A Few Good Men

FADE IN:

EXT. A SENTRY TOWER --

-- in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere.

Small beams of light coming from lamps attached to the tower

cut through the ground mist. We HEAR all the unidentifiable

sounds of night in the woods. We also HEAR, very, very

faintly, a slow, deliberate drum cadence. And as this starts,

we begin to MOVE SLOWLY UP THE TOWER, more becomes visible

now:
... the sandbags on the ground piled ten-high... the

steel, fire escape-type stairway wrapping around the structure

and leading to the lookout post, and finally... THE LOOKOUT

POST, maybe forty feet off the ground.

Standing the post is the silhouette of A MARINE. He's holding

a rifle and staring straight out.

The drum cadence has been building slightly.

CUT TO:

A WIDER SHOT OF THE FENCELINE. And we see by the moonlight

that the tall wire-mesh fence winds its way far, far into

the distance.

SUBTITLE:
UNITED STATES NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO BAY - CUBA.

The drum cadence continues, and we

CUT TO:

INT. A MARINE BARRACKS

We HEAR two pairs of footsteps and then

CUT TO:

THE BARRACKS CORRIDOR

where we see that the footsteps belong to DAWSON and DOWNEY,

two young marines who we'll get to know later. They stop

when they get to a certain door. The drum cadence is still

growing. DAWSON puts his hand on the doorknob and turns it

slowly. He opens's the door and they walk into

INT. SANTIAGO'S ROOM - NIGHT

WILLY SANTIAGO, a young, very slight marine, lies asleep in

his bunk.

DAWSON kneels down by the bed, puts his hand on SANTIAGO'S

shoulder and shakes him gently. SANTIAGO opens his yes, looks

at DAWSON, and for a moment there's nothing wrong --

-- and then SANTIAGO's eyes fill with terror. He lunges out

of the bed -- but forget about it. In one flash DAWSON and

DOWNEY grab him out of bed, and before the scream can come

out, DOWNEY's shoved a piece of cloth into SANTIAGO's mouth.

Everything that happens next occurs with speed, precision

and professionalism.

-- A strip of duct tape is pulled, ripped, and slapped onto

his mouth and eyes --

-- A length of rope is wrapped around his hands and feet.

DOWNEY:

(quietly)

You're lucky it's us, Willy.

-- An arm grabs him tightly around the neck, not choking

him, just holding his head still --

-- The drum cadence has built to a crescendo. We HEAR four

sharp blasts from a whistle and we

SMASH CUT TO:

EXT. THE WASHINGTON NAVY YARD - DAY

and the drum cadence we've been hearing has turned into Semper

Fidelis and it's coming from THE U.S. MARINE CORPS BAND, a

sight to behold in their red and gold uniforms and polished

silver and brass.

The BAND is performing on the huge and lush parade grounds

before a crowd made up mostly of TOURISTS and DAY-CAMPERS.

As the TITLES ROLL, we watch the BAND do their thing from

various angles. Incredible precision is the name of the game.

Each polished black shoe hitting the ground as if they were

all attached by a rod. Each drumstick raised to the same

fraction of a centimeter before striking. A RIFLE DRILL TEAM

that can't possibly be human. Flags, banners, the works.

SUBTITLE:
THE WASHINGTON NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON, D.C.

CUT TO:

HIGH ANGLE of the entire band an we end credits.

CUT TO:

EXT. A RED BRICK BUILDING - DAY

It's an important building, a main building. A few SAILORS

enter and exit and

CUT TO:

A WOMAN:

as she walks across the courtyard toward the brick building.

The WOMAN is JOANNE GALLOWAY, a navy lawyer in her early

30's. She's bright, attractive, impulsive, and has a tendency

to speak quickly. If she had any friends, they'd call her

JO. As she walks, she mutters to herself ...

JO:

I'm requesting... I'm... Captain,

I'd like to request that I be the

attorney assigned to rep -- I'd like

to request that it be myself who is

assigned to represent --

(she stops)

"That it be myself who is assigned

to represent"? ...Good, Jo, that's

confidence inspiring.

We follow JO, still muttering, as she walks into the brick

building which bears the seal of the

UNITED STATES NAVY - JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL'S CORPS

CUT TO:

INT. WEST'S OFFICE - DAY

As JO enters. CAPTAIN WEST and two other officers, GIBBS

and LAWRENCE, sit around a conference table.

GIBBS:

Jo, come on in.

JO:

Thank you, sir.

GIBBS:

Captain West, this is Lt. Commander

Galloway. Jo, you know Mike Lawrence.

JO:

Yes sir.

(to WEST)

Captain, I appreciate your seeing me

on such short notice.

WEST:

I understand there was some trouble

over the weekend down in Cuba.

JO:

Yes sir... This past Friday evening.

Two marines, Corporal Harold Dawson

and Private Louden Downey, entered

the barracks room of a PFC William

Santiago and assaulted him. Santiago

died at the base hospital

approximately an hour later. The NIS

agent who took their statements

maintains they were trying to prevent

Santiago from naming them in a

fenceline shooting incident. They're

scheduled to have a hearing down in

Cuba at 4:
00 this afternoon.

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