PULLIN''EM OFF THE RAFTERS
Synopsis
Summer, 1964. A 400 acre Iowa farm seen in seventeen scenes
like old B&W snapshots. No nostalgia, no romance. This is the
past, nothing more.
Casey Briggs, called Case, has seen what few understood
then: he's auctioning his dairy herd and renting out the land. For
a livelihood, he and his wife, Nan, have bought a local steak house.
And they've convinced themselves they'll like this new life. But as
the auction begins, Case holds back the bull, trying to keep open
the option of a return to farming.
As the herd goes on the block, Case's brother-in-law, Donny
Lewis, arrives from Boston with his wife for a claimed vacation.
But Donny has come staking everything on asking Case for work on
the farm, driven by the worsening economy in the East and his
shrinking milk delivery route. In return, Donny offers Case the use
of his main possession: a .45 army pistol.
Donny's dream is destroyed when he realizes Case has sold
all the herd, but the bull. And Donny's wife, always hating the
farm, taunts him with the futility of what he's done. In
desperation, Donny shoots the bull, thinking it too has been
mocking him. But his shot is wide.
Case is left knowing he must kill the wounded bull and by
doing it, kill the remnant of his futile dream with Nan of a return
to the farm.
Copyright © 1999 by Richard Toscan
235 N. Harrison Street
Richmond, VA 23284
(804) 828-2787
rtoscan@vcu.edu
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