A TALE OF RECKONING
NOTES
This is a biopic drama with the following elements:
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Inspired by a true story
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Indigenous actors, themes
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High adventure
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Character driven
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Love story
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Visceral
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Revenge
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Rural
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A Buddy film
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Strong female/male leads
LOGISTICS
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Locations: tax-favorable states, Quebec City, Alberta
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PG-13 rating
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Budget est. less than $20,000,000
Copyrighted May 4, 2014 by MICHAEL LANCE RITTER (USA) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No portion of this work may be performed, published, reproduced, sold or distributed by any means, or quoted or published in any medium, including any web site, without the prior written consent of Michael Lance Ritter. WGA Registry 1718322, U.S. Copyright #PAu3-727-265
LOGLINE
Born to Shoshone Indian Sacagawea on the Lewis and Clark trail and raised as an aristocrat by Clark, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau struggles while helping other Indians and being hunted by an assassin as he seeks the family he lost in the lawless American West. (Think Amadeus, the Revenant and Dances With Wolves.)
SYNOPSIS
Born to guide Sacagawea on the legendary Lewis and Clark expedition, half- Shoshone JEAN BAPTISTE CHARBONNEAU is a man of two worlds, but with a home in neither. Fluent in languages and refined in the arts—a devastating personal tragedy drives him into the dangerous American wilderness.
As a young man in St. Louis he planned a future with his first love, MICHELLE, but is sabotaged by the very society that raised him. He bolts to the Rockies, becoming an elite mountain man during the violent fur trade. He leads expeditions and scouts a war road to California in the Mormon Battalion.
Stalked by the assassin RUBLETTE, a vicious brute from his fur trade days, Baptiste navigates the frontier from the Rocky Mountains to the "Devil’s Anvil" of the Mojave Desert to being a post-Mexican war Alcalde trying to save enslaved Indians.
In San Diego he discovers a second chance to simply have a family. It’s the one he thought he’d lost forever— his first love and her son. Finally he goes with his family to join the lawless chaos of the Forty Niners Gold Rush.
It’s an enthralling, visceral story of a man on a mission. (Think Amadeus, the Revenant and Dances With Wolves.)
POST SCRIPT
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau died in May, 1866 after trying to cross an Oregon river. He's buried near Danner, Oregon. His gravesite is a national historic monument.
Jim Beckwourth died in October, 1866 of natural causes. Beckwourth Pass in the High Sierra mountains and Beckwourth, California are named after him.
General William Clark, in a rare display of frontier caring, looked after the Charbonneau family his entire life. He died in St. Louis in September, 1838.
Audiences will love this compelling American saga!
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