"El Salvador" Screenplay
Text / [United States] O. Stone, Leigh Bauer
Translation / Sang Zhong
The film is based on events that took place in El Salvador between 1980 and 1982. For the convenience of the narrative, the time frame of these events has been compressed, and some events have been merged under the premise that (the author of the film believes) it does not violate the spirit of the time. All living figures are anonymous.
They try to lie
make us lie,
as if they didn't know
The mouth is for speaking,
Eyes are for seeing.
- Salvadoran peasant language
INTERIOR: SAN FRANCISCO, TANDELONE CONPARTMENTS, AT DAWN
Richard Ball slowly opened his absent-minded eyes, and the landlord knocked on his door. The opening credits begin.
The baby begins to cry. His tired, beautiful Italian wife bottle-feeds the baby to calm him down. She ran to answer the door...
Ball sat up. He looked miserable, like a hapless officer entering the fortification. His body, his face, all slumped. This man has had a much better life than he is now. He's clearly been drinking a little too much, and his body is disgusting to look at. He was only in his mid-forties, and he looked like he had been through ten wars—a survivor of countless accidents and disappointments, a tough Irishman who couldn't even eat potatoes.
In the background, Tandelorne's landlord is arguing with Claudia, arguing across the room and into Ball's ears as he puts on his clothes and glances at the tattered portable black-and-white television morning news.
News announcer: With the outbreak of the Nicaraguan revolution, little El Salvador is thrown into chaos... Two more Catholic priests were hacked to death today in a ditch outside the capital. In the past two months, more than a thousand people have "disappeared", many of whom were found violently dead in ditches and garbage dumps outside the capital or in the provinces. A government spokesman blamed left-wing Marxist terrorists for the murders, while a left-wing spokesman blamed right-wing "killing squads". A U.S. government spokesman called the killers "subversives" on both the left and the right. ...and it was also reported that polls on the upcoming presidential race put Ronald Reagan in the lead...
The quarrel continued, and Claudia handed the crying baby to Ball. Ball comforted him lovingly and fed him.
Claudia threw the landlord's eviction notice on the ground and cursed in Italian: "Fuck you, you vampire, you piece of shit!" The landlord was a black man with a fierce look, he picked up the notice, Yelled at Ball (his hand felt a handful of bills, the money he had just received).
Landlord: No money, no money, Richard Ball. Get out of here with this Italian bitch. today!
Bauer: Hey man, come on, one more grace.
He clumsily reaches for the instant coffee on the electric stove. Diapers are hanging on the fire escape outside the door, and there is a neon sign that flickers on and off. His life was clearly a mess, full of papers and books, dirty clothes, Nikon cameras, cyanide drugs, cortisone, war memorabilia, a volunteer army flag, marijuana cigarettes, cheap typewriters...
The landlord muttered and left.
Landlord: Just wait and see, Ball, wait and see (door slams shut).
Claudia suddenly felt unbearable and burst into tears.
Claudia: No! Son of a bitch! I have had enough! Days like this don't last! I quit! I come from a good family. I went to university. I have a doctorate in literature. Why should I live like this! I didn't come to America for this! You lied to me! You have been lying to me!
Bauer (comforting her): Look, Claudia, I'm going to call and get five hundred bucks, okay, don't make a fuss...
Claudia: Nonsense! You are drinking again. You can make up any lies!
Ball: No, no, no. I'm fine, I'm not drinking. you will see……
Claudia: Nonsense! What else can you do but drink up all the wine in the fridge! You ate all the doll's food that night, what the hell were you drunk, you useless trash, trash...
Ball: You wait and see, you wait and see, dear...
His allergies came back, and he was itching all over his body. He found a quarter coin from the piggy bank.
INTERIOR: Aisle of an apartment
He was on a payphone, and on the other end was Nancy Goldberg of Pacific News.
Ball: Hi Nancy, I'm Richard...Baugar...Listen, something big is going on in El Salvador. It won't be long. Can you get me a press pass? For another two thousand dollars, I'm sure I can get you something nice. Guarantee... ("No way") Well, what about the press card? Speak up, Nancy.
Nancy's Voice: Ball, we've dealt with you. We gave you $2,500 to cover the good show in Lebanon, and you slipped away to Greece.
Ball: Nancy, I tried my best! I just can't stand the Muslim nightlife, I have to...
Nancy's Voice: Well, we've learned it. You spend your money like a king of the Huns, but you earn nothing! You've lost your plane ticket, your passport, you've binge-drinked, and you've been a headache in professional circles.
Ball: Yeah, but I got the news for you, didn't I? Well that story about the IRA, the Yankees tortured them. And Cambodia - I was the last to leave. I made the Pacific Press a big name for it. Also, don't forget that I froze for you in Afghanistan. How about going for a run in El Salvador? Didn't I say that was good? ...Nancy (he hangs up)?
She has hung up. A woman with hair curlers is waiting to use the phone. Ball thought for a moment, scratching his head—one of his habitual movements. He never looked downcast, he was always quick to think of the next possible way. He had another idea and grabbed the phone.
Ball: Larry...I'm Ball, thank you for fixing the camera for me. I would also like to ask you a favor.
Larry (hurriedly): Phew, Richard, I have to be at the airport within an hour, I'm going to Beirut.
Ball: I said Larry, the situation is serious, I'm going back to El Salvador, and I need $500 urgently, maybe $400, if you...
Larry: ... El Salvador? If you want to go back, they have to kill you.
Ball: Hey, I want money, not lessons.
Larry: Well, three hundred at most. Meet at the Pan Am machine in forty minutes.
Ball ("OK!!") hangs up.
EXT: San Francisco street, daytime
Ball drives his green sports car (model circa 1968). He leaned over the wheel and rolled his eyes when the police whistle broke his daydreams.
Cut in:
The police are holding Ball's 1979 press card, checking them on the computer. Ball is begging...
Ball: Honestly, sir, I forgot my driver's license at home.
Police officer: Mr. Ball, your driver's license has been cancelled...you are driving without a license and have neither a registration certificate nor an insurance policy, and you have four unpaid speeding tickets that are enough to go to court. You have 43 unpaid parking tickets, your car doesn't have anything legal, even this press pass is expired...I'm going to take you to...(handcuffs him)
Ball: I'm not that Richard Ball! You got the wrong person. And there's another Richard Ball... where's your humanity, sir. I just lost my job, I just got kicked out of the house, my wife is leaving me, I can't even feed my kids, give me a chance.
POLICE (puts him into the car): ...you want a snack (note 1), go to McDonald's, sir.
