"CHINATOWN" (1974)

CURLY drops the photos on Gittes' desk. Curly towers over GITTES and sweats heavily through his workman's clothes, his breathing progressively more labored. A drop plunks on Gittes' shiny desk top.

Gittes notes it. A fan whiffs overhead. Gittes glances up at it. He looks cool and brisk in a white linen suit despite the heat. Never taking his eyes off Curly, he lights a cigarette using a lighter with a "nail" on his desk.

Curly, with another anguished sob, turns and rams his fist into the wall, kicking the wastebasket as he does. He starts to sob again, slides along the wall where his fist has left a noticeable dent and its impact has sent the signed photos of several movie stars askew.

Curly slides on into the blinds and sinks to his knees. He is weeping heavily now, and is in such pain that he actually bites into the blinds.

Gittes doesn't move from his chair.

Curly responds slowly, rising to his feet, crying. Gittes reaches into his desk and pulls out a shot glass, quickly selects a cheaper bottle of bourbon from several fifths of more expensive whiskeys.

Gittes pours a large shot. He shoves the glass across his desk toward Curly.

Curly stares dumbly at it. Then picks it up, and drains it. He sinks back into the chair opposite Gittes, begins to cry quietly.

Gittes leaves the bottle with Curly.

Noticeably less plush than Gitte's. A well-groomed, dark-haired WOMAN sits nervously between their two desks, fiddling with the veil on her pillbox hat.

There is the SOUND of ANOTHER MOAN coming from Gittes' Office. Something made of glass shatters. The Woman grows more edgy.

Gittes and Curly stand in front of the desk, Gittes staring contemptuously at the heavy breathing hulk towering over him. Gittes takes a handkerchief and wipes away the plunk of perspiration on his desk.

Gittes pounds the photos on the desk, shouting;

Curly shrinks back a little.

This seems to upset Curly even more.

He's now walking him past SOPHIE who pointedly averts her gaze. He opens the door where on the pebbled glass can be read: "J. J. GITTES and Associates. DISCREET INVESTIGATION"

He throws an arm around Curly and flashes a dazzling smile.

He shuts the door on him and the smile disappears.

He shakes his head, starting to swear under his breath.

Gittes nods, walks on in.

Walsh rises when Gittes enters.

Gittes walks over to her and again flashes a warm, sympathetic smile.

She holds her breath. The revelation isn't easy for her.

Gittes looks mildly shocked. He turns for confirmation to his two partners.

Gittes pulls up a chair sitting next to Mrs. Mulwray between Duffy and Walsh. Duffy cracks his gum.

Gittes gives him an irritated glance. Duffy stops chewing.

Mrs. Mulwray hesitates. She seems uncommonly nervous at the question.

Gittes sighs.

Her intensity is genuine. Gittes looks to his two partners.

Mrs. Mulwray nods, almost shyly. Gittes is now casually but carefully checking out the detailing of Mrs. Mulwray's dress – her handbag, shoes, etc.

Gittes' glance tells Duffy Gittes wants to do the questioning. Mrs. Mulwray nods.

Gittes sighs.

Already shimmering with heat.

A drunk blows his nose with his fingers into the fountain at the foot of the steps. Gittes, impeccably dressed, passes the drunk on the way up the stairs.

Former Mayor SAM BAGBY is speaking. Behind him is a huge map, with overleafs and bold lettering:

"PROPOSED ALTO VALLEJO DAM AND RESERVOIR"

Some of the councilmen are reading funny papers and gossip columns while Bagby is speaking.

CLOSE – GITTES

sitting next to some grubby farmers, bored. He yawns, edges away from one of the dirtier farmers.

AUDIENCE – COUNCIL CHAMBERS

An amalgam of farmers, businessmen, and city employees have been listening with keen interest. A couple of the farmers applaud. Somebody shooshes them.

REACTION – GITTES

Looking up with interest from his racing form.

Mulwray leaves the overleaf board and sits down. Suddenly there are some whoops and hollers from the rear of the chambers and a red- faced FARMER drives in several scrawny, bleating sheep. Naturally, they cause a commotion.

Bailiffs and sergeants-at-arms respond to the imprecations of the Council and attempt to capture the sheep and the farmers, having to restrain one who looks like he's going to bodily attack Mulwray.

L.A. RIVERBED – LONG SHOT

It's virtually empty. Sun blazes off it's ugly concrete banks. Where the banks are earthen, they are parched and choked with weeds.

After a moment, Mulwray's car pulls INTO VIEW on a flood control road about fifteen feet above the riverbed. Mulwray gets out of the car. Me looks around.

There Mulwray stops, tuns slowly, appears to be looking at the bottom of the riverbed, or at nothing at all.

He moves swiftly downstream in the direction of the sound, toward Gittes.

The boy doesn't answer at first. Mulwray points to the ground. The boy gestures. Mulwray frowns. He kneels down in the mud and stares at it. He seems to be concentrating on it.

After a moment, he rises, thanks the boy and heads swiftly back upstream – scrambling up the bank to his car.

There he reaches through the window and pulls out a roll of blueprints or something like them. He spreads them on the hood of his car and begins to scribble some notes, looking downstream from time to time.

The power lines overhead HUM.

He stops, listens to them then rolls up the plans and gets back in the car. He drives off.

POINT FERMIN PARK – DUSK

Street lights go on.

Mulwray picks up a starfish. Brushes the sand off it. Looks absently up toward Gittes.

BEACON LIGHT AT POINT FERMIN

Flashing in the dust.

CLOSE – GITTES

Sitting, suddenly starts. He swears softly. He's in a puddle of water and the seat of his trousers is wet.

Mulwray stands and stares at the water, apparently fascinated. Even as Gittes watches Mulwray watching, the volume and velocity seem to increase until it gushes in spurts, cascading into the sea, whipping it into a foam.

AT THE STREET – GITTES' CAR

There's a slip of paper stuck under the windshield wiper. Gittes pulls it off, gets in the car and turns on the dash light. It says: "SAVE OUR CITY! LOS ANGELES IS DYING OF THIRST! PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY! LOS ANGELES IS YOUR INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE!!! VOTE YES NOVEMBER 6... CITIZENS COMMITTEE TO SAVE OUR CITY, HON. SAM BAGBY,

FORMER MAYOR – CHAIRMAN." Gittes grumbles, crumples it up and tosses it out the window. He notices other flyers parked on a couple of cars down the street.

Gittes reaches down and opens his glove compartment.

Consists of a small mountain of Ingersoll pocket watches.

The cheap price tags are still on them. Gittes pulls out one.

He absently winds it, checks the time with his own watch. It's 9:37 as he walks to Mulwray's car and places it behind the front wheel of Mulwray's car. He yawns again and heads back to his own car.

Sophie hands him a small pile of messages. He goes through them.

Gittes walks through his office to Duffy and Walsh's. A little red light is on in the corner, over a closed door. Gittes walks over and knocks on the door.

Gittes walks to his office.

Gittes drops it, sits down. Walsh comes in carrying a series of wet photos stuck with clothes pins onto a small blackboard.

Walsh shows him the photos. He looks at them. They are a series outside a restaurant showing Mulwray with another man whose appearance is striking. In two of the photos a gnarled cane is visible.

Gittes tosses down the photos in disgust.

The PHONE has been RINGING. Sophie buzzes him.

Duffy's VOICE can be HEARD, excitedly. "I got it. I got it. He's found himself some cute little twist in a rowboat, in Echo Park."

They pass Mulwray and a slender blonde girl in a summer print dress, drifting in their rowboat, Mulwray fondly doting on the girl.

He shoots past Duffy, expertly running off a couple of fast shots. Mulwray and the girl seem blissfully unaware of them.

CLOSE SHOT – SIGN:

"EL MACANDO APARTMENTS"

MOVE ALONG the red tiled roof and down to a lower level of the roof where Gittes' feet are hooked over the apex of the roof and Gittes

himself is stretched face downward on the tiles, pointing himself and his camera to a veranda below him where the girl and Mulwray are eating. Gittes is clicking off more shots when the tiles his feet are hooked over come loose.

Gittes begins a slow slide down the tile to the edge of the roof and possibly over it to a three-story drop. He tries to slow himself down. The loose tile also begins to slide.

Gittes stops himself at the roof's edge by the storm drain and begins a very precarious turn, this time hooking his feet in the drain itself. The loose tile falls and hits the veranda below. He stops as it's about to slide over the edge. He carefully lays it in the drain. But a fragment off the cracked edge of the tile falls.

WITH MULWRAY AND THE GIRL

Mulwray staring at the fragment at his feet. He looks to the girl. He's clearly concerned. He rises, looks up to the roof.

CLOSE SHOT – NEWSPAPER

"DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND POWER BLOWS FUSE OVER CHIEF'S USE OF FUNDS FOR EL MACANDO LOVE NEST."

In the style of the Hearst yellow press, there is a heart-shaped drawing around one of the photos that Gittes had taken. Next to it is a smaller column, "J.J. Gittes hired by suspicious spouse."

Holds the paper and reads while getting his haircut and his shoes shined. In fact, almost all the customers are reading papers.

A self-satisfied smile comes to Gittes' face.

In b.g., customers can be OVERHEARD talking about the drought. Interspersed with above, someone is saying, "They're gonna start rationing water unless it rains." Someone else says, "Only for washing your cars." Third says, "You're not going to be able to water your lawn either, or take a bath more than once a week." First says, "If you don't have a lawn or a car, do you get an extra bath?"

Gittes has been staring outside the barbershop. A car is stalled. The hood is up. A man watches his radiator boiling over.

Gittes has heard the word. He straightens up.

Gittes laughs.

Gittes gets out of the chair. Barney, a little concerned, tries to restrain him, holding onto the barber sheet around Gittes' neck.

Gittes is trying to take off his sheet.

The Customer is shrinking back into the chair.

Gittes allows himself to be tugged back to his chair.

Gittes comes bursting in, slapping a newspapers on his thigh.

Walsh comes out of his office, Duffy out of the other one.

She gets up and leaves.

A stunning YOUNG WOMAN appears behind Gittes in his doorway. She's shortly joined by a small, GRAY-HAIRED MAN. They listen, unseen by Gittes.

Gittes hangs onto Sophie's desk laughing his ass off. The little Gray-Haired Man winces. When Gittes looks up he sees the Young Woman, apparently in her late twenties. She's so stunning that Gittes nearly gasps.

Gittes is staggered. He glances down at the newspaper.

She's walked past him toward the door. He stop her.

Evelyn flashes a cold smile.

Evelyn starts out the door and Gittes starts after her. This time he's stopped by the Gray-Haired Man who has also come out of his office and up behind him.

Gittes turns to be handed a thick sheaf of papers, a summons and complaint. Evelyn walks out the door.

Gittes stares down at the papers in his hand.

On Gittes' desk. There are empty coffee cups, the summons and complaint, and the newspaper Gittes had brought with him from the barber shop.

The three men are sitting, worn and silent. Walsh chewing gum is the loudest noise in the room.

Gittes looks to Walsh with obvious irritation. Walsh stops chewing.

Duffy puts out a cigarette in the dregs of one of the coffee cups.

Gittes is staring down at the newspaper. He suddenly grabs the phone, begins dialing. A tight little smile breaks out on his face. He buzzes Sophie.

Sophie BUZZES.

He hangs up.

Gittes stops outside a door marked:

"HOLLIS J. MULWRAY CHIEF ENGINEER"

He enters an outer office. The SECRETARY looks surprised.

Without waiting for a response, he does. The Secretary half rises in protest but Gittes is through the inner door.

Gittes moves to the desk, watching the translucent pane in the upper half of the door leading to the outer office as he does.

He begins to open and close. the desk drawers after quickly examining the top. He tries one of the drawers and it doesn't open. He reopens the top drawer, and the bottom one opens.

He looks in it, pulls out a checkbook. He opens it, riffles through the stubs like he was shuffling cards. Drops it, finds a set of keys, an old phone book, and a menu from a Water Department lunch at the Biltmore Hotel in 1913. Then, Gittes hauls out the blueprints that Mulwray had laid across the hood of his car. They read in bold type: "WATERSHED AND DRAINAGE SYSTEM FOR THE LOS ANGELES BASIN."

He flips through them, reads one notation in Mulwray's neat hand: "Tues. night. Oak Pass Res. 7 channels used."

Gittes spots a shadow looming in front of the translucent pane. He quickly tosses item after item back, kneeing the drawer, nearly knocking a spare pair of Mulwray's glasses off the desk top when he does. He catches them, puts them on the desk and is pacing the room as the door opens.

This is more a request than an invitation. Gittes nods, follows Yelburton out, through the outer office to his offices down the hall.

Smaller than Mulwray's, he has most noticeably a lacquered marlin mounted on the wall. There are a couple of other pictures of Yelburton with yellowtail and other fish he's standing beside.

There's also a small burgee of a fish with the initials A.C. below it, tacked onto the wall.

Gittes winks. Yelburton chuckles appreciatively, loosening up a little.

Gittes spots a card tray on Yelburton's desk.

Gittes fishes a couple off the tray, puts them in his handkerchief pocket. He goes out the door, nearly running into a man who is standing by the Secretary's desk, about GITTES' age only a head taller and a foot wider, dressed in a plain suit that fits him about as well as a brown paper bag.

OUTER OFFICE – YELBURTON, MULVIHILL AND GITTES

Mulvihill stares at Gittes with unblinking eyes, remains by the desk.

Mulvihill moves toward Gittes, shaking with fury. Yelburton steps between them.

Rings the bell. He waits.

A powerful CHINESE BUTLER with heavy hair and a half-jacket of gold on one front tooth, answers the door.

He hands the Chinese Butler a card from his wallet. The Butler takes it and disappears, leaving Gittes standing in the doorway.

Gittes stands, and sweats, watching a Japanese GARDENER trim a hedge. There's a SQUEAKING SOUND. Gittes moves a few feet off the porch.

POV – GARAGE

A chauffeur is washing down a cream-colored Packard with a chamois. Steam rises off the hood. The squeaking has obviously come from the chamois.

Gittes looks behind him. The Chinese Butler is gesturing for him to follow.

THROUGH THE HOUSE – GITTES

Follows him, trying to check out the rooms as he goes. A maid is cleaning in the den. They pass through it out some French doors along a trellised walkway to a large pond with running water.

Gittes is left standing by the pond. It's suddenly very quiet except for the runnning water. The pond is over-flowing. After a moment, the Gardener comes running back. He smiles at Gittes, probes into the pond.

There's something gleaming in the bottom of it. Gittes notes it. After a moment, the Gardener drops the long probe, the waters recede.

The Gardener nods, and is off, leaving Gittes staring at the object in the bottom of the pond that is gleaming.

He looks at the tool the Gardener was using, hesitates, picks .it up and starts to probe into the pond himself, toward the gleaming object.

He then spots Evelyn rounding a turn, coming down the trellised pathway. He casually belts the probe, holds onto it for poise.

Evelyn is wearing jeans that are lathered white on the inside of the thighs and laced with brown horsehair.

She's wearing riding boots, is perspiring a little, but looks younger than she did in the office.

Gittes is a little taken aback at seeing Evelyn. He is annoyed as well. Nevertheless, he is elaborately polite.

He laughs. a little nervously. He waits for a reply. There is none. The Chinese Butler appears on the veranda.

Chinese Butler nods, disappears

Evelyn sits at a glass-topped table. Gittes Joins her.

He waits for a response. Then:

The iced tea comes on a tray which Ramon sets down between them.

Evelyn looks up. Gittes smiles a little sheepishly.

Again he laughs a little nervously. Again no reaction.

Evelyn brushes lightly at the horsehair on her Jeans.

Gittes nods.

Gittes drives up a winding road, following a flood channel up into the parched hills.

The chain link fence with its KEEP OUT sign is open and there are people milling around. The reservoir is below.

Gittes' car is stopped by a couple of UNIFORMED POLICE.

Gittes hesitates only a moment, then:

He fishes out one of Yelburton's cards from his handkerchief pocket, hands it to the Guard.

Gittes drives past the Guards, through the gate, along the reservoir. He spots a police car and an unmarked one as well.

Gittes stops and gets out of the car. Several men with their backs turned, one talking quietly, staring down into the reservoir where other men in small skiffs are apparently dredging for something. One of the men turns and sees Gittes. He recognizes Gittes and is visibly shocked.

Loach tries to ease him down the path.

At the sound of his raised voice, a man standing at the edge of the channel, talking to two boys in swimming trunks, turns around. He's a tall, sleek Mexican in his early thirties, LUIS ESCOBAR.

Both Gittes and Escobar register considerable surprise at seeing one another. The men around them are extremely uneasy.

Loach is actually sweating. Finally, Escobar smiles.

Gittes reaches into his pocket, pulls out his cigarette case.

Escobar nods. They walk a couple of steps. The other police, two plainclothesmen and a uniformed officer, watch them.

It's apparent Gittes is impressed despite himself.

Escobar points down to the reservoir. A couple of men using poles with hooks are fishing about in the water. It can be SEEN that one of them has hooked something.

He shouts. The other man hooks it, too. They pull, revealing the soaking back of a man's coat. They start to pull the body into the skiff.

Are standing over the body of Mulwray. Escobar has the sheet drawn back. Evelyn nods.

Escobar drops the sheet. Escobar and Evelyn move a few feet to one side and whisper, almost as though they were trying to keep the corpse from hearing them.

Evelyn nods slightly Escobar coughs. A coroner's assistant wheels the body out of the office.

Evelyn shows a flash of annoyance.

Escobar and Evelyn move slowly toward the door.

Evelyn looks up to see Gittes standing in the doorway only a foot or two from her. She stops cold. They look at one another for a long moment.

She finishes, looks plaintively at Gittes. Escobar is right at her back. Gittes says nothing.

Evelyn looks at Escobar but doesn't know how to answer him.

Escobar nods. They begin to walk slowly, again have to move out of the way as some other corpse is being wheeled out of one of the Coroner cubicles.

They have walked a few steps further down the hall.

Gittes hurries her past the reporters who flank them, asking questions. Gittes brushes them aside.

EVELYN AND GITTES – AT HER CAR

In a small parking lot.

Evelyn fumbles in her bag, looking feverishly for something in her purse.

She glances down, leans against the side of the car.

Evelyn gets in her car.

She drives off, leaving Gittes gaping.

Escobar shrugs.

Escobar looks up.

Resume walking.

Gittes laughs.

Escobar stops.

Gittes nods, turns, and walks down the hall.

Gittes ambles into the room.

Gittes picks up the sheet and pulls it back. CAMERA GETS ITS FIRST GLIMPSE of Mulwray's body. Eyes open, the face badly cut and bruised.

Morty is wheeling in another body with the help of an assistant.

As he begins to move the body into the refrigerator, he breaks into a wrenching spasm of coughing. Gittes spots the other body, lowers the sheet on Mulwray.

Morty pulls back the sheet.

Morty brushes some sand from the man's face, laughs.

Gittes has already lost interest. He starts away.

This stops Gittes.

Gittes has moved back to the body, looks at it more closely.

Morty shrugs.

Gittes walks away mumbling.

He's parked on an overpass. The sign HOLLENBECK BRIDGE on one of its concrete columns. Gittes looks down into the riverbed below.

Gittes scrambles down the embankment and as he lands near the storm drain one shoe sinks, ankle deep into mud. Gittes pulls it out, swearing.

He begins to walk a little further downstream when he hears the vaguely familiar SQUISHY CLOP of something.

Clearing the bridge. on the opposite side is the little Mexican Boy, again on his swayback horse, riding along the muddy bank.

They look at one another a moment.

The Boy doesn't answer.

The Boy nods.

The shadows of the two are very long now.

Gittes nods. The horse snorts. The Boy rides slowly on.

Gittes scrambles up the embankment to note the direction the storm drain by Hollenbeck Bridge takes. It is headed above toward the Hollywood Hills, where the sun is setting.

Winding his way up a section of the Hollywood Hills. He picks up on an open flood channel with the spotlight by the driver's windwing.

GITTES IN CAR – MOVING

Along the flood channel. It is dark now and Gittes follows the channel with the car spotlight. He turns at a fork in the road which allows him to continue following the flood channel.

FURTHER UP – MOVING

The road is narrower. Gittes drives more slowly. Foliage is overgrown in the channel so its bottom cannot be glimpsed. STILL FURTHER – NIGHT

The road is dirt. Heavy clusters of oak trees and eucalyptus are everywhere. It is very still. Another turn and a pie-shaped view of a lake of lights in the city below can be GLIMPSED.

POV – CHAIN-LINK FENCE

Over the road, bolted. It says "OAK PASS RESERVOIR. KEEP OUT. NO TRESPASSING."

The chain-link itself actually extends over the flood channel and down into it, making access along the channel itself impossible.

Gittes backs up, turns off the motor, the car lights, the spotlight. A lone light overhead on tension wires is the sole illumination. There is only the eerie SOUND of the tension WIRES HUMMING.

Gittes gets out of the car, clubs the fence near the Flood channel itself.

Suddenly there is a GUNSHOT. Then ANOTHER. Gittes dives into the flood control channel, which is at this point about four feet deep and six feet wide. There is the SOUND of men scurrying through the brush, coming near him, then retreating. Gittes loses himself among the ivy in the channel.

He waits. The men seem to have passed him by. But there is another SOUND now. An echoing growing sound. It puzzles Gittes. He starts to lift his head to catch the direction.

GITTES IN FLOOD CONTROL CHANNEL – NIGHT

Then he's inundated with a rush of water which pours over him, knocks off his hat, carries him down the channel, banging into its banks, as he desperately tries to grab some of the overgrowth to hang on and pull himself out. But the force of the stream batters him and carries him with it until he's brought rudely to the chain- link fence. It stops him cold. He's nearly strained through it.

Swearing and choking, he pulls himself out of the rushing water by means of the fence itself.

Drenched, battered, he slowly climbs back over the fence and makes his way toward his car.

He starts to get into his car but Mulvihill and a SMALLER MAN stop him. Mulvihill pulling his coat down and pinning his arms, holding him tightly. The smaller man thrusts a switchblade knife about an inch and a half up Gittes' left nostril.

CLOSE – GITTES

Frozen, the knife in his nostril, the street lamp overhead gleaming on the silvery blade.

The Smaller Man actually seems to be trembling with rage when he says this. Gittes doesn't move.

With a quick flick the Smaller Man pulls back on the blade, laying Gittes' left nostril open about an inch further. Gittes screams. Blood gushes down onto his shirt and coat.

Gittes bends over, instinctively trying to keep the blood from getting on his clothes. Mulvihill and the Smaller Man stare at him.

Gittes is now groveling on his hands and knees.

Gittes on the ground can see only his tormentor's two-tone brown and white wing-tipped shoes, lightly freckled with his blood.

Sits behind his desk, BACK TO CAMERA, not moving. Duffy sits staring at nothing, Walsh moves uneasily around the room.

The PHONE is RINGING. Sophie BUZZES.

NEW ANGLE – REVEALING

A bandage spread-eagled across Gittes' nose.

Gittes turns slowly to Walsh. He lightly taps his nose.

Gittes looks irritated. The PHONE RINGS again.

Gittes picks up the phone. He winks to his boys.

Walsh promptly starts to tell Duffy the Admiral Byrd story.

Walsh has finished off the punch line and both men are laughing raucously. Gittes drops the mail he's been loafing through and puts his hand over the receiver.

She hangs up. Gittes looks to his two men.

Gittes is seated, flips through the paper until he finds the OBITUARY COLUMN, scans it, looks up, abruptly tears the column from the paper and puts it in his pocket.

When he closes the paper we can SEE headlines in the left hand column: "WATER BOND ISSUE PASSES COUNCIL". Ten million dollar referendum to go before the public.

Evelyn Mulwray is standing at the table as he does so. He rises, allows her to sit.

The waiter's appeared. Evelyn is looking at Gittes' nose.

Evelyn looks down and smoothes her gloves. When she looks back up she stares expectantly at Gittes.

Gittes pulls out a torn envelope. The initials ECM can be SEEN in a delicate scroll on the comer of it.

Gittes' fingers the envelope. He coughs.

The drinks come. The waiter sets them down.

Gittes smiles.

Evelyn remains unperturbed.

Evelyn nods.

Evelyn for the first time appears a little embarrassed.

Gittes looks significantly to Evelyn.

Evelyn doesn't reply.

Evelyn is clearly angry but she is controlling it.

This subdues Gittes a little. Evelyn is still a little heated.

Evelyn looks squarely at him. She doesn't deny it.

Gittes nods.

He's been fingering the envelope...

Evelyn turns into Gittes.

Gittes suddenly turns sharply in to Evelyn.

Evelyn involuntarily draws back.

Evelyn reluctantly allows Gittes to move closer and dangle his hand in front of their faces. She stares at him.

Evelyn actually smiles a little.

Gittes looks up and flashes his smile.

MRS. MATCH is swaying over the table, a plump woman with a glass of whiskey in one hand, a large purse in the other, and a menacing look in her eye.

Gittes turns back to Evelyn.

She tries to take a swipe at Gittes with her purse. Gittes covers himself. Waiters rush over.

Mrs. Match swings at Gittes again and again. She catches him on the nose. It hurts. He covers it, then swings his leg out from under the table and deftly kicks her in the shin.

Mrs. Match drops her purse and spills her drink. She grabs her shin, hopping around a little. The waiters who had tried to restrain her now try to keep her from falling over.

They rise and move toward the door.

Gittes looks, sees she's kidding, and nods.

OUTSIDE IN THE PARKING LOT – DUSK

Gittes' car has been brought by the parking attendant. The attendant opens the passenger side for Evelyn.

The attendant starts after it again. Gittes leans on the open door of his car and in to Evelyn. He talks quietly but spits it out.

Evelyn steadies herself on the open car door. She stares at Gittes for a long moment. Then he gently tugs the car door closed.

He drives off into the Wilshire traffic, leaving Evelyn looking after him.

With its lettering:

"HOLLIS I. MULWRAY CHIEF ENGINEER"

Gittes goes through the door to the Secretary. She looks up. She recognizes Gittes again and is not happy to see him.

The Secretary immediately gets up and goes into the inner office.

Gittes turns and strolls around the office a moment. He sees a photographic display of "THE HISTORY OF THE DWP. THE EARLY YEARS", along the wall. He stops as he spots a photo of the man with the cane Gittes had seen photos of earlier. He is standing high in the mountains, near a pass. The caption reads "JULIAN CROSS. 1905". Cross is strikingly handsome.

Gittes immediately pulls out the envelope containing Evelyn's check. He looks at the corner of it, his thumb pressing down under the middle initial C, then he looks back to the photos.

The Secretary returns.

Gittes pulls out a cigarette case, offers the Secretary one. She refuses, He lights up and begins to hum 'The Way You Look Tonight,' strolling along the wall looking at more photographs.

Here he spots several photos of a much younger Mulwray, along with Julian Cross. One of the captions: "HOLLIS MULWRAY AND JULIAN CROSS AS THE AQUEDUCT CLEARS THE SANTA SUSANNAH PASS. 1912". Gittes, still humming, turns to the Secretary.

Gittes is genuinely surprised at this.

She gets up, annoyed, and goes into Yelburton's inner office.

Gittes goes back to the photographs. He hears a SCRATCHING SOUND, apparently coming from just outside the outer door.

He moves quickly to it, hesitates, swiftly opens the door. Workmen are behind it, scraping away Mulwray's name on the outer door, looking up at Gittes in some surprise.

The Secretary returns, sees the workman on the floor.

Gittes nods graciously, heads on into Yelburton's office.

There is a subtle but perceptible difference in Yelburton's attitude. He's now head of the department.

Gittes heads toward the door.

