Superman Page #18

14/4/77

230EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY

A country landscape with a winding, undulating road. CAMERA PANS OFF a sign marked: DANFORTH MISSILE PROVING GROUNDS - 12 MILES to a rise in the road. Heading for it is a military convoy. Two jeeps of MP's are in front and one is behind - a huge bulldozer towing a flatbed truck bearing the enormous XK101 rocket. The large missile is covered by a thick, tied-down tarpaulin. The convoy rolls on, crossing the SCREEN from right to left.

230AEXT. OTHER PART OF ROAD - DAY

A sleek car speeds quickly down another part of the road, heading across the SCREEN from left to right.

230BINT. SPEEDING CAR - DAY

CAMERA LOOKS OUT the windshield of the speeding car from the rear. To our

amazement there is no DRIVER in the vehicle - no one at all, in fact. The riderless

car continues to roar down the road.

230CEXT. BOTTOM RISE IN ROAD - DAY

CAMERA CLOSE on an electronic guidance box being held by OTIS who tries to

manipulate the speeding car, which is presently out of sight. A complicated tool belt is

strapped around his waist. LUTHOR stands next to him, curiously dressed in an all-white outfit, looks at the box, alarmed at the signals it is giving off.

LUTHOR:

Do you 1ive.1n England, Otis?

OTIS:

I don' t think so, Mr. Luthor . . .

LUTHOR:

Then why are you driving on the left!

LUTHOR snatches the box away angrily, adjusts it.

14/4/77 TM

230DANGLE ON SPEEDING CAR

The drone car shifts over to the right of the road.

230EBACK TO LUTHOR - ANOTHER ANGLE

LUTHOR waits expectantly. From this ANGLE we can see EVE in the trees behind him. She is dressed in a hopelessly slinky and revealing outfit, adjust her makeup in a had mirror. LUTHOR turns to OTIS.

LUTHOR:

Now, Otis! Go!

OTIS runs off through the brush and trees to the right. LUTHOR checks the box, looks over

his shoulder at EVE.

LUTHOR:

Ten second, Miss Teschmacher . . .

EVE:

(from trees)

Did you ever try to run in high

heels?

(no reply)

You probably did.

LUTHOR looks up as the drone car speeds at him around a corner. He presses a button on the box.

230FCLOSE ON DRONE CAR

The drone car suddenly flips all by itself, rolls over and over, bursting into flames.

230GEXT. OTHER SIDE OF RISE - DAY

The first jeep in the military convoy stops as the sound of the explosion echoes over the top of the rise. The alarmed OFFICER inside gestures the vehicle forward again. It reaches the top. The MP's look down.

230H - 230L missing from script

230MINSERT SHOT - COMPASS DIAL

OTIS puts back his screwdriver, takes out a small wrench,

starts to adjust various needles from one set position to

another training a flashlight on his arm from time to time

where a set of numbers is printed.

230NEXT. BOTTOM OF RISE

The MP's now surround the fallen EVE who is completely obscured from view. Only her legs stick out, twitching as a result of the over-attention being paid her.

EVE'SVOICE

Thanks a lot...fine now...Hey! What did

You have for lunch, Ace!

Suddenly - a siren is heard. An ambulance roars around the corner, screeches to a stop.

LUTHOR jumps out, crosses, begins peeling the MP' s off EVE.

MAJOR:

That was fast. Damnit. . .

LUTHOR:

(outraged)

Fast? When a woman's life is at stake?

EVE'S VOICE

(mumbling - surly)

And that's about all I got left to lose, believe me.

230PEXT. LOWER ROAD

The ambulance with LUTHOR and EVE screams around a corner, turns off its siren, stops

near the side of a hill. OTIS scrambles down through the brush, jumps into the back.

230QINT. AMBULANCE - DAY

LUTHOR drives, EVE next to him. OTIS leans in from the rear section, excited.

OTIS:

I did it, Mr. Luthor! Just like you told

me to!

5/5/77 TM

230QCONTINUED

LUTHOR:

It's not that I don't trust you, Otis . . .

(thinks about it)

Yes, it is. Tell me what you did.

OTIS roll up his sleeve, reads the numbers off his arm.

OTIS:

I reset the first vector heading to 38, the second

one to 67, and the third one to 117 .

LUTHOR:

(sm1ling - nods)

And the fourth one ?

OTIS:

What fourth one?

LUTHOR:

(overlapping)

The third to 117?

OTIS:

(holds out arm)

See? I wrote it down ...

LUTHOR stares at the arm, in total disbelief.

LUTHOR:

The third one goes to 11, Otis. And the fourth

one to 7.

OTIS:

(sadly)

Gee. 1 guess my arm wasn't long enough to make

a big space.

LUTHOR:

(rage mounting)

Would you like to see an arm long enough to make a

big space, Otis?

(screams)

Do you want to see an arm long enough to

Make a big space?

5/5/77 TM

230REXT. ROAD - HIGH SPOT

LUTHOR'S legs stick out of the inner rear section of the ambulance where hi is pummeling OTIS as the ambulance careers back and forth wildly across the road. EVE frantically tries

to control the vehicle from the passenger seat as it disappears around the bend.

231EXT. ANOTHER COUNTRY ROAD - DAY

Another missile convoy identical to the first one heads down another country road. The same arrangement: two jeeps of MP's in front of the rocket, one in back.

231AINT. TRUCK CAB - DAY

CAMERA LOOKS THROUGH the front side window as LUTHOR and OTIS ride together in what seems to be the cab of a small truck. OTIS looks over apologetically at LUTHOR who drives, eyes forward. CAMERA PULLS BACK, PANS: the small cab vehicle is towing an entire house on a double-width flatbed truck. The huge structure takes up the full breadth of the narrow road.

232BEXT. BRIDGE CORNER - DAY

The missile convoy rounds the corner of a small hill, starts to proceed onto a two-lane

bridge, suddenly stops, the rocket itself only halfway on.

232CANGLE ON HOUSE TRAILER - CONVOY'S POV

LUTHOR drives the house trailer across the other side of the bridge, rolls to a stop, blocking

the passageway completely.

232DWIDE ANGLE - BRIDGE

The house trailer faces the convoy. The two lead jeeps full of angry MP's drive forward.

232EINT. TRUCK CAB - DAY

The MP's pile out of their jeeps, approach the trailer cab, yelling. LUTHOR smiles thinly,

Reaches down, Presses in the cigarette lighter on the dashboard.

232FINSERT SHOT -REAR TRAILER TIRES

Two of the rear tires on the trailer suddenly puncture.

232GWIDE ANGLE

The rear end of the house sags helplessly on the bridge.

16/4/77 TM

231HEXT. CORNER OF HILL BEFORE BR1DGE

The one remaining jeep behind the missile has been screened by the corner of the hill. The

Frustrated MP OFFICER waves the DRIVER forward to see what's happened. CAMERA PANS to hillside: EVE scrambles down wearing the same tool belt OTIS had on earlier,

Heads for the tarpaulin-covered rocket.

232INT. PLANET CITY ROOM

Several REPORTERS cluster around a portable TV on a desk in the corner. An ANNOUNCER'S VOICE can be heard.

ANNOUNCER'S VOICE

... here at Danforth Proving Grounds for the launching

of two XK1O1 rockets, the very latest weapon in our

arsenal of defense ...

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