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"NATURAL BORN KILLERS"

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日期:2006-8-8 20:23:24
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                         "NATURAL BORN KILLERS"


                     SCREENPLAY BY QUENTIN TARANTINO,
                     DAVID VELOZ, RICHARD RUTOWSKI,
                     AND OLIVER STONE





     DRAFT FIVE
     MAY 11,1993




     EXT. NEW MEXICO DESERT HIGHWAY - DAY (PRESENT)

     A black scorpion crawls towards us on hot tarmac.  The sound of
     an approaching PICKUP.  A tire crushes the life from the
     scorpion, CAMERA rising from it to reveal a desolate DINER in the
     middle of nowhere.

     INT. DINER - DAY

     MICKEY KNOX, his back turned to us, is sitting at the counter
     finishing his meal. We hear the PING...BANG...of a pinball machine
     being played OFF SCREEN.

     MABEL, a waitress, comes over and fills Mickey's coffee cup.

                          MICKEY
                What kind of pies do you have?

                          MABEL
                Apple, pecan, cherry, and key lime.

                          MICKEY
                Which do you recommend?

                          MABEL
                Well, the key lime is great, but it's an acquired taste.

                          MICKEY
                I haven't had a key lime pie in ten years.

                          MABEL
                When ya had it, did ya like it?

                          MICKEY
                No, but that don't mean much.  I was a completely
                different person ten years ago.  Let's give key lime
                a day in court.  And a large glass of milk.

     Mabel turns to her right.
 
                          MABEL (to someone O.S.)
                Should I make that two pieces?

     CAMERA PULLS BACK and we see for the first time MALLORY KNOX,
     Mickey's wife, sitting on a counter stool next to him.  Her back
     is to the camera as well.

                          MALLORY
                Nada, Rosey.

                          MABEL (annoyed)
                My name's not Rosey. (points at name tag) It's Mabel.

     Mabel exits FRAME.

                          MALLORY
                Whatever.

     Mallory hops from the stool, walks over and grabs the JAR next to
     the cash register, then dumping out the coins on the counter, she
     selects a quarter.

                          MABEL
                Hey, what the hell do you think you're doin'?

     Mallory saunters past the COWBOY playing pinball.  As his eyes
     follow Mallory, he loses his ball.

     She walks to the jukebox in the back, inserts the quarter,
     selects a song, punches the buttons, a needle lands on a record,
     and a hard-hitting rockabilly TUNE cuts through the coffee shop.
     (Suggestions: "Let 'er Roll" by Sid King or "Red Hot"/"The Way I
     Walk" by Robert Gordon)

     Mabel brings Mickey his pie and milk.

                         MABEL (to Mickey)
               She ought not be doing that.  That's for
               Jerry's kids, not rock 'n roll.

     CAMERA moves around to a CU of Mickey.  This is the first time we
     see him.  As he takes a bite of green pie:

                          MICKEY
               I can't take her anywhere.

     Mallory starts doing a slow seductive fandango around the coffee
     shop.  She's really cooking and smoking.

     Pinball Cowboy and Mabel are starting to wonder just who the hell
     these people are.

     EXT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY

     A dirty pickup truck, sporting a Confederate flag decal, pulls up
     to the coffee shop, a DEAD DEER in the back.  SONNY, OTIS, and
     EARL, three tough-looking rednecks, pile out.  Steam rises from
     beneath the pickup's hood.

                          EARL
                Goddamn this sonbitch is runnin' hot.  Y'all go
                inside.  I'm gonna check 'er out.

     INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY

     The LOUDNESS of the Rockabilly song slaps SONNY and OTIS in their
     faces as they walk inside the door.  The sexy sight of MALLORY
     doing the ubang stomp stops them in their tracks.

                          SONNY
                Good God almighty.  What the hell is that?

                          OTIS
                That's a bitch outta hell, son.

     Otis and Sonny exchange looks.

                          OTIS
                Take a run at 'er, kiddo.

     Sonny heads toward Mallory.  Otis moves over to the counter next
     to Mickey.

                          OTIS
                Miller, Mabel.

                          MABEL
                Comin' up.

     Sonny stands in front of Mallory, trying to copy what she's
     doing.  Her eyes are closed at the moment, so she doesn't see
     him.

     Mabel sets the Miller down in front of Otis.  Otis takes a swig,
     enjoying the floor show.

                          OTIS (to Mickey)
                That's some sweet piece of meat, ain't it?

     Mickey turns from his pie and looks at Otis.  His expression
     betrays nothing.

                          MICKEY
                Her name's Mallory.

                          OTIS
                Mallory, whatever -- who gives a shit.  I call
                it pussy.

     The needle lifts off the record.  The song ends.

     Mallory opens her eyes and sees Sonny, grinding up against her,
     grabbing for her tits.

                          SONNY
                Hells Bells!  Don't stop now sugar.  I'm just
                getting warmed up.

     Sonny gives her his best shit-eating grin before turning to Otis.
     Otis gurgles out a laugh.

                          OTIS
                Hey, I think she's sweet on you.

     Sonny turns to Mallory.

                          MALLORY (sweet)
               Oh, are you flirting with me?

     She starts to sing "Shitlist" by L7.  Sonny doesn't understand as
     she punches him hard in the face, spinning him around.  More
     punches follow as she wallops him all over the diner.

     A new song automatically drops on -- Patti Smith's "Rock 'n Roll
     Nigger" or L7's "Shitlist" pumping the room to a new peak of
     murder and insanity.

     Mallory grabs the back of Sonny's head and SMASHES it down on the
     table, cracking the linoleum.

                          MALLORY
               Don't fuck with my dance! Goddamnit Mickey, why
               do they fuck with my dance, goddamn is it be-
               cause I'm so cute? Why are they fucking with me?

     Otis jumps off the counter stool, but Mickey's hand clutches hold
     of his shoulder.

     Otis spins around toward Mickey, loaded for bear, and points his
     finger at him, threateningly.

     Before any threat can be made, Mickey whips a large buck knife
     out from its sheath, and in a flash, SLICES off Otis' finger.

     Otis' finger drops on his boot.  He grabs his aching hand.  Blood
     flows from the wound.

                         MICKEY
               Just because my woman's mopping up the floor
               with your buddy is no reason for you to join in.

     Mickey makes five lightning quick SLASHING SWINGS.  The buck
     knife slips back into its sheath.  At first, there seems to be no
     difference with Otis.  Finally, blood flows from the slices made
     in his face and chest.  Otis collapses.

     The SHORT-ORDER COOK in a hairnet charges out of the kitchen at
     Mickey, wielding a meat cleaver and screaming.

     Mickey whips out a .45 automatic from a shoulder holster inside
     his jacket and FIRES.

     BULLET'S POV:  Heading fast toward Short-Order Cook's face.  It
     HITS.  Short-Order Cook puts his hands to his face and falls to
     the ground, screaming.

     Mickey spots Earl, who's standing outside the plate glass window.
     Earl's watched the whole shebang.

     Earl mouths "Fuck!"  He turns and runs for it.

     Mickey hurls the knife through the plate glass window, which
     SHATTERS.  The knife PLUNGES deep into Earls back.  He hits the
     ground dead.

     Mickey turns to Mallory.  She's sitting on top of Sonny, SLAMMING
     his head repeatedly on the floor. He's dead, she's still singing.

                          MALLORY
                ..."you made my ... shitlist!"

                          MICKEY
                Honey.

     Mallory looks up at Mickey.  She gets off Sonny and moves to
     Mickey's side.

     Mickey trains his .45 on Pinball Cowboy, who's shaking in his
     cowboy boots.  Mickey aims at Mabel, who's clutching the coffee
     pot, crying.

                          MICKEY (to Mallory)
                Pick one.

     Mallory does eanie, meanie, minie, moe, pointing back and forth
     from Mabel to Pinball Cowboy. Twice the jingle lands on the
     cowboy, but Mallory adds another phrase...

                          MALLORY
                Eanie, meanie, minie, moe, catch a redneck by
                the toe.  If he hollers, let him go.  Eanie,
                meanie, minie, moe.  My mom told me to pick the
                best one ... and you are it.

     ...so that she ends on Mabel.  Mabel's dodging around screaming.

     Mickey FIRES the .45.  The bullet CHINKS through the coffee pot
     Mabel's holding and explodes, THUNKING her in the chest.  She
     hits the floor dead.

     Mickey and Mallory join hands and walk over to the Pinball Cowboy
     who stands in a pool of his own urine.

                          MALLORY
                When you tell people what went on here, tell
                'em Mickey and Mallory Knox was here. Say it.

                          COWBOY
                Mickey and Mallory Knox.

                          MALLORY (to Mickey)
                I love you Mickey.

                          MICKEY
                I love you Mallory.

     They kiss.  Holding hands, Mickey and Mallory walk out of the
     cafe.

     TITLE SEQUENCE

     INT. CONVERTIBLE CAR - MOVING - DAY (PROCESS SHOT)

     "Rock 'n Roll Nigger"/"Shitlist" blends into a PROCESS SHOT of
     plates of the Southwest USA (Shiprock, buttes, mesas, Rio Grande,
     Indian Reservation), mixed with the Midwest, Alaska -- the
     country on the move.

     The Song Track acquires a second and possibly third song, all
     clashing on the track at the same time (possibly older fare like
     Duane Eddy's "Rebel Rouser" or Shangri-La's "Leader of the Pack"
     with some "Madame Butterfly" thrown in).  The TITLES splash over
     this with big Rock Hudson/"Giant" '50's-style block lettering.

     In the foreground (possibly grainy, black-and-white 16 mm,
     "Breathless" style cinema verite), MICKEY drives a 70's type
     American muscle car fast (Suggestions:  a Plymouth Cuda, Dodge
     Challenger, Coup de Ville Cadillac).  Buffalo grass blurs by.
     White clouds.

     Then some RAIN.  The top is down.  They are wet and laughing.  A
     bottle of tequila lays between them.  She turns the radio up
     louder...and louder.  Micket drives faster ... and faster.  The
     car feels like it's taking flight.  The wind, the music --
     everything merges.

     The CAR crashes off the road, through a barbed wire fence,
     fishtails -- races on, mowing through brush.

