Steve Martin’s talents are such that they clearly no bound. For one of course being not only his wonderful acting ability but also his repeated success in penning original screenplays on top of that. The first of these screenplays were going to talk about today is Three Amigos!

Three Amigos! (Dir. John Landis, 1986) – Written with Randy Newman and Lorne Michaels

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When it comes to films that tick boxes for me personally, in regards to the creative team involved, perhaps there are only few in the comedy world that can rival the roster of Three Amigos! Being directed by John Landis, starring and penned by Steve Martin, working on screen with Martin Short and Chevy Chase, and working off screen on the screenplay with none other than Lorne Michaels and Randy Newman of all people (for the sole writing credit of his career). It’s a bizarrely perfection collection of individuals with the premise of Tropic Thunder a whole 22 years earlier and with no less bite, but clearly a more focussed approach on sincerity and spoof aspects rather than a biting commentary on the Hollywood of the time. The Hollywood of the time in this case being sometime in the early 20th century, with the focus of much of the humour not being on the industry as much as it is upon the good-natured if pompous bumbling idiot actor in the costumes that end up in the fray of a Mexican village brought in to defend the helpless villagers from the “infamous” El Guapo, played brilliantly by Alfonso Arau in a role that is the perfect villain for a comedy of this nature, never lowering the stakes, but also never being too unpleasant. The script is effortless when it comes to great gags, but does lose a little bit of its way as it reaches its conclusion after featuring around its middle a few too many gags of a fantastical nature. Now it’s not that these gags aren’t very funny, but it’s just that the film resolves itself in a feeling of over-correction following them.

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The film too features multiple great songs by Newman in the fold of what he does best, however they are few and between and one wouldn’t mind at all a full musical rendition of the film – or perhaps that’s just the musical fan bias in me. But saying that the My Little Buttercup scene remains the most famous scene of all from this film I would say. But the film is the success it is because of how perfectly Martin, Short and Chase work together and are so perfect for the roles. Of course Martin wrote them and Chase was a friend and no doubt pitched in from time to time, but this does indeed mark the initial meeting of one of the great comedic pairs of our time with Short and Martin. It feels almost weird really that Chase is along for the ride with the legacy that carried on with just those two. But Chase is supremely funny here with I would argue his least showy and most generous performance he’s ever given. No less funny, but his character of Dusty Bottoms is very much not the bombastic force of much of the humour. Short is hilalrious, as is Martin, but Short is as Ned Nederlander (such great names on all accounts) so supremely funny in ways different to the other two pronounced stars at that time. Martin is the lead in many ways and reminds us of his supreme command of a screen, even in an ensemble comedy of this nature. Overall Three Amigos is a film that I struggle to write critically of beyond my opinion that I feel the comedy does tail out as the plotting comes more to bear and the action, which Landis directs with less of a firm hand as we have seen before (or rather less panache), but overall when a series of your comedic (and music for that matter) idols are working together to make a very funny and very solid product one can struggle to be objective.

Roxanne (Dir. Fred Shclepsi, 1987) – Based upon Edmond Rostand’s ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’

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Perhaps the most well known of Martin’s original screenplays and perhaps the most obvious of his literary adaptations would be that of the delightful 1987 Fred Schlepsi directed Roxanne, from Cyrano de Bergerac. Now I say obvious in the sense that where as many might not know at first where Simple Twist of Fate comes from or might not at first grasp that L.A Story is Midsummer (like to be honest I did), big nose and love letters is unmistakably Cyrano. For anyone who vaguely knows the classic story of the big nose afflicted wonderful man whom all love, here a firefighter by the name of C.D Bales played by Martin himself, as he falls in love with the beautiful new in town Roxanne. Falling in love to such an extent that he even helps the very handsome but half-witted Rick Rossovich with his love letters to Roxanne. Of course it’s no spoiler to say that love prevails, but the joyful and funny journey that we take to get there is always worth the price of admission. However for me Roxanne is not really as funny or as touching as Martin’s other screenplays in this vein, despite in many ways being the most iconic and certainly the most well known. I just personally don’t find it anywhere near as enjoyable as the other films I will soon discuss. The matter of the fact is that perhaps in this case the story is too well known and Martin doesn’t really play around with it in any interesting ways beyond a modernisation. Schelpsi does a fine job directing and overall above all else the film does boast a very sweet and enjoyable romantic air to it all. The score for instance is almost entirely and joyfully saxophone based and all just adds to the 80’s romantic lustre of the piece, in a score by Bruce Smeaton. It’s all very sweet and the jokes about Martin’s nose are frequent and enjoyable and the right balance of pointing fun at the right parties, the humour beyond the schnozz too is frequently witty and whimsical in that perfect Martin blend that is so rare nowadays. Daryl Hannah appears as the titular Roxanne and is to be honest not really given much to do beyond be her beautiful self, in the script she is given the intellectual motivation of being an astronomer, but that doesn’t exactly lead to the character feeling any more than a beautiful pawn in the plot this classic romantic farce. Also in the modernisation even though we are in a world of whimsy, one can’t help but have that problem of butting up against some of the contrivances of a classical piece not holding much water when adapted to 1987. Martin in his screenplay and in his performance does manage to very nicely balance a warmth with all the absurdism and that is for me the films biggest strength, as I will discuss is the case with the touching and surprising sincerity of some of his later screenplays, but yes indeed, despite being arguably the most well known, Roxanne is an enjoyable if forgettable lovely little way to spend 110 minutes.

L.A. Story (Dir. Mick Jackson, 1991) – Influenced by Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’

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Probably the loosest of Martin’s adaptations of classic works comes with this fantastical rom-com set in and informed greatly by Los Angeles, inspired ever so loosely by Shakespeare’s Midsummer Nights Dream. The inspirations lies more or less solely with a chief love square and a lot of confusion and miscommunication, as well as a few direct lifted quotes and a few abridged variations of the original text. All in all L.A Story is a whimsical fantasy comedy that at times does stray for my personal taste a little too far into the world of the fantastical, for as much as the film succeeds wonderfully when it comes to deliberately over-exaggerated whimsical presentations of typical L.A business – one prime example consists of Martin’s character attempting to get reservations at a restaurant only to go through a proceeding reminiscent of taking out a loan – the film does at times lean a little too far into this world of magical realism and loses some of its human romantic touch. The film even has a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy style positing of the meaning of life, with the answer being of a similarly irreverent and inane nature; this joke all coming to us through one of the film’s whackier inventions, that of a fortune telling street sign. The film wears on its sleave from a very early point the nature of it’s L.A commentary, with an immediate montage of great sight gags that set the tone, for the most after that the film manages to never be too winking or self-loving either, despite ending with its final frame with the most typical of all L.A jokes. Martin’s work as a writer has far more scope and overall this does sacrifice the simplicity of the love story at the heart of it, for me this would work so much better as a film in the vein of its early scenes; a whacky magical realist ensemble comedy with Martin as the lead going through the mania of the city of angels. However instead the heart and core of the story is a love story between Martin and his then partner and previous star of All of Me, Victoria Tennant. The chemistry and love story told between the two is very solid, it’s just a little rushed in an attempt to get in more of the comedy and more of the other romantic interests and partners that make the film the modernised Midsummer that it in actuality is in so many ways. Beyond Martin and Tennant, who are indeed both their wonderful selves, with Tennant working in a lot more wholesome and sweet range than her All of Me villain and Martin working in a similar vein to his other leading man parts, there are many cameos that are all effective with Chevy Chase being turned down by a wonderfully over-the-top Patrick Stewart as the manager of a hip restaurant, as well as in larger roles making up the love square, that of Richard E. Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, with two broader but similarly successful performances. Overall L.A Story throws a lot out there and juggles many different comedic and dramatic forms and tones and one has to say that for the most part the film is successful and feels consistent, a few flights of fantasy that don’t land aside.

A Simple Twist of Fate (Dir. Gillies MacKinnon, 1994) – Suggested by George Eliot’s ‘Silas Marner’

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The film that rounds out Martin’s trilogy of modernised adaptations of classic works of literature is that of 1994’s A Simple Twist of Fate, suggested by (as the credits posit) George Eliot’s Silas Marner. Now this is a case of un-culturism on my end, as I knew nothing of what the original Eliot consisted of prior to watching Martin’s modernisation of it. Even now I have yet to return to the original text, or even for that matter look up the differences. Either way, the story as I viewed it, directed by Gillies MacKinnon, is a tale of both a lot of humour, a lot of solid drama and a sincere abundance of heart. Now does that level of heart at times fall into the realm of the saccharin? Fortunately I would say that it does not. Does it close however? Dangerously. The story is grand, decade spanning and deep of heart and melodramatic narrative, so what is the secret formula that makes it watchable and by the end very hard to dismiss as soppy tripe? Martin. It has to be Martin. His writing here is delicate, with an efficiency as the years pass of both drama and humour, peppering gag’s and full comedic sequences along with the overall drama of the piece. This is Martin’s writing at its most classic I find, Hollywood classic, we’re now talking about. With its small town setting, heightened emotions, roots in extreme coincidence and general heart-warming sentiment, Martin is here as close to Frank Capra as he was ever been. In his performance too Martin is the perfect balance of heart, warmth and humanity, playing the inherent darkness of his script with a lovely deftness. For this script does in no way shy away from some of the great darkness’s of the story, for as much as it also has joyous weather balloon montages of frolicking. The tale of a politicians bastard child falling into the hands of a well-meaning, but far from wealthy carpenter, only for that politician and his wife to engage in a custody battle for the child ten years later is dramatic and palpable stuff, and Martin knows it. From the off Martin has no intentions of reducing some of the more unbelievable plot machinations of his tale, instead putting them mostly all at the front of his piece. The table setting final piece of course being entitling the film A Simple Twist of Fate, you can hear Martin responding to crititisism of the initial plethora or absurd coincidences that set the story into motion. “Well, did you hear the title? Did you think this was going to be based off an average set of circumstances?” What surprised me most about the film was its balancing of tone, as when it began I felt the harsh shifts between comedy and drama quit the jarring experience, however as the film carried on, it did indeed slowly but surely even out and match the tone – that is of course once extreme coincidences stopped occurring every five minutes and the narrative settled into what it becomes for the majority of the tale. Martin has brought to the screen here a modernised version of a classic tale, and managed somehow to conceive of it with absolute sincerity and without a lick of smarm or a single wink. Films like this really are few and far between, to be surprised by a film’s heart and sincerity is not an experience I have very often at the cinema of late.

Bowfinger (Dir. Frank Oz, 1999)

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If Bowfinger reminds me of one film, it would have to be Tim Burton’s Ed Wood. With both films following a relatively similar pattern of a motley crew of actors and filmmakers struggling to make the best feature they can in dire circumstances, led along by a semi-manipulative director and producer. The chief difference being that whereas Johnny Depp’s Wood brims with a naivety, charm and innocence, Martin’s Bowfinger character instead brims with pure sleaze. The entire plot of the film and all but a few characters that populate it, epitomise the sleazier side of a place like Hollywood. Martin’s performance and writing in the film are tight and deliberate and he once again delivers a well structured tale with intriguing characters and multiple well-developed turns, all in all Bowfinger in particular stands out within the Martin writing catalogue, due to the un-ambiguity of it – there is no level of modern adaptation or elevation of classical material, nor is there a meta-textual angle to it, Bowfinger is just an out and out straight down the line comedy and is frankly a very successful one. This is yet another mighty collaboration with Oz and the two’s keen handle on the best of what there pairing can bring, leads to some truly excellent gags and sequences. Martin may be the lead here, but it’s certainly the ensemble that leads to re-watchability in this case.  With his co-star being Eddie Murphy pulling double duty as Kit Ramsey, an action superstar, and also his dweebier brother. Murphy’s multiple roles are as always a firm reminder of the stars immense capability as a truly versatile performer unparalled in the contemporary movie scene of the time. Heather Graham, Christine Baranski and Jamie Kennedy fill out our crew with some wonderfully heighetend classic Hollywood stereotypes; the new and innocent girl (with the twist of her sexual frivolities being used much to her advantage by herself), along with the overly professional star whom never got their chance. If Wood is a movie that fills you with joy for the world of movies, Bowfinger is one that gives you a reality check. A very funny and suitably whacky reality check.

