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The Unforgiven

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日期:2006-8-9 20:02:25
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                     The Unforgiven


                        Original Screenplay
                                 by
                         David Webb Peoples


                          PRODUCTION DRAFT

                           April 23, 1984

     INT. ALICE'S ROOM - NIGHT

     NIGHT IN ALICE'S ROOM.  A little bit of moonlight coming in
     through the tiny window might make a highlight here and
     there but that's about all.  Words begin to crawl across the
     screen:

                       WRITTEN WORDS (crawl)
                   Of good family, albeit one of
                   modest means, she was a comely
                   young woman and not without
                   prospects.  Therefore it was at
                   once heartbreaking and astonishing
                   to her mother that she would enter
                   into marriage with William Munny, a
                   known thief and murderer, a man of
                   notoriously vicious and intemperate
                   disposition.

     We can HEAR STRAWBERRY ALICE and DAVEY BUNTING breathing
     heavily and the bed creaking.

                       WRITTEN WORDS (crawl)
                   They were married in St. Louis in
                   1870 and they traveled North to
                   Kansas where he engaged in farming
                   and swine husbandry.

     Davey and Alice are picking up speed now, breathing faster
     and even snorting a little, and it's cold as Jesus in
     Nebraska in the winter so when the blanket slips, Alice
     snarls and gasps.

                               ALICE
                   The blanket, for chrissake,
                   cowboy, the blanket.

     There are six of these little rooms... one for each whore...
     behind Greely's Beer Garden and Billiards and the walls are
     just boards so you can hear what's happening in the other
     rooms and right now, from DELILAH'S room, you can hear a
     high-pitched, merry little giggle and that's important.

                    WRITTEN WORDS (crawl contd.)
                   She bore him two children in the
                   eight years of their marriage and
                   when she died, it was not at his
                   hands as her mother might have
                   expected, but of smallpox.  That
                   was in 1878.

                        DELILAH'S VOICE o.s.
                   No, please.... No, no goddamn you.

     Alice and Davey have stopped fucking and started listening
     but they don't move.

                           WRITTEN WORDS
                          (Crawl cont'd)
                   It wasn't until 1881... three
                   yeats later... that a cowboy named
                   Mike cut up a whore in Big
                   Whiskey, Nebraska in the Niobrara
                   River country.
                            (end crawl)

                         MIKE'S VOICE o.s.
                   Davey, come a runnin' lad an'
                   hold the thieving cunt...

     A blur of action as Davey leaps from the bed and dashes out
     of the room naked...

                         MIKE'S VOICE o.s.
                   ...brand you like a damn steer,
                   bitch...

     and Alice is right behind him, wrapping herself in a blanket
     as she goes.


     INT. DELILAH'S ROOM - NIGHT

     DELILAH is backed up against the wall, her face bleeding,
     and she is throwing the contents of her chamber pot on MIKE
     who is advancing on her with an open barlow knife and Davey
     busts into the room naked and Alice follows him and people
     are shouting in other rooms.

                               MIKE
                     (wiping shit off himself)
                   Hold the bitch, Davey, hold her.

     The one coal oil lamp in the room gives off just enough
     light that you can make all this out.  Certainly you can see
     that Mike, who is wearing leggings and no shirt, is a big
     tough man, unshaven, eyes inflamed with whiskey...

                               MIKE
                   HOLD HER, DAMMIT, DAVEY!
                   If you don't hold her I'll
                   cut her tits off.

     LITTLE SUE, a fifteen year old whore, is in the doorway,
     eyes wide with terror and Alice screams at her.

                               ALICE
                   Get Skinny, for God's sake!
                   SKINNY!

     Davey is reluctant about the whole thing but he is afraid of
     Mike and he gets behind Delilah and grabs her.

                               DAVEY
                   Wh-what you gonna do, Mike?

     Mike is doing it now and Delilah is screaming while he
     carves her face with the barlow knife and blood is all over,
     splashing on Davey and Davey, who is just a kid, after all,
     nineteen with a big shock of unruly red hair and innocent
     blue eyes, is horrified.

                               MIKE
                   Thieving cunt, I'll...

                               DAVEY
                   Mike, don't, Jesus, don't...

                               ALICE
                   SKINNY!  Bring your gun.

     Alice can't wait for Skinny and she jumps on Mike's back and
     brings the big man down and she fights him though she's not
     a big woman.   Alice is twenty-five but she's been around
     some, whored some tough cow-towns, and she has too much bone
     and character in her face to be outright pretty but she
     attracts men like flies.  Sure she has some smallpox scars
     on her face, but they're common and there are only a few of
     them, not like on Skinny whose mean little face is eaten
     right up with them.

     VIEW ON SKINNY DUBOIS

     STANDING THERE IN THE DOORWAY, his nasty face eaten with
     smallpox scars and he is looking at Delilah who is a
     fountain of blood, looking at her coldly, and looking down
     at the melee on the floor and, pointing the big Navy Colt in
     his hand, he says,

                              SKINNY
                   Get offa her, asshole.

     And he says it so cold and with such authority that
     everything goes quiet.


     EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY

     SNOW/MOONLIGHT/THE SHADOWY BUILDINGS and the silence of the
     Nebraska winter except for the sound of the snowshoes.

     The snow has obliterated the Main Street of Big Whiskey
     giving the impression that the dark, low buildings are
     scattered at random.  The only structure with any sign of
     life is Greely's Beer Garden and Billiards which shows a
     glowing window and two horses out front and that is a
     hundred yards away from the struggling silhouettes of the
     two men on snowshoes.  The big one is LITTLE BILL DAGGETT
     and he is very big, wrapped in a huge bearskin robe.

     The smaller one is CLYDE LEDBETTER who isn't small though he
     has only one arm.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   ...wouldn't let you settle it, huh?

                               CLYDE
                   Hell, you know how Skinny is.  Says
                   he's gonna shoot 'em...
                   ...an I says, "Skinny, you can't
                   do that," an' he says, "Well, then
                   get Little Bill down here an' let's
                   settle this" an' I says, "Bill's
                   sleepin', Skinny," an'...

     They make their way in silence through the snow, getting
     close now, close to Greely's and the lights.


     INT. DELILAH'S ROOM - NIGHT

     DELILAH ON HER BED, her face covered with blood-soaked rags
     except for her eyes.  Alice has hot water and is ministering
     to her and Little Bill is looking down at her from his
     enormous height, still in his bearskin.  He looks disgusted.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   She ain't gonna die, huh?

     You can now see fear in Delilah's eyes, and the other whores
     ...CROW CREEK KATE with crazy pop-eyes and frizzy hair, and
     LITTLE SUE who is fifteen and meek even when she isn't
     terrified, and FAITH who is the oldest of them and not very
     attractive and SILKY who is blonde and the prettiest... are
     watching from vantage points in the doorway or in the room.

                               ALICE
                            (determined)
                   She's gonna live.
                     (Little Bill turns to go)
                   She didn't steal nothin',
                   She didn't touch his poke.

                            LITTLE BILL
                       (stopping and turning)
                   No?

                               ALICE
                   All she done was... when she
                   seen he had a teensy little
                   pecker... she gave a giggle.
                   That's all.  She didn't know
                   no better.

     Little Bill turns away, disgusted, and starts out of the
     room and Alice gets up and follows him.

                               ALICE
                   You gonna hang 'em, Little Bill?


     INT. BAR ROOM - NIGHT

     Davey sitting naked on the floor of the bar room and Mike is
     sitting near him, still in his leggings and both men are
     shivering because they are fifteen feet from the potbellied
     stove where Clyde is standing watching them.

     It is a big room, with a crude bar and four tables and some
     moose and elk heads on the wall.  The door near the rear
     where it says "Billiard Room" leads not to a Billiard Room
     but to the six little "rooms" that are the whorehouse and
     and now you can hear Delilah groaning from there.

     And Little Bill enters from the back of the bar room,
     stooping to pass through the doorway under the sign that
     says "Billiard Room."

     Little Bill is huge and ominous.  Some say he acquired the
     bearskin by staring the bear to death and others say he
     drowned the animal in spit.  Anyhow, he's big with a
     drooping moustache and he is sucking on his church warden's
     clay pipe and you know he isn't scared of anything.

     And the two cowboys are scared to death, not just shivering
     from the cold, and Bill just looks down at them and sucks on
     his pipe and Alice comes in from the back way too and then
     Skinny and a couple of the whores gather in the doorway.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Clyde, step across to the German's
                   an' fetch up one of his bullwhips.

     Stark terror on the faces of Davey and Mike as Clyde exits.

                               ALICE
                   A whippin'?  That's all they get?
                   After what they done?

                            LITTLE BILL
                       (sucking on his pipe)
                   Whippin' ain't a little thing,
                   Alice.

                               ALICE
                   But what they done, they...

                              SKINNY
                     (he has a piece of paper
                           in his hand)
                   Shut up, Alice.  Little Bill,
                   a whippin' ain't gonna settle
                   this.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   No?

