Blackthorne: Review--Scenes 11-20

Blackthorne

Cinemagenics 11-20

Review--Part II

“Thanks for the very positive response to this review of my

saga, a poetic screenplay series. When a project spreads

out over several years, it requires special scrutiny; just saying.”

--Glenn

Eleven: Elegy--Buck is recalling his mother’s funeral as he stands in

his family cemetery staring at the three headstones--his mother,

Sarah Elizabeth Buck, in the middle--his father, William Tyler Buck, 

on the right--& his little brother, Jackson Issac Buck, on the left. He

noticed that someone had put flowers in fruit jars in front of each of

them. He talked quietly with his departed ones, announcing that he

had come back for good this time. Then, arms open wide, he announ-

ced to the air, “Hey, all you sons of bitches--I’m home.”

Twelve: Provisions--Detailed introduction to Wallace’s General Store,

with the aged storekeeper bustling about filling that morning’s orders.

Buck entered & gave him a grocery & provisions list. Wallace said he

would get to it in an hour, or so, offering him biscuits & gravy while he

waited. Buck said that what he needed was a stiff drink & a woman.

Wallace sent him across the street to Bronson’s CHINA DOLL saloon.

Thirteen: Gates of Gomorrah--Buck carefully crossed the wide street,

booming with mid-morning traffic, as a bright red & yellow stagecoach

rolled by with BRONSON STAGE LINES stenciled on the doors. He

entered the saloon, followed by Cheewa, his dog. There is a description

of the large ornate saloon. A bearded guard said, “Hey, get that fucking

mutt out of here!” Buck complied, but he flashed an angry look at the

guard as he made his way to the bar.

Fourteen: Bartering--Buck notice three saloon angels at a table as he

passed by. He gets to the bar & orders a short beer. They all preen for

him as h sips it. A plump redhead with a pretty face, Millie, approaches

him. They move to a table, where he buys her a “breakfast drink”. She

informs him that she will take the ride for five bucks, “You get me & a

bottle.” They head upstairs & no one takes any notice. On the sound-

track we hear a coronet playing the Deguello.

Fifteen: Prelude--Millie’s room is tidy & clean. She has two teddy bears

on the bed, that she puts in a basket. Buck opens the red curtain & slides

up the tall window. He unbuckles his wide gun belt, & places it on a chair,

where it coils up like a serpent. She is now naked, pretending to want

his attentions. His mind wanders, thinking about a white buckskin teepee

by a gurgling creek, & a young raven-haired maiden’s laughter.

Sixteen: Cathouse--Daydreaming about a Comanche maiden, his eyes clear

& he focuses on Millie, with her Rubenesque charms, but beauty & grace

were replaced with bloat & bovinity. Buck asked her if she had ever made love

outside, “with a butterfly on your butt?” She talks about her farm girl youth,

followed by a “classy” sex scene, as we hear their coital bliss, but the camera

pans slowly around the room. Cut to a white bull bison standing on a ridge

above town, who bellows. Buck looks up as if he heard it, then stands in the

open window. He sees a cat on the roof. He said, “Cats are not very good to

eat, even if you’re hungry.”.

Seventeen: Samaritan--Suddenly the room shakes as something hits the wall

in the adjoining room. Millie said, “Not that bastard again.” Buck, wearing only

his breechclout rushes into the hallway. He hears screams coming from the

room. He kicks the door open. A gambler is choking a blond whore, with his

belt around her neck. Buck intervenes, & the man pulls a small hide-out

pistol. It discharges as Buck slaps it out of his hand. Buck is slapping the

gambler around, when the coward pulls a knife. Buck disarms him, then picks

him up onto his shoulders, spins around, & tosses the man out through the

closed window, out onto the roof, where he rolls across it, & falls off the edge.

Eighteen: Pursuit--Buck returns to Millie’s room & buckles on his gun belt, &

strides down the staircase, barefoot & bellicose. He charges through the

saloon, knocking some chairs over before he gains the door--no one attempted

to stop him. Reaching the street, he looked both directions--but no gambler.

Some people were noticing his near-nakedness. Then he saw a cloud of dust

rising out of the alley, with Cheewa barking & running circles in front of it. He

moved to the alley, finding it empty except for splintered wood & broken glass.

A small crowd had gathered. “Anyone happen to see where that son of bitch

made off to?” No one replied, so he walked back up to the saloon entrance.

Nineteen: Treachery--People cursed him as he made his way to the stairs,

which he ascended two at a time; but the bully guard was on the first landing

holding a shotgun on him. The blond whore “victim” stood behind him,

screeching obscenities. The guard accused him of assaulting one of their

best customers. The prostitute hollered that Buck might have killed, “My

Paully”. Then she attacked him, pummeling him with harmless fists. He did

not defend himself, just kept watching the guard. Finally he tired of her tirade

& punched her in the face, while drawing his Colt .41 with the other hand.

We hear two pistol shots & a shotgun blast as the camera shows us the

whore passing out. 

Twenty: Self-Defense--The prostitute was out cold, & Buck had shot the

guard in the hand. Holstering the Thunderer, he tried to push past the

guard, but the obstinate bully jumped him. Buck punched him to his

knees, where he said through bloody lips, “You’d better finish it, Buff--

you’re a dead man already.’’  Buck smacked him over the head with

the heavy Colt barrel--but the tough guard still wanted to fight, so 

Buck obliged him, beating him senseless. Standing up he faced down

a younger guard & twenty men at the foot of the stairs. The guard

lowered his weapon, & Buck climbed the rest of the way upstairs.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub OLN