BULLY! (Teddy Roosevelt and the Panama Canal)
CHARGE! Rough Rider President Teddy Roosevelt takes on all comers – Banana Republics, Wall Street bigwigs and Congress – to build the Panama Canal. The real story. Can be expanded to TV miniseries. Professional Coverage: “Recommend” Dave Trottier (Author “The Screenwriter’s Bible.”) Multiple contest wins and placements
TR upsets the staid Washington political scene with his enthusiasm and progressive ideas. His first project: the interoceanic canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, either through Panama or Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan route is popular and is being championed by Congress. TR says he’s neutral (Or is he?) and insists Congress decide the route. But he’s suspicious of foreign involvement and a Panama beset by revolutionaries seeking secession from Colombia.
Meanwhile French promoter Philippe Barilla enlists the service of Washington lobbyist William Nelson to change the national mood about Panama. Nelson believes this can be done but will require “something big” to make it happen.
Nelson then secures the monetary support of Financier J.P.Morgan, who sees it as an opportunity to own a country!
Anticipating potential military action in Panama, TR sends two Army spies to survey the military options. The spies verify the involvement of Germany operatives.
A volcanic eruption on Martinique galvanizes world-wide fear of volcanoes. Then, on the eve of approval of the Nicaraguan route, it is reported that Mount Momotombo, in Nicaragua, has also erupted. (Or did it?) Nelson and Barilla follow-up with anti-Nicaraguan pamphlets and, with Morgan’s money, they intimidate Congress. The Panama route is approved.
Then, Colombia, in hopes of getting more money from America, reneges on permission to build a canal. TR, enraged, plans an invasion to seize Panama from Columbia. But the revolutionary movement, funded by J.P. Morgan, seizes the moment, secedes from Colombia and announces the new of Republic of Panama. They’re backed-up by the American Navy sent to Panama to protect the Panamanian railroad, by treaty.
TR immediately recognizes the Republic of Panama and begins successful negotiations for building the canal. Roosevelt maintains the revolution was spontaneous and he had no involvement. (Hah!)
Throughout the story TR exhibits the strengths and foibles of America’s most fascinating president: • He changes the name of the Executive Mansion to “The White House.” • He leads bodyguards on a horseback chase through Rock Creek Park, shooting his pistol. • He spars with ex-heavyweight boxing champion John L. Sullivan. • He swims the icy Potomac River completely naked. • He leads his cabinet in a musical romp on the Presidential yacht. • He invites Black activist Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House. • He submerses in the first American submarine, the U.S.S Plunger.
As the story ends, TR is asked to mediate the Russo-Japanese war. “That’s a bully idea,” he says, “absolutely bully!”
Screenplays
Jim specializes in screenplays based on historical true events (including musicals), bio/pics and/or disasters. In alphabetical order:
“BOJANGLES, EUBIE AND BERT!” Three Black musical legends of the past – Bert Williams, Eubie Blake and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson – relive their show business success in spite of racism and theatrical bigotry.
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!Second Opinion
When a renowned child-abuse pediatrician’s family member is accused in an infant’s death, he’s confronted with the possibility that his certainty may have helped put innocent people in prison.
A Bullet For God's Bounty
In a small Arizona town in the 1880s, a righteous French bounty hunter agrees to track down a violent fugitive, only to discover he has been hunting the wrong man.
Greenman
A rising rock star strikes out for Iceland in search of inspiration, only to discover a centuries-old horror that threatens to use her gifts to take over the world.
Morbidly
A young physical therapist slowly loses his grip on reality as he succumbs to the seductiveness of his only patient, a morbidly obese woman with a grisly secret.
Restoration
As an introverted art restorer succumbs to the evil temptations of an ancient painting, otherworldly forces attempt to stop her from unleashing the painting's unholy power.
Misfortune Cookies
Accidentally killing an elderly Chinese chef during a botched robbery, an oafish redneck teenager and her misfit friends begin dying one by one when the chef's ghost returns from the grave, killing them in gruesome fortune cookie-themed ways.
Consumed
Trapped in a basement after an apocalyptic earthquake, a grieving wife fights off a horde of parasitic monsters, unaware that her God-fearing husband has already decided her fate.
Splashdown
A mysterious space capsule adrift in the Pacific Ocean pulls a disillusioned Air Force pilot into battle against a shadowy paramilitary force hell bent on utilizing the astronauts' otherworldly cargo to enslave humanity.
Pretty Baby: The Tragic Death Of Marion Parker
Based on a shocking 1927 crime, a grieving woman exposes the decades-old truth about her twin sister's murder to prevent the killer's lawyer from publishing his own skewed account of the tragedy.
Tar Pits
Forced to take sides in a centuries-old intergalactic war, a veteran soldier and her scientist ex-wife bond with giant alien warriors in a final battle that will decide the fate of humanity.
