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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
MAGUA: Is the hatchet buried between the English and my French father?
MONTCALM: Yes.
MAGUA: Not a warrior has a scalp and the white men become friends.
MONTCALM: My master owns these lands and your father has been ordered to drive off the English squatters. They have consented to go. So now he calls them enemies no longer.
MAGUA: Magua took the hatchet to color it with blood. It is still bright. Only when it is red, then it will be buried.
MONTCALM: But so many suns have set since Le Renard struck the war post. Is he not tired?
MAGUA: Where is that sun?! It has gone behind the hill. It is dark and cold. It has set on his people, they are fooled and kill all the animals and sell all of their lands to enrich the European masters who are always greedy for more than they need. [threatening] And Le Subtil is the son of his tribe. There have been many clouds and many mountains. But now he has come to lead his nation.
MONTCALM: That Le Renard has the power to lead his people into the light, I know well.
[Magua grabs the hand of the French commander. Imperceptible surprise in Montcalm's eyes. Magua jams Montcalm's fingers to his chest.]
MAGUA: Does my father know that?
[MAGUA'S CHEST
A deep indentation and scar.]
MONTCALM: That's where a lead bullet has torn you.
MAGUA: And this?
[Magua turns his naked back to Montcalm and puts Montcalm's hand on his back ... deep ridges of a scar a half inch wide.]
MONTCALM: My son has been sadly injured. Who did this?
MAGUA: [laughs; sardonic] Magua slept hard in the English wigwams. And the sticks left their mark ... [pause; for real] Magua's village and lodges were burnt. Magua's children were killed by the English. Magua was taken as a slave by the Mohawks who fought for the Grey Hair. Magua's wife believed he was dead and became the wife of another. The Grey Hair was the father of all this. [pause] In time Magua became blood-brother to Mohawk to become free. In his heart he always was Huron. And his heart will be whole again on the day when the Grey Hair and all his seed are dead!
MONTCALM: My son Magua's pain is my pain.
MAGUA: Does the chief of the Canadas believe the English will keep the terms?
MONTCALM: Munro would. But General Webb will not send their soldiers across the salt lake. Having let them go, I fear I will only fight the same men again when I move south. [pause; shrugs] And yet, I cannot break the terms of the capitulation and sully the lilies of France ...
[Long pause, wheels turn. Then:]
MAGUA: Many things my French father cannot do, Magua can.
[Montcalm reacts as if he hadn't thought of that.]
MONTCALM: As the English march away, our soldiers and the Canadiens will be drawn to the looting of the fort ... except for a small guard ...
[Magua abruptly leaves Montcalm.
CUT TO ...
EXTERIOR WOODS - MAGUA - NIGHT
walking back to the Huron camp. Reveal a Huron sub-chief has been in the woods, waiting for Magua. Now he joins him. They walk in silence. Then ...]
MAGUA: [in Iroquois; re: Montcalm] I wonder at the blindness and pride of the white man. He believes only he knows how to speak falsely to make other men do his bidding.
[Magua exhales in derision.
CUT TO ...]
To Read
[EXTERIOR FORT, MAIN GATE - MUNRO - DAY
at the end of the column, rides out on his horse. Both sides of the gate are jammed with armed French troops standing at attention. The French colors and honor guard are just outside the gate along with Bougainville, Chevalier de Levis, both on horseback as is - at the head - Montcalm.
CLOSER: MUNRO
trots past his walking column out the gate. He does not look at the French.
MONTCALM
salutes Munro and bows gravely from the saddle.
CLOSER: MUNRO
salutes Montcalm.]
MUNRO: [eyes forward] Monsieur, the fort is yours.
[MID-COLUMN - ON HEYWARD
marching with his 33rd Regiment of Foot well beyond the fort. The French troops have thinned out. Repressing shame, his backbone is rigid, his face is straight ahead. The 33rd marches in perfect cadence to the drum. In the B.G. Munro on his horse passes Heyward as he rides towards the front of his column. Heyward does not look at him.
FRONT OF COLUMN - CORA WITH ALICE
on the back of a mare. Alice, living through a wide-awake nightmare, is huddled under the arm of her sister. They ride behind the standard bearers. In the B.G. her father is seen approaching and takes his position at their side. Cora looks down the column, sheilding her eyes against the sun. We know who she's looking for ... Hawkeye.
CORA'S POV: THE COLUMN
The 62nd and 42nd Highlanders including Heyward ... thirty to forty women and a number of children - for safety - in the middle, some frontiersmen, Ongewasgone and many Mohawk, walking wounded. The column is still snaking its way out of the fort. No Hawkeye.
CORA
straining to see.
EXTERIOR FORT - PRISONERS
being assembled, their hands shackled. Hawkeye is among twelve or thirteen. He stands erect, walking out of the gate. The French are starting to pour in to loot the interior. Hawkeye looks to his left about twenty paces in front of him and sees ...
UNCAS & CHINGACHGOOK
on the other side of the column. Chingachgook cradles Killdeer as well as his own musket. They fall back to walk beside the prisoners on the other side of Hawkeye. Their eyes connect ... We don't expect Hawkeye to stay shackled for the duration.
RANK AND FILE FRENCH
A few insults. The British soldiers answer. Nobody breaks rank. It's just talk.
EXTERIOR ROAD - HAWKEYE
His eyes sweep the column snaking its way into the v-shaped valley. The path cuts through the forested hills ahead. He sees ...
HAWKEYE'S DISTANT POV: CORA
riding near the front where there are no more French soldiers. Only a few scattered and curious Huron and Ottawa. She does not see him.
PROFILE OF COLUMN - HIGH & WIDE
as it passes left to right below like a long snake through the narrow valley. We're shooting from inside the dark woods. Lower, in the light, we see a scattering on both slopes of a couple of hundred Ottawa and Huron. They are in no order, are spread out and don't constitute a threat. They watch the column. SLOWLY THE CAMERA ... slides across the shoulders and back of a large man wearing black plumes in his scalp-lock and other than a breechcloth is almost naked. He is heavily war-painted ...
FRONTAL - MAGUA
and the left two-thirds of his face is painted red. The right third is painted black. Much silver is in his ears. His tomahawk is in his left hand. His cut-down musket in his right fist. Magua's attention is all focused to one point.
MAGUA'S LONG & TIGHT POV: MUNRO & CORA & ALICE
at the head of the column. This is the focus of Magua's attention.
WIDE FRONTAL: COLUMN, STANDARD BEARERS & MUNROS
Cora turns again to look for Hawkeye.
CLOSER: CORA
doesn't see him, but something else has caught her eye.
YOUNG HURON
running toward the column. Just one man. No musket. He's running and whooping like a dog charging from his master's front yard. Why?
CLOSER
the Huron arrives at the column, his tomahawk swings into his hand and he brains a British trooper who falls dead. The single Huron never breaks stride. He simply runs off again ...
CORA
horrified, holds Alice tighter.
MUNRO
has seen it too. And now he sees ...
62ND REGIMENT OF FOOT
fixing bayonets. A large sergeant unsheathes a two-handed claymore, facing the Hurons and other Indians ...
TROOPERS
of the 33rd present arms. Did they violate the surrender by carrying ammunition? Locks are cocked. There's the answer.]
MUNRO: Steady! No one fires!
[EXTERIOR FORESTED HILLSIDES - OTHER TRIBES
are watching what happens.
HEYWARD
scanning them.]
HEYWARD: [to Sergeant Major] Men are to stay in file, Sergeant Major!
SERGEANT MAJOR: Yes sir!
[Drums beat the cadence.]
TROOPERS
step over the fallen soldier. Heads turn, they're on edge ...
=P ALIGN = CENTER>END OF COLUMN - HAWKEYE, UNCAS & CHINGACHGOOK
watching. They exchange looks. This is not good. Chingachgook cocks both Killdeer and his own musket.
HAWKEYE'S POV: FORESTED SLOPES
Hold. We start to make out details in the shadow. Tree trunks. We become accustomed to the dimness. Now in the lower light we see deeper in the forest.
CLOSER
Many Huron and Ottawa are hidden in the shadows. They're moving along parallel to the column, stalking it. Waiting ...
ANOTHER BRAVE
racing down the hill from the opposite flank towards the 62nd.
TWO SOLDIERS
look at their sergeant. He nods. They wait until he's within ten feet of the column. Both bayonet the Indian. He's dead.
EXTERIOR HILLSIDES - HURON & OTTAWA
saw what happened. But, they hold their ranks.
MOHAWKS
among the British are slipping tomahawks into their hands, surreptitiously. Some are cocking flintlocks.
MUNRO
gallops his horse away from Cora and Alice towards the scene of the last attack. We hear him from the distance ordering ...]
MUNRO: Do not break ranks! I want these ranks to hold ...!
[Cora's frightened.]
[HAWKEYE'S
frustrated. He saw Munro leave Cora. He knows events have a momentum and it's accelerating.
CHINGACHGOOK & UNCAS
move next to the sergeant with the shackle keys who looks at them curiously as ...
WOMEN
with children nervously search the threatening trees, hoping against hope these are isolated incidents.
HEYWARD
draws his sword and is passing orders to his sergeant major, scanning the hills ...
EXTERIOR FORESTED SLOPE - MAGUA
His eyes see Munro.
WIDER & LOWER: MAGUA
raises his musket in his fist and emits a war whoop. WE NOW SEE ... hundreds have been stalking the column, hidden in the trees, maybe thousands. Then ...
WIDE: ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE
FIRE from the trees crescendos within seconds revealing a spontaneous and massive ambush of mostly Hurons. They appear from behind every tree and it turns to a ROAR of musket fire, war whoops and screams as ...
SOLDIERS & CIVILIANS
dropping like flies and seemingly thousands of Hurons attack down both slopes.
HAWKEYE
is being unshackled by Uncas. The sergeant is rising from the ground where Chingachgook knocked him. Chingachgook throws Hawkeye Killdeer and Hawkeye shrugs into his pouch and powder horn as he races with Uncas for the head of the column ...
EXTERIOR FORESTED SLOPE - MAGUA
charging down the hill ... with his coterie of twenty Huron warriors, heading for the area in which he saw Munro.
CORA & ALICE
at the head of the disintegrating column. Cora's holding Alice's head to her bosom, covering her ears as if to protect her from the sounds.
HEYWARD
shouting orders.]
SERGEANT MAJOR: Right - about face! March! First rank present!
HEYWARD: Fire!
[REVERSE:
The volley knocks down fifteen of a horde of attacking Hurons.]
SERGEANT MAJOR: Prime! Load! Second rank six paces forward! Present!
[Hurons are twenty yards away and closing.]
HEYWARD: Fire!
[As the line of muskets belch smoke and fire ...
WIDE: THE HILLS & PATH
We're shooting into the "v" of the valley with Hurons and other tribes pouring down from both sides. (IMPORTANT: the combined musket fire of Hurons, English and Mohawks generates tremendous clouds of smoke which obscure action, close off views, isolate pockets of combat into surreal tableaux that we'll move in and out of.)
BRITISH TROOPERS
using their useless muskets as clubs or with fixed bayonets - as the smoke and fog swirls among the men - fighting for their lives ...
MAGUA
glides through the scenes, striking and hunting. Some of his coterie of braves near him. He sees ...
BLONDE WOMAN
hugging the ground in fear. Magua throws her over. It's not Alice Munro. It's a woman protecting her baby. Magua walks on. One of the braves behind Magua raise his tomahawk. On his downswing ...
HAWKEYE
running through surreal patches, thinks he glimpses Cora two hundred yards away.]
HAWKEYE: Cora!
[Chingachgook, on Hawkeye's left, slams down two Hurons with his war club.
CORA & ALICE
running through the chaos and murder and British troopers and Mohawks locked in struggle with Hurons. Cora's dress is torn. She holds Alice to her. There's a pistol in Cora's hand.
ONE HURON
scalping a prone soldier, rips the trophy from his head, turns and faces us.
CORA
shoots him in the face.
EXTREMELY CLOSE: ALICE
and her eyes take it all in. And her affect starts to flatten. A blankness suffuses her expression and the girl withdraws from this reality into a deep dark cave inside her head.
HAWKEYE
locked in combat. He tomahawks one Huron's arm with a slashing downstroke and comes right back into the face of the second with his backswing while his right hand fires Killdeer at ...
HURON
six feet from Uncas and about to shoot him in the back.
HAWKEYE
free for a moment, spins. He has no idea of direction any more. Everything is death in strange tableaux. Meanwhile:
MUNRO
hollering:]
MUNRO: Cora! Alice!
[He cuts down a Huron with his sword who is trying to leap at him from the right. An Osage warrior with red scalp-lock leaps on the back of Munro's horse, reaching over to stab down into Munro's neck. The old man's left hand grabs the warrior's knife hand in an iron grip. His right hand pulls his horse pistol and under his upraised arm fires backward, point blank, blowing the Osage off the back of his horse.
WIDER
Just then Munro's mount is shot. His horse rears up, throws Munro and falls on him.
HEYWARD
shouting orders over the deafening noise.]
HEYWARD: Second rank fire! Six paces back! Prime! Load! Third rank! Present!
[A well-oiled, well-drilled fighting machine, but there are fewer of them. They're getting cut off. They close ranks automatically as a man drops. They're retreating in perfect order.
HURON WARRIOR
about to strike a downwards blow is pushed aside by Magua.
CLOSER: MAGUA
His eyes drop to what's in front of him. The field goes quiet.
OVER MAGUA'S SHOULDER: MUNRO
his lower body is trapped under his dead horse. Magua leans in towards him.]
MAGUA: Grey Hair. I will cut your heart from your living chest in front of your eyes. As you die, know that I will put under the knife your children and wipe your seed from this earth forever ...
[Magua pulls his knife and as he leans down towards Munro ...
MOHAWK & HURON
spin and flail furiously at each other with tomahawks and knives. The Huron goes down and then the Mohawk is shot. The Huron who shot him is cut down by a Ranger with tomahawk in one hand and bayonet in the other. Two Mohawks and three Rangers fighting back to back. They become an island swamped by Huron and Ottawa: amidst bodies and ground slippery with blood. As smoke obscures their image.
CORA & ALICE
in a group of civilian militia. Two of the militiamen are shot down. The third engages a Fox warrior. Cora & Alice run.
MUNRO'S FACE
frozen in agony by shock.
MAGUA
reaching down and up into something, emerges and jams an object we barely see into the air. But his arm and shoulder and half his chest are splashed red with blood.
LONG SHOT: MAGUA
seen from far away, holding aloft the heart of Munro.
REVERSE: HAWKEYE
saw him and fights his way to attack when ...
WHITE HORSE
crazed, CRASHES through men, knocking Hawkeye over ...
CHINGACHGOOK
protecting Hawkeye, slams his war club into one Huron, breaking his attack, his arm and his skull and swings the other way burying the bladed end into the chest of an Ottawa who's behind him. Then ...
HAWKEYE'S
up, looking wildly ...
CAMERA JAMS INTO CLEARING SMOKE:
33rd Regiment of Foot and Heyward. They FIRE into our face.
CLOSER: HEYWARD]
HEYWARD: Six paces back! Prime! Load! Rank two, present! Rank two, hold!
[He grabs a partially loaded musket, the ramrod still in the barrel. They're taking fire. Men are dying. They're being pushed back.
AN ABNAKI
wearing a large cross, attacks Heyward from the side. One-handed, Heyward fires the musket into the man's chest, sending the ramrod through him. Then Heyward's shot in the thigh and a thrown tomahawk hits him in the head and knocks him sideways. Dazed. Barely able to stand. He uses the musket as a cane and ...]
HEYWARD: Rank two, six paces back! Rank one, present!
[Rank two did not retreat six paces. They stand in confusion. Heyward looks to see what's wrong.
HEYWARD'S POV: THE REMNANTS OF THE 33RD REGIMENT OF FOOT
are standing in water. They're up against Lake George. Their backs are to the wall. Last stand. Heyward straightens.
TWO FRENCH OFFICERS
on horseback try to intercede in the slaughter of five women. One French officer is shot by a Huron. The other French officer runs through that Huron and shoots the second. Then his horse is shot out from under him and he goes down ...
JESUIT
pleads with an Abnaki to give up a child he's holding by the legs in one hand. He offers his cross. The Abnaki throws the baby to the Jesuit, Pere Roubaud.
UNCAS
sees a flash of something yellow. So does Hawkeye. They charge into the swirling chaos of attacking bodies. As we lose sight of them ...
ALICE
on her hands and knees. A massive Ottawa pulls her upright by her hair about to take her life and her scalp. He's struck by a rock in the hands of Cora which barely phases him. He bats her aside and returns to Alice, when suddenly ...
OTTAWA WARRIOR
is spun, punched and tomahawked into the ground by Hawkeye. Uncas has Alice and Cora ...
TWO RANGERS AND A MOHAWK WARRIOR
from the earlier group are nearby. They combine with Hawkeye to fight their way out with bayonets and tomahawks.
HAWKEYE, UNCAS, CHINGACHGOOK, TWO RANGERS, A MOHAWK & MUNRO'S DAUGHTERS
back through the swirling smoke. There seems to be a lull. Then they're hit from the side by musket fire. One of the Rangers is shot, the other wounded. Hurons attack. The Mohawk supports the wounded Ranger.
HAWKEYE
shields Cora as they back up.
CHINGACHGOOK
smashing his war club straight down on a Huron, reaches for the man's musket and shoots another. Then he sees ...
SMOKE DRIFTING OVER WATER
It's glass-smooth. And the bows are barely visible of three or four Huron war canoes.
THE SHALLOWS - HAWKEYE, CHINGACHGOOK, UNCAS, CORA, ALICE, THE RANGER & THE MOHAWK
back into the water. They're pursued by Ottawa and Hurons as they fight their way to the canoes.
CORA
held up by Hawkeye, suddenly screams.
ANGLE
something underwater is pulling her down. An Ottawa brave rockets out of the shallows. Before he's erect, Hawkeye slams him back into the water and FIRES.
WOUNDED RANGER
has shoved a large birch canoe at them.
HAWKEYE
Suddenly, the Mohawk fighting with them is shot and spins to face Hawkeye. His hands rest on Hawkeye's shoulders. Hawkeye looks into his face. Tries to hold him up, tries to rescue him. A frozen moment. Hawkeye's staring into his eyes and the man is staring into Hawkeye's as the light goes out ... Hawkeye lets him slide into the water and float away. He moves Cora and Alice towards the canoe ...
CUT TO ...]
[EXTERIOR LAKE GEORGE - WATER & SWIRLING SMOKE - DAY
The bottom of the frame is water like glass. Smoke obscures the background. Fingers tendril towards us. Out of the mist we HEAR small splashing and then the high bow of a war canoe defines itself. It's paddled towards us.
HAWKEYE, CHINGACHGOOK & UNCAS
Cora's behind Hawkeye. Alice and the wounded Ranger are near Uncas.
CLOSER: HAWKEYE & CORA
Cora looks left. Her eyes go wide.]
CORA: No!
[HAWKEYE
spins.
HEYWARD & TWO TROOPERS OF THE 33RD IN A SECOND CANOE
have emerged from the smoke ten feet from them. Heyward's aiming a horse pistol at Hawkeye.
HAWKEYE
is non-plussed. He doesn't stop paddling.]
HAWKEYE: You got nothin' better to do today on Lake George than shoot me, Major, then go ahead ...
[Heyward's a hair's breadth from firing. Suddenly they hear the boom of muskets and rounds come in.
WIDE
They're being pursued by three boatloads - and then a fourth and fifth - of Huron.
HEYWARD
is indifferent to Huron musket balls. Hawkeye hasn't stopped paddling and pays Heyward no heed.]
CORA: Stop it!!
[Heyward comes to his senses. His head is gashed. A scarf, as a tourniquet, is tied around his leg. He lowers the gun.]
HEYWARD: When you fall into British hands again, Nathaniel Poe, I will have you hanged.
[HURON CANOES
paddle hard and deep and the canoes power across the lake.
HAWKEYE & HEYWARD'S CANOES
with less paddlers, plus wounded, are slower and will be overtaken.
HAWKEYE
looks to Uncas. They both realize the same thing. Hawkeye nods and he, Uncas & Chingachgook begin to paddle furiously. The others match the doubled pace. They're sprinting ahead but the effort is exhausting.
HURON CANOES
maintain their steady pace. Three or four Hurons fire.
HAWKEYE'S CANOE
Musket balls ricochet on the water's surface. One rips a hole through the bow. Hawkeye sees one of the Redcoats in Uncas' canoe is giving out ...] (Note: Something is amiss here. The script must mean to say, "Heyward's canoe".
REDCOAT #1: Can't ... keep it up ...
HAWKEYE: Pull!
[He renews the attack on the water with the paddle.]
HEYWARD: [shouts] How long?
HAWKEYE: [shouts] Only chance we got is ... [breathless] ... to get more distance on 'em and go to ground!
[Heyward digs in. Like firecrackers in the distance, Huron muskets sound. A new hail of musket balls cut the fabric of the canoes. One Redcoat is shot in the back. He falls overboard.]
HAWKEYE: [shouts] Pull!!
[HAWKEYE CANOE
sprints forward.
CLOSE: HAWKEYE
looks over his shoulder.
THE HURON CANOES
They're pulling away from them.]
HAWKEYE: Pull ...!
[More Huron musket balls hit water nearby.
REDCOAT
in Heyward's boat is shot. BUT ... the .65 caliber ball didn't penetrate his skin. The Redcoat - amazed - picks it off the floor of the canoe.]
REDCOAT #2: Spent.
[Distance caught up with eighteenth century ballistics. They're out of smoothbore musket range.
HAWKEYE CANOE]
HAWKEYE: [to Heyward] Head for ... for the white water.
HEYWARD: Do you hear me, sir! [exhausted] If you ever fall ... into British hands ... [breathes] What white water?
[HEYWARD & REDCOAT'S POV: LAKE
divided by a spit of land. The right fork becomes a river with white water rapids.
HAWKEYE CANOE - HAWKEYE
paddling now, too, as they furiously jam for the white water that will shoot them way ahead of the Hurons.
UNCAS
leaps off the stern of Hawkeye's canoe and climbs up the stern of Heyward's and takes control. He roughly gestures to the Redcoat and the Major to stop paddling. He and Hawkeye will pilot the two canoes.
EXTERIOR WHITE WATER - WIDE - DAY
The canoes enter the white water and they're so light, they're jet-propelled.
CANOE POV: EIGHT FOOT WAVE
racing in the same direction they are. They hit it straight on and it shoots over them and they're drenched by two waves coming from the sides.
HAWKEYE & CHINGACHGOOK
paddle like fiends to get momentum and control.
UNCAS' CANOE
Same thing. When they crested the wave Uncas hollers at them to "pull" and they do. As soon as they're through it, Uncas slams the paddle in the water and makes the canoe revolve a hundred and eighty degrees in a vortex so that now it's going through stern-first or the stern becomes the bow, so that Uncas could pilot it a different way through a hazard of ...
EXPOSED ROCKS
jutting out of the water.
WIDE - BOTH CANOES
Hawkeye didn't have to turn because Chingachgook, at the bow, uses his paddle to shove the canoe away from jutting rocks. Uncas does the same. Past the jutting rocks, Uncas swings it back around while ...
WHITE WATER
smashes into the camera.
ALICE & CORA
as the canoe roller-coasters and water bursts the bow. Then suddenly it's through and the water is miraculously smooth.
CANOES
The Ranger, the Redcoats and even Heyward feel the exhilaration of the ride. That's because they think they're home free.]
HAWKEYE: Here's where it gets tricky ...
[Heyward turns to look in front of him. He doesn't know what the hell Hawkeye's talking about.
HEYWARD'S POV: THE RIVER AHEAD
looks glass-smoth. Although there is a distant ROAR of sorts. Then Heyward realizes: something's wrong with this picture.
CLOSER: HEYWARD
The look on his face starts to change.
HEYWARD'S POV: TIGHTER
The glass surface of the river continues to a line then falls off the end of the world. The river just ends ...
BOTH CANOES: HEYWARD, REDCOATS, THE RANGER
realize they're heading for the lip of a waterfall. There's a couple of outcroppings of rock in the center at the very edge. We are at Glen Falls.]
HAWKEYE: Don't move ...
[AERIAL SHOT
from the other side of the falls. It's a two hundred foot high, death-defying cataract. The canoes - slightly above us - will go right over.
TWO CANOES
At the last moment, Hawkeye & Uncas land both on either side of the larger rock outcropping. It is literally at the lip of the falls.
HEYWARD
grabs a rock to anchor the bow of the canoe. He loses his grip. The canoe rockets for the edge.
UNCAS
lurches sideways, grabs a tree root. He is the only link of the canoe to earth. The bow, with Heyward, is literally hanging over the edge. Uncas strains and pulls the canoe to the rock. He gestures to Heyward.
HEYWARD
crawls forward and makes the island. Then the two Redcoats. Finally Uncas. The canoe rockets over the falls. Meanwhile ...
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND
Hawkeye has beached his canoe and is camouflaging it with driftwood and brush. As they clamber over the high pieces of broken limestone, we see Hawkeye is slipping into a crevice. He motions to Cora. Uncas carries the wounded Ranger. Heyward helps Alice ...
CUT TO ...
To Read
[INTERIOR GLEN FALLS CAVES - FISSURE - TWILIGHT
The irregular opening of medium blue sky is obscured by the black silhouetted forms of Hawkeye, Cora and then the others entering.]
HEYWARD: Where do we go from here?
HAWKEYE: We don't.
HEYWARD: I don't understand!
HAWKEYE: This is it, as far as we can go ... If we're lucky, they'll be figurin' we can't have come this way and must've beached our canoes and headed cross land. If we're very lucky, they'll figure we went over the falls.
HEYWARD: Then what?
HAWKEYE: Then we take the south rim down the mountain and it's 12 miles cross country to Fort Edward.
HEYWARD: And if we're unlucky?
HAWKEYE: You will have to forego the pleasure of hangin' me.
[ REVERSE: WIDE
Hawkeye helps Cora; Heyward, the Ranger. Chingachgook carries Alice, down the rockface into a cave. We hear a distant ROAR reverberating off the walls.
ANOTHER ANGLE: THE WALLS
are scooped out, bone-like hollows eroded by tumbling water. At an earlier time the formation was part of the falls.
HAWKEYE & CORA
reach the irregular floor of the chamber. The ROAR is louder.
WIDEN TO REVEAL
a curtain of falling water. They're behind the cataract, probably a third of the way down its height. Light through the water stikes them with a silver luminescence. They're exhausted. The others join them. They almost have to shout to be heard.
CHINGACHGOOK
followed by Uncas, takes stock of their supplies. They check their powder. They have almost none. Uncas shares his with Hawkeye. The Redcoat's cartridge case is soaked, the paper cartridges a soggy mess. Heyward has none. The Ranger has two left. In Mohican, Chingachgook decides some things. Hawkeye and Uncas nod. Heyward approaches Hawkeye.]
HEYWARD: Any powder?
HAWKEYE: [crossing to Cora] Only one or two loads.
[CORA
is soaked to the bones. Hawkeye strips off his buckskin hunting shirt and wrings it out. Cora turns her back, strips off her white blouse and puts on the faster-drying chamois.]
CORA: Are we safe?
HAWKEYE: Maybe ...
CORA: Our father? Did you see my father?
[EXTREME CLOSE UP: HAWKEYE
The look on his face tells it all]
CORA: Tell me!
[TWO SHOT
Hawkeye takes Cora away from the group and turns her by her shoulders and whispers to her. We don't hear what he says. Cora drops to her knees and places her hands over her eyes and face like a little girl trying to make something bad go away.
HAWKEYE
Leads her to a depression, his arm around her shoulders, her face covered and she cries softly into his shoulder.
EXTREME CLOSE UP: CORA
says into Hawkeye's ear, after she looks O.S. ...]
CORA: Say nothing to Alice ...!
[Hawkeye nods.]
[ALICE
stands in the chamber not far from the wall of water, fascinated with its shimmer. She's oblivious to all the events and everything going on around her ...
HEYWARD
sees Cora & Hawkeye together and turns away.
GROUP
Uncas watches Alice. The wounded Ranger has fallen asleep. The Redcoat is exhausted. Hawkeye & Cora against the wall.
CUT TO
EXTERIOR RIVER BANK - RIVER FALLS ARE IN MIST & RED SKY - TWILIGHT
A landscape with mist rearlit by the red light of the sun that's already behind the mountains. The blues are turning purple and the greens are turning black and the white highlights of the foaming water are going rose. Reflecting the darkening sky, where the surface isn't broken, the water is fast-moving metal ... SUDDENLY: a shaved head and muscled back stands into the foreground. It moves down the shore away from camera. He's followed by other Huron warriors. They're two hundred yards away from Glen Falls island.
HURON
looks at the island of rock & trees and tilts his head curiously ... Cut to ...
EXTERIOR FOREST ABOVE CANYON & FALLS - GREY WOLF - TWILIGHT
watches the Hurons below make their way towards the edge of the falls.
OVER HIS SHOULDER: THREE MORE WOLVES
join him, moving frenetically, uneasily ... The leader of the pack looks up & howls as his eyes go white reflecting the new moon.
INTERIOR GLEN FALLS CAVE - HAWKEYE -NIGHT
hears the distant howl. He's now lit silver blue by the moonlight through the falling water. Hawkeye knows it means Hurons are out there. He exchanges worried glances with Uncas & Chingachgook.
UNCAS
immediately starts up the right acclivity to one fissure, and Chingachgook moves carefully to the first fissure. Hawkeye follows.
HAWKEYE
His countenance gives way momentarily. All his experience seems of no avail. He touches the side of Cora's face. Grabs Killdeer and follows Chingachgook.
ALICE
sensing new danger, slips away on her own.
CORA
crosses to the Ranger who's semi-conscious, feverish and getting delirious. She can't do a thing except hold his hand and think of her father. Cut to ...
INTERIOR SOUTH FISSURE - HAWKEYE & CHINGACHGOOK
below the edge, listen & wait, testing the environment with all their senses ...
NORTH FISSURE - UNCAS
against one wall, has his ear cocked, monitoring, facing away from the sky ...
ALICE
looks at the sky through the fissure. She sees the starfields and feels silver moonlight pull her forward. She starts out onto the island, oblivious, unaware she'll expose them. Suddenly ...
UNCAS
yanks her down next to him. He pulls her head into his chest, looking out over the edge, his tomahawk in front of him, his musket near his right hand. There is no sign she was seen.
UNCAS & ALICE
He relaxes, looks at her and puts his finger to his lips telling her to be silent. Languorously, she lies back, closes her eyes and lays a hand on his shoulder, palm up, as if he were a prince in a romantic fantasy. Uncas tries to restrain her.
ALICE'S
eyes slowly open. Oblivion disappears. It's replaced with escalating fear. She holds onto Uncas with desperation. Her fingers claw his shoulders. She buries her face in his chest.]
ALICE: Uncas ...
[Her body shudders. Her terror's total. He tries to restrain and calm her. She won't let him. Then her mouth seeks his and in the passion of despair and fear and wanting life, she holds him between her thighs. And Uncas is confused, but Alice whispers his name and he responds. He loves her in the half-light.
UNCAS
his hand buried in her hair irradiated by the moon, then she seems to reach some emotional climax and begins to cry softly, and Uncas stops making love to her and holds her. Then she's flooded with shame. He reaches for her. She jerks away. He reaches for her again and clutches her to him. And she breaks down. Then he turns her face to him, but her expression has completely flattened.
WIDER ANGLE
She's not a lover to Uncas now. She's pitiful & stricken and he comforts her. Cut to ...
EXTERIOR RIVER - MAGUA - NIGHT
beaches a canoe on the bank. He and eight braves ease out. His war paint is fresh: green handprints on his chest and black and green on his face. Black plumes are affixed to his scalp-lock and his shawl is over his left shoulder. The right arm carrying his musket is exposed. Many scalps are tied to his tomahawk. He walks towards us approaching the island, two hundred yards away ... Cut to ...
INTERIOR SOUTH FISSURE - HAWKEYE - NIGHT
checks his powder horn. Nearly empty. He looks at Chingachgook. Cut to ...
INTERIOR GLEN FALLS ISLAND, CAVE - CORA - NIGHT
with the Ranger, looks up. Hawkeye enters. The look on his face. Then hers. They've been discovered. Now they're backed into a hole in the ground with no powder and no way out. Cut to ...
INTERIOR GLEN FALLS, CAVE - HAWKEYE & CHINGACHGOOK - NIGHT
Chingachgook talks to him in Mohican. Momentarily the anger and frustration is seen on Hawkeye's face. All his experience & craft has been to no avail. He looks at Cora. Back to Chingachgook. Chingachgook states something terse in Mohican. Hawkeye agrees. Heyward's confused. He doesn't know what they're talking about. Cora has understood Chingachgook's intent perfectly.]
CORA: Yes. Go ahead.
HEYWARD: [explodes] What the bloody hell plan is this?
HAWKEYE: [to Cora] In this there is a chance. If I live, I can try to free you. If we don't go, there is no powder, there's too many of them. Though my heart would keep me here, in that there is no chance. None. I can do nothing. Do you understand?
CORA: Yes. I want you to go.
HEYWARD: Coward! Coward back at the fort. Coward here.
[Hawkeye uses discipline not to kill the man.]
CORA: You try. With all you have. To save yourself. If the worst happens, and only one of us survives, something of the other does, too ... [Cut to ...
INTERIOR NORTH FISSURE - UNCAS - NIGHT
Listens. Hears. Then he inches above cover to see ...
UNCAS' POV: THE RIVER & SIX WAR CANOES
of Hurons approach to assault the island carrying torches. Cut to ...
INTERIOR GLEN FALLS CAVE - CORA & HAWKEYE - NIGHT
She's holding him. In the rigid language of her body is the struggle to contain her fear.]
HAWKEYE: [very close] If they don't kill you, they may take you north up into Canada. A warrior may take you for a wife.
[CORA
turns aside. Hawkeye insists.]
HAWKEYE: [continues] Listen. Submit. You hear me? You're strong. You stay alive. I will find you ... no matter how far, how long it takes ...
CORA: [nods, low] ... never doubt what you are doing.
[RANGER
conscious now, arranges his crushed body to face the direction from which will come the attack as ...
HEYWARD
puts Alice, who's entered, behind him as ... Uncas hits the floor of the cave. Now the first glow from Huron torches starts to light the walls. They're coming ...
CHINGACHGOOK
has their weapons slung over his back. He says something in Mohican. Uncas spins looks at Alice: her expression's vacant.
HAWKEYE'S KNIFE
cuts a lock of Cora's hair. He folds it into his shirt. The orange light from Huron torches, now closer, plays on the wall behind her. We hear many Huron approach.
CHINGACHGOOK & UNCAS
now run out of the cave and throw themselves into the curtain of water. This is their exit.
HAWKEYE
engraves her image in his memory one last time and then sprints across the floor towards the water ...
WHAT HAWKEYE SEES: JAMMING AT THE WATERFALL
and then through it into ...
SUBJECTIVE CAMERA: UP
An awful crushing roar. We explode out the front of a white cataract a third of the way from the top and we fall down away from the world.
EXTERIOR GLEN FALLS - HAWKEYE - NIGHT
tumbles down the falls; rolling, tumbling through the white water; then through air; then back into cascading white water again, disappearing ...
THE RIVER BELOW - UNCAS & CHINGACHGOOK'S
bodies hit, disappear and don't surface. It looks unsurviveable.
HAWKEYE'S POV: FALLING
Sheets of water fall with us. The bottom races towards us at a hundred miles an hour ... Just before we hit ... Cut to ...
INTERIOR GLEN FALLS, CAVE - FLAMING TORCH - NIGHT
WIDEN. The cave is filled with Hurons. The Redcoat is dead in the corner. A group of braves moves away from the body of the Ranger.
HEYWARD'S
surrounded. The women are behind him. He slashes at one Huron with his sword and is clubbed down by a giant.
MAGUA
enters. His blanket, like a shawl, over his left shoulder, black plumes in his hair. He's imperturbable.
MAGUA'S HAND
reaches out and touches Cora's hair. Cora is frozen to the spot. His hand drops away from the hated Munros and as Magua turns to go, he says something low in Huron and the two women are jerked towards the fissures. Heyward is dragged by the arms. Cut to ...]
To Read
[EXTERIOR RIVER - WHITE WATER - NIGHT
miles from the falls. We see a figure. It's Chingachgook, nearly spent, rolling and tumbling through the fast-moving white water. He submerges, then surfaces again. He appears exhausted by the fall and ride.
CHINGACHGOOK'S POV: WATER
rocketing at us, battering and drowning us. We glimpse something downstream ...
CHINGACHGOOK
tries to focus, slammed against rocks, he's striking out towards the right, swimming against the current. He's grabbing for something.
KILLDEER'S MUZZLE
and leather shoulder-strap. Chingachgook's hand grabs it. The current rushing past tries to steal him from Uncas and Hawkeye, who're also beaten, bloodied, exhausted. They pull the older, larger man from the water and ...
ON THE ROCK
all three lie there, almost devoid of energy. Then Hawkeye rises, looks at the others. Chingachgook nods. He's up. Then Uncas, and they're moving off into the calm eddy between the rock they landed on and the shoreline.
CUT TO ...
EXTERIOR FOREST - HURONS - DAY
move along animal paths.
CORA & ALICE
struggle through the branches of trees. No one helps them. When they fall behind, they are pushed forward.
HEYWARD
badly beaten, bound, staggers ahead to get behind Maqua. Then:]
HEYWARD: If Magua give women to Yengeese soldiers ... will receive many gifts.
MAGUA: [as if considering] Gifts?
HEYWARD: Three, four oxen ... much wampum.
MAGUA: Wampum?
HEYWARD: Yes.
MAGUA: Does Yengeese Major have property across salt sea?
HEYWARD: Yes.
MAGUA: Yengeese Major give all property to Magua. Magua give Yengeese Major much wampum, many gifts, maybe three, four oxen.
[Magua looks at Heyward derisively. Does this white man think he's an idiot?]
HEYWARD: Gold could be arranged.
MAGUA: For Munro children?
HEYWARD: Yes.
MAGUA: How much gold has the master of the Yengeese?
HEYWARD: The King? The King has mountains of gold!
[Long pause as if Magua and King George II were seriously considering this transaction.]
MAGUA: Not enough.
[Heyward is first realizing with whom he's playing.]
HEYWARD: What is enough?
MAGUA: Heart. Give Magua new heart.
[Magua totally disdains the Englishman and walks away from him, starting up a steeper forested hill.
CUT TO ...
EXTERIOR FOREST - HAWKEYE, UNCAS & CHINGACHGOOK - TWILIGHT
running cross-country after the Huron column. They leap over fallen logs and keep going.
FRONTAL: HAWKEYE
breathing hard, his lips are drawn back, sweat stains his buckskins.
PROFILE: UNCAS
runs. Then sees something.
BENT BRANCH
where Cora & Alice were struggling up the animal path.
REAR SHOT
as they race across a stream away from us after the war party and into the night ...
CUT TO ...
EXTERIOR FOREST - CORA - NIGHT
supporting Alice, is dragged forward by a Huron warrior by a woven rawhide thong tied to her neck.
MAGUA
is imperturbable.
HURONS
move quickly down into a ravine.
HEYWARD
is shoved forward.
CUT TO ...
EXTERIOR FOREST - RUNNING FEET - DAY
Long, loping strides.
HAWKEYE & UNCAS
cover ground like long-distance runners. No noise except their hard, even breathing. They're moving down a clear trail.
CHINGACHGOOK
out on the flank. Running hard.
CLOSER: HAWKEYE
lips are drawn back, determined, flashing through the hard verticals of the forest, now leaps down an embankment into the soft loam and keeps going.
CUT TO ...]
To Read
[EXT. HURON VILLAGE - ORNATE CHAIR - DAY
on a rude platform. The entire village is crowded in a large circle. They all wait for someone. They've been waiting a long time. In the perimeter warriors keep Huron at bay for some reason. We see Magua. He stands apart. They wait. Then ...
ANCIENT SACHEM
is led to the dais by three women down the main street between the neat rows of birch bark lodges. Many scalps and trophies from the massacre are in evidence. He sits on the raised platform. He looks to be in his nineties. His dark wrinkled face is contrasted by his long white hair. His robe is painted in hieroglyphical representation of combat. He wears numerous silver & gold medals, gifts of French, English and Dutch governors. Most startling is his face. His dark & lined skin is enhanced by delicate lines of tatooing. He looks up to Magua.]
SACHEM: [in Huron; subtitled] The tomahawks of your young men have been very red.
MAGUA: [in Huron; subtitled] Many of the Yengeese are dead, great Sachem. [sound dissolve to English] I have brought three of my prisoners, to honor you. Two are the children of Munro. Whose scalp hangs on my lodge pole. And whose heart I cut from his chest.
[Now we see Cora on the ground. Defeat & fear are held in place by her determination. Alice looks around, in another place. Heyward's hands are bound between his back with a piece of wood wedged through his elbows. Cut to ...
EXTERIOR DIFFERENT FOREST - WIDE FRONTAL: UNCAS, HAWKEYE & CHINGACHGOOK - DAY
running. Then Uncas drops and the other two follow.
WIDE OVER THEIR SHOULDERS: THE HURON "CASTLE"
seen in the distance through the sparse trees. They have dropped at the very periphery of the forest where the woods end. (The lay of the land is important for action that follows: the village is built in a meadow. To the left is a cliff face that rises to a rocky promontory. On the right is a path that winds up to the promontory and beyond, across the mountains.) Hawkeye sees ...
HAWKEYE'S POV: THE VILLAGE, CAPTIVES & HURON CROWD
in the center, outside the largest lodge.
HAWKEYE
slams the earth with his fists. They didn't intercept them in time. Difficult odds just became impossible. Cut to ...
EXTERIOR HURON VILLGE - MAGUA - DAY]
MAGUA: ... the earth was pale. Our tomahawks were bright. Now they are dull from war. And the Huron rich with the trophies of honor ... Magua will sell the English officer to Les Francais and the reward is my gift to you, wise one ... The women - children of the white war chief - will burn in our fires so all can share in this.
[The sachem considers this. Then he looks up and sees something beyond Magua.
MAGUA
senses the sachem's eye line ...
HAWKEYE
unarmed, walking through the Hurons. A young boy rushes at him. Hawkeye, at the last possible second, dodges. Others catch and restrain the boy. The Hurons are astounded a European would simply walk into their camp.
CORA
sees him enter, doesn't believe he's there.]
CORA: Nathaniel!
[Hawkeye glances at her, doesn't respond. The situation is a stick of dynamite ready to go off.]
HAWKEYE: [to Heyward; low] Translate for me, Major. Into French. Every word ... as I say it.
[Magua starts towards Hawkeye, his tomahawk slipping into his hand.]
HAWKEYE: [to Sachem] I come to you unarmed and in peace to unstop your ears, wise one. Because the Hurons are mislead by the words of the wolf who's never spoken the truth.
[Sachem gestures with his hand to Magua. Magua reluctantly stops advancing on Hawkeye. Heyward's French translation has faded to a murmur. We hear Hawkeye's English.]
HAWKEYE: Let the children of the dead Colonel Munro go free and take the fire out of the English anger over the murder of their helpless ones.
MAGUA: [to Sachem] Our father, Montcalm, is greater than the Yengeese in the arts of war. The Huron do not fear English anger.
HAWKEYE: [to Sachem] Wise one, the French fathers made peace and swore to their honor not to break the friendship. Magua broke it. It is false that the French would not be friends, still, to the Huron.
[Sachem reacts.]
MAGUA: [laughs] It made our French father happy to never have to fight the same Yengeese again. He told me this without telling me this.
[Hawkeye realizes this is true.]
HAWKEYE: So the Huron are the servants of the French? To do what the French are shamed to do?
MAGUA: No. [to Sachem] Huron serve no one. The French father believes he fooled Magua because he is so proud of his cleverness, he is blind. But it is the Huron path that Magua walks down, not the French one ... Now, Les Francais, also, fear Huron. That is good. When the Huron is strong from their fear, we will make the terms of trade with Les Francais. And we will trade as the white man trades. Take land from the Abnakes; fur from the Osage, Sauk & Fox. And make the Huron great. Over other tribes. No less than the whites, as strong as the whites.
[Hawkeye appears to be losing his d
