Malcolm X Page #2

Malcolm breaks out of the chair wildly. But the three men

drag him to a basin where Shorty has attached the shower

spray. His cries filling the room, Malcolm is ducked under

the spray. Shorty starts rinsing out his hair.

SHORTY:

Don't fight me, man. Let me git it

out.

Malcolm is a little relieved, he tentatively opens his eyes,

then he feels the congolene again and there is another

outburst. Shorty forces his head under the spray, spurts the

water all over his head, wetting Malcolm and the shop in the

process.

INT. CLOTHING STORE - DAY

SHORTY:

Well, Homeboy, you almost there.

Turn around.

Shorty is supervising as Malcolm tries on a zoot suit. He

slips into the jacket...

Shoes-off, Malcolm steps into the tight-fltting peg-legged

pants... dons a wide-brimmed hat with a bright blue feather...

Finally, fully outfitted, he leans forward toward his new

image in the full-length mirror, twirling a long, dangling

key chain.

SHORTY:

Well, all right, then.

MALCOLM:

Well, all reet, then.

The transformation is complete. The two laugh and slap hands.

EXT. ROXBURY STREET - DAY

Malcolm and Shorty come strutting down the street: two conked,

zoot-suited sharpies. Hometown boy has departed. And the

CHICKS on the street notice them, especially Malcolm, the

taller of the two, the lighter-skinned, the more dominant.

They walk imperiously past, fully aware of their impact.

CLOSE SHOT - MALCOLM

FREEZE FRAME. He becomes a STILL.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

When my mother was pregnant with me,

she told me later, a party of Klansmen

on horseback surrounded our house in

Omaha.

ANGLE. KLAN on horses in front of house.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

They brandished guns and shouted for

my father to come out. My mother

went to the door where they could

see her pregnant condition...

ANGLE. A pregnant Louise Little on porch.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

...and told them my father was in

Milwaukee, preaching.

ANGLE. The Klan breaks all the windows in the house then

rides off into the glorious D.W. Griffith _Birth of a Nation_

moonlit night.

CLOSE - LOUISE LITTLE

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

The hooded Klansman said the good,

white Christians would not stand for

his troublemaking, and to get out of

town.

ANGLE. The terrified Little children look out a broken window

at their mother.

ANGLE. AN OLD FRAME HOUSE IN OMAHA

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

They broke every window with their

rifle butts before riding off into

the night, their torches flaming.

ANGLE. FRONT PORCH OF THE LITTLE HOUSE - AN EMPTY ROCKER ON

IT.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

My father was not a frightened Negro

as most were then and as many still

are today. He was six feet four and

very black...

CLOSE - EARL LITTLE

He looks directly into the camera, wearing a Baptist

Minister's robe.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

...and had a glass eye. He believed,

as did Marcus Garvey, that freedom,

independence and self-respect could

never be achieved by the Negro in

America...

CLOSE - EARL LITTLE

He wears a Garvey hat, ornate with gold braid.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

...that, therefore, black men should

leave America and return to the land

of their origin.

ANGLE. Earl Little, in a wagon with little Malcolm.

CLOSE - EARL LITTLE:

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

My father dedicated his life to his

beliefs because he had seen four of

his six brothers die violently...

WIDER ANGLE. WE SEE Earl in front of a podium in church. He

is preaching.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

...three killed by white men and one

lynched.

There are nine children in our family.

ANGLE. The nine Little children.

CLOSE - LOUISE LITTLE

She is a pretty, mature woman and white-looking.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

My mother was an attractive woman,

an educated woman, a strong woman.

CLOSE - LOUISE AND EARL

A posed wedding picture, serious but sweet.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

She was very light, her mama was

raped by a white man. One of the

reasons she married my father was

because he was so black, she disliked

her complexion and wanted her children

to have some color.

CLOSE SHOT:

Flash bulb of camera flashes.

INT. ROSELAND STATE BALLROOM - NIGHT

CLOSE - MALCOLM AND SHORTY

They both were posed for a picture. The music "FLYING HOME"

is blaring as LIONEL HAMPTON and his band is killing. The

music is WILD, the dancing is frantic, the clothes are OUT,

and the crowd is predominately BLACK, although there is a

peppering of WHITES, especially white chicks.

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