Public Enemies
K ARP IS
(SMILES) Well, we got a mail train we been lookin’ at, too.
DILLINGER Say, by the way, if someone got pinched here, who can get’em out real fast?
KARPIS Lawyer named Piquett. We all use him. (writes a phone number)
DILLINGER What about this train?..
KARPIS Needs two, three more months to set up. I need seven or eight real right guys to take it down.
(SMILES) Sounds like Jesse James.
(LOW) A million seven, a million eight. Dillinger looks at Karpis. In 2007, that would be $22 million.
KARPIS (CONT’ D)
Federal Reserve shipment. It runs only twice a month. This is the kind of score you go away on after.
DILLINGER Where you gonna go?
KARPIS Brazil. Cuba, maybe. What about you?
DILLINGER Were having too good a time today. We ain’t worryin’ about tomorrow yet…
KARPIS You ought to. What we’re doin’ here, don’t last forever. They lock at each other: two pros at the top of their game.
DILLINGER Keep me in mind on the train. Karpis leaves. Dellinger can’t see Billie anymore.
JA’ METER
(AGITATED)
Let’s snatch Bremer…
(LOUDER)
Know how much they made snatchin’ that Hamm Brewery guy? $250,000. Dillinger looks at Pierpont.
P IERPONT
Shut your yap, Homer.
MAKLEY Let’s get our of here. Pierpont, Homer and Makley leave.
DILLINGER Homer stayin’ steady?
HAMILTON (reading his mind) He’s okay.
DILLINGER Three rules I learned from Walter Dietrich. One: never work with people who are desperate. Two: never work with people who aren’t the best. Three: never work when you’re not ready. Billie reappears, dancing with a young man.
HAMILTON Well, I got rule four: stay away from women.
DILLINGER Without women, I might as well have `stayed in stir. Anna Sage approaches with a young girl for Red.
HAMILTON What’s why they invented whores. (getting up) Hamilton leaves, arms around the women. Dillinger keeps his eye on Billie. Music ends. Young man escorts her to her table. He tries to join her. She turns him down. Dillinger finishes his drink, approaches. He now sees how beautiful Billie is. She’s 5 foot 5. With a straight erect build, she stands out in any crowd. She looks Dillinger straight in the eye. Clear skin, dark eyes with humor playing about the edges. He unexpectedly starts to feel nervous. He gives her his best grin.
DILLINGER I don’t know what you said to your friend, but I sure am glad you did. Billie looks him over: a well-made man in a good suit with a great smile. And, paradoxes: he easily talks to women but he’s not a hustler. He’s young, but there’s a world of experience in his face. Open, but he’s holding something back.
DILLINGER (CONT’D) What’s your name?
BILLIE Billie Frechette.
DILLINGER Buy you a drink? Billie looks at her girlfriend, she nods, Billie rises… As they cross to the bar.
DILLINGER (CONT’B) Is that French?
BILLIE On my father’s side. There’s an “e” at the end. Do you have a name?
DILLINGER Jack Harris. Music changes to “Bye Bye Blackbird.”
BILLIE Do you dance, Jack?
DILLINGER I don’t know how. She smiles a pretty smile at him.
BILLIE How come you don’t know how to dance? Its easy. Follow me. This is a two-step. (he stares at her feet) Don’t look at my feet. Look at my shoulders. She stays an inch or two distant in his arms. Its slow and languorous. He follows her with little difficulty. He can smell the perfume in her black hair.
(SINGS) „Pack-up all my cares and woe Here I go, singing low Bye, bye blackbird”
DILLINGER My, but you are pretty.
CONTINUED: ( 5)
They look into each other’s eyes. He pulls her closer, wants to kiss her long smooth neck. He almost can’t resist… Their lips are an inch apart. And then she rests her cheek on his shoulder and the kiss that wasn’t hangs in the air around them. He whispers…
DILLINGER. (CONT’D) Where you from, Billie? She turns her right ear towards him. She’s deaf in her left ear.
BILLIE Flandreau.
DILLINGER Where’s Flandreau.?
(SINGS) “Where somebody waits for me Sugar’s sweet, so is she Bye, bye blackbird…”
BILLIE outh Dakota.
DILLINGER Father’s French, what’s on the other side?
BILLIE Italian.
DILLINGER From South Dakota, Indian’s likelier than Italian. She looks at him.
BILLIE My momma’s a Menominee Indian. But most men don’t like that…
DILLINGER I’m not most men.
BILLIE And I check coats at the Steuben Club. What do you do, Jack?
DILLINGER I’m catching up.
CONTINUED: ( 6)
BILLIE Catching up on what?
DILLINGER On life, meeting someone like you. (her hair) Dark, beautiful, like the black bird in that song… She laughs at the flattery. Holds his eyes a beat with an ironic look. A couple from another group looks at Dillinger. He’s cool. He returns the look. They look away.
DILLINGER (CONT`D)
Say, how’d you like some dinner?
BILLIE Sure. He nods courteously to her girlfriends, grabs her coat, puts a hand around Billie’s waist and steers her out…
(SINGS) “So make my bed and light the light Cause I’ll be home late tonight Bye, bye blackbird… .”
EXT. ARAGON BALLROOM – DILLINGER + BILLIE – NIGHT
in their coats on the street. It’s cold. Dillinger.pulls her close. Then he turns and he kisses her hard on the lips. She didn’t expect that. Her eyes are wide. He opens and wraps her in his overcoat, their bodies close to each other. She kisses him back, long and deep. And she didn’t expect to do that, either. At last they separate.. .and look at each other for a beat.
INT. GOLD COAST RESTAURANT – MAITRE D’ – NIGHT
Dillinger slips him bills. He and Billie are shown to a table. The clientele is North Shore old money and businessmen. Some of the women are in dazzling dresses even though it’s mid-Depression. A few stare at Billie. She’s out of her class.
DILLINGER What are you gonna have?
Billie stares at him, ignoring her menu.
BILLIE What is it, exactly, you do for a living? Dillinger looks over the top of his menu.
DILLINGER Well…I rob banks. Then he leans back in his chair and regards her.
DILLINGER (CONT’D) That’s where all these people here put their money.
BILLIE Why’d you tell me that? You could have made up a story…
DILLINGER ‘Cause I can’t lie to you. she studies him carefully.
BILLIE ;,;.at’s a pretty serious thing to say to a woman you just met.
DILLINGER I feel like I know you.
BILLIE Well, I haven’t been any of the places you’ve been. So I don’t even know what I don’t know.
DILLINGER Some of the places I been ain’t so hot. Where I’m going is a lot better. Wanna come along?
BILLIE Boy, you are in a hurry.
DILLINGER If you were looking at what I am looking at, honey, you’d be in a hurry too. She laughs at his flattery, which she is also finding persuasive.
BILLIE (leans in) Well, its me they’re looking at this time.
DILLINGER That’s ’cause you’re beautiful. A blonde woman, elegant and ice cold, stares at Billie, a Depression-era child in her dress.
BILLIE That’s nice. But they’re looking at me because they’re not used to having a Menominee Indian girl in their restaurant in a three dollar dress.
DILLINGER (takes her hand) Listen, doll, that’s ’cause they’re all about where people come from. Only thing important is where somebody’s going.
BILLIE Where are you going?
DILLINGER To the top. He’s irresistible.
DILLINGER (COIN’ D)
Let’s get out of here. Beat. She nods. They get up, get their things. On their way…a man intercepts Dillinger. He is GILBERT CATENA (42), solid with big hands. He’s smiling.
(WHISPERED) Hey Johnny…: Dillinger reacts, changes down, says coldly…
DILLINGER (to Billie) Go wait outside. I’ll be right there. Billie turns and walks out of the restaurant.
DILLINGER (CONT’D) How you been, Gil?
CATENA Real good. I work for Mr. Nitti now. Been with him since I got out of Michigan… Catena indicates FRANK NITTI (47) in a group at a table. Sober and educated, Nitti glances in their direction but has no interest.
DILLINGER Looks like a barber.
CATENA Don’t go by looks.
(BEAT) He’s real smart. We’re connected to everybody all over the country now… From Nitti’s table a man gets up and walks straight towards Dillinger. He is PHIL D’ANDREA. Two heavy duty bodyguards are with him. Dillinger unbuttons his jacket. But…
D’ANDREA (smiles, low) Everytime I read about one of your jobs, where you give people back their money, ‘You crack me up…
(LAUGHS) Ypu need anything, Gilbert knows how to find me. D’Andrea continues to the men’s room.
DILLINGER See you. Gilbert…
CATENA Good luck Johnnie.
EXT. STREET OUTSIDE RESTAURANT – DILLINGER – NIGHT
comes out onto the sidewalk. Billie isn’t there. He searches the street. She’s gone. The night, suddenly cold and lonely, wraps around Johnny.
INT. PHONE COMPANY EXCHANGE – PURVIS – DAY
An ENGINEER places headphones on Purvis’ ears. Acetate disks on turntables mounted within giant carrying cases record phone calls. Cloth insulated wires are strung everywhere. Stenographers sit with black bakelite headphones.
BAUM That noise on the line? That’s called “swing”. Nothing we can do about it. Some words get dropped. Were listening in on a car dealer. Harry Berman. Rice plays back a recording.
VOICE (V.0.) When you drop it, leave the keys on the floorboard. (muffled; then…)
B E RMAN (V.0.)
I got a DeSoto.
VOICE (V.0.) okay.
BERMAN (V.0.)
The interior’s no good.
VOICE (V.0.) Don’t matter. It’s a work. car.
BAUM We think that’s Dillinger’s voice.
PURVIS How did we find Berman?
BAUM Dillinger’s coat was bought in Cicero, Illinois, a few doors from Berman’s dealership. Berman supplies cars to the syndicate. Since Capone. Dillinger must have been at Berman’s switching cars when he bought that coat.
(BEAT) Soon as they call to switch out the next car, we will tail them. Right to Dillinger.
EXT. NORTH DEARBORN STREET – JOHN DILLINGER – NIGHT
gets out of his Buick…
INT. STEUBEN CLUB – DILLINGER – NIGHT
enters, sees Billie talking with another hostess, MAY
MINCZELES.
TWO MEN approach. Billie checks their hats and coats. To Dillinger…
BILLIE (without looking up) May I check your coat, sir?
DILLINGER No, honey. You go get your coat. She looks up. So does May. May flashes Billie a look: if you don’t want him, I do.
MAY MINCZELES
Sounds good to me. Dillinger has eyes only for Billie.
DILLINGER You ran out on me.
BILLIE `you left me standing alone on the sidewalk.
DILLINGER I ‘you’re going to be my girl, you have swear you’ll never do that again.
BILLIE I’m not your girl! A CUSTOMER comes up and puts his ticket on the counter.
CUSTOMER Brown overcoat.
BILLIE (ignoring customer) I am not your girl and I’m not going to say that.
DILLINGER I’m waiting.
CUSTOMER So am I.
DILLINGER. (to Billie) “I am not ever going to run out on you again.” Say it.
BILLIE No.
DILLINGER Well, I will never run out on you. And that’s a promise.
CUSTOMER Well, I want to run out of here. So, lady, will you get my coat…? Dillinger lifts the man two feet off the floor and slams him into the wall. Real jailhouse rage. The lethally cold eyes tells the customer everything he needs to know. Dillinger swings him to the counter, grabs the man’s ticket, slams thru the half door, finds the man’s coat, tosses it at him…
DILLINGER Keep the tip. (to Billie) You ain’t getting other people’s hats and coats no more either. He takes her coat and holds it for her. She doesn’t move.
BILLIE No one’s ever done that for me before.
DILLINGER You’re with me now.
BILLIE I don’t know anything about you.
DILLINGER I was raised on a farm in Mooresville, Indiana. My ma died when I was three. My daddy beat the hell out of me because he didn’t know no better way to raise me. I used to do dumb things but I’m a lot smarter now. I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, and you. What else do you need to know? She gets into her coat. Dillinger opens the door for her. They exit, watched by May.
TNT. DILLINGER’S APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM – BILLIE – NIGHT
enters. It’s large, low-ceilinged, luxurious and modern — Billie is bowled over. He sits her down on a sofa.
He goes into a closet to get two Marshall Fields boxes and two drinks.
BILLIE You been living here long?
DILLINGER Yeah. Since yesterday. From a back bedroom (Red’s) a phonograph is louder as a door opens and Red enters the kitchen in a robe for a drink. He returns. Laughter. Dillinger has the boxes and drinks.
DILLINGER (CONT’D) I got something for you.