                              SKINNY
                        (showing the paper)
                   This here's a lawful contract...
                   betwixt me an' Delilah
                   Fitzgerald, the cut-whore.  Now I
                   brung her clear from Boston, paid
                   her expenses an' all, an' I got a
                   contract which represents an
                   investment of capital.

                            LITTLE BILL
                        (sympathetic to the
                             argument)
                   Property.

                              SKINNY
                   Damaged property.  Like if I
                   was to hamstring one of their
                   cow ponies.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   You figure nobody'll want to
                   fuck her.

                              SKINNY
                   Hell no.  Leastways, they won't
                   pay to do it.

     Alice is listening to this and her eyes are like coals and
     you can hear Delilah moaning in the other room.

                          SKINNY (cont'd)
                   She could maybe clean up around
                   the place or somethin', but
                   nobody's gonna pay good money
                   for a cut-up whore.

                            LITTLE BILL
                      (making up his mind and
                           turning to the
                         shivering cowboys)
                   You boys are off of the Spade
                   Outfit.  Got your own string
                   of ponies?

                               DAVEY
                             (nodding)
                   I... I got f-f-f-four.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   You?

                               MIKE
                            (sullenly)
                   Six.

     Skinny nods, pleased, and Alice watches, her eyes still hot.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Guess you boys just as soon not
                   have no trial an' fuss, huh?

     Davey and Mike nod, willing to say anything Little Bill
     wants.

                        LITTLE BILL cont'd
                            (to Mike)
                   Alright.  You done the cuttin'...
                   Come the thaw, you bring in five
                   of them ponies an' give 'em over
                   to Skinny here.

                               MIKE
                   Five!

                            LITTLE BILL
                             (to Davey)
                   An' you... you give over two
                   ponies, hear? -

     Clyde bangs in out of the snow with a buggy whip in his
     hand.

                               CLYDE
                   I couldn't find no bullwhips,
                   Bill.  The German...

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Don't matter, we don't need no
                   whips.
                        (to Mike and Davey)
                   Spring comes an' Skinny don't
                   have them ponies, I'm gonna...

                               ALICE
                   You... you ain't even gonna...
                   whip 'em?

                            LITTLE BILL
                   I fined 'em instead.

                               ALICE
                   For what they done?  Skinny gets
                   some ponies an' that's... ?

                            LITTLE BILL
                         (approaching her)
                   Ain't you seen enough blood for
                   one night?  Hell, Alice, they
                   ain't loafers nor tramps nor bad
                   men.  They're hard workin' boys
                   that was foolish.  Why if they was
                   given over to wickedness in a
                   regular way...

                               ALICE
                             (furious)
                   Like whores?

                              SKINNY
                   Alice, tend to Delilah.

     For a long moment Alice just stands there glaring.


     INT. DELILAH'S ROOM - DAY

     DAYLIGHT AND A BASIN OF BLOODY WATER and Little Sue is just
     dipping another towel in the hot water next to Delilah's
     bed, changing the bandages.   All the whores are there in
     various states of dress, lounging on the floor, leaning
     against the wall.

                               SILKY
                             (to Alice)
                   If Delilah don't care one way or
                   the other, what're you so riled
                   about?

                               ALICE
                           (passionately)
                   Just because them smelly assholes
                   like to ride us like horses don't
                   mean we got to let 'em brand us
                   like we're horses.  Maybe we ain't
                   nothin' but whores, but by God we
                   ain't horses.

     Silky is thinking it over, frowning, and then she makes her
     decision.

                               SILKY
                             (to Alice)
                   I got a hundred an' twelve dollars.
                   That's everythin'.

                               ALICE
                   What about you, Faith?

                               FAITH
                           (reluctantly)
                   Two hundred...
                         (there are gasps)
                   Two hundred an' forty.

                               ALICE
                             (laughing)
                   Jesus, Faith, what you been doin',
                   givin' Skinny somethin' special?

     All the women laugh and Delilah through her bandages makes a
     gurgling sound and Little Sue's eyes light up.

                             LITTLE SUE
                        (indicating Delilah)
                   She laughed.

                               ALICE
                   With what Kate got, Silky got some,
                   an' mine, an' Little S...

                               SILKY
                             (soberly)
                   It ain't enough.

                               ALICE
                            (determined)
                   Not yet maybe.


     EXT. HOG PEN - DAY

     The hog in the mud, snorting and squealing, ugly as hell and
     BILL MUNNY in the mud with him, pushing and shoving, trying
     to move the stubborn animal and Munny goes down face first
     and comes up more covered with mud than he already was and
     the words on the screen say,

                       WRITTEN WORDS (super)
                   Some months later, Hodgeman
                   County, Kansas.

     Munny is thirty-five or forty years old, his hair is
     thinning and his moustache droops glumly over his stubbled
     jaw.  If it were not for his eyes he would look like any pig
     farmer with his canvas overalls tucked in his boots pushing
     on a hog.  He is pushing on the hog again, grunting with the
     effort, when he hears the voice.

                        THE KID'S VOICE o.s.
                  You don't look like no rootin',
                  tootin', sonofabitchin',
                  cold-blooded assassin.

                               MUNNY
                      (looking up, startled)
                  Huh?

     THE KID is only six feet away, the sun behind him, sitting
     on a very big and very ancient Morgan horse.  He's wearing
     a wide-brimmed Texas hat, a vest, a holstered pistol, and he
     is a wiry kid, maybe twenty years old, with scraggly blonde
     hair, four of his upper front teeth missing, and a funny,
     squinty way of looking out of his watery blue eyes.  Most of
     all, he doesn't look very prosperous.

                              THE KID
                   I seen how you got only three
                   fingers on your left hand, though,
                   so I guess you're calling yourself
                   Mister Bill Munny.

     Munny does indeed have three fingers on his left hand and he
     doesn't like this conversation at all.

                               MUNNY
                   William Munny, yeah.

     
                              THE KID
                   Same one as shot Charlie Pepper in
                   Lake County?

                              A VOICE
                   Paw!  Hey, Paw!

     The voice belongs to WILL,  a skinny ten-year-old who dashes
     up with his seven-year-old sister, PENNY, right on his
     heels.  The kids are ragged and dirty, they don't look well
     fed or even very healthy.  Even as Will speaks to his
     father, Munny, his eyes, and Penny's too, go to The Kid.
     They don't see many strangers.

                               MUNNY
                   What is it, son?

                               WILL
                   Two more hogs got the fever.

     Munny winces.  The Kid ignores the interruption.

                              THE KID
                   You shot Charlie Pepper, didn't
                   you?  And you're the one killed
                   William Harbey an' robbed the
                   train over...

                               MUNNY
                             (sharply)
                   Hold on, mister.
                             (to Will)
                   Son, this here pig gotta be moved
                   outta this pen, away from them
                   others.  Penny, you give yer
                   brother a hand...

                               PENNY
                            (emotional)
                   This one's sick too?

     Munny ignores the question, already on his way to the
     miserable-looking shack.

                               MUNNY
                   Let's talk inside, mister.


     INT. SOD HUT - DAY

     Munny selects a tin cup from a wash pan of dirty dishes.  It
     is dark and cool inside his one room sod hut... and poor.

     The Kid checks one of the three chairs for stability before
     sitting down.

                               MUNNY
                   You're Pete Sothow's nephew, huh?
                   Hell, I thought maybe you was
                   someone come to kill me...
                       (he has the cups and
                      he crosses to the fire)
                   ...for somethin' I done in the
                   old days.

                              THE KID
                             (sitting)
                   I could of... easy.

                               MUNNY
                   Yeah, I guess so.

                              THE KID
                   Like I was sayin' you don't look
                   like no meaner than hell cold-
                   blooded damn killer.

                               MUNNY
                   Maybe I ain't.

                              THE KID
                   Well, Uncle Pete said you was the
                   goddamndest meanest sonofabitch
                   ever lived an' if I ever wanted a
                   partner for a killin', you was the
                   worst one.  Meanin' the best.  On
                   account of you're cold as snow an'
                   don't have no weak nerve nor fear.

     Munny serves the coffee gloomily and sits down.  It appears
     his feelings are hurt but The Kid doesn't notices.

                               MUNNY
                   He said that, huh?

                              THE KID
                   I'm a damn killer myself, only I
                   ain't killed so many as you because
                   of my youth.  Schofield Kid, they
                   call me.

                               MUNNY
                   Schofield?  You from Schofield?

                              THE KID
                    (laying his Smith & Wesson
                    Schofield .45 on the table)
                   On account of my Schofield model
                   Smith and Wesson pistol.

                               MUNNY
                   Oh.

                              THE KID
                   Well, how about it?

                               MUNNY
                   About what?

                              THE KID
                   Bein' my partner.   I'm headin' North
                   up around the Niobrara in Nebraska.
                   Gonna kill a couple of no good cowboys.

                               MUNNY
                   What for?

                              THE KID
                   For cuttin' up a lady.   They cut up
                   her face an' cut her eyes out, cut
                   her ears off an' her tits too.

