JFK Page #11

FBI OFFICE - NEW ORLEANS - NEXT DAY(1963)

At a small press conference, the FBI spokesman reads a

statement.

FBI SPOKESMAN:

Gentlemen, this afternoon the FBI

released David W. Ferrie of New

Orleans. After extensive questioning

and a thorough background check, the

Bureau found no evidence that...

GARRISON'S OFFICE - SIMULTANEOUS WITH PREVIOUS SCENE

In Garrison's office see the same broadcast, on the portable

television. Lou, Broussard, Numa and Jim watch.

FBI SPOKESMAN:

(on TV)

...Mr. Ferrie knew Lee Harvey Oswald

or that he has had any connection

with the assassination of President

Kennedy. The Special Agent in Charge

would like to make clear that Mr.

Ferrie was brought in for questioning

by the District Attorney of Orleans

parish, not by the Federal Bureau of

Investigation. The Bureau regrets

any trouble this may have caused Mr.

Ferrie...

NEWSMAN 9

In national news, President Johnson

has announced the creation of a blue

ribbon presidential commission to

probe the events in Dallas.

Lou looks at Jim, angry.

LOU:

Correct me if I'm wrong. I thought

we were on the same side. What the

hell business is it of theirs to say

that?

BILL:

Pretty fast, wasn't it. The way

they let him go.

JIM:

They must know something we don't.

(dismisses it)

So, let's get on with our lives,

gentlemen... we got plenty of home

grown crimes to prosecute.

He reaches to turn off the TV and get back to work. The

last image on the TV is:

NEWSMAN 9

The Commission will be headed by

Chief Justice of the United States

Supreme Court, Earl Warren, and is

expected to head off several

Congressional and Texas inquiries

into the assassination. On the panel

are Allen Dulles, ex-chief of the

CIA, Representative Gerald Ford,

John J. McCloy, former head of Chase

Manhattan Bank...

Jim flicks the TV off as the overture ends.

AERIAL SHOT - WASHINGTON, D.C. - DAY(1966)

We look down at the White House from the plane's point of

view. A subtitle reads: "THREE YEARS LATER."

INTERIOR OF PLANE

SENATOR RUSSELL LONG

(looking out the window)

That's a mess down there, Jim. We've

bitten off more "Vietnam" that we

can possibly chew.

Jim, now 46, reads the front page of THE WASHINGTON POST

which details the latest battle in Vietnam. He sits next to

Senator Long from Louisiana, in his 50's, who's drinking a

whiskey. They're on a crowded businessman's shuttle. We

see a close-up of a newspaper article about the Vietnam war:

"more troops asked by Westmoreland."

LONG:

(continuing)

Sad thing is the way it's screwing

up this country, all these hippies

running around on drugs, the way

young people look you can't tell a

boy from a girl anymore. I saw a

girl the other day, she was pregnant -

you could see her whole belly, and

you know what she painted on it?

"Love Child." It's f***in' outa

control. Values've gone to hell,

Jim... Course it figures when you

got somebody like that polecat Johnson

in the White House.

JIM:

I sometimes feel things've gone

downhill since John Kennedy was

killed, Senator.

LONG:

Don't get me started on that. Those

Warren Commission fellows were pickin'

gnat sh*t out of pepper. No one's

gonna tell me that kid did the

shooting job he did from that damned

bookstore.

STEWARDESS:

Here you go, Senator Long.

The stewardess brings more drinks.

JIM:

(surprised)

I thought the FBI test-fired the

rifle to make sure it could be done?

LONG:

Sure, three experts and not one of

them could do it! They're telling

us Oswald got off three shots with

world-class precision from a manual

bolt action rifle in less than six

seconds - and accordin' to his Marine

buddies he got Maggie's drawers - he

wasn't any good. Average man would

be lucky to get two shots off, and I

tell ya the first shot would always

be the best. Here, the third shot's

perfect. Don't make sense. And

then they got that crazy bullet

zigzagging all over the place so it

hits Kennedy and Connally seven times.

One "pristine" bullet? That dog

don't hunt.

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