Scripts: Vertigo (12/Sep/1957) - part 1
"VERTIGO"
By
Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor
Draft 9-12-1957
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - CLOSE SHOT
We see a close view of a roof parapet and the curved rail of
a fire escape. In the bag, are large skyscrapers with all
their windows fully lit in the late winter afternoon. This
background is used for the CREDIT TITLES of the picture.
After the last card has FADED OUT, we HOLD on to the empty
parapet, when suddenly a man's hand reaches and grips the
top of the rail. It is followed by another hand and, after a
beat, we see the face of a man in his early 30's. He is an
Italian type, with rough features. He turns quickly and looks
below him and then turning back, springs up over the empty
parapet and is lost from view. We STAY on the EMPTY SCENE
for a second or two as we HEAR the scraping of boots on the
iron ladder. Someone else is coming up. Presently, two more
hands and the head of a uniformed policeman with cap and
badge starts to climb over the parapet. The CAMERA PULLS
BACK so that by the time he has completed his climb, he is
in full figure. He dashes out of the picture drawing his
gun. Immediately following him over the parapet, a detective
in plain clothes climbs over. This is JOHN FERGUSON, known
as SCOTTIE. He too pulls a gun and dashes out of the picture.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - LONG SHOT
A vast panorama of the San Francisco skyline. Nearer to us
are three tiny figures running and jumping over the roof
tops. The man on the run, whom we first saw climb over the
parapet, is dressed in a white shirt and light tan linen
slacks, and wearing sneakers. The uniformed man is shooting
at him. Scottie is dressed in medium grey clothes. The CAMERA
SLOWLY PANS the group across the roof tops.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - MED. SHOT
We now see a short gap between rooftops, with a drop below.
The pursued man makes the leap successfully followed by the
uniformed policeman. Scottie makes the same leap, but almost
trips in taking off and is thrown off balance. He tries to
recover, lands awkwardly on the opposite roof, and falls
forward, prone, with a heavy impact that hurts and drives
tile breath from his body. He tries to rise but raises his
head with a look of pain -- one leg is doubled up under the
other. The tiles give way, and he slides backwards, and his
legs go over the edge of the roof, then his body. In his
daze he grasps at the loose tiles, and as he goes over the
edge he clutches on to the gutter, which gives way, and he
swings off into space, looking down.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - CLOSE SHOT
Scottie looking down.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - LONG SHOT
From Scottie's viewpoint, the gap beneath the building and
the ground below. It seems to treble its depth.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - CLOSEUP
Scottie looking down with horror. His eyes close as a wave
of nausea overcomes him.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - MEDIUM SHOT
In the distance the fleeing criminal. The policeman, seeing
what has happened to Scottie, returns to the slope of the
roof and strains to reach down to Scottie.
POLICEMAN
Give me your hand!
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - CLOSE UP
SCOTTIE'S HEAD. His hands grip the edge of the guttering.
The tips of the fingers of policeman straining to reach
Scottie, are at the top of screen. Scottie begins to open
his grip but stares down, he quickly resumes his grip looking
up hopelessly towards the helping hand. He looks down again.
FROM SCOTTIE'S VIEWPOINT - the ground below still a long way
away.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - MEDIUM SHOT
The policeman's hand in foreground, his face beyond.
POLICEMAN
What's the matter with you? Give me
your hand!
Policeman endeavors to stretch out his hand further.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK)
The tiles beneath the policeman's heel begin to give. The
Policeman starts to slide. He claws desperately at the surface
of the roof.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - CLOSEUP
Scottie, his eyes closed. He opens them as he hears a wild
cry.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - LONG SHOT
The policeman falling through space.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - CLOSEUP
Scottie stares down in horror.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO ROOF TOPS - (DUSK) - LONG SHOT
The body of the policeman sprawled on the ground below.
