Get Shorty Page #4

Harry's gaze moves to the bottle of scotch on the desk . . .

CHILI:

You're not looking at me, Harry.

HARRY:

Why do I have to keep looking at you?

CHILI:

I want you to.

HARRY:

You gonna get rough now, threaten me? I make good by

tomorrow or get my legs broken?

CHILI:

Come on, Harry -- Mesas? The worst they might do is get a

judgment against you, uttering a bad check. I can't imagine

you want that to happen, man in your position.

HARRY:

F***in' basketball game.

Harry reaches for the bottle of scotch and pours himself

drink.

HARRY:

Tell Dick Allen I'll cover the markers in the next sixty

days at the most. He doesn't like it, that's his problem.

The prick.

Harry starts to take another drink, looks at Chili, not

moving.

HARRY:

So, you want me to call you a cab?

Chili shakes his head, keeps staring at Harry, but with a

different expression now, more thoughtful, curious.

CHILI:

You make movies, huh?

HARRY:

I produce feature motion pictures, no TV. You mentioned

Grotesque, that happened to be Grotesque Part II that Karen

Flores was in. She starred in all three of my Slime

Creatures releases you might have seen.

Chili nods, leans forward on the desk.

CHILI:

I think I got an idea for a movie.

INT. KAREN FLORES' BEDROOM -- NIGHT

Karen is sitting up in bed, listening. We hear the muffled

sonuds of Chili and Harry talking downstairs. She gets out

of bed . . .

INT. HALLWAY -- SAME TIME

Chili and Harry's conversation gets louder as Karen descends

the stairs. She peers into the study, but they're not in

there . . .

INT. KITCHEN -- SAME TIME

Chili sits with Harry at a butcher block table, a bottle of

Dewars and a couple of glasses now between them.

CHILI:

Yeah, Leo wore these little plaid hats -- Miami, middle of

the summer, this guy thinks no one's gonna notice he's

balding, he wears a f***in' hat.

Harry looks up past Chili, smiles.

HARRY:

Karen?

Chili turns aronud and sees her standing in the doorway now,

her arms folded across that chest, the Lakers T-shirt coming

down just past her crotch.

HARRY:

Karen, say hello to Chili Palmer. Chili, this is Karen

Flores.

CHILI:

Karen, it's a pleasure. How you doing?

KAREN:

How did you get in the house?

HARRY:

He's telling me an idea for a movie. It's not bad so far.

(motions with his glass)

Sit down, have a drink.

(to Chili)

Tell Karen, let's see what she thinks.

KAREN:

Maybe you didn't hear me.

CHILI:

The door from the patio, in back.

KAREN:

You broke in?

CHILI:

No, it was open. It wasn't locked.

KAREN:

What if it was?

Chili doesn't say anything, just watches her, likes the way

she's handling it.

HARRY:

You want to hear this idea? It's about a dry cleaner who

scams an airline out of three hundred grand. Go on, tell

her.

CHILI:

You just did.

HARRY:

I mean, the way you told it to me. Start at the beginning,

we see how the story line develops.

Chili looks at Karen. She leans in the doorway.

CHILI:

Well, basically, this guy owes a shylock fifteen thousand,

plus he's a few weeks behind on the vig, the interest you

have to pay.

KAREN:

I know what a vig is.

HARRY:

It's the kind of situation, you don't pay, you get your legs

broken.

CHILI:

Or the guy thinks he could get 'em broken. You have to

understand the loan shark's in business the same as anybody

else. He isn't in it to hurt people. He's in it to make

money.

EXT. LEO DEVOE'S HOUSE -- DAY

As we see Chili talking to Fay on the front porch.

CHILI (V.O.)

But the dry cleaner, we'll call him Leo, he's scared,

doesn't know any better, so he takes off --

INT. KAREN'S KITCHEN -- NIGHT

As Harry jumps in . . .

HARRY:

That's Miami. He's going to Vegas. He's got a few bucks and

he's thinking it's his only chance.

INT. AIRPLANE -- DAY

We see a fidgety LEO DEVOE, a little guy in a crummy suit

and a little green hat sitting there in coach, looking

around.

CHILI (V.O.)

Leo gets on a plane, ready to go, but the plane sits there

at the gate, doesn't move.

Behind Leo sits a BRAT with his MOM and DAD. The parents are

trying to entertain the kid with the G.I. Joes, other stuff

they've brought along, but the kid spots Leo's hat as Leo

looks up to listen to an announcement . . .

CHILI (V.O.)

They annonnce over the PA there's some kind of mechanical

problem, they'll be there maybe an hour, but keep your seats

in case they get it fixed sooner.

Leo gets really uncomfortable now . . .

CHILI (V.O.)

The guy's nervous, in no shape to just sit there, sweat it

out. So he gets off the plane . . .

As Leo gets up from his seat, the kid knocks off Leo's

little green hat, and we . . .

CUT TO:

INT. MIAMI AIRPORT COCKTAIL LOUNGE -- DAY

As Leo downs a drink, looks around for the waitress . . .

CHILI (V.O.)

Goes in the cocktail lounge and starts throwing 'em down,

one after the other.

He 's motioning to her for another, when we see a PLANE taxi

past the window in the b.g . . .

CHILI (V.O.)

When the plane pulls away from the gate.

INT. KAREN'S KITCHEN -- NIGHT

As Harry interrupts.

HARRY:

Without him. The guy's so out of it he doesn't even know

it's gone.

CHILI:

That's right. As a matter of fact . . .

INT. COCKTAIL LOUNGE -- DAY

A sh*t-faced Leo struggles to keep his head up as he watches

the waitress look out the window and gasp . . .

CHILI (V.O.)

He's still in the lounge when a plane blows up on the runway

. . .

We see a BIG FIREBALL in the b.g. as Leo's head hits the

table.

INT. KAREN'S KITCHEN -- NIGHT

As Chili lights a cigarette.

CHILI:

So when the guy finds out it was his flight, he can't

believe it. If he'd stayed on that plane, he'd be dead.

Right then he knows his luck has changed. If everybody

thinks he's dead he won't have to pay back the fifteen or

what he owes on the vig, four and a half a week.

Chili offers the pack to Karen. Karen doesn't move.

KAREN:

The interest is four hundred and fifty dollars a week on

fifteen thousand?

CHILI:

That's right. Three percent.

KAREN:

But a week. That's a hundred and fifty percent a year.

CHILI:

A hundred and fifty-six. Some'll charge you more'n that, go

as high as six for five on a short-term loan. So three a

week's not too bad.

KAREN:

A real bargain.

She shakes her head, keeps her arms folded. Chili watches

her, likes the way she's giving it to him.

HARRY:

Keep going.

CHILI:

Well, since Leo's name was on the passenger list . . .

INT. AIRPORT HANGER -- DAY

As an FFA OFFICIAL leads Fay, a black veil over her face,

amongst tables full of charred items . . .

CHILI (V.O.)

They bring his wife out to the airport where they're going

through personal effects, whatever wasn't burned up. Leo's

bags were on the plane, so the wife tells 'em what to look

for, things only she would know about.

FAY REACTS as the FFA guy points to a LITTLE GREEN HAT on

one of the tables. She grabs it, clutches it to her chest,

pretends to faint.

INT. KAREN'S KITCHEN -- NIGHT

As Karen finds herself listening, despite herself.

CHILI:

A couple days ago by, people from the airliner come to see

his wife, tell her how sorry they are and all that their

plane exploded and offer her a settlement, the amount based

on what he would've earned operating the dry cleaner's the

rest of his life. Leo had some kind of trouble with his

kidneys, so they were giving him about ten years.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote