The Italian Job Page #17

The Ferrari crashes through the jugs, one rolling up the hood

and over the windshield, dousing it like a car wash.

The lane is blocked by the wreck. Steve makes a right turn.

The police cruiser hits the brakes but not fast enough. It

slams into the water truck.

EXT. 5TH STREET

Steve turned onto a one-way street and he's going the wrong

way. A Jeep Wrangler almost runs into him head-on but both

cars stop just in time.

The DRIVER of Wrangler, a muscular fire plug of a guy, jumps

out, furious.

FURIOUS DRIVER:

What's wrong with you, you stupid-ass,

son of a b*tch, d*ckhead...

As more invectives are hurled, Steve gets out of the Ferrari

and walks towards the furious driver.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

FURIOUS DRIVER (CONT'D)

What? You want a piece of me? C'mon,

dumbshit. Bring it on. I'll be pulling

peanuts out of your a**hole —

BANG. Steve shoots the guy's foot.

FURIOUS DRIVER (CONT'D)

Sh*t! Sh*t! You shot me in the foot!

While the furious driver hops on one leg, Steve gets into the

Wrangler and takes off, abandoning the Ferrari. At the same

time •—

INT. BMW 75OIL (MOVING) -SUNSET

Lyle's coasting down Exposition Boulevard towards Union

Station. Clear sailing for him.

He sees a young woman thumbing for a ride. It's Karen. And

he recognizes her: she was hitchhiking when he first arrived

in L.A. He pulls over. To Lyle, she might be an angel in

the empyrean if she wasn't, so completely, a woman.

LYLE:

Where are you going?

KAREN:

Away.

LYLE:

How about far, far away?

KAREN:

The farther the better.

EXT. FIGUEROA & OLYMPIC -DAY

Charlie's still having a helluva time getting rid of the

motorcycle. It screams like a Banshee as it streaks up

alongside the Mini. Charlie suddenly sees an AK-47 pointed

right at him.

INT. CHARLIE'S MINI

He jerks the steering wheel and swerves off the street,

driving through the parking lot of the historic Hotel

Figueroa.

With the motorcycle dogging his heels, he looks up at the

building. It has three towers that rise up 12 stories, with

a giant mural of Albert Einstein covering one of the towers

(it's an ad for Apple Computers: Think different.)

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

Suddenly the LAPD helicopter swoops down towards the parking

lot, shattering the air, blowing up dirt and discarded

newspapers in a rush of turbo-wash, trying to box in the

Mini.

INT. CHARLIE'S MINI

He'sgot noplaceelse togo...

INT. HOTEL FIGUEROA

The Mini squeezes through the entrance and into the lobby

with its exotic Moroccan decor. Horrified guests catapult

out of the way. The Mini drives past wooden statues, potted

palm trees.

The motorcycle follows the car as it streaks towards the

elevator. Charlie looks back, sees the motorcycle. The

elevator door opens. Some tourists step off.

CHARLIE:

Going up?

INT. ELEVATOR

The Mini darts right in, not an inch to spare. Charlie

reaches out the window, .presses the button for ROOF.

He sees the motorcycle charging after him, burning rubber

across the beautiful tiled floor. Closer, closer.

The door closes just in time.

A second elevator opens, the motorcycle zooms inside, people

screaming at the sight of the guns.

EXT. ROOFTOP -DAY

The doors open, PING, and the Mini reverses out, spins.

LOOKING DOWN onto the building's rooftop, we see that it is

shaped like a capitol E, three towers connected by a narrow

strip. Each tower has its own elevator. .

INT. CHARLIE'S MINI

He wants to drive across the rooftop strip but there's a big

problem:
the giant sign that exclaims HOTEL FIGUEROA in red

and white neon lights blocks so much of the strip that even

the Mini couldn't squeeze through.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

In his rearview, he sees the second elevator door open and

out comes the motorcycle. He's trapped up here. But he's

not about to abandon ship.

EXT. ROOFTOP

So he floors it, slaps the gears, hurtles to the edge of the

first tower and in —

EYE-POPPING CGI SLOW MOTION SHOTS

His car hurls into the wide blue empty space... The ground

deliriously distant... Spiraling through the air like a

football...

NEXT TOWER -ROOFTOP

The Mini lands right-side-up with a THUD. Charlie, rattled,

looks over his shoulder and sees the LAPD helicopter rising

over the rooftop, turbines SCREAMING.

And here comes the motorcycle. Flying from one section of

the rooftop to the next. It lands and the driver REVS it

forward —

I/E CHARLIE'S MINI

He speeds toward the edge of the roof and launches off

towards the third tower some twenty feet away. Lands. Keeps

going to the last elevator, skids to a stop.

He reaches out, punches the call button. Then looks over his

shoulder to witness —

THE MOTORCYCLE:

going full throttle to make the final rooftop to rooftop

jump.

But its front wheel hits the edge slightly off-kilter...

It soars but with a slight downward trajectory.. .

Towards a large window on the top floor. ..

Then lower...

And the look on the driver's face says it all as...

The front wheel of the motorcycle SMACKS into the side of the

building, just below the window.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUEDONTINUED:

The guards are flung off the bike and their bodies CRASH

through the window as —

A hunk of exploding metal imbeds itself in the side of the

LAPD chopper and •—

INT. HOTEL FIGUEROA

The guards land in the Tangier Suite in a hailstorm of glass

shards.

I/E. LAPD HELICOPTER

Smoke billows out where the hunk of metal hit. The pilot

keeps it under control but it's time to go. With a WHINING

THROB, the injured chopper banks away.

INT. HOTEL FIGUEROA LOBBY -DAY

PING. The elevator door opens. Charlie's Mini shoots out

then skids out the lobby's exit. He made it.

CUT TO:

INT. STELLA'S MINI (SPEEDING) -DAY

She checks the rearview mirror. No sign of the Ferrari.

Just a Jeep Wrangler back there.

Stella looks relieved. Feels like she's home free.

CUT TO:

EXT. UNION STATION -SUNSET

Stella's Mini pulls up to the ramp of the enclosed car

carrier at the end of Amtrak Train 59, bound for New Orleans.

She can see the other two Minis are already inside. She gets

out and hands the cargo loader a ticket.

EXT. UNION STATION -NIGHT

The "All aboard" announcement goes out over the PA system.

Then the Superliner train pulls out of the station, quickly

picking up speed.

INT. FIRST CLASS CAR -NIGHT

The outside streaks by through the window. It's a happy

crew. Champagne is poured. Charlie holds up his glass and

gets their attention.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

CHARLIE:

I want to make a toast. Cause there's

somebody missing here today, and we all

know who it is.

They all raise their glasses.

CHARLIE (CONT'D)

To John Bridger. The most brilliant

master planner of them all. We wish he

was with us.

We PAN ACROSS their faces. It's been a three year odyssey

for them. They got the gold, but they lost someone they

loved.

ALL OF THEM:

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