Days
of Heaven (1978)
by Terrence Malick.
Draft script, 6/2/76.
SETTING
The story is set in Texas just before the First World War.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
BILL: A young man from Chicago following the harvest.
ABBY: The beautiful young woman he loves.
CHUCK: The owner of a vast wheat ranch ("bonanza") in the
Texas Panhandle.
URSULA: Abby's younger sister, a reckless child of14.
BENSON: The bonanza foreman, an enemy of the newcomers.
MISS CARTER: Chief domestic at the Belvedere, Chuck's home.
McLEAN: Chuck's accountant.
GEORGE: A young pilot who interests Ursula.
A PREACHER, A DOCTOR, AN ORGANIST, VARIOUS HARVEST HANDS,
LAWMEN, VAUDEVILLIANS, etc.
"Troops of nomads swept over the country at harvest time
like a visitation of locusts, reckless young fellows,
handsome, profane, licentious, given to drink, powerful but
inconstant workmen, quarrelsome and difficult to manage at
all times. They came in the season when work was plenty and
wages high. They dressed well, in their own peculiar
fashion, and made much of their freedom to come and go."
"They told of the city, and sinister and poisonous
jungles all cities seemed in their stories. They were
scarred with battles. They came from the far-away and
unknown, and passed on to the north, mysterious as the
flight of locusts, leaving the people of Sun Prairie quite
as ignorant of their real names and characters as upon the
first day of their coming."
Hamlin Garland, Boy Life on the Prairie (1899)
1 INT. CHICAGO MILL - SERIES OF ANGLES
WORKERS in a dark Chicago mill pound molten iron
out in flaming sheets. The year is 1916.
2 EXT. MILL
BILL, a handsome young man from the slums, and
his brother
STEVE sit outside on their lunch break talking with an
older man named BLACKIE. By the look of his flashy clothes
Blackie is not a worker.
BLACKIE
Listen, if I ever seen a tit, this here's a tit.
You understand? Candy. My kid sister could do this one. Pure
fucking candy'd melt in your hand. Don't take brains. Just a
set of rocks. I told you this already.
STEVE
Blackie, you told me it was going to snow in the
winter, I'd go out and bet against it. You know?
(to Bill)
There is nothing, nothing in the world, dumber
than a dumb guinea.
BLACKIE
Okay, all right, fine. Why should I be doing
favors for a guy that isn't doing me any favors? I must be
losing my grip.
(pause)
I got to give it to you, though. Couple of guys
look like you just rolled in on a wagonload of chickens. You
ever get laid?
STEVE
Sure.
BLACKIE
Without a lot of talk, I mean? 'Cause I'm
beginning to understand these guys, go down the hotel, pick
something up for a couple of bucks. It's clean, and you know
what you're in for.
3 EXT. ALLEY
Sam the Collector's GANG swaggers around in the
alley behind a textile plant. ONE of them has filed his
teeth down to points and stuck diamonds in between them.
ANOTHER wears big suspenders.
Sam and Bill appear to know one another.
SAM
Hey, Billy, you made a mistake. You made
somebody mad. Nothing personal, okay? It's just gotta be
done. You made a mistake. Happens in the best of families.
BILL
I paid you everything I have. Search me. The
rest he gets next week.
SAM
Listen, what happens if I don't do this?
I gotta leave town?
BILL
I could do something, you know. You guys wanta
do something to me, I know who to tell about it. You guys
ought to think about that.
SAM
You maybe already did something. Maybe that's
why you're here, on account of you already done something.
BILL
I haven't done anything.
SAM
Then you're all right, Billy.
RAZOR TEETH
You got nothing to worry about.
SAM
Cut it out, Billy, all right? You know what can
happen to a guy that doesn't wanta do what people tell him?
You know. So don't give us a lot of trouble. You're liable
to get everybody all pissed off.
Sam, a busy man, checks his watch.
4 NEW ANGLE
Bill puts his hand on the ground. Sam drops a
keg of roofing nails on it and, his work done, leaves with
his gang. Bill sobs with pain.
5 EXT. LOT BEYOND MILL
Bill and Steve drag a safe by a rope through a
vacant lot beyond the mill. Blackie walks behind.
BLACKIE
You know what I'm doing with my end? Buy a boat.
Get that? I had a boat. I had a nice apartment, I had a
boat. Margie don't like that. We got to have a house. "I
can't afford no house," I said. She says, "Sell the boat." I
didn't want to sell my boat. I didn't want to buy the house.
I sell the boat, I buy the house. Nine years we had the
house, eight of them she's after me, we should get another
boat. I give up.
STEVE
Same as always, I do all the work, you gripe
about it.
Suddenly FOUR POLICEMEN surprise them from ambush. Bill lets
go of the rope and starts to run. Steve does not give up
immediately, however, and they shoot him down. Bill picks up
Steve's gun and fires back. Three of the Policemen go
chasing after Blackie, whom they soon bring to heel. The
FOURTH stays behind taking potshots at Bill while he attends
to Steve.
6 TIGHT ON STEVE
Steve, badly wounded, is about to die.
STEVE
Run. Get out of here.
BILL
(weeping)
I love you so much. Why didn't you run. Don't die.
Steve dies. Bullets kick up dust around him. He takes off
running. One of the bullets has caught him in the shoulder.
7 INT. SEWER
ABBY, a beautiful woman in her late twenties,
attends to Bill's wounds in a big vaulted sewer. Her sister
URSULA, a reckless girl of 14, stands watch.
BILL
(weeping)
They shot the shit out of him. My brother. I
couldn't believe what I was seeing.
ABBY
Hold still, or I can't do anything.
BILL
I love you, Abby. You're so good to me. Remember
how much fun we had, on the roof...
8 EXT. ROOF - MATTE SHOT
Bill and Abby flirt on the root of a tenement,
happily in love. The city stretches out behind them.
9 INT. BED - QUICK CUT
Abby lies shivering with fever. Bill spoons hot
soup into her mouth. Ursula rolls paper flowers for extra
change.
BILL (o.s.)
(continuing)
... even when you were sick and I was in the mill.
10 INT. MILL - QUICK CUT (VARIOUS ANGLES OF OTHER WORKERS)
Bill works in the glow of a blast furnace. He
does not seem quite in place with the rest of the workers. A
pencil moustache lends a desired gentlemanliness to his
appearance. He looks fallen on hard times, without ever
having known any better--like Chaplin, an immigrant lost in
the heartless city, with dim hopes for a better way of life.
BILL (o.s.)
I won't let you go back in the mill. People die
in there. I'm a man, and I can look out for you.
11 EXT. SIDING OUTSIDE MILL
Along a railroad spur outside the mill, Abby and
Ursula glean bits of coal that have fallen from the tenders.
BILL (o.s.)
We're going west. Things gotta be better out
there.
12 EXT. TENEMENT
A POLICEMAN, looking for Bill, roughs Abby up
behind the tenement where they live. Suddenly Bill runs out
from a doorway and slams him over the head with a clay
pitcher full of water.
POLICEMAN
What'd you do?
Bill shrugs, then hits him again, knocking him
unconscious, when he reaches for a gun. Abby calls Ursula
and they take off running, Bill stopping only to collect
some of their laundry off a clothesline.
13 EXT. FREIGHT YARDS
They hop a freight train.
14 CREDITS (OVER EXISTING PHOTOS)
The CREDITS run over black and white photos of
the Chicago they are leaving behind. Pigs roam the gutters.
Street urchins smoke cigar butts under a stairway. A blind
man hawks stale bread. Dirty children play around a dripping
hydrant. Laundry hangs out to dry on tenement fire escapes.
Police look for a thief under a bridge. Irish gangs stare at
the camera, curious how they will look. The CREDITS end.
