Pearl Harbor Page #27

RED:

Y-O-U... G-O. You go on.

Rafe grabs the flasher and angrily flashes back two letters.

RAFE:

N-O! We stay together! I'll go in

first.

Rafe turns his bomber and Danny follows, their planes arcing

down toward the rocky coast; it's hairy, the clouds masking

their view, as the altimeter winds down... At the last moment

they see rocks looming out of the surf.

INT. RAFE'S PLANE - NIGHT

He's shouting to his crew --

RAFE:

Hang on tight! I'll put her in the

smooth water and we'll swim in!

INT. DANNY'S PLANE - NIGHT

His engines are sputtering, catching, sputtering; he fights

to stay in control.

EXT. CHINA COAST - NIGHT

Rafe's plane settles down toward the water; he guns the

engine to level out, and the plane skims across the surface;

then the propellers catch and the plane stops like it hit a

wall, flipping over it's nose.

DANNY'S PLANE is struggling; when he tries to add throttle,

the engines sputter out. The plane drops, skips once on the

surface, then hits a shoreline rock belly first.

Danny and Anthony are ejected through the top of the

fuselage; Coma is hurled forward right through the glass nose

of the plane.

INT. RAFE'S PLANE - NIGHT

Rafe and Red come to in the plane inverted and sinking. They

react, unbuckling, grabbing for their crewmates as the plane

is quickly filling. The navigator and gunner are

unconscious; the bombardier is dead. Red struggles with the

hatch and can't make it budge.

RAFE:

It won't open til the plane fills!

They struggle to breath as the water envelops them. But as

the water reaches the top, Rafe takes a last breath and dives

to the hatch; it comes open, and they swim up, dragging the

rest of the crew.

EXT. CHINA COAST - NIGHT

They break the surface, and struggle to shore with the

unconscious navigator and gunner.

Rafe's looking everywhere; he sees Danny's plane crashed

against the rock. He fights his way through the surf to

Danny's plane, Red following.

Rafe finds Danny face up in the water.

Red finds Anthony on the rock. He's face up, but as Red

lifts him he finds the back of Anthony's head is gone.

The rest of Danny's crew are floating in the surf, dead.

Rafe and Red pull Danny to shore.

RAFE:

Danny! DANNY!

Danny's eyes flutter open; he sees Rafe and mumbles --

DANNY:

I've made better landings.

Danny's hand gropes to his throat; Rafe finds a V shaped

shard of the fuselage hooked into his neck.

Rafe grabs it, trying to bend it open; the sharp metal cuts

his hands, but he keeps straining. It won't work, He pulls

his .45 from his jacket and tries to pry the metal. It works

a bit; he tosses the pistol aside and grabs the shard again,

and opens it.

RAFE:

You hang on, Danny! You hang on! You're

gonna make it!

Rafe's head snaps forward, crunched with the butt of a rifle;

a Japanese patrol, four men, have arrived. They're angry,

scared, hyped. They knock Red down too, yelling and

brandishing their rifles at the fliers on the beach, living

and dead.

The Japanese officer is barking orders. They find the

Captain's insignia on Danny's jacket, and begin binding him

to a yoke, his wrists tied to the wood like a crucifixion, a

wire around his neck. They find the navigator unconscious,

but alive. The officer snaps a single word and a soldier

shoots the navigator.

The others wire Rafe's ankles together... Rafe is

emotionless.

RAFE'S CONSCIOUSNESS fades in and out. He hears Danny

choking, and his mind sees Danny as a boy those long years

ago, being carried by the neck across the field by his

father...

Then Rafe sees THE PRESENT: Danny being half-carried, half-

dragged by the neck by two Japanese. The officer is pulling

Red along, hands bound behind him. And Rafe starts moving,

being dragged on his back, pulled by his feet along the rocky

sand.

His hand slides by the pistol he tossed behind the rock.

The whole world slows down.

He clutches it, shoots one of the men towing Danny. And as

the man dragging Rafe turns around, Rafe shoots him in the

face.

The officer spins, raising his rifle; the soldier pulling

Red, shoves him onto his face in the sand and aims his rifle

too. The officer is pulling the trigger to kill Rafe when

Danny slams him down from behind.

The fourth soldier shoots Danny in the gut, then takes aim

for Rafe's heart -- and is shot through the chest from

behind.

The Japanese officers rises in surprise and is cut down by

scythes carried by the Chinese peasant soldiers who are just

arriving.

Rafe struggles to Danny, moving the Chinese aside. Danny

lies on his back, clutching his wound as if to hold onto his

life.

RAFE:

Danny...

DANNY:

I can't make it.

RAFE:

Yes you can.

But Danny is silent, his eyes drifting shut, and in that

moment Rafe thinks he is gone already. Then Danny's eyes

drift open, finding him.

DANNY:

Take care of Evelyn.

The words almost kill Rafe, filling him with grief. From

somewhere he finds the strength to say --

RAFE:

I will. And your baby.

(beat)

You're gonna be a father.

Did Danny hear? His eyes are closed again. But his head

comes up; Rafe takes it, and Danny pulls him closer to

whisper --

DANNY:

No. You are.

Rafe cradles Danny in his arms. Danny's eyes are open, but

Rafe sees no light there.

RAFE:

Danny... Land of the free... Land of the

free...

But Danny will never answer him again. Rafe hugs Danny

tight, and weeps.

EXT. VARIOUS SHOTS - DAY

The news of the raid hits Washington...and the rest of

America. If it isn't wild celebration; when people see the

headline:
AIR RAID ON TOKYO, and DOOLITTLE DOES MUCH; their

faces change, as if finally told what they already knew --

that America would prevail.

VOICE OVER:

The Doolittle Raid was the pivotal moment

of America's war with Japan. Before it,

America knew nothing but defeat; after

it, nothing but victory.

(beat)

One crew of Doolittle's raiders made it to

Vladivostok, Russia, where they were

interred for much of the war. Thirteen

planes crash landed in China, where the

Chinese people helped the Americans

escape, and had their villages destroyed

and citizens executed by the Japanese

forces of occupation. Two crews were

captured by the Japanese and three fliers

were executed without trial, called "war

criminals" by the Japanese. Jimmy

Doolittle was promoted to General, and

given the medal of honor.

We see the ceremony at the White House, as Roosevelt presents

Doolittle with the metal.

EXT. TENNESSEE - DAY

Out by the crop dusting landing field is a memorial to Danny

Walker, with an American flag flying high above it. Standing

at the memorial are Rafe and Evelyn. Rafe holds a child in

his arms, a boy, named Danny.

FADE OUT.

THE END:

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