Silver Springs

Tone & Style: Highly entertaining and endearing time travel “movie within a movie within a movie” thriller set largely in Wild West Nevada wrapped around a timeless love story and lots of great pop/rock music performed live. And while the tone is often warm and amusing, there are many tense moments of life-threatening danger, abject terror and remarkable courage and bravery as an unforgettable cast of characters from the present and the past join together to fight a ruthless enemy who wants to destroy their idyllic lifestyle and send them all to hell. The classic western drama of HIGH NOON, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and HORIZON, the Civil War vengeance of SHENANDOAH, the time travel thrills of BACK TO THE FUTURE and the musical exuberance of LA LA LAND and HAIR combine in a highly cinematic and gripping tale of a brave woman’s powerful journey as she battles against impossible odds to make a movie she truly believes in and hang on to a love she can’t bear to lose. Story Overview: Hollywood is at a standstill. Raging wildfires from Kansas to Canada have blanketed the West in smoke with no end in sight, making location filming impossible. But Hannah Gold, the biggest swinging dick in town, has a huge gunslinger western called SILVER SPRINGS that’s ready to go and by contract must be made in America. Hannah calls the President, a close friend who she helped get elected and asks for a favor – and boy, it’s a doozy. Meanwhile, aging two-time Oscar winner Julia Stone, the most famous actress in the world, is in a funk. Her big comeback movie has been postponed and now might never get made. Suddenly her agent calls and tells her SILVER SPRINGS will shoot on schedule. But how? After a stage-setting newscast about the raging wildfires and life-threatening smoke smothering the West, we move to Hollywood where studio mogul Hannah Gold refuses to give into the crisis. Her blockbuster Western SILVER SPRINGS is ready to go and must be shot in America, and with time running out and millions at stake, she calls in a breathtaking IOU. Meanwhile, star actress Julia Stone is in a funk. At age 40, her career has hit the skids, her marriage is on the rocks and SILVER SPRINGS, her big comeback movie, has been postponed indefinitely. Her agent Sid Stein tries to soothe her, but Julia’s forlorn. Everything’s gone to hell and she’s not getting any younger. Suddenly Sid tells her that Hannah’s pulled some huge strings and SILVER SPRINGS is ready to roll. We move back in time to 1880s Nevada and enter the small town of Silver Springs, a peaceful oasis in a violent time 50 miles south of Carson City in the middle of nowhere. But Silver Springs is no ordinary town. It’s the Woodstock of the Wild West, filled with actors and musicians and singers who love to get high and play music from the 1960s and ‘70s and is home to funky venues like Alice’s Restaurant, James Tailors, Who’s Next Barber Shop, the Fillmore West and the Hotel California. Up on Rock Ridge, a grizzled old prospector named Gabby sees a huge C-130 land in the flatlands. Terrified and having no idea what it is, he giddy-ups his mule and warns Sheriff Tom and his laid-back Deputies Will and Sam that the Martians have landed and they’re going to eat the town. The lawmen – all ex-Union soldiers and awfully hard to ruffle – tuck Gabby in a cell with a bottle of whisky so he won’t alarm the town and ride off to investigate. They reach the crest of the ridge, look down and see exactly what Gabby saw. Except now there’s 20 people milling around wearing shorts and t-shirts, looking like nothing they’ve ever seen. But at least they don’t look like Martians, so the lawmen ride down, stop 200 yards away and fire a shot to get their attention. The actors assume they’re location scouts, but director Rick Howard and Julia know better. Rick trots up full of enthusiasm, introduces himself and says they’ve come from the future to make a movie. The conversation is fascinating as Rick explains what a movie is and the lawmen wonder how anyone can travel through time. Rick doesn’t know himself, but says his boss got permission from the President and here they are. Rick seems pleasant enough and the lawmen see no harm, and when Julia joins them, the attraction between Tom and Julia is electric and the lawmen invite them to stay and make their movie. But there’s a problem. While the small production crew agrees to stay, when Rick and Julia tell the cast they really ARE back in the Wild West, the actors revolt (“No cell service! No internet! Indians!!”) and demand to go home. As the plane flies off, Rick and Julia are bereft. But the lawmen tell them Silver Springs is full of actors and talent and Rick soon has a great cast and a ready-made set at his disposal. They develop a cover story (“We’re from New York and we’re doing a play, and the whole town’s the set”) and they’ve brought plenty of period clothes and costumes to fit in. And knowing there