Blackthorne--Scene Twenty-Two

image borrowed from bing

Blackthorne

Cinemagenic Twenty-Two

Dead Time

“When my time comes, just skin me, stuff me, & put me up

there on Trigger, just as though nothing had ever changed.”

--Roy Rogers.

1(sound cue) leather creaking & cicadas chirping.

2(two-shot) over Millie’s shoulder, angle on Buck slipping on

his black leather vest.

3(sound cue) Spanish guitar strumming.

4(close-up) Buck thumping down red & green shotgun shells

on one side, and tall brass .50 caliber Sharps shells on the other.

5(medium close-up) Millie watching him, her eyes sad, her 

lips pursed.

6(close-up) Buck: Thor Bronson--my guess is that he is slippery

fast & mean as a scorpion in your boot.

7(close-up) Millie, shaking her head in agreement.

8(sound cue) soft drumstick baps, & twinkling cymbals. 

9(medium close-up) Buck tying down the lethal Colt to his right leg,

the inlaid silver stallion on the holster reflecting the sunlight.

--Buck: so mean he kills men before breakfast for farting at the table.

10(sound cue) four muffled rapid pistol shots, overlapped by guitar

strumming rapidly.

--he kicks dogs & children, pistol whips women as foreplay, and uses

a Gaucho bullwhip for ticks.

11(close-up) Millie:

--sure, something like that, they say he’s run out of room to put

notches on his guns. 

12(sound cue) banjo & bassoon. 

13(medium close-up) Buck pops the snap on his strange wide left 

holster, extracts & examines the sawed off hog’s leg; checks the load,

and shoves it back into the holster.

--Buck: Sweet Millie, will you remember me?

14(close-up) Millie: hell no--I like you.

15(medium close-up) Buck raising his eyebrows, a twinkle in his blue

eyes:

--Millie: I’m afraid you’ll be shot dead before lunch.

--Buck: the name’s Rod, Roderick Buck.

16(close up) Millie.

17(sound cue) her door closing, & the heavy thump of his footsteps

moving down the hall.

--Millie (in narration) from what savage breast did this man appear, 

from what darkness?

18(medium shot) Millie’s silhouette standing at her window watching

the old yellow tomcat creeping up on a dirty brown starling pecking

at caterpillars that had nested between the split shingles--then

the hunter stepped into sight.

19(medium crane shot) camera moves out over the roof, & down

onto the street, falling in behind Buck.

20(switch to reverse traveling steadi-cam shot) Buck walking toward

the camera as it pulls backward away from him--his tall body striding

with a graceful ease for a big man walking into the hot morning. 

21(sound cue) violin & harmonica.

22(medium close up) a neat stack of five silver dollars on the

doilyed night stand, alongside a half-empty bottle of whiskey.

23(close-up) the teddy bear’s blank face in the wicker basket.

24(medium shot) Millie folding up the burgundy colored blanket

that she had wrapped around herself, her back to the window;

25(sound cue) the tomcat killing a bird.

26(hold the shot) Millie standing naked, her heavy arms folded

over her breasts, in the harsh light.

27(close-up) Millie with silent tears rolling down her powdered

cheeks, her eyes closed.

28(sound cue) strident notes on saloon piano. 

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over on dVerse Poets OLN132

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