Read An Evening at Joe's Online
Authors: Dennis Berry Peter Wingfield F. Braun McAsh Valentine Pelka Ken Gord Stan Kirsch Don Anderson Roger Bellon Anthony De Longis Donna Lettow Peter Hudson Laura Brennan Jim Byrnes Bill Panzer Gillian Horvath,Darla Kershner
Tags: #Highlander TV Series, #Media Tie-in, #Duncan MacLeod, #Methos, #Richie Ryan
An Evening at Joe's (23 page)
FADE IN:
EXT. MAPLE LEAF GARDENS—NIGHT
February 21, 1974. Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Famous throughout the world as The Shrine of Hockey. The billboard shows the Buffalo Sabres in town. against the Maple Leafs. Though the game is just about to start, hundreds of people still throng on the sub-zero sidewalks, shouting, negotiating with knots of scalpers under the who-cares gaze of Toronto's finest.
INT. MAPLE LEAF GARDENS—NIGHT
The Garden's been sold out for every game since it was built in 1931 as home to the Toronto Maple Leafs and tonight is no different as 16,182 worshippers pack the old "cathedral" to the rafters.
The voice of hockey is Foster Hewitt, a voice more recognizable to Canadians than Frank Sinatra's and as the broadcast begins on this freezing winter's night, 20 million Canadians from Nova Scotia to the Arctic Circle settle into the warmth of their armchairs and Foster's Sermon from the Mount.
(O.S.)
Hello, hockey fans in Canada, the United States and Newfoundland. Welcome to Hockey Night in Canada.
The puck is dropped to the cheers of the crowd. The Maple Leaf center in his home whites wins the draw and stick handles around the gold and black Buffalo center, racing like a devil for the Sabre defence.
CLOSEUP
The Leaf centerman. Duncan MacLeod! As he barrels toward the Buffalo net....
ANGLE ON BUFFALO GOAL
MacLeod dekes out the Buffalo defenceman. There's nothing but clear ice between him and the Buffalo goalie. MacLeod winds up and without missing a
stride takes a blistering slapshot at the Buffalo net.
(O.S.)
He shoots! He scores!!
The organ leads the fans in a cheer. Dum dum dum dum, duh dum...!!!
(O.S.)
Wait a minute. Wait just a gosh darn minute.
CUT TO:
INT. JOE’S—DAY
MacLeod and Dawson sitting at a table. MacLeod’s innocent boy-scout eyes do nothing to convince Joe Dawson that he’s not being had.
MacLeod, you expect me to believe that you scored a goal right off the opening faceoff? What kind of a dummy do you think I am?
All right, I didn't exactly score off the faceoff.
(cont.)
And I didn't exactly play for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
(brightening)
But I was at the game.
Since when are you a hockey fan?
I'm not. I was in Toronto for a symposium on antiquities at the Royal Ontario Museum. Got a call at my hotel from this guy, said he was concerned for my safety. His brother was some kind of dangerous psychopath... with a hit list. I was on it.
So you did what any normal person would do upon hearing he was on the wrong end of a killer's bad mood. You took in a game.
Exactly. The guy sent me a ticket.
TRANSITION TO:
MacLeod is in the first row, directly behind the penalty box.
Directly in front of him a fight is in progress, two opposing players grabbing, pummeling each other until the referees are able to break it up.
(V.O.)
Said to wait there, he'd make contact. I'm waiting, looking around. Who is this guy? Someone in the seats? The peanut vendor? The usher?
I know what you are. You're an Immortal.
(cont.)
My brother graduated three months ago from an institution called the Watcher Academy. He's a loony tune but he's smart. Ranked first in his class out of eighty-two. That's the good news. The bad news is he's out to get you.
Who is he?
Just listen. I can't tell you any more right now. All I can say is that my brother is a dangerous man and he has vowed to destroy you and your kind. Meet me tomorrow at the Sheraton Hotel in Buffalo.
(cont.)
Watch your head.
TRANSITION TO:
Turns out he should've watched his.
What do you mean? What happened?
He gets in his car after the game. On the highway from Toronto to Buffalo there was a car crash. He died.
Sonofabitch.
(cont.)
What was his name? This hockey player.
Horton. Tim Horton.
Tim Horton?
The
Tim Horton?
The very same. The one and only brother of your brother-in-law, James Horton.
CUT TO:
MacLeod has fired up his computer and punches some keys as Dawson looks over his shoulder.
(reading)
"No finer person, teammate, or hockey player ever lived." "One of the finest gentlemen ever to wear the Leaf colours."
(cont.)
So James graduates from the Watcher Academy, tries to enlist the help of his brother, Tim. Gives him the whole routine, how Immortals have to be wiped off the face of the earth. Only Tim doesn't bite. In fact, he's a good guy. He decides to warn Immortals. So James kills him.
Not exactly. Remember how he used Xavier St. Cloud to do his dirty work for him? That wasn't the first time he used those tactics.
Then who did it, dammit? Do you know?
Oh, I know alright. Took me almost fourteen years to catch up with the guy. It was 1988, in Spokane, Washington. Not far from here.
(cont.)
I was playing center for the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League...
(cont.)
Joe, how much do you know about hockey?
Let me tell you. Hockey's a rough tough game. I would even go so far as to call it a violent game. There are all kinds of mean, dirty things players can do to each other--elbowing, checking from behind, clipping, cross-checking, charging, interfering, tripping, board-checking, slashing, butt-ending, spearing the other guy with your stick.... Most of these infractions will draw a
two or five minute penalty. I mean, even if you drop your gloves and fight, you only get five minutes in the box. It's all considered part of the game. What's more serious is when you draw blood. Jabbing your stick in someone’s face, knocking out a few teeth and drawing a bucket of blood will get you a one game suspension.
I know you're leading me somewhere, but I'm not sure where it is. Do you want to cut to the punchline?
I was given a lifetime game misconduct. Actually... two lifetimes. We fought with sticks.
(incredulous)
You had a swordfight with your hockey sticks?
A dandy. But that wasn't the worst of it.
I'm all ears.
I tripped. Don't forget this was my one and only hockey game and he was much more proficient on ice. He started to undo his skate.
He was taking off his skate?
Yeah. But the thing is, I managed to remove my skate first. I must add that nobody in any game had ever before seen a player remove his skates during a fight. The crowd went wild. There was a Gary Glitter rock song blasting from the speakers. The entire arena was on its feet, loving it, roaring for blood.
(cont.)
The guy tried to reason with me. He said since hockey was the religion of Canada, a hockey arena should be considered Holy Ground.
And? You agreed with him?
Not exactly. I got caught up in the moment. I pandered to the crowd.
You did it? You actually did it? Right there?
I gave the people what they wanted.
MacLeod takes a sip. He smiles, nods to himself as he reminisces.
(cont.)
Those blades are sharp.
FADE OUT.
by Valentine Pelka
"KRONOS": Valentine Pelka
Casting for the role of Kronos, the leader of the mythical Four Horsemen in Highlander's historic "Revelation 6:8," was pivotal. Actor Valentine Pelka wasn't the most physically intimidating of the men who auditioned—in fact, in person he is almost unassuming!—but he had a way of becoming Kronos that was impressive, to say the least. Even on badly lit, badly shot audition videotapes, Valentine made the part his own. It's impossible now to imagine anyone else as Kronos. And, like many of the other recurring actors represented here, Valentine made more of the role than had originally been planned, returning for two additional episodes after his character had been killed. Though not set in the world of
Highlander
's Immortals, Valentine's story offers another perspective on the universal human themes of life, death, and the battle for survival.