Gittes nods.

Gittes smiles, leaves an unsmiling Yelburton.

Gittes enters, drops his hat on Sophie's desk. Sophie tries to tell him something but Gittes goes on into his office.

Gittes moves to his desk, barely breaking stride at the sight of her.

He's sitting now. Evelyn is very pale now, obviously very shaken.

Gittes buzzes Sophie.

Evelyn nearly jumps at the question.

Evelyn nods. She lights another cigarette.

She quickly stubs one out.

Sophie comes in with the form, cutting off Evelyn's reply. Gittes places two copies on a coffee table in front of Evelyn.

She signs it. When she looks back up, Gittes is staring intently at her.

The engines make the small cabin vibrate. Gittes threads his way down the tiny aisle of the eight passenger cabin, which is full of middle-aged men in old clothes and their fishing gear. Gittes is poked by a pole, has to move along.

One of the old men says something to him.

Gittes moves forward into the cockpit, the PILOT looks up – nods for Gittes to sit down, first moving a half eaten cheese sandwich out of Gittes' seat.

Taxiing down the ramp into the sea. In a moment, it kicks up a spray of foam and takes off.

The island gradually looming larger before the Pilot and Gittes.

The Pilot glances over at Gittes who, as usual, is impeccably dressed. A contrast to the others on the plane.

Gittes shakes his head.

The Pilot laughs raucously. Gittes laughs politely.

He gives a sidelong glance to Gittes, a little concerned he's said too much.

Both men laugh a little lewdly.

ALBACORE CLUB – DAY

A pleasant but unobtrusive clapboard blue and white building on the bay overlooking the harbor. The seaplane lands. A motor launch with a burgee of a fish flying from it turns and heads in the direction of the plane.

Gittes, driven in a station wagon, passes under the sign with a cross painted below the name.

The ranch itself is only partially in a valley on the island. As the wagon continues one can SEE that it is actually a miniature California, encompassing desert, mountains and canyon that tumble down palisades to the windward side of the sea.

The wagon comes to a halt where a group of hands are clustered around a corral. The circle of men drift apart, leaving JULIAN CROSS standing, using a cane for support, reedy but handsome in a rough linen shirt and jeans. When he talks his strong face is lively, in repose it looks ravaged.

Walking toward the main house. A classic Monterey. A horse led on a halter by another ranch hand slows down and defecates in the center of the path they are taking. Gittes doesn't notice.

Gittes pauses, not certain he has heard correctly.

Cross pauses when they reach the dung pile. He removes his hat and waves it, inhales deeply.

Gittes glances down out of politeness.

Cross walks on. Gittes follows.

They move on.

Below them is a corral where hands take Arabians, one by one, and work them out, letting them run and literally kick up their heels. Cross' attention is diverted by the animals from time to time. An impeccable Mexican butler serves them their main course, broiled fish.

Cross is visibly surprised.

Cross nods.

Gittes glances down at the fish whose isinglass eye is glazed over with the heat of cooking.

Gittes laughs.

This stops Gittes. He seems faintly mused by it.

Gittes shrugs.

Cross starts to reply, then there's the SOUND of a MARIACHI BAND and some men in formation clear a bluff about a hundred yards off. They are dressed like Spanish dons on horseback. For the most part they are fat in the saddle and pass along in disordered review to the music.

Cross shakes his head.

Cross looks to Gittes in some real surprise.

Cross looks hatefully at Gittes.

Dark and quiet except for the whirring of fans. Gittes approaches one of the CLERKS at a desk.

The Clerk's droopy eyes widen a little.

Which is a snotty remark. Gittes smiles.

The Clerk turns away abruptly. Gittes regards his back a moment, then goes to the stacks.

He hauls down the northwest valley volume, opens it. It's huge and there's a lot to go through.

The print itself makes him squint.

The Clerk turns sharply around.

Gittes looks a little surprised.

The exasperated Clerk reaches around, rummages, slaps a ruler on the desk.

Gittes goes back to the stacks with the ruler. He opens the book, places the ruler not horizontally but vertically.

INSERT PLAT BOOK NORTHWEST VALLEY

Beside the OWNER column he places the ruler, looks toward the clerks, then swiftly rips down the page, tearing out a strip about two inches wide containing the owner's name and property description. As he tears, he either sniffles or coughs to cover the SOUND of the PAPER being ripped.

Amidst a hall of shimmering dust and heat, parched and drying groves, narrower roads.

He passes a ramshackle home, next to a rotting orchard. There is a "SOLD" sign on the collapsing barn. Gittes stops, checks it against the names he had taken from the Hall of Records.

OLD STUCCO BUILDINGS FURTHER ON.

And a few withered pepper trees. Gittes has paused at this dried- up intersection. There is a "SOLD" sign on a drug store. Gittes looks OFF SCREEN.

Coming INTO VIEW above the arid fields is a spiraling cloud of purple smoke. Gittes heads in that direction.

Gittes parks at the edge of the field. About twenty yards away is a man mounted on a strange machine, holding a lid off it. Billowing lavender clouds are belching forth.

Several CHILDREN are watching the man at work.

Gittes nods, walks over to the man who is elaborately busying himself with the intricacies of his machine. He's aware of Gittes watching him.

The Rainmaker now glances down at Gittes, who as usual is immaculately dressed.

The Rainmaker steps down.

RAINMAKER & GITTES

He reaches a fork in the dirt road. There are a couple of mailboxes.

Gittes takes this fork and begins a slow ascent.

As he does, the tops of a line of bright green trees can be SEEN, coming more and more INTO VIEW, row upon row of avocado and walnut groves, their foliage heavy. The few structures in the distance are white-washed, and well kept, right down to the white-washed stones that mark the pathway to the home. Towering above it all is a huge wooden water tank.

Gittes drives through a gate that has "NO TRESPASSING" and "KEEP OUT PRIVATE PROPERTY" signs neatly printed on it.

He drives down the road into the grove.

Then a SHOTGUN BLAST abruptly strips bare the branches. of the tree he'd been staring at.

Gittes is shocked. He looks behind him. Riding on horseback down the field in the direction he had just driven is a Red-Faced Man in overalls. His hat blows off his head. He does not, however, lose the shotgun he has just used. Gittes' lane of retreat is denied him. He guns the car, and takes off down one of the orchard lanes.

Gittes veers a sharp left, knocking a branch off one of the trees, heading down one of the cross-lanes. Here he's pursued by a scraggly dog that nips at the tires. Gittes yells at it.

This hide-and-seek chase between one man on horseback, one on a mule and a couple on foot continues up and down and across the orchard lanes until Gittes' front tire and radiator are ruptured by another SHOTGUN BLAST.

Gittes' car veers off, scattering a stray gaggle of geese and smacks into an avocado tree, shaking loose a barrage of the heavy fruit onto Gittes and the car.

Gittes immediately tries to get out through the branches over the back of his car, but he's pulled off it by one of the younger farmers, a huge brute who he begins to tussle with. The Crippled Farmer begins to bang Gittes on the back with his crutch. The two of them manage to pound Gittes to the ground within moments, where the Crippled Farmer continues to whack away at Gittes with the crutch.

