They dance in the headlights to the tune of "A Blossom Fell" coming over the car radio. She is wearing the rich man's jacket. After a moment Kit whispers in her ear.
KIT: Boy, if I could sing a song like that... I mean, if I could sing a song about the way I feel right now, it'd be a hit.
They continue dancing.
Two shots of the Cadillac heading across the Badlands at dawn.
HOLLY (v.o.): Kit knew the end was coming. He wondered if he'd hear the doctor pronounce him dead, or if he'd be able to read what the papers would say about him,the next day, from the other side. He dreaded the iea of being shot down alone, he said, without a girl to scream out his name.
Holly yawns with fatigue.
HOLLY (v.o.): Then, for an instant, the sight of the mountains in the dawn light got his hopes back up.
Kit shakes his head with admiration and wonder.
KIT: God, what a sight... Tell me this, honey. What does a little Texas girl like yourself think of a sight like that?
She turns to look at the mountains.
Mountains in the distance closer now than ever before.
DISSOLVE TO:
The Cadillac drives up to an oil rig. Kit gets out of the car.
KIT: Love this air.
The ROUGHNECK in charge of the rig steps out of his trailer. It seems there is nobody else around.
KIT: Morning... Say, you got any gas?
ROUGHNECK: Maybe.
KIT: Well. I'm sorry. sir. but we've got to ask you for it.
Holly walks over to inspect the rig.
KIT (o.c.): See, we're about out... been driving all night. Actually, I don't even have time to explain it to you.
ROUGHNECK (o.c.): Well, matter of fact, I don't have any.
KIT: Just a second now. That's your truck. isn't it?
He points to a truck linked to the front of the trailer. Holly looks idly around. Suddenly her expression changes, for what reason it is not clear.
KIT (o.c.): You didn't walk out here.
ROUGHNECK (o.c.): It's mine all right.
KIT: Well, listen. I'm going to swap you my Cadillac.
The Roughneck does not understand what Kit is up to.
KIT: Now don't worry. You're getting a fair deal. Hell. what's the blue book value on this thing, Mildred?
He slaps the hood of the Cadillac and looks to Holly. She is still preoccupied with whatever it is she has seen, though.
ROUGHNECK (o.c.): Who are you?
KIT: Name is Carruthers. Believe I shoot people every now and then. Not that I deserve a medal.
Holly signals Kit with a nod at the horizon.
HOLLY: Kit!
Kit looks up and sees a helicopter in the distance. He hesitates a moment, then draws his gun.
KIT: Okay, friend. start running.
ROUGHNECK (o.c.): Just gimme a chance.
KIT: Git.
Holly moves around the side of the rig and sits against a tire. Kit joins her.
KIT: Boy. I had a feeling today was going to be the day... Helicopter.
HOLLY: Yeah.
KIT: He's not coming to take us for a ride. either. Come on, let's make a run for the car.
He starts off in the direction of the car, but Holly calls him back.
HOLLY: I don't want to.
Kit looks at her. surprised.
KIT: Have you got a better idea?
HOLLY: I just don't want to go.
KIT: What?
She shrugs. He stares at her for a moment, then bows his head and walks off a distance.
KIT: What is wrong with you, huh?
He kicks wildly at dust.
KIT: What is the matter with you, huh!?
Meanwhile, the helicopter continues its approach. Kit walks in closer to Holly.
KIT: Boy, I don't know what to make of you. People like you.
He kicks at the rigs then turns back to face her.
KIT: You want a second chance, then listen. Twelve noon the Grand Coulee Dam, New Year'ss Day. 1964. You meet me there... Now you got that?
She nods, bewildered. The helicopter is landing. He grabs a discarded fender off the truck, hangs it over his arm like a shield and runs to the Cadillac, exchanging shots with a State Trooper who has arrived in the helicopter. The Trooper is hit and falls. Kit jumps in the car and roars off. Holly surrenders herself to the pilot of the helicopter and is taken off.
Kit pulls into a gas station. He gets out of his car and drums on the roof.
KIT: Hey, anybody here?
An ATTENDANT walks out the door.
KIT: Hi... Say,, you got any shells for a Savage, a .300 Savage?
ATTENDANT: Nope.
KIT: Damn. I pissed all mine away shooting up bottles... You want to fill her up for me? Please?
The Attendant nods. Kit pulls Holly's suitcase out of the back seat and walks over to a trash can at the edge of the apron. Kit throws Holly's things methodically into the trash can. After a while he comes upon a book. He opens the book and looks through it, then turns to find the Attendant staring at him. As he gets to his feet. he nods at the trash can.
KIT: If you want any of that junk, it's yours.
Meanwhile, a police car approaches the station. Kit sees it at about the same time the police see him. He throws his book in the car and roars out of the station. The police car goes into a bootlegger's turn and takes off after him.
Kit heads down the highway. After a while he turns off onto a dirt road. The police keep up with him.. He flips on the radio and fires back at them. The dust is so heavy that they have a hard time just keeping track of him. He checks his own appearance and general demeanor in the rear view mirror, then swerves off the road onto the prairie. The police manage to keep up. Together they roar through a herd of cows and barb wire fence. The police car slams into Kit, trying to slow him down. Kit slams back into the police car. They return to the road. Kit makes a ninety-degree turn but the police car loses traction and rolls onto its side, then back onto four wheels again, stalled. Kit sees that he has lost them. He checks himself out in the mirror again, puts on the rich man's hat and skids to a stop. The police car gets back underway. During these last few moments Holly is heard on VOICE OVER.
HOLLY (v.o.): Often I've wondered what was going through Kit's head before they got him and why he didn't make a run for it while he still had the chance. Did he figure theyld just catch up with him the next day? Was it despair? He claimed to having a flat tire, but the way he carried on about it, I suspect this is false.
Kit shoots a hole in the tire of the Cadillac, then climbs up on the hood. We see how far behind the police are. He checks his pulse and jumps back down. He scurries around collecting rocks from the shoulder as the police approach from the distance. He makes a stack of the rocks to mark the site of his capture for posterity, finishing just as the police car skids to a stop. Kit throws up his hands and walks forward to meet them. Their guns are drawn.
KIT: Hi.
SHERIFF: Hold it right there.
KIT: I could've held off an army if I could've gotten behind a rock in the mountains.
DEPUTY (o.c.): Oh yeah?
KIT (nodding): Long as my ammo held out... Right there's where you caught me.
He nods at the stack of rocks. The Sheriff frisks him as the Deputy covers.
DEPUTY: We did it, Ray.
KIT: You better not leave that Cadillac sitting out here.
The Sheriff takes out a pair of handcuffs.
SHERIFF: Put your hands in back of your head.
The Sheriff claps the handcuffs on one of Kit's wrists.
SHERIFF: Now put the other one on yourself.
Kit does as the Sheriff asks. The Deputy holsters his pistol and walks forward to inspect their prize. He and KIT exchange glances.
DEPUTY (to Sheriff): Hell, he ain't no bigger than I am.
The Sheriff sticks his pistol in Kit's ear and leads him off toward the police car.
KIT: You're going to give me a cauliflower ear, Sheriff.
The Sheriff gives Kit a shove.
DEPUTY: He should've thought about that before he got caught... Shouldn't he?
The Deputy draws his pistol and fires a shot into the neighboring field. Kit is startled. The Deputy makes the same motion, this time without firing.
DEPUTY: Hup!
The police car sails down an open stretch of highway.
Kit thinks for a while, then turns to the Sheriff, who is driving.
KIT: Think I'll take the juice?
SHERIFF: Beats me.
The Deputy, fascinated, watches all this from the back seat. Kit turns to him.
KIT: Say, what kind of rifle was that you were shooting at me?
DEPUTY: Thirty aught six.
KIT (o.c.): You ever had to open it up like that before?
DEPUTY: Nope.
Kit turns back around.
KIT (reassuringly): Well, you boys have performed like a couple of heroes... And don't think I'm not going to pass it around when we get to town.
The Sheriff lifts the hat off Kit's head and tosses it out the window. It rolls to a stop on the highway behind them.
KIT: You tossed my hat out the window.
SHERIFF (o.c.): Wanta sue me?
KIT: No.
DEPUTY: Kit... Kit, I've got a question for you.
KIT: Mmmmm.
DEPUTY: You like people?
KIT: They're okay.
DEPUTY: Then why'd you do it?
KIT: I don't know. Always wanted to be a criminal, I guess. Just not this big a one... Takes all kinds though.
Kit gets a smile from the Deputy. The Deputy turns to the Sheriff.
DEPUTY: You know who that sombitch looks like? (no reply) You know, don't you?
Kit is anxious to hear the answer.
SHERIFF (o.c.): No.
DEPUTY: I'll kiss your ass if he don't look like James Dean.
Kit drops his eyes and turns away, deeply gratified by this remark. The Sheriff smiles at the Deputy in the rear mirror. The car roars past a freight train.
Kit stands on the wing of a light plane, inside a large hangar at the local airport. He is shackled in a leather transfer vest. He takes souvenirs out of his pockets and tosses them out to a crowd of Montana State Troopers and National Guardsmen milling around on the tarmac ground below him.
MECHANIC: How you doing there, Kit?
KIT (o.c.): Fine as can be expected. Just locked up, can't move.
MECHANIC (o.c.): That's a nice little coat you got on there.
KIT: You think?... it's leather.
He takes out his cigarette lighter.
KIT: Hey, now here's a real prize. I must've had this about ten years. Who's going to get it?
VOICE (o.c.): Gimme that sombitch.
KIT: There you go.
SECOND VOICE (o.c.): Where you from?
KIT: South Dakota. Where you from?
SECOND VOICE (o.c.): Here.
