Thirteen Days Page #19

ZORIN (CONT'D)

The chair recognizes the representative

from the United States.

And in that moment, Adlai becomes the spokesman for America.

ADLAI:

Well, let me say something to you, Mr.

Ambassador, we do have the evidence. We

have it, and it is clear and

incontrovertible.

Adlai's tone is definitive. A tremor of interest passes

through the various delegations.

ADLAI (CONT'D)

And let me say something else. Those

weapons must be taken out of Cuba. You,

the Soviet Union, have created this new

danger, not the United States.

INT. SITUATION ROOM - CONTINUOUS

EXCOM is transfixed by the continuing debate.

BUNDY:

Come on, Adlai!

They all crowd the T.V. as if it were a title fight. Except

for Bobby. Kenny glances over at him. He has the phone

pinned between his ear and shoulder. Kenny looks back to the

T.V.

INT. U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS - CONTINUOUS

Adlai fixes Zorin in his seat, his voice rising.

ADLAI:

Mr. Zorin, I remind you that the other

day you did not deny the existence of

these weapons. But today, again, if I

heard you correctly, you now say they do

not exist.

Zorin, headphones on, listens to his own translation, but

doesn't respond, acts bored. It gets Adlai's goat, and he

begins to lose his cool. A rumble from the U.N. The CAMERA

FINDS Adlai's hand SHAKING, gripping his pen.

INT. SITUATION ROOM - WHITE HOUSE - DAY

EXCOM is worried.

RUSK:

Come on, Adlai, don't let him off!

BOBBY:

John? It's Bobby. Get ready to send

your staffer in. He's going to be

coming out.

INT. U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS - CONTINUOUS

But Adlai's tremors are not tremors of fear. They are

tremors of anger. His voice goes hard and cold.

ADLAI:

All right, sir. Let me ask you one

simple question. Do you, Ambassador

Zorin, deny that the U.S.S.R. has placed

and is placing medium and intermediate

range missiles and sites in Cuba? Yes

or no - don't wait for the translation -

yes or no?

The diplomatic world GASPS as Adlai drops all pretense of

civility, all statesman-like grace.

INT. SITUATION ROOM - CONTINUOUS

EXCOM's excitement mounts. In the chorus urging Adlai on, we

find Kenny edge toward the screen.

KENNY:

Yeah. Yeah.

INT. U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS - CONTINUOUS

Zorin shoots Adlai a testy look.

ZORIN:

I am not in an American courtroom, sir,

and therefore I do not wish to answer a

question that is put to me in the

fashion in which a prosecutor puts

questions. In due course, sir, you will

have your answer.

There's laughter at Zorin's refusal to be bullied: but it's

nervous laughter, not the polite stuff of diplomatic tete-a

tete. The RUMBLE in the room grows louder.

ADLAI:

You are in the courtroom of world

opinion right now, and you can answer

yes or no. You have denied they exist,

and I want to know if I have understood

you correctly.

INT. SITUATION ROOM - DAY

EXCOM ROARS! Fists in the air! Bobby lets the phone dangle

a beat, covers it. And then he lifts it again.

BOBBY:

John, I'll get back to you.

He lowers the phone to the receiver. Kenny shoots him a

triumphant smile. The President looks at Kenny, shakes his

head, a big smile on his face.

INT. U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS - CONTINUOUS

Adlai presses on.

ADLAI:

And I'm prepared to present the evidence

in this room, proving that the Soviet

Union has lied to the world.

And Zorin cracks. He looks uneasily to his delegation. They

bend forward to consult. Adlai sits back in his chair,

draping his arms over its wings with the confidence of

someone who knows he's kicked ass.

Adlai looks around the room while he's waiting for his

answer, managing not to smile. The diplomatic world is

scandalized. At last Zorin regroups, lifts his head from his

huddle.

ZORIN:

If you do not choose to continue your

statement, the Chair recognizes the

representative from Chile.

The CHILEAN DELEGATE stands.

CHILEAN DELEGATE

I yield my time and the floor to the

representative to the United States.

The room explodes in laughter. Not just nervous any more,

not just polite. They're laughing at Zorin's parliamentary

ploy blowing up in his face.

Zorin's smile is gone, his smooth facade destroyed. And he

looks like the biggest fool in the world.

Adlai stares at the beet-faced man with disdain. At last,

Adlai stands, gestures to the door to the hall behind him.

The PHOTO INTERPRETERS come racing in with their briefing

boards.

ADLAI:

Well then, ladies and gentlemen, since

it appears we might be here for a while,

shall we have a look at what the Soviets

are doing in Cuba?

The Delegates RUMBLE in interest, rise from their seats to

approach Adlai.

INT. SITUATION ROOM - CONTINUOUS

EXCOM celebrates. Phones ring at several of the chairs at

the conference table. The President and Kenny meet as Bundy

picks up a phone in the b.g.

THE PRESIDENT:

Didn't know Adlai had it in him. Too

bad he didn't have this stuff in '52.

KENNY:

Zorin must not have gotten instructions.

Somebody in their Foreign Ministry's

blown it big-time.

Bundy steps forward, holding the phone.

BUNDY:

Mr. President...

Kenny and the President turn to see what they already have

heard in those two words: concern. The room falls quiet.

INT. FLAG PLOT - THE PENTAGON - CONTINUOUS

Phone in hand, McNamara paces at his post over the flag plot.

MCNAMARA:

...the ship is called Groznyy.

EXT. OCEAN, PUERTO RICO TRENCH - CONTINUOUS

The Soviet Tanker, Groznyy, breasts the heavy seas. Armed

CREWMEN race along the deck to makeshift sandbagged

emplacements in the bow.

MCNAMARA (V.O.)

We lost track of it yesterday at

nightfall. We thought we gave it plenty

of room when we moved the quarantine

line back. We just reacquired it.

The CAMERA PANS to the left, revealing a U.S. DESTROYER

racing up alongside a few hundred yards away, pounding up and

over the swells, punching up a huge fan of spray from its

bow.

INT. FLAG PLOT - THE PENTAGON - CONTINUOUS

MCNAMARA:

It crossed the line hours ago.

Admiral Anderson, on the phone on the level below, is tense.

ADMIRAL ANDERSON

Hail them again.

THE PRESIDENT (O.S.)

Keep us posted, Bob.

McNamara leans against the wall, closes his eyes in

exhaustion and stress. And when he opens the, we PAN AROUND

TO REVEAL:

A G-d-like view of the flag plot, covered with HUNDREDS OF

SHIPS, PLANES AND MARKINGS.

McNamara stares out at the bewildering tangle of symbols,

living men behind each one. Each tangle of red and blue

symbols a powderkeg. A G-dlike view indeed. And it is far

more than any one mere man could keep control of. And he

begins to realize it.

MCNAMARA:

We're kidding ourselves...

And not only that, in his bleary, sleep-deprived fog, he

begins to understand something happening down there.

The CAMERA MOVES over the enormous map, over the scrolling

cryptic numerology. THE BUZZ of radio communications bleeds

in from the background. The overhead platform swivels on its

motor, like the vast arm of some fate-writing god as the

Watch Officer on it updates the movements of the ships.

McNamara stares, at the verge of grasping something. Through

the door-crack of genius, he has the glimpse of some grander

thing, some grander design.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes