Why wasn't there a plagiarism suit?  Because you can't copyright an idea or a
theme.  Copyright protection applies to the work itself (that is, sequences of
events in addition to the text itself).
 
Rob
 
In a message dated 98-04-30 10:46:14 EDT, [log in to unmask] writes:
 
> Actually, I have always thought that "The Scout" was itself a 'borrowing'
>  of themes from..."King Kong."  Think about it:  Brooks has to venture to a
>  foreign land (Mexico) to find this amazingly talented kid and bring him and
>  his temper to New York, where the kid's most vivid expression of his
>  psychological problems is to climb a tower at Yankee Stadium.  It helps, of
>  course, that the kid was played by the more-than-vaguely-simian Brendan
>  Fraser ("Encino Man," "George of the Jungle").
>
>  best,
>
>  shawn levy
>
>
>  At 07:53 PM 4/29/98 -0400, Robert Kolker wrote:
>  >I recently saw a nice film called "The Scout" (1994). It
>  >has a great pedigree: written by Albert Brooks and Andrew
>  >Bergman, directed by Michael Ritchie. It's about this
>  >young baseball player, who has great talent but an
>  >uncontrollable temper. Brooks finds him and signs him up
>  >with the Yankees. But, the kid has to see a psychiatrist
>  >(Diane Wiest)who finds out he suffered from an abusive
>  >father.
>  >
>  >So why wasn't there a plagiarism suit?
>  >----------------------
>  >Robert Kolker
>  >English Department
>  >University of Maryland
>  >College Park, MD 20742
>  >[log in to unmask]
>  >http://www.otal.umd.edu/~rkolker
>  >301.405.6250
>  >
>  >----
 
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