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Official Oaxaca FilmFest Endorsement Package
Confidential
HORACE BELL
STEVEN WAYNE KNIGHT
Dear Steven, Oaxaca FilmFest would like to thank you for entrusting us with your work and we are honored to present you with this review.It is important to bring to your attention that this review does not constitute a critic of your work, but is aiming to offer you an objective commentary that can help enhance your artistic abilities.Following the review of your project, here are some points that deserve attention:
Set during the early days of the gold-rush, only eight days before the end of the Mexican/American War. The gold craze brought power to California, but it also brought with it greed and violence, in response California founded The Rangers. Young Horace Bell answers the call and travels to the pueblo, after his best friend Paul is murdered by Juan Flores, a Mexican desperado whit a tortuous past and with an anger that leads him to become one of the most ruthless criminals in the frontier.
Horace Bell, was a real life figure. Born in Indiana on December 11, 1830. He spent some time digging for gold, with little success during the California gold rush in 1850. He came to the pueblo of Los Angeles in 1852 where he became a founding member of Los Angeles Rangers, and it’s during this period that this script focuses on. Bell is quite an accomplished figure, besides being a Ranger he was also a soldier, lawyer, journalist and published two seminal books on Southern California; his 1881 memoir “Reminisces of a Ranger: Early Times in Southern California”and “On the Old West Coast: Further reminiscences of a Ranger”published posthumously.
No doubt being a fascinating figure of Los Angeles early history and a notable historical figure that hasn’t been properly explored yet, the script for HORACE BELL brings to light a chapter of Bell’s life where he served as a lawman in one of the most violent counties of Southern California. One would think that the subject matter wouldn’t be relevant today as times have changed, but wouldn’t you know, some things don’t change much at all. HORACE BELL explores the complicated relationship between Mexico and The United States, and how the proximity between both countries shaped them into what they are today.
While Bell is an example of old American values and a sense of righteous justice, he lives in a world where people around him get hurt, and that the badge he wears is not always guarantee that he can bring justice to a lawless land, which to this day remains a problematic zone. Bell is a man of multiple dimensions, well-mannered and educated, intelligent and versatile, and yet he’s also a womanizer as he divides his attentions between a French café owner and a Mexican-American heiress.
Bell does his best to uphold the law, in more than two fronts as besides being a Ranger he is also a lawyer helping protect land owners from losing their rightful properties. Bell is a breed of man that is rarely seen these days, chivalrous yet rough, educated but prone to take action. He embodies the frontier spirit and all the things that were best of it as he resisted the permeating racism of the times, seeing every man and women as equals. He was impartial when it came to upholding the law, and while sometimes he was driven by revenge, he was a fervent proponent of doing things “by the book”.
Of course, a hero is only as good as his villain, and Bell’s nemesis in this story is one Juan Flores. While Horace Bell is the main focus of the script, Juan Flores is also fully fleshed and far from being portrayed as a caricature. Instead,he is given a life of his own and powerful motivations to become the tragic outlaw he becomes on page. Along with Poncho Daniel, Flores was the leader of a gang known as “The Manillas” (The Handcuffs) becoming an infamous outlaw and yet some regard him as a folk hero among contemporary figures like Joaquin Murrieta (the man who would inspire Zorro). The script portrays Flores as a complicated man, in any other story he would have been the hero (and to some he is) Flores harbors an immense grudge after American soldiers’ rape and butcher his family, transforming him into a demon of a man.
Smartly, the script shows him as someone driven to horrendous acts of violence that come from a place of deep pain. Much like many young men today with similar stories to that of Flores, and yet, as sympathetic as he may be,he still must be stopped. Bell and Flores’s quarrel becomes the stuff of legend, as one man gives chase to the other, in what is the quintessential Lawman versus Outlaw story.
