Written by: Daniel Knauf
Directed by: Rodrigo
Garcia
We
FADE UP on a head shot of SAMSON, against a dark background. He looks up at the
camera, and addresses us directly.
SAMSON:
Before the beginning, after the great war between heaven and hell, God created the
Earth and gave dominion over it to the crafty ape he called Man. And to each
generation was born a creature of light and a creature of darkness, and great
armies would clash by night in the ancient war between good and evil. There was
magic then. Nobility. And unimaginable cruelty. And so it was, until the day
that a false sun exploded over Trinity, and man forever traded away wonder for
reason.
SMASH CUT TO:
A flash of white, then we are in a DREAM SEQUENCE, a
series of images one after another:
POV of a tuxedoed man, who we later find out is HACK
SCUDDER as he runs through a cornfield.
HACK, running, looking behind him, as we see that he
is being chased by –
- a snarling, TATTOOED
MONSTER
HACK,
this time in World War I uniform, hiding in a trench.
A
Masonic ring, bearing the inscription “In hoc signo vinces”
HACK,
now in white bow tie and black tux, sitting in a diner, opposite a uniformed
RUSSIAN OFFICER.
HACK
continues being chased through the cornfield by TATTOOED MONSTER.
A
tarot card being flipped over to reveal the MAGICIAN REVERSED.
Fly-by
shot of a group of mourners around a wooden casket on a wagon.
RUTHIE,
kissing a snake.
A
top hat being popped open.
HACK
continues being chased through the cornfield by TATTOOED MONSTER.
A
dead cougar.
A
black-and-white photograph of a group of coal miners.
CLOSE
ON: a hand, grabbing the TATTOOED MONSTER’s butt.
APOLLONIA,
being raped.
The
same photograph, except this time we zoom in to see that HACK is among them.
The
cornfield chase continues
A
revolver, with four bullet cases next to it.
Someone’s
deformed hand, with only a finger and a thumb on it.
BEN,
pulling the sheets off himself.
A
madly ticking clock.
HACK,
in WWI uniform, covering up as an explosion rocks the trench he is in.
HACK,
aiming his rifle at something O.S..
A
funeral being held under a spreading tree, that MERGES into the same tree
tattooed on the TATTOOED MONSTER’s chest, and finally we
SMASH CUT TO:
Ben,
waking up from his dream. His shack is dirty and mostly empty. In the next
room, BEN’S MOTHER is lying down on a bed, coughing weakly, near to death. Ben
get up.
CUT TO:
An
establishing shot of the wooden shack.
CAPTIONS:
OKLAHOMA 1934.
In
the middle of the Dust Bowl. A dust storm rages outside. The land is barren.
CUT TO:
BEN’S MOTHER continues to cough. When she stops, her breathing is shallow and labored. She clasps a small, wooden cross to her bosom.
BEN
gets up, approaches her. We see that he has a leg iron attached to one of his
legs. He kneels by the bed and reaches out a hand to touch his MOTHER, but when
he does, she recoils in terror.
BEN
(pleading):
Momma…momma, please.
BEN’S MOTHER:
No…no…
She is shaking in fear. BEN falls back in grief and despair. He starts to sob, as his mother suddenly relaxes, and breathes her last.
CUT TO:
EXT
– OUTSIDE BEN’S HOUSE – DAY
BEN, digging a grave in the sand.
He
looks up. Through the dust, we see a bulldozer approaching, blocking out view
of a blinding sun. The driver of the dozer stands and pulls off a pair of
goggles.
DRIVER:
I’m gonna run you down, boy.
Paul says I can do that. Sheriff’s on his way. You don’t get off I’ll run you
down! It’s your choice, boy. What the hell’s going on up there? Get a move on.
You’re trespassing.
During
this speech, SAMSON and CLAYTON JONES pull up in another vehicle.
BEN:
This ma’ place
DRIVER:
This place is the property of First Person’s Trust. Now you’ve been warned.
Paul’s on his way.
BEN ignores the DRIVER and continues to dig.
SAMSON:
They’re set to squash him.
JONESY:
Nah, they won’t squash him.
SAMSON:
Wager two bits.
A beat.
JONESY:
You’re on.
LODZ gets out of the trailer.
SAMSON:
Hey! I didn’t say you could
stick your nose in it.
JONESY:
You didn’t say I couldn’t.
He slams the door and limps towards BEN and the bulldozer, picking up a handful of rocks on his way.
JONESY:
How much it worth to get that hayseed off your back?
DRIVER:
Hell! I’ll just roll over him!
JONESY throws a rock at him.
DRIVER:
Shit!
JONESY:
You don’t wanna do that. You’ll gum up your works, make a mess of your rig.
The DRIVER seems unmoved. JONESY makes an “oh, well” gesture and picks up another rock.
DRIVER:
All right, all right, all right. Make it quick.
JONESY:
Fair enough.
He moves over to BEN.
JONESY
(to BEN):
No time for plantin’, son.
BEN begins to lift the shovel as if to hit JONESY.
JONESY
(raising his hands):
Easy.
BEN puts the shovel down, and notices for the first time that an entire caravan has stopped nearby. He looks at JONESY, who starts to bend down. We get a CLOSE-UP of his leg, and we see that he, too, has one leg in a chain.
DRIVER (O.S.):
I ain’t got all day.
BEN:
Mister, you tell that sonoabitch if he don’t shut his piehole, I swear to Christ I’m gonna take this shovel to his head.
JONESY
(to DRIVER):
Shut your hole!
DRIVER:
Oh, great.
JONESY
(to BEN):
This your place?
BEN:
And Ma’s. It’s ours. (shouting to DRIVER) It’s mine, you sonoabitch!
DRIVER (O.S.):
No it ain’t!
JONESY:
Son, where’s your ma?
BEN
(indicating a white sheet behind him covering her body):
That’s her.
JONESY notices a foot sticking out from under the sheet and finally realizes what’s going on.
DRIVER
(coming over):
Hey, I’ve got work to do here.
BEN lifts the shovel threateningly again, and the DRIVER notices the body.
DRIVER:
Oh, swell.
JONESY
(to DRIVER):
You got shovels?
CUT TO:
Later. The storm has subsided. We hear ACCORDION MUSIC, then voices, the rest of the CARNIES singing “Nearer My God to Thee”.
CLOSE ON:
The grave, then BEN, shattered, drained of emotion. Shots of the carnies, singing. The accordion is being played by RUTHIE. We notice, for the first time, that SAMSON is a midget.
We see one of the trucks, with the word CARNIVALE, and a design of the moon and the sun painted onto it.
SOFIE, sitting in one of the trucks which says “APOLLONIA”.
LODZ draws an arrow in the sand, and joins in the song, in French.
As soon as the song ends, we hear the REVVING of an engine. Everyone turns to the source of the noise, just as the bulldozer drives into BEN’S house, smashing it to bits.
SAMSON
(putting on his hat and walking away. Show’s over):
OK, children! Let’s shake some dust!
RUTHIE:
We can’t just leave him.
SAMSON:
What if we have a robber from a chain gang? He’s still sporting ankle irons.
JONESY:
Nothin’ but trouble.
RUTHIE:
Yeah? That’s what I said about you.
SAMSON:
C’mon Ruthie, don’t do this. We’ve got nothing open. We’re down to ‘tater shucks.
LILA:
He can have my ‘tater shucks.
RUTHIE:
Just to Milfay.
SAMSON:
Yeah, like –
BEN collapses. As he does, we hear a SIREN from O.S. The authorities are coming.
SAMSON:
Let’s get him the hell outta’ here.
JONESY picks the unconscious BEN up in a fireman’s carry, RUTHIE helping out, and they all go. The dozer continues to clear the remains of BEN’s shack, as we FADE TO BLACK.
FADE UP ON:
EXT – MINTERN– DAY
CAPTIONS: CALIFORNIA
A car drives by a big sign proclaiming that we are in Mintern. ORGAN MUSIC plays in the background. We see an establishing shot of the local church.
CUT TO:
INT – CHURCH – DAY
CLOSE ON the open bible. The congregation sings “All Glory, Praise and Honor”.
CUT TO:
IRIS CROWE sits to the right of the pulpit, singing. The camera that PANS RIGHT to Brother JUSTIN CROWE. We get further shots of the congregation, and the two church leaders. The song draws to a close, and the congregation sits. BROTHER JUSTIN rises and walks to the pulpit, collects himself, and the speaks.
JUSTIN:
Latter day versions of the vile plagues that rained on Egypt. The fires that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah. Scourges of the old testament, yes, but even now, brothers and sisters, even now, drought and pestilence fester in the very heart of this great land. Titanic sandstorms the like of which Man has not seen since the days of the prophets. And I ask myself: what are these things?
Two men begin taking the collection.
JUSTIN (CONT’D):
What are they if not evidence of God’s fury? What are they if not harbingers of the Apocalypse? And yet…and yet as I walked to church today, these troubled thoughts were soothed by a balmy wind. And as I looked out upon the endless acres of rich, untilled earth, I realized, brothers and sisters, that this is truly the Promised Land…
One of the collectors has reached an old woman at the back of the congregation, ELEANOR MCGILL. As she puts her coin into the basket, she palms another one out into her sleeve. IRIS notices the theft, and glares in her direction.
JUSTIN(CONT’D):
…and that we are indeed blessed. But let us not forget the less fortunate. Let us not forget that they too were once blessed. And let us not forget that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
MEMBER OF CONGREGATION #1 (O.S.)
Amen.
MEMBER OF CONGREGATION #2 (O.S.)
Praise God.
BROTHER JUSTIN returns to his seat. The organ begins to play once more and the congregation rises to sing “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands”. As they do, ___ tries to leave, but is stopped politely by IRIS on the way out, holding her shoulder and arm as she continues to sing.
CUT TO:
INT – BROTHER JUSTIN’S OFFICE – DAY
JUSTIN:
May I offer you something? My sister can get you some tea.
ELEANOR:
No…thank you.
BROTHER JUSTIN smiles, and gives a tiny nod to IRIS, her cue to leave the room.
