Public Enemies
(PROMPTING)
“You are under…
HOOVER You are under arrest for the…Wahpeton, South Dakota bank robbery. Tolson waves to an agent across the street.
WIDE ON THE CORNER: REPORTERS + PHOTOGRAPHERS
are now released and rush towards us.
HOOVER regains his composure.
HOOVER (CONT’D) I heard of your fishing prowess. i myself, always wanted, to catch a marlin…
ALVIN KARPIS You’re thinking of my partner, Harry Campbell.
HOOVER Are you relieved its over? I’m sure you are.
(PAUSE) You know you will feel much better once you get everything off your chest.
(PAUSE) Why don’t you tell me where Harry Campbell is? After a moment..
ALVIN KARPIS Who do you think you’re talking to? Hoover is silent.
SPECIAL AGENT
(to Winstead) There’s no handcuffs.
WINSTEAD Give me your tie.
REPORTERS + PHOTOGRAPHERS
CONTINUED: ( 2) Hoover separates from Karpis.
NEWSMEN
Mr. Hoover! Director!
HOOVER Karpis said he’d never be taken alive, but I took him without firing a shot.
(BEAT) That marks him as a yellow rat. He was scared to death when I arrested him.
(BEAT) That’s all I got to say. Suydam and the special publicist, COURTNEY COOPER address the reporters.
SUYDAM I’ll answer any questions.
REPORTER #1
Mr. Hoover captured Karpis?
SUYDAM Mr. Hoover personally placed Alvin Karpis = eier arrest today. Karpis reached for a rzf le, but the Director was too fast.
INT. CLYDE TOLSON’S OUTER OFFICE – MELVIN PURVIS – DAY
waits. It looks like he’s been waiting for awhile. People who pass act as if he is invisible. They look right through him.
TOLSON The Director will see you now.
INT. HOOVER’S OFFICE – HOOVER – DAY
Purvis stands in front of the desk. On the right of the desk is a plaster death mask of John Dillinger.
HOOVER (without looking up) Agent Purvis.
PURVIS Yes sir.
HOOVER (sees Purvis stare at death
MASK)
HOOVER (CONT’D) A medical student in the morgue made that cast of Dillinger’s face. It’s a reminder of the war we continue to wage against the punks and hoodlums… Purvis looks at Hoover. This was the golden boy who Hoover came to despise.
PURVIS One thing I learned was that John Dillinger was an outlaw and my Adversary. But he was no punk. And he was no hoodlum.
(BEAT) Another is that I have no future in your Bureau. And I don’t desire one. I quit. Purvis tosses his badge on Hoover’s desk and walks out. Hoover couldn’t care less.
INT. MILAN WOMEN’S PRISON – GRANITE WALL – DAY
PAN LEFT and fall EXTREMELY CLOSELY onto the face of Charles Winstead. He waits.
WIDER – WINSTEA.D
is in an interview cell.
INT. CELL BLOCK – TRACKING A WOMAN’S FEET
in prison issue shoes down the cellblock corridor. ARM UP. It is Billie Frechette. She walks with two guards behind her.
INT. INTERVIEW CELL – DOOR OPENS
Billie enters. She’s surprised to see Winstead.
WINSTEAD How are you doing, Billie?
(SITS)
If you come here to ask me more damned questions. “Where’s this one or that one? Did I know Vern Miller? Who did what…?” Winstead shakes his head no.
WINSTEAD I didn’t come here for you to tell me something. I came here to tell you something.
CLOSER: BILLIE She sees in Winstead’s face, the look of people she grew up with. Billie senses none of the cunning of the lawyer/special agents she’s been dealing with. She leans forward, indicates a cigarette out of Winstead’s pocket. He hands her one and lights it.
BILLIE Okay, Mr. Winstead. What do you got to tell me? Winstead leans forward.
(CONTINUOUS)
They say you’re the man who shot him?
WINSTEAD ‘M’at’s right. One of them.
BILLIE 6 why are you coming here to see me? To see the damage you done?
WINSTEAD Because he asked me to. This gets Billie’s attention and she looks more closely at Winstead.
WINSTEAD (CONT’D) When he went down, he said something. And I put my ear next to his mouth and what I think he said was this. He said…
(BEAT) ” .tell Billie for me…Bye Bye Blackbird…” Billie has to rise and turn away from Winstead so that he doesn’t see her overcome with emotion. Winstead knows this. It is the measure of this man that he respected the privacy of John Dillinger’s message and only told her.
