Five Television Plays (David Mamet) (15 page)

How do you make the negative
positive?
How do you, how can you learn to take enjoyment in a job which is, which is for the most part
not
glamorous, but
repetitive.
Which involves paperwork, repetition, care . . . in which your accomplishments are not
dramatic
. . . ? When your job is standing on surveillance for twelve hours a day week after week . . . when you find the name you thought was the hot suspect died six months before the crime . . . when the case you worked a year on is thrown out of court . . . I'm speaking to you not as children now, but as men; because you have done us the compliment of coming here today to see the way we live . . . We are here to enforce the law. To serve and protect a populace in need of service and protection.

(
Angle: The back of the squad room.
B
ATES
and two other officers listening to the lecture, behind the Boy Scouts. Camera pans back to frame
H
ENRY
G
OLDBLUME,
as he continues to speak.
)

It
is
their
will, the will of the people, expressed in the laws of the city, and the regulations of the department, that controls our life. The bad cop straining against that will, he bends the law, he flaunts the rules of the department, and his life in the force is an unhappy one—because this man forgoes the one, the
only
constant satisfaction he could
have—the satisfaction of doing his duty. (G
OLDBLUME
clears his throat, shifts down to the next page. He prepares to continue speaking.
)

EXTERIOR: LOG CABIN IN THE WOODS. DAY.

The station wagon.
J
ABLONSKI
and
R
ENKO
by the front door, waiting.
H
ILL
comes around the back.

H
ILL:
All locked.

R
ENKO:
Well,
dang
it all, man, why'd those Staties pull us over . . . ?

H
ILL
(
to
J
ABLONSKI
)
:
Can we catch up with your guy, get the keys . . . ?

J
ABLONSKI:
No
,
he's gone.

H
ILL:
Where'd he, where would he usually
hide
the keys?

J
ABLONSKI:
I don't know . . . this is my first time
here . . .

H
ILL:
You've never been here before?

J
ABLONSKI:
The man's my landsman from the old days at Polk, he says “use my cabin” . . .

R
ENKO:
Gentlemen: I think the
correct
answer here is: break in. (
Beat.
) We will break in. We will
unlock
the doors. Prior to leaving we will
seal
the window over with wood, and leave your friend ample funds to reglaze the window. (
To
J
ABLONSKI:
) Your
sap,
please.

(J
ABLONSKI
hands him a sap.
R
ENKO
walks over to the house, breaks in a window, climbs in.
)

J
ABLONSKI:
Now
,
the thing is: chop
wood . . .

H
ILL:
Chop wood. For . . . ?

J
ABLONSKI:
For to heat the
house,
my friend, for we are in the
country
now.

(R
ENKO
opens the door of the cabin from the inside.
J
ABLONSKI
and
H
ILL
walk over to the front door.
)

R
ENKO:
Well, your friend at Polk's doing some
well
for himself.

(
Camera follows
H
ILL
and
J
ABLONSKI
into the cabin which is sumptuously furnished with plush rugs, electronic equipment, heads of game. The men stand looking at it for a moment.
)

J
ABLONSKI:
Well, we're just going to have to take the Bitter with the Better. Let's get unpacked.

H
ILL:
Stan, does this mean no chopping wood . . . ?

(R
ENKO
settles down into a leather sofa.
)

R
ENKO:
Man, I may not
go
hunting tomorrow. I may just stay here and order
up
a deer.

(J
ABLONSKI
closes the front door.
)

J
ABLONSKI:
Well, break out the cards and let's get into this
"weekend"
!

INTERIOR: HILL STREET STATION. GOLDBLUME'S OFFICE.

He is tidying up some last minute papers. Hurrying into his hunting jacket.
B
ELKER
accosts him as he leaves.

B
ELKER:
Lieutenant.

G
OLDBLUME
: I am not here. I am going hunting . . .

B
ELKER:
I was just going to wish you Good Shooting.

G
OLDBLUME:
Thank you.

(
Camera follows him out of his office and through the squad room as he mutters to himself.
)

G
OLDBLUME
(
sotto
): Eight hundred Boy Scouts . . . girl whose
boyfriend
won't make love to her . . .
overtime . . .

(B
UNTZ
calls to him across the squad room.
)

B
UNTZ:
You
shoot
’em, Lieutenant, cause they'd do the same to you!!!

(G
OLDBLUME
waves. He passes the front desk. Leaves some papers on the desk. As he goes out, the
Y
OUNG
W
OMAN
whose boyfriend would not make love to her enters. She points at
G
OLDBLUME.
)

Y
OUNG
W
OMAN:
That's the man. That's the man that raped me.

(
Beat.
G
OLDBLUME
sighs. Starts for the door.
)

He raped me in his office. I came here for
help.
I. . . is no one listening to me? I want to file a report!!!

(
The action in the squad room stops. Everyone turns to look at
G
OLDBLUME.
Beat.
G
OLDBLUME
starts taking off his hunting jacket. Comes back into the squad room.
)

INTERIOR: SUMPTUOUS HUNTING CABIN. EVENING.

Classical soft music on the stereo. A fire in the huge fields tone fireplace.
J
ABLONSKI,
H
ILL,
and
R
ENKO
playing poker at a huge, oak-slab table.

