"Pick me a Winner!" or "Movies, Games, Plots Lost and Found?"

[Renal Shutdown]

It's rare that I post, and even rarer than I'd actually start a thread, but needs must as a something or other..

I've finally decided to bother working up enough enthusiasm to begin a project of sorts.  However, I've already hit a wall and am in dire need of help.  No, I not asking for people to make the thing for me, and this isn't a recruit a team type of thread.

Let me start with the basic premise.  An episodic adventure, featuring a pair of private detectives, in six parts.  It's not a rip-off of the latest Sam and Max games, it's actually an old sitcom plan I've had knocking about for years.  Since I'm not in contact with any of the folk who were involved with the film and TV industries anymore, I've opted to re-plan it as a set of adventures.

It was originally six half-hour episodes, each one loosely based on a movie.  At the time of it's conception, there were no full-blown comedies about murder mysteries, but the murder mysteries had a few comedic moments in them.  (At least, none that I was aware of).  There was a niche for it, so some planning went ahead.  The main characters were developed, and some movies were picked for parodying.

It's not been too difficult to adapt the plan for making games, in fact it's probably better as budgetary issues are no longer a concern.  A few of the movies are still appropriate, but there's two gaps in the series that I just can't seem to fill.  Which is where you folk factor in..

•    Episode 1 is currently empty.
•    Episode 2 is based on the Maltese Falcon.
•    Episode 3 is also empty.
•    Episode 4 is based on the Hound of the Baskervilles.
•    Episode 5 is based on North-by-Northwest.
•    Episode 6 is based on Kiss Me Deadly, and in some respects, Repo Man.

Episodes 1 and 3 has left me drawing a blank, despite spending most of the day trawling through imdb.com, and seeing the same movies over and over and rejecting ideas again and again.  It's become quite annoying.  For now, let me fill you in on the basic themes and movement from episode to episode:

• Episode 1 is undecided.  The plot revolves around the main character, with his "sidekick" as a small role, just to set things up for later.
• Episode 2 is a search for a valuable object that's been stolen.  The main character drives most of the story.  The sidekick leads the story near the beginning, but doesn't show up after that.  This one could quite conceivably have been a remake of The Pink Panther, but I'd rather not parody a comedy.
• Episode 3 is undecided. It involves both the main and the sidekick, solving the mystery together.  The sidekick is still sort of learning the profession, so is with the main character a lot.
• Episode 4 is more supernatural case.  The sidekick leads the first half, and the main character takes over for the second.  Two major locations, to add more variety.  (The most famous and recognisable of the Homles stories).
• Episode 5 is a case of mistaken identity, with a road movie type feel.  The action centres around the main character, in a possible cross country chase, and allows for more shorter, obscure and differing locations than all the other episodes.  (Could have been The 39 Steps).
• Episode 6 is a more sci-fi orientated case, with a mysterious object/MacGuffin plot device.  The action centres around the sidekick.

So, Episode 1 needs to set up the characters.  He's already a private detective, and it's not his first case.  For the moment, he works alone, but has known the sidekick for a while.  IE, the sidekick doesn't give him the case.

Episode 3 however, generally needs a Sherlock Holmes sleuthing duo type plot, but not actually Holmes.  Baskerville's is my preferred Holmes option, and I'd rather not have two movies that are too similar, but more on that later.  A buddy cop movie *might* work, but I've not managed to find anything to pique my interest.

The episodes will only be *loosely* based on the movies, but only up to a point.  I wanted people to look at the sitcom episodes and recognise where the basic ideas were from.  I'd like to keep that recognition in the games, but the games will allow more creative freedom.  As long as the plot is similar to the movies, up to a point, I'll be happy.  A sort of "inspired by Such-and-such" feel.

Only things I've been semi-happy with for those empty slots have been Chinatown and The Dead Pool.  They've not jumped out as instant winners, though.  Everything else I've considered has been too similar to one of the others or just hasn't fitted with the theme/mood/whatever of the series.

Most sci-fi movies, horror movies, comedies and romances wouldn't suit the characters/settings.  Nor would time travel or other fancy or absurd plotlines.  Think normal-ish plot.  Think 20th century.  Think Earth.

Right, on to your job:
   Find me a movie (or two, with a couple of sentences explaining the choice).
   Failing that, a very general plot idea like the above to get my, or other people's, thoughts moving.

I've been driving myself ever so slightly insane, trying to figure out what to add as the missing movies, and I really can't face it much more.  I'd also like to have the full set before proceding so that I can plan the series as whole.  So, I'm turning to you lot for some much needed assistance.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.



(Also, in the hopes that this doesn't escalate to something it shouldn't, could we please avoid making this into some sort of general "Movies that could be a Game" thread.  And yes, I've already ruled out Weekend at Bernie's).

[GarageGothic]

I love the concept. This sounds like a series of games right up my alley, and it's great to see the series arc actually planned out from the very beginning.

Re 1: What about The Third Man? If you're not sticking too much to the original plot, the sidekick character could play the Harry Lime role, as the friend who goes missing/is assumed dead. It would allow for a lot of independent sleuthing while later catching up with the sidekick. Also, it could be interesting for the first episode not to be entirely sure if the sidekick is a friend or a foe.

Re 2: The detective/novice sidekick working together could allow for some Name of the Rose influence. You already have a Hitchcock reference in ep. 5, otherwise Rear Window could be an interesting source of inspiration, with the detective somehow restricted from moving around too much and the sidekick having to do the legwork.

[Snarky]

For the third ep, how about The Thin Man? Nick and Nora is a sleuthing duo that should be sufficiently distinct from Holmes and Watson, and even if you have Hammett represented with Maltese Falcon, the two stories are pretty different in style. (You could also go with the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane mysteries, but Dorothy Sayer's books don't have similarly iconic film versions.)

I wouldn't worry too much about the setting of the raw material. If you are adapting loosely, I don't see why you couldn't take Blade Runner or Yojimbo and put it in the present day.

Other ideas:

Blue Velvet
Rebecca
The Big Lebowski (I know you said you didn't want to parody a comedy, but it's one of the few semi-recent detective films that's a bona-fide classic)
James Bond movies
Slasher flicks (Dario Argento giallos, Se7en, Scream)

[Ali]

I think it might be possible to work a detective-free noir into this kind of setup. How about Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice.

For Double Indemnity, you could play as the side kick investigating a matter against the detective's instructions. As the plot develops you would realise that all the evidence implicates the detective himself. The ending would need tweaking, of course, but it could be narratively interesting.

For the Postman Always Rings Twice, you could have two attempts to catch the crooks. Of course you'd fail the first time, but the challenge would be to set a trap for them second time around.

[Snarky]

Depending on how far you're willing to stray from the detective mystery genre, you also have stuff like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects, The Godfather or Memento that would certainly be recognizable, if not even overly familiar.

There's also Blow Up/The Conversation/Blow Out, if you're feeling De Palma-esque.

[Seleceus]

  I wouldn't base the main characters on anything I'm about to suggest, but you might find some plot-line gems amongst the reading.
  Search www.tcm.com for the following: 
  - Boston Blackie
  - Nero Wolfe
   Both are classic detective-type movies but chosen mainly because the sidekicks play important roles in each, and the timeline/genre seem to fit what you're looking for.  TCM does a pretty good job of providing a synopsis for movies, in general, so the reading is good and can be used for your other choices as well.