O.J.'S FINAL RUN aspire screen
By Jonathan Vankin
1.1
The title has its own frame, a strip floating above the main panel. The panel itself shows an Akita dog, a sad-looking creature on this dark night, howling in sorrow, on an otherwise quiet, leafy street in L.A.'s upscale Brentwood district. We're pretty close in on the dog -- we can't really see its surroundings well.
TITLE: O.J.'s Final Run
CAPTION 1
June 12, 1994. A cool evening in West L.A.
DOG
Owwwwoooooo!
CAPTION 2
On a normally quiet street, a dog howls.
1.2 Double Panel
A better view of the dark street. A police car with lights flashing has pulled up to the curb. A uniformed officer talks calmly to a harried-looking couple, dressed as if they'd been just lounging around the house. The man looks rather Middle Eastern. The dog is at his feet, appearing very anxious.
CAPTION
A little after midnight, officer Robert Riske responds to a call on South Bundy Drive in Brentwood. A couple has found the troubled dog -- and it led them to a terrible discovery.
1.3
The officer walks down a dark, narrow path. We're seeing him from in front, as if he's walking toward us, and from a slightly low angle. We can't really see him in detail, he's almost a silhouette. He shines his flashlight right ahead of him. It's bright in our eyes. Behind him, we can make out the leaves from the branches that overhang the path, and the iron gate at the entrance.
CAPTION
Officer Riske retraced the dog's steps.
1.4 Double Panel
From slightly behind the officer and over his left shoulder -- at a suitably dramatic angle given what we're looking at in this panel -- we see him shining his flashlight on the crumpled body of a blonde woman (who, we will soon find out, is Nicole Brown Simpson). She's lyning on the ground, at the foot of the steps leading up to the entrance to the house. She's curled into a semi-fetal position, her hair splaying out -- and a large pool of blood extending out from the area of her head and upper body toward the officer.
RISKE
Oh, Brother!
1.5
In this view, the policeman has tured to his right. We're still looking over his shoulder. We see what he's shining his flashlight on this time. It's a young man (Ron Goldman) sprawled on his left side, arms out in front of him, shirt pulled up around his head and neck. Plenty of blood around this corpse as well.
CAPTION 1
He turned to his right.
RISKE
God!
CAPTION 2
A gruesome double murder.
1.6
A close-up of objects on the ground by Ron Goldman's feet. We see them illuminated in the beam of Riske's flashlight. Goldman's sneaker sticks into the frame at the top. We can see Riske's shoe at the side of the panel. On the ground we see a black knit ski cap, a bloodstained, legal-size white envelope and a single leather, left-handed glove. Leaves from a plant hang over the objects, but don't fully obscure them.
CAPTION
At the dead man's feet, Riske spotted a black cap, a white envelope and one leather glove.
1.7
Riske's indoors now. We see his hand holding a framed photo. Close-up on the photo -- it's Nicole and O.J. with their two kids; an idyllic, posed family photo. Eveybody in the photo's smiling.
CAPTION
The house was Riske went in and noticed...
RISKE
(from outside the frame)
That's...that's O.J. Simpson!
2.1
The young O.J. Simpson, in his USC Trojans football uniform, helmet under his arm, circa 1968. He wears a mid-sized Afro and a big smile. He's on the field, after a game, looking up into the adoring crowd.
CAPTION
O.J. Simpson. Football superstar. In the 60s, he was the greatest runner the college game had ever seen.
2.2
O.J. as a Buffalo Bill, running the ball, fending off a tackler with his left arm as another chases him, futilely.
CAPTION
In the 70s, as a pro, he smashed all NFL rushing records. He was the greatest runner ever.
2.3
O.J. in his role in The Towering Inferno. We see him in the foreground acting very concerned as the skyscraper of the film's title burns away in the background.
CAPTION
Blessed with charisma -- accentuated by a carefully crafted public image -- O.J. parlayed his gridiron greatness into all-around celebrity. He built a movie career, with such films as The Towering Inferno.
2.4
A scene from O.J.'s famous Hertz commercials. Wearing a gray business suit and carrying a briefcase, he looks as nimble and cheerful as ever as he sprints through an airport, delighted onlookers watching him fly by.
CAPTION
Endorsements rolled in. He starred in a classic series of commercials for Hertz Rent-a-Car.
2.5
A young, upbeat O.J., addressing a couple of reporters.
CAPTION
He was not only a huge star, he was, obviously but significantly, a huge black star. But racial issues didn't interest him. He once declared...
O.J.
I'm not black! I'm O.J.!!
2.6
O.J. sitting at table in a Beverly Hills restaurant. He flirts with the waitress, the young and pretty Nicole Brown.
CAPTION
Nor was he interested in issues of marital fidelity. In 1977, while still hitched to his high school sweetheart and mother of his kids, he met 18-year-old waitress Nicole Brown.
O.J.
Hey, hey Baby! Wanna see my Heisman?
2.7
Nicole and O.J. at the altar in a simple wedding ceremony. Nicole is noticeably pregnant, a hand on her belly.
CAPTION
O.J. retired from football and got divorced in 1979. In 1985 he married Nicole, who was pregnant with their first child.
2.8
In front of O.J.'s estate, in the evening. Nicole sits on the hood of a Mercedes which has a smashed-in windshield, sobbing. O.J. -- with fire and indignation in his eyes -- stands shouting defiantly at a uniformed police officer who stands calmly assessing the scene. We see the cop, a tall man, about Simpson's height (a couple inches over six feet), only from the back.
CAPTION
But all was far from well. One night in 1985, police were called to O.J.'s Brentwood estate for domestic disturbance.
O.J.
She's my wife and she's fine! There's no trouble here!
2.9
Close-up of Mark Fuhrman, circa 1985, when he's a uniformed patrol officer. He's talking to Nicole. We see only the very edge of her face and her long, blonde hair at the right edge of the panel. She faces us (what little we can see of her) and Fuhrman is standing just behind her, looking at her -- which means he's looking more or less out at us as well.
CAPTION
The patrolman who answered the call was named Mark Fuhrman.
FUHRMAN
Do you want to file a report, Mrs. Simpson?
NICOLE
N--no. (Sniff!)
3.1
Fuhrman nine years later, the night of the murders. He's standing in his kitchen in T-shirt and shorts. He's just been awakened by a phone call. He rubs his left eye with his left hand as he holds the phone to his ear with his right.
CAPTION
By 1994, Fuhrman was an experienced homicide detective. A phone call woke him at 1 a.m., June 13.
VOICE ON PHONE
We've got a double homicide. One of the victims might be O.J. Simpson's wife.
FUHRMAN
Okay. (Yawn!)
CAPTION 2
The other was Ron Goldman, a friend of Nicole's.
3.2
Fuhrman, wearing a shirt and tie but no jacket, walking down the same path we saw Riske walking down earlier. Now, however, the area is well-lit and teeming with activity. There are policemen, in uniform and plainclothes, all over the place, some scouring for evidence , others just hanging around. In the background, we can see that police tape has sealed off the area. A couple of cruisers are barely visible on the street.
CAPTION
Fuhrman arrived at 2:10 am. He was the 17th police officer at the murder scene.
3.3
Fuhrman bending down to examine the glove and cap on the ground by Ron Goldman's feet.
CAPTION
Like all of the cops before him, Fuhrman took note of the cap and single glove.
3.4
Fuhrman with a uniformed officer as they look down at the sidewalk leading out the back, away from the bodies. There are drops of blood on the pavement.
CAPTION
He was also shown splashes of blood leading away from the murder scene.
FUHRMAN
The glove is left-handed, so it looks like the killer's left hand was cut in the sruggle.
3.5 Double Panel
Back out on the street, Fuhrman confers with detectives Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter. Also, Fuhrman's boss Ron Philips stands next to Fuhrman.
CAPTION
Detectives Tom Lange and Phil Vannatter showed up, assigned to take charge of the case.
PHILIPS
Headquarters wants O.J. notified before the media gets the story. They don't want another Belushi situation.
VANNATTER
Anybody know where O.J. lives?
3.6
Close-up of Fuhrman.
FUHRMAN
I was there once years ago. I think I can find it.
3.7 Double Panel
Outside O.J.'s Rockingham estate. The house is visible in the background, but there's an iron gate at the end of the driveway. A white Ford Bronco is parked hapahazardly by the curb on the street. Fuhrman is checking the Bronco excitedly, yelling to Vannatter.
CAPTION
Things were amiss at the Simpson homestead.
FUHRMAN
Hey, there's blood on this vehicle!
VANNATTER
Someone could be hurt in the house! We'd better go in!
4.1
Fuhrman skeptically quizzing Kato Kaelin, who looks completely disheveled, his bushy hair askew, his eyes a bit glassy. He's been sleeping, but he's very disoriented.
CAPTION
Finding the main house empty, they checked the guest cottages out back. There, Fuhrman encountered Brian "Kato" Kaelin.
FUHRMAN
Notice anything unusual tonight?
KATO
As a matter of fact...
4.2
Kaelin in his room, talking on the phone, sitting on the bed. An air conditioner protruding from the wall shakes -- in fact, the whole wall shakes, a framed picture of some kind rattles -- as something bangs against the outside. Kaelin is startled.
CAPTION
"...I was on the phone at about 10:45 when I heard a loud thump!"
SOUND EFFECT: THUMP!!
KATO
Yipes! An earthquake!!
4.3
Fuhrman on a narrow, leafy path in back of Kaelin's bungalow. It's still dark out, the only light coing from the moon and Fuhrman's flashlight. He appears wide-eyed and apprehensive, as if expecting to run into something terrible.
CAPTION
Wondering if he would to find another body back there in the darkness, Fuhrman investigated behind Kato's cottage....
4.4
A low angle shot looking up from the leaf-covered ground. Lying on the ground, right in our line of sight, a crumbled, bloody glove the righty match to the left-hand glove we saw at the Bundy murder scene. Fuhrman looms over the glove, illuminating it with the beam of his flashlight
CAPTION 1
...where he found...
FUHRMAN
What the...??!!
CAPTION 2
...a bloody glove!
4.5 Double Panel
Montage. On the left of he panel, we see the blood splashes at the murder scene. The center of the panel is the door of the white Bronco with oticeable blood on the driver's side handle and just below. The extreme right shows Detectives Lange, Vannatter and Philips standing in the entryway to O.J.'s large house, looking down at the floor and scratching their heads in a combination of disbelief and worry.
CAPTION
Things weren't looking good for O.J. In addition to the bloody glove in his backyard, there were blood drops leading away from the murders, on his Bronco and lastly, in the entryway to his house -- a a trail of blood.
VANNATTER
That's it! Seal off the house!
4.6
O.J. in his Chicago hotel room. He's on the phone. We see him from the back. He's bent over in distress at what he's just heard.
CAPTION
The detectives discovered that O.J. had taken a redeye flight to Chicago. They called him at his hotel.
O.J.
Oh my God! Nicole is killed? Oh my God! She's dead?
4.7
Detective Ron Philips, hanging up the phone. He's somewhat puzzled.
PHILIPS
Funny. I've told hundreds of people their loved ones have been killed. They always ask what happened. But O.J. never asked.
4.8
O.J., wearing a white polo shirt and casual slacks, back at his house. He stands in his driveway, a stunned, glassy look in his eyes, his mouth wide as if he's hyperventilating. It's all areaction to what the detective (Brad Roberts) is telling him.
CAPTION
Around noon, Simpson arrived back at his Brentwood compound, now crawling with police.
ROBERTS
O.J., a blood trail led from the murder scene to your house.
O.J.
Oh, man! Oh, man! Oh, Man!
5.1
A close-up of Simpson in profile. We'e looking at him from the left. He's totally stunned, holding his hands against the sides of his head. We can see his left hand clearly, and around the middle finger there's a large bandage.
CAPTION
There was something else. O.J. had a deep gash on his middle finger -- his left middle finger.
O.J.
Oh, man! Oh, man!
5.2 Double Panel
In a police interrogation room. Lange and Vannatter sit opposite O.J., who looks quite uncomfortable.
CAPTION 1
O.J. agreed to go down to the station for questioning.
VANNATTER
How did you get the injury on your hand?
O.J.
I don't know. I recall bleeding at my house. It was no big deal. I bleed all the time.
CAPTION 2
For some reason -- though O.J. admitted bleeding at the time his wife was being killed (quite a coincidence!) and had no explanation for how he'd been cut -- the detectives let him go after half an hour. Not much of an interrogation.
5.3
L.A. District Attorney Gil Garcetti making a solemn announcement.
CAPTION 1
Later...
GARCETTI
Mr. Simpson is our suspect. He has 48 hours to turn himself in.
CAPTION 2
Why the lone suspect in a savage double murder would be allowed two days to lounge around was not explained.
5.4
Detectives Lange and Vannatter sitting around the police station, puzzled that O.J. hasn't arrived yet. Lange looks at his watch. Vanntter munches a donut from a box sitting on the table in front of him. They both have steaming cups of coffee.
CAPTION
Not surprisingly, when Friday morning came...
LANGE
I wonder where O.J. is.
VANNATTER
Beats me. He said he'd be here.
5.5
In front of O.J.'s compound. Herds of reporters with cameras and microphones jostle one another to look into an imaginary camera (our POV).
CAPTION 1
By now, the media -- fascinated by the spectacle of a beloved star turned murder suspect -- were saturating the airwaves with coverage of...
REPORTERS
(each in individual balloons)
O.J.! O.J.! O.J.! O.J.!
5.6
Lange and Vannatter, irritated now, talking to Simpson's lawyer Robert Shapiro, who appears sheepish and embarassed to say the least. They are in an expensive home, looking through a door at an empty bedroom.
