DEAD POETS SOCIETY 5 страница

EXT WOODS - NIGHT

The boys search about the trees trying to find the cave. Meeks is

searching around when Charlie leaps up behind Meeks in the dark

shining the flashlight up at his own face and grabs Meeks by the

shoulder.

CHARLIE

Arrr, I'm a dead poet.

MEEKS

Aww, Charlie.

CHARLIE

(laughing)

Guys, over here.

MEEKS

You're funny. You're real funny.

INT CAVE - NIGHT

The boys are trying to start a fire. The cave is quickly filling up with smoke.

MEEKS

It's too wet.

CHARLIE

God, are you trying to smoke us out of

here?

MEEKS

No, no, the smoke's going right up this

opening.

Pitts tries to stand up and slams his head into the low rock ceiling. He lets out a yell while the others laugh.

NEIL

You okay?

PITTS

Oh God. Clowns.

NEIL

All right, all right, forget the fire.

Let's go gentlemen.

Neil stands before the others with the book in hand, and takes a drag

on a cigarette.

NEIL

I hereby reconvene the Dead Poets

Society.

The boys cheer.

NEIL

Welton chapter. The meetings will be

conducted by myself and the other new

initiates now present. Todd Anderson,

because he prefers not to read, will

keep minutes of the meetings. I'll now

read the traditional opening message by

society member Henry David Thoreau. " I

went to the woods because I wanted to

live deliberately. I wanted to live deep

and suck out all the marrow of life. "

CHARLIE

I'll second that.

NEIL

" To put to rout all that was not life,

and not, when I had come to die,

discover that I had not lived.

Several boys whistle softly in reaction to the poem.

NEIL

And Keating's marked a bunch of other

pages.

Neil begins flipping through the book.

CHARLIE

All right, intermission. Dig deep right

here. Right here, lay it down

CAMERON

On the mud? We're gonna put our food on

the mud?

CHARLIE

Meeks, put your coat down. Picnic blanket.

MEEKS

Yes sir, use Meeks' coat.

CHARLIE

Don't keep anything back either. You

guys are always bumming my smokes.

Meeks lays his coat down and everyone dumps their food on it. Amongst

the pile are chocolate chip cookies, a box of raisins, a few apples, an orange, and half a roll.

NEIL

Raisins?

KNOX

Yuck.

CHARLIE

Wait a minute, who gave us half a roll?

PITTS

(talking with his mouth full)

I'm eating the other half.

CHARLIE

Come on.

PITTS

You want me to put it back?

INT CAVE - NIGHT

Neil, lit up by a flashlight, begins to tell everyone a story.

NEIL

It was a dark and rainy night, and this

old lady, who had a passion for jigsaw

puzzles, sat by herself in her house at

her table to complete a new jigsaw puzzle.

But as she pieced the puzzle together, she

realized, to her astonishment, that the

image that was formed was her very own

room. And the figure in the center of the

puzzle, as she completed it, was herself.

And with trembling hands, she placed the

last four pieces and stared in horror at

the face of a demented madman at the

window. The last thing that this old lady

ever heard was the sound of breaking glass.

BOYS

Ohhh… no…

NEIL

This is true, this is true.

CAMERON

I've got one that's even better than

that.

CHARLIE

Ha!

CAMERON

I do. There's a young, married couple,

and they're driving through the forest

at night on a long trip. And they run

out of gas, and there's a madman on the-

CHARLIE

The thing with the hand-

All the boys react, recalling the story and miming the scraping on the

roof of the car.

CAMERON

I love that story.

CHARLIE

I told you that one.

CAMERON

You did not. I got that in camp in

sixth grade.

CHARLIE

When were you in six, last year?

As everyone's voices begin to calm down, Pitts begins reading from the

book.

PITTS

" In a mean abode in the shanking road,

lived a man named William Bloat. Now,

he had a wife, the plague of his life,

who continually got his goat. And one

day at dawn, with her nightshift on,

he slit her bloody throat. "

The boys laugh.

PITTS

Oh, and it gets worse.

CHARLIE

You want to hear a real poem?

Meeks hands Charlie the book but he shoves it away.

CHARLIE

All right? No, I don't need it. You take

it.

MEEKS

What, did you bring one?

NEIL

You memorized a poem?

CHARLIE

I didn't memorize a poem. Move up.

Neil moves to the side as Charlie stands and takes his spot.

MEEKS

An original piece by Charlie Dalton.

KNOX

An original piece.

PITTS

Take center stage.

NEIL

You know this is history. Right? This is

history.

Charlie clears his throat and pulls out a page from a magazine and

slowly unfolds it, revealing a Playboy centerfold (Elaine Reynolds,

Miss October, 1959)

MEEKS

Oh, wow.

CAMERON

Where did you get that?

CHARLIE

Teach me to love? Go teach thyself more

wit.

I, chief professor, am of it.

Neil gets up and looks over Charlie's shoulder to see what he is

reading.

CHARLIE

The god of love, if such a thing there

be, may learn to love from me.

Charlie winks at the guys and they clap and cheer.

NEIL

Wow! Did you write that?

Charlie turns over the centerfold to show where he had written down

the poem.

CHARLIE

Abraham Cowley. Okay, who's next?

Neil sits reading from the book by flashlight.

NEIL

Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Come my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world

for my purpose holds to sail beyond the

sunset.

And though we are not now that strength

which in old days

Moved earth and heaven; that which we

are, we are; --

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong

in will.

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to

yield.

Meeks takes center stage and begins reading a poem like he is

performing a chant.

MEEKS

Then I had religion, then I had a

vision.

I could not turn from their revel in

derision.

Then I saw the Congo creeping through

the black,

cutting through the forest with a golden

track.

Then I saw the Congo creeping through

the black-

CHARLIE

Meeks, Meeks.

MEEKS

... cutting through the forest with a

golden track.

Then I saw the Congo creeping through

the black,

cutting through the forest with a golden

track.

Knox picks up a metal container and begins using it as a drum. The

other boys stand and begin going in a circle, making music with

sticks of wood, combs, etc.

Then I saw the Congo creeping through

the black,

cutting through the forest with a golden

track.

Then I saw the Congo creeping through

the black,

cutting through the forest with a golden

track.

BOYS

Then I saw the Congo creeping through

the black,

cutting through the forest with...

The boys continue to chant the chorus as they emerge from the

cave.

EXT. CAMPUS - NIGHT

The clock tolls two as the boys silently run back to their dorm.

INT. KEATING'S CLASSROOM - DAY

Keating is walking to the front of the classroom filled with students.

KEATING

A man is not very tire, he is exhausted.

And don't use very sad, use-

He points to the back of the classroom.

KEATING

Come on, Mr. Overstreet, you twerp,

KNOX

Morose?

KEATING

Exactly! Morose. Now, language was

developed for one endeavor, and that is?

Mr. Anderson? Come on! Are you a man or

an amoeba?

Keating stands before Todd's desk. Todd looks up nervously but

says nothing. Keating paused for a moment before looking away.

KEATING

Mr. Perry?

NEIL

Uh, to communicate.

KEATING

No! To woo women. Today we're going to

be talking about William Shakespeare.

The class lets out a collective sigh.

BOY

Oh, God!

KEATING

I know. A lot of you looked forward to

this about as much as you look forward

to root canal work. We're gonna talk

about Shakespeare as someone who writes

something very interesting. Now, many of

you have seen Shakespeare done very much

like this:

Keating holds out his right arm dramtically and begins to

speak in an exaggerated British accent.

" O Titus, bring your friend hither. " But

if any of you have seen Mr. Marlon Brando,

you know, Shakespeare can be different.

" Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your

ears. " You can also imagine, maybe, John

Wayne as Macbeth going, " Well, is this a

dagger I see before me? "

INT. KEATING'S CLASSROOM - DAY

The students are all seated together near the front of the room as

Keating reads from a book.

KEATING

" Dogs, sir? Oh, not just now. I do enjoy

a good dog once in a while, sir. You can

have yourself a three-course meal from

one dog. Start with your canine

crudites, go to your Fido flambe for

main course and for dessert, a Pekingese

parfait. And you can pick your teeth

with a little paw. "

INT. KEATING'S CLASSROOM - DAY

The students are all back in their normal seats and Keating leaps

up onto his desk.

KEATING

Why do I stand up here? Anybody?

CHARLIE

To feel taller.

KEATING

No!

Keating rings the bell on his desk with his foot

KEATING

Thank you for playing, Mr. Dalton. I

stand upon my desk to remind yourself

that we must constantly look at things

in a different way.

Keating glances around the classroom from atop the desk.

KEATING

You see, the world looks very different

from up here. You don't believe me? Come

see for yourself. Come on. Come on!

Charlie and Neil quickly rise from their seats to go to the front

of the classroom. The rest of the class follows them. While Keating

continues speaking, Neil and Charlie join him on the desk and then

Keating jumps down.