Chinatown Page #13

This stops Gittes. He seems faintly mused by it.

CROSS:

Why is that funny?

GITTES:

It's what the D.A. used to tell me

about Chinatown.

CROSS:

Was he right?

Gittes shrugs.

CROSS:

(continuing)

... Exactly what do you know about

me, Mr. Gittes?

GITTES:

Mainly that you're rich and too

respectable to want your name in the

papers.

CROSS:

(grunts, then)

'Course I'm respectable. I'm old.

Politicians, ugly buildings and whores

all get respectable if they last

long enough. I'll double whatever

your fees are -- and I'll pay you

ten thousand dollars if you can find

Hollis' girlfriend.

GITTES:

His girlfriend?

CROSS:

Yes, his girlfriend.

GITTES:

You mean the little chippie he was

with at the El Macando?

CROSS:

Yes. She's disappeared, hasn't she?

GITTES:

-- Yeah.

CROSS:

Doesn't that strike you as odd?

70.

GITTES:

No. She's probably. scared to death.

CROSS:

Wouldn't it be useful to talk to

her?

GITTES:

Maybe.

CROSS:

If Mulwray was murdered, she was

probably one of the last people to

see him.

GITTES:

You didn't see Mulwray much, did

you?

CROSS:

-- No -

GITTES:

-- When was the last time?

Cross starts to reply, then there's the SOUND of a MARIACHI

BAND and some men in formation clear a bluff about a hundred

yards off. They are dressed like Spanish dons on horseback.

For the most part they are fat in the saddle and pass along

in disordered review to the music..

CROSS:

Sheriff's gold posse... bunch of

damn fools who pay $5,000 apiece to

the sheriff's re-election. I let 'em

practice up out here.

GITTES:

-- Yeah. Do you remember the last

time you talked to Mulwray?

Cross shakes his head.

CROSS:

-- At my age, you tend to lose

track...

GITTES:

Well, It was about five days ago.

You were outside the Pig 'n Whistle

and you had one hell of an

argument.

Cross looks to Gittes in some real surprise.

71.

GITTES:

(continuing)

I've got the photographs in my office -if

they'll help you remember. What

was the argument about?

CROSS:

(a long pause, then:)

My daughter.

GITTES:

What about her?

CROSS:

-- Just find the girl, Mr. Gittes I

think she is frightened and I happen

to know Hollis was fond of her. I'd

like to help her if I can.

GITTES:

I didn't realize you and Hollis were

so fond of each other.

Cross looks hatefully at Gittes.

CROSS:

Hollis Mulwray made this city --and

he made me a fortune... We were a

lot closer than Evelyn realized.

GITTES:

-- If you want to hire me, I still

have to know what you and Mulwray

were arguing about.

CROSS:

(painfully)

Well... she's an extremely jealous

person. I didn't want her to find

out about the girl.

GITTES:

How did you find out?

CROSS:

I've still got a few teeth in my

head, Mr. Gittes -- and a few friends

in town.

GITTES:

Okay -- my secretary'll send you a

letter of agreement. Tell me -- are

you worried about that girl, or what

Evelyn might do to her?

CROSS:

Just find the girl.

72.

GITTES:

-- I'll look into it -- as soon as I

check out some avocado groves.

CROSS:

Avocado groves?

GITTES:

We'll be in touch, Mr. Cross.

INT. HALL OF RECORDS - DAY

Dark and quiet except for the whirring of fans. Gittes

approaches one of the CLERKS at a desk.

GITTES:

I'm a little lost -- where can I

find the plat books for the northwest

valley?

The Clerk's droopy eyes widen a little.

CLERK:

Part of it's in Ventura County.

We don't have Ventura County in our

Hall of Records.

Which is a snotty remark. Gittes smiles.

GITTES:

I'll settle for L.A. County.

CLERK:

(regards him, then)

Row twenty-three, section C.

The Clerk turns away abruptly. Gittes regards his back a

moment, then goes to the stacks.

THROUGH THE STACKS

Gittes sees the Clerk turn to another, say something. The

second clerk gets on the phone. Gittes watches a moment,

then swiftly turns his attention to the stacks.

He hauls down the northwest valley volume, opens it. It's

huge and there's a lot to go through. The print itself makes

him squint.

INSERT PAGE:

showing TRACT, LOT, PARCEL, even a METES AND BOUNDS

designation where the description of the land parcel is long

and hopelessly involved -- e.g. '6000 paces to Rio Seco,

thence 7000 paces to Loma Linda, etc.'

73.

These Descriptions are old and faded -- in the owners' column,

however -- there are numerous freshly-typed names - pasted

over the prior owners.

GITTES:

Hauls the huge volume back to the Clerk's desk.

GITTES:

(to Clerk)

Say... uh... sonny.

The Clerk turns sharply around.

GITTES:

How come all these new names are

pasted into the plat book?

CLERK:

Land sales out of escrow are always

recorded within the week.

Gittes looks a little surprised.

GITTES:

Then these are all new owners?

CLERK:

-- That's right.

GITTES:

(astonished)

-- But that means that most of the

valley's been sold in the last few

months.

CLERK:

If that's what it says.

GITTES:

Can I check one of these volumes

out?

CLERK:

(quietly snotty)

Sir, this is not a lending library,

it's the Hall of Records.

GITTES:

Well, then -- how about a ruler?

CLERK:

A ruler?

74.

GITTES:

The print's pretty fine. I forgot my

glasses. I'd like to be able to read

across.

The exasperated Clerk reaches around -- rummages -- slaps a

ruler on the desk.

Gittes goes back to the stacks with the ruler. He opens the

book, places the ruler not horizontally but vertically.

INSERT PLAT BOOK NORTHWEST VALLEY

Beside the OWNER column he places the ruler, looks toward

the clerks -- then swiftly rips down the page, tearing out a

strip about two inches wide -- containing the owner's name

and property description.

As he tears, he either sniffles or coughs -- to cover the

SOUND of the PAPER being ripped.

EXT. ROAD - GITTES DRIVING - DAY

amidst a hall of shimmering dust and heat, parched and drying

groves, narrower roads.

He passes a ramshackle home, next to a rotting orchard.

There is a "SOLD" sign on the collapsing barn. Gittes stops -checks

it against the names he had taken from the Hall of

Records.

OLD STUCCO BUILDINGS FURTHER ON

and a few withered pepper trees. Gittes has paused at this

dried-up intersection. There is a "SOLD" sign on a drug store.

Gittes looks O.S.

Coming INTO VIEW above the arid fields is a spiraling cloud

of purple smoke. Gittes heads in that direction.

Gittes parks at the edge of the field. About twenty yards

away is a man mounted on a strange machine, holding a lid

off it -- billowing lavender clouds are belching forth.

Several CHILDREN are watching the man at work.

GITTES:

(to one of the Children)

Say, pal, what's he doing?

CHILD:

Making some rain.

Gittes nods, walks over to the man who is elaborately busying

himself with the intricacies of his machine. He's aware of

Gittes watching him.

75.

GITTES:

Well, you're just the man I'm looking

for.

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