JFK Page #15

A Sunday, early. We see a statue of Ben Franklin in an empty

square frequented by drunks who doze on benches in a little

leafy park in the center of the Square. The camera moves to

Jim by himself and then moves to a sedan, pulling up, which

disgorges Lou Ivon and Bill Broussard.

JIM:

Morning, boys. Ready for a walking

tour?

BILL:

At 7:
30 Sunday morning? It's not

exactly fresh blood we're sniffing

here, boss.

JIM:

(points)

Old stains, Bill, but just as telling.

TIME CUT TO Jim indicating 531 Lafayette Street, a seedy,

faded, three-story building across the street from the square.

JIM:

Remember whose office this was back

in '63? 531 Lafayette Street.

LOU:

Yeah, Guy Banister. Ex-FBI man. He

died couple years ago.

FLASHBACK TO the exterior of the Banister Office on a day in

1963. The door is now clearly labelled "W. GUY BANISTER,

INC. INVESTIGATORS." It opens and Banister comes out in

slow motion, neatly dressed, rose in his lapel - the same

office and same man we saw three years before when he pistol-

whipped Jack Martin. Banister seems to be smiling right at

us, greeting us.

JIM (V.O.)

Headed the Chicago office. When he

retired he became a private eye here.

I used to have lunch with him. John

Birch Society, Minutemen, slightly

to the right of Attila the Hun.

Used to recruit college students to

infiltrate radical organizations on

campus. All out of this office.

Now come around here, take a look at

this...

Back to the Lafayette Square of 1966. Jim walks Ivon and

Bill to the corner, to another entrance to the same building -

this one with a sign that says "544 Camp Street."

JIM:

544 Camp Street. Same building as

531 Lafayette, right... but different

address and different entrances both

going to the same place - the offices

on the second and third floors.

Bill studies the present sign: "Crescent City Dental

Laboratory", and gives Jim a puzzled look.

JIM:

Guess who used this address?

Lou gets it and glances up. We FLASHBACK TO the exterior of

544 Camp Street in 1963. Lee Oswald comes out the door into

a full close-up, now clearly seen by us, and heads out into

the street as Guy Banister intercepts him on the sidewalk,

holding a leaflet and point to "544 Camp Street stamped on

it. Guy seems miffed at Oswald, tells him something quickly,

and then moves on.

BANISTER:

(under)

See this? What the hell is this

doing on this piece of paper?

(he moves away)

A**hole.

LOU (V.O.)

My God! Lee Harvey Oswald.

JIM (V.O.)

Bull's-eye. How do we know he was

here? Cause this office address was

stamped on the pro-Casto leaflets he

was handing out in the summer of '63

down on Canal street. They were the

same leaflets that were found in his

garage in Dallas.

FLASHBACK to Canal Street in New Orleans on a summer day in

1963. Oswald, in a thin tie and white short-sleeved shirt,

and wearing a homemade placard reading "Hands Off Cuba";

"Viva Fidel!", is hawking leaflets to pedestrians with two

young helpers.

A large white-haired businessman in a white suit, very

distinguished, walks with a friend on Canal Street. Oswald

glances at him and meets his eyes. The businessman enters

an office building. This man is Clay Bertrand, later known

as Clay Shaw.

Some Cubans, led by Carols Bringuier, now appear. One of

them, "the Bull", is heavy-set with dark glasses. More of

him will also be seen.

JIM:

He was arrested that day for fighting

with some anti-Castro Cubans... but

actually he had contacted them a few

days earlier as an ex-Marine trying

to join the anti-Castro crusade.

When they heard he was now pro-Castro,

they paid him a visit.

CARLOS:

(haranguing passerby)

He's a traitor, this man! Don't

believe a word he tells you!

(to Oswald)

You sonofabitch, you liar, you're a

Communist, go back to Moscow.

Carlos throws Oswald's leaflets in the air and pulls off his

glasses, prepared to fight. Oswald only smiles, and puts

his arms down in an X of passivity.

OSWALD:

Okay, Carlos, if you want to hit me,

hit me.

There is no real fight, but the police, as if pre-alerted,

arrive.

Arrests are made. We see Oswald in a room in the police

station, talking with FBI Agent John Quigley. A calendar on

the wall shows that it's August, 1963.

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