INT: PRISON, NEXT MORNING
Bauer, sleepy-eyed and stubborn, was walking out of his cell to meet Dr. Locke, who had come to bail him. Dr. is an unemployed San Francisco rock show host who was the same year as Ball and spoke with a weeping voice.
Ball: Doctor, thank you.
LOCK (uneasily, hastily) Come on, Bauer, and get your car. Let's go get Bagger out. It's in Oakland now. It got the Nazis getting caught, and it's in a doghouse. ...
Ball: They took my car, doctor! I need seventy-five dollars to get the car out.
Doctor (searching pocket): Damn it! I just paid $125 to keep you out! That's all I have left (give him seventy-five dollars). move! They're going to take a pill!
EXT: Auckland Bridge, daytime
Bauer and the Doctor are at full speed in the sports car. The weather was clear and sunny. But Bauer and Dr. have their own concerns. The Doctor hands him a marijuana cigarette.
Doctor: … hurry up, Richard, hurry up.
Ball: …No, Doctor. I don't have a driver's license. They will confiscate my car keys. How long has it been locked there...
Doctor: I don't know. I entrusted it to my friends... friends, hum.
Ball: Don't worry, Doctor, they're not going to poison it right away...
Doctor: Bad luck, bad luck in everything! Miriam kicked me out. She said that I was too old to be an unemployed rock music show host, and she wanted me to go to Silicon Valley to sell computers, computers!
Bauer (trying to quell his anger): I can't deal with a female yuppie. Fuck it, cut it out, they'd better go to gym jazz classes. (Doctor: "They've been in gymnastics classes like this") Latin girls are different, they're kind--let's say Claudia, she never asks about me.
DR: … the best thing about Latin women is that they don't speak English. Can I give you a squeeze, Richard? I have nowhere to go...I can sleep in the shower, in the toilet, I need a place to stay. I……
Ball: Doctor, another cigarette. I have bad news for you. I also have no place to live. We had the landlord kicked out. We were just about to squeeze you and Miriam.
Doctor: You mean I gave you my last two hundred dollars and I couldn't find a place to live! Dude, I'm a sucker for it. What should I do now - I should have kept you in the cell.
EXT: Oakland Dingo Shelter
The Doctor roamed around the dog pen, "Baggle! Bagger!" barked...no response. The person in charge was a kind, plain-looking woman in her thirties. The Doctor circles the pen in search of his dog, Bagger. Ball was scratching.
Doctor: Where is my dog?
Stewardess: What does it look like?
The Doctor pulled out a picture of Bagger.
Stewardess: Oh, I recognize it.
Doctor: It's there!
Butler: Sorry, we put it to sleep. We adopted it for fourteen days and we thought...
Doctor: Put it to sleep? Will it still wake up? You mean kill it! You poisoned it with gas!
Stewardess: No, no, we don't need gas anymore. Let's give the dog a shot. This is more humane.
Doctor (in a rage): What kind of humanity is that! You murderers! I just can't believe it. It's my best friend. The longest relationship between us! seven years. My marriage only lasted four years! It's not right, it's not fair.
Stewardess: I'm so sorry, some puppies...
DR. (waves Bagger's leash): My dog's leash...
Ball: Tell her not to solve any problems. let's go...
INT: Ball's Residence, Daytime
Ball galloped upstairs, followed by the Doctor.
Ball: ...Claudia has some money in the bank and she'll help us, but we're going to have a nice word on her...no more drugs, doctor.
A deportation order is posted on the door. Ball ripped it off. "Fuck you" was scrawled on the back of the paper in Italian. The Doctor looked at Ball over his shoulder.
Doctor: What was written?
Ball: "Fuck you" in Italian... Shit, she went back to her family in Italy.
He entered the door and found the walls empty except for his pile of dirty clothes. And the black and white TV and the crib. He had a sad expression on his face.
Doctor: Shit, Richard, that's too bad...she finally left the TV.
Ball went to the crib and shook it, leaving a dirty diaper on the bed.
BAUER (desolately) What a bad marriage, but I'm definitely going to miss my son... maybe she'll come back.
The Doctor (laughs): Of course, Richard.
EXT: DESERT OUTSIDE LAS VEGAS, DAY
Ball and Rock drove their sports car to Las Vegas. Locke smoked marijuana and listened to rock music on the radio. Ball was driving intently when suddenly he turned his eyes to his pockets. Crumpled bills, scraps of paper, money—a mess. He was angry.
Ball: Shit, she took my phone number book! All my numbers are gone, fuck you! It's okay to run away from Claudia... your doctor really doesn't care...
Doctor: … those numbers of yours are nothing more than the numbers of my former girlfriends. I have my own troubles. I really feel bad for Bagger. You don't understand our relationship. This is my best friend. Now you are my best friend. This makes me very sad... do you think it's easy to pass the buck off. I am forty-two years old. I have no wife, no children, no father, no mother, no dog - I'm so alone in this world, it's horrible. (Bauer listens absently to the doctor's whining) Do you know any other man of forty-two who has nothing? (Bauer glances at him) Except you—
INTERNATIONAL: CAR Row, Las Vegas, Daytime
Ball signed the paperwork for the sale of his sports car and handed a crumpled postage stamp-sized piece of paper (a car ownership certificate) to the fat car dealer, who gave him a thousand dollars in cash.
Ball rushed out to greet Locke and said, "It's over, let's go."
INT: CASINO
Ball bets all thousand dollars on the red bar of the roulette wheel.
The roulette wheel is turning. Locke looked nervous, chewing gum. Ball was leisurely and indifferent. The two exchanged glances. Red bar!
EXT: PARKING PARK, DAY
Ball bought his car back.
EXTERIOR: DESERT, ROAD, DAY
Ball galloped south in the endless desert. The Doctor's radio was blaring loudly. He swallowed an amphetamine, smoked marijuana, and drank a margarita from the bottle. Ball looked intently at the road, thinking about something, and the car was going a hundred miles an hour.
Doctor: Where are we going now?
Ball: Guatemala.
Doctor: Why go?
Ball: Why don't you go. No police, no laws. There is sun. There is cheap, high-quality marijuana available. There is also a large brothel in Guatemala. Take credit cards. Fake, they don't pay attention...like...Junglong in Saigon...
Doctor: You have to run two thousand miles for a brothel, Ball. I know of one in Oakland that only charges two and a half dollars.
Bauer (interested): Where?
Doctor: Your ex-wife.
