The French Connection Page #8

31.

SIMONSON (CONT'D)

You stop and shake down a bellboy

because he's got three joints in

his sock. You hit a high school

kid in short pants who looks like

he's got a twitch.

RUSSO. Getting it back on the track.

RUSSO:

(moves in to desk)

We got information that there's no

sh*t in the street -- it's like a

desert full of junkies with a big

score coming in to make everybody

well.

DOYLE:

DOYLE:

This could be it, Walter. This

Candy Store guy, putting on a big

show in a fancy nightclub with

known connections all over him.

Then on our own, after working the

whole day and night, we tail him

out to Brooklyn and sit on him for

a week practically, and who do we

come up with? Joel Weinstock.

(he leans forward)

You gotta let us have it.

THREE SHOT - RUSSO, DOYLE, SIMONSON

SIMONSON:

(pause, he turns to RUSSO)

You really believe all this crap?

RUSSO:

I go with my partner.

A pause.

SIMONSON:

What'll it take?

RUSSO:

First a wire.

DOYLE:

Two wires. One on the store and

one on his house.

32.

SIMONSON:

You know I have to get a court

order for wiretaps.

RUSSO:

Try... okay?

DOYLE:

We know you can do it, Walter.

They start to leave.

Close on SIMONSON.

SIMONSON:

Popeye...

Close on DOYLE at the door. RUSSO beside him.

Back to SIMONSON

SIMONSON:

You still pickin' your feet in

Poughkeepsie?

WIRETAP SEQUENCE "A"

INT. BASEMENT

RUSSO on phones -- checking notes on SAL. DOYLE reading

comics on cot. Tape machine clicks on -- tape is activated.

RUSSO sits attentively.

EXT. CANDY STORE - DAY

Shot of wire.

33.

SAL (V.O.) RUSSO

What's this crap. I just (He raps on table

spoke to my wife and she with a coffee cup.

says you're raisin' me a Doyle gets up.)

halfa cent on the cups. C'mere and lissen to your

big connection.

WHOLESALER (DOYLE comes over)

(V.O.) He's fightin' with somebody

Yeah, well you know I about a halfa cent.

shoulda raised this here a

long time ago. We got a DOYLE

inflation period... How we gonna keep Simonson

from hearin' this?

SAL (V.O.)

I got your inflation. I can RUSSO

get the same cups on Delancey If he does, we'll be back in

Street for what I been Bed-Stuyvesant tomorrow.

payin' you for the last

year -- That's all I gotta

do with you guys -- next

time it'll be two cents on

the cones, then two cents on

the seltzer --

WHOLESALER:

(V.O.)

C'mon Sal, I got my orders,

too --

SAL (V.O.)

Well, if you can't do better

than that, you can stick the

cups.

EXT. AUTO GRAVEYARD (HUNTS POINT AND EAST RIVER) - DAY

HIGH ANGLE:
Close shot of CHARNIER, MARIE and LA VALLE

walking slowly together toward the camera. They are at the

auto graveyard and the scene of an auction of cars towed off

New York streets by the Police Department. About twenty

other men are walking around, looking at the cars.

A POLICEMAN blows a whistle and the prospective car buyers

gather around the auction trailer in the b.g.

LA VALLE:

There are four auto graveyards like

this one in the other boroughs,

handling about a thousand vehicles

a month. Those that aren't claimed

are auctioned here once a month.

MARIE:

Just for mistakes of parking?

34.

LA VALLE:

No. Many are involved in crimes

and confiscated... or just abandoned.

This is, as you know, your prime

source of scrap metal, M. Charnier.

MARIE:

(off camera)

Darling, may I have this one?

Medium close shot MARIE, standing next to an LTD.

MARIE:

It looks so lonesome here.

CHARNIER and LA VALLE approach her.

CHARNIER:

It would look even more lonesome in

our garage.

INT. THE AUCTION TRAILER - DAY

Within the large trailer, about TWENTY MEN are seated at two

long benches to each side. Some are standing to the rear.

At the front, an AUCTIONEER stands at a lectern. To his

left sits a CLERK at a small table. The AUCTIONEER wears a

sweater and hat. The buyers are tough types, young and old.

All have inventory lists. The atmosphere is informal. The

CHARNIERS and LA VALLE enter the trailer at the back.

AUCTIONEER:

Every car sold today must be

removed at the purchaser's own

expense. We have no keys or

anything to start the vehicles with.

You buy 'em as you see 'em and

where you see 'em. All right, the

first car offered is Number 24398.

A Plymouth sedan. Do I hear

fifteen dollars?

The bidding goes up to forty dollars. A large BURLY MAN

wins the bid. He goes up to the CLERK and accepts the bill

of sale.

AUCTIONEER:

We go to 24399 -- A Pontiac Station

wagon. Do I hear ten dollars?

LA VALLE:

(aside to CHARNIER)

Notice he will never mention the

year of the car.

35.

AUCTIONEER:

I got a fifteen dollar bid going...

Do I hear anymore...

Eighteen... who'll say Eighteen?

Twenty...

Twenty-three...

Anymore...

Twenty-five. Twenty-five once --

Do I hear twenty-eight...

All right, last call for twenty-

five...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes