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March 10, 1998 "WARPATH" An Original Screenplay By Josh Becker A superimposed title reads: "Red Cloud, Nebraska, 1878 . . ." EXT. THE GREAT PLAINS -- DAY The endless expanse of the Great Plains stretches out in all directions; blue skies, puffy white clouds, fields of wheat, corn, barely and rye waving languidly in the breeze. In the distance a man on a horse rides steadily toward a farmhouse that is even further off. EXT. FARM -- DAY Plowing the field behind a mule is ALICE ERICSSON, a beautiful, tough, weathered woman of blonde Swedish stock. Alice's seven year old daughter, WILLA, hoes the vegetable garden, and Alice's five year old son ALEX is down on his hands and knees pulling weeds. Alice runs the blade of the plow into a large, buried rock - CLANG!! - rattling her teeth. Alice bends down, digs out the rock, then attempts to lift it. It's too heavy, she can't move it an inch. She approaches the problem several different ways, then finally starts to cry and kicks the rock, hurting her foot. Alice yelps and falls to the ground. Willa and Alex both look up, see their mother sitting in the dirt crying, then glance at each other. Willa notices something, looking to her right. She sees the man on the horse approaching. Willa runs up to her mother with an excited expression. WILLA Alice wipes her sweaty brow, shields her eyes
and squints. She sees an old, white-whiskered man on a horse come
riding up. He is MR. GUNDERSON, the postman. Alex
comes running over to see what's going on. Getting a letter on
a farm in Nebraska in 1878 is a big deal. Alice takes a deep breath. ALICE Mr. Gunderson rides up, then slowly dismounts his horse. MR.
GUNDERSON Mr. Gunderson hands over a yellowed, dog-eared envelope. Alice takes it slowly. The children watch expectantly. ALICE Alice lowers the letter, her eyes filling with tears. Mr. Gunderson and the kids watch her closely. Alice takes a deep breath and shakes her head firmly.
MR.
GUNDERSON ALICE WILLA ALEX MR.
GUNDERSON ALICE MR.
GUNDERSON ALICE ALICE MR.
GUNDERSON ALICE MR.
GUNDERSON ALICE MR.
GUNDERSON ALICE The old postman nods skeptically. Five year old Alex is still grinning. ALEX ALICE DISSOLVE: EXT. FARMHOUSE -- DAY Alice and the two kids ride up in front of a farmhouse in a loaded horse-drawn wagon. The Bergdahl family stands in front of the house, a young husband and wife, HELLA, and three little kids. Alice drops off her confused children. ALICE WILLA
& ALEX ALICE Willa looks very concerned. WILLA ALICE HELLA ALICE Alice snaps the reins and rides away. Willa, Alex, and the entire Bergdahl family watch Alice ride away with stunned expressions. DISSOLVE: EXT. MOUNTAIN TRAIL -- DAY A pile of horseshit sits on a mountain trail. A hand comes into view, scoops up some of the shit and smears it between the fingers. The hand belongs to EMMETT COLE, a tall, dark-haired, weather-beaten man of 40 with a long Fu Manchu mustache, an L-shaped scar on his chin, and a plug of tobacco under his lip. Cole smells the horseshit, furrows his brow, then wipes his hand on his pants. He leads his horse up a steep mountain trail in the waning sunlight of the Rocky Mountains. Cole's eyes dart all around, completely taking in his surroundings, and anything that might lurk within or behind them. His nostrils suddenly flare as he smells something. He spits and studies the sky. A slight wisp of smoke rises from the thick foliage to his left. Cole takes a rifle from his saddle, ties up his horse, then stealthily crawls through the undergrowth. EXT. ROCKY LEDGE -- DAY Cole comes out on a rocky ledge overlooking a campsite one hundred feet below where five dirty OUTLAWS sit cooking dinner. Cole takes out a small brass telescope and a stack of wanted posters from his saddlebag. He identifies each outlaw and studies the charges on the posters. Three of the men are murderers and thieves, wanted dead or alive. One outlaw is simply wanted for thievery, and one other has no poster at all. EXT. CAMPSITE -- DAY Cole reappears a moment later at the outlaw's campsite. Three of the outlaws are dead, one is wounded, and one is unharmed. Cole puts his rifle against the back of the live outlaw's head. COLE OUTLAW The outlaw runs quickly off into the woods. Cole swings his rifle around on the WOUNDED OUTLAW, whose hand is an inch from a pistol. Cole's look dares him to touch it. COLE The outlaw slowly moves his hand away from the gun. He looks down at his three dead comrades. WOUNDED
OUTLAW Cole pulls out the wanted posters. COLE
The outlaw nods -- he understands. DISSOLVE:
Alice follows the course of the Republican River, riding along the river road. She passes many farms, endless fields of wheat, barley and rye baking in the hot sun under a turquoise sky. DISSOLVE:
