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Final Draft
02/01/2006
April 3, 1974
written by Christopher Michael Dalton
Based on the true story of the Louisville,
Kentucky
Tornado and Super-Outbreak disaster of 1974
Copyright@2004, 2005 by Christopher Michael Dalton
All Rights Reserved
OPEN ON A BLACK
BACKGROUND. A MOTIONLESS PARAGRAPH IN WHITE FONT APPEARS ON THE SCREEN.
FOLLOWED BY THE SOFT, YET EERIE SOUND OF A BLOWING WIND.
On the week of April
3, 1974, the forecast was for showers on the East coast and for
thunderstorms across the Midwest United States. In the skies above, a
storm of an overwhelming magnitude was beginning to form. Children went
to school, people went to work and lives went on as normal until the
second worst storm of the 1900's struck. Tornadoes broke across the
heartland with such an intensity and frequency never seen before in the
United States. Homes and schools destroyed. Loved ones lost. One of
those tornadoes struck the city of Louisville, Kentucky on April 3, 1974
at exactly 4:35 pm that Spring Afternoon. This is the story of that
tragic and fateful day.....
TITLE CARD. BLACK
BACKGROUND WITH WHITE FONT. APRIL 1, 1974.
1. FADE IN.
EXT-DAY. We come flying low over what is left of Campbellsburg,
Kentucky(in a helicopter no less, about 700 feet in the air). A small
town in the American Midwest. A small town that looks as if a huge
explosion has wiped out the entire town from the face of the Earth.
Debris composed of metal, glass, wood, brick, and just about God knows
everything else is scattered all over the rolling landscape. Not only
does it look as if an explosion had literally blown everything away,
it's almost as if the 'finger of God' had struck this small town down.
We hear the actual broadcast of WHAS 84 traffic helicopter pilot
speaking about what he has just seen from the air.
DICK GILBERT (V.O.)
"....there are
piles of brick, spread in all directions down here. A tin roof off of a
lumber yard. It looks like a giant has been at it with a can opener.
And, uh, I think the, uh, best way to sum it up would say that the
actual business portion of town and then a section or two of a
residential street has sustained serious damage....
EXT. It is a grisly
and disquieting sight of the town and its downtown area having been
obliterated by an act of nature. It is a ghastly sight that is bound to
be burned into many peoples minds and memories...
FADE-OUT
FADE-IN TO:
2. BLACK
BACKGROUND(where main title sequence, credits of actors and actresses,
music, and production crew is displayed).
BLACK BACKGROUND:
SUPERIMPOSE WHITE FONT DISPLAY:
APRIL 2, 1974. 2:30
P.M.
DISSOLVE TO:
FADE-IN
3. EXT-DAY. We get
a glimpse of the skyline of the Derby and River City, itself, from the
Jeffersonville, Indiana side of the Ohio River. The bold words
"LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY" appear at the bottom of the screen in the same
white font. A magnificent, undulating behemoth of a city. The city was
the wealthiest and most productive in the world, nearly placing it at
the center of global commerce. Visitors, tourists, buyers, and sellers
- from the benevolent to the legitimate to the questionable to the
downright malevolent - all found their paths running through
Louisville. Built near the hub of civilization. We cut to images of
people going about their business during the work hours in the downtown
portion of the city. Some are having lunch, others sitting at park
benches, and other citizens getting on or off the downtown bus. We cut
to images of the Citizens Fidelity building and Citizens Plaza. Other
images of the city are shown. The First National Tower and the Galt
House Hotel near the Belvedere. All of these are archive photos of the
Louisville community, circa 1974. We are also shown images of the
Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center at the Louisville Fairgrounds, and
the nearby Standiford Field Airport. Plus Shewmaker's Air Force Base and
the military personnel on duty. The 16th Largest City in the United
States Of America, recovering from a decline of activity in the downtown
and riverfront area.
CUT TO:
4. EXT. We zoom in
and fly over Brownsboro Road from the west to the east. A U.S. Postal
Service Van is driving along its route in the Indian Hills Area, making
its way toward the Lime Kiln Road area and the new wealthy suburb of
Northfield. The vehicle stops at various mailboxes, and a sooty-black
colored arm sticks out from the window to take mail and other packages
out of the resident boxes and replace them with newly delivered ones.
CUT TO:
3. INT. In the
Postal Van is a young African-American gentleman by the name of BENJAMIN
FRASIER. He is 37, unmarried, and wears coke-bottle shaped glasses. A
former resident of the Louisville West End(he left after the 1968
riots)and recently discharged from the United States Air Force, he
currently resides in the Bardstown Road area, and is employed as U.S.
Postal Delivery Worker. His normal route is through Indian Hills, all
the way to Northfield. While going about his route, he listens to the
radio. Preferably WAVE 970. An advertisement for THE GODFATHER, PART II
is heard, followed by some other commercials. Another commercial has
sound bytes from various STAR TREK episodes, followed by ALAN BROWN'S
narration and advertisement.
BROWN(v.o.)
"...don't miss Star
Trek, Sunday mornings at eleven on WAVE TV - 3, Louisville."
4. ANGLE ON FRASIER
(smirking and
saying to the radio)
"I never miss a
single one, brother."
CUT TO:
EXT. FRASIER is
pulling up to another box, when he is almost startled by a White 1969
Ford Mustang speeding west down Brownsboro Road. The African-American
regains his wits and shakes his head in a mixture of both frustration
and bewilderment.
FRASIER
"Crazy teenagers
these days. Always having to act like they own the road..."
CUT TO:
5. INT. After
replacing an outgoing mail package with a tied up bundle of ingoing
mail(mostly magazines and small envelopes), FRASIER pulls away from the
mailbox, and drives up the small hill, toward the overpass/exit where
Watterson Expressway flows both east and west. The postal worker changes
the radio dial to a local Jazz station, when nothing good is playing
right now. What FRASIER gets is a local news broadcast by a female
newsreporter and not some Jazz being played to its heart's content.
NEWSCASTER(v.o.)
"...in other local
news, the damage toll to Campbellsburg is still being estimated after
yesterday's tornado had struck the small town south of Louisville. Local
eyewitnesses have stated that within twenty seconds after the twister
touched down outside of the Campbellsburg area, the tornado had plowed
its way into the downtown area. One local townsperson was reported
killed while trying to outrun the twister, when he was struck by flying
debris. Police and medical examiners have determined that the gentleman
was struck by the remains of a trailer home..."
CUT TO:
6. INT. FRASIER
changes the channel to 84 WHAS, not really wanting to hear anymore
details. He looks up at the sky to see a commercial airliner fly over
and make its way to Standiford Field Airport. Blowing out a small breath
between his teeth, he concentrates on his driving, turning left into the
subdivision of Northfield.
FRASIER
(shaking his head)
"The Lord must be
upset about something..."
CUT TO:
7. EXT. We cut to
the next scene, which is Frankfort Avenue, not very far from the
Louisville Water Company building and the small white water tower. The
same 1969 Ford Mustang that passed BENJAMIN FRASIER
earlier, pulls to a
stop in the parking lot of the Crescent Hill Library. Getting out of the
car are three teenage women. The driver is an attractive brunette with
long, flowing hair by the name of LAURA SANDERSON, 18. She is a senior
at one of the local high schools in Jefferson County. Possibly from
EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL. She is well dressed in blue(shirt, pants, and a
blue-jean jacket) has only blue eye-shadow on, but has the personality
of your average rebellious youth(but knows her limits). She has some
Native American in her(possibly Cherokee and Iroquois).With her is a
willowy and beautiful honey-blond by the name of HOLLY NEWTON, 17. She
is also a senior, despite being a year younger. She has pink shirt on
pants that look a bit stone washed. HOLLY is someone who could be best
classified as the local nymphomaniac in high school, having slept with
quite a few young men. She is not a bad person, just way too sexually
active when it comes to the opposite sex. The last of the three is ANN
NORTON, 18. Also a senior who is, without a doubt, a model type. With
jade green eyes, flowing reddish-brown(auburn)hair cascading past her
shoulders, and a dressed red tee-shirt, she could be a spokeperson for
any type of product. She wears glasses and carries the image of beauty
and brains really well.
ANN
(looking at library
building's entrance)
"I'm glad I'm done
with that damn term paper. Now I can finally turn this book in."
LAURA
(laughing)
"For a time, I
thought you were going to burn it."
CU ON ANN
(shaking her head)
"I wished I had.
I'm just wiped out from all of that research."
HOLLY
(observing)
"Well, you're the
one who likes to be thorough. No wonder you don't get out much."
ANN
"The boys think I'm too brainy to go out with."
ANGLE ON LAURA
"What's so bad
about being brainy? It keeps you out of trouble."
ANN
"It still doesn't get me many dates though. That's the whole frustrating
thing about it all. They think I'm too much of a bookworm."
ANGLE ON HOLLY
"Annie, there are
some guys who like bookworm types. You could ask Red Devlin out."
ANN
(looking
thoughtful)
I'd rather ask
Stuart Mulroney out.
CU ON LAURA
(surprised)
"Stu Mulroney? Now,
that's a first!"
ANN
(giving Laura a stern look)
"What's so bad
about Stuart?"
CU ON HOLLY
"Nothing, honey.
He's cute!"
LAURA
"Literally, cute! I
was wondering if you thought about things like that."
ANGLE ON ANN
(walking up the stone steps with her two friends)
"What made you
think that I didn't?"
8. EXT. The three
women's train of thougt is interrupted when they see a young man with
dishwater blond hair(tied a pony-tail)skateboarding around the left
corner of the huge gray stoned building. He wears glasses similar to
those worn by the late John Lennon, and has the beginnings of a beard
growing on his handsome features. This is JAMES FARRELL, 20. Graduated
from high school a year ago, and is currently an employee for the city
of Louisville. He is enjoying his day off from work at the downtown
library branch and just returning a book he checked out last week. He is
someone who would have fit into the late Sixties counterculture without
any problems. The women are amazed at how graceful he is on the
skateboard.
Especially when he
jumps over and skids across a small park bench. The women clap at his
stunt as he skids to a stop, taking a bow before his cheering audience.
LAURA
"I'm still
surprised that you haven't hurt yourself."
JAMES
"It's all in the
reflexes, kid. Besides, I've pulled this stunt so many times, it's like
second nature to me."
LAURA
(smirking a little)
"I don't doubt it.
I just wish you would wear a helmet."
ANGLE ON JAMES
"Only when I do
really risky stunts. You know I'm cautious."
LAURA
(hands on her hips,
with a semi-serious look)
"You'd better be,
white man."
9. EXT. JAMES
smiles back and gives her a wave as he skateboards away from the
entrance. Both HOLLY and ANN give LAURA a curious look. Obviously, LAURA
finds JAMES attractive, and feels something for him.
LAURA senses both
of their looks and tries to come up with something.
LAURA
"He's a friend of
the family."
HOLLY
(smirking and not
buying it)
"Oh...I'm certain
of that."
ANN
(same as HOLLY)
"I think it's more
than just friendship."
CUT TO:
10. EXT. We cut to
the image of the 1890's Cherokee Park area and its 400 acres, near the
area known as 'Dog Hill', where people walk their dogs and their
children play on the small assortment of playground equipment. Lying
between the Bardstown Road corridor and the bedroom communities,
Cherokee Park is a spectacular green oasis and a mature greenspace, with
massive stands of trees under which many generations of Louisvillians
had strolled, biked, and played. One young man in jeans, tie-dyed tee
shirt, and sunglasses is flying an old boxkite. Another young man, about
fifteen, is riding his bicycle around the curved road, near the rim of
the huge hill. His name is TOM RUTHERFORD, known as Tommy to his
friends. He is wearing a black tee-shirt with the PINK FLOYD logo from
the 'Dark Side Of The Moon' album, some faded blue jeans and sneakers.
He has some long sideburns and wears sunglasses. One gets the impression
that he is of the counterculture movement of the late Sixties. But he is
a good kid at heart, who comes from a good family.
TOMMY
(looking at the
blue sky and clouds above)
"Just another
boring afternoon...."
11. EXT. Tommy's
train of thought is interrupted as three more of his friends arrive on
the same type of bicycle's. One is wearing a black-tee shirt that has
the rock band logo of QUEEN emblazoned on the front, and the words
"BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY" on the back. This young man with wavy brown hair and
a small moustache is MICHAEL FREDERICK. Like TOMMY, he is a decent kid.
The other kid is CHRISTOPHER YORK, a young man, who like MICHAEL and
TOMMY wears blue jeans and sneakers. CHRIS wears a regular UNIVERSITY OF
KENTUCKY tee-shirt, red suspenders to hold up his pants, and
shell-rimmed glasses. He is a bit of U of K basketball fan. The last one
in this group of young 'Four Musketeers' is ROBERT CONNER. A red-clad
youngish man with longish, wavy brown hair who has the aura of youth
about him. The seriousness of it that is.
ROBERT
"Tommy, did you
hear about what happened in Campbellsburg, yesterday?"
TOMMY
"Who hasn't? That
place looked like something out of Vietnam."
MICHAEL
(running a hand
nervously through his hair)
"Worse than that,
Tommy. It looked like a ginat fist just mashed the hell out of that
town! I'd hate to have been there in the middle of that ruckus."
CU ON TOMMY
"They were hit bad
by Mother Nature, that's for sure. Someone had gotten killed while
trying to escape from that shit."
CU ON CHRIS
"Wasn't it by a
trailer that was flung by the twister?"
MICHAEL
(Shrugging)
"Something like
that. I wouldn't want to know what it would it be like if...."
CU ON ROBERT
(noticing Michael's
pause)
"Like what?"
CU ON MICHAEL
(giving the matter
some thought, then brushing it aside)
"It sounds crazy.
But, I had a thought of what would happen if a damn tornado ripped
through here."
TOMMY
(looking at Michael
if he had two heads)
"In Louisville? Not
likely. Those damn twisters only hit farmland areas."
CHRIS
(chuckling)
"It would make a
good episode of Fright Night, though. Imagine what the Fearmonger would
say when he introduced such an show."
TOMMY
(shuddering a bit
at the thought of WDRB 41's horror show and its host)
"I'm trying not to.
Besides, I heard Charlie Kessinger is busy working on that Bill Girdler
film in the West end. C'mon, we're here to have some fun until supper
time. Let's enjoy it while we can."
MICHAEL
"I'm for that."
12. EXT. The four
friends ride down the sloping area of Dog Hill, passing carefully by the
dogs and their owners. One such dog owner, an old man, shakes his head
as he watches the kids ride down fast and speed across the open field
area at the bottom of the meadow and hills below Hogan's Fountain,
peddling faster.
OLD MAN
"Damn, kids! Always
playing games with life. I don't know why such a young mind has to be an
undisciplined one."
EXT. Another old
man with glasses, a cane, a motorcar hat, a white beard to match his
white hair, laughs a little bit.
2nd OLD MAN
"They had their
safety helmets and pads on. Besides, they are not causing any problems.
They're just enjoying the weather."
OLD MAN
"Still, I wouldn't
be racing down the hill like some madman. That idea just makes my old
heart skip a beat..."
CUT TO:
13. EXT. Bardstown
Road, near the intersection of the Eastern Parkway entrance to Cherokee
Park. We see the brass statue of Daniel Boone standing proudly on its
granite roundabout base, as kids ride their bikes around the circle, or
in and out of the park. A row of old houses on either side gives the
area a bit of nostalgia. A mixture of the old and the new. A merging of
19th and 20th Century architecture. Bardstown Road is also a place of
entertainment with various stores, mom and pop shops, and hangouts such
as Karma Records and Leatherhead.
14. INT. In one of
the old houses is STEVEN AMBROSE. A young man of twenty-four with
longish brown hair. He is a former Vietnam Veteran, who served from 1967
to 1968. He is someone who has seen way too much violence in the world,
and is disillusioned. Especially after the whole Watergate affair. We
see him sitting back in his recliner, wearing his old U.S. Army jacket,
green pants, green shirt, and holding a bottle of beer in his hand. His
surroundings in his home are clean and neat, but you can tell there is
an aura of sadness about him. He gets up from his chair and walks to the
front door. He walks with a bit of a limp in his left leg.
15. EXT. Sitting on
the stone steps outside, he is leaning back against a stone pillar, and
chuggin down the amber colored contents of the beer bottle. He has been
through some shit since the war in Southeast Asia. Since coming home
from the war with two Purple Hearts, his father has died from a heart
attack, his mother has recently passed away from a stroke, and he is
totally uncertain about the future and what it holds for him. Looking to
his right, he watches some kids roller skate down the cold, hard
concrete toward the Daniel Boone statue.
AMBROSE
(shaking his head
and muttering to no one in particular)
"Why can't things
ever be simple anymore?"
16. EXT. STEVEN
looks to his left and watches some young couple walking their dog down
Bardstown Road, toward the downtown area west from this spot. He leans
his head back on a stone pillar and closes his eyes...
CUT TO:
17/FX FULL
SHOT(PROCESS). EXT. A dream sequence forms into sharp clarity as we see
STEVEN in his full battle fatigues(helmet, equipment, M-16 rifle, and
all), as he is running through the jungles of Vietnam with his platoon.
His watches explosions and other eruptions of gunfire happen all around
him. His platoon sergeant gets blown away right in front of him. Three
freshly burned holes in the sergeants chest and heart. His squad
sergeant and the platoon's lieutenant also get obliterated nearby, some
fifty clicks away from him. STEVEN fires several rounds from his M-16
and plugs quite a few North Vietnamese(Viet Cong) soldiers right square
in the head. Grenade and gunfire are all over the place, including
graphic depictions of blood and guts galore. We finally see something
being dropped by a United States Air Force B-52 bomber that hits this
hillside area not far from the hot landing zone STEVEN is in. An
enormous black mushroom cloud erupts from the ground, blowing away
everything in its path, setting jungle, animal, and human forms on fire,
like burnt tissue paper. The bomb is nothing more than a nuclear bomb
going off. STEVEN is about to yell out something when...
CUT TO:
18. EXT. STEVEN
wakes up and opens his eyes wide from the bad dream he has just
experienced. A nightmare that he often has. Wiping his eyes, he shakes
his head to clear it. Looking up at the sky, the sun is about to go down
for the day. He finishes his beer, but does not move. He is thinking
about what to do and where to go from here. He has often considered
committing suicide from time to time. Even though he has a huge
inheritance from his late parents estate, and gets Veterans Benefits and
disability for being wounded twice during that hellish war, he still
feels his life is empty. The only driving force that keeps him alive is
his girlfriend.
19. EXT. STEVEN'S
girlfriend is now just getting out of her Wildcat Blue painted 1968 Ford
Mustang. She is a willowy blond by the name of JENNIFER HUGHES. A nurse
at the Univesrity Of Louisville who is thirty-one, and who loves STEVEN
unconditionally. She met the troubled young man when he was at a VA
hospital counseling session last summer. After that, they started dating
and moved in together some five months later.
JENNIFER
(a bit surprised by
the look on his handsome face)
"What happened,
babe?"
STEVEN
(shaking the
cobwebs out of his head)
"I had another bad
dream."
JENNIFER
(sitting next to
him on the stone porch)
"Was it the same
one?"
STEVEN
(nodding)
"Oh, yeah...."
JENNIFER
(looking concerned)
"Have you talked to
the psychiatrist about it?"
STEVEN
"Yeah. She said that it's a sign of post traumatic stress syndrome. Or
whatever the hell it's being called."
JENNIFER
"Are they getting
worse?"
STEVEN
"Not really.
They're about the same."
JENNIFER
"You think those
pictures on the news about Elizabethtown might have triggered
something?"
STEVEN
"I don't know. I
just don't want to think about that right now. How was work?"
JENNIFER
(sighing)
"We got a few
patients from Campbellsburg who are still recovering. Christ, you should
have seen what they had been through. All bloody and cut up. I don't
know what to think about it."
STEVEN
(shrugging)
"That's Mother
Nature for you. Always doing doing humanity's dirty work."
JENNIFER
(giving him a stern
look)
"Steven, when are
you going to learn that not all people are so bad?"
CU ON STEVEN
"The day hell
freezes over, or when the world blows itself to hell."
JENNIFER
(placing an arm on his left shoulder)
"Honey, it was a bad time for you and a lot of others. But, Jesus
Christ, don't blame everyone for the sins that the politicians made."
STEVEN
(shaking his head,
grumbling)
"Try telling that
to those bastards who burned the American flag in front of those who
came home, and spat on them. Those bastards who had the gall to call me
and them baby killers. Sonsabitches, all of them..."
CU ON JENNIFER
"I have, sweetie. You're not alone in this. So, stop thinking that you
are."
CUT TO:
20. EXT. NORTON'S
HOSPITAL in downtown Louisville. A huge, six-floored building located at
Chestnut Street, functioning twenty four hours a day, seven days a week,
three hundred and sixty five days a year. A hustling and bustling place
for the sick and the dying. Since the tornado struck both Elizabethtown
and Campbellsburg, Kentucky in the past two days, it has seen its share
of casualties.
CUT TO:
21. INT. Walking
down the cold, tiled hallway ia big, burly, and bearded man in his early
sixties. DR. RICHARD STANTON, MD. He is bald on top and has a cluster of
hair around both sides of his head. He has the look of someone who could
have been an aristocrat in 17th Century England. STANTON, who is Chief
of Surgery, comes from a wealthy family
that came from
Boston, Massachusettes. A Korean War veteran, STANTON is a conissuer of
fine wine and a devoted patron of the arts. He is a fan of Shakespeare
in the Park and the Kentucky Opera. He is also someone who is close to
retirement and a bit depressed. Walking into his office, he sits down
in his desk chair, and places a couple of manila folders on the left
front side. Turning on his small television, he pours himself a glass of
dry, red wine. A 1970 Cabernet Sauvignon.
STANTON
(taking a sniff
from the glass, and sadly mumbling)
"Born from the
loins...and suckled from the bosom..."
22. INT. He takes a
sip as he looks at an old file of a former patient. A young girl of
thirteen, who was one of the victims of the tornado that struck the
small city of Elizabethtown some two days past. A young girl who had
died from her injuries, despite STANTON'S best efforts to save her. The
girl's injuries were just too severe. Because of what happened on March
31st, STANTON is seriously considering retirement. We can tell by the
sad expression on his face that the young girl's death had a serious
effect on him.
STANTON
"Too young. Too
damned young..."
23. INT. STANTON
finishes his glass and places the file back down on his desk. He looks
at the television and the local news is coming on. NORMAN LEWIS, the
meterologist at WAVE 3 is speaking about the weather for the next four
days, followed by one of the local news anchors giving out today's
headlines. STANTON walks over and switches the television off. He does
not want to know what is going on. Not right now. A knock at the door
gets his attention, and one of the nurses, a large African-American
woman is standing at the threshold, with a file in her right hand.
NURSE
"Here's that file that you wanted, Doctor."
STANTON
(nodding)
"Thanks, Rosalind.
You can leave it on my desk."
ROSALIND PIKE, who
is Chief Nurse at the hospital, places the file on the old man's desk.
Obviously, she is a friend and colleague of STANTON'S, and can tell what
the old man is thinking about.
ROSALIND
"I spoke to the
parents earlier. They said that they knew that you tried everything."
STANTON does not
say anything, but is listening. After two days, it is still a hard
subject to discuss.
STANTON
(looking down at
his oakwood desktop)
"I wish I could
have done more, Rosalind. The bleeding and internal damage...it was just
too much. That child was too young! It just wasn't her time!"
ROSALIND
(sympatheticaly
speaking)
"To us, no. To God,
he felt it was."
STANTON
"Still doesn't make
it right, though. I've lost patients before. Especially children, during
my time in Korea. I hoped that I would never have to go through that
experience again. What a fool I was to even think that. Thanks,
Rosalind, I'll be locking up here."
ROSALIND
"If you need to
talk, you've got my number."
ROSALIND exits the
small office, and STANTON prepares to leave. Taking one last look at the
young girl's record, he leaves his office and locks up the door. He
walks down the corridor, past other rooms and and offices, wrapped in
his own private thoughts. He passes by the Cardiology technician on
duty, a pleasantly plump woman with some German ancestory in her, and
manages somewhat of a smile, before leaving for the day. He still thinks
about the young girl and some of the other victims from both
Elizabethtown and Campbellsburg as reaches the elevator
STANTON
(musing under his
breath)
"Goddamn, modern
medicine and Mother Nature to hell!!"
CUT TO:
24. EXT. LOUISVILLE
POLICE DEPARTMENT on the corner of Seventh and Jefferson Street. A Black
and White(police car)parks along the side of the street and a uniformed
officer steps out of the driver's side. Enter BILL JAMESON, 54. A police
officer with graying hair and a no-nonsense expression on his features.
He was involved with the quelling of the 1968 West End riots, and has
seen his share of the criminal mentality. He is dropping off some
paperwork at the station, before finishing his regular patrol route.
Which is along the River Road area.
CUT TO:
25. INT. JAMESON is
approaching the front desk and dropping off the paperwork witht he desk
sergeant on duty. Walking back out to his car, he stops at a water
fountain to get a quick drink and then makes another stop at the men's
restroom.
CUT TO:
26. INT. RESTROOM.
After taking care of business, he walks over to the porcelian sink and
washes his hands off with the soap nearby. After rinsing and drying his
hands, he walks out, and nearly runs into one of the other officers on
duty. The younger man has a file folder in his hands, which he gives to
BILL.
OFFICER
"Sarge, here's that
file that you requested earlier."
JAMESON
(looking the file
over and then giving it back to the young man)
"Thanks, Louis.
That's all for now."
CUT TO:
27. INT. The
younger man exits the restroom and goes down the hallway, as BILL walks
out and heads back outside.
CUT TO:
27. EXT. BILL walks
back and gets into his police crusier. After checking to see if the
street is clear of incoming traffic, he pulls out and turns on Seventh
Street. Heading east on Main, he resumes his patrol, and listens in on
the police radio band. So far, nothing major has cropped up. Turning
left on First Street, he manages to drive a couple of blocks before
turning right onto River Road.
CUT TO:
28. TRACKING AND
WIDE SHOT EXT. CAMERA MOVES WITH BILL'S police crusier as he is driving
steadily along River Road(probably from the Ohio), until someone on a
motorcycle, who has been behind him for about five minutes, gets
impatient and around him, passing the yellow line. The helmeted
motorcyclist speeds past him in a major hurry.
29. POV THROUGH THE
WINDSHIELD - RIVER ROAD EAST.
We see the
motorcycle and its driver pull out in front from the right and speed
off. The muted sound of the motorcycle engine being gunned is heard.
30. INT. BILL
notices what the motorcyclist has done and turns on his siren, pursuing
the Harley-Davidson. BILL pulls off his CB radio handle from its hook
and speaks into it.
ANGLE ON BILL
(speaking loudly
over the siren)
"One Adam Fourteen,
in pursuit of speeding motorcycle on River Road..."
CUT TO:
31. EXT. BILL'S car
pursues the Harley-Davidson until both vehicles turn left into the
parking lot of COX'S PARK. The motorbike and its driver plows across the
concrete and asphalt area until it hits a small slick spot, at the line
where the concrete and asphalt ends, and the neatly mowed grass meets.
The bike skids out of control, and the driver tries to steer the bike
straight and narrow.
32. WIDE SHOT EXT.
The bike and the driver fly across the grass and end up splashing into
the clear water of the Ohio River. The driver is splashing, trying to
stay above, and thrashing like a madman. It is apparently clear that the
driver is not too happy about being caught.
33. EXT. BILL stops
his car and barks into the CB radio handle again.
CU ON BILL
"One Adam Fourteen, request backup and ambulance, immediately!"
34. EXT. BILL exits
his car and runs over to where the driver and his bike had entered the
river. Turns out that the driver only fell into a shallow end. The
driver pulls off the helmet, and, to BILL's surprise, it is a young
woman with long brown hair, attractive looks, and is literally red in
the face with fury. BILL stands at the bank for a moment and chuckles a
little.
BILL
"The foolishness of
youth never cease to amaze me."
35. EXT. BILL walks
over to the bank and helps the young woman out of the water. She is not
injured from her flight into the Ohio, but she is madder as a hornet for
this not-so-humorous moment.
BILL
"Are you alright,
Miss?"
ANGLE ON YOUNG
WOMAN
"I was until you scared me and chased me into the river!!!"
BILL
"Well, you
shouldn't have passed me in that stretch of road. You should know
better."
36. EXT. Behind
BILL and the YOUNG WOMAN, two other police cars and an ambulance arrive,
with sirens flashing and horns blaring a bit. BILL raises his hand to
them, indicating that he is fine. The other officers nod and stay close
by, while the medics bring out their medical bags.
YOUNG WOMAN
(spitting water out of her mouth on the ground)
"I was in a hurry,
and I don't like slowpokes!!!"
BILL
(frowning a little)
"I can see that. I
need to see your license and registration, please."
YOUNG WOMAN
(giving Bill a
stern look and taking out her wallet)
"Hope you don't
mind it being water damaged a bit."
CUT TO:
37. EXT. The YOUNG
WOMAN hands BILL her wallet and he helps wipe off the dampness from the
black leather object. BILL pulls out his notebook. We can tell that
he'll cut the woman a break by giving her a warning. Provided of course,
she did not have any other outstanding warrants or violations on her
record.
BILL
(smiling and
shaking his head in amusement)
"No, I don't mind
at all."
CUT TO:
38. EXT. An old
Victorian like building on South Third Street in Old Louisville. 1365 S.
Third to be precise. One that is maroon in color and has been updated
every now and then. A very nice place for those who are either attending
college or just preferring to live in a studio apartment.
CUT TO:
39. INT. Apartment
# 2. A studio apartment that is huge and well kept. Clean with polished
wood floors, a book case, a couple of dressers from the 1940's, a
painting of The Last Supper hanging above it, and a huge set of dresser
drawers placed in front of an old fire place. There is even a television
and a stereo system on top of it.
CAMERA TRACKING
RIGHT TO LEFT, we see a bed in front of one of three huge windows at the
north end of the room, and a young couple in bed. Both are naked. The
handsome young man is lying on top of the beautiful young woman. They
move slowly up and down and from side to side. Obviously, they are
having sexual intercourse, as the young man is withdrawing and thrusting
into the young woman, and she is grappling his bare back, and wrapping
her slim, beautiful legs around his lower waist area.
We hear the bed
creaking back and forth in rythum to STEPPENWOLF'S MAGIC CARPET RIDE, as
the woman is breathing heavy and moaning in orgasmic pleasure. Both of
them climax, and are a bit sweaty from making love in the late
afternoon. After a couple of more withdrawing and thrusting motions, the
woman moans in pleasure once more and catches her breath.
40. CLOSE UP ON THE
right side of the bed. The woman is TANYA HARMON, a theater instructor
at the University Of Louisville, who is about 45(who could have been a
former Ford model)with dark hair, dark eyes, medium breasts, average
body size, '5, 7 height, a face that promises a dark erotic surprise,
and an aura that would be dark and mysterious. The full curve of her
grandly rounded behind and the flush blush of chest when it’s exposed to
the leering light of day, is enough to arouse any young man. The tall
and handsome young man is JEREMY THORN, a graduate student of about 32,
with a lanky, buff frame, bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and has the
appearance of a beefy Hugh Grant. He is a former student of Tanya's from
a couple of years past. Somehow, both fell in love in the two years
since they had known each other, and one thing led to another.
JEREMY
"Such a rush....."
TANYA
(sighing in
satisfaction after having sex)
"Now I know what
I've been enjoying all this time."
JEREMY
"How many orgasms
is that?"
ANGLE ON TANYA
(enjoying the
afterglow)
"Too many to
remember. But they all feel wonderful."
JEREMY
(rolling off of her
as she releases her loving hold on him)
"I'm surprised that
no one has discovered our relationship."
TANYA
(snuggling next to
him on his right side)
"If they did, so
what? You're no longer a student of mine, and it has been two years."
ANGLE ON JEREMY
"I wouldn't want
you to get fired."
TANYA
(smiling)
"You don't have to
worry about that. I won't tell if you won't tell."
JEREMY
(taking a drink of
some water from a glass sitting on the left night stand)
"Well, I hadn't
planned on it."
CUT TO:
41. CAMERA MOVES
BACK from the bed, and through the threshold between the living/bedroom
and kitchen, TANYA laughs. She kisses JEREMY hard on the mouth and
begins kissing down his bare chest. She begins kissing JEREMY'S neck.
She kisses his shoulders, then his chest. TANYA is now kissing his
stomach, her head gradually lowers from frame. JEREMY reaches back over
his head to hold onto the headboard of the bed.
Within a matter of
seconds, we can see the happy and satisfied look on Jeremy's handsome
features. He closes his eyes.
CUT TO:
42. INT. MAIN
APARTMENT LOBBY. DR. STANTON enters the lobby and hears giggling and
sounds of lovemaking from Apartment 2. He shakes his head and walks over
to the door of his apartment. Number 4, to be exact. He unlocks the door
and walks in, closing the door behind him.
43. INT. His
apartment is also clean and spotless. A bit old fashioned and luxurious.
The far wall is a huge bookcase full of classic texts and other books of
various subjects. STANTON places his keys on his dresser, removes his
jacket and hangs it on the coathanger. He removes his shoes and changes
from his clothes to his pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers. Sticking a pipe
in his mouth, we walks out onto the back porch and sits down in his
favorite rocking chair. Obviously, he is still tired and a bit
depressed. Looking up at the early evening sky, he is enjoying the soft
breeze and some of the peace and quiet that the outside offers. He looks
over to his right, and behind the iron fence that seperates the
apartment property from the neighbor's home, is the neighbor's sheepdog,
who is enjoying the soft wind blowing around and on his black and white
fur.
STANTON
(raising his pipe
and saying hello)
"Hello there,
Yancy. How was your day?"
CUT TO:
44. EXT. CLOSE UP
ON DOG. The dog named Yancy wags his tail in hello and rests his head on
the grass. Obviously, his day was better than STANTON'S.
STANTON
(smiling at the
dog)
"You're very lucky,
old boy. You don't have any worries or troubles to plague your life.
You've got it made. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I hope I
return as a member of the beloved and wonderful canine species. Dogs are
such wonderful and special companions."
45. EXT. STANTON'S
neighbor and Yancy's owner, KURTWOOD LARSON, comes out on the porch and
pets YANCY. Giving the handsome dog some fresh water and a bowl of dog
food(with bacon bits and some shredded cheese added), he sits out in his
lawnchair. KURTWOOD is in his early forties and works as policeman for
the city. He has a darkly handsome and brooding appearance and a gruff,
but likable personality.
STANTON
"Busy day today,
Sergeant?"
LARSON
(nodding and tired
from such a day)
"Like you wouldn't
believe, doc. Some woman on a motorcycle got impatient by being stuck
behind one of our squad cars, and illegally passed him. He chased her
into Cox's Park, where she skidded on a slick spot and fell into the
river."
STANTON
(a bit surprised
and amused)
"That's
interesting. I hope she wasn't injured."
LARSON
(shaking his head)
"Nah. Just upset
that she got caught and wet all at once. She got off with a warning. We
were able to salvage her bike without too much trouble."
46. EXT. LARSON
looks up at the clear sky.
LARSON
(still looking up)
"I heard it is
supposed to rain tomorrow. Or a chance there of."
STANTON
(not really
interested in talking about the weather)
"Hard to say. Some
weathermen can't get their forecasts right."
LARSON
(smiling grimly)
"Tell me about it.
Those poor people in both Campbellsburg and Elizabethtown suffered for
that."
STANTON
(giving a short
nod)
"Regretfully...."
CUT TO:
47. EXT. AUDOBON
PARK. Near Audobon Parkway and Greenleaf Road. A small park area, just
right across from the Fairgrounds. Some children are doing some last
minute playing on the swings and other gym equipment before going home.
We see the 1968 Blue Ford Mustang that JENNIFER was driving earlier. She
is driving it, with STEVEN sitting in the passenger seat. They had just
gotten back from eating out, and are now turning onto Preston Highway.
From there, they reach the stoplight and turn right onto Eastern
Parkway, heading straight back to their place off of Bardstown Road.
STEVEN is listening to Killer Queen by the British rock band Queen on
the radio, while Jennifer is keeping an eye on the road.
CUT TO
48. INT. POV
THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD
We see Eastern
Parkway and its row of houses on both right and left sides. All fancy
and Victorian in appearance.
STEVEN
(taking a drink of
beer from a can)
"I'm telling you,
Brian May is the best guitarist in the world."
JENNIFER
"I always thought
Joe Walsh of the Eagles was the best."
STEVEN
(shrugging)
"I'd rate him as
number two. Nobody can top Brian May."
JENNIFER
(changing the
subject)
"You want to go see
Chinatown on Friday? I heard that its still playing at Showcase
Cinemas."
STEVEN
"Works for me. I
could use a movie night."
JENNIFER
(smiling)
"And dinner at
KingFish."
STEVEN
"As long as it is
the one by the river. The one across from Showcase is not too hot in my
book."
JENNIFER
(rolling her eyes)
"You've been saying
that since you got food poisoned there."
STEVEN
"Can you blame me?"
49. INT. Before
Jennifer can answer, the song ends and a news report comes on. It is
just the local weather forecast for tomorrow, announced by WHAS
meterologist Ray Shelton. We can hear that a chance for rain and showers
is high. Plus the possibility of thunderstorms.
STEVEN
"Sounds like a wet
one for tomorrow."
JENNIFER
"I hope it's not
like what it was south of here. I'm still having a hard time getting
over what I saw in the ER today."
STEVEN
(resting a hand on
Jennifer's right leg)
"Relax, honey. I
don't think it's going to be that bad."
50. CLOSE UP ON
STEVEN. We get the impression though that he is thinking, 'but I could
be wrong' or 'there's always a first time'. We also get the impression
that, with his military experience, he is thinking of an emergency
contingency plan, should something as bad as a tornado strike in
Louisville should happen.
CUT TO:
51. EXT. A
dreamlike image of a tornado ripping through the downtown area of
Louisville, sending debris of all kinds into the air. It is a nightmare
image that one does not want to see becoming a reality. This is just
something that STEVEN'S imagination has cropped up. It's almost worse
than the dream he had about being back in Vietnam, fighting near the
Cambodian border in the last parts of 1967 and the early months of 1968,
right after the Tet Offensive.
CUT TO:
52. INT. We see
both STEVEN and JENNIFER still in the car. STEVEN has obviously shaken
the scary image from his concious mind.
JENNIFER
(noticing that look on Steven's face)
"What are you
thinking about?"
STEVEN
(looking thoughtful
for a second)
"Something that
seems nearly impossible..."
JENNIFER
(smiling and
resting her right hand along his left leg)
"You and that
imagination of yours..."
FADE OUT.
FADE IN TO:
53. BLACK
BACKGROUND WITH WHITE FONT SUPERIMPOSED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCREEN.
WEDNESDAY - APRIL
3, 1974. 8:30 AM.
The font fades as
we hear the sound of normal rush hour traffic. We also hear the sound of
a light rain.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. WOODS - DAY. A
mural of leafless trees beneath an overcast sky. Rain continues to fall.
Maybe now we begin to notice a strange quality to the light (or is it
the sky?). Something vaguely unsettling.
CUT TO:
INT. BEDROOM -
MORNING. Still, the sound of rain is heard. A MAN 40s, lies on his side
in bed, staring at us. He has not been sleeping. In fact, judging from
his distant expression, he has not slept in ages. A jut-jawed,
steely-eyed, and darkly handsome man.
CUT TO:
54. WIDE SHOT EXT.
We are watching the cold, hard concrete sidewalk in downtown Louisville,
near West Broadway. The camera pans up and we see the sky. Sunny and
clear. Most of all, just peaceful. Just another typical Spring day in
the Ohio Valley.
CUT TO:
55. EXT. We see
people going into work, getting on or off of the bus,
parking their cars
in the various city parking lots. People, wrapped up in their own
private little miseries, walking down the streets and crosswalks in
business or casual attire. Some are carrying briefcases, while others
are holding copies of The Louisville Times or the morning edition of The
Courier Journal. We see other images of kids getting on or off of the
school buses, crossing guards holding up or down the handheld STOP
signs. From dawn to dusk, among the jagged skyscrapers, the streets are
crammed with citizens going about their overloaded lives - so bloated
and leaden that they sometimes appear to go nowhere. Their goings were
frustrated by their own desperate ambitions, bringing them into stalled
monoxide-huffing fury. Though the sidewalks swarmed so thickly with
pedestrians that hardly a bit of concrete was visible, the walkers were
getting along a lot faster than their motorist siblings, who only fumed,
angrily blaming the person in front of them for the delay that sometimes
went on for miles.
CUT TO:
56. INT. The
Louisville Times and The Courier Journal newsroom on the top floor. The
newspaper’s buzzing city room. A maze of desks pushed together like
dominoes in a well-played game left only slender passages for dozens of
harried folk to scurry through. When two such speedsters going opposite
directions meet, tempers blow and expletives blare. Those sitting at
the desks either join in or delve intently into their work, ignoring the
frantic bumping and shouting. The busy scene would remind anyone of a
vibrant hornet’s nest. We see one of the reporter's looking down from
the top floor of the building and then turning away from the large
window. He walks to the supply cabinet to get a pen and a pad of paper.
We also cut to another scene where a young woman is hunched over her
typewriter so tightly that she almost appears to be part of the
machine. Her dark hair is pulled back in a knot, but so recklessly,
that locks fall into her face, draping it from view. Rattling away
fiercely, she will not be bothered to fix it. She hesitates only
momentarily to snatch a smoldering cigarette from an ashtray and takes a
drag without bothering to raise her head. She abruptly drops the butt in
its place and shoots back to her typing. A copyboy walks by and flops
down a sheet of teletype paper in front of her. We also see a
boy, no older than seventeen,
hovering around her. He has a fancy camera slung around his neck and
makes a show of switching lenses back and forth, screwing and unscrewing
them with mock casualness.
PHOTOGRAPHER
(looking over the
woman's shoulder)
"That must have
been one hell of a mess down there."
FEMALE REPORTER
(shaking her head)
"It would have been
great if I had gotten a picture of the tornado that did this. I was
unable to get a ride with Dick Gilbert in his traffic copter, going over
the town after it had happened."
PHOTOGRAPHER
"What about Dick
Tong? He could have given you a lift."
FEMALE REPORTER
(shaking her head
in exasperation)
"He was busy
reporting traffic at that time. I tried to contact Danny King or Roger
O'Neill at the WAVE studios. Both were out in the field."
57. INT. The door
to the office of the Editor-n-Chief swings open, and the Editor’s
assistant stepped out. An elderly woman with horn-rimmed glasses that
she is just getting used to wearing. She is followed by a volcanic plume
of tobacco smoke. Behind a big oak desk is a bulldog of a man
responsible for it. The Editor-n-Chief chomps hungrily on a fat stogy
as he rattles the last page of a presentation given to him by a new
reporter. He studies it severely, giving it an intimidating grunt.
Reviewing the documentation and thumbing the pages, he takes a big puff
on his cigar, which is bobbing as he chewed it, and half-smiles. He
picks up an empty bottle of soda that had been sweating a sloppy ring on
his desk blotter. He puts it in the waste basket on his right, and takes
another series of puffs on his stogy.
EDITOR-N-CHIEF
(muttering to
himself)
"This will make an
excellent story."
58. INT. THE
NEWSROOM. The reporter that had been looking out of the window earlier
sits down in the plush velvet chair aside an intricately-carved oak
desk, facing the wall that shows the east part of Louisville. He lifts a
file from the desk's cabinet drawer and places it on his desk. After
looking it over, he places the file back in his desk, gets up, grabs his
overcoat off the rack by the water cooler, and barrels out of the
office. He runs past veteran reporter Byron Crawford and photographer
Larry Spitzer. As he enters the elevator on his right, another person
comes walking down the hall, passing the Sports Department. He is WALT
BECKETT, a rather portly man in his early sixties. He is holding a sheet
of paper in his right hand, and a styrofoam cup full of coffee in the
other. He hands the piece of paper over to one of the reporters who is
sitting at one of the desks, typing away on something. The reporter is
BRUCE CLARK, a young man of thirty-one and just fresh out of college. He
has a beard, wavy brown hair, and glasses made out of gun-metal.
BECKETT
"Here's that
research info you wanted. It's not much."
CLARK
(grumbling as he
takes the sheet and looks it over)
"I just wish those
damn fools at City Hall would just 'play ball' and answer my inquiries.
Goddamn politicians piss me off all the time!"
BECKETT
(shrugging)
"What do you expect
from the Board Of Aldermen? They're all a bunch of crooks if you ask
me."
As BECKETT walks
back to his department, CLARK focuses more on the information that has
been placed on his desk. Running a hand through his hair, he circles
something on that sheet of paper with a red ink pen.
CUT TO:
59. INT. CLOCK on
the far wall of the city newsroom. It is noon, and Clark finds himself
too wrapped up in his work to be concerned with the weather forecast
being made by Norman Lewis at WAVE 3. He has spent hours on the phone
tracking down members of the City Council. No one has been available,
and he has wound up leaving messages. He makes a note to visit the Hall
of Records. He gets up to go to the restroom down the hall. When he
returns, he finds out from the two messages placed on his desk, that two
city council members have responded. He follows up and schedules some
appointments for interviews the next day. The same female reporter from
earlier listens to the weather forecast from WAVE 3 and turns her head
to the window behind her. She then turns her attention back to the
television screen nearby. The young photographer also views the weather
report and the news updates by Livingston Gilbert, one of WAVE'S other
broadcast journalists.
FEMALE REPORTER
"Looks like we are
in for some nasty weather."
PHOTOGRAPHER
(looking out the
side window at both the clear skies and sunshine)
"It doesn't look
that bad right now."
FEMALE REPORTER
"It may later in
the day."
CUT TO:
60. INT. MAIN LOBBY
ENTRANCE to The Courier Journal. HATTIE SMITH, a woman in her
mid-sixties, dressed in a guard uniform, is sitting behind the guard's
desk, answering questions for those who visit the city newspaper
building. CLARK, after taking the crowded, six-story elevator ride down,
exits the elevator car and weaves his way through the busy lobby. He
stops at HATTIE'S desk before going outside.
CLARK
"Mrs. Smith, I'm
going to lunch. I'll be back in an hour. You want anything?"
HATTIE
"I've already had
lunch, Bruce. Thank you, though."
CLARK nods in
acknowledgement as he heads for the revolving door exit. Just as he is
about to walk outside, one of the other female reporters, AMY KRAMER,
rushes out of the elevator to catch up with him. The spunky brunette of
thirty five with an angelic face, having just escaped another
overstuffed elevator, struggles to slip into her jacket while holding on
to her purse.
KRAMER
"Bruce, hold up a
second!"
CLARK stops and
waits for her to catch up. He looks at his watch, since he has only an
hour to grab something to eat. KRAMER manages to catch up to him, while
fiddling with her purse strap.
KRAMER
(a little out of
breath)
“Hey, which
direction are you headed?”
CLARK
"Up Broadway, a
couple of blocks."
KRAMER
(pointing to the
parking lot across the street)
“My car’s parked
over here, I’ll walk with you.”
CUT TO:
61. EXT. WIDE SHOT
OF ENTRANCE. Slinging her purse strap over her shoulder, they push
through the revolving door, and ease into the sidewalk traffic, and the
lunchtime crowd. KRAMER looks at the spring day above.
KRAMER
"I heard it was supposed to rain, today."
CLARK
(frowning)
"I wouldn't know. I
was too busy to catch the weather forecast."
CUT TO:
62. INT. ZOOM IN ON
THE CLOCK ON THE FAR WALL OF THE NEWSROOM. An hour has passed, and it is
now 1:00 PM. While the time means nothing to the staff of reporters, it
definately means something to the people in Morris, Illinois, a state
away.
CUT TO:
63. EXT. An open,
isolated field of swaying tall grass. We slowly pan over it as we hear
nothing but a gentle breath of wind. The wind suddenly picks up and
whips through the grass, bending it all in one direction as a single
mass and showering the anachronistic setup with leaves and pine straw
from the menacing trees with the warped, gnarled branches that surround
the field. The wind returns, icily slicing through the field and casting
more leaves to the ground as the camera pans up to the sky, embellishing
an ominous color. Sounds of wind rushing through trees, leaves hitting
the ground, owls hooting and wolves howling in the nearby woods.
DISSOLVE TO:
Near the city
limits of Morris, the sky looks ominous in color. A black, gray, and
blue boiling sky anxious to explode. Out of that sky forms a huge,
swirling vortex. A funnel cloud is forming. Followed by a lacy whirl of
dust. What one may mistake for dust devil, turns into something more. It
is not a wind devil. It is a psychopathic killer of nature. A force that
can not be reckoned with, literally. The Super-Outbreak is about to
begin.
CUT TO:
64. INT. CLASSROOM
- DAY. LAURA sits at the back of a classroom of HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.
CAMERA MOVES IN on her as a the ENGLISH TEACHER drones away at the front
of the room. We also see ANN and HOLLY sitting nearby.
ENGLISH
TEACHER(v.o.)
"....and basically
Ray Bradbury's book ends with the hope that the human race itself will
start over and take a different direction. One that is better and
beneficial to them and the Martians."
CAMERA MOVES to a
CLOSE-UP of LAURA. She barely listens to the teacher as she doodles in
her notebook in front of her.
ENGLISH
TEACHER(v.o.; cont.)
"You see, The
Martian Chronicles not only addresses the possibility of colonizing
another world, it also addresses the human condition. Of how bad we, as
a species, can be. It acts as a social commentary on the Western
frontier of the United States and its colonization, using the
colonization of Mars as the analogy. Like the character of Jeff Spender,
Bradbury's message is that some types of colonization are right and
others are wrong. Trying to recreate Earth is viewed as wrong, but an
approach that respects the fallen civilization that you are replacing is
right. Another interesting analogy is commentary on the Native
Americans, using the Martian race in that particular field. With the
human colonists as the equivalent of the Europeans who first came to
America."
LAURA lets her gaze
move to the window. She stares dreamily outside at the beautiful spring
day.
65. LAURA'S POV -
Old Shelbyville Road
From the window, we
can see old Shelbyville Road. Obviously, she would like to be outside at
the moment, enjoying the nice weather.
66. ANGLE ON LAURA
She turns away from
the window and starts to doodle again.
67. ANGLE ON THE
NOTEBOOK
We see Laura draw
the following:
LAURA SANDERSON AND
JAMES FARRELL
ALWAYS AND FOREVER,
UNTIL THE END.
68. ANGLE ON LAURA
She looks up from
her book, only this time, she is facing the direction that the teacher
is speaking from.
ENGLISH TEACHER
(v.o.; cont)
"How does Spender's
actions differ from those similar viewpoints that he shares with John
Wilder?"
69. ANGLE ON LAURA
She raises her
hand.
ENGLISH TEACHER
(v.o.; cont)
"Yes, Laura?"
LAURA
"Spender was of the
opinion that human nature would never change, once mankind had colonized
Mars. He was of the belief that the Martian culture had a history worth
protecting and saving. Worthy of being safeguarded from human folly and
self-destruction. Unlike John Wilder, Spender was willing to go all the
way by killing those that he felt represented the worst qualities of the
human race itself. He stated that humanity had a talent for ruining
beautiful and wonderful things."
ENGLISH TEACHER
(v.o.; cont)
"That's correct,
Laura. Jeff Spender had 'hit the nail on the head' so to speak with the
social commentary on the human condition. Of trying to touch something
and not really touching it. There by causing humanity to become
infuriated and ripping it apart. By changing it into something entirely
different..."
CUT TO:
70. EXT. SCHOOLYARD
- DAY. The playground is filled with junior high school students just
getting out for the day. Some are taking the bus home. Others are being
picked up or hitching a ride with older friends. Some are either riding
bicycles or motorscooters. We see the clock on the outside wall of the
building. It is now 2:30 PM. TOMMY RUTHERFORD is coming out of the door,
carrying his bookbag and is walking toward where is bike is chained up
along with others in a row. MICHAEL, CHRIS, and ROBERT are also walking
toward their parked bikes. These four youg men are definately like
Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'artangon. Or even Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp,
Virgil Earp, and Doc Holliday. A real tight clique. A small circle of
friends.
MICHAEL
"Hard to believe
that this year is the fifth anniversary of 'Man on the Moon.'
TOMMY
(looking up at the
sky)
"Time sure does fly
by. I can remember when 'The Wild Bunch' was playing over at Showcase
that summer."
CHRIS
(adjusting his
glasses on his nose)
"I'm still
surprised that you didn't get caught sneaking into that theater."
TOMMY
(shrugging and
unlocking the chain)
"When you got
friends on the inside, it pays off."
ROBERT
"Speaking of man
walking on the moon, is that subject being covered in history class,
yet?"
MICHAEL
"Sure as Sam Hill
is. We're covering the last part of the Sixties before summer vacation."
CHRIS
"Too bad they can't
show 'Medium Cool' in class. You want to talk about the Sixties, that
film clearly caught all of that turmoil."
TOMMY
(puzzled)
"I thought 'Easy
Rider" caught the feel of the Sixties?"
CHRIS
"Well...at least
the counterculture aspect of it."
ANGLE ON TOMMY
He looks to the
southwest and notices some cloud activity brewing up.
TOMMY
(pointing that
direction)
"Looks like we got
some rainy weather coming up."
WIDE SHOT ANGLE ON
THE FOUR
They see the same
thing. The dark clouds looking a bit ominous.
ROBERT
(a bit nervous)
"Let's get home
before we get soaked. And I don't mean by a spring shower, either."
TOMMY
(chuckling)
"Relax, Rob. It's
just a thundershower. They said there was a chance of that today.
Nothing to worry about."
CUT TO:
71. EXT. CHEROKEE
PARK - DAY Blue skies. PAN SLOWLY DOWN to Cherokee Park, Birds CHIRP in
the distance. A faint sprinkler SOUND is heard. Very sweet MUSIC is
playing. A young man is walking down a dirt road near Hogan's Fountain
on his way home. He kicks up little clouds of dust as he walks. He has
some time to think about things. He sees a green bottle in the distance,
while eating a sandwich which was wrapped in wax paper He gathers up a
few more rocks and pitches them one by one at the bottle. He misses.
Vague sunlight. Blurry. It is the very beginning of late afternoon, a
pink- red sun casting long oblique light patterns through the trees. A
holy light. Looking around this park area, he continues on through the
huge area of bushes and trees.
CUT TO:
EXT. COMMERCIAL
CORRIDOR OF BARDSTOWN ROAD and EASTERN PARKWAY INTERSECTION. We see
STEVEN AMBROSE walking westward, CAMERA TRACKING WITH HIM, along the
cold, hard sidewalk and eating a corned beef sandwhich he had just
purchased from Snyder's Delicatessen. While JENNIFER is at work, he
needed to get out of the house for a little bit. Sometimes, he visits
the used bookstores nearby.
ANGLE ON STEVEN
He is taking in the
spring weather as he approaches his home nearby. Rounding a corner, he
walks up the steps to his home's entrance. Taking out his house key, he
unlocks the door and steps through the threshhold. Closing the door
behind him.
72. INT. Walking
into the living room, he sits down in his recliner and props his feet
up. As he is just getting comfortable, the phone on the nightstand to
his left rings. He picks it up.
STEVEN
"Hello?"
JENNIFER(v.o.)
"It's me, honey."
STEVEN
"What's up?"
JENNIFER(v.o.)
"I just heard the
news. There is some severe weather making its way up here. So you might
want to keep an eye out."
STEVEN
(remembering what
he had imagined the night before)
"How bad is it?"
JENNIFER(v.o.)
"Don't know for
certain. You might want to tune into the news and see what is going on.
I'll be home as soon as I can."
STEVEN
"Okay. I'll keep my
eyes and ears opened. Love ya, babe."
JENNIFER(v.o.)
"Love ya, too. I'll
see you in a little bit."
STEVEN
"Okay."
STEVEN hangs up the
phone and decides to turn on the television. He gets up and turns on the
television. He changes the channel to WHAS - 11 and walks over to get
the portable radio that has been resting on the table nearby the window
sill on his left. He sits back down and watches the television screen
very closely. All that is on is a soap opera. He gets back up and goes
into the kitchen with the radio and turns it on. Setting the dial to
WHAS, he manages to catch a weather warning from one of the local radio
announcers'.
RADIO ANNOUNCER
"A tornado was
reported near Hardinsburg, and three miles northwest of Irvington, at
3:45 this afternoon. The severe thunderstorm warning has been changed to
a tornado warning for Metro Louisville and Jefferson County. Including
Meade, Hardin, and Bullitt Counties. And the Southern Indiana counties
of Clark, Harrison, and Floyd. Also, Oldham County in Kentucky. All of
those areas are under a tornado warning until 5:00 this afternoon. Again
repeating, a tornado warning is in effect for Metro Louisville and
Jefferson County until 5:00 this afternoon...
CUT TO:
72. EXT. BILL
JAMESON and KURTWOOD LARSON are driving their squad car down River Road,
heading back into downtown Louisville. JAMESON is at the wheel, while
LARSON is sitting in the passenger side,
listening to the
police band. He looks to his southwest, and notices the horizon. And the
clouds rolling. Although the skyline is blocking some of the clouds, a
frown comes across his darkly, handsome features. One of suspicion.
LARSON
(pointing to the
southwest)
"Bill, you see
that?"
JAMESON
(catching a quick
glimpse and frowning a bit, himself)
"I sure do. Looks
like a storm may be brewing up."
LARSON
"Did the local news
say anything about a chance of storms, today?"
JAMESON
(trying to recall)
"I think they might
have."
CU ON LARSON
(a bit concerned)
"Maybe we had
better check in and find out."
ANGLE ON LARSON.
The old police sergeant pulls out the CB handle and presses the send
switch on its side.
LARSON
"One Adam Fourteen
to central dispatch. Has there been a confirmation of bad weather coming
into the Metro Louisville area?"
POLICE CENTRAL
DISPATCH
(female voice)
"One Adam Fourteen,
there has been a confirmation of thunderstorm activity from the local
weather service. No sign of dangerous activity at this time."
LARSON
(not entirely
convinced)
"Very well,
dispatch. But continue monitoring and checking in with local weather
service."
POLICE CENTRAL
DISPATCH
"One Adam Fourteen,
transmission confirmed."
LARSON places the
handle back on its hook and pays closely attention to the police
broadband transmissions. JAMESON notices the look on LARSON'S face and
senses the same thing crossing his mind.
JAMESON
"Playing a hunch,
Kurt?"
LARSON
(sighing, but still
keeping his concerned eyes and ears opened)
"One that I hope is
still as ridiculous as it may sound."
CUT TO:
73. EXT(FX). Just
above the horizon in Southern Indiana, a huge clusters of clouds, dark
and ominous, are blown along by the wind. An F4 tornado touches down
near Monticello, Indiana. It begins its 121 mile swath through the area,
sending debris into the sky above and all directions. This tornado is
not like the one seen in The Wizard of Oz. It is worse than that.
CUT TO:
EXT. A quiet, rural
back road surrounded by fields. After a moment, the front of a 1968 red
Ford Mustang become visible as the vehicle rounds a bend, passes the
camera, and continues on down the roadway, disappearing around another
curve. The driver has obviously seen the twister and is making one hell
of a run for it.
CUT TO:
74. EXT. A road
lined with houses, sidewalks, and trees for as far as the eye can see.
It’s a dim, cloudy afternoon as the camera pans around to see parents
dropping their kids off at the bus stop, dull-colored leaves falling off
the trees and drifting through the air. The camera begins to elevate as
it completes its pan-around, settling at an angle about even with the
roofs of the houses and looking down the street as it stretches into the
distance. Once it comes to a stop.
CUT TO:
EXT. Another street
in the “downtown” section, with the camera crawling slowly and
horizontally down the facades of several little shops and a drug store.
CUT TO:
EXT. A bleak view
of a wooded area that’s one of the oldest parts of the town’s local
park. It’s nothing but open hills with masses of trees in the background
beneath a heartless, darkening, steel-gray sky. The spring day is not
bright and beautiful, but instead cold and cheerless, promising bad
weather. Even the brightest of the leaves are nearly subdued. The camera
slows when it reaches an old playground setup. The equipment consists of
only a slide, monkey bars, a see-saw, and a jungle gym. But most of the
wood is split and almost black with rot, the metal is dull in luster and
splotched with rust. Weeds and kudzu threaten to smother all of it. The
end of the see-saw sitting on the ground has almost disappeared into a
sea of leaves and stems. The jungle gym looks ready to collapse under
the weight of all the plant growth on top of it. We then begin to hear a
roar from above....
CUT TO:
FX
SEQUENCE-TORNADO. An F5 tornado forms in Xenia, Ohio. It begins its own
violent path of destruction, tearing through homes in that town and
other suburbs. It is soon an eventful sight that many will never forget.
CUT TO:
75/FX. EXT. An F4
tornado has formed and can be seen from the downtown area of Madison,
Indiana. It is approaching the downtown area at first, and then turns
away from it, before entering. Many people cannot believe what is
happening right above them, as black and green smoky colors are swirling
together. Close to the funnel are clouds of debris. Buildings and homes
are literally exploding.
CUT TO:
76/FX. EXT. Another
tornado begins forming from the dark ominous skies above. This time, it
touches near Hanover, Indiana. Two young men who have been packing some
belongings into their truck, near an old farm house and barn, see the
horrible sight nearby. A large gray-white funnel cloud disappears off to
the east in the haze of the storm, heading straight for the college town
and its unsuspecting population.
CUT TO:
EXT. We see a young
woman walking through a park-like area in Hanover. She lights the
cigarette in her lips as she leans against the massive trunk of a tree.
Her eyes are empty, their once bright green hue seeming to have now
faded to a melancholy gray. Against the setting, with her dark clothes
and pale complexion, the shot almost seems black-and-white. Color has
drained from her as life has. She notices the change of color in the sky
and hears the low roar of something from above. Almost off in the
distance, like a low flying passenger jet.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. The tornado
begins to blast its way through the college town in the Northeast region
of Southern, Indiana. Debris from buildings, houses, rofftops, etc, are
being hurled in every direction, followed by the sound of what could be
described as a low flying jet or a huge freight train.
CUT TO:
INT. In the
basement of one of the college campus buildings at Hanover, a young
woman looks out of the window cautiously, and notices a tree being
uprooted and jetted into the huge funnel cloud. Her expression on her
face says it all. She is literally stunned and frighteningly amazed at
the awesome fury and power that the tornado is wielding.
YOUNG WOMAN
"Jesus H.
Christ!!!"
CUT TO:
77/FX. EXT. It is
sometime before 3:00 PM, as a huge twister forms in New Salisbury,
Indiana. It appears to be an F5. From the porch of a house owned by a
retired Indiana State Trooper named Donald Mayden, the former law
enforcement officer begns shooting pictures of the twister as it rips
through the area. A house is lifted off of its foundation and sat back
down almost instantly. Unfortuantely, a cow was underneath the
superstructure.
CUT TO:
78. EXT. Near
Highway 150 and Wingler Road just east of Palmyra, Indiana, debris from
the two motor homes just obliterated by the tornado, have been scattered
all over the landscape. They have been tossed several hundred feet and
crushed. It is almost as if the Devil himself has paid a visit to the
area.
WE INTERCUT WITH
two more F/X shots. One of a tornado touching down near Hamburg, Indiana
and oblitering everything in its path. The other of a tornado forming
and touching down in Sellersburg, Indiana. The funnel cloud rips apart
everything and scatters debris in all directions. Some people make it to
safety, while others do not. It is all terrifying in its grisly glory.
INTERCUT TO a
backyard in Sellersburg, where a fourteen year old boy is blown through
the screen door of his house. He is hurled back with such violent force,
it is shocking.
CUT TO:
79/FX. EXT. The
worst is yet to come. Near the rolling hills along the Ohio River, in
the small, quaint river town of Brandenburg, Kentucky. The town of
Brandenburg in Meade County is small and sprawling, spread out across
the open plains and near the banks of the Ohio, and much the same size
as Radcliff. The clouds hang low as children and their parents littered
the streets. It was just like any other American town on this day. Dark
clouds begin to form. Dark, rolling, swirling, and boiling clouds of a
sinister nature. And it is getting darker and bigger by the second. It
is hot and a bit muggy, as hard rain, moderate wind, and some hail begin
to come down. Coming up from High Street, to the intersection where
Phillips Memorial Church stood, is someone on a motorcycle. The young
man with a canary-yellow colored helmet is obviously trying to seek
shelter from the rain. Other citizens of the small town are doing the
same. After a few minutes, the rain and hail stop, but there is an eerie
silence over the land.
CUT TO:
80. EXT. Two
teenage women walking down one of the roads of residential Brandenburg,
passing through a more rural area where crop fields reign and houses are
spread pretty far from one another. The flat, rolling fields match the
drab, gray tone of the day. One of them displays a scarecrow in the
distance, its outstretched arms spindly and old. Its torso is covered
with a torn, ragged shroud, its shadowy, nondescript face is trapped in
an expression of a haunting moan. A somewhat lengthy area of weeds and
tall grass. A building housing some restrooms is seated far back from
the rest of the old farmland, and like the other structures, is old and
ramshackle. Ivy twists in and out of the cracks in the gray, faded, weak
wood. The doors leading to both facilities repeatedly blow open and
closed in the wind for the absence of locks, obviously broken or rusted
off long ago. A house with the highest vantage point in Brandenburg,
surrounded by rolling hills and
fertile pastures for livestock is seen. Beyond the back pasture, we can
see down Fairgrounds Road. We can also see the sky darkening and the
wind growing stronger. A black funnel shaped cloud begins to form over
Highway 79.
CUT TO:
81. EXT.
Brandenburg Mayor Henry "Monk" Ross is giving the school superintendent
a tour of the local high school, when the clouds above become something
very fierce and frightening.
ANGLE ON ROSS
We can tell by the
look on his face that he knows what is coming. He looks over at the
superintendent.
ROSS
(worriedly)
"We'd better get to
cover!"
SUPERINTENDENT
(looking at the
clouds)
"It's just a storm.
It doesn't look that bad."
CU ON ROSS
(shaking his head)
"No, we need to get
to cover right now!"
CUT TO:
82. EXT. A Blue
1972 Ford Toranado making a turn towards the camera from a stop sign and
rolling through a residential area. The sidewalks and road are buried in
a mess of sticks, pine straw, and leaves from the bare trees in the
houses’ lawns. The vehicle crunches over a particularly sizable mass of
debris as it swings into a driveway and climbs a mild incline, stopping
just to the right of the concrete path that leads up to the house’s
front stairs. The river, a young man in a long-sleeved, green shirt and
blue jeans, turns off the car and gets out. He ventures up the concrete
path to the stairs and rings the front doorbell once he reaches the
porch. It takes a moment, but the door is eventually opened by a man who
appears to be in his early forties, dressed in a black, long-sleeved
shirt and black-dress pants with a pointed, silver Cross hanging around
his neck. He has a white collar around his neck. His short, black hair
is combed back, his beard neatly trimmed. He is a Catholic Priest, who
senses something is dreadfully wrong. The priest is sweeping his eyes
over the calm, windswept fields nearby and the stretch of woods farther
back.
CUT TO:
INT. The single
window in a young woman's bedroom, the curtains parted and looking out
at the ceaselessly dreary day. The sky is still heavy, the clouds
progressively darkening. The woman, a tall, slender, dark-haired form
dressed in a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans seated on the bed, turns her
head to gaze through it with visible apprehension on her face…her eyes
vigilant. She stares out at the beginning of the stormy weather through
the single window, watching the raindrops pour down the outside of the
glass surface.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. The trees
stretch in the howling wind, but it is motionless. The leaves swirl on
the ground at its feet. The western sky behind it is dark. The colors of
the dying sun that streak the clouds are muted. The gray is predominant.
The dense mass of nearly stripped trees surrounding the house blocks out
enough sunlight even without the help of the darkening blanket of clouds
above. And the late afternoon sun is fading, anyhow. Subtle bands of
yellow and orange are lightly beginning to stripe the thinner parts of
the gray shroud on the horizon. Directly above, it seems to be getting
heavier, bleaker. The wind suddenly gusts and tears through, hurling the
leaves on the ground back into the air. The trees sway, the house moans.
There’s the ghostly, distant ringing of old, out-of-tune wind chimes. A
jagged bolt of lightning streaking brightly across the sky is seen.
Thunder booms with it as we see something looming in the driving rain.
When lightning flashes again, it illuminates the what it is. Distant
thunder and trees are rustling in the wind, followed by a mass of
clouds.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. We see a
boiling wall of dark gray clouds moving along the ground,
as it cuts across Main Street and
the center of Brandenburg. buildings explode, blow apart, and
disintergrate as the F5 tornado rips apart the small river town. Sending
objects of all kinds flying through the air, large and small, trees,
houses, limbs, lumber, glass, roofing, straw and insulation. We even see
people; men, women, and children killed instantly by this violently
powerful force of nature. It is something unimaginable,
incomprehensible, and hard to believe. Lightning is striking with a
crash of thunder as the CAMERA PANS DOWN from the restless sky to the
steeple of an old church in the middle of a vast area of hills, fields,
and woods. The building actually seems to be a few centuries old, made
mostly of stone, with a broad, wooden roof. The stained glass windows
adorning it once brightened with the sudden clear illumination from the
sky. Now it has darkened from the storm. A little grassy hill near the
old church is blasted by the tornado. A CONCUSSION like a thunderclap
right overhead blows in all the windows facing the yard.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. The
jutting, medieval-looking spikes, the pillars of wood, the altar, the
glass skylight with a perfect view of the full, cloud-streaked sky, the
only pillar that intersected with a myriad of crossbeams running just
below the skylight in the roof, vertical patterns of bricks stretching
to the ground that stuck out from the surface of the exterior wall, are
now scattered all over the area as the tornado mows it down. A clearing
leading to a dirt road that goes to the main highway is also not spared.
Including a run-of-the-mill residence on some neighborhood street. A
long trail of gravel, with the view cutting behind it to show the large,
dark, run-down building at the end of the path. And a blue, two-story
house planted on a street corner with short, wooden stairs leading up to
the back porch.
FADE OUT:
FADE IN:
BLACK SCREEN
BACKGROUND. SUPERIMPOSE ON WHITE FONT:
LOUISVILLE,
KENTUCKY
APRIL 3, 1974 -
4:08 PM
DISSOLVE TO:
83/FX. EXT. FLOYD
KNOBS, INDIANA. SLOW PAN as the sound of stray electrical CRACKLING
subsides. FRAME comes to rest on the figure of a young man kneeling,
faced away, in a previously empty yard. He stands, slowly. The man is in
his late thirties, tall and powerfully built, moving with graceful
precision. He glances down, taking calm inventory of himself, and walks
toward the fence, scanning his surroundings. CAMERA MOVES UP as the
young man approaches the schoolyard fence beyond which is an embankment
rolling down to New Albany, the Ohio River, and the cityscape of
Louisville below. The dark clouds are shot through with occasional
flashes of LIGHTNING, presaging a thunderstorm. The young man stands,
hands on hips in perfect symmetry, gazing down at the city and the dark
clouds rolling in from the southwest as the CAMERA REACHES FULL HEIGHT.
CUT TO:
84. EXT.
LOUISVILLE. We see from the ground, CAMERA TRACKING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT,
a canary yellow tinted helicopter flying over the Dixie Highway,
Watterson Expressway area. On the starboard landing leg are the words
WHAS. On the tail section are the numbers 84. On the starboard side of
the bubble-shaped cockpit are the identification numbers N840E. It is
the 84 WHAS Traffic Helicopter, piloted by WHAS Radio's "Traffic
Tracker", DICK GILBERT. A middle aged man with graying hair,
weatherbeaten face, and a mustache. A veteran helicopter pilot wearing
sunglasses, a baseball-like cap, and a radioheadset on top of it. We
hear the helicopter's familiar sound as it flies over the Churchill
Downs racetrack.
POV - THROUGH FRONT
OF COCKPIT
We see the
Churchill Downs racetrack and building complex from above. From up in
the air, the racetrack looks really magnificent on the ground. The twin
spires in all its splendor still give an historic quality to the famous
racetrack. Up ahead, along the southwestern horizon, towards Fort Knox,
we see a hazy visibility, with a definite chartreuse tint to it. The
visibility are the dark clouds that are beginning to form into something
very scary.
ANGLE and CU ON
DICK GILBERT.
He looks hard at
the hazy visibility in the southwest and frowns a little. Years of
experience as a pilot have taught him that such conditions usually
precede rough thunderstorms. He tilts the helicopter's control stick to
the left and makes a left turn.
EXT. We see from
the ground the 84 WHAS helicopter turning a smooth left in the sky
above. The sound of the copter blades and familiar helicopter engine
sound filling the air with its low, choppy, buzzing, rumble.
POV - THROUGH FRONT
OF COCKPIT
We see the turn
being made inside the cockpit, and we see the ground rush by below us.
As the turn is completed, the helicopter straightens as GILBERT flies
toward the Standiford Field area. He taps a button on the console in
front of him and speaks into the headset's microphone.
GILBERT
"Standiford
Control, this is Eighty Four Echo. I'm going to be heading out into
Bowman Field's control zone. Looks like there is some nasty weather
brewing up in the southwest. Over."
STANDIFORD CONTROL
(v.o.)
(male voice)
"Roger that, Eighty
Four Echo. We see it too. The boys at the National Weather Service are
tracking the storm right now. You're clear to pass. Good luck, Dick."
GILBERT
"Thanks,
Standiford. See you in a little bit. Eighty Four Echo is clear."
Gilbert taps
another button on the console and speaks to the Bowman Field tower on
another frequency.
GILBERT
"Bowman Control,
this is Eighty Four Echo. Request permission to enter your control zone,
over."
EXT. WIDE SHOT of
the 84 WHAS helicopter passing over the Standiford Field Airport
Complex, heading east over the Watterson Expressway. WE ZOOM IN SLOWLY
on the huge building and its control tower.
CUT TO:
85. INT. THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. A huge and busy place full of technical and
computer equipment. Twenty Four hours a day, seven days a week, every
year, weather personnel are constantly monitoring the weather and the
surprises that it often reveals. Like the United States Air Force's
SAC/NORAD division and it personnel, the staff are constantly watching
and monitoring atmospheric activity. Only instead of incoming aircraft
and ICBM launches, they are watching for a surprise attack from a
different foreign power. MOTHER NATURE, herself.
We see forecast
intern RUSS CONGER, a balding man near middle age, wearing glasses, and
studying the radar nearby. Having reported earlier for his 4:00 PM to
12:00 AM shift, he has been watching this atmospheric disturbance on the
World War II - era radar equipment for over half an hour. His duty is to
record weather observations. Nearby, we hear JOHN BURKE, the
MIC(Meteorlogist In Charge) speaking to GLEN BASTIN at WHAS on the
phone. The weatherman in his late forties, with graying hair and glasses
is given a weather report by DAVE REEVES, one of the other meteorlogists
on duty. REEVES, a man in his early forties has a concerned look on his
face. BURKE notices this and nods both his concern and acknowledgement.
BURKE
(speaking into the
phone)
"We have a hook
echo on the radar. About 20 miles, southwest of Louisville. Moving
northeast about 45 to 50 miles per hour. This storm will move through
Jefferson County in a northeasterly direction. And reports have
indicated up to this time this is a tornado. We have reports from
Hardinsburg, they saw it there. They saw it at Irvington, and it is
headed in our direction. So generally, people should take precautions
for the next twenty to thirty minutes. Looks like a blow right through
Jefferson County, Glen. I feel now, that the way it is headed, it's
going to track from about 240 degrees from the southwest to the airport.
I just hesitate to say any specific areas in the county, but I just feel
she is going to blow right across the county."
BURKE
(looking down at
the paper Reeves handed to him)
"Dave Reeves just
handed me another report: 6 miles WSW of Brandenburg, close to Midway, a
tornado near US highway 60, so there again..."
GLEN BASTIN(v.o.)
"John, could you
give us quickly some safety rules, people in their homes, what they
should do?"
BURKE
(looking over at
the radar screen)
"At this time, the
best thing to do . . . get your portable radio, so you can stay tuned to
the radio station, head for the basement, SW corner of the basement. If
possible, get under a workbench or some sturdy piece of furniture. If
you have no basement, you head for an inside room which has walls that
are not too far apart, hopefully with enough support above you that
nothing will come down on top of you."
ANGLE ON RADAR
IMAGE
We can see a
disturbance over a faint radar image of both Indiana and Kentucky. Not
only does the outline of the storm cell look meancing, but the formation
of a hook echo also does not look promising. WE HOLD ON THE IMAGE as we
hear Burke speaking.
BURKE(v.o.)
"Those in mobile
homes and whatnot hopefully can find some shelter outside of the mobile
home - mobile homes are very vulnerable to this type activity. I don't
want to get people overly concerned; I know this excites people to a
great extent, but nevertheless, they should take these reasonable
precautions and not get overly excited, because they will hear it coming
- if it did come in their direction."
WE CUT BACK to
Burke speaking on the phone to the WHAS radio announcer. He turns his
attention back to the printout. We also see a clock on the wall that
says 4:15 PM.
BURKE
"The noise
associated with these is very loud, so they should hear the noise
associated with these storms. But, by all means, I would certainly
suggest heading for shelter, which, as I say, in a basement or an inside
room, during the next 45 minutes to an hour. And, take the radio along
so you can stay on top of this."
BASTIN(v.o.;cont)
"John, we'll let
you get back to the radar screen. Thank you much."
BURKE
"Okay, Glen. You're
welcome."
He hangs up the
phone and returns his attention to the radar screen, and the ghostly
outline of the storm front coming there way.
CUT TO:
86. The interiors
of 84 WHAS, inside the studio building of WHAS TV - 11 news in downtown
Louisville, on Chestnut Street. We are introduced to the staff on duty.
News Director GLEN BASTIN, an older man with thinning hair and a neatly
trimmed beard. Radio announcer and personality JEFF DOUGLAS, a young man
with longish brown hair. And CHUCK PATYK. From the look of things within
the radio station's studios, the atmosphere is a bit tense. Bordering a
bit on the grim side.
BASTIN
(looking over at
Jeff Douglas)
"Jeff?"
DOUGLAS
"Okay. Glen Bastin
chatting with the Chief Meteorologist...is that who we called? John
Burke and bringing us a complete update picture on the weather
situation. And of course as more as it happens at WHAS. Thank you, Glen.
And it's 4:18."
ANGLE ON DOUGLAS
(speaking into
microphone and tapping a button on the console board)
"All right, Traffic
Tracker Gilbert, it's a wild afternoon, and you are a service of Beef &
Boards dinner theater, Simpsonville, where you dine in elegance and see
a Broadway show for one low price. Dick..."
GILBERT(v.o.)
"Well, we do have a
pretty wild and rugged weather picture on our hands here, so be prepared
for it as you are driving. The pavements are wet now throughout the
driving area. I haven't made it out to the extreme northeast corner yet,
but, the rest of the picture has wet pavements all the way, lightning
and gusty winds, and sprinkles and bursts and gusts of rain here and
there. So, watch it, and traffic is starting to slow down as you might
expect it would under these conditions."
CUT TO:
INT. The cockpit of
the traffic helicopter as it flies toward the Watterson Expressway and
Shelbyville Road area. Already, it is beginning to rain and the wind is
beginning to blow a bit stronger. GILBERT activates the windshield
wipers on the outside front of the aircraft, which begins erasing sheets
of rain. He is currently flying over Taylorsville Road, heading
northeast from Bowman Field.
EXT. CAMERA
TRACKING RIGHT TO LEFT - we see wisps of dark clouds slowly moving by
from the port side of SkyWatch 84(archive footage from WHAS - possibly
Winds Of Destruction documentary video).
GILBERT
(speaking into
headset microphone)
"Westbound on the
Watterson, we have very heavy traffic it looks like a morning situation.
Starting back at Taylor Boulevard, I'm sorry, at Taylorsville Road, and
it's running very slowly and heavily to the top of the hill as we get
over near Poplar Level. Eastbound, we're tightening up back at Taylor
Boulevard, and running heavily all the way out to Durrett Lane."
EXT. CAMERA
TRACKING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT as we see the traffic copter fly over both
Taylorsville Road and the huge Watterson Expressway. We also see cars
moving along the highway below. Going either east or west, coming on or
getting off the expressway.
GILBERT(v.o.)
"The southwest. . .
I couldn't get out to into the extreme southwest on Dixie Highway and
out in the Pleasure Ridge Park area. The weather looked a little bit
suspicious out there, so you folks out there will have to be on your own
for a little bit. But the Outer Loop around the Kentucky Turnpike looked
pretty good, and Preston is still doing a nice job - no delays over a
block long at any of the lights there. Southbound on 1-65, starting to
slow down now at the horse barns, running a bit heavily out to the
Watterson interchange. Drive carefully, Dick Gilbert, Skywatch 84."
DOUGLAS
"All right, a
tornado warning in effect until 5:00 for Metro Louisville
tonight. We will continue with music Good and Gold. We will, of course
interrupt for all important weather information."
CUT TO:
87/FX. EXT. The
storm finally begins to billow over the city, from the southwest.
Lightning flashes above the clouds, flickering like Christmas lights
covered in angel hair. A drizzle, thrashed by wind and building
steadily, sends the swarming Louisvillians indoors. Unnatural
greenish-gray clouds from the southwest roll in thicker and thicker,
expelling their weight in crashing torrents and discharging their fury
in flashing, jagged arcs. The grumbling and crowing of restless thunder
would have smothered the sound of jet engines from anyone else’s
hearing. The cloud builds its charge like an airborne generator readying
to release. Crackling power blossoms like a white rose high above. The
flower explodes! A flashing ribbon shoots forth. The energy splashing
over the skies in an electric wave, as tiny blue arcs scramble down the
clouds. The bolt lashes out. At light speed, the fiery tongue of
lightning licks the ground near Iroquois Park, in the south end of
Louisville. From above, something begins to dip down from the dark
clouds above. For a moment it is there, and then it moves over Iroquois
Hill. It begins lowering again as it approaches the flat, open expanse
of Standiford Field.
CUT TO:
88. EXT. PLEASURE
RIDGE PARK. At the intersection of Dixie Highway and Greenwood Road. We
see someone drive a fancy looking Harley-Davidson motorcycle into the
parking lot of the local White-Castle hamburger restaurant. A large,
powerfully built, handsome, bronze-skinned young man with an
intimidating size and presence. A gentle giant who is too blond and
Nordic to be believed. His name is SHANE McCLOUD. He is in his late
thirties and a former Air Policeman in the United States Air Force. Like
STEVEN AMBROSE, he, too, is someone who wants to take up his life back
with his family and forget everything that he saw in Vietnam. He works
as a police detective for the Louisville Police Department. Having just
finished his shift, he is stopping for a quick bite to eat before
heading back to his house.
As he shuts off the
engine to his bike, he looks at the darkening skies above. They are
almost turning pitch black. He is keeping his walkie-talkie close by and
keeps the channel opened. Frowning as he is walking into White-Castle,
he looks suspiciously at the sky. It is almost becoming pitch black. He
looks at his watch as the street lights come on. He knows that something
is not right with this picture.
CUT TO:
89. F/X EXT. DIXIE
HIGHWAY WEST - RAIN - AFTERNOON. Many headlights appear in the darkness,
backlighting the rain that pours down on the busy strip of highway. One
of the vehicles, a Ford pickup truck HISSES along the wet road surface.
INT. FORD PICKUP -
AFTERNOON. The back end is covered with a topper, that has the same
color as the truck. Scarlet Red. PAMELA MICHELLE "MIKKI" WHITTINGTON,
35, drives. The pleasantly plump and attractive brunette, who is a
school teacher for Jefferson County,
is
dressed in a crisp, blue shirt. She is also recently widowed. Next to
her in the passenger seat is her brother, RON SANDERSON,
33, an office worker for the city
of Louisville. He has wavy brown hair, sideburns, small moustache,
sneering smile, and crooked teeth. He flips through pages in a manila
folder, while listening to 84 WHAS. Both he and his sister had taken a
personal day off from work and are returning from their parents home in
Valley Station.
MIKKI
(looking through
the windshield)
"You think cousin
Laura is being affected by this weather?"
RON
(turning his
attention to the sky)
"It doesn't look
like it's out that far. At least not yet."
MIKKI
(catching a glimpse
of the radio while driving)
"This has got to be
a bad one. If it can get this dark enough for the street lights to come
on..."
RON
(placing the folder
on the front dashboard)
"Hold that thought,
sis. I think we're about to hear a weather report."
ANGLE ON RADIO. We
hear Jeff Douglas speaking over the radio speakers.
DOUGLAS(v.o.)
"A lot of people
leaving their work now, getting into cars. And, let me briefly review
the weather situation - there are severe thunderstorm warnings for a
good portion of this area, including Metro Louisville and Southern
Indiana. But, more importantly, now, we have a tornado warning which
includes all of Metro Louisville and surrounding areas. This is a
warning; it will be in effect until 5:00 tonight, so be on
the lookout, be on guard."
MIKKI
(looking a bit
scared)
"Oh my, God..."
DOUGLAS(v.o.;
cont.)
"We reviewed the
rules, the suggestions for what you should do if you should spot a
tornado. It might be a good idea to keep a lookout. There have been
numerous, numerous sightings in and around the area of tornadoes. Not
trying to alarm anyone, but we want you to be aware of the situation and
know that, should something happen, you can take cover. Now, we are told
that tornadoes make a good deal of noise, so you'll probably hear one if
one is around. And, like I said, keep an eye out for tornadoes - at
least until 5:00. We'll have updates until then from the Weather
Bureau and the Weather Service. Alrighty? OK. We'll continue with music
from WHAS and Jeff Douglas, it's 4:25. This is Sammy Jo, and
'Tell me a lie'..."
ANGLE ON RON
(he looks a little
worried)
"A tornado warning
for Louisville? That's insane!"
ANGLE ON MIKKI
(she notices
something to her left, off in the distance.)
"Maybe not, big
brother. Look at that!"
ANGLE ON RON
(looking to his
left, he can see whatever it is, too)
"Holy Shit, shove
me in it!!"
90/FX. POV THROUGH
THE WINDSHIELD - TO THE LEFT - ON GREENWOOD ROAD. Through the rain we
see a funnel cloud forming in the short distance. About three or four
blocks away. It is definately a tornado, and it looks like it may
touchdown.
RON
(worriedly)
"I think we're in
trouble..."
91. EXT. The rain
stops and there is an eerie silence. McCLOUD exits the White Castle with
a sack of hamburgers and a cold drink. He notices the rain having
stopped and the silence. He also notices the funnel cloud in the
distance. To his northeast. Although the funnel has not touched down, he
knows exactly what it is.
McCLOUD
(a bit shocked)
"Oh, shit!"
McCLOUD pulls out
his communicator and speaks into it immediately. He still keeps an eye
on the small tornado that appears to be getting larger. It is something
that will be seared into his mind for life.
McCLOUD
(barking into the
walkie-talkie)
"Central, this is
Inspector Seventy Four! We have a tornado forming over at Terry and
Greenwood!!! Repeat, I've spotted a tornado at Terry and Greenwood!!!
Notify weather and emergency services, immediately!!!"
McCLOUD hops onto
his bike, places his late sack lunch in the small basket in front of
him. Within seconds, he is gunning the engine of his motorcycle and
peeling out of the parking lot in a hurry. CRAINING UP from the White
Castle to a HIGH SHOT of the neighborhood, we see McCLOUD and his
motorcycle exiting the parking lot and heading down Greenwood Road,
toward the area where Terry Road intersects with Greenwood. We see the
funnel cloud still swirling and and the sounds of both POLICE and AIR
DEFENSE SIRENS rising in the distance.
INTERCUT WITH a
family(mother, father, son, two daughters, and a dog)in the basement of
a house just one block away from Terry and Greenwood. They are listening
to WHAS on the small portable radio nearby.
CUT TO:
92. INT. 84 WHAS
STUDIOS - NEWSROOM. Various station personnel are rushing back and
forth, speaking on the phones, trying to find out what is going on from
various sources. It is very busy and the atmosphere is quite tense.
Bordering on hectic. Phones are ringing off of the hook and people are
running around. The switchboard really lights up.
The atmosphere in
the RADIO STUDIOS is also pretty hectic. While various station personnel
are busy working and trying to find out the seriousness of the
developing severe weather, CHUCK PATYK cuts in on the air, as JEFF
DOUGLAS is stopping the broadcast of Sammy Jo's mellow song. PATYK is
speaking seriously into the broadcast microphone, while DOUGLAS is
manning the board.
PATYK
"Chuck Patyk, WHAS
news. County police report a tornado sighted at Terry and Greenwood in
the southwest section of Jefferson County. They say the tornado is
moving in a path directly north. At this time, people in that area
should take cover immediately. Again, Jefferson County police report a
tornado sighted at Terry and Greenwood, in southwest Jefferson County.
People should take cover at this time. Take a portable radio with you if
you can, and keep posted on the weather. We might, at this point, while
we have this tornado sighted in Metro Louisville, go over some of the
safety rules that you can take at this point to protect yourself from
any damage."
In the background,
we see BERT BROHMAN, a heavy set man in his early forties, with brown
hair, that is receding a bit. The news photographer, with a bit of a
widow's peak, is listening in on the live broadcast and is immediately
gathering his video equipment.
PATYK
(continuing)
"In a home, move to
a basement, if possible. The southwest corner is probably the safest -
offers the greatest protection. In a factory, move to an interior
section, which offers the greatest protection. If you're in open
country, as you might be in the southwest part of the county, move away
from the tornado if you sight it, at a path at right angles to the
tornado. If there's no time to escape from the winds, lie flat in the
nearest depression, such as a ditch or ravine. Again, via the Jefferson
County police, a tornado sighted. Terry and Greenwood in southwest
Jefferson County, just slightest west of Shively. It is moving toward
the north. If you live in that area, be prepared to move to a place of
safety right now. Take cover. We'll be back in a just few minutes with
more information."
DOUGLAS
(coming on)
"Okay, let's just
do that one more time. Where it was spotted. So that people won't, you
know, panic about it..."
PATYK
"It was sighted at
Terry and Greenwood..."
DOUGLAS
(cutting in,
repeating)
"Terry and
Greenwood..."
PATYK
"In the southwest
part of the county. And it is reportedly moving directly north at this
time."
DOUGLAS
"Alrighty, it is
4:28. We are at...we'll try to keep you updated on this weather
information. And we will continue to do so until the situation is
entirely past. Let's see what it looks like from the air with our
Traffic Tracker Dick Gilbert - he is a service of Louisville Trust Bank.
Dick..."
GILBERT(v.o.)
"Well, I'm out over
Oxmoor shopping center now, at the Watterson and Shelbyville Road, and
checking out the eastern quadrant here. Flashes of lightning now and
then, and there's light rain on the bubble. All of the pavements are
wet. Traffic is very heavy, and it has slowed down significantly, as you
might expect under these conditions. The Watterson, for example, is
already very heavy, both east and westbound. Westbound, it looks like a
morning situation - we're tightening at Taylorsville Road, and it's
running rather slowly westbound all the way over into the Poplar Level
area. Let's see here. . . I don't actually physically see any tornado
activity at the moment, but it does look highly suspicious down there
beyond the Iroquois Park area and out in the southwest. So, that appears
to be the area that's affected at the moment."
CUT TO:
93/FX. EXT. WIDE
SHOT. We see the WHAS Traffic helicopter flying over Oxmoor Center and
furthur on down Shelbyville Road. We can see the cloudy sky, along with
the occasional flashes of lightning and the blasts of rain. The clouds
are becoming more sinister and dark looking with each passing second.
Blue, green, purple, and some other colors signaling the birth of a
tornado that is about to form.
POV SHOT - THROUGH
COCKPIT BUBBLE. We can see the Louisville skyline being covered by the
violent thunderstorm. The appearance almost reminds us of a bathtub
overflowing. It is frightening to even look at Mother Nature's fury from
a safe distance.
ANGLE ON GILBERT
"All in all, I know
of no specific accidents and so forth. Wet pavements, strong, gusty
winds (I can certainly testify to those!). So, be extra careful,
particularly on bridges and overpasses. Dick Gilbert, SkyWatch 84."
INT. WHAS STUDIOS.
The staff is still monitoring the weather situation, when CHUCK PATYK
tells JEFF DOUGLAS that he has JOHN BURKE on the speakerphone. Something
is definately happening and they can only imagine what it is. DOUGLAS
stops both the WHAS and KENTUCKY WILDCATS commercial.
DOUGLAS
"OK,
let's cut in here. Chuck Patyk is here with a phone call. Chuck..."
PATYK
"OK,
John Burke is on the phone, and he's about to leave the Weather Service.
I understand you've got the tornado sighted there?"
BURKE(v.o.)
"No, I don't see a
tornado, but here comes the wind! We're hitting winds up to . . . Good
gracious sakes alive!"
PATYK
"How high is the
windspeed at this time?"
BURKE(v.o.;
cont.)
"There's 50 right
there. By golly, the whole thing's going! Hear it? I'm going! Goodbye!"
CUT TO:
94. INT. NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE at STANDIFORD FIELD. We see the weather personnel
on duty. The secretary is rushing to the nearest exit of the office,
while some of the other personnel are busy monitoring the storm on the
radar, manning the teletypes, the phones, etc. We just know that
something is going to happen, and that everyone is just powerless to
prevent it. Let alone stop it. JOHN BURKE is on the phone at RUSS
CONGER'S desk, talking to the staff at WHAS radio, when an electronics
technician sticks his head out of the radar room. By the look on the
young man's face, he is both surprised and scared out of his wits.
ELECTRONICS
TECHNICIAN
(yelling)
"There's a tornado
about two and a half miles away!!"
The staff runs to
the windows to look. POV SHOT - THE WINDOWS(FX). There are a lot of
low-hanging clouds, but no cyclonic rotation. The low clouds seem to be
converging, then the anemometer on Standiford Field's runway begins to
pick up. First a steady 40 knots. Then 50. Followed by 60. And finally,
70 knot winds. Finally rocks start to fly off the roof and hailstones
start to hit the windows. A lowered cloud base along the edge of the
storm is clearly evident. The top floor of the terminal building offers
an unobstructed view of the storm. As the lowered cloud base moves
overhead, we can observed the funnel cloud forming and we are able to
even see small scale circulations within the descending vortex. A
whirling mass up to a quarter-mile wide and packing winds of up to 250
miles per hour.
Finally, a
rectangular wedge-shaped funnel cloud begins to develop and form right
in the airport's parking lot. A roaring black hell has come to earth as
it descends to touch the ground. A lethal tongue from a sociopathic
killer of nature. An instrument shelter, bolted to a rooftop deck,
collapses on its side in front of the window. The tornado circulation
had reached the roof without a visible funnel. An I-beam, ripped from
the rooftop is thrown onto a car in the adjacent parking lot. The staff
at the weather service has just witnessed the violent birth of an F4
twister. For the third time in 84 years, an explosive, unwelcomed freak
of nature has come to the River City. The Louisville tornado of April 3,
1974 has come!
ELECTRONICS
TECHNICIAN
"Dear, God
Almighty!!!"
Everyone rushes out
of the room and begins to head downstairs. JOHN BURKE, who was right
next to the window, also makes a run for it. We can hear the roar of the
tornado has it begins heading past the EXECUTIVE INN hotel and heading
right into the LOUISVILLE FAIRGROUNDS.
95/FX. EXT. Two
service workers at the Kentucky and Fair Exposition Center can see the
tornado cloud plowing its way toward them. The tornado almost looks like
a huge, V-shaped piece of dark plastic.
1st SERVICE WORKER
"Jesus H. Christ,
Palomino!!!"
2nd SERVICE WORKER
"Let's get the hell
out of here!!!"
The workers rush
into the building and make way to the nearest emergency shelter. We can
hear the air defense sirens blaring over the roar of the F4 tornado. We
can see it rip three huge holes in the roof of Freedom Hall, followed by
doing the same thing to East Wing.
CUT TO:
FX/INT. Inside of
Freedom Hall. We hear a huge explosion as we see the three large holes
being ripped out of the top of the roof. We also hear something like a
vacuum and a howling of violent winds.
INTERCUT WITH
The inside of the
East Wing, as the impact causes the same act of major destruction.
Howling winds and pieces of shrapnel are going everywhere.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. The tornado
cuts across the Fairgrounds at an angle, literally turning and blowing
over eight cars, some trailers, and finally, obliterating all thirty
horse barns. The middle of the twisting funnel cloud is composed of
debris and other forms of wreckage. We see twenty of the horse barns in
the air, near the North-South Expressway and violently crashing down. As
it makes its way across I-65, cars and other vehicles go flying through
the air and off to the side.
WE INTERCUT with
MONTAGES of the drivers of those vehicles as they react in both horror
and moral terror at the weather monstrosity unfolding before them. Some
scream out as they are thrown over by the violent force of the F4
tornado. We even see someone riding a motorcycle being hurled through
the air and off into the Preston Highway area. Thankfully, the driver of
the motorbike was helmeted. He finds himself landing softly in a tree
and his motorcycle crashing into the roof of some building, exploding on
impact.
CUT TO:
Near the
Ralston-Purina plant, a van going down I-65 pulls off to the side, near
the exit lane to the Fairgrounds, as the driver and passengers watch at
the awesome horror cutting over the interstate about a mile from them.
Some cars and other vehicles that were driving by have been blown over
by the monstrous twister. Semi-trailer trucks and automobiles are
scattered in all directions.
DRIVER
"Oh my, Lord!"
1st PASSENGER
"That's a goddamned
tornado!"
2nd PASSENGER
"You think?!"
3rd PASSENGER
"That's good enough
for me!"
The 3rd Passenger
immediately gets out of the back seat and opens the van door, despite
the protests from the other passengers.
CU ON 1st PASSENGER
"Where are you
going, man?!"
3rd PASSENGER
"I'm not taking any
chances with a tornado! Especially that one!"
POV SHOT - The 3rd
Passenger begins running down the exit lane toward the gas station
across the street from the fairgrounds. He makes his way to a pay phone,
despite all of the chaos erupting around him.
3rd PASSENGER
(muttering more to
himself)
"I'll have my
mother come get me, instead of driving near that son of a bitch!"
CUT TO:
96/FX. EXT. WIDE
SHOT: The F4 tornado cuts a track across I-65 and into a trailer park
right by the Twilight Drive-In. One of natures most explosive,
spectacular, and dangerous events rips through the drive in, blowing the
screen apart and four of the trailers close by, sending debris in all
directions. It then manages to explosively cut a swath through Audobon
Park, causing more damage and destruction in its wake. It blasts into
rubble, one of the two wings of Audobon Elementary School.
Stopping along the
curve of I-65, near the main exit to ST. CATHERINE STREET, the police
'black and white' driven by officer BILL JAMESON is thrashed by the
wind. Both BILL and KURTWOOD LARSON step out and watch the tornado
cutting through a third of Louisville. BILL is shocked by what is
happening, while LARSON is speaking into his two way CB radio pickup. He
is just as equally shocked as BILL, but is still trying to do his duty,
regardless of what he is experiencing and feeling at this particular
moment.
LARSON
(shouting into the
pickup over the loud wind)
"Central, we have a
tornado touchdown at the Fairgrounds! Repeat, we have tornado touchdown
at the Fairgrounds!! It looks like it is cutting a huge path through
Eastern Parkway!!! Notify EMS and Fire immediately!"
LARSON looks back
up and watches the twister continue its path of destruction. BILL is
just transfixed by this act of nature. Finally, BILL gets his head
together and looks over at LARSON.
BILL
(shouting over the
loud, howling winds)
"Did you call
Central?!"
LARSON
(nodding)
"Yeah!! I hope the
weather service sent out a warning in time!"
BILL
(looking back at
the tornado ripping up things)
"If they didn't,
then God help us!!!"
CUT TO:
97. INT. WHAS
STUDIOS. Nobody in the studios knows exactly what is going on, let alone
what has just transpired. JEFF DOUGLAS has a surprised look on his face,
as does GLEN BASTIN and CHUCK PATYK. They are just as equally befuddled
by JOHN BURKE'S last message, as are other people. We see reporter BOB
JOHNSON, a young man who could almost pass off as actor DONALD
SUTHERLAND himself, listening to the police radio band. When he hears
the information on the radio, he makes a quick call on the nearest
phone. He has just learned what has happened and makes a few quick notes
on a writing pad.
PATYK
"John
Burke at the National Weather Service office at the airport. Apparently
the tornado activity over there at this time. We'll be checking back as
soon as he can get back into that area."
DOUGLAS
"What
did he mean by 'I'm going!'? It sounded almost like the wind was at the
Weather Bureau! Is that what he meant?"
PATYK
"John
was telling me before we got on that he was going to have to get out of
there quick."
DOUGLAS
"Oh,
I see."
PATYK
"And apparently he
got out of there quicker than he wanted to. We have tornado activity
over southern Louisville at this time, in the airport area. And I would
suggest that you take cover immediately if you are in any of the
factories or in any of the areas there. And primarily at this point, the
tornado activity is over the airport. In southern Louisville. Anybody in
that area should take cover at this time. John Burke, at the Weather
Service reported a visual sighting of it, and he has taken cover at this
time. And I think it would be wise if anybody in that area, would move
to an interior hallway of their home. If they have a basement. Go to the
basement, immediately. Take a radio with you if you have one. And if you
are in a factory, move to the strongest part of the factory. The most
strong construction. For all purposes, stay away from windows. Here's
Jeff with the safety rules..."
DOUGLAS
(breaking in)
"Let me see if I've
got this straight before you run off, Chuck. I apparently didn't
understand you, and I don't want to, you know, press the point, but I
was a little confused. . . was the fact that they were having difficult
weather at the Weather Bureau itself?"
PATYK
"Definitely.
He said he had sighted the high winds, and that it was just a matter of
a few moments before he felt there would be a tornado there - and,
apparently at this point there is a tornado at the airport. Perhaps Dick
Gilbert could check in and tell us what he sees at this point."
DOUGLAS
(tapping a
button on the board)
"Well,
OK. Dick, if you're up there in SkyWatch 84, what can you add?"
There is no
response. Only silence on the air. It gives the staff a disquieting
cause for concern.
DOUGLAS
"Well,
apparently...he is busy on another frequency or something. Let me go
over these rules here..."
PATYK
"Okay, good. Maybe
he'll get back to us."
CUT TO:
98/FX. EXT. The
WHAS Traffic Copter is returning from the east, and DICK GILBERT can see
what is going on. The destructive force in the form of a short, thick,
black, hypnotic, ugly, roaring, swirling mass that is picking up debris
and cars. It is definately not like the long, thin wispy string of the
tornado seen in the classic 1939 MGM adaptation of L. Frank Baum's THE
WIZARD OF OZ. He makes a very quick decision and punches a button on his
flight console. Holding a tight grip on the skycopter's control stick,
he keeps a sharp eye on the twister and the direction it is going.
CU ON GILBERT
(speaking into the headset communicator)
"Standiford
Control, this is Eighty Four Echo. Request permission to enter your
control zone. Over."
There is only
silence for a few seconds. Then a voice from Standiford Field comes
through. It is the same voice from earlier, when GILBERT was flying out
east toward Shelbyville Road.
STANDIFORD CONTROL
(nervously)
"Dick, you're the
only aircraft within a one hundred mile radius. You can do whatever you
want!"
CUT TO:
99. INT. WHAS RADIO
STUDIOS. JEFF DOUGLAS is still speaking over the airwaves to the
listening audience. Like the rest of the staff, he is quite
professional, calm, and collective. Keeping a level head over the
present circumstances. However, we can also tell that he and the others
are quite concerned and for the most part, a bit frightened.
DOUGLAS
"Seek inside
shelter, preferably in a tornado cellar. Basically a steel framed or
re-inforced concrete building of substantial construction. Stay away
from windows. In homes, the corner of the basement, toward the tornado,
usually the southwest corner generally offers the greatest safety.
People in houses without basements will receive some protection, by
taking cover under furniture. Such as a table against inside walls. Now
in office buildings, stand in an interior hallway or a lower floor.
Preferably in a basement. In factories, on receiving a tornado warning,
post a look out. Workers should move quickly to sections of the plant,
offering the greatest protection. In schools, go to a basement if
available. If there is no basement, but the building is a reinforced
construction, stay inside, away from windows whenever possible. The
interior hallway on the lowest floor. Avoid auditoriums and gymnasiums
with large, poorly supported roofs. And finally, in open country, move
away from the tornado's path at a right angle. If there is no time to
escape, lie flat in the nearest depression such as a ditch or a ravine."
CUT TO:
100. EXT. The top
of the roof of WHAS TV - 11. BERT BROHMAN is on top of the roof and
filming the dark, low clouds on the horizon. And the rolling maelstrom
that is cutting through a third of the city. He is panning his camera
left over the downtown Louisville skyline, until he catches a glimpse of
something twisting and turning in the distance(archival footage from
WHAS).
POV SHOT - THROUGH
THE CAMERA. The CAMERA ZOOMS IN on the tornado as it goes in between the
greenish-white colored 800 Building and behind the huge building(which
will be the AT and T building many years later)on the left(this will be
archival footage from WHAS). The huge, low cloud is now behind the huge
building, and we see a WHAS technician coming into the shot from the
left. He is looking behind a concrete wall. He takes a look at the wall
cloud and then runs back in the direction he came from, out of frame.
BROHMAN
"That is a
tornado!!!"
CUT TO:
101/FX. EXT. The
top roof of THE COURIER JOURNAL building. LARRY SPITZER is on the roof,
clicking off several frames of the tornado moving through the urban
setting.
POV SHOT THROUGH
THE CAMERA - One of the photos he snaps will become the famous picture
of the twister that many Louisvillians and others will remember for
years to come. Clearly, at this time, the tornado is going across I-65.
INT. THE NEWSROOM.
Various staff are watching the tornado in the distance from the window.
BRUCE CLARK also arrives in the room and catches a glimpse of the
tornadic storm. AMY KRAMER also arrives and happens to notice it.
CLARK
(horrified)
"Christ, would you
look at that!!!"
KRAMER
(just as stunned)
"It's a tornado,
all right! Where in the hell is it going?!"
CLARK
(squinting through
his glasses)
"Northeast, from
the looks of it!"
CUT TO:
102. INT. WHAS
RADIO STUDIOS. BOB JOHNSON finishes talking on the phone and jotting a
few notes.
ANGLE ON BOB
JOHNSON. He is now coming into the studio area and sitting in front of
one of the other microphones. DOUGLAS nods at him and speaks into the
studio mike, while Johnson gets his notes together. The ones he has
written and the ones he has ripped off the teletype.
DOUGLAS
(continues
speaking)
"It's 4:40, and Bob
Johnson has joined us. Bob..."
JOHNSON
"Jeff,
the city police say that a tornado is moving across the southern part of
the city. It was spotted near the Fairgrounds, moving from the south,
generally toward the north. They say that it has touched down near the
Fairgrounds, and apparently damaged Freedom Hall. We don't have any more
details at this time, other than the fact that people in the Louisville
area should take cover."
DOUGLAS
(surprised like
everyone else is by this news)
"OK...
and, on that, our lights in here begin to blink. OK Bob, I appreciate
any more that we . . . when you get information, we'll have it right on
the air. Let's see if we can contact our Traffic Tracker Dick Gilbert in
SkyWatch 84 for a report. Dick..."
GILBERT(v.o.)
"Yes!"
Sighs of relief
wash and flood through the news studio. Many in there are thanking God
or some other higher power that Dick Gilbert is still there and safe
from the tornado's harm.
DOUGLAS
(smiling and
relieved)
"OK,
can you tell us, fill us in anything more on what you can see from your
vantage point?"
CUT TO:
103/FX. EXT. We see
the tornado continuing to plow through the suburbs of Louisville,
sending out debris and other pieces of shrapnel all over. Not far
behind, but at a safe distance, is the 84 WHAS traffic helicopter
following the F4 tornado. WE PULL BACK to see both TANYA HARMON and
JEREMY THORN standing on the roof top of their apartment building in Old
Louisville, watching the spectacular event at a relatively safe
distance. The storm is closer and the dark clouds move violently above.
The wind continues to moan. TANYA leads JEREMY through the chimneys to
the edge of the building. A very sad forlorn version of "Somewhere over
the Rainbow" - creeps through the wind. Lightening cracks above them and
the wind howls.
JEREMY
(stunned at what is
going on)
"This is one event
I'll never forget! We both learn that you are pregnant...and now this!
Tell me, what are the odds of that happening at the same time?"
TANYA
(just as surprised)
"Pretty
astronomical if you ask me, darling."
Both hold each
other as the wind whips by, blowing a cold wave through their hair and
their clothes.
JEREMY
"I know one thing
though. This is something to tell our kids about!"
TANYA
"It'll be years
before anyone forgets about this!"
JEREMY
(looking at the
helicopter following the tornado)
"I sure hope Dick
Gilbert knows what he is doing!"
TANYA
(sharing the same
concern)
"You and me both, babe!"
104/FX. INT. POV
SHOT - we see through the cockpit bubble the dark, threatening-looking
low clouds along the horizon. There is a very dark area reaching all the
way to the ground out near Eastern Parkway, chewing up everything in its
violent, destructive path and spitting it out. It is not shaped like an
inverted pyramid(the normal shape for a cyclonic twister).GILBERT is
just as stunned and amazed at the awesomely raw fury the tornado is
projecting. He also notices it heading right straight for Bardstown
Road, at the Eastern Parkway entrance to Cherokee Park. It whirls across
both Pindell
and Delor Avenue,
gouging off sides of houses.
ANGLE ON GILBERT
He is keeping his
attention focused on the tornadic storm's actvity. His weatherbeaten
face shows concern and worry for those down below, in the storm's path.
FX/EXT. We see the
tornado from the ground(in the shape of a wide, black, furious
cloud)rolling over the urban landscape like a giant rolling pin. It
heads across Newburg Road, uprooting giant, ancient trees and aiming
itself in a path down the beautiful Eastern Parkway. The stately trees
that lined its borders were now being scythed and tossed. Many of them
coming to rest on top of parked cars and crushing them under enormous
weight. The entire nine-foot-high privacy wall of the Carmelite
Monastery of Louisville on Newburg Road is blown to the ground by the
tornado. The wall contained over 1,000 linear feet of bricks. The
tornado bulldozes its way through Stevens Avenue, smashing two-thirds of
the houses in that area.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. I-64. NEW
ALBANY, INDIANA. Some vehicles are coming and going across the Sherman
Minton Bridge. To and from either Kentucky or Indiana. In one vehicle, a
1970 GMC pickuptruck, a bearded young man and his dishwater-blond haired
wife are watching the strange outline across the Louisville skyline. It
is all dark black, purple, green, and utterly sinister. They are just
surprised as every other motorist on the road.
YOUNG MAN
(looking at the
site off in the distance)
"Something is
definately going on Louisville."
YOUNG WOMAN
(adjusting the
truck's radio dial)
"You think it might
be that severe weather that hit Depauw, earlier?"
YOUNG MAN
"If it is, it made
one hell of a wide circle around the Knobs and us."
CUT TO:
INT. The bearded
young man's mother in her house off of Charlestown Road and Roselawn
Avenue, in New Albany. She is sitting in her well-kept and clean living
room, working on a quilt in front of the huge living room window. Her
son and daughter in law's two year old son is sleeping in a chair, with
a teddy bear next to him. Resting comfortably. The outside is sunny and
a bit clear. The gray-haired Christian woman and church going
grandmother with glasses is listening to WHAS and cannot believe what is
happening.
OLD WOMAN
"Lord have mercy!"
CUT TO:
EXT. LOUISVILLE
SKYLINE. We see vehicles going toward or away from Louisville on the
Second Street Bridge. It is also raining hard, it almost makes it
difficult for drivers to see where they are going. Some have to really
squint while looking through the windshield.
INT. TENTH FLOOR of
the CITIZENS FIDELITY BANK BUILDING. The office workers look out of the
window and watch what is happening a
few miles away from
the downtown area.
CUT TO:
105. INT. STEVEN
AMBROSE is still watching the news about the severe weather. When the
television set's screen starts to fizzle, he rises from his chair to
adjust the two antennas. He looks out the window, wondering what the
clouds are doing on top of the building across the street. In a split
second, he knows what that cloud is.
STEVEN
"Oh, Shit!!!"
He immediately
heads for the basement, just as the tornado rams its way across the
street. It reaches the commercial corridor of Bardstown Road within
seconds. There at the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Bardstown
Road, the winds attack with an ultraviolent fury, toppling telephone
poles, flinging high-voltage wires in a cascade of sparks and whirling
automobiles into the air. A huge tree crushes a van parked along Eastern
Parkway. Store windows explode, cars are flung about, and utility poles
are hurled against the top of buildings.
We see a SHELL
service station operator watch the trees and poles being snapped. He
also watches the occupants of a brand new car getting out and running
like hell. From his POV, we see the car being flattened like a pancake
from a flying utility pole. We can also see the twsister with shingles,
boards, piles of brick bats, and bits of plaster swirling around the top
of it, in a counter-clockwise direction.
CUT TO:
INT. DINING ROOM of
LENTINI'S RESTAURANT on BARDSTOWN ROAD. The front windows are blown
open, not very far from the only two customers in the Italian
restaurant. They, along with the owner and staff, make a run for it and
hit the Kitchen floor. Stuff is blowing all around them, followed by the
loud roar.
CUT TO:
106. INT. POV SHOT
INSIDE THE COCKPIT OF SKYWATCH 84. DICK GILBERT is still tracking the
tornado, skirting the southern edge of it. He maybe trapped in the air
and risking his life, but he is not going to let this storm stop him
from saving innocent lives.
CUT TO:
107/FX. EXT. The
tornado can be seen passing west of Bowman Field. Some personnel from
the small airfield watch with a mixture of amazement and sheer terror as
the funnel cloud makes it way toward the Crescent Hill and northern St.
Matthews area. Buxom clouds of boiling charcoal-gray are racing
northeast. The bottom of it churning and curling up. The leading edge of
it swirling like an out of control egg-beater.
Near by is WAVE 97
Traffic Copter pilot and Louisville Police Captain Richard "Dick" Tong.
He looks like an older version of LAURA'S cousin RON SANDERSON. He is
watching the tornado and the WHAS helicopter following not too far
behind it. He can also see fellow officer and Jefferson County Police
Department pilot JIMMY SCOTT snapping some shots from his camera.
Tong immediately
runs over to the helicopter to begin take off proceedures. Hopping into
the bubble shaped cockpit, he begins going over pre-flight checks and
begins flipping switches. He knows that there is going to be more than
just the usual traffic jams and delays.
CUT TO:
108. INT. Personnel
in the Bowman Field control tower are also watching the huge wall cloud
go over the area to the northeast. They cannot believe that something
like this is happening in their neck of the woods. They watch as it
blasts its way through Cherokee Parkway, Cherokee Road, Alta, Barney,
Longest, and Spring Drive.
CUT TO:
109/FX. EXT.
Skywatch 84 still flying not too far behind the F4 tornado. The CAMERA
TRACKS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT as we watch from the ground. The winds are
still high and rough, if not a bit difficult to navigate. We watch the
storm twist through Raleigh Lane, turning the trees into a jumble of
broken sticks, homes into a huge mess, and slicing the roofs and sides
off of other buildings.
INT. GILBERT is
continuing to observe and report what is transpiring. He also flies
close to his home in the St.Matthews area. About 75 feet from the
ground, he notices his daughter running outside from the house. He
furiously motions for her and the dog to get in the basement.
Undersatnding what is going on, CANDY holds up the portable radio and
immediately nods. She sprints back to the house. GILBERT, relieved that
she is safe and taking emergency countermeasures, lifts the helicopter
away from the ground and immediately continues following the storm.
GILBERT
(speaking into
his headset mike)
"Well,
it's a spectacular sight. . . the low clouds, very black, low clouds.
Let's see. . . at the moment, they're just about over Bowman Field, out
at Taylorsville Road area. And, it is swirling around, and it looks like
smoke underneath it. There is no real tight, definitive tornado as such
- it's still turning at a . . . Yes! There's one now, starting . . .
yes, dipping down from the bottom of the cloud. And let's see. . . that
will be over in the Highlands, probably along Bardstown Road and
somewhere near Eastern Parkway is where I'd guess that one is."
CUT TO:
INT. A ROOM ON THE
THIRD FLOOR of the PARKVIEW APARTMENTS. Some apartment tenants, 'The
Highlands Hippies' we'll call them, look out of the window and watch the
funnel cloud move from Eastern Parkway down Bardstown Road. They witness
windows being blown out by the windy force and other debris hanging and
sticking out of the twister. They can see it begin to enter the Cherokee
Park area, clawing and gouging its way through the old and costly homes
and stately trees.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. From the
ground we see the tornado ripping through the 10,000 trees of Cherokee
Park. With the Skywatch 84 helicopter not far behind it. Like a huge
lawnmower about the size of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, it mows
down trees off all sizes in its path in a matter of 90 seconds. Not even
the biggest or the ones most mature can withstand the 250-mile-per-hour
winds. The meadow and hills below Hogan's Fountain are not even spared
from this buzzsawed, schizophrenic force of nature. What was once a
shaded grove of towering oaks, elms, and thick trunked beeches, is now
something out of film concerning the after effects of nuclear war.
The twister makes
it way over I-64, just north of the Cochran Hill tunnel at the I-64
overpass over Lexington Road. At 50 miles per hour, it begins to crash
through the homes around Cochran Hill and heading roughly in a path up
Grinstead Drive between Barret Junior High School and the Southern
Baptist Seminary. Across Grinstead Drive, it batters Barret Junior High
and smashes homes on Kennedy and Crescent Courts, followed by those on
Bayly, Birchwood, and Stilz Avenues.
Driving not far
from that area is LAURA, along with HOLLY and ANN. They have been
listening to the eyewitness account of Dick Gilbert in SkyWatch 84. They
just cannot believe that this happening here in their own hometown. To
them, it is just incomprehensible and hard to fathom.
LAURA
(concentrating on
driving)
"Anybody see it?"
ANN
(sitting on the
passenger side)
"I think I can.
It's to the right."
HOLLY
(looking at the
funnel cloud two blocks away from them)
"It's a monster,
alright! I can even see that guy in the helicopter following it."
POV SHOT(FX) -
THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD. They can see the tornado rake across the area
two blocks away from them. And not far behind it, is the yellow painted
WHAS Traffic Copter. Thankfully, the debris being scattered has not
impacted on Laura's car. But, it has had some scrapes on it from smaller
objects being carried by the tornadic winds. The roar of the tornado
vibrates through the old 1969 White Ford Mustang.
ANN
(letting out a
breath)
"That guy must have
a lot of balls!"
HOLLY
(also observing the
scene before them)
"Either that, or he
is crazy! You couldn't get me to do something like that!"
LAURA
(watching what is
happening)
"I sure hope Jimmy
Farrell wasn't caught in all of this!"
CUT TO:
110. INT. WHAS
STUDIOS. BYRON CRAWFORD has just rushed in as DICK GILBERT is giving
another description of the events unfolding before him.
GILBERT(v.o.)
"The power
transformers have been blowing regularly in the path of this thing -
big, large explosions of blue-white light that help to clock it pretty
well. Now, it's clearing up very nicely behind it - as a matter of fact,
just south of Standiford, it's clear - I can see all of the hills. The
Iroquois Park area is just about out of it now. But it is definitely
moving up toward the Crescent Hill water tank now, and I'm starting to
get some strong - very strong - gusts way out here on Bardstown Road
near the GE plant. That's the way it looks to me. Be very, very careful!
Dick Gilbert, SkyWatch 84."
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. The tornado
begins to cross the Crescent Hill area. Not far behind is DICK GILBERT'S
helicopter. After a few seconds, SKYWATCH 84 makes a smooth right turn
and proceeds away from the twister, heading back toward the Fairgrounds.
INT. SKYWATCH 84
COCKPIT. We ANGLE ON GILBERT as he looks behind him. The tornado is
beginning to fade off into the hazy distance out northeast. He is just
thankful that his teenager daughter and the family dog are both safe.
That the tornado did not come anywhere near their home in St. Matthews.
If it had, we know for a fact that he would have performed a rescue
mission, and gotten both his daughter and the dog out of there in a
major hurry.
GILBERT
(looking skyward
for a moment)
"Thank you, God."
CUT TO:
INT. WHAS RADIO
STUDIOS.
CRAWFORD
(sitting in
front of one of the studio microphones)
"All right, Jeff,
Dave Reeves of the Weather Service is on the phone. Dave, you've seen
something?"
REEVES(v.o.)
"Yes,
we've been tracking this tornado on radar, and we just witnessed it pass
north of Standiford Field here. It was north of the Fairgrounds. To us,
it appeared like it maybe went over the Executive Inn area, but I'm sure
it was north of there - and it was moving almost due east. It was quite
a black shaft, and you could see debris lifting up in the shaft. So,
anyone in eastern Jefferson county and the counties just east of
Jefferson should, I would say, take cover at once, if possible."
CRAWFORD
"Dave,
is there any indication that there is more than one tornado in the
vicinity?"
REEVES(v.o.;cont)
"No, once these
echoes get right overhead on our radar, we just see one big spot. And
it's quite difficult until they move out away from us - you know, say 10
miles east of us. Then we start picking them up again. But we didn't
have any indication of seeing more than one funnel. But, it's not
uncommon at all to have, you know, two or three funnels. We did see this
one that touched down and it was quite a swirl."
CRAWFORD
"All right, David,
I suppose that the rules for taking cover in tornadoes then should
apply, and people should definately, if they can move..."
REEVES(v.o.;cont)
"Definately eastern
part of Jefferson County, or the county just east of Jefferson. Very
definately, I would take some kind of shelter if I could find it."
ANGLE ON CRAWFORD
"Alright, thank
you, Dave Reeves at the weather service."
REEVES
"Thank you."
CRAWFORD
(looking over at
Jeff Douglas)
"Jeff?"
ANGLE ON DOUGLAS
"Well, we've had
these sightings. And Bob Johnson was in here with a report from the
police about some of the activity that had happened out at Freedom Hall.
There were some reports that there was some damage out there at the
Fairgrounds. We don't have much more on that story. We will. It's 4:44
on WHAS. We have sort of suspended our normal operations here as this
tornado situation develops. We have news director Glen Bastin here. And
Glen, what have we now?"
BASTIN
"Well, we've
just talked with Freedom Hall. And they are still trying to assess the
damage out there. I should say the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center.
And according to an official, they really don't know what the damage
is there. They do know, though, that apparently one of the horse barns
was damaged by these winds. They do not think that at this time that
Freedom Hall has been hurt. Let me emphasize, if I may, Jeff, that we
will pass along all of the information that is available from the
weather service, Dick Gilbert, and the police. Please do not tie up the
phone lines of these agencies. If you have something to report, a
specific item, please report it to the police, but don't call them or
someone else to find out what's going on. Jeff?"
DOUGLAS
"Glen, at this
point, we have a report from city police that the tornado is still
rather strong and is moving into the St. Matthews area at this time."
BASTIN
"Okay, Jeff has
something new to add, I think."
DOUGLAS
(motioning to
Bastin from the console board)
"Glen, why don't
you just come over here informally - you can't do it on that line. I've
got John Burke of the Weather Service on the line here. We'll just make
the right connections and we'll be . . ."
DOUGLAS taps a two
buttons on the board, making the necessary linkups, while GLEN BASTIN
sits both near him and CRAWFORD.
BASTIN
(adjusting his
headset)
"Yes, John. . ."
BURKE(v.o.)
"Yes,
that storm, we could watch it come right in on the airport here, Glen.
There was no funnel in it until it actually got right to the airport,
then a funnel developed right in the parking lot, north of the terminal
building, and moved on to the east. And, it's moving eastward 45-50
miles per hour. So, this was ten minutes ago, so that's over in the
eastern part of Jefferson County now, moving on eastward. However, Glen,
we do have another big storm down south of us, headed east, and it's
headed in the direction of Mount Washington, another one about the same
size. So, for the next hour or so, the Mount Washington area certainly
should be on the alert for developments and take all proper precautions,
like we were mentioning earlier."
BASTIN
"OK,
now this cloud, this storm that is moving through Jefferson County, does
it appear on your radar to be moving out of the heavily populated area?"
BURKE(v.o.;cont)
"Yes,
it's over east of Bowman Field now, and moving on eastward at 45-50
miles per hour. And, as I say, when it went through here, it didn't have
a funnel when it came in, but the funnel developed right here in the
parking lot. And then it moved on eastward - we could see it move on off
to the east. And, that's when I left there before, because I was going
to get out of there! I was right next to the window and I was talking to
Chuck, and I just thought it was time for me to leave!"
BASTIN
(Shuddering a
little at that description)
"I
can't really say that I blame you! The Mount Washington storm, what does
it appear right now. . . does it appear to be another severe one?"
CUT TO:
111. INT. NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE - apparently, things are back to semblance of
normal, as RUSS CONGER is back at his desk, while JOHN BURKE is looking
over at the radar screen.
ANGLE ON BURKE
(looking down at
the radar)
"Yes,
another one. And on the intensity of the one we had. And, it could very
well contain a tornado also. So those people in that area, to the south
of Louisville, it crossed through the end of the Mount Washington area
there, and it only crossed in that direction from Okolona, along across
through that. Just take precautions. I would certainly advise getting
down in your basement with a portable radio and stay on top of the
situation."
CUT TO:
112. INT. WHAS
RADIO STUDIOS. The staff are listening in on BURKE'S latest weather
report. It would appear the worst is not over.
BASTIN
"Now these two
storms that you are talking about now, appear to be the major ones that
are developing at the moment?"
BURKE(v.o.)
"Well, at the
moment, yes. We've had development and disappation throughout the
afternoon. Storms build, and then after a while they kind of dissapate
once they use up all the energy available. I would imagine this storm
that just passed through here probably used its maximum, and then
probably approaching a disappating stage at this time. But, nevertheless
near the eastern....east of Jefferson County should be okay for the next
hour or so."
BASTIN
"What did you
estimate the winds in this particular one at..."
BURKE(v.o.;cont)
"We probably had a
wind measurement here. I'll check it in just a moment..."
We hear John Burke
speaking to some people in the background on the radio. Bastin turns his
attention to the radio speaker in front of him.
BASTIN
"We're talking with
John Burke, who is Chief Meteorologist for the Louisville National
Weather Service..."
BURKE(v.o.;cont)
"Stand by just a
moment there, Glen..."
BASTIN
"Alright."
BURKE(v.o.;cont)
"Thirty knots winds
here at the airport, translated into miles per hour. A little over
eighty."
BASTIN
"So we could well
be counting up some damage before too long."
BURKE(v.o.)
"Yeah. Dave Reeves
has just mentioned another storm is on the ground in Elizabethtown. And
it is just about as strong as the one we had here. And this one is
moving north...northeast about forty-five miles an hour."
BASTIN
"Alright now, so we
have three storms active. One around Elizabethtown moving to the east,
northeast. Another one that is moving toward Mount Washington. And one
just moving out of Jefferson County."
BURKE(v.o.;cont)
"Right."
BASTIN
"Will this one is
Eastern Jefferson County by chance, John, skip the river and go into
Southern Indiana?"
BURKE(v.o.;cont)
"The way its headed
now, it looks like it will stay on this side of the river for awhile.
Yet, it isn't moving that much towards the northeast. I would think
those persons in Oldham, Trimble, and Henry County, I hate to mention
those in Henry County, but, nevertheless those areas are in the path of
this activity headed off into the east here."
BASTIN
(nodding)
"Okay, John. Why
don't we keep this line open, if we might. And if you have something to
add, you can really pick up and we can get it straight on the air."
BURKE(v.o.;cont)
"Okay. You want to
just hang on here, then..."
BASTIN
"Alright, fine. Jeff, I think Chuck Patyk just dropped in with probably
some more information from the police."
PATYK
"Well, the only
thing we have at this point from the police is that they have sighted
that tornado. And it is moving, they say in the direction of, at this
point, of the St. Matthews area. And they warn people in the St.
Matthews area to take cover at this time. They say the storm, from their
indication, is still as strong as it was when it passed over the airport
in southern Louisville."
CUT TO:
113/FX. EXT. We see
the twister ripping a swath through the Crescent Hill area, sending more
debris all over the place. It is now on top of the Louisville Water
Company plant, soaking up water from the reservoir. The result gives the
funnel cloud a different shade of color. Almost gray, mixed in with the
black. It also sends a car right into the reservoir area and proceeds to
rip apart more homes and bang up more automobiles. Stone masonry and
iron railings are not strong enough to withstand the blast force of the
twister. Piles of brick, pieces of glass, timber with nails, and other
remnants of raw materials are seen laying helter skelter everywhere. The
tornado then makes it way over the south end of both Hillcrest and
Pennsylvania Avenue.
We then notice it
going through the Crescent Hill Golf Course in a northerly line, pointed
at the intersection of both Mockingbird Valley Road and Brownsboro Road.
It plows its way through, sending more debris and other pieces of
shrapnel all over the area. People who are trapped in cars along
Grinstead Drive and Frankfort Avenue are given a wild ride as the
massive winds crash them along the side of the road. The storm veers
slightly northeast from there, tracking for awhile virtually down the
center of Brownsboro Road, and then moving at an angle just north of
Bauer's Restaurant on a line for the Second Presbyterian Church
building. MICHAEL, CHRIS, and ROBERT, who were riding their bikes in
that particular area are caught in the blast, sending all three of them
through the air. Before any of them have time to yell out, they are
literally plastered all over the sidewalk and one of the houses nearby.
ROBERT is flung through a window and killed instantly. CHRIS is thrown
onto a set of downed telephone wires and electrocuted instantly. MICHAEL
is impacted on some piece of fence, impaled through the gut by a spike.
He is also killed instantly.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. A roof
crashes into a street in front of car near Pennsylvania Avenue to
Brownsboro Road. That incident is soon followed by another car tumbling
end over end. The car behind both of those obstacles is soon sent
airborne almost 10 feet from the ground. It is sent on two more flights
from the ground and bombarded by both bricks and flying timbers. A
flying tree brings it solidly back to the ground.
INTERCUT WITH:
INT. The driver of
that car jams on the brakes, clutches the steering wheel, switches off
the ignition, and dives under the dashboard. He is cut up and brusied up
pretty bad from the windstorm's violent acts.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. A car that
had just passed Crescent Hill Golf Course and Bauer's Restaurant
earlier, pulls into the parking lot of the grocery store in the small
shopping center triangle on the northwest corner of Brownsboro Road and
Chenoweth Lane. The driver gets out. WE PAN to the right and see that it
is BENJAMIN FRASIER, having come off his duty shift at the U.S. Postal
Service. As he gets out of the car, he glances west and is literally
shocked. The tornado is coming his way.
FRASIER
"Christ
Almighty!!!"
He makes a mad dash
into the store, knowing that he and whoever may be in the store is in
mortal danger.
CUT TO:
INT. He finds the
store manager on duty, a big-heavyset man, behind the customer desk. We
also see various customers grocery shopping, employees working the
registers, stocking shelves, and the like. In one of the aisles, we see
JAMES FARRELL doing some grocery shopping. He is cradling his skateboard
with his left arm.
FRASIER
"You got a basement
in this store?"
STORE MANAGER
"No, we don't. Why
do you ask?"
FRASIER
"We're right in the
path of a tornado and we need to get on the floor, now!!!"
INT. The lights in
the store suddenly go out, and the rumbling of the approaching tornado
can be heard, growing louder and louder.
STORE MANAGER
(look of horror on
his face)
"Everybody, listen
up!!! Get down on the floor and under something sturdy now!!! Hurry!!!"
FRASIER
"There's a tornado
coming, people!!! Hurry, now!!!"
CUT TO:
E.C.U. - FARRELL,
his face twsited in surprise, eyes shocked in that infinite instant.
FARRELL
(overhearing the
commotion)
"A tornado?!"
CUT TO:
ANGLE - PANNING
WITH CUSTOMERS as they move through the ailes.
Everyone begins to
scarmble, diving under whatever is close by. FRASIER and the manager
dive under a couple of checkout stands, curled up and waiting. A
helpless feeling of no options is really in the air. And the air
pressure in peoples' ears changes sharply as the sound of the tornado, a
'freight train" sound comes roaring over them. A huge explosion follows
as the twister impacts the building. The roof is blown off the store,
and the glass frontage is blown in and across all the aisles. Two young
women are sucked upward and out into the sky from the explosive force of
the storm. Some people are injured in the process. Both in the serious
and not so serious category. But, we do see someone pinned under some
shrapnel from the roof. It is none other than the body of JAMES FARRELL,
still gripping his skateboard. He has been crushed to death by the
falling roof. One of the six to at least ten fatal deaths in Louisville
from the storm.
CUT TO:
TIGHT ON FRASIER.
He is shocked and scared shitless.
FRASIER
(looking up and
around at everything)
"Jesus Christ!"
FRASIER looks about
the surroundings. The store is nothing but a shell . His mind can't
immediately absorb the enormity and reality of such major destruction.
His senses have not been exposed to that type of overload in the past
and cannot readily comprehend it when it happened. FRASIER notices
FARRELL'S dead body and rushes over to it.
FRASIER
(calling out)
"Somebody give me a
hand here!"
The store manager
and a couple other people rush over and begin to help FRASIER lift the
pieces of the roof off of FARRELL'S body. When they finally remove it,
they see something that will be burned into their memories forever. One
of the people who helped lifting off the roof is so stunned, that he
turns his back at the grisly sight and violently retches. We don't see
the graphic sight, but we can assume it is anything but pretty.
STORE MANAGER
(petrified at the
sight)
"Mother Of God!!!"
FRASIER
(still stunned by
this)
"It wasn't God's
wrath, sir. It was the Devil himself!"
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. PANAGLIDE
PRECEDING THE TORNADO as it crashes forward, line-of-sight, through the
area. It splinters trees and buildings. Flings vehicles out of the way.
An unbelievable FIREBALL ERUPTS SKYWARD as a power line is mowed down.
An OCEAN OF FLAME rolls forward, blasting by some houses and vehicles.
FX/EXT. The twister
has plowed down the building as if it were made of paper or styrofoam.
Splinters and shards are flying in all directions. Includings bits of
metal twisted by the funnel cloud's powerful winds. It almost looks as
if there is smoke coming out from beneath the bottom of the tornado.
Wisps of dark black and gray smoke. It continues to roll through the
area, tossing objects, smashing houses, and other structures, like some
huge construction wrecking ball gone wild. It is now heading for the
Rolling Hills area.
CUT TO:
114. EXT. WIDE
SHOT. Police Captain Dick Tong in the WAVE 97 Skycopter is circling over
the Fairgrounds and surveying the damage done by the F4 tornado. Flying
in a circular pattern, he is orbiting from right to left. The copter
hovers over one spot and then flies over to another, while staying out
of the way of the Emergency Medical Service and Local Fire Crews.
INT. POV SHOT -
FRONT OF SKYCOPTER 97'S BUBBLE COCKPIT.
We can see from
this point what it is like on the ground below and the smooth turns the
WAVE Traffic Copter is making in the air. About 700 feet in the air.
ANGLE ON DICK TONG.
(Speaking into his
radio headset mike)
"I'm over the
Fairgrounds now. It looks as though this tornado touched down just wets
of the Fairgrounds in the trailer court. It has thrown some of the
trailers out onto a drive-in movie lot, and tore a good portion of the
top of the Fairgrounds roof completely off of the main coliseum. The
East Wings are torn up, the horse barns are flattened, they were thrown
out onto the expressway. Crews are working now to clear the expressway.
The northbound North-South is open, however I would suggest that unless
you're moving into Indiana, don't come into the downtown area. We're
entirely too busy to have any more traffic-and when I say busy I'm not
trying to be facetious, but there's a lot of people in trouble in
Louisville."
CUT TO:
EXT. WIDE SHOT.
SKYCOPTER 97 is still hovering in the air over the damaged roof of
Freedom Hall. We can see that from the ground, near the East Wing
entrance of the huge, sprawling complex.
TONG(v.o.;cont)
"We need all the
room we can get. Crittenden Drive, if you want to get off the
North-South southbound, is open to the Watterson. The Watterson is wide
open. They have now opened up southbound I-65, two lanes, out to the
Watterson, but it's backed up all the way back into downtown Louisville.
Eastbound I-64 at Grinstead Drive has live wires over the road. We're
moving to clear those now."
INT. COCKPIT OF
SKYCOPTER 97 and DICK TONG gripping the control stick while still
speaking into his headset microphone.
TONG
"Preston Highway is
open but bumper to bumper. I would suggest to you if you're in downtown
Louisville, do not leave for home yet. Anything east of Bardstown Road
is blocked. Newburg Road is the last passable road north-southbound. You
cannot get east of Bardstwon Road. Everything up to that way, Grinstead,
Cherokee Park Road, I-64, Lexington Road area, is completely shut down
and traffic cannot get through."
WAVE 970 DISK
JOCKEY(v.o.)
"Dick, is there
anything else you can tell us from your vantage point?"
ANGLE ON TONG
(speaking into
headset microphone)
"Police calling in
have reported many, many wires and trees down. We understand that part
of the East Wing of Fairgrounds is gone. All of the horse barns have
been blown over onto the North-South Expressway. We're calling for a
bull-dozer to clear that. I would request of everyone, if you're not
driving, if you don't have to leave for home right now, stay where you
are. Traffic is a mess."
EXT. WIDE SHOT OF
SKYCOPTER 97 hovering over the Freedom Hall roof from the South Entrance
to the Fairgrounds.
TONG(v.o.)
"And it's going to
be awhile before we can clear it out, and you can't get anywhere. You'd
be a lot safer, if you're in downtown, Louisville, staying where you
are. If you're at home, don't go out at all. Stay in and let us get the
situation cleared up. there's a lot of emergency vehicles all over the
city and county. We'll have better reports for you in our next
broadcast."
ROGER O'NEILL
(v.o.)
"Captain Tong, this
is Roger O'Neill. Can you give us any indication as to the number of
homes that you think are damaged? Is it upwards of one hundred now?"
TONG (v.o.; cont)
"Roger, I think we
can safely say over 300 have been completely demolished."
ROGER O'NEILL
(v.o.;cont)
"Does it appear,
Captain, from your vantage point up above the city, that the heaviest
damage was as you moved furthur northeast along the line of the
tornado?"
INT. POV SHOT.
FRONT OF COCKPIT BUBBLE and flight console. We can hear the sound of
SKYCOPTER 97'S engines and TONG'S voice in the background. We can still
see a huge amount of damage spread all over the ground from up above.
TONG(v.o.;cont)
"I watched this
tornado come east. I was at Bowman Field and we were getting ready to go
up. As it came, you could see it gathering momentum and power, and it
certainly does show that from the air as you look down, beginning around
the southside of Cherokee Park. From that point northeast, it's
unbelievable. It completely demolished everything in its path. It
started out, Roger, looking really weak as it came over the Fairgrounds.
But as it moved east it gained momentum so quickly and it never did lift
off. I never saw it lift off, even up into the Lyndon area. It stayed at
ground level all the way."
CUT TO:
EXT. EAST ENTRANCE
to the FAIRGROUNDS. We see other police, fire, and emergency service
vehicles move in. Among those is the squad car driven by BILL JAMESON
and KURTWOOD LARSON. Another is the motorcycle driven by Detective SHANE
McCLOUD. The area around the northeatsren part of the Fairgrounds is a
huge mess. Sheet metal, wooden splinters, overturned vehicles, and other
debris are scattered and littered in all directions. Everyone begins
looking for survivors and other casualties. WIDE SHOT, showing the
gurney being rolled by TWO ATTENDANTS past the site of the last horse
barn obliterated. SEVERAL POLICE OFFICERS are picking through the
debris.
INTERCUT WITH:
EXT. BUILDING -
LATE AFTERNOON. A woman is being lifted into the ambulance. She looks up
as the doors are latched shut. TILT UP to follow her gaze. The sign
above the entrance of the building: KENTUCKY FAIR AND EXPOSITION CENTER.
McCLOUD stops his
bike and removes his mirror-shaded sunglasses. He looks all over the
spot, not believing what has just happpened in Louisville.
He surveys the area
as the wind blows through his too blond hair and down his heavily
muscled back.
McCLOUD
"Good Christ!"
JAMESON and LARSON
step out of the squad car and survey the damage. Like McCLOUD, they are
just as surprised and stunned by what had just transpired. They notice
the obliterated remains of the horse barns and the other traces of
shrapnel. From the look on both police officers' faces, they are at a
loss for words.
LARSON
"What the hell kind
of force could have done this?"
JAMESON
"The kind that only
Mother Nature could conceive."
LARSON pulls out
the CB handle and presses the send button. We hear the faint sound of
sirens in the distance.
LARSON
(speaking into CB
handle)
"One Adam Fourteen
to Central. We're at the main southern entrance to the Fairgrounds with
the emergency and fire service crews. We're beginning to search for
casualties. Over."
CENTRAL DISPATCH
(v.o.)
"One Adam Fourteen,
message confirmed. Other emergency services are already dispatched and
en route. Over."
LARSON
"Confirmed,
Central. Notify us of any breaking news. One Adam Fourteen is clear."
LARSON places the
CB handle back on its hook as he looks over the huge area of the East
Wing. The entire roof has been literally removed. Almost as if it blew
its entire stack off. He turns around as he notices the WHAS news car
arrive. We can see reporter BUD HARBSMEIER and his camera crew.
JAMESON also
notices the arrival. He almost expected this to happen.
JAMESON
(shaking his head
in disgust)
"And the media has
arrived."
LARSON
(nodding)
"Sometimes the
people's right to know gives me a huge pain in the ass."
115. INT. WHAS
RADIO STUDIOS. The phone switchboard is continuing to light up like a
Christmas Tree and the ring off of the hook. Personnel are trying to
answer the callers questions as best as they can.
DOUGLAS
(tapping three
buttons on operations board)
"We'll
see if we can do anything with Dick Gilbert here. . . I think he is on
another line, checking with. . . well, let's just make sure I've got the
right buttons here. Dick Gilbert in SkyWatch 84, can you hear us?"
GILBERT(v.o.)
"Yes!"
DOUGLAS
"There
we go!"
GILBERT(v.o.;cont)
"There
we go! I've been talking to the newsroom, Jeff. I'm right over the
Fairgrounds. First of all, let's talk about traffic. . . this tornado
touched down right here at the horse barns on the north-south
expressway, and it has turned over several cars. And, let's see. . .
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. . . I would say eight
automobiles have been blown across the road or turned over. There's an
ambulance here working in the road. Traffic northbound is moving and
trick- ling through here, one at a time."
CUT TO:
EXT. WIDE SHOT of
SKYWATCH 84 circling around the entire Fairgrounds area and the chaos
that the tornado has left in its wake. We see the damage below from the
air and the emergency crews trying to get to those who have been
injured. It is almost like someone has dropped a huge bomb in the
southwest area of the city. CAPTAIN DICK TONG and SKYCOPTER 97 has
already left area. CLOSE UP ON GILBERT as he is speaking into his
headset mike.
GILBERT
(surveying the
damage)
Southbound, well,
yes, the same thing, getting way over on the shoulder.
Now, the wind
damage hit the roof of Freedom Hall and it tore three big holes in the
roof. Then it moved over on the eastern end of the building and ripped
off about a third of the roof here. The horse barns are no more. It
totally wiped out the horse barns. All of the mobile homes and trailers
behind the Freedom Hall have been completely torn up. And, over by the.
. . I think it's the Twilight Drive-In here, we've had about four
trailers completely torn apart. There's fire equipment and emergency
equipment in there. The emergency equipment is moving into most areas."
EXT. SKYWATCH 84 is
circling around another what is left of the Twilight Drive-In. Like the
other spots that have been struck by the tornado, it a huge mess down
there. Debris off all kinds is scattered about the area. We look down
below and the CAMERA SLOWLY MOVES FORWARD on one area near the Audobon
Park area. It is just a ghastly sight to behold.
GILBERT(v.o.)
"Now, be very
careful on Crittenden Drive - I see more police cars and emergency
equipment heading down toward the trailer park there, that's just off
the southwest corner. Apparently, this is where the twister first
touched down, and this really caused a problem. Avoid that north-south
expressway - they can only get one or two cars through it at a time. Try
and use some other route. That's the way it looks from up here, Dick
Gilbert, SkyWatch 84."
PATYK(v.o.)
"Dick,
this is Chuck Patyk. Can you see the storm at this time, from your
viewpoint?"
CUT TO:
INT. SKYWATCH 84
COCKPIT BUBBLE. DICK GILBERT is surveying the area. He just cannot
believe the amount of damage that has been inflicted on the city and its
sprawling suburbs.
GILBERT
(looking ahead
northeast and then looking back behind him)
"No
longer, Chuck. The only dark area I see is . . . let's see. I would put
that out beyond Indian Hills, on the river, heading toward, say,
Harrod's Creek at this moment. I'm looking back now the other direction,
looking for this other one you mentioned at Elizabethtown, and it still
looks clear down the river there, past West Point. There is a grey area
over toward Fort Knox. The emergency equipment is moving into most of
the areas. That's the way it looks now. We're in a kind of a clear area
at the moment."
PATYK(v.o.;
cont)
"OK. We'll be
checking back with you in about five minutes, shortly after 5:00."
CUT TO:
116. EXT. WIDESHOT.
SKYCOPTER 97 is approaching the Crescent Hill area. We can see from the
ground the WAVE 970 Traffic Copter hovering over the area, and Captain
Tong observing the activity from above us. Work, rescue, and fire crews
are now beginning to enter the area.
TONG(v.o.;cont)
"I've been in
Louisville for 38 years, and never have I seen such destruction in my
life. This tornado touched down into the Fairgrounds and stayed down all
the way up into the Lyndon area. I'm looking at places where houses used
to be. They're gone. All I can see now is foundations. I see an
automobile that was blown completely off the road and into the Reservoir
water storgae area. It was checked out. Luckily, no one was in it. We
have bulldozers out now clearing the streets. All we're worrying about
is pushing the debris to the side of the road so we can get to the house
areas. Houses are completely demolished and there are hundreds of them.
Lumber is scattered like toothpicks. Cherokee Park, one of our most
beautiful parks, is completely gone. There are no trees left
whatsoever."
INT. POV SHOT from
the front cockpit bubble of SKYCOPTER 97. WE can see more damage left in
the wake of the tornado. It is almost like something out of both a
Japanese science fiction film and one of the current disaster films
being played in theaters.
ANGLE ON TONG
(speaking into
helmet mike)
"We have all
available police units from all around the local area out helping. We
request the public stay at home. We've seen cars that have been thrown
hundreds of feet. Just torn up loke pieces of tin. Toothpick-like debris
scattered all over Louisville. Where what used to be houses, the only
thing standing now is maybe a wall, a foundation, and furniture
scattered everywhere. Many civilians not connected with the police
department are directing traffic. We're having a tremendous amount of
help from the public. They're out here in the streets. It's amazing.
They're directing traffic, they're assisting the police department
without being asked. the devastation will run into the millions of
dollars."
CUT TO:
117/FX. EXT. The F4
twister is now hitting the upscale neighborhood of Rolling Fields with
deadly ferocity, making its way toward the newly built suburb of
NORTHFIELD. The small cemetary at Lightfoot and Brownsboro Roads is
caught by the full brunt of the winds. It topples some old gravestones
and damages even more houses. Wispy spirals of smoky black clouds twist
and swirl below the solid black and clearly defined overcast. Inky and
mean in the purple and green haze. It is nightmare made into reality.
FX/EXT. ST.
LEONARD'S CHURCH at the top of a hill off of Zorn Avenue and I-71. We
see a man crouched and lying down next to a stone wall as we see
multiple funnels around the main storm. The sky is also a bit brown and
murky, if not a bit a dirty, mustard yellow from the debris and the
violent weather. FX LOW WIDE ANGLE ON MAN AND STONE WALL (PROCESS SHOT).
CUT TO
INT. CITY HALL of
INDIAN HILLS area. BUNCH GRIFFIN, a middle-aged woman and Mayor of that
part of the Louisville area, is speaking with someone on the phone. She
can hear the sound of the upcoming tornado and hurriedly finishes her
phone conversation.
GRIFFIN
(into the phone)
"Either a train has
gone off its track, or we have a tornado coming!"
She slams the phone
down and immediately rushes to the lower basement area of the city hall
building. The rumbling increases as the tornadic storm impacts with some
of the houses and other buildings nearby.
CUT TO
FX/EXT. The tornado
is now slightly north of Brownsboro Road, having angled northeast from
the Cherokee section of Indian Hills, over Blakenbaker Lane and into the
area around Apache Road. The historic Zachary Taylor home and the
Zachary Taylor Cemetary. From there it plows into the subdivision and
directly over the new Ruth Dunn Elementary School. The school and the
homes nearby are literally blown apart. Shingles, glass, metal, stone,
brick, and other raw materials are scattered everywhere. Even the old
Gateway supermarket at Brownsboro Road and Country Lane is not spared
from the ravaging winds, as it batters the facility and some of the cars
parked in its parking lot. It dips down into the I-264 valley and then
back up again to devastate the northeastern bloc of the Northfield
subdivision.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. A house on
1824 KNOLLWOOD. We see a woman dropping her grocery bags in her car's
front seat and rushing to her porch as the tornado is approaching from
behind her. As she unlocks the front door on her stone porch, the winds
blow her forward, into the living room. She hits the floor and slides
into the living room wall with great impact, that it leaves a very huge
hole in the plaster. The woman does not make it to the basement in time
as the tornado smashes into the house. The house gets blown apart and
the woman is killed instantly. Brick, glass, wood, and other debris are
launched in all directions.
CUT TO:
FX/EXT. The tornado
then crushes a wing of Chenoweth Elementary School, followed by the
infliction of serious damage on Club Lane, Canoe Lane, Primington, and
Edmond.
CUT TO:
118. EXT. WIDE SHOT
OF NORTHFIELD. A subdivision on a windy hillside, bounded by I-71
highway and the Watterson Expressway. It is a landscape that exists on
the promontory above the merger triangle of I-264 and I-71. Newly built,
it is a beautiful place. Very fancy and wealthy by the appearance of it.
All new homes just recently constructed. It is not far from the Barbour
Manor subdivision, the finest and most fashionable of suburbs. We see a
car moving down a quiet little residential street of the subdivison and
pull up in front of a two-story house set back from the street. We also
see a young woman, pretty in a quiet sort of way, step out of her two-
story frame house, down the front walk to the street. Her face has a
soft, innocent quality, her eyes bright and alive. Her FATHER steps out
of the door behind her and walks to the car in the driveway. His car has
the city logo and the words "JEFFERSON COUNTY POLICE" emblazoned on the
side door.
EXT. One of those
homes is owned and occupied by one TOMMY RUTHERFORD and his family.
CAMERA BEGINS on the trees that line the residential street, twisting
and writhing in the dusk wind. SLOWLY CAMERA BOOMS DOWN to him riding up
to the driveway on his bicycle. We can tell that he is tired from
peddling, since school had let out. He is definately unaware of what is
going on. But he does hear the Civil Defense Sirens. He looks west and
notices the dark clouds off in the distance. He wonders if it is just a
regular test of the sirens or something more. A curious look crosses his
features, as a strong wind rises and blows his hair. He walks out on the
front porch and pulls out his key.
INT. We see Tommy
unlocking the front door and stepping inside his house. CAMERA SLOWLY
TRACKS through the Rutherford house. It is a large home with a staircase
that leads to the bedrooms upstairs. Through a doorway we see a very
modern kitchen. There is a dining room and living room with a big bay
window that looks out into the street.
A large,
ferocious-looking German shepherd, trots happily into the kitchen, spies
Tommy and walks over to him. He nudges his legs with his head. Tommy
bends down, petting the family dog and giving him a back scratch. The
dog's right leg starts to move in a fast pace.
TOMMY
"Hey, Clarence. How
was your day, boy?"
Immediately
Clarence walks over to the back door. He is sniffing the air. He senses
something. From what we can tell, the dog does not like what he is
sensing at all. Tommy shurgs and walks upstairs to his room and finds
his older brother PHIL lying down on the bottom bunkbed. the room not
only has a bunkbed, it has two desks, a closet, and various posters
pinned up on the walls. PHIL RUTHERFORD, is about two years older and
has darker hair. Obviously, he is tired after a busy day of school. He
is also bored to death for some unknown reason.
PHIL
(looking out of the
huge window in their room)
"God, I am bored!"
TOMMY walks over to
the ancient Philco black-and-white television that had nuggets of
aluminum foil wrapped around its rabbit ear antennae. He turns the dial
to Channel 41.
TOMMY
(looking over at
his brother)
"Busy day?"
CU ON PHIL
(snorting a little)
"Not really. Just
boring for some reason."
TOMMY
(smiling as he looks at the television screen)
"Well, here's
something that will entertain you."
POV SHOT on
television screen. One of WDRB's afternoon classics is being shown right
now. The old 1965-1968 science fiction classic 'LOST IN SPACE' is being
broadcasted. Immediately, PHIL, like TOMMY, becomes immersed in the
travails of the Jupiter 2 spacecraft and the Robinson family.
PHIL
(shaking his head
sadly)
"Sure wished that
they had found Alpha Centauri in the end. It would have given the series
a proper closure."
TOMMY
(shrugging)
"That's Hollywood
and the networks for you. Those idiots even cancelled STAR TREK before
the five year mission of the Enterprise ever ended."
PHIL
"At least we have
the STAR TREK animated series to complete the fourth year of that five
year mission. I'm glad NBC saw the light there."
TOMMY
"You think there
might be more episodes to come?"
PHIL
"Possibly. I heard
somewhere that there are plans to make a STAR TREK film before the
Seventies are over."
TOMMY
"I can dig that."
ANGLE ON TOMMY
(looking out of the
window)
"Hey, did you
notice that?"
ANGLE ON PHIL. He
notices something unusual outside. He notices the wind blowing leaves
and some other objects through the air. Sticks from trees and pieces of
other objects blowing by.
PHIL
(a bit surprised)
"Yeah, I did. That
looks pretty cool."
POV SHOT - The
window. We see other objects flying by. Pieces of paper, tin cans, and
other small objects. Then we see someone's mailbox zooming by. Followed
by someone's shattered potted plant. Pieces of a house's roof, someone's
car, some garbage cans, tile shillings, splintered wood, and some other
objects that you normally don't see flying through the air on a windy
day. Something is definately not right with this picture.
PHIL
(really befuddled)
"Wait a second!
Something is not right here!"
ANGLE ON TOMMY.
Before he can say anything to comment, we hear the familiar roar of the
tornado as it is making its way toward NORTHFIELD. A confluence of
direction and rising force about to come together right at a point of
residential density. Both the RUTHERFORD brothers manage to put two and
two together.
CU ON TOMMY
"I think...."
Before TOMMY can finish, we notice on the television screen that LOST IN
SPACE has been interrupted by none other than CHANNEL 41's TV HOST and
legendary icon, PRESTO THE CLOWN(a.k.a. BILL DOPP). For kids growing up
in the Louisville area, Presto was as much an after-school mainstay as
Thurston Howell, III and Samantha Stevens. The gentle white clown with
the friendly white face and furry red hair is known to host a variety
show that run in between many of the recycled cartoons, sitcoms, and
science fiction serials. He is also known to make baloon animals,
perform magic tricks, and have several puppets. Two of those puppets are
regular show hosts J.Fred Frog and Honey Bunny, who join him for skits
about life's lessons that resmble home spun versions of Aesop's Fables.
Being an extra grandfather type, one gets the impression that he need
not have that smile painted on at all.
PHIL
"I wonder why
Presto interrupted the program?"
POV SHOT - On the
screen, the image of Presto is all business. The painted smile is gone
and he looks into the screen, speaking with a grim tone.
PRESTO
"Boys and girls, I want you to go get your mom and dad and bring them to
your television set immediately. I have somethng very, very important to
tell them!"
POV SHOT - on the
screen, Presto's calming countenance vanishes. In its place is a grey
screen filled with GIANT, BLACK, BOLD, and EVIL capital letters. The
screen simply reads: TORNADO WARNING. It is followed by the rhetoric
voiceover from the National Weather Service. Not only does that spook
both Phil and Tommy, but the roaring sound, along with the ominous wails
of the Civil Defense Sirens escalate that fear even more.
PHIL
(hopping out of bed)
"Head for the basement!"
TOMMY
"I'm right behind you!"
As they rush
downstairs, the front door blows open from the wind, and a young woman
comes running and tumbling in. It is PHIL and TOMMY'S older sister
MELISSA. An attractive woman with shoulder length dark hair. She is 21
and a college student at Sullivan University. Clarence is right by her,
barking at the oncoming F4 tornado.
MELISSA
(brushing her
frazzled hair out of her lovely face)
"Head for the
basement, everyone! A tornado is coming!"
They make a mad
dash into the basement. As the tornado hits, we can hear the roar and
the explosions that follow it. Phil ends up falling down the stairs and
ends up breaking his left leg in the process.
PHIL
(grimacing in pain)
"Son of a bitch!!!"
CUT TO:
119. EXT(FX). The
dark black-gray cloud that is the tornado hits NORTHFIELD and begins
sending shrapnel and other debris all over the subdivision. It razes
houses, uproots trees, and slams automobiles to the side, as it keeps
going on, razing and plowing through just about everything in its path.
Glass, brick, wood splinters, pieces of porcelain, and all, are flung
everywhere. It's almost as if either God's lawnmower, or that of the
Devil himself, is running wild. We can see the cloud moving along the
hill and wrecking everything in sight. As the tornado makes its violent
exit from the subdivision, we see some of the houses left untouchedby
the storm. We also see the shattered and ruined foundations of the homes
that had been struck down by the twister. Jenness Court, Northfield
Court, Keewood Court, Stannye Court, Newmarket Drive, and Glenview
Avenue all suffer extensive damage.
CUT TO:
INT. POV SHOT(FX).
The "rolling pin" formation of the tornado is seen looking northwest
from an upstairs window of a house near the sprawling Plantation
subdivision off of Westport Road. WE PULL BACK to see a beautiful young
woman of Japanese and Hawaiian ancestory. LINDA KANG is snapping shots
of the cloud formation, as it continues on its destructive path. She
then grabs a pair of binoculars and starts to focus on the tornadic
vortex.
KANG
(shaking her head)
"I never thought
this could happen out here!"
120. EXT. WIDE
SHOT(FX). The tornado begins to cross into Oldham County and proceeds to
blow down some old trees and other portions of the rolling Bluegrass
hills and plains. We also begin to see it die down and blow itself out.
From the Gene Snyder Highway, going both east and west, some cars stop
along side of the road and watch the F4 twister from a safe distance.
Having listened to the various radio reports from all of the Louisville
stations, they have been keeping a close eye out for the storm.
INTERCUT WITH
EXT. WIDE SHOT(FX).
A small group of people near one of the cars on the side watch the
tornado continue to move northeast. They are just stunned and equally
surprised. This is something they just cannot believe or literally
comprehend. The soft winds are blowing through the area, indicating that
the harsh winds are dying down fast.
CUT TO:
EXT. A house next
to a barn, not far from the Gene Snyder Freeway. The tornado makes its
way right toward it. The storm's roar can really be heard. Even from a
small distance.
INT. THE UPSTAIRS
OF THE HOUSE - THE BEDROOM - A feline, olive-skinned, exotic, and
almond-eyed, sexy beauty with cool, dark looks and a young man are
watching something on television, while lying down together on a freshly
made up bed. Both are distracted by the sound of what appears to be an
oncoming train and immediately realize what that sound is and what is
coming there way. The woman manages to make it downstairs, but her
husband does not. He is blasted with shattered drywall, wood and other
debris as the tornado shreds the home's roof. The man was running down
the hallway, and it knocks him down. It is almost like being in a wind
tunnel. The storm strips the roof off most of the couple's home.
CUT TO:
FX/SEQUENCE EXT.
The twister destroys their barn and leaves the surrounding trees shorn
of limbs. The tornado finally begins to dissipate and lose its strength.
Finally, after entering Owen County, it dies down and fades away into a
hazy nothingness. Shafts of sunlight begin to peek out from the fading
dark clouds, almost like a sunburst. The storm has left a damage path
660 feet wide and 22 miles long - covering that distance in 21 minutes,
over more than 10 miles of residential property in the metropolitan
area. A diagonal slash that has killed 10 people. More than 900 homes
have been damaged beyond repair. 2000 mature trees in Cherokee Park are
uprooted and torn to splinters. 225 people have been injured.
FADE OUT
END OF PART 1(or
INTERMISSION if a long 3 to 4 hour movie)
FADE IN TO:
BEGINNING OF PART
II
BLACK BACKGROUND.
SUPERIMPOSE ON WHITE FONT:
LOUISVILLE,
KENTUCKY
APRIL 3, 1974 -
5:00 PM
We also hear DICK
TONG giving a report in the background of all of the damage inflicted by
the tornado.
TONG(v.o.)
"We have damage
that is indescribable. Over 200-300-400 houses demolished, cars have
been thrown like they were toys, just thrown everywhere. I saw an
automobile picked up and thrown into the Reservoir up there off
Frankfort Avenue. Thank God nobody was in it."
DISSOLVE TO:
121. EXT. WIDE SHOT
OF THE MAIN DOWNTOWN LOUISVILLE AREA. SKYWATCH 84 is flying into the
downtown Louisville area from the northeast. We see the small Traffic
Copter heading for the front entrance of the WHAS building on Chestnut
Street, which is being cordoned off by police, so GILBERT can land and
pick up who he needs to pick up.
GILBERT(v.o.)
"I'm trying to work
a possible route for you. If you came out 1-71 and went up Zorn Avenue
to Brownsboro Road. . . no, that isn't going to work. It's just almost
impossible. . . they are letting a few cars drift through, until you get
out to 1-71, just east of the Watterson - and that's where it absolutely
comes to a complete standstill. I'm looking at 1-64 now - from the
downtown area, out past the Big Four bridge, all the way out around the
turn and out as far as the tunnel, which is as far as I can see, it's at
a standstill. So, 64 is out of the picture. I strongly suggest you stay
downtown and keep tuned and see if we can work out some routes here when
we get our wits about us. The weather apparently has moderated; I'm
heading downtown to pick up one of our photographers here. There seems
to be light rain over in the Corydon area. The sun is beginning to peek
through now, out in the Iroquois Park area, and, hopefully, our spell of
bad weather cells is behind us now."
CUT TO:
INT. BUBBLE COCKPIT
OF SKYWATCH 84. We see GILBERT speaking into his headset microphone and
is clutching the control stick.
he is also
surveying the areas below him. From what we can tell, he is just amazed
at the amount of destruction and the extensive damage inflicted.
ANGLE ON GILBERT
(speaking into his
headset mike)
"The damage, once
again, it started, as far as I've been able to tell, it started at
Standiford Field, just at the northwest corner of Standiford Field, and
it took a track across the Fairgrounds and Audobon Park, and out into
Eastern Parkway and Bardstown Road. It went through the golf course at
Cherokee Park. It went between Barret Junior High School and the Baptist
Seminary. It hit Stilz, Frankfort, Pennsylvania, Hillcrest, the Crescent
Hill Golf Club. It went into Indian Hills and angled right on across to
the main 1-71/Watterson interchange. That's the way it looks from here,
Dick Gilbert, SkyWatch 84."
EXT. The SKYWATCH
84 helicopter lands in the middle of Chestnut Street, at the front
entrance to the WHAS news building. We see BERT BROHMAN running out with
his camera and getting into the helicopter's cockpit. He makes a last
minute check of his film camera and straps himslef into the seat. he
puts on another set of headphones.
GILBERT
(looking over at
Brohman)
"Are you prepared
for this?"
BROHMAN
(nodding)
"Sure. Sure."
GILBERT
"Okay. I should
tell you, it's pretty bad out there."
GILBERT pulls up on
one of the main throttles, and SKYWATCH 84 lifts off into the now clear,
spring afternoon sky. POV SHOT from the ground, we see the WHAS Traffic
Copter lifting up and heading southward.
GILBERT(v.o.)
"I want to
summarize what I can see from up here. Apparently, as far as I can tell,
the first touchdown was just north of Standiford Field, at the Twilight
Drive-In. It just started with the trailers, it moved across the
Fairgrounds and flattened the horse barns. It went through the little
community just north of Audobon Park. And then it went through the
cemetary at Newburg and Eastern Parkway, uprooting giant trees there.
Newburg is blocked completely by these trees, and houses are torn up by
the trees falling into them. Then it came across Eastern Parkway and
Bardstown Road. It went roaring through the Seneca Church park area.
Absolutely derooting them, that portion of that park. There's no trees
left, there's nothing but splinters and stumps in there. I can't
estimate how many acres are involved."
CUT TO:
INT. SKYWATCH 84
COCKPIT - RIGHT SIDE. We see BERT BROHMAN shooting footage of all of the
storm damage, while DICK GILBERT is holding the control stick, flying
the aircraft. BROHMAN is taking plenty of aerial video shots and we can
tell that he was not prepared for something like this.
BROHMAN
(looking through
the eyepiece of the camera)
"Goddamn!"
ANGLE ON GILBERT
"Then it came right
between Barret Junior High School on Grinstead Drive and the Baptist
Theological Seminary. It crossed Grinstead Drive right there, making a
wide swath of total destruction. It came over Pennsylvannia Avenue,
Stilz, Frankfurt, and Fullcrest, right there at the Frankfurt Avenue
intersection. It is completely wiped out. Every house is damaged to some
extent. Then it came across the Crescent Hill golf club and I'm over
Indian Hills right now. And...I can't, I can't even begin to count. I
would guess two hundred homes out here had at least the second floor
gone. Many of them are completely demolished. And most of them are...the
walls are skewered, the roofs are sagging and so forth."
CUT TO:
EXT. We start at
the Fairgrounds and see all of the damage inflicted on the huge complex
and the horse barns. That is soon followed by the homes along Eastern
Parkway, all the way to Newburg Road and the Bardstown Road area near
the Cherokee Park entrance. It almost looks like a giant bulldozer has
run amok across the area. Trees splintered, homes ruined and shattered.
It is definately something out of a disaster film. We see the area of
Cherokee Park that was razed by the F4 tornado, followed by the areas in
the Cochrane Hill area, all the way to Crescent Hill(where GILBERT'S
childhood home on Pennsylvania Avenue suffered some severe damage),
Rolling Hills, the Indian Hills area, and finally Northfield.
GILBERT(v.o.)
"Trees have been
chopped down all the way. Now, I am curving around and following the
path of it. It seems to have turned a little bit there toward the east.
And this is over the Zachary Taylor area, just south...I'm sorry, just
north of the Zachary Taylor monument. It cut a swath through this area.
Again, taking the roof and in many cases the second floor of the houses
in this area. And then it crossed the Watterson at I-71. By the way
folks, traffic obviously is at a complete stand still. In all of these
areas that I have talked about. Trees, emergency equipment, everything.
It is just not moving ahead at all.
CUT TO:
EXT. WIDE SHOT.
SKYWATCH 84 is flying over the shattered remains of the Northfield
Subdivision. People who survived that catastrophe are looking around
amongst the ruins, wondering what had just happened, and if anything is
salvagable. We see LARRY SPITZER and reporter BILLY REED from The
Courier-Journal stepping out of their car to get some snapshots and
interviews with the survivors.
GILBERT(v.o.;cont)
"Looking ahead here
at I-71, it is at a standstill. The Watterson is at a standstill here at
the intersection. And apparently...wait a minute. Just beyond this
point, I believe, I'm not sure, because I'm still a mile away. But I
think this is the stop, the tail end of the worst damage here. This
seems to be about where it started thinning and dissipating. So that's
the path from Standiford Field, up through Crescent Hill, and out here
into the Watterson at I-71 area. And I have seen some pretty bad stuff
in my career in Iowa and Indiana. In those areas, and this...this is a
disaster. I don't believe I've seen anything to equal this."
CUT TO:
122. EXT. The
rolling Bluegrass plains near the Kentucky Hills. Somewhere near the
state capital. FRANKFORT is about to have an unwelcomed visitor. There
is a sheet of rain that comes from the cloudy sky at first, followed by
some golf-ball sized hail. What follows next, is something totally
unexpected. The people in the old town are rushing indoors as loud
thunder is rumbling nearby. Clouds have begun gathering in the
southwest, obscuring the weak sun with masses of leaden gray. Across the
rolling landscape near Frankfort, a kind of darker mass of cloud seems
to reach from the ground to the sky. A column that grows wider as it
rises. Lightning is at work in the dark clouds as a tornado forms. The
capitol of the Bluegrass State is next on the list of the muderous
battery of tornadoes.
CUT TO:
EXT. Another
tornado forms. This time, it is near the city of RICHMOND, KENTUCKY. It
can be seen along the horizon, forming and then touching down in the
distance. We can hear the alarm sirens blaring as the twister begins to
rip across the landscape. Shrapnel and debris is seen scatttered all
over the entire area. Including dust being picked up and dirt.
CUT TO:
EXT. We see the
remains of CAMPBELLSBURG, KENTUCKY, like we did at the beginning of PART
ONE(beginning of the film). Off in the distance, we see another tornado
forming. Soon, the huge funnel cloud is on the ground and the sirens
begin to sound off. We see some reaction shots of the townspeople, as
they scurry along to seek immediate shelter. We definately get the
impression that they cannot believe that all of this tornadic actvity is
happening to them a second time.
CUT TO:
123. INT. NORTON'S
HOSPITAL - ER in LOUISVILLE. The huge area is filled with patients.
Several people injured in both the serious and not so serious
categories. Various medical personnel are busy attending to the
patients, checking for vital signs, examining them, treating their
injuries, and other various check-ups. Some are having a hard time
admitting them in. A few have gotten violent and thrashed some hospital
personnel. Including some of the security guards that have tried to
restrain them and keep order. We can hear someone over the radio on one
of the radio stations and the police band. It is Lieutenant JACK BENHAM
from Police Headquarters.
BENHAM(v.o.)
"Things are being
set up very rapidly, being the chaotic situation that it is. Police
officials are setting up emergency security areas very efficiently. We
have bulldozers moving now to clear roads. We have people with power
saws who are setting up emergency sleeping areas, which is extensive,
over a broad area, trying to find anybody that might be injured that has
not been reached yet. To give you some idea of what's happened here,
from the Fairgrounds northeast all the way up into Lyndon, a path maybe
200-300-400 yards wide of our city is gone. Cherokee Park, all the
beautiful trees, are no more. They're just completely gone."
We see both
JENNIFER HUGHES and DR. RICHARD STANTON listening in on the report, and
both are wide-eyed with disbelief. It is something even more serious
than they ever realized. ROSALIND also comes by and listens in on the
report.
ANGLE ON ROSALIND
"It's as worse as
they thought it was."
JENNIFER
(looking back at
the ER entrance)
"It seems like
everything was structurally damaged. Brandenburg got the worst of it.
Most of our patients are from that area."
BENHAM(v.o.;cont)
"I've seen places
where houses used to stand but only foundations remain. Cars have been
blown hundreds of yards from where they first were parked. I myself
watched this tornado come up the I-64 area, and as it went east it
gained momentum. You can see as you come east around Cherokee Park, the
damage continues to get worse. We'll be out all night. We request all
citizens to stay out of the area between Taylorsville Road and River
Road, between Cannons Lane and Bardstown Road. That area is officially
closed. It is extremely damaged and we have atremendous amount of work
to do in it. We're trying to get bulldozers into the area to clear the
road. But this area will most likely be sealed off for security
purposes. Unless you live in that area, don't come into it."
JENNIFER
(a bit more than
worried)
"God, I hope Steven
made it to the basement in time."
ROSALIND
"Have you called
him?"
JENNIFER
(shaking her head)
"With all of these
casualties, I haven't had the chance!"
ROSALIND
(a bit shocked)
"Well, now you have
a chance, sister. You go call your man right this second, honey!"
JENNIFER
(smiling and
grateful)
"Thanks, Roz."
STANTON
"Go and use my
office phone, Jennifer. We'll be fine here."
JENNIFER rushes
down the antispetic, white-tiled hallway. Both STANTON and ROSALIND
return their attention to the news coverage. A small group of people
gather around the nurses' station.
STANTON
"Better call in all
of the off duty personnel, Roz. It's going to get pretty busy here in
the next few hours."
ROSALIND
(picking up the
phone near her)
"I'm on it, Chief."
STANTON and the
others continue to listen in on what has happened in the Louisville area
and outside of the city. An orderly wheels in a television, and begins
hooking it up at the nurses station. Once it is hooked up, we see a
clear picture and news coverage of the chaos that had erupted moments
earlier. The orderly turns the dial to WHAS-11, and everyone looks at
the television. Someone at the desk turns the radio down a bit. KEN
ROLAND, one of the reporters for WHAS is seen, sitting behind the
newsdesk and speaking into the microphone sitting in front of him. He is
sitting in front of a pale blue wall, next to BERT BROHMAN, who is
describing what he had seen while shooting the raw camera film footage.
STANTON
(shaking his head)
"What the hell else
could go wrong?"
ROSALIND
(pointing at the
television screen)
"Hey, look at that!
They're showing footage of the tornado."
We can see on the
screen the footage that BERT BROHMAN had shot earlier, on the roof of
the WHAS news building(archival footage once again). The tornado being
seen from a distance as it moves past the 800 building and then behind
another huge structure on the left. Like before, the dark black and gray
clouds are both boiling and rolling in the sky above. The camera PANS
from left to right on the shocked faces of the hospital staff that has
gathered around to watch what was filmed.
STANTON
"I'm surprised it
did not have someone in red riding on it, with horns, pointed tail, and
a pitchfork!"
ROSALIND
"It was a monster,
alright!"
CUT TO:
124. INT. THE
LOUISVILLE MAYOR'S OFFICE. We see 32 year old Creighton E. Mershon, Sr
walk in past a lot of anxious people. the practicing attorney, President
of the Louisville Board Of Aldermen, and acting Mayor has just gotten in
and is handed the phone by an aide.
MAYOR'S AIDE
"Governor Ford is
on the line, sir."
MERSHON
(nodding)
"Yes, Governor?"
GOVERNOR WENDELL
FORD(v.o.)
"Creighton, what
the hell is going on in Louisville?"
MERSHON
(shaking his head)
"Sir, Louisville has been hit hard by one of those tornadoes. From what
the National Weather Service and media have been able to tell, it was an
F4. The damage started at the Fairgrounds and ended after Northfield. In
between, Cherokee Park, Crescent Hill, and Indian Hills have been
seriously damaged. We don't know yet about any casualties or
fatalities."
FORD(v.o.;cont)
"Dear, God. (beat) What do you suggest we do now?"
MERSHON
"The immediate
mobilization of the National Guard for one, and coordinate our efforts
with local emergency and law enforcement. We're going to need all the
help we can get."
FORD(v.o.;cont)
"Right. I'll notify
FEMA and set things up from our end..."
CUT TO:
EXT. We see the
WHAS Traffic Helicopter landing in front of the WHAS news building and
its main entrance on Chestnut Street. We see BERT BROHMAN stepping out
and immediately heading inside with the film camera. We watch the
helicopter begin to take off from the ground.
GILBERT(v.o.;
final report made to the WHAS newsroom)
"I don't know if
you can read me or not. I just landed across the street from you here,
to let the photographer out. We've been photographing the damage and
they are going to develop these films and run them as soon as possible.
Yes, I have just made another pass across the entire area. One thing I
have noticed is, that for the most part, the people that are out and
surveying the damage and so forth do not appear to be overly depressed -
I get all sorts of friendly waves and reactions from them. The emergency
equipment is moving into most of the areas. As you just heard, at the
Crescent Hill water company, the power transformer right there at the
site, at Stilz Avenue and Frankfort, that was crushed, like a giant had
stepped on it. So, they will have a power problem at that location. And
then further out, in Indian Hills, in the Zachary Taylor monument area,
we have a high tension line down on that cross-country line that cuts
across there. So, there's a power problem at that point. Telephone poles
have been damaged right along the path of the thing, of course. As I
mentioned much earlier this afternoon, I could see the path of the
tornado not so much by the dark cloud as by the explosions of blue and
white light from the transformers as these telephone poles were snapped
off."
CUT TO:
INT. FRONT OF THE
BUBBLE COCKPIT of SKYWATCH 84 as it proceeds over the city and the
damaged areas. We then see DICK GILBERT speaking into the headset mike
as he is gripping the control stick. He is still trying to get over what
he has seen in the past few hours.
GILBERT
(looking over the
damage below him)
"Once again, the
damage starts at Standiford Field, at the Fairgrounds, at the trailer
park there by the Twilight Drive-In, and it ran right across Audobon
Park, up into the Eastern Parkway area, by Newburg Road. There are a lot
of big, I mean really old trees, huge trees, right down across Newburg
Road. It's going to take quite a while, I think, to get those things
moved, and open up traffic there. The path went right on out then, into
Crescent Hill. It passed between Barret Junior High School and the
Baptist Seminary on Grinstead Drive. As I said before, it hit Stilz and
Frankfort. It hit the south end of Hillcrest and Pennsylvania Avenue -
very badly there. Went right across the golf course, into Indian Hills,
across Zachary Taylor, and then out across the Watterson and 1-71
interchange, into that new housing development. And then, just east of
there, as far as I've been able to tell, that is the extent of the
damage at that point."
CUT TO:
EXT. The Skywatch
84 helicopter immediately flies over the Louisville skyline, heading
southward, and then turning east. Again, we can see the damage done by
the F4 tornado and the EMS personnel, along with the local police,
beginning the long, painful task of cleaning up and helping others who
were victims of this violent catastrophe. It is a sad Spring day in
Louisville, Kentucky. It will be years before anyone can ever forget
this and the other events spawned by the Super-Outbreak of 1974.
GILBERT(v.o.;cont)
Now, as you can
see, this cut traffic right across the heart of the city. I'm looking at
the north-south expressway - southbound, we're still tightening at Hill,
and it's bumper-to-bumper out past the Fairgrounds. 1-64 is
bumper-to-bumper, through the Cochran Hill tunnel. 1-71 is tightening
beyond Zorn, and crawling out into the eastern section. So, you're going
to have to pick your way and be very, very careful. And, I strongly
suggest you have a full tank of gas, because you're going to spend a lot
of time sitting out there in traffic. That's the way it looks to me,
Dick Gilbert, SkyWatch 84."
CUT TO:
125. INT. WHAS
STUDIOS. JEFF DOUGLAS is stretching back in his chair as he is listening
to DICK GILBERT'S final report to the station. BYRON CRAWFORD is taking
a drink of cold water from a styrofoam cup. Other station personnel are
listening in, while keeping busy. It has been a very interesting, if not
scary day for many Louisvillians.
DOUGLAS
(looking at the
clock on the wall)
"It's just a little
after 7:00 - it's one after 7:00 on WHAS Louisville. Give Byron a chance
to get something cold down his throat. It was very, very strange sitting
here this afternoon, reading all of the reports, not really knowing what
was going on, and then, just like a shock, that first report from
Traffic Tracker Dick Gilbert, about what he saw. Having had a large,
vast experience in covering things like this all over the country, Dick
said that this one was the worst he had ever seen. The way he actually
traced the tornado that went through Jefferson County, and each stop
along the way. . ."
CRAWFORD
(finishing his
drink)
"Yes, Jeff, the
help Dick has given us in the past few days has been immeasurable,
because from that vantage point, seven or eight hundred feet in the air
in the helicopter, he can be of great assistance - not only to us, but
to authorities who want to know what's happening with the tornadoes. Of
course, he flew over Campbellsburg the other day and gave us a fine
report on conditions up there, tracing the path of that tornado. This
afternoon, he was actually up while the tornado was cutting that swath
through Louisville and Jefferson County. Many thanks go to Dick Gilbert
- he'll be up again in the morning."
CUT TO:
126. EXT. Looking
south from the corner of EASTERN PARKWAY and BARDSTOWN ROAD. It is a
huge mess. Power lines, pieces of buildings, splintered wood, and every
other piece of shrapnel is litttered all over the entire area. WE
INTERCUT TO the north from the huge 1400 block area of Bardstown Road,
and it is the same result. All of the various businesses on Bardstown
road from Speed Avenue to Eastern Parkway have been closed.
The huge oak tree
that overhung Bonnycastle has been brought down and power lines are
dancing in the street. Even the phone lines are also down. Various
people are looking around and surveying the damage, while police and
firecrews set about sealing off the area.
CUT TO:
INT. STEVEN AMBROSE
comes out of the basement, wondering what has happened, and adjusts his
sunglasses. He is just beside himself, drinking in all of what has
happened in the aftermath of the tornado. The house has suffered some
minor damage. The windows have been blown out, including some parts of
the wall and other spots. He is holding a can of beer in his right hand,
as he picks up the phone. We can hear nothing but silence on the other
end, which indicates that the phones are knocked out. He walks toward
the house's front entrance and opens the door. A smell of sap in the air
hits him as he takes in everything that has happened outside.
STEVEN
(shocked and
surprised)
"Jesus Christ!"
EXT. He looks
around and just cannot comprehend the damage that has been inflicted. It
is the same for the other people who live in the area. It is just
unfathomable. He notices a phone booth on the corner to his left, about
a block away. He walks over to it. He picks up the receiver and he can
hear a dial tone. Placing a couple of coins in the slot, he dials up the
number for the hospital that JENNIFER is employed by. While the phone is
ringing, he looks about his surroundings a second time, followed by a
third.
STEVEN
(muttering to
himself)
"What a goddamned
mess!"
We hear a click on
the other line, and someone answering from a slightly noisy background.
There is some crackling static also heard. It is ROSALIND'S voice.
ROSALIND(v.o.)
"Norton's Hospital,
how may I direct your call..."
STEVEN
"Jennifer Hughes,
please..."
ROSALIND(v.o.;cont)
"Is this Steven?"
STEVEN
(a little
surprised)
"Yes, it is. To
whom am I speaking to?"
ROSALIND(v.o.;cont)
"Hold a second,
hon. Let me transfer you to her."
We hear a bit of a
crackle and then someone picking up the receiver. It is the Jennifer's
relieved voice.
JENNIFER(v.o.)
"Steven, thank
God...."
STEVEN
"Jenny, what the
hell has happened here? It looks like a huge bomb went off!"
JENNIFER(v.o.;cont)
"Those tornadoes
that the weather service warned us about did all of this. One of them
raked through Louisville. Are you okay?"
STEVEN
"I'm fine, babe. I
kind of figured it was a tornado, but, I wasn't too certain. It
literally tore the hell out of our neck of the woods. The house wasn't
badly damaged, but you should see the other areas inflicted."
JENNIFER(v.o.;cont)
"I don't doubt it.
We've been watching the news coverage. We also have a shitload of
casualties here. It's pretty bad."
STEVEN
(watching the
national guard come in)
"The National Guard
is coming in now, and the phones are out. What do you want me to do?"
JENNIFER(v.o.;cont)
"Stay there for
now, honey. I don't know how long I'll be here at the hospital."
STEVEN
"Okay, but if
you're not back by midnight, I'll walk down to the hospital. or hitch a
ride from someone."
JENNIFER(v.o.;cont)
"Just be careful if
you do. I've got to get back on the floor. Love ya, honey."
STEVEN
"Me too. I'll call
you back as soon as I can."
He hangs up the
phone and exits the booth. His eyes sweep over the damage of the mess
that the tornado has created. It will be months before all of this is
cleared up and repaired.
STEVEN
(running a hand
through his hair)
"Lord, what a
fucking mess!"
CUT TO:
127. EXT. ROAD -
DAY Less like a road and more like a path that you maneuver a vehicle
through. It is the road up the hill to Hogan's Fountain. An old man,
dressed in rain gear, walks down the middle. He is accompanied by a
medium-sized LABRADOR, and seems in no particular hurry. The sound of
tires appear and grow in intensity. The old man, without saying an
actual word, instructs the dog to heal. The dog obeys as the man moves
off the road. The vehicle hurtles past him -- its engine quiet, its
windows darkened -- spraying muddy debris in its wake. He walks along
taking in deep cleansing breaths. He looks at his watch. 6:30 pm. He
feels so confused, exhilarated, so uneasy. He secretly worries about
what will happen next.
CUT TO:
128. EXT. CITY
STREET - EARLY EVENING Downtown Louisville. 6:45 pm on a spring evening.
On an EXTREME LONG LENS the evening rush hour crowd stacks up into a
wall of humanity. In SLOW MOTION they move in herds among the glittering
rows of cars jammed bumper to bumper.
CUT TO:
LOUISVILLE - AERIAL
VIEW OF DOWNTOWN LOUISVILLE - EARLY EVENING MULTIPLE STREET SCENES -
The sidewalks are unusally crowded. A sea of humanity. People come and
go -- always in a hurry. Oblivious of one another. A TRAFFIC JAM -- A
STREET, Eastern Parkway, being blocked up by the tornado damage; A
SANITATION TRUCK loading up refuse; EMERGENCY MEDICAL CREWS, POLICE,
FIRE, and the NATIONAL GUARD working to assist others and maintain some
semblance of order; Intimidating. Demanding. Almost mocking. We're
surrounded by the teeming life of the city as we've not come to --
complete with a cacophony of sound. MULTIPLE CUTS -- Phone kiosks and
phone booths on the East End and downtown -- uptown and down. One
frustrated caller has lost his money in the slot and he takes it out on
the equipment -- smashing the receiver violently against the coin box
until the instrument splinters into a dozen pieces.
CUT TO:
129. INT.
RUTHERFORD'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT. Tommy enters the house. THE CAMERA
RUSHES along the rug in the dark to a foot. The lights come on. PAN UP
the leg to Melissa waiting in a chair, staring out at the window. We can
tell that Melissa is in a state of shock. Her mind is still trying to
comprehend what has happened.
TOMMY
"I checked at the
entrance where the National Guard has been posted. No sign of Mom and
Dad, yet."
Melissa is not
saying anything. She is still trying to sift through all of this. It is
her own way trying to accept what has happened. We see Phil and the
family dog, sitting near the threshold of the back door. Phil has his
left leg bandaged and in a splint. The result of having fallen
downstairs whent he tornado hit the area of NORTHFIELD. We can almost
tell that the tornadic storms reduced some homes to splinters and
scattered debris across the countryside. Entire blocks of buildings were
nothing but rubble.
PHIL
"You don't think
anything happened to them?"
TOMMY
(shrugging)
"I don't know. I'm
trying not to think about it."
PHIL
(looking out the
window)
"You think Michael,
Chris, and Robert were affected by this?"
TOMMY
"I tried calling
their homes earlier. The lines are down in that area."
PHIL
(shaking his head
in bewilderment)
"Christ,
Allmighty!"
CUT TO:
130. INT. WHAS TV
STATION CORRIDOR - NIGHT. An employee is still fussing with a female
colleagues’s hair as she marches resolutely down the hall, flanked by
two other WHAS workers. One of the workers is BERT BROHMAN, who has just
finished dropping off the film he has shot. Like the others, he is
waiting for it to get out of the development processor.
FEMALE EMPLOYEE
"You sure you’re up
to this, Bert?"
BERT
"I think it’s best
for me to do it."
SECOND EMPLOYEE
"How bad was it out
there?"
BERT
(still sorting
through mentally what he had filmed)
"Let's just say
that I was unprepared for it."
The station manager
waits for them at the door to the news studio. The old man, having seen
the news footage himself, is just as equally shocked.
STATION MANAGER
"Bert, the film is
out of the processor. As soon as John is done giving his report to Ken,
you'll be up next."
BROHMAN
"Right."
We see someone hand
both KEN ROLAND and NEIL BOGGS some sheets of news copy and she blows
past JOHN PETROVICH and reporter BUD HARBSMEIER, who is standing in the
background, out of the camera shot.
CUT TO:
131. INT. LIVING
ROOM(KITCHEN)-CU LAURA-NIGHT. We see LAURA watching the upcoming Special
Report from WHAS TV 11. HOLLY and ANN also gather around to see what is
coming up. We see some font identifying the station logo in the lower
right hand corner and some artist's rendition(almost like a child's
drawing)of a tornado touching down. They are sitting in the dark as the
light from the television screen lights their faces.
TV ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
"This is a WHAS TV
11 Special Report..."
ANGLE - TWO SHOT on
LAURA, HOLLY, and ANN. Both are immersed in the broadcast and the
magnitude of destruction that has been shown. We can tell that LAURA is
worried about JAMES. She still does not know where he is, or if he is
okay. Obviously, no one has notified her about his death at the grocery
store.
CUT TO:
132. INT. WHAS
Newswroom. KEN ROLAND is at his seat behind the TV news desk, scanning
his copy, while speaking to WHAS field reporter JOHN PETROVICH on his
right.
CUT TO:
133. INT. CONTROL
BOOTH - NIGHT
Ken in a medium
shot on the camera two preview monitor, Ken and John at the news desk on
the line monitor. Bert Brohman, Bud Harbsmeier, and Ray Shelton stand
looking on.
TV ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
"Here is Ken
Roland..."
DIRECTOR
"Ready camera two.
Two, you're hot-"
Ken Roland’s
close-up pops over to the line monitor. He looks at the camera
blankly-(this is archival footage from WHAS, during that fateful day).
CUT TO:
134. CU KEN ROWLAND
- NIGHT. He starts reporting in his usual no-nonsense manner. A real
professional journalist and former news floor director.
ROWLAND
"....fifteen
tonight. For persons living in Jefferson, Bullitt, Oldham, Henry,
Shelby, and Spencer Counties in Kentucky. A pair of tornadoes were
indicated by radar, at fifteen miles south and ten miles southeast of
Standiford Field, at 7:12. They were moving to the east, northeast at
fifty miles an hour. This means that they were seen about ten minutes
ago. We repeat, a pair of tornadoes were indicated by radar at 7:10 PM
at fifteen miles south and ten miles southeast of Standiford Airport in
Louisville. These tornadoes are moving to the east, northeast at fifty
miles an hour. If threatening conditions are sighted, be prepared to
move to a place of safety. To report a tornado, or other severe weather,
place an emergency call to the nearest law enforcement agency for relay
to the National Weather Service. The police department has called WHAS
TV, speaking for the water company, they say that the water supply in
Louisville has fallen to a dangerously low level. This is because of the
tornado that went through Louisville late this afternoon, crippling the
water company..or...operation in the Crescent Hill area. So you are
asked, please do not use water. Please do not use water now until the
water supply can build itself up again. Because right now it has fallen
to a dangerously low level. Please do not use water here in the city of
Louisville."