Infusion: After six days
The desert stretches on and on, with endless cacti and bushes. James Taylor's straight-throated "Oh, Mexico" is now a Salvadoran piece. The car was almost in disrepair, the doors were tied with wire, the windshield was cracked, the muffler was gone, the speedometer was out of order, the license plate was off.
Ball was smoking a marijuana cigarette, an open bottle of Mexican liquor between his legs, driving a hundred miles. Drive past a sign that says "Santa Tahana: Twenty kilometers. San Salvador: 100 kilometers". There is a condor logo on the top of the sign.
The Doctor is fiddling with the radio antenna to get the signal. When he saw the street sign, he became agitated. In order to stabilize his emotions, he had to swallow another piece of tranquility.
Doctor: You said fuck Guatemala, you never mentioned El Salvador! I have never been abroad. It's killing people here.
Ball: Do you believe everything in the newspapers? You will love it here! Doctor, I'm not kidding, this is my last resort. If I could get great war photos, I could sell them to the Associated Press. I got the money and we went to La Libertad, the best surf beach in the world. For fun, play for a few months and you can spend $300 for a year.
Doctor: Ball, you lied to me.
Ball: Doctor, look at your situation, you are dealing with the harsh facts of life: you have no wife, no dog, no money, no one loves you, you are ugly - your life here will be ...
Doctor (don't want to listen): Well, well, let's go.
Ball: ...you'll love it here, Doctor. You can drink and drive, and you can kill anyone for fifty dollars. There are the most beautiful women in the world. Where can you find a virgin for seven dollars.
Doctor: I hope this woman is the most beautiful in the world, or I'll go home. Luckily for you, you're running into a corner with me, Ball.
Ball: …Twelve dollars for two virgins. And aphrodisiacs, no doctor's prescription, to keep you entertained all night, where all people want to do is go to bed...
Doctor: … Twelve dollars? Do you think you can negotiate this price...
Ball: Doctor, you're going to be a fairy, and you're going to love it here. Phew, fuck!
He hit the brakes, snuffed out the cigarette butts, drank the empty bottle, and threw it away.
The Doctor doesn't know what happened. There were a dozen men on the road ahead blocking the way. They were wearing civilian clothes and cowboy hats. They may be robbers, rebels, or something, but they are by no means good.
Doctor: Why are they blocking the way?
Ball: Why, why, why, don't ask why, this isn't a Gringo's paradise...
He frantically searched his pockets, found his cyanide pill, and gave the Doctor one.
Bauer: …Hide, keep calm, and be deaf.
Doctor (looking at his pill): What is this? sedative?
Ball: Well, long-lasting—cyanide...stand up.
Doctor (throws it away): I don't eat this shit!
Ball: You'll regret it when they're going to unload your head.
The Doctor apparently thinks Ball is exaggerating. From his dull point of view: the approaching roadblock.
Ball stopped the car. The man stepped forward, looked down, and saw a carbine dangling inches from Ball's face. This guy is clearly drunk. An odor of alcohol sprayed directly into Ball.
Bauer (broken Spanish): Hello, friend. I am a tourist. American. I am going to El Salvador. my friend……
He speaks indecent Spanish and smiles all over his face.
The guy obviously didn't understand and stared inexplicably. The sun scorched him to his dismay. He muttered a few words about Santa Ana in tongues. "It's closed. I can't go." Bauer said something, but the guy didn't understand, he waved his hand, and two more men came up. bad spanish...
Ball pulled a cheap gold watch from his pocket and scrutinized it like an Indian gem. "...Pure gold, worth thousands of dollars..." The guy looked at it like a giant python looking at a rat, shook it to see if it could go, put it in his pocket, hurt it The other two guys were displeased. There was a conversation between them.
Ball's smile couldn't hide his nervousness. He looked at the doctor and sent him a message.
Ball: These drunken demons. Big trouble.
One of them pointed to the press pass attached to the windshield and grunted loudly: "Reporter" suddenly opened the door: "Get out! Wallet! Money!"
Jump to -
Ball and the Doctor were lying on the front of the car, being stripped of their clothes. All valuables were confiscated, wallets, money...
Ball (in a hurry now): No matter what they do, don't give in. ...kick them in the lower body, fight, run away, whatever, but don't give in!
Doctor: Why?
Ball: Why! You surrender to them, and they can do whatever they want.
Dr. (the narcotic effects of marijuana still persist): This is fucking scary.
BAUER (talking to himself): Getting this far... being shot by an alcoholic in El Salvador, they won't believe it... ugh, who cares about this!
The drunk head pulled the bolt of the carbine. Just then a jeep pulled up. In the car was Smelin Taisch, a lieutenant of the Civil Guard, a thin young man with a stern expression, burning eyes and a smirk.
Smelin Taisch: Who?
Drunk Heads: Subversives!
Ball seized the opportunity and jumped up and waved his credentials at the stage.
Ball: No! News reporter! A friend of Colonel Figueroa! News reporter!
Taishi looked at him. He's obviously smarter than the alcoholic demon who nearly killed Ball and the Doctor.
Smelin Taisch: Figueroa?
Ball nodded vigorously.
EXT: STREETS OF SANTA TAANA, DAY
Smelin Taisch and his driver drove into a square in the city center and parked next to an armored vehicle.
A dozen people were lying on the ground with their hands on their heads. Soldiers stood by, checking their papers. Smelin Desch went to the other officer and said something to him, pointing at Ball and Locke.
Doctor: What are you doing? What does he want to do?
Ball: He's a student. Things really suck. They are checking his papers.
Doctor: What is that?
Ball: Birth certificate, voter card. If you don't, you're out of luck.
A sergeant grabbed a young man by the hair and dragged him to Smelling Desch, shouting that he had left his papers at home.
Locke and Bauer were forcibly pulled out of the jeep by two soldiers and strode toward the armored vehicle, and they glanced at Smelling Taisch, who was questioning the young man. The sergeant punched the young man in the back of the head with the butt of his gun. The young man fell to his knees and begged them to believe his words: "Sir, be gracious!" The children in the street gathered around to watch the fun.
INT: ARMORED CAR, DAY
Bauer and Locke were pushed into the rear of the armored vehicle, and the iron door slammed shut. I could only look out from the cannon, and the inside of the car was pitch black.
Ball: That's how you treat Colonel Figueroa's good friend!
From their point of view: Smelin Desch pulls out his pistol, the young man begging. Smelin Desch shot casually at the young man's temple, and hurried away to avoid blood. He walked away.
Locke: Asshole! asshole! They're coming to kill us, Ball!
The armored car moved suddenly, and Bauer and Locke leaned back and forth in the darkness.
