The Trial of the Chicago 7

FADE IN:

1 LYNDON JOHNSON addresses a television camera (FILE FOOTAGE)1

LYNDON JOHNSON:

I have today ordered to Vietnam the

Air Mobile Division and certain

other forces which will raise our

fighting strength from 75,000 to

125,000 almost immediately. This

will make it necessary to increase

our active fighting forces by

raising the monthly draft from

17,000 to 35,000 per month.

MUSIC crashes in that will take us through the prologue--a

nation coming off the rails.

2 INT. LOTTERY DRAWING -DAY (FILE FOOTAGE) 2

A few well-scrubbed young men from the Youth Draft Advisory

Committee stand over a goldfish bowl containing capsules. One

of the young men pulls a capsule and reads it as if someone’s

won something-

YOUNG MAN:

June 3rd. All those whose birthday

falls on June 3rd-

3 INT./EXT MAILBOXES -DAY/NIGHT 3

We see a SERIES OF TIGHT SHOTS of different kinds of

mailboxes being opened--rural, suburban, apartment building,

etc., all of it under-

REPORTER #1 (V.O.)

President Johnson announced new

monthly draft totals increasing to

35,000 per month-

REPORTER #2 (V.O.)

43,000 per month-

REPORTER #3 (V.O.)

51,000 per month-

REPORTER #4 (V.O.)

382,386 men between the ages of 18

and 24 have now been called to

duty.

2.

4 EXT. RURAL MAILBOX TREE -DAY 4

A line of mailboxes sit on the side of a rural road. One of

them is open. We move down and see mail scattered at the feet

of a young black man, 18, slumped down on the ground, his

induction notice shaking in his hands.

MARTIN LUTHER KING (V.O.)

It should be incandescently clear

that no one who has any concern for

the integrity of life in America

today can ignore the present war-

5 INT. BALLROOM -NIGHT (FILE FOOTAGE) 5

KING continues-

MARTIN LUTHER KING

If America’s soul becomes poisoned,

part of the autopsy must read

“Vietnam”,

And we HEAR the rifle shot that killed him RING OUT as we

FLASH CUT TO:

6 FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPH--(FILE FOOTAGE) 6

Three men pointing in unison to where the shot came from.

7 EXT. CAMPAIGN RALLY -NIGHT (FILE FOOTAGE) 7

It’s pouring rain and Robert Kennedy is talking to a crowd of

people who have just heard the news-

ROBERT KENNEDY (V.O.)

What we need in the United States

is not hatred, but love and wisdom.

So I ask you to return home and say

a prayer for the family of Martin

Luther King.

We HEAR the GUN SHOT that killed Kennedy-

8 INT. AMBASSADOR HOTEL -NIGHT (FILE FOOTAGE) 8

As screaming chaos engulfs the candidate.

3.

9 INT. LOTTERY DRAWING -DAY (FILE FOOTAGE) 9

YOUNG MAN:

April 22nd. All those whose

birthday falls on April 22nd-

The MUSIC CONTINUES-

10 INT. CAMPUS AUDITORIUM -NIGHT 10

RENNIE:

We were there.

RENNIE DAVIS, mid-20’s, wearing a short-sleeved white shirt

and tie, is speaking to a standing room only crowd of

students. In contrast to the cliche of the times, most of the

students are fairly conservatively dressed. On the movie

screen is footage of a Vietnamese village-

RENNIE (CONT'D)

We didn’t see Vietnamese soldiers.

What we saw were population

centers. Schoolhouses, pagodas,

women and children.

Suddenly the movie screen fills with huge explosions of

yellow, black and searing white.

RENNIE (CONT'D)

And that’s American napalm. The

women and children were burned

alive. Tom?

TOM HAYDEN steps out from the darkness. He’s 30, handsome and

serious.

TOM:

The Democratic Party is going to

nominate Hubert Humphrey next month

in Chicago.

We ID the two men with a chyron-

Tom Hayden Rennie Davis

Leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

4.

TOM (CONT'D)

When it comes to the war, when it

comes to social justice, there’s

simply not enough of a difference

between Hubert Humphrey and Richard

Nixon to make a difference.

APPLAUSE-

TOM (CONT'D)

And so we’re going to Chicago.

The APPLAUSE BUILDS-

TOM (CONT'D)

Young people by busloads will go to

Chicago to show our solidarity and

our disgust and most importantly-

11 UNDERGROUND CLUB -NIGHT 11

ABBIE:

--to get laid by someone you just

met.

The place is seedy and packed with people and smoke.

JERRY:

536,000 of us sent to a country not

one of these bumper sticker

patriots in Washington could find

on a map with a motherfuckin’ map!

We ID the two men with a chyron-

Abbie Hoffman Jerry Rubin

Leaders of the Youth International Party (Yippies)

ABBIE:

We’re goin’ to Chicago. Anyone who

stays in the park, sings Woody

Guthrie, they’re gonna be fine. But

the cops are gonna be a half-inch

from losin’ their f***in’ minds

‘cause Daley’s gonna wind ‘em up to

make sure of it. We’re goin’ to

Chicago peacefully. We’re going

peacefully, but if we’re met there

with violence, you better believe

we’re gonna meet that violence with-

5.

12 EXT. SUBURBAN DRIVEWAY -DAY 12

DAVE:

Non-violence. Always non-violence

and that’s without exception.

DAVE, 55, who looks like (and is) a Boy Scout Troop leader,

is talking to his wife and young son as he loads a suitcase

and some material for making placards into an old station

wagon.

We ID the man with a chyron-

David Dellinger

Leader of the Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam (The

Mobe)

SON:

What if the police start hitting

you?

DAVE:

Why would the police start hitting

me?

SON:

What if they do?

DAVE:

I’ll duck.

MRS. DELLINGER

David. He watches the news.

DAVE:

Why?

MRS. DELLINGER

You taught him to!

DAVE:

Guys. I’ve organized a hundred

protests. This one isn’t going to

be any different in that it almost

certainly won’t work. The police-

MRS. DELLINGER

I’m not worried about the police.

And I’m not worried about Hayden

and Rennie Davis. I’m worried about

Hoffman and Rubin.

6.

DAVE:

It’s the Democratic National

Convention, honey, every camera in

America is gonna be pointed at it

and Daley isn’t gonna let his city

become a theater of war. And

Hoffman and Rubin are geniuses...in

their own special way.

MRS. DELLINGER

Oh Jesus-

DAVE:

(re the SON)

He’s got a Scout meeting tonight at

7.

SON:

Dad-

DAVE:

If the police try to arrest me I’ll

do what I always do and what I’ve

taught you to do, which is what?

(beat)

Which is what? Tell me, bud.

SON:

Very calmly and very politely-

13 INT. BLACK PANTHER HEADQUARTERS -NIGHT 13

BOBBY:

F*** the motherfuckers up.

BOBBY, 32, is talking to his girlfriend, SONDRA, and getting

ready to leave. We’ll get a tour of Panther headquarters-printing

presses, maps, guns, body guards and women, a few of

them white.

BOBBY (CONT'D)

They leave us alone and

everything’s cool. They tangle,

disrupt, intimidate, they play it

fast and loose with the First

Amendment-

SONDRA:

Robert-

BOBBY:

--they start breaking heads, then

no, we will not be on our way.

7.

We ID BOBBY with a chyron-

Bobby Seale

National Chairman of the Black Panther Party

SONDRA:

You can’t give this speech in

Chicago.

BOBBY:

Fred Hampton wants me there.

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