JUSTIN:
Texas? Oklahoma?
ELEANOR:
Tulsa. We come up for the cantaloupes. No need for pickers, though. Maybe one out of a hundred who shows up, so…we’re up at the camp.
JUSTIN:
By the highway?
ELEANOR:
(nodding)
Mmhm. Can’t miss it, no sir, it’s a big one, but we ain’t got no preacher so I’ve been coming up here last three Sundays. (A little defensively) Lady’s got a right to worship.
JUSTIN:
Of course you do, and you’re welcome here any time.
He reaches out to take her hand.
ELEANOR:
Eleanor. Eleanor McGill.
JUSTIN:
Eleanor.
He glances down at their joined hands and retrieves the stolen coin from her sleeve.
ELEANOR:
I didn’t mean to take it.
JUSTIN:
(holding up the coin)
Eleanor. I see you at my sermons and you pray so hard you break my heart, but my words, they wash over you like water over a stone.
She starts to weep.
ELEANOR
(tearfully):
No…no…
JUSTIN presses the coin back into her hand.
JUSTIN:
We all carry within us the seeds to our own salvation and our own damnation. You do believe that don’t you?
She nods spastically, then clasps her hand to her mouth as if she is about to throw up.
JUSTIN:
Eleanor?
Coins start pouring out of ELEANOR’s mouth. BROTHER JUSTIN recoils in shock. ELEANOR is open-mouthed and terrified.
JUSTIN:
Kneel. Now. Pray with me, sister. Pray. Pray.
He kneels, she doesn’t.
JUSTIN
(shouting):
Kneel and pray!
ELEANOR gets to her knees in fright, still sobbing.
JUSTIN:
Please, dear Lord, I have sinned.
ELEANOR vomits more coins.
JUSTIN:
I have sinned!
ELEANOR:
I…have…sinned..
JUSTIN:
Mericful father, forgive me…forgive me…
ELEANOR tries to say the words, but more coins spew out of her open mouth. BROTHER JUSTIN lunges over and grabs her in a tight embrace. An overhead shot.
JUSTIN:
(eyes to heaven)
Enough! Enough!!
And back to our side angle.
JUSTIN (CONT’D):
Sister, you mustn’t be afraid, you mustn’t be afraid. Shh, shh.
She continues to sob and whimper as he comforts her. BROTHER JUSTIN looks around him, and as the camera pans backwards, we see that all the coins are gone.
IRIS looks in from the doorway.
CUT TO:
EXT – A HIGHWAY – NIGHT
The carnival convoy rolls on through the darkness.
CUT TO:
SAMSON and JONESY in the front seats of one of the trucks. The radio is on.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (O.S.):
Let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank, the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money in many different forms of credit…
The truck rolls past a group of poor migrants, huddling in their makeshift shelter around a small fire.
RADIO ANNOUNCER (O.S., CONT’D):
…in bonds and commercial paper and mortgages and in many other kinds of loans. In other words, the bank puts your money to work. It keeps the wheels of industry and of agriculture…
SAMSON leans over and turns the dial to a channel playing music.
JONESY:
Talk to Management about the hick?
SAMSON:
Yeah, I talked to him. Thirty-four dollars and eight-seven cents in the kitty. We’re already choking on the nut, last thing we need is another belly to wash. You know what he says?
JONESY:
What?
SAMSON:
He was expected.
JONESY:
Expected, what the hell’s that supposed to mean?
SAMSON:
I stopped asking that question a long time ago.
Men with lanterns have appeared now to guide the trucks.
CUT TO:
INT – BEDROOM – NIGHT
A child, asleep. The headlights of the convoy shine into the room, waking him up. He gets out of bed. We see that he has the top bunk, and that his sister is sleeping beneath him. She wakes up as well, and when she follows her brother, we see that she is crippled, and has to use her arms to drag herself to the window. They look out at the passing trucks.
BOY:
I told you they’d come.
CUT TO:
EXT – MILFAY CARNIVAL SITE – NIGHT
The convoy has arrived at their destination.
CUT TO:
INT – LILA’S TRAILER – NIGHT
LILA, the bearded lady, puffs on a hookah. She is playing cards with LODZ, who is blind. BEN HAWKINS continues to sleep on a bunk in the trailer.
LILA:
Fine looking boy.
LODZ
(chuckling):
You have a singularly prurient mind, LIla.
LILA:
What would you know about it?
LODZ:
More than I need to, believe me. Incidentally dear, you should discard that
jack of clubs. He’s doing you know good and will only come back to haunt ya’.
LILA regards him suspiciously for a moment, and then, true to LODZ’s word, discards the jack.
CLOSE ON the card, as LODZ reaches out to feel it, and then spreads his hand.
LODZ:
Gin.
LILA:
(throwing down her hand)
You old fraud.
They both share a laugh.
LILA:
Poor baby. Whadja suppose he’s dreaming about anyway?
LODZ:
None of your business, dear.
LILA:
Oh, Lodz. Tell me what he’s dreaming about
LODZ:
(shaking his head):
Mm-mm.
