JFK Page #5

Jim is stunned. His look of horror and shock speaks the

same language as on faces all across America that Black

Friday.

JIM:

Oh no!... How bad?

LOU:

No word yet. But they think it's in

the head.

Jim gets up, heading rapidly for the door.

JIM:

Come on. Napoleon's has a TV set.

NAPOLEON'S RESTAURANT - THE QUARTER - DAY(1963)

The midday customers all stare solemnly at the TV set high

in the corner of the cafe. The manager, ashen, serves drinks

to Jim and Lou.

NEWSMAN 1

Apparently three bullets were found.

Governor Connally also appeared to

be hit. The President was rushed by

the Secret Service to Parkland

Memorial Hospital four miles from

Dealey Plaza.

We are told a bullet entered the base of the throat and came

out of the backside, but there is no confirmation, blood

transfusions are being given, a priest has administered the

last rites.

JIM:

There's still a chance, dammit!

Come on, Jack - pull through.

MANAGER:

(Italian, distracted)

I don't believe it. I don't believe

it. Here, in this country.

They all look up, expectant, as Walter Cronkite interrupts

on the TV:

WALTER CRONKITE:

From Dallas, Texas - the flash

apparently official, President Kennedy

died at 1 p.m. Central Standard

Time, 2 o'clock Eastern Standard

Time, some 38 minutes ago.

(choked pause)

Vice-President Johnson has left the

hospital in Dallas, but we do not

know to where he has proceeded.

Presumably, he will be taking the

oath of office shortly, and become

the 36th President of the United

States.

There are sounds of shock, muttering, some sobbing in the

restaurant. Lou gulps down his drink. Jim sits stunned.

JIM:

I didn't always agree with him - too

liberal for my tastes - but I

respected him. He had style... God,

I'm ashamed to be an American today.

He holds back the tears. The food comes. Lou waves it off.

They just sit there.

EXTERIOR KATZENJAMMER'S BAR - SAME DAY(1963)

Katzenjammer's is an Irish working class bar across Canal

St. In a seedy area near the Mississippi River, just off

Lafayette Square.

INTERIOR KATZENJAMMER'S BAR - SAME DAY(1963)

A variety of loud Irish working men sit on stools watching

the TV. There are a few formica tables with chairs against

the walls, and an unused pool table.

NEWSMAN 2

Many arrests have been made here

today. Anyone looking even remotely

suspicious is being detained. Most

of the crowd has gone home but there

are still many stunned people

wandering around in Dealey Plaza

unable to comprehend what happened

here earlier today.

On the TV, we see the scene at Dealey Plaza. The reporter

has several men, women, and children gathered around him.

He puts his microphone in their faces.

BLACK WOMAN:

(crying)

It's all so terrible. I jes' can't

stop crying. He did so much for

this country, for colored people.

Why?

MAN:

(Bill Newman, with

wife and kids)

I grabbed my kids and wife and hit

the ground. The bullets were coming

over our heads - from that fence

back on the knoll - I was just so

shaken. I saw his face when it hit...

he just, his ear flew off, he turned

just real white and then went stiff

like a board and flopped over on his

stomach, with his foot sticking out.

CUT TO the picket fence above the Grassy Knoll.

WOMAN 2

I thought... it came from up there,

that building.

CUT TO the Book Depository.

MAN 2

I heard shots from over there.

CUT TO the County Records Building.

NEWSMAN 2

How many shots?

WOMAN 3

About 3 to 4... I don't know.

MAN 3

I never thought it could happen in

America.

Back in the bar, the camera moves to two patrons seated at a

table by themselves, far enough away not to be heard. Guy

Banister is a sturdy, imposing ex - FBI agent in his 60's,

steel gray hair, blue eyes, ruddy from heavy drinking. He

wears a small rosebud in his lapel. Jack Martin is a thin,

mousy man in his mid - 50's, wearing a Dick Tracy hat.

They're both drinking Wild Turkey heavily. The TV blares

loudly across the room over their voices.

BANISTER:

All this blubbering over that

sonofabitch! They're grieving like

they knew the man. It makes me want

to puke.

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