KIT: Want a comb?
He takes a comb out of his pocket and pitches it down to somebody. He ignores most of the questions coming at him.
THIRD VOICE (o.c.): Joni James is from South Dakota.
KIT: Yeah, she got out of there, too.
FOURTH VOICE (o.c.): You ever been to Kansas?
FIFTH VOICE (o.c.): Hey, Kit. whot's your favorite singer?
KIT: Eddie Fisher. Who's yours?
FIFTH VOICE (o.c.): Eddie Fisher.
KIT: Damn! Want a pen?
He pitches the man a ballpoint. The CAMERA MOVES BACK to a WIDE SHOT of the whole scene.
SIXTH VOICE (o.c.): How old are you?
KIT: Don't you read the papers?
SIXTH VOICE (.o.c.): You ever been married?
KIT: No sir, I hadn't.
Various SHOTS of the National Guardsmen dozing on the pavement. playing cards beside the hangar, a little bored. Also a shot of Holly with the Sheriff and Deputy.
SEVENTH VOICE (o.c.): Hey, Kit, you afraid of death?
KIT (o.c.): I hadn't thought about it much.
The Deputy walks up to Kit with some legal papers.
KIT: Hey, listen, Tom, I don't mean to tell you how to run your show here but these cuffs are pinching. What do you say now?
DEPUTY: I need to get your signature on some papers here, Kit.
KIT: Well, I've got to read them first. Suppose I could get a Coke while I do?
DEPUTY: Sure thing. Come on.
He gives Kit the papers and leads him out of the hangar. Kit turns back to the crowd inside.
KIT: You boys keep out of trouble.
GUARDSMAN: Don't worry about us.
DEPUTY: Holly's over here, Kit. if you want to see her.
KIT: Sure.
Holly leans against the fender of the police car. She wears handcuffs. Kit turns to a State Trooper who holds him by a tether.
KIT: You want to give me a little slack here?
The Trooper pays out the slack. Kit leans against the car. He and Holly exchange looks.
KIT: Don't worry now.. I'm going to get you off these charges... There's a whole lot of other boys out there. You're going to have a lot of fun.
Holly looks down.
KIT: Boy, we rang the bells, didn't we?
Holly does not reply.
KIT: I'll say one thing, though... That guy with the deaf maid? He's just lucky he's not dead, too.
Holly does not appreciate the humor of this. Kit, chastened, turns serious.
KIT: Course it's too bad about your dad.
HOLLY: Yeah.
KIT: We're going to have to sit down, and talk about that sometime.
He looks up at the SOUND of an incoming plane.
The plane that will take them back to South Dakota, a B-25, comes in for a landing. The mass of Troopers and National Guardsmen, with Kit and Holly, walks out to meet it. A jeep leads it down the taxiway. A civilian bystander points Kit and Holly out to a young boy he holds in his arms.
Kit signs his extradition papers on the back of the Chief Trooper, gives them to the Deputy and shakes hands with the Chief.
KIT: Thank you very much, Chief Sims. Sorry if I caused you any inconvenience.
CHIEF: You didn't cause me any trouble.
KIT: Thanks anyway.
He turns to shake hands with the Deputy. The planets engines whir to life.
DEPUTY: Well, Kit...
KIT: Tom...
DEPUTY: Good luck to you.
KIT: Thanks.
DEPUTY: I mean it.
KIT: I know you do. Good luck to you, too.
TROOPER: Now we go.
The Trooper pulls him toward the plane. Kit calls Holly.
KIT: Come on, Red.
The props start turning. The crowd waves goodbye as the boarding door is closed. The wheels turn toward the sun. The Guardsmen race back to their trucks. A mailman carries off the mail bags he collected from the plane. The plane taxies down the runway and lifts into the air.
HOLLY (v.o.): Kit and I were taken back to South Dakota. They kept him in solitary, so he didn't have a chance to get acquainted with the other inmates, though he was sure they'd like him, especially the murderers. Myself, I got off with probation and a lot of nasty looks. Later I married the son of the lawyer who defended me. (pause) Kit went to sleep in the courtroom while his confession was being read, and he was sentenced to die in the electric chair. On a warm spring night, six months later, after donating his body to science, he did.
With Holly's last words we CUT INSIDE the cabin of the plane.
Kit sits next to the Trooper at the back of the plane. Holly sits opposite them, with a Detective behind her. Kit's attention is fixed on the military hat in the Trooper's lap.
KIT: Sir... Where'd you get that hat?
TROOPER: State.
KIT: Boy, I'd like to buy me one of those.
The Trooper smiles. Holly looks up.
TROOPER: You're quite an individual, Kit.
KIT: Think they'll take that into consideration?
The Trooper smiles and looks out the window. Kit looks to Holly, to see if she has taken this remark in the proper spirit. She smiles and looks out the window.
An unbroken sea of clouds stretches out before her.
FADE OUT.
END CREDITS OVER BLACK.
THE END