Arctic Blue

Synopsis: An environmentalist gets involved in transporting an accused killer (Ben) from an isolated Alaskan town to the authorities. Ben is determined to escape, and his fellow trappers are ready to help.
Genre: Action, Thriller
Director(s): Peter Masterson
Production: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
 
IMDB:
5.1
R
Year:
1993
95 min
377 Views


FADE IN:

1EXT. BOREAL FOREST - ALASKA - (AERIAL SHOT) - DAY

Flying. Not at the intangible height of a jet, but at

spitting distance from the treetops. We're in central

Alaska, the Big Lonely, just north of the Arctic Circle.

A thick forest follows the contours of mountain foothills

like a deep-pile carpet. Up at treeline the forest thins to

tundra, a grassy scruff turning red and yellow with the

coming of autumn.

On the horizon, the hills rise to meet the Endicott

Mountains, a great fortress wall of granite so sharp and

jagged that snow cannot stick to its face. This is how all

North America once looked -- raw, indomitable.

Then, abruptly coming into the SCENE is a colossal etching

across the landscape too deliberate to be of natural origin.

Bisecting this country like a metallic ribbon -- or a scar,

depending on your point of view -- is the 800-mile-long

Trans-Alaskan Pipeline.

Even the immensity of the pipeline is rendered insignificant

by the vastness of the land. It goes on, and on, and on...

DISSOLVE TO:

A lone MAN walks along the Haul Road, a one-lane gravel

trail running parallel to the pipeline. The weather turns

sour -- rough wind and stinging snow cut across the man's

path.

DISSOLVE TO:

The man is ERIC DESMOND, twenty-four, clean-shaven,

determined. He's clearly out of place here, dressed in a

business suit and a light, camel-hair topcoat.

Eric is trying to follow some footprints in the snow -- a

predator's tracks, those of a wolf or coyote. But the

footprints ahead have faded, covered by the snow and wind.

DISSOLVE TO:

The weather becomes more oppressive. Heavy snow, gale winds

and sub-zero temperatures make his progress tortuous. Eric

strives stubbornly forward.

(CONTINUED)

1CONTINUED:

DISSOLVE TO:

Eric has gathered some branches. He tries to make a fire.

Moisture from his breath has frozen in the upturned collar

of his insufficient coat, and his skin is split raw from the

cold.

His hands are too numb to hold the matches. After several

attempts at striking one, he slumps down next to the pile of

wood, exhausted and frustrated.

DISSOLVE TO:

The snow has covered the pile of branches. Eric still sits

next to it, partially covered in snow himself.

ERIC:

His face is a death mask: eyes half-open and dull, lips a

purplish blue, bloodless skin crystallizing as it ices over.

The wind HOWLS around him. The snow sticks to his eyelashes

and hair without melting.

END DREAM:

2INT. DARK BEDROOM - NIGHT

Eric bolts up in bed. Next to him, ANNE MARIE GAUVIN sits

up and hugs him. All that can be seen of her in the dark is

a lovely silhouette and a cascade of dark hair. After a

moment, Eric kisses her. He shakes off the dream and lies

back down.

3EXT. HAUL ROAD AND PIPELINE - CLOSE - DAY

A metal sign, peppered with shotgun holes, is posted near a

pipeline support piling:

PIPELINE UTILITY CORRIDOR

PRIVATE PROPERTY

NO TRESPASSING

NO HUNTING:

NO TRAPPING:

NO SHOOTING:

WIDER:

Eric walks quietly past the sign, intent on something ahead

of him. Although still somewhat boyish in appearance, he's

confident and resolute in attitude. His clothes have a

distinctly western feel: Lucchese boots, Levis 501's, Mahan

cotton shirt. His down parka is unzipped in the sunny,

windless, forty-degree afternoon.

(CONTINUED)

3CONTINUED:

He pauses, then brings to his shoulder a rifle with a

four-power scope mounted atop it. He peers through the

scope.

HIS POV - THROUGH SCOPE

He puts the crosshairs on the shoulder flank of a big,

ivory-white timber wolf, fifty yards away.

BACK TO SCENE:

Anne Marie stands beside Eric, a Nikon with a telephoto lens

in her hand, holding her breath in anticipation. She's

twenty-three, pretty, with soft features and piercing blue

eyes. She wears Eddie Bauer woman's gear like she was born

in it.

Eric expertly fixes his aim and slowly squeezes the trigger.

But instead of a loud retort, there is only the dull POP of

a CO2-powered dart gun.

NEW ANGLE:

The tranquilizer dart finds its mark in the wolf's fleshy

shoulder. The wolf takes off running, but almost

immediately slows, sits, then lies down.

Eric and Anne Marie hurry over to the wolf, who is breathing

deeply. Eric kneels next to him and strokes his thick fur.

ERIC:

What a beauty.

(to Anne Marie)

Hand me the transmitter.

Anne Marie passes to Eric a tiny, weatherproof homing device

attached to a steel collar band. Eric puts the collar

loosely around the wolf's neck and crimps it in place, all

the while TALKING soothingly to the semi-conscious animal.

Anne Marie smiles at Eric's tenderness and snaps some

photos.

With the collar in place and transmitter activated, Eric

backs away while the wolf tries to rouse itself from its

narcosis.

ERIC:

(continuing)

He's coming around fine.

ANNE MARIE:

Be right back. I left my

camcorder in the car.

(CONTINUED)

3CONTINUED:
(2)

FOLLOW ANNE MARIE

as she hurries back to their International Scout. On the

door of the Scout is a stylized logo of an oil derrick,

under which are the words:

NORTHLAND PETROLEUM CORP.

Anne Marie opens the hatchback and grabs a video camera.

ANGLE ON ERIC AND THE WOLF

Eric smiles as the wolf wobbles tentatively to his feet and

trots unsteadily away. Near the treeline the wolf turns,

glances back at Eric and then disappears into the forest.

NEW ANGLE:

Anne Marie is taping the wolf's retreat. Looking through

the viewfinder, she crosses a gully between a pipeline

piling and a rock formation. Eric turns toward her and a

glint of light in the debris at her feet catches his eye.

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Ross LaManna

Ross LaManna is an American screenwriter and author. He is best known for creating the Rush Hour series starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. more…

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