Raising Arizona

CHAIRMAN

Well B, you done served your twenty munce, and seeing as you never use live ammo, we got no choice but to return you to society.

SECOND MAN

These doors goan swing wide.

HI

I didn't want to hurt anyone, Sir.

SECOND MAN

Hi, we respect that.

CHAIRMAN

But you're just hurtin' yourself with this rambunctious behavior.

HI

I know that, sir.

CHAIRMAN

Okay then.

HIGH SHOT

Of a 7-Eleven parking lot, at night, deserted except for Hi's car which sits untended, its engine rumbling.

VOICE OVER

Now I don't know how you come down on the incarceration question...

Hi backpedals into frame with a shotgun and a bag of cash.

VOICE OVER

... whether it's for rehabilitation or revenge .

He spins and grabs his car-door handle. Locked. He tries the back door. Locked.

VOICE OVER

... But I was beginning to think...

As we hear the wail of an approaching siren, Hi takes it on the heel and toe.

VOICE OVER

... that revenge is the only argument makes any sense.

FLASH

On Hi against the mug-shot wall.

ED

Turn to the right!

SHERIFF (O.S.)

Don't forget his latents, Ed!

CLOSE ON Hi 'S HAND

We see his right hand being efficiently manipulated by Ed's two hands: She is rolling each of his inked fingers into the appropriate space on an exemplar sheet.

HI (O.S.)

Hear about the paddy-wagon collided with the segment mixer, Ed? Twelve hardened criminals escaped.

Ed’s hand lingers on top of his. Hi 's other hand enters to rest on top of hers.

HI (O.S.)

Got a new beau?

ED (O.S.)

No, Hi, I sure don't.

Hi slips a ring off his own finger and slides it onto Ed's.

HI (O.S.)

Don't worry, I paid for it.

LOW ANGLE CELL BLOCK CORRIDOR

The surly Mopping Con has now worked his way up to the foreground.

Hi is being escorted past him to his cell.

VOICE OVER
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and for once they may be right.

Halfway up the corridor Hi points casually at the floor.

HI

You missed a spot.

The Mopping Con turns to watch him recede.

CON
Grrrr...

HIGH ANGLE CELL

Same high shot with Moses on the top bunk, Hi on the lower.

VOICE OVER

More and more my thoughts turned to Ed, and I finally felt the pain of imprisonment.

MOSES
An' momma would frow the live crawdad in a pot of boihn' water. Well one day I decided to make my own crawdad...

We begin to crane down to tighten on the absently staring Hi .

VOICE OVER

... an' I frew it in a pot, forgettin' to put in the water, ya see...

Moses' voice is mixing down as we lose him from frame.

VOICE OVER
... and it was like I was makin' popcorn, ya see... The joint is a lonely place after lock-up and fights out...

We are now very close on Hi, staring.

VOICE OVER

... when the last of the cons has been swept away by the sandman.

HI'S POV

The underside of the top bunk.

A sudden flash whitens and fades to leave the image of Ed, smiling behind her camera, softly supered on the underside of the bunk.

BACK TO HI

He wearily turns his head to profile on the pillow and shuts his eyes.

VOICE OVER

But I couldn't help thinking that a brighter future lay ahead – a future that was only eight to fourteen months away.

Eyes closed, he is illuminated by a flash.

PAROLE BOARD ROOM

Hi and the same three officers.

CHAIRMAN

Got a name for people like you, Hi. That name is called recidivism.

SECOND MAN
Ree-peat O-fender.

CHAIRMAN

Not a pretty name, is it, Hi?

HI

No Sir, it sure ain't. That's one bonehead name. But that ain't me anymore.

CHAIRMAN

You're not just tellin' us what we wanna hear?

HI

No Sir, no way.

SECOND MAN

'Cause we just wanna hear the truth.

HI

Well then I guess I am tellin' you what you wanna hear.

CHAIRMAN

Boy, didn't we just tell you not to do that?

HI

Yessir.

CHAIRMAN

Okay then.

TRACKING

Over Hi's shoulder as he strides toward a door marked "Processing" and flings it open.

It is the familiar booking room. Ed looks up from her camera, having just snapped a picture of another suspect against the hatched wall.

HI
I'm walkin' in here on my knees, Ed – a free man proposin'.

Hi cocks a finger at the suspect.

HI

Howdy Kurt.

ED'S ROOM

As she nervously frets at her white bridal gown in front of a mirror.

VOICE OVER

And so it was.

SHERIFF (O.S.)

Don't forget the boo-kay, Ed!

CLOSE SHOT ED

Gazing earnestly into the camera. A congregation is seated behind her – the bride's side wearing police blues; the groom's side, Hawaiian shirts.

ED

I do.

CLOSE SHOT HI

Also staring into the camera.

HI

You bet I do.

REVERSE

Over their shoulders, the minister.

MINISTER

Okay then.

FLASH

On the newlyweds smiling at the camera.

FLASH

On the newlyweds smiling at each other, profile to the camera.

HIGH WIDE SHOT TRAILER PARK

In the middle of a vast expanse of desert.

VOICE OVER

Ed's pa staked us to a starter home in suburban Tempe...

INT. MACHINE SHOP

Hi is working the drill press, wearing goggles and sweat-stained overalls.

VOICE OVER

... and I got a job drilling holes in sheet metal.

Next to him idly stands Bud, a veteran of the shop, with a grimy face and a pair of goggles pushed up on his forehead.

BUD
So we was doin' paramedical work in affiliation with the state highway system-not actually practicin', y'understand – and me and Bill's patrollin' down Nine Mile –

HI

Bill Roberts?

BUD

(barking)

No, not that motherscratcher! Bill Parker! Anyway, we're approachin' the wreck, and there's a spherical object arestin' on the highway...

He pauses to blow and pop a bubble with his chewing gum.

BUD

... And it don't look like a piece a the car.

VOICE OVER

Mostways the job was a lot like prison, except Ed was waifin' at the end of every day...

CASNIER'S WINDOW

Hi is scowling at his paycheck. Behind the barred window a fat cashier grins.

VOICE OVER

... and a paycheck at the end of every week.

CASHIER
Gummint do take a bite, don't she?

EXT. TRAILER

Hi sits in a lawn chair in front of the trailer. Ed sits on his lap, his arms around her. Both are wearing sunglasses, looking at the setting sun. The scene is suff-used with a warm yellow light.

VOICE OVER

These were the happy days, the salad days as they say...

As the sun sets, the light is turning from yellow to amber. Hi and Ed watch, their heads following its slow downward arc.

VOICE OVER
... and Ed felt that having a critter was the next logical step. It was all she thought about.

The amber is turning to a more neutral dusky light as the sun has set. Hi and Ed continue to stare at the point where it disappeared.

VOICE OVER
... Her point was that there was too much love and beauty for just the two of us...

The dusk is slipping away into darkness.

VOICE OVER

... and every day we kept a child out of the world was a day he might later regret having missed.

We are by now holding on pitch black. Crickets chirp. From the darkness:

ED

That was beautiful.

A CALENDAR

Ed is crossing off the last day on the calendar before a day circled in red.

VOICE OVER
So we worked at it on the days we calculated most likely to be fruitful...

INT. TRAILER

Hi is wearily entering after a long day at work, clutching his lunchpail.

VOICE OVER

... and we worked at it most other days just to be sure.

Ed flies into frame and leaps into his arms, covering him with kisses.

TRAILER BEDROOM

In each other's arms, Hi and Ed roll over on the bed.

VOICE OVER

Seemed like nothing could stand in our way now...

We pan with them rolling and continue off them to the night table, on which sits a framed pair of photographs of Hi, probably taken by Ed: One shows him full face, the other in profile.

EXT. TRAILER TWILIGHT

Ed sits in a lawn chair knitting a booty. Hi stands in Bermuda shorts and an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, hosing down the minuscule patch of front lawn.

VOICE OVER

... My lawless years were behind me; our child rearin' years lay ahead.

DUSTY ROAD LEADING UP TO TRAILER DAY

A squad car, its siren wailing, kicks up dust as it roars into the foreground.

ADOPTION OFFICE

Hi and Ed are seated on folding chairs facing an agent's desk. Hi wears a sport coat over his Hawaiian shirt. Ed is in her dress blues.