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A TITLE READS: "The Bad Lands, The Dakota Territories." Three frontiersmen ride along the Little Missouri River through the Bad Lands: the ground is scorched, the trees twisted, and red, flat-topped Buttes lie in the distance. The three men are: FRANK O'DONALD, RILEY LUFFSEY and "DUTCH" WANNEGAN, all bearded, dirty and drunk. They pass a handmade sign that reads: "Little Missouri Ranch, Proprietors: O'Donald, Luffsey and Wannegan. Private Property, Keep Out!" They drunkenly sing a song: THE
TRIO As the three men near their little shack they find a barbed wire fence with freshly cut posts blocking their path. O'DONALD LUFFSEY WANNEGAN LUFFSEY O'DONALD O'Donald jumps down from his horse, takes a hatchet from his saddle bag and proceeds to cut the fence down. LUFFSEY O'DONALD DISSOLVE: EXT. TRAIN STATION/ MEDORA - DAY The train pulls up to the small depot shack with a sign that states: "Medora." The small town of Medora lies in the background -- a couple of wooden buildings, a few houses, and a huge mansion overlooking the whole town. The Marquis gets off the train and is met by four of his RANCH-HANDS. The burly FOREMAN speaks up. FOREMAN The anger returns to the Marquis' crazy eyes. MARQUIS FOREMAN The Marquis climbs onto his horse. MARQUIS The Marquis spurs his horse and rides off toward his mansion. The ranch-hands all turn to the Foreman expecting an answer. The Foreman shrugs helplessly, then they all ride after the Marquis. DISSOLVE: INT. THE NEW YORK LEGISLATURE - DAY Teddy stands in the crowded Legislature, pounding his fist and fighting strenuously. TEDDY At that moment a uniformed Western Union DELIVERYMAN enters the Legislature, holding a telegram and looking befuddled. DELIVERMAN Teddy, who is already standing, turns to the Deliveryman and waves his hand. TEDDY The Deliveryman crosses the large room and hands Teddy the telegram. Teddy tips the boy, opens his telegram and silently reads. Everyone in the room is watching him. Teddy lowers the telegram, smiling mightily. The elderly Speaker asks in a distraught tone: SPEAKER TEDDY TEDDY The Speaker nods his head. SPEAKER Everyone bursts into applause, giving Teddy a standing ovation. He smiles proudly. DISSOLVE: EXT. THE BAD LANDS - DAY The Marquis rides up on a snorting stallion. He is now attired in boots, chaps, pistols, a cowboy hat, and carries a Sharps .45 caliber buffalo rifle. Twelve other armed RANCH HANDS accompany him on horseback. They come upon severed fence posts and cut wire lying in spirals on the ground. MARQUIS Nobody has a clue what he's saying, so they all quickly agree. FOREMAN HAND
#1 HAND
#2 MARQUIS INT. THE NEW YORK LEGISLATURE - DAY TEDDY Then, like deja vu all over again, the same Western Union Deliveryman arrives. DELIVERYMAN Teddy waves his hand again, smiling meekly at the frowning Speaker. TEDDY SPEAKER Teddy reads the telegram and suddenly looks horrified. He crumples the telegram and dashes out of the Legislature without a word or backward glance. Everyone in the Legislature shakes their head and mutters at Teddy's odd behavior. DISSOLVE: EXT. THE BAD LANDS/ RIVER ROAD - SUNSET O'Donald, Luffsey and Wannegan, once again drunkenly ride along the Little Missouri River singing a song. THE
TRIO The three men once again find their path blocked by barbed wire. They all shake their heads. Meanwhile, hidden behind rocks, outcroppings, trees and shrubs are the Marquis and his men, their rifles out and ready. The three frontiersmen are indignant. O'DONALD LUFFSEY WANNEGAN They all jump down from their horses, retrieve axes and hatchets, then set about chopping down the fences. The Marquis' voice is heard from nearby. MARQUIS A volley of gunshots rings out. Men and horses drop to the ground in a murderous barrage of lead. One horse falls over dead, Riley Luffsey lands on his back with a bullet through his throat, yelling. LUFFSEY Luffsey chokes on blood and quickly dies. Wannegan, whose clothes are shot to pieces, jumps on the one healthy horse and gallops off at top speed, his shredded clothes flapping. O'Donald has been