Hard Street (2)
Angel Obregon

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET (DAY)

Total Gridlock. It's an oil painting. There are trucks
double-parked both sides of the street. There are steam
shovels and bulldozers and garbage trucks parked
diagonally in all directions.

The cars that can move are afraid to try. There are kids
on skateboards and beggars in wheel chairs. Everyone
cursing and honking and nobody moving.

CUT TO:

INT. CAB (DAY)

DENVER
Everything but dancing mice.

CUT TO:

CARTOON: Mickey Mouse x 5, arms over each other's
shoulders and doing a Zorba soft-shoe.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET (DAY)

WORSE. Now there ambulances with shrieking sirens,
there are cop cars and intricate multi-car accidents,
from out of nowhere there are 18-wheelers wedged
solid and unable to complete a turn.

CUT TO:

CARTOON: Minnie Mouse doing a fiery flamenco.

CUT TO:



20

INT. CAB (DAY)

Denver leans out the window and sings in the most
horrible cracked voice imaginable

DENVER
Sometimes I ask the Lord up above
Why must I be a teenager in love?

CUT TO:

CARTOON: The mice scatter.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET (DAY)

Gridlock breaks. Denver floors it and takes off.
For a cab, it's got great acceleration.

INT. CAB (NIGHT)

THREE WHORES IN BARBARELLA COSTUMES leap into the cab.

WHORE#1
Get us out of here!

DENVER
You got it.

He takes off.

WHORE#1
No, go around the block. I've got to
find my wife-in-law.

DENVER
Your wife?

WHORE#1
Wife-in-law.

WHORE#2
It mean they got the same pimp, sugar.

The cab careens around a corner.

WHORE#1
(yelling out the window)
Squad's coming.

CONTINUED

21

CONTINUED

FOUR MORE WHORES jump into the cab.

DENVER
Alright, let's get out of here.

WHORE#1
Go up the next block. SQUAD!

They do. THREE MORE WHORES jump into the cab.
It looks like a basket of kittens back there.
Denver floors it, but the cab will barely move.

Three cops cars rush up with lights and sirens going.
They box the cab in. ONE COP gets out and walks up to
the drivers window.

DENVER
(deadpan)
Hello.

COP#1
Your off duty sign is on, your meter
is down and you're overloaded.

DENVER
That's true.

COP#1
Tell them to get out of the cab.

DENVER
I won't do that.

COP#1
Tell them to get out of the cab!

He pulls his gun and points it at DENVER's ear.
Ordinarily, courage is fun, but the gun kind of
spoils it. Denver looks miserable.

DENVER
I won't do that.

COP#1
(to the whores)
Out of the cab.

WHORE#1
Joe!
CONTINUED
22

CONTINUED

But they get out, all of them screaming in a
different language.

A SECOND COP comes up to the driver's window.

COP#2
(furious)
You're going to follow us in and we're
going to search you and every inch of
this cab.

CLOSE UP of DENVER's .38 peeping out from under
his jacket.

CLOSE UP of Denver leaned back and smoking,
very calm and very miserable.

THE GIRLS are screaming at THE COPS. COP#2
looks back at Denver.

COP#2
You still here, I told you to get
out of here!

Denver takes off.

INT. CAB (NIGHT)

A BEAUTIFUL BLACK WHORE uncoils herself from the foot
well to the right of the driver's seat. She could not
possibly have fit in there.

She smiles at Denver as if they shared a secret.

DENVER
How'd you do that?

WHORE#3
Practice, Honey. Let's get out of here.

DENVER
But where?

WHORE#3
Just drive. I've got money.

DENVER
This early?

CONTINUED

23

CONTINUED

WHORE#3
Yeah, a pusher did a deal and came
down here to celebrate. I lifted
his wallet. That's what the cops
were about.

DENVER
How do you know I won't kill you
for it?

WHORE#3
A sweet white boy like you?, you
wouldn't take money from a woman.

DENVER
Thanks, that makes me feel just great.

WHORE#3
Want me to suck you?

DENVER
No, thanks.

WHORE#3
It's free.

DENVER
Why would you want to do it for free?

WHORE#3
I don't know, I guess I'm a little bored.

DENVER
No, thanks. I'm married. I don't have
any to spare.

WHORE#3
You're not married.

DENVER
No, but I have obligations.

WHORE#3
Park by the river, Sugar, and stop
talking shit.

CUT TO:

THE SAME
CONTINUED
24

CONTINUED

They're parked by the river. The girl has her
head on his shoulder. They're both smoking.

The meter says $37.25.

DENVER
I'm turning into a woman. I mean, I
think like a woman. They don't live in
the same world we...I do. Their world
is ruled by magic and superstition.

WHORE#3
Men too.

DENVER
Not in the same way. In their world
things happen by a different kind of
causation.

