The Manchurian Candidate Page #8

8/18/03 36.

MARCO (O.S.)

Sergeant Raymond Shaw --

Raymond turns --

RAYMOND:

What?

Marco slides in front of him with a disarming grin.

MARCO:

I want to talk to you too.

RAYMOND:

-- Not now.

MARCO:

-- I know you’re busy -- I just have to

ask you -

He starts to move away, but Marco grabs his arm --

MARCO:

I saw Al Melvin the other day -- remember

Corporal Melvin?

Raymond yanks his arm away -

RAYMOND:

Don’t touch me.

MARCO:

Okay -- sorry -- but -- Melvin, he’s

extremely disturbed about what happened

to us, on the recon patrol, back in

Kuwait --

RAYMOND:

Don’t ever touch me.

Beat. Marco’s eyebrows go up.

MARCO:

Sorry.

Raymond’s secret service agent, ANDERSON slips himself

between him, smiling politely, easing Marco away:

ANDERSON:

Tried the Pad Thai, Major? I’m told it

rules.

CLOSE - COLONEL GARRET

tense and unsmiling.

8/18/03 37.

COLONEL GARRET:

What were you hoping he’d say?

We are:

66 INT. PENTAGON - CONFERENCE ROOM - MARCO 66

is in a more formal setting -- Lt. Col. Howard is with

COLONEL GARRET and an enlisted soldier, a WOMAN, taking

notes --

MARCO:

I don’t know, sir.

(cautious, now)

It isn’t so much what he said, or didn’t

say -- but his demeanor, his attitude.

Sir, I overheard an exchange he -

COLONEL GARRET:

(talks over this)

I think you hoped Congressman Shaw would

say, "yes, Major, I’ve had those same

dreams. Tomatoes and sandstorms. You’re

not nuts, there’s some crazy sh*t going

down here."

Marco says nothing.

COLONEL GARRET:

Major, we’ve been down this road with you

before, yes?

MARCO:

No, sir, not this road, sir. But I hear

what you’re saying, and I want to do this

through the proper channels.

LT. COL. HOWARD

Are you back on your meds?

MARCO:

Lt. Colonel Howard -- with respect --

I’ve had a dozen years of experts telling

me I’ve got Gulf War Syndrome, or a

stress disorder. Twelve years being a

good soldier, denying what every nerve

ending in my body tells me is more real

than not. One dream, over and over. Not

variations on a dream, the same one,

night after night after night --

LT. COL. HOWARD

-- Your guilt and your jealousy require

you to construct this ... elaborate

fiction, so that you --

8/18/03 38.

MARCO LT. COL. HOWARD

No -- -- can avoid the truth.

MARCO:

-- No sir. Something happened to us, in

the desert, ten years ago. Not what we

thought it was. And it happened on mywatch.

Beat.

COLONEL GARRET:

Have you contacted any other members of

the unit besides Shaw and Melvin? Asked

them about the dreams?

MARCO:

(from notes he’s made)

Owens died of cancer in ’97. Villalobos,

a car crash. Atkins committed suicide.

Jamison was at the Pentagon, 9-11, body

never recovered. Wilson I’m still trying

to track down.

Garret and Howard trade looks.

MARCO:

Sir, I know I can’t ask you to talk to

Congressman Shaw, not yet, but Al Melvin,

it’s a phone call, a quick q&a -- look at

his notebooks, hear what he’s been

dreaming -- and either he will support

the credibility of what I’m saying, or he

won’t. And I’ll shut up.

COLONEL GARRET:

And what is it you are saying, exactly,

Major? That you misrepresented -falsified

-- what happened In Kuwait?

About the Medal of Honor? In effect,

committed perjury.

MARCO:

If you just talk to Melvin --

COLONEL GARRET:

(ignores)

-- No, no, I’m sorry -- you’re saying an

entire squad of U.S. Army soldiers was

hypnotized into believing that Raymond

Shaw deserved the Medal of Honor. And

somehow you’re the only one who knows the

truth.

Silence. Marco looks down at his hands.

8/18/03 39.

COLONEL GARRET:

Major Marco. You will stay clear of

Congressman Shaw.

Yes sir.

MARCO:

LT. COL. HOWARD

And you will resume your meds, Major.

That is an order.

Yes sir.

MARCO:

Beat. Marco stands up, to leave, but --

COLONEL GARRET:

Major, do you ever take a step back and

consider why you’ve remained at rank for

all these years? Missed Bosnia,

Afghanistan, Iraqi Freedom. While men of

lesser promise and inferior talent have

enjoyed the fruits of those campaigns and

moved beyond you?

MARCO:

Every day, sir.

67 INT. STAGE - VICE-PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE (VIDEO) 67

FAVOR Raymond, at a podium, his VICE PRESIDENTIAL OPPONENT

slightly out of focus at his identical podium in the near

b.g., mid-rebuttal:

TV67 V.P. OPPONENT

... there are still VRF terrorists in

Sierra Leone, new terrorist alliances

forming in many parts of Asia and South

America -- we can’t simply, suddenly

relinquish our commitment to world

leaders who have stood by us.

TV67

T.V. MODERATOR

Congressman Shaw -- your rebuttal?

68 INT. MARCO’S APARTMENT - NIGHT 68

Marco on his phone, the t.v. blaring, under:

MARCO:

(on the phone)

Hello, Victor? Marco. How’s it goin’?

(listens)

Public affairs sucks, my friend. I miss

you guys. Listen, favor: guy from my old

unit, Melvin, Alfred R. -- I need an

(MORE)

8/18/03 40.

MARCO (CONT’D)

address on him, I think he’s here in D.C.

... yeah, go ahead.

Holding, Marco studies the image of Raymond.

TV68 RAYMOND/T.V. TV68

-- but meanwhile, somebody’s grandmother,

in a small American town, is standing in

her kitchen -- she’s got her medicine

bottle in one hand, she’s opening the

refrigerator with the other. And she’s

thinking:
I can pay for my medicine, or I

can pay for my dinner. I can’t do both.

In America. In America, our mothers and

grandmothers shouldn’t have to worry

about that.

VOICE on the other end of Marco’s call, but he’s slow to

respond -- mesmerized by the "new" Raymond --

MARCO:

(on the phone)

Yeah, yeah. I’m here ...

As he starts to write an address --

69 OMITTED 69

70 EXT. SKID ROW - WASHINGTON D.C. - NIGHT 70

RAYMOND (V.O.)

There are gaps in this country. Ugly

chasms that we need to bridge ...

THE SIDE OF A BUS with a HUGE SKIN of Gov. Arthur and

Raymond Shaw and the ARTHUR/SHAW "SECURE TOMORROW" campaign

icon -- it SLIDES away, revealing:

MARCO -- crosses the street, walks along a row of

dilapidated apartments --

RAYMOND (V.O.)

... the gap between rich and poor,

between government and people --

-- the area is desolate, depopulated, an economic wasteland.

Under a crumbling awning and into

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