     Mickey floors it and howls to get 400 horses under control.
     MALLORY yells.  Can you believe?  Can you see Life in Death?

     EXT. NIGHT - STARS

     A vault of Southwest Stars, clean as milk, pouring down on the
     TWO LOVERS in the middle of nowhere.  Mickey peeing in the dark.
     Softer Music (Cowboy Junkies' "Sweet Jane" style).

                         MICKEY
               Goddamn!  Looks like the world's comin' to an
               end, Mall.

     Mallory is dancing barefoot on the hood of the car. As she
     sings/talks, the stars become light-moving explosions into the
     earth.

                         MALLORY
                         (dreamy, looking up)
               I see angels Mickey ... comin' down for us from
               heaven.  I feel their feathered wings ... I see
               you ridin' a red horse, drivin' the horses,
               whippin' 'em -- they're spittin', frothin' all
               over the mouth -- comin' right at us...I see
               the future...and there's no death
               Mickey...cause you and I are angels.

     She gets out of the car. Mickey, buttoning up, turns to look at
     her for a moment.

                         MICKEY
               That's goddamn poetry...damn I love you Mall.

     In the shadows, we see her little devil grinning back at him, as
     she pees.  Light on her flanks. She's singing "Ain't Nobody's
     Business" by Billy Holiday.

     TITLES END.

     EXT. WINSLOW/GALLUP - DAY

     MICKEY and MALLORY drive into a quiet one-street town on Rt. 666.

     EXT. MOTEL - NIGHT

     The car is parked outside a cheap MOTEL in the middle of nowhere.
     The sign reads "FREE HBO."

     INT. MOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

     MALLORY is drying her hair, in a slip.

                         MALLORY
               You wanna go out?  Get somethin' to eat?

     No answer.  The TV's on to "Thelma and Louise" blasting it out
     with the cops.  MICKEY has a copy of TV Guide in his hands, worn
     out.

                         MICKEY
               Nah, let's stay in, (he looks off to the
               corner) we got plenty action here.

                         MALLORY (stepping out of the bathroom)
               You know what I been thinkin' bout?

                         MICKEY
               Course I know.  You been thinkin' bout rollin'
               round that big sunflower patch outside Tulsa.

     He flicks the channel.  To "Badlands" -- another shootout.

                         MALLORY (pleased)
               How'd ya know?

                         MICKEY
               And you been thinkin' bout cutting your hair
               short.

     She steps on the bed and sits on her knees, snuggles.  She puts
     her head on his shoulder and he traces the line from her eyebrows
     down through her nose and chin.  She's like a cat, purring,
     nestling for his warmth.

                         MICKEY
               And you been thinkin' bout us settlin' down --
               on a boat in the middle of a big lake, with a
               dog and a juke box.

     Mallory wraps her arms around his chest, nibbles his neck. What
     she never felt in her father's house -- a warmth.

                         MALLORY
               Oh, Mick, I love it when you can read my mind.
               I bet I know what you been thinkin' bout?

     Mickey flicks to "Scarface" -- the chainsaw scene.

                         MICKEY
               Yeah, why they make all these fuckin' stupid
               movies. Don't they believe in kissin' anymore!
               I tell ya out there in Hollywood somebody's a
               taco short of a combo plate.

     He gives her a big kiss.  She smiles.

                         MALLORY
               Oh mercy.

                         MICKEY (laughs)
               You're so cute. I love you, right down to
               your... (notices)... where is it?

     Her wedding ring is missing.  He glares at her hard, grabbing
     her wrist.

     The CAMERA suddenly hauls ass from the bedroom back through the
     bathroom door and careens towards the sink.  It STOPS at a soap
     dish.  There, bigger than life, is Mallory's WEDDING RING.  A
     diamond to light up the sky.

     Her hand comes into FRAME, grabs it and exits FRAME.

     Mallory jumps back in bed with Mickey, waving her ring.

                         MALLORY
               Calm down Mickey!  I just took it off so it
               wouldn't snag when I washed my hair, goddamn.

     Mickey flicks the remote to a "Game Show" -- a new refrigerator,
     a miniature swimming pool, and a new car are given away in a
     rapid sequence. Mickey throws her perturbed looks inbetween:

                         MICKEY
               Even if that ring pulls out every hair on your
               head, it never comes off.  If it scratches my
               face, it never comes off.  If it tears out my
               eyes, it never comes off.  Every great thing we
               do, starts with these.

     Mickey clicks their wedding rings together.  Mallory, excited,
     kisses him in great slurps of lust as Mickey flicks to a "Nature
     Show" -- Insects devour insects.  Who eats who, and where.

                         MALLORY (sexy)
               If you put it that way.

     She makes love to him under the sheets.

     On the TV, a praying mantis swallows a bug.

     Mickey, a love crazed guy, splits his looks between the TV and
     something in the corner.

                         MICKEY (to TV)
               "Jeesus, look at that...my god!"

                         MALLORY
               Stop lookin'...will you stop lookin' at her!

     It could be the TV he's looking at; we're not sure.

     Mallory stops humping him, looks at her ring.  He blows some hair
     out of her eyes.

     Mallory, frustrated, gets off him, throws a jacket over her slip,
     adjusts her highheels.

                         MALLORY (going out)
               I'm goin' for a ride.  See ya' later.

                         MICKEY
               Hold it? Weren't we going to do something with her?

     CAMERA PANS, with Mallory on the way out to the corner of the
     motel room.  A young GIRL is tied up, her mouth taped shut, her
     eyes bugging out of their sockets, she's so scared.

                         MALLORY (going out)
               Later...

                         MICKEY
               Prude.

     Mickey closes his eyes.  The TV light washing his face with
     another trip to Hawaii.

     EXT. EDGE OF TOWN - NIGHT

     MALLORY drives, top down, through a truckstop town. It's a hot
     night.

     EXT. GAS STATION - NIGHT

     COYOTE catch MICE drawn to the street lights. A little outside
     town, MALLORY'S pulled into an all-night gas station.  Bugs fly
     around the neon.  The radio in the car is on to something like
     "Ted Just Admit It" from Jane's Addiction.

     A YOUNG GAS ATTENDANT slides out from under a Corvette he's
     working on in the garage.  He puts on his greasy cowboy hat and
     walks up to her car.

                         MALLORY
               Fill 'er up.

                                                          TIME CUT:

     He pumps the gas.  She walks over to check out the Corvette.  As
     he comes over,

                         MALLORY
               Nice 'vette.

                         ATTENDANT (nods)
               That'll be seventeen bucks lady. Say, don't I
               know you?

     Mallory leans into his face, a yearning.  She takes his hand,
     feels it.

     He looks, wondering, surprised.  There's something so needy, so
     desperate in Mallory's child-like eyes.

     She takes his hand and runs it up inside her shirt, muttering.

                         MALLORY
               Why don't you just feel me...tell me you want
               me...think I'm sexy?

     His hands feel her up.  She presses her lips to his neck,
     nibbling.

     A brief flashing image of MICKEY passes before her eyes.  It's
     him in front of her.

                         MALLORY
               ...come on, say it more...

     His hands get rough, taking the lead.  She doesn't want that.
     She pushes his head down, deflecting his agressivity.  (..."go
     down")  Camera dwells on her leaning back on the Corvette as he
     is he is beneath her.

     But he is rough, and pops his head back up and smothers her on
     the top of the hood.  His blackened hands starting to push and
     knead her roughly.

                         ATTENDANT
               Oh baby!  You are sexy!

     She is increasingly agitated, coming out of her reverie.  This is
     obviously not Mickey.

     He spreads her hard across the hood and spreads her legs in a vee.

                         ATTENDANT
               Holy shit!  I can't believe this...can I get ya
               autograph?  You're Mallory Knox ain't yal

                         MALLORY
               Yeah.  And you're dead.

     She kicks him hard, freeing her legs.  He falls off the hood. She
     gets the gun from her purse and fires an angry SHOT into him.

     She is ranting as she kicks him and steps over him.

                         MALLORY
               Next time don't be so fuckin' eager...that was
               the worst fuckin' head I've ever had in my life.

     She scoops the cash out of the night register at the pump.

                         MALLORY
               Goddamn! You deserve to fucking die!

     INT. GAS STATION - DAY

     Peering at Mallory's underwear, JACK SCAGNETTI expresses
     reverence, moving his attention to the hood of the Corvette,
     dusted with crime powder.  He's a cop, one of the best.  He
     consults a LOCAL COWBOY SHERIFF.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Jesus, a perfect ass... you can even see the
               crack... that's the back ... arm...her
               head...fuckin' dry saliva drops still on the
               fender.

     He drops down to examine the DEAD ATTENDANT.

                         SCAGNETTI
              ...poor bastard was eatin' her when she did 'im.

     He looks in the attendant's mouth, pulling out a small pocket
     knife.  Using the tweezers, he removes a pubic hair from the dead
     man's mouth. He holds it to the light, looking at it intensely.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Mallory Knox...meet Jack Scagnetti.

     INT. MICKEY CAR - (MOVING) - INDIAN RESERVATION - DAY

     CU of a rear view mirror -- MALLORY'S eyes looking.

                         MALLORY
               Fuck...fuckin' cheese!

     The camera now revolves in the mirror to rack MICKEY, driving,
     also peering seriously into the mirror.

                         MICKEY
               This fuckin' guy's got me worn down to a bare
               fuckin' nub.

     The mirror -- A NAVAJO PATROL CAR is shadowing them.

     INT. INDIAN CAR - DAY

     Closer -- stoic INDIAN EYES under a tribal baseball cap.  Just
     looking, tagging -- not on the radio or anything.

     INT. MICKEY'S CAR - DAY

     CU on a state road MAP showing Indian Reservation symbols.  Up to
     MALLORY.

                         MALLORY
               Be cool -- take the next right.  Looks like a
               town out there.

                         MICKEY
               All I see is desert.

     MICKEY turns onto a dirt road off the Highway.  A cloud of dust.

     They look back.

     The Indian slows to a crawl, watching them...then goes past, down
     the main road.

                         MICKEY (relieved)
               That's right Cochise, go eat some more fried
               bread...Gimme some more mushrooms.

