Midnight Cowboy Page #7

Ratso steps into the elevator as the door opens then closes,

leaving Joe alone, repeating "Cherry Neverlin" as he starts

along the corridor looking for 901.

EXT. WEST SIDE HOTEL - DUSK

Ratso bursts from the hotel, almost running as he disappears.

INT. WEST SIDE HOTEL CORRIDOR - DUSK

Joe finds 901 at a dark end of the corridor, knocks

confidently, hearing a few bars of his love theme as he

stuffs a fresh stick of gum in his mouth. Then the door is

thrown open by O'DANIEL -- for an instant appearing to wear a

diamond-studded skull-cap, the naked overhead light bulb

bright after the dark corridor, halating in Joe's eyes like

the earlier dollar sign.

O'DANIEL

You must be Joe Buck. Come in.

O'Daniel, fat in a worn-out bathrobe, examines Joe like a

prodigal son as he leads him into the room -- as anonymous as

Joe's own room.

O'DANIEL (CONT'D)

Am I tickled to find you, boy! Come

on in and let's get a look at you.

Turn around. Good strong back.

You'll need it. So you want help --

take a seat, relax, tell me about

yourself. Cowboy, huh?

JOE:

No sir, I'm no cowboy really, but

I'm a first class stud.

O'DANIEL

Take it,easy, boy...

(laughs)

Seems to me you're different than a

lotta boys that come to me. Most of

'em seem troubled, confused, but

I'd say you knew exactly what you

want.

JOE:

You bet I do, sir.

O'DANIEL

But I'll bet you got one thing in

common with them other boys. I'll

bet you're lonesome.

JOE:

Well, not too, I mean, a little.

O'Daniel rises suddenly in a fury of self-righteousness,

pacing, his voice simpering, whining sarcastically.

O'DANIEL

I'm lonesome. I'm lonesome so I'm a

drunk. I'm lonesome so I'm a dope

fiend. I'm lonesome so I'm a thief,

a fornicator, a whore-monger. Poop,

I say, poop! I've heard it all and

I'm sick of it, sick to death.

JOE:

Yessir, I can see that.

O'DANIEL

Lonesomeness is something you take.

You bear? Dammit, you take it and

go about your business, that's all.

JOE:

Well, uh, I'm raring to go.

O'DANIEL

Yes, I believe you are. Cowboy,

huh?

JOE:

Uh, yessir.

O'DANIEL

Ready for hard work, son?

JOE:

Ready for anything.

O'DANIEL

I got a hunch, Joe Buck, it's gonna

be easier for you than most.

JOE:

Gonna be like money from home.

O'DANIEL

Money from home, see, there's your

strength, you put things in earthy

terms any man can understand, son.

I warn you I'm gonna use you, I'm

gonna run you ragged!

Joe laughs, driving an obscene uppercut into the air.

O'Daniel laughs with him.

O'DANIEL (CONT'D)

You're a wonderful boy. You'n me

gonna have fun, dammit, it don't

have to be joyless. Say, why don't

we get right down on our knees now?

JOE:

Get down -- where?

O'DANIEL

Right here, why not? I prayed in

saloons, I prayed in the street, I

prayed an the toilet. He don't care

where, what He wants is that

prayer.

O'Daniel drops on all fours, crawling to find the plug of an

electric cord. He shoves it into a wall socket, switches off

the overhead light and suddenly a hollow, tinted plastic

Jesus glows on the dresser. O.S. a revivalist congregation

sings. And now we notice, with Joe, placards and flags, horns

and tracts, all the paraphernalia of a street corner

evangelist.

JOB:

Shee-it...

O'DANIEL

That's the ticket, just open your

heart and let it flow. It ain't the

words, it's the love beyond 'em!

EXT. REMEMBERED BAPTISM - ANOTHER TIME

Sally Buck sings with the congregation while a rawboned

preacher stands in the river, preparing to immerse little

Joe.

O'DANIEL'S VOICE

Don't fight it, boy!

INT. WEST SIDE HOTEL ROOM - DUSK

O'Daniel tries to pull Joe down beside him.

O'DANIEL

Pray and you shall be heard!

EXT. REMEMBERED BAPTISM - ANOTHER TIME

Camera becomes little Joe, glimpsing the fevered faces of

Sally Buck and the congregation singing on the riverbank,

just before being plunged under the river. O'Daniel's voice

reechoes, filtered through water.

O'DANIEL

Don't be frightened, son!

EXT. TIMES SQUARE - NIGHT

Joe runs in aimless panic, pushing through the crowd, pursued

by O'Daniel's voice and the singing congregation.

O'DANIEL

Don't run from Jesus!

Joe stops short as he sees the front page of a tabloid on a

newsstand. There is a picture of Joe being led away by two

deputies, under a headline ALABAMA MURDERER SHOTGUNS ELEVEN.

EXT. FORTY-SECOND STREET - NIGHT

Joe searches the faces of the crowd, running forward suddenly

as he sees Jackie and the farmboy picked up by two men in a

large convertible. Joe chases the car to Eighth Avenue but

stops, frightened as he sees himself in multiple image on the

front of every newspaper displayed on a newsstand.

INT. EVERETT'S BAR - NIGHT

The saloon is almost empty during the after dinner lull. The

BARTENDER doesn't look up from his newspaper as Joe

approaches.

JOE:

Say, you know that runty little

bastard I was with?

BARTENDER:

I don't know nothing.

Joe tenses as he sees the . tabloid picture of himself on the

back of the bartender's paper. Joe's hand closes around an

empty beer bottle, a terrible violence surging very near the

surface. O.S. women scream.

INT. REMEMBERED BEAUTY SALON - ANOTHER TIME

Reflected in the mirror, we see little Joe wildly smashing

bottles and glass display cabinets -- the voices of women

screaming O.S. -- little Joe hurling a perfume bottle which

shatters the mirror and his own image.

INT. EVERETT'S BAR - NIGHT

The empty beer bottle stands where it was. Joe has

disappeared. On the TV screen over the bar, sound drowned out

by the jukebox, we see a blowup of the tabloid photograph,

revealing a young man very similar to, but clearly not Joe.

EXT. TIMES SQUARE - NIGHT

Colorful lights still flash seductive promise. The vertical,

lights on the MONY tower reach bottom and freeze momentarily.

STILL PHOTOGRAPH

Joe at his hotel window staring out blankly. Gun fire O.S....

INT. SHOOTING GALLERY - DAY

The radio at Joe's ear is drowned out by a kid in cowboy hat,

shooting alone in the gallery.

Two policemen idly slap their thighs with night sticks. Joe

moves on, unconsciously checking the coin return box of a pay

phone.

STILL PHOTOGRAPH

Joe curled up on his bed like a baby, fully dressed, his

radio on the night stand. O.S. his love theme, remote,

hollow...

EXT. FORTY-SECOND STREET - NIGHT

Joe's radio is at his ear "... never too late to look great,

Ben's Bargain Basement's open 'till five a.m., miles and

miles of Western styles, worth more at any store, money talks

and nobody walks." For the first time, Joe is aware of the

other midnight cowboys lurking in doorways, the cruising

queens, the middle-age men in sport shirts. Joe moves on self

consciously as he sees a scar-faced policeman, unconsciously

massaging his night stick. Camera holds on a window display

of gag buttons, featuring NEW YORK WILL BREAK YOUR HEART,

BABY.

STILL PHOTOGRAPH

Joe soaking in the tub, eyes closed.

EXT. TIMES SQUARE DANCE HALL - DAY

Joe's radio promises job opportunities for young men eighteen

to twenty-five in the U.S. Air Force. He stands with a crowd

staring up at a girl go-go dancing in the window of SERGEANT

PEPPER'S LONELY HEART CLUB.

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