These are scenes from the movie that are taken directly from the book. Some scenes are edited down for example Garraty didn't help Curly in the novel.
| Arrival with mom |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GINNIE: I just...
GINNIE: I still don't understand. I think you could probably still change your mind. I don't think it's...
GARRATY: The back-out date was yesterday.
GINNIE: But they would let you. I know it. The Major, he would...
GARRATY: The Major would what? You know what the Major would say. This is my decision, okay? Not yours. This is the best way. It's the only way.
GINNIE: If your father was here...
GARRATY: Okay, but he's not.
GUARD: ID, please. |
GINNIE: There's still time to change your mind—
GARRATY: No, there's no time for that, The backout date was yesterday.
GINNIE: They'd understand, I know they would. The Major—
GARRATY: The Major would— You know what the Major would do, Mom. This is my idea, Mom. I know it wasn't yours. I— I love you, but this way is best, one way or the other.
GINNIE: It's not, Ray, it's not, if your father was here, he'd put a stop to—
GARRATY: Well, he's not, is he? Let it go now, Mom. Okay? Okay.
One of the guards, an expressionless young man in a khaki uniform and a Sam Browne belt, asked to see the blue plastic ID card. |
| Cookies |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GINNIE: I made you these. Oatmeal chocolate chip, your favorite.
GARRATY: Thanks, Mom.
Garraty stuffed the foil package with the cookies into his pants pocket.
That evening Garraty took out the foil wrapped cookies his mother gave him, and ate some |
GINNIE: I made these. You can take them, can't you? They're not too heavy, are they?
She thrust a foil-wrapped package of cookies at him.
GARRATY: Yeah.
...stuffing the cookies into the pocket of his fatigue jacket.
Later: he thought of the cookies his own mother had given him—pressed on him, as if warding off evil spirits.
Later: Garraty took out his cookies, and for a moment turned the foil package over in his hands. He thought homesickly of his mother, then stuffed the feeling aside. He ate a cookie and felt a little better. |
| Be a good boy |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GINNIE: Be a good boy, okay?
GARRATY: Okay, I will. Okay.
GINNIE: Okay. |
GARRATY: G'bye, Mom.
GINNIE: Goodbye, Ray. Be a good boy. |
| Meeting McVries |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GARRATY: Hey, uh, I'm Ray Garraty.
McVRIES: Pete. Peter McVries.
GARRATY: Nice to meet you. You ready for this?
McVRIES: A little jumpy...
GARRATY: Yeah.
McVRIES: ...but maybe that's good? Hey, what do you weigh?
GARRATY: 178.
McVRIES: I'm 177. They say heavier guys get tired quicker.
GARRATY: Shit. |
McVRIES: Hi.
GARRATY: I'm Ray Garraty.
McVRIES: I'm Peter McVries.
GARRATY: You are ready?
McVRIES: I feel jumpy. That's the worst. What do you weigh?
GARRATY: Hundred and sixty.
McVRIES: I'm one-sixty-seven. They say the heavier guys get tired quicker, but I think I'm in pretty good shape. |
| Meeting the Muskateers |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| OLSON: Hank Olson's the name. Walking's my game.
GARRATY: Uh, I'm Ray Garraty. You can call me Ray.
McVRIES: Peter McVries. You can call me McVries.
BAKER: I'm Art Baker. Pleasure to meet y'all.
McVRIES: It's fucking terrifying, ain't it?
OLSON: I know exactly what the fuck I'm doing here. Gotta be aggressive. I... I did my research on the Major. He says you wanna win this thing, you gotta be raring to rip. Fuck, boys, I am raring to rip. |
OLSON: More lambs to the slaughter. Hank Olson's the name. Walking is my game.
Garraty offered his own name. McVries spoke his own absently, still looking off toward the road.
BAKER: I'm Art Baker.
The four of them shook hands all around.
OLSON: And he told me to give 'em hell. Said he liked to see someone who was raring to rip. Give 'em hell, boy, he said. |
| The Major arrives |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| BAKER: Hey, here he comes.
MAJOR: Sit down, boys. Keep hint 13 in mind. Now, as I call your name, step forward and take your tags.
MAJOR: Fellas, line up by fives, in no particular order.
MAJOR: Luck to all |
BAKER: Here he comes.
MAJOR: Sit down, boys, Keep Hint Thirteen in mind. When I call your name, please step forward and take your number.
MAJOR: All right, fellows, line up by tens, please. No particular order. Stay with your friends, if you like.
MAJOR: Luck to all |
| Why are there no crowds? |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GARRATY: Thought there'd be more people, I guess.
BARKOVITCH: Major, he doesn't allow spectators until the final stretch. Except for the fucking locals. |
GARRATY: Why don't they let people watch the start of a Long Walk?
BARKOVITCH: Spoils the Walkers' concentration. |
| Garraty is from downstate |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| McVRIES: What is that? Is that a wheat field?
GARRATY: Best in the world.
BAKER: Are you from here?
GARRATY: Yeah, I'm from downstate.
McVRIES: Ooh, so you the one.
GARRATY: What do you mean?
BAKER: The one what?
McVRIES: Mr. Garraty here is the walker from the home state. |
McVRIES: Potatoes, they tell me.
GARRATY: Best in the world.
BAKER: You from Maine?
GARRATY: Yeah, downstate. |
| Barkovitch removing a stone from his shoe |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| MAN ON SPEAKERS: Warning. Warning, number five.
BARKOVITCH: I got a rock in my fucking shoe.
McVRIES AND OLSON: Whoa!
OLSON: What the fuck is he doing? Holy shit!
McVRIES: What the fuck?
MAN ON SPEAKER: Warning, number five. Second warning.
OLSON: Fuck, he's still fucking down there!
McVRIES: What's he doing, man?
OLSON: Holy shit!
McVRIES: Go on, get up!
GARRATY: Get up, Barkovitch.
OLSON: Jesus Christ! That dumbfuck's actually gonna get his fucking ticket.
McVRIES: Hey, come on, get up, man. Stop playing.
MAN ON SPEAKER: Warning, number five. Third warning.
GARRATY: Get the fuck up, Barkovitch!
McVRIES: Come on, man.
OLSON: Dumbfuck. Idiot. Dumbass.
PARKER: Better not trip, fucko.
BARKOVITCH: Y'all don't even know. Just bought myself a rest.
OLSON: All I see is that for your lousy 30-second rest, now you gotta walk three goddamn hours without getting a warning. The hell you need a rest for, anyway? We just fucking started.
BARKOVITCH: We'll see who gets his ticket first, fuckwad. It's all part of my fucking plan.
OLSON: Yeah, well... his plan and the stuff that comes out of my asshole, bear a suspicious resemblance. |
SOLDIER: Warning! Warning 5!
BARKOVITCH: I've got a stone in my shoe!
Barkovitch stopped completely and took off his shoe. He shook a tiny pebble out of it.
SOLDIER: Second warning, 5.
He smoothed his sock carefully over the arch of his foot.
OLSON: Oh-oh,
Stebbins, still at the tag end, walked past Barkovitch without looking at him. Now Barkovitch was all alone, slightly to the right of the white line, retying his shoe.
SOLDIER: Third warning, 5. Final warning.
OLSON: Oh, boy, that dumb shit, he's gonna get his ticket.
But then Barkovitch was up. He paused to brush some road dirt from the knees of his pants. Then he broke into a trot, caught up with the group, and settled back into his walking pace. He passed Stebbins, who still didn't look at him, and caught up with Olson.
He grinned, brown eyes glittering.
BARKOVITCH: See? I just got myself a rest. It's all in my Plan.
OLSON: Maybe you think so. All I see that you got is three warnings. For your lousy minute and a half you got to walk three ... fucking ... hours. And why in hell did you need a rest? We just started, for Chrissake!
BARKOVITCH: We'll see who gets his ticket first, you or me, it's all in my Plan.
OLSON: Your Plan and the stuff that comes out of my asshole bear a suspicious resemblance to each other.
Baker chuckled.
With a snort, Barkovitch strode past them.
OLSON: Just don't stumble, buddy. They don't warn you again. They just ... |
| Stebbins testing the limit and jelly sandwich |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| MAN ON SPEAKER: Warning. Warning, number 38.
OLSON: Smart.
McVRIES: What's smart?
OLSON: Taking a warning while he's still fresh. He gets an idea of what our limit is.
McVRIES: Yeah, it seems pretty fucking dumb to me.
OLSON: Well, big boy's gonna have no problem walking an hour without getting another warning. Then he'll have this one taken off to have a clean slate. That's a good strategy.
GARRATY: Hey, you think it's smart stuffing your face with all those jelly sandwiches this early? |
SOLDIER: Warning! Warning 88!
It was Stebbins. Stebbins was 88.
OLSON: Smart.
GARRATY: What?
OLSON: The guy takes a warning while he's still fresh and gets an idea of where the limit is. And he can sluff it easy enough—you walk an hour without getting a fresh warning, you lose one of the old ones. You know that.
Stebbins carried the last jelly sandwich in his hand. |
| Talking about the Prize |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| BAKER: What you boys think about the wish, and the big prize? Personally, I can't stop thinkin' about all that money.
GARRATY: Rich men don't enter the kingdom of heaven.
OLSON: Oh, wow. All right, Hallelujah, Brother Garraty! There'll be refreshments after the meeting.
BAKER: Are you a religious fella, Garraty?
GARRATY: Uh, no, not particularly, but I'm no money freak either.
BAKER: Okay. Look, I'm a religious fella. I ain't ashamed to admit it. I'm here for the money. Know it's easy to bad-mouth money when you ain't grown up dirt poor in Baton Rouge. Believe me. Growin' up dirt poor in Baton Rouge, it ain't no picnic. It's one big, sweaty hog-fest.
GARRATY: Listen, I wouldn't mind havin' some money, but... there's more important things. This Walk doesn't matter, and the prize, it certainly doesn't matter.
(McVRIES SCOFFS)
McVRIES: What? That's some bullshit, Garraty. |
BAKER: What do you think about the Prize?
GARRATY: I don't see much sense thinking about it.
BAKER: I think about it. Not so much the Prize itself as the money. All that money.
GARRATY: Rich men don't enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
OLSON: Hallelujah. There'll be refreshments after the meetin'.
BAKER: You a religious fella?
GARRATY: No, not particularly. But I'm no money freak.
BAKER: You might be if you grew up on potato soup and collards. "Sidemeat only when your daddy could afford the ammunition.
GARRATY: Might make a difference. But it's never really the important thing.
McVRIES: You can't take it with you, that's your next line.
GARRATY: It's true, isn't it? We don't bring anything into the world and we sure as shit don't take anything out.
McVRIES: Yes, but the period in between those two events is more pleasant in comfort, don't you think?
GARRATY: Oh, comfort, shit. If one of those goons riding that overgrown Tonka toy over there shot you, no doctor in the world could revive you with a transfusion of twenties or fifties.
BAKER: I ain't dead.
GARRATY: Yeah, but you could be. What if you won? What if you spent the next six weeks planning what you were going to do with the cash—never mind the Prize, just the cash—and what if the first time you went out to buy something, you got flattened by a taxicab?
BAKER: Not me, babe. First thing I'd do is buy a whole fleet of Checkers. If I win this, I may never walk again.
GARRATY: You don't understand Potato soup or sirloin tips, a mansion or a hovel, once you're dead that's it, they put you on a cooling board like Zuck or Ewing and that's it. You're better to take it a day at a time, is all I'm saying. If people just took it a day at a time, they'd be a lot happier.
McVRIES: Oh, such a golden flood of bullshit.
GARRATY: Is that so? How much planning are you doing?
McVRIES: Well, right now I've sort of adjusted my horizons, that's true—
GARRATY: You bet it is. The only difference is we're involved in dying right now. |
| McVries tries smoking |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| McVRIES: Smoke?
GARRATY: No, I'm okay.
McVRIES: Yeah, I don't smoke neither. Figured I'd learn.
GARRATY: Hmm.
OLSON: Hey. Hey, hint 10? "Save your wind. "If you smoke ordinarily, "try not to do so" on the Long Walk."
McVRIES: (COUGHING) Who cares? Will you shut the fuck up, Olson?
GARRATY: It is crap, though. It is crap.
McVRIES: It is pretty shitty. |
McVries fumbled in his pocket and came up with a package of Mellow cigarettes.
McVRIES: Smoke?
GARRATY: I don't.
McVRIES: Neither do I.
He then put a cigarette into his mouth. He found a book of matches with a tomato sauce recipe on it. He lit the cigarette, drew smoke in, and coughed it out.
Garraty thought of Hint 10: Save your wind. If you smoke ordinarily, try not to smoke on the Long Walk.
McVRIES: I thought I'd learn.
GARRATY: It's crap, isn't it?
McVries looked at him, surprised, and then threw the cigarette away.
McVRIES: Yeah, I think it is. |
| I'm Harkness, I'm writing a book |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GARRATY: Hey, Harkness.
HARKNESS: You're Ray Garraty, hometown boy. Number 47.
GARRATY: Yeah.
HARKNESS: McVries, strong, 23. I... I suppose you're wonderin' why I'm writin' down everybody's names and numbers.
McVRIES: Mm-mmm. No, actually, I wasn't wonderin'.
BAKER: Maybe 'cause you with the squads.
HARKNESS: (CHUCKLING) Me? No, no, no. I'm writin' a book, you see? A book about the Long Walk.
GARRATY: I see that.
HARKNESS: Yeah. Book about the Long Walk from the insider's point of view? Make me rich.
McVRIES: (CHUCKLES) Yo, if you win, you won't need a book to make you rich.
HARKNESS: Yeah, I mean, I suppose not, but...
(McVRIES CHUCKLES)
HARKNESS: ...still make one heck of an interesting book, I think. |
HARKNESS: I'm Harkness. Number 49. You're Garraty. Number 47. Right?
GARRATY: That's right.
Harkness had a notebook. He wrote Garraty's name and number in it. He ran into a fellow named Collie Parker who told him to watch where the fuck he was going.
HARKNESS: I'm taking down everyone's name and number. I suppose you're wondering why I'm writing down everyone's name and number.
OLSON: You're with the Squads,.
HARKNESS: No, I'm going to write a book. When this is all over, I'm going to write a book.
GARRATY: If you win you're going to write a book, you mean.
HARKNESS: Yes, I suppose. But look at this: a book about the Long Walk from an insider's point of view could make me a rich man.
McVries burst out laughing.
McVRIES: If you win, you won't need a book to make you a rich man, will you?
HARKNESS: Well ... I suppose not. But it would still make one heck of an interesting book, I think.
They walked on, and Harkness continued taking names and numbers. Most gave them willingly enough, joshing him about the great book. |
| The old lady in the black dress |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| An old woman can be seen standing in front of a church wearing a black dress |
One old lady stood frozenly beneath a black umbrella, neither waving nor speaking nor smiling. She watched them go by with gimlet eyes. There was not a sign of life or movement about her except for the wind-twitched hem of her black dress. On the middle finger of her right hand she wore a large ring with a purple stone. There was a tarnished cameo at her throat. |
| Curly's / Curley's ticket |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| SOLDIER: Warning. Warning, number seven.
CURLY: I've got a fucking charley horse!
SOLDIER: Warning, number seven, second warning.
CURLY: She's loosening now.
SOLDIER: Warning, number seven. Third warning.
CURLY: Oh, it ain't fair! It ain't fair! It ain't fucking fair!
(CURLY GETS HIS TICKET) |
Then the word came back, and this time the word was about a boy named Curley, number 7. Curley had a charley horse and had already picked up his first warning.
His lean and earnest face was now set in lines of terrific concentration, and he was staring at his right leg. He was favoring it. He was losing ground and his face showed it.
SOLDIER: Warning! Warning 7!
CURLEY: Thank God! She's loosening!
SOLDIER: Warning! Warning 7! Third warning, 7!
CURLEY: I've got a charley horse!" It ain't no fair if you've got a charley horse! It isn't—
Four carbines fired. They were very loud. The noise traveled away like bowling balls, struck the hills, and rolled back.
Curley's angular, pimply head disappeared in a hammersmash of blood and brains and flying skull-fragments. The rest of him fell forward on the white line like a sack of mail. |
| Touching the carbine |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GARRATY: Canteen, 47 callin' for canteen.
McVRIES: Hey, why'd you touch that carbine?
GARRATY: Like knockin' on wood, I guess.
McVRIES: You a dear boy, Ray. |
He tipped his canteen up and found it was empty.
GARRATY: Canteen! 47 calling for a canteen!
One of the soldiers jumped off the halftrack and brought over a fresh canteen. When he turned away, Garraty touched the carbine slung over the soldier's back. He did it furtively. But McVries saw him.
McVRIES: Why'd you do that?
GARRATY: I don't know. Like knocking on wood, maybe.
McVRIES: You're a dear boy, Ray, |
| Hang upside down from the moon |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| McVRIES: You gettin' tired?
GARRATY: No. Been tired for quite a while now. What, you mean you're not?
McVRIES: Hey, just go on dancing with me like this forever, compadre… and I'll never tire. Hey, we'll scrape our shoes on the stars, and hang upside down from the moon. |
GARRATY: No, I've been tired for quite a while now. You mean you're not?
McVRIES: Just go on dancing with me like this forever, Garraty, and I'll never tire. We'll scrape our shoe on the stars and hang upside down from the moon.
He blew Garraty a kiss and walked away. Garraty looked after him. He didn't know what to make of McVries. |
| Girl with sign |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| PEARSON: Hey, bud. You're, uh, Raymond Garraty, right? I'm Pearson. I think you got a secret admirer over there.
GIRL: Ray, Ray, I love you!
(Magic Marker sign: GO-GO-GARRATY #47 I LOVE YOU RAY! "OUR VERY OWN")
McVRIES: Come on, man. She must be like 14.
GIRL: I love you, Ray!
BAKER: Maybe she just wants your autograph, that's all.
OLSON: Hey, I thought spectators weren't fuckin' allowed, 'cause we're on television and shit. |
McVRIES: Garraty, My, my, look what you got.
A pretty girl of about sixteen in a white blouse and red-checked pedal pushers was holding up a big Magic Marker sign: GO-GO-GARRATY NUMBER 47 We Love You Ray "Maine's Own."
To hell with Hint 13. Garraty ran over to the side of the road. The girl saw his number and squealed. She threw herself at him and kissed him hard. Garraty was suddenly, sweatily aroused. He kissed back vigorously. The girl poked her tongue into his mouth twice, delicately. Hardly aware of what he was doing, he put one hand on a round buttock and squeezed gently.
SOLDIER: Warning! Warning 47!
GARRATY: Thanks.
Girl: Oh ... oh ... oh sure!
OLSON: For that I would have taken three warnings. |
| Muskateers |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| McVRIES: Come on. Don't be a sourpuss, Olson. The boy's got a fan. Let him have his fun.
GARRATY: Thanks, Pete.
McVRIES: Hey, don't thank me too much. I like you, but if you fall over, I won't pick you up.
BAKER: We're all in this together, right? No harm in keeping each other amused.
(McVRIES CHUCKLES)
McVRIES: Do you know what? I take it back. They say you shouldn't make friends on the Long Walk, but fuck it. I sorta like you three. Even you, Olson.
OLSON: Fuck off!
McVRIES: No, I'm serious. Hey, hey, hey, a short friendship is better than no friendship, right?
BAKER: That's what I've been sayin', man.
McVRIES: That's what I'm be sayin'.
(CHUCKLING)
McVRIES: Come on, man. Let's be Musketeers. |
McVRIES: Ray. What's your hurry?
GARRATY: Thanks.
McVRIES: Don't thank me too much. I'm out to win, too. I mean, let's not put this on a Three Musketeers basis. I like you and it's obvious you're a big hit with the pretty girls. But if you fall over I won't pick you up.
GARRATY: Yeah.
BAKER: On the other hand, we're all in this together and we might as well keep each other amused.
McVRIES: Why not? |
| Olson's leg muscles are turning baggy |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| OLSON: Fuck! Ah! My legs feel funny. It's like the muscles are all turning baggy.
McVRIES: Hey, relax. Happened to me a few miles back. It passes. |
OLSON: Hey, My legs feel funny.
GARRATY: How funny?
OLSON: Like the muscles are all turning ... baggy.
OLSON: Like the muscles are all turning ... baggy.
McVRIES: Relax, it happened to me a couple of hours ago. It passes off.
OLSON: Does it?
McVRIES: "Yeah, sure it does. |
| Peddle your papers |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| McVRIES: Hey! Barkovitch, go peddle your papers, little man. Go. |
McVRIES to BARKOVITCH: Now go peddle your papers, little man. |
| I can even get horney for you Ray |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GARRATY: Probably a nice place to live.
McVRIES: God, spare me nice places to live.
McVRIES: You know, if I ever get out of this, I'm gonna fornicate till my cock turns blue.
GARRATY: Okay.
McVRIES: I've never been so horny in my life as I am right this minute. Ain't that strange?
GARRATY: It is fuckin' strange.
McVRIES: Yeah.
(GARRATY LAUGHING)
McVRIES: Just a little bit, right?
