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THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS The ELK HUNTNote: Hows this for a change from the finished product?!? ... and NO mention of the powerful Opening Vistas! This is how the script begins ...[FADE IN]The screen is a microcosm of leaf, crystal drops of precipitation, a stone, emerald green moss. It
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
Note: How's this for a change from the finished product?!? ... and NO mention of the powerful Opening Vistas! This is how the script begins ...
[FADE IN]
The screen is a microcosm of leaf, crystal drops of precipitation, a stone, emerald green moss. It's a landscape in miniature. We HEAR the forest. Some distant birds. Their sound seems to reverberate as if in a cavern. A piece of sunlight refracts within the drops of water, paints a patch of moss yellow. The whisper of wind is joined by another sound that mixes with it. A distant rustling. It gets closer and louder. It's shallow breathing. It gets ominous. We're interlopers on the floor of the forest and something is coming. SUDDENLY:
A MOCCASINED FOOT
rockets through the frame scaring us and ...
EXTREMELY CLOSE: PART OF AN INDIAN FACE
running hard. His head shaved bald except for a scalp-lock. Tattoos. He's twenty-five. He seems tall and muscled. Heavy, even breathing. We'll learn later this man is UNCAS, the last of the Mohicans.
PROFILE: UNCAS' ARMS
flash as he runs. One carries a flintlock musket. Sweat on the man's skin. A calico shirt is gathered at the waist with a wampum belt of small white beads over a breechcloth. He wears leggings to protect his legs. A long-handled tomahawk is stuffed in his belt.
CUT TO ...
ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST - MASSIVE WAR CLUB - DAY
in the hand of another running man. He's heavier, older ...
CHEST
A green bear claw is tattooed there. Silver armband. A snake is tattooed over his left eyebrow. Silver rings in his ear. He's forty to forty-five. His head is shaved into a scalp-lock. It says: "Come and lift this from me. Take it, if you can ..." That prospect strikes us as extremely unlikely. This man is CHINGACHGOOK. The French call him "Le Gros Serpent," the Great Snake, because "he knows the winding ways of men's nature and he can strike a sudden, deathly blow."
WIDE ANGLE: CHINGACHGOOK
runs, disturbing no leaves, no branches; making no sound. He's running parallel to Uncas through the cathedral of mature forest. It's heavily canopied. There's very little brush. The girth of the trees is huge. Shafts of light illuminate motes of dust and turn leaves emerald where the sun breaks through. Sometimes there's ferns; rhododendron, sometimes pale grass and outcroppings of rock. These men run the forest streams, over boulders, fallen trees and down into ravines as if they own them. They do.
CUT TO ...
ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST - LONG BLACK HAIR - DAY
rocketing through trees. His torn buckskin shirt is tied at the waist with a wampum belt holding a tomahawk and a large knife. A long rifle in which is carved the name "Killdeer" is in his right fist. Indian tattooing on his chest. His name is NATHANIEL POE. He's a few years older than Uncas. The French and the French-speaking tribes know him as La Longue Carabine (Long Rifle). Other frontiersmen in New York colony and the Iroquois and Delaware-speaking tribes know him as Hawkeye. Sweat stains his shirt. He flashes through the tree branches disturbing nothing. Making no sound.
HAWKEYE'S POV: A PIECE OF TAN
two hundred and fifty yards away, a few square inches buried in the foliage ...
SUDDENLY HE STOPS
Killdeer's at his shoulder ...
HAWKEYE'S THUMB
cocks the lock holding the piece of flint: click.
UNCAS
stops dead, holding out his hand ... no sound.
CHINGACHGOOK
slips through young trees and stops, shouldering his smoothbore musket. Is this an ambush?
HAWKEYE'S POV: RACK FOCUS THROUGH THE GUN SIGHT
Five feet and fourteen pounds of rifle is elevated a half inch and shifted left, off target. It's a precise, smooth movement. No human quiver.
KILLDEER'S TRIGGER
tighter ...
THE COCK
holding the flint hits the iron file of the frizzen, shooting sparks into the pan of priming powder which flashes and ...
TAN
is a huge elk that leaps at the sound.
KILLDEER'S MUZZLE
CRACKS like lightning.
AN ELK
leaps where the .59 caliber round was programmed to intercept him. On the moment of impact ...
WIDE
three men approach the fallen elk and each other. We realize they're hunting together. Hawkeye steps aside for Chingachgook. His massive war club is flat and angles to one side with a stabbing blade. Hawkeye is stepson and stepbrother. The two younger men treat Chingachgook with an easy deference and affection. Hawkeye's a dialectic of two cultures. In his coloration and worldliness he's more the Anglo-Saxon frontiersman. In his independent views and candid manner and in his combat skills and woodsmanship, he's more native American (Mohican). As Chingachgook takes out his long knife and they approach the fallen elk ...]
CHINGACHGOOK: [low Mohican; sub-titled] We're sorry to kill you, Brother. Forgive us. I do honor to your courage and speed, your strength ...
[CUT TO ...]
EXTERIOR -
[INTERIOR CAMERON CABIN - JOHN CAMERON - NIGHT
roasts potatoes on a stick in the stone fireplace next to CAPTAIN JACK WINTHROP, an American in very worn quasi-military gear. On a rough table in the tiny cabin ALEXANDRIA, his wife, is kneading bread. Three children climb on their father. He grabs their wild seven year old son, JAMES, who shrieks laughter and dodges away. The cabin has two primitive rooms, waxed paper windows, log walls. O.S. a dog barks. Others pick it up. Cameron & Jack are suddenly alert, reaching for weapons ...
CUT TO ...
EXTERIOR CAMERON CABIN, DOORWAY - CAMERON - NIGHT
appears warily, musket in hand.
FENCE: CHINGACHGOOK]
CHINGACHGOOK: Halloo! John Cameron!
[Doorway: Cameron towards the interior ...]
CAMERON: Alexandria! Set three more places. [to the fence] How is Chingachgook, then?
[Behind him, emerging from the dark trees are Hawkeye, Uncas, cradling flint locks, blankets and packs over their shoulders, leading a mule laden with skins and the elk carcass. Crossing the splitrail fence ...]
CHINGACHGOOK: The Master of Life is good. Another year pass ... How is it with you, John?
CAMERON: Gettin' along. Yes, it is. [warm] Nathaniel.
HAWKEYE: Hello John. Cleared another quarter, I see.
CAMERON: [shakes hands with Uncas] Yes, I did.
[JAMES CAMERON
tears past his father & runs full bore. Just before he's going to collide into Uncas, he leaps into the air and Uncas snatches him with one hand and swings him up onto his shoulders. The kid screams with delight and rides back towards the cabin that way. Alexandria comes to the door.
CUT TO ...
INTERIOR CABIN - CHINGACHGOOK - EVENING (LATER)
lights & smokes a clay pipe. The scene says: this is a rustic, frontier home and these people have known each other & live in dangerous circumstances.]
ALEXANDRIA: If Uncas is with you, that means he has not found a woman and started a family yet.
CHINGACHGOOK: Your eyes are too sharp, Alexandria Cameron. They see into my heart.
UNCAS: Your farm good to you this year, John?
CAMERON: It was a good year for corn.
UNCAS: Mohawk field we saw was 5 mile long on the river. Chief Joseph Brandt's field.
CAMERON: You take much fur?
HAWKEYE: That we did. John. But the horicane [sic] is near trapped out.
JACK: Tradin' your skins in Castleton?
UNCAS: No, Schylerville. With the Dutch for silver. French & English want to buy with wampum & brandy.
[Pause, then ...]
HAWKEYE: So what is it, Jack? What brings you up here?
JACK: A French & Indian army out of Fort Carillon's heading south to war against the English. I'm here to raise this county's militia to aid the British defense.
HAWKEYE: Folks here goin' to join in that fight?
JACK: We'll see in the morning ...
CHINGACHGOOK: Fathers of England & France, both, take more land, furs, than they need. They're cold & full of greed ...
JACK: Few'd deny that? Where you headin'?
HAWKEYE: Trap over the fall and winter among the Delawares in Can-tuck-ee.
UNCAS: So I can find a woman and make Mohican children so our father will leave my brother & me in peace.
[Alexandria laughs. So do Hawkeye & Chingachgook.]
JAMES: A son like me?
[Uncas grabs James & suspends him upside down.]
UNCAS: NO. You are too strong. Turn me old too fast!
[Hawkeye grabs the kid from Uncas. The kid's laughing & can't stay still. Chingachgook watches, content, smoking his clay pipe.]
ALEXANDRIA: That's what he's doin' to his mama ...
[She ruffles his hair and lifts the heavy iron pot off the tibbet. Uncas goes to help her, she shrugs his hand away and carries it to the table herself. The men gather around. There's pan-baked bread, a dish of salt, and the pot has venison and yellow cornmeal in a kind of stew. Everyone waits.]
CAMERON: Dear Father, thank you for rewardin' the fruits of our labor with plenty. Amen.
[As they start to eat ...
CUT TO ...]
[EXTERIOR CAMERON CABIN - MOHAWK BOY & JAMES CAMERON - MORNING
slam into other kids as they battle through a Lacrosse game. In the background are sixty men, women and children. It's a community gathering held out of doors. We've entered mid-scene. Captain Jack is standing on a box. Some women and kids mill around some tables and boards laid over barrels. Cooking fires. Smoke. Most but not all around Captain Jack are men, nine settlers, 3 hunter/trappers, eight Mohawk farmers in mixed European and native clothing. Off to the side are an English Lieutenant on horseback and a ten-man escort from whatever regiment's in Albany. A man named HENRI speaks in French. His son, MARTIN, translates.]
HENRI: [O.S. in French]
MARTIN: [translates] My father says he was driven out of France by the black robe priests and he would fight them now but he lost his arm and so I will go in his place.
[Meanwhile ...
ONGEWASGONE
is an unusually large Mohawk in a blue match coat with a little girl holding his hand. He says something to Chingachgook who nods. Hawkeye and Uncas are a little apart in an outer grouping of the men. Ongewasgone is a war chief and wears a white plume and is tattooed. As Martin finishes, he steps forward.]
ONGEWASGONE: John Cameron, thank you for your hospitality ... Twin River Mohawk got no quarrel with Les Francais. Trade furs with Les Francais. Now Les Francais bring Huron onto Mohawk hunting grounds ...
[These people are English, Scots-Irish and Dutch farmers; some French Huguenot "mechanics" (craftsmen). They're in shirt-sleeves and Indian moccasins & leggings. The Mohawks' vast lands and corn agriculture border the settlement. They've been acculturated for over a hundred years. Some wear European calico hunting shirts. Their heads are shaved to scalping locks and many are tattooed. They've politically and commercially played France & England against each other very adroitly for over a hundred years because of their military power and geographic position. Their relations with working farmers and settlers and their families has been mostly one of co-existence because there's always been more than enough for all. This is a WPA mural of ethnic diversity and plurality of frontier America. The Europeans are former indentured laborers, farmers exiled by economics or religious persecution, frontier hunters and trappers ... working people.]
ONGEWASGONE: [continues] Now Mohawk will fight Huron and Les Francais. My brothers have asked me to lead them in this war so I speak for the Twin River Council.
[The importance of this commitment is apparent to the lieutenant.]
LIEUTENANT: His Majesty King George II is very grateful for your support.
IAN: How far up the valley?
LIEUTENANT: To Fort William Henry.
COLONIAL #1: ... two days from here.
[Some don't like this.]
LIEUTENANT: It should be enough to remind you France is the enemy.
HAWKEYE: Your enemy ...
[Heads turn to Hawkeye at the periphery of the crowd.]
LIEUTENANT: What did you say?
HAWKEYE: [loud] I said ... France is your enemy. Not ours.
LIEUTENANT: Really? Do you want them to overrun all New York colony?
HAWKEYE: First place, you started it with the French over fur-trapping claims to the head waters of the Ohio. [smiles] Now you're sayin' these people have a fight on their hands ...
LIEUTENANT: [ignoring Hawkeye] Will you men help us stop the French?
HAWKEYE: ... and while they are cooped up in your fort, what if the French send war parties to raid their homes?
IAN: What then, Lieutenant?
LIEUTENANT: For your own homes, for king, for country, that's why you men ought to join this fight!
HAWKEYE: You do what you want with your own scalp. Do not be tellin' us what to do with ours.
LIEUTENANT: [furious; to Hawkeye] You, sir! You call yourself a loyal subject?
HAWKEYE: ... No ... Do not call myself much of a subject at all.
[Light laughter.]
COLONIAL #2: Nathaniel's right. But if I got to fight, figure I'll try and do it fifty miles north of here instead of my bean field.
AD LIBS: Yes. Yeah. No ...
CAMERON: I am stayin' on my farm. And any man who goes, his family is welcome to fort-up with us 'til he comes back.
JACK: Boys. My sense of it is enough of us will join-up to fill the county's levy. But only if General Webb accepts a few terms I got in mind ...
[HAWKEYE & UNCAS
cross through the people. A few men drift off to their women at the tables. It is apparent two-thirds of the men will join. A couple of jokes, light banter, no hostility.]
AD LIBS [O.S.] Webb? what's that, Jack ...?
[As they cross through they start removing their shirts and weapons.]
IAN: You boys marchin' with us? What do you say?
UNCAS: We had our say, Ian.
[They approach the Lacrosse field. Chingachgook stands with Cameron in the background, watching.
LACROSSE FIELD
Uncas joins James. Hawkeye goes on the other side. A couple of young Mohawks and a young blonde farmer shout hallo's and as the bodies crash into each other ...
CUT TO ...]
[EXTERIOR BRITISH ENCAMPMENT, PARADE GROUND - SIX HUNDRED 62nd REGIMENT OF FOOT - DAY
in two rows. At each command the crack troops respond en masse. Their hands slap the stocks of their brown bess muskets in unison. These men are drilling in preparation for war. We witness a state-of-the-art, 18th century, precision killing machine.]
REGIMENTAL SGT. MAJOR: [shouts] Shoulder arms! [slam] Order arms! Handle cartridge! [men bite the paper] Prime! [powder dropped in pan] Load! Draw ramrods! Ram cartridge! Return ramrod! Make ready! [muskets at chest height] Pre-sent! [muskets shouldered] Make ready! [muskets returned to chests] Pre-sent! [muskets returned to shoulder] Fire!
[Like a single shot, two hundred fifty black powder muskets fire .65 caliber lead shot at chest height in a scythe of death.]
SERGEANT MAJOR: Prime! Load!
[The Dutch roof lines of Albany are in the distance. Nearer, a coach races past.
CUT TO ...
EXTERIOR ROAD - HORSES GALLOP - DAY
Six horses, wide with dumb, mute strain. Foam, manes fly, their hooves pound the yellow road into dust. Military outriders are on the three left side horses.
CUT TO ...
INTERIOR COACH - MAJOR DUNCAN HEYWARD - DAY
sits erectly in the brilliant scarlet coat of the First Royal Regiment of Foot with gold braid, blue-black facing and blue-black breeches, cavalry boots, spurs, a tricorn, white wig (?) and a gorget (large medallion) around his neck. He's 28-30 and tough. He is self-sure, principled reactionary. He believes human society is static & layered into hierarchies of class and they are absolutely impermeable. He opens a simple gold-clasped case & contemplates its contents ...
HEYWARD'S POV: CASE
enameled portrait of a dark-haired young woman.
HEYWARD
as a soldier is militarily first-rate in his milieu: the open battlefields of Europe. Right now, however, he is about to enter the forests of North America. He closes his clasp and glances out the window as we enter Albany and as a facade of buildings & people pass.
CUT TO ...
INTERIOR BRITISH HQ, ASSEMBLY ROOM - DOOR - DAY
Four Grenadiers come to attention as Heyward enters mid-scene.]
JACK [O.S.]: ... if they are not allowed leave to defend their families if the French or Hurons attack the settlements, no colonial militia is goin' to Fort William Henry.
HEYWARD: [low] You, there. Help my man outside with the baggage.
[GENERAL JEROME WEBB sees Heyward and nods. Three of Webb's Adjutants are on either side. Three remaining Grenadiers in bearskin-covered mitred caps are at the door. Facing Webb are a half dozen colonial representatives, including Captain Jack Winthrop. Heyward watches Jack ...]
LIEUTENANT: They will report or be pressed into service!
LARGE COLONIAL REP: Any of the boys worth havin' can disappear into forest ... time it takes you to blink. Where's that leave ya, then?
[Heyward, preparing to hand over dispatches, is interrupted by the insubordinate tone. Equally wound tightly is the Lieutenant.]
LIEUTENANT: They will be found! Arrested ...
WEBB: [cuts in] I cannot imagine his Majesty, in his benevolence, would ever object to his American subjects defending their hearth & home, their women & children, if threatened by the "scourge" of attack from savages, aroused to such excess by our enemy, the ever-perfidious French.
JACK: Does that mean they will be granted leave to defend their homes if the settlements are attacked?
WEBB: Of course.
[Heyward's more amazed by what he's just heard from Webb. These Americans, including Jack, are streaming past him on their way out.]
JACK: You got yourself a colonial militia, General.
HEYWARD: Major Duncan Heyward reporting, Sir!
[Webb's pouring gin.]
WEBB: Duncan. How was your journey?
[The door closes. Dispatches are passed. They are now alone except for the General's two Adjutants and a shadowy form waiting patiently in a corner. He's MAGUA. In the dim light, he's motionless. Webb slides a glass across to Heyward.]
HEYWARD: I didn't experience anything so surprising from Bristol to Albany as what I witnessed here today.
WEBB: And what is that?
HEYWARD: The Crown "negotiating" the terms of service?
WEBB: I know. [assuming a co-commiserator] One has to give Americans "reasons" and make agreements to get them to do anything at all. Tiring, isn't it? [throws up his hands] But that's the way of it here.
HEYWARD: [tight] I thought British policy is 'Make the World ... England', sir.
[A chill. Majors don't upbraid Generals.]
WEBB: You will take command of the 62nd Regiment of Foot. At Fort William Henry under Colonel Munro. I will march the 33rd to Fort Edward.
HEYWARD: Sir! ... Might I enquire if General Webb has heard from Colonel Munro's daughters? I was to rendezvous with them in Albany and escort them to the fort.
WEBB: Yes. You may. [to Magua, after a glance at Heyward] You there. What does Munro call you? [ to Heyward] The "Scotsman" has sent one of his Indian allies to guide you.
[MAGUA
rises and slowly walks into the light. He is reserved and over six feet tall. His head is shaved into a mohawk. Rings, beads & feathers pierce his ears. A blanket is worn as a shawl over his left shoulder exposing his right arm and heavy tattooing. A long tomahawk is in the belt of his breechcloth.]
WEBB: The Scotsman's daughters are at the Poltroon's house. A company of the 33rd will accompany you and Magua will show you the way.
HEYWARD: By your leave, sir.
[Webb holds Heyward a moment:]
WEBB: [to Adjutants] Explain to the Major we care little about toying with colonial militia because we have little to fear from the French. They have not the nature for war. Their Latinate voluptuousness combines with their Gallic laziness and the result is: they would rather make love with their faces than fight.
[Webb's Adjutants laugh uproariously at his wit. Heyward's stiff, perfunctory smile. He's been made the butt of the joke. He does not share Webb's derisive view of the French. Webb doesn't like Heyward's manner. We don't like Webb. Then:]
WEBB: [continuing] Dismissed.
[Heyward stiffly salutes. Webb casually, perfunctorily salutes the younger man in return.]
HEYWARD: [to Magua] Dawn. At the encampment. Six a.m. sharp. See to it you're there.
[Beneath Magua's barely deferential manner we sense intelligence & menace. None of these Brits see it. We do.
CUT TO ... ]
Note: The issue of Poltroon/patroon is discussed elsewhere in this web site. We believe it should correctly be "patroon", and have used that spelling in On The Trail Of The Last Of The Mohicans. For an argument why, read the post, , on our WWW Board.
[EXTERIOR POLTROON'S HOUSE - DUNCAN HEYWARD - DAY
brushed clean, his wig freshly powdered, his tricorn in his hand with a crimson sash and sword and his cavalry boots, walks through the gate after knocking. He enters a small courtyard. Suddenly he hears ...]
CORA: [O.S.] Heyward! Duncan Heyward.
[Heyward looks to the side. An inner light turns on. In this mode, this is a man we could like.
REVERSE: CORA MUNRO
enters from the garden. She's vivacious, dark-haired, unconventional in that she's educated, but with conventional values and attitudes. She hugs Duncan to her and then pushes him away to look at him:]
HEYWARD: My God it's good to see you.
[He takes her hand in both of his and kisses it. He is open and lit up.
CUT TO ...
EXTERIOR POLTROON'S HOUSE, BACK YARD - CORA & HEYWARD - DAY
A vegetable plot behind the Poltroon's house is a provincial substitute for a formal garden setting. Heyward and Cora sit on rough wooden chairs. Wind blows. In the background a servant hangs laundry. The white sheets billow. A table holds a tea setting. They're sitting close to each other, talking seriously and quietly. Duncan's jacket is removed. Time's passed. Long pause. Then:]
CORA: I'm embarrassed to be so indecisive ... after so long apart and after you've traveled so far ...
HEYWARD: And by sea!
CORA: You still have an aversion to the water?
HEYWARD: Aversion? No. ... "Hatred" ... "Loathing" ...
[Cora laughs]
HEYWARD: But it was worth it all to end in a garden by your side.
[She looks askance at him. Then the banter drops.]
CORA: [difficult] Dear Duncan, my affection is as towards a closest friend. Alice and I depend on you and respect you immensely ... I wish they did, but my feelings don't go beyond that. Do you see?
HEYWARD: Isn't respect and friendship, a reasonable basis for a man and woman to be joined? And all else may grow in time ...?
CORA: Some say that's the way of it.
HEYWARD: "Some"?
CORA: Cousin Eugenie, my father, but ...
HEYWARD: [interrupts] Cora, in my heart, I know once we're joined, we'll be the happiest couple in England. Let those whom you trust, your father, help settle what's best for you. In view of your indecision, why not rely on their advice and judgment as well as mine?
[Cora stares directly at Heyward. Then she looks away. She has no answer. Something subterranean disturbs her about delegating judgment over the fate of her life.]
HEYWARD: Will you consider that?
CORA: [pause; smiles] Yes. Yes, I will.
[She's still unsettled.]
ALICE: [O.S.] Duncan!
[REVERSE: ALICE MUNRO
eighteen years old, white-blonde hair, wide blue eyes. She's effervescent and runs to hug him. Heyward is taken aback by her enthusiasm and laughs.]
HEYWARD: My God, you've grown up.
ALICE: We leave in the morning?!
HEYWARD: [rises] Yes, miss.
ALICE: I won't sleep tonight. What an adventure! I absolutely cannot wait to return to Portman Square, having laid eyes upon the full-blooded, red men in the wild!
CORA: My God, Alice.
HEYWARD: [smiles] It can be dangerous ...
ALICE: Nonsense. Papa wouldn't have sent for us if it were dangerous.
[Alice takes Hewyward's hand. Cora pours Heyward more tea. The white sheets billow.
AMBROSE: [O.S. - barks] Atten-shun!
CUT TO ...
To Read
[EXTERIOR BRITISH ARMY HQ - TWENTY BRITISH REGULARS - DAY
jolt upright as if electrified.]
AMBROSE: [entering] Shoulder arms!
[AMBROSE
a sergeant major of forty-one is wide and deep and built like a fullback. You do not [mess] with Sgt. Major Ambrose.]
AMBROSE: [barks] Form two companies of nine ... MARCH!!
[THE MEN
march in perfect drill into two groups, each three across and three deep.
MILITARY HQ, ENTRANCE - MAJOR DUNCAN HEYWARD
steps out. Rigid salutes.
HEYWARD
climbs onto his white military charger. It's spirited. Cora & Alice are in riding dresses and veils. The veil doesn't completely cover Alice's golden hair and blue eyes and the flush of her complexion. They're riding two sidesaddled Narragansetts. The tight traveling dress reveals that Cora, two or three years older than Alice, is fuller and more mature. All three ride to the front of the column. The baggage horses and mule are in the gap between the two companies.
MAGUA
cradling his musket.
REAR SHOT: THE COLUMN
down the path that leads into the wall of forest looks impressive.
WIDER: THE COLUMN
marching. Now they look brave but smaller. The forest - with all its mysteries and dangers - now impresses us as a towering dark, sinister, and it's immensity swallows up the living mass which slowly enters its bosom.
CUT TO ...
INTERIOR FOREST
TRACKING the Redcoats, their faces now filmed with dust, cut with lines of perspiration. They march in perfect formation.
We TRACK PAST the pack horses, the first company, Sgt. Major Ambrose and on to Cora & Alice. Alice seems fatigued. Cora's turned, looking up into the forest canopy, astonished at the deep beauty of the place.
CORA'S POV: FOREST CANOPY
of trees is dark, except for spots where leaves are sparse, and there the light is golden. It's the forest of childhood.
In a ravine a buck disappears into a deeper stand of trees.]
CORA: [O.S.] Alice, did you see that ...?
[CORA'S
reverie's broken by Heyward entering the frame.]
CORA: Alice?
[Alice rouses from fatigue.]
HEYWARD: Are you alright?
ALICE: Can we rest soon?
HEYWARD: Absolutely.
[Heyward rides to the front of the column to Magua, who's twenty to thirty yards ahead of everybody else.]
HEYWARD: You there, Scout!
[Magua slowly turns towards Heyward.]
HEYWARD: [overly articulated] We must ... stop ... soon. Women are ... tired. You ... understand?
MAGUA: [perfect English] I understand. This is not good place to stop. Two leagues from here. No water 'til then. That where we stop. Better place.
HEYWARD: No. Stop in the glade just ahead! When the ladies are rested, we will proceed. Do you understand?
MAGUA: [in Huron: English subtitle] "Magua understand paleface is a dog to his women. When his women want to eat, he lay aside his tomahawk to feed their laziness."
HEYWARD: Excuse me. What did you say?
MAGUA: Magua say: "Yes. Good idea."
[As they begin to stop ...
CUT TO ...
EXTERIOR MOUNTAINS & FOREST - WIDE - DAY
Silently entering on either side of us come Chingachgook, followed by Hawkeye and Uncas. Even relaxed, they carry themselves with a degree of alertness. They're eighteenth century Viet Cong moving through the rain forest. The Maxfield Parrish/Hudson Valley of tall trees, ravines and streams is idyllic in front of them. All three cradle their long guns and move silently on moccasined feet.
FRONTAL: CHINGACHGOOK
- in a stream - relaxed but attentive, abruptly stops. The others freeze in their tracks. Chingachgook sees and then stoops to examine ...
ROCK
under the water in the stream. It's been turned from its bed. Chingachgook finds another. Uncas, moving up on his flank, climbs the bank and moves off into the trees, searches and then he gestures ... he's found another sign of something.
CHINGACHGOOK
has headed off further down the stream and discovers nothing. Rapidly he rejoins Uncas and Hawkeye who've become extremely alert. They move up the bank into the forest ninety degrees from their previous path.
TRACKING: HAWKEYE, UNCAS & CHINGACHGOOK
moving. Fast. Nearly soundless. They hardly disturb a blade of grass. The impression: expertise, deadliness and an impression something's wrong.
CUT TO ...]
To Read
[EXTERIOR FOREST, TRAIL - MAGUA - DAY
on point. The trail cuts the side of a hill. The ground on one side rises into a forest acclivity and on the other falls off into a forested ravine. Magua walking towards camera.
CLOSER - MAGUA'S
slid his tomahawk out from the front of his belt that girdles his waist. He lets the shaft drop into his hand. He shrugs off his blanket. There is a solidity to his dark, tall figure we didn't see before. Magua turns about face and advances on the column. TRACK WITH Magua. Heyward and the Munro girls pass the camera as does Sgt. Major Ambrose, marching in advance of the men. Magua is approaching the soldier on the left in the first row. We see Magua has caught the Redcoat's eye.
REDCOAT
is curious, starts to smile. What does the Huron want to say to him? When Magua is two steps away he caves in the side of the infantryman's head at the temple with the spike end of his tomahawk and, backhanded, hacks the blade through the side of the neck of the center man in the first row.
SIMULTANEOUSLY
thirteen muskets EXPLODE from the wooded rise.
FIVE REDCOATS
are blown off the path, two others are wounded ...
AMBROSE]
AMBROSE: Form company! Left face! March!
[ALICE
shrieks. Cora grabs Alice's reins and her own.
HEYWARD
pulling his fusil (short musket), seeing, firing, reaching for the women ...
CORA'S HORSE
bucking.
ALICE'S HORSE
bolting, dodging sideways, spilling Alice to the earth.
AMBROSE]
AMBROSE: Company make ready!
[The regulars slam into a firing line, stepping over the bodies of their comrades. All thirteen face the incline.
FORESTED RISE - HURONS
flash downhill through the trees. Partnered in two-man teams, one loads and prepares and fires while the other advances to the next cover. He, then, prepares and fires covering his partner's advance. Leaping fallen trees and boulders, they're athletic, fast and rapidly closing. Even though the disciplined English regulars are a killing machine, we now see their tactics in the dense forest are grossly inferior to the Hurons' ...]
AMBROSE: Present!!
[CORA
covers Alice with her body, holding the reins of their bolting horses.
HEYWARD
from horseback aims his horse pistol, FIRES ...
AN ATTACKING HURON
leaping at him past Alice & Cora drops.
MULE
with baggage crashes off, down the ravine. Another two Redcoats drop. Nine left. Then eight.
AMBROSE]
AMBROSE: Fire!!
[A musket volley as eight muskets go off as one shot, sending a lead scythe through leaves. But ...
REVERSE:
Hurons were behind cover. Only one was exposed and hit.]
AMBROSE: [continuing] Load! Prime!
[The English rush to complete the reload. Will they do it in time?]
AMBROSE: [continuing] Present! Present!
[Suddenly, Hurons - en masse - CRASH down onto the Redcoats line with tomahawks, war clubs and point-blank musket fire.
ALICE
on the ground, screaming insanely, covered by Cora who's protecting her little sister, and ...
HEYWARD'S
horse shot from beneath him, the animal folding, falling straight to the earth, and ...
MAGUA
shoots Ambrose in the chest, and ...
HEYWARD
by the Munro daughters spins, swinging his fusil like a ball-bat, upending one Huron and lunges with his bayonet in his left towards another. But this Huron easily slips the thrust and slams Heyward with his rifle butt.
BRITISH
dead and dying.
AMBROSE
blood gushing from his chest wound, fires his pistol, dropping a Huron; slashes a second with his sword. Then he's chopped down. Hurons begin scalping the British while four race towards Heyward and the two women.
HEYWARD & CORA & ALICE
ready to die. Heyward has only his fusil as a bludgeon. He readies ...
THREE LOUD SHOTS
BLOW three of the Hurons sideways, head over heels down the rise.
REVERSE: THREE MEN
barely seen, running diagonally across the fall line of the ravine. In parts, we recognize Nathaniel, recharging Killdeer on full run, and Uncas.
HURON'S
not sure where the shots came from. Suddenly Chingachgook slams him, head first into the ravine with the war club. He didn't even slow down.
HURON
warrior spins. Uncas tomahawks his shoulder. The Huron swings downwards. Uncas ducks beneath the swing and slashes his throat, sending him downhill into CAMERA as ...
HAWKEYE'S
momentum and thrown tomahawk spread-eagles one Huron, near a couple of wounded Redcoats who fight on ...
MAGUA
calmly sees the odds have changed. His attention becomes focused. He commits a very revealing act seen through the blurred foreground action of struggling bodies. We will remember it. He raises his musket and aims at ...
CORA MUNRO
who's unaware she's a target. Why is he singling out a Munro girl to kill?
HAWKEYE
sees. Killdeer's at his shoulder ...
TIME SLOWS: MAGUA
senses Hawkeye. Moving through liquid, his eyes drift left. The moment is frozen. Their eyes lock, each to the other's. Then ...
TIME UNFREEZES
Magua swings at Hawkeye and FIRES ...
HAWKEYE
shifts. The .65 caliber musket ball rockets past his ear and he's already squeezing Killdeer's trigger as ...
HAWKEYE'S POV OVER BARREL: SMOKE
from Magua's musket blast clears. Magua's gone. He almost shape-shifted, it happened so quickly. It's nearly mystical.
HAWKEYE
lowers Killdeer, impressed.
CORA
glances back at Hawkeye. She doesn't know why he's looking at her.
CHINGACHGOOK
pursues two fleeing Hurons up the incline. Two strides gain him the first man, who he hamstrings and runs over to pursue the second up the hill ... as ...
HEYWARD
in the confused melee, grabs a found musket and aims it at an Indian. We recognize that he's aiming at Chingachgook pursuing the second Huron up the hill ...]
CORA: No, Duncan!
[Duncan ignores her.
HEYWARD'S MUSKET
is jerked from his hands.]
HAWKEYE: ... case your aim is any better'n your judgment.
[He's drawn his sword, reflexively. Hawkeye flips the musket around one-handed. It's pointed at Heyward's chest. And Hawkeye FIRES, killing an attacking Huron behind Heyward. As Heyward spins ...
CHINGACHGOOK'S WAR CLUB
flashes up the hill. It cleaves the second man's back and bowls him over. Chingachgook retrieves his club as his scalping knife slashes down ...
UNCAS
scalps the man he killed. Chingachgook dispatches the Huron he hamstrung.
WIDE
Sudden silence. Heyward's motionless. The women are frozen, as terrified of the savages and apparent half-breed rescuers as they were of those who attacked them.
