We're No Angels Read online

  WE‘RE NO ANGELS

  WORKS BY DAVID MAMET PUBLISHED BY GROVE PRESS

  American Buffalo

  The Cherry Orchard (adapted from Anton Chekhov)

  Five Television Plays

  Glengarry Glen Ross

  Goldberg Street: Short Plays and Monologues

  Homicide

  House of Games: A Screenplay

  A Life in the Theatre

  Reunion and Dark Pony

  Sexual Perversity in Chicago and The Duck Variations

  The Shawl and Prairie du Chien

  Speed-the-Plow

  Things Change: A Screenplay (with Shel Silverstein)

  Three Children’s Plays

  Warm and Cold (with Donald Sultan)

  We’re No Angels

  The Woods, Lakeboat, Edmond

  We’re No Angels

  A Screenplay Written by

  DAVID MAMET

  Copyright © 1990 by David Mamet

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of such without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Any member of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or anthology, should send inquiries to Grove Atlantic, 154 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10011 or [email protected].

  CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that We’re No Angels is subject to a royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and all British Commonwealth countries, and all countries covered by the International Copyright Union, the Pan-American Copyright Convention, and the Universal Copyright Convention. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, such as information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved.

  First-class professional, stock, and amateur applications for permission to perform it, and those other rights stated above, must be made in advance, before rehearsals begin, to the author’s agent: Ronald Gwiazda, Abrams Artists Agency, 275 Seventh Avenue, 26th floor, New York, NY 10001.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Mamet, David.

  We’re no angels: a screenplay/written by David Mamet. — 1st ed.

  I. Title.

  PN1997.W4451990791.43’72—dc2089-25804

  eISBN: 978-0-8021-9148-9

  Cover design by Jo Bonney

  Grove Press an imprint of Grove Atlantic, 154 West 14th Street, 12th floor, New York, NY 10011

  Distributed by Publishers Group West

  www.groveatlantic.com

  The author wishes to thank Bella Spewack and the Estate of Albert Husson for their cooperation in the publication of his screenplay for We're No Angels.

  THE CAST

  NED/“FATHER RILEY” Robert De Niro

  JIM/“FATHER BROWN” Sean Penn

  MOLLY Demi Moore

  FATHER LEVESQUE Hoyt Axton

  DEPUTY Bruno Kirby

  THE WARDEN Ray McAnally

  BOBBY James Russo

  THE TRANSLATOR Wallace Shawn

  THE SHERIFF Jay Brazeau

  MRS. BLAIR Elizabeth Lawrence

  YOUNG MONK John Reilly

  BISHOP NOGULICH Ken Buhay

  LITTLE GIRL Jessica Jickels

  THE CREDITS

  Produced by Art Linson

  Directed by Neil Jordan

  Written by David Mamet

  Director of Photography Philippe Rousselot

  Production Designer Wolf Kroeger

  Coproducer Fred Caruso

  Executive Producer Robert De Niro

  Costume Designer Theoni V. Aldredge

  Editor Joke Van Wijk

  Supervising Editor Mick Audsley

  Composer George Fenton

  WE‘RE NO ANGELS

  1935. A penitentiary, near the Canadian border.

  1Exterior: Prison—Night.

  Drifting snow. The camera cranes past a barbed-wire fence, past the penitentiary sign, past pacing guards with dogs on walkways, to reveal the prison beyond, searchlights flaring around it.

  2Interior: Prison—Night.

  A mine, built into the mountainside, in which the prisoners are working. Camera reveals the various levels of the mine, a blur of steam, smoke, spurting gas jets, the prisoners, covered in dust, working like moles against the rock face. Guards with dogs pace on the walkways above.

  3Angle: Two convicts, NED and JIM, covered in fine dust, working a large vat.

  4Angle: Tannoy speakers fixed to the walkways. The guards pacing. A siren sounds, and the prisoners cease work, begin to shuffle down to the bottom level.

  The WARDEN, a heavyset man with a riding crop, emerges through a cloud of steam onto the main walkway.

  WARDEN: The taking of a life is no minor matter. (Beat.) Nor do we do it lightly. (Beat.) This man has killed, and he will be killed.

  5Angle: The WARDEN, from below, over the heads of the prisoners, pacing above them.

  WARDEN: Take him out. This is the end of crime, gentlemen. And it is called “punishment.”

  Two guards drag out a chained convict (BOBBY).

  WARDEN: This man will be taken down, his head shaved; he will receive confession if he wishes it. We will then test the apparatus; the lights will dim, once, twice, the third time; then his soul will be in that New Place. I leave you to conjecture where that place will be.

  BOBBY being walked down the line of convicts, the CAMERA MOVES with him.

  WARDEN: I want no demonstrations. I want no comments, I have no doubts but your thoughts will be troubled. Keep them to yourselves.

  As he passes two convicts, NED and JIM:

  BOB: So long, guys . . .

  JIM (sotto): So long, Bobby.

  GUARD: No talking.

  JIM (sotto): Hey, whaddya going to do to him: take away his commissary . . . ? Son of a bitch . . .

  The CAMERA STAYS on NED and JIM.

  NED (sotto): Keep it down, JIM.

  JIM (sotto): Son of a bitch . . .

  WARDEN (voice-over): And there you have it, gentlemen. I wish you a good evening.

  BOB being walked down the spiral staircase. The WARDEN speaks to his assistant.

  WARDEN: . . . Lock ‘em up. . . .

  The cell doors are opened; the convicts retire into their cells.

  6Interior: Ned and Jim's cell.

  7Angle: A “pretty girl” pinup.

  JIM (voice-over): Can you believe it, can you believe it, Neddy . . .?

  8Angle: NED, on his bunk, looks at the pinup. JIM, on the lower bunk, smokes a cigarette.

  NED: I can believe most anything. My problem is I just don't care.

  JIM: They're taking Bobby to the bakery.

  NED: Sometimes it happens that way.

  JIM: . . . that the guy's gonna die, and that's it . . . ?

  NED: Hey, what the fuck, he's a murderer . . . what's your question . . . ?

  JIM: That, that's the end of it? That, that he goes in that room . . .

  NED: . . . and he goes in that room and they light him up and that's the end of it and there's no eternal life for his soul and the cruelty of the world . . . izzat the
thing? Izzat your problem this fine evening . . . ?

  JIM: Yes. . .

  NED: You wanna talk to the chaplain.

  JIM: Well, I'm talking to you. . . .

  NED: I'm busy. I've got my mind on higher things.

  JIM: I feel bad, Ned.

  NED: Do your own time.

  NED pulls down the pinup girl poster and looks at it. A GUARD appears at the cell door.

  GUARD: You two . . .

  He starts opening the door. NED and JIM look at each other confusedly. The GUARD throws in a length of chain.

  GUARD: . . . put these on.

  9Interior: Prison Corridor—Night.

  NED and JIM, manacled together, are marched down the corridor, the GUARD behind them.

  JIM: Just tell me what it is, just tell me what it is. . . .

  The GUARD raps JIM in the kidneys with the stick.

  GUARD: Keep walking. . . .

  NED looks at JIM.

  10Interior: Electrocution Complex—Night.

  The electric chair; a guard fussing over it.

  11 Angle: JIM and NED are walked into the anteroom by the GUARD, look at the electric chair. The GUARD pushes them down on the bench.

  GUARD: The warden said, any man on the floor tonight gets chained, now shut it up, you hear me . . . ?

  As NED and JIM sit in the anteroom, the guard in the electric chair room makes a motion, and the lights dim, go out for a moment, then come back on.

  NED (sotto to JIM): Life is a hellhole, pally.

  BOB is walked through the anteroom by two guards. He is attended by a PRIEST. He nods at JIM and NED. He is walked across the anteroom. A door is opened. We see him seated, and a barber throws a cloth over him and starts shaving his head. He looks over at NED and JIM. They look on, terrified.

