"ROAD HOUSE" (1989)

“ROADHOUSE”

Story and screenplay

by

R. Lance Hill

(aka David Lee Henry)

July, 1986

Dalton has a degree in psychology from NYU. He drives a new Mercedes. His entire worldly goods fit easily in the trunk. He carries his x-rays and medical records with him. He keeps in superb condition a body that has been shot and stabbed and had more than 30 bones broken and has been screwed back together by an impressive array of stainless steel screws. He has already worked in almost half the States in the Union. He makes a lot of money. He is the best there is at what he does. He is a bouncer.

ROADHOUSE

The Size of a warehouse, it is a sizzling red neon bunker surrounded by a sea of parked cars. A lineup snakes from the door into the lot, moving to the hump-driving backbeat that rumbles and quakes from inside, filling the night.

A marked car cruises routinely through, eyeballing. On the door is Baton Rouge Police Department.

Jammed wall to wall, the place is incendiary with raw energy. The band does stout rock and roll laced with Cajun funk. The bar is in overdrive. Bodies glisten with sweat.

Going to The Edge if going where the action is. median age is 25, guys and girls here for the music, the beer, looking to get laid. Dress is laid back show-what-you-got. Color the joint predatory.

Yet there is a curiously understated control. The crowd knows how far it can go. The bartenders are consummate pros. The waitresses are quick, friendly, have a great pass defense. The half dozen bouncers, without jackets, are a constantly shifting though barely discernible presence. It all emanates from:

DALTON

He leans into his customary shadow near the bar. He ain’t heavy. Sneakers, jeans, loose-fitting shirt. Nothing happens in here he doesn’t see, or sense, or anticipate...

THE EIGHTEEN AND ANXIOUS SEGMENT

are into the music, clapping, jiving their bods. There are some great bods...

THREE GUYS AT A TABLE

Pussy prospectors grinning beneath show-quality mustaches, they have a sign propped up on the table offering Free Mustache Rides...

A GUY

tries hitting on a girl going past, MUSIC DOWN...

She likes his lines. She sits, MUSIC UP...

FRAMED POSTER ON THE WALL

It says Put Something Exciting between Your Legs. It shows a woman in tight, glossy leathers, astride a new café racer motorcycle.

Sitting under the poster is a guy about 20 with RED HAIR. Alone and nursing a beer, he’s a diligent observer, his gaze never far from Dalton...

LUCKY

Like the other waitresses, she has her name emblazoned across the front of her T-shirt. A guy at the bar runs his hand up her ass as she’s leaving with a fresh round of beers. She shoots him a tolerant smile then glances at Dalton.

He’s seen it. He nods to another bouncer. The bouncer moves in, easy and buddy-like, wagging two fingers that indicate twice is too many and the guy has to go. The guy resists. A second bouncer is there instantly. They escort him to the door without incident...

OUTSIDE

The guy leaves. The bouncer at the door succumbs to the pleas from three women and admits them from the lineup...As an airport

limo pulls up. From it steps TILGHMAN, a man in his 50s with something on his mind.

He exchanges a few clipped words with the bouncer, shows a business card, is allowed inside...

IN “THE EDGE”

Another bouncer tries to find a place to seat the three women, can’t. He trolls them past the table with the three mustaches. The women read the offer. They sit down. The grins beneath the mustaches turn to shit-eating smiles...

THE BAND

winds up its number to raucous appreciation, wet themselves down from stand-by beers, and head straight into another driving number...

DALTON

gets his ever-present coffee refilled by one of the bartenders, winds his way through the press of bodies towards the front door...

AT A TABLE

Two women sit alone, getting off on the music. A pair of HARDNOSED dudes pull up chairs, uninvited...

HARDNOSE #1 You ladies for fun or profit?

WOMAN #1 What?

HARDNOSE #1 Do you come for free, or does it cost?

WOMAN #1 Go fuck your fist.

RED HAIR

He picks up on the hassle, watches...

OUTSIDE

Dalton, out for some air, strolls the lineup. He’s known by most, acknowledges when spoken to. A good looker draws him over. They’re acquainted. She comes on to him. He smiles, declines politely, moves on.

The police car sits idling. He raps with the Uniforms, a nightly ritual...

IN “THE EDGE”

Things are getting tense between the Women and the Hardnoses, and it’s beginning to draw attention. Hardnose #2 drops a hundred bill on the table. Woman #2 pierces it with the metal nail file she’s been using and flicks it back...

WOMAN #2 Take a hike, will you?

Although steamed, the dudes shrug, rise to leave...

HARDNOSE #1 Okay, ain’t no big thing.

Dropping her eyes to his crotch:

WOMAN #1 Figures.

Pissed, hardnose #1 puts his shoe on her chair and sends her over backwards in a jumble of skirt, legs, panties...

TIGHLMAN

steps from the owner’s office, the owner behind him. The owner indicates he might want to watch how this gets handled...

TWO BOUNCERS

move in, #1 up front, #2 behind...

BOUNCER #1 Easy, bud.

Hardnose #1 rocks him back with a straight arm to the chest. Bouncer #2 clamps his arms around hardnose #1 from behind, pinning his arms vice-like, ready to duck-walk him to the door

BOUNCER #2 Lighten up, man. You need some air, is all.

Hardnose #2 sucker punches Bouncer #2, sending him reeling. Bouncer #1 still tries to avoid hostilities...

BOUNCER #1 Back off, fellas. Not in here.

Hardnose #1 decks him. Two more bouncers move in...

THE BAND

knows better than to stop playing. But they exchange knowing glances, eyes following movement across the floor. Their POV of:

DALTON

He steps up to the fringe. It’s a momentary standoff, the bouncers following his standard directive that it never happens inside unless there is no other way.

Hardnose #1 locks his sneer on Dalton...

HARDNOSE #1 How ’bout it, Dalton? I always wanted to try you.

HARDNOSE #1 I think maybe I can take you.

He nods to the bouncers to get them out, starts to turn away. Hardnose #1 scoops the nailfile from the table and slashes, catching him along the jaw line.

It takes two bouncers to restrain Hardnose #1

HARDNOSE #1 You and me, Dalton.

Dalton knows he’s been cut, has no need of feeling or seeing the blood. More resignation than anything else, he nods and indicates the Hardnoses precede him.

The crowd crushes in to follow. Red Hair follows. Tilghman follows.

But at the door, as soon as the Hardnoses are through it, Dalton turns and walks away...

OUTSIDE

The Hardnoses realize Dalton has done a number on them. Ans four of the bouncers are lined across the door...

IN “THE EDGE”

The reaction is mixed, admiration for Dalton’s discipline, disappointment at not seeing a battle. But nobody questions it.

Red Hair is puzzled. Tilghman is impressed.

Dalton crosses to the bar, inspects the cut under his chin with a mirror handed him by a waitress. The band hasn’t missed a beat. The place smoothly shifts back to normal...

Dalton waits while one of the bartenders boils water, Tilghman walks up...

Dalton takes the carafe of boiling water. Tilghman follows him

EMPLOYEE WASHROOM

Dalton disinfects the cut, fishes a suture needle from the carafe with a pair of surgical clamps, and commences with the first of four neat, practiced stitches.

Tilghman has never before seen anyone sew themselves up, and finds it excruciating to watch. Dalton’s glance says “So, talk”...

Tilghman counts out five thousand...

Tilghman starts for the door, hesitates...

When there is no reaction from Dalton, he leaves. Dalton ties off the sutures. They are textbook perfect.

It’s closing time, the last patrons drifting out, the staff shutting the place down. Word has gotten around.

Lucky approaches him...

They hug. She watches him make his way out, saying his goodbyes as he goes...

OUTSIDE

He scans the lot, empty except for the employee cars. He goes to a battered old junker, checks to make sure nobody’s hiding inside, unlocks it and drives away.

Dalton leaves the junker in the street, is waved past the garage’s 24-hour security station.

Moments later he drives out in a Mercedes 560 SEC, chocolate brown, Euro headlights, P7s on Centra wheels, New York plates.

A walkup that saw better days when this was a better neighborhood. Dalton parks in front, goes inside...

DALTON’S ROOM

Is transient traditional. But neat as a pin. It takes only minutes to gather up his stuff. There isn’t a whole lot.

But there are two prized possessions. A road sign that warns It is Forbidden To Throw Stones At This Sign. And a set of Japanese chimes hanging outside the open window. He takes both.

The Merc comes up a ramp onto the superslab, swings to a stop on the shoulder...

IN MERCEDES

Dalton sets twin radar detectors behind the rear seat and aimed out the rear window, plugs them into wired-in connectors, does the same with a pair on the dash and aimed forward.

He puts the Merc in gear, feeds the radio a cassette, MUSIC IN.

The Merc flashes past, flying low, passing the sparse traffic as though it were parked...

IN MERCEDES

The speedo shows he’s cruising at 110 MPH. He works a hard rubber ball in one hand as he drives, switching it to the other.

The Merc rolls through the night, a car built for just this kind of high-speed transit. Rock solid, glued to the pavement.

Parked partially concealed off the freeway...

IN POLICE CAR

The Unform is cooping (sleeping). The Merc whistling past snaps him awake. He grabs for the instant-on radar, fumbles, drops it. By the time he gets it aimed and squeezes the trigger, it’s too late.

He starts the car, throws it in gear...

IN MERCEDES

Dalton saw the cop but knows he’s clear, keeps it at 110.

First light is spreading from the East. The Merc is parked alongside eighteen-wheelers. Dalton is in a phone booth...

IN PHONE BOOTH

He’s on one of the phones. WE DO NOT INTERCUT. He works the rubber ball...

He looks out to see the Arkansas Uniform standing beside the Merc, peering at the battery of radar detectors...

He looks out to see the Arkansas Uniform standing beside the Merc, peering at the battery of radar detectors...

He hangs up. The Uniform’s still beside the Merc. He opts for:

TRUCK STOP’S SHOWER FACILITIES

He takes a shower...

