Pearl Harbor Page #4

EXT. HOTEL - NIGHT

The nurses are entering the hotel. Pilots are going in with

them. But Rafe and Evelyn stop on the street.

A last kiss. Their hands touch a final time, and then part.

She moves inside the lobby, and looks out the glass doors as

he walks away.

EXT. TRAIN STATION - DAWN

Rafe and Danny stand on the platform. Rafe's got his gear

packed in a bag slung over his shoulder.

CONDUCTOR'S VOICE

All aboard!

Rafe glances once more toward the revolving doors from the

station that lead onto the platform.

DANNY:

Didn't you say you told her not to come?

RAFE:

Yeah.

DANNY:

Then why are you looking for her?

RAFE:

It's a test. If I asked her to come and

she came, it wouldn't tell me anything.

If I tell her not to come, and she

comes...then I know she loves me.

VOICE:

ALL ABOARD!

DANNY:

You're still a kid, ya know that? Take

care of yourself.

RAFE:

You too.

Rafe sticks his hand out to Danny. Danny knocks it away, and

hugs him.

Rafe steps onto the train, and it pulls away. Rafe waves.

Danny waves back and smiles, but he whispers like a prayer...

DANNY:

Give 'em hell, Rafe.

INT. TRAIN - DAWN

Rafe finds a seat and sits down. He's the only one in the

car, and he's deeply alone.

EXT. TRAIN STATION - DAWN

Danny walks to one of the three revolving doors back into the

station. He takes the one on the far right. As he passes

through it, he doesn't see Evelyn rushing through the door on

the left side. She's told herself she wouldn't come, but

couldn't help it, and now as she sees the last car of the

train disappearing around the corner the pain of it all hits

her.

She stands on the empty platform, as lonely as Rafe.

MONTAGE - THE JOURNEYS

Rafe and Evelyn travel in opposite directions, toward

opposite ends of the earth...

EXT. A GRAY, COLD, CANADIAN SEAPORT - DAY

as Rafe boards a Canadian naval vessel headed into the North

Atlantic.

EXT. TRAIN - TRAVELING THROUGH THE AMERICAN WEST - DAY

Evelyn and her fellow nurses ride the train through the

American southwest. The scenery outside the window is

beautiful, but her thoughts are far away...

EXT. NORTH ATLANTIC - DAY

Rafe's ship is in a convoy through the rough gray waters.

The deck is loaded with military supplies bound for Britain.

Rafe stands among the drab crates and seems oblivious to the

rain, his thoughts on Evelyn.

He looks toward the eastern horizon, where his ship is

heading. A deep, dark storm is brewing before them...

EXT. PACIFIC - DAY

Evelyn stands on the deck of a ship headed in the opposite

direction, on another ocean, the sky is clear, the breeze is

warm, the light of a glowing sunset bathes her face. The

MONTAGE ENDS, with them heading to different ends of the

earth.

EXT. BASSINGBORNE AIRFIELD - BRITAIN - DUSK

In the eternal dusk of England, everything is cold and gray.

British fighter planes -- Spitfires and Hurricanes -- are

surrounded by mechanics hurriedly ripping off bullet riddled

fuselage panels and digging into overworked aircraft engines.

Rafe walks across the tarmac, still carrying his duffel bag.

He moves up behind a slim, pale BRITISH AIR COMMANDER who is

surveying engine damage on one of the Spitfires.

RAFE:

Rafe McCawley, Sir.

Rafe salutes as the Air Commander turns and then returns the

salute, with his left arm -- his right arm is gone. Rafe

freezes at the sight, reminded of Danny's father.

BRITISH AIR COMMANDER

On loan from Colonel Doolittle, is it?

RAFE:

That's me, Sir.

BRITISH AIR COMMANDER

Good on you, then, Rafe McCawley. We'll

get you situated in some quarters, and

then introduce you to the equipment

you'll be flying.

RAFE:

If you're patching up bullet holes right

here on the runway, maybe we should skip

the housekeeping and get right to the

planes.

BRITISH AIR COMMANDER

Are all the Yanks as anxious as you are

to get yourself killed, Lieutenant?

RAFE:

Not anxious to die, Sir, anxious to

matter.

EXT. BASSINGBORNE AIRFIELD - BRITAIN - DAY

A Spitfire sits on the runway, and it's badly mangled -- a

string of bullet holes punched through at mid-fuselage; a

shot-off chunk of wingtip; but most striking is the blood

still splattered over the inside of the cockpit.

BRITISH AIR COMMANDER

Good lad. Didn't die till he'd landed

and shut down his engine. Welcome to the

war.

He walks away, leaving Rafe to stare at the bloody cockpit.

EXT. PEARL HARBOR - MILITARY BASE - DAY

Evelyn and the nurses enter the base, riding in two jeeps.

As they stop at the gate, the guards look at them, especially

Evelyn in the lead jeep; one guard mumbles to the other --

GUARD:

I've died and gone to heaven.

The guards lift the bar and smile at the nurses. The jeeps

drive through. The nurses are loving this island paradise

already.

BARBARA:

You know the ratio of men to women on

this island? Four-thousand...to one.

Barbara slides on a new pair of sunglasses with plastic palm

trees glued on the sides, and calls back to the guards as the

jeeps pull away --

BARBARA:

See ya on the beach, boys!

EXT. MILITARY BASE - NURSES' QUARTERS - OAHU - DAY

As the other nurses happily unpack, Evelyn leaves and crosses

the grass in the drenching sunshine. We follow her into --

INT. BASE HOSPITAL - DAY

She finds a small, immaculately clean hospital, twenty beds

with luminous white sheets, all empty.

Then she notices the view. It's of Pearl Harbor, with the

entire American Pacific fleet riding at anchor. Battleships

all in a row. Aircraft carriers too, in perfect stillness on

the aqua blue water with a white sand bottom. The view is

expansive and beautiful.

The sound of an approaching fighter plane with wing guns

firing as we --

CUT TO:

EXT. THE DARK SKIES OVER THE ENGLISH CHANNEL - DAY

Rafe, in the middle of an aerial dogfight, throws his

Spitfire into a tight turn, swinging around to fire again

into a squadron of Messerschmidts; they outnumber the British

planes, and they're tougher and faster. Rafe darts through

their line, machine guns blazing.

One of the Spitfires in Rafe's squadron has taken hits in the

engine compartment and is sputtering, losing power, its

pilot, NIGEL, frantic as the German planes swarm into finish

him.

BRITISH PILOT (NIGEL)

I need help! Someone get them off me!

Rafe slams his control stick hard right and goes into a power

dive at one of the Messerschmidts. Rafe's bullets chew up

its cockpit and the plane goes into a fast corkscrew spiral,

down into the water.

Rafe instantly climbs again. Nigel, in the moment of safety

Rafe has bought him, bails out, his chute blossoming and

carrying him toward the water. The OTHER BRITISH PILOTS are

impressed.

OTHER BRITISH PILOT

(into radio)

Nigel's out! I'll call in the position!

(to himself)

That Yank is bloody good.

Rafe swings his plane right back at the Germans; he attacks

them head on, just like he went at Danny, only this time he's

firing his machine guns.

And OVER THIS ferocious dogfight, we hear his letter to

Evelyn...

RAFE'S VOICE (LETTER)

Dear Evelyn... It is cold here. So cold,

in a way that goes deep into your bones.

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