Lone Star Page #19

Synopsis: John Sayles' murder-mystery explores interpersonal and interracial tensions in Rio County, Texas. Sam Deeds is the local sheriff who is called to investigate a 40-year-old skeleton found in the desert....As Sam delves deeper into the town's dark secrets, he begins to learn more about his father, the legendary former sheriff Buddy Deeds, who replaced the corrupt Charlie Wade. While Sam puzzles out the long-past events surrounding the mystery corpse, he also longs to rekindle a romance with his old high-school flame. Sayles' complex characters are brought together as the tightly woven plot finally draws to its dramatic close.
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Director(s): John Sayles
Production: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 15 wins & 17 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.5
Metacritic:
78
Rotten Tomatoes:
94%
R
Year:
1996
135 min
1,274 Views


CU YOUNG OTIS:

MUSIC CONTINUES. His eyes following as Wade comes to stand

over him--

WADE, YOUNG OTIS

MUSIC CONTINUES. Wade grabs the table and violently jerks

it over onto Young Otis, cards and money flying--

YOUNG HOLLIS:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Watching squeamishly as Wade goes to work

on young Otis, the overhead light swinging wildly--

INT. BARROOM

MUSIC CONTINUES. Young Otis is hurled out of the back room,

face bruised and bleeding. Wade follows, then Young Hollis--

CLOSER:

MUSIC CONTINUES.

CLOSER:

Wade puts his gun next to Young Otis's ear, cursing at him.

Young Otis gets to his feet, goes behind the bar--

BAR COUNTER:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Young Otis slaps an envelope full of cash

onto the counter--

WADE:

MUSIC CONTINUES. He waves his pistol, indicating something

behind Otis--

INT. BAR

MUSIC CONTINUES. We shoot past Wade at the counter as Otis

turns and reaches for a cigar box on the shelf behind--

CIGAR BOX:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Lying open, an old pistol inside of it.

Young Otis reaches--

CU YOUNG HOLLIS:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Frowning as he senses something wrong--

WADE:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Wade levels his gun at Young Otis's back,

then turns to wink at Hollis like he did before he shot Eladio--

WADE'S HAND

MUSIC CONTINUES. Finger closing around the trigger of the

.45--

HOLLIS:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Mouth open in horror--

WADE:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Eyes burning as he aims --

BUDDY:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Stepping in the door, seeing, CALLS OUT--

YOUNG OTIS:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Turning to see Buddy--

WADE:

BLAM! THWAP! A bullet plows through his neck, knocking him

back against the bar. MUSIC CONTINUES. His gun falls from

his hand--

YOUNG OTIS:

Horrified, splattered with the Sheriff's blood. MUSIC

CONTINUES--

BAR COUNTER:

MUSIC CONTINUES. Twenty-dollar bills have spilled out of

the envelope and are soaking up blood--

CU BUDDY:

Calm and hard-eyed. MUSIC CONTINUES. As he steps forward,

we see his pistol is still in its holster. He reaches out

and takes the .45 from Young Hollis's shaking hand, looks

him in the eye till Hollis looks back, then looks toward

Young Otis--

We PAN with his gaze to a CLOSE-UP of Otis, back in the

PRESENT. The MUSIC FADES--

OTIS:

Sheriff Charley had some real big

friends in politics then, and if

the truth come out it wasn't going

to go easy on Hollis.

(He shrugs)

I don't know why I trusted Buddy

with it--don't know why he trusted

me. The first time I ever talked

with him was right there, and

then with a dead white man leakin'

blood on the floor between us.

He could charm the scales off a

rattler, Buddy Deeds.

WIDER:

This isn't what Sam was expecting. Hollis watches his face--

HOLLIS:

The three of us cleaned up and

took him the post and put him

under. Can't say I was much help.

SAM:

And the ten thousand?

HOLLIS:

Widow's benefits. He figured it

would make the disappearance look

better, and that Mexican gal was

just scrapin' by after Charley

killed her man. They didn't get

hooked up till late--

OTIS:

Time went on, people liked the

story that we told better than

anything the truth might have

been.

Sam swivels around on his seat to took at the spot where

Charley fell. He has a lot of information to deal with--

HOLLIS:

What's the call, Sam?

Sam rolls it over in his mind before answering--

SAM:

Don't think the Rangers are likely

to find out any more than they

already have.

HOLLIS:

Word gets out who that body was,

people are gonna think Buddy done

it.

Sam gets up--

SAM:

Buddy's a goddam legend. He can

handle it.

He heads for the door--

SAM:

'Night, fellas.

Hollis and Otis watch him go--

FADE OUT:

EXT. DRIVE-IN, WIDE SHOT -- MORNING

We see Sam sitting on the hood of his car parked in the

deserted drive-in lot, staring up at the ruined screen.

Pilar's car rolls in, parks beside him--

CLOSER:

Pilar gets out, kisses Sam, sits by him on the hood--

PILAR:

When's the picture start?

Sam looks at her for a moment--

SAM:

You gonna tell your mother we

been seeing each other?

PILAR:

She'll figure it out sooner or

later. I don't have to ask

permission anymore, if that's

what you mean.

SAM:

You have any idea when your father

died? Eladio?

PILAR:

(Shrugs)

Couple months before I was born--

SAM:

Try a year and a half.

He bands her an old snapshot.

PILAR looks at it--

CU PHOTO:

Buddy and Young Mercedes on the lake. Buddy with his shirt

off on one end of a sailboat, Mercedes in a bathing suit,

both smiling for the camera--

SAM AND PILAR:

Pilar hands the photo back to him, tries to be calm--

PILAR:

I've never seen my mother in a

bathing suit before. Didn't know

she owned one.

SAM:

Buddy bought the cafe for her

with money he took from the county.

Pilar looks away, struggling not to cry--

PILAR:

They can't pull this on me. It

isn't fair--I don't believe this--

SAM:

He paid the hospital bill when

you were born. Your mom always

calls you "our beautiful daughter"

in the letters she wrote to him.

PILAR:

From the first time I saw you at

school--all those years we were

married to other people I always

felt like we were connected.

SAM:

I remember thinking you were the

one part of my life Buddy didn't

have a piece of--

A silence, both of them wondering what the next move should

be--

PILAR:

So that's it? You're not going

to want to be with me anymore?

Sam knows what he feels but doesn't have the words--

PILAR:

I'm not having any more children.

After Amado, I had some

complications--I can't get pregnant

again, if that's what the rule is

about--

SAM:

If I met you for the first time

today, I'd still want to be with

you.

It is what Pilar needed to hear--

PILAR:

We start from scratch--

SAM:

Yeah--

PILAR:

Everything that went before, all

that stuff, that history-the hell

with it, right?

PILAR takes Sam's hand, kisses him--

PILAR:

Forget the Alamo.

WIDE SHOT, DRIVE-IN

Sam and Pilar sit by each other holding hands, looking at

the empty screen--

MUSIC, ROLL CREDITS

THE END:

Rate this script:3.5 / 2 votes

John Sayles

John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Passion Fish (1992) and Lone Star (1996). His film Men with Guns (1997) has been nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. His directorial debut, Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980), has been added to the National Film Registry. more…

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