Harrow Alley

Posted on June 11, 2009 | by admin

Genre: Period Drama
Premise: A 17th century English town deteriorates during the worst years of the black plague. How’s that for a crowd-pleaser?
About: This is it folks. This is the one. Considered to be the best script that’s never been made in Hollywood. It was written in the 60s and has been optioned dozens of times. Yet because of its dreary subject matter and…aggressive length, it never made it in front of the camera. I’ve personally spoken to a couple of people who call this the best script they’ve ever read.
Writer: Walter Brown Newman

Even today’s picture is old.

A lot of scripts make me feel old. They’re simplistic, the devices tired, cliche-ridden, and there are a few too many orifice-dependent jokes. Harrow Alley made me feel like I was young. Kindergarten young. I found myself saying, “This is the kind of shit people used to like?” Talk about a script that takes its time. Harrow Alley is 180 pages long. That’s half a circle man. Clint Eastwood wouldn’t read this script because he was afraid he would die before he was finished. War and Peace is an afternoon read compared to this thing. Did they have editing in the 60s?

Anyway, I can’t say I’m particularly surprised that this movie’s never been made. It’s got all the optimism of a Saudi Arabian beheading. The setting is compelling enough – A city in England during the plague – but in the end, the narrative is too widespread and the driving force too muddled to make the story modern audience-friendly. That’s not to say it was bad. It was just…challenging. Very. Very. Challenging.

Harrow Alley takes place in England around the 17th century, or whenever the hell the Bubonic Plague was wreaking havoc. Although there are dozens of characters in the script, the two we focus on the most are Ratsey, a common thief who’s been sentenced to death, and Harry, an alderman for a town in London called Harrow Alley.

Mere seconds before Ratsey is to be hanged, one of the guards faints due to complications from the plague. The precious few seconds Ratsey gains from the man’s death allows a stage coach to race in, and the Alderman Harry to leap out and declare a stay on the execution. Back in Harrow Alley, the plague is just beginning to flourish. Because no one wants to actually touch the dead bodies, the town is forced to look for help in unfamiliar places. Who better to risk their lives moving these diseased corpses than men who were supposed to be dead anyway?

Ratsey is shuttled back to Harrow Alley, where we get our first look at the town. It’s bigger than you’d expect – housing tens of thousands of people – but no sooner are they home than they see the town is in complete chaos! People are fleeing for London (More people – dirtier conditions – makes sense) in a desperate attempt to avoid the plague. Even the Mayor himself is on his way out. Before he knows it, Harry – a low ranking alderman – is the highest ranking official left! Which means it is his job to run the town.

Ratsey, getting this reprieve on life, is particularly unaffected in the face of death. It irks the hell out of everyone else until someone finally asks him his secret. Ratsey confesses that he already had the plague as a kid, and since you can’t get the plague twice, he’s immune to it. Snap! As richer and more respected men fear for their lives, the lowly Ratsey strolls through town without a care in the world. Here, he’s Superman.

We meet all sorts of people from Harrow Alley. The young prostitute, the ancient doomsayer, the doctor, the clerk, the mute boy, the scam artists…as their lives twist and turn and intersect in strange and surprising ways. As the plague ruthlessly devours the town, some of these people make it and some don’t. But it’s Harry and Ratsey’s lives that we keep coming back to.

Harry, who begins the movie as the optimist, lives with a pregnant wife who he does not love and who does not love him. His closest friend is his dog, who he’s forced to kill because of the plague. Harry is a good man who cannot bring himself to understand why the town’s elite have left their people to fend for themselves. And even though he begins to fall in love with his wife, and she with him, the exponentially increasing death toll eventually leaves Harry just as hopeless as everyone else.

The final straw is Ratsey who learns by the death of a friend, that anybody can get the plague, even those who’ve had it before. And so the two acquaintences give in, waiting for the day when death will surely knock on their door.

Just when you think all is lost though (and let’s not kid ourselves – it still is), Ratsey befriends the baker’s widowed wife, who finds comfort in teaching Ratsey how to make bread. For the first time, Ratsey provides value to the world, which gives him something he’s never had before: a sense of self-worth. When he runs into an old prison friend who offers him a chance to maim and pillage once again, Ratsey respectfully declines. At last he’s found peace.

The end of the script perfectly bookends the beginning with an unforeseen and quite surprising turn of events. In a story that felt at times like a history assignment, it is probably the part that resonated with me the most. Harrow Alley is both satisfying and exhausting, and I don’t know if I’d recommend it to the average reader. Those who have read their share of scripts might find the challenge intriguing. And to them I say, Read on! But for the rest of you, this review will probably suffice. Now, whenever you find yourself in a snobby film circle after a big premiere and someone brings up this “Harrow Alley” masterpiece, you’ll be one of the few with an actual opinion. And that’s what I do here at Scriptshadow. I suffer so that you may thrive.

[ ] trash
[ ] barely kept my interest
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius

What I learned: Harrow Alley has these long chunks of action narration: 8, 9, 10 lines long. People have asked me, “If the professionals can use 10 line paragraphs, why can’t I?” Here’s the answer. Older scripts. Adaptations. Writer-Director screenplays. Writing assignments. There are different rules for these scripts. With the older scripts, – before the spec boom -we just had more time on our hands. With the other examples, those scripts don’t have to make it through the overworked time-strapped underbelly of impatient readers who secretly run this town. They’re given more freedom to take their time and set things up because the people reading those scripts already trust the writer. You don’t have that luxury. You’re basically going up against someone who wanted to go to sleep 3 hours ago by the time they even start your script. So you have to keep things short and to the point. Action paragraphs should rarely, if ever, exceed 3 lines. It keeps your script lean and easy to read, which is exactly how you want it. Don’t be thrown by these massive chunks of action in scripts like Harrow Alley. That’s a different world, a world you’re 20 years late to my brother.

Posted in Drama, Period, Worth The Read
  • Milan

    Sounds interesting, but I don't think I can read a 180-long script written in the 60's.

    But in which list is the script listed as the best unproduced script ever? I always read about a script called "Edward Ford".

  • Carson Reeves

    That's a good question. I've just heard it around. I've never actually seen "the list".

  • Anonymous

    How about a review of Edward Ford? Best script I have ever read.

  • Anonymous

    JJ Says:

    Great review, Carson, glad to see Harrow Alley on the site. : )

    There's already an excellent review of Lem Dobb's Edward Ford over on iceboxtalk.blogspot.com. I've read the script, and I gotta be honest, it was a huge dissapointment. It's well written, and has some unforgettable characters and scenes: but I can pinpoint exactly what's wrong with it and why it's never been made. There's this long second act that is almost UNREADABLE. The characters seem to be based on Dobbs and his friends, and so probably much of the story was inspired by real events. I suspect there was a certain point in his subject's lives that Dobbs wasn't around to personally witness, but had to cover to get to the third act he DID have direct knowledge of, and it feels like he just randomly made up a bunch of almost incoherant, pointless scenes to amuse himself. You can point to a moment in the narrative and say, okay, this is when the writer got bored and lost interest; and then flip ahead and say, and here is where he got into it again. Plus, the misanthropy that you can feel in some of Dobbs' other work like The Limey is just so glaring here that it'd turn off a lot of people (including me). I remember reading some scenes and going, "Yep, this is definitly the work of the guy who is screaming insults at Soderbergh on that infamous DVD commentary…"

  • Anonymous

    JJ says:

    Harrow Alley, meanwhile, is not, I don't think, on any official "list" of greatest unproduced scripts, it's just deservedly earned that reputation since the early 70s or so. Personally, I love it: I agree with Carson that it's got some minor flaws (it is at times sprawling and unfocused); but at the same time one quick production rewrite–or even simple post-production editing–could easily correct it's problems. I'm not sure I would call it THE greatest unmade script; I've read others as good, but it's a great work nonetheless and I hope it gets made someday.

