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Niki Wurster Visit our Movie Scripts Page screenplay 451: http://www.geocities.com/~screenplay451/ Mao Guangqin 2 0 2000-01-15T04:49:00Z 2000-01-15T04:49:00Z 42 19240 109669 Pumpkin Software 913 219 134681 9.2504 21 6 磅 5.2 磅 0 0 The Us
VERBAL
Some guy in California. His name is Redfoot.
KEATON
Never heard of him.
Keaton moves to throw Verbal out. Verbal grabs Keaton and holds tight.
VERBAL
You have to come.
KEATON
What's with you? What do you care whether I come or
not?
VERBAL
They – They don't know me. You do. They won't take me
unless you go. Look at me. I need this.
KEATON
Tough break.
VERBAL
Don't tell me you don't need this. Is this your place?
Keaton is unable to answer.
VERBAL (CONT'D)
They're never going to stop with us, you know that.
This way we hit the cops where it hurts and get well in the mean time.
Keaton lets Verbal go and steps back, thinking.
VERBAL (CONT'D)
As clean as you could ever get, they'll never let you
go now. I'm not knocking you. You look like you've got a good little seam going
with this lawyer –
WHAM. Keaton punches Verbal in the stomach and drops him to one knee. Verbal coughs and tries to find his breath.
KEATON
You watch your mouth.
VERBAL
(gasping)
Okay, okay. You say it's the real thing? That's cool.
Keaton reaches for Verbal. Verbal flinches. Keaton gently helps him up and guides him to the couch. They bath sit.
Keaton reaches for a pack of cigarettes and lights one for each of
them.
I apologize.
Verbal takes one and has a few drags, catching his breath and rubbing his stomach in pain.
Finally:
VERBAL
I was out of line.
KEATON
You okay?
VERBAL
I'll be alright.
KEATON
Well, I'm sorry.
ERBAL
Forget it.
(beat)
I'll probably shit blood tonight.
Keaton laughs. Verbal thinks about it for a moment and laughs with him.
Keaton's laughter trails off. He thinks for a moment.
KEATON
How are they going to do it?
VERBAL
McManus wants to go in shooting. I said no way.
KEATON
Fenster and Hockney?
VERBAL
They're pretty pissed off. They'll do anything. Now I
got a way to do it without killing anyone: but like I said, they won't let me
in without you.
KEATON
Three million?
VERBAL
Maybe more.
KEATON
No killing?
VERBAL
Not if we do it my way.
Long pause.
KEATON
(lost in thought)
I swore I'd live above myself.
Verbal smiles, knowing he has him.
EXT. KENNEDY AIRPORT – DAY
VERBAL (V.O.)
New York's finest Taxi Service was not your normal
taxi service. It was a ring of corrupt cops in the N.Y.P.D. that ran a
high-profit racket, driving smugglers and drug dealers all over the city. For a
few hundred dollars a mile, you got your own black and white and a police
escort. They even had their own business cards.
OSCAR WHITEHEAD, a tall gray-haired man in his fifties
comes out of the international terminal in a white linen suit. He holds a large
suitcase in his right hand.
VERBAL (V.O.)
After a while, somebody started asking questions and
the taxi service shut down. Ever since then, Internal Affairs had been waiting
to catch them in the act.
Oscar stands on the curb long enough to light a cigarette. After a
moment, a POLICE CRUISER pulls up to him. He opens the back door and gets in.
VERBAL (V.O.)
And that was how we started. McManus came to us with
the job; Fenster got the vans; Hockney supplied the hardware; 'I came through
with how to do it so no one got killed – but Keaton – Keaton put on the
finishing touch. A little "Fuck you" from the five of us to the
N.Y.P.D.
The car drives out of the airport. A VAN follows at a distance.
INT. POLICE CAR
SERGEANT JIM STRAUSZ, a meaty, imposing looking man in his
forties drives the car. Beside him is a thin, greasy looking PATROLMAN, STEVE RIZZI. They are two drivers for New York's Finest Taxi Service.
RIZZI
How was the flight?
Oscar hands Rizzi a thick envelope.
OSCAR
Will that get me to the Pierre?
Rizzi counts the stack of hundred dollar bills in the envelope.
RIZZI
That'll get you to Cape God.
The two men laugh. Strausz watches the road, expressionless.
EXT. HIGHWAY
The cruiser heads towards the heart of Manhattan.
EXT. STREET – LATER
The police car makes its way down a wide, abandoned street. A WHITE MINIVAN pulls out behind
it and heads the same way.
INT. POLICE CAR
Strausz looks in the rear-view mirror. The white minivan is flashing his high-beams.
STRAUSZ
What the
RIZZI
LOOK OUT.
Strausz looks in front of him. A green minivan swerves in front of
them from out of nowhere. Strausz slams on the brakes and skids to a halt. The
white minivan rams them from behind.
Strausz and Rizzi are stunned for a moment as two more vans screech
up on either side of the cruiser, boxing it in with only a few inches between
them.
The cruiser is surrounded on all sides.
He sees the driver of the van next to him holding the shotgun with
one hand. A stocking is over the driver's head.
Strausz looks straight ahead. The minivan in front of them is
missing a back window. Another man with a stocking on his head aims a
sub-machine gun at them from inside.
By the twisted right hand holding the front of the gun, we know it
is Verbal.
Strausz and Rizzi raise their hands without being asked.
EXT. STREET
The driver of the white van gets out with a gallon jug in one hand
and a sledge hammer in the other.
Moving like lightning, he jumps onto the roof of the police car.
He stands on the front of the roof and swings the hammer down.
INT. POLICE CAR
SMASH!
