The Trial of the Chicago 7 Page #18

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Not unless you can demonstrate to

me, which you have not thus far

done, that this witness-

KUNSTLER:

Yes sir.

KUNSTLER gathers himself, then says quietly to the COURT

REPORTER-

KUNSTLER (CONT'D)

(quietly)

Are you any good?

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Are you addressing the Court

Reporter?

KUNSTLER:

(quietly)

Keep up with us..

128.

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Mr. Kunstler.

Like a speed drill-

KUNSTLER:

(to CLARK)

Is this prosecution politically

motivated?

SCHULTZ:

Object!

CLARK:

Yes.

KUNSTLER:

President Nixon inherited an

unpopular war?

CLARK:

Yes.

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Step down please, Mr. Clark.

CLARK:

And your clients are making it more

unpopular every day.

KUNSTLER:

The administration’s paranoid about

the SDS, the MOBE, the New Left?

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Mr. Clark, please.

(beat)

Please, I’ll be forced to find you

in Contempt. You understand.

CLARK:

(pause)

I do, Your Honor.

KUNSTLER:

(pause)

Thank you, sir.

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

You may step down.

CLARK gets up, shares a look with KUNSTLER, and exits...

129.

KUNSTLER:

Your Honor, when the jury returns,

will they be informed that the

defense had called the former

Attorney General but that the Court

ruled he couldn’t testify?

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

No, that motion will be denied.

KUNSTLER goes back to his table. Then he absently picks up a

heavy law book and SLAMS it on the table with a BANG.

JUDGE HOFFMAN (CONT'D)

Cite Mr. Kunstler with his third

count of Contempt.

DAVE:

(quietly)

You’re a thug.

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Did one of the defendants speak?

DAVE:

(standing)

I did. I said you’re a thug and you

are.

TOM:

(quietly)

Dave-

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Please sit, Mr. Dellinger.

DAVE:

If we’re guilty, why not give us a

trial? If we’re-

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Marshals, seat the defendant.

DAVE:

If we’re guilty, as you clearlydecided-

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Watch yourself.

DAVE:

--decided we were a long time ago-(

to a MARSHAL)

You don’t need to grab my arm.

(MORE)

130.

DAVE (CONT'D)

(to JUDGE HOFFMAN)

If we’re guilty, then why not give

us a trial? I’ve sat here for six

months and watched you-

(to a MARSHAL)

I’m asking you not to grab-

But A DIFFERENT MARSHAL grabs him. DAVE throws his arm off,

then punches him in the face, sending the MARSHAL to the

floor.

It all happened too fast.

The GALLERY and the DEFENDANTS jump up as the MARSHALS jump

up as DAVE’s taken down by the other MARSHALS then dragged to

his feet with his arms twisted behind him.

JUDGE HOFFMAN:

Take him outa here. Lock him up!

As DAVE gets handcuffed, he looks to the back of the

courtroom where his young son is looking at him.

DAVE:

(calling)

I hit him. I’m sorry.

The MARSHALS have him out the door.

163 INT. CONSPIRACY OFFICE -NIGHT 163

The DEFENDANTS--minus DAVE--are sitting around the

entryway...dejected.

The PHONE RINGS...JERRY picks up the receiver and hangs up.

JERRY:

There’s only one thing--one thing

to do. Solidarity with Dave.

Tomorrow we go into court and get

ourselves arrested.

TOM:

We’re already arrested.

JERRY:

(pause)

Is Bill talking to you about taking

the stand?

(beat)

(MORE)

131.

JERRY (CONT'D)

Some of the press guys are sayingBill’s been talking to you about

taking the stand.

TOM:

He’s been talking to me about it.

JERRY:

He thinks you might get the crowd

worked up with a position paper?

TOM:

Maybe he thinks I won’t try to get

the crowd worked up at all. Maybe

he thinks there are jurors who’ve

relied on the safety of the police

and are put off when someone calls

them pigs. Or maybe he just wants a

witness who dresses like a grown

man.

JERRY:

The cops in this city in the summer

of 1968 were pigs.

TOM:

I wonder how many of them have kids

in Vietnam.

JERRY:

(to ABBIE)

He’s gonna take the stand, not you?

(beat)

We’re okay with that?

ABBIE’s lost in thought...

JERRY (CONT'D)

Abbie!

ABBIE:

(to TOM)

What did you mean the last thing I

want is to end the war?

TOM:

(long pause)

What?

132.

ABBIE:

Like...50 years ago when the trial

started you said, “Why did you come

to Chicago?” and I said, “To end

the war”, and you turned to

everyone and said, “The last thing

he wants is to end the war.” What

did you mean by that?

TOM:

I meant that you’re making the most

of your close-up.

ABBIE:

Yeah?

TOM:

No more war, no more Abbie Hoffman.

ABBIE:

What’s your problem with me,

Hayden?

TOM:

I really wish people would stop

asking me that question.

RENNIE:

Hey, Dave wouldn’t want us to

fight.

ABBIE:

Answer it. One time.

TOM:

Alright. For the next 50 years,

when people think of progressive

politics, they’re gonna think of

you. They’re gonna think of you and

your idiot followers passing out

daisies to soldiers and trying to

levitate the Pentagon. They’re not

gonna think of equality or justice,

they’re not gonna think of

education or poverty or progress.

They’re gonna think of a bunch of

stoned, lost, disrespectful, foulmouthed,

lawless losers. And so

we’ll lose elections.

ABBIE:

All because of me.

133.

TOM:

Mm-hm.

ABBIE:

And winning elections, that’s the

first thing on your wish list?

Equality, justice, education,

poverty and progress--they’re

second?

TOM:

If we don’t win elections it

doesn’t matter what’s second and

it’s astonishing that someone still

has to explain that to you.

There’s a long silence...

RENNIE:

(pause)

Okay, so Jerry was talking about-

ABBIE:

(quietly)

We don’t have any money.

TOM:

I’m sorry?

ABBIE:

We don’t have any money. So I stage

stunts and cameras come,

microphones come. And it’s

astonishing that someone still has

to explain that to you.

TOM:

You’re trading a cow for magic

beans.

JERRY:

That ended up working.

TOM:

What?

JERRY:

The magic beans. There was a giant

up there. I can’t remember what

happened after that, the little boy

may have gotten eaten.

134.

FROINES:

No, the giant turned out to be

nice.

JERRY:

Are you sure?

FROINES:

No.

WEINER:

It’s almost hard to believe the

seven of us weren’t able to end a

war.

ABBIE:

(to TOM)

Lemme ask you something.

RENNIE:

You guys should just shake hands.

ABBIE:

You think Chicago would’ve gone

differently if Kennedy got the

nomination?

TOM:

Do I think-

(laughs a little)

Yes, it--yes. The Irish guys would

have sat down with Daley and--yes.

ABBIE:

I think so too.

TOM:

Yeah.

ABBIE:

That’s why I was wondering--weren’t

you just a little bit happy when

the bullet ripped through his head?

(beat)

No Chicago, no Tom Hayden.

TOM looks at ABBIE for a moment in stunned disbelief, then

lunges at him-

TOM:

I WAS ONE OF HIS PALLBEARERS!

Everyone immediately reacts-

135.

ABBIE:

(pushing him off)

That’s right!

(beat)

We’re not going to jail because of

what we did, we’re going to jail

because of who we are. Think about

that the next time you shrug off

cultural revolution. We define

winning differently you and me.

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