IN TRUCK STOP

He comes from the showers in a fresh change of clothes. The Uniform’s still beside the Merc. He opts for:

TRUCK STOP’S RESTAURANT

He sits at the counter. The WAITRESS pours him coffee...

She chuckles, goes to fill the order. When he turns to look, the Uniform and police car are gone.

The Merc makes Missouri at 110 and holding.

Daytime traffic is considerably heavier, but here the freeways run flat and true and enable Dalton to keep the Merc hustling.

The Merc eases past the official welcoming sign...

Dalton exits his room in running shorts and shoes, slips his wallet into a pouch pinned to the underside of his sweatshirt, sets off down the street...

Dalton does not jog, he runs. Like everything else, he applies himself and works at it. Steady pace, but pushing himself. He’s in great condition...

He lopes up to a SALESMAN, waits to steady his breath...

Dalton No money.

BEHIND USED CAR LOT

sits a 1960 Chevy with flat tires, faded paint, forgotten air about it. Dalton slaps the seat, is engulfed in clouds of dust...

he laughs, lowers his shades to display a lurid wink.

ESTABLISH, a low, sprawling cinder block roadhouse. The Stars and Stripes flies from the roof, MUSIC spills into the half empty parking lot. There is no lineup.

We CLOSE on the Sixties Chevy, cleaned up and looking better...

It’s a zoo, chicken wire protects the band from thrown bottles and flying bodies. Only half full, half of those are drunk or high, half of the half are looking for trouble, and what’s left are anxiously thinking of finding a safer place to hang out in.

Staff are demoralized, lethargic. Those of the five bouncers who haven’t given up entirely are merely going through the motions, a couple more into connecting with women than keeping the casualty count down. The waitresses, in shorts, high heels and tank tops, are pawed and hit on constantly. The bartenders have a war zone stare. The Double deuce is an enterprise out of control. But...

THE BAND

is sensational. Its lead is PHIL CODY, a blind kid who plays from a low stool with a Fender Stratocaster guitar laid flat on his lap. They’re wound tight, nearing the end of their set...

AT THE BAR

A tobacco chewer is using an empty beer bottle for his juice while he enjoys the music...

THE BODY

sits alone at a table up front. She has a dynamite body and nobody knows it better than she does. She crosses to the bar, eating up the attention but coolly ignoring the stream of lines tossed her way...

PAT the bartender pours it, takes her money. A BARFLY tries his luck on her...

She looks him over, a meat market appraisal, then guns him off with:

It rips him enough he has to be restrained from following her. He breaks away. A bouncer named MORGAN intercepts and slams a fist into his gut, flings him towards the door. The Barfly collides roughly with other patrons, sprawls. Morgan picks him up and crashes him through the crowd and out the door...

ON THE WALL

is a glass jar. In it is a condom. Below it says Break In Case of Emergency. Th which a hand-written addendum clarifies The Jar, The Jar!

WOMEN’S WASHROOM

We see JUDY, a waitress, enter. As if on cue she is followed by three women...

AT A TABLE

HANK, one of the bouncers, sidles up to run a line on a girl he has singled out:

She accepts the pass. Walking away, he shoots a fist in the air like a jock having just thrown a touchdown...

PHIL CODY

is ending the set with an extended riff, spidery fingers of his chording hand blocking triads and executing flashing lead solos on the fretboard, his picking hand stabbing, wrenching, flailing; the playing brilliant, the sound vintage rock-blues.

Riotous applause follows. The band’s audience may be sex-crazed drunks and badasses but they know their music. A beer bottle sails against the chicken wire, showering them with brew...

DALTON

steps around the wire and up to Cody...

They laugh, embrace warmly. The rest of the band acknowledge Dalton, some hands slapped. Cody gropes for a towel to wipe off the beer. Dalton hands it to him...

A FAN, in full squirm, homes in on him...

He holds his hands as if wanting to touch her face...

Instead he drops his hands to her waist, up and down. One of his routines that never fails. She laughs, goes with it. Dalton starts to ease away...

The Fan leads him towards a table of her friends.

The drunks are drunker, the rowdies rowdier, the women wetter. Cody and the band are into a new set...

AT A TABLE

are two couples. One of the women has breasts that could claim a world ranking with Mammaries Contemporaneous. She’s mighty proud of them, her husband no less so.

A GAWKER at the next table can’t keep his eyes off her...

The Gawker blinks. Is he talking about his own wife?

DALTON

is standing to the side of the bar, idly observing the bartenders pulling beers, pouring drinks, making change...

THE BODY

slow walks from her table to the bar for a fresh vodka rocks. She isolates Dalton with her gaze, sizing him up, but his attention is on:

DALTON’S POV

of three shot glasses already filled and tucked discreetly away at Pat’s station.

He’s distracted by Hank’s tentative:

Dalton nods. Hank sticks his hand out...

When he glances back to the shot glasses, one is gone...

Dalton is now watching:

AT THE BAR

A buddy of the tobacco chewer is wandering past, pauses. Seeing the tobacco chewer is engrossed listening to the band, and there is an open beer bottle resting invitingly before him, he takes a mouthful...of tobacco juice.

Realizing, he sprays it all over the chewer, the bar, and Pat. Pat produces a tape-wrapped rubber hose, whacks him alongside his head. The man drops, out cold.

Morgan and another bouncer come to drag him out, taking the innocent tobacco chewer with them...

AT THE TABLE OF MAMMARIES CONTEMPORANEOUS

The husband is getting a real kick out of the gawker staring at his wife. Finally:

The Gawker can’t believe this. But the two couples think it’s a giggle, coaxing him, enjoying immensely the attention they’re drawing. The woman opens her top, gives him an unfettered view.

The Gawker takes the chair vacated by the Husband...

DALTON

stands with Hank, neither aware of the side show...

AT THE TABLE OF MAMMARIES CONTEMPORANEOUS

The Gawker is in mammary heaven, examining them, stroking them, blowing on them. But not kissing them.

To the woman, the other couple, the onlookers, it’s a yuk. Even a bouncer watches. The Husband however, has become impatient...

The Gawker keeps on keeping on. No kissing...

The crowd sees the humor in it, erupts. The Husband doesn’t see it, and erupts all over the Gawker. The bouncers wade in, no effort to mediate. Fists fly, blood splatters. In moments it’s a full-scale bar brawl...

DALTON

remains content to watch from beside the bar...

CODY

plays, immersed, resolved to ignore – or overpower – the bedlam around him.

It’s closing time. The joint looks like a battlefield after a loss. Blood on the floor. Bouncers sitting around licking their wounds. The band putting away their gear. The only patrons left are the fan waiting for Cody, the girl waiting for Hank.

Tilghman stands outside his office door, surveying the mess. He glances at Dalton, still beside the bar. Every eye in the place follows Tilghman’s.

Dalton picks his way through the debris and out the door.

Dalton has filled the Chevy’s trunk so full of spare tires he has to sit on the lid to get it closed.

He’s driving back to the city when he passes something that draws his interest. He stops, pulls a U...

SMALL HORSE FARM

Just off the road and enclosed by wire fence, it has stalls and a corral area for about 10 horses. It is the only building for miles. A dog-eared old RANCHER is unloading hay from a pickup.

Beside the gate is a hand-scrawled sign: Room For Rent. Dalton climbs from the Chevy...

The Rancher, a deliberate codger in the full light of day, looks him over. Finally points to the second floor of the horse barn

IN ROOM ABOVE HORSE BARN

The room is sparsely furnished in Early Western Gothic, rustically utilitarian but sturdily comfortable. Bed at one end, door leading to a cramped bathroom, a fridge and stove and table, shutters opening onto grazing land beyond...

OUTSIDE HORSE BARN

Dalton follows him down the stairs to the corral. The Rancher wheels on him...

Dalton has to smile...

The Rancher almost smiles...

Dalton can’t read him yet, isn’t sure...

He hands him two hundred cash...

They laugh. They shake on it.

The Rancher has gone. Dalton has brought his things from the motel. The Merc is beneath an overhang at the rear of the barn, unseen from the road. He finishes placing a cover over it. The horses warily follow his every move.

He takes an armload from the Chevy’s back seat, goes up the stairs...

IN ROOM ABOVE HORSE BARN

The first thing he does is mount the sign that warns It Is Forbidden To Throw Stones At This Sign, then hangs the Japanese chimes outside the shutters.

Watching from below, the horses cock their heads at hearing the intriguing sound the chimes produce,

A crowd every bit as explosive as last nights. Cody and the band are playing at an Uzi-pace. The rites of lust are in high gear.

DALTON

stands near the bar, working his rubber ball, eyes continuing to assess risk and calculate strategy. But he has also been made more than a little uneasy by the realization that:

RED HAIR

is at a table in a corner, alone, just as he had been at The Edge in Baton Rouge...

HANK

stands with another bouncer, STEVE, Not all the predators are male, for a WOMAN strolls up to Steve and drops her eyes to his

wedding band...

Steve grins, leans close and whispers something. She nods. He guides her towards the women’s washroom, leering at Hank...

DALTON

observes Steve and the Woman enter the washroom...and then Hank head for the front door with haste...

AN EXCEPTIONALLY LOVELY WOMAN

has just entered. Although casually dressed, she has a look too smart and assured for these surroundings. She smiles easily, a very together lady, not one you lose a few hours with, but one you lose your heart and soul to. Her name is ZEE.

Hank wants to be the one to find her a table. He waves a waitress over to take her order...

THE WAITRESS

return to the bar, asks the bartender:

The bartender looks blank...

His attention is now on:

ERNIE BASS

He leads his lady in, followed by 2 more couples. All are Black. This crowd is uniformly White. Bass and his friends coming here is a provocation. He knows it. Everybody knows it.

None of the bouncers offer to find them a table. Finally, STELLA, one of the waitresses, takes the initiative...

MORGAN

walks up to Dalton, surly, agitated...

Morgan stalks away. Is replaced by Hank...

Dalton shows no interest, gaze shifting to Red Hair, then to the Bass table. They’re being hassled by jerks next to them.

Steve spots Zee, causing Hank some apprehension as he closes in and tries to hit on her. But he strikes out and wanders away disappointed, allowing Hank to relax. The band ends its set.

Zee goes behind the chicken wire and up to Cody. He’s surprised to hear her voice. They embrace. They go to her table.

Hank frowns, cracks to Dalton:

Dalton’s attention is on the Bass table. It’s heating up...

BASS TABLE

The women are apprehensive. Bass is cool...

Bass looks for a bouncer, waves Steve over...

He walks away. The Jerks gloat...

ZEE’S TABLE

Cody’s sipping from her White Cadillac...

He leans closer, lowers his voice mischievously...

They laugh. Morgan comes over, intent on Cody...

Morgan snorts, looks Zee over, leaves...

BASS TABLE

The Jerks at the next table have taken Steve’s play as a license to escalate. And Bass has about had enough...

Jerk 1 leaps up and throws a right at Bass. Bass slips it and clubs him to his knees with a left hook over the top...

ZEE’S TABLE

Cody hears it start, raises his hand and rotates a finger as a signal the band head for their instruments. Zee guides him behind the chicken wire. They start playing furiously, it instantly distracting much of the crowd away from the fight...

DALTON

Jerks his head to Hank, towards the Bass table. Hank hurries for it...

DALTON

Hank is still with him. Dalton jerks his head towards the Bass table. Although momentarily surprised at receiving the direction, Hank hurries towards it...

BASS TABLE

Jerk 2 fires a punch at Bass. Bass takes it in the ribs, hammers him with a right.

Morgan and Steve close in. But Hank is there first. Bass backs off. Hank takes the middle ground, pushes everybody apart.

Bass gathers his lady, his friends, leaves.

INT’ THE DOUBLE DEUCE (LATER)

The band is on its last set. Dalton stands next to the bar, still working the rubber ball, still watching Red Hair...

RED HAIR

His stare never wanders far from Dalton...

ZEE’S TABLE

Hank comes to kneel by her chair...

DALTON

indicates the phone behind the bar. It’s handed to him. He punches up a long-distance number...

ZEE’S TABLE

her rising to leave commands the attention of every stray male in the joint, and a lot who aren’t strays...

DALTON

is on the phone...

He hangs up. He follows Zee...

OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE DEUCE

She’s waiting, frowns at the stitches beneath is jawline...

He draws her to him. They kiss, lovers who have been in love a good long time and know without doubt it is going to be the to of them for life. It’s all we need to know.

He looks down at her figure...

She laughs...

HANK

comes out in time to see them get in the Chevy and drive away. His perceptions go into total disarray.

Behind him, Red Hair emerges, starts across the lot.

Dalton and Zee enter...

His nod confirms her deduction. She touches a finger to the sign that warns It Is Forbidden To Throw Stones At This Sign...

He kisses her...

IN DALTON’S ROOM

They make love. It is not fucking.

IN DALTON’S ROOM (LATER)

She has been dozing. She glances around. Dalton’s nowhere to be seen. She goes to the open shutters. A gentle night breeze sways the meadow grass and moves the chimes. Her hand caresses them...

ON THE ROOF

is where she find Dalton, spread-eagled on his back, gazing into the heavens. The tin roof is modestly sloped but requires she be careful climbing up. She imitates him, only their fingers linked...

FULL SHOT: TH HEAVENS

A blanket of stars against an ink-black sky. Breathtaking...

DALTON AND ZEE

We HOLD on them an extended time. Destined to be together, they have no need to talk...

DALTON AND ZEE

Unchanged...

DALTON AND ZEE

Unchanged...

He moves his gaze to her. They will.

The old rancher is feeding the horses. Zee leans out the window

DALTON

In bed, he can run his hand over Zee’s bum...

His torso betrays wicked scars, recent bruises...

IN HORSE BARN

The Rancher watches as she expertly saddles the bay mare...

His slight grin allows that she can match him at will...

OUTSIDE HORSE BARN

She is on the mare, Dalton on another. The Rancher points:

His mock disgust, like his crusty façade, is now purely a game. She and Dalton ride out.

Dalton and Zee ride leisurely, the day warm, air fragrant...

SWIMMING HOLE

In a sylvan glade, it’s remote, no one around.

They remain mounted, enjoying the unspoiled setting while the horses drink...

She climbs down, removes her clothes. She enters the water. He remains in the saddle, watching her, amused...

DALTON AND ZEE

He’s joined her, in the water to their chins...

She moves to him. They will.

In bed, they hold each other after making love.

He sits up, slips on his shorts. There is an extensive surgical scar on his left knee. In mornings the legacy of multiple injuries is a body stiff and sore and reluctant to cooperate.

Zee watches him hobble across the floor. Though accustomed to the sight, it rips her every time. He sees, his grin not quite able to override a grimace.

They are outside the gate for her flight...

She kisses him. He holds her...

She looks at him. She’s waited a long time to hear that. It gives her hope. But she doesn’t press him...

He waves as her plane takes off, and watches until it is too distant to be seen any longer.

Dalton has assembled the bouncers an hour before the doors open. Tilghman is present...

Morgan gapes at Tilghman. Who hands him a pay envelope...

Morgan puts his face in Dalton’s, his glare murderous...

Dalton won’t make eye contact. For a long moment it on the edge. Then Morgan wheels, storms out. The others can’t figure Dalton...

Steve is the only one who squirms. Hank is solid. As are Bobby and Younger...

He waits until it’s acknowledged...

BOBBY AND STEVE

Filing out, they remain skeptical...

IN TILGHMAN’S OFFICE

Two uniformed police officers are waiting, FERNANDEZ and NORTON. Tilghman makes the introductions...

They laugh. Tilghman puts his elbows on the desk and his thumbs to his temples.

Fernandez and Norton come from the Double Deuce, get in. On a clipboard fastened to the dash is a fresh CALL SHEET...

CLOSE:

The fresh Call Sheet.

The crowd is swelling to its customary size. The band is on its first set.

The Body is at her table. Red Hair is at another.

Dalton is changed now, still consummately relaxed but with a primed, focused intensity. He’s ready, on his game. He points to one of the coffee makers behind the bar...

IN THE DOUBLE DEUCE (LATER)

The crowd is as big as it’s going to get, and humming, the band is into high gear.

At a table down front a woman climbs up and grinds into her interpretation of table dancing, encouraged by her LOUDMOUTH boyfriend, who hollers at Cody...

Hank tries to persuade him to haul her down...

Hank reaches for her. Loudmouth shoves him. Hank mumbles to himself:

Dalton is suddenly there. Intent on Loudmouth. Indicating the door...

Loudmouth swings. Dalton slips the punch and grabs the wrist and twists Loudmouth over and take a handful of hair with his other hand and slams Loudmouth’s face into the table. Twice, three times. Blood splatters on Table Dancer’s feet. It is so quick it startles.

Hank and Bobby help Loudmouth out. He goes bent over and catching blood from his shattered nose into cupped hands. The table dancer mutely climbs down, trails.

Dalton heads back for the bar...

CODY

smiles, leans into the mike, says real quiet:

THE CROWD

pays rapt attention...

THE BODY

is sufficiently impressed she considers him worthy of having her

IN THE DOUBLE DEUCE (LATER)

A FELLA using one of the wall phones terminates a heated exchange by ripping the receiver out by the cord. Younger steps up friendly but firm:

About to resist, the Fella shrugs. Younger escorts him out. When they pass Dalton, he lets Younger know he handled it righteous...

IN WOMEN’S WASHROOM (LATER)

Steve is in one of the stalls with a girl. His pants are dropped. Her skirt is hiked. He’s humping her against the wall

DALTON

leans against the door. The stall moves with their rhythm...

The stall stops moving. We will not see Steve again.

IN THE DOUBLE DEUCE (LATER)

CLOSE on Pat the bartender’s hand as he takes a previously filled shot glass from below the bar and hands it to a patron, is about to pocket the cash when a hand prevents him.

The hand belongs to Dalton. On the other side of the bar is Tilghman...

We will not see Pat again.

IN THE DOUBLE DEUCE (LATER)

Red Hair finishes a beer, rises from his table and walks out... as JACK THE BEAR walks in.

As large and hairy as his namesake, he carries a round canvas duffel. He locates Dalton by the bar.

They clasp upraised hands...

He’s looking over Jack’s shoulder. Jack follows his gaze to:

THE FRONT DOOR

Three DUDES have just come in. They look capable of handling themselves, but other than that...

DALTON

sees what we don’t...

It takes Jack a moment before he does. Dalton takes his duffel and drops it behind the bar. They take divergent paths to:

THE FRONT DOOR

Dalton comes up to the Dudes straight on. Jack comes from the side. The Dudes size it up rapidly...

OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE DEUCE

Fernandez and Norton have pulled up their car alongside two GIRLS who were on their way inside. Fernandez is staring at something one of them has handed him...

The Girls giggle at their little joke. Norton roars. Fernandez rolls his eyes...

IN THE DOUBLE DEUCE

Dude 1 has squared on Dalton. The other two are eyeing Jack...

He’s indicating Dude 1’s boots. A razor blade juts from the toe of the right boot.

Dude 1’s smirk is indeed sick. He cups his ear...

Dalton steps on his right boot and drives a fist into the center of his chest with such velocity it knocks him off his feet.

Jack takes Dude 2 in a bear hug and batters him into Dude 3...

OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE DEUCE

Fernandez and Norton are still trying to get IDs from the Girls...when the Dudes come crashing through the doors, Dalton

and Jack on them.

Dude 1 is bug-eyed trying to gulp air into his lungs. Dalton takes a punch to the ribs from Dude 3, counters with a shot to the head, then takes him out with a series of body punches.

Jack and Dude 2 exchange punches, grapple against a car. Jack ends it with a head butt that renders the Dude unconscious.

Dude 1 is bug-eyed, trying to gulp air into his lungs. Dalton takes a punch to the ribs from Dude 3, counters with a shot to his head, then takes him out with a series of explosive body punches.

Jack and Dude 2 exchange punches, grapple against a car. Jack ends it with a head butt that renders the Dude unconscious.

Dude 1 aims a kick at Dalton’s groin, Dalton narrowly avoids the blade, snatches the boot and jerks the Dude off his feet. He shifts behind as he’s getting up and claps his hands sharply over the Dude’s ears. The Dude goes down in a writhing ball, grasping his ears as though his head is about to blow.

Much of the crowd has spilled out to watch. Hank, Bobby, Younger, The Body. Dalton and Jack turn to go back inside. Dalton spots Fernandez and Norton...

They’re impressed.

The crowd parts to let Dalton and Jack through...

IN THE DOUBLE DEUCE (LATER)

Only the staff sre left, the bouncers and band are assembling at a table for a closing beer.

Dalton is at the bar, washing his coffee mug before leaving. Jack approaches..

He goes to join the guys at the table. Tilghman walks up, guardedly optimistic for the first time...

Tilghman deflates. Dalton walks out...

OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE DEUCE

Dalton find a tire on the Chevy has been slashed. He takes one of the spares from the trunk, begins changing it.

Dalton lie on the roof. An insomniac who gets by on an hour or two of dosing a night, he is wide awake.

The first drops of a ght rain dance on th tin roof. ROPS OF SOFT RAIN fall. He stays put, the rain refreshing. He smiles, a man happy in his work.

One of a dozen just like it on a motel strip...

Red Hair (GINGER) is seated alone, starting in on a plate of runny eggs, sausage, hash browns.

Dalton comes in, takes the chair across the table. Ginger stops eating...

He tips the plate so that the eggs start oozing out and dropping into Ginger’s lap...

THE GRILLMAN, WAITRESS, CUSTOMERS

stop what they’re doing...

DALTON

tosses a sausage onto Ginger’s shirt, some hash browns...

He places the cup in the empty plate, fills it to overflowing, until the plate overflows, until it’s splashing into Ginger’s lap...

Dalton stops pouring...

Dalton starts drinking the coffee...

He empties his pockets on the table, maybe 20 bucks...

OUTSIDE CAFÉ

Ginger trails Dalton outside. Dalton is not persuaded...

Dalton is forced to give him a frank reappraisal...

Dalton parks the Merc. Ginger as followed in his own car. Ginger pesters him on the way inside, Dalton still unpersuaded..

IN BOXING GYM

A neighborhood gym for inner city club fighters. There isn’t a blow dryer for miles.

Dalton works the heavy bag. He punches sparingly. But the punches are quick, and shock the bag more than his size would suggest possible.

Ginger watches from a discrete distance. His dogged presence is distracting to Dalton, making him think...

IN BOXING GYM

Dalton works the speed bag. Ginger watches...

IN WEIGHT ROOM

His regime is fast repetitions with light weights. Ginger watches...

IN CHANGE ROOM

He unwraps his hands. Ginger watches...

He holds his out. Ginger is obviously confident. They clasp hands. It is no contest. Ginger has to beg off almost at once...

The first patrons of the night are beginning to drift in. Jack The Bear has taken the bouncers aside, Ginger now one of them...

It gets acknowledged all round. The commitment and sense of purpose that was absent before is now returning in spades. They disperse.

Dalton is at the bar pouring himself a fresh coffee...

JACK THE BEAR AND HANK

take stations at the door...

Hank doesn’t know martial arts, only shrugs. Jack frowns..

The crowd is up to speed, Cody and the band have the pedal to the metal...

STELLA

is at the bar for an order. A ROMEO puts his hand on her arm...

She tries to wrench her arm away. Romeo won’t let go. Dalton steps up. His hand on Romeo’s arm is sufficient. Stella leaves with the order.

Dalton follows, stops her...

She just glares at him, turns away...

THE BODY

comes through the front door. Jack offers to get her a table. She declines, makes her own way. He watches her swing...

A GUY

is arguing with his buddy, leaning on him. Ginger takes him from behind and starts to duck-walk him out. The buddy bangs Ginger in the head. Jack is there. Jack duck-walks the buddy out.

It’s smooth, a minimum of dislocation. Dalton watches...

Judy the waitress enters the women’s washroom. A moment later two women follow...

IN WOMEN’S WASHROOM

Judy and the two women are alone. Judy has a plastic baggy of crack (rock cocaine), a baggy of wildly colored capsules in the other...

The women only want the crack. Money is exchanged.

They take glass pipes and disposable butane lighters from their purses, are about to enter a stall...when Judy spots a tennis sneaker jutting out beneath the door. A man’s tennis sneaker.

The sneaker hooks the door open. It’s Dalton. He’s been there the whole time. Judy slumps,,,

BEHIND THE DOUBLE DEUCE

Dalton and Tilghman watch as Judy and the women are driven away by Fernandez and Norton. Tilghman shakes his head, goes back inside.

Stella comes out...

Dalton understands. She’s relieved.

Ernie Bass and his lady come in, alone. Jack takes them to a table...

DALTON

sees it, continues relating some basics to Ginger...

THE FRONT DOORS

Four guys who look like trouble enter past Hank. Jack is busy elsewhere. They gaze around, pick out Dalton. Then they notice Bass and his lady.

They take the table next to them...

DALTON

has seen this too...continues with Ginger...

Jack comes over...

But Dalton’s already on his way...

TABLE WITH FOUR GUYS

They’re hassling Bass and his lady...

He leers, darts his tongue at Bass’s lady. From behind Dalton clamps the tongue between thumb and forefinger, jerks Hook Ring’s head back over the chair...

One of Hook Ring’s buddies lunges at Dalton, a buck knife in hand. Bass clubs his arm with his beer glass, knocking the knife loose, pops two short jabs into his face then drops him with a solid shot.

Jack and Ginger take out the other two out with brief flurries. It’s over in moments...

CODY

keeps the band cooking, asks one of them:

Cody makes like he’s cleaning something gruesome from his own tongue...

DALTON

Still with Hook Ring’s head back over the chair. Blood flows from where is thumbnail is pressing into the tongue...

Hook Ring does not hesitate. Dalton takes the ring, leads him to the door, releases his tongue and tosses him out. The bouncers follow with the other three.

Bass and his lady are about to leave. Dalton stops them...

Dalton indicates they follow him to:

THE BAR

Dalton pours him a fresh beer, her another drink...

His lady urges him to cool it...

Dalton isn’t going to play that game, and Bass can see it. He extends his hand...

Only the staff are left. Jack is at a table showing Ginger and the others what a hook ring is and how it works.

From the face he unfolds a small hook not unlike a bottle cap opener...

They cringe...

Dalton comes from the bar with a pair of pliers, crushes the ring and tosses it on the table...

OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE DEUCE

He finds the Chevy with another slashed tire, and a headlight kicked in.

He installs a new headlight, there in the street. While doing it he notices a Ford sedan round a corner with lights out, and park, four men inside...

IN CHEVY

He reaches under the dash and disconnects the brake lights.

As he pulls away he watches in the rear view. The Ford throws its lights on, moves into traffic behind...

ROAD TO HORSE BARN

The Chevy flashes past. Then the Ford...

IN CHEVY

Dalton is now certain he is being tailed, knows he’ll have to lose them before he can go home.

He kills the lights, stands on the gas...

KANSAS FLATLANDS

Endless wheat fields on a moonless night. The Chevy drifts a hard right onto another paved road. The Ford, high beams blazing, bullets past then locks the brakes to a stop, reverses with the tires smoking, goes after the Chevy...

POV

of the Ford driver. The Ford is newer, faster. It closes steadily.

Suddenly the Chevy is braking, no lights, just black strips off the tires. The Ford has to jerk right or climb the back of it. The Chevy swerves left onto a dirt road. The driver slides to a stop, bangs into reverse...

KANSAS FLATLANDS

The Chevy blurs past, a phantom in the night, then the Ford...

POV

of the Ford driver. Dust thrown up by the Chevy is so heavy it obliterates everything ahead, including the Chevy. The Ford’s headlights penetrate only a few yards. The driver is forced to ease off some...

VARIOUS SHOTS, THE CHEVY

Dalton has to work furiously on the wheel and use every resource to keep the Chevy on the narrow spine of road. Even then he drops wheels into ditches, mows down weeds, gets airborne over humps.

Navigating an unpaved country road on a dark night, without lights, is a nerve-stripping, white-knuckle ride that has us

involved and riveted to every jerk of the wheel and sudden looming turn and scary skid of tires...

POV

of the Ford diver. He’s hounding the cloud of dust, enveloped in it...until abruptly the cloud clears...and there is nothing but the end of the dirt as it intersects a paved road at right angles...a yawning ditch on the other side...the driver stands on the brakes, locks his arms against the wheel...the Ford slues from the dirt, across the pavement and into the ditch, coming to a bone-jarring halt against the embankment beyond.

The Chevy is in an aspen grove on a low rise. Dalton sits on the hood, lingering with the sun spreading over the wheat fields.

The Rancher is trying to wrestle a new watering trough from the back of a pickup. Dalton comes down the stairs, on his way to work. He helps with the trough...

The Rancher fixes him with an amused squint...

It’s filling up rapidly, more of a buzz than we’ve seen before. Bass and Cora are working, he a bouncer, she a waitress.

Near the bar, Dalton continues coaching Ginger...

Stella comes up to deliver the message that:

IN TILGHMAN’S OFFICE

The tone prompts Tilghman to hesitate, take careful assessment. After a long moment...

Tilghman knows if he makes an issue of it, Dalton’s gone. He backs down. Dalton leaves....

IN THE DOUBLE DEUCE

He returns to the bar. Stella has assembled the waitresses...

His approval has become important. They go back to work.

It is jammed, every table and chair and stool taken. Three deep at the bar.

Even The Body has to be satisfied with a single at the bar.

A sense of anticipation permeates. Something is going to happen before the night is out. Tonight, it’s the reason to be here, the reason it’s SRO...

DALTON

knows it better than any of them. But we’d never know it to look at him. He sips coffee near the bar...

TILGHMAN

knows. He stands outside his office door...

JACK AND HANK

are working the front door...

CODY

leans away from the mic, cracks to the band...

FIGHT FANS IN THE CROWD

Gazing at Dalton...

KENNY JAMES

comes through the front door. He’s big and muscled and looks as scary as his reputation. With him is his lady. On her forehead is tattooed Property of Kenny James...

DALTON

watches James and his property take a table that has been held for them by an acquaintance, who then disappears. Crowd noise has lessened noticeably.

Jack comes from the door, exhibiting revulsion...

JAMES TABLE

Dalton leans into his face, eyes locked. He does not like this man. James assuming a maniacal grin...

James’s grin slides, replaced by fury. It’s what Dalton wanted...

James raises his hand, glares at Dalton...

He gestures that James precede him outside. James takes a step towards the door...then shoots a wheel kick at his head. Dalton is prepared, leans away from it.

The crowd spills back. Tables and chairs fall. Bouncers cleat them away. Cody and the band keep playing...

NEW ANGLE

James gets in the stance. Dalton does the same.

James moves on him, going to the attach with supreme confidence and a lot of aggression. His style of karate is Okinawan. His initial moves are linear, simple, more force than finesse.

Dalton blocks, bobs, weaves, shuffles, slips, dodges, and slides, his defense so practiced and complete it appears almost effortless. He allows James’s strikes to come exceptionally close, but his footwork and balance are of a higher order, enabling him to remain elusive.

James pauses in his attack, taking stock, forced to. Dalton has not only shown that he knows the art, he has not countered when the opportunities were there. Is it a tactic to let his opponent tire. Or is it distain. Or mind games? Or all of these. James has to wonder.

Altering his technique to Korean, with the emphasis on kicks, James returns to the attack.

All the while his property is circling the perimeter like a deranged bat, wild-eyed, yelling...

Cresent kick, front heel, side snap, roundhouse, back, Dragon Tail, James tries them all, and more. He is expert enough to constantly vary his target, never going for the same part of the body in succession, always trying for the unexpected.

Nothing lands. Dalton’s reflexes quicker and his movements smoother, more flowing, more natural. He begins to subtly break James’s balance at will, pushing him, pulling, trapping. Putting him on notice. By martial arts standards this is a protracted fight, but only because Dalton dictates it be.

Until...James fakes a kick to the left. Dalton starts his defensive move. James spins and delivers a glancing kick to Dalton’s ribs, doing damage. Dalton circles away, twisting to assess how seriously he’s hurt.

James comes aggressive again, sensing his chance. Dalton lets him come in. James lands a couple of hand techniques. Dalton takes them, looking for his opening, for when James’s balance goes off in the shift. The fighting is in close now.

Dalton takes a hold, slams James to the floor with frightening force. A judo throw, it is completely outside the scope of what James could have anticipated. It shows in his eyes when he scrambles up. And now he is hurting.

Dalton throws a kick he allows James to block, then uses the opening for another judo throw. James gets up in pain, yet goes on the attack again.

Dalton fakes, then delivers a kick to the side of James’s knee that blows it out. He’s finished. He can’t get up. Cody and the band stop playing.

Jame’s Property doesn’t go to him, just glares at Dalton...

WITH DALTON

There is an awed silence as he makes his way through the crowd towards the bar, bestowing on him an exalted, distorted stature that he neither wants or values.

Hank holds a hand ready to slap his. Dalton rejects the ritual...

FIGHT FANS IN THE CROWD

Gazing at Dalton...

At the bar, Dalton finishes his coffee. Jack comes over...

Jack goes. Cody comes over on the arm of a nubile fan...

Cody and his fan go. Tilghman comes over, surveys the crowd...

He heads for the door.

The Body steps up, hands him her lighter over so he may light her cigarette. He hands it right back, without lighting her up, and continues on out.

OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE DEUCE

The Chevy’s tires are fine. But there is a hole in the windshield.

There are only a couple of others waiting. And Dalton. He doesn’t mind so much, because there is a particularly interesting nurse on duty and he cannot resist watching her in her white hose and starched uniform. He has his attache case with him.

A doctor in his fifties appears, somewhat harried. His name plate reads DR. R. ELLSWORTH...

ELLSWORTH lays on the hands. Dalton eyes the nurse...

Ellsworth follows his gaze. He crosses to where the nurse is attending to others, says something to her, and leaves the room.

She looks over at Dalton. He contorts his face with mock pain. She’s amused...

IN EMERGENCY ADMITTING (MINUTES LATER)

Finished with the others, she comes over, feels his ribs...

Only then does he notice her name tag reads Dr. J. Ellsworth...

He ducks his head, embarrassed...

He hands her a file. She begins reading, eyes widening...

A male INTERN appears...

She is about to let him, but intrigued, changes her mind...

IN X-RAY ROOM

She examines his x-ray plates...

She smiles...

She hands him back his file.

He is soaking his sore ribs in the antique vast iron tub when he HEARS THE HORSES moving restlessly...

ROAD INTO HORSE BARN

A battered old Chevy Suburban crawls up the lane, lights out.

It is Wade Garrett, his wife CALLIE, and Zee, trying to sneak up on Dalton.

Wade gets out quietly and tiptoes toward the barn, shushing the horses, Callie and Zee watching from the Suburban...

IN DALTON’S ROOM

He enters. It is empty. He goes to the open window and leans out...

Suddenly he tumbles from the window, pushed by Dalton, to fall with a wet thump amongst the startled horses.

He is doing his shopping when he looks up to see Hook Ring and his two buddies closing on him from different directions.

He fires the hard rubber ball and hits Buddy 3 square in the forehead, dropping him, hops a zucchini display out to the street...

WITH DALTON

Hook Ring and Buddy 2 chase him, Dalton running effortlessly, the others like they have cement shoes. Buddy 2 drops back first, out of gas.

Hook Ring keeps coming, dogged but winding down, finally quits.

Dalton walks back to him, Hook Ring bent over gasping for breath, sees Dalton’s sneakers and comes out low, tackling Dalton and driving him back against the sharp projection of a parked car.

Dalton is hurt on his side but doubles up Hook Ring with a shot to the gut, spins him to deliver four sharp shots to his kidneys

BUDDY 2

sits on the curb trying to catch his breath, sees Dalton coming, runs.

Dalton overtakes him and grabs him by the hair and banks his head off a parking meter...

ALL-NIGHT PRODUCE MARKET

He returns, feeling some pain in his side, yet finishes his shopping.

The owner looks at the holed windshield of the Chevy, a post still sticking out...

The bouncers and staff have assembled before opening. Cora presents Dalton with a T-shirt that reads DO NOT DISTURB.

He takes it in good humor...but never wears it.

Dalton punches out a tough guy, no martial arts, fists only.

CLOSE:

Fernandez and Norton’s Call Sheet; no entries for the Deuce.

The crowd is bigger. A jerk is giving the Body a hard time. Dalton tries to nicely dissuade him, the jerk resists, Dalton drops him.

The crowd is bigger still, now more mellow. Dalton coaches Ginger.

Dalton finds all of the tires on the Chevy slashed, side mirror on the ground, lights front and back busted.

CLOSE:

The Call Sheet remains with no logs for the Deuce.

Cody and the band plays, the chicken wore gone.

Dalton’s name has been spray painted in large letters on the parking lot pavement, workmen blacking it out.

Dalton is sitting across a table from a drunk causing trouble, trying to nicely talk him down but the drunk keeps running his

mouth at him...until his eyes nearly pop and hands shoot under the table where Dalton has him by the balls.

A buddy jumps in the middle, only to have Ginger pin his arms from behind and duck walk him out, the drunk crabbing painfully after.

Dalton and Jack stand at Dalton’s station near the bar...

Ginger comes from the door...

It is Doc Elizabeth Ellsworth. He goes to the door..

OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE DEUCE

The Chevy already has a smashed side window, so they go to her baby Mercedes.

It’s tony and intimate. Doc has a tony drink, Dalton coffee...

She declines to answer. He waves the waiter over...

The waiter takes the coffee away...

She laughs...

The waiter brings a fresh coffee. Dalton tries it...

A small all-nighter in the mean streets part of town. But the coffee’s good. Dalton and Doc are in a booth, she a bit uneased by the surroundings.

On a stool at the counter opposite is a derelict in a stupor, nodding off, barely able to stay on his stool...

The derelict is about to topple over, so Dalton reaches to straighten him up...

She smiles, concedes the point. The derelict is again about to fall over. Dalton again straightens him up...

Dalton tosses bills on the counter as they head for the door...

She pulls alongside his Chevy in the Double Deuce’s parking lot. Now the rear window is smashed...

He gets out...

She kisses him, drives away.

Wade Garrett is watching a MOUNTAIN of a man near the stage spitting at the stripper whenever her gyrations bring her near.

Each time he does the Mountain glances at Wade. Each time the stripper glances at Wade to do something.

The bar phone RINGS. It is extended to Wade. He waves it off...

He crosses to the Mountain...

The Mountain, towering over him, just grins, nods emphatically

The Mountain shrugs. So Wade shoots his boot out, turned, racks it against, and through, the Mountain’s knee, the Mountain going down in a heap, clutching at a knee now held together only by a jumble of ruptured ligaments and shredded cartilage, writhing in extreme pain.

Wade kneels to get in his face...

He returns to the bar, takes the phone.

We INTERCUT with FRANK McLAURY, an enormously obese middle-aged sloth with the disposition of a rattlesnake, in his office...

McLAURY Frank McLaury, down here in Brownsville, Texas. Ever heard of my place, The Lady Gay?

McLAURY I need me a cooler can keep a lid on and I pay strong.

WADE

How strong is strong?

McLAURY Three large for showing up, three small per night.

Wade looks at the receiver, it is the big leagues again...

McLAURY I ain’t hirin’ your wife. Gimme an answer.

When McLaury hangs up we REVEAL his son TOMMY sprawled in a chair...

His smirk is ominous.

There now is a lineup eager to get in...

It is wall-to-wall with a well-behaved crowd, and that has a significant number of Blacks and Hispanics. No problems.

A MONTAGE Of Dalton hitting guys, of him getting hit.

Dalton coaches Ginger.

Cody plays for a full house. Doc is at a table, waiting for Dalton to finish for the night.

He fills the Chevy’s trunk with more tires.

Dalton walks in at 2 AM, Doc not expecting him...

HOSPITAL PARKING LOT

They walk to their cars...

She laughs, kisses him, goes to her car. He goes to his Mercedes, surprising her...

Such unexpected sides to him only deepens her interest.

Arrived before him, she holds the elevator, urging he hurry...

IN ELEVATOR

She is kissing him, they moving against each other, anticipating

INSIDE DOC’S CONDO

They enter with buttons already undone, he unfastening the rest on her uniform as she does his, urgently...

Unable to wait they fuck against the wall. Her condo is as white as her uniforms.

IN HER BEDROOM (LATER)

The bed has been fucked in too, She wakes. Dalton is not there...

ON BALCONY

Her condo is high over the city, Dalton reclining on a lounge...

She lies beside him in her robe, traces a surgical scar on his shoulder...

DOC

You’re racing through your life, Dalton, and if you don’t slow it down or take up another line of work...

His glance tells her to leave it...

He shrugs. She snuggles closer...

Jammed, every table and chair occupied, three deep at the bar. Even The Body has to be satisfied with a single at the bar.

Yet a sense of anticipation permeates, something expected before the night is out, one of the reasons for the SRO...

Dalton knows it better than anyone, but we would never know it from his calmness, sipping coffee at his station near the bar...

73,

TILGHMAN

Knows too, standing outside his office vigilantly...

JACK AND HANK

are working the front door...

CODY

leans away from the mic, cracks to the band...

FIGHT FANS IN THE CROWD

Keeping their eyes out...

KENNY JAMES

comes through the front door. He’s big, muscles on muscles, scary looking. With him is a woman with PROPERTY OF K JAMES tattooed on her forehead.

Dalton watches Hank take them to a table that has been held for them by some buddies...

JACK

goes to Dalton, revulsed...

AT THE JAMES TABLE

Dalton leans into his face, James assuming a maniacal sneer...

James’s sneer slides, replaced by fury, exactly what’s wanted...

She instantly goes quiet when James raises his hand, glares at Dalton...

DALTON

Let’s do that. Outside.

He indicates James precedes him to the door, James starting for it...before shooting a wheel kick at Dalton’s head, Dalton prepared, leaning away from it effortlessly.

The crowd spills back, tables and chairs tumbling, Cody increasing the tempo of the band...

VARIOUS

James assumes the stance, as does Dalton.

James moves on him, going to the attach with supreme confidence and aggression, his style of karate Okinawan, initial moves linear and simple, more force than finesse.

Dalton blocks, bobs, weaves, slips, dodges, slides, his defense so practiced it appears almost disdainful, allowing James’s strikes to come exceptionally close but his footwork and balance of a higher order, enabling him to remain maddingly elusive.

James pauses to take stock, forced to, Dalton not only having shown he knows the art consummately, but has not countered even once, even when the opportunity was plain. Is it a tactic to tire his opponent? Or scorn? Mind games? All of these?

Altering his technique to Korean, with an emphasis on kicks, James returns to the attack.

All the while his property is circling the perimeter like a deranged banshee, wild-eyed, screaming, high.

Cresent kick, front heel, side snap, roundhouse, back, Dragon Tail, James tries them all, and more, expert enough to constantly vary his moves, never to the same part of the body as before.

Nothing lands, Dalton’s reflexes quicker and movements smoother, more flowing and natural, beginning to break James’s balance at will, subtly pushing him, pulling, trapping him off balance. By martial arts standards this is a protracted fight, but only because Dalton dictates it so.

Until Janes fakes a kick, spins and delivers a glancing kick to Dalton’s ribs. Dalton circles away, twisting to assess how badly he is hurt, concludes nothing is broken.

It sparks James, sensing this is his chance. Dalton lets him come in, allowing James a couple of minor hand strikes, waiting for his opening, the fighting in close now.

Dalton takes a hold and slams James to the floor, hard. Then a judo throw. James gets up in visible pain, shaken, uncertain.

Dalton fires a kick he knows is easy to block, uses the opening for another devastating judo throw, lets James get to his feet, unsteady.

Then he fakes, delivers a kick to James’s head that puts him down and finished, unable to rise. Cody and the band go quiet.

Dalton says to the stunned Property...

WITH DALTON

He makes his way through an awed silence to his post by the bar. Ginger holds a hand ready to be slapped and Dalton rejects it...

Jack comes over...

Dalton nods that he is. Cody is next...

Now it is Tilghman...

Dalton heads for the door. The Body gets in his way, hands him her lighter so he can light her cigarette. He hands it right back, continues on out.

He is soaking his sore ribs in the antique vast iron tub when he HEARS THE HORSES moving restlessly...

ROAD INTO HORSE BARN

A battered old Chevy Suburban crawls up the lane, lights out.

It is Wade Garrett, his wife CALLIE, and Zee, trying to sneak up on Dalton.

Wade gets out quietly and tiptoes toward the barn, shushing the horses, Callie and Zee watching from the Suburban...

IN DALTON’S ROOM

He enters. It is empty. He goes to the open window and leans out...

Suddenly he tumbles from the window, pushed by Dalton, to fall with a wet thump amongst the startled horses.

Lying in horse shit, he laughs, as do Callie and Zee...

Dalton comes down the stairs and they embrace heartily. Then he hugs Callie and kisses Zee.

Now it is Zee in the tub, Dalton sitting on the edge. Wade is like an older brother, or even father, to him, the four like family, no modesty here...

Dalton shrugs, lets it slide. But it gives Callie concerns...

He leans to kiss Zee. She whispers...

He again dismisses it. Spontaneously, he and Wade embrace, grin at each other.

Dalton and Wade, in judogis, are practicing throwing skills, slamming each other to the mat so hard is seems bones must break

Cool runnins yet?

They are evenly matched, but Wade wearing down rapidly...

Wade fakes a throw to get Dalton off balance, hurls him to the mat...

But he’s too winded to continue with throws...

Dalton clamps his grip into a muscle group in Wade’s lower back and to the side, putting Wade rigid, unable to move...

Wade reverses positions, finds the muscle group in Dalton’s back, sends him into full extension...

your hands.

They are misshapen by swelling and bone spurs and scar tissue...

Dalton does not respond.

It specializes in common articles that are blown-up elephantine in size; a golf ball 3 feet in diameter; a Lifesaver that could double as an inner tube; flashlight large enough to crawl into.

Dalton, Zee, Wade and Carrie kibitz, having great fun.

Callie uses a stepladder to climb into a martini glass. Wade hoists a basketball-sized olive up to her.

Dalton hefts a ghetto blaster outfitted with wheels and handlebars.

Zee tries on a football helmet that comes down over her shoulders.

Dalton and Zee are alone, she wearing only his T-shirt that reads DO NOT DISTURB.

He kisses one of her knees...

He begins to dress her, selecting everything from her panties to dress to shoes, for them to go out to dinner...

She laughs at their worn routine, a game, teasing and sensuous. He finishes dressing her. She looks sensational...

She now begins dressing him.

MINUTES LATER

She has finished and the exercise has aroused them but they would have to go through the ritual again and reluctantly conclude there isn’t enough time.

Elegant, expensive. Dalton and Wade are in conservative business suits, Zee and Callie stylish and beautiful.

They could be exemplary constituents of the City’s establishment ...except for the conversation...

mistaken or did you say the last time there weren’t going to be any more jobs.

They laugh. Dalton’s glance asks Zee to leave it alone.

IN FRENCH RESTAURANT (LATER)

They are on their main courses. Callie asks Dalton...

It’s evident Zee and Callie have conspired to get answers to their concerns, to no avail.

The phony-French-accent ATTENDANT brings Dalton’s Mercedes around...

IN MERCEDES

Dalton is fastening his seatbelt...when his side window is shattered by a baseball bat, Morgan and 3 of his buddies.

Dalton bangs the Merc in gear and smokes the tires out of the lot...

IN MERCEDES, MOVING

Zee, in front, changes places with Wade in the rear, helps Dalton out of his jacket...

BACK AT THE FRENCH RESTAURANT

Morgan and his buddies are high fiving at having driven Dalton off...when the Merc comes screaming back onto the lot.

Dalton and Wade leap out, Morgan taking a home-run swing at Dalton, Dalton eluding it and knocking him on his ass. Morgan’s buddy hammers Dalton with a solid body punch, Dalton putting him out with a side kick to the head.

Wade has taken on the other two and winning.

Dalton narrowly avoids another swing of Morgan’s bat, Morgan backing him up with short choppy swings.

Wade has taken out one of the buddies, puts the other in rigid extension with the back hold, blocks him into Morgan.

Morgan reels back against the car they came in, the same Ford that chased Dalton across the flatlands. Dalton drops him with a kick to the solar plexus, grabs the baseball bat and smashes out every one of the Ford’s windows.

The Attendant drops all pretense of being French...

IN MERCEDES

Zee has taken the wheel, Callie beside her. Dalton and Wade tumble into the back and Zee guns it away, Wade laughing...

They enter, Wade limping noticeably now, Dalton merely wanting to check in on the place,

Jack The Bear is working the door. knows Zee and Wade and Callie and makes much of seeing them.

