Pearl Harbor Page #14

He covers the phone and tells his commander --

OFFICER:

Radar station has picked up a cloud of

blips, coming in from the northeast.

He switches on the radio, and tunes it to KGMB; hearing the

Hawaiian music reassures him something...

COMMANDER:

KGMB is on early. That means we've got a

flight of B-17's coming in from the

mainland, they use the radio music for a

homing beacon.

INT. RADAR STATION - PEARL HARBOR - DAWN

Dismayed, Ellis listens to the response from the

headquarters.

ELLIS:

All right, Sir.

(he hangs up)

They say don't worry about it.

He and the private look again at the cloud of blips --

growing ever larger, and moving in fast.

EXT. THE SKIES ABOVE THE PACIFIC - DAY

The Japanese formations are streaking through the sky.

INT. THE COCKPITS - DAY

The Japanese bombers, with three-man crews, are listening to

the Hawaiian music of the radio station, using it for their

homing beacon. They look out and see the sunrise -- it's

beautiful, and resembles the Japanese flag.

EXT. SKIES ABOVE PEARL HARBOR - DAWN

The Japanese scout plane is high in the air. It radios --

SCOUT PLANE PILOT

Harbor quiet. Ships in place. Carriers

gone.

INT. BRIDGE OF YAMAMOTO'S CARRIER - DAY

Yamamoto is handed this message.

YAMAMOTO:

We have achieved surprise, but their

carriers are not in port. I don't like

this.

GENDA:

We have a fighter screen up, in case we

are attacked, Admiral.

YAMAMOTO:

We must go ahead. This is our moment.

INT. ADMIRAL KIMMEL'S HOME - DAY

The Admiral, dressed in his golf clothes, is leaving his home

when a naval LIEUTENANT appears at his door.

LIEUTENANT:

Admiral, one of our destroyers reports

sinking a sub on its way into Pearl.

ADMIRAL KIMMEL:

Relay that to Washington...and cancel my

golf game.

INT. ADMIRAL KIMMEL'S OFFICE - OAHU - DAY

Kimmel enters his office, and is handed the latest

dispatches.

ADMIRAL KIMMEL:

Any response from Washington?

KIMMEL'S AIDE

Nothing, Sir.

EXT. WESTERN UNION OFFICE - PEARL HARBOR - DAY

A telegram, addressed to Admiral Kimmel, lands in the

regular, not urgent, dispatch box. The messenger handles it

promptly, hopping on his motorbike to deliver it.

EXT. SKIES ABOVE THE PACIFIC - DAY

The Japanese planes increase throttle and nose down, diving

toward the surface, hurtling into attack mode.

EXT. PEARL HARBOR - DAY

The harbor lies quiet. It's a sleepy Sunday morning.

Children are playing, officers are stepping from their houses

in their shorts to get the morning paper...

EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE - OAHU - DAY

Hawaiian Boy Scouts are hiking on a side of one of the

mountains overlooking Pearl.

Suddenly booming over the mountain, barely ten feet above the

summit, comes a stream of planes.

The boys are awed. What is this?

EXT. PEARL HARBOR - DAY

QUICK INTERCUTS - Between the approach of the Japanese

planes, and sleepy Pearl Harbor...

-- The planes, in formation, their propellers spinning, their

engines throbbing...

-- Pearl Harbor, with the ships silent, their engines cold,

their anchors steady on the harbor bottom.

-- The Japanese submarines heading in.

-- The American destroyers docking, instead of going out to

search for them.

-- Another formation of Japanese bombers climbing high, into

attack position.

-- The Japanese torpedo planes dropping down to the level of

the ocean, their engines beginning to scream.

-- The American planes bunched on the airfields.

-- ON THE JAPANESE CARRIERS, Yamamoto and his staff huddle

tensely, over their battle maps.

ON THE JAPANESE CARRIER DECKS, the second wave of planes is

being brought up and loaded with munitions...the Japanese

flag snaps tautly in the wind...

ON THE GOLD COURSE NEAR PEARL HARBOR, American officers are

laughing on the putting green near the club house, where the

American flag droops from the flag pole, limply at peace.

-- The Japanese planes roaring down just over the wave tops

of Pearl Harbor itself.

-- Children playing in the early morning sun, looking up as

they see the planes flash by. The children look --

they've never seen this many, flying this low...but they

are not alarmed, only curious.

The images come faster and faster, the collision of Japan's

determination and American's innocence...

EXT. DECK OF OKLAHOMA - DAY

Two sailors are standing on the deck, sharing a smoke,

looking out over the quiet harbor. One of them sees the

first few planes streaking in.

SAILOR 1

Look at that.

SAILOR 2

It's the Army again, practicing on us.

Something drops from the lead plane and splashes easily into

the water; the plane banks away.

SAILOR 2

Practice torpedoes.

A white streak runs through the water at them.

SAILOR 2

Now listen, you'll hear a little thud

when it hits the side of the ship.

They watch it rush at them...then, a MASSIVE EXPLOSION! It

throws up a fifty foot wall of water, hurling the sailors and

everything else on the deck into the sea.

EXT. THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR - DAY

-- The first wave of planes drop more torpedoes; they plunge

BENEATH THE SURFACE, their wooden fins working perfectly,

the torpedoes speeding to their targets...

We see their AWESOME BLASTS against the anchored ships as the

torpedoes hit home.

-- The Japanese LOW ALTITUDE BOMBERS come in; some drop their

bombs directly into the ships; some skip their bombs

across the water, the bombs glancing off the surface and

then slamming the sides of battleships with tremendous

explosions.

-- INSIDE THE SHIPS, sleeping sailors are thrown from their

bunks; those already awakened run for their battle

stations, and try to make it up to the deck; but there's

no escape there, as...

-- Zero fighter planes strafe the ships, raking the decks and

killing sailors with MACHINE GUN FIRE.

EXT. ON THE AMERICAN SHIPS - DAY

Fire and smoke are turning everything into chaos. some

sailors rush to man the guns, they find the ammo boxes

locked.

Under the bombing and strafing, they find a wrench and start

pounding on the lock, trying to break open the ammo box.

Then they break open the lock -- and find the ammo box empty.

SAILOR:

Sh*t! I'll get some ammo!

He runs for the ladders, and is shot down before he gets

there.

EXT. SKIES OVER PEARL HARBOR - DAY

The dive bombers scream in.

EXT. DECK OF THE WEST VIRGINIA - DAY

Bombs are hitting the deck. Sailors are blown into the air

and out into the oily water. Nearby ships are catching fire;

the flames spread out onto the oily water itself.

INT. BELOW DECKS OF THE WEST VIRGINIA - DAY

Dorie Miller, the boxing champion/kitchen helper, is working

picking up the breakfast trays when he feels the ship

shudder. The intercom comes alive --

INTERCOM:

Battle stations! Battle stations! This

is not a drill!

Men run to the ladders, and the shaking of the ship from a

bomb blast tosses them off; Dorie's at the foot of the ladder

when men fall back on top of him.

EXT. BRIDGE OF WEST VIRGINIA - DAY

The Captain of the ship has reached the command bridge, where

most of his staff is lying wounded from a bomb blast.

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