Donnie Brasco
DONNIE Can’t I see her?
DOCTOR We’ll see if she stabilizes in a couple of hours.
CUT TO:
EXT. LATER. WAITING ROOM
Donnie sits, anxious. The girls sit alongside him.
KERRY We had a family meeting, Dad. You have to quit.
DONNIE Look, Mom’s gonna be okay.
TERRY This isn’t a democracy. This is a dictatorship.
KERRY A dictatorship of us.
DONNIE I know how you’re feeling. But it’s just —
SHERRY Just another six months.
DONNIE Maybe just a few more weeks.
KERRY Forget it, Dad. It’s the job or us.
TERRY End of discussion.
Kerry stares him down. Terry looks away. Donnie puts his arm around her. She shrugs it off.
CUT TO:
INT. NIGHT. INTENSIVE CARE
Maggie lies in bed, eyes BANDAGED, her face a web of GASHES. Wrist in a cast. A thick TUBE runs from a LUNG MACHINE into her mouth.
Donnie takes her hand. She holds his HARD.
DONNIE The doctor says you’re gonna be okay. We just have to get you into rehabilitation as soon as we can. You’ll be as good as new before you know it.
The lung machine whirs and wheezes…
DONNIE Maggie, listen to me, Maggie, because this is what it is. The minute I come out from under all these guys I’m with, they will all be killed — because of me. Because they trusted me. (beat) I gotta go back.
Maggie pulls her hand back. Turns away from him. He can tell she’s not buying…
DONNIE I have a chance here to become a made guy — an FBI agent a made guy in the Mafia. It’s gonna happen the end of the year. And then I’ll come out. Then it’ll all be over. You’ll have me for the rest of your life.
Maggie waves him away. Turns away from him. A NURSE enters and Donnie, with sadness but no regrets, exits.
CUT TO:
INT. NIGHT. LAGUARDIA AIRPORT
Donnie dials at a pay phone, cradles the receiver while it rings.
DONNIE Louise? It’s Donnie.
CUT TO:
INT. NIGHT. LEFTY’S APARTMENT
Louise on the phone in the kitchen.
LOUISE What is it — Tuesday? I haven’t seen him since Sunday. I thought he was with you.
CUT TO:
INT. SAME TIME. AIRPORT
Donnie pumps a quarter into the pay phone. Bursey picks up at the other end.
BURSEY (O.S.) Hello, Bursey.
DONNIE Look, I think that sitdown’s tonight. I can’t find Lefty.
BURSEY (O.S.) Why didn’t you go?
DONNIE Only made guys can go to a sitdown.
BURSEY (O.S.) So what do you want me to do?
DONNIE I don’t know. Listen to me — I’m worried.
CUT TO:
EXT. NIGHT. BIG TRIN’S HOUSE
Big Trin drives Philly Lucky, Sonny Red and Anthony Bruno in his big Lincoln.
SONNY RED All my fucking life I hadda be Sonny Red. Sonny Red and Sonny Black. I got upped. Then he got upped. Finally the night has come. Tomorrow morning I can just be ‘Sonny’. Not Red. The one and only. ‘Sonny’.
BRUNO Where you got the guns?
BIG TRIN Relax. They’re in the basement.
BRUNO The basement of your house?
BIG TRIN Hey, Sonny, my jacket’s losing its crease. Will you tell your kid to stop breathing on me?
BRUNO I wanna get there in time to set up.
Big Trin pulls into his driveway.
SONNY RED The sitdown’s in two hours. I waited my whole life, Bruno, you can wait two hours.
They climb out of the car. Philly Lucky stays put.
BIG TRIN What the hell’s wrong with you?
PHILLY LUCKY I ain’t going in your fucking basement. You got spiders all over that basement.
BIG TRIN He’s scared of spiders. What a piece of work.
PHILLY LUCKY Leave me the keys. I wanna play the radio.
Big Trin flips him the keys.
TWO WOODEN DOORS
alongside the house, leading down into the basement. With a groan, Big Trin bends, pulls them open. Flips a LIGHT SWITCH. On. Off.
Nothing.
BIG TRIN Shit. Bulb must be out. Watch your step.
Sonny Red and Anthony Bruno follow him down…
INSIDE THE CAR
Philly Lucky starts the car. Turns on the radio. Frank Sinatra sings “Nice Work If You Can Get It.” And PULLS AWAY.
DOWN THE STAIRS
go Big Trin, Sonny Red and Anthony Bruno, down into the dark, damp concrete and sawdust in their nostrils.
BIG TRIN Where’s that fucking flashlight?
BANG!
and the flash of a SHOTGUN firing. BANG! BANG! as shotguns EXPLODE. By the light of the flashes we see Sonny, Lefty and Nicky. BANG! And another flash. BANG! BANG! BANG!
Then a pause. Nicky reaches up, screws in the light bulb. Lights on. Revealing the blasted corpses of Sonny Red and Big Trin…
BRUNO
jumps out from behind a cabinet, RUNS out the door. Sonny wheels, FIRES. The stairs SPLINTER as the blast lands just under Bruno’s escaping feet. Lefty moves to chase him.
SONNY Fuggedaboudit, Left. We’ll give the contract to Donnie.
Nicky takes out a Hefty bag and a long-bladed BUTCHER KNIFE… Sets to carving up the bodies…
CUT TO:
INT. NIGHT. DONNIE’S APARTMENT
Carrying his mail, Donnie enters a DARK room. MOONLIGHT filters through the blinds. He closes the door. Flips the light switch.
NOTHING
Instantly, he falls into a fighting crouch, knife at the ready. His hand trembles with adrenaline. He moves with his back to the wall, straining to see into the black room.
TO THE KITCHEN
He pivots in a combat stance — nobody. Then pivots again. His free hand fumbles in the kitchen drawer. Finds a FLASHLIGHT. The beam SWEEPS across the room. Donnie moves on cat feet to the bathroom.
The shower curtains drawn shut. Donnie tears them back, THRUSTS the knife… Into air.
Donnie thinks a beat. Snaps the flashlight back on. Riffles through his mail. Rips open
THE ELECTRIC BILL
reads by the light of the flashlight DISCONNECT NOTICE: NON- PAYMENT OF BILL.
Donnie, a dimly-seen dervish of RAGE… He hurls the flashlight… Throws a chair and it SPLINTERS… Grabs the bar from his weight bench and starts to swing…
SMASH!
and an electric sizzle as the television implodes. Donnie drops the bar and throws a bookcase to the ground. PUNCHES at the wall… Again and again and again… Then sags to the ground… Weeping… Or LAUGHING…
