Raising Arizona Page #15

Hi is looking at him evenly.

HI:

Why don't you just calm down, Glen.

GLEN:

Why don't you make me?! Know that

little baby you got in there? Remember

him? I know what his real name is!

Hi is suddenly nervous and urgent:

HI:

Wanna keep your voice down, Glen?

GLEN:

I'll pitch my voice wherever I please!

His name ain't Hi Jr.! His name ain't

Ed Jr.! But it's junior an right!

Yes sir, it's Nathan Jr.!

Hi takes one step down holding out a calming hand.

Glen takes two nervous steps away and reassures himself by

resting a hand on the door of his station wagon.

GLEN:

...Stay away from me, McDunnough!

Hi stops short. Glen smiles.

GLEN:

...Sure, you're an awful big man

when you got somethin' around to

clobber a guy with!

HI:

(softly)

I ain't a big man.

GLEN:

That's right! And now you're at my

mercy!

He spits on the dirt in front of him.

GLEN:

...I'm your worst nightmare! I wanted

to just turn you in for the re-ward.

But Dot, she wants something to

cuddle. So it looks like that baby's

gonna be Glen Jr. From now on!

Hi's face is set in rigid dismay.

GLEN:

...I'll give you a day to break the

news to Ed...

Glen is getting into his car.

GLEN:

...Dot'll be by tomorrow to pick him

up.

He slams the door.

GLEN:

...It's either that or jail. Oh and

say, that reminds me! You'll find a

doctor bill in the mail in a few

days. I recommend you pay it!

And the car squeals off.

Hi looks back at the trailer.

HIS POV:

A slat in the window blind drops back into place.

BACK TO HI:

He opens the door.

INT. TRAILER

Evelle is already emerging from the bedroom with the baby in

his arms.

Hi moves toward Evelle. His teeth are set; he means business.

HI:

What's goin' on here.

Gale steps in front of Hi.

GALE:

You know what's goin' on, H.I. It's

just business. Now this can go either

hard or easy-

Hi gives Gale a hard push to get past him. Gale staggers

back but recovers and grabs Hi in a bear hug.

Hi flips Gale. Gale lands on a coffee table which flips up

and crashes back down.

Evelle is dancing back out of Hi's reach. As Hi lunges for

him the prostrate Gale grabs his legs.

Hi goes down hard.

Gale leaps to his feet and - CRASH - bangs his head up against

an overhanging lamp. Both of his hands fly up to massage the

top of his head.

THOOMP - Hi's fist flies into frame to connect with Gale's

unguarded stomach. Gale doubles over, clutching at his gut.

Hi interlaces his fingers to make a club of his two hands.

With Gale's bowed head a target in front of him, Hi swings

his hands up over his head.

Hi's knuckles scrape painfully against the plaster of the

too - low ceiling. Skin is flayed, plaster crumbles.

Hi grabs at his knuckles in pain. Gale lunges with a mid-

body tackle that sends Hi crashing into the wall.

Gale, still on top of him, reaches back to throw a punch.

The reach-back sends his elbow crashing through a window but

doesn't stop the punch.

It connects with Hi's jaw.

Gale throws another quick punch, all his weight behind it.

Hi's head bobs sideways just in time and Gale's fist goes

through the wall. It is momentarily stuck there.

Hi uses the opportunity to grab Gale's one free arm with

both of his. He is twisting it to make Gale, roaring with

pain, twist around and present his back to him.

Hi climbs aboard, grabbing Gale's face.

Gale, still roaring, is pulling his fist out of the hole. He

grabs a lath exposed by the hole and pulls; it tears out of

the wall and snaps free, giving him a length of about two

feet.

Gale is rampaging around like a grizzly bear hemmed in a too-

small space. Hi is hanging on for dear life, his own feet

flailing this way and that, knocking over lamps and wall

fixtures as Gale bends and twirls about, trying to shake him

loose. Gale crashes and bounces off the walls, roaring in

pain and fury.

Close shots of Gale's face show his features impossibly and

grotesquely contorted by Hi's hand, squeezing, gripping and

clutching at it.

Evelle is dancing around with the baby, dodging crashing

furniture and flailing body parts.

EXT. WIDE SHOT THE TRAILER

At the cut Gale's roaring drops out. We hear the chirping of

birds and the laughter of children playing in the

neighborhood.

It is a sunny day.

BACK TO INT. TRAILER

Gale still roars. With a last mighty effort, he finally swings

Hi off his body.

Hi crashes against a wall and through it to land in the:

BATHROOM:

Amid a shower of plaster dust and lath. Hi has landed,

groggily, against the toilet.

Evelle enters now with his hands free, apparently having set

the baby down somewhere.

He yanks the cord off the bathroom blinds.

LIVING ROOM:

Hi is seated in a straight-back chair, still violently

struggling but Gale's arms are wrapped around him from behind.

Evelle is just finishing tying off his wrists behind the

chair.

No one talks; there is nothing left to say.

Finished, Gale goes to the door and Evelle goes to the

bedroom. He emerges with the baby and precedes Gale out the

door, Gale slamming it behind him.

Hi starts bucking and struggling, weeping tears of rage and

frustration. He succeeds only in tipping forward, face down

into the carpet, the strapped-on chair pressing down on top

of him.

His profile is pressed into the carpet.

Offscreen we hear the door of the trailer opening.

HI'S POV

At carpet level. Gale's shoes enter his field of vision.

They stride over to a mess of debris in the corner of the

living room.

OBJECTIVE SHOT:

As Gale paws through the wreckage to expose the copy of Dr.

Spock's Baby and Child Care. He grabs the book.

HI'S POV

The feet walk away and leave his field of vision.

CLOSE ON HI:

As we hear the door slam shut with horrible finality.

Hi's mouth stretches wide. He ROARS with grief and

frustration.

WIDE SHOT:

Moving down the road toward an oncoming car. As the oncoming

car gets closer we can see Gale and Evelle in its front seat.

As the car passes we pan with it, to reveal that we have

been shooting from the inside of another car, and we hold on

the profile of its driver: Ed. She has just watched the other

car shoot past.

ED:

...Good.

QUICK FADE OUT:

INT. DEVASTATED TRAILER

As Ed sits heavily into frame, apparently in shock, her frozen

profile to the camera as she stares straight ahead into space.

Her foreground hand absently holds a length of cord.

Beyond her in the middle background Hi is rummaging in the

debris. He stands up, cropped from the chest down and starts

loading bullets into the chamber of Ed's .38 police special.

HI:

(frantically)

I know you're worried honey but

believe me, there ain't a thing to

worry about. We're gonna get him

back, there just ain't no question

about that...

He snaps the chamber shut and leaves frame, still talking.

HI:

...We'll get him back, that's just

all there is to it. And you wanna

know another thing?

He is walking back into frame holding another handgun now in

addition to the .38, this one an automatic.

HI:

...I'm gonna be a better person from

here on out. And that's final, I

mean that's absolutely the way it's

gonna be, that's official. You were

right and I was wrong...

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