- EXT. JIM HILL
SCHOOL - AFTERNOON
-
- A teacher exits the
front door, picks up a foot-long pipe and
- rings a brass bell
hanging from the porch roof.
-
- Richard is the
first out the door.
-
- Cradling his books
like a football, he leaps the steps and
- runs from the
school grounds.
-
-
-
- EXT. BLACK
COMMERCIAL DISTRICT - LATER
-
- Still running,
Richard passes various scenes of black life --
- good and bad.
-
- While some people
go about daily business, many young men and
- boys hang around.
Some drink. A group shoots dice just
- inside an alley.
Some just sit as Richard rockets past.
-
-
-
- EXT. NEWSPAPER
OFFICE - LATER
-
- Richard runs up the
sidewalk and to the newsroom.
-
-
-
- INT. NEWSROOM
-
- A little out of
breath, Richard enters and walks to the
- Editor's desk. The
man is loading his pipe.
-
- RICHARD
- Where's my story?
-
- EDITOR
- It's in galleys.
-
- RICHARD
- What's that?
-
- EDITOR
- It's what happens
to a story when
- we turn it into
type. We're
- publishing it.
-
- Richard seems
startled.
-
- RICHARD
- How much money will
I get?
-
- EDITOR
- Son, we can't pay
for a manuscript.
-
- Richard pauses.
-
- RICHARD
- But you sell your
papers for money.
-
- EDITOR
- Yeah, that's right.
-
- RICHARD
- If you don't give
your paper away,
- why should I give
you my story?
-
- EDITOR
- Look, you're just
starting. This
- will put your
writing and name
- before our readers.
-
- RICHARD
- But if the story is
good enough to
- put in your paper,
it seems like
- I should be paid
for it.
-
- The Editor gives
Richard a look.
-
- EDITOR
- Would you rather I
don't run it?
-
- Richard looks at
the man.
-
- RICHARD
- No.
-
- EDITOR
- Good. I'm dividing
it into three
- weekly
installments. The first
- comes out next
Friday.
-
- The Editor stands,
puffs his pipe, looks at Richard.
-
- EDITOR
- (continuing)
- What grade are you
in?
-
- RICHARD
- Ninth.
-
- EDITOR
- Do you work?
-
- RICHARD
- Yes.
-
- EDITOR
- Doing what?
-
- RICHARD
- Whatever I can.
-
- EDITOR
- Well, I might have
some work for
- you, on a space
rate basis. You
- interested?
-
- Richard is
surprised.
-
- RICHARD
- How much can I
make?
-
- EDITOR
- Nickels and dimes.
But it will be
- good experience for
you. You can
- come in after
school a few days
- next week and we'll
try you out.
- (pause)
- That agreeable to
you, Mr. Wright?
-
- RICHARD
- Yes, sir, Mr...
-
- The Editor offers
his hand.
-
- EDITOR
- Gabriel. James
Gabriel.
-
- Richard shakes
GABRIEL's hand.
-
-
-
- EXT. SCHOOL GROUNDS
- DAY
-
- Richard is sitting
on an old log bench scribbling in his
- notebook.
-
- Three of his
classmates, including a PRETTY GIRL, approach.
- The two boys plop
down on either side of him. One boy,
- GRIGGS, reaches
behind to come over and lower an open
- Southern Register
down in front of Richard's face.
-
- INSERT:
- THE VOODOO OF
HELL'S HALF-ACRE
- A STORY BY RICHARD
WRIGHT
-
- PRETTY GIRL
- (awed)
- Richard, did you
really write that
- story?
-
- RICHARD
- Yes.
-
- GRIGGS
- Why?
-
- RICHARD
- Because I wanted
to.
-
- OTHER BOY
- Where did you get
it from?
-
- Richard points to
his head.
-
- GRIGGS
- You didn't make
this up. You
- copied it out of a
book.
-
- RICHARD
- Griggs, if I had,
no one would
- have published it.
-
- OTHER BOY
- But what are they
publishing it
- for?
-
- RICHARD
- So people can read
it.
-
- GRIGGS
- Who told you to do
that?
-
- RICHARD
- Nobody.
-
- GRIGGS
- How much they pay
you?
-
- RICHARD
- Nothing.
-
- GRIGGS
- (pause)
- Then why did you do
it?
-
- RICHARD
- Because I wanted
to.
-
- There is a long
silence as the five classmates look strangely
- at Richard.
-
- GRIGGS
- You are one crazy
nigger.
-
-
-
- INT. NEWSROOM -
AFTERNOON
-
- Richard sits at a
small desk holding a pencil, concentrating
- hard on a
loose-leaf page. He scribbles some words.
