| Rocky VI |
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Here’s the 2nd installment of the script of “Rocky VI” from Sly Stallone
When we left Rocky last issue, he was visiting the grave of Adrian…
EXT.- PET SHOP – NIGHT
Rocky is parked in front of the defunct pet
shop.
Pauli sits in the car.
ROCKY: I used to tell Adrian a joke every day
– They weren’t so funny.
She’d smile anyway ---
Rocky looks back through the filthy and boarded up
windows. He steps back.
The door and the windows are sealed up with sheets
of painted aluminum.
PAULIE: This place – It’s
fallin’ apart.
ROCKY: It could be fixed.
PAULIE: Waste of time ---
ROCKY: Y’know, we’ll never leave
this place.
PAULIE: I did.
ROCKY: No, we didn’t – We’re
like pieces of these buildings.
PAULIE: I ain’t no talkin’ brick
– The clock’s sayin' it’s late,
Rocko.
ROCKY: …One more stop.
INTERIOR – ICE SKATING RINK
Rocky and Paulie look oddly out of place as they
stand off to the side … On the ice a junior
squad of hockey hopefuls go through practice
drills.
ROCKY: Y’know, the first time I walked ya
sister over this ice, she was nervous – She was
very nervous an’ very shy --- (points)
An’ over there, when she was fallin’ I
caught her – It was the first time I touched
her, when she was fallin’.
PAULIE: … I knew that.
ROCKY: Never felt nothin’ like that
since, y’know – It’s like two
blinks –
PAULIE: What is?
ROCKY: (lost in thought) Ya life –
It’s like two blinks of the eye an’
it’s over.
PAULIE: I’m callin’ this a night
– we’re finished here.
Phone rings – Paulie answers. He
self-consciously turns away from Rocky.
PAULIE: Yeah – Fine – I was gonna
call ya in an hour – Yeah, call ya back. (hangs
up) – It’s my girlfriend –
C’mon, Rocko. Let’s go.
ROCKY: In a minute.
PAULIE: (louder) It’s
depressin’. I hate this friggin’
cold –
ROCKY: What’s the matter with you?
PAULIE: Me? It’s you!
Ya’ keep wantin’ to remind yaself of what
happened yesterday – Ya can’t change
nuthin.’
ROCKY: Who said I wanted to?
PAULIE: me! Maybe I want to – Maybe
I don’t want to think no more about all this
– Forgettin’s better than
rememberin’.
ROCKY: That ain’t right.
PAULIE: Yah, for me, it’s right! Who
treated her bad all the time? Me; I don’t
need to remember that! ---
ROCKY: …You know she loved you.
PAULIE: (choked) … But I never said that back
– I’m not doin’ this no more.
Paulie moves off in the opposite direction –
Rocky lowers his eyes and stares wistfully across
the ice.
EXT – MODERN HOME (LAS VEGAS) –
NIGHT
It is the residence of World Champion, Mason Dixon
… a single light on upstairs which emanates
from the large window.
CUT TO: INT. – BEDROOM
We see Mason Dixon seated in a modern armchair
looking at a large plasma screen. He is
handsome, powerful and intense. With his shaved
head he resembles a perfect bronze
sculpture.
CLOSE UP – PLASMA SCREEN
After a replay of his last title defense the
audience reacts with disdain.
Commentator #1 (V.O): I can’t remember
the Heavyweight Division this bad –
There’s just no decent competition – No
opponents – It’s a virtual wasteland with
Dixon sitting securely atop a pile of nobodies!
Multiple shots of the audience heaving cups of ice
into the ring. Dixon looks unbowed.
Commentator #2: What’s that old
saying? “A fly standing on top of a pile
of cow dung thinks he’s a king.”
He’s Champion of Nobodies….
INT. – GYM – LOCKER ROOM
The two men sit alone among the dented
lockers.
MARTIN: Hell, no matter how much you want
somethin’ like your respect – You
ain’t gonna get it, ‘cause once people
have made up their minds about who a man is, it
really ain’t ever changin’ much.
MASON: What do I do? ‘Cause I need
peace in here. Why I need this anymore?
(taps his temple)
MARTIN: Gotta get ya some self respect
–
MASON …Don’t need any of it no
more.
MARTIN: Yeah, you do – Man, you better
learn to like who you are, or why you ever leave
this place? - Man, you ain’t been
tested yet – You’re good so you
ain’t never bled yet, Man. When you
find somebody standin’ in front of you who
ain’t runnin’, an you hurt an’
scared, but stayin’ in there, then you gonna
get yourself your ‘self respect’ and
that’s the only kinda respect that means a
damn thing.
(End Part 2)
Be back here next week for Part 3 when Rocky has a soul-crushing conversation with his son, Robert, Jr.
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