All the King's Men Page #6

JACK:

His wife.

SADIE:

He talks like she's his mammy...

she's going to blow his nose for

him.

Jack sits on the bed next to Willie.

JACK:

Well, I'll take him from here on in.

They're waiting for him at the

barbecue.

Sadie pulls her coat off Willie and goes to the door.

SADIE:

Yeah, well give me a receipt for the

body and I'll be on my way.

She leaves. Jack bends over Willie, who continues to snore.

JACK:

Hey, Willie, Willie... come on, wake

up, Willie. Come on, Willie.

DISSOLVE TO:

Exterior:
Fairgrounds (Upton), Day

A crowd mills about underneath a banner that reads HEAR WILLIE

STARK MAMMOTH BARBECUE -- UPTON FAIRGROUNDS

Exterior:
Fairgrounds, Day

Willie, staggering a bit, hung over, reacts painfully to the

staggering height of the Ferris wheel. He leans on Jack for

support, and they walk on.

Exterior:
Fairgrounds, Day

Willie takes a seat on the children's swing as Jack goes off

to get some coffee. Two little girls stare curiously at him.

Willie waves them off. Jack returns with the coffee and pours

some whisky in it. Willie tips his hand, forcing him to pour

more, then gulps his drink down.

Exterior:
Bandstand (Upton), Day

Duffy, Pillsbury, and the other politicians stand on the

platform, waiting for Willie. A band plays march music. Duffy

goes over to Sadie, who is standing on the steps of the

platform.

DUFFY:

Where is he?

SADIE:

(pointing)

There he is.

Escorted by Jack, Willie approaches the platform and stumbles

up the steps past Sadie.

SADIE:

Whoops!

DUFFY:

(to Jack)

Is he drunk?

JACK:

Never touches the stuff. Lucy doesn't

favor drinkin'.

Duffy follows Willie up on the platform.

SADIE:

(to Jack)

How'd you get him here? He was out

stiff.

JACK:

Hair of the dog that bit him.

SADIE:

Hair? He must have swallowed the

dog.

On the platform, Duffy looks uneasily at the bleary-eyed

Willie. The band suddenly plays a fanfare, and the chairman

steps up to the microphone.

CHAIRMAN:

Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me a

great deal of pleasure to introduce

to you that true man of the people,

the next governor of the state...

Willie Stark.

There is scattered applause as Willie steps forward to speak.

WILLIE:

My friends...

He turns his face from side to side, and fumbles in the right

side of his coat pocket to fish out his speech.

WILLIE:

My friends... I...

He tries to focus on the speech, which he clutches before

his eyes with both hands. Then he lifts his head, and looks

directly at the people who have come to hear him. As he

speaks, the camera focuses on the faces of these people: the

farmers, workers, hicks, red-necks who are Willie's audience,

Willie's people.

WILLIE:

I have a speech here. It's a speech

about what this state needs. There's

no need in my telling you what this

state needs. You are the state and

you know what you need... You over

there... look at your pants. Have

they got holes in the knees? Listen

to your stomach. Did you ever hear

it rumble from hunger?... And you,

what about your crops? Did they ever

rot in the field because the road

was so bad you couldn't get them to

market?... And you. What about your

kids? Are they growing up ignorant

as dirt, ignorant as you, 'cause

there's no school for them?... No,

I'm not going to read you any speech.

He throws his speech away. Duffy looks alarmed.

WILLIE:

But I am going to tell you a story.

It's a funny story...

SADIE:

(from the steps)

Hey!

WILLIE'S VOICE

...So get ready to laugh.

SADIE:

What's he up to?

JACK:

Shut up!

WILLIE:

Get ready to bust your sides laughing,

'cause it's sure a funny story. It's

about a hick... a hick like you, if

you please. Yeah, like you. He grew

up on the dirt roads and gully washes

of a farm. He knew what it was to

get up before dawn and get feed and

slop and milk before breakfast...

and then set out before sunup and

walk six miles to a one-room, slab-

sided schoolhouse. Oh, this hick

knew what it was to be a hick, all

right. He figured if he was going to

get anything done, he had to do it

himself. So he sat up nights and

studied books. He studied law because

he thought he might be able to change

things some... for himself, and for

folks like him.

Sugar Boy listens intently, sharing in the anger in Willie's

speech.

WILLIE:

No, I'm not going to lie to you. He

didn't start off thinking about the

hicks and all the wonderful things

he was going to do for them. No. No,

he started off thinking of number

one. But something came to him on

the way. How he could do nothing for

himself without the help of the

people. That's what came to him. And

it also came to him, with the powerful

force of God's own lightning, back

in his home country, when a

schoolhouse collapsed because it was

built of politics... rotten brick.

It killed and mangled a dozen kids.

But you know that story. The people

were his friends because he fought

that rotten brick. And some of the

politicians down in the city, they

knew that... So they rode up to his

house in a big, fine, shiny car and

said as how they wanted him to run

for governor...

Jack, electrified, grips Sadie's arm.

JACK:

Sadie, he's wonderful... wonderful...

Duffy fidgets as Willie continues to pace and speak, his

face filled with conviction, and with fury.

WILLIE:

...So they told the hick... and he

swallowed it. He looked in his heart

and he thought in all humility how

he'd like to try and change things.

He was just a country boy who thought

that even the plainest, poorest man

can be governor if his fellow citizens

find he's got the stuff for the job.

Well, those fellows in the striped

pants... they saw the hick and they

took him in.

He points his finger at Duffy, who is coming over to speak

to him.

DUFFY:

(low voice)

Willie, what are you trying to do?

Willie turns on him, roaring.

WILLIE:

There he is! There's your Judas

Iscariot.

(he pushes Duffy across

the platform)

Look at him... lickspittle... nose-

wiper.

Duffy gestures frantically to the band.

DUFFY:

Play! Play!

WILLIE:

(pushing him again)

Look at him!

DUFFY:

Play anything.

The band starts to play, adding to the pandemonium. Willie

shouts above it.

WILLIE:

Look at him! Joe Harrison's dummy!

Look at him!

DUFFY:

That's a lie!

WILLIE:

Look at him!

Duffy signals to some of his goons standing near the platform.

DUFFY:

Go get him, boys... go get him.

Sugar Boy leaps up on the platform, his pistol drawn and

pointed at Duffy's men. Willie throws up his arms to silence

the crowd.

WILLIE:

Now, shut up! Shut up, all of you.

Now, listen to me, you hicks. Yeah,

you're hicks too, and they fooled

you a thousand times, just like they

fooled me. But this time I'm going

to fool somebody. I'm going to stay

in this race. I'm on my own and I'm

out for blood.

The camera moves in close on Willie's face.

WILLIE:

Listen to me, you hicks...

DISSOLVE TO:

Exterior:
Willie's Speeches, Day and Night

A series of close-ups of Willie's face as he shouts and jeers

his message, always accompanied by the loud and frenzied

cheers of the crowd. Superimposed over his face is the figure

of Jack Burden, at his desk, typing out his stories.

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