A History of Violence

Synopsis: This is the story of a mild-mannered man, named Tom Stall, who becomes a local hero through an act of violence, he lives a happy and quiet life with his lawyer wife and their two children in the small town of Millbrook, Indiana. But one night their idyllic existence is shattered when Tom foils a vicious attempted robbery in his diner. Sensing danger, he takes action and saves his customers and friends in the self-defense killings of two-sought-after criminals. Heralded as a hero, Tom's life is changed overnight, attracting a national media circus, which forces him into the spotlight. Uncomfortable with his newfound celebrity, Tom tries to return to the normalcy of his ordinary life only to be confronted by a mysterious and threatening man who arrives in town believing Tom is the man who wronged him in the past. As Tom and his family fight back against this case of mistaken identity and struggle to cope with their changed reality, they are forced to confront their relationships and the
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Director(s): David Cronenberg
Production: New Line Cinema
  Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 37 wins & 78 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.5
Metacritic:
81
Rotten Tomatoes:
87%
R
Year:
2005
96 min
$31,500,000
Website
1,814 Views


So, we keep headin' east?

Yeah, that's the idea.

Stay out of the big cities?

Uh-huh.

I think I'm tired.

Yeah. Me, too.

Here.

Bring it on up to the office.

I'm going to go check us out.

All right.

# With the rushin' that way #

# I had a feeling

it was my day #

# For one of those nights #

# When you lose your cool,

and you're feelin' sorry #

# You're ridin' on sin

to the page of a story #

# Of another great night

in the life of a fool #

# Ow! #

What took you so long?

Nothing.

I had a little trouble

with the maid...

but everything's fine now.

Damn.

It's already this hot.

Yep.

How are we fixed for water?

Probably not enough.

Yeah.

There's a cooler in the back

in the office.

Hey.

Shh.

Aah! Aah! Aah!

Sarah, honey, what's wrong?

Huh?

What is it, sweetie? Hmm?

- Daddy.

- Yeah?

- Daddy.

- Daddy's here.

- Daddy's here.

- There were monsters.

No, sweetie. There's

no such thing as monsters.

You were just having

a bad dream.

What's wrong, Dad?

Hi, kiddo.

Sarah's just having a bad dream.

Oh.

I saw monsters, Jack.

Monsters?

What kind?

I don't know.

They came out of my closet...

and then

they were in the shadows.

Mmm, shadow monsters.

Well, they look pretty scary...

but they really

can't do anything...

especially

when the lights are on.

They're scared of the light.

What happened, baby?

- You OK?

- I'm OK.

Sarah had a bad dream

about monsters.

- Oh.

- And I was telling her...

that there's

no such thing as monsters.

Oh.

I'm going to turn on

my night light just in case.

That sounds like

a brilliant solution.

Mmm.

- Hey, Jack?

- Hey, Mom?

Morning.

Morning, baby.

Hey, hon,

the pick up still won't start.

You mind dropping me off

on the way in?

Sure.

- Did you feed Burrow?

- Yeah, I fed him.

All right. Good.

The night light worked,

didn't it?

I got it, Dad.

What do you got going today,

Jack?

Uh, nothing much.

A math test in a few days...

and I think we're playing

baseball in gym class today...

so I can look forward

to sucking hard in right field.

Well, just remember...

don't let the hitter

get the ball over your head...

Unless it's out of the park.

Well, yeah.

Bye.

I get off early today.

All I have...

is the Watsons-Willard Day

bride's tractor sale.

You want me to pick you up?

Yeah.

Then we can go to the drive-in

and make out tonight.

There hasn't been

a drive-in here...

since the early seventies,

but...

I love you.

I love you.

- Have a good one.

- You, too.

- Morning.

- Derek.

- Hey, Tom.

- Morning, Joseph.

That's wild.

- Hey, Tom.

- Morning, Pat.

- Hey, Mick.

- Tom.

Charles is going to be

a little late this morning.

- Is he drunk again?

- Yeah, I guess.

Hey, who's the craziest woman

you ever dated?

Me?

Yeah. Mick and me,

we were talking...

about some of the girls

we went with.

- Uh-huh.

- He once dated a girl...

who used to attack him

in the middle of the night.

- She what?

- Yeah.

She used to have

these crazy goddamn dreams...

where instead

of her boyfriend...

I was

some kind of demented killer.

I woke up one night, she stuck

a goddamn fork in my shoulder.

- You're kidding me.

- No. I'm spurting blood.

She's sitting there crying...

going,

"Baby, I love you, I love you."

So, what happened?

You broke up with her, right?

No, I married her.

Hey, it lasted six years.

Nobody's perfect, Tom.

I guess not.

Strike this guy out.

We got 'em. Let's go.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Two out.

One winning run

coming right up, boys.

- Go, Bobby!

- Whoo!

It's all right, Billy.

Look alive, look alive.

Yeah!

Ball.

Yeah, that's it.

He's got nothing.

He's got nothing.

Let's go, let's go.

One more. Come on, now.

Come on, Bobby.

Yeah. He's yours, he's yours.

- Oh!

- Whoo!

- Whoo!

- Easy, Jack. Come on, Jack.

Don't drop it, Jack!

- That's yours. Come on.

- Jinx, Jackie boy!

- Oh!

- Oh!

Game over!

Yellows win. Let's go, guys.

Taylor, Dietrich,

you're on equipment. Let's go.

Guys, come on. Let's go.

- Good try, Bobby.

- You was robbed, Bobby.

Everyone hit the showers.

- Awesome.

- Nice.

Good job.

Guess you think

you're hot sh*t, huh, Stall?

What? No, I don't.

Little hero here, huh?

Little superstar here.

Little hero saves the day

at the last minute, right?

Bobby, it's just a game, OK?

It's just stupid gym class.

Who you calling stupid?

Ahem.

No, I said gym class was stupid.

"No, I said gym class was..."

Listen to this little f*ggot.

Yeah. You're right.

I'm both little and a f*ggot.

You got me dead to rights.

Come on, chickenshit,

let's do this.

What would be the point?

I mean, you win.

You win, you win.

You've established

your alpha male standing.

You've established

my unworthiness.

But doing violence to me

just seems... ahem...

pointless and cruel,

don't you think?

Let's do this, you punk b*tch.

Shouldn't that be little punk

ass chickenshit f*ggot b*tch?

Chickenshit f*ggot b*tch.

Uh-oh.

God!

Bobby is a chickenshit.

Hey, good looking.

Where are we going?

Well, Jack's studying

over at Judy Danvers'...

and Martha's

taking care of Sarah.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

So, where are we going?

We never got to be teenagers

together.

Uh-huh.

I'm going to fix that.

What's going on in there?

Keep your shirt on. I'm coming.

Holy cow.

What?

Do you need some help with that,

big boy?

Uh... maybe.

Oh, my God.

What have you done with my wife?

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote

Josh Olson

Josh Olson is an American screenwriter and director. more…

All Josh Olson scripts | Josh Olson Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "A History of Violence" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/a_history_of_violence_10011>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.