15 EXT. MOVING TRAIN
Abby and Bill sit atop a train racing through
the wheat country of the Texas Panhandle.
BILL
I like the sunshine.
ABBY
Everybody does.
They laugh. She is dressed in men's clothes, her hair tucked
up under a cap. They are sharing a bottle of wine.
BILL
I never wanted to fall in love with you.
ABBY
Nobody asked you to.
He draws her toward him. She pulls away.
BILL
What's the matter? A while ago you said I was
irresistible. I still am.
ABBY
That was then.
She pushes her nose up against his chest and
sniffs around.
BILL
You playing mousie again?
ABBY
I love how nice and hard your shoulders are. And
your hair is light. You're not a soft, greasy guy that puts
bay rum on every night.
BILL
I love it when you've been drinking.
ABBY
You're not greasy, Bill. You have any idea what
that means?
BILL
Kind of.
They share the boxcar with a crowd of other
HARVEST HANDS. Ursula is among them, also dressed like a
man. Bill gestures out at the landscape.
BILL
Look at all that space. Oweee! We should've done
this a long time ago. It's just us and the road now, Abby.
ABBY
We're all still together, though. That's all I
care about.
16 EXT. JERKWATER
The train slows down to take on water. The hands
jump off. Each carries his "bindle"-- a blanket and a few
personal effects wrapped in canvas. TOUGHS with ax handles
are on hand to greet them.
The harvesters speak a Babel of tongues, from German to
Uzbek to Swedish. Only English is rare. Some retain odd bits
of their national costumes, they are pathetic figures,
lonely and dignified and so far from home. Others, in split
shoes and sockless feet, are tramps. Most are honest
workers, though, here to escape the summer heat in the
factories of the East. They dress inappropriately for farm
work, in the latest fashions.
BILL
Elbow room! Oweee! Give me a chance and I'm
going to dance!
Bill struts around with a Napoleonic air, in a
white Panama hat and gaiters, taking in the vista. Under his
arm he carries a sword cane with a pearl handle. It pleases
him, in this small way, to set himself apart from the rest
of toiling humanity. He wants it known that he was born to
greater things.
17 NEW ANGLE
Bill comes upon a BIG MAN whose face is covered
with blood.
BILL
Good, very good. Where you from, mister?
BIG MAN
Cleveland.
BILL
Like to see the other guy.
Bill helps him to his feet and dusts him off. A
TOUGH walks up.
TOUGH
You doing this shit?
(pause)
Then keep it moving.
BILL
Oh yeah? Who're you?
The Tough hits Bill across the head with his ax handle.
TOUGH
Name is Morrison.
Bill looks around to see whether Abby has seen this. She
hasn't. He walks dizzily off down the tracks.
18 NEW ANGLE
He takes Abby by the arm.
ABBY
What happened to your ear?
BILL
Nothing.
She is a sultry beauty--emancipated, full of bright hopes
and a zest for life. Her costume does not fool the men.
Wherever she goes they ogle her insolently.
EXT. WAGONS
The FOREMEN of the surrounding farms wait by their wagons to
carry the workers off. A flag pole is planted by each wagon.
Those who do not speak English negotiate their wages on a
blackboard.
BENSON, a leathery man of fifty, bellows through a
megaphone. In the background a NEWCOMER to the harvest talks
with a VETERAN.
BENSON
Shockers! Four more and I'm leaving.
BILL
How much you paying?
BENSON
Man can make three dollars a day, he wants to
work.
BILL
Who're you kidding?
Bill mills around. They have no choice but to accept his
offer.
BENSON
Sackers!
Abby steps up. Benson takes her for a young man.
BENSON
You ever sacked before?
She nods.
Transcriber's Note: the following seven lines of
dialogue between the NEWCOMER and the VETERAN runs
concurrent with the previous six lines of dialogue between
Benson and Bill and Abby. In the original script they are
typed in two columns running side-by-side down the page.
*****
NEWCOMER (o.s.)
How's the pussy up there?
VETERAN
Not good. Where you from?
NEWCOMER (o.s.)
Detroit.
VETERAN
How's the pussy up there?
NEWCOMER (o.s.)
Good.
(pause)
The guys tough out here?
VETERAN (o.s.)
Not so tough. How about up there?
NEWCOMER (o.s.)
Tough.
*****
BENSON
When's that?
ABBY
Last year.
He waves her on. Abby nods at Ursula.
ABBY
You're making a mistake, you pass this kid up.
BENSON
Get on.
He snaps his fingers at her. Bill climbs up ahead of the
women. Anger makes him extremely polite.
BILL
You don't need to say it like that.
Benson ignores this remark but dislikes Bill from the first.
20 EXT. PLAINS
Benson's wagons roll across the plains toward
the Razumihin, a "bonanza" or wheat ranch of spectacular
dimensions, its name spelled out in whitewashed rocks on the
side of a hill.
21 EXT. BONANZA GATES (NEAR SIGN)
The wagons pass under a large arch, set in the
middle of nowhere, like the gates to a vanished kingdom.
Goats peer down from on top.
Bill looks at Abby and raises his eyebrows.
22 EXT. BELVEDERE
At the center of the bonanza, amid a tawny sea
of grain, stands a gay Victorian house, three stories tall.
Where most farm houses stand more sensibly on low ground,
protected from the elements, "The Belvedere" occupies the
highest ridge around, commanding the view and esteem of all.
Filigrees of gingerbread adorn the eaves. Cottonwood
saplings, six feet high, have recently been planted in the
front. Peacocks fuss about the yard. There is a lawn swing
and a flagpole, used like a ship's mast for signaling
distant parts of the bonanza. A wind generator supplies
electric power.
A white picket fence surrounds the house, though its purpose
is unclear; where the prairie leaves off and the yard begins
is impossible to tell.
Bison drift over the hills like boats on the ocean. Bill
shouts at the nearest one.
BILL
Yo, Beevo!
23 TIGHT ON CHUCK
CHUCK ARTUNOV, the owner--a man of great reserve
and dignity, still a bachelor--stands on the front porch of
the Belvedere high above, observing the new arrivals.
24 EXT. DORMITORY
Benson drops the hands off at the dormitory, a
hundred yards below, a plain clapboard building with a
ceiling of exposed joists. Ursula sees Chuck watching them.
URSULA
Whose place is that?
BENSON
The owner's. Don't none of you go up around his
place. First one that does is fired. I'm warning you right
now.
In the warm July weather most of the hands
forsake the dorm to spread their bedrolls around a strawpile
or in the hayloft of the nearby barn.
Abby and Bill slip off to share a cigarette.
Ursula tags behind.
25 EXT. ROCK
Bill lifts a big rock. Abby applauds. Ursula
kneels down behind
him. Abby pushes him over backwards.
26 EXT. BARN
Ursula gasps as Abby tumbles off the roof of the
barn and falls through the air screaming:
ABBY
Urs!
She lands in a straw pile.
27 TIGHT ON ABBY AND BILL
Bill takes Abby by the hands, spins her around
until she is thoroughly dizzy, then grasps her across the
chest.
BILL
Ready?
She giggles her consent. He crushes her in a bear hug until
she is just on the verge of passing out, then lets her go.
She sinks to the grass, in a daze of sweet intoxication.
28 EXT. LANTERN - NIGHT
Bill looks deeply into Abby's eyes by the light
of a lantern that night. They have made a shallow cut on
their thumbs and press them together mixing their blood like
children.
BILL
You're all I've got, Abby. No, really,
everything I ever had is a complete piece of garbage except
you.
ABBY
I know.
They laugh. He bends to kiss her. She pulls away.
BILL
Sometimes I think you don't like men.
ABBY
As individuals? Very seldom.
She kisses him lovingly.
29 EXT. WHEAT FIELDS - DAWN
The sun peers over the horizon. The wheat makes
a sound like a waterfall. It stretches for as far as the eye
can see. A PREACHER has come out, in a cassock and surplice,
to offer prayers of thanksgiving.
PREACHER
"... that your days may be multiplied, and the
days of your children, in the land which the Lord swore unto
your fathers to give them, as the days of' heaven upon the
earth."
The harvesters spit and rub their hands as they wait for the
dew to burn off. They have slept in their coats. The dawn
has a raw edge, even in summer.
30 TIGHT ON WHEAT
Chuck looks to see if the wheat is ready to
harvest. He shakes the heads; they make a sound like paper.
He snaps off a handful, rolls them between his palms, blows
away the chaff and pinches the kernels that remain to make
sure they have grown properly hard.
Tiny sounds are magnified in the early morning stillness:
grasshoppers snapping through the air, a cough, a distant
hawk.
He pops the kernels into his mouth, chews them up, and rolls
the wad around in his mouth. Satisfied, he spits it out and
gives a nod. The Preacher begins a prayer of thanksgiving.
Two ACOLYTES flank him, one with a smoking censer, the other
with a crucifix.
All repeat the "Amen." Benson makes a tugging signal with
his arm. A Case tractor--forty tons of iron, steam-driven,
as big and as powerful as a locomotive--blasts its whistle.
This is the moment they have been waiting all year for.
31 OTHER FIELDS - SERIES OF ANGLES
A SIGNALMAN with two hand flags passes the
message on from the crest of a nearby hill. In the far-flung
fields of the bonanza other tractors answer as other crews
set to work.
Abby and Bill join in, Bill reaping the wheat with a mowing
machine called a binder, Abby propping the bound sheaves
together to make bunches or "shocks."
A cloud of chaff rises over the field, melting the sun down
to a cold red bulb.
Abby is well turned out, in a boater and string tie, as
though she were planning any moment to leave for a picnic.
Bill, too, dresses with an eye to flashy fashion: Tight dark
trousers, a silk handkerchief stuck in the back pocket with
a copy of the Police Gazette, low-top calfskin boots with
high heels and pointed toes, a shirt with ruffled cuffs, and
a big signet ring. While at work he wears a white smock over
all this to keep the chaff off. It gives him the air more of
a researcher than a worker.
The harvesters itch madly as the chaff gets into their
clothes. The shocks, full of briars, cut their hands; smut
and rust make the cuts sting like fire. Nobody talks. From
time to time they raise a chant.
Ursula, plucking chickens by the cookhouse--a shack on
wheels-- steals a key chain from an unwatched coat.
Benson follows the reapers around the field in a buggy. He
keeps their hours, chides loafers, checks the horses, etc.
The harvesters are city people. Few of them are trained to
farming. Most--Abby and Bill are no exception--have contempt
for it and anybody dull enough to practice it. Tight control
is therefore exercised to see that the machines are not
damaged.
Where the others loaf whenever Benson's back is turned, Bill
works like a demon, as a point of pride.
32 CHUCK AND BENSON
Lightning shivers through the clouds along the
horizon. Chuck looks concerned. Benson consults a windsock.
BENSON
Should miss us.
CHUCK
They must be having trouble over there, though.
Abby, passing by, lifts her hat to wipe her face. As she
does her hair falls out of the crown. Women are rare in the
harvest fields. One so beautiful is unprecedented.
CHUCK
I didn't know we had any women on.
BENSON
(surprised)
I thought she was a boy. Should I get rid of
her?
CHUCK
No.
33 MONTAGE
A COOK stands on the horizon waving a white flag
at the end of a fishing pole. Ursula bounds through the
wheat blowing a horn.
Benson consults the large clock strapped to the back of his
buggy, then fires a smoke pistol in the air.
Their faces black with chaff, the hands fall out in silence.
They shuffle across the field toward the cookhouse, keeping
their feet close to the ground to avoid being spiked by the
stubble.
34 EXT. COOKHOUSE - STUBBLE FIELD IN B.G.
The COOKS, Orientals in homburgs, serve from
planks thrown across sawhorses. The hands cuff and push each
other around as they wash up. The water, brought up fresh in
wagons from the wells, makes them gasp. An ice wagon and a
fire truck are parked nearby.
Most sit on the ground to eat, under awnings or beach
umbrellas dotted around the field like toadstools. The
Belvedere is visible miles away on the horizon.
Bill is carrying Abby's lunch to her when a loutish DUTCH
MAN makes a crack.
DUTCHMAN
Your sister keep you warm at night?
Bill throws a plate of stew at him and they are quickly in a
fight. No fists are used, just food. The others pull them
apart. Bill storms away, flicking mashed potatoes off his
shirt.
35 EXT. GRAIN WAGON - STUBBLE FIELD IN B.G.
Bill and Abby sit by themselves in the shade of
a grain wagon. Demoralized, Abby soaks her hands in a pail
of bran water. Bill inspects them anxiously. They are
swollen and cracked from the morning's work.
ABBY
I ran a stubble under my nail.
BILL
Didn't you ever learn how to take care of
yourself? I told you to keep the gloves on. What can I do if
you don't listen?
Bill presses her wrists against his cheek, ashamed that he
can do nothing to shield her from such indignities. In the
b.g. a MAN with a fungo bat hits flies to SOME MEN with
baseball gloves.
BILL
You can't keep on like this.
ABBY
What else can we do?
She nods at the others.
ABBY
Anyway, if they can, I can too.
BILL
That bunch? Don't compare yourself to them.
She flexes her fingers. They seem lame.
BILL
You drop off this weak. I can make enough for us
both. It was a crime to bring you out here. Somebody like
you.
(pause)
Right now, what I'm doing, I'm just dragging you
down.
(pause)
Maybe you should go back to Chicago. We've got
enough for a ticket, and I can send you what I make.
He seems a little surprised when she does not reject this
idea out of hand. Perhaps he fears that if she ever did go
back, he might never see her again.
BILL
What's the matter?
She begins to cry. He takes her in his arms.
BILL
I know how you feel, honey. Things won't always
be this way. I promise.
36 ABBY AND BILL - CHUCK'S POV
The men knock out their pipes as Benson's
whistle summons them back to their stations.
BENSON
Tick tockl Tick tock! Nothing moving but the
clock!
Bill pulls Abby to her feet. He sees the Dutchman he fought
with and shoots him the finger.
ABBY
You better be careful.
BILL
Of him? He's just a. sack of shit.
ABBY
Stop it! He's liable to see you.
BILL
I want him to. He's the one better be careful.
37 TIGHT ON CHUCK
Chuck looks on. Something about her captivates
hint, not so much her beauty--which only makes her seem
beyond his reach--as the way she takes it utterly for
granted.
38 MONTAGE (DISSOLVES)
The work goes on through the afternoon. The pace
is stern and incessant, and for a reason: a storm could rise
at any moment and sweep the crops flat, or a dry wind
shrivel them up. A series of dissolves gives the sense of
many days passing.
Iany moment and sweep the crops flat, or a dry wind shrivel
them up.Animals--snakes and gophers, rabbits and foxes--dart
through the field into the deep of the wheat, not realizing
their sanctuary is growing ever smaller as the reapers make
their rounds. The moment will come when they will every one
be killed with rakes and flails.
The wheat changes colors in the wind, like velvet. As the
sun drops toward the horizon a dew sets, making the straw
hard to cut. Benson fires his pistol. A vine of smoke sinks
lazily through the sky. As the workers move off, the fields
grow vast and inhospitable.
Oil wells can be seen here and there amid the grain.
39 EXT. ABBY'S ROW
Bill helps Abby finish up a row. Thousands of
shocks stretch out in the distance. Benson comes up behind
her, making a spray of the stalks that she missed.
