The Legend of King Kong

BO GOLDMAN
I£-io -7eT
,
#02087
THE LEGEND OF KING KONG
FADE IN
EXT. PET SHOP - WEST 57TH STREET - NIGHT
The store window is trimmed in tinsel and silver balls and

colored lights, the letters "Merry Christmas" draped across
a cardboard Santa Claus and across a diapered cardboard baby
the numbers of the incoming year "1933."
Divided into two parts,- in the larger one, puppies, in the
smaller part, a capuchin monkey rolling and swinging and
tumbling through the excelsior with joyous abandon in response
to a pretty set of fingers who tap and rap and wiggle against
the glass. Suddenly a hand reaches in from the st-nre side of
the shop, lifts the monkey out, tucks him into a portable
cage and hands it to a 12-year-old girl who beams up at her
mother, a Park Avenue matron busy fishing in her pocketbook
for cash.
REVERSE ANGLE - FINGERS
Frozen on the glass, they belong to Ann Darrow, in her mid-

twenties, a lean and delicate beauty to her, a cloche and a
permanent frazzled at the edge, a dickie and a shirtwaist and
a faille skirt whose hem sags slightly, the run-down edges
of a depths-of-the-depression lovely whose hollow cheeks and
black circles reveal not a model, but an actress who hasn’t
eaten for a day.
She watches ruefully as the monkey heads, east with its new
owners, now she rises from her stooping position at the
window, heads in the other direction, into the smoky scurry
of the 5 PM Saturday shopping crowd.
ANOTHER ANGLE - ANN

Striding purposefully west, but we can see, with no real
destination as she passes fur shops and dress shops, painfully
checking them out of the corner of her eye, and now Charles
& Co. the fruiterer, just in time to see half a dozen Golden
Delicious lifted from their red tissue beds, and then a bottle
of marrons whose cap is quickly unscrewed and one of the con-
tents popped into a mink-hatted mouth.
She pushes on, past more apples, but this time the fruit is
on the curb side, sitting in shallow boxes which are slung
over the shoulders of vacant-eyed fedoraed men, their over-
coats pulled up against the Christmas cold which seeps in
from the street, and out from the decorated store windows.
'
#02087 2
EXT. CARNEGIE HALL 4
Ann walking by posters which read "Paderewski," "New York

Philharmonic, A. Toscanini, Conductor,' "Tuesday, Mary Baker
1
Eddy Lectures" and still another "Journey to Adventure with

Carl Denham," a banner "Today!" pasted across the last.
On the corner by the newsstand, is Weston, a theatrical agent,

slashing through a copy of Variety he has just bought, pausing
^
momentarily to crack a chestnut, also just purchased from a

huddled vendor on the corner stoking coals under a pan.
ON ANN 5
Watching the vendor adjust his chestnuts carefully, turning

them over one-by-one, Ann swallowing, almost salivating, her
trance suddenly distracted by Weston's shells pitching down
on the sidewalk beside the vendor One has not been completely
.
eaten she fixes on it, and now Weston, having checked the
,
grosses, tosses Variety into the corner trash basket, and

hustles through the Carnegie Hall stage door.
Ann waits until Weston has cleared, now she stoops for the
half -eaten chestnut, and in the same one smooth motion,
snatches the Variety out of the mesh basket, and her shoulders
straight, heads on down Seventh Avenue, popping the remains
of the one chestnut into her mouth.
INT. CARNEGIE HALL 0
In the darkness and through the rustle, a voice booms off a

movie screen competing with frenetic music scoring the death
duel between a cobra and a mongoose.
DENHAM (O.S.)
’And so this remarkably agile little
mammal gets its prey again. He
darts in for the kill....'
It is a stunning duel, something today’s audiences are long

used to, but the footage is good, the exposures are clean,
and the camera is in close. But the music underlines every
bite and wriggle.
DENHAM (o.S.)
’The hapless cobra spreads its hood
one last time, the mongoose strikes
just below the sac where the reptile
is most vulnerable, and it is all
over .
CONTINUED
mg n t A
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\
6 CONTINUED ,
y
The dead cobra is circled by the mongoose, now he picks him
up, scurries off with the snake in its mouth,, the camera tilts
up to the Himalayas, the sun makes a last halation, end the
end flashes and bleeds out.
The audience applauds and the spotlight comes : i

!
.
on the host, Carl Denham, standing beside a i. •>••••

:..q
a bush jacket, safari jodphurs, puttees. Th’: 1 1 at
.
once an air of authority and terrible tens rev., a; .t Denham s •
macho, perverse, but with a kind of dynamics to he soc-aks

,
every sentence as if it ended with an e.

3 xc: c vmc. ti on t o: nt.
DENHAM
And it is all over for us tco, old
friends, for this season: But for
this season only! Because next
year I will be back with an attraction
that I promise you will be too big
for this hall, too big even for Radio
City, too big for any one movie theatre
in the country!
A Kid yells up from the front row.
j KID
j Carl! Carl! What is it?!
HEARING AID
Tell us, Carl!
i
Denham smiles down benevolently on this audience who for years

have been his stock-in-trade.
DENHAM
Friends, I can’t tell you because I
haven't found it yet. But I'm on
my way to find it, and when I find
it I'm going to film it. And then
I promise you, my loyal audience, I
will bring it back and you, my
friends, and the rest of the world
will be breaking down the doors of
every movie palace on all five
continents to see it.
KID
What is it, Carl?!
BALCONY
C’m 'on, Carl, where are you going?!
COKTINJ tb-H
#02087 4
CONTINUED - 2
Denham smiles enigmatically, lifts a firm jaw and a steady

gaze to the gallery.
DENHAM
To the end of the earth and back!
But we will meet again —
and where
will we meet, my friends? Where?
Where ?
Denham winds them up.

DENHAM
On our ....
Now he cues them.

AUDIENCE
Journey to Adventure! 1!
Denham throws the crowd a fist of approval and runs o.s.
to jungle drums, and Peruvian flutes.
TREASURER’S OFFICE
Denham charges through the wire mesh cage, a Dresser behind
him wipes off his makeup, at the same time peels off Denham'
bush jacket, throws an attachable- collar shirt on him, now
pushes Denham out the door, Weston running to cauch up, drag
ging behind him two bulging suitcases splattered with frayed
labels, plus a long box like a rifle case.
EXT. CARNEGIE HALL - NIGHT
Weston still struggling a half-step behind.

WESTON
Carl! Carl!
Denham ignores Weston, jumps into the street, lets go a two-

fingers-in-the-mouth blast which brings all the traffic to
a standstill.
WESTON
Aren't you going to say good"bye?
DENHAM
Good-bye, Eddie. Kiss the Missus
and stay away from the horses.
CONTINUED
mgh #02087 5
8 CONTINUED 8
WESTON
Don't take any wooden nickels, Carl.
DENHAM
I'm not interested in nickels.
Denham grabs his bags and the box from Weston and' leaps -into
the nearest cab as the Driver giîs his motor.
WESTON
(yelling over
the noise)
I forgot to tell you!
But the cab roars off down the Avenue, Weston still screaming
through cupped hands.
WESTON
We did thirty-three hundred dollars
today, Carl!
A window rolls down in the cab.

DENHAM
Next year
t
Denham's voice booms back through the traffic.

DENHAM
Thirty-three million !
— The cab disappearing into the Seventh Avenue crush.
CUT TO
9 EXT. HOBOKEN DOCK - NIGHT 9
The fog rolling in, a tramp steamer berthed, on its hull the
letters "Panama Queen." The place is bustling with activity,
the dock lights cutting through the night, lighting up crew
members moving up and down the planks with heavy equipment,
crates, a feverish last-minute pace.
On the dock, at the foot of one of the planks, a heated dis-

cussion is taking place, the scurrying crewmen moving like
shadows past the participants who are Jack Driscoll, the
First Mate, a sinewy man in his thirties, an air of mystery
about him, a scar on his cheek. Driscoll speaks with a Dutch
accent. With him is the master of the ship. Captain Englehorn,
a stumpv, barnacled, ocean-going veteran, listening defense/
ively to the Harbor master
'
CONTINUED
mgh #02087 6
9 CONTINUED 9 '
HARBOR MASTER
I will not sign your papers. You ve
l
got explosives on board. Weapons,

ammunition. You've got a tired
10-knot tramp steamer loaded down
with twice the crew she normally
takes. You sail and the insurance
company has my ass tomorrow and the
Fire Marshal the day after.
10 ANOTHER ANGLE 10
A taxi pulling up near the foot of the dock, Denham jumping
out, negotiating the fare and the tip, but all the time his
ear is cocked to the discussion going on at the foot of the
plank.
DRISCOLL
Last year there was no difficulty.
Weapons, ammo —
HARBOR MASTER
Last year was different.
ENGLEHORN
How? I
HARBOR MASTER
There was a different Harbor master
I’m shutting you down —
until you
clear your cargo and lighten your
crew.
ENGLEHORN
No piss-ant civil servant's going
to keep the Panama Queen from
sailing.
DENHAM
(shouting up)
Oh yes he will!
Denham has materialized at the foot of the dock, a crewman
hustling his bags up behind the Harbor master.
DENHAM
(to Englehorn)
Hello, Captain, and watch your
language
CONTINUED
mgh #02087 7
10 CONTINUED 10
DENHAM (Cont'd)
(nods to Driscoll)
Driscoll, get aboard, see about
the gear I sent over with Mullins.
Captain, those papers my lawyer
sent over need your signature.
Denham moves off to one side with the Harbor Master as Driscoll
and Englehorn keep their distance, then drift back up on the
ship.
DENHAM
You were old Swenson's assistant.
HARBOR MASTER
That's right. He's retired.
DENHAM
Saw you last year. Helped us
through customs.
HARBOR MASTER
Right again. The contraband —
the plants. I'm real sorry about
this, Mister Denham, but a rule's
a rule. And thanks for being so
understanding
DENHAM
Not at all — what was your name
again?
HARBOR MASTER
Mil liken.
DENHAM
What Milliken?
HARBOR MASTER
George
DENHAM
George —one of the things I've
always found wrong with this
country is how little they regard
their public servants. Army, Navy,
Merchant Marine
HARBOR MASTER
You're goddam right. Swenson had
to sweat forty years and all he's
got to show for it is five grand
retirement pay.
CONTINUED
.
#02087 8
CONTINUED - 2
DENHAM
Poor old Swede. Counting the
goddam pennies. I can see him
now —
what with Christmas coming
and everything.
The Harbor master stops, looks Denham in the eye. Almost
imperceptibly, Denham's arm comes around the Harbor master’s
shoulder, starts leading him away from the ship.
DENHAM
Got any kids, George?
HARBOR MASTER
A girl, nine.
DENHAM
Perfect.
He reaches in his pocket, pulls out a little Polynesian doll,

hands it to him.
DENHAM
Had this in my suitcase. Brought
it back from Samoa, last trip.
It's quite rare.
HARBOR MASTER
I couldn't take this, Mr.
Denham
DENHAM
George, I insist. After all, you
could have fined us for violating
the rules of the port.
HARBOR MASTER
That's a fact.
DENHAM
Notice, George, how they make the
skirt —
out of dried copra leaves
The Harbor master turns it over.
DENHAM
Peel them. Go ahead.
The Harbor master reaches under, a five hundred dollar bill

comes out, the Harbor master swallows.
CONTINUED
mgh #02087 9
10 CONTINUED - 3
10
DENHAM
George, me and the crew want you
to have a Merry Christmas.
The Harbor master breathes deep, debating.

DENHAM
And also that little nine-year-old,
what's her name?
HARBOR MASTER
Vicki.
DENHAM
Vicki
The Harbor master, clutches the bill.
HARBOR MASTER
Be out of here tonight.
DENHAM
You bet, kid.
Denham is already going.
HARBOR master
If you're not out of here tonight,
I'm turning you in to the Coast
Guard.
DENHAM
(over his shoulder)
We’re on our way. And give my
regards to Swenson. He's got nine
of those dolls.
And Denham is gone, like lightning, a powerful walk and he is
up the plank, almost bowling Englehorn over.
DENHAM
Prepare to sail, Skipper.
ENGLEHORti
What the hell are you talking about?!
The Harbor master won’t release us.
DENHAM
I'll tell you about it in Sumatra.
Now move. Skipper! We got to go!
CONTINUED
ra #02087 10
10 CONTINUED - 4 10
And he's down the deck. Driscoll smiles at Englehorn.

ENGLEHORN
What a pirate
Englehorn laughs.
DRISCOLL
(through the
bullhorn)
Prepare for departure! Departure
at 0300 hours!
Denham wheels around the deck, almost bowls over Mullins,

a Crew Member.
MULLINS
There's a guy waiting in your
cabin, Mister Denham. Been there
two hours.
DENHAM
,
Get another doll out of my

suitcase, Mullins.
And. he clatters down a gangway into his cabin.
11 INT. DENHAM'S CABIN 11
Denham explodes through the door, sees a man sitting on the

bunk, a hairline moustache and a sporty overcoat. His
name is Yeager, he's an agent.
DENHAM
You?
YEAGER
I've got some news for you, Carl.
DENHAM
Good news?
Yeager shrugs noncommittally — wig-wags his hand.
DENHAM
What is this, Charley? This tub
sails in two hours and your client's
supposed to be on it. Where's my
girl? I want my girl!
Yeager lights a cigar, looks through the window at the

New York skyline. Denham tracks him carefully.
CONTINUED
. . ?
#02087 11
CONTINUED XI
YEAGER
She's right across the river at
the Manhattan Hotel*
DENHAM
The Manhattan Hotel !
YEAGER
That's the good news.
DENHAM
She wants more money.
YEAGER
That ' s the bad
Denham smiles, takes a seat on the cabin chair, watches Yeager.
DENHAM
How much more money?
YEAGER
Fifty dollars a week. Plus she
wants a thousand dollar bonus
on completion of the job.
DENHAM
You want or she wants?
YEAGER
I'm her agent. I want it one
tenth as much as she wants it.
Of course I'm not playing the
part
DENHAM
You’re a bastard, Charlie.
YEAGER
True. But I've got a hundred
and ten pounds of dynamite across
the river at the Manhattan Hotel.
DENHAM
Leave it there.
YEAGER
I thought you might say that.
Look, Carl, you're going off for
six months, you're putting my
girl on a boat with a bunch of
hooligans, you're taking her in
the jungle with lions and tigers
CONTINUED
ra #02087 12
11 CONTINUED - 2 11
DENHAM
No lions and no tigers.
YEAGER
All right, so they boil her in a
pot with elephant bones. The
point is, it's not like she’s
down in one singing 'Ballin' the
Jack.' It's dangerous, Carl. I
see peril. Sheer peril. And I
want Francine compensated.
DENHAM
You've got me over a barrel,
huh, Charley?
YEAGER
I don't like to think of things
that way.
DENHAM
Let me tell you how I like to
think of things. That if I make
a deal it's a deal. That no
nickel and dime flesh peddler chew-
ing on a Walgreen 's cigar is going
to hold me up when I got every cent
I ever made sunk in this expedition.
The hell with you, Charley. The
hell with Francine. The hell with
the dynamite at the Manhattan
Hotel. Let her blow herself up
or go hustle a John at the Hippo-
drome. Because that's all she's
worth and that's all you're worth.
I'm going to go find a girl and
I'm going to sail at three o'clock
in the morning. Now get your ass
off my ship.
Yeager stands up, runs his overcoat cuff across the crown
of his fedora.
YEAGER
(appeasing)
Talk to you later?
DENHAM
Not a chance.
i
YEAGER
C'mon, Carl, I'm flexible —
you 11 come
'
—
CONTINUED
.
#02087 13
CONTINUED - 3
YEAGER (Cont'd)
(lifts up with
his hand)
a little and I'll come —
(pushes down
with his hand)
a little
Denham slaps his hand away.

DENHAM
Up to nothing, Charley! As of
now, nothing is my figure.
Denham drills him.

DENHAM
And you know what ten percent
of that is!
Denham rips the door open and slams it as Yeager exits.

Now he sits, drumming his fingers, looks out the porthole
at Yeager stalking down the gangplank, at the bustle of
activity, at more equipment being on- loaded, and then
suddenly he is out of the chair like a shot.
ON THE DOCK
Denham sprinting past Yeager, hailing a cab dockside.
ANOTHER ANGLE - TAXI

Zooming through the streets, pulling up at a cigar store.
Denham leaps out, dives across the tile floor to the pay
phone
Dials, hooks the phone under his chin, and with the other
hand helps himself to gum from the cigar counter, unfolding
the tinfoil as he talks, stuffing his mouth full of gum.
DENHAM
(phone)
Eddie, I want you to set up an
audition for me in one hour at
the Variety Arts —
I want at
least ten girls —
don't tell me
Saturday —
I don't care if it's
Yom Kippur and Good Friday rolled
into one
—
—
you have the girls
there one of them's going with
CONTINUED
#02087 14
CONTINUED 13
DENHAM (Cont'd)
me tonight — Francine? Francine's
out — don’t tell me impossible!
Or I'll stamp you and Charley
Yeager into a block of cement and
drop you in the Narrows! That's
better. One hour —
{squints)
One hour, Charley. I want
knockers and behinds and a face
like Shirley Temple.
Slams down the phone and the cab skids into the night.
EXT. WASHINGTON MARKET - NIGHT 14
Ann making her way through the stalls, racks of fruit and
produce, lettuce bursting from crates, oranges piled like
ammunition. Her Variety is still tucked under her arm.
DENHAM'S TAXI 15
Pulling up for a light, Denham drumming his’ fingers again,

hunched over. He peers out the window, his gaze lands on
Ann. He trances, just watching Ann moving through the mounds
of fruit and produce, her eyes on the Stand Attendant, wait-
ing for him to be distracted.
DENHAM
Wait around the corner.
TAXI
What?
DENHAM
Around the corner.
And Denham is out of the cab and on to the sidewalk, the
taxi pulling away behind him.
ON ANN 16
Breathing a little heavily now, weak from hunger, she sees

the Stand Attendant move away to take care of a customer.
She reaches for an apple, and in an instant the steely
Hellenic hand is on hers.
CONTINUED
. . . .
#02087 15
CONTINUED
GREEK
That’s fi’ cents
ANN
(trying to shake
loose)
Just a minute, my good man.
GREEK
Fi ' cents
ANN
(still struggling)
If you'd let a lady get to her
pocketbook, we could conclude this
transaction.
The Greek releases her hand. Ann rummages interminably in

her pocketbook, comes up empty.
ANN
Oh what a shame —
I must have
left my change purse on the counter
at Bergdorf s '
GREEK
Put it back.
Ann hesitates a moment, still holding the apple in her hand,

she looks this way and that, trapped, now jumps as the Greek
grabs her wrist again.
ANN
Take your hand off me, you big
lummox! I don't want your wormy
apple and your breath smells like
the East River!
The Greek squeezes her wrist, she is about to drop the apple,
when suddenly a voice erupts from behind
DENHAM
Five pounds of apples !
Ann’s and the Greek’s heads swivel.
GREEK
What?
DENHAM
You heard me.
CONTINUED
#02087 16
CONTINUED - 2
GREEK
What apples?
Denham points to the pile Ann had stolen from.
DENHAM
Those apples.
The Greek looks at Ann, looks at Denham, reluctantly begins

counting out the apples. Denham smiles his most winning
at Ann, Ann watches Denham cautiously. The Greek hands the
bag of apples to Denham, he pays, then tries to hand the bag
to Ann.
DENHAM
My pleasure.
ANN
Oh I couldn't do that
DENHAM
They're just the color of those
cheeks of yours
ANN
Oh Mister
They are blocking the Greek's way who is now trying to

help another customer.
GREEK
Hey, c'm'on, git outa here.
DENHAM
Hold your horses, Spyros.
But the Greek pushes Denham and Ann roughly.
DENHAM
Watch where you're going, buddy.
GREEK
Git outa here, wise guy, an' take
that whoor with you. .
Ann whaps the Greek across the arm with her Variety.
ANN
And watch what you say, buddy.
The Greek explodes, chopping down on Ann with the back of

his hand.
CONTINUED
. . .
#02087 17
CONTINUED - 3
GREEK
Git outa here!
But Denham slams the bag of apples on the Greek’s head, the
Greek coming right back at Ann. with a water hose, Ann still
hitting at him with Variety. Now Denham rips the scale off
its chain and flails the Greek across the face, blood flies
from an eye, but the Greek keeps slapping away at Ann until
Denham reaches for an enormous eggplant and swats the Greek
across the ear, and he goes down screaming.
Now somebody yells "Police!” from an adjacent stand, whistles

blow, Denham grabs Ann and they fly around the corner into
the waiting cab and skid off.
INT. CAB
The two of them, panting in the aftermath, Ann trying to get

herself together.
ANN
Look at this —
my Variety’s in
shreds —
I'm gonna miss the
casting calls....
Denham doesn’t say a word, eases back in his seat.
EXT. FULTON FISH MARKET - NIGHT
Ann and Denham moving through. Crates at a stand, the fish

stacked up like a frozen lake, they come to a big one.
DENHAM
(to Ann)
Sea bass ....
Ann ' s eyes open wide and Denham pitches it on the scale
FISH MAN
Twelve pounds at four cents a
pound
He wraps it in newspaper and hands it to Denham.
FISH MAN
That ' s forty-eight cents
clr #02087 18
19 INT, SLOPPY LOUIE’S - SOUTH STREET 19
Denham and Ann walk back to the kitchen , Denham unrolls the
fish.
DENHAM
Throw that on, Louie!
1
The cook lays it on the grill. Ann is getting woozy, uhe

smells of the kitchen, the heat.
20 INT. SLOPPY LOUIE'S - DINING ROOM 20
Mirrors, wooden tables, a gathering place, fishermen and deal-

ers, thick smoke, traffic moving in and out. There is a plate
between Denham, and Ann, the bones of a fish.
DENHAM
We were hungry.
ANN
I_ was hungry.
Ann falls silent for a moment, Denham offers her a cigarette.

They look at their coffee, sip it in silence. Ann looks away
for a moment as Denham stares' at her.
DENHAM
Where’ d you say you were from?
ANN
Ohio.
DENHAM
Ohio? I’ve played Ohio. It has
a lovely quality.
Ann is silent.
DENHAM
More coffee?
ANN
No, no more coffee. And no more
kind words. Just answer me a
question.
DENHAM
What?
ANN
•n What’s the angle?
/'
CONTINUED
clr #02087 19
20 CONTINUED 20
DENHAM
\ No angle.
J
ANN
You pick me up in the Washington
Market, you defend my honor with
an eggplant, then you stuff me
full of fresh fish. I've never
known a producer in my life to
buy me a dinner unless he wanted
one of two things. A) Get me to
work for nothing, or B) Pinch my
behind.
DENHAM
Neither. I want you to work for
me.
ANN
For nothing, right?
DENHAM
For plenty.
ANN
Go to New York, my mother said.
Sink in hell. You don't sink
in hell, you just starve there.
DENHAM
Me, too. I've shot tigers in
Tibet, lions in Africa, and
followed natives two thousand
miles across a desert to harvest
a blade of grass —
and what do
I get for it? Polite praise from
the critics and a Saturday after-
noon in Carnegie Hall.
He pauses, looks out the window as if he were fantasying some

thing, then whips his attention back to Ann.
DENHAM
But I'm telling you, kid, it's
all going to change —
this time
it's going to be a movie a —
'movie' movie! the—story? The
most powerful force in the world
— Nature But that's not enough.
!
What else do you gotta have?
Ann shakes her head in ignorance.

CONTINUED
clr #02087 20
20 CONTINUED - 2 20
DENHAM
(leaping in)
A girlJ A girl in jeopardy
Ann is silent.
DENHAM
And you're the girl.
i
ANN
What kind of ... j eopardy '
DENHAM
Look it's fifty dollars a week
f
for three maybe four months and

all the food you can eat. How's
that for 'jeopardy'?
Ann eyes him fishily.

•
ANN
You going to put me in a room with
a snake? I don't go in a room
with a snake.
Denham laughs. Ann is silent.
DENHAM
What's the matter?
ANN
I dunno. My nose twitches when
I'm suspicious —
and it's going
a mile a minute right now.
She still looks at him fishily.
ANN
When does the job start?
DENHAM
Tonight.
ANN
Tonight .'
DENHAM
Grab a cab to the boat and sail
at three in the morning.
ANN
You must be kidding.
CONTINUED
#02087 21
CONTINUED - 3
DENHAM
Wnat are you trying to tell me?
You want to go home to Chagrin
Falls and kiss Mommy and Daddy
good-bye?
ANN
—
No, but I have arrangements to
make
DENHAM
What — a boyfriend? '
ANN
No, no boyfriend I have things —
—
to pack, my apartment to take care
of, my cat
DENHAM
Your landlady will take care of
your cat and your apartment.
Things to pack? What's wrong
with what you've got on your
back right now?
ANN
Nuthing , I s'pose.
DENHAM
Don't tell me you want more money.
ANN
No
DENHAM
Look, kid, I’ve got ten girls
waiting up at Variety Arts, ready
to bxeak the walls down to make
this trip. I've got another wait-
ing in the Manhattan Hotel with
hex agent. She'd cost me less
than you. But you're the. one I
want —
I want you what do you —
say?
ANN
Mister, are you on the level?
DENHAM
Honey, this is Carl Denham you're
talking to —
this is not 'Trelawny
of the Wells' at the Lambs Club.
clr #02087 22
20
CONTINUED - 4 20
\ ANN
J It was ’Berkeley Square* at the
Blackfriars.
DENHAM
All right, all right —I*m
making you an offer. Do you
want it or not?
Ann hesitates, measuring Denham, Denham measuring her.
DENHAM
Sixty dollars a week.
ANN
My nose just stopped twitching.
21 SHIP'S HORN 21
The Panama Queen bellows into the night, smoke rises from
her funnel.
22 ANN - ON DECK - NIGHT 22
Her overcoat pulled up against the cold, looking up towards

the bridge, fascinated by the process of the ship's departure.
23 ANN'S POINT OF VIEW 23
Driscoll stands waiting with a megaphone, Captain Englehorn

beside him. There are deckhands below ready to haul on the
main lines, and down on the dock stevedores prepare to release
them.
Englehorn checks around, the deck, the dock, the Helmsman

beside him and Driscoll, the First Mate.
DRISCOLL
(through the mega-
phone )
Take in one
The first line is released off the bow.
DRISCOLL
Take in three!
A line is let go amidships, Ann dodges to get out of the way..

\
i
clr #02087 23
24 ANOTHER ANGLE - ANN 24
standing on the deck, looking up towards the bridge, watching

Driscoll, impressed by his authority at the same time still
bewildered by the technique and bustle of the ship's leave-
taking.
DRISCOLL
Take in four!
The stern line is released and hauled aboard.
DRISCOLL
(to the Helmsman)
Left engine ahead a third.
The Helmsman moves the engine order telegraph, the bell rings,
the ship starts swinging away from the pier, the stern coming
first, the bow still held by a line.
DRISCOLL
(through the mega-
phone)
Two!
The last line is released and the ship swings clear.
looking up towards the bridge, then down along the deck,

trying to stay clear of the activity.
26 BRIDGE - DRISCOLL 26
Looking down, he sees Ann.
ENGLEHORN
(to Driscoll)
Course?
DRISCOLL
(still looking
down at Ann)
Zero-nine-zero
The Helmsman turns the wheel.
HELMSMAN
Coming right to zero-nine- zero.
Driscoll looks away from Ann now, peers ahead at moonlit New
York rising in front of him, skyscrapers, the lower bay, the
Statue of Liberty.
CONTINUED
jc #02087 24
26 CONTINUED 26
DRISCOLL
All engines ahead.
The engine order telegraph responds and the Panama Queen moves
1
out.
27 DECK - ON ANN 27
Looking up towards the bridge she waves at Driscoll. A

sailor beside Ann, his name is Tim, is coiling a rope around
a capstan, she speaks to him.
ANN
Is that the Captain?
TIM
(looking up)
No, Jack Driscoll, First Mate.
A tug blasts below, then toots. Ann smiles, waves again at

Driscoll on the bridge. Now Driscoll waves back.
28 I NT. PANAMA QUEEN - STORAGE ROOM 28
Denham is moving through it with Mullins, another member of

> the crew. There are crates and boxes everywhere, in the
center a rifle rack.
Mullins opens the door off the storage room, a tub, some
developing chemicals stacked in the corner, a string of
lights, a processing belt. Mullins flashes a red darkroom
light. They move through the storage room, Mullins pointing
as he goes.
MULLINS
Akeley. .tripods. .magazines.
. . .
Movieola. .rewinds. . .raw stock

.
DENHAM
Thirty thousand feet?
MULLINS
You got it.
DENHAM
Ethyl chloride?
MULLINS
Over there.
CONTINUED
#02087 25
CONTINUED
They move to a stack of crates in the corner, Denham jimmies

one open with a crowbar, pulls out what looks exactly like a
hand grenade
DENHAM
I never thought I'd see one of
these again.
MULLINS
Me , neither
Denham juggles it in his hand, now moves to another crate,
Mullins jimmies it open, inside -the box shaped like a tifle
case that Denham carried from Carnegie Hall.
MULLINS
Hey, what’s in here?
DENHAM
Mullins?
MULLINS
Yes, sir.
DENHAM
You've been on two expeditions
with me, right?
MULLINS
Yes, sir.
DENHAM
I found you in the boiler room,
and how you can operate a camera,
thread a movieola, process a piece
of film. My God, we could get you
a job in Hollywood, couldn't we,
Mullins?
MULLINS
Yes, sir.
DENHAM
And you want to know why I like
you so much?
MULLINS
Yes, sir.
DENHAM
Because you don't ask questions
and you keep your mouth shut.
CONTINUED
drm #02087 26
28 CONTINUED - 2 28
MULLINS
Yes, sir!
Denham chucks him under the chin.
DENHAM
Attaboy, kid!
He pitches the grenade back in the crate as Mullins hustles

to nail everything down.
29 INT. PANAMA QUEEN - MESS 29
Tables, benches where the crew eats, in the corner a round

table for the Captain; seated with him is Denham, Driscoll
and Ann. The tables for the crew are nailed with tin surfaces,
sugar bowls, wax flowers on the Captain's table and an oil-
cloth tablecloth, the whole place civilian Navy.
The scene is played off Driscoll who is quiet for much of

,
it, but his eyes are on Ann, watching her, and watching
Denham.
ENGLEHORN
West of Sumatra, Ann. At least
he s told us that much
'
Arm keeps looking at Driscoll whose silence seems to make

her anxious.
ANN
And where is that, Mr. Driscoll?
DRISCOLL
Dutch East Indies.
ANN
You’re Dutch, aren’t you? You’ve
been there before?
DRISCOLL
Yes, I have.
The quiet lays there.
ANN
(finally to v
everybody)
Well, dammit, I've got a part to
do. I want to get ready.
CONTINUED
drm #02087 27
29 CONTINUED 29
ANN (Cont’d)
I've got no script, I've got no
character, I don't know where
I'm going, and I don't know what
I do when I get there.
Englehorn smiles.
DENHAM
Calm down, kid
ANN
I don't even have any clothes to
wear
DENHAM
Lumpie can fix you up, the
Quartermaster.
—
He's got a sewing
machine down there
DRISCOLL
Lumpie s got his hands full with
'
crew issue. He doesn't have time

to sew dresses.
Silence.
ANN
(to Driscoll)
I understand
DENHAM
You don't need to, kid. Your
clothes come first, right. Skipper?
After a moment.
ENGLEHORN
You're the boss, Carl.
Driscoll gets up from the table.
DRISCOLL
Excuse me
(nods to Ann,
speaks to
Englehorn)
I'll be up on the bridge. Skipper.
Driscoll makes his way out of the Mess, Ann watching him
disappear.
CONTINUED
drm #02087 28
29 CONTINUED - 2 29
ANN
I suddenly have an awful chill.
DENHAM
That's just Driscoll, kid made —
two trips with him now keeps —
his distance. He's had a rough
life.
As the quiet lays there again, Denham dives right in.
DENHAM
Go ahead, kid —
down the passage-
way there —
third door —
you'll
find Lumpie.
ANN
Silk purse out of a sow's ear?
How about a wool skirt out of a
pea jacket?
Ann goes; Englehorn turns to Denham.

ENGLEHORN
About our destination, Carl,
what's it going to be?
DENHAM
I'll tell you later.
ENGLEHORN
Carl, you've never done this
before, what's the point?
DENHAM
I said I'll tell you later,
(evading)
Chalk it up to my sense of melo-
drama.
ENGLEHORN
Well I'm not interested in your
sense of melodrama. I want a
destination —
soon .
And he goes. Leaving Denham alone.

DISSOLVE TO
30 DRISCOLL - ON BRIDGE 30
watching the swabbies working on deck, getting at the brass,

really sudsing the boards down, a. man who takes pride in his
ship, no martinet, but there is a way to life at sea, and he
likes it respected*
CONTINUED
drm #02087 29
30 CONTINUED 30
Ann appears, in the outfit Lumpie has worked up for her —

britches and boots, testing them for light, unconsciously
31 moving about, very professionally, like an actress at dress
parade, but all work stops to admire her. Across the way,
Denham is getting his camera ready.
32
ON ANN 31
checking herself against the brass around a porthole. The

reflection catches Driscoll, plus the reflection of Driscoll
looking down at the men.
ANOTHER ANGLE - ANN 32
looking up at Driscoll, their eyes meet. Ann quickly crosses

back to Denham as the men rush back to their scrubbing when
Driscoll's eye falls upon them.
33 ON DENHAM - DRISCOLL'S POINT OF VIEW 33
Denham is operating the Akeley, has it set up on a tripod.

DENHAM
All right, ready?
ANN
Ready
DENHAM
(his eye in the
viewfinder)
Cross to the rail. .. that s good
'
...now come back... look just past

the lens. . .now cross back again. .
very good ....
Denham keeps cranking, Mullins beside him, assisting him.
DENHAM
Now scream.
Ann stops.
ANN
What?
DENHAM
Scream. Look out over the rail,
think of something that terrifies
you — and scream.
CONTINUED
1
i
drm #02087 30
33
CONTINUED 33
A weak moan comes out of Ann. Driscoll and Engelhorn watch

closely.
DENHAM
Come on, kid —
like a roller
coaster — let go....
She starts to scream again, a little more comes out. Denham

bends to the camera. Starts cranking. The artificiality
of the situation, the camera cranking, Ann in limbo, seems
to produce some kind of legitimate terror, she really lets
go, the scream crescendoes, chilling, paralyzing, Denham
cranking away.
34 ON THE CREW 34
stunned reactions.
35 ON THE BRIDGE 35
Englehorn looks at Driscoll, but Driscoll is still looking

down at Ann.
DRISCOLL
viy
What's he think she's really
going to see?
DISSOLVE TO
36 INT. DENHAM'S STORAGE ROOM 36

and and
37 Denham has an overnight growth of beard, his eyes are bleary, 37
his hair tousled, the residue of some all-night effort. He
is leaping between the rewinds and the Movieola, throwing
footage on, jumping back to the splicer, the film spraying
around him like ribbon.
Driscoll argues as Denham stays busy.
DRISCOLL
...Yes, but frankly the Skipper's
upset, Carl —
he wants a destina-
tion.
DENHAM
Tell him I 11 let him know when
*
I'm ready.
CONTINUED
#02087 31
CONTINUED 36
DRISCOLL and
He said not when you re ready,
' 37
when he's ready. And he's ready
now. We'll be over the East
Indian ridge tonight
A knock on the door.

DENHAM
Come ini Come ini
Ann enters, Denham still bustling around excitedly.
DENHAM
Almost done!
Driscoll starts leaving, nods to Ann on the way out.
DRISCOLL
By tonight, Carl.
. DENHAM
All right, all right, you'll have
it tonight!
Driscoll goes.
Ann takes a seat on an army cot beside the Movieola as

Denham makes one last splice. He threads the film up, starts
the machine. The pictures flicker in their faces as they
stream by on the postage-stamp screen.
DENHAM
There , there , there you go
Ann watches intently, now eases up, smiles.
ANN
Not bad.
DENHAM
Bad?! It's goddamn good!!
MOVIEOLA 38
One of Denham's old films, a "Journey to Bali" or a "Journey

to Samoa" and intercut with the standard footage of tigers
caught in traps and whirling dervishes and religious services,
is the footage of Ann, cut cleverly so as to make it appear
she was in the film.
CONTINUED
t
drm #02087 32
38
CONTINUED 38
DENHAM
If I’d had you, Warners would
have doubled their guarantee.
ANN
(admiringly)
Look at that, it looks like that
man is looking at me.
DENHAM
Doesn ' it?
The piece runs out, the reel spinning, the tail flapning
and clicking, Ann still fixed on the titv <’ rvr k r,cr :r\, taken
with Denham's ingenuity. Denham has not been stall for a
minute, loading magazines, his hands working like a safe-
cracker's inside the cloth, at the same time checking filters
which sit on a shelf against the porthole, light streaming
through the filters, alternating from green to red to amber.
39
DENHAM
You want to see it again?
Ann nods eagerly, Denham drops the changing bag, racks the
reel up for her again, the film starts clicking away, Ann's
face flickering out at her from the screen, Denham back with
his film, still loading magazines like mad, working franti-
cally against a non-existent deadline, checking the filters,
pulling the hands out of the changing bag, pouring chemicals
into the soup he used to process the footage, .now back to
the changing bag.
ON ANN 39
turning her face from the screen, looking at Denham who

doesn't see her, watching his hands punch bulges in the
changing bag, watching the light from the filters change
the colors of his eyes. She seems fascinated by the manic
energy with which he attacks what he is doing.
40 ON DENHAM 40
He feels her eyes in the back of his head, the film is still
chattering in its sprockets behind Ann. Denham moves to her
now, she turns back to the Movieola, but neither of them are
watching it, Denham puts his hand on her shoulder, the
Movieola still projecting the film, making a fearsome racket,
the processing soup swirling m
the tab an the stw-aruci, the
light creeping in eerily and changing color through the
filters, and Ann feeling defenseless at Denham's aggressive
energy which repels her and, at the same moment, attracts her.
CONTINUED
. .
drm #02087 33
40 CONTINUED 40
They kiss. Ann, shaken, breaks away gently.
ANN
I have to go see about
The rest of the sentence catches in her throat, she goes,

Denham watching her disappear down the passageway.
41 INT. BRIDGE 41
Driscoll and Encjlehorn checking the charts, a Helmsman at

the tiller. Everything normal.
Denham appears at the wheelhouse, slides open the door,
pitches a map on the chart stand. Driscoll turns to this
weathered piece of paper, the markings all handmade.
DENHAM
(to the Helmsman)
Will you call Mullins? He'll know
what I mean
The Helmsman picks up the ship's tube and calls for Mullins
as Driscoll gets up from the chart stand, puts down his
dividers
DRISCOLL
What is this? There are no
quadrants marked ....
DENHAM
You'll find it. Southwest of
here. Not far.
ENGLEHORN
I've worked these waters all my
life —there's no island south-
west of here.
DENHAM
It's there —a canoe full of
natives was blown out to sea. A
Norwegian barque picked them up,
all the natives were dead except
one —he died, too —
but before
he died, he described this island
and its location to the skipper
of the barque. The skipper drew
the map and I bought it from him.
Driscoll and Englehorn wait.

CONTINUED
s .
jc #02087
34
41 CONTINUED 41
DENHAM
It' s there. And it's like no
other island on earth and by —
the time I come back from it, I'm
going to have pictures of it —
and the most incredible creature
that ever walked this earth.
DRISCOLL
'Creature?'
DENHAM
It ' name is Kong
DRISCOLL
Kong ?
DENHAM
You know it?
DRISCOLL
A Malay superstition. A god, or
a spirit, or something.
DENHAM
(leaping at him)
Wrong ! No god! No spirit!
Alive ! Neither man, nor animal,
but a force who has terrorized
these islands for centuries. I'm
going to find it. And I'm going
to photograph it.
Denham places another map on the chart stand.
DENHAM
Here's a second map. Of the island
itself. A wall built centuries ago
-- like ones in Angkor and Yucatan
— to keep a force like this out —
but there's no way through the wall
and almost no way into the island
— reef all around and the rest,
cliff —
beyond the cliffs, a
mountain —
shaped like a skull —
(indicating)
— however it looks as if there
might be one opening here —
through the reef —
if we could
catch the tide
CONTINUED
#02087 35
CONTINUED - 2 41
DRISCOLL
There is no tide
DENHAM
What are you talking about?
DRISCOLL
Because there is no island. Kong is
a legend. And so is your island.
Denham looks at Driscoll, now at Englehorn.

DENHAM
Well, I believe in legends. An old
moviemaker I knew said if you have a
choice between fact and legend, go
ahead and print the legend. Because
there s always some truth to them
*
.
And 1 ve got it
1
. Mullins!
Mullins appears outside the wheelhouse door carrying a paleon-

tological case, Denahm slides it open, grabs the case from him.
Mullins vanishes outside as Denham lays the case on the chart
stand, opens it.
ON THE CASE 42
A bone, about three feet long, thick, lying in the customary

Museum cotton batting, shards of dirt and brush, having dried,
spotting the white.
ON DENHAM, ENGLEHORN AND DRISCOLL 43
DENHAM
I also bought this from the Norwegian.
This is a bone from the foot of a tri-
ceratops. Do you know what a tri-
ceratops is?
DRISCOLL
Prehistoric
DENHAM
Exactly. A hundred and ten million
years ago. Gigantic —
thirty feet
tall, weighed ten tons.
ENGLEHORN
But that's a fossil — people find
them all the time. That and the rest
of the skeleton might get you a good
fee from a museum.
CONTINUED
bb #02087 36
43 CONTINUED
DENHAM
Look closely — what do you see?
Driscoll and Englehorn peer down.
DENHAM
It's clean isn't it? Fresh — not
veined like a fossil.
Come on, Carl —ENGLEHORN

what is it?
DENHAM
This bone belonged to a creature who
just died. This creature was alive
five years ago
Silence. A grin spreads over Englehorn' s face.
ENGLEHORN
Carl, an old hand like you falling —
for a stunt like that —
you've taken
too many trips. . .
DENHAM
The Norwegian wouldn t let it 30
' I .
paid him half the proceeds of my last

expedition — he wouldn't let go of
this or the map -
ENGLEHORN
(examining the claw)
You just took his word for it?
DENHAM
Checked it with a research assistant
at Natural History
ENGLEHORN
And?
DENHAM
He hemmed and hawed like all 'qualified'
people do when they're confronted with
the truth. Mumbled about archaeological
digs and X-Rays —
the point is he
couldn t believe it because he wouldn
1
'
believe it —
*
But he didn deny it.'
DRISCOLL
You checked it further?
CONTINUED
. l
bb #02087 37
43 CONTINUED - 2 43
DENHAM
Why? And let my secret out to the
world. Somebody will steal it from
me. It was a piece of luck meeting
that Norwegian that day. And I feel
lucky tonight. I'm going to find my
island —
and on that island there's
more animals like. this one. And I'm
going to find Kong. And when I carry
this story to the. world, we'll all,
be legends.
(at Driscoll)
The whole crew of the Panama Queen.
Our names will be in every newspaper
and one every radio in the world.
They’ll pay us to appear. We'll be
rich — all of us. And you'll have,
me to thank for it
He slams the case shut and bolts with it from the wheelhouse.
ENGLEHORN
What do you think?
Driscoll checks the weathered map again, and what calculations
he has been able to make.
DRISCOLL
Looks like a three degree correction.
Englehorn nods.
•
ENGLEHORN
(to the Helmsman)
What's your course. Baker?
BAKER
Zero-nine-zero, sir.
ENGLEHORN.
Correct to zero-nine-three.
BAKER
Aye, aye, skipper, correcting to
zero-nine- three
The Helmsman turns the tiller slightly.
/
bb #02087 38
44
EXT. DECK - NIGHT 44

N
)
‘
The fog is thicker than cotton batting, a dense, immense mass
socked all around the ship, you cannot see past your nose, the
ship's engine idling nervously, the crew passing each other like
ghosts, the clank of chains and footsteps, the thickness mottling
everything except the sounds which reverberate off the ocean,
.
distilled by the fog.
Ann is on deck, her gaze fixed on Denham who is hanging off the
gunwhales right behind the Leadsman who is spinning the lead into
45 the water and drawing it in.
LEADSMAN.
Thirty, bottom!
Denham, nervous as a cat, trying to hurry the process, Ann watch-

ing Denham.
ON THE BRIDGE 45
Englehorn is peering out, Driscoll beside him, torches flaring

46
beside them both. They listen as the Leadsman keeps tolling
the depths.
LEADSMAN (o.S.)
Thirty, bottom!
ENGLEHORN
It'll sit at thirty forever.
DRISCOLL
For these parts, thirty's shallower
than I would have guessed.
ON DECK 46
The line swings past Ann's ear and hits the water like a pebble,
the still ocean under the fog shattering like glass.
LEADSMAN
Thirty, bottom!
Ann pulls her coat around her, she moves closer to Denham who
is right behind the Leadsman, urging the line out with each
swing of the Leadsman's body.
LEADSMAN. (o.S.)
Twenty-eight, bottom!
Driscoll looks at Englehorn,

bb #02087 39
47
ON DECK 47
The Leadsman swinging faster now, Denham right with him, Ann
closer to Denham now. The Leadsman, caught in the excitement,
does not stop, just keeps twirling and splashing.
LEADSMAN
Twenty, bottom!
Denham throws a fist up at the bridge.