shot several times and runs around bleeding and screaming. He finally gets caught on the barbed wire fence, and hangs there moaning. The Marquis and his men step out of their hiding places, their weapons smoking. Many of the men are wide-eyed and shaking in disbelief at what they've just done. FOREMAN The Marquis smiles for the very first time. MARQUIS The Marquis pulls a big Colt .45 from his holster and fires several shots directly into Frank O'Donald's back. Frank O'Donald, hanging on the barbed wire, spasms and dies. The Marquis' men all appear shocked. The Marquis spins the pistol on his finger, then slams it into his holster. DISSOLVE: EXT. THE ROOSEVELT FAMILY HOME/ MANHATTAN - NIGHT A horse-drawn carraige draws up in front of the Roosevelt mansion. Teddy bolts from the carriage and dashes inside the house. A TITLE READS: "February 12th, 1884." INT. THE ROOSEVELT FAMILY HOME - NIGHT Teddy enters the house to find a crowd of people inside - his entire extended family, as well as many family friends. They all turn and look at Teddy whose face is a study in panic. TEDDY Nobody answers, nor knows how to answer. Teddy dashes past all of them, bolting up the steps two and three at a time. INT. ALICE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Alice is in a coma. She surrounded by a DOCTOR, a nurse, and several other people. Teddy looks to the Doctor pleadingly. TEDDY DOCTOR Teddy could not look more stricken. INT. MARTHA'S ROOM - NIGHT Martha Roosevelt is awake in bed suffering the very last stage of Typhoid fever. Bamie is there, as well as another doctor, another nurse, and a few others. Martha sees Teddy and smiles. MARTHA Teddy kneels beside her, taking her frail, bony hand in his. Teddy is now crying. TEDDY Martha strokes her son's hair. MARTHA TEDDY MARTHA TEDDY MARTHA TEDDY MARTHA Teddy looks up to Bamie and the others. They shake their heads, they haven't told her of Alice's condition. Teddy looks back down to his mother. Martha coughs violently, her frail body shaking. Finally, the coughing subsides and Martha Roosevelt dies. Teddy drops his face into his hands and sobs. INT. ALICE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT The comatose Alice is in Teddy's arms. Teddy rocks her gently. The Doctor's hand reaches in and feels Alice's pulse in her neck. There is none. The Doctor goes to his bag and retrieves a small mirror. Bamie and the others watch as the Doctor places the mirror to Alice's mouth. There's no breath. Alice is dead. Teddy won't let go of her, tears streaming down his face. DISSOLVE: EXT. ROOSEVELT MANSION - MORNING Two horse-drawn hearses are parked in front of the house. It's a cold February morning. The horses snort, billowing clouds of steam. INT. ROOSEVELT MANSION/ HALLWAY - MORNING The door to Alice's bedroom opens and Bamie steps into the hall. In the room we can see that Teddy is still holding his dead wife and crying. Bamie speaks to CORINNE and ELLIOT, Teddy's twenty year old sister and nineteen year old brother. They have both been crying all night, too. BAMIE CORINNE ELLIOT BAMIE The three Roosevelts stand in confusion. A MORTICIAN wearing a black frock coat and top hat comes up the stairs. He is followed by two burly assistants. MORTICIAN He points at Alice's bedroom door. Bamie looks to her brother and sister, then sighs. BAMIE The Mortician nods. MORTICIAN The Mortician turns to his assistants and nods toward the door. INT. ALICE'S BEDROOM - MORNING Alice's cold, blue body is wrenched from Teddy's grasping hands. His tear-streaked face twists in pain as his dead wife is taken from him. Teddy curls up in a ball on the bed and continues to cry, sobs racking his whole body. DISSOLVE: The immediate Roosevelt family is assembled in the library, which is fourteen people. Some of the men smoke cigars, many people have glasses of brandy before them. Nobody speaks. Suddenly, everybody looks up as Teddy enters the library. He is completely dazed, his clothes rumpled, his hair sticking up. His sister, Bamie, steps up holding a swaddled newborn infant. Teddy looks down at the baby with an expression of total defeat. TEDDY
BAMIE TEDDY BAMIE TEDDY BAMIE TEDDY BAMIE TEDDY BAMIE TEDDY BAMIE TEDDY Teddy turns and walks out of the library. His entire family watches him go in overwhelming sadness. FADE OUT: FADE IN:
Teddy rides through the Bad Lands attired in buckskin, pistols on his belt, several rifles on his saddle, and a grim look on his face. He fights the elements: EXT. RIVER - DAY Teddy and his horse wade through a river. He looks like he might float away, but he doesn't. DISSOLVE: EXT. BOGGY LOWLAND - DAY Teddy rides his horse straight into a pool of quicksand. The horse's front legs sink into the muck and Teddy is thrown forward off the horse. TEDDY He is hurtled directly into the quicksand. Teddy flails, finally grabbing the horse around the neck. The two of them flail together until they pull themselves out of the quagmire. The horse shakes off the mud. Teddy crawls to solid ground and gasps for air. DISSOLVE: EXT. THE BAD LANDS - DAY Teddy rides through a raging storm. He and his horse can barely keep their eyes open the rain is whipping so hard. DISSOLVE: EXT. CAMPSITE - NIGHT Teddy tries to sleep in the rain, with no fire, soaking wet. He starts to laugh, then just keeps on laughing, waving his fists in the air. TEDDY Teddy's laughter chokes up and becomes sobs. DISSOLVE: EXT. CAMPSITE - MORNING It has stopped raining, but everything, including Teddy, is soaking wet. He sneezes as he tries to start a fire, but to no avail, everything's too wet. Instead, he eats hard biscuits and shivers. DISSOLVE: EXT. UNDERGROWTH - DAY Teddy moves stealthily through some undergrowth, his Winchester rifle in hand. As he moves slowly past some foliage, we see a pheasant bobbing its head, pecking at the ground. Teddy aims in with his rifle, pulls the trigger and - BANG! The bird goes down. Teddy then plucks the bird, starts a fire, cooks and hungrily eats it on the spot. It tastes good, really good. DISSOLVE: EXT. GRAVEYARD BUTTE/ MEDORA - DAY Two new graves are being added to the cemetery overlooking Medora. This is Graveyard Butte. Wannegan watches as his two friends are interred. Wannegan then looks over at the Marquis' mansion and a deep frown creases his face. Wannegan shakes his fist. WANNEGAN As dirt is shoveled into the holes, Wannegan turns and walks away, a very frustrated man. DISSOLVE: INT. THE PYRAMID HOTEL & SALOON - DAY The Marquis strides into the saloon in the hotel, bangs a beer mug loudly on the bar until he has everyone's attention. He then announces to the twenty people on hand . . . MARQUIS The Marquis smashes the beer mug on the floor, then strides out of the saloon as hastily as he entered. Everyone stands there, silent for the moment. The BARKEEP speaks everyone's thoughts. BARKEEP A SALOON GAL chimes in. SALOON
GAL Everybody nods. DISSOLVE: EXT. THE MALTESE CROSS RANCH - DAY The Maltese Cross ranch is composed
of a tiny cabin, a few head of cattle, some chickens and some goats.
The owners of the ranch are, GREGOR LANG, a burly Scotsman, who
presently GREGOR As Teddy rides closer we see that he is a mud-spattered, soggy mess, but, nevertheless, he wears a pained smile. TEDDY A smile comes to Lincoln's young face for no apparent reason. Gregor lowers his rifle. GREGOR TEDDY Teddy gets down from his horse, strides over and shakes Gregor's hand. GREGOR TEDDY Teddy takes Lincoln's hand in both of his and gives it a good solid pump. Lincoln is amused. GREGOR TEDDY TEDDY GREGOR TEDDY Gregor ushers Teddy inside. Lincoln takes the reins of Teddy's horse. TEDDY Lincoln Lang, unlike his father, has an American accent. LINCOLN Lincoln and Teddy exchange a smile. DISSOLVE: INT. THE LANG CABIN - NIGHT Teddy, Gregor and Lincoln sit around the table, plates with chicken bones scattered about. Gregor smokes a pipe. GREGOR TEDDY GREGOR LINCOLN TEDDY GREGOR Teddy is thinking. He squints his eyes and cleans his glasses. TEDDY GREGOR Lincoln watches Teddy and his father closely. TEDDY GREGOR TEDDY GREGOR TEDDY GREGOR Teddy grins his toothy grin. He and Gregor shake hands on the deal while Lincoln watches. DISSOLVE:
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