Book City
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May 19, 1999: The second draft of The Thin Red Line script dated October 1996, arrived from Book City in the mail today. Here's their contact information.
Book City
6627 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood , CA 90028 USA
Tel:(323) 466-2525
Fax:(323) 962-6742
email: bookcity@earthlink.net
The Thin Red Line copyright belongs to Twentieth Century Fox.
CREDIT SEQUENCE
Waves lapping at the shore. Breadfruit and coconut trees. The peace of a green island paradise.
INT. BRIG
FIRST SGT. WELSH sits in the brig of a warship, talking with PFC WITT, a thin man from Breathitt County, Kentucky, an old regular and formerly a regimental boxer.
WELSH
I can put you up for a court-martial, or I can give you non-judicial
punishment. Your choice, up or down. It's a felony offence to strike an
officer--that includes an NCO.
WITT
It ain't right.
WELSH
(making the decision for him)
We're going to send you to a place where you learn or you don't.
They're going to shape you up.
WITT
What did the Captain say?
WELSH
Captain don't want you. Company don't want you.
WITT
You fixed it that way.
WELSH
You were gambling. You got mad because you lost. I've read your
record. You been a loser all your life. You don't fool me. You'll never
amount to nothing.
(after a pause)
You hit an NCO from another unit, in a war zone. Normally you'd go to
Leavenworth.
WITT
Baloney!
WELSH
This isn't a normal situation. I worked a deal. Consider yourself
lucky. If this got to Battalion, you'd be court-martialed. Maybe
hanged.
WITT
Nonsense.
WELSH
A felony offence, in a war zone. I've had trouble with you since
Hawaii. You're a bad soldier. You'd let us down.
Welsh leaves. The door CRASHES shut behind him.
SCENE 42
EXT. GRASSY SLOPE (KECK'S ATTACK)
[Long charge scene up the hill snipped--CL]
Instinctively everyone begins to run for that [ledge--CL]. They dive in behind its protection pell-mell, sobbing with exhaustion. The exertion and the heat have been too much. Several men vomit. One man gurgles once senselessly, then--his eyes rolling back in his head--faints from heat prostration. They lie against the ledge in the midday sun and smell the hot, summer-smelling dust. Insects HUM around them. The fire has stopped.
DOLL
Well, what're we gonna do now?
KECK
We're gonna stay right here. Maybe they'll get some reinforcements up
to us.
DOLL
Ha! To do what?
KECK
To capture these goddamn fucking positions around here! What do you
think?
DOLL
You mean you really want to go on with it?
KECK
I don't know. No. Not no uphill charge. But they get us some
reinforcements, we can scout around and maybe locate where all these
goddamn fucking MGs are. Anyway, it's better than going back down through
that. You want to go back down?
Nobody answers this, and Keck does not feel it necessary to elaborate. Witt studies the ants crawling on the ground.
KECK
McCron's gone. Bell, I'm appoint you acting sergeant in his place.
BECKER
What if the Japs come down here in force and throw us off of here?
KECK
I don't think they will. But we better have a sentry. Doll.
WITT
Somethin's comin'!
DOLL
They're comin'! Somebody's comin'!
As one man the line behind the ledge sweeps up and forward, rifles ready. Forty yards away seven pot-headed, bandy-legged, starved-looking Japanese men are running down at them across an ungrassed area carrying hand grenades in their right hands and bayoneted rifles in their left. The massed rifle FIRE from the ledge disposes of them quickly. Only one of them is able to throw; and his grenade, a dud, lands short. When the fire ceases, only two bodies continue to move. Aiming deliberately in the sudden quiet, Witt the Kentuckian puts a killing round into each one of them.
WITT
You never can tell about them boys. Even when they're hit.
DOLL
Why'd they do it? If they wanted to throw us out of here, why didn't
they come in force? Why just seven? It don't figure.
DALE
Maybe they were doing it on their own. Without orders.
They await a second, larger attack, but only four more Japanese appear. Witt, who is the best marksman in the regiment, quickly SHOOTS three down. Doll and Dale watch in awe. Keck reaches in his hip pocket to pull out a grenade, and in the excitement he gets it in the pin. He and Bell exchange a look of dizzying, near-fainting terror, then he leaps back from the line and sits back against a little dirt hamock, to protect the others. The grenade goes off with a sickening THUD. They se there is nothing they can do for him. His entire right buttock and much of his lower back have been blown away.
KECK
What a fucking recruit trick to pull.
BECKER
He jumped away--so we wouldn't get hit.
Bell and Doll sit with him while the others go back to the line. They wipe the mud off his face and try to reassure him.
DOLL
We'll take care of you, Keck. I swear to God we will! Just take it
easy.
KECK
You guys write my old lady, wil you? Don't forget. I want her to know
I died like a man.
DOLL
Sure, sure. But nobody's gonna haf to write your old lady. You'll
come out of this. We got stretcher-bearers with us, remember? Battalion
Aid Station's movin' up all the time. They'll have you back to the docs in
no time.
KECK
Bullshit. Don't bullshit me. I'm cold.
BELL
There, there. Just take it easy.
KECK
You guys don't forget to write my old lady I died like a man.
He sighs, first sign of the approaching breathlessness of massive haemorrhage.
KECK
I grabbed it by the pin. This fuckin' mud on my face!
Bell wets his handkerchief and cleans Keck's face with it. This seems to make him feel better. Becker goes to the ledge to signal the compnay to send reinforcements.
KECK
Just don't forget to write my old lady I died like a man.
DOLL
Just take it easy. Don't talk like that. You'll make it ouf of
this.
KECK
Horseshit. I'm bleedin' to death. Ain't I?
He looks at Witt, who does not answer but watches him with sympathy.
KECK
See? Maybe it's just as good. I'm all messed up on the crock. What if
I couldn't fuck no more? Just don't forget to write my old lady I died
manly.
DOLL
Sure, sure. I'll write her. Just take it easy.
Witt comes up. Doll and Bell drift away. Witt is calm and cheerful in the presence of death, unembarassed. He feels a bond with the dying man.
KECK
Aid Station's never gonna up here. The medics neither.
WITT
You're gonna be all right. Even if you die. You didn't let your
brother down... Those flies bothering you?
He whisks the flies away from Keck's face and waits. His eyes express a deep understanding and tenderness.
WITT
We'll remember what you done. We won't forget it. It won't be wasted.
Keck looks at him uncomprehendingly. The others return. The breathlessness has hit him; they know it won't be long.
KECK
I'm cold. Freezin'!
When he stops breathing, the men stand up.
BELL
You going to write his wife?
DOLL
Fuck no! I don't know his old lady. That's the Company Commander's
job, not mine. You out of your mind? I ain't no good at writin' letters.
BELL
You told him you would.
DOLL
I say anything when they're like that.
BELL
Somebody ought to do it.
DOLL
Then you write her.
BELL
I didn't tell him I would.
WITT
(to Doll)
You make me sick.
Squaring his shoulders, he stares at Doll, ready to fight him then and there, in the midst of combat. Doll does not want a fight. Witt turns away in disgust. Charlie Dale comes over.
DALE
All over?
DOLL
Yeah.
SCENE 81
EXT. AIRFIELD (SOUVENIR MARKET) - MUSIC
In the morning the whole of C-for-Charlie descends en mass to the airfield, spreads out over the undamaged or least-damaged areas of it, and begins bargaining with the Air Corps, trading souvenirs for the Scotch that the flyers bring in each day from Australia with the generals' supplies, the milk, meat and cheese.
It is like a vast Arab souk, a thieves' market, and the bidding is fierce. A silk battle flag, preferably bloodstained, is worth at least three Imperial quarts. A "Samurai sabre" is always worth five. Money is practically meaningless to everyone except the airmen.
BELL (V.O.)
(with music)
The world seems crazy without you. Away from you the world is unreal, like
a country you're leaving forever and never coming back to.
(after a pause)
I look up in the leaves, I listen to the crickets, I feel like anything
could be a sign from you. When I'm with other people I feel homesick for
the mountain air I've breathed with you. Loving you keeps me pure.
(after a pause)
We're like two trees that have grown together--like ivy on a wall. Nothing
means anything without you.
(after a pause)
Will peace ever come? I want to stay changeless for you, Marty. You get
something twisted out of your insides by all this filth and blood and
noise. Keep me through this terror, Marty. Keep me through the madness.
Keep me through the blood. Darling, hold me close tonight. I love you.