5.03.2005
By Brock H. Brown
FADE IN,
EXT. DESERT – DAY
A hot, scorching desert: we pan up to see an UNKNOWN GUNFIGHTER running towards us. He holds his GUN out, constantly turning around as if someone were following him.
Finally, he trips up. Harshly, he lands on the ground. Hacking and wheezing, the GUNFIGHTER laughs silently to himself and looks up. Only now does he see buildings before him – a town!
EXT. TOWN – DAY
Inside, the town is deserted. The HOWLING of the wind gently whistles through the streets, seemingly underscoring the lack of human presence. The GUNFIGHTER strolls cautiously among the ruins.
INT. BARBER SHOP – DAY
He looks inside and finds no one.
INT. BLACKSMITH – DAY
The bellows are silent and the fire gently burns.
INT. BAKERY – DAY
Inside, gray ash and deteriorating brickwork is all that remains.
EXT. SHERIFF’S OFFICE – DAY
Finally, the GUNFIGHTER approaches the Sheriff’s office. With a deep breath he enters…
INT. SHERIFF’S OFFICE – DAY
…And surprisingly finds another man lounging at the Sheriff’s desk, enjoying a drink.
Howdy.
GUNFIGHTER
Hello. Where is everyone?
The Mystery Man smiles at this question.
Ain’t you ever heard the tale of this
here town?
The Gunfighter’s silence indicates that clearly, he hasn’t.
Weeeeelll…pull yourself up a chair and
share a drink with me. It all began ‘bout
a year ago. Folks round these parts were
being hassled. Hassled by a gang of bandits.
(BEAT)
These banditos, they were a cruel bunch.
Took the town supplies, raided the local
businesses, and took advantage the local
barmaids. They were nasty. Aaaaaaan…one
day, they got gutsy. One day they went
and blew the head off the blacksmith’s son.
Then they went and hung the Baker and his
wife, demanding that the town double their
supply requests from the other towns so the
bandits could have even more on their next
visit.
(BEAT)
The townsfolk came to their Sheriff…a real
stupid man – and asked for protection. He
was a cowardly man though, this Sheriff,
and he was hurt by the plight of the people.
The bandits and their cruelty taught him a
lesson though. He waited, waited for days.
Waited for the ruckus to quiet down. And
then –
BEGIN FLASHBACK
INT. BARBER SHOP – DAY
A shadowy figure stands at the door, aiming a gun.
INT. BLACKSMITH – DAY
In the blacksmith’s place, the shadowy figure emerges among the bellows with a gun in hand.
INT. METAL SHOP – DAY
The shadowy figure stalks among the equipment.
He killed everyone in this town.
END FLASHBACK
Why?
The Mystery Man smiles glumly and pours another round.
A town’s easier to protect dead then
alive. He just went ahead and cut off
the one resource the bandits needed to
get their supplies – a terrorized people.
The bandits were sickened. They left
and never returned.
The GUNFIGHTER leans in.
And the Sheriff? What of him?
The Mystery Man smiles and kicks up his feet on the table. We see the shinning STAR BADGE of the sheriff on his shirt.
BEGIN FLASHBACK
INT. BLACKSMITH – DAY
We pan up and see the Mystery Man holding the gun. He wrinkles his nose and pulls the hammer of the gun back.
He lived.
FADE OUT,
- posted by Brock @ 9:31 PM
Comments:
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Brock, I'm glad you posted this. It's a great screenplay. It's perfect for a three-minute short. Keep this one around for future Western challenges!
One thing that throws me is that it's not much of a surprise that it's the Sheriff, since he's in the Sheriff's office, sitting at the Sheriff's desk. I would suggest staging this somewhere else.
However, it would be neat to make this interior somewhere shadowy. Maybe with streaks of light coming in through a window or cracks in the roof. So, it's only when the Sheriff shifts around at the end that the light catches his star. I can see it, it would be very cool.
This would have been very chilling, it's a shame we didn't get it made. If you noticed while we were there, all the building were locked up, so it would have been hard to get the shots. Next time.
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One thing that throws me is that it's not much of a surprise that it's the Sheriff, since he's in the Sheriff's office, sitting at the Sheriff's desk. I would suggest staging this somewhere else.
However, it would be neat to make this interior somewhere shadowy. Maybe with streaks of light coming in through a window or cracks in the roof. So, it's only when the Sheriff shifts around at the end that the light catches his star. I can see it, it would be very cool.
This would have been very chilling, it's a shame we didn't get it made. If you noticed while we were there, all the building were locked up, so it would have been hard to get the shots. Next time.
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