Great Scene: “Fabulous Baker Boys”

Here’s a great scene involving music: Susie (Michelle Pfeiffer) vamping it up atop a Steinway piano in a slinky red dress, crooning “Makin’ Whoopie” from the movie The Fabulous Baker Boys:

INT. “KING’S MANOR” DINING ROOM — NIGHT

A banner stretched between two chandeliers, proclaims
“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” As the CAMERA DESCENDS,
Jack can be heard picking out a familiar TUNE, but
showering it in blue notes, drawing it out, giving it
smoke.

Susie’s face drifts up INTO FRAME, her eyes closed,
but the CAMERA CONTINUES to drop, moving like
syrup down her body, over the silk that clings to her hips
and thighs, down her legs to a pair of wicked
arch-breaking heels.

She’s standing on Jack’s Steinway.

 SUSIE
 (cooing)
 “Another bride,
 Another June,
 Another sunny honeymoon
 Another season
 Another reason
 To make whoopie…”

Caught somewhere between Ray Charles and Marilyn
Monroe, Susie’s voice slides silkily from a whisper to a
growl, her fingers running like sand over her body.

 SUSIE
 “A lot of shoes,
 A lot of rice,
 The groom is nervous,
 He answers twice,
 It’s really killin’,
 The boy’s so willin’,
 To make whoopie…”

As Jack knocks hell out of the bridge, Susie melts onto
the piano like a kitten, stretching out languorously on her
back. On the dance floor, men in tuxedos sneak guilty
glances while their wives just stare, mouths agape. In less
that a minute, Susie’s managed to turn a dignified resort
hotel into a sizzling roadhouse.

 SUSIE
 “Picture a little lovenest
 Down where the roses cling
 Picture that same sweet lovenest
 See what a year can bring…
 (toying with Jack’s chin)
 I tell you the boy’s washing dishes,
 baby clothes
 He’s so ambitious,
 Ooooh, I tell you he sews”

Susie runs her fingers through Jack’s hair and slides
oh-so-slowly off the piano, slinking toward the audience,
and suddenly it’s apparent: she’s winning them over.

 SUSIE
 It’s really killin’
 The boy’s so willin’
 To make whoopee…”

For a scene like this, the writer wants to convey the mood and feel of the moment, but don’t spell out every beat — let the actor act. And in this case, that’s precisely what writer-director Steve Kloves does. Check out those descriptors [emphasis added]:

* Jack can be heard picking out a familiar TUNE, but showering it in blue notes, drawing it out, giving it smoke.

* Susie’s face drifts up INTO FRAME, her eyes closed, but the CAMERA CONTINUES to drop, moving like syrup down her body, over the silk that clings to her hips and thighs, down her legs to a pair of wicked arch-breaking heels.

* Caught somewhere between Ray Charles and Marilyn Monroe, Susie’s voice slides silkily from a whisper to a growl, her fingers running like sand over her body.

* As Jack knocks hell out of the bridge, Susie melts onto the piano like a kitten, stretching out languorously on her back.

“Showering… smoke… syrup… silk… clings… wicked… slides… growl… fingers… melts… kitten… languorously.”

Hm. What’s the subtext here? Gee, I dunno. Perhaps it’s — SEX?!

And now for the real thing:

Originally posted February 13, 2009

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