The hammer punches three huge holes in the windshield and finally
caves it in. Strausz and Rizzi are covered with pebbles of broken glass.
Whitehead clutches his bag in the back seat. He trembles in terror.
The man standing on the roof doubles over and sticks a gun in
Strausz's face. His face hangs upside down and looks gruesome – covered from
the mouth up in a stocking. By the voice, we know it is McManus.
GIVE ME THE SHIT.
STRAUSZ
Give it up.
Oscar hands the suitcase up front and Strausz passes it to McManus.
INT. FRONT VAN
Through the front windshield of the front van we see Keaton at the
wheel. Verbal is behind him leaning out the back window.
Beneath Keaton's stocking mask we see he is trembling and sweating –
sickened by what he is doing.
He glances up at the rear-view mirror and looks at the scene
outside. He looks down at the floor in shame, shaking his head.
MCMANUS
The money.
Strausz looks at Rizzi.
MCMAMUS (CONT'D)
THE MONEY. LET'S HAVE IT.
Rizzi hands the money through the remains of the windshield.
McManus takes the money and stuffs it in his jacket. He steps back and takes the cap off of the gallon jug. He quickly pours some kind of liquid all over the roof of the car.
STRAUSZ
Do you know who I am?
A hand reaches into the driver's side window and rips Strausz's badge off of his shirt.
Strausz dares to turn his head right at the shotgun pointing at him through the window. On the other end is a masked and smiling Todd Hockney.
HOCKNEY
We db now, Jerk-off.
McManus lights a pack of matches and drops them on the roof of the
car as he jumps off. THE LIQUID IGNITES, the roof of the car is instantly in
flames.
Strausz and Rizzi attempt to bail out, but the vans are too close
for them to open the doors.
The vans pull away.
Strausz and Rizzi escape from the car. Oscar is trapped inside, SCREAMING. Strausz and Rizzi
stop, each expecting the other to go let Oscar out.
The scene is swarming with fresh police cars. Strausz and Rizzi are
fielding questions from a dozen other cops.
Photographers are everywhere.
VERBAL (V.O.)
The papers got Keaton's call that day and were on the
scene before the cops were. Strausz and Rizzi were indicted three days later.
Within a few weeks, fifty more cops went down with them. It was beautiful.
Everybody got it right in the ass, from the chief on down.
INT. GARAGE – NIGHT
Hockney, Fenster, McManus and Verbal are all laughing in a secluded
garage. They are still in their black clothes from the robbery. Hockney is
throwing everyone a can of beer.
Keaton sits off by himself. He watches the others, unable to join in
the festivities.
The others sit around a cheap card table. It is covered with
emeralds. Dozens of them. Everyone is in awe.
There's more than I thought.
HOCKNEY
When does the fence come?
MCMANUS
Redfoot? He never comes to see me. I have to go see
him.
VERBAL
In California?
MCMANUS
Yeah. It'll take a few days. Me and Fenster
HOCKNEY
Hold the fuckin' phone. You and Fenster? No, no, no.
MCMANUS
Guys, come on.
HOCKNEY
I'm sure you can understand my hesitation.
FENSTER
Then who goes?
HOCKNEY
We all go. How about it, Keaton?
All eyes turn to Keaton. He comes out of his trance.
KEATON
We need to lay low for a while.
MCMANUS
Fine with me.
Pause.
Everyone looks at each other, their moment of distrust blowing over.
All eyes drift back to the emeralds on the table.
Hockney begins to snicker, then McManus, then Fenster. Verbal joins
in at last.
McManus grabs Verbal and hugs him, shaking him violently.
MCMANUS (CONT'D)
My boy with the plan.
SUDDENLY, everyone yells and pours beer over
Verbal's head. He laughs as he is drenched in white foam, nearly choking as the
others chant his name.
Keaton watches from across the room, trying to smile in vain.
INT. WAITING ROOM – LAW OFFICE – DAY
Keaton and Verbal sit side by side on a sofa. A sign on the door behind them reads: "MONTGOMERY AND LaGUARDIA – ATTORNEYS AT LAW"
VERBAL
We're going to miss the flight.
KEATON
We'll make it.
VERBAL
Don't do this. Send her a card – something.
KEATON
We'll make it.
VOICE (O.S.)
Ms. Finneran will be with you in a moment.
Keaton stands and paces across the waiting room. He comes to a set of glass doors and looks through them.
Keaton realizes he is standing on a balcony overlooking a library
below.
He sees Edie working in the library with an old woman. The two women
talk for a moment.
SUDDENLY, Keaton turns with a start. Verbal is
standing behind him.
VERBAL
We're gonna miss the plane.
(beat)
She'll understand.
Edie is smiling and laughing with the old woman. Keaton's face is marked with guilt and anguish. Keaton turns and walks out of the waiting room. Verbal takes one last glance at Edie and turns back to Keaton.
INT. LIBRARY
Edie seems to sense something behind her. She turns and looks through the glass doors and up into the waiting room.
NOTHING IS THERE. She goes back to chatting with the old
woman.
INT. RABIN'S OFFICE -DAY – LOS ANGELES – PRESENT
KUJAN
Heartwarming. Really, I feel weepy.
VERBAL
You wanted to know what happened after the line-up,
I'm telling you.
KUJAN
Oh come on, Verbal. Who do you think you're talking
to? You really expect me to believe he retired? For a woman? Bullshit. He was
using her.
VERBAL
He loved her.
KUJAN
Sure. And I'm supposed to believe that hitting the
Taxi Service wasn't his idea either.
VERBAL
That was all Fenster and McManus.
KUJAN
Come on. Keaton was a cop for four years. Who else
would know the Taxi Service better? That job had his name all over it.
