Wing Chun and the Mafia -- The Story of Don Chisao

[Alpha Dog]

Grateful to Don Chisao

Justice from the Don
written by Francis Torn Scapula, novel by Mario Buisao




Bonasera: I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom, but -- I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boyfriend; not an Italian. She went to the movies with him; she stayed out late. I didn't protest. Two months ago, he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink gao liang. And then they tried to chisao with her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they mocked her, like an animal. When I went to her house, her faith in Wing Chun was a'broken. Her jaw was a'shakin, and she couldn't a'stop a'cryin. She couldn't even do her Siu Lim Tao because of the memories of their a'taunting: "Your'a Wing Chun, it'a sucks!!" But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life -- beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again in her yi ji kium yu ma. (Bonasera breaks down) Sorry...I -- I went to the police, like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison-- suspended sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool in my yi ji kium yu ma stance. And those two *******, they smiled at me. They said I had no root. Then I said to my wife, "for justice, we must go to Don Chisao."
Vito Corleone: We've known each other many years, but this is the first time you came to me for counsel, for help with your stance. I can't remember the last time that you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child. But let's be frank here: you never wanted my friendship. And uh, you were afraid to be in my debt.
Bonasera: I didn't want to get into trouble.
Vito Corleone: I understand. You found paradise in America, had a good trade, made a good living. The police protected you; and there were courts of law. And you didn't need a friend of me. But uh, now you come to me and you say -- "Don Chisao give me good Wing Chun." -- But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather. Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married, and you uh...ask me to teach you the secrets of a strong stance, for money.
Bonasera: I ask you for justice.
Vito Corleone: That is not justice; your daughter is still alive. She can still do her forms.
Bonasera: Then they can suffer then, as she suffers. How much shall I pay you?
Vito Corleone: (stands, turning his back toward Bonasera) Bonasera... Bonasera... What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? Had you come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And that by chance if an honest man such as yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you.
Bonasera: Be my friend --(then, after bowing and the Don shrugs)-- Godfather?
Vito Corleone: (after Bonasera kisses his hand) Good. Some day, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But uh, until that day -- accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day.


-- stay tuned for the rivetting next chapter in the life of Don Chisao...

[sunkuen]

BRAAAVAAH!!! BRAAAVAAH!!!

[yuanfen]

Hilarious!
Not Done yet?
The service...

[Chum Kil]

Great. Waiting for Part II.

[yuanfen]

Only when you are properly rooted.

[sunkuen]

maybe if we ask with respect , offer our friendship and don't forget to call him "Dogfather"!!!

[yuanfen]

I am so excited about wing chun and the Dogfather is indeed pulling me back in.
Don chisao can be a series.
Could play on the seminar circuit and right here in
River City folks.

[Chum Kil]

Don Chisao

I've been rooting since my last post, I'm ready for Part II.

[stuff]

Belo! Belo! Belo!:cool:

[Alpha Dog]

Don Chisao is a busy man. You will learn more soon.

[Alpha Dog]

WEDDING PARTY (SUMMER 1999)

KAY and MICHAEL settle by a table on the edge of the wedding,
burdened down with plates of food and glasses and wine. She
is exhilarated by the enormity of the affair, the music and
the vitality.

KAY I've never seen anything like it.

MICHAEL I told you I had a lot of relatives. The Wing Chun "family" has grown large in the last twenty years. In fact I don't even recognize half of these faces.

KAY looking about, a young and lively thing in a gift shop.
We see what she sees:

Her interest is caught by THREE MEN standing by the wine
barrels.

KAY (amused) Michael, what are those men doing?

MICHAEL They're waiting to see my father.

KAY They're talking to themselves.

MICHAEL They're going to talk to my father, which means they're going to ask him for something, which means they better get it right.

KAY Why do they bother him on a day like this?

MICHAEL Because they know that no Sicilian will refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day.

<scene change>

CONNIE CORLEONE, the Bride, is pressing the bodice of her
overly-fluffy white gown against the groom, CARL RIZZI. He
is bronzed, with curly blondish hair and lovely dimples. He is holding his tan da out approximately two fists from his ribcage as he casually smokes a Kools in his pigeon-toed stance. He has never felt so rooted, he thinks to himself, smiling as a smoke ring ascends through the swirling air of the crowd. He checks his elbow: "A bit high, but so what? It's my wedding day", he assures himself.
She absolutely adores him and can barely take her eyes from
him and his tan sao long enough to thank the various guests for the white envelopes they are putting into the large white purse she holds. In fact, if we watch carefully, we can see that one
of her hands is slid under his jacket, and into his shirt,
where she is provocatively rubbing the hair on his dan tien.
CARL, on the other hand, has his blue eyes trained on the
bulging envelopes, and is trying to guess how much cash the
things hold.

Discreetly, he gam sao’s her hand off of his skin.

CARL (whispered) Thtop it, Connie.

The purse, looped by a ribbon of silk around CONNIE's arm,
is fat with money.

PAULIE (O.S.) What do you think? Twenty grand?

A little distance away, a young man, PAULIE GATTO, snares a
prosciutto sandwich thrown by a friend with a biu sao, without once taking eyes from the purse or coming out of his yi ji kium yu ma. "You see the strength of my root," he thinks, smiling inwardly. "I will never starve."

PAULIE Who knows? Maybe more. Twenty, thirty grand in small bills cash in that silk purse. Holy Toledo, if this was somebody else's wedding!

SUNNY is sitting at the Wedding Dias, talking to LUCY
MANCINI, the Maid of Honor. Every once in a while he
glances across the courtyard, where his WIFE is talking with
some WOMEN.

He bends over and whispers something into LUCY's ear.

SANDRA and the WOMEN are in the middle of a big, ribald laugh.

WOMAN Is it true what they say about your husband, Sandra? Is it true that his tan goes fuk before bong?

SANDRA's hands separate with expanding width further and
further apart, then suddenly plunge downward as she bursts into a peal of laughter.
Through her separated hands she sees the Wedding Dais.

SUNNY and LUCY are gone.

[anerlich]

Great stuff, keep it coming.

[sunkuen]

excellent , excellent....Please Dogfather let us have more!!!

[Alpha Dog]

KAY and MICHAEL.

KAY (in a spooky low tone) Michael, that scarey guy...Is he a relative?

She has picked out LUCA BRASI.

MICHAEL No. His name is Luca Brasi. You wouldn't like him.

KAY (Excited) Who is he?

MICHAEL (Sizing her up) You really want to know?

KAY Yes. Tell me.

MICHAEL You like ma po tofu?

KAY You know I love ma po tofu.

MICHAEL Then eat your ma po tofu and I'll tell you a Luca Brasi story.

She starts to eat her ma po tofu.

She begins eating, looking at him eagerly.

MICHAEL Once upon a time, about fifteen years ago some people wanted to take over my father's dit dat jiao business. They had Phil Redmond send some men in from Chicago to kill my
father, and they almost did.

KAY Phil Redmond!

MICHAEL My Father sent Luca Brasi after them. He tied the two Redmond men hand and foot, and stuffed small bath towels into their mouths. Then he took some of his commercial grade dit dat jiao and rubbed it on one of the men's feet...

KAY Michael...

MICHAEL Then the legs at the knees...

KAY Michael you're trying to scare me...

MICHAEL Then the thighs where they joined the torso.

KAY Michael, I don't want to hear anymore...

MICHAEL Then Luca turned to the other man...

KAY Michael, I love you.

MICHAEL ...who out of sheer terror had swallowed the bath towel in his mouth and suffocated.

The smile on his face seems to indicate that he is telling a
tall story.

KAY I never know when you're telling me the truth.

MICHAEL I told you you wouldn't like him.

KAY He's coming over here!

LUCA comes toward them to meet TOM KAGEN halfway, just near
their table.

MICHAEL Tom...Tom, I'd like you to meet Kay Adams.

KAY (having survived LUCA) How do you do.

MICHAEL My Wing Chun brother, Tom Kagen.

KAGEN Hello Kay. Your father's inside doing some business. (privately) He's been asking for you.

MICHAEL Thanks Tom.

KAGEN smiles and moves back to the house, LUCA ominously
following.

KAY If he's your Wing Chun brother, why does he have a different name?

MICHAEL My brother Sunny found him living in the streets when he was a kid, so my father took him in. His Wing Chun is first rate.

[yuanfen]

Superb. I am so excited.

[Alpha Dog]

DON'S OFFICE

DON CHISAO at the window. He has seen the intimacy of the
YOUNG COUPLE.

LUCA <enters> Don Chisao...

THE DON turns to the stiffly formal LUCA, and he moves
forward to kiss his hand. He takes the envelope from his
jacket, holds it out, but does not release it until he makes
a formal speech.

LUCA (with difficulty) Don Chisao...I am honored, and grateful...that you invited me to your home...on the wedding day of your...daughter. May their first child...be a masculine child, with superb root and a not-too-stiff tan da. I pledge my never ending loyalty. (he offers the envelope) For your daughter's bridal purse.

DON CHISAO Thank you, Luca, my most valued friend.

THE DON pak-da's the hand of LUCA so strongly we might imagine it to be painful; the envelope lands on the desk.

LUCA Let me leave you, Don CHISAO. I know you are busy.

He turns to face his centre line to the door, and leaves the study with the same shuffling chain-punching steps he entered with. DON CHISAO breathes more easily, and gives the thick envelope to KAGEN.

DON CHISAO I'm sure it's the most generous gift today.

KAGEN The Senator called--apologized for not coming personally, but said you'd understand. Also, some of the Tournament Judges...they've all sent gifts. And another call from Virgil Sollozzo.

DON CHISAO is not pleased.

KAGEN I couldn't find out how much Sollozzo knows about Wing Chun. He claims to have studied for two years and seemed very excited every time the subject came up. Sollozzo is vouched for by the Tattaglia family, and they may want a piece of the action. They call Sollozzo the Turk. He's spent a lot of time in Turkey and is suppose to have a Turkish wife and kids. He's suppose to be
very quick with the bat jam do, or was, when he was younger. Only in matters of business and with some reasonable complaint. Also he has an American wife and three children and he is a good family man.

THE DON nods.

KAGEN DON CHISAO, these people must not be allowed to bribe the Senators and Tournament judges. This cannot continue. The Wing Chun family, your family, is fragmented, held together by money and silly tournaments. We must succeed in reuniting the family, in weeding out the wannabees and the "I have all the answers" people.

DON CHISAO I have seen this Sollozzo before. He has FEI JAN, you know. His Wing Chun is sloppy, and his family life is not my concern.

KAGEN And the Tattaglias?

DON CHISAO Do you also have in your notes the the Turk made his living from Dancercise Kickboxing before the war, like the Tattaglias do now. It sickens me. Write that down before you forget it. The Turk will wait.

We now begin to hear a song coming over the loud-speakers
from outside. In Italian, with unmistakable style.

DON CHISAO What that? It sounds like Lennie Christie.

He moves to the window, pulls the blinds up, flooding the
room with light.

DON CORLEONE It is Lennie. He came all the way from Montreal to be at the wedding.

KAGEN Should I bring him in?

DON CHISAO No. Let the people enjoy his stories of the origins and history of Wing Chun.

KAGEN It's been two years since we spoke. He's probably
translating Kuen Kuit as "Boxing Rhymed Formulae" again. It upsets me, DON CHISAO.

DON CHISAO I know, I know. As we have discussed, "Kuen," in this instance, does not mean boxing (or fist). The same Cantonese sound is a hom-onym for the correct ancient ideogram interpretation which translates as "Written." The "Kuit" ideogram translates as "Song." Together, they are interpreted literally as "Written Song" or "Poems in Stone." Perhaps more succinctly (but with less flair), it translates as "Lyrics."

TOM KAGEN Yes, and a "Hao Kuit" or "Oral Poem" favorably compares to Canton Province's version of a roundeau. When a "Hao Kuit" is specifically recorded for posterity and in an artistic form, then and only then does it become "Kuen Kuit."

DON CHISAO Don't worry, let him be. We have more important matters at hand.

TOM KAGEN Yes, DON CHISAO, you are right. You are always right. <bows, leaves>

[sunkuen]

What a beautiful story...

[Chum Kil]

DON CHISAO, Sir, you have been very busy since we last talked. I thought you forgot about me. Is it OK if I stop rooting, my knees are hurting. But I will maintain, if only for the Wing Chun family.

[yuanfen]

Brav0! What does Don Chi Sao do for an encore.
Too bad Arizona's Joe"Honor thy father" Bonano has moved on
toa different time frame(recently). he would have guffawed with the narration-
if he didnt we would be in trouble.

[kungfu cowboy]

AD:D

[sunkuen]

Pleeze let us have more of the story, Dogfather!!! The suspense is killing us!!!:D

[yuanfen]

is he ready for this service?

[Alpha Dog]

I am still in the first part of the story. There is much, much more to tell.

Unfortunately, Don Chisao is busy today; he hasn't the time to relay any more to me. But he has given me his word, and his word is his bond. Perhaps by Sunday he will be available.

[Beowulf]

Originally posted by Alpha Dog
I am still in the first part of the story. There is much, much more to tell.

Unfortunately, Don Chisao is busy today; he hasn't the time to relay any more to me. But he has given me his word, and his word is his bond. Perhaps by Sunday he will be available.
I am "rooting" for this story to have a happy ending.

Ciao.

[sunkuen]

My congrats to Don chisao on the marriage of his daughter. Cheers to Don chisao!!!

[Alpha Dog]

Don Chisao examines himself in the mirror. His tux is tighter than the last time he wore it. Left cufflink is stuck in the sleeve; he stretches his arm out to the right to free it, then examines his midsection on the way back. "Too much pasta these days," he muses quietly to himself. "Tight in the back too, this jacket." He quickly jums with the right arm, to see if the jacket will hold, then bongs the left. He smiles. Quickly, he tuit sao's some dust from his arms, left first, then right, then left again -- just in case. Satisfied in his sartorial splendor, Don Chisao shifts quietly to the garden door and enters the party, greeting the guests with his arms extended, and then a bow.

[Grendel]

Alpha Dog,

We all witness your perfection, and that of Don Chisao. ;)

Regards,

[yuanfen]

Did the Don ever meet Signore Lop Sao-
same familia?

[Alpha Dog]

The room is dark, light only by a single candle and filled with the sound of The Marriage of Figaro, playing from an old turntable. Don Chisao clenches his buttocks tight as his extended hands makes fists, drawing back to his rib-cage as his knees bend, his toes move outward, followed by his heels. He thinks of the daughter he has promised to avenge, and of his own...

<scene change: Honeymoon Hotel, York Mills and Bayview>

CARL is in his undershorts, sitting up on the bed, anxiously taking the envelopes out of the silk bridal purse and counting the
contents. CONNIE prepares herself in the large marble
bathroom. She rubs her hands over his bronze shoulders, and
tries to get his interest.

CARL There's only 15 envelopes here!

[sunkuen]

I heard the Honeymoon hotel isn't as nice as the Hav-a-nap (Kingston & Brimley)!!!

[Alpha Dog]

NIGHT: DON'S OFFICE (SUMMER 1999)

DON CHISAO in his office. LUCA BRASI sitting near to him.

DON CHISAO Luca, I am worried about this man Sollozzo. Find out what you can, through the Tattaglias. Let them
believe you could be tempted away from the Wing Chun Family, if the right offer was made. Learn what he has under his fingernails...

<scene change>

NIGHT: AIRPLANE

KAGEN on the Constellation. He reaches into his briefcase,
and lap sao's out several pictures and papers.

One photograph is of a smiling man, WONG JACK MAN, linked arm
in arm with fifteen movie stars on either side, including a
lovely young child star to his immediate right.

KAGEN considers other papers and contemplates his fuk sao.

[sunkuen]

youre such a tease!!!

[Alpha Dog]

DAY: WONG JACK MAN ESTATE GATE (SUMMER 1999)

KAGEN stands before the impressive gate,
armed only with his briefcase. A GATEMAN opens the gate,
TOM enters and is met by WONG JACK MAN.


KAGEN and WONG comfortably stroll along beautiful formal
gardens, martinis in hand.

WONG You should have told me your boss was Don Chisao, Tom, I had to check you out. I thought you were just some third rate hustler Lennie was running in to bluff me.

They cross the garden and head toward the stables.

WONG I'm going to show you something beautiful.

You like horses? I like horses, I love 'em. Beautiful, expensive
Racehorses. Right now you are looking at six hundred thousand
dollars on four hoofs. I bet even Russian Czars never paid that kind of dough for a single horse. But I'm not going to race him I'm going to put him out to Stud.

KAGEN The money you have made with your Dancercise Kickboxing empire is truly impressive.

WONG That was Sollozzo, not me. Still, Wing Chun, with some attention, could make even more than what his family has made by taking art and making it convenient and utile.

<scene change>

NIGHT: WONG DINING ROOM

KAGEN and WONG sit at an enormous dining room table,
attended by SEVERAL SERVANTS. Great paintings hang on the
walls. The meal is elaborate and sumptuous.

KAGEN WONG, as you know, Don Chisao is Lennie Christie's Godfather. That is very close, a very sacred religious relationship. Don Chisao asks that you, with your impressive connections, get him into a reputable translation school. I'll be honest, Don Chisao doesn't want Wing Chun to become as popular and profitable as Dancercise Kickboxing, and he still reflects with great sadness about your fight with Bruce Lee at all the incredible yet ridiculous attention it focused on Wing Chun. To Don Chisao, Wing Chun is an art, not a vehicle to profit; it's a way to enlightenment, not a mode of deception and trickery. Still, Don Chisao asks but this one small thing, for the good of the family.

WONG First, I have nothing to do with the creation of Dancercise Kickboxing, and second that fight with Bruce never did me any good either. As for his godson, just tell him this is one favor I can't give. But he should try me again on anything else.

KAGEN He never asks a second favor when he has been refused the first. It's about respect.
Understood?

WONG You smooth son of a *****, let me lay it on the line for you, and your boss. Lennie Christie never gets into that translation school. I don't care how many of your boys come out of the woodwork! Lennie will never get that part because he ruined one of Wong Brothers' most valuable proteges. For five years I had this girl under training. Sticky hands lessons! Sui lim tao lessons! Mai sum jong lessons! Disco lessons! We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars--I was going to make her a star. Then Lennie comes along with his "did you know that the character for fuk is comprised of a man and a dog?" smooth as silk charm and she threw it all away to make me look ridiculous. A MAN IN MY POSITION CANNOT AFFORD TO BE MADE TO LOOK RIDICULOUS!

[yuanfen]

Great fuk sao- alpha dog- congratulations and thanks for the latest installment.

[sunkuen]

you gotta keep this going at least till the 3rd season of the sopranos hits the airwaves....

[Alpha Dog]

DAY: DON CHISAO'S OFFICE (SUMMER 1999)

Don Chisao reflects on the tasks ahead as he considers his lan sao. It is said that he who controls the head controls the fight; as he shifts from tan to bong, he eyes himself squarely in the mirror. "I am the head of this Family," he exhales, and as he shifts back to lan sao again: "Once I take out the feet, I got their hands, and after that, their heads."

<scene change>

DAY: GENCO SOY MILK CO. (SUMMER 1999)

An unimposing little building in North York on Mott
Street with a large old sign: "GENCO SOY MILK IMPORTS,
INC." next to an open-faced fruit market.

A dark Buick pulls up, and a single small man, whom we
cannot see well because of the distance, gets out and enters
the building. This is VIRGIL SOLLOZZO.

<scene change> GENCO OFFICES

Looking toward the staircase we can hear SOLLOZZO's shuffling footsteps before he actually rises into view. He is a small man, very dark, with curly black hair. But wiry, and tight and hard,
and obviously very rooted and dangerous. He is greeted at the head of the stairs by SUNNY, who takes his hand and shakes it,
introducing himself. For a moment, there is a complex of
handshaking quite formal, and whispered respectful
introductions. Finally, SOLLOZZO is taken into the DON's
glass paneled office; the two principals are introduced.
They are very respectful of one another. Folding chairs are
brought in by FREDDIE, and soon they are all sitting around
in a circle; the DON, SOLLOZZO, SUNNY, KAGEN, FREDDIE,
CLEMENZA and TESSIO. The DON is the slightest bit foolish
with all his compatriots, whereas SOLLOZZO has brought no
one. Throughout all that transpires, however, it is clear
that this scene is between two men: SOLLOZZO and DON CHISAO.

SOLLOZZO My business is soy, I have soybean fields, laboratories in Caledon and Collingwood, ready to go into production. My exporting methods are as safe as these things can be, about five per cent loss. The risk is nothing, the profits enormous.

DON CHISAO Ah yes, your soybean drinks are delicious, and the beancurd, it'sa first rate. But the revenues they generate, they are nothing in comparison with your global Dancercise Kickboxing schools. Why do you come to me? Why do I deserve your generosity?

SOLLOZZO I need two million dollars in cash...more important, I need a friend who has people in high places; a friend who can guarantee that if anyone challenges my plans to expand the Dancercise Kickboxing empire into other avenues, that person will be lap-da'd soundly. Be my friend.

DON CHISAO Other avenues... would that include Wing Chun? What percentages for my family? Who else is partnering with you?

SOLLOZZO Thirty per cent for Don Chisao's family. In the first year
your share would be four million dollars; then it would go up. As for my other partner, let's just say his horse stance is the best there is.

DON CHISAO And what is the percentage of the Tattaglia family?

SOLLOZZO nods toward KAGEN.

SOLLOZZO My compliments. I'll take care of them from my share.

DON CHISAO So. I receive 30 per cent just for finance and legal protection. No worries about operations, is that what you tell me?

SOLLOZZO If you think two million dollars in cash is just finance, I congratulate you Don Chisao.

There is a long silence; in which each person present feels
the tension. The DON is about to give his answer.

DON CHISAO I said I would see you because I've heard you're a serious man, to be treated with respect...
(pause)
But I'll say no to you.

We feel this around the room.

DON CHISAO (with fingers crossed behind his back) I'll give you my reasons. I have many, many friends in the martial arts and asian health products export market. But they wouldn't be so friendly if my business was soy instead of Wing Chun. They think Wing Chun is something like a Bruce Lee movie, a harmless distraction, an form of entertainment...and they think soy-based products is dirty business.

SOLLOZZO takes a breath, in disbelief -- after all, the whole world knows the virtues of soy-based products and their ability to deliver much-needed protein to the body.

DON CHISAO No...how a man makes his living is none of my business. But this proposition of yours is too risky. All the people in my family lived well the last ten years, we eat well, are healthy and practice Wing Chun every day, free of trouble and strife. I won't risk that out of greed.

SOLLOZZO Are you worried about security for your million?

DON CHISAO No.

SOLLOZZO The Tattaglias will guarantee your investment also.

This startles SUNNY; he blurts out.

SUNNY The Tattaglia family guarantees our investment?

SOLLOZZO hears him first, and then very slowly shifts in his rooted stance to face him. Everyone is the room knows that SUNNY has stepped out of centre line.

DON CHISAO Young people are greedy, and they have no manners. They speak when they should listen. But I have a sentimental weakness for my children, and I've spoiled them, as
you see. But Signor Sollozzo, my no is final.

SOLLOZZO nods, understands that this is the dismissal. He
glances one last time at SUNNY. He rises; all the others do
as well. He bows to the DON, left fist in his right hand, and formally takes his leave. When the shuffle-steps can no longer be heard:

The DON turns to SUNNY.

DON CHISAO Never let anyone outside the family know what you are thinking. Maybe you are spending too much time with that Lucy girl. The Don stares at Sunny.

TWO OFFICE WORKERS are carrying an enormous floral display
with the word "THANK YOU" spelled out in flowers.

DON CHISAO What is this nonsense?

KAGEN It's from Lennie. It was announced this morning. He got into the best Chinese-English/English Chinese translation school on the west coast.

[Alpha Dog]

EARLY MORNING: WONG'S BEDROOM (SUMMER 1999)

It is large, dominated by a huge bed, in which a man,
presumably WONG, is sleeping. Soft light bathes the room
from the large windows. We move closer to him until we see
his face, and recognize WONG JACK MAN. He turns uncomfortably;
mutters, feels something strange in his bedsheets. Something
heavy.

He wakens, feels the sheets and with displeasure discovers somthing cold. He traces the edges with his hand -- it is rectangular. He is frightened, pulls aside the covers, and sees a large picture frame. In the disappaiting darkness, he leans forward, summoning all his courage as he tries to focus on the object. Then, with the rising of the sun, he sees it: an autographed colour glossy of Linda Lee.

WONG tries to scream; but cannot. No sound comes out.

[fgxpanzerz]

Alpha Dog...you are f*cking hilarous. I love this story!

[yuanfen]

He is- me too.

[Alpha Dog]

BLOOR STREET (WINTER 1999)

Bloor Street in the snow. Christmas week. People are
bundled up with rosy faces, rushing to buy presents and still make it to their dancercise classes. Tai Bo is all the rage, and legwarmers appear to be staging a comeback.

KAY and MICHAEL exit Holt Renfrew's,
carrying a stack of gaily wrapped gifts, arm in arm.

KAY We have something for your mother, for Sunny and his chick Lucy, we have the tie for Fredo and Tom Kagen gets the
Reynolds pen... you know how he likes to do his kuen kuits in pen.

MICHAEL And what do you want for Christmas?

KAY Just you.

They kiss.

MICHAEL Don Chisao welcomes you and your lineage into the Family, Kay. Your father made a great impression on mine before he passed away in the 1950's. Yuen Kay-San's personality was very humble, polite, and honorable; he never liked to stand out front and show off. During that time, if there were martial art studios having grand openings, or some martial art organizations hosting big celebration or ceremonial events, he would kindly turn down any invitations to become their host or honored guest. Firstly because of his humbleness and politeness, secondly he was afraid it might cause friction within the style.

KAY You make my father sound like a gentleman. He was so much more than that you know.

MICHAEL Of course! Everyone knows that Yuen Kay-San followed Fung Siu-Ching, learning until Fung's death. By that time, Yuen Kay-San's power was quite substantial. Not only were his hand and foot techniques great, but he was able to throw nails as darts, never missing the bull's eye. He was especially skilled in his Double Knives. His techniques were very tight with no sloppiness nor omission. He would sometimes swing the Double Knives while wearing white clothing, observers would throw at him cotton balls soaked with ink, but not a drop of the ink would ever touch his clothings. As far as the pole techniques are concerned, Yuen Kay-San was one of the founding fathers of the "Six and a Half Point Method".

KAY Oh Michael, I love it when you go on and on and on about Wing Chun like that!

They kiss again, oblivious to the passers-by.

[Alpha Dog]

DUSK: DON CHISAO'S SOYA OIL CO. (WINTER 1999)

The light outside is very cold, and beginning to fail. When
FREDDIE sees his FATHER coming, he moves back into the
driver's seat. The DON moves his tan sao toward the car, and is about to get in when he hesitates and suddenly turns to the left, making a fist out of his lan sao and placing a well-aimed kick toward the long, open fruit stand near the corner.

The PROPRIETOR springs to serve him. The DON shifts and bongs among the trays and baskets, and merely points to a particular
piece of fruit with his upper cut. As he selects, the MAN gingerly picks the pieces of fruit up and puts them into a paper bag. "Its'a no charge, Don Chisao." The Don smiles and, taking his paper bag in hand, turns and kicks again, then bongs his way back to the car.

<scene change>

DUSK: TOYS R US (WINTER 1999)

TOM KAGEN exits carrying a stack of presents, all gift
wrapped. He continues past the windows. As he walks,
someone walks right in his way. He looks up. It is SOLLOZZO.

He takes TOM by the arm and walks along with him.

SOLLOZZO (quietly) Don't be frightened. I just want to talk to you.

A car parked at the curb suddenly flings its rear door open.

SOLLOZZO (urgently) Get in; I want to talk to you.

KAGEN pulls his arm free. He is alarmed but ready to defend himself.

KAGEN I haven't got time.

TWO MEN suddenly appear on either side of him.

SOLLOZZO Get in the car. If I wanted to kill you you'd be dead already. Trust me.

KAGEN, sick to his stomach, moves with his ESCORTS, leaving
our VIEW on the Mechanical windows gaily bobbing the story
of Hansel and Gretel. We HEAR the car doors shut, and the
car drive off.

[sunkuen]

bye Tom

[Alpha Dog]

NIGHT: CITY TV - PHONE BOOTH (WINTER 1999)

CITY TV HEADQUARTERS (QUEEN AND JOHN) during the Christmas show. KAY and MICHAEL exit; tears are still streaming down her cheeks, and she sniffles, and dries her tears with Kleenex. KAY
nostalgically hums "Let Your Backbone Slide," as they walk
arm in arm.

KAY Would you like me better if I were a breakdancer?

MICHAEL No!

KAY Would you like me better if I could dance like Janet Jackson?

They have passed a little enclosed newsstand. KAY sees
something that terrifies her. She doesn't know what to do.
MICHAEL still walks, thinking about her question.

KAY (a little voice) Michael?

MICHAEL I'm thinking about it.

KAY Michael...

MICHAEL No, I would not like you better if you could dance like Janet Jackson.

She cannot answer him. Rather she pulls him by the arm,
back to the newsstand, and points. His face goes grave.

The headlines read: "DON CHISAO SHOT, KUNG FU MASTER GUNNED DOWN."

MICHAEL is petrified; quickly he takes each edition, drops a
dollar in the tray, and hungrily reads through them. KAY
knows to remain silent.

MICHAEL (desperately) They don't say if he's dead or alive.

<scene change>

DUSK: SOYA OIL CO. (WINTER 1999)

DON CHISAO he is about to reach the car, when TWO MEN step from the corner. Suddenly, the DON drops the bag of fruit and darts with startling quickness toward the parked car.

DON CHISAO Fredo, Fredo!

The paper bag has hit the ground, and the fruit begins
rolling along the sidewalk, as we HEAR gunshots.

Five bullets catch the DON in the back; he arches in pain,
and continues toward the car.

The PROPRIETOR of the fruit stand rushes for cover, knocking
over an entire case of fruit.

The TWO GUNMEN wearing legwarmers move in quickly, anxious to finish him off.

Their feet careful to avoid the rolling fruit, lest their legwarmers be stained. There are more GUNSHOTS.

FREDDIE is hysterical; he tries to get out of the car;
having difficulty opening the door. He rushes out, a gun
trembling in his hand; his mouth open. He actually drops
the gun.

The gun falls amid the rolling fruit.

The GUNMEN are panicked. They fire once more at the downed
DON CHISAO. His leg and arm twitch where they are hit;
and pools of blood are beginning to form.

The GUNMEN are obviously in a state of panic and confusion;
they disappear around the corner as quickly as they came.

The PEOPLE about the avenue have all but disappeared:
rather, we catch glimpses of them, poking their heads safely
from around corners, inside doorways and arches, and from
windows. But the street itself is now empty.

FREDDIE is in shock; he looks at his FATHER; now great
puddles of blood have formed, and the DON is lifeless and
face down in them.

FREDDIE falls back on to the curb and sits there, saying
something we cannot understand. He begins to weep profusely.

[kj]

<sniff>

Well?? Is he dead?

[Alpha Dog]

NITE: NIGHT CLUB DISTRICT (WINTER 1999)

LUCA BRASI walks down the late night street. He approaches the Limelight Nightclub, whose gaudy neon sign is still
winking this late at night. He waits and watches. Then the
sign goes out; and he proceeds into the club.

The main floor of the Nightclub is very large, with endless
glistening wooden floors. Now, at this late time, the
chairs have been stacked on the tables and a JANITOR
is waxing them. A single HAT-CHECK GIRL is counting her
receipts. LUCA moves past the empty bandstand, and sits at
the bar. ANOTHER MAN, dark and very well-built, moves
behind the bar.

MAN Luca...I'm Bruno Tattaglia.

LUCA I know.

LUCA looks up; and out of the shadows emerges SOLLOZZO.

SOLLOZZO Do you know who I am?

LUCA Nods. Your legwarmers are a dead giveaway.

SOLLOZZO You've been talking to the Tattaglias. They thought we could do business.

LUCA listens.

SOLLOZZO I need somebody strong to protect my operation, physically. I've heard you're not happy with your family -- to many forms, and almost no chance to do any sparring! What's more, despite repeated requests you are not allowed to play music in your Wing Chun class. You might make a switch.

LUCA If the program is good enough.

SOLLOZZO I can guarantee you, your first day, you will be punching and kicking to a very nice beat. I'll even start you at green legwarmers, given your previous martial arts experience.

LUCA looks at him; he had no idea the offer would be so good.

SOLLOZZO extends his hand, but LUCA pretends not to see it,
rather, he busies himself putting a cigarette in his mouth.
BRUNO TATTAGLIA, behind the bar, makes a cigarette lighter
magically appear, and holds it to LUCA's cigarette. Then,
he does an odd thing; he drops the lighter on the bar, and
puts his hand lightly on LUCA's, almost patting it.

Can you feel the love?

[Alpha Dog]

SUNNY'S LIVING ROOM (WINTER 1999)

The telephone in SUNNY's house is ringing. He approaches
it, obviously fresh from a relaxing 30 minutes of chain punches followed by 3 painfully slow sets of siu lim tao.

SUNNY Mushi-mushi (heheh).

VOICE (O.S.) What?

SUNNY It's Japanese, a little joke is all. Who is this?


VOICE (O.S.) Do you recognize my voice?

SUNNY I think so. Detective squad?

VOICE (O.S.) Right. Don't say my name, just listen. Somebody shot your father outside his place fifteen minutes ago.

SUNNY Is he alive?

VOICE (O.S.) I think so, but I can't get close enough. There's a lot of blood. I'll try to find out more.

SUNNY Find out anything you can...you got a I'M A YIP MAN MAN t-shirt coming. (click)


SUNNY cradles the phone. An incredible rage builds up in
him, from his anus to his dan tien and right around his whole body. His face actually turning red. He would like to rip
the phone to pieces in his bare hands. Then he controls it.
Unagi. Quickly, he dials another number.

SUNNY Theresa, let me talk to Tom. Not yet? Have him call me as soon as he gets home.

He hangs up.

SANDRA (O.S.) Sunny? Sunny, who is it? (she enters the room) What is it?

SUNNY (calmly) They shot Don Chisao.

SANDRA Oh God...

SUNNY Honey...don't worry. Nothing else is going to happen.

There is a POUNDING on the door. A BABY starts crying.

SANDRA (really frightened) SUNNY?

SUNNY reaches into a cabinet drawer, takes out a set of brass nunchukus, and moves quickly. He opens the front door quickly. It is CLEMENZA. He enters, SUNNY closes the door. SANDRA goes to look after the baby.

CLEMENZA (excited) You heard about your father? Any thoughts?

SUNNY Yeah. Go get Paulie. Pick him up yourself, and bring him to my father's house.

CLEMENZA That's all? Don't you want me to send some people over here?

SUNNY No, just you and Paulie.

CLEMENZA leaves; SUNNY moves to SANDRA, who sits on the
couch weeping quietly, comforting her BABY.

SUNNY A couple of our people will come to stay here. Do whatever they say; I'm going over to the main house. If you want me, use Pop's special phone.

The telephone rings again. SUNNY answers it.

SUNNY Hello.

SOLLOZZO (O.S.) Santino Corleone? Son of Don Chisao?

SANDRA moves behind him, anxious to know who it is. SUNNY
indicates that she be quiet.

SUNNY Yeah.

SOLLOZZO (O.S.) We have Tom Kagen. In about three hours he'll be released with our proposition. Don't do anything until you've heard what he has to say. You can only cause a lot of trouble. What's done is done. (a pause) Don't lose that famous temper of yours.

SUNNY (quietly) I'll wait.

[sunkuen]

sunny had a fine temperment!!!

[Alpha Dog]

Whadoya mean? you act like you have heard this story before. Anyway, Sunny puts his temper to very good use later in the story, trust me.

[sunkuen]

I was thinking of another story!!!

[Alpha Dog]

NITE: DON'S KITCHEN (WINTER 1999)

SUNNY bong'steps into the empty, darkened house. Then he shifts and calls out.

SUNNY Ma? Ma, where are you?

The kitchen door swings open. He moves instinctively and laps
her by the arm. He is deliberately calm.

SUNNY Ma, I just got a call. Pop's hurt...I don't know how bad.

MAMA (quietly) Santino? Have they killed him?

SUNNY (almost in tears) We don't know yet, Ma.

MAMA I'll get dressed. In case we can see him...

She shifts away from SUNNY, goes into a crane stance for a moment, then moves out of the kitchen and upstairs. SUNNY
turns the gas from the pan of tienbula she was frying. He
takes some tienbula without thinking, and dips it in some spicy oil,
and sloppily eats some of it as he moves into his father's office.

He switches the lights on in the DON's office. The massive
desk dominates the room. SUNNY glides quickly to the
telephone, pulling a small chair to the side of the desk,
and dials a number.

SUNNY Tessio...This is Santino Corleone. I want fifty reliable men out here. Get the best you can from Toronto, then New York. Go to Chicago if you have to.

TESSIO (O.S.) I hear ya, Sonny...but what about Clemenza's regime?

SUNNY I don't want to use Clemenza's people right now, especially Clemenza, St. Pauli-Paul and that dufus that married my sister. They're too "excited" and always talking like they invented Wing Chun and the very concept of rooting. I need some serious Wing Chun brothers, ones that are loyal to the Don, and I need them now. Understood?

He hangs up. He moves quickly to a wall safe; operates the
dial, and removes a small notebook. He takes it back to the
desk, and runs over the list of numbers with his forefinger.
We follow the names, until the finger stops at one: LUCA
BRASI. SUNNY dials the number. There is no answer.

<scene change>

NITE: BUILDING (WINTER 1999)

The interior of an abandoned building on King Street west of Dufferin. SEVERAL MEN in shiny suits, ties and acrylic legwarmers sit around in the booths.

KAGEN sits in one: SOLLOZZO sits across from him.

SOLLOZZO I know you're not in the muscle end of the family, your energy is internal, so you say -- of course some Dancercise Kickboxing would fix that. Anyway, I don't want you to be afraid. I want you to help the Corleones and I want you to help me.

KAGEN's hands deliberately tremble as he tries to put a cigarette
in his mouth. ONE of the BUTTON MEN brings a bottle of gao liang
to the table, and pours a little into a delicate, flowered
china cup. KAGEN sips and nearly chokes on the foul turpinine-like alchohol.

SOLLOZZO Your boss is dead...

KAGEN is overwhelmed. SOLLOZZO pauses respectfully.

SOLLOZZO (pushing the bottle) Have some more. We got him outside his office, just before I picked you up. You have to make the peace between me and SUNNY.

KAGEN still is focused on the grief of losing the old man.

SOLLOZZO Sunny was hot for my deal, right? You know it's the smart thing to do, too. Think of the money, the young college girls in tight spandex, the music!! I want you to talk Sunny into it.

KAGEN (pulling himself together) Sunny will come after you with everything he's got.

SOLLOZZO rises, impatiently.

SOLLOZZO That's going to be his first reaction. You have to talk some sense into him. The Tattaglia family stands behind me with all their people. The New York Wing Chun Families will go along with anything that prevents a full scale war, especially if the Toronto Families say so.

He leans close to KAGEN.

SOLLOZZO The Don was slipping; in the old days I could never have gotten to him. Imagine, bong-stepping out to a fruit stand like that, with nobody covering him. Now he's dead, nothing can bring him back. Talk to Sunny, talk to the Caporegimes, Clemenza and Tessio...it's good business.

KAGEN Even Sunny won't be able to call off Luca Brasi.

SOLLOZZO I'll worry about Luca. You take care of Sunny and the other two kids.

KAGEN I'll try...It's what the Don would want us to do.

SOLLOZZO (lifting his hands in an expression of harmlessness) Good...You have been well received here, as you would say, and now you can go... (he escorts him to the door) I don't like violence. I'm a businessman, and blood is a big expense.

He opens the door; they step out together.

[sunkuen]

whats the hold up on our bedtime stories dogfather?

[Alpha Dog]

You need time to reflect on all the hidden truths

[barryc108]

I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brilliant!!

[Alpha Dog]

KAGEN, SOLLOZZO exit.

But a car pulls up, and ONE of SOLLOZZO'S MEN rushes out.
He indicates with some urgency that he wants to talk to
SOLLOZZO in private.

Then SOLLOZZO moves with a grave expression. He opens the
door, indicating that KAGEN should be led back in.

