Gran Torino Page #14

(CONTINUED)

86.

78 CONTINUED:
78

Walt and Tao walk up to the Superintendent’s Office

Trailer on a construction job site.

79 INT. JOB TRAILER -SAME TIME 79

Walt and Tao come in. Walt shakes hands with TIM

KENNEDY, the job super.

WALT:

Kennedy, you drunken Irish goon,

how the hell are ya?

KENNEDY:

Shitty, but who’s gonna listen?

WALT:

Not me.

Walt pours himself a cup of the bad job-site coffee.

KENNEDY:

Help yourself, Walt, you dumb

Pollack.

WALT:

I already did. This is the kid I

told you about. Tao, this is Tim

Kennedy, he’s the super on the

job.

Kennedy looks Tao up and down. Tao looks him in the eye.

KENNEDY:

What do we got, Walt?

WALT:

He’s done construction here and

there. Whatever you need, he’ll

pick it up quick.

KENNEDY:

You sure?

WALT:

Sure.

KENNEDY:

You speak English?

TAO:

Yes, sir.

KENNEDY:

You born here?

(CONTINUED)

87.

79 CONTINUED:
79

TAO:

You bet.

KENNEDY:

You got a vehicle? I see Walt

drove you here.

TAO:

Not at the moment. I’m taking the

bus for now.

KENNEDY:

The bus? Jesus Christ, you don’t

have a car?

TAO:

My headgasket cracked and the

goddamned prick at the shop wants

to bend me over for $2100.

KENNEDY:

I just replaced the tranny in my

Tahoe and the sons a b*tches

f***ed me hard, just under $3200.

TAO:

Goddamned thieves. It ain’t

right.

KENNEDY:

You got that right. Come on in on

Monday and we’ll find something

for you to do.

Tao puts out his hand to shake.

TAO:

Thanks, Mr. Kennedy.

Tim Kennedy shakes Tao’s hand.

KENNEDY:

It’s Tim. What’s your name again?

TAO:

Tao.

KENNEDY:

Okay. You owe me one, Walt.

WALT:

I’ll send you a f***ing fruitcake

at Christmas.

(CONTINUED)

88.

79 CONTINUED:
(2) 79

KENNEDY:

F*** the fruitcake, why don’t you

hand over the keys to that Gran

Torino.

WALT:

Yeah, everybody seems to want that

car.

KENNEDY:

I bet.

WALT:

You don’t know the half of it.

Come on, zipper head, let’s let

this big Mick get back to screwing

off.

Walt and Tao exit and walk back to the truck.

80 INT. TRUCK -DRIVING -SAME MORNING 80

Walt pulls into a Home Depot parking lot.

TAO:

What are we doing?

WALT:

What are you gonna put all your

tools in, an empty rice bag?

81 INT. HOME DEPOT 81

Walt and Tao walk the aisles. Walt grabs a tool belt and

tosses it to Tao.

WALT:

You’ll need this.

Walt then tosses Tao a utility knife holder.

WALT:

And you’ll need that. Now where

the hell do they hide the hardware

holders?

TAO:

I can’t afford any of this.

WALT:

I’ll get it, but you’re paying me

back with your first check.

(CONTINUED)

89.

81 CONTINUED:
81

TAO:

Cool.

Walt pitches a hardware pouch at Tao.

WALT:

And you need this too. That

should about do it.

TAO:

Not to b*tch, but won’t I be

needing some tools?

WALT:

Tools I got, but I ain’t loaning

you my tool belt. You can buy

tools as you go.

TAO:

I appreciate all this.

WALT:

Aw, forget it.

TAO:

No, I really do. Thank you.

Walt sticks out his jaw and looks Tao straight in the

eye. Tao doesn’t know what to expect.

A PAUSE. Walt puts out his HAND to Tao. Tao extends his

and they SHAKE HANDS.

It’s really quite a moment for both of them.

82 EXT. BUS STOP -AFTERNOON 82

Tao gets off the bus, his tool belt over his shoulder.

Tao looks tired after working, but content. He walks

past an abandoned lot.

The tricked-out Honda pulls up and stops. Smokie, Spider

and company get out. Tao looks nervous, but remains

calm.

TAO:

What now?

SPIDER:

Just seeing what you’re up to,

cuz.

(CONTINUED)

90.

82 CONTINUED:
82

TAO:

I’m getting home from work, not

that you guys would know much

about that.

SPIDER:

So it’s true? You got a job.

TAO:

Come on, what do you guys want

with me?

SMOKIE:

Jesus Christ, Tao. What do you

think? I’ve been sooooo easy on

you, but I can’t just go on like

nothing happened.

TAO:

You can’t just leave me alone?

SMOKIE:

Afraid not.

The gangbangers grab Tao. Tao kicks and struggles as

they yank away his tool belt.

TAO:

Keep your hands off my stuff.

SMOKIE:

Your stuff? You and everything

you have is mine. I own you.

Smokie pulls the tape measure off the belt and smashes it

against the pavement. Whatever tools Smokie can’t

destroy, he tosses onto the roof of the closest building.

SMOKIE:

You can’t just walk away from us,

Tao. It looks bad. It makes me

look bad.

Smokie lights a CIGARETTE and exhales...

SMOKIE:

What’s the phrase I’m looking for?

Oh yeah, I need to ‘save face.’

Smokie grabs Tao by the neck and presses the lit

CIGARETTE into Tao’s cheek.

Tao screams as his flesh burns.

91.

83 EXT. WALT’S ALLEY -MORNING 83

Walt spots Tao as he takes out the trash.

WALT:

Hey there.

Tao looks to the ground and heads in the other direction.

TAO:

Hey, I gotta run.

WALT:

Wait a minute. Where have you

been, I haven’t seen you in days?

TAO:

Busy.

Walt squints at Tao. He steps closer. Tao looks away.

Walt tilts Tao’s head up, he sees the burn.

WALT:

What in the hell happened to you?

TAO:

Don’t worry about it.

WALT:

Don’t worry about it? Look at

your goddamned face!

TAO:

I said don’t worry about it. It’s

not your problem.

Walt looks at the ground and spits.

WALT:

When?

TAO:

Couple days ago. Grabbed me after

I got off the bus coming home from

work.

WALT:

Cowards.

TAO:

I did everything I could possibly

do. They broke some of your

tools. I’ll replace them.

(CONTINUED)

92.

83 CONTINUED:
83

WALT:

Forget the tools. Where does your

cousin live?

TAO:

No, Walt, I can manage. I don’t

want you doing anything.

Walt is angry, but eventually nods at Tao.

WALT:

Alright. You need any other tools

for work?

TAO:

I could use a roofing hammer.

WALT:

Go in the garage and get whatever

you need.

84 INT. TAO’S BEDROOM -NIGHT 84

Tao leans over his desk with a black Sharpie marker. He

carefully writes “Tao Vang Lor” in black ink on the face

of his smashed-up tape measure. He puts it back into the

tool belt and grabs another tool to label.

85 INT./EXT. WALT’S TRUCK -NIGHT 85

Walt sits in the dark, the only light is from the radio

tuned to baseball. Daisy lies in the front seat. Next

to Daisy is the M1 RIFLE.

Walt watches as Spider and another Hmong gangbanger step

out of the rundown duplex, get in their Honda and drive

off.

WALT:

That’s the last of them.

Walt pulls out his Colt .45 automatic and chambers a

round.

86 EXT. DUPLEX -SAME TIME 86

Walt pounds loudly on the door. A moment later the door

starts to swing open and a voice is heard...

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