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THE LAST FRIENDS OF WILE E. COYOTE
By Stephen Thor
A group of friends stumbles across a classified military base and discover that WILLIE COYOTE and THE ROADRUNNER are very real.
SYNOPSIS:
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- Preface
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- Screenplay Terms
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Three young people strike out in an old car on a soul-searching road trip out into the deep desert. Lifelong inseparable friends, each has their own reasons to venture into the lonely and desolate wastelands. Ella is a neurotic genius who has been forced to live a life she never wanted. She has no other place to go. Vaughn goes in an unlikely attempt to find a beloved uncle who disappeared in the desert decades before. Allen accompanies them in the hopes of shaking off a heartbreaking curse given to him by his own father.
They band together one last time and travel into a desert landscape which waits to reveal to them more wonders and darker secrets than any of them could have ever imagined. Almost out of gas, they travel along on a long-unused road. After passing through an abandoned town, their car becomes disabled after a freak encounter with a large Acme rocket.
Out of gas in a broken car and with no chance of help, they truely are on their own. Forced to go ahead on foot for help, they forge ahead together into the desert at night, loosely guided by a cryptic map that Vaughn’s uncle had given to him when he was a child. They soon discover that their troubles have only begun.
They walk far into an unknown and forbidden land which defies logic and all sense of reality. After they sneak their way onto a vast beyond-classified military airbase commanded by a kind but tortured legendary officer, they witness a violent and yet entertaining event involving real-life versions of one unlucky coyote and a speedy roadrunner… carefully hidden and protected characters that the trio (and everybody else) had previously thought only existed in cartoon-land a half-century before… only this is no cartoon. It is a stark reality.
Detained as honored guests on the crumbling base, our young band of heroes make a few friends along the way and discover that besides the coyote and roadrunner, a brilliant human-like race and a secretive ancient tribe of warriors also exist in the far regions of the vast expanses of the doomed base… all of whom would be destroyed if discovered by the outside world. Unfortunately, the word is already out about this collapsing house of cards and a disaster is in the making. A cruel man who is wrongfully bent on a terrible revenge unleashes his evil forces upon innocent peoples who are not prepared for such a terrible and costly war of death and destruction.
At the most crucial point in an epic battle between good and bad, Willie unleashes the most diabolical invention he has ever constructed upon the merciless invaders. He is then left with only one last mission… to attempt to save the one and only true friend he never even realized he even had.
A desperate challenge for all to just survive spirals completely out of control and becomes a seemingly-hopeless quest for Willie, our three heroes and their friends. All must either fight, hide or run from an inescapable trap. Whether anybody makes it out alive is for you, dear reader, to discover for yourselves.
The Last Friends of Willie Coyote is a tale of laughter, tears, determination and hope. It is a story about the test of true friendships and accepting hard challenges amid a nightmarish conflict and personally rising above adversity in extremely trying and difficult times. I hope you enjoy it.
ACTUAL BLACKLIST REVIEW, OTHERS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM, BOOKS, UNDER: THE LAST FRIENDS OF WILLIE COYOTE
More Info
Review EraModern
LocationsAmerican Southwest
BudgetsHigh
GenreAction & Adventure, Action Comedy, Comic Book & Super Heroes
LoglineA group of friends stumbles across a classified military base and discover that WILLIE COYOTE and THE ROADRUNNER are very real.
Strengths“The Last Friends of Wile E. Coyote” is an entertaining and imaginative subversion of classic cartoon tropes. The plot gets too convoluted and puzzling, but this is a creative and funny world, and we are always along for the ride. The early parts of the script are hilarious for the way they bring the classic over-the-top hijinks of Coyote trying to catch The Roadrunner with a series of elaborate schemes to life as humans watch with pointed, deadpan commentary. The script has a firm grasp on the manic energy and cunning of Coyote and the dynamic of his conflict with The Roadrunner. We don’t need a story this complicated when we have these two central icons fully realized here. Though fans may consider it blasphemous, both for the talking and the shift in their relationship, the scene where Coyote tells The Roadrunner that he’s sorry for everything they’ve done and he now realizes their friendship is curiously affecting.
WeaknessesThe plot is needlessly convoluted and complicated, at the risk of losing and alienating the audience. Part of the appeal of the old Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons was the simplicity of it all. Coyote’s schemes and devices could be hilariously elaborate, but the premise was very basic. It might be a challenge to stretch this dynamic out to feature length, but the way this story plays out, with a very complicated backstory to the coyote civilization going back a million years, military intervention, and Native American mythology is confusing and soon gets away from the central appeal. The ancestor ghost warriors feel like part of a different movie. Allen, Vaughn, and Ella are endearing enough, but many of the other human characters don’t fare as well, bringing unwanted complication and darkness. Mr. Badde is particularly unpleasant, especially when we have to watch his parents screaming as they burn to death.
Prospects:"The Last Friends of Wile E. Coyote" is funny and inventive, but it has a very difficult path to film. Obviously the participation of Warner Brothers would be required, and it's hard to see them putting their iconic Looney Tunes in such a dark and sometimes disturbing story. The death, language, and seduction push an R-rating and come off as less family friendly than the cartoons. Seeing Coyote talk and warm up to The Roadrunner may also be anathema. There is a lot to enjoy here and it might work as a writing sample, but the chances of this spec actually being produced are slim.
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