GARRATY: Uh-huh.
McVRIES: Hey, I could even get horny for you, Ray… if you didn't smell like my mom's asshole.
GARRATY: Hey, hey... You're gonna get me a fuckin'...
McVRIES: Oh, my God...
GARRATY: ...gonna get my ticket… my man.
NOTE: Need to add video for this part
McVRIES: ...that smells so good. Yo, Long Dong Silver, that's me. I'll fuck my way across the seven seas.
GARRATY: Hmm.
OLSON: Nah. Sinbad.
McVRIES: What?
OLSON: You're thinking of Sinbad. You know, Sinbad the Sailor? That's the seven seas guy.
McVRIES: Did you not hear that I don't give a fuck? I'm trying to fuck.
OLSON: Long John Silver lives on fucking Treasure Island.
McVRIES: (CHUCKLES) What the fuck?
GARRATY: Just a fucking nerdy thing to say, you know?
OLSON: What, I'm a nerd 'cause I read fuckin' books and shit?
GARRATY: I guess so. |
GARRATY: It's probably a nice place to live.
McVRIES: God spare me from nice places to live. If I get out of this, you know what I'm going to do?
BAKER: What?
McVRIES: Fornicate until my cock turns blue. I've never been so horny in my life as I am right this minute, at quarter of eight on May first.
GARRATY: You mean it?
McVRIES: I do. I could even get horny for you, Ray, if you didn't need a shave. Prince Charming, that's who I am. Now all I need is a Sleeping Beauty. I could awake her with a biggy sloppy soul kiss and the two of us would ride away into the sunset. At least as far as the nearest Holiday Inn.
OLSON: Walk.
McVRIES: Huh?
OLSON: Walk into the sunset.
McVRIES: Walk into the sunset, okay. True love either way. Do you believe in true love, Hank dear?
OLSON: I believe in a good screw." |
| Eating raw meat |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| BAKER: Hey, what is that?
McVRIES: This is raw ground venison. It's good energy.
OLSON: Oh, God.
BAKER: You off your trolley, Musketeer. Gonna puke all over the place. |
BAKER: What have you got in that packsack?
McVRIES: A fresh shirt, And some raw hamburger.
OLSON: Raw hamburger—
McVRIES: Good fast energy in raw hamburger.
OLSON: You're off your trolley. You'll puke all over the place.
McVries only smiled. |
| Olson needs to adjust |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| OLSON: Ow! Sh...
GARRATY: Hey. Keep up, keep up, keep up. Keep walking. Come on.
OLSON: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
McVRIES: I'll keep you up.
OLSON: I'm all right. It's the… fucking jelly-leg thing.
GARRATY: Okay.
OLSON: Kinda went away for a while, but it's coming back now. I just don't know what the hell I gotta adjust. |
OLSON: I'm not hurrying, Why should I? If I get warned, so what? You just adjust, that's all. Adjustment is the key word here. Remember where you heard that first |
| How did you get that scar? |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GARRATY: You know, in the meantime, Pete… wanna tell us about that scar?
McVRIES: Baker's right. Maybe we just, um, we keep quiet.
GARRATY: Okay. |
GARRATY: How'd you get that scar, Pete?
McVRIES: It's a long story. |
| Olson drops his food |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| OLSON: Shit! Shit!
GARRATY: Goddamn it. Hey, hey, hey.
OLSON: Oh, God.
GARRATY: It's all right. You're gonna get more rations. You're fine.
OLSON: Yeah, but… that was it for me today, 'cause… well, I'm allergic to the SPAM. I gave all that shit away. Fuck. Fuckin' hungry.
GARRATY: Here you go, Hank. I don't like it anyway.
OLSON: Thanks, Ray.
McVRIES: Musketeer. |
OLSON: I dropped it, I wanted something to eat and I dropped it. I'm hungry.
GARRATY: Here."
He gave Olson some cheese.
Olson didn't say anything, but he ate the cheese.
McVRIES: Musketeer. |
| Rank's ticket |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| Rank tries to punch Barkovitch
BARKOVITCH: Ooh. Buddy!
MAN: Warning. Number five.
BARKOVITCH: Come on, fuckface. You want me to dance on your grave?
MAN: Warning. Number 19.
BARKOVITCH: I'll do it all day. Oh, shit. Okay.
GARRATY: Break it up.
BARKOVITCH: I think your mama was givin' out coupons for blowjobs on 42nd Street. I was thinkin' of taking her up on it. What do you think about that?
MAN: Second warning. Number 19.
(RANK TRIES TO PUNCH BARKOVITCH AND FALLS)
WALKERS: Get up, Rank.
OLSON: Oh, God. Oh, God!
BAKER: Get up. Get up.
MAN: Warning. 19.
(RANK GETS HIS TICKET)
BAKER: Hey, Barkovitch. Hey, Barkovitch! You're not just a pest no more, now you a murderer! <-- ADD BACK
BARKOVITCH: I didn't do that shit. I didn't fuckin' touch him.
BAKER: You murdered that man!
BARKOVITCH: He came after me, man. Shut the fuck up. Hey, look...
BARKOVITCH: Fuck off! Okay? Fuck you. All of you.
McVRIES: Why don't you go back and dance on him, huh? Boogie on his back a little. Entertain us.
McVRIES: I can't wait to see your brains all over the fuckin' concrete, Barkovitch. You know, I'll cheer when it happens. You fuckin' piece of shit. |
A moment later Barkovitch began to scream a flood of profanity at the boy next to him, a squat, ugly boy with the unfortunate name of Rank. Rank took a swing at him—something expressly forbidden by the rules—and was warned for it. Barkovitch didn't even break stride. He simply lowered his head and ducked under the punch and went on yelling.
BARKOVITCH: Come on, you sonofabitch! I'll dance on your goddam grave! Come on, Dumbo, pick up your feet! Don't make it too easy for me!
Rank threw another punch. Barkovitch nimbly stepped around it, but tripped over the boy walking next to him. They were both warned by the soldiers, who were now watching the developments carefully but emotionlessly—like men watching a couple of ants squabbling over a crumb of bread, Garraty thought bitterly.
Rank started to walk faster, not looking at Barkovitch. Barkovitch himself, furious at being warned
BARKOVITCH: Your mother sucks cock on 42nd Street, Rank!
With that, Rank suddenly turned around and charged Barkovitch.
Cries of "Break it up!" and "Cut the shit!" filled the air, but Rank took no notice. He went for Barkovitch with his head down, bellowing.
Barkovitch sidestepped him. Rank went stumbling and pinwheeling across the soft shoulder, skidded in the sand, and sat down with his feet splayed out. He was given a third warning.
BARKOVITCH: Come on, Dumbo! Get up!
Rank did get up. Then he slipped somehow and fell over on his back. He seemed dazed and woozy.
The third thing that happened around eleven o'clock was Rank's death. There was a moment of silence when the carbines sighted in
BAKER: There, Barkovitch, you're not a pest anymore. Now you're a murderer.
The guns roared. Rank's body was thrown into the air by the force of the bullets. Then it lay still and sprawled, one arm on the road.
BARKOVITCH: It was his own fault! You saw him, he swung first! Rule 8! Rule 8!
No one said anything.
BARKOVITCH: Go fuck yourselves! All of you!
McVRIES: Go on back and dance on him a little, Barkovitch. Go entertain us. Boogie on him a little bit, Barkovitch.
BARKOVITCH: Your mother sucks cock on 42nd Street too, scarface.
McVRIES: Can't wait to see your brains all over the road, I'll cheer when it happens, you murdering little bastard. |
| Death by diarrhea |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| PARKER: Hey, idiot! Pull up your fucking pants and walk.
WALKER 5: Come on, man, get up.
PARKER: It's better to be dirty than fucking dead.
WALKER 6: Hurry up and fucking walk. Let's go.
PARKER: Just let it roll down your fucking legs!
(RONALD PANTING)
PARKER: Come on, man.
(RONALD GRUNTING)
PARKER: Let's go.
(RONALD GETS HIS TICKET) |
At quarter of six the word came back on a boy named Travin, one of the early leaders who was now falling slowly back through the main group. Travin had diarrhea. Garraty heard it and couldn't believe it was true, but when he saw Travin he knew that it was. The boy was walking and holding his pants up at the same time. Every time he squatted he picked up a warning, and Garraty wondered sickly why Travin didn't just let it roll down his legs. Better to be dirty than dead.
Travin was bent over, walking like Stebbins with his sandwich, and every time he shuddered Garraty knew that another stomach cramp was ripping through him. Garraty felt disgusted. There was no fascination in this, no mystery. It was a boy with a bellyache, that was all, and it was impossible to feel anything but disgust and a kind of animal terror. His own stomach rolled queasily.
The soldiers were watching Travin very carefully. Watching and waiting. Finally Travin half-squatted, half-fell, and the soldiers shot him with his pants down. Travin rolled over and grimaced at the sky, ugly and pitiful. |
| Steep hill |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GINNIE: ♪ In Dublin's fair city ♪ ♪ Where the girls are so pretty ♪ ♪ I first set my eyes on ♪ ♪ Sweet Molly Malone ♪
MAN: Warning. Warning, 47.
McVRIES: Oh! Wakey, wakey, my boy. That's you. Rise and shine.
GARRATY: What time is it?
McVRIES: Uh, it's 3:45.
GARRATY: But I... I've been... I...
McVRIES: You've been dozing for hours, yep. That's your mind, usin' the old escape hatch. Don't you wish feet could?
GARRATY: I think that I'll see her in Freeport
GARRATY: You see something green, Barkovitch? (says this to Olson in the novel)
BARKOVITCH: Come on, step into it, brothers! Hey, who wants to race me to the fucking top?
PARKER: Shut the fuck up, you fucking freak!
GARRATY: Fuck me! Fuck!
BARKOVITCH: Come on, four-eyes. You're dying tonight. You're dying tonight! |
GINNIE: Cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o (from same song Mollie Malone, sung in the movie)
His half-dozing mind began to slip away from him. Random thoughts began to chase each other lazily across its field. He remembered his mother singing him an Irish lullaby when he was very small
"Warning! Warning 47!"
McVRIES: That's you, boy. Rise and shine.
GARRATY: What time is it?
McVRIES: Eight thirty-five.
GARRATY: But I've been—
McVreis: —dozing for hours. I know the feeling."
GARRATY: Well, it sure seemed that way.
McVRIES: It's your mind, using the old escape hatch. Don't you wish your feet could?
They breasted a long, steep rise
SOLDIER: Warning! Warning 47! Second warning, 47!
Garraty to OLSON: See anything green?
OLSON: No, course not.
Sign: STEEP GRADE TRUCKS USE LOW GEAR
BARKOVITCH: Step into it, brothers! Who wants to race me to the top?
Walker: Shut your goddam mouth, you little freak.
BARKOVITCH: Make me, Dumbo! Come on up here and make me!
BAKER: He's crackin'
McVRIES: No, He's just stretching. Guys like him have an awful lot of stretch. |
| Pour your canteen over your head |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| McVRIES: How you holdin' up?
GARRATY: Not good. I feel faint.
McVRIES: Compadre, you can do this. Pour your canteen over your head.
McVRIES: There you go. There you go. Now keep putting one foot in front of the other. That's it.
GARRATY: Okay.
McVRIES: Now, refill.
GARRATY: Canteen, 47, canteen.
GARRATY: You get paid to shoot me, not look at me, motherfucker!
McVRIES: Ray. Top of the hill. We made it.
McVRIES: Keep moving. Keep moving. You got it. |
McVries to GARRATY: You all right?
GARRATY: Feel faint.
McVRIES: Pour your ... canteen over your head.
Garraty did it. I christen thee Raymond Davis Garraty, pax vobiscum. The water was very cold. He stopped feeling faint. Some of the water trickled down inside his shirt in freezing cold rivulets.
GARRATY: Canteen! 47!
One of the soldiers jog-trotted over to him and handed him a fresh canteen. Garraty could feel the soldier's expressionless marble eyes sizing him up.
GARRATY: Get away. You get paid to shoot me, not to look at me. |
| All he needs is a pitch fork |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| McVRIES: All he needs is a pitchfork. |
Near the top of the hill, a rutted dirt road branched off the main drag, and a farmer and his family stood there. They watched the Walkers go past—an old man with a deeply seamed brow, a hatchet-faced woman in a bulky cloth coat, three teenaged children who all looked half-witted.
McVRIES: All he needs ... is a pitchfork, and ... Grant Wood ... to paint him. |
| See my mom/girlfriend in Freeport |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| GARRATY: I think that I'll see her in Freeport 'cause we live there. |
GARRATY: I'm gonna see my girl in Freeport |
| 100 miles |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
Ten minutes later they passed under a huge red-and-white banner that proclaimed: 100 MILES!! CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE JEFFERSON PLANTATION CHAMBER OF COMMERCE! CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR'S "CENTURY CLUB" LONG WALKERS!! |
| When I get tired enough, I'll just sit down |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| McVRIES: You think you'll win, Ray?
GARRATY: No, Pete. No, I don't. How about you?
McVRIES: I stopped thinking I had any real chance around 11 last night. You know, I had an idea that when the first guy fell off, the soldiers were pointing their guns, and when they pulled the triggers, little pieces of paper with the word "bang" will pop out. The Major would go "April Fools," and we'll all go home. Do you know what I'm saying?
GARRATY: Yeah, Pete, I do.
McVRIES: Yeah. Yeah, it took me a while to realize the real gut truth of this. This is walk or die... simple as that. Not survival of the physically fittest. If it was, I'd have a good chance, but… There are mothers who'd lift a fucking car if their kid was pinned underneath. The brain, Garraty. Not man or God, it's something in the fucking brain. I don't have that. I don't want to beat people that badly. And I think, when the time comes, when I'm tired enough, I think I'll just sit down.
GARRATY: I hope that's not true, Pete.
McVRIES: I'll outlast Barkovitch, though.
McVRIES: Ah! That I can do at least. |
McVRIES: Do you think you'll win, Ray?
GARRATY: No. No, I ... no. How about yourself?
McVRIES: I guess not. I stopped thinking I had any real chance around nine tonight. You see, I ... It's hard to say, but ... I went into it with my eyes open, you know? Lots of these guys didn't, you know? I knew the odds. But I didn't figure on people. And I don't think I ever realized the real gut truth of what this is. I think I had the idea that when the first guy got so he couldn't cut it anymore they'd aim the guns at him and pull the triggers and little pieces of paper with the word BANG printed on them would ... would ... and the Major would say April Fool and we'd all go home. Do you get what I'm saying at all?
GARRATY: Yes, I know what you're saying.
McVRIES: It took me a while to figure it out, but it was faster after I got around that mental block. Walk or die, that's the moral of this story. Simple as that. It's not survival of the physically fittest, that's where I went wrong when I let myself get into this. If it was, I'd have a fair chance. But there are weak men who can lift cars if their wives are pinned underneath. The brain, Garraty. It isn't man or God. It's something ... in the brain. Some of these guys will go on walking long after the laws of biochemistry and handicapping have gone by the boards. There was a guy last year that crawled for two miles at four miles an hour after both of his feet cramped up at the same time, you remember reading about that? Look at Olson, he's worn out but he keeps going. That goddam Barkovitch is running on high-octane hate and he just keeps going and he's as fresh as a daisy. I don't think I can do that. I'm not tired—not really tired—yet. But I will be. And I think ... when I get tired enough ... I think I'll just sit down.
McVRIES: I'll outlast Barkovitch, though. I can do that, by Christ. |
| We like to breathe real air without smog up here |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
PARKER: I never seen such a fucked-up state.
GARRATY: If you don't like it, why don't you go on home?
PARKER: Stuff it up your ass. Where's the ocean? Looks like I was back in Illy-noy. Shit. What a dipshit state this is. Goddam trees everyplace! Is there a city in the whole damn place? Why couldn't they have the goddam Walk in Illinois, where the ground's flat?
GARRATY: We're funny up here. We think it's fun to breathe real air instead of smog.
PARKER: Ain't no smog in Joliet, you fucking hick. What are you laying on me?
GARRATY: No smog but a lot of hot air.
PARKER: If we was home, I'd twist your balls for that.
McVRIES: Now boys. Why don't you settle this like gentlemen? First one to get his head blown off has to buy the other one a beer.
GARRATY: I hate beer.
PARKER: You fucking bumpkin.
PARKER: Garraty! Does this goddam state punk out on its rainstorms, too? |
| Everyone is buggy |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
McVRIES: He's buggy. Everybody's buggy this morning. Even me. And it's a beautiful day. Don't you agree, Olson?
Olson said nothing.
McVRIES: Olson's got bugs, too Olson! Hey, Hank!
BAKER: Why don't you leave him alone?
McVRIES: Hey Hank! Wanna go for a walk?
OLSON: Go to hell.
McVRIES: What? Wha choo say, bo?
OLSON: Hell! Hell! Go to hell!
McVRIES: Is that what you said. |
| Harkness gets his ticket |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
HARKNESS: Garraty?
GARRATY: Huh?
HARKNESS: I got a cramp in my foot, man. I don't know if I can walk on it.
GARRATY: I can't help you. You have to do it yourself.
SOLDIER: Warning! Warning 49!
He was massaging his foot now. Garraty had turned around and was walking backwards to watch him. Two small boys in Little League shirts with their baseball gloves hung from their bicycle handlebars were also watching him from the side of the road, their mouths hung open.
SOLDIER: Warning! Second warning, 49!
Harkness got up and began to limp onward in his stocking foot, his good leg already trying to buckle with the extra weight it was bearing. He dropped his shoe, grabbed for it, got two fingers on it, juggled it, and lost it. He stopped to pick it up and got his third warning.
Harkness limped faster. The Little League boys began to pedal along, watching him.
A Shell station came slowly up on the right. There was a dusty, fender-dented pickup parked on the tarmac, and two men in red-and-black-checked hunting shirts sitting on the tailgate, drinking beer. There was a mailbox at the end of a rutted dirt driveway, its lid hanging open like a mouth. A dog was barking hoarsely and endlessly somewhere just out of sight.
The carbines came slowly down from high port and found Harkness.
There was a long, terrible moment of silence, and then they went back up again to high port, all according to the rules, according to the book. Then they came down again. Garraty could hear Harkness's hurried, wet breathing.
The guns went back up, then down, then slowly back up to high port.
The two Little Leaguers were still keeping pace.
BAKER: Get outta here! You don't want to see this. Scat!
The Little Leaguers biked along with them for another two miles before losing interest and turning back.
Up ahead, Harkness had formed a new one-man vanguard, walking very rapidly, almost running. He looked neither right nor left. Garraty wondered what he was thinking.
Garraty opened his mouth to reply when a hollow, poom-poom sound echoed back from far ahead. It was rifle fire. The word came back. Harkness had burnt out. |
| Why don't you write Harkness a poem? |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
McVRIES: Harkness, Ol' Harkness bought a ticket to see the farm.
BARKOVITCH: Why don't you write him a poime?
McVRIES: Shut up, killer, Ol' Harkness, sonofabitch.
BARKOVITCH: I ain't no killer! I'll dance on your grave, scarface! I'll— |
| you goddam bag |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
Collie Parker was waving and smiling, and it was not until Garraty closed up with him a little that he could hear him calling in his flat Midwestern accent.
PARKER: Glad to seeya, ya goddam bunch of fools!
A grin and a wave.
PARKER: Howaya, Mother McCree, you goddam bag. Your face and my ass, what a match. Howaya, howaya? |
| Just allergies. I get them every spring. |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
Garraty to SCRAMM: You sound like you're getting a cold.
SCRAMM: Naw, it's the pollen. Happens every spring. Hay fever. I even get it in Arizona. But I never catch colds. |
| Percy's ticket |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
GARRATY: Look. I think he's going to break for it.
BAKER: They'll shoot him sure as hell.
PEARSON: Doesn't look like anyone's watching him.
McVRIES: Then for God's sake, don't tip them! You bunch of dummies! Christ!
PEARSON: He hasn't got the guts.
There were no warnings. Percy had forfeited his right to them when his right foot passed over the verge of the shoulder. Percy had left the road, and the soldiers had known all along.
He pitched forward, struck a small, crooked sapling, rolled through a half-turn, and landed face-up to the sky. The grace, the frozen symmetry, they were gone now. Percy was just dead. |
| I'm feeling pretty good today |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
Garraty flapped his thin arms with mock grandeur.
GARRATY: I'm coasting, couldn't you tell? |
| Shut the fuck up, killer |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
McVRIES: Shut up, killer |
| Baker poops |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
Baker cut past him suddenly, looked around for spectators, saw none, dropped his britches and squatted. He was warned. Garraty passed him, but heard the soldier warn him again. About twenty seconds after that he caught up with Garraty and McVries again, badly out of breath. He was cinching his pants.
BAKER: Fastest crap I evah took!
McVRIES: You should have brought a catalogue along.
BAKER: I never could go very long without a crap. Some guys, hell, they crap once a week. I'm a once-a-day man. If I don't crap once a day, I take a laxative. |
| Three great truths in the world |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
OLSON: Love is a fake! There are three great truths in the world and they are a good meal, a good screw, and a good shit, and that's all! |
| The military comes for Garraty's father |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
(These 4 sentences were pulled together from different parts on the novel. His mother sung an Irish lullaby Molly Malone to him, which is what Garraty's mom is singing in the movie. Garraty was exposed to banned media by his father, and how his father wasn't careful in the things he said.)
He remembered his mother singing him an Irish lullaby when he was very small ... something about cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o.
Garraty's head seemed to be playing jazz. Dave Brubeck, Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderly—the Banned Noisemakers that everybody kept under the table and played when the party got noisy and drunk.
Later that night Garraty had heard his father shouting thickly at someone into the telephone, the way he did when he was being drunk or political, and his mother in the background, her conspiratorial whisper, begging him to stop, please stop, before someone picked up the party line.
After he lost his own rig, he made a living driving Government trucks out of Brunswick. It would have been a good living if Jim Garraty could have kept his politics to himself. But when you work for the Government, the Government is twice as aware that you're alive, twice as ready to call in a Squad if things seem a little dicky around the edges. And Jim Garraty had not been much of a Long Walk booster. So one day he got a telegram and the next day two soldiers turned up on the doorstep and Jim Garraty had gone with them, blustering, and his wife had closed the door and her cheeks had been pale as milk and when Garraty asked his mother where Daddy was going with the soldier mens, she had slapped him hard enough to make his mouth bleed and told him to shut up, shut up. Garraty had never seen his father since. It had been eleven years. It had been a neat removal. Odorless, sanitized, pasteurized, sanforized, and dandruff-free. |
| They want to see our brains on the concrete |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
GARRATY: Those people, they're animals. They want to see someone's brains on the road, that's why they turn out. They'd just as soon see yours.
McVRIES: Sure they're animals. You think you just found out a new principle? Sometimes I wonder just how naive you really are. The French lords and ladies used to screw after the guillotinings. The old Romans used to stuff each other during the gladiatorial matches. That's entertainment, Garraty. It's nothing new." He laughed again. Garraty stared at him, fascinated. They're animals, all right. But why are you so goddam sure that makes us human beings? |
| Walker gets legs run over |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
Walker 1: Don't hurt me! Please don't hurt me!
It was a redhead with a plaid shirt tied around his waist. He had stopped in the middle of the road and he was weeping. He was given first warning. And then he raced toward the halftrack, his tears cutting runnels through the sweaty dirt on his face, red hair glinting like a fire in the sun. "Don't ... I can't ... please ... my mother ... I can't ... don't ... no more ... my feet ..." He was trying to scale the side, and one of the soldiers brought the butt of his carbine down on his hands. The boy cried out and fell in a heap.
He screamed again, a high, incredibly thin note that seemed sharp enough to shatter glass and what he was screaming was: "My feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee—"
GARRATY: Jesus, Why doesn't he stop that?
McVRIES: I doubt if he can. The back treads of the halftrack ran over his legs.
Garraty looked and felt his stomach lurch into his throat. It was true. No wonder the redheaded kid was screaming about his feet. They had been obliterated.
SOLDIER: Warning! Warning 38!
Walker 1: —eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee—
Walker 2: I want to go home, Oh Christ, do I ever want to go home.
A moment later the redheaded boy's face was blown away. |
| Olson's ticket |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
(text cut down to what is similar to the movie)
STEBBINS: Are you tired, Garraty?
GARRATY: Yeah, I'm tired.
STEBBINS: Exhausted?
GARRATY: Well, I'm getting there.
STEBBINS: No, you're not getting exhausted yet, Garraty.
GARRATY: I don't even know why I bother talking to you. It's like talking to smoke. (taken from a different scene in the novel)
He (Stebbins) jerked a thumb at Olson's silhouette.
STEBBINS: That's exhausted. He's almost through now.
GARRATY: What are you driving at?
STEBBINS: Ask your cracker friend, Art Baker. A mule doesn't like to plow. But he likes carrots. So you hang a carrot in front of his eyes. A mule without a carrot gets exhausted. A mule with a carrot spends a long time being tired. You get it?
GARRATY: No.
STEBBINS: You will. Watch Olson. He's lost his appetite for the carrot. He doesn't quite know it yet, but he has.
Nervously, Garraty walked away from him, and toward Olson.
GARRATY: Olson?
Olson walked on. He was a shambling haunted house on legs. Olson had fouled himself. Olson smelled bad.
OLSON: Ga. Go. God. God's garden— God's garden.
GARRATY: What about God's garden, Olson?
OLSON: It's full. Of. Weeds.
He was walking at the halftrack.
SOLDIER: Warning. Warning 70!
He put his hands over the side of the halftrack. He began to clamber painfully up the side.
The soldiers brought their guns around in perfect four-part harmony. Olson grabbed the barrel of the closest and yanked it out of the hands that held it as if it had been an ice-cream stick. It clattered off into the crowd.
Then one of the other three guns went off. Garraty saw the flash at the end of the barrel quite clearly. He saw the jerky ripple of Olson's shirt as the bullet entered his belly and then punched out the back.
Olson did not stop. He gained the top of the halftrack and grabbed the barrel of the gun that had just shot him. He levered it up into the air as it went off again.
McVRIES: Get 'em! Get 'em, Olson! Kill 'em! Kill 'em!
The other two guns roared in unison and the impact of the heavy-caliber slugs sent Olson flying off the halftrack.
Olson began to get up. Another volley of bullets drove him flat again.
Olson gained his feet, hands crossed on his belly. He seemed to sniff the air for direction, turned slowly in the direction of the Walk, and began to stagger along.
STEBBINS: They gut-shot him. They'll do that. It's deliberate. To discourage anybody else from trying the old Charge of the Light Brigade number.
Garraty began to cry. He ran over to Olson and fell on his knees beside him and held the tired, hectically hot face against his chest. He sobbed into the dry, bad-smelling hair.
SOLDIER: Warning! Warning 47! Warning! Warning 61! (McVries number in the novel)
McVries was pulling at him. It was McVries again.
McVRIES: Get up, Ray, get up, you can't help him, for God's sake get up!
GARRATY: It's not fair!" Garraty wept.
GARRATY: It's just not fair!
McVRIES: I know. Come on. Come on.
OLSON: I DID IT WRONG!
GARRATY: He talked to me, Pete. He was alive. Alive. |
| Helping Olson's wife (in the novel it's Scramm's wife. Scramm is not in the movie) |
| MOVIE |
NOVEL |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
McVRIES: I've been talking to everybody. Well, just about everybody. I think the winner should do something for her.
GARRATY: Like what?
McVRIES: That'll have to be between the winner and Scramm's wife. And if the bastard welshes, we can all come back and haunt him.
PEARSON: Okay. What's to lose?
McVRIES: Ray?
GARRATY: All right. Sure. Have you talked to Gary Barkovitch?
McVRIES: That prick? He wouldn't give his mother artificial respiration if she was drowning.
GARRATY: I'll talk to him.
McVRIES: You won't get anywhere.
GARRATY: Just the same. I'll do it now.
McVRIES: Ray, why don't you talk to Stebbins, too? You seem to be the only one he talks to.
GARRATY: I can tell you what he'll say in advance.
