Blackthorne--Scene Twenty-Five

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Blackthorne

Cinemagenic Twenty-Five

Advice

“I always pass on good advice--it’s the only thing to do with

it, for it’s never of any use to oneself.”--Oscar Wilde.

1(sound cue) harmonica.

2(two-shot)

--Barnes: sure, like rats in your grain silo.

--Buck: why doesn’t this town just hire some gunfighters

of it’s own & checkmate Bronson?

3(medium close-up) Barnes: because he’s the one with all the

damn money, the gunslingers, & the politicians.

4(close-up) Buck: and I suppose your crackerjack sheriff is hard

on strangers & easy on Bronson?

5(wide two shot) angle on the barber:

--Barnes: it ain’t that simple. Joe Hopp is from Abeline, and he’s good

with a gun, has a hell of a reputation. I’ve seen him pistol whip several

bad hombres. He is no coward. 

--Buck: then what the hell is he?

6(tighten the two-shot) the barber keeps trimming Buck’s thick beard

with his nickel-plate scissors.

--Barnes: careful, I guess, patient--been here a little over a year. The last 

two sheriffs didn’t fare too well; one was back-shot, the other went

fishing & just lit out. Hopp is bidding his time. I don’t think Bronson

bought his badge.

7(sound cue) the scissors cutting hair & a clarinet mimicking the squeak.

8(medium close-up) the beard begins to disappear, thick clumps of hair

lying on the barber sheet, a strong cleft chin beginning to be seen.

--Buck: what’s the story on Bronson’s brothers?

--Barnes: he’s got two of them.

9(two-shot) angle on Barnes as he pours some hot water into a fat

black shaving mug, then whipped up some frothy lather from the

soap cube in the bottom.

--Barnes: why do you ask, mister?

10(sound cue) acoustic guitar chord.

11(medium close-up) Buck stares out into the street at the cold-shadow

people moving through the hot dust--and beyond them to the phantoms

of the past.

--Buck: I tossed one of them out of a second story window & I’m figuring

on some trouble coming my way.

12(tight two-shot) the barber begins dabbing the wet steaming lather into

the pepper fuzz that remained, working it in with the brush.

--Barnes: then be smart, ride on.

--Buck: such a friendly town--you’re the second person

in a half hour to give me that advice.

13(hold the two shot) The barber opens a long straight razor

and begins to shave him.

14(sound cue) the scrape of the sharp blade on a face, blended

with a violin mimicking the scraping.

--Barnes: you look like a drifter, just blow back out onto the prairie,

slap leather before we have to bury you in boot hill.

15(sound cue) cello & snare drums.

16(close-up) Buck: thanks, but I think I’ll be sticking around

for a bit.

17(wide two-shot) angle on the barber, the black dog still under

the table watching the door.

--Barnes: plenty of men have tried to take on the Bronsons, our

cemetery is full of them, & old Cash is still the hairy bear. 

--Buck: I’ve got roots here.

18(close-up) Barnes: this ain’t the same town you left, son--

your roots are dead & gone for sure. 

19(tight two shot) angle on the hunter:

--Buck: Bronson is just a man; he bleeds red like the rest of us.

--Barnes: he behaves like a baron & his army of lead-pushers

is like a twenty-headed Hydra.

20(sound cue) pioneer fiddle bar.

21(medium close-up) the razor makes several passes down his

cheek, & the skin shone both pale & pink. The barber wiped the

lather on a towel over his shoulder.

22(back to the two-shot) over the barber’s shoulder:

--Buck: how’d this town get so dog-fucked?

23( tight two-shot) angle on the barber:

--Barnes: Bronson showed up here about ten years ago, had a

carpet satchel full of money & six men with him. He started out

buying the old ACE DUECE, sprucing it up to become the CHINA

DOLL. He made a fortune, & every year he bought up more of

the town, growing more powerful. He lets cowpokes & strangers

have their fun, takes their money, & then his men escort them

out of town. 

--Buck: I’m not a stranger.

--Barnes: so you say. 

24(medium wide shot) the barber wipes the straight razor clean,

and sets it in a tray; the shave is over.

--Barnes:  look, I’m an old man--my son tells me I talk too much.

Maybe you work for Bronson, maybe he’s finally decided to shut

me up, maybe you are my assassin. You do stink of death.

25(two-shot) Barnes had spoken calmly, matter-of-fact, without

emotion. He wipes the excess lather off of Buck’s face. 

--Buck: I’ve seen more than my share of it.

26(sound cue) coronet & clarinet duet.

27(hold the two-shot) angle on the barber:

--Barnes: Paul is the youngest, a chickenshit tinhorn coward,

he hides behind the guns of the others.

28(medium close-up) the barber returns to the hair-cutting,

running a red comb through the hair, & snipping the ends off.

--Buck: And Thor is the bad ass, right?

--Barnes: Uh-huh, he shot a fifteen year old farm kid to death

right here in the street last month. He ramrods the Triple-B

Ranch, & he sticks to Cash like a foreskin; he is the enforcer,

& the worst of the hired killers would follow him into hell.

29(close-up) Buck: well shit-fire, hell will pop open when

I meet up with that wicked son of a bitch. 

30(sound cue) saxophone squawking.

31(medium close-up) Cheewa growls like a grizzly in a 

bear trap, and jumps to his feet.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets OLN

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