[bdic]

INT: SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--DAY

Mookie and Vito enter the shop.

SAL
I should have Vito go with you all
the time.

PINO
Yeah, no more ninety-minute
deliveries around the corner.

MOOKIE
Pino, I work hard like everybody in
here.

VITO
He's right.

PINO
C'mere.
(Pino smacks his brother)
Don't get too friendly with da Mook.

SAL
That's gonna be the last time you
hit Vito.

MOOKIE
Smack him back.

PINO
What?

MOOKIE
Remember what I said.

Vito stands frozen in front of his brother.

PINO
Are you gonna listen to this Mook?
Listen to him tell you to smack me?
Your only brother?

Vito walks away and Mookie is disgusted.

PINO
I didn't think so.

34.


EXT: STREET--DAY

Officers Ponte and Long drive down the block and at the
corner they stop, glare at the Corner Men.

CLOSE--OFFICER PONTE

CLOSE--SWEET DICK WILLIE

CLOSE--OFFICER LONG

CLOSE--COCONUT SID

ANGLE--POLICE CAR

OFFICER PONTE
What a waste.

ANGLE--CORNER

Sweet Dick, ML, and Coconut Sid stare right back at the cops.

ANGLE--POLICE CAR

It drives off.

ANGLE--CORNER

COCONUT SID
As I was saying before we were so
rudely interrupted by the finest.

ML
What was you saying?

Coconut Sid blanks.

SWEET DICK WILLIE
Motherfucker wasn't saying shit.

ML
Look at that.

COCONUT SID
Look at what?

ML points across the street to the Korean fruit and vegetable
stand.

ML
It's a fucking shame.

SWEET DICK WILLIE
What is?

35.


ML
Sweet Dick Willie.

SWEET DICK WILLIE
That's my name.

ML
Do I have to spell it out?

COCONUT SID
Make it plain.

ML
OK, but listen up. I'm gonna break
it down.

SWEET DICK WILLIE
Let it be broke.

ML
Can ya dig it?

SWEET DICK WILLIE
It's dug.

CLOSE--ML

ML
Look at those Korean motherfuckers
across the street. I betcha they
haven't been a year off da
motherfucking boat before they
opened up their own place.

CLOSE--COCONUT SID

COCONUT SID
It's been about a year.

CLOSE--ML

ML
A motherfucking year off the
motherfucking boat and got a good
business in our neighborhood
occupying a building that had been
boarded up for longer than I care
to remember and I've been here a
long time.

CLOSE--SWEET DICK WILLIE

SWEET DICK WILLIE
It has been a long time.

36.


CLOSE--COCONUT SID

COCONUT SID
How long?

CLOSE--ML

ML
Too long! Too long. Now for the
life of me, I haven't been able to
figger this out. Either dem
Koreans are geniuses or we Blacks
are dumb.

This is truly a stupefying question and all three are silent.
What is the answer?

COCONUT SID
It's gotta be cuz we're Black. No
other explanation, nobody don't
want the Black man to be about shit.

SWEET DICK WILLIE
Old excuse.

ML
I'll be one happy fool to see us
have our own business right here.
Yes, sir. I'd be the first in line
to spend the little money I got.

Sweet Dick Willie gets up from his folding chair.

SWEET DICK WILLIE
It's Miller time. Let me go give
these Koreans s'more business.

ML
It's a motherfucking shame.

COCONUT SID
Ain't that a bitch.

EXT: STOOP--DAY

Da Mayor sits on his stoop and a kid, EDDIE, runs by.

DA MAYOR
Sonny! Sonny!

Eddie stops.

DA MAYOR
Doctor, what's your name?

37.


EDDIE
Eddie Lovell.

DA MAYOR
How old are you?

EDDIE
Ten.

DA MAYOR
What makes Sammy run?

EDDIE
My name is Eddie.

DA MAYOR
What makes Sammy run?

EDDIE
I said my name is Eddie Lovell.

DA MAYOR
Relax, Eddie, I want you to go to
the corner store. How much will it
cost me?

EDDIE
How would I know how much it's
gonna cost if I don't know what I'm
buying?

DA MAYOR
Eddie, you're too smart for your
own britches. Listen to me. How
much do you want to run to the
store for Da Mayor?

EDDIE
Fifty cents.

DA MAYOR
You got a deal.

He gives Eddie some money.

DA MAYOR
Git me a quart of beer, Budweiser,
say it's for your father, if they
bother you.

Eddie runs down the block just as Ahmad, Cee, Punchy, and
Ella pass him.

38.


AHMAD
Who told him he was Da Mayor of
this block?

CEE
He's self-appointed.

ELLA
Leave him alone.

PUNCHY
Shut up.

DA MAYOR
Go on now. Leave me be.

AHMAD
You walk up and down this block
like you own it.

CEE
Da Mayor.

PUNCHY
You're old.

AHMAD
A old drunk bum.

Da Mayor stands up from his seat cushion on the stoop.

AHMAD
What do you have to say?

DA MAYOR
What do you know 'bout me? Y'all
can't even pee straight. What do
you know? Until you have stood in
the doorway and heard the hunger of
your five children, unable to do a
damn thing about it, you don't know
shit. You don't know my pain, you
don't know me. Don't call me a
bum, don't call me a drunk, you
don't know me, and it's
disrespectful. I know your parents
raised you better.

The teenagers look at Da Mayor.

ELLA
He told you off.

Da Mayor sits back down on his seat cushion on his stoop.

39.


INT: SAL'S FAMOUS PIZZERIA--DAY

ANGLE--PAY PHONE ON WALL

Mookie is on the phone.

MOOKIE
I know I haven't seen you in four
days. I'm a working man.

TINA (VO)
I work too, but I still make time.

MOOKIE
Tina, what do you want me to do?

TINA (VO)
I want you to spend some time with
me. I want you to try and make
this relationship work. If not,
I'd rather not be bothered.

MOOKIE
Alright. Alright. I'll be over
there sometime today.

TINA (VO)
When?

MOOKIE
Before I get off work.

TINA (VO)
Bring some ice cream, I'm burning
up. Do you love me?

MOOKIE
Do I love you?

CLOSE--SAL

SAL
Mookie, get offa da phone.

CLOSE--MOOKIE

MOOKIE
Be off in a second. Tina, I
dedicated a record on Mister Señor
Love Daddy's show to you.

TINA (VO)
Big deal.

40.


CLOSE--SAL

SAL
Mookie! How is anybody gonna call
in?

CLOSE--MOOKIE

MOOKIE
Big deal? If that's not LOVE, I
don't know what is.

CLOSE--PINO

PINO
You deaf or what?

CLOSE--MOOKIE

MOOKIE
Gotta go. See ya soon.
(he hangs up)
Everybody happy now?

The phone rings right away and Pino picks it up.

ANGLE--PINO

PINO
Sal's Famous Pizzeria, yeah, two
large pizzas, pepperoni and
anchovies, hold on... See, Pop,
Mookie fucking talking on the phone
and people are trying to call in
orders. He's making us lose
business.

CLOSE--SAL

SAL
Mookie, you're fucking up.

PINO
Twenty minutes.
(he hangs up the phone)
How come you niggers are so stupid?

CLOSE--MOOKIE

MOOKIE
If ya see a nigger here, kick his
ass.

CLOSE--PINO

41.


PINO
Fuck you and stay off the phone.

CLOSE--VITO

VITO
Forget it, Mookie.

ANGLE--PIZZERIA

MOOKIE
Who's your favorite basketball
player?

PINO
Magic Johnson.

MOOKIE
And not Larry Bird? Who's your
favorite movie star?

PINO
Eddie Murphy.

Mookie is smiling now.

MOOKIE
Last question: Who's your favorite
rock star?

Pino doesn't answer, because he sees the trap he's already
fallen into.

MOOKIE
Barry Manilow?

Mookie and Vito laugh.

MOOKIE
Pino, no joke. C'mon, answer.

VITO
It's Prince. He's a Prince freak.

PINO
Shut up. The Boss! Bruuucce!!!!

MOOKIE
Sounds funny to me. As much as you
say nigger this and nigger that,
all your favorite people are
"niggers."

42.


PINO
It's different. Magic, Eddie,
Prince are not niggers, I mean, are
not Black. I mean, they're Black
but not really Black. They're more
than Black. It's different.

With each word Pino is hanging himself even further.

MOOKIE
Pino, I think secretly that you
wish you were Black. That's what I
think. Vito, what do you say?

PINO
Y'know, I've been listening and
reading 'bout Farrakhan, ya didn't
know that, did you?

MOOKIE
I didn't know you could read.

PINO
Fuck you. Anyway, Minister
Farrakhan always talks about the
so-called "day" when the Black man
will rise. "We will one day rule
the earth as we did in our glorious
past." You really believe that shit?

MOOKIE
It's e-vit-able.

PINO
Keep dreaming.

MOOKIE
Fuck you, fuck pizza, and fuck
Frank Sinatra, too.

PINO
Well, fuck you, too, and fuck
Michael Jordan.

CUT TO:

RACIAL SLUR MONTAGE

The following will be a QUICK-CUTTING MONTAGE of racial
slurs, with different ethnic groups pointing the finger at
one another. Each person looks directly INTO THE CAMERA.

CLOSE--MOOKIE