Silver Bullet Page #17

MARTY:

What about the baseball bat Jane saw in

his shed? You know who used to have a

baseball bat like that? Mr. Knopfler! He

was so proud of it he used to carry it in

the Fourth of July parade! Jane said it

looked like the Green Giant used it for

a toothpick!

UNCLE AL:

You want to know what I think?

MARTY:

No- we just got you out here so we could

admire your pretty face.

UNCLE AL:

Watch it, dear boy. I think it was a

hallucination. Probably a broomstick, or

something.

JANE (indignant)

It was not! You want me to show you! Come

on! I'm not afraid! I'll show you right now!

UNCLE AL:

No thank you, Jane. I'm a little old for

palying the Hardy Boys Meet the Catholic

Werewolf.

JANE stamps her foot, furious with UNCLE AL.

MARTY:

Never mind, Jane. He'll have gotten rid of

it by now anyway.

EXT. OUTSIDE OF ROBERTSON'S LUNCHEONETTE

The Silver Bullet stands outside. The door opens and UNCLE

AL, JANE, and MARTY come out. UNCLE AL is carrying MARTY

piggyback. MARTY has an ice cream cone. JANE is holding two.

UNCLE AL squats, depositing MARTY in the Bullet. MARTY

starts the engine as JANE hands UNCLE AL his ice cream cone.

The three of them start up the street and THE CAMERA TRACKS

THEM.

JANE:

If Father Lowe is an innocent little lamb,

why hasn't he picked up the telephone and

called Constable Haller to tell him Marty's

sending poison-pen letters?

UNCLE AL:

I don't accept the idea that he knows who his

letter writer is, Jane. Because I don't accept

the idea that there was a big bad wolf who saw

Marty in his wheelchair.

JANE:

Why hasn't he picked up the phone and told

Constable Haller that someone is sending

him poison-pen letters?

UNCLE AL stops. He hasn't thought of this. He looks toward:

EXT. THE CATHOLIC RECTORY, LONG - UNCLE AL'S POV

LESTER LOWE is mowing the lawn, eye-patch and all.

EXT. MAIN STREET, WITH UNCLE AL, MARTY, AND JANE

UNCLE AL (a bit perplexed)

Well... he probably did. I mean, he could

make a complaint without taking an ad out

in the paper, couldn't he?

MARTY:

I'll bet you a quarter that eyewash stuff

was nonprescription. And I'll bet you

another quarter he hasn't said anything

to Mr. Haller.

UNCLE AL:

Marty, do you see your suspect?

EXT. THE RECTORY LAWN, WITH LESTER LOWE

Keeps on moving. MR. ASPINALL drives by and waves. LOWE

waves back.

EXT. MAIN STREET, WITH UNCLE AL, MARTY, AND JANE

MARTY (grim)

Yes, I see him.

UNCLE AL:

Do you really think that a man who took

a rocket in the eye three nights ago

could be out mowing his lawn? He'd either

be in the hospital... or dead.

MARTY:

I didn't shoot him when he was a man. I shot

him when he was-

UNCLE AL:

When he was a werewolf. Yes. Right. Jesus.

Jane, you don't really believe this madness,

do you?

JANE:

I don't know exactly what I believe. But I

know that what I saw was a baseball bat and

not a broomstick. I know there was something

strange about the way the house smelled that

day. It smelled like an animal's den. And I

believe in Marty. I mean- there are times

when he makes me so mad I could kill him, but

I still believe in him. (Pause) You used to

believe in him, too, Uncle Al.

UNCLE AL looks momentarily ashamed of himself. Then he

throws his hands up in disgust.

UNCLE AL:

Kids!

He walks ahead of them. MARTY bats his eyes sweetly at JANE.

She walks on, miffed. MARTY gooses the Silver Bullet to

catch up.

EXT. A FIELD ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN DAY

It's midafternoon. A bunch of kids are playing baseball. In

the extreme f.g. we see one small boy- MARTY- sitting back

to us in his wheelchair, watching.

EXT. AN OLD COUPE

It draws slowly along a tree-lined lane and stops. LESTER

LOWE is behind the wheel.

