Crossfire Page #5

Synopsis: Homicide Capt. Finlay finds evidence that one or more of a group of demobilized soldiers is involved in the death of Joseph Samuels. In flashbacks, we see the night's events from different viewpoints as Sergeant Keeley investigates on his own, trying to clear his friend Mitchell, to whom circumstantial evidence points. Then the real, ugly motive for the killing begins to dawn on both Finlay and Keeley...
Director(s): Edward Dmytryk
Production: WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES
  Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.4
Rotten Tomatoes:
80%
UNRATED
Year:
1947
86 min
747 Views


Anybody else know you're here?

Leroy and you, unless you told somebody.

No, we haven't told anybody.

How about Monty?

- Monty?

- You haven't seen him?

No.

- He doesn't know you're here?

- How would he know?

Okay, sit tight.

- Monty, I didn't call Keeley up...

- I told you not to go out anywhere.

You got in touch with Keeley.

You shouldn't have done that.

No, I didn't get in touch with Keeley.

I called Leroy.

Leroy must have told him. Criminy,

all I did was try to get some dough.

You got plenty of dough.

You said you'd saved.

All I wanna do is go away.

Give me some dough.

I had everything figured out.

Just what we was gonna do.

You went out and phoned,

and you spoiled everything.

I didn't spoil nothing.

I told Keeley I hadn't seen you.

I told Keeley I knew nothing about you.

You heard me say that.

Nobody can pin anything on you, Monty.

That's right, Floyd.

Nobody can pin anything on me.

Look, Monty, I'll go to Mexico.

I'll never come back.

I don't wanna get mixed up in this.

I had nothing to do with it.

Criminy, you went crazy or something.

Samuels didn't do anything to you.

- You just went crazy.

- I didn't do nothing to Samuels either.

Except I flicked him. Like that.

Not that hard, maybe.

- Stop it, Monty! Monty, stop!

- More like that.

Monty, stop it! You went nuts!

I got nothing against Jews. Monty!

Well, I don't like Jews!

And I don't like nobody who likes Jew...

I'd like to see Captain Finlay.

It's important.

- What's your name?

- Peter Keeley. Sergeant Peter Keeley.

Captain Finlay isn't in now.

Have a seat, sergeant.

Captain Finlay wants to see you now.

You're sure he's not too busy?

I wouldn't wanna bother him.

What happened?

- What are you doing here?

- Floyd's dead, sergeant.

- Tell him how it happened.

- I told you to wait.

I did wait. I'm sorry, but I waited.

Nobody came in, nobody went out,

I still waited outside.

Then I thought I'd go up and take a look.

There he was, strung up by his necktie.

I didn't know what to do. You weren't

around. I thought I better call the police.

I came two hours ago

to tell you I talked to Floyd.

If you'd come as soon as you found out

where Floyd was...

...I could have talked to him,

and he'd still be alive.

Now, don't you think you better tell me

where Mitchell is, sergeant?

- Why?

- I don't want anybody else killed.

You should start working with me. It's

the only way, if you wanna help Mitchell.

Because you're in custody.

So is Williams.

You'll both stay there forever,

if necessary.

I'll listen to anything constructive

you two have to say...

...but I won't stand for

any more interference.

You've got a mind like a dogcatcher.

I'm in custody. Williams is in custody.

Everybody's in custody.

What does that prove?

Except that you've got a big jail.

If you want Mitchell,

you can go find him.

All right.

I just hoped there was an easier way.

Okay, Dick.

Come on, Keeley.

I talked to Mitchell a while ago.

- Where is he?

- I said I talked to Mitchell, captain.

He couldn't have killed Samuels.

He didn't go back to Samuels' apartment.

He went and met a girl.

Spent a couple hours in her apartment.

- What does that prove?

- That he went to a joint and he met a girl.

Would a man who has just killed somebody

go on the make for some tramp?

- And it proves where he was for two hours.

- Which two hours?

- All you have to do is ask the girl.

- Who is she?

She's a girl. She calls herself Ginny.

Mitch knows where she lives.

- When did he tell you all of this?

- Before I went to see Floyd.

- Did he know where you were going?

- Yes.

- He could've killed Floyd.

- He didn't know the address.

He could have followed you.

Mary, I'm sorry.

Captain Finlay, if Keeley tells you

where Mitch is, will you let him go?

- Let me talk to Mitch first, by myself.

- I won't let Keeley go, no.

But you can talk to your husband alone. I'll

be waiting for you outside, wherever he is.

He's in the balcony

of an all-night movie. The Regent.

About four blocks from the hotel.

Oh, Mitch.

- Oh, Mitch.

- Mary, darling.

- When did you get here?

- About 1:
00.

- They were waiting for me at the airport.

- "They"?

The police.

- Did you see Keeley?

- Yes.

- What did he say?

- He told me what had happened.

- Where is he now?

- He's in jail.

The other boy, Floyd, was killed.

Police are waiting downstairs.

- We've only got a minute.

- No, Mary, listen. I've gotta say this first.

Whatever you think...

I don't care what Keeley told you.

Nothing tonight that happened has

anything to do with us or how I feel.

- That doesn't matter now.

- Yes, it does.

You've got to understand.

I've been sitting here.

I think I have things straight now.

I couldn't write to you

because I was depressed and jittery.

Samuels, the man who I was supposed

to have killed tonight, he understood it.

I can't explain what he said.

But he said a guy like me now, with

the war over, could start hating himself.

Maybe that's what happened.

Maybe I started hating myself because

I was afraid of getting going again.

Of trying to draw again.

Of looking for a job.

Of having you waiting all the time,

after having waited four years already.

It began to be hard for me

to think about you.

I just couldn't write.

Does that make any sense?

Yes.

Mitch, I wanna go see this girl, Ginny.

Why?

I wanna see her. If you were in her

apartment the time this man was killed...

...the police will be satisfied

you didn't do it.

Please, I'll be all right.

Captain Finlay's going with me.

You remember the name of the apartments

where she lives, don't you?

The Regal Apartments.

We'd better go. I told Captain Finlay

we wouldn't be too long.

Captain Finlay, would you let me

try first, by myself?

She might tell me more

than she'll tell you.

All right.

- What is it?

- Ginny?

I'm Mrs. Mitchell.

- How's Mr. Mitchell?

- My husband's in a great deal of...

- What do you want, anyway? It's late.

- I wanted to talk to a girl named Ginny.

My husband's a soldier

that was here tonight.

There are no soldiers here now, just me.

- I don't have anything to do with soldiers.

- Please, wait.

I've got to talk to you.

It's terribly important.

I know it's late, but you've got to help me.

Can't I come in for just a minute, please?

- My husband's in trouble.

- I know nothing about your husband.

Why don't you go home.

Maybe he's waiting for you.

He's in jail. They say that he

killed a man, but he didn't.

Okay, then there isn't any problem.

What do you want from me,

a character reference?

All I want you to do is to say

he was with you tonight.

Tonight's a long time ago.

I wouldn't be able to remember.

- You'd remember Mitch.

- Why? He have two heads or something?

You danced with him out in back

of where you work in a sort of garden.

You gave him your key

and told him your address.

- He told you he was here with me tonight?

- Yes.

He lied to you. If he was here,

Rate this script:1.0 / 1 vote

John Paxton

John Paxton (May 21, 1911, Kansas City, Missouri - January 5, 1985, Santa Monica, California) was an American screenwriter. He was married to Sarah Jane, who worked in public relations for 20th Century Fox.Some of his films include Murder, My Sweet in 1944, Cornered in 1945, Crossfire in 1947 (an adaptation of the controversial novel The Brick Foxhole that earned him his only Oscar nomination). He helped adapt the screenplay for the controversial movie The Wild One in 1953 starring Marlon Brando. Paxton's work twice received the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, for Murder, My Sweet and Crossfire. more…

All John Paxton scripts | John Paxton Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Crossfire" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/crossfire_6090>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Crossfire

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.


    Quiz

    Are you a screenwriting master?

    »
    Who wrote the screenplay for "The Godfather"?
    A Oliver Stone
    B William Goldman
    C Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
    D Robert Towne