Dead Poets Society Page #4

Neil takes the school annual achievement pin off his shirt

and hurls it at his desk.

KNOX:

Wait a minute. I don't let my parents

walk on me.

NEIL:

Yeah, you just do everything they say!

You'll be in daddy's law firm as sure as

I'm standing here.

(to Charlie)

And you'll be approving loans till you

croak.

CHARLIE:

Okay, so I don't like it any more than

you do. I'm just saying

NEIL:

Then don't tell me how to talk to my

father when you're the same way. All

right?!

KNOX:

All right. Jesus, what are you gonna

do?

NEIL:

What I have to do. Screw the annual.

MEEKS:

I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep over

it. It's just a bunch of people trying

to impress Nolan.

NEIL:

(bitterly)

Screw it all. I don't give a damn about

any of it.

He slams his hand into his pillow and lies back silently.

Everyone is quiet, sensing Neil's disappointment. Finally,

Charlie breaks the silence.

CHARLIE:

I don't know about anyone else, but I

could use a refresher in Latin. Eight

o'clock in my room?

NEIL:

Sure.

CHARLIE:

You're welcome to join us, Todd.

KNOX:

Yeah, come along.

TODD:

Thank you.

The boys leave. Neil lies in silence. He sees the

achievement pin that he threw and picks it up. Todd continues

to unpack. He unpacks a photo of his mother and father with

their arms around an older boy who is obviously Todd's brother

Jeffrey. Todd stands to one side, slightly apart from the

family group. Todd unpacks an engraved leather desk set

(pens, blotter, etc.) and puts it on his desk.

NEIL:

So what do you think of my father?

TODD:

(softly, to himself)

I'll take him over mine.

NEIL:

What?

TODD:

Nothing.

NEIL:

Todd, if you're gonna make it around

here, you've gotta speak up. The meek

might inherit the earth but they don't

get into Harvard. know what I mean?

Todd nods.

NEIL (CONT'D)

The goddamn bastard!

He presses the metal point of the pin into his thumb, drawing

blood. Todd winces. Neil doesn't. Neil hurls the pin again.

14 INT. A CHEMISTRY CLASSROOM - DAY 14

The classroom is a laboratory: filled with flasks, etc.

Neil, Todd, Knox, Charlie, Cameron, Meeks and other members of

the junior class sit around the room. A bespectacled teacher

stands in front, passing out thick textbooks.

CHEMISTRY TEACHER

In addition to the assignments in the

text, you will each pick three lab

experiments from the project list and

report on one every five weeks. The

first twenty problems at the end of

chapter one are due: tomorrow.

ANGLE ON CHARLIE DALTON as the thick textbooks arrive at his

desk. He shoots a disbelieving glance at Knox Overstreet who

can only acknowledge with a shake of his head. Todd takes his

books without reacting.

15 INT. LATIN CLASS - DAY 15

The same students sit before a Latin teacher in his early

60's He declines a Latin noun with a thick Scottish brogue.

LATIN TEACHER (McALLISTER)

Agricola, agricolae, agricolas,

Agricolas, agricolatis, agricolatus

ANGLE FAVORING TODD, NEIL, KNOX AND THE OTHERS as they

struggle to follow along with McAllister's lesson.

16 INT. A MATHEMATICS CLASS - DAY 16

Mathematical charts hang on the walls. The elderly bald

teacher (the one from Nolan's doorway), Dr. Hager, passes out

books. The students' work load is huge.

HAGER:

Your study of trigonometry requires

absolute precision. Anyone failing to

turn in any homework assignment will be

penalized one point off his final grade.

Let me urge you now not to test me on

this point. Who would like to begin by

defining a cosine?

Richard Cameron stands.

CAMERON:

A cosine is the sin of the compliment of

an angle or arc. If we define an angle

A, then...

17 INT. ENGLISH CLASSROOM - DAY 17

The junior students--Todd, Neil, Knox, Charlie, Cameron,

Meeks and some of the others we've seen--enter. They are

loaded down with books and look weary. Sitting in the front

of the room, staring out the window is JOHN KEATING, the

teacher we glimpsed earlier. He wears a collared shirt, tie,

no jacket.

The boys take seats and settle in. Keating stares out the

window a long time. The students start to shuffle

uncomfortably. Finally Keating stands, picks up a yardstick,

and begins slowly strolling the aisles. He stops and stares

into the face of one of the boys.

KEATING:

(to the blushing boy)

Don't be embarrassed.

He moves off, then stops in front of Charlie Dalton.

KEATING (CONT'D)

(as if discovering

something known only to

himself)

Uh-huh

(he moves to Todd Anderson)

Uh-huh

(he moves to Neil Perry)

Ha!

Keating slaps his free hand with the yardstick, then strides

to the front of the room.

KEATING (CONT'D)

Nimble young minds!

He steps up onto the desk, turns and faces the class.

KEATING (CONT'D)

(energetically)

Oh Captain, My Captain. Who knows where

that's from?

No one raises a hand.

KEATING (CONT'D)

It was written by a poet named Walt

Whitman about Mr. Abraham Lincoln. In

this class you may refer to me as either

Mr. Keating, or Oh Captain, My Captain.

Keating steps down and starts. strolling the aisles.

KEATING (CONT'D)

So that I become the source of as few

rumors as possible, let me tell you that

yes, I was a student at this institution

many moons ago, and no, at that time I

did not possess this charismatic

personality. However, should you choose

to emulate my manner, it can only help

your grade. Pick up a textbook from the

back, gentlemen, and let's retire to the

honor room.

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