A Walk in the Sun Page #3

A match.

Thanks.

Pays to have friends.

What's the dope?

- No dice. I didn't see Halverson anywhere.

They're bringing down the wounded now.

- From where?

I spoke to a couple of guys there.

They ran into trouble with that machine gun.

- How about Halverson?

I told you, I don't know

anything about Halverson.

I saw Mac though.

He said the lieutenant's dying.

Mac says if the lieutenant dies,

he'll go and look for Halverson.

The ocean's full of stuff now.

I guess they're bringing in the

rolling stock, the heavy stuff.

The place is crawling.

- How does the beach look?

- Empty.

Where was the machine gun?

They didn't tell me. Over there, somewhere.

- Who didn't tell you?

- The two guys.

Hit the dirt!

Seems like this war

is nothing but waiting.

Waiting for your chow,

waiting for your pay,

waiting for a letter from home.

# It's a long, long time

a man spends a-waiting

# Waiting around in a war

# I think of a girl

I've never seen

# Her hair is black

and her eyes are green

# Her name is Helen

or maybe Irene

# It's a long, long time a-waitin'.

# I think of all the things

I haven't done

# All of the women I haven't won

# It seems like my life

ain't really begun

# It's a long, long time

a- waitin'. #

If they think I'm going to spend the

rest of my life here, they're crazy.

Take the subway home.

Here's a nickel.

It's the only nickel I got.

My last tie with the States.

Take it, it's yours.

It's worth it to get rid of you.

Take a tank. Or a franc.

Tank. Franc. A poet. A Shakespeare.

The Bard of Avenue 8.

The card of Avenue 8.

You guys kill me.

He's worked to death.

He's got those open period blues.

He had to crawl down to Jones beach.

A little recon and he's worked to death!

He wouldn't have kicked

if it had been Coney Island.

When I'm out of the Army and you're

sweating it out in Tibet, you'll be

laughing the other

side of your face.

Hey, Sergeant. How long are we

going to stay here? My tail's cold.

We'll stay here 'till it freezes to

the ground. There's a lot to spare.

Any ideas where to go, Trasker?

Yeah. Pikes Peak. If

I was there, I'd run up backwards.

I'd go on my hands,

pushing a peanut with my nose

then I'd take a train.

Railroads are jammed these days.

Oh, for Pete's sake.

Come on over here with me, Bill.

You too, Hoskins.

Look, something's wrong.

I know something's wrong.

Halverson should have been back by

this time. Am I right?

- Sounds right.

There's no sense in it.

We hang around here any longer,

we'll screw up the whole works.

Planes'll be over soon.

- Sure as little apples, they will.

And they'll be sending a few

tanks along here soon while

we're still up in the air.

We ought to leave somebody here

in case Halverson shows up and

go ahead while he's waiting.

Six miles is a long way.

- A long and weary way.

What do you think?

- It's up to you, Eddie.

You know what you're doing.

I've got to know.

- Do it, then.

I've got something up...

- Listen!

Planes. Do you hear anything?

- Guns.

- Hey, Sergeant, it's guns.

Where are they coming from?

- From out to sea, aren't they?

I think so.

- Ack-ack.

You sure?

- Probable sure.

That's it, then.

- Must be a ship shooting a plane.

That's the way it is.

Sure as little apples,

the way it is.

All right. Off and on.

- Here we go, Jake.

Going over in the woods.

- Squad columns!

Hop to it. Hoist tail!

How do we know

those aren't our planes?

Cos the ships are ours, dope.

We've got the only ships

in the water.

Boy, I wouldn't be a sailor

for nothing.

Who's gonna stay here, Eddie.

Stay for what?

- Halverson.

- I don't know.

I'll stay.

- OK, Bill, you stay here.

Hoist tail! Get moving!

We haven't got all day!

Get those squads moving.

Spread them out.

We'll be over in the woods, Bill.

- Leave me your glasses, will you?

OK.

Come on! Shake it, shake it!

The way you come walking over

that ridge, like you were back in

Missouri looking for daisies.

Nothing to worry about.

I looked the situation

over very carefully.

Made up my mind there was no danger,

so I walked instead of crawled.

Picked this up for self protection.

Where is everybody?

- Gone into the woods.

Afraid planes were headed this way.

Yeah. I heard the ack-ack.

Lieutenant's dead.

It's too bad.

- Yeah.

Halverson's dead, too.

Deader than a doornail.

Are you sure?

A guy in A Company told me.

Machine gun got him

coming out of the water.

Stitched him right across the middle.

That leaves it up to Porter.

Four ways from the jack.

- What?

Nothing.

What's going on down there?

Well, do you mind if I smoke?

Is it OK?

Well, they're bringing

in the big stuff now.

And coastguards, everywhere

you look, coastguards.

Gee, I'm glad I'm not down

on that beach any more.

The place is sure

going to get strafed.

It sure is.

- We'd better be

getting over to the woods.

The planes will be here in a minute.

Noisy.

- Put out that butt.

Do you know, the lieutenant

never moved his hands?

Good devil never even moved.

Dropping sticks on our transport.

From the sound of the

explosions, they missed.

That was no miss.

No miss, at all.

We'd better sit tight here.

There may be a few

fighters around somewhere.

Don't want any fighters to

catch me in an open field.

- I don't want that either.

Wonder what's happening now.

Plenty. Plenty of plenty.

Must be a honey of

a show on that beach.

Wonder what it will be like

when we hit France, Mac.

I don't know. I've never seen France.

Bet it's just a long concrete

wall with a gun every yard.

What's happening down

there's worth seeing, too.

Bet they'll set the water

afire with oil, too.

Boy, when that day comes, I want

to be somewhere else, far, far away.

This is bad enough.

This ain't so bad. At least

you know where everything is.

You're here and

the bombs are out there.

Simple.

You're where you are

and the guys being killed are

where they are.

It's simple.

- Yeah, I guess you're right.

We've got a grandstand seat.

Yeah. Only trouble is

you can't see nothing.

That's the whole trouble with the

war, you never get to see nothing.

You fight them by ear.

Got to guess what's going on.

Got to guess unless you see.

Sarge, can I go take a look?

You stay where you are.

I want you here.

Good thing, dirt.

I see the planes, Mac.

Six of them.

- Is that all?

It's not many, is it?

Gee, you'd think they'd have a

couple of hundred around, up there.

Just goes to show you...

- Just goes to show you what?

Just goes to show you.

- Funny.

Maybe there's more coming.

No.

Just six of them.

I tell you what, Sarge, what say

I take the glasses and go over the

ridge and take a look at the water?

We ought to know what's going on.

We know what's going on, Mac.

There's no point in it.

No point in guessing.

We got to be getting along

to the platoon.

Sarge, you wouldn't go through

an open field with them planes

up there, would you?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes