Memphis Belle Page #2

The six boys recoil with shock and disbelief. Danny

watches as long as he can, then turns away -- he

can't stand it anymore.

6 EXT. CONTROL TOWER BALCONY - DAY

Bruce is also looking at the burning plane with horror.

The CO is stony-faced. He shows no surprise and little

emotion -- he's seen it too often before.

CO:

Come on, Bruce, you wanted to meet

the officers of the Southern

Belle.

BRUCE:

Jesus, what happened? They were

almost home.

CO:

Almost. The pilot came in on one

wheel. He should have belly

landed.

(CONTINUED)

7.

CONTINUED:

BRUCE:

Are they all... ?

CO:

What do you think? Let's go,

Bruce.

He starts off the balcony. Bruce follows, but looks

over his shoulder once more at the burning plane.

6A EXT. BASE - DAY

The PLANE continues to burn. There's another small

EXPLOSION inside the plane and this BECOMES the white

flash of a photographer's camera.

7 OMITTED

thru

10

11 INT. MESS HALL - DAY

DENNIS DEARBORN is sitting stiffly in a chair, the

bomb group symbol behind him on the mess wall. Dennis,

at twenty-six, is the oldest of the crew. He's a

serious young man -- you never catch him smiling or

relaxing. His photo has just been taken by a Life

Magazine photographer. Bruce is behind the camera,

interviewing Dennis.

BRUCE:

You named the plane after your

girl back home, that's a great

angle. You don't sound like

you're from the South, Captain

Dearborn.

DENNIS:

I met her when I was in Memphis

on business.

BRUCE:

I bet she's a living doll, huh,

Dennis?

Dennis looks up at Bruce -- he doesn't like his tone at

all.

DENNIS:

She's a very fine woman, sir.

(CONTINUED)

8.

CONTINUED:

Flash. Now LUKE SINCLAIR, the co-pilot, is in the chair.

Luke is twenty-five and about as handsome as they come.

He's relaxed, smiling. He loves the attention.

BRUCE:

A lifeguard. That's a pretty

responsible job, Luke.

LUKE:

Yeah, it's rough basking in the

sun all day, having girls swarm

all over you. That's why I

joined up. Had to get away from

all that.

Flash. Now VAL KOZLOWSKI the bombardier, is sitting in

the hotseat. Val has Latin good looks and a street

fighter's body. He's a pretty intense guy. He squirms,

pushes at his hair, tries to loosen his collar,

straighten his tie.

BRUCE:

Val. What's that short for,

Valentine? I bet the women love

that. You're the bombardier and

I understand you've got four

years of medical school under

your belt.

VAL:

Yeah. Well, something like that.

BRUCE:

(interrupting)

Believe me, when your picture

comes out in Life Magazine, every

man, woman and child in America is

going to want you to be their

doctor.

Val brightens at this. Flash. Now PHIL LOWENTHAL is in

the chair. Phil's in his early twenties, with a lot of

hair and a lot of teeth. He slumps in the chair, moody

and gloomy. He'd like to be anywhere but here.

BRUCE:

Phil, look at the camera. Sit up

straight. Smile.

PHIL:

What's there to smile about, sir?

BRUCE:

You guys have finished 24 missions.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

9.

11 CONTINUED:
(2)

BRUCE (CONT'D)

One more and you get to go home.

That would sure make me smile.

PHIL:

Well, you're not me, sir.

(to the

photographer)

Please just take the picture.

He looks up at the camera, a big cloud over his head.

Flash.

12 INT. MESS HALL - DAY (LATER)

Dennis, Luke, Phil and Val are sitting at a table as

Bruce addresses them.

BRUCE:

You'll go back home in your own

plane and fly all over the States,

making speeches, getting people to

buy more war bonds, work longer

hours, turn out more planes. And

believe me, you'll be wined,

womened and songed from one end of

the U.S. to the other. It'll be

tough, but we all have to make

sacrifices.

He laughs.

LUKE:

Sir, you mean we're going to be

famous?

BRUCE:

Afraid so, Luke.

Luke whoops. He pounds on Val and Phil a little. Val

pushes him away. Phil is hunched over, miserable.

DENNIS:

Colonel Derringer...

BRUCE:

Bruce.

DENNIS:

We'll follow your orders to the

best of our...

(CONTINUED)

10.

CONTINUED:

BRUCE:

(interrupting)

It's not an order, Dennis. We're

working together.

DENNIS:

Yes, sir, but I don't want the

other men finding out about this

yet.

LUKE:

Their pictures in Life? Wine,

women and song? You've got to

tell them! They'll go nuts!

DENNIS:

I don't want them going nuts.

Right now I want them thinking

about their jobs and that's all.

LUKE:

Come on, we could do our jobs in

our sleep! Why can't they know?

DENNIS:

Because I said so.

LUKE:

My father used to say that.

Dennis and Luke glare at each other.

BRUCE:

Dennis, you're the boss. Tell

your crew when you think it's

right. Gentlemen, thank you for

your time.

Dennis, Luke, Phil and Val start getting up from the

table.

INT. BARRACKS - NIGHT

A big tin-roofed Nissen hut, six beds on each side and a

HISSING potbellied STOVE in the center. Two crews bunk

in here, our enlisted men and another crew. In the b.g.,

a NEWS REPORT is heard on the RADIO, then MUSIC begins.

There's lots of activity as men get ready for the dance.

Jack is involved in a poker game at one end of the room.

At the other end, Clay is wrenching off the padlock on a

locker at the foot of a stripped bunk.

(CONTINUED)

11.

CONTINUED:

Danny is loading film in his box camera. (This whole

scene seesaws between the ominousness of sorting through

the dead man's things and the fun and excitement of

getting ready for the dance.)

DANNY:

Clay, shouldn't you let the

sergeant go through Becker's

stuff?

EUGENE:

The sergeant'll just send it all

to Becker's widow. We don't want

her getting anything embarrassing,

Danny.

The lock comes off, Clay opens the locker and starts

sorting through the contents. Eugene is putting on his

socks. He sniffs them and gags.

EUGENE:

Anyone got any clean socks?

CLAY:

Hershey bar.

VIRGE:

Me, me!

Clay tosses it to him. Virge rips it open and starts

eating it. Around Virge's bunk are drawings of a restaurant.

As he munches the candy bar, he studies them.

VIRGE:

Anyway, Danny, then I'm going to

open a whole bunch of restaurants,

exactly like the first one. So

you can go to Detroit and get the

exact same hamburger you got in

Baltimore.

DANNY:

Virge, nobody wants the same old

food everywhere they go.

VIRGE:

Sure they do. It's comforting.

CLAY:

Love letters.

EUGENE:

Wife or girl friend?

(CONTINUED)

12.

13 CONTINUED:
(2)

Clay opens one and reads it.

RASCAL:

Read 'em out loud! Get me in the

mood for tonight.

CLAY:

Girl friend.

He tosses the letters to Virge, who puts them in the

stove.

EUGENE:

Does Becker have any clean socks

in there?

Eugene goes over to the locker, searches for socks. Clay

puts the next few items in a pile on the bed.

CLAY:

Air medal, photos, pocket knife.

Dirty book!

DANNY:

I'll take it.

Clay tosses the paperback to Danny: God's Little Acre,

with a lurid cover. Danny flips through it. In the

middle is stuck:
a four-leaf clover wrapped in

cellophane.

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