Memphis Belle Page #10

79 INT. COCKPIT

Luke looks down at his watch.

CLOSE SHOT - WATCH

It is exactly 9:
00.

53.

80 EXT. CONTROL TOWER BALCONY

The S-2 FIRES a second flare: this one splits into two

green prongs.

81 EXT. RUNWAY

The lead plane, Windy City, opens its throttles and

hurtles down the runway and soars into the sky, surprisingly

graceful. Then another plane, Mama's Boys, charges

down the runway and takes off. Then a third plane,

C CUP, ROARS down the runway and takes off.

82 OMITTED

thru

92

93 EXT. RUNWAY

The Memphis Belle starts down the runway. We TRACK WITH

it, keeping pace as it picks up speed, steadily, smoothly.

The wheels start to lift off the runway. The plane,

which has seemed too heavy to ever get off the ground,

takes to the air gracefully, naturally. It soars.

Finally, we can't keep up with it and we watch as it

flies off into the horizon, its ROAR DIMINISHING and

leaving us with silence and an empty feeling. We can't

help them now. They're on their own.

94 EXT. HARDSTAND

Les and the ground crew watch the plane until it's gone.

They feel helpless. Les, exhausted from working twenty-

four hours to get to this moment, turns away and picks

up his bicycle from the ground. He starts to ride back

to the barracks.

95 OMITTED

thru

103

104 INT. COCKPIT

We're inside now. We're rising fast and flying towards

a huge, dense cloud.

DENNIS:

Wheels!

LUKE:

I know.

He flips a switch on the throttle box. There's an ELECTRIC

WHINE as the LANDING GEAR retract.

(CONTINUED)

54.

104 CONTINUED:

DENNIS:

Watch the cowl flaps.

LUKE:

(annoyed)

I know!

And we enter the cloud. Visibility is gone. There's

nothing but white blankness. It's like suddenly becoming

blind. It's terrifying. There's silence, just the ROAR

of the PLANE. Then, abruptly, without warning, another

huge B-17 appears right in FRONT of us! We're going to

crash into its left wing. There is no way to avoid the

collision.

LUKE:

Look out!

Luke ducks. Dennis pushes on the control wheel. He

does this calmly, without panic. The nose of the Belle

suddenly drops down and Virge is thrown off-balance and

falls hard to the floor. The other PLANE ROARS directly

overhead. When it's clear, Dennis straightnes out the

plane. This all happens so fast, it's over before we

know it -- but it's hair-raising and an ominous premonition

of what's to come. Luke comes up from his tuck,

amazed they're still in the air. Virge picks himself up

then touches his forehead. There's a little gash and he

gets blood on his fingers.

105 OMITTED

&

106

107 EXT. MEMPHIS BELLE

The plane breaks out above the clouds into dazzling blue

sky and bright sun. It's spectacularly beautiful.

Another plane comes up on its left: Baby Ruth.

108 INT. COCKPIT

Luke looks out the left window at the left wingman.

LUKE:

Baby Ruth. Who's our right

wingman?

DENNIS:

Mother and Country.

LUKE:

Swell. The rookie crew.

(CONTINUED)

55.

108 CONTINUED:

DENNIS:

Luke, take over for a second.

Luke puts his hands on the control wheel. Dennis picks

up a Thermos from the floor, unscrews the lid and pours

hot liquid into the cup. Dennis offers the cup to Virge.

DENNIS:

Soup?

Virge shakes his head. The cut on his forehead has

dried.

109 INT. WAIST

A fierce WIND BLOWS in constantly through the open waist

windows. Jack unlashes his gun and strokes it, fondly.

JACK:

Okay, Mona, let's get us a nice

little 109 today. We got one,

let's do it again.

EUGENE:

Sweet-talking your gun won't help,

Jack. Just straight shooting.

JACK:

Butt out, Gene.

EUGENE:

You know, when I got my two Nazi

fighters...

JACK:

You're asking for it!

Eugene turns to his side, chuckling. Jack clips him in

the back of the legs with his knees, making Eugene

crumple and stagger. Jack laughs.

110 INT. BARRACKS

The room is a mess. Les looks around. He closes a

locker that was left ajar. He picks up an undershirt

lying on the floor, folds it and places it on a bed.

Picks up a pair of boots and sets them under another

bunk. He starts tucking in the rumpled covers of another

bed.

111 EXT. MEMPHIS BELLE

Baby Ruth is flying tight on the left and now the brand

new plane, Mother and Country, comes up on the right.

56.

112 INT. NOSE

Val is making adjustments to his bombing instruments on

the left side of the nose.

VAL:

Captain, okay if I arm my bombs?

DENNIS (V.O.)

Go ahead.

Val yanks out his intercom cord and starts towards the

back of the nose. Phil pulls off a class ring from his

finger and holds it out.

PHIL:

Val, take this.

VAL:

Phil, you're not going to die.

PHIL:

Just in case.

VAL:

You're flak happy. We took a big

chance on you. Just do your job

and shut up!

He doesn't take the ring. He brushes past Phil and goes

up the hatch to the cockpit.

113 INT. BOMB BAY

Val stands on the narrow catwalk running the length of

the bay. There are eight bombs, four on each side -olive

drab bombs with three thin yellow bands. Val eases

the cotter pin from the nose of one of the bombs. He

looks at the bomb, then pats it a little as if to calm

it down.

114 INT. BALL TURRET AREA

Virge is helping Rascal drop down into the ball turret

through the entry hatch.

VIRGE:

Rascal, there's nothing wrong

with the turret.

RASCAL:

Don't worry your pretty head

about it, Virge.

VIRGE:

I'm just doing my job.

(CONTINUED)

57.

114 CONTINUED:

RASCAL:

Now you do it. Thanks a lot.

Rascal disappears into the turret. Virge closes the

hatch on his back.

115 INT. BALL TURRET

Rascal is curled into the womb-like turret. His legs are

spread and his feet are set on pedals which control the

movement of the turret. There are small windows on each

side and one large circular window of armored glass in

front. He has no room at all. It's claustrophobic.

At the same time, the turret is insubstantial, as if

Rascal weren't in the plane at all, just tenuously

clinging to its belly. He presses the foot pedals,

spinning the turret around, testing it.

116 INT. COCKPIT

Ahead and slightly above the Belle is the first flight:

Windy City in the center, Mama's Boys on its left,

C Cup on its right. Luke is fastening his oxygen mask.

LUKE:

We're at ten thousand feet. Let's

hear your oxygen checks. Clay,

how are you doing back there?

117 INT. TAIL

Clay is kneeling in front of his twin guns, looking down

on the formation spread out above and below. Planes for

miles. He fastens his oxygen mask tight over his nose

and mouth, then checks the gauge to make sure oxygen is

flowing.

CLAY:

(sings)

'Don't worry 'bout me, I'll get

along...'

118 OMITTED

119 INT. NOSE

On his map, Phil has drawn a line from Bassingbourn, near

Cambridge, northeast to Swaffham. Now he extends the

line from Swaffham east to Great Yarmouth, on the British

coast.

(CONTINUED)

58.

119 CONTINUED:

PHIL:

Captain, we're exactly five miles

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