Donnie Brasco
CUT TO:
EXT. DAY. SUBURBS
Three exuberant TOMBOYS play football on the front lawn of a modest split-level home: TERRY, 13, rebel in a hurry; KERRY, 10, the good girl; and SHERRY, 8, the baby.
Terry hikes the ball, drops back to throw…
A PASS
spirals up into the air… where it’s INTERCEPTED by Joe, who appears out of nowhere.
SHERRY Daddy, Daddy!
Joe feints, tries to dodge the girls… Then sidesteps…
JOE I’m out of bounds. Stop! This — look — this is out of bounds!
They tackle him anyway. Grab his legs till he TOPPLES in a laughing heap.
MAGGIE PISTONE, a pretty, strong-willed blonde in her 30s, emerges at the front door. SMILES at the scene. Then FROWNS as she realizes —
CUT TO:
INT. LATER. LAUNDRY ROOM
Joe stands in his suit jacket and boxer shorts while Maggie tries to remove the GRASS STAINS on the pants knees.
MAGGIE I swear to God, Joe, I have to spray you with Scotchgard every morning.
Joe embraces her from behind.
JOE What am I supposed to do? Terry tackles like her mother.
He gropes at her. She moves his hands off…
MAGGIE Illegal holding.
His hands go back to groping. She smacks them….
JOE Roughing the passer.
MAGGIE I suppose I should be grateful that it’s not blood stains, or powder burns. Like the old days.
JOE I got some good news today. We’re going back to Jersey.
MAGGIE You’re kidding! You got transferred?
JOE The kids can see their grandparents. Plus it’s GS-13. That’s two thousand more.
MAGGIE My God! When did this all happen?
JOE Just today.
MAGGIE What aren’t you telling me?
JOE Nothing.
MAGGIE I know enough about the Bureau that nothing happens this quickly, Joe. Especially if it involves a raise.
JOE Remember that guy I met at Quantico, that supervisor? Berada? Be asked for me. Safe and Hijackings, in New York.
MAGGIE But this is a desk job, right? (beat) I thought we agreed about you going back on the street again.
JOE This is different. It’s undercover.
MAGGIE What does that mean, undercover?
JOE Undercover. You know, undercover.
MAGGIE Will you come home at night?
JOE It’s a good opportunity.
MAGGIE Undercover in what?
JOE An FBI wife doesn’t ask, Maggie.
MAGGIE Will you be home on the weekends?
JOE It’s just six months.
MAGGIE You waited till this was all decided. You never asked me — you knew what I was going to say. What do you want from me, Joe?
JOE I want you to say, ‘It’s okay’. ‘It’s great’.
MAGGIE You finally got to headquarters and now you’re going back on the street.
JOE Don’t you understand? I buy a Brooks Brothers suit but there’s always a button that comes off or a stain that won’t come out — it’s like the suit knows I don’t belong in it. I sit in a room with Clarence and the rest of them and the only way I know something’s funny is when everyone else laughs. Everything, all day, it’s just (gestures) This much off.
MAGGIE You’re as smart as they are.
JOE I could be a fucking Ph.D. from Harvard and it wouldn’t matter — I cannot win. To do something that’s never been done, that they say can’t be done, that they can’t do — don’t you see? That’s the only way I’m ever gonna fit in with them. On my terms.
She looks at him. Smiles. She loves him for who he is, as frustrating as that can be. She embraces, kisses him.
MAGGIE Well, at least you warned me. Remember? ‘Maggie, if you marry me…
JOE (unison) …you’re in for a big adventure.’
They kiss again. And kiss. Joe kicks the door to the laundry room SHUT behind him.
CUT TO:
MONTAGE
— Present day. The CLOCK at FBI headquarters: 10:07. Hogue RIPS through the case file. A LETTER addressed to the Director of the FBI:
BERADA (V.O.) ‘To Director: Surveillance and informant contacts to date have been negative…’
— Joe is ushered through the fluorescent-lit warren that is the BULLPEN of the New York FBI office. Shakes hands with GUY BERADA, 50s, a Bronx bull with an unlit cigar.
BERADA (V.O.) ‘…regarding being able to penetrate the conveyance of stolen property by La Cosa Nostra…’
— Joe lines up at the DMV. FLASH! — his photo for a driver’s license.
Now he’s DONNIE BRASCO. The name types out:
D-0-N-A-L-D B-R-A-S-C-O
BERADA (V.O.) …UCA Joseph D. Piston utilizing the name ‘Donnie Brasco’…
— An FBI COMPUTER prints out a “yellow sheet” of his prior arrests for burglary — “a.k.a. DON THE JEWELER”…
— In the jewelry district, a HASIDIC JEW tutors Donnie, who looks at a diamond through a loupe… Donnie surveys a small APARTMENT with a REALTOR… Donnie opens a BANK ACCOUNT…
BACK TO PRESENT DAY
— Hogue reads down the BUDGET for the operation… Apartment… $491.60 Furniture… $ 90.30 Utilities… $ 35.00 Rental car… $220.00 Spending money $800.00
BERADA (V.O.) ‘…This would be accomplished by UCA frequenting locations listed below and attempting to engage in conversation and do business with said fences…’
FLASH BACK
— Donnie sits in Carmelo’s drinking club soda and watching basketball. At the other end of the bar, two TOUGH GUYS play BACKGAMMON…
DISSOLVE to another night, another game, another barstool —
CLOSER to the Tough Guys… On the backgammon board, as the pieces move closer to the goal…
DISSOLVE to another night, as Donnie moves closer to the
game… On the board again, as the pieces move closer…
DISSOLVE to another night, as Donnie moves closer… And
another… On the board, as the pieces move closer, and the hand moving them… belongs to Donnie.
— Donnie enters his apartment, sparsely furnished with a bed, TV, weight bench and weights… Gets on the phone…
STEVE BURSEY, 30s, Donnie’s wiry and wild-eyed CONTACT AGENT, on the “hello phone” at the FBI office in New York.
BURSEY (to phone) Hello?
CROSSCUTTING
Donnie at a PAY PHONE.
DONNIE (O.S.) Is this Bursey?
Bursey cradles the phone on his shoulder, TYPES…
BURSEY (V.O.) To the file: Contact with UCA on July 7, 1976…
BACK TO PRESENT DAY
— Hogue reviews SURVEILLANCE PHOTOS of Donnie in Carmelo’s… In the Rainbow Room.
BURSEY (V.O.) …UCA reported no significant contacts…
FLASH BACK
— Donnie in Separate Tables, a restaurant on Third Avenue…
BURSEY (V.O.) …no significant contacts…
— Donnie wanders the aisles at a drug store, searching for a GREETING CARD. Selects one. MATCH CUT to Maggie opening the same card.
Inside it reads, “MISS YOU, LOVE,” and NO SIGNATURE.
