Unforgiven Page #20

LITTLE SUE:

N-no. He... he beat him up. He was

making him... answer questions...

and beating him up... and then...

Ned just died.

(pause)

Little Bill didn't mean to kill him...

he said he was sorry an' all... but

he said it was a good example anyhow.

MUNNY:

(outraged)

Good example! Good example of what

I'd like to know? He didn't even

kill nobody... he couldn't do it no

more.

LITTLE SUE:

They got... a sign on him says he

was a killer.

MUNNY:

(flabbergasted)

A sign on him?

LITTLE SUE:

In front of Greely's. It says, "This

here is what happens to..."

MUNNY:

(incredulous)

They got a sign on him in front of

Greely's?

The Kid just has his head in his hands, it's too much for

him and Little Sue is scared shitless of Munny.

MUNNY:

The questions Little Bill asked him...

what sort of questions was they?

LITTLE SUE:

About where you an' him

(indicating The Kid)

was... an' where you was from... an'

what your names was... an'...

MUNNY:

What'd Ned say?

LITTLE SUE:

L-lies... at first. About how you

was just passin' through and didn't

kill nobody... an' Little Bill kept

askin' questions, mixin' him up,

catchin' lies... an' then he'd beat

on Ned an' Ned would cry and lie

some more an' then... then...

MUNNY:

Then... what?

LITTLE SUE:

A cowboy come in sayin' you killed

Quick Mike in the sh*t house at the

Bar T...

MUNNY:

An' Little Bill killed Ned for what

I done?

LITTLE SUE:

Not on purpose. But he started hurtin'

him worse... makin' him tell stuff.

First ned wouldn't say nothin'...

but Little Bill hurt him so bad he

said who you was...

Munny looks up sharply. Little Sue is scared, her voice

quavers...

LITTLE SUE:

He said how you was really Three

Fingered Jack out of Missouri... an'

Bill said "Same Three Fingered Jack

that dynamited the Rock Island and

Pacific in '69 killin' women and

children an' all?" An' Ned says you

done a lot worse than that, said you

was more cold blooded than William

Bonney or Clay Alisson or the James

Brothers an' how if he hurt Ned again

you was gonna come an' kill him like

you killed a U.S. Marshall in '73.

MUNNY:

Didn't scare Little Bill though, did

it?

LITTLE SUE:

N-no, sir?

MUNNY:

Lemmee see that Schofield, Kid.

THE KID:

Wha... what f-for?

MUNNY:

(sharply)

Lemmee see it.

THE KID:

(giving it to him)

Sure. Sure, Bill.

Munny takes the pistol and begins to check it methodically,

inspecting the load first... and The Kid watches nervously,

shifting from foot to foot.

THE KID:

You... you could keep it, Bill. I

ain't... gonna use it no more, I

ain't gonna kill nobody.

Munny, still checking the gun, glances up and meets The Kid's

uneasy gaze.

THE KID:

I... I ain't like you, Bill.

Munny looks back at the pistol, checks the sights.

THE KID:

You... gonna take... the money?

MUNNY:

(to Little Sue)

You better get on back, Miss.

And Little Sue, still mounted, breathes an enormous silent

sigh of relief and turns her horse away hastily and Munny,

satisfied with the pistol, sticks it in his belt and walks

over to the horse and pulls his sawed-off shotgun out of the

bedroll.

THE KID:

You could have it. All of it.

MUNNY:

I thought you wanted to buy spectacles

an' fancy clothes an' all.

THE KID:

I'd rather be blind and ragged than

dead, I guess.

Munny looks at The Kid who is behaving bravely but is

trembling anyway, scared, and Munny's eyes are full of

brutally painful memories.

MUNNY:

Sh*t, Kid. I ain't gonna kill you.

You're... the only friend I got.

EXT. NORTH ROAD - NIGHT

MOONLIGHT on the ordinance #14 sign on the North Road and

two riders come up slow, Munny and The Kid, and Munny reins

up and then The Kid does too. Munny takes the saddle bags

off his horse.

MUNNY:

(giving The Kid the

bags)

This here money, take my share an'

Ned's an' leave it with my youngsters.

Tell 'em half goes to Sally Two Trees

if I ain't back in a week. The rest

is yours... you could buy them

spectacles.

THE KID:

Are you... Are you gonna... kill

Little Bill?

MUNNY:

(holding up the whiskey

bottle)

I guess you won't mind my keepin'

the bottle.

THE KID:

You're gonna kill him, ain't you?

MUNNY:

Stay clear of folks you might see.

There's plenty out lookin' to hang

you. Go on now, skedaddle.

Munny slaps The Kid's horse and The Kid sets out at a trot

and Munny watches him disappear into the night. When he is

alone and he can't hear The Kid's horse any more, Munny

uncorks the bottle and takes a long deep drink.

EXT. GREELY'S PORCH - NIGHT

VIEW on Ned's body in the upright coffin in the flickering

light of a torch standing next to it and, of course, Ned

looks bad and the crudely scrawled sign over the coffin says,

"This is what happens to assassins around here."

INT. BAR ROOM - NIGHT

VIEW on Little Bill in the crowded bar and he is shouting to

make himself heard over the din.

LITTLE BILL:

Alright, I'm gonna say just one more

time so it's all clear an' then don't

ask me no more.

The place is packed with tired, dusty men and they are not

really jubilant so much as they are excited by the hysteria

of events.

LITTLE BILL:

(continuing)

Now each of you that posse'd today

has got one drink comin' off the

county budget...

THIRSTY:

Yahoo.

LITTLE BILL:

...an' whoever rode yesterday, gets

one drink for that...

PADDY:

Yippee.

EGGS:

I told yuh two, I...

LITTLE BILL:

Hold it hold it. After them two,

it's outta your own pocket... hear

me, Skinny? ...an' we're pullin' out

early tomorrow an' chase these fellas

clear to Texas so I wouldn't spend

much of your own money.

There is a general whoop and hubbub as Little Bill turns

back to his conversation at the bar with Charley, Fatty,

Clyde, Andy and WW Beauchamp.

LITTLE BILL:

Now if we divide up into four parties

an' hit all the farms an' trails in

a circle, we're bound to find some

one who seen them skunks an'...

Little Bill is suddenly conscious of his own loud voice in a

sudden silence that has swept the bar like a brushfire and

turning he sees what everybody is staring at.

Munny, with his ten-gauge shotgun leveled from the shoulder,

is standing thirty feet away in the doorway. Taking a couple

of sideways steps to get the door from behind his back and

sweeping the twin barrels in an ominous arc, he surveys the

scene.

MUNNY:

(a little drunk)

Which f***er owns this shithole?

Nobody says a thing. Skinny stares pop-eyed from behind the

bar and the sweat starts on his forehead and Little Bill is

thinking coolly and everybody else is swallowing hard and

looking at the shotgun.

MUNNY:

(to Fatty)

You there, fat man, speak up.

Fatty gulps and then Skinny screws up his courage and steps

from behind the bar and gives it every bit of dignity his

fear will permit.

SKINNY:

I... I own this establishment. I

bought it from Greely for a thous...

MUNNY:

(to the men round

Skinny)

Better step clear, boys.

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