Pearl Harbor Page #18

They look across at each other.

RAFE:

Land of the free.

DANNY:

Home of the brave.

Side by side the P-40's scream in.

EXT. ABOVE OAHU - THE DOGFIGHT - DAY

The Japanese planes are in tight, disciplined formation,

their minds on the targets below them in the harbor. But

their day of shooting sitting ducks changes as the two P-40's

blast in, wing guns blazing, chopping into Two Zeros. Both

Zeros falter and begin to lose altitude. The P-40's make

almost impossible tight turns, still side-by-side, and go

after the two plane they crippled on the first pass.

Rafe finishes one Zero, making it explode in a ball of flame

in the air. Danny finishes the other, shooting off its wing

so that it spirals into the sea and crashes there.

The P-40's swoop up again.

RAFE:

They're trying to hold formation. We can

chew 'em up!

The P-40's dig in again, swooping down on the line of Zeros.

Rafe hits first, machine gunning one plane, and Danny comes

in behind it, finishing it off.

The Japanese pilots are screaming at each other over their

radios, but their SQUADRON COMMANDER sees Pearl Harbor ahead,

and tells them --

JAPANESE SQUADRON COMMANDER

Hold the line!

The P-40's come through again, their guns spitting fire.

EXT. ANOTHER JAPANESE FORMATION OF BOMBERS - DAY

These planes are different -- high altitude bombers with

three-man crews, high above the harbor. The bombardier looks

through his sight and the bomb bays open.

THROUGH THE BOMBARDIER'S SIGHT, the ships look like tops, far

below. The bombardier is ticking off the targets as they

pass, the first two he mentions already burning.

JAPANESE BOMBARDIER

West Virginia... Oklahoma... Ah, Arizona.

He flips his bomb switch, and a HUGE STEEL BOMB falls away.

EXT. THE FLIGHT OF THE BOMB - DAY

We stay with the bomb as it falls through the sky. The small

propeller on the bomb's nose spins in the air, running the

arming mechanism into the bomb's explosive core. The bomb

wobbles a bit at first, but then as it gathers speed its fins

stabilize it, and it falls faster and faster, at a dizzying

rate, toward the Arizona.

It slams through the teak wood deck, and breaks it like

matchsticks.

It's tremendous weight and speed carry it through the next

deck, and the next, deep into the heart of the ship...toward

the powder room, where two million pounds of black powder are

waiting.

The bomb hits there, and the explosion is almost beyond

comprehension. Over 1400 men die instantly.

EXT. PEARL HARBOR - DAY

The battleship Arizona leaps into the air, the ship's spine

is broken, it's guts ripped open in one explosive instant.

Men on the deck are thrown into the burning oil already

floating on the water from the other ruptured ships, but

there are almost no survivors.

The concussion of the explosion blows men off the repair ship

Vestal, next to the Arizona, saving Vestal, as the explosion

snuffs out the fires on Vestal; it also sends tons of debris

down on her decks -- parts of the ship, legs, arms and heads

of men, all sorts of bodies.

Debris from the Arizona also cover the Tennessee and does

more damage than the two Japanese bombs that hit her.

INT. HOSPITAL - HALLWAY - DAY

Medics have already started bringing in the wounded. Evelyn

is like a frantic traffic cop.

EVELYN:

Put criticals in ward one, stables in

two! Barbara! Fill every syringe you

can find with stimulant and antibiotic --

MEDIC:

Where are the doctors?

EVELYN:

On the third tee.

SANDRA:

Evelyn! Where's the morphine?

THE FRONT WARD:

Evelyn runs in, snaps open the cabinet, grabs a bag of

morphine sticks, and is about to run out again when she sees

the Arizona go up.

For a moment she's frozen, then she actually sees the shock

wave traveling across the bay and through the trees like an

invisible wall. She's trying to cross her arms over her

face, and dive to the floor, just as the windows blow out

from the concussion, and glass flies over everything.

INT. JAPANESE BOMBER - DAY

They see the results of their bomb, and are ecstatic.

EXT. AIR ABOVE OAHU - DAY

The nose of Danny's plane is pointed right at the harbor and

he sees the sudden devastation of the Arizona. It is a sight

so awesome it freezes him for a moment.

A Zero comes up behind him, firing. Danny jerks his stick to

maneuver but he's caught...

Rafe comes in behind the Zero, chopping it up, even as he

yells at Danny over the radio --

RAFE:

Ain't no time for spectatin'!

They turn back after the line of Zeros. There are some

Japanese planes coming after them now, but the P-40's head at

their noses, firing, then duck past in a double maneuver, and

turn right back into the Japanese formation.

Rafe has a plane in his sights, but his guns fire only a

short burst before stopping.

RAFE:

I'm out of ammo!

DANNY:

I'm out of fuel!

They head back. A single Zero is on their way. Rafe charges

it and draws its fire; Danny comes in behind the Zero and

rakes its cockpit; the Japanese pilot backs off.

The P-40's dive back toward Haleiwa.

A handful of Zeros returning from Pearl see them and follow.

EXT. PACIFIC - JAPANESE CARRIERS - DAY

The second wave of planes takes off from the carriers.

INT. FLIGHT CONTROL CENTER - CARRIER AKAGI - DAY

Genda reports to Yamamoto.

GENDA:

Second attack wave is in the air.

INT. RADIO STATION KGBM - DAY

The DISC JOCKEY, handed a message by the army officer, stops

playing the soothing Hawaiian music and announces...

DISC JOCKEY:

All Army, Navy, and Marine personnel to

report to duty.

INT. GENERAL SHORT'S OFFICE - DAY

General SHORT is in his office; he and his aides are working

frantically.

GENERAL SHORT:

Mobilize everything! We're at war! Send

a message to Washington: Hostilities

with Japan commenced with an air raid on

Pearl Harbor.

INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL ROOM - DAY

President Roosevelt is having lunch in the Oval Room study

with Harry Hopkins. The phone RINGS and Hopkins answers.

HOPKINS:

Oval Room... Yes, he is.

(to Roosevelt)

It's Knox, Mr. President.

ROOSEVELT:

(taking phone)

Yes?

He listens, then puts the receiver down, shaken.

ROOSEVELT:

The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor.

HOPKINS:

My God. Do we have damage estimates?

ROOSEVELT:

Our Pacific Fleet, at anchor, unprepared?

It's terrible. It has to be. And it's

not over.

EXT. HALEIWA - AUXILIARY AIRFIELD - DAY

The two P-40's drop out of the sky and bounce to a landing;

Anthony and Red have been pushing the wreckage off the field

with the Buick. Danny and Rafe pull the P-40's behind the

burning quonset hut, and it's like a pit stop at a race

track; Earl rushes up and starts fueling the planes, their

engines still running.

DANNY:

We need ammo too!

Earl shouts instructions to the pilots.

EARL:

Strip it from the wrecks!

The other pilots race to the wrecked P-40's and start pulling

out ammo belts. Earl glares at the smoking engine of Danny's

plane, and the bullet holes.

EARL:

Who the f*** taught you to fly?

DANNY:

He did.

Earl looks at Rafe's plane, more shot-up and abused than

Danny's. Rafe grins and waves to him. Earl mumbles a stream

of guttural and unintelligible obscenities.

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