BENSON
You must've passed over a dozen bushels here.
I'm docking you three dollars.
BILL
What're you talking about? That's not fair.
BENSON
Then leave. You're fired.
Abby is speechless. Bill squeezes the small rubber ball
which he carries around to improve his grip and swallows his
pride.
BILL
BILL
Wait a minute.
BENSON
You want to stay?
(pause)
Then shut up and get back to work.
Benson leaves. Abby covers Bill's embarrassment.
BILL
I guess he meant it.
She turns her back to him and goes about picking up the
sheaf Benson threw down.
BILL
He did. Ask him. If you can't sing or dance,
what do you do in this world? You might as well forget it.
Ising or dance, what do you do this world? You might as
wellu
rorget it.
40 EXT. STOCK POND - DUSK
Their day's work done, the men swim naked in a
stock pond.
Their faces are black, their bodies white as a baby's.
A retriever plunges through the water fetching sticks.
41 EXT. ROAD - DUSK
Some bowl with their hats on in a dusty road and
argue in Italian.
42 EXT. BELVEDERE - DOCTOR'S WAGON - DUSK
A physician's wagon stands in front of the
Belvedere.
Bill hunts nervously through it for medicine to soothe
Abby's
hands. Not knowing quite what to look for, he sniffs
whatever
catches his eye.
Suddenly the front door opens and Chuck steps out with a
DOCTOR, a stooped old man in a black frock coat. Bill,
surprised, crouches behind the wheel. As they draw closer
their conversation becomes faintly audible.
CHUCK (o.s.)
How long you give it?
DOCTOR (o.s.)
Could be next month. Could be a year. Hard to say. Anyway,
I'm sorry.
CHUCK (o.s.)
Got to happen sometime.
They shake hands
43 NEW ANGLE - DUSKI
The Doctor snaps his whip at the horses. Bill
grabs holdI
The Doctor snaps his whip at the horses. Bill grabs hold of
the back of the wagon and lets it drag him away from the
Belvedere.the Belvedere. -
44 EXT. BARN - DUSK
Ursula and Abby case the barn for dinner. Abby
points at a pair of peacocks strutting by, nods to Ursula
and puts a finger over her lips. Ursula, with a giggle,
followsone while Abby stalks the other.
45 EXT. RAPESEED FIELD - SERIES OF ANGLES -
DUSK
The peacock, a resplendent white, leads Abby
through a bright yellow rapeseed field. It keeps just out of
reach, as though it were enticing her on.
as though it were enticing her on.'U
All at once she looks up with a start. Chuck is standing in
front of her,
dressed in his habitual black. The Belvedere rises behind
him like a
castle in a fairy tale. She remembers Benson's warning that
this is forbidden ground.
ABBY
(afraid)
I forgot where I was.
CHUCK
Don't worry. Where you from?
ABBY
Chicago.
CHUCK
We hardly ever see a woman on the harvest.
There is a small rip in the side of her shirt, which the
camera observes with Chuck. She pulls her sweater over it.
CHUCK
You like the work?
(she shrugs)
Where do you go from here?
ABBY
Wyoming and places. I've never been up that way.
You think I'll like it?
He shrugs. Shy at first, she begins to open up.
ABBY
That dog belongs to you that was running around
here? That little pointer?
(he nods)
What's his name
CHUCK
Buster.
ABBY
He seems like a good dog.
CHUCK
I think so.
ABBY
He came over and tried to eat my bread from
lunch.
CHUCK
Maybe I should keep him penned up.
ABBY
(smiling)
You asking me?
46 EXT. SPIT - DUSK
Bill finds Ursula roasting a peacock on a spit.
She has arranged some of its tail feathers in her hair.
BILL
You're getting prettier every day.
URSULA
Aren't you sweet!
BILL
Depends how people are with me. Where's Abby? I
found her something.
He holds out a jar of salve. Ursula shrugs.
BILL
She mention anything to you about going back?
(pause)
What?
Ursula has no idea what he is talking about.
47 EXT. STRAW STACK - MAGIC HOURMost of the
workers are fast asleep around the strawp?U
Most of the workers are fast asleep around the
strawpile, their bodies radiating out like the spokes of a
wheel. A few stay up late to shoot dice in the back of a
wagon.
48 EXT. SEPARATE STACK - MAGIC HOUR
Abby and Bill have laid their bedrolls out by a
stack away from the others. A fire burns nearby. Abby look
at the stars. Bill shines his shoes. The straw is fragrant
as thyme.
ABBY
I've had it.
BILL
You're tired, that's all. I'm going to find you
another blanket.
ABBY
No, it's not that. I'm not tired. I just can't.
BILL
Don't you want to be with me?
ABBY
You know I do. It's just that, well, I'm not a
bum, Bill.
BILL
I know. I told you though, this is only for a
while. Then we're going to New York.Then we're New York.
ABBY
And after that?
BILL
Then we're there. Then we get fixed up.
ABBY
You mean spend one night in a flophouse and
start looking for work.
They are silent for a moment.
BILL
You should go back.
ABBY
And leave you? I couldn't do that.
(pause)
Someday, when I'm dying, I'd like somebody to
ask me if I
still see life the same way as before--and I'd like them to
write down what I say. It might be interesting.I
Suddenly they look around. The chief domestic at the
Belvedere, a churlish lady named MISS CARTER, stands above
them with a salver of fruit and roast fowl.
BILL
(suspicious)
What's going on? Who sent it?
She nods up toward the Belvedere and sets it down.I
BILL
What for?
She withdraws with a shrug. She does not appear to relish
this duty. Bill watches her walk back to the buggy she
came down in. Benson waits beside it.U
BILL
(to Abby)
She's the kind wouldn't tell you if your coat
was on fire.U
49 NEW ANGLE - MAGIC HOURI
Abby, with the look of a child that has wandered
into aI
magic world, digs in. Bill looks on, suspicious of the_
motives behind this generosity.
50 EXT. FIELD WITH OIL WELL - URSULA'S THEME
- MAGIC HOUR
A bank of clouds moves across the moon. Ursula
roams the fields, keen with unsatisfied intelligence. The
stubble hisses as a hot wind blows up from the South,
driving bits of grain into her face like sleet. From time to
time she does a cartwheel.
Equipment cools in the fields. Little jets of steam escape
the
boilers of the tractors.Ursula stops in front of a donkey
well. It nods up and down in ceaseless agreement, pumping up
riches from deep
in the earth.
51 EXT. BEDROOM WINDOW - MAGIC HOUR
The camera moves through the bedroom window to
find Chuck
asleep on his pillow. The wind taps the curtain into the
room.
52 EXT. FATHER IN CHAIR - QUICK CUT
Chuck dreams of a Biblical figure with a long
plaited room.U52EXT. Chuck dreams of a Biblical figure with
a long plaited
beard, in a frock coat and Astrakhan hat, sitting in a_
chair on the open prairie, guarding his land with a brace
of guns. This man will later be identified as his FATHER.
53 EXT. FIELDS - DAY
The next day Benson yells through a megaphone
from atop a stool.
BENSON
Hold your horses!I
The huge tractors start up with a bang. Despite Benson's
warning a team of Percherons breaks free. Threshing, the
separating of the wheat from the chaff, has begun.
54 EXT. SEPARATOR - SERIES OF ANGLESI
Sixty foot belts connect the tractors to the
separating machines, huge rattletrap devices that shell the
wheat out at deafening volume. Benson tosses bundles down
the hissing maw, squirts oil into the gears, tightens belts,
chews out a MAN who's sliced a hand on the driveshaft, etc.
Bill works on the straw pile at the back of the machine, in
a soft rain of chaff, spreading it out with a pitchfork.
Ursula helps stoke the tractor with coal and water. When
nothing is required of her she sneaks off to burrow in the
straw.
Gingerbread on the eaves of the tractors gives them a
Victorian appearance. Tall flags mark their position in the
field.
Abby moves quickly, without a moment's rest, sewing up the
sacks of grain as they are measured out at the bottom of
the separator. A clowning WORKER comes up and smells herU
like a flower.
55 EXT. GRAIN ELEVATORSU
Fully laden wagons set off toward distant grain
elevators.U
56 EXT. COUCH ON RIDGE
Chuck and McLEAN, his accountant, sit on a ridge
away from the chaff, in the shade of a beach umbrella.
Chuck keeps track of operations through a telescope. Our
last view of Abby, we realize, was from his POV. A plush
Empire couch has been drawn up for his to rest in. At a
table beside it, McLean computes the yield.
McLEAN
This must be wrong. No, dammit, nineteen bushels
an acre.
Chuck sails his hat out in the stubble with a whoop.
McLean leans over his adding machine, cackling like a thief.
McLEAN
Say it goes at fifty-five cents a bushel, that
means a profit of
four dollars and seventy-five cents per acre. Multiply by
twenty
thousand and you're talking over six figures.I
CHUCK
Big year.
McLEAN
Your biggest ever. This could make you the
richest man in thePanhandle.
(pause)
You ought to get out while you're this far
ahead. You'll never do
better. I mean it. You have nothing to gain by staying.U
nothing to gain by staying. I
CHUCK
I want to expand. I want to run this land clear
to the Oklahoma border. Next spring I will.
McLEAN
And gamble everything?U
(he nods)I
You're crazy.
CHUCK
I been out here all my life. Selling this place
would be like
cutting my heart out. This is the only home I ever had.
ThisI
is where I belong. Besides, I don't want to live in town.
I couldn't take my dogs.I
57 CHUCK'S POV - TELESCOPE MATTE
Chuck takes another look at Abby through the
telescope.
25
58 EXT. BUGGY
Bill drinks from the water barrel at the back of
Benson'sU
buggy, his eyes fixed on Chuck's distan
BILL
Big place here.
BENSON
The President's going to pay a visit next time
he comes West.U
BILL
Got a smoke?
BENSON
No.I
Bill puts his hat back on. He keeps wet cottonwood leaves in
the crown to cool himself off.
BILL
Why's that guy dragging an expensive piece of
furniture out here? Reason
I ask is he's going to ruin thefinish and have to strip it.I
Benson hesitates, uncertain whether he might be divulging
a confidence.
BENSON
He's not well.
BILL
What's the matter with him?I
Benson immediately regrets having spoken so freely. He
checks his watch to suggest Bill should get back to work.
This uneasiness confirms Bill's sense that Chuck is gravely
ill.
59 EXT. SEPARATOR - DUSKI
Abby is sewing up her last sacks by the
separator that evening when Chuck walks up, still in the
flush of McLean's good news.
The others have finished and left to wash up. He sits down
and helps her. Shy and upright, he does not know quite how
to behave with a woman.
CHUCK
Probably be all done tomorrow.
(pause)
You still plan on going North?
She nods and draws her last stitch. Chuck musters his
courage. It must be now or never.
CHUCK
Reason I ask is maybe you'd like to stay on. Be
easier than now. There's hardly any work after harvest. The
pay is just as good, though. Better in fact.
ABBY
Why're you offering me this? My honest face?
Chuck takes a moment to compose his reply.
CHUCK
I've watched you work. Think about it.
ABBY
Maybe I will.
She backs off toward Bill, who is waiting in the distance.
CHUCK
Who's that?
ABBY
(hesitant)
My brother.
Chuck nods.
60 NEW ANGLE - DUSK
She joins Bill. He gives her a melon, wanting to
pick up her spirits.
BILL
This is all I could find. You feeling better?
(she shrugs)
What'd he want?
They look at each other.
61 EXT. RIVER - DUSK
As Bill and Abby bathe in the river that
evening, he tells her what he seems to have learned about
Chuck's state of health. Down the way Ursula sits under a
tree playing a guitar. Otherwise they are alone. They all
wear bathing suits, Bill a shirt as well.
BILLU
It must be something wrong with his lungs.
(pause)
He doesn't have any family, either.his lungs.I
(pause)I
ABBY
So what?
Bill shrugs. Does he have to draw her a picture? A shy,
virginal light has descended over the world. Cranes peer at
them from the tamarack.
BILL
Tell him you'll stay.
ABBY
What for?
Bill is wondering what might happen if Chuck got interested
enough to marry her. Isn't he soon to die, leaving a vast
inheritance that will otherwise go to waste?
BILL
You know I love you, don't you?
ABBY Yes.
Abby guesses what is going through his mind, and it shocks
her.
ABBY
Oh, Bill!
He takes her into his arms, full of emotion.I
BILL
What else can we really do? I know how you
feel, but we keepon this way, in five years we'll be washed
up.
He catches a stick drifting by and throws it further down
stream.
BILL
You ever think about all those ladies parading
up and downU
Michigan Avenue? Bunch of whores! You're better than anyI
of them. You ever think how they got where they are?
He wants to breathe hope into her. He thinks of himself as
responding
to what she needs and secretly wants. When she does not
answer he gives up with a sigh.
BILL
Let's forget it.
ABBY
I know what you mean, though.
He takes her hand, with fresh hope of convincing her.
BILL
We weren't meant to end up like this. At least
you weren't.
You could be something. I've heard you sing. You have a lot
of fine qualities that need to come out. Ursula, too. What.U
kind of people is she meeting
up with, riding the rods? The girl's never had a clean
shot--
never will. She oughta be in school.
ABBY
(nodding)
You wouldn't say this if you really loved me.
BILL
But I do. You know I do. This just shows how
much. We're shitI
out of luck, Abby. People need luck. What're you crying
about? Oh,
don't tell me. I already know. All on account of your
unhappy life and all
that stuff. Well, we gotta do something about it, honey. We
can't expect
anybody else to.
Abby runs into the woods.U
BILL
Always the lady! Well, you don't know how things
work in this country. This is why every hunkie I ever met is
going nowhere.
(pause)
Why do you want to make me feel worse than I
already do?
BILL (CONT'D)
(pause)
You people get hold of the guy that's passing
out dough, giveI
him my name, would you? I'd appreciate it.
62 TIGHT ON BILL
Bill skims rocks off the water to calm himself
down. HeI
feels that somehow he did not get to say what he wanted to.U
63 EXT. WOODS BY RIVER
Abby is dressing in the cool woven shade of the
woods when
Ursula, her face caked with a mask of river mud, jumps from
the bushes with a shriek, scaring the wits out of her
sister.
64 EXT. BELVEDERE - DUSKU
On their way home they pass the Belvedere. A
single light
burns on the second floor. Abby picks cornflowers to put
in her hair. Bill runs his hand down her back.
ABBY
Why're you touching me that way?
He shrugs. Muffled by the walls of the house, above the
cries of the peafowl, they can faintly hear Chuck singing to
himself.
BILL
He's singing.
ABBY
He can't be too sick if he's singing to himself.
BILL
He might be singing to God.
They look at each other and smile. It does not appear that
she has held what he said by the river against him. Bill
stands for a moment and looks up at the Belvedere before
passing on.
65 EXT. SEPARATOR, LAST SHEAVES, RATS
Work goes on the next day. As they near the last
sheaves of unthreshed grain, hundreds of rats burst out of
hiding. The harvesters go after them with shovels and
stones. The dogs chase down the ones that escape.
66 BENSON AND CHUCK
Benson and Chuck smile at each other.
BENSON
We should be done around four.
