|
EXT. MCCADDEN STREET - NIGHT A smashed up blue Cadillac pulls up and parks on McCadden St. (a block east of Highland Ave., two blocks south of Sunset Blvd.) in Hollywood. This is just a few blocks from the Hollywood hills and the Hollywood sign, which looms in the distance. Frank, with the ever-present flight bag, and Rickman get out of the car. They step in front of a house encircled by hedges. FRANK RICKMAN FRANK
FRANK RICKMAN Frank goes through the opening in the hedges and follows the sidewalk around the house. EXT. DICK'S HOUSE - NIGHT Dick's house is actually a bungalow behind the house that faces the street. Frank goes up and knocks on the door. DICK answers. He is tall, has several tatooes on both arms and his teeth are yellow and very crooked. He is about forty-five years old. DICK FRANK DICK Dick starts to shut the door. Frank puts his hand on his head. FRANK Dick's face lights up. DICK FRANK DICK Frank goes inside. It is decorated in ragged furniture and Grateful Dead posters. Dick sits down on a couch and points to a chair. DICK
FRANK DICK FRANK DICK Frank opens the flight bag and takes out the kilo. FRANK DICK Frank nods and holds up the flight bag. Dick jumps from his chair and lowers the shades. DICK FRANK DICK FRANK DICK FRANK EXT. McCADDEN STREET - NIGHT Lon and Bill get out of their car and head toward Dick's place. BILL
LON BILL They go through the opening in the hedges and suddenly Rickman pops up out of nowhere. Bill and Lon are frightened. BILL
LON
RICKMAN LON RICKMAN
LON Lon and Bill walk back to the street. Lon whispers to Bill. LON Bill glances down at his cast, then looks up with an angry expression.
INT. DICK'S HOUSE - DAY Rickman steps up to the front door of Dick's bungalow, knocks, then walks right in. Frank and Dick look up sharply, the kilo between them. Dick's hand goes under the seat cushion. FRANK RICKMAN FRANK DICK FRANK
Dick looks from one to the other with a freaked-out glint in his eyes. EXT. McCADDEN & DeLONGPRE STREETS/HOLLYWOOD - NIGHT Joe and Ted sit in the LTD down at the end of the street. They watch as . . . EXT. McCADDEN ST. - NIGHT . . . Lon and Bill get out of the Delta 88. Lon has a sawed-off shotgun in his hands. Bill has a pistol in his good hand. LON BILL
LON BILL Bill takes out a vial of cocaine, dumps a pile on the back of his cast and toots it. He shakes his head violently, then nods. Bill shoves the pistol into his pocket and Lon puts the sawed-off shotgun up under his jacket, then they both head back across the street to Dick's house. INT. JOE'S CAR - NIGHT Joe and Ted both have their weapons in their hands. JOE TED Ted gets out of the car and dashes away. Joe picks up the microphone. JOE DISPATCHER
(O.S.) The microphone sits on the seat. The car is empty. Brubaker is gone. EXT. DICK'S HOUSE - NIGHT Bill and Lon come sneaking around the house in front of Dick's bungalow. EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT Ted dashes up an alley with his pistol out. He goes from the cover of a brick wall, to the cover of a garbage dumpster which is right behind Dick's house. A fence separates the house from the alley. EXT. DICK'S HOUSE - NIGHT Bill and Lon rush the front of Dick's house. As they near the porch bullets come whizzing at them from both their right and their left. Bill and Lon are caught in a crossfire. A bullet smashes into Bill's cast. A hole is blown right through the cast and his hand. Bill screams as another bullet hits him in the left shoulder and still another bullet hits him in the right thigh. Lon miraculously isn't hit and opens up with the pump shotgun in all directions. Chunks of wood splinter from the edge of Dick's house where Frank is hiding to Lon's left. Rickman, who is to Lon's right, ducks as the hedges in front of him explode with buckshot. INT. DICK'S HOUSE - NIGHT Dick sits on the couch with a totally glazed expression. Sweat beads his forehead. The sound of gunfire is very loud. Glass shards fly into the room, but he doesn't move. In Dick's head there is the sound of Viet Cong screaming and Cobra gunships flying overhead. EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT Ted is in the alley behind a dumpster, his gun out, his eyes darting all around. He sees Frank get near the fence. Ted fires a shot and misses. Frank spins around and fires a shot at Ted. It hits the garbage dumpster and ricochets off. EXT. DICK'S HOUSE - NIGHT Lon backs away from Bill's writhing body and positions himself behind a row of garbage cans. Every couple of seconds Lon fires in the direction of where Frank was or where Rickman was.
Rickman meanwhile has crawled over to the house next door. He is working himself into a position so that he has a shot at Lon. Rickman gets to his knees and peers over the hedge. There's Lon in profile and he doesn't see Rickman. Rickman raises his pistol, takes aim and suddenly a voice comes from behind him -- it's Brubaker. JOE EXT. DICK'S HOUSE - NIGHT Lon turns and fires his shotgun at Joe. A chunk of hedges explode into the air. Joe crawls along the opposite side of the hedges toward Dick's house. A hand with a pistol comes through the hedges and shoots Joe point blank in the left shoulder. Joe is thrown to the ground, his big Colt out of reach. Frank pushes through the hedges, a smoking 38. Police Special in his hand. FRANK Frank cocks his pistol and lowers down to Joe's face. Joe's hand is on the .45 in his holster. Frank grins maniacally. All of a sudden the front door of Dick's house is kicked open. There stands Dick with an AK-47 automatic assault rifle in his hands. He lets loose a wild war cry and sprays bullets in all directions. DICK Hot lead chews up everything in sight. Shrapnel and debris fly everywhere. Frank dives for cover, but a bullet creases his ear. Bullet holes rip across the row of garbage cans and Lon is cut to pieces behind them. He falls over dead. The garbage cans roll all around him. Bill, lying in a pool of his own blood on the walkway, raises his pistol. He fires three quick shots into Dick's chest. Dick falls backward through his screen door, still spraying automatic weapon fire. A line of bullets rips across Bill's back and he flops over dead. Joe grabs his Colt pistol and swings it around just as Frank is crawling around the corner of the house next to Dick's house. Joe crawls after him. EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT Ted is at the top of the fence ready to jump into Dick's backyard. He sees Frank jump off the next door neighbor's garage roof into the alley. Frank runs away up the alley with the flight bag in his hand. Joe appears from around the house next door. His left shoulder is soaked with blood. He gets to the fence. Sirens are wailing from all directions. Joe looks at Ted. JOE
Ted nods, jumps back into the alley and runs after Frank. Joe steps up to the fence and tries to climb it. He only has the use of one hand, the big pistol clenched in it. He somehow pulls himself to the top of the fence, then falls over it onto his wounded arm. JOE In the distance behind Joe, down at the end of the walkway leading to Dick's house, sits Vinnie on his Harley. He revs it and takes off. CUT TO: EXT. McCADDEN ST. - NIGHT Frank runs full tilt up McCadden toward Sunset Blvd. Sirens are screaming. Ted is a block behind running as fast as he can. Blood runs down Ted's forehead into his eyes. He quickly wipes it away while running. EXT. SUNSET BLVD. - NIGHT There is no crosswalk at McCadden and Sunset. Frank runs right into Sunset and there are cars coming from both directions. Brakes screech and cars rear-end each other on both sides of the street. Frank jumps over the car hoods and gets to the other side. Ted runs into the traffic mess and deftly hops the car hoods and is across the street. EXT. HOLLYWOOD BLVD. - NIGHT The Chinese Theater, traffic, neon, crowds of people. Frank gets to Hollywood Blvd. and turns right. As he's running he turns back and sees . . . . . . Ted come around the corner. Blood is all over his face, but he's really hauling ass. Frank turns back to the people blocking his path. If the people don't get out of his way quick enough he just shoots them. Further up the boulevard, an old man kneels over one of the stars on the sidewalk, the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The old man is cleaning the star with a rag. It is Mickey Rooney's star. EXT. SUNSET BLVD. - NIGHT Brubaker arrives at Sunset Blvd. and traffic is thick. His arm is covered with blood. He steps into the street and a car honks at him. He steps back on the sidewalk. In a moment there is a clearing. With a grimace of pain he jogs across the street. EXT. HOLLYWOOD BLVD. - NIGHT Frank gets to an open unobstructed block of Hollywood Blvd. He turns and sees Ted coming. Frank grabs the old man that is cleaning the star on the sidewalk and it actually is MICKEY ROONEY! MICKEY
