Bare Knuckle Page #13

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BAD JACK:

HA! Take her for your own?

Jack sits on Destine’s lap facing her.

BAD JACK (CONT’D)

It seems the power of your beauty

is still in tact, even if your face

is not. A power that even now,

after your betrayal, I cannot seem

to shed.

(to the men)

Leave us.

Lester and Gideon exit. Jack softens, touching her skin.

BAD JACK (CONT’D)

Why am I so impossible for you to

love? Other women crave to lay with

the champion. But not you. Not the

one I want.

DESTINE:

You’re an animal. A disgusting rat.

BAD JACK:

You never felt anything? Not even

in the beginning?

DESTINE:

Never.

Jack begins breaking down.

BAD JACK:

I’m too at home around pain. I’m

lost without it. I’ll never be Good

Jack. My father should have killed

me.

He blubbers all over her.

BAD JACK (CONT’D)

What if I still took care of you?

No priggin’ or nothing. We could

just lay with each other.

DESTINE:

I’d rather die.

69.

Destine’s words hit Jack harder than any fighter could. He’s

crushed. He floods with rage. He grabs Destine’s face and

squeezes hard.

BAD JACK:

How would you like to go?

Gideon enters the basement.

LESTER:

Jack! The lumberman’s here. In

Paradise square.

Destine smiles wide. Even laughs a little.

BAD JACK:

You got nothing to smile about?

DESTINE:

I read all about The Lumberman.

They say he cannot be killed. That

he drinks the blood of his enemies.

Soon he will drink yours.

BAD JACK:

We’ll see about that.

Jack pushes Destine to the floor by her face and stomps up

the stairs.

EXT. PARADISE SQUARE - MIDDAY

Hundreds of enthused fans stand around a stage with a tent

behind it. A banner reads “Bad Jack versus The Lumberman.”

Emily addresses the mob.

EMILY:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to

you the man who bested twenty of

Philadelphia’s finest pugilists in

one night! The beast who put down

Mike McCoole in one round!

Bad Jack and Gideon push through the crowd.

EMILY (CONT’D)

He beat Mordecai the Man Killer

Murdoch. Now he will best Bad Jack

for the championship of America!

Jack jumps onto the stage and the cheering fancy go quiet.

70.

BAD JACK:

Where is he?! This man who is

assured to beat me?

INT. TENT - CONTINUOUS

Kieran leans over a table steadying himself for this epic

reunion. He looks at the notches on his axe.

BAD JACK (O.S.)

You dare make the champion wait!

I’ll have your head on a stake,

Lumberman! Do not forget what city

you stand in.

EXT. STAGE - CONTINUOUS

Kieran bursts out of the tent carrying his axe. The crowd

unleashes a deafening roar, the two boxers now face to face.

Shock and disbelief shroud Jack seeing a man who should be

dead standing before him. Confusion. Rage.

BAD JACK:

Connelly?

KIERAN:

Ready to pay for your wrongs? The

price is blood.

A sketch artist draws the scene. Jack looks at the axe.

BAD JACK:

You’re the mad lumberman?

KIERAN:

With just enough room on my axe for

one more notch.

BAD JACK:

For me? I hope you brought your

brigade ‘cause it’s gonna take an

army to stop me from butchering

you.

Kieran turns from Jack, out to the fancy.

KIERAN:

I may fight out of Philadelphia,

but I come from NEW YORK!

The crowd is all ears and excited.

71.

KIERAN (CONT’D)

You have read about my exploits in

The Herald, but before the war I

labored as a lumberman while living

underneath St. Joseph’s church.

Like you, I walked these streets

bowing my head to the corrupt top

hats. I bow no more. My name is

Kieran Connelly! I FIGHT FOR THE

IRISH!

The crowd goes off. It is an overwhelming ruckus and an

inspiring sight. Kieran holds the axe high over his head.

BAD JACK:

Well played, Lumberman.

INT. KNOW NOTHINGS SALOON - DAY

Jack walks up to Lester who is sweating all over an innocent

young lady, crudely caressing her.

BAD JACK:

Lester, I’ve been meaning to ask

you. Which man killed Destine’s old

sweetheart Kieran Connelly?

LESTER:

Umm, that would be Ed Ward.

BAD JACK:

Could you round him up for me?

Jack lifts a pistol from behind his back and scratches his

forehead. Lester quivers.

LESTER:

I would if I could, but he was

murdered just last month.

BAD JACK:

You don’t say?

LESTER:

Yeah, stabbed by a couple of

n*ggers if I remember correctly.

BAD JACK:

(facetious)

Oh those pesky n*ggers. What did he

do with Connelly’s body?

72.

LESTER:

What’s this about, Jack?

BAD JACK:

Where’s his body?!

LESTER:

S-sold it. He said he sold it.

BAD JACK:

That’s odd seeing as how the man I

am to fight for the title of

America, the killer lumberman, is

Kieran f***ing Connelly, you laced

up pigeon lover!

The butt of Jack’s pistol flies towards Lester’s face. SMACK!

EXT. PARADISE SQUARE - EVENING

With Lester, busted up from Jack’s pistol, and Gideon, Bad

Jack marches towards the mob with fifty heavily armed Bowery

boys, pulling Destine whose arms are tied behind her back.

ON THE STAGE:

Enthusiastic patrons of the fancy surround Kieran. Emily

stands back at the steps.

FANCY 1

I was at the McCoole fight, sir.

You were magnificent.

KIERAN:

Thank you.

Jack and his gang become visible behind Kieran.

BAD JACK:

Lumberman!

Kieran ignores Jack and continues shaking hands.

FANCY 2

Let me be the first to buy you a

pint in New York.

KIERAN:

That’d be great.

BAD JACK:

Lumberman!

73.

Still Kieran ignores.

DESTINE:

KIERAN!

Kieran turns around and looks out over the crowd. Destine can

hardly believe her eyes as she and Kieran finally lay eyes on

one another.

Jack grabs Destine harshly around her throat.

BAD JACK:

I thought maybe you would want to

meet my woman. Unless, wait, do you

two already know each other?

KIERAN:

You call her your woman, but it is

my name she screams!

The crowd looks on in awe. Behind Jack, Gideon ties a noose

around a wooden street awning.

BAD JACK:

You want her back? Come get her!

Jack viciously throws Destine on a chair and pulls the noose

tight around her neck.

Kieran grabs his axe and leaps off the stage into the crowd.

Jack kicks the chair and Destine dangles by her neck.

EMILY:

Kieran, no! They’ll kill you.

Kieran doesn’t flinch. Lester sees Emily. He looks at her

familiarly.

LESTER:

(to himself)

Can’t be.

Kieran barrels his way through the crowded square towards the

Bowery Boys. Jack grips his pistol behind his back.

BAD JACK:

Come on, lad. Come on.

Kieran readies his axe as he closes in on Jack’s gang, all

ready to kill the lumberman.

Suddenly a gunshot rings out. Destine’s rope breaks and she

falls to the ground.

74.

All stop and look to Cillian, whose face is hidden dark by a

cloak, holding his smoking breechloader, standing beside

GRADY and his gang of CHICHESTERS.

Cillian quickly reloads, as Grady moves up just behind

Kieran.

CILLIAN:

Next one is through your skull Bad

Jack.

GRADY:

What’s the matter champ? Too afraid

to face an Irishman in the ring?

Gotta mob deep on him in the

streets?

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