CHRIS

  You ain’t never heard of Wellenbeck prisoner of war camp, West Virginia?

  JOHN RUTH

  No Reb, I ain’t never heard of it!

  (to Maj.Warren)

  You bust out?

  Maj.Warren nods his head, Yes.

  CHRIS

  Oh Maj.Marquis did more than bust out. Maj.Marquis had a bright idea. So bright you hafta’ wonder why nobody never thought about it before.

  (to Maj.Warren)

  Tell John Ruth your bright idea.

  MAJ.WARREN

  Well the whole damn place was just made of kindling.

  (beat)

  So I burnt it down.

  CHRIS

  (to John Ruth)

  There was a rookie regiment spendin’ the overnight in the camp. Forty-seven men…… burnt to a crisp. Southern youth, farmer’s sons, cream of the crop—

  MAJ.WARREN

  (to Chris)

  —And I say, “Let ’em burn”. I’m suppose to apologize for killin’ Johnny Reb? You fought the war to keep niggers in chains. I fought the war to kill White Southern Crackers. And that means kill ’em any way I can. Shoot ’em. Burn ’em. Drown ’em. Drop a big ole’ rock on their head. Whatever it takes to put White Southern Crackers in the ground, that’s what I joined the war to do, and that’s what I did.

  CHRIS

  (to John Ruth)

  To answer your question, John Ruth, when Major Marquis burned forty-seven men alive, for no more a reason than to give a nigger a run for the trees, that’s when The South put a reward on the head of Major Marquis.

  MAJ.WARREN

  (to Chris)

  And I made them trees, Mannix. And you best believe I didn’t look back neither. Not till I passed The Northern Line.

  CHRIS

  (to Maj.Warren)

  But you had a surprise waitin’ for you on The Northern Side, didn’t ya’?

  (to John Ruth)

  See once they started pullin’ out all the burnt bodies at Wellenbeck, seems not all of them boys were Rebs.

  ON THE SOUNDTRACK in the B.G. we hear the sounds of a RAGING FIRE… then we hear the SCREAMS and CRIES of MEN and HORSES burning alive underneath Chris’ dialogue.

  CHRIS

  (to Maj.Warren)

  Burnt up some of your own boys, didn’t ya’ Major? How many burnt prisoners they end up findin’? Wasn’t the final Yankee death count somethin’ like thirty-seven?

  The Fire and Screams FADE OUT.

  MAJ.WARREN

  That’s the thing about war Mannix, people die.

  CHRIS

  Ahhhh, so ya’ chalkin’ it up to “War IS Hell’, aye? Well admittedly that’s a hard argument to argue with. But if memory serves, your side didn’t look at it that way. I think they thought, thirty-seven white men for one nigger wasn’t so hot a trade.

  FLASH ON:

  INT—MILITARY COURT MARSHALL—DAY

  MAJOR MARQUIS WARREN stands at full attention in FULL DRESS CAVALRY OFFICER UNIFORM inside a MILITARY COURT ROOM.

  EIGHT OLD WHITE MEN CAVALRY OFFICERS sit along a long table in judgment on Major Warren.

  Though we can’t hear what is being said, we see the MIDDLE OLD WHITE MAN OFFICER angrily accuse Maj.Warren of, as far as the old white men sitting around the table are concerned, a horrible crime.

  MAJOR WARREN

  stands at attention showing no emotion at the accusations.

  Chris’ dialogue continues as VOICE OVER:

  CHRIS (VO)

  I do believe they accused you of being a kill crazy nigger who only joined the war to kill white folks and the whole Blue and Grey of it all didn’t really much matter to ya’.

  (all said in one breath)

  FLASH ON:

  EXT—CAVALRY FORT—DAY

  MAJOR MARQUIS WARREN stands at full attention in the courtyard of a Cavalry Fort in full officer uniform.

  A WHOLE REGIMENT OF COLORED CAVALRY SOLDIERS stand in line at attention on one side.

  On the other side is a WHOLE REGIMENT OF WHITE CAVALRY SOLDIERS who stand in a line at attention.

  The Middle Old White Man Cavalry Officer RIPS the OFFICER INSIGNIAS OFF of Maj.Warren’s uniform. Including all the gold buttons down his blue uniform jacket. The coat separates, revealing his bare chest underneath.

  INSERT

  A big stick with a white rag tied around the end of it, is dipped into a bucket of CANARY YELLOW PAINT. When the stick is brought out, the white rag is WET and DRIPPING YELLOW.

  The Yellow End of the Stick is brought down the middle of the BACK of MAJ.WARREN’S BLUE CAVALRY UNIFORM COAT.

  MAJOR WARREN

  Stands ramrod still as The Yellow Stripe is DRAWN down his back.

  The BLACK SOLDIERS

  stand in line and watch.

  The WHITE SOLDIERS

  stand in line and watch.

  The WHITE OFFICERS

  who sat in judgment around the table, stand in line and watch.

  A DRUMMER

  PLAYS a military flutter on his lone drum, the only thing that can be heard other than Chris’ Voice Over;

  CHRIS (VO)

  And that’s why they drummed your black ass outta’ the Cavalry with a yellow stripe down your back.

  (beat)

  Isn’t it Major?

  BACK TO STAGECOACH

  JOHN RUTH

  Horse shit. If he did all that, the Cavalry woulda’ shot him.

  CHRIS

  (to John Ruth)

  I didn’t say they could prove it.

  (to Maj.Warren)

  But they sure did think it out loud, didn’t they Major?

  (to John Ruth)

  But Warren’s war record was stellar, that’s what saved his ass.

  (to Maj.Warren)

  Killed yourself your share of redskins in your day, didn’t cha’ Black Major?

  (to John Ruth)

  Cavalry tends to look kindly on that.

  JOHN RUTH

  I’ll tell ya’ what the Cavalry didn’t look kindly on. Mannix’s Marauders that’s what. And the fact that Erskine Mannix’s boy would talk about anybody else’s behavior during war time makes me wanna’ horse laugh.

  CHRIS

  What my daddy fought fer’ was dignity in defeat, and against the unconditional surrender. We weren’t foreign barbarians pounding on the city walls. We were your brothers. We deserved dignity in defeat.

  MAJ.WARREN

  (to Chris)

  How many nigger towns you sack in your fight for dignity in defeat?

  CHRIS

  My fair share, Black Major. When niggers are scared, that’s when white folks are safe. You ask the people in South Carolina they feel safe? Our niggers in niggertown walk soft.

  Maj.Warren lifts the pistol sitting in his lap, COCKS BACK the hammer, and places the end of the barrel against Chris’ temple.

  MAJ.WARREN

  Now you gonna’ talk that hateful nigger talk, you can ride up top with O.B.

  CHRIS

  No no no, you got me talkin’ politics I didn’t wanna’. Like I said, I’m just happy to be alive. I think I’ll just look out this winda’ here at all this pretty scenery, and think about how lucky I am.

  Chris turns from the Major, and looks out the window.

  We see the white wonderland landscape of trees and rocks and snowbanks go rolling by in GLORIOUS 70mm SUPERSCOPE.

  CUT TO BLACK

  CUT FROM BLACK TO:

  SERGIO LEONE CU

  JESUS FACE

  An extreme close up of a HANDCARVED WOOD FACE OF JESUS CHRIST.

  We start on Jesus’ Face and SLOWLY ZOOM OUT… to reveal a very old statue. It’s a handcarved wood Jesus on a HAND CHISELED STONE CROSS stuck in the snow. The statue looks like it was there hundreds of years before the pilgrims. It’s as if The Vikings marched up a mountain in Wyoming, chiseled a cross out of stone, carved a figure of the saviour out of a log, planted it in the snow, then sailed back to Norway. The aesthetics of the statue reveal a Slavic origin. The Jesus figure with its skinny, pointy physique looks more like a crucifixion of Eisenstein’s Ivan The Terrible than the hippy saviour of Catholicism.

  But the number one thing the audience will notice about the statue, is an entire snowbank has built up on the longways section of the cross. As well as two snow piles. One, sitting on top of the cross. And the other sitting on top of Jesus’ head.

  O.B. and the six horse team come whizzing by kicking up dirt and snow as it whooshes by the cross and the 70mm CAMERAS.

  CUT TO

  EXT—MINNIE’S HABERDASHERY—DAY

  The six horse team stagecoach pulls up to the front of the log built building that’s known as “MINNIE’S HABERDASHERY”.

  On the outside, Minnie’s just looked like a slightly bigger than normal stagecoach stopover, parked halfway up a mountain. That’s because, despite local reputation, that’s what it is. If serving two bottles of Tequila, one bottle of Mezcal, and one bottle of Brandy qualifies you as a bar, it’s a bar. If serving stew qualifies you as a restaurant, it’s a restaurant.

  It sells a few hats, gloves, and snowshoes for the stagecoach passengers. And supplies for the mountain folk. And it receives special packages for people in Red Rock. Like say when Carlos Robante (Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez) in ‘Rio Bravo’ buys those red bloomers for his wife Consuela (Estelita Rodriguez), but doesn’t want everybody in town to know about it. If he lived in Red Rock, he’d buy them through the mail, have them sent to Minnie’s, and when they arrived, Minnie would get word to him, and he’d ride out there and pick them up. Minnie’s was also a good place to hole up during a storm. This wasn’t the first time a group of passengers from the stage had to sit out the snow. Minnie and her partner Sweet Dave also traded goods. In fact the only stuff in their store of any interest is the stuff they acquired in trade. If that makes them a trading goods store, then they’re a trading goods store.

  Minnie’s Haberdashery is a lot of things, but the one thing it wasn’t was a haberdashery.

  O.B. brings the horses to a stop. He sees something..…

  ANOTHER STAGECOACH, horses put away, off to the side.

  O.B.’s first thought is, there’s already people here. His second thought is, that’s strange.

  He looks around.

  The storm has gotten uglier.… the wind more brutal.

  He sees the outside of Minnie’s, he looks at the barn, the outhouse. The field of white snow surrounding it. It looks like Minnie’s, but it looks a little spooky. But this storm is spooky, so O.B. chalks up his feelings to that.

  And into this spooky storm A MAN in a big winter coat and hat comes out of Minnie’s front door, and walks towards the stagecoach. Just as he gets closer the passengers inside open the shades on the windows of the carriage door. The man sees it’s four passengers sitting inside.

  This seems to startle him.

  He shoots off to speak with O.B.

  INT—STAGECOACH (STILL)—DAY

  All four passengers saw the man’s reaction.

  CHRIS

  He didn’t look that happy to see us.

  John Ruth, staring at Minnie’s building, says;

  JOHN RUTH

  I think he’s already got ’em some customers.

  EXT—MINNIE’S HABERDASHERY—DAY

  The Man in the winter coat moves over to O.B.’s perch on the wagon.

  MAN

  (speaking with a Spanish accent)

  What the hell’s going on, we weren’t expecting another stage tonight?

  Referring to the other stagecoach.

  O.B.

  I can see you already got another one up here.

  MAN

  I just got through putting the horses away.

  The storm is really getting going now. So much so people have to yell to be heard.

  O.B.

  This ain’t the normal line. But we are stuck on the wrong side of a blizzard, so it looks like you’re stuck with us. Are Minnie and Sweet Dave inside?

  MAN

  They ain’t here. I’m running the place while they’re gone.

  John Ruth steps out of the stagecoach into the cold, dragging Domergue along with him.

  JOHN RUTH

  Where’s Minnie and Sweet Dave?

  O.B.

  He says they ain’t here. He’s lookin’ after the place while they gone.

  JOHN RUTH

  (to O.B.)

  They ain’t here…

  (to Man)

  … where are they?

  MAN

  They’re visiting Minnie’s mother.

  JOHN RUTH

  Her mother? Who are you?

  MAN

  I’m Bob.

  JOHN RUTH

  So you’re lookin’ after the place while Minnie’s away?

  BOB

  Si.

  JOHN RUTH

  Coffy in there?

  BOB

  Si.

  JOHN RUTH

  Well whoever you are, help O.B. with the horses. Get ’em outta’ this cold, before the blizzard lands on our heads.

  BOB

  I just put those other horses away.

  You need it done fast, you need to help.

  JOHN RUTH

  I got two of my best men on it.

  He says as both Maj.Warren and Chris Mannix climb out of the stagecoach.

  JOHN RUTH

  (to the two men)

  Okay freeloaders, get to work.

  John Ruth YANKS Domergue away towards the front door of Minnie’s, when suddenly his arm is YANKED BACK.

  He looks down and sees Domergue has stopped and squatted in the snow to take a pee.

  She looks up at him.

  DOMERGUE

  You’d let a horse piss, wouldn’t ya’?

  Okay, maybe she’s got a point. He lets Domergue take her pee.

  INT—MINNIE’S HABERDASHERY—DAY

  We focus in on the front door of Minnie’s Haberdashery, and only the front door.

  We hear John Ruth outside, trying to open the door, but it’s nailed shut.

  Then we hear PEOPLE INSIDE THE ROOM YELL OFF SCREEN at the door;

  PEOPLE INSIDE (OS)

  Kick it open!

  John Ruth KICKS OPEN THE FRONT DOOR—The WIND from outside WHIPS INTO THE ROOM—John Ruth and Domergue step quickly inside, Ruth SLAMS the door shut behind him—CUTTING OFF THE WIND—only to see there’s no door lock.

  The People Inside yell at them;

  PEOPLE INSIDE (OS)

  You have to nail it shut!

  Both him and her look at them, “What”?

  PEOPLE INSIDE (OS)

  There’s hammer and nails by the door!

  As they hold the door closed, they look down and see a hammer and a can of nails.

  So as Domergue holds the wind battered door closed, John Ruth picks up the hammer, grabs some nails, and begins pounding them into a piece of wood on the door.

  He finishes and starts to put the hammer down, when The People Inside yell at him;

  PEOPLE INSIDE (OS)

  You need to do two pieces of wood!

  Both John Ruth and Domergue give them a bit of “a look”, but then turn back to the door. He picks off the floor another piece of wood, and hammers it into the door and the wall.

  When he finishes, he lays down the hammer and says;

  JOHN RUTH

  That door’s a son of a gun. Who’s the idiot who broke that, that Mexican fella’?

  He turns from the door to see The People Inside.

  It’s THREE MEN:

  ONE, a BLONDE ENGLISH MAN who wears a grey European cut business suit, who stands up when he sees the man and woman enter the room.

  Speaking with an English Accent;

  BLONDE ENGLISH MAN

  Good heavens, a woman out in this white hell.

  (to Domergue)

  You must be frozen solid, poor thing.

  The Blonde English Man is a bit of a fop. Not a gigantic fop, just a bit of one.

  TWO, an OLD MAN with a white beard, in an old Confederate Officer Uniform.

  RANK: GENERAL.

  He sits by himself in a cozy chair by the fireplace complete with ROARING FIRE. He doesn’t look up when the man and woman enter.

  and

  THREE, a lone COWBOY FELLA’, in a cow puncher uniform, tan pullover shirt and pants, and chocolate brown leather vest, and cool but worn brown cowboy boots and hat. He sits by himself at a table in the corner.

  We also take in the inside of Minnie’s Haberdashery. As has been reported by Bob, sadly no Minnie. Even without meeting Minnie, we feel her loss to this building. With Minnie’s big presence this place comes alive and is homey and warm. Without her, it’s a cold shack full of junk.

  There’s a kitchen area, that includes a pot belly stove.

  Two comfy chairs sit in front of a fireplace with a big warm fire crackling in it. In one of the cozy chairs sits the Old General, in the other was the English Man before he stood up.

  Across from the kitchen area, on the other side of the room, is a Bar Area. A Small Bar, with Three Bar Stools. And Four Bottles of Booze. Two bottles of Tequila. One bottle of Mezcal. One bottle of Brandy.

  A few scattered small tables for one to four. The Cowboy Fella’ sits at one of those.

  A Picnic Table in the middle of the room for community eating.

  An Old Piano in the corner.

  And A Big Iron Double Bed that sits amongst the goods in the store. It’s Minnie and Sweet Dave’s bed.

  John Ruth answers the English man;

  JOHN RUTH

  Where’s the coffy?

  The English Man points in the direction of the pot belly stove.

  Ruth YANKS Domergue in the direction of the pot belly stove and the coffy.