     Mallory reaches for the mushrooms -- gives him a couple of dry
     chewy puips.  He gnashes on them.  The radio's been playing
     something zonal like "Alive" by Pearl Jam or "Dizz Knee Land" by
     Dada.

     EXT. DIRT ROAD - LATER - DAY

     They have run out of gas in the middle of nowhere.  Red earth.
     Sky.  Clouds.  A thrush calls out a song.

     MICKEY is staggering, besotted with mushroom power.  Sticks his
     gun in his belt, begins walking up the road looking for gas.

                         MICKEY
               Shit. Right now I'd go down on a lawman for a
               gallon of gas...do I have something on my nose?

                         MALLORY (sings it)
               "Guess it's farther than I thought."

                         MICKEY
               Snakes, birds, nothin' out here. "Turn right?"
               Turn right to what? You fuckin' stupid bitch.

     She punches him right in the face.  Then she kicks him to the
     ground.  On the ground he tries a savate kick. She sees it
     coming, jumps over him and lands right on him, gun in his
     forehead.

                         MALLORY (mocking)
               "You stupid bitch!  You stupid bitch!  You stupid
               bitch!!" Don't call me bitch.  My father called me that.
               Once too much.  You're losing it, Mickey.

     He has a tooth loosened.

                         MICKEY
               Sure Mall, take it easy...it's me, your lover,
               not some demon.

                         MALLORY
               How do I know that? Take off your pants and
               gimme your money...now.  I'm serious.

                         MICKEY
               Mall! I don't have to be dictated to by a woman...

                         MALLORY
               Shoes too.

     She fires. Into the ground. Right next to him. He hops to comply.

                         MICKEY
               What are you gonna do?  Leave me. Just cause I
               don't have the goddamn same puritanical belief
               systems you do!  What the fuck is that gonna...

     She fires again.  Speed it up.  He senses she's really pissed.

                         MALLORY
               Mickey, you gotta get respect for me...turn
               around and drop your knickers.  I want to see
               your ass up in the air.

                         MICKEY
               Mall!  What the hell game is this!

     She fires again. The shots bring the sound of BELLS jingling.
     They look.

     On a KNOLL fifty feet away stands a flock of RAMS.

     Conversely, the Rams' POV is of a near-naked man and a woman with
     a gun in the desert. The Chief RAM tears out after Mickey.

                         MICKEY
               What the fuck!

     He starts to run.

                         MICKEY
               Shoot it!  Goddamn Mall, shoot the fucker!!

     Mallory laughs as the ram closes on Mickey.  But the Ram comes to
     an abrupt stop as it hears the WHISTLE.

     A FIGURE now stands at the top of the knoll with the flock of
     sheep and a YOUNG BOY.  The ram trots back towards him.

     Mickey looking.  Mallory puts away the gun.

     The Figure is an OLD INDIAN.

     Mickey crossing himself, half joking.

                         MICKEY
               Rejoice...for he hath found his sheep which
               were lost in the desert
                    (pointing)
               Hey, Chief, we ran outta gas...our car's up the
               road apiece.

     The Indian knows something. He says nothing, continuing down the
     hill and across the road with the Young Boy, the ram and about 30
     sheep.

     Mickey, throwing on his clothes, follows with Mallory, their
     dispute forgotten for now.

     EXT. DESERT HOGAN - DAY

     MICKEY AND MALLORY approach a hogan -- a mud and log structure,
     twenty feet across.  A PICKUP is parked nearby.  A scruffy DOG
     alongside a PICKUP barks as they approach; a DONKEY is tied to a
     pinon tree and SHEEP wander.

     The YOUNG BOY stands in the breeze watching them.

     Mickey knocks at the open door.

                          MICKEY
               Hi...so look we got tobacco, lots of tobacco...
               you got any gasoline we can buy?

     No answer.

                          MICKEY (looking at the donkeys, to Mallory)
               We can always snatch the donkey and ride outta
               here.

                          MALLORY
               Maybe he don't speak English.

                          INDIAN
               Come on in.

     Mallory and Mickey look at each other and step inside.

                          INDIAN (his only English)
               Come on in.

     INT. HOGAN - DAY

     It's dim inside but cozy.  The old INDIAN sits on a rickety old
     bed with a horsehair mattress, sheep skins and an Indian blanket.
     A worn aluminum kitchen table occupies the middle of the room.

     Bays of dried ears of corn, squash, melon and beans lay on the
     dirt floor.  Chilies and dry mutton hang on wire strung on one
     side of the room.  A pile of cedar wood is stacked by an old
     franklin stove, a covered pot on top.  Scraps of cotton hang over
     the windows, various photos of family and friends, and feathered
     Indian gear hang from nails pounded into the wall.  It's very
     quiet.

                         INDIAN
               Come on in.

     He motions for them to sit in an overstuffed chair.

                         MALLORY
               Thank you (pointing to herself)  I'm Mall-o -
               ry...That's Mi...ckey.

     Everyone nods and smiles.  MICKEY and MALLORY show another side
     of sweetness and politeness.  The YOUNG KID coming in and sitting
     down next to the OLD MAN.

                         INDIAN (in navajo)
               When are you leaving?

     Mallory signals they don't understand.

                         INDIAN (in navajo to the Boy)
               Good looking woman...uh...Man's got things in
               his head he can't get out...demons.  Too much
               TV...Trouble follows that one.

                         MICKEY (to Mallory)
               This is like the twilight zone or something.

     The Old Man walks over to some pictures on the walls, hands one
     to Mallory of a YOUNG COUPLE back in the 1940s or 50s.


     [PAGE 17 MISSING]


                         INDIAN BOY (navajo)
               Can you help them grandpa?

                         INDIAN (navajo)
               Maybe they don't want to be helped.  They both
               fly too close to sun.  Now they are falling to
               earth.  That is why they have come here.  My
               prayers would mean nothing in their world.

     He stokes the fire, feeds the snake again. He studies a crystal
     in his hand.

                         INDIAN (navajo)
               Once there was a woman who went out to collect firewood.

     The snake is crawling over to the Indian who reaches down and
     picks it up and puts in his lap.

                         INDIAN (navajo)
               You want to hear the story too don't you old
               man... O.K. (continues)  She came upon a
               poisonous snake frozen in the snow.  She took
               the snake home with her.  She put the frozen
               snake on her favorite blanket by the warm fire.
               She fed it and nursed it back to health.  One
               day she picked the snake up and it bit her on
               the cheek.  As she lay dying she asked the
               snake, I loved you, why have you done this to
               me?  The snake answered, "look bitch, you knew
               I was a snake."

     He chuckles, as does the Boy. It's very quiet. The sound of the
     fire.

     Mickey has fallen asleep.  The Old Indian begins to SING.

     Mallory is awake, watching the Indian.  The room, shadows
     dancing.  It is the first time she can remember feeling peace,
     almost like family.  She starts to drift off.

     Mickey is dreaming out loud.

     The Old Man stands and takes the snake to the door.  Opening it,
     he lets the snake out.

                         INDIAN (navajo)
               Go be a snake.

     Mickey's nightmare is getting heavier.  He's moaning and sweating.
     The Old Indian takes his feathered hat of f the wall and puts it
     on.  He opens a wooden box and takes out a white eagle feather
     and a bundle of medicine.

     EXT. HOGAN - NIGHT

     The OLD MAN and the BOY with him now make offerings to the four
     directions, to the grandfather spirit, the stars, the earth, the
     mother, praying, singing.  His face and hands are marked with
     white ash and colors so the spirits will recognize him.

     INT. HOGAN - NIGHT

     As we hear the mounting sounds of the prayer, we see MICKEY'S
     face dreaming, sweating.

     The OLD MAN is now leaning over Mickey and MALLORY in half light,
     shaking the rattle and waving the burning sage over Mickey to
     chase the demons.

     We push into Mickey's eyes.

     DREAM IMAGERY -- death, murder, shit...a WAR FOOTAGE.  In
     Bosnia...a decapitated BODY sitting in the corner of the room,
     just sitting as if alive, as if about to rise up...A MAN slaps a
     WOMAN. A BABY cries...shooting...a MURDER VICTIM screaming "Oh
     god no! Please no!" BIRDS fly backwards...A MONSTER with a knife
     in its hand coming at us, the face of the Demon!

     Suddenly TWO SHOTS explode off the walls of the hogan.

     Mickey is awake, stunned, sweating -- the gun in his hand.

     Mallory sitting up.

     The OLD INDIAN stands still over Mickey.  Everything stops.

     Then staring into the Beyond, he falls to the ground.

     Mickey is shocked, howls.

                         MICKEY
               Ahhhhhhhhh!

                         MALLORY (screaming, feeling the merge)
               Ooohhh my God... Mickey YOU KILLED HIM!!!

     They look down at the dying Chief.

                         INDIAN (quietly, in navajo)
               You thought coming here was an accident...this
               was no accident...I saw this demon in my dream -
               - 20 years ago.  I was waiting...I forgive you.

     The Old Indian dies.

                         MALLORY
               This is bad Mickey.

     Mickey walks outside, in circles, ranting to himself.

     EXT. HOGAN - NIGHT

     The last of the moon is disappearing behind the earth.  The lone
     dog howls.

     MICKEY with the gun in hand runs to the Indian's PICKUP truck,
     jumps in.  It won't start. He catches a glimpse of something in
     the rear view mirror.  The DEMON FACE over his own.

                         MICKEY (spooked)
               SHIT!

     He leaps, scrambles out of the truck, looks in the back for gas.
     A 5 gallon can.  He shakes it.  Half full of gas.

                         MICKEY
               Mallory!

     INT. HOGAN - NIGHT

     MALLORY is covering the dead INDIAN with his blanket.

                         MICKEY (O.S, desperate)
               Mallory!

     EXT. HOGAN - NIGHT

     On the horizon, we see the YOUNG BOY standing there looking.  He
     runs away.

     MALLORY walks past MICKEY, heading elsewhere.

                         MICKEY (carrying the can)
               We got gas, baby.

     She says nothing, pissed.

                         MICKEY
               Come on Mall -- it was an accident.  This whole fucking
               thing is crazy (catches up to her, spins her).

                         MALLORY
               Don't you feel anything!...Something else has
               taken over Mickey. I don't know what's real
               anymore. I'm scared. That was bad! Maybe we were
               led into the wilderness by the demon.