SOLLOZZO The old man is still alive. Five bullets in his Sicilian hide and he's still alive. (he gives a fatalistic shrug) Bad luck for me, bad luck for you.

<scene change>

INT NITE: DON'S LIVING ROOM (WINTER 1999)

MICHAEL moves into the living room; there is a Christmas
tree, and countless greeting cards taped to the walls.

THERESA KAGEN is sitting stiffly on the sofa, smoking a
cigarette; on the coffee table in front of her is a water
glass half filled with whiskey. On the other side of the
sofa sits CLEMENZA; his face is impassive, but he is
sweating and excited, and the cigar in his hand glistens slickly black with his saliva. ST. PAULIE-PAUL GATTO sits tensely pondering his tan sao and alone on the other side of the room. CLEMENZA sees MICHAEL, looks up at him.

PAUL GATTO CLEMENZA, when can we see Carl?

CLEMENZA <trying to ignore Pauli, but himself a little excited as well, turns to MICHAEL> Your mother's at the hospital with the old man: He's gonna pull through.

MICHAEL nods his relief.

MICHAEL Thanks.

He moves to THERESA.

MICHAEL (gently) You heard from Tom yet?

Without looking up, she clings to him for a moment, and
trembles. Occasionally, STRANGE MEN will shuffle-step through the room; everyone speaks in a whisper.

MICHAEL (taking her hand) C'mon.

He leads her into his father's office without knocking.

INT NITE: DON'S OFFICE (WINTER 1945)

SUNNY and TESSIO are huddled around a yellow pad. They look
up, startled.

SUNNY I was worried when we couldn't get in touch with you in that hick town.

MICHAEL How's Mom?

SUNNY Good. She's been through it before. Theresa?

She understands, and leaves them alone.

SUNNY All right, Mikey...who do we have to hit, Clemenza or Paulie?

MICHAEL What?

SUNNY One of them fingered the old man.

MICHAEL didn't realize that the men waiting outside were on
trial for their lives.

MICHAEL Clemenza? No, I don't believe it.

SUNNY You're right, kid, Clemenza is okay. It was Paulie.

MICHAEL How can you be sure?

SuNNY On the three days Paulie was "sick" this month, he got e-mails from a cybercafe across from the old man's building. Plus he is always chatting on the Internet, we hear things. We got people in the phone company. (he shrugs) Thank God it was Paulie... Clemenza we might be able to use.

MICHAEL is just realizing the gravity and extent of the
situation.

MICHAEL Is it going to be all-out war, like last time?

SUNNY Until the old man tells me different, once this has all gone down no one will ever think about wearing legwarmers again.

Outside, we HEAR THERESA cry out, almost a scream of relief.
Then open the door and rush out.

Everyone is standing: in the doorway, TOM KAGEN is wrapped
in a tight embrace with his WIFE.

KAGEN If I plead before the Supreme Court, I'll never do better than I did tonight with that Turk.

[sunkuen]

ooooooooohhh!!! :eek:

[Alpha Dog]

NITE: DON'S LIVING ROOM (WINTER 1999)

The living room is empty, save for PAULIE GATTO sitting on
the edge of the sofa. "I'm excited," he says, as if to a captive audience. "Are you?" The clock silently replies: 4:00 a.m.

<scene chage>

NITE: DON'S OFFICE (WINTER 1999)

SUNNY, MICHAEL, KAGEN, CLEMENZA and TESSIO; all exhausted,
in wife-beaters and kung fu slippers, about to fall asleep. It is four in the morning; there is evidence of many cups of coffee and many snacks -- pork buns, some dried squid, and a few pistaccio shells. They can barely talk anymore.

KAGEN Is the hospital covered?

SUNNY The cops have it locked in and I got my people there visiting Pop all the time. What about the hit list.

KAGEN widens his sleepy eyes, and looks at the yellow pad.

Too much, too far, too personal. The Don would consider this all purely a business dispute: Get rid of Sollozzo, and everything falls
in line. YOU don't have to go after the Tattaglias.

CLEMENZA nods nervously. Just them, yeah!

KAGEN What about Luca? Sollozzo didn't seem worried about Luca. That worries me. If Luca sold out we're in real trouble.

SUNNY Don't worry. We got a backup if Luca's gone.

KAGEN Who?

SUNNY just stares through the window. Has anyone been able to get in touch with Luca? I've been calling all night. Maybe he's shacked up.

KAGEN Luca never sleeps over with a broad. He always goes home when he's through. Mike, keep ringing Luca's number.

MICHAEL, very tired, picks up the phone, and dials the
number once again. He can hear the phone ringing on the
other end but no one answers. Then hangs up.

KAGEN Keep trying every fifteen minutes. (exhausted)

SUNNY Tom, you're the Consigliere, what do we do if the old man dies?

KAGEN Without your father's political contacts and personal influence on Wing Chun, the Corleone family loses half its strength. Without your father, the Toronto and New York families might wind up supporting Sollozzo -- dancing and punching, wearing legwarmers, it makes me wanna puke -- and the Tattaglias just to make sure there isn't a long destructive war. The old days are over, this is 1999; nobody wants trouble anymore. If your father dies...make the deal, Sunny.

SUNNY That's easy to say; it's not your father.

KAGEN (quietly) I was as good a son to him as you or Mike.

SUNNY Tom, I didn't mean it that way. Besides, there is another who could step in if we needed him.

KAGEN Who are you talking about SUNNY? What's the big mystery?

SUNNY Look, I don't wanna talk about it right now, okay? My old man is gonna be fine, end of story! We sit tight until the old man can give us the lead. But Tom, I want you to stay inside the Fairview Mall. You too, Mike, no chances. Tessio, you hold your people in reserve,but have them nosing around the city. The hospital is yours; I want it tight, fool-proof, 24 hours a day.

There is a timid knock on the door.

SUNNY What is it?

PAULIE GATTO looks in. Hey guys, let's talk about root...

CLEMENZA I tol' you to stay put, Paulie...

PAULIE Hey, the guy at the gate's outside...says there's a package...

SUNNY Tessio, see what it is.

TESSIO gets up, leaves.

PAULIE You want me to hang around? Work on my stance?

SUNNY Yeah. Hang around. Work on your stance.

PAULIE Outside?

CLEMENZA Outside.

PAULIE Sure. Guys, I love Wing Chun, do you? Any thoughts? No one answers.

He closes the door.

SUNNY Clemenza. You take care of Paulie. I don't ever want to see him again. Understood?

CLEMENZA Understood.

SUNNY Okay, now you can move your men into the Mall, replace Tessio's people. Mike, tomorrow you take a couple of Clemenza's people and go to Luca's apartment and wait for him to show. That crazy ******* might be going after Sollozzo right now if he's heard the news.

KAGEN Maybe Mike shouldn't get mixed up in this so directly. You know the old man doesn't want that.

SUNNY OK forget it, just stay on the phone.

MICHAEL is embarrassed to be so protected. He dials Luca
Brasi's number once again. The ring repeats, but no one
answers.

TESSIO comes back, carrying Luca Brasi's bullet-proof vest
in his hand. He unwraps it; there is a large Asian Carp wrapped
inside.

SUNNY What the **** is that? Hey, that's one of those Asian carps, you know, the ones that have the potential to seriously damage or destroy the Great Lakes ecosystem -- the threat is imminent!

CLEMENZA Yeah, the eat Zebra mussels too. But this carp is a Shanghai message: Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.

[Alpha Dog]

NITE: NIGHTCLUB (WINTER 1999)

LUCA sits at the Bar of the Limelight Nightclub, as we
remember him. BRUNO TATTAGLIA had just patted his hand.
LUCA looks up at him.

Then SOLLOZZO pats the other hand, almost affectionately.
LUCA is just about to twist his hands away, when they both
clamp down as hard as they can in a double pak sao. Suddenly, a red legwarmer is thrown around his neck, and pulled violently tight. His face begins to turn to purple blotches, and then totally
purple, right before our eyes; his tongue hangs out, in a
far more extreme way than a normal tongue could. His eyes
bulge.

ONE of the MEN looks down at him in disgust as LUCA's
chi leaves him.

SOLLOZZO lets LUCA's hand go with a victorious smile on his
face.

LUCA falls to the floor.

SOLLOZZO Don Chisao is next.

<scene change>

DAY: CLEMENZA'S HOUSE (WINTER 1999)

Morning in a simple Scarborough suburb. There are rows of
pleasant houses (some not so pleasant); driveway after driveway, down the block. A dark, somber young man of thirty-one or two walks with a noticeable limp down the sidewalk, and rings the bell. This is ROCCO SIFFREDI. The woman of the house, MRS. CLEMENZA, talks to him through the screen door, and then points to the side of the house. ROCCO moves to the garage, which is specially heated, and in which CLEMENZA is busy at work washing a shiny brand new mook jong. SIFFREDI admires the dummy.

SIFFREDI Nice.

CLEMENZA Crazy Americans in Detroit delivered it without the wooden pegs to hold the arms and legs in place. They're going to send me the pieces in a couple months. Months! they said. I waited two years for this dummy to come without wooden pegs!

He scrubs and polishes with great affection.

You know, Rocco, there are many ways to spot a crappy wooden dummy. A wooden dummy can be divided into 4 sections: Body, arms, leg, and stand.

SIFFREDI Yeah I know.

CLEMENZA The body of a wooden dummy should be round. No exceptions. You might think a flat body is ok, but as soon as you strike it from any position other than head on, you will realize the error of your ways.

SIFFREDI Yeah, Clemenza, it's a great dummy.

CLEMENZA Now the body must have a diameter of 8.5" to 9.5". Any more or less will change the alignment of the upper arms.

The holes for the support slats should not be centered. They should be a little bit behind center. This allows more of the dummy's surface to be exposed... <he starts to point to the arms>

SIFFREDI Alright already, I believe ya! it is an awesome mook okay?

CLEMENZA You bet your ass it it <stares lovingly at his mook> Anyway, today you make your bones on Paulie. You understand everything?

SIFFREDI Sure.

CLEMENZA opens a secret compartment in the back of his mook, unwraps a set of brass nunchukus and gives it to SIFFREDI.

CLEMENZA Accurate up to five feet.

SIFFREDI expertly puts the nunchuks away. GATTO's car pulls into
the driveway, and he sounds the horn.

The two men walk to the car. GATTO is driving, a bit
nervous, like he doesn't know what is up, and of course his is excited <are you?>. SIFFREDI gets in the rear seat; CLEMENZA in the front, making a grunt of recognition. He looks at his wristwatch, as though wanting to chide PAULIE for being late. PAULIE flinches a little when he sees SIFFREDI will ride behind him; he half turns:

PAULIE Rocco, sit on the other side. A big guy like you blocks my rearview mirror.

Rocco smiles.

CLEMENZA turns sourly to PAULIE.

CLEMENZA God**** Sunny. He's running scared. He's already thinking of going to the mattresses. We have to find a place on the West Side. Paulie, you know a good location?

PAULIE relaxes a bit; he thinks he's off any possible hook
he was on. Also there's the money he can make by selling
Sollozzo any secret location.

PAULIE I'll think about it. CLEMENZA, what do you think is the definition of good Wing Chun? Any thoughts?

CLEMENZA (grunting) Drive while you thinking; I wanna get to the City this month!

The car pulls out.

[sunkuen]

Nice....Real nice!!!

[yuanfen]

A Real contribution.

[Alpha Dog]

DAY: PAULIE'S CAR - ON ROAD (WINTER 1999)

Inside PAULIE drives excitedly; and CLEMENZA sits in a grump. OUR VIEW does not show ROCCO in the rear seat.

The Car crosses to the QEW in the late Winter
light.


The car has come to a stop somewhere in the City (most likely Church and Wellesley). PAULIE comes down from an available apartment and gets back into the car.

PAULIE Good for ten men...

CLEMENZA OK, go to Dundas and Spadina; I'm suppose to call when I found somethin'. Besides, I'm hungry.

The car pulls off.

RESTAURANT (WINTER 1999)

The car pulls up in a parking lot. CLEMENZA get outs, glances at SIFFREDI, then to PAULIE.

CLEMENZA Who's up for dim sum? Paulie, you wan some dim sum?

PAULIE, excited by the thought of using chopsticks, is almost beyond himself as he enters the Luna Restaurant.

CLEMENZA enters the little restaurant, sits down at a table.
The WAITERS know him; immediately put a bottle of gao liang, a big bowl of bitter melon soup and some sticky buns on his table. He eats. Paulie fiddles with his chopsticks, eagerly awaiting the dim sum cart.

ROCCO scratches himself and checks out the waitress.

DAY: RESTAURANT (WINTER 1999)

CLEMENZA exits the restaurant, belches, adjusts his pants;
he is well fed.

We move with him around the corner, not knowing what to
expect has happened to Paulie.

There is the car; PAULIE is still sitting behind the wheel,
SIFFREDI in the rear seat. CLEMENZA steps in.

CLEMENZA Christ, Paulie, you talked our ears off back there. Hey I just called Sunny, he want us to go down to Harbourfront; has another job for us. Rocco, you live in the City, can we drop you off?

SIFFREDI (O.S.) Ah, I left my car at your place.

CLEMENZA OK, then you gotta come back.

The car pulls out. By now, PAULIE is completely relaxed and
secure.

PAULIE You think we'll go for that last place?

CLEMENZA Maybe, or you gotta know now.

PAULIE Holy cow, I don't gotta know nothing except how much I love Wing Chun, and Carl, he is the greatest!


The car moves along the ready beach area of the causeway.
Inside, CLEMENZA turns to PAULIE.

CLEMENZA Paulie, pull over. I gotta take a leak.

The car pulls off the Causeway, into the reeds. CLEMENZA
steps out of the car, OUR VIEW MOVING with him.

ROCCO is pulling out the nunchuks when he sees a curly-haired man walking the beach, desperately looking for a girl to talk to. Joey! he cries, completely distracted. He jumps out of the car and runs across the sand. SILVERA, it's me! Wait up! The nunchucks fall to the side of the road as he runs.

CLEMENZA sees this and immediately runs back to the car. But by this time, PAULIE has seen the weapon and is already out of the car.

CLEMENZA Paulie, it's not what you think. Gimme the nunchucks.


PAULIE Youz, youz was gonna kill me! He steps back, and we hear the sound of urine hitting the ground.

CLEMENZA Wrong, Paulie! Wrong! I'm your friend, your buddy! Who introduced you to Carl, remember? It was me, ME, Paulie! You owe me more thant his. Now gimme the goddamm nunchucks and stop ****in yourself.


PAULIE looks sheepishly into CLEMENZA'S eyes. Youz is all I got, you and Carl. Everyone else says I am a ****in' pain in the ass... <a tear wells in his eye as he hands over the weapon>.

CLEMENZA takes the nunchucks and is about to cross PAULIE about the temples when he breaks down. He can't do it, even to St Paulie Paul, even though Sunny and the Don himself would skin him alive for failing on this one.

CLEMENZA Kid this is ****ed up, but you gotta get outa here, now. Get down that storm drain and don't stop runnin till you get back to Minniapolis. Don't ask why, just go.

The two stare deeply into each others' eyes. For a moment, time stands still.

PAULIE doesn't say a word as he removes the storm drain cover and jumps into the river of filth below.

Before ROCCO can return, CLEMENZA removes a knife from his belt, lifts his pantleg and cuts the back of his leg. He covers the nunchucks with his blood and ties his underwear around the wound to staunch the bleeding. He sits on the hood of the car. Five minutes later, ROCCO returns.

ROCCO. Hey sorry, thought I saw a buddy of mine. Turns out it was only the Mayor. Where is the pain in the ass?

CLEMENZA You don't work in this town again, here me? Ever! PAULIE is dead, I took care of it <shows the bloody nunchucks>. I dumped the body in the sewer. Over there. <points to the open drain> Now get the **** outa here, I never wanna see you again, not even on film, got me?

ROCCO says nothing as he wanders off, leaving CLEMENZA alone with his thoughts.

[sunkuen]

YeahBabY!!! bye bye St pauli paul!!!

[Alpha Dog]

NITE: PAYPHONE NEAR HARBOURFRONT (WINTER 1999)

CLEMENZA limps to the phonebooth, drops a quarter and calls SUNNY, trying to steady his breathing.

SUNNY Is it done?

CLEMENZA Yeah, no problems. He wimpered and moaned for his life but I took care of him. Poor ******* even ****ed his pants.

SUNNY You did it? I thought that Rocco guy was on it.

CLEMENZA Nah I wanted to do it myself. Pauli showed no respect for the Don, it was a pleasure.

SUNNY Just so long as I don't hear that annoying voice ever again, those stupid, incessant questions, so help me God...

CLEMENZA It's done, already, don' worry.

He hangs up the phone.

[Alpha Dog]

HILLTOP...

The Don awakes and opens his eyes. He is staring up at the branches of a large tree. Startled, he struggles to right himself but for the moment cannot move. He remembers now, just a little... bong sao, gunshots, then his head hitting the pavement.

He lays back and closes his eyes for a moment. How did I end up under this tree? he wonders. Maybe a nurse wheeled me out here.

Get up! a voice cries from around the tree. I can here you moving about, you have slept long enough.

The Don struggles to move again and finds that he can move his head and neck. Raising his head, he casts his eyes down to see if something is restraining his legs.

But his legs aren't there.

What he does see is the body of a monkey, clad in light armour and with hairy legs and feet sticking out the bottom.

An old man appears behind the monkey's feet. I said get up!

[Alpha Dog]

HILLTOP

Xuanzang stands over the irreverent and capable Monkey. Get up, Monkey, you have had too much to drink but ample time to sleep it off. If I didn't know better, I would say you were the greedy Pig, Zhu Ba Jie. Now, we all enjoyed the stories of your earlier exploits, your life as "Don Chisao," but we have work to do, remember? It is time to continue our journey. Get up!

MONKEY But I am Don Chisao.

XUANZANG <angrily> I lead here, Monkey, don't forget that! You have spent too much time drinking with the Pig. Enough nonsense! Up and get ready to go!

[sunkuen]

ware dis be go'in.......(say it like Ali G) Respeck!!!

[Alpha Dog]

Patience

[Alpha Dog]

DAY: DON'S KITCHEN (WINTER 1999)

CLEMENZA is in the kitchen, cooking over an enormous pot.
He points to the kitchen wall phone which is hanging off the
hook.

CLEMENZA Some dame.

MICHAEL picks it up.

MICHAEL Hello. Kay?

KAY (O.S.) How is your father?

MICHAEL He'll be OK.

KAY (O.S.) (pause) I love you.

He glances at the THUGS in the kitchen. Tries to shield the
phone with his bong sao.

KAY (O.S.) I LOVE YOU.

MICHAEL Yeah Kay, I'm here.

KAY (O.S.) Can you say it?

MICHAEL Huh?

KAY (O.S.) Tell me you love me.

MICHAEL glances at the HOODS at the kitchen table. He curls
up in a corner, and in a quarter voice:

MICHAEL I can't...

KAY (O.S.) Please say it.

MICHAEL Look. I'll see you tonight, OK?

KAY (O.S.) OK. (click)

CLEMENZA How come you don't tell that nice girl you love her?

MICHAEL I'm going to the hospital. <leaves>

NITE: DON'S HOSPITAL (WINTER 1999)

A taxi pulls up in front of a hospital, marked clearly with
a neon sign "HOSPITAL--EMERGENCY." MICHAEL steps out, pays
the fare...and then stops dead in his tracks.

MICHAEL looks.

He sees the hospital in the night; but it is deserted. He
is the only one on the street. There are gay, twinkling
Christmas decorations all over the building. He walks,
slowly at first, and then ever so quickly, up the steps. He
hesitates, looks around. This area is empty. He checks the
address on a scrap of paper. It is correct. He tries the
door, it is empty.

He walks in.

In his yi ji kium yu ma, MICHAEL stands in the center of an absolutely empty hospital lobby. He looks to the right; there is a long, empty corridor. To the left: the same.

HIGH FULL ANGLE, as MICHAEL chainpunches through the desolated building lit by eerie green neon lighting. All we hear are
his shuffling footsteps.

He walks up to a desk marked "INFORMATION". No one is there.
He moves quickly to a door marked "OFFICE"; swings into it;
no one is there. He looks onto the desk: There is half a
sandwich, and a half-filled bottle of coke.

MICHAEL Hello? Hello?

Now he knows something is happening, he moves quickly,
alertly, rootedly. MICHAEL walking down the hospital corridors; all
alone. The floors have just been mopped. They are still wet.

He steps out of the elevator onto the fourth floor. He looks. There are merely empty corridors. He takes out his scrap of paper;checks it. "Room 4A." Now he hurries, trying to follow the
code of hospital rooms; following the right arrows, quicker
and quicker they flash by him. Now he stops, looks up "4A--
Corleone".

There is a special card table set up there with some
magazines...and some smoking cigarettes still in the
ashtray--but no detectives, no police, no bodyguards.

NITE: DON'S ROOM 4A

Slowly he man sao's the door open, almost afraid at what he
will find. He looks. Lit by the moonlight through the
window, he can see a FIGURE in the hospital bed alone in the
room, and under a transparent oxygen tent. All that can be
heard is the steady though strained breathing. Slowly
MICHAEL walks up to it, and is relieved to see his FATHER,
securely asleep. Tubes hang from a steel gallows beside the
bed, and run to his nose and mouth.

VOICE (O.S.) What are you doing here?

This startles MICHAEL; who almost jumps around. It is a
NURSE lit from the light behind her in the hallway.

NURSE You're not supposed to be here now.

MICHAEL calms himself, and moves to her.

MICHAEL I'm Michael Corleone--this is my father. What happened to the detectives who were guarding him?

NURSE Oh your father just had too many visitors. It interfered with the hospital service. The police came and made them all leave just ten minutes ago. (comfortingly) But don't worry. I look in on him.

MICHAEL You just stand here one minute...

Quickly he moves to the telephone, dials a number.

MICHAEL Sunny... I'm down at the hospital. I came down late. There's no one here. None of Tessio's people--no detectives, no one. The old man is completely unprotected.

SUNNY (O.S.) All right, get him in a different room; lock the door from the inside. I'll have some men there inside of fifteen minutes. Sit tight, and don't panic. Work on your biu ji till I get there.

MICHAEL (furiously, but kept inside) I won't panic.

He hangs up; returns to the NURSE...

MICHAEL You've read about my father in the papers. You've seen that no one's here to guard him. Now I've just gotten word that men are coming to this hospital to kill him. Believe
me and help me.

They roll the bed, the stand, and all the tubes silently
down the corridor. We hear FOOTSTEPS coming up the stairs.
MICHAEL hears them, stops.

MICHAEL Hurry, into there.

They push it into the first available room. MICHAEL peeks
out from the door. The footsteps are louder; then they
emerge. It is ENZO, NAZORINE's helper, carrying a bouquet
of flowers.

[Alpha Dog]

HILLTOP

MONKEY Xuanzang, tell me how you became a monk.

XUANZANG I will, but later. Here they come!

Xuanzang points to verticle crack between two large, round rocks, from which Friar Sand and Zhu Ba Jie emerge.

FRIAR SAND Well well, Monkey -- or do I call you Don? How's the head? Can't hold your drink? He laughs and breaks wind.

ZHU Hey there, Monkey! 'Bout time you woke up! I was thinking I would have to do all our work myself! Sick of carrying your sorry ass <grumbles to himself and swings his staff toward Monkey but easily misses his mark as Monkey shifts right.> The fat Pig is visibly annoyed by Monkey's deft motions.

Monkey looks at him: with Wing Chun brothers like this, he thinks, who needs enemies? He stops to wonder, is there even any Wing Chun at this time?

ZHU Alright, alright, get going, let's head out! I am getting hungry again and it is not even noon yet <grumble grumble>...

MONKEY After you... <bowing>

XUANZANG We have 40 li to travel today....

The four make their way down from the hilltop and toward the forest below them.

[Alpha Dog]

THE DON'S HOSPITAL (1999)

MICHAEL (stepping out) Who is it?

ENZO Michael...do you remember me, Enzo, the baker's helper to Nazorine, now his son-in-law.

MICHAEL Enzo, you scared the Grendel outa me. Get out of here. There's going to be trouble.

A look of fear sweeps through ENZO's face.

ENZO If there...will be trouble...I stay with you, to help. I owe it to the Godfather.

MICHAEL thinks, realizes he needs all the help he can get.

MICHAEL Go outside; stand in front...I'll be out in a minute, right after I take a Grendel. I can feel a wee turtle-head pokin' out! It's all squidgy!

They part. MICHAEL moves into the hospital room where they
put his FATHER.

NURSE (frightened) He's awake.

MICHAEL looks at the OLD MAN, his eyes are open, though he
cannot speak. MICHAEL touches his face tenderly with a man sao.

MICHAEL Pop...Pop, it's me Michael. Shhhh, don't try to speak. There are men who are coming to try to kill you, the Chris99suckers. But I'm with you...I'm with you now...

The OLD MAN tries to speak...but cannot. MICHAEL tenderly
puts his finger to his FATHER's lips. Wait here, Pop, I gotta Grendel....

THE DON thinks, Am I a man or a monkey?

NITE: DON'S HOSPITAL STREET (WINTER 1999)

Outside the hospital is empty save for a nervous ENZO,
shuffle-punching back and forth brandishly the flowers as his only
weapon. MICHAEL exits the hospital and moves to him. They
both stand under a lamppost in the cold December night.
They are both frightened; MICHAEL gives ENZO a cigarette,
lights it. ENZO's hands are trembling, MICHAEL's are not.

MICHAEL Get rid of those and look like you've got some butterfly swords in your jacket.

The windows of the hospital twinkle with Christmas
decorations.

MICHAEL Listen...

We HEAR the sound of a single automobile coming. MICHAEL
and ENZO look with fear in their eyes. Then MICHAEL takes
the bouquet of flowers and stuffs them under his jacket.
They stand, hands in their pockets.

A long low black car turns the corner and cruises by them.
MICHAEL's and ENZO's faces are tough, impassive. The car
seems as though it will stop; and then quickly accelerates.
MICHAEL and ENZO are relieved. MICHAEL looks down; the
BAKER's hands are shaking. He looks at his own, and they
are not.

MICHAEL Jeez, ENZO, don't Sihing78 your pants!

Another moment goes by and we can hear the distant sound of
police sirens. They are clearly coming toward the hospital,
getting louder and louder. MICHAEL heaves a sigh of relief.

In a second, a patrol car makes a screaming turn in front of
the hospital; then two more squad cars follow with uniformed
POLICE and DETECTIVES. He smiles his relief and starts
toward them. TWO huge, burly POLICEMEN suddenly grab his
arms while ANOTHER frisks him. A massive POLICE CAPTAIN,
spattered with gold braid and scrambled eggs on his hat,
with beefy red face and white hair seems furious. This is
McCLUSKEY.

MCCLUSKEY I thought I got all you Red5Angel hoods locked up. Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?

ANOTHER COP standing nearby:

COP He's clean, Captain.

