The Ghost and the Darkness Page #4

Synopsis: Sir Robert Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman (Henry Cele), seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington (Michael Douglas), who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.
Production: Paramount Home Video
  Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.8
Rotten Tomatoes:
50%
R
Year:
1996
110 min
543 Views


PATTERSON:

(They really like each other)

Have you got that in writing?

(Starling, amazingly good

natured, laughs. And now-)

CUT TO:

A WHITE CLAW.

PULL BACK TO REVEAL

Hundreds of white claws.

KEEP PULLING BACK TO REVEAL

They aren't claws at all, they're thorns as sharp as claws and

they're on a twenty-foot high thorn tree.

And there are dozens of those trees, packed together. All mixed in

with other trees, low and stunted, and thick underbrush and baked

red rocks-

-now the train begins to slow.

Smoke drifts across.

A bunch of wildebeest scatter off the tracks.

STARLING (over)

Welcome to Tsavo.

(on the word)

CUT TO:

TSAVO.

We have arrived at the train station area and what we see is a

place that is still being built. There are tin shacks; a water

tower is under construction-

-men are working everywhere, for that's what Tsavo is: a place for

work.

THE TRAIN goes slower still.

No one stands idly around here.

But no one looks happy either.

ONE MAN is apart from the rest: this is SAMUEL.

An ageless Masai, tall and slender, he has a smile that can light

the world.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON AND STARLING as they step off the train.

STARLING:

(indicating Samuel,

who is approaching)

Samuel is camp liaison- absolutely

indispensable- the only man here

everyone trusts.

PATTERSON:

(softly)

Does he speak English?

SAMUEL:

(not softly enough)

And very poor French.

STARLING:

(introducing)

Samuel- John Patterson.

SAMUEL:

(as they shake)

The bridgebuilder-

(gesturing to the

working men)

-we have been getting ready for

you.

PATTERSON:

Excellent. Could I see the bridge

site?

(Samuel nods)

STARLING:

I've got medical supplies to

deliver. Come along to the hospital

when you're done.

(starting off)

SAMUEL:

I will bring him, Nigel.

We should realize by now that Samuel's was the voice we heard at

the very beginning of the picture.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON AND SAMUEL, starting to walk. They pass the water tower.

Standing on top of it in a precarious position is an extremely

powerful INDIAN. He waves to Samuel who waves back. This is SINGH.

WORKERS study Patterson as he moves by. Not smiling. Up ahead,

some SIKHS are erecting tents. Not smiling.

PATTERSON:

Why do the workers look unhappy?

SAMUEL:

Because they are here.

(beat)

Because Tsavo is the worst place in

the world.

(He points ahead)

Come, John- to the bridge.

(And on that-)

CUT TO:

THE RAILROAD TRACKS as the camera pans along.

CUT TO:

THE RIVER in the distance as they walk toward it.

And here is as good a place as any to explain just what the spot

where the movie takes place was like.

There were five hundred men working for Patterson. And they lived

in a spread out area. A bunch of Indian coolies who might have

come from the same town back in their country might choose to live

in one cluster of tents. A group of natives might be in another

cluster.

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William Goldman

William Goldman (born August 12, 1931) is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist, before turning to writing for film. He has won two Academy Awards for his screenplays, first for the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and again for All the President's Men (1976), about journalists who broke the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon. Both films starred Robert Redford. more…

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Submitted by aviv on November 03, 2016

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