From Here to Eternity Page #3

Warden swings his chair around, absorbs himself in work at

his desk as if the Prew situation is too absurd to concern

himself with. Holmes speaks blandly, winningly.

HOLMES:

I've got a mighty sour Company

Bugler here... but I suppose you

wouldn't want that job.

PREY:

No, air.

HOLMES:

(smiles)

Well, we'll get your stripes back

for you, maybe an extra one for

good measure. You know why you were

sent over here when you requested

transfer?

PREW:

No, sir.

HOLDS:

I pulled a few strings. I'm the

Regimental Boxing Coach, Prewitt. I

saw your fight with Connors in the

Bowl year before last. With any

luck you should have won it. I

thought for a while, in the second

round, you were going to knock him

out.

PREW:

(tense)

Thank you, sir.

MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT HOLMES

8.

HOLMES:

(bitterly)

My Regiment got beaten last year in

the finals, as you know.

(savage insistence)

But I mean to win this year. And I

will. All I've needed was a top

middleweight.

(waves at pictures)

Next year I'll hang your picture up

there with the others, my boy.

MEDIUM SHOT FEATURING PREW

PREW:

I'm sorry, air. But I quit

fighting.

HOLMES.

Quit fighting? When? What for?

PREW:

I just stopped, sir... After --

Maybe you heard about what

happened...

HOLMEB:

You mean that fallow you hurt --

the one that went blind?

CLOSE SHOT PREW:

Prew's lips are drawn tight. He nods almost imperceptibly.

MEDIUM SHOT:

During this shot Maggio can be seen in b.g. through door to

Orderly Room. He pretends to be sweeping, but stops now and

then to listen.

HOLMES:

Yes, it's too bad about that. I can

understand how you feel. But those

things happen in this game. A man

has got to accept that possibility

when he fights.

PREW:

That's why I decided I would quit,

sir.

HOLMES:

(less warmly)

But on the other hand, look at

(MORE)

9.

HOLMES(cont'd)

it this way. What if all fighters

felt like that?

PREW:

They don't.

HOLMES:

Would you have us disband our

fighting program because one man

got hurt?

PREW:

No, sir. I dint say -

HOLMES:

You might as well say stop war

because one man got killed. Our

fighting program is the best morale

builder we have off here away from

home.

PREW:

I don't want it disbanded, sir.

(doggedly)

But I don't see why any man should

fight unless he wants to.

HOLMES:

It looks to me like you're trying

to acquire a reputation as a lone

wolf, Prewitt. You should know that

in the Army it's not the individual

that counts. If a man wants to get

ahead he has certain

responsibilities to fulfill that go

beyond the regulations. It might

look as though I were a free agent,

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