Under Fire

Can I get a ride?

Okay.

Hey, Pricey!

You tuna-sucking piece of raw meat,

get your ass over here.

Come on. Move over. Sit down here.

- How you doin'?

- Good.

Good to see you.

What the hell you going to Zambezi for?

I thought I'd get some great shots

of your head being blown to smithereens.

Smithereens.

Thought you were fighting

for the government.

I am. This is the government.

These are the rebels.

The f*** they are, man.

This is a government convoy to Calunda.

This is the Abou Deian

Revolutionary Front.

You're shitting me.

They'd be pissed off if they knew.

This is the dumbest motherf***er

I ever signed up for, man.

It don't even pay sh*t.

Nicaragua. That's the spot.

Cheap shrimp, lot of rays.

It's real thin in the spook department, too.

You dig me?

Price, you don't know

what you're doing up there!

But you better get

your ass down here, buddy!

Come on, man, get down here!

You're gonna get ripped to sh*t!

Oates, what the hell is this?

The U.S. government offers that house

to any Cuban pilot flying MIGs for the rebels

who chooses to defect to America

with a Russian jet.

But that's bullshit.

Yeah, we know that, but they don't.

See, they figure the Cubies are gonna go

straight for that swimming pool,

so they don't let 'em

anywhere near the Russian jets.

The rebels can't fly MIGs.

Pricey, that's the point.

They destroy their own air force.

I mean, it's an old scam,

but it's guaran-f***in'-teed.

Who is this? C.I.A?

Yeah. The smartest guys in the world.

I guess we found out

where the government is.

Yeah.

You can walk to work from here.

What a break.

- I guess I'll get going. Take care.

- Yeah.

Be careful.

I love Africa.

"And so this strange war

grinds into its seventh year.

"From N'djamena, Chad,

this is Claire Sheridan."

No, no, you didn't hear any music.

It must be the connection.

Okay. Yes, yes, yes. Goodbye.

Alex, don't play that goddamn thing

when I'm filing. We're late.

It's my party. We'll be late.

You called it a strange war

in an endless story.

You know, if you filed that story with me,

I would say you were editorializing.

Well, I like to editorialize.

You drunk?

Drunk?

Only with the memory of making love

to you on the plains of Fianga,

with the First Liberation Army

marching by and opening fire.

- And freed the proletariat?

- And freed.

I love you.

I'm going to the party without you.

I don't want to go to this stupid party.

I'm bad at false modesty.

- Come on, you're great at it.

- You're right. I am.

Alex, you're gonna make

a great anchorman in New York.

And undoubtedly I can win an Emmy

as a hostess, but I'm not going with you.

You could operate out of New York.

We could buy a place on Long Island,

burn our suitcases.

I still like suitcases.

I'm tired of memorizing who the President

of the Republic of Maldives is.

You tired of Third World wars?

No, I'm tired of Third World elevators.

Look... Wait.

Don't leave me.

I have to, Alex.

Oh, f*** Abou Deia and New York.

- I'm going to Nicaragua with you.

- No!

I hear it's a neat little war

and a nice hotel.

Hey!

Alex! Alex!

Come on! Yeah!

All right, I want you to know.

This is the man that hired me

for my first job.

And fired you from your first job.

And then hired me for my second job.

Some of you...

Some of you may be asking yourself,

"What am I doing here

in this strange war?

"Another chapter in an endless struggle

"that's grinding into its seventh year."

But who of us can forget the giant struggle

on the plains of Fianga?

The give and take, the lunging,

the parrying for position,

the jockeying around

knowing full well that...

Well, thank you very much. Look at this.

You beside me here beneath the blue

My dream of love is coming true

Within our desert caravan

Night and stars above are shining bright

Oh. Oh, excuse me.

I didn't know you were in here.

Yes, you did.

You were taking pictures of me

all over the room.

Well, you know...

I mean...

Geez, you look great.

Thanks.

Here.

This is for Alex.

That's lovely.

But I'm afraid it's not the best thing

you could give him right now.

Why not?

We just split up.

Who split up from whom this time?

- This time?

- Yeah.

This time I'm the villain.

I just thought it would be a lot cleaner

with me in Central America

and him in New York.

Did he shout about

burning your suitcases?

Yes.

You know,

I don't own any suitcases.

There's nothing to burn.

This is a great shot.

Yes, it is.

Rafael! Rafael! Rafael!

- Hey, Russel, how are you?

- Hey!

Welcome to Managua.

All right. Did you have

anything to do with that?

Well, I thought of calling your photographs

"The Pictures of a Lost War."

I'm great with captions.

New York editors loved it.

Especially since they didn't know

where in the hell Chad was anyway.

It kind of legitimized their ignorance.

You got your cover, I got a feature.

Packaged a class struggle

in three little words. Nifty?

Nifty, I say.

- I'm Russel Price.

- I'm sorry. This is Isela Cruz.

She works at the hotel,

also as a translator.

My pleasure.

Excuse me, my Spanish is not up to shape.

What did he say?

He said he considers it an honor

to be able to photograph our war.

Russel, he's got a real way with words,

hasn't he?

- I can tell.

- You're a hell of a translator.

I know. I'm much in demand around here.

Will you excuse me?

If you have any questions, just ask.

- Who's Rafael?

- Depends on who you ask.

Rafael? Comandante Rafael.

He is either a Marxist dupe

of Russia and Cuba

or the most popular leader

of a most popular democratic revolution.

- Take your pick.

- Hell of a face.

Would he like to be photographed?

You would never find him.

- Wanna bet?

- You would lose.

He's never been photographed.

Congratulations on your elephants.

Oh, thank you.

So far, Alex, this war

has the hell beat out of Africa.

You're gonna have a ball.

- Alex, come here! Alex!

- Hands off, okay?

I need a translator

much more than you do right now.

I thought you were

hanging in there with Claire.

Yeah, I'm hanging in there,

like an interim post-war government

waiting for the palace

to be overrun by younger men.

Younger men?

Yeah, Russel.

You know, I still only have

one major weakness.

- Oh, only one?

- Only one, yeah. I hold on to things too long.

I'm too loyal.

Okay, okay, Alex, listen.

Jody borrowed a hundred rials

from me in Tehran.

I owe 40 bucks to Dick since Christmas,

and he'll pay me in lira for a future in pesos.

Good rate. It's okay.

But you gotta pay Eddie the 50 you owe him

in dollars so I can square it with Chuck.

We got it all worked out in cash.

You take Nicaraguan?

But I'll go double or nothing with you

on the whole pile.

Okay. November 2nd, 1963.

Martin Luther King. I have a dream.

- Diem was assassinated.

- Oh, sh*t!

How'd you know that?

- Your first cover.

- First cover. Right.

- Thank you. Hey.

- Okay.

Moonlight in Vermont

Moonlight in Vermont

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes