The Night of the Hunter

                    WILLA
          John: take that look offen your face and act
          nice.

                    PREACHER
          He don't mean no impudence, do ya, boy?
               (no answer)
          Do you, boy?  Ah, many's the time poor Brother
          Ben told me about these youngins.

                    JOHN
          What did he tell you?

CLOSE SHOT -- PREACHER
He does a little take.  His eyes twinkle palely.

                    PREACHER
          Why, he told me what fine little lambs you and
          your sister both was.

GROUP SHOT

                    JOHN
          Is that all?

CLOSE SHOT -- PREACHER
Something new enters his eyes; a game has begun between them.

                    PREACHER
          Why, no, boy; he told me lots and lots of
          things.  Nice things, boy.

A tight silence.  ICEY pours fudge into a buttered pan.

                    PREACHER
          My, that fudge smells yummy!

CLOSE SHOT - ICEY

                    ICEY
               (with horrid archness)
          It's for the pick-nick.  And you won't get a
          smidgen of my fudge unless you stay for the
          pick-nick!

Over her line, o.s., hymn-singing begins and now, over her "the case rests"
smile, we bring up the singing and

                                        LAP DISSOLVE TO

EXT. THE RIVER-BANK - CHURCH IN B.G. - FULL SHOT - THE SINGING PICKNICKERS
A pleasant, grassy river-bank.  Few men in proportion to women and children. 
We CENTER PREACHER.  They are singing "Brighten the Corner;" PREACHER sings
conspicuously well.  The women watch him and admire him.  He gives WILLA the
eye as we PAN to CENTER WILLA, who looks wooed and self-conscious.  ICEY
enters the SHOT and whispers and beckons WILLA and, as the singing continues,
they leave the group and start towards a shade tree in MEDIUM GROUND, which
we PAN TO CENTER.

FULL SHOT -- WILLA AND ICEY
They walk; singers in BACKGROUND.

                    ICEY
          Don't he have the grandest singin' voice?

WILLA nods.  ICEY, looking ahead, is displeased.

MEDIUM SHOT -- THE TREE, JOHN AND PEARL
They sit on the bench, their backs to us, partly concealed by the tree trunk.

                    ICEY'S VOICE
               (sharp)
          John!  Pearl!

They look around.  ICEY and WILLA enter the SHOT, their backs to us.

                    ICEY
          Run along and play, you two.

                    JOHN
          Where?

                    ICEY
          Down by the river.  My goodness!

Docile, they leave the shot as WILLA and ICEY approach the bench.

CLOSE TWO-SHOT -- WILLA AND ICEY
They sit on the bench, their backs to us.  The CHILDREN recede towards the
river in BACKGROUND.  WILLA meekly keeps her head down.  Singing continues
o.s.

                    ICEY
          That feller's just achin' to settle down with
          some nice woman and make a home for himself.

                    WILLA
          It's awful soon after Ben's passing.

                    ICEY
          If ever I saw a sign from Heaven!

                    WILLA
          John don't like him much.

                    ICEY
          Pearl dotes on him.

                    WILLA
          The boy worries me.  It's silly, but it's like
          there was something still between him and his
          Dad.

                    ICEY
          What he needs is a good dose o' salts!

                    WILLA
          There's something else.

                    ICEY
          What?

                    WILLA
          The money, Icey.

                    ICEY
          I declare, you'll let that money haunt you to
          your grave, Willa Harper!

                    WILLA
          I would love to be satisfied Harry Powell don't
          think I've got that money somewhere.

                    ICEY
          You'll come right out and ask that Man of God!
               (turning and yelling)
          Mr. Paow-well!
               (to Willa)
          Clear that evil mud out of your soul!

PREACHER starts towards her.  ICEY pivots and we PAN OVER her to CHILDREN by
the river.

                    ICEY
               (yelling)
          John!  Pearl!

CLOSE SHOT -- PEARL AND JOHN
JOHN looks up from pebble-skimming and loosens his tie.

                    ICEY
               (yelling o.s.)
          Come along hee-ere and get some fuu-udge!

                    JOHN
               (calling)
          I don't want no fudge.

His brow is furrowed.  He skims another pebble.

                    ICEY
               (shouting o.s.)
          You'll do what you're told!

They unwillingly get moving.

RESUME TWO-SHOT -- ICEY AND WILLA

                    ICEY
          You go set down by the River.

                    WILLA
               (getting up)
          Oh, Icey, I'm a sight!

                    ICEY
          Get along with you.

Both women set off, WILLA to River, ICEY towards GROUP.  We TRACK after ICEY.
PREACHER approaches.  ICEY, crossing him, gives him a little shove towards
WILLA and a coy --

                    ICEY
          You!!!

CLOSE GROUP SHOT -- ICEY AND WOMEN, FAVORING ICEY
... a few men in BACKGROUND, and, beyond them, PREACHER sits down by WILLA at
water's edge.  JOHN and PEARL approach.  As ICEY starts yammering, the men,
WALT among them, shyly withdraw.

                    ICEY
          That young lady'd better look sharp or some
          smart sister between here and Captina's a-gonna
          snap him up right from under her nose!

They nod and agree, ad lib.

                    ICEY
          She's not the only fish in the river!

More agreement.  JOHN and PEARL join ICEY.  ICEY speaks to JOHN.

                    ICEY
          Now, you two stay put!

CLOSE SHOT -- JOHN
He looks hard towards WILLA and PREACHER o.s.

