THE FUGITIVE - Daily Script

Transcription

THE FUGITIVEbyDAVID N. TWOHYEarly Draft - February 1992FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

FADE IN:INT. PHILADELPHIA COURTHOUSE - HOLDING TANK - DAYCLOSE ON match flaring.Thanks.A cigarette breathes to life.SMOKERIn the shadows of a holding cell, a faceless SMOKER slipsmatches back through an opening in a steel door. Thejailer moves away, clearing a sight-line on a monitor inthe outside corridor. The Smoker lingers to watch aJUDGE on the screen as.JUDGE (V.O.). the people of the Commonwealthof Pennsylvania, having alreadyfound you guilty of murder in thefirst degree, now turn to thiscourt the task of determining yoursentence.INT. PHILADELPHIA COURTROOM - DAYIn the courtroom, CAMERA DRIFTS OVER the FACES that we'llmeet again later: ST. CLAIR is here. ADELLE. CONRAD.Each seated separately in the crowded viewing section.Each listening keenly to.JUDGEAfter careful and studied reviewof all evidence presented duringeach phase of this proceeding, itbecomes apparent that theaggravating circumstances outlinedheretofore were, indeed, presentthe night of September 12th.It shockwaves through the courtroom. Reporters push outrear doors. Prosecutors shake hands with a hangman'ssatisfaction.JUDGETherefore, it is the decision ofthis court that you be remandedto the state penitentiary atRockview, where you will waitexecution by electrocution on adate to be set by the AttorneyGeneral of this state. May Godhave mercy on your soul.GAVEL CRACKS.Spectators stand -- all but Adelle.(CONTINUED)

2.CONTINUED:CAMERA FINDS KIMBLE, the man whose life they just tookaway. He looks around with disbelieving eyes, watchingit all happen to someone else, watching the cuffs bitedown on another man's wrists, watching them pull someother prisoner toward the "Door of No Return".KIMBLEBut it wasn't me. I didn't killher.Already stepping down, the Judge doesn't respond.bailiff jerks Kimble to the dooor. He struggles.TheKIMBLEBut I didn't do it!Another bailiff appears, helping to manhandle Kimble outof the courtroom.INT. PHILADELPHIA COURTHOUSE - HOLDING TANK - DAY.and into this temporary cell.in his face.The steel door closesKIMBLEI did not kill my own wife!It decays to silence.Then calmly.SMOKER (O.S.)Guess they just couldn't chokethat part about the one-armed man.Kimble turns to the faceless man in the corner.SMOKER (O.S.)Personally, I thought it showedreal 'magination. But hey -maybe that was the problem, huh?INT. PHILADELPHIA JAIL - KIT ROOM - NIGHTCREDITS BEGIN over CLOSEUPS:A locker opening. Inside, a profusion of chrome andnickel-plating. Jailhouse jewelry.Handcuffs dragged out. Action checked.over wrists, RACHETTING DOWN tight.CUFFS slapped(CONTINUED)

3.CONTINUED:Ankle cuffs dragged out. Pantlegs raised, canvas shoesexposed. Cuffs clamped down on ankles.CHAINS RATTLED out. Snaked across the floor. Loppedaround waists and locked to handcuffs to form bellychains.EXT. PHILADELPHIA JAIL - SALLY PORT - NIGHTCREDITS CONTINUE as a security door opens and the chain-gang emerges. Three blacks and Kimble. Jailers escortto a blue-and-white bus, a jail on wheels. The bus shows"U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE."INT. MARSHALS BUS - NIGHTCLOSE ON the ignition being twisted.THROTTLES up.The old DIESELEXT. PHILADELPHIA JAIL - NIGHTMain gate opens.The BUS GRINDS onto the streets.INT. MARSHALS BUS - NIGHTCREDITS CONTINUE. The four prisoners sit scattered,still cuffed but no longer chained together. Near thefront, PRISONER #1 is scoping.The two prison guards seated beyond the caged door. YOUNGGUARD lighting a smoke. OLD GUARD drowsing. Shotgunsbouncing on their knees.Prisoner #1 swings his eyes to.The driver.on his hip.Wearing the jacket of a U.S. marshal.PistolEXT. DESOLATE HIGHWAY - MAGIC HOURCREDITS END as the blue-and-white bus rumbles north,heading toward the horizon and a hint of morning.INT. MARSHALS BUS - MAGIC HOURPrisoner #1 rises.Through caging:(CONTINUED)

