The Proposition Page #3

Synopsis: Rural Australia in the late nineteenth century: Capt. Stanley and his men capture two of the three Burns brothers, Charlie and Mike. Their gang is held responsible for attacking the Hopkins farm, raping pregnant Mrs. Hopkins and murdering the whole family. Arthur Burns, the eldest brother and the gang's mastermind, remains on the loose and has retreated to a mountain hideout. Capt. Stanley's proposition to Charlie is to gain pardon and - more importantly - save his beloved younger brother Mike from the gallows by finding and killing Arthur within nine days.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Western
Director(s): John Hillcoat
Production: First Look Pictures
  13 wins & 30 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.4
Metacritic:
73
Rotten Tomatoes:
86%
R
Year:
2005
104 min
$1,705,229
Website
2,285 Views


You belong with me.

We are a family.

All of us.

Yeah, I was just getting reacquainted.

Samuel.

Oh, be kind. A little tolerance, Charlie.

Samuel's a boy.

He's a vicious little cretin.

Where's Mikey, Charlie?

Mikey stayed behind in Clarence.

You left Mikey alone?

He met a girl.

Mikey met a girl?

Aye.

Mikey met a girl.

What's her name, Charlie?

Molly.

Molly.

Molly O'Boyle.

Molly O'Boyle.

A red-headed colleen, no doubt.

Aye. Red.

Like the sunset.

Like the sunset.

What does she do,

this... Molly O'Boyle?

I'm feeling a bit tired right now, Arthur.

Is she a farmer's daughter?

Can she cook a good lamb stew?

Would you stop it?

Mikey's not

the same stuff as us.

We'll be flung to the depths, you and I.

He worships you, you know.

There was a time

we both did.

Mikey deserves better.

You were right to leave -

take him with you.

I need to rest.

Mary O'Boyle.

Molly, Arthur. Molly.

Molly. Molly. Right. Molly.

Mikey, Mikey.

On the fifth day

of Christmas

My true love gave to me

Five cats a-flogging

Four nooses swinging

Three crows a-pecking

Two dogs a-pissing

And little Mikey

Hanging from a pear tree.

Only five more days to go, Mikey.

Martha.

Martha.

When Sergeant Lawrence said...

that the boy that you are holding

at the lock-up was man enough...

what did he mean by that?

Sergeant Lawrence is an ignorant thug

with the moral fortitude of a snake.

Just disregard...

What did he mean?

What did the boy do?

He's a member of the Burns gang.

There are certain things

a woman should not be privy...

I know that. I asked you a question.

I asked you not to visit me at work.

Tell me what he did to Eliza.

Enough.

She was my friend!

Enough!

That's enough.

Headache, Captain Stanley?

So, what can I do for you, Mr Fletcher?

Word has it that your men captured

half a dozen rebel blacks two days ago,

and that one was shot in the process.

Do you have a problem with that?

Yes, Captain, I do.

Word came this morning

from Eight Mile Creek

that Dan O'Reilly's place was attacked.

Are you sure it was blacks?

Dan O'Reilly had so many spears in him

that he resembled your good old

garden variety English hedgehog.

It's simple, Captain.

It's called the law of reciprocity.

Kill one of them and they're

going to kill one of ours.

Do the job I brought you

here to do, hmm?

If you have to kill one,

make sure you bloody well kill them all.

Well, I'll send some troopers out today.

Well, is our business here finished?

I'm going to have Mike Burns flogged.

What?

100 lashes.

Martha.

Thank you.

I thought you gentlemen

might like a little tea.

Please, sit down.

Thank you, Martha.

That would be lovely.

Thank you, Martha.

Is there anything else I can get you?

No, thank you, Martha. This is lovely.

Well, then, I'll leave

you two gentlemen alone.

A clever and well-bred woman,

your wife.

You did well for yourself, Captain.

Word has it...

that you had Charlie Burns.

And you let him go.

Word has it... that you offered him

some kind of deal.

Tell me this isn't so, Captain.

Word has it

that you promised

those animals who raped

Eliza Hopkins a pardon

if Charlie Burns

brought back his brother.

A pardon for the annihilation

of the Hopkins family.

Are you completely out of your mind?

Listen to me.

Mike Burns is a simpleton.

He spends all day in his cell,

crying like a child.

It is my belief that he is

not responsible for his actions.

I'm not interested in

your beliefs, Captain Stanley.

Who do you think you are?

The judge and jury?

Arthur Burns must be stopped.

It is he who is responsible

for this outrage.

And I know that Charlie Burns

will stop at nothing

to protect his younger brother Mike.

So all we need do now is wait.

Wait?

My God, man. They raped a woman.

Tomorrow morning,

I want Mike Burns flogged.

As I said, 100 lashes.

This will kill him.

So be it.

But what if I'm right?

What if Charlie Burns does as I ask?

What if he comes back?

Then we will hang the lot of them.

Good day.

Martha.

Martha. Stay here.

Do not let anyone in.

I shall return tomorrow.

Martha! Do you hear me?

Please. Stay here.

What's going on in here?

