Counterpoint Page #3

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copy of "remembrance of things past?"

Forgive me.

I'm just feeling like a husband.

All right. We'll keep rehearsing.

What's Victor conducting with,

a baseball bat?

Could be.

General Schiller broke the baton.

Remind me

to send him a thank you note.

Unless you come to the chapel

and personally conduct the orchestra

he's going to kill us all.

This stubbornness of yours

...is endangering the lives

of 70 people. I know what's at stake.

- Then come back with me.

- No.

This must rank among

life's major ironies.

The romantic music professor still

holds the power of life and death

over the naive young cellist. That

was always my private portrait of us.

Two people in a perfume ad who

never did see things clearly.

Neither did I. You had nice legs

that tended to blur the vision.

I still have nice legs. If we must

die, we should be honest about it.

Fine, let's be honest

about why we shouldn't live, too.

I was afraid up in the rarefied

atmosphere I wouldn't breathe.

Perhaps you could have learned.

Perhaps.

You're freezing.

Lionel, come back. Please come back.

Are those the terms, Mrs. Rice?

I come back to the nice warm chapel

and I conduct a nice warm concert

in honor of Schiller?

Is that the deal that

Victor authorized you to make?

You husband missed his calling.

He'd have made a marvelous pimp.

You bastard.

Victor didn't send me here.

It was my own idea.

Like every idea I had concerning you,

it was a miserable flop.

No, I have to see the general.

There are American soldiers in there.

Get me someone who speaks English.

I have information.

Can you speak English?

Please, let me go to the general.

Please help me!

Lionel, I'm frightened.

Please help us.

All right.

But we've still got

to buy some time somehow.

And it's a seller's market.

If we could get up there, we

could get a fix on guard changes.

Knowing them, they'd never change it.

Maybe their passion for

routine can help get you out of here.

Then we've got to hope

for being rescued.

- More coffee?

- No, thanks.

Name's Chaminant. Belgian peasant.

Claims to be with us, but who knows?

Probably has a collection of flags

at home. For each possible conqueror.

Gentlemen.

Oklahoma's pretty flat.

I never got much practice.

In civilian life, I was an

English instructor. Not a human fly.

Well, it's up to one of you.

Wait a minute. We can't take a chance.

If this had fallen from higher up,

it'd sounded like a bomb.

They might even have a man posted

the other side of that wall.

Good acoustics has drawbacks.

Lieutenant, hide in the horn section.

This chapel was made

for the sound of a full orchestra.

Let's rub the general's nose in it.

Let's try the Tchaikovsky.

Not yet.

There's a good loud part coming up.

There's you cue, Calloway.

- Is that Evans?

- I think so.

Take a look.

Once again, please. From bar 19.

This time horns,

give me a stronger attack.

This music is sensual,

not pornographic.

You are very young.

You must be an excellent musician.

May I tell general Schiller when

you will perform this concert?

Yes. Never.

I rehearse my musicians the way you

oil your guns. To keep them sharp.

Nothing more.

I would like to hear you play.

Trombones, do me the kindness

of referring to bar 47.

It calls for one dotted eighth note.

You must be seeing

spots before your eyes.

Maestro,

the trombones have always had

a full rest at that point.

Are you telling me what is notated?

I've studied this score for 20 years.

Mr. Long,

would you bring me your music?

No.

Colonel,

you're interrupting my rehearsal.

I want to hear him play.

You must be a great artist to be

kept out of the army at your age.

Bring me your music.

You're making extra-musical demands.

As the representative of the union...

Your union be damned!

Our union be damned?

This is the last straw!

Wait until local 802 hears about this!

How about the bus. I'm entitled

to first class transportation.

Be quiet!

Silence!

You will play. Now.

The integrity of this division is at

stake. The disposal of the prisoners...

This man Evans, is not our prisoner.

We detain him. Nothing more.

Only when he acknowledges our

authority, will he be our prisoner.

Playing my concert will

be that acknowledgement.

I am not a subtle man, General.

You're right. At last we

have an area or agreement.

If you want to serve this division,

do it in a less painful fashion.

Find me fuel for my tanks,

not a bullet for my brain.

I will make an urgent request to

Field Marshall Von Runshedt himself.

May I do so, in your name, sir?

Naturally.

Herr General, when these

musicians have played your concert...

Then they are yours.

But if he's not surrendered when we

are ready to resume our offensive?

Then they are yours.

Now, there can't be

more than 35 feet

from the tower to the wall outside.

And there's no guard on the wall.

Now, past it there's a few yards

of open space.

Nothing but bombed out timber.

It'd be like a needle in a hay stack.

What it there are guards out side

the wall?

That would be an ugly note,

Lieutenant.

You say 30 feet to the wall,

but that's over a drop of 40.

They're infantry, not Air Force.

Yeah, but I'm Oklahoma, don't forget.

There's jags and snags in that wall

making it easy to rope as a heifer.

This isn't cow country. Lariats

don't come in Red Cross packages.

Don't be too sure about that.

We just got a Red Cross package,

Sergeant.

Lieutenant.

Here is your lariat.

At least, the raw materials for it.

We'll need men's ties,

women's stockings.

Anything we can braid together

to make a rope.

Give me a place to stand,

and I will move the earth.

General, it is under standable that

a man, so stubborn, as Evans

- could make one obsessed with...

- There must be a way.

With the right point of purchase,

there's leverage for everything.

And for everyone.

Rehearsal after supper. The 4th

movement of the Brahms's First.

It would be helpful

if you all studied your scores.

Maestro, does this mean were going

to play the General's concert?

The string section in par ticular is

in need of work. Don't neglect it.

I'll try to make enough noise

tonight to cover your climb.

Once you get us up there.

I hope you got lasso music.

I can overplay the climax. It's

the loudest fortissimo there is.

Good morning.

- Good morning.

- Good morning.

Captain.

Good morning, Mr. Evans. I trust

you're enjoying the fresh air?

You run a very up-to-date jail,

General. Even to the exercise period.

What do you provide in the way

of occupational therapy?

You musicians provide your own.

I was disappointed the rehearsal

wasn't preparation for my concert.

Then I'm afraid you're due

for another disappointment to night.

Routine interrogation of prisoners.

I know its profitless questioning

your people on military matters,

but I must give our Colonel

Arndt his little victories.

When does my turn come?

I already know about you, Mr. Evans.

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