Platoon Page #11

FRANCIS:

(leaves)

Let's get out of here man.

But Bunny takes up the slack, moves forward on the young man.

BUNNY:

(to Chris)

You chickenshit man, they're laughing at you, look at

them faces. That's the way a gook laughs.

The Young Man nodding affable to Bunny and mumbling ingratiating

words in Vietnamese.

BUNNY (CONT'D)

Yeah sure you are, you're real sorry ain't you.

You're just crying out your hearts about Sandy and

Sal and Manny - they're laughing at us! Their family

is out there in the f***ing bush blowing us away and

they're laughing at us!

O'NEILL

(checking out the hutch)

Forget it will ya, let's go ...

Chris standing there, watching, sensing something awful is going

to come and unable to do anything about it. It comes - suddenly

and without warning. Bunny is looking at O'Neill, the Vietnamese

couple are muttering something. In one fluid move, Bunny swivels

and with unbelievable savagery clubs the young one-legged man in

the side of the head with the butt of his 16.

O'NEILL (CONT'D)

(stunned)

Hey what are you doing!

BUNNY:

F***er!

The young man is groaning on the floor of the hutch. Bunny

smashes him - again and again.

BUNNY (CONT'D)

That's for Sandy! And this is for Sal! And this is

for f***ing Manny! This is for me!

Chris watches, horrified. Never in his life has he seen

something so horrifying as this. And yet he does nothing. He is

part of it.

BUNNY (CONT'D)

(stepping back, examines what's left of the head, amazed)

Wow! You see his f***ing head come apart? Look at

that ... I never seen brains like dat before. Jesus

f***ing Christ ...

The Old Lady is shrieking, hovering over the body of her son.

Bunny studying her.

BUNNY (CONT'D)

Betcha the old b*tch runs the whole show. Probably

helped cut Manny's throat. Probably cut my balls off

if she could.

(to Chris)

Come on, man, let's do her.

She cowers from him. Chris steps back, horrified. As is

O'Neill, more puzzled than horrified.

BUNNY (CONT'D)

(hitting her again)

Let's zap all these motherfuckers! Let's do the

whole village!

He backs out of the hutch, scared. Evidently Bunny is

temporarily insane. But he spots O'Neill, yells at him.

BUNNY (CONT'D)

GET BACK HERE YOU F***ING COWARD O'NEILL. THIS IS

FOR SANDY ... THIS IS FOR SANDY MAN! AND SAL! AND

MANNY!

As he clubs her to death.

On Chris' face, blood and brain tissue flying up into it.

EXT. CENTRAL AREA - VILLAGE - DAY

A tiny knot of men are ringed around Barnes who is questioning a

sturdy-looking man who is the VILLAGE CHIEF. He has been

stripped of his shirt, scars all over his body, scared. He has

his ID papers out, trembling, showing them to Lerner who speaks

some pidgen Vietnamese.

BARNES:

Where'd he get these wounds?

Lerner translates, the man talking back.

LERNER:

He says he was hit in a bombing raid.

TONY:

He's a dink fosure.

BARNES:

Ask him what the weapons are doing here?

LERNER:

He says they had no choice. The NVA killed the old

honcho when he said no. He says the rice is theirs.

BARNES:

Bullshit ... who the hell was the dink we just nailed

on the riverbank?

Chris and O'Neill come up, watch. Others coming from different

places - sensing the narrowing drama. But half the platoon is

still at work in the village. We hear shouts, grenade

explosions, occasionally gunfire.

LERNER:

... He says he doesn't know, NVA haven't been around

in a couple of months. Maybe it was a scout or ...

The men around Barnes grumble.

BARNES:

Yeah sure it was. What about all that f***ing rice

and the weapons ... who they for?

(looking at the Village Chief)

Cocksucker knows what I'm saying ... don't you Pop?

(a blank look)

ACE:

You're goddamn right he does!

Lerner translating. The Village Chief's WIFE is now on the

scene, a middle-aged woman with angry features, yelling at Lerner

trying to answer for her husband, a high-pitched barrage of

indignant words directed mostly at Barnes, and interspersed with

the spitting of her betel nuts on the ground.

The Village Chief trying to talk her down. But things are

definitely getting out of control. And the heat from the sun is

only aggravating the situation, pounding down on the actors in

the drama, their fatigues soaked in sweat and anger.

LERNER:

(finally)

He swears he doesn't know anything! He hates the NVA

but they come when they want and ...

JUNIOR:

He's lying through his teeth!

TONY:

Waste the f***er, then see who talks.

BARNES:

What's the b*tch saying?

LERNER:

(overwhelmed)

She's going on, I don't know - why are we shooting

the pigs, they're farmers ... they got to make a

living, all that crap ...

The Woman is still ranting when Barnes turns to her, quite

casually levels his M-16, and puts a bullet in her head. She

goes down as if pole-axed.

A stunned pause. The Chief looking at his wife. The Villagers

in background reacting.

Wolfe looking ... Chris looking, shocked. Doc, possibly the

straightest of them all, very uncomfortable. They are all

shocked insome way, but do nothing against the power of Banres.

Barnes walks over to the pig pen with the other Villagers, very

casually, confronts them.

BARNES:

(to Lerner)

Tell him he talks or I'm gonna waste more of 'em.

Lerner shaken up, muttering to the Village Chief who is in shock,

kneeling next to the body of his wife, muttering in a high whine

of pain.

BARNES (CONT'D)

Go ahead, Lerner, ask him.

A group of Villagers huddle to one side.

Lerner, shaken, is yelling at all of them, demanding an answer.

LERNER:

They don't know Sarge, they don't know!

(half believes it)

Barnes turns his attention on the other villagers, his intentions

apparent. Everybody feels them. They're next. Barnes is

unperturbed, very much in command of the situation, no rage, no

emotions expressed.

Chris has never seen such a thing in his life - but can't react.

Can't stop it, just watches it like he's not quite there.

The same goes for Lieutenant Wolfe, for all of them. The very

outrageousness of Barns' killing seems to quell all protest.

ACE:

(sensing the impending massacre)

Hey Sarge can we get in on this.

Tony advances, the hairy Italian kid from Boston.

TONY:

Let's go all the way, let's go for it! Let's do the

whole f***ing village. Come on, Sarge.

Chris' eyes ... Rodriguez next to him, is neutral but willing.

Francis is hesitant.

Fu Sheng and Junior are ready to go for it. Lt.Wolfe is

powerless, frozen.

Sgt.Warren stepping up. The massacre is just about to break.

The Villagers know it, kneel in prayer, mutter.

Barnes suddenly grabs and drags a young 19 year-old Woman, the

Village Chief's daughter, across the pen, throws her down on her

knees, in front of the stunned Village Chief. She's screaming.

BARNES:

This his daughter, right?

Lerner nods. Barnes pulls his .45, puts it alongside her head.

BARNES (CONT'D)

(to Village Chief)

You lie ... You Vee Cee ... I caca ado Vee Cee!

He chambers the .45, the Woman begging Barnes for her life,

cradling his knees. He sticks the gun down above her skull.

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