    Speaking of which, the last I heard Emma Thompson was supposedly revising it with the idea of starring in it with Mel Gibson. Supposedly the rights to HW have gotten a little confused by this point–so many people have tried to make it over the years that there's some question as to who actually owns it.

  • Anonymous

    Couldn't disagree with you more, JJ. I love Edward Ford beginning to end. Soderbergh could get that film made if he wanted to, not sure why he hasn't fought harder to do it.

  • Anonymous

    If we could get another commentary track between Dobbs and Soderbergh like they had on The Limey, then I think he should do whatever it takes :)

  • Anonymous

    JJ says:

    Dude, the script is a mess, I'm sorry. I'm guessing it earned it's reputation in the early 80s mostly on shock value, kinda like THE TOURIST got so famous largely via it's novelty, but they both have big problems as screenplays.

    I suspect Soderberg hasn't tried to make if for a variety of reasons: like a lot of the others famous unmade, it's been ripped off a lot, so now people would deride it as a Charlie Kaufman / David Lynch clone; he can probably see it's narrative problems; and he's not masochistic enough to want another sparring match with Dobbs…

  • Anonymous

    Don't be sorry. I don't think it's a mess.

  • Carson Reeves

    What is Edward Ford about?

  • DeafEars

    A few items -

    First of all, thanks Carson for this site, it's a great resource.

    Edward Ford is about a guy who works as an extra in Hollywood for decades and his adventures with various malcontents, as I remember it. Sort of like BARFLY meets ED WOOD. It was diverting at the time but pretty overrated IMO. I say that because I can't remember any bits of dialogue or bits of business from it, so it didn't really make much of an impression on me, and for that reason I certainly wouldn't say it's the greatest script ever or even in the top ten.

    I read HARROW ALLEY at the Margaret Herrick Library (which is a great resource for screenwriters, I think they literally have the screenplay for every American movie from the sound era on or something) but I could only read it for two hours, so I'm looking forward to really digging into it. And HARROW ALLEY had several scenes that I'll never forget, including one that is possibly the most emotionally wrenching scene I've ever read. Greatest screenplay ever? Maybe, maybe not, but it's gotta be up there. I agree that it's unfocussed in parts, and there's a birth sequence that I don't think really works, but other than that, some editing and it's pretty much ready to go – too bad it'll probably never be made

  • karaff

    I think a major reason "Ed Ford" has never been made is its resemblance to "Ed Wood" — the gritty, pervy Hollywood B-movie milieu, specifically. Many of the characters are very similar; in fact, for much of the script I believed Ford was really supposed to be Wood.

    Thanks for the review of "Harrow Alley", Carson. Sounds as if it was like completing a homework assignment. You should print out your review and put it on your refrigerator with a little smiley face drawn in red ink at the top.

  • Carson Reeves

    DeafEars, which scenes are you referring to?

  • martinb

    Wow. What a monster of a script. Set in the London parish of St Barnabas during the Great Plague, July 1665 – Feb 1666, we follow a large cast as they react to the unremitting death toll, which reached 7,000 a week at its peak.

    Some flee, some stay at their posts; some are steadfast, some crack. The economy nose-dives. Theft and bribery become normal. People adopt many different ways to protect themselves from the plague, but still the cemetries overflow and mass graves must be resorted to. In examining how people perform their civil duties and treat their fellow man while under great stress, the author displays a fairly bleak assessment of human nature.

    The author seems to have done a tremendous amount of research, and evokes the sounds of the era with the cries of the merchants, the tolling of the parish bells, and the popular songs. And the morality of the times, a casual mix of piety and licentiousness.

