The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Bad Day at Black Rock
written by Millard Kaufman
Bad Day at Black Rock is a classic suspense drama
about a small desert town with a dark secret and the one-armed stranger
who comes to town and uncovers it.
Structural Analysis
- Hook (1 min.)
- For the first time in four years, the train stops at Black Rock
and a one-armed man gets off.
- Complication (2-3 min.)
- The stranger, John Macreedy, wants to go to Adobe Flats. The townspeople
are disturbed by this.
- Call to Action (19 min.)
- Macreedy rents a jeep and heads for Adobe Flats.
- Act One Plot Point (33 min.)
- Macreedy is warned that snooping around town as he is can be
dangerous to one's life. He announces he is done and will be leaving.
- Midpoint Plot Point (50-5 min.)
- Macreedy dictates a wire to the state police (it never gets sent).
With one arm, he defends himself against a town bully and lets his only
ally in town know that he has figured out that Smith, who runs the town,
killed the Japanese farmer, Komoko, he came to visit.
- Act Two Plot Point (72-3 min.)
- Trying to be snuck out of town before he's killed, Macreedy is
cornered by Smith. It looks like it's curtains for him.
- Climax and Resolution (75-8 min.)
- Macreedy manages to make a bomb out of gasoline and a bottle, and
with this he sets Smith afire, getting away. He leaves -- giving Doc, his
ally, the war medal he had come to give Komoko in thanks for his son's
saving his life in the war.
Notes
Set in 1945, this suspenseful story about prejudice against the Japanese
and town guilt is tight and concise. It's worth watching over and over
again.
MODULE 4:
SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting
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