"THE USUAL SUSPECTS" (1995)

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Written by

Christopher Mcquarrie

Revised, 05/25/94 White Revised, 06/01/94 Blue Revised, 06/07/94 Pink Revised, 06/11/94 Yellow

WHITE 05/25/94

1 BLACK: 1

The lonely sound of a buoy bell in the distance. Water slapping against a smooth, flat surface in rhythm. The creaking of wood.

Off in the very far distance, one can make out the sound of sirens.

SUDDENLY, a single match ignites and invades the darkness. It quivers for a moment. A dimly lit hand brings the rest of the pack to the match. A plume of yellow-white flame flares and illuminates the battered face of DEAN KEATON, age forty. His salty-gray hair is wet and matted. His face drips with water or sweat. A large cut runs the length of his face from the corner of his eye to his chin. It bleeds freely. An un- lit cigarette hangs in the corner of his mouth.

In the half-light we can make out that he is on the deck of a large boat. A yacht, perhaps, or a small freighter. He sits with his back against the front bulkhead of the wheel house.

His legs are twisted at odd, almost impossible angles. He looks down.

A thin trail of liquid runs past his feet and off into the darkness. Keaton lights the cigarette on the burning pack of matches before throwing them into the liquid.

The liquid IGNITES with a poof.

The flame runs up the stream, gaining in speed and intensity.

It begins to ripple and rumble as it runs down the deck towards the stern.

A stack of oil drums rests on the stern. They are stacked on a palette with ropes at each corner that attach it to a huge crane on the dock. One of the barrels has been punctured at it's base. Gasoline trickles freely from the hole.

The flame is racing now towards the barrels. Keaton smiles weakly to himself.

The flame is within a few yards of the barrels when another stream of liquid splashes onto the gas. The flame fizzles out pitifully with a hiss.

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Two feet straddle the flame. A stream of urine flows onto the deck from between them.

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The sound of a fly zipping. Follow the feet as they move over to where Keaton rests at the wheel house.

CRANE UP to the waist of the unknown man. He pulls a pack of cigarettes out of one pocket and a strange antique lighter from the other. It is gold, with a clasp that folds down over the flint. The man flicks up the clasp with his thumb and strikes it with his index finger. It is a fluid motion, somewhat showy.

Keaton looks up at the man. A look of realization crosses his face. It is followed by frustration, anger, and finally resignation.

VOICE (O.S.) How are you, Keaton?

He spits the name out like it was poison.

The man puts the lighter back in his pocket and reaches under his jacket. He produces a stainless .38 revolver.

VOICE (O.S.) Ready?

The hand with the gun turns over, turning the gold watch on its wrist upward.

The sound of sirens is closer now. Headed this way.

VOICE (O.S.) Twelve thirty.

Keaton grimaces bitterly and nods. He turns his head away and takes another drag.

The hand with the gun waits long enough for Keaton to enjoy his last drag before pulling the trigger.

GUNSHOT

The sound of Keaton's body slumping onto the deck.

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MOVE OUT ACROSS THE DECK. Below is the stream of gasoline still flowing freely.

The sound of the gasoline igniting. The flame runs in front of us towards the barrels, finally leaping up in a circle around the drums, burning the wood of the pallet and licking the spouting stream as it pours from the hole.

MOVE OUT ACROSS THE DOCK, away from the boat.

The pier to which the boat is moored is littered with DEAD BODIES. Twenty or more men have been shot to pieces and lie scattered everywhere in what can only be the aftermath of a fierce fire-fight.

A BARGE COMES INTO VIEW.

On the deck of the barge is a tangle of cables and girders.

The mesh of steel and rubber leaves a dark and open cocoon beneath its base.

MOVE INTO THE DARKNESS.

Sirens are close now. Almost here. The sound of fire raging out of control.

SIRENS BLARING. TIRES SQUEALING. CAR DOORS OPENING. FEET POUNDING THE PAVEMENT.

MOVE FURTHER, SLOWER, INTO THE DARKNESS

Voices yelling. New light flickering in the surrounding darkness.

SUDDENLY, AN EXPLOSION.

Then silence. TOTAL BLACKNESS.

We hear the voice of ROGER "VERBAL" KINT, whom we will soon meet.

WHITE 05/25/94

BOOM

PRESENT DAY

The black explodes with the opening of a door into a dark room. Outside, the hall is filled with blinding white light.

Shadows in the shapes of men flood into the room. We can make out men in hoods with flashlights. They are laden with weapons.

It is a blur of violent action and sound.'Beams of flashlights cut the darkness in all directions.

FINALLY:

A dozen flashlights land on one man. He lies naked in bed, Merging from a deep sleep. He squints at the flood of blinding white light, more annoyed than frightened. He nearly laughs at the sound of countless guns cocking. He is McMANUS. Age twenty-eight.

VOICE (O.S.) Mr. McManus?

VOICE (O.S.) Police. We have a warrant for your arrest.

Two dozen black gloved hands grab him and yank him out of bed.

An old paint mixer vibrates furiously.

TODD HOCKNEY, a dark, portly man in his thirties is working on an old Fire-bird.

A YOUNG HISPANIC KID mixes paint a few feet away.

SUDDENLY, the garage door opens TO REVEAL:

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A row of five men silhouetted by the bright sun.

Hockney squints.

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Hockney's voice is gruff.

Hockney reaches for something just inside the door of the Fire-bird.

All six men INSTANTLY PRODUCE GUNS and aim them at Hockney.

Hockney withdraws a filthy towel and wipes grease and sweat from his forehead.

FRED FENSTER, a tall, thin man in his thirties strolls casually down the street. He is dressed conspicuously in a loud suit and tie with shoes that have no hope of matching.

He smokes a cigarette and chews gum at the same time.

He happens to glance over his shoulder and notice a brown Ford sedan with four men in it cruising along the curb. He picks up his step a little. The Ford keeps up.

He looks ahead at the corner. He tries to look as comfortable as he can, checking his watch as though remembering an appointment he is late for. The Ford stays right on him.

SUDDENLY, he bolts. He gets no more than a few yards before cars pour out of every conceivable nook and cranny. Brakes are squealing, radios squawking, guns cocking. Fenster is surrounded instantly. He stops short and flaps his hands on his thighs in defeat.

An attractive man and woman walk quickly through the front of a small New York cafe. They are charged with nervous, excited energy.

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The man is DEAN KEATON, a well dressed, sturdy looking man in his forties with slightly graying hair. He looks much better than he did in the opening scene. The woman with him is EDIE FINNERAN, age thirty-three, poised and attractive - Easily the calmer of the two.

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They come to a staircase at the back of the restaurant leading down to a dark room. Edie takes Keaton's arm and stops him.

Keaton is uncomfortable in his suit, or perhaps the situation. Still, he smiles with genuine warmth.

Edie straightens his tie and picks microscopic imperfections from his lapel.

Keaton blinks then stammers, looking for a response.

Pause.

She kisses him and runs down the steps with Keaton close behind. Keaton playfully grabs her ass and she nearly stumbles down the stairs.

They come to the bottom of the steps giggling and jabbing each other. Once off the stairs they instantly transform as though hit with cold air. They assume a cool, professional exterior and walk two feet apart. One would look at them and see only two business associates here to ply their trade.

They walk across the dimly lit dining room to a table in the far corner where two men are already waiting. The first is MR. FORTIER, age thirty-five, the other is MR. RENAULT, age sixty. Both men are impeccably dressed with a distinguished air. They stand and smile.

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They shake hands. Keaton takes Fortier's hand next.

Everyone sits at the table. All faces are smiling.

LOW ANGLE: UNDER TABLE

Edie's hand reaches out and finds Keaton's leg. Her hand runs high up his inner thigh and squeezes firmly.

Her face is absolutely calm, giving no hint of what her hand is doing. Keaton smiles and clears his throat.

Follow a waiter past the flight of steps.

PAN DOWN TO REVEAL:

Five sets of feet arriving at the bottom.

The feet in the middle wear shoes notably nicer than the rest.

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PAN UP TO REVEAL:

SPECIAL AGENT DAVID KUJAN (Pronounced Koo-yahn), U.S.

CUSTOMS. Thirtyish, dark-haired and determined.

9 SCENE DELETED 9

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Keaton looks at Edie and smiles confidently.

VOICE (O.S.) This I had to see myself.

Keaton looks up. He sees David Kujan. Behind him are the very serious looking guys in suits.

Keaton is not happy to see them.

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Renault and Fortier's confusion is giving way to suspicion.

Renault starts to get up.

Keaton stands up and throws a wad of money on the table to cover the check. He looks at Edie. She moves to stand, but he sits her back down with a hand on her shoulder.

Kujan takes him by the arm, but Keaton yanks away.

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He looks out over the dozens of other faces in the restaurant. Everyone is looking at him with some level of surprise. If Keaton is humiliated by the whole affair, he hides it well.

A police officer steps into the frame and opens the steel door.

FOLLOW A PAIR OF FEET as they shuffle across the cement floor. The shoes are shabby and worn, as are the wrinkled pants that hang too low and loose at the cuffs. The right foot is turned slightly inward and falls with a hard limp. It is clear that the knee does not extend fully.

The sound of a steel door opening. The bottom corner of a steel cage comes into view. Another set of feet falls into step with the first. Another steel door and another set of feet. Another door, another and another. Five pairs of feet walk single file down the hall.

The lame feet are in the front of the line. They come to another steel door, this one solid and covered with dents and rivets.

CRANE UP TO REVEAL:

ROGER KINT, VERBAL to his few friends. He has a deeply lined face, making his thirty-odd years a good guess at best. From his twisted left hand, we can see that he suffers from a slight but not debilitating palsy. Behind him are Dean Keaton, Fred Fenster, McManus and Todd Hockney.

Verbal steps through the door, followed by the rest.

The five men are ushered into the room in front of a white wall painted with horizontal blue stripes. Each has a number at either end to denote the height of the man in front of it.

Between these lines are thinner blue lines to tell the specific height in inches.

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Bright lights shine on all of them. They squint, eyes adjusting.

Keaton leans forward a bit and looks at the men in line with him. He shares a look of familiarity with Fenster and then McManus. Hockney smiles at all of them.

VOICE (O.S.) SHUT UP IN THERE. Alright, you all know the drill. When your number is called, step forward and repeat the phrase you've been given. Understand?

The men all nod.

VOICE (O.S.) (CONT'D) Number one. Step forward.

Hockney takes a step forward. He looks directly into a mirror on the other side of the room. It is three feet square and we can make out faint light behind it. It is a two-way. He speaks in a complete dead-pan.

VOICE (O.S.) Number two. Step forward.

McManus steps up and makes a gun with his thumb and forefinger. He mocks criminal intensity, pointing at the mirror. He camps up his line.

VOICE (O.S.) KNOCK IT OFF. Get back in line.

McManus steps back.

The rest of the men do their bit as Verbal speaks.

WHITE 05/25/94

McManus sits in a chair in front of a white wall. He smiles at someone off-screen.

OVERLAPPED:

VOICE (O.S.) Are you done?

VOICE (0.8.) Are you done?

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VOICE (O.S.) So where'd you dump the truck?

VOICE (O.S.) The truck with the guns, fucko.

VOICE (O.S.) Right here. Suck it out.

VOICE (O.S.) You want to know what your buddy Fenster told us?

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Jesus Christ. beat me if you gotta, but no more of the candy- land tactics, man.

VOICE (O.S.) WHERE'S THE FUCKING TRUCK?

Now Fenster is in the seat. He sweats profusely.

VOICE (O.S.) That's not what McManus said.

OVERLAPPED:

VOICE McManus. Be told us another story altogether.

VOICE (O.S.) Be fold us about the truck.

VOICE (O.S.) Who took the guns off your hands?

VOICE (O.S.) I'm losing my patience.

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VOICE (O.S.) You're a known hijacker. You're sweating like a guilty motherfucker. That's my p.c. Save us the time. Tell us where the truck is.

Fenster knocks on the table.

He looks under his chair.

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Hockney's turn in the chair. He laughs it all off.

OVERLAPPED:

VOICE (O.S.) You think so, tough guy? I can put you in Queens the day of the hijacking.

VOICE (O.S.) You know what happens if you do another turn in the joint?

Now Keaton sits in the chair, cool and indifferent.

VOICE (O.S.) I'll charge you when I'm ready.

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VOICE (O.S.) You know damn well, dead-man.

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VOICE (O.S.) What's that? The restaurant business? Not anymore From now on you're in the getting-fucked-by-us business . I'm gonna make you famous, cocksucker.

Keaton shows just a flicker of contempt. The threat has hit home.

Charge me with it and I'll beat it. Let's get back to the truck.

A FIST flies into the frame and connects with Keaton's jaw.

His head snaps back, blood flowing freely from his mouth.

17 DELETED 17

Keaton is brought in to a holding where he joins Fenster, Hockney, Verbal and McManus. He sits in a corner and keeps to himself.

Fenster is in mid-tirade.

McManus is silently staring at Keaton, who sits on a bench, looking away.

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McManus looks at Keaton.

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Keaton shoots McManus a fiery glare.

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ALL EYES suddenly turn on Verbal. He has been quietly listening the whole time without uttering a word.

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Verbal looks away from Hockney, awaiting a violent response.

Everyone slowly starts to laugh. Hockney looks as if he is about to boil in his own skin.

Verbal smiles at Keaton appreciatively.

McManus stands and walks to the toilet in the corner of the cell. He starts taking a leak;

McManus finishes pissing.

McManus taps the bars of his cell and the others LAUGH.

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McManus and Keaton stare at one another for a long and tense moment. Finally McManus turns to the others.

Everyone but Keaton gravitates toward McManus's cell as he begins to speak in low, hushed tones.

It is morning in the aftermath of the opening scene.

Harsh sunlight shines on a line of body bags on the dock.

Police swarm everywhere, photographers are taking pictures of the scene while a team of men in rolled up sleeves and plastic gloves pick at the remains.

Two men on a fire boat operate a water cannon, dousing the smoldering remains of a burned-out ships hull.

Watching this from the edge of the pier is a man in a dark suit. He is SPECIAL AGENT JACK BAER of the F.B.I. He is tall and fit, in his late thirties. He gazes out over the water thoughtfully.

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A UNIFORM COP trots up to him.

Baer holds up his badge without looking at the man.

Before the cop can answer, Baer turns and walks along the line of body bags.

Baer eyes the corpses on the dock, burned beyond recognition.

Baer looks at the cop for the first time, unamused.

Baer walks away from the cop, ignoring him completely. He wanders through the carnage on the pier.

WHITE 05/25/94

20 MT. OCEAN 20

A half mile out from the pier.

The sea is choppy, stirred by the wind. An object floats into view a few feet away, bobbing in the water.

It is A DEAD BODY - a man, face down, wearing a CHECKERED BATHROBE. He drifts quietly toward the open ocean.

Verbal Kint sits in a chair in front of a microphone attached to a tape recorder, his brow beaded with sweat.

On the wall behind him is the seal of the STATE OF CALIFORNIA He is cleaner, better kept, in a well-cut suit and neatly trimmed hair. He looks older than he did in New York - worn down.

A flurry of voices banter off screen. Verbal's eyes follow the voices back and forth.

VOICE #1 (O.S.) My client offers his full cooperation in these proceedings. In exchange, his testimony is to be sealed and all matters incriminating to himself are to be rendered inadmissible.

VOICE #2 (O.S.) The district attorney's office will comply provided --

VOICE #1 No provisions, nothing. My clients testimony for his immunity.

VOICE #2 May-I be frank, Counselor? I suspect your political power as much as I respect it. I don't know why Mr. Kint has so many faceless allies in City Hall, and I don't care. The embarrassment he helped cause the city of New York will not happen here.

VOICE #1 Immunity.

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VOICE #2 Counselor, I will prosecute your client.

VOICE #1 Then prosecute. I will be very impressed to see if the District Attorney manages to bring in twenty- seven simultaneous counts of murder against one man with cerebral palsy. I would think a man with your job would agree with these alleged "faceless people in City Hall" you mention.

VOICE #2 1 One would think the counsel is veiling a threat.

VOICE #1 Counsel isn't veiling anything.

VOICE #2 I'11 take my chances then. I'11 feel safer without a job if a man like Mr. Kint is behind bars.

VOICE #1 Mr. Kint will plead guilty to weapons possession.

VOICE #2 You're joking.

VOICE #1 Weapons. Misdemeanor one.

VOICE #2 Counselor, you're insulting me.

VOICE #1 Counselor, you're bluffing. Shall I push for misdemeanor two?

Voices mumble off screen. Verbal fidgets in his chair.

VOICE #2 Misdemeanor one. Fine. This is ludicrous.

A tiny smile and a genuine look of disbelief flash across Verbal's face.

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VOICE #2 (CONT'D) (clearing throat) As for the rest of the charges grand larceny, arson... murder - the district attorney will accept the subject's testimony in connection with the above mentioned events and in exchange will offer complete immunity. The transcript... The transcript of said testimony will be sealed and all matters incriminating to Mr. Kint will be rendered inadmissible.

Verbal lets out a long-held sigh of relief.

WHITE 05/25/94

David Kujan is walking quickly beside SERGEANT RABIN, a dark and weathered looking man in his late thirties. They move up a staircase into the heart of police headquarters.

Rabin motions for Kujan to lower his voice. He points out that they are walking through a bullpen filled with desks where a number of other police are working within earshot.

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Rabin comes to an office door with his name on it. He opens it and lets Kujan in before following.

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Rabin's office can only be described as a disaster area. The desk is cluttered with weeks, perhaps months or even years of paperwork that could never conceivably be sorted out.

Above his desk is a bulletin board. It is a breathtaking catastrophe of papers, wanted posters, rap-sheets, memos and post-its. This is in the neighborhood of decades. Rabin is a man with a system so cryptic, so far beyond the comprehension of others, he himself is most likely baffled by it.

Kujan looks around Rabin's messy office.

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A door marked INTENSIVE CARE.

The door BURSTS OPEN. SUDDENLY, the hallway is a flurry of activity.

DOCTOR LISA PLUMBER, age fifty, walks quickly beside JACK BAER.

Baer walks with all of the determination of a battalion of Chinese infantry.

DOCTOR RIDGLY WALTERS, a young intern in his late twenties rushes up to them.

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Ridgly opens a door and Baer barrels through.

(<< >> .. DENOTES LINES SPOKEN IN HUNGARIAN)

Baer comes to an abrupt halt at the foot of a bed surrounded by a massive tangle of medical equipment. In the center of it all is the as yet unnamed ARKOSH KOVASH, mid-thirties. His body is nearly mummified in bandages and plaster from waist to chin.

BOLD IS OVERLAPPED:

Baer walks over to Rovash and kneels down on the bed beside him.

He looks closely at his battered and scalded face. He listens to him far a moment. Kovash goes on incessantly.

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Baer pulls a cellular phone out of his jacket and dials.

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Ridgly runs out of the room. Kovash babbles louder and louder, trying to get Baer's attention. Baer sticks a finger in one ear to block him out and hear the phone.

Someone picks up on the other end of the phone.

Baer is suddenly distracted by something Kovash has said. In the middle of a long string of unintelligible dialect, he has spouted two words that have gotten Baer's attention.

He turns and looks down at the tattered man in the bed.

Kovash realizes Baer is listening and says the two words again.

He waves his hand, gesturing for Kovash to say it again.

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Rabin walks out of a small room. Behind him, we catch a glimpse of a workroom with a bench covered with wires.

Kujan comes out a moment later, gently fixing his tie.

Rabin opens the door to his office and Kujan enters. Rabin follows, looking up and down the hall before closing the door behind them.

As the door closes we can just make out the back of Verbal's head. He is seated in Rabin's office, smoking a cigarette.

Kujan and Rabin sit down across from Verbal.

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Rabin stands over LOUIS, a messy looking technician at his workbench in a room full of electronic equipment. He adjusts several dials on a receiver until the voices of Kujan and Verbal come clearly through a tinny speaker on the wall.

Rabin reaches over for a nearby pot of coffee.

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He taps a finger on the stack of paper that Kujan brought in.

Kujan picks it up and thumbs through it.

Verbal sees this getting to something. His smiles fades.

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Verbal is not smiling anymore. He stares at Kujan with utter contempt, knowing he is being shafted.

Kujan puts his hand on the transcript of Verbal's confession.

Rabin walks in with a cup of coffee. Verbal takes it with his good hand and sips it with a relish.

Verbal sneers at Kujan, unable to change the subject.

WHITE 05/25/94

Keaton stops at the top of the front steps of the police station and lights a cigarette. Edie comes out behind him, fuming mad.

He looks across the street and sees Fenster and McManus talking by a newsstand. McManus is thumbing through magazines.

Keaton looks to his right and sees Hockney trying to hail a cab.

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Just then, Verbal bumps into him on his way out the door. He excuses himself and hobbles down the steps, oblivious to who he has bumped into as he tries to navigate the stairs.

Verbal gets to the sidewalk and stops. He turns, realizing it is Keaton on the steps.

Keaton and Verbal look at one another for a moment. Keaton then looks over to the newsstand and sees Fenster looking at him.

McManus notices Fenster and glances up from his magazine to see what he is looking at.

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Keaton looks at Hockney who has one foot in a cab. He is looking at Fenster and McManus who are looking at Keaton.

This makes Hockney look up at Keaton as well.

SUDDENLY, Edie tunes in to what is going on. She notices the others on the street. She reaches over and takes Keaton by the arm, pulling gently. She glares at the others.

Verbal looks at everyone else from where he stands on the street. Fenster, McManus and Hockney all look at him and then at each other. It is a strange moment of unspoken understanding.

All eyes finally turn to Keaton, high on the front steps of the police station as he walks away with Edie.

Verbal stands in front of an apartment door. He hesitates for a long moment before he knocks.

After a moment, the door opens and Keaton stands on the other side of it. He is wearing a bathrobe and smoking a cigarette.

He looks at Verbal without any expression whatsoever.

Keaton curses under his breath and motions for Verbal to come in.

Verbal walks in and sits down on the couch, watching Keaton cautiously. He looks around the large apartment, beautifully furnished and decorated.

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Edie walks into the room in a man's button-down shirt and sweat pants.

Edie shoots a look at Keaton on her way out of the room.

Keaton tries to hush his voice despite his anger.

Keaton is speechless. Verbal sits on the couch again.

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Edie walks in with a glass of ice water and hands it to Verbal.

Verbal drinks slowly. Edie stands over him, her face blank.

It is an awkward moment. She deliberately makes Verbal uncomfortable.

Long pause. - FINALLY:

Keaton takes Edie by the arm and tries to guide her toward the other room. She pulls away, anger turning to rage.

Keaton is pulling her now. She yanks her arm away and shoves him.

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Keaton turns and glares at Verbal. Verbal cringes.

SUDDENLY, KEATON LUNGES. He grabs Verbal by the lapels and lifts him off the couch, moving him effortlessly across the room and slamming him into the wall next to the front door.

He opens it.

Keaton starts to shove Verbal out the door.

Keaton freezes. LONG Pause..

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Keaton moves to throw Verbal out. Verbal grabs Keaton and holds tight.

Keaton is unable to answer.

Keaton lets Verbal go and steps back, thinking.

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WHAM. Keaton punches Verbal in the stomach and drops him to one knee. Verbal coughs and tries to find his breath.

Keaton reaches for Verbal. Verbal flinches. Keaton gently helps him up and guides him to the couch. They bath sit.

Keaton reaches for a pack of cigarettes and lights one for each of them.

Verbal takes one and has a few drags, catching his breath and rubbing his stomach in pain.

FINALLY:

Keaton laughs. Verbal thinks about it for a moment and laughs with him.

Keaton's laughter trails off. He thinks for a moment.

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Long Pause.

Verbal smiles, knowing he has him.

OSCAR WHITEHEAD, a tall gray-haired man in his fifties comes out of the international terminal in a white linen suit. He holds a large suitcase in his right hand.

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Oscar stands on the curb long enough to light a cigarette.

After a moment, a POLICE CRUISER pulls up to him. He opens the back door and gets in.

The car drives out of the airport. A VAN follows at a distance.

SERGEANT JIM STRAUSZ, a meaty, imposing looking man in his forties drives the car. Beside him is a thin, greasy looking PATROLMAN, STEVE RIZZI. They are two drivers for New York's Finest Taxi Service.

Oscar hands Rizzi a thick envelope.

Rizzi counts the stack of hundred dollar bills in the envelope.

The two men laugh. Strausz watches the road, expressionless.

The cruiser heads towards the heart of Manhattan.

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The police car makes its way down a wide, abandoned street. A WHITE MINIVAN pulls out behind it and heads the same way.

Strausz looks in the rear-view mirror. The white minivan is flashing his high-beams.

Strausz looks in front of him. A green minivan swerves in front of them from out of nowhere. Strausz slams on the brakes and skids to a halt. The white minivan rams them from behind.

Strausz and Rizzi are stunned for a moment as two more vans screech up on either side of the cruiser, boxing it in with only a few inches between them.

The cruiser is surrounded on all sides.

SUDDENLY, SHOTGUN BARRELS come through the open windows. They come to rest, one on Strausz's left temple one on Rizzi's right. RIZZI looks out of the corner of his eye.

He sees the driver of the van next to him holding the shotgun with one hand. A stocking is over the driver's head.

Strausz looks straight ahead. The minivan in front of them is missing a back window. Another man with a stocking on his head aims a sub-machine gun at them from inside.

By the twisted right hand holding the front of the gun, we know it is Verbal.

Strausz and Rizzi raise their hands without being asked.

The driver of the white van gets out with a gallon jug in one hand and a sledge hammer in the other.

Moving like lightning, he jumps onto the roof of the police car.

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He stands on the front of the roof and swings the hammer down.

SMASH

The hammer punches three huge holes in the windshield and finally caves it in. Strausz and Rizzi are covered with pebbles of broken glass. Whitehead clutches his bag in the back seat. He trembles in terror.

The man standing on the roof doubles over and sticks a gun in Strausz's face. His face hangs upside down and looks gruesome - covered from the mouth up in a stocking. By the voice, we know it is McManus.

Oscar hands the suitcase up front and Strausz passes it to McManus.

Through the front windshield of the front van we see Keaton at the wheel. Verbal is behind him leaning out the back window.

Beneath Keaton's stocking mask we see he is trembling and sweating - sickened by what he is doing.

He glances up at the rear-view mirror and looks at the scene outside. He looks down at the floor in shame, shaking his head.

Strausz looks at Rizzi.

Rizzi hands the money through the remains of the windshield.

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McManus takes the money and stuffs it in his jacket. He steps back and takes the cap off of the gallon jug. He quickly pours some kind of liquid all over the roof of the car.

A hand reaches into the driver's side window and rips Strausz's badge off of his shirt.

Strausz dares to turn his head right at the shotgun pointing at him through the window. On the other end is a masked and smiling Todd Hockney.

McManus lights a pack of matches and drops them on the roof of the car as he jumps off. THE LIQUID IGNITES, the roof of the car is instantly in flames.

Strausz and Rizzi attempt to bail out, but the vans are too close for them to open the doors.

The vans pull away.

Strausz and Rizzi escape from the car.

Oscar is trapped inside, SCREAMING.

Strausz and Rizzi stop, each expecting the other to go let Oscar out.

The scene is swarming with fresh police cars. Strausz and Rizzi are fielding questions from a dozen other cops.

Photographers are everywhere.

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Hockney, Fenster, McManus and Verbal are all laughing in a secluded garage. They are still in their black clothes from the robbery. Hockney is throwing everyone a can of beer.

Keaton sits off by himself. He watches the others, unable to join in the festivities.

The others sit around a cheap card table. It is covered with emeralds. Dozens of them. Everyone is in awe.

All eyes turn to Keaton. He comes out of his trance.

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Pause.

Everyone looks at each other, their moment of distrust blowing over. All eyes drift back to the emeralds on the table.

Hockney begins to snicker, then McManus, then Fenster. Verbal joins in at last.

McManus grabs Verbal and hugs him, shaking him violently.

SUDDENLY, everyone yells and pours beer over Verbal's head.

He laughs as he is drenched in white foam, nearly choking as the others chant his name.

Keaton watches from across the room, trying to smile in vain.

44 SCENE DELETED 44

Keaton and Verbal sit side by side on a sofa. A sign on the door behind them reads: MONTGOMERY and LaGUARDIA - ATTORNEYS AT LAW.

VOICE (O.S.) Ms. Finneran will be with you in a moment.

Keaton stands and paces across the waiting room. He comes to a set of glass doors and looks through them.

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Keaton realizes he is standing on a balcony overlooking a library below.

He sees Edie working in the library with an old woman. The two women talk for a moment.

SUDDENLY, Keaton turns with a start. Verbal is standing behind him.

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Edie is smiling and laughing with the old woman.

Keaton's face is marked with guilt and anguish.

Keaton turns and walks out of the waiting room. Verbal takes one last glance at Edie and turns back to Keaton.

Edie seems to sense something behind her. She turns and looks through the glass doors and up into the waiting room.

NOTHING IS THERE. She goes back to chatting with the old woman.

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Kujan Pause's to drink some coffee.

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48 SCENE DELETED 48

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Rabin and Louis look at one another as they listen.

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Pause.

Verbal stammers for a moment, looking around wildly.

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Verbal looks at Kujan with utter contempt.

52 SCENE DELETED 52

(<< >> DENOTES LINES SPOKEN IN HUNGARIAN)

Kovash's room is now filled with people. Jack Baer stands next to DANIEL METZHEISER, a balding man in his forties. Next to him is Doctor Plumber. Across from her is Ridgly Waiters.

Sitting beside the bed is TRACY FITZGERALD, a casually dressed woman in her late twenties. She holds a 15x20 inch drawing pad on her lap.

Police fill the hall. People are talking loudly outside.

LIONEL BODI, a cop in his mid-twenties pushes his way in.

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Baer gestures to Tracy.

The young couple smile at one another nervously.

Kovash smiles with relief when he hears his own language.

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KOVASH + <<You don't understand me either? God help me, they are all idiots. (talking slowly) We were there to buy a man, you simple boy. A witness. I don't know his name. A witness who knew the Devil.>>

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Baer grabs Metzheiser by the arm.

Metzheiser is suddenly interested.

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Tracy holds up her pad and pencil. She nods.

All five guys stand in a group. It is utterly quiet.

An old but well kept Cadillac creeps into the lot from the far end and idles up to them. The windows are tinted too much to see in. The car passes within a few feet of them and drives on.

A moment later, a chrome and leather monster of a Harley Davidson pulls into the lot. The rider is dressed in an almost comical array of leather, silver and suede.

He waves to the Caddy as it parks a few yards from Keaton and the others. It sits quietly, almost menacing.

As he gets closer, we can see he is wearing one black boot and one red. Keaton is still looking at them when the bike pulls up to them and stops.

REDFOOT and McManus shake hands.

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McManus holds up a briefcase.

Redfoot takes it and gets off the bike. He walks over to the Caddy. The door of the Caddy opens. Redfoot hands the case to Someone inside that we cannot see. The door closes.

A moment later, the door of the Caddy opens again. Someone hands Redfoot a different briefcase and he walks back over to McManus.

He hands him the case.

McManus hands the case back to Hockney. Hockney opens it, revealing the stacks of money inside.

Verbal smiles.

McManus moves to answer, but Keaton cuts him off.

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Keaton shoots McManus a foul look. McManus pretends not to notice.

Now McManus is shooting the angry look at Keaton.

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Redfoot fires up his bike and takes off with the Caddy close behind.

McManus laughs and walks away. Fenster and Hockney follow.

Verbal turns to Keaton.

Keaton walks off. Verbal follows him in confusion.

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McManus walks along a line of cars. He comes across a black Mercedes and stops. He looks down at the license plate and walks over to the next car, a green Honda. He pulls a slim- jim out of his jacket and pops the lock an the Honda. He reaches in and opens the hood. He walks around and sticks his head in the engine.

Verbal sits behind the wheel. Keaton is beside him. Hockney and Fenster are in the back. They all watch McManus from where they are parked a few dozen yards away.

DING-DING

The elevator bell sounds at the far end of the garage. The doors open. Two men in ill-fitting suits get out and look around cautiously. The first is TUCCI, a big bellied, white haired menace. The other is HIGHAM, lean and bad skinned.

They are bodyguards and give it away by their every careful move.

They turn back to the elevator and motion to someone inside.

Out walks SAUL BERG, a slightly overweight man in his forties with an open collar silk shirt and a thick gold chain on his hairy chest. He carries a LARGE ALUMINUM BRIEFCASE.

He lets his guards do the worrying. He walks straight to his car.

Saul passes McManus under the hood of the Honda. He takes out his keys and pushes a button on his key chain. The Mercedes beeps three times and tells Saul his alarm is off.

Tucci keeps an eye on McManus. Higham watches Saul.

McManus pretends to tinker with the car's engine. He has put a pistol just inside the grill and keeps it within reach.

The van on the other side of the garage starts and pulls out of the spot. It cruises over toward the Mercedes.

Tucci sees the van. He and Higham are suddenly busy trying to keep track. They hear laughing behind them and turn around.

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ENSTER and HOCKNEY are walking towards them. They are sporting mustaches and sunglasses in addition to matching suits, each with loud plaid sport coats, decades out of style. Saul glances at Tucci and Higham.

Under the hood of the Honda and out of sight, McManus pulls on a black ski mask.

The van gets closer.

Saul gets in the car quickly but calmly as Fenster and Hockney laugh and talk louder. They look drunk - The desired effect.

Tucci and Higham try to take it all in stride. Saul's reverse lights come on and he begins to back out of the spot.

SUDDENLY, the van revs and screeches to a halt behind Saul's Mercedes, blocking him in. Hockney and Fenster drop the drunk act and snap to. They both pull out guns and start screaming.

McManus comes up from under the hood.

Tucci and Higham throw their hands in the air. Hockney and Fenster grab them and reach into their belts to get their guns.

Keaton jumps out of the van and runs up to Saul's car, his face covered in a ski mask. He yanks on the door handle but it is locked. Saul sits in terror behind the wheel. Keaton pulls out a pistol and smashes the window with it.

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Saul reaches over for the case. Keaton trains the gun on him.

SUDDENLY, Saul comes up with a pistol and points it at Keaton. Keaton sidesteps and grabs his wrist. The gun goes off into the fender of the Honda.

Hockney and Fenster both look over at the sound of the gun.

Tucci and Higham seize the opportunity. Tucci grabs Hockney, Higham grabs Fenster. The four men grapple for the guns.

Fenster's gun falls to the floor. McManus picks it up. He trains a pistol on each bodyguard and takes a breath. They are some ten feet apart and moving erratically. Hockney and Fenster constantly fall in the line of fire.

McManus walks around the four men, keeping a pistol trained on each of the guards. Finally he comes to an angle where they are all in front of him. One guard is a few feet away, the other is ten feet past him.

McMANUS' P.O.V.

The closer of the two moves in and out of the sights of the pistol in McManus' right hand, the one farther away does the same with the left.

Verbal gets out of the van and moves towards them to help.

BOOM

Both of McManus' guns go off like one shot. Tucci and Higham collapse, each with a bullet in his head

Pause.

The only sound is Saul grappling with Keaton for the gun. His arm is halfway out the window. His elbow rests in the door frame.

Keaton cannot get the gun out of his hand. Finally, he pushes down with all his weight. Saul's elbow breaks backwards on the door frame. He screams in agony. The gun falls from his hand.

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All five of the men look at each other for an impossibly long moment. The confusion is only aggravated by Saul's screaming.

SLOWLY, Keaton raises his pistol and aims it at Saul. His hand trembles, his eyes squint to near slits. His finger tenses and slacks off over and over again on the trigger.

BOOM

VERBAL SHOOTS SAUL. Keaton looks at him in surprise. Verbal trembles more than he does.

The garage is silent.

DING-DING

The elevator light comes on. All five men look.

Keaton reaches into the car and grabs Saul's case. Everyone else piles into the van. Keaton gets in as Verbal is driving for the exit.

The mood in the van is grim. Everyone is silent. Keaton pops the clasps on the case and opens it.

Everyone looks in the case. It is filled with cash on one side. The other side is filled with clear plastic bags of WHITE POWDER.

Keaton and the others stand in silhouette in front of the lights of an oncoming car in the distance. We can make out McManus loading a gun.

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The car, Redfoot's escort Caddy, is now in front of them.

The horn lets out three short blasts.

Redfoot comes around from behind the Caddy on his motorcycle.

He gets off the bike, trying to hide a faint smile.

McManus throws Saul's case on the ground in front of him.

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McManus lunges for Redfoot.

The Caddy doors instantly pop open and rifle barrels come into view from within.

Fenster and Hockney draw guns and aim at the Caddy.

Keaton and Verbal grab McManus and hold him back.

Redfoot gets on his Harley, smiling defiantly.

Lot's of cops looking for the guys that did it. I'm sure They'll get around to asking me.

He starts his bike.

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Redfoot drives off... The Caddy waits until he is completely out of sight before following.

KNOCK AT THE DOOR

Rabin sticks his head in.

Kujan steps out into the hall, shutting the door behind him.

Kujan smiles instantly, recognizing the man standing with Rabin.

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BOOM - The door bursts open.

Verbal looks up in shock. He drops his cigarette and trembles at the mere mention of the name.

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Keaton stands while the rest sit and listen.

SUDDENLY, The sound of a man clearing his throat.

Everyone turns to the door behind them.

MR. KOBAYASHI a tall, slim, well groomed man stands in the hall. He has a briefcase in his hand. He smiles politely.

Keaton stands back and lets him in. Kobayashi looks them over.

Everyone looks at one another in shock that he would know this.

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A strange look crosses Keaton's face. Skepticism, mockery and just a hint of fear. Hockney, McManus and Fenster all share similar looks.

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Kobayashi turns and points at Hockney.

Everyone looks at Hockney. He smiles shyly. It occurs to them all that he robbed the truck for which they were all arrested in the first place.

Verbal crumbles under his stare.

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Kobayashi smiles and puts his briefcase on the table in front of him.

He turns and walks out of the room.

Keaton walks over to the case and opens it. He reaches in and pulls out five thick manila envelopes, each marked in bold black letters. "KEATON", "McMANUS", "HOCKNEY", "FENSTER" and "KINT".

Keaton pulls out the files, revealing a map underneath.

Keaton hands each man his file. He opens his first. He pulls out a thick stack of papers and thumbs through them.

All of the men open their files. Inside are mug shots of each man in his respective file as well as a printout of his criminal record. But there is more.

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Keaton pulls out a large black and white photograph of himself and his lawyer EDIE FINNERAN. They are laughing arm in arm by a fountain in New York. He hides the photo from the others.

Verbal thumbs through his file. A long list of names, numbers, addresses. It is a detailed portfolio of his entire criminal and personal life. He looks up at Keaton.

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VERBAL? Who is Keyser Soze

Kujan leans into Verbal's face. He hangs on his every word.

66 SCENE DELETED 66

Three of the Hungarians come bursting into Keyser Soze's home. They grab his five children and round them up in the front room. One of the men grabs his wife and back-hands her across the face.

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The front door opens and in walks Keyser Soze. We are never allowed to see his face.

Soze's wife lies in the corner, beaten and bruised. Her dress is tattered to shreds. She cannot look up at her husband.

The three Hungarians stand to greet him. Two hold guns in their hands. The third holds a straight razor. He grabs Soze youngest boy and holds the razor to his throat.

The Hungarian smiles. Soze's wife SCREAMS IN HORROR.

The Hungarian holds up a BLOOD SOAKED RAZOR.

SUDDENLY, he grabs another child. A little girl no older than six.

SUDDENLY, Soze pulls out a pistol and shoots the two men with guns. He turns and aims at the third man holding his child.

The man threatens to cut the child's throat, slicing just enough to draw blood.

SOZE FIRES.

The stunned Hungarian watches the child fall from his arms.

Soze turns the pistol on the next child, then the next and the next. He kills his children one by one in front of the Hungarian.

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SOZE walks over to his wife, crying and beaten on the floor and holds up her head. She gives him the strangest look. One of trust perhaps, saturated with fear and humiliation.

He puts the gun between her eyes and fires.

A dark and looming figure of a man walks in front of a wall of fire - a black shadow blurred by waves of heat.

Jack Baer and Rabin listen to Verbal on the speaker with one ear.

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Doctor Plumber watches from out in the hall.

Kovash spits out a constant river of Hungarian while Bodi tries to keep up, relaying everything to Tracy Fitzgerald.

She sketches frantically while Daniel Metzheiser looks on.

The composite sketch of Keyser SOZE is taking form.

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(<< >> DENOTES LINES SPOKEN IN HUNGARIAN.)

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Waves pound across a stone jetty. A MAN sits fishing while his young son, BRANDO strolls toward the open sea. He pokes at rocks and seaweed with a fishing pole. He glances down at Something wedged between the rocks beneath his feet. He pokes at it. He notes the checkered pattern of the fabric entwined with the twisted mess. It is the bloated carcass of THE MAN IN THE CHECKERED BATHROBE. BRANDO pokes it's eye with the fishing pole. It pops.

74 SCENE DELETED/DIALOGUE MOVED 74

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Kujan looks at his watch.

Verbal slumps a bit. He realizes his stalling tactic has failed.

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Keaton looks out over the ocean and smokes a cigarette.

McManus kneels in the sand. Hockney and Verbal stand behind him, staring at something in front of them.

It is the body of Fred Fenster, literally peppered with bullet holes. McManus stares at him, fighting any flicker of emotion.

McManus springs to his feet and points a pistol at Keaton.

Keaton turns to face him and raises his head. McManus might as well be pointing a feather-duster.

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77 MT. BEACH 77

Everyone digs in the sand on the deserted beach with their hands. They are up to their waists in the hole they have scooped out. Fenster's body is a few feet away.

Hockney can see that McManus has truly gone over the edge for now. Keaton gives him a look that says don't argue.

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Keaton turns and digs furiously with both hands. Hockney takes a moment and slowly starts to do the same.

The four men dig for Fenster. The first to find some rest.

Verbal smokes with his good hand shaking badly.

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Redfoot's Harley rests on the roof of the Caddy in a mangled heap. The body of the Caddy is riddled with bullet holes.

Redfoot's dead body has been shoved head-first through a hole in the windshield up to his waist, recognizable only by the trademark red boot.

Kobayashi walks through the front door of a plush office tower followed by two bodyguards. He heads toward the elevator, failing to notice Hockney a few feet away, reading a newspaper.

We see a wire running from Hockney's ear to his collar.

Keaton, McManus and Verbal stand by the six elevators on the fortieth floor. They are all wearing khaki overalls and tool belts with walkie-talkies. They look like servicemen.

All of the elevators have been propped open and stranded.

McManus moves into one of the elevators. As the doors close behind him, he scrambles for the ceiling hatch.

82 SCENE DELETED 82

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83 SCENE DELETED 83

84 SCENE DELETED 84

85 SCENE DELETED 85

Keaton and Verbal listen for anything on the radio.

87 SCENE DELETED 87

88 SCENE DELETED 88

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The elevator opens. Kobayashi and his bodyguards get on the elevator.

The elevator is empty except for the three men. McManus has vanished. Kobayashi presses a button and they are on the way.

SUDDENLY, the ceiling hatch opens and McManus' arm comes out.

POP - POP. Two shots from a suppressed pistol and the guards drop to the floor, DEAD.

Kobayashi looks up with surprising calm into McManus' barrel.

The elevator opens and Kobayashi is greeted by Keaton and Verbal. McManus drops from the ceiling hatch and pushes him out.

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Verbal and McManus grab the dead bodies and drag them out of the elevator. They drag them to the next elevator which has been forced open, revealing an empty shaft.

The elevator opens and Hockney steps out.

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McManus holds a pistol to Kobayashi's chin. The lawyer's cool eyes never falter'.

SUDDENLY, Keaton grabs McManus' hand and pulls the gun away before he can shoot.

Everyone looks at Keaton.

Everyone follows Kobayashi quietly down a dimly lit, oak- lined hallway. Verbal holds a small pistol discreetly in the small of Kobayashi's back.

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They come to a glass office foyer. Kobayashi gestures and everyone looks through the glass into the lobby beyond.

EDIE FINNERAN is talking casually with the receptionist.

Edie glances toward the men in the hall.

Keaton turns quickly on his heels, facing the others. From where Edie stands, it looks as though Kobayashi is talking to a group of harmless maintenance men.

They see A LARGE MAN dressed very much like the two dead bodies left in the hall downstairs. The man notices Kobayashi and the others. He stands and stares menacingly.

Keaton's mind races for an alternative. He can find none.

Verbal lowers his gun without being told.

All of the men surround Kobayashi, aching to kill him.

Kobayashi walks into the office. Edie turns to greet him.

Keaton slowly turns and watches as they shake hands and talk.

Kobayashi says something they cannot hear and Edie laughs, her back to the window.

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Kobayashi smiles over her shoulder at Keaton.

All the while, the bodyguard watches Keaton. He nods politely before Keaton and the others leave. Verbal watches for a moment more and follows.

Keaton, Verbal, Hockney and McManus sit in a rented sedan overlooking San Pedro harbor.

Another file from Kobayashi's briefcase is laid out on the dashboard. This has a map and a good fifty pages of information in it.

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Verbal is shocked by what he is hearing. He looks at Keaton as if to ask him for his decision.

Keaton's cold stare is all the answer Verbal needs. He slumps in his seat, resigned to the others.

Pause.

They all suddenly realize the weight of their situation.

FINALLY:

No one knows quite how to respond.

A large boat, sleek and yacht-like, but without finesse. This is a boat for business - heavy and fast. It is moored to the pier.

A large crane hoists a pallet of fuel drums from the dock. It swings slowly over the boat. A man on the dock yells in Spanish to the crane operator.

Behind an old and weathered boat in dry-dock, Keaton and Verbal watch the boat from the shadows.

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DOLLY OVER TO REVEAL:

McManus climbing up the side of the boathouse.

CONTINUE PAST HIM TO REVEAL:

A large boat. A very large boat.

Hockney maneuvers through a mesh of twisted steel, arriving at a vantage point near the stern of the large boat.

HOCKNEY'S P.O.V.

A black van pulls up and parks near the crane. Four men in suits get out. One remains with the van and the other three walk toward the boat.

On the boat, five men come up from below deck. They are tense and cautious around the men in suits. Someone speaks in Spanish and someone else in Russian. It takes a moment before anyone speaks the same tongue. They settle on French for both negotiators.

Hockney sits in the van. He handles a large shoulder bag stuffed with plastique. He tests a timer on top.

He picks up a walkie-talkie.

98 SCENE DELETED 98

99 SCENE DELETED/MOVED TO BOTTOM SCENE 97 99

McManus is positioning himself on the roof of the boathouse.

He stops and grabs his radio.

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101 MT. BOATHOUSE 101

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Keaton turns and takes a few steps. He stops and looks back, his face marked with guilt and agony.

Keaton leaves before Verbal can respond. He walks down a ramp toward the boat.

He is no more than a few yards out of the shadows before the first man sees him.

One of the men in suits starts to yell to the others. Men pull out guns and try to look as cool as they can.

Keaton walks right into the face of all of these men, undaunted. His hands are in his pockets.

Above him, in the darkness, McManus pokes his head out and

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spies Keaton. He pulls his head back and sticks out the barrel of the rifle.

Keaton comes to a stop about twenty feet from fifteen men all together.

McMANUS'S P.O.V.

McManus stares through the scope of his rifle at the scene.

The cross-hairs breeze past Keaton and find a target. A man in a suit.

He moves to another and then another, picking up speed and mock-shooting the men. He is steady and quick. It is clear he could take all fifteen in a few seconds.

The men shout questions at Keaton in a number of languages.

HOCKNEY'S P.O.V.

A few men standing on the dock near the stern of the large boat, move towards the commotion.

Hockney bails out and runs quickly and quietly through the shadows, bringing the bomb with him.

Verbal remains in the darkness, looking frightened.

McManus still wanders with his scope.

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Finally two men walk right towards Keaton. The rest train guns on him. They reach for his arms, pointing their guns right at him.

At the far end of the dock, Hockney throws his bomb onto the stern of the large boat.

IT EXPLODES

The men surrounding Keaton, are distracted.

Keaton pulls a pistol out of each pocket and shoots the two men closest to him.

He fires as fast as he can.

The men from the boat and the men in suits try to peg Keaton, but McManus' sniping has them running.

The crane operator opens the door to bails out, leaving the crane in motion...

McManus runs across the roof of the boathouse and jumps down to the pier. He arrives at a thick mooring cable and climbs across to the boat.

MEANWHILE ON THE DOCK:

Keaton climbs up onto a small lifeboat hanging from the side of the larger boat. From this he climbs aboard the large boat.

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Hockney is firing in all directions.

SUDDENLY, he realizes no one is left on the dock.

Pause.

FINALLY, he turns and runs back for the van parked on the pier above. He finds a ramp leading from the dock to the pier.

At the van, he finds the one man who has stayed behind to protect it.

The man hears Hockney coming and raises his gun. Hockney runs straight at him, screaming frantically.

BOOM

He shoots the man point blank in the face and runs over his body as it falls.

He gets to the back door of the van and yanks it open.

The inside is stacked with large wooden crates.

Hockney, suddenly oblivious to the sound of gunfire, opens one of the crates and looks inside.

IT IS FILLED WITH MONEY. Cash and negotiable bonds of all kinds.

He smiles.

BOOM

BLOOD sprays all over the money. Hockney looks at it, puzzled.

Hockney raises a blood-soaked hand from his belly.

He turns and stares in horror.

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BOOM - Another shot takes off the top of his head.

McManus runs like a wild man across the deck, heading for the hatch .

He shoots in all directions as though he has eyes in the back of his head. He sees Keaton climbing onto the deck of the boat.

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Verbal is wrestling with what to do. He finally makes a break for the other side of the boathouse.

The crane continues to swing.

A single bullet hits one of the barrels on the suspended pellet.

Gasoline pours out through the bullet-hole.

118 SCENE DELETED 118

Keaton finds the hatch and goes below, shooting a man on his way up the stairs. McManus jumps on board and runs down behind him.

Verbal arrives at the top of the ramp leading from the dock to the pier.

He ducks down behind a guardrail beside the ramp.

He turns and sees Hockney's dead body next to the van.

He looks around frantically, frozen in terror.

It is quiet, except for the sounds of screaming, far off in the bowels of the boat and the hum of the crane.

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A KNOCK ON THE DOOR.

Rabin steps in and motions for Kujan to come outside.

Rabin and Jack Baer are in the hall. Rabin hands Kujan a thick manila folder. Kujan thumbs through it.

Bear nods.

Kujan pulls out page after page from the file.

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Kujan finds one sheet and notices a paragraph is highlighted.

Kujan walks in and sits down in front of Verbal. He smiles.

Verbal is confused.

Keaton is weaving through tight, low-ceiling corridors, looking in every cabin, working his way towards the bottom of the boat.

ELSEWHERE IN THE BOAT, McManus is tearing though the corridors, seemingly less interested in securing the cargo as he is in killing everyone on board.

He screams like a lunatic, shooting everything in his path, killing some men with his bare hands, shooting others, stabbing others still with a knife he has brought along.

JAIME, one of the men from the boat, is half-pushing, half- helping a thin and sweaty looking MAN IN A CHECKERED BATHROBE towards a cabin at the end of the hall.

The man in the robe is trembling. He seems stricken with fear.

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Jaime pushes him inside the cabin and shuts the door.

A stereo playing softly in the room mixes with the man's panicked breathing.

The man in the robe screams through the closed door, his voice echoing off of the metal bulkheads.

Jaime stands outside the door of the cabin and turns to face down the hall. Off in some other part of the boat, he can hear McManus wailing like a banshee and the ever-less frequent sound of gunshots.

Keaton has come to the four-foot-high door to the hold. The door is open slightly. Keaton finds this strange. He pushes the door open and steps inside. The hold is empty.

He hears a noise behind him. He wheels around to fire. He sees McManus in the door. His face is covered with blood.

He said Keyser Soze was on the boat.

McManus rubs some of the blood off with his sleeve.

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McManus looks around the hold as though he'll see four and a half tons of dope in some corner where Keaton might have missed it.

The two men look at one another. There is a long, pregnant silence.

Keaton and McManus step out of the hold, walking slowly and cautiously back from where they came. They hear the sounds of footsteps running on the deck above and the occasional hollered sentence in Spanish.

They come to a corner. They can go left or right.

BOOM - BOOM

Gunshots fill the hallway from behind them. They do not stop to turn around. Keaton goes left, McManus goes right. They run in opposite directions with the sound of gunfire right behind them.

Jaime squints and cocks his head.

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SOMEONE IS COMING. He raises a pistol and crouches by the door.

The man in the bathrobe sits on the foot of the bed watching the door. He hears the sounds of fighting somewhere not too far away.

He crawls over the bed and squeezes between it and the bulkhead. Only the top of his head is visible. He starts to cry.

BOOM - BOOM - Two shots just outside in the hall.

SUDDENLY, the door bursts open. Jaime collapses in a heap on the floor, a bullet hole in his eye.

FIGURE LOOMS IN THE DOOR

The man in the bathrobe looks up at the figure. We cannot see him.

BOOM

The man in the robe falls dead.

The boat is quiet now. Keaton walks out onto the deck.

He looks out over the pier and sees Verbal standing in the middle of the carnage, frozen. Their eyes meet. Keaton waves at him as if to shoe him away.

Verbal hesitates and finally moves towards the van with the money. He looks back over his shoulder and sees Keaton.

Keaton sees him looking and waves again, hurrying him along.

Verbal turns away and focuses on the van.

Keaton hears a noise behind him. He swings around and points his gun at McManus again. He puts the gun down.

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McManus smiles. He walks slowly across the deck towards Keaton. Something is not right about him.

He slumps to the deck. Keaton rushes over to him. He kneels down and sees a pipe sticking out of the back of McManus's neck.

Verbal approaches the van, stepping over Hockney's body. He closes the back doors of the van.

He looks to his left at the huge loading crane. He glances upward along the giant' arm as it swings steadily on.

Somewhere, off in the distance, the sound of SIRENS can be heard.

Keaton kneels by McManus, trembling with rage. After a moment he stands, looking down at McManus' dead body.

SUDDENLY, Verbal realizes something. He turns and goes to call out a warning to Keaton. He is too late.

Keaton never sees the crane coming.

Keaton is still for a moment. Finally, he tries to get up, but finds he cannot move his legs.

Verbal runs down the ramp as fast as he can. He comes to a rope ladder hanging down the side of the boat.

SUDDENLY, he stops dead in his tracks, looking up at the boat.

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From where he stands, he can just make out the figure of a TAU, THIN MAN walking along the edge of the deck. He moves quietly and calmly in the shadows towards the crane, looking out of place in his expensive suit.

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Something about this man terrifies him.

138 SCENE DELETED 138

Kujan picks up his copy of Verbal's statement to the D.A.

Verbal is drowning in Kujan's interrogation. He looks dazed.

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For the first time, Verbal stands and tries to move away from Kujan, but Kujan stays in his face, backing him into a corner. Verbal shields himself with his hands and shuts his eyes.

Verbal looks into Kujan's eyes with genuine terror. Kujan's face is red, his body trembles. His locomotive breathing is the only sound in the room.

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Verbal holds up a shaking, twisted hand.

Verbal is hiding in the tangle of girders and cables on the barge.

VERBAL'S P.O.V.

Keaton's body is completely obscured.

The man in a suit strides across the deck over to Keaton, stopping to relieve himself on a small fire on the deck.

He walks up and stands over Keaton. The two men exchange words and the man in the suit pulls out a pistol. He points it at Keaton.

RED AND BLUE LIGHTS FLASH BEHIND VERBAL

Verbal turns. He can just make out police cars coming in the distance.

BANG

Verbal hears a shot from the deck of the boat. He turns in time to see the man in the suit running across the deck toward the gangway.

Verbal can barely see the man from where he is now. The man in the suit is covered by shadows and the poor angle from the barge. Verbal strains to see but he cannot.

The man in the suit stops long enough to pull out a lighter.

He turns and walks back across the deck and out of sight.

A moment later flames leap up from on the deck.

The mesh of steel and rubber leaves a dark and open cocoon at its base.

MOVE INTO THE DARKNESS.

Sirens are close now. Almost here. The sound of fire raging out of control.

SIRENS BLARING. TIRES SQUEALING. CAR DOORS OPENING. FEET POUNDING THE PAVEMENT.

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MOVE FURTHER, SLOWER, INTO THE DARKNESS.

Voices yelling. New light flickering in the surrounding darkness.

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Verbal cannot grasp this. He squints, trying to understand.

Verbal grinds to a mental halt, trying to grasp the implication.

SUDDENLY:

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Verbal stands on wobbly legs, shaking with anger.

A strange look crosses Verbal's face. Shock perhaps, or revelation.

It starts to sink in with Verbal. His eyes swell.

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Verbal hears the weight of his words and falls back in his chair, Kujan looks at him with some pity,; but he is too far in to stop.

Verbal is crying now. He shakes his head, eyes closed.

Kujan smiles with triumphant satisfaction.

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Kujan pulls the microphone out from under his tie and puts it on the desk. Verbal actually manages to snort a laugh, but only briefly, overcome by an apparent wave of nausea.

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Verbal stands, mustering his shattered dignity and walks towards the door. Rabin opens it for him from outside.

For once Kujan cannot bring himself to look at Verbal.

Verbal turns to the door, stopping to look Rabin in the eye.

He steps out of the room and into the hall. Rabin follows him.

Daniel Metzheiser comes out of Arkosh Kovash's room with a single sheet of 15x20 inch paper in his hand. He inspects the sketch with great interest. He folds the edges of the paper back to make it smaller.

Metzheiser walks behind the reception desk without asking the nurse for permission and helps himself to the fax machine.

Verbal is downstairs in the depot of the police station picking up his personal belongings.

A FAT, WHITE-HAIRED COP is checking off the items as he takes them out of the tray in which they are kept.

Verbal collects his personal items and shuffles on his lame leg toward the exit.

Jack Baer stands by a fax machine. A green light comes on next to a digital display.

THE DISPLAY READS: RECEIVING

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Kujan stares solemnly at the bulletin board, drinking from Rabin's coffee cup. Rabin sits at the desk, sifting through the mound of gapers as though considering organizing them once and for all.

Kujan shakes his head. He gestures to the desk.

Rabin regards the mess of his office.

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Kujan is not listening. He has been staring at the bulletin board, lost in thought, his unfocused eyes drifting across the mess of papers, not looking at anything at all.

Verbal steps out into the sunlight, putting on a pair of cheap sunglasses. He looks up and down the crowded street.

People on their way to and from lunch, no doubt.

Cars choke the street in front of the police department as they wait for pedestrians to clear the way.

A single sheet of paper comes out of the fax machine, face down.

Kujan still stares at the bulletin board.

SUDDENLY, Kujan's face changes. He leans in closer to the bulletin board and squints his eyes. His face changes again.

First a look of puzzlement, then confusion - finally realization.

The coffee cup tumbles from his hand. It hits the floor with the SMASH of cheap porcelain. Coffee splatters everywhere.

Rabin snaps out of his droning and looks up in surprise.

KUJAN'S P.O.V.

Kujan is staring not at what is on the bulletin board, but at the bulletin board itself.

His eyes follow the aluminum frame, mounted firmly to the wall. One might note it's sturdy construction and it's convenient size. Big enough to hold a lifetime of forgotten and disregarded notes and facts. Years of police trivia that has been hung and forgotten with the intention of finding a use for it all someday. One might want such a bulletin board for one's self. One would look to see who makes such a bulletin board.

Kujan's eyes are locked on a metal plate bearing the manufacturer's name.

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It reads: QUARTET - SKOKIE, ILLINOIS Kujan's eyes flash all' over the bulletin board. He finds a picture of Rabin in the far corner. He stands beside a scale in fishing gear. He proudly holds a hand out to his freshly caught marlin. His eyes skim quickly over and stop on an eight and a half by eleven inch fax sheet of what must be a THREE HUNDRED POUND BLACK MAN. Kujan glazes over his name, it is irrelevant. His aliases stand out.

Slavin, BRICKS, Shank, REDFOOT, Thee, Rooster...

KUJAN'S EYES WIDEN with sudden realization. He runs for the door.

His foot crushes the broken pieces of Rabin's coffee cup. The cup that hovered over Verbal's head for two hours.

Kujan is in too much of a hurry to notice the two words printed on the jagged piece that had been the bottom of the cheap mug.

KOBAYASHI PORCELAIN.

Kujan is sprinting wildly down the hall for the stairs.

Verbal looks behind him and sees ANOTHER COP standing just inside the doorway, lighting a cigarette. The cop notices Verbal and watches him in the way that cops look at people they cannot place in the category of idiot citizen, or stupid criminal.

Verbal smiles politely, meekly at the cop and walks down the steps into the moving throng.

Kujan runs up to the desk where Verbal had only moments before picked up his belongings. Rabin is right behind him, a look of absolute confusion on his face.

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The cog gestures towards the door.

Kujan runs outside looking around frantically.

153 SCENE DELETED 153

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Verbal limps his way carefully across the sidewalk, avoiding people as best as he can.

He looks over his shoulder, getting farther away from the police station. He can see Rabin and the cop on the steps, looking around with strange, lost expressions on their faces.

He does not notice the car creeping along the curb beside him.

DRIVER'S P.O.V.

The driver's hands tap the wheel patiently. His eyes follow Verbal as he fumbles through the crowd.

Kujan pushes and shoves, looking this way and that.

LOW ANGLE on the feet of dozens of people.

Verbal's feet emerge from the crowd on the far side. They hobble along the curb.

SUDDENLY, the right foot seems to relax a little, the inward angle straightens itself out in a few paces and the limp ceases as though the leg has grown another inch.

CRANE UP VERBAL'S BODY

Verbal's hands are rummaging around in his pockets. The good left hand comes up with a pack of cigarettes, the bad right hand comes up with a lighter. The right hand flexes with all

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of the grace and coordination of a sculptor's, flicking the clasp on the antique lighter with the thumb, striking the flint with the index finger. It is a fluid motion, somewhat showy.

Verbal lights a cigarette and smiles to himself. He turns and sees the car running alongside.

Jack Beer pulls the sheet out of the fax machine and turns it over, revealing the composite sketch of Keyser SOZE.

Though crude and distorted, one cannot help but notice how much it leaks like VERBAL KINT.

The car stops. The driver gets out.

IT IS KOBAYASHI, or the man we have come to know as such. He smiles to Verbal. Verbal steps off of the curb, returning the smile as he opens the passenger door and gets in.

The man called Kobayashi gets in the driver's seat and pulls away.

A moment later, Agent David Kujan of U.S. Customs wanders into the frame, looking around much in the way a child would when lost at the circus. He takes no notice of the car pulling out into traffic, blending in with the rest of the cars filled with people on their way back to work.

BLACK: