Apocalypse Now Page #2

The VIEW MOVE ALONG the guests of this small party :

Pictures being taken, some people are swimming. It is the

good life. Now WILLARD'S VOICE TRACK DOMINATES.

WILLARD (V.O.)

The attache case has been empty

for three years, but it makes him

safe to think there's a machine

pistol in it.

I don't like automatic weapons.

They jam.

I saw a friend of mine get

ripped open because he flicked his

M-16 to automatic, and it jammed.

How much money did the contractors

make on the M-16 ?

Our VIEW IS MOVING through the people on the boat; some

reading, flirting, drinking.

WILLARD (V.O.)

(continuing)

He likes to hear stories about Nam.

I tell him I can't; they're not

cleared. The truth is he wouldn't

understand.

We can now SEE A MAN with his BACK TO US, looking the

opposite way. An attache case resting near to him. We

MOVE CLOSER.

WILLARD (V.O.)

(continuing)

There's no way I can tell them...

what really happened over there.

I wouldn't've believed it if

someone'd told me.

We are now RESTING on his back. Occasionally, he sips

from a beer, but we cannot see his face.

WILLARD (V.O.)

(continuing)

There was only one part that

mattered -- for me, anyway. I

don't even know if I remember

all of it. I can't remember

how it ended, exactly -- because

when it ended I was insane.

DISSOLVE TO :

4 EXT. A STREET IN SAIGON - DAY

A Saigon boom street in late 1968. There are bars and

shops for servicemen; the rickshaws, the motorbikes.

Our VIEW MOVES TOWARD one particular officer; B.L.

WILLARD , in uniform, a Captain of the Airborne, followed

by four or five Vietnamese kids trying to shine his

shoes and sell him things.

WILLARD (V.O.)

But I know how it started

for me -- I was on R. and R.

in Saigon; my first time south

of the DMZ in three months. I

wasn't sure, but I thought this

guy was following me.

Willard looks back.

5 HIS VIEW

an American CIVILIAN.

6 MED. VIEW

Willard ducks into a bar.

7 INT. THE SAIGON BAR - DAY

Not much in this place -- a bar, linoleum flooring, a few

tables and chairs, and a juke box. The lounge is fairly

crowded. Willard takes off his cap and walks quietly

past the soldiers at the bar. Some of them, catching

sight of his ribbons, stop talking as he moves by.

An INFANTRY CAPTAIN enters the bar, buys a couple of

drinks and approaches Willard's table.

CAPTAIN:

How about a drink ?

WILLARD:

Sure, thanks.

He sits down at the table with the drinks.

CAPTAIN:

Winning the war by yourself.

WILLARD:

(he calls for the waiter)

Part.

CAPTAIN:

Which part is that ?

WILLARD:

My part.

(TO THE WAITER)

Beer, with ice and water.

CAPTAIN:

That's good gin.

WILLARD:

I'm sure it is, but I had hepatitis.

CAPTAIN:

Delta ?

WILLARD:

No.

CAPTAIN:

North ?

WILLARD:

Yeah. Way north.

CAPTAIN:

What unit were you with ?

WILLARD:

None.

CAPTAIN:

Rangers, eh?

WILLARD:

Sort of.

The JUKE BOX starts BLARING. Annoyed , Willard looks over

his shoulder.

CAPTAIN:

Were you Longe Range Recon --

WILLARD:

No -- I worked too far north for

LRRP.

He reaches into his shirt pocket for a cigarette, and the

Captain leans over the table to light it for him. Willard

notices the CIVILIAN on the street has glanced in the bar,

then enters and sits down at a table by the doorway.

CAPTAIN:

That's quite an array of ribbons...

WILLARD:

Let's talk about you.

CAPTAIN:

I was an FO for the 25th.

WILLARD:

Tracks ?

CAPTAIN:

Yeah.

WILLARD:

Fat. That's real fat.

CAPTAIN:

Sometimes.

WILLARD:

At least you always have enough

water. How many gallons does

each one of those damn things

carry ?

CAPTAIN:

Thirty -- sometimes fifty.

WILLARD:

You know, I can remember once,

getting back below the DMZ -- and

the first Americans we ran into

were a track squadron. I just

couldn't believe how much water

they had. We'd been chewing

bamboo shoots for almost a week,

and before that, for two weeks,

we'd been drinking anything --

rain water, river sh*t, stuff

right out of the paddies. And

there were these guys standing

by their trucks spilling water

all over. I could've killed them.

(solemnly)

I swear to God I would have, too,

if ...

CAPTAIN:

I didn't know we had units up

there in North Vietnam.

WILLARD:

We do.

CAPTAIN:

How long were you up there ?

WILLARD:

A long time.

CAPTAIN:

A year ? Waiter another beer.

WILLARD:

I go up on missions. Listen

Captain, buy me all the beer

you want, but you better tell

that a**hole over there you're

not going to find out anymore

about me.

Willard glances over his shoulder and indicates the

Civilian. The Civilian is given a sign by the Captain.

He rises and comes over to the bar.

WILLARD:

(continuing)

What do you want ?

CIVILIAN:

(indicating the Army jeep)

If you're B.L. Willard, 4th Recon

Group, we'd like you to come with

us.

WILLARD:

Whose orders ?

CAPTAIN:

Headquarters 11 Corps -- 405th

A.S.A Battalion -- S-2 --

Com-Sec -- Intelligence --

Nha Trang.

WILLARD:

Who are you ?

CIVILIAN:

The agency.

Willard looks at the Civilian a moment, and then walks

roght out toward the jeep without saying another word.

The Civilian follows.

8 EXT. HELICOPTER - DUSK

A darkly painted "HUEY" ROARS over low paddies and jungle

before emerging onto an open plain. It crosses a barbed

wire and sand-bagged perimeter and lands in a heavily

fortified, concealed compound.

WILLARD (V.O.)

They took me to some place outside

Nha Trang... Intelligence Headquarters

for all operations in South East Asia.

I'd worked for Intelligence before --

Armed men jump from the Huey -- among them Willard. A

large camouflaged cover is moved, revealing an underground

corridor -- they enter.

9 FULL SHOT - UNDERGROUND PLOTTING ROOM

A door swings wide -- Willard steps through and comes to

attention, blocking the view of the room. A strange

reddish light pervades. The room is covered with plastic

maps and filled with smoke.

The whole place has been hewn out of the ground itself

and there is a sense of the cut-back jungle growth slowly

reclaiming it.

WILLARD:

Captain B.L. Willard, G-4 Headquarters,

reporting as ordered, sir.

COLONEL (O.S.)

Okay, Willard, sit down.

Willard sits in a chair that is set in a center of a

bare concrete floor. Across from him, around steel desks

and tables sit several men. The nearest one, a COLONEL

puts his cigar out on the bottom of his shoe -- behind

him sits a MAJOR and a seedy-looking CIVILIAN.

COLONEL:

Have you ever seen this officer

before, Captain Willard ?

He points to the Major.

WILLARD:

No, sir.

COLONEL:

This gentleman or myself ?

WILLARD:

No, sir.

COLONEL:

I believe on your last job you

executed a tax collector in Kontum,

is that right ?

WILLARD:

I am not presently disposed to

discuss that, sir.

MAJOR:

Very good.

He turns to the Colonel and nods his approval. The

Colonel gets up and goes to a large plastic map.

COLONEL:

You know much about about Special Forces;

Green Berets, Captain ?

WILLARD:

I've worked with them on occasions

and I saw the movie , sir.

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