(BEAT) What’s wrong? Open it up. Billie opens the boxes. She lifts out a sleeveless dress in dusty pink. It is beautiful. She is very touched. The second has a coat with a fur color. But still…
BILLIE I’m drinking in a man’s apartment who .:W.ants to romance me. Okay. I’m no “Pollyanna, but there are things that you Kati would bother a girl like me…
DILLINGER We`rob banks `cause banks is where they keep the money. I can make 500 dollars in a year or I can make ten thousand dollars in a morning. I’ll take my chances on the bank. No apologies. We don’t go lookin’ to hurt anybody. But if somebody gets in our way, that’s gotta be their problem. That what you want to know?
BILLIE I’m trying to get to know you.
DILLINGER You want to get to know me?
INT. APARTMENT, DILLINGER’S BEDROOM – NIGHT
Dillinger is an uninhibited and enthusiastic lover. They pause. He falls over onto his back and pulls her onto his chest and they look up out the window through the upside down elm trees to the Chicago moon in the cold sky.
She gets up and wanders around the room. He thinks she’s the most beautiful creature he’s ever seen. She’s looking at his stuff. She sees suitcases that are packed, ready to leave in a heartbeat. Everything’s so neat. She touches his folded shirt…
BILLIE .smooth
DILLINGER Egyptian cotton. Since we been out I go for the finest stuff. As much as I can get, as fast we can get it.
(SUITCASES)
Where you goin’?
DILLINGER Nowhere. What do you mean?
BILLIE You’re all packed.
DILLINGER Always are. Ready to get up and go in a heartbeat… She stands next to him in the bed now. He pulls her down next to him.. She turns her good ear towards him.
DILLINGER (CONT’D) What’s wrong with the other ear?
BILLIE I was married once. He was too handy with his fists. She stares at Dillinger. Will this put him off.
DILLINGER Where’s he now?
BILLIE In prison. I divorced him. Only mistake I made was marrying him in the first place. He got caught mugging a mailman…
DILLINGER A criminal mastermind…
She turns over and puts her mouth next to his ear. It gets amorous through…
BILLIE After my daddy died, we went to live on the reservation in Flandreau. In Flandreau nothin’ ever happened.
(BEAT) When I was 13, we went to live with my Aunt Ines in Milwaukee where my cousin Frances had a lot of Indian friends who went around to churches and put on plays like “Little Fireface.” And nothing exciting ever happened to me there, either. So I haven’t been anywhere or done anything in my whole life except come to Chicago and try to make my way.
DILLINGER Well baby-you’re going to start a new and exciting kind of life from right now. And as they’re pulled to each other and start making love again, she stops…
BILLIE heat do you want?
DILLINGER To please you. That’s not what she meant, but gently, he rolls her over on the bed. A smile spreads slowly across her lips.
!NT. PHONE COMPANY – BAUM /INT. PURVIS’ APARTMENT – PURVIS —
NIGHT — INTERCUT
Baum in his shirtsleeves in front of the recorders is talking to Purvis as he puts on his coat.
BAUM Rorer tailed it. Berman dropped it in an alley next to the Sherone Apartments 20 minutes ago. Rorer talked to a neighbor. Men go in and out at night carrying heavy suitcases. One looks like Dillinger.
PURVIS Let’s go. Right now. They race out.
INT. PURVIS’S PIERCE-ARROW – PURVIS + BAUM
Cowley and Barton join them as they pull to the curb down the block from the Sherone Apartments. It’s an upscale yellow- brick apartment building with nice cars in front.
PURVI S Where are your men?
COWLEY My car’s on Sheridan and Montrose and Rice in the Ford is on Sheridan and Wilson.
PURVIS Blocking vehicles? End of this street? Alley? They aren’t “deployed.” They’re merely “here”. Cowley gets it. Purvis exchanges a look with Baum, checks his gun.
PURVIS (CONT’D) Carter, take the back. Barton, you’re with me.
INT. HALLWAY ON THIRD FLOOR – PURVIS + BARTON – NIGHT
enter from the elevator. Soundlessly, they approach’-Apt. 302. Two voices – a man and a woman’s. Barton moves away,Irom the door… Purvis knocks. VI SCOTT (27) opens the door. From ier reaction, she was expecting someone else. She’s respectable and pretty.
PURVIS I’m Special Agent Melvin Purvis, Miss Scott. Are you alone?
VI SCOTT No – my fiance is here.
PURVIS What’s your fiance’s name?
VI SCOTT Leonard… McHenry.
PURVIS May we come in?
VI SCOTT Sure. I’m perfectly safe… But come on in. She holds the door open.
INT. APARTMENT 302, LIVING ROOM/DINING ROOM – THEY ENTER
LEONARD is a thin short man at a table finishing dinner. He is fresh-faced, maybe a junior clerk at an insurance company. Not John Dillinger…
LEONARD Something wrong?
PURVIS You have identification?
LEONARD Honey, would you get my driver’s licence. It’s in my coat pocket. Leonard sums reluctant to get up. With his right hand, he takes a forkful of food. His left is under the table. Now, we see that he:.’s holding…
A COLT 45_.-,AUTOMATIC
Who is this man?
LEONARD (CONT°D)
You’re that.. .Melvin Purvis. I’ve seen your picture!
PURVIS What do you do for a living, Leonard?
LEONARD I travel in ladies shoes. He smiles at his joke. Vi enters with his wallet. Barton sees the driver’s license.
LEONARD (CONT’D) Show him, honey. Vi Scott puts a foot forward – a red shoe with a bow.
PURVIS Do you carry around samples?
LEONARD Sure. Big suitcases.
PURVIS (handing back the licence) Enjoy the rest of your dinner, Mr. McHenry.
LEONARD Thanks.
INT. CARPETED HALLWAY ON THIRD FLOOR – PURVIS + BARTON
walk the length of the hall. Vi closed the door behind them.
(LOW) Its all wrong. No one in or out. I’ll get the others. (at door to stairs next to the elevator door) Stay here, watch that door from right here. Purvis leaves. Barton wants to do it right. Then, he hears movement from Apt. 302. Objects being hurriedly shifted. He starts back down the hallway. Halfway between it and the elevator…
PING!
Behind him, the elevator doors open. Barton turns hi.,,back on Apt. 302. He’s caught between 302 and the elevator.-“.-
TOMMY CARROLL (38)
a flat-nosed ex-con enters. He looks curiously at Barton.
BARTON Bureau of Investigation. What’s your name? (flashes badge)
CARROLL You wanna know my name? Barton sees Carroll’s eyes flicker, slight smile. He spins…
AN INDIFFERENT “BABY FACE” NELSON
FIRES his .45. BLAM! BLAM! Barton’s slammed forward. Nelson looks at Barton, prostrate, convulsing. He FIRES a third round.
EXT. STREET – PURVIS
PURVIS Pull the men from Sheridan and Wilson.
PURVIS -reacting- grabs the Thompson from Madala and runs back inside.
EXT. SHERONE APARTMENTS – BAUM
runs to the corner of the building where he has a visual on the building front entrance and the DeSoto down the alley.
INT. THIRD FLOOR HALLWAY – PURVIS
enters, sees…
BARTON in the final moments of his life. Barton looks up into Purvis` eyes: Help me! Purvis does not know what to do. Then Barton’s eyes drift away… Purvis impels himself to action. He kicks in the door to Apt.
302. �._
INT. APT 30.2 VI SCOTT
screams.
PURVIS Where is he?!
EXT. SHERONE APARTMENTS – BAUM
sees –
BABY FACE NELSON + TOMMY CARROLL
quickly cross the alley from the back stairs to the Desoto. And Nelson immediately lays down rounds in careful short BLASTS of full auto. Tommy Carroll calmly, smoothly starts the DeSoto. Nelson’s barrage punches into the wall, drives Daum to cover.
INT. SHERONE APARTMENTS – PURVIS
slams open a window. The DeSoto accelerates out of the alley. Purvis FIRES a few rounds. Baum FIRES his pistol. Both are useless at that range. The DeSoto has turned left and is gone.
EXT. SHERONE APARTMENTS — PURVIS
races in from the front door. Rice and Madala drive up in the Bureau’s armor-plated Ford V-8.
PURVIS They headed north! The Sheridan Road car?
RICE
That’s us. We heard gunfire. So we. (gets it) .came here. They’re fucked.
MADALA Was it Dillinger?
BAUM No. It was Lester Gillis. Purvis sinks.
PURVIS The man we let get away wasn’t John Dillinger.
(BEAT) It was Baby Face Nelson.
INT. CENTRAL NATIONAL BANK, GREENCASTLE, INDIANA — 7ILLINGER,
PIERPONT + MAKLEY – DAY
wearing overcoats and hats with guns tucked inside, all walk into the bank. Six CUSTOMERS.
TELLER
PIERPONT Change a. twenty? Teller looks up at Pierpont but is staring into the 45 cal. barrel of a Tommy gun while…
DILLINGER vaults the five foot divider railing and trains two 45s on the TELLERS.
DILLINGER Get over to the vault! Everybody! Go on!
He herds the tellers over. Pierpont makes customers sit in chairs. The vault door is already open…
EXT. STREET – RED HAMILTON
in a black Studebaker is double-parked with the engine running.
ECU: THE GIT,
the detailed map of their getaway route.
HOMER
on Lookout watches the street. Nothing. Dillinger and Pierpont carrying canvas bags cross through the foreground as…
INT. STUDEBAKER RED
throws it into gear and they drive away. Homer jumps on the running board. Dillinger looks over his shoulder. Awestruck pedestrian. From the other end of Main Street, no pursuit.
INT. BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, WASHINGTON – HOOVER – DAY
HOOVER (into phone) That was a miserable piece of work.
INT. BANKERS BUILDING – PURVIS – DAY (INTERCUT)
PURVIS (into phone) Yes, it was. I take full responsibility, sir. Hoover calms for a moment.
PURVIS (CONT’D) And I’d like to request we hire part time agents with “special qualifications”… from outside the Bureau.
HOOVER I thought you understood what I am doing…build.ing a department of professional investigators. Young college men with law or accounting degrees from good families. No, you may not go outside the Bureau, Purvis.
PURVIS The Bureau has used these men before.
HOOVER They are not our “type.”
PURVIS Our “type” cannot get the job done…
(BEAT) Without qualified help I would have to resign this appointment. Otherwise, I am leading my men to slaughter. Hoover is backed against the wall. He does not like it.
HOOVER (dead cold) Mr. Tolson will call you, Agent Purvis.
PURVIS Thank you…
(CLICK)
Hoover hung up on him.
INT. UNION STATION (CHICAGO) – A TRAIN – DAY
has pulled into track 16. THREE MEN stand out among–,- passengers. One’s face is obscured by a wide brirmdd`hat. They are —
CHARLES WINSTEAD, CLARENCE HURT + GERRY CAMPBELL
Stiff from the journey, they stretch, take in the crowd. Winstead is in his mid 40s, 5 foot 8, body out of steel cable. Hurt is in his late 30s. These men are ex-Texas Rangers. Unlike flashier Texan lawmen of the period, they do not wear Western wear unless they’re on a horse. That’s for drugstore cowboys out to impress Easterners. They wear dark suits and ties and hats. They have “special qualifications.”
WINSTEAD What’d he say he looked like?
HURT Didn’t say. Their suitcases have been set on the platform. A PORTER approaches.
PORTER
Gentlemen need a hand?
Winstead gestures at their bags and one case. The PORTER goes to lift the case. It is so heavy he can barely raise it. Campbell picks up the other end. They toss it on the cart„
PORTER (CONT°D)
Hardware salesmen?
WINSTEAD That’s right. His terse reply makes the garrulous porter stop talking.
INT. UNION STATION, GREAT HALL – DAY
The Neoclassical hall is enormous. Still no Purvis.
CAMPBELL
I’ll call.
HURT I’m going to the men’s room. Winstead spots a shoe-shine stand. Winstead sits, nods and the SHOE SHINE MAN begins to polish his Western boots. He’s startled bi:the knife in a sheath built into the right boot.
WINSTEAD Wcrk around it. From under the brim of his hat, Winstead glances at big city life in Union Station. He’s an ominous presence. HEAR the excited roar of a CROWD and we —
EXT. THE KENNEL CLUB (MIAMI) — MECHANICAL RABBIT — DAY
zips along an inside railing under the flawless Miami sky…
SLEEK GREY HOUNDS
race in a pack after it under cumulous clouds and palm trees. Streamline deco stands are almost filled.
FRANK NITTI
by the railing, watches the race with Phil D’An.drea. As they begin to walk…
CONTINTJED
NITTI (business as usual) I want Johnny Patton out front on the other four tracks. Tell Adonis. He can have the parking concessions, and maintenance.
(NODS)
Annenberg wants to sell you the remaining equity in General News.
NITTI How’s he doing on the wire service?
PHIL D’ANDREA Feeding to 300 bookies now. And he came up with this gimmick called a scratch sheet. Another beat. Nitti stops for a beat
NITTI Its hot out, right?
PHIL D’ANDREA Yeah, Frank.
NITTI Ever since those pricks shot me I can’t get warm. (notices Phil’s attention) What?
PHIL D’ ANDREA
Some friends from Chicago in the stands… D’Andrea nods. John Dillinger nods back. Nitti glances at them; glances away. Dillinger has on sunglasses. Billie is wearing a straw hat. They are shouting to the greyhounds along with Pierpont, Homer and Makley and some girls. They have tall drinks. This is the good life for the privileged few in the middle of the Depression. A dog wins; not theirs. It calms down…
DILLINGER (to Pierpont; business) Well drive out separately.
DILLINGER (CONT’D) Billie and I want to hit the Gulf Coast on the way to Arizona.
PIERPONT I want to take 66 and check banks in Denver and Phoenix. We’ll meet you in Tucson on the 25th.
VAN METER I think we wore out the Midwest for awhile.
(BEAT) I heard one today. Indiana paper.
(LOW) “Wanted. John Dillinger. Dead or…dead.” (they crack up) Billie doesn’t laugh. Dillinger pulls her close and she can’t resist his good spirits. D’Andrea’s approached…
PHIL D’ANDREA How d’ya like the track? C’mon to the Gc: -lonial for steaks tonight. (writing on a card) You be our guests…
DILLINGER Well be there.
PHIL D’ANDREA (to cocktail waitress) Whatever these boys want, its on the house. He leaves. Pierpont, Makley and Homer go off to place new bets. Billie looks at Dillinger. Looks away. Dillinger catches her…
DILLINGER What? She is quiet for a moment.
BILLIE Thank you, thank you for these last few weeks. I never thought I’d see Florida.
DILLINGER You going somewhere, doll, am I?
BILLIE It’s been, three, four weeks. You’ll look for a change. Or you’ll get tired of me. And then I’ll be sad and angry. So I wanted to say thank you before then… Dillinger is surprised that her expectations are so low. She didn’t think his interest in her to be more than passing.
DILLINGER You want to leave?
BILLIE No. But I’m no fool. I’ll be back checking coats at the Steuben Club.
DILLINGER Well, I don’t want you to leave. So it won’t be that way.
BILLIE Then it will be another way that’s worse.
(BEAT) You rob banks and you run rings around them, but you’re likely to get killed or, get shot and…
DILLINGER Who the hell gave you a crystal ball?!
WILLIE
Well, goddamn it, you don’t need a crystal ball…! Ask Homer.
DILLINGER Homer what…?
BILLIE Homer and his damn joke… I don’t want to be around to see any of that. Okay?! That’s what it’s about… Dillinger gets it.
DILLINGER I am not going anywhere! I am going to die in your arms as an old man when that time comes. So what do you say about that?
CLOSE ON BILLIE
Now is the first time she allows herself to have any prospect about a future with him. It’s a shock.
CONTINUED: ( 4) She hikes up her skirt and sits on his lap and smothers him with a kiss. Her hat falls off. Patrons nearby glance and look away. Dillinger doesn’t give a damn. A new pack of dogs are about to take flight.
EXT. PHILLIPS GAS STATION – BILLIE WITH A CAMERA — DAY
(ARIZONA)
A fresh and tanned Dillinger and Billie are in a strikingly modern gas station on Route 66. Billie helps out a family by taking their picture with a Kodak Brownie in front of a Saguaro cactus. Snow-capped Rincon mountains are behind them. She leans down to play with the round baby. She looks over at Johnnie and smiles. It breaks his heart.
INT. CONGRESS HOTEL, TUCSON, ARIZONA – ON THE CLERK – DAY
writing into a register. CLERK is a big man and Western friendly.
CLERK Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sullivan of Green Bay, Wd cons in. How was your journey, sir?
DILLINGER ., • ng.
CLERK I can send up some sandwiches and beer, if you’d like.
DILLINGER That would be swell. Some friends of mine should be here already. J.C. Davies and Mr. Long?
CLERK Out shopping, I believe. I’ll let them know you’re in when they come back. Old BELLHOP takes Billie’s bag to the elevator. Dillinger carries his own case.
