The Reward (20th Century Fox) (1965)

STARRING QO CENTURY-FOX PRESENTS ig oes MAK vonSYDOW: YEN MINICUX: rnc /INGALIS]JR-GILGEs! ROLAND REACHING. GRASPING. B CLAWING. : P LUSTING. Rg KILLING. AILLING. <|LLING FOR WHE ? | __ Co-stamng EMILIO FERNANDEZ: NINO CEN Screenplay SS HENRI Po WA y SERGE BOURGUIGNON anc 130 lines x 4 columns (520 lines) 4 columns x 914 inches MAT—401 Synopsis (Not For Publication) Scott Swenson (MAX VON SYDOW), an American adventurer, has reached a critical point in his life. He has flown his plane to the northern Mexican village of Itipango for a crop-dusting job, but was drawn into a poker game and lost the plane. Borrowing it for the job, he miscalculated on landing and crashed it into a water tower. His right arm mangled and bleeding, he is making his way to the village plaza. He is heartsick and disgusted and wishes he had a small sailboat so that he could disappear into the ocean and perhaps find some peace of mind. On the road to town, he is surprised to see an American acquaintance, Frank Bryant (EFREM ZIMBALIST, JR.) in a sports car with an attractive blonde. At the sight of Scott, Frank guns his car off the main highway and onto a dirt road pointing to the desert. Scott is taken to the office of the courteous and aristocratic Federal Police Captain Carbajal (GILBERT ROLAND), who informs Scott that he must pay 30,000 pesos for the water tower. From the newspapers on a table Scott shows Carbajal a front page picture of Frank Bryant. There is also a story that mentions a $50,000 reward for Bryant, dead or alive, for kidnapping and murder. Scott offers to lead Carbajal to Bryant providing they split the reward. Carbajal, suffering from malaria and hating his miserable desert existence, sees a way of escaping to the better way of life he once knew. With Sargento Lopez (EMILIO FERNANDEZ), Joaquin (HENRY SILVA), and Luis (NINO CASTELNUOVO), they set off in* pursuit of Bryant. Since the latter three do not speak much English, Scott and Carbajal do not see the necessity of informing them of the reward. Two days or riding in the broiling desert heat bring them to Frank and the girl, who are sitting exhausted beside their horses and make no effort to resist arrest. The girl is Sylvia (YWETTE MIMIEUX), who be lieves in Bryant's innocence and has tried to help him. She now realizes she has made a tragic mistake. That evening Lopez learns of the reward and triumphantly announces that it will be split three ways. Now everything begins to change. Lopez, brutal and cunning, becomes increasingly insolent and makes little effort to hide his desire for Sylvia. Weakened by malaria, Carbajal sees that he is losing control over Lopez. In the hours that follow, Bryant admits the kidnapping but insists that the boy’s death was an accident. He says he wanted money to impress Sylvia. Carbajal says that he has been exiled to the desert after killing a man who had stolen his wife's affections. Scott and Sylvia appear to be interested in each other. In the days that follow, tension mounts as the group wanders across the burning desert. One evening, Scott does not try to prevent Joaquin from helping Frank and Syvia escape. Lopez follows the three and kills Joaquin and Frank. He then deserts the others and takes Frank’s body, so that he can claim the reward for himself. Then Luis dies, and Carbajal asks Scott and Sylvia to leave him in the desert. He no longer has the strength or will to go on. Scott and Sylvia now resolve to head for the coast and try to build a new life for themselves. Suddenly a shot rings out and Scott slumps to the ground. Sylvia leans over his dead body and kisses him tenderly. Lopez rides out from behind a rock, and leading another horse carrying Frank’s body, rides away. There are vultures in the sky; and from up there we see in the distance, toward where Scott and Sylvia were headed, a small fishing village—and a sailboat offshore. In the opposite direction, straight into the empty desert, rides Lopez and his precious cargo. The vultures fly with him. Page 3