The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Strangers on a Train

written by Raymond Chandler et. al.


Strangers on a Train, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, follows a simple premise through a tale of twists and turns.

Structural Analysis

  1. Hook (3-4 min.)
    • A stranger, Bruno, accosts a tennis whiz, Guy, on a train with a bizarre hypothetical exchange of murders - Guy of his wife so he can marry his girlfriend, the daughter of a senator; Bruno of his father. What is this strange man up to?
  2. Complication & Call to Action (8-11 min.)
    • Guy's wife has been messing around, and he has agreed to a divorce. This makes his own love for the senator's daughter more sympathetic. But now she announces that she is pregnant by another man and will NOT give him a divorce. He is being double-crossed.
  3. Act One Plot Point (25-33 min.)
    • Bruno keeps his end of the "bargain" and murders Guy's wife. He accosts Guy, now you have to kill my father. Guy is shocked by what happened and Bruno's suggestion.
  4. Midpoint Plot Point (67-9 min.)
    • Even though Guy is a prime suspect in the murder of his wife, he goes to Bruno and confronts him: he will not hold up his end of the so-called bargain by murdering Bruno's father. Feeling double-crossed, Bruno will plant evidence to show Guy did the murder.
  5. Act Two Plot Point (85 min.)
    • Guy comes up with a scheme to ditch his tail in order to stop Bruno from planting his lighter as evidence. Now Guy looks more guilty than ever, and the cops take chase.
  6. Climax and Resolution (92-98 min.)
    • Guy follows Bruno to the amusement park where the killing took place. They fight, Bruno is injured and is clutching the evidence. A workman identifies him as the murderer, and Guy is free.

    Notes

    Strangers on a Train has many of the elements common to suspenseful story-telling: "the ticking clock," as when Guy races to stop Bruno from planting evidence; exotic settings, such as the train and the amusement park; big sequences, such as the fight over the lighter; unexpected complications to increase tension, as when Bruno drops the lighter into a storm drain and must go to great lengths to fetch it so he can go on to plant it as evidence.

    The "call to action" isn't as clear here as in most movies. When Guy is double-crossed, the cut is to Bruno stalking the wife. Guy doesn't commit himself to refusing the "bargain" until the midpoint. This is a minor structural problem, in my opinion, but an unusual antagonist (as in The Silence of the Lambs) is gripping enough to keep the narrative moving.


    MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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