The Searchers

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,

AND AARON - LATE AFTERNOON

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.

11EXT. YARD - ANOTHER ANGLE

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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