Meet me in Munich (the script)
SCENE 1: Bank vault, NYC, day
(Michael opens the bank deposit box and finds it empty. Near him is the ghost of Wael Zwaiter – one of the terrorists Michael killed)
MICHAEL:
That son of a bitch!
He didn’t leave me the money.
SCENE 2
(Michael exits bank. Looks around at the street. A cab pulls up to the curb.
But along the same curb, a little further up the block, a black limo pulls to the curb as well.
Michael frowns.
Then hurries towards the cab calling at the driver.
But as Michael starts towards it, Wael Zwaiter comes towards him from one side to cut him off just as he reaches the cab door)
MICHAEL:
Go away.
CAB DRIVER:
You say something, mister
MICHAEL:
I wasn’t talking to you.
CAB DRIVER: (looks around and clearly cannot see Wael)
I think maybe you want another cab, Mister.
MICHAEL (to Wael)
Now look what you’ve done.
Why can’t you just leave me alone?
Everywhere I go, you’re there. I got Rome or Paris, Brussels or Madrid; sooner or later you make an appearance.
WAEL:
You killed me.
Now you’re stuck with me.
SCENE 3: Paris – Day time
(Wael is carrying a paper bag down the street and enters a building. Michael and another man appear at the elevator door)
MICHAEL:
Are you Wael Zwaiter?
WAEL:
Yes, I am.
(The two men shoot him. Then leave his body in a pool of spilled milk and spreading blood)
SCENE 4: Street, NYC, day time
(Michael trailed by Wael is walking down the street)
WAEL:
They’re not going to listen to you, Michael.
MICHAEL:
What do you know?
WAEL:
A terrorist is a terrorist no matter, whose side he’s on.
(Michael slips into a phone booth as Wael waits outside. Michael dials.)
It’s me.
I want my money.
I know it’s dangerous for me to call you like this.
I’m the one who found our agent’s body in the hotel room, remember.
But we had an agreement: I kill terrorists for you; you pay me when I’m done.
Of course, I’ll meet you.
Where?
I’ll be there.
You better have my money
Scene 5: Opening Day of Munich Olympics, 1972
(The fields are alive with rushing feet, sweating brows, javelins, jumpers, roaring crowds, circulator tracks
German President Gusau Heinemann welcomes the athletes
SCENE 6: Newscaster on TV with scene of the Olympics behind him.
NEWSCASTER: Officials here in Munich have high hopes for this year’s Olympics – the first to be held on German soil since the 1936 Olympics when Adolph Hitler tried to prove the superiority of the German people.
Many leaders, German and others, hope this year’s Olympics can help heal the wounds still lingering from 1936.
Scene7: Israeli athlete compound, night
Athletes returning to quarters, voices of some singing “If I was a rich man,” or Sunrise sunset.
A sign showing where they are.
Then images of them tossing and turning in bed
ATHLETE #1:
Hey John, can you sleep?
ATHLETE #2:
No way.
ATHLETE #1
Me neither.
How do you think we’ll do tomorrow?
ATHLETE #3
We’ll win it all, naturally
(Eventually eyes close and the camera passes over a scene of sprawled sleeping bodies. Outside, boots cross over gravel and grow louder as they clime closer to the buildings in which the athletes are sleeping.
Some of the men are dressed in track suits who make their way to the fence.
They heft their bags over the fence to men already waiting inside
(cut away to sleeping figures, one tossing and turning again, then back to the men outside)
Fingers are entwined with the fence as the men on the outside climb over to the inside.
(cut away to a man inside in the kitchen cutting a slice of bread, then he opens the refrigerator. The sound of a lock snapping open draws him to the hall. He sees the barrel of a gun poking through the opening. He rushed to put his body against the door. The men outside are weaning ski masks. The man cries out
COACH :
Guys! Try to escape!
(The terrorists push against the door as the coach struggles to keep the door closed
Cut away to two men leaping out one of the windows to escape.)
The terrorist push in, the coach makes a grab for the gun and they shoot him in the face, then step over his dead body as they round up the rest of the athletes.
Another man, caught trying to jump out the window, grabs a knife from the table and stabs one of the terrorists in the head.
The terrorists shoot him and leave his body where it falls.
SCENE 8: TV set newscaster reporting
NEWCASTER:
Calling themselves, Black September, the terrorists extended their deadline several times over the last few hours.
They have called for the release of prisoners in Israel and Germany, and claim that if those demands are not met, they will begin killing the Israeli athletes.
The German police called off an attack when the terrorists got wind of it by watching the preparations on TV.
German authorities are currently transporting terrorists and hostages to the airport, where the terrorist hope to board a plane to Egypt.
Hold it. This is just in.
Gun fire and explosions have been reported on the runway at --- military airport.
Reuters is reporting that all the hostages have been rescued.
