"UNFORGIVEN" (1992)

"UNFORGIVEN"

("THE WILLIAM MUNNY KILLINGS")

Written by

David Webb Peoples

Shooting Script, 1992

FADE IN:

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.

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.

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: 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 1878.

ALICE and DAVEY have stopped fucking and started listening, but they don't move. Written words crawl: "It wasn't until 1881... three years later... that a cowboy named MIKE cut up a whore in Big Whiskey, Nebraska, in the Niobrara River country".

END CRAWL.

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

And ALICE is right behind him, wrapping herself in a blanket as she goes.

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.

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...

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

DAVEY is reluctant about the whole thing but he is afraid of MIKE and he gets behind DELILAH and grabs her.

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.

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.

ANGLE 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:

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

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.

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

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.

You can see the 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 blond and the prettiest... are watching from vantage points in the doorway or in the room.

LITTLE BILL turns away, disgusted, and starts out of the room and ALICE gets up and follows him.

DAVEY sitting naked on the floor of the barroom 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 now you can hear DELILAH groaning from there.

And LITTLE BILL enters from the back of the barroom, 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.

Stark terror on the faces of DAVEY and MIKE as CLYDE exits.

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

SKINNY nods, pleased, and ALICE watches, her eyes still hot.

DAVEY and MIKE nod, willing to say anything LITTLE BILL wants.

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

For a long moment ALICE just stands there glaring.

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

There are gasps.

All the women laugh and DELILAH through her bandages makes a gurgling sound and LITTLE SUE's eyes light up.

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 (superimposed):

"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 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 blond 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.

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

VOICE (O.S.) 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 winces. THE KID ignores the interruption.

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

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 serves the coffee gloomily and sits down. It appears his feelings and hurt, but THE KID doesn't notice.

WILL has slipped into the house with PENNY in tow and they are both covered with mud, and WILL is swearing to show off to the stranger.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ANGLE ON PENNY

Coming up beside the pen.

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

ANGLE ON KID

Way off in the distance, disappearing on the horizon.

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

WIDER ANGLE She's hanging clothes on a clothesline 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.

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".

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.

ANGLE ON Horse's Open Mouth and SKINNY.

Inspecting.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

ANGLE ON DELILAH

Hanging clothes up on the hill and she can hear 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.

Of Claudia in MUNNY's hands.

WIDER ANGLE He is inside, kneeling on the floor beside an open trunk, 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.

As MUNNY places it on the fence behind his sod hut.

WIDER ANGLE MUNNY has the Starr in his right hand and he turns and walks back toward the house fifteen 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 carefully 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.

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.

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.

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.

MUNNY walks up and puts his hand on PENNY'S head, fondly.

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 waistband.

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...

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.

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

MUNNY turns the albino mare and starts out the gate going west toward the fields.

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.

ANGLE ON MUNNY

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

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.

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 is hopping around in his hat and boots and nothing else in front of his brand new one-story, fourroom 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.

LITTLE BILL is back at it, hauling a four-by-six into position.

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

He pauses, reluctant to go on. LITTLE BILL isn't really paying attention to anything but his house.

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.

Pause.

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

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 -- MAN

in the distance riding an albino mare, making his way slowly through the prosperous fields of young corn.

ANGLE 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 is about forty, balding, a farmer, but not as seedy- looking as his old friend, BILL MUNNY.

ANGLE ON MUNNY

Trying to dismount and the albino prancing and MUNNY staggering and SALLY looking at the scene grimly.

MUNNY gets up out of the dust looking uncomfortable and SALLY just stares at him coldly.

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 toolshed, 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.

DAY

as NED takes them from a tidy cabinet in his cozy kitchen with the castiron stove, the solid table.

WIDER ANGLE MUNNY is sitting at the table looking moodily into space.

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

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

MUNNY turns and looks at NED and their eyes meet and MUNNY realizes NED is coming.

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.

CLOSE ANGLE -- SALLY TWO TREES The sad, wise eyes of SALLY TWO TREES as she watches the two riders disappearing in the distance. Her eyes are saying good-bye.

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.

NED and MUNNY riding in open country.

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.

After a pause, NED rolls over to go to sleep and says something kind by way of saying good night.

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.

And we...

A train whistle screaming.

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.

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 W.W. BEAUCHAMP, and the one on the aisle, pudgy, pink-cheeked, 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.

CROCKER, not liking or understanding the interruption, gives ENGLISH BOB a hard stare.

THURSTON, a cowboy sitting behind CROCKER, turns in his seat, sensing the tension in the air and W. W. feels it, too, and shifts uneasily but ENGLISH BOB is unperturbed and he pulls cheerfully on his cigar.

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.

ENGLISH BOB, unperturbed, just pulls on his cigar.

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

Blam! A turkey plummets to earth.

Blam! Another goes down.

ANGLE 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.

ANGLE ON OTHER SIDE OF PLATFORM

Where W.W. 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.

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

CLOSE ANGLE 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.

W.W. 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.

ENGLISH BOB and W.W. riding in the mud wagon, bouncing uncomfortably in spite of the slow pace, and eating dust and sweating profusely.

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".

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

W.W. looks at ENGLISH BOB and ENGLISH BOB turns and looks ANDY up and down very coolly.

And ENGLISH BOB gives a smart bow, turns with a swirl of coattails that allows a brief glimpse of not one, but two holstered pistols, and marches off. As W.W. 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.

Ker-chick, clack, a Henry rifle cocked and the action checked. ANDY is cleaning the weapon in the County Office.

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

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

CLYDE bursts in the door. He is wearing two gunbelts 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 looks up, surprised. There is a sudden silence.

ANDY drops his eyes and looks away from CLYDE.

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.

The BARBER is applying his little whisk broom to BOB's waistcoat while w.w. pulls out his purse to make payment.

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

W.W. has already stepped out and ENGLISH BOB follows him out the door.

ENGLISH BOB steps out the door.

Something's wrong! There is a funny quiet and W.W. is frozen like a ramrod. ENGLISH BOB turns around.

ANGLE ON CHARLEY HECKER

Ten yards to BOB's right, pointing a 12-gauge shotgun, and FATTY ROSSITER a few feet away, pointing his old Enfield.

ANGLE ON ANDY RUSSELL

On BOB's left, pale and tense, pointing his Henry, and CLYDE LEDBETTER kneeling near him, leveling one of his pistols.

ANGLE ON LITTLE BILL

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

ANGLE ON STREET

Empty, silent.

ANGLE ON FACES

In the window of the Blue Bottle restaurant. EGGS ANDERSON, TOM LUCKINBILL, MRS. PEEVEY, HOPPITY THOMAS, peering out.

ANGLE ON 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.

ANGLE ON ENGLISH BOB

CHARLEY is taking all this in, wide-eyed.

And W.W. is reaching for a pocket.

ANGLE ON ANDY, CHARLEY, CLYDE AND FATTY

Tensing to fire.

ANGLE ON ENGLISH BOB

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

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.

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

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 "Western-types." The title is The Duke of Death.

ENGLISH BOB starts to go but LITTLE BILL puts a hand on his shoulder.

Furious, ENGLISH BOB turns and looks into BILL's eyes and then, seeing no alternative, opens his vest, exposing a small pistol.

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 barbershop.

ANGLE ON ALICE, ANDY, LITTLE SUE, CHARLEY

ALICE gasping... ANDY's jaw drops... LITTLE SUE's eyes bulge... CHARLEY gulps.

ANGLE ON ENGLISH BOB

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

LITTLE BILL walks calmly up to him and Wham... kicks him hard in the chest.

ANGLE ON SILKY, MRS. PEEVEY, EGGS, ALICE

SILKY, having a hard time swallowing, and MRS. PEEVEY turning away and EGGS, horrified, and ALICE'S scared face.

ANGLE 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 knife hand and the bones crunch loudly.

ANGLE ON W.W. AND ANDY

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

ANGLE ON ENGLISH BOB

ENGLISH BOB on all fours in the dusty street now, barely conscious.

Ka-whump! LITTLE BILL kicks him again, not angrily, but hard.

(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 looks down with eyes as cold as ice and ENGLISH BOB grovels in the bloody dust, barely conscious.

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.

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.

He looks away again.

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.

ANGLE 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 crawls out of the grass next to MUNNY.

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.

Crack. Another shot. NED ducks urgently.

MUNNY is thinking about it, has an idea, weighs it and gives it a try.

THE KID, rifle at his cheek, is crouched behind one of the trees. His horse is standing nearby.

THE KID is frowning and finally he makes up his mind.

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

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

THE KID is sitting under the shade tree looking sullen.

NED walks over to where THE KID's rifle is leaning against the tree and THE KID is watching nervously.

THE KID is touching his pistol and NED puts the rifle down, annoyed.

MUNNY turns to go and NED gives THE KID a disgusted look and turns away.

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.

MUNNY turns and looks at THE KID.

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.

And THE KID looks back, but of course he can't figure out what it is they saw.

NED frowns and looks at THE KID and something is bothering NED.

A dry streambed and the three men are riding single file now with THE KID in the lead but NED has been thinking and, trotting his horse, he pulls alongside THE KID.

ANGLE ON EMPTY SKY

There isn't any hawk.

ANGLE ON MUNNY

who is right behind them, 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.

And MUNNY looks up again, amazed, because they must be crazy, both of them.

And NED reins his horse hard.

And THE KID reins and turns and he locks eyes with NED. He knows he's been found out.

THE KID is furious, his eyes flick around and he spots something and he pulls out the Schofield.

ANGLE ON THREE TURTLES

making their way up the streambed ten yards away.

ANGLE ON THE KID

His Schofield spitting fire and smoke. Blam, blam.

ANGLE ON TURTLE

Blam, the third turtle exploding and following the other two to oblivion.

ANGLE ON MEN

ANGLE ON SKY -- DAY

Storm clouds building behind them on the horizon.

The lurid cover, The Duke of Death by W.W. BEAUCHAMP. Widen. 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.

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.

W.W. is in the little cell next to ENGLISH BOB'S.

ENGLISH BOB just turns his malignant stare away but screws up his courage and asserts himself... sort of.

He tosses the book on the desk, disgusted.

W.W. 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.

W.W. 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.

W.W. stares first at ENGLISH BOB and then at LITTLE BILL, appalled.

Night in the woods and NED, fussing around with his blankets not far from the camp fire.

MUNNY is lying in his blankets a few feet away, exhausted and-dirty and not a bit interested in NED's complaints.

Lightning flashes and a horse whinnies and then the thunder cracks and rolls.

Horses -- Night The horses, shying and skittish, and THE KID is rubbing his face tenderly on the Morgan and whispering in a soothing voice.

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 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.

There is a long pause and then a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder and the nervous whinnies of the horses.

Just then the rain starts and it sizzles in the camp fire and the horses snort and NED covers his head with his blankets.

W.W. 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 pulls out his pistol very deliberately... not slowly, but not like a Hollywood fast-draw.

LITTLE BILL is pointing his pistol, aiming.

W.W. 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 pistol out to W.W.

Nervously W.W. accepts the gun as though it were hot. LITTLE BILL pulls some keys out of a drawer and tosses them on the desk.

W.W. looks nervously over at ENGLISH BOB and BOB's eye says, "Do it, do it, do it."

W.W. gulps and he pulls back the hammer and stands up and looks at BOB again and BOB is nodding "Yes, yes, do it."

Slowly, with trembling hand, W.W. raises the gun and points it at LITTLE BILL, who looks calmly back at him.

W.W. gulps and sweat comes off his forehead and he points the shaking gun and BOB nods "yes" and W.W. bites his lip and then...

W.W. lowers the gun slowly. He can't do it. He wipes his forehead.

LITTLE BILL is reaching for the pistol but W.W. has a frightening idea and instead of giving up the pistol he steps backward toward the cell.

And he indicates BOB.

LITTLE BILL's eyes narrow like slits and tension fills the air.

ENGLISH BOB's eye lights up with anticipation and he tries to get up on one elbow.

ENGLISH BOB is sitting up and reaching for the gun and his eye is on LITTLE BILL and W.W. 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 accepts the pistol from the trembling W.W. and, looking straight into ENGLISH BOB's angry eye, LITTLE BILL ejects five cartridges from the chambers of the pistol.

W.W. collapses into a chair and wipes sweat from his brow.

Barrrrroom! Thunder, lightning, rain in sheets and the albino mare rearing and screaming and MUNNY landing in the mud.

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.

The albino rears, but NED is helping and he holds the horse and 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.

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 saddlebag and pulls out a bottle of whiskey and offers it.

NED takes a long pull on the bottle, recorks it, and puts it in his saddlebag. He looks sympathetically at his friend hunched unhappily in his saddle.

MUNNY just shrugs and looks back at the trail and keeps riding.

MUNNY shrugs and looks straight ahead into the rain. Of course, it won't be easy... and they both know it.

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 is standing beside the mud wagon and W.W. is standing next to him and a little knot of onlookers forms a semicircle.

LITTLE BILL unwraps a cloth and produces the ivory-handled peace-makers... smashed and hopelessly bent. And he gives them to BOB and looks him in his one furious eye.

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.

And W.W. stands there beside LITTLE BILL and gives BOB a shit-eating look and ENGLISH BOB just glares and rolls away.

As the mud wagon rattles down the dusty street, ENGLISH BOB sticks his horrid swollen face out the window and screams insanely:

The WHORES, fanning themselves on Greely'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.

SKINNY steps out the door and blinks in the dazzling light and wipes his face.

DELILAH gets up and goes in, angrily brushing past SKINNY in the doorway.

There is a distant roll of thunder and SKINNY looks off at the southern horizon, where storm clouds are gathering.

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.

And MUNNY just shakes his head and wipes rain from his eyes.

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.

MUNNY is hunched in his saddle, shivering, his teeth chattering.

MUNNY doesn't look all right. 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.

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.

SILKY and FAITH pick up the cards to leave.

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.

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.

W.W. 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.

W.W. is trying to write and trying to slide away from the leak without interrupting LITTLE BILL, who is delighting in his own narration, oblivious to the new leak.

W.W. is really getting wet and he is moving the chair.

There is a sudden loud knocking on the door and BILL turns and goes to the door.

Opening the door he reveals CHARLIE HECKER, wearing a slicker and shedding water like a waterfall.

NED is pouring the bright liquid into his glass and MUNNY is mesmerized by the dazzling highlights. Pull back. The two of them are sitting at a table in Greely's smoky, dimly lit barroom and the rain is beating on the roof and there is a checker game at a table fifteen feet away attended by GERMANY JOE SCHULTZ, TOM LUCKINBILL, a FARMER, EGGS ANDERSON, the

local RESTAURATEUR, and PADDY MCGEE the cooper. All of them are sneaking occasional, furtive glances at the strangers, as is FATTY, who is talking to SKINNY at the bar.

MUNNY looks dazed and shakes his head to clear it.

NED starts for the back room, then stops and goes back.

MUNNY shakes his head no and, as NED departs for the billiard room, MUNNY stares vacantly at the whiskey bottle.

The big man in the dripping slicker is standing only ten feet away... LITTLE BILL. And LITTLE BILL is looking at him. MUNNY can feel everybody in the room staring at him.

MUNNY can see CHARLEY moving slowly along the wall on the left for position... and FATTY is over on the right, SKINNY beside him... and W.W. is by the door shifting nervously and the checker players are frozen in their seats and MUNNY can feel them all ... watching him.

LITTLE SUE looks timidly in from the billiard room, bites her lip, and retreats quickly.

LITTLE BILL pulls out his pistol and points it at MUNNY and makes a little motion with the barrel that means "get up" and MUNNY get up.

LITTLE BILL steps close to him and reaches out with his left hand for MUNNY's coat, revealing the Starr tucked in his belt.

LITTLE BILL takes the pistol out of MUNNY's belt and slowly and deliberately ejects five cartridges and he looks at MUNNY, who is sweating, and MUNNY just wants a way out.

Whack! LITTLE BILL brings the muzzle of the gun across MUNNY's temple and blood flows and MUNNY goes to one knee and LITTLE BILL kicks him hard, whump!

MUNNY is struggling to his feet and staggering weak-kneed to the table, where he grabs the whiskey bottle and breaks it off and turns groggily to face LITTLE BILL.

LITTLE BILL, unperturbed, advances on him and when MUNNY strikes desperately with the bottle, LITTLE BILL blocks his blow easily and slams him hard with the muzzle of the pistol and MUNNY goes down again.

Whump, he kicks MUNNY.

MUNNY is on the floor on all fours, trying gamely to get up.

NED pushing THE KID out the window of ALICE's room and THE KID isn't fully dressed and neither is NED, but he pushes him frantically into the rainy night anyway and ALICE is urging them on and LITTLE SUE looks ready to wet her pants.

LITTLE SUE nods "yes" but she is speechless with terror and ALICE hands NED's boots out the window to him.

Outside the window, night, rain, and NED and THE KID trying to get dressed in the mud and ALICE sticks her head out the window.

NED is trying to get his own boots on and he goes down on his ass in the mud.

MUNNY crawling along the floor of the barroom, covered with blood, heading for the door.

LITTLE BILL. Let the man out, W.W. He is desiring to leave the hospitality of Big Whiskey behind him.

MUNNY is crawling past W.W.'S legs and W.W. looks down at the miserable semi-conscious creature and he sees clearly the left hand and the three fingers as they fight for traction and then W.W. steps to the door and opens it and MUNNY crawls into the rain and the night.

Slap! ALICE gets LITTLE BILL's big hand across the face.

LITTLE BILL glares at SKINNY. They are in ALICE's room and CHARLEY is there and LITTLE SUE and W.W. and it is pretty crowded.

The south end of town, night, rain and the albino mare walking aimlessly with MUNNY slumped in the saddle and then two riders come from between two shadowy buildings and it is THE KID and NED and they come alongside MUNNY, one on each side of him and NED lifts his slumped head up and looks at the battered face and winces and says with his eyes what THE KID says with his tongue.

Candlelight, NED and THE KID, and NED is sewing MUNNY's face with a needle and thread.

It is some sort of straw-filled shed and they have stuck a candle on a board.

MUNNY is only semiconscious and THE KID is holding his face still.

Daylight in the shed and MUNNY's face, waxy yellow, crude stitching, hideous swelling eyes vacant, breathing heavy.

He is lying in the straw and THE KID is looking down at him with distaste. THE KID is only partly dressed.

The sound of the rain is different; it's still coming, but it isn't a storm anymore. The shed is an irregular shelter because one wall and various parts of the roof have collapsed and the woods outside are clearly visible.

SILKY is sitting on some straw straightening her clothes and NED and ALICE are climbing out of a corner where they have obviously been at it and are in various states of dress.

Indicating MUNNY.

The horses are partly under the roof and ALICE and SILKY are leading theirs out and nobody is paying attention to THE KID.

THE KID walks over to the edge of the broken wall and from the other corner MUNNY moans loudly and then screams.

NED hurries over to MUNNY and THE KID is left there with the two whores, who are both mounted now and THE KID is embarrassed.

And THE KID has picked up two pieces of paper that the whores gave them earlier and they are charcoal sketches, one of DAVEY BUNTING and the other of QUICK MIKE and they are pretty fair likenesses.

Hanging from a beam in the shed and it is night again and the rain has stopped though you can still hear water dripping from the eaves. Widen.

They are playing cards on the straw floor, NED and THE KID and NED doesn't look up from his cards.

In the other corner of the room MUNNY gives a loud moan and both men look at him and then back at their cards.

Well, that amazes THE KID, being stuck here with these train- robber bad men and now this shit about roofs and he just stares.

NED gets up and takes the lantern over to where MUNNY is lying and kneels beside him. MUNNY looks ghastly, at death's door.

THE KID has walked over and is watching and it fascinates and scares him and he watches and swallows hard.

THE KID can't take any more and he turns and walks away and NED tries to comfort MUNNY and MUNNY grabs him and pulls him close.

And NED has tears in his eyes and MUNNY's eyes are staring and he is seeing something horrible and we...

A vision, daylight, and the horse horribly bloody, screaming silently in agony while the sound is the sound of night and the shed and the rain dripping, but that doesn't diminish the agony of the bloody animal as the whip falls on the head and the eyes and we see the young man cruelly wielding the whip. It is MUNNY fifteen years younger and it is a picture of unbelievable cruelty and viciousness... because that is what he was like and what he remembers.

Night in the shed, a little moonlight coming in through the open wall. The lantern is out and the sound is the sound of MUNNY's labored breathing and NED and THE KID are in their blankets.

Pause, you can hear MUNNY breathing.

Daylight and the cut whore's face. DELILAH is leaning over MUNNY, wiping his brow. He is lying in the straw looking up at her and he looks like shit ... his face ghastly pale and stubbled and covered with horrible cuts and bad stitching... but his eyes are clear.

DELILAH goes over to her horse and gets some packages out of the saddle-bags. MUNNY tries to sit up, weakly.

She doesn't answer.

No answer.

PULL BACK. Four of them in the woods near the shed and MUNNY is watching them where he sits wolfing chicken hungrily, his back against the shed. DELILAH is watching him eat.

As he looks over at her, MUNNY's eye falls briefly on her exposed ankle and DELILAH feels the look.

MUNNY can't help it and his eye flicks back to the ankle.

She nods and she moves so that more ankle is showing, but MUNNY's eye is drawn to her breasts as she moves, then he looks away quickly, guiltily, and they sit there silently until...

He can't help looking at her body and she knows it.

Her body is getting to him.

And DELILAH is hurt... crushed. She gets up and covers it by picking up the remains of the chicken and MUNNY is too embarrassed to look at her.

DELILAH keeps her back to him.

He is standing weakly, supporting himself on the wall and his speech is so sincere and DELILAH wants to believe it.

And MUNNY gives her what for him is his best social smile... sort of like a pig strangling.

DAY

Coming out of the fire.

It is midday in the box canyon and the four cowboys, TEXAS SLIM, JOHNNY FOLEY, LIPPY MACGREGOR and DAVEY BUNTING are branding strays and JOHNNY has the calf down ready for the pigging string but the calf kicks loose and knocks JOHNNY into the fire and the other three cowboys are guffawing, their sweaty faces full of the camaraderie of hardworking men who might get irritable by the end of the day but not yet. And then, like a flash, still laughing, young DAVEY is on his paint and riding like hell after the stray and it is beautiful to watch because he and the paint are like one.

Crack! A rifle shot and the pony does a violent somersault and DAVEY goes over in a spray of dirt and fifty yards away, TEXAS SLIM, LIPPY, and JOHNNY stare frozen in horror.

The downed pony spurts blood from his nostrils, and DAVEY's right leg is pinned under the dying paint's flank and they are maybe fifteen yards from the edge of the canyon and DAVEY's first thought is the pony.

And turning, he sees the three cowboys standing fifty yards away, frozen in their tracks.

And they turn suddenly and run away toward some rocks and it is only then that the terror hits DAVEY and in a sudden panic he tries to get free of the horse.

His face covered with sweat, the Spencer against his cheek, and he is crouched among some boulders up the canyon wall about three hundred yards from DAVEY, and MUNNY is looking over NED's shoulder, and THE KID is trying to see, too, squinting desperately, but he can't see shit.

Looking down the barrel of the rifle, NED can see DAVEY struggling frantically to get free of the horse, and it is an easy shot and NED is sweating, his hand is shaking and he can hear MUNNY's voice.

And NED is shaking and crack, he fires.

And dust kicking up a foot away and the extra terror gives him the strength to pull free of the horse.

MUNNY and NED and THE KID and NED is shaking.

And he is crawling clear of the horse, but his leg is broken and it's hard and he looks toward the rocks where his friends are hiding sixty yards away.

And turning, DAVEY can see a couple of boulders only fifteen yards away that will provide cover.

NED aiming and shaking.

And looking down the barrel, NED can see DAVEY crawling for the rocks and it is an easy shot and he can't do it and he looks up at MUNNY and the agony in his eyes says it all.

MUNNY grabs the rifle and NED moves aside and slumps against a rock and MUNNY looks down the barrel and aims.

DAVEY crawling and crack! The dust kicks up eight feet away. He is ten yards from the boulders and it is agony to crawl.

Crack! Dust puffs three feet from DAVEY's head.

MUNNY, the rifle at his cheek and THE KID leaning frantically over his shoulder, trying to see.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Pistol shots from below and the bullets ping harmlessly among the rocks.

MUNNY is aiming, he can see DAVEY, nearer shelter now. Crack! He fires and sees the dust spurt near DAVEY.

DAVEY crawling frantically and crack!... Dust explodes only inches from his head and he is pulling himself frantically and he is only three yards from safety.

And he is sweating.

NED is sitting there dazed, staring vacantly. Bang, Bang, Bang, return fire pings off the rocks.

And looking down the rifle, MUNNY can see DAVEY's head disappear behind the boulder and crack, MUNNY fires again.

Bang, Bang, Bang, the pistol fire.

MUNNY is cocking and aiming for his last shot and he can see DAVEY's legs sticking out from the rock and they're not moving.

Crack, MUNNY fires.

As DAVEY's legs disappear behind the boulder, and there is a low groan.

Sitting back against the rock, exhausted, covered with sweat and he holds the rifle up to THE KID.

DAVEY lying behind the boulder and the whole front of him is soaking in bright red blood and the sun is beating down.

MUNNY sitting there, his back against the rock, staring vacantly and NED looks the same.

The cowboys must realize that, because they stop shooting and you can hear DAVEY moaning, and NED and MUNNY just sit there and sweat, and THE KID is pacing up and down.

NED and MUNNY look into each other's eyes.

DAVEY is lying there behind the boulder, drenched in blood, looking up at the blazing noonday sun.

He pauses then, and then he speaks in a normal voice, as though to himself, to express his amazement, to test reality.

MUNNY sweating and looking up at the sun, and NED staring vacantly.

It is getting to all three of them and MUNNY looks up at the sun and then NED gets up and he walks over to a rock and he vomits.

Boulders Nothing happens, you can't tell if the cowboys are behind there or not.

There is a pause and MUNNY looks down at the boulders where the cowboys are hiding.

And then, after a long moment, MUNNY sees TEXAS SLIM come out from behind the boulder and run nervously toward the rock where DAVEY lies and he is carrying a canteen.

THE KID is trying to see, but of course he can't.

MUNNY is watching and he sees TEXAS SLIM disappear behind the boulder where DAVEY is lying and there is a moment of silence... and then the voice, a scream of grief and anguish...

And THE KID spits in the dust and NED wipes his forehead with his bandanna and MUNNY scuffs the dirt with his boot.

Hooves on flat rock and the three riders, MUNNY, NED, and THE KID, are trotting their horses over a smooth slab of rock near a hill. They are silent, glum, then...

MUNNY looks up sharply, but NED just looks straight ahead.

NED doesn't answer.

NED reins in his horse and MUNNY pulls up, too, and then THE KID.

He holds out the rifle.

NED just holds out the rifle and after a moment MUNNY takes it and NED takes a box of cartridges from his pocket and hands them over.

And he turns his horse and heads off across open country at a trot and MUNNY watches him go till he's about fifty yards away.

And NED reins up and MUNNY gallops up to him and holds out the Spencer and the bullets.

NED takes the rifle, sheathes it, gives a curt nod, and turns to go.

Late afternoon, and LITTLE BILL is crawling around up there with a bucket of tar which he has got on his moustache and his face and he looks up because he hears the clatter of hooves.

ANGLE ON CHARLEY HECKER.

Galloping his horse up to LITTLE BILL's house and CHARLEY is very excited and he swings off the horse in front of the porch and the porch is at once closer to completion and closer to collapse than last we saw it.

CHARLEY looks up startled and LITTLE BILL is looking down at him over the eves.

Flickering on DAVEY'S waxy face and dead eyes as EGGS, GERMANY JOE, and PADDY haul the blood-caked body from the back of a buckboard. Widen. W.W. is looking on queasily, taking notes, and behind him the street is alive.

And only a few yards away from the buckboard, in front of the County Office, LITTLE BILL is being besieged by deputies and townsmen.

And the dogs, snarling, fangs bared, pulling at the leash and TOM LUCKINBILL is trying to keep control.

ALICE's room and the WHORES. They are sitting glumly in the dim light of a single lamp. LITTLE SUE is wiping tears away and DELILAH is staring blankly.

DELILAH just eats the pain raw and just then...

Smash! A rock comes through the window and you can hear someone shouting.

VOICE (O.S.) You fuckin' murderin' whores.

And they all sit there stunned. And then ALICE recovers and gets up and goes to the window and hurls the rock back.

LITTLE BILL and the crowd and the torches outside the County Office and suddenly there is a commotion and shouting and everybody turns north and...

FUZZY is riding into town at full gallop, shouting at the top of his lungs.

BYSTANDERS part as FUZZY brings the horse up in front of the County Office and reins hard and addresses himself breathlessly to LITTLE BILL.

Birds chirping cheerily and the outhouse door opens and BUCK BARTHOL steps out and stretches luxuriously.

ANGLE ON BUSHES

And THE KID holding his nose. The bushes are right behind the outhouse and the stink is terrible. THE KID is crouched there and he is doing an elaborate pantomime of his suffering for MUNNY's benefit.

Coming into the bunkhouse. There isn't much light and the shadowy sleeping figures are more easily discernible by the snorts and snores they make than by their shapes except for THIRSTY and QUICK MIKE who are sitting, half-dressed at a table, rolling cigarettes.

MIKE looks up nervously.

He indicates a nearby bunk. FATTY snoring on the bunk near QUICK MIKE.

Nose bloodied, eyes blackened, as he rides down the Main Street of Big Whiskey escorted by six cowboys (including TEXAS SLIM, JOHNNY FOLEY, and LIPPY MACGREGOR) and CLYDE and ANDY. NED's wrists are tied and he looks sullen and... scared.

WIDEN. LITTLE BILL and W.W. BEAUCHAMP are standing on the porch of the Country Office when the little group pulls up attended by numerous onlookers. LITTLE BILL looks NED over colly as he addresses CLYDE.

Blazing on high and an enormous farting sound...

ANGLE ON OUTHOUSE

After a pause, another vigorous fart and then silence broken only by the buzzing of flies, and then the sound of newspaper and suddenly the door opens and THIRSTY steps out and heads up toward the bunkhouse.

ANGLE ON THE KID.

In the bushes, reacting to the smell and the flies are buzzing furiously.

MUNNY wipes sweat from his face and looks up at the blazing sun.

THE KID nods, satisfied, but he's keyed up something ferocious and his fingers play nervously with his pistol.

Jammed against the bars of the cell in the County Office. He has been tied to the bars outside the cell so that he is, more or less, spread-eagled in an upright position with his bare back exposed to LITTLE BILL and CHARLEY HECKER and W.W. BEAUCHAMP. Widen.

W.W. shakes his head at LITTLE BILL and holds out his notebook for LITTLE BILL to see.

LITTLE BILL empties hot coals from the bowl of his pipe on NED's shoulder and NED writhes and grits his teeth.

NED's face against the bars in covered with perspiration and etched with fear as he hears the door close behind CHARLEY.

NED swallows hard and sweats and waits.

They are playing at the little table in the bunkhouse. Widen. QUICK MIKE, BUCK, THIRSTY, FATTY ROSSITER and OLAF HARKEN; and QUICK MIKE doesn't even have a pair and tosses his cards down in disgust and walks over to his bunk and starts to put on his boots.

QUICK MIKE walks over to a peg and hangs a gunbelt over his bare shoulder.

THE KID in the bushes and he hears the door slamming shut up at the bunkhouse and he squints anxiously.

THE KID is beside himself, his throat goes dry and he gulps for air and he brings the hammer back on his pistol and squints anxiously.

HIS POV

MIKE out of focus approaching from THE KID's POV and gradually MIKE comes into focus walking closer and we

THE KID

Sweating, tensed for action and MUNNY looks over at him.

And THE KID is biting his lip and doesn't answer and QUICK MIKE is very close and THE KID brings up the pistol and gulps and doesn't shoot and then it is too late because MIKE has entered the outhouse. MUNNY is disgusted and he cocks the shotgun to do it himself.

THE KID is walking on eggshells approaching the door of the outhouse, pistol in his right hand, and he reaches his left hand to open the door but he is hesitant and...

MUNNY sees FATTY ROSSITER step casually out of the bunk house and MUNNY raises the shotgun and FATTY sees THE KID and screams.

Bawhoom! MUNNY lets go with the shotgun and FATTY dives back into the bunkhouse and...

THE KID is startled and looks over his shoulder.

And THE KID grabs the door with his left hand and opens it and there is MIKE sitting on the crapper astonished and one hand is on his holstered pistol but he's frozen and THE KID is pointing the Schofield at him but THE KID is frozen, too.

Blam! The Schofield jumps in THE KID's hand and MIKE gets it in the chest and there is smoke all over and THE KID stares at MIKE amazed and MIKE, who has a big splotch of blood on his chest stares back at THE KID amazed also and then...

Blam, THE KID shoots him again, this time in the face. Bang! Bang! Shots from the bunkhouse and...

Bawhoom! MUNNY blasts the bunkhouse with the shotgun.

Blam, THE KID shoots MIKE's slumping body a third time and he seems hypnotized but...

Bang, Bang; shots are coming from the bunkhouse and MUNNY is screaming and THE KID tears himself away.

MUNNY crashing through the bushes and THE KID is a few yards behind him and MUNNY stumbles and scrambles to his feet.

The outhouse and MIKE's body and FATTY and THIRSTY and BUCK dashing past, waving their guns.

The albino mare and the Morgan in the woods and MUNNY and THE KID dash up to the horses, gasping for breath, and MUNNY tries to mount still holding the shotgun and the horse starts to prance around and MUNNY can't mount.

Bang, Bang, Bang; Shots are whistling around them and looking back MUNNY can see his pursuers firing from cover fifty yards away.

MUNNY shoves two shells in the shotgun and hands it to THE KID who has just mounted.

Bang, Bang, Bang.

And Ka Blamm, THE KID lets go both barrels in the general direction of the enemy and then MUNNY gallops away half-on his horse, half-off, in an undignified escape, bullets whistling around his horse and THE KID behind him shouting.

And then they disappear and gradually the shooting stops.

Open country at sundown seen from a low hill, and you can barely make out a lone rider approaching in the extreme distance.

ANGLE ON MUNNY

Standing on the rise and watching the rider in the distance.

THE KID is behind BILL sitting under a large oak drinking from a whiskey bottle.

MUNNY turns from watching the RIDER's slow approach and walks over to THE KID who can't see the RIDER from where he's sitting.

MUNNY takes a big pull on the bottle, returns it to THE KID, and walks back to the edge of the rise to resume his vigil.

The RIDER is a little closer now and the sun is a little lower. It is very beautiful.

THE KID wipes whiskey from his chin. He has been working hard to make the hysteria he feels into a high... but it won't quite come.

MUNNY is watching the RIDER and the RIDER is closer.

MUNNY is watching the rider and the rider is much closer, but coming at a walk and MUNNY goes back over to THE KID for a pull on the bottle and he's trying to make THE KID feel okay when he says...

THE KID is shaking, becoming hysterical, he can't go on, and MUNNY hands the bottle back.

MUNNY walks back to the edge of the rise and watches the RIDER and it is a lovely sunset happening and he is talking to no one in particular.

ANGLE ON RIDER

At the foot of the rise and it is LITTLE SUE and...

ANGLE ON MUNNY

Pulling the saddlebags off and LITTLE SUE is still mounted. They are under the oak tree and it is dusk and THE KID is just sitting there with his bottle.

MUNNY has lit a little candle and spread a blanket and he is opening the bags to count the money.

THE KID is leaning against the tree in a semi-stupor.

LITTLE SUE just looks back at him, scared, trembling.

THE KID just has his head in his hands, it's too much for him and LITTLE SUE is scared shitless of MUNNY.

MUNNY looks up sharply. LITTLE SUE is scared, her voice quavers...

MUNNY takes the pistol and begins to check it methodically, inspecting the load first... and THE KID watches nervously, shifting from foot to foot.

MUNNY, still checking the gun, glances up and meets THE KID's uneasy gaze.

MUNNY looks back at the pistol, checks the sights.

And LITTLE SUE, still mounted, breathes an enormous silent sigh of relief and turns her horse away hastily and MUNNY, satisfied with the pistol, sticks it in his belt and walks over to his horse and pulls his sawed-off shotgun out of the bedroll.

MUNNY looks at THE KID who is behaving bravely but is trembling anyway, scared, and MUNNY's eyes are full of brutally painful memories.

Moonlight on the ordinance #14 sign on the North Road and two riders come up slow, MUNNY and THE KID, and MUNNY reins up and then THE KID does, too. MUNNY takes the saddlebags off his horse.

MUNNY slaps THE KID's horse and THE KID sets out at a trot and MUNNY watches him disappear into the night. When he is alone and he can't hear THE KID's horse anymore, MUNNY uncorks the bottle and takes a long deep drink.

In the upright coffin in the flickering light of a torch standing next to it and, of course, NED looks bad and the crudely scrawled sign over the coffin says, "This is what happens to assassins around here."

In the crowded bar and he is shouting to make himself heard over the din.

The place is packed with tired, dusty men and they are not really jubilant so much as they are excited by the hysteria of events.

There is a general whoop and hubbub as LITTLE BILL turns back to his conversation at the bar with CHARLEY, FATTY, CLYDE, ANDY and W.W. BEAUCHAMP.

LITTLE BILL is suddenly conscious of his own loud voice in a sudden silence that has swept the bar like a brushfire and, turning, he sees what everybody is staring at.

MUNNY, with his 10-gauge shotgun leveled from the shoulder, is standing thirty feet away in the doorway. Taking a couple of sideways steps to get the door behind his back and sweeping the twin barrels in an ominous arc, he surveys the scene.

Nobody says a thing. SKINNY stares pop-eyed from behind the bar and the sweat starts on his forehead and LITTLE BILL is thinking coolly and everybody else is swallowing hard and looking at the shotgun.

FATTY gulps and then SKINNY screws up his courage and steps from behind the bar and gives it every bit of dignity his fear will permit.

And SKINNY looks from side to side as people step away from him and he wants to say something desperately, he wants to live, he wants...

Bah-whoom! MUNNY fires and smoke belches and...

SKINNY is blown back against the wall and he falls to the floor a bloody mess and...

LITTLE BILL is reaching for the Spencer which is leaning against the bar near his leg but he freezes because...

MUNNY has turned the shotgun on him and MUNNY sees NED's Spencer there and his eyes show how he feels about it.

For a moment, while the smoke clears, the bar is silent, and there are nervous glances cast at the bloody body of SKINNY, but LITTLE BILL keeps his eyes on MUNNY.

It has become a very formal moment and there are, figuratively speaking, only two people in the room, MUNNY and LITTLE BILL... and W.W. BEAUCHAMP is watching them, scared to death, but this is it, what all those Easterners dreamed about, the showdown in the saloon.

And as the DEPUTIES nervously move aside, LITTLE BILL helps to isolate himself by stepping forward boldly.

LITTLE BILL looks back at MUNNY bravely and...

MUNNY looks down the barrel at LITTLE BILL and after a tense moment he pulls the trigger.

Click. The hammer falls, but it is a misfire and what happens next happens in maybe five seconds as all hell breaks loose.

And LITTLE BILL aims carefully and... MUNNY hurls the shotgun at him and...

Blam!... LITTLE BILL fires wildly as the shotgun hits him and...

CLYDE has his pistol out and is pointing it at MUNNY and...

MUNNY is pulling his pistol from his own belt and he drops to one knee and...

Blam!... CLYDE fires and misses and... LITTLE BILL is about to squeeze the trigger when...

Blam!... MUNNY shoots him and...

Blam!... LITTLE BILL shoots just as he is hit in the chest and...

Blam! Blam!... FATTY fires wildly and...

MUNNY is aiming, too, and Blam!...

CLYDE gets it in the face and...

Blam!... Blam!... FATTY isn't even aiming while...

ANDY aims carefully, he can kill MUNNY but...

MUNNY turns and points his weapon at ANDY and...

Instead of firing, ANDY panics and tries to turn his body sideways to ward off the blow and...

Blam!... MUNNY fires and...

ANDY gets it high in the ribcage and...

CHARLEY turns and runs for the back and...

Blam! Blam!... FATTY is backing up and firing from the hip and then he turns to run and...

MUNNY aims deliberately from one knee and Blam!...

FATTY goes down, shot in the back...

