Hogarth [after seeing Giant; calmly]
So, I guess you're not gonna hurt me, huh? [Giant holds his hand out as Hogarth cringes and gasps. He reveals the shut-off switch that lands on the ground; surprised] The shut-off switch. [to Giant] You saw me save you. [Giant looks at him innocently] So... where... are you from? You came from the sky, right? From up there? [Giant looks up] Don't you remember anything? Hmm, maybe it's that bump from your head. [Giant places his finger on his head, feeling the dent.] Do you talk? You know words? "Blah, blah, blah," like that? Can you do that? Blah, blah, blah?
[in a rusty voice]
Blah, blah, blah.
Hogarth Well... you get the idea anyway. [picks up a rock] See this? This is called a rock. Rock.
Hogarth Good.
[picks up a boulder]
Rock?
Hogarth Yes!
Hogarth No, no. That is a tree. [points to boulder] Rock... [points to tree] ...tree. Get it?
[looks at boulder]
Rock. [looks at tree] Tree.
Hogarth That's right! [to himself] Wow, my own giant robot, I am now the luckiest kid in America! This is unbelievable. This is the greatest discovery since, I don't know, television or something. I gotta tell someone. I should call some-- No. They'll panic. [to Giant] People will always wig out and start shooting when they see something big like you.
Hogarth Wig out. It means crazy. You know like, uh-- [makes a crazy face and babbles; Giant mimics him] No, no! Don't do that! That's the kind of stuff that makes them shoot at you.
[Hogarth opens the door and sees Kent Mansley.]
Hey there, scout. Kent Mansley. I work for the government. [Hogarth quickly closes the door and he gasps]
Hogarth? [Kent knocks and rings the doorbell] Hogarth? [Hogarth opens the door]
Hey there, scout. Kent Mansley. [smile disappears] Work for the government. Your parents home?
Hogarth We're eating.
[stares at Annie's chest; huskily]
Well, hello there. [clears throat and regains composure] Do you have a telephone I could use?
Yes, there's one in the kitchen.
Well, thank you. Thank you very much. [to Hogarth] Here. [puts his fedora on Hogarth's head] Pretend you're a gangster. [chuckles]
[Kent calls General Rogard's home phone number. The general picks up while watching a western on TV.] [annoyed]
Damn it, Mansley, you called me at home for this?
You don't understand, sir. It-it-it-- It ate my car!
No, I didn't actually see it. It went off into the... woods.
So, you don't have any evidence.
But-But sir, I've got an eyewitness!
An eyewitness with a concussion.
[shouts]
This thing i--! [covers his mouth and lowers his voice] This thing is a menace. It-It-It-It tore up a power station and-- [phone falls, and he picks up] --and caused a train wreck!
What did? Tell me again, Mansley, and this time, listen to yourself.
[sighs; wearily]
A giant metal monster. [Rogard guffaws on the other end. Kent turns around a kitchen mitt that seems to mock him.] Please, sir. I've got a feeling about this one.
That's lovely, Kent. But let me try to explain how this works: If you told me you'd found, say, um, a giant footprint, I might send over an expert to make a plaster cast of it. Hell, you get me a photograph of this thing and I could probably get some troops over there! But you tell me you've got a feeling.
All right, then fine. You want evidence? I'll get you evidence, and when I do, I'm gonna want a memo distributed.
[dryly]
That sounds swell, Kent.
I'm gonna want that memo carbon-copied, and redistributed, [Rogard hangs up.] and-- [Kent stops, and tries to hang up the phone, which falls off the receiver, twice; he gets angry, yelling incoherently and bangs the phone against the receiver several times, then composes himself.] Hi. Thanks for the use of your phone. [goes outside the door and puts his fedora back on.] Well, thank you for the use of your phone, Mrs.--?
Hughes. Annie Hughes. And this is my son, Hogarth.
Thank you, Annie. Hobart.
Hogarth That's Hogarth! [grumbles irritably]
[Kent gets into his government-issue car and starts driving.]
"Hogarth"? What an embarrassing name. Might as well call him Zeppo or something. What kind of a sick person would name their kid Hogar--? [stops and looks over to Hogarth's smashed B-B gun which says "Hog Hug," instead of "Hogarth Hughes." ] "Hog Hug". "HOG HUG"?! [realizes] HOGARTH HUGHES!
Hogarth [he has just had espresso with Dean, and is not used to its effects]
So, she moved me up a grade because I wasn't fitting in, so now I'm even more not fitting in. I was getting good grades, you know, like all A's. So my mom says, "You need stimulation" and I go, "No, I'm stimulated enough right now."
Hogarth So she says, "Uh-uh. You don't have a challenge. You need a challenge." So now I'm challenged, all right. I'm challenged to hold on to my lunch money because of all the big mooses who want to pound me, because I'm a shrimpy dork who thinks he's smarter than them. But I don't think I'm smarter, I just do the stupid homework. If everyone else just did the stupid homework, they could move up a grade and get pounded too. Is there any more coffee?
Look, it's really none of my business, kid, but who cares what those creeps think, you know? They don't decide who you are, you do. You are who you choose to be. [a crashing sound is heard from outside; shocked] Did you hear that?
Hogarth No, wait. Stop! [Dean comes out of his home with a crowbar in his hand, he looks around. Then, he turns around and suddenly caught sight of Giant on the other side of his warehouse.] It's okay.
Hogarth He isn't gonna--
[panicking; grabs Hogarth]
RUN, KID! RUN! [they run off, Dean's voice attracts Giant's attention and he jumps up angrily. The Giant lands in front of them, they run the opposite way]
Hogarth It's okay, he isn't-- [he gets cut off when Giant slams his hand in their way. They turn around and they trip] It's okay, he isn't gonna hurt me.
[Suddenly, Giant grabs hold of Dean by the collar of his night robe]
Whoa! Hey, hey! [he gasps when the Giant raises him high]
Hogarth Don't squash him! No, don't! Do not... [Giant narrows his eyes at Dean, then he looks at Hogarth, confused] [softly] ...squash him. His name is Dean. We like Dean. [Giant draws his attention back to Dean, but he doesn't narrow his eyes]
Dean. [Dean gasps, and cowers in fear]
[sees Giant eating some metal junk and shakes with fear as he is about to take a sip of his coffee]
So...where'd, uh-- Where'd he come from?
Hogarth He doesn't remember. He's like a... little kid.
Little. Yeah. [starts chuckling, then stops] Wait a minute. You can talk to him?
Hogarth Kinda. He can't say a lot of words yet, but he understand things pretty good.
Hogarth [Hogarth and Dean start chuckling as the Giant is still eating some metal junk, then they stop]
He needs food and shelter. [Dean gets up from his chair, pours his coffee onto the ground, and walks back into his office, shutting the door. 37 minutes later, Hogarth is still pleading to Dean to let Giant stay in the junkyard, but to no avail.] You got plenty of room here. This place is perfect!
Hogarth I can have him push the door down. You know I can!
[opens the door]
Hogarth, I-I-I can't hide it here!
Hogarth Him. Not it.
Whatever. You don't even know where he came from, or-or-or what the hell he is!
Hogarth He's my friend.
Yeah, yeah. What am I? Am I your friend? [starts walking back into his office] Bring some Franken-bot with out-of-state plates over here and make me change my tune. I don't like that jazz. [lays down on his couch] God, I'm tired.
Hogarth So, he can stay?
Tonight. Tomorrow-- I-I don't know about tomorrow.
[Hogarth closes the door and breathes a sigh of relief]
Hey, mind if I ask you a few questions there, buckaroo? Now, why would you tell your mom about a giant robot, slugger? So, what'd you see at the power station, huh, tiger? Tell anyone else about this, buddy? How big is this thing, Ranger? Been in the forest lately, Junior? Hey, where you goin'? Champ? Slugger? Hey, Cowboy, where you goin'? Where you goin'?
Hogarth [exasperated]
I'M GOIN' OUT! [takes his jacket]
Well, why don't you take Mr. Mansley with you, show him the sights?
Hogarth Oh, Mom, the sights?
[puts his fedora on]
Hey, I'd love that. Give us a chance to get acquainted, swap some stories. Huh, chief?
There are two kinds of metal in this yard: Scrap and art. If you gotta eat one of them, eat the scrap. What you currently have IN YOUR MOUTH IS ART!
[takes the art scrap out of his mouth]
Hmm. Art?
[Dean looks at him, annoyed. Giant mashes up the scrap some more, trying to repair it.]
Forget it. Forget it. [Giant puts down the damaged art scrap on the ground.] It's gone. It's-- [Dean notices the readjustment of the art scrap and is amazed] Hmm. That's not bad.
Hogarth [scene changes to Hogarth and Kent having root beer floats.]
First, you take a chocolate bar. Any bar will do.
Hogarth Do you mind if I, uh--?
No, knock yourself out, skipper.
Hogarth [crumbles up choco-lax]
You crumble up the chocolate into little pieces, [stirs the ice cream] then you kind of stir it into the ice cream. See?
Yes, I see. What do you call this, again?
Hogarth Landslide. It's new. Very new. [tosses choco-lax wrapper in garbage can without Kent noticing]
Mmm. Landslide. Topnotch. Mmm. [Hogarth makes a landslide with a regular chocolate bar.] You know, Hogarth, we live in a strange and wondrous time. The Atomic Age. But, there's a dark side to progress, Hogarth. Ever hear of Sputnik?
Hogarth Yeah, it's the first satellite in space.
Foreign satellite, Hogarth, and all that that implies. Even now, it orbits overhead... (Boop! Boop!) ...watching us. We can't see it, but it's there. Much like that giant thing in the woods. We don't know what it is or what it can do. I don't feel safe, Hogarth. Do you?
Hogarth [puzzled and confused]
What are you talking about?
What am I talking about? [angrily] What am I TALKING ABOUT?! [everyone stares at Kent] I'm talking about your goldarned security, Hogarth! While you're snoozing in your little jammies, back in Washington, we're wide awake and worried. Why? Because everyone wants what we have, Hogarth; Everyone! You think this metal man is fun. But who built it? The Russians? The Chinese? The Martians? Canadians?! I DON'T CARE! All I know is we didn't build it, and that's reason enough to assume the worst and blow it to kingdom come! Now, you are going to tell me about this thing, you are going to lead me to it, and we are going to destroy it before it destroys us! [suddenly, Kent's stomach begins to gurgle, causing his glare to fade away and his eyes to widen] Just hold that thought and stay right there! Uh-oh!
[Kent rushes to the bathroom, and Hogarth takes his chance and escapes.]
[sets up his chair]
This can't last forever, Hogarth. We gotta tell somebody about him.
Hogarth Ah, you worry too much. [climbs up the rock boulder] Hey, Dean! Watch this!
[sits down on his chair]
All right, we're watchin', we're watchin'.
Hogarth This one's for professionals only! [jumps in the lake] Banzai! [Giant looks down at Hogarth in the lake. Hogarth emerges from the water, shivering] C-C-Come on in! Th-Th-The water's great!
Hogarth You w-weenie! [to Giant] Come on in! It's really, really refreshing. [Giant walks away] What? You too? You... big baby! [hears running footsteps approaching and Dean also hears the footsteps while reading the newspaper.]
[jumps]
Banzai! [lands in the water and does a giant splash. Dean, who is reading his newspaper, notices the wave approaches, he hides behind his newspaper. The wave lands on the road and Dean gets all wet. Hogarth is hanging from a tree as he laughs.]
Hogarth Whoo!
TD Truck Driver
[Dean is on the washed road as a truck approaches him.]
Hey!
TD Truck Driver
You're right in the middle of the road!
TD Truck Driver
All right. [drives away]
I think that's enough fun for one day.
Hogarth [Hogarth and Giant are in the woods. Giant sighs happily at the beauty of the vast forest.]
It's beautiful, huh? [sees a deer] Hey, look. [quietly] It's a deer.
Hogarth Shh! Let's get closer. [The Giant walks quietly to the deer. The deer sees the Giant and Hogarth. The Giant kneels down holding out his finger Hogarth and Giant smiles as the deer curiously sniffs Giant's finger. Then the deer hears a twig snap and it leaves.] Hmm, well I guess he decided to-- [suddenly, a gunshot is heard and birds fly past them, the Giant is shocked, and sees hunters kneeling over the deer they just shot as they turn to see the Giant.]
H Hunter
[alarmed]
It's the monster! [they both drop their guns and run into the woods]
Hogarth [shocked]
Oh, no. [Giant sees the deer is dead, and slowly reaches his finger down touching it, to no avail] It's dead.
[sadly]
Dead? [he tries to pick up the dead deer]
Hogarth Don't do that!
[lets go of the dead deer; to Hogarth, confused]
W-- Why?
Hogarth It's dead. Understand? They... shot it, with that gun. [Giant sees the gun his eyes narrow and turn red] Hey, what's wrong?
Hogarth Yes. Guns kill.
Hogarth [Later that night, Giant and Hogarth are at the junkyard. Giant feels very sad about the deer. Hogarth walks up to him.]
I know you feel bad about the deer. But's it not your fault. Things die. It's part of life. It's bad to kill. But it's not bad to die.
Hogarth Well... yes, someday.
Hogarth I don't know, You're made of metal...but you have feelings. And you think about things. And that means you have a soul. And souls don't die.
Hogarth Mom says it's something inside of all good things... and that it goes on forever and ever. [pats Giant's face and walks away. Giant lies on the scraps and he looks up at the night sky.]
[Hogarth is in the barn putting his bicycle away] [in the shadows]
You're late for dinner, Hogarth. [Hogarth tries to escape from the barn but Kent locks the door and stops him] Your mom's working late tonight, Hogarth. So it's just us guys. And we're gonna have a little chat. Sit down! [shoves Hogarth onto a chair and shines a bright light on him] How's that? A little too bright? Good. [chuckles] Forgive me, Hogarth. I wanted you to learn something.
Hogarth What can I learn from you?
You can learn this, Hogarth: that I can do anything I want whenever I want if I feel it's in the people's best interest. The giant metal man; Where is it?
Hogarth I don't know what you're talking about.
You don't? Well... [lays his pictures on the table, first the one of the piece of metal that Hogarth lured the Giant with] Does this ring a bell? [Hogarth doesn't answer] No? How about [lays another picture which Hogarth accidentally took of himself with the Giant behind him] this? You've been careless, Hogarth.
Hogarth It doesn't prove anything.
It's enough to get the army here with one phone call.
Hogarth Then what's stopping you?
[angrily; knocking the lamp over the table]
WHERE'S THE GIANT?! [grabs Hogarth by the jaw] You can't protect him, Hogarth, any more than you can...protect your mother.
Hogarth My mom?
[sighs]
It's difficult to raise a boy all alone. We can make it more difficult. In fact, we can make it so difficult it would be irresponsible for us to leave you in her care, and all that implies. You'll be taken away from her, Hogarth.
Hogarth You can't do that!
Hogarth [lowers his head; defeated]
He's in the junkyard. McCoppin's Scrap, off Culver Road.
Ah, the junkyard. Of course! Food for the metal-eater. I wouldn't worry about this, Hogarth. This isn't really happening. It's only a bad dream. [puts chloroform rag on Hogarth's mouth, knocking him unconscious]
G George
This is Nautilus. What's the Giant's current position?
R Rick
[through radio]
67.71972 degrees west by 44.50177 degrees north.
R Robert
Locked and loaded.
[caressing Hogarth]
Oh, my baby, I'm so sorry.
Hogarth [regains consciousness; to Dean]
Stop the car.
[surprised]
Hogarth! Oh, my God! Honey, you're all right!
Hogarth Go back! We've gotta help him!
Are you crazy, kid? You're lucky to be alive. We're taking you to a hospital. [sees the Army; stops truck.]
R Rick
Everyone, out of the car! We are to evacuate the area. [pulling Dean of out the truck]
What are you talking about? We gotta get this boy to a hospital.
[sees the truck is empty; alarmed]
Hogarth!
[Hogarth runs up to Giant as Dean and Annie look on.] [worried]
Hogarth, no!
Hogarth [Giant targets the battleship as Hogarth arrives to stop him.]
Hey! No! STOP!
[Giant turns to Hogarth and he shoots to sky, narrowly missing the battleship, as the army reacts in shock. Kent looks at General Rogard.] [to Nautilus, through radio]
This is General Rogard. Ready the attack and prepare to retreat to the fallback position.
No! No! Stop! My son is out there!
Hogarth [camera cuts to Hogarth as Giant points his weapon at him.]
No, wait! It's me, Hogarth. Remember? It's bad to kill. Guns kill. And you don't have to be a gun. You are what you choose to be. You choose. [braces for impact] Choose.
[his eyes return to normal]
Hogarth. [returns to his normal form, feeling regretful, as he moans.]
Hogarth It's okay, It's okay. We gotta show them you're good.
J John
[Giant turns around, and the camera cuts to inside the Nautilus submarine.]
Nautilus to Rogard. Missile armed and ready.
What are you saying? He's friendly?
Yes! Attacking him is triggering a defense mechanism.
Don't listen, General! Destroy the monster while we still have the chance!
[soldiers arm their rifles, after hear the Giant's footsteps]
General, you shoot now, and the whole thing starts all over again!
Stop it now, General! Our future's at stake!
Which is why you have got to stop, General!
R Rick
[alarmed]
It's getting closer! Orders, sir?!
Hogarth Don't shoot! Don't shoot!
Hold your fire! The boy's alive?
It's a trick; Launch the missile!
Are you mad, Mansley? All units, stand down! Rogard to Nautilus. Come in, Nautilus.
J John
[Giant angrily stares at Kent for knocking Hogarth unconscious, and Kent is alarmed] [through radio]
This is Nautilus, standing by.
[snatches radio; screaming]
LAUNCH THE MISSILE NOW!
[Nautilus captain pushes the red button, launching the missile up to the sky.] [grabs Kent by his trench coat] [angrily]
That missile is TARGETED TO THE GIANT'S CURRENT POSITION! WHERE'S THE GIANT, MANSLEY?!
[sees the Giant holding Hogarth in his hands standing behind him]
Wha--? Ohhhh....W-W-We can duck and cover! There's a fallout shelter right there. If we hur--
There's no way to survive this, YOU IDIOT!
[shocked]
You mean... we're all going to--?
To die, Mansley. For our country.
[his last words; alarmed]
Screw our country, I wanna live! [shoves a soldier out of a jeep and starts to drive away, but the Giant stops him by blocking his jeep with his hand.]
Hold him, men. [Soldiers aim their rifles at Kent.] Make sure he stays here, like a good soldier.
Hogarth [an air raid siren goes off and the crowd gets worried and scared. Giant puts Hogarth down then he walks up to Annie and hugs her.] [shocked]
Oh, no. [looks to where the missile is heading.]
Hogarth It's the missile. When it comes down, everyone will die. [Annie places her hand on Hogarth's shoulder.]
M Man
There it is! [the crowd sees the missile up in the sky as Giant looks at it then he looks to crowd knowing that the missile will kill everyone, and bravely looks at the missile.]
Shouldn't we get to a shelter?
[shaking his head]
It wouldn't matter.
I fix. [Hogarth feels surprised and he walks up to Giant.]
Hogarth Giant? [Giant kneels down and gently places his finger at him.]
Hogarth. You stay. I go. [gently lifts Hogarth's chin, and sadly waves his other finger] No following. [backs slowly]
Hogarth [softly]
I love you.
Hogarth [The Giant takes off as Hogarth looks on and Annie comforts him. As the missile starts to descend, the Giant flies up into outer space, aiming himself towards it, to save the town.] [through memory]
You are who you choose to be.
[last word; heroically]
Superman...
[The Giant closes his eyes and flies straight into the missile, which explodes in a massive atomic fireball, as Annie, Dean and Hogarth shield their eyes from the blinding light. The townspeople and soldiers cheer as Rogard solemnly removes his helmet in respect for the Giant's sacrifice] [solemnly]
Let's go home.
