Nokosee Movie: A Native American Screenplay

2008-08-10T13:17:00.001-07:00

If you got to this page you either were lucky, have been sent here by the author through a personal email, or stumbled upon Stormy Jones's blog or the original blog which link to this one. Some of you may have even read the novel which brought you here. In any event, the Nokosee saga began as a screenplay. Below are the last 5 pages. The opening pages of the screenplay can be found here. The opening pages of the sequel Nokosee & Stormy can be found here and the scene depicting the shooting down of a Predator drone over the Everglades here.

Nokosee catches Rader at the side of his knee. Rader crumples into the water. He turns the gun on Nokosee as he tries to get up.

Stormy, on her side in the water, fires the shotgun.

Rader’s hand is blown off.

Rader stares at it in horror as blood squirts out to the rhythm of his pumping heart. He grabs his wrist, points the bloody stump at Stormy and starts to crawl toward her.

Stormy tries to back up but can’t. She pulls the second trigger. Nothing.

Rader keeps moving toward her, his eyes wide, maniacal.

The airboat explodes behind Rader.

A hand grabs the knife out of the cypress tree.

The knife pops through Rader’s stomach and out his t-shirt. Rader stops short as the camera rises to his face. Blood is trickling out of his mouth. He turns to look at the face of death. It isn’t Nokosee. It’s his father, BU-SIM-MANO-LO-TO-ME. Death drives the knife deeper.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
This is for my son.

Rader’s eye’s close and he falls away.

Rader rolls and falls backward into the water.

Rader’s POV: Looking up through the water, he see’s his killer reaching down, out of the past, to pull him back up just before his eyelids close forever.

Nokosee’s father is wearing the VC ear necklace. He is also using Nokosee’s knife to scalp Rader.

Nokosee looks up.

NOKOSEE
Father!

Busimmanolotome continues to cut away the scalp.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
This is the first one. There will be more to come.

Stormy is trying to pull herself out from under the body.

STORMY
Oh, God, Nokosee, make him stop!

Busimanolotome mimics her in a high-pitched voice.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
“Oh, God, Nokosee, make him stop!” My son, is this the best you could do?

Nokosee is trying to sit up.

NOKOSEE
Father, she saved my life.

Busimanolotome stops and looks at her. He isn’t impressed. Without turning away, he slices and rips away the last remaining flesh holding Rader’s scalp to his skull.

Stormy is horrified.

STORMY
Nokosee, what’s wrong with him?

Busimanolotome mocks her in the same high-pitched voice.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
“Nokosee, what’s wrong with him?”

He gets up and, with the scalp in one hand and the knife in the other, walks low in the water like a samauri toward Stormy while whistling a happy tune. Being a child of the sixties, it’s from “Hair”: “Good Morning Starshine.”

As we move in on Stormy, she raises the shotgun.

Busimanolotome stops and laughs while throwing Rader’s scalp onto a nearby cypress knee.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
Put it away little girl. There isn’t a bullet made with my name on it. Besides, it’s empty.

He bends over and pulls Kyle’s body off of Stormy.

Stormy drops the gun, gets up and starts to stumble away when Busimanolotome reaches out and grabs her wrist.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
Thanks anyway for not shooting me. You never know, it’s not like I’m infallible or something.

Stormy, recoling, yanks her hand away and scrambles on.

Busimmanolotome laughs and begins scalping Kyle.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
Nokosee, see if you can find that guy’s head. It’ll look good on a pole outside our chickee. Maybe we could shrink it.
( starts singing)
Gliddy glup gloopy, Nibby nabby noopy, Lala-Lolo, Sabba sibby sabba, Nooby aba naba, Lele-Lolo, Tooby ooby wala, Nooby aba naba, Early Morning Singing Song.

Stormy stumbles up to Nokosee and helps him to his feet.

STORMY
Tell me he’s kidding, right?

NOKOSEE
Does it look like he’s kidding?
( to his dad)
You’ve been trailing me, haven’t you?

Busimanolotome continues to scalp when he says

BUSIMANOLOTOME
Pretty much. Can’t let anything happen to my only son.

Singing, he rips through the last piece of flesh and rises with the scalp. He turns and points out the parts in the lyrics, except for the first one which he holds high over his head and the last one, especially the last:

BUSIMANOLOTOME
I got my hair, I got my head, I got my brains, I got my ears...

Laughing, he shakes the VC ear necklace.

