INT. KAFFEE’S APARTMENT – NIGHT

JO and SAM are sitting in silence. It’s dark outside.

JO
Where do you think he is?

SAM doesn’t know. JO is beside herself, and trying to keep it
together.

JO
(continuing)
As far as Downey was concerned, it was an
order from Kendrick. It didn’t matter
that he didn’t hear it first hand. He
doesn’t distinguish between the two.

SAM understands, but he doesn’t say anything. The door opens
and KAFFEE walks in.

JO
(continuing)
Danny. I’m sorry.

KAFFFEE seems to be in an incredibly normal mood.

KAFFEE
Don’t worry about it.

JO
Sam and I were just talking about how all
we really have to do is call some
witnesses who’ll talk about implied
orders.,.or maybe we put Downey back on
the stand before we get to Dawson.

KAFFEE
Maybe if we work at it we can get Dawson
charged with the Kennedy assassination.

JO studies KAFFEE for a moment.

JO
Are you drunk?

KAFFEE
(a simple answer)
Pretty much. Yeah.

JO
(pause)
I’ll make a pot of coffee. We have a long
night’s work ahead.

KAFFEE
She’s gonna make coffee. That’s nice.
(beat)
He wasn’t in his room.
(Kaffee’s amazed)
He wasn’t even there.
(beat)
That was an important piece of
information, don’t you think?

JO
(pause)
Danny, it was just a setback. I’m sorry.
But we’ll fix it and then move on to
Markinson.

KAFFEE
Markinson’s dead.

JO and SAM are frozen.

KAFFEE says this with no particular feeling one way or the
other.

KAFFEE
(continuing)
You really gotta hand it to those Federal
Marshals, boy.
(he almost has to
laugh)
It’s not like he hanged himself by his
shoelaces or slashed his wrists with a
concealed butter knife. This guy got, into
full dress uniform, stood in the middle of
that room, drew a nickle plated pistol
from his holster, and fired a bullet into
his mouth.

Jo and SAM don’t say anything.

KAFFEE
(continuing)
Anyway, since we seem to be out of
witnesses, I thought I’d drink a little.

JO
I still think we can win.

KAFFEE
Then maybe you should drink a little.

JO
Look, we’ll go to Randolph in the morning
and make a motion for a continuance. 24
hours.

KAFFEE
(beat)
Why would we want to do that?

JO
To subpoena Colonel Jessep.

KAFFEE
What?

JO
Listen for a second–

KAFFEE
No.

JO
Just hear me out–

KAFFEE
No. I won’t listen to you and I won’t hear
you out. Your passion is comforting, Jo.
It’s also useless. Private Downey needed
a trial lawyer today.

JO
(pause)
You chicken-shit. You’re gonna use what
happened today as an excuse to give up.

KAFFEE
It’s over!

JO
Why did you ask Jessep for the transfer
order?

KAFFEE
What are you–

JO
In Cuba. why did you ask Jessep for the
transfer order?

KAFFEE
What does it matter–

JO
Why?!

KAFFEE
I wanted the damn transfer order!

JO
Bullshit! You could’ve gotten it by
picking up the phone and calling any one
of a dozen departments at the Pentagon.
You didn’t want the transfer order. You
wanted to see Jessep’s reaction when you
asked for the transfer order. You had an
instinct. And it was confirmed by
Markinson. Now damnit, let’s put Jessep
on the stand and end this thing!

KAFFEE
What possible good could come from putting
Jessep on the stand?

JO
He told Kendrick to order the Code Red.

KAFFEE
He did?! Why didn’t you say so!? That’s
qreat! And of course you have proof of
that.

JO
I–

KAFFEE
Ah, I keep forgetting: You were sick the
day they taught law at law school.

JO
You put him on the stand and you get it
from him!

KAFFEE
Yes. No problem. We get it from him.
(to SAM)
Colonel, isn’t it true that you ordered
the Code Red on Santiago?

SAM
Look, we’re all a little–

KAFFEE
I’m sorry, your time’s run out. What do
we have for the losers, Judge? Well, for
our defendants it’s a lifetime at exotic
Fort Levenworth. And for defense counsel
Kaffee? That’s right–It’s– A Court-
Martial. Yes, Johnny, after falsely
accusing a marine officer of conspiracy,
Lt. Kaffee will have a long and
prosperous career teaching typewriter
maintenance at the Rocco Columbo School
for Women. Thank you for playing “Should
We or Should-We-Not Follow the Advice of
the Galacticly Stupid”.

And with one motion, he knocks everything from his desk. A
ton of papers, books, files, etc., falls to the floor.

There’s dead silence. Maybe just the sound of KAFFEE
breathing after this exhausting outburst.

Finally…

JO
I’m sorry I lost you your set of steak
knives.

Jo picks up her purse and coat and walks out. The door slams
behind her.

KAFFEE walks into the kitchen without a word.

SAM gets down on the floor and begins picking up all the
stuff that Kaffee knocked off the desk.

KAFFEE comes back in with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

KAFFEE
Stop cleaning up.

But Sam continues.

KAFFEE
(continuing)
Sam. Stop cleaning up.

SAM stops and sits in a chair. KAFFEE sits on the couch.

KAFFEE
(continuing)
You want a drink?

SAM
Yeah.

SAM takes a swig from the bottle.

KAFFEE
Is your father proud of you?

SAM
Don’t do this to yourself.

KAFFEE
I’ll bet he is. I’ll bet he bores the
shit outta the neighbors and the
relatives. “Sam, made Law Review. He’s
got a big case he’s making–He’s arguing
making an argument.”

(pause)
I think my father would’ve enjoyed seeing
me graduate from law school.
(beat)
I think he would’ve liked that… an awful
lot.

SAM
Did I ever tell you that I wrote a paper
on your father in college?

KAFFEE
Yeah?

SAM
He was one of the best trial lawyers ever.

KAFFEE
Yes he was.

SAM
And if I were Dawson and Downey and I had
a choice between you or your father to
represent me in this case, I’d take you
any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
You should have seen yourself thunder away
at Kendrick.

KAFFEE
Would you put Jessep on the stand?

SAM
No.

KAFFEE
You think my father would’ve?

SAM
With the evidence we’ve got? Not in a
million years. But here’s the thing-and
there’s really no way of getting around
this–neither Lionel Kaffee nor Sam
Weinberg are lead counsel for the defense
in the matter of U.S. versus Dawson and
Downey. So there’s only one Question what
would you do?

We HOLD on the two of them for a moment, then