Script To Screen: “The Last of the Mohicans”

A critical scene toward the end of the 1992 movie The Last of the Mohicans, screenplay by Michael Mann and Christopher Crowe, novel by James Fenimore Cooper.

Logline: Three trappers protect a British Colonel’s daughters in the midst of the French and Indian War.

HAWKEYE exchanges a desperate look with Cora and then senses the
Sachem is staring at him from the perspective of nearly a
century of laws & judgments. Then ... to every word. SACHEM
The white man comes like a day that has
passed. And night enters our future with
him ...
(pause)
Our council talks since I was a boy:
What is the Huron to do?
(pause)
But Magua would lead Huron down paths
that make us not Hurons.
(the judgment)
Dark girl burn in fire to heal the twisted
heart of Magua. Cora, hearing the sentence ... Hawkeye's losing her. SACHEM
(continuing)
Munro daughter with moon in her hair
must be Magua's wife so Munro's seed
doesn't die. Alice is gone, living in some dark recess of her mind. SACHEM
(continuing; dissolves
back to French)
... and Yengeese officer not go to Les
Francais, but back to Yengeese so their
hatred burns less bright. La Longue
Carabine, go in peace. People move, start to implement the sentence. Hawkeye's
panicked. Cora is jerked upright. She looks at Hawkeye in
terror: Sachem is starting to depart. HAWKEYE
No! listen.
(to Heyward)
Tell him I'll trade him! Me for her! Tell
him!! Heyward translates into rapid-fire French. HAWKEYE
(shouts)
I am La Longue Carabine! My death is a
great honor to the Huron. Take me! Cora is jerked forward by three Hurons. Magua grabs Alice.
Cora strikes at Magua. He knocks her aside. Chaos &
confusion. Meanwhile: MAGUA
(French; subtitled)
This is not the voice of wisdom. I go to
the Hurons of the Lakes! You are women.
Send your arrows and guns to the Seneca,
beg from them venison to eat, corn to grind.
Slaves, dogs, rabbits, thieves ... I spit on
you! Those Hurons who hear, do so in deadly, boding silence.
Magua and his fourteen hard core braves start out as ... SACHEM heard Heyward's translation. He looks at Heyward, then looks
at Hawkeye and he nods his head. HAWKEYE sees this. His eyes go to Cora. They've stopped dragging her
towards the fire pit. Hawkeye steps forward to surrender.
Cora is thrown at him. Cora looks around wildly. Instead of
taking Hawkeye, two warriors grab Heyward. HEYWARD is immediately hamstrung and his legs collapse. He gasps.
He's caught under the arms and dragged forward. HAWKEYE
I said to trade me! Hawkeye's holding Cora. Heyward struggles to be seen. HEYWARD
... compliments, Mr. Poe.
(pause)
Take her and get out. CORA
(standing)
What are they doing to Duncan?
Duncan! He's gone. They start to ease away from the mass of Hurons. HAWKEYE
(low to himself)
And my compliments to you ... CORA
Alice? Hawkeye's concentration is on backing out of the Huron mob.
Will the Sachem's judgment be honored? Will some warriors
hack down Hawkeye & Cora? As they go ... CORA moves towards her sister. But Hawkeye holds her tightly as
they retreat. CORA'S POV: ALICE with Magua's group crosses the path. He drags Alice behind
him like baggage. She regains her feet. Magua is oblivious
to her. He's heading towards the plateau. CUT TO ... EXTERIOR FOREST, TREE LINE - CHINGACHGOOK & UNCAS - DAY Uncas sees Magua's direction. Uncas touches his father,
grabs his musket and races off. Chingachgook reaches to stop
him, but he's too late. Chingachgook's hand in the air ... TWO-SHOT: HAWKEYE & CORA near the tree line. Hawkeye has eyes only for ... HAWKEYE'S POV: HURONS moving towards fire pit. One turns to watch Hawkeye & Cora
depart. Will he arouse others to attack? Behind him, others
are doing something to Heyward and flames leap up. CORA'S EYES are on Alice, off to the right in the meadow. HAWKEYE tense. They're almost there. CHINGACHGOOK holding Killdeer. CHINGACHGOOK'S POV: MASSED HURON Sky & flames. Suddenly, Heyward's stood upright into the
fire, bound to a bracket by his arms. As the flames start
devouring him ... HAWKEYE & CORA close to Chingachgook and the tree line ... CHINGACHGOOK tosses Hawkeye Killdeer. As fast as he jams it into his
shoulder he FIRES. HEYWARD among the hollering Hurons, is shot dead. It goes unnoticed.

Here is the scene in the movie:

If you read a script while watching a movie, you will notice one creative choice repeated over and over again: The movie uses less dialogue than is present in the script. This scene is a good example. Track each line that is missing from the movie. The takeaway: Visuals can and often are better than words at communicating the essence of a movie moment.

One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.

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