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

[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.

[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.