Broadway Playwright Heads to Hollywood

Barton Fink is an established playwright on Broadway with an idealistic streak whose calling is to write for the “common man.” The burgeoning Hollywood environment whets his curiosity and he heads for the West Coast to achieve new successes there. This pursuit lands him at Capitol Pictures. He finds himself facing Jack Lipnick who’s impressed with Barton’s credentials and immediately hires him to write a screenplay for an upcoming movie he has in mind. The environment Barton faces here is unlike any he’s experienced before. Lipnick is a highly driven oddball and together with his assistant, Lou Breeze, presents a very eccentric atmosphere for Barton. Welcome to Hollywood, I guess.

A Reality Check

What’s more, the first shock Barton gets is the script required of him: a screenplay for a “wrestling movie.” Something he has no experience of. Lipnick sets out his parameters, deadlines, and his high expectations of Barton. He doesn’t have any time for the “art” of writing as Barton sees it. No time for the common man or high ideals for Lipnick. It’s all about the movies and making money. But Barton needs the money and has to start somewhere so he takes on the task. He moves into the seedy Hotel Earle, and sits down to work on his typewriter. Having no prior experience with wrestling or pictures, he finds himself at a loss as to where to start. In short, he’s hit a “writer’s block.”

Making Friends

At the hotel, he runs into another eccentric person: his intimidating neighbor, Charlie Meadows, and has no choice but to strike up a friendship. But his ”block” persists, so he reaches out for help from another established author, W. P. Mayhew, for tips to get on with his script. But, here too, he turns into a wall as Mayhew turns out to be an alcoholic. However, he strikes up a friendship with Mayhew’s assistant/secretary, Audrey Taylor. While Mayhew is incapable, Audrey promises to assist him with his work. But Barton’s situation is to spiral further out of control as the deadline to submit his first draft looms ever closer.

Unbelievable Turn of Events

Things seem to look up for Barton as Audrey visits him at the hotel to help out. But she’s brutally murdered in his room overnight, and he has no knowledge of how it happened. His travelling insurance salesman neighbor, Charlie offers to “clean up” things for him. Barton hurriedly completes his first draft while Charlie goes out on the road. Detectives seeking the missing Audrey Taylor question Barton, and he discovers the frightening truth. Absolutely outlandish chaos follows during which Barton manages to escape the detectives. We find him submitting the draft to a very changed Lipnick who’s in uniform and apparently headed to the War.

You would need to watch the movie to see the bizarre developments at the hotel. What truth does Barton discover, and how does his draft fare with Lipnick?