ALICE
Cora, holding her, is stunned but functioning. Moments ago both women were clean and demure. Now their riding dresses are torn, mud-stained, blood-spattered and their baggage is gone.
HEYWARD'S
crossed to his slaughtered soldiers. Moments ago they were a testament to British military prowess. Now they're dead meat. Ambrose's body is against a tree. In the B.G. two of the wounded start to rise ...]
ALICE: [O.S.] Stop it!
[Heyward spins.
UNCAS
just cut the throat of the second Narraganset. It drops into the brush. Alice attacks him.]
ALICE: We need them to get out of here!
[Uncas gently restrains her. Cora reaches Alice and grabs her away from the "savage". Heyward runs in to protect the women ...]
HEYWARD: [to Nathaniel] ... why the bloody hell he do that to the horses?!
[Uncas, all business, is now reloading, lifting powder horns, scanning the trees.]
UNCAS: [matter of fact] ... too easy to track ... they can be heard for miles ... find yourself a musket ...
[Cora's surprised by Uncas' easy English. Hawkeye's scanning the forest.]
HAWKEYE: [to Heyward] Your wounded should try walkin' back to Albany. They'll never make a passage north.
HEYWARD: [breathless] We were headed ...
HAWKEYE: [appropriating a knife] ... Fort William Henry.
[CHINGACHGOOK
to Hawkeye: let's go ... Then a fast exchange of Delaware. Cora's surprised to see it's Chingachgook's decision. Chingachgook looks at the survivors, gives his assent, starts off.]
HAWKEYE: ... take you as far as the fort.
[Hawkeye throws Heyward a musket. Cora & Alice look towards Heyward. He looks at them: the women are totally terrified and do not move.]
HAWKEYE: If we are goin' to take you, we need to move. Fast ... And the fort is well off our course. So if you all rather wait for the next Huron war party to come by, we'll be on our way.
[Heyward quickly decides to go. The women follow. Hawkeye starts off after Uncas and Chingachgook.
CUT TO ...]
Note: Remarkably, the entire portion of this scene which occurs at the falls is not even mentioned in the script!
[EXTERIOR FOREST - HAWKEYE - DAY
moves through the trackless forest. Uncas is far out on the left flank. Cora, Alice & Duncan Heyward follow in Hawkeye's and Chingachgook's steps ...
HAWKEYE'S FEET
walking through a creek, stepping in the stream bed instead of on stones. The others follow. Hawkeye looks at Heyward.
HEYWARD
conforms. He's ill at ease not being in command, following the lead of some half-Indian frontiersman through a foreign wilderness.]
HEYWARD: How far is it, scout?
HAWKEYE: Day and a half [pause] Where did you get ... the guide?
HEYWARD: Colonel Munro sent him. He was one of our Mohawk allies.
HAWKEYE: He is Huron and nothing else. [checking the Munro girls are not too close] Why would he want to murder the girl?
HEYWARD: What?!
HAWKEYE: Dark haired ...
HEYWARD: Miss Cora Munro. He never set eyes on her before today.
HAWKEYE: No blood vengeance? No re-proach or insult?
HEYWARD: Of course not! [pause] And how is it you were nearby?
HAWKEYE: Came across the war party, tracked 'em.
HEYWARD: Then you're assigned to Fort William Henry?
HAWKEYE: No.
HEYWARD: Fort Edward, then?
HAWKEYE: No. Headin' west. To Can-tuck-ee.
HEYWARD: I thought all our colonial scouts were in the militia?
[Off to the side, Uncas smiles at the idea.]
HAWKEYE: I ain't your "scout". And I am in no damn militia.
HEYWARD: [stops] Then you are one of those who would allow England to fight alone while she protects you from France?
HAWKEYE: England does not protect me and does not war against France on our account. She uses us to war against France on her own account ... of greed for land and furs.
[CORA'S
appalled.]
HAWKEYE: [turns] Clear it up any?
HEYWARD: [loud] I owe you gratitude or I'd call you out!
HAWKEYE: [low] Do not let gratitude get in the way ...
[Cora's hand holds back Heyward's sword arm because suddenly Chingachgook looms over him.]
CHINGACHGOOK: [to Hawkeye] Yengeese no good in woods. Make more noise, I kill him.
[Heyward spins. Hawkeye coolly watches Cora. Her attitude is hostile; aligned with Heyward. He turns away. Meanwhile ...
UNCAS
stops, alarmed. Something in the air bothers him. Hawkeye smells it, too.
CHINGACHGOOK
is already moving out front, low and fast ...
CUT TO ...]
[EXTERIOR FOREST, TREE LINE - GREEN BRANCHES - DAY
After we HOLD, we realize Chingachgook's been there all along. Hawkeye and Uncas join him where the branches meet the ground. Smoke drifts through the trees. Hawkeye sees and dips his head, then looks again ...
EXTERIOR CAMERON CABIN - WIDE - DAY
Burned, smoldering, having fallen in on itself. TRACK LEFT past what was the doorway. A dead child's hand protruding from the ruin. A fragment of a dress. Charred and smoldering wood. John Cameron's body in the wreckage. And then, through the collapsed posts and timbers, Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas have advanced and are seeing what we've just seen; and then Cora and Alice.
ALICE
approaches and is frozen in horror. Cora shields her from the sight. Cora is affected but confronts it directly.]
HEYWARD: [O.S.] Anything to be done?
[UNCAS
returns from under one part of the wreckage, ashen, stoic, as they all are. We know the degree of their inner pain.]
UNCAS: All dead ...
[HAWKEYE
bends over a moccasin print that Chingachgook's examining. They look at each other grimly. Heyward joins them.]
HEYWARD: Who were these people?
HAWKEYE: [re: print] Ottawa!
HEYWARD: Excuse me ...
CHINGACHGOOK: [to Hawkeye] Ottawa.
[UNCAS
enters, very careful where he places his feet ... Hawkeye gestures to Heyward to stay where he is: on the periphery with the women.]
UNCAS: Mirrors ... tools ... clothes ... all inside.
HAWKEYE: [to Chingachgook] Movin' fast, not able to carry much ... this was a war party?
[Chingachgook nods confirmation and indicates a direction in Mohican. The significance is very ominous to them. We don't know why yet. Chingachgook starts away ...]
HEYWARD: Let us look after them ...
[He starts approaching the bodies.]
CHINGACHGOOK: Leave them.
[Heyward stops. Hawkeye and Uncas follow Chingachgook, leaving the cabin.]
CORA: [hasn't moved] Though they are strangers, they are at least entitled to a Christian burial!
HAWKEYE: [shaking his head] Let us go, miss.
CORA: I will not. I have seen the face of war before, Mr. Poe, but never war made on women and children. And almost as cruel is your indifference.
[Hawkeye turns back and rapidly approaches her. She takes a step back, fearful.]
HAWKEYE: [contained] Miss Munro. [pause] They are not strangers .... And they stay as they lay ...!
[CORA
realizes Hawkeye knew these people and is deeply affected. She also realizes for the first time this is a whole new world with dynamics and complexities, behavior and rhythms she doesn't understand. He turns away from her and walks on. She hesitates a moment.
WIDE ON THE SMALL CLEARING IN FRONT OF THE FARMHOUSE
as Chingachgook and Hawkeye, extremely alert and cradling their cocked flintlocks, walk to camera, eyes sweeping the forest perimeter; they're followed by Cora, Heyward helping Alice and Uncas as rearguard.
The ruined cabin and the dead dream of a family smolders behind them.
CUT TO ...]
[EXTERIOR GLADE - PROFILE: HAWKEYE - NIGHT
moves through to where the trees seem sparse and are unnaturally white birch and some thin grass grows. The land rises into a mound. Chingachgook and the others avoid stepping on the grass and cross to the other side of it.
CHINGACHGOOK
mutters something to Uncas. He nods and disappears amongst the white birch, soundlessly.
HAWKEYE
throws Heyward a blanket. Heyward spreads the blanket below the top of the mound and - maintaining silence - he gestures for Cora & Alice to rest there.
ALICE'S HEAD
hits the blanket. She curls into a fetal position and she's out. Heyward is nearby on watch. Hawkeye has taken a position two-thirds of the way around the crescent shaped mound. Cora has sought him out.
HAWKEYE
doesn't react as Cora enters. He's scanning the trees; not looking at her. They whisper ...]
CORA: Why didn't you bury those people?
HAWKEYE: Anyone lookin' to pick up our trail, would see it as a sign of our passing ...
CORA: You knew them.
[Hawkeye looks at her and nods.]
CORA: [stiffly] You were acting for our benefit. And I apologize. I misunderstood you.
HAWKEYE: Well that is to be expected. My father ...
CORA: Your "father"?
HAWKEYE: Chingachgook. He warned me about people like you.
CORA: He did?
HAWKEYE: Yes. He said ... "do not try to make them understand you."
CORA: What?!
HAWKEYE: Yes. And "do not try to understand them. That is because they are a breed apart and they make no sense ..."
[Cora's indignation is cut off because ...
UNCAS
moving fast. He gestures back the way he came and it means they're in jeopardy. Uncas disappears around the mound. Cut to ...
EXTERIOR BIRCH FOREST - TREES - NIGHT
Nothing. Imperceptibly we move closer and start to see shapes blocking out part of the white birch.
RED-PAINTED FACE
white eyes. A ruff of red hair stands straight up at the back of the large man's head. Slit and monstrously elongated earlobes are weighted with silver. He's followed by others. Wary, silently, they hunt.
DEEPER: MORE OTTAWA
Towards the rear are two French Rangers ("Coureurs des Bois") from Le Regiment de la Sarre. They're bearded, dirty, dressed Indian-style in moccasins, leggings and breechcloths with hooded hunting shirts. There's nothing clumsy about them. They're the 18th century version of Special Forces who've gone indigenous. If they and the Ottawa find our people, it's all over.
ALICE
seeing the red-painted Ottawa approach, starts to panic. Her hyperventilating and involuntary small sounds of fear will reveal their position. A hand covers her mouth and silences her struggling. WIDEN. It's Uncas. His other arm is around her, holding her, looking towards the advancing Ottawa.
HAWKEYE
on his back, his tomahawk within reach on the ground.
OTTAWA & FRENCH
are fifty yards away from the crescent mound behind which lie our people. Mist envelops them ...
CHINGACHGOOK
His massive arms spread revealing his war club in his left fist; his fusil in his right hand.
HAWKEYE
waiting for the attack. Cora's eyes are anxious, but there's no terror there. Nathaniel's impressed with her cool. He hands her a pistol. She takes it. He listens for the soft drop of moccasined feet ...
OTTAWA
through the grass. Thirty feet away they stop. They're motionless. Then their leader gestures and they start backing out. The French Rangers continue towards the crescent. The Ottawa chief takes one's arm and stops him. The French Ranger whispers something inaudible. The Ottawa chief shakes his head, "Non. Pas possible ..." And means it. They retreat.
SEPERATE SHOTS: HAWKEYE, UNCAS, CHINGACHGOOK, CORA
tensely monitor the Ottawa retreat.
UNCAS & ALICE
He slowly removes his hand from her mouth. She's a little shy, then she looks up, catches his eyes. Then she averts her face.
CHINGACHGOOK
sees all of it; doesn't like it.
HAWKEYE
The Ottawa are gone.