LILA
(leaning over):
Pretty please. Hmm? For Lila
LODZ:
(sighs, and relents)
Very well.
LODZ gets up, walks over to BEN, and places his hands on BEN’s head –
-- and we see a series of images from the opening DREAM SEQUENCE, intercut with LODZ, shaking, leaning on the wall to steady himself
LILA:
Lodz? Lodz?
She gets up and pulls him away. He collapses.
LILA;
Lodz!
BEN continues to sleep, as we FADE TO BLACK.
EXT – MILFAY CARNIVAL SITE – DAY
The following day. We fade up on the big signboard that has been set up: CARNIVALE.
CUT TO:
INT – LILA’S TRAILER – DAY
BEN stirs, and finally wakes up. As he gets out of bed, he notices, first, LILA, asleep in the same chair as she was in the previous night, and second, that his leg irons have been cut, leaving only a raw, red ring above his ankle.
BEN gets out of bed, a sheet around his waist, and crosses the room to look out of the window, through which we see the carnival being set up for the day.
CUT TO:
INT – APOLLONIA’S TRAILER – DAY
The camera lingers on APOLLONIA having her hair brushed by someone O.S. She is an apoplectic and mother of SOFIE, the only person who can read her thoughts. We see that SOFIE is the one brushing her hair.
SOFIE:
Mother, please. Every time we pick up a new –
(a beat)
He’s just a boy.
CUT TO:
A more distant shot of the two of them with a deck of cards on a table in the foreground. Some of the cards riffle up and fall onto the floor. SOFIE looks at them.
SOFIE:
I don’t suppose you’re gonna pick that up.
She gets up and tidies the cards. As she does, she hears a door open, and watches BEN as he emerges from LILA’s trailer. She retrieves the last card. It is the magician reversed that we saw in BEN’s dream earlier. SOFIE looks at it thoughtfully.
CUT TO:
EXT – MILFAY CARNIVAL SITE – DAY
BEN, dressed in a kimono, hobbles across the site to a clothesline, where he retrieves his pants. As he does, he notices a person in front of him, humming, and that said person has a tail sticking out from a slit in his pants. GECKO realizes that he is being stared at, and turns to look at BEN.
GECKO:
What are you? Some kind of freak?
BEN backs away, and bumps into a GIANT, and then ALEXANDRIA and CALADONIA, Siamese twins.
ALEXANDRIA and CALADONIA
(together);
Hey! Watch it!
BEN backs away again, trips, and falls into a puddle of mud. The twins laugh. The GIANT applauds. JONESY appears and does a dance.
JONESY:
Kimono!
GECKO and the other carnies are equally amused.
CUT TO:
INT – LODZ’S TRAILER – DAY
LODZ prepares himself a glass of absinthe. There is a knock on the door.
LODZ:
Come.
SAMSON enters.
SAMSON:
You wanted to see me?
LODZ:
Is the stranger still with us?
SAMSON:
Yeah, as far as I know.
LODZ:
He’s dangerous, Samson.
SAMSON:
Aw, hell. He’s a rube.
LODZ:
Last night, Lila asked me to read his dreams. A little parlor trick to keep the
boredom at bay. Harmless curiosity really. It almost destroyed me. Like nothing
I’ve experienced before.
SAMSON glances down at the absinthe.
LODZ (CONT’D):
I barely survived.
SAMSON:
Hogwash.
LODZ:
Is that so? (A beat) Have you talked to Management about his presence here?
SAMSON:
Yeah. Yeah, I talked to him.
LODZ:
And?
SAMSON:
He told me to take him on full time if I could.
LODZ shakes his head and takes a sip if his drink
SAMSON:
Look, if the kid were a threat, Management would know about it.
LODZ:
Would he?
SAMSON looks unsure.
CUT TO:
EXT – A ROAD – DAY
BEN hobbles along down a dirt road as SOFIE pulls up beside him in a pick-up truck,
SOFIE:
Want a ride?
BEN:
No.
SOFIE:
Where you goin’?
BEN:
It’s none of your damn business.
SOFIE:
What’s gotten you so bothered?
BEN:
I don’t appreciate being shanghaied by a pack of freaks who steal my duds.
SOFIE:
Fine.
She pulls away.
CUT TO:
EXT – RAILROAD TRACKS – DAY
BEN, still walking along the tracks. He comes to a squatter’s camp, and stops by a watering tower for a drink and to cool his head. When he looks up at the camp, he sees a woman, cradling and humming to her dead child.
HUSBAND (O.S.):
That ain’t right.
BEN looks over and sees a man, sitting on the ground near an old Rover.
HUSBAND (CONT’D):
That child deserves a decent burial. She won’t give him up.
BEN stares at her for a long while, indecisive, before deciding to approach.
BEN:
Hi.
The MOTHER looks up.
BEN:
Ain’t that a pretty baby you got.
MOTHER:
Shh. He’s sleeping.
BEN:
What’s his name?
MOTHER:
Michael.
BEN:
Like the archangel.
A long pause as BEN and the MOTHER just look at each other. Then, she looks away, and the look on her face has changed from denial to a blank and weary acceptance.
MOTHER:
He’s dead, in’t he?
BEN:
Yes ma’am. He is.
She looks at her dead child, exhausted. BEN reaches out to take the infant from her, and she starts to sob. Once the infant is taken from her, though, she looks almost relieved.
BEN brings the dead infant to his father, and then walks away.
CUT TO:
EXT – GAS STATION – DAY
SOFIE, still in her pick-up, has pulled in at the station.
SOFIE
(to ATTENDANT #1):
You can fill those two cans back there I’d be obliged.
ATTENDANT #1:
Yes ma’am
ATTENDANT #2:
You with those carnies, ain’t ya?
SOFIE:
Yeah.
ATTENDANT #2 nods and smiles. ATTENDANT #1 stays at her window, clearly taking his time to check her out.
CUT TO:
A little later. BEN, walking up to the same gas station. He sees SOFIE’s pick-up, and looks in the window. It is empty. He hears a shout from behind him.
CUT TO:
INT – GARAGE – DAY
SOFIEis being manhandled by the two ATTENDANTS. She struggles, but they manage to pin her to the side of an old automobile.
CUT TO:
BEN, in the anteroom of the garage. He picks up a two by four before going in.
CUT TO:
SOFIE, still struggling. BEN comes up behind ATTENDANT #2 and knocks him unconscious with the two by four. ATTENDANT #1 has armed himself with a screwdriver in the meanwhile, and faces BEN, ready to fght.
ATTENDANT #1:
Come on! Whatcha waitin’ for, huh? Come on!!
SOFIE comes up behind him and clouts him hard with an oil can. He falls down, and he throws the can down at him.
SOFIE:
You son of a bitch.
BEN and SOFIE leave.
CUT TO:
EXT – ROAD – DAY
BEN is driving the pick-up, SOFIE is riding shotgun, trying to hold her torn shirt together. BEN looks over at her.
SOFIE:
What are you looking at?
BEN:
No, just…nothing. Here…put this on.
He takes off his coat and gives it to her.
SOFIE:
Thank you.
CUT TO:
EXT – MILFAY CARNIVAL SITE – DAY
The carnies continue to rig up the carnival
JONESY:
Let me have a screwdriver
His HELPER proffers a hammer instead.
CUT TO:
The pick-up pulls up, and SOFIE and BEN get out. JONESY looks over at her and notices her wearing BEN’s coat.
CUT TO:
INT – APOLLONIA’S TRAILER – DAY
SOFIE is sitting down as JONESY enters.
JONESY:
What happened?
SOFIE:
Nothing.
JONESY:
(pointing at her
shirt)
Did he do that?
SOFIE:
No. No, it was some men in town. Got fresh.
JONESY:
So how’d the hick get in the picture?
SOFIE:
Just happened by. Stopped it.
She looks behind her and draws the curtain in front of APOLLONIA’s bed.
SOFIE:
Come on, Jonesyy, it was nothing.
JONESY:
How many times you been told?
SOFIE:
I know, I can’t buy a dress, I can’t buy a magazine, I certainly can’t sit in a
beauty shop and read it. Is there anything I can do?
JONESY:
Sofie, there’s plenty. But one thing you can’t do is prance in these towns
without asking for trouble.
SOFIE:
So it was my fault?
JONESY:
Yeah, it was!
SOFIE:
I was asking for it?
JONESY:
Yeah!
She slaps him.
SOFIE
(furiously):
The only thing I asked for was a tank of gas and a Nehi soda and maybe ten minutes to myself. The rest of it was them.
She stares at him stonily, then –
SOFIE:
(softer)
Get out.
JONESY:
Sofie, I –
SOFIE
(shouting):
Get out! Go, please!
Reluctantly, JONESY leaves. SOFIE sits back down, then turns to her mother.
SOFIE
(to APOLLONIA):
Would you please shut up?
CUT TO:
EXT – MILFAY CARNIVAL SITE – DAY
SAMSON hurries after BEN as he paces through the grounds.
SAMSON:
Kid! Hey, kid! Hey, I hear Jonesy gave you the business about the kimono. Real cod, that Jonesy! Al-always poking fun.
BEN:
Yeah, he’s real comical.
SAMSON:
Now you see, there you go. I admire a fella’ can take a joke. Measure of a man, is his sense of humor. You know who said that?
BEN:
I don’t care. How about that?
They have left the perimeters of the fairground.
SAMSON:
It was this author Will Rogers. (A beat) Maybe it was Mark Twain…the point is,
kid, I’m about to make you the offer of a lifetime.
BEN stops walking and turns to face SAMSON.
BEN
(cutting him short)
Hey, stop calling me kid, OK. My name is Ben Hawkins.
SAMSON:
Well, Ben Hawkins, how would you like a career in show business?
BEN:
What’s the wages?
SAMSON:
Nothin’ at first…
BEN nods his head, as if to say: then why are you wasting my time? He turns again and continues walking.
SAMSON:
Hey, cut me a break here, Hawkins. Offer comes straight from the boss man.
BEN ignores him.
SAMSON (CONT’D):
Ah, that’s right. That’s right, boy, walk, goddammit! Nice straight beeline to that dirt farm o’ yers. And when you get there, will you be sure to give John Law a big heidi-ho from me? And when he takes you upstate – are you listening to me, boy, will you ask him for me what wages they’re payin’ for breaking rocks!!
BEN finally slows and stops, hangs his head. He knows that SAMSON has a point.
CUT TO:
EXT – EATING AREA – DAY
We pan across a large open area, with tables and chairs set up. BEN is eating as SAMSON talks to him.
SAMSON:
You know, I remember when I was a whelp. My daddy worked in the stockyards. Big hands. Spoke German at home. I don’t remember much of the Deutsch now.
BEN continues to devour his steak voraciously. There is an awkward silence.
SAMSON:
You’re not really big on small talk, are ya Huck?
BEN
(mouth full):
What you wanna know?
SAMSON:
What’s your story?
BEN
I was born on a farm. You saw it. I was raised there. Started workin’ it. Then the bank come and they run me off. And that’s the end of the story. You satisfied now?
SAMSON:
Do I look simple to you, Hawkins?
BEN:
No.
SAMSON:
Well, that’s good because I’m not. I’ve been to New York City. I’ve been to
Chi-town and the Big Easy. I’ve met Caruso and Dempsey. I’ve made eyes at Theda
Bera. On a bad day I’ve cracked tougher nuts than you.
BEN:
So?
SAMSON:
I know there’s more to you than ploughing and planting.
BEN shakes his head and pushes his plate aside. Gets up.
SAMSON:
What’s the matter? You don’t like steak?
BEN:
No, meat’s fine, ‘cos it don’t ask questions.
He leaves.
CUT TO:
EXT – MILFAY CARNIVAL SITE – NIGHT
Night has fallen, and the show is on. BARKERS at the tent sell their acts to the throngs of people who have gathered, their speeches running into each other.
CUT TO:
Outside LILA’s tent:
BARKER #1:
Come one, come all, see Lila, the bearded woman of Brussels! Witness -
CUT TO:
Outside the TWINS’ tent.
BARKER #2:
- the beauties, born united, tragically at the hip –
CUT TO:
At GABRIEL’s act:
RUTHIE:
Surely there’s a man of stout heart who has the brute strength and the
spiritual fortitude to best my boy Gabriel in the ring. Many have tried, none
have succeeded.
We see that BEN is in the crowd before we –
CUT TO:
A FIREEATER, blowing out a jet of flame.
BEN continues to wander through the carnival.
CUT TO:
SWORD-SWALLOWER’s act
GECKO entertains the audience as the SWORD-SWALLOWER delivers his spiel.
SWORD-SWALLOWER
Ladies and gentlemen, a sight never before seen in the world. I was swallow this blade of solid steel, down my throat, past my heart, and into my stomach.
He does what he says he would. The audience, BEN included is amazed.
CUT TO:
CALADONIA and ALEXANDRIA, singing a French song, first in unison, then in harmony. They are on a rotating dais, and the camera brings us CLOSE on where they are conjoined.
BARKER #1:
Well, let’s put our hands together for these two lovely buttercups.
He claps with the audience briefly.
BARKER #1
(with a hand gesture):
Move along, move along.
CUT TO:
Another part of the carnival. BEN spots the CRIPPLED GIRL (MADDY) we saw earlier. JONESY hoists her out of her wagon.
JONESY:
All right, darling.
He puts her on the Ferris wheel beside her brother.
JONESY:
There you go.
(Straps them in)
You give this man right here your ticket?
MADDY nods.
JONESY:
Here’re two more and two more for your brother. Your money’s no good here,
sunshine.
She giggles happily.
JONESY
(stepping back):
Now you hang on and say ‘hi’ to the man in the moon for me.
She nods. The Ferris wheel starts up, and the children are taken into the sky. JONESY puts his hands on his hips contentedly, then notices that BEN has been watching him. BEN gives him an almost imperceptible nod.
CUT TO:
Another part of the carnival.
BARKER #3:
In this tent, here, ladies and gentlemen, you will not see some tired old ootchie-kootchie show. No sirree, bob. This here’s an informative, educational demonstration of European muscle dancing. (Laughs.) The fleet of foot, young man, captures the front row. (Laughs).
CUT TO:
INT – “EUROPEAN MUSCLE DANCING” TENT – NIGHT
BEN enters the tent. We pan across a row of attentive faces, and then see that there’s a bouncer in attendance, sporting a baseball bat. In the corner is a man operating a gramophone, which is playing lewd cabaret music in the background.
On stage, LIBBY and RITA SUE are dancing erotically, jiggling their breasts, teasing the audience. BEN seems more discomfited by this than turned on. He leaves.
CUT TO:
EXT – MILFAY CARNIVAL SITE – NIGHT
Between two tents, away from the main crowds. BEN sits alone, smoking a cigarette. He overhears a conversation between a barker and one of the visitors.
BARKER #1:
Shed be honored if you paid her a call. Of course she’s a busy woman with a number of performances.
VISITOR:
I’ve got money.
BARKER #1:
It’s not about money.
VISITOR:
I’ve got twenty dollars.
BARKER #1;
As I was saying –
VISITOR:
Twenty five.
He hands over a wad of cash. The BARKER takes it, and pats the VISITOR on the arm. They leave together.
SAMSON, who has been watching BEN watching the exchange, walks up.
SAMSON:
So how about that?
BEN:
She’s a -- she’s a whore.
SAMSON:
Rita Sue didn't do nothing to that chump that the First
Merchant's Trust didn't do to you. You think on that.
He walks away smugly.
CUT TO:
Later. The carnival is quieting
down. Ben sits on the back of a pick-up, watching people pass. SOFIE walks up,
and BEN gets up to meet her.
BEN:
Hey.
SOFIE:
Thought you might want this back.
He returns him his coat.
BEN:
Oh. Thanks.
SOFIE:
I appreciate what you did earlier. Thank you.
BEN:
It was nothing.
SOFIE:
It was stupid. Shoulda seen it coming. Some fortune teller, huh?
A pause.
SOFIE (CONT’D)
There’s talk of you coming on permanent.
BEN:
Oh…no…that’ll be the day
SOFIE:
Oh?
BEN:
I’m just…I’m no carnie.
He flings aside his cigarette, and
there is another long pause.
SOFIE:
You know, the people in these towns are asleep. All day at
work, at home, just sleepwalkers. We wake them up.
BEN does not quite know what to say
to this.
SOFIE:
Come on. I’ll read your cards.
BEN:
What?
SOFIE:
Cards. You know – past, present, future.
BEN:
That’s OK.
SOFIE:
What’s the matter.
BEN
(a little embarrassed):
I’m broke.
SOFIE
(laughing):
No charge.
BEN:
No. I’m – I’m fine, I’m…maybe later.
SOFIE:
OK. Later.
She starts to walk away.
BEN:
Hey. What’s your name?
SOFIE:
Sofie.
BEN:
Hawkins.
SOFIE:
Ben Hawkins. I know.
And she goes.
FADE TO BLACK.
SMASH CUT TO:
The DREAM SEQUENCE once more, this
time with a few extra images: a fetus in a jar, a shot of IRIS, two children
holding hands and a burnt skull.
The final image is that of a red
neon sign that says “Mr. Chin’s” that explodes in a shower of sparks just as we
SMASH CUT TO:
BROTHER JUSTIN, waking with a start.
A radio program (The Shadow) is on. We pan right to see that IRIS, knitting
quietly in her chair. JUSTIN closes the book that is open on his lap, puts on
his glasses, and exits the room.
CUT TO:
EXT – MINTERN – NIGHT
BROTHER JUSTIN walks through the
town, troubled, observing the multitudes of poor and homeless on the streets.
He approaches and stops at an establishment advertising “DANCING” in the
window. The place is a den of prostitutes. He looks, up, and the camera follows
his gaze to reveal a large neon sign, the one from JUSTIN’s dreams: MR CHIN’S,
and a firebreathing green dragon. As he looks on, a CHINESE HOSTESS approaches
him, smooths his lapels.
HOSTESS:
Hello handsome. Are you lonely?
He grabs her wrists roughly. She
shakes him off and curses at him in Chinese before stomping away.
BROTHER JUSTIN continues to stand
where he is. Suddenly, it begins to snow. He looks up at the sky, and then
around him. The ground is already covered with a layer of it, and the
passers-by and prostitutes have vanished.
A drop of liquid spatters onto
JUSTIN’s face. He wipes it off, smells it. Blood. He holds out his hand, and
another drop lands on his palm. –
- and then it is raining, a
veritable downpour of blood. BROTHER JUSTIN stretches out his arms, and the
neon sign explodes into sparks, just like in his dream. JUSTIN shields himself
from the sparks with his arms. When he looks up again, only two of the tubes
are intact, forming a red cross. JUSTIN clasps his hands together and falls to
his knees
CUT TO:
JUSTIN, cowering and whimpering on
the ground – except that the blood is gone, and his clothes and face are clean.
He looks up, and the sign and everything else has returned to normal.
FADE TO BLACK
FADE UP:
EXT – MILFAY CARNIVAL SITE – DAY
The following day. The carnival is
being disassembled. BEN carries a tent pole out from under one of the big
tents. A moment later, it is collapsed.
CUT TO:
BEN, carrying a tarp.
CUT TO:
BEN, checking the rigging on a
ladder attached to the side of a truck, then throwing a sack into the same
vehicle.
CUT TO:
BEN, loading equipment onto another
truck.
CUT TO:
BEN, carrying more tentpoles.
CUT TO:
BEN, handing someone a small toy
horse.
CUT TO:
BEN, drinking water from a metal
tub. SOFIE emerges from her trailer, and watches him drink.
SOFIE:
One of us?
BEN:
Huh?
SOFIE:
Last chance for that card reading.
BEN hesitates, looks around…
CUT TO:
INT – APOLLONIA’S TRAILER – DAY
BEN and SOFIE are doing the card
reading. A memory suddenly flashes through BEN’s mind.
