As a young film producer, I had the good fortune to work with a great screenwriter, Andy Lewis. Andy had already written Klute, for which he was nominated for an academy award for best original screenplay. Several years later, I was able to work with him (and my producing partner, Bob Kaplan) on developing several drafts of his screenplay, The Arms Merchant. We worked on this screenplay in 1977 – 78 and working with Andy on a complicated original screenplay was an education.
The movie was set in Thailand, mostly in Bangkok then with a trip to the remote country to the north, the dangerous, lawless golden triangle, strategically situated between Burma and Laos. The triangle is the overwhelming source of the heroin sold in China. The story revolves around an American arms manufacturer with a contract to legally sell weapons — three thousand machine pistols — to the military in Thailand. There is an accident at their presentation with their new weapons malfunctioning and then many of their guns are found missing from the warehouse. At the outset it seems to be a complicated plot that will drive the story. Not so.
The most important thing that Andy taught me was that the people, the characters, should drive the story. To do that, before detailing the story, it was critical to carefully conceive the characters. In fact, he did all of the characterizations so expertly and originally that they became what the movie was about. In other words, the film, specifically the plot, was character driven.
He wrote two wonderful central characters: a woman, Lise, who grew up in northern Thailand, whose family and husband were killed in the golden triangle area. The murders were never solved. She’s hired by the weapons company as an interpreter and consultant on various arrangements for their presentations. She’s smart, very able and, as we learn, compulsively promiscuous. She asks her former lover, Stark, to help. Stark is an American who stayed on after he was un-fairly demoted and lost his commission as a captain during the Vietnam war. Stark is drinking too much, working odd jobs, mostly coasting through the days with no real ambition or goals. He’s unhappy with himself, and unwilling or unable, to do much about it. She is able to convince him to help her with this job and then everything falls apart.
At the elaborate weapons presentation to the Thai buyers, the breech of the machine pistol explodes, stripping the scalp from the head of the man handling the weapon. Soon after, it’s discovered that the crates carrying the weapons have been opened and many of the weapons are gone. When the Thai buyers reconsider their purchase, the local agent suggests an alternative buyer, a deal he, the agent, put together.
Stark and Lise are sent by the company to find out what happened to the missing guns. After doing some checking they learn that the guns went north to the Golden Triangle, and after considerable pressure on Stark and Lise by the company executives—they need people who speak the language, know Thailand and most importantly, people they can trust — Stark and Lise reluctantly agree to go north.
We’re now almost halfway into the movie and we’re discovering something very important about Andy’s writing: the surprises are not so much in the plot, but rather, people are not at all what they seem. For example, Willis and Gorman, the company executives that are managing this deal, have from the outset insisted that doing this legally was the only way. But as the situation unravels, they are willing to place bribes and consider other buyers. Strohler, their local agent, was never as agreeable and accommodating as he seemed, but we begin to learn that he may be behind the accident at the presentation, the missing guns, and dealing with illegal buyers. Duan, the Thai policeman who’s investigating this has seemed uninterested and largely incompetent. In fact, as Stark begins to suspect, Duan is smart and unconventional, nothing at all like he seems. Most importantly, when he agrees to act, Stark is unexpectedly able, even gifted, at figuring out hard problems. As Lise observes, he’s coming back to his old self, not so embittered nor full of contempt. In fact, he’s liking doing something right and important. Lise, too, is revealing an understanding and insightfulness that we haven’t yet seen, particularly her hopefulness and supportiveness in encouraging Stark.
In the golden triangle, they discover that Shan heroin dealers have bought the guns and are taking them out of Thailand. Most importantly, though, is that we see Lise with what remains of her family and we learn about what happened. We also see another side of her, more relaxed, lovely and like Stark, very able. We sense that her feelings for Stark have re-awakened.
When Stark and Lise leave the triangle, after eluding pursuit, they report to Gorman and Willis what they’ve discovered as well as photos they took of dead bodies, empty crates, etc. Long story short, Gorman and Willis confront Strohler who, nonplussed, tells them he has evidence of their bribes, and other dealings, and if they go after him, he’ll bring them down with him. Willie and Gorman tell Stark that he didn’t provide enough evidence and there’s nothing they can do. They will in fact, pursue Strohler’s suggestion.
In the face of this, Stark falls back on old habits, drinking too much, avoiding problems, generally checking out, giving up. Even worse, his renewed relationship with Lise is floundering. As she says to him, “this is what we had before, a contempt.” Before losing her again, Stark decides he has to do something about this, and goes to Duan, the Thai policeman, late at night. He tells Duan he’s going to the embassy and he wants his help. Duan, even more uninterested or helpless than before, dsays there’s nothing he can do. Stark goes back to Lise and realizes they’re being followed, certainly by Strohler’s thugs.
What follows is an action sequence, Strohler’s thugs chasing Stark and Lise through the klongs and backyards of the houses over the river. When all seems to be lost, another follower shoots one of Strohler’s thugs and rescues Stark and Lise. It’s Duan, who’s used Stark as bait to get Strohler’s men.
The movie ends with Stark and Lise in the market when Duan arrives with a newspaper — Strohler’s guy talked and then Willis, who’s also been arrested, talks, and end of the day we see the pictures and headlines of all of them — Strohler, Gorman, Willis, and others being arrested. Stark acknowledges that he got a congratulatory call from the ambassador.
Clearly, Stark and Lise are happily together and making that circumstance believable is the great triumph of the movie. What we love about it is how these two people realized what they could have together and worked hard and took great risks to have it. It’s what we care about, early on, and the ups and downs of the story are driven by it.
This screenplay was sold to Warner Brothers for $300,000 dollars. In 1978, it was an unusual amount of money to buy a script. It was bought for Clint Eastwood, who decided not to do it. It was never made, like many great screenplays in Hollywood. To this day, it remains one of my favorite screenplays