McVRIES: No?
GARRATY: He'll say why. And by the time he gets done, I won't have any idea.
McVRIES: Skip him then.
GARRATY: Can't.
Garraty began angling toward the small, slumped figure of Barkovitch.
GARRATY: Barkovitch.
Barkovitch snapped awake.
BARKOVITCH: Wassamatter? Whozat? Garraty?
GARRATY: Yes. Listen, Scramm's dying.
BARKOVITCH: Who? Oh, right. Beaver-brains over there. Good for him.
GARRATY: He's got pneumonia. He probably won't last until noon.
BARKOVITCH: Look at you there with your big earnest face hanging out, Garraty. What's your pitch?
GARRATY: Well, if you didn't know, he's married, and—
BARKOVITCH: Married! MARRIED? ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT NUMBSKULL IS—
GARRATY: Shut up, you asshole! He'll hear you!
BARKOVITCH: I don't give a sweet fuck! He's crazy! WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, NUMBNUTS, PLAYING GIN RUMMY? Aw, goodness. It shines from your dumb hick face, Garraty. Passing the hat for the dying guy's wifey, right? Ain't that cute.
GARRATY: Count you out, huh? Okay.
BARKOVITCH: Hold on, hold on. I didn't say no, did I? Did you hear me say no?
GARRATY: No—
BARKOVITCH: No, course I didn't. Listen, I got off on the wrong foot with you guys. I didn't mean to. Shit, I'm a good enough guy when you get to know me, I'm always gettin' off on the wrong foot, I never had much of a crowd back home. In my school, I mean. Christ, I don't know why. I'm a good enough guy when you get to know me, as good as anyone else, but I always just, you know, seem to get off on the wrong foot. I mean a guy's got to have a couple of friends on a thing like this. It's no good to be alone, right? Jesus Christ, Garraty, you know that. That Rank. He started it, Garraty. He wanted to tear my ass. Guys, they always want to tear my ass. I used to carry a switchblade back at my high school on account of guys wanting to tear my ass. That Rank. I didn't mean for him to croak, that wasn't the idea at all. I mean, it wasn't my fault. You guys just saw the end of it, not the way he was ... ripping my ass, you know ...
GARRATY: Yeah, I guess so. Well, what do you want to do, anyway? You want to go along with the deal?
BARKOVITCH: Sure, sure. I'll send her enough bread to keep her in clover the rest of her life. I just wanted to tell you ... make you see ... a guy's got to have some friends ... a guy's got to have a crowd, you know? Who wants to die hated, if you got to die, that's the way I look at it. I ... I ...
GARRATY: Sure, right. Thanks a lot.
He dropped back too fast, got a warning, and spent the next ten minutes working back to where Stebbins was ambling along.
STEBBINS: Ray Garraty. Happy May 3rd, Garraty.
GARRATY: Same goes both ways.
STEBBINS: I was counting my toes. They are fabulously good company because they always add up the same way. What's on your mind?
So Garraty went through the business about Scramm and Scramm's wife for the second time Finished, he waited tensely for Stebbins to start anatomizing the idea.
STEBBINS: Why not? |
| Stebbins says he's suffering from allergies then admits to getting sick. In the novel, it's Scramm. Just like Stebbins, Scramm decides to give up. |
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GARRATY: You sound like you're getting a cold.
SCRAMM: Naw, it's the pollen. Happens every spring. Hay fever. I even get it in Arizona. But I never catch colds.
His voice sounded clogged and nasal, and he wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
Scramm sneezed sharply three times.
SCRAMM: I am getting a cold.
PEARSON: That'll take the starch right out of you. That's a bitch.
SCRAMM: I'll just have to work harder.
Scramm had torn off a piece of his T-shirt and was using it as a hanky.
Behind them, Scramm had a coughing fit.
SCRAMM: I thing I'be rudding a fever now.
SCRAMM: I'd never been so hod id by whole life
Scramm said through his plugged nose.
Scramm was not so flushed, but he was coughing steadily—a deep, thundering cough
Scramm gets his ticket
McVRIES: Whoever wins better keep his word. He just better. |
| Barkovitch's ticket |
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The guns blasted and they all jumped.
PEARSON: It was Barkovitch or Quince. I can't tell ... one of them's still walking ... it's—
Barkovitch laughed out of the darkness, a high, gobbling sound, thin and terrifying.
BARKOVITCH: Not yet, you whores! I ain't gone yet! Not yeeeeeetttttt ...
His voice kept climbing and climbing. It was like a fire whistle gone insane. And Barkovitch's hands suddenly went up like startled doves taking flight and Barkovitch ripped out his own throat.
PEARSON: My Jesus! (and threw up over himself)
He fell down and they shot him, dead or alive.
PEARSON: I don't feel good. Oh. Not so good. Oh God. I don't. Feel. So good. Oh. |
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he was stunned to see Collie Parker standing on top of the halftrack with a rifle in his hands.
One of the soldiers had fallen off and lay staring up at the sky with empty, expressionless eyes. There was a neat blue hole surrounded by a corona of powder burns in the center of his forehead.
PARKER: Goddam bastards!
The other soldiers had jumped from the halftrack. Parker looked out over the stunned Walkers.
PARKER: Come on, you guys! Come on! We can—
[Soldiers] shot Collie Parker in the back.
McVRIES: Parker! Oh, no! Parker!
guts all over his torn khaki shirt and blue jeans.
PARKER: God. Damn.
He fired the rifle he had wrenched away from the dead soldier twice into the road. The slugs snapped and whined, and Garraty felt one of them tug air in front of his face. Someone in the crowd screamed in pain.
Then the gun slid from Parker's hands. His eyes blazed. He opened his mouth and struggled through blood for some coda.
PARKER: You. Ba. Bas. Bast. Ba.
GARRATY: What happened? What happened to him?
McVRIES: He snuck up on 'em. That's what happened. He must have known he couldn't make it. He snuck right up behind 'em and caught 'em sleep at the switch. He wanted us all up there with him, Garraty. And I think we could have done it.
GARRATY: What are you talking about?
McVRIES: You don't know? You don't know?
GARRATY: Up there with him? ... What? ...
McVRIES: Forget it. Just forget it. |
| Parker tells Garraty he's lucky he'll be seeing family in Freeport but McVries says it might make it worse |
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| PARKER: You're one lucky sonofabitch, Garraty.
GARRATY: I am?
PARKER: You're gonna see your girl and your mother. Who the hell am I going to see between now and the end? No one but these pigs. I'm homesick. And scared. Pigs! (yelling at the crowd) You pigs!
GARRATY: I'm scared, too. And homesick. I ... I mean we ... We're all too far away from home. The road keeps us away. I may see them, but I won't be able to touch them.
PARKER: The rules say—
GARRATY: I know what the rules say. Bodily contact with anyone I wish, as long as I don't leave the road. But it's not the same. There's a wall.
PARKER: Fuckin' easy for you to talk. You're going to see them, just the same.
McVRIES: Maybe that'll only make it worse
PARKER: You're all crazy. I'm getting out of here. |
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| Garraty sees his mom in Freeport (in the novel, he sees his mom and his girlfriend Jan.) |
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