Locke: I thought you could eat here. They're coming to kill us, aren't they?
Bauer (scratching his head, grinning): It's okay to kill people, but to release people will cause trouble.
cut to-
a few hours later.
The armored car stopped. Weary and frightened, the Doctor huddled in a corner, sweating. Ball urinated in the other corner.
Doctor (viciously): The deadline is up... do you still have that sedative?
Ball touched his cyanide pill with his fingers. The door opened with a clang.
Smelin Taisch stood there with an assistant. The air is tense.
Smelin Desch: Colonel Figueroa is waiting for your banquet.
EXT: barracks, day
Ball and Locke were held hostage and walked forward. A bugle was heard, and the soldiers came running and lined up. The barracks was built like an old-fashioned American cavalry battalion.
As they stepped out of the armored vehicle, a group of children and soldiers stared intently at the undocumented young man's body. The corpse was hung upside down on the roof of the car, his bloodstained head staring at Locke, his mouth wide open. Ball urged him to go quickly. Walk past a huge poster of dying soldiers - "Our duty is to give our lives for the motherland!"
INT: Zanguloa's Barracks, Night
Figueroa: Bauer! How did you get here. Journalists are prohibited from entering!
Ball: From Guatemala, Colonel...
Figueroa: You bloody bastards, you've got a lot of luck, and you saved your head!
They hug. Figueroa was a handsome, American-trained officer, like Patton, in oversized, well-polished leather boots, and with a whip in hand. He looked around.
Figueroa: Come on, knights, sit down and have some more wine. what do you want to eat? There is fish, very fresh.
Three half-naked prostitutes were running back and forth in his barracks. The barracks had purple sofa benches, hula-shaped lamps, and disgusting drawings. A parrot cooed. Figueroa was obviously a little drunk.
Figueroa (to the prostitutes): My friend here...gives me a name in the American newspapers - "Barton of El Salvador", that's what he calls me.
Ball and Locke took their seats at the banquet. The servants serve them. Locke was surprised by the sudden change in the situation, and was somewhat skeptical. He ate greedily and scratched and groped on a fat whore.
BAUER (filling Figueroa with wine, to the crowd) You, Yurio, that was the last great cavalry battle in history. In that war with Honduras in 1969, he fought all the way to Tegucigalpa (note 3)! Such cavalry tactics have not been seen since the time of the Huns!
Figueroa loved to hear it, and screwed another whore's ass.
Figueroa: . . . It was a good fight.
Ball: ...It seems that the situation is tense again, Yurio. I guess it was a barricade set up by Major Max outside the city.
Figueroa: That bitch! (Whispering to Ball, looking at the servant) Now there are rumours of a coup d'etat. His people are everywhere. I don't even know who to trust. Half of my men are in the "killing squad" and the other half deserted after selling their weapons to the insurgents... those dog days of insurgents added two more battalions to the north, the junta is out of power, the country is moving perish! The shitty Major Max still talks about being against communism, he's just bragging about it. (Hugging the third prostitute)...Squeeze you to death...(The obscene remarks are repeated, and she also replies with obscene remarks)
Ball looked at Locke and got a lot of information...
Bauer: ...Looks like the insurgents can sweep everything, Yurio. If they take Santa Ana, they can divide the country in two.
Figueroa giggled, took out a cloth sack, placed it on the table, and poured out its contents.
Figueroa: ...first they have to get rid of me, many insurgents have tried desperately...fuck them...the ears of the right-wingers, the ears of the left-wingers - no one will ever get into Santa Ana. Santa Ana is my place.
Dozens of shriveled ears rolled down on the tablecloth, right in front of Locke, who felt sick: "Yo!" Ball kicked him under the table. The prostitutes were terrified, and the colonel was now macho.
Ball: Yes, Colonel.
Figueroa: We're doing a good job...what a fucking human right.
He picked up an ear and dipped it in his Champagne glass. It seemed to come back to life, listening to their conversation. A fluffy ear floats in the foam.
Ball: ...Colonel, you might as well let me go out with one of your reconnaissance teams. I'll be able to get back some great fight photos when I get time...I'll put some light on their faces.
Figueroa: Ball, you sleep with this one, and I sleep with that skinny one. Your friends can find that fat one... and destroy the Communist Party! Destroy all enemies! Let them hear my voice. Long live El Salvador!
He raised his ear-soaked Champagne glass and toasted the table. He took a sip and handed the cup to the giggling whore, who took a sip and handed it to Ball...
Locke's eyes were fixed on the contents of the cup, and he was about to vomit. The fat whore pinches his balls.
Fat whore: Squeeze you to death! !
BAUER (drinks his drink, in Spanish): …Ignore him! He got gonorrhea in Guatemala and dysentery here. (Laughs) He's leaking water in both places!
She withdrew her hand. At this moment, the white-eyed Locke was stuffed into his ear-soaked wine glass, and he vomited so much that the white tablecloth was covered with sewage.
EXT: THE ROAD TO THE CAPITAL, THAT NIGHT
Ball and the Doctor drove to the capital. A white flag was strapped to the broken antenna, and the TV was taped to a crack in the windshield. The headlights cut through the darkness. A song was playing on the radio: "Every move you make, every breath you take, I'm watching...
Doctor: Hey, Richard, it was a strange thing to come out with you, and now I want to get out of here by plane. You know I have something to do in San Francisco. I'm going to live there, even with Miriam. I got you out of jail, you owe me a lot of money over the years, I think it's time to break up...
BAUER (staring forward): More on that later, doctor! ...hand me the mace from the tool cabinet. There are many ways to catch the night here.
Doctor: Mace?
Ball: Don't worry, Doctor. Just in case. I'm noticed...I'm going to get a bottle of wine. two seconds.
His eyes flickered as he pulled a large switchblade from his travel bag. He gave a grim smile.
The Doctor (more anxiously): Ball, you see...
A drunken man was walking straight towards them in the middle of the road at the headlights, and Bauer threw his wheels.
Ball's car passed him, but it didn't slow down. The doctor caught a glimpse of the man stumbling after the car, spun around a few times by the high-speed air.
Doctor: Who is that?
Ball: That goddamn alcoholic. Almost got into an accident with my car. Pass me the map.
EXT: Street, San Salvador, early morning
Ball's car pulled into the parking lot of a McDonald's restaurant in San Salvador's business district.
INT: McDonald's restaurant, early morning
The restaurant was filled with militants—alcoholics, drunken mariachi bands playing incongruous, orphaned children begging for food or curled up sleeping in corners. A security guard, armed with a shotgun with a truncated barrel, glanced at them and went back to sleep.
