Dead Poets Society Page #11

NEIL:

Being in the club means being stirred up

by things. You look about as stirred up

as a cesspool.

TODD:

You want me out... is that what you're

saying?

NEIL:

No, I want you in. But being in means

you gotta do something. Not just say

you're in.

TODD:

(turns angrily)

Listen Neil, I appreciate your interest

in me but I'm not like you. When you say

things, people pay attention. People

follow you. I'm not like that.

NEIL:

Why not? Don't you think you could be?

TODD:

No! I don't know, I'll probably never

know. The point is, there's nothing you

can do about it so butt out, all right?

I can take care of myself just fine. All

right?

NEIL:

Er No.

TODD:

No? What do you mean 'no'?

NEIL:

(shrugs matter-of-factly)

No.

Neil opens his play. Todd waits for Neil to relent. He

doesn't.

40 OMIT 40

A41 EXT. CAVE - AFTERNOON A41

The boys enter the cave.

41 INT. THE CAVE - AFTERNOON 41

It is a clear, crisp fall afternoon. Charlie, Knox, Todd,

Necks, Neil, Cameron, and Pitts sit around. Neil recites from

Thoreau.

NEIL:

"I went to the woods because I wished to

live deliberately. I wanted to live deep

and suck out all the marrow of life."

KNOX (moans)

God, I want to suck all the marrow out

of Chris. I'm so in love, I feel like

I'm going to die!

NEIL:

You know what the dead poets would say:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may...

KNOX:

But she's in love with: the moron son of

my father's best friend. What would the

dead poets say about that?

Knox walks away from the group. Despair is washing over him.

CHARLIE:

I feel like I've never been alive. For

years I've been risking nothing. I have

no idea what I am or what I want to do!

Neil, you know you want to act. Knox

wants Chris.

KNOX:

Needs Chris! Must have Chris!

CHARLIE:

Meeks, you're the brain here. What do

the dead poets say about somebody like

me?

MEEKS:

The romantics were passionate

experimenters, Charles. They dabbled in

many things before settling, if ever.

CAMERON:

There aren't too many places to be an

experimenter at Welton, Meeks.

Charlie paces a moment, then gets an idea. He addresses the

group.

CHARLIE:

I hereby declare this the Charles Dalton

Cave for Passionate Experimentation. In

the future, anyone wishing entry must

have permission from me.

PITTS:

Wait a minute, Charlie. This should

belong to the club.

CHARLIE:

It should, but I found it and now I

claim it. carpe cavern, guys. Seize the

cave.

Charlie grins. The boys look at each other and shake their

heads. Neil heads out.

NEIL:

I gotta get to the tryouts. Wish me

luck.

MEEKS:

Good luck.

Neil exits. Charlie finds a rock and begins carving his name

on a wall of the cave. Pitts shakes his head.

42 EXT. SOCCER FIELD - AFTERNOON 42

Gusts of wind blow across the field. About 50 boys stand in

their sweats, moving around, trying to keep warm. Among them

are Todd, Charlie, Pitts, and Knox who is in a state of

lovesick despair. Keating walks up, carrying same soccer

balls under one arm and a case under the other.

PITTS:

Say, look who's the soccer instructor.

KEATING:

Here here, there are quite a few of us

so we have to be quiet if we're to get

anything accomplished. Who has the roll?

SENIOR STUDENT:

I do, sir.

SENIOR STUDENT:

Keating takes the three-page roll and examines it.

KEATING:

Answer "present." please. Chapman?

STUDENT (CHAPMAN)

Present.

KEATING:

Perry? (no answer) Neil Perry?

Keating glances at Todd. Todd doesn't know what to say.

KEATING (CONT'D)

Hmmmm. Watson? (no answer) Richard

Watson? Absent too, eh?

SOMEONE:

Watson's sick, sir.

KEATING:

Hmm. Sick indeed. I suppose I should

give Watson demerits. But if I give

Watson demerits, I will also have to give

Perry demerits and I like Perry.

He crumples the roll up and tosses it away.

KEATING (CONT'D)

Boys, you don't have to be here if you

don't want to. Anyone who wants to play,

follow me.

Keating marches off. Astonished and delighted by this

capriciousness, most of the boys excitedly follow.

43 NEW ANGLE - FAR SOCCER FIELD - LATER 43

Most of the boys from earlier sit on the ground. Keating

stands before them.

KEATING:

Devotees may argue that one game or

sport is inherently better than another.

For me the most important thing in all

sport is the way other human beings can

push us to excel. Plato, a gifted man

like myself, said, "Only the contest made

me a poet, a sophist, an orator." Each

person take a slip of paper and line up

single file.

He passes out slips of paper to the curious students.

44 EXT. THE SOCCER FIELD - LATER 44

The boys form a long line. Todd stands listlessly at the

rear. Ten feet in front of the boy at the head of the line, a

soccer ball rests on the ground.

KEATING:

You know what to do... Now go!

McAllister walks past the soccer field. He watches in

fascination as the boy at the head of the line steps out and

reads loudly from his slip of paper.

FIRST BOY:

Oh to struggle against great odds, To

meet enemies undaunted!

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