Rebel Without a Cause Page #19

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FATHER:

What's that pounding?

MOTHER:

I don't know. First I thought it

was Jim but--

FATHER:

He's home. I heard the car.

MOTHER:

Are you going down there?

FATHER:

Look--just relax, will you?

The pounding ceases.

FATHER:

See? It stopped.

MOTHER:

I still think you should go down.

He goes out of the bathroom, into the hall.

Foyer. JIM's house as the FATHER comes down the stairs,

turning on the light as he comes. He reaches the door and

pauses. The MOTHER stops midway down the stairs.

FATHER:

(through the door)

Who's there?

(silence)

Anyone there?

MOTHER:

(low; at balustrade)

Open it.

The FATHER opens the door and looks up sharply.

Close shot. Door. FATHER's head in f.g. as he stares at it.

Nailed to the door by its outstretched wings, its head

hanging in an attitude of crucifixion, is the freshly killed

carcass of a chicken. Low whistles are heard from outside.

The FATHER, frightened, looks out into the night.

Full shot. Front lawn and street. Shooting over the

FATHER's head. The whistling continues.

FATHER:

(hoarsely)

Who's out there?

VOICE:

Where's your son?

FATHER:

What?

ANOTHER VOICE:

Where's your baby boy gone to,

Daddy? We want him.

Suddenly the FATHER slams the door and rushes past us into

the house.

Full shot. Foyer as the FATHER rushes to the bottom of the

stairs.

FATHER:

Look in his room!

The MOTHER disappears.

FATHER:

Jim! Jim!

The FATHER dashes into the living room, then into the hall

again and down through the kitchen door.

Back yard as the FATHER comes out. He closes the door

quietly and calls in a low voice:

FATHER:

Son?

He stares around the yard, then hurries to the garage.

JIM's car is missing. He looks up suddenly.

Reverse shot. JUDY'S FATHER seen across the alley wall. He

is standing in his own back yard.

JUDY'S FATHER

Is anything wrong? I'm your neighbor.

Med. shot. JIM'S FATHER. He smiles feebly.

FATHER:

Oh, no, thanks. I just wanted to--

to be sure my garage was closed.

JIM'S FATHER closes his garage door and walks back toward

his house.

MOTHER (O.S.)

Is he there?

FATHER:

No, honey. No, he's not here.

He starts for the house again after a quick look in the

direction of JUDY'S FATHER.

Full shot. JUDY's back yard. JUDY'S FATHER watches MR.

STARK disappear, then...

JUDY'S FATHER

(softly)

Judy?

The alley by JIM's house. PLATO drives up on scooter. He

checks the garage, sees JIM's car is gone, is about to take

off in confusion, hears door slam in JIM's back yard, shuts

off engine, fixes tie, combs hair, goes in the fence gate to

JIM's back yard.

Full shot. JIM's back yard. JIM'S FATHER is coming toward

him. JIM'S FATHER and PLATO simultaneously say:

FATHER:

What are you doing?

PLATO:

Where's Jim?

FATHER:

I don't know. Do you--do you know

where he is?

PLATO:

No. No, I don't.

Closeup. PLATO remembers about the mansion--then almost to

himself:

PLATO:

I know where--

Back to full shot. FATHER and PLATO.

PLATO:

Hope I didn't bother you. Goodnight.

He runs to scooter.

FATHER:

Hey, come back here. Who are you?

DISSOLVE TO:

Split screen montage. It begins with a telephone ringing

alone in the corner of the screen. As camera moves back we

see that the phone is in an office at Juvenile Hall. RAY is

standing by, trying to make sense out of the incoming reports.

The other part of the screen lights up and becomes:

Bedroom of PLATO'S MOTHER where the NEGRO WOMAN is speaking

hysterically into the phone.

Bedroom of JUDY's parents. The FATHER is on the phone.

BEAU has awakened and is crying. His MOTHER tries to divert

him.

JIM's bedroom. JIM'S FATHER sits disconsolately on the bed,

the phone in his hand. He is talking earnestly.

During this the sound of the telephone ringing has increased

to become the sound of many and this has been submerged in a

deep rising riot of sirens whose wail mounts higher and

higher until:

DISSOLVE TO:

Full shot. Planetarium. Moonlight. A lone siren wails in

distance. Aside from this, all is very still. Camera pans

past the dome and settles on an isolated mansion set high on

a hill nearby. Stone balustrades drop down to sunken

gardens where the grass has gone to seed around a waterless

fountain.

Closer shot. Mansion. Night. A Mediterranean villa with a

large domed solarium which is connected to the main building

by a low enclosed arcade. A crash and the falling of

splintered glass is heard.

Long shot. Promenade. Shooting through pillars of the main

entrance portico, down the long promenade outside arcade.

Two figures, seen in the distance, are disappearing through

a window. Camera tracks down promenade until it reaches a

broken window through which JIM is just disappearing. When

he gets inside, he reaches back and takes his leather jacket

which has been spread on the sill to protect them from

splinters, shakes it out and puts it on. Running footsteps

are heard approaching. JIM looks out nervously. PLATO

bursts in, out of breath.

PLATO:

Jim!

JIM:

Who's that!

PLATO:

It's me!

JIM:

How'd you find me? What's happening?

PLATO:

They're looking for you!--

JIM:

Yeah?

PLATO:

Everybody! Crunch and Goon and

everybody! I think they're going

to kill you.

JIM:

We know.

PLATO:

They think you told the police on

them. They--who's in there?

JIM:

Judy.

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