The legendary British director Michael Powell (The Red Shoes, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp) had been friends with Martin Scorsese for over a decade by 1988. Scorsese idolized Powell, and it appears that reverence was reciprocated in a letter Powell sent regarding an epic Scorsese-penned script that would be released two years later as Goodfellas, the same year Powell died. Dig this amazing find.
MICHAEL POWELL PRODUCTIONS
November 14, 1988
Dear Marty
Re: the script of Wise Guys
It is one of the best constructed scripts that I have ever read. At the same time it is not academic, it is not a script just on paper. It is very much alive.
The first question I would ask you, is what is the tone of the director? It is a take-it-or-leave-it tone? It is a dispassionate tone? Is it meant to be the wiseguy’s thoughts - or meditations - or memories? And, in the final hiding place, is he resigned to his completely anonymous existence, or does he expect that they will catch up with him some day?
I think that the narration is brilliantly handled on the page, and the tone of the narration will be equally important. How have you managed to sustain the action and narration side by side for the whole length of the script? It’s a masterpiece. I can only compare it with the script of The African Queen, or Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity.
Yes, it is a little long, and the pause, or the length, seems to come about the 100 minute mark. By the way, the women, when they arrive, are very good, but I would love to see one of the women
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Amanda Righetti Amanda Swisten Amber Arbucci Amber Brkich Amber Heard Amber Valletta America Ferrera
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