WILD THINGS

WILD THINGS  

                                 by Stephen Peters

                             rewrite by Kem Nunn

     FADE IN:

     MAIN TITLE SEQUENCE -- BLACK

     INTERCUT -- QUICK FLASH-FORWARDS

     INSIDE A STEAMY SHOWER -- A wet naked woman and man wrapped
     around each other in ecstasy -- legs, arms, hair, mouths.

     BLACK -- MORE TITLES -- then

     Moonlight reflects on a vehicle's shiny surface.  FISTS THUD into
     flesh.  O.S. -- a man slams of the hood, rebounds away.

     BLACK -- MORE TITLES -- then

     LOVERS -- caught in FREEZE-FRAMES of green neon -- off, on, off,
     on -- like a strobe's instant-images -- of gasping, tough sex.

     BLACK -- MORE TITLES -- then

     ON A GLEAMING POOL DECK of black-and-white tile -- two women in
     soaked, clinging clothes -- fight -- hands squeeze a throat.

     BLACK -- MORE TITLES -- then

     A SCREAM -- a sickening hollow THWACK -- an arc of blood, two
     teeth fall on dark stone.

     BLACK -- MORE TITLES -- then

     GUNSHOTS -- Blood sprays across the glass of a picture frame --
     obscures the photo inside.

     BLACK -- MORE TITLES -- then

     THE SURFACE OF A SPARKLING SEA -- a distant emerald island.  A
     40-foot sloop APPEARS -- shapes on deck -- we are about to SEE --

     BLACK -- MORE TITLES -- then

     SHARKS -- underwater -- rip something into a bloody cloud.

     END MAIN TITLES.

                                                 FADE TO:

     EXT. BLUE BAY SCHOOL - DAY

     A place of money and privilege.  White coral buildings surround
     an open yard.  Tile roofs rise among banyan trees and banana
     palms, shimmering before a blue blaze of sky.

     Beyond the yard is the school's playing field and beyond that the
     waters of Biscayne Bay, dappled in sunlight where the sloops of
     the school's sailing class bob at their moorings.

     For a moment all is quiet.  Then, faintly, the HUM of many
     VOICES, rising and falling, LAUGHTER.

     The CAMERA PANS to the open windows of a building somewhat larger
     than the others.  The SOUNDS grow louder.

     INT. BLUE BAY AUDITORIUM - DAY

     A hundred high school kids sit before a raised, hardwood stage.
     The students are not unlike the campus, radiant, well-tended -- a
     veritable sea of adolescent sexuality -- bronze boys who seem to
     have just come from the boats or tennis courts -- girls in tight
     shorts riding high up shapely thighs, as...

     SAM LOMBARDO strolls out onto the stage.  The man is thirtyish,
     drop-dead handsome.  Dressed not that differently from the kids,
     in an Izod polo shirt, khakis and boat shoes.

     His entrance has an effect upon the audience, particularly upon
     the girls.

     KAREN and JANELLE, 16, pretty blondes, whisper then giggle.

     NICOLE, a dark-eyed beauty, 17 but going on 25, watches Sam's
     walk, then turns to the girl at her side...

     KELLY VAN RYAN, 17, a fully-developed knockout.

                                  NICOLE
                  When we graduate the only thing I'm
                  going to miss is...
                         (with a nod to the stage)
                  Know what I mean?

     Kelly's eyes are locked on Sam.  Nicole has to nudge her.

                                  NICOLE (CONT'D)
                  Kelly?

                                  KELLY
                         (still staring)
                  Oh yeah.

     Sam is at the podium.  He looks out across the audience.  There
     are a couple of flirtatious whistles, laughter.  Sam smiles,
     silencing them with a wave of his hand.

                                  SAM
                  We've come to the halfway point in my
                  senior seminars...

     Cheers, applause.  Sam waits for the kids to settle.

                                  SAM (CONT'D)
                  Come on.  Beats study hall, doesn't it?

                                  JIMMY (O.S.)
                  No!

     Boos as we FIND...

     JIMMY LEACH, 18, grumge look, long hair.  He sits with a clique
     of white trashy types, or at least what passes for such at Blue
     Bay School.  Jimmy appears a bit more genuine, as does...

     SUZlE TOLLER, a boyish brunette, seated nearby, but with just
     enough space between her and everyone else to mark her as a
     loner.  She studies Sam Lombardo with a dark, sullen stare.

                                  SAM
                  Thank you, Jimmy.

                                  JIMMY
                  Hey, man, at least in study hail I could
                  meditate.

                                  KIRK (O.S.)
                  He means masturbate...

     This remark is greeted by a chorus of laughter as we FIND...

     KIRK, one of the golden boys, seated with Kelly and Nicole.

                                  SAM
                  Something Kirk with which I'm sure you
                  have hands-on experience.

     Loud laughter.  Sam quiets them again, then turns to the
     blackboard, where he begins to write, in big letters -- S-E-X.
     The kids start to cheer.

     Sam writes another word -- C-R-I-M-E-S.

     The cheering fades into silence.

                                  SAM (CONT'D)
                  We've all heard the words, date rape,
                  sexual harassment.  We've talked about
                  some of these things in this room.
                         (beat)
                  Our speakers today head up the Blue Bay
                  Police Sex Crimes Unit -- Detectives Ray
                  Duquette and Gloria Perez.
                         (beat)
                  They're here to give you what we hope
                  will be a fresh perspective on these
                  subjects, and to answer any questions
                  you night have.

     Sam turns to the wings, his hand out to welcome the visitors...

     RAY DUQUETTE, mid-thirties, with the lanky build of a light
     heavyweight, walks out onto the stage.  He's dressed in a dark
     suit, dark hair combed straight back above steel-rimmed glasses.

     GLORIA PEREZ walks at his side.  She's a good six inches shorter
     than Ray, with a sweet face.  Attractive but no stunner.

     About five kids applaud.  Ray takes the podium.

                                  RAY
                  Thank you for having us.  We'll each
                  talk for ten or fifteen minutes, then
                  open it up to your questions...

     IN THE AUDIENCE

     Suzie Toller suddenly gets to her feet.  As she passes behind
     Jimmy, we HEAR her VOICE, beneath her breath.

                                  SUZIE
                  I'm not going to listen to this
                  jack-off.

     She marches down the aisle and bangs out the rear door..

     Ray pauses, a dark look on his face, then goes on...

                                  RAY
                  Let's begin with a question.  What is a
                  sex crime?

     A moment.

                                  JIMMY
                  Not getting any.

     This draws a few laughs from the kids, a couple of thin smiles
     from Sam and Gloria.  And none at all from Ray Duquette.

     EXT. AUDITORIUM - DAY

     The kids change classes.  Sam, Ray and Gloria CROSS the grass.
     The kids swarm past.  A pair of girls flash by.

                                  CAROLE
                  Have a nice weekend, Mr. Lombardo.

                                  SAM
                  Hey, Carole, you too.  And be good.

                                  CAROLE
                         (beneath a pouty look)
                  I hate to be good.

     The three adults ENTER an old wooden building.

     INT. BUILDING - DAY

                                  SAM
                  This is one of the original buildings.
                  We have the offices here now.

     The walls are paneled in wood, decorated with framed photographs.
     Gloria stops before one of the photos.

     ANGLE ON PHOTOGRAPH

     An old black-and-white, with that sepia caste harkening back to
     another age.

     A handsome young man of perhaps 14 stands at the helm of a boat
     under sail.  His hair is swept back, his eyes fixed upon an
     unseen horizon.  There is something in this boy's pose, in the
     line of his jaw, in the clarity of his gaze, as if what he has
     fixed upon is the future itself.

                                  GLORIA
                  Anybody in particular?

     When no one answers, she turns to find Sam at her side.  He
     stares at the picture, then looks at Gloria.

                                  SAM
                  Sam Lombardo.  The first.  Class of
                  'Forty-Two
                         (beat)
                  My father.

     Gloria does a slow double-take, looking from Sam to the photo and
     back again.

                                  VOICE (0.S.)
                  Can't seem to get rid of the Lombardos
                  around here.

     Sam and the detectives turn as a professorial-looking guy in a
     baggy brown suit (ART MADDOX) arrives on the scene.

                                  SAM
                  Art.  Say hello to Detectives Perez and
                  Duquette.
                         (to the cops)
                  Art Maddox. A fellow guidance counselor.

     Art and the detectives shake hands.

                                  ART
                  So, did you set 'em all straight on the
                  ugly facts of life?

                                  SAM
                  I have the feeling, they got it down
                  already.  They're a step ahead of us,
                  Artie.

     Gloria seems to find this amusing.  Ray stands at her side, looks
     at Sam.  Sam feels it, makes eye contact with Ray -- a beat -- at
     which point, Ray puts a hand on Gloria's back.

                                  RAY
                  I've got that two o'clock in town.

                                  GLORIA
                         (nodding)
                  Back to the land of grownups.

     The detectives shake hands once more with San and Art.

                                  SAM
                         (to Gloria)
                  If old pictures interest you, come back
                  some time, there's quite a collection
                  down in the pagoda.  I'll see you get a
                  proper tour.

                                  GLORIA
                         (smiling)
                  I'd like that.

     Ray opens a door for her.  The detectives pass through it.

     Art claps Sam on the shoulder, then walks off down the hallway.
     Sam remains near the doors, watching as...

     ANGLE ON THE DRIVE LEADING TO THE SCHOOL

     Ray and Gloria walk past half a dozen expensive cars -- Range
     Rovers, Beamers and Mercedes, to a plain, white Ford Taurus,
     which they get into and drive away.

     EXT. BLUE BAY SCHOOL - LATER

     Cheerleaders perform a sensual dance on the porch of a wooden
     pagoda.  A rugby team runs drills on the grass, as out on the
     bay, six tiny racing sloops tack toward the docks.

     ANGLE ON DOCKS

     As the sloops enter the narrow channel between the slips one
     student from each boat jumps onto the dock where he or she sets
     about tying off the boat.

     Sam is on one of the boats.  Jimmy Leach is at the rudder.

                                  SAM
                         (loud enough to be heard
                          by his class)
                  Okay, you guys.  Good work.  Now coil
                  those dock lines and I'll see you all on
                  Monday.

     He watches his class clamber up the docks.  His eye falls upon
     the pagoda, the dancing cheerleaders -- Kelly Van Ryan in
     work-out tights -- bare arms reaching for the sky.

     EXT. SCHOOL DOCKS - SAM & JIMMY - LATER

     hosing down boats, stowing sails.  They look up as...
     A HUGE POWER BOAT glides past.  The docks rock in its wake.

                                  JIMMY
                  All right.  I could party on that.

     Sam just laughs at him.