J
ABLONSKI:
Two cards.

H
ILL
(
dealing
): Two cards . . .

R
ENKO:
Similarly . . .

H
ILL:
T
WO
cards for the man, and the dealer takes
one . . .

R
ENKO:
. . . frontin’ off as usual.

H
ILL:
And time will tell. And, Stan, I believe that it is your bet.

(
Sound of a key in the lock. All heads turn.
)

(
Angle point of view: The front door of the cabin opening. A man and a woman come in, necking furiously. Hold on the necking.
)

(
Angle: The men at the poker table, looking on.
)

(
Angle: The necking couple maneuvering themselves, entwined, toward the couch and the men at the table looking on for a long time. Finally
R
ENKO
clears his throat. He clears his throat again.
)

R
ENKO
(
to
J
ABLONSKI
)
:
Is that your guy???

(J
ABLONSKI
shakes his head.
)

J
ABLONSKI:
Sir . . . ?

(
The necking man looks up. Beat. He jumps back away from the disheveled, half-clothed woman. He starts dressing himself.
)

G
UY:
What are, you, who are, what you doing here . . . ?

(
The
G
UY
starts trying to get a hunting rifle off of its moorings on the wall. The cops stand.
)

H
ILL:
It's, it's, hold on, we're police officers ...!!! HOLD IT!!! HOLD IT!!!

(J
ABLONSKI
and
H
ILL
are fumbling out their badges. The
G
UY
continues to try to get the rifle off the wall.
R
ENKO
takes out his revolver and holds it up.
)

R
ENKO:
I said hold it, for God's sake:

(
Beat. The
G
UY
puts down the rifle.
)

Now, who are you?

G
UY:
Who are
you?

J
ABLONSKI:
We're friends of John Swoboda.

(
Beat.
)

G
UY:
And who is John Swoboda?

(
Beat.
)

H
ILL:
Uh, is this John Swoboda's cabin?

G
UY:
No
,
it is not. It's
my
cabin.

H
ILL:
And you are . . . ?

G
UY:
Who
I
am, it's none of your
business
who I am. You're in my home . . . what did,
you're police
officers . . . ???

R
ENKO:
Yessir.

G
UY:
Well, then I think that you'd better
give
me your names and badge numbers.

J
ABLONSKI:
Um, urn, sir, could I
talk
to you a moment . . . could I talk with you a moment, please?

(J
ABLONSKI
goes off to the corner, leaving
R
ENKO,
H
ILL,
and the disheveled young woman. Beat.
)

R
ENKO:
We are
awful
sorry to have, as it seems we have, broken
into . . .

H
ILL:
None of us have
been
here before, and we'll certainly . . .

R
ENKO:
Any
damages
that . . .

J
ABLONSKI:
Pack it up, lads, and let's move on. We want the next cabin down.

(H
ILL
and
R
ENKO
hurriedly assemble their belongings and apologize themselves out of the door.
)

H
ILL:
We're incredibly sorry.

R
ENKO:
An honest misunderstanding, any damages, we'll certainly . . .

(
Camera follows the three men out of the door, foodstuffs, rifles, hunting gear in their arms. They go over to the station wagon and they put their stuff in the station wagon. They start to drive down the dirt road.
)

H
ILL:
How did you talk us out of that . . . ?

J
ABLONSKI:
Guy had a wedding ring on, the woman did not. (
Beat.
)

R
ENKO:
I
thought
he didn't kiss her like the two of them were married.

J
ABLONSKI:
So it seems we're
all
of us going to forgive and forget.

H
ILL:
So if we got the wrong place, then how is Henry going to find us?

R
ENKO:
And where is
our
hunting lodge . . . ?

(
The car pulls up outside a hovel.
)

(
ANGLE EXTERIOR: THE HOVEL. Dark against the night sky. It is a falling down shack. The men get out.
)

J
ABLONSKI:
Does anybody want to chop some wood . . . ?

INTERIOR: INTERROGATION ROOM. NIGHT.

G
OLDBLUME,
still in hunting clothes. The
Y
OUNG
W
OMAN,
an
I.A.D. O
FFICER,
a
L
AWYER.
G
OLDBLUME
getting up from his seat.

L
AWYER:
I'm very sorry.

G
OLDBLUME:
Not at all, not at all.

Y
OUNG
W
OMAN:
I just don't know, I don't know what happened to my life . . .

(
She starts to cry.
G
OLDBLUME,
the
I.A.D. O
FFICER,
and the
L
AWYER
exit.
)

L
AWYER:
I'm sorry to have emb . . .

G
OLDBLUME:
No
,
you didn't embarrass me . . . It's just . . .

L
AWYER:
I'm sure that nothing will come of it . . .

G
OLDBLUME:
Nothing will
come
of it? The woman's loonier than . . .

I.A.D. O
FFICER:
Lieutenant Goldblume was in a glass-walled room with this woman for something under five minutes. In
full
view of . . .

G
OLDBLUME:
Look: I'm on my day off.

(
He takes out his wallet. Takes out a card.
)

Whatever the thing is, let's talk about it, if we
have
to talk about it, next
week.