Fury Page #2

WARDADDY:

Thank heavens. We got a map.

(CONTINUED)

Pink Revision - 30th Oct 5.

2 CONTINUED:
(3) 2

Wardaddy studies a German map...

WARDADDY (CONT’D)

We're here. Battalion Area's to the

South. This hardball road here'll get us

back. Sound good?

COON-ASS

You got the stripes, Daddy. You figure

it out.

WARDADDY:

I got more, boy. Need more?

Wardaddy pokes his head out of the commander's hatch and

listens carefully to the coming dawn. His finely tuned

instincts kick in. Wardaddy drops back inside -- Pulls the

hatch shut with a CLANK...

THEN:

The sound of ROARING LOCOMOTIVES -- An Artillery barrage is

on the way...

BOOM-BOOM-KABOOM! -- Shells explode around the tank. Rocking

it. For the moment the men are safe in their steel cocoon.

WARDADDY (CONT’D)

Coon-Ass? Anytime, sweetheart.

Coon-Ass turns a last bolt then extricates himself from the

batteries.

COON-ASS

'Kay. Crank her up, Gordo. Whip this

b*tch like your donkey back in Old

Mexico.

GORDO:

I'll whip your Alabama ass with my donkey

cock.

Gordo pushes the starter button. Expectant faces. The

engine RUMBLES but doesn't catch...

MORE EXPLODING SHELLS -- Incredibly loud. Shrapnel PINGS off

the hull. They endure it with their trademark stoicism.

They've been through it before --But a direct hit can kill

them...

WARDADDY:

Choke'er up. She's cold.

Gordo opens the choke. Tries again. The engine rumbling.

Doesn't start. Worried faces.

GORDO:

There's condensation on the plugs.

WARDADDY:

Plugs're good. Don't flood it.

(CONTINUED)

Pink Revision - 30th Oct 6.

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GORDO:

Drunk or not I can start a damn tank.

VROOM! --The engine ROARS to life. They are relieved. Low

key and businesslike, they don their headsets --It's now

unbelievably loud in the tank. Coon-Ass joins Wardaddy and

Bible in the turret basket.

WARDADDY:

Move out!

Gordo double-clutches and shifts into first. The tank

lurches. Bible presses his eye to the gunsight...

Wardaddy rotates the turret with his THUMBSWITCH, looking

outside through a PERISCOPE...

BEHIND GORDO --We see the turret basket rotating, the legs

of Wardaddy, Bible and Coon-Ass standing inside -- It's an

impressive sight...

WARDADDY (CONT’D)

Forward! Pick it up! Forward!

The tank RATTLES, CLANKS and SHUDDERS. Ammo cases, weapons,

C-rations vibrate. We are in the belly of the beast...

KABOOM-BOOM-BOOM! -- Shells explode dangerously close. The

tank shudders. Gordo clutches, shifts into second. Stomps

the gas. The tank builds speed. Wardaddy SEES the road...

WARDADDY (CONT’D)

Driver! Left. Left. Left.

ON GORDO -- Turning the tank with the two big steering

levers. He whips it onto the road, upshifts into third gear.

The tank builds speed --Moving surprisingly fast.

Gordo can sure drive a tank. Eyes riveted to his periscope.

Gas, oil, blood and piss sloshing over his boots. Red's body

in the seat next to him.

Leaving the CRASHING artillery behind...

3 EXT. FARMER'S FIELD - PREDAWN 3

Out of immediate danger, Wardaddy opens his hatch and takes

his normal position -- Exposed from the chest up in the

commander's hatch. He grips a captured German assault rifle,

grimly scanning for threats with his cold hard eyes.

The Fury has escaped. Her crew is neither grateful or

relieved. There is work to do. The war is not over...

4 EXT. BATTALION AREA - DAY 4

A farmer's field has been overrun by a traveling circus of

death --An American Armored Battalion. A couple thousand

men. A couple hundred vehicles.

(CONTINUED)

Pink Revision - 30th Oct 7.

4 CONTINUED:
4

The TIRED MEN load TIRED VEHICLES for another day on the

attack. Months of spearheading into Germany have taken their

toll.

A BOOMING ARTILLERY BATTERY pumps rounds into German targets

miles away. The BLACK DRIVERS of the Redball Express Trucks

unload heaps of supplies from their trucks. MECHANICS,

CLERKS, COOKS and MPs move with purpose. INFANTRYMEN clean

weapons. A CHAPLAIN gives last rights outside the surgery

tent as MEDICS line up more litters of WOUNDED MEN.

A hundred GERMAN PRISONERS sit listlessly behind barbed wire.

A BULLDOZER plows a heap of dead Germans into a pit.

A ROW OF FIFTEEN SHERMAN TANKS -- Their busy CREWS ready them

for another day's push into Germany. The tankers stop

working and stare in amazement...

HERE COMES FURY -- Driving up fast, it deftly spins and parks

perfectly alongside the newer, cleaner tanks. SERGEANT

DAVIS, commander of the Lucy Sue shakes his head.

SGT. DAVIS

Thought you were dead, Collier.

WARDADDY:

The Devil watches over his own.

Wardaddy jumps down. A pair of MEDICS approach the tank with

a litter. Wardaddy and Gordo haul Red's corpse out of the

tank and lay him onto the litter.

WARDADDY (CONT’D)

Take care of him. He was a good man.

The Medic SEES the top of Red's head is gone.

MEDIC:

You said you had wounded. We're not

graves registration.

WARDADDY:

Take good care of him. Or I'll take good

care of you.

Wardaddy pats his assault rifle with menace. The Medics

trade looks and depart with the body. Gordo crawls under the

tank and passes out in the mud.

LIEUTENANT PARKER approaches Wardaddy. Young and fresh, he

has just a month with the outfit. He's intimidated by

Wardaddy, this tough tanker hard tempered by war's hammer.

LT. PARKER

Sergeant I was afraid you were dead. I'm

awful sorry about T-5 Conley.

WARDADDY:

It's Red. We call him Red.

(CONTINUED)

Pink Revision - 30th Oct 8.

4 CONTINUED:
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LT. PARKER

Sure. Where's the rest of Third Platoon?

WARDADDY:

We're it.

LT. PARKER

What happened out there?

WARDADDY:

Another goddamned green Lieutenant

happened.

LT. PARKER

What do I tell the Captain?

WARDADDY:

Tell him we drove straight into a

strongpoint. Two Tiger tanks were dug in

like pillboxes. I got 'em both. After

they got everyone else.

LT. PARKER

We're moving again. Headquarters

section's already folding. You're in my

platoon now. We're assigned to check out

a town while main unit bypasses.

WARDADDY:

A goddamned flank guard mission?

Wardaddy nods at the Fury. Looking even more ragged in the

daylight.

WARDADDY (CONT’D)

Lieutenant, I gotta short in the master

switch box. Steering linkage is

rattling. Engine's losing compression.

Oil's in the radiator. Bogies need

rubber. There's a 75 gouge on the turret

that'll take twenty pounds of welding rod

to fill in. She's a mess. So's my crew.

LT. PARKER

Make ready to depart the company area on

my order.

WARDADDY:

Yessir. F*** my life.

The young officer spins on his heels and walks off. Wardaddy

looks at Bible and Coon-Ass, staring at him from atop the

tank. Just crushed. Beaten, exhausted. Spent.

COON-ASS

Parker's a douchebag. We working for

that Yankee fool now?

WARDADDY:

Don't you worry about him. You work for

me. Restock ammo and rations.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

Pink Revision - 30th Oct 9.

4 CONTINUED:
(3) 4

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