Fences Page #16

Synopsis: Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) makes his living as a sanitation worker in 1950s Pittsburgh. Maxson once dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but was deemed too old when the major leagues began admitting black athletes. Bitter over his missed opportunity, Troy creates further tension in his family when he squashes his son's (Jovan Adepo) chance to meet a college football recruiter.
Genre: Drama
Production: Paramount Pictures
  Won 1 Oscar. Another 52 wins & 106 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.2
Metacritic:
79
Rotten Tomatoes:
94%
PG-13
Year:
2016
139 min
$57,642,961
Website
12,242 Views


rose:
What the hell was I there for? That was my job,

not somebody else’s.

troy:
Rose, I done tried all my life to live deRose, I done tried all my life to live decent

. . . to live a clean...hard . . . useful

life. I tried to be a good husband to you. In

every way I knew how. Maybe I come into the world

backwards, I don’t know. But . . . You born with

two strikes on you before you come to the plate.

You got to guard it closely . . . always looking

for the curveball on the inside corner. You can’t

afford to let none get past you. You can’t afford

a call strike.

INT. FRONT ROOM—AFTERNOON

Gabriel sits, immobile.

EXT. BACKYARD—CONTINUOUS

troy:
If you going down . . . you going down swinging.

Everything lined up against you. What you

gonna do. I fooled them, Rose. I bunted. When I

found you and Cory and a halfway decent job . . .

I was safe. Couldn’t nothing touch me. I wasn’t

gonna strike out no more. I wasn’t going back to

the penitentiary. I wasn’t gonna lay in the

streets with a bottle of wine. I was safe. I had

me a family. A job. I wasn’t gonna get that last

strike. I was on first looking for one of them boys

to knock me in. To get me home.

rose:
You should have stayed in my bed, Troy.

troy:
Then when I saw that gal . . . she firmed up my

backbone. And I got to thinking that if I

tried . . . I just might be able to steal second.

Do you understand, after eighteen years I wanted

to steal second.

Then when I saw that gal . . . she firmed up my

backbone. And I got to thinking that if I

tried . . . I just might be able to steal second.

Do you understand, after eighteen years I wanted

to steal second.

rose:
You should have held me tight. You should have

grabbed me and held on.

troy:
I stood on first base for eighteen years and I

thought . . . well, goddamn it . . . go on for

it!

rose:
We’re not talking about baseball! We’re talking

about you going off to lay in bed with another

woman . . . and then bring it home to me. That’s

what we’re talking about. We ain’t talking about

no baseball.

troy:
Rose, you’re not listening to me. I’m trying the

best I can to explain it to you. It’s not easy for

me to admit that I been standing in the same place

for eighteen years.

rose:
I been standing with you! I been right here with

you, Troy. I got a life too. I gave eighteen years

of my life to stand in the same spot with you.

Don’t you think I ever wanted other things? Don’t

you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my

life? What about me? Don’t you think it ever

crossed my mind to want to know other men? That I

wanted to lay up somewhere and forget about my

responsibilities? That I wanted someone to make

me laugh so I could feel good?

INT. BASEMENT

Cory moves toward the basement window,

trying to hear his mother and father.

EXT. BACKYARD—CONTINUOUS

rose:
You not the only one who’s got wants and needs.

But I held on to you, Troy. I took all my feelings,

my wants and needs, my dreams . . . and I

buried them inside you. I planted a seed and

watched and prayed over it. I planted myself inside

you and waited to bloom. And it didn’t take

me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard

and rocky and it wasn’t never gonna bloom.

INT. THE FRONT ROOM

Gabriel lifts up his trumpet, holds it

high in trembling hands. His mouth is

wide-open.

EXT. BACKYARD—CONTINUOUS

rose:
But I held on to you, Troy. I held you tighter.

You was my husband. I owed you everything I had.

Every part of me I could find to give you. And upstairs

in that room . . . with the darkness falling

in on me . . . I gave everything I had to try

and erase the doubt that you wasn’t the finest man

in the world, and wherever you was going . . . I

wanted to be there with you. ’Cause you was my

husband. ’Cause that’s the only way I was gonna

survive as your wife. You always talking about

what you give . . . and what you don’t have to

give. But you take too. You take . . . and don’t

even know nobody’s giving!

Rose heads toward the house. Troy

grabs her arm.

troy:
You say I take and don’t give!

rose:
Troy! You’re hurting me!

troy:
You say I take and don’t give.

rose:
Troy . . . you’re hurting my arm! Let go.

troy:
I done give you everything I got. Don’t you tell

that lie on me.

rose:
Troy!

troy:
Don’t you tell that lie on me!

Cory rushing out of the house.

cory:
Mama!

rose:
Troy. You’re hurting me.

troy:
Don’t you tell me about no taking and giving.

Cory comes up from behind Troy and

tries to tackle him. Troy, surprised,

is thrown off balance just as Cory

throws a glancing blow that catches

him on the chest and knocks him down.

Troy is stunned, as is Cory.

rose:
Troy. Troy. No!

Troy gets to his feet and starts at

Cory.

rose:
Troy . . . no. Please! Troy!

Rose pulls on Troy to hold him back.

Troy stops himself.

troy (to cory):
All right. That’s strike two. You stay

away from around me, boy. Don’t you strike out.

You living with a full count. DON’T YOU STRIKE

OUT!

SIX MONTH SEQUENCE

We hear Little Jimmy Scott’s “Day By

Day” . . . Somewhere . . .

Dead leaves falling.

EXT. BACKYARD

Early winter, the first fence posts are

up.

INT. BASEMENT

Cory works out feverishly.

EXT. BACKYARD

Winter, snow. Cross beams connect the

posts, and the first vertical pickets

begin to shut out the abandoned house.

INT. DINING ROOM

An empty room, the table is set.

EXT. BACKYARD—NIGHT

Troy bundled against the lingering

cold, works alone. Rose watches him

from the kitchen window.

INT. TAYLORS’ BAR

Troy drinks heavily in a crowded bar.

EXT. BACKYARD

March:
More pickets, the fence half

done.

INT. CHURCH

Rose kneeling in prayer.

EXT. CEMETERY

Gabe sits among the tombstones eating

a sandwich.

EXT. THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE—

MORNING:

It’s early April, and the weather’s

cool. Rose, looking tired, wears a

light jacket and scarf over her head.

She locks the front door and starts

down the steps. She stops to pull

weeds from among the daffodils she’s

growing in the planter-cans.

EXT. SANITATION YARD—LATER THAT

AFTERNOON:

Men stream out of the garage, Troy

among them. He sees something that

makes him stop. Rose is across the

street, waiting for him. He crosses

the street slowly. They stand looking

at one another; Then:

rose:
Troy, I want to talk to you.

troy:
All of a sudden, after all this time, you want

to talk to me, huh? You ain’t wanted to talk to

me for months. You ain’t wanted to talk to me last

night. You ain’t wanted no part of me then. What

you wanna talk to me about now?

Rose looks around at the men who

glance at her and Troy as they pass

by.

rose:
Tomorrow’s Friday.

troy:
I know what day tomorrow is. You think I don’t

know tomorrow’s Friday? My whole life I ain’t

done nothing but look to see Friday coming and

you got to tell me it’s Friday.

Rate this script:4.4 / 10 votes

August Wilson

August Wilson was an American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama more…

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Submitted by marina26 on November 28, 2017

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