L.A. Confidential Page #3

JACK:

Two sets.

ACTRESS:

I'll get my coat.

They're interrupted by Sid Hudgeons.

HUDGEONS:

Big V Jack Vincennes! May I have

this dance?

JACK:

Karen, this is Sid Hudgeons from

Hush-Hush magazine.

ACTRESS:

I know who he is.

The Actress storms off. Jack looks to Sid.

HUDGEONS:

We did a piece last year.

'Ingenue Dykes In Hollywood.' Her

name got mentioned.

JACK:

Is she?

HUDGEONS:

Beats me. Look, Jackie-Boy, a

friend of mine just sold some

reefer to Matt Reynolds. He's

tripping the light fantastic with

Tammy Jordan at 2245 Maravilla,

Hollywood Hills. It's right

around the corner.

JACK:

You lost me, Sid. Who?

HUDGEONS:

Contract players at Metro. You

pinch 'em. I do you up feature in

the next issue. Plus the usual

fifty cash. Tell me, am I f***ing

Santa Claus?

JACK:

I need an extra fifty. Two

patrolmen at twenty apiece and a

dime for the watch commander at

Hollywood Station.

HUDGEONS:

Jack! It's Christmas!

JACK:

No. It's felony possession of

marijuana.

EXT. 2245 MARAVILLA - NIGHT

WITH a VIEW of Grauman's Chinese. Jack and two uniformed

patrolmen wait on the darkened street. An arc light has

been set up. Hudgeons creeps back over from the house.

HUDGEONS:

They're sitting in the dark,

goofing on the Christmas tree.

JACK:

Stand there with your camera.

I'll stop here so you get

Grauman's Chinese in the

backgrouns.

HUDGEONS:

I like it! I like it!

INT. 2245 MARAVILLA - NIGHT

The arc light floods the living room about the same time

that Jack kicks the door in. The room is caught flush:

Christmas tree, a bag of weed on the couch, two kids

necking in their BVDs. MATT REYNOLDS and TAMMY JORDAN.

JACK:

Police!

EXT. 2245 MARAVILLA - NIGHT

Jack exits, hauling Jordan and Reynolds by the neck.

Jack stops with Grauman's FRAMED behind him and Hudgeons

CLICKS off several shots with his CAMERA.

HUDGEONS:

Cut! Wrap it!

Windows light up. Rubberneckers appear. Jack hands the

kids to the patrolmen, heads back in with Hudgeons in

tow.

INT. 2245 MARAVILLA - NIGHT

Jack scoops the pot, flips through an address book. A

card falls out. "Fleur-de-Lis. Whatever you desire..."

Jack looks from the card out the window at the kids being

loaded into a black and white. They're both crying now.

HUDGEONS:

(stantorian tone)

It's Christmas morning in the City

of Angels, and while decent

citizens sleep the sleep of the

righteous, hopheads prowl for

marijuana, not knowing that a man

is coming to stop them. The free-

wheeling, big-time Big V,

celebrity crime-stopper, Jack

Vincennes, the scourge of

grasshoppers and junk fiends

everywhere. You like it, Jackie-

Boy?

JACK:

Yeah, it's subtle.

Sid hands him a President Grant 50.

HUDGEONS:

Remember:
you heard it first here,

off the record, on the Q.T. and

very Hush-Hush.

INT. HOLLYWOOD STATION - DISPATCH DESK - NIGHT

Suspects, mostly drunk and disorderly, are ushered

through. Sgt. ED EXLEY, 30, bespectacled, is at the desk

with a YOUNG OFFICER. Exley is an up-and-comer. Burning

with ambition. The faster he rises through the ranks,

the more resentment he leaves in his wake.

EXLEY:

What's on the call sheet?

YOUNG OFFICER:

A guy dressed as Santa has been

exposing himself to kids in Los

Feliz. Apparently, sir, he's

decorated himself.

EXLEY:

Decorated?

YOUNG OFFICER:

With tinsel and plastic icicles

and... on his penis, sir.

EXLEY:

I get the idea. You got a

description?

YOUNG OFFICER:

Of his penis, sir?

EXT. HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD - HOLLYWOOD LIQUOR - NIGHT

Tinsel-trimmed photos of movie stars look down from the

walls as the OWNER takes an order from LYNN BRACKEN.

LYNN:

A case each of gin, Scotch, and

rum. Everything top shelf. None

of that watered-down stuff you

push on Errol Flynn.

OWNER:

(laughs)

Sounds like a helluva party.

Her hair kerchiefed, Lynn waits as the Owner writes it

up. There's glamour, a cat-girl grace about Lynn. She

seems like she belongs up on the wall with the movie

stars. Lynn looks across as Bud White heads toward the

counter. Spotting her, Bud doesn't look so tough for a

moment.

OWNER:

You want it delivered?

LYNN:

Before five tomorrow.

The Owner spots Bud. A big smile turns to a frown.

OWNER:

I'll be right with you, Lynn.

The Owner begins indiscriminately loading hard liquor

into a cardboard box, leaving Bud and Lynn to look at

each other. Bud says the only thing he can think of.

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