Every movie needs a conflict and a resolution no matter how minor the conflict. Sometimes Hollywood writers will go out of their way to create a conflict no matter how implausible it is.
"Arizona" already had a conflict brewing from early on. A young lady named Evelyn Palmer (Laura La Plante) was dating the irresistible football player named Bob Denton (John Wayne). He played for Army and was set to graduate and be shipped out to Arizona. Before he was to be shipped out he broke things off with Evelyn. She took it really hard because she thought they were going to be married. He never mentioned marriage, but you know silly girls and always having ideas of marriage (that's sarcasm).
Evelyn moved on fairly quickly and purposefully when she hooked up with Bob's father figure and commanding officer, Col. Frank Bonham (Forrest Stanley). She was out to prove something to Bob and herself when she bagged Bonham, and he offered Evelyn what Bob didn't: marriage. And she accepted.
Things got sticky when Mr. And Mrs. Bonham went to Arizona where Evelyn was sure to run into Bob. It was just a matter of time before the cat was let out of the bag. Was Bob going to try to win Evelyn back, was Evelyn going to try to win Bob back, or was Evelyn going to try to use Col. Bonham to punish Bob?
None of the above.
Bob hooked up with Evelyn's sister Bonita 'Bonnie' Palmer (June Clyde). Bonnie was staying with her sister and Col. Bonham and she was like a kid in a candy store. She was a young single gal surrounded by Army men. Yippeee! I'm not exaggerating. This chick was thirsty, and when she met Bob she heard wedding bells.
When Evelyn saw Bob and Bonnie together she tried to run interference. She didn't want Bob to do to Bonnie what he did to her. The problem is that Evelyn still wanted to keep her and Bob's prior relationship a secret. As a result, she tried to keep Bonnie away from Bob using hearsay, and she tried to keep Bob away from Bonnie by using threats.
None of it worked. Bob and Bonnie got married, and it wasn't a ruse. They were genuinely in love (or as in love as characters were in the 30's). They kept that from Evelyn because they didn't want her to interfere.
And that's when the writer, Augustus Thomas, let his overactive imagination get the best of him. He set up a ridiculous scenario that could only make you roll your eyes.
While Bob was driving back to base one perfectly normal day he spotted a Mexican woman (Nina Quartero) on the side of the road clearly in need of a ride. He did the gentlemanly thing and offered her a ride, but he was only going as far as his post.
The woman was drunk and kept on knocking back more whisky (or whatever it was). Not only that she was insistent that Bob drink too. As she kept trying to force Bob to drink he was swerving all over the road. The Mexican woman was all over him. Guess who was driving behind them at that time?
It could only have been one of two people if this was for dramatic purposes: Evelyn, his ex, or Bonnie, his wife, and it was Evelyn. Now Bob had to rush to Evelyn's home to explain that things weren't as they appeared.
Ugh! The dreaded "this isn't what it looks like" scenario. I think there has only been one time in my life in which I was in a "this isn't what it looks like" scenario and it was cleared up in a matter of seconds. Per Hollywood these scenarios happen all of the time and they completely derail relationships.
The whole thing led to a despicable action by Evelyn in which she tried to frame Bob as though he tried to take advantage of her. It was a stupid move that could've resulted in Bob being killed had Col. Bonham been that type of guy. Bob was in the colonel's home alone with the colonel's wife, and even though no words were spoken to verbalize what Evelyn intimated, no words were needed. She had a torn dress (which she tore herself) and looked frightened, which was enough for Col. Bonham to know exactly what had happened.
Back then words were never needed for a woman to say she had sex, to say she was pregnant, to say she was a prostitute, or to say a guy raped her--and it was maddening. Those movies made it seem like people back then were so intuitive that a woman need only give a look and it said everything that needed to be said. Of course, I'm not buying it.
So, in the "Arizona" scene Evelyn ripped her dress, mussed her hair, and screamed for her husband. When he came in he asked, "What's going on here?" No one said anything. Evelyn just looked at Bonham as though she were relieved he just saved her and Bonham filled in the rest. He then asked Bob what he had to say for himself.
Bob said that he had nothing to say because he was too much of a gentleman and he had too much respect for Bonham. In other words, he didn't want to divulge their prior relationship, and he didn't want to accuse his wife of being a liar.
If he told him the truth then he'd have to probably tell Bonham everything and that would crush him. So, he just kept the truth to himself and took his lumps.
He was a bigger sap... er... man than I am. No way am I letting it be believed that I'm some type of sexual deviant just to spare somebody's feelings.
Me. I'm singing like a canary. I don't care if he believes me or not, my name, my integrity, and my reputation means too much to me. There's no way I'm walking around with the word being that I tried to sexually assault my superior officer's wife. But this is a movie and it worked for the plot.
It was all solved in the end, but that did little to rectify the damage Augustus (the writer) had done. He had taken a fairly decent movie and dragged it through the mud for the sake of drama. It was a weak move that showed a lack of imagination and it soured me on the movie altogether.
