Don't Mess with the IRSGenre: Drama (in places the script threatens to go off on a Dog Day Afternoon tangent, but this never quite happens)
Premise: A bartender is unjustly accused of $14,000 in back taxes by the IRS. Rather than comply, the bartender decides to fight back in a court of law. And that’s the main thrust of the entire story.
About: Beat the Eagle was sold to Paramount by Esztershas as a spec in the mid 1980’s. Originally, Sydney Poitier was attached to direct. But, Poitier weeks after Joe’s legendary class with CAA was afraid to betray the agency’s loyalty and dumped the project. Or, perhaps Poitier was exhausted from directing the staggering work of genius that is Ghost Dad.
Writers: Joe “I’ll Fight All of CAA Barehanded” Eszterhas
The IRS is scary. I mean, really how many of us have any idea what taxes we pay or how amounts are determined? They’re a huge, unstoppable force that does whatever they want. This also means that at any point, the IRS could totally snap and say you own X amount of dollars and turn your life into a Kafkaesque nightmare. That’s basically the whole point of Beat the Eagle. The difference is, though, where some would want to see this story slide off into the bartending protagonist fighting the IRS in an original way, this story makes it nothing more than a legal battle. And how exciting is that really? It’s a cool set up that doesn’t live past the original concept.
And the other thing about Eszterhas, which sort of defines my take on him as a writer as a whole is the guy knows execution. And has perfected down to a T. McKee would have a field analyzing this script because it has the perfect mid-point, set up, character developments, and third act conclusion. And it works really tightly as a film. But in terms of being original, or knocking your socks off with its story, Beat the Eagle chooses rather to use a conventional structure and a story-line that isn’t really high concept, or marketable or playable. As a result, it’s well-written but conventional structure approaches more the feeling one would get from a Movie of the Week than a Feature Film. I’d suspect Eszterhas after his clash with CAA, delayed getting this movie made for a few years. And then, once it became a worn-out property it didn’t lack anything original enough that a direct latched onto it and wanted to turn it into a film.
The nicest part about this whole script, and why despite my mediocre feeling about its plot, I have a good feeling about Beat The Eagle is Eszterhas is really creating his own tone here. This, and a few of his other unproduced specs, read like wizened tales from a man who used to work for a small town Midwestern newspaper. Eszterhas creates a nice tone for the yinzers of the world (residents of Eastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania) and I can’t really think of another screenwriter who tackles these subjects in such a way. So that’s pretty cool.
Beat the Eagle isn’t an amazing script. Nor is it a horrible one. It’s a nice, small script with some good moments. And that to me is okay any way you cut it.
Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)
Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)
Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)
[X] - Hot Rod (Good)
Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good
Isla Prospects: Not really. Not at all. Isla is not supposed to be playing girls from Eastern Ohio, not that there are even that many girls in this script. But that’s okay.
What I Learned: Eszterhas has written that perfect, edgy, chock to the brim with tone script. What he hasn’t written is something that’ll knock your socks off, and I doubt you could sell Beat The Eagle as a first spec script. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fun read, or a nice quiet piece for an established writer.
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