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...
...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
(proudly)
I'm a damn good shot.
(looking up)
See that hawk up there? I could
kill that hawk with one shot.
VIEW on the empty sky. There isn't any hawk.
VIEW on Munny who is right beside them is looking up and he
doesn't see any hawk and he looks at Ned like he thought Ned
was crazy and he frowns.
The Kid just looks up and squints and looks ahead at the
trail and keeps riding.
THE KID
Hell, I could hit it too if I
didn't mind wasting a shot.
And Munny looks up again, amazed, because they must be
crazy, both of them.
And Ned reins his horse hard.
NED
There ain't no hawk up there,
Kid.
And the Kid reins and turns and he locks eyes with Ned. He
knows he's been found out.
NED
Can't see worth a shit, can you?
The Kid is furious, his eyes flick around and he spots
something and he pulls out the Schofield.
THE KID
See them fucking turtles?
VIEW ON THREE TURTLES
Making their way up the stream bed ten yards away.
VIEW ON THE KID
His Schofield spitting fire and smoke BLAM, BLAM.
VIEW ON THE TURTLE
BLAM, the third turtle exploding and following the other two
to oblivion.
VIEW ON THE MEN
MUNNY
(impressed)
Shit.
NED
(impressed but holding back)
How far kin you see?
THE KID
Far enough.
NED
We ain't goin' to Nebraska on
no turtle hunt. A hundred yards?
THE KID
More.
NED
(testing)
See that scrub oak yonder?
THE KID
(furious)
Fuck you.
NED
(to Munny)
He's blind, for Chri...
THE KID
(pointing his pistol
at Ned)
I ain't blind, you asshole.
MUNNY
Now hold on, boys, hold on. Now,
Kid, you kin see fifty yards,
can't you?
THE KID
Bet your ass I kin see fifty yards
an' I kin shoot this sonofabitch...
MUNNY
Easy, Kid, easy.
(looking Ned in the eye)
Now, you hear that, Ned? The Kid
can see fifty yards fine, hear?
NED
(under his breath)
Jesus.
MUNNY
Fifty yards ain't bad.
(glancing at the horizon)
Guess we better get along.
EXT. SKY - DAY
STORM CLOUDS building behind them on the horizon.
INT. COUNTY OFFICE - NIGHT
CLOSE ON A BOOK
The lurid cover, "The Duke of Death" by W. W. Beauchamp.
Little Bill is looking at the cover, his feet propped on his
desk in the county office. It is night and the office is
lit with an oil lamp.
LITTLE BILL
(referring to the book)
Them boys look like real hard
cases. Did you kill all seven of
'em dead, Bob... or did you just
wing some of 'em?
English Bob is lying on his back on a cot in the little cell
a few feet away. He turns his head toward Little Bill and
his swollen face is horrible to behold. Of course, he
doesn't answer except with the nasty eye.
LITTLE BILL
That is you there, ain't it, Bob?
The Duck of Death?
WW
(daring)
Uh... Duke.
WW is in the little cell next to English Bob's.
LITTLE BILL
Oh yeah... Duke. Well, Bob, you
always was hell an' Jesus with a
pistol... but seven of 'em, an'
you protectin' the lady too...
How'd you do it?
English Bob just turns his malignant stare away but WW
screws up his courage and asserts himself... sort of.
WW
Uh... It's... uh... generally
considered desirable in the
publishing business to... ah...
take certain license in depicting
the cover scene... for... ah...
purposes involving the... ah,
market place.
LITTLE BILL
Well, Mister Beauchamp... from
what I read of this here book,
I'd have to say the writin' ain't
a whole lot different from the
pitcher.
WW
(sweating, but with
dignity)
Uh... I can assure you, Mister
Daggett... the events described
within are based... on the accounts
of eye witnesses and...
LITTLE BILL
(opening the book)
Meaning the duck himself, I guess.
WW
Duke.
LITTLE BILL
(harshly)
Duck, I says.
(reading badly)
"You have insulted the honor of
this beautiful woman, Corcoran,"
said the duck. "You must
apologize." But Two Gun Corcoran
would have none of it and,
cursing, he reached for his
pistols and would have killed them
but The Duck was faster and hot
lead blazed from his smoking
sixguns."
(he tosses the book
on the desk, disgusted)
WW
(with dignity)
I believe that to be an accurate
description of the events, sir...
albeit there is a certain poetry
to the language which...
LITTLE BILL
(standing up)
Well, Mister Beauchamp, I was at
the Blue Bottle Saloon in Wichita
the night English Bob killed Corky
Corcoran... an' I didn't see you
there... nor no woman, nor no
two-gun shooters nor nothin'
like that.
WW
(amazed)
You were there?
WW looks to English Bob for confirmation but Bob's stare
just gets nastier.
Little Bill is warming to the subject though, standing in
front of the cell.
LITTLE BILL
First off... Corky didn't carry
two pistols, though he should of.
WW
But he was called...
LITTLE BILL
Some folks did call Old Corky "Two
Gun" but not because he was
sportin' two pistols but because
he had a dick so big it was longer
than the barrel on that Walker
Colt he carried. An' the only
insultin' he done was stickin'
that big dick of his in some
French Lady that Old Bob was sweet
on... Well, one day Corky walked
into the Blue Bottle and before he
knows what's happening Bob takes a
shot at him... and misses on
account of he's drunker than hell.
WW is fascinated and he looks to Bob and BOB'S eye is
blazing and he looks back at Little Bill who is beginning to
act out the scene.
LITTLE BILL
Well, that bullet whizzin' by
panicked Corky, an' he done the
wrong thing! Pulled his gun in
such a damn hurry he shot off his
own toe. Meantime, Bob aims good
and squeezes off another... but
he's so drunk he misses again an'
hits the thousand dollar mirror
behind the bar.
Well, now the Duck of Death is
good as dead 'cause this time Corky
does right an' aims real good, no
hurry...
WW
(beside himself)
And?
LITTLE BILL
Bam! That Walker Colt blew up in
his hand... which was a failing
common to that model. Now if
Corky would have really had two
guns instead of just a big dick he
could have defended himself to the
end.
WW
You... you mean...
(looking at Bob)
English Bob killed him while...?
LITTLE BILL
Well he wasn't gonna wait for
Corky to grow no new hand. He
walked over real close, bein'
drunk, an' shot him through the
liver.
WW stares first at English Bob and then at Little Bill,
appalled.
EXT. WOODS - NIGHT
Night in the woods and Ned fussing around with his blankets
not far from the campfire.
NED
(irritably)
No sir, I did not give up robbin'
an' stealin' on account of I got
religion. I give it up 'cause I
got too old for all this here
nature.
Munny is lying in his blankets a few feet away, exhausted
and dirty and not a bit interested in Ned's complaints.
NED (cont'd)
I give it up 'cause I hate
sleepin' out in the air...
fuckin' sticks in my food... an'
fuckin' bugs in my food... an'
fuckin' rocks under my back...
(crawling into the
blankets)
Shit, I sure do miss my fuckin'
bed.
MUNNY
(irritably)
Yeah... you said that last night.
NED
Last night I said I missed my
fuckin' wife... tonight I just
miss my fuckin' bed.
Lightning flashes and a horse whinnies and then the thunder
cracks and rolls.
MUNNY
Well, I guess you're gonna miss
your fuckin' roof soon enough.
EXT. BY THE HORSES - NIGHT
The horses, shying and skittish, and The Kid is rubbing his
face tenderly on the Morgan and whispering in a soothing
voice.
EXT. CAMP - NIGHT
Munny and Ned lying near the campfire and The Kid walks up
and starts to fix his blankets.
He looks at Munny thoughtfully. Something's bothering him,
and finally he blurts it out as he climbs into his own
blankets.
THE KID
Say, Bill. That business in Jackson
County... did that really happen?
I mean how they say it happened?
MUNNY
What business?
THE KID
(a frown, a pause, then...)
An' how there was two deputies up
close pointin' rifles at you...
had you dead to rights... an' how
you pulled out a pistol an' blew
them both away to hell... an'
only took a scratch yourself.
(pause)
Uncle Pete told me he never seen
nothin' like it, shootin' your
way out of a scrape like that.
MUNNY
(uncomfortable)
Well... I don't recollect.
THE KID
(amazed and dubious)
You don't recollect!
The Kid doesn't know whether he's been rebuffed or what, but
seeing after a moment that his conversation with Munny is
not getting anywhere he decides to have a try at Ned.
