NATURAL BORN KILLERS

                         MCCLUSKY
               What the hell happened?

                         SCAGNETTI
               I was born and spent the first part of my life in Texas.

                         MCCLUSKY
               You don't have an accent?

                         SCAGNETTI
               I don't wanna talk like those assholes.

                         MCCLUSKY
               My mammy was from Texas.

                         SCAGNETTI
               I meant y'know, the assholes I grew up with who
               beat the shit outta me...Anyway, one day when I
               was five, my mother took me out to play in the
               park.  Well, that just so happened to be the
               same day that Charles Whitman climbed up to the
               top of University of Texas tower and started
               shooting strangers.

                         MCCLUSKY
               You was with her?

                         SCAGNETTI
               Sure was.  You see, the thing is I didn't hear
               the shots.  I didn't hear any of 'em.  One
               minute I'm walking with my mother and then all
               of a sudden her chest explodes.  She hits the
               ground, right?  I'm just lookin' at her.  Her
               forearm flies off.  Then her hip explodes.
               Now, I'm not hearing any of these shots.  All I
               know is my mother is falling apart in front of
               my eyes...

                         MCCLUSKY
               What about you, son?

                         SCAGNETTI
               Some hero grabbed me and threw me behind a
               bush.  It took them all goddamn day to get
               Charlie.  So, that meant I spent all Goddamn
               day lyin' flat on the grass, being eaten alive
               by fuckin' ants and thinkin' "What the fuck
               happened to my mom?"  Ever since I've had a
               strong opinion about the psychopathic fringe
               that thrives today in America's fast food
               culture.  I tend not to exhibit self-discipline
               becoming of a peace officer.

                         MCCLUSKY
               You got a right Jack.  Say, you don't mind,
               d'you, if I call you Jack--?

                         SCAGNETTI (ignores the question)
               Not at all. But I tell you what it is.  These
               fucks think they're special -- Daddy yanked
               their dicks, Momma never game 'em a hug  -- so
               they have carte blanche to take innocent life.
                    (McClusky nods intensely)
               They think they're invincible.  I never caught
               a killer yet who ever dreamed he might get
               caught.  And they all look the same when I
               catch 'em -- like little kids with their hands
               in the cookie jar.

                         MCCLUSKY
               That's my observation as well.  We have an army
               of shrinks who talk about mania and
               schizophrenia and multiphrenia and obsessions.
               But it's all bullshit.  It's Pride!  Arrogance!
               Somewhere, somehow they get the idea they're
               better than everyone else -- it makes me sick.
               And Mickey and Mallory Knox are the sickest
               I've ever seen.

     INT. DINING AREA - DAY

     They walk through the spotless dining area.  The PRISONERS eat
     silently, each one more uptight than the one before him.

     The Guards on the catwalks above sense something in the air,
     nervous, nodding to the Warden who makes AD LIB INQUIRIES as he
     moves.

                         MCCLUSKY (to prisoner)
               Y'all right.

                         WURLITZER (nervous)
               Don't go down that corridor, chief.

     McClusky changes direction.

                         KAVANAUGH (whispers)
               Not there either, boss.

     MCCLUSKY waits.

                         SCAGNETTI (shrewd)
               So why me, Dwight?  What's this really about?

                         MCCLUSKY
               You feel the silence, Jack!  The silence in the
               air?

                         SCAGNETTI
               ...yeah?

                         MCCLUSKY
               The one thing you don't want in prison, Jack,
               is silence.

     Camera coming to rest on a huge BLACK INMATE.  He's not eating.
     He's not chewing.  He's not blinking.  The inmates on either side
     of him look like they might shit their pants.

     The MAN he's looking at is nervous, jacked up on speed.

                         NERVOUS MAN
               Don't focuking you look at me, motherfucker!

     The Black Guy goes for him --lunging across the table with a fork
     aimed at the jacked up guy's throat.

     But McClusky beats him to the punch -- twisting a personalized
     medieval instrument of torture -- a thumb cracker or something,
     over the inmates' fingers -- breaking them backwards.

     The Black Inmate's face shows the agony he is feeling.  As he
     finally releases the fork.

     GUARDS now surround the TWO PRISONERS and cart them away.

     As McClusky renews his walk with Scagnetti, reinvigorated by the
     incident.

                         MCCLUSKY (to Guards)
               Put him in F Block for the month.  Then bring
               him to me.

                         SCAGNETTI (impressed)
               Jesus Dwight! You should be on "American
               Gladiators."

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...30 minutes every day, just shake and roll it.
                    (shaking his body tai-chi style)
               ...doesn't take much...someone goes for you,
               you go right for the throat Jack!
                    (feints for Scagnetti's throat with a flat palm)
               ...a chop that paralyzes...you know I got an
               office I'm gonna show ya Jack, it's so good I
               don't wanna go home at night.  I got a
               secretary 23 fuckin' years old.

                         WURLITZER
               Yolanda Bingham.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Got an ass on her like...

                         KAVANAUGH
               ...two perfectly round scoops of vanilla ice
               cream.

                         MCCLUSKY
               My coffee cup...

                         WURLITZER
               ...which says The Boss on it,

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...might as well be a bottomless pit.

                         KAVANAUGH
               She puts the fuckin' waitresses at Sambo's
               shame.

                         WURLITZER
               And we ain't talkin' lukewarm water poured over
               old grounds.

                         MCCLUSKY
               So, tell me why would I want to leave paradise
               to come down here and breathe this air and
               smell the smell of a bunch of losers?
                    (pauses, holds Scagnetti's eye)
               Cause of you, Jack...
                    (indicates the prisoners)
               Mickey and Mallory did this to 'em.  Got my
               whole prison worked up.

                         WURLITZER
               Like sharks to chum bait.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Smell of blood drives 'em nuts.

                         WURLITZER
               80 percent of these assholes are violent offenders...

                         KAVANAUGH
               We're over 200 percent capacity.

                         MCCLUSKY
               This ain't a prison anymore Jack -- it's a timebomb.

                         SCAGNETTI
               So ship 'em out.

                         KAVANAUGH
               Nobody wants 'em

                         WURLITZER
               No state!

                         MCCLUSKY
               I'm even talkin' hellholes where the warden's
               hard as a bar of iron.  No one wants these
               assholes behind their walls, dealing with 'em

                         WURLITZER
               Day in

                         MCCLUSKY
               Day out.

                         SCAGNETTI
               So fry 'em.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Fuck we tried!  And each fuckin' time they kill
               somebody new we got to start the whole legal
               process all over again.

                         WURLITZER
               It eats up two to three years.

                         KAVANAUGH
               Mickey is fuckin' diabolical.

                         MCCLUSKY
               He knows...

     INT. WOMAN'S CELL BLOCK - DAY

                         MCCLUSKY
               What's his name?

                          KAVANAUGH
               Pete.

                          MCCLUSKY
               Pete, open it up. We got a visitor for the song
               bird.

     A BUZZER sounds.  A door clanks open.  Soon as it does we hear a
     FEMALE VOICE singing "Walking after Midnight" by the Cowboy
     Junkies.

                         SCAGNETTI
               So, sounds like a hemorrhoid you can't get rid
               of, Dwight.

                         MCCLUSKY (smiles)
               Even hemorrhoids can be cut out Jack.  That's
               why we're shipping 'em for testing to Nystrom
               with you.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Nystrom?  Lobotomy Bay?

                         MCCLUSKY
               Vegetable land.  Home of the criminally insane.

                         SCAGNETTI
               That hasn't been done in years.

                         MCCLUSKY
               We got a first stage ruling.  It won't stick
               with all these asshole do-good shrinks around,
               but it gets them under your control for a few
               hours.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Yeah?  And then...?

                         MCCLUSKY
               The public loves you Jack...youre a celebrated
               lawman.  You busted "M&M."  Twenty six years on
               the force, a bestseller out in paperback.