DENHAM
What does she draw ?
48
Driscoll looks down.
DRISCOLL
49 She draws four. Four!
LEADSMAN (o.S.)
Ten, bottom!
50 CLOSEUP - DRISCOLL 48
shakes his head in disbelief.
ON DECK 49
The Leadsman swings a last time, Denham hanging right over him.
51 The leadline rips into the water.
LEADSMAN
(screaming up)
Bottom, six!
ON THE BRIDGE 50
DRISCOLL
(yelling forward
to the Lookout)
Let go !
But before the Lookout can reach far the winch that holds the
anchor, Denham has released it himself. It slides into the
water and hits with a crash.
ON THE BRIDGE 51
Driscoll turns to Englehorn
CONTINUED
#02087 40
CONTINUED 51
DRISCOLL
His island... he was right all the
time
Englehorn lifts his binoculars tries to see through the fog

,
which is as thick as ever, the ship motionless in the night,

just the slapping of the anchor chain, but mixing with it another
sound now, steady, repetitive.
DRISCOLL
What's that?
ENGLEHORN
Breakers. Breakers hitting the shore.
DENHAM
They're not breakers. They're drums.
And the sound is identifiable as soft, rhythmic Indonesian-like
drums —
and Denham appearing behind Englehorn and Driscoll,
triumphant, ready to pounce on them for the weeks of disbelief.
ENGLEHORN
(turning around)
They're breakers.
DENHAM
No breakers were ever as steady as
that.
DRISCOLL
He s right.
'
DENHAM
What are we waiting for?'. Lower away
— get those boats off the davits
ENGLEHORN
Not in this soup, Carl.
DENHAM
Why not?
ENGLEHORN
I don't want to row all over the
Indian Ocean
DENHAM
The drums will guide us in
CONTINUED
mfh #02087 41
51 CONTINUED “ 2 51
ENGLEHORN
We need to mark our position, Carl.
Got to know exactly where we are.
We might never find this island
again.
But Denham, watching the activity on the island, ignoring

him.
DENHAM
I don’t want to lose this. Let’s
go in tonight.
ENGLEHORN
Need our position first, Carl.
Driscoll checks through the telescope again, shakes his
head, capfe it up.
DRISCOLL
(to Englehorn)
I don't trust a night-sight. Have
to do it in the morning. I’ll come
off the horizon.
DENHAM
When? ! When?
ENGLEHORN
In the morning, Carl. Please.
When it burns off.
Englehorn pulls his jacket up against the night. But nobody
is moving, nobody is leaving the bridge, now Ann appears,
silently takes a position beside Denham.
ANN
Did you hear that?
DENHAM
I heard it.
ANN
What are we going to do?
ENGLEHORN
We're going to wait.
ANN
But the island's there, isn’t it?
DENHAM
Of course it's there. It was
always there.
mfh #02087
52 EXT. DECK - NIGHT 52

^
.
J
53 The fog as thick as ever, the cotton batting dense and
dazzling, but no break in it, closed all around, suffocating,
intense.
ON THE BRIDGE 53
Denham and Ann and Driscoll and Englehorn, all squinting into
the soup, waiting, nothing happening, the ship slapping against
the anchor chain. The drums beating quietly, but insistently.
55
54 DECK - ANOTHER ANGLE 54
Poised by the boat davits are members of the crew, their hands
on the winches, rifles slung, waiting to move, but there is
56 nowhere to move in the choking mist, no let-up in the conden-
sation. They are buried in a cloud.
ANOTHER DAVIT 55
Mullins and Tim waiting, with camera equipment and cases of

chloride grenades, everything in readiness, but the ship is ;
-'
4-
still, as if it were adrift, anchored in the middle of nowhere,
beyond reach of anything.
ON THE BRIDGE 5.6
Denham growing impatient. Driscoll raising his binoculars

and lowering them, nothing to be seen, no clearance ahead.
Ann watches them both, leans over the rail, peers out, the
drums are still going, muted by the thickness, but present,
and steady.
57 . ANOTHER ANGLE - ANN 57
As she turns, a sudden shaft of moonlight seems to catch her

eye, a glint. Denham sees it, turns around, Driscoll and
Englehorn lean in more, the drums still sound distantly,
but their direction is clearer, a feeling that the soup is
breaking up at last.
58 DAVITS - CREW 58
Mullins and Tim fiddle with their equipment, the sense of

imminent clearance. Mullins checking the raw stock, Tim
checking the chains on the longboats turning around to see
the oars mounted neatly against a passageway.
mfh #02087 43
59
DENHAM AND ANN’S POINT OF VIEW 59
There is still a haze, so thick you could cut it with a knife,

60 but the moon is cutting through now like a cold iron, little
patches opening up, the dead calm sea looming up in places,
but beyond that —
nothing.
61
ANOTHER ANGLE - DRISCOLL AND ENGLEHORN 60
Englehorn peering out, Driscoll looking at Denham, then at

Ann, everyone waiting, waiting to see what's ahead.
62
DENHAM 61
He takes his hat off, wipes the sweatband, and now looking
up at Ann, he sees her face reflect light, and then Driscoll's,
and then Englehorn' s.
ANOTHER ANGLE - CREW 6
Mullins and Tim and the rest, a glow coming up over their faces'.
64 They wait motionless, letting the moonlight hit them. The damp
air clearing suddenly. A star-filled sky suddenly crashes down
on them from above.
63 DENHAM AND ANN'S POINT OF VIEW - SKULL ISLAND 6.3
Everything vaporizes —
and suddenly there it is, Skull
Island. The great cliffs, the beach below, the reef, beyond
the cliffs a mountain shaped like a skull, a strange and
lustrous paradise rising out of the moonlit mist. Brigadoon,
a,nd Shangri-La and Bali H'ai rolled into one, but more distant,
mysterious, less beckoning —
yet indescribably beautiful.
,
The cold light of the moon hits Denham full in the face.
ON DENHAM 64
sucks in his breath, replaces his hat on his head, stares into
the distance, drinking in the sight.
65 ON ANN AND DRISCOLL AND ENGLEHORN 65
Ann blinks, the view overpowering her, and with her, Englehorn,
also taking it in, feeling a kind of sanctity to the moment.
Driscoll looks at Ann. She looks back at him. They both turn
towards the island now, and finally -- Driscoll smiles.
mfh #02087 44
\ 66 ANOTHER ANGLE - CREW 66
Like a congregation at a church , taking in the apparition in

front of them and then suddenly, bursting from them, a balloon
of noise, a tremendous cheer.
Their joy is cut by a roar from the bridge — Denham yelling.

DENHAM
Lower the boats! Serve out the
rifles! Tim! Mullins! The equip-
ment! Move !
Now Denham is all over the place, scrambling around the ship,
the whole crew in a welter of activity, the winches squeaking
as the boats zoom down towards the water, then hit with a
splash.
The passageways are clogged, everyone moving this way and

that, the boats loading, the crew hurtling down the ladders,
Denham running for the rail, shouting orders, Driscoll and
Englehorn behind him.
Ann is hanging back against the companionway, Driscoll sees her.

DENHAM
You got the lenses, Mullins!
MULLINS (o.s.)
(fiom the boat)
Got ’em sir!
DENHAM
The tripod! Tripod!
MULLINS (O.S.)
Got iti Got it!
Denham looks around, one last minute check, sees Ann,

DENHAM
Okay, kid, let's go!
Ann can't move, all the assured activity of the crew neutralizing
her own shaky responses.
DRISCOLL
You're bringing her along?
DENHAM
My cast.
Reaches for Ann.

CONTINUED
mfh #02087 45
66 CONTINUED 66
DRISCOLL
You better find out what’s there
DENHAM
I've learned the hard way — wherever
you are — you harve your camera, you
have your equipment and you have your
cast. Ready
1 Let's go kid]
DRISCOLL
Leave her, Denham
DENHAM
67 She's coming. Now!
And Denham grabs Ann and pitches her over the side onto a
ladder, she climbs down, with her movie equipment, grenades,
oars, all following. Denham, who has climbed past her to the
boat below, catches her with one hand and with the other pushes
off from the "Panama Queen." '
And they go.
EXT. LONGBOAT
There are three pairs of oars, six members of the crew are
rowing. Englehorn and Denham are in the bow. Ann with
Driscoll in the stern. The crewmen who are not manning oars
have slung rifles, gear is stacked with a tarp pulled tight
over it. Another boat moves behind them, manned by si^ more
crewmen.
The moon is dazzling now, and as the lead boat draws closer,
the sound of the drums comes stronger, along with the sound
of gamelahs, -echoing against the drums. 'The whang of them
strong.
68 EXT. SKULL ISLAND BEACH 68
Rows of outrigger-like canoes, their sails furled, bumping

in the water, -moored to the sand by ropes.
69 EXT. LONGBOAT 69
approaching the beach. Denham and Englehorn lobking over the

bow, seeing the outriggers as their boat comes alongside.
CONTINUED
' ? —
mfh #02087 46
69 CONTINUED 69
The drums and gamelans are really stirring now, the longboats
beach, the crews work smoothly unloading the gear. Tim carries
the camera. Mullins pulls the tripods, a chain is set up and
the crates of ethyl chloride and ether tanks are passed to the
beach.
Denham and Englehorn jump off, Driscoll jumps off. Ann jumps,
lands in about a foot of water, moves up on the' beach. Two
crewmen stand by the boat as the rest move on to the island.
The sound echoes now, and with the moonlight, there is a
feeling of power and ritual coming through from beyond the
undergrowth. And now a chant begins, rhythmic, but one word,
a monosyllable inexorably mingling and separating from the
sounds of the drums and gongs. It is unmistakable. And human.
I DENHAM ^
*
Kong . ! *
Kong .
ENGLEHORN
Where are they? There's no one on
the beach, the outriggers look like
they've been pegged there for days
DRISCOLL
Could be a feast. They're always
giving feasts. I'm not sure -
ENGLEHORN
Why are they shouting Kong ' '
I don't know — DRISCOLL

never heard
it in
Nias. And that’s only six hundred
miles from here.
DENHAM
You speak Nias?
DRISCOLL
Badly.
70 LANDING PARTY 70
They move through the brush that separates the beach from
the sounds which are coming from within the island, the
brush finally starting to clear, into what appear to be
some ancient ruins.
mfh #02087 47
71
RUINS 71
Massive, mossy, Angkor Wat-like, a promontory reaching skywards.

Driscoll signals Tim to pass him a rope ladder. Driscoll slings
it over his shoulder, and he climbs up the promontory.
He drops the ladder down.: Now, Denham holds it tight for Ann.
72 She swings up it. Denham and Englehorn follow. The crew fans
out.
The sound is deafening, a powerful, throbbing riff-like chant,

the gongs and drums going against it.
ON THE RUIN 72
Englehorn and Denham and Ann and Driscoll look down. Over
t]ne ruin, past the growth, to the base of a wall in the
distance. . .
73 e;;<t. VILLAGE - BELOW THE WALL 73
Five hundred natives are massed around an altar. Some carry

spears and shields, others wear hornbills. Grouped around
them are terraces made of.- stone, megaliths, giant mushroom
shapes with gargoyles growing out of them and around the
edges pillars, crowned with figures of deer and rhinoceros
birds.
There are sarcophagi everywhere, coffins on top of these ?
megalithic stones, on the coffins figures of birds and lizards.

On the altar in the center is the Chief and his Queen, and
a Slave bound to a bench, stretched out. A Priest moves
around.
The chant of Kongl Kongi bounces off the walls of the

’ '
clearing and against the giant, mountain-high stone embank-

ment with arches cut in the center of it. There are Legong
dancers moving ceremonially about the altar, young girls
trained in the art. Serrated around the edges of the altar
are ranks of native men bending from the waist, their fore-
heads touching the ground. They hiss as they come up, then
they bend again. Tranced.
The Priest moves towards the Slave; she is dressed in a

ceremonial gown.
74 EXT. RUIN 74
Denham and Driscoll and Ann are riveted on the sight. Denham
loads his camera, starts shooting.
#02087 48
ON DRISCOLL AND ANN 75
Driscoll seems to be in pain, his head nodding in knowledge

of what is unfolding in front of him.
ANN
What are they doing?
DRISCOLL
I don’t know!
But Ann senses his understanding of the scene.

ANN
Please, tell me — what is it...
you do know
Driscoll hesitates.
DRISCOLL
...They're going to sacrifice
that girl. But first they're
going to try the jewelry on her
that was made for the queen.
Whoever wears new jewels will die.
Once the slave is killed, the
jewels are safe for the queen.
The "Kong" chant keeps coming, the gamelans play, the Legong
dancers move around the border, the rows of native men keep
hissing, falling tranced to the ground. There is a terrible
squealing and a mass of pigs snort into the clearing, herds-
men beating and driving them.
ANN
What are they for?
DRISCOLL
I tell you I don't know!
But he apprehends what is happening, and Ann looks back to

him.
ANN
What now? What are they going
to do?!
Driscoll relates to himself what is happening, not to Ann.

DRISCOLL
They’ll die too. A hundred head
of pigs, that means a hundred
hams is the offering. The Priest
will put the jewels on the slave —
a filet, an earring, and a necklace.
CONTINUED
ap #02087 49
75 CONTINUED 75
ANN
Will they really kill her?
Driscoll doesn't hear her, he is fastened on the scene in

front of him, watching a sword being brought to the Priest.
The Chief and his Queen are raised up on sedan chairs. The
chant is unbearable, the noise a thunder.
The Priest raises the sword.
76 ON DRISCOLL 76
He looks away, his face contorted, in agony.
Suddenly the chant stops.
77 ON THE RUIN 77
Denham looks up from his camera, and from below he sees heads
swivel towards them, everybody looking at Driscoll and Denham
and Ann. The bodies rise from the ” ketjak'" trance, an army
of natives facing them from below.
PRIEST (o.s.)
Bala! Bala!
78 ON DRISCOLL 78
burning around now, seeing the slave is still alive on the

altar, seeing the eyes massed on the group on the ruin.
DRISCOLL
(through his
teeth)
Get down
DENHAM
What?
DRISCOLL
Get down, for Christ's- sake!
Ann goes first, they move down the ladder, at the base of the
tree they walk towards the clearing. The crew of sailors
tries to surround Driscoll and Denham and Ann to protect
them.
But the Chief has climbed down from the sedan chair, the
Queen has been carried off, and a path clears for the Chief
as he moves forward with the Priest.
CONTINUED
ap #02087 50
78 CONTINUED 73
CHIEF
Badol Bado!
No one answers. Denham looks at Driscoll.

DENHAM
Is it Nias?
DRISCOLL
I don't know what it is -- let's
get out of here.
And he starts moving backwards with Ann —

but as soon as he
moves, a rank of warriors move with him, jump behind the
party and they are surrounded.
79 ON DRISCOLL . 79
looking behind, looking forward, now holding his ground,

aâre he has no choice.
DENHAM
Well speak to him, man! Speak
to him!
Silence. Both sides watching each other. Dingo dogs prow-

ling around, scratching in the dust.- Suddenly one of the
warriors threatens Ann with a spear.
DRISCOLL
(shouting up)
Tabe! Bala! Tabe! Bala!
No one answers, the Chief and the Priest watching, looking

them over.
DENHAM
(prodding Driscoll)
Again! Again!
DRISCOLL
Tabe! Bala! Tabe!
CHIEF
Bala reri! Tasko! Tasko!
The response is vehement, Driscoll blinks at the harshness, /

Denham searching Driscoll's face.
CONTINUED
ap #02C 37 51
79 '
CONTINUED 79
DENHAM
Well?! Well?:
DRISCOLL
I don't know
DENHAM
What did you say::
DRISCOLL
I said we were his friends. He
said he doesn't want any friends.
DENHAM
That's it?: What's the rest??
DRISCOLL
'Get out: Get out:
DENHAM
Tell him we’re his friends. We'd
like to stay.
Driscoll hesitates, looks around at the path to the rear,

still blocked by warriors.
DENHAM
Tell him!
DRISCOLL
Bala: Bala:
PRIEST
Punya bas 1 Punya
There is a great stamping of spears and shaking of hornbills.

Now the women among the gathering, led by the Queen, begin
to file out.
DENHAM
What is it?! What's happening?!
DRISCOLL
I don't know.
DENHAM
Well, find out, manl
Driscoll turns back towards the Chief. '
DRISCOLL
Bala! Bala!
PRIEST
Punya! Punya!
CONTINUED
ap #02087 52
79 CONTINUED - 2 79
Again the spears stamp, the hornbills shake.
DRISCOLL
He's talking about his ceremony.
PRIEST
Saba Kong
DRISCOLL
I think he thinks we've ruined
his ceremony.
The mass of Islanders rise up now and chant "Kong! Kong!"

The place thunders with the sound.
i
PRIEST
(again)
Saba Kong!
DRISCOLL
That's it. The Chief has sought
favor with Kong and we have ruined
it and we will have to make it good.
CHIEF
Malem ma pakeno.
DENHAM
What is it now?
DRISCOLL
I don t know ' — I can t under-
'
stand .
CHIEF
Kong was bisa! Kow bisa para
Kong !
The Gamelans sound, a drum, a Legong dancer moves around Ann.

And now the Priest explodes in a torrent of dialect, the
dancer all the time moving around Ann.
PRIEST
Bala! Bala! Punya! Punya!
Kong! Kong! Bala! Bala!
Driscoll takes it all in, the Priest intoning loudly.
DENHAM
(to Driscoll)
What is it?
Driscoll ignores Denham.
CONTINUED
al #02087 53
79
CONTINUED - 3 79
DRISCOLL
(to Ann)
Just start walking backward with
me, talking to me, like I'm your
friend, like you belong to me
DENHAM
Tell him we'll be back tomorrow.
DRISCOLL
You tell him.
And Driscoll starts walking backwards with Ann, the warriors

hold their ground, but as Ann keeps talking to Driscoll,
they slowly give way.
ANN
(to Driscoll,
as they back)
I belong to you, you're my friend.
Port. Starboard. Stern. Bow.
Lillian Gish. Joan Bennett. John
Gilbert, John Barrymore, Douglas
Fairbanks....
Now Denham follows.

DENHAM
(to Driscoll)
Tell him — tomorrow!
They keep going, the crew moving with them.
DRISCOLL
Dulu hi tego! Bala! Dulu!
"
There is a cry from the mob, Kong ! " but the little crew keeps
baekpedaling
DENHAM
What did you say?
DRSICOLL
I told him you'd be back tomorrow.
They step into the boats, Tim and Mullins shove them off, as
just then there is a cry from the altar.
80 OMITTED '
80
81 ON DRISCOLL'S FACE 81
Exhaustion.
DISSOLVE TO
hb #02087 54
82 LONG BOAT 82
Ann in the stern, sitting next to Driscoll, drawing some

warmth from him, Denham looking back towards the island, the
Cr$w pulling hard on their oars.
DISSOLVE TO
83 ON DECK 83
The night is absolutely clear, the visibility almost without

linait, but the drums have stopped beating. The quiet is
ominous. Water lapping against the hull, anchor chain squeak-
ing, the ship silent.
coning out on deck from her, cabin, looking towards shore..
35 REVERSE 85
The island and the mountain and the beach all perfectly still,
everything gone dark now, except for two torches burning .
in the distance. She keeps watching the island.
86 ANOTHER ANGLE - DRISCOLL 86
further up the deck, looking out himself. He doesn’t see Ann,

but she moves towards him.
They meet at the rail, look at each other, look over at the
island. The silence is heavy, the two of them conscious of
each other's presence but not speaking.
DRISCOLL
The drums have stopped.
ANN
I heard them. What does it mean?
Driscoll deosn't answer.

Ann is watching him all the time, but Driscoll’s attention is
on the island. She watches his face catching the light off
,
the waves
ANN
Where did you get your scar?
Driscoll doesn't answer. Ann is about to repeat the question

when Driscoll reaches in his jacket, pulls out a flask, offers
it to Ann.
CONTINUED
#02087 55
CONTINUED 86
DRISCOLL
«
Drink?
Ann hesitates.
ANN
No thanks. One drop of that and
I'll be two sheets to the wind.
But I am shaking.
DRISCOLL
Believe me it helps. For the
English, they say tea's the
sovereign cure. For the Dutch,
it's brandy.
ANN
Driscoll ~ that's not a Dutch name.
DRISCOLL
My father was English, my mother
was Dutch.
(smiles)
I stick to brandy.
She takes the flask now, a careful nip. They sit, looking
at the two lone torches burning across the water on the island
OUTRIGGERS - ON THE WATER 87
coming through the night, unseen from the deck, moving silently,
Warriors paddling, others crouching in the hull.
INT. BRIDGE 88
Denham is pacing back and forth, Englehorn holding his ground.
DENHAM
We' ve had this before — remember
that time in the Sudan
ENGLEHORN
Lives were not at stake
1
Human
sacrifice — you saw it
-
I
—
DENHAM -
But we re on the edge of something

'
big, skipper —
don't you feel it —
CONTINUED
CONTINUED
DENHAM (Cont'd)
You can't quit on me now, my God,
it was fascinating tonight —the
footage is incredible — —
Mullins
is running it through now
ENGLEHORN
I don't care about the footage —
I saw the look on Jack's face —
he knows something — I've never
seen him like that before.
(after a moment)
I'm weighing anchor, Carl —I'm
getting the hell out of here
DENHAM
I've got a contract in my pocket.
Signed paper .
ENGLEHORN
I don't give a goddamn about your
contract!
Denham stops, looks at Englehorn.
DENHAM
Okay, okay, I'll admit it's rough.
And I know what you mean about Jack.
I saw the look too, and he knows
these islands
ENGLEHORN
You're goddamn right he does and
he's terrified -
Denham stops pacing, sits, offers Englehorn a cigar.
DENHAM
You know this is our last trip,
skipper?
ENGLEHORN
What are you talking about?
DENHAM
What you were talking about at lunch
the other day
.
your retirement —
thirty years in the maritime service
— I'll bet the stingy pensions these
owners give don t pay for a mortgage
'
on that house in Jersey
CONTINUED
hb #02087 57
88 CONTINUED - 2
ENGLEHORN
Carl, save that crap for starlets
and producers . We're leaving to-
night. '
89 ON DECK - ANN AND DRISCOLL
There are now two tumblers beside them, Ann's half-filled,

Driscoll drains his. He keeps looking at the' island. Ann
watches him.
The silence still there, Ann watching his face..
ANN
If you don't want to tell me about
it, you don't have to.
Suddenly he looks right at her , . She meets .the look
DRISCOLL
I grew up in the East Indies my —
younger brother, myself ... Father
farmed copra —
we would go with him
sometimes to the outlying islands —
while he did nis business, we would
explore —
one day we wandered too
far —
ended up in a village like
that one —
they were very primitive
too —
still making sacrifices the —
Priest saw my brother. He had this
pale, angelic face —
I guess the
Priest thought he as a good spirit
— a perfect offering to appease the
gods —so they took him to the altar
— I tried to stop them and the Priest
whipped me —
flayed this skin open —
I was terrified I ran— I ran as —
fast as I could, the blood pouring
out in front of me —
then I heard
my brother scream
He is silent. Ann is watching him, moved by his story.

