Devil in a Blue Dress

1 INT. CHAMPION AIRCRAFT - BENNY GIACOMO'S OFFICE 1

A battered wooden desk drawer groans open and light brown

skinned hands with dirty fingernails twist the cap off a

pint of rye whiskey and pour liquor into a coffee cup.

O.S. VOICE

You know, when you fire somebody

you have to stick to your guns.

They screw the cap back on and lay the bottle in the drawer.

O.S. VOICE

(continuing)

The men might get to thinkin' that

I'm weak if I take you back.

The cup rises to the face of BENNY GIACOMO, late forties,

with salt and pepper hair that was once jet black. Skin

darker than a Louisiana Creole.

He takes a sip and bares his teeth in a grimace from the

whiskey. As he talks we gradually see more of him -- feet

kicked up on the desk, fully in charge.

A Betty Grable like pin-up girl is giving us background in

more ways than one in a swimsuit and high heels on a

calendar tacked to the wall: May, 1948.

BENNY:

(continuing)

And I didn't tell Dupree that I'd

give you your job back... All I

said was that I'd be glad to talk

to you if you said the right

thing... Do you have something to

say?

A stream of cigarette smoke snakes through as the back of a

man's head and shoulder nudges in and shifts nervously.

MAN:

Mr. Giacomo, when one of the white

guys has come off a double shift

and says he's too tired to work

overtime, you don't fire him.

BENNY:

Fella, what'd I tell ya? If you're

not willing to give a little extra,

Champion can't use you.

EASY RAWLINS, thirty, handsome and a much darker brown than

Giacomo, takes a drag off a Chesterfield cigarette.

2.

1 CONTINUED:
1

Through the window behind him, a team of men pour over a

partly assembled airplane, their voices echoing in the

hangar that surrounds the office.

Benny measures out his words one at a time.

BENNY (O.S.)

Now... Do... you... have...

something... to say?

Easy swallows his frustration in silence and thinks about

swallowing his pride as well. And then:

EASY:

I want my job back, Mr. Giacomo. I

need to work and I need a good job.

BENNY (O.S.)

Is that all?

Easy looks down into the smoke and sits up straight to keep

from bowing his head.

EASY:

No, that's not all... I need money

so that I can pay my mortgage and

eat... I need a house to live in

and a place to raise children... I

need to buy clothes so I can--

BENNY:

I'm sorry, fella, but I gotta get

back to work...

And he swings his feet down and stands up to go. But Easy

is up too, blocking his way out the door.

EASY:

Ezekiel, Mr. Giacomo.

BENNY:

Hunh?

EASY:

My name is Ezekiel... Ezekiel

Rawlins.

Benny clinches his fists and focuses on Easy's chest like a

fighter. And Easy rocks back on one foot ready to score a

field goal with his right knee.

Slowly, Giacomo's face creases into a plastic grin and he

shrugs.

3.

1 CONTINUED:
(2) 1

BENNY:

S'cuse me, Ezekiel.

And he walks around Easy, shaking his head as if amused.

Easy watches him go as the low moan of the baritone sax from

Duke Ellington's "Absinthe" snakes up like sin and we

2 FADE TO BLACK 2

And watch the titles, the last one reading "Two Weeks

Later"...

FADE IN:

3 EXT. JOPPY'S BAR - DAY 3

Black and grey cars, Packards and Buicks from 1928 to 1948,

come and go on Central Avenue. Two-storied storefronts with

canvas awnings, above black men and women in hats... all in

a hurry.

The Red Car rumbles through and then a white Cadillac

convertible pulls to the curb in front of a butcher shop.

Above the shop on the next floor are large partly open

windows with JOPPY'S BAR in boldface letters. Inside sits

Easy, back to the window reading the classified ads.

4 INT. JOPPY'S BAR 4

T-Bone Walker's "Westside Baby" plays on the jukebox as Easy

takes a final drag off his cigarette and stubs it out.

THE FRONT PAGE of the LOS ANGELES TIMES lies face up on the

table beneath the ashtray displaying A PHOTOGRAPH of a

middle-aged white man and his pretty young woman companion

smiling and waving.

Above the happy couple is a headline "CARTER DROPS OUT OF

RACE"... The caption under the photo reads "Wealthy civic

leader, Todd Carter, shown here with his lovely bride-to-be,

Daphne Monet, at a fundraiser last month was unavailable for

comment on his surprising withdrawal from the Mayor's race."

O.S. VOICE

Catch ya later, Joppy.

BACK TO SCENE:

SPLACK! An older black man hitching up his pants underneath

a bloodstained butcher's apron has slapped his empty beer

glass down hard on the counter on his way out.

4.

4 CONTINUED:
4

JOPPY:

Hey, watch the marble! Dammit,

what'd I tell you?

The fifty-year-old burly bartender leans over his big

stomach checking for cracks and buffing the veiny marble top

of the bar with a filthy rag. Behind him is a yellow

billboard from 1932 with big black letters reading "Fuller

vs. Shag. 10 ROUND MAIN EVENT." We could make out more of

the poster and the eight-by-ten framed boxing photos around

it if it wasn't so smoky in the place.

EASY:

Joppy, how much they payin' out

there at McDonell Douglas?

JOPPY:

I don't know. Don't it say--

His words hang as his eyes stray toward the door.

Easy looks up also at

THE DOORWAY which fills with the large frame of the white

MAN in an off-white linen suit, his pale eyes surveying the

room. Satisfied that all but two of the six tables in the

tiny room are unoccupied, he smiles at Joppy and walks to

the far end of the bar.

Easy is surprised to see Joppy, tough ex-heavyweight that he

is, duck his head and smile as he makes his way over like

he's answering a summons. The white man extends a friendly

hand and the two of them shake like old friends and lean in

close to talk in private.

Easy finds it hard not to watch their conversation as he

takes a sip from a short glass of bourbon on the rocks.

After a moment...

JOPPY:

Easy, come on over here. This

here's somebody I want ya to

meet... Come on. This here's a

friend of mine.

Easy drains his glass and stands up, then walks over.

JOPPY:

Yeah, Easy. This here's Mr.

Albright.

ALBRIGHT:

You can call me Dewitt, Easy.

5.

4 CONTINUED:
(2) 4

He extends his hand and Easy shakes it.

EASY:

How ya doin'?

JOPPY:

(bowing and grinning)

Mr. Albright and me goes back to

before the war when I was still in

the fight game.

ALBRIGHT:

(to Easy)

Ever seen this guy fight...? Any

time Joppy Shag stepped in the ring

you knew you were gonna see some

real knock-down-drag-out-

fisticuffs... Where you from, Easy?

EASY:

(awkwardly)

Houston.

ALBRIGHT:

Houston... Joppy's hometown.

Joppy pours Albright a straight shot of Wild Turkey and the

big man sips it.

ALBRIGHT:

So I hear you need a job.

Easy throws a look at Joppy, but Joppy is busy buffing the

bar and putting more of Easy's business in the street.

JOPPY:

Aw yeah, Easy always tryin' to do

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