                         MICKEY
               There's no demon -- just us.

     She looks at him.

                         MICKEY
               I'm sorry bout the old man.  I really am.  But
               you gotta be strong Mall.  I need ya.  Now come
               on.  The car's this way.

     Mallory walks away.

                         MALLORY
               I felt at peace last night. It's over Mickey!
               I'm going any place but with you.  You got no
               real feelings. You're just as dead as all of 'em!

     Mickey follows.  A sudden rattle in the night.

                         MICKEY
               Wait a minute!

     Mickey flicks a lighter.

     A big RATTLESNAKE.

     They walk around it.  She wants to get away from him, doesn't pay
     attention.

     He flicks his lighter again.

     MORE SNAKES.

     Mallory keeps walking faster and faster.  Mickey tries to grab
     her.  She breaks away.

                         MALLORY
               Lemme alone!  I'm outta here.

     We hear another RATTLER.  Mallory screams out.  She's bit!

                         MICKEY
               OH GOD NO!

     He starts shooting into the ground.

     Mallory lies there stunned, hands to her ears.

                         MALLORY
               Stop it...STOP IT.

     Mickey rips off his shirt and wraps it around a stick, soaks it
     in the gasoline and lights it, making a big torch in the night.

     There are SNAKES coming at them from all directions.

                         MICKEY
               Holy Shit!  What the fuck have we done!

     Lighting the way with his torch, he hauls Mallory up and hotfoots
     it out of there, snakes popping their rattlers everywhere.

     A huge RATTLER sinks its fangs into Mickey's leg.  They're both
     bit.  He keeps moving, spitting the torch into the snake's face.

     INT. CAR - MOVING - HIGHWAY - NIGHT

     Mickey driving past a ROADSIGN saying "GALLUP."

     MALLORY is delirious.

                         MICKEY
               You'll make it Mall.  Badasses don't die ...
               Indians got a saying I read.  It says you're
               either stronger than the poison or you die.  They
               get bit, they run... fast as they can.  They
               either drop dead right then and there...or they
               live.  We're gonna live Mall -- a long, long time.

     PAST A CHEAP MOTEL on the outskirts of town -- says "U SLEEP
     MOTEL. $7.50 the night.  Free Hot Tubs.  Porno Films on Cable."
     The CAMERA stays with the motel, letting the car whip past.

     INT. MOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

     JACK SCAGNETTI, in undershorts on the bed, is drunk, sweating,
     eyeballing a friendly YOUNG WOMAN.  She's awkward, a little
     nervous but she's down to her undergarments, looking at the
     CLIPPINGS of "Mickey and Mallory" spread over the table and
     dresser, pictures of crime scenes and his book -- "Scagnetti on
     Scagnetti."  A half empty bottle of vodka.  A gun, handcuffs and
     a police badge.

                         PINKY (worried)
               ...my name's Pinky...
                    (no answer)
               Say are you a real cop?  Or are you some kinda
               freak or something?  I don't want no trouble.

                         SCAGNETTI (mumbles)
               Ya...I'm a real cop.

     Pinky smiles.  The light from the TV fills the room with a
     strange aura.  The sound is off.  We hear MUSIC from the next
     room.  TRUCKS pass by outside.

                         PINKY
               You're not qonna hurt me are you?

                         SCAGUETTI
               I never hurt anybody in my whole life. I'm the
               law.  I'm your protector. You don't ask me any
               more questions, Pinky...step up on the
               bed...move slowly.

     Not sure what he wants, Pinky steps barefoot up onto the bed,
     standing over him, a foot on either side of his torso...she's
     slowly bending, spreading, arching like a young woman remembering
     childhood ballet dreams, her eyes closed...

     He moves his hands up her legs and ass, exploring, continuing up
     across her shoulders.  Around her neck, bringing her down. Closer.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Come here, give big Jack a kiss...just keep
               lookin' at me now...just keep lookin'...don't
               close your eyes...y'ever been strangled?

     Head LIGHTS wipe across the wall.  A TRAIN passes.

     A different rhythm now.  Her eyes.  His hands around her neck.
     Strangling her.  She is terrified, struggles.

     An ankle with a thin gold chain.  A flailing arm kicks over the
     night stand and lamp.

     Falling, rolling.  Stale green motel carpet...she heaves,
     staring.  Slender leg kicking, fists pound at his face as he gets
     on top of her.  Fingers tear flesh.  Not a word is spoken. Her
     eyes never close. Fingers tear at his cheeks.

     The TRAIN has passed.  Silence.  The TV blinks.  The radio plays
     softly in the next room (people partying, laughing).

     His face.

     EXT. GARBAGE DUMP - EDGE OF TOWN - NIGHT

     The HOOKER'S separated body vanishes in plastic bags in a large
     dumpster.

     SCAGNETTI looks around, impeccable in a clean suit, shiny
     cufflinks.  He crosses back to his car, revealing an ancient
     DRIVE-IN next door.

     EXT. DRIVE-IN MOVIE - NIGHT

     The last show.  A Goldie Hawn-Steve Martin picture is playing --
     giant closeups, a comedy.

     MICKEY and MALLORY are slumped against the driving wheel,
     delirious, struggling for breath, sweating heavily.

                         MICKEY
               When's this over?  We gotta get outta here,
               Mall...we...

                         MALLORY
               Angels Mickey... I see angels

        On Goldie Hawn. (ANIMATION SEQUENCE begins here -- TBD)

                         MICKEY
               Ya, I see em.

                         MALLORY
               They're guarding us.  Each step we're
               together...Oh God...it's perfect.  We're gonna
               make it Mickey...we're gonna...

                         MICKEY
               Goddamn Mall, that's poetry.

     Mickey slams the car into drive, plowing forward out of the
     parking spot, smashing the movie meter.

     He sideswipes into another car, screams, anger. A PERSON stepping
     out to confront.

     Mickey slams his car backwards into the angry person, crushing
     him.  Then he zigzags his way through the parking lot past the
     faces of Goldie and Steve.

     EXT./INT. "DRUG ZONE" - NIGHT

     It towers over the deadbeat western landscape like a vision of
     the future -- gleaming white cube of fluorescent power -- sacred
     Aztec Gods within -- offering aisle after aisle of nicely colored
     packages of American D...R..U...G...S.

     HIGH ANGLE moving on MICKEY staggering down one aisle ... looking
     (presumably) for snake venom.

     The same goes for MALLORY in her aisle -- face now green with the
     sickness, cotton-mouthed. Time is running out...her breathing
     labored, short -- a sound from hell.

                         MALLORY (pleading)
               Mickey, I'm so cold...I'm goin' now...

     Staggering, falling in the aisle...

                         MICKEY
               No you're not! No you're not! Get angry!  Mall--

     Mickey in his aisle looking through the rubbers, pulling out a
     handful, staggering down a football-field aisle towards the
     counter that looks as far as an oasis in the Mojave.

     ON TV:

     At the CONTTROL BOOTH,  a nine-inch COLOR TELEVISION plays in
     CLOSE UP.  A pumped up MUSIC CUE peaks as we see:

     PHOTO:  Charles Manson
     TITLE:  "AMERICAN MANIACS"
     PHOTO:  Charles Whitman
     PHOTO:  Richard Ramirez
     PHOTO:  Ted Bundy
     TITLE:  HOSTED BY WAYNE GALE
     PHOTO:  David Berkowitz
     PHOTO:  Henry Lee Lucas
     TITLE:  PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY WAYNE GALE

     Following a series of shots of WAYNE GALE in the field (VIDEO
     SEQUENCE), the young commando journalist stands on the yellow
     line of Highway 58. His accent AUSTRALIAN STREET:

                         WAYNE TV
               Welcome to another episode of "American
               Maniacs," where we chronicle the mayhem, the
               brutality, and the violence of that peculiarly
               American creation -- the serial killer.

     PULL BACK to reveal an enormous POLYNESIAN DRUGGIST, 300
     pounds, watching a portable TV on the counter of the control
     booth.  He's behind a hi-strength glass and raised up a couple of
     steps.  His eyes, at this late hour, nervously wander to his
     SURVEILLANCE SCREEN -- revealing:

     ON SURVEILLANCE MONITOR:

     Mickey and Mallory, separate aisles, alone in an enormous sea of
     fluorescence, foaming.

     ON THE TV:

                         WAYNE TV
               Tonight I'm standing on Highway 666 -- running
               through towns like Cortez, Colorado, Shiprock,
               and ending in Gallup, New Mexico.  To some it's
               a beautiful stretch of the American landscape,
               but to Mickey and Mallory Knox, who are still
               at large, it is literally a candy lane of
               murder and mayhem...

     The moments are expanding in the Pharmacist's eyes as -- not
     yet, but almost -- thoughts begin to cross over into neighboring
     compartments.

     HOME MOVIE MONTAGE -- TV

     On the TV -- a MONTAGE OF Home Videos.  These are films of Mickey
     and Mallory living a normal life.

     -- MALLORY -- very introverted -- with her PARENTS who look
     really weird -- doing something weird like feeding the fish.  Or
     all three are smiling, Mallory in the middle.  Her father holds a
     chicken drumstick.  Mallory's taking a bite out of it.

     -- MICKEY in his high school yearbook photograph or elementary
     school.  Very innocent, sweet.  Possibly a photo in Santa's lap.

                         WAYNE TV
               Once they were average citizens, living drab,
               nothing-ever-happens lives, but then these
               sweethearts began a cross-country murder spree
               that has lasted only three terrifying weeks but
               has left.

     -- PHOTOS: BLACK & WHITE of bloody VICTIMS -- both men and women

     -- PHOTO:  BLACK & WHITE of a bloodstained police chalk outline.

                         WAYNE TV
               ...forty eight known bodies in its wake.
               Including...

     TIGHT over the DRUGGIST in enormous diopter as MICKEY approaches
     the CONTROL BOOTH, staggering.

     A PHOTO OF MALLORY'S PARENTS -- MOM and POP.

                         WAYNE TV
               Mr. and Mrs. Ed Wilson -- who are -- or rather
               "were" -- Mallory's Mom and Dad!

