Date: November 15, 2006

Title: "Stutter Punch"

Author: Craig Bottrell

Submitted to: Hollywoodscript.com

Format: SP

Pages: 120

Time: Present

Locale: Las Vegas

Genre: Action/drama

LOGLINE:The only opponent prize fighter Johnny Ray McTavish can't knock out is his past.

QUICK COMMENT-this script skillfully drags the reader across an emotional gamut of fear, pain, pity, love, anger, joy, and triumph. A winner.

Concept: Very good

Characterization: Excellent

Dialogue: Excellent

Story Line: Very good

Setting/Prod. Values: Excellent

Freshness of Story: Very Good

SYNOPSIS: A title contender with a sever stutter, unable to come to terms with his past, allows his torment to cause him to lose the thing he loves the most: Boxing.

Ridicule, abuse, abandonment and murder. These things poisoned the childhood of prize fighter Johnny Ray (Whitey) Mctavish.

Even now Whitey can't seem to forget the day the school yard bullies tormented him over his severe stutter before sending him to the pavement with a bloody nose. He can't forget it because when he was running home to what he thought would be a sympathetic loving mother, he discovered she was abandoning him. As it turned out, she really didn't have much of a choice. It was either run or end up dead at the hands of her drunken abusive husband, Whitey's father.

And Whitey certainly can't forget his father. The old man blamed Whitey for his mother's exit and gave him regular reminders of this fact with his belt. But one day the drunken man went too far when he split his son's forehead wide open with the buckle. When the injured Whitey regained consciousness he discovered his abuser on the living room floor in a drunken coma covered with dried vomit. Staggering to his feet, Whitey stumbled over to his unconscious father and glowered at him silently. This moment would change the young Whitey forever for after a few moments the wounded child would unleash a violent flurry of kicks that shattered his father's voice box. The old man's breathing immediately transformed to a wheeze as he choked to death before his emotionally and physically traumatized young son.


More than thirty years later these haunting images continue to fuel Whitey's internal fire of rage that fans his self-destruction. But, at the age of thirty-nine, and with the help of his mentor, trainer and only friend, Eli Black, Whitey finally has a chance of turning it all around. He's finally earned his shot at the light-heavyweight title and he's a shoe-in.

Eli's experience as a black heavyweight in a white man's world has taught him what tough is. And Whitey is tough and strong and fit and fast. All he has to do to win is get out of his head, forget the past and focus on the task at hand. Sadly for Johnny Ray old habits die hard for days before his title bout he stumbles upon the assault of his elderly neighbor, Gloria Brown, and intervenes. His disdain for bullies fills him with rage and drives him to use fatal force on the attacker. Despite support from Gloria and her daughter, Timmika Kane, the courts send Whitey to prison for manslaughter causing him to lose his shot at the title.

In prison Whitey learns the hard way that each day could be his last. The only person he need fear more than the head of ruthless Russian contingent - Vlademir Gregor - is head guard Bobby John Keegan. But Whitey does need help and he gets it from an unlikely friend in cell mate Sean 'Squeaky' Sullivan. Squeaky's jail house savvy helps Whitey navigate the turbulent sea of prison life and ensures he survives his vicious clashes with Vlad and a life threatening beating from Keegan.

Once out of prison, and unable to get his boxing license reinstated, Johnny Ray relies on Eli to help him get back on his feet. The old man gives him a place to live and a job at his gym. But White quickly tires of his demeaning role as toilet cleaner and he longs for his former life of a pugilist. He decides to use a prison connection to contact Alexi Yackov, the head of the Russian-controlled world of no-holds-barred, bare-knuckle fighting. Against Eli's judgment Whitey enters this perilous world and his proficiency in self-defense sees him sail through his initial fights relatively unscathed. His wins have him pulling in good money and he soon gets his own place and gains his independence. Things finally appear to be going smoothly for Whitey until Timmika complicates his life when she reappears on the scene in an attempt to repay her debt to him and help him come to terms with his past

Whitey is apprehensive about developing a relationship with Timmika, but her patience and commitment allow her to finally penetrate his tough exterior. She reaches deep into Whitey's soul and drags him back from his emotional abyss and helps him trust again. This, along with Eli's persistence, eventually convinces Johnny Ray it's time to get out of it once and for all after a near fatal match with the merciless Scotsman Henry "The Hitman" Windsor.

For the first time in his life since his mother abandoned him, Whitey has found the love of a woman. He's actually happy and he begins to make plans for his future with Timmika. But the leader of the fight circuit, Alexi, has other plans.

Alexi offers Whitey five-hundred thousand dollars to fight his ruthless Russian bodyguard Yurgei. When Whitey refuses, Alexi kidnaps Timmika leaving the ex-con with no choice but to face off with the Soviet giant.

The sense of this event is that this will be a fight that will go all the way.

All of his life Eli has been telling Whitey to get out of his head and forget the past. But the moment before Whitey walks into the valley of death to face Yurgei, Eli changes his tune. The old man looks sternly into Whitey's bright blue eyes and tells him to “get inside ya head on this one, feel the hate...”

Although Whitey has learned that his aggressive tendencies clash violently with his burning desire to save his soul, he knows his most lethal instincts are the only thing that will save him in his life and death battle.

COMMENTS: STUTTER PUNCH is an intense action/drama packed with brutal conflict and poignantly understated but passionate romance that skillfully drags the reader across an emotional gamut of fear, pain, pity, love, anger, joy, and triumph. It has it all, a compelling and endearing three dimensional star character who will surely break your heart and supporting characters of great substance, making interpersonal dynamics between these three individuals totally believable and satisfying. And even while the much of the story can be all so painfully realistic, it only adds to the sweet incongruity of the quiet self-realisation that occurs. STUTTER PUNCH will make a truly riveting film. RECOMMENDED.


TO CONTACT WRITER DIRECTLY:
cpbotts@iprimus.com.au

 

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