    This world is so different from ours, it probably needed those big action paragraphs to describe, but it made the script a tough read. I thought the dialog was well handled — some of it was quite snappy, particularly Ratsey's lines, and it managed to convey a period flavour without falling back on "gadzooks" and "fiddlesticks."

    How relevant is it today? Very, I'd say. With bird flu and swine flu and global warming and financial meltdown, how long will it be before we see similar scenes in a major city again?

    I could see a Robert Altman making this movie, following the multiple interweaving threads, except for one thing — the characters never quite came to life. Ratsey, yes, at the beginning, is flesh and blood, but he drops out of the narrative for long stretches and I didn't think his development was fully motivated. The others were a little too one-dimensional.

    For me, this script is a major achievement, but one rewrite short of prime time. Nonetheless, I am glad to have read it, and thank you Carson for making it available.

  • Anonymous

    I formerly worked for the producer of this project that has gone through quite a journey – first off, if you were not aware, Walter Brown Newman was one of the best screenwriters of his time, he’s the real writer behind THE GREAT ESCAPE and he wrote other classics such as ACE IN THE HOLE and MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. George C. Scott wanted to play Ratsey and direct it back in the day, but he finally came to the realization that he was too old for the role and that the only way to see it get made was to let it go a bit. It was set up at UA in the 90s. UA's president at the time stepped down to be a producer and took this with her – it's been under her wings all this time. There is a shorter/tighter draft revised by Emma Thompson. At one point Miramax (when it was the Weinsteins) was going to pick it up, had a great read through that even had the late great Anthony Minghella’s participation. But ultimately didn't happen. At another point, Emma entertained the idea of directing with Mike Nichols… and even later Paul Haggis had expressed interest, which is the lates news I'd heard and that was a couple of yrs ago. Needless to say, I was close to this project. And I remain a huge fan of it still. Sorry for the effusiveness. I only have a hard copy of Emma's revised draft, but if you'd like to get this more reasonably-sized script, please provide your email address and I'll try to get it scanned over to you.

  • jahbooty

    I think a great many of us would like to read that, Anonymous. If you scanned it, it would be widely read. I for one wouldn't mind a copy sent to jahbooty@aol.com

  • DeafEars

    Ugh, PAUL HAGGIS? Shit, he's a well-intentioned guy, but he would completely wreck this. I'd like to see Terry Gilliam, David Fincher, or possibly Ridley Scott or Stephen Frears take a crack at it.

    As for the scenes I'll never forget, I'm trying to both not give too much away (and not cheat by looking at it first) but here's a few…. Ratsey's dance on the way to being hanged… the scene where the servant girl (I think) is told to smile as she attends to a woman in labor screaming in pain – again, not sure this sequence worked but it did stick in my mind. The doctor doing an autopsy and later realizing he's contracted the plague – IIRC he's almost happy about it because he's going to finally find out about the big mystery of death. Ratsey showing his scars from his previous bout with the plague. The whole character reversal that Ratsey and Harry go through, not really one scene but a great plot conceit. The scene where Harry overhears his wife. And finally the scene I found the most heartbreaking was about one character having to leave another character outside the house to die from the plague, don't want to give too much more away but I think you'll know when you read it and if you've read it you know the scene I'm talking about.

  • karaff

    Please scan the shorter draft for us, Anonymous!

  • DeafEars

    BTW, Walter Brown Newman gives a pretty interesting account of the genesis and writing of HA in William Froug's book of interviews THE SCREENWRITER LOOKS AT THE SCREENWRITER.

  • Anonymous

    I've sent Emma T.'s draft to Carson.

  • martinb

    DeafEars, I believe the script lost a major opportunity by not following the fate of the shut-out person, who didn't actually have the plague, but might have picked up the infection. It would have added tremendous pathos. But it's on page 122 and the script was already too long, I guess.

    It's hard to comprehend the impact of the plague. 7,000 deaths a week is like 20 Boeing or Airbus crashes a week from just one city.