WHORE#3
Kiss me.

Denver opens the glove compartment and hands her a bottle
of mouthwash, a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste.

WHORE#3
That's sweet, Sugar, but it don't cure
AIDS.

DENVER
(dangerously calm)
You should have told me.

WHORE#3
Why, Sugar? We're not going to live
long enough to die of AIDS.

DENVER
Yeah.

WHORE#3
You have 2 copies of that script?

DENVER loses it.

INT. TAXI TRAILER RALLY ROOM (BRIGHT)

CLOSE UP of a meter being slammed down on the counter.
POV pulls back.
CONTINUED
25

CONTINUED

ARUBA
You're in early. Slow out there?

DENVER
Not really.

Aruba puts the meter on a shelf and the keys on a hook.
He makes some marks on a chart.

ARUBA
You still got that script, Nomonhan?

DENVER
I still got all of them.

ARUBA
Give me two copies of that. There are
some people I want to show it to.

The TV is on showing some navy war movie

V.O.
Battle stations! This is not a drill!

DENVER
Who?

ARUBA
I meet more people than you do.

Denver takes two scripts out of his shoulder bag and lays
them on the counter. Aruba looks surprised.

DENVER
I always carry a couple in case I get
a producer in the car.

He walks out and Aruba watches him sorrowfully. Aruba
looks guilty enough to hang without a trial.

CU of Denver

POV pulls back to show him at a cocktail party.
Everyone else is belligerently elegant. Denver
is still dressed as a cab driver.

The effect is surreal enough to be a dream. A
PARTICULARLY OFFENSIVELY ELEGANT JOCK walks over.

CONTINUED
26

CONTINUED

JOCK
I don't believe we've met.

He sticks out his hand and Denver shakes it, but
the JOCK doesn't let go. He grips DENVER's hand
with both of his like a hit man's assistant.

JOCK (continuing)
Just who was it invited you to the party?

DENVER
The story of my life. It's the title
of a story I had in the Paris Review.

JOCK
You're the writer!

He lets' go of Denver then doesn't know what to do with
his hands. He's about to wipe them on his pants, but
decides that would be rude.

DENVER
And who are you?

JOCK
Mr. Hildebrandt's attorney.

DENVER
The way he does business, he must keep you busy.

JOCK
Well, I don't know. I haven't had that
much contact with him personally. I'm
only one of his attorneys.

DENVER
Say it.

JOCK
Well, he's an intellectual and he's a film
maker, but he's not a businessman.

DENVER
Say it.

JOCK
Well, personally, I find it easiest to
do business with people who are pretty
far to the Right.
CONTINUED
27

CONTINUED

JOCK (continuing)
And that has very little to do with
their politics. It's just that, if
they're to the Right, you always
know where they stand: They're to
the Right.

And they're always on time and they
pretty much meet their obligations
and do pretty much what they say
they're going to do.

So, for the most ordinary kinds of
practical reasons, I find it easiest
to do business with people who are
very far to the Right. But Hildebrandt
isn't to the right. He's more of a liberal.

DENVER
Gotchya!

JOCK
Oh, do you happen to have some extra
copies of that script.

Denver stares at him.

INT. TENEMENT KITCHEN (ART SCHOOL PUNK)

The room is clean as department store window.
Denver sitting at the kitchen table with his
best ex-friend, DAVID. David's wife, ROXY,
unobtrusively serves coffee and then goes
back to reading Howard the Duck.

DAVID
You got to stop this shit, you're
going to drive yourself crazy. It's
supposed to set you free but it turned
into a trap just like everything else.
You never think or talk about anything
else. Heroin is healthy compared to this.

DENVER
I know.

DAVID
It didn't work. Give it up.

CONTINUED
28

CONTINUED

DENVER
Then there's nothing to do but wait to die.

DAVID
That's up to you. Become a serial
killer. You won't be bored again
for a very long time.

DENVER
Cant argue with logic like that.

DAVID
Do you have AIDS?

DENVER
No, why?

DAVID
I figured, all those whores.

DENVER
I never paid for it in my life.
I look like I have AIDS?

DAVID
You're awfully pale.

DENVER
It's the night job.

DAVID
All he wanted was one rewrite.

DENVER
It's always just one more rewrite and
the months go by. Ten rewrites later
you're left with something very close
to the first draft. It's clear that
you're being run in circles and you
press him to make a decision and he
says he's cancelling because you've
been completely uncooperative. It's
a trap for children. He wont sign a
contract so I know he's full of shit.
He wants me desperate, that's all.

DAVID
Why would he do that?

CONTINUED

29

CONTINUED

DENVER
They like to.

DAVID
You sell it, you going to get me
a job?

DENVER
Doing what?

DAVID
Storyboards.