The older Red Faced Farmer with the shotgun and the Man on a mule ride up.

Gittes is hefted half off the ground and the two younger Farmers spin him around, going through his clothes. Gittes is badly banged up and half out on his feet. They toss his wallet, his silver cigarette case, etc. on the ground.

Gittes leans against the back of his car, breathing heavily.

Gittes' back is to the Red Faced Farmer. He has trouble catching his breath. The Crippled Farmer pokes him rudely in the back with his crutch. Gittes turns sharply.

Gittes looks up at the Red Faced Farmer.

Gittes reaches into his pocket. The paper's on the ground. He picks it up.

The Big Farmer takes a swing at Gittes. Gittes kicks him squarely in the nuts, knees him in the jaw after he's doubled up, and hits him solidly. The Crippled Farmer takes careful aim and brings his crutch down on the back of Gittes' head. Gittes is knocked to the ground and lies still beside the Big Farmer who is writhing in agony in the dirt.

CLOSE – EVELYN MULWRAY

Is staring down at Gittes who's lying in the screened in porch of the farmers. His wife, the Red Faced Farmer, and the Big Farmer are there, along with the dog.

The Red Faced Farmer's wife has set tea out. The farmers, all of them, now seem awkward and a little embarrassed.

FRONT PORCH – RED FACE FARMER'S HOUSE – REACTION – GITTES – DUSK

He focuses on Evelyn who sits right next to him. He's got dried blood down the side of his face from his nose, a huge mouse on his cheek, and his clothes are torn in a couple of spots.

Gittes nods. He checks his watch. He looks out. It's almost evening. Gittes says nothing. The wife of the Red Faced Farmer (DUBOIS) looks

reproachfully at Dubois. Gittes feels the back of his head, It obviously hurts him.

Evelyn and Gittes go out to her car, the cream colored Packard. Dubois accompanies them, along with the Big Farmer who is carrying a crate of something. Gittes has cleaned himself up a little.

DUBOIS, (to Evelyn) It's just that they're after everybody out here, tearing up our irrigation. Ditches trying to make our land worthless so they can pick it up for twenty-five dollars an acre.

Gittes nods.

Gittes looks. Earl has the huge crate he's holding brim-full of avocados.

Evelyn driving.

Gittes pulls out cigarette case, takes one, offers one to Evelyn who refuses.

He's pulling out his wallet, excitedly now, spilling its contents onto the seat. He pulls out the obituary column he'd folded up earlier in the day.

Evelyn's car pulls up before the elegant Spanish rest home, its entryway illuminated by streetlights. There is a small sign giving the name of the place in elegant neon scroll. It sits on the rolling green lawns.

Gittes gets out of the car with Evelyn. He offers her his arm and they go up the walkway to the entrance.

Gittes and Evelyn are approached by an unctuous man in his forties, with a flower in his buttonhole. He sees Evelyn first.

Then he gets a clear look at Gittes, bruised, trousers torn, etc.

Evelyn shakes her head.

Evelyn can't quite conceal her surprise at the question.

Evelyn stares back at Gittes, amused and appalled. She manages to nod.

Gittes locks eyes with Palmer.

He takes Evelyn.

Looking. Either by accident or design, the primarily octogenarian guests have segregated themselves. In one wing, the men are playing pinochle, some are playing dominoes, one elderly gentleman sits by himself carefully peeling an orange.

In an adjacent parlor several white-headed ladies work on a quilt.

Gittes grabs Evelyn's hand.

Gittes points to the wall. It says "ACTIVITIES BOARD". There are titles. "LAWN BOWLING". "BRIDGE". "FISHING". "CROQUET". Below them are the names of the guests, entered under certain activities, for certain days.

After Evelyn looks, she turns to Gittes.

Gittes strolls toward the women knitting and working on the quilt.

Two of the ladies giggle. The third continues to busy herself with her quilt, off by herself.

Two of them say "she is," and point in different directions. The third gives them a curt look and goes back to her knitting. Gittes approaches her.

Some old voice is singing softly, "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree."

Gittes looks at the quilt. In it is the head of a fish among the rest of the crazy quilt pattern. Gittes spots it.

He looks through the quilt for other pieces of the fish, comes across the tail and by it the initials A.C.

Gittes looks up, sees Palmer standing in the doorway, looking taut and a little drawn. Evelyn is beside him. She gestures as if there's someone behind Palmer.

Gittes rises.

He walks toward Palmer who waits for him to walk in front.

AT THE ENTRANCE HALL – MULVIHILL

Is waiting. He's got his hand in his pocket. Evelyn looks to Gittes. The four of them stand there, Mulvihill towering over everyone.

Mulvihill has walked up beside Gittes. He makes the mistake of opening the glass door in the entryway, putting his back to Gittes for a moment. Gittes swiftly pulls Mulvihill's jacket up over his head. He spins him around. With his jacket covering his face, Gittes hammers away at Mulvihlll, beating him against the glass door, along the wall, mercilessly pounding his fists into the cloth until the cloth turns red and Mulvihill begins to sink to the red tile floor. Palmer screams. Evelyn stands there astonished. Mulvihill's gun has clattered to the floor.

Evelyn goes.

Mulvihill tries to get up again. Palmer starts to go for the gun, nearly picking it up. Gittes slaps it out of his hand and kicks it. It goes flying down the hall, at least thirty feet; hits the wall. Palmer goes screaming off into the night. Gittes turns back to Mulvihill who starts to get up, then collapses.

Gittes goes out the front door, ignoring the excited audience of ancients behind him.

Gittes stops. The two men fan out and continue to move toward him. Gittes spots the two-tone shoes. He begins to back up.

Suddenly there is a pair of headlights flashing brilliantly behind the two men. In a moment Evelyn's car is headed across the lawn directly toward the two men, accelerating as it gets near them. They look in disbelief, then dive for safety. The car skids to a stop, fishtailing a little on the grass.

Evelyn opens the passenger door.

Gittes jumps in and she takes off across the lawn, tilting the elegant little neon sign on the lawn as she goes. Two SHOTS ARE FIRED.

Evelyn looking straight ahead, driving. After a moment she takes one hand off the wheel and rubs her left eye a little. Gittes watches her. He smiles.

Gittes stands on the veranda, smoking a cigarette, staring off into the night.

Evelyn comes out to the veranda, carrying a tray with whiskey and an ice bucket on it. She sets it down. Gittes turns.

They drink.

Gittes touches his nose, winces a little.

Gittes looks sharply at her. Then:

She looks at him. Gittes stares off into the night.

Evelyn has poured herself another drink.

Gittes gets up.

He touches his nose lightly.

She takes his hand and leads him back into the house.

Gittes pulls the plaster off his nose, stares at it in the mirror. Evelyn takes some hydrogen peroxide and some cotton out of a medicine cabinet. Evelyn turns Gittes' head toward her. She has him sit on the pullman tile adjacent to the sink.

She begins to work on his nose with the peroxide. Then she sees his cheek, checks back in his hair.

Gittes shrugs.