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"Arizona" already had a conflict brewing from early on. A young lady named Evelyn Palmer (Laura La Plante) was dating the irresistible football player named Bob Denton (John Wayne). He played for Army and was set to graduate and be shipped out to Arizona. Before he was to be shipped out he broke things off with Evelyn. She took it really hard because she thought they were going to be married. He never mentioned marriage, but you know silly girls and always having ideas of marriage (that's sarcasm).
Evelyn moved on fairly quickly and purposefully when she hooked up with Bob's father figure and commanding officer, Col. Frank Bonham (Forrest Stanley). She was out to prove something to Bob and herself when she bagged Bonham, and he offered Evelyn what Bob didn't: marriage. And she accepted.
Things got sticky when Mr. And Mrs. Bonham went to Arizona where Evelyn was sure to run into Bob. It was just a matter of time before the cat was let out of the bag. Was Bob going to try to win Evelyn back, was Evelyn going to try to win Bob back, or was Evelyn going to try to use Col. Bonham to punish Bob?
None of the above.
Bob hooked up with Evelyn's sister Bonita 'Bonnie' Palmer (June Clyde). Bonnie was staying with her sister and Col. Bonham and she was like a kid in a candy store. She was a young single gal surrounded by Army men. Yippeee! I'm not exaggerating. This chick was thirsty, and when she met Bob she heard wedding bells.
When Evelyn saw Bob and Bonnie together she tried to run interference. She didn't want Bob to do to Bonnie what he did to her. The problem is that Evelyn still wanted to keep her and Bob's prior relationship a secret. As a result, she tried to keep Bonnie away from Bob using hearsay, and she tried to keep Bob away from Bonnie by using threats.
None of it worked. Bob and Bonnie got married, and it wasn't a ruse. They were genuinely in love (or as in love as characters were in the 30's). They kept that from Evelyn because they didn't want her to interfere.
And that's when the writer, Augustus Thomas, let his overactive imagination get the best of him. He set up a ridiculous scenario that could only make you roll your eyes.
While Bob was driving back to base one perfectly normal day he spotted a Mexican woman (Nina Quartero) on the side of the road clearly in need of a ride. He did the gentlemanly thing and offered her a ride, but he was only going as far as his post.
The woman was drunk and kept on knocking back more whisky (or whatever it was). Not only that she was insistent that Bob drink too. As she kept trying to force Bob to drink he was swerving all over the road. The Mexican woman was all over him. Guess who was driving behind them at that time?
It could only have been one of two people if this was for dramatic purposes: Evelyn, his ex, or Bonnie, his wife, and it was Evelyn. Now Bob had to rush to Evelyn's home to explain that things weren't as they appeared.
Ugh! The dreaded "this isn't what it looks like" scenario. I think there has only been one time in my life in which I was in a "this isn't what it looks like" scenario and it was cleared up in a matter of seconds. Per Hollywood these scenarios happen all of the time and they completely derail relationships.
The whole thing led to a despicable action by Evelyn in which she tried to frame Bob as though he tried to take advantage of her. It was a stupid move that could've resulted in Bob being killed had Col. Bonham been that type of guy. Bob was in the colonel's home alone with the colonel's wife, and even though no words were spoken to verbalize what Evelyn intimated, no words were needed. She had a torn dress (which she tore herself) and looked frightened, which was enough for Col. Bonham to know exactly what had happened.
Back then words were never needed for a woman to say she had sex, to say she was pregnant, to say she was a prostitute, or to say a guy raped her--and it was maddening. Those movies made it seem like people back then were so intuitive that a woman need only give a look and it said everything that needed to be said. Of course, I'm not buying it.
So, in the "Arizona" scene Evelyn ripped her dress, mussed her hair, and screamed for her husband. When he came in he asked, "What's going on here?" No one said anything. Evelyn just looked at Bonham as though she were relieved he just saved her and Bonham filled in the rest. He then asked Bob what he had to say for himself.
Bob said that he had nothing to say because he was too much of a gentleman and he had too much respect for Bonham. In other words, he didn't want to divulge their prior relationship, and he didn't want to accuse his wife of being a liar.
If he told him the truth then he'd have to probably tell Bonham everything and that would crush him. So, he just kept the truth to himself and took his lumps.
He was a bigger sap... er... man than I am. No way am I letting it be believed that I'm some type of sexual deviant just to spare somebody's feelings.
Me. I'm singing like a canary. I don't care if he believes me or not, my name, my integrity, and my reputation means too much to me. There's no way I'm walking around with the word being that I tried to sexually assault my superior officer's wife. But this is a movie and it worked for the plot.
It was all solved in the end, but that did little to rectify the damage Augustus (the writer) had done. He had taken a fairly decent movie and dragged it through the mud for the sake of drama. It was a weak move that showed a lack of imagination and it soured me on the movie altogether.
Free on Odnoklassniki.