On page 3 of  the current (October-December 1999) _Mark Twain Circular_,
some lines were inadvertently omitted from scene 61 of  Ralph Wiley's
script, "Spike Lee's Huckleberry Finn."  The fault is entirely my own and I
apologize to Mark Twain Circle members.

A corrected version of scene 61 with the omitted lines restored is pasted
into this email.  I will try to arrange for a properly-formatted  corrected
version of scene 61 to be included in the next issue of the Circular.
Again, I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

All best,
Shelley Fisher Fishkin

~~~~~~~~~
(corrected  version)

From "Spike Lee's Huckleberry Finn" by Ralph Wiley
copyright 1997 Ralph Wiley, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Printed with permission
of the author. May be reproduced for classroom use only. WGA-E Registered
#107314-00

61. EXT. RIVER RAFT. NIGHT. -- Jim is "sitting there with his head down
between his knees, asleep, with his right arm hanging over the steering
oar. The other oar was smashed off. The raft was littered with leaves and
branches and dirt. So she'd had a rough time." Huck paddles up silently,
quietly, makes the canoe fast, boards the raft, lies down under Jim's nose,
"and begun to gap, and stretched my fists out against Jim and says:"

                HUCK
Hello, Jim, have I been asleep? Why didn't you stir me up?

                JIM
Huck? En you ain' dead-you ain' drowned? Lemme look at you, lemme seeŠ

Jim touches Huck's shoulders and arms. Near tears with relief.

                JIM
Ano, you'se back, d'same ole Huck--thanks to goodness.

                HUCK
What's the matter with you, Jim. You been a-drinking?

                JIM
Has I had a chance to be drinkin'?

                HUCK
Well then, what makes you talk so wild?

                JIM
How does I talk wild?

                JIM
How?  Talkin' about me coming back and all that stuff, as if I'd been gone
away?

                JIM
Huck. Huck Finn. You  look me in d'eye; look me in d'eye; Ain't  you been
gone away?

                HUCK
Gone away? I hain't been gone anywheres. Where would I  go to?

(Jim pauses for  a few seconds; decides to string along, affects  a
slightly   stronger dialect.)

                JIM
WellŠlooky here, boss, dey's sumf'n wrong, dey is. Is I me, or who is I?
Is I heah, or whah is I?

                HUCK
Well, you're here plain enough, but I think you're a tangle-headed   old
fool, Jim.

                JIM
(unamused) I is, is I? Didn't you tote out d'line in d'canoe  fer to make
fast to d'tow-head?

                HUCK
Tow-head? What tow-head? I   hain't  seen no tow-head.

                JIM
Didn' d' line pull loose, en de raf' go hummin' down d' river,   en leave
you en d'canoe behind  in d'fog?

                HUCK
What fog?

                JIM
De  fog. En didn' you whoop, en didn't I whoop? En didn' I bus' up agin  a
lot er dem islands en have a turrible  time en mos' get drowned? Ain't  dat
so-boss?

                HUCK
It's too many for me, Jim. I  hain't seen no fog, nor no islands, nor no
troubles, nor nothing. Yo u  been dreaming.

(Jim "didn't say nothing for about five minutes, but he set there  studying
it over. Then he says:")

                JIM
Well, denŠreck'n I did dream it, HuckŠnever had no dream b'fo' dat's tired me like  dis  one.

                HUCK
That's all right, because a dream does tire a body like everything,
sometimes. Tell me about it, Jim, about your dream.

(Jim purses his lips, knits his brow, then eases his  features and speaks: )

                JIM
well, d'fust tow-head  mus' stan' for a man who gon' try  t'do us some
good; den d'curren's is 'nother man dat'll get us 'way from d' good man.
D'whoops is warnin's  dat gon' come t'us ever now en den, 'long d'way.
D'tow-heads  is troubles en all kine  o'mean  folk, but ef we mine's our
bidness, don' talk back en aggravates 'em, we'll pull thoo en gits to d'big
clear river, d'O-hi-o.

(Huck's face clouds up, tiring of Jim's facility with the lie. Huck himself
had started, and not wanting to think about losing his companion at the
Ohio.  Huck's face then becomes smug.)

                HUCK
  Oh, well, that's all ''terpreted  well enough, as far as it goes, Jim.
(points to dirt on raft) But what does these things  stand for?


(Jim looks at the detritus, then at Huck, levelly, emotionlessly, then back
to the sticks, leaves and dirt; one side of his face-the side away from
Huck-lifts in a fatalistic half-smile. He turns back to Huck looking at him
steadily, without smiling, and says):

                JIM
What do dey stan' for? I's  gon' tell you When I got all wore out  wid
work, en wid callin' for you, my heart was most broke because you was los'
en I didn' k'yer no mo' what become er me en d'raf'.
En when I wake up en fine you back agin, all safe en soun'Šen  all you wuz
thinkin' 'bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. (points
to detritus on the raft,   speaks calmly, clearly).
Dat truck dah is trash;  en trash is what people is dat puts dirt on de
head er dey fren's   en makes 'em ashamed.

(Jim slowly rises and enters the wigwam. Huck watches him, then looks out
over the river, as if he is too proud to care. But then, he looks down.)

61a. INT. WIGWAM. NIGHT. -- (Jim sits, pensively. It seems Huck is no
different from the "witches  and devils" that have  ridden him in his days
of bondage. Huck enters wigwam. Jim recoils, but holds it in. Huck gets on
his haunches, looks at Jim, looks down. Looks up.)

                HUCK
Jim, (inhales, exhales deeply) I'm sorry, Jim.

(And with that, a crack in Jim's soul is patched. Huck looks down again
as Jim regards him with slightly knitted brows.  His face softens. He
reaches out with the flat palm of his hand-hesitates, then rubs the boy's
bowed head. Huck looks up, so thankfully, his eyes shining wet.)