They're very close now as she's going over a mouse very near his eye.

He takes hold of her and pulls her even closer,

Gittes kisses her lightly, gradually rises until he's standing holding her. She hesitates, then wraps her arms around him.

On a nightstand, city lights visible through the open window behind it. It is RINGING. Evelyn's arm reaches INTO SHOT. SOUND of something hitting the headboard. Gittes moans.

VIEW SHIFTS TO INCLUDE Gittes in bed, holding his head, which he's just hit. Evelyn pauses in her reach to the phone. She turns to him, whispers, "I'm sorry," kisses him on the head and lips. PHONE CONTINUES TO RING. She picks it up.

VIEW SHIFTS AGAIN TO INCLUDE Gittes in bed, watching Evelyn next to him as she's talking on the phone. She hangs up. She touches Gittes' cheek lightly.

Gittes stares at her silently.

She leaps out of bed, throwing on a robe.

Evelyn starts quickly for the bathroom, then comes back and kneels by the side of the bed, takes Gittes' hand.

She kisses him, rushes to the bathroom, shuts the door. Gittes stares at it a moment. Then leaps out of bed, rummages around, tosses on his trousers. He grabs his shoes, throws them on. Then hurries out of the bedroom.

Running across the driveway to the garage. There are two cars there. Mulwray's Buick and Evelyn's Packard.

Gittes moves over to the Buick, opens the passenger's door.

Checks the ignition. No key is in it. He pulls a couple of wires from under the dash, starts to mess with them, seems satisfied. Slides out across the seat, slams the door.

Gittes hurries over to the Packard. He gets down on the driveway, lying on his back, bracing himself. With the heel of his shoe, he kicks at the right rear taillight of the car. He shatters the red lens, gets up. He carefully pulls the red lens off the taillight, exposing the white light beneath it. He tosses the red lens into the shrubbery and hurries back toward the house.

ONE RED AND ONE WHITE TAILLIGHT – MOVING – NIGHT

Evelyn's car speeds along the curves on Sunset Boulevard, the red and white lights coming IN AND OUT OF VIEW.

GITTES DRIVING – NIGHT

Behind the wheel of Mulwray's car, keeping a healthy distance from Evelyn in front of him.

DOWN THE STREET – GITTES IN BUICK

Idles the engine with the lights off. He brings the car a few yards further down the street, parking it near Evelyn's.

Gittes gets out of the car and goes up the walkway. The curtains are drawn except for one of the small windows on the side of the house. He goes to it and looks, balancing on the edge of the porch.

He climbs over it, follows along the stucco wall to a series of windows at the corner of the house. These all have shades on them. He can hear someone crying in the house. Someone else talking alternately firmly and plaintively in Spanish. Here the windows have blinds. He moves to one where the blind is not completely drawn. There's an inch or so of space at the bottom.

Evelyn kneels. She insists that the girl swallow down some pills. The girl reluctantly does.

Emerges from the house, goes to her car and gets in.

Evelyn sees Gittes sitting in her car, staring coldly at her.

Gittes starts to get out of the car. Evelyn grabs his arm, nearly screaming:

Her intensity actually rips Gittes' already partially torn jacket. He looks at it and her. It seems to have a momentary calming effect on both of them.

Gittes explodes.

A long pause. Evelyn's head sinks onto the steering wheel, her hair covering her face.

Evelyn is breathing very deeply now. Not crying, but the kind of deep breathing that comes from real hysteria. Gittes puts an arm on her shoulder.

She lifts her head and looks up at him. He's genuinely puzzled.

She nods. Gittes sighs.

She begins to cry softly.

There is a long moment of silence. Gittes looks over to Evelyn. Her hair covers most of her face from him.

He gets out and slams the car door. She drives off.

The spray is hitting him full on the top of the head. Gittes is so exhausted he's literally holding onto the nozzle as the water pours down. He shuts the shower off, reaches weakly for a towel, dabs his nose lightly with it.

Pads around in elegant silk pajamas.

He walks over to the window where morning light is streaming in. He closes the curtains, collapses on the bed, on top of the covers, inert. Almost immediately the PHONE RINGS. Gittes lets it go on for a moment, then picks it up without saying anything.

Gittes slowly rises to one elbow.

He hangs up, falls back down. PHONE RINGS AGAIN. AND AGAIN. Gittes swears, picks it up.

Before Gittes can say anything, the phone clicks dead.

Gittes pulls up. It is a bungalow courtyard with a very narrow walkway and sickly green stucco.

Gittes at the front door. It's slightly ajar. He knocks. Nothing. He opens it and enters.

Morning light filters through the half-open blinds. Dust particles in the shafts of light. It's still and empty. Gittes sees something down the hall, under the legs of a telephone table. Gittes moves toward it. It is grotesque. When he gets closer he can see it's a wilted head of lettuce. Just inside the kitchen some radishes and onions lie on the linoleum. Gittes walks on into the kitchen.

Clearing the kitchen counter, Gittes sees IDA SESSIONS lying on her back on the floor, surrounded by the groceries from a broken bag. Ice cream has melted around her. Her eyes are open, a stream of ants is moving across the ice cream and into her mouth. She's recognizable as the woman who posed as Evelyn Mulwray.

Gittes kneels over her. He gingerly opens her handbag, fishes for its contents, takes them and looks at them on the kitchen counter. Wallet with a few bills in it, driver's license with her name. A Screen Actors Guild card. Gittes nods, turns, carefully replaces the items in the purse.

He idly opens the broom closet, pantry, and even Frigidaire, which is all but empty. Then he steps over her body and moves across the hall to a door that is slightly ajar.

Gittes enters and turns on the light.

Escobar and another PLAINCLOTHED MAN stand in the bathroom by the entrance to the bedroom door. Gittes turns around. A THIRD MAN is now coming down the hall from the bedroom.

Gittes looks at the two, doesn't reply.

Escobar points to the number "MU 7279" on the side of one of the kitchen cabinets.

He indicates one of his assistants.

The Assistant starts to move for Gittes who is ready for him. Escobar steps between the two.

In the open drawer are the photos of Mulwray and the girl in the park, boat, and at the El Macando on the veranda.

Gittes takes a deep breath.

Escobar nods.

Gittes is surprised at this piece of information, but remains nonplussed.

Escobar manages a thin smile.

This is a little telling.

This stops Escobar. He's dumbfounded by it.

Escobar hesitates.

The men around Escobar look to him. Escobar grudgingly nods.

CLOSE SHOT – STORM DRAIN

It yawns AT CAMERA, only a trickle of water dropping into the ocean.

VIEW WIDENS TO INCLUDE Escobar, Gittes, and two Plain clothesmen, standing and staring at the empty pipe as if they expect it to talk.

A THIRD ASSISTANT runs down the side of the cliff and Over to Escobar.

Escobar turns to Gittes. Stares at him for a long moment.

Escobar stares hatefully at Gittes.

Gittes in Mulwray's Buick whips into the driveway. He looks in the garage. Evelyn's car is gone. Only the Gardener's truck is there.

