Now that I had a clearer understanding of the recipe for a young protagonist, I couldn't help but still feel something was missing. I mean, the character was complete...but, there was an element that I couldn't put my finger on. Something I'd seen a dozen times before, but was too stupid to realize.
Of course - a sidekick! The answer hit me in the face like a...sidekick (there's a joke there somewhere, I just can't think of it right now).
Of course, I think the idea had been in my head from the beginning; it just had a little more difficulty coming to the surface.
From the beginning of Hammerfist's inception as a 15-page draft in 2013, there is a scene which describes a vague character with the placeholder name of "Short Fuse", who is smoking a cigarette on a beach and writing a poem. This eventually became the introduction to the character in the final draft. At the time, I didn't have much of a clear perception of who Short Fuse was, but given the similarity to Temple of Doom's "Short Round", I think the association was obvious.
Eventually, Short Fuse morphed into who he is today - Tommy Red Horse, or, as his peers call him, "Pinto".
Equal parts pacifist and fighter, poet and braveheart, Pinto is a contradictory and complex character. Of all the characters in the book, I don't think it's a stretch to say that I poured the most of myself into Tommy's mold, and I certainly understand him the best.
I think because I wrote Pinto from such a personal perspective, his influences among other movies are severely less in number than most characters.
However, from very early on, the writing I was doing reminded me heavily of Evan Adams in Smoke Signals. The blind faith, poetic dreaming, and undying loyalty seemed extremely similar in the roles, and when I re-watched the movie, I understood how closely the characters came, even down to the dorky glasses and big, toothy smile. Although I'm sure Pinto has bits and pieces from dozens of other movie sidekicks, this is the one that shaped him the most.
My buddy Taylor Allison takes full credit for the name "Pinto". I had known since the beginning that "Short Fuse" would have to go, but for whatever reason, it was a hard name to drop. I asked Taylor for help, telling her to come up with a nickname "for a short person that is simultaneously derogatory and empowering". It was a tall order to fill (pun intended), but Taylor delivered. She used to be a schoolyard bully, so I figured she would know.
What she came up with was a comparison to the Ford Pinto, the short-lived consumer car dream project that ended tragically when multiple accidents revealed a sinister design flaw. Within the book, an anecdote explains the connection in more detail.
Comparing the car - a mild-mannered, quiet sedan that had a reputation for exploding suddenly - to Tommy's personality was literally flawless. And seeing as the word Pinto conjurs images of painted Cheyenne war ponies, the name ended up fitting Tommy's character two-fold (while never stated outright, Pinto is heavily implied to be an American Indian).
In many ways (hell, most ways) Pinto's character is much stronger and more memorable than Bane's. That annoyed me at first, but I realized that if I was really trying to capture the 80's, this was completely on point. The sidekicks were often more memorable than the bland protagonists - that was often a complaint of mine growing up. But I wanted to follow the 80's path, it was just part of the formula.
Of course, Pinto is a little too competent most of the time. What about those dark days when Jonathan just needs a little rudeness to guide him, throwing his destiny to juvenile urges and crass stupidity?
Enter Sidekick No. 2: Eric Masters.
"Beat it meathead, before I pound ya," Eric lisps to Keith Stiles. "I've got bigger fish to fry." He places a pair of Wayfarers over his eyes and walks off, flipping Keith the bird while his college-age girlfriend massages his shoulders.
All the best heroes need a smartass little brother tying them to the common people (Lewis in The Last Starfighter is arguably my favorite example). A kid with a bowl haircut who eats carrot sticks and thinks he's the next Prom King for it. I mean, we all knew this kid. And if we didn't, we saw him in movies.
Eric Masters clearly serves two purposes in the story.
1. He functions as Bane's support in more juvenile pursuits (like videogames, which Pinto shuns), and an overall connection to the outside social world. A busybody and an informant to current events, he is Jonathan's representative for culture.
2. I think little kids swearing is funny.
For serving such a simple function, Eric's influences run surprisingly deep. Besides the aforementioned Last Starfighter as well as Iron Eagle (which is where the surname "Masters" originates), some of Eric's misjudged style, quirks, and antisocial behavior come from River Phoenix in Explorers.
Jenny Lewis' character in The Wizard lent a huuuuge hand in shaping Eric's smartass-ness, narcissism and misplaced maturity, and Corey Feldman's brief appearance in Gremlins translated to a nearly identical scene in the final draft (not counting his other various movies which have made it into my subconscious).
Notably, I really nailed down the character after watching Near Dark, in which Joshua Miller portrays a 100 year-old vampire perpetually stuck in the body of a small child. I'll bet Eric could relate to that (while holding hands with his 19 year-old girlfriend).
So we had our hero, and we had our sidekick(s). The conflict was starting to shape up too. But what was still missing?
Oh yeah, a villain. Ugh. Do movies really need villains? I mean, I guess...
