THE WILLIAM MUNNY KILLINGS
 
 

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...

CLYDE (cont'd)
...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.
MUNNY contd.
(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)
(MORE)

MUNNY contd.
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.