Gittes hurries along the pathway and up to the house. He rings the doorbell. Scarcely waiting for an answer he tries it. It's locked. He reaches into his pocket pulls out his cigarette case, takes a pick out of the side and starts to fool with the lock.

The Maid opens the door abruptly, stares in some surprise at Gittes.

Gittes looks past the Maid to the center of the living room where luggage is packed and neatly piled.

The Maid is actually in the process of throwing covers over the furniture.

Gittes nods. He continues through the house and out back to the veranda.

Is unsettled. Sees the Gardener working by the pond. He wanders a few yards in that direction.

He points to the newly mown lawn.

The Gardener nods vigorously. Points to the pond.

Gittes has moved to the pond. He kneels. Clinging to the edge of it he can now see as he could have before if he'd looked closely, a starfish.

The Gardener peers into the pond.

The Gardener spots it. He rolls up his trousers, gets in the pond, and reaches into the bottom, his chin actually touching the water. He misses the object, which seems to scoot away like an animal. Then he grasps it. He lifts it out of the water and holds a pair of eye glasses, rimless, bent, his finger poking through the frame where one lens is shattered.

The Gardener seems surprised. Gittes looks at the glasses. They are heavily bifocal and reflect the sun.

Gittes holds the phone to his ear. On the telephone table, lying on his handkerchief are the glasses.

The Maid hovers around over Gittes' shoulder, uneasily watching him.

Gittes hangs up.

Gittes pulls up in Mulwray's Buick. He hurries to the front door, pounds on it.

The Chinese servant answers the door.

Gittes pushes past him. Evelyn, looking a little worn but glad to see him hurries to the door. She takes Gittes' arm.

She looks at him, searching his face.

They move into the living room. Gittes is looking around it.

Gittes continues to look around. He sees clothes laid out for packing in a bedroom off the living room.

Gittes doesn't answer. He goes to the phone and dials.

Gittes looks at her, then takes the handkerchief out of his breast pocket. Unfolds it on a coffee table, revealing the bifocal glasses, one lens still intact. Evelyn stares dumbly at them.

Gittes has been in a state of near frenzy himself. gets up, shakes her.

Evelyn is trembling.

Gittes smiles.

Gittes stares at her. He's been charged with anger and when Evelyn says this it explodes. He hits her full in the face. Evelyn stares back at him. The blow has forced tears from her eyes, but she makes no move, not even to defend herself.

Gittes slaps her again.

Gittes slaps her again.

He hits her again.

He belts her finally, knocking her into a cheap Chinese vase which shatters and she collapses on the sofa, sobbing.

Kyo comes running down the stairs.

Kyo turns after staring at Gittes for a moment then goes back upstairs.

Gittes doesn't answer.

She nods.

Evelyn looks slowly up at Gittes.

Gittes suddenly feels the need to loosen his tie.

She stops suddenly.

For a moment Gittes doesn't know what she's talking about. Then he follows her gaze to the glasses lying on his handkerchief.

Gittes picks up the glasses, stares at the lens, is momentarily lost in them.

With her arm around the girl, talking in Spanish, Evelyn hurries her toward the bedroom. In a moment she re-emerges.

REACTION – GITTES

He nods slowly.

Gittes drops the curtain, heads swiftly to the phone. He dials.

The front BELL RINGS.

Gittes hangs up and goes to the door. He opens it. No one is there.

Escobar and his minions appear from either side of the door.

Escobar nods.

A steep hill overlooks part of the harbor. Escobar's unmarked car pulls up to a stop in front of a Spanish duplex perched on the steep hillside.

Escobar waits.

Escobar shakes his head. For a moment it looks like it means no.

Gittes gets out of the car, glances around, goes up the stairs. He looks back down at Escobar. Gittes rings the bell. He waits. It opens. It's a WOMAN who's not recognizable. She's got the remnants of a black eye.

Gittes looks past her to Curly, the fisherman from the first scene. He's seated at the dinner table with his father, his mother, and his children. Curly looks up in surprise.

Gittes enters and closes the door. Curly rises and comes over to him, greets him happily.

They head out the back door and down the steps toward the garage.

Curly pulls open the garage door. Gets in, starts the car, backs it out. It's an old, late twenties Plymouth Sedan. Gittes hops in. They take off. At the edge of the alley Gittes looks back.

Carry bags out to Curly's car. Curly opens the door for the Maid. She gets in. He turns to Gittes.

Curly nods, reassured. He gets in and takes off.

By the pond, cigarette smoke drifts INTO SHOT. A car pulls up. In a moment Cross can be SEEN, looking TOWARD CAMERA.

He walks toward Gittes who stands by the pond, smoking.

Cross' tone alters here.

Gittes pulls something out of his pocket and unfolds it.

Cross dips into his coat pocket and pulls out a pair of rimless glasses.. He puts them on, reads.

Gittes is holding the bifocals with the broken lens now.

Cross looks at the glasses.

Gittes nods.

Cross makes a funny little cock of his head.

Mulvihill moves INTO VIEW. Extends his hand for the glasses. Gittes doesn't move.

Gittes hands over the glasses.

The streets are crowded. Here and there one can see Chinese in traditional dress.

Gittes sees them, keeps driving.

Mulvihill tries to clobber Gittes. Gittes elbows him. The car jumps the curb and hits a lamppost.

Leaps out of the car shouting:

Gittes is after him, grabbing him. Cross tries to swing at Gittes with his cane. Mulvihill comes up behind Gittes and the three of them begin an awkward wrestling match, the crowd scattering, Mulvihill pulling his revolver, trying to hit Gittes on the side of the head. The three men crash to the pavement.

He bites Mulvihill's hand and furiously pounds it into the sidewalk, shaking gun loose. Mulvihill and Gittes Try for it but someone else has it.

Mulvihill doesn't move. Cross rises on his own. Evelyn holds the revolver on him.

Evelyn backs up as her father takes a step toward her.

Evelyn is backing up. Cross moving on her. Evelyn cocks the pistol.

There's the SOUND of a SIREN. Cross lunges toward her. Gittes grabs Cross.

Duffy and Walsh are elbowing through the crowd. Gittes sees them.

She looks to Gittes. He looks at her. She turns and He looks at her. She turns and Escobar is standing between her Escobar is standing between her and it.

Escobar continues to move toward her. Gittes grabs him.

Evelyn gets in the car. She starts it. Gittes lets Escobar go.

There's a single GUNSHOT. Both men look surprised. Down the block a uniformed officer has fired, standing beside his double-parked car. Duffy's sedan slows to a stop in the middle of the street. It jerks a couple of times, still in gear, then comes to a halt.

Gittes rushes to the car. He opens it. Evelyn falls out, inert. Blood is pouring from her right eye.

He holds onto Evelyn as Escobar and others hurry up. Cross himself elbows through.

Several officers contain Gittes.

Gittes looks down. What he sees horrifies him. Cross is on the ground, holding Evelyn's body, crying.

Walsh and Duffy elbow through the crowd.

Duffy bear hugs the protesting Gittes, along with Walsh, literally dragging him away from the scene, with Gittes trying to shake free. Through the crowd noises, Walsh can be heard saying, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."