Five Television Plays (David Mamet) (16 page)

I.A.D. O
FFICER:
Absolutely.

(
Shakes hands with
G
OLDBLUME.
G
OLDBLUME
looks in his wallet.
)

G
OLDBLUME:
Oh hell . . .

(
We follow
G
OLDBLUME
out into the squad room, looking at his wallet.
)

Can
anybody
lend me twenty dollars . . . ? Can . . . Well, let's not all rush up here at once. I'm on vacation, people, and I gave my money to Renko. I have no money for gas . . . (
He looks around. Sighs.
) Can anybody cash a
check
for me . . . ?

INTERIOR: RUN-DOWN HUNTING CABIN. NIGHT.

Interior of 10
×
12 barewood cabin.
J
ABLONSKI
stoking up the small woodstove. The door opens and
H
ILL
comes in with an armful of wood. He deposits the wood on the floor next to
J
ABLONSKI,
takes off his coat.

H
ILL:
Working up a
chill
out there . . .

J
ABLONSKI:
You think it's cold now? Wait ‘til five a.m. out there!

(R
ENKO
is sitting at a table. He has his rifle disassembled and is cleaning it.
H
ILL
sits down at the table, takes his rifle out of the case and starts to break it down.
J
ABLONSKI
comes over with an enameled coffeepot. He pours coffee and sits down.
)

R
ENKO:
Well, this is the life. / don't care, Henry, you are
missing
it . . .

H
ILL:
Yeah. This is something more like
hunting
here!

R
ENKO
(
to
J
ABLONSKI
)
:
Thank you.

(
They sit around cleaning their rifles and drinking the coffee.
)

Yep. This is
something
—more like it. (
Drinks coffee.
)

J
ABLONSKI:
Don't want to drink
too
much of that.

H
ILL:
Nope.

J
ABLONSKI:
We want to hit the hay.

R
ENKO:
Oh, yessir, be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, four a.m., get the jump on some sleepy
deer . . .
(
Beat.
)

H
ILL:
Funny how things come back.

R
ENKO:
What is that?

H
ILL:
Sitting around here, cleaning the rifle. (
Beat.
) Wood fire. (
Beat.
)

R
ENKO:
Un-huh.

H
ILL:
I remember, one time, sixty-nine. Seventy? We were, bunch of us were on a ridge about ten kilometers north of . . .

EXTERIOR: CURRENCY EXCHANGE. NIGHT

G
OLDBLUME
getting out of his car, walks into the currency exchange. Camera follows him in. Currency exchange is empty.
G
OLDBLUME
goes up to the window.

G
OLDBLUME:
Sir . . . Sir? I'd like to cash a check. Sir . . . (
Beat.
) Sir . . .

(
The
P
ROPRIETOR
comes over to the window.
)

G
OLDBLUME:
Sir, I'd like to cash a check.

P
ROPRIETOR:
I, uh.

G
OLDBLUME:
I don't have an
account
here, but I'm a Police Officer . . . (
He takes out his badge.
)

P
ROPRIETOR:
Oh, Thank God. Thank God. I've just, I'm waiting, I've just, I almost was held up.

G
OLDBLUME:
No
.

P
ROPRIETOR:
Yes, I uh . . .

G
OLDBLUME:
Look: did you call it in . . . ? What do you mean you were almost held up?

(
The
P
ROPRIETOR
holds up the circular we saw at roll call.
)

(
Angle: interior: circular.
)

(
Angle:
G
OLDBLUME
and the
P
ROPRIETOR.
)

P
ROPRIETOR:
This circular, the bandit. He came in the store.

G
OLDBLUME:
How long ago was this?

P
ROPRIETOR:
Ten minutes ago, he . . .

G
OLDBLUME:
He's gone by now. I'm sure the officers . . .

(
As he speaks two uniformed officers enter the currency exchange. The
P
ROPRIETOR
starts to come out from behind the protective barrier.
)

G
OLDBLUME:
Sir, sir, if you could, before you, if you could just do me the favor . . . (
He holds out his check.
)

EXTERIOR: CURRENCY EXCHANGE. NIGHT.

The squad car parked outside.
G
OLDBLUME,
happy, comes out of the currency exchange hurrying. Camera tracks with him around the corner, to a dark parking lot.
G
OLDBLUME
gets happily into his car.

(
Angle interior: Car. As
G
OLDBLUME
starts the car, the driver's door is wrenched open and the currency exchange
R
OBBER
described in the circular gets into the car and sticks a gun in
G
OLDBLUME‘
s face.
)

R
OBBER:
Drive me out of here, and drive me out of here fast!

INTERIOR: RUN-DOWN CABIN. NIGHT

The lamp is flickering low.
J
ABLONSKI,
H
ILL,
and
R
ENKO
huddled around the table, talking quietly.

J
ABLONSKI:
. . . and we were, we'd been dropped into
Yugoslavia.

H
ILL
(
softly
): Uh-huh . . .

J
ABLONSKI:
And we were
captured.

H
ILL:
I never knew that you were with the Airborne, Sarge.

J
ABLONSKI:
Well, I was. And I don't know what it was. The pilot got it wrong, intelligence was wrong, but we ran into an advance unit of the German V Corps. (
Beat.
) And they, uh, there was some
talk
about it, there were
four
of us they caught, and they told us that they were going to . . . they'd tied us up, they were in a barn, it was an old horse barn. Stone. And we said what are you going to
do
with us. They said next day when they left, that they'd be taking us to, to their
base
camp as prisoners. They left us under the guard of this young kid, young kid, he was just a little younger than us. Must have been twenty. And the kid was . . .
he
knew they were going to kill us in the morning.

R
ENKO:
They were going to kill you . . . ?

J
ABLONSKI:
They were an advance unit of the Armored Corps. They weren't going to burden themselves with prisoners. (
Beat.
) And . . . well. And the kid, we appealed to him. Somebody, said one thing they'd like, as it was
obvious
that this was the last time that we'd ever have it, was we'd like a drink. The kid went up to the house. The Germans were staying in the house, and he brought back a bottle. (
Beat.
) We started to drink. (
Beat.
) And we got the kid drunk. And. Um . . . (
Beat.
) Well, you know, I'd
told
the story several times . . . as you do. It occurs to me that every time I told it I would say that we got the kid drunk and we slipped out. But the truth, the truth was, of course, we killed him. (
Beat.
)

H
ILL:
Well. Somebody was going to have to die. Them or you.

J
ABLONSKI:
Yes, that's true. And we knew it was true. (
Beat.
)

R
ENKO:
Are you ever sorry that you killed him?

J
ABLONSKI:
I'm sorry every day I live. (
Beat.
) But I wasn't going to let the man kill
me . . .

H
ILL:
Well.

J
ABLONSKI:
Gentlemen: we're going hunting tomorrow. I think we should get some rest.

(J
ABLONSKI
blows out the lamp. The men settle back in their blankets.
)

J
ABLONSKI:
Good night, men.

H
ILL:
Good night, Sarge . . .

R
ENKO:
Good night, Sarge.

INTERIOR:
GOLDBLUME'S
CAR.

G
OLDBLUME
driving, the
R
OBBER
still holding him at gunpoint.

G
OLDBLUME:
I . . .

R
OBBER:
Just drive. Just keep on driving . . . (
The
R
OBBER
looks in the backseat.
)

R
OBBER:
What is all that junk back there? (
Beat.
) I asked you a question.

G
OLDBLUME
(
pauses
): I'm going hunting.

R
OBBER:
Hunting.

(
Beat. The
R
OBBER
takes out a cigarette. Looks for a match. Can't find one, starts patting down
G
OLDBLUME.
Feels the gun underneath his jacket.
)

What is that??? What is that???

G
OLDBLUME
(
to himself
): Oh, my God . . .

R
OBBER:
What the hell is that??? (
He takes out
G
OLDBLUME‘
s
revolver.
)

G
OLDBLUME:
I . . . (
Beat.
) I'm a police officer.

R
OBBER:
Oh. I got to pick a Cop. All the stuff that's already happened to me . . . oh man . . . oh man . . . pull the car over . . .

G
OLDBLUME:
Look.

R
OBBER
(
cocks the revolver
): I said pull over the car.

(
ANGLE EXTERIOR: THE CAR, ON AN ALREADY LONELY TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, PULLS OVER ONTO A DIRT ROAD.
)

(
Angle: The car struggling through the dirt lane. It stops.
)

R
OBBER:
Get out. (
Beat.
) I said get out. Take the keys.

(G
OLDBLUME
gets out. The
R
OBBER
goes around to the back of the car. He motions
G
OLDBLUME
around to the back.
)

Open the trunk.

G
OLDBLUME:
I think we should talk about this.

R
OBBER:
I said open the trunk and when you open it then get in.

(
The trunk is opened. The
R
OBBER
looks in.
)

No. No.

(
He takes out a shovel, throws it to
G
OLDBLUME.
)

Okay, you start
digging.

(
Beat.
G
OLDBLUME
looks at him.
)

G
OLDBLUME:
Please don't do this.

R
OBBER:
Dig a grave.

(
Beat.
G
OLDBLUME
starts digging.
)

EXTERIOR: CABIN. DAWN.

R
ENKO
drinking from a metal can of orange juice. Standing next to
H
ILL,
both in full hunting clothes, blaze orange, daypacks on their backs, rifles over their shoulders. They are standing around a wood fire on the ground that is being tended by
J
ABLONSKI.

H
ILL
(
of orange juice
): Gimme some of that . . .

(H
ILL
drinks from the can.
J
ABLONSKI
calls them over.
)

J
ABLONSKI:
Okay. Stand in the woodsmoke. It's gonna hide any “city” scents that you have on you.

R
ENKO:
Uh-huh . . .

J
ABLONSKI:
Deer don't mind the smoke, but they'll run fifteen miles from the scent of After Shave.

R
ENKO:
Well, some of us more
sartorial
ones
have
that problem . . .

(J
ABLONSKI
starts killing the fire.
)

J
ABLONSKI:
That's enough.

(
He shovels earth on the fire.
)

R
ENKO
(
to
H
ILL
)
:
Beautiful morning, huh?

H
ILL:
You said it.

R
ENKO:
Wish
Henry
was here . . .

J
ABLONSKI:
Okay, let's move out. No talking in the woods.

R
ENKO:
You got it.

(
The three men fan out and proceed slowly to a barbed-wire fence. They open the actions of their rifles and cross the fence. Close up their actions and proceed into the woods.
)

EXTERIOR: DIRT ROAD. DAWN.

The
R
OBBER
holding the gun on
G
OLDBLUME,
who has just finished digging a shallow grave.