One of the band has told Cody and he announces over the mic...

There is actually applause. Ginger and the other bouncers are in awe.

Wade goes to embrace old friend Cody...

IN THE DOUBLE DEUCE (LATER)

Wade is a table with Callie, Zee, Cody and members of the band, when he gets up and crosses to Dalton at the bar talking with Ginger...

Dalton frowns, introduces Ginger...

They laugh, Ginger awe-struck.

Wade and Callie slow dance amidst the horses, Dalton and Zee watching from the barn roof. Happy times.

It is FIRST LIGHT as Wade and Callie ready to leave. Dalton takes him aside...

It has caught him unexpectedly. There are embraces all-round, then he and Callie drive out.

The replacement band is merely average, Dalton at his station, Zee at a table with a White Cadillac. She wears a small button that says 64 CENTS.

Doc comes in. Hank is at the door and not sure what to do with her, nervous there might be a cat fight. Ginger cringes.

Dalton goes to her, whispers something. Doc is momentarily perplexed, then as quickly nods amiably. He takes her to Zee’s table...

HANK, GINGER

Exchange glances, Are you seeing what I’m seeing?

ZEE AND DOC

Dalton has made the introduction, leaves. Zee smiles, not a trace of animosity...

Overcoming her surprise, Doc regains her composure...

Doc can’t help but like her. She indicates the button...

ZEE AND DOC (LATER)

Now Doc too has a White Cadillac...

ZEE

I don’t want it badly enough to resort to that.

She checks her watch, gets up...

HANK, GINGER

watch Dalton go to their table, Zee hugs Doc, then Dalton and Zee leave. Ginger shakes his head...

He gets his nerve up, goes to Doc’s table and extends his hand

Dalton will drive Zee to the airport, although now the windshield wipers have been bent and broken.

He replaces them with a spare set, gets back in soaking wet...

He kisses her...

She shakes her head, No.

The lineups grow longer, parking full to capacity.

IN THE DOUBLE DEUCE

Dalton, at his station, drinks coffee, works the rubber ball, surveys the SRO crowd, not a hassle in sight.

Tilghman is extremely pleased.

Dalton emerges with his laundry, notices a vaguely familiar passing car, in it Ginger and Doc.

He smiles.

Dalton happens to be at the door when Fernandez comes in with his wife, Norton with his girlfriend. Norton makes a big deal of paying the $20 they had bet the place wasn’t salvageable.

A rambling hellhole in a sea of asphalt, well past closing time, darkly foreboding.

Wade’s Suburban and a Lincoln Town Car are the only vehicles.

Now a third car swings in and from behind the wheel climbs Tommy McLaury, JOE and BILLY CLANTON, JACK STILWELL, PETE SPENCE, BILL CURLY.

They look like every kind of trouble...

The old Rancher is doing chores, Dalton passing the time...

The Rancher comes over to pump his hand.

Jammed. The band is in overdrive. Dalton is moving through,

A waitress is filling a drink order when a JERK cracks at her...

Dalton slaps his face twice, hands him to Ginger to hustle out, the Jerk snarling at Dalton...

There is another skirmish. He find Hank being restrained by Jack and Bobby...

Hank’s wife MARIA settles at a table with a SPOILER, she smirking at Hank...

DALTON

approaches her, calm and understanding...

Dalton turns to the Spoiler, who is gloating...

The gloating grin slides. The Spoiler shrugs to Maria, leaves.

Dalton returns to Hank...

Hank does as he’s told, feeling well and truly aired out...

AT THE BAR

Dalton returns to his coffee. Zee comes through the door, something very wrong...

He holds it at 110, radar detectors primed, Zee with tears...

ZEE

Callie said he was beaten to death at The Lady Gay.

Callie runs from her room into Zee’s arms, crying. Dalton has to turn away.

Callie indicates where Wade’s body was found...

A unformed cop is outside Cody’s room, admits them...

CODY’S MOTEL ROOM

His relief at seeing Dalton is evident...

FLASHBACK

He and Wade are having a beer and talking, the place appearing empty...

Wade hears something outside, goes to peer past the door...

(WADE’S POV)

Tommy McLaury and his five buddies pour out of a car...

Wade guides him behind the bandstand, where Cody can hear if not see...

(IN THE LADY GAY)

The six, led by McLaury enter and surround Wade, McLaury leering, taunting...

TOMMY McLAURY (V.O.) You don’t remember me, old man?

Wade is trying to place him, can’t yet...

some low-life loser...

McLaury is wild-eyed crazed, high, a punk with shit for brains and five buddies for courage. He swings at Wade. Wade knocks him on his ass.

The others swarm in. Wade gets in some licks but soon goes down, where they all start in kicking...

The beating is vicious, unrelenting, brutal, and even with six to one odds and Wade a pitiful bloody pulp he tries to lash back, but they keep giving it to him in a frenzy until he is unconscious and helpless.

The others back off but McLaury keeps kicking Wade’s lolling head like it’s a football, until his father Frank appears to pull him away...

Frank McLaury feels for a pulse in Wade...

Tommy McLaury’s buddies swab the floor with industrial cleaners while Tommy smokes meth and Frank McLaury instructs...

CODY’S MOTEL ROOM

Zee is shaken...

Zee’s look to Dalton says it all...

Dalton identifies Wade’s body, it evident Wade was savagely beaten. With him is LIEUTENANT JAMES VIRGIL, a sincere, good-guy small town cop...

DALTON

I know. My blind friend is blind.

PARKING LOT OF POLICE MORGUE

Zee has been waiting for them...

Dalton merely nods.

IN MERCEDES (MOVING)

ZEE

He knew the trade all thinks you’re better that him, make more money, and he had to prove he could still do it.

She knows it is true, feels his anguish.

He gets keys to a suite for Zee and Callie, then for him and Cody...

ZEE AND CALLIE’S SUITE

The only light comes through the window...

A somber, reflective mood holds...until...

They laugh, turn on the lights.

Only Dalton and Zee, Callie and Cody. The PADRE finished his eulogy. The casket is lowered.

The Padre indicates they depart the grave site with him...

The four sit in the shade of a tree. Workmen fill in Wade’s grave. It is unbearably HOT.

They sit as before. The gravesite has been resodded, a small marker laid flat. They finally rise and walk out.

Patrons are drifting out, the place shutting down. The Mercedes sit deep in shadows...

IN MERCEDES

Are Dalton, Zee, Callie and Cody...

Curly walks out and drives away...

Stilwell walks out and drives away...

CALLIE

Pete Spense and the Clanton brothers, Joe and Billy.

They walk out together and drive away...

IN MERCEDES (LATER)

It has been a long wait. Cody checks his braille watch. Finally we HEAR RAUCOUS VOICES...

McLaury is with eight others. They are loud, loaded on booze or drugs, playing grabass with the women, the party to continue.

McLaury is even more lewd and crude than the others, dry humping his girlfriend, a ditzy blond.

They pile into cars and tear out of the lot...

It leaves only Frank McLaury’s Lincoln Town Car...

THE LADY GAY PARKING LOT (LATER)

Frank McLaury emerges alone to find the Lincoln’s windows have all been shattered, tires flat, headlights and taillights broken, side mirrors on the ground, windshield wipers bent into corkscrews.

Dalton steps out of the darkness to drop a cloth sack over McLaury’s head and, holding the sack in one hand punches McLaury’s head thoroughly with the other, then works over the fat belly until Daddy drops to his knees and topples over in tidal waves of flab...

DALTON

Has a brick on the accelerator pedal of the Lincoln, engine racing, steering wheel tied with rope to a roof pillar.

He slaps the transmission into gear...

PARKING LOT

The Lincoln begins to careen in circles, doors wide, tires screeching, McLaury tied to the roof, buck naked like a beached whale, bellowing his lungs out in threat to kill whoever is responsible.

Dalton and the other drive out, leaving the Lincoln tracing endless circles.

Dalton hands tickets to Zee, Callie, Cody. Zee won’t take hers

They’re beginning to attract attention. He forces the ticket into her hand...

She tears the ticket in half. Angered, he takes her arm...

That stops him. He releases her arm...

Dalton appeals to Callie, who turns to Zee...

OUTSIDE TERMINAL

Dalton emerges...with Zee...

He concedes she is right. He holds her...

There are enough black rubber circles in the parking lot to make a new set of tires.

The Mercedes stops in the street...

IN MERCEDES

Zee notes the time on her watch, Dalton pulls away...

The Mercedes drives past the entrance, remaining on the US side

IN MERCEDES

Zee again notes the time...

He nods...

Exasperated, and scared, she shakes her head.

They return. Virgil pulls up in his unmarked car...

Virgil smiles, then regards him soberly...

He drives away.

Dalton watches him go. Zee looks at the hotel...

They get back in the Mercedes.

ND

Dalton is readying to leave. Worried for him, Zee expresses it in her own fashion...

He kisses her, leaves.

He exits a cab, takes a deep breath to steady himself...

IN THE LADY GAY

It is rowdy even by Tex-Mex standards, the band playing typical Texas standup gut rock, smoke thick and the sweat thicker.

Dalton takes a table on the fringes.

A SULLEN WAITRESS strolls over, stoned...

She strolls off. He looks around...

HIS POV

He picks out Stilwell, then Spense, then Joe Clanton, then Billy Clanton, then Bill Curry.

And, lastly, Tommy McLaury at the bar with his girlfriend. He’s popular with the crowd, but a crowd largely afraid of him and with the collective character of a cockroach colony...

DALTON

would like to kill him on the spot, instead settles back with his coffee and Lone Star...

COUPLES

dance, steamy, grinding, dry humping...

TWO TOUGH GUYS

are on the verge of going at each other. Joe Clanton slams one in the chest, knocking him over a chair. The band stops playing. The tough guy wants no part of Clanton. The band starts again...

A BARTENDER

pours himself a shot...

