Raising Arizona Page #4

He starts to replace the receiver but brings it back with an

afterthought:

VOICE OVER:

...Or my name ain't Nathan Arizona!

As he slams the phone into the cradle the titles disappear.

Another baby starts crying. Florence looks up at the ceiling.

NATHAN:

That sounds like Larry.

Close on the crying baby as Hi bounces it, gently but

desperately.

HI:

Shhhh! Shh! Nice baby...

He starts to lower it back into the crib. The crib is

unpainted with the name of each baby burned Bonanza-style

into the headboard: Harry, Barry, Larry, Garry, and Nathan

Jr. Instead of quieting as he is lowered into the crib, the

squalling baby only sets off one of his brothers. Hi hurriedly

lifts him back out.

He looks desperately around the room.

The room is wallpapered with nursery rhyme characters.

There are toys strewn around. There is one adult-sized easy

chair in the corner.

Hi carries the baby over to the chair, stepping on and

reacting to the squeal of a squeeze-me toy on the way. He

sits the baby deep in - the chair and then returns to the

crib to deal with the second crying baby.

He lifts the baby out of the crib and gently bounces it.

This baby stops crying.

Another one in the crib starts bawling.

Hi sets the second baby down on the floor and gives it a

rattle to keep it pacified. He reaches for the third baby in

the crib. Sweat stands out on Hi 's brow. He is desperately

chucking the third baby under the chin when we hear a muffled

PTHUMP!

He whirls to look across the darkened room.

The first baby has dropped off the easy chair and is

energetically crawling away toward a shadowy corner.

LIVING ROOM:

Nathan and Florence are sitting stock-still, staring at the

ceiling. After a moment, another baby starts crying.

NATHAN:

What're they, playing telephone?

They stare at the ceiling.

NURSERY:

Loose babies are crawling everywhere. Hi is skittering across

the room in a half-crouch, a baby tucked under one arm,

reaching out with the other as he pursues a crawling baby

across the room.

He hefts the other baby with his free arm and brings the air

back to the crib.

He turns to look frantically around the room.

The other three babies have disappeared.

There is perfect quiet.

Hi goes over to the closet door, which is ajar, and swings

it open.

He reaches under a moving pile of clothes on the floor and

pulls out a baby.

He returns it to the crib and freezes, listening.

The sound of a rattle.

He drops to the floor to look under the crib.

WIDE ANGLE UNDER CRIB

A baby holding a rattle leers into the camera in the

foreground. Behind him Hi, on his stomach, is reaching in to

grab at his leg.

Hi is pulling the baby out, away from the camera, when with

a plop! a baby drops onto Hi 's back from the crib above.

Hi twists one arm back to grope for the baby crawling on top

of him.

He is straightening up, a baby in each arm, when he reacts

in horror to something he sees across the room.

HI'S POV

The hindquarters of a diapered baby are just disappearing

around the corner of the nursery door into the hallway.

LIVING ROOM:

Florence and Nathan are staring at the ceiling. After a beat

we hear a muffled plop! on the ceiling. A beat later, the

bleat of the squeeze-me toy.

NATHAN:

...Whyn't you go up and check on

'em?

They sound restless.

UPSTAIRS HALLWAY

The floor-level wide-angle shot shows a baby crawling toward

the camera in the foreground. Behind him, in the background,

just rounding the open door from the nursery, yet another

baby is making a mad dash for freedom.

Hi emerges from the nursery and, stepping around the

background baby, trots toward the baby in the foreground. By

the time he reaches it the low-angle cropping shows us only

his feet and calves.

CLOSE ON HI:

Perspiring as he tiptoes the last two steps to the baby.

HI'S POV

The baby and, beyond it, the stairway down to the main floor.

We hear footsteps approaching.

BACK TO HI:

He scoops up the baby and hurriedly tiptoes away toward the

nursery.

LOW-ANGLE REVERSE

The baby at the nursery door in the foreground; the staircase

in the background. As Hi reaches the baby we hear footsteps

climbing the stairs.

Hi's free arm comes down into frame to scoop the baby up and

out of frame just as:

Florence's head appears, bobbing up as she climbs the stairs.

She approaches the nursery, still clutching the Dr. Spock

book.

NURSERY:

As Florence enters from the hallway door.

We track back into the room, on her, as she approaches the

crib. Halfway there she freezes, staring, in shock.

HER POV:

All of the babies have been replaced in the crib but not

lying down:
They are seated in a row, staring back at her,

lined up against the far crib railing, like a small but

distinguished panel on "Meet the Press."

THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD OF THE CHEVY

ED'S POV of Hi approaching the car. He is shrugging and

displaying a pair of manifestly empty hands.

CLOSE ON ED:

Barely able to fight down her anger. Hissing:

ED:

What's the matter?!

Hi appears at her - the driver's-window.

HI:

Sorry honey, it just didn't work

out.

He is reaching to open the door but she slaps his hand away

from the handle.

ED:

What d'you mean it didn't work out?!

HI:

They started cryin', then they were

all over me...

He is trying to open the door, which Ed is holding shut with

all her might.

HI:

...It was kinda horrifying - Lemme

in, honey.

ED:

Course they cried! Babies cry!

HI:

I know that now! Come on honey, we

better leave -

Ed is rolling up the window and locking the door.

ED:

You go right back up there and get

me a toddler! I need a baby, Hi;

they got more'n they can handle!

Muffled, through the closed window, and very forlorn:

HI:

Aw honey I -

ED:

Don't you come back here without a

baby!

NURSERY:

Florence is holding one of the babies cradled against her

shoulder. She is facing the hallway door; her back is to the

crib and window. The baby, peeping out over her shoulder, is

facing the window.

CLOSE ON BABY:

Looking.

BABY'S POV

Of the window, as Hi's head appears in it.

BABY:

Looking.

HI:

Looking back, he holds a finger to his lips.

BABY:

Florence starts bouncing it, patting it on the back.

BABY'S POV

Hi and the window bouncing up and down.

LIVING ROOM:

Nathan is leafing through the lingerie ads in the newspaper.

We can hear Florence's returning footsteps. Muttering:

NATHAN:

Christian Dior my butt...

Florence enters.

NATHAN:

...They pay money for that?

FLORENCE:

Yes dear.

NATHAN:

How're the kids?

FLORENCE:

Fine dear.

NATHAN:

F***in' kids, I love 'em.

We hear the bleat of the squeeze-me toy. Florence and Nathan

look at the ceiling for a beat, then Nathan clears his throat

and returns to the newspaper.

CHEVY:

Ed sits anxiously waiting in the driver's seat, peering

intently through the windshield. As she catches sight of

something she breaks into a broad smile, unlocks the door,

and slides over to the passenger seat.

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