THE KID
Say, Ned... ?
NED
(curt)
Yeah.
THE KID
How many men you killed?
(after a long pause)
Ain't you gonna answer?
NED
I don't like the question.
THE KID
(indignant)
Well, I gotta know what kind of
fellas I'm ridin' with, don't I?
In case of a scrape.
NED
How many you killed, Kid?
THE KID
Five. I killed five of 'em.
(pause)
That counts a Mexican I killed.
(pause)
He come at me with a knife.
There is a long pause and then a flash of lightning and a
roll of thunder and the nervous whinnies of the horses.
MUNNY
Get some sleep, Kid.
THE KID
You boys are crotchety as a
couple of hens.
Just then the rain starts and it sizzles in the campfire and
the horses snort and Ned covers his head with his blankets.
NED
Aw shit!
INT. COUNTY OFFICE - NIGHT
WW
Actually, then, Mister Corcoran
was faster on the draw than the
D... English Bob?
WW is sitting at Little Bill's desk writing furiously with a
quill pen. It is still night and Little Bill is lounging in
a chair and English Bob is moaning and snoring in the cell.
LITTLE BILL
Faster? Fast was his mistake. If
he hadn't of been in such a
goddamn hurry he would not have
shot off his toe with his first
shot and he would have killed old
Bob.
(lecturing)
See, son, bein' a good shot an'
bein' quick with a pistol... that
don't do no harm... but it ain't
much next to bein' cool.
Little Bill pulls out his pistol very deliberately... not
slowly, but not like a Hollywood fast draw.
LITTLE BILL (cont'd)
A man who will keep his head an'
not get rattled under fire... he
will kill you like as not.
Little Bill is pointing his pistol, aiming.
WW
But if the other fellow is quicker
and fires first...
LITTLE BILL
He will be hurryin' and he will
miss. That there is as fast as I
can pull an' aim an' hit anythin'
more'n ten feet away... unless
it's a barn.
WW
But... if he doesn't miss?
LITTLE BILL
(laughing and holstering
his pistol)
Then he will kill you. That is
why there are so few dangerous men
like old Bob there... an' like me.
It ain't so easy to shoot a man
anyhow... an' if the sonofabitch
is shootin' back at you... well,
it'll unnerve most fellas.
(struck with an idea)
Look here, let me show you
somethin'.
(he reaches into a
drawer in the desk
and pulls out a pistol)
See this here pistol?
WW looks at the pistol uneasily and over in the cell English
Bob's one eye opens and he moves his head slightly because
he senses something is happening.
Little Bill holds the pistols out to WW.
LITTLE BILL
Take it.
(WW hesitates)
Go on, take a hold.
Nervously WW accepts the gun as though it were hot. Little
Bill pulls some keys out of a drawer and tosses them on the
desk.
LITTLE BILL
Them's the keys. All you gotta do
is shoot me an' you an' English
Bob can ride out free as birds.
WW
(shaking)
Is... is it... loaded?
LITTLE BILL
Wouldn't be no good if it wasn't.
You got to cock it though.
WW looks nervously over at English Bob and Bob's eye says
"Do it, do it, do it."
WW gulps and he pulls back the hammer and stands up and
looks at Bob again and Bob is nodding "Yes, yes, do it."
LITTLE BILL
An' you got to point it.
(pause)
Go on, point it.
Slowly, with trembling hand WW raises the gun and points it
at Little Bill who looks calmly back at him.
LITTLE BILL
All you gotta do is pull on
the trigger, mister.
WW gulps and sweat comes off his forehead and he points the
shaking gun and Bob nods "Yes" and WW bites his lip and
then...
WW lowers the gun slowly. He can't do it. He wipes his
forehead.
LITTLE BILL
Hot, ain't it?
(reaching for the gun)
You never even put your finger
on the trigger.
Little Bill is reaching for the pistol but WW has a
frightening idea and instead of giving up the pistol he
steps backward toward the cell.
WW
What if... what if I gave it to...
him.
(and he indicates Bob)
Little Bill's eyes narrow like slits and tension fills the
air.
LITTLE BILL
Go ahead... give it to him.
English Bob's eye lights up in anticipation and he tries
to get up on one elbow.
WW
(gulping)
R-r-r-really? You r-r-really
w-w-want...?
