Moonstruck

FADE IN:

INT. ZITO'S BREAD STORY - DAY

Several dozen loaves of golden Italian bread are standing on

end in a shaft of morning sunlight. They are standing on end

in bins. In the window, ZITO'S can be read in reverse.

We leave the loaves and DRIFT DOWN TO a Progresso Products

calendar, which hangs from the wall by a nail. The month is

November. Various phone numbers and delivery dates have been

penned in in a rough scrawl. Now WE GO TO a white formica

counter, scuffed and pocked from long use. On the counter,

in a rinsed out olive jar filled with water, are three fat

red roses. The TITLE APPEARS IN BLACK SCRIPT AGAINST THE

WHITE BACKGROUND.

MOONSTRUCK:

Now WE FAINTLY HEAR THE VOICE of Zito himself, and a low

TAPPING SOUND. SOME CREDITS ROLL.

ZITO'S VOICE

(barely discernable)

Three times they cancel the order

with me, and three times they come

back. Who they kidding? They cheap,

cheap, cheap. The other bread they

get is no good. They save pennies.

Everybody complain and they come

back. "Zito, your bread is the best."

They're like children stupid in school

who cannot learn. The water. It's

the water. You buy bread in Hoboken,

you get Hoboken water. Hoboken water

is dry. Ask anybody who knows. Ask

your father. He knows.

During Zito's plaintive words, WE LEAVE the roses and MOVE

DOWN the counter TO a calculator being tapped very efficiently

with the eraser end of pencil. When the results appear, the

pencil notes the figure in a threadbare old ledger.

NOW WE SEE ZITO:

He's a middle-aged Italian man with a kind face. But it's

early in the day, and he's already been working for hours,

so he's a little tired and disgruntled.

ZITO:

You want me to make you some coffee?

NOW WE SEE LORETTA FOR THE FIRST TIME

She's entering a few final figures in the ledger. LORETTA is

Italian, 37. Her hair black, done in a dated style, is flecked

with grey. She's dressed in sensible but unfashionable clothes

of a dark color.

LORETTA:

What d'you know about coffee? Gimme

a loaf of bread.

EXT. ZITO'S BREAD STORE - DAY

Loretta emerges with her little weathered leather bookkeeping

satchel and a loaf of Zito bread in a white paper bag. She

moves off briskly.

EXT. A.J. CONTI FUNERAL CHAPEL - DAY

This is a little Italian funeral parlor.

INT. THE "WAKE" ROOM"

A generic little room filled with many flowers and wreathes,

many folding chairs, a few OLD PEOPLE sitting and, up front,

the star of the show, the CORPSE on display in his gold and

formica casket. Before the casket is a little kneeler. We

discover an OLD LADY there, who crosses herself and rises.

She goes and sits by RUBY, another old women. She leans over

and says.

OLD WOMAN:

He looks great.

RUBY:

That Al Conti is a genius.

INT. OFFICE OF THE FUNERAL PARLOR

First WE SEE a name plate on a desk. The plate reads ALFONSO

CONTI. We HEAR his VOICE.

CONTI'S VOICE

I am a genius.

The SHOT WIDENS TO INCLUDE the loaf of bread which is half

cut up and being buttered. Next to the bread are two steaming

mugs of coffee. We HEAR the subdued TAPPING of Loretta's

tabulations.

LORETTA'S VOICE

If you're such an artistic genius,

why can't you keep track of your

receipts? How am I going to do your

income tax?

CONTI'S VOICE

I am an artistic genius.

The SHOT WIDENS and now we can see Al Conti and Loretta

sitting at the desk having Zito's buttered bread and mugs of

coffee. Loretta's got her calculator going and is entering

figures in Al's black, gold-lettered ledger.

LORETTA:

If you're an artistic genius, how

come you got butter on your tie?

He looks down and sees the stain. He's at a loss.

LORETTA:

Give it here. I'll give you this,

Al, you make good coffee.

She downs her coffee, accepts the stained tie which Al has

taken off, and slams the ledger shut.

INT. ROBERT'S DRY CLEANERS - DAY - MORE CREDITS ROLL

We are looking at a wall of dry-cleaned clothes bags. They

are hanging from an automated grid. As we watch, the wall

starts to move off to the left. A gap appears where no clothes

are hung. The gap creates visual frame. In the frame is

ROBERT. He is operating the grid with a little stick shift.

He stops it and takes down a garment. He leaves the frame,

heading off to the counter. When he moves away, WE SEE that

Loretta is behind him, working her calculator, entering in a

ledger. She slams the ledger shut, waves goodbye, and goes.

After beat she reappears, produces Conti's tie, says something

to Robert, who is out of view, leaves the tie, and

INT. BUTCHER SHOP - DAY

WE SEE a cleaver whacking an oxtail into section.

Now WE SEE Loretta, a few feet away, tabulating on a chopping

block that is partially obscured by a row of hanging rabbits,

unskinned.

INT. A FLORIST SHOP - DAY

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