Blow
DEREK (CONT’D) What can I do for you guys?
GEORGE We want some grass.
DEREK I know what you want. But, first of all, are you cops?
GEORGE No.
DEREK Because if you are, you have to tell me. If not, it’s entrapment.
GEORGE We’re not cops. We’re from Massachusettes. I mean, does he look like a cop?
DEREK I guess not. Okay. You know, you’re very lucky you’re friends of Barbie’s. If you weren’t, I’d never talk to you.
Derek pulls a television-sized brick of quality marijuana out from under a sink and sets it down in front of George.
GEORGE What the fuck is that?
DEREK It’s your grass.
TUNA Wow. That’s more than we had in mind.
DEREK I don’t nickel and dime. You want it or not?
George and Tuna look at each other.
GEORGE We’ll take it.
EXT. MANHATTAN BEACH – 1968 – DAY
SERIES OF SHOTS
Summer on the beach. It’s one big party. George and Tuna are on the beach. They are the new kings. They smoke pot and drink brews. George and Barbara get close as do Tuna and Maria. Slowly, George’s clothes and hair start to look better, cooler.
George and Tuna hanging out with the SURFERS.
George and Tuna hang with Barbara, Maria and SOME GIRLFRIENDS in bikinis.
George and Barbara hang together at the life guard stand.
George and Tuna on the strand with HIPPY PROFESSORS selling half-ounces.
Derek, Tuna, George, Barbara, Maria and the Elves play volleyball.
Barbecue at Belmont Shores apartment with George, Barbara, Derek, Tuna, Maria and different Elves.
George and Tuna sell half-ounces to BIKERS.
Derek is having a party out of a mini-van in the beach parking lot. George, Barbara, Tuna and Maria are there.
EXT. MANHATTAN BEACH – 1968 – SUNSET
George and Barbara sit by the water, watching the waves crash into the sand. The sky is streaked with purple and red.
GEORGE This is it for me.
BARBARA What is?
GEORGE Just everything. You. California. The beach. This spot right here. I feel like I belong here, you know? It just feels right.
BARBARA You happy, baby?
GEORGE Yeah. I am.
EXT. WORKSITE – WEYMOUTH – 1966 – DAY
The worksite is busy. George is amongst other workers, working a summer job. As George is taking five, he looks across the sight to Fred, who is sweeping up debris. A long way from being the boss.
INT. COLLEGE ADMISSIONS OFFICE – WEYMOUTH – 1966 – DAY
George stands in line to register for college, wearing his Brooks Brothers suit, bowtie, and freshly Bryllcreamed hair. The room is crowded and the line is long. Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” blares out of one of the kid’s transistor radios. George looks around the room. He is uncomfortable. He catches his reflection in the shiny glass partition and stops. He doesn’t like what he sees. Something is not right. He looks like everyone else. Same cookie-cutter hair, same cookie-cutter clothes, same cookie cutter faces. He’s a carbon copy.
REGISTRATION WOMAN Next.
It’s George’s turn but he doesn’t hear it. “Twenty years of schooling and they put you on a day shift.” The words hit him like a tone of bricks as he continues to stare at his own reflection.
GEORGE (V.O.) I was standing there, and it was like the outside of me and the inside of me didn’t match, you know? And then I looked around the room and it hit me. I saw my whole life. Where I was gonna live, what type of car I’d drive, who my neighbors would be. I saw it all and I didn’t want it. Not that life.
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE – WEYMOUTH – 1966 – DAY
George sits with Fred. It’s breaktime and Fred eats from a lunch box.
GEORGE There’s something out there for me, Dad. Something different. Something free form, you know? Something for me, and college just isn’t it.
FRED That’s too bad. You would have been the first one in the family.
GEORGE I know.
FRED Alright. You want me to get your old job back? Because I could, you know, I could put in that word.
GEORGE No, Dad. I don’t want to…I mean, I just don’t want…
It’s obvious to Fred that his son doesn’t want to be like him.
FRED What are you going to do?
GEORGE I’m going to California.
EXT. BELMONT SHORES APARTMENT – 1968 – DAY
SUPERIMPOSE: MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIFORNIA 1968
George and Tuna, now 21-years old, struggle with their bags. Their new place is a tackily furnished, two-story apartment with small balconies and a view of the ocean. As George and Tuna struggle with the bags, two California beauties appear on the balcony next door: BARBARA BUCKLEY, 20, and MARIA GONZALES, 21.
GIRLS You guys need some help?
George and Tuna share a look.
TUNA I don’t know about you, but I think we’re gonna like it here.
EXT. MANHATTAN BEACH – 1968 – DAY
SERIES OF SHOTS
Barbara and Maria introduce George and Tuna around to the Manhattan Beach regulars. They are immediately accepted despite their ill fitting shorts and Tuna’s unhip black socks. The beach scene is one big party. Lots of beer, music, bikinis, and good times. By the end of the day, George and Tuna have a hundred new friends.
GEORGE (V.O.) California was like nothing I’d ever experienced. The people were liberated and independent and full of new ideas.
GEORGE (V.O.) (CONT’D) They used words like “right on,” “groovy,” and “solid.” The women are all beautiful and seemed to share the same occupation.
WOMAN #1 I’m a flight attendant.
WOMAN #2 I’m a flight attendant.
WOMAN #3 I’m a flight attendant.
The weed comes out and is passed around. Pipes. Joints. Bongs. In SLOW MOTION, Barbara takes a huge hit of grass, grabs George’s face, french kissing him, and giving him a huge shotgun.
INT. BELMONT SHORES APARTMENT – 1968 – DAY
George and Barbara are sleeping late. Their bodies intertwined beneath the sheets. A slam of the front door wakes them up. It’s Tuna.
TUNA Hey, wake up. Come on, you two lovebirds. Hurry, I want to show you something.
George and Barbara shake cobwebs out and stumble into the kitchen to find Tuna holding a brown paper shopping bag.
TUNA (CONT’D) Figured it out.
GEORGE Figured what out?
TUNA You know how we were wondering what we were going to do for money? Being how we don’t want to get jobs and whatnot? Well, check this out.
Tuna takes the paper bag and empties its contents on the kitchen table. It’s a grey mound of stocky, seedy marijuana.
Barbara examines the reefer.
BARBARA Tuna, this is crap.
TUNA I know it’s not the greatest. It’s commercial.
BARBARA It’s garbage.
GEORGE It’s oregano. You got ripped off, pal. What are you gonna do with all this?
TUNA We sell it. I got it all figured out. We make three finger lids and sell them on the beach. We move all of it. We’ve made ourselves a hundred bucks. Or a lot of weed for our head. What do you think? Not bad, huh? I got the baggies and everything.
BARBARA You can’t sell this to your friends.
TUNA Man. Fuck you guys. I have this great idea and you guys have to be all skeptical.
BARBARA Look, if you really wanna score some dope, I got the guy.
EXT. THE WHIPPING POST – MANHATTAN BEACH – 1968 – DAY
George, Barbara and Tuna stop outside the front door.
GEORGE Are you sure this guy is cool?
BARBARA You’ll see for yourself.
TUNA A beauty parlor for men? Sounds pretty queer.
They walk in.
INT. THE WHIPPING POST – MANHATTAN BEACH – 1968 – CONTINUOUS
George, Tuna and Barbara enter. The Whipping Post is California’s first male hair salon. George looks around at the customer’s being pampered. Haircuts, pedicures, manicures.
GEORGE Nothing like this back home.
