Savage Grace (1) FADE IN: EST. SHOT The crooked little streets behind Chinatown and in front of the criminal justice complex. Our hero, O’JOHN, is dragging a GIRL with her hands manacled behind her back. She kicks up a storm, not really trying to get away, just trying to get attention. From the theatricality of it you’d think she was enjoying herself. Some unblinking Asian faces stare at her fixedly then snap away. GIRL (for the 100th time) You cant arrest me, you’re not a cop! O’JOHN You’re right. She looks at the building she’s being steered to and begins to scream. GIRL Help! SOME TOURISTS with video cameras and funny hats gather round and begin taping them. O’John and the girl break into a quick soft-shoe, then stop and look disgusted. He flashes a detective’s gold badge and the tourists disperse. GIRL Where’d you get that? O’JOHN Like it makes a difference. If you knew the answer it would change everything. GIRL I’ll say you raped me. O’JOHN Nobody is going to listen to anything you have to say. They were across the street now with only the sidewalk between them and the building. She freezes. GIRL How much they paying you? O’JOHN Forget it, it’s over. GIRL I’ll give you that much love. Keep me chained to the bed, I don’t care. He shakes it off, but she’s getting him depressed and she’s stamping her feet like a little girl having a tantrum. He muscles her into a dilapidated office building, through the lobby and into an old fashioned cage elevator. INT. CAGE ELEVATOR The bars make him uncomfortable. He cant find a neutral place to park his glance. The elevator is run by a crazy OLD MAN. He’s bald, but grows his sideburns long and combs them over his head. The hairs are as far apart as eyelashes but he kept bobbing his head, exposing his crown like he had something to prove. They get off on the 5th into a morgue-like corridor. There is only one door with a light behind it, an old frosted glass door with the lettering: THREE MIGHTY MEN BAILBONDS WE’LL HAVE YOU BACK ON THE STREET IN 10 MINUTES please close door carefully O’John stops to throw up a mouth full of bile on the floor then knocks on the door. It opens. Inside are 3 leg breakers. CU FREEZE FRAME on the fattest and strongest. O’JOHN (V.O.) That’s Vito. He has seen The Godfather 37 times. He is also a baseball fan and, like most spectators, considered himself an intellectual. But he’s not an intellectual. His favorite weapon is a baseball bat and he’s never connected that to his admiration for Babe Ruth. START MOTION VITO Johnnie, baby doll, optimal pussycat! Just like you said and here!, like I said. He’s holding out a huge wad of money. O’John leaves him standing there holding it while he undoes the handcuffs and slides them back over his belt. Then he hands the girl in. He takes the money out of Vito’s hand and pockets it without counting it and then wipes his hands on his pants. The OTHER 2 BONDSMEN have handcuffed the girl to the couch and began loosening their belts and unzipping their Levis-For-Men. GIRL They’re going to rape me! VITO (to the girl) No shit? Your problem is you got no sense of history. (to O’John) I got another client for you. O’JOHN Forget it. I’ve had it. VITO What’s wrong? O’JOHN It’s getting to my head.. VITO Let’s talk outside. He takes him by the arm above the elbow and walks him outside. He stops to close the door very slowly. There is a strip of Scotch Tape over a crack in the glass to show what happened when you didn’t. INT. HALLWAY VITO Now, tell me what’s wrong. O’JOHN Nothing, like I said. VITO Look, if it’s… O’JOHN The money is fine. He starts to walk away, but Vito grabs him, affectionately. VITO Alright. Good. How’d you find her? O’JOHN A bar in her neighborhood. She went back for money to get out of town. VITO Stupid. O’JOHN Oh, yeah, she was standing right next to me. She turns to go and I see her tattoo. VITO Get real. You don’t owe any guilt to a girl with a tattoo. She’s stupid too. O’JOHN I know. VITO So what are you going to do? Divorce work? What else can you do? O’JOHN I don’t know. VITO That’s all a private dick can do, divorce work and popping bail jumpers. Repos? that’s better? Sorry to repossess your heart transplant, lady, but you’re 3 payments behind. O’JOHN I know. A sickening scream comes through the wall. A high thin girlish scream that ends in a broken toothed mumble. Then male voices muttering in disgust. Vito puts his arm around O’John’s shoulders and walks him down the hall. VITO So, you don’t like your job. Whadaya wanna be when you grow up? How many people you know like their job? O’JOHN I know. Disengaging yourself from an affectionate embrace is a tricky business. O’John leans against him in unwholesome camaraderie. Vito lurches back, finds his hand in midair and reaches for a cigarette like that had been his intention in backing off. VITO So, I’ll call tomorrow, we’ll talk. O’JOHN No. He walks away, down the hall to the elevator and leans on the button. Vito calls after him in the tone of voice used on TV to advertise Florida vacations. VITO I am sending you a client. I’ll call tomorrow. We’ll talk. Remember Sam Spade. Be ironic. Stay drunk. Have a beautiful secretary with those 1940 stockings with the seam up the back…And those strappy fuck-me shoes so she looks accessible to trash like you! O’JOHN Vito, I don’t want to kill you. VITO You don’t?! Why not?! 2ND BONDSMAN (calling from the office.) Hey, Vito, you take her out for a turn. VITO What I got to do this for? FREEZE FRAME CU of Vito’s hand in his pocket. O’JOHN (V.O.) Vito has been making fists in his pocket, apparently trying to squeeze up an erection and not liking the odds. START MOTION VITO I got a beautiful wife waiting at home. 2ND You implying I don’t? VITO Your wife is beautiful. Your wife is more beautiful than my wife. Holding up his hands like he was Superman holding back a locomotive. 2ND But you say she’s not home. VITO You know, this is always what breaks 2 guys up, some woman that don’t mean anything. GIRL (Screaming through the wall) Who says I don’t mean anything? 2ND He means my wife! VITO You’re losing it. 2ND I wouldn’t mind losing it if I knew for sure that I’d ever had it. 3RD What? You got something on us we don’t have on you? That doesn’t happen. You have her too. VITO Yeah, fuck, alright. He shouts back at the girl through the wall, opening his pants as he walks back to the office. VITO Hi, honey, what’s for dinner? O’John is still standing by the elevator. Vito calls after him. VITO (continuing) I’ve had enough of you too. You’ll meet your obligations because you’re the worst of us because you’re the only one who should know better…Where do you think you’re going? O’JOHN Chinatown. VITO It’s the same there too. O’JOHN But I cant understand what they’re saying. VITO Don’t leave so soon, you’re gonna miss the redeeming social significance. The elevator comes and O’John gets on. The defective at the wheel stares at him. He stares back. FREEZE FRAME CU THE OLD MAN with one eye squeezed shut. O’JOHN (V.O.) He gave me a conspiratorial wink: queer or, more likely, an intellectual. He looked like a City College professor who didn’t get tenure and has been on the skids ever since. I had to assume he understands everything. START MOTION ELEVATOR MAN Don’t say it. O’JOHN Don’t say what? ELEVATOR MAN If the Creature From The Black Lagoon walked in here, even he’d have some smart ass remark to make. Don’t say it. O’John nods solemnly and the elevator disappears down the shaft with a subway train rumble. SERIES OF SHOTS: 1: Outside there’s a funny little park behind Chinatown. It’s deserted and the fake pagodas give it the look of a carnival with the tents down. 2: He finds a deserted restaurant on East Broadway. The menu is in Chinese and no one speaks English. He points at something random on the menu playing Chinese roulette. 3: It turns out to be sea urchins. They look like transparent tampons. Then a high-pitched argument breaks out in the kitchen. Amazingly, it turns into a fight and spills out into the restaurant. He throws a bill on the table and leaves. 4: Riding a Honda 750 through the night. INT. O’JOHN’S APARTMENT (A HORROR MOVIE) He’s met at the door by an enormous tomcat. He brushes the cat aside and pours himself a triple shot of Scotch. He looks in the mirror. He doesn’t like what he sees. He closes his eyes and gulps the Scotch. He looks in the mirror again. He still doesn’t like what he sees. He takes out his pistol to kill himself. The cat jumps on the table in front of him and screams for food. They stare at each other. The cat wins. The beast pays for his food with his one trick. It walks in a circle and then rears like a circus horse. O’John looks at the gun in his hand like he was wondering how it got there. He puts the gun away and pets the cat, absently, and then he climbs into bed with the bottle of Scotch and a glass. EXT. HIGHWAY (RAINY NIGHT) O’JOHN (V.O.) Not a bad dream, really, I mean considering. AN AMAZON is riding a big Harley through the night. The air is full of wind and rain. The night is very black, but the wet street is strangely smooth and assembles the ambient light. The Amazon and her machine look glossily obscene as a Helmut Newton photograph, every reflective surface glaring a sexual innuendo. There’s a hoarse honking behind her and looks back. 2 MEN in black leather on big cycles are coming up behind her. One of them waves a cheery cavalry charge salute. She smiles, teeth and goggles gleaming and slows down so they can catch up, guiding her bike so that she will be between them when they come even with her. But when they reach her, it isn’t 2 cycles it’s the headlights of a gigantic semi-. BLAM. SPLAT, INT. O’JOHN’S APARTMENT (MORNING) He sits up in bed with a bang. The cat is standing on the pillow, staring at him fixedly and purring loudly. O’John looks at the cat, the cat looks back. O’John starts to say something, changes his mind, gets out of bed and stumbles into his clothes. The cat purrs. EXT. STREET (SUNNY MORNING) O’JOHN (V.O.) It wasn’t Spring, but Winter wasn’t trying very hard. He walks into his office building. There’s a middle-aged woman talking to the doorman. He points to O’John and she rushes over with her mouth open. FREEZE FRAME: O’JOHN (V.O.) I couldn’t tell if she were old or just naturally ugly. Her dental work looked like a model train set. START MOTION: WOMAN Michael O’John, the detective? O’JOHN Discreet investigations our specialty. WOMAN You’ve got to find my husband. She begins hopping from one foot to the other. O’JOHN If he doesn’t come home to a woman like you, he must be dead. WOMAN He cleaned out the joint account 2 days ago. O’JOHN When did you see him last? WOMAN I don’t remember, it was 5 years ago. She keeps talking MOS. FREEZE FRAME O’JOHN (V.O.) Her glasses had gone askew, it made her eyes look run together like 2 fried eggs. START MOTION O’JOHN Do you know where he is? WOMAN If I knew that what the fuck would I be playing with you? O’JOHN I could bring him back for you, that’s what. But if you don’t know where he is, I cant find him, not after 5 years. He walks to the elevator. She follows him in, but he pushes her back out. She screams and pounds on the door as the elevator goes up. He shouts at her back down the shaft. O’JOHN (continuing) Such passion, he’s a lucky man! INT. HALLWAY (DIM AND GRIM) He walks to his office. The lights are on. Calmly he pulls a combat magnum and cocks it. He holds it slightly behind his back as he opens the door, INT. O’JOHN’S OFFICE (SALVATION ARMY BAROQUE) Sitting behind his desk is a 6 FT. SHIKSA SHOWGIRL wearing black leather and a knowing smile. She has red-chestnut hair. She looks good in black. It’s the Amazon from his dream. He puts the gun away. O’JOHN Have we met? AMAZON Oh, yes. Her voice has a surprising delicacy. O’JOHN I’d remember. AMAZON You weren’t looking at my face. He squeezes his eyes tight shut and rubs his face with his gun hand. O’JOHN Oh, like that. How did you get in? AMAZON I gave the janitor $10. You wont have him fired, will you? O’JOHN I cant, they have a union. How long has your poodle been missing? AMAZON I beg your pardon? O’JOHN Just an inspired guess. You want to find your lost poodle. AMAZON I can tell you’re tired. O’JOHN It’s the Phillip Marlow manner. The clients expect it. They find it reassuring. She stands up. He notices for the 1st time that that she’s on crutches and wearing 4 ˝ inch heels. She’s taller than he is and she’s all strapped up in a way that turns out to be not a bondage outfit, but surgical bracing as though she’d fallen off a motorcycle. She sits down in front of his desk. He sits down behind it. O’JOHN (continuing) You’re still taller. That’s strange. Most of the variation is in the legs. AMAZON Focus, Mr. O’John, focus. I want you to find the whereabouts of Graham Savage. He was a rock musician and, naturally, he called himself Savage Grace. O’JOHN “Was”, past tense? AMAZON He disappeared 3 years ago, September 11. He took advantage of the confusion to take someone else’s ID and vanish. I know, because he’s been sighted. O’JOHN There are sightings of Elvis too. Why don’t we look for him instead? AMAZON Please. O’JOHN Sorry. Pictures? AMAZON There was extensive facial reconstruction. And there might have been brain damage. Sometimes it takes a while for it to show. He may not remember who he is. O’JOHN Yes, he does. Identifying marks, scars, anything like that? AMAZON I don’t know, we weren’t that close. O’JOHN You weren’t that close and you don’t know what he looks like or where he might be. AMAZON Next you’ll be saying: it’s a beautiful case, I could milk this one for years… O’JOHN ..but I cant take your money. Look, Miss… AMAZON Just ‘Azriel’. O’JOHN Azriel, I’m a little unclear about what you want me to do. AZRIEL Find him. O’JOHN Find what? There’s no way to recognize him and you tell me that even he doesn’t know who he is. The phone rings right on cue. He stares at her as though he thought she was responsible. It keeps ringing. AZRIEL Shouldn’t you answer that? O’JOHN No. and he picks up the phone. It’s Vito. VITO (V.O.) Thunder buns, I send you a client today. O’JOHN Oh, I am so very sorry, Slippery Lips, but I have just taken a case that will keep me fully occupied for at least 15 years. VITO (V.O.) I told you yesterday, I’m sending you a client!! O’JOHN Gee, Honey, I don’t know what happened. I don’t remember a thing. I must have had amnesia. That’s the only way I could have ended up in a motel room with 3 dykes, a great Dane, Boy George and the entire Harlem Globetrotters team. The phone begins to emit horrid noises. He hangs up. O’JOHN (continuing) (to Azriel) By the way, amnesia doesn’t exist, that’s pulp fiction. If your boy shows up claiming amnesia, he’s lying, but pretend to believe him. AZRIEL Does that mean you’ll take the case? O’JOHN Yeah, I guess. You were saying? She opens her bag and then puts a stack of $100 bills on the desk. She pushes it toward him. O’JOHN (continuing) Yeah, tell me some people he used to know. They might tell me something useful. AZRIEL Start with this one. Evil John Conigliero. She hands him a picture of an emaciated junkie. AZRIEL (continuing) Get to him today. There’s a $10,000 reward out for him and, if business stays bad, I’ll turn him in myself. He turns the picture over. There’s an address written on the back: 697 East 3rd Street, apt. 6-F. O’JOHN Sounds simple enough. He starts counting the money then stops. But the woman is gone. EXT. ST. MARKS/2ND AVE. (DEEP NIGHT) O’JOHN (V.O.) I made him in the corner candy store picking out $10 worth of penny candy His expression said it was a big moment in his life O’JOHN Hey, Evil John! Evil John takes one look and sets off at a gallop. His shopping bag is bouncing up and down, leaving a trail of M&M’s. O’John chases him a block and then gives up as Evil John takes off across back yards, knocking over garbage cans behind him. O’John checks the address on the back of the picture and walks there slowly. He climbs to the 6th floor and finds 6-F. There are a variety of locks. but none of them were on. He slips the latch with a credit card, walks in and sits down to wait. INT. EVIL JOHN’S APT. (EAST VILLAGE BAROQUE) The walls are covered with rock posters and photographs of Savage Grace. One of them shows all five members of the group. Two of them were X’d across and the date of their deaths written beneath. The three left alive are Evil John and Graham Savage and someone named Thomas Jefferson Rozzo. Then there was the sound of someone running up 6 flights of stairs. Evil John careened out of the stair well, lurched through the door and leaned against the wall, panting explosively. He pulled himself together and slammed the door shut. He flipped on the lock, the police lock, the dead bolt and 3 sets of chains. So far he was too busy to notice O’John. O’JOHN Hi. Evil John freezes, vibrating between equal pulls of anger and fear, then he frantically tries to unlock the door, but his fingers wont not obey him. He’s scratching at the door like a cat. Then Evil John, very softly begins to cry. O’JOHN I’m not a cop. EVIL JOHN I didn’t…I didn’t… FREEZE FRAME O’JOHN (V.O.) Whatever it was that he said he didn’t do, it was obvious that he did. START MOTION O’JOHN You alright? Yeah, that’s about what I figured. You don’t mind if I record this, do you? EVIL JOHN (with perfectly normal breath control) What do you want? O’JOHN I don’t want you. I want Savage Grace. Where is he? EVIL JOHN He isn’t. O’JOHN The picture says he’s alive. EVIL JOHN Maybe, but if that’s the way he wanted it I wont help you find him. O’JOHN Who were his friends? EVIL JOHN He didn’t have any. O’JOHN Except one. and he offers Evil John a cigarette. He takes it. You know a 6 ft. redheaded woman named Azriel? Evil John freezes for a second then takes a running dive through the window, head on into the steel gate. It’s unlocked and swings out like a telescoping arm. Evil John drops from sight O’John walks to the window and looks out. It’s the 6th floor and there’s no fire escape. Evil John is in a tree monkey-barring his way down. He’s almost to the ground when 2 kill-crazy Rottweillers chase him back up. Evil John sits in the tree crying. EXT. STAGE OF A ROCK CONCERT (NIGHT) The group Savage Grace is on stage and things are going badly. The crowd jeers and chants their contempt. Soon they drown out the music and things look to get physical. Security is on the cell phones calling for back up, calling for police. Savage Grace smashes his guitar as usual. No one is interested. The musicians retreat back stage. EXT. BACKSTAGE (NIGHT) Their GIRLFRIENDS are hanging out and looking concerned. They’re all in Gaultier and Versace fetish costumes, skin tight patent leather in a net work of straps and shiny black high heeled boots One of them is obviously the generic girlfriend of Savage Grace and she’s looking scared. Let’s call her GEN. The costume is always the same, but the girl keeps changing.. She exchanges glances with him several time. He smiles back, nods and winks, trying to cool her out but without much effect. Evil John has his arm around him, almost holding him up. This time Evil John looks healthy, alert and very self confident. SAVAGE GRACE Look, Miles Davis… EVIL JOHN … was a cockroach, but he could create emotion even if he felt nothing himself. You make a point of saying there’s nothing happening here except your technique and your technique isn’t that good. SAVAGE GRACE Wynton Marsallis… EVIL JOHN …has a great ear, he would’ve made a fine piano tuner, but he’s Classical and they can get away with anything. Now, Focus! Evil John walks back on stage with the rest of the group, leaving him alone. They begin to play some driving death rock that cools out the crowd. A cute, serious, Greenwich Village BLACK GIRL appears out of nowhere and walks up to him. He looks annoyed. Gen has seen groupies before and she walks off fast, looking back over her shoulder several times. Savage Grace doesn’t notice. FREEZE FRAME O’JOHN (V.O.)
Copyright © 2001 Angel Obregon |