Barry Lyndon Page #8

MR. TOOLE

Get the gentleman a towel for his

hands, and serve him a basin of

turtle-soup.

Roars the monster, who is sitting, or rather squatting, on

the deck opposite him, and as he speaks, he suddenly

seizes Roderick's beaker of grog and empties it in midst

of another burst of applause.

LINK-BOY

(whispers)

If you want to vex him, ask him

about his wife, the washerwoman, who

bates him.

RODERICK:

Is it a towel of your wife's

washing, Mr. Toole? I'm told she

wiped your face often with one.

LINK-BOY

(whispers)

Ask him why he wouldn't see her

yesterday, when she came to the

ship.

RODERICK (V.O.)

And so I put to him some other

foolish jokes about soapsuds, hen-

pecking, and flat-irons, which set

the man into a fury, and succeeded

in raising a quarrel between us.

Roderick and Toole fight with cudgels. Roderick gives him

a thump across his head which lays him lifeless on the

floor.

RODERICK (V.O.)

This victory over the cock of the

vile dunghill obtained me respect

among the wretches among whom I

formed part.

EXT. MILITARY DRILL FIELD - CUXHAVEN - DAY

RODERICK (V.O.)

Our passage was very favorable, and

in two days we landed at Cuxhaven,

and before I had been a month in the

Electorate, I was transported into a

tall and proper young soldier, and,

having a natural aptitude for

military exercise, was soon as

accomplished at the drill as the

oldest sergeant in the regiment.

Various cuts.

Roderick learning the soldierly arts, musket drill, manual

of arms, bayonet, marching.

EXT. MILITARY COURTYARD - CUXHAVEN - DAY

The Cuxhaven troops are drawn up to receive a new

regiment, arrived from England.

Roderick sees, marching at the head of his company, his

old friend, Captain Grogan, who gives him a wink.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Six weeks after we arrived in

Cuxhaven, we were reinforced by

Gales regiment of foot from England,

and I promise you the sight of

Grogan's face was most welcome to

me, for it assured me that a friend

was near me.

INT. GROGAN'S QUARTERS - DAY

Roderick and Grogan.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Grogan gave me a wink of

recognition, but offered no public

token of acquaintance and it was not

until two days afterwards that he

called me into his quarters, and

then, shaking hands with me

cordially, gave me news which I

wanted, of my family.

CAPTAIN GROGAN:

I had news of you in Dublin. Faith,

you've begun early, like your

father's son, but I think you could

not do better than as you have done.

But why did you not write home to

your poor mother? She has sent

half-a-dozen letters to you in

Dublin.

RODERICK:

I suppose she addressed them to me

in my real name, by which I never

thought to ask for them at the post

office.

CAPTAIN GROGAN:

We must write to her today, and you

can tell her that you are safe and

married to "Brown Bess."

Roderick sighs when Grogan says the word "married," on

which Grogan says with a laugh:

CAPTAIN GROGAN:

I see you are thinking of a certain

young lady at Duganstown.

RODERICK:

Is Miss Dugan well?

CAPTAIN GROGAN:

There's only six Miss Dugans now...

poor Dorothy.

RODERICK:

Good heavens! Whatever? Has she

died of grief?

CAPTAIN GROGAN:

She took on so at your going away

that she was obliged to console

herself with a husband. She is now

Mrs. John Best.

RODERICK:

Mrs. John Best! Was there another

Mr. John Best?!

CAPTAIN GROGAN:

No, the very same one, my boy. He

recovered from his wound. The ball

you hit him with was not likely to

hurt him. It was only made of tow.

Do you think the Dugans would let

you kill fifteen hundred a-year out

of the family? The plan of the duel

was all arranged in order to get you

out of the way, for the cowardly

Englishman could never be brought to

marry from fear of you. But hit him

you certainly did, Roderick, and

with a fine thick plugget of tow,

and the fellow was so frightened

that he was an hour in coming to.

We told your mother the story

afterwards, and a pretty scene she

made.

RODERICK:

The coward!

CAPTAIN GROGAN:

He has paid off your uncle's

mortgage. He gave Dorothy a coach-

and-six. That coward of a fellow

has been making of your uncle's

family. Faith, the business was

well done. Your cousins, Michael

and Harry, never let him out of

their sight, though he was for

deserting to England, until the

marriage was completed, and the

happy couple off on their road to

Dublin. Are you in want of cash, my

boy? You may draw upon me, for I got

a couple of hundred out of Master

Best for my share and, while they

last, you shall never want.

EXT. VARIOUS LOCATIONS - BRITISH ON THE MARCH - DAY

Roderick on the march.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Our regiment, which was quartered

about Stade and Luneberg, speedily

had got orders to march southwards

towards the Rhine, where we would

fight the famous battle of Minden.

It would require a greater

philosopher and historian than I am

to explain the causes of the famous

Seven Years' War in which Europe was

engaged, and, indeed, its origin has

always appeared to me to be so

complicated, and the books written

about it so amazingly hard to

understand, that I have seldom been

much wiser at the end of a chapter

than at the beginning, and so shall

not trouble you with any personal

disquisitions concerning the matter.

Various cuts featuring Roderick; marching, cooking at open

fires, gambling, resting in a farm yard, officers riding

by; shivering in his blanket.

EXT. BATTLEFIELD OF MINDEN - BATTLE FRAGMENT - DAY

Roderick and his company.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Were these memoirs not characterized

by truth, I might easily make myself

the hero of some strange and popular

adventures.

EXT. MINDEN - BATTLE FRAGMENTS - DAY

Officers ride by in smoke. Troops marching to the attack.

RODERICK (V.O.)

But I saw no one of the higher ranks

that day than my colonel and a

couple of orderly officers riding by

in the smoke -- no one on our side,

that is. A poor corporal is not

generally invited into the company

of commanders and the great.

Roderick advancing.

RODERICK (V.O.)

But, in revenge, I saw, I promise

you, some very good company on the

French part, for their regiments of

Lorraine and Royal Cravate were

charging us all day; and in the sort

of melee high and low are pretty

equally received. I hate bragging,

but I cannot help saying that I made

a very close acquaintance with the

colonel of the Cravates.

Roderick firing his musket. He bayonets a French colonel,

amidst shouts and curses.

RODERICK (V.O.)

And finished off a poor little

ensign, so young, slender, and

small, that a blow from my pigtail

would have dispatched him.

Roderick kills a French ensign with a blows from the butt

of his musket.

RODERICK (V.O.)

And in the poor ensign's pocket

found a purse of fourteen louis

d'or, and a silver box of sugar-

plums, of which the former present

was very agreeable to me.

Roderick taking money and the box of sugar-plums from the

ensign.

RODERICK (V.O.)

If people would tell their stories

of battles in this simple way, I

think the cause of truth would not

suffer by it. All I know of this

famous fight of Minden, except from

books, is told here above.

Rate this script:3.0 / 2 votes