From Here to Eternity Page #2

HOLMES:

What made you transfer out, then?

PREW:

It's a personal matter, air.

HOLMES:

Oh. I see...

He studies Prew for a moment, sees Warden on the edge of his

chair, watching hawk-like.

HOLMES:

Something you wanted to ask,

Sergeant?

.

WARDEN:

(explodes suddenly)

Who? Me? Whv, yes, air. You had

Corpral's stripes in the Bugle

Corps, Prewitt. You took a bust to

buck Private to transfer to an

Infantry Compny. Why? Because you

like to hike?

PREW:

I dint have no trouble if that's

what you mean.

WARDED:

(grins suddenly)

Or was it just because you couldn't

stand to bugle?

PREW:

It was a personal matter.

WARDEN:

That's up to the Compny Commander's

discretion to decide.

PREW:

(looks straight at Warden)

All right. I was First Bugler at

Shafter for two years. The topkick

had a friend who transferred in

from the states. Next day he made

him First Bugler over me.

7.

WARDEN:

And you asked out on account of

that!?

PREY:

Maybe I just ain't sensible... But

that's the reason.

WARDEN:

(snorts)

His feelings were hurt! Kids they

send us now!

Warden swings his chair around, absorbs himself in work at

his desk as if the Prew situation is too absurd to concern

himself with. Holmes speaks blandly, winningly.

HOLMES:

I've got a mighty sour Company

Bugler here... but I suppose you

wouldn't want that job.

PREY:

No, air.

HOLMES:

(smiles)

Well, we'll get your stripes back

for you, maybe an extra one for

good measure. You know why you were

sent over here when you requested

transfer?

PREW:

No, sir.

HOLDS:

I pulled a few strings. I'm the

Regimental Boxing Coach, Prewitt. I

saw your fight with Connors in the

Bowl year before last. With any

luck you should have won it. I

thought for a while, in the second

round, you were going to knock him

out.

PREW:

(tense)

Thank you, sir.

MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT HOLMES

8.

HOLMES:

(bitterly)

My Regiment got beaten last year in

the finals, as you know.

(savage insistence)

But I mean to win this year. And I

will. All I've needed was a top

middleweight.

(waves at pictures)

Next year I'll hang your picture up

there with the others, my boy.

MEDIUM SHOT FEATURING PREW

PREW:

I'm sorry, air. But I quit

fighting.

HOLMES.

Quit fighting? When? What for?

PREW:

I just stopped, sir... After --

Maybe you heard about what

happened...

HOLMEB:

You mean that fallow you hurt --

the one that went blind?

CLOSE SHOT PREW:

Prew's lips are drawn tight. He nods almost imperceptibly.

MEDIUM SHOT:

During this shot Maggio can be seen in b.g. through door to

Orderly Room. He pretends to be sweeping, but stops now and

then to listen.

HOLMES:

Yes, it's too bad about that. I can

understand how you feel. But those

things happen in this game. A man

has got to accept that possibility

when he fights.

PREW:

That's why I decided I would quit,

sir.

HOLMES:

(less warmly)

But on the other hand, look at

(MORE)

9.

HOLMES(cont'd)

it this way. What if all fighters

felt like that?

PREW:

They don't.

HOLMES:

Would you have us disband our

fighting program because one man

got hurt?

PREW:

No, sir. I dint say -

HOLMES:

You might as well say stop war

because one man got killed. Our

fighting program is the best morale

builder we have off here away from

home.

PREW:

I don't want it disbanded, sir.

(doggedly)

But I don't see why any man should

fight unless he wants to.

HOLMES:

It looks to me like you're trying

to acquire a reputation as a lone

wolf, Prewitt. You should know that

in the Army it's not the individual

that counts. If a man wants to get

ahead he has certain

responsibilities to fulfill that go

beyond the regulations. It might

look as though I were a free agent,

but I'm not. Nobody is.

Holmes waits hopefully for a moment, then realizes Prew is

not going to respond further. He stands. Prew snaps to

attention.

HOLMES:

Maybe you'll change your mind. In

the meantime just don't make any

mistakes in my outfit.

(to Warden)

I've got to go into town. Is there

anything else for me today,

Sergeant?

10.

WARDEN:

(holds up papers)

Yea, sir! The Compny Pond Report's

got to be made out. It's due

tomorrow -

HOLMES:

You make it out. Is that all?

WARDEN:

(holds up more papers)

No, sir!

HOLMES:

Well, whatever it is, you fix it.

If there's anything that has to go

in this afternoon, sign my name. I

won't be back.

He goes out, crossing Warden's desk and knocking a wire

basket filled with papers on the floor. In a moment, the

sound of the screen door slamming is heard. Warden picks up

the papers.

WARDEN:

He'd strangle on his own spit if I

weren't here to swab out his throat

for him.

(to Prew)

Come on. I'll show you the Supply

Room.

Warden goes out to Orderly Room, Prew following.

INT. ORDERLY ROOM - DAY

MEDIUM SHOT:

as Prew and Warden enter and walk through. Maggio bobs his

head approvingly at Prew.

EXT. COMPANY STREET - DAY

MEDIUM SHOT WARDEN AND PREW

as they come out of the Orderly Room. Prew hoists his

barracks bags to his shoulders, balancing them delicately.

CAMERA TRUCKS with him and Warden as they walk down the

porch.

WARDEN:

(one of his unexpected

intense bursts)

Know what you did just now?

(MORE)

11.

WARDEN(cont'd)

When you turned down Dynanite

Holmes' boxing squad? You put your

head in a noose. Things are soft

for a boxer in his Compny.

Otherwise, you better know how to

soljer.

PHEW:

I can soljer with any man.

.

WARDEN:

This ain't the Bugle Corps -- this

is straight duty.

PREW:

I'll take my chances.

A convertible, top down, drives by and pulls up outside the

Orderly Room. KAREN HOLMES, a tall, lean blonde woman, gets

out. Her skirt hikes up a little as she goes up the stairs to

the Orderly Room. Warden and Prew stop walking and watch her.

Karen stops, glances at Warden momentarily, then goes into

the Orderly Room.

WARDEN:

Since when is this place gettin to

be the Royal Hawaiian?

PREW:

Who's she?

WARDEN:

His wife. Captain Holmes'.

They resume walking.

WARDEN:

You'll fight, Prewitt. You'll fight

because Captain Holmes got a bee in

his hat he needs a winnin team to

make Mayor. And if you don't do it

for him you'll do it for me. I only

been in this outfit eight months

myself but I learned one thing. My

job is to keep him happy. The more

he's happy the less he bothers me

and the better I run his Compny. So

we know where we stand, don't we,

kid?

PREW:

I know where I stand. I don't

believe that's the only way a man

can get along.

(MORE)

12.

PREW(cont'd)

A man's got to make up his own mind

and go his own way. It he don't,

he's nothin...

WARDEN:

Maybe back in the days of the

pioneers a man could go his own

way. But not in our time, kid.

Today you got to play ball. You got

to divide it all by two.

They have reached a Dutch door, top half open. A sign over it

reads:
SUPPLY ROOM.

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