Land With No Rider

[MUSIC PLAYS SOFTLY. BIRDS CALL AND CRICKETS CHIRP]  

A misty landscape of hills and trees in the background in the dark.  

JOHN FOWLER (in voiceover): Cowboys is...  

A person on horseback on a dark field, shrouded in mist and illuminated by four lights. 

FOWLER: ...kind of a dying breed...   

A cow runs by, chased by another person on horseback.  

FOWLER: ...because where there used to be thousands of cattle, there’s hardly any here anymore.  

A person on horseback corrals cattle through a fenced in lane. More cattle run by.  

A cloud of mist swirls past one of the tall lights illuminating a rodeo arena.  

[STRING MUSIC BEGINS]  

A dark curtain on a window waves in the wind.  

Close-up on a hand, partially illuminated by light coming through the window.  

RAMON BACA: You know when the world ended?  

Ramon Baca, wearing a wide brimmed hat, sits in front of a window.  

BACA: God told Noah to make the ark...  

Close-up on a person’s shoes as they trudge through mud.  

Through forest trees, a large group of deer run by.  

BACA: ...and then they put every living creature in there.  

Dark, stormy clouds in the sky accumulating and begin to swirl.  

BACA: And then he brought the rain.  

Rainwater accumulating on the tops of barrel drums.  

BACA: And started the new world.  

Ramon Baca stands outside beneath a tree.  

BACA: Let it rain.  

A small white church besides a small cemetery with a little over a dozen white crosses in the ground, a stormy sky above.  

BACA (in voiceover): Let it rain.  

[MUSIC FADES. THUNDER CRACKLES]  

Out of the darkness, lightning strikes and illuminates a mountain range and then a cloudy, stormy sky.  

[MUSIC BEGINS]  

Close-up on an older man with a cigar in his mouth, squinting and holding a lighter up to his face with both hands.  

FOWLER: You get in some rough country..  

A person on horseback rides fast and swirls a lasso in the air. Another horseback rider rushes past him.  

FOWLER: You ride right down the mountains just facing the cow in front of you...  

Close-up on the feet of horses.  

Close-up on a person’s feet in leather shoes.  

FOWLER: ...or the wild woods sometimes. 

Close-up on a cigar being put out.  

Steven Puttkammer in a cowboy hat and plaid button-up stands outside, seen in profile.  

STEVEN PUTTKAMMER: Not everybody...  

A high view of vast, tree-dotted hills and mountains in the background shrouded by low clouds, with the sun rising behind them.  

PUTTKAMMER (in voiceover): ...can feel this part of the country.  

A dead deer lies on the ground. Close-up on its hoof.  

BACA (in voiceover): She’s gone. She’s gone.  

A different older man in a cowboy hat, a short-sleeved plaid button-up and wide suspenders stands outside, speaking.  

BACA (in voiceover): And that’s life. You got to just fight it. That's it, that’s it.  

The same man now pictured from the back as he walks. 

BACA (in voiceover): There's no coming back. There's no coming back. 

Cut to black.  

Steven Puttkammer in a cowboy hat, yellow t-shirt and denim overalls in close-up, sitting inside by a window, singing and speaking.  

PUTTKAMMER: Snowflakes fall.  

[PUTTKAMMER SINGS]  

PUTTKAMMER: And I don’t miss it at all.  

[“BALTIMORE BLUES NO. 1” BY DEER TICK BEGINS TO PLAY]  

Close-up on snow falling outside a window and then a wider shot of the view from the window of a yard and mountains in the distance.  

FOWLER: Cowboy believes they talk to God up on that mountain there, wherever he is. 

Nine white crosses in the ground on a hill, denoting graves.  

An older man stands by a riverbank, hunched over with one hand on a large stick. He puts a hand in the water and pours some on his head.  

PUTTKAMMER: The lord? He hears. 

Steven Puttkammer in a cowboy hat and plaid shirt stands outside and speaks.  

PUTTKAMMER: Doesn’t mean I’m going to heaven but...  

Puttkammer in a close-up profile, laughing. 

Close-up on Puttkammer’s hands as he casts a fishing line.  

Water, rippling softly.  

A man on horseback leads a cow with a rope. Behind the cow, another man on horseback rides while spinning a lasso.  

A farm house surrounded by a fence, grass and low hills beside a windmill.  

A person in a winter hat with ear flaps, using a walking stick, walks past an abandoned and open fridge which sits beneath a tree outside.

A person tosses a paper airplane inside of a home.  

Close-up on a television screen showing a bronc rider at a rodeo.  

A man wearing a cowboy hat is shown from the back, sitting in a chair indoors and alone. The camera is placed far across the room.  

A large, dark room with a triangular roof filled with shelves and a table, illuminated by a few lamps.  

Steven Puttkammer, wearing a cowboy hat, in profile as he drives.  

PUTTKAMMER: I still have a wild streak in me that don't wanna be tamed.  

Puttkammer stands outside in the dark, speaking. He’s shown again in shadowy profile.  

PUTTKAMMER: That can be free forever. 

Cut to black. The title “Land With No Rider” appears on screen, first a faded white and then becoming brighter.  

[MUSIC FADES]  

The title fades until the screen is black.