Once Upon the West – The Award-Nominated Short Film Script
In the lawless heart of the American West, justice rides a thin line between honor and survival.
When Deputy U.S. Marshal Jedidiah Washington captures the infamous outlaw Nick Purdy, he knows the hardest part isn’t the arrest—it’s keeping him locked up. With Purdy’s men circling like vultures and the town of Beacon City bracing for war, the badge on Jedidiah’s chest may not be enough to hold back the tide.
Meanwhile, Red Bear, a Comanche tracker, follows the bloodstained trail of a massacre. The same men he once fought beside in the war now hunt his people for profit, trading scalps for gold. But Red Bear isn’t hunting justice—he’s hunting vengeance.
As the night closes in, guns are drawn, loyalties are tested, and the cost of justice comes due.
Once Upon the West is a gripping short film script that redefines the Western with a tale of duty, vengeance, and the unyielding fight for justice.
Novelization
Once Upon the West – A Novel by Daniel M Rosales
The law is only as strong as the men who wear the badge.
Jedidiah Washington, a former slave turned U.S. Deputy Marshal, knows this better than most. The weight of the badge grants him authority, but not acceptance. It protects him from some men—but not all.
When notorious outlaw Nick Purdy is captured and locked up in Beacon City, his gang gathers like a storm on the horizon, ready to break him free by any means necessary. The town holds its breath, caught between the law and the lawless, waiting for the first shot to fire.
Meanwhile, Red Bear, a Comanche tracker, follows a trail of death back to a familiar enemy. The men who once fought beside him in the Civil War now ride as bounty killers, trading scalps for gold. He has no badge, no judge, and no prison cell waiting for them—only vengeance.
As tensions in Beacon City rise, Jedidiah fights to uphold a justice that has never fully protected him, Red Bear hunts the men who massacred his people, and the town’s fate teeters on the edge of a gun barrel.
When the dust settles, the West will remember who stood, who fell, and who walked away.