Apocalypse Now Page #6

39 TRACKING VIEW

The Colonel walks through the shell-pocked field of

devastation. Soldiers gather around smiling; as Kilgore

comes to each V.C. corpse he drops a playing card on

it -- carefully picking out which card he uses.

KILGORE:

(to himself)

Six a spades -- eight a hearts --

Isn't one worth a Jack in this

whole place.

The Colonel goes on about this business.

40 TRACKING ON KILGORE

moving through the corpses, dropping the cards.

On of the two tanned soldiers rushes up and whispers

something to him. He stops.

KILGORE:

What ? Here. You sure?

The soldier points to Lance, who immediately puts down

the card he was holding. Kilgore strides over to the

young man, who almost instinctively moves closer t

Willard.

KILGORE:

(continuing)

What's your name, sailor ?

LANCE:

Gunner's Mate, Third Class --

L. Johnson, sir.

KILGORE:

Lance Johnson? The surfer?

LANCE:

That's right, sir.

Kilgore smiles -- sticks out his hand.

KILGORE:

It's an honor to meet you Lance.

I've admired your nose-riding for

years -- I like your cutback, too.

I think you have the best cutback

there is.

LANCE:

Thank you, sir.

KILGORE:

You can cut out the sir, Lance --

I'm Bill kilgore -- I'm a goofy

foot.

41 VIEW ON WILLARD

His entire, top priority mission has been put in the

background.

KILGORE (O.S.)

This is Mike from San Diego and

Johnny from Malibu -- they're good

solid surfers -- none of us are

anywhere near your class, though.

Lance blushes, sort of mumbling thanks.

WILLARD:

My orders are from Com-Sec

Intel -- B.L. Willard, 4th Recon --

KILGORE:

Just hold up a second, Captain --

I'll get to you soon enough --

We've got things to do here.

Willard eats it, for now. Kilgore puts his hand on

Lance's shoulder, and continues flipping the cards in-

discriminately on the bodies as they talk.

KILGORE:

(continuing)

... we do a lot of surfing around

here. Like to finish up operations

early and fly down to Vung Tau for

the evening glass. Have you ever

surfed the point at Vung Tau? I

liked the beach breaks around Na

Trang a lot -- good lefts.

He passes a twisted gun emplacement with about five

bodies -- sprinkles cards all over them.

KILGORE:

(continuing)

... we keep three boards in my

Command Huey at all times. You

never can tell when you're gonna

run into something good. I got a

guy in Cam Rau Bay that can predict

a swell two days in advance. We

try to work it in.

He stops at a particularly wild-looking Viet Cong who

has died with his mouth agape -- staring wild-eyed in

horror at the sky. Kilgore pauses.

KILGORE:

(continuing; to himself)

Hell, that's an Ace if I ever saw

one.

He puts the card in the gaping mouth.

42 CLOSE VIEW OVER THE VIET CONG

We SEE the Colonel and the others walk off -- the dead

Viet Cong and card are in the immediate f.g. The card

has the shield of the CAV printed bautifully, and above

it the motto:
DEATH FROM ABOVE.

KILGORE:

Where've you been riding, Lance?

LANCE:

I haven't surfed since I got here.

KILGORE:

That's terrible -- we'll change

that -- I'd like to see you work --

I've always liked your cutback;

got a hell of a left turn, too.

DISSOLVE TO :

43 EXT. THE HELICOPTER - MED. SHOT

Willard is sitting with Kilgore on acouple of chairs by

a table set up in front of the command copter.

Everywhere we SEE armed men, sandbags, barbed wire, oil

drums etc. Hueys are constantly ROARING over. ARTILLERY

BOOMS in the far distance. Kilgore looks at the map.

KILGORE:

Why the hell you wanna go up

to Nu Mung Ba for?

WILLARD:

I got bored in Saigon.

KILGORE:

What's the furthest you been

in?

WILLARD:

Haiphong.

KILGORE:

Haiphong? Sh*t, you jump in ?

WILLARD:

No. Walked.

KILGORE:

What'd you do for supplies?

WILLARD:

(he shrugs)

Mercenaries -- agents, traitors --

they put out caches.

KILGORE:

Can you trust them?

WILLARD:

No. They put out two or three

for every one I needed. When

you get to the one you'll use,

you just stake it out. If

something feels wrong, you just

pass it up. On one mission, I

had to pass up three and ended

up living on rats and chocolate

bars.

KILGORE:

Nu Mung Ba. Last I heard, Walter

Kurtz commanded a Green Beret

detachment at Nu Mung Ba.

WILLARD:

When did you hear?

KILGORE:

'Bout a year ago? Is Kurtz

still alive?

WILLARD:

Who knows.

KILGORE:

Seems to me he got himself

fragged. i heard some grunt

rolled a grenade in his tent.

Maybe a rumor. Helluva man --

remarkable officer. Walter

Kurtz woulda been a General

some day. General of the Army.

Sh*t, Head of the Joint Chiefs

of Staff. Did you knew Kurtz?

WILLARD:

I met him.

KILGORE:

Don't you agree?

WILLARD:

He musta changed !

(pointing to the map)

I got to get into the Nung

River, here or here.

KILGORE:

That village you're pointing at

is kinda hairy.

WILLARD:

Hairy ?

KILGORE:

I mean it's hairy -- they got some

pretty heavy ordnance, boy --

I've lost a few recon ships in

there now and again.

WILLARD:

So? I heard you had a good bunch

of killers here.

KILGORE:

And I don't intend to get some of

them chewed up just to get your

tub put in the mouth of the

goddman Nung River. You say you

don't know Kurtz?

WILLARD:

I met him.

KILGORE:

You talk like him. I don't

mind taking casualties,

Captain, but I like to keep

my ratio ten to one in this

unit -- ten Cong to one.

WILLARD:

You'll find enough Cong up there.

KILGORE:

What about this point here?

He puts his finger on the map.

KILGORE:

(continuing)

What's the name of that goddamn

village -- Vin Drin Dop or Lop; damn gook

names all sound the same.

He motions to one of his surfers.

KILGORE:

(continuing)

Mike, you know anything about

the point at Vin Drip Drop?

MIKE:

Boss left.

KILGORE:

What do you mean?

MIKE:

It's really long left slide,

breaks on the short side of the

point -- catches a south swell.

LANCE:

Nice.

Willard looks at Lance -- then at Kilgore.

KILGORE:

Why the hell didn't you tell me

about that place -- a good left.

(to Willard)

There aren't any good left slides

in this whole, shitty country.

It's all goddamn beach break.

MIKE:

It's hairy ,though. That's

where we lost McDonnel -- they

shot the hell out of us. It's

Charlie's point.

KILGORE:

How big it is?

MIKE:

Six to eight feet.

Kilgore gazes out across the parked helicopters.

KILGORE:

(to himself)

A six-foot left.

Willard nudges Lance -- who gets the idea.

LANCE:

Boss. What's the wind like.

MIKE:

Light off shore -- really hollow.

WILLARD:

We could go in tomorrow at dawn

-- there's always off-shore wind

in the morning.

CHIEF:

The draft of that river might be

too shallow on the point.

KILGORE:

Hell, we'll pick your boat up and

lay it down like a baby, right

where you want it. This is the

Cav boy -- airmobile. I can

take that point and hold it as

long as I like -- and you can

get anywhere you want up that

river that suits you, Captain.

Hell, a six foot left.

(he turns to an advisor)

You take a gunship back to division

-- Mike, take Lance with you -- let

him pick out a board, and bring me

my Yater Spoon -- the eight six.

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