CUT TO:
INT – BEN’S HOUSE – DAY
FLASHBACK to YOUNG BEN, holding a
cat. His MOTHER is there, looking horrified at BEN for some reason.
BEN’S MOTHER:
What have you done?
BEN scratches the cat’s neck. It
purrs.
CUT TO:
INT – APOLLONIA’S TRAILER – DAY
SOFIE:
You all right?
BEN:
Yeah.
SOFIE:
Would you like me to stop?
BEN:
No. Go on.
We see three cards in front of SOFIE
on the table. One has already been turned over; she now flips the second.
SOFIE:
Death.
CUT TO:
INT – BEN’S HOUSE – DAY
FLASHBACK: BEN’S MOTHER stuffs the
cat into a sack, intending to drown it.
BEN’S MOTHER:
You’ve got no right. No right boy. The Lord takes what’s his.
Man don’t take it back.
CUT TO:
INT – APOLLONIA’S TRAILER – DAY
SOFIE (CONT’D):
Not a harbinger of bad fortune but of transformation.
CUT TO:
INT – BEN’S HOUSE – DAY
BEN struggles with his mom for the
sack.
YOUNG BEN:
Mom, no, no!
She pushes him away.
BEN’S MOTHER:
Go! Go!
CUT TO:
INT – APOLLONIA’S TRAILER – DAY
BEN looks extremely troubled.
CUT TO:
INT – BEN’S HOUSE – DAY
FLASHBACK: BEN’S MOTHER drowns the cat in a tub of water.
BEN’S MOTHER:
You’re marked, boy. You’re marked by the Beast.
She starts sobbing violently.
CUT TO:
INT – APOLLONIA’S TRAILER – DAY
CLOSE ON: APOLLONIA (telling SOFIE something?)
SOFIE:
What do you see? (He doesn’t respond) Ben?
BEN:
Yeah. I don’t know. Nothin’
SOFIE turns to her mother.
BEN:
What?
SOFIE does not know what to say.
BEN:
What?
She looks down, and turns over the last card.
SOFIE:
Magician reversed.
CUT TO:
INT – BEN’S HOUSE – DAY
FLASHBACK to the BEN’S MOTHER, mortally ill, lying in bed.
BEN’S MOTHER:
You filth!
CUT TO:
INT – APOLLONIA’S TRAILER – DAY
SOFIE:
You have a great talent or ability.
BEN:
Reversed?
SOFIE:
Means it’s been wasted. Unfulfilled. A gift you’ve hidden from others.
CUT TO:
INT – BEN’S HOUSE – DAY
FLASHBACK: BEN’S MOTHER reaches for her wooden cross as BEN tries to approach her.
BEN’S MOTHER:
Don’t touch me!
He comes nearer anyway, and she grabs the cross, holding it as if to ward off a demon.
BEN’S MOTHER:
Get out…you filth! Keep your hands off me.You filth.
CUT TO:
INT – APOLLONIA’S TRAILER – DAY
CLOSE ON: BEN’s three cards in turn.
BEN’S MOTHER (V.O.):
You filth!
SOFIE:
Ben, what are you hiding?
She reaches out and takes his hand, and as she does, BEN gets a sudden vision of JUSTIN head, rearing out from the darkness:
JUSTIN
(fiercely):
Tell me!
BEN recoils and dashes out of the trailer.
SOFIE
(calling after him):
Ben?!
CUT TO:
EXT – MILFAY CARNIVAL SITE – DAY
The convoy is all packed and ready to go. BEN runs past the lined-up trucks into a cultivated area of a farm that is just nearby. He collapses next to a tractor overgrown with weeds, overcome with emotion.
VOICE (O.S.):
Why are you crying?
BEN turns. Sitting behind him, on her wagon, is MADDY. He doesn’t answer, but collects himself, gets up and walks over to her.
MADDY:
Grammie says y’all are marked.
A pause.
BEN:
They ain’t marked. They’re just people, that’s all.
(A beat.)
How long you been like that?
MADDY:
Forever.
BEN:
Does it hurt?
She nods.
BEN bends down beside her. As he does, SAMSON calls to him from afar. The carnival is about to leave.
SAMSON (O.S.):
Hey, Hawkins! You ridin’ with us, boy?
BEN is in no hurry. He looks at the girl.
CUT TO:
SAMSON:
Ah. Hell with it.
He walks towards the trucks, away from BEN.
SAMSON:
Let’s shake some dust!
CUT TO:
BEN, placing his hands on the MADDY’s legs. He concentrates hard, straining with some unseen effort.
Around him, the crops turn brown and wither with BEN as the epicenter.
CUT TO:
BEN, chasing after the departing convoy. He catches up with one of the last trucks, clambers on and rolls onto the sacks on the top of it.
CUT TO:
MADDY, now standing beside her wagon, as she watches the dust clouds of the convoy that is rolling away into the distance. As the camera pans upwards and outwards, we see her running awkwardly towards her house, the crops around her dying as she goes.
FADE TO BLACK.
CREDITS.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
This transcript was made possible by the recaps of Aaron of www.televisionwithoutpity.com
This transcript is a work in progress. Report any errors to me at jzl@duke.edu.