Frank puts his pistol to Mickey Rooney's head and yells in his ear. FRANK Ted steps out of the crowd with his pistol raised and sees Frank and his hostage. FRANK Ted lowers his pistol. Frank starts to aim his pistol at Ted and Mickey Rooney sees his chance. He stomps on Frank's foot, elbows him in the stomach and jumps out of the way. Ted raises his pistol. Frank fires several wild shots in Ted's direction -- all hitting pedestrians -- and keeps running. Ted follows. He hears Brubaker's voice from behind. JOE Frank crosses Hollywood Blvd. and cuts up Whitely Avenue into the Hollywood hills. Ted is right behind. EXT. HOLLYWOOD HILLS - NIGHT Frank sprints up a thin rickety wooden stairway into the hills. As Ted gets to the bottom of the wooden stairs he sees Frank jump off the balcony at the top. Ted runs up the steps two and three at a time. On the scrubby hillside where he lands, Frank quickly dumps his empty shells and reloads. He fires a couple of shots into the bottom of the wooden balcony as he sees Ted's silhouette between the slats. Ted falls back against the house at the top of the stairs as bullets rip through the wood. He cautiously peers over the edge of the balcony and sees Frank running up the hill toward the enormous Hollywood sign. Ted looks down the stairs and sees Joe run right by. TED Joe comes back and starts up the stairs. Ted jumps over the edge of the balcony. EXT. HOLLYWOOD SIGN - DAY Frank runs past the foot of the giant white letters composing the Hollyood sign. The yellow pick-up trucks and a small bulldozer belonging to the City of L.A. sit on the dirt road in front of the sign. Frank cuts behind the sign, climbs the hill behind the letters and arrives at a several hundred foot sheer drop into the twinkling lights of the San Fernando Valley. As Ted climbs the hillside to the Hollywood sign, he becomes very cautious and slows down. He's at a distinct disadvantage being downhill. Ted crawls to the bottom of the H and looks all around -- nothing. He quickly dashes to the O. Everything is quiet. He dashes to the first L. Frank is nowhere to be seen. Ted glances down the hill and sees Brubaker slowly making his way up. Standing out sharply against the white of the sign, red drops of blood trickle down the L. Ted sees the blood, looks up just in time to sees Frank's gun flash from the top of the sign. The bullet strikes Ted in the shoulder knocking him down. He drops at the foot of the giant L moaning. At the top of the L, Frank is holding onto the grid-work in the back of the sign and peering down on Hollywood. Blood trickles down from his ear. He sees Brubaker coming up the hill. Frank pops off a shot at him. The bullet thumps into the dirt several feet from Joe. Joe begins crawling up the hill. He fires up at Frank. Joe's bullet rips a hole through the white sheet metal near the top of the L where Frank is. Frank sways back and forth at the top of the sign. Ted is groaning loudly at the foot of the sign. Joe has himself hidden behind some scrub grass. He hollers up at Frank. JOE Frank fires a shot at Joe which misses by several feet. FRANK Frank fires a shot straight down. Ted is hit in the thigh by another bullet. He screams horribly. Joe's face tightens up in a twisted angry knot. Another bullet comes straight down into Ted's arm. He screams again, but not as loud. His strength is gone. Joe's face is bright red. He looks like he might spontaneously combust. Suddenly Joe jumps to his feet. Screaming like a wild man and firing blindly at the top of the sign while running full speed to the small yellow bulldozer. He quickly climbs into the bulldozer's cab, reaches under the