They improvise a chat about past harvests. Years of shared
hardship have drawn them close. Chuck trails off in the
middle of a reminiscence. Something else weighing on his
mind.
CHUCK
(shyly)
You put her on the slowest machine?
Benson nods.U
67 NEW ANGLE
The threshing is done. A bundle is pitched into
the separator backwards, snapping it abruptly to a stop. The
drive belt whips along the ground like a mad snake.
68 EXT. PAYROLL TABLEI
All hands line up at the payroll table. McLean
gives out their wages in twists of newspaper. Chuck and
Benson shake their hands.
69 TIGHT ON BILL AND SORROWFUL MAN
A SORROWFUL MAN shows Bill a picture of a woman.
SORROWFUL MAN
And I let somebody like that get away from me.
Redhead. Lost her to a guy named Ed. Just let it happen.
Should've gone out there outside the city
limits and shot him. I just about did, too.
(pause)
If you're knocking yourself out like this, I
hope it's for a woman. And I hope she's good looking. You
understand?
70 TIGHT ON ABBY AND URSULAI
Abby snatches a cigarette out of Ursula's mouth,
takes a drag and throws it away. When Ursula goes to pick it
up, she stamps it out.
ABBY
Don't spend a cent of that.
URSULA
Why don't you leave me alone?U
ABBY
I'm not going to sit around and watch you throw
your life away.
Nobody's going to look at you twice if you've got nothing to
your name.
Ursula dislikes meddlesome adults. She takes out a pouch of
tobacco to roll another cigarette. Abby swats it out of her
hand and chases her off.
ABBY
You want me to cut a switch?
71 SERIES OF ANGLES - FESTIVITIES - DUSKU
There are feats of strength and prowess as
workers from the many fields of the bonanza join to
celebrate the harvest home: boxing, wrestling, barrel
jumping, rooster bouts, bear hugs, "Crack the Whip" and nut
fights. Two tractors, joined by a heavy chain, vie to see
which can outpull the other. Chuck lifts the back wheel of
the separator off the ground; Benson replies by holding an
anvil at arm's length; they tease each other about showing
off. A GYMNAST does flips. They all seem happy as kids on
holiday.
72 NEW ANGLE
Bill and Ursula share a cigarette. Ursula tries
on his sunglasses.
URSULA
We going to stay?
BILL
If she wants to.
URSULA
You'd rather go?_
Bill, after a moment's thought, shrugs.
BILL
She's the one has to say. You put aspirin in
this?
URSULA
No.
She hands back his sunglasses.
BILL
Keep them.
73 EXT. MUD PIT - DUSK
Two TEAMS of harvesters have a tug of war. The
losers are dragged through a pit of mud. Cradling handfuls
of slime, they chase the winners off into the dusk.
74 BILL AND ABBY - DUSKI
Bill finds Abby sitting off by herself, wanting
no part of the festivities. This is the first time since
their arrival in Texas we have seen her wearing a dress.
BILL
Sunny Jim, look at this. My first ice cream in
six months. And the lady even asks do I want sprinkles on
top, thank you. Big, deep dish of ice cream. You couldn't
pay me to leave this place, Got you one, too. You should've
heard the line I had to give her, though. Oowee!
ABBY
Good, huh?
BILL
Great.
ABBY
Now you're trying to coax me. You never used to
act like this.
Bill throws down the bowls of ice cream. In the distance,
some MEN compete at throwing a sledge hammer.
BILL
For as long as I can remember, people been
giving me a hard time about one thing or another. Don't you
start in, too!
ABBY
You want to turn me into a whore?
BILL
We don't have to decide anything final now. Just
if we're going to
stay. You never have to touch him if you don't feel like it.
Minute
you get fed up, we take off. Worst that can happen is we had
it soft
for a while.
ABBY
Something's made you mean.
She walks off, uncertain what Bill really wants.
BILL
Or else we can forget it. I'm not going to spend
the whole
afternoon on this, though. That I'm not going to do.
75 ISOLATED ON CHUCK
Chuck watches from a distance, fearful that
tonight may
be the last he will ever see of her.U
76 TGHT ON ABBY, EFFIGY, MARS, ETC.I
The harvesters shape and dress the final sheaf
as a woman.
The LAST of them to finish that day carries the effigy at
the end of the pole to the Belvedere. His mates follow
behind, jeering and throwing dirt clods at him.U
Aby watches. We sense that anything she sees mightI
figure in her decision.U
Mars hangs low and red in the western sky._
77 URSULA AND DRUNK
Ursula is looking at her figure in a pocket
mirror whenU
a DRUNK appears behind her.I
DRUNK
See what happens to you? Little shit. Get out
there and make that
big money and don't spend time dicking around.
78 EXT. PIT OF COALS - DUSKU
A feast is laid on. ONE PERSON rolls a flaming
wheel down a hill. ANOTHER sets off a string of
firecrackers. GERMANS pelt each other with spareribs. Ursula
spears hogsheads out of a pit of hot coals. The YOUNGER MEN
tease her. She is too much of a tomboy to interest any of
thm seriously. The effigy sits off in a chair by itself.?
1
79 TIGHT ON ABBY AND CHUCK - DUSKChuck awaits
Abby's answer.I
ABBY
There's a problem. I have to keep my baby sister
with me. Someday_ my baby sister with me. Someday
I'm going to save up enough, see, and send her to school.
(pause)
My brother, too. I can't leave him.I
Abby fears she has asked too much. Chuck hesitates, but only
to suggest he still has the prudence he long since has
abandoned.
CHUCK
There's work for them, too.
ABBY
Really?
80 EXT. BONFIRE - DUSK.
A bonfire burns like a huge eye in the vat of
the prairie night. The band strikes up a reel.
Chuck and Abby lead the dancing off, as though to celebrate
their agreement. Their giant shadows dance with them. Soon
the other harvesters join in.
81 TIGHT ON BILL - DUSKU
Bill watches Abby dance--it almost seems in
farewell to their innocence. After a moment he turns off
into the night.I
82 MONTAGE - NIGHT_
The effigy is held over the flame at the end of
a pole until it catches fire. The harvesters prance around
in the dark, trading it from hand to hand.
The MUSICIANS, drunk and happy, bow their hearts out.
83 TIGHT ON BILL - DAWN
While the others pursue their merriment, Bill
walks the fields by himself, trembling with grief and
indecision. Dawn is breaking. The eastern sky glows like a
forge. Suddenly he comes upon a wolf. He catches his breath.
The wolf stares back at him for a moment, then turns and
pads off into the stubble.
84 EXT. RAILROAD TRACKS - DAWNEEXT. RAILROAD
TRACKS - DAWNU
Early the next morning the HARVESTERS wander by
the hundreds down to the railroad tracks to catch a train
for the North, where the crops are just now coming into
maturity. A subtle feeling of sadness pervades the group.
Bill gives his sword cane away to a MAN who seems to have
admired it. The MAN offers him money, but he declines it.
85 EXT. TRAIN - URSULA AND JOHN - LATER
Ursula says goodbye to her favorite, a redhead
named JOHN. She is hoarse, as always.
JOHN
Why don't you come with us?
URSULA
They won't let me. So when am I going to see you
again?
JOHN
Maybe in Cheyenne.
She nods okay. They both know they will never see each other
again. On a sudden impulse she gives him a love note.
JOHN
What's this?
She takes it back immediately, but he snatches it away from
her and, after a brief, giggling scuffle, hops aboard the
train, now picking up speed. Ursula runs along behind,
cursing and throwing rocks at him.
86 TIGHT ON BILL AND ABBY
Bill and Abby look on.
BILL
I told her, "none of my business Urs, I just
hope you're not rolling
around with some redhead is all." She looks me over. "Why?"
she says,
"What've you guys got that redheads don't?" I pity that kid.