I repeat, the hostages are safe.
SCENE 10: Waterfront, Tel Aviv, Day time
(Michael and Harari are walking along the promenade)
Harari:
It is an eye for and eye.
No more; no less.
They killed our athletes; so we must kill them.
SCENE 11: Brussels, Daytime
(Michael is standing in a telephone booth looking over at a building. He has the receiver in his hand. The phone is ringing on the other end. Arafat picks up on the other end.)
Arafat:
Hello?
MICHAEL:
Is this David Arafat?
ARAFAT:
Yes it is
(Michael flicks a switch and a window explodes in the buildings)
SCENE: 12: Olympic Hotel, Balcony, night time
(Michael is standing on balcony of hotel watching through the door next door as Narab lies down on the bed. When the man is lying down, Michael pushes the button. The hotel room explodes.
SCENE 13: Safe House in Rome
(Michael is sleeping on the floor when someone comes in. He grabs his pistol, but finds that a machine gun is aimed at his face)
TERRORIST:
Who are you?
And what are you doing here?
MICHAEL:
Poppa said we could use this place
TERRORIST:
Poppa told us the same thing.
MICHAEL:
Poppa has a twisted sense of humor
TERRORIST:
He’s laughing all the way to the bank since we both paid him.
So what do we do?
MICHAEL:
I guess we share.
(Terrorist settles near by)
TERRORIST:
Who do you work for?
The Americans?
MICHAEL:
Perhaps.
And you?
TERRORIST:
I work to liberate my people
MICHAEL:
By killing innocent athletes?
TERRORIST:
By sending a message to those who kill our people
In my country, if a boy throws a rock at an Israeli tank, Israel bulldozes his family’s home.
Do you know what it’s like to listen to rich Israelis laughing by a swimming pool where your home used to be, when you haven’t enough water or land to raise a crop for food?
MICHAEL:
The athletes aren’t to blame.
TERRORIST:
All Israelis share blame – if they do nothing to stop the crimes.
It is an eye for an eye.
MICHAEL: (hand gripping his pistol)
Yes, I suppose it is.
(He shoots the Terrorist)
SCENE 14 A tavern in Madrid; evening
(Michael and Harari are seated at once of the tables.
HARARI:
It is very dangerous for us to meet like this.
But you sounded very upset when you called.
MICHAEL:
I am done.
I’m sick of the killing.
HARARI:
But the job is not done
We need you and your talents
MICHAEL:
They killed 11; we’ve killed 11.
The score is even
HARARI:
The killing never stops.
You’re heard about the bombed embassies?
MICHAEL:
Find someone else.
I’m tried and I want to go back to living a normal life.
HARARI:
It’s not as simple as all that.
People like you just don’t walk away
MICHAEL:
Are you afraid I’ll talk?
I won’t.
HARARI:
I was thinking about the safety of your family
MICHAEL:
Is that a threat?
HARARI:
Let’s call it a concern
MICHAEL: (Rising from the table)
I’m going back to New York.
I expect the money to be there.
I’ll worry about my family.
SCENE 15: New York City Day time
(Michael is hurrying along the street with Wael right behind him.)
MICHAEL (halting abruptly to face Weil)
Just go away.
WAEL:
I told you, I can’t. Even if I wanted to.
MICHAEL:
You mean you like haunting me?
WAEL:
I want to see your reaction when your friends try to kill you.
MICHAEL:
They won’t try that.
I did my job
WAEL: (howls with laughter)
You can’t trust anybody.
One side’s terrorist is another side’s hero.
Both sides just want to keep the killing going.
MICHAEL:
You’re nuts. Or I am?
WAEL:
Maybe we both are.
But why is that car following you?
(Michael turns and sees the black car easing along the curb towards him. He runs, the car speeds up, and then he rushes down some stairs and finally escapes. The sound of Wael’s howl following him the whole way.)
SCENE 16: Greenwich Village café , evening
(Michael sits down at the table where Harari is already seated)
MICHAEL:
Where’s my money?
You said I would get paid when I finished the job.
HARARI:
You didn’t finish the job.
MICHAEL:
Look, I’m not your guy any more.
I’m going out of my mind or something, but all those people I killed are haunting me.
I can’t go anywhere without running into one of them, now, how much worse will it get if I keep piling up bodies.
HARARI:
If you aren’t with us, you’re against us, Michael.
MICHAEL:
And if I don’t cooperate, I become a terrorist in your eyes?
HARARI:
That’s how this game is played.
MICHAEL:
I’m not playing.
(standing)
Okay, so you won’t give me my money.
But that doesn’t mean you get me.
Stay away from me and my family, Harari, or you will have another terrorists on your hands.
Do you get my meaning?
HARARI:
Good by, Michael
(Michael walks out of the café, and then as Wael catches up, a dark car pulls around the corner ominously)