                               MUNNY
                            (horrified)
                   Jesus!

                              THE KID
                         (pleased with the
                             reaction)
                   Thousand dollars of reward.  Five
                   hundred a piece.

                               WILL
                   Paw, I can't move that damn pig.

     Will has slipped into the house with Penny in tow and they
     are both covered with mud and Will is swearing toshow off
     to the stranger.

                               MUNNY
                           (embarrassed)
                   No cussin' now, Will.   Go on out
                   the pump an' clean up some an' I'll
                   be along.   Check them other pens.

     The two kids back out the door, eyes on the pistol and the
     stranger, and Munny walks over near the beds with his back
     to The Kid.

                               MUNNY
                   I ain't like that no more, Kid.
                   Whiskey done it as much as anythin'
                   I guess.
                        (turning to The Kid)
                   I ain't touched a drop in ten years.
                   My wife, she cured me of it...
                   cured me of drink an' wickedness.

                              THE KID
                   Well... you don't look so prosper-
                   ous.  Hell, you could buy her a new
                   dress out of your half.  We could
                   kill them two an' you could buy
                   your wife one of them fancy...

                               MUNNY
                   She's passed on, Kid.

                              THE KID
                   Huh?

                               MUNNY
                   Been gone near three years now.

                              THE KID
                        (staring stupidly)
                   Oh.


     EXT. SOD HUT - DAY

     Will and Penny in front of the house, looking up at The Kid
     who is mounted again and Munny is standing there taking
     leave of The Kid.

                              THE KID
                   Don't tell nobody about the
                   reward an' all.  Don't need no
                   other gunmen tryin' to collect.

                               MUNNY
                   I don't never see nobody anyhow.

                              THE KID
                           (riding away)
                   If you was to change your mind,
                   might be you could catch me...
                   due West to the Western Trail
                   an' North to Ogallala.

     Munny waves at The Kid and for a long moment watches him
     trot across the flat, grassy fields.  Then he turns back to
     his shabby farm and the squealing pigs and the two children
     who are looking up at him.

                               WILL
                   Who's he?

                               MUNNY
                          (turning away)
                   Best we move that pig.


     EXT. HOG PEN - DAY

     Munny in the mud and the pig squealing and Will is there
     pushing too and Munny goes in face first again and when he
     comes up he slowly wipes mud from his face and, turning, he
     looks across the fields.

     VIEW ON PENNY

     Coming up beside the pen.

                               PENNY
                   Paw... two of them others
                   ...I think they got the fever.

     Munny frowns and looks off at the horizon, lost in thought.

     VIEW ON THE KID

     Way off in the distance, disappearing on the horizon.


     EXT. BIG WHISKEY HILL - DAY

     EXTREME CLOSE UP ON DELILAH

     Delilah's face!  The cut-whore.  Skeins of criss-crossing
     raised flesh, a vicious web of scars dominated by her eyes
     that are deep and beautiful.

     She's hanging clothes on a clothes line on Big Whiskey Hill,
     the gentle slope above the town.  Alice, Little Sue, Silky,
     Kate, and Faith are close by, hanging clothes or washing
     them in the gurgling stream.

     Faith is the first to glance down the hill toward the town
     and to notice.  She draws in her breath and turns to Alice
     and catches her eye and Alice looks down.


     EXT. MUDDY NORTH ROAD

     The muddy North Road and the two riders, and they are Quick
     Mike and Davey Bunting leading their ponies in, passing a
     crudely painted sign that says:

                   "Ordinance 14.  No firearms in
                   Big Whiskey.  Deposit them at
                   County Office.
                       By Order of Sheriff."


     EXT. BIG WHISKEY HILL - DAY

     The whores on the hill.  One by one, with no words
     exchanged, they feel the silence and turn and exchange
     glances and they glance at Delilah.  She winces and turns
     back to hanging clothes.

     VIEW ON A HORSE'S OPEN MOUTH AND SKINNY

     Inspecting.

                              SKINNY
                   You boys took a while.  Couple
                   more days I was gonna call on
                   the Sheriff.

     The horses are gathered in front of Greely's and Skinny
     moves among them inspecting them while the two cowboys
     remain mounted.

                               DAVEY
                   River was swole so we couldn't
                   cross her.

     Davey is holding the halter of a little paint and when SKINNY
     starts to inspect the pain, Davey pulls the pony away.

                               DAVEY
                   You got two of mine.  This here
                   one ain't yours.

     Skinny and Davey lock eyes and Skinny is wondering how far
     to push it when SPLAT!... Davey gets a face full of mud.
     The three men turn to see the whores coming around the side
     of Greely's, all except Delilah, and they are throwing mud,
     scooping it from the sloppy street and...

     MIKE gets a hit on the chest and then on the face and he
     gives an ugly look and wheels his horse and digs in his
     spurs and heads North at a trot and mud continues to rain on
     him as the whores jeer.

                              SKINNY
                   Damn you.
                             (SPLAT)
                   That ain't no way to behave.
                             (SPLAT)
                   Quit that.

     Surprisingly, Davey turns his horse right into the barrage
     of mud and taking it in the face and on the chest he
     dismounts.  His paint takes a big gob of mud on one eye and
     Davey wipes the mud off tenderly.

                               DAVEY
                   This here pony... I brung it for
                   the lady... the one my partner
                   cut.

     The whores stop throwing mud abruptly.  There is a pause...
     and they can see that he is just a kid, and that he is sorry
     as hell and that he is about to cry and they are touched,
     especially Little Sue.

                               DAVEY
                   It's the best of the lot... better
                   than the ones I give him.
                        (indicating Skinny)
                   She could sell it or... what she
                   wants.

                               ALICE
                            (recovering)
                   A pony!...  She ain't got no face
                   left an' you're gonna give her a
                   goddamn mangy pony.

                               DAVEY
                   He ain't m-m-mangy, ma'am, he...

     SLOP.  Davey gets it in the face with a big gob of mud as
     Alice resumes fire and SPLAT, the paint gets it.

     Faith and Silky and Kate hesitate just a moment... and then
     they dig in and start jeering and throwing again and Little
     Sue bends down slowly and picks up some mud and then she
     just stands there with it, almost crying, and watches the
     cowboy turn away under a barrage of mud and mount his pony
     and ride out, mud hitting him all over and the women jeering
     and running after him in the muddy street.

     VIEW ON DELILAH

     Hanging clothes up on the hill and she canhear the shouting
     in the distance and she turns and looks down with the
     beautiful eyes and sees the cowboy riding out of town
     slowly, chased by the jeering women.


     INT. SOD HUT - DAY

     CLOSE on a photograph of CLAUDIA in Munny's hands.  He is
     inside, kneeling on the floor beside an open truck and he is
     studying reverently the old photo of Claudia, smiling
     radiantly in her best dress.  Finally Munny puts the picture
     down and digs in the trunk among folded dresses that
     belonged to her until he feels something metal and he sees
     the blue steel among the white cloth and then he pulls it
     out... an old Starr .44 Pistol.


     EXT. SOD HUT - DAY

     CLOSE on a Mojav coffee tin as Munny places it on the fence
     behind his sod hut.  Munny has the Starr in his right hand
     and he turns and walks back toward the house 15 yards away.

     Will and Penny are watching.   They know something is going
     on, but they don't know how to ask what it is.

     Munny faces the coffee tin and solemnly extends his pistol
     arm straight out and carefuly sights along the barrel.

     BAM!  A burst of flame and a puff of black smoke from the
     gun.

     The Mojav tin hasn't moved.

     Slowly, carefully, Munny raises the gun again and aims with
     great deliberation.

     BAM!  The coffee tin doesn't move.

     Munny shakes his head slowly in disgust and aims again.

     BAM!  Missed again.

     Munny gives a quick sheepish glance in the direction of the
     children.  There is a lot of smoke.  He aims again and

     BAM!  He misses.

     Munny is irritated and he aims and fires hastily and flame
     bursts from the gun and smoke and

     The tin is unmoved.

     Will looks at his feet, embarrassed, not wanting to meet his
     father's eyes.

     Munny stuffs the pistol in his waistband and disappears into
     the house.

     Will and Penny look at one another nervously, wondering
     what's happening.

                               PENNY
                    Did Paw used to kill folks?

     Will doesn't answer and then he looks up because Munny steps
     out of the house again, a sawed off Remington 10 gauge
     shotgun in his hands.

     Munny raises the double barreled weapon to his shoulder and
     aims carefully and...

     BARRRROOOOOM!  The can flies away in pieces and some of the
     fence, too.


     EXT. SHADE TREES - DAY

     A HEADSTONE.  It says:

                    "CLAUDIA FEATHERS MUNNY
                    Born, March 11, 1849
                    Died, August 6, 1878,
                    aged 29 years, in the
                    full enjoyment of that
                    love which constrained
                    her to leave all for
                    Christ and heathen souls

                    Lo, we have left all and followed thee:
                    What shall we leave therefore.
                                             19:25"

     The headstone is under a couple of shade trees fifty yards
     from the sod hut.  MUNNY is sitting on a rock under the
     trees looking at the headstone and he has on a cheap black
     suit now.  He twists the hat, tormented... and he starts to
     say something out loud but he can't because men don't talk
     to stones.  So finally he gets up, slumped in defeat, and he
     puts a little bouquet of flowers on the grave and he turns
     away unhappily.