4.CONTINUED:PRISONER #1Hey. Pennsylvania penalregulations require a meal fortransport rides of four hoursor more.Young Guard shakes his head. "Fucking jailhouse lawyers."Checks his watch.Zookeeper.YOUNG GUARDFeedin' time.OLD GUARD yawns to his feet, unhooks a key-ring from hisbelt. Young Guard stows his shotgun in the weaponslocker.Sensing energy, Kimble wakes. Sees the cage door open,Young Guard moving back. And across the aisle.Prisoner #2 is wagging his head between his knees. Something slides out of his hi-top afro and CLANKS to thedimpled steel floor. It's a SHANK.Heart quickening, Kimble looks forward. Young Guard ishanding a petrified sandwich to Prisoner #1. Kimblesnaps a look back at Prisoner #2, who palms the shank.His eyes say "Shut the fuck up."Old Guard watches from the open door, shotgun carelesslyready.Young Guard reaches Kimble and extends a sandwich.Kimble doesn't respond.Suit yourself.YOUNG GUARDHe offers the sandwich to Prisoner #2. In the exchange,sandwich drops. Young Guard stoops for it.Up front, Old Guard yawns again just as.Prisoner #2 drives the shank into Young Guard's gut.Prisoner #3 dives for Young Guard's holster. As the guncomes out, Young Guard gets a hand on it. A SHOT FIRES,opening Prisoner #2's gut and.Jolting Old Guard. He chambers his shotgun and surgesthrough the cage door, but.Prisoner #1 broadsides Old Guard.SHOTGUN DISCHARGES.(CONTINUED)

5.CONTINUED:Opening a big Gainesburger hole in the deputy marshal.He sinks under the steering wheel. A knee hits theaccelerator.EXT. DESOLATE HIGHWAY - MAGIC HOURAs the bus careens off the road.INT. MARSHALS BUS - MAGIC HOURPrisoner #2 is dead.Young Guard.Prisoner #3 grapples with woundedOld Guard shotgun-butts Prisoner #1, flips the GUN, PUMPSONE ROUND into the man's chest. Dead, he turns just as.Prisoner #3 rips the HANDGUN free and starts BLASTING.EXT. OPEN LAND - MAGIC HOURAs the driverless bus bucks and bangs over open ground.INT. MARSHALS BUS - MAGIC HOURHellacious FIREFIGHT around Kimble. He slithers underseats, trying to get out of the line of fire.A HANDGUN CLICKS dry. Frantically, Prisoner #3 pats thefallen Young Guard for loads.Old Guard reloads first, charges down the aisle.Nowhere else to hide, Prisoner #3 drops behind a seat.He fumbles for his loads.Old Guard jams his shotgun under the seat. Prisoner #3screams for mercy. Old Guard pulls the trigger as.EXT. OPEN LAND - MAGIC HOURThe bus angles into a gravel embankment. Roars up theslope. Begins to tip. Continues on two wheels for anunthinkably long distance, then.INT. MARSHALS BUS - MAGIC HOURCRASHES down on its side. ENGINE DIES.We don't know up from down.Dusty silence.(CONTINUED)

