Gangs of New York Page #22

Jenny tears part of the sleeve from her blouse and puts it against his

nose.

JENNY:

Put your head back.

AMSTERDAM:

That don't work.

JENNY:

Put your head back I said.

AMSTERDAM:

(as she tends to him)

So why so sudden, then?

JENNY:

Sudden? Every day I see you and you complain I can't decide. Now I decide,

you say it's sudden.

AMSTERDAM:

It's the whore did it, then.

JENNY:

Don't flatter yourself.

AMSTERDAM:

It's because you're jealous.

JENNY:

It's because you didn't lie about hitting me.

AMSTERDAM:

Christ, I wish I had. Come here, then.

He reaches to pull her down on the bed.

JENNY:

Not here. There's too much past.

CUT TO:

81 INT. ROOM/DEAD RABBIT HOUSE

The room where Johnny fetched Amsterdam out for the fight. Amsterdam and

Jenny have just made love.

JENNY:

It must be morning.

AMSTERDAM:

I don't care, I'm not getting up.

JENNY:

This is what you meant, then? It's going to be just the same from now on?

AMSTERDAM:

What?

JENNY:

Every morning I wake up next to you.

AMSTERDAM:

Or you don't wake up at all.

JENNY:

We only just started in and you're already threatening me.

AMSTERDAM:

It's not a threat.

(no teasing now)

It's a declaration of love.

JENNY:

I prefer my kind. This kind.

She reaches beneath the pillow and pulls out a fine DIAMOND RING, which

she slips on his finger. Amsterdam reacts with surprise, gratitude and (of

course) suspicion.

AMSTERDAM:

What's this? Where'd you get this?

JENNY:

You said I was the best thief in the Five Points. But I got

restless. Will you wear something I got?

CUT TO:

82 EXT- UPTOWN STREET DAY

A long street of tree-shaded houses. Spacious lawns. North of the Five

Points. Considerably north. This is the first time we have been outside

the Five Points and Paradise Square. The city

rent place.

Jenny and Amsterdam stand near a residence at the end of the street.

Amsterdam, dressed in a suit, can't quite conceal his wonder as he stands

staring at the house.

AMSTERDAM:

What is this place?

JENNY:

My jeweler's.

She GESTURES for him to follow her and we see now that she is dressed in a

maid's outfit.

JENNY:

Come on.

AMSTERDAM:

I don't see nobody.

JENNY:

That's the best time. They're all having lunch.

CUT TO:

83 EXT. UPTOWN HOUSE DAY

At the back door of the grand house, as Jenny OPENS it slowly and glances

inside.

AMSTERDAM:

You're off your head.

JENNY:

(pleased, showing off)

You can wait on me a minute. Or I'll see you back in the Points if you're

scared.

(Amsterdam looks at her)

Don't worry. I know every house on this street. They all leave their doors

open. They live like they're not in New York.

She GOES IN the house. Amsterdam WATCHES through the window, sees her

going up stairs. Then he looks at the dining room, visible distantly

through an open kitchen door.

He WATCHES, fascinated, fragments of the everyday rituals of a world he's

never seen. As SOUNDS drift listlessly from the street beyond, and a light

BREEZE blows, WE SEE IN A SERIES OF DISSOLVES the serving of a meal;

SERVANTS carrying and passing plates; FAMILY MEMBERS reaching for dishes

and passing them; the LOW KURMUR of Konversation in accents he has never

heard. It's not so much that these people and their life are foreign to

him. It is as if he has stepped into another Dimension.

He loses his sense of time, and of danger. So that when Jenny TOUCHES his

arm she surprises him thoroughly.

JENNY:

Come on. I might still be taken for a maid. But you're nobody's notion of

a butler.

84 EXT. UPTOWN STREET DAY

As Jenny and Amsterdam walk away from the house. She holds his arm. They

look young and full of hope, like a servant couple just over from the old

country enjoying a day off.

JENNY:

The Police Commissioner lives the next street over. I was thinking of

visiting him next month, but cops don't buy goods. They keep all their

graft in cash.

Amsterdam looks at the houses with wonder that he tries to make casual.

She opens her satchel a little way, then NUDGES him to have a lock at the

swag inside.

JENNY:

How's that for ten minutes?

AMSTERDAM:

It's a lot to fence.

JENNY:

I'm not going to fence it. I'm going to keep it and take it where no one

will recognize it.

AMSTERDAM:

Where would that be?

JENNY:

Somewhere west. Far west. Past the Mississippi River, somewhere into that

territory.

AMSTERDAM:

That's a hard journey for a woman alone.

JENNY:

You'd be with me.

AMSTERDAM:

You got it all planned and straight, is that it?

JENNY:

Once I said I'd be with you I wanted someplace we could be together.

Someplace better than here. What's the matter with that?

AMSTERDAM:

Nothing. Except there's no place but here for me right now. I got to

settle things.

JENNY:

Yeah, I know, but I'm talking about settling down, not settling debts.

AMSTERDAM:

You don't have my obligations.

CUT TO:

85 EXT. PARADISE SQUARE DAY

The Dead Rabbits SWEEP across the bustling square, Johnny and Amsterdam in

the lead.

JOHNNY:

It's a fair day's wage. We just move the people out of the building, and

collect.

AMSTERDAM:

Who from?

JOHNNY:

Who owns the building.

(points)

Them.

The gang approaches a tumbledown BUILDING called Jacob's Ladder because of

the iron rungs that run straight up its front to the roof. Two

well-dressed GENTS stare at the building fretfully.

GENT 1

(to Johnny)

I'm glad you came in force. There's half a hundred people still in there.

GENT 2

Maybe more.

GENT 1

And not one's given rent the whole year.

AMSTERDAM:

You live here?

GENT 1

No, no, of course not.

AMSTERDAM:

I mean in the city. A ways north, I'll bet.

GENT 2

Yes. Why?

A RIFLE SHOT sounds from an upper window and a Rabbit falls wounded. They

all DUCK FOR COVER.

JOHNNY:

It's not just citizens in there?

GENT 1

Of course it is.

JOHNNY:

with arms?

GENT 2

From their damned gang. Some of them live there.

AMSTERDAM:

Some of who?

GENT 2

The Native Americans.

JOHNNY:

We didn't contract for that.

GENT 1

We'll pay extra for the danger.

AMSTERDAM:

No danger. But you will pay extra.

(turns; to gang)

Let's go and greet some Natives.

Under SCATTERED RIFLE FIRE and a barrage of ROCKS, the GANG STORMS the

building, charging inside and starting up the ladder as if they were

attacking a medieval fortress. ARMS reach out from windows to try and pull

them off. The Rabbits respond with knives and PISTOL SHOTS. As they charge

inside, the CAMERA RISES to an OVERHEAD shot and we ...

DISSOLVE TO:

86 EXT. PARADISE SQUARE DAY

Later. The same OVERHEAD ANGLE. BODIES litter the street everywhere. Some

dead and wounded Rabbits lie near NATIVES who have gone to their reward.

Some BUILDING RESIDENTS wander the street in a daze. JOHNNY is collecting

money from the Two Gents, who look very pleased as Amsterdam approaches

with Jenny. He's carrying a rifle he took from the building.

AMSTERDAM:

(to Gents)

Alright, then?

GENT 2

Very much alright. Quite a spectacle.

AMSTERDAM:

Oh really? Just the entertainment you favor, is it? Pardon me for a

moment, gents.

(he turns to Jenny)

You wanted to settle, you and me. That's so, isn't it? You did agree, did

you not.

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