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 > > > >---- ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama.