Badlands Page #16

Kit and Holly have parked the Cadillac under a rail trestle.

A train is approaching. They hide beside the car. The train,

a streamliner, roars overhead. When it has passed, Holly

rushes up the grade to watch it disappear into the distance.

Kit watches from the opposite end of the trestle.

KIT:

Maybe we should've tried to hop it.

HOLLY:

It was going too fast.

KIT:

I could've pulled the car up on the

tracks, slowed it down some.

HOLLY (O.S.)

Yeah, then we'd be stuck here.

KIT:

Well, maybe we oughta be stuck here.

I'm not saying that I know.

He stoops down and picks up a Pepsi bottle.

HOLLY:

You're crazy.

He climbs over the edge of the trestle, looks back at her

oddly, then leaps down to the ground. Holly walks down to

meet him.

HOLLY (V.O.)

Kit took the bottle and spun it

around, leaving to fate which

direction we should take.

TIGHT ON BOTTLE:

Kit spins the bottle.

EXT. BOTTOM OF TRESTLE

The bottle comes to a stop. Kit inspects its position. He

does not appear satisfied, though.

KIT:

Well, maybe the slope here is throwing

it off some. We ought to find a more

flat place.

HOLLY:

How about over here?

Kit starts toward her, then changes his mind and heads back

up the grade, to the tracks. The CAMERA DOLLIES and CRANES

with him.

KIT:

Never mind. It doesn't matter... If

I'm worth a damn, I'll pick the right

direction. And if I'm not, well, I

don't care. See what I mean?

HOLLY (O.S.)

No.

KIT:

Well, I shouldn't expect miracles,

should I?

He stops at the top of the grade and looks out across the

Badlands.

KIT:

We'll keep on heading for that

mountain... Just remember I said it

wasn't such a hot idea.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. TRESTLE – DUSK

The Cadillac pulls out from under the trestle and heads down

a dusty road alongside the tracks.

HOLLY (V.O.)

We took off at sunset, on a line

toward the mountains of Saskatchewan,

for Kit a magical land beyond the

reach of the law. He needed me now

more than ever, but something had

come between us. I'd stopped even

paying attention to him. Instead, I

sat in the car and read a map and

spelled out entire sentences with my

tongue on the roof of my mouth, where

nobody could read them.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. MOUNTAIN – DUSK

The Cadillac beads off across the plains toward a distant

mountain.

HOLLY (V.O.)

That night we moved closer to the

border, and clear across the prairie,

at the very edge of the horizon...

EXT. REFINERY FIRES – NIGHT

A refinery fire.

HOLLY (V.O.)

W could make out the gas fires of

the refinery at Missoula, while to

the south...

EXT. CITY LIGHTS – NIGHT

HOLLY (V.O.)

...we could see the lights of

Cheyenne, a city bigger and grander

than I'd ever seen.

EXT. CADILLAC'S POV ON PRAIRIE

The prairie rushes under the Cadillac's headlights.

HOLLY (V.O.)

I felt all kind of things looking at

the lights of Cheyenne, but most

important, I made up my mind to never

again tag around with a hell-bent

type, no matter how in love with him

I was. Finally, I found the strength

to tell Kit this. I pointed out that

even If we got to the Far North, he

still couldn't make a living.

INT. CADILLAC – NIGHT

Kit and Holly's faces are strangely lit by the dash lights.

Holly is absorbed in her map. The radio is on.

KIT:

(responding to V.O.)

I could get a job with the Mounties.

The Northwest Mounties... Hell, I

got all the qualifications. I can

ride, shoot and... I don't mind the

cold. Fact, I kind of like the cold.

Holly looks up from the map.

HOLLY:

What?

KIT:

Nothing... I was just running off at

the mouth... as usual.

HOLLY:

I'm sorry. I wasn't listening.

Holly lights a cigarette.

KIT:

I was just talking about going after

a job... Hey, don't lip it.

He reaches over and takes the cigarette out of her mouth.

The CAMERA PANS to her with this gesture.

HOLLY:

You know... they'd probably ask to

see your driver's license before

they hired you.

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