Henry's Fort

BEST WESTERN ADVENTURE SCREENPLAY - Wild Bunch Film Festival, 2022

Under a glaring Arizona sun, two young children (modernly dressed) explore the top of a steep, rocky hill. Among the boulders, they find disintegrated evidence of a stockade fence, two wooden crosses, and a bullet casing. Before long, their parents call for them to come down.

The scene transitions to Arizona Territory, 1874. Three brothers, HENRY (14), quiet and shrewd, dreams of traveling around the world in 80 days like in his favorite book, GEORGE (13), a spark of adventure in his eyes, and JODY (11), impetuous, wants to be like his older brothers, build a fort in the rocky hills near their home. Their father informs them he needs to go into town on business, leaving them for several days until he returns. When the boys later find the murdered body of their father not far from their fort, they bring the body to their home, only to discover that a gang of outlaws have taken over and are using it as a hideout.

Instead of riding for help - a day’s ride away - they resolve to take their home back. Henry sees one of the outlaws headed towards a hill near the house and develops a plan. Using a slingshot, he kills the rider, then scalps him to look as if it were an attack by Apache Warriors.

In need of guns and ammunition, Henry sneaks down to the house to get the weapons stored in the root cellar. Jody rides to another hill to create smoke signals, making the outlaws think an attack is imminent. Narrowly escaping detection at the root cellar and realizing the outlaws will soon investigate their missing man, he tells his brothers they must return to their makeshift fort and prepare for a possible battle.

The brothers face certain death as the outlaws attack. The Apache arrive and, hidden, watch the battle of guns, bullets, and airborne rocks from slingshots as the youngsters hold off the enemy. As they are about to be overrun, the Apache attack, saving them from the outlaws. Their leader salutes the boys as brave warriors, however, Henry has suffered a mortal wound. Teary-eyed, George reads him the conclusion of his beloved story as the fort transforms back into ruins and splintered wood. As the two modern children descend the hill, one pulls out his phone for a picture. A tissue falls out. The wind carries it across the fort until it clings to one of the old crosses. Carved in stone above are the faded dates of Henry and his father.