Pearl Harbor Page #25

The message is handed to Admiral Halsey.

OFFICER:

Sir, lookouts on the cruisers report

patrol boats, ten miles away!

HALSEY:

The Japs have set up a picket line!

Order the cruisers to open fire! We've

got to sink them before they get a

message away.

EXT. PACIFIC - DAY

The cruiser NASHVILLE begins firing rounds at the Japanese

patrol boat; round after round misses.

INT. HORNET'S RADIO ROOM - DAY

The operators hear the excited voices of Japanese radio

traffic.

RADIO OPERATOR:

They've reported our position! Tell the

Admiral.

EXT. HORNET - DAY

Doolittle hurries up to the command bridge, with the naval

officers sent by the Admiral to fetch him. Doolittle sees

the cruisers next to the carrier firing its guns -- at

Japanese boats in the distance.

INT. BRIDGE OF THE HORNET - DAY

Doolittle finds the Admiral gathered with his staff, their

mood is grim.

DOOLITTLE:

How far are we from Tokyo?

ADMIRAL:

Seven hundred miles.

INT. PILOT'S WARD ROOMS - SERIES OF DISSOLVES

Rafe, Danny, and the other pilots are alone at their bunks,

taking advantage of the lull before the mission.

Rafe has paper and pen to write a letter, but he can't think

of anything to write.

Danny holds the "Picture of Paradise" that Sammy took, of

Evelyn and the nurses in the sun. He tucks it inside his

shirt, when he hears --

LOUDSPEAKER:

Army pilots, man your planes!

EXT. FLIGHT DECK - THE HORNET - DAY

The pilots run onto deck. The cruiser next to the Hornet is

still firing away at the Japanese patrol boat.

Doolittle runs onto deck, shouting orders.

DOOLITTLE:

Load in every bit of extra gas you can

carry! And strip everything you don't

need out of the planes. I mean

EVERYTHING!

EXT. HORNET - FLIGHT DECK - STRIPPING THE PLANES - DAY

It's starting to rain but the guys don't notice at all.

They're stripping seats out of the planes, tossing out their

own gear.

Greening pulls the machine guns out of the rear of the planes

and puts in broomsticks painted black.

Off in the distance the Japanese patrol boat takes a hit and

explodes. Rafe and Danny meet between their bombers.

DANNY:

Broomsticks instead of tail guns.

RAFE:

We'll get separated over the target, but

you and I will rendezvous for the run to

China. I'm on your wing.

DANNY:

And I'm on yours. Land of the free.

RAFE:

Home of the Brave.

They climb into their bombers.

EXT. HORNET - FLIGHT DECK - DAY

The engines are revving. The tachs are showing redline. The

crews are in their planes. Doolittle is first, just ahead of

Rafe and Danny's B-25's.

The battle pennants whip, the props blur, the wheels strain

against the brakes; from the cockpits the flight deck looks

impossibly short...and the American flag cracks in the wind.

And now every pilot looks at Doolittle's plane...

Doolittle starts the run down the flight deck...faster...the

end looming. He turns the plane almost vertical, standing it

on its props...and lifts away smoothly.

The sailors on deck cheer, like the Japanese did before Pearl

Harbor.

Rafe, Danny, and the others take off too.

EXT. SKIMMING OVER THE WAVES - DAY

The B-25's head toward Japan.

EXT. PACIFIC - THE AMERICAN TASK FORCE - DAY

Admiral Halsey, on the deck of the ENTERPRISE, watches as the

last plane takes off. The planes recede in the distance,

racing just a few feet over the water, toward Japan.

HALSEY:

Of all the other things this mission is

doing that have never been done before...

I've never sent out planes that I wasn't

going to see safely home. Let's get out

of here.

The task force runs for home.

EXT. SKIMMING OVER THE WAVES - DAY

At first the planes are together; Rafe and Danny can see each

other off each other's wing, and Doolittle's plane is ahead.

The others are grouped after them. They maintain strict

radio silence, and can communicate only with gestures, hand

signals, or a flasher for Morse code. When Rafe speaks to

the crew of his own plane, it's by pressing an intercom

sender to his throat.

RAFE:

What's our ETA for Tokyo?

The bombardier/navigator is already working out the numbers

at his plotting table in the center of the plane.

NAVIGATOR:

Almost exactly at 12 noon.

RED:

High n-noon. I k-kinda like that.

Rafe looks over to Danny and gives him a thumbs up.

INT. DANNY'S PLANE - DAY

Danny calls back to his GUNNER, who is watching the fuel

supply.

DANNY:

We got a 25-mile-an-hour head wind. How

we doing with fuel?

GUNNER:

How do you think?

The gunner is already pouring gas into the tanks from the

extra cans.

Anthony stands and moves back to the rear of the plane, pulls

a piece of chalk from his pocket and writes on the nose of

the bombs -- "For America," "For Pearl Harbor," "For the

Arizona," "For Billy."

-- Rafe flies, lost in thought...

-- Evelyn is back at Pearl, struggling to keep her mind on

her work.

-- Danny is looking at his gauges, then at the picture in

his shirt.

EXT. TOKYO - VARIOUS SHOTS - DAY

It's a pleasant day, and the people of Tokyo are in a

confident, happy mood. They're shopping, smiling, enjoying

beautiful spring weather. The Emperor is on the garden of

his palace having lunch.

EXT. SKIMMING OVER THE WAVES - DAY

The American planes are coming.

INT. DOOLITTLE'S PLANE - DAY

He and his navigator confer.

DOOLITTLE'S NAVIGATOR

Time for the others to break off.

His copilot uses the flashes to signal the other planes.

They break off for their individual targets, every plane now

on it's own.

INT. JAPANESE AIR DEFENSE STATION - DAY

This is the nerve center of Tokyo's defense. An OFFICER

receives a message and reports to his supervisor.

JAPANESE DEFENSE OFFICER

Coastal stations report a low flying

plane coming in off the sea.

SUPERVISOR:

From the sea?... That couldn't be right,

it must be part of the air raid practice

this morning.

EXT. SKIMMING OVER THE WAVES - DAY

The planes reach the Japanese coastline, and start skimming

over treetop level.

EXT. TOKYO - DAY

The office of an anti-aircraft battery blows its whistle; his

crew mount their guns and swerves them around. The officer

whistle's again and checks his watch.

ANTI-AIRCRAFT OFFICER

Not bad.

The crew dismount their guns; just a drill.

EXT. TOKYO - VARIOUS SHOTS - DAY

The Japanese people are unaware of the drill. People are

browsing through open-air shops, where new radios are turned

on, playing music. And Tokyo Rose is talking -- in English

and Japanese.

TOKYO ROSE (ON THE RADIO)

It is another beautiful day in Tokyo, as

all of Japan basks in a new day of

victory.

INT. THE PLANES - DAY

Coma, Danny's navigator, picks this up.

COMA:

Listen to this -- it's Tokyo Rose.

TOKYO ROSE (ON THE RADIO)

Our brave sailors and soldiers, inspired

by our divine Emperor, have pushed the

Americans from the Pacific.

These words go through the plane; and in the other planes

they hear it too.

TOKYO ROSE (ON THE RADIO)

But hiding at home will not save them.

Each time the Americans have tasted the

samurai spirit, they have learned the

bitter taste of defeat, while Japan is

embraced by the divine wind that has

protected our island for seven centuries.

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