Don't Stop Believin' (Stinkyman No.1, updated)

STINKYMAN
No. 1 – Dust Him Off

PAGE 1

Panel 1 – We are positioned behind a familiar bald head. At a table in a bar, bright with neon, dark with trouble. Some smooth-looking Don Johnson lookalike sonofabitch flanked by two scary heavy-hitters staring straight into the face of the bald man.

CAPTION: “1983. Year of the dirtbag.”

MR. SMOOTH: Why do you come back, Senor? I tell you already, I know nothing of the little girl. Still you come back. You make me do things I would rather not do. Why?

Panel 2 – Close-up of Mr. Smooth, we can see a hazy shadow of our bald hero in the reflection of his sunglasses.

MR. SMOOTH: You have persistence. This, I can admire in a man. But you are too much this way. There is a point, where every man must learn to take ‘no’ for an answer. You understand?

Panel 3 – Overhead shot. We can clearly see Mr. Smooth and his two goons, but the light casts a shadow over the fourth man, allowing us to see only a silhouette.

MR. SMOOTH: So, before you ask me another time, I will answer you. And I pray you will not be so . . . persistent . . . in your reaction this time.

Panel 4 – Wide shot from the far side of the bar. We still have a better look at the three men on one side of the table, the bald man still just a shadow.

MR. SMOOTH: The little girl that you speak of, I have never seen her. So, is there anything else you would like to ask me, or are we finally done here now, Senor?

PAGE 2

Panel 1 – Close-up, the bald man’s mouth, blood trickling from the corner.

STINKYMAN: No more questions.

Panel 2 – Mr. Smooth, smiling.

MR. SMOOTH: Good, Senor. You make a good choice. We are finished then, no?

Panel 3 – Medium shot of Stinkyman. The lighting is still bad, but we can see his face is beaten and bruised. One eye is completely shut and blood runs from a cut in his cheek.

STINKYMAN: I’m done.

Panel 4 – Back to the original angle behind Stinkyman’s head. The three goons are smiling.

Panel 5 – Close-up of Stinkyman’s bleeding mouth.

STINKYMAN: I’m done fucking around with you pansies.

Panel 6 – Close-up of Stinkyman’s eyes. He’s ready to go off.

PAGE 3

Panel 1 – Full-page of Stinkyman up-ending the table. He is half-standing in an aggressive crouch. We can finally see Stinkyman clearly in the light. He’s big. And he’s pissed. The goons throw up their hands to defend themselves. It’s too late.

PAGE 4

Panel 1 – Goon No. 1 reaches in his coat for a gun, but Stinkyman grabs his wrist. At the same time, our hero delivers a solid kick to the chest of Goon No. 2. Mr. Smooth is cowering to get out of the way.

Panel 2 – Shot of Stinkyman and Goon No. 1 struggling over the gun.

Panel 3 – BLAM!

Panel 4 – Floor-eye-view looking up at Stinkyman holding the gun at the end of his outstretched arm. Goon No. 1 is on the floor, a bullet in his brain.

Panel 5 – Stinkyman aims the gun at Goon No. 2. BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Three bullets to the chest.

PAGE 5

Panel 1 – Mr. Smooth is in the corner. The shadow of the bald man falls over him.

Panel 2 – Stinkyman, holding the gun at his side.

STINKYMAN: Where is the girl?

Panel 3 – Mr. Smooth is ready to piss himself.

MR. SMOOTH: Please, please, Senor. I only do what I was told. I tell them you are not to be underestimated, but they tell me-

STINKYMAN:WHERE!

Panel 4 – Mr. Smooth on the floor. He is holding a key.

MR. SMOOTH: She is here. She is safe. Downstairs. There, through that door. Here is the key. You’ll see. She is safe. All the little girls are safe.

Panel 5 – Stinkyman takes the key.

STINKYMAN: Good. Now, we’re done.

Panel 6 – Close-up, the gun. BLAM!

PAGE 6

Panel 1 – Full page of Stinkyman.

STINKYMAN: Persistence pays off again.

PAGE 7

Panel 1 – Close-up of a beaten Stinkyman, this time our hero looks older (can you make a smiley face look older?), still fit for his age, but 20-some-odd years of ass kickings given and received will take a toll.

CAPTION: “2007. I’m too old for this crap.”

Panel 2 – Wider shot. Stinkyman is in what appears to be a prison cell or a cellar – old, hard gray rock walls with no windows. His hands are bound at the wrists above his head by a chain that hangs from the ceiling. He is a beaten mess.

Panel 3 – Angle from behind Stinkyman. A door bursts open. Two men enter, one holds a chainsaw.

Panel 4 – Made Guy and Thug with Chainsaw.

MADE GUY: Carve this bald bastard up.

THUG: You got it.

Panel 5 – Close-up, chainsaw. Grrrrrrrrrr!

Panel 6 – Chainsaw starts to cut into Stinkyman’s shoulder. Blood is spraying.

CAPTION: “Yeah. It hurt real goddamn bad. I blacked out before the blades reached bone.”