It's pouring rain and Alice is huddling under the wagon, soaking wet. She is trying to unwrap some biscuits but is shaking too much. Alice starts to cry, tossing the biscuits to the ground. ALICE Her crying jag starts to go out of control, she forcefully stops herself. ALICE Alice lowers her head and takes a deep breath. She picks the biscuits up from the ground, cleans them off and takes a bite. She sniffles as she chews. DISSOLVE: EXT. THE RIVER ROAD -- DAY Alice, looking rather ragged after her wet cold night, rides along the river road. She comes upon a severely loaded-down wagon, with a young, blond couple aboard. They are PIETER and MARIANNE VAN KEUKENHOF. They are Dutch. They exchange greetings with Alice as she passes them by. PIETER ALICE Alice snaps the reins and leaves them behind. SHERIFF COLE SHERIFF Cole nods, looks around and sees the entire town looking back at him. He grins, spits, then dismounts. DISSOLVE: EXT. CAMPSITE BY RIVER -- SUNSET Alice has made camp early tonight, already has a fire going and a lean-to set up. The Van Keukenhof's loaded-down wagon slowly approaches. Alice stands and waves. ALICE Pieter and Marianne both smile and wave back. MARIANNE PIETER ALICE Pieter and Marianne exchange a look and nod. PIETER MARIANNE ALICE DISSOLVE: EXT. CAMPSITE BY RIVER -- NIGHT Pieter takes a twig from the fire and lights his pipe. Dinner is finished. Marianne and Alice sit down after clearing up. ALICE PIETER ALICE PIETER Marianne raises her eyebrows. MARIANNE ALICE PIETER MARIANNE PIETER PIETER Alice nods thoughtfully, staring into the campfire. DISSOLVE: EXT. LUCKY DOG SALOON -- NIGHT The Lucky Dog saloon is rollicking. Sitting at a table in the far back all by himself is Cole, busily polishing off a bottle of whiskey with a beer chaser. He smokes a hand-rolled cigarette and looks half-crocked. A pretty SALOON GAL sits down beside Cole. SALOON
GAL Cole picks up a glass with water in it, dumps the water on the floor, pours in a shot of whiskey and hands it to her. COLE The Saloon Gal takes the drink and downs it. SALOON
GAL COLE SALOON
GAL COLE SALOON
GAL COLE Cole does a shot, then takes a swig of beer.
* * * * Emmett
Cole awakens in jail to the sight of Alice looking down at him.
It's like his dream won't end. She asks for his help to find her
husband. Cole winces -- of course she's married. She hands
him a photograph of her and her husband, Alice sitting, Earl standing,
holding his hat. Cole takes them to the land grant office and tracks down the location of Lucky's mine. Just as Alice and Cole are heading out of Ft. Collins, a crazed, wounded soldier arrives with a wagon load of dead, scalped soldiers. Everyone in Fort Collins is outraged. Alice and Cole leave them all behind. Alice
and Cole enter the high country, she in her wagon, he on his horse.
As they travel they talk and find out about each other. Cole was
married and his wife left him for another man. As they ride along
it becomes apparent that both of them are attracted by the other.
They both confess to having been extremely lonely in the past several
years. Alice and Cole are ridiculously polite and proper with
one another. The subject of Alice's husband comes up regularly.
Alice's husband, known as "Lucky," has spent most of their
marriage out looking to make his fortune, leaving Alice to run the farm
and raise the kids. Alice figures that maybe Lucky's had his fill
of running around now and is ready to settle down. However, when
they camp at night each of them is highly aware of the other one resting
nearby. That night around the campfire Alice and Cole are both quiet and thoughtful. Finally, Alice asks, "We're you ever married, Mr. Cole?" He nods and says he once was married, but his wife left him for another man. The both set up their bedding and go to sleep. Cole throws a look toward Alice, closes his eyes and a little grin plays across his mouth and we know who he's thinking about. Suddenly, Cole opens his eyes and looming directly over him is Alice. Cole tries to speak, but Alice kisses him. They make love by the light of the dying campfire. ACT TWO: Cole
rides off into Indian territory. He sees smoke rising in the distance,
arrows in trees, a scalped dead Indian full of arrows, a charred, burnt-out
wagon with a hand poking out from beneath.
Alice, Mrs. Greely and her 17-year old daughter are prisoners of the Pawnee, bound and roughly pulled through the woods. They are taken to the Pawnee camp where there are five other women hostages, all Cheyenne squaws, and six other Pawnee braves, preparing for a sacrificial ritual by covering themselves with colorful paints and sharpening knives on rocks. The women hostages all huddle together, tied up like livestock. Now
Cole and Lucky fight the Pawnee together. Things aren't looking
all that good when the Pawnee braves suddenly scatter. Cole and
lucky are baffled; what's happening? A war party of Cheyenne braves
rides up from behind. The LEADER of the Cheyenne tells Cole and
Lucky that anyone that fights the Cheyenne's enemy is the Cheyenne's
friend. Go in peace. The Cheyenne all ride away. |