    After doing a bit of research, I see that historically it was a very interesting time. The Restoration was something like the 1960s in our era — a reaction against Cromwell and the Puritanism of the past led to very free-spirited behaviour. Charles II was a bit like Kennedy — a charismatic figure who loved the ladies.

    This is what a historian had to say of Restoration theatre: "Seduction, intrigue, brutality, cynicism, debauchery, found fitting expression in dialogue of a studied and deliberate foulness, which even its wit fails to redeem from disgust… Wycherly [a popular dramatist]… piques himself on the frankness and 'plain dealing' which painted the world as he saw it, a world of brawls and assignations, of orgies at Vauxhall, and fights with the watch, of fights and double-entendres, of knaves and dupes, of men who sold their daughters, and women who cheated on their husbands. But the cynicism of Wycherly was no greater than that of the men about him; and in mere love of what was vile, in contempt of virtue and disbelief in purity or honesty, the King himself stood ahead of any of his subjects." John Richard Green, 'A Short History of the English People,' 2nd Ed, 1888, p607

  • DeafEars

    Martinb, yep that's the scene I was talking about, following that character might have been an interesting way to go. As it stands, I'm betting that Emma T. cut that scene out – that makes sense from a storytelling point of view since it involves peripheral characters and doesn't really advance the plot at all. Moreover, it's profoundly upsetting and possibly too grim even for a movie with this subject matter.

    That's some interesting background on the period. IIRC Walter Newman says he actually got a couple of offers to turn HA into a play, and I think it could work as one even though it doesn't feel stagey at all.

    Lastly, thanks for the Emma T. draft, anonymous industry person!

  • jahbooty

    Ditto, anonymous. Thanks for the follow through and sharing. I love that the back and forth horsetrading for scripts seems to have gone away now that there is no cost for copying, mailing, etc (and boy does that show my film-school-in-the-early-nineties age or what?).

  • Anonymous

    JJ says:

    I meant to mention above but I'll add now: in the annals of great unmade scripts, I thought Stanley Kubrick's script for NAPOLEON and Micheal Herr and Francis Ford Coppolla's script for ON THE ROAD were both as good as HARROW ALLEY. Which is not taking anything away from HARROW ALLEY, just putting it in some kinda perspective. (and I hear Robert Bolt and David Lean's scripts for their Mutiny On The Bounty film–eventually made as "The Bounty" in 1984, in greatly reduced but still worthwhile form–were up there with those others as well.)

  • Anonymous

    Well, that is a hell of a thing. I just read the scene with the shut-out person and needed to come away from it for awhile.

    Thank you for the link.

  • Anonymous

    I've read ED FORD and it's damn good.
    Agree with HARROW ALLEY.
    Do it short and easy to read to get in.
    You can always start writing your own style
    once you're in.

  • Seslimeydan

    Thank you for the information your provide. sesli chat Sohbette kalite
    SesliSohbet Seslide kalite Sesli Sohbet Sende gel dunyamiza Sesli Chat KatilSesli Chat siteleriBizi mutlu edersin.sesliAlemSesli SohbetburdaSesli ChatSesli sohbetteSesli SohbetSeNSesli ChatGelSesli SohbetAramizaSesli ChatkatilSesli SohbetbizimleSesli Chat en güzelini Sesli Sohbet yasayacaksın Sesli Chat Hadi Sesli SohbetbekliyorumSesli ChatSeniSesli sohbet siteleriArkadasliklarSesli şehir burda
    Seslişehir kurulur avsa avsa Sende SesliChatgel
    SesliSohbetarkadasiniSeslisohbet siteleribulSesliChat sitelerigelecen misesli chatthansk admin.
    SesliChat sitesi gel yanimizaSesli Chat sitesi bekliyorum.

  • xx
  • ircscorpion
  • Baranjik
  • kenaN_
Archives
  • ►2013 (135)
  • ►2012 (277)
  • ►2011 (291)
  • ►2010 (324)
  • ▼2009 (350)