INT - BOXING RING - NIGHT

SUPER: “Fight #2”.  The bell RINGS.  Mac charges ahead.  We hear a loud THUMP.

Mac crashes to the canvas, unconscious.  The bell RINGS; the fight is over.

INT - BOXING RING - A DIFFERENT NIGHT

SUPER: “Fight #3”.  Mac goes flying through the ropes, and his foot gets snagged on the bottom ring rope.  Mac hangs there unconscious as Tom, Eugene and Kid disentangle him.

INT - BOXING RING - A DIFFERENT NIGHT

SUPER: “Fight #4”.  Mac approaches the ring, with Tom, Eugene and Kid behind him.  Kid carries the bucket and Eugene carries the stool.  Eugene seems strangely proud of the stool, as if it were a trophy.  He carries it with great dignity and solemnity.

Mac climbs up the steps to the ring but slips and falls, crashing his jaw against the top step and knocking himself out cold. 

Tom rushes to Mac’s side, checks him out, and waves his arms at the Referee. The Referee blows his WHISTLE and raises the hand of Mac’s OPPONENT in victory.

INT - BOXING RING - A DIFFERENT NIGHT

SUPER: “Fight #5”.  Mac falls flat on his face, nose and lips pressed against the canvas.  He sticks there like glue, not moving.

INT - BOXING RING- A DIFFERENT NIGHT

SUPER: “Fight #6”. Mac and his OPPONENT swing at the same time, both PUNCHING each other in the face.  They are both knocked unconscious. 

                        REFEREE

... Seven!  Eight! Nine! Ten!

Both fighters lie flat on their backs.  The REFEREE blows his WHISTLE and waves his arms, signaling the end of the fight.

INT - BOXING RING - A DIFFERENT NIGHT

SUPER: “Fight #7”. Mac stands in his corner, dancing and fidgeting. 

                        OLD MAC (v.o.)

Every time I got my clock rung I started thinking about what Padre told me about boxing being my salvation, and I wondered if Jesus was gonna suddenly materialize and turn me into a priest.

The bell RINGS; Mac rushes forward.  We hear a loud THUMP.  Mac crashes to the canvas, unconscious.

MAC’S P.O.V.

The crusty old REFEREE counts, spittle flying from his lips as he screams.

                        REFEREE

Eight!  Nine!  Ten!  So long, sonny-boy!

                        OLD MAC (v.o.)

Now, who’s to say what Jesus really looks like? But speaking for myself, I think I know what he don’t look like.

The Referee’s goofy old face stares directly into Mac’s eyes.

INT - BOXING RING - A DIFFERENT NIGHT

SUPER: “Fight #8”. Mac lies on the canvas, head lolling.  The REFEREE counts.

                        REFEREE

Six!  Seven! Eight!

Mac struggles to his feet.  The referee checks him out, then signals the fight to continue.

Tom yells from where he stands ringside.

                        TOM

Come on, Mac, dance!  Stay on your toes!

Mac dances around his opponent, STAN RUPINSKY, a jiggling ball of white blubber.  Mac lands a ripping RIGHT HOOK into Stan’s stomach, making the layers of fat ripple.

Stan bends over double, the wind knocked out of him.  Mac follows up with a RIGHT UPPERCUT that puts Stan on the seat of his pants.

                        REFEREE

One!  Two!

The bell RINGS and the fighters retreat to their corners.
Tom and Kid fan Mac. Eugene stands ringside, and reaches through the ropes to put the waterbucket at Mac’s feet. Tom takes out Mac’s mouthpiece, and Kid gives Mac a drink of water from the ladle. 

                        TOM

C’mon, spit.

Mac spits the water directly into Eugene’s face. Tom puts the mouthpiece back in Mac’s mouth.  Eugene grimaces and wipes his face.

                                                TOM (cont.)

Listen.  Hit him in the belly.

                        MAC (lisping through the mouthpiece)

Othay.

Mac and Stan advance on each other.  They study each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

Mac and Stan circle each other slowly, neither one throwing a punch.  The crowd begins to GRUMBLE.

                        VOICE #1 FROM CROWD

Hit him, ya bum!

                        VOICE #2 FROM CROWD

What’re you, scared?

Mac’s brow knits with anger.  He rushes forward.

Mac and Stan swing simultaneously.  Mac swings a RIGHT into Stan’s belly, and Stan smashes a RIGHT into Mac’s nose.

Mac collapses, bleeding from the nose.  Stan bends over double and stumbles around the ring clutching his stomach.  He makes it to his corner then collapses onto one knee with his head down low, gagging and holding onto the ropes for support.

                        REFEREE

Seven!  Eight! Nine!

At the count of nine Stan gets up with a wretched, sick look on his face.

                        REFEREE

Ten!

The Referee holds Stan’s hand up in the air.  Stan tries to straighten up to acknowledge the victory, but suddenly bends over double and spits up a big chunk of sausage on the ring mat.  The Referee jumps away quickly.

Tom, Kid and Eugene have dejected looks on their faces.

EXT - PARK IN BROOKLYN HEIGHTS - DAY

The park overlooks the Manhattan skyline.

                        FABULOUS FREDDY (o.s.)

That’s where the money is, Mac. Can you smell it?

                        MAC (o.s.) (with a nasal tone)

I can’t smell nothing.

Mac and Fabulous Freddy sit on a bench with a view of Manhattan.  Mac has a bandage around his face that covers his nose, and a bloody wad of tissue stuck up one nostril.

                        FABULOUS FREDDY

You can’t smell nothing.  Of course you can’t, you got a broken nose!

Freddy thinks this is very funny, and LAUGHS.  Mac pulls out the wad of tissue.

                        MAC

It finally stopped bleeding.

                        FABULOUS FREDDY

Here’s the thing.  I can’t afford to pay you to fight no more.

                        MAC

But ... we have a contract, Freddy.

                        FABULOUS FREDDY

Remember I said rules are made to be broken?  Same thing with contracts.  If it’s not working it’s not doing either one of us any good.  I don’t need to go bankrupt and you don’t need to break any more bones. 

                        MAC

But I can do this Freddy, I know I can. 

                        FABULOUS FREDDY

I’m trying to give you an education here.  It’s like this: if you’re not winning the game, sometimes you need to try a different game.
                        MAC (bristling)

You’re saying let’s quit. 

                        FABULOUS FREDDY

You’re not listening to me, I’m trying to propose something. It’s not quitting, it’s a proposal.  Do you want to hear it?

Mac glowers in silence.

                        FABULOUS FREDDY (cont.)

Gambling. People have to go all the way to Atlantic City or Las Vegas to do it.  Until now.  There’s a proposal to legalize gambling in Manhattan.  Whoever runs the casinos ... get the picture?

                        MAC

What’re you asking me?

                        FABULOUS FREDDY

Not asking, offering.  It’s an investment opportunity.  For fifteen thousand I know some people will guarantee my name gets on the list for a casino license.  If we don’t get the license, the money’s returned, clean, with interest.  If we get the license, well, it’s a license to print money.  It’s a no risk investment.  Lilly put in five “G’s”, I got eight.  You can put up the other two, we’ll be partners.

                        MAC

I don’t have it.

                        FABULOUS FREDDY

I know, what I’m saying is, we can work something out.  I’ll let you keep fighting for me, but instead of me paying you, I’ll give you a piece of the casino deal when it comes through.  What do you say?

                        MAC

I don’t know.

They are silent for a moment.

                        FABULOUS FREDDY

I’m going to ask Lilly to marry me.

Mac struggles to retain his composure.

                        MAC

When?

                        FABULOUS FREDDY

Soon. Soon enough.  I’m gonna really surprise her. But I gotta save up some money to do it right.  Do you know what it costs to get married?  You don’t want to know.

Mac looks Freddy in the eye.  Mac’s nose is bleeding again.

                        MAC

You’re right, I don’t.  Listen, I got two more fights and I’m gonna do ‘em even if it kills me.  Pay me or don’t pay me, I don’t care, but I’m doing ‘em.

A LITTLE LATER

Mac, alone in the park, stands by the railing looking across the water at Manhattan.  A few raindrops fall on him but he doesn’t notice.

Mac STRIKES himself across the face with an open hand, then does it again and again.

EXT - OUTSIDE WEGMAN’S COFFEE SHOP - NIGHT, LATER THE SAME DAY

It’s a cold, rainy evening. Mac, wearing a rain jacket and hat, looks through the window and sees Lilly pouring coffee for a customer. 

INT - WEGMAN’S COFFEE SHOP - NIGHT

Lilly is behind the counter.  She walks up to Mac, who is seated at one of the counter stools.  Lilly can’t see it’s Mac because he holds a newspaper in front of his face.

                        LILLY

What can I get you, mister?

                        MAC (from behind the newspaper)

Coffee with chocolate ice cream.

Lilly pulls down the newspaper and sees Mac.  They laugh.

                        LILLY

Sorry, it’s not on the menu.

Mac looks around, as if making sure no one is eavesdropping.

                        MAC (in a hushed tone)

I promise not to tell anybody.

Lilly leaves and comes back a moment later with the coffee/ice cream drink.  Mac tries it.

                        MAC

It’s pretty good once you get used to it.

                        LILLY

Exactly.  Oatmeal’s like that too. I remember the first time I tried oatmeal.  At first there was something weird about it, and then the next thing you know I found myself craving it at two in the morning.

                        MAC

Freddy said you gave him five thousand dollars for that casino thing. That right?

                        LILLY

We took a note out on the house.

                        MAC

Is that such a good idea? What if something goes wrong?

                        LILLY

Then we get our money back.  Like Freddy said, it’s a risk free investment.

                        MAC

Ain’t no such animal in the zoo.

                        LILLY

Did he ask you to quit boxing?

                        MAC (shakes his head “no”)

That word ain’t in my vocabulary.

                        LILLY

What word?

                        MAC

Quit.

                        LILLY

Hah!  You just said it!

                        MAC

Saying it and doing it ain’t the same thing, and I ain’t gonna do it.  I’m not a quitter.

                        LILLY

Baloney.  You quit on me, but you won’t quit getting punched in the face.  How do you think that makes me feel?  What does that say about me?

                        MAC

If it says anything about you it’s that you never realized you could do better.  Let’s face it -- I’m a punching bag with a gimpy left arm.  I’m working a subsidy job from the government which I only have because someone with a few stars and bars on his arm took sympathy one me.  I live in a rat trap with paper thin walls.  All I’ve got to my name is my name, and when people tell me to quit, they’re telling me to throw that away too.  So sorry, but I’m not about to quit.

Mac stalks away, then comes back and puts some change on the counter.

                        MAC (cont.) (softly)

Every time I ever quit something I always wished later that I hadn’t.

Mac exits.

EXT - BROOKLYN STREET - DAWN

Mac runs through he streets.

EXT - BROOKLYN PARK - DAWN

Mac runs through the park.  The Manhattan skyline is shrouded in fog.

EXT - BROOKLYN NAVY YARD - DAWN

Mac runs to the waterfront area in the back and does some jumping jacks.  A tugboat glides by and BLARES its horn.

INT - BROOKLYN NAVY YARD WAREHOUSE - DAY

A hand pulls the string under a brass horn, and the BLARING of the tugboat’s horn segues into the BLARING of the five o’clock quitting-time horn in the Navy warehouse.

Mac looks up at the horn and smiles.  He walks toward the exit, but stops as he overhears two WORKERS talking.

                        WORKER #1

My grandmother could take him -- and she died last year!

                        WORKER #2

I heard he knocked himself out brushing his teeth.

                        WORKER #1

I hear he sleeps on canvas sheets ‘cause that’s the only way he can get comfortable.

Mac frowns at the sound of their LAUGHTER and walks away.

                        KID (o.s.)

Who’s gonna tell him?

INT - BOXING GYM - DAY

A few fighters are training on the heavy bags and speed bags.  There are two boxing rings, both being used.  Tom, Eugene and Kid sit on a couch by the entrance.

                        EUGENE

I ain’t gonna tell him.  You tell him.

                        KID

Tom, you tell him.

                        TOM

He’s not gonna wanna quit.  He’ll get angry if I tell him.

                        EUGENE

He’ll get killed if you don’t.

Mac bounds through the front door.

                        TOM

Hey, how you feeling, Mac?

                        MAC

Like a horse.

                        KID

Yeah, huh?

                        TOM

You been training real hard, Mac -

                        MAC

We’re gonna win this time, I guarantee it.  You can take that to the bank and buy a U.S. bond.

                        TOM

We been talking, Mac -

                        MAC

You know what Lilly says to me yesterday?  Get this: she says I should quit.

They stare at Mac.

                        MAC (cont.)

Yer all speechless.  Me too!  I says “Quit?  That word ain’t in my vocabulary.”  Course I had to say the word “quit” to tell her it ain’t in my vocabulary, but she got the point.  I told her Mac Mackouckas ain’t never run away from a fight in his life and he ain’t about to start now.

                        TOM

Well ... yeah. We’re all real proud of you, Mac.

Eugene and Kid nod.

INT - BOXING GYM - A LITTLE LATER

Kid takes a poster off the wall. The poster has a picture of Rosco Battaglia and reads “Heavyweight Title Defense at Madison Square Garden!  Rosco Battaglia (42-0) vs. Allan Yutley (14-2).”  Underneath there is a picture of Stefan Toussaint: a scary, scowling black man with white warpaint stripes across his face.  The type reads “Undercard Fight: The Witch Doctor Stefan Toussaint (5-0) vs. Mac Mackouckas (0-7-1).”

Mac is punching Eugene around the ring. Mac still punches almost exclusively with his right, but now he’s keeping his left glove up by his cheek for protection; his boxing technique is clearly improving.  Padre, Tom and Kid stand outside the ring.

                        KID

Stefan Toussaint.  Don’t sound like a name for a witch doctor, does it?  Sounds more like a French pastry chef.

                        TOM

He’s an Indian, from the Chapahoutle tribe in New Orleans.  He killed a man in the ring.

INT - LOCKER ROOM - A LITTLE LATER

Mac gets dressed.  Tom, Kid and Eugene put the equipment away.

POPS, the eighty-year old curmudgeon who runs the boxing gym, enters the dressing room.  He’s smoking a cigar and carrying a gift-wrapped package with a bright red bow on it.  Pops’ voice sounds like a croaking frog.

                        POPS

Special delivery.

Mac is surprised.  He takes the package.

                        MAC

Thanks, Pops.  What is it?

                        POPS

Big box.

Mac reads the attached card. It says “To Mac. From a Fan.”

                        MAC

Who gave it to you?

                        POPS

Hey, whudda I know?  I was takin’ a leak and when I got back -- (sucks on cigar and exhales) -- end of story.

Mac opens the package.  Inside is a red, cloth robe with black trim, folded up.

                        EUGENE

Geez, Louise.

                        KID

Hey, Mac, that’s something.

                        MAC

Did you guys do this?

                        TOM

No.  Least I didn’t.  You fellas?

Eugene and Kid shake their heads “no”.

                        MAC

Wow.  A genuine boxing robe, like a real professional.

Mac takes the robe from the box.  He hold it up by the shoulders and displays it proudly.

Tom, Eugene, Kid and Pops stop smiling and stare at the robe with surprised expressions on their faces.
Mac turns the robe around.  On its back is printed in large, black block letters “CANVAS BACK MAC”.  

The silence in interrupted by a Pop’s loud, croaking laughter.

                        POPS

Ha ha ha ha! Canvas Back Mac.  That’s rich!

Pop turns exits, LAUGHING.

                        POPS (cont.)

Ha ha!  I wish I’da thought of that.  Canvas Back Mac it says.  He’s a canvas back all right!

Mac’s face grows red.

                        EUGENE

Whoever did this is gonna pay.

                        KID

I’ll bet it was Pops.  He was laughing at you.

                        EUGENE

Yeah, and he was saying “Canvas Back Mac” too!

                        TOM

He only said that ‘cause he saw it on the robe.

                        EUGENE

Maybe because he’s the one that put it there in the first place?

                        KID

Ah, who knows?  It’s like the chicken and egg.

                        EUGENE

The what?

                        KID

You know, what came first, the chicken or the egg?

                        EUGENE

The chicken of course.  Where else are you gonna get an egg?

                        KID

But where’d the egg come from?
                        EUGENE (condescendingly)

From the chicken, stupid.

As they others argue Mac puts on the robe; it is a perfect fit.  He ties the belt around the middle and looks at himself in the wall mirror.

                        MAC

I’m gonna wear it.

                        KID

But Mac, people are gonna laugh at you.