Ursula runs up and throws herself tearfully into Abby's
arms.
BILL
What's the matter? What'd he do?
Bill starts off after the train.
87 EXT.-"SHEEP POWER"
Abby tends a washing machine driven by a sheep
on a treadmill. Chuck
watches from the front steps of the Belvedere.
ABBY
I'm just about done with this.
CHUCK
Good.
ABBY
So what's next?
CHUCK
Next?
ABBY
There's nothing else you want done?
CHUCK
Not that I can think of. Not right now.
Miss Carter, the housekeeper, steps out on the porch and
pours a bucket of milk into a cream separator.
ABBY
How about the cream?
CHUCK
She takes care of that.
He nods at Miss Carter, who conspicuously lets the screen
door clap shut as she goes back inside. She misses no
opportunity to express her disdain for these newcomers.
She and Benson are the only employees seen at the Belvedere.
Several dozen others have stayed on after the harvest but
they keep to their quarters down at the dorm.
ABBY
You mean I'm done for today?
CHUCK
(uncomfortably)
Something else might come up.
In truth, Chuck does not want to see Abby degraded by menial
labor, considering her more a guest than an employee. They
look at each other. Abby does not know quite what to make of
him
ABBY
Well, I'm going back to the dorm.
CHUCKU
Is everything okay down there? In the way of
accommodations, I mean.U
She nods and waves goodbye.I
88 EXT. BARN
Down by the barn Bill teaches Chuck how to shoot
dice. Chuck feigns interest.
BILL
I like to gamble, and I like to win. I make no
bones about it.
Got to where the guys on Throop Street wouldn't even lag
pennies
with me on account of I was such a winner. I'm starting out
level
with you, you understand.
CHUCK
Have you ever been in trouble with the law?
Bill looks around. Abby would think it impolitic of him to
speak so openly with Chuck.
BILLI
Nothing they could make stick.
My problem has always been not having the education. I
bullshitted
my way into school. They gave me a test. It was ridiculous.
I got in fights. Ended up paying for a window. They threw me
out. Don't blame them either. Still, I wanted to make
something of myself. I mean, guys look at
you across a desk, you know what they're thinking. So I went
in
the mill. Couldn't wait to get in there. Begin at seven, got
to have a smile on your face. Didn't work out, though. No
matter what you do, sometimes
things just don't go right. It gets to you after a while. It
gives you that feeling, "Oh hell, what's the use?"
(pause)
My dad told me, forget what the people around
you are doing. You got enough to worry about without
considering what somebody else does. Otherwise you get
fouled up. He used to say (tapping his temple)
"All you got is this." Only one day you wake up, find you're
not the smartest guy in the world, never going to come up
with the big score. I really believed when I was growing up
that somehow I would. I worked like a bastard in that mill.
I felt all right about it, though. I felt that somewhere
along the line somebody would see I had that special gleam.
"Hey, you, come over here." So then I'd go.
They are silent for a moment.
CHUCKI
You seem close to your sister._
BILL
Yeah. We've been together since we were kids.
You like her, don't you?
(pause)
She likes you, too.
Chuck looks down, feeling transparent in the pleasure he
takes at this news.
89 TIGHT ON ABBY
The camera moves back to reveal Abby listening
in from the other side of the barn. Her eyes are full of
tears. How can Bill prize her so lightly?
BILL (o.s.)
Don't get the wrong idea, though.
90 ISOLATED ON BILL - LATERI
Bill sits on the ground reading his Police
Gazette. Abby walks up and without a word of explanation,
slaps him. He jumps up and protests but quickly tapers off.
She turns on her heel and leaves.U
Bill sits down feeling misunderstood and abused. Does she
think all this pleases him?
1
91 EXT. FAIRY RINGS (PRAIRIE)
Chuck, out for a stroll with Abby and Ursula,
shows them a fairy ring--a colony of mushrooms growing in a
circle thirty feet across.
URSULA
I heard you farmers were big and dumb. You
aren't so big. Where do they learn how to?
ABBY
They're so darling! Can you eat them?
Chuck nods. Abby snaps the mushrooms off flush at the
ground. The music underscores this moment. She smiles at
Chuck as she eats the dark earthy flesh.
92 EXT. POST
They pitch rocks at a post and exchange
intimacies. Abby has grown more lively.
ABBY
You know sometimes I think there might have been
a mixup at the
hospital where I. was born and that I could actually be the
interesting
daughter of some big financier. Nobody would actually know.I
(pause)
Are you in love with me, Chuck, or why are you
always so nervous?
CHUCK
(Stumbling)
Maybe I am. I must be.
ABBY
Why? On account of something I've done?
CHUCK
Because you're so beautiful.
ABBY
What a nice thing to say. Look, I hit it. Did
you see?
She goes right on with their game, as though she attached no
great importance to his momentous declaration.
93 TIGHT ON CHUCK AND ABBY - LATERI
Chuck takes Abby's hand for the first time.
Abby, startled, gives him a gentle smile, then lets go.
ABBY
What about my shoes? Aren't they pretty?U94EXT.
SWING
94 EXT. SWING
Bill sits in a swing and plays a clarinet. The
music flows out across the fields like a night breeze from
the city. Abby, passing by, glowers at him, as though to
ask if things are going along to his satisfaction.
95 ASTRONOMICAL SIGHTS (STOCK)
Jupiter, the Crab Nebula, the canals of Mars,
etc.
CHUCK (o.s.)
It turns out that people might have built them.
Does that surprise you?
ABBY (o.s.)U
No.
96 EXT. RIDGE - DAWN
They are on a ridge opposite the Belvedere
looking at the heavens through Chuck's telescope. Abby
tingles with a sense of wonder. Chuck has opened a whole new
world to her.
ABBY
You know so much! Would you bring my sister up
here and tell
her some of this stuff?
97 EXT. FATHER'S GRAVE - NIGHT
Nearby the grave of Chuck's father stands in
helpless witness to Abby's deception. A cottonwood tree
rises against the cold blue sky, still as a statue.
98 TIGHT ON BOOK - FLASHBACK
A hand turns the pages of a book from Chuck's
childhood. The text and VOICE reading it are in Russian, the
picture of Russian wood folk and animals.
99 EXT. VIRGIN PRAIRIE - FLASHBACK
Chuck's father rushes around marking off his
property with stakes.
100 EXT. UNFINISHED SOD HOUSE - FLASHBACK
Chuck, ten years old, scours up the blade of a
scythe. Family effects -- a big green stove, a bird cage, a
table stacked with melons and a mirror--stand waiting in
front of their half-finished sod house. We see no sign of
Chuck's mother.
101 EXT. PLOWED FIELD - FLASHBACK
A plow folds back the earth. The roots of the
prairie grass twang like harp strings.
The plowing done, his father sows the seed. Poverty requires
that for a harrow he drag a tree branch in back of his ox.
Over his shoulder he carries a rifle.
Chuck blows a horn to chase the blackbirds off the seed.
A scarecrow is rigged to his back, to make him more
intimidating.
102 CHUCK AND FATHER - FLASHBACK
Chuck's father has caught smallpox. His face is
covered
with sores. Chuck wants to embrace him, but the father
wards him off with a long stick as he passes on some last
instructions in Russian.
103 EXT. RIVER - FLASHBACK
The father stands on a ledge above the river,
filling his pockets with rocks to weight him down.
CHUCK (V.0.)
My father caught smallpox when I was eleven. I
fished him out of the river and buried him myself.
104 EXT. SAND BAR - FLASHBACK
Chuck drags his father's drowned body across a
sand bar with a rope.
