Original FOD script by Victor A. Catena & Jaime Comas Gil

[Clinton]

The original FOD script (RAY EL MAGNIFICO) by the Spanish writers Victor A. Catena & Jaime Comas Gil gives incredible insight into the plot of a FOD. First, there is a prologue (Texas, 1861) describing a mother and boy of age 10. They hear gun shots coming from a saloon and then a man comes outside clutching his chest and falls to the muddy ground (it is raining heavily). The woman falls to her knees to attend her husband. The dark-clothed killer comes out of the saloon, puffs on a cigar and heads off. He is followed by the young boy, JOE, who later shoots the killer in the chest at point blank range.
The main plot then begins (North Mexico (border province), 1872). It is basically the same as in the film, except there are extra scenes and numerous small differences. The script describes how the protagonist, RAY, acquires his poncho, hat, and mule. The protagonist crosses a river and hears a man singing in the distance. A middle-aged Mexican man, dressed only in boxer shorts, is on a river bank singing merrily. A boot comes into the camera frame and propels the man into the cold river. A hand takes the Mexican man's poncho. This scene was shot and can be scene in the unused takes recently presented to Cineteca di Bologna by the Leone family (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3X4H8WYFi4). Next, RAY steals a hat from a man who is sleeping beside a tree. He takes the hat and replaces it with his own worn out hat. The man continues to sleep. RAY then steals a mule from a Mexican who is about to hook his mule to a cart full of clay pots of various sizes. His hand is seen taking a stone from under the cart wheel. The cart begins to roll down the hill and the highly distressed Mexican chases it. After the Mexican finally catches up with his cart, he looks back and sees that his mule has disappeared.
At some point, the protagonist is finally seen from the front. He is about 35 years old and has a 3-day beard. He smokes a cigar and it is stressed that he has a slow, lazy, and calm manner. This coolness unsettles the pistoleros during the confrontation at the Baxters (called the "Morales" in the script). RAY carries two revolvers in the script.
I have only digitized/analyzed the first 50 pages (the script (in Spanish) is about 200 pages long). It is clear that Catena and Gil had a clear concept of how the protagonist would "look" and "behave". The poncho, 3-day beard, cigar, and cool, calm, calculated nature of the protagonist etc were all clearly described in the script.

[cigar joe]

Pretty cool find.

[dave jenkins]

The script describes how the protagonist, RAY, acquires his poncho, hat, and mule.

The Man With Three Names! Way cool. Something tells me another entry in the SL Encyclopedia is about to appear.

[Le Bon]

Very interesting. Especially the prologue. Thanks for posting.

[drinkanddestroy]

This accounts for the "i once knew someone like you and there was no one there to help" line

Frayling has said that originally the movie had a prologue explaining this, so I guess this is it

Of course, the final movie is much better without explaining anything, keeping the protagonist a mysterious figure

[dave jenkins]

Of course, the final movie is much better without explaining anything, keeping the protagonist a mysterious figure

Correct. What we're getting here is secret fanboy lore.

[drinkanddestroy]

Correct. What we're getting here is secret fanboy lore.

yes

just like the famous "gas chamber" scene in Double Indemnity. We all wish we could see it, but happy it was not included in the movie

[Jordan Krug]

The original FOD script (RAY EL MAGNIFICO) by the Spanish writers Victor A. Catena & Jaime Comas Gil gives incredible insight into the plot of a FOD. First, there is a prologue (Texas, 1861) describing a mother and boy of age 10. They hear gun shots coming from a saloon and then a man comes outside clutching his chest and falls to the muddy ground (it is raining heavily). The woman falls to her knees to attend her husband. The dark-clothed killer comes out of the saloon, puffs on a cigar and heads off. He is followed by the young boy, JOE, who later shoots the killer in the chest at point blank range.
The main plot then begins (North Mexico (border province), 1872). It is basically the same as in the film, except there are extra scenes and numerous small differences. The script describes how the protagonist, RAY, acquires his poncho, hat, and mule. The protagonist crosses a river and hears a man singing in the distance. A middle-aged Mexican man, dressed only in boxer shorts, is on a river bank singing merrily. A boot comes into the camera frame and propels the man into the cold river. A hand takes the Mexican man's poncho. This scene was shot and can be scene in the unused takes recently presented to Cineteca di Bologna by the Leone family (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3X4H8WYFi4). Next, RAY steals a hat from a man who is sleeping beside a tree. He takes the hat and replaces it with his own worn out hat. The man continues to sleep. RAY then steals a mule from a Mexican who is about to hook his mule to a cart full of clay pots of various sizes. His hand is seen taking a stone from under the cart wheel. The cart begins to roll down the hill and the highly distressed Mexican chases it. After the Mexican finally catches up with his cart, he looks back and sees that his mule has disappeared.
At some point, the protagonist is finally seen from the front. He is about 35 years old and has a 3-day beard. He smokes a cigar and it is stressed that he has a slow, lazy, and calm manner. This coolness unsettles the pistoleros during the confrontation at the Baxters (called the "Morales" in the script). RAY carries two revolvers in the script.
I have only digitized/analyzed the first 50 pages (the script (in Spanish) is about 200 pages long). It is clear that Catena and Gil had a clear concept of how the protagonist would "look" and "behave". The poncho, 3-day beard, cigar, and cool, calm, calculated nature of the protagonist etc were all clearly described in the script.

Thanks for sharing this, much appreciated!

[Clinton]

I have finished going through the FOD script (RAY EL MAGNIFICO) by Victor Catena and Jaime Comas Gil. The script covers every detail, including all the familiar lines, of the released version of the film. Victor Catena and Jaime Comas Gil were commissioned by Ocean Film  S. A. (Madrid) to write a script for FOD. Ocean Film (Spain) was part of a coproduction, which included Constantin Film (Germany) and Jolly Film (Italy). I am not sure what instructions or material Catena and Gil may have received. Assuming that they independently penned the entire script (RAY EL MAGNIFICO by Catena & Gil), then there was "nothing" substantial left for Sergio Leone and Duccio Tessari, or others, to add. There are lots of minor differences between the script and the film, e.g. MARISOL's husband appears in the film, whereas the husband had been killed (ostensibly for cheating in cards) by RAMON in the script. Instead, Marisol's brother, JULIAN, takes care of her son, JESUS. RAY (Eastwood character) also blows up a group of the ROJO's men, using the stick of dynamite provided by PIRIPERO, who were waiting to "take care of" RAY at the edge of the town, SAN MIGUEL. At the end of the script, RAY stays in SAN MIGUEL when the Mexican and American troops arrive to investigate the stolen gold.
It is too early to draw conclusions, but I suspect that the writing credits for FOD should solely go to Catena and Gil, whereas Leone and Tessari probably made very minor cosmetic changes. Catena and Gil clearly describe the poncho, the cigar, the three-day beard, and the languid nature of the main character, JOE, who was exceptionally fast and skilled at shooting. Interestingly, RAY skilfully shoots some apples from a tree during the time he is recuperating at an abandoned mine.

[dave jenkins]

I am not sure what instructions or material Catena and Gil may have received. Assuming that they independently penned the entire script (RAY EL MAGNIFICO by Catena & Gil), then there was "nothing" substantial left for Sergio Leone and Duccio Tessari, or others, to add.

According to Frayling, Leone did a treatment with Tessari; treatments, by their very nature, precede scripts. Both Corbucci and Leone are on record as saying Leone copied out the dialog from Yojimbo, translated into Italian, changing setting and certain details (Frayling, 124, 125). Surely the scriptwriters would have had this input for the script they worked on.

Btw, what language is the EL RAY script in? Did they write it in Spanish first, and then it was translated into Italian?

[Clinton]

According to Frayling, Leone did a treatment with Tessari; treatments, by their very nature, precede scripts. Both Corbucci and Leone are on record as saying Leone copied out the dialog from Yojimbo, translated into Italian, changing setting and certain details (Frayling, 124, 125). Surely the scriptwriters would have had this input for the script they worked on.

Btw, what language is the EL RAY script in? Did they write it in Spanish first, and then it was translated into Italian?

The RAY EL MAGNIFICO script is in Spanish. Yeh, it would make sense that Catena and Gil received a treatment written by Leone and Tessari.