Hero Page #18

BERNIE:

Twenty-five grand is peanuts! All

you gotta do is get me outta here

long enough to collect.

BAILIFF:

The People versus Bernard LaPlante.

JUDGE GOINES scowls at the sight of BERNIE moving toward him

talking already.

BERNIE:

Your honor, my attorney here says

the prosecutor there wants

twenty-five grand bail...

DONNA looks horrified, the JUDGE furious...

JUDGE:

Mister LaPlante, you will be silent

unless the court recognizes you...

BERNIE:

(continuing grandly)

--which is fine by me. I got no

problem with that at all.

In fact, your honor, I'd be proud

to double it. Fifty grand! A tip

for "the people," your honor, if

I could just...

GOINES is banging his gavel angrily, glaring at BERNIE, not

noticing a SECOND BAILIFF hurry into the courtroom.

JUDGE GOINES:

Mister LaPlante, unless you stop

chattering immediately, I am going

to ask the Bailiff to...

JUDGE GOINES breaks off, eyes furious, as he spots BAILIFF CLAY,

the Court Reporter, DE TAGLIO and the SECOND BAILIFF engaged

in urgent whispering.

JUDGE GOINES:

DAMNIT! I SAID I WANTED ORDER!

CLAY:

Sorry, your honor...

SECOND BAILIFF:

We got carried away.

DETAGLIO:

They found him.

JUDGE GOINES:

Found who?

CLAY:

The "Angel of Flight 104".

SECOND BAILIFF:

It was on the news! Just now! He's

gonna be on Channel Four at noon!

BERNIE reacts, jaw sagging in disbelief. The JUDGE sneaks a

hasty look at his watch.

JUDGE GOINES:

We'll sustain bail at twenty-five

thousand dollars. That ought to

keep Mister LaPlante out of trouble

for a minute or two...

DONNA:

But your honor, my client is a

responsible family man with limited

resources who...

[PAGE 66 IS MISSING FROM THE SCRIPT]

GALE:

But finally you did come forward.

Why?

BUBBER looks her right in the eyes, gives a sheepish grin.

BUBBER/TV

The money, Gale. I wouldn't have

come forward at all if it wasn't

for the reward.

GALE'S VOICE (O.S.)

Cut right there, right on that look!

INT. EDIT BAY - DAY

REVEAL GALE in an editing room looking over editor JOAN'S

shoulder as JOAN freezes the image and makes a note.

JOAN:

You didn't mention he was cute.

GALE is staring intently at BUBBER'S modest, humble face frozen

on the screen.

GALE:

He saved my life.

VIDEO IMAGE (INT. TV STUDIO)

The humble, honest face of BUBBER, freeze framed as GALE'S

VOICE narrates...

GALE/TV VOICE OVER

--were shocked to learn that the

hero who appeared out of the smoke

and the fire and pulled them to

safety was indigent and tragically

hadn't slept in a bed in more than

three years.

INT. DAY ROOM/JAIL - DAY

Seeing BUBBER'S honest face on the TV screen in the day room

enrages BERNIE...

BERNIE:

The guy's a fake, for Chrissake!

He's a goddamn homeless bum. He

ain't no here, trust me on this,

buddy.

PRISONERS, standing in a group under the TV turn from the screen

to BERNIE, like "who's this a**hole?" A BIG PRISONER glares

at BERNIE ominously...

BIG PRISONER:

"Trust you"!

INT. DEAKINS' OFFICE - DAY

The office has become command-central. REPORTERS hurry in and

out, tearing off faxes, answering the phones, chattering at each

other, GALE among them. WALLACE is fretting to DEAKINS...

WALLACE:

I thought they'd all go "It's him!

It's him!" and hug the guy or

something.

DEAKINS:

Relax, Wally. He had the shoe and

the shoe checks out.

WALLACE:

Does this mean I can stop worrying?

Where'd we put him?

DEAKINS:

Drake Hotel, Penthouse Suite. Never

stop worrying. I figure we'll do

a sidebar on what it's like to go

from sleeping in your car and

collecting cans to sleeping in the

poshest suite in town. Also Gale's

onto something, digging into his

background.

PARKER rushes up to GALE...

PARKER:

Excuse me, Ms. Gayley. That guy

Inspector Dayton... he's recovered

a bunch of your credit cards and

he wants...

GALE:

Who?

PARKER:

Inspector Dayton, the cop from

Robbery Detail who was looking for

you. They caught the guy who stole

your credit cards trying to sell

them and he wants...

GALE:

Nobody stole my credit cards. They

burned up in the crash. Which

reminds me, did you get me cash?

And what about the reservations?

[PAGES 69-71 ARE MISSING FROM THE SCRIPT]

INT. COMMON ROOM/JAIL - NIGHT

Surrounded by the jailhouse cacophony, BERNIE stares glumly at a

plate of sh*t on a shingle in front of him while close at hand a

TOUGH PRISONER snarls at ANOTHER PRISONER...

TOUGH PRISONER #1

You mess with me, I'm gonna cut yer

heart out and eat it.

INT. FANCY RESTAURANT - NIGHT

The CAPTAIN finishes scribbling and seizes the menus.

CAPTAIN:

Very good, sir. It's a special

privilege to serve you.

BUBBER smiles uneasily as the haughty CAPTAIN glides away.

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