PAGE 8

Panel 1 – Back to the bar, 1983. Stinkyman, key in hand, heads for the door.

Panels 2,3,4 – Series of close-ups show him put the key in the lock and turn and open the door to the darkness below. CLICK.

Panel 5 – Stinkyman POV looking down the steps. It’s dark down there.

STINKYMAN: Sarah?

Panel 6 – Stinkyman at the bottom step. He pulls a cord to switch on the light. The basement is empty, just a bunch of crates and a broken pinball machine.

STINKYMAN: Sarah, are you here?

Panel 7 – Close-up, Stinkyman.

CAPTION: “She wasn’t there. No one was there. I was at a dead end and had just put a bullet in my only source of information.”

PAGE 9

Panel 1 - Night. Outside the El Palacio Hotel in Miami. Forget the neon and glitz of South Beach. This is ‘Old Florida’. Ten floors of pink stucco towering above a neighborhood where even the churches have bars on the windows. Pushers, pimps, whores, junkies and whinos mill about outside.

Panel 2 – Black sports car pulls up. A CALL GIRL is heading for the front door.

Panel 3 – Very hot woman, ANGIE, gets out of the car. The call girl is entering the hotel.

Panel 4, 5, 6 – Quick shots of ANGIE following the call girl through the lobby and to the elevator. The elevator doors shut in panel 6.

PAGE 10

Panel 1 – INT. Room 513. In the foreground is a Miami-Dade phone book open to “Escorts”. In the background is the door.

SFX: KNOCK. KNOCK.

Panel 2 – Stinkyman opens the door to see ANGIE, wearing a dress that struggles to adequately cover her girl parts.

ANGIE: Hey baby, you call for some company?

STINKYMAN: I’m looking for some information.

Panel 3 – Angie brushes past Stinkyman into the room. Stinkyman’s face, still showing plenty of signs from the night’s activity, show’s us he’s caught off guard by her maneuver.

ANGIE: You a cop? You gotta tell me, you know.

Panel 4 – Stinkyman closes the door. Angie sits on the bed.

STINKYMAN: I don’t think it really works that way, but no, I’m not a cop. I’m looking for someone.

ANGIE: Looks like you took quite a beating. What’s your name?

STINKYMAN: Call me John.

ANGIE: Cute.

Panel 5 – Angie lies back on the bed, resting on one elbow. She is put together.

ANGIE: It’s three-hundred, John. Non-negotiable.

PAGE 11

Panel 1 – Stinkyman lights a smoke. Wide angle from the bed, Angie’s hot-ass body in the fore.

STINKYMAN: Yeah. I’m sure you’re something. What do you know about porno?

Panel 2 – Close-up Angie, smirking.

ANGIE: I know it’ll cost you a lot more than three-hundred.

Panel 3 – Stinkyman and Angie. She is sitting on the bed now.

STINKYMAN: Nice. What I mean is, suppose I want to get my hands on some stuff they don’t sell in the store. Know what I mean?

ANGIE: What are you into?

STINKYMAN: I’m looking for someone, got herself mixed up in some shit. A kid.

Panel 4 – Angie. Hot, steamy, sexy smile.

ANGIE: Wouldn’t you rather play with someone a little more . . . grown up?

Panel 5 - Stinkyman grabs Angie by both arms and leans down toward her, his face just an inch from her’s.

STINKYMAN: This is not a joke! If you can help me, then help me. If not, then ‘say goodnight, Gracie!’

PAGE 12

Panel 1 – Angie drives a knee straight to Stinkyman’s nuts. FWHUMP!

Panel 2 – Small panel. Closeup Stinkyman.

STINKYMAN: Jesus!

Panel 3 – Dominant panel on the page. Angie is holding a small pistol (Where’d she hide that thing!?!?) aimed at Stinkyman’s head. Stinkyman is crouched in pain after the kick to the nads.

ANGIE: Grab me again, you psycho and I’ll ventilate that big bald head of yours!

Panel 4 – Stinkyman looking up at Angie.

STINKYMAN: Where’d you get that gun?

ANGIE: Girl’s gotta have her secrets.

Panel 5 – Stinkyman bent over at the waist, hands on his knees, trying to regain himself. Angie lights a smoke.

PAGE 13

Panel 1 – The hotel room. Stinkyman is seated now, still a little bent over from the pain. Angie is back on the bed, smoking.

ANGIE: I know these guys have some young girls – thirteen, fourteen – but they don’t do porno. Just tricks. There’s a clientele out there for that, y’know? The younger the better. Who’s the girl, your daughter?

STINKYMAN: Just a kid.

ANGIE: Sure. You are a cop, aren’t you?

Panel 2 – Wide shot of the room.

STINKYMAN: What about these guys you know?

ANGIE: Don’t really know ‘em, you know? Just know OF them. Hear they can be pretty rough. Into just about anything that’s bad in the city, lots of drugs and shit. And little girls.

PAGE 14

Panel 1 – Stinkyman standing next to Angie, who is still seated on the bed.

STINKYMAN: Know where I can find these guys?

Panel 2 – Angie on the bed, scribbling on a small scrap of paper.

Panel 3 – Closeup of piece of paper. It reads “Diplomat Lounge.” We can’t make out the rest of the address.

ANGIE: Downtown. Here’s the address. Ask for Bones.

Panel 4 – Medium shot Stinkyman holding a wad of bills.

STINKYMAN: Now, about that three-hundred bucks...

PAGE 15

Panel 1 – The chainsaw is deep into the collarbone. Blood is splattering like jello from a blender. The Made Guy smiles in the BG.

Panel 2 – Still smiling as the bullet rips off half his head, the Made Guy never saw it coming. A JFK shot from behind. Point blank range.

Panel 3 – The Thug pauses his lumberjack routine. The door is open, his boss is lying nearly headless in a heap on the floor. In the doorway is a woman, early thirties, good-looking, all-business in her t-shirt and jeans, hair pulled back in a long dark ponytail. But it’s not the ponytail that The Thug is thinking about. It’s the hand cannon the woman is aiming at his head.

Panel 4 – Closeup Thug.

THUG: Fuck you, bitch.

SFX: CRAAACK!

Panel 5 – The shot, to the forehead, knocks the Thug backwards and sends the chainsaw airborne.

PAGE 16

Panel 1 – Stinkyman’s clouded POV of the shooting in front of him.

CAPTION: “They never knew.”

Panel 2 – The woman stands and looks at Stinkyman, his hands bound above his head, his shoulder bleeding profusely.

CAPTION: “There are times when you’re sure you’re going to die – I know, I’ve had my share. People say your life flashes before your eyes. All bullshit. Most of your life sucks, no point in wasting time with it.”

Panel 3 – The woman is closer to Stinkyman.

CAPTION: “What you think about is one thing, one person, one place. That one thing you’ll really miss. For me, She was that one thing. When those bastards went to work on me, all I could think about was how I’d never see her again. Her eyes. Her Smile. The way she laughed. That ponytail. God, how I loved that ponytail.

Panel 4 – The woman wraps her arms around Stinkyman.

CAPTION: “My girl.”

PAGE 17

Panel 1 – Outside a nightclub. Sign reads DIPLOMAT LOUNGE – MEMBER’S ONLY. Two bouncers who could easily moonlight as moving vans stand on either side of the front door.

CAPTION: Downtown Miami.

Panel 2 – Stinkyman approaches. One of the bouncers turns his head toward Stinkyman.

STINKYMAN: Hey there.

BOUNCER NO. 1: Evening.

STINKYMAN: Say, my truck just ran outta gas about four blocks back that way. Mind if I come in and use your phone, call my girlfriend, let her know I need her to come pick me up?

Panel 3 – Small inset. Angie on the phone.

ANGIE: I sent him to the club. He’s on his way now. Big guy. Bald.

Panel 4 – Bouncers.

BOUNCER NO. 1: Sorry, pal. Private club.

BOUNCER NO. 2: Fuck off.

BOUNCER NO. 1: What my partner here means is that we can’t let you in.

Panel 5 – Downward bird’s-eye view of the three men.

STINKYMAN: Look, I ain’t a cop. I don’t care what you got going on in there – cards, broads, drugs – whatever. I just gotta call someone and this is the only place for blocks.

Panel 6 – Close-up of Bouncer No. 2 extending a bulky arm toward Stinkyman.

BOUNCER NO. 2: Fuck-

Panel 7 – Close-up of Bouncer No. 2’s hand shoving Stinkyman in the chest.

BOUNCER NO. 2: -OFF

PAGE 18

Panel 1 – Full page. Inside the Diplomat Lounge. Bouncer No. 2 is crashing through the front door following a kick from Stinkyman. The “Members” inside are scrambling for cover. Bouncer No. 1 stands just outside with a “what the fuck!” look on his face.

Page 19

Panel 1 – Stinkyman turns and pumps lead into Bouncer No. 1, who falls backwards, his face frozen in surprise.

Panel 2 – Stinkyman walks into the Diplomat Lounge.

STINKYMAN: I’m looking for a guy named-

Panel 3 – Tight shot of Stinkyman’s legs as he steps over Bouncer No. 2. The gun is resting at our hero’s side. BLAM! A bullet into the brain of Bouncer No. 2.

Panel 4 – Closeup of Stinkyman.

STINKYMAN: -Bones.

PAGE 20

Panel 1 – Sitting at a corner table, his back to the wall, is a skeleton. A skeleton, in fact, wearing an Armani suit and dark aviator shades. The skeleton, obviously BONES, holds a cigarette between his two fingers, the elbow resting on the table, his hand up. The other hand, the skeleton CLICKS his thumb and fore-finger together (Click, click, click, click) in a mocking one-hand clap for our hero.

Panel 2 – Bones at the table.

BONES: Nice entrance. I knew you weren’t one for subtlety but I didn’t quite expect this.