Nokosee, stumbling through the water with Stormy, says

NOKOSEE
I could have used your help a little earlier, dad.

Busimanolotome stops short.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
Ditch the attitude, boy. Sounds like you’ve been hanging around that Outsider too long. Those airboats were a little too fast for my bithlo.

He shows Nokosee the scalp.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
How’s this for a souvenir? Not bad, eh? Sure beats a wussy merit badge.

Nokosee and Stormy stop short and turn away. Stormy moans.

Busimanolotome walks up to them and speaks to his son.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
Now don’t get weak on me, son. This is what we do. And remember, we take no prisoners.

He forces the bloody scalp into Nokosee’s hand.

Nokosee, repulsed, turns from the scalp to his father.

Busimanolotome searches his son’s face for his resolve.

Nokosee tells him firmly in Seminole

NOKOSEE
Don’t touch her.

Busimanolotome shakes his head disappointingly.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
I blew up the airboat so they could find her. Make it a quick goodbye. I can see the choppers coming now.

Busimanolotome turns and, whistling from “Hair” again, gathers up Haalpatee’s hide and the floating head.

Two searchlights hovering in the sky are moving toward us.

Stormy and Nokosee turn from the copters to each other.

Busimanolotome grabs Rader’s scalp and stops to look back.

BUSIMANOLOTOME
Let’s go! She’s not one of us!

He turns and disappears into the burning cypress stand.

Nokosee is looking at Stormy.

NOKOSEE
She is one of us. If she wants to be.

Before Stormy can get a chance to respond, we HEAR a distant mechanical roar. Stormy turns to the sound.

An airboat’s searchlight criss-crosses the burning cypress.

Stormy looks back at Nokosee and with a shake of her head, turns away and runs into the clearing.

STORMY
I’m over here!

She stops and looks back at Nokosee.

He’s standing against the firelight, tears pouring from his eyes. He lifts the scalp over his head and lets loose a long, broken war cry.

Tears are rolling out of Stormy’s eyes too when the chopper searchlight finds her. She turns, runs to the light.

Nokosee is still standing with the scalp above his head.

BUSIMANOLOTOME (O.S.)
C’mon! What are you, the fucking Statue of Liberty? Let’s go!

Nokosee, crumbling slowly, turns to his father’s voice.

Busimanolotome, in his bithlo, is holding the tiller of a small electric boat motor. A .50 caliber machinegun is on a tripod in the bow, the decapitated head jammed on the stake through the tripod.

Nokosee, stumbling through the water, falls into the hull.

Stormy hears her father’s voice.

SAM (O.S.)
( through a megaphone)
Stormy!

She hesitates for a moment, stops short, looks back.

Nokosee, slumping in the bithlo, turns and sees her.

She hears her father’s VOICE again, looks back and then quickly turns away, running toward Nokosee.

Nokosee slumps into the bithlo as it turns. This image SLOWS DOWN as Busimanolotome enters, pushing a button on a boom box. He turns to us with an evil smile before slipping into the night. The MUSIC: Track 32 from “Hair;” the moving finale “The Flesh Failures” carries across credits.

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Stormy is running at us, reaching out, pleading. We pull away from her and she finally stops running.

STORMY
Stop! Don’t leave me! Nokosee! Nokosee!

Stormy is standing at the edge of the clearing. Sam arrives, jumps out, runs across the water and embraces his daughter. A helicopter circles, shining its light on the carnage. An explosion from the wrecked airboat lets loose a ball of fire and we RISE with it past the smoke and clouds into a black sky.

FADE OUT.
FADE IN ON:

EXT. CYPRESS STAND— DAY
As CREDITS RISE, Nokosee, wearing warpaint and a loincloth, is walking toward us in a cypress swamp singing the song. After the first chorus Stormy appears singing and wearing warpaint. She's wearing a loincloth and cropped Seminole jacket and leading a young band of Busimanolotome followers through calf deep water. They too are singing. They all look very much like members of the “tribal love rock musical” with a mixture of “Indian” and contemporary styles. The only difference: they’re carrying weapons.

CREDITS END.
FADE OUT.

END

Other screenplays by D.C. Copeland: 5th Street, Bad Presents, Crown Jewels, High School Reunion Massacre, Lucky Bastard! A Family Film, Nokosee & Stormy, Monster Mountain, Once Upon A Time In Harlem, Save the Children, Tree!, Victoria Parke,Yahoo!.