*For Introduction with submission guidelines go to April 4.
*Heywood Gould is the author of 9 screenplays including “Rolling Thunder,”Fort Apache, The Bronx,”Boys From Brazil”and “Cocktail.”
CONEY ISLAND BLUEFISH
By Heywood Gould
ACT FOUR
IN BLACK…10;16.O8…HITLER’S VOICE declaiming…A hundred thousand people at Nuremberg cry “Sig Heil…”
INT. BRIAN’S BEDROOM. NIGHT.
Brian is hunched ecstatically in front of the computer. On screen, an AV biography of Hitler. Sloan and Corinne sit on the bed, watching in astonishment.
SLOAN
Is this why I traipsed
around Brooklyn on my
lunch hour? So you can
watch Nazi propaganda?
BRIAN
This site gives you
information the Government
doesn’t want you to have..
CORINNE
Like what?
BRIAN
Like in twenty years the
white race is going to be in
the minority in this country.
SLOAN
I don’t know if that’s true,
but even if it is it’s not
the end of the world.
BRIAN
C’mon Dad, you’re a cop. You
know what happens when the
criminal element is in the
majority. The influx of
illegal aliens has raises
the crime rate, increases
the welfare rolls…
CORINNE
I wouldn’t call them a
criminal element.
BRIAN
Undesirable then? You’re
selling real estate up here,
Mom. We know you have code
words for minorities…
SLOAN
Who’s we, Brian?
ASHLEY
( mockingly,in the doorway)
We is his nerdy Nazi friends.
BRIAN
Better than your phony Goths
with their stick on tattoos
and clip on nose rings.
CORINNE
Ashley come in and sit down.
BRIAN
Not here. This room’s off
limits for her.
ASHLEY
I don’t want come into this
pimple palace anyway. Don’t
worry about Adolph, dad. You
guys aren’t around a lot and
it’s just his way of getting
your attention.
BRIAN
Yeah and what’s your way?
Givin’ head to to your
boarder boyfriend?
ASHLEY
You little bitch!
She jumps at him, nails out. He swings wild, hitting Sloan. The two fight fiercely as their parents try to break them up.
IN BLACK…DINER SOUNDS..WEDNESDAY, 7:01:49.
INT. VICTOR’S. DAY.
RADIOS squawking calls on the counter and on the tables as COPS take their meal periods. Putts sits at a table, surrounded by COPS, diagramming plays on graph paper.
PUTTS
This team is media ready,
baby. We win the city and
the state. We get write ups.
The PD’s gotta fly us to
New Orleans for the
nationals. We win those,
baby, we’re doin’ Letterman.
We get an agent. We’re up
for commercials…We just
gotta get by them firemen…
AT THE REGISTER
Conti and Sloan pay their checks.
SLOAN
It seems like yesterday he
was a little kid cryin’
because the Little League
Coach kept putting him in
right field.
CONTI
And now he’s gonna take over
the world and put all them
jocks against the wall.
SLOAN
(defensive)
Wait a minute. It’s not that
bad.
They walk out and head for their cars.
CONTI
Admit it, you’re in suburban
hell. You got a house you
can’t afford. Your son’s a
loose cannon. Your daughter’s
into sexual experimentation.
SLOAN
Excuse me. I suppose there’s
no sexual experimentation
goin’ on in Brooklyn. I
suppose your little Josephine
isn’t doing a little lap
work…
CONTI
Excuse me, but would you like
to get your ass kicked?
SLOAN
(opens his door)
I deserve it for confiding
in you.
CONTI
(opens his door)
I could blow you off with
some feelgood line of crap.
But because I’m your friend,
I hit you between the eyes
with the unvarnished truth…
SLOAN
(getting into his car)
At least I’m tryin’ to do the
best for my family. Not like
Mr. Unvarnished Truth over
here, who cuts everybody
loose so he can chase women…
CONTI
(getting into his car)
I got a problem, alright. If
it was drinking or gambling
or even drugs everybody would
feel sorry for me…
They slam their doors and gun their motors. Then jam on the brakes to avoid a collision.
INT. KEATS’S OFFICE. DAY.
Keats stares at Sloan in disbelief, a coffee cup poised in his hand. A moment of strained silence. Sloan fidgets.
KEATS
This is a scam, right?
SLOAN
I would call it innovative
police work.
KEATS
You’re gonna send this
Russian girl into the bar
to get him on a cocaine
sale.
SLOAN
That’s the plan.
KEATS
DEA and FBI struck out with
this guy. What makes you
think you can get him?
SLOAN
We’ve got an ice breaker, a
name we can use to get his
trust. Look, if we arrest
Lupo for rape, she won’t
testify against him anyway.
And if her brothers find out,
she’ll be punished, beaten,
maybe worse, and we’ll have
another crime to investigate.
We got a special situation in
this precinct. We do things a
little differently, but we
get the bad guys.
KEATS
Multicultural policing.
SLOAN
Beg your pardon…
KEATS
You promise this won’t blow
up in my face.
SLOAN
Operationally and
procedurally we’ve got all
our bases covered.
KEATS
I think I’ll go home early
tonight.
SLOAN
Good idea. You look a little
tired.
KEATS
You know that Russian girl
gave me some good exercises
for my back.
SLOAN
Don’t worry. We’ll take care
of her.
INT.SQUAD.NIGHT.
The cops discuss the “move.” with Lena.
SLOAN
Order a drink and wait until
he hits on you.
LENA
No, I ask for him right away.
I am there to buy drugs. Why
would I wait?
SLOAN
Because he’ll get suspicious
if you come on strong…
LENA
He’ll get suspicious if I
don’t. I’ve done many times
this before. If you don’t
trust me to do it right call
it off.
PUTTS
Anybody know this Silhouette
Club?
DEREK
I took a guy outta there when
I was in uniform…
BURKE
(blurts)
I been in there a coupla
times. I know Kenny Lupo.
They look at him. This is a damaging admission.
CONTI
You could go in and spot
him for us.
SLOAN
If Lupo sees a cop he might
freeze up.
CONTI
He might also relax and think
nothin’ was up.
OLGA
I’ll go in with you. Make it
look more natural.
THIRD
Do we have back up? What if
Lupo’s got ten guys in there?
Do we have a Plan B?
CONTI
You know what makes most plans
fail? Too much planning.
SLOAN
Thank you, partner. That
about sums it up.
IN BLACK…10:15;57. STREET SOUNDS. RADIO CALLS
DEREK
God, did you ever see
anything like this in your
life?
EXT. SILHOUETTE CLUB. NIGHT.
Lena chic in a short skirt and spiked heels walk past a CHUNKY BOUNCER under a NEON SILHOUETTE of a COUPLE embracing.
PAN TO a VAN across the street where Derek and Third are watching. Third grabs the radio.
THIRD
She’s in.
His CELL PHONE chirps.
A FEW BLOCKS AWAY
Sloan and Conti sit in a DETECTIVE CAR, the Silhouette sign blinking in the distance. Sloan talks on his cell phone.
SLOAN
Jerry says turn off the
radios, they got a satellite
scanner in the bar.
INT SILHOUETTE CLUB. NIGHT.
Dark, DISCO blasting. JUNIOR WISEGUYS in knock off Armanis, bragging and flashing jewelry..
Olga, in short skirt and low cut top walks through the smoke, drawing looks and propositions. She passes the bar where Lena, holding a shot of vodka, is talking to the BARTENDER.
LENA
Tell Kenny Sammy Capelli
told me to come.
At the end of the bar Burke is nursing a beer.
BURKE
You made a lot of friends.
OLGA
Yeah. If I ever want to be
fed cheap booze and raped
under the boardwalk, I know
where to go.
INT. SEDAN. NIGHT.
The radio is on to a sports talk show. Putts and Bagels cruise past a sedan where Conti and Sloan are on cell phones.
INT. DETECTIVE CAR. NIGHT.
Sloan is talking to his wife. Conti to the Golden Gate. Both have changed out of their suits into windbreakers and slacks.
CONTI
She’s a brunette, nice body,
on the zaftig side.
SLOAN
I’ll talk to Brian tomorrow
morning. I won’t get home in
time, Corinne, I’m on a
stakeout.
CONTI
Did anybody leave a message
for me?
SLOAN
Hold on a second…
(to Conti)
Face facts, the lady’s got
too much class to hang around
that dump waitin’for you.
CONTI
(grabs Sloan’s phone)\
Corinne, how do you put up
with this guy?… A drink?
Any time. I’ve been secretly
in love with you for years…
SLOAN
(shoves him)
Turn off the charm…
Conti’s phone beeps. He answers…
CONTI
Yeah, Jerry.
(to Sloan)
Lupo showed. Is he alone,
Jerry?
END ACT THREE
CONEY ISLAND BLUEFISH By Heywood Gould
I pitched a show about how cops deal with the new ethnically diverse New York.
The executives looked up from their blackberries…
Thought Coney Island–home to refugees from the former Soviet Empire a burgeoning Mexican population, Indians, Pakistanis, Hasidim, not to mention retired garment workers, Mafia holdouts, yuppies, hipsters and health nuts who want to be by the sea–would be a good arena.
The executives leaned forward in their chairs—a good sign.
Police precincts field sports teams that play other city departments and go to a state championship every year.
The executives had never heard of that.
“Great hook,” someone said.
I wrote the script. Joy was unconfined. We were on our way.
Then it was bounced down from the “upstairs.”
The verdict:
“Is he kidding?”
Enjoy
Best,
Heywood
Our first script was EMPIRES OF CRIME. Seven years in development was a six part mini-series commissioned by a broadcast network and later reacquired by a cable station.
Click on EMPRIES OF CRIME link below for the entire script.
The story is about the founders of Organized Crime, Meyer Lansky, and “Lucky” Luciano, their fifty year partnership and the empire they created. Their friendships and families, lives and loves. It is also about their implacable enemy Thomas Dewey, a young Republican attorney who built a political career prosecuting the Mob that propelled him to the NY Governor’s Mansion and almost to the White House.
0 Responses to “Movies You Will Never See/Coney Island Bluefish/Part 9”