MICHAEL studies McCLUSKEY closely.

MICHAEL (quietly) What happened to the detectives who were supposed to be guarding my father?

MCCLUSKEY (furious) You Grendelhead. Who the hell are you to tell me my business. I pulled them off. I don't care how many of you Red5Angels kill each other. I wouldn't lift a finger to keep your old man from getting knocked off. Now get the Gnugear out of here; get off this street you Red5Angel, and stay away from this hospital.

MICHAEL stands quiet.

MICHAEL I'll stay until you put guards around my father's room.

MCCLUSKEY Phil, lock this Grendelhead up.

A DETECTIVE The Kid's clean, Captain...He's a war hero, and he's never been mixed up in the Dit Dat Jao rackets...

MCCLUSKEY (furious) Goddam it, I said lock him up. Put the cuffs on him.

MICHAEL (deliberately, right to McCLUSKEY's face, as he's being handcuffed) How much is the Turk paying you to set my father up, Captain?

Without any warning, McCLUSKEY leans back and hits MICHAEL
squarely on the jaw with all his weight and strength.
MICHAEL groans, and lifts his hand to his jaw. He looks at
McCLUSKEY; we are his VIEW and everything goes spinning, and
he falls to the ground, just as we see KAGEN and CLEMENZA'S
MEN arrive.

McCLUSKEY Go Gnugear yourself, punk.

[sunkuen]

:D

[Alpha Dog]

MID-AFTERNOON - EDGE OF A DEEP WOOD

MONKEY Xuanzang, tell me how you became a monk!

Friar Sand snorts and Zhu rolls his pig eyes to heaven. Again with the questions! Zhu breaks wind and turns his ankle on a rock.

XUANZANG Patience, Monkey. We must bury this script at the foot of the Tree of Memory before darkness sets. These woods we are about to enter are dangerous by day, full of evil after dark.

MONKEY The Tree of Memory? What is that? I thought we were taking a gold statue to India...

XUANZANG Very good, Monkey. You remember our purpose. But some memories need appeasing or they come back to haunt you. You pay respect to memory and memory will give you some peace. You ignore memory and it will haunt you.

MONKEY What does this have to do with how you became a monk?

XUANGZANG The how is easy, Monkey. You know the process.

MONKEY Alright then, why did you become a monk?

XUANGZANG Why did Don Chisao become a master of... Wing Chun, Monkey? You think you can just control who you are? Monkey, can a butterfly become a man just by dreaming it?

MONKEY falls silent, confused by the Monk's remarks. ZHU's stomach growls. The group walks into the forest and the sun now escapes from their view.

<later>

MONKEY HeShang! are we almost there yet?

XUANGZANG Close, close.... we will be there soon.

MONKEY HeShang! where is the urn?

XUANGZANG Right here <pulls it from under his cloak>

MONKEY HeShang, can I read the script?

ZHU sneers. Smart little Monkey, I oughta...

FRIAR SAND Just because you can't read, ZHU...

XUANGZANG Ok, you can read it, just be careful taking it out.

MONKEY takes the script carefully from the urn and unrolls it. It is dark in the woods, and he must look closely to make out the strange words on the page:

"I've told every little star
Just how sweet I think you are
Why haven't I told you

I've told ripples in a brook
Made my heart an open book
Why haven't I told you

Friends ask me 'Am I in love?'
I always answer 'yes'
Might as well confess
If I don't they guess

Maybe you may know it too
Oh my darling if you do
Why haven't you told me"

Confused and frightened, MONKEY turns to XUANGZANG: the old monk's eyes blaze with fire from deep within a blackened face.

Sporting neon green legwarmers, ZHU and Friar Sand are dancing madly in the twilight as a strange music pulses through the forest. MONKEY is paralyzed with fear.

<scene change>

The Don opens his eyes.

[Alpha Dog]

MICHAEL on the asphalt, jaw aching from the punch he just received, opens his eyes.

Expecting to see his attacker standing above him, Michael is surprised to find that he is alone on the street. There is not a car nor a body to be seen.

Michael stares up to heaven, reflecting on what just happened. After a moment, he sees a star in the night sky.

The bright star gets even brighter. It appears to be decending toward him. After a moment, Michael can make out a shape in the bright light -- it's a bridal gown, or another white, traditional dress.

The object in the gown descends before him. Michael strains to discern the shape, for it appears his eyes are playing tricks on him. After a minute or so, however, he knows there is no mistaking the object.

It's a monkey in a wedding gown.

MONKEY <smiling upon Michael> Don't turn your back on love, Michael, don't turn your back on love...

Monkey smiles benificently upon Michael, whose head reels back and strikes the pavement again. All goes black.

[Alpha Dog]

DAY: FAIRVIEW MALL (WINTER 1999)

HIGH ANGLE VIEW of FAIRVIEW MALL. The entrance way now has a long black car blocking it. There are more BUTTON MEN
stationed more formally; and some of them visibly carrying
baat cham do; those of the houses close to the courtyard have MEN standing pidgen-toed by open windows. It is clear that the war is escalating. A car pulls up and out get CLEMENZA, MICHAEL and KAGEN. MICHAEL's jaw is wired and bandaged. He
stops and looks up at the open window. We can see MEN
holding rifles.

MICHAEL Christ, Sunny really means business.

They continue walking. TESSIO joins them. The various
BODYGUARDS make no acknowledgment.

CLEMENZA How come all the new men?

TESSIO We'll need them now. After the hospital incident, Sunny got mad. We hit Bruno Tattaglia four o'clock this morning.

DAY: DON'S OFFICE (WINTER 1999)

SUNNY is in the DON's office; he is excited and exuberant.

SUNNY I've got a hundred button men on the streets twenty-four hours a day. If Sollozzo shows one hair on his ass he's dead.

He sees MICHAEL, and holds his bandaged face in his hand,
kiddingly.

SUNNY Mikey, you look beautiful!

MICHAEL Cut it out. Michael biu sao's Sunny's hand away.

SUNNY The Turk wants to talk! The nerve of that son of a *****! After he craps out last night he wants a meet.

KAGEN Was there a definite proposal?

SUNNY Sure, he wants us to send Mike to meet him to hear his proposition. The promise is the deal will be so good we can't refuse.

KAGEN What about that Tattaglias? What will they do about Bruno?

SUNNY Part of the deal: Bruno cancels out what they did to my father.

KAGEN We should hear what they have to say.

SUNNY No, no Consiglere. Not this time. No more meetings, no more discussions, no more Sollozzo tricks. Give them one message: I WANT SOLLOZZO. If not, it's all out war. We go to the mattresses and we put all the button men out on the street.

KAGEN The other Wing Chun families won't sit still for all out war.

SUNNY Then THEY hand me Sollozzo, with legwarmers stuffed up his ass.

KAGEN Come ON Sunny, your father wouldn't want to hear this. This is not a personal thing, this is Business.

SUNNY And when they shot me father...

KAGEN Yes, even the shooting of your father was business -- it was all about market share, personal fitness, not personal insult...

SUNNY No no, no more advice on how to patch it up Tom. You just help me win. Understood?

KAGEN bows his head; he is deeply concerned.

KAGEN I found out about this Captain McCluskey who broke Mike's jaw. He's definitely on Sollozzo's payroll, and for big money. He is dating a woman from the Fit4Life centre downtown.
McCluskey's agreed to be the Turk's bodyguard. What you have to understand is that while Sollozzo is guarded like this, he's invulnerable. Nobody has ever taken down a North York Police
Captain. Never. It would be disastrous. All the other martial arts families would come after you Sunny; the Corleone family would be outcasts; even the old man's political protection would run for cover. So just...take that into consideration.

SUNNY (still fuming, ponders his tan sao) McCluskey can't stay with the Turk forever. We'll wait.

MICHAEL We can't wait. No matter what Sollozzo say about a deal, he's figuring out how to kill Pop. You have to get Sollozzo now.

SUNNY The kid's right.

KAGEN What about McCluskey?

MICHAEL Let's say now that we have to get rid of McCluskey. We'll clear that up through our Newspaper contacts later. Publish a report that says he has more than 25% bodyfat or sumthin...

SUNNY Go on Mike.

MICHAEL They want me to go to the conference with Sollozzo. Set up the meeting for two days from now. Sunny, get our informers to find out where the meeting will be held. Insist it has to be a public place: a bar or restaurant at the height of the dinner hour. So I'll feel safe. They'll check me when I meet them so I won't be able to carry a weapon; but Clemenza, figure out a
way to have one planted there for me. (pause) Then I'll take care of them both.

Everyone in the room is astonished; they all look at MICHAEL.
Silence. SUNNY suddenly breaks out in laughter. He points
a finger at MICHAEL, trying to speak.

SUNNY You? You, the high-class college kid. You never wanted to get mixed up in the family business. Now you wanta take down a police Captain and the Turk just because you got slapped in the face. You're taking it personal, it's just business and he's taking it personal. What would your sweetheart Kay have to say about this?

Now CLEMENZA and TESSIO are also smiling; only KAGEN keeps
his face serious.

MICHAEL (angrily, but cold) Sunny, it's all personal, and I learned it from him, the old man, the Godfather. He took my joining the Marines personal. I take Sollozzo trying to kill my father personal, and you know I'll take them down Sunny. And leave Kay outa this.

MICHAEL radiates danger...SUNNY stops laughing.

[sunkuen]

Stew!!!

[Alpha Dog]

DAY: CLEMENZA'S CELLAR (WINTER 1999)

CLOSE on a set of nunchukus.

CLEMENZA (O.S.) It's as cold as they come,impossible to trace. (he turns it upside down) Don't worry about prints Mike, I put a special tape on the handles. Here. (he hands the nunchuks to
another pair of hands)

MICHAEL is alone with CLEMENZA in a cellar workshop.

CLEMENZA Just let your hand drop to your side, and let the nunchuks slip out. Everybody will still think you got it. They'll be starin' at your face, see? Then walk out of the place real fast, but don't run. Don't look anybody directly in the eye, but don't look away from them neither. Hey, they'll be scared stiff o you, believe me. Nobody's gonna bother with you. Don't worry about nothing; you'd be surprised how good these things go. O.K., put your hat on, let's see how you look. Helps with identification.

They put the hat on; CLEMENZA adjusts it.

CLEMENZA Mostly it gives witnesses an excuse to change their identification when we make them see the light. Then you take a long vacation and we catch the hell.

MICHAEL How bad will it be?

CLEMENZA Probably all the other families will line up against us. But, it's alright. These things have to happen once every ten years or so...gets rid of the bad blood. You gotta stop 'em at the beginning. Like they shoulda stopped Emin in Germany, they shoulda never let him get away with that, they were just asking for big trouble...

DAY: DON'S HALL & LIVING ROOM (WINTER 1999)

SUNNY You ready, Mike? Did Clemenza tell you be sure to drop the nunchuks right away?

MICHAEL A million times.

SUNNY Sollozzo and McCluskey are going to pick you up in an hour and a half on Times Square, under the big Long Life Cigarettes sign.

KAGEN We don't let Mike go until we have the hostage, Sunny.

CLEMENZA It's okay...the hostage is outside playing pinochle with three of my men.

The phone rings in the DON's office.

SUNNY That could be a Tattaglia informer with the meeting place.

KAGEN hurries into the Den to get the phone; the OTHERS
move in.

KAGEN's on the phone; he writes something down.

SUNNY One of Tattaglia's people?

KAGEN No. Our informer in McCluskey's precinct. Tonight at 8:00 he signed out for St Louis Bar and Grill at Yonge and Eglington. Anyone know it?

TESSIO Sure, I do. It's perfect for us. A small family place with big
booths where people can talk in private. Good food. One really hot waitress -- brunette with a ponytail. Everybody minds their business. Perfect. (he moves to the desk and makes a crude drawing) This is the entrance, Mike. When you finish just walk out and turn left, then turn the corner. Clemenza, you gotta work fast to plant the nunchuks. They got an old-fashioned toilet with a space between the water container and the wall. We can tape the nunchuks behind there.

CLEMENZA Mike, they're gonna frisk you in the car. You'll be clean so they won't worry 'bout nothing. In the restaurant, wait and talk a while, and then ask permission to go. See? Then when you come out, don't waste time; don't sit down...you come our swinging, like Bruce Lee on acid. And don't take chances. In the head, two shots apiece. And out as fast as your legs can move.

SUNNY (to MICHAEL, warmly) You're on, kid...I'll square it with Mom your not seeing her before you left. And I'll get a message to your girl friend when I think the time is right.

CLEMENZA We gotta move...

MICHAEL O.K. How long do you think before I can come back?

SUNNY Probably a year...

KAGEN (starting to crack) Jesus, I don't know...

SUNNY Can you do it Mike?

MICHAEL moves out.

[Alpha Dog]

NITE: LONG LIFE SIGN (WINTER 1999)

The enormous "LONG LIFE" sign, puffing smoke, below it stands
MICHAEL, dressed in a warm overcoat, and wearing the hat
CLEMENZA had given him. A long black car pulls around the
corner and slows before him. The DRIVER, leaning over, open
the front door.

DRIVER Get in, Mike.

Inside the car, SOLLOZZO reaches his hand over the back seat
and shakes MIKE's hand.

SOLLOZZO I'm glad you came, Mike. I hope we can straighten everything out. All this is terrible, it's not the way I wanted things to happen at all. It should never have happened.

MICHAEL I want to settle things tonight. I want my father left alone. He hasn't been able to do any of his forms for days now - what do you think will happen to his Wing Chun if he doesn't do his Siu Lim Tao for four hours a day?

