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richfed
Sachem
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 13 2002
Status: offline
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 Posted - January 21 2004 : 05:35:08 AM
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Often times, differences between the script used for the 1992 film & the original novel are brought up, as in this thread: OH WOW!! YOU ALL HAVE TO READ THIS!!!.
One of the first projects we took on in the creation of this web site, and one of the more ambitious, was the linking of the scenes from the film to their comparable scene in the novel. In this way, the similarities & the differences were made apparent. Unfortunately, the project ran out of steam, after several such linkings, as interviews & other contributions and projects dropped in our lap. We never did get back to it. Any takers? 
Explore the LOTM Script
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susquesus
Mad Hermit of the North Woods
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 03 2003
Status: offline
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 Posted - January 21 2004 : 11:00:01 PM
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Mann:
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 ste |
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susquesus
Mad Hermit of the North Woods
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 03 2003
Status: offline
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Posted - January 21 2004 : 11:24:44 PM
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Mann:
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 ...
Cooper:
According to the orders of the preceding night, the heavy
sleep of the army was broken by the rolling of the warning
drums, whose rattling echoes were heard issuing, on the damp
morning air, out of every vista of the woods, just as day
began to draw the shaggy outlines of some tall pines of the
vicinity, on the opening brightness of a soft and cloudless
eastern sky. In an instant the whole camp was in motion;
the meanest soldier arousing from his lair to witness the
departure of his comrades, and to share in the excitement
and incidents of the hour. The simple array of the chosen
band was soon completed. While the regular and trained
hirelings of the king marched with haughtiness to the right
of the line, the less pretending colonists took their
humbler position on its left, with a docility that long
practice had rendered easy. The scouts departed; strong
guards preceded and followed the lumbering vehicles that
bore the baggage; and before the gray light of the morning
was mellowed by the rays of th |
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susquesus
Mad Hermit of the North Woods
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 03 2003
Status: offline
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 Posted - January 22 2004 : 4:55:18 PM
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| Is this the type of comparison you were thinking of? Cooper portions too lengthy? |
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Kurt
Mohicanite
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 27 2003
Status: offline
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Posted - January 22 2004 : 8:44:02 PM
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You did great, Susquesus! Cooper always uses a lot of words to say something. And to think that even at this pace there will be hundreds of lines of Cooper that didn't make it into the film!  |
Yr. obt. svt.
Kurt |
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susquesus
Mad Hermit of the North Woods
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 03 2003
Status: offline
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Posted - January 22 2004 : 10:32:24 PM
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Mann:
[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 thi |
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susquesus
Mad Hermit of the North Woods
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
September 03 2003
Status: offline
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Posted - January 22 2004 : 10:34:39 PM
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Cooper continued:
Heyward took with him a blazing knot, which threw a dim
light through the narrow vista of their new apartment.
Placing it in a favorable position, he joined the females,
who now found themselves alone with him for the first time
since they had left the friendly ramparts of Fort Edward.
"Leave us not, Duncan," said Alice: "we cannot sleep in such
a place as this, with that horrid cry still ringing in our
ears."
"First let us examine into the security of your fortress,"
he answered, "and then we will speak of rest."
He approached the further end of the cavern, to an outlet,
which, like the others, was concealed by blankets; and
removing the thick screen, breathed the fresh and reviving
air from the cataract. One arm of the river flowed through
a deep, narrow ravine, which its current had worn in the
soft rock, directly beneath his feet, forming an effectual
defense, as he believed, against any danger from that
quarter; the water, a few rods above them, plunging,
glancing, and sweeping along in its most violent and broken
manner.
"Nature has made an impenetrable barrier on this side," he
continued, pointing down the perpendicular declivity into
the dark current before he dropped the blanket; "and as you
know that good men and true are on guard in front I see no
reason why the advice of our honest host should be
disregarded. I am certain Cora will join me in saying that
sleep is necessary to you both."
"Cora may submit to the justice of your opinion though she
cannot put it in practice," returned the elder sister, who
had placed herself by the side of Alice, on a couch of
sassafras; "there would be other causes to chase away sleep,
though we had been spared the shock of this mysterious
noise. Ask yourself, Heyward, can daughters forget the
anxiety a father must endure, whose children lodge he knows
not where or how, in such a wilderness, and in the midst of
so many perils?"
"He is a soldier, and knows how to estimate the chances of
the woods."
"He is a father, and cannot deny his nature."
"How kind has he ever been to all my follies, how tender and
indulgent to all my wishes!" sobbed Alice. "We have been
selfish, sister, in urging our visit at such hazard."
"I may have been rash in pressing his consent in a moment of
much embarrassment, but I would have proved to him, that
however others might neglect him in his strait his children
at least were faithful."
"When he heard of your arrival at Edward," said Heyward,
kindly, "there was a powerful struggle in his bosom between
fear and love; though the latter, heightened, if possible,
by so long a separation, quickly prevailed. 'It is the
spirit of my noble- minded Cora that leads them, Duncan', he
said, 'and I will not balk it. Would to God, that he who
holds the honor of our royal master in his guardianship,
would show but half her firmness'!"
"And did he not speak of me, Heyward?" demanded Alice, with
jealous affection; "surely, he forgot not altogether his
little Elsie?"
"That were impossible," returned the young man; "he called
you by a thousand endearing epithets, that I may not presume
to use, but to the justice of which, I can warmly testify.
Once, indeed, he said--"
Duncan ceased speaking; for while his eyes were riveted on
those of Alice, who had turned toward him with the eagerness
of filial affection, to catch his words, the same strong,
horrid cry, as before, filled the air, and rendered him
mute. A long, breathless silence succeeded, during which
each looked at the others in fearful expectation of hearing
the sound repeated. At length, the blanket was slowly
raised, and the scout stood in the aperture with a
countenance whose firmness evidently began to give way
before a mystery that seemed to threaten some danger,
against which all his cunning and experience might prove of
no avail.
"They do not sleep, On yonder cliffs, a grizzly band, I see
them sit." Gray
"'Twould be |
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Cooper VS Mann
