RUSSELL
Ahhh yesss, I've been fortunate enough
to attend two days. Law history in the
making. I've been a participant.
WAYNE
And you being a Harvard law student,
what is your opinion of Mickey Knox's
performance?
RUSSELL
Ahhh, Mickey's pistolero savvy in the
courtroom trial rivals, dare I say
conquers that of master Melvin Belli.
He's like a magnificent loose cannon,
firing point blank in the prosecutor's
face. It is my anticipation---
BACK TO: The long-haired guys, Chuck, Jeff & Steve as Wayne
speaks.
WAYNE
You're talking about a man and a woman
who killed innocent people.
STEVE
Don't get us wrong . . .
CHUCK
We respect human life an all.
JEFF
It's a tragedy.
STEVE
But . . . if I was a serial killer,
which I'm not, but if I was, I'd be
like Mickey.
MARVIN
They're like that crazy mother in the
first Dirty Harry movie. Member that
crazy ass mother? They're like him.
Mickey and Mallory be doin' some
cold-blooded shit. When I hear about
some of the shit they be doin' on TV, I
say "Damn, that's fucked (BLEEP) up."
INT. GOLD'S GYM - DAY
Wayne's sitting in the gym. Behind him MUSCLE MEN are working
out. Their GRUNTING sounds fill the background. Wayne looks up
and just OFF CAMERA to the people he's interviewing.
WAYNE
What do you think of Mickey and
Mallory?
ECU on SIMON and NORMAN HUN, two brothers/bodybuilders, in a
head SHOT.
SIMON
I admire them.
NORMAN
I do, too.
WAYNE
(confused)
But how can you say that?
SIMON
They're mesmerising.
NORMAN
Hypnotizing.
SIMON
Have you seen `Pumping Iron?'
WAYNE
Yes.
NORMAN
Then you've seen the scene where Arnold
Schwartzenegger is talking to Lou
Ferigno.
WAYNE
Yes.
SIMON
Through the power of the simple word---
NORMAN
And a snake-eye glare.
SIMON
---and a snake-eye glare, Arnold was
able to totally psyche out any
confidence Ferigno had.
NORMAN
He squashed him mentally before
physically defeating him.
SIMON
He had the edge. The mind's edge.
NORMAN
Mickey and Mallory have that edge.
SIMON
Only on a much grander scale.
NORMAN
They've hypnotized the nation.
SIMON
Schwartzenegger was the king of the
edge before they came along.
WAYNE
You say this and yet. . .you two are
both victims of Mickey and Mallory.
SIMON
Yes.
NORMAN
Yes.
WAYNE
How can you say that you `admire' them?
NORMAN
It's like this, Wayne. Two people are
standing in a dark room waiting for the
other to attack. These two people
can't see each other, yet they know
they're there. Now, they can either
stand in the dark room forever waiting
until they die of boredom, or one of
them can make the first move.
WAYNE
Why can't they just shake hands and be
friends?
NORMAN
They can't because neither knows if the
other is a deranged senseless killer
like the Knoxs. So, you may as well
make the first move.
WAYNE
And they made the first move?
NORMAN
Unfortunately, yes.
SIMON
But you see, that's okay, Wayne.
WAYNE
Why?
SIMON
They passed the `edge' along to us.
WAYNE
How so?
SIMON
By taking away our legs. Now we have
to fight harder to get ahead than
anyone else you'll find in this gym.
Probably the whole city. They gave us
the fighting spirit. Before this
happened I was content. Now I'm pissed
off. Now I'm half a man and I've got
to work like the devil to get whole
again.
WAYNE
But you'll never be whole again.
SIMON
Never is a very long time, Wayne. A
word only the weak use. I'm not a sore
loser. Even if I don't have a leg to
stand on, I'm going to get up and fight
this world until I'm on top again.
NORMAN
That's the Mickey and Mallory way.
SIMON
That's the way of the world.
NORMAN
They're shocking the world into
remembering the primal law.
SIMON
Survival of the fittest.
WAYNE
One last question. Usually Mickey and
Mallory kill all of their victims. Why
did they let you two survive?
NORMAN
They had us tied down during one of
their house raids, you've seen the
headlines, and they were taking a
chainsaw to our legs before they were
gonna kill us.
SIMON
Just for fun, I guess.
NORMAN
And then Mallory stops Mickey and says,
`Hey, these are the Brothers Hun.'
SIMON
Mickey stops sawin' on my leg and says,
`Oh my God, I'm your biggest fan!'
NORMAN
Apparently, they've seen all our films.
SIMON
They were especially influenced by
`Conquering Huns of Neptune.'
NORMAN
So, Mallory calls 911 and they took
off.
SIMON
They actually apologized.
Wayne talks.
WAYNE
The couple proved so popular that a
motion picture glamorizing their
exploits was made. . .
