Thelma and Louise Page #16

Louise sees the lights in the rearview mirror. LOUISE'S POV

OF THE SPEEDOMETER at 100 mph. Thelma is asleep.

LOUISE:

Sh*t! Thelma, wake up! Sh*t! We're

gettin' pulled over!

Thelma jumps awake.

THELMA:

What! What! Oh sh*t! Oh no!

They are trying not to panic. They are slowing down, but

still doing 70 mph. The patrol car is right behind them.

THELMA:

What do we do? What do you want to

do?!

LOUISE:

I don't know! Sh*t! Let's just

play it by ear. He may not know.

He may just give me a ticket.

THELMA:

Please, God, please don't let us get

caught. Please, please, please...

Louise pulls the car off the road. The patrol car pulls up

right behind them. The lights shine brightly in through the

windows.

EXT. SIDE OF DESERT HIGHWAY - DAY

PATROLMAN (O.S.)

Turn off your engine.

Louise does. The PATROLMAN gets out of his car and approaches

their car. He comes to the driver's side window. It is

rolled up.

PATROLMAN'S POV OF LOUISE smiling up at him. He gestures to

her to roll her window down. She does.

LOUISE:

Hello, Officer. Is there a problem?

PATROLMAN:

You wanna let me see your license,

please?

Louise fumbles in her purse for her wallet, opens it and

shows her license.

PATROLMAN:

You wanna take it out of your wallet,

please?

LOUISE:

Oh yeah.

She does and hands it to him.

THELMA:

I told you to slow down. Hell,

Officer, I told her to slow down.

LOUISE:

About how fast was I going?

PATROLMAN:

About a hundred and ten. You wanna

step out of the car, please?

They walk to the back of the car. He notes the license plate

number.

PATROLMAN:

Is this your car?

LOUISE:

Yes.

PATROLMAN:

You wanna come with me, please?

Walk around and get in the car,

please.

LOUISE:

In the back?

PATROLMAN:

Front.

LOUISE:

Am I in trouble?

PATROLMAN:

As far as I'm concerned, yes, ma'am,

you are.

Patrolman gets in the driver's side. He picks up a clipboard

and clips Louise's driver's license to it. He picks up the

hand mike for the radio and, as he does, a hand with a gun

comes in his car window. It's Thelma and she puts the gun

to his head.

THELMA:

Officer, I am so sorry about this.

Could you let go of that?

He drops it.

THELMA:

I really, really apologize, but please

put your hands on the steering wheel.

See, if you get on that radio, you're

gonna find out that we're wanted in

two states and probably considered

armed and dangerous, at least I am,

then our whole plan would be shot to

hell. Louise, take his gun.

Louise reaches over and takes his gun.

LOUISE:

(apologetic)

I am really sorry about this.

THELMA:

I swear, before yesterday, neither

one of us would have ever pulled a

stunt like this. But if you ever

met my husband, you'd know why I

just can... You wanna step out of

the car, please?

(she opens the door

for him)

You wanna put your hands on your

head, please? Louise, shoot the

radio.

LOUISE:

What?

THELMA:

Shoot the radio!

Louise SHOOTS the car radio. The cop flinches with each

shot.

THELMA:

The police radio, Louise! Jesus!

Louise fires TWO SHOTS into the police radio. It BLASTS all

to hell.

THELMA:

You wanna step to the back of the

car, please. Louise, bring the keys.

Louise reaches over and takes the keys. She takes her license

off the clipboard. She gets out and trots around to the

back of the car.

Thelma is holding the gun on the Patrolman. Suddenly Thelma

FIRES the gun, blowing two holes into the trunk cover.

THELMA:

(to Louise)

Open the trunk.

Louise opens the trunk.

THELMA:

(to Patrolman)

You wanna step into the trunk, please?

PATROLMAN:

Ma'am, please... I got kids... a

wife...

THELMA:

You do? Well, you're lucky. You be

sweet to 'em. Especially your wife.

My husband wasn't sweet to me and

look how I turned out. Now go on,

get in there.

As he's climbing into the trunk, Thelma explains to Louise:

THELMA:

Air holes.

He's all the way in and Louise closes the trunk.

INT. PATROL CAR - DAY

Thelma opens the glove compartment. She takes a box of spare

ammo and closes it. Thelma takes the keys and gets out of

the car. She walks around to the trunk.

EXT. PATROL CAR - DAY

THELMA:

(to trunk)

Sorry!

LOUISE:

(from her car)

Sorry!

Thelma hops into the car with Louise. They look at each

other.

LOUISE:

Ready?

THELMA:

Hit it.

Louise pulls the car back onto the road and they drive away.

INT. CAR - DAY

THELMA:

(shaking her head)

I know it's crazy, Louise, but I

just feel like I've got a knack for

this sh*t.

LOUISE:

I believe you.

EXT. CAR - MONTAGE DRIVING SHOTS - DAY

They are in really beautiful country now.

THELMA (V.O.)

Drive like hell.

INT. THELMA'S KITCHEN - MORNING

Hal and Max are alone in the kitchen. Hal switches on the

Mr. Coffee.

MAX:

It's just not working like this. We

gotta do something. It'd be one

thing if these girls were hardened

criminals, but Jesus, Hal, this is

makin' us look bad. I don't know...

maybe they're not movin'. Maybe

that little creep lied.

HAL:

He's got nothin' to gain by lyin'.

Nothin' at all. He already got all

their money. I just don't know what

we're dealin' with here. Anyway, it

went out again last night on

Nationwide Teletype. Let's just

wait it out a little longer. She

said she was gonna call back. Let's

just sit tight.

MAX:

We don't have a whole lotta choice,

do we? I can't figure out if they're

real smart or just really, really

lucky.

HAL:

It don't matter. Brains will only

get you so far and luck always runs

out.

A cop walks into the kitchen and hands Hal a file that says

Louise Elizabeth Sawyer on the outside. He opens it up and

starts looking through a personal history. One piece of

paper is a case file from Texas containing an incident report

of a rape. Stamped across it are the words "charges dropped."

INT. CAR - DAY

THELMA:

Louise... are we still going to

Mexico?

LOUISE:

Yes.

Thelma pauses while she searches for the logic.

THELMA:

Then aren't we going in the wrong

direction?

LOUISE:

Well, I figure if you take a state

policeman, shoot up his car, take

his gun and lock him in the trunk,

it's best to just get on out of the

state if you can.

THELMA:

Just asking.

They are both quiet for a second. Louise goes a little

faster.

Thelma is digging through her bag. She hands Louise a piece

of beef jerky.

LOUISE:

I don't want to see any more beef

jerky. I mean the next beef jerky

you hand me is going out the window.

It's drivin' me crazy. The whole

car smells like it.

THELMA:

It's good. It's what the pioneers

ate.

LOUISE:

I don't care what the damn pioneers

ate. You just keep that sh*t away

from me, now I mean it.

Thelma puts down her bag.

LOUISE:

And I don't want any more Wild Turkey,

either. It's burning a hole in my

stomach.

THELMA:

Okay, okay... I've got some tequila.

You want some tequila?

LOUISE:

You do?

THELMA:

Yeah, you want it?

LOUISE:

Yeah.

Thelma starts to dig through her bag again.

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