Raising Arizona Page #6

As Gale starts up the car Evelle yanks the hose out and drops

it to the ground. Gale is already starting to peel out as

Evelle gets in.

WIDE SHOT TRAILER LIVING ROOM

Late at night. Hi sits asleep on the sofa at the far end of

the room, in a pool of lamp light.

We hear faint, distant knocking. As we track in toward Hi

the knocking becomes louder and more present.

As we approach Hi we see that several Polaroids are spread

over his gently rising and falling chest.

By the time we tighten on his face the knocking has become

quite loud.

VOICE:

Open up!

Hi starts awake with a grunt.

VOICE:

...Open up in air!

He looks up, alarmed.

HI'S POV

The front door of the trailer. Someone is pounding

insistently.

VOICE:

Open up! It's a police!

BACK TO HI:

He sits up and tenses. He looks around.

Ed stands in her nightgown at the mouth of the hallway,

holding Nathan Jr. and squinting at Hi. She hisses:

ED:

Hi! What's goin' on?

VOICE:

Po-lice, son! Open her up!

Hi gets to his feet, hurriedly tosses the Polaroids under a

cushion of the couch and takes out a gun.

HI:

Get in the bedroom.

ED:

They ain't gonna take Nathan?!

HI:

Well I'd like to see 'em fly.

As Ed turns back to the bedroom:

VOICE:

Open up and maybe we'll letcha plea-

bargain.

BEDROOM:

As Ed enters and shuts the door. She listens hard at the

door:

Hi's footsteps cross the living room, the click of the door

opening, silence... a burst of raucous male laughter.

HI'S VOICE

...Honey! Come on out here! Want you

to meet a couple friends of mine!

LIVING ROOM:

As Ed enters, carrying Nathan Jr. All three men - Hi, Gale,

and Evelle - are beaming at her.

HI:

Honey, like you to meet Gale and

Evelle Snopes, fine a pair as ever

broke and entered.

Gale roars with laughter.

HI:

...Boys, this - here's my wife.

GALE:

Ma'am.

EVELLE:

Miz McDunnough.

Ed smiles politely, then squints at Hi.

ED:

Kind of late for visitors, isn't it

Hi?

HI:

Well yeah honey, but these boys tell

me they just got outta the joint.

Gotta show a little hospitality.

Gale is admiring the baby.

GALE:

Well now H.I., looks like you been

up to the devil's bidnis!

EVELLE:

That a him or a her?

ED:

It's a little boy.

GALE:

Got a name, does he?

Hi and Ed look at each other uncomfortably. Hi clears his

throat.

HI:

Well so far we just been using Junior.

ED:

We call him Junior.

EVELLE:

Say, thairs good - JR., just like on

the Teevee.

Gale is staring at the streamers and decorations. Reading

aloud:

GALE:

"Welcome... Home... Son." Where's he

been?

Hi and Ed respond simultaneously:

HI:

Tulsa.

ED:

Phoenix.

HI:

He was, uh... he was visiting his

grandparents.

ED:

They're separated.

GALE:

Was that yer folks ma'am?

ED:

No, I'm afraid not.

GALE:

I thought yer folks was dead, H.I.?

HI:

(very uncomfortably)

Well we thought Junior should see

their final resting place - Whyn't

you boys have a seat?

As the two men move toward the couch Ed hesitantly pipes up:

ED:

Hi, it's two in the morning...

She wrinkles her nose.

ED:

...What's that smell?

Apologetically:

GALE:

We don't always smell like this, Miz

McDunnough. I was just explainin' to

yer better half here that when we

were tunneln' out we hit the main

sewer - dumb luck, that - and just

followed that to -

ED:

You mean you busted out of jail!!

GALE:

Waaaal...

EVELLE:

We released ourselves on our own

recognizance.

GALE:

What Evelle means to say is, we felt

the institution no longer had anything

to offer us.

He is looking at the baby.

GALE:

...My Lord he's cute.

EVELLE:

He's a little outlaw, you can see

that.

ED:

Now listen, you folks can't stay

here!

Gale, Evelle, and Hi look up at Ed, dumbstruck. After a beat:

EVELLE:

...Ma'am?

ED:

You just can't stay! I appreciate

your bein' friends of Hi and all,

but this is a decent family now...

She looks at Hi.

ED:

...I mean we got a toddler here!

Gale leans in close to Hi, a look of sincere concern on his

face, and says under his breath:

GALE:

Say, who wears the pants round here

H.I.?

HI:

Now honey -

ED:

Don't you honey me. Now you boys can

set a while and catch up, and then

you'll be on your way.

There is an awkward silence as she leaves and slams the

bedroom door.

Gale is carefully studying his thumbnail; Evelle stares

fixedly at the ceiling. Still looking at his thumb:

GALE:

Gotcha on a awful short leash, don't

she H.I.?

BEDROOM:

Sometime later, as Hi tiptoes in. Ed lies in bed facing the

wall; we see only the back of her head. Hi sits gingerly on

the edge of the bed and, smiling, sticks a finger through

the bars of the crib to play with the baby.

The sound of the TV set in the living room filters faintly

in.

ED:

They still here?

Hi is momentarily startled, then goes on playing with the

baby.

HI:

Yeah, they're just gonna stay a day

or two. It's raining out honey, they

got nowhere to go.

Ed finally turns to face him. We hear the two men laugh

raucously in the living room.

ED:

They're fugitives, Hi...

Hi turns to face her.

ED:

...How're we gonna start a new life

with them around?

HI:

Well now honey you gotta have a little

charity. Ya know, in Arab lands they'd

set out a plate -

ED:

Promise just a day or two.

HI:

Tonight and tomorrow, tops.

EXTREME HIGH ANGLE

Looking straight down at Hi, asleep in bed. It is later:

filtering softly in from the other room is the end of the

"Star Spangled Banner" on TV. We are craning down.

VOICE OVER:

That night I had a dream.

FLASH CUT:

For a brief moment we see a wall of flames and hear it roar.

BACK TO HI:

Still craning down.

VOICE OVER:

...I'd drifted off thinkin' about

happiness, birth, and new life...

FLASH CUT:

Wall of flames. Deafening roar.

BACK TO HI:

Craning down. The faint National Anthem ends: we hear the

WEEEEEEEE of a test pattern.

VOICE OVER:

But now I was haunted by a vision of -

WALL OF FLAMES:

Roaring. At the cut: WHOOOOOSH! a huge low-rider motorcycle

bursts through the flames, its engine roaring even louder

than the fire. Its driver is a huge leather-clad hellion.

The chains worn by the Biker clank ominously as he rides.

VOICE OVER:

He was horrible...

The Biker roars out of frame.

LOW-ANGLE REVERSE

As the Biker roars into frame, his rear tire laying down a

wake of fire.

VOICE OVER:

...a lone biker of the apocalypse...

TRACKING ON BIKER

As he roars along a ribbon of desert highway.

VOICE OVER:

...a man with all the powers of her

at his command.

The Biker reaches for his bullwhip.

VOICE OVER:

...He could turn the day into night...

The Biker cracks the whip and, at the crack:

The sky behind him turns instantly to black. Bolts of

lightning crackle across it as thunder roars.

ANOTHER DESERT SCENE DAY

Tracking with and also in on the Biker from behind as he

roars along a strip of highway. He is reaching for the two

sawed-off shotguns which are strapped crisscross across his

back.

VOICE OVER:

...and laid to waste everything in

his path.

REVERSE TRACK ON BIKER

Pulling the Biker from a distance as he levels the two

shotguns. The tracking camera pulls back further to reveal a

running jack-rabbit keeping pace with us in the foreground.

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