Hambone 1963
By
R. Earle Harris All rights reserved (c) 2015 (r dot earle dot harris at gmx dot com)
FADE IN:
EXT. HUNTSVILLE STATE PRISON - DAY
Establishing shot of Texas prison.
EXT. HAMBONE - DAY
In a wooden office chair sits HAMBONE, a heavy-set black man, thirty years old,
his plain-looking face is almost sympathetic, almost brutal. His primary quality
is an inability to censor what is inside him -- if he chooses to speak or act, it
just comes out. PRESIDING OFFICER of his parole board speaks.
PRESIDING OFFICER (O.S.)
For the record. Your name, sir.
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HAMBONE
INT. HEARING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Parole hearing. The parole board sits in judgment. On a chalkboard is, among other
things, the number 86.
PRESIDING OFFICER
EXT. HAMBONE - CONTINUOUS
Concentrates.
HAMBONE
INT. HEARING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
The board is less than sympathetic.
MAN
HAMBONE
PRESIDING OFFICER
Mr. Johnson, we are here to decide
upon your probation. For the record:
the year of your birth.
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HAMBONE
Presiding Officer looks at Hambone's file.
PRESIDING OFFICER
Here it says nineteen-seventy-three.
You're thirty years old.
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HAMBONE
Yeah. I mean. I wish I was born in
1963.
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The board watches him, looking down on him.
HAMBONE (CONT'D)
It's the music. That was the first
year we could be proud of ourselves.
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WOMAN
HAMBONE
My momma said that. She had the top
100 hits on the wall. So I learned
the whole thing.
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PRESIDING OFFICER
HAMBONE
PRESIDING OFFICER
I suppose you could tell us what number
one was, then. As if that mattered.
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Hambone points to the number 86 on the chalkboard.
HAMBONE
I can even tell you what song was
number that. Number 86. Walking the
Dog. Rufus Thomas.
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Audio up with Walking the Dog by Rufus Thomas --
MONTAGE
-- and cut to montage of black and white still photos of Hambone, his good-for-nothing
father, his sad mother, his cousins, his uncles, his aunts, that forms the background
of the opening credits until the song is over.
INT. HEARING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Right where we left off. Hambone still pointing at number 86.
PRESIDING OFFICER
Put your hand down, Mr. Johnson. Your
record tells us you have spent most
of your time here on good behavior.
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Hambone nods. Presiding Officer waits him out.
HAMBONE
PRESIDING OFFICER
And you have been working in the prison
library for the last five years--
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HAMBONE
PRESIDING OFFICER
SECOND WOMAN
You've been reading there? To further
your education?
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HAMBONE
No, ma'am. I don't really read.
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MAN
You have a high-school education.
Low grades. You don't read.
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HAMBONE
MAN
HAMBONE
SECOND WOMAN
PRESIDING OFFICER
You were convicted of. Let's see.
Aggravated assault. Armed robbery.
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WOMAN
EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT
Black and white, like a home movie. Letter-boxed on screen. Hambone and cousin CHRIS
are robbing a black someone who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. The someone
puts up a little struggle. Hambone reacts strongly, violently overwhelming the victim,
while Chris watches.
EXT. HAMBONE - CONTINUOUS
Right where we left off.
HAMBONE
I hurt somebody. Real bad. I took
his money.
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INT. HEARING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Same.
PRESIDING OFFICER
The police report states that you
had an accomplice.
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HAMBONE
PRESIDING OFFICER
Yes. Your cousin. And the two of you
robbed your uncle.
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HAMBONE
PRESIDING OFFICER
Can you tell us why you were so violent
towards a member of your own family?
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HAMBONE
The day before that. He took all of
Chris's money.
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MAN
So you went to get it back.
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HAMBONE
Chris asked me to help. It was a family
thing.
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PRESIDING OFFICER
Can you tell us why you were so unrestrained
in your violence? Towards your own
uncle?
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EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT
Home movie. The violent part again.
INT. HEARING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Same.
HAMBONE
WOMAN
HAMBONE
Fault. My Uncle's fault. I told him
to give the money back.
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PRESIDING OFFICER
Mr. Johnson. If you were to be released,
with whom would you live?
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HAMBONE
With my momma. In San Antonio.
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WOMAN
But according to this, your mother
is no longer there. Our efforts to
contact her met with no response.
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HAMBONE
She's still there. All our family's
there. I'll live with her.
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OTHER MAN
Your father is still in San Antonio.
What does he do?
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INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Black and white, like a home movie. Letter-boxed on screen. Hambone's father is
beating up his wife in front of his son.
EXT. HAMBONE - CONTINUOUS
Same.
HAMBONE
He beats my mother. That's why he
don't live with us anymore.
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INT. HEARING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Same.
PRESIDING OFFICER
Your mother. Assuming she is still
there. What does she do?
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HAMBONE
She cleans white people's houses.
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PRESIDING OFFICER
And she can afford to support you?
Until you have legitimate employment
in accordance with the guidelines
of your parole?
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HAMBONE
INT. OUT-PROCESSING - DAY
Hambone and two officers are processing him out of Huntsville. Hambone is dressed
in street clothes now too small for him. FIRST OFFICER is behind cage. SECOND OFFICER
is handing Hambone his effects.
FIRST OFFICER
You look like ten pounds of shit in
a five-pound bag, son.
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Hambone puts his silver bracelet on, his wallet in his pocket.
SECOND OFFICER
He'll be back. All the stupid ones
come back.
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HAMBONE
FIRST OFFICER
First Officer points to a simple sign on the wall.
FIRST OFFICER (CONT'D)
HAMBONE
SECOND OFFICER
You can't read. Here. Sign for this.
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Hands him the tiny amount of money prisoners are given on discharge and a bus ticket.
HAMBONE
FIRST OFFICER
You can't read. You know what kind
of work you can get with a skill like
that?
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SECOND OFFICER
HAMBONE
I have a high-school degree. And I
don't need a ticket. I've got family
picking me up. They know I'm getting
out.
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FIRST OFFICER
A high-school degree ? Ooh.
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SECOND OFFICER
You'll be back. C'mon, boy.
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Second Officer leads Hambone to a gate.
EXT. EXIT AREA - DAY
Second Officer is escorting Hambone out of the prison.
SECOND OFFICER
Don't look like nobody's comin' for
you, boy.
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HAMBONE
They coming. They be here at ten.
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SECOND OFFICER
You best hang on to your bus ticket,
boy. It's too damn hot to walk to
San Antone.
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HAMBONE
SECOND OFFICER
He releases Hambone into the world.
HAMBONE
SECOND OFFICER
They ain't coming. It's ten-thirty-eight.
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HAMBONE
Audio up and over with Heat Wave by Martha and the Vandellas --
EXT. HUNTSVILLE - DAY
-- as Hambone waits for family to pick him up. (Song continues until he boards bus
below.)
EXT. HUNTSVILLE - DAY
Early afternoon. Hambone still waiting. Bus comes and goes.
EXT. HUNTSVILLE - DAY
Late afternoon. Hambone still waiting. He goes over and checks the bus stop's schedule.
EXT. BUS - EVENING
Hambone uses his ticket to board the bus. Song ends.
INT. BUS - CONTINUOUS
Hambone takes a window seat next to an empty aisle seat. Plain, young WHITE GIRL
watches him sit down. Bus rolls on. White Girl gets up and sits down next to Hambone.
He looks away as if she's trouble.
WHITE GIRL
Hambone ignores her. She pokes him
Screenplay truncated at 500 lines.
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