A voice rings out from the bridge.
ENGLEHORN (©.a.)
Jack, get up here will you!
CONTINUED
hb #0208"' 58
89 CONTINUED 89
DRISCOLL
What is it. Skipper!
ENGLEHORN
Take a star-sight! Take a star-
sight, it's clear.
DRISCOLL
(to the bridge)
Right away
looks back at Ann. Their eyes lock.
DRISCOLL
Aren t you sorry you asked?
'
She doesn't flinch.
ANN
(right back)
No. /-
And he goes. She stands up to watch him move up the companion-

way to the bridge.
90 ON THE BRIDGE 90
DENHAM
Gimme a day fer Christ sake, just a
day! Just one more day on that
island! It means everything to me.
C'mon, Skipper!
Englehorn turns around
ENGLEHORN
All right. One day.
91 ON DECK - ANN 91
She smiles, some perverse thought crossing her mind, she hums
a few bars from an aimless popular song of the day, half sing-
ing, half humming.
ANN
'Don 1 blame me
1
For falling in love with you

I'm under your spell, but how can
I help it. ...
A hand, with shell bracelets around the wrist, appears on

the railing behind her.
elp #02087 59 -
92 INT. BRIDGE 92
Driscoll is trying to take a sighting, in the background,

Dejiharo is giving instructions to Englehorn.
DENHAM
We'll take three boats tomorrow.
You and Driscoll take the two on
the port and go with the crew. I'll
take the starboard with Mullins and
the equipment and the girl
Driscoll comes off the telescope.

DRISCOLL
The girl?
DENHAM
That's right.
DRISCOLL
Don't do that.
DENHAM
Why not?
DRISCOLL
They want her for Kong!
Denham and Englehorn are stunned for the moment.

DRISCOLL
That was what that babble was about
at the end — when the Dancer was
moving around Ann they want Ann
as a sacrifice for Kong the—
'golden crown' — the 'golden hair'
— they think there s enough good
'
spirits in her to appease Kong

forever
DENHAM
Great
ENGLEHORN
What?
DENHAM
We'll protect her of course. Don't
let her move without a squad of
rifles around her —
her safety is
my first concern but, —gentlemen,
this is going to be an extraordinary
movie
CONTINUED
!. !
elp #02087 60
92 CONTINUED 92
Driscoll is silent , letting Denham wind down.
DRISCOLL
We "11 go in with you, Carl. But
she stays here.
Suddenly there is a scream from below.
LUMPIE
On deck; On deck:
Driscoll dives for the companionway, almost knocks Lumpie
over, who is running up it.
Lumpie shows Driscoll a bracelet.
LUMPIE
They ve got her . . .
5
Driscoll looks at Englehorn.
ENGLEHORN
Let s go.
8
DRISCOLL
grabbing the
(
bull horn)
All hands on deck! Prepare land-
ing party!
And now the whole ship erupts. Crewmen come screaming from
every passageway, clattering down gangs, falling out of
bunks, bulkheads jamming, everybody shouting at once.
A siren sounds, everything is moving, and in every direction.

A terrible tumult. But the crew moves as a unit under Driscoll
who is everywhere, barking orders, his urgency contagious,
the crew quickly following his instructions.
DRISCOLL
Hit it now! Get down there!
The men scramble down the ladders.
DENHAM
Mullins ! Chloride
Mullins grabs two crates as Denham lays hold of Tim.
DENHAM
Get the camera ! Move
CONTINUED.
. «
elp #02087 61
92 CONTINUED - 2 92
And as Tim hustles the camera, Denham grabs for the tripod
ENGLEHORN
Rifles! Sling rifles!
Down below the rifles are served out, as Driscoll is above
yelling to the crew to hurry the winches lowering the boats
DRISCOLL
Go 1 Move I
As soon as the boat hits the water, Driscoll is over the

side, Denham right behind him, oars manned, the crew pumping
them.
DRISCOLL
(at the crew)
Work! Pull!
.
DENHAM
(leaning over
to Mullins)
Gimme the hand camera.
Mullins reaches in his pack, passes what looks like an ancient

version of the Imo to Denham, Denham places it in his pack.
DENHAM
How many magazines did you bring?
Rut Denham sees Driscoll has heard him and now Denham eases
pack, bracing himself against the crates of grenades, without
waiting for an answer from Mullins.
93 EXT. VILLAGE 93
A thousand torches, torches burning everywhere, this clearing

against the massive wall lit up like a skyscraper, the drums
rapping a thunder, the hiss of the trance coming through it,
a sense of rising and inexorable pressure, the sounds and
the movement feeding on each other.
A scaffolding has been built up to the wall, a latticework

of bamboo and palm, now the hissing of the trance stops
and suddenly the dehypnotized men have fallen back like
the petals of a flower, the circle opens up, and they are
scampering up the rattan trellises like: fireflies a torch
,
in one hand, grabbing rungs with another.

elp #02087 62
94
ALTAR - ANN 94
lying on the megalith as the slave had early in the day* and
wearing a similar ceremonial dress. Her arms and legs are
hound with rattan* a gold filet has been placed in her hair
95
Which has been wrapped like a native s 1
There are gold
.
bracelets on her wrists and ankles* a gold chain around her

waist.
'
TOP OF THE WALL 95
A great drum stands at the top of the wall* the Chief in

front of it, his spear planted beside him. He looks down
the scaffolding towards Ann.
96 ANN - ON TERRACE 96
She waits* looking out. She doesn t struggle* but watches*

c
not panicked, stunned.
96-A
98 ON THE WATER 96”/ L
The longboats beating towards shore, Driscoll taking an oar

himself, Denham peering towards shore, trying to size up the
99 situation, getting his shots ready.
? .
•
97 SCAFFOLDING 97
Torches flying upwards as they are lobbed towards the top of

the wall. Arcs of light pirouetting up* the natives clam-
bering towards the top, the whole top of the wall a ridge
of flickering light.
DRUM - CHIEF 98
He waves his spear in front of the drum, a great semaphoric

motion which is answered from below.
ARCHWAY 99
The wooden latch is massive, operated by a giant vine which

is pulled by ten men as a counterweight - the guards fight
and jabber with each other as they struggle to pull the vine
down which, in turn, lifts, the latch.
More guards move in, the latch slowly lifts.

a
elp #02087 63
100
ANOTHER ANGLE 100
The archway swings open slowly , a massive creaking as the
rattan hinges give, this is a wall seventy-five feet high,
101 the guards, ten of them, have to fight to push it open*
ANN 101
102
turning, her head swivelling behind her, seeing only the
blackness beyond.
103
ANOTHER ANGLE - ANN 102
A sedan chair is brought for Ann, She is lifted into it,

carried from the terrace,' through the archway out into the
darkness beyond the wall.
104 ALTAR BEYOND THE ARCHWAY . 103
Ann being carried up to a place rarely used. Leaves and

fallen branches all about, the place thick with the refuse
of vegetation, branches are cleared away and Ann is fastened
to another megalith, an os , a carved animal, a gargoyle on
105 the end of a stone pillar. She is tied up again.
ANN S POINT OF VIEW

5
104
106 The natives scurry back through the arches to safety. Above
them, the wall, the torches burning along it, the Chief
almost astride the gong, supernumeraries beside him, holding
lances wrapped with fronds to beat the drum.
ANN
bound to the megalith. Torches burn at each corner of the

altar, A branch catches fire, then flares out. The -jungle
is alight.
ARCHWAY
The latch being shoved and tugged and pulled through the door
handles, dust rising again as the massive- hinges swing
closed.
Ann is alone
, *
elp #02087 64
106-A IN THE BOATS 106
The Longboats moving, the men rowing frantically, Driscoll

107 and Englehorn hissing at them through their teeth.
FROM THE TOP OF THE WALL 107

108
The Guards clambering up the scaffolding, waving torches
themselves, fighting for places on top of the wall.
THE WALL - FROM THE BASE 108

109
Every foot of space is crammed at the summit now, a wall of
light matched by a wall of sound, with drums beating, the
gamelans whanging now, the torches pumping into the air.
ANN - AT THE ALTAR 109

110
She does not pull, she watches, she waits. She kicks at a
frond in front of her, it catches fire, she pulls her foot
back. Now she pulls once at the fronds that bind her, but
nothing gives. There is a jangle from her jewelry, the
111 filet and the bracelets, the gold chain clicks. She falls
silent. And the torches crackle,
TOP OF WALL - CHIEF 110

112
He raises his spear. Instantly the place falls silent,
nothing, not a movement, not a cry, only the sound of the
torches
IN THE BOATS 111
The Landing party freezes at the silence. They look around,

look ahead, see the torchlights burning, but no sound.
ON DRISCOLL - IN THE LONGBOATS 112
Frozen 'still, the same look of horror on his face that was
there when he heard the silence as he last left the island.
Suddenly he breaks, grabs an oar, starts rowing, half-crazed,

towards the beach.
o
elp #02087 65
113 TOP OF THE WALL 113
The Chief raises his arms to the blackness beyond Ann*
CHIEF
Kara Ta ni, Kong® 0 Taro Vey Rama
Kongo
A title supers
CHIEF
We call thee, Kongo 0 Mighty One,
Great Kong*
The Chief raises his spear once more Q
CHIEF
Wa saba ani mako, 0 Taro Vey,
Rama Kong*
A title supers
CHIEF
We call thee, Kong. 0 Mighty One,
Great Kong.
Now the great drum is beaten by the supernumeraries beside
the Chief o It is like a cannon, sounding and resounding in
the blackness beyond* And now the army on top of the wall
raise their torches, intoning a chant, sounding like the
gong itselfo
TRIBE
Kong 1 Kong 1 Kong 1
They fall silent suddenly 0 They hear something* They look

aheado The Chief looks beyond the wall* Some subliminal
sound has been made heard to them, not audible to anyone
else* They wait for it to come again.
And now it can be heard*

Branches break, the crackling grows stronger, it crashes
now, and now the crashing becomes rhythmic, a thud, almost
sonic, the sort that would make windows crack and chimneys
topple, a terrible, terrible rhythmic pounding, and the
jungle responding with the crash of trees and branches and
•
growth, and now coming with it, another sound, almost un-
earthly, and yet weirdly human, a grunt which is like a
bomb hitting the ground and not exploding, a thud, a crash.
114 BRUSH - LANDING PARTY 114
freezing again, reacting to the sound* But Denham breaks*

CONTINUED
elp #02087 66
114 CONTINUED 114

DENHAM
Let's go! We'll miss it! Move!
Up the path!
Denham looks back towards his equipment*

DENHAM
Timmy, the camera! Mullins,
Tripod
115
And the rest of the crew breaks with him, moving double-time,
Englehorn shouting instructions going with him<>
116
ON DRISCOLL 115
117 still standing in place, neutralized,, Now he takes off*
ANN - ON ALTAR 116
waiting, watching,. She looks towards the archway

118
ARCHWAY AND WALL 117
Panning up the archway to the top of the wall, the villagers

stand catatonic, their torches frozen in their hands The
„
Chief, in a reflex of protection, holds his spear like a

pros show
JONG'S FOOT 118
foot the size of a car e It plows through the brush like

,abulldozer kicking growth and saplings aside, crushing
pne, splintering another*
119 JONG'S HAND 119
A tree blocks its path, it is ripped out, shredded, tossed

aside# the hand is like a giant construction machine, back-
hoes in the palm, the fingers steamshovels* A banyan tree
cracks as if lightning hit it* -
120 KONG'S CHEST 120
It covers the screen, a heaving mass like a football field

in December mud, growth clinging to it, branches and weeds
CONTINUED
C
elp #02087 67
120 CONTINUED 12
1 and clods of earth * But something beautiful about it,, as

it breathes in and out like a Bessemer bellows , heaving with
life# but massive, monolithic, a skyscraper that falls and
fills like a human* Powerful and black and terrifying and
unseeable*
Incomprehensible *
121 KONG B
S FACE 121
a simian colossus* Wells for eyesockets, nostrils set in the
skull like howitzers, ears that flare from the head like
trees, and a mouth like a volcano, mandibles that come down
like granite towers and a jaw like a Himalayan cliff* But it
is the eyes that give him Away, eyes that see, eyes that feel,
eyes that betray every emotion that goes on in the massive
id of a brain, that wants, that eats,, that feels, that weeps*
1
With all the massive other-worldliness of this creature, it
is his eyes that are the great anomaly — - like that of a sen-
sitive, retarded, over-sized boy, every giant who has ever «
lived in fiction from Lenny in "Of Mice and Men to Gulliver*
11
Ignorant of its own strength, powerful as a city —

as feel-
ing as a child*
7 122 KONG - FULL VIEW 122
Another tree is ripped out and now Kong comes closer, the
altar is within his view* He sees Ann*
123 CLOSEUP - ANN . -

123
She freezes, she doesn°t move a muscle* Not a blink* She

cannot believe what she sees, and she cannot see what she
believes *
124 KONG - FULL VIEW 124
The sound is powerful that emanates from his chest, it is

human and searing and needful* And terrifying* He makes
the gorilla-motion —
he touches his breast with each hand*
But it is not proudful or arrogant ..asV.if feeling his
way, as if finding out where he is* j.
Now he moves closer* His hand, which the size of Ann,

brushes away the branches next tc her* He tcuche? th---
pillar Ann is tied to and it crashes, and then silence
again*
CONTINUED
elp #02087 68
124
CONTINUED '
124
Ann is isolated on the altar* Kong watches her* he waits e

She starts to move, his hand goes up like a wall* She waits,
125 he watches her curiously* Not ‘a mouse and a cat, but a
flower beside a railroad train*
KONG AND ANN 125

He lifts her up* His hand closes around herj for Ann it is
126 the distillation of every nightmare in every dark soul of
humanity* Darkness and dense smell and all the animals of
every civilization that have ever walked this earth close
around her* And she is alone.
127
KONG AND ANN - ANOTHER ANGLE 126
Kong raises Ann up towards the wall, he is acknowledging the

offering*
128
THE WALL 127
The natives wave their torches* They are in terror* they

barely move* they cannot run* The Chief waves his spear
in a great circular motion* An exchange of ritual as Kong
129 starts back into the jungle*
LANDING PARTY 128
Racing across the clearing now to the wall, Denham in the

lead, mad with excitement, Tim and Mullins right behind
him with the equipment, Driscoll sprinting past them,
Englehorn and the rest of the crew bringing up the rear*
DENHAM 129
Running to the archway, looks through the gaps in the giant

teak long and stone and moss that have formed it, sees Kong
moving off with Ann* He is stunned for the moment, then
suddenly overcome with exhiliration*
• ,
DENHAM
Looki Look, Man, look !
Driscoll comes up to the gate* ^
DRISCOLL
Jesus God*
CONTINUED
:
blr #02087 69
129 CONTINUED 129

\
Denham, taking charge, signals the men to move.
And now they do, these Lilliputians, wordlessly, it seems, as

if a signal is passed between them. A block-and- tackle is
thrown over the great latch, they heave to it and pull it
out. The giant archway swings open.
130 ON NATIVES 130

on top of the wall, their spears aimed at the Crew as they
are about to charge through the archway.
Denham looks up, fires his rifle, the others fire volleys
into the air, and the natives freeze. Everything is silent.
Part of the crew start pouring through the gate.
131 ON THE CHIEF 131
Terror on his face, the noise of the men sweeping under him,
a terrible scurry, he screams in disbelief as they vanish
into the jungle, into Kong s territory
;
1
.
CHIEF
Bala! Bala! KONG
132 ON ENGLEHORN 132
Assembling the rest of the men at the archway, sending three

rifles here, three rifles there, suddenly Englehorn stops,
looks around.
133 - •
ENGLEHORN' S POINT OF VIEW 133
An instant hush has fallen on the place, the whole native

population has disappeared, there is not a breath, not a
whisper, only the crackle of torches burning on the
scaffoldings.
134 ON THE MEN - 134
looking around, frightened by the silence, aware they are

alone. Now Englehorn signals two pairs :jof Crewmen to the
arches, and they move to lash the doors open, the rest taking
up defensive positions around the archway, their rifle? at
the ready.
)
/ The only sound that of the ropes being tied, and gunbolts
cocking.
blr #02087 ' 70
135
IN THE JUNGLE 135
Denham and Driscoll leading the vanguard of the landing party

'
t after Ann and Kong , Denham s head swivelling periodically,

1
136 ' signalling* Mullins' and Tim -to stay close with the equipment.
EXT. JUNGLE - DAWN 136
The light is just coming through the dense undergrowth. It

•
is more than* dense, thick with vines and leaves, a choking
-- kind of growth, no air to breathe, no room to move, Driscoll
1 •
in the lead witlr Denham, picking trails and openings.
And the trail is unmistakable. A tree dislodged, the bank

of a stream caved in > gaps in the growth which could only be
f
made by some tank or earthmover, Denham following quickly,
137
• - ? - *
•
picking up the track.
Now sounds start to come up, but not the sounds of dawn we
are accustomed to, but screeches and whacks and hisses, not
-
at once, but singly, apart, occasionally the sound of a bird,
but cacophonous, like a duck call or a macaw's squawk.
ANOTHER ANGLE- - CREW 137
Denham leading them through the growth, a platoon, like some

antecedents of' Corregidor or Vietnam, Denham the squad leader,
spreading them out, giving them hand signals, his eye always
on the point man, stopping every few steps, waving this way
138 or that >• trying- to read the sounds and markings of the jungle.
As they move farther in, the growth gets larger, the trees
wider, the brush denser-, the vegetation taking on the size
and habitat of Kong.
•• Denham throws up a hand' to halt the crew, he steps into the
' trail, listens, and in the- distance, far, remote, something
•
' cracks, something' splinters, now they keep moving, Denham
urging them on> Driscoll watching warily, tracking at his
- i
own speed a- unit of one.
•>
•
'
- ON DENHAM - ' • - 138
Lost for a moment, the Crew spreading around, suddenly Mullins

takes off for the' brush, he stumbles, falls over an erKbankment
-
and into Kong 4 s- track. He yells for then*J "Hey Heyi Over I
"
''here!" and they run over and look down.
139- OMITTED 139

blr '
#02087 71
,140 MULLINS - POINT OF VIEW - CREW 140

They herd around him. He has -sunk into the whole print, and
--
- the print itself is as large as his body
s * -
Mullins looks at .
the sides- of the wall made by this giant depression, but

Denham reaches down for him.
•
DENHAM
Let go 1
Let s move
s !
1
!
<pulls Mullins
-
out; signals the
' '
'
rest- of' the Crew;

- '
to Tim)
Get up front! Spread out!
(placing 'the men,
•
this way and that)
-
‘
Take 'the point there! Wider!
Wider! -Double-time!
141 Denham is like a hound dog on a scent, feeling himself closer,
the men taking his lead, sensing some knowledge of this wild-
erness issuing from him.
All except Driscoll, who moves at his own pace, but in reach
of the others.
•
JUNGLE - ANOTHER PART 141
Now it really opens up, as if another scale had taken over,
the trees like a cathedral of redwoods, fungi growing like
- carbuncles on giant mangroves, moss hanging like sheets of
green rain, there is more space, yet at the same time it is
denser, thicker and larger, an oppressiveness to the atmos-
phere and a sense of wet foreboding.
142 •
DRISCOLL, DENHAM AND CREW 142
They stop, there is the sound of something whipping through

the air, a zinging, suddenly Driscoll and Denham duck, diving
•past them are what appears to be a pair of birds, but they
are not birds at all, giant dragonflies, not monstrous but
oyersized, predaceous insects who must have fed on something
monstrous.
The dragonflies climb now, towards the branches of a tree,

t]iey hover like helicopters beside a ramp of moss, now duck
into it, the dead lichen flying like dust.., behind them.
143 ANOTHER ANGLE - DRISCOLL AND DENHAM 143
) moving forward, tentative, guarded, but a creeping terror

taking hold of the Crew as they perceive the changes in the
environment.
CONTINUED
#0208-? 72
CONTINUED 143
Way in the distance, there is the sound of crashing through

the- growth, the muffled roar of Kong and the men move on,
seduced by their purpose, but mesmerized by the terrifying
surroundings
EDGE OF THE MARSH 144

Time has passed, darkness seems to be closing in, and with
the night, the decibels of the jungle multiply, a forest
awakened not like the Amazon or the Congo by sunlight, but by
the night, the squawks and cackles increasing and now suddenly
these sounds are overcome by another, one growing, a buzz
which turns into a racket which turns into a roar.
GLADE 145
With terrifying abruptness the surroundings change, tickets
open, light comes through, a curtain of growth suddenly opens
up.
Garden of Eden, a lushness beyond dreams, willows hanging,

soft ferns branching overhead, breadfruit and monkey_ pod haloed
by the setting sun, a place untouched it seems, the hollow of
some sacred forest, as rich and elegant as the etching of a
Dor. o print. But the' sound continues.
BALUCHYTHYRIUM 146
In the center of the glade, in monstrous contrast to its sur-

roundings is the shape of some giant beast, the size of ten
fallen oaks, it is dead but its carcass cannot be seen.
Covering it is a mass, a starved colony of Dermestid beetles,
the greatest carrion eater that has ever existed, tiny, tiny
insects which form into masses and strip bare a body of fifty
cubic yards in a day. But it is the noise they produce which
horrifies, every little infinitesimal jaw working on the meat,
the eyes, the innards, and multiplying until the glade is
filled with clacking thunder.
DRISCOLL, DENHAM AND CREW v ;

.
. 147
They hold their arms over their ears to deaden the deafening
sound of the parasites chewing on this beast in front of them.
Suddenly the thunder quiets, it subsides, there is only si-
lence, but the Dermestids have not moved, they sit poised
like an immobilized black cloud over the bones that remain.
An errant clack, a last thousand moving over some stray piece
of meat and then these are silent, too. They have eaten their
fill, the body is clean.
Denham attaches an ethyl chloride grenade to his rifle.

blr #02087 73
148 DERMESTIDS 148
The colony departs; an untidy parade of an infinity of

satiated insects, moving off towards the marsh, where the
men wait. The 'wavering black column comes dangerously near,
Denham cocks his rifle, but Driscoll slaps it to the ground.
But now that they have cleared what they have left, the bones
:
of what they have eaten; reveals itself. Even dead, it is far

more terrifying than the live insects who just departed it.
149 BALUCHYTHYRIUM •
149
The skeleton of a giant animal, 25 feet long, 17 feet at the

chest; a quadruped, the outlines of four giant legs clear.
It is enormous and threatening in death, and in its position,
- -
unlike anything that might ever be constructed at a museum,

because it -seems -poised,- as if it might rise again.
-
150 * •
DENHAM AND DRISGOLL 150
Coming close, the men taking minutes to walk around it.