SOUNDS OF THE BASEBALL GAME CONTINUE.

EXT. THE BASEBALL FIELD, AND MARTY, LOWE'S POV

THE CAMERA MOVES SLOWLY IN ON MARTY'S BACK.

EXT. LESTER LOWE

LOWE (quietly)

Little bastard.

EXT. A FLY BALL

EXT. THE FIELD, A WIDER SHOT

The field team heads in. Kids start streaming back toward

town.

EXT. MARTY

The OUTFIELDER who caught the fly trots past, and glances

his way.

OUTFIELDER:

You comin' down to Robertson's for a

soda, Marty?

MARTY:

No- I guess I'll go home.

I think that here we are seeing a rare moment of depression

in MARTY- they can run and play ball. He can't.

OUTFIELDER:

Okay- seeya!

MARTY:

Yeah... seeya.

He fires up the Bullet and starts away alone.

EXT. LOWE'S COUPE

He starts it up.

EXT. MARTY, LOWE'S POV

He bumps up a grassy slope to a tarred road. The last of the

other kids are headed back the other way. MARTY is alone.

EXT. LOWE'S COUPE

It turns out of the lane where it was parked and onto the

road.

EXT. MARTY'S WHEELCHAIR, LOWE'S POV

MARTY'S back is to us. The wheelchair draws rapidly closer

to THE CAMERA as LOWE bears down on it.

INT. LOWE, BEHIND THE COUPE'S WHEEL

He leans over the wheel, grinning sadistically.

LOWE (whispers)

Bastard.

EXT. MARTY, IN THE SILVER BULLET

He's daydreaming his way along- maybe, inside his head, he's

playing center field for the Dodgers.

SOUND:
Winding roar of a car engine. MARTY turns around.

EXT. LOWE'S COUPE, MARTY'S POV, ROARING AT THE CAMERA

EXT. MARTY AND LOWE'S COUPE

MARTY opens the throttle wide and the Bullet swerves across

the road. The coupe's bumper actually clips it on the way

by, jolting MARTY and almost overturning the Bullet.

LOWE'S coupe veers over the embankment and partway down into

the ditch.

INT. LOWE, BEHIND THE WHEEL OF THE COUPE

LOWE:

Oh, you bastard!

He floors the engine.

EXT. THE COUPE'S REAR WHEELS

Spinning helplessly in the dirt.

EXT. MARTY, IN THE SILVER BULLET

He speeds past the coupe, and thumbs his nose.

INT. LOWE, IN THE COUPE

He's in a teeth-grinding fury. He jams the gear-shift lever

into reverse and floors the gas pedal again.

EXT. THE COUPE

It roars backward in a cloud of ditch dust and bounces onto

the road. Then it screams out after the rapidly disappearing

Silver Bullet.

EXT. THE SILVER BULLET, WITH MARTY

He hears the GROWLING SOUND of LESTER LOWE'S coupe. He looks

behind.

EXT. THE COUPE

Roars toward THE CAMERA.

EXT. MARTY, IN THE SILVER BULLET

He twists the throttle and the Silver Bullet responds.

EXT. CHASE MONTAGE

The director will shoot it as he likes- the basis is simple:

LOWE is chasing MARTY's hopped-up wheelchair along a country

road at speeds approaching fifty MPH. MARTY should have a

couple of near misses, and perhaps we could actually have

him pass one car. At one point we should have a REVERSE

ANGLE on LESTER LOWE'S coupe, featuring two bumper stickers:

ATTEND AND SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CHURCH and HONK IF YOU LOVE

JESUS!

As the chase goes on it becomes apparent that LOWE is

gaining. MARTY looks increasingly desperate. And now he

looks down at:

EXT. THE SILVER BULLET'S GAS GAUGE, MARTY'S POV

The needle is all the way over on "E."

EXT. MARTY

He groans. SOUND of the coupe's engine GROWS LOUDER.

EXT. THE COUPE AND THE SILVER BULLET

LOWE charges, rapidly closing the distance. MARTY swerves

from one side of the road to the other, escaping LOWE for

the moment but almost overturning in the process.

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