Pearl Harbor Page #12

EVELYN:

Rafe --

He puts up a hand, to silence her, and walks away suddenly.

Evelyn and Danny are left frozen.

EXT. SHORE OF PEARL HARBOR - NIGHT

Rafe stares out at the harbor, seeing nothing. As he stands

there alone and shattered, he has one more

SUBLIMINAL FLASHBACK

Rafe is in the water of the North Sea; he seems dead, but his

makeshift preserver is keeping his face above the surface.

Something slides through the water and stops beside him; it's

a dinghy, and behind it is a trawler.

Hands grab Rafe and drag him onto the dinghy...

In a QUICK CUT, Rafe's body is laid out on the deck of the

trawler. The crewmen think he's dead. His body is stiff,

his lips white; and they say so, in Norwegian...

But one of the other crewmen notices a quiver in his eyelid,

then quickly covers Rafe with his on wool peacoat and presses

back an eyelid to see his pupils. Rafe's white lips move.

The crewmen realize he's trying to say something.

And Rafe does utter something, barely audible; something the

Norwegian crewmen don't understand.

RAFE:

Evelyn...

IN THE PRESENT Rafe struggles to bury that memory so far that

he'll never feel it again.

EXT. NURSES' QUARTERS - NIGHT

Danny escorts Evelyn back to her quarters.

DANNY:

Don't worry. I'll find him.

He hugs her; their embrace earnest yet tingled with guilt,

and Danny leave quickly. Betty steps out of the nurses'

quarters and hands Evelyn a telegram.

BETTY:

This came while you were gone.

Evelyn knows it's the telegram from Rafe, to tell her he's

alive. Without opening it, she begins to cry, and hurries

away from the barracks so the other nurses won't see.

EXT. HICKAM FIELD - NIGHT

Danny crosses the tarmac toward the clustered P-40's. He

spots what he's looking for. Sitting in the cockpit of one

of the P-40's is Rafe. Rafe won't look at him. Danny climbs

up on the wing, and sits down there.

DANNY:

You'd always go sit in a plane whenever

you were upset.

RAFE:

Upset? Why should I be upset?

DANNY:

Let's go get a drink. Unless you're

scared to talk about it.

CLOSE - A Mai-Tai volcano clunks onto a table.

INT. FUNKY OAHU BAR - DAY

DANNY:

Drink up. Then we'll talk.

Rafe takes the challenge, and takes a long pull on one of the

straws. Red, Anthony, Billy, and several others enter the

bar.

ANTHONY:

Rafe?!

They rush the table...

INT. FUNKY OAHU BAR - LATER

They're all drinking, and the whole bar is rocking. Rafe

uses glasses to show his buddies tactics.

RAFE:

They'll go under you because their planes

are faster, then they run so you can't

catch 'em. But then they'll come around

and take you from behind -- like some

Americans will.

The last words bring the group to silence. The other guys

drift away, to give them room.

RAFE:

Sorry.

DANNY:

Why be sorry? That's what you feel, it's

better to come out with it.

RAFE:

I didn't mean it.

DANNY:

Sure you did. So come on. Say what you

think.

RAFE:

Waitress! Four beers!

DANNY:

You don't wanna put beer over mai-tai.

RAFE:

If you can't keep up, don't drink yours.

The waitress delivers four bottles to the table. Rafe takes

a slow sip, then stares at Danny.

RAFE:

We gotta face some facts here.

DANNY:

What facts are those?

RAFE:

I understand how it could happen. I know

why any guy would love her. And I can't

blame you that it happened. You thought

I was dead, she was grieving, you were

trying to help her.

DANNY:

I was grieving too.

RAFE:

Yeah, right. Anyway, you didn't know.

DANNY:

So what are you saying?

RAFE:

I'm saying now you do know. So it's time

for you to f*** off.

DANNY:

You left her. How's that for a fact?

RAFE:

How's this for a fact? I loved her

first.

Danny takes a long pull of beer, and Rafe does the same.

DANNY:

You know, you're a lousy drinker.

Drinking's supposed to make men feel

bigger. It only makes you stupid. And

weak.

Rafe nods thoughtfully, and sets down his beer.

RAFE:

How's this?

BAM! He knocks Danny out of the chair, flat on his ass.

Danny backhands the blood from the corner of his mouth.

DANNY:

You want it, you got it.

He kicks Rafe in the back of the knee, then mule kicks him in

the chest as he goes down, and the fight is on.

The bar's bouncer, a big Samoan, moves over to break them up

-- but Anthony steps in his way.

ANTHONY:

Let 'em fight, they need it.

The bouncer tosses Anthony aside, but before he can move in

to interrupt the fight, Red breaks a lava volcano of Mai-Tai

over the bouncer's skull. The bartender picks up the phone

to call the M.P.'s.

Rafe and Danny are exchanging punches in the middle of the

room. Sailors sitting at the bar have swung around on their

stools to watch the action. The other pilots are wincing

with the punches their friends exchange, and bobbing and

weaving as if in the fight themselves. A SAILOR tapes Billy.

SAILOR:

Is this a private fight or can anybody

jump in?

Billy hits him. The whole bar erupts.

Rafe and Danny are really having at it, fueled by so much

emotion that nothing hurts. They're on the floor now, trying

to rip each other apart. They struggle to their feet and

Rafe manages to knee Danny in the balls. Danny doubles over

in pain.

RAFE:

That hurt? I didn't think you had any

balls.

Without looking up, Danny lunges at Rafe, tackling him around

the waist, driving him at the wall.

But they don't hit the wall; they tumble through the back

window of the bar -- not covered in glass, but fronds and

wood -- and out into the back alley.

They're lying there in the debris when they see the M.P.

jeeps coming. They drag each other to their feet, and run

away.

EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - NIGHT

The Japanese task force rumbles through the night, the bows

of the great ships blasting through the crashing waves.

INT. AIRCRAFT CARRIER AKAGI - NIGHT

Yamamoto's flagship. The clock reaches midnight, and a

sailor tears off it's calender. It's December 7, 1941.

YAMAMOTO:

The submarines will be reaching the

harbor soon. I hope they don't set off

the alarm too soon.

EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - NEAR PEARL HARBOR - NIGHT

An American destroyer, the SELFRIDGE, leads a squadron of

destroyers on patrol, near the entrance of Pearl Harbor.

LOOKOUTS on the bridge think they spot something.

INT. CONTROL ROOM - DESTROYER SELFRIDGE - NIGHT

The WATCH OFFICER listens to a report on his headset and

turns to the CAPTAIN.

WATCH OFFICER:

Captain, lookouts report a sighting, two

points off the starboard beam.

The sonar operator looks up and nods.

SELFRIDGE CAPTAIN

How big?

SONAR OPERATOR:

...I've lost it.

SELFRIDGE CAPTAIN

Probably a blackfish. I've seen them

look like subs.

EXT. PACIFIC OCEAN - NEAR PEARL HARBOR - NIGHT

Another destroyer, the RALPH TALBOT, cruises behind the

Selfridge. On it's bridge, the DUTY OFFICER speaks to the

CAPTAIN.

DUTY OFFICER:

Sir, Selfridge reports a contact, then

lost it. Now our sonar reports the

contact.

The Captain looks toward the Selfridge, then trains his

binoculars on the water were the Duty Officer points. He

sees something dark and black slipping along beneath the

surface. He gets onto his intercom.

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