-
- Three other young
black men are at typewriters.
-
- Gabriel, his feet
up on his desk, is reading from another
- sheet of loose-leaf
paper.
-
- Suddenly, Gabriel's
brow rises, he drops his feet to the
- floor. He draws a
circle around a passage of text, stands
- and walks to the
desk where Richard works.
-
- GABRIEL
- (stern)
- Mr. Wright.
-
- Richard looks up
from his work.
-
- RICHARD
- Yes, sir?
-
- Gabriel places the
page in front of Richard.
-
- GABRIEL
- Read the circled
text, please.
-
- Richard reaches for
the page.
-
- RICHARD
- Did I forget
something?
-
- GABRIEL
- Read what I've
marked, please.
-
- Richard looks to
the page and reads.
-
- RICHARD
- According to a Mr.
Roger Stenkel,
- who was fishing
nearby, the nigger
- boy, in his early
teens, drowned
- when the boat
capsized in strong
- current. The
sheriff searched a
- nearby...
-
- GABRIEL
- That's enough.
- (pause)
- You see anything
wrong there?
-
- Richard re-reads
the words silently, then looks up.
-
- RICHARD
- Should I have put
the time in?
-
- Gabriel eyes go
wide.
-
- GABRIEL
- My God, son! These
ignorant white
- crackers got you so
addled you'd
- use a word like
that in a news
- story?!
-
- Richard looks up,
bewildered. Gabriel looks at him a moment.
-
- GABRIEL
- (continuing)
- Nigger, son. I'm
taking about the
- word nigger.
-
- RICHARD
- I... I didn't know
that...
-
- GABRIEL
- Good God!
- (pause)
- Son, you don't
refer to your own
- people as niggers.
In a news
- story, you don't
refer to their
- color whatsoever
unless it matters
- to the story. And
then they are
- negroes or a black
man, woman, boy
- or girl. You got
it?
-
- RICHARD
- Yes, sir.
-
- Gabriel looks at
Richard a moment, then his tone softens.
-
- GABRIEL
- These dumb hicks
have really
- messed your head,
haven't they?
-
- Richard's eyes drop
to his desk, then return to Gabriel.
-
- RICHARD
- Mr. Gabriel, can I
ask you a
- question?
-
- GABRIEL
- Go ahead.
-
- RICHARD
- Why did you leave
Chicago to move
- down here?
-
- Gabriel pauses a
moment.
-
- GABRIEL
- My wife asks me
that about once a
- day.
- (pause)
- Because, son, I'm
not getting any
- younger. And this
is where I may
- best make a
difference.
- (pause)
- You understand what
I'm getting at?
-
- RICHARD
- I think so.
-
- GABRIEL
- (smiles)
- You will. Remember
this: words
- are a most powerful
weapon. If
- you know how to use
them, you can
- create... or you
can destroy.
- (pause)
- You have a gift.
Don't squander
- it. Don't let these
dumb bastards
- keep you down.
-
-
-
- INT. GRANNY'S -
RICHARD'S ROOM - EARLY MORNING
-
- It is dark. Only a
faint pre-dawn light illuminates.
- Richard is asleep.
-
- The door to his
room opens and a dark, hulking figure is
- backlit by a dim
light beyond. It holds a gas lantern,
- slightly lit, at
just a weak glow.
-
- The figure glides
across to Richard. Nearly on him, a
- gnarled hand
reaches for the lantern. The gas comes up with
- a deafening hiss
and the light becomes a full strobe.
-
- Richard's eyes snap
open to the searing, pan-sized, walking-
- dead face of
GRANNY.
-
- He screams.
-
- It takes him a good
long moment to realize where he is and
- who and what this
is in his room.
-
- GRANNY
- Richard, what is
this you're
- putting in the
papers?
-
- Richard composes
himself, thinks and realizes what she is
- talking about.
-
- RICHARD
- A story.
-
- GRANNY
- About what.
-
- RICHARD
- It's just a story,
Granny.
-
- GRANNY
- But they tell me
it's been in two
- times.
-
- RICHARD
- It's the same
story. It's in
- three parts.
-
- GRANNY
- But what is it
about?
-
- Richard hesitates,
as if sensing trouble.
-
- RICHARD
- It's just a story I
made up.
-
- GRANNY
- Then it's a lie.
-
- Richard roles his
eyes.
-
- RICHARD
- Oh, Christ.
-
- Granny boils.
-
- GRANNY
- You must get out of
this house if
- you take the name
of the Lord in
- vain!
-
- RICHARD
- Granny, please ...
I'm sorry. But
- it's hard to tell
you about the
- story. You see,
Granny, everybody
- knows that the
story isn't true,
- but ...
-
- GRANNY
- Then why write it?
-
- RICHARD
- Because people
might want to read
- it.
-
- GRANNY
- That's the Devil's
work.
-
- Granny turns down
the lantern. Her pie-face fades to black
- and she drifts from
the room. Richard collapses back into
- his bed and the
dark.
-
- RICHARD
- Goddamn. Let me out
of this place.
-
-
-
- EXT. GABRIELS' HOME
- ESTABLISHING - EVENING
-
- The moon is full
and bright.
-
- A newer black sedan
sits outside a modest, well-kept home.
- Across the gravel
road is a cotton field.
-
-
-
- INT. GABRIELS' HOME
- SAME TIME
-
- There is laughter.
-
- At a well-set
dinner table, the meal nearly done, Richard
- sits with Gabriel,
his wife, ALICE, and his daughter, LILY,
- a little older than
Richard, very attractive.
-
- Lily steals a look
at Richard, and they meet eyes.
-
- GABRIEL
- (enjoying himself)
- When I informed Mr.
Mencken of my
- intent to publish a
newspaper in
- the depths of
Mississippi, he
- advised me that I
would have to
- learn to write with
only one-
- syllable words, so
as not to
- befuddle my
Southern readers. To
- which I responded
that the words
- will be read by the
intelligent
- negro, not the
backward white.
-
- The four chuckle.
Gabriel takes another pull of red wine.
- Lily turns to her
father, offers her water glass in to toast.
-
- LILY
- My father, the
dedicated
- missionary. He
enlightens the
- African in America.
-
- GABRIEL
- I shall accept that
toast,
- daughter.
-
- Gabriel raises his
wine glass and clinks Lily's glass.
-
- ALICE
- (turns to Richard)
- James tells me you
are quite the
- budding writer,
Richard.
-
- RICHARD
- I don't know about
that Ma'am.
-
- GABRIEL
- Rubbish!
- (drinks)
- The first thing you
will have to
- learn, my young
friend, is that a
- true writer is
never humble about
- his craft.
-
- Alice gives Gabriel
a fond, humoring smile.
-
- GABRIEL
- (continuing)
- The next time a
person pays you a
- compliment for your
writing,
- smile. Then admit
that you are
- perhaps even better
than they know.
-
- The four laugh.
-
- ALICE
- You know, Richard,
Lily does a
- little writing.
-
- LILY
- Mother...
-
- RICHARD
- (turns to Lily)
- You do?
-
- GABRIEL
- It is true, a poet,
indeed.
-
- ALICE
- She has been
accepted to the
- Howard University
School of
- English.
-
- RICHARD
- What?! You're going
away to
- college, already?!
-
- LILY
- What do you mean,
already?
-
- RICHARD
- I mean... you're so
young!
-
- The parents are
beaming. Lily, a little embarrassed, drinks
- some water.
-
- LILY
- I'm almost
seventeen.
-
- RICHARD
- Holy smokes.
-
- He looks impressed,
awed, maybe a little envious.
-
- RICHARD
- (continuing)
- I wish...
-
- Richard shuts up.
-
- The three read his
mind, the women spare him; not Gabriel.
-
- GABRIEL
- Boy, don't tell me
you are not
- going to college!
Don't you tell
- me that!
-
- Richard is now
deeply embarrassed.
-
- GABRIEL
- (continuing)
- Tell me you will go
on in school.
- Tell me that...
-
- ALICE
- James!
-
- GABRIEL
- What?
-
- ALICE
- That's enough.
-
- Gabriel understands
and subdues himself.
-
- GABRIEL
- (to Richard)
- We shall discuss
this later.
-
- Richard turns to
Lily.
-
- RICHARD
- (sincerely)
- I think it's
wonderful that you
- are going to
university.
-
- The four are quiet
a moment. Richard and Lily exchange a
- look. Alice notices
this. She rises and reaches for a dish.
-
- ALICE
- Well, I'm going to
clear the
- table, if you all
will excuse me.
-
- Lily rises to help.
-
- ALICE
- (continuing)
- No, Lily, you don't
have to clear
- tonight, you father
will help with
- the dishes.
-
- GABRIEL
- (surprised)
- I will?
-
- Alice gives him a
look.
-
- GABRIEL
- (continuing)
- Oh. I suppose I
will.
-
- ALICE
- Lily, why don't you
and Richard
- take a stroll. It's
a nice night.
-
- Gabriel shoots a
look at his daughter, then Richard.
-
- GABRIEL
- Yes... Very well
then.
- (pause)
- But do be careful
with that
- poetry, young lady.
-
- LILY ALICE
- Father! James
Gabriel!