DENVER
You never did one in your life,
anyway, that's advertising.

DAVID
Then get me a job in advertising.

DENVER
I don't know anyone in advertising
anymore. If I knew anyone in advertising,
I wouldn't be driving a cab.

DAVID
All I'm asking you to do is try.

DENVER
Everytime I show your portfolio to someone,
I lose a friend.

DAVID
You never showed it to anyone.

DENVER
Like Pugliese, the art director at Y&R. We went
to Ohio State together. He thought I was a
genius. I was his idea of an artist. I showed
him your portfolio, he never spoke to me again.

DAVID
You never showed it to him.

DENVER
He opened your portfolio, he threw up;
he fucking could not believe it. It was
all quick sketches of girls in coffee
shops you did 20 years ago.
CONTINUED

30

CONTINUED

DENVER (continuing)
That's how you apply for a high powered

advertising job?

I didn't know you were that crazy. And
they're all dirty and faded and limp as
Kleenex. I dont usually consider suicide,
I'm not the type, but he keeps turning
the pages and saying: There's nothing
there, there's nothing there. Every 2nd
year art student in the city draws better
than you do and I didn't know what I was
supposed to do.

DAVID
It didn't happen. You never showed it to him.

DENVER
That how you stay sane?, believing that no on

has seen your portfolio? Everyone has seen it
and no one wants any. New York is full of
people like you, clutching a short story they
wrote at 18, some quick sketches they did when
they were 12. They haven't done anything in 20
years, but they're all great artists who never
had a chance. It's night of the living dead
out there.

DAVID
You're lying. It didn't happen.

DENVER
Right.

DAVID
And you owe me.

DENVER
It feels like I do, yeah. If I sell
the thing, I'll pay you off in cash,
not by giving you a job you're not
qualified to do.

DAVID
Give me two copies of the script.

Denver stares at him.
CUT TO:

31

INT> DENVER'S APARTMENT (MORNING)

DENVER wakes. sits up in bed and swings his feet
onto the floor. The cats stretch and yawn and
make for the food bowl. They're frantic as kids
at a rock concert. Except for JANE CAT who is
still on the bed and frowning at him.

DENVER is looking at JANE CAT who is looking at him.

DENVER
If you've been thinking of changing
into a beautiful woman and were
trying to choose the right moment,
this is it.

JANE CAT
You should have said something sooner.

And a BEAUTIFUL WOMAN hands him a cup of coffee.

INT. LAWYER'S OFFICE (LUSH)

DENVER
The problem is, he's going to steal it.

LAWYER
Does he know it's copyrighted?

DENVER
It's in big letters on the title page.

He points to the script: NOMONHAN by Denver Wilkes
and in the lower left hand corner: Copyright 1999.

LAWYER
Then why would he do a stupid thing like that?

DENVER
He made his money making kiddie porn
and snuff movies, he thinks he can get
away with anything. He may be right.

LAWYER
I dont understand.

DENVER
Why should you?

LAWYER
I meant: Why would he bother?
CONTINUED

32

CONTINUED
DENVER
Oh, if he can buy the Palme d'Or at
Cannes and he can, then suddenly he's
no longer a creep, he's just one more
avant garde film maker who got his
start in porn.

LAWYER
I still don't see the problem.
You wait until the movie comes out,
you sue him and you win.

DENVER
Won't work. He's multinational, he
moves money too easily. I'll be
chasing him across continents and
down through the generations, but
I'll never collect.

LAWYER
Then don't give him the script.

DENVER
That's dignified, but a little dull.
Suppose I wait until the movie's made,
but before it's released. Can I get
court injunction that he can't sell
it to a distributor unless he pays
me first? Can I do that?

LAWYER
Sure, if you can prove your authorship,
but without the movie you've got nothing
to prove your authorship of.

DENVER
Subpoena a script.

LAWYER
If he is as agile as you say, he'll
submit a script that has nothing to
do with the movie. And we can't prove
he's lying until after the movie is
released and then, as you say, it's
too late.

DENVER
Subpoena a final cut.

CONTINUED


33

CONTINUED

LAWYER
Now, you're being silly. Do you want be to
list all the reasons why it won't work?

DENVER
Suppose, I bring in a video of the film and
hand it to you, Could you get the injunction?

LAWYER
(rubbing his chin like Lionel Barrymore)
Yes, but how are you going to get a
copy of the film?

DENVER
Easy, I'm fucking his wife.

LAWYER
I like the case so, I'll give you a
discount on my usual rates. This will
involve court actions in three
different countries, America, Germany
and Japan, correct? I'll need $15,000
to start with, payable at once

DENVER
Isn't that unusual?

LAWYER
Yes, it is, but it's the only way
I can collect because you're going
to get killed.

DENVER
I'd like a receipt.

