The Screenplay, Times Square

Well, I've read the script, registered with WGA, May 1979. It's 129 single sided pages long.

Screenplay by Jacob Brackman
Original story by Allan Moyle and Leane Ungar.

It's amazing that this screenplay is the movie.

There are characters completely gone from the original script. The fact that the story goes from winter to summer is completely gone. Nikki confronts her father in the script. He is a Bob Dylan caricature who plays the street for handouts. The money they get for 3 card monte came from him. Pammi dances topless as Nikki watches from the bar, not ringside. Pammi's father is fired from his job. He even says "I got kicked outa tha band." The hair dying and splashing in the river are just that, hair dying and splashing, and nothing else.

The relationship between the characters, that some may call "Gay" are reinforced because of the soundtrack. The script is nowhere near as powerful as having "Rock Hard" as the duo's theme song, or "You can't hurry love" when they first hook up. Come on! Talk of the Town? All these songs are about relationships and love. But the script doesn't even hint at a lesbian relationship.

The movie and the screenplay are similar enough to recognize the story. But they are two different ideas that sometimes enhance and sometimes subdue the premise of Times Square. Although some elements from the screenplay would have made it a better movie, the whole screenplay is not necessary for the story.

The soundtrack that made it into the movie is far better than the songs suggested in the screenplay, and if you listen for the songs you will find that it makes sense the way it is. They set the mood and convey the meaning, however gay that might be. They set the stage for every scene in the movie. And remember that the tag line is "Times Square IS the music of the streets"?

In Nikki's breakdown scene can you imagine any other song than "Pissing in the River"? I cried (wept) during this scene because of that song. The script called for "Who's sorry now?" How lame is that?

Enjoy this movie for what it is. Someday there might be a re-release with all the "missing" footage. But why worry about that?

I'm a Freak of *beep* Nature