-
- GABRIEL
- What?
-
- Richard rises,
walks to the door, and holds it open for Lily.
-
- RICHARD
- Mrs. Gabriel, that
sure was a fine
- meal. Thank you.
-
- ALICE
- You're welcome,
Richard.
-
- Lily exits and
Richard follows. The parents watch the door
- close. Then Alice
turns to Gabriel and gives him a look.
-
- ALICE
- (continuing)
- Careful with that
poetry... really.
-
- Gabriel smiles.
-
- GABRIEL
- I wasn't being
metaphorical.
-
- ALICE
- Oh, you weren't,
were you?
-
- Gabriel shrugs,
smiles.
-
-
-
- EXT. COTTON FIELD -
LATER
-
- It is a beautiful
night.
-
- The bright moon
sets the field to a glow. The Gabriels'
- house is distant
behind the cotton rows. Richard and Lily
- stroll down a wagon
path which runs between blooming stalks.
-
- RICHARD
- Your father is an
interesting man.
-
- LILY
- Yes. He is that.
-
- They stroll, quiet,
comfortable, enjoying the night air.
-
- LILY
- (continuing)
- Can I ask you
something?
-
- RICHARD
- Sure.
-
- LILY
- Are you really not
going to
- college?
-
- RICHARD
- (pause)
- I don't know. I
have to work.
-
- LILY
- But you should go
to school.
-
- RICHARD
- Maybe.
-
- LILY
- What do you mean,
maybe?
-
- RICHARD
- (uncomfortable)
- Alright, I should.
-
- LILY
- Of course you
should. How could
- you even consider
otherwise?
-
- Richard stops, his
face registers irritation.
-
- RICHARD
- How? I'll tell you
how. Right
- now, 'cause of
school, I can't
- work full-time. I
have to pay my
- Granny for me and
my mama's rent
- and food. And if I
don't start
- working full-time
and save some
- money, I'll never
get out of this
- damn town, much
less go to college.
-
- Lily is quieted.
She looks into Richard's eyes for a moment.
-
- LILY
- I'm sorry.
- (pause)
- Sometimes I forget
how good I have
- it.
-
- Richard relaxes,
smiles, touches her arm, they turn and walk.
-
- LILY
- (continuing)
- It's just that you
really do have
- a talent... a real
gift.
-
- RICHARD
- Now, why would you
think that?
-
- LILY
- Because I read your
story.
-
- RICHARD
- (surprised)
- You did?
-
- LILY
- Yes... well, the
first two parts.
- I can't wait to see
how it ends
- next week.
-
- Richard stops
walking, looks at Lily, then resumes the stroll.
-
- RICHARD
- Is that true? You
really want to
- know how it ends?
You're not just
- being nice?
-
- LILY
- (smiles)
- Honest. I really
liked it.
-
- Richard can't help
but smile. He kicks a rock on the ground.
-
- RICHARD
- I'll be darned.
- (pause)
- Well, you know what
this means...
-
- LILY
- What?
-
- RICHARD
- You have to let me
read some of
- your poetry.
-
- Lily smiles;
perhaps somewhat seductively.
-
- LILY
- I think I would
prefer to read to
- you some of my
poetry.
-
- The two stop and
look to each other in the moonlight. The
- moment is long.
They move to kiss.
-
- Behind them, at the
edge of the field, dancing lights appear
- over the cotton. A
row of five torches move quickly toward
- the house.
-
- Richard and Lily
kiss.
-
- Men howl... rebel
yells... the sound of breaking glass...
-
- Still embraced,
Richard and Lily look to the house.
-
- LILY
- (continuing)
- What...
-
- Richard grabs
Lily's arm.
-
- RICHARD
- Come on!
-
- They run for her
home.
-
- Now, mixed with the
whooping voices, Gabriel can be heard.
-
- GABRIEL
- Cowards! You damned
cowards!
- Show yourselves,
you despicable
- bastards!
-
- The heavy galloping
of horses is heard, growing louder. Down
- the path, coming
from the house, right for Richard and Lily,
- five mounted shapes
emerge from darkness.
-
- Richard pulls Lily
from the wagon road.
-
- RICHARD
- Get down! Get down!
-
- The two land among
the cotton stalks alongside the path.
-
- The hooded, cloaked
riders tear past and away down the path.
-
- Richard and Lily
get up and race for the house.
-
-
-
- EXT. GABRIELS' HOME
-
- Gabriel and Alice
are stomping out several small, scattered
- fires which burn on
the porch. Windows are broken out.
-
- GABRIEL
- Goddamn cowardly
sonofabitches!
-
- Richard and Lily
freeze, then run to help put out the fires.
-
|