dashboard and yanks down the ignition wiring. Frank fires straight down into the top of the bulldozer. Bullet's rip through the metal roof of the bulldozer as Joe gets the engine started. He grits his teeth and drives straight at the giant L. The bulldozer crashes into the enormous letter it goes right over backward, the support wires all snap and tear out of the ground. Frank is thrown screaming off the top of the L, right into the twinkling lights of the San Fernando Valley. The huge L dislocates at the bottom and begins to slide down the hill. The base of the letter slides an inch from Ted's groaning body. Joe dives out of the bulldozer just as the ton of grid-work and sheet-metal that make up the huge L smashes into it and knocks the bulldozer down the hill. EXT. THE CITY OF HOLLYWOOD - NIGHT Hollywood Blvd. is in the foreground. Griffith Park Observatory is to the upper right. The Hollywood sign is at the center and the first L of Hollywood goes sliding down the hill, leaving, "HO LYWOOD." EXT. HOLLYWOOD SIGN - NIGHT The Pan Am flight bag comes rolling down the hill behind the sign. Joe lies on the ground holding what may be some broken ribs and sees the flight bag bounce down the hill. He makes a move as though he may go to it, but grimaces in excruciating pain. Nevertheless, Joe forces himself to crawl over to Ted. JOE Ted tries to talk and can't -- the pain
is too intense. His face is contorting strangely. Ted can't. Instead he raises his pistol at Joe. Joe's eyes widen. JOE Ted fires the gun right over Joe's shoulder. Joe spins around just in time to see Vinnie, a pistol in his hand, take a bullet in the chest. Vinnie falls over and rolls down the hill. Joe turns back to Ted. He lies completely still. His eyes are open and unblinking. A deep sadness fills Joe's haggard face. JOE He closes Ted's eyes. Pebbles come rolling down the hill behind the sign. Joe looks up and sees Frank come rolling down the hill in a cloud of dust. Blood and dirt smear his face. He lands a few feet from Joe. Frank stands up with a painful groan, brushes the dirt off of himself and looks at Joe with an obnoxious sneer. Joe, unable to stand, raises up the big old Colt pistol. He has a twisted, mean expression on his face as he aims the pistol at Frank and cocks the hammer. FRANK JOE FRANK Joe considers this for a second, then nods. JOE
Joe lowers the gun. Frank is utterly amazed. His eyes widen. FRANK Joe shakes his head. Frank grins. FRANK Frank heads over to pick up the flight bag. JOE Joe flips the huge Colt around in his hand so he's holding it by the barrel and throws it as hard as he can. JOE Just as Frank turns around the fourteen pound Colt Dragoon wallops him directly in the forehead. Frank's eyes cross, his legs go limp and he drops to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He's out cold. Joe forces himself to his feet and staggers over to Frank's inert body. Joe picks up the Colt and looks at it admiringly. JOE Joe wearily picks up the flight bag. He unzips it and takes out the kilo of heroin. He turns it over in his hand and scrutinizes it. JOE
Joe throws the kilo high into the air over the lights of Los Angeles. He quickly raises his pistol and fires a shot. The kilo explodes in a large puff of white dust. For just a second it looks like it's snowing in L.A.
JOE Ted speaks through clenched teeth. TED JOE TED JOE TED Joe looks at his watch. He holds the shattered crystal to Ted's face. JOE
Police sirens and helicopters can be heard approaching. TED JOE
Joe holds onto Ted as our view pulls away, growing wider. Police cars and helicopters can be seen approaching from all directions. FADE OUT.
|
BECKERFILMS
SITE MENU
[
Main ] [ Film
& TV Work ] [ Screenplays
] [
Old Stuff ]
[ Reviews ]
[ Articles, Essays & Stories
] [
Ask the Director ]
[ Favorite Films ]
[ Scrapbook ]
[ Links (& Afterword)
] [ Web
Team ]
This
site is the property of Josh Becker
Copyright © 2003 Panoramic Pictures, All Rights Reserved.