                    ICEY
               (o.s., to women)
          Shilly-shallying around ...

LONG SHOT -- WILLA AND PREACHER
... from JOHN'S VIEWPOINT in tableau of decorous courtship, framed by heavy
domestic bodies.

                    ICEY (o.s.)
          A husband's one piece of store goods ye never
          know till you get it home and take the paper
          off.

CLOSE TWO-SHOT -- WILLA AND PREACHER
They sit by the water; drooping willows; almost in travesty of a romantic
scene.  WILLA dabbles one hand in the water.

                    WILLA
               (very shy)
          Did Ben Harper ever tell you what he done with
          that money he stole?

HEAD CLOSE-UP -- PREACHER
His head goes slantwise and he smiles oddly.

                    PREACHER
          My dear child, don't you know?

CLOSE SHOT -- JOHN
He watches intently towards his mother; PEARL holds his hand.  ICEY's voice
o.s.

GROUP SHOT -- WOMEN, JOHN AND PEARL

                    ICEY
          She's moonin' about Ben Harper.  That wasn't
          love, it was just flapdoodle.
               (agreeing nods and murmurs)
          Have some fudge, lambs.

She hands some down to JOHN and PEARL.  PEARL smears her mouth with it; 
JOHN, watching always towards his mother, takes one nibble and throws the
rest away.

                    ICEY
          When you're married forty years, you know all
          that don't amount to a hill o' beans!  I been
          married to my Walt that long, and I'd swear in
          all that time I'd just lie there thinking about
          my canning.

In BACKGROUND WALT looks sheepish.

                    WILLA'S VOICE
               (calling o.s.)
          John!  John?

All look towards her.

LONG SHOT -- OVER GROUP
WILLA is standing, beckoning JOHN.

MEDIUM TWO-SHOT -- JOHN AND PEARL
They start towards their mother.

GROUP SHOT -- ICEY AND WOMEN -- NEW ANGLE

                    ICEY
          A woman's a fool to marry for that.  It's
          something for a man.  The good Lord never meant
          for a decent woman to want that -- not really
          want it!  It's all just a fake and a pipe dream.

The others agree with her.  She puts a piece of fudge in her mouth.

CLOSE GROUP SHOT -- PREACHER, WILLA, CHILDREN
... as JOHN and PEARL (with DOLL) come shyly up.  WILLA is seated again.  She
is radiant.

                    WILLA
          John, Mr. Powell has got something to tell you.

                    PREACHER
          Well, John, the night before your father died,
          he told me what he did with that money.

CLOSE SHOT -- JOHN 
He desperately conceals his reaction; he thinks BEN has betrayed him.

RESUME GROUP SHOT

                    PREACHER
          That money's at the bottom of the river,
          wrapped around a twelve-pound cobblestone.

CLOSE SHOT -- JOHN AND PEARL
He now conceals his new reaction.

RESUME GROUP SHOT
WILLA touches PREACHER's hand, warmly.

                    WILLA
          Thank you, Harry.

She looks all around her, glowing, and stands up, hands to hair.

                    PEARL
          John...

                    JOHN
          Sshhh...

                    WILLA
          I feel clean now!  My whole body's just
          a-quivering with cleanness!

She walks away towards ICEY and the WOMEN.

CLOSE SHOT -- PREACHER

                    PREACHER
          John: here.

CLOSE SHOT -- JOHN AND PEARL
JOHN moves to stand in front of him; PEARL to stand beside PREACHER, with the
DOLL.

CLOSE SHOT -- PREACHER AND CHILDREN
From JOHN's eye-level; as JOHN steps in front of him and PEARL beside him.

                    PREACHER
          Your tie's crooked.

HEAD CLOSE-UP -- JOHN
The hand named LOVE and the hand named HATE come in to straighten the
necktie. JOHN looks down.  He looks up and sees:

GROUP SHOT -- JOHN'S VIEWPOINT
PREACHER, in close-up, hands busy o.s.; PEARL with doll; and between them, in
BACKGROUND, WILLA.  She is now running fast towards ICEY, who walks towards
her with arms outstretched.  Behind them the group of WOMEN.  BIRDIE's guitar
music begins o.s.

                                        DISSOLVE TO

EXT. BIRDIE'S BOAT -- EVENING -- MEDIUM SHOT -- BIRDIE, JOHN AND SKIFF
BIRDIE sits beside his open door, strumming a guitar and singing.  The scene
is lamplighted from within.  BEN's skiff is inverted on trestles in
FOREGROUND.  At start of scene, we see only JOHN's feet; he's under the skiff
examining it.  After three lines of song, he comes out from under, and
lounges against the skiff, tracing a tarry seam with his forefinger.

                    BIRDIE
               (singing)
          'Twas down at Cresap's Landing, Along the River
            Shore, Birdie Steptoe was a Pilot in the good
          old days of yore.  Now he sets in his old
          wharf-boat...

                    JOHN
               (across him)
          When'll Dad's skiff be ready?

                    BIRDIE
          Can't hear ye, boy.
               (singing)
          So the big boats heave a sigh, They blow for
          Uncle Birdie...

                    JOHN
               (across him)
          When'll the skiff be ready?

                    BIRDIE
               (singing)
          And the times that are gone by.  I'll have her
          ready inside of a week; and then we'll go
          fishin'.  How's your Maw?

Through rest of scene BIRDIE picks lazily at his guitar.

                    JOHN
          O, she's all right.

                    BIRDIE
          How's your sister Pearl?