The Last Samurai
FADE IN:
BRIGHT BLUE TIGER
Surrounded by a pack of dogs, ten of them snarling and
gnashing their teeth.
The TIGER'S, eyes burn with fury as he wheels in a circle,
lunging at one dog clawing at another, keeping them all at
bay.
Suddenly, the TIGER leaps over the dogs and transforms into
a WHITE BIRD, soaring majestically into the sky.
Sits up into frame, sweating, waking from a dream. He is
KATSUMOTO.
We will come to know him later.
Fade to black. CREDITS OVER.
The faint SOUND of a BRASS BAND.
WINCHESTER REP (V.O.)
...the leader in all forms of armament
used by the United States Army. When
you need a friend, Winchester is by
your side.
As he smokes a cigar, barely listening. CAPTAIN NATHAN ALGREN,
U.S. Army, ret, 36 years old and looking every day of it.
His eyes are lined and saddened. He takes a swig from a flask.
He is BACKSTAGE at:
INT. CONVENTION HALL - SAN FRANCISCO - DAY
Where a trade show is in progress. Scantily clad lovelies in
red-white-and-blue undies demonstrate the nation's most
important new export: arms.
Every weapon imaginable is on display: rifles, pistols, even
howitzers. Banners declaim the virtues of Winchester and
Springfield. Of Colt and Remington and Smith & Wesson. Crowds
mill around a stage. where:
WINCHESTER REP:
Ladies and Gentlemen... the Winchester
Corporation is proud to bring to
you... a true American hero. A patriot
who has proven his gallantry time
and again on the field of battle.
LITTLE TIN SOLDIERS are all lined up. A mass of grey. Rebel
troops surrounding a band of blue Union cavalry. A large,
metal diorama.
WINCHESTER REP:
I hope you will join us in
welcoming... Late of the U.S. Cavalry.
The Savior of Sutter Hill... Captain
Nathan Algren!
A last swig. Algren steels himself, then strides onstage as
we reveal a banner:
WINCHESTER PRESENTS: THE MIRACLE AT SUTTER'S HILL!
Garish limelight from a row of foot lights illuminates Algren.
ALGREN:
My thanks, Mr. McCabe. Ladies and
Gents.
He looks down at the little metal soldiers and begins to
tell the story of the battle that made him famous. His
narration is halting, unsteady:
ALGREN:
...On that fateful day, Johnny Reb
had us in a spot, perched on the
lonely top of Sutter's Hill, nothing
but grey as far as the eye could
see:
Unhorsed and out of ammunition,I gazed down into the, um, mael...
mael...
(squints to see better)
-- maelstrom below us, and saw them
moving up.
We realize he is reading from cue cards. The little Rebel
soldiers begin sliding up the metal hill.
ALGREN:
I knew it was fight or die. Into the
teeth of the enemy or we would all
be buried... buried...
(loses his place,
under his breath)
Sh*t...
(finds it again)
...on the same hill with our comrades
already gone to Merciful Heaven...
A SUDDEN FLASH:
Algren's mind. The real battle of Sutter's Hill. The grim
reality is very different from the dashing tale. Union
soldiers scream in agony. Those horses still alive buck and
froth at their tether.
Algren, a lieutenant then, moves among the panicked, bloody
men. He stops beside a PRIVATE, his brother, DAVID ALGREN,
19, blonde, not much more than a boy.
DAVEY:
They're coming, Nate.
He looks over the wall. Rebel troops are moving up the hill.
ALGREN:
Keep your head down.
DAVEY:
(smiling)
Papa always said we should've joined
the navy.
ALGREN:
What'd he know?
(looks fondly at his
brother)
You watch me now. Do whatever I say...
DAVEY:
Aye-aye, lieutenant.
Algren punches his shoulder and moves on down the line.
Nearby, Algren's friend, SERGEANT ZEBULAH GANT, though
severely wounded, reloads his revolver with the last of his
ammunition.
GANT:
How're the horses?
ALGREN:
Better than you. Smell better, too.
(looks at him)
Can you hold on, Zeb?
GANT:
(fighting the pain)
I got I choice?
Algren smiles sadly. His mend will die loon without medical
attention.
Algren moves down the line, bullets whizzing overhead. He
kneels beside COLONEL BAGLEY, his commanding officer.
BAGLEY:
(panicking)
We need a flag. Find me a goddamn
white flag!
ALGREN:
What are you talking about?!
BAGLEY:
Surrender, damn it! That's an order!
BACK TO THE CONVENTION HALL:
ALGREN:
No thought of surrender among those
boys. Better to die as God made us,
we thought, as soldiers... So I gave
the order. Mister Bugler, sound mount
up. Mister Bugler, sound prepare
arms. There were only thirty of us,
but we had fire in us yet. I looked
down the hill at the destiny ordained
for us. And gave the order. Mister
Bugler, charge!
The little Union cavalry soldiers begin moving down slots in
the hill.
ON SUTTER'S HILL:
Algren leads a chaotic cavalry charge down the hill toward
the advancing rebel infantry -- artillery explosions --
bullets snapping, trees shattering.
Algren's brother, Davey, rides beside him.
The wounded Sergeant Gant pulls himself up, waves his cap
and yells.
Bagley remains cowering behind the stone wall.
BACK TO THE CONVENTION HALL:
ALGREN:
And straight into them we went...
ON SUTTER'S HILL:
Carnage. Union and Confederate soldiers slam together,
falling, drowning in mud and blood, stepped on by panicked
horses.
Algren wields his saber in one hand and his revolver in the
other, serving death on all sides.
A soldier riding next to Davey is shot. A horse falls into a
shellhole.
BACK TO THE CONVENTION HALL:
ALGREN:
"Hip-hip hurray." We shouted, for we
had spirit in us yet --
MORE FLASHES:
Algren slices right and left with his saber. He is a truly
gifted swordsman.
A tree branch knocks Davey from his horse. He sits, dazed,
on the ground.
Algren kills a rebel soldier just as be is about to fire on
him.
Single-handedly, be rallies his men, screaming orders, then
lifts his wounded brother onto the saddle beside him.
He leads them downhill toward safely, Davey clinging to him
for dear life.
BACK TO THE CONVENTION HALL:
ALGREN:
Before they knew what hit them, we
had broken through into the rear of
the rebel army.
ON SUTTER'S HILL:
Algren and his men gather in a copse of trees. They are giddy
with the exhilaration of having survived.
DAVEY:
We did it, bro', WE DID IT!
Whoeeeee!!
Algren's smile is shortlived, though.
SUDDENLY, the woods ERUPT with gunfire. Trees are shredded.
Algren's men are literally cut to pieces --
Davey is riddled with bullets, his dead body shielding Algren
from harm until he slides, lifeless, to the mud.
ALGREN:
Davey--!!!!
Men and horses are torn apart -- they contort and writhe in
agony. Jerking grotesquely as the bullets rip into them.
Algren frantically tries to locate the source of this
firepower. Then he sees:
A Gatling Gun.
Six barrels glisten like steel teeth. This early machine gun
is the pinnacle of current military might -- 60 rounds a
second -- a triumph in engineering.
ALGREN:
AHHHHHHH--!!!!!
With insane courage, he wheels and charges the gun.
Bullets rip into horse and rider alike. Algren falls,
lifeless, into the mud.
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"The Last Samurai" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_last_samurai_892>.
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