The Last of the Mohicans Page #7

marching. Now they look brave but smaller. The forest - with

all its mysteries and dangers - now impresses us as a towering

dark, sinister, and it's immensity swallows up the living

mass which slowly enters its bosom.

CUT TO:

INT. FOREST - DAY

TRACKING the Redcoats, their faces now filmed with dust, cut

with lines of perspiration. They march in perfect formation.

We TRACK PAST the pack horses, the first company, Sgt. Major

Ambrose and on to Cora & Alice. Alice seems fatigued. Cora's

turned, looking up into the forest canopy, astonished at the

deep beauty of the place.

CORA'S POV:
FOREST CANOPY

of trees is dark, except for spots where leaves are sparse,

and there the light is golden.

It's the forest of childhood.

In a ravine a buck disappears into a deeper stand of trees.

CORA (O.S.)

Alice, did you see that...?

CORA'S

reverie's broken by Heyward entering

the frame.

CORA:

Alice?

Alice rouses from fatigue.

HEYWARD:

Are you alright?

ALICE:

Can we rest soon?

HEYWARD:

Absolutely.

Heyward rides to the front of the column to Magua, who's

twenty to thirty yards ahead of everybody else.

HEYWARD:

You there, Scout!

Magua slowly turns towards Heyward.

HEYWARD:

(overly articulated)

We must... stop... soon. Women are...

tired. You... understand?

MAGUA:

(perfect English)

I understand. This is not good place

to stop. Two leagues from here. No

water 'til then. That where we stop.

Better place.

HEYWARD:

No. Stop in the glade just ahead!

When the ladies are rested, we will

proceed. Do you understand?

MAGUA:

(in Huron:
English

subtitle)

"Magua understand paleface is a dog

to his women. When his women want

to eat, he lay aside his tomahawk to

feed their laziness."

HEYWARD:

Excuse me. What did you say?

MAGUA:

Magua say:
"Yes. Good idea."

As they begin to stop...

CUT TO:

EXT. MOUNTAINS & FOREST - DAY

WIDE:

Silently entering on either side of us come Chingachgook,

followed by Hawkeye and Uncas. Even relaxed, they carry

themselves with a degree of alertness. They're eighteenth

century Viet Cong moving through the rain forest. The Maxfield

Parrish/Hudson Valley of tall trees, ravines and streams is

idyllic in front of them. All three cradle their long guns

and move silently on moccasined feet.

FRONTAL:
CHINGACHGOOK

in a stream - relaxed but attentive, abruptly stops. The

others freeze in their tracks.

Chingachgook sees and then stoops to examine...

ROCK:

under the water in the stream. It's been turned from its

bed. Chingachgook finds another. Uncas, moving up on his

flank, climbs the bank and moves off into the trees, searches

and then he gestures... he's found another sign of something.

CHINGACHGOOK:

has headed off further down the stream and discovers nothing.

Rapidly he rejoins Uncas and Hawkeye who've become extremely

alert. They move up the bank into the forest ninety degrees

from their previous path.

TRACKING:
HAWKEYE, UNCAS & CHINGACHGOOK

moving. Fast. Nearly soundless. They hardly disturb a blade

of grass. The impression: expertise, deadliness and an

impression something's wrong.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST, TRAIL - DAY

MAGUA:

On point. The trail cuts the side of a hill. The ground on

one side rises into a forest acclivity and on the other falls

off into a forested ravine. Magua walking towards camera.

CLOSER - MAGUA'S

slid his tomahawk out from the front of his belt that girdles

his waist. He lets the shaft drop into his hand. He shrugs

off his blanket. There is a solidity to his dark, tall figure

we didn't see before. Magua turns about face and advances on

the column.

TRACK WITH Magua.

Heyward and the Munro girls pass the camera as does Sgt.

Major Ambrose, marching in advance of the men. Magua is

approaching the soldier on the left in the first row.

We see Magua has caught the Redcoat's eye.

REDCOAT:

is curious, starts to smile. What does the Huron want to say

to him? When Magua is two steps away he caves in the side of

the infantryman's head at the temple with the spike end of

his tomahawk and, backhanded, hacks the blade through the

side of the neck of the center man in the first row.

SIMULTANEOUSLY:

thirteen muskets EXPLODE from the wooded rise.

FIVE REDCOATS:

are blown off the path, two others are wounded...

AMBROSE:

AMBROSE:

Form company! Left face! March!

ALICE:

shrieks. Cora grabs Alice's reins

and her own.

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