CUT TO:
135. CAMERA -
ROLAND’S POV - NIGHT the big eye of the lens staring at him.
ROLAND(v.o.)
"John Petrovich,
has been out in the area..."
CUT TO:
136. FLOOR DIRECTOR
- ROLAND’S POV - NIGHT frantically giving him the speed-up signal-
ROLAND(v.o.:cont)
...we really
haven't had much time..."
CUT TO:
137. CU CUE
OPERATOR - ROLAND’S POV - NIGHT. The man running the
cue-card/teleprompter machine listens in as he continues working.
ROLAND(v.o.;cont)
"...to talk to him
ourselves, ladies and gentleman..."
CUT TO:
138. BOOTH -
ROLAND’S POV - NIGHT. The station manager speaking soundlessly to Bud
Harbsmeier behind the glass.
ROLAND(v.o.;cont)
"...so, what I find
out from him right now, is what you're finding out. But, John has been
in the hardest hit areas in St. Matthews and in the Crescent Hill area
and in northeastern Jefferson County. John, what do you know?"
CUT TO:
CU ON PETROVICH
"Well, I've been
out into the field two and half hours, and from the ground, not from the
air, but from the ground, it's sheer tragedy. In some of the surrounding
cities and some of the subdivisions. Starting from the farthest point
east, we have Northfield, the city of Northfield, which is bounded by
I-71. Alone in that subdivision, camerman Kerwin Fisher and I counted
forty homes leveled. Brand new homes..."
ROLAND
(breaking in a bit)
"Along I-71and the
Watterson Expressway area, right?"
PETROVICH
(nodding in
confirmation)
"Pieces of homes
were lying on the interstate. Shingles, roofs. Walls were caved in.
Bedroom clothing. Furniture was scattered all over. People were combing
through the wreckage. People were coming into their homes from work. No
injuries in that area when we were in there. People were helping one
another. Firemen from the Village Founder Fire Department were going
from door to door. St. Matthews police departments were going door to
door. As we proceeded towards town again, the same story in other cities
and other subdivisions."
INTERCUT WITH:
A pale yellow
colored city map of Louisville showing the path of the F4 tornado,
marked by smaller pics of a black funnel cloud. We PAN from the lower
left corner up to the upper right corner of the map, as we hear John
Petrovich give his report(also archival footage from WHAS).
PETROVICH(v.o.)
"Indian Hills,
again, following the path, the curviture of how the tornado came, you
would have the same problem. Homes leveled, flattened, partly destroyed.
The Dunn Elementary School which is off of I-71 and Brownsboro Road was
partially destroyed. Walls were caved in. Going furthur down into Indian
Hills again the same story again. Subdivsions partially lost...
CUT TO:
KEN ROLAND is given
a copy sheet and puts his left hand up. Obviously, some more important
news has come their way.
ROLAND
"Padon me for
interrupting you there, John..."
ROLAND looks at the
screen, reading off the information that he has just been given. It is
not good.
ROLAND
"A funnel cloud has
been sighted moving northeast from McNeely Lake. That is out in
southern, extreme southern southeastern Jefferson County. A funnel cloud
has been sighted, moving northeast from McNeely Lake. Please be on guard
in those area, and if necessary, take a place of safety, in a basement
or wherever you can. A funnel cloud has been sighted, moving northeast
from McNeely Lake. This is just moments ago."
PETROVICH has also
been handed a sheet of news copy and scans it over quickly. He goes back
to what he was saying earlier before the latest news update and breaking
coverage.
CU ON PETROVICH
"Two...two late
developments that happened while we were leaving. First of all, county
police have set up barracades and blockades off of Brownsboro Road, the
Indian Hills area, the Northfield area, to prevent looters from coming
into the area. There were reports that looters were going into the
area. Police blockaded and set up in that area to keep people away.
Fire departments are going around and turning off gas lines. You can
literally hear the gas coming from the ground and some of these homes.
Very volatile situation keeping them away from there. We talked to
Doctor Donald Thomas from General Hospital, who is manning one of the
emergency centers on Pennington and Brownsboro Road, at the Second
Presbytarian Church. He told us thirty minutes ago that General Hospital
had forty people in their room. One was serious in the operating room.
And as of now, in terms of death count, he knew of two people that were
killed because of tornadoes."
CU ON ROLAND
(looking at
Petrovich)
"That is in
general, or does he mean citywide?"
PETROVICH
"Citywide. And he
has no contact with Suburban Hospital, or other hospitals. There is no
communication. But, from what he has told, Surburban is chuck full of
people from injuries."
ROLAND
"Right, and other
hospitals are too?"
PETROVICH
(nodding in
confirmation)
ROLAND
"Do you know of any
other deaths that came from that area that you are talking about. I-71
and the..."
PETROVICH
"From looking at
it, there should have been. From looking at it..."
ROLAND
"Now, US 32 and
Chenoweth Lane. Were you in that area?"
PETROVICH
(shaking his head)
"No..."
ROLAND
"It was hit pretty
hard..."
PETROVICH
"Right, and that
was strictly in the Indian Hills, Mockingbird Valley. That was in terms
of total devastation that was included into what we saw. We could see,
when you are looking over on that hills and subdivision and subdivision,
you can see flattened homes or partially destroyed homes. Second floors
are gone. People walking around, combing through the rubbage, saying
they were lucky. The people were calm. Surprisingly, no mass hysteria.
They were just walking around and trying to recover and recoup what
they've lost."
ROLAND
"This is one of the worst things, at least, since Topeka, Kansas. Many
years ago, as far as a metropolitan area is concerned. And of course,
Cincinnati was hit. The area, it's just almost unbelievable, the area
that this has hit."
PETROVICH
"The mobilization
is unbelievable. For an hour, all you could hear were sirens off of
I-71. Constant shrill as people walked to and from their house."
ROLAND
"John, we're
planning a special at nine o'clock. That's our plan now. Of course,
you'll be back with us then."
PETROVICH
"That's right."
ROLAND
"With a report and
the film that John has seen, will be on at that time."
As PETROVICH
vacates the chair from ROLAND'S left, ROLAND faces the screen and
delivers another report concerning the weather events of the day. The
veteran U.S. Air Force serviceman and native of Kansas has a bit of a
somber air about him, having read and heard all that has happened in the
past few hours.
ROLAND
"As we've said, a
murderous battery of tornadoes has smashed into wide sections of the
south and the midwest, today. Killing more than twenty people. Causing
extensive damage and injuries and many...those injuries and great deal
of that damage has been right here in Louisville and Jefferson County,
and right across the river, in Clark and Floyd Counties. Up at Madison,
Indiana. Up in the Seymour and Brownstown area and others. The National
Guard has been called to duty in the stricken areas. And in Indiana, a
spokesman for National Guard headquarters in Indianapolis said that the
National Guard is assembling in Indiana, at six armories. The New
Albany, Madison, Salem, Seymour, North Vernon, and Monticello."
CUT TO:
INT. LAURA, HOLLY,
and ANN are watching and taking all of this information in. ANN is
sitting nearby a sink in the kitchen, looking at its clean and sterile,
stainless steel surface.
ANN
(annoyed and
condescending)
"How in the hell
are we supposed to take showers and baths?"
HOLLY
(shrugging)
"Damned if I know.
They're calling the shots on this."
LAURA is just
sitting there, shaking her head. Part of her wondering what happened to
JAMES, and part of wondering the same thing that ANN just voiced her
concern about.
CUT TO:
INT. WHAS STUDIOS.
KEN ROLAND is giving a recap of the events.
ROLAND
"In case you didn't
hear us before, or just tuned in, there was a tornado cloud, a funnel,
spotted near McNeely Lake just a few minutes ago. And it was moving
northeast. If you live in that area, please be on guard. Also a bulliten
had come in of a tornado warning being in effect until 8:15 tonight.
That will be for the next forty five minutes for persons living in
Jefferson, Bullitt, Oldham, Henry, Shelby, and Spencer Counties. A pair
of tornadoes indicated by radar at 7:10, at fifteen miles south and ten
miles southeast of Standiford Field in Louisville. These tornadoes will
be moving to the east, northeast at fifty miles an hour. And will
probably be this cell that caused that funnel cloud that we've reported
just a few minutes ago in the McNeely Lake area. It would perhaps would
be in that cell. That's all that we can tell you right now. Also that
the police department has asked that no one use any water. The
Louisville water supply has fallen to a dangerously low level. The
police department, speaking for the Louisville Water Company said do not
use water at this particular time in Louisville and Jefferson County,
please."
139. INT. CONTROL
BOOTH - NIGHT. Roland is still on the line monitor, and is now speaking
to Bert Brohman on his right; the station manager and a worker are
looking on. We see two workers on the preview monitors now, arriving to
help other people in the studio newsroom. One of them is loading the
film footage shot by Brohman into the tape player, while the other is
prepping the video monitor. We see Bert Brohman sitting in the chair on
Roland's right, while Ken continues discussing what has transpired and
what has been reported out in the field.
ROLAND
"Bert Brohman is
here with me, and Bert, of course, was on our six o'clock news. You
perhaps saw him at that time. Bert was up in a helicopter and sw most of
the damage from the air. And Bert, I understand that we have some film.
Is there anything you want to say before we start this film?'
BROHMAN
"No, I think the film will pretty well explain itself."
ROLAND
"Alright, if we can roll that film. Bert will tell us where we are."
CUT TO:
140. INT/EXT. We
see POV images shot by Brohman from the bubble cockpit of Skywatch 84.
The same footage we saw earlier(archival footage from WHAS). We see the
Seneca Park area, or what's left of it. Trees splittered and broken like
toothpicks. The tornado has definately razed this area in a grisly
fashion.
BROHMAN(v.o.)
"This is...this is
the Seneca Park area, I believe..."
ROLAND(v.o.)
"You might be able to see better on that big monitor there, Bert."
BROHMAN(v.o.;cont)
"If you'll notice,
most of the damage, the debris from the damage is lying in one
direction. The trees are all laying out like sticks, laid out like pick
up sticks. Uh..."
ROLAND(v.o.;cont)
"This is going
northeast through Crescent Hill..."
BROHMAN(v.o.:cont)
"Going northeast
through Crescent Hill, right..."
EXT. We see, going
through Crescent Hill in that direction, houses blown apart and shrapnel
lying everywhere. Tons of debris, be it wood, brick, stone, porcelain,
you name it. Damage has been scattered everywhere from the impact and
force of the F4 tornado that plowed through a third of Louisville.
People are walking about, surveying the damage and going through the
rubble. It is pretty graphic and grisly by the look of things. Mother
Nature at her definate worst.
BROHMAN(v.o.;cont)
"The damage, I
thought, was bad here. When I first saw this, I was really surprised. I
couldn't imagine that it had done this much damage over this wide an
area. But, unfortunately, it got worse as we went. There was a definate
pattern starting at Crescent Hill, out to the Indian hills area. The
pattern of damage definately got much worse the furthur we went."
EXT. We see more of
the damage from the POV shot, as the WHAS Traffic Copter moves along
from Crescent Hill, all the way into the Indian Hills area. It is the
same type of damage, only it seems to have gotten bigger and worse as
Brohman has just described it.
BROHMAN(v.o.;cont)
"This is still, I
think, the...generally the Crescent Hill area. Roofs torn off. Trees
toppled. Power lines down. Now this is the water company..."
EXT. We see the
Louisville Water Company and the shape it is in. the damage is just as
bad. From above, it almost looks as if Godzilla or King Kong himself has
trampled through this area of Louisville. It's right out of a Japanese
science fiction film. Or one of the latest disaster flicks out of
Hollywood.
BROHMAN(v.o.; cont)
"So we changed
shots here..."
ROLAND(v.o.;cont)
"This is the reason
we don't have any water, because it was damaged."
EXT. From above,
the water company has received extensive damage. It is a big mess, seven
hundred feet below the WHAS skycopter. Even though the water tower was
not damaged, the area surrounding it has been hit hard. One would almost
be reminded of London, England during World War II, when Nazi Germany
fired its V-2 missiles on that great British city.
BROHMAN(v.o.;cont)
"I didn't have time
to edit it properly, but I think it gets the point across. I can only
remind people that if there are any possible tornadoes at this point,
for heaven's sake, take it seriously. After seeing this film and seeing
what I saw a few hours ago, I know I will certainly take it more
seriously from now on."
ROLAND(v.o.:cont)
"It always happens
someplace else, and tonight it happened in Louisville."
CUT TO:
141. INT. LIVING
ROOM(KITCHEN)of LAURA'S HOUSE. LAURA, ANN, and HOLLY witness the footage
unfolding on their television screens. they are just as stunned and
shocked by the graphic depiction and what damage the twister inflicted
on the River City of Nothern Kentucky.
HOLLY
(eyes wide)
"Fuck me!"
ANN
(shaking her head)
"Jesus Christ!"
LAURA
(staring and
shocked by the images)
"Guess again, Ann.
Son of God had nothing to do with this!"
CUT TO:
142. INT. LIVING
and BEDROOM of TANYA and JEREMY'S apartment. they are stunned by
watching what Bert Brohman had filmed. Both are lying in bed together,
nude under the pale blue sheets. The soft light from the set bathing
their features.
TANYA
(snuggled up next
to Jeremy's bare chest)
"God, it looks like
someone dropped a bomb out there!"
JEREMY
(leaning his head
back on the soft pillow)
"More a like a
dozen bombs from look of things. It's unbelievable."
CUT TO:
143. INT. SQUADROOM
for the METRO LOUISVILLE POLICE HEADQUARTERS on Jefferson Street. Some
of the officers are gathered around the television set. KURTWOOD LARSON
and BILL JAMESON are also watching what had been filmed. Both had
already seen the damage at Freedom Hall and the Fairgrounds. SHANE
McCLOUD is standing next to the two officers. The blond giant is having
a hard time comprehending all of this.
McCLOUD
"I know one thing,
though. I'm not going to sleep well at all tonight."
JAMESON
"I don't think any
of us ever will."
LARSON
(leaning a little
against the table, his arms steadying himself)
"Maybe not for the
next week or two."
CUT TO:
144. STUDIO FLOOR -
NIGHT. ROLAND listens to what BROHMAN has to say about what happened,
and what he had seen. We see that Bud Harbsmeier, a young man with thick
glasses, a business suit, yellow shirt, tie, and gray pants, is standing
off to a corner, collecting his notes. He is in his mid-thirties, and
from the look on his face, he cannot even begin to describe how bad the
situation is, let alone what he has seen. He is just as surprised as
every Louisvillian is.
CUT TO:
EXT. More footage
from Skywatch 84 that Brohman had taken. We see some more houses blown
apart, some damaged extensively, some not at all. People in those
residential neighborhoods are walking about and surveying the damage.
Some are assisting the police, fire, medical, and national guard
personnel.
ROLAND(v.o.)
"Where are we
heading now? The Indian Hills area?"
BROHMAN(v.o.)
"I can't place it
exactly, but it is at the far eastern part of the city. And I think that
you can see, the lack of houses and the amount of debris, that the
damage is worse. The furthur that you go, the worse that it gets. Some
of the homes damaged, I understand, are in brand new subdivisions, and
very, very expensive brick homes. These weren't a bunch of framed homes,
or inexpensive...there's a power line down there..."
EXT. We see from
above a power line bent over backwards and down on the ground. It's
almost as if some ginat had bent it back with a huge, iron hand. It is
almost crushed by such a force.
ROLAND(v.o.;cont)
"There are power
lines down in a great many areas of the county and they are high voltage
lines, too. Go ahead..."
BROHMAN(v.o.;cont)
"This is getting
out more toward the Indian Hills area. People on the streets not
panicked, but seem to be a...bewildered. They didn't know quite what had
happened. Here you can see the amount of debris. To do that much
destruction, it just had to be a tremendous force. And it, as you
notice, the furthur you go, the worse it gets..."
ROLAND(v.o.;cont)
"Trees just
derooted and leveled..."
BROHMAN(v.o.;cont)
...and snapped
right off at the ground line just like they were nothing. It reminded me
that the whole time I was photographing that I kept having these visions
of like a public service announcement of some disaster in India, or
something, and it was kind of hard to realize that this was Louisville,
Kentucky."
EXT. POV SHOT. We
are flying over North I-71 and the Watterson Expressway. The damage is
still the same. We see some cars and trucks driving along both highway
traffic systems. Some have stopped to the side and others just keep on
going, regardless of the direction and the damage.
ROLAND(v.o.;cont)
"This is the north
exit, near I-71 and the Watterson Expressway."
BROHMAN(v.o.;cont)
"Yes..."
ROLAND(v.o.;cont)
"These are all new
homes in there. That is the trouble we have at the present time.
Anything else, Bert?"
CUT TO:
145. INT. WIDE SHOT
OF WHAS STUDIOS. Both BROHMAN and ROLAND are still sitting behind the
news desk. Both are amazed and shocked by what they had just seen
filmed. Brohman the most, since having filmed the aftermath of the
destruction in the first place.
BROHMAN
"No, I think we'll
have some more film later. I think the film speaks for itself."
ROLAND
"We'll plan a
special now, at nine o'clock. And of course, we'll be seeing you then.
And have a little more compact, perhaps more intelligible way. But, you
did a wonderful job of editing it, just getting it out of the processor,
and putting it on."
CUT TO:
146. TV SCREEN -
NIGHT. Roland is looking sincerely into the camera-
ROLAND
"There have been
approximately eleven deaths in Indiana that we know of, at the moment.
Actually, the only identity that we have is an eighty four year old
woman. Millie Watts, of rural Portland, Indiana. That's in the Seymour
area. She was killed in a mobile home, where she lived alone, was
destoyed by a twister. Eight persons have been treated at the Jackson
County hospital. Extensive damage in the western part of the county. At
six o'clock, we gave you, of course, a report of some deaths reported in
Charlestown. There have been some deaths reported in the...I've
forgotten the town(chuckles a little). My source has told me it is
Hamburg, Indiana. We had a report there that there were two dead and
ninety percent of the town had been destoyed. We had a couple of, this
was an Associated Press report, we have had a couple of calls however,
that people say they have been through Hamburg, and they don't think
that it's that serious. We certainly hope so, because all of the other
reports have really been worse than we thought."
CUT TO:
147. CONTROL BOOTH
- NIGHT. The station manager is on the phone, watching himself on the
monitor.
STATION MANAGER
(speaking into the
phone)
"Have that footage
ready as soon as you can. Also, contact City Hall and find out what in
the hell is going on. And if you can, find out what's going on in
Frankfort. There's been some confirmation of a tornado touchdown out
there."
CUT TO:
CU ON ROLAND. He is
still giving his report, reading off more information from his newscopy
and the teleprompter. basically he is trying to wrap things up, so he
can check on some more information about the tornadoes.
ROLAND
"Hanover, Indiana;
very seriously hurt. Madison, Indiana; very seriously hurt. They called
the National Guard out in all of these areas. And in the Washington
County area. And of course in Clark County and Floyd County. We'll have
a special on at nine o'clock, and in summing up, just let me say this
once again. A tornado warning is in effect until 8:15 this evening. For
persons in Jefferson, Bullitt, Oldham, Henry, Shelby, and Spencer
Counties in Kentucky. A pair of tornadoes were sighted by radar at 7:10
fifteen miles south and ten miles southeast of Standiford Field in
Louisville. These tornadoes will be moving to the east, northeast at
fifty five miles an hour. One was sighted near McNeely Lake, just about
five or six minutes ago. We'll see you at nine o'clock, please take
care."
T.V.
ANNOUNCER(v.o.)
"WHAS TV,
LOUISVILLE..."
FLOOR DIRECTOR
"And, we're
clear....great job everyone!"
CUT TO:
148. INT. LIVING
ROOM(KITCHEN)-LAURA'S HOUSE. The three women just take in all that they
have see from the television and just sit there silently.
ANN
(heading for the
door)
"I'd better get on
home. If the National Guard is out, then it won't be too long before a
curfew is in place."
HOLLY
(confused)
"Why a curfew?"
ANN
"To keep the looters out. I'll see you tomorrow."
As ANN leaves the
room, HOLLY starts to get up. LAURA sits back in her chair, looking
outside from the sliding door nearby.
HOLLY
(a bit concerned)
"You going to be
fine here?"
LAURA
(nodding)
"Yeah. My parents
should be home soon. I'd better stay close by the phone, just in case."
HOLLY
(somewhat
reassured)
"Right. I'll see
you tomorrow, whether or not school will be in session."
HOLLY follows the
same route that ANN just did. LAURA sits back and watches the
television. The same special report font and image comes back on,
followed by Ken Roland's voiceover.
ROLAND(v.o.)
"The Jefferson
County Civil Defense Office has just enforced an immediate curfew on
this area. That's the Louisville area. The curfew is in effect from now
until six o'clock tomorrow morning. Repeating, the Civil Defense Office
has imposed an immediate curfew on the Louisville area. The curfew is
effect from now until six o'clock in the tomorrow morning. We return you
to the program in progress."
LAURA just
continues to sit there. She hopes that her parents are fine. Most of
all, she hopes that JAMES is safe. If only she knew where he was, and
what has happened to him.
CUT TO:
149. EXT. SUBURBAN
STREET - NIGHT The quiet upper-middle class neighborhood of St.
Matthews. The CAMERA is at the curb, looking down the street. There are
no sidewalks. Trees arch overhead. Rows of potted lilies and roses are
seen. Lights are on in the bottom half of the house, and the curtains
across the windows are open. A single light burns in the upper right
side of the house, presumable in a bedroom, but the curtains in the room
are drawn.
CUT TO:
INT. DINING ROOM -
LATER It is dark. O.S. we hear the phone in the living room being lifted
off its receiver, a dial tone, then a number is dialed. Pause, then
ringing. CAMERA SLOWLY DOLLIES from the dining room, across the front
hall and into the living room where we see LAURA talking over the phone
to someone and then hanging up. We can also see a white enameled patio
dining set nearby, still packed away.
CUT TO:
INT. LIVING ROOM -
LATER LAURA sits at the table as before, doing her homework, smoking a
cigarette. O.S. we hear a faint shaking noise from somewhere in the
house. LAURA hears it too. She stubs out her cigarette, gets up from the
table and walks out of the living room.
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY LAURA
enters the hallway and pauses. Then she starts walking slowly down the
hall to the kitchen door. Again the shaking noise O.S., only louder this
time. Laura stops dead, listens, then continues forward even more
cautiously.
CUT TO:
INT. KITCHEN As
LAURA enters. She cannot find the lightswitch, so she stands in the
darkness listening. Again the shaking, very close now. LAURA turns her
head sharply, then walks to the refrigerator and opens it. It is only
the automatic icemaker creating the shaking. LAURA takes a piece of cake
from the refrigerator and leaves the kitchen. She ends up polishing off
the cake in a matter of seconds.
CUT TO:
INT. LIVING ROOM -
MOMENTS LATER LAURA is standing at the wet bar in the corner, pouring
herself a drink. She samples the alcohol, doesn't cough, and starts to
pour a little more into the glass. Then, she shuffles through her books
and papers on the table- top until she finds the notepad. She then sits
down in an armchair facing the TV set. The TV is on, but she is bored.
She runs through several channels, then gets up and turns the TV off.
She looks around and moves aimlessly back to the table, but O.S. a dog
is barking and she is drawn to the window. A car passes outside, its
lights reflecting off the window and LAURA'S face. She then sits on the
sofa, a drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other. She sets her glass
down, stubs out the cigarette, leans back and sighs. She is very tense
and tired.
LAURA
"Shit."
(We have cut ahead
in time some twenty or thirty minutes.) Behind the street, several
patrol cars and an ambulance are pulled up at the curb, their main
domelights silently flashing. Obviously, some armed looters were found
and were shot at by the authorities.
CUT TO:
150. INT. Some
dimly lit bedroom in a house not far from the Seneca Park area. One that
was spared from the tornado's wrath. We see a couple in bed, trying to
sleep. One is an auburn-haired woman of 37, the other a young man of 41.
Both are tossing a little bit as the noise outside is disturbing them.
We hear some machinery and other mechanical noises coming from the
window.
A SEQUENCE OF CUTS.
DETAILS. IMPRESSIONS.
The auburn-haired
woman, a very close angle, looks up from her side of the bed. The
handsome man on her right, his face rapt, turns to his side. Both are a
bit distracted by shafts of light coming from the window and the
outside.
WOMAN
(startled)
"What is that?"
MAN
(in a Welsh accent)
"I don't know. It could be those National Guardsmen and their vehicles I
saw earlier today."
WOMAN
(whispering)
"Think they
enforced a curfew?"
MAN
(very faint
whisper)
"More than
likely."
CUT TO:
151. WIDE SHOT EXT.
FREEDOM HALL and the rest of the huge LOUISVILLE FAIRGROUNDS. More
people are still believed to be trapped in the debris, and National
Guard units are called in to help with search-and-recovery efforts.
Police and Fire units, along with EMS and just various residents assist
in the search. SHANE McCLOUD rides in on his motorbike to help out.
Obviously, he cannot rest, so he has obviously decided to work until he
is tired.
McCLOUD
(voice icy)
"I could use some
Kentucky Sipping Medicine right about now."
He drives the bike
into the huge East End parking lot and comes to a stop. He hesistates
for a moment and then decides to go back home after all. After all that
he has seen today, he realizes that he can't take much more of this.
McCLOUD
(shaking his head,
to himself, out loud)
"I'm definately
going to need it right now."
Gunning his engine,
he drives out of the parking lot in a major hurry. Heading toward
Preston Highway South, he decides to head home and break out a big
bottle on Kentucky Burbon. After all that the tornado had inflicted on
Louisville this afternoon, and the work he pulled after he was off duty,
he is of the opinion that he is entitled to a drink. FAST PANAGLIDE WITH
HIM as he drives the length of the parking lot, and stops outside the
front gate.
The camera is
PANNING RAPIDLY as the motorcycle shoots out of the parking lot and
tears down the area of Preston Highway.
LOW ANGLE as he
speeds into FRAME.
FULL SHOT as he
speeds away from FRAME.
CUT TO:
152. INT. THE COURIER-JOURNAL NEWSROOM. We see the clock on 8:15 PM.
Obviously, the tornado warning has passed. Some reporters are speaking
on the phone, trying to raise various people within the city and state
government. BRUCE CLARK is on the phone, speaking with someone in City
Hall, trying to find out some more about the Acting Mayor's plans and
when Mayor Harvey Sloan will be returning.
CLARK
(exasperated)
"Goddamn, it!!!
People are wanting to know what in the hell is going on, and what the
Deputy Mayor is trying to do about this! (beat)"Well, I'm just trying to
do my job, here! If you don't like it, then that's your problem! (Beat).
Fuck you in hell, too!!"
CLARK slams the
phone down and knocks over the phone in a rage. He is clearly enraged by
some peoples ignorance. He gets up and walks out of the room. Some
people watch him leave after his paroxysm of fury. They too, are also
enraged by not getting much of a straight answer from other sources.
CLARK
(fuming and walking
down the hall)
"Worse than Cynthia
Schulz's writings!!!"
CUT TO:
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