Brazil Page #9

TUTTLE:

Thanks, Lowry, you're a good man in a

tight corner.

TUTTLE returns to work, fitting in the new by-pass gadget

and tightening the nuts, and happily humming "BRAZIL".

SAM:

Listen .. um ... I don't want to get

involved in any of this. But I work

at the Ministry of Information, and I

happen to know that Information

Retrieval have been looking for an

Archibald Tuttle, Heating Engineer.

You wouldn't by any chance be -

TUTTLE:

(pleased)

My friends call me Harry. Information

Retrieval, eh? Interesting!

SAM:

What do they want you or?

TUTTLE:

Time to go.

TUTTLE finishes the job and throws his tools into the bag.

SAM:

Thank you very much. How much will

it...?

TUTTLE:

On the house. You did me a favor.

Check the corridor.

SAM goes to the front door, opens it and looks out.

SAM:

All clear.

TUTTLE slips out and heads off down the balcony corridor.

SAM:

Hey that's a dead end.

But TUTTLE merely undoes a pre-arranged rope and swings

Tarzan-like off the end of the balcony and across a multi-

story void to a neighboring block. SAM is amazed - not to

say - stunned.

33 INT. RECORDS POOL DAY 33

SAM is at his desk among all the desks. Documents are

being delivered right, left and centre through the vacuum

tubes. All the CLERKS are busy. The screens are devoted to

their proper use. All this activity is explained by the

fact the MR KURTZMAN's door is wide open. At the next desk

is another CLERK much like SAM, his NEIGHBOUR.

NEIGHBOUR:

I think Kurtzman getting is

suspicious.

SAM:

What have we got on today?

NEIGHBOUR:

Casablanca.

KURTZMAN appears in his doorway.

KURTZMAN:

(calls out)

Mr Lowry! Would you step in here a

moment please.

We go with KURTZMAN as he closes the office door behind

him, we are now in ...

34 INT. KURTZMAN'S OFFICE DAY 34

KURTZMAN is pacing anxiously. SAM walks into the office.

During the brief opening and closing of the door we just

manage to hear the piano player in "Casablanca" singing,

"... a kiss is just a kiss ...". KURTZMAN is too worried

to notice. He is holding a piece of paper gingerly as if

it were contagious. He waves it frantically as SAM enters.

KURTZMAN:

(hysterically)

Thank God you're here! We're in

terrible trouble! Look at this! Look

at this!

He thrusts the piece of paper at Sam.

SAM:

(taking the paper)

A cheque.

KURTZMAN:

The refund for Tuttle!

SAM:

(startled)

Tuttle?

KURTZMAN:

I mean, Buttle! It's been confusion

from the word go! He's been wrongly

charged for Electromemorytherapy and

someone somewhere is trying to make

us carry the can!

SAM:

I've never seen a Ministry cheque

before.

KURTZMAN:

We've got to get rid of it! There's

been a balls-up somewhere, and when

the music stops they'll jump on

whoever's holding the cheque!

SAM:

Send it to somebody else. Send it to

Buttle. It's his cheque.

KURTZMAN:

I've tried that! Population Census

have got him down as dormanted, the

Central Collective Storehouse

computer has got him down as deleted,

and the Information Retrieval have

got him down as inoperative ...

Security has him down as excised.,

Admin have him down as completed

SAM:

Hang on.

SAM sits down at the console and punches keys. He does

this very efficiently, muttering to himself and generally

demonstrating an expertise which obviously leaves KURTZMAN

way out of his depth, until -

SAM:

He is dead.

KURTZMAN:

Dead! Oh no! That's terrible! We'll

never get rid of the damned thing!

What are we going to do?

SAM:

Try next of kin.

KURTZMAN:

(a revelation)

Next of kin!

SAM punches more keys.

SAM:

There we go. Mrs. Veronica Buttle.

What's the number on the cheque?

KURTZMAN:

(reading it)

27156789/074328/K.

SAM has been efficiently punching this in.

SAM:

Into memory. Now ... Central Banking

... Buttle, Veronica ... Deposit

SAM rips off a print out, rapidly stuffs it and the cheque

into a cannister and then into a vacuum tube. A job well

done.

KURTZMAN:

(fervently)

Please don't come back! Please don't

come back!

Unfortunately KURTZMAN's prayers are not answered and the.

vacuum tube returns almost immediately. SAM opens it up.

From the computer screen comes a voice "Play it again,

Sam" - SAM and KURTZMAN look at the screen. We get a quick

glimpse of Humphrey Bogart before the screen reverts to

numbers.

SAM:

Problem. She doesn't have a bank

account.

KURTZMAN:

(hysterically)

Well, that's it! I may as well go and

hang myself! This sort of thing

couldn't have happened before the

stupid seventh tier reorganization!

That was Simmons doing! And he and

Jeffries always sit together at

lunch! The bastards!

(he thumps his hand hard on

the desk top)

Ow!

(He picks up the offending

cheque)

Perhaps we can lose it ... behind the

filing cabinet ... or destroy it ...

burn it ... eat it ...

Under this tirade SAM has begun to hum "BRAZIL" - not

entirely sure what inspired him.

SAM:

You'd never get away with it.

Besides, you can't do that to

somebody's refund. It's Christmas.

There is one more option.

KURTZMAN:

(depressed. Not really

believing it)

What?

SAM:

Drive out to Mrs Buttle, give her the

cheque, tell her to sign her name on

the back, cash it at the corner sweet

shop.

KURTZMAN is dumbfounded by the audacity of this.

KURTZMAN:

That's brilliant!

SAM takes over. In no time at all he has battered away at

the keyboard, slammed a cannister into a vacuum tube and

received almost immediately a cannister containing a sheaf

of different coloured papers.

SAM:

I'll do it for you. Authorise the

cheque. What's the address?

KURTZMAN scribbles it down for him.

KURTZMAN:

Here. What do I do next?

SAM:

Call the motor pool and authorise

personal transport.

KURTZMAN:

Of course, of course. Leave it to me.

How do I authorize a cheque?

SAM:

(separating the and blue

sheets)

Here we are. Pink and blue receipts.

All you've got to do is sign these

and the back of the cheque.

KURTZMAN takes out his pen and tries to sign the papers

but his hand is giving him trouble.

KURTZMAN:

(exhausted after all the

emotion)

Oh God! I think I've broken a bone.

What a pathetic thing I am.

SAM:

(taking the pen from him)

Here.

SAM signs the cheque and receipts. A big CLOSE UP shows

that he is scribbling KURTZMAN's signature. SAM pockets

the papers and the pen.

SAM:

That's it.

KURTZMAN:

You are good to me Sam.

SAM:

(leaving)

Don't mention it. See you later.

35 EXT. MOTORWAY TUNNELDAY 35

CUT to SAM at the wheel of the little car, beetling along

in a seemingly endless, tube-like tunnel, menaced fore and

aft by huge buses, lorries and other carriers which

literally lift the little three-wheeler from the road

surface and shake it by the scruff of its tiny neck.

CUT to SAM in interior of the Messerschmidt. He is singing

along to an obscure arrangement of "BRAZIL".

RADIO:

(plays music for a moment

which then fades out)

... We interrupt this programme to

bring you news of a terrorist bombing

at the ...

(Sam switches off)

36 EXT. MOTORWAY TUNNELDAY 36

CUT to exterior view of Messerschmidt still merrily

progressing in arterial tunnel. CUT to very tiny exit

sign:
Exit 49.

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