Locke, with a hamburger in hand, is stalked by an alcoholic. He tried to be nice to him. Ball didn't notice this and walked straight to John Cassetti in the back of the store. Cassetti had three cameras on his shoulders, and four lens barrels on the table—impressive enough. This man is always busy, nervous, and has been a war correspondent for too long. A thirty-six-year-old man looks like he is forty-five years old, and his eyes are very handsome.
Ball: Hi John, I think I'll see you here...
Cassetti (slightly surprised): Bauer - I heard you're dead...
Bauer didn't like this kind of words very much, and smiled reluctantly.
Ball: Do I look so bad (a unkempt look)?
Cassetti: Yeah...I heard they got you in Guatemala. In some kind of prison or something. Pulled out your nails. tortured you to death.
BAUER (laughs, but quickly loses it): Asshole Guatemalan. How about in Beirut.
Locke came over and sat down and devoured his Big Mac and fried food like a starving man. Ball made no introduction and felt ashamed to be in the company of someone like him in front of Cassetti. The alcoholic followed slowly, and decided that Locke was a good man to deal with.
Cassetti: Terrible.
Ball: What a great report for Newsweek, John.
Cassetti (nodding, comfortable with this kind of flattery): How did you come so quickly?
Bauer: A little friction with the people from Major Max, who didn't like the torture chamber report.
Doctor: What, didn't you say that this Major Max is your number one enemy!
Ball: That was a year ago, Doctor, and they're not well-informed here.
Doctor: Ball, I have to go. First flight. I'm not kidding. Bad luck is enough. You give me the rest of the money. I am serious. Less crap.
The doctor gave the alcoholic one of his french fritters, and the alcoholic swallowed it in one gulp, his eyes showing that he wanted another, and he clung to the doctor.
Bauer (irritated): What money! Doctor, you are taking too much Valium. Money is long gone, gearbox changes in Guatemala, petrol, slaughter at the border, prostitutes. We only have fifteen pesos left and... no, wait, that Big Mac costs twelve pesos, shit, only three pesos left, no, two pesos! You fucking stop giving that alcoholic french fries...
The Doctor absentmindedly gave the alcoholic another fritter, and he was so angry that he jumped up and grabbed Ball by the collar, shaking it vigorously.
Doctor: Three pesos! Are you telling me we only have three pesos left! My dog died, Miriam was gone, I almost got shot, I'm only three pesos on El Salvador! Aw, I'm really exhausted.
The alcoholic is now gorging on the Dr.'s French fritters and salivating at Cassetti's camera. Cassetti, who had been quiet, was now annoyed by the interruptions of Ball and his stupid friend who had brought the alcoholic. Bauer also got mad at the Doctor in a chain reaction.
Ball: Doctor, don't let that alcoholic make up his mind about our cameras, you won't let him go. You know why he's stuck here - because he's full of wine. (Bauer pulls her own bottle out of his travel bag) . . . it's worth seventeen cents, it's going to burst your brain cells, and you just give them something and you don't want to get rid of them.
The Doctor (shaking him): What's this got to do with me! ! !
Ball: It's very relevant. Your libertarian style has this guy following us around for hours.
Doctor (losing his mind a bit): Listen, Richard, I don't understand the language here! I only have two pesos! I have to get out of here!
The drunkard's eyes lit up as soon as he saw Ball's bottle, and he knocked over the coffee on the table as he reached for it.
Ball: Damn it! See you can't get rid of them... don't play your liberal yuppie way with these drunks. Ok! ! (to Cassetti) Sorry, John.
The Doctor stared at Richard, suddenly grabbed the two pesos from the table, and yelled in his face.
Doctor: Fuck you, Ball. I have to get out of here!
He ran out to the parking lot. The alcoholic followed him. Cassetti put some money on the table and packed his things.
Cassetti: My stuff is in Newsweek.
Bauer hurriedly followed, not wanting to miss this opportunity.
Ball: Hi John, thanks for the hamburger. I'm so sorry...Look, let's be honest, I got the Pacific Press fired...there's nothing I can do here.
Cassetti was finally struck by Ball's sincerity and felt a little sorry for him.
Cassetti: Listen, Richard. There's no work to do here, and no one cares about the bullshit that's going on here. A sniper killed a Mexican TV reporter last week. They turned their guns on us. Go to Angola and try...
Bauer (knows that's nonsense, tries another trick): Listen, I can lead you to Figueroa. I just met him and I have free access to his elite troops.
Cassetti listened intently, but did not stop. The two walked out of McDonald's.
EXT: McDonald's restaurant parking lot, early morning
Cassetti stepped out the door. Bauer was waiting for his answer... Locke was stumbling back and forth in the parking lot, trying to get rid of the alcoholic.
CASEY (noting Bow's sports car): Still driving that green guy, Bower?
Bauer (opens the door for him): Yeah. Would you like to go for a walk on the Dawn Patrol, John?
They both understood each other. They are all fearless guys. Cassetti finally smiled drunk: "OK, Bauer, let's go!"
EXT: "El Pleillon" district, suburbs, early morning
A huge garbage dump. Rotten fruit. Flies fly around, and the stench is sky-high. Wild dogs rummage among the flocks of chickens and goats for food. Cassetti is taking pictures. Three corpses - two young men, one woman, with their hands tied, lay in a ditch. There are burn wounds on his body.
Locke was calm as usual when he saw this scene. He had never seen such a dead man. Ball was talking to Cassetti, who wasn't taking pictures and didn't want to get involved in Cassetti's work.
Cassetti: Let's go, take some pictures... (continue to take pictures)
Ball understood what he meant and walked to a ditch. We followed him to a horrific sight: dozens of corpses that had just been dumped on the slopes, full of vultures pecking at eyeballs and guts.
The Doctor followed behind Ball. He threw away the leftover hamburger, and a vulture flew behind him and picked it up.
Ball walked up to Cassetti, who was filming the body with a telescopic lens, like a technician entering some horrific mortuary.
Ball: John, you know Alvarez, and you can help me protect me from the insurgents. He thought I was an arrogant man, a deceitful journalist. I'm not. I've changed my mind...
The Doctor (interrupting): Get out of here!
Ball and Cassetti looked up at the canyon. The Doctor is losing patience. A vulture pecking at his feet. He wanted to kick it away, but the bird was fearless. The Doctor walked down the hill and toward them.
Doctor: Shit, it pecked me! It's got rabies. I'm doomed. I'm going to get a shot, Ball!
Ball: Shut up, okay? You big boy... no one can get rabies out of a vulture.
He turned to Cassetti, who had no regard for Locke. The two continued to walk forward.
Ball: Come here, John, I need another shot. I only have three pesos left.
Cassetti (while taking a picture): Do you know who takes the best pictures? kappa.
Ball: Yeah, he did a great job in Spain. This guy took to the sky.
Cassetti (excitedly): Capa just wasn't afraid to die.
BAUER (flatteringly): You're like him in this, John—you're the best...
Cassetti: I want to take a picture like that too, Richard... One day, fuck, I want that picture...
Ball: You will...
The doctor suddenly took out a piece of tranquility, trying to calm his nerves. Another vulture seemed to be slowly approaching him, and he ducked, muttering, "Let's get out of here."
Ball and Cassetti walked back to the car. The doctor ran over, rubbing his thighs.
Doctor: Are you sure that bald eagles don't bring rabies?
Cassetti (ignoring him): The people of Alvarez are being watched in the cathedral these days. I'll talk to him... you might as well go to the new ambassador - Tom Kelley, he's a nice guy.
Ball: Gloria? Transferred from Cambodia, yes. I know him very well and he is a good man.
Locke: Are you going to the beach yet?
BAUER: There's a carnival there, doctor, and the pretty embassy girls, and free food...you'll love it...(to John, servilely) Thank you, John.
He tried to pat him to thank him, but John ducked. He's not the kind of person who likes to be coy.
Cassetti (looking at the Doctor): ...I don't need to remind you to be on your guard.
The Doctor (picks up a rock and chases the vulture): Asshole. If I had rabies...
INT: AP OFFICES, AM
Ball hurried upstairs. The director was a lanky young man of twenty-four, who was sleeping on the couch. Bauer woke him up when he stormed into the house. Ball placed two 35mm rolls of film on his desk.
Director: Bauer, I heard the Brits got you in Belfast.
Ball: Fuck the Brits. Come on, Maury, two volumes. ASA 80 degrees.
Director: A war scene?
Ball: No, about the firing squad. Might be a good one.
Director: Let's deal with it. Follow the old rules. $25 buyout, full copyright.
Ball: How about a little extra? Add ten dollars?
Director (shrugs in denial): You know there are rules.
Ball pressed his finger on the film angrily, then changed his mind: Fuck, I'm not that poor yet.
EXT/IN: City Cathedral, San Salvador City, daytime
Ball and Locke jumped out of the car. A car with a loudspeaker drove slowly by, broadcasting.
Holding up his crumpled press pass, Ball pushed away a gruff National Guard sergeant and fought his way out. Surrounded by flags of all shapes and sizes calling for the protection of labor rights, trade union rights, land reform...
The open space outside the church was crowded with demonstrators, land reform advocates, farmers, students — holding up petitions, propaganda posters.
Led by Carmen Sanchez, a striking, dark-skinned woman, women chop up piles of vegetables and place them in a saucepan for a row of workers. Ball shoots non-stop with his Nikon camera.
Doctor: What are they doing?
Ball: People come here to find out the whereabouts of the missing. (pointing to) These people are from a land cooperative. They were attacked by the police and they were on a hunger strike.
Doctor (disturbed): I've seen this in Mexico.
Ball took Locke to the "Office of Human Rights," which was set up outdoors in a tent. Ramon Alvarez - a beautiful young leader of a left-wing party - is showing some photo albums to women who have come to find missing family members. As they flipped through their photo albums, we saw thousands of pictures of the broken limbs of people killed by firing squads. The doctor felt sick and walked away.
A mother suddenly recognized a face among the victims - her son. She was distraught. Ramon Alvarez tried to console her.
A Dutch television cameraman happened to be present. Jurgen Ortimans — a domineering TV director — directs his camera crew to film tears.
Alvarez, fed up with them, waved them away. Ball slipped up to Ramon and caught his attention before he slipped.
Ball: Hi Ramon...Did Cassetti tell you about my runaway with the local lads(5)...?
Carmen Sanchez came over and handed the petition to Ramon. She gave Richard a quick nod and smiled, seeming to remember him.
BAUER (quietly urging Ramon) Ramon, I desperately need a chance. I posted a great story about you last year…
Ramon: Ball, I'm not a travel agency for you guys.
Ball: If Major Max was in power, good news coverage would certainly be of use to you.
Ramon snapped his fingers and threw the folder at Ball. He pointed to the crying young mother and the other women flipping through the albums.
Ramon: Good news coverage with 10,000 missing people and more every day, what good news coverage do you guys deserve.
Ball felt uncomfortable with Ramon's reprimand. One of Ramon's bodyguards came over, holding an automatic pistol wrapped in newspaper... Ball glanced at it.
Ramon: Take it.
The bodyguard nodded, put away the automatic pistol, and hurried away.
Carmen sensed Bauer's discomfort. Ball looked at her uneasily and pulled out his firing squad film.
Bauer: …Listen, I brought you some pictures, I went to El Pleillon this morning.
Carmen (takes the negative): Thanks, Richard.
Ramon saw all this, nodded to Carmen, then turned back to comfort the young woman who was now completely in despair.
Carmen: Come back next week and I'll make arrangements.
Ball touched her and said "thank you".
Ball: Ramon should be extra careful, he's number one on Major Max's list of persona non grata.
She nodded knowingly and walked away, when the Doctor reappeared, disgusted by the scene and the horrific pictures before him.
BAUER (pointing to Ramon and Carmen): This guy makes me feel like I'm wasting my life...
In a courtyard behind the church there is a makeshift orphanage with two nuns and forty children ranging from newborn babies to eight years old. The nuns were distributing meals, and the children gathered around Ball and the Doctor, interested in the strange visitor. They were orphans of war, sons and daughters of the missing, scarred by burns and slashes, with mutilated limbs.
BAUER (to the nun) How are you ladies?
Sister Stan (knows Richard, but doesn't know his name): Oh, alright. Glad to see you back. Kathy's here too... (heavy Irish accent)
A little boy sat on Richard's lap.
Ball: You seem busy?
Sister Stan (laughing resignedly): Yeah. All these kids came in last month. Parents are missing and dead. Unknown whereabouts - things are bad here. We were also intimidated last week for opening an orphanage... (referring to a girl with a missing leg huddled beside Richard) She was the last survivor of the massacre in Rio Lemba By.
Ball: I heard...the government helicopter opened fire as it flew over the river, did it?
Sister Stan: It's bad, very bad. Both sides were in turmoil.
Kathy Moore came over with a case of medical equipment. This beautiful Irish-American girl in her twenties, a volunteer worker, is tired now, but still motivated...
Ball: Kathy Moore, the most beautiful chick in all of El Salvador.
Kathy smiled absently and began to do her job: taking a prosthetic leg out of the box and fitting it to the little girl.
CASEY (in Spanish): Anisita, come here... Ball, you decadent, back to see all your girlfriends at Noah Noah?
Ball: I said, Casey, you can't put all the blame on me.
She started fitting the prosthetic leg with the help of Sister Stan. Bauer, obviously deeply moved, tried to talk to the little girl in broken Spanish, but she just stared at him. He took pictures while speaking.
Ball: Casey, how about a trip to Libertad? I'm leaving tomorrow.
Casey: No...there's so much to do here...
She found that the prosthetic leg was too big, and scolded something in her mouth. The little girl seemed to realize something and looked at them blankly.
CASEY (angrily, to Sister Stan): I told Cleveland the size! They promised me to do it!
She threw the prosthetic leg back into the box, looking downcast.
Sister Stan: Well, Kathy, that sort of thing happens all the time. There is another boat next month. Anisita can wait...
There was a heartbreaking, wordless disappointment in the children's eyes. Locke looked away. Bauer felt that there was no drama, put down the camera, and felt sorry.
EXT: Camino Real Hotel, daytime
The contrast is strong. It's full of people, everyone is in high spirits, drinking too much, and eating a rich cold meal: chicken, ham, local delicacies. And a band of mariachis.
On the wall is a large blackboard with two columns showing the voter counts for Carter and Reagan in each of the fifty states.
Ball and Locke squeezed through the crowd in stinky clothes. The doctor was very drunk and had a bandaged foot pecked by a vulture. He jumped up and down as he walked, attracting vicious glances from some white people. There were many soldiers in the lobby, dressed in military uniforms: Chilean, Argentine, El Salvadorian Army and Air Force uniforms; a dozen American soldiers and the same number of black, military wives.
The tall, imposing, handsome Ambassador Thomas Kelley was with several reporters, and the crowd cheered when the preliminary count indicated that Reagan was far ahead in New Hampshire.
Gloria: …I can’t comment until the full vote is known, but I will say it’s my job to support the president’s policies…
Ball filled his whiskey glass at the bar, and Locke reached for snacks like a starving prisoner.
Doctor: ...can you believe that a guy who plays a supporting role for a chimpanzee is going to be president of the United States? Does this make you feel down?
Ball noticed someone approaching him. That was Jack Morgan—a handsome, Yale jurist, every mother's ideal son.
Ball: Hello, Jack. what are you doing here?
Morgan: Ball? I heard you are dead.
Ball: Wishes are no substitute for reality. What wind brought you here, Jack? Calling Reagan?
Morgan gave him an annoyed look and introduced him to his buddies—just what Ball needed most.
Morgan: Colonel Bentley Hyde, Air Force, Bob Samuels, U.S. Intelligence, Millicent Davis, U.S. Air Force-CIA...
Bauer nodded slightly to the crowd, who were talking, but Bauer slammed in to greet Colonel Hyde, who was standing at the bar, a tall, arrogant German with a cigar in his mouth.
Ball: You don't remember me, Colonel? Pacific Press, in Vietnam, Richard Ball?
Hyde: Remember, remember. The last time I heard from you was that you were kicked out by Mr. Thieu.
Hyde looked at Ball, who was much shorter than him. As he spoke, he pulled out a cigar and saluted Bauer one, which Bauer hurriedly accepted.
Bauer (laughing): Yeah, but Mr. Thieu was kicked out after me too.
Bauer's joke was not to Hyde's taste, and he realized it, and went over to light a cigar for him to show his respect. Hyde smiled.
Hyde: Hey, I really don't understand why you guys like communists so much. If you were a Vietnamese, you would be sent to re-education and plucking radishes in a labor camp.
Ball: Colonel, I didn't apply for Vietnamese citizenship.
Hyde: Yeah, and they don't smoke the weird stuff you smoke, old man.
Ball: Bentley, I'd like to ask you a big favor. Can you find out about an infantry operation?
Hyde took a puff on his cigar and looked at Ball again. Ball contrasts with the Colonel in every way. Ball was scruffy and the colonel was neat, but there was a certain bond between the two, because Ball had at least seen the battle scenes and knew about his bullshit.
Hyde: If I find out for you, what can I put in?
Ball thought about it, he understood the meaning of his question. Hyde smiled—a sly, tacit smile—and walked away.
Morgan and Bauer crept away where no one else could hear their conversation.
Morgan: You didn't hang out with the local lads?
Bauer (mysteriously): Going to...
Morgan (knowing he'd do it): ...I've heard a word about it. They're working on weapons, lots of them, through Nicaragua, and they'll be doing something soon. So bring me any information, photos, anything you can get your hands on, Richard...we'll make your life here a little easier.
BAUER (vaguely): I don't know, Jack, that kind of stuff is hard to prove. I have heard that their weapons are mainly from the black market or non-government forces in Miami.
Morgan: That was last year. This year Castro organized them. Those weapons are from the Warsaw Group, they don't have to look around.
Ball: It's the same communists that are messing with us all over the place...
Morgan: Don't take it lightly and think it's no big deal for them to take over this turf. Nicaragua is just the beginning. The next targets are Guatemala and Honduras, and within five years you'll see Cuban tank brigades appearing in the Grant River Valley. (Note 6)
BAUER (laughing): Jack, let's take a break. Cuban tanks moving into the Grant Valley... I'm more worried about Major Max entering the Grant Valley. I'll call you. Buy me a lunch. I said Jack, can you lend me fifty dollars?
Morgan (laughs) Well, as far as I know, Major Max will be taking over this place soon, just wait and see, old man.
Bauer smiled, looking at him bewildered. Is he serious? Ambassador Gloria came over to talk to Morgan, shook hands with Ball, and walked away again. thunderous cheers. Reagan just got a big win in New York. Absolutely ahead. The soldiers in the house were clearly satisfied.
Locke was devouring a huge sandwich with everything he could get from the cold table. He was trying to court a female soldier in uniform—a short, stocky girl from Omaha.
Doctor: So what are you doing here?
Female Soldier: Oh, I'm a gunner.
Doctor: A what? Ugh, what's going on here? I started to feel like I was on an intoxication, like when I was listening to Jimmy Hendrix speak in 1967.
Female Soldier: Oh, what are you talking about?
Doctor: Say what? You know - in Vietnam. Are we planning to invade or what?
Female Soldier: I don't know what you're talking about, I was young at the time... Listen, I don't want to talk to reporters. You are very weird. Go to hell.
Doctor: I'm not a reporter, I'm a rock show host (she's gone)...what am I doing here?
BAUER (coming towards him): Everything is cold.
Doctor: Hi, that's great, Richard. I'm going to have a drunken break tonight!
Ball led him to a table where Peter Cunningham had just taken a seat with Pauline Axelrod and John Cassetti. Cunningham is CNN's director of Australia, and Axelrod, a charming female reporter for CBS, came here to practice.
Cunningham: Hey, Richard, the last time I heard the Khmer Rouge chopped a hoe in your head...
BAUER (giggling): No, Peter, don't you think my head is still there?
Cunningham: Ball you boy, you know Pauline Axelrod... this is Richard Ball.
Ball nodded "yes". Pauline's eyes wandered over his dirty clothes.
Pauline: Of course I know Ball. Who are you "doing" for now?
Ball ignored her tone and pulled up a chair to squeeze between her and Cunningham.
Ball: I'm working on a big job. City Lights has booked my coverage of El Salvador. Do you know Dr. Locke? He is the host of the San Francisco rock music show.
Locke sat next to Pauline and glanced at her. She turned her attention to Cassetti, who said nothing. As he awaits the results of the election, he captions his horrific photos of Dawn Patrol corpses.
Cunningham: I heard you broke the barricade in Santa Ana.
Ball: Yeah, you made me a field producer, and I'll send you to see Figueroa.
Cunningham: That would have to be a nod from Atlanta.
Ball: Can you try, Peter?
Cunningham: . . . at your age, Ball, with a broken back and a life with the lads?
Ball: Still gotta make a living, Peter.
Pauline (to Cassetti, looking at his picture) Oh my God, they dug up the fetus!
On TV, it was announced that Texas would belong to Reagan. The crowd cheered. Ball and Locke were becoming losers, both frustrated by Reagan's apparent advantage. Cunningham, Pauline, and Cassetti were silent and unpredictable.
Pauline (to Cunningham, beating around the bush): I'm going to do a live report at ten o'clock—a condensed report.
CUNINGHAM (a little dejected): Mr. Reagan is in power, don't say anything wrong, the left is "forever".
Pauline (pulling out a newspaper clipping): I know, but the newspapers are advocating things like democracy, free elections, and what the broadcasters want. What do you say?
Cunningham glanced at the clipping, and Ball leaned in to read it.
Locke doesn't like Pauline and sneaks a small tablet of narcotic into her champagne. She had no idea.
BAUER (drunk): Pauline, this stuff is 100%, 100% nonsense!
Pauline: Listen, Ball, I protest...
BAUER (beating table with fist): Hey, I protested what I saw in Santa Ana. A lad got a gun in the head and was dragged into a tank because he didn't have a damn card. Do you know what a certificate is?
Pauline: Of course I know what a document is... Ball, you're a nice guy.
Ball: Well, you have to analyze the situation well! If you don't stamp that "document" on election day, you're screwed, if you have to vote, if you don't vote you're a communist subversive, then what is democracy... these people Just go and vote for Donald Duck or Genghis Khan or whoever the local police tells them to vote because if they don't vote...the status quo!
He pushed Pauline the picture of the woman whose fetus had been dug up. She turned her eyes away and snorted at him.
Cunningham: Hey, Richard, be quiet, don't mess around!
Bauer: Fuck the yuppies... doing live coverage for CBS at the Camino Real. Come to think of it, they got the full report: "What I saw in my two weeks in El Salvador..." was actually hiding under a bed at the Grand Hotel Camino Real. Of course they published the report in full. Because they got the right stinky feet in New York! "
DOCTOR (quietly to Ball) Take five hundred nude pictures of that stinky bitch. I can't see her "condensation".
Bauer gave him a dazed glance, meaning, "Why are you so stupid!" Everyone was already embarrassed. Pauline's face was pale and angry, and she drank half a glass of wine in one breath.
Doctor: So what's your logo?
Pauline: Shut up!
Doctor: Oh, "stop" (Note 7) I thought it was "wet and slippery" ("Humph!") So, you like rock music?
Pauline (suddenly stands up): No, I hate it. Sorry.
Doctor: Then I don't want to fuck you either... smooth sailing.
Pauline suddenly became unsteady due to a seizure. She staggered away.
BAUER (suddenly laughing): Hi Pauline, I'm sorry, okay. Go hard...I'm a fool.
Pauline (coldly) Bauer you bastard.
She left, and Ball shrugged happily.
Cassetti (shrugs): Hey, I think you're venting on CBS.
When Reagan captured Illinois, the crowd burst into cheers. A band begins to play.
There was a burst of firecrackers, and then a smoke bomb was placed on the lawn. The fireworks clapped and cluttered. Suddenly, gunshots sounded very close to the doctor's ear, and people suddenly woke up. "Hi, what is this?"
People began to react, dodging and dodging, shouting and shouting, and a burst of automatic rifle fire silenced all noise. The guards drew their guns.
A small Cherokee truck can now be seen driving past the gate. Real machine gun fire, tracer rounds across the sky. Then there are the second and third smoke bombs. Cherokee disappeared.
Guards searched the lawn. a mess.
Cassetti ran around to take pictures.
Doctor (grabbing Ball): What's going on! Guerrilla?
Ball: I think it's from Major Max.
CUNINGHAM (standing up): They're not too cold for Gloria - it's the end of Gloria tonight. I have to get my crew together... (walks away)
The band that was all lying on the ground is now playing again, and the party has resumed, with everyone drinking and dancing...
DR. (holds on to Ball, the narcotics kicks in): Fuck, they're attacking the bastard's American embassy! It seems safe here.
BAUER (frustrated by the Doctor's hysteria) Don't shout, Doctor, Major Max is just celebrating a little on Election Day.
Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, please rest assured. The unrest has subsided. Eat, drink, and have fun. Ronald Reagan just won California... (plays "I'm in California")
EXT: The streets of Escalon, night
The streets of the high-end residential area of Escalon are lined with trees and are quiet and peaceful. The militiamen took to the streets to show off their force, rumbled through the streets in jeeps and fired their guns. The radio is playing "The White Hand March". Residents leaned out of windows and fired shots in support.
A car with a loudspeaker on top of it slowly drove by, announcing in Spanish that Reagan had won in a landslide nationwide - except for Massachusetts!
INT: MAJOR MAX'S HOUSE, NIGHT
The camera pans to a street-facing gate where armed guards in plaincl
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