SOLLOZZO He won't be; I swear to you be my children he won't be. Just keep an open mind when we talk. I hope you're not a grendelhead like your brother, Sonny. It's impossible to talk business with him.

McCLUSKEY grunts.

MCCLUSKEY He's a good kid. He's all right. Turn around, up on your knees, facing me.

He gives MICHAEL a thorough frisk.

MCCLUSKEY I'm sorry about the other night Mike. I'm getting too old for my job, too grouchy. Can't stand the aggravation. You know how it is. He's clean.

MICHAEL You should practice breathing into your dan tien more often.

<scene change>

NITE: ST LOUIS BAR AND GRILL (WINTER 1999)

The car pulls up in front of a little family restaurant in North Toronto: The "ST LOUIS BAR AND GRILL ". There is no one on the street. MICHAEL looks to see if the DRIVER is going to get out with
them. He gets out, and opens the door. SOLLOZZO, McCLUSKEY
and MICHAEL get out; the DRIVER remains leaning against the
car. They enter the restaurant.

A very small family restaurant with a mosaic tile floor.
SOLLOZZO, MICHAEL and McCLUSKEY sit around a rather small
round table near the center of the room. There are empty
booths along the side walls; with a handful of CUSTOMERS,
and ONE or TWO WAITRESSES, including the hot brunette with the pony-tail. It is very quiet.

MCCLUSKEY Is the food good here?

SOLLOZZO Try the chicken wings; they are the finest in Toronto.

The WAITERESS brings a pitcher of beer to the table.
They watch him silently as he pours three
glasses. Then, when she leaves, SOLLOZZO turns to McCLUSKEY:

SOLLOZZO I am going to talk in Cantonese to Mike.

MCCLUSKEY Sure, you two go right ahead; I'll concentrate on my wings and these potato popper things -- awesome.

SOLLOZZO now begins in rapid, incredibly loud Cantonese. The other customers are startled, initially thinking that chickens are being slaughtered in the kitchen. The pony-tailed waitress clutches her hands to her breasts.... MICHAEL listening
carefully and nodding every so often. Then MICHAEL answers
in Cantonese: HAI YA!! MM HAI YAAA!! EY, NEI GE NUE HO LENG!! and SOLLOZZO goes on. The WAITERESS occasionally and cautiously brings food; and they hesitate while she is there; then go on. Then MICHAEL, having difficulty expressing himself in Cantonese, accidentally lapses into English. Still speaking incredibly loudly, however, he causes another minor scare in the restaurant.

MICHAEL (loudly) MOST IMPORTANT!!! (then quietly) Most important, I want a sure guarantee that no more attempts will be made on my father's life.

SOLLOZZO What guarantees can I give you? I am the hunted one. I've missed my chance. You think too highly of me, my friend...I am not so clever...all I want is a truce...

MICHAEL looks long and hard at SOLLOZZO, who is smiling
holding his open hands up as if to say: "I have no tricks up
my sleeve". Then he looks away and makes a distressed look
on his face.

SOLLOZZO What is it?

MICHAEL Is it all right if I go to the bathroom?

SOLLOZZO is intuitively suspicious. He studies MICHAEL with
his dark eyes. Then he thrusts his hand onto MICHAEL's
thigh feeling in and around, searching for a weapon.

MCCLUSKEY I frisked him; I've frisked thousands of young punks; he's clean.

He looks at a MAN sitting at a table opposite them; indicating the bathroom with his eyes. The MAN nods, indicating no one is there.

SOLLOZZO Don't take too long.

MICHAEL gets up and calmly walks to the bathroom, and
disappears inside.

[Alpha Dog]

NITE: ST LOUIS BAR AND GRILL (WINTER 1999)

As MICHAEL enters the washroom, a lone figure takes to the stage slowly; it is HARISU, a Korean nightclub singer in her mid-twenties. Her long dark hair flows over her strapless dress as the spotlight comes up. A group of young Koreans have made their way to the big table in front of the stage. All goes quiet. An erie guitar music begins to play, and HARISU launches into Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game:"

"The world was on fire and no one could save me but you.
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you.
And I never dreamed that I knew somebody like you.

SOLLOZZO turns to McCLUSKEY: Hey, check her out, pretty hot huh!

McCLUSKEY Yeah I wouldn't mind a piece of that to go with these wings....

"No, I don't want to fall in love. (BACKUP SINGERS, TAPED: This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I don't want to fall in love. (This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you. With you. (This world is only gonna break your heart)"

The Koreans whistle and cheer their idol as the song continues....

"What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way.
What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you.
What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way.
What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you and,"

McCLUSKEY stares at the Korean beauty as though the spotlight on her face is coming straight from his own eyes. Every other noise and thought fades from his mind, but her and a rumbling in his dan tien...

"I want to fall in love. (This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I want to fall in love. (This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you.

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you.
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you.
And I never dreamed that I'd loose somebody like you no,

No, I want to fall in love. (This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I want to fall in love. (This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you. (This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you. (This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I... (This world is only gonna break your heart)
(This world is only gonna break your heart)

Nobody loves no one." (the music fades to silence)

The Koreans explode in a hysterical fit of cheers, whistles and table-pounding. McCLUSKEY remains in a hypnotic trance.

SOLLOZZO Hey, hey! Where's Michael?

[sunkuen]

way cool!!!

[Alpha Dog]

NITE: ST LOUIS BAR AND GRILL (WINTER 1999)

HARISU smiles sweetly at the crowd, trying to say thank you and be heard over the cheers of the Koreans at the table in front of her. Thank you! thank you! Be sure to visit my website, everyone! It's http://www.cliphoto.com/social/harisu.htm Thank youuuu! she waves...

SOLLOZZO to McCLUSKEY: Hey! did you hear me? what is takin' that Michael?

McCLUSKEY I think I'm in love... Hang on while I get the loaddown on this chick... He gets up and starts to walk toward the stage.

<scene change>

NITE: ST LOUIS BAR AND GRILL TOILET (WINTER 1999)

MICHAEL steps into the small bathroom; he is breathing very
hard. He actually uses the urinal. Then he washes his
hands with the bar of pink soap; and dries them thoroughly.
Then he moves to the booth, up to the old-fashioned toilet.
Slowly he reaches behind the water tank; he panics when he
cannot feel the nunchuks. We see behind the tank his hand is
just a few inches from them...he gropes
searchingly...finally coming to rest on the nunchukus.

CLOSE ON MICHAEL; the feel of it reassures him. Then he
breaks it loose from the tape holding it; he takes a deep
breath and shoves it under his waistband.

He hesitates by the bathroom door; and looks at his table.
McCLUSKEY is standing by the stage, trying to talk to the singer. SOLLOZZO turns around upon hearing the door, and looks directly at MICHAEL. Bare-chested and wearing only a pair of black pants, MICHAEL flexes and looks back. Then he smiles, rubs his thumb across his nose and moves steadily toward the table.

MICHAEL Now I can talk. I feer much betta.

The MAN by the far wall had been stiff with attention; now
he moves toward the table. SOLLOZZO's hands move under the table and unbutton his jacket. SOLLOZZO begins to speak in Cantonese once again but MICHAEL's heart is pounding so hard he can barely hear him.

The WAITERESS comes to ask about the order, SOLLOZZO turns to speak, and without warning, MICHAEL shoves the table away
from him with his left hand, and with his right hand blasts the nunchukus against SOLLOZZO's head, just touching his
temple. We see part of SOLLOZZO's head blown away by the impact, and a spray of fine mist of blood cover the
entire area.

The WAITERRESS looks in amazement; suddenly her incredibly tight white t-shirt is sprayed and stained with blood.

SOLLOZZO seems in a perpetual fall to the floor; through he
seems to hang in space suspended.

MICHAEL pivots, and looks:

There is McCLUSKEY, frozen at the stage, holding HARISU's hand before his gaping mouth.

With a high-pitched, simian scream, MICHAEL leaps over the table and swings his nunchuks again, this time catching McCLUSKEY in his thick bulging throat. He makes a horrible, gagging, choking sound. Then coolly, and deliberately, MICHAEL takes aim again, lets the nunchuks fly right through McCLUSKEY's white-topped skull. As it comes out the other side, it hits HARISU in the face, breaking her perfect nose.

The air is filled with pink mist.

HARISU screams: My nose! My nose! She flails her arms wildly at Michael, scratching his face. Michael lifts a finger to the scratch, tastes his blood slowly without taking his eyes off the singer. Suddenly, he pulls the nunchuks taught in front of his chest. HARISU screams and runs for the exit.

The Koreans join her and bolt for the door. The WAITRESS runs after them: Hey! you haven't paid your bill! come back. Being experienced dine-and-dashers, however, they escape with ease.

MICHAEL swings toward the MAN standing by the bathroom wall.
He does not make a move, seemingly paralyzed. Now he carefully shows his hands to be empty. The WAITERESS steps backward through the mist of blood, an expression of horror on her face.

MICHAEL looks at his two victims: SOLLOZZO still in his chair, side of his body propped up by the table. McCLUSKEY lays in a heap at the foot of the stage.

MICHAEL is wildly at a peak. He starts to move out. His
hand: is frozen by his side, STILL GRIPPING THE NUNCHUKUS.
He moves, not letting theM go.

MICHAEL's face; frozen in its expression.

His hand: still holding the nunchuks.

His face: finally he closes his eyes.

His hand relaxes, the nunchuks fall to the floor with a dull thud.

He walks quickly out of the restaurant, looks back.

He sees a frozen tableau of the murder; as though it had
been recreated in wax.

Then he leaves.

[sunkuen]

pink mist is cool.:cool:

[Alpha Dog]

DAY: MATTRESS (WINTER 1999)

A MAN is his wifebeater plays a sentimental tune, NI SHI BU SHI WO ZUEI QING AI DE REN, on an old upright piano, while his Long Life cigarette burns on the edge. ANOTHER stands nearby, listening quietly.

A little distance away, TEN MEN sit around a crude table,
quietly eating. They talk in low, relaxed voices, and there
is an occasional laugh.

ROCCO SIFFREDI stands by a window, which has been covered
with a heavy-mesh wire grating, gazing out. He slowly chews a betel nut.

A large bowl of tripe and ginger is passed, and the MEN eat heartily.

The sentimental tune is continued over the following:

DAY: BODIES IN CAR (WINTER 1999)

A MAN and a WOMAN, blood coming out of their noses, lie
still together in a smashed automobile.

DAY: BODY IN BARBER SHOP (WINTER 1999)

A MAN is covered by a sheet on the floor of a barber shop.

DAY: MATTRESS

Ten mattresses are spread out around the otherwise empty
living room of an apartment. THREE or FOUR MEN including
CLEMENZA, are taking naps.

An arsenal of nunchuks and butterfly knives are spread out on a card table.

The MEN at the table continue their dinner; passing and
pouring the gao liang wine.

Trash is thrown in 2 or 3 garbage cans kept in the apartment.

DAY: BODY IN OFFICE (WINTER 1999)

A MAN, his clothes soaked in blood, lies on the floor of an
office building, dead, under an enormous portrait of Sun Yat Sen.

DAY: BODY ON STOOP (WINTER 1999)

ANOTHER MAN, his trousers soaked in blood, lies spanning
three steps of a front stoop.

NITE: MATTRESS (WINTER 1999)

TESSIO, sits in a simple straight-backed chair, doing a
crossword puzzle.

A thin, boyish BUTTON MAN, writes a letter.

Six or seven empty mattresses, with tossed unmade blankets.
Coffee cans beside them serve as ash trays.

A MAN by the table pulls the cork on another bottle of
gao liang, and wine is poured as the MEN eat.

DAY: BODY IN ALLEY (WINTER 1999)

A CORPSE is half out of an overturned garbage can in a quiet
alley.

DAY: BODY AT TABLE (WINTER 1999)

A MAN in a formal jacket and tie is slumped over a table, in
a pool of blood on the tablecloth.

DAY: MATTRESS (WINTER 1999)

A neatly stacked pile of newspapers in the corner of an
apartment. We catch a glimpse of one headline: "Wing Chun Families War with Dancersize Chain..."

The table. The MEN are sitting around chewing betel nuts. ONE
has fallen asleep on his arms at the table.

SEVERAL MEN are taking naps on the Mattresses.

The PIANO PLAYER finishes the tune with finesse. Picks up
and takes a drag from his cigarette. The OTHER MAN nods
appreciatively.

MAN Nice Augie...nice.

[Alpha Dog]

DAY: CONNIE'S HALL (SPRING 2000)

SUNNY knocks on the door with his fuk sao. No answer. Then again.

CONNIE'S VOICE Who is it?

SUNNY It's me, Sunny.

We hear the bolt slide back, and see the door open. SUNNY
enters, but CONNIE has quickly moved into the hallway, her
back to him.

SUNNY (tenderly) Connie, what is it?

He turns her around in his arms.

Her face is swollen and bruised; and we can tell from her
rough, red eyes that she has been crying for a long time.
As soon as he realizes what's happened, his face goes red
with rage. She sees it coming, and clings to him, preventing
him from running out of the apartment.

CONNIE (desperately) It was my fault! I started a fight with him and I tried to hit him so he hit me. He didn't even try to
hit me hard Sunny, I walked into it.

Sunny listens, and calms himself. He touches her shoulder,
the thin silk robe.

SUNNY I'm goin' to have the doctor come over and take a look at you.

He starts to leave, chain-punching his way to the door.

CONNIE Oh Sunny, please don't do anything. Please don't.

He stops, and then laughs good naturedly.

SUNNY Hey. Con. What'm I goin' to do? Make your kid a orphan before he's born.

She laughs with him. He kisses her reassuringly, and leaves.