CAPTION
Finally, the police tracked O.J. to the mansion of his best friend Robert Kardashian. O.J.'s celebrity lawyer, Robert Shapiro was there.
SHAPIRO
Heh heh. O.J. seems to have -- well, to make a long story short -- disappeared!
5.7 Double Panel
A ground-level view of Al Cowlings' white Bronco (pretty much identical to O.J.'s Bronco that we saw earlier) being pursued by a squadron of police cars on an LA freeway. We're about 100 yards in front of the scene. Cowlings is just a silhouetted figure behind the wheel.
CAPTION
At about 6:30 p.m., O.J. was spotted. He was in a Bronco driven by his longtime friend and former teammate Al Cowlings, on a freeway about 60 miles from his home. The police kept their distance, because...
6.1
Close up of a weepy O.J. in the back seat, holding a revolver to his temple.
CAPTION
...O.J. was in the back seat threatening to kill himself.
O.J.
I just want to leave! I want to go with Nicole!
6.2
A solemn Robert Kardashian in front of his mansion, holding a press conference, reading O.J.'s "suicide note."
CAPTION
He'd even left a self-pitying "suicide" note which Karsdashian read to the media after Simpson fled.
KARDASHIAN
(reading)
"At times I've felt like a battered husband or boyfriend. But I loved her..."
6.3
A very confused Asian couple watching a television.
CAPTION
The "slow speed chase" (as it came to be known) was an instant ratings hit, broadcast on all the networks and, thanks to CNN, around the world.
6.4
A crowd of people, largely black and mostly young, standing on a freeway overpass, cheering -- almost delirious. Two hold placards with such handwritten slogans as "We Luv U O.J.!" and "Save the Juice!"
CAPTION
In a ghoulish spectacle, the Bronco attracted cheering crowds, drawn by the saturation TV coverage -- as if O.J.'s macabre drive were just another football game.
6.5
Flashback frame. A police officer standing in front of the Rockingham estate, circa 1989. Nicole, her face bruised, stands quivering, taking cover next to the cop. She wears just a bra and a pair of ratty sweatpants. O.J., extremely angry, yells at the cop.
CAPTION
O.J.'s getaway was an eerie reminder of New Year's, 1989, when police, for the ninth time, responded to a domestic violence call at his home.
O.J.
This is a family matter! Why are you arresting me?
6.6
The flashback, continued. The cop watches as O.J. speeds away down the street in his Bentley.
CAPTION 1
But when the cop gave O.J. time to change clothes, "The Juice" took off.
COP
Hey!
CAPTION 2
Police gave chase but, just like on the football field, O.J. outran them.
6.7
Back in 1994. O.J., dazed, climbs out of the Bronco which is now parked in his driveway. He is approached by Detective Lange. In the background, several police -- including a few in SWAT gear, look on.
CAPTION
Not so in 1994. O.J. gave up on killing himself and surrendered at his home, apologizing to the police.
O.J.
I'm sorry for causing you guys so much trouble.
6.8
Four average folks on the street -- a blue collar guy, a middle-class African-American businessman, a professional-looking woman, a callow teenage boy with a turned-around baseball cap.
CAPTION
Little of the evidence against O.J. had been revealed, so the public didn't know what to make of the scandal. Myth-making got underway fast.
PERSON 1
He's an American hero!
PERSON 2
...a hero!
PERSON 3
O.J.'s my hero!
PERSON 4
...a hero to the kids!
6.9
O.J in court, standing proudly and confidently to enter his plea.
CAPTION 1
O.J. brashly determined to hang on to his "heroism" in the face of disgrace. By July 22 he'd pulled himself together and pleaded...
O.J.
Absolutely, 100% NOT GUILTY!
CAPTION 2
But the scandal was just getting started.
END
SOURCES
Bugliosi, Vincent. Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Got Away With Murder. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1996.
Darden, Christopher. In Contempt. New York: Regan Books, 1996.
Fuhrman, Mark. Murder in Brentwood. Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 1997.
Goldberg, Hank. The Prosecution Responds. Secaucus, NJ: Birch Lane Press, 1996.
Lange, Tom and Phillip Vannatter. Evidence Dismissed: The Inside Story of the Police Investigation of O.J. Simpson. New York: Pocket Books, 1997.
Schiller, Lawrence. American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense. New York: Random House, 1996.
Shapiro, Robert L. The Search for Justice: A Defense Attorney's Brief on the O.J. Simpson Case. New York: Warner Books, 1996.
Rantala, M.L. O.J. Unmasked: The Trial, the Truth and the Media. Chicago: Catfeet Press, 1996.
Toobin, Jeffrey. The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson. New York: Random House, 1996.
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