     EXT. SOD HUT - DAY

     The ALBINO MARE snorting and shying, anxious to lose the
     saddle.  Will has her by the halter, holding her with
     effort, in front of the house.

                               WILL
                   She ain't hardly a saddle horse no
                   more, Paw.  She ain't used to the
                   feel.

     Munny walks up and puts his hand on Penny's head fondly.

                               MUNNY
                   Them flowers, Penny, I could
                   tell your Maw liked them, hear?
                         (turning to Will)
                   Take care of your sister, son.
                   You can kill three chickens if
                   you need, not no more.  Keep
                   the hogs that got fever
                   separate if you can.  An' if
                   you need help, go see Sally Two-
                   Trees over to Ned Logan's.

     Then he turns to the mare and shoves a foot in the stirrup
     to mount but the horse shies and Munny goes down in the dust
     looking very undignified.

     And Penny is horrified and humiliated for her father whom
     she worships and Will's eyes are big because Munny's coat
     came open and he caught a quick glimpse of the Starr pistol
     stuck in the waist band.

                               MUNNY
                      (brushing himself off,
                            embarrassed)
                   Ain't felt a saddle in a while
                   myself.

     Then Munny has one foot in the stirrup and the horse starts
     to shy and Munny has to hop around with one foot stirruped
     and the other not... and when he tries to swing aboard he
     falls back...

                               MUNNY
                   Easy old gal, easy...

     And he still can't make it, so to cover his embarrassment he
     talks to the kids while he hops around desperately trying to
     mount.

                               MUNNY
                   Now this here horse is gettin'
                   even on me... hold on gal... for
                   the sins of my youth... In my
                   youth... before I met... your
                   dear departed mother... I was
                   weak an' givin' to mistreatin'
                   horses an' such.  An' this here
                   horse... an' that ole pig, too,
                   I guess... is my comeuppance for
                   my cruelty...

     At last he is in the saddle and takes a deep breath.

                               MUNNY
                   Used to be I could cuss an' hurt
                   an animal... til your departed
                   mother, God rest her, showed me the
                   error of my ways.

     Munny turns the Albino mare and starts out the gate going
     Weat toward the fields.

                               MUNNY
                        (over his shoulder)
                   I won't be no longer than a couple
                   of weeks.  Remember how the spirit
                   of your departed maw watches over
                   you.

     Will and Penny are watching him go and Will is fighting back
     the tears but Penny has lost the battle and she is crying
     and the horse whinnies.

     VIEW ON MUNNY

     Twenty yards away getting up off the ground and trying to
     catch the shying, prancing horse on foot, his dignity a
     shambles.


     INT. ALICE'S ROOM - NIGHT

     Alice IN PAIN because Skinny is twisting her arm and they
     are in Alice's room... it is still night... and the other
     whores are there, scared, nervous.

                               SKINNY
                             (furious)
                   Where'd you get the money, huh?

                               ALICE
                             (in pain)
                   We ain't got it.  We ain't got
                   no money.

                               SKINNY
                   You told them cowboys you had it.

                               ALICE
                   We was... lyin'.

                               SKINNY
                           (lets her go)
                   What you gonna do when somebody
                   comes to collect?
                             (yelling)
                   FUCK 'EM?  FUCK 'EM A THOUSAND
                   TIMES?
                     (goes to door, then stops)
                   The kind of people who'll come after
                   that thousand, they won't tolerate if
                   you don't have it.  They won't just
                   cut your face up a little.
                            (screaming)
                   STUPID CUNTS!


     EXT. LITTLE BILL'S HOUSE - DAY

     VIEW on HOT SUN blazing down.

     BANG BANG BANG, HAMMER ON NAIL and the fingers holding the
     nail are swollen and purple and then... WHUP Hammer on
     flesh.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Oh, shit, shit an' damn, oh fuck
                   my mother and my father, o damn an'
                   jesus.

     Little Bill is hopping around in his hat and boots and
     nothing else in front of his brand new one story, four room,
     frame house that hasn't been painted it's so new and doesn't
     have a porch yet, though that is being begun... sort of.  In
     fact... the house doesn't look quite right... looks a little
     lopsided.

     Skinny Dubois is standing there, in the clearing wiping his
     brow and catching his breath and watching Little Bill.

                               SKINNY
                   Hit your finger, huh?

                            LITTLE BILL
                            (surprised)
                   Huh?  Hullo, Skinny.  Snuck up on
                   me.
                   (indicating the house proudly)
                   How do you like her?

                               SKINNY
                        (looking critically)
                   Heard you done the roof yourself.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Roof?  Jesus, Skinny, I done
                   practically every damn thing
                   myself.  Roberts boy hauled
                   wood, that's all.

                               SKINNY
                   What's all that wood?

                            LITTLE BILL
                        (enthusiastically)
                   Porch.  I'm puttin' a porch on
                   her so's I can puff my pipe of
                   an evening an' drink my coffee
                   an' watch the sun set.

     Little Bill is back at it, hauling a four by six into
     position.

                            LITTLE BILL
                        (over his shoulder,
                             proudly)
                   You come clear up here just to
                   get a look at her?

     The train whistle screams loudly below in the valley and
     turning nervously, Skinny can see a puff of steam above the
     distant trees.

                               SKINNY
                   Them whores...
                       (he pauses, reluctant
                             to go on)

     Little Bill isn't really paying attention to anything but
     his house.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Yeah?

                               SKINNY
                   Them whores, they been fuckin'
                   an' fuckin' all them cowboys
                   that come into town the last
                   two weeks...

                            LITTLE BILL
                            (chuckling)
                   Shit, Skinny, we got railroad barons
                   an' cattle barons, but you' re gonna
                   be the first of the billiard barons.

                               SKINNY
                           (ignoring him)
                   ...They been fuckin' 'em, 'an
                   tellin' every bow-legged one of 'em
                   how they're payin' a thousand dollars
                   to whatever sonofabitch kills them
                   two boys which cut up Delilah.

     Little Bill drops the board he's holding up and turns
     sharply to Skinny.  Down in the valley the train whistle
     screams and after a long, tense moment, Little Bill turns
     and looks out over the valley, frowning.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   An' all them cowboys been riding
                   that beef down to Kansas an'
                   Cheyenne?

                               SKINNY
                   (unhappily, dropping his eyes)
                   Yup.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   All week?

                               SKINNY
                          (apologetically)
                   I didn't hear nothin' till last
                   night.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Word must have got all the
                   way to Texas by now.

                               SKINNY
                             (quickly)
                   Oh, shit, Bill, I guess nobody's
                   gonna come clear from Texas.

                            LITTLE BILL
                          (sitting down)
                   They really got all that money,
                   them whores?

                               SKINNY
                       (sitting beside Bill)
                   You know how women kin lie... I
                   knock 'em around a little, ask 'em
                   where the money is, they say they
                   don't have none?...but they
                   coulda squirreled away that much,
                   the five of 'em.  Maybe.
                              (pause)

                            LITTLE BILL
                   That much, huh?

                               SKINNY
                             (hopeful)
                   You could run off them two cowboys.

                            LITTLE BILL
                             (sharply)
                   I could run off them whores.

                               SKINNY
                          (after a pause)
                   Well, I guess they'll just up an'
                   run anyhow, them two.

                            LITTLE BILL
                             (glumly)
                   Nope.  They'll stay out on the
                   Spade country where they got
                   friends.

     The train whistle screams down in the valley and the train
     is chugging in the distance, pulling out, headed South.

                               SKINNY
                   Shit, Bill, could be nobody
                   won't come at all.


     EXT. LOGAN HOUSE - DAY

     SALLY TWO TREES, weeding under a hot sun.  She is an Indian
     woman about forty years old, heavy, and she is pulling weeds
     from a neat garden near the Logan House and she looks up and
     she sees something and frowns and keeps looking and doesn't
     like what she sees,

     HER POV:

     A MAN IN THE DISTANCE RIDING AN ALBINO MARE, making his way
     slowly through the prosperous fields of young corn.

     VIEW ON SALLY

     She looks over at her husband, NED LOGAN, who is working not
     far away and he seems to "hear" her look because he turns to
     her and, seeing her troubled expression, he follows her look
     and he too sees the rider on the Albino mare.

                                NED
                   I'll be damned.  It's Billy Munny.

     Ned is about forty, balding, a farmer, but not as seedy
     looking as his old friend, Bill Munny.

     VIEW ON MUNNY

     Trying to dismount and the Albino prancing and Munny
     staggering and Sally looking at the scene grimly.

                               MUNNY
                            (awkwardly)
                   Hullo Sally... I... uh, I
                   ain't seen you in near as long
                   as this, uh... as this horse
                   ain't felt the saddle.

     Munny gets up out of the dust looking uncomfortable and
     Sally just stares at him coldly.

                                NED
                             (warmly)
                   Come on in outta the sun, Bill.
                   Sally, you see to Bill's horse.

     Munny nods an uncomfortable thank-you to Sally as Ned leads
     him toward a house that is very different from Munny's.  It
     is a two story frame house freshly painted and surrounded by
     a well-tended garden, a tool shed, a barn and lush fields.

     As the men disappear into the house Sally leads the Albino
     toward the barn.  Her sharp eyes don't miss the stock of the
     shotgun where it protrudes slightly from the bedroll.  Her
     eyes seem to see even into the future... and all they see is
     trouble.


     INT. LOGAN HOUSE - DAY

     CLOSE on CLEAN CERAMIC COFFEE MUGS as NED takes them from a
     tidy cabinet in his cozy kitchen with the cast iron stove,
     the solid table.

     Munny is sitting at the table looking moodily into space.

                                NED
                            (earnestly)
                    We ain't bad men no more, Bill.
                    Hell, we're farmers.

                               MUNNY
                          (thoughtfully)
                    Should be easy killin' em...
                    supposin' they don't run off to
                    Texas first.

                                NED
                       (taking the pot from
                            the stove)
                    How long since you shot a gun at a
                    man?      (pause)
                    Nine... ten years?

                               MUNNY
                    Eleven.

                                NED
                    Easy, huh?  Hell, I don't know that
                    it was all that easy then... an'
                    we was young an' full of beans.
                          (pouring coffee)
                    Bill... if you was mad at 'em...
                    if they done you wrong... I could
                    see shootin' 'em...

                               MUNNY
                      (looking Ned in the eye)
                    We done stuff before for money,
                    Ned.

                                NED
                          (sitting down)
                    Well, we thought we was doin' it
                    for money...
                     (he pauses, remembering)
                    What'd they do anyhow?  Cheat at
                    cards, steal some strays, spit
                    on a rich fella?

                               MUNNY
                    Cut up a woman.  Cut her eyes out,
                    cut her tits off, cut her fingers
                    off... done everythin' but cut
                    up her cunny, I guess.

                                NED
                      (after chewing on that
                                one)
                    Well, I guess they got it comin'...
                     (and he pauses and looks
                         Munny in the eye)
                    But you wouldn't go if Claudia was
                    alive.

     It hits Munny like salt in a wound and he just takes it.
     They both know Ned is right and they think about it
     silently.  Finally Munny speaks glumly.

                               MUNNY
                          (getting up and
                         going to the door)
                    I guess you wouldn't mind to look
                    in on my youngsters next week.
                    Might be you could help them move
                    a couple of them pigs if they got
                    to separate 'em more.

     Ned has been thinking about it while Munny's talking,
     wrestling with it and now Munny is out the door.

                                NED
                    How long you gonna be, Bill?

                               MUNNY
                    Two weeks, I guess.

                                NED
                    This Kid, what's he like?

     Munny turns and looks at Ned and their eyes meet and Munny
     realizes Ned is coming.

                                NED
                    Three ways?

                               MUNNY
                    Yup.  You still got the Spencer
                    rifle?

                                NED
                           (grinning)
                    Yeah, an' I could still hit a bird
                    in the eye flyin'.


     EXT. LOGAN HOUSE - DAY

     Munny landing with a thud in the dust and picking himself up
     hurriedly and casting a sheepish glance over his shoulder at
     Ned as he makes another awkward effort to mount the mare.

                                NED
                        (amazed at this per-
                             formance)
                    Jesus, Bill.

     CLOSE VIEW

     The sad, wise eyes of Sally Two Trees as she watches the two
     riders disappearing in the distance.  her eyes are saying
     good-bye.


     EXT. PATH - DAY

     THE RIDERS IN THE DISTANCE.  One horse is walking and the
     white one is prancing and shying in an unruly manner while
     her rider fights desperately for control.


     EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - DAY

     SUNSET, and Ned and Munny riding in open country.

                                NED
                   He musta been movin' right along.

                               MUNNY
                   We'll come across him tomorra,
                   I guess.


     EXT. CAMP - NIGHT

     Night and the sizzling campfire as Ned empties the grease
     from the frying pan into the fire.

     Munny is already lying down, fussing in his blankets to get
     comfortable and the crickets are chirping up a storm.

                               MUNNY
                   Got used to my bed.  Ain't gonna
                   feel to home out here.

                                NED
                    (getting into his blankets)
                   Well, it ain't just the bed I'm gonna
                   miss.  I'm...
                        (he stops suddenly)
                   Hell, Billy, I'm sorry.  I didn't
                   mean...

                               MUNNY
                   It ain't nothin', don't fret it.
                              (pause)
                   She don't like it much, you goin'
                   off with me.

                                NED
                   Sally?

                               MUNNY
                   She gave me the evil eye.

                                NED
                   It's just... she's a Indian an'
                   Indians ain't... overfriendly.

                               MUNNY
                   I ain't blamin' her, Ned, I ain't
                   holdin' it against her.
                              (pause)
                   She knew me back then... an' she seen
                   what a no good sonofabitch I was...
                   an' she won't allow how I've changed.
                   She just don't know how I ain't like
                   that no more.

                                NED
                   Well, she...

                               MUNNY
                            (urgently)
                   I ain't the same, Ned.  Claudia,
                   she... straightened me up, got me
                   clear of the whiskey an' all.  Us
                   goin' to do this killin'... that
                   don't mean I'm back to like I was.
                   I just need the money... for a new
                   start... for them youngsters.
                           (long pause)
                   Remember that drover, the one I
                   shot in the mouth so's the teeth
                   come out the back of his head?  I
                   dream about him now an' again.  I
                   didn't have no reason to shoot
                   him... not one I could remember
                   when I sobered up.

                                NED
                   You was a... a crazy sonofabitch.

                               MUNNY
                   Nobody liked me... none of the
                   boys.  They was scared of me...
                   figured I might shoot 'em out of
                   pure meanness.

                                NED
                   You ain't like that no more.

                               MUNNY
                   Eagle... he hated my guts.
                   Bonaparte didn't like me none.

                                NED
                   Nor Quincy, I guess.

                               MUNNY
                   Quincy, he was always watchin' me.
                   Scared.

                                NED
                   You ain't like that no more.

                               MUNNY
                   Hell, no.  I'm just a fella now.
                   ain't no different from anyone else
                   no more.

     After a pause, Ned rolls over to go to sleep and says
     something kind by way of saying goodnight.

                                NED
                   Hell, Bill, I always liked you...
                   even back then.

     Ned settles in his covers and so does Munny and the crickets
     chirp for a long moment but Munny can't sleep with the lie.

                               MUNNY
                   No you didn't.  You wasn't no
                   different, Ned.
                            (and we...)


     EXT. TRAIN - DAY

     DAYLIGHT and a train whistle SCREAMING.


     INT. RAILROAD COACH - DAY

     The headline on the newspaper says "President Garfield
     Wounded."  FUZZY, a cowboy, is sitting in the rocking coach
     reading the paper with great effort, partly because of the
     motion of the train and partly because Fuzzy can't read very
     well... but CROCKER, the rough looking cowboy on the seat
     next to him can't read at all.

                              CROCKER
                   All I want to know is what sonof-
                   abitch shot him, that's all.  Was
                   it one of them John Bull assholes?

     Across the aisle two well dressed gentlemen are sitting.
     The one by the window, the lean one in the frock coat and
     slouch hat, is WW BEAUCHAMP and the one on the aisle, pudgy,
     pinkcheeked, with neat muttonchop whiskers, wearing a frock
     coat and waistcoat and a silk slouch hat in spite of the
     heat, is ENGLISH BOB.  English Bob has beady blue eyes, is
     about thirty-five and pulls constantly on a good cigar.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                     (in a rich English accent)
                   No, sir, I believe the would-be
                   murderer is a gentleman of French
                   ancestry... or so it would seem.
                   I hope I won't give offense if I
                   observe that the French are known
                   to be a race of assassins, though
                   they can't shoot worth a
                   damn...any Frenchman among the
                   present company excluded of
                   course.

     Crocker, not liking or understanding the interruption, gives
     English Bob a hard stare.

                               FUZZY
                            (to Crocker)
                   Says here a fellow by the name of
                   "Gitto."   "G-U-I--T..."

                              CROCKER
                           (eyes on Bob)
                   Sounds like a damn John Bull to me.
                   "Gitto."

     THIRSTY, a cowboy sitting behind Crocker, turns in his seat,
     sensing the tension in the air and WW feels it too and
     shifts uneasily... but English Bob is unperturbed and he
     puffs cheerfully on his cigar.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   Well, sirs... again not wishing to
                   give offense... it might be a good
                   idea if the country were to choose
                   a Queen... or even a King
                   ...rather than a president.  One
                   isn't as quick to take a shot at a
                   King or a Queen.  The majesty of
                   royalty, you see...

                              CROCKER
                           (provocative)
                   Maybe you don't wish to give
                   offense, sir, but you are givin'
                   it pretty thick.  This country
                   don't need no queens whatsoever, I
                   guess.

     Crocker is shifting in his seat so that the revolver in his
     holster is prominent and there is uneasy stirring among the
     nearby passengers.  A DRUMMER looks around for exits.

                              CROCKER
                   As a matter of fact, what I
                   heard about Queens...

                              THURSTON
                   Shut up, Joe.

                              CROCKER
                           (to Thurston)
                   Huh?  What's got up your ass,
                   Thirsty?  This dude asshole...

                              THURSTON
                         (to Crocker, but
                          his eyes on Bob)
                   Might be the "dude" is English Bob
                   ...the one who works for the Union
                   Pacific shootin' Chinamen.  Might
                   be he wants for some dumb cowboy
                   to touch his pistol...  so's he
                   can shoot him down.

     English Bob, unperturbed, just pulls on his cigar.

                              CROCKER
                             (sobered)
                   That a fact, mister?  You English
                   Bob?

                            ENGLISH BOB
                             (affably)
                   Why don't we shoot some turkeys,
                   friend?  Ten shots... a dollar
                   a turkey.   I'll shoot for the
                   Queen, and you can shoot for...
                   whomever.


     EXT. TRAIN - DAY

     Turkeys bursting from long Nebrasks grass as the train
     whistle screams.

     BLAM!  A turkey plummets to earth.

     BLAM!  Another goes down.

     VIEW ON ENGLISH BOB

     On the swaying platform between cars, his pistol smoking and
     BOB brings it up again fast and sights and BLAM!

     AN EXPLOSION OF FEATHERS plummeting down and disappearing in
     the long grass.

     VIEW ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PLATFORM

     Where WW Beauchamp, Crocker, Thurston, Fuzzy and the nervous
     Drummer, in a cheap bowler, are standing.   They are all
     impressed with the fact that English Bob is one hell of a
     shot with a pistol.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                            (to Crocker)
                   I believe that's eight for me...
                   to one for you.  A matter of
                   seven of your American dollars.

                              CROCKER
                       (grudgingly counting
                          silver dollars)
                   Pretty damn good shootin'....
                             (daring)
                   for a John Bull.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                       (accepting the money
                            cheerfully)
                   No doubt your aim was affected by
                   your grief over the injury to your
                   ... uh... president.


     EXT. TRAIN STOP - DAY

     Bawling cattle milling in the pens south of Big Whiskey, and
     the train hissing and steaming at a standstill.

     CLOSE VIEW

     Two leather valises and a leather rifle case as MUDDY
     CHANDLER tosses them on his mud wagon, a sort of open
     stagecoach.  The scene is one of chaos as the train steams
     and hisses and baggage is tossed off and more is tossed on.

                              CHANDLER
                   It's a nickel up to Big Whiskey,
                   gentlemen.

     WW hands Chandler the money and, as he and English Bob climb
     into the mud wagon, they are accosted by GERMANY JOE SCHULTZ
     who runs the livery stable and does horse business with
     railway passengers on the side.

                            GERMANY JOE
                   I godd nize horzes I zell you,
                   boyce.  Nize prizes for
                   Independence Day, boyce.


     EXT. MUD WAGON - DAY

     English Bob and WW riding in the mud wagon, bouncing
     uncomfortably in spite of the slow pace, and eating dust and
     sweating profusely.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                            (irritably)
                   It's the climate does it.  That
                   and the infernal distances.

                                WW
                   Does what?

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   Induces people to shoot persons
                   in high places.
                     (mopping his brow with his
                           (handkerchief)
                   It's a savage country.  That's
                   the second one shot in twenty
                   years.  It's uncivilized shooting
                   people of substance.

     The mud wagon rattles past the South Road sign.  It is
     similar to the one of the North Road and says:

                   No Firearms in Big Whiskey.
                   Ordinance 14.
                   Deposit pistols and rifles
                   County Office.


     EXT. BIG WHISKY INN - DAY

     Deputy ANDY RUSSELL stepping out of the County Office as the
     mud wagon clatters to a stop in front of the Big Whisky Inn.

     Andy is just twenty, a good looking kid with a badge on his
     vest and a holstered pistol.  He watches the passengers
     climb out of the mud wagon and, as English Bob alights, his
     frock coat parts and gives ANDY just the quickest glimpse of
     a holstered pistol under the coat.

                               ANDY
                   Pardon me, gentlemen, but local
                   ordinance obliges you to surrender
                   your sidearms to proper authority
                   for the duration of your visit.

     WW looks at English Bob and English Bob turns and looks Andy
     up and down very coolly.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   Proper authority eh?
                            (breezily)
                   Well, sir... neither my companion
                   nor I carry firearms on our
                   persons.  Rather, we trust in
                   the goodwill of our fellow man
                   and the forbearance of reptiles.

     And English Bob gives a smart bow, turns with a swirl of
     coat-tails that allows a brief glimpse of not one, but two
     holstered pistols, and marches off.  As WW follows English
     Bob, he glances nervously back to see what young Andy will
     do but Andy just stares nonplussed.  In that quick glimpse,
     Andy saw how the weapons were tied down with thongs, meaning
     the owner wanted a quick pull... and this shit is out of his
     league.


     INT. COUNTY OFFICE - DAY

     KER-CHICK, CLACK, A HENRY RIFLE COCKED and the action
     checked.  Andy is cleaning the weapon in the County Office.

                               ANDY
                   Unarmed, my ass.

     SHUCK, KA-CHAK.  CHARLEY HECKER breaks open a single
     barreled shotgun and moves a shell in.

                              CHARLEY
                         (wiping his brow
                             nervously)
                   Christ, it's hot.

                               FATTY
                           ((cheerfully)
                   If I'm gonna get shot, I druther
                   it was hot then cold.  Everythin'
                   hurts more in the cold.

     Fatty is sitting in a chair in front of the empty jail cell
     cleaning a revolver, oblivious to the tension.

                          FATTY (cont'd)
                   You know how if you hit your thumb
                   in the cold, how it...?

                              CHARLEY
                   Shut up, Fatty.

                               FATTY
                   I only said...

     Outside a horse clatters up fast and Andy jumps nervously to
     the window.

                                ANDY
                   Clyde's back.

                              CHARLEY
                   Little Bill with him?

                                ANDY
                   No.

                              CHARLEY
                             (worried)
                   Shit.

     Clyde bursts in the door.  He is wearing two gun-belts
     crossed, with a holster on each side.  Since he has only one
     arm, he carries one pistol butt forward and the other butt
     back.

                               CLYDE
                   You boys clean my Remington?

                               FATTY
                          (holding it up)
                   Cleaned an' loaded.

                              CHARLEY
                   Where's Little Bill for Christ
                   sake?

                               CLYDE
                      (inspecting the pistol)
                   Ha.  He was building his fucking
                   porch.

                              CHARLEY
                   Building his porch!

                               FATTY
                   If you was to get shot, Andy,
                   would you like it better to be
                   a hot day or...?

                               ANDY
                             (sharply)
                   I ain't gonna get shot.

                              CHARLEY
                             (to Clyde)
                   He's coming ain't he?

                               CLYDE
                         (ejecting shells)
                   'Course he's coming.

                               FATTY
                   Hey, I just loaded her.  Watcha
                   doin?

                               CLYDE
                   I don't trust nobody to load my
                   guns, not for a shootin'.

                              CHARLEY
                   What'd he say?

                               CLYDE
                   Little Bill?  He didn't say nothing.
                   Like I said, he was buildin' his
                   porch.  Have you seen that thing?

                               FATTY
                             (sulking)
                   It was all loaded.  Jesus, Clyde,
                   you got three pistols an' only
                   one arm for Christ sake.

                               CLYDE
                            (to Fatty)
                   I just don't wanna get killed for
                   lack of shootin' back.
                           (to Charley)
                   You know there ain't a straight
                   angle in that whole goddamn
                   porch... or in the whole house
                   for that matter.  He's the worst
                   fucking carpenter.

                              CHARLEY
                             (worried)
                   He didn't say nothin', huh?

                               CLYDE
                      (putting the 3rd pistol
                            in his belt)
                   Asked what they looked like,
                   that's all.  Christ, maybe he's
                   tough but he sure ain't no
                   carpenter.

                              CHARLEY
                   Maybe he ain't so tough.

     Clyde looks up, surprised.  There is a sudden silence.

                               ANDY
                           (blurting it)
                   He seem like... like he was...
                   scared?

                               CLYDE
                             (amazed)
                   Little Bill?  Him scared?

                              CHARLEY
                   We never seen him up against
                   any... like these ones... killers.

                               CLYDE
                     (looking at the frightened
                     faces of Charley and Andy)
                   Little Bill come out of Kansas
                   an' Texas, boys.  He worked
                   them tough towns.

                              CHARLEY
                             (ashamed)
                   Just wondered.  Anybody could
                   be scared.

     Andy drops his eyes and looks away from Clyde.

                               CLYDE
                          (with meaning)
                   No.  He wasn't scared, boys.
                   He just ain't a good carpenter.


     INT. BARBERSHOP - DAY

     English Bob, delighting in the smooth feel of his freshly
     shaved pink cheeks, climbs cheerfully out of the barber
     chair, still chattering at the poor BARBER.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   ...can see that there's a dignity
                   in royalty... a majesty... that
                   precludes the likelihood of
                   assassination.

     The Barber is applying his little whisk broom to Bob's
     waistcoat while WW pulls out his purse to make payment.

                        ENGLISH BOB contd.
                   Why, if you were to point a pistol
                   at a King or a Queen, sir, I can
                   assure you your hand would shake
                   as though palsied...

                               BARBER
                         (looking at Bob's
                              pistols)
                   I wouldn't point no pistol at
                   nobody, sir.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                       (putting on his frock
                        coat over his guns)
                   A wise policy.  But if you did,
                   I can assure you, the sight of
                   royalty would cause you to
                   dismiss all thoughts of bloodshed
                   and stand... in awe.
                              (pause)
                   Whereas, a president... I mean,
                   why not shoot a president?

     The Barber doesn't know how to take this guy, and just ogles
     him.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   Now this Strawberry Alice person,
                   tell me again.

                               BARBER
                   Down the street and across.  Greely's
                   Beer Garden and Billiard parlor.
                   Just ask for Alice and say you want
                   a game of billiards.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                          (about to exit)
                   Billiards, eh?  Even though I
                   don't really wish to play?

                               BARBER
                   Don't matter.  They burned the
                   table in '78 for firewood.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   Ah, I see.

     WW has already stepped out and English Bob follows him out
     the door.


     EXT. BARBERSHOP/MAIN STREET - DAY

     English Bob steps out the door.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   Come on, WW.  Let's...

     Something's wrong!  There is a funny quiet and WW is frozen
     like a ramrod.  English Bob looks around.

     VIEW ON CHARLIE HECKER

     Ten yards to Bob's right, pointing a 12 gauge shotgun and
     Fatty Rossiter a few feet away pointing his old Enfield.

     VIEW ON ANDY RUSSELL

     On Bob's left, pale and tense, pointing his Henry, and Clyde
     Ledbetter kneeling near him, leveling one of his pistols.

     VIEW ON LITTLE BILL

     Standing ten yards away in the empty dusty street where the
     Fourth of July flags are flapping.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Hullo, Bob.  Boys, this here is
                   English Bob.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                        (under his breath)
                   Shit and fried eggs.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Been a long time, Bob.  You run
                   out of Chinamen?

                            ENGLISH BOB
                    (recovering his composure)
                   Little Bill, I thought you were
                   dead.  I see you shaved off your
                   chin whiskers.

                            LITTLE BILL
                        (feeling his chin)
                   Well, I was always tasting the
                   soup two hours after I et it.

     VIEW ON THE STREET

     Empty, silent.

     VIEW

     FACES IN THE WINDOW of the Blue Bottle restaurant.  EGGS
     ANDERSON, TOM LUCKINBILL, MRS. PEEVEY, HOPPITY THOMAS,
     peering out.

     VIEW

     Alice, Kate and Little Sue in Greely's window and, in the
     open doorway, ready to duck for cover, Skinny and Germany
     Joe Schultz and PADDY McGEE, the cooper.

     VIEW ON ENGLISH BOB

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   What I heard was that you fell
                   off your horse drunk and broke
                   your neck.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   I heard that one myself, Bob.
                   Hell, I even thought I was dead
                   til I found out it was just I
                   was in Nebraska.
                              (pause)
                   Who's your friend?

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   WW Beauchamp... Little Bill
                   Daggett and... "friends."

                                WW
                             (nervous)
                   From N-n-newton?... and H-hays
                   and A-a-abilene?

                            ENGLISH BOB
                              (dryly)
                   The same.

     Charley is taking all this in wide-eyed.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   You work for the railroads too,
                   Mister Beauchamp?

                                WW
                         (scared to death)
                   N-no.  I wr-wr-wr-write...
                   I wr-wr-write...

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Letters?

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   Books.  He's my biographer.

                            LITTLE BILL
                        (fighting amazement)
                   Oh.

     And WW is reaching for a pocket.

     VIEW

     Andy and Charley and Clyde and Fatty tensing to fire.

     VIEW ON ENGLISH BOB

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   I wouldn't do it, WW.

     WW freezes, terrified... and a puddle of urine forms at his
     feet.

                                WW
                   It's only a b-b-b-book...

                            LITTLE BILL
                      (his pistol half-drawn)
                   A book, huh?
                       (returning his pistol
                     and glancing at the piss)
                   I guess that means you can read...
                   An' I guess you boys seen them
                   signs about surrendering your
                   firearms... But then, like you
                   told old Andy there, you ain't
                   armed, are you, Bob?

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   Not really...
                            (shrugging)
                   Maybe a couple of Peacemakers...
                            (bargaining)
                   I imagine you could overlook those,
                   eh, Bill?  If you didn't see them...
                   or hear them?

                            LITTLE BILL
                           (cold as ice)
                   I guess not, Bob.  I don't like
                   guns around.

     With a sardonic glance at the arsenal trained on him English
     Bob gives a shrug and holds open his coat in surrender,
     exposing two fancy holstered pistols.

     Little Bill gives Andy a head signal and Andy steps forward
     and takes the pistols from English Bob's holsters.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Charley, see what kind of "books"
                   Mister Beauchamp is packing...
                   but watch you don't get wet.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                             (to Andy)
                   Be careful with those, sonny.

     Onlookers are stepping out of doorways now and moving
     timidly into the street forming a large semi-circle.  The
     whores are among them.

                              CHARLEY
                   No shit, Little Bill, all he's
                   got is this here book.

     Charley holds up a dime novel with a lurid cover showing a
     gentleman in a top hat protecting a woman with his body
     while firing two pistols at seven disheveled looking
     "Western types."  The title is "The Duke of Death."

                            LITTLE BILL
                       (reading with effort)
                   The... Duck of Death.

                                WW
                   D-d-d-duke.  The D-d-duke of
                   Death.

     English Bob starts to go but Little Bill puts a hand on his
     shoulder.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   Give me the .32, Bob.

     Furious, English Bob turns and looks into Bill's eyes and
     then, seeing no alternative, opens his vest esposing a small
     pistol.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   You leave me at the mercy of my
                   enemies.

                            LITTLE BILL
                        (taking the pistol)
                   Enemies, Bob?  You been talking
                   about the Queen again?  On
                   Independence Day?

     A lot of the tension has gone out of the occasion and the
     crowd is beginning to murmur and people are starting to move
     and a couple of kids are running when suddenly...

     CRUNCH! English Bob's face seems to cave in with the force
     of Little Bill's fist and Bob literally flies backward and
     slams into the side of the barber shop.

     VIEW

     Alice gasping... Andy's jaw drops... Little Sue's eyes
     bulge...  Charley gulps.

     VIEW ON ENGLISH BOB

     Slumped against the wall, blood pouring from his unhinged
     jaw, amazed.

                            ENGLISH BOB
                   Wh... what... ?

     Little Bill walks calmly up to him and WHAM... kicks him
     hard in the chest.

     VIEW

     Silky having a hard time swallowing and Mrs. Peevey turning
     away and Eggs horrified and Alice's scared face.

     VIEW ON ENGLISH BOB

     Bloody, on all fours, pulling a knife from his waistcoat...
     but the whole effort is painful and hopeless.  He hasn't a
     chance.

     Little Bill looks down at him for a moment from his enormous
     height, watching the smaller man's pitiful effort, then
     SLAM!... Little Bill kicks him in the ribs hard and you can
     hear air going out of Bob, and Bill steps hard on Bob's
     knofe hand and the bones crunch loudly.

     VIEW

     WW, white as a ghost and Andy is trying not to vomit.  There
     is the sound of another brutal blow.

     VIEW

     English Bob on all fours in the dusty street now, barely
     conscious.

     KA-WHUMP! Little Bill kicks him again, not angrily, but
     hard.

                            LITTLE BILL
                   I guess you think I'm kickin'
                   you, Bob... but it ain't so.
                        (WHAM, another kick)
                   What I'm doin' is talkin', hear?
                   I'm talkin' to all them villains
                   down in Kansas an' them villains
                   in Cheyenne...
                              (WHUMP)
                   Lettin' em know there ain't no
                   whores' gold...

     Little Bill turns and looks hard at the whores and Alice is
     sick from the violence and Little Sue is biting her lip and
     Silky has tears in her eyes.

                            LITTLE BILL
                       (turning back to Bob
                         and kicking him)
                   ...an' how if there was...
                   how they wouldn't want to come
                   lookin' for it anyhow.

     Little Bill looks down with eyes as cold as ice and English
     Bob grovels in the bloody dust, barely conscious.


     EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - DAY

     Open country under a hot sun and Munny and Ned riding their
     horses at a walk and the saddles creaking and birds chirping
     in the five foot high grass.  It is late morning in Northern
     Kansas and they have been riding since dawn, mostly in
     silence, but Ned has something on his mind and he glances at
     Munny and frowns and then finally he blurts his question.

                                NED
                   Say, Bill... You ever... ever
                   go into town... an' all?

                               MUNNY
                         (surprised at the
                             question)
                   Sure, I got to.  Got to get supplies.

                                NED
                   No.  I mean...
                           (embarrassed)
                   ...an' get yourself a woman?
                   You know?

     Munny looks away quickly, embarrassed, and it seems like he
     isn't going to answer and then, when he finally does, he
     keeps his eyes on the horizon.

                               MUNNY
                   Naw.  Naw, I don't ever go into
                   town for that.
                              (pause)
                   A man like me... A man like me
                   can't get no woman but one he's
                   gonna pay for... an' that ain't
                   right... buyin' flesh.
                          (looking at Ned)
                   Claudia, God rest her soul, she
                   wouldn't have wanted me doin'
                   nothin' like that, me bein' a
                   father, an' all.
                       (he looks away again)

                                NED
                           (rhetorically)
                   Whaddaya do, just use your hand?

                               MUNNY
                         (after a nervous
                           glance at Ned)
                   Sometimes... yeah.
                          (looking at the
                              horizon)
                   I don't miss it all that much.

     Ned is shaking his head, wondering at the transformation of
     his old friend when...

     CRACK!  A RIFLE SHOT and the Albino mare rears violently,
     whinnying and hurling Munny out of the saddle and...

     Ned's roan bolts at full speed, Ned barely staying aboard.

     CRACK! another shot.

     VIEW ON MUNNY

     On all fours in the tall grass.  He feels his forehead and
     wipes away a little blood, and shakes his head to clear it.
     Then he hears rustling in the long grass and he whirls and
     pulls the Starr out of his belt and sitting back he aims at
     where he heard the noise and he pulls back the hammer with a
     loud click.

                            NED'S VOICE
                            (a whisper)
                   Billy.  Billy.

                               MUNNY
                       (lowering the pistol,
                             relieved)
                   Yeah.

     Ned crawls out of the grass next to Munny.

                                NED
                   Some fucker's shootin' at us.

                               MUNNY
                   Yeah.

                                NED
                      (alarmed, seeing blood)
                   He hit you?

                               MUNNY
                   Naw.  I bumped my head fallin'
                   off of my horse.

     CRACK, another shot.  Ned looks puzzled and he lifts his
     head up and tries to look around without exposing himself.

     A hundred yards away Ned can see a clump of four or five
     trees and there is a little cloud of black smoke still
     hanging in the air there and then a sudden flash of fire,
     smoke and CRACK!

     Ned doesn't even duck, he just frowns.

                                NED
                   He ain't shootin' our way no more.
                       (indicating the left)
                   He's shootin' over that way.  Who's
                   he shootin' at over that way?

                               MUNNY
                   Beats the hell out of me.

                                NED
                   You suppose maybe we're in
                   somebody's field?

                               MUNNY
                   I didn't see nothin' planted.

     CRACK.  Another shot.  Ned ducks urgently.

                                NED
                   Fuck, he's shootin' at us again.

     CRACK, CRACK, CRACK.

                                NED
                   Jesus, he's shootin' up the
                   whole fucking horizon.

     Munny is thinkinh about it, has an idea, weighs it and gives
     it a try.

                               MUNNY
                            (shouting)
                   HEY.

                                NED
                   You're marking us, Bill.

                               MUNNY
                          (ignoring him)
                   HEY, KID.

                                NED
                   Kid?  The Kid's shootin at us?

                               MUNNY
                   IS THAT YOU, KID?

                                NED
                   Why would the Kid shoot at us?

                               MUNNY
                   HEY KID, IT'S ME, BILL MUNNY.


     EXT. TREES - DAY

     The Kid rifle at his cheek is crouched behind one of the
     trees.  His horse is standing nearby.

                         MUNNY'S VOICE o.s.
                   Hey, Kid, is that you?  It's
                   me, Bill Munny.

     The Kid is frowning and finally he makes up his mind.

                              THE KID
                            (shouting)
                   YEAH.  IT'S ME.

                         MUNNY'S VOICE o.s.
                   Don't shoot at us no more, okay?

     The Kid is peering around the tree and squinting
     ferociously.

     HIS POV:

     The field.  It is one big blur.  He can't see worth a shit.

     The Kid squinting and peering and worrying.

                              THE KID
                   WHO YOU GOT WITH YOU?

                         MUNNY'S VOICE o.s.
                   Ned Logan.  My old partner, Ned
                   Logan.  Don't you shoot no more,
                   okay?

     The Kid doesn't like it, he's nervous and twitching, trying
     desperately to see what's going  on out there.

                         MUNNY'S VOICE o.s.
                   We're gonna collect our horses an'
                   come on over.  You ain't gonna
                   shoot no more, are you?

                              THE KID
                   NO, I AIN'T.


     EXT. TREES - DAY

     VIEW ON MUNNY

     Bedraggled and sweaty, walking into the clump of trees
     leading his horse and Ned, behind him, leading his roan and
     looking just as bad.

                               MUNNY
                   Had to chase the damn horse a
                   mile.

     The Kid is sitting under the shade tree looking sullen.

                                NED
                              (angry)
                   What was you shootin' at us
                   for, anyhow?

                              THE KID
                   Thought you was followin' me.

                               MUNNY
                   Well, we was.  Like you said,
                   I changed my mind an'...

                              THE KID
                   Wasn't nothin' said about no
                   partner.

                                NED
                   Well, this here's Ned Logan...
                   Ned, this here's the Schofield
                   Kid, nephew of Pete Sothow an'...

                              THE KID
                   I seen two fellas followin' me,
                   I guessed they come to kill me.
                              (pause)
                   We didn't talk about no other fella.

                               MUNNY
                       (squatting in front of
                        The Kid, talking in
                         a persuasive tone)
                   Well, now Kid, there's two of
                   these cowboys, ain't that so?
                   Better there's three of us...
                   maybe them cowboys got friends.
                   Maybe...

                              THE KID
                   I was gonna kill them two by
                   myself.  It don't take three.

     Ned walks over to where The Kid's rifle is leaning against
     the tree and The Kid is watching nervously.

                               MUNNY
                   Now Ned's a hell of a shot with a
                   rifle.  Hell, he can hit a bird
                   in the eye flyin'.

                                NED
                       (picking up The Kid's
                               rifle)
                   Better'n you anyhow, Kid.  You
                   wasn't comin' close.

                              THE KID
                   Keep your damn hands offa that
                   rifle, Mister.

     The Kid is touching his pistol and Ned puts the rifle down,
     annoyed.

                                NED
                   I was only checkin' it for you.
                   Thought maybe somethin' was bent.

                              THE KID
                   Nothin's bent.

                                NED
                   Well, you was shootin' every
                   which way an'...

                              THE KID
                            (to Munny)
                   You gonna share your half with him?

                               MUNNY
                   Three ways, I figured.

                              THE KID
                   No.

                               MUNNY
                              (to Ned)
                   Sorry, Ned.  Guess I wasted your
                   time.  See ya, Kid!

     Munny turns to go and Ned gives The Kid a disgusted look and
     turns away.

                              THE KID
                            (to Munny)
                   You're goin' back with him?

                               MUNNY
                             (turning)
                   He's my partner.  He don't go,
                   I don't.

     Ned is mounted and Munny starts to mount too, but the mare
     is as reluctant as ever, shying and prancing while MUNNY
     hops awkwardly with one foot in the stirrup.

                              THE KID
                   What's it come to, three ways?

     Munny turns and looks at The Kid.


     EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - DAY

     The three of them riding across open country.  The Kid looks
     like he still has a thorn up his ass and the only sound is
     the creaking of saddles.

     Storm clouds are gathering behind them on the horizon.

                               MUNNY
                   Oh shit.

     And The Kid looks back but of course he can't figure out
     what it is they saw.

                              THE KID
                   What the hell are you pissin'
                   about, I'd like to know?

                               MUNNY
                           (astonished)
                   Huh?

                              THE KID
                   Well, what were you lookin' at
                   anyhow?

                               MUNNY
                   Lookin' at?

                                NED
                   Clouds, Kid.  We was lookin' at
                   them clouds on account of we got
                   a storm ridin' up our ass.

                              THE KID
                          (looking back)
                   Oh, them.
                           (petulantly)
                   Hell, I seen them.

     Ned frowns and looks at The Kid and something is bothering
     Ned.


     EXT. STREAM BED - DAY

     A dry stream bed and the three men are riding single file
     now with The Kid in the lead but Ned has been thinking and,
     trotting with his horse, he pulls alongside The Kid.

                                NED
                   You was right to change your mind,
                   Kid.

                              THE KID
                        (surly, suspicious)
                   Yeah?

                                NED