Miami Vice

FADE IN:

EXT. OCEAN - CLOSE UP: WATER - MORNING LIGHT

We are at the delicate interface between ocean and

air...liquid and gas...the event horizon where molecules

evaporate. This interchange is ethereal. Then, low

frequencies rumble through depths...louder...closer, now...

And the ocean surface is torn by a 46-foot catamaran and the

ROAR of 2,700 horsepower, rocketing at us at 140 knots...

OFFSHORE RACER:
"BORN TO WIN"

in PROFILE.

AERIAL:
"BORN TO WIN"

...has a canopy, low like a B-1 bomber and extends a half

mile. It launches off two-foot swells, goes airborne, pushes

to 150 knots with another 1,100 RPM left...

INT. RACE BOAT - SONNY CROCKETT

pilots the "Born to Win" in full helmet. On the throttle and

flaps is RICARDO TUBBS...

EXT. OCEAN - "BORN TO WIN"

leads the frontrunners towards a finish line demarcated by a

couple of $10 million yachts loaded with media. At the last

moment occurs a small power loss, and "Born to Win" gets

nosed into second place by the 46-foot Skater, "Goddess"...

CUT TO:

EXT. MARINA - "BORN TO WIN" - LATER

thunders to the dock, throttled down at low revs. The canopy

is up. Crockett and Tubbs' helmets are off. Dockhands tie

it off. It's the same crowd you catch at a Grand Prix: nine-

figure money, tall, Northern Italian women and minor German

princesses with Swiss educations, no bimbos and no questions

about asset origins. The exception is "Born to Win's"

sponsor, a blonde, dreadlocked, bearded 6'4" SWITEK. He

looks like a dot-com entrepreneur who got out in time. Next

to him is a blonde Ukranian lady with high cheekbones. We'll

see her again.

WINNING CIRCLE - CROCKETT + TUBBS

in second position to the Japanese driver and throttle man of

"Goddess," neither of whom speak English. The #3 boat,

"Bicardi Silver," was driven by David Scott and throttled by

John Tomlinson...

CROCKETT + TUBBS

leave the winning circle among Asian and Mexican

billionaires. As the small crowd breaks up...

A DEEPLY-TANNED PLAYER

named NICHOLAS in Vuarnet wraparounds and buzz-cut white hair

glides by...

NICHOLAS:

(low)

Burnett, what's crackin'?

CROCKETT:

Nothing.

TUBBS:

Maxin' and relaxin'.

NICHOLAS:

(doesn't believe them)

Sure. Change your mind; get

inclined? Let me know...

Whatever Nicholas is soliciting, Crockett and Tubbs don't

want. (Nicholas brokers "go-fast" runs, moving loads from

offshore into South Florida. Among guys who pilot offshore

race boats, there are one or two who've never run a load, but

no one's found them yet.) Meanwhile...

CUT TO:

INT. ALONZO STEVENS' HOUSE - A KITCHEN - NIGHT

A couple-hundred-thousand-dollars worth of granite and steel.

Off-screen a restaurant-grade Sub-Zero opens with a hiss.

Fan starts. Beyond the kitchen we SEE through a dining room

to a den. A chair is overturned. We HEAR muffled sounds.

We SEE feet extend through a door jamb. Someone's on the

floor. A television is playing, distantly.

INT. DEN - SEE FAMILY PICTURES

so close they almost come to life. A Venezuelan family, two

boys and a girl in a pool. Maria, Alonzo, the two boys at

their sister's baptism. And we see holding the baby daughter

is Riccardo Tubbs.

A family dinner at a South American restaurant. Tubbs sits

with the youngest daughter on his lap. Maria is on the other

side of him. This is the image that almost comes to life.

We hear the vivacious latin ambience late on a Sunday

afternoon when families take the grandparents and have

dinner.

INT. KITCHEN - SUB ZERO REFRIGERATOR

MOVE from the bright glare of the interior ONTO

the broad neck of a MAN. A Viking is tattooed there. The

image morphs into a naked woman presenting her rear to a

muscled biker next to a chopper above a swastika residing

between shoulder blades. SS lightning bolts are on his neck.

PULL BACK from this MAN, who is bent into the frig because

he's hungry. His head is shaved and he's naked from the

waist up. A BLACK HEFTY GARBAGE BAG is tied around his

waist. Yellow industrial gloves are on his hands. Something

bad is happening in this house...

CUT TO:

INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHT

It's a Sikorski skimming across the water of Biscayne Bay on

a moonlit night at living-room level past stilt houses.

RICARDO TUBBS:

pilots the chopper past the brightly lit windows of high-rise

Collins Avenue condos for the fugitive rich...and heads

towards the MacArthur Causeway.

CROCKETT:

What's our deal?

TUBBS:

Backup in case the Russians get

physical.

CROCKETT:

How lucky's Miss Universe gotta be?

TUBBS:

Skin has to touch skin. That's the

requirement for the warrant. Then

he makes a credible excuse and he

stops....

(beat)

Her crew blackmailed and asset-

stripped the last mark down to his

social security...

In the back - her long copper legs stretched out under a

short skirt - is GINA CALABRESE.

GINA:

This I gotta see...

(beat)

...the "make up an excuse and stop"

part.

CROCKETT:

Have faith.

GINA:

I have faith. In horoscopes and

fortune cookies...

TUBBS:

So?

GINA:

Switek pulling this off...? That's

not faith; that's delusional...

Wearing enough of nothing to hide the micro .380, which Gina

checks right now. There's a round in the chamber.

AERIAL:
THE SIKORSKI crosses past the stacks of $5 million

condos to a landing pad on a roof. The Miami of the '80's,

that twilight-zone frontier built on coke-fueled cash flow,

is over. The frontier development stage is passed. It has

BECOME Casablanca. Anything goes; everything has a price.

CUT TO:

EXT. ROOFTOP LANDING PAD - WIDE

The chopper rockets in, settles.

INT. UTILITY STAIRCASE

Crockett, Tubbs and Gina descend to the 25th-floor penthouse,

the target. As Crockett and Tubbs continue down to 24, she

looks over her shoulder at Tubbs...

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote