Bridge of Spies Page #7

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 38.

CONTINUED:
(2)

DONOVAN:

Yes sir. Not the incarceration

itself, but...It’s possible that in

the foreseeable future an American

of an equivalent rank might be

captured by Soviet Russia. We might

want to have someone to trade.

JUDGE BYERS:

Wow. That sounds like...spinning

what-ifs. You could do that til the

cows come home.

DONOVAN:

That’s my business, what-ifs. I’m

in insurance. There’s nothing

implausible about this one, it’s

entirely in the realm of what could

happen. It’s the kind of

probability that people buy

insurance for. If we send this guy

to his death we leave ourselves wide

open. No policy in our back pocket

for the day the storm comes.

Byers is still working on his tie, unimpressed.

JUDGE BYERS:

Nice speech.

Donovan clears his throat, and is controlled:

DONOVAN:

Sir, there’s also the humanitarian

argument. Should he die for doing

the job they sent him to do.

The judge is satisfied with his tie now. He turns away form

the mirror. Finishes off his drink.

JUDGE:

All right counselor, I gotta run.

Good seeing you, Jim.

He walks past Millie, who is holding Donovan’s hat, and up

the stairs.

MILLIE:

I’ll walk you out.

COURTROOM:

ON ABLE’S HAND, sketching on a pad.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 39.

CONTINUED:

BAILIFF (O.C.)

All rise.

The crowd silently rises, waits for the judge to take his

seat.

BAILIFF (CONT’D)

The United States District Court for

the eastern district of New York is

now in session. The honorable

Mortimer Byers presiding.

The judge sits.

BAILIFF (CONT’D)

Be seated.

The crowd sits. Watters watches. Mary watches. Tompkins

Tompkins watches.

JUDGE BYERS:

The defendant will please rise.

Abel and Donovan stand up. They are apprehensive.

JUDGE BYERS (CONT’D)

In the measured judgment of this

Court the following sentence, based

upon the jury’s verdict of guilty as

to each count of the indictment, is

believed to meet the test which has

been stated. Pursuant to the

verdict of guilty as to all counts,

the defendant is committed to the

custody of the Attorney General of

the United States for imprisonment

in a Federal institution to be

selected by him, for a period of

thirty years.

He reaches for his gavel, bangs.

JUDGE BYERS (CONT’D)

Marshals, you may take the defendant

into custody...

The crowd is immediately alive, and unhappy. A hostile

murmur.

Abel looks at Donovan.

ABEL:

No electrocution?

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 40.

CONTINUED:
(2)

Donovan, surprised, smiles.

DONOVAN:

No... No. No.

The hostile noise in the crowd has grown louder, and grows

louder still when the judge leaves. It all but drowns out

the drone of a bailiff giving his boilerplate summation, and

one man in the crowd stands up and shouts:

MAN:

Why aren’t we hanging him?

Why in God’s name aren’t we hanging

him?

The judge bangs his gavel.

JUDGE BYERS:

Sit down!

The crowd stands and erupts in shouted agreement with the

man. The judge bangs his gavel again.

HALLWAY:

A press of people around Donovan who has been joined by Mary.

They are escorted by the court officers who seem to be rather

necessary given the hostile crowd. Reporters shout out “Just

one question!”

COURTROOM:

Abel retrieves his hat amid the chaos.

LOBBY OF COURTHOUSE

Cameras flash among the throng. Mary seems panicked.

WATTERS:

Nobody here has a comment.

DONOVAN:

We’re in firm ground for a case on

appeal.

This draws a concerned look from Watters.

Donovan’s point of view: through many bodies, another figure

being escorted the opposite way: Abel, walking unsteadily in

his over-sized suit. More bodies intervene -- he is lost to

view. Donovan and Mary walk away, across a floor littered

with spent flashbulbs.

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 41.

LOBBY OF COURTHOUSE

Tom Watters, Donovan in the middle, Mary on the other side.

WATTERS:

Jim, you did a great job. You

fulfilled your mandate, and then

some. But the man is a spy, and the

verdict is correct, and there’s no

reason to appeal it.

DONOVAN:

There’s ample procedural reason. We

know the search is tainted, and the

Fourth Amendment issues are always

going to weigh more heavily in an

appellate forum -- we’ve got a good

shot.

WATTERS:

What the goddamn hell are you

talking about -- We were supposed to

show that he had a capable defense,

which we did, why are you citing the

goddamn Constitution at me?

DONOVAN:

Tom, if you look me in the eye and

tell me we don’t have grounds for an

appeal. I’ll drop it right now.

WATTERS:

I’m not saying that. You know what

I’m saying.

MARY:

Tom is saying there’s a cost to

these things, Jim.

WATTERS:

That’s right!

MARY:

A cost to both your family and your

firm.

Donovan gives a helpless look at her.

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 42.

PRISON -- DETENTION ROOM

Donovan sits at one end of the meeting table. Abel, smoking,

at the other end. Between them, a radio plays classical

music.

ABEL:

I’ve missed music.

DONOVAN:

They checked the radio to make sure

there was no transmitter.

Abel smiles.

ABEL:

I’m sure they did. (a beat as he

smiles, both men listen, Abel’s gaze

drifts up) ...Shostakovitch.

They listen.

ABEL (CONT’D)

A very great artist, Shostakovitch.

Donovan is deep in thought.

DONOVAN:

I think our strongest grounds for a

reversal, are Constitutional. Our

best chance is if the Supreme Court

agrees to review our case.

Abel switches off the radio, removes his glasses.

ABEL:

Jim. You should be careful.

Donovan smiles, but uneasily.

ABEL (CONT’D)

Careful.

DONOVAN HOME -- LIVING ROOM

Carol, in curlers, watches TV on the sofa, snacking on peanut

butter and crackers.

Suddenly, the window shatters. Several gun reports,

shattering objects. Carol drops the peanut butter jar,

crawls under the coffee table.

(CONTINUED)

12.17.14 FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT 43.

CONTINUED:

CAROL:

(screams)

MOM!

OUTSIDE:

A car screeches away.

DONOVAN HOME -- LIVING ROOM

Mary and Donovan rush to her as she runs to Mary’s arms.

DONOVAN:

What in God’s name happened? Honey

are you all right? Are you hurt?

MARY:

Peggy and Roger. Upstairs!

Donovan bounds up the stairs.

DONOVAN HOME -- UPSTAIRS HALLWAY

Donovan races and squats to put an arm around Peggy to

comfort her.

Roger is the only one not fearful -- excited, in fact:

ROGER:

I sat with my back against the wall,

Dad!

Donovan’s face comes up from where he has been nuzzling

Peggy’s head.

DONOVAN:

...What?

ROGER:

I sat with my back against the wall,

away from the windows!

DONOVAN:

Good...good... good boy. It’s okay.

They’re gone. They’re cowards.

They’re gone.

DOWNSTAIRS -- MINUTES LATER

Roger inspects the shattered living room window as Donovan

walks out to the veranda with a plainclothes police

lieutenant.

(CONTINUED)

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