ACTION, GANGSTER FILM/ Red Hook in Brooklyn. LENA, an ex-prostitute, is a victim of extortion in her restaurant. But Lena is not the kind to be pushed around. She decides to ask for help to her old friends, retired mobsters……..
Synopsis/
Red Hook District New York……
LENA (an ex prostitute 58 year-old, very beautiful slave woman), who no longer walks the streets and after the death of her protector-pimp- has succeeding in being the owner of a restaurant and two shops situated in Red Hook district in New York. She no longer walks the pavement after the death of her protector, and who believed she had deserved her new respectability and sheltered from racketing, sees herself in danger.
But who dares deprive her from her lon-desired favours? So who is trying to turn her beautiful 25 year-old daughter’s clothes shop upside down? Who, in the world tried to put on fire the shop Lena rents to ISY, the old tailor? And who dares try to upset her in her own restaurant?
But who is it ?…
It’s LI WONG (45 year-old) a man from the “Triades” the Chinese Mafia who scours all of “Chinatown”, feeling he has his sights fixed high has become the big boss when his elder friends and big shots retired.
Lena’s restaurant is next door to all shops and fast foods which have all replaced the old bars and small clothes shop .Today all you see are luxury stores new and very modern businesses but mostly sex shops .All this new environment can only attract the new sharks, and Li Wong has let his thgs loose in the streets to scare and intimidate Lena and force her to give in all she has.
Li Wong simply forgat he was dealing with the one woman whom we used to call “LENA THE CZARINA” when she walked the pavement between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Lena is certainly not going to give up and wants to have it her own way because she still knows the big guys there at the “Lady”.
But who are they?
Those guys of old days, the days when she walked the streets between TriBeCa, Hells Kitchen and The Bowery Districts. The real guys from the New York mob of course who know how to deal, handle and get big fire arms big machine guns.
First there is “DON LUIGI”(65 year- old) once a real big boss and Justice of the Peace who was clever enough to stop right on time and who owns a theater in New Jersey.
Second man is JOE THE ARTIST” ( 60 year- old), once the terror of evildoers .He is today a re-known international sculptor. He is a specialist in crushing old cars, and certainly making much more money than during his thefts.
“CRAZY JACK” aka “OLD BATTERED JACK” (55 year-old) ex -boxing champion whose career end badly but who finally has become the manager of a boxing practice after he got out of jail.
…And then there is also others who will lend a hand:
1) LEE (25 year-old) the afro-american giant, an ex junky whom Lena helped get out of his drug addiction and who has tuned cook in her restaurant.
2) STANLEY ” (70 year-old) a ex-green beret and Vietnam hero who is a regular in her restaurant, collects antique weapons and whom Lena turns on.
3) “RICK THE ROCKER”(25 year- old) aka “THE WEASEL”, the big Blade and knife specialist and at times extremely vicious.
4) “HANDSOME RAY” (35 year- old) ,a real playboy. He is Don Luigi’s son. He is shooting champion, idealist bank robber who has always fought for the disinherited and the poor.
ALL these guys are going to get together to be the new gang fighting against LI WONG and his gang. It sure is going to be a great mobilization on both sides and there will be no rules all fights, blows and dirty tricks allowed.
Now LI WONG is going to hold Lena’s daughter as hostage and he believes he has the key, thinks he is the master and the law. …..But he will be defeated after a real and big gunfight where everyone will not come out safe.
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Notes
You will certainly notice that this script remind us of the ” 7 Samouraïs” ,the famous film directed by Akiro Kurozawa but of course this time in New York.
This film has been considered the most famous Japanese film in the history of actionfilms. It has exerted a great influence on the world movies and we know of manyadaptations amongst which“ The Magnificent Seven” by John Sturges.
“Gunfight at Red Hooks District” one film of the same genre…The most striking characters are Lena the gorgeous and flamboyant woman but mostly a few gangsters, men of honor having their own rules and codes of honor. They have a trigger handy, they also know nonetheless have a taste for the show and have a real style for doing what they believe is right.
Their special “Code of Honor “which can be compared to the one of the “Bushido” of the Japanese Samouraïs.
Of course this code has nothing to do with the vision of the world their so-called enemies, the gangs of the racketeers whose only aim and choice are to betray the”Code of Honor” of the Mob.
The scenario was originally written in French, setting the action in the Center of Paris. The translation in american should take this into account and not be translated word for word. Therefore the translator would have to “eel “real close and in connivence with the original script and give the right tone of the action and mostly be able to adapt and findin the dialogues the particular slang words of the different areas and districts of New-York.
The theme of the story should also be handled in a sort of epic way “The 7 Samouraïs” way so to speak mixing realism, action, humanism and at times , humor.
What goes without saying in this project is the choice of the actors who will certainly contribute greatly to its success. The casting and the choice of the characters, just as in “The Magnificent Seven” by John Sturges had largely contributed to the dynamism and reputation of the film.
The ideal casting is of course left to the producers, thus the heroine and all the other characters come from different communities. This fact could also be changed according to the preselected actors hence the microcosm of the traditional New York mafias could be used ,i.e italian mafia, irish, jewish, russian etc……
There will also be 4 parts as in these great films ie John Sturges’s and Kurozawa’s.
1) Intimidation before the racketing 2) The recruiting of the whole gang and their role 3) The fight between the 2 clans 4) The outcome.
(US Copyright and WGA Registration)