And suddenly... there is a terrible silence that is broken only by the awful, dying groans of CLYDE and the coughing of the BYSTANDERS hiding behind tables and chairs in the thick black smoke and...

MUNNY is still down on one knee, pointing his pistol and looking through the thick smoke for someone to shoot, but it seems there are no threats left.

And they scramble over each other, dashing toward the billiard room, and MUNNY stands up and looks around and he looks at CLYDE who is groaning, his face covered with blood, and everybody else, LITTLE BILL, ANDY, and FATTY are still, and then FATTY seems to move and MUNNY levels his pistol and what happens is W.W. crawls out from half-under FATTY and W.W. is covered with blood and he is shaking like a leaf.

As MUNNY lowers the pistol, W.W. looks around.

MUNNY walks over to the bar, keeping his eye suspiciously on W.W., and reaches for a bottle with his left hand. The hand is shaking like palsy and he tilts the bottle and drinks sloppily with effort, the pistol still in his right hand.

Unnoticed on the floor, LITTLE BILL is conscious, though blood is coming out of his mouth and he has been written off. One hand is shifting on his pistol and he can hear CLYDE moaning sporadically.

On the floor, Little Bill is fighting for consciousness, fingering his pistol.

W.W.'s eyes pop as he gets the idea and he backs up fast, and then he turns and bolts out the back, and watching him go, MUNNY turns his back on the fallen body of LITTLE BILL.

LITTLE BILL, on the floor, raises up his pistol in his shaking hand and aims at MUNNY's back, maybe six feet away, and he is shaking bad as he draws the hammer back and...

MUNNY hears the click and he turns and sees LITTLE BILL aiming, but it is too late and...

Blam! Smoke and fire from LITTLE BILL's pistol and LITTLE BILL's arm collapses from the effort and the pistol falls with a bang.

And MUNNY steps over to him and kicks the pistol away from LITTLE BILL's outstretched hand. LITTLE BILL is bleeding from the mouth, having taken a shot in the lung, and he is very weak and all he can do is look up at MUNNY and speak weakly.

Blam! MUNNY shoots LITTLE BILL and then he looks around and CLYDE is still groaning and that is the only sound. Then, suddenly, he is all business. He walks quickly over to CLYDE and shoots him once with the Spencer and the groaning stops. Then he goes over to LITTLE BILL's body and pokes around in the pockets and pulls out some shells for the Spencer. He shoves those in his pocket and he goes to the bar and picks

up the bottle of whiskey and walks over to the door. Standing to one side, he kicks it open. Then he sets down the rifle and the bottle and starts to reload the Schofield and while he loads it, he shouts out the door.

The pistol is loaded and MUNNY sticks it in his belt and he takes a long pull on the whiskey bottle and wipes the dribble from his chin. Then, he picks up the rifle in the other hand and looks out the door.

The street, and it is dark and quiet, shadowy buildings, the knot of tethered horses, a couple of torches stuck in the ground, sputtering.

And MUNNY steps out of the door warily, and looks around and all he sees are the shadowy buildings and all he hears are his own boots on the wooden porch. Glancing nervously at the dark buildings' blank stares he walks past the upright coffin where the waxy face of NED stares gruesomely in the light of the flickering torch and he gives it a glance, wanting to say he's sorry, but the idea is ludicrous and he steps off the porch and walks toward the white mare.

W.W. BEAUCHAMP and CHARLEY HECKER and GERMANY JOE crouched in the alleyway between two buildings across the street and CHARLEY has a rifle and they can see MUNNY mounting his horse.

CHARLEY just shakes his head and offers the rifle to GERMANY JOE. And GERMANY JOE doesn't want it.

W.W. is watching MUNNY's unbelievably awkward and prolonged mounting procedure and he can't believe it, he can't believe what the Old West is like and it shows on his face.

MUNNY riding down the dark, lonely street at a trot and he starts to shout at the top of his lungs:

And there are tears running down MUNNY's cheeks.

Daylight and PENNY sweeping in the doorway of MUNNY's sod hut in Kansas. She is intent on her work until she hears the snort of a horse and looks up and her jaw drops, and her face lights up like the sun itself and, dropping the broom, she dashes toward him.

ANGLE ON MUNNY

MUNNY walking across the field, leading the mare. He is covered with dust and heavily stubbled from the trip. PENNY dashes up to him and throws her arms around him and he is overjoyed, but he doesn't have any way to express it except through awkwardness and embarrassment.

And he puts his arm around her and they walk toward the house.

Working in the hog pens in back, concentrating on the job.

And WILL whirls around and sees MUNNY standing there beside the house and his first instinct is to run to him and then

he remembers his dignity and stands there like a man, but the grin is liable to break his face.

WILL is pissing in his pants with pride and pleasure and he joins his father and they walk around the house together.

WILL and MUNNY in the shed and WILL is digging deep into a huge pile of straw.

And WILL has exposed the saddle-bags and MUNNY moves in and opens them and gold coins and wads of bills spill out.

The grave of Claudia under the trees and MUNNY walks up to it and maybe we hear music or maybe just the wind, but the words begin to crawl across screen, supered:

"They were married in St. Louis in 1870 and they traveled north to Kansas where he engaged in farming and swine husbandry. 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."

ANGLE ON MUNNY

We are looking at him by now and there is nothing easy on his face, no big emotions, he is just looking at the grave. Written words crawl across screen:

"Some years later, Mrs. Ansonia Feathers made the arduous journey to Hodgeman County to visit the last resting place of her only daughter".

ANGLE ON GRAVE

We are looking at the stone now and the words continue:

"William Munny had long since sold the place and disappeared with the children... some said to San Francisco where it was rumored he prospered as a dry goods merchant under a different name".

CLOSE ON Eyes of WILLIAM MUNNY The eyes of the husband and the pig farmer and the man who shot down five men in the Big Whiskey saloon. Written words:

"And there was nothing on the stone to explain to Mrs. Feathers why her only daughter had married a known thief and murderer, a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition".

FADE OUT: