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The Searchers
- PASSED
- Year:
- 1956
- 119 min
- 1,560 Views
FADE IN:
Behind the main title and the credits:
1EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - CLOSE SHOT - MOVING JUST ABOVE GROUND
LEVEL - A STUDY OF HOOFPRINTS - LATE AFTERNOON
The hoofprints are deeply etched in the ground, picking
their way through scrubby desert growth. An occasional
tumbleweed drifts with the light breeze across the pattern
of prints; and lightly-blown soil and sand begin the work
of erasing them. The CAMERA FOLLOWING the hoofprints
raises slowly to:
2EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LONG SHOT - LATE AFTERNOON
We see the rider now. BACK TO CAMERA, jogging slowly along
-- heading down a long valley toward a still-distant ranch
house with its outlying barn and corrals.
3EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - MED. SHOT - MOVING - LATE AFTERNOON
The CAMERA FRAMES and MOVES with the lone horseman. He is
ETHAN EDWARDS, a man as hard as the country he is crossing.
Ethan is in his forties, with a three-day stubble of beard.
Dust is caked in the lines of his face and powders his
clothing. He wears a long Confederate overcoat, torn at
one pocket, patched and clumsily stitched at the elbows.
His trousers are a faded blue with an off-color stripe down
the legs where once there had been the yellow stripes of the
Yankee cavalry. His saddle is Mexican and across it he
carries a folded serape in place of the Texas poncho...
Rider and horse have come a long way. The CAMERA HOLDS and
PANS the rider past and we see another detail; strapped
onto his saddle roll is a sabre and scabbard with a gray
silk sash wrapped around it...Horse and rider pass, moving
closer to the ranch as a little girl and a small dog come
tearing around the corner of the house.
4EXT. THE YARD OF THE EDWARDS RANCH - MED. SHOT - DEBBIE -
LATE AFTERNOON:
She is staring wide-eyed at the distant horseman o.s.
Her little dog has seen him too and is barking excitedly.
DEBBIE quickly reaches to grab the dog by the scruff of
the neck, crouching over him. Debbie is 11 years old with
a piquant, memorable face.
5EXT. THE YARD - CLOSE SHOT - DEBBIE
Here we must establish and dramatize what it is about her
face that is memorable, so that if we were to see her again
five or six years later, we would know it is she -- perhaps
the eye color or the slant of eyebrow, or a trick of
scratching bridge of nose with crooked forefinger.
6EXT. THE EDWARDS HOUSE - MED. SHOT - AARON - LATE AFTERNOON
The ranch house is of adobe, solidly built, with a sod and
cross-timbered roof, deep windows. A small gallery or porch
extends across the front. AARON EDWARDS comes through the
door, attracted by the dog's barking -- and then he, too,
sees the approaching horseman and comes farther out --
curious but not at all apprehensive. Aaron is a lean,
weathered and tired man, with a down-swept mustache; a
gentler-looking man than Ethan and possibly a few years
older.
As he squints off, studying the rider, his older daughter,
LUCY, comes out to stand behind him. Lucy is from 16 to
18 -- a pleasant, feminine girl. She is carrying a mixing
bowl with some sort of batter in it, which she now
completely forgets to whip in her interest in the approaching
stranger.
In the next instant MARTHA EDWARDS follows the daughter onto
the porch. Martha is a still-lovely woman, although the
years have etched fine wrinkles about her eyes and mouth,
and work has worn and coarsened her hands. Those hands will
never be idle when Martha is on scene...And now, while she
shares the family's interest in the approaching horseman,
she automatically notes that Lucy has forgotten her task --
and she takes the mixing bowl from her and stirs the
batter.
7EXT. YARD OF THE EDWARDS HOUSE - FULL SHOT - LATE AFTERNOON
Along the side of the house comes BEN EDWARDS, 14, with a
man-sized armload of chunkwood clutched to his chest. He,
too, has spotted the stranger and is all attention. So much
so that he trips, but recovers his footing. He pauses to
dump the wood into a woodbox by the door -- his eyes always
riveted on the oncoming rider -- and then he moves toward
the others, biting a splinter out of a finger. Beyond Ben,
MARTIN PAULEY emerges from the barn and crosses the open
ground heading toward CAMERA. Martin is somewhat under
20, a lithe, perfectly coordinated male animal, with
Indian-straight hair and a white man's eyes. He is carrying
bridle or other horse-gear. He looks to the family on
the porch -- to see if they recognize the stranger -- then
out again. He continues, followed by Ben, toward where
Debbie crouches over her dog.
8EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - LONG SHOT - ETHAN - LATE AFTERNOON
As he rides downslope toward the house.
THE CREDITS END.
9EXT. THE EDWARDS RANCH - MED. CLOSE SHOT - MARTHA, LUCY,
Suddenly, Martha's eyes widen as she -- even before Aaron --
recognizes the distant rider. Her hand goes to her mouth
to check the name that trembles on her lips...An instant
later Aaron, too, identifies the oncoming horseman.
AARON:
(incredulous)
Ethan?
He looks at her, frowning, then slowly steps out onto the
hard ground. Martha hands the bowl back to Lucy and follows
Aaron.
10EXT. THE YARD OF THE EDWARDS HOUSE - FULL SHOT - THE GROUP
as Ethan rides in and sits his horse, looking down at them.
There is a noticeable constraint on all of them. Finally:
ETHAN:
Hello, Aaron...
His eyes shift to Martha and hold. Ethan is, and always has
been, in love with his brother's wife and she with him.
ETHAN:
Martha...
MARTHA:
(a bit shakily)
Hello, Ethan.
Ethan slowly, stiffly swings out of the saddle. Aaron and
Martha exchange quick glances...troubled, puzzled. Aaron
pastes on an uncertain smile as Ethan comes around his horse
toward their side.
AARON:
How's California?
ETHAN:
How should I know?
AARON:
But Mose Harper said...
ETHAN:
That old goat still creakin'
around?...Whyn't someone bury him?
He goes to his saddle pack, begins unlacing it. Ben and
Debbie have inched closer -- half-shy, half-curious.
Debbie's dog begins sniffing at his heels. Ethan looks
down at them - not unfriendly, just a man not used to
children.
ETHAN:
Ben, ain't you?
Ben nods.
ETHAN:
(frowning at Debbie)
Lucy, you ain't much bigger than
when I saw you last.
DEBBIE:
I'm Deborah!
(pointing)
She's Lucy.
Ethan looks in the direction of the pointing finger.
as Lucy steps down from the porch and approaches.
MARTHA:
Lucy's going on seventeen now...
BEN:
An' she's got a beau! Kisses him,
too!
MARTHA:
That's enough...Go on inside and
help Lucy set the table...You, too,
Deborah!
12EXT. YARD - FULL SHOT - ANOTHER ANGLE
as Martin -- with slightly averted face -- crosses to take
the bridle of Ethan's horse and lead him away.
ETHAN:
(wheeling on him)
MOMENTO!
Martin checks his stride, stares in surprise.
MARTHA:
(contritely)
Martin!...Here we've been stand-
ing...Ethan, you haven't forgotten
Martin?
ETHAN:
Oh...Mistook you for a half-breed.
MARTIN:
(levelly)
Not quite...Quarter Cherokee. The
rest is Welsh...So they tell me.
ETHAN:
You've done a lot of growin'...
AARON:
It was Ethan found you squallin' in
a sage clump after your folks was
massacred...
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"The Searchers" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Sep. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_searchers_974>.
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