The Deer Hunter Page #13

The STREET URCHINS come running. They are ragged,

malnourished, ranging in age from about six to nine. They are

covered with sores. One of them ~as lost an eye and another

has lost a hand.

NICK (CONT'D)

Everyone take an elephant!

(to the YOUNGEST URCHIN)

You know how to carry an elephant?

(the URCHIN nods)

That's what I thought. Right off I

figured you as that kind of guy.

Hey, wait a minute, I gotta get

change. Take an elephant! Everyone

take an elephant and then form up.

Right here. Over here, like this,

in a nice long elephant line...

Good. That's good. Man, look at all

these elephants! One, two, three,

four, five, six, seven, eight,

nine, ten... eleven elephants!

(surveys them)

Hey, but you gotta stand tall to

carry elephants.

(he illustrates)

Better. That's better. I mean...

God damn, I mean that's elephants

now! Wait. Now you wait while I get

change.

NICK dives into a nearby bar.

INT. NEARBY BAR - NIGHT

The place is as dark as the one before. MUSIC BLASTS from a

jukebox and two vaseline-covered GIRLS are dancing. As NICK

crosses to the bar to get change there is a WHISTLING SCREAM

and then the FRONT WALL OF THE BUILDING DISINTEGRATES IN A

ROAR OF NOISE.

NICK pulls himself out of the debris. There is absolute

silence in the WRECKED BAR but rockets are coming in all over

the city and the EXPLOSIONS rumble and roar.

EXT. NARROW STREET AFTER ROCKET EXPLOSION - NIGHT

A nearby building is burning fiercely. The street is deserted

except for the sprawled CORPSES of the STREET URCHINS which

lie this way and that, like broken dolls.

NICK walks out past the CORPSES. The street is littered with

fragments of broken ceramic -- gleaming, pure white, like

chunks of snow.

EXT. DESERTED STREET - SAIGON - NIGHT

The sky is alight with fires. Now and then HUGE EXPLOSIONS

rock the night and SIRENS wail.

A lone figure appears, walking down the middle of the street.

As the figure approaches we see that it is NICK.

NICK:

(toneless, over and over)

Hey, hey, the wind does blow.

Hey, hey, the snow does snow.

Hey, hey, the rain does rain...

NICK swallows, as if to force back some overwhelming emotion.

Then, squatting down under a lamp post, he begins again.

NICK (CONT'D)

Hey, hey, the wind does blow.

Hey, hey, the snow does snow...

NICK takes out his wallet, opens it hurriedly to the

PHOTOGRAPH OF LINDA and peers at it with a kind of ferocious

determination, as if this link were the last, as if by

staring at it hard he could make it hold.

NICK (CONT'D)

(his voice thin, cracking)

Hey, hey, the wind does blow.

Hey, hey, the snow does snow --

There is the sharp report of a pistol SHOT and then, as NICK

spins, staring at a shuttered building, there is the

unmistakable sound of APPLAUSE.

NICK stares at the building for a long moment, then he

crosses toward it.

EXT. YARD BEHIND BUILDING - SAIGON - NIGHT

A tiny light glows inside a paper lantern. Lying on the

around are three CORPSES, all of them Asian, all of them

expensively dressed and all of them with their heads blown

off. As NICK stands looking at them a door comes open on the

back of the building,and TWO BURLY MEN bring out another

corpse. The body is that of a young American. Like the Asians

he is expensively dressed and he is dead from a bullet in the

right temple.

MAN (V.O.)

If you are brave and lucky I can

make you rich.

NICK turns. A MAN is standing in the shadows of a small grape

arbor, eyeing him with a look of cold amusement. The MAN'S

accent is French. Beside him, on a small white table, is a

bottle of champagne and several glasses.

MAN (CONT'D)

You have played?

NICK stares at the MAN, nods.

MAN (CONT'D)

Once you have played it is not so

hard. Cigarette?

NICK shakes his head.

MAN (CONT'D)

You seem... disturbed.

NICK:

I... No. You do this for money?

MAN:

Mais certainment... A great deal of

money. Naturally I do not do it

myself. I myself do not possess the

nerve.

(smiles)

But I am always... how do you

say... looking out for those who

do... It is a thing quite rare.

Champagne perhaps? Tch, tch. Don't

say no. When a man says no to

champagne, he says no to life and

that no man must ever do.

(gives NICK a glass)

Where did you play?

NICK:

Up north.

MAN:

Ah yes. Of course... So few

survive.

(smiles)

La creme de la creme... How did you

obtain release?

NICK:

Playing.

MAN:

(raises his eyebrows)

Playing?

NICK:

We... Three bullets.

MAN:

And then you...

The MAN makes a clicking sound, three times, as if firing a

pistol. NICK nods.

MAN (CONT'D)

How extremely clever. That is

really most extraordinaire... Allow

me please to introduce myself. I am

Armand... And you are?

NICK:

Nick.

ARMAND:

Nick. C'est extraordinaire! Do you

know that I have a cousin who is

called Nicholas and a nephew

Nickolai. So you are, comme on dit,

en famille. In the family.

There is another SHOT from inside and another round of

APPLAUSE.

NICK:

I have to go.

ARMAND:

But you must come in.

NICK:

No, I --

ARMAND:

But I insist.

NICK:

I have to go.

ARMAND:

You are frightened, no?

NICK nods.

ARMAND (CONT'D)

Of what is there to be afraid? The

war? The war is no problem. It is a

joke, a silly thing. I make one

call and get you out.

ARMAND refills NICK's glass. NICK looks at it. The glass is

as thin as paper and the sparkling bubbles dance and hiss.

NICK lifts the glass and empties in one swallow.

NICK:

See, I'm going home.

ARMAND:

Ah yes. Of course.

(smiles)

To the girl who waits.

NICK:

(gives him a look and

sits)

Yeah... Do you mind if I sit?

ARMAND:

But of course! Please make yourself

comfortable. Perhaps you would

enjoy some fresh caviar, or une

petite glace, or --?

NICK:

(weary, shaking his head)

No. None of that.

ARMAND:

Unfortunately I must now go in, but

I leave you my card. Naturellement

I pay my players cash American.

Just so you know.

ARMAND disappears in the darkness. Then his VOICE comes

again.

ARMAND (V.O.) (CONT'D)

However, should you prefer German

marks, or perhaps Swiss francs,

this of course can be arranged.

Everything can be arranged.

ARMAND moves around the side of the building and the sound of

his FOOTSTEPS fades away. The TWO BURLY MEN come lurching

with another CORPSE. Laughter comes from inside the building

and there is a glimpse of AN ELEGANTLY DRESSED WOMAN seated

at a cafe table. The BURLY MEN return to the door and shut it

tight. In the distance the sky goes up in a huge flash of

fire and then the sound of the EXPLOSION rolls across the

city like a great dead wind.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. NICK'S TRAILER - WINTER - DUSK

The trailer is all decked out with bunting and stuck, like a

plum cake, with tiny American flags. Stretching from the

trailer to the side of a house across the street is a huge,

hand-lettered banner which says "WELCOME HOME NICK!" and it

whips and it snaps in the cold winter wind.

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