Pilot Treatment
“Latigo's Star”
Montana Territory, 1867.
Bear Singer, a Crow hunter, steals a horse that damned near kills
him. Mustang Mary in turn tries to steal Latigo’s horse.
But Latigo is half-white, half-Crow, quiet as a ghost and tough as
nails. They tussle. Until a gunshot signals a
robbery. Latigo discovers Jeremy Van Horn being robbed.
Shots drive off the bandits Cootie and Monk.
“Latigo” is Cole Cantrell, has been drifting since the War ended.
Jeremy, a greenhorn prospector, is on his way to El Dorado Gulch.
Mary is headed wherever there’s trouble - and nags Latigo to rescue her
horse.
They reach rough-and-tumble Rimrock. Latigo was hired to ride
shotgun on the stage. Except Python Corporation (his old nemesis)
has bought the stage line with muscle. In fact, the job went to
Monk and Cootie. Latigo’s broke and unemployed.
In El Dorado, Jeremy finds gold thin and prices high. The mining
camp is also plagued with mice and rats. And Slate Grayson, who
offers to sell Jeremy a mine.
Frustrated and near-broke, Latigo sips beer. Until the mysterious
Duke Sateen stakes him in a poker game. Latigo wins. The
drunk Abner accuses “the stranger” of cheating. Duke advises
against drawing against the infamous “Latigo”. Turns out Latigo
rescued Duke from a lynching during the war. Which is why Duke
cheated to let Latigo win.
Saloon girl Aspen Groves sets her cap for Latigo and asks for an escort
home. Abner jumps them. Latigo easily breaks his arm.
Aspen invites Latigo in but gets only a chaste kiss. She wonders,
“Am I losing my touch or getting it back?”
In another bar, Mustang Mary is skunk-drunk and shooting wild.
She decks a deputy and - clumsily - Latigo. Enter Hoodoo Hawks,
the iron marshal, who’s “had his eye” on Latigo. Mary and Latigo
go to jail.
Come morning, Mary is bailed out by Belle Bottomly, town madame.
Mary thanks Latigo - and picks his pocket of poker winnings.
Latigo has all kinds of luck, all bad. Does he know anyone in
town? Duke has done him enough favors. And Jeremy, the
greenhorn, must be broke by now...
Soon enough. Monk and Cootie salt a mine with gold pellets. And Slate sells it to Jeremy.
Oddly, Hoodoo treats Latigo more like a cadet than a prisoner, sending
him out on errands. Latigo is puzzle, but intrigued.
Belle, meanwhile, demands Mary return her cash stolen last year. Shucks. Mary can earn back $500 in one night...
Tater Johnson, Belle’s pimp questions Aspen about this stranger Latigo. “Just another muskrat to be skinned.”
Mary is subjected to “a fate worse than death,” a bath! But Mary has a counter-proposal. She
Latigo would just as soon be let loose. Nope, says Hoodo.
He can stay arrested for, if nothing else, vagrancy. What’s
that? Hoodoo gives him a book of law. “No visible means of
support.” Can be run out of town as a undesirable. “Then
why run me out of town?” No, because I am strongly desirable of a
full night’s sleep. And my deputy quit because he couldn’t stand
being beat down by a girl, so that’s your fault too. Latigo
protests: “I’m no lawman!” You said you’ve been everything
else. Why not fill the hand? He leaves Latigo with the law
book.
Mary, all gussied up, fends off a drunk and plunks at a table with
Latigo’s money. Can she play? Sure. Just so I’m
clear, the young handsome gent is the Jack, right?
Mary makes $500 cheating at poker with Latigo’s pilfered money.
One of the cheatees is Belle’s pimp-enforcer, Tater Johnson, who
figures to cheat Mary and pimp her, cutting out Belle. But he
loses.
Tater is angry over his losses to Mary. And he heard Aspen “was
walked home” by Latigo. Thinking she’s holding out, and not
believing Latigo turned her down, Tater beats her.
Jeremy sees Assayer, learns mine is worthless. He leaves town.
Mary settles her debt with Belle, then asks for lessons in “ladylike
behavior” to snare Latigo. Belle obliges, thinking the girl’s
luck might turn, and then Belle can turn her out for any man with
cash...
Hoodoo: I said I had my eye on you. As a troublemaker?
There’s all kinds of trouble, and you’re inclined to run at it.
Marshal, I’ve killed men, and there was nothing legal about it.
Without evidence and witnesses, that’s hearsay. Besides, all
three had a bounty on their heads, or should have.
Jeremy stops at New Eden, gets 20 cats.
Mary, gussied up, is on her way to see Latigo, but is jumped by pimp,
accused of cheating. Another brawl and gunshots resound.
Hoodoo: “Go arrest your former partner.” Hoodoo remarks to
himself, “It always amazed me how the biggest rip-snorting
paddlewheeler on the Mississippi could be steered by just one little
wheel.”
Latigo rushes in to break up brawl, and Mary cold-cocks him
AGAIN. Even worse, he never saw her fine clothes, and now Aspen’s
going to take him home to nurse.
Latigo awakes in Aspen’s bed. She was obviously beaten by
Tater. But he’s in jail and in dutch with Belle besides.
Latigo suggests she find another trade. The plan is to make a
poke, move West, change her name (back), and marry respectably.
“If you want to see my cards, call.”
Jeremy returns to El Dorado. Sells all his female cats at $100 apiece.
Latigo confronts pimp and would give him a thorough beating. The
pimp objects: if Latigo is a law dog, he can’t. For now, he’s
stuck abiding the law.
Latigo spots Jeremy’s mule, Stonewall. How?... Approaching
the buggy, which has a cage, he’s accosted by Rufus, an armed
bodyguard. Latigo knocks Rufus flying. Jeremy
interrupts. Latigo is surprised to learn Jeremy is the famous Cat
Baron of El Dorado Gulch. Jeremy explains he studs out Sultan for
$100 a pop. And is investing his money with Duke Sateen, who
doubles as a lawyer. It’s hard not admire the cat...
In the stage office, Monk and Cootie boil. Isn’t there some way
to get Jeremy’s cat and cash? Slate has an idea to try in El
Dorado Gulch: get Jeremy to GIVE them the cat.
And what about Latigo? Oh, he might go work as an Army
scout. He’s no good at lawing. Everyone disagrees, but
Latigo’s not so sure. He comes up empty more often than not.
Gussied up, Mary ineptly flirts with Latigo. Latigo takes Mary to
Belle Bottomly, and together they rat out Tater Johnson. Belle
swears to kill him for going behind her back. Latigo says, “You
only need to fire him. I’ll take care of the rest.” He’s
fired.
Slate demands cat or death. Bullets ZING through the house from two directions. Jeremy caves.
Latigo looks up Tater and throws him in jail. On what
charge? Vagrancy, which means no visible means of support.
I work for Belle! Not any more. You were fired.
Hoodoo brings Belle by the jail. “Work for me? I wouldn’t
let him button my boots.”
Jeremy goes to marshal for help. Hoodoo hands the assignment to
Latigo. He insists they fight. Jeremy’s not happy with a
third choice, but goes along.
Latigo and Jeremy bring a carpetbag to the rendezvous with Monk,
Cootie, and Slate. And $1,000. But the bag is
heavy. Monk opens it and unleashes a wild bobcat. Latigo
disarms Cootie and stomps on Monk’s gun. Oddly, Slate waxes wroth
and guns for Jeremy. Latigo shoots and kills Slate. Latigo
warns Monk and Cootie to leave the territory, especially since their
boss is dead. Monk snarls, “run out by a halfbreed bastard-” and
gets slugged. Cootie, now thoroughly terrified of Latigo, ties
Monk over the saddle and departs.
Hoodoo still thinks Latigo’s too slow on the draw with hardened
criminals. With Slate dead, the ownership of the stage line is in
doubt. Hoodoo and Latigo head for the stage office to see if they
can find a contact. Instead, Monk and Cootie boil out with guns
blazing! Monk is enraged, having been pushed too far.
Cootie is plain terrified. Latigo and Hoodoo shoot it out on the
street. But Monk and Cootie have extra guns from the stage
office. Duke arrives and throw Latigo a repeater. Aspen
throws Hoodoo a bar gun. Bystanders are hit. Latigo and
Hoodoo are winged. Monk and Cootie are killed. But two
miners are also dead. And Latigo feels this disaster is all his
fault.
Mary rushes up, all aflutter and chattering. She’s back in
buckskins. She’s given up “ladying”. But they have to
rescue her “fine” horse. Shaken, Latigo announces he’s giving up
“lawing”. They leave town.
Ride out to site of theft, read trail. Mary tells whopping
story. Latigo ponders what tribe might have stolen the
horse. And Mary pulls Bear Singer’s medicine bag out of her
pocket. She picked it up when her horse went missing.
Arrive Crow camp. Without warning, Mary charges, firing like the
7th Cavalry. She’s knocked down and restrained by Indians.
Latigo talks, swaps medicine bag for Mary’s horse. When he cuts
her loose, she’s wroth, until he lays on a scorching kiss. Then
she’s happy to get Beelzebub back. Until she see Latigo talking
to Dark Star...
Latigo again meets Dark Star. Romantic interest. What about
Latigo’s parents? They’re dead. Who did it? That’s
not important. What matters is, the men who did it will never
harm anyone again.
Mary decides to ride on alone, especially after seeing Latigo and Dark Star together.
Dark Star asks, Which way will Two Trails travel this time? Two
trails fork, and you have to choose. Not true: you can always
turn back the way you came. By returning to the Crow camp. Latigo
has ridden a circle. Rather than ride away from something, try
riding toward something.
Latigo returns to Rimrock. Hoodoo was expecting him. Latigo
still thinks he’s reading him wrong. “Son, it’s enough that you
care. Besides, you still owe a fine of a hundred dollars.
Deputy marshals get paid $2 a day and found.” And hands him a
badge.
Duke’s there, and so is Aspen, having guessed the news. Jeremy
comes by. Jeremy’s tom cat ran off to be free. Latigo: I
know how he feels. Duke: But here you stand. And that’s the
difference between a cat and a man. #
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