TWO BARE-CHESTED DUDES

arm wrestle. The winner gets to deep throat the loser’s woman...

IN MEN’S WASHROOM

quarter ounce baggies of blow are sold...

TOMMY McLAURY

makes a spectacle out of downing a Depth Charge (shot glass of whiskey dropped to the bottom of a glass of beer, beer consumed in one long pull so the shot glass ends up in his bared teeth)

BEER BOTTLES

are shaken and beer sprayed on a woman in an impromptu wet T-shirt display...

JOINTS

are passed around the band...

A COUPLE

comes in, Bill Curry working the door...

The victim looks at the NO COVER CHARGE sign, at the numerous empty tables, but knows he has to pay. Curry slips the bills in his pocket, leers at the guy’s woman...

DALTON

takes it all in, nothing he hasn’t seen before. But it is Tommy McLaury he watches most, being inconspicuous in doing so.

He waves the Sullen Waitress over...

She holds up the Lone Star, still full, shrugs and takes it away.

His attention is drawn to:

FRANK McLAURY

He exits his office for a cruise of his domain, his face battered, walking with considerable discomfort.

He walks past Tommy without acknowledging or pausing, slows slightly passing Dalton, returns to his office...

DALTON

delivered his coffee and Lone Star his attention goes back to Tommy McLaury...

TOMMY McLAURY

has shifted to another group along the bar, one of the women sloppy drunk. He hooks a finger into her tank top and pulls it down to expose her boobs, licks one, she wrapping her legs around him from her bar stool...

DALTON

wants McLaury too much to wait, although knowing it’s not his plan and he should. He starts a circuitous route to McLaury’s GIRLFRIEND.

She’s laughing with another woman...

She cooly looks him over...

She wets her lips. Like most in here, she is stoned. He strokes her arm...

She laughs, glances towards McLaury, on account nobody comes on to his woman, and so she likes this game...

Her smile fades, the game over. She catches McLaury’s eye and he stalks up, many of the patrons stopping what they’re doing...

TOMMY McLAURY You talkin’ to my woman, dickhead.

Mclaury swings, Dalton ducks it and snaps his head back with a straight right, follows with a combination, goes to work with the precision of a surgeon and daunting focus of a feeding

shark, using only fists, hammering McLaury’s head with sharp, clean, punishing shots, then moving down to the body.

McLaury has no real defense, no real offense. Dalton carves him up with consummate skill, relentless, avenging Wade.

The crowd is stunned, McLaury’s bouncer buddies immobile in surprise...but only until Frank McLaury steps from his office and waves them towards Dalton...

IN THE LADY GAY

They close on Dalton from all sides. Dalton stops Joe Clanton with a kick, Stilwell with a chop, Joe Clanton again with a throw.

Billy Clanton clubs him with a beer bottle, he drops, rolls, trying desperately to clear his head, blood running into his eyes.

He tackles Spense coming in, but it’s hopeless. They swarm, crushing him to the floor, putting the boots to him.

They kick and beat him like they did Wade, the crowd around rabid, howling with blood lust.

Finally Frank McLaury steps in to stop it...

FRANK McLAURY Leave it! One’s enough.

BEHIND THE LADY GAY

Dalton is carried out and dumped, conscious, but a mess. Tommy McLaury has recovered from his beating enough to bring his boot down on Dalton’s arm and break it.

Suddenly they are awash IN HEADLIGHTS...

She has a .45 levelled at them. They back away.

Dalton manages to gain his feet, wobbly, lurches towards McLaury

He does, reels towards the Mercedes. They get in and she guns it, in passing tosses the .45 out. It bounces. Rubber.

McLaury puts it together...

TOMMY McLAURY I saw that bitch with Garrett and his Old Lady. That’s Dalton?!

Two Interns attend to Dalton, Zee observing. A Resident scans his medical records in disbelief.

HOSPITAL PARKING LOT

Tommy McLaury and his crew tour until they spot the Mercedes.

He and Billy Clanton go inside...

IN HOSPITAL AMERGENCY ADMITTING

They stride to the desk...

TOMMY McLAURY A dude named Dalton come in?

Before he can get an answer he sees Virgil appear in a doorway giving them an icy cop stare.

They leave.

IN DALTON’S HOSPITAL ROOM

He has been stitched up, broken arm set and cast, will be kept overnight for observation...

Dalton nods none too convincingly. Virgil leaves shaking his head...

ZEE

Six years together and you’ve never done anything like that before.

On reflection, it seems as puzzling – and revealing – to him as it does her...

She goes to the door, he afraid she is going to leave him...

AT FLOOR DESK

She asks...

STORAGE ROOM

She makes the first call...

Jack The Bear takes her call, Ginger with him.

A bouncer we saw working for Dalton takes her call.

Fong strides out purposefully to be picked up by his lady.

Parker gets in a cab.

Willy gets in his old wreck of a car.

Fong is the first to arrive and be met by Zee. They are old friends.

Now it is Parker and the bouncer from The Edge that she meets.

Then Willy.

Zee emerges with the last arrivals, along with Jack, Ginger, Bass, Hank, Bobby, Younger, and Cody.

REVEAL: VIRGIL

observing from an unmarked.

Zee returns, relieved that he’s asleep and she doesn’t have to explain herself.

Patrons are drifting in...

Now it is Dalton that is awake and Zee dozing.

She senses him staring at her, wakes, stretches...

She stops him reaching for her...

A FLOOR NURSE enters...with a list of her calls...

He reaches for the list but she snatches it first. The Nurse knows to leave...

He gets out of bed gingerly, wanting the list...

DALTON

You have a highly exaggerated sense of drama...

The same loser crowd is back, pumped and partying, the band wailing.

Tommy McLaury is patched up and strutting.

Bill Curry is at the door...

JACK THE BEAR

walks in...

Jack jerks his thumb behind him and Ginger follows. Then Fong. Then Bass. Then Willy. Then Younger. Parker. Bobby. Hank.

But they are already dispersing around the room, checking things out, noting who the bouncers are, scanning the patrons...who are scanning them...

BILL CURRY

begins circulating to give the rest of the crew a heads up that something heavy might be about to go down...

TOMMY McLAURY

is advised, glances around with glazed eyes, high, doesn’t like what he’s seeing...

THE CROWD

doesn’t need to be enlightened, can see a major shit-storm coming. Some of the rednecks decide they want a part of it, but most just want to beat a hasty exit...

JACK THE BEAR

goes behind the bar where any weapons might be.

A bartender reaches for a .38 hidden amidst the bottles and Ginger leans over the bar and decks him...

IN THE LADY GAY

All hell breaks loose. The band quits and runs. Men and women flee like rats from a ship going down...

IN FRANK McLAURY’S OFFICE

Tommy bursts in...

TOMMY McLAURY Call the cops!

Frank McLaury can HEAR his place breaking up outside the door, grabs the phone...

A UNIFORM hurries in...

VIRGIL

Yup.

He continues with paperwork...

He continues with the paperwork without looking up or displaying any concern or urgency whatsoever.

A full-blown bar brawl in underway, ripping the joint wide open.

Ginger is matched with Billy Clanton.

Jack is matched with Joe Clanton.

Bass is matched with Stilwell.

Fong is matched with Spense.

Parker is matched with Curly.

The rest of Dalton’s crew are going head-to-head with rednecks and good old boys, even some wannabe women warriors, the crew outnumbered by a wide margin but more than holding their own.

McLaury’s crew are capable, worthy opponents who live to fight.

The battle is a classic anything-goes free-for-all, except that Dalron’s crew are pros that know all the tricks and moves, know that bars are full of glass and glass is a weapon, know how to protect their backs and backs of the others, how to thumb an eye when necessary, how to use chairs and tables and immovable objects to advantage...

IN FRANK McLAURY’S OFFICE

Tommy McLaury snorts some blow for courage, wrenches the door open...

Taking perfect direction, Cody kicks Tommy McLaury square in the balls.

Frank McLaury spins in his chair to reach for a pump shotgun. Dalton steps over Tommy McLaury moaning on the floor, and kicks Frank McLaury out of his chair.

He tosses the shogun to Zee, who pumps the shells out and discards it.

Cody feels for Tommy McLaury on the floor, find him and pops him one. McLaury pushes Cody off, scrambles to his feet.

Dalton’s arm cast is in a sling. To Tommy McLaury he looks easy meat. He advances, swinging for Dalton’s head. Dalton takes him coming in, clamping his free hand onto McLaury’s windpipe...

McLaury does not move, cannot move...

The chop he delivers to McLaury’s collarbone snaps it and renders him a ball of screaming pain...

IN THE LADY GAY

Dalton’s crew is winning the battles, and the war.

The ranks of the rednecks and good old boys have been seriously depleted, what’s left being mopped up.

Bass is finishing up Stilwell. Parker is finishing with Curly.

Jack is finishing with Joe Clanton. Fong is finishing with Spense. Ginger is finishing with Billy Clanton...

OUTSIDE THE LADY GAY

Virgil has decided it is time to put in a leisurely appearance but still in no great hurry as he climbs from his unmarked, a squad of riot-equipped Uniforms climbing from vans...

IN THE LADY GAY

The war is over. Casualties litter the scene, on the floor, on the bandstand, draped over the bar. Unconscious, semi-conscious, bloody, broken, McLaury’s crew utterly defeated. It is beautiful.

Dalton’s crew are battered but they have cooled out The Lady Gay for keeps. They lick their wounds, quietly compare notes.

Zee is fine, as is Cody, with Dalton near the bar.

Dalton has Tommy McLaury on a stool, both clavicles now broken, unable to lift his arms, several fresh contusions, no resistance left, sullen.

Virgil picks his way through the debris...

Dalton first indicates the wreckage, then Tommy McLaury...

The speedometer is steady on 55 MPH. Zee is behind the wheel, Dalton beside her, leaving Texas...

He reaches for the radar detectors. She boots it up to 110. Racing through life.

the end