Q & A

Synopsis: A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuses to help him in this gritty crime film.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director(s): Sidney Lumet
Production: TriStar Pictures
 
IMDB:
6.5
Rotten Tomatoes:
87%
R
Year:
1990
132 min
464 Views


[Salsa music playing in distance]

Where's Julio's old lady, man?

[Repeats himself in Spanish]

Jesus! A set-up!

BRENNAN:
Call the police.

Call an ambulance! Comprende?

- What do you see?

- Nothing.

Bullshit! What do you see?

Nada, Lieutenant!

The gun, honey dripper.

You see it in his hands?

S, Lieutenant.

What do you see?

- I see a gun, seor!

- Where?

His right hand! His right hand got a gun.

[Crashes against the door]

BRENNAN:
Okay. Calm down.

Calm down!

Wait!

BRENNAN:
Wait right here!

[Phone rings]

REILLY:
Yeah?

QUINN:
Reilly?

QUINN:
Is this Assistant District Attorney

Aloysius Francis Reilly?

Yeah.

This is Kevin Quinn,

Chief of Homicide Bureau...

...Office of the District Attorney,

County of New York.

QUINN:
You've heard of me?

Jesus. Yes, this is me.

QUINN:
Who?

REILLY:
Al Reilly, sir.

Aloysius Francis Reilly.

All right. That's better.

QUINN:
Are you catching tonight?

REILLY:
Yes, sir, I am.

A squad car is on the way to pick you up.

I've already alerted the duty stenographer.

Make note of the time.

It's 3:
05 a.m. You have time to shower.

Be here by 4:
00 a.m.

What precinct, sir?

Tony Vasquez has been shot,

it belongs to us, Homicide Bureau.

I know this is your first case for us.

Don't make me feel like an idiot

for requesting you here.

Homicide Bureau, my office, sixth floor.

[Tense instrumental music]

[Tense pop song]

[Pop song escalates]

QUINN:
Come in, please.

Shut the door behind you.

Sit down, please.

Aloysius Francis Reilly?

Yes, sir. My friends call me Al.

Background, Francis. Tell me about it.

REILLY:
Well...

REILLY:
Queens. Grew up in Elmhurst.

Catholic school.

REILLY:
Enough minor league ball

to find out I couldn't hit a curve.

Law degree?

REILLY:
Brooklyn.

Why not St. John's?

My father thought the Jesuits

were too left wing.

QUINN:
Your father's death was a tragedy.

Not only for your family...

...but for the police force as well.

REILLY:
Yes, sir. He was killed

in the line of duty in the 23.

I see you served in Harlem, also.

QUINN:
It's bad there.

Yes, sir. It is.

Those people have a tough time.

If you want to serve as the house liberal...

...I can transfer you back

to Mr. Bloomenfeld's office.

I don't care if a man

is black, white, green, polka-dot...

...or was thrown in the garbage at birth...

...or he started wearing

women's clothes at 14.

If he breaks the law

and it crosses this desk, he pays for it.

QUINN:
You understand?

REILLY:
Yes, sir.

QUINN:
And you agree?

REILLY:
Yes, sir.

Yeah.

Your father was everything

the Police Department used to be.

He was part of a tradition

that had been built by our people.

A tradition that justified

the use of those words, "The Finest."

That's why I brought you in here.

I want to hold on to those values

and the people who reflect them.

QUINN:
I hope you'll be one.

REILLY:
I'll certainly be trying.

Your first case

as an Assistant District Attorney...

...began with my phone call at 3:05 a.m.

QUINN:
A classic case

of justifiable homicide.

A piece of vermin, one Tony Vasquez,

attempted to ambush Lieutenant Brennan.

QUINN:
Mike Brennan is the personification

of the finest.

The toughest, most dedicated police officer

it's been my pleasure to know.

He gets rough sometimes.

If he takes shortcuts,

they never hurt us in court.

I know, because this office

has tried all his cases...

...never lost one.

Never been reversed on appeal.

You'll meet him shortly.

Your job is to collect the facts, present them

to a grand jury and close this out.

You will advise Brennan of his rights

and get a statement from him.

The TV unit is occupied,

so you'll be using the court stenographer.

His name is Lubin...

...and even now he's struggling

to find his way here from Far Rockaway.

Do you have any questions about how

to conduct your investigation for this office?

- I don't think so, sir.

- Good. Well, it's cut-and-dried.

Thank you, sir.

One word of caution.

Do not speak too rapidly.

Make sure everything said

and everything that happened...

...has been recorded

by the court stenographer.

From now on, for all intents and purposes,

the Q&A defines what really happened.

If it's not in the Q&A...

...it didn't happen.

Wait outside with the other witnesses

until Lubin arrives. Questions?

I'm not to discuss anything

with anyone until Lubin arrives.

- Correct?

- That's correct.

Welcome.

I don't know what this guy's on.

But he just sits there

with a sh*t-eating grin on his face!

So, f*** it.

I figure I've got to straighten him out

a little bit.

So I say, "You've got a right to remain silent

as long as you can stand the pain."

There's nothing. Not a f***ing dent.

Not a f***ing dent!

I decide to fingerprint him in the back room.

He pulls away from me.

He's a big motherf***er. He's 260 or 270.

He starts yelling, "You f***ing harp, this!

You f***ing harp, that!"

I say, "Mr. Calabrese, don't upset me now."

I go to put his hand on the printer.

He pulls his hand away...

...he says, "You can't print me! I'm made!"

He throws the f***ing ink pad!

And I'm standing there...

...and I'm looking

at my new light-blue jacket.

I've got ink all over my f***ing white shirt.

He just ruined my f***ing jacket.

I'm seeing red. I'm pissed, right?

I'm going to get that motherf***er!

I grab him by the ass and the neck...

...and very quietly I say,

Rate this script:4.0 / 1 vote

Sidney Lumet

Sidney Arthur Lumet ( loo-MET; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American director, producer, and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for 12 Angry Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976), and The Verdict (1982). He did not win an individual Academy Award, but he did receive an Academy Honorary Award and 14 of his films were nominated for various Oscars, such as Network, which was nominated for ten, winning four. The Encyclopedia of Hollywood states that Lumet was one of the most prolific filmmakers of the modern era, having directed more than one movie a year on average since his directorial debut in 1957. He was noted by Turner Classic Movies for his "strong direction of actors," "vigorous storytelling" and the "social realism" in his best work. Film critic Roger Ebert described him as having been "one of the finest craftsmen and warmest humanitarians among all film directors." Lumet was also known as an "actor's director," having worked with the best of them during his career, probably more than "any other director." Sean Connery, who acted in five of his films, considered him one of his favorite directors, and a director who had that "vision thing."A member of the maiden cohort of New York's Actors Studio, Lumet began his directorial career in Off-Broadway productions, then became a highly efficient TV director. His first movie, 12 Angry Men (1957), was a courtroom drama centered on tense jury deliberations. Lumet subsequently divided his energies among other political and social drama films, as well as adaptations of literary plays and novels, big stylish stories, New York-based black comedies, and realistic crime dramas, including Serpico and Prince of the City. As a result of directing 12 Angry Men, he was also responsible for leading the first wave of directors who made a successful transition from TV to movies.In 2005, Lumet received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement for his "brilliant services to screenwriters, performers, and the art of the motion picture." Two years later, he concluded his career with the acclaimed drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007). A few months after Lumet's death in April 2011, a retrospective celebration of his work was held at New York's Lincoln Center with the appearance of numerous speakers and film stars. In 2015, Nancy Buirski directed By Sidney Lumet, a documentary about his career, and in January 2017 PBS devoted its American Masters series to Lumet's life as a director. more…

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    "Q & A" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/q_%2526_a_16415>.

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