FADE IN
EXT. PANAMA JUNGLE -- DAY
Slashing of a machete drives birds into flight as robust JOHN WHITE GEARY hacks a path through the thick brush. A big man--six-foot-six, over 200 pounds--he is naked above the waist and powerful muscles glisten under the sweat with each clearing blow. He is 29. His black beard is close cropped. Behind him and astride a mule is his pregnant wife MARGARET. Their small son, Eddie, rides with her. Tied to her mount is a rope leading the pack mule. Margaret wipes the perspiration from her forehead. It is 1849.
MARGARET
John, Eddie and I are exhausted. Can't we stop for a rest?
He pauses and nods his head impatiently.
JOHN
Only for a minute. We have to hurry. They've discovered gold at a place called Sutter's Mill. San Francisco will be a madhouse.
Margaret dismounts clumsily. She and Eddie sit on a log.
MARGARET
But--why such a rush. You're not a prospector. You're the first postmaster for Yerba Buena or San Francisco--whatever name it goes by today.
JOHN
San Francisco, Margaret! Yerba Buena is a name for a Spanish herb flower. San Francisco is an American city now and I have to be there to get to work. Besides, there will be money to be made besides digging it out of the ground. I will make my fortune there.
MARGARET
I wish we could have stayed on the boat all the way, instead of coming through the jungles.
JOHN
Takes too long. We'll catch a ship when we reach the Pacific side. You rested enough?
MARGARET
John! You forget I'm with child.
JOHN
I never forget. Doesn't it excite you? Being the first white woman to cross the Isthmus of Panama?
MARGARET
I would be more excited to see the fields of our farm in Pennsylvania. You're just too hard on everyone--and on yourself.
JOHN
You and Eddie rest a few more minutes. I'll work on ahead cutting a path.
She gets to her feet with great effort.
MARGARET
You're not leaving us here alone, John White Geary. I wish I could understand why you're always in such a rush.
JOHN
This is a glorious time for America. There's a nation to be built and I want to be a part of it.
He resumes cutting a path as Margaret and Eddie follow with the animals.
EXT. JUNGLE RIVER -- DAY
On a crudely built raft, the three with their mules and supplies travel down river. John maneuvers the raft with a pole.
INT. HOTEL ROOM -- DAY
Eddie looks out of second story window while Margaret lies on the bed. John studies papers in the crudely furnished room.
EDDIE
Papa! Those men are stealing our supplies.
John bounds to the window and looks out.
EXT. PANAMA CITY STREET -- DAY
Three men in poorly fitting military uniforms carry supplies toward the police station.
JOHN'S VOICE OVER
The fools. They're going into the police station. I'll catch them there.
INT. POLICE STATION -- DAY
Eight TOUGHS, including the thieves, flank the SERGEANT seated at his desk. John towers angrily over them.
SERGEANT
You are mistaken, senor. The men you accuse are valued members of my staff. I assure you they took nothing of yours.
JOHN
They are common thieves. What's that in the corner?
John strides to his supplies half hidden under a blanket and uncovers them.
SERGEANT
That's just some contraband we confiscated.
JOHN
And how did you confiscate hams from my farm in Pennsylvania? You're all a bunch of thieves. I'm confiscating my property back.
One of the soldiers hits John with a stick, sending him reeling. He quickly recovers to meet the attack of the group. John picks up one man bodily and throws him at the others. His massive strength and size overpower them. He grabs a rifle, pointing it at them.
JOHN
Now--carry my belongings back to where you stole them.
INT. HOTEL ROOM -- EVENING
Margaret, lying on the bed again, has been reading a worn letter to Eddie.
EDDIE
Why are you crying, mama?
MARGARET
Just remembering--how happy we once were.
Eddie picks up a pressed rose from the table.
EDDIE
Is this the rose papa sent you from Mexico City.
MARGARET
(reading from letter)
"I have plucked one to send to you. Cherish it as my gift."
