JFK By Oliver Stone & Zachary Sklar Based on books by Jim Marrs & Jim Garrison FADE IN Credits run in counterpoint through a 7 to 10 minute sequence of documentary images setting the tone of John F. Kennedy's Presidency and the atmosphere of those tense times, 1960 through 1963. An omniscient narrator's voice marches us through in old time Pathe' newsreel fashion. VOICE January, 1961 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation - EISENHOWER ADDRESS EISENHOWER The conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence - economic, political, even spiritual - is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the Federal Government... In the councils of government we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist... We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted... ELECTION IMAGERY School kids reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. WPA films of farmers harvesting the Texas plains. Rain, thunderheads, a dusty car coming from far away on a road moving towards Dallas. Cowboys round up the cattle. Young marrieds in a church. Hillsides of tract homes going up. The American breadbasket, the West. Over this we hear Eisenhower's address. As we move into the election campaign of 1960, we see the TV debates, Nixon vs. Kennedy, Mayor Daley, Kennedy victorious... Against this is juxtaposed other forces: segregation, J. Edgar Hoover, military advisors, Castro, Marilyn Monroe, Lumumba... three frames of the Zapruder film counter-cut... ending with the Kennedy inauguration and the irony of Earl Warren administering the oath as he will Kennedy's eulogy. VOICE 2 November, 1960 - Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts wins one of the narrowest election victories in American history over the Vice- President Richard Nixon by a little more than 100,000 votes. Rumors abound that he stole the election in Illinois through the Democratic political machine of Mayor Daley... (inauguration shots) At his inauguration, at a time when American males all wore hats, he let his hair blow free in the wind. Alongside his beautiful and elegant wife of French origin, Jacqueline Bouvier, J.F.K. is the symbol of the new freedom of the 1960's, signifying change and upheaval to the American public, scaring many and hated passionately by some. To win the election and to appease their fears, Kennedy at first takes a tough Cold War stance. BAY OF PIGS IMAGERY The beach, the bombardment, the rounding up of prisoners, Kennedy's public apology, Allen Dulles standing next to J.F.K., both uncomfortable with the small talk... VOICE 3 He inherits a secret war against the Communist Castro dictatorship in Cuba, a war run by the CIA and angry Cuban exiles out of bases in the Southern United States, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Castro is a successful revolutionary frightening to American business interests in Latin America - companies like Cabot's United Fruit, Continental Can, and Rockefeller's Standard Oil. This war culminates in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, when Kennedy refuses to provide air cover for the exile brigade. Of the 1600 men who invade, 114 are killed, 1200 are captured. The Cuban exiles and the CIA are furious at Kennedy's irresolution... Kennedy, taking public responsibility for the failure, privately claims the CIA lied to him and tried to manipulate him into ordering an all-out American invasion of Cuba. He vows to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and fires Director Allen Dulles, Deputies Charles Cabell and Richard Bissell, the top leadership of the Agency. SECRET WAR IMAGERY Cuban rallies, footage of training camps, espionage activities, boats, cases of weapons, Robert Kennedy... John Roselli, Sam Giancana, Santos Trafficante, Richard Helms (the new CIA chief), Bill Harvey, Head of ZR/RIFLE, Howard Hunt... VOICE 4 The CIA, however, continues it's secret war on Castro with dozens of sabotage and assassination attempts under it's ZR/RIFLE and MONGOOSE programs - The Agency collaborates with organized crime elements such as John Roselli, Sam Giancana, and Santos Trafficante of Tampa, whose casino operations in Cuba, worth more than a hundred million dollars a year in income, Castro has shut down. CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS Khrushchev, Kennedy, Castro on television, meetings with Cabinet, Russian vessels in Caribbean, U.S. nuclear bases on alert, civilians going to underground safe areas... the Russian ship turning around, the country smiling... VOICE 5 In October 1962, the world comes to the brink of nuclear war when Kennedy quarantines Cuba after announcing the presence of offensive Soviet nuclear missiles 90 miles off American shores. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA call for an invasion. Kennedy refuses. Soviet ships with more missiles sail towards the island, but at the last moment turn back. The world breathes with relief but backstage in Washington, rumors abound that J.F.K. has cut a secret deal with Russian Premier Khrushchev not to invade Cuba in return for a Russian withdrawal of missiles. Suspicions abound that Kennedy is "soft on Communism." NUCLEAR TEST BAN IMAGERY Closing down Cuban Camps, McNamara speaking, Khrushchev and Kennedy, the "hot line" telephone system inaugurated, Kennedy with Jackie and children sailing off Cape Cod... Vietnam introduction, early shots, Green Berets, counterinsurgency programs, De Lansdale, leading up to the Test Ban signings... then J.F.K. at American University, June 10, 1963. VOICE 6 In the ensuing months, Kennedy clamps down on Cuban exile activities, closing training camps, restricting covert operations, prohibiting shipment of weapons out of the country. The covert arm of the CIA nevertheless continues its plan to assassinate Castor... In March '63, Kennedy announces drastic cuts in the defense budget. In November 1963, he orders the withdrawal by Christmas of the first 1000 troops of the 16,000 stationed in Vietnam. He tells several of his intimates that he will withdraw all Vietnam troops after the '64 election, saying to the Assistant Secretary of State, Roger Hilsman, "The Bay of Pigs has taught me one, not to trust generals or the CIA, and two, that if the American people do not want to use American troops to remove a Communist regime 90 miles from our coast, how can I ask them to use troops to remove a Communist regime 9,000 miles away?"... Finally, in August 1963, over the objections of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union sign a treaty banning nuclear bomb tests in the atmosphere, underwater and in space... Early that fateful summer, Kennedy speaks of his new vision at American University in Washington. JFK What kind of peace do we seek? Not a pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war... We must re-examine our own attitudes towards the Soviet Union... If we cannot now end our differences at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal... CONCLUDING KENNEDY IMAGERY Diplomats at the United Nations... Adlai Stevenson, Castor... Martin Luther King and the March on Washington (a snatch of his "I Have a Dream" speech)... Bobby Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa going at it... U.S. Steel Chairman's remarks in the steel face-off, men going to courtrooms with briefcases,... Teddy Kennedy, Rose, Joe, the Kennedy family, all teeth and good looks... and of course John campaigning, always campaigning, shaking hands, smiling, that supremely warm smile and sense of grace and ability to convey to crowds their oneness with him... forever... culminating in the more specific Texas shots... with Jackie in San Antonio, and Houston... then at Fort Worth... then at Love Field moving through the clouds toward the Dallas/Forth Worth plain which suddenly breaks into view as we descend... LOUISIANA HIGHWAY - DAY (1963) A moving car carrying two Cuban males disgorges a rumpled, screaming woman, Rose Cheramie, a whore in her thirties, lying there bleeding in the dirt. The car drives off. HOSPITAL - DAY (1963) We see Rose, badly cut but quite lucid, trying to reason with a policeman, Lt. Fruge, and a doctor - in a remote black- and-white documentary. ROSE They're going up to Dallas... to whack Kennedy. Friday the 22nd, that's when they're going to do it. In Dealey Plaza. They're gonna whack him! You gotta call somebody, these are serious fuckin' guys. DOCTOR (to the police officer) Higher'n a kite on something. Been like this since she came in. BACK TO DOCUMENTARY IMAGES We see the last close-ups of Kennedy shaking hands on the tarmac at Love Field, smiling, into the motorcade... the downtown streets of Dallas, people packing the sidewalks clear back to the buildings, hanging out of windows ten stories up, schoolgirls surging out into the street in front of the car. The President is wildly popular - except for the occasional posters calling for his arrest for treason... VOICE 7 More rumors emerge of J.F.K.'s backdoor efforts outside usual State Department and CIA channels to establish dialogue with Fidel Castro through contacts at the United Nations in New York. Kennedy is seeking change on all fronts. Bitter battles are fought with Southern segregationists to get James Meredith into the University of Mississippi. Three months after Kennedy submits a sweeping civil rights bill to Congress, Martin Luther King leads 250,000 in a march on Washington. Robert Kennedy, as Attorney General, for the first time ever vigorously prosecutes the Mafia in American life, bringing and winning a record number of cases - 288 convictions of organized crime figures including 13 grand juries against Jimmy Hoffa and his Teamsters Union. The President also takes on Big Business, forcing back steel prices, winning 45 of 46 antitrust cases during 1963 and he wants to help everyday taxpayers by ending age- old business privileges like the oil depletion allowance and the fees paid to the Federal Reserve Bank for printing America's currency. Revolutionary changes are foreseen after J.F.K.'s assumed re-election in 1964. Foremost in the political consciousness of the country is the possibility of a Kennedy dynasty. Robert Kennedy in '68, Teddy Kennedy in '76. In November, 1963 John Kennedy travels to Texas, his popularity sagging to 59% largely due to his civil rights stand for which he is particularly hated in the South. Texas is a crucial state for him to carry in '64. With him is Vice-President, Lyndon Johnson and Texas Governor John Connally. On November 21, they visit Houston and San Antonio. On the morning of November 22, he speaks in Fort Worth, then flies 15 minutes to Love Field in Dallas, where he takes a motorcade through downtown Dallas on his way to speak at 12:30 at the International Trade Mart. Later, the motorcade takes him through Dealey Plaza at 12:30... DEALEY PLAZA - THAT DAY (NOV. 22, 1963) We see a massive overhead shot of the Plaza as it lay then. Credits conclude under shot - and we have the subtitle "November 22, 1963." A young epileptic screams and suddenly collapses near the fountains in front of the Texas School Depository. He has a violent epileptic fit that attracts surrounding attention. Dallas policemen run over to him. We hear the siren of an ambulance roaring up. TIMECUT TO ambulance loading the epileptic man and taking off. AMBULANCE VOICE We are en route to Parkland. BACK TO a montage of the shooting. We see Kennedy, in the last seconds, waving, turning the corner at Houston from Main... We see TV footage and a piece of Zapruder film from before the shooting; fragmented images... CUT TO stages shots of crowd people looking on. The images are grainy to match the tone of the Zapruder film. People are on rooftops, hollering. The crowd is wild with enthusiasm. We pan past Jack Ruby and slam into him in black- and-white. The camera shows a Cuban man with a radio; a man with an umbrella; subliminals. Through open windows on the fifth floor of the Criminal Courts Building, convicts watch and holler from their jail cells. We see the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository with open windows and a vague blur of a figure and a rifle. The clock on the Hertz sign reads 12:30. VOICE We'll be there in about five minutes. A motorcycle officer paralleling the Kennedy car tries to use his radio. It's jammed. The sound of the jammed Dictabelt drives the rest of the sequence. We see Zapruder, a short middle - aged man, shooting his 8mm film from the Grassy Knoll, and then we see Jackie Kennedy - floating on film, her voice, high, soft: JACKIE KENNEDY (voice restaged) And in the motorcade, you know I usually would be waving mostly to the left side and he was waving mostly to the right, which is one reason you're not looking at each other very much. And it was terribly hot. Just blinding all of us... We could see a tunnel in front of us. Everything was really slow then. And I remember thinking it would be so cool under that tunnel. The camera rests on Jackie for a beat, and then we see the shot of the little schoolgirl skipping on the grass. CUT TO the approaching overpass. J.F.K. waves... Mrs. Connally turns to J.F.K. The shot is crazy, fractured, surreal. MRS. CONNALLY (V.O.) Mr. President, you can't say that Dallas doesn't love you. JFK (V.O.) No, you certainly can't. Then we hear the shots: the volley sounds like a motorcycle backfire. We catch a glimpse of a muzzle flash and smoke. We see a view from the street of the Texas School Book Depository - all in line with the "official" version of events. Pigeons by the hundreds suddenly shoot off the roof. Then the screen goes gray as did CBS TV's first bulletins to the country. CBS BULLETIN (full screen) We interrupt this program to bring you this flash bulletin. A burst of gunfire! Three bursts of gunfire, apparently from automatic weapons, were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. We hear voices under this from everywhere, colliding in confusion and horror: VOICES OH NO! MY GOD THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US ALL! Be still. You're going to be all right. LET'S GET OUT OF HERE. WE'RE HIT! LAWSON, THIS IS KELLERMAN. WE ARE HIT. GET US TO THE HOSPITAL IMMEDIATELY. PULL OUT OF THE MOTORCADE. TAKE US TO THE NEAREST HOSPITAL. JACKIE KENNEDY VOICE Oh, no, they've shot Jack... I love you, Jack... Jack... they've killed my husband... CBS BULLETIN (V.O.) The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by the shooting. More details just arrived. United Press say the wounds to President Kennedy perhaps could be fatal. Repeating: President Kennedy has been shot by a would-be assassin in Dallas. Three bursts of gunfire, apparently from automatic weapons... VOICES (blending under) IT CAME FROM THERE. SECURE THAT AREA BEHIND THE FENCE. IT'S THAT BUILDING UP THERE. We hear sirens and screeching tires. The screen is still gray, randomly intercut with the end of the Nix film showing the car escaping. There are wildly tracking shots of the crowd running towards the Grassy Knoll. The camera pans up the little set of stairs. We see more faces. Someone in a suit stops our camera. Secret Service? We see the briefest glimpse from the Zapruder film. The camera moves in on the open umbrella next, then to the freeway sign, then to Mrs. Kennedy out of the car reaching for help, then to the agent rushing onto the rear fender. The car finally speeds away. The people on the other side of the underpass wave at the oncoming hearse from hell. (These are fragmented, mystifying shots. The main effect is one of blackout - of not knowing; of being in the dark, as we all were back then.) CUT TO JIM GARRISON'S OFFICE - NEW ORLEANS - SAME DAY (1963) Pause. The lovely old china clock on the wall reads 12:35. Somewhere a car backfires. We see a close-up of the clock moving to 12:36. We hear the sound of a pen on paper, scratching... We see a shot of Jim Garrison as a young air pilot in World War II; hear the sound of airplanes. The camera moves to framed photos of Jim as a young, Lincolnesque lawyer... we hear sounds of political rallies, cheering... a shot of Jim's grandfather shaking hands with President William Taft. The sound of bulldozers carries us to a shot of Jim staring at piles of decaying corpses at Dachau... a photo of Clarence Darrow... a law degree and an appointment as District Attorney of the New Orleans Parish... Mother Garrison with young Jim on the desk... another family - his own. We look across the thick desk with the chess set, A Complete Works of William Shakespeare and a Nazi helmet with a bullet hole in it... to Jim himself writing - pen to paper. We sense the quiet intellect of the 43 year old man. The clock ticks in the awful suspended silence. It's as if the air itself has been sucked from the silent room. This is the last moment of peace before the World will rush through the door in all its sound and fury - to change his life forever. The camera haywires into a close- up of Jim as he looks up... and knows. Lou Ivon, Jim's chief investigator, is already standing there in the room. He is burly, in his 30s - his expression universal for that day. JIM What's wrong, Lou? LOU Boss, the President's been shot. In Dallas. Five minutes ago. Jim is stunned. His look of horror and shock speaks the same language as on faces all across America that Black Friday. JIM Oh no!... How bad? LOU No word yet. But they think it's in the head. Jim gets up, heading rapidly for the door. JIM Come on. Napoleon's has a TV set. NAPOLEON'S RESTAURANT - THE QUARTER - DAY(1963) The midday customers all stare solemnly at the TV set high in the corner of the cafe. The manager, ashen, serves drinks to Jim and Lou. NEWSMAN 1 Apparently three bullets were found. Governor Connally also appeared to be hit. The President was rushed by the Secret Service to Parkland Memorial Hospital four miles from Dealey Plaza. We are told a bullet entered the base of the throat and came out of the backside, but there is no confirmation, blood transfusions are being given, a priest has administered the last rites. JIM There's still a chance, dammit! Come on, Jack - pull through. MANAGER (Italian, distracted) I don't believe it. I don't believe it. Here, in this country. They all look up, expectant, as Walter Cronkite interrupts on the TV: WALTER CRONKITE From Dallas, Texas - the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago. (choked pause) Vice-President Johnson has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly, and become the 36th President of the United States. There are sounds of shock, muttering, some sobbing in the restaurant. Lou gulps down his drink. Jim sits stunned. JIM I didn't always agree with him - too liberal for my tastes - but I respected him. He had style... God, I'm ashamed to be an American today. He holds back the tears. The food comes. Lou waves it off. They just sit there. EXTERIOR KATZENJAMMER'S BAR - SAME DAY(1963) Katzenjammer's is an Irish working class bar across Canal St. In a seedy area near the Mississippi River, just off Lafayette Square. INTERIOR KATZENJAMMER'S BAR - SAME DAY(1963) A variety of loud Irish working men sit on stools watching the TV. There are a few formica tables with chairs against the walls, and an unused pool table. NEWSMAN 2 Many arrests have been made here today. Anyone looking even remotely suspicious is being detained. Most of the crowd has gone home but there are still many stunned people wandering around in Dealey Plaza unable to comprehend what happened here earlier today. On the TV, we see the scene at Dealey Plaza. The reporter has several men, women, and children gathered around him. He puts his microphone in their faces. BLACK WOMAN (crying) It's all so terrible. I jes' can't stop crying. He did so much for this country, for colored people. Why? MAN (Bill Newman, with wife and kids) I grabbed my kids and wife and hit the ground. The bullets were coming over our heads - from that fence back on the knoll - I was just so shaken. I saw his face when it hit... he just, his ear flew off, he turned just real white and then went stiff like a board and flopped over on his stomach, with his foot sticking out. CUT TO the picket fence above the Grassy Knoll. WOMAN 2 I thought... it came from up there, that building. CUT TO the Book Depository. MAN 2 I heard shots from over there. CUT TO the County Records Building. NEWSMAN 2 How many shots? WOMAN 3 About 3 to 4... I don't know. MAN 3 I never thought it could happen in America. Back in the bar, the camera moves to two patrons seated at a table by themselves, far enough away not to be heard. Guy Banister is a sturdy, imposing ex - FBI agent in his 60's, steel gray hair, blue eyes, ruddy from heavy drinking. He wears a small rosebud in his lapel. Jack Martin is a thin, mousy man in his mid - 50's, wearing a Dick Tracy hat. They're both drinking Wild Turkey heavily. The TV blares loudly across the room over their voices. BANISTER All this blubbering over that sonofabitch! They're grieving like they knew the man. It makes me want to puke. MARTIN God's sake, chief. The President was shot. BANISTER A bullshit President! I don't see any weeping for all the thousands of Cubans that bastard condemned to death and torture at the Bay of Pigs. Where are all the tears for the Russians and Hungarians and Chinese living like slaves in prison camps run by Kennedy's communist buddies - All these damned peace treaties! I'm telling ya Jack, that's what happens when you let the niggers vote. They get together with the Jews and the Catholics and elect an Irish bleeding heart. MARTIN Chief, maybe you had a little too much to drink. BANISTER Bullshit! (yells across the room) Bartender, another round... (finishes drink) Here's to the New Frontier. Camelot in smithereens. I'll drink to that. NAPOLEON'S RESTAURANT - DAY(1963) Several hours have elapsed. The clientele has grown, drinking, watching the tube with the insatiable curiosity the event engendered. People stare in from the street... There is a silence in the restaurant. TELEVISION INSERT: image of a Dallas policeman hauling a Mannlicher - Carcano rifle with a sniperscope over the heads of the press gathered in the police station. NEWSMAN 3 This is the rifle, it is a Mannlicher - Carcano Italian rifle, a powerful World War II military gun used by infantry and highly accurate at distances of 100 yards. We see images of the textbook boxes - the sniper's nest in the sixth story of the Book Depository - and then the view out the window looking down at Elm Street. NEWSMAN 3 The assassin apparently fired from this perch... but so far no word, much confusion and... CUT TO Newsman 2 at a different location or in studio. NEWSMAN 4 A flash bulletin... the Dallas Police have just announced they have a suspect in the killing of a Dallas police officer, J.D. Tippit, who was shot at 1:15 in Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas. Police are saying there could be a tie - in here to the murder of the President. TELEVISION INSERT: Lee Harvey Oswald, a bruise over his right temple, is apprehended at the Texas Theatre. NEWSMAN 4 The suspect, identified as Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested by more than a dozen police officers after a short scuffle at the Texas movie theatre in Oak Cliff, several blocks from where Officer Tippit was killed, apparently with a .38 revolver found on Oswald. There is apparently at least one eyewitness. TELEVISION INSERT: Oswald is booked at the station. A surly young man, 24, he claims to the press: TV OSWALD No, I don't know what I'm charged with... I don't know what dispatches you people have been given, but I emphatically deny these charges. VOICE FROM THE BAR They oughta just shoot the bastard. The room bursts out with an accumulated fury at the young Oswald - a tremendous release of tension. On the TV we see the excitement in the newsmen's eyes; they all sense that this is the break they're looking for in the case. Garrison and Ivon watch the TV, and then Garrison stands and pays the bill. LOU One little guy with a cheap rifle - look what he can do. JIM Let's get outta here, Lou. I saw too much stuff like this in the war. As they leave, the camera holds on the image of Oswald. MISSISSIPPI RIVER WATERFRONT - TWILIGHT(1963) The sun is setting through thunderheads over the Mississippi River waterfront as Banister and Martin wobble out, drunk, down the street. BANISTER Well, the kid musta gone nuts, right? (Martin says nothing, looks troubled) I said Oswald must've flipped. Just did this crazy thing before anyone could stop him, right? MARTIN I think I'll cut out here, chief. I gotta get home. BANISTER (strong-arms Martin) Get home my ass. We're going to the office, have another drink. I want some company tonight. BANISTER'S OFFICE - NIGHT(1963) Rain pours down outside 531 Lafayette Street as Banister opens several locks on the door and turns on the lights. The frosted glass on the door says "W. Guy Banister Associates, Inc., Investigators." It's a typical detective's office with spare desks, simple chairs, large filing cabinets and cubicles in the rear. BANISTER (repetitive) Who'd ever thought that goofy Oswald kid would pull off a stunt like an assassination? (Martin waits) Just goes to show, you can never know about some people. Am I right, Jack? (Martin, frightened now, doesn't reply) Well, bless my soul. Your eyes are as red as two cherries, Jack. Don't tell me we have another bleeding heart here. Hell, all these years I thought you were on my side. MARTIN Chief, sometimes I don't know whether you're kidding or not. BANISTER I couldn't be more serious, Jack. Those big red eyes have me wondering about your loyalty. Banister, going to a file cabinet to get a bottle out, notices one of the file drawers is slightly ajar. He flies into a rage. BANISTER Who the hell opened my files! You've been looking through my private files, haven't you, you weasel? MARTIN You may not like this, chief, but you're beginning to act paranoid. I mean, you really are. BANISTER You found out about Dave Ferrie going to Texas today and you went through all my files to see what was going on. You're a goddamn spy. MARTIN (angry) Goddammit chief, why would I ever need to look in your files? I saw enough here this summer to write a book. BANISTER I always lock my files. And you were the only one here today... (stops as he hears Martin) What do you mean, you son of a bitch? MARTIN You know what I mean. I saw a lot of strange things going on in this office this summer. And a lotta strange people. Enraged, Banister pulls a .357 Magnum from his holster, cursing as he suddenly slams it into Martin's temple. The smaller man crumples painfully to the ground. BANISTER You didn't see a goddamn thing, you little weasel. Do you get it? You didn't see a goddamn thing. JIM GARRISON'S HOME - THAT NIGHT(1963) Jim and his wife, Liz, watch the television. She is in her early 30's, an attractive, quiet southern woman from Louisiana. They live in a spacious two-story wood house, suburban in feel. TELEVISION IMAGE: Reporters are jammed in the Assembly Room of the Dallas Police Headquarters as Oswald is brought through the corridor, officers on either side of him. NEWSMAN 5 (over the din) Did you shoot the President? TV OSWALD I didn't shoot anybody, no sir. I'm just a patsy. The camera moves onto Jim with Liz and the children - Jasper, the oldest at 4, holds his dad's hand. On Liz's lap, Snapper, the youngest, is asleep. Virginia, the 2-year-old, is pestering the Boxer dog... and Mattie, the heavyset black housekeeper, 35, is in tears. LIZ My god, he sure looks like a creep. What's he talkin' 'bout... a patsy? TELEVISION IMAGE: Oswald in front of the cameras, on a platform. TV OSWALD Well, I was questioned by a judge. However, I protested at the time that I was not allowed legal representation during that very short and sweet hearing. Uh, I really don't know what the situation is about. Nobody has told me anything except that I am accused of, uh, murdering a policeman. I know nothing more than that and I do request that someone come forward to give me, uh, legal assistance. NEWSMAN 5 Did you kill the President? TV OSWALD No. I have not been charged with that. In fact nobody has said that to me yet. The first thing I heard about it was when the newspaper reporters in the hall, uh, asked me that question. NEWSMAN 6 You have been charged. TV OSWALD Sir? NEWSMAN 6 You have been charged. Oswald seems shocked. NEWSMAN 5 Were you ever in the Free Cuba Movement or whatever the... RUBY (a voice in the back) It was the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Oswald looks over and spots Ruby in the back of the room, on a table. Recognition is in his eyes. The police start to move him out. NEWSMAN 6 What did you do in Russia? What happened to your eye? TV OSWALD A policeman hit me. GARRISON He seems pretty cool to me for a man under pressure like that. LIZ Icy, you mean. (shudders) He gives me the willies... come on sugarplums, it's past your bedtimes... (to Jim) Come on, let's go upstairs. (rises) Mattie - get ahold of yourself. MATTIE Why, Mr. Jim? He was a great man, Mr. Jim, a great man... Jim is moved by her. TELEVISION IMAGE: Texas D.A. Henry Wade addresses the journalists. TV WADE There is no one else but him. He has been charged in the Supreme Court with murder with malice. We're gonna ask for the death penalty. Jim moves to the phone as Liz starts the kids up the stairs. The TV cuts to stills of Oswald's life. Two newsmen sit in a studio, smoking, sharing information. FRANK (Newsman 7) So several hours after the assassination, a disturbed portrait is emerging of Lee Harvey Oswald. Described as shy and introverted, he spent much of his childhood in New Orleans, Louisiana and went to high school there. After a stint in the Marines, he apparently became fascinated by Communism and in 1959 defected to the Soviet Union. BOB (Newsman 8) He married a Russian woman there, Frank, had a child, and then returned to the United States after 30 months. But he is still believed to be a dedicated Marxist and a fanatical supporter of Fidel Castro and ultra left wing causes. He spent last summer in New Orleans and was arrested in a brawl with anti-Castro Cuban exiles. FRANK (Newsman 7) And apparently, Bob, Oswald had been passing out pro-Castro pamphlets for an organization called Fair Play for Cuba, a Communist front he reportedly belongs to. BOB (Newsman 8) And we have Marina Oswald, his Russian- born wife, who has identified the rifle found in the Book Depository as belonging to her husband. And we have... TELEVISION IMAGES: Kennedy's casket coming off the plane in Washington D.C. play under the newsman... Jackie stands there in her blood-spotted dress... we cut to the photograph of L.B.J. taking the oath of office earlier that day... and a still photo of Robert Kennedy's reaction... JIM (on the phone) Lou, I'm sorry to disturb you this late... yeah, matter of routine but we better get on this New Orleans connection of Oswald's right away. Check out his record, find any friends or associates from last summer. Let's meet with the senior assistants and investigators day after tomorrow, Sunday, yeah, at 11... Thanks Lou. GARRISON CONFERENCE ROOM - 2 DAYS LATER - DAY(1963) Jim is with his key players: Lou Ivon, chief investigator; Susie Cox, in her 30's, and efficient, attractive Assistant D.A.; La Oser, Assistant D.A. in his 40's, serious, spectacled; Bill Broussard, Assistant D.A., handsome, volatile, in his 30's; Numa Bertell, D.A. in his 30's, chubby and friendly, and several others. They sit around a conference table with a black-and-white portable TV on a side table showing the current Sunday, November 24 news from Dallas. MARINA OSWALD (on TV) Lee good man... he not shoot anyone. Camera moves to Lou Ivon, looking at paperwork. LOU As far as Oswald's associates, boss, the one name that keeps popping up is David Ferrie. Oswald was seen with him several times last summer. JIM I know David - a strange character. LOU He's been in trouble before. Used to be a hot shot pilot for Eastern Airlines, but he got canned after an alleged homosexual incident with a 14-year old boy. BILL (on phone, excited) Get Kohlman... he told somebody the Texas trip... yesterday mentioned to somebody about Ferrie... find it out. On the TV we see the first image of the "backyard photos" of Lee Harvey Oswald holding the rifle. NEWSMAN 1 These backyard photos were found yesterday among Oswald's possessions in the garage of Janet William's home in Riving, Texas, where Marina Oswald and her children are living. The picture apparently was taken earlier this year. Police say the rifle, a cheap World War II Italian- made Mannlicher-Carcano, was ordered from a Chicago mailing house and shipped to Oswald's alias A. Hidell at a post office box in March, 1963. This is the same rifle that was used to assassinate the President. The camera moves back to the staff, who watch, obviously influenced. COX That ties it up... NUMA Another nut. Jesus, anybody can get a rifle in Texas. BILL (hangs up) So it seems that Dave Ferrie drove off on a Friday afternoon for Texas - a source told Kohlman he might have been a getaway pilot for Oswald. Members of the team exchange looks of surprise and disbelief. JIM Hold your horses. What kinda source? BILL (grins) The anonymous kind, Chief. OSER I think I remember this guy Ferrie speaking at a meeting of some veteran's group. Ranting against Castro. Extreme stuff. NEWSMAN 1 We go back now to the basement of police headquarters where they're about to transfer Oswald to County Prison... TELEVISION IMAGE: The basement of the Dallas police headquarters - waiting. Men mill around as Oswald is led out of the basement by two deputies. Jack Ruby rushes forward out of the crowd - and into history - putting his sealing bullet into Oswald. Total chaos erupts... The camera is on the staff, looking. We hear gasps. ANNOUNCER He's been shot! Oswald's been shot! VARIOUS VOICES Goddamn! Look at that... Look at that... I don't believe this... Right on TV! What is going on? Who is this guy... oh Jesus. Jim is silent. LOU Seventy cops in that basement. What the hell were they doing? NEWSMAN 1 Jack Ruby... Who is Jack Ruby? Oswald is hurt. We see images of Oswald being lifted onto the stretcher, into the ambulance, and the newscaster crouching, whispering. Everybody in the room is stunned still. LOU Well, no trial now. Looks like somebody saved the Dallas D.A. a pile of work. They look to Jim. There's a pause. He is deeply disturbed. JIM (quietly) Well, let's get Ferrie in here anyway. GARRISON OFFICE - NEXT DAY - DAY(1963) The portable television plays to Jim alone, sitting in his chair smoking a pipe. We see searing images of the funeral - crowds of mourners, the casket being driven through the streets, the honor guards, the horses, the dignitaries walking behind, Jackie veiled... the faces of De Gaulle, MacMillan, Robert Kennedy. We intercut briefly to Lyndon Johnson sitting down earlier that day with the Joint Chiefs of Staff... and then a future cut to Johnson in the Oval Office (staged). The shots are very tight, uncomfortable - noses, eyes, hands - very tight. As the door opens following a knock, David Ferrie is brought into Jim's office by two police officers and Lou Ivon. Jim stands up, cordial. LOU Chief... David Ferrie. Ferrie suffers from alopecia, a disease that has removed all his body hair, and he looks like a Halloween character - penciled eyebrows, one higher than the other, a scruffy reddish wig pasted on askew with glue, thrift store clothing. His eyes, however, are swift and cunning, his smile warm, inviting itself, his demeanor hungry to please. JIM (shakes hands) Come in, Dave. Have a seat, make yourself comfortable. Coffee? FERRIE Do you remember me, Mr. Garrison? I met you on Carondolet Street right after your election. I congratulated you, remember? JIM How could I forget? You make quite