'
•
Denham- and -Mullins and Tim with their weapons on guard, as if
this ghost which existed might suddenly flesh up and consume
-
them.
) .
DENHAM
What is it?
' • - •
- DRISCOLL
What's left of a baluchythyrium.
DENHAM
A what ?
DRISCOLL
Baluchythyrium. The largest
mammal to ever walk this earth.
A giant rhinoceros.
DENHAM
And when did this thing 'walk the
earth?
Driscoll looks at it, he keeps a safe distance. There is a

far off roar from the marsh.
DRISCOLL
Thirty-five million years ago^ :
DENHAM
-
What- do you mean?
CONTINUED
blr #02087 74
150 *
CONTINUED 150
DRISCOLL
They were extinct thirty-five
million years ago.
Denham looks down the bones of this giant beast arcing
-
-
, -
•
against- each other like a- cathedral. , -
DENHAM
So it's true.
Driscoll looks at Denham, now down at the beast.

Denham looks around to the men, they are cut loose, floating
free, drugged on what they see before them. Their weapons •
'
seem useless, their, proportions strange, the dimension be-
tween them and the world they are in an anomaly ,
The Crew look at each other, now at Denham.

• ~ "• '
MULLINS
•
Let 1
s go back
TIM
Get out of here, for God's sake.
DENHAM .
•
*
Get back ? What are you talking
1
I
* •
about? I We've found it We've

found what we're looking for
I
—
Kong! My God, it's here you —
can't let it go!
DRISCOLL
What is 'it'? Something you can
* - •
sell tickets to?
DENHAM
You're goddamn right!
Driscoll looks at him.

DRISCOLL
Don't forget your cast.
And Driscoll moves on by himself.
In the distance, a thunderous crash, the plodding and yet

rhythmic sound of Kong moving through the distant brush, and
then a splash of water, another splash,. the sound of some-
•
thing like a ship going down from drydock. The men look at
each other now at Denham plunging off after Driscoll, they
,
wait a moment,
And then they, too, follow Driscoll

blr #02087 75
151
“MARSH - DARKNESS
r
There is still daylight, but now it is closing in, thick
“ mists ••forming steam rising from the bog around them.
^
•
Reeds
and foxtails and cattails growing everywhere, rushes, the
place biblical and wet and seductive and they tumble into
152 another print of Kong's and another, these depressions in
the ' muck like mortar craters.
'
ANOTHER ANQLE - MARSH

153 The reeds clearing now, the wetness underfoot getting thicker
and suddenly beyond them opens a great dark lake, like some-
thing in the hill country of Ireland, Yeats-like, too placid,
the end of it cannot be seen.
•
LAKE EDGE
The track disappears along the edge of the water. Driscoll

154 looks one-way and then the other, there is only growth on the
banks in either direction, no gaps, no trail broken, no sign
;
of Kong. There are fallen trees along the lake beach, the
straight v trunks of Cypresses. Wprdlessly, the men fall to,
Denham -leading them, lengths of rope drawn from the equipment
they carry, and they start building a crude raft, the Cypres-
ses lashed with rope and vines, the crevices packed with mud.
•
RAFT - ON LAKE
They move not very well, proceeding warily, poling with hand-
made oars.
DENHAM
More to starboard Keep coming'
I
That's it!
But Denham' s- instructions just seem to send them sideways,
Driscoll sees the lack of movement.
DRISCOLL
Ship! :
Ship the oars!
The Crew pulls its oars, there seems to be a little current
now, carrying them.
DRISCOLL
Dig in now! Dig!
And now catching the current, watching Driscoll for the rhythm
of the stroke, they seem to move better, traversing well, the
stillness breaking by them and in the distance the occasional
crack of a branch as their prey comes into earshot.
blr #02087 76
155 LAKE - ANOTHER ANGLE 155
Lying there in black placidity, the mists rising over it like

the moisture from a cauldron, from it comes the sound of a
pair of ships moving in tandem, and then the sound erases
itself and rising up thirty feet in the air is the head of a
•
parasaurolophus, grotesque, giant, duck-billed, and above its

head a crest ten- feet high, a crest like that of a cardinal
or a blue jay, terrifying when mated with its web-like front
feet which give it purchase in the water. Beyond them the
massive rear "legs, like the stumps of a green cedar, this
creature part fish-part "bird-part reptile, its duck bill
sinking under the water to gobble up ten yards of plant life
in one gulp.
And now it' flattens out and swims, its tail sailing perpendi-
cular to its body, propelling itself like an outboard, a giant
barge moving through the water with the grace of a sea serpent.
-
156 RAFT - CREW- 156
Denham's voice floating over the water, oblivious of the

army-in-one that has already spotted them, his matey shouts
' •
of "Keep digging i" "Pull, pull I" "Over to port now I
Ludicrous in the face of the danger he cannot see.
157 PARASAUROLOPHUS 157
158 Moving slowly through the lake, its giant legs seeking a
grip on the lake bottom, it seeing the foreign bodies that
lie ahead of it.
A plant eater, a coward in its surroundings, fleeing ponder-

ously from the great meat-eaters that fed off it, still it
has a sense of 'its size, like a hippo or a rhinoceros, hefbi-
vores themselves but known to charge something smaller when
threatened.- It plants its great legs firmly, and sinks its
great crested head under water until it disappears.
RAFT - ANOTHER ANGLE 158
Denham directing the crew to paddle close to shore, still

unaware of the silent behemoth that lies underneath them and
now explodes out of the water, the neck shooting up like a
~
graceful nightmarish reed. .
The Crew sees it rising over them now,' their paddles are
suddenly frozen, they look at this apparition blocking the
sky, Denham raises his old Springfield and fires, another
crewman fires "Denham now reaches for the ethyl chloride but
,
it is too late, r the Parasaurolophus has submerged again.

blr #02087 77
159' RAFT - ANOTHER ANGLE

•
159
Paddling once -more, wordlessly, thinking the danger is gone,
the -horror *a bond between them," making for the safety of the
160 shore - beyond
RAFT ON THE -WATER - 160

Ripples, ripples not formed by their own paddles, giant
ripples' coming from- somewhere underneath and now the
161
Parasaurolophus 'has 'raised up and its great crested head, a
monstrous -appendage 'to -the fish-^like body, is trying to lift
- up the ' raf T and r it ' does
'
162 RAFT - 161

going-over, 'toppling, Denham and -Driscoll sliding off, lenses
•
and tripods; 'rifles, 'everything -sliding into the blackness of

- the lake
PARASAUROLOPHUS 162
going down again; going down because that is how it feeds, up V

and down; -poring -over the 'marsh 'bottoms and now coming up
,
again -for the "human -plants "that 'are swimming for their lives,
trying to 'make "it to the -shore but the monstrous thing makes
waves like the- ocean; -it is hard to go against the breakers.
163 ON DENHAM 163

His camera over his head, struggling to get some foothold in
the marsh, -whipping out the "camera, throwing the case away,
cranking 'and -shooting; -reaching "for the case, stuffing rolls
. ' of film into -his jacket
• •
*
164 MULLINS, TIM AND CREWMAN 164
Left'behind; struggling, the Parasaurolophus comes up with

•marsh -grass; -and -still feeding on the same swoop he raises
r
up the- Crewman, and the flesh- tasting strange, he flings him

back to "the -water, all-30 tons applied to the thrust and the
-sailor hits the surface dead; as if shot ;from a cannon.
Others are going under now, they cannot make it to the shore,
and still others -swimming furiously.
.
blr #02087 78
165 PARASAUROLOPHUS J 65
i
after Mullins now, he has Mullins and he heaves him up and

spits him out, and Mullins goes down, his body plummeting to
the bottom, his backpack of ethyl chloride going down with
•
him. And with it, his camera.
166 MARSHES 166

Driscoll leading the escape, cutting his way through the reeds,
the ponderous sauropod following them, taking one step for
every ten of theirs. They cannot move out of his path. He
•
is not chasing them, just feeding, cutting 'his swath and

•"
-clearing out these alien plants who are in his way.
167 TIM 167
struggling to catch up. Driscoll turns for him but the beast
is too fast, he is at Tim’s heels. Denham is reloading, still
shooting.
168 ANOTHER ANGLE 168
Tim falling, now clambering up a-dead tree trunk, agile, .
'terrified, holding onto a branch, climbing higher, twenty,

thirty, forty feet, several stories high.
169 PARASAUROLOPHUS 169

•
crashing through the marsh, now twenty yards away from Tim,
•
and not taking another step, just leaning forward to the
branch- as if Tim were a leaf, taking him in his soft function-
less jaws,.- gumming the pathetic man like a fruit., now dropping
him.- Tim dead, less from the -fall and the masticating, than
the horror
170 ON DENHAM '

170
running for his life now, the Parasaurolophus after him,

'• swooping up great" gobs of grass.
171 '• DRISCOLL, CREW 171
running ahead, pulverized with fear, now tripping onto higher

ground, getting more sure-footed, getting a hold of themselves.
blr #02087 79
172 ON DRISCOLL 172
Seeing Denham behind; starts to turn back, starts to run for

him.
173 DRISCOLL'S POINT OF VIEW •

173
Sees the Parasaurolophus closing on Denham, his foot comes up
in the air.
174
175
' ON DENHAM - IN THE MARSH BANK
•
- 174
looking up, the sky turned to darkness, as if he were in a

mammoth cave, as the Parasaurolophus moves right bver him.
His camera still cranking.
HIND FOOT 175
coming down, just missing Denham, making a deep crater with

its footprint, Denham falling free and deep, into the bottom
177 of the crater , into the bank of the marsh
176 '
PARASAUROLOPHUS 176
plodding off, its attention diverted by moss hanging overhead,

he swoops up for it, the moss swirling about his neck as he
disappears into the mists.
ON DRISCOLL 177
looking at the gap where Denham was, now looks back at the
men, they seem to hesitate for the moment, the leader of the
•expedition apparently gone. Driscoll searches their faces.
DRISCOLL
Come on, let's go!
BOW WATCH
What's the point. Jack?
BAKER ... : ,
We've got no riflep, no ammo

DRISCOLL
What about the ethyl chloride?
BOW WATCH
Went down with Mullins. . .
CONTINUED
blr #02087 80
177
CONTINUED 177
Driscoll looks around, now he just turns and goes. The men
hesitate, then 'Lumpie starts out.
' LUMPIE
Right behind you, Jack.
The others look ahead, then look back at the marsh where the
••
— Parasaurolophus was —and then they, too, follow Driscoll.
They come to another opening, like the gladq, picturesque

and seductive as still another Eden but grown thicker, coars-
er, the habitat more wild and threatening, and then they see
’a chasm separating the two sides of the clearing an almost
' '
178 endless gorge, a fault in the earth which drops away to

nothingness. Across the gorge is a log, and they cross it
•
• * and then suddenly rising above them on the other side, roar-
ing, pounding his chest in fury and pride, is Kong. He
carries Ann close, almost protecting.
-
CREW 178
179 slamming backwards now toward the log, running for their
'
* lives, their shouts enraging Kong, but he is restrained in
his movement, he has to carry Ann carefully. They reach the
•log, Driscoll, in the lead, a terrible panic upon them all
as Kong advances upon them inexorably, a fury upon him, a v
sense of challenge from these gnats, and fear of retribution

for the prize he holds carefully in the minefield that is in ...
180 his hand.
181 KONG AND ANN •

179
His movements are constricted, what is usually a graceful

-loping gait for him is hampered by his prize and now coming
•on a -giant dead 'evergreen mangrove tree, its center hollowed
out, he sets her carefully beside it, protected by it, and
now he moves toward his imagined enemy.
DENHAM - IN THE CRATER »

180
•
• lying there, unable to move, trying to raise himself.
CREW - IN THE CLEARING 181

-just making it to the other log, the giant log across the
gorge, now almost abreast of it, it had been a great cypress
CONTINUED
blr #02087 81
181 •
•
CONTINUED •
•“
181
-
and it straddles this gorge like a collossus, room almost
'
'
for two to -go across at a time, but Kong is close behind
182 the Crew* Lumpie gets caught on the stump of a branch, and
-
the rest of the Crew are clogged up behind him.
KONG -
182
On the edge of the gorge, he opens his arms to some unseen

183 •God, now he pounds his breast in victory and fury, a terrible
sound, the -raud flying off his chest, the leaves blowing.
* •
^He reaches down for the tree trunk.
CREW ON LOG 183

*' Kong lifts, he cannot budge the log for an instant, then like
a great derrick his paws lift and surge and the trunk gives
way and he holds the men above the gorge like worms on a
-
•
-
twig and slowly, inevitably, he lifts the trunk vertically
185 and they start to slide, one, then another, then another,
then another
-
184 KONG 184
still rocking the log, bodies falling off it like termites,

one after the other
• •
BOTTOM OF THE GORGE 185
Rock, mud, slime, a watery and dark grave, a bottomless pit

which consigns the men to oblivion. Nothingness, rock
slides, dust and boulder, all the detritus of a tropical
*•’ paradise turned into a great bog, a sewage of darkness.
186 '
- DRISCOLL 186
On the log with the last two men, and as Kong turns
• to throw
them off, -rocking the log, Driscoll is swung to the opposite
bank, into the side of a ledge, and he^ falls to the floor of
some rock outcroppings and scrambles intb_ a shallow cave.
187 KONG • ' • '

187
roaring now as one last obstacle blocks his path, one lone
sailor 'remains on the log, the poor Bow Watch who fell asleep
•
when Ann was abducted. He is a doughty soul, and Kong shakes
CONTINUED
blr #02087 82
187 '•
'CONTINUED 187
and he falls -but still the sailor grabs hold of the bottom
•
of the- log, dangling like some exclamation point over the
r
' gorge, and now improbably clambering up again. Kong shakes

.
and the sailor flies, flies into space and down into the
....
.gorge, -hi s- screams mingling with those disappearing below.
•
Silence falls over this clearing, a terrible and empty si-

"
—
• •
'lence shattered now by Kong pitching the great tree trunk-
-over his head'and then throwing it down after the dead, a
marker for them; a wooden monument to their muddy grave.
The log bounces off the sides of the gorge and lands with a
-
thud at the bottom, -crushing one last sailor reaching for
••
' T •
the sky from the mud
'
'
’
Kong beats his breast, he turns to Ann. But first he hears
189 something
188 CAVE - DRISCOLL •

188
•
••
-peering -out, trying to catch sight of Ann.
190
’
' KONG 189

' What he had heard was Driscoll, and he sees him now and moves
to the edge of the gorge, reaches down towards the cave, his
;
•• v
great hand almost covering the mouth of the cave. Too big
-
to reach in to Driscoll, Kong leans over the edge but
Driscoll backs into the cave, just eluding Kong.
191
ANOTHER ANGLE 190
Kong changing -his position, leaning in another direction,

his fingers jointed like three footballs strung together,
his -fingers trying to walk the ledge to get to Driscoll.
•
.
“ ' 1
Kong gets really close now and Driscoll reaches in his belt
r ‘
for a rigging 'knife. Driscoll waits, he backs to the floor
. of the cave now, strikes at Kong s finger
* . Driscoll has
.
cut, cut deep, a slash and a gutting which could kill two
—
r
-
•
men.-- But Kong rips at the knife and it! flies out.
'
'KONG , .. v - 191
•jumping back, and when he jumps, the earth shakes next to

him, the dust flies, there is a kind of reverberation and
then a silence falls as he sits now beside Ann and he
- examines his finger strangely, this sting, this itch on his
•
finger; it amuses him almost, puzzles him, he has been hurt
before, but nothing so curious.
la #02087 83
192
ANN - TREE 192
She has found herself a hollow, she huddles there, her dress
is torn, her shoes long gone, looking like some highway hitch-
hiker now, all speckled with mud and scratches. But there is
some fascination in what she sees, in this creature who stands
stories high sitting across from her, looking at the scratch
193 on his finger, like a boy who has cut himself on glass at the
playground.
ON DENHAM - MARSHBANK 193
Coming to now, trying to climb up the sides, falling down to

the bottom, grappling with the mud. Now carefully, pain-
194 stakingly, he starts to dig footholds in the side of the
marshbank, wet sockets which is hands and feet can stick to.
He starts up, falls back again, gets a little farther, each

time.
DRISCOLL IN CAVE 194
beaten, a wreck now with fear> the knife just a limp of gore
lying a few paces from him. He leans back against the wall
of the cave, trying to pull himself together, his strength
sapped, his body wasted.
195
A vine hangs outside the cave. Driscoll watches it. Now he 1
forces himself to his hands and knees, crawls towards it. He

peers out of the cave, looks past the vine to Kong who remains
entranced by the trace of blood that comes from his finger.
Past Kong, still burrowed down in the hollow of the log, is
Ann. She looks out, past Kong now, over the edge of the
gorge, to the cave. She catches a glimpse of Driscoll.
Their eyes lock.

196
ANOTHER ANGLE - DRISCOLL 195
Moving towards the vine, he takes hold of it, but at that

instant Kong, sensitive* to any movement in the surroundings,
jumps up, reaches down to snatch at Driscoll and Driscoll
must dart back in, Kong is enraged, he roars at this gnat
beneath him, and now he begins moving- the ârth into the
gorge, each hand a giant bulldozer, lifting the earth,
pushing it, lumping it, and now filling up the gorge, trying
to make a platform for himself to reach the cave.
BOTTOM OF THE GORGE 19(
One lone crew member, still alive, tries to struggle upwards.

CONTINUED
drift # 02087 84
196
CONTINUED 196
Kong lifts a ton of earth, drops it, the crew member is buried
like a worm under a boot.
19 6 -A ANOTHER ANGLE 196-A

197 digging furiously, making headway, the earth flying like an
avalanche, Ann snuggling deeper into her log as Driscoll is
backed against the mouth of the cave.
KONG'S HAND 197

swinging down like the door of a plane hangar, swinging in
front of the entrance to the cave, moving more earth now, his
excavations upsetting the structure of the soil, and now the
earth begins to pile up, more than pile up, roll and rumble,
taking hold, the gorge filling up with Kong’s massive earth-
works, the rumble a thunder, Kong stepping, gingerly out on
to the mound he has made, reaching in for Driscoll, about to
pluck him out, when suddenly something cracks, then crackles
198 like a sheet of lightning, and now the sound is rolling and
repeating on itself, mounting like an electrical storm, and
now the crackling grows deeper, sharper, more like a bark,
but the bark of something massive, thunderous.
199 Kong stops. His hand freezes inches from Driscoll. Driscoll
falls back, against the side of the cave, sinks to the floor.
Out.
ANN 198
starts climbing down the enormous tree, a giant, giant mangrove

which branches and spreads up towards the night sky like a
200 cathedral.
CLOSEUP - ANN 199
a sound coming to her, a sound rising over all the other

sounds of this prehistoric wasteland, a sound which overrides
the great grunts and roars of Kong, who waits poised over
Driscoll's cave, the sound of an express train coming through
a jungle, a train with three cars, flying air the speed of a
jet it seems, terrifying, hissing like a steel factory,
cutting a swath like a quake.
TRICERATOPS 200
bearing down on Ann like a giant racing car, at a speed of

over 60 mph, a jaw a meter long, tusks like whipsaws, the
the most vicious mamal that ever walked this earth, the speed
pmimTMnpn
drm #02087 85
200 CONTINUED 200
and agility of a greyhound, spring in its: lcqs like a kanqaroc

and the desire to eat, destroy, to kill like a Tyrannosaurus
Rex. Bits of flesh from the baluchythyrium hang from its jaws,
and now as he rushes into the clearing, he springs and with
one leap, he is almost next to Ann.
He pauses for an instant, his head bobbing like an elephant's,

and now he starts to move in a circle around Ann, preparing to
kill, he picks up speed, darting around the track he has made
for himself, moving like a tank at incredible speed, turning
the circle, getting ready to strike.
201 ANN - IN THE TREE 201
She tries to move, the train is coming and it is as if she were

tied to the track. The speed is building in the Triceratops,
it is a thing of grace, live, organic, fluid, but its tusks
snap and flail like a box of lit firecrackers. Ann jur^s down
into another hollow of the tree. ‘
202 KONG - BY THE RAVINE 202
He turns, looks back once at Driscoll in his cave, and now as

he sees the thunder approaching, he moves towards Ann, a roar
comes up from the center of him, it is emotion unfettered,
a sense of love and fear all at once.
203 ANN 203
The Triceratops has hit, the tree shakes. His jawbone drops
wide open, a mandible three feet long, a head like a cliff.
.
And now the head swivels.
It sees Kong. Drops Ann.
204 TRICERATOPS AND KONG 204
The Triceratops charges and Kong is hit, goes off balance,

shuddering to the earth.
205 CLOSE SHOT - TRICERATOPS 205
Its monstrous legs pin Kong to the groun . t >

e
.
rw kills
...
open, about to tear at Kong's flesh, about to jerk off shards

from this enormous head, when Kong reaches up and like some
benighted Sumo, grabs the Triceratops around the neck. But
the Triceratops is slashing at him and he must give way.
206 TRICERATOPS, KONG 206
farther away, the clearing visible, the light shining through

like a Dore again, Kong reaching out with his great hand to
.
drin #02087 86
206 CONTINUED 206
punch, to jar, to get a grip, Ann frozen like a child who has
been told not to move, or she will die. Not a breath, not a
whisper, not a blink.
207 KONG 207

making his rush now, reaching for the powerful front legs,
snatching at them, prying them apart, throwing this mammoth
off balance. Kong gets inside of the legs and reaches for the
tusks, to grip the upper and lower jaws, to spread and break them.
208 ANOTHER ANGLE 208
The Triceratops flipping over now, Kong falling on top of him,

twenty tons falling on thirty tons, but the Triceratops has all
the whippy flexibility of a Doberman in his massive body, and
he throws Kong off, his jaw swinging free like a wrecking ball,
coming dangerously close to Ann.
209 MARSH BANK - DENHAM 209
stirs, regains consciousness.
210 KONG AND TRICERATOPS 210
Kong dives under the Triceratops, grabs his front. feet, swings >
him over his shoulder, the Triceratops springs up and savages v

Kong's neck.
211 KONG'S POINT OF VIEW - ANN 211
The Triceratops is racing for Ann again. Kong is enraged all

over, provoked beyond his strength, offended and challenged and
fighting for his life and the strange-scented gift that has
been given him from beyond the wall. His arm reaches m a great
swing and he hits, as if a bulldozer were hitting a barn door,
and the Triceratops goes down. Kong dives for the neck, pulls
the j aws apart
212 ANN _ 212
trying to sink back further into the tree when there is the
sound of a crack, like lightning, then a? thud.
213 TRICERATOPS 213
his jaw flopping open like the wings of a bat, blood pouring
through the jawbone like some black gusher, spouting and spray-
ing the trees like an hallucination, Kong diving in once more,
slamming the jaws open farther, like a flytrap, and the
Triceratops is dead.
mil #02087 87
214
KONG 214
Coming to his feet, almost stately, with -great dignity he

turns to the forest and pounds his chest, the quacks and
hisses and caws of this unearthly forest answer back, and
now Kong turns to Ann, faces her, touches his chest with
gentle pride.
215 MARSHBANK - DENHAM 215
climbing out.
216 ANN 216
seeing, almost accepting this gesture, there is some sense of

contact made at this moment, as if he had reached her but then
she shrinks back. Kong moves to her, his mammoth finger almost
touches her and she shrinks back farther, into the tree, look-
ing away, looking everywhere but towards him.
217 KONG 217

He places his foot on the Triceratops, he faces Ann proudly,
seeking some acceptance. There is the gentlest of grunts
from him, now his cheek moves involuntarily towards his shoul-
der, he rubs it, the blood of where the Triceratops reached
him comes off, he rubs again, he licks, he tends himself, he 4
grooms, he moans.
218 OMITTED 218
219 KONG 219
now steps over the Triceratops, reaches for Ann, plucks her
222 out of the tree.
220 DENHAM 220
arrives, sees Kong carrying Ann off.
221 ANOTHER ANGLE - KONG AND ANN 221
moving into the great Garden behind them, the sun setting now,
Kong's neck black with dried blood, Ann in -his hand the scent
,
of overripe fruit about both of them.
TRICERATOPS 222
A terrible screeching goes up and the scavengers of the

Jurassic Age move in, the Archaeopteryxes, the first birds,
tiny vultures, three claws on each wing, their teeth sharp
as spikes. They move for the open wounds around the jaw first.
mil #02087 88
223 CAVE - DRISCOLL 223
swinging out, belaying himself out over the rock with the shred
of vine that remains. Inching hdmself up, now gaining hand-
holds and footholds, the vine dropping away, Driscoll study-
ing the side of the rock wall like a chessboard, picking his
spots, handhold, toehold, then gaining the top. He moves
towards the edge of the gorge, and now a brushing, a sound
of a body moving, and Driscoll wheels, looks through the scrim
of ferns and sees a shape moving on the other side of the drop.
225
224 DENHAM 224
covered with mud from the marshbank, cut up, bleeding.
ANOTHER ANGLE - DRISCOLL AND DENHAM 225
facing each other across the gorge. They do not speak. They
just look at each other. For an instant, Driscoll wants to
turn to move away, as if he wished Denham had not come back
to life. -
But Denham throws a rock across, as if to hail this stranger.

