Donnie Brasco
Donnie holds the Nagra in his hand. The SOUNDS of the murder as it plays…
BOOBIE (O.S.) (on tape) Help me…
Then the CRUNCH as Donnie tackles him. Donnie rips the tape out of the Nagra, throws it in the sink. BURNS it.
CUT TO:
INT. DAY. THE MOTION LOUNGE
Donnie watches “The Today Show” on the TV over the bar. The guys plan gin.
JOHN PALMER (O.S.) …In other news an FBI sting has resulted in the arrests of over 100 state and Federal officials…
ON THE SCREEN
Surveillance images of FBI “SHEIKS” dressed in flowing caftans… Then the image cuts to VIDEO of the same “sheiks” partying with CONGRESSMEN on a docked YACHT…
PALMER (O.S.) …Known as ABSCAM, it was the largest such operation in the Bureau’s history…
Donnie peers more closely at the TV.
CLOSE ON — THE STERN
with the name “The Left Hand” emblazoned on it.
SONNY Donnie, pull up a chair.
Donnie takes a last look at the TV. Joins Sonny, Nicky and Lefty at the card table as Nicky shuffles the cards.
NICKY (to Donnie) You know how to keep score?
A moment of recognition that BOOBIE’S GONE.
CUT TO:
EXT. DAY. PISTONE HOME
Donnie mows the grass. Row after precise row. RAKES the clippings into identical, evenly spaced PILES. Fills up TRASH BAGS, piles them neatly on the curb.
IN THE DRIVEWAY
A STATION WAGON parked next to Maggie’s CORVETTE. Donnie notices that the station wagon is filthy. RUNS a finger through the dirt on the hood.
DONNIE CLEANS
the pile of TRASH in the well of the car — McDonald’s wrappers, Tampax wrappers, a copy of Mademoiselle, a lipstick, a basketball… DUMPS it. Pulls out the ASHTRAY. Something that makes him suspicious…
DONNIE RUBS THE ASHES
between his fingers. RECOGNITION… He DIGS into the space between the seats. Finds a quarter. A paper clip. And then:
A SEED
CUT TO:
INT. DAY. PISTONE HOME
Terry stumbles down the stairs in her bathrobe, half-asleep. She hears Donnie CRASH inside, and something tells her it’s about her.
ABOUT FACE into the bathroom…
IN THE LIVING ROOM
Donnie hears the bathroom door upstairs CLICK, locked. Turns as Maggie enters from the kitchen.
DONNIE Where’s Terry? She still asleep?
MAGGIE I think so. What’s the matter?
DONNIE Asleep. Perfect. Asleep at 12 noon. It all fits the profile.
MAGGIE What profile? Joe, you’re scaring me.
DONNIE The twelve warning signs. Our daughter Terry is a drug user.
INSIDE THE BATHROOM
Terry listens by the door.
TERRY Shit.
BACK IN THE LIVING ROOM
as Donnie counts off the “warning signs” of drug addiction.
DONNIE Oversleeping. Short attention span. Hostility to authority. Binge eating —
MAGGIE That would apply to every teenager in America.
DONNIE Don’t tell me my business. Do you know what this is?
He holds out the marijuana seed. Maggie peers at it.
DONNIE This is a marijuana seed.
MAGGIE Where did you find that?
DONNIE Maggie, I am an FBI agent. That’s who I am. I am out there risking my life, 18, 20 hours a day, weekends, Christmas —
MAGGIE You don’t have to tell me, Joe.
DONNIE Well, what do you think I’m doing it for? I am spending my life to put away the guys that make money off this shit, and I’m damned to hell if I’m gonna have it in my house.
MAGGIE You know, Jules called me this week. Do you know they’re looking for you?
DONNIE Don’t change the subject.
MAGGIE I’m not changing the subject. You’re the subject, Joe. You’re becoming like them.
DONNIE I’m not the fucking pothead.
MAGGIE You don’t see it.
Donnie turns, heads up the stairs, Maggie following.
DONNIE Geddadaheah. Go weigh yourself or something. Sleeping Beauty and I are going out to the woodshed.
MAGGIE In my next life I’m gonna marry a Jewish doctor.
DONNIE In the fucking car that I make the payments on, in the fucking driveway of the house that I pay the fucking mortgage on — a goddam marijuana seed —
MAGGIE (defiant) How do you know it isn’t mine?
Donnie stops a beat. RAGE drumming up inside him, rage that CRESCENDOES as he
SMACKS HER BACKHAND
She looks up at him. Not hurt. But devastated. Donnie moves to comfort her, to apologize… Maggie SMACKS HIM BACK.
Then storms out of the house. Donnie BROODS, looks up to the landing as Sherry and Kerry come out from their rooms. From outside, SOUNDS of Maggie as she SLAMS into her Corvette and zooms out of the driveway, engine ROARING and tires SQUEALING…
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. DAY. HOSPITAL
Donnie BANGS through swinging doors, past ORDERLIES in white coats, his face tight with anxiety, his skin green in the cold fluorescent light.
AT THE DESK
He bulls past two waiting GUESTS, accosts the NURSE.
DONNIE I’m looking for my wife. Mrs. Anderson. Maggie Anderson. She was in an accident? I’m her husband.
The Nurse gives him a form on a clipboard.
NURSE Here you go. You’re Mr. Anderson?
DONNIE Where is she?
NURSE Only the immediate family is allowed in ICU. Do you have a driver’s license?
He gives her his driver’s license.
DONNIE Is she okay?
NURSE Excuse me. This says, ‘Donald Brasco’.
DONNIE Christ. Let me just see her. She’ll tell you who I am.
NURSE We can’t do that.
DONNIE If I could see her we could clear this whole thing up.
NURSE I’m sorry, sir. We need proof of ID.
DONNIE I need ID to see my fucking wife? I’m her husband! Who the fuck else would I be?
A DOCTOR, cold-blooded, 30s, arrives.
DOCTOR Mr. Anderson?
CUT TO:
INT. NIGHT. X-RAY ROOM
The DOCTOR shows Donnie the X-rays.
DOCTOR Collapsed lung. Broken wrist, collarbone. Multiple lacerations from the glass. The most serious injury was from her contact lenses — they smashed into her corneas. They’re torn up pretty badly. She may lose an eye.