People are running into the alleyway; they stare at the body,
look up to where Scottie is hanging. We see the light on
their upturned faces. And now we hear a police whistle blown
shrilly, again and again. Up to this moment the background
music has had an excitement to match the scene, and now it
cuts off, abruptly, leaving on the echo of the police whistle
as the DISSOLVE begins. Then, in the DISSOLVE, we hear the
gentle insistence of Scarlatti played by a chamber orchestra.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. AN APARTMENT ON RUSSIAN HILL - (LATE AFTERNOON)
It is fresh, light, and simple, and crowded with books,
phonograph records, pictures. The most striking feature of
the apartment is the view: The rising hills of San Francisco
framed by a large picture window. To one side of the window
is the owner of the apartment, MAJORIE WOOD, called MIDGE,
at a commercial drawing table concentrating with professional
intensity on a drawing of a slim, a elongated woman with few
features and fewer clothes. A brassiere sits on a table at
Midge's elbow, and she studies it as she draws. Midge Wood
is about thirty-seven, attractive, straight-forward, well-
but-simply-dressed; she wears glasses but does not whip them
an and off as they do in the movies. The music comes from a
gramophone. The other occupant of the room is Scottie. He
sits in a big chair, with his feet stretched out on an ottoman
and his head far back. There is a drink on a table nearby.
He rouses himself to reach for it, and in doing so knocks
over his walking stick that has been propped against the
chair. He reaches out to catch it, and in the quickness of
trying to keep it from falling, he wrenches his body around.
SCOTTIE
Ow!!
MIDGE
(Paying little
attention)
I thought you said no more aches and
pains?
SCOTTIE
It's this darned corset. It binds.
He retrieves the stick.
MIDGE
No three-way stretch? How very un-
chic.
SCOTTIE
Well, you know those police department
doctors: no sense of style.
(Sighs gratefully)
Ah, tomorrow!
MIDGE
What's tomorrow?
SCOTTIE
Tomorrow... the corset comes off.
And this thing goes out the window.
(He waves the stick)
I shall be a free man. I shall wiggle
my behind... free and unconfined.
He raises his eyebrows with a surprised and gratified smile.
Midge looks over at him with a grimace.
SCOTTIE
Midge, do you suppose many men wear
corsets?
MIDGE
More than you think.
SCOTTIE
(Interested)
How do you know? Personal experience?
MIDGE
Please!
(Then, impersonally)
And what happens after tomorrow?
SCOTTIE
What do you mean?
MIDGE
What are you going to do? Now that
you've quit the police force?
SCOTTIE
(Gently)
You sound so disapproving, Midge.
MIDGE
No, it's your life. But you were the
bright young lawyer who decided he
was going to be chief of police some
day.
SCOTTIE
(Gently)
I had to quit, Midge.
MIDGE
Why?
SCOTTIE
I wake up at night seeing him fall
from the roof... and try to reach
out for him.
MIDGE
It wasn't your fault.
SCOTTIE
I know. Everybody tells me.
MIDGE
Johnny, the doctors explained --
SCOTTIE
I know. I have Acrophobia. What a
disease. A fear of heights. And what
a moment to find out I had it.
MIDGE
Well, you've got it. And there's no
losing it. And there's no one to
blame. So why quit?
SCOTTIE
And sit behind a desk? Chairborne?
MIDGE
It's where you belong.
SCOTTIE
(With a grin)
Not with my Acrophobia, Midge. If I
dropped a pencil on the floor and
bent down to pick it up, it could be
disastrous!
MIDGE
(Laughs)
Ah, Johnny-O...
She considers him for a moment, then goes back to her work.
By now he is up and wandering about with the help of the
stick.
MIDGE
(Finally, as she works)
Well?... what'll you do?
SCOTTIE
Nothing for a while. You forget, I'm
a man of independent means. Or fairly
independent.
MIDGE
Mmm. Why don't you go away for a
while?
SCOTTIE
(Grins)
To forget? Don't be so motherly,
Midge. I'm not going to crack up.
MIDGE
Have you had any dizzy spells this
week?
SCOTTIE
I'm having one now.
She looks up sharply with quick apprehension.
SCOTTIE
From that music.
MIDGE
Oh!
She goes and turns off the gramophone. Scottie has wandered
over to the drawing table.
SCOTTIE
What's this do-hickey here?
He turns the brassiere over with his stick
MIDGE
It's a brassiere. You know about
those things. You're a big boy, now.
SCOTTIE
I've never run across one like that.
MIDGE
It's brand new. Revolutionary uplift.
No shoulder straps, no back straps,
but does everything a brassiere should
do. It works on the principle of the
cantilever bridge.
SCOTTIE
(Impressed)
Uh-huh!
MIDGE
An aircraft engineer down the
peninsula designed it. He worked it
out in his spare time.
SCOTTIE
What a pleasant hobby.
He wanders back to the chair and watches her work for a long
moment. Then:
SCOTTIE
How's your love life, Midge?
MIDGE
That's following a train of thought.
SCOTTIE
Well?
MIDGE
Normal.
SCOTTIE
Aren't you ever going to get married?
MIDGE
(Lightly)
You know there's only one man in the
world for me, Johnny-O.
SCOTTIE
Yeah, I'm a brute. We were engaged
once though, weren't we?
MIDGE
Three whole weeks.
SCOTTIE
Ah, sweet college days. But you're
the one who blew it. I'm still
available. Available Ferguson. Say,
Midge, do you remember a guy at
college named Gavin Elster?
MIDGE
Gavin? Gavin Elster? You'd think I'd
would. No.
SCOTTIE
I got a call from him today. Funny.
He dropped out of sight during the
war, and I'd heard he'd gone East. I
guess he's back.
(he fishes out a slip
of paper)
It's a Mission number.
MIDGE
That's Skid Row... isn't it?
SCOTTIE
Could be.
MIDGE
He's probably on the bum and wants
to touch you for the price of a drink.
SCOTTIE
Well, I'm on the bum; I'll buy him a
couple of drinks and tell him my
troubles. But not tonight. If you
won't drink with me, I'll drink alone,
tonight.
(He rises to go)
MIDGE
Sorry, old man. Work.
SCOTTIE
Midge, what did you mean, there's no
losing it?
MIDGE
What.
SCOTTIE
My... the acrophobia.
MIDGE
I asked my doctor. He said only
another emotional shock could do it,
and probably wouldn't. And you're
not going to go diving off another
rooftop to find out.
SCOTTIE
I think I can lick it.
MIDGE
How?
SCOTTIE
I've got a theory. Look. If I can
get used to heights just a little at
a time... progressively see?
He has been looking about eagerly, sees a low footstool,
drags it to the center of the room as he speaks.
SCOTTIE
Here, I'll show you what I mean.
We'll start with this.
MIDGE
That!?!
SCOTTIE
What do you want me to start with --
the Golden Gate Bridge?
He has stepped up on the footstool and stands there proudly
looking up and down.
SCOTTIE
Now. I look up, I look down. I look
up, I look down. Nothing to it.
MIDGE
(Overlapping)
Stop kidding. Wait a minute.
She dashes to the kitchen, returns quickly with a small
aluminum household ladder.
SCOTTIE
Ah, that's my girl! Here?
He steps on the first step.
MIDGE
Step number two.
SCOTTIE
Okay.
He gets up on the second step and goes through the routine.
SCOTTIE
I look up, I look down. I look up, I
look down. I'm going to go right out
and buy me a nice, tall stepladder.
Here we go.
He gets on the top step.
MIDGE
Easy, now.
SCOTTIE
This is a cinch. I look up, I look
down. I look up --
And at this moment he makes the mistake of turning and looking
out through the picture window.
FROM SCOTTIE'S VIEWPOINT
We see the depth down to the street below the window. The
whole picture begins to weave.
INT. MIDGE'S APARTMENT - (LATE AFTERNOON) - CLOSEUP
of Scottie -- expression of nausea.
FROM SCOTTIE'S VIEW POINT - LONG SHOT
The weaving view changes to the original scene where the
ground receded in a rush and the body of the policeman fell
into space.
INT. MIDGE'S APARTMENT - (LATE AFTERNOON) - MEDIUM CLOSE
SHOT
Scottie's face distorted with agony -- his eyes close and he
begins to slump. CAMERA PULLS BACK SLIGHTLY as Midge now
comes into shot, putting up her hands to him to hold him,
and his weight is on her and his head is slumped, and the
joke is over.
MIDGE
Johnny!
SCOTTIE
(Muttering, his face
tight, his eyes shut)
Oh, damn it! Damn it, damn it --
DISSOLVE:
EXT. A SHIPYARD - (DAY) - LONG SHOT
...continue to part 2