105 EXT. FATHER'S GRAVE - FLASHBACK
Chuck heaps the last bit of earth on his
father's grave. The stove stands as a marker.
ABBY (o.s.)
So who raised you?
CHUCK (o.s.)
Nobody. Did it myself.
106 CHUCK AS BOY - WITH COYOTE, INDIANS -
FLASHBACK
Famished, Chuck eats from the carcass of a
coyote. Some INDIANS watch him from a ridge.
ABBY (o.s.)
From the time you were a kid? How?
CHUCK
Worked hard, didn't fool around. I never saw a
city. Never had
time. All I ever did is work.
He digs a post hole with a shovel twice his size.
107 PAN OVER HILLS-DAWN
The camera pans across Chuck's vast domain.
CHUCK (o.s.)
I gave my life to that land.
But what do I really have now? It'll still be here when I'm
gone. It won't remember me.
(pause)
I'd give it all up for you. I could make you
happy, too, I think-if only you'd trust me.
The camera settles on Ursula, playing with a dog on a seesaw
Chuck
has built her, then begins to move again, to a long shot of
Chuck and
Abby on the ridge by the telescope. Chuck is proposing.
108 EXT. DORM
Abby has told him of the proposal. Bill broods
over an unlit cigarette. Is this a great blessing or a great
misfortune which has befallen them?
ABBY
He's asked me to marry him.
BILL
I never really thought he would.
ABBY
I thought you wanted me to.
BILL
Before I did. You cold?
Abby is shivering. Bill takes off his jacket and slips it
over her shoulders.
BILL
What're you thinking?
ABBY
We've never done anything like this.
BILL
Who'd know but you and me?
ABBY
Nobody.
BILL
That's it, Ab. That's all that matters, isn't
it?
ABBY
You talk like it was all right. It would be a
crime.
BILL
But to give him what he wants more than
anything? Two, threeI
months of sunshine? He'll never get to enjoy his money
anyway.
What're you talking about? We'd be showing him the first
good
times of his life.
ABBY
Maybe you're right.
At each hint of consent from Abby, Bill feels he must press
on.
BILL
You know what they're going to stick on his
tombstone? "Born
like a fool, worked like a mule." Two lines.
Abby cannot say the proposal is devoid of principle. The
idea of easing Chuck's imminent death gives them just the
shade of a good motive. This would be a trade.
ABBY
What makes you think we're just talking about a
couple of months?U
BILL
Listen, the man's got one foot on a banana peel
and the other
on a roller skate. What can I say? We'll be gone before theI
President shows up.
He straightens his coat and smooths back his hair, to make
her smile, without success.
BILL Hey, I know how you feel. II
Hey, I know how you feel. I feel just as bad. Like I was
sticking an icepick in my heart. Makes me sick just to think
about it!
heart. Makes me sick just to
ABBY
I held out a long time. I could've taken the
first guy with a gold watch, but I held out.
(pause)
I told myself that when I found somebody, I'd
stick by him.
BILL
I know. We're in quicksand, though. We stand
around, it's
going to suck us down like everybody else.
(pause)
Somewhere along the line you have to make a
sacrifice. Lots of people want to sit back and take a piece
without doing nothing.
He waits to see how she will respond. Half of him wants her
to turn him down flat. Abby is bewildered.
ABBY
Have I ever complained? Have I said anything
that would make
you think...
BILL
You don't have to. I hate it when I see you
stooped over and
them looking at your ass like you were a whore. I personally
feel ashamed! I want to take a .45 and let somebody have it.
(pause)
We got to look on the bright side of this, Ab.
Year from
today we got a Chinese butler and no shit from anybody.
(pause)
Some people need more'n they have, some have
more'n they need. It's
just a matter of getting us all together.
(pause)
I don't even know if I believe what I'm saying,
though. I
feel like we're on the edge of a big cliff.
Abby looks at the ground for a moment, then nods.
109 TIGHT ON CHUCK
Chuck lies in bed, daydreaning.
110 TIGHT ON ABBY AND URSULA
Ursula decorates Abby's hair with flowers and
tells her how pretty she looks.
111 EXT. RIVER BANK
The wedding takes place along the river. The
Preacher has come back with his ACOLYTES. A chest of drawers
serves as the altar. Benson is the best man--a joyless one.
Ursula bounces around in a beautiful gown, looking for the
first time like a young woman. The BAND practically
outnumbers the guests: ELDERS from the local Mennonites, the
MAYORS of a few surrounding towns decked out in sashes and
medals, etc.
112 TIGHT ON ABBY AND BILL
Bill kisses the bride on the cheek. Each
believes she is going through with this for the other's
sake. They whisper back and forth.
ABBY
You know what this means, don't you?
(he nods)
We won't ever let each other down, will we?
BILL
I love you more than ever. I always will. I
couldn't do this unless I loved you.
113 SERIES OF ANGLES
The Acolytes ring an angelus bell. Chuck slips a
sapphire on her finger. The Preacher, with outstretched
arms, reminds them all that they are witness to a great
event.
114 SKY - ABBY'S POV
Abby, frightened, looks off at the rolling sky,
wondering how all thislooks in the sight of heaven.
115 INT. BEDROOM - DUSK
From her pillow, Abby watches Chuck shyly enter
the bedroom
He comes over and sits down beside her
CHUCK
You're wonderful.
She is silent for a moment. The wind moans in the rafter
ABBY
No. But I wish I were.
(pause)
Listen. It sounds like the ocean.
They smile at each other.
116 EXT. BELVEDERE - DUSKI
Bill watches the lights go out in the Belvedere.
A lump rises to his throat. How exactly did this happen? He
sets his jaw, vowing not to give way to weakness or
jealousy. This is the price they have to pay for a lasting
happiness.
117 TIGHT ON ABBY, CHUCK, ETC.
The next morning the newlyweds set off on their
honeymoon.
Chuck tells Bill to move his things from the dorm into the
Belvedere.
Abby, a basket of cucumbers under her arm, waves goodbye,
angling her wrist so that Bill and Ursula can see the
diamond bracelet Chuck has given her.
118 EXT. PRAIRIEI
They steer out across the prairie in a1912
Overland auto. Ursula runs after them, slaps the back fender
and hops around on one foot, pretending the other was run
over. Abby laughs. She knows this stunt.
When they are gone Ursula turns fiercely on Bill.U
URSULA
I hate you.
BILL
What for? Don't be any more of a pain in the
neck than you gotta
be, okay?
She swings at him with her fist. He pushes her away._
BILL
You think I like this? I'm doing it for her!
URSULA
You scum.
Bill slaps her.
BILL
Still think so?
She throws a rock at him and runs off. He catches her,
repenting of his meanness.
BILL
I know you can't understand this, but there's
nothing I want except good things for Abby and you. Go ahead
and hit me back.
She hesitates a second, then slaps him as hard as she can.
Blood glistens on his lip. He does not say a word in
protest. She looks at the wound, horrified, then throws her
arms tight around him.
119 EXT. PIERI
Abby and Chuck disembark from a paddleboat
steamer at a
pier along the river. Chuck looks excited.
120 EXT. YELLOWSTONE POOL
Chuck and Abby have gone to Yellowstone Park for
their honeymoon. Abby wades in a pool, wreathed by mists
from the underworld. She carries a parasol to protect her
from the sun. The trees in the vicinity are bare of leaves.
121 EXT. ANTLERS - FREEZE FRAME
Chuck kneels with a box camera to photograph a
large pair of antlers lying on the ground.
122 SERIES OF STILLS (STOCK)
This photo becomes the first in a series from
their Yellowstone trip: fishermen displaying sensational
catches by a river, buggies vying with early autos on rutted
roads, the giant Beaupre who stood eight feet tall, etc.
Each of the pictures bears a caption. Together they make a
li
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