Cool Hand Luke Page #5

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BOSS KEAN:

Blondie... Sleepy! Git him afore he

falls.

STUPID BLONDIE AND SLEEPY

They drop their tools and rush over as Tramp falls. Without

ceremony, they drag him over the rough ground to the truck,

where Boss Paul locks him in.

DRAGLINE:

He is watching Luke, who is very close to the same fate.

Although he has achieved some grace, it is apparent that

Luke is working too strenuously, too determined.

MED. SHOT BOSS KEAN

He reaches into his pocket and takes out a turnip watch,

looks to Godfrey, who nods.

BOSS KEAN:

Awright, let's eat them beans!

The men break and head for the chow line.

OMITTED:

ANGLE ON LUKE:

He has dropped to the ground, examining a blister on his

hand. At Boss Kean's call, he looks up, ruefully resentful,

and gets to his feet and slowly walks to the chow line.

BOSS KEAN'S VOICE

Hey, you. Bean time!

DRAGLINE:

(eyeing Luke, to

Gambler)

Cold drink he don't make it.

GAMBLER:

Bet. Babalugats, bet!

Babalugats grins. Dragline has his chow, passes Luke.

DRAGLINE:

(whispering)

You got to snag it, man. You got to

stop foolin' around and tear up them

weeds.

Luke stumbles past, not paying attention.

FULL SHOT GANG WORKING

It is later in the afternoon.

ON STUPID BLONDIE

He stops.

STUPID BLONDIE:

Caught short here, boss!

ANGLE BOSS KEAN:

BOSS KEAN:

Awright, Blondie. Take it behind

that tree.

ON STUPID BLONDIE

He drops his tool and gratefully trots off in the direction

of the tree.

ANGLE ON LUKE:

It is later. He is working hard, stops a minute as he HEARS

a crow cawing overhead. He looks up at it.

CLOSE SHOT GODFREY

He snaps his fingers.

ANGLE ON LUKE, TATTOO, KOKO, OTHERS

looking up as Rabbitt goes to the truck and gets out a single

action rifle which he brings to Godfrey, who puts in a bolt

and bullets from his pocket.

TATTOO:

Who's that?

KOKO:

Boss Godfrey.

MECHANIC:

The walking boss.

TATTOO:

Don't he ever talk?

Godfrey has raised the gun and now FIRES.

INSERT CROW ON THE WING

It is hit, explodes in a burst of feathers.

ANGLE ON LUKE AND TATTOO

LUKE:

I believe he just said something.

OMITTED:

FULL SHOT THE MEN

working, Luke flailing away like an automaton.

INT. THE TRUCK (AFTERNOON)

as it is opened from the outside. Tramp sits up against the

bench, still in rocky shape from his collapse. The others

step over him as though he weren't there. Luke appears, like

a sleepwalker. He grabs the side rails, gets one foot up and

tries to pull himself over the edge of the truck body. But

the muscles are just used up. Boss Paul sees this and gives

Luke a kick, timed so that it coincides with his jump. It

gives him just the added momentum needed to send him over

the edge of the body and sprawling along the floor. He's the

last one and as the guards lock them up, he grins up at

Dragline and Gambler from his prone position.

LUKE:

(to Dragline)

You owe that fella a cold drink.

The men are not tired, they smoke and talk and laugh: it's

been an easy day.

KOKO:

Hot damn, Drag. Tomorrow's Saturday.

Another week almost made.

ALIBI:

(hopelessly)

I got two years.

DRAGLINE:

Only two? Man, I already done eight.

Nothin' to it. Just make the days

and let the weeks and the years make

themselves.

TATTOO:

I did three hitches in the Navy. It

ain't bad. After a while, you get

used to it and the time --

Koko is looking out the back of the truck.

KOKO:

Oh, man, oh man. Look at that. On

the bicycle. Lookit them shorts. I'm

dyin'.

The men rush to look out at the vision of freedom on the

bike.

DRAGLINE:

(knowledgeably)

She looks just like a lil girl I

useta know named Louise Merryweather.

Fine lil ol' girl, always partial to

home-made whiskey. Remember one time

down in the cellar, both of us knee-

walkin' drunk and ah had this lil

pint and Louise wanted a poke of it.

So ah said:
you wanna poke and I

wanna poke, so...

He starts his story. On the floor, Luke sleeps.

EXT. PRISON YARD LATE (AFTERNOON)

as they are counting in through the gate, their hats with

their personal possessions in them held out to be inspected,

their pockets turned out. A guard frisks them quickly but

efficiently. The Captain stands nearby ignoring them, testing

a golf swing. The men move to the mess hall, most of them on

the run. Luke moves painfully with exhaustion. Alibi seems

quiet and cowed, lost in the crowd. They fall into a line at

the mess hall door. Dynamite, his spoon out, moves to the

front of the line and Luke winds up somewhere near the rear.

BOSS HIGGINS:

(yardman)

Awright, you, Gibson, step out. Boss

Paul says you wasn't happy with your

job. Done a lot of complainin'. Gone

give you a chance to think it over.

Alibi looks around, fearfully steps out, peering up and down

the line, wondering.

BOSS HIGGINS:

Get them clothes off.

Alibi is led to the box. A light stands about it shining

down into it and it always burns when the box is ready to be

used or when there's someone inside. Now a nightshirt is

laid out on top of it. Alibi strips and puts on the pajamas.

Boss Kean opens the heavy lid of the box and we see it is

grilled with heavy chain link fencing and with strap iron

bars. A chamber pot is put inside. Alibi stands in the box,

looking back at them, then lies down out of sight. The lid

is slammed shut.

FULL SHOT:

The men watching this. The mess hall door opens and they

begin to file in.

INT. BARRACKS (NIGHT)

as the Wicker Man whales away at his tire rim outside the

barracks.

CARR:

Awright, first bell! Let's hit them

bunks!

The men are piling into bunks and the CAMERA FINDS Luke

heaving himself with a kind of rueful amusement up to the

third tier bunk he sleeps in; he's exhausted.

DRAGLINE:

Plumb busted out. Looks like the

hard road finally got to Mister Lucas

War Hero.

LUKE:

(agreeably)

Back at it in the mornin'. Just need

a little nap...

He lies back. Across him and in various perspectives are the

other participants in this conversation, speaking in the

ventriloquist's whisper while the stragglers get into the

sack.

KOKO:

Man, I never thought they'd put him

in the box on his first day.

LOUDMOUTH STEVE:

It was just supposed to be a joke.

There ain't no brooms. Whoever heard

of a chain gang using brooms?

TRAMP:

I gotta tell you that I believed it.

TATTOO:

He should have known; it was a gag.

KOKO:

You can't switch 'round jobs, anyway.

I figured he knew that.

SOCIETY RED:

You can't expect him to learn

everything the first day. Hopefully

it's taught him a very valuable

lesson.

LUKE:

Well, you fixed it up so he's got

all night to think about it.

LOUDMOUTH STEVE:

It's not our fault he's a square.

DRAGLINE:

Course not. He ain't in the box 'cause

a the joke played on him. He's there

'cause he back sassed a Free Man.

They got their rules and we ain't

got nothing to do with that. Woulda

probably happened to him sooner or

later, to a complainer like him.

He's gotta learn the rules same as

anybody else.

LUKE:

Yeah, those poor old guards need all

the help they can get.

DRAGLINE:

You tryin' to say somethin'?

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