The William Farmer Script review

This 1997 draft is very much a supernatural Western, mixing the eerie tone of the original comics with the more overt horror elements seen in the Vertigo mini-series. Since this was never produced, I don't really feel bound to protect you from SPOILERS. Jonah Hex opens in 1865 with a pair of kids discovering a dead Confederate officer inside the ruins of an antebellum mansion. Actually, the Confederate isn't quite dead.

Flash forward to New Mexico 1869 and the "dead man" – who has given himself the name Jonah Hex since he doesn't know what the initials "J.H." on his gray Rebel coat really stand for – is now an infamous bounty hunter. But Jonah doesn't bring in mere rustlers and bandits; legend has it he deals specifically with "unholy" occurrences. An opening saloon gunfight between Jonah and some poker players seems like standard Western fare until the cardsharps reveal themselves to be werewolves.

The main plot kicks in when Jonah brings the dead werewolf – now reverted back to human form – to Abilene to collect his bounty from a refined Southern war vet named Forrest. It's implied that Jonah and Forrest knew each other during the Civil War but Hex can't recall anything about himself other than brief flashes of working on his farm.

Jonah senses something nefarious about Forrest but his curiosity is piqued after he's offered $10,000 to track down Doctor Guillermo, a "campfire story" who is said to have wandered the Earth for centuries, stealing magic from different cultures. Guillermo supposedly has power over life and death. Forrest hints that by finding Guillermo, Jonah may be able to uncover the truth about his past. We're not immediately told what Forrest wants with Guillermo but we are introduced to the lovely Mahlu, a Haitian woman who reluctantly serves as Forrest's accomplice and has magical powers of her own.

Jonah's quest leads him first to the Zuni nation and then to the creepy town of Anadarko where Guillermo has arrived under the assumed identity of Doc "Cross" Williams and his Travelling Oddities Revue. Hex soon realizes that the residents of Anadarko are under the spell of Guillermo and that this place now belongs to the living dead.
Hex finally manages to subdue Guillermo and brings him to Baton Rouge where Forrest has relocated. Now for the truth: Forrest is actually former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest (the script says so from the start but I thought I'd try to rope you in a bit first). Forrest wants Guillermo to use his magic to raise the dead soldiers of the Confederacy. With Forrest in command of an army that cannot be killed, the South will rise again and be victorious. Forrest also has a role for Jonah Hex (who still wears Rebel gray) in his scheme.

Forrest informs Jonah that he was once the Confederacy's best sniper but was killed by Yankees upon the order of a Union sympathizer, Tennessee politician Andrew Johnson ... now the President of the United States! Forrest wants Hex to assassinate Johnson while he's in town. Will Jonah kill President Johnson in order to avenge the loss of his past?

Meanwhile, Jonah and Mahlu have developed feelings for one another. Despite the taboo of interracial romance, they feel like kindred spirits. Soon after meeting President Johnson, Jonah comes to learn that Forrest has lied to him about his past. Jonah was actually Captain Jonathan Hazeltine. He'd become a spy for the Union after realizing that Forrest was mad. Forrest shot Hex/Hazeltine and left him for dead after he refused to take part in the massacre of black Union troops at Fort Pillow.

Having regained the memory of his past and the truth about his identity, Jonah confronts Forrest and defeats his plan (although the general himself escapes). Jonah is also relieved of his "curse" by Mahlu's magic and they ride off together in the end. A coda shows a tailor delivering a shipment of uniforms that Forrest had ordered for his new Confederate army. With Forrest on the run, the uniforms are cast aside and we see they are the white hoods and cloaks of the Ku Klux Klan, which the real Forrest led.

As for me this was and is total garbage and would have ruined any chance of a decent Jonah Hex movie ever being done if this was made. On a supprising note For along time Farmer had no writting credit on the upcomming film now he does?
how could they let this hack have credit is beyond me the guy sucks.