It bounces at Driscoll's feet. Driscoll looks beyond Denham,
only the dense woods, thickets, razor shafts of light.
DENHAM
Where are the rest?
DRISCOLL
Gone
DENHAM
Gone?!
DRISCOLL
Dead. They're all dead.
They watch each other.
DENHAM
You all right?
Driscoll nods. He picks up the stone that Denham threw, pitches
it; it drops into the gorge, Denham looks down at the bodies
and the brush and the logs at the bottom.
Now from the distance, Kong bellows, a b>ird"^squawks , some-

"
thing scurries through the brush.,
DENHAM
We've got to do something. Got to
follow him. We've got to get him.
CONTINUED
mgh #02087 89
225 CONTINUED 225

Driscoll blinks, waits, moves for an instant towards the roar
in the distance, now turns back.
DRISCOLL
More men ....
Over his shoulder

DRISCOLL
Go back for the rest!
DENHAM ‘
.
And the chloride! 1*11 get the

chloride!
Driscoll looks back.

DRISCOLL
All right... Hurry.
DENHAM
Track him. For God's sake, stay
close to him, Driscoll. Don't '
lose him.
s But Driscoll is gone.
/
Another roar and Denham is also gone, back towards the village.
226 GLADE - DRISCOLL 226

V *
The clearing again, the sun shining through, the trees and
brush an insanely ornate Victorian frame to the centerpiece of
the dead TriceratOps the carcass half-eaten by the Archaeop-
, ,
teryx who have departed. Driscoll loops around in front of

the body, giving it a wide berth.
But suddenly.it starts to turn. Driscoll's mouth falls open,

his eyes dilate with terror, the carcass is moving, rolling
it seems, Driscoll dives behind a bush as~Tt comes towards him
and now he hears the slow gentle rumble of maggots feeding on
it, the maggots different from beetles, juices flowing from
their skins, they dissolve their way through the meat, turning
it into fluid, then sucking it up again. And as the meat
dissolves, as the dead tissue disappears in one continuous
million-mouthed feeding, the corpse .shakes and- appears to come
alive again. i.
' •
Driscoll turns to run, then ducks out of the way, crabs larg-
er than life, great giant land crabs are also moving in new
on the carcass, their claws' jabbing at the eyeballs that still
remain from Kong's kill. The chattering of the claws coupled
'
with the liquid rumble of the maggots is pulverizing. Driscoll
freezes, a statue. From the distance, the roar of Kong, a tree
crashing somewhere., Driscoll forces himself to move on.
mgh #02087 90
227
FIELDS AND MARSHLAND
Tall grass and wild wheat, a weirdly cultivated place, non-

sensical in this prehistoric world, but there it is, serene
228 and beautiful, only mountain outcroppings along the side. And
rising out of the mist and the sunshine. Skull Mountain.
SKULL MOUNTAIN 228

Not the exact shape of a skull, more massive, threatening, an
enormous geological monstrosity, yet beautiful, with its ac-
cidents of contour, openings and closings all about, secrets
everywhere.
And now, moving along the perimeter of the meadows at the base
of the mountain, through this rich pasture, is Kcng Ann cradled
,
gently in his arm. As he moves, he snatches patches of grass,

229 munches them as he goes. But Kong and Ann seem far away, a
distant team, refugees from the forest, heading now for the high
country
230 In the f.g. Driscoll, moving doggedly, whipped by the terrain,
not at one with it like Kong.
INT. KONG’S CAVE 229

Kong enters with Ann under his arm.
231
CAVE - KONG’S POINT OF VIEW 230
A vision from Dante, mists rising over a bottomless pool, the
232 cavern thrusting overhead like a great airplane hangar, the
walls arching in parabolas, the light fighting its way through,
trying to illuminate the place from the cave mouth at the
bottom and a ledge at the top, soaring buttresses inside, yet
mostly shadow, cool shadow, a cool, dark, safe place.
KONG AND ANN 231
profiled against the entrance to the cave. Way past them, in

the meadows beyond, a dot — Driscoll,
CAVE 232
Kong stopping by the pool, he sets Ann down, splashes water on

his face, drinks. He stands up, reaches into a crevice in the
wall, coconuts and mangoes and palm leaves fall. He mashes a
coconut against the wall of the cave, drinks.
ragh #02087 91
233
ANN
Watching him, she has a weird sense of safety now, a feeling

he won’t hurt her, but the terror is always there, numbing,
234
she is the one that seems robot-like — but at this instant,
as he keeps smashing coconuts and drinking, he locks strangely
human
KONG 234
235 He leans down to Ann, his great paw holds out twenty coconuts
to her, she sees them all pulverized, the meat a mash of white-'
wash spilling over his hand. She turns away. He looks at her,
then swallows the whole pulpy mass in his handc
ANN 235
looking upwards to the shafts of light admitted through the
ledge at the top of the cave, now back at Kong, who is squat-
ting down to drink. She huddles against the side of the cave,
rubs her arms, her teeth begin to chatter, the cold i& getting
to her. Ann lies down, pulls her chin to her chest -like some l
soldier in Korea who has given himself up to the snow; she
goes against the moss and icy droppings of the cave, making a
little shelter where she can die.
236 ANGLE ON KONG 236
watching Ann, looking at her, then away, at himself, grooming

himself, picking at pieces of mud and at fleas, grooming more,
grooming the thousands of insects that live off his mammoth
body, the insects scurrying here, scurrying there, Kong itch-
ing himself, scratching, biting at almost unreachable places.
Now Kong looks up again, sees Ann shiver, looks away, then
back at her. There are giant banana leaves in corners of the
cave, which is really a hideaway, a lair, leaves and mud
packed for insulation, and stockpiles of coconuts and mangoes
and breadfruits, Kong reaches for some banana leaves which
are wedged into a corner like newspapers and awkwardly,
shambling, he brings them around to Ann and now he spreads
them over her, covering her body with these immense green
blankets.
237 ANGLE ON ANN ~ .237

She freezes as Kong comes close, a reflex which is more in-
voluntary than anything, the smell of him like the earth under
a thousand gardens, every move accompanied by the noise of
joints and breath and heartbeat, humanity unfettered, dis-
tilled, too much to take m at once and now at last as he
rONTTNOFn
mgh #02087 92
237
CONTINUED 237
moves away and gives in to one of his periodic fits of groom-

ing and self-examination, suddenly Ann's shivering stops, she
looks at the shattered coconut which lies beside her, the meat
238 wet, the shell cracked and ready to be picked. And she reaches
for it.
KONG - SITTING UP 238

239
He watches Ann, waits for her to eat, very still now, waiting
to see if she will share anything with him.
ANN - UNDER BANANA LEAVES 239
She turns the shattered coconut over in her hand, she smells
240 it, and then suddenly she licks the meat crazily, smothering
her face with drops of juice, biting it, pieces of coconut
• meat flying over her as she eats with ravening desire until
she is full.
241
Now she sinks back, falls onto the great leaves, sleep's.
KONG - SITTING UP 240
242 Still 'Watching Ann, he takes a whole coconut in his hand,

crushes it in his teeth, sucks the juice out of it.
ANN 241
waking on the sound, seeing Kong, fascinated by the great jaws

working. She reaches for another bite of coconut.
243 They eat together.
ANOTHER ANGLE - KONG AND ANN 242
Ann falling back on the banana leaves again, prone, curling

against the little overhang, drawing the stems up around her.
Kong is still sitting up, watching her, his great eyelids fall-
ing like curtains, fighting to stay awake, to stay close to
Ann. Now, inexorably, the eyelids shut. And he sleeps.
And so does Ann. They sleep together. _
MOUTH OF THE CAVE 243
Driscoll crouching behind a rock outcropping, looking up towards

Kong and Ann, waiting.
jc #02087 93
244 ON ANN 244
Stirring now, feeling Driscoll's stare, looking around, waking

up, seeing Kong across the way, sleeping like a volcano.
245 ON DRISCOLL 245
Signalling Ann.
246 ON ANN 246
Catching the signal, coming to her feet, quietly, slowly.
247 ON DRISCOLL 247
His hand raised, motioning to her to be still, that he will

come to her.
248 ON KONG 248
Stirring for an instant, rolling like thunder, his sleep

suddenly troubled, now falls back quiet.
249 ON DRISCOLL AND ANN 249
Moving towards each other, climbing over jagged rock, picking

footholds, watching Kong who, at every instant, threatens
to come awake.
250 ON KONG 250
His breath seeming to come faster, near-awake, a snort, a

grunt, banana leaves fluttering under his breath like a
cyclone.
251 DRISCOLL 251
On rocks, coming dangerously close to Kong, not much purchase

he slips.
252 ON ANN 252
Reacting, tempted to move, but knowing if she does, Kong

will wake.
253 ON DRISCOLL 253
Regaining his footing, now almost past, looking expectantly

towards Ann.
]c #02087 94
254 ON ANN 254

About to reach out to take Driscoll's hand. Suddenly a
scream fills the cave, all the prehistoric terror of a
million years embodied in this one sound that cuts and slashes
through the cave like a scimitar, and now settles in, rever-
berating like kettle drums.
255 ON KONG 255

Jerking awake, his body spasms into alertness, coming upright
like a building, looking up towards the top of the cave —
in the direction of the scream.
256 ON ANN AND DRISCOLL 256

Driscoll ducking back out of sight, Ann frozen.
257 ON KONG 257
Checking on Ann, seeing she has moved, looking at her suspi-

ciously, Ann holding still, trying to keep her ground.' Now
Kong heaves back and roars, a bellow in answer to the "scream
from above, and a warning to Ann, to keep in place, to stay
where she is put.
258 ON ANN 258
Settling on a rock outcropping, huddling into a niche trying

to appease him.
259 ON KONG 259

Looking up towards the top of the cave, a sound of cackling
and tearing, a horrendous chopping sound, and without waiting
now, Kong takes off, scooping Ann up, lumbering up a trail
of rock crunched by a thousand trips.
260 KONG'S EYRIE 260
A clearing below the summit of Skull .Mountain, a beautiful

brushed ledge which might have .been carved" out of rock by a
sculptor. And filling it now is a Blake nightmare — a giant
Pterosaur, the greatest winged reptile, a beak sharp as a laser
beam and the wingspan of a 747, feeding on Kong's food, the
remains of some carcass, the haunch of a dinosaur, bones pro-
truding, meat hanging off a side, the Pterosaur cleaning it
away
jc #02087 95
261
ON KONG 261
Holding Ann with one arm, Kong swats at the Pterosaur with the
other, a roundhouse which just misses, the Pterosaur bursting
262 into flight, lifting off with the wind from Kong's arm, guiding
him at the last moment, like an airplane curling around a pylon.
ON PTEROSAUR 262
Lumbering into space, its wings so heavy it has to sink to

263 find a gust of wind which will carry it, and now it does,: bank-
ing into the valley like a hang-glider, the wind coming with a
whoosh, and the Pterosaur starts to make its turn to come back
for Kong.
ANOTHER ANGLE - PTEROSAUR 263

264 A beautiful, but terrifying sight. In the background, the
whole island can be seen, the dense growth, the clearing at the
village, the Indian Ocean beyond, and directly below, hundreds
of feet, a shimmering lake. And in the foreground, this
horrendous glider, an amphibian whose skeleton spanned whole
riverbeds in Texas and Utah.
265
ON KONG AND ANN 264
Looking up, the morning sun blazing down on them, and now a
shadow starts to creep over them, foot-by-foot the Pterosaur's ;
266 shadow masks the light, turning the bright eyrie into a dark
closet.
ANOTHER ANGLE - KONG 26 5
Shaking his fis.t at the sky, letting out an enormous roar ,
267 his fist coming very close to the claws of the Pterosaur,
and now the Pterosaur, finding a scoop of air,' rides, it, and
climbs, wooshing upwards, and now the shadow clears, the
.
light comes back, the eyrie suddenly filling with sun.
ON &NN 266
Relieved, falling back against the cave, sliding groundwards,

shaken, relieved. A thud next to her,: Kong, his head bobbing
'in defiance, grunting, looking over at-. the remaining shards of
carcass, his chest filling with pride at frightening the
Pterosaur away.
ANOTHER ANGLE - KONG AND ANN 267
Resting, catching their breaths, Ann averting her eyes from

the pieces of carrion still spread out on the ledge.
jc #02087 96
268 ON ANN 268
Isolated, trying to warm herself with the sun, shuddering

against the side of the cave.
Looking up, past her, crawling down towards her, an enormous

snake, an Elasmosaurus thirty-four feet long, the prototype
,
of the great dragons which haunted medieval literature, its

scales catching and holding the sun like non-reflecting glass
its eyes hooded like a bat’s, its body doubling and trebling
back on itself, turning and returning but always heading
downwards towards Ann
270- ANOTHER ANGLE - ANN 270
The Elasmosaurus rising up now, its neckterect as a cobra’s,

balancing like a dish spinning on a stick, getting ready to
strike,,
271 ON KONG 271
A shadow crossing his eye, justa flicker, and in one fluid

motion he has sprung to his feet and is diving for the
,
Elasmosaurus.
273
272 KONG AND ELASMOSAURUS 272
Locked in combat, reptile and mammal meshed as one, layers of

hair and scale entwined with each other, Kong flailing, like
a mammoth wrestler, the Elasmosaurus coursing Kong's body like
a Lionel train, over and under, ducking through his crotch
and his armholdi, more like a sewing machine gone wild, sewing
Kong into suffocation.
ON DRISCOLL - INSIDE THE CAVE 273
Making his way up to the eyrie, finding the sunlight now,

hearing Kong's agonised grunts, stumbling out on to the eyrie,
seeing the struggle signalling Ann.
274 ON ANN 274
Frozen, the combatants, whipping and slashing too close to

her, fur flying and scales chipping, grunts from Kong and the
swoosh of the snake as it keeps coiling around Kong s body
'
plr #02087 97
275
DRISCOLL
inching towards Ann, trying to stay free of the fight, the
snake spitting like a jet stream, Driscoll ducking, Kong
locked with the snake, Driscoll almost losing his balance as
the combatants fall close to him. Driscoll trying to reach
for Ann, but Ann can't move.
276 KONG AND ELASMOSAURUS 2
Kong falling perilously close to the edge of his eyrie, a

thousand foot drop below to the jagged banks of the lake,
the snake constricting now, Kong supine.
278
277 ON DRISCOLL 2
waving to Ann, signalling her to move, and now moving himself,

moving behind Kong, lifting Ann, struggling and stumbling
with her back into the cave.
279
ON KONG AND ELASMOSAURUS 27

Kong choking now, the Elasmosaurus coiling around his neck, v
280 applying the pressure, Kong's eyes popping, he bounces off
the side of the cave, getting some thrust to pull at the noose.
ANOTHER ANGLE - KONG

his eyes bulging like two great brown blimps about to be
launched from their sockets.
ON THE ELASMOSAURUS
feeling its edge, bringing the rest of its body upwards,

coiling towards Kong's neck, layers of noose, a set of rings
tightening around Kong's neck, he almost topples, dirt and
leaves and brush flying off the ledge, bits of carrion
spackling the sides of the cave, Kong trying to hold his
balance, to keep from going down.
281 INSIDE THE CAVE 28
Driscoll and Ann racing for the mouth, winding down the
crushed, jagged rock.
282 ON KONG 28
bouncing off the side of the cave one last time, his great
arms reaching over like twin steel cranes making one last
,
effort to get a hold of the spinning coils of the Elasmosaurus.
CONTINUED
ra #02087 98
282
CONTINUED
At this instant the Elasmosaurus pauses, to constrict further,

Kong gets a purchase, he grabs, he squeezes, he spreads, the
Elasmosaurus starts to loosen, Kong steps backwards and then
runs forwards to get momentum and bounces the Elasmosaurus
against the side of the cave.
283
It loosens its grip.
ANOTHER ANGLE 283

284
Kong slips his hands around the Elasmosaurus 1
throat.
Now he has him.
285
ELASMOSAURUS 284
whipping and flailing like a reptilian whirligig, trying to
286 get free, but the more it flails, the more Kong tightens
his grip.
GREAT GATE - TOP OF THE WALL 285

'
VL
Two sailors, standing watch, looking out into the night.
287
ON THE BEACH 286
Feverish activity, men jumping out of one longboat, landing
from the ship. Another longboat already beached, the men
assembling, Denham opening up crates of chloride, others
carrying ropes.
288 Englehorn and Denham marshalling their reserve forces to •
aid Driscoll.
ON KONG 287
slipping his grip, so that his hands separate, and now
lifting the Elasmosaurus over his head, he slams it against
the side of the cave like a whip.
The Elasmosaurus acoordians like a train derailing, crumpling

into itself, pleating.
ANOTHER ANGLE - KONG 288
twirling the spent reptile over its head and now slamming
it like a baseball bat against the rock and it shatters in
half, yards of it flying over the ledge, whistling through
the sunshine, and splattering on the lake below, floating
on it like stained lily pads.
ra #02087 99
289 KONG ON THE EYRIE 289
holding the head and top of the body in his' hand, the head
quivering like a decapitated chicken. Now Kong cracks the
neck and pitches it like week-old garbage ontoj. the debris -
of dust and carrion and brush that has accumulated in the

* fight.
290 ON KONG .
290
291 Looking for Ann, seeing her gone, he pounds his chest in
rage, his great arms flailing towards the sky. He calls out
with a great hunger, his arms reaching out for her. He
howlS again, then he turns and lumbers back into. his cave.
292 ANN - DRISCOLL 291
Ann looking back up at the mountain, Driscoll pulling her on,

racing through the forest into the glade.
The sun sets.
KONG 292
in his lair, sitting, grooming himself, ripping the parasitic

birds and scorpions that live in his chest, the worms and
fungi, the life that grows off him. He seems silent, medita-
tive, picking, lifting the bits and pieces of life to his ,
mouth. Broods. Alone.
293 TOP OF THE WALL - SAILOR 29?
jumps up.
SAILOR
(waving down)
296 It r s Driscoll! Driscoll!
294 ANN AND DRISCOLL 294
On the last leg now, Driscoll carrying Ann. They collapse,

Ann out beside him. . .
•
295 DENHAM AND ENGLEHORN .

"
295
sprinting to the gate, the crew jumps on the vine, the gate
swings open.
OUTSIDE THE GATE 296
Denham and Englehorn running towards Ann and Driscoll, they

lift them up, Englehorn pours water on Ann's face, forces
it down her throat. She holds on to the canteen.
.
ra #02087 100
296 CONTINUED 296

Ann comes to,, sees Driscoll, reaches out to him. Driscoll
struggles to his feet.
DRISCOLL
(lifting Ann)
Let's go. Let's get out of here.
The crew are stunned for the moment, seeing Driscoll and Ann
lying there.
ENGLEHORN
Let's go. Let's go. Before those
natives come back at us.
And he picks Ann up, two crew members grabbing Driscoll.
ENGLEHORN
We're shoving off.
He motions to six of the crewmen to be a rear guard, they
hold their positions by the gate.
As the rest of the crew jump for their gear, overlapping

lines "Let’s get out of here! Hurry!" "C'mon, move!",
everyone scurrying at qnce.
DENHAM
Wait a minute! Wait a minute!
He is running desperately after them.
297 AT THE BOATS 297
Denham yelling to one of the crewmen.