DAY: CONNIE'S STREET

CARL settles down on the front steps of the Coxwell "Book" with SALLY RAGS and COACH, who have been drinking
beer out of glasses and a pitcher of beer from around the
corner. Vintage Alannis Morrisette is blaring from the radio.

CARL <singing along> Never too hot, you're never too old!! The kids playing ball on the street laugh.

CARL has barely settled down, when the kids in the street
suddenly scatter, and a car comes screeching up the block
and to a halt in front of the candy store. The tires
scream, and before it seems as though it has even stopped, a
MAN comes hurtling out of the driver's seat, moving so fast
the everyone is paralyzed. It is a moment before we
recognize that it is SUNNY.

His face is contorted with anger; in a split second he is on
the stoop and has CARL by the throat.

He pulls CARL away from the others, trying to get him down
into the street. But CARL reaches out for the iron railing,
and hangs on with his fuk sao, his hand in a lock, cringing away, trying to hide his head and face in the hollow of the his shoulders.
His shirt is ripped away in SUNNY's hand.

SALLY RAGS and COACH, merely sit, watching, stunned.

SUNNY is pounding the cowered CARL with all his strength,
in a continuous monologue of indistinguishable cursing. His
blows are powerful; and begin to draw blood.

The kids who have been playing stickball, move up, watching
in fascination.

CARL's hands are clenched tight around the railing.

SUNNY beats him mercilessly.

Now SUNNY's bodyguards' car pulls up, and they too become
spectators.

SUNNY's tight fists are going down like hammers, into
CARL's face and body.

CARL's nose is bleeding profusely; but still he does
nothing, other than hang onto the railing.

SUNNY grabs hold of CARL's skinny body, and tries to drag
him off of the hold on the railing, his teeth clenched in
the effort. Then he tries loosening CARL's locked hands;
even biting them. CARL screams but he does not let go.

It's clear that CARL is much weaker than he is, yet will
not be moved. Intense fear has given him root. SUNNY knees him in the mouth, and beats him more; but he is exhausted. Totally out of breath, he stammers haltingly to the bleeding CARL.

SUNNY You...*******...You...hurt my sister... again...and I'll kill...you.

He wipes the sweat from his face, and then turns suddenly.
and hurries back to the car, in a moment his car is gone,
leaving even his bodyguards in confusion. We notice ONE MAN
with a sports jacket in the group of spectators especially
interested.

CARL finally relaxes the clenched, locked hands. He slumps
onto the stoop.

KIDS Never too hot, never too oolllld!!! hahahah!!

[Alpha Dog]

A DARK, SILENT STAGE

Is slowly illuminated by a spotlight of growing intensity. Plush red drapes undulate in the bright light like an aurora borealis bofore a small figure emerges.

Wearing a long black evening gown with gloves up past her elbows, a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mel Lastman's wife steps forward. She looks upward and into the light, unblinded by its intensity as she is already blind.

The silence is broken by a pulsating beat, and then the music starts:

"Im gonna fight em off
A seven nation army couldnt hold me back
Theyre gonna rip it off
Taking their time right behind my back
And Im talking to myself at night
Because I cant forget
Back and forth through my mind
Behind a cigarette
And the message coming from my eyes
Says leave it alone
Dont want to hear about it
Every single ones got a story to tell
Everyone knows about it
From the Queen of England to the hounds of hell
And if I catch it coming back my way
Im gonna serve it to you
And that aint what you want to hear,
But thats what Ill do
And the feeling coming from my bones
Says find a home
Im going to Wichita
Far from this opera for evermore
Im gonna work the straw
Make the sweat drip out of every pore
And Im bleeding, and Im bleeding, and Im bleeding
Right before the lord
All the words are gonna bleed from me and I will think
No more
And the stains coming from my blood
Tell me go back home"

The woman smiles, turns away and, as the spotlight fades, disappears behind the curtain.

All falls into silence and darkness.

And the curtain rises once more.

[Alpha Dog]

KAY'S APARTMENT (JULY 2000)

It's 11:30 at night, the scene is Kay's dirty, roach infested apartment on Carlton Street and Wellesley, where she has been living since the Corelone family broke contact with her, for her own safety, after Michael fled to Europe. It's hot and, thanks to the one small fan she got at Crappy Tire for $11, uniformly stinks like sweat and cigarettes. A half empty bottle of lemon gin sits on the coffee table. It hasn't been there long enough to leave a mark, nor will it. Music plays from Kay's little radio by the window.

Kay is staring at the wall when the phone rings.

KAY: Hello?

MICHAEL: Kay?

Kay says nothing; she stares.

MICHAEL: Kay, are you there?

KAY:When you wanted me
I came to you
And when you wanted something else
I withdrew
And when you asked for light
I set myself on fire
And now you've gone far away, I know
You'll find another slave

MICHAEL: Kay, are you okay?

KAY: Now I'm free from what you want
Now I'm free from what you need
Now I'm free from what you are

MICHAEL: Kay, I'm at a payphone here...

KAY: And when you wanted blood
I cut my veins
And when you wanted love
I bled myself again
Now that I've had my fill of you
I'll give you up forever
I know you'll find another slave

MICHAEL: Kay, listen, I can get you some money, I just need some time to get it to you. Kay?

KAY: Then a vision came to me
When you came along
I gave you everything
But then you wanted more

Kay hangs up the phone and reaches for the lemon gin. Beside it, a letter of employment from Ledo's Dancerfit. She starts tomorrow. The shiny pink legwarmers sit in the box beside her, waiting for the morning to come.

<scene change> A CAFE NORTH OF MILAN

MICHAEL: Kay? Hello?

Michael hangs up the phone and walks back to his car.

[captain]

alphadog,your screenplay tabs are set incorrectly.

r

[Alpha Dog]

Wanna be my editor?

[Alpha Dog]

HIGHWAY NORTH OF MILAN (JULY 2000)

As Michael sped away from the cafe, his mind was not on Kay. She was gone; he knew that. But family... Beneath the radio's blare, he thought of his father, Don Chisao; of SOLLOZZO's head exploding under the pressure of a nunchuk; of that cop's crazy transgendered lover; his brother, Sunny; his sister, his mom.... All gone to him now.

"Once upon a time I was of the mind
To lay your burden down
And leave you where you stood
And you believed I could
You'd seen it done before
I could read your thoughts
Tell you what you saw
And never say a word
Now all that is gone
Over with and done - never to return"

"For what?" Michael muttered to himself. "For untrustworthy punks like St Pauli Paul, Rocco, and Carl? For some stupid dancercise craze?" Michael's foot on gas got heavier.

"I can tell you why
People die alone
I can tell you I'm
A shadow on the sun"

Michael gripped the steering wheel between his knees and searched the dashboard for his sunglasses. His hand fell instead on a piece of firm paper. He turned it over: it was a picture of the Don getting out of the hospital, enclosed in the last letter from home he received through friends of friends of friends.

"I can tell you why
People go insane
I can show you how
You could do the same
I can tell you why
The end will never come
I can tell you I'm
A shadow on the sun"

Michael put the picture back and this time found his glasses. Scooping them up in his fuk sao, he put them on and returned his hands to the wheel, jut-sao'd into fourth gear and opened the engine as much as it would go.

"Shapes of every size
Move behind my eyes
Doors inside my heard
Bolted from within
Every drop flame
Lights a candle in
Memory of the one
Who lives inside my skin"

None of his Milan contacts ever saw Michael again.

[yuanfen]

Alpha Dog- great story . Thanks for sharing the entire saga of Don Chi Sao. Kismet!
The moving finger writes, and having written
moves on...

[Alpha Dog]

It isn't over yet!

[Alpha Dog]

SOMEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN (TIME UNKNOWN)

The sky is a fiery red with a streak that stretches itself deep into an endless sea. The air is so still it looks like someone painted it on the ocean's surface with a roller brush. A small spot suddenly breaks the cleanliness of the line; as the camera pans closer, we see St Pauli Paul bobbing his way along, laying flat on his back, after being washed from a storm drain -- who recalls how long ago?

PAULI PAUL (SINGING SOFTLY):

"Pearls and swine bereft of me
Long and weary my road has been
I was lost in the cities
Alone in the hills
No sorrow or pity for leaving I feel

I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky"

I wonder where Carl is right now? Pauli Paul muses to himself. Geez, I bet his tan da is even better now than ever! That guy sure would have used all this time to practice, I know it!

"Friends and liars don't wait for me
I'll get on all by myself
I put millions of miles
Under my heels
And still too close to you
I feel

I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet
I am the sky
I am not your blowing wind
I am the lightning
I am not your autumn moon
I am the night...."

At last, the sun's light fades to black, and even Pauli Paul's gentle song is lost to the waters.

[Alpha Dog]

DON CHISAO'S STUDY (SUMMER 2000)

It's late in the evening; but as they would be at any time of day, the heavy drapes at the window that overlook the garden where the Don's daughter Connie was married are pulled tightly shut to block out the world. A single candle burns on his dresser, in front of the mirror. Meanwhile, Don Chisao is at the far end of the room. Fists tightly at his sides and knees bent, the old man pauses for what seems like an eternity.

Then, a swift turn and a kick! Pong sao, step! Pong sao, step! Don Chisao is invigorated by the return of his health and the opportunity to complete the chum kiu that was cut short by a hail of bullets. Who's the monkey now? laughs the Don. I am Don Chisao!

Coming to the end of his form, his toe points down and the Don effortlessly does kicks out, then to the side, then does the same on the other side, for a total of one kick.

The Don's feet draw together again and he straightens. His eyes fall to the photograph of Michael and Sunny on his dresser and suddenly the vigour is gone. Thoughts flood back to fill the void created by the trance-like state he always enters when doing his forms. The bullet wounds tingle as he slowly sits himself down into the chair.

"Geez I could lose a few pounds," he complains to himself. "Yip Man never was like this."

The Don's eyes settle on the candle's hypnotic flicker. He thinks of Michael and wonders where he is. He thinks of Connie, married to that punk, and of Sunny. In his mind, he envisions the turf war that tore his family apart as thought he were there himself, going over every bong lap da, every kick, every bui sao striking those who dared to take his family on. His mind wanders on, pausing at seemingly every event of the past year and beyond, the dreams, the reality. "Thought and thought and thought," mutters the Don as he stares deep into the flame, "doesn't it ever stop?"

"For all that I've blessed
And all that I've wronged
In dreams until my death
I will wonder on"

The Don crosses himself three times then slowly rises from his chair to check his appearance in the mirror. Blinded by the candle, he sees nothing. Don Chisao smiles.

[Alpha Dog]

THE DON'S WIFE (CALLING FROM DOWNSTAIRS) "Don Chisao, are you okay? Come down for dinner!

DON CHISAO (CALLING BACK): I'll be right down.

The Don makes his way slowly down the stairs and into the kitchen, where his wife is waiting with a huge bowl of spaghetti, a gallon jug of red wine, and a rack of barbequed back ribs.

MRS CORLEONE: So how are you feeling? Did you do your forms?

The Don looks at her and says nothing. He can't recall the last time he looked at his wife.

MRS CORLEONE ignores his stare and piles his plate high with pasta. She pours two large glasses of wine and the two eat quietly together, used to not saying much.

THE DON: So are we gonna go for dim sum with Sunny tomorrow?

MRS CORLEONE: Yeah, that's what he said. You got time?

THE DON: Sure I got time. He stares at her again.

MRS CORLEONE (BLUSHES): Don you never look at me like that anymore! What is the matter with you?

The Don just smiles.

MRS CORLEONE: You're done your dinner, now go back upstairs and do your forms. You haven't done your bui ji yet! It's been what, a year?

THE DON: You know what? I think that can wait a little bit. The Don takes her hand, and they both rise from the table and move slowly toward the stairs.

(MUSIC BEGINS AS CREDITS ROLL) "She motioned to me / That she wanted to leave / And go somewhere warm / Where we'd be alone / I do not know, what's going on / But I'm guessing it's an all night thing

If it's an all night thing / Nobody is gonna make it end / And if it doesn't begin / Don't worry that I'll that offense / And if it's an all night thing / And we fall like a tear falling / To the ground / I'll never come around / And you'll never hear a word from me / If it's an all night thing

I walked along, feeling at ease / And falling like rain / Into her scheme / She won't let on what that will be / But I'm guessing / It's an all night thing

If it's an all night thing / Nobody is gonna make it end / And if it doesn't begin / Don't worry that I'll take offense / And if it's an all night thing / And we fall like a tear falling / To the ground / I'll never come around / And you'll never hear a word from me / If it's an all night thing..."

(FADE TO BLACK)

[Neurotic]

Really fine work

Should be available for download somewhere in its entirety.

Do I see a sequel coming?

[PaulH]

Alpha Dog,

In my humble opinion, your screenplay has sunk that of the highly acclaimed unsinkable Titanic when it comes to good old WC romance and mushy love stuffs. With the coming advent of the Matrix movie, could you incorporate new tech factors for your sequel of the Don Chisau screenplay? Perhaps, something like the chisau factory, the space and time warp generator, mind benders fighters, etc...

Regards,

[reneritchie]

And the crowd goes nuts!

Two thumbs up from Ebert!

Harry effuses in offputting sexual terms!

CHUD begind sequel gossip!

Nancy O'Dell dresses up as MRS CORLEONE and Biu Jee's Pat O'Brian live on NBC...

[Ultimatewingchun]

Alpha Doga:

Fantastic stuff....from one paisan to (obviously) another!

But the thought has occurred to me that maybe you have justa little too mucha time ona you hands.a...

[PaulH]

I must dissent, Victor. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." -John Keats. There is nothing quite like the sound and fury of Alpha Dog's bites.

Regards,