Ambush Bay Page #3

Let 'em take you, Ernie.

Look, I don't want

any more medals.

Take it easy on him.

Six months ago,

he was stacking shoeboxes.

Morphine.

Use it.

Ernie...

Which way is your soldiers?

Pretty tough, pal.

Which way is yours?

If you're not true to us,

we shoot you.

Oh, don't do that.

Gettin' shot gives me a headache.

How many men...

your soldiers?

Including the European theater,

I'd say about six million.

If you're not true...

we shoot you, Joe.

Oh, you want the truth?

Yeah, well, the truth is...

I don't feel so good.

Come closer, will ya?

The truth is

that I'm hungry, you see.

And guess what I got to eat

for everybody.

Baked potatoes.

Yeah!

Wait a minute, fellas! Come back!

You can eat these with the jackets on.

The Japanese photographed this

in Hollandia.

They know the invasion fleet will strike

from this side, bypassing Mindanao.

They are prepared for it

to pass right through here.

Have they assumed right?

On the button.

They've laid mines

all through the area.

A minefield means nothing.

They'll sweep that channel

before Mac goes in.

Minesweeper action

won't clear this.

Why not?

They're bottom mines

anchored to weights.

They can be released in waves

by a remote radio control device.

They float to the surface

and detonate.

Any ships passing over when that field

floats up will be wiped out.

What triggers it?

A submarine on lookout duty

especially equipped to release the mines.

Is there any chance

we can head off the fleet

if we get back

to our pickup point?

They sail tonight.

Another 48 hours,

MacArthur will be there.

We'll never make it

back there in time.

Smack into an ambush.

Isn't there any other way of triggering

that minefield besides a submarine?

There's an alternative device if anything

should go wrong with the submarine.

It's at Bucan Bay.

The control center.

That's it, then.

We could set it off

before the fleet passes over.

Sergeant, that's impossible.

You'd never get in,

and you couldn't work the device anyway.

Okay, fine.

Fine. Maybe you're right.

Maybe I can't.

Maybe we're gonna

get ourselves caught.

Maybe we're gonna

get blown to hell.

Or maybe we're gonna get bitten

by rattlesnakes.

But what do you suggest, lady?

How far is it?

From here...

about a day and a half, with luck.

Have you heard

of the term "piggy-back"?

Is that an offer or a question?

Either way.

Don't you ever complain, Sergeant?

Sure.

I haven't heard you

say a word yet.

I'm in charge. I can't.

What did you do

before the war?

Complained.

Of what?

Everything.

The Depression...

Hitler...

Downtown Cincinnati,

my kid brothers...

You wanna swap life stories?

How many kid brothers?

Two.

Billy was killed in North Africa,

Don just made the Marine Corps.

When did you make

the Marine Corps?

December 8, 1941. 9:00 a.m.

What were you doing

when the war started?

Making love.

To a 40-year-old divorcee

who made a career out of her figure.

I meant where were you.

Fountain Plaza Hotel.

Beach boy...

...towel dispenser...

...head gigolo

all rolled into one.

Yeah, it was a great life.

Too bad there had to be a war.

Yes, isn't it?

My folks would still be

in their home in Long Beach...

instead of the internment camp

out by the Santa Anita Racetrack.

I suppose it's for our own protection.

Maybe they're afraid

we'll poison their gardens.

How did you...

how'd you get in this line of work?

I was a Civil Service employee

in Long Beach.

I had a good record.

So you volunteered?

So I volunteered.

I never thought it would take me to...

what it took me to.

But then the same

must be true for you.

Not quite.

You left something you liked.

You didn't?

Divorcees with suntans?

I meant yourself.

Don't you like yourself, Sergeant?

I didn't.

I like you.

Hey, I got clean and polluted.

Which do you want?

Clean, you idiot.

Nobody gets polluted until 5:00.

Idiot.

That was the first nice word

he'd ever said to me.

You are Americans?

Yeah.

What about her?

She is not an American.

Yes. American born.

American soldiers?

Marines.

Working for General MacArthur?

Well, yeah. Sort of.

Oh. Welcome, American soldiers.

Welcome.

Friends!

General MacArthur has returned!

Wait. Japanese.

Many soldiers.

Here soon.

Look for Americans.

Max, we gotta try

to get out of here.

How do we get to Bucan Bay?

Go behind...

...past water...

...boat there.

Take boat down Bucan Bay.

That's Koyamatsu.

- You know him?

- Yes.

He's sober now.

A human pig.

He'd torture you first.

I could detain him.

Max could drag me out of here.

Captain Koyamatsu

would be happy to see me.

I could tell him you disappeared

in the jungles, five miles back.

That you'd forced me

to go with you.

It could give you a chance.

Can you make him believe you?

Hold his attention?

I have always held his attention.

And if I know him,

he'll be only too happy to...

Are you gonna let her do this?

Do you know

what will happen to her?

Wait a minute.

You can't do this.

Forgive me.

It's not you.

Hey, Corey.

You stink.

When I say go, we go.

Now.

Sergeant?

I'm sorry.

You were right.

As usual.

To release the mines,

we'd have to transmit a radio beam

through a directional antennae.

The only one I see

is up there on that tower.

All we've got to do

is find the right button and push it.

How do we get past our little friends?

We'd better stay away from that fence...

it's probably electrified.

We've got to give them a little crisis.

See those oil drums?

How do we set them off from here?

I could plug a hole in one.

It wouldn't blow 'em up.

Is that the gas tank back there?

Yeah.

What about a Molotov cocktail?

Let's not wake the driver up.

Wait'll he tries to drive away.

Do you have a match?

What'll we do,

inform the Boy Scouts?

Go!

This is it!

But it's all in Japanese.

Can you work it?

Lt'll take a few minutes.

Can you give me some time?

Can you do it in three minutes, because

that's all about all we're gonna get.

Yeah.

You got it.

Two and a half!

Corey, come on!

We did it!

We got 'em all!

Now when it was all over,

I felt qualified to begin.

I kept thinking.

All he had wanted me to do

was send a signal on a radio.

When I finally did, it was to arrange

for the pickup of one survivor.

Corey was a guy who

made you do things you couldn't do.

I was living proof.

It all seemed sort of crazy.

But who's to say?

My dear friends, I have returned.

I am, once again,

in this land

that I have known so long

and amongst its people

that I have loved so well.

Rip By:

BJ.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes