Batman: Year One

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BATMAN YEAR ONE:

Screenplay

BY FRANK MILLER:

FADE IN.

EXT. GOTHAM CITY, NIGHT

LIGHTNING RIPS across a jet-black SKY.

THUNDER CRASHES.

LIGHTNING casts GOTHAM CITY in stark relief. SIRENS WAIL.

CAR ALARMS SCREAM. A CACOPHONY.

LIGHTNING SILHOUETTES a menacing POLICE HELICOPTER, ROARING

downward like a monster insect.

LIGHTNING... SPARK? SHOWER. WILD.

REVEAL:

INT. DARK AREA - NIGHT

A sweating, tormented sleeper — BRUCE WAYNE.

His eyes hollowed, skin pale, he TOSSES and TURNS. Then

FLINCHES. 3 more times he —

FLINCHES:

FLINCHES:

FLINCHES. Then —

His EYES pop open WIDE

BRUCE WAYNE SCREAMS

It is the sound of INCOMPREHENSIBLE HORROR.

INT. BRUCE WAYNE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Awoken from his NIGHTMARE by the sound of his own scream,

disoriented, BRUCE goes to the sink and SPLASHES cold water

in his face.

BRUCE (V.O.)

Father. WHERE are you? What will I

DO?

His hands tremble. Distant THUNDER sounds.

EXT. EAST END SIDEWALK - MORNING

LITTLE AL, a gigantic, early middle-aged black man carries a

bag of doughnuts and two coffees.

He whistles as he walks through a run-down slum.

He stops and inserts a key at a grimy storefront: The sign

reads, AL and Son, Repair, Service, Salvage.

REVERSE SHOT OF:
INT. AL'S GARAGE - MORNING

LITTLE AL hits the lights revealing a meticulously clean

auto repair shop

LITTLE AL:

Bruce? Bruce? You here?

LITTLE AL continues his search in the—

EXT. JUNK YARD BEHIND AL'S GARAGE - MORNING

It's a dreary, dirty, isolated place.

Its sole occupant, BRUCE, loads large car parts onto a

flatbed TRUCK bearing the 'AL and Son' logo.

He carries the heavy transmissions and engine blocks on his

broad, muscular shoulders.

LITTLE AL:

Morning sunshine.

BRUCE says nothing, he just STARES at LITTLE AL with

troubled, tired eyes.

LITTLE AL (CONT'D)

(Hands BRUCE a coffee)

OK twinkle toes. Let's take a look

at the job orders.

The two head up a wooden staircase over the garage and enter—

INT. BRUCE WAYNE'S APARTMENT - MORNING

It's the claustrophobic room of an obsessive compulsive.

Neatly organized electronic hobby projects line the walls—

POLICE SCANNERS, RADIOS and TVs. Their readouts and displays

provide the only light.

LITTLE AL opens the blackout curtains. Sunlight pours in.

LITTLE AL:

(opens a ledger)

So the load on the truck is the

DiMotto order, right?

(BRUCE nods)

You finished the rebuild on that

caddie, and the tranny for Spencer.

(BRUCE nods some more)

I guess that's it, huh?

You know I COULD put in a couple

days, help you out down here, if

you want a break.

BRUCE:

I'm fine.

LITTLE AL looks at BRUCE's pale skin and sunken eyes.

LITTLE AL:

BIG AL would kick my butt if he

saw you now. You look terrible.

LITTLE AL puts his hand on BRUCE's shoulder.

LITTLE AL (CONT'D)

Those pills aren't working, are

they, son?

BRUCE:

They're fine.

LITTLE AL:

The nightmares stopped then?

BRUCE doesn't speak.

LITTLE AL (CONT'D)

Maybe you just need to air yourself

out a little bit. Go the park. Go

to the beach. Find yourself a

girlfriend.

BRUCE:

I'm fine.

LITTLE AL:

(frustrated) )

Yeah, fine. Right Here.

LITTLE AL hands BRUCE a wad of bills

LITTLE AL (CONT'D)

Listen, a man can't keep cooped up

in one place all the time. He's got

to keep moving, like a shark,

moving, moving, moving, or he dies.

You can't stay stuck in one place,

Bruce It just ain't HEALTHY.

LITTLE AL leaves.

As BRUCE closes the blackout curtain, his gaze lingers across

the street on the girls galore peepshow theater. From the

looks of it, the sleazy sex venue was once a GRAND THEATRE.

But now, on top of its classic, old-world facade, a pink

plastic sign promises 'GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS.' Out front,

prostitutes offer their wares.

CHI-CHI, a young PIMP with long, greasy hair and felt bell

bottoms, SLAPS a fat whore, she CRIES and APOLOGIZES.

Other whores usher men into a brownstone CATHOUSE next door.

BRUCE's gaze travels to a window directly across from his.

Inside the CATHOUSE, a long, lean black woman, SELINA, puts

handcuffs on a skinny man. She wears tight fitting, black

leather.

SELINA notices BRUCE and gives him a playful wave. He closes

the curtains. Leaving us alone in

INT. BRUCB WAYNE'S APARTMENT - MORNING

BRUCE sits and writes a letter.

BRUCE (V.O.)

September 4. Dear Father, I am

still confused. What are you trying

to tell me? What do you want from

me? Please, I don't understand.

Your son, Bruce.

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