Denver pulls out $15,000 in cash.

CUT TO:

EXT. EMPTY LOT (NIGHT)

It's piled with rotting garbage. In the middle of it is
the corpse of WHORE#3 with her neck broken.

CUT TO:





34

EXT. STREET (DAY)-FLASHBACK IN BLACK AND WHITE

Denver parks on Gay Street in Greenwich Village and walks
up to a painfully expensive house. There is a grotesque
neon sign over the door. It says:

JOACHIM von HILDEBRANDT PRODUCTIONS

DATE OVER: APRIL 1, 1999

NICK, A GIGANTIC SERBIAN BODYGUARD opens the door.
This is a flashback. I'm doing something illegal
here: I'm bringing in the back story as it's needed
and that isn't in linear order. So, I need to flag
the flashbacks by doing them in black and white or
something similar.

DENVER
Hello, Nick.

NICK
(horrified)
You do business with the boss?

DENVER
Here to ask a favor.

NICK
Even worse.

INT. HIDEBRANDT'S STUDY (SEEDY)---BLACK AND WHITE

DENVER
There are writers who can write and
writers who can plot, very few who can
do both. And I can write a little but
I can't plot at all. I've told the few
good stories I know and they've been
circulated everywhere and are
effectively dead. I'd like to do
adaptations, but that's impossible as
long as no one knows I'm here.

HILDEBRANDT
Why don't you do adaptations of
historical incidents because that way
the material is unlimited.

DENVER
But historical movies have been
suicide for 20 years.
CONTINUED

35

CONTINUED

HILDEBRANDT
Oh, stop trying to win the Hollywood
lottery, you'll drive yourself crazy.
Write for cable. It 's not much
money, but it's easy and they
love historical incident.

CUT TO:

INT> TRAILER IN THE TAXI YARD (NIGHT)--
FLASHBACK WITHIN A FLASHBACK.

DENVER is playing a board game with VLAD. It's the
Strategy&Tactics war game of the battle of Nomonhan,
what the Russians call Khalgin Gol. VLAD is wearing
a Helmet and holding an AK-47 to get in the mood.
DENVER is wearing a fatigue cap with the Rising Sun
on it and holding a samurai sword. They both have
a crazy dignity.

CUT TO:

INT> HILDERBRANDT'S STUDY (THE SAME)

DENVER
Have you ever heard of Nomonhan?

HILDEBRANDT
No.

DENVER
That's alright, it's one of the battles
that the Russians remember and
the Germans dont.

POV pulls back to show HILDEBRANDT'S WIFE,
TROUTE, watching them from several rooms
away. They continue to talk, but their
voices can't be heard.

She rushes upstairs and changes her clothes:
frothy black underwear, into a black leather
mini-skirt with a wide corset-like belt, high
heeled black boots that come to above the knee
and black leather gloves to above her elbows.


CONTINUED


36

CONTINUED

She picks up a copy of the German edition of
VOGUE, folds it length wise and clutches it
tightly under her left breast to prop it up.
She prances down stairs just as Hildebrandt
is walking Denver to the door.

HILDEBRANDT
I must congratulate you. New material
on WWII isn't easy to find. The same
few types of stories have been told
over and over until you think that's
all there is. This one is very different.

But it is a German story on a German
theme so German subsidies should be
automatic. Berlin subsidies alone
amount to 60%.

We should break even on the presale
to West Deutsche Rundfunk. After that,
everything is pure profit. Theatrical
release in America may be possible,
but it doesn't matter, there's no
way to lose.

DENVER
I'll have the script in three days.

HILDEBRANDT
No rush. Take a week if you like.

He leaves Hildebrandt at the door. Troute walks by.
Hildebrandt nods to her, expressionless as she walks
past and follows Denver out.
POV FOLLOWS TO:

EXT. TOWNHOUSE BACKYARD (NIGHT)---BLACK AND WHITE

TROUTE
Wait.

She walks up to him and puts her right hand on his ass.

TROUTE (continuing)
I've been wanting to talk to you, but
I was ashamed. I made my deal, I married
him, I took a full scholarship through
life, you must feel contempt for me.

CONTINUED

37

CONTINUED

Denver looks around nervously. Hildebrandt is clearly
visible through the living-room window. He's pretending
not to watch them. Denver takes her arm and pulls her
out of sight into darkness. She trots along willingly.

DENVER
This is not the way to go about it.

He looks at the gleaming leather, the shiny magazine and
suddenly looks embarrassed. She pulls away from him and
pirouettes.

TROUTE
Lisl said that you like shiny things.
She said it's the most civilized thing
about you. Is this alright?

DENVER
You're fine.

She walks back to him and puts her hand back on his ass.

Copyright © 1999 Angel Obregon
Published on the World Wide Web by "www.storymania.com"