6.CONTINUED:On his knees, Old Guard makes his way to the driver.Finds him dead as dead gets. Now a SOUND. Old Guardwhips his shotgun around at.Kimble.Rising between seats.Hairy moment: Old Guard might kill him just to finishthe hat trick. But a GROAN turns Old Guard's head.It's Young Guard, trying to hold his guts in.You.OLD GUARD(to Kimble)C'mere.He scrounges up a medical kit, shoves Kimble down onYoung Guard.OLD GUARDYou're a doctor. Gotta dosomethin'. Gotta patch him up.Kimble looks at his cuffs. "In these?" Old Guard digsout his key-ring and unlocks Kimble's hands -- only hishands. Kimble opens medical kit. It's been ransacked.KIMBLECodeine's gone. And there'snothing here I can use to closea lacerated spleen. He needs -OLD GUARDJust fuckin' do something!KIMBLE(quick turn-around)I'll need something to clamp with.Clipboard. Anything. That visorover there.Old Guard finds a clip on the sun visor. Kimble confiscates a lighter from the Young Guard's pocket, startsheating the clip, sterlizing it. And in this delicatemoment.A shiver runs through the bus. Is it just settling?Having other things to worry about, Kimble reaches downinside the man's guts.Now a second shiver, stronger. Kimble retracts his handsto touch a metal panel -- and feel a growing vibration.KIMBLEJust where the hell are we?(CONTINUED)

7.CONTINUED:Old Guard feels it, too. He moves forward to put his eyeto an unbroken section of windshield.Oh, shit.OLD GUARDLike his life depended on it, Old Guard begins beating onthe exit door embedded in the ceiling.OLD GUARDOh, motherfucking shit!EXT. RAILROAD TRACKS - MAGIC HOURThe bus lies across railroad tracks. A not too distantbend grows bright by the light of an approaching train.INT. MARSHALS BUS - MAGIC HOURKimble sees.to his side.allies.Old Guard fights the door. Kimble lungesMinute ago adversaries, suddenly they'reKIMBLEIt's locked, it's still locked!Where're your keys?Panicked, Old Guard scours floor.OLD GUARDRight. they were right.EXT. RAILROAD TRACKS - MAGIC HOURDown track, coming fast, a cyclops light appears.INT. MARSHALS BUS - MAGIC HOURKimble spots the keys. Pitches them to Old Guard. DragsYoung Guard to the front for quick exit. But Old Guardfumbles the key ring, his hands shaking as much as thebus.The train light spider-webs across cracked windows.KIMBLE(snatching keys)Which one? This? No. This one?(CONTINUED)

8.CONTINUED:Old Guard gulps a nod. Kimble jams a key in the lock.Throws the doors up and out. Grabs Young Guard.KIMBLEHelp me get him -But Old Guard climbs right over Kimble's back.EXT. MARSHALS BUS - MAGIC HOUR. and hits the ground running.INT. MARSHALS BUS - MAGIC HOURTrainlight grows. A nanosecond of uncertainty:Kimble leave the wounded man?ShouldINT. FREIGHT TRAIN LOCOMOTIVE - TRAIN'S POV - MAGIC HOURAs the headlight reveals the toppled bus.EXT. FREIGHT TRAIN - MAGIC HOURAs the WHEELS BRAKE and lock.EXT. RAILROAD TRACKS - MAGIC HOURKimble struggles out of the bus -- pulling the YoungGuard behind him. He slings the man clear.SCREECHING death, the TRAIN SKIDS closer.For one heartbeat, Kimble remains perched atop the bus.The train light X-rays him.Kimble leaps. Lands. Rolls. Gains his feet. Tries tosprint away but can't: His feet are still chained. Hegets off a dozen mincing steps before.IMPACT: A hundred tons of STEEL SLAMS INTO the BUS,splitting it open.Shrapnel rips through Kimble's shoulder. But he stays onhis feet, still running feverish half-steps.An EXPLOSION envelopes the train.flanks.Flames stream down its(CONTINUED)

9.CONTINUED:The train burns past the wounded guard.Kimble looks back, expecting to see the catastrophe behindhim. But he gets the shock of his life -- of any man'slife:Still on its wheels, the locomotive is derailing -- andcoming after him. It's the stuff of nightmares: Onelittle man being chased by a fire-breathing locomotive.The train burrows to a stop.Kimble is suddenly five feet taller, standing on anupheaval of earth, staring eyeball-to-eyeball with thetrain that nearly devoured him. He pants. Coughs onsmoke. Then he notices something in his hand.It's the key-ring.EXT. HILLSIDE - SUNRISEKimble appears just as the sun flares over the horizon.Ankle cuffs gone, he runs animal free.DISSOLVE TO:EXT. CRASH SITE (PENNSYLVANIA) - DAYBillowing smoke. TILT DOWN to reveal the derailed train.Fire engines hose down the blackened locomotive. FBIagents in blue coveralls pick through the twisted remainsof the bus. State troopers restrain newspeople andspectators.As an ambulance leaves the scene, two plain wrap G-carsfishtail to a stop. From one, three deputy marshalsemerge.BIGGS. Swaggering Midwestern carnivore.brick shithouse.Built like aRENFRO. Latin. Bantam-rooster of a man, no more than140 pounds fully equipped.POOLE. Black woman who can piss standing up. Nobodyminds having her around during nut-cutting' time.Stepping from the second car is GERARD. Easter Islandface. Buzz-cut hair, head flat enough to play marbleson. Short-sleeved shirt, undershirt visible. Blackwing-tip shoes with a million miles on them -- but stillpolished. This is a cop without a single redeeming vice.(CONTINUED)

10.CONTINUED:Start there.Deputies head downtrack.coroner's station.GERARDPoint of impact.Gerard strides for theSTATE TROOPERSorry. But if you're not F.B.I.or Conrail, you'll have to turnaround right.Gerard brushes past like the man was invisible. Reachessheets laid out over body parts. Looks beneath several.Then stoops to retrieve something.CLOSE ON LUMP OF METALin his hand. It's seared and twisted -- but still recognizable as the five-point star of a U.S. deputy marshal.EXT. DERAILED TRAIN - PENNSYLVANIA - DAYOLD GUARD. train was bearin' down on us,fast. Well, I don't know how -it's still kind of hazy -- but Igrabbed him and pushed him out ofthat bus. Coulda both beenkilled, I know. But hell, he'smy partner. Woulda done the samefor me.The FBI SPECIAL AGENT nods, buying the story.produces fax photos of all four prisoners.HeSPECIAL AGENTOne more time. These threeconfirmed dead. And this one.He switches to a photo of Kimble.OLD GUARDWell. everything happened sodamn fast. hard to keep track.(bites lip,decides)Huh-uh. Don't think he made it.Special Agent eyes the wreckage that could entomb ahundred prisoners, then files the fax photos with anassistant.(CONTINUED)

11.CONTINUED:SPECIAL AGENTCould be the shortest manhunt inthe history of the F.B.I.GERARD (O.S.)I'll guarantee it.Gerard displays his badge to the ranking trooper, aCAPTAIN.GERARDGerard, U.S. Marshal.your check points?Nowhere, yet.Where areCAPTAINGERARDLet's go with a 15-mile radius.I want to see them on I-81,I-78, Route 18 east of -SPECIAL AGENTWhoa, whoa, whoa. Very badform to come in giving orderson someone else's case.GERARD(still to Captain)I'll be taking over theinvestigation.Yeah?SPECIAL AGENTOn what authority?Finally acknowledging the Special Agent, Gerard pivotsand touches eyeballs with him. We get our first tasteof Gerard at close range.GERARDOn the authority of the 1979Fugitive Treaty and on theauthority that some of thosecharcoal briquettes over thereused to be a federal marshal.Now are you gonna let me do myjob, or are you next on theused-to-be list?(CONTINUED)

12.CONTINUED:SPECIAL AGENT(back-down beat)Okay. Prisoners are all dead,anyway. You want jurisdictionover this mess, you got it.(to assistant)Shut it down. Wyatt E

THE FUGITIVE by DAVID N. TWOHY Early Draft - February 1992 FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLYFile Size: 242KBPage Count: 132