Pearl Harbor 珍珠港（2001） Movie Script

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.

The Messerschmidt in Rafe's sights breaks apart with the stream of precise fire he pours into it, its prop flying into pieces, its disintegration accelerated by its airspeed.

Before it completely comes apart, it explodes.

Rafe goes into another tight turn, to get at them again.

RAFE'S VOICE (LETTER) It's not easy making friends. Two nights ago I drank a beer with a couple of the R.A.F. pilots -- beer's the only thing here that isn't cold -- and yesterday both of them got killed... As Rafe starts another attack we see him in the cockpit, in the trance of battle, as other Spitfires around him are getting shot out of the sky...as we --

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. HOSPITAL - PEARL HARBOR - DAY Evelyn, receiving the letter at mail call.

She sits on the grass under a palm tree, in paradise, reading his letter.