Gran Torino Page #7

Walt sits behind the wheel, he looks right through the

Tall Black Guy.

TALL BLACK GUY:

What the f*** you looking at, old

man?

WALT:

You... and your buddies. What’s

the matter with you? Don’t any of

you work? I see you lazy showoffs

in the middle of the day,

slowly walking across the street

or harassing women. Nobody owes

you bastards anything so go out

and get a job instead of pushing

little girls around, for Christ’s

sake.

TALL BLACK GUY:

Why don’t you get the f*** out of

here, while I’ll still let you.

BLACK GUY #2

That’s right, b*tch.

WALT:

What makes you spooks think you

can bully a couple kids with

impunity?

TALL BLACK GUY:

What?! Are you f***ing crazy?

(CONTINUED)

38.

37 CONTINUED:
(3) 37

WALT:

Look at me, Slick. You’re crazy

if you thinking I’m fooling

around.

TALL BLACK GUY:

You are f***ing crazy.

WALT:

You have to be pretty goddamned

dumb to think you can push people

around without running into

someone who will push back.

The black guys are a bit dumbfounded. Walt stares them

down.

WALT:

But you might just be dumb enough

not to recognize that your luck

just ran out.

All bravado drains away from the black guys. Walt is a

rock.

Walt grins slightly and spits on the ground.

TALL BLACK GUY:

F*** this guy. He ain’t worth it.

The trio walks slowly across the street, forcing a car to

miss a green light.

Trey puts his hand out to shake Walt’s...

TREY:

Man, thanks a lot, mister.

Walt doesn’t extend a hand, he lets Trey stand there like

an idiot. Trey slowly lowers his arm.

Walt looks at Trey’s outfit.

WALT:

Go home, clown... and pull up your

goddamned pants.

Walt turns to Sue.

WALT:

Come on, I’ll give you a ride.

39.

38 INT. WALT’S TRUCK -DRIVING 38

Walt and Sue drive in silence. Finally Sue speaks up.

SUE:

So, what’s with you, you have some

sort of savior complex or

something?

WALT:

What in the hell’s the matter with

you? I thought all you Asian

girls were supposed to be so

smart. What are you doing walking

around in that neighborhood?

That’s how you end up in the

obituaries, that is, if they can

identify your body once they pull

it out of the goddamned river.

SUE:

I know, I know. Take it easy.

Walt looks at her for a second. She’s not ruffled at

all.

They drive.

WALT:

So, that goofball back there.

He’s your boyfriend?

SUE:

Yeah, kind of, his name is Trey.

WALT:

Why in the hell would you go out

with a clown like that. Why don’t

you date one of your... own...one

of those other... Hu-mungs.

SUE:

You mean, Hmong? We’re Hmong, not

Hu-mung.

WALT:

Right. Hmong. What is a... where

is Hmong or whatever?

Sue laughs.

SUE:

Wow! You’re so enlightened.

Hmong isn’t a place, it’s a

people.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

40.

38 CONTINUED:
38

SUE (CONT'D)

Hmong people come from different

parts of Laos and Thailand and

China.

WALT:

Then why are you in my

neighborhood, instead of back

there?

SUE:

It’s a Vietnam thing. We fought

on your side and when America

quit, the Communists starting

killing the Hmong, so we came over

here.

Walt is quiet for few seconds.

WALT:

Why’d you pick the Midwest, for

Christ’s sake? There’s snow on

the ground near half the year.

Jungle people on the frozen

tundra?

SUE:

Hill people. We were hill people,

not jungle people. Boo-ga, booga,

boo-ga.

WALT:

Whatever.

SUE:

Blame the Lutherans. They brought

us here.

WALT:

Still, you’d think the cold would

keep all the a**holes away.

Sue laughs again at Walt’s conscienceless racism.

SUE:

Thanks for the ride.

WALT:

Sure... You know, you seem okay.

What the hell’s the matter with

your half-wit brother? He a

little slow or something?

(CONTINUED)

41.

38 CONTINUED:
(2) 38

SUE:

Tao is actually really bright, he

just doesn’t know which direction

to go in.

WALT:

Oh, poor Toad.

SUE:

It’s really common. Hmong girls

over here fit in better, we

adjust. The girls go to college,

the boys go to jail.

39 EXT. WALT’S FRONT PORCH -EARLY MORNING 39

Walt drinks coffee and reads the newspaper. He flips

from section to section. Daisy’s at his feet.

Next door, Phong sits watching Walt. He can see her

mumbling under her breath.

WALT:

Old hag, giving me the evil eye?

Walt opens the paper to the TV guide section and lingers

at the HOROSCOPES for a second.

WALT:

Aw, what the hell...

Walt reads aloud to himself.

WALT:

Your birthday today; This year you

have to make a choice between two

life paths. Second chances come

your way. Extraordinary events

culminate in what might seem to be

an anti-climax. Your lucky

numbers are:
84, 23, 11, 78 and

99.

Walt drains his coffee and tosses the paper onto the

porch.

WALT:

What a load of crap.

Walt lights up a cigarette and exhales.

Walt watches as the only white woman on the block

struggles to unload her groceries from her car. One of

her bags rips.

(CONTINUED)

42.

39 CONTINUED:
39

Three teenagers walk past and laugh at her spilled

groceries. One of them makes a crude gesture behind her

back.

WALT:

Christ all Friday. What’s wrong

with kids today?

Walt gets up to go help, but before he can get to the

sidewalk, another neighbor has gone over to help...

It’s TAO. Tao bends down and carries her bags up to her

door.

WALT:

Well, I’ll be damned.

40 INT. WALT’S KITCHEN 40

Mitch and Karen sit across from Walt. A small store-

bought birthday cake sits in front of Walt.

Walt reads his birthday card. It’s signed; Love Mitch,

Karen, Ashley and Josh. ALL the signatures have been

written in a woman’s cursive style and with the same pen.

Mitch slides a wrapped gift across the table to Walt.

MITCH:

Go ahead, Dad. Open it.

WALT:

What is it?

MITCH:

Just open it.

Walt opens the package, it’s a Gopher Reaching Tool -the

kind that has an alligator clamp so you can pick up

objects that have fallen behind the stove, etc.

Walt looks at his son and daughter-in-law.

MITCH:

It’s a Gopher. It’s so you can

reach stuff. You know, it makes

things easier.

KAREN:

Here’s one from me.

KAREN slides over a another wrapped gift. Walt opens it.

It’s a PHONE with really big numbers for old people.

(CONTINUED)

43.

40 CONTINUED:
40

KAREN:

It’s a phone.

WALT:

(emotionlessly)

Thank you, Karen.

KAREN:

I just thought... we thought that

it would... make things easier.

WALT:

Yeah, I see that.

KAREN:

There’s nothing wrong with making

things less hard on yourself.

MITCH:

Karen’s right, Dad. You’ve worked

hard your whole life. Maybe you

should think about taking it a

little easier?

Walt lights up a cigarette.

MITCH:

And that’s another thing, Dad.

You should get rid of the coffin

nails.

Walt says nothing.

MITCH:

And the house, now that Mom’s

gone, it’s got to be a lot to

maintain, let alone clean... and

you’re all alone in here.

It’s worse than Walt thought. He puffs smoke.

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