a first impression. (on intercom) Sharon, could you please bring us some coffee? (Ferrie laughs; pause) I've heard over the years you're quite a first-rate pilot, Dave. Legend has it you can get in and out of any field, no matter how small... (Jim points to the pictures on his wall) I'm a bit of a pilot myself, you know. Flew grasshoppers for the field artillery in the war. Ferrie glimpses the low-volumed TV - and images of the funeral. He looks away, jittery, and takes out a cigarette. Sharon brings the coffee in. FERRIE Do you mind if I smoke, Mr. Garrison? JIM (holds up his pipe) How could I? Dave, as you know, President Kennedy was assassinated on Friday. A man named Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested as a suspect and then was murdered yesterday by a man named Jack Ruby. (on each name, watching Ferrie's reaction) We've heard reports that Oswald spent the summer in New Orleans and we've been advised you knew Oswald pretty well. FERRIE That's not true. I never met anybody named Oswald. Anybody who told you that has to be crazy. JIM But you are aware, he served in your Civil Air Patrol unit when he was a teenager. FERRIE No... if he did, I don't remember him. There were lots of kids in and out... y'know. JIM (hands him a current newspaper) I'm sure you've seen this. Perhaps you knew this man under another name? FERRIE No, I never saw him before in my life. JIM Well that must've been mistaken information we got. Thanks for straightening it out for us. (puffs on pipe, Ferrie looks relieved; images of the funeral continue on the TV) There is one other matter that's come up, Dave. We were told you took a trip to Texas shortly after the assassination of Friday. FERRIE Yeah, now that's true. I drove to Houston. JIM What was so appealing about Houston? FERRIE I hadn't been there ice skating in many years, and I had a couple of young friends with me, and we decided we wanted to go ice skating. JIM Dave, may I ask why the urge to go ice skating in Texas happened to strike you during one of the most violent thunderstorms in recent memory? FERRIE Oh, it was just a spur of the moment thing... the storm wasn't that bad. JIM I see. And where did you drive? FERRIE We went straight to Houston, and then Saturday night we drove to Galveston and stayed over there. JIM Why Galveston? FERRIE No particular reason. Just to go somewhere. JIM And then Sunday? FERRIE In the morning we went goose hunting. Then headed home, but I dropped the boys off to see some relatives and I stayed in Hammond. JIM Did you bag any geese on this trip? FERRIE I believe the boys got a couple. JIM But the boys told us they didn't get any. FERRIE (fidgeting, lighting another cigarette) Oh yes, well, come to think of it, they're right. We got to where the geese were and there were thousands of them. But you couldn't approach them. They were a wise bunch of birds. JIM Your young friends also told us you had no weapons in the car. Dave, isn't it a bit difficult to hunt for geese without a shotgun? FERRIE Yes, now I remember, Mr. Garrison. I'm sorry, I got confused. We got out there near the geese and it was only then we realized we'd forgotten our shotguns. Stupid, right? So of course we didn't get any geese. JIM I see. (stands up) Dave thank you for your time. I'm sorry it has to end inconveniently for you, but I'm going to have you detained for further questioning by the FBI. FERRIE (shaken) Why? What's wrong? JIM Dave, I find your story simply not believable. Lou and the two cops escort Ferrie out of the office as Jim turns to the television image of Kennedy's final moments of rest. The bugler plays taps. John Jr., 3 years old, in an image which will become famous, salutes his Dad farewell. The riderless horse stands lonely against the Washington sky. FBI OFFICE - NEW ORLEANS - NEXT DAY(1963) At a small press conference, the FBI spokesman reads a statement. FBI SPOKESMAN Gentlemen, this afternoon the FBI released David W. Ferrie of New Orleans. After extensive questioning and a thorough background check, the Bureau found no evidence that... GARRISON'S OFFICE - SIMULTANEOUS WITH PREVIOUS SCENE In Garrison's office see the same broadcast, on the portable television. Lou, Broussard, Numa and Jim watch. FBI SPOKESMAN (on TV) ...Mr. Ferrie knew Lee Harvey Oswald or that he has had any connection with the assassination of President Kennedy. The Special Agent in Charge would like to make clear that Mr. Ferrie was brought in for questioning by the District Attorney of Orleans parish, not by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Bureau regrets any trouble this may have caused Mr. Ferrie... NEWSMAN 9 In national news, President Johnson has announced the creation of a blue ribbon presidential commission to probe the events in Dallas. Lou looks at Jim, angry. LOU Correct me if I'm wrong. I thought we were on the same side. What the hell business is it of theirs to say that? BILL Pretty fast, wasn't it. The way they let him go. JIM They must know something we don't. (dismisses it) So, let's get on with our lives, gentlemen... we got plenty of home grown crimes to prosecute. He reaches to turn off the TV and get back to work. The last image on the TV is: NEWSMAN 9 The Commission will be headed by Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Earl Warren, and is expected to head off several Congressional and Texas inquiries into the assassination. On the panel are Allen Dulles, ex-chief of the CIA, Representative Gerald Ford, John J. McCloy, former head of Chase Manhattan Bank... Jim flicks the TV off as the overture ends. AERIAL SHOT - WASHINGTON, D.C. - DAY(1966) We look down at the White House from the plane's point of view. A subtitle reads: "THREE YEARS LATER." INTERIOR OF PLANE SENATOR RUSSELL LONG (looking out the window) That's a mess down there, Jim. We've bitten off more "Vietnam" that we can possibly chew. Jim, now 46, reads the front page of THE WASHINGTON POST which details the latest battle in Vietnam. He sits next to Senator Long from Louisiana, in his 50's, who's drinking a whiskey. They're on a crowded businessman's shuttle. We see a close-up of a newspaper article about the Vietnam war: "more troops asked by Westmoreland." LONG (continuing) Sad thing is the way it's screwing up this country, all these hippies running around on drugs, the way young people look you can't tell a boy from a girl anymore. I saw a girl the other day, she was pregnant - you could see her whole belly, and you know what she painted on it? "Love Child." It's fuckin' outa control. Values've gone to hell, Jim... Course it figures when you got somebody like that polecat Johnson in the White House. JIM I sometimes feel things've gone downhill since John Kennedy was killed, Senator. LONG Don't get me started on that. Those Warren Commission fellows were pickin' gnat shit out of pepper. No one's gonna tell me that kid did the shooting job he did from that damned bookstore. STEWARDESS Here you go, Senator Long. The stewardess brings more drinks. JIM (surprised) I thought the FBI test-fired the rifle to make sure it could be done? LONG Sure, three experts and not one of them could do it! They're telling us Oswald got off three shots with world-class precision from a manual bolt action rifle in less than six seconds - and accordin' to his Marine buddies he got Maggie's drawers - he wasn't any good. Average man would be lucky to get two shots off, and I tell ya the first shot would always be the best. Here, the third shot's perfect. Don't make sense. And then they got that crazy bullet zigzagging all over the place so it hits Kennedy and Connally seven times. One "pristine" bullet? That dog don't hunt. JIM You know, something always bothered me about that from day one, and I can't put my finger on it. LONG If I were investigatin', I'd round up the 100 best riflemen in the world and find out which ones were in Dallas that day. You been duck hunting? I think Oswald was a good old-fashioned decoy. What'd he say? "I'm just a patsy." Out of the mouth of babes y'ask me. JIM You think there were other men involved, Russell? Russell looks at Jim quizzically and laughs. LONG Hell, you're the District Attorney. You read the Warren Report - and then you tell me you're satisfied Lee Oswald shot the President all by his lonesome. JIM Russell, honestly you sound like one of those kooky critics spreading paranoia like prairie fire. I just can't believe the Chief Justice of the United States would put his name on something that wasn't true. LONG (to the stewardess) Honey, another one of these. This one's as weak as cricket pee-pee. Yessir, you mark my words, Jim, Vietnam's gonna cost Johnson '68 and it's gonna put that other varmint Nixon in - then watch your hide, 'cause there ain't no offramps on a freeway to Hell! GARRISON'S STUDY - NIGHT(1966) The study is lined with bookshelves up to the ceiling; we see photos of family, a chess set. Jim, smoking his pipe, reads in a red leather chair from one of the 26 thick Warren Commission volumes piled all over the place. Liz enters. Jasper, now 7, draws on a piece of paper on the floor at Jim's feet. LIZ Jim, dinner's just about ready... I've got a surprise for you... tried something new... Jim? Jim, dinner. JIM (lost in thought) Mmmmm... sure smells good... but Egghead, do you realize Oswald was interrogated for twelve hours after the assassination, with no lawyer present, and nobody recorded a word of it? I can't believe it. A police captain with 30 years experience and a crowd of Federal agents just had to know that with no record anything that Oswald said would be inadmissible in court. LIZ Come on now, we'll talk about it at the table, dinner's getting cold. (to Jasper) What are you doing in here? JASPER Daddy said it was all right if I was real quiet. JIM (rising to dinner) Sure it is. Freckle Face, if I ever handled a minor felon like that, it'd be all over the papers. I'd catch hell. And this is the alleged murderer of the President? GARRISON DINING ROOM - (1966) Two-year-old Elizabeth watches "Crusader Rabbit" on TV as the new one-year-old sits in diapers with Liz at one end of the dinner table. Jim sits at the other end. There are five kids now, ages 7, 5, 4, 2 and 1... and Mattie, the housekeeper. Dinner's finished, they pass plates, the children horse around... the boxer dog, Touchdown, begs for a piece of the action. Jim, not a big eater, feeds him ice cream. JIM Again and again they ignore credible testimony, leads are never followed up, its conclusions are selective, there's no index, it's one of the sloppiest, most disorganized investigations I've ever seen. Dozens and dozens of witnesses in Dealey Plaza that day are saying they heard shots coming from the Grassy Knoll area in front of Kennedy and not the Book Depository behind him, but it's all broken down and spread around and you read it and the point gets lost. MATTIE I never did believe it either! LIZ (politely listening) Uh huh... Mattie, I'll do the dishes, you take Be up now. And Elizabeth, too, your bedtime, honey. ELIZABETH JR. Nahhhh! I don't wanna go to bed! LIZ Honey, that was three years ago - we all tried so hard to put that out of our minds, why are you digging it up again? You're the D.A. of New Orleans. Isn't the Kennedy assassination a bit outside your domain? I mean all those important people already studied it. JIM I can't believe a man as intelligent as Earl Warren ever read what's in those volumes. LIZ Well maybe you're right, Jim. I'll give you one hour to solve the case... until the kids are in bed. (rising, she puts her arms around him from behind and kisses his ear) Then you're mine and Mr. Kennedy can wait 'til morning. Come on, everybody say goodnight to Daddy. JASPER (showing his drawing) Dad, look what I drew. JIM (rising) That's something, Jasper. What is it? JASPER A rhinoceros. Can I stay up another hour? Virginia and Snapper each get one of Jim's shoes as he dances with them, holding one with each hand. JIM (dancing) Pickle and Snapper, my two favorite dancing partners. As the children dance, they fall off Jim's feet, laughing and giggling. He throws each in the air and kisses them. JIM Goodnight, my doodle bugs. KIDS Goodnight, Daddy. Liz comes over, smiling. Jim takes her in his arms. LIZ One hour, y'hear? Some Saturday night date you are. (sighs) Mama warned me this would happen if I married such a serious man. JIM Oh, she did, huh? When I come up I'll show you how Saturday night got invented. GARRISON STUDY - LATER THAT NIGHT(1966) The clock on mantelpiece reads 3 A.M. Jim is alone, smoking his pipe. In the stillness, his mind crawls all over the place. The camera closes on the thickly-worded pages of the Warren Report. FLASHBACK TO the Warren Commission hearing room in Dallas, 1964. We hear thin, echoey sound as the attorneys question some of the witnesses. The overall effect is vague and confusing, as is much of the Warren Report. A Mr. Ball is questioning Lee Bowers, the switchman in the railroad yard. Bowers, in his early 40's, has a trustworthy, working-man face and a crew cut. BOWERS I sealed off the area, and I held off the trains until they could be examined, and there was some transients taken on at least one train. ATTORNEY Mr. Bowers... is there anything else you told me I haven't asked you about that you can think of? BOWERS Nothing that I can recall. ATTORNEY Witness is excused. Jim, upset, reads on... Another witness, Sgt. D.V. Harkness of the Dallas Police responds to a second attorney. SGT. HARKNESS Well we got a long freight that was in there, and we pulled some people off of there and took them to the station. We see another FLASHBACK - to the Dallas rail yards on the day of the assassination. Three hoboes are being pulled off the freight by the Dallas policemen. ATTORNEY (V.O.) You mean some transients? SGT. HARKNESS (V.O.) Tramps and hoboes. ATTORNEY (V.O.) Were all those questioned? FLASHBACK TO Dealey Plaza an hour or less after the assassination. The three hoboes are marched by shotgun-toting policemen to the Sheriff's office at Dealey Plaza. We note that they do not look much like hoboes. SGT. HARKNESS (V.O.) Yes, sir, they were taken to the station and questioned. JIM (astounded) And? (writes "incomplete") ATTORNEY (V.O.) (switching subjects) I want to go back to this Amos Euins. (voices dribble off) BOWERS (V.O.) Yes sir, traffic had been cut off into the area since about 10, but there were three cars came in during this time from around noon till the time of the shooting... the cars circled the parking lot, and left like they were checking the area, one of the drivers seemed to have something he was holding to his mouth... the last car came in about 7 to 10 minutes before the shooting, a white Chevrolet, 4-door Impala, muddy up to the windows. The camera's point of view is now from the railroad tower near Dealey Plaza. We are fourteen feet off the ground, overlooking the parking lot behind the Grassy Knoll. The shot includes this last car circling in the lot. BOWERS Towards the underpass, I saw two men standing behind a picket fence... they were looking up towards Main and Houston and following the caravan as it came down. One of them was middle-aged, heavyset. The other man was younger, wearing a plaid shirt and jacket. Inside the railroad tower, Bowers glances out, busy with the main board, flashing lights, a train coming in. BOWERS There were two other men on the eastern end of the parking lot. Each of 'me had uniforms. We see the parking lot from Bower's point of view - at a distance, but we have a sense of the cars and see the men at a distance, tow uniformed men. The parking lot is bumper-to- bumper with a sea of cars. Rain that morning has muddied the lot. These brief images are elaborated on later. BOWERS At the time of the shooting there seemed to be some commotion... I just am unable to describe - a flash of light or smoke or something which caused me to feel that something out of the ordinary had occurred there on the embankment... We feel the growing intensity: music, drums - but all blurred. We see a puff of smoke but no sound because of the window Bowers is glancing through. A motorcycle cop shoots up the Grassy Knoll incline. People run, blurring into a larger mosaic of confusion. Bowers is confused, seeing this. INTERCUT with Jim's heart pounding as he reads. Back in Dealey Plaza, S.M. Holland, an elderly signal supervisor, stands on the parapet of the railway. HOLLAND (V.O.) Four shots... a puff of smoke came from the trees... behind that picket fence... close to the little plaza - There's no doubt whatever in my mind. We see the scene from Holland's point of view - the puff of smoke lingering under the trees along the picket fence after the shooting. GARRISON BEDROOM - ANOTHER NIGHT(1966) Jim is asleep, having a tortured dream. DREAMSCAPE FLASHBACK: We see the Zapruder film, in slow-motion and J.F.K.'s face just before he goes behind Stemmons Freeway sign. Jim sits up suddenly. JIM NO! Liz stirs, shaken. LIZ Honey, you all right? (looks at watch) JIM It's incredible, honey - the whole thing. A Lieutenant Colonel testifies that Lee Oswald was given a Russian language exam as part of his Marine training only a few months before he defects to the Soviet Union. A Russian exam! LIZ (sitting up, angered) I cannot believe this. It's four- thirty, Jim Garrison. I have five children are gonna be awake in another hour and ... JIM Honey, in all my years in the service I never knew a single man who was given a Russian test. Oswald was a radar operator. He'd have about as much use for Russian as a cat has for pajamas. LIZ These books are getting to your mind, Mr. Garrison. I wish you'd stop readin' them. JIM And then this Colonel tries to make it sound like nothing. Oswald did badly on the test, he says. "He only had two more Russian words right than wrong." Ha! That's like me saying Touchdown here... (points to the dog) ...is not very intelligent because I beat him three games out of five the last time we played chess. LIZ (gives up) Jim, what is going on, for heaven's sake! You going to stay up all night every night? For what? So you'll be the only man in America who read the entire 26 volumes of the Warren Report? JIM Liz, do I have to spell it out for you? Lee Oswald was no ordinary soldier. That was no accident he was in Russia. He was probably in military intelligence. That's why he was trained in Russian. LIZ (with a quizzical look) Honey, go back to sleep, please! JIM Goddammit! I been sleeping for three years! She takes him now, gently, and pulls him down on top of her and kisses him. LIZ Will you stop rattling on about Kennedy for a few minutes, honey... come on. LAFAYETTE SQUARE - NEW ORLEANS - MORNING(1966) A Sunday, early. We see a statue of Ben Franklin in an empty square frequented by drunks who doze on benches in a little leafy park in the center of the Square. The camera moves to Jim by himself and then moves to a sedan, pulling up, which disgorges Lou Ivon and Bill Broussard. JIM Morning, boys. Ready for a walking tour? BILL At 7:30 Sunday morning? It's not exactly fresh blood we're sniffing here, boss. JIM (points) Old stains, Bill, but just as telling. TIME CUT TO Jim indicating 531 Lafayette Street, a seedy, faded, three-story building across the street from the square. JIM Remember whose office this was back in '63? 531 Lafayette Street. LOU Yeah, Guy Banister. Ex-FBI man. He died couple years ago. FLASHBACK TO the exterior of the Banister Office on a day in 1963. The door is now clearly labelled "W. GUY BANISTER, INC. INVESTIGATORS." It opens and Banister comes out in slow motion, neatly dressed, rose in his lapel - the same office and same man we saw three years before when he pistol- whipped Jack Martin. Banister seems to be smiling right at us, greeting us. JIM (V.O.) Headed the Chicago office. When he retired he became a private eye here. I used to have lunch with him. John Birch Society, Minutemen, slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. Used to recruit college students to infiltrate radical organizations on campus. All out of this office. Now come around here, take a look at this... Back to the Lafayette Square of 1966. Jim walks Ivon and Bill to the corner, to another entrance to the same building - this one with a sign that says "544 Camp Street." JIM 544 Camp Street. Same building as 531 Lafayette, right... but different address and different entrances both going to the same place - the offices on the second and third floors. Bill studies the present sign: "Crescent City Dental Laboratory", and gives Jim a puzzled look. JIM Guess who used this address? Lou gets it and glances up. We FLASHBACK TO the exterior of 544 Camp Street in 1963. Lee Oswald comes out the door into a full close-up, now clearly seen by us, and heads out into the street as Guy Banister intercepts him on the sidewalk, holding a leaflet and point to "544 Camp Street stamped on it. Guy seems miffed at Oswald, tells him something quickly, and then moves on. BANISTER (under) See this? What the hell is this doing on this piece of paper? (he moves away) Asshole. LOU (V.O.) My God! Lee Harvey Oswald. JIM (V.O.) Bull's-eye. How do we know he was here? Cause this office address was stamped on the pro-Casto leaflets he was handing out in the summer of '63 down on Canal street. They were the same leaflets that were found in his garage in Dallas. FLASHBACK to Canal Street in New Orleans on a summer day in 1963. Oswald, in a thin tie and white short-sleeved shirt, and wearing a homemade placard reading "Hands Off Cuba"; "Viva Fidel!", is hawking leaflets to pedestrians with two young helpers. A large white-haired businessman in a white suit, very distinguished, walks with a friend on Canal Street. Oswald glances at him and meets his eyes. The businessman enters an office building. This man is Clay Bertrand, later known as Clay Shaw. Some Cubans, led by Carols Bringuier, now appear. One of them, "the Bull", is heavy-set with dark glasses. More of him will also be seen. JIM He was arrested that day for fighting with some anti-Castro Cubans... but actually he had contacted them a few days earlier as an ex-Marine trying to join the anti-Castro crusade. When they heard he was now pro-Castro, they paid him a visit. CARLOS (haranguing passerby) He's a traitor, this man! Don't believe a word he tells you! (to Oswald) You sonofabitch, you liar, you're a Communist, go back to Moscow. Carlos throws Oswald's leaflets in the air and pulls off his glasses, prepared to fight. Oswald only smiles, and puts his arms down in an X of passivity. OSWALD Okay, Carlos, if you want to hit me, hit me. There is no real fight, but the police, as if pre-alerted, arrive. Arrests are made. We see Oswald in a room in the police station, talking with FBI Agent John Quigley. A calendar on the wall shows that it's August, 1963. JIM (V.O.) There was no real fight and the arresting Lieutenant later said he felt it was a staged incident. In jail, Oswald asked to talk to Special Agent John Quigley of the FBI who showed up immediately. They have a private session. Oswald is released and Quigley destroys his notes from the interview. In a television studio in 1963, Oswald debates Carlos Bringuier with two moderators. JIM But the arrest gets him a lot of publicity and as a result Oswald appears on a local TV debate that established his credentials as a Communist. BRINGUIER But you're a Communist, are you not, and you defected to Russia. OSWALD No, I am not a Communist. But I am a Marxist-Leninist. BRINGUIER What did you do when you were in Russia? OSWALD (defensive) I worked while I was there. I was always under the protection of... that is to say, I was not under the protection of the U.S. Government. Back in 1966, Jim walks with his two assistants. BILL What the hell's a Communist like Lee Oswald doing working out of Banister's? JIM Y'ever heard of a double agent, Bill? I'm beginning to doubt Oswald was ever a Communist... after the arrest, 544 Camp Street never appeared on the pamphlets again. Now here's another one for you: What would you say if I told you Lee Oswald had been trained in the Russian language when he was a Marine? LOU I'd say he was probably getting intelligence training. JIM Lou, you were in the Marines. Who would be running that training? LOU The Office of Naval Intelligence. JIM Take a look across the street. We see the Post Office building across the street. LOU Post Office. JIM Upstairs. In 1963 that was the Office of Naval Intelligence - And just by coincidence, Banister, before he was FBI, was ONI. What do they say? LOU "Once ONI, always ONI"? BILL Well, he likes to work near his old pals. Jim makes a gesture encompassing the whole Square. JIM Bill, Lou, we're standing in the heart of the United States Government's intelligence community in New Orleans. That's the FBI there, the CIA, Secret Service, ONI. Doesn't this seem to you a rather strange place for a Communist to spend his spare time? LOU What are you driving at, boss? JIM We're going back into the case, Lou - the murder of the President. I want you to take some money from the Fees and Fines Account and go to Dallas - talk to some people. Bill, I want you to get Oser on the medical, the autopsy, Susan on Oswald and Ruby histories, tax records... BILL Lord, wake me, please. I must be dreaming. JIM No, you're awake, Bill, and I'm dead serious. And we're going to start by tracking down your anonymous source from three years ago. How did you find out Dave Ferrie drove to Texas that day? RACETRACK - DAY(1966) A straggly group of people watch from the grandstands eating hotdogs and talking in small clusters. The horses are running early morning laps. Three men sit apart in the bleachers. A scared Jack Martin, three years older than when last seen, still wearing the Dick Tracy hat, sucks up coffee like a worm does moisture. He has the red puffy cheeks of an alcoholic and deeply circled, worried eyes. Bill and Jim wait. JIM You're not under cross-examination here, Jack. What I need is a little clarification about the night Guy Banister beat you over the head with his Magnum. You called our office hopping mad from your hospital bed. Don't tell me you don't remember that? Jack looks away and doesn't respond. JIM Here's my problem, Jack. You told me you and Guy were good friends for a long time? MARTIN More than ten years. JIM And he never hit you before? MARTIN Never touched me. JIM Yet on November 22, 1963 - the day of the President's murder - our police report says he pistol-whipped you with a .357 Magnum. (Martin's eyes are fixed on Jim) But the police report says you had an argument over the phone bill. Here, take a look at it. (Martin looks at the report) Now, does a simple argument over phone bills sound like a believable explanation to you? SUDDEN FLASHBACK to the night of the pistol-whipping. The camera shows Banister laying Martin's head open / the beating the humiliation. MARTIN (shaking his head slowly, dreamily) No, it involved more than that. Bill looks at Jim. JIM How much more? MARTIN (waits) I don't know if I should talk about this. JIM Well, I'd ask Guy - we were friendly, you know - heart attack, wasn't it? MARTIN If you buy what you read in the paper. JIM You have other information? MARTIN I didn't say that. All I know is he died suddenly just before the Warren Report came out. JIM Why did Guy beat you, Jack? MARTIN Well, I guess now that Guy's dead, it don't really matter... it was about the people hanging around the office that summer. I wasn't really part of the operation, you know. I was handling the private-eye work for Guy when that came in - not much did - but that's why I was there... it was a nuthouse. There were all these Cubans coming and going. They all looked alike to me. FLASHBACK to Banister's office in 1963. There are Cubans in battle fatigues and combat boots; duffle bags are lying around. David Ferrie, in fatigues, directs the Cubans as they carry crates of ammunition and weapons into a back room. Martin observes from another desk. MARTIN Dave Ferrie - you know about him? JIM (V.O.) Was he there often? MARTIN (V.O.) Often? He practically lived there. It was real cloak and dagger stuff. They called it Operation Mongoose. The idea was to train all these Cuban exiles for another invasion of Cuba. Banister's office was part of a supply line that ran from Dallas, through New Orleans to Miami, stockpiling arms and explosives. Still in 1963, we see the exterior of Banister's office. A dozen Cubans follow Ferrie downstairs into the street, and pile into several cars, duffels thrown in with them. Ferrie drives the lead car. JIM (V.O.) All this right under the noses of the intelligence community in Lafayette Square? We see the cars cross the long Lake Pontchartrain Bridge and enter a remote guerrilla training camp. Bayou and jungle are all around. MARTIN (V.O.) Sure. Everybody knew everybody. It was a network. They were working for the CIA - pilots, black operations guys, civilians, military - everybody in those days was running guns somewhere... Fort Jefferson, Bayou Bluff, Morgan City... McAllen, Texas was a big gun-running operation. At the guerrilla training camp at Lake Pontchartrain in 1963, we see scenes of basic training - shooting, obstacle courses, callisthenics - led by Ferrie and other trainers. Scattered among the Cubans are several white American mercenaries. We catch a glimpse of Oswald and glimpses of several other men we will see again, in sprinklings. JIM (V.O.) Where is Banister in all this? MARTIN (V.O.) Banister was running his camp north of Lake Pontchartrain. Ferrie handled a lot of the training. There was a shooting range and a lot of tropical terrain like in Cuba. A few Americans got trained, too. Nazi types. Mercenaries. But Ferrie was the craziest. It's night at the training camp. FBI agents race up in cars in the middle of the night, swarming over the camp, rounding up the trainees. MARTIN Anyway, late summer the party ended. Kennedy didn't want another Bay of Pigs mess, so he ordered the FBI to shut down the camps and confiscate the napalm and the C-4. There were a buncha Cubans and a couple Americans arrested, only you didn't read about it in the papers. Just the weapons got mentioned... 'cause the first ones behind bars would've been Banister and Ferrie, but I think the G-men were just going through the motions for Washington. Their hearts were with their old FBI buddy Banister. We see FBI agents loading dynamite, bomb casings, arms 155mm artillery shells, etc. Back at the racetrack in 1966, Jim listens. MARTIN Like I said, a fuckin' nuthouse. JIM And Oswald? Martin hesitates. We hear the rhythmic beating of the horse hooves and Martin sucking on the steaming cup of coffee. MARTIN (finally) Yeah, he was there, too... sometimes he'd be meeting with Banister with the door shut. Other times he'd be shooting the bull with Ferrie. But he was there all right. JIM Anything more specific, Jack? It's important. FLASHBACK TO Banister's office in 1963. Banister and Martin shooting the breeze as the straight-laced middle-aged secretary, Delphine Roberts, hurries in. MARTIN (V.O.) Yeah, one time the secretary got upset, I remember... SECRETARY I can't believe it, Mr. Banister. Lee Oswald is down on Canal Street giving out Communist leaflets supporting Castro! Banister just looks at her and laughs. BANISTER It's okay, Delphine, he's with us. Back at the racetrack... JIM Anyone else involved at Banister's level? MARTIN (shrugs) There was one guy, I don't know, big guy, business guy, white hair - I saw him come into the office once. He looked out of place, y'know - like a society guy. Can't remember his name. (thinking) Oswald was with him. FLASHBACK to Banisters office on a day in 1963. Martin is snooping in Banister's files. Cut to Martin leaving the office as a big businessman with white hair briefly talks to Oswald and then goes into Banister's private office. MARTIN He had something to do with money. I remember him cause Guy, who didn't kiss anybody's ass, sure kissed his. Banister lets the man into his private office. MARTIN Clay something, that was his name - Clay. JIM Bertrand. Clay Bertrand? MARTIN Yeah! That's it. (pause, paranoid) I don't know. Maybe it wasn't. I gotta go. JIM (to Bill) Clay Bertrand. He's in the Warren Report. He tried to get Oswald a lawyer. (to Martin) Was Kennedy ever discussed, Jack? MARTIN Sure. 'Course they hated the sonofabitch, but... JIM The assassination, Jack? MARTIN (tightens) Never. Not with me sir, never... Listen, I think I'd better go. I said enough. I said all I'm going to say. (rises suddenly) JIM Hold on, Jack. What's the problem? MARTIN What's the problem? What's the problem? Do I need to spell it out for you, Mr. Garrison? I better go. JIM Nobody knows what we're talking about, Jack. MARTIN You're so naive, mister. Martin picks his way nervously down the bleacher benches. CAR - FRENCH QUARTER - DAY(1966) Jim drives, with Numa in the front and Bill in the back. BILL Well, it's a terrific yard, Chief, but the man's an obvious alcoholic with a reputation lower than crocodile piss. JIM Does that bother you, Bill? I always wondered in court why it is because a woman is a prostitute, she has to have bad eyesight. BILL He'll never sign a statement, boss, let alone get on a witness stand. JIM When something's rotten in the land, Bill, it generally isn't just one fish, we'll get corroboration... find this Clay Bertrand. If I were a betting man, I'd give you 10 to 1 it's an alias. Start checking around the Quarter. BILL And the six of us, with almost no budget and in secret, are going to solve the case that the Warren Commission with dozens of support staff and millions of dollars couldn't solve. We can't keep up with the crimes in the Parish as it is, Chief. JIM The murder of a President, Bill, is a crime in Orleans Parish too. I didn't pick you because of your legal skill, you know. BILL Gee, thanks boss. Jim pulls the car over to park. JIM But because you're a fighter. I like a man who isn't scared of bad odds. FRENCH QUARTER SIDEWALK - DAY(1966) Jim and the others get out of the car and head towards Antoine's Restaurant. A black woman greets him. BLACK WOMAN How ya doing, Mr. Garrison? Remember me - from the piano bar at the Royal Orleans? JIM I sure do. We sang "You're the Cream in My Coffee." She laughs. Others move in on him. JIM (to Numa) Make sure we come back here, now. ANTOINE'S RESTAURANT - DAY(1966) They enter a busy lunchtime crowd in an elegant eatery. Lou Ivon and Al Oser are waiting for them as they're shown to their table by the Maitre d'. MAITRE D' Mr. Garrison, we have not seen enough of you lately. JIM Been too busy, Paul - an elected man can't have as much fun as he used to. (seeing Lou and Al) Welcome back, Lou. Find out anything on those hobos? Lou's been waiting, excited. He gives Jim blowups of the five hobo photographs. LOU They took 'em to the Sheriff's office, not the police station, and they let 'em go. No record of them ever being questioned. JIM I can't say that comes as a surprise anymore. LOU A photographer from The Dallas Times Herald got some great shots of them never published... The camera moves in on the photographs. FLASHBACK TO the "hoboes" being escorted to the Sheriff's office - as per Sgt. Harkness' earlier description. LOU ...take a good look, chief, do any of 'em look like the hoboes you remember? JIM Hoboes I knew of old used to sleep in their clothes - these two look pretty young. LOU ...not a single frayed collar or cuff, new haircuts, fresh shaves, clean hands - new shoe leather. Look at the ear of the cop... That's a wire. What's a cop wearing a headset for? I think they're actors, chief; they're not cops. Susie Cox arrives. JIM Who the hell are they, then! Hi, Susie, sit down. (to Lou) This could be it. Let's start looking for 'em. How 'bout that railroad man, Lee Bowers? Saw those men at the picket fence? LOU