, and I can be slow on the deathtrap escape uptake.

I did think having Batman rescue the kidnaped teller in part 1 was a nice touch.

I can picture you guys HOWLING at this line from Rabe's part 2: GORDON: Incredible as it might seem, Two-Face has outwitted Chief O'Hara...

I find it interesting that in part 2, Horwitz (I assume), notes how there is a four-page set piece (47-51 in the actual script pages) that does not advance the plot. I mean, yeah, he's spot-on, but where was he with such observations during the Londinium snoozefest, and for that matter, much of season 2? (I won't blame him for not piping up when his boss inserted his stupid Batgirl song to get his residuals, thereby wasting much of his *company's already-spent time.)

*By company, I mean the movie/TV term, as noted on the production reports, for the cast and crew, not Fox and/or Greenway.

[Jimmy L. 66]

"Miranda is a hot young dish"

[High C]

"Miranda is a hot young dish"

To be fair, Semple wrote a 'lush young dish.'

'Hot' wouldn't be coined as a word to describe physical desirability until much later.

Obviously, Semple had forgotten that 'sexy dame' was the correct term in the Dough-zier-verse.

[High C]

(UPDATED) Some thoughts on Semple's Joker script:

It is quite clear by then that anytime they had a script with a 'new' and weird villain kicking around for quite some time that they did not quite know what to do with, the consensus was, rewrite it and give it to Joker. 'Cesar can make anything wacky and weird work!!' Hence, Dr. Temporal, Astrologer and then Two-Face. Thanks to you guys and Laramie for showing us that.

Obviously, Semple was trying to do some kind of bad 'Miranda' rights joke with the officer using excessive force in the teaser scene, but it's way too violent. I just don't get what he was thinking. No way that would have flown.

Josie is written as a bit more street-smart than Phyllis Douglas was capable of playing. She never really advanced beyond ingenue. I would love to have seen Pamela Austin in this role. She, come to think of it, also could've been a good protege for Catwoman in Catwoman Goes to College. (I still never understood why SRR made that setting a sorority house WITH NO SORORITY SISTERS in it. Probably so he could use that Theta Beta Latke (potato pancake) darling or whatever it was.)

I probably said this when you originally reviewed the arc, but I always thought the twist was going to be that Josie was a robot too! I likely was influenced by a show in first-run at the time. As you guys would say, 'Face-off, free for all...'

Even though it made it into the finished arc, I don't like the robot saying, "your wallet sir or you get a bullet between the eyes." A bit intense for a so-called kids' show. But I did like the "Batcave improvement loan" line. It also is terrible that Batman programs him to do that. What if, just speculating in the 'real' universe, said customer had a heart attack??

I noticed how they moved the last scene from Wayne Manor to Gordon's office and gave Aunt Harriet's line to O'Hara. Very interesting.

This may be heresy to you, but this just doesn't seem as tightly written as a first-season Semple script. For instance, the robots vacillate between stiff and smooth, robotic and natural, conforming to whatever the plot needs at the moment. The more invested Semple was better than that. It reminds me of the difference in Gene Coon in the Trek scripts when he was producer, and when he had left and was writing under a pseudonym for legal reasons. This, of course, is not Spock's Brain-level bad, but it is equally ludicrous even by Batman standards--robots aren't 'reprogrammed' because Joker just says so--and it lacks the care and feeding of an early Semple script. It feels like he wrote it double-parked with the meter running.

[bat-rss]

We'll be recording our Last Laugh episode on Thursday morning 9 am EDT! (Sorry, I didn't think to mention it earlier, but it looks like the comments have died down anyway!)

[High C]

We'll be recording our Last Laugh episode on Thursday morning 9 am EDT! (Sorry, I didn't think to mention it earlier, but it looks like the comments have died down anyway!)

Just pointing that I updated my comments above. Thanks!

[robinboyblunderer]

Ellison's script felt more like a standard Batman comic and missed the unique flavor of the series in my opinion.

I much prefer Rabe's take on the character though I agree about the moll's name and the frightening element of the death-trap. Rabe's Two-Face could've been a fun, neat one-shot villain along the lines of Bookworm and False Face.

It's a treat to read these, so thanks again Batpoles Podcasters.

cheers