I believe Officer Davenport

and Officer Matthews

were entertaining the prisoner, sir.

Is that right, Sergeant?

Yes, sir.

Well, I've got a job for you.

Yes, sir.

You have unfinished business

in the Arooka Ranges.

Sir.

Rebel blacks, Sergeant.

Within two hours,

you must find Jacko...

and recruit some more troopers

and depart.

You f***ing snake.

Why are you still standing there?

You've been dismissed.

Where's Charlie, Mr Stanley?

I don't know, son.

I don't know.

Captain?

Captain?

- Bring him out, Stanley!

- Bring him out, Captain!

Michael Burns.

Let's see him, Stanley!

Give him to us, Stanley!

Bring him out, Stanley.

Stand aside, Stanley.

We want justice.

I'll shoot...

the first person

who lays hands on Mike Burns.

Give him to us.

He'll sort it.

You heard me.

You move, I'll shoot you dead.

Are you going to shoot

your wife as well, Captain?

Martha?

She was with child, for God's sake.

Martha, if this flogging goes ahead...

it will be our death sentence.

What if it had been me?

Come on,

you f***in' nasty...

Captain Stanley?

Help me!

Get up, Mikey!

Get it over and bloody done with!

Go on! Go on. Get up.

Stop it!

Get off me!

Now stay still.

- My good people...

- Stay still!

before you stands

one of the vilest,

most bloodthirsty villains

this country has ever seen.

Rapist.

Looter. Murderer.

His crimes are

of the most heinous kind.

Before the year is out,

this man will hang.

Today, he will be flogged.

A message to all

who would dare transgress

the laws of this land.

100 lashes.

Please.

Proceed.

One!

Please!

Two!

Three!

Please!

Oh, Peggy Gordon

You are my darling

Come sit you down

Upon my knee

And tell to me

The very reason

Why I am slighted so

By thee

I wish I was in

Some lonesome valley

Where womankind

Could not be found

And little birds

Sing up on the branches...

And every moment

A different sound

Oh, Peggy Gordon

You are my darling...

Come sit you down

Upon my knee

And tell to me

The very reason

Why I am slighted so

By thee.

He could shame a nightingale.

Thirty-eight.

Thirty-nine.

Go on.

Your days are over, Captain Stanley.

La, la, la.

Martha.

Come on.

La, la, la.

Martha, you must eat.

Tobey's made you some soup.

Here you go.

This is good.

You must eat something,

Martha, please.

No.

No.

I'm so sorry.

Forgive me, please.

I just wanted to protect you.

I had an idea about justice and...

for the town, for the country...

for you.

For you.

And now...

I don't know.

Hey, quit pissing down my leg.

Well, find your own f***in' tree.

What do you need a f***in' tree for?

Just piss out there, not on me.

F*** off. You pissed on me, you idiot.

Strange mob... you whities.

Good news.

Sergeant Laurie...

over there.

What?

Where?

See it?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

Nick Cave

Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor, best known as the frontman of the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences, and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence.Born and raised in rural Victoria, Cave studied art before turning to music in the 1970s. As frontman of the Boys Next Door (later renamed the Birthday Party), he became a central figure in Melbourne's burgeoning post-punk scene. The band relocated to London in 1980, but, disillusioned by life there, evolved towards a darker, more challenging sound, and acquired a reputation as "the most violent live band in the world". The Birthday Party is regarded as a major influence on gothic rock, and Cave, with his shock of black hair, baritone singing voice and pale, emaciated look, was described in the media as a poster boy for the genre. After the break-up of the Birthday Party in 1983, Cave formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Much of the band's early material was set in a mythic American Deep South, drawing on spirituals and Delta blues, while Cave's preoccupation with Old Testament notions of good versus evil culminated in what has been called his signature song, "The Mercy Seat" (1988). The 1996 album Murder Ballads features "Where the Wild Roses Grow", a duet with Kylie Minogue, Cave's most commercially successful single to date. The band has released 16 studio albums, the most recent being 2016's Skeleton Tree. Cave formed the garage rock group Grinderman in 2006, which has since released two albums. Cave co-wrote, scored and starred in the 1988 Australian prison film Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (1988), directed by John Hillcoat. He also wrote the screenplay for Hillcoat's bushranger film The Proposition (2005), and composed the soundtrack with frequent collaborator Warren Ellis. The pair's film score credits include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Road (2009), Lawless (2012), and Hell or High Water (2016). Cave is the subject of several films, including the semi-fictional "day in the life" 20,000 Days on Earth (2014), and the documentary One More Time with Feeling (2016). Cave has also released two novels: And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989) and The Death of Bunny Munro (2009). Cave's songs have been covered by a wide range of artists, including Johnny Cash, Metallica and Arctic Monkeys. He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007. more…

All Nick Cave scripts | Nick Cave Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "The Proposition" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_proposition_21125>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    The Proposition

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.


    Quiz

    Are you a screenwriting master?

    »
    Which film production company made the film Shrek?
    A Walt Disney Animation Studios
    B Pixar Animation Studios
    C DreamWorks Animation
    D Blue Sky Studios