My feature film script, tentatively titled "Bordertown," is shaping up to be a detective story along the lines of "Chinatown," wherein an adultery investigation uncovers a political scandal. In "Chinatown", screenwriter Robert Towne based the scandal on the real-life Owens Valley water debacle. In Bordertown, I based the scandal on the real-life "Colosio Case," a sort of Mexican JFK assassination, complete with theories of multiple gunmen, a cover-up, the possible murder of witnesses, and a political conspiracy reaching to the highest levels of government.

"Bordertown," differs from "Chinatown" in that it places less emphasis on plot. Instead, the emphasis is on character, and "Bordertown" includes some colorful characters, including Jon Bloom, detective Pocho's junior associate, a fast-talking Woody Allen-ish gringo and Brujo Bob, shaman and expert on the supernatural, whom Pocho brings into the investigation when he supects the involvement of a ghost, La Llorona (The Weeping Woman), who, in my version of the tale, is the spirit of Malinche, Conquistador Hernn Corts' Indian translator and lover who was, perhaps unfairly, branded a "traitor to her people."

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.