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Chinatown Page #8
- R
- Year:
- 1974
- 130 min
- 864,569 Views
GITTES:
(looking at. Mulwray)
-- Yeah -- banged up pretty bad -
MORTY:
-- That's a long fall.
GITTES:
-- So how are you, Morty?
39.
Morty is wheeling in another body with the help of an
assistant.
MORTY:
-- Never better. You know me, Jake.
As he begins to move the body into the refrigerator, he breaks
into a wrenching spasm of coughing. Gittes spots the other
body, lowers the. sheet on Mulwray.
GITTES:
(picking up on cough)
-- Yeah -- so who you got there?
Morty pulls back the sheet.
MORTY:
Leroy Shuhardt, local drunk --used
to hang around Ferguson's
Alley -
Morty brushes some sand from the man's face, laughs.
MORTY:
(continuing)
-- Quite a character. Lately he'd
been living in one of the downtown
storm drains -- had a bureau dresser
down there and everything.
Gittes has already lost interest. He starts away.
GITTES:
-- Yeah.
MORTY:
Drowned, too.
This stops Gittes.
GITTES:
Come again?
MORTY:
Yeah, got dead drunk, passed out in
the bottom of the riverbed.
GITTES:
The L.A. River?
MORTY:
(a little puzzled)
Yeah, under Hollenbeck Bridge, what's
wrong with that?
Gittes has moved back to the body, looks at it more closely.
40.
GITTES:
It's bone dry, Morty.
MORTY:
It's not completely dry.
GITTES:
Yeah, well he ain't gonna drown in a
damp riverbed either, I don't care
how soused he was. That's like
drowning in a teaspoon.
Morty shrugs.
MORTY:
We got water out of him, Jake.
He drowned.
Gittes walks away mumbling.
GITTES:
Jesus, this town...
EXT. SUNSET BOULEVARD - GITTES - DAY
He's parked on an overpass -- the sign HOLLENBECK BRIDGE on
one of its concrete columns. Gittes looks down into the
riverbed below.
FROM THE BRIDGE:
Gittes can see the muddy remains of a collapsed shack, its
contents strewn down river from the bridge. Below him, lying
half over the storm drain and one wall that was on the bank
of the river is a sign that proclaims OWN YOUR OWN OFFICE IN
THIS BUILDING $5000 to $6000 which was used as a roof of
sorts. Downstream, there's the dresser, an oil drum, a Ford
seat cushion, an Armour lard can, etc. -- the trashy remains
of Shuhardt's home.
Gittes scrambles down the embankment and as he lands near
the storm drain one shoe sinks, ankle deep into mud.
Gittes pulls it out, swearing.
He begins to walk a little further downstream when he hears
the vaguely familiar SQUISHY CLOP of something.
Clearing the bridge. on the opposite side is the little
Mexican Boy, again on his swayback horse, riding along the
muddy bank.
They look at one another a moment.
41.
GITTES:
(calling out to him)
You were riding here the other day,
weren't you...?
The Boy doesn't answer.
GITTES:
(continuing)
Speak English?... Habla Ingles?
THE BOY:
(finally)
Si.
GITTES:
Didn't you talk to a man here -- few
days ago... wore glasses ... he...
The Boy nods.
GITTES:
(continuing)
What did you talk about, mind my
asking?
The shadows of the two are very long now.
THE BOY:
(finally)
The water.
GITTES:
What about the water?
THE BOY:
-- when it comes.
GITTES:
-- When it comes? What'd you tell
him?
THE BOY:
Comes in different parts of the river -every
night a different part.
Gittes nods. The horse snorts. The Boy rides slowly on.
EXT. RIVEBED - DUSK
Gittes scrambles up the embankment to note the direction the
storm drain by Hollenbeck Bridge takes. It is headed above
toward the Hollywood Hills, where the sun is setting.
42.
EXT. GITTES IN CAR - NIGHTFALL
winding his way up a section of the Hollywood Hills. He picks
up on an open flood channel with the spotlight by the driver's
windwing.
GITTES IN CAR- MOVING
along the flood channel. It is dark now and Gittes follows
the channel with the car spotlight. He turns at a fork in
the road which allows him to continue following the flood
channel.
FURTHER UP - MOVING
The road is narrower. Gittes drives more slowly. Foliage is
overgrown in the channel so its bottom cannot be glimpsed.
STILL FURTHER - NIGHT
The road is dirt. Heavy clusters of oak trees and eucalyptus
are everywhere. It is very still. Another turn and a pie-
shaped view of a lake of lights in the city below can be
GLIMPSED.
POV - CHAIN-LINK FENCE
over the road, bolted. It says OAK PASS RESERVOIR. KEEP
OUT. NO TRESPASSING.
The chain-link itself actually extends over the flood channel
and down into it, making access along the channel itself
impossible.
Gittes backs up, turns off the motor, the car lights, the
spotlight. A lone light overhead on tension wires is the
sole illumination. There is only the eerie SOUND of the
tension WIRES HUMMING.
Gittes gets out of the car, clubs the fence near the Flood
channel itself.
Gittes carefully works his way up through the thick Foliage
toward a second and large chain-link fence.
Lights from the reservoir still higher above can be SEEN.
Suddenly there is a GUNSHOT. Then ANOTHER. Gittes dives into
the flood control channel, which is at this point about four
feet deep and six feet wide. There is the SOUND of men
scurrying through the brush, coming near him, then retreating.
Gittes loses himself among the ivy in the channel.
43.
He waits. The men seem to have passed him by. But there is
another SOUND now -- an echoing growing sound. It puzzles
Gittes. He starts to lift his head to catch the direction.
GITTES IN FLOOD CONTROL CHANNEL - NIGHT
Then he's inundated with a rush of water which pours over
him, knocks off his hat, carries him down the channel, banging
into its banks, as he desperately tries to grab some of the
overgrowth to hang on and pull himself out.
But the force of the stream batters him and carries him with
it until he's brought rudely to the chain-link fence. It
stops him cold. He's nearly strained through it.
Swearing and choking, he pulls himself out of the rushing
water by means of the fence itself.
Drenched, battered, he slowly climbs back over the fence and
makes his way toward his car.
AT GITTES' CAR
He fishes for his car keys, looks down -- one shoe is missing.
GITTES:
(grumbling)
Goddam Florsheim shoe, goddammit.
He starts to get into his car but Mulvihill and a SMALLER
MAN stop him -- Mulvihill pulling his coat down and pinning
his arms -- holding him tightly. The smaller man thrusts a
switchblade knife about an inch and a half up Gittes' left
nostril.
SMALLER MAN:
(shaking with emotion)
Hold it there, kitty cat.
CLOSE - GITTES
frozen, the knife in his nostril, the street lamp over- head
gleaming on the silvery blade.
THE SMALLER MAN:
You are a very nosey fellow, kitty
cat... you know what happens to nosey
fellows?
The Smaller Man actually seems to be trembling with rage
when he says this. Gittes doesn't move.
SMALLER MAN:
(continuing)
Wanna guess? No? Okay. Lose their
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"Chinatown" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Aug. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/chinatown_73>.
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