The adlines are: "RIPPED FROM TODAY'S HEADLINES --THE TRUE STORY
OF MICKEY AND MALLORY." "THE COUPLE THAT LIVED FOR LOVE AND
LOVED TO KILL."
The poster lists the credits: "Starring Jessie Alexander
Warwick and Buffy St.McQueen." "Written and Directed by Neil
Pope."
WAYNE (V.O.)
The Movie `Thrill Killers' proved to be
a tremendous box office success, making
stars out of the before then unknown---
WAYNE (V.O.)
---actors Jessie Alexander Warwick and
Buffy St.McQueen.
MOVIE TRAILER FOR "THRILL KILLERS":
SHOT Movie Mickey dressed in a fastfood uniform.
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Meet Mickey Knox!
MOVIE MICKEY
I'm gettin' off this minimum wage
train. Break my back for you and throw
away my youth for nothing. when I'm
thirty, have a big wall drop down in
front of me called the future. Realize
I've been doin' time in a burger
flippin' jail.
MOVIE MICKEY
Listen to me Jimmy-dick, I want cash,
lots of it, car's, fast cars! And I
want it now! Not later, now! I wanna
wail, baby, wail!
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
And his lovely wife Mallory.
MOVIE MALLORY
I need ya, Mickey. I gotta have ya.
I'm no good for no one else. when I'm
with you, I burn, baby. Burn like blue
flame.
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Together they're the Thrill Killers.
The true story of the couple that
shocked the world. . .
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
. . .with a bloodlust of violence. . .
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
. . .and unbridled passion.
MOVIE COP
When society catches up with you, I'd
hate to be in your boots.
MOVIE MICKEY
Let me telly ya about society and its
boots. It uses those boots for
steppin' on people like me and her!
INT. EDITING ROOM - DAY
Wayne enters an editing room where filmmaker NEIL POPE is
working at a movieola.
WAYNE (V.O.)
We talked with Neil Pope, writer and
director of "Thrill Killers" for his
take on the Mickey and Mallory
phenomena.
CUT INTO INTERVIEW:
In a back alley, the conclusion of "Thrill Killers" plays out.
The sound of SIRENS and CHOPPERS are nearing. Movie Mickey,
shotgun in hand, runs down the alley stopping at a dumpster,
where the wounded and bloody Movie Mallory sits propped up
against a brick wall. On the bottom of the SCREEN, the
subtitle appears: SCENE FROM "THRILL KILLERS" (1990).
MOVIE MALLORY
Mickey, honey, listen to me.
MOVIE MALLORY
I can't go. I'm too fucked up.
MOVIE MICKEY
I'm not saying it's not gonna hurt,
but--
MOVIE MALLORY
I can't run with you, Mickey! I really
want to. If I could, I would, but I
can't. I gotta stay here. But you can
still get our of here.
MOVIE MICKEY
No fuckin' way! No fuckin' way!
MOVIE MALLORY
If they stay, they'll catch you, and
they don't have to catch you ---
MOVIE MICKEY
No fuckin' way!
MOVIE MALLORY
Mickey, you're wasting time!
MOVIE MICKEY
I don't give a damn if a million United
States marines, all whistling the halls
of Montezuma, are gonna come marchin'
down this alley any second. There
ain't not fuckin' way in hell I'm
leaving you. And that's that!
The SIREN and CHOPPER sounds are getting closer.
MOVIE MALLORY
Mickey, my love, if you leave me,
they'll catch me and take me to the
hospital. If you stay, you'll make 'em
kill you. Then it'd be like I killed
you. I could bear anything, but I
couldn't bear that. So please, please,
for me, my handsome
husband, run for your life.
MOVIE MICKEY
I can't do it. You're my wife, you're
my partner. A fella doesn't run when
his partner can't run with him.
Mallory, my angel, if I could of left
ya, I'd of left ya a long time ago.
MOVIE MALLORY
Well, hell, if you won't leave, give me
a gun so I can go out shooting.
MOVIE MICKEY
Sit tight. I'm gonna make it a little
tougher for 'em.
MOVIE MICKEY
(to himself)
Time to get naked and boogie.
MOVIE MALLORY
Mickey!
MOVIE MICKEY
Yeah baby.
MOVIE MALLORY
You made every day like kindergarten.
DOLLY down the alley to a CU on Mickey as he spins around.
Movie Mallory literally blew her head clean off. Her headless
body, gun in hand, remains upright in her sitting position.
Movie Mickey runs toward her, screaming her name in SLOW MOTION.
MOVIE MICKEY
Mallory!
BACK TO: THE POPE INTERVIEW
WAYNE (O.S.)
Why did you kill Mallory? Both of
them are still alive.
NEIL POPE
It was dramatic license, no doubt. But
I felt an operatic love story needed an
operatic ending. The two of them kill
for each other. They offer the death
of their victims to each other like
other lovers offer flowers of bon bons.
So what more natural, what more
organic, what more poetic than Mallory
offering her death to Mickey? It's
where it's been leading since day one.
We worked it in the movie by using a
what if they escaped situation. I
think it works beautifully. You'd be
surprised. People come up to me at the
end of the movie in tears.
Actor JESSIE ALEXANDER WARWICK sits on his motorcycle and talks
to the CAMERA. He's dressed in a Levi's jacket, jeans, a bandanna
is wrapped around his head, and as he talks he bogarts a smoke.
His name appears at the bottom of the SCREEN.
JESSIE
One thing about Mickey for sure, he's
definitely a man who has his moments.
It was wild playin' him. It was one of
those get-it-out-of-your-system
performances.
This interview is SHOT in Buffy's house a'la Barbara Walters.
BUFFY sits on the couch in her living room with a cat in her
lap. From time to time, she sips from a coffee cup. Her name
appears at the bottom of the SCREEN.
BUFFY
I didn't play Mallory, the murderer. I
didn't play her as a butcher. I played
her as a woman in love, who also
happens to murder people. I didn't
want her to be at arm's length from the
audience or myself. If you play her as
this wild maniac, the audience never
has to deal with her. If you see a
decapitation in a movie, you just say
`Oh wow, a neat special effect.'
Because you can't relate to a
decapitation. It doesn't mean anything
to anybody because it's not personal.
Decapitations don't fall into most
people's realm of life experiences.
But if you show somebody in a movie
getting a paper cut, the whole audience
squirms. Because everybody can relate
to a paper cut.
WAYNE (O.S.)
Did you meet the real Mallory Knox?
BUFFY
I tried to, but she wouldn't see me.
But I read some letters she wrote to
Mickey before the murder spree. They
helped me out a lot.
Jessie talks to CAMERA
WAYNE (O.S)
You met Mickey Knox, didn't you?
JESSIE
Yeah, I visited him when he was up in
Susanville. He's a little cerebral for
my taste, but all in all, we got along.
Wayne, sitting in a chair in front of a desk, interviews DR.
REINGHOLD, who sits behind the desk.
WAYNE (V.O.)
To get a psychiatric view on the
strange attraction Mickey and Mallory
seems to have, we talked with Doctor
Emil Reinghold, noted psychologist and
author.
WAYNE
Can you shed some light, Doctor
Reinghold, on why the public has taken
a pair of sociopaths so close to their
bosom?
DR. REINGHOLD
Well, for one, the media has done a
tremendous job of turning the husband
and wife mass murderers into
celebrities. But it's the country's
youth who have turned the couple into
the ultimate anti-heroes. Basically,
the very thing that makes them most
lethal is the exact same thing that
captures the public's hearts and
minds -- Mickey and Mallory's operatic
devotion to each other. In a world
where people can't seem to make the
simplest relationships work and the
slightest emotional commitment is
considered devastating, Mick and
Mallory have a do-or-die romance of a
Shakespearean magnitude. To the
country's youth, 75 percent of which
are coming from broken homes, that's
appealing. They have an `us against
the world' posture which always appeals
to youth. And they've taken that
posture seventeen steps beyond.
It's not "us against the world," it's
"we're gonna kill the world." They're
exciting. I read their file and I find
myself turning the page like it was a
paperback. Why do disillusioned youths
get into Mickey and Mallory? Why do
disillusioned housewives read romance
novels? Why are you filming this
special? Because you know as well as I
do, you say `tonight at nine Charles
Manson speaks,' everybody's going to
tune in to hear what her says. Mickey
and Mallory have shocked a country numb
with violence. They've created a world
where only two exist and anybody who
inadvertently enters that world is
murdered.
SHOTS of the crowd.
WAYNE (V.O.)
This attitude from the young towards
their ultimate anti-heroes is nation
wide. And spreading.
BOY and GIRL, dressed like the Knox's.
TITLE CARD: "LONDON"
LONDON BOY
You take all the great figures from the
states . . . Elvis, Jack Keroac,
Bukowski, James Dean, Jim Morrison,
Angela Davis, Jack Nicholson, Jim
Thompson, Martin Scorcese . . . add a
bloody pale of nitro and you got Mickey
and Mallory. They're like rebels
without a cause, except they have a
cause. Only nobody knows what it is.
LONDON GIRL
(screaming)
Their cause is each utter!
TITLE CARD: "JAPAN"
As Japanese boy and girl speak, we hear:
TRANSLATOR (V.O.)
Keep the faith, Mickey and Mallory,
keep the faith.
TWO FRENCH TEENS and BOY and GIRL, dressed like the Knox's. They
speak in French, and we hear the translation in English.
TITLE CARD: "FRANCE"
TRANSLATOR (V.O.)
Mickey and Mallory have a love that's
L.A.M.F.
FRENCH BOY
(in English)
They are super cool!
WAYNE
And as to almost give this whole
misplaced admiration scenario a cherry
on the top, the rock band Redd Kross
entered the charts last week at number
13 with their song "Natural Born
Killers, The Saga of Mickey and
Mallory."
BACK TO: WAYNE'S STUDIO
WAYNE
The third wicked twist to this story is
Grace Mulberry.
FRONT PAGE NEWSPAPER - Headline reads: "MICKEY AND MALLORY KILL
SIX TEENS DURING SLUMBER PARTY!" In smaller bold face under it:
"One Teen Escapes Killer's Clutches." On the front page is a
PHOTO of the teen who escaped. It's seventeen year old GRACE
MULBERRY. CAMERA moves in CU of the photo.
WAYNE (V.O.)
Of the six teens murdered that night,
seventeen year old Grace Mulberry was
the lucky one left to tell the tale.
And this haunted young lady summoned up
the courage to take the stand, tell
what she saw that horrible night, and
then allow herself to be cross-examined
by the man who killed her brother and
girlfriends.
All kinds of PEOPLE are gathered around. It's a real media
event.
Grace's sedan pulls up to the courthouse. The many spectators
and reporters surround the car.
Grace, HER FATHER, and BISBING emerge from the sedan, and start
walking up the courthouse steps.
Microphones and cameras are thrust at her as REPORTERS ask
questions.
Grace is afraid to face the crowd. Her head darts in the
direction of each question, but she doesn't answer.
She remains silent and scared.
FEMALE ORIENTAL REPORTER
Miss Mulberry! How does it feel to be
the only survivor of Mickey and
Mallory's reign of terror?
FAT MALE REPORTER
Miss Mulberry! Has the experience
marked you?
TRANSIENT
Did ya watch your brother get stabbed
up?
WAYNE
How do you feel about Mickey cross-
examining you?
VOICE (O.S.)
Mickey and Mallory!
Mickey and Mallory, handcuffed, are being led up the steps by
SHERIFF'S DEPUTIES. Wayne Gayle and other reporters film them
and shoot out questions. Microphones are thrust into their
faces.
WAYNE
Mickey, how do you feel about cross-
examining Grace Mulberry?
MICKEY
I'm keen with anticipation.
FEMALE ORIENTAL REPORTER
What do you think of this turn out,
Mallory?
MALLORY
I ain't never had so much fun.
CUTE REPORTER
Do you have any regrets?
MALLORY
Not a one.
MICKEY
Yeah, I always regretted we never got
around to looking up my old history
teacher, Miss Bainbridge. Now there's
a big bad bitch not good for herself or
nobody.
BLACK REPORTER
What's your favorite pastime?
MICKEY
You mean aside from what I'm being
tried for?
MICKEY
Oh, I'd say watching TV.
REPORTERS
What's your favorite show?
MICKEY
"Have Gun Will Travel."
CUTE REPORTER
Do you have anything to say to your
fans?
MICKEY
(looking in CAMERA)
You ain't seen nothin' yet.
EXT. COURTHOUSE - DAY
Wayne by himself standing on the courthouse steps.
WAYNE
(to CAMERA)
No, apparently we had not seen
everything. Grace Mulberry gave her
tearful testimony. Then it became
Mickey Knox's turn for cross-
examination.
COURT SKETCHES: An artist SKETCH of Mickey cross-examining
Grace on the stand.
BISBING (V.O.)
Then out of the blue, they're dealing
with the devil incarnate. It was
extremely difficult for us to find
survivors who would take the stand and
testify when they knew Mickey would be
cross-examining them.
BISBING (V.O.)
Grace was every bit as terrified, every
bit as haunted. But she felt her
brother Tim and her five girlfriends
were counting on her.
INT. COURTROOM - DAY
COURT SKETCH - CU of Grace staring intently. CAMERA widens to
include Bisbing standing before the bench as Mickey sits with
Mallory at the defence table. Judge Steinsma looks down at
Grace. The distinct sounds of a court in session can be heard
in the B.G.
The color of the scene FADES to Black & White as the CAMERA
cranes up to reveal the COURT ARTIST drawing while court is in
session.
OFF SCREEN: Bisbing is wrapping up her examination of Grace who
is at the witness stand. Judge Steinsma resides at his bench.
CAMERA dollies into a MED. OVERHEAD TWO-SHOT of Mickey and
Mallory who are sketching on a pad of paper. CAMERA reveals the
drawing of a man stabbing a woman. Mickey is doing the actual
drawing, but every once and a while Mallory takes to pencil and
adds some touches, as Grace finishes her tearful testimony.