Donnie Brasco
DONNIE The electric bill… I can’t get over it… The fucking ‘B’ didn’t pay the fucking electric bill!
CUT TO:
INT. DAY. HOSPITAL
Maggie convalesces — her wounds have begun to heal and she’s no longer intubated, although her eyes are still bandaged. Jules enters, sits down beside her. Takes her hand.
JULES It’s Jules, Maggie.
MAGGIE I could hear your cheap shoes all the way down the hall.
JULES How’re you feeling?
MAGGIE Scared. Alone.
JULES Did you see Joe?
MAGGIE You mean did Joe see me?
JULES The ‘B’ wants him to come out.
MAGGIE He’ll never come out.
JULES You don’t believe the shit that comes up. I have to argue with them that he hasn’t gone over to the other side.
MAGGIE Joe? He wouldn’t have the imagination. I wish he’d become a gangster — at least we could pay our frigging bills.
JULES Maybe you could talk to him.
MAGGIE Do you know what this is about, Jules? This is about a promotion.
JULES I talked to him about that.
MAGGIE Not from you — from them. He wants to be a made guy.
CLOSE ON — JULES
as he hears this… He knows that this has gone too far.
MAGGIE For years I tried to figure out what made Joe tick. And then I finally figured it out — there’s nothing ticking. He’s got his rules and he’s gonna live by his rules. The job is the job. Start what you finish. When he’s in the FBI he wants to be the best and when he’s in the Mafia he wants to be the best — like it’s all some frigging basketball game. (disdainfully) Men.
JULES Maggie… Maybe this is none of my business, but —
MAGGIE Don’t worry — I’m not gonna leave him. I didn’t have him when I had him. Now that it’s almost over I’m goddamned if I’ll let someone else have him.
CUT TO:
INT. NIGHT. LEFTY’S APARTMENT
Christmas decorations, and a tree. Lefty watches a NATURE PROGRAM on TV. A leopard moves stealthily…
NARRATOR (O.S.) …Cloaked by the high grasses of the African savanna, the stalking leopard moves stealthily…
Louise enters with Donnie.
LOUISE Bennie, Donnie’s here.
NARRATOR (O.S.) …Separated from the herd, the gazelle senses danger…
Lefty RAPT in his easy chair…
LEFTY Bennie loves animals.
ON THE SCREEN
The leopard charges… Teeth tear at the gazelle… And soon the leopard and her family feed on a bloody carcass.
NARRATOR (O.S.) …Hunter and hunted, predator and prey — the endless cycle of nature, repeated once again…
LEFTY Mino! You see that?
LOUISE I’ll be inside if you need me.
LEFTY We’re going out, Louise.
Louise exits inside. SATISFIED, Lefty snaps off the show with his REMOTE CONTROL. Turns to Donnie.
LEFTY They found Bruno. He’s shacking up with a broad down City Island. On a boat.
He opens up a drawer. Takes out a GUN. Loads it with bullets…
LEFTY You know what this means, don’t you? You’re gonna get straightened out. You become a made guy, Donnie, you can lie, you can cheat, you can steal, you can whack out whoever you want and it’s all completely legitimate. Being a made guy’s the greatest thing in the world.
Lefty reaches into the drawer. Hands another gun to Donnie.
CLOSE ON — DONNIE
as he looks at the gun in his hand.
CUT TO:
EXT. NIGHT. MARINA CITY ISLAND
Donnie and Lefty sit and wait in Donnie’s Cadillac. Lefty smokes.
DONNIE Maybe he ain’t gonna show.
LEFTY He’ll show.
DONNIE I’ m just saying — maybe we should forget about it, pop him tomorrow night.
LEFTY We can’t pop him tomorrow night, for your information. Tomorrow night we got the wake for Big Trin.
DONNIE I forgot.
LEFTY Fuggedaboudit — it’s better this way anyway. Wait when nobody’s around.
DONNIE’S POV
of the deserted marina…
DONNIE That’s some boat this broad has.
LEFTY Fuggedaboudit. There’s one thing I know, it’s boats.
DONNIE What is that — a hundred grand?
LEFTY Donnie — Where’d you get that boat down in Florida?
DONNIE I told you. That was this girl I used to see down there, it’s her brother’s.
LEFTY What’s her name?
DONNIE Florence.
LEFTY Florence what?
DONNIE’S POV
In the distance, a TRANS AM pulls up near the boat they’re watching, Bruno emerges. Locks his car. Climbs onto the boat…
DONNIE C’mon, that’s him.
LEFTY Florence what, Donnie?
DONNIE Hey, Left — what do you care, Florence what? Florence Italy.
LEFTY Donnie — why do you want to lie to me, Donnie? Did I ever lie to you once all these years about the time of day?
DONNIE I’m not lying.
LEFTY How many fucking times did I have you over for dinner at my fucking house? You fucking rat bastard —
DONNIE Hey, Left — that’s the problem? Are we gonna whack this guy or what?
LEFTY I went on the fucking record with you, Donnie. You could walk on the street and punch any man in the mouth because I stood up for you.
DONNIE What is the fucking problem?
Lefty reaches in his pocket. A piece of paper, folded, torn from “Newsweek”. The headline:
ABSCAM: FBI ‘SHEIKS’ STING CORRUPT LAWMAKERS
Beneath the headline, a PHOTO of the “sheiks” partying on a yacht — “THE LEFT HAND”. Donnie looks up from the article. Sees
A GUN
in Lefty’s hand.
LEFTY That’s a fucking Federal boat, Donnie. That’s our boat.
DONNIE Hold on a minute, Left. The boat with Trafficante? That ain’t the same boat.
LEFTY Don’t tell me that ain’t the same boat, Donnie! That’s a fucking Federal boat! That’s a Taiwan-made boat, there’s only five like that in the world.
DONNIE I really don’t think that’s the same boat, Left.
LEFTY Lookit that. You see that? ‘The Left Hand.’ That’s like my name.
DONNIE Maybe her brother’s a fucking agent. How would I know? I thought he was in real estate.
LEFTY Ain’t the question, Donnie. You still ain’t answered me why we’re fucking on a fucking Federal fucking boat!
DONNIE You’re right, Left. I’m a fucking rat.
LEFTY You’re a rat?
DONNIE I met your girls. I talked to Tommy for you I don’t know how many fucking times. I don’t know how many times I had dinner with you and Louise. I lived with you, Left — partners. Five fucking years, I ever had a hundred bucks in my pocket, I gave you half. And the whole time I was a fucking rat. You’re right.
