[…] ” Why shouldn’t I work for the N.S.A.? That’s a tough one, but I’ll take a shot. Say I’m working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I’m real happy with myself, ’cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no …read more […]

http://youtu.be/DD7JTzJ_Nfo Erin Brockovich (2000) by Susannah Grant, revised by Richard LaGravenese. Inspired by a true story. INT. DR. JAFFE'S OFFICE - DAY A successful-looking doctor sits behind a desk in a well- appointed office. He's looking at someone off-camera. DR. JAFFE Uh, but you have no actual medical training? ERIN (off) No. I have kids. Learned a lot right there. I've seen nurses give my son a throat culture. I mean what is it - you stick a giant Q-tip down their throat and wait. Or a urine analysis, with that dipstick that tells you whether or not the white count is high... DR. JAFFE Yes, I understand. ERIN (off) And, I mean, I'm great with people. Of course, you'd have to observe me to know for sure, but trust me on that one. I'm and extremely fast learner. I mean, you show me what to do in a lab once, and I've got it down. He nods. Now we see who he is talking to: ERIN BROCKOVICH. How to describe her? A beauty queen would come to mind - which, in fact, she was. Tall in a mini skirt, legs crossed, tight top, beautiful - but clearly from a social class and geographic orientation whose standards for displaying beauty are not based on subtlety. ERIN (CONT'D) ...for instance, at one point I wanted to be an engineer, so I was working at Fleuer Engineers and Constructors in Irvine. I fell madly in love with geology. DR. JAFFE Geology? ERIN I learned how to read maps. I love maps. Did you know our present system for map-making dates back to the ancient Greeks in like the third century B.C.? DR. JAFFE No. ERIN Anyway, I was at the company and - this is interesting, actually - I helped Ramish Ginatra design, as an assistant, part of the Alaskan pipeline... DR. JAFFE Uh-huh. ERIN ..But I lost that job because my son came down with the Chicken Pox and 104 temperature and my ex-husband was useless, so..ya know...But what I want to tell you is I, uh .. I had always wanted to go to medical school. That was my first interest really...but then I, you know, got married..had a kid too young and..that kind of blew it for me.. Jaffe stares at her. DR. JAFFE Uh-huh. ERIN (beat, looks around) This is a really nice office. Jaffe looks down at her resume, trying to figure a polite route. DR. JAFFE Thanks. (looks up at her) Look.... Beat. By Erin's expression, she knows what's coming. ( just makes me smile all over again to watch this)

and then there is Taxi Driver by Paul Schrader http://youtu.be/eLpU-X1YS6E INSIDE GARAGE are parked row upon row of multi-colored taxis. Echoing SOUNDS of cabs idling, cabbies talking. Steamy breath and exhaust fill the air. INT. CORRIDOR of cab company offices. Lettering on ajar door reads: PERSONAL OFFICE Marvis Cab Company Blue and White Cab Co. Acme Taxi Dependable Taxi Services JRB Cab Company Speedo Taxi Service SOUND of office busywork: shuffling, typing, arguing. PERSONAL OFFICE is a cluttered disarray. Sheets with heading "Marvis, B&W, Acme" and so forth are tacked to crumbling plaster wall: It is March. Desk is cluttered with forms, reports and an old upright Royal typewriter. Dishelved middle-aged New Yorker looks up from the desk. We CUT IN to ongoing conversation between the middle-aged PERSONNEL OFFICER and a YOUNG MAN standing in front on his desk. The young man is TRAVIS BICKLE. He wears his jeans, boots and Army jacket. He takes a drag off his unfiltered cigarette. The PERSONNEL OFFICER is beat and exhausted: he arrives at work exhausted. TRAVIS is something else again. His intense steely gaze is enough to jar even the PERSONNEL OFFICER out of his workaday boredom. PERSONNEL OFFICER (O.S.) No trouble with the Hack Bureau? TRAVIS (O.S.) No Sir. PERSONNEL OFFICER (O.S.) Got your license? TRAVIS (O.S.) Yes. PERSONNEL OFFICER So why do you want to be a taxi driver? TRAVIS I can't sleep nights. PERSONNEL OFFICER There's porno theatres for that. TRAVIS I know. I tried that. The PERSONNEL OFFICER, though officious, is mildly probing and curious. TRAVIS is a cipher, cold and distant. He speaks as if his mind doesn't know what his mouth is saying. PERSONNEL OFFICER So whatja do now? TRAVIS I ride around nights mostly. Subways, buses. See things. Figur'd I might as well get paid for it. PERSONNEL OFFICER We don't need any misfits around here, son. A thin smile cracks almost indiscernibly across TRAVIS' lips. TRAVIS You kiddin? Who else would hack through South Bronx or Harlem at night? PERSONNEL OFFICER You want to work uptown nights? TRAVIS I'll work anywhere, anytime. I know I can't be choosy. PERSONNEL OFFICER (thinks a moment) How's your driving record? TRAVIS Clean. Real clean. (pause, thin smile) As clean as my conscience. PERSONNEL OFFICER Listen, son, you gonna get smart, you can leave right now. TRAVIS (apologetic) Sorry, sir. I didn't mean that. PERSONNEL OFFICER Physical? Criminal? TRAVIS Also clean. PERSONNEL OFFICER Age? PERSONNEL OFFICER Twenty-six. PERSONNEL OFFICER Education? TRAVIS Some. Here and there. PERSONNEL OFFICER Military record? TRAVIS Honorable discharge. May 1971. PERSONNEL OFFICER You moonlightin? TRAVIS No, I want long shifts. PERSONNEL OFFICER (casually, almost to himself) We hire a lot of moonlighters here. TRAVIS So I hear. PERSONNEL OFFICER (looks up at Travis) Hell, we ain't that much fussy anyway. There's always opening on one fleet or another. (rummages through his drawer, collecting various pink, yellow and white forms) Fill out these forms and give them to the girl at the desk, and leave your phone number. You gotta phone? TRAVIS No. PERSONNEL OFFICER Well then check back tomorrow. TRAVIS Yes, Sir.