If a story doesn't give you a hard-on in the first couple of scenes, throw it in the goddamned garbage.
Interpretation
A compelling story should evoke strong feelings from the start.
This quote by Samuel Fuller emphasizes the importance of immediate emotional engagement in storytelling. If a narrative fails to captivate or provoke a visceral reaction within the initial scenes, it is regarded as unworthy of continued attention, suggesting that impactful storytelling is essential for creating a successful narrative.
In practice
A filmmaker might use this quote when discussing the need for exciting openings in screenplays.
I don't care if it's a mystery story, a Western, or the story of Julius Caesar. To me it's the emotion, the lies, the double-cross, whether it's Brutus doing it to Caesar or Bob Stack doing it to Robert Ryan that defines what kind of drama it is.
A film is like a battleground. It's love, hate, action, violence, death—In one word, emotions.
When people say 'What are underground comics?' I think the best way you can define them is just the absolute freedom involved... we didn't have anyone standing over us.
Australian genre films were a lot of fun because they were legitimate genre movies. They were real genre films, and they dealt, in a way like the Italians did, with the excess of genre, and that has been an influence on me.
What is it precisely, that feeling of 'returning' from a poem? Something is lighter, softer, larger - then it fades, but never completely.
When I write, I make my memories tangible, and in this way I can get rid of them.
Zaandam has enough to paint for a lifetime.
The great thing about using the past is that it gives you the most colossal freedom to invent. The research is necessary, of course, but no one writes a novel to dramatically illustrate what everybody already knows.
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