  The door to the barber room is closed. The WARDEN comes INTO THE PICTURE. NED and JIM rise.

  WARDEN: You two were talking. (Beat.) Answer me, you two were talking during my speech.

  JIM: I . . .

  The WARDEN swipes at his face with his riding crop.

  WARDEN: You swine . . .you swine . . . (To his guards.) Hold him down. . . .

  Two guards hold down NED; two others turn JIM with his back to the WARDEN, rip JIM‘S shirt off his back.

  12Angle: JIM, his face to the CAMERA, the WARDEN behind him, whipping him savagely.

  WARDEN: You swine, you want order? I'll give you order: I'll give you order! You want a lesson . . . ? Is that what you want . . .!

  A GUARD comes up to the WARDEN.

  GUARD: Warden, they're ready. . . .

  The WARDEN stops, turns to the GUARD, motions at the electric chair, where there is a doctor and several guards standing by.

  GUARD: They're ready, sir. . . .

  The WARDEN lowers his riding crop.

  WARDEN (to one of the guards): Keep them here, we'll beat the other one afterwards.

  The WARDEN turns, walks, followed by the other guards, into the execution chamber. He closes the door after him.

  13Angle: NED and JIM alone on the bench, one guard standing beyond them. JIM sobs; NED tries to comfort him.

  NED: It's all right, it's all right, Jimmy. . . .

  JIM: Oh, Ned, I'm in bad shape. . . .

  PRIEST (voice-over): And the Lord shall judge His people and repent Himself for His servants, when He seeth that their power is gone. . . .

  NED lifts up his head.

  14Angle: BOB, his head now shaved, being walked out of the barber room, accompanied by the PRIEST and two guards. BOB stops beside NED and JIM. He looks ahead, transfixed.

  PRIEST: And there is none shut up or left, and He shall say where are their gods, their rock, in whom they trusted . . .?

  NED hangs his head. The lights dim, flicker, and go out. (Beat.) Several SHOTS ring out. The lights come back on. BOB is standing, holding a gun on a guard. His two guards are dead on the floor. BOB runs to the door of the execution chamber and throws a massive bolt, preventing those beyond from entering.

  PRIEST: Don't do this, my son. . . .

  BOB: Shut the hell up.

  He hits the PRIEST on the side of the head with his gun. The PRIEST falls. BOB looks around, takes the doctors’ smocks off a hook on the wall, and throws them to NED and JIM.

  BOB: Here, put these on.

  15Interior: Prison Corridor—Night.

  Two doctors, seen from the back, pushing BOB on a trolley down the corridor. Guards rushing past them TOWARD THE CAMERA.

  One guard turns to look at the doctors.

  NED (back to CAMERA): We're taking him to the infirmary. . . .

  The guard nods, rushes on.

  15AAngle: The legs of the doctors manacled together.

  15BAngle: BOB on the trolley, NED and JIM, one in the doctor's shirt and collar and the other in his coat. BOB holds the revolver.

  NED: I'm not sure this is such a good idea.

  BOB: I didn't ask you, Neddy.

  NED: Bob, they catch us now, they'll kill us.

  BOB: Welcome aboard.

  The group comes to a walkway above the mine complex, a huge stairway falling downward. The siren begins to ring. BOB leaps out of the trolley. Guards are running up the stairs toward them. BOB shoots one. NED and JIM are horrified, look at BOB.

  BOB: That's right; we're all in it now!

  He shoves the trolley down the stairs toward the other guards, running up.

  15CAngle: The base of the stairs, guards falling backward under the impact of the trolley. The convicts escaping upward, way above.

  15DAngle: Upper levels of mine. BOB running down a corridor, NED and JIM behind him. He comes to a corner, where a large boiler is steaming. A guard rounds the corner, and BOB pulls the boiler plug, encasing him in steam.

  16Point of View: The guard, screaming, flailing in the steam.

  16AAngle: Guards, seen through the gridded walkway at their feet, running, shooting up.

  16B Angle: BOBBY, shooting through the grids. He drags NED and JIM on.

  BOB: We going or we dying?

  16CAngle: Upper levels of mine. The convicts running from the flying bullets. BOB pulls open a metal door, and we see the snowstorm raging outside against the face of the mountain and a bottomless drop.

  NED: Bob . . .

  BOB: You ever heard the phrase “nothing to lose . . .”?

  He pushes them out, then jumps himself

  17Exterior: Mine—Night.

  NED and JIM, chained together, fall in deep snow. BOBBY falls beside them. BOB rises, runs into the storm. NED tries to drag JIM up.

  JIM: Oh, my God . . . oh, my God . . .

  Searchlights pop on from the towers above them. NED drags JIMMY through the snow to the base of the towers. They tumble down the slope, out of shot.

  18Exterior: Base of Prison—Night.

  NED and JIM tumble and slide down the mountainside. They burrow through the snow, underneath the barbed-wire fence. They run into the storm, as all the lights in the prison come on behind them.

  19Angle: Door of kennels. Dogs pouring out, snarling, charging, running to the hole in the fence, dragging guards with them.

  19AAngle: Outside the fence. Dogs howling, the WARDEN and guards blundering helplessly through the snowstorm.

  20Exterior: Snowy Woods Bridge—Day.

  Angle: A doe, seen on the bridge. Doe moves; we PAN with the doe, PAST a bundle on the ground under the bridge. Doe moves OUT OF THE FRAME; PULL IN on the bundle, which is NED and JIM, huddled together, shivering.

  NED: Wake up. (Pause.) Jim. Wake up.

  JIM wakes up.

  They get up.

  NED: Come on. Come on, down across the river and we're free.

  JIM: I'm cold.

  NED: Baby, I'm cold, too. Come on. Come on. Walk it out.

  JIM: I'm cold.

  They start to walk.

  21Angle: Their feet, chained together.

  JIM: What happened to Bobby, do you think?

  NED: Uh-huh.


  JIM: Do you think they got ‘im, Neddy?

  NED: Look at this. . . .

  22Exterior: Snow-covered Road—Day.

  Stopped at the snow-covered road, looking at a poster. A picture of the Weeping Virgin, and a huge arrow, and the legend TWO MILES.

  23Angle Insert: The poster.

  “Patronize the local Brandon merchants. When in Brandon visit the famous Shrine of St. Ann, the Weeping Virgin.”

  “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:1.

  24Angle: The two reading the sign. NED turns away. JIM reads.

  JIM (reads): “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews thirteen: one.”

  NED: Very touching . . .

  JIM: Hebrews . . .

  NED: Wait a second . . . !

  NED becomes very alert. Listens. Sound Effect: An old car approaching.

  NED: Get down!

  JIM, roused from his reverie on the sign and the Scripture, looks dreamily around. NED pulls him down.

  25Angle: The two of them crouched down in the snow. NED looks up.

  26Point of View Angle: An old car coming down the road.

  27Angle: NED looking; something else catches his eyes.

  28Point of View Angle: The same road, but now the doe we saw previously has wandered out into the road.

  29Angle: NED and JIM both looking.

  30Angle: The car. The OLD WOMAN driving, looks up.

  31Angle—Her Point of View: The doe looking huge through the windshield.

  32Angle: The doe's feet try to run on the icy surface of the road.

  33Angle: NED and JIM look away. The SOUND of a huge crash. Pause. NED and JIM look up.

  34Angle: NED and JIM walking over to the car.

  35Angle: The car, the dying doe under its wheels. The OLD WOMAN behind the wheel. NED and JIM walk over to her. Pause.

  NED: Hello . . . !

  OLD WOMAN: I'm all right, I'm all right. Help me out of here.

  They help her out of the car.

  OLD WOMAN: Prob'ly wrecked the damn car . . . Prob'ly cost me every cent I have . . .

  NED looks at something.

  36Point of View Angle: An old side-by-side shotgun on the backseat.