Thirteen Days
DARKNESS. As the MAIN TITLES BEGIN, the theater thrums with
a subsonic HISS which mounts in all the rattling power of
THX, and we...
EXT. STRATOSPHERE - DAY
The glory of stratospheric dawn. The engines of a silver
Lockheed U-2F rasp upon the trace oxygen here at 72,500 feet.
Scattered cloud formations hang over the blue brilliance of
sea far, far below. In the haze, the looming edge of land.
SUPER:
FLIGHT G-3101. OCTOBER 14TH, 1962. OVER CUBA.The spy plane's CAMERA DOORS whine open. The glassy eye of
the 36-inch camera focuses. And then with a
BANGBANGBANGBANG, its high-speed motor kicks in, shutter
flying.
MATCH CUT TO:
INT. O'DONNELL BEDROOM - DAY
A simple CAMERA, snapping away furiously in the hands of a
giggling MARK O'DONNELL, 4. He's straddling and in the face
of his dad, KENNY O'DONNELL, 30's, tough, Boston-Irish, with
a prodigious case of morning hair. Kenny awakens, red-eyed.
HELEN (O.S.)
Mark, get off your father!
Kenny sits up to the morning bedlam of the O'Donnell house.
KIDS screech, doors bang all over. Kenny pushes Mark over,
rolls out of bed, snatches up the corners of the blanket and
hoists Mark over his shoulder in a screaming, kicking bundle.
INT. O'DONNELL HALLWAY - DAY
Kenny, with Mark in the bundle on his shoulder, meets his
wife HELEN going the other way in the hall with LITTLE HELEN,
1, in her arms.
KENNY:
Hi, hon.
They kiss in passing. Daughter KATHY, 12, races by in angry
pursuit of her twin, KEVIN, 12.
HELEN:
Don't forget, Mrs. Higgins wants to talk
to you this afternoon about Kevin. You
need to do something about this.
KENNY:
Kids are supposed to get detention.
Kenny dumps the bundle with Mark in a big pile of dirty
laundry.
SMASH CUT TO:
EXT. MCCOY AIR FORCE BASE - FLORIDA - DAY
A pair of massive FILM CANISTERS unlock and drop from the
belly of the U-2. TECHNICIANS secure them in orange carrying
cases, lock them under key, fast and proficient. They whisk
them out from under the spy plane.
The Technicians run for an idling Jeep. They sling the cases
into the rear of the vehicle which in turn accelerates away
hard, curving across the runway for another waiting plane.
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. O'DONNELL KITCHEN - DAY
A kitchen out of the late 1950's. Kenny drinks coffee, ties
a tie, rifles through a briefcase at the kitchen table. The
horde of kids, ages 2-14, breakfast on an array of period
food. Kenny grills the kids while he goes over papers.
KENNY:
Secretary of Defense...
KEVIN:
Dean Rusk!
KENNY:
Wrong, and you get to wax my car.
KENNY JR. smirk at Kevin.
KENNY JR.
Rusk is State, moron. Robert McNamara.
HELEN:
Got time for pancakes?
KENNY:
Nope. Attorney General?
A PHONE RINGS as the kids cry out en masse.
KIDS:
(chorus)
Too easy! Bobby, Bobby Kennedy!
Kenny glances up at the wall. There are two phones, side by
side. One RED, one BLACK. It's the black one ringing.
Helen answers. Kenny goes back to his papers.
KENNY:
All right, wise guys, Assistant
Secretary of State for Latin America...
SMASH CUT TO:
A U.S. Navy truck lurches to a stop in front of the run-down,
brick-faced seven-story Steuart Building on 5th and K. Rear
doors BANG open, and out hop two MARINE GUARDS, side arms
drawn, film canisters in a carrying case between them.
SUPER:
NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION CENTER(NPIC), WASHINGTON D.C.
As the Marines approach the building, front doors SLAM open.
INT. OPERATIONS OFFICE, NPIC - DAY
A bespectacled OPERATIONS MANAGER hands a clipboard to one of
the big Marine Guards who in turn hands him a set of keys.
The Manager unlocks the film cases. PHOTO INTERPRETERS swoop
in, whisk away the contents: SPOOLS OF FILM.
SMASH CUT TO:
EXT. O'DONNELL RESIDENCE - DAY
A black Lincoln pulls away from the modest white house on a
tidy Washington D.C. residential street.
EXT. WASHINGTON D.C., AERIAL - DAY
The car threads its way through the Washington traffic, past
the big administrative buildings, down tree-lined avenues,
takes a turn into a gate. As the car stops at the gate, the
CAMERA flies past, revealing it's the gate to the WHITE
HOUSE.
SMASH CUT TO:
INT. NPIC - DAY
CLOSE ON the five-thousand rolls of film spewing through
processing equipment, its streaking passage leading us
straight through the development machinery to:
Photo Interpreters power up light tables, stereoscopic
viewers, zip across the floor in wheeled chairs.
Flying switches, flickering lights, humming motors. It's an
eerie dance of technological black magic.
Another pair of Interpreters loom out of the darkness, side
by side, ghostly looking, their glasses reflecting the glare
of the light table, like magicians staring into a crystal
ball.
Aerial shots, flashing by. Cuban countryside from 72,500
feet. A MAGNIFYING GLASS swings down on its arm in front of
us, magnifying the carpet of trees... and a row of six canvas
SMASH CUT TO:
EXT. WHITE HOUSE - WEST WING - DAY
Kenny, in business suit and tie, trots up the steps, and a
MARINE GUARD snaps the door open for him.
Kenny, briefcase in hand, weaves his way through the empty,
ornate hallways of the West Wing. Past magnificent doorways,
early American furniture, paintings. He finally reaches a
doorway, goes through into:
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"Thirteen Days" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/thirteen_days_316>.
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