wouldn’t be electricity, Rick and his inventive DP Dave brought 200 phones to serve as cameras, which they’ll set up all over town with generators and power supplies to keep the equipment running. It’ll be a challenging shoot, but if anyone call pull it off, it’s Rick. Julia and Rick fall in love with the town’s ‘60s vibe (“It’s like Woodstock!”) and the Sheriff’s Office is perfect for several key scenes in the script. They gorge on potent cookies at Caroline’s psychedelic bakery, visit the hippie commune with its teepees and hot air balloons and are invited to the Friday Night Jamboree, where the whole town gets together to sing and rock out. When Tom leaves Julia at the Hotel California to go home to have supper with his kids, Julia is momentarily crushed. But when he tells her he’s a widower and single Dad, the spark of romance that’s been building starts to flame. The movie starts filming as Julia, playing the cold-eyed gunslinger Emma Cartwright, rides slowly into town like an angel of death dressed like Clint Eastwood in HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER. She enters the Sheriff’s Office and tells Tom, Will and Sam, playing themselves, that she’s come to kill five men who murdered her family. The scene is tense and beautifully done, and when Emma tells them it happened 20 years ago during the Civil War, we dissolve into a gripping flashback. 1862: A farm in Virginia. Fifteen year-old Emma is having supper with her father and four older brothers when a Confederate Cavalry troop led by Maj. Jack Taggart and Lt. Buck Clayton ride in and demand Cartwright’s sons join the fight. Cartwright refuses to turn his sons over and when tempers flare, the Rebs shoot Emma’s father and brothers in cold blood. Emma is spared, but her eyes bore into Taggart and Clayton, sealing them in her memory and her in theirs. Emma teaches herself to shoot, slowly but surely becoming a crack shot. Now a grown woman at 21, Emma stands in the corral with twin revolvers on her hips and a dozen bottles arrayed around the fence. She drops her head and grows perfectly still, then quick-draws her guns, spins in a circle like a slow-motion dancer and fires 12 shots, blasting each bottle to shards. Knowing she’s ready, she rides off wearing a black short brim hat and tan duster to wreak her revenge. A map of the US with a red line tracks her progress as she slowly moves west, hunting her prey. Danville, Nashville, Dodge City, Waco and Tombstone - each town punctuated with a gunshot and starburst – followed by dirty handwritten note with ten names on it, the five at the bottom crossed off and five to go with Taggart’s and Clayton’s names at the top. We return to the Sheriff’s Office, where Emma tells the mesmerized lawmen “Five down, five to go. Fifteen years of hell an’ high water but I’m still standin’ and half of them ain’t. Better for you if you don’t get in my way.” Over drinks at Dixie’s Saloon, the lawmen tell Rick and Julia that it’s a great story and rings true in every way. And when Sam asks if Emma finds the remaining five Rebs who killed her family, Rick and Julia smile and say, “Oh, yeah.” Filming continues with several key scenes involving Emma, then the whole town gathers at Strawberry Fields for a crazy old school baseball game that’s like the Keystone Cops playing the Bad News Bears. After the game, Tom and Julia have a cozy family supper with Tom’s kids where the precocious Becky hopes they get married “because Dad needs a wife and we really need a Mom.” Unable to hold their affections back any longer, Tom and Julia make love under the stars, sealing their devotion forever. Filming continues in the saloon with a scene between Emma and Dixie sitting at a table in the back. But standing at the bar is Buck Clayton, now 45. He catches a glimpse of Emma and remembers her stone cold eyes from when they murdered her family. He asks the bartender who she is and the bartender, thinking it’s all part of the script, tells him it’s Emma Cartwright, who’s come west to kill the men who killed her kin during the war. Clearly rattled, Clayton rides north to Carson City to warn Taggart. Suddenly fiction becomes deadly fact. Taggart, who’s changed his name to Jackson Tyrell and become a powerful nativist rancher running for Governor, knows his political future is over if the atrocity gets out and decides to take Emma off the board. He and Clayton and their four ex-Rebs ride down to Silver Springs and demand the lawmen hand Emma over. But the lawmen, who’ve been told the story is fiction and know Emma is really Julia, refuse to give her up. Civil War blood boils over and the lawmen throw Tyrell’s gang out of town, knowing this is far from over. Julia and Rick are shocked when they hear what’s happened. Rick swears the script is fictional and Julia’s furious because Emma Cartwright’s not real. But Tom says none of that matters. “You’re real as far as he’s concerned, and he wants you dead.” Tom says it’s up to Tyrell what happens next. If they come back, they gloves will come off. But for now, all they can do is wait. That night, the four ex-Rebs gallop in with guns blazing, throw a paper-wrapped brick through the Sheriff’s window and set fire to a store across the street. The townspeople fight frantically to keep the fire from spreading and Tom, Will and Sam almost die battling the flames. The next morning, they find the paper-wrapped brick with the note that says, “Give us the girl or we’ll burn the whole town.” The towns-people demand to know who the desperados were and why they shot up the town. Tom knows if he tells the truth, the people will insist that Julia and Rick leave, which Tom doesn’t want. So he spins a story about “some people in Carson City not liking our music or the fact that we like gettin’ high,” which unites the town in common cause. Tom says the lawmen will teach the desperados a lesson, reminds them of their motto “Sing sweet and shoot straight” and tells them to prepare for war. In a daring airborne assault led by the lawmen and the hippies, five hot air balloons sail north and drop dynamite bombs on Tyrell’s Double T Ranch, terrorizing Tyrell and killing several men. The gloves are off and now it’s a fight to the death. The hippies and townspeople, all armed with Winchesters, take positions on the rooftops as a balloon flies overhead to scout. Julia wants to fight, but Tom won’t risk it. After a furious argument, Tom orders the Deputies to take Julia to her hotel room and tie her to a chair. Tyrell and his Rebs and a gang of 60 gunmen gallop south. The balloon sees them coming and sends the signal. As Julia struggles to free herself, Tom’s housekeeper trips and falls and Henry and Becky jump in a wagon to get the doctor. The gunmen gallop into town and as Tyrell and the Rebs drop back, a hundred rifles open fire and start mowing them down. As the slaughter continues, Tyrell sees the wagon with Becky and Henry approaching and takes them hostage. Sixty gunmen lie dead in the street. Suddenly Tyrell, Clayton and the four Rebs ride in slowly with Tyrell holding a gun to Becky’s head demanding Emma Cartwright. A hundred rifles fall to the street. Suddenly Emma Cartwright steps from the Hotel California and swaggers towards the Rebs, demanding they release Becky. Becky runs into the saloon as Emma stops 40 feet away. Venomous insults slice like knives and as Tyrell and the Rebs dismount and surround Emma with guns leveled, Tyrell says he’s “gonna do you like we did your kin, then burn this town to the ground and everyone in it.” Emma drops her head and stands perfectly still. Suddenly she draws her guns and spins in a circle like a slow motion dancer. Twelve shots ring out and when it’s over, Tyrell, Clayton and the four Rebs lie in the street looking like the most surprised dead men you ever saw. Tom, Will and Sam stare in shock. Rick does too – but for a totally different reason. Julia just did the climactic showdown scene exactly as written: script perfect and without missing a beat. It’s the most courageous performance in movie history – and maybe of all time. With the town now safe, filming concludes with Emma’s murder trial. The jury finds her not guilty and when Tom awkwardly proposes they get hitched, Emma accepts. Back home in LA, a heartbroken Julia sits on the beach watching the sun go down as an equally heartbroken Tom sits on the crest of Rock Ridge as the sun sets over Silver Springs. Two years later, Julia wins her third Oscar for SILVER SPRINGS and during her acceptance speech, the tears flow freely. Hannah Gold offers Julia a three-picture deal worth $100 million, but Julia interrupts the pitch and tells Hannah she’s got to go back. Julia returns to the town she loves and everything looks the same. But as she walks down Main Street with a small valise, she stops suddenly and stares in shock. A beautiful life-sized statue of Emma Cartwright stands on the exact spot where Emma gunned down Tyrell and his Rebs, saving the town from destruction. The statue captures Emma in all her glory, from her steely gaze to her flat brim hat to her faded poncho to the twin six guns on her hips. And as Julia stares at Emma with pride and wonder, a feeling of love washes over her like she’s never felt before. Channeling Emma for the last time, Julia enters the Sheriff’s Office and in her steely gunslinger’s drawl, asks a shocked Tom Rutledge if he’s “still a-hankerin’ to get hitched.” Tom is definitely still a-hankerin’ and Henry and Becky are thrilled Julia’s come back to be their Mom. The two star-crossed lovers from world’s apart tie the knot in a boisterous ceremony and in a huge production number, the whole town sings and dances down Main Street and into Dixie’s Saloon for the wildest party the Wild West ever saw. But the show’s not over. With Julia front and center, the Silver Springs Orchestra, Hippie Choir and cast return for a blistering three-song encore that brings down the house.