LITTLE BILL
(like ice)
Give it to him.
English Bob is sitting up and reaching for the gun and his
eye is on Little Bill and WW reaches out with a shaking hand
and ENGLISH BOB'S hand just touches the gun and...
Little Bill drops his right hand to his own gun and grips
the butt and...
ENGLISH BOB hesitates, his gaze locked with LITTLE BILL'S
and the two men eye each other. Then, furious, ENGLISH BOB
withdraws his hand... empty.
LITTLE BILL
(grinning)
Guess he don't want it, Mister
Beauchamp.
Little Bill accepts the pistol from the trembling WW and,
looking straight into ENGLISH BOB'S angry eye, LITTLE BILL
ejects five cartridges from the chambers of the pistol.
LITTLE BILL
You was right not to take it, Bob.
I would of killed you.
WW collapses into a chair and wipes sweat from his brow.
LITTLE BILL'S VOICE o.s.
We could use some rain, eh, Mister
Beauchamp?
EXT. CAMP - DAY
BARRRRROOM! THUNDER, LIGHTNING, RAIN IN SHEETS and the
Albino mare rearing and screaming and Munny landing in the
mud.
MUNNY
You fucking no-good goddamn shit-
faced pig fucking dirty whore.
It is daylight but the rain is so thick you can't see more
than five feet and Munny crawls up out of the mud wearing a
slicker and looking like hell, already full of remorse for
his outburst.
Ned rides up out of the rain leading Munny's horse and Munny
tries to mount again.
MUNNY
I didn't mean it, old gal.
The Albino rears but Ned is helping and he holds the horse
and then grabs the seat of Munny's muddy pants and half
shoves him into the saddle.
Up ahead, barely visible in the rain, The Kid is holding
back his horse impatiently.
THE KID
Let's go.
EXT. OPEN COUNTRY - DAY
A LITTLE LATER. RAIN. Ned and Munny riding side by side
through the downpour and The Kid twenty yards ahead, barely
visible. Munny looks like shit and Ned looks at him with
concern, deliberates, then reaches into his saddle bag and
pulls out a bottle of whiskey and offers it.
NED
I brung this for when we had to
kill them fellows.
(Munny glances at it
and looks away)
I guess we could use some now.
MUNNY
Not for me. I don't touch it no
more.
NED
(exasperated)
God damn it, Bill, it's rainin'.
MUNNY
I know it's rainin',
(looking ahead)
Give the Kid a drink, why dontcha?
Ned takes a long pull on the bottle, re-corks it and puts it
in his saddle bag. He looks sympathetically at his friend
hunched unhappily in his saddle.
NED
You think the Kid really killed
five men?
Munny just shrugs and looks back at the trail and keeps
riding.
MUNNY
(after a while)
No.
NED
What he was talkin' about... how
them deputies had the drop on you
an' Pete...
MUNNY
Yeah?
NED
I remember how there was three of
them deputies you shot... not two.
MUNNY
(dismissing it)
Well, I ain't like that no more,
Ned. I ain't no crazy, killin'
fool.
NED
(after a while)
You still think it'll be easy
shootin' them cowboys?
Munny shrugs and looks straight ahead into the rain. Of
course, it won't be easy... and they both know it.
MUNNY
If we don't drown first.
EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY
A blazing hot day and English Bob's battered face staring
out of the mud wagon which is being loaded up by Chandler.
In the distance the train whistle toots eagerly.
LITTLE BILL
(to Chandler)
Give them keys to the conductor
and tell him he can loose the
cuffs off of Bob soon as he's out
of the county.
Little Bill is standing beside the mud wagon and WW is
standing next to him and a little knot of onlookers forms a
semi circle.
ENGLISH BOB
(talking through closed
teeth)
Mmmm pistols.
LITTLE BILL
Oh yeah.
Little Bill unwraps a cloth and produces the ivory-handled
peacemakers... smashed and hopelessly bent. And he gives
them to Bob and looks him in his one furious eye.
LITTLE BILL
I guess you know, Bob, how if I
see you again I'll just start
shootin' right off an' figure
it's self-defense.
That's fine with English Bob. He glares back and the two
men understand each other perfectly and then Chandler whips
the horses and the wagon starts to roll.
LITTLE BILL
I ain't stealin' your biographer,
Bob. Stayin' on was his idea.
And WW stands there beside Little Bill and gives Bob a shit-
eating look and English Bob just glares and rolls away.
EXT. MAIN STREET - MOMENTS LATER
As the mud wagon rattles down the dusty street English Bob
sticks his horrid swollen face out the window and screams
insanely:
ENGLISH BOB
A plague on you! A plague on the
whole stinking lot of you! You're
uncivilized vermin, without laws
or morals! You're worthless
savages! I curse you! You're
cursed! Cursed!
The whores, fanning themselves on Greeley's porch, stare
dumbfounded as the madman rolls by raving. Then he's gone.
All that remains is the sound of his ranting, diminishing in
the distance and a cloud of dust settling on the hot street.
Sitting next to Faith on the porch, Alice fans herself
grimly.
ALICE
Nobody's gonna come.
FAITH
Huh?
ALICE
After what Little Bill done to
the Englishman.
Skinny steps out the door and blinks in the dazzling light
and wipes his face.
SKINNY
Delilah, them tables ain't clean.
Can't you get 'em clean?
Delilah gets up and goes in, angrily brushing past Skinny in
the doorway.
SKINNY
(after her)
Well, if you'd cover up your face,
maybe somebody'd want to fuck with
you an' you wouldn't have to do
all the cleanin'.
(to the others)
Whaddaya call them things that
cover the face?
FAITH
(looking straight ahead)
A veil.
SKINNY
Yeah, a veil. Christ it's hot.
There is a distant roll of thunder and Skinny looks off at
the Southern horizon where storm clouds are gathering.
ALICE
(listlessly)
Rain's coming.
SKINNY
(emphatically)
Thank God.
EXT. TRAIN TRACKS - DAY
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING and the train chugging through the
storm. A second flash of lightning reveals three drenched
riders near the tracks and one of them is having trouble
controlling his white horse.
Of course it is Munny and as he tries to hold the shying
mare a flash of lightning lights up a passing railroad coach
and Munny gets just a glimpse of a strange battered face in
the window.
The Kid is handing the whiskey bottle back to Ned and Ned
offers it to Munny again.
NED
You sure, Bill?
And Munny just shakes his head and wipes rain from his eyes.
EXT. SOUTH ROAD - NIGHT
NIGHT AND RAIN and The Kid is chuckling drunkenly and
handing the bottle back to Ned who looks at it and tilts it
way back. They are riding along the South road in the dark.
THE KID
(cheerfully)
I left you some... about a drop.
Munny is hunched in his saddle, shivering, his teeth
chattering.
NED
You alright, Bill?
Munny doesn't look alright. He looks like shit... looks
sick. He doesn't answer and Ned looks worried and takes the
last drops from the bottle and tosses it in the road near
the ordinance sign which is too dark to read.
INT. ALICE'S ROOM - NIGHT
Alice's room at night, the sound of rain beating hard on the
roof. Alice is playing cards with Silky and Faith when
Little Sue sticks her head in the door.
LITTLE SUE
A fella's askin' for you, Alice.
ALICE
Tonight? You ain't joshin'?
LITTLE SUE
(looking behind her)
This way, mister.
Silky and Faith pick up the cards to leave.
ALICE
Must be randy as hell to come
out in this shit.
And then they look up because a water soaked young man with
very few front teeth and a ragged stubble is standing in the
doorway squinting. It is the Kid.
INT. LITTLE BILL'S HOUSE - DAY
DRIP DRIP DRIP. A chamber pot on the floor of Little Bill's
house collecting water from a leak in the roof and Little
Bill is walking about in stocking feet, making a speech.
LITTLE BILL
"No," he says, "you are wrong
Little Bill. That there is no
Curly J but a bobbed J." He
had worked it over, you see?
WW Beauchamp is sitting in a chair scratching frantic notes
with a quill pen... and a splotch of water hits the paper
and he glances up because there is a new leak.
LITTLE BILL
(continuing, oblivious)
"Jim," I says, "You are a liar and
a horsethief." Now -- when he
seen them others wasn't gonna help
him none -- he started in to
cryin' and sobbin' and sayin'...
(mimicking)
"Don't kill me, Little Bill,
don't kill me, please don't
kill me."
WW is trying to write and trying to slide away fr