Lone Star

Synopsis: John Sayles' murder-mystery explores interpersonal and interracial tensions in Rio County, Texas. Sam Deeds is the local sheriff who is called to investigate a 40-year-old skeleton found in the desert....As Sam delves deeper into the town's dark secrets, he begins to learn more about his father, the legendary former sheriff Buddy Deeds, who replaced the corrupt Charlie Wade. While Sam puzzles out the long-past events surrounding the mystery corpse, he also longs to rekindle a romance with his old high-school flame. Sayles' complex characters are brought together as the tightly woven plot finally draws to its dramatic close.
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Director(s): John Sayles
Production: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 15 wins & 17 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.5
Metacritic:
78
Rotten Tomatoes:
94%
R
Year:
1996
135 min
1,260 Views


EXT. TEXAS SCRUB -- DAY

Two men in shorts and Hawaiian shirts are poking around a

sandy section in the middle of scrub flats.

SERGEANT CLIFF POTTS is in the f.g., a plant-and-tree

guidebook in hand, as SERGEANT "MIKEY" HOGAN works a metal

detector over a large, sandy bank in the b.g. Both are Army

career men with a morning off to pursue their hobbies.

CLIFF:

We got ocotillo, devil's walking

stick--what's this stuff--it's

that whattayoucallit--horse-

crippler.

Mikey bends to scoop something out of the sand, putting it

in a canvas bag slung on his bip

MIKEY:

This place is a gold mine.

CLIFF:

Lead mine.

MIKEY sees that Cliff is talking, pulls his headset off.

MIKEY:

What?

CLIFF:

It's a lead mine.

MIKEY:

Right.

CLIFF:

I don't know why I'm talking to

you, you've got that thing on

your head.

MIKEY:

You finding lots of cactus and

sh*t?

CLIFF:

It's not just cactus. There's

the nopals, the yuccas--

MIKEY:

(Puts headset on)

Looks like a lot of cactus to me.

CLIFF:

(Grumbles)

Man knows a hundred-fifty varieties

of beer, he can't tell a poinsettia

from a prickly pear.

MIKEY:

(Troubled)

Cliff--

CLIFF:

You live in a place, you should

know something about it. Explore--

MIKEY:

Cliff--

CU MIKEY:

MIKEY in the f.g. now, looking down at something as he pulls

his headset off again --

MIKEY:

Cliff, you gotta look at this--

Cliff wearily turns and approaches from the b.g.

CLIFF:

Don't tell me--Spanish treasure,

right? Pieces of eight from the

Coronado expedition--

He stops by Mikey and looks down, his expression changing

CLIFF:

Jesus--

GROUND -- CU BONES

Sticking out from the sand bank are the SKELETAL BONES of a

MAN'S HAND. There is a ring on one finger.

MIKEY (O.S.)

Was Coronado in the Masons?

EXT. ROAD -- DAY

A distant cloud of DUST appears on the horizon MUSIC

underscores that we are in Texas, and we SUPERIMPOSE the

OPENING CREDITS as the dust takes form around an APPROACHING

CAR. The car comes close enough to see it has a County

Sheriff's insignia on the side.

INT. CAR

We see SAM DEEDS, the Sheriff, driving. Sam is 40, quietly

competent to the point of seeming a bit moody.

He sees something up ahead. MUSIC, CREDITS END as Sam pulls

off the road and we see the sergeants standing in the scrub

EXT. SCRUB -- DAY -- BONES

The hand and forearm down to the elbow of the skeleton are

visible now.

WIDER:

Cliff stands looking at the arm with Sam. MIKEY is a few

yards behind them, playing with his metal detector. Beyond

him we see the Sheriff's car parked.

SAM:

I was driving back from Apache

Wells when they got me on the

radio.

CLIFF:

This was a rifle range way back

when. But we figured it isn't

Army land anymore, it's your

jurisdiction.

SAM:

(Nods)

I've got the forensics fella coming

down from the Rangers. No way to

know how old the body is without

some lab work.

CLIFF:

That ring--

SAM:

Masons been around a long while.

Mikey has come up to them, still sweeping with the metal

detector.

SAM:

Treasure hunter?

CLIFF:

(Apologetic)

Old bullets. He uhm--makes art

with them.

Sam just nods. Mikey frowns, goes down on one knee and

scratches something out of the dirt at their feet--

CLIFF:

The Sheriff says we shouldn't

touch anything,

MIKEY:

(To Sam)

He can't hear with that rig on--

Mikey!

Mikey comes up with something, holds it before them. An

encrusted piece of metal--

MIKEY:

What've we got here?

Sam takes the thing, lays it back down where Mikey found it.

SAM:

S'posed to leave everything right

where we found it. They're real

particular about that.

MIKEY:

The scene of the crime.

SAM:

No telling yet if there's been a

crime.

Sam frowns down at the piece of metal as he rubs the face of

it.

CU METAL:

Sam's thumb wipes across the face of the encrusted metal.

It is roughly star-shaped.

SAM (O.S.)

But this country's seen a good

number of disagreements over the

years.

INT. HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM -- DAY -- TEXAS MAP

We look at a beautiful old pull-down map of Texas.

PILAR (O.S.)

We do the best we can here--

A teacher in her late 30s, PILAR CRUZ, steps in front of the

map and we FOLLOW her across the room, carrying a poster

PILAR:

--but hey, public education these

days is a bit of a battleground.

Posters bung on the walls beyond her show luminaries from

Texas history--Sam Houston, Stephen Austin, Juan Seguin. A

new parent, CELIE PAYNE, stands in the middle of the otherwise

empty classroom.

CELIE:

He went to school on base when we

were in Okinawa. it's all--you

know--kids in the same boat--Army

brats.

PILAR:

His record shows that he's a good

student.

CELIE:

I'm more worried about the social

thing. Are there like--gangs,

or...?

PILAR starts to put the poster up. CELIE moves to hold it

in place for her.

PILAR:

We haven't had any serious

violence, if that's what you mean.

We've got a pretty lively mix

though--you walk into the cafeteria

and the Anglo kids are in one

section, the Mexican kids in

another and the Black kids have a

table in the back--thanks--

CELIE:

So Blacks are--

PILAR:

They're the smallest group except

for a couple Kickapoo kids. Look,

you're obviously a concerned

parent. Chet has no history of

getting into trouble--I'm happy

to have him in my class.

She steps back to see if the poster, an old pboto of Geronimo,

looks straight. Another teacher, MOLLY sticks her head in

the door---

MOLLY:

(Uncomfortable)

Pilar, is uhm--is Amado okay?

PILAR:

Okay? He's not here?

MOLLY:

No. Is he sick?

Rate this script:3.5 / 2 votes

John Sayles

John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Passion Fish (1992) and Lone Star (1996). His film Men with Guns (1997) has been nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. His directorial debut, Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980), has been added to the National Film Registry. more…

All John Sayles scripts | John Sayles Scripts

0 fans

Submitted by aviv on January 30, 2017

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Lone Star" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/lone_star_899>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Lone Star

    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.