PROCESS) flow behind
him. He is dressed in dark clothes, a paper collar, a string tie. As he
drives, he talks to himself.
PREACHER
Whats it to be, Lord, another widow? Has it
been six? Twelve? ... I disremember.
He nods, smiles, and touches his hat. We see a farm couple in a poor wagon.
PREACHER
You say the word, and Im on my way.
LAP DISSOLVE TO
CLOSE SHOT -- PREACHER DRIVING
He brakes his ca
It is 7:14 P.M., Monday, September 22, 1975, and we are watching the network news programs on CBS, NBC, ABC and UBS-TV, the network of our story. The AUDIO is OFF; and head shots of WALTER CRONKITE, JOHN CHANCELLOR, HOWARD K. SMITH and HARRY REASONER, and of course, the anchorman of our network, HOWARD BEALE, silently flit and flicker across the four television screens, interspersed with the news
In black, we hear a chain-gang chant, many voices together, spaced around the unison strike of picks against rock. A title burns in:
O muse!
Sing in me, and through me tell the story
Of that man skilled in all the ways of contending...
A wanderer, harried for years on end...
On the sound of an impact we cut to:
A PICK
splitting a rock.
As the chant continues, wider angles show the chain-gang at w