Unforgiven Page #21

And Skinny looks from side to side as people step away from

him and he wants to say something desperately, he wants to

live, he wants...

LITTLE BILL:

Hold on, mist...

BAH-WHOOM! Munny fires and smoke belches and...

Skinny is blown back against the wall and falls to the floor

a bloody mess and...

Little Bill is reaching for the Spencer which is leaning

against the bar near his leg but he freezes because...

Munny has turned the shotgun on him and Munny sees Ned's

Spencer there and his eyes show how he feels about it.

For a moment while the smoke clears the bar is silent and

there are nervous glances cast at the bloody body of Skinny

but Little Bill keeps his eyes on Munny.

LITTLE BILL:

Well sir... You are a cowardly

sonofabitch because you have just

shot down an unarmed man.

It has become a very formal moment and there are, figuratively

speaking, only two people in the room, Munny and Little

Bill... and WW Beauchamp is watching them, scared to death,

but this is it, what all those Easterners dreamed about, the

showdown in the saloon.

MUNNY:

(the shotgun pointed

right at Little Bill)

He should have armed himself if he

was gonna decorate his saloon with

the body of my friend.

LITTLE BILL:

I guess you are Three-Fingered Jack

out of Missouri, killer of women and

children.

MUNNY:

(a little drunkenly)

I have done that... killed women and

children... I have killed most

everything that walks or crawls an'

now I have come to kill you, Little

Bill, for what you done to Ned.

(to the others)

Now step aside. boys.

And as the deputies nervously move aside Little Bill helps

to isolate himself by stepping forward boldly.

LITTLE BILL:

He's got one barrel left, gentlemen.

After he has used it, pull your

pistols and shoot him down like the

cowardly, drunken scoundrel he is.

Little Bill looks back at Munny bravely and...

Munny looks down the barrel at Little Bill and after a tense

moment he pulls the trigger.

CLICK. The hammer falls but it is a misfire and what happens

next happens in maybe five seconds as all hell breaks loose.

LITTLE BILL:

(drawing)

Misfire! Kill the sonofabitch!

And Little Bill aims carefully and...

Munny hurls the shotgun at him and...

BLAM!... Little Bill fires wildly as the shotgun hits him

and...

Clyde has his pistol out and is pointing it at Munny and...

Munny is pulling the pistol from his own belt and he drops

to one knee and...

BLAM!... Clyde fires and misses and...

Little Bill is about to squeeze the trigger when...

BLAM!... Munny shoots him and...

BLAM!... Little Bill shoots just as he is hit in the chest

and...

BLAM! BLAM!... Fatty fires wildly and...

Munny is aiming too and BLAM!...

Clyde gets it in the face and...

BLAM!... BLAM!... Fatty isn't even aiming while...

Andy aims carefully, he can kill Munny but...

Munny turns and points his weapon at Andy and...

Instead of firing Andy panics and tries to turn his body

sideways to ward off the blow and...

BLAM!... Munny fires and...

Andy gets it high in the rib cage and...

Charley turns and runs for the back and...

BLAM! BLAM!... Fatty is backing up and firing from the hip

and then he turns to run and...

Munny aims deliberately from one knee and BLAM!...

Fatty goes down, shot in the back...

And suddenly... there is a terrible silence that is broken

only by the awful, dying groans of Clyde and the coughing of

the bystanders hiding behind tables and chairs in the thick

black smoke and...

Munny is still down on one knee pointing his pistol and

looking through the thick smoke for someone to shoot but it

seems there are no threats left.

MUNNY:

Every a**hole that doesn't want to

get shot best clear out the back

quick.

And they scramble over each other dashing toward the Billiard

Room and Munny stands up and looks around and he looks at

Clyde who is groaning, his face covered with blood and

everyone else, Little Bill, Andy and Fatty are still, and

then Fatty seems to move and Munny levels his pistol and

what happens is WW crawls out from half-under Fatty and WW

is covered with blood and he is shaking like a leaf.

WW:

I... I... think I'm... shot.

MUNNY:

You ain't shot.

WW:

(seeing the pistol)

P-p-p-please, I'm not armed.

(as Munny lowers the

pistol, WW looks

around)

M-m-my G-god. You killed... Little

Bill.

MUNNY:

(suspicious)

You sure you ain't armed?

WW:

I never c-c-carry arms. I'm... a

writer.

MUNNY:

A writer? What do you write... letters

an' such?

WW:

B-b-books.

(amazed)

You... you killed five men...

singlehanded.

MUNNY:

(wearily)

Yeah.

Munny walks over to the bar, keeping his eye suspiciously on

WW, and reaches for a bottle with his left hand. The hand is

shaking like palsy and he tilts the bottle and drinks sloppily

with effort, the pistol still in his right hand.

WW:

Wh-wh-who did you kill first?

MUNNY:

Huh?

WW:

(reciting)

Wh-wh-when confronted by superior

numbers, the experienced gunfighter

will fire on the best shots first.

MUNNY:

(drinking)

Yeah?

Unnoticed on the floor, Little Bill is conscious though blood

is coming out of his mouth and he has been written off. One

hand is shifting on his pistol and he can hear Clyde moaning

sporadically.

WW:

Little Bill told me that. You killed

him first, didn't you?

On the floor, Little Bill is fighting for consciousness,

fingering his pistol.

MUNNY:

I was lucky in the order.

(bitterly)

I always been lucky killin' folks.

WW:

Who was next? Clyde? Or was it...?

MUNNY:

(suddely ominous,

pistol pointing)

I could tell you who was last, mister.

WW's eyes pop as he gets the idea and he backs up fast, and

then he turns and bolts out the back, and watching him go,

Munny turns his back on the fallen body of Little Bill.

Little Bill, on the floor, raises up his pistol in his shaking

hand and aims at Munny's back maybe six feet away and he is

shaking bad as he draws the hammer back and...

Munny hears the click and he turns and sees Little Bill aiming

but it is too late and...

BLAM! Smoke and fire from Little Bill's pistol and Little

Bill's arm collapses from the effort and the pistol falls

with a bang.

MUNNY:

Missed again, a**hole.

And Munny steps over to him and kicks the pistol away from

Little Bill's outstretched hand. Little Bill is bleeding

from the mouth having taken a shot in the lung and he is

very weak and all he can do is look up at Munny and speak

weakly.

LITTLE BILL:

I don't... deserve this... to die

this way. I was... building a house.

MUNNY:

(aiming his pistol

point blank)

"Deserve" don't mean sh*t, Little

Bill.

LITTLE BILL:

(the pistol in his

face)

I'll see you... in hell, you three

fingered a**hole.

BLAM! Munny shoots Little Bill and then he looks around and

Clyde is still groaning and that is the only sound. Then,

suddenly, he is all business. He walks quickly over to Clyde

and shoots him once with the Spencer and the groaning stops.

Rate this script:4.6 / 8 votes