Shopgirl (Dir. Anand Tucker, 2005) – Based upon his novel of the same

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From his novella of the same name, Martin’s most recent screenplay is in many ways a very interesting text from the point of view of Martin’s own personal life, but in the end not a very exciting watch as an actual film. It’s not that the film isn’t good, its’ fine, but it does overall feel incredibly slight and a combination of a million things we’ve seen before and better. The film is inspired by the real life love life of Martin in his earlier years when he did indeed follow in the footsteps of our Jason Schwartzman character here who is a shclubby, somewhat funny but mostly annoying aimless guy in his late 20’s, who falls for a beautiful woman of his same age, played by Claire Danes, only to loose her to a wealthy businessman of a much older age who appeals to Dane’s shopgirl’s character maturity and overall nature. The business-man, despite originally being conceived as a role for Tom Hanks, is instead played here by Martin himself in a wonderfully tender and not wholly likable turn. Martin as the man who so many years ago stole a real-life girl of his is an interesting choice, much is also the overall plotting of the film not being a self-insert character tale with Schwartzman as the lead and his down-on-his-luck love life being the centre of the story. As a matter of fact Martin in his screenplay and Schwartzman in his performance makes this character who ultimately for a period becomes a roadie for a band slowly but surly making the most of a series of relationship self-help tapes, a rather unlikable and awfully annoying figure. The first twenty minutes or so of the film prior to Martin’s arrival actually plays out like the tale of a wonderful woman having to settle for some sort of connection in the vast loneliness of L.A. The nature of Danes character is initial presented to us via way of a narrator who makes a few fourth-wall breaking comments that may have worked in the novel form, but here come off as un-affecting and a little clawing, but even then later in the film Martin can’t help but make this narration offer some truly beautiful statements on love and loss and loneliness that make the narration all but worth it for these few gems in his screenplay. Martin’s screenplay overall is a truthful and sweet piece that highlights just as much melancholy and reality as it does love and tenderness. The main pairing of Danes and Martin is also what solidifies this into something worth watching, even if come the end it feels a little slight. This is the most subtle we have seen Martin outside of his more villainous roles such as in The Spanish Prisoner for instance and although this is far from a true villain, it’s a realistic and touching portrayal of a man struggling with relationships and the manner in which he deals with the people in his life, particularly the women. Overall in the end as I’ve already said, this film just didn’t rise above anything more than a simple little delightful film and in many ways that’s all it has to be and so these comments shouldn’t be given any weight. I guess it’s the direction of Anand Tucker bringing to the screen well but never really adding anything, or the overall structure of the film being a film too neat. In the end Shopgirl is a fine film, but never really hits the heights of Martin’s best, nor has the experimentation of some of his other screenplays. But it does serve as yet another shining example of his impeccable craft at comedy and genuine human relationships.

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Steve Martin will always be an icon to me and I feel that over these series of articles, I have outlined why I feel this way and to what extent his extreme talent is also undeniable. Albeit if one was to disagree, I would simply direct them to any of the many films I raved about here.

-      -  Thomas Carruthers