Slow West Page #3

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and quietly un-c*cks his gun

16 EXT - RIVER CUTTING THROUGH PRAIRIE - DAY 16

Horse clops on wood as SILAS and JAY ride across a ricketybridge

CUT TO:

17 EXT - CANYON - DAY 17

Mid day sun beating down, the familiar red-tailed hawkscreech

SILAS and JAY walk their horses up through a yellowish rocky

canyon

The canyon narrows forming a pass a couple of yards wide

14.

A buffalo has got trapped in the narrow gap and died there

It has been picked clean of meat down to its gleaming whitebones

The skeleton blocks the route WEST

JAY and SILAS approach

JAY:

Must have been winter when Rose

passed through here

They begin to pull the heavy bones from between the rock

JAY lifts up the skull

SILAS:

What’s she like?

JAY perks up

JAY:

She’s a beauty. And.. She does notwaste words. They tumble out, witfollowing wisdom

SILAS:

You haven’t bedded her, have you

SILAS laughs

JAY shakes his head

SILAS gestures to the buffalo rib cage

SILAS (CONT’D)

Grab that end

JAY:

You’re a brute

They lift the rib cage together and dump clear of the trailand walk the horses through the pass

18 EXT - ALONG BASE OF CLIFFS - DAY 18

SILAS swigs from a water bottle and tosses it back to JAY

SILAS:

A trading post up ahead. We candine at a table while sitting on achair

CUT TO:

15.

19 EXT - OUTSIDE TRADING POST - DAY 19

SILAS and JAY ride up to the trading post

A small one room wooden shack, a veranda running along thefront

There is a horse tied up out front. It is jet black, shinyand muscular

SILAS looks at the horse as he dismounts

SILAS:

Tie the horses round back

JAY leads the horses round the side of the building

SILAS reaches the veranda

Left of the trading post door there is a makeshift noticeboard fixed to the wall

SILAS turns to make sure JAY is out of sight, then checks allthe notices

Amongst a number of wanted posters of grim faced outlaws, awanted poster for ROSE ROSS and JOHN ROSS

Beneath a drawing of JOHN and ROSE, a crude likeness, reads -

JOHN ROSS and his daughter ROSE ROSS - ‘WANTED FOR MURDER -

REWARD $2000 DEAD OR ALIVE’

SILAS rips the poster from the board

SILAS SELLECK (V.O.)

Everyone knew about the bounty,

except Jay. He was leading me right

to it.

The trading post door swings open and a man exits. SILASturns his head

This is VICTOR THE HAWK - He is wearing a priest’s get-up,

white dog collar, black suit, black hat, perfectly groomed.

Everything about this man is long, sharp and clean

VICTOR carries a long black case, about the length of a largerifle and probably containing a large rifle

For a brief moment he stops and looks at SILAS. A beat ofrecognition between both men. SILAS looks down at the case,

VICTOR knows he knows.. A bounty hunter can smell anotherbounty hunter

VICTOR tips his hat, walks off, mounts horse, rides off

16.

SILAS SELLECK (V.O.)

There were few of us left, men

beyond the law

SILAS walks into the trading post

SILAS SELLECK (V.O.)

But the most dangerous were the

last to fall

JAY saunters around the corner, sees VICTOR riding off

CUT TO:

20 INT - TRADING POST - DAY 20

Inside the trading post is dark and dusty, shelves on allsides are filled with necessities. Native blankets, furs,

buffalo skins, pots, pans, coffee, ammunition, saddle bags,

suits, boots, shovels, pan handles, horse shoes, bags of saltand corn, jars of honey and rolls of string. (See p. 168Little house in the big woods)

A counter runs along the back of the shop. In front of thecounter and to the left, two small wooden tables, four

chairs. To the right, more shelves piled high, and anentrance to a small changing room covered by a large Native

rug

An OLD MAN stands behind the counter

SILAS walks up to the counter, strikes a match on the side,

lights his cigar

STOREKEEPER:

May I ask you to place your iron on

the counter while you browse?

SILAS obliges, then wanders round the room checking the stock

JAY enters, closing the door behind him

SILAS:

We’ll be dining

JAY wanders over to some clothes on a rail

JAY:

May I try on a suit?

STOREKEEPER:

Sure, be my guest

JAY crosses the room and enters the small changing room,

pulls closed the native blanket curtain

17.

SILAS sits down at a table in the opposite corner of the room

CHANGING ROOM:

There is a filthy mirror on the wall

JAY wipes it clean with his sleeve

Looks at his disheveled reflection

SHOP FLOOR:

The STOREKEEPER picks up a couple of glasses and a bottle ofwhisky and approaches SILAS

STOREKEEPER (CONT’D)

Whisky?

SILAS shakes his head

SILAS:

You got meat?

STOREKEEPER:

I got condemned bacon. Traded itfor bullets. Both‘ll kill you

pretty quick

SILAS shakes his head, pulls out the wanted poster, unfolds

CHANGING ROOM:

There is a comb on a string next to the mirror

JAY picks it up but sees it is full of old hair and drops it

JAY brings his gun out from his inside pocket and lays it on

a stool

SHOP FLOOR:

SILAS studies the wanted poster

CHANGING ROOM:

JAY tries on the suit jacket, notices a hole right by hisheart

The hole was made by a bullet and around the hole, dried redcrusts of the blood of the previous owner

JAY sticks his finger in the hole

SHOP FLOOR:

The door swings open

A man and a woman enter

18.

They are Swedish, a young couple, clothes dusty from travel

They move nervously, jittery, eyes showing desperation. Theman JOHAN is skinny. (Ref: Shame by Bergman)

The woman MARIA, skinny but wears so many clothes and rags

and shawls that she looks larger

JOHAN notices SILAS and looks at MARIA with concern

SILAS keeps his eye on the man as he nervously approaches to

the counter

JOHAN points to a blanket on a high shelf behind thestorekeeper

JOHAN (SWEDISH ACCENT)

Blanket please

STOREKEEPER:

Blanket, ha..

The storekeeper climbs on a stool and reaches up for ablanket

While his back is turned, MARIA swipes some items and places

them in her bundle of bosom

STOREKEEPER (CONT’D)

Ma’am, you have to purchase itemsbefore baggin’ ‘em. That's how we

do it here in America

SILAS alert

MARIA throws a sharp stare at JOHAN

MARIA:

Johan!

SILAS smells trouble

JOHAN brings a colt pistol from his inside jacket pocket andpoints it at the head of the storekeeper

The storekeeper raises his hands and takes a step back

JOHAN:

S..s..sorry.. Money .. Pl..please

CHANGING ROOM:

Jay stock still, listens

19.

SHOP FLOOR:

STOREKEEPER:

Now looky here, you realise if I

give you money, here’s the onlyplace round where you can spend it

MARIA:

Johan!

JOHAN c*cks the gun

SILAS and JAY both frozen in their respective places

JOHAN:

Money!!

MARIA goads JOHAN

MARIA (IN SWEDISH)

Johan! What must be done!

JOHAN follows his wive’s orders and smacks the storekeeper inthe face with the butt of his pistol

The storekeeper falls out of sight and rises with a shotgun

and shoots JOHAN point black in the chest

JOHAN is flung backwards against a post and falls down dead

MARIA in shock, pulls out a small pistol and fires it at the

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