The Manchurian Candidate
FADE IN:
PROWLING ACROSS undulating land dotted with BURNING OIL
WELLS that give the vague impression of, well, hell. The
inky sky is awash with stars.
A U.S. ARMY BRADLEY FIGHTING VEHICLE and matching HUMMER
sit, waiting.
KUWAIT, 1991
Muffled THUMP of rap music thrums from the Bradley, and low
voices stray from the open doors of the Hummer.
MARCO (O.S.)
Why can’t we go directly in ...
3 INT./EXT. THE HUMMER - NIGHT 3
A topographical MAP glows on the LCD screen of a laptop
portable, faintly lighting the faces of CAPT. BEN MARCO and
his big, gentle, French guide, LAURENT TOKAR.
MARCO:
(pointing)
... this way --?
LAURENT:
Yes, well -- I see the Captain enjoys the
road less travelled.
Marco is seemingly unflappable, completely engaged by life.
MARCO:
The Captain enjoys not dragging his ass
down the highway for every Tom, Dick and
Qadhafi to take a whack at.
Laurent swings his finger on the arc of approach.
8/18/03 2.
LAURENT:
Well. Of course it is very bad, here.
And here. And here, here, here, here --
MARCO:
Mines?
LAURENT:
Tricky. Swedish-made.
MARCO:
Dammit.
He refers to some satellite surveillance maps --
MARCO:
Nobody at Command said anything about --
LAURENT:
Exxon and Global Petroleum hired private
contractors to do the work in ’86, as
part of their asset security program.
(beat)
Hired an Iraqi firm, in fact, who, now,
well -- only they know where the little
Nordic f***ers are planted.
MARCO:
(turns away)
Sgt. Shaw!
No response.
And we RUSH TOWARD: A SOLDIER IN A LAWN CHAIR, face lifted
to the heavens, sitting directly between the two armored
vehicles. This is SGT. RAYMOND PRENTISS SHAW, late
twenties, haunted and aloof.
MARCO:
(suddenly behind him)
Sergeant.
RAYMOND:
Sir.
MARCO:
Rolling in two minutes.
RAYMOND:
Yes sir.
Beat.
MARCO:
Everything okay?
8/18/03 3.
RAYMOND:
Yes, Captain. Everything’s fine.
(standing up)
I’ll "rally" the troops.
Here.
4 INT. THE BRADLEY FIGHTING VEHICLE - NIGHT 4
MUSIC blares around eight soldiers, including wiseguy PFC.
ED MAVOLE, crowded into space designed for four --
MAVOLE:
Yo Melvin. You gonna play that hand, or
hatch it?
-- CPL. AL MELVIN grunts, then they all look up, almost in
unison, at Raymond when he swings open the back door. PFC.
BOBBY BAKER, a slender man, barely eighteen, a driver,
ejects a CD from the onboard stereo. Silence.
RAYMOND:
We’re moving out.
5
Beat. He shuts the door again.
Raymond waits. Another beat.
inside the vehicle.
Then some LAUGHTER from
He shifts his shoulders, walks back into the darkness.
6 OMITTED 6
7 OMITTED 7
8 INT. HUMMER - NIGHT - TRAVELLING 8
Marco, bug-like in night goggles, drives the infamous
Highway of Death -- a macabre landscape of abandoned cars,
trucks, minivans, shopping baskets, broken wooden pushcarts
and festering fires; pots and pans and clothes and personal
belongings are scattered out into the desert on either side
of the road. Laurent rides shotgun. Raymond is in the
back, facing forward, rifle at ease.
RAYMOND:
Captain?
MARCO:
Sergeant?
RAYMOND:
Why don’t I ever ride in the Bradley with
8/18/03 4.
MARCO:
(hesitates)
Maybe I enjoy your company, Sergeant.
RAYMOND:
Sir, I don’t want to be singled out for
special treatment because of my mother’s
position --
MARCO:
Too late for that, Shaw. As a charter
member of the Lucky Sperm Club your
benefits include unlimited suck-up from
High-ranking Officers hoping to curry
Congressional favor for their future
career moves. But. If you want to ride
in the Bradley, hey, I got no objections.
RAYMOND:
(worried)
Trust me, sir, I don’t wish to ride in
the Bradley with the others, I’m just ...
(beat)
The men don’t care for me very much.
MARCO:
No, they don’t. But. On the plus side,
you don’t really like them, either.
RAYMOND:
That’s absolutely correct, Captain.
So. See?
MARCO:
It, you know. Balances out.
-- Uh-oh.
LAURENT:
Marco follows Laurent’s gaze out the side window --
9 NIGHT VISION GOGGLES: JUST OVER A DUNE 9
SOLDIERS ON CAMELS slip along like ghosts, pacing the
Hummer, parallel at maybe fifty yards --
WHIP PAN:
Through the driver’s side window: more of the CAMEL CAVALRY
tracks with them --
Camels.
MARCO:
10 BACK TO - HUMMER - MARCO 10
glancing to his rear-view mirror --
8/18/03 5.
11 IN THE MIRROR - ON THE ROAD BEHIND THEM: 11
Two dark trucks converge suddenly out of the darkness, on
either side of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle --
They SLAM together in a pincer-wedge just in front of it,
and the Bradley CRASHES into them -- climbs over them, off-
balance, and SMASHES DOWN onto the roof of one of the trucks
and is effectively low-bridged -- tracks spinning, unable to
move -- DARK FIGURES scurry from the trucks.
12 THE HUMMER -- skids around in a tight 180, stops, facing
back at the helpless Bradley. Automatic weapons fire in
bursts, bright, and ricochet harmlessly away --
12
IN THE HUMMER -- MARCO scrambles up out of his seat, pops
the roof hatch and screams at Raymond --
MARCO:
Take the wheel, Sergeant!
-- as Marco emerges to take the handles of the roof-mounted
machine gun -- drops his NVGs back over his eyes and FIRES
at the dispersing enemy figures around the Bradley --
14 INT. BRADLEY FIGHTING VEHICLE - NIGHT 14
Marco’s cover fire RATTLES insanely off the armor --
MAVOLE:
(screaming)
LOAD!
BAKER:
(overlapping)
TRUCK!
MELVIN:
Quarter million dollars of U.S. Army
hardware rat-f***ed by a coupla used
Toyotas.
He grabs a fire extinguisher and aims it at flames flaring
from a console of instruments.
15 OMITTED 15
16 OMITTED 16
17 EXT. MARCO’S NIGHT VISION GOGGLES: THE DESERT 17
TRACER BULLETS. A lone enemy SOLDIER runs forward lugging a
personal rocket launcher -- disappears behind a dune --
18 MARCO -- coming off the machine gun, grabbing Raymond’s
rifle and rolling toward the back of the Hummer -- as he
kicks out of the rear door -18
8/18/03 6.
19
MARCO:
Shaw! Sniper with an RPG!
EXT. HUMMER - CONTINUOUS
DON’T STOP!
19
20
-- Marco is firing before his feet touch the ground.
NIGHT VISION GOGGLES: THE DESERT 20
21
Rocket Launcher man does a face-plant in the sand.
THE BRADLEY -- its rear door HEAVES OPEN and our guys spill
out, coughing, hacking, guns ready.
21
22 THE HUMMER - SAME TIME -- careens suddenly away, exposing a
surprised Marco -- Raymond has lost control, fishtails into
a deep trough -- the Hummer lurches onto its side, engineracing -- wheels spinning uselessly in air -- stalling --
MARCO:
Oh sh*t, Shaw --
22
23 ANOTHER ENEMY WITH A ROCKET LAUNCHER -- slides around an
overturned trailer and FIRES:
23
24 OMITTED 24
25 THE ROCKET hits the Bradley Fighting Vehicle at a slant into
its exposed belly, and the truck EXPLODES -- Marco’s team
scattering, pressing themselves into the sand, covering
their heads --
25
A BOY’S VOICE
(amplified)
Were you scared?
THICK DARK SMOKE momentarily blankets the road. Silence.
26 FLASH FORWARD: A YOUNG BOY SCOUT - DAY 26
waiting for an answer, stares earnestly upward at:
FLASH FORWARD:
MAJOR BEN MARCO - DAYbehind a podium, in his crisp dress uniform.
self:
older, tired. Lost for a moment.His current
MARCO:
Scared?
(long beat)
You don’t really have time to be scared.
Uneasy rustling of an o.s. audience. Somebody coughs.
air-conditioner KICKS IN, rumbling, becoming --
An
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"The Manchurian Candidate" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_manchurian_candidate_494>.
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