I read a DH script draft so you don’t have to.
Original script (or at least some version of it) some differences from the final movie:
Stan is Vince (honestly Vince fits REALLY well)
Nick, Linda, Angela, and John’s names are unchanged.
NOTE: Nick and Mike’s roles are switched for the last act (homecoming). Nick and Mike’s roles are reversed slightly in the beginning minus the dialogue.
No sundog lore. It’s snowing. Stan dances around in the snow. The sign of snow means that it’s hunting season for them.
They keep mentioning Columbine street.
Nick asks Linda to marry him in the trailer before the wedding to which Linda responds “who else dummy?” (In the movie, Linda asks, “what” and Nick says “I don’t know” bailing out. Nick delays his proposal to the wedding itself.
The one shot line doesn’t exist between Mike and Nick. Mike refers to the other guys as Yo-yos, not assholes. Nick still likes the trees though.
(Steven is more of a child in this one. Very flustered in the beginning about getting married. He also says “here I go” when stepping out of Welsh’s bar.
Shocker: the wedding scene is much shorter. Vince gets into a fight with Fred, the guy who stole his girl like the movie but comes out of the fight more tattered)
The GREEN BERET (wooo!) says “pow!” instead of “fuckit”
Like I said, lots of snow. Always snowing or slush.
Albert (Axel) and John have a discussion while everyone else is sleeping that they both did it with Angela.
There’s a scene where all the guys go hunting and run into a whole bunch of deer and chase them. Nick is on the ground laughing.
Hunting: No twinkies, it’s mustard on a HERSHEY bar. That’s just nasty.
Steven is a lot more insane in this version.
There are much more graphic war scenes including a baby being thrown into the air and speared through the neck with a bayonet.
Mike is just as calm at the Roulette table in this version.
There are a lot more south Vietnamese playing Russian Roulette. Someone even plays against a kid/very young guy at some point (Steven/Sal does)
Extended conversation between Nick and Mike about abandoning Steven.
After the escape Nick is unconscious in this one, also there is no waterfall (like in an updated script) or tree trunk in this one.
Drunk guards on Budweiser not Miller High life.
Steven (Sal) tries to get into a suspiciously untouched car (booby trap) and almost gets killed. Apparently only Mike and Steven are near the car. Mike is fine. Also, I can’t remember if they mentioned how Nick got to the hospital.
In this version, the scene where Nick is in the hospital is very uneventful. He just ends up with another guy’s (Solomon) nametag. Also wearing civilian clothes.
Nick has a whole elephant monologue and apparently Linda loves elephants.
Nick goes into a bar to get change and the whole place outside explodes and the street urchins are all dead.
Julien/Armand is well aware that (in this universe) the VC force POWs to play Russian Roulette (he casually asks Nick how he escaped) and even has business cards entitled “exhibition”
Nick refuses Julien’s offer to go into the building and play Russian roulette and this is the last scene before his homecoming. Nick just leaves.
ACT 3: Nick’s homecoming (yes, Nick not Mike)
Like Mike in the final movie, Nick avoids coming home and ducks in the back of the taxi to avoid being seen by everyone.
Linda reuniting with Nick was a tearjerker. No mention of Mike. Nick tries on the sweater Linda made for him and it’s too large.
Angela is responsive to Nick as he goes to ask her where Steven is. They have a casual conversation although I suspect Angela might be lying when she says Steven calls her twice a day?
Stan/Vince ends up getting married and tells Nick so as soon as they reunite.
The script mentions Steven is very badly burned and had both his legs amputated and one of his arms I guess is limp. (Due to his burns from the car booby trap)
Stan is able to chase a deer (almost run over by other unnamed hunters) and chases the deer into a house (maybe their cabin?) and it falls down dead. He’s like “hey! I got one” just like the movie but it’s dead in a house not prancing around in a pond.)
Nick is in the cabin confronting Stan/Vince about his gun and doesn’t do the whole roulette/I’ll play your fucking games” scene. He just takes the gun instead after punching Stan a few times.
It is mentioned that Nick has a limp from the injuries he got taking down the VC guards to escape. This was kept in the movie, but he didn’t have a limp later on.
It’s really weird how much the story focuses on Nick. Like, it’s way too much. There’s a scene where Linda is all dressed up sexy to find Nick asleep and she notices these large fresh scars across his chest.
There is no mention of Angela’s child?
0/10 no scene with Meryl Streep bowling.
After coming home, Nick sees Mike outside his trailer and Mike disappears before Nick can reach him. Mike is in the VA hospital watching Nick without saying anything. Wearing fancy cowboy boots and tailored pants. Like a cowboy. (Wait this isn’t taxi driver)
It’s not clear how Mike was able to get back to Saigon after Mike is shown watching and avoiding Nick in the VA hospital.
The end is just so weird. Nick catches a lieutenant off guard and forces him to strip down, gags him, takes his uniform, and heads off to Saigon. He knocks out a military guy with a chair and there are lots of prostitutes around. (Something something bad dialogue- red white and blue dildo. You’re welcome I read this so you wouldn’t have to).
The Russian Roulette atmosphere has changed and I hate it. It’s almost like a state fair or carnival. People are dressed nicely. They still wrap their heads with red cloths, but they have red armbands facing downstage and a wheel that is spun indicating who goes first. They have the matches broadcasted over a PA system. Nothing like the final scene in the den that was delivered in the final cut.
There is a very short conversation between Mike and Nick before Mike goes off to play.
The tuxedoes of the dead are put on fresh contestants waiting their turn to play the game. No fancy white shirts.
The death scene is the least memorable but still decent. Nick sees a tall figure taking a bow after winning the Russian Roulette match against his opponent. After the man comes up from the bow, Nick realizes that it is Mike’s opponent. It is not intimate, but it’s still disturbing.
John plays God Bless America at the end.
They should have really kept the elephant monolgue. In the final movie, you just think it’s random and that Nick is just acting strange, but they removed this interesting story around Nick’s fascination with them. Also not enough twinkies.
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