DENHAM
Unpack the lights! Get the
cameras, for God's sake!
He dives for one of the packs , in the longboats , pulls out

another hand-held camera.
They freeze, stunned by Denham's shouting instructions,

bustling around. ~
_
ENGLEHORN
What the hell are you doing!
DENHAM
Kong ' s coming here
He looks at Ann.
CONTINUED
ra #02087 101
297 CONTINUED
Shadows on Denham's face from the fire, he is tight with
anticipation.
DENHAM
Don't you understand, he wants you .
Driscoll and Ann and the crew honed in on Denham, they are
in shock, they realize Denham Wants to wait for Kong.
DRISCOLL
You're crazy.
And now Englehorn shatters the silence.
ENGLEHORN DENHAM
No, Carl! No more! Got NoNo !
to go! Got to get out (grabbing the

of here! crewman
You heard me! Unload!
I need lights —
magazines where — '
the stock?! Hurry!

Hurry
The lines above overlapping as Ann and Driscoll and crew break :
and take off, leaving Denham.
They are trying to organize themselves into the boats when

suddenly a roar erupts from the blackness beyond the wall.
And. then another roar.
298 ON THE CHIEF 298

leaping out of his hut.
299 ON NATIVES 299

instantly appearing in front of their huts at the sound.
SAILOR
(from the top
of the wall) \
Kong! Kong! v
300 NATIVES 300

bursting now from their huts, flying everywhere.
301 ON THE GATE 301

Other natives joining with the rear guard of the crew to
swincr hh vines rlnun ane) rail 1 +-Ki=» /.I
ra #02087 102
301-A ON DENHAM AND ENGLEHORN 30 1-;
Crash !Denham and Englehorn swivel around as Kong bounces

302 off the gate.
ON ENGLEHORN 302
looking out towards the ship and back towards the sound of
303 Kong. Realizing they'll never make it, Kong's too close,
Englehorn races back behind Denham who is already sprinting
towards the gate, towards Kong.
GREAT GATE - KONG ‘
303
304
From behind Kong, as he heaves his weight against the gate,
again, on the other side, natives, joined with Englehorn
and Denham and Driscoll and the crew now, trying to keep the
gate closed. But the gate keeps giving way, it splinters.
ANN . 304
moves towards the scaffolding of one of the huts, looks out

towards the wall, sees the gate giving way, bending, holding, "
but now giving way again.
ANN
(quietly)
Oh God, Kong, go away. Please
go away.
305 GREAT GATE 305
bursting open now, the natives swept away like fleas, looming
307 up over the gate is Kong omniscient, biblical, straddling
the gateway and the walls, his teeth bared, his chest breast-
ing the opening, whanging his chest with his fist, now roar-
ing, towering over the village, entering this civilization
for the first time in his life.
He bellows, mad with fury.
306 DENHAM ~ 306
yelling orders at the crew, trying to keep the band

together.
KONG ‘
307
running amok as the Malays do, seized by a frenzy, smashing
CONTINUED
eb #02087 103
307
CONTINUED
huts , natives spilling out of them, Kong picking them up and

flinging them against the wall the whole native population
,
running in every direction, children running out into the
clearing, mothers snatching them up from in front of the
giant's feet —
a cluster of natives mounting the scaffold-
ing, flinging their bamboo spears at Kong, he plucks them
from his hide like toothpicks, the natives keep throwing them,
Kong keeps pulling them out, and now when their weapons are
expended, he picks up a great fig tree in the center of the
square and swipes at the scaffolding and the whole thing
topples like a giant pueblo, the' warriors crushed under it.’
Survivors are running, Kong picks up a straggler, lifts him

to his mouth, the man struggles as if he were in the jaws of
a whale and then he is thrown, pitched like a penny, over
the wall. Pigs are squealing, sheep and chickens running
everywhere, a farmer flies out of his house, trying to drive
his pigs off, he sees Kong, he falls, and Kong steps on him,
308 the imprint of his foot so great and so heavy, that the
_
native is "safe within the cave Kong has dug for him with his
foot. Now Kong looks down, finds the farmer still alive and
grinds him into an instant grave, twirling on the ball of
his foot with rage.
Kong hurls a torch. Huts catch fire, the village becomes a

309 blaze. An apocalypse.
BEACH
The remains of the crew launching the boats, some scattering

into the waves, Englehorn pulling Ann towards the boats,
Driscoll being carried and hauled by other crewmen. Ann
sees Denham reaching into his canvas bag for his ethyl
chloride grenades. He attaches them to his rifle.
ANOTHER ANGLE - ANN AND DENHAM

A roar from the clearing which leads to the beach, Kong is
bearing down on them now, his eyes dilated like suns.
Denham raises his rifle again. ~
*
ANN
Don t
' . Don t
1
i 1
Denham looks blankly at her, at the crew trying to launch the

long boats, at the safe water which stretches behind them, at
Kong breaking through the trees.
eb #02087 104
310
. DENHAM 310 I.
311 fires. The shell lobs toward Kong. j
KONG 311 j
312 His face explodes, he is stopped in his tracks, a locomotive

hitting a stone wall.
CLOSEUP - KONG 312

313
choking, he pulls at a spear still stuck in his side, he
grasps at his throat, he roars with agony, he brushes at his
eyes, sees Ann, staggers after her.
314
ANN 313
running away from Kong but in danger of falling -under him.

Driscoll takes off after Ann, tackles heif in the sand.
315
Tries to lift her away.
KONG 314
316
coughing and sputtering like twenty machine guns, but he
won't go down. Reaches for Ann.
317 DENHAM 315
pulling the pins on two more shells, setting them on his

rifle.
ANN 316
terrified, frozen beside Driscoll. As Kong reaches for Ann

again, Denham fires two more shells. And Kong falls.
KONG 317
hitting the sand, now rising up like some .great dust storm,
all sand and eyes, a ghost, a mummy, still moving down the
beach towards Ann, coughing choking trying to get away from
, ,
Kong, Driscoll leading her.
318 DENHAM 318
firing his last ethyl chloride.

eb #02087 105
319 KONG 31S

*
falls a powerful thud, rolls over, out

, But his hand
.
twitches involuntarily, reaches out towards Ann, stops jus

short of her. She remains by his hand, looking into that
.
great face, all coated with sand, the teeth like pyramids.
3 19- A ON DENHAM 319-A

triumphant.
320 ON ANN 320

Stunned.
321 ON DRISCOLL 321
Incredulous.
322 ON ENGLEHORN AND THE CREW 322

In shock.
ENGLEHORN
Jeezus, he did it. The sonofabitch
did it.
The words shatter the silence, the Crewmen look at each

other, disbelieving, not able to move.
323' ON ANN AND DRISCOLL 323
Motionless, looking up at the great inert body.
324 ON DENHAM 324

DENHAM
(to the crew)
Well don't just stand there for
Christ sake. Move! Get some chains
from the longboat. Rope! Heavy
stuff on the ship - you two - move
out ..Skipper get the cameras
.
, '
let's go! Let's go! We got liim;!

We got him !
And now everybody is running at once.

DENHAM
The door! The door! Get the natives
to help you —
move it! - Move it
now!
CONTINUED
eb #02087 106
324
CONTINUED 324
Denham moving towards Kong now, coming up beside his face.

As he comes close, Denham's hair begins to flare, his clothes
ruffle, furrows are cut in the sand behind him by the bellows
of this great beast's breathing apparatus.
DENHAM
(to Kong)
That's right, big fella, that big
door's gonna be your big yacht - your
own private yacht - a big boat takes
a big fella, right? - and I'm gonna
tow you all the way to New York City,
U.S.A. How do you like that? I Is
that gonna be some trip?!
325 ANOTHER ANGLE - DENHAM 325
Right up next to Kong, he touches him gingerly, draws his hand

away quickly like a child with a strange animal, now growing
.more confident, touches him again, talking all the time.
...Denham is breaking off now., losing contact, the tension of'
the last hours getting to him, barely sane at this moment,
within himself, and yet babbling without.
DENHAM
You all right, Kong baby? A little
beddy-bye — you'll see, you'll wake
up fresh as a daisy!
(calling back)
Let's move, people] I want a camera
position at the foot and the head.'
How' re we coming with the lights?!’
326 ON KONG'S EYE 326
Denham raises Kong's eyelid with both hands, as if he were

pulling up a window.
DENHAM
Aren't you something? What a sweet
sight! D'ycu know we're going to
take your picture, kid! Movies!
Talkies! Talkies of you!
Denham steps back a moment, the. hair on his head fanning with
the rise and fall of Kong's breathing.
DENHAM
You knock me out, kid! Love ya!
What can I tell you. You're the
best! The greatest! Kong, you're
the eighth wonder of the world.
CONTINUED
eb #02087 107
326 CONTINUED 326
DENHAM (Contd)
(back to
the crew)
327 ChainsI Chains Where are the
l
chains! Get with it, people!

What’s holding up the chains?!
DENHAM 327
In the sand now, around Kong’s head, he starts to dance, a

wild little jig, kicking away at the sand, giggling to him-
self, turning and throwing his hands up in the air in wild
celebration. Suddenly he stops, puts his lips right up
against Kong's ear. After a silence.
DENHAM
/whispers)
Big Fella, we’re gonna be
millionaires.
328 ON ANN AND DRESCOLL 326
In the longboats , rowing out to the ship with the crew

fetching rope, looking back at the torches and activity
on the beach.
The sight surreal, the whole beach lit up like a circus,

crew moving this way and that, dragging chains, pulling ropes,
the great door being dragged towards Kong, cameras rolling
and in the center, his face up against Kong's ear - Denham/
332
330 ON ANN 330
Holds on to Driscoll for support. The sound comes up of

the natives chanting 'Kong, Kong,' as we go out on Ann's
pained face, a tear streaking her cheek.
331 EXT. BROADWAY - NEW YORK CITY - LATE AFTERNOON 331
Crowds massing outside the Winter Garden. -
MARQUEE 332
'
Tonight - Carl Denham Presents - Kong - Eighth Wonder Of
The World'
lv #02087 108
333 ANOTHER ANGLE - STREET AND THEATER 333

Crowds milling in the late afternoon crush, cops, saw horses,
vendors with balloons, the three-hour-before-curtain-time
chaos of any big event.
LOUDSPEAKER (o.s.)
We are completely sold out for
tonight's performance. .there are .
no tickets available. .we are .
completely sold out
334 DENHAM'S OFFICE - AFTERNOON 334

A pie- shaped room over the theater.
Pictures of Java, pictures of eskimos . Denham juggling a pair
of phones.
The hubbub on the street outside keeps rising.
Sitting in front of Denham, waiting, are Ann and Driscoll.
DENHAM
Whatsa matter with the publicity,
Eddie? —I've got the Winter
Garden, the biggest theater in the
world —it's a party don't you —
get it? —a party for the 'Eighth
Wonder of the World'... AP, UP, Reuters
...Winchell, Sullivan. .the works —
Get in touch with the studios
.
—
Warners, Paramount —
tell them I've
got footage that's going to make
'The Lost World' look like Scarsdale
— and here's the angle no pic- —
tures, Eddie —
no pictures until
the moment when the curtain goes up
at the Winter Garden —
let it out,
Eddie —all the way —
we're gonna
—
make millions, kid —
the lid's off
Hangs up.
DRISCOLL
We're impressed, Carl.
DENHAM
Impressed? Nothing like this has
I
hit New York since Peter Stuyvesant.

(motions them
to a chair)
You called me.
CONTINUED
Iv #02087 .
p-
109
334 CONTINUED
After a moment.
ANN
We've decided we won't appear unless
you let Kong go back to Skull Island.
DENHAM
What? I l Take Kong back to Skull
Island 1 1
ANN
We'll go on# both Jack and I. Once.
And that's all. And after this
appearance, Kong goes home.
DENHAM
I'm Jonah and I've brought home the
whale and you're asking me to send
him back to sea?
Driscoll smiles.
DRISCOLL
Exactly, Carl.
DENHAM
You've gotta be kidding. .
ANN
Dead serious, Carl. That was a
long voyage home, watching Kong
tied up in chains Week after
.
week on that raft, lying there as

if he were dead —
all the time
remembering how he was on that
island. Fierce —
and gentle —
safe in that cave wild in the—
forest. That's where he belongs
— like you, here, a cigar in your
mouth and your ear to the phone.
This is where you belong.
DENHAM
Gotcha. I'm guaranteed 100,000
dollars in theater bookings .. .So
I'm prepared to up your offer to,
let's say, ten thousand.
ANN
I don't want ten thousand dollars,
Carl. I don't want twenty thousand
— or thirty or even a million I
Don't you understand, Carl, “don't

want anything.-
lv #02087 110
334 CONTINUED - 2 334

ANN (Cont'd)
I just want to go home and forget
that I ever met a son of a bitch
like you. And everything you tell
the world I'm going to deny. In
fact I 11 tell them the truth
'
—
how it was Jack who saved me and
not you. How you ran back scared
for help -- How all those gas bombs
turned you into a hero....
She reaches for the phone.
ANN -
Let's start with the Daily News .
There's a lively paper

Grabs her hand on the phone.
DENHAM v
Wait a minute, waaaaait a minute — .

•.
let's not lose our heads here. We're

all friends, aren't we?
DRISCOLL
No.
DENHAM
(to Ann)
Admit we ve been through a lot to-
'
gether, kid... a long way from

Sloppy Louie's, right? — and face :
up to it, as of tonight, your pic-

ture s going to be on the front
'
page of every newspaper in the

world —
what a shame to throw it
all away —
all the years of drama
lessons, and dance classes plus —
fifteen thousand dollars....
Dead silence in the room. Denham looks at Driscoll, Denham

nodding knowledgeably, as if he expected Driscoll to agree
with him — to take his word for it.
But the silence lays there, filled only by sounds of the jang-
ling phones and whirring mimeo and crowds and mounted police
massing in front of the theater.
Now Denham turns to Ann, waiting for an answer.
. DENHAM
What d'you say, kid?

CONTINUED
lv #02087 111
334 CONTINUED - 3 334

ANN
Carl you're full of horseshlt.
Denham reacts.
ANN
Let's go, Jack.
And they are out the door and through the outer office, Denham
running after them.
DENHAM
AwrightI Awright! Twenty thousand!
But they keep walking.
335 IN THE HALLWAY 335

DENHAM
(yelling after them)
Just let me troupe him. Just here,
Chicago, California.. Enough to get
it rolling — I'll let you make
whatever pitch you want tonight —
how one day Kong's going back to his
natural habitat —a whole animal-
lover tear jerker
Ann stops, turns around.
DRISCOLL
Tonight is Kong's last appearance
or tomorrow we call a press confer-
ence. Deal or no deal, what do you
say, Carl?
He looks at both of them, Ann determined, Driscoll grim.
DENHAM
All right, all right. Deal.
Ann beams at Driscoll and they disappear down the stairs
DENHAM
(shouting after)
I want you onstage in makeup and
costume at eight o'clock.
He walks back into the outer office.
DENHAM
(to the secretary)
Get that booker in Chicago on the
phone —
tell him I've got only
one open date in the next two weeks ....
nk #02087 112
336
EXT. CENTURY THEATER - OUTSIDE LOBBY - NIGHT 336
nobbed with ticketholders pressing to get in. Vendors
sprinkled around, fighting to move their wares.
VENDOR
Git yer Kong face! Git yer rubber-
ized Kong face and make friends
with the big fella 1
2ND VENDOR
Get yer official Kong program here.
Pictures of the girl! Pictures of
Carl Denham
3RD VENDOR
Tropical juice Tropical juice
J 1
Right off Skull Island!
337 INT. WINTER GARDEN. _ 337
339 The place filling up, evening clothes.
338 ONSTAGE IN FRONT OF THE CURTAIN 338
A token warm-up, Balinese dancers jerking their heads this

way and that to gamelan music warmed over by a Broadway pit
band.
BACKSTAGE 339
Denham broken-field running between the stage door and the

wings, pursued by a slew of reporters, and photographers, over-
lapping questions being fired at him. "Did you capture him
yourself?" "How long was the girl with him alone?" "What
exactly did Driscoll do?" "Do you see yourself as the hero
or Driscoll?"
But Denham is ahead of them, making straight for Ann and

Driscoll waiting in the wings, Ann in a virginal white evening
dress, Driscoll in black tie.
DENHAM
(between his
teeth)
Okay, good luck..
ANN
You too, Carl. Break a leg.
A Photographer raises his speed graphic.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Get between them, Carl.
PnMrpTMTTP n
nk #02087 113
339 CONTINUED 339

DENHAM
) No no, wait for Kong. Ann and
Kong. Kong and Ann. That's what
it's all about.
(under his breath,
to one of his
assistants)
That's what's going to sell tickets.
LADY REPORTER
You mean Beauty and the Beast, huh?
•
Denham reacts as if he'd just heard it for the first time.
DENHAM
'Beauty and the Beast.' Yeah,
that's good, too.
STAGE MANAGER
You're on, Mr. Denham. You're on.
DENHAM
Excuse me, people.
Denham moves through the curtain, out in front of the audience.

The curtain remains closed behind him, the band taciting, the
\ dancers exiting. The audience quiets.
DENHAM
(his old Carnegie
Hall voice)
Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you
for coming to Carl Denham's party
for King Kong!
They applaud, shout, whistle. Denham raises his hand for

silence.
DENHAM
It was a strange and beautiful
time in the East Indies. And no
stranger and more beautiful than
this magnificent creature whom I
have brought home to show you.
Terrifying, yes — twelve members
of my group are dead but when
you see him, I'm sure you will
agree he still remains magnificent,
awe-inspiring, the creation of a
kind and benevolent god who, at
the same time, is stern enough to
remind us of the terrors that await
us in this world!
elp #02087 114
340
WINGS - ANN AND DRISCOLL 340
Ann and Driscoll looking out towards Denham, trying to con-
tain their anger.
DENHAM
— And now with no further ado,
ladies and gentlemen. .. a king in
the world he knew, but now he comes
to civilization, a slave New York—
City, I give you Kong the Eighth ,
341 Wonder of the World I ;

*
The band hits a fanfare, the curtain flies, revealing the

stage in depth.
ON KONG 341
Chained, as Ann was on the sacrificial altar on Skull Island,

his arms thrust into the air, manacled to two great beams.
342
Behind Kong a cheap, painted backdrop depicting the jungle,
the whole thing a vaudeville turn with an African motif, the
centerpiece, an animal sacrifice -- Kong.
343
He blinks as a rainbow of lights hit him, then he falls back,
}
tranquilized, somnolent.
ON ANN 342
Taking in this sight,- her head jerking back with the slash
of colored light, her body frozen in Kong's presence.
ON DRISCOLL 343
346
Motionless, neutralized.
344 ON DENHAM 344
Triumphant.
345 ON THE AUDIENCE 345

ft
In shock for the instant, then a terrible rustle, and a babble,

and a sense of excitement. They're enjoying what they paid for.
ON STAGE 346
The photographers position themselves.

DENHAM
Appearing with Kong. Miss Ann
elp #02087 115
347 WINGS 347
Ann hangs back, she can’t move.
STAGE MANAGER
Miss Darrow, Mr. Driscoll, you're
oni
The Stage Manager pushes them out.
348 AUDIENCE - POINT OF VIEW 348
Seeing Ann, the audience applauds again, Denham meets Ann

center stage, positions her in front of Kong. As Denham
holds Ann in position, there is a grunt from Kong, the sleep-
ing giant: is alive, he looks down, grunts louder but when
Denham releases Ann, he falls quiet again.
Kong still keeps an eye on Ann, Ann looks back at him, he

stirs, there is a flash of recognition in his eyes, he roars,
a terrible roar of agony and longing and desire all at once,
he strains at his bonds, they do not give, now he sinks, back
against his chains. He seems quiet for an instant, tormented
at the sight of Ann, but helpless.
DENHAM
All right, get in front of him,
Ann, we need you together with him.
Ann hesitates, but Denham forces her. A flashbulb pops, and

with the pop, Kong is blinded, he roars, fearful for himself
— it is reminiscent of the chloride explosions —
and now as
another flash pops, Ann flinches too, she is fearful for Kong
as he yanks mightily at the chains, but nothing gives, and
he roars still again, his cry exploding in the Winter Garden.
The audience is nervous now, moving around in their seats,
standing up, a random scream. The photographers look warily
at Kong as he keeps alternately blinking and looking down
protectively at Ann. His head bobs towards her, he's trying
to reach her in some way. He can't
DENHAM
(anxious
All right, let's get this over with.
We'll put some light on it, we'll
turn on the spots. Now take your
pictures —and get the hell out of
here.
More flashbulbs start popping, Kong looking blindly for Ann,
ducking his head and bobbing like a blind man who 'has had fire-
crackers explode in his face —
the flashbulbs popping, Kong'
~
roaring like mad, trying to get to Ann, trying to find comfort

with her in this onslaught when suddenly all the cameras ex-
plode at once, the spotlights hitting at the same time, a
torrent of light.
elp #02087 116
349
ON DENHAM AND ANN
Denham holding on to Ann, forcing her to stay in front of

350 Kong for the pictures, Ann trying to get loose from him.
ON KONG 350
Seeing Ann struggle with Denham. In defense of her and at
•thesame time terrorized by the avalanche of lightT Kong“gives
a desperate pull on his bonds.
351
The chairs start to buckle, Kong tugs and tugs, his eyes on
Ann all the time. The audience screams in panic.
352
ON DRISCOLL 351
Moving in front of Ann, trying to protect her.
353
ON KONG
He tugs and tugs at his chains, they are almost loose now,
the chainposts splintering, Kong pulling.
354
ON ANN
355 Breaking away from Driscoll.
ANN
(pleading)
Kong! I Kong!!
ON DENHAM 354
Stunned, not moving, the picture unfolding in front of him.
ON KONG 355
One last slam and he breaks free, the crowd shattering with
screams, the chains splinter, and now a terrible roar as Kong
lets the world know he has broken loose. Kong, reaching for
Ann, knocks Driscoll aside, and Driscoll falls into the
orchestra pit, unconscious.
356 ON ANN 356
Seeing Driscoll’s inert body, she gives way now, sinks down
on the stage, unconscious. Kong snatches her up, holds her
close
elp #02087 117
357 ON DENHAM 357
Running for the wings, screaming to the Stage Manager.
DENHAM '
Cameras! Get me my cameras!
358 ON THE AUDIENCE 358
Bolting from their seats, climbing over each other for the
doors, panic, bodies trampled.
358-A ON KONG , 358-A

Swaying back and forth in the center of the stage, holding Ann
in his hand, looking this way and that - no exit, only scream-
ing people and banks of seats and enclosure. Kong is suffo-
cating with terror. In response, he now turns, wheels and
bouncing off a chainpost —
goes right through the theater
wall
359 BROADWAY - NEW YORK CITY - KONG'S POINT OF VIEW 359
For Kong, a torrent of arbitrary, indecipherable messages.

Neon and headlights and noise, an urban jungle of steel and
concrete, he lets out a roar which seems almost like a scream
now, the shudders of his body making the neon blur his eyes,
361 Ann in his hand, not moving, frozen with terror, nestled in
the dark corners of his palm she knows from Skull Island.
360 KONG - ANOTHER ANGLE 360
looking down at Ann, looking for some clue as to what he should

362 do in this bewildering world. The sight of her has brought
him back to the world, but it is a world that is unrecog-
nizable to him.
SIGN * 361
A giant electric shadowplay, thousands of bulbs blinking on

and off, advertising a soft drink, a bottle pouring liquid
into a glass, fizz sparking upwards, the signs flashing, and
flashing, and now lighting up entirely The whole thing a
.
torrent of color.
KONG'S EYES 362
Catching the relection, blinking, blinking.
363 ON THE SIGN 363

. ! I
ps #02087 118
364
ON KONG 364
throwing up his arm to ward off the sign but it keeps

365 flashing, threatening him, flashing, threatening him.
ANOTHER ANGLE - KONG 365
366 reaching up for the sign, taking hold of it, sparks fly, and
now he lifts it right off its mooring and smashes it into
the street.
ON THE STREET 366

367
A thousand light bulbs shattering, the street igniting, neon
fluids running like rivers, fires lighting in trash baskets,
cars and buses screeching to a halt, collisions and fire and
screams, store windows breaking * chaos.
CLOSEUP - POLICE EMERGENCY DESK 367
SERGEANT
All units — all units — Emergency
The Sergeant looks at the board, everything is lighting up.
SERGEANT
Emergency! Winter Garden! All
units
368 ON ANN 368
Unconscious in Kong's hand.
369 PRECINCT 369
police pouring out.
370 PRECINCT GARAGE 370
Motorcycles roaring through the garage door as it lifts.
371 ANOTHER PRECINCT - GARAGE 371
Open police cars pouring out, Tommy-guns ready, sirens

screaming
372 INT. WINTER GARDEN - DRISCOLL 372
'coming to, trying to pull himself up, the place a shambles,

the street visible through the shattered wall.
ps #02087 119 •
373
ON DENHAM - IN A PHONE BOOTH 373
DENHAM
Yeah, Manny, everything you got.
Frezzies, brutes, the works. We'll
be shooting all night! Hurry!
Hurry — we'll miss it!
374 SIXTH AVENUE - KONG 374
wandering down it like a lost child, cradling Ann, fires

burning up the street behind him, cars screaming to a halt
in front, sirens wailing as they come close, and now a search-
light begins to play off the top of a fire truck.
375 EXCAVATION 375

376
on Sixth Avenue, an all-night construction crew on their lunch
break. A deep excavation, three stories below the street, .
Manhattan rock and dirt, pools of water and heavy equipment,

shoring, steel beams in piles. Lights strung around for the
night work.
STEAM SHOVEL OPERATOR 376
up m a corner of the excavation, on higher ground, setting

his warning light, putting his lunch pail away, tipping his
hat over his eyes, dozing off in the cab.
377
379 ON KONG 377
lumbering right off the Avenue, down into the excavation,

holding Ann close, moving to a mammoth pile of dirt, one
arm cradling Ann, he starts digging into it, to make a cave
for himself, his paw reaching in, the earth flying back like
shrapnel.
378 ON THE STEAM SHOVEL OPERATOR 378
stirring in the cab, sitting up.
ON KONG 379
hearing the sound inside the cab, steps over to the cab,
looks in.
380 POINT OF VIEW - STEAMSHOVEL OPERATOR 380
The whole window is filled with Kong's mammoth simian face.

ned # 02087 . 120
381 ON THE OPERATOR 381

Instinctively hits his gears, stands on the gas, starts
heading for the ramp, tracks cutting up the dirt.
382 ON KONG 382

wheeling to face this dinosaur, the great shovel swinging in
front of it. He swipes at the arm, tries to knock it away.
Ann wakes up.
383 ON THE STEAM SHOVEL 383

The operator working frantically to elude Kong, but he
can't, hitting gears and levers like a madman, forward
and reverse, swinging the arm this way and that and now
as Kong charges at him, opens up the shovel's teeth.
384 ON KONG 384

The teeth of the shovel snapping at him like a Tyrannosaurus,
he ducks and bobs, holding Ann close to him all the time,
knocking away the arm, protecting her.

swerving, rolling the steam shovel forward, making another
run for it, but Kong is too fast for him, catches up.
hitting a lever, unexpectedly swinging the shovel around in

the opposite direction — swat ! Slams Kong against the
side of the head, he goes down, cradling Ann from the fall.

t
moving into forward gear, batting at Kong as he goes, the

shovel piledriving down on Kong, hitting him on both sides
of the head, not letting him up.
sensing victory, sweeping in a 360 degree circle, and making

one last run for the ramp.
ned #02087 121
389 ON KONG 389

running down off the mound of dirt, he catches up the
steam shovel and now he begins to force it backwards.
390 ON THE SHOVEL 390

The tracks spinning as if they were on ice.
391 ON KONG 391

pushing the steam shovel into reverse, cradling Ann in one
arm, and straight-arming the steam shovel with the other,
forcing the cab right back into the hole he had dug into
the giant mound of dirt.
392 POINT OF VIEW - STEAM SHOVEL OPERATOR 392

feeling himself fall back into darkness in this tunnel, at
the mouth of it the lights of the excavation highlighting
Kong's face as he pushes the steam shovel deeper and deeper
into the hole dug into the mountain of dirt.

hitting at his gears, trying to get himself untracked, now
operating the arm, swinging it.
394 KONG'S POINT OF VIEW 394

The arm coming towards him, the teeth of the shovel snapping
at him, the shovel swinging back and swatting him one last
time across the head.
395 ON KONG 395

Grabs the arm, and now, having a good hold, starts to bend it
396 STEAM SHOVEL OPERATOR'S POINT OF VIEW 396

The arm of the steam shovel coming back at him, the teeth
opening and snapping as the gears lock and the teeth keep
snapping. The light is filling up with the darkness, all the man
can see is the teeth of his equipment, Kong guiding them
right back toward him.
ps #02087 122
397
ON THE MOUND OF DIRT 397
Screams issuing from the cab as Kong turns the arm of the
steam shovel on itself and buries the whole piece of equipment
398
into the mound.
STEAM SHOVEL OPERATOR S POINT OF VIEW

' 398
Darkness.
Death.
398-A
399 ON KONG 398-A
Spent now, falling against the mound of dirt, then reflex-
ively lumbering to his feet, making the gorilla motion,.,
pounding his chest with one hand, cradling Ann with the other.
400
KONG'S POINT OF VIEW 399
Looming through the bright night, the tower of the Empire

401 State Building.
ON KONG 400
402
recognizing the high ground, as if he had just seen his eyrie
on top of Skull Mountain. Holding Ann close, he now scales
the sides of the excavation.
BEHIND KONG 401
403 lumbering down 6th Avenue, the Empire State beckoning him.
EXT. WINTER GARDEN - DRISCOLL 402
receiving emergency treatment from a hospital attendant.

Mobs milling in front of the theater, police cars close by.
POLICE CAR RADIO

Attention all cars ... attention all
cars... Kong is headed for the Empire
State Building
ON DRISCOLL 403
Looking up.
404 DRISCOLL'S POINT OF VIEW 404

PS #02087 123
404
CONTINUED 404
DRISCOLL
He's headed for the highest point
405 on the island.
EXT. AMBULANCE 405
Denham has commandeered it, he is behind the rear doors with

two assistants, loading cameras and lights and magazines
406 into the back.
They jump in, the police radio squawking in the ambulance.
INT. AMBULANCE 406

RADIO
Repeat. .Kong is headed for the
.
Empire State Building.
DENHAM
Let's go!
The Driver hesitates.
DRIVER
Gee, Mr. Denham, I could get into
a lot of trouble for this.
Denham slaps a sheaf of bills into the Driver's hand.
DENHAM
This'll keep you out of trouble.
407 EXT. AMBULANCE 407
Changing direction, ripping eastwards, the red light flashing,

410 the siren going full blast.
408 EMPIRE STATE BUILDING 408
Kong climbing, Ann in his hand, scaling floors at a time,

making it to the deck on the 86th floor.
409 OBSERVATION DECK 409
Kong perched on it, looking around, the air seeming to ease

him, the height giving him courage, cradling Ann.
34TH STREET AND 5TH AVENUE 410
Police cars, emergency squads, fire trucks, mobs assembling

at the base of the building.
ps #02087 124
411 SEARCHLIGHTS 411
Crews uncovering them, moving them into position, massive

shafts of light criss-crossing the tower.
412 BUILDING ROOFS - MIDTOWN 412
Police marksmen taking positions.
413 ON THE CORNER - 34TH AND 5TH 413
"aw horses being set up, police piling in, in emergency out-
rits, one Inspector directing them all, moving his troops this
way and that, they take positions, searching the sky where the
searchlight beams meet.
414 DENHAM'S AMBULANCE . . 414
Screeching up to the scene, Denham bolting for the Inspector's

command post.
415 ON KONG 415
Settling into the Empire State cupola, the mists of the night
chilling, his head jitters at the passes of the searchlights.
He holds Ann gently under his arm, drawing comfort from her.
416 ON DENHAM AND THE INSPECTOR 416

INSPECTOR
...We go up — she doesn't have a
chance.
DENHAM
What are you going to do?
INSPECTOR
Wait.
Denham moves back to the ambulance.
417 ON THE ROOF 417
Kong, looking down, seeing the massing mob, the jungle of

equipment, a searchlight hits him, he jumps back.
4 IB DENHAM AT THE DOOR OF THE AMBULANCE 418

DENHAM
Get set up, Manny lights,— —
tripod, whatever we've got
he'll either throw her down, or
jump with her —
we want to be
ready
mgh #02087 125
419 ON THE ROOF 419

Kong hunkering down for the night, looking up at the sky,
shuddering with the unfamiliar cold.
Perplexed by the lights that sometimes flash by, but searching

the stars which seem familiar.
420 ON ANN 420

Beside him, silent, frozen, her evening dress torn and caked
with mud from Kong's body —- she, too, shivering in the spring
night, 102 floors up.
421 INT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING 421
Police guarding the banks of elevators, as Englehorn's men Once

guarded the gates on Skull Island.
422 ON THE STREET 422
Driscoll appearing, bandaged, fighting his way through the

crowd.
423 DRISCOLL'S POINT OF VIEW 423

Sees Denham setting up his cameras.
424 DRISCOLL AND DENHAM 424
Bore into each other, now Denham turns away.
425 ANOTHER ANGLE - THE STREET 425
A circus — or a battlefield —
mobbed with people, more coming
in, but everything still, as the night slips away.
426 INT. RADIO STATION .

-
•
426
NEWSCASTER
The creature remains a hundred two
floors above Manhattan, Ann Darrcw
his prisoner. He is out of range
of the neighboring buildings, and
the police, fearing for her safety,
are reluctant to attack.
mgh #02087 126
427
AT THE COMMAND POST 427
Driscoll and Denham flanking the Inspector, all looking up.

INSPECTOR
How long do you think he'll stay
up there?
DRISCOLL
I don't know. As long as he feels
safe, he'll stay.
DENHAM
Well I can't photograph him up there.
I've got to get a plane.
Denham jumps in to the ambulance.
428
DENHAM
Let's go. Floyd Bennett Field.
Call the charter service. Tell
them to get a plane ready.
429
And the ambulance is gone, siren screaming, the Driver already
on the radio, calling ahead.
ON THE INSPECTOR 428
Regrets.
430
ON THE INSPECTOR AND DRISCOLL 429
The Inspector watches the ambulance go, leans into a police

car, picks up the radio phone.
INSPECTOR
This is Inspector Flaherty — call
the Navy Squadron at Floyd Bennet --
tell them to get some planes in the
air, . .
FLOYD BENNETT FIELD 430
Dawn coming up over Long Island, three Navy planes revving up.
431 431
Pilots, Navy flyers, ready for action.

mgh #02087 127
432 DOWN THE RUNWAY - PRIVATE PLANE 432
A civilian pilot at the controls, in the rear, Denham, rigging

himself a camera mount, piling magazines beside him, getting
ready to shoot.
433 ANOTHER ANGLE - FLOYD BENNET 433
The Navy planes take off in tight formation.
Right behind them is Denham's plane, riding their tail.
434 EMPIRE STATE - ON KONG 434
Rousing himself, hearing a sound, moving about restlessly,

carrying Ann with him,
435 PLANES 435
In formation, setting up a battle pattern.
436 KONG 436
looking out, moving up further, climbing the mast to the 102nd

floor.
437 PLANES 437
buzzing the tower, getting a fix on Kong.
438 INT. AIRPLANE 438
A machine gunner squinting to get a sight.
439 EMPIRE STATE MAST 439
Kong, holding Ann protectively.
440 OMITTED 440
441 CLOSEUP - DENHAM 441
looking in towards Kong and Ann. Now squinting through the

lens of his camera. Cranking.
442 AIRPLANE 442
a pilot leaning back to a machine gunner, pointing towards Ann.

The machine gunner nods.
mgh #02087 128
^
443 PLANES 443
!
buzzing closer to Kong now, trying to intimidate him, to get

444 him to release Ann.
445 KONG ON MAST •

444
putting Ann down on the ledge now,, taking up the challenge.
ON DENHAM 445
pressing the pilot to get in closer.

446
Kong is straddling the tower now, he lets out a roar that is
swallowed up by the silence 102 stories above the city. Kong
beats his breast, the power pouring out of him, raises his arms
to the sky.
447
PRIVATE PLANE 446
Denham pointing down towards Kong isolated, and the pilot peels;;
off. Denham rises in his seat, straddles the camera turret,
448 crazed with excitement.
LONG SHOT - NAVY PLANES 447

449 One by one they peel off and head towards the mast of the build-
ing, point for Kong. They come dangerously close, provoking
Kong with their rapid-fire, Kong waves at them, tries to hit
at them, they elude him.
450
ANOTHER ANGLE 448
Kong profiled against the sky, raging against the heavens, his
teeth bared in anguish.
SQUADRON LEADER 449
making a new pass, machine-gunning away, the bullets spraying,

shattering glass in the tower. Kong waves again, tries to
reach him, can't come near.
ON DENHAM 450
His plane coming close, operating his camera. Kong reaches

for the plane, misses.
mgh #02087 129
451 NAVY PLANE 451
making a pass, banking in, firing away, Kong reaching again,

missing.
452 ANOTHER NAVY PLANE 452
banking, firing, eluding Kong.
453 SQUADRON LEADER 453
banking, firing, really zipping close.
454 ANOTHER ANGLE - KONG 454
almost a delayed reaction, reaching for his throat now, feeling

blood.
455 SQUADRON LEADER 455
sensing a kill, banking back sharply, pumping rounds into Kong,

the other planes jumping in, pouring in the lead, Kong start-
ing to bleed profusely now.
455-A ON DENHAM 455-i
operating the camera with one hand, signalling the pilot to

come closer with the other. .
456 KONG 456
poking at the wound in his throat, curious for a moment, look-

ing at the blood on his hand.
457 NAVY PLANES 457
A new formation, right for Kong, machine guns smoking.
458 KONG 458
reaching for them all at once, all of them eluding him.

Denham is urging his pilot to come closer and closer, the Pilot
trying to keep his distance, Denham aiming his camera for a
closeup, not satisfied, pushing the Pilot perilously close.
Denham manning the camera, Kong reaches for him, hits at the
plane, he gets a piece
- of it, a wing jars loose, the pilot loses
control'] it spins crazily
, starts smoking, zooms downward.
459 ON DENHAM 459
falling, gripping the handle of his camera mount, still shoot-

ing film as he plunges to the street one hundred and two floors
jy #02087 130
460
HERALD SQUARE 460
i
The shattered plane smashes into pieces at the corner of

Broadway and 34th Street. Screams, flames lick around a
461
statue, a window buckles at Macy's.
KONG - ON THE MAST 461
Kong reaches out in agony to the open sky, the planes keeping
their distance now, the great chain from Kong's Winter Garden
appearance still dangling from his wrist.
462
He rubs at his eyes, he cannot see, the blood is pouring
down his face now, he staggers like a punch-drunk fighter,
looks back down at the ledge, sees Ann.
463
ANN 462
standing up now, looking right at Kong, not denying him.

Finally, carefully, with the utmost hesitation and apprenhen-
sion, she takes a step towards him.
KONG 463
receiving her, wanting her, reaching down for her, picking

her up carefully, cradling her, showing her to the world,
looking out towards the planes who are banking once more.
Now he holds her out over the city, as if he is going to

topple with her, she arches backwards, then he brings her
back in, and sets her down on the ledge.
464 KONG AND ANN 464
Kong seems to sit for a moment, beaten, exhausted, he looks like

a traget now at a military base, riddled with holes, blood pour-
ing from all of them., his neck wreathed in blood, his head a
pulp. He looks over to Ann. He tries to reach for her a last
time but he cannot make it. Now just looks longingly at her,
his head swivelling as the- planes zoom by, now just wobbling,
almost lifeless.
465 ANN 465
watching Kong, seeing him blink, seeing him look at her once
more. She moves towards him, the memories of the cave and the
cold and the coconut and the banana leaves surfacing, comes next
to him, her hand reaches out towards his neck, the hand is im-
mediately covered with blood, but she ignores it, she climbs up
on the ledge towards his head, and her hand touches his forehead,
an indescribable gesture of great delicacy and understanding,
CONTINUED
plr #02087 131
465
CONTINUED 465
he blinks, he seems to nod, he looks towards her, a moan

seems to ooze out of him and now with his last drop of
strength; he leaves her.
Climbs once more to the mast, looks back a last time at Ann,
and then goes to the very top
466 LONG SHOT - KONG 466
just straddling the mast with his legs like a circus

performer, the planes coming close, he raises his arms as
if he were imploring the sky for something, the heavens,
some far off place of his unconscious, some god he worships,
and now his whole body is exposed and the planes swoop in
for the kill, hammering, hammering at him, he seems to
topple, but then he is upright again.
468
467 ANOTHER ANGLE - KONG 467
He beats his breast, he roars, looks back at Ann.

469
Then he topples.
LONG SHOT - EMPIRE STATE BUILDING 468
Kong going down, hitting the side of the building, once,

twice, three times.
470
34TH STREET 469
Kong hitting the street, the pavement cracks open, the

whole street explodes, gushers of water, a tangle of wires,
the asphalt guts like the innards of a human body and
finally Kong comes to rest, in his grave below the street,
trapped in telephone and electrical cable, water running
over him from broken pipes. A fire flashes from an elec-
trical conduit, it sears his eye, his blood boils, he is
dead.
EMPIRE STATE - CUPOLA -

470
Driscoll arriving with the Inspector. They find Ann, her

white dress covered with blood, pieces of hair all around,
she is in shock, spread-eagled against the side of the
building.
She doesn't move. The Inspector doesn't move. Nobody moves.
The Inspector backs off. Driscoll waits.

plr #02087 132
471 STREET 471

crowds around Kong's concrete grave. Cops with arms linked
trying to hold the crowds back.
472 Reporters trying to push past. All talking at once. Taking

.. pictures.
CLOSEUP - KONG 472

473
lifeless, his eyes looking skywards, fork-lifts moving in,
fire engines dropping ladders, bodies climbing over the body.
LADY REPORTER AND LIEUTENANT 473
The Lady Reporter comes abreast of a Lieutenant now, a ring

of cops have circled the grave.
474 LIEUTENANT
The airplanes got him.
LADY REPORTER
Oh no officer —
it wasn't the
airplanes. It was beauty killed
the beast.
ANOTHER ANGLE - WIDER 474
The Empire State Building towering over the scene, down

closer a jungle of equipment, crowds milling like bees.
Push in now, past the building, past the equipment, the fire
trucks and the squad cars and the ambulances, past the police
trying to contain the crowds, past the gaping onlookers,
past the Lieutenant and the Lady Reporter to Kong s broken
'
lifeless body, bound in crumpled asphalt and broken "pipes

and torn electric wires —
past the wires and the pi*pes and
the asphalt, into his face.
Quiet, still, at peace.
FADE OUT
THE END

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BO GOLDMAN

EXT. PET SHOP - WEST 57TH STREET - NIGHT

The store window is trimmed in tinsel and silver balls and

REVERSE ANGLE - FINGERS

Frozen on the glass, they belong to Ann Darrow, in her mid-

ANOTHER ANGLE - ANN

EXT. CARNEGIE HALL 4

Ann walking by posters which read "Paderewski," "New York

Eddy Lectures" and still another "Journey to Adventure with

On the corner by the newsstand, is Weston, a theatrical agent,

momentarily to crack a chestnut, also just purchased from a

Watching the vendor adjust his chestnuts carefully, turning

grosses, tosses Variety into the corner trash basket, and

INT. CARNEGIE HALL 0

In the darkness and through the rustle, a voice booms off a

It is a stunning duel, something today’s audiences are long

The audience applauds and the spotlight comes : i

on the host, Carl Denham, standing beside a i. •>••••

once an air of authority and terrible tens rev., a; .t Denham s •

macho, perverse, but with a kind of dynamics to he soc-aks

every sentence as if it ended with an e.

A Kid yells up from the front row.

Denham smiles down benevolently on this audience who for years

Denham smiles enigmatically, lifts a firm jaw and a steady

Denham winds them up.

Now he cues them.

EXT. CARNEGIE HALL - NIGHT

Weston still struggling a half-step behind.

Denham ignores Weston, jumps into the street, lets go a two-

A window rolls down in the cab.

Denham's voice booms back through the traffic.

— The cab disappearing into the Seventh Avenue crush.

9 EXT. HOBOKEN DOCK - NIGHT 9

On the dock, at the foot of one of the planks, a heated dis-

got explosives on board. Weapons,

He reaches in his pocket, pulls out a little Polynesian doll,

The Harbor master turns it over.

The Harbor master reaches under, a five hundred dollar bill

The Harbor master breathes deep, debating.

And he's down the deck. Driscoll smiles at Englehorn.

Denham wheels around the deck, almost bowls over Mullins,

Get another doll out of my

And. he clatters down a gangway into his cabin.

11 INT. DENHAM'S CABIN 11

Denham explodes through the door, sees a man sitting on the

Yeager shrugs noncommittally — wig-wags his hand.

Yeager lights a cigar, looks through the window at the

Denham smiles, takes a seat on the cabin chair, watches Yeager.

Denham slaps his hand away.

Denham drills him.

Denham rips the door open and slams it as Yeager exits.

Denham sprinting past Yeager, hailing a cab dockside.

ANOTHER ANGLE - TAXI

EXT. WASHINGTON MARKET - NIGHT 14

Pulling up for a light, Denham drumming his’ fingers again,

Breathing a little heavily now, weak from hunger, she sees

The Greek releases her hand. Ann rummages interminably in

Ann hesitates a moment, still holding the apple in her hand,

Ann’s and the Greek’s heads swivel.