     The Pharmacist's terrified eyes carry from the television to
     Mickey trying to get his attention out the booth.  Up close
     Mickey looks like shit, pale, sweating, waving a handful of
     rubbers at the Druggist.  His mouth voicing words through the
     ventilated "bullet-proof" glass:

                         MICKEY
               Hey you... 'scuse me?  Aloha?

     The Pharmacist in zombied terror approaches.

                         MICKEY
               Hey!  Chief -- this rattlesnake took a chunk
               out of us a ways back. My lady friend and I are
               pretty sick...I think we're dyin', but you
               never can tell these things... so how's 'bout
               ungluing your fat ass from the boob tube and
               getting us some snakebite juice, okay??

     The Pharmacist nods and silently pushes the ELECTRONIC ALARM
     beneath the counter with his fat finger.  In a daze of his own,
     he complies with Mickey's request, meandering to the medicine
     shelves.

     ON THE TV:

     WAYNE in front of a 7/11 store.

                         WAYNE TV
               Mickey and Mallory started off as armed
               robbers, but their idea of robbery is a little
               different than you or I -- in fact it is an
               assault.

     ON TV CONT.

     INT. 7/11 STORE - DAY

     This scene is shot through the store's black and white
     SURVEILLANCE CAMERA high angle corner.

     MICKEY and MALLORY are in the 7/11, cocking their shotguns and
     shouting things.

                         MICKEY (on video)
               Money! Money!  Money!  Fast!  Fast!  Faster!
               Faster!

                         MALLORY
               Mickey!

     Mickey shoots a CUSTOMER.

     Mallory blasts the Young CLERK who flies into a comic book rack.

                         MICKEY (not noticing the TV, impatient)
               You fuckin' find it yet?

     The Pharmacist, stalling, fiddling with bottles, ultranervous
     about the naked TV staring at Mickey, trying to distract him.

                         PHARMACIST
               Have...have you tried the hos... hospit...tal
               yet.

                         MICKEY
               What the hell is this?
                    (sicker)
               You fuckin' find it yet!

                         WAYNE TV
               They'd storm in with shotguns and kill every
               customer in the place without hesitation.  But
               they always leave one clerk alive.  To tell the
               tale of...

     ON TV --

     The surveillance camera revealing Mickey and Mallory tearing out
     the 7/11 leaving one OLD INDIAN behind.

     CUTTING to PHOTOS, BLACK and WHITE, of:

     MICKEY and MALLORY -- high school sweetheart photos

     Staring right back at him.  It finally reaches MICKEY who can't
     help but be flattered.

                         WAYNE TV
               Mickey and Mallory!

                         MICKEY
               I'll be damned. (then) You piece of shit!

     He goes for his gun.

     The Pharmacist, all 300 pounds of him, hits the floor in one
     giant sumo fireball.

     Mickey blasting the window with his gun -- bullets careening off
     the hi-strength glass.

                         MICKEY (come alive)
               MALL!!!  COPS!  Get the fucking car out front!
               I'll get the snakeshit!

     Mallory, reinvigorated by the mention of "cops!" -- gets back to
     her feet and with pure, groggy will tears herself outside like a
     cyborg.

     Mickey with successive gunblasts, shatters the COUNTER GLASS and
     climbs in...

     The Pharmacist, hands hitting the ceiling, begs for his life.

                         PHARMACIST
               Ppppppplllll.....eeeezzzee.

                         MICKEY
               Snake juice!

     The Pharmacist shits --

                         PHARMACIST
               We don't carry...hosppp...ital... I'm the only
               clerk left...I'm the onnnnlllly clerk left ...

     Mickey trashing the counter in any case, cramming every
     prescription drug into a shopping bag, comes close.

                         MICKEY
               Yeah, but you forgot one thing...

                         PHARMACIST
               Whhhaaaat's th...thhhaaaat?

                         MICKEY
               If I don't kill you, there's nothing to talk
               about, is there?

     The Pharmacist gets it.

                         MICKEY
               Fuckin' squid!

     Blows his 300 pounds through the gut.  Octopus flesh flying in
     gobs in every direction.  Mickey tears out of there...

     FLYING POV CAMERA -- ripping down the aisle, Mickey's POV --
     there's a honk from outside.

     Mickey tearing past vitamin displays, knocking down a rack of
     stuffed animals.  His strength is fading.  Snake juice coursing
     through his veins.

     FLASH -- THE DEAD INDIAN

     FLASH -- THE SUN.  BUDDHA...some sign of spiritual hope.

     He gets to the door, swings out through the glass.  Sees it:

     EXT. PHARMACY AND PARKING LOT - NIGHT

     Mallory is slugging it out toe to toe with a COP.  Another COP
     lies on the ground at her feet, dead.  TWO COP CARS.

     THREE MORE COPS in windbreakers are tearing up - simultaneously
     spot MICKEY in the doorway.  They hit the pavement pulling their
     guns.

     Mickey is faster.  Whipping down, his .45 out, blazing away...

     Tearing a hole through one COP...

     Taking out ANOTHER with a headwound.

     Bullets CRASHING through the pharmacy glass, shattering the
     frontage of the store.

     INT./EXT. PHARMACY - NIGHT

     MICKEY scrambling back into the aisle, protected.  Looks back and
     sees:

                         COP (O.S.)
               Throw your gun down!  And get on the floor!
               Now!

     AN EXIT PATH -- out the rear of the store.

     But back to MALLORY as she is engulfed by TWO MORE COPS,
     altogether beating the shit out of her with guns, fists,
     nightsticks, and dragging her behind one of their cars.

     The look on Mickey's face.  Heartbroken.  He's gotta stay.  He's
     gotta go down with her.

                         MICKEY
               Awright!  Awright!  I'm coming!! But don't
               fucking touch her!  You hear me or you got a
               few more dead pigs on your hands!

     COPS, crouched behind protection, looking at each other.

                         MALLORY (yells)
               Mickey!  Take off!

                         COP (O.S. to Mickey)
               Okay! Okay! She's secured!

     Their POV -- Mickey's TWO GUNS come skittering out from behind
     the aisle.

     Mallory, blood pouring out of her, looks, moved by his action --

                         MICKEY
                    (standing, arms in the air, full exposure)
               So...come'n get the big bad wolf.

     SCAGNETTI suddenly appears from behind one of the cars -- nice
     suit, a gun in his hand, the "look." Even down to the fingernail
     scars on his cheek.

     A LIGHT pops on.  A LOCAL NEWSCREW filming as:

     Three more COP CARS arrive.  POLICE are pouring in.

                         SCAGNETTI
                    (on bull horn)
               Put your hands where I can see them.  Step out
               into the light and lay down on the ground.
               Now...

     With Scagnetti in the lead, the video camera tracks behind the
     THREE COPS in windbreakers crashing towards Mickey, guns drawn,
     overdoing it a bit for camera in a "COPS" TV docudrama style.  A
     "recreation" already of an event that is just traspiring.

     Mickey has a smile on his face as Scagnetti hauls him around and
     cranks up his arms behind his back, trying to cuff him.

                         SCAGNETTI
               You're outta business Knox you fuckhead!
               You're gonna die, you piece of shit!

     Mickey, never out of surprises, joker smile and all, wrenches one
     hand free.  He whips out his BUCK KNIFE and swings it behind him.

     He hits COP 1 in the eyes.  COP 1 screams and falls on the
     ground.  Blood smears his face and hands.

                         COP 1
               My eyes!  My fuckin' eyes are out!

     Scagnetti has jumped back, alarmed.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Don't kill him! I wanna fuck him! He's mine!

     Mickey stands there, knife in hand, toying with them.  As he
     drops the knife:

     The TWO OTHER cops pull out their TASER GUNS and fire lots of
     volts into Mickey's torso.  It's an extraordinary sight!

     CU on Mickey on fire, electrified, spinning, spinning...till he
     sees stars, millions of stars.

     The CAMERA WHIRLING with Mickey as he crashes to earth.

     Unsatisfied, the Cops pull out their clubs and beat him
     mercilessly -- with all the pent-up righteous rage of so many
     good men killed in the line of duty against this raging
     psychopath asshole.  Galaxy bandit.  Forever outlaw to the race
     of man.

     The NEWS CREW films.  In the wake of Rodney King, the Cops don't
     really pay attention.

     Mallory, bloodied to her pulp, watches from the ground, on her
     knees, arms squeeze-cuffed behind her, a nightstick through her
     elbows.  She SINGS to herself.

     Scagnetti crosses to her, jerks her up by the hair, examines her
     as coldly as a bug.

                         MALLORY (sings, ignoring him)
               "These boots are made for walkin
               That's just what they're gonna do
               One of these days these boots are gonna
               walk over you"

     She doesn't bother to look at him.

                                                     FADE TO BLACK:

                              ACT TWO

     EXT. BATONGA PRISON - DAY

     SUBTITLE:  "A YEAR LATER"

     TWO MEN move toward us -- SCAGNETTI and a Deputy Warden,
     WURLITZER, in uniform.

                         WURLITZER
               ...always wanted to meet you Scagnetti.  I
               respect you and you know what, I even bought
               your book and I read the whole goddamn thing!

     As they walk past us, revealing the medieval-looking prison in
     background, they come to a standing tower of a man, Warden
     DWIGHT McCLUSKY -- suit and tie, a man of iron from another era
     -- with another Deputy Warden, KAVANAUGH, in uniform.

                         WURLITZER (introducing)
               Warden...Jack Scagnetti.

     McClusky giving him an iron handshake.

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...Dwight McClusky.  Welcome to Hell.

     Scagnetti playing top dog, supercop cool.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Good to meet ya Dwight.  How the hell are my
               two favorite assholes?

                         MCCLUSKY
               We got the two rat fucks back in there.  I
               guess you wanna see  em.

     INT. PRISON CORRIDORS - DAY

     A door slams, giant reverb down the halls.  Echoes of keys
     clinking, eyes of GUARDS.  McClusky waves his arms as he moves
     and gates slide.

     As they move, we sense a tense prison -- the nervous demeanors
     and eyes of GUARDS, silent scary PRISONERS in close proximity.
     The TWO DEPUTIES, Wurlitzer and Kavanaugh, tag along, wary
     protection, despising the inmates, ADLIBBING to their many
     requests.

                         MCCLUSKY
               I seen you on TV.  I even went and read your
               goddamn book.  I'm impressed.  That E. Scarwin
               case was something.  You put an end to a
               nightmare, Scagnetti...

                         SCAGNETTI
               It was no big deal, Warden, just business as usual.

                         MCCLUSKY
               I'm surprised Hollywood ain't found you yet.
               Your story would make a better movie than that
               "Serpico" shit.  But I tell ya Scagnetti, in
               all my years in the penal business -- and I
               tell ya that's no small number    Mickey and
               Mallory Knox are without doubt the most
               twisted, depraved group of shitfucks it's ever
               been my displeasure to lay my eyes on.  I mean,
               these two rat fucks are a walkin' reminder of
               just how fucked up our system really is.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Don't get me started, Warden.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Dwight, you call me Dwight, Scagnetti. You up
               to date?

                         SCAGNETTI
               They been separated since incarceration --
               couple of places?

                         MCCLUSKY
               Semanko and Jessup...

                         SCAGNETTI
               They killed a shitload of inmates and guards?

                         MCCLUSKY
               Three inmates, five guards and a shrink all in
               one years' time.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Psychiatrist?

                         MCCLUSKY
               Yeah.  Mickey's better half -- Miss Mallory
               strangled his ass when he made the dumbass
               mistake of askin' her what her parents done to
               her -- and she done it all shot up on
               tranquillizers!

     FLASHBACK -- PRISON CELL - DAY

     The dead PSYCHIATRIST lying on the floor, tongue sticking out of
     his face.  MALLORY cuffed to a chair, beaten, right into CAAERA
     at the milling, freaked out COPS:

                         MALLORY
               You gonna give me some more time?  I already
               got life.  What else you got?  Death?  I'd like
               to see you fuckin' try!  I haven't met one
               motherfucker here who's shown me shit!!

     They WHACK her good.

     BACK TO:

     INT. PRISON CORRIDORS - DAY

                         SCAGNETTI (sarcastic)
               Oh yeah.  Her parents.  Her father was doin'
               her.  So she drowned him in a fish tank.

     FLASHBACK - INT. MALLORY LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

     CLOSE on a home aquarium with fish swimming around.  Suddenly
     Mallory's FATHER'S head is shoved into the tank.

                         SCAGNETTI
               The mom they stuffed a sock in her throat and
               torched the bitch!
                    (laughs, cynically)
               Her kid brother they left alive.

     FLASHBACK - INT. MALLORY'S PARENTS' BEDROOM - NIGHT

     Mallory's MOTHER mouth is stuffed with a sock, held down.  A gas
     nozzle pouring gasoline all over her.

     BACK TO:

                         MCCLUSKY
               Yeah.  My old man beat the tar out of me -- but
               I didn't kill him.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Well, it was because they wouldn't give 'em
               their blessing to get married.

                         MCCLUSKY
               You gotta be kidding!

                         SCAGNETTI
               No.  Ain't love grand?

                         MCCLUSKY (roars)
               "Ain't love grand."  Ain't that the truth!
               It's like that other lie -- "love makes the
               world go round."

     They laugh together as they go past a new door. A nervous GUARD
     whispers to Deputy Wurlitzer.

     Suddenly FOUR GUARDS come out of a cell, carrying a badly bloodied
     PRISONER.  He's been stabbed over and over.  They hustle him past
     McClusky and Scagnetti who keep talking, ignoring the filthy looks
     thrown at McClusky from every PRISONER in the cell block.

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...so how does a guy like you become a
               specialist in psychos?

                         SCAGNETTI
               Well, Dwight, for starters I'd recommend having your
               mother killed by one. After that happened, I developed
               a rather keen interest in the subject.

                         MCCLUSKY
               What the hell happened?

                         SCAGNETTI
               I was born and spent the first part of my life in Texas.

                         MCCLUSKY
               You don't have an accent?

                         SCAGNETTI
               I don't wanna talk like those assholes.

                         MCCLUSKY
               My mammy was from Texas.

                         SCAGNETTI
               I meant y'know, the assholes I grew up with who
               beat the shit outta me...Anyway, one day when I
               was five, my mother took me out to play in the
               park.  Well, that just so happened to be the
               same day that Charles Whitman climbed up to the
               top of University of Texas tower and started
               shooting strangers.

                         MCCLUSKY
               You was with her?

                         SCAGNETTI
               Sure was.  You see, the thing is I didn't hear
               the shots.  I didn't hear any of 'em.  One
               minute I'm walking with my mother and then all
               of a sudden her chest explodes.  She hits the
               ground, right?  I'm just lookin' at her.  Her
               forearm flies off.  Then her hip explodes.
               Now, I'm not hearing any of these shots.  All I
               know is my mother is falling apart in front of
               my eyes...

                         MCCLUSKY
               What about you, son?

                         SCAGNETTI
               Some hero grabbed me and threw me behind a
               bush.  It took them all goddamn day to get
               Charlie.  So, that meant I spent all Goddamn
               day lyin' flat on the grass, being eaten alive
               by fuckin' ants and thinkin' "What the fuck
               happened to my mom?"  Ever since I've had a
               strong opinion about the psychopathic fringe
               that thrives today in America's fast food
               culture.  I tend not to exhibit self-discipline
               becoming of a peace officer.

                         MCCLUSKY
               You got a right Jack.  Say, you don't mind,
               d'you, if I call you Jack--?

                         SCAGNETTI (ignores the question)
               Not at all. But I tell you what it is.  These
               fucks think they're special -- Daddy yanked
               their dicks, Momma never game 'em a hug  -- so
               they have carte blanche to take innocent life.
                    (McClusky nods intensely)
               They think they're invincible.  I never caught
               a killer yet who ever dreamed he might get
               caught.  And they all look the same when I
               catch 'em -- like little kids with their hands
               in the cookie jar.

                         MCCLUSKY
               That's my observation as well.  We have an army
               of shrinks who talk about mania and
               schizophrenia and multiphrenia and obsessions.
               But it's all bullshit.  It's Pride!  Arrogance!
               Somewhere, somehow they get the idea they're
               better than everyone else -- it makes me sick.
               And Mickey and Mallory Knox are the sickest
               I've ever seen.

     INT. DINING AREA - DAY

     They walk through the spotless dining area.  The PRISONERS eat
     silently, each one more uptight than the one before him.

     The Guards on the catwalks above sense something in the air,
     nervous, nodding to the Warden who makes AD LIB INQUIRIES as he
     moves.

                         MCCLUSKY (to prisoner)
               Y'all right.

                         WURLITZER (nervous)
               Don't go down that corridor, chief.

     McClusky changes direction.

                         KAVANAUGH (whispers)
               Not there either, boss.

     MCCLUSKY waits.

                         SCAGNETTI (shrewd)
               So why me, Dwight?  What's this really about?

                         MCCLUSKY
               You feel the silence, Jack!  The silence in the
               air?

                         SCAGNETTI
               ...yeah?

                         MCCLUSKY
               The one thing you don't want in prison, Jack,
               is silence.

     Camera coming to rest on a huge BLACK INMATE.  He's not eating.
     He's not chewing.  He's not blinking.  The inmates on either side
     of him look like they might shit their pants.

     The MAN he's looking at is nervous, jacked up on speed.

                         NERVOUS MAN
               Don't focuking you look at me, motherfucker!

     The Black Guy goes for him --lunging across the table with a fork
     aimed at the jacked up guy's throat.

     But McClusky beats him to the punch -- twisting a personalized
     medieval instrument of torture -- a thumb cracker or something,
     over the inmates' fingers -- breaking them backwards.

     The Black Inmate's face shows the agony he is feeling.  As he
     finally releases the fork.

     GUARDS now surround the TWO PRISONERS and cart them away.

     As McClusky renews his walk with Scagnetti, reinvigorated by the
     incident.

                         MCCLUSKY (to Guards)
               Put him in F Block for the month.  Then bring
               him to me.

                         SCAGNETTI (impressed)
               Jesus Dwight! You should be on "American
               Gladiators."

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...30 minutes every day, just shake and roll it.
                    (shaking his body tai-chi style)
               ...doesn't take much...someone goes for you,
               you go right for the throat Jack!
                    (feints for Scagnetti's throat with a flat palm)
               ...a chop that paralyzes...you know I got an
               office I'm gonna show ya Jack, it's so good I
               don't wanna go home at night.  I got a
               secretary 23 fuckin' years old.

                         WURLITZER
               Yolanda Bingham.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Got an ass on her like...

                         KAVANAUGH
               ...two perfectly round scoops of vanilla ice
               cream.

                         MCCLUSKY
               My coffee cup...

                         WURLITZER
               ...which says The Boss on it,

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...might as well be a bottomless pit.

                         KAVANAUGH
               She puts the fuckin' waitresses at Sambo's
               shame.

                         WURLITZER
               And we ain't talkin' lukewarm water poured over
               old grounds.

                         MCCLUSKY
               So, tell me why would I want to leave paradise
               to come down here and breathe this air and
               smell the smell of a bunch of losers?
                    (pauses, holds Scagnetti's eye)
               Cause of you, Jack...
                    (indicates the prisoners)
               Mickey and Mallory did this to 'em.  Got my
               whole prison worked up.

                         WURLITZER
               Like sharks to chum bait.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Smell of blood drives 'em nuts.

                         WURLITZER
               80 percent of these assholes are violent offenders...

                         KAVANAUGH
               We're over 200 percent capacity.

                         MCCLUSKY
               This ain't a prison anymore Jack -- it's a timebomb.

                         SCAGNETTI
               So ship 'em out.

                         KAVANAUGH
               Nobody wants 'em

                         WURLITZER
               No state!

                         MCCLUSKY
               I'm even talkin' hellholes where the warden's
               hard as a bar of iron.  No one wants these
               assholes behind their walls, dealing with 'em

                         WURLITZER
               Day in

                         MCCLUSKY
               Day out.

                         SCAGNETTI
               So fry 'em.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Fuck we tried!  And each fuckin' time they kill
               somebody new we got to start the whole legal
               process all over again.

                         WURLITZER
               It eats up two to three years.

                         KAVANAUGH
               Mickey is fuckin' diabolical.

                         MCCLUSKY
               He knows...

     INT. WOMAN'S CELL BLOCK - DAY

                         MCCLUSKY
               What's his name?

                          KAVANAUGH
               Pete.

                          MCCLUSKY
               Pete, open it up. We got a visitor for the song
               bird.

     A BUZZER sounds.  A door clanks open.  Soon as it does we hear a
     FEMALE VOICE singing "Walking after Midnight" by the Cowboy
     Junkies.

                         SCAGNETTI
               So, sounds like a hemorrhoid you can't get rid
               of, Dwight.

                         MCCLUSKY (smiles)
               Even hemorrhoids can be cut out Jack.  That's
               why we're shipping 'em for testing to Nystrom
               with you.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Nystrom?  Lobotomy Bay?

                         MCCLUSKY
               Vegetable land.  Home of the criminally insane.

                         SCAGNETTI
               That hasn't been done in years.

                         MCCLUSKY
               We got a first stage ruling.  It won't stick
               with all these asshole do-good shrinks around,
               but it gets them under your control for a few
               hours.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Yeah?  And then...?

                         MCCLUSKY
               The public loves you Jack...youre a celebrated
               lawman.  You busted "M&M."  Twenty six years on
               the force, a bestseller out in paperback.

                         WURLITZER
               A modern day Pat Garret with a deadly axe to
               grind with maniacs...
                    (Scagnetti puffing up)

                         MCCLUSKY
               You're a livin' breathing icon of justice and
               that's why you were chosen to deliver Mr. and
               Mrs. Knox.  We -- the Prison Board -- we know
               that once you get 'em on the road...if anything
               should happen...

                         WURLITZER
               an accident

                         MCCLUSKY
               a fire

                         KAVANAUGH
               an escape attempt

                         ALL
               ...anything...

                         MCCLUSKY
               Jack "Supercop" Scagnetti would be there to
               look out for his public's best interests.

                         SCAGNETTI
               I'm getting the picture here.

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...and of course nobody in their right mind
               would cry for those two pigfuckers if they
               happened to take some lead.  A lotta lead.
                    (Scagnetti thinking)
               You write the script, Jack, call it "Showdown
               in Mojave:  The Extermination of Mickey and
               Mallory," I don't give a shit ... I'll give you
               my two best men (indicating) Kavanaugh and
               Wurlitzer. (corrects their names and faces).

                         WURLITZER
               We got a special dislikin' for these punkolas.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Have we found our man?

     Hold on Scagnetti as he walks up to Mallory's glassed cell --
     very white, very medical.  Inside we hear singing.  An old
     friend.  Still fascinating to Jack.

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...So here she is...you know her, you love
               her, you can't live without her...Mallory Knox.

     INT. MALLORY KNOX CELL - DAY

     MALLORY (a year older) sings.

                         MALLORY
               "I go out walkin' after midnight
               in the moonlight just like we used to do."

                         MCCLUSKY
               Hey Knox!  Somebody out here wants to meet you.

                         MALLORY
               "I'm always walkin' after midnight
               searchin' for you..."

     Mallory just keeps on truckin.

     MALLORY'S POV:  We stare at MCCLUSKY and SCAGNETTI for a second.
     Then, like a bull, we charge/DOLLY straight at them.  Mallory
     screams O.S. We SMASH headfirst into the bars.  Mallory's POV
     flings up, looking at the ceiling, then falls backward.

     MEDIUM TIGHT SHOT of floor, Mallory falls into FRAME, out cold.

     CU on Scagnetti through the cell bars.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Jesus Christ!

     CAMERA PANS to McClusky smiling.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Don't worry about it.  She does it all the time.

     BACK TO:  Mallory on the floor, still unconscious with blood
     trickling out her scalp.

                         MCCLUSKY (O.S.)
               Follow me.

                         SCAGNETTI
               So, uh...where do you keep the other half, Warden?

     McClusky walking through ANOTHER DOOR.

                         MCCLUSKY
               We got his stinkin' ass in the deepest, darkest
               cell in the whole dungeon.  But it just so
               happens we can't see him right now.  Cause he's
               got a special visitor.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Who's that?

                         MCCLUSKY
               Wayne Gale.

                         SCAGNETTI (surprised)
               Wayne Gale!  That TV scumbag.

                         MCCLUSKY
               We call 'em "Media," Jack.  Why, you don't like
               the media?

                         SCAGNETTI
               A worm in my blood stool's got more attraction
               to me.  This guy lives to fuck cops over.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Can't say no to the media.  You want the job
               Jack?  Then come say hello.

     INT. JAIL -- SPECIAL VISITING ROOM - DAY

     WAYNE GALE,  the young, energetic commando journalist is testing
     a small tape recorder, accompanied by a FEMALE ASSISTANT, JULIE,
     and TWO GUARDS.  His Australian accent on, he manages to include
     everyone in his monologue.  Including his face -- which he likes
     to bounce off every reflecting surface he sees, continually
     checking himself.  A natural-born narcissist. A BLACK INMATE is
     working in the room.

                         WAYNE (sympathetic)
               How ya doin' brother?  Doin' some hard time?
               What you in for?

                         INMATE
               Murder.

                         WAYNE
               I'm with you.  (into recorder)
               Testing one...two...three...over.  Oh man this
               place brings back memories.  I did my first
               network interview in this place.  Remember
               Sonny "The Beast" Maricopa.

     They shake their heads.

                         WAYNE
               Years ago.  Great welterweight.  But dumb --
               like all these killers, couldn't count the eyes
               in his head.  Beat his bimbo girlfriend to
               death, then mutilated her.  Ever box?

                         DEPUTY WARDEN
               A little.  Back when...

                         WAYNE
               Yeah.  I was nowhere near as good as Sonny
               but...I could hit.  I had some power.  Some
               moves.  I was a dancer...

     FLASHBACK - INT. GYM - DAY

     A sudden disconnected image of WAYNE beating a bag, lathered
     up, a real anger expressing itself.

     BACK TO WAYNE - PRESENT

                         WAYNE (Cont.)
               Anyway there I was just another punk kid from
               the streets of New York, got a free ride to
               Columbia, got out of school, kissed some ass
               over at CBS, and my first pony out the gate I
               get to interview Sonny Maricopa.  That was
               something.

     During this, Wayne's expression tightens as he hears the
     approaching SLAM of doors and the CLANKING of chains and now the
     sound of "his" FOOTSTEPS:

                         WAYNE
               Ohhhkkkaaaay.....showtime

     The gate slides open.  MICKEY KNOX is led in by TWO DEPUTIES,
     wearing a blue jumpsuit with a thick and wide leather belt around
     the waist and metal rings built into each side.  Long sturdy
     chains with handcuffs on each end are wrapped across his body and
     through the rings, binding his arms to his sides.  His hands and
     feet are double-cuffed.

     The DEPUTIES have their guns drawn, ready to blow Mickey in half
     at the slightest provocation.  Yet for a man wrapped and bound in.
     chains, Mickey seems strangely in control of his environment.

     He is seated roughly on the prisoner's side of the glass.

     Wayne starts to smile but something weird happens.  The smile
     gets stuck on his face.  He can't stop smiling his all-American
     you-must-love-me smile.  It just hangs there, embarrassing and
     noticeable to everyone in the room.

     Mickey waits -- what's wrong with this guy?

     Finally Wayne gets control of his nerves.

                         WAYNE
               Hi, Mickey. We've never been introduced, but I'm...I'm
               Wayne Gale. (starts to laugh again) Oh jeesus! Oh god!

                         MICKEY (cutting it short)
               Hey.  I know who you are.  You're famous...

                         WAYNE
               Hey I could say the same about you. (smiles) I
               want to thank you for seeing me. (Mickey waits)
               I have a television show.  Every few weeks as
               part of our look at current America we profile
               a different serial killer.  You don't mind if I
               call you a serial killer, do you?

                         MICKEY (shrugs)
               Technically, mass murderer.

                         WAYNE
               Whatever. The episode we did on Mickey and
               Mallory was one of our most popular ones.

                         MICKEY
               Y'ever do one on John Wayne Gacy?

                         WAYNE
               Yes.

                         MICKEY
               Whose ratings were higher?

                         WAYNE
               Yours.

                         MICKEY
               How 'bout Ted Bundy?  Ever do one on him?

                         WAYNE
               Yes.  Yours got the larger Nielsen share.

                         MICKEY
               Good.  Yuppie piece of shit.

                         WAYNE
               What I'd like to do --

                         MICKEY
               How 'bout Manson?

                         WAYNE
               Manson beat you.

                         MICKEY
               Yeah, it's pretty hard to beat the king.

                         WAYNE (indicating Julie)
               Julie, my producer...and I...
                    (Julie nods; she's mute)
               ...we've been waiting to do a follow-up episode
               on you for a long time.  And that time has
               definitely come
                    (encouraged, Julie makes a strange, grunting sound
                    of approval)
               I feel it's apparent to anyone who's hip to
               what's going on that the Prison Board has
               thrown the Constitution straight out the
               fuckin' window.  You and Mallory may be killers
               but nuts, insane? NOT.  You're being
               railroadedinto a hospital for the sole purpose
               of turning you into a vegetable.  Now some
               people are saying, "So what."  I am not one of
               those people.  If we avert our eyes while they
               do this to you, we give them permission to do
               it again whenever they see fit.  Today, they
               wipe clean your mind because they feel your
               actions are dangerous, tomorrow they wipe clean
               my mind -- or dump me in syndication -- because
               they feel what I say is dangerous.  Where does
               it all end?  That's my angle.

     No response from Mickey.

                         WAYNE (looks at Julie and back to Mickey)
               My problem Mickey, is you don't exactly inspire
               empathy.  I'm all alone on this.  I need your
               help.  I have interviews with the Prison Board,
               with Warden Dwight McClusky -- and I'm telling
               ya Mickey, they look bad.  The two
               psychologists they used for their kangaroo
               court won't talk to us -- which also looks bad.
               I have an interview with the judge at your
               trial Bert Steinsma, and the psychologist and
               famous author Emil Reignold -- both of which
               discount the notion you're insane.  What we
               need now is YOU.  You haven't talked to the
               press since your trial.  Now a few days before
               you get transferred to an asylum, you give an
               exclusive to Wayne Gale.  We're talking a media
               event here.  A 40/50 share.  We run this during
               the Sweeps, the network'll be creaming for it,
               promos on the Super Bowl -- (new idea) hey,
               I'll even ask 'em to program it same day as the
               Super Bowl!  Right after it!  They might go for
               it. Television history.  The first sit down, in-
               depth interview with the most charismatic
               serial killer ever, one day before he's being
               shipped to a mental hospital for the rest of
               his life.  This is Wallace with Noriega, Elton
               John confessing his bi-sexuality to Rolling
               Stone, this is the Maysles Brothers at
               Altamont, this is the Nixon/Frost interviews.

     INT. OBSERVATION BOOTH - DAY

     Watching them through one-way glass are the WARDEN and SCAGNETTI.

                         WAYNE
               Every sonofabitch out there witha TV's gonna be
               looking at you Mickey, listening to your words.
               Sell 'em on your sanity.  You're composed, you're
               articulate, you may be a cold-blooded killer but
               you're obviously not a nut.  We'll shame 'em into
               dropping the whole thing.  Whattaya say?

                         MICKEY
               You got any gum?

     Wayne has a duty free bag filled with items -- gum, multi-
     vitamins, fruit shakes, health food.

                         WAYNE
               Gum, spearmint, big red? Multi-vitamins? I even
               got a fruit shake.

                         MICKEY
               You got a guitar you can give me?

                         WAYNE (hopeful)
               I'll bring a guitar next time!

                         MICKEY (pause)
               You talked to Mallory about this?

                         WAYNE
               She won't see me Mickey.  Now you're not
               supposed to know anything about what's going on
               with her, but since you two been sentenced,
               Mallory hasn't spoken one word.  All she does
               is sing.

                         MICKEY
               She sings?  What does she sing?

                         WAYNE
               Songs.  "He's a Rebel" "Leader of the pack,"
               that Dusty Springfield tear-jerker, "I Only
               Want To Be With You."  Her behavior's the main
               thing the doctors used against you.  So even if
               she'd see me which she won't, I can't put her
               on camera anyway.  If I ask her, Mallory, are
               you insane?"  And she starts singing, "Dead
               Skunk in the Middle of the Road," that blows
               our whole case.

     Mickey cracks a smile.  The GUARD comes over to take him away.

                         DEPUTY
               Time, motherfucker!

                         WAYNE (jumping up)
               Wait a minute!  Wait a minute!  Civilization
               rules here, civilization!  Let him answer
               me...Come on Mickey, whaddaya say?  Time is
               running out...

     Pause.  Mickey being pulled up by the Guards, strangely in
     control.  CAMERA suddenly TRUCKING in on him -- a bizarre sound
     as if a plan has now kicked off in his malevolent mind.

                         MICKEY (quietly)
               I say, go for it...

     He exits with Guards. Wayne stunned, turns to Julie.

                         WAYNE
               "Yes!"  Am I God or what!  This saves us,
               Jules, this saves us.  That asshole didn't know
               it but we were over, we were history,
               shitcanned.  This gives us another whole
               season!  Takes us to the end of the year!  I'll
               renegotiate with network, million dollars more
               on the contract, maybe Sunday night, maybe you
               get a little more money...One fucking "Yes,"
               Yes! Yes! Yes!

     INT. OBSERVATION BOOTH - SIMULTANEOUS DAY

     SCAGNETTI has the opposite reaction.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Why the hell you lettin' that scumbag do this,
               Dwight?

                         MCCLUSKY
               Relax. If I don't, we'll be excoriated in the
               press. If I do, it'll be weeks before they
               clear it.

                         WURLITZER
               Legal, appeals.

                         MCCLUSKY
               And M & M are gonna be post toasties before
               that ever happens, right Jack?  And no one's
               gonna give a flying fuck about two dead losers.

     INT. VISITING ROOM - DAY

     The WARDEN, followed by SCAGNETTI, enters the room, smiling.

                         MCCLUSKY (to Wayne)
               Everything all right Mr. Gale?

     WAYNE, seeing the Warden, switches character instantly.

                         WAYNE
               Warden McClusky -- a man made for the camera.
               Too bad James Arness just kicked off. And Ted
               Danson's busy.  He would've been just perfect
               for your life story.

                         MCCLUSKY (chuckling)
               How 'bout Johnny Cash? Is he available? Maybe
               you know Jack Scagnetti -- he's gonna be
               helping us with the transfer.

     Wayne, affable, shakes hands.  Scagnetti treats him like vermin.

                         WAYNE
               Of course.  America's favorite cop.  "Scagnetti
               on Scagnetti" great book -- makes me want to do
               one of my own.  You paved the way Jack...

                         SCAGNETTI
               And you shit on it you little turkey-neck.

                         WAYNE
               Turkeyneck, eh? Am I? You better get back on
               the stairmaster, Scagnetti.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Boys boys.

                         WAYNE
               Heh heh Jack isn't too fond of our show; we
               sometimes give the B.O.D. to the defendants.
               You know "human rights" --

                         MCCLUSKY
               B.O.D.?

                         WAYNE
               "Benefit of the doubt"

                         SCAGNETTI
               What doubt?  Mickey and Mallory are turds, you
               little sissy. Australia is a penal colony,
               isn't it.  The only doubt I got is you --

                         MCCLUSKY (contains him)
               Uh Jack! ... Jack's sort of our avenging angel
               you might say.

                         WAYNE
               In any case, he says yes.

                         MCCLUSKY
               I figured he would.  But I want to keep contact
               with the population to a minimum.

     EXT. PRISON CORRIDOR - DAY

     The WARDEN shuttling the GROUP back out into the CELLBLOCKS,
     towards the exit.

                         MCCLUSKY (Cont'd)
               They hate Mickey Knox in here.  They see him as
               a publicity hound.  It's bound to stir 'em up.
               It's gotta be done my way.

                         WAYNE
               No problem.  Just give me a big room and I'll
               take it from there.  We're "stealth"
               journalists.

     As they walk off, we hear:

                         WAYNE (Cont'd)
               My crew is the crew that got inside the Shining
               Path for a face to face with Abimayel Guzman
               while the BBB was stuck at the airport
               scratching their nuts.  If I were you, chief,
               I'd worry more about the promos that start
               hitting the air next week.  You're a
               national face, Warden -- a real hero to the
               American public.  You run a
               damn impressive ship here.  And...frankly, who
               knows?  Something like this could launch a new
               career in public office for you.  So I'll have
               my producer Julie call you in the morning to
               work out the details.  I got a plane to catch
               right now to New York.

                                                            CUT TO:

     INT. MICKEY KNOX CELL - DAY

     CAMERA drifting to MICKEY lying on his bunk. A high security
     single cell. Lawbooks, no pinups, a fax, a telephone,
     television.  He writes Mallory a letter.

                         MICKEY (V.O.)
               Dearest Mallory...You once told me I had no
               feelings.  You were right and you were wrong.
               I got more feelings now than I ever had before.
               I never missed someone like I miss you.  My
               cell is so cold.  At night I get the chills.
               pretend you're lying next to me,holding me from
               behind with your leg draped over mine and your
               arms wrapped tightly around me.  I lie in my
               cell...

     WIDE SHOT off the cell.

                                                     DISSOLVING TO:

     INT. MALLORY'S CELL - DAY

     Not knowing where we are, CAMERA moves across a wall into a CU of
     MALLORY.

                         MICKEY (V.O.)
               ...and imagine kissing you.  Not making love,
               just kissing for hours and hours on end.  I
               remember everything about our time.  I remember
               every joke you ever told.

     INT. MICKEY CELL - DAY

     CLOSE UP of the LETTER being written over the WIDE SHOT of the
     cell.

                         MICKEY (V.O.)
               I remember every secret you ever shared.
               Shared or revealed?  I think shared is proper.
               I remember every single time you laughed.

     ECU of Mickey, mouthing the words as he writes.  We can hear
     Mallory's laugh -- a distant haunting echo.

                         MICKEY (V.O.)
               I remember every meal we ever ate.  I remember
               your cooking.  I remember watching David
               Letterman.

     We hear the echo of television laughter.

                         MICKEY (V.O.)
               I remember driving fast behind the wheel of the
               Dodge Challenger.

     The sound of the Dodge Challenger swells as we...

                                                       INTERCUT TO:

     INT. MALLORY'S CELL - DAY

     MALLORY is moving her body in the middle of the cell to a music
     only she can hear, then begins to sing "All of Me" (B. Holiday)
     in slow acapella, using the cell as the stage and a man who isn't
     there as her audience.

                         MALLORY (singing)
               I'm no good without you
               Take my lips I want to lose them
               Take my arms I'll never use them
               You took the part that once was my heart
               So why not take ALL OF ME.

                         MICKEY (V.O.)
               You, baby, by my side.  Your bare feet up on
               the dash, singing along with the radio, "He's A
               Rebel,"  "Ring of Fire," "Groove Me,"...and
               your dancing, my God, your dancing.  I lie on
               my bed and go over every day, every minute of
               our happiness.  Every day take a day of our
               time and go through it hour by hour.  I don't
               jump ahead either.  I take it as it comes, and
               I live that day again.  That way when I get to
               our first kiss...

                                                       DISSOLVE TO:

     FLASHBACK

     INT. MALLORY'S PARENTS' LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

     The set is sitcom TV format.  The lighting is flat, the
     performances and timing are TV.  It is SHOT in three camera
     SITCOM FORMAT -- possibly BLACK and WHITE, harkening back to an
     earlier era in Mickey's mind.  The time when he first saw TV.

                         MICKEY (V.O.)
               ...they're not just memories.  I feel that joy
               again.  And I am no longer in prison.  We're
               together again.  And when my head hurts and I
               can remember no longer, I write you letters and
               send them telepathically to your heart.

     MALLORY gets a big handful of AUDIENCE APPLAUSE as she comes down
     the stairs, dressed to the nines, punky, sexy, ready to trot --
     yet a sweet girl's expression, maybe with braces.

                         MALLORY
               Hello Dad, how was work?

     DAD is a strange-looking hombre, seated at the table, exhausted
     and angry in a dirty undershirt.

                         DAD
               Work?  What work! I'm unemployed.  Three years.
               I'm unemployed.
                    (LAUGHTRACK)