EDDIE
I wish he had brought back Montezuma's throne after he won the war with Mexico.
MARGARET
Eddie, life is not just fighting battles and capturing cities.
EDDIE
My father was a great soldier.
MARGARET
He's more than that, much more.
She looks back at her letter.
MARGARET
He had such dreams, so many beautiful promises in his letters from Mexico. I so hoped when he came back he would be satisfied to settle down on our farm.
EDDIE
But, mama, won't you be proud of him in San Francisco?
MARGARET
I would be just as proud to see him at home on the farm.
John bursts into the room.
JOHN
Well, I got my things back--and I watched the garrison captain whip the hide off those thieves.
MARGARET
How awful! Isn't that harsh?
JOHN
Lawlessness must be punished. I should have taken Eddie to watch it.
MARGARET
John! Eddie's too young.
JOHN
You're never too young to learn right from wrong.
MARGARET
Did you check on a ship? I'm afraid if I don't get settled soon I'll lose the baby.
JOHN
We sail day after tomorrow--on the S.S. Oregon.
MARGARET
Everybody in Panama City wants passage on that ship.
JOHN
(proudly)
The Geary family has reservations.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO BAY -- DAY
SHIP S.S. Oregon at dock is being unloaded--including stacks marked U.S. Mail--while John and his family say goodbye to CAPTAIN LOWEN. They stand near their boxed belongings. The STREET is one of chaos, an expanse of mud bordered by shotgun houses. A piano is partially visible sunk in the mud near a dead mule's hooves protruding upward. ROWDIES drink and fight unnoticed. There is GUNFIRE. PRESS GANGS are grabbing YOUTHS and taking them toward nearby ships.
LOWEN
See to the safety of your family, colonel. This ain't Philadelphia.
JOHN
It will be just like Philadelphia or New York or Boston. It's American now.
EDDIE
My father can do anything. He whipped Santa Anna in Mexico didn't he?
MARGARET
Hush, Eddie. (to Lowen) Captain, where are the police--to let all this go on in the streets.
LOWEN
(laughing)
Ma'am, there ain't a single policeman in the whole city. A few vigilantes get together if something real bad happens. But they're 'bout as bad as the rowdies. There ain't no firemen here neither. City keeps burning down and they keep putting it back up.
JOHN
San Francisco will have police. And firemen. And law and order.
LOWEN
I figure the Mexican War was easier than taming San Francisco
JOHN
We'll do it. But first I have to find lodgings for my family for the night.
John signals to two scrubby dock IDLERS.
JOHN
You there, give us a hand with our luggage and I'll reward you well.
FIRST MAN
Okay--for five dollars a box.
JOHN
Five dol . . . ! You thieves, I'll carry them myself before I'll pay you that.
SECOND MAN
Damned right you will! (to first man) Come on, I got enough for another bottle.
LOWEN
(laughing)
You got a lot to learn, colonel. Gold made prices go through the sky. An attic room will cost you forty five dollars a week. Breakfast is six dollars--each. And a dozen eggs--if you can find them--goes for fifteen dollars.
MARGARET
Fifteen dollars for eggs! My goodness, John, I should have brought chickens instead of dresses.
John and Lowen laugh at Margaret who blushes. John picks up the heavy trunks and bags. They start down the gangplank into the muddy streets.
JOHN
(shouts back to Lowen)
Hold the mailbags for me, captain. I'll be right back for them--soon as I find the Post Office.
LOWEN
Remember--this ain't Philadelphia.
JOHN
Give me a year or two. You won't know this city.
Several revelers pause to regard John and his family making their way through the chaos. John's size and obvious strength keep them at a respectful distance.
EXT. STREET -- DAY
Mail sacks are being unloaded from a wagon at a store with a sign announcing C.L. ROSS' NEW YORK STORE. John supervises. MINERS and ONLOOKERS stand nearby hopefully watching the mail bags.
INT. STORE -- DAY
The store is nearly deserted, with sacks of mail in the center of the room. MONK DEVLIN, a compact, intense man, leans over a ledger behind the counter.
DEVLIN
Geary, ain't you?
JOHN
Yes. Your city's new postmaster.
DEVLIN
Huh! Ain't my city no more'n it's your'n. Anyhow, there's your mailbags. Them people out front ain't had no mail in months.
JOHN
In due time. Are you C.L. Ross?
DEVLIN
Naw. Name's Devlin. Monk Devlin. I just work here till I get me a stake to go prospecting.
JOHN
I was told there would be quarters here for me and my family.
DEVLIN
Upstairs, such as they is. Pretty drafty, but the roof don't leak, not much anyway.
JOHN
They couldn't be worse than the ones we had last night. Now find me some tools. We have work to do. Build a window and cubby holes for the mail.
DEVLIN
WE--hell! I don't work for you.
JOHN
Can you read and write, Mister Devlin?
DEVLIN
'Course I can. You think I'm ignorant?
JOHN
Then you're working for the government. You're my assistant. I don't have time to argue. Now let's get to work.
Devlin shrugs his shoulders and goes to look for tools.
EXT. THE STORE -- DAY
A new sign--U.S. POST OFFICE--has been added. A near riot is developing as the MOB tries to shove toward the door.
FIRST MAN
Let me in. I ain't heard from home in seven months.
SECOND MAN
I was here first.
THIRD MAN
No. I was!
There is a CHORUS of angry people shouting and arguing, pushing and shoving.
INT. THE STORE -- DAY
John and Devlin are behind the counter in the middle of the wild crowd which includes WILLIAMSON and MILLER. John and Devlin have hands full of letters.
DEVLIN
(to John)
This ain't working.
JOHN
(shouting to crowd)
You have to get in line. Now who was first.
CHORUS
Me! Me! I was. You got in front of me. I was first. Get outta my way!
DEVLIN
You gotta sell places in line, colonel.
JOHN
Do what?
DEVLIN
I seen it done once at circuses and the-aters.
JOHN
Show me, Monk.
Devlin leaps onto the counter and shouts.
DEVLIN
Now listen up. We're gonna do this right--like an auction. How much am I bid for first place in line. Do I hear ten dollars?
WILLIAMSON
(holding up ten dollar bill)
I'm first. Williamson.
DEVLIN
First place going for ten dollars. Do I hear fifteen?. Ten going once . . .
MILLER
This ain't fair.
DEVLIN
Sure it is. It's the democratic way. Now do I hear fifteen?
MILLER
Make it twenty dollars. Damn it! I want my mail. Name's Miller. William Thomas Miller.
Devlin smiles down at John who beams approvingly.
DEVLIN
(to John)
We're gonna need some more clerks.
JOHN
Now we can afford them.
INT. GEARY QUARTERS -- NIGHT
Living above the Post Office-store, they have a small cot in the corner for Eddie, a brass bed behind the makeshift screen and a washstand. Heat comes from a rusted potbellied stove. Floors sag and crude curtains at the window show lights flickering and gradually becoming brighter from a fire outside.
MARGARET
John, how long will we have to live like this? When I think of all the nice things we left behind, I could . . .
JOHN
Things will be better soon. You don't understand. This is my chance to gain in politics what I lost in war. I was passed over for promotions I deserved.
MARGARET
Don't be bitter.
Traces of smoke come through the bottom of the door, but no one sees it at first.
JOHN
I'm not. My own men elected me brigade commander. If the war lasted longer, I could have made general. Or if I had the right family or political connections.
MARGARET
You should be proud of what you've done. You worked and paid off your father's debts when he died. You educated yourself. Engineer. Lawyer. Schoolteacher. Soldier.
JOHN
That's not enough.
VOICES SHOUTING
(from outside)
Fire! The Post Office is on Fire!
John opens the curtains, sees the glow of the fire below them and notices smoke in the room.
JOHN
Margaret! Eddie! Hurry, we have to save the mail.
INT. STORE -- NIGHT
John, Margaret, Eddie and Devlin, joined by OTHERS fight to save the mail and put out the fire started by the stove in the corner. Margaret grabs her abdomen from time to time, then eases back to find a corner chair. The fire out, John turns to his wife.
MARGARET
John--I think it's time.
JOHN
Let me get you back upstairs. (to Devlin) Go find Doc Miles.
DEVLIN
Won't do no good. Seen him drunk as a coot at the saloon while ago.
MARGARET
John! What will we do?
JOHN
I'll deliver our son.
MARGARET
No! No! I need a doctor!
INT. GEARY QUARTERS -- NIGHT
Margaret lies on the bed behind the screen while John bends over her. The window is open to let out the smoke. Eddie sits in a corner.
MARGARET
Please--I have to have a doctor. The pains are coming fast.
JOHN
There isn't time. I can do it.
MARGARET
John! You're not a doctor.
JOHN
I delivered a calf on the farm once.
She moans in pain and fear.
MARGARET
I'm not a cow!
JOHN
I dressed wounds in Mexico well as the next man. Women have babies every day. Now have faith in me.
EXT. STORE -- NIGHT
Brawls continue in the street. From the open window over the Post Office comes the WAIL of an infant.
JOHN'S VOICE OVER
William. We'll call him William Geary--the first American to be born in San Francisco.
EXT. NEW TEMPORARY POST OFFICE -- DAY
John and Devlin stand outside regarding the crude but new small building with the U.S. POST OFFICE designation. John's beard is full grown now.
JOHN
These new quarters will help you handle the mail, Monk. You're getting eighteen thousand pieces a day now.
DEVLIN
ME? You mean WE, don't you, colonel?
JOHN
I won't be here. Zachary Taylor is president now. He's appointed his own political friend.
DEVLIN
The damned ungrateful bastards, after all you done. You ain't going back east, are you?
JOHN
No. Looks like I'm going into real estate--among other things--with Sutton and Vorhees.
Monk whistles
MONK
That there's fast company, but I reckon you can handle it. Colonel, I'm kinda tired of shuffling letters around. If you got room for me, I'd like to tag along with you.
JOHN
(smiling)
What about the gold mine you say you're going to look for?
DEVLIN
Maybe I already found it. You're gonna strike pay dirt whatever you go after. I'd like to be around.
JOHN
Okay, Monk, let's hope you're right.
DEVLIN
If you feel like it, come on down to the saloon and I'll buy you a drink.
JOHN
You know I don't drink hard spirits--not even for medicine.
DEVLIN
I forgot.
JOHN
I'm a cold water man--after what I saw it do to my father.
DEVLIN
What's the missus think about your new plans?
JOHN
She doesn't know yet. And I have to tell her she'll be going back to Pennsylvania alone.
INT. GEARY'S APARTMENT -- NIGHT
Margaret sits meekly listening to John in a slightly better apartment. She is near tears. Eddie watches silently.
JOHN
It's better this way, Margaret, for you and the boys to go back to Pennsylvania without me.
MARGARET
But, John . . . just me and Eddie and a six-month-old baby alone? Crossing the Panama jungle? Going home without you?
JOHN
I've made arrangements. You'll travel with a group going back east. It's safe. I can't go yet. I came here to make my fortune and I haven't found it yet. A man is either a success or a failure.
MARGARET
A failure? Like your father?
JOHN
Yes. Like my father.
MARGARET
He was a good man.
JOHN
Good--yes. But he was a failure in everything he ever touched. My family will have all the things I never had. When I leave San Francisco, I'll be a millionaire.
MARGARET
Your being with us is much, much more important than all the money in the world.
JOHN
You're just being emotional. Your health is bad and you need to be close to better doctors. When you think about it, you'll know I'm right.
Margaret lowers her head submissively. Clutched in her hand are some of his precious old love letters.
EXT. SAN FRANCISCO STREET -- NIGHT
A torch light political PARADE marches down the street to the beat of a rousing BAND. They CHEER John who stands on a platform where a sign reads: GEARY FOR ALCALDE. John's beard is full grown, heavy black and forecful..
EXT. ANOTHER STREET -- NIGHT
A WOMAN runs SCREAMING down the street, pursued by three drunken MEN. They overtake her as she falls and they begin to assault her. John strides onto the scene and attacks the drunks.
JOHN
By God! We won't have this in San Francisco.
First man is thrown back by John who knocks the second man reeling.
FIRST MAN
Who the hell you think you are?
SECOND MAN
Christ! It's the alcalde. Geary.
John hits the third man, knocking him unconscious.
JOHN
We will have law in San Francisco. A woman will be safe on our streets.
FIRST MAN
Ain't but one of him. Let's get the sonuvabitch.
SECOND MAN
You go ahead. I'll watch. He's too much for me.
They run away and John helps the woman to her feet.
INT. BALLROOM -- NIGHT
A waltz is played in the background where DANCERS and PARTYGOERS enjoy the party. John stands talking with banker WILLIAM T. (CUMP) SHERMAN and Devlin who wears an expensive but tasteless suit. John and Sherman are properly dressed.
SHERMAN
Well, John, looks like you captured this town easier than we took Mexico City.
JOHN
I don't know if I took the town or the town captured me.
DEVLIN
Oh, it's his town all right, Mister Sherman. They elected him San Francisco's first alcalde and about everything else.
JOHN
"Mayor," Monk. Not alcalde. We're American now. All the way.
SHERMAN
And you're their sheriff, probate judge, coroner and judge of the first instance--not to mention your real estate holdings.
DEVLIN
He's making more money than President Zack Taylor hisself.
SHERMAN
Tell me, John, is it true you got started selling places in line at the Post Office.
JOHN
(indignantly)
Nothing wrong with that. Making money is no sin, Cump.
SHERMAN
Hell! I envy you. I tried my hand at banking down in Salinas, but lost more than I made. Got a letter the other day from Sam Grant. He's been losing money, too. You remember him. Ole U.S. Grant.
John nods, yes.
DEVLIN
You shoulda got the colonel to teach you 'rithmetic like he taught me.
SHERMAN
Still teaching school, eh, John?
DEVLIN
He figures good when it comes to a dollar. He's made a twenty-five percent profit from his real estate.
JOHN
That's more than the four percent I was accustomed to earning in Philadelphia.
SHERMAN
The city's grown since you took office, almost twenty thousand people here now. And you've stopped the lynching in the streets.
DEVLIN
He's practically a one-man city government--and he's big enough to do it.
SHERMAN
Hope that Irish temper doesn't get you killed. I hear you get out on the street and enforce your own laws.
JOHN
I have no patience with lawlessness.
SHERMAN
What about the slavery issue? You're chairman of the Democratic Territorial Committee. A lot of people want California to go into the union as a slave state.
JOHN
Never! California must be free.
SHERMAN
You feel strongly on that, don't you?
JOHN
Very much so. It's a problem the nation must solve--one way or another.
DEVLIN
You need to talk to him, Mister Sherman. He's thinking about going back to his farm in Pennsylvania.
SHERMAN
Aren't you going to make that second million first, John?
John laughs.
JOHN
That's what my wife calls me--the man who wants just a million more. But she's very ill, her doctor writes me. Reluctantly, I must go.
SHERMAN
San Francisco will miss you. So will Monk.
JOHN
Monk says he wants to go with me.
DEVLIN
I figure I'll stay with the colonel. Maybe if I stand close enough some of his money will rub off on me.
SHERMAN
You have a good man there, John.
JOHN
I know. I trust Monk with my life.