                         WURLITZER
               A modern day Pat Garret with a deadly axe to
               grind with maniacs...
                    (Scagnetti puffing up)

                         MCCLUSKY
               You're a livin' breathing icon of justice and
               that's why you were chosen to deliver Mr. and
               Mrs. Knox.  We -- the Prison Board -- we know
               that once you get 'em on the road...if anything
               should happen...

                         WURLITZER
               an accident

                         MCCLUSKY
               a fire

                         KAVANAUGH
               an escape attempt

                         ALL
               ...anything...

                         MCCLUSKY
               Jack "Supercop" Scagnetti would be there to
               look out for his public's best interests.

                         SCAGNETTI
               I'm getting the picture here.

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...and of course nobody in their right mind
               would cry for those two pigfuckers if they
               happened to take some lead.  A lotta lead.
                    (Scagnetti thinking)
               You write the script, Jack, call it "Showdown
               in Mojave:  The Extermination of Mickey and
               Mallory," I don't give a shit ... I'll give you
               my two best men (indicating) Kavanaugh and
               Wurlitzer. (corrects their names and faces).

                         WURLITZER
               We got a special dislikin' for these punkolas.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Have we found our man?

     Hold on Scagnetti as he walks up to Mallory's glassed cell --
     very white, very medical.  Inside we hear singing.  An old
     friend.  Still fascinating to Jack.

                         MCCLUSKY
               ...So here she is...you know her, you love
               her, you can't live without her...Mallory Knox.

     INT. MALLORY KNOX CELL - DAY

     MALLORY (a year older) sings.

                         MALLORY
               "I go out walkin' after midnight
               in the moonlight just like we used to do."

                         MCCLUSKY
               Hey Knox!  Somebody out here wants to meet you.

                         MALLORY
               "I'm always walkin' after midnight
               searchin' for you..."

     Mallory just keeps on truckin.

     MALLORY'S POV:  We stare at MCCLUSKY and SCAGNETTI for a second.
     Then, like a bull, we charge/DOLLY straight at them.  Mallory
     screams O.S. We SMASH headfirst into the bars.  Mallory's POV
     flings up, looking at the ceiling, then falls backward.

     MEDIUM TIGHT SHOT of floor, Mallory falls into FRAME, out cold.

     CU on Scagnetti through the cell bars.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Jesus Christ!

     CAMERA PANS to McClusky smiling.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Don't worry about it.  She does it all the time.

     BACK TO:  Mallory on the floor, still unconscious with blood
     trickling out her scalp.

                         MCCLUSKY (O.S.)
               Follow me.

                         SCAGNETTI
               So, uh...where do you keep the other half, Warden?

     McClusky walking through ANOTHER DOOR.

                         MCCLUSKY
               We got his stinkin' ass in the deepest, darkest
               cell in the whole dungeon.  But it just so
               happens we can't see him right now.  Cause he's
               got a special visitor.

                         SCAGNETTI
               Who's that?

                         MCCLUSKY
               Wayne Gale.

                         SCAGNETTI (surprised)
               Wayne Gale!  That TV scumbag.

                         MCCLUSKY
               We call 'em "Media," Jack.  Why, you don't like
               the media?

                         SCAGNETTI
               A worm in my blood stool's got more attraction
               to me.  This guy lives to fuck cops over.

                         MCCLUSKY
               Can't say no to the media.  You want the job
               Jack?  Then come say hello.

     INT. JAIL -- SPECIAL VISITING ROOM - DAY

     WAYNE GALE,  the young, energetic commando journalist is testing
     a small tape recorder, accompanied by a FEMALE ASSISTANT, JULIE,
     and TWO GUARDS.  His Australian accent on, he manages to include
     everyone in his monologue.  Including his face -- which he likes
     to bounce off every reflecting surface he sees, continually
     checking himself.  A natural-born narcissist. A BLACK INMATE is
     working in the room.

                         WAYNE (sympathetic)
               How ya doin' brother?  Doin' some hard time?
               What you in for?

                         INMATE
               Murder.