第六感生死缘Meet Joe Black Movie Script

PARRISH:

Eddie, hold out all the hope you want but, I promise you, it's hope- less, it's over. Come on up, let's get drunk, if I had your shoulder to lean on I might actually enjoy this -- SLOANE (O.S.) (speakerphone) No, I'm going to stay down here, keep my finger in the dike and maybe by Monday, the waters could recede.

PARRISH:

If you're trying to show me lay- down-in-front-of-the-bus loyalty, forget it.SLOANE (O.S.) (speakerphone) Sorry, Bill, have a drink, eat your cake, blow out the candles and make a wish. Talk to you Monday. Okay?

PARRISH:

Okay, Eddie -- anyway, thanks for the memory. Parrish clicks off the SPEAKERPHONE, turns around and looks out the window again, the party preparations in full swing, colored lights are tested, they flicker on and off. EXT. LAWNS, COUNTRY ESTATE - AFTERNOON Allison is everywhere, Parrish emerges from his wing, she catches his eye immediately, the calm director of a DeMille- like epic, politely giving workers instructions, making lightning decisions. Parrish turns his attention now to an ice-filled fountain encircling two giant topiary letters written in faux- Cyrillic, a 'B' and a 'P', as rubber-booted delivery men carefully arrange giant ice chests of caviar under each letter. A smile creases Parrish's face as, in an unexpected lull, Allison backs into him at the fountain.

ALLISON:

Hi, Daddy, what do you think?

PARRISH:

It's starting to grow on me. But what do the 'B' and 'P' mean?

ALLISON:

The fountain is the Caspian Sea and the Sea is serving up caviar. The 'B's for Beluga, the 'P' for Petrossian. Of course, they also stand for 'Bill' and for 'Parrish'.

PARRISH:

Do they, m'dear?

ALLISON:

-- Plus we've got a baritone with a balalaika coming from The Russian Tea Room. I've dressed him in a Cossack shirt and he'll sing Nelson Eddy songs. Parrish shakes his head.

PARRISH:

You are amazing. Why, oh why, Allison, are you doing all this? But before she can answer, a workman is tugging at Allison's sleeve, she turns away from Parrish to give him instructions out of Parrish's earshot, and then turns back, they step away now, daughter and father, alone.

ALLISON:

I do it because I love you. Because everybody I loved you. Mommy -- wher- ever she is -- Susan, Quince, the people who work for you, everybody who's ever known you.

PARRISH:

Yeah? And what about my enemies?

ALLISON:

They respect you. Isn't that a kind of love? Unexpectedly, Allison brushes a lock away from Parrish's forehead, with a flick she has rearranged his hair, he blinks, a little embarrassed, but having liked it. ALLISON (cont'd) Above all, you've been a wonderful father.

PARRISH:

I haven't been the father to you that --

ALLISON:

That you've been to Susan?

PARRISH:

I wasn't going to say --

ALLISON:

But that's what you were thinking. And that's okay. Because I know you love me. Not like it is with Susan, the way your eyes light up when she comes in the room and the way she always gets a laugh out of you, as opposed to me when I walk in a room and that look comes over your face, "What does she want now?" A weather-beaten military parade ground pennant passes, 24th Infantry Regiment "C" (Charlie) Company. ALLISON (cont'd) I already feel I've had everything I could have wanted for my birthday --

PARRISH:

Hey, there's lots to come. (gesturing to the activity) A little excess -- like you love. The preparations are building to a climax, all the elaborate plans coming to fruition.

PARRISH:

You know, darling, this is going to be a wonderful party.

ALLISON:

(gently) Yes, it is. Allison wades into the maelstrom now, Parrish watches her go, swarms of purveyors and caterers following her. EXT. WINE BAR, LAWNS, COUNTRY ESTATE - AFTERNOON Ambrose, the head caterer, is making a last minute check of the bar's stock, Quince ambles up, in the background the activity has built to a pitch, waiters adjusting their uni- forms, purveyors' trucks pulling out in a cloud of dust.

QUINCE:

Give me a Seagrams and '7'. Ambrose looks at him blankly. QUICNCE (cont'd) No got? Okay a double V.O., water back.

AMBROSE:

I'm afraid this is a wine bar, Mr. Quince.

QUINCE:

Okay, give me a bottle of wine.

AMBROSE:

Red or white?

QUINCE:

Both. Joe appears, looking bewildered, jostled by caterers setting up last-minute tables, a drummer from the band rolls his traps past on a little cart. Joe doesn't seem to know where he is, when his eyes alight on Quince, he heads for this oasis. Ambrose sets down two bottles of wine and departs. QUINCE (cont'd) (to Joe) Red or white?

JOE:

No, thank you. Quince sips the red, now the white, now he pours some of each into one glass.