HORACE BELL is a script that is very well researched, as it is historically accurate, and while it takes a few liberties, it still sticks quite fatefully to events. Writer STEVEN WAYNE KNIGHT has served as a Los Angeles lawman himself,and his passion for the early days of law enforcement of California shows in every page. There’s also a love for the Western genre, as there’s a classic John Wayne spirit on every page that Horace Bell is in. However, this is not the sunny Technicolor romanticized vision of the west, this is dirty and gritty and realistic in its portrayal of a rough time to live in.
The violence is bloody and cutthroat, and innocent characters we root for die with impact and meaning, often representing just how difficult it was to live in those times, as women and minorities become victims of rape and bigotry, while also showing how being a lawman in a lawless town was extremely dangerous work.
HORACE BELL could have been a Sam Peckinpah film, as it reads on the page, memories of THE WILD BUNCH come to mind, particularly whenever Juan Flores takes center stage. Bell is a fascinating figure, and further reading on his life proves that this script focuses only on the beginning of his adventures, as he served many important roles in history (including joining Benito Juarez army in Mexico) which means that this could be the first of many scripts/films based on Bell.
Flores himself is both a dastardly villain embodying everything that comes to mind when one thinks of an outlaw, but his rage comes from a genuine place, the kind of place that turns good men into beasts. He is given as much room as Bell, making him the co-protagonist of the film and becoming the other half of the coin.
But above all, the script by Steven Wayne Knight is filled with rich detail, from his descriptions of Californian haciendas, customs and daily life to his meticulous historical research and depiction of events, expertly integrated into representations of true life events.
These various elements constitute the strength of this project. Under no circumstances would I change any of these.Nonetheless, there are a few points that need to be addressed, that possibly should have been handled differently.
While the script is named after Horace Bell with good reason, having Flores be almost as present makes us think that the script’s title could be something that could represent both men’s war with each other.
We can’t stress enough how well-written Flores is. As a Mexican myself, it worries me that in the current political climate a character like Flores confirms every suspicion directed towards Mexicans.
However,it would be also naïve of me to say that there aren’t men like Flores living in our day and age, as one could imagine that had Flores been alive today, he would have joined a Cartel or, hell, even be the head of one.
However, the script does a fantastic job of fleshing him out and showing where he comes from. And there’s also many positive Mexican characters in the script, as well as Horace Bell himself being a man who sees beyond skin. And his reasons for chasing after Flores are sound and fair.
Paulette is a very fun character and she proves to be capable of defending herself, however she disappears for a good portion of the script. Still, she’s a very strong female character,we just wish we could have seen her do more. She’s great.
If I had one quote that would summarize the project, it would be this:HORACE BELL is the lost Sam Peckinpah film, a worthy heir to become a modern THE WILD BUNCH.
I want to personally thank you again.I hope this was helpful.If you would like us to post this particular quote on IMDB, please contact me directly and I will be happy to do so.
Saludos!
Enrrico Wood Lagonigro.
Oaxaca FilmFest
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Dear Steven and Elizabeth,
It was my pleasure reading your script for HORACE BELL and to write the review for it. I read massive amounts of projects and it can be hard, but scripts like yours make me feel like I'm not actually working, it was like enjoying my spare time, for it transported me the way a great film or a fantastic book does.
I am beyond grateful for your kind response and your words give me the strength to keep working on my writing and fulfill the rest of my pending reviews. I want to express my admiration for Mr. Knight's work as a law enforcer.. I took some time to read about your many accomplishments in the force and the long line of police officers you come from and I'm honored to have written for you.
I hope to see the film version of your script soon. As a film buff, I may be young, but I love my westerns and I think HORACE BELL could be up there with Hawk's RIO BRAVO. Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH and Eastwood's THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (One of my all time favorites).
Furthermore, I want to wish you a happy Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for scripts like yours, and for receiving such a candid and thoughtful response from both of you.
I will upload the review on your pages as soon as our IMDb pro account gets renewed.
Enrrico
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