The Manchurian Candidate Page #5

points? Three?

(beat)

I can swing that, and you know it. I can

swing seven away from you -- more than

enough to split the party and --

SENATOR WELLS:

(over her)

-- and deny us the White House for four

more years? No. Not even you would do

that, Senator. You’re bluffing.

Ellie stares at them. OUTSIDE, SUDDENLY: the marching band

begins playing "It’s a Grand Old Flag," and hurries out onto

the ROARING convention floor ...

ELLIE:

America is facing the greatest test of

its history, gentlemen. Not just from

terrorist organizations both outside and

within our borders, but from covert

alliances of disaffected nations so

terrified of winding up on our sh*t list

they believe the only way to protect

themselves is to hit us with everything

they can find before we get around to

them. Am I the only one in this room

paying attention to the NSA reports? We

are on the brink of nuclear cataclysm, on

our own soil, while our policies remain

shackled by Jordan-style One Worlders who

insist that human beings are essentially

Good ... and that Power is something

shameful, and Evil.

(then)

Make no mistake, the people of this great

country are frightened. They know what’s

coming. They can feel it. And we can

shovel them the same old sh*t and call it

sugar, or arm them, with a young,

vibrant, populist congressman, a war hero

with heart -- forged by enemy fire, in

the desert, in the dark, when American

lives hung in the balance.

49 INT. CONVENTION FLOOR - NIGHT (VIDEO) 49

One of Ellie’s back-room adversaries at the microphone, as

balloons fall and the crowd CHEERS:

8/18/03 22.

TV49 SENATOR WELLS TV49

-- proud to offer into nomination the

name of the next vice president of these

United States, RAYMOND SHAAAWWWWWW --!

Happy bedlam.

50 INT. MARCO’S STUDIO APARTMENT - NIGHT 50

The images on the television flicker across Marco, who

stares with apparent disbelief at the coverage:

TV50 NEWSCASTER #1 TV50

... a remarkable development --

TV50A ON THE PODIUM - RAYMOND (VIDEO) TV50A

Hands held high, linked with the presidential candidate,

ROBERT ARTHUR who is clearly eclipsed by Raymond’s youth,

his heroic good looks, his natural charisma ...

REPORTER #1

(from the convention floor)

-- like a long shot catching the favorite

on the back stretch of the Derby ...

TV50B A STACCATO FLURRY OF IMAGES -- Raymond and his mother, newsTV50B

clips, still photos -- appear behind a MAJOR MEDIA ICON:

MEDIA ICON:

Raymond Shaw bears the lineage of the

fabled Prentiss family dynasty --

grandson of legendary industrialist and

diplomat Tyler Prentiss, son of

controversial Senator Eleanor Prentiss

Shaw, who took over the seat vacated by

her husband, the esteemed John Shaw, when

he died tragically over twenty years ago.

Marco taking it all in --

MEDIA ICON:

For many, Raymond Prentiss Shaw is an

enigma:
millionaire Harvard honors

student who enlists in the military --

INTERCUT:
NEWS FILE FOOTAGE of Raymond’s personal history:

MEDIA ICON:

-- refusing the officer’s commission to

which he was entitled. The Medal of

Honor winner beloved by the men of the

’Lost Patrol’ he saved from an enemy

ambush, and then guided back across the

open desert to safety --

8/18/03 23.

TV50C CPL. MELVIN IN 1992 TV50C

(Gulf War news archive,

after the squad was

rescued)

Sgt. Shaw? Hell, he's probably the

kindest, bravest, warmest, most selfless

human being I've ever known.

Marco reacts to the image of Melvin from ten years ago:

young, engaging, eyes alive -- Marco’s lips move in sync

with words of Melvin’s statement (’bravest, warmest’

’selfless’ ’ever known’) -- as if he knows it by heart --

his mind shifting -MEDIA

ICON:

The war hero who dedicated himself to

public service after Desert Storm ...

PUSH IN on Marco. His eyes distant, glazed -- tranced:

MEDIA ICON:

... the revolutionary science of bio-

genetics, which has, literally --

51 PUSH IN ON THE TELEVISION: TIGHT - A RED SUPERTOMATO 51

now commands the screen, plump and glistening in an olive-

skinned hand decorated with intricate henna tattoos -WOMAN’S

VOICE:

-- transformed the common garden tomato,

through genome-level intervention, from

that fragile, fickle, vulnerable fruit

one must struggle to simply nurture to

maturity --

-- the supertomato slowly bisects itself -- opening, oozing

viscous red liquid -- revealing an inner structure far more

suggestive of the human brain than any tomato we’ve ever

seen before.

WOMAN’S VOICE

-- into a resilient, dependable,

categorically superior individual in

every conceivable way --

-- moving through

52 MARCO’S DREAMSCAPE -- where the MYSTERIOUS ARABIC WOMAN from

Melvin’s drawings -- henna tattoos on her face, as well as

her hands -- thick, blood-red pulp of the supertomato

dripping between her fingers -- glides dreamily across

intricate, sun-bleached tile work through a gathering of

similarly clothed Arabic WOMEN. A few OLDER, ARABIC MEN are

off to one side, expressionless, hands in pockets.

52

8/18/03 24.

MYSTERIOUS WOMAN

-- strappingly resistant to parasite,

disease, over-ripening and systemic

failure -- while, at the same time,

fiercely heat and water tolerant --

IMPRESSIONS of soldiers -- MEMBERS of Marco’s squad -- flak

jackets and BDUs, rifles at ease, some squatting, some

leaning against the wall ... Cpl. Al Melvin preternaturally

engrossed in the presentation ...

We hear a SANDSTORM raging outside, causing LONG DRAPERIES

to FLUTTER and POP! like sails ... STRONG IMPRESSIONS of

PFCs ED MAVOLE and BOBBY BAKER ...

MYSTERIOUS WOMAN

-- yet -- note the complexity of the

frontal lobe -- nevertheless retaining a

sweet, juicy plumpness reminiscent of the

finest English Beefsteak or Italian Plum.

IMPRESSIONS of the American Flag. IMPRESSIONS of SGT.

RAYMOND SHAW -- he waits for the mysterious woman like an

obedient schoolboy, dutifully holding his SERVICE REVOLVER

in his hand.

MYSTERIOUS WOMAN

Those of you with ties to the

Intelligence community may recall the

CIA’s misguided MK-ULTRA program, the

KGB’s Novichok research, and similar half-

assed ventures in Great Britain and China

-- under the lay term of ’mind control.’

53 OMITTED 53

54 OMITTED 54

55 The Bedouin women begin to make a spooky trilling sound,

their ZAGHAREET -- as the mysterious woman’s voice starts to

MORPH into a MAN’S VOICE:

55

MYSTERIOUS WOMAN

Street-corner schizophrenics with tin

foil on their heads offer sad proof of

the failure of those endeavors.

She smiles, creepy, puts a hand on Raymond’s shoulder --

MYST. W./NOYLE’S VOICE

I can assure you, this is a whole new

ball game.

SWERVE:

8/18/03 25.

MARCO -- is here, too -- his head wrapped in a bandage, he’s

wearing hospital greens. WIRES AND TUBES are rigged to his

head, chest, arms and legs like some HIGH-TECH MARIONETTE --

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