Badlands Page #15

EXT. BADLANDS

The Cadillac races through a herd of cows.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Kit'd sometimes ram a cow, to save

on ammo, and we'd cook it.

CLOSE ON SALT GRASS

Tight shot of a clump of salt grass.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Once we had to eat a bunch of salt

grass. It tasted like cabbage.

EXT. BADLANDS – DAWN

THE CAMERA RISES over the Cadillac as it races down a deserted

country road at dawn,

EXT. PIPELINE WAYSTATION

The Cadillac is stopped beside a pipeline waystation. Kit

has tapped some gas off the head.

HOLLY (V.O.)

For gas we used the leakage from the

valves of the pipelines we found

along the way. Drip gas is what they

call it in that part of the country.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. BADLANDS

The Cadillac roars through a stand of mesquite and disappears

into the distance.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Little by little we approached the

border. Kit was glad to leave South

Dakota behind and cursed its name.

He said that if the Communists ever

dropped the atomic bomb, he wished

they'd put it right in the middle of

Rapid City.

EXT. CAMPSITE

They are camped out in the middle of the badlands. Kit cooks

some meat over a fire, Holly, with a map under her arm, points

into the distance.

HOLLY:

That's Montana over there.

KIT:

I never been to Montana...

Acquaintance of mine has, but I

hadn't... Never had any reason to.

Holly sits down and looks at the map.

HOLLY:

State bird's a meadowlark.

EXT. PAN ACROSS BADLANDS

The CAMERA PANS across the badlands. There is not a tree or

a bush in sight. It comes to rest on Kit, who carries his

rifle over his shoulders the way James Dean did in "Giant".

KIT'S POV – SERIES OF ANGLES

Various sights of the prairie: a distant mountain, a wild

turkey, a lizard, a burst of lightening in a cloud on the

horizon, a falcon.

Kit takes all this in, then he turns back to the campsite.

The sun is down, just barely, and the moon has risen behind

him. Holly is heard over this last shot.

HOLLY (V.O.)

We lived in utter loneliness, neither

here nor there. Kit said that solitude

was a better word, cause it meant

more exactly what I wanted to say.

Whatever the expression, I told him

we couldn't go on living this way.

INT. CADILLAC

Kit and Holly sit in the back seat of the Cadillac. They

have been necking. Her hair is in curlers.

KIT:

(responding to V.O.)

Why not? I mean, I'm having fun...

At least I'm not bitching.

HOLLY:

Well, I feel kind of like an animal

living out here. I mean, there's no

place to bathe and... no place to

get anything good to eat.

KIT:

Well, I'll catch you a big trout.

Soon as we get to the mountains.

He kisses her. She gives in reluctantly. After a while they

break.

KIT:

Everybody loves trout.

HOLLY:

I'm serious.

They neck some more, then break again. Kit looks out one

window, Holly out the other.

EXT. DISTANT TRAIN

A train moves slowly across the horizon.

HOLLY (V.O.)

In the distance I saw a train making

its way silently across the plain,

like the caravan in "The Adventures

of Marco Polo." It was our first

taste of civilization in days, and I

asked Kit if we could have a closer

look.

EXT. KIT – WITH FOOTBALL

Kit sets a football down on the ground, backs off a few steps,

squats and shoots a hole through it with his pistol. To his

surprise. it does not deflate. He moves closer and pounds it

flat with the barrel of the pistol.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Before we left he shot a football

that he considered excess baggage.

TIGHT ON SUITCASE

Kit is burying some things from Holly's suitcase in a bucket:

the trophy he took from the mansion, her stereopticon slides,

a doll, a spark plug, a pack of Camels, etc.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Afterwards he took and buried some

of our things in a bucket. He said

that nobody else would know where

we'd put them, and that we'd come

back someday, maybe, and they'd still

be sitting here, just the same, but

we'd be different. And if we never

got back, well, somebody might dig

them up a thousand years from now

and wouldn't they wonder!

EXT. BADLANDS

The Cadillac speeds across the plains. A plume of dust

stretches out behind it.

EXT. RAIL TRESTLE

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