children playing by
a burning mattress on the sidewalk; others in the rainbow
spray from the fishmongers hose.
The building across from the fish market with the metal door
above concrete steps. It opens.
STARLING
Heads up.
A large white man in a luau shirt and sandals comes out
with a satchel across his chest, other hand behind the case.
A wiry black man comes out the door behind him, carrying a
children
in this neighborhood have been
made to feel. The pounding of
construction ringing in their
ears as this skyscraper, a
tribute to mankinds greed,
grows daily, casting an ominous
shadow over their lives, filling
them with dread even as they are
surrounded in a black, toxic
fog, blocking out the sun while
poisoning their lungs! And
Counselor calls it harmless?!
His back turned momentarily t
children.
The man with the binoculars sights something.
EXT. HORIZON - BINOCULARS POV - A DOG
It turns and snarls at the craft some fifteen hundred
yards to its rear. Then whirls and gallops off. A gun
blast kicks up snow at its heels.
INT. COPTER
Another blast of rifle fire as the man takes issue with
his prey. The pilot slams a fist into his gunman friend
and implores for better aim. The craft
SISTER ACT
by Paul Rudnick
July 19, 199l
Page 1.
SISTER ACT
FADE IN:
INT. ST. ANNES ACADEMY - AKRON, OHIO - CLASSROOM
We are in a parochial school classroom, in the late
Sixties. The children all wear uniforms and sit at little
desks. SISTER IMMACULATA stands at the front of the room;
she is a middle-aged nun, very severe. The children are
all terrified of her.
SISTER IMMACULATA
Who can name all
peers at us. He glances about,
perplexed.
PRIEST
Is anybody there?
A small hand appears -- then the face of a girl aged about
10, peering up at him through the grill. The Priest
smiles a trifle wearily.
PRIEST
You know Im always happy to see
you, Jeanne, but to keep coming here
twice, three times a day...
JEANNE
I need to confess.
PRIEST
But you already confessed this
morning...
JEANNE
I need to
attached a 2x4
as propeller, as if their imaginations needed any help. They
wear overalls and have bowl haircuts: RAFE and DANNY, 10
years old.
RAFE
Bandits at 2 oclock.
DANNY
Power dive!
They buzz their lips in a flying noise and work the controls,
Rafes bare feet on one pedal, Dannys on the other.
RAFE
Its Germans!
DANNY
Kill the bastards!
Rafe looks at Danny in shock -- then they both laugh an
children, fifteen adults,
two doormen, fifteen dancing couples and a sled and three dogs. It is a windy
night. Snow is falling and whirling about. People are passing on foot, holding
their cloaks tightly around them. Some of them are revelers in fancy dress: they
wear masks on their faces or hanging around their necks, as if returning from par-
ties. Now they are glancing up at the facade of the
peer from the cage. Taking the
point of view of the eyes from inside the playpen, one
sees the mansions Christmas tree from between the dark
cage slats.
GIDDY YULETIDE SINGERS
"He knows when you are sleeping,
he knows when youre awake..."
The family cat skulks past the cage -- almost. Without
warning, the cat is yanked -- so fast and powerfully it
seems that its been sucked -- through the bars, i
children. The T-shirt Vendor goes back
to selling his shirts.
INT. NEW YORK BAR - LATE DAY
Ike sits at the bar speaking to an attractive Woman nearby, a
MAN puts is USA Today on the bar and addresses the BARTENDER.
MAN
I see photos of a lot of dead writers
on these walls. Got any living ones?
I have a story to tell that could win
one of them a Pulitzer.
(then, with enthusiasm)
Picture this,
children, terrified.
TO JOHNSON
JOHNSON
(in French)
How far to Yambuku?
Silence. The Police Captain approaches menacingly.
CAPTAIN
(in French)
You dont want to go there, Doctor.
There is nothing but death there.
People are dying all along the
river --
SISTER GENEVIEVE, a Belgian Catholic Nurse, approaches
from the Refugee camp. 40s, haggard, suffering
dehydration. She pushes past the Police, unaf