Midnight Cowboy Page #2

JOE:

Tough tiddy, ladies, you had your

chance.

From a high angle -- Joe starts his long walk toward the bus

depot along the street of a small Western town struggling to

urbanize itself. The click-clack-click of his boots is loud

but somehow lonely The radio at his ear drones grain prices

on the Commodity change. Joe's pace slows as he passes...

EXT. SALLY BUCK'S BEAUTY SALON - DAY

... a gilt-lettered sign in the window, glittering in the

sun, momentarily hiding the fact that the shop is deserted.

Joe grins as he hears remembered sounds and voices incomplete

flashes, more significant in tone than content a girl

giggling sexily -- "Keep your meat hooks off my beauty

operators, sugar" -- tinkling noises of a busy beauty parlor

- Sally Buck singing "Hush, little baby, don't say a word,

Grammaw gonna buy you a mockingbird..."

... a shift of light revealing a row of tarnished driers, a

broken mirror, a FOR RENT sign in the window. Joe turns

toward the bus depot, radio pressed to his ear.

ANNOUNCER'S VOICE

Benson and Hedges One Hundreds

makes special awards from time to

time for anything that's longer

than anything...

JOE:

Care to get out your yardstick,

gentlemen?

At the same moment, a recognizable variant of the "Big

Country" theme blares loud.

INTERCUT WESTERN FILM CLIP

Gary Cooper (or John Wayne) walks a frontier street.

EXT. BUS DEPOT - DAY

High angle of the departing bus, intercut "Big Country"

fashion, alternating high shots with close-ups of the bus

wheals.

EXT. FREEWAY CLOVERLEAF - DAY

Through the bus windshield -- a dizzying montage of traffic

lines, arrows and signs as the bus sweeps around and up onto

the freeway.

INT. BUS - DAY

Joe sits at the front, opposite the driver, cracking his gum

as he watches the huge billboards streaking by, promising him

power, happiness and beautiful women if he chooses the right

breakfast food, hair oil or automobile. Joe listens to the

humming tires, the roar of the engine, shaking his head.

JOE:

This is a powerful mothah, ain't

it?

Ignored by the driver, Joe rises and walks back to his empty

double seat, glancing around to see what impression he's made

on his immediate fellow travelers -- an OLD LADY in front of

him -- a hostile young sailor with acne behind him -- two

teeny-boppers flirting with Joe hysterically -- a PALE BLONDE

directly across the aisle, smiling at Joe weakly.

PALE BLONDE:

Do you have a stick of gum?

Joe leans across, snapping his gum as he offers her a stick.

He watches her nibble it daintily on her front teeth.

PALE BLONDE (CONT'D)

Thank you.

JOE:

Plenty more where that came from.

PALE BLONDE:

Thank you, no, it's just till the

Dramamine works. I get carsick.

JOE:

I only get carsick on boats.

(waits, then)

But seems to me that's more the

fish smell than the bouncing...

Joe realizes that her eyes are closed. Mildly depressed, he

stretches himself across both seats and turns on his radio,

finds only static and snaps it off. Further depressed, he

examines his reflection in the bus window, squeezes a black

head and runs the comb through his hair, picks a piece of

tobacco off his tooth and lights a cigarette, watching the

flame die in reflection, forgetting to discard the burnt-out

match as he stares out at a vast lonely prairie, a solitary

cowboy in the distance, a row of sharecropper shacks

apparently deserted, a barefoot little girl motionless at the

roadside, watching the bus pass. Through this, leading into

the next scene, Sally Buck sings softly "... if that mocking

bird don't sing, Grammaw gonna buy you a golden ring..."

INT. REMEMBERED BEAUTY SALON - ANOTHER TIME

Sally Buck, relaxing in the middle of a busy day, eyes closed

wearily, while little Joe massages her neck. Her song

continues over the noises of the busy beauty parlor "... if

that golden ring turns brass, Grammaw gonna buy you a looking

glass..."

SALLY BUCK:

No, a little lower, sugar, yeah,

yeah, that's good. Grammaw's beat.

SALESMAN'S VOICE

You gotta sell yourself, that's the

whole trick...

INT. BUS - DAY

A seedy TRAVELING SALESMAN with badly-fitted dentures and a

frayed collar has taken the aisle seat next to Joe. As he

lectures Joe on salesmanship, he figures his expenses in a

worn leatherette notebook, nervous fingers and eyes

unconsciously revealing the extent of his failure.

SALESMAN:

It ain't the product and it ain't

the price, no sir, and it ain't

what you sell, it's personality,

pure and simple. I ain't shined my

own shoes or shaved my own face in

forty years, how's that? Not bad

for a kid that didn't pass the

eighth grade, right?

JOE:

Yeah, hell, yeah.

SALESMAN:

And that's my golden rule. Make 'em

love you. Put yourself over and you

can sell them anything. If they

like you, they'll buy horsemeat for

prime beef...

INT. REMEMBERED BEAUTY SALON - ANOTHER TIME

A gawky, adolescent Joe sits sprawled on the couch, leafing

through a magazine while Sally Buck bleaches the roots of a

young woman's hair.

SALLY BUCK:

You get him to the church, honey.

He ain't gonna find out you ain't a

real blonde till after you're

married, then's too late.

Sally Buck turns, pretending to be stern as Toe laughs.

SALLY BUCK (CONT'D)

You getting too big for your

britches, sugar.

EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT

The headlights of the bus flash past a huge sign, painted on

the slant roof of a barn: JESUS SAVES.

INT. BUS - NIGHT

Joe is alone again. The Salesman has disappeared. The bus is

dark, most-passengers trying to sleep. Only one reading light

still burns, over the head of the old-Lady in the seat ahead

of Joe. Joe squirms, restless, trying to lull himself to

sleep with the music of a revivalist gospel group on the

radio.

SALLY BUCK'S VOICE

Don't forget to say your prayers,

honey...

Joe leans forward to help the old Lady, irritably struggling

with the release button on her seat. She scowls as Joe leans

over to release her seat, then pulls her blanket around her

and turns away from him. Joe switches off her reading light.

OLD LADY:

I want it on.

Joe switches it on again, fakes a good-natured grin, settles

back with his radio, aware of an OLD COWHAND seated opposite

him, replacing the Pale Blonde. The Old Cowhand is appraising

Joe's wardrobe curiously. He looks away when he sees Joe

watching him. Joe settles back, unable to think of a way to

open a conversation.

EVANGELIST'S VOICE

Oh, my friends, I say unto you,

invest with Jesus, put your dollars

to work where they'll pay off at

compound interest. The Good Book

says money answereth all things...

The Old Cowhand has rolled-himself a cigarette. Joe quickly

lights a match on his thumb and holds it across the aisle.

JOE:

Light?

The Old Cowhand's "thanks" is lost in a fit of coughing as he

inhales his first drag. He settles back, wiping his watery

eyes on a faded bandana.

EVANGELIST'S VOICE

... everyone who sends a dollar to

the Evangelical Congregation of the

Air will get free gratis a genuine

leatherette hymn book so you can

sing along with Sister Rosella and

the Evangelical Choir...

Rate this script:3.0 / 2 votes