The Last Samurai Page #23

ALGREN:

They're not warriors. They're

soldiers. It's a modern army.

KATSUMOTO:

Not my world anymore.

EXT. BATTLE FIELD - DAY

Bugles. The attack is reforming. Ranks now bolstered by

reinforcements.

They come at a trot, through the narrow defile, skirting the

first barricade, continuing at a trot toward the second

barricade.

EXT. 2ND BARRICADE - DAY

Katsumoto pulls his long sword. Algren does the same.

Katsumoto calls out an order -- the archers fire another

round.

The Imperial soldiers are being annihilated but still they

come in great waves -- for every one who falls it seems there

are ten to take his place.

They race forward, stepping over their fallen comrades,

bayonets poised --

The Mauser rifles flash --

Bullets explode around the samurai, many are hit.

The Imperial Army has been trained to keep firing on the

run. The waiting Samurai will be decimated, except --

From the hills on either side fully half of the Samurai force --

who have been kept hidden until this moment... charge,

screaming into the flank of the attacking Army. Even rifles

cannot fire in three directions at once.

Algren and Katsumoto lead the charge over the second

barricade. Some are cut down, but in moments swords engage

bayonets in brutal hand-to-band combat.

Algren And Katsumoto fight back to back, as if one person,

slashing with their swords, shattering bayonet, dealing death

on all sides.

Ujio crouches, his back leg straight and planted, his front

leg bent. Still using his bow, firing off arrows with stunning

speed, refusing to budge --

On the opposing hillside Bagley and Omura watch the battle

through binoculars.

BAGLEY:

A classic "V" ambush. Sonofabitcb is

using West Point tactics.

In the midst of the battle, a charging soldier thrusts his

bayonet into Katsumoto's arm - Katsumoto kills, the soldier

with his short sword but is awkwardly tangled with his body,

a second soldier races toward him for the kill -- Algren

spins and attacks killing the second soldier -- but a third

races toward Algren, bayonet flashing.

He dodges -- but the bayonet slices into his side --

Algren kicks the soldier away -- tries to use his sword but

the soldier springs back athletically... Ujio appears like a

black spectral figure to deliver the coup de grace.

All SOUND gradually fades and is replaced by the elegant

sound of a bamboo flute... the images of combat become

fragmented and impressionistic.

Bur no matter how bravely the samurai fight, they are simply

outnumbered...

Nakao is like a cornered bear, arcing his two swords wildly

around him. He is shot in the chest, and staggers a moment

before continuing. Another soldier shoots him in the arm at

point blank range. Nakao's sword goes flying, so the giant

Samurai leaps forward and picks up the shooter bodily,

twirling him around like a wrestler, throwing him finally

onto the upraised pike of a fellow Imperial soldier. But now

three more soldiers have levelled their weapons, and a

ruthless volley staggers him again. Shots rain on him as he

tries to continue fighting, but his strength leaves him.

Finally, with one last lunge, he manages to pull an Imperial

soldier with him, crushing him as he falls.

More and more fall as Algren, Katsumoto, and their comrades

fight desperately...

The mournful flute is the appropriate accompaniment as Ujio

is mortally wounded. The grim sword master is cut through

with bullets. Still he fights.

An Imperial soldier holds up a rifle to protect himself, and

Ujio's blade cuts through the barrel. The soldier just has

time to look at the gun in amazement before a second sweep

of Ujio's sword beheads him. But there are too many to take

the man's place, and finally five men run Ujio through with

bayonets, and he is pinned against the barricade, still

upright in death.

At last, what is left of this second wave of the Imperial

Army, retreats.

EXT. PLAIN - ALMOST SUNSET

The plain before the barricade is littered with Imperial

Army dead.

Algren and Katsumoto sit exhausted, leaning against the

barricade. They are both wounded.

Only about hundred samurai are still alive.

Algren looks over the decimated warriors for a moment. Even

those still alive are in bad shape as they wait for the next

wave of Imperial soldiers.

Katsumoto is looking at Ujio's body nearby.

KATSUMOTO:

He was Kaishaku... my trusted friend.

ALGREN:

We won't be able to hold them back

this time.

KATSUMOTO:

This is not your battle. You do not

have to die here.

A long beat.

ALGREN:

I died a long time ago.

KATSUMOTO:

But now you live again.

ALGREN:

Yes.

KATSUMOTO:

It was not your time.

ALGREN:

No. Maybe I survived just to live

this one last day.

Algren looks at him.

ALGREN:

I'll stay.

He slowly pulls himself up. He and Katsumoto gaze at the

plain before them.

At the infantry troops massing on the opposing hilltop.

Algren looks at Katsumoto. He reaches into the pocket of his

old uniform and takes out the Medal of Honor he received,

long ago, at Sutter's Hill.

He affixes it to his old cavalry tunic.

Katsumoto looks at Algren. They are both thinking the same

thing.

Silent agreement.

EXT. PLAIN - SUNSET

The hundred mounted samurai are a beautiful sight.

They wait in formation in front of the barricade, the long

plain through the funnel to the opposing hilltop before them.

Katsumoto draws his long samurai sword.

Algren draws his.

And they slowly begin to trot forward...

And then to canter...

BEHIND THE IMPERIAL ARMY

Colonel Bagley and Omura watch, transfixed. There is something

approaching admiration on Omura's face. On Bagley's, there

is only malice.

BAGLEY:

The gatling guns. Quickly.

EXT. PLAIN - SUNSET

Katsumoto points his sword and screams out his war cry.

And they charge. It is suicidal It is glorious.

It is the end of the samurai.

They charge forward, their war cries echoing in the canyon.

The Imperial troops fire rifles -- samurai fall... but still

they come -- pounding over the earth like something from an

ancient dream.

Algren and Katsumoto charge side by side. Alive. Warriors.

BEHIND THE IMPERIAL ARMY

Bagley and Omura watch as the samurai fall, one by one.

WITH THE CHARGE:

Fifteen or twenty of the samurai -- including Algren and

Katsumoto -- somehow manage to fight their way through the

lines.

They break into the open.

And continue riding straight toward the rear.

ALGREN AND KATSUMOTO

Are both wounded, yet still they charge. They have only one

thought in mind -- death to their enemies. They gallop forward

toward Bagley and Omura.

BAGLEY:

Looks around in abject terror. He screams out an order.

TWO WAGONS:

Are moving into position. Their rear gates fall open...

revealing the GATILING GUNS.

ALGREN AND KATSUMOTO

Are near enough to see them. Yet they will not be deterred.

They charge on.

Up ahead.

THE GATLING GUNS

Are not yet ready to fire. Japanese soldiers slam ammo belts

into the chambers.

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