Across the River and into the Trees

We done?

You mind if we go again on this, Colonel?

I got barracks in 15, Wes.

Those pills you're taking...

do they help with the nausea or is it the pain?

What pills?

Mannitol hexanitrate.

Mannitol hexa what now?

Pumping yourself full of nitroglycerine

is not the answer to your problem.

I don't have a problem, Wes.

I can't let you do this anymore.

Do you know what a cardiac thrombosis is?

Can't say that I do.

It will drop you like a sack of dirt.

You need to be in a hospital.

You know what they'll do if you tell them that.

Yeah, I do.

They'll retire you.

Something they should have done a long time ago.

Your heart is beating on borrowed time, Richard.

That's a debt you are not going to enjoy paying.

Okay.

Maybe I'll, uh, take it easy for the weekend.

Drive down to Venice, do some duck shootin'.

You're not driving anywhere.

-Says who? -I do!

You need to be in a hospital. Now! Today!

You need to stop smoking. You need to give up the drink.

Okay. I'll make a deal with you.

You lose that report till after the weekend

I get back from Venice,

I'll let you prolong my life as long as you like.

See you Monday, Wes.

Have a good weekend, sir.

Thank you.

What the hell are you doing in my car?

Sorry, Col. Cantwell, sir.

Well?

Uh, sir, Capt. O'Neil--

Nobody teach you to salute, son?

Oh, sorry, sir. Yes, sir.

Capt. O'Neil told me that I-- I will be driving you, sir.

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Let's roll, son.

Where we going, sir?

Venice.

You, uh, you looking for somethin' special, Colonel?

In Venice, I mean.

Where you from, son?

Union, Kentucky.

Sir.

Sir. Sir. Sorry, sir.

They shoot duck in Union?

Hell, sir, we--

we shoot just about damn near everything in Kentucky.

What's your name, anyway?

I'm-- I'm Jackson, sir.

Where's Burnham?

Burnham's, uh, he's going home, sir.

Why the hell he do that?

Well, take it the army was through with him.

Soon enough, they'll be through with all of us.

I'd sure like to go home, sir.

I'm sure Uncle Joe Stalin'd

be happy to hear you say that, soldier.

At this point, I don't really care

if the Russians come in.

I just want to go home.

Nothing wrong with a man wanting to go home, I guess.

Where exactly would home be for you, sir?

I asked your name, Jackson.

I didn't ask you to be my fucking date.

Why on earth would they destroy a place like this?

What lessons can mankind possibly learn from it?

Mm. Don't pick a fight with the US Air Force.

Don't build your church near your bridge?

Sir, Bur-- Burnham told me they fought alongside you

in France, sir.

When you took that town by assault.

Yeah? What else he tell you?

Well, how you saw combat in two world wars.

He called you a hero.

Truth, sir, he didn't need to tell me anything.

Whole army knows about you.

You believe in heroes, Sergeant?

Well, sir, my brother lost both his legs

in the Pacific.

Most of his company didn't make it,

and to me, my brother's a hero.

Your brother happy to be alive,

or he sometimes wish he died with his buddies?

Sir, I-- I never--

You like frescoes, Sergeant?

Presco?

- Frescoes. - Been there 600 years.

Attributed to Giotto in all the books.

That's what you call this kind of painting, sir?

Well, the reason I ask is

'cause I got a kinda theory about Italian painters.

See, I went to that big painting gallery

when we came through Florence.

Sir, I tell you, I looked at the Madonna and the baby Jesus

until they was comin' out of my ears.

You know my theory? You know how Italians,

they-- they're all so crazy about bambinis?

You know, the less they have to eat,

the more bambinis they got?

Your point being?

I think all those old Italian painters,

well, they felt the same way about bambinis

as these here Italians do to this very day,

and that is why they always painted

the baby Jesus and his mama.

Uh-huh.

Is that your entire theory, or is there more to it?

Sir, what I'm trying to say is--

is it made me think you--

you got to have a love of life itself to be a painter.

Sure. And a box of paints.

Any more theories on Renaissance art, Jackson?

No, sir.

That's a comfort.

You okay, sir?

Sir?

What?

You okay, sir?

Yeah, I'm fine.

Do you believe in heroes, sir?

I believe in human courage.

But I've seen it made pointless all too often in war.

Sir, I was told to not let you do that.

By who?

By Dr. O'Neil, sir.

He say why?

Well, no, but he was pretty clear about it.

You coming or not?

Mind how you go, Sergeant.

I'll call you when I need you back here.

Oh. Uh, sir, I--

I was told to stay with you at all times

and bring you back safe

when you're through with the ducks, sir.

Thank you kindly, Nurse Jackson,

but there's been a change of plan.

You ride home safe now

and tell the captain I'll see him on Monday.

Yes?

You speak English?

I do.

You for hire?

For hire?

Yeah, for hire. You speak English or not?

Gritti Palace.

- Step on it. - Colonel.

Colonel, wait.

What's your name?

Renata.

You don't look much like a taxi driver, Renata.

I never said I was.

Oh.

Well, who are you then?

My name is Renata Contarini.

But I'm a taxi driver for the time being.

You are the famous Colonnello Cantwell.

Yeah!

For the time being.

I saw you once.

I was a volunteer up at the transit camp.

Were you?

Must have missed you.

Of course. Why should you notice me?

Are you okay? Am I going too fast?

Oh, I'm fine.

How much am I gonna owe you, Renata?

I haven't decided yet.

So, what are you doing here, Colonnello?

Well, that's a long story, Renata.

Ducks.

I'm here to shoot ducks.

And where are your guns?

Somewhere in Germany.

But I know a guy who knows where I can get some.

Good ones.

Belong to one of those families

that needs money more than guns at the moment.

There are a lot of people like that in Venice.

Yeah.

And do you know the city well?

Not as well as I'd like.

Do you know the poet Byron?

Not personally.

Well, he was a soldier too.

A war hero like you.

He had a bed in that house there for a while.

If my memory serves, he had two.

The second one was on the bottom floor.

He shared that one with a gondolier's wife.

Right.

A poet, a soldier...