Hero

INT. COURTROOM - DAY

JUDGE GOINES turns to the Jury FOREMAN.

JUDGE GOINES:

Mister Foreman, have you arrived

at a verdict?

FOREMAN:

We have, your honor. We find the

defendant guilty of all the charges.

TITLES BEGIN OVER THE SCENE

ANGLE ON THE DEFENDANT, BERNIE LAPLANTE

Forty, rumpled, cheap suit, cheap haircut. He reacts, turning

to the jury, indignant.

His attorney, DONNA O'DAY, rises. She's twenty-four, looks

younger.

DONNA:

Your honor, may I approach the

bench?

As BERNIE fumes, the JUDGE, DONNA and the youthful clean-cut

PROSECUTOR engage in an earnest, inaudible discussion.

Frustrated, Bernie is watching them when he notices something

that distracts him from his anguish.

Donna's wallet is lying in her open attache case. The open top

of the case screens the wallet from the view of the JURY, THE

JUDGE, COURT REPORTERS, etc.

Bernie looks around, checking the spectators section.

No spectators.

TITLE CONTINUE:

Bernie gets the wallet to his lap. In between cautious glances

toward the bench where the conference continues inaudibly, he

surreptitiously selects some of the twenties and some of the

tens from the wallet.

AT THE BENCH:

The conference breaks up, DONNA heads back toward the defense

table.

The wallet still concealed in his lap under the table, BERNIE

is indignant.

BERNIE:

What's going on? "Guilty"! What

is this?

DONNA:

I got your bail continued.

BERNIE:

Bail, for Chrissake! I'm innocent!

The JUDGE gavels for order as BERNIE slips DONNA's "lightened"

wallet back into her attache case unseen.

JUDGE GOINES:

Mister LaPlante, I have been

persuaded in view of your continued

employment and your lack of prior

convictions, to continue your bail

under the same conditions

heretofore, pending sentencing six

days from now. In the meantime you

will make an appointment with the

probation officer who will make a

recommendation to me regarding your

sentence. I urge you to use these

six days to set your personal

affairs in order in anticipation

of incarceration.

THE TITLES CONCLUDE

INT. CORRIDOR/HALL OF JUSTICE - MINUTES LATER (DAY)

BERNIE and DONNA are hurrying along the crowded corridor outside

the courtroom.

BERNIE:

"Anticipation of incarceration"?

DONNA:

(upset)

He means prison, Mr. LaPlante.

BERNIE:

I know what he means. I'm not a

prison kinda guy, Miss O'Day. I'm

a goddamn working man for

Chrissake! Maybe I "augment" my

income a little with some

"business deals," maybe summa the

guys I sell to are crooks, how

would I know, I'm not an

investigator. You can't make it

on a wage no more, not in this

country.

DONNA:

I think our best course right now

would be to focus on the Probation

Officer's report...

BERNIE:

He gives a good report and I walk?

DONNA:

We can hope.

(consulting her notes)

You still have your job, right?

BERNIE:

Yeah, I been calling in sick. They

think I got the flu.

DONNA:

And a son by your ex-wife? Joseph.

BERNIE:

A son, yeah. What about him? Joey.

DONNA:

Are you pretty involved in his

upbringing?

BERNIE:

Involved! Christ! She attached my

goddamn paycheck! Child support.

Why do you think I can't afford a

lawyer?

(then...)

You know what I mean. Why I got

a court appointed lawyer instead

of a, uh, more experienced...

DONNA:

I understand. How often do you see

your son?

BERNIE:

Often, uh.

DONNA:

How recently?

BERNIE:

Uh, his birthday, uh, May. I

think.

DONNA:

It's November.

BERNIE:

(beat... beat...

beat...)

She don't like me to see him.

Says I'm a bad influence.

DONNA:

I think you should visit your son.

And try and get your boss to write

a note about your performance on

the job. You need to create the

impression of a responsible, decent

citizen with familial

responsibilities who happened to

slip up once.

They have reached the front door. BERNIE nods, about to exit.

DONNA:

(with difficulty)

Uh, I know you're having financial

difficulties, Mister LaPlante, but

I wonder if... I mean, the money

I loaned you...

BERNIE:

Some of it. Right here. I got some

of it. I'll get the rest as soon

as I can.

BERNIE pulls out the crumpled bills he took from Donna's wallet

and hands them to her.

DONNA:

(surprised and touched)

I know things are difficult for you,

Mister LaPlante. I don't want to

take your last dime...

BERNIE is already reaching for a twenty.

BERNIE:

Right. I better keep some if I'm

gonna see the kid. For gas and

stuff.

Then, unable to resist the chance, he snatches another.

EXT. LION CAGES/ZOO - ANOTHER DAY

A LION lies glumly in his cage, staring balefully through the

bars at BERNIE who stares balefully back, contemplating the iron

bars. At BERNIE'S side is a ten year old boy, JOEY, whose neat,

scrubbed appearance is in sharp contrast to BERNIE'S rumpled,

slightly soiled look.

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