Story of G. I. Joe
Over the title of the picture come the words of a song:
"I've gone away for to stay a little while but I'm coming back --
I'm coming back if it be one-thousand miles."
[A]
The BIVOUAC in the desert fades in. Dawn is just beginning
to break over the distant hills. The chill and half-dark of
the night is still on the scene. But now there's a great
sense of stir and activity. There is a grinding roar of
motors as troop trucks, jeeps and armored cars maneuver
about, taking on their loads of men and artillery and
uncoiling to form a thin snake of a line that is just
beginning to head off across the desert floor to the
distant hills to the right. A Sergeant is supervising.
Next the view weaving through the movement of the convoy,
discloses some of its action: Trucks loaded with men and
supplies grind past as they swing into line; a jeep
jouncing down the line like a shepherd dog; men on the
double-quick run toward trucks that are loading up while
still waiting their turn in line. Then we see the TROOP
TRUCK as several GI's pile into it and move to the fore.
Foremost is Gawky, with a pup still cuddled in his arms.
Behind him pile in several other GI's, among them Murphy,
Lopez, Mew, Dondaro. As they do so, Lieutenant Walker, a
raw-boned, business-like fellow of twenty-six, strides
into the scene from the right. Gawky's pup, in its
exuberance, lets out a yip. Without breaking his stride
Walker scans the truck and heads toward Gawky, the view
moving in.
WALKER
(with a sharp, between-the
-teeth whistle at Gawky)
Hey you--! Hey you! Get that pooch out
of there. Whataya want to do, get him
killed?
(Gawky looks up, disturbed;
he hesitates for a moment.)
Awright! Awright! Quit stalling!
He goes on, not waiting to see whether his order will be
carried out; he knows it will.
WARNICKI
All right, all right, you heard the
lieutenant.
We get a close moving view of the GI's and the PUP.
Reluctantly, hungrily, Gawky passes the pup on to the next
man, who now silently passes it on to Murphy, who hands it
on to another GI, who then nudges Mew, whose back is turned.
Mew, having missed Walker's order, delightedly receives the
dog and starts to pet it. The man beside him nudges him and
gestures "out." Mew's face falls; he pulls the pup apart
from a button the mutt's playfully begun to chew and
reluctantly hands him on to the next man, who silently
passes him down the line. As the hands of each man leave
the dog, there's a lingering reluctance in their gesture,
as if the very warmth and furry softness of the little
animal body gave them a sense of something they knew they'd
never find again in this arid desert -- something they'd
want to cling to.
WARNICKI
Ah, you poor little fella, you're
going to freeze out there.
Dondaro, receiving the pup at the end of the truck, hasn't
got the heart to toss it away. For a moment he doesn't know
what to do. Suddenly he drops it to someone off the truck.
The view moving and stopping on Ernie, who had approached
the truck a moment before, we see him lugging his bedroll
and duffle bag. Somewhat startled, Ernie holds the pup and
looks up just as the view widens to include Walker coming
into the scene.
ERNIE
What do you want me to do with it?
We then see the BACK of the TRUCK, the view featuring WALKER
and ERNIE -- with the GI's in the background. Walker is
about to order Ernie to get rid of the mutt, but at the same
instant he catches a glimpse of the GI's, their eyes all
hungrily directed at the pup in Ernie's arms. His eyes shift
away. A little smile plays about his lips. He seizes on
Ernie's armband as an excuse to countermand his order
without seeming to do so.
WALKER
(briskly)
Correspondent, huh? Well, you want
to get up to the front, don't you?
(Over his shoulder)
Here, make room for this man.
Remembering Walker's former order, Ernie starts to set the
pup down, but Walker intercepts him.
WALKER
Well, get in, get in! Make it snappy!
For an instant the two men's eyes meet. A flash of
understanding passes between them. Walker briskly
turns and walks away -- "the cop who wasn't there."
WALKER
(going off toward
his seat in front)
All right, let's get moving.
Ernie quickly starts to scramble up the truck, pup in one
arm, bedroll and duffle-bag dragged behind him with the
other. He hands the pup on to Dondaro, who quickly passes
it on and cheerfully gives Ernie a lift.
... [text missing]
For a brief instant Ernie looks resentfully at Dondaro. This
is the second time this guy's called him "Pop." But he grins
as he sees, in a close, moving view the pup being passed
back from hand to hand on its way to Gawky. The rhythm of
the camera movement has a quicker, more joyous tempo this
time. The view stops on Gawky as he finally gets the pup.
Gawky, in his delight, quickly reaches in his pocket for a
can of C rations, and he holds it out to the pup. The pup
sniffs it and growls at it. -- The boys' laughter is free,
easy, exuberant now. The tension is broken. All's well
with the world. They and Gawky have their pup back.
We get a close view of the TRUCK WHEEL. It spins in the sand
as the motor is heard starting. Perhaps that yelp of delight
that comes over the scene is from the pup -- or perhaps it's
just the truck wheel biting into the sand and starting
forward. Next, the view moves up slightly as the truck spins
around, bringing the rear of the truck into focus and we see
Ernie, still being hauled onto the truck by the seat of his
pants. Then as the truck moves on and off into the desert
the scene dissolves to a long moving view of the convoy
rolling along a desert road. It's mid-day and the sun beats
down on the GI's.
Inside the TROOP TRUCK: Ernie is seated next to Dondaro.
Opposite and alongside are the rest of the gang. Although
his presence is accepted he's still outside their tight
little clique. He listens with amused interest to their
jabber. The boys are keyed up, not tense -- but full of the
fizz and vinegar of young healthy animals confined in a
small space on their way to "the big game."
DONDARO
Got a cigarette?
Ernie reaches into his pocket and hands Dondaro a pack.
Dondaro takes one and without thinking twice, passes the
pack along to the rest of the boys. Ernie watches the
progress of the pack around the truck.
MEW
Hey, Gawky, what're you going to
call that purp? Betty Gordon?
Gawky grins as everyone laughs. Their spirits have risen
again.
DONDARO
(calling down the line)
Lay off the Gawk. He's my territory.
ERNIE and DONDARO are seen closely.
ERNIE
Who's Betty Gordon?
DONDARO
(shaking his head;
laughing amiably)
Ah, the kid's been waiting for a
letter from her ever since we left
the States.
Warnicki leans over and returns Ernie's pack. It's empty.
He looks at it wryly. Dondaro notices it.
DONDARO
(with a nod toward
the boys)
Chain smokers.
(Then)
Guess you're getting off at the first
airbase, ain't you, Pop?
ERNIE
Why?
DONDARO
(ironically; with a
touch of bitterness)
Correspondent, ain't you? The fliers
are the guys you guys always write
about. The Hollywood heroes. We're
just the mugs along for the ride,
that's all. Just for the ride.
(He looks across.)
Ask Wingless. He'll tell you.
The view widens to include the others.
MURPH
Yeah? Just one plane and you're all
dead ducks. Just one plane and
z-z-z-ang!
Almost simultaneously with his voice, a sharp screech of
brakes is heard. The boys lurch forward. Several
automatically look up as if expecting a plane.
WALKER
All right, men. This is a break --
unload.
And we see the rear of the truck as the boys, Ernie among
them, scramble off the truck. Walker comes toward Ernie.
WALKER
How far up you going, Mr. -- Mr. ...
ERNIE
Pyle. End of the line. If it's okay
with you.
WALKER
(starting on)
Sure.
(Then, suddenly turning)
Pyle? You say Pyle?
(Ernie nods.)
Say, aren't you the guy that runs
that column about week-end trips or
somethin'?
ERNIE
(grinning)
Mostly -- or something --
(Nodding toward the boys)
Pretty good-looking outfit you got.
WALKER
We're not an outfit yet!
(Glancing at his watch)
Maybe by this time tomorrow we will
be. Say, come to think of it, my old
man reads your column. He thinks it's
great.
Ernie looks up quickly at him. The sharp piping of whistles
are heard all down the road.
ERNIE
Well, I'll be darned!
WALKER
All right, men -- let's get going--
The DESERT dissolves in at night: First we get a close view
of the RADIOMAN on the JEEP. He is sitting hunched up,
blanket around his shoulders, phones pressed to his ears,
listening to the radio. A smile comes to his face as if he
were hearing something delightful. Grinning, he removes the
earphones, snaps on the loudspeaker so that the soft,
rhythmic strains of a popular band orchestra can be heard.
RADIOMAN
Hey, fellas, get a load of this --
Artie Shaw --
The view moves to the right, disclosing in a medium long
shot a convoy bivouacked for the night. Scores of pup tents,
interspersed with trucks, jeeps, armored cars, are spread
irregularly across the bright moonlit desert. In the
distance only mountains and sky are visible.
As the music softly floats across the night, the view moves
in closer, weaving past tents, revealing the various
activities of the men preparatory to "blanket drill." Many
have their heads sticking out of the tents. Others are
reclining in various stages of relaxation.
The camera comes to a halt on a pair of enormous feet,
sticking out of a tent flap. Their owner evidently is too
big for the normal sized tent. The view moves along the wall
of the tent to the front flap, which is open. The GI's head
extends beyond that too. He keeps staring at the star-
studded sky.
AD LIBS
Out of this world. Solid Jack--
Looking into the tent we see Murphy in the foreground.
Within, a thin, medium-sized youngster, his bunk mate, is
huddling with the cold, for the tent flap is open. This is
Charley Mew, an Ohio farm boy, a child of neglect, naive and
wondering.
MEW
(not really complaining)
Gee whiz, Murph -- I wish you weren't
so long -- it's sort of cold out here
in the open.
MURPHY
(without turning)
I'll cut my legs off.
MEW
(almost apologetically)
No, geez, you don't need to do
that ...
(Then; something
on his mind)
I hear we're getting into the real
business tomorrow.
MURPHY
Well, so far as I'm concerned, they
can deal me out.
MEW
(concerned)
The infantry ain't so worse--
MURPHY
(cutting in; tersely)
Look, this is a modern war, ain't
it? I'm a modern guy -- the modern
age is up in the air. That's where I
belong. Not down here.
MEW
They only washed you out because
you're too big. It ain't your fault.
MURPHY
I'll cut my legs off.
MEW
Me, me, me.
Inside another TENT: In the tent are Lopez and Sgt. Warnicki.
Lopez is obviously of Mexican extraction; Warnicki, a
muscular ex-coal miner. He is stolidly polishing his
tommy-gun. The music comes over.
LOPEZ
What do you think I ought to bring
Maria and the little fellow when I
go back?
Warnicki looks up abruptly from his gun polishing.
WARNICKI
When you go home!
(Grimly, he sets about
polishing his gun again.)
If, and when, you mean.
The gun catches a glint of the moonlight; Lopez catches a
glint of his meaning and nods solemnly.
From another angle, the view favoring GAWKY. We see the mutt
licking Gawky's face. He grins down at it.
DONDARO
If you had to sneak something out of
that village, why'n't you bring
something in skirts--
Gawky is about to speak, but Dondaro shushes him as a long
silvery trumpet note arrows softly into the night sky.
DONDARO
Sh--! Listen--don't interrupt the
music--
(In ecstasy)
Murder-- !
The announcer's voice is now heard coming over the radio
jeep. It is a husky, feminine, seductive voice. The radioman
listens delightedly.
VOICE
This is Berlin playing the jive
music of Artie Shaw--
RADIOMAN
That's our Sally--
VOICE
Nothing sweeter 'n hotter in the
world, is there ... Remind you of
Rosalind, Sylvia, Phyllis, Nancy,
Mary, Ellen, Daisy .... yes, you bet
it does ... summer nights ... the
juke-box down the road ... cokes,
double malts ... a girl's soft
laughter in the moonlight....
Tomorrow, you boys of the 18th
Infantry will meet our armies for
the first time ... the armies that
have beaten the world -- the French,
the British, the Russians -- What
chance do you stand--
SOLDIER
(reacting to her
propaganda)
Sez you -- Bring 'em on --
The view moves past the faces of the soldiers as they listen.
VOICE
Why not be sensible -- be sensible
and surrender!
SOLDIER
(ad lib)
Oh, yeah!
VOICE
Be my guests in Germany. Dance with
our lovely girls -- They know how to
entertain nice young men like you.
SOLDIER
(calling out)
Save one for me, sister, I'll be
right there.
MEW
What a voice -- what a bedroom --
what a --
He clucks.
VOICE
I will now sing Germany's latest hit,
with lyrics written especially for
my nice handsome American friends.
(Now heard singing.)
Light for me a cigarette
In that small café where we met.
Let me feel your finger tips,
Linda, Linda, on my lips.
Where two lovers used to be
Are these echoes waiting for me,
And do you still wait for me too,
As Linda, my love, I wait for you.
The view focusses on DONDARO and others in scattered tents.
DONDARO
There's a piece of furniture I'd
like to push around.
SERGEANT'S VOICE
(rasping)
Turn that radio off.
The radio is instantly clicked off. In the ensuing silence
some of the GI's quickly pull back into their tents. And we
see the group fairly closely, the view favoring Lopez as he
picks up his guitar.
LOPEZ
(as he strums)
It was Nazi music. Now it's mine --
our first German prisoner.
We get a long view of the mountains, sky and desert. And
over it comes Lopez soft strumming of "Lili Marlene" as if
the melody haunted the scene. The view moves slowly away
from the landscape to the bivouac, passing a lone sentry
pacing up and down, then resting for a moment on Dondaro,
his feet out of the tent. He hums as he gazes dreamily at
the sky. A little beyond him is Gawky, fast asleep, a smile
on his grimy face as the mutt snuggles its muzzle under his
chin.
DONDARO
(after humming some more)
Pst -- hey, Pop!
(Ernie turns instinctively,
though resentfully at this
designation; but Dondaro
continues brashly:)
Why wasn't you born a beautiful dame?
(Then, as an afterthought)
Or even an ugly one.
Ernie, half grinning a little uncomfortably, a little
nervously, doesn't quite know how to take it.
VOICES
(ad lib)
Hey, why don't you guys pipe down?
DONDARO
Awright! Awright!
(And we see him closely
as he turns over, gazing
at the sky.)
Tonight, boys -- tonight, I dream in
technicolor.
We get a fairly close view of Ernie, still cold and
uncomfortable, lying on the ground for the first time as
the scene slowly dissolves to a CURVE of ROAD. The convoy of
trucks is still moving forward. The vehicles go past the
camera at short intervals. The truck carrying Ernie swings
into view. Bill Walker and the driver can be seen in the cab.
As the van of the truck bounces by, the view moves with it a
little way. It is nearing sundown and the boys aren't quite
as full of fizz and vinegar as they were at high noon and
it's hot.
Inside the TROOP TRUCK: The view favors the Air Guard who is
stolidly chewing gum as he keeps his eye on the sky.
Warnicki looks up to him.
WARNICKI
Hey, how much further we got to go?
AIR GUARD
(stolidly)
About twenty miles.
The view slowly pulls back to include the others.
LOPEZ
How far?
AIR GUARD
Twenty miles. Then you get out and
walk another ten -- you know, to get
the stiffness out of you.
SPENCER
(indignantly)
Where we going? China?
Several sudden dull thud-thuds from the distance interrupt
him. They're repeated. Everyone grows still -- look at each
other.
SPENCER
(excitedly)
Hey -- that's ours -- 105's --
AIR GUARD
(laconically)
Theirs -- 88's--
They all grow tense. The artillery fires again. They all
look off toward the horizon, following which there is a
distant view of the HORIZON; With the darkening hills
illumined by flashes of artillery fire. Then we again see
the group, the view favoring the AIR GUARD.
WARNICKI
Thought you said twenty miles--
AIR GUARD
That's what I said -- twenty miles--
Suddenly without warning, he pounds the cab-roof with his
rifle butt. There is a shriek of brakes and the men are
half-thrown off their feet as the truck stops. Whistles and
cries are heard. The men are half petrified.
Inside the CAB: There is a pounding on the roof. Walker has
already jumped on the seat and is opening the cab skylight.
The driver is hunched over the wheel, face down.
We get a fairly close view of the TRUCK as an explosion
shakes it. The men scramble over its sides and we next see
the HIGHWAY at a low angle, with the men jumping forward and
out of sight, as other, closer explosions shake the earth.
A close view of the TRUCK discloses WALKER firing at the
diving but still distant Stuka. He is alone, utterly
exposed.
In a series of "flashes" we see the various GI's hitting the
dirt: Dondaro and Newman; Warnicki and Spencer; Mew alone;
Lopez and Murph; Ernie, near Gawky who is hugging his dog
close. We just get a glimpse of Gawky as he picks up the
dog and runs for the ditch. There is the splatter of the
machine gun and the terrifying whine of the Stuka as it
dives closer.
WALKER, seen closely, is firing away at the fast approaching
Stuka. As the plane's engine swoops down, reaching its most
unbearable pitch, Walker swings around, firing at the plane.
His face is gutted, hard, perspiring. The sound of the Stuka
recedes.
We see WARNICKI and SPENCER on their knees:
SPENCER
(looking, bewildered,
up at the sky)
I -- I didn't even see him.
We see DONDARO getting to his feet. Then as he suddenly
realizes he's alive, his face lights up with the exhilarated
exultance of survival. He laughs a little hysterically and
looks around. The view widens as several of the others
gather. They look at each other for a moment, unable to
speak with joy at having come through their baptism of fire
alive.
MURPHY
(excitedly)
Hey -- what'd I tell you guys about
the Air Corps.
WARNICKI
They stink!
MEW
Look at 'em scram!
DONDARO
The yella bellies!
Dondaro stands there giving the Italian elbow business. They
all start toward the truck. Dondaro turns around looking for
Gawky. They all look around and in the expressions on their
faces we know what they see off scene. There is a moment's
still tableau. Lt. Walker comes into the scene with the dog
under his arm -- he hands the pooch to Warnicki.
WALKER
Okay, fellas -- in the truck -- in
the truck.
(As they slowly start
climbing in -- softly)
The medics will take care of him.
(Harsh again)
Come on, get movin', get movin'.
Ernie comes. He and Walker exchange looks.
WALKER
(quietly)
First dead's always the worst.
ERNIE
(without conviction)
I suppose so.
Walker walks away. Ernie looks after him with a deep
understanding. We then see the TRUCK as Ernie climbs into it
and it starts off. Ernie takes his place between Mew and
Dondaro. The men are saddened, silent, gazing in the
direction of Gawky, and we next see GAWKY lying in the
distance against the background of a burning truck, and a
lone medic making his way toward the figure on the ground.
A little gust of wind is blowing sand toward the body.
The scene cuts back to the GROUP on the truck.
MEW
(quietly)
Guess he won't never get that letter
from that Gordon dame now.
DONDARO
(spitting; harshly)
That makes 'em even. She won't get
no more from him neither.
Silence -- except for the spaced thud of shells in the
distance. Ernie looks around at the men, and we see that
they are subdued, quiet, tense. The dusk deepens. The burst
of shells comes closer, louder. Then we get a close view of
ERNIE and DONDARO.
ERNIE
(quietly)
What was Gawky's last name?
DONDARO
(simply)
Henderson.
The scene dissolves to a long view of a DETRUCKING POINT at
gray dawn. A steady, bone-chilling rain comes down as the
trucks disgorge their men. Jumping off from the rear of one
of the trucks into the splashing mud, our boys form up into
the lines off scene. Walker is standing by the truck.
Continued thud of shells throughout -- much closer now.
Shivering, he takes his place in line. He's followed by Mew,
then Warnicki and the pup, then Ernie. Ernie looks like a
wet cat. As he piles off, Walker turns to him.
WALKER
Well, Mr. Pyle -- this is the end of
the line. We're liable to run into a
little trouble from here on. We've
got a couple of jeeps going back--
ERNIE
(hesitating for a moment,
fully aware of the others
waiting for his reply)
Do you mind if I go all the way?
WALKER
(after a brief pause)
Well, it's your funeral--
Ernie falls into line, as we hear shouts of "All right, fall
in" and "Is this trip necessary?"
There is a close moving view of the men in files moving up,
past the rain drenched trucks, as one soldier declares "Here
we're getting amphibious." Dondaro and Warnicki exchange a
glance of jocular respect in Ernie's direction. The thunder
of the guns momentarily grows louder. The men's glances
stray upward. Their expressions turn grim as they look --
toward the HILLS which flare up with a spasm of artillery
fire.
This dissolves to a picture of GI BOOTS in the RAIN picking
up wads of muck as they slog on through the mud. The view
moves up to the bowed heads of Mew and Dondaro. The rain
falls with constant, steady penetration.
DONDARO
(half-looking about)
Hey, where's the little guy?
MEW
Pop?
DONDARO
What d'ya mean, Pop. Ernie.
MEW
Ernie's a little way back--
They turn and look over their shoulders, and we next see --
plugging his way up the incline -- a small, drenched figure,
falling slowly but steadily behind, despite his effort to
keep up. The scene then cuts back to DONDARO and MEW
shaking their heads as they plow on.
DONDARO
He's over thirty-eight. He don't
need to be here.
MEW
Be here! He can even go home!
But there is a wry respect in their tone. The artillery fire
comes closer as they slog on, and the scene dissolves to a
long view of the TROOPS marching endlessly in the rain. They
are more tired and their tempo is slower now. The company
commander is seen in the background.
COMPANY COMMANDER
(yelling)
Okay, men. Fall out and take a break.
We see DONDARO, MURPHY, MEW and ERNIE slump to the ground
exhausted.
This cuts to a close view of a GI's HEAD and SHOULDERS.
Forked around his neck is heavy machine-gun tripod. As he
staggers to the side of the road it is as if he were
undergoing some medieval torture. Sweat pours down his
deep-lined, unshaven face as he removes the tripod and
wearily sinks in the mud with it.
This cuts to a long view of the BOYS. They are seated and
lying in various postures of complete exhaustion. The same
company commander rises in the foreground as a runner comes
up to him.
COMPANY COMMANDER
(in a matter-of-fact tone)
Okay, men, let's get going.
As they all start to rise, JOE, the eternal soldier, meekly
takes up the tripod, slings it over his neck, pulls himself
up and slogs on.
The scene dissolves to a view of the MARCHING TROOPS: then
to ERNIE as he drags himself up to a stone on the side of
the road and sits down! He's pooped. Despite the cold rain,
he takes his helmet off and wipes the perspiration from his
brow. He looks over his shoulder and waves the gang on. The
angle widens, keeping ERNIE in the fore. Quite a distance
off now, Walker's company is heading up through a defile. A
couple of the boys turn and wave back to Ernie before they
disappear around a bend.
ERNIE, seen closely, reaches into his pocket for a cigarette.
Wet-fingered, he finally gets a cigarette out and then vainly
tries to light a match in the rain. After some effort, he
gets the precious flame lit and is bringing it up to the
bedraggled cigarette when the water pouring down from his
helmet drenches everything. He dashes the limp cigarette to
the ground. There is the sound of troops moving off. Ernie
turns and, in a fairly long view, as seen from his angle we
see: coming up the narrow road another line of troops
approaching Ernie and going in a direction at right angles
to that taken by Walker's company. They too are mud-caked,
weary looking, but with a certain cockiness about them.
They call out jauntily as they pass Ernie. -- One of the
men falls slightly out of line.
GI
How about getting my name in the
paper? Harry Fletcher, Ashtabula,
Ohio.
ERNIE
(grinning)
Sure. What'll I say?
The angle widens to include the SOLDIER as he moves on.
GI
(yelling back)
... Anything, just so the folks back
home see my name in the paper ...
And now another soldier calls out to him.
GI
Hey, Ernie. Tell Cleveland, Joe
McCloskey is winning the war --
single-handed.
We get a close view of ERNIE as he watches the soldiers
moving on.
ERNIE'S VOICE
Winning the war single-handed -- Joe
McCloskey who mixed sodas in the
corner drugstore and Harry Fletcher
who just hung out his law shingle --
Danny Goodman who checked your oil
in the summer and studied medicine
in the fall, and here they are,
facing a deadly enemy in a strange
and far away land. This is their
baptism of fire -- with chaos -- in
defiance -- Going up the brink of
death in the night time -- puzzled
-- afraid -- each boy faced the
worst moment of his life -- alone
-- It was a battle without let-up
-- and it was going against us.
He wipes his face thoughtfully and then gets up to join the
line as the scene fades out.
[B]
The interior of a FARMHOUSE fades in. It is dusk. The old
battered farmhouse has been converted into a command post.
Lieutenant Strobel, his face strained to the point beyond
exhaustion, is at the phone which has been set up on a box.
On the wall behind him is a torn field map; Sergeant Fleers
near it. Several men lie huddled in sleep in the shadows of
the room. Lt. Wilson sits slumped on a box. Dusk is rapidly
falling and there is a chill and spiritual darkness about
the scene which is sensed more in the weariness of the men's
faces, bodies, and dust and sweat-clotted uniforms, than in
the failing light. It is that final weariness which men can
endure while they still move, talk when they have to, or
even fight again when they must. Continuous sound of gun
fire is heard throughout.
STROBEL
(half-asleep at the phone)
Two days ago we were doing fine ...
going to kick the ... 'n' parade
into ... parade into ....
Dozes off without finishing. Suddenly he jerks awake and
grabs the phone.
STROBEL
(into the phone;
automatically)
First Battalion ... First Battalion.
He looks a bit bewildered as he hears no reply -- and hangs up.
STROBEL
(smiling wanly)
Keep hearing it all the time....
(Then)
Try to reach Walker again ... See
how he's ... Strobel to Walker. Over.
A burst of shell fire blots out his words.
From another angle, which includes the DOOR, we see Ernie as
he enters, battered and worn. He limps over to Sgt. Fleers,
who is marking his map with the aid of a flashlight.
STROBEL
Shut that door!
ERNIE
(wearily)
Sorry. How we doin'?
FLEERS
(after a pause; morosely)
It's not so good.... Got us "zeroed"
in with artillery on two sides. They
can fan a fly's tail in mid-flight
if it's dumb enough to show....
A terrific explosion bursts directly overhead. The two men
instinctively dive to the floor. -- We see the two men on
the FLOOR as they are about to rise, but before they can do
so, a second explosion shakes the house. Fleers looks over
at Ernie.
FLEERS
(a little angrily)
You're a correspondent. What in hell
d'ya want to get up so close for?
Ernie is a little apologetic at his lack of good sense.
ERNIE
You got me!
They start to rise shakily, the angle widening.
FLEERS
(spitting)
If I was out there and I wasn't
scared -- I'd get scared now ...
Suddenly there's a burst of gun fire, flatter and nearer
than the shell fire.
FLEERS
(laconically)
Sending in their heavies.
LT. WILSON
(limping over)
Lousy Krauts. Sneak out, fire a few
rounds at our lighter stuff and then
chase back to cover....
Fleers glances at the map, the view moving in.
FLEERS
Only thing between us and them is
Walker's gang.
STROBEL
Not many men.
FLEERS
(pointing to the
spot on the road)
Yeah -- it's a lucky thing them Huns
don't know it -- yet.
STROBEL
(into the phone)
First battalion ... Right. ...
Withdraw Somers position to Hill
362....
Fleers does so. His new pencil mark makes a definite dent in
the right flank.
STROBEL
Strobel to Walker. Strobel to Walker.
Over ... Can't seem to reach Walker ...
The three men exchange silent glances. They turn away. The
phone rings.
STROBEL
(answering it)
First Battalion ... D company. Yes,
sir. ... I see ... No, sir, Colonel
Hunt hasn't got back yet from his
reconnaissance ... He ...
COL. HUNT'S VOICE
(cutting in)
Who is it, Ralph?
The angle widens revealing Colonel Hunt standing in the
doorway. A PFC closes the door behind him. Hunt's tired
old-young face, lean as shell splinters, is rowelled with
exhaustion.
STROBEL
Captain Horton, sir. Reporting four
of his mortars knocked out. He's
pretty badly shot up.
All stare at Hunt. After a moment he makes his decision.
HUNT
Tell him to pull back to Hill 148
and dig in.
STROBEL
Right, sir.
(Over the radio)
D Company. Hello. ... D Company.
Hello ...
(His voice frantic)
They don't answer, Colonel ...
COL. HUNT
Keep trying.
STROBEL
Right, sir.
Silence -- the significance of Horton's sudden silence sinks
in. Hunt stares singly at the men in the room. They stare
back at him through the half-light. When he comes to Ernie,
he pauses.
FLEERS
(quietly explaining)
Correspondent ... Hello ...
ERNIE
Hi!
STROBEL
(still trying to
make contact)
Hello -- hello.
Hunt just looks at Ernie and then goes over to the map,
swaying slightly from exhaustion as he goes.
We see the men grouped around the map, the view favoring
HUNT. The men have gathered around Hunt. He closes his eyes
for a moment and then opens them.
HUNT
Both flanks are gone. Our center's
weak. We're just spread too thin ...
They threw us in to try to bluff and
hold them. The lousy Krauts are
beginning to find out ...
The men listen; the shadows in their exhausted faces
are deepened by the flashlight held under them.
HUNT
They're pouring more and more
strength through the pass. Yeah, and
despite all the fairy stories, a good
green man can't beat a seasoned,
crafty veteran -- especially when the
veterans get thrown together.
STROBEL
(quietly)
Benson's through, sir -- they knocked
him out when they came through the
pass.
HUNT
(his lips pressing
together; shrugging)
Well, there it is. All we got in
front of us is Robert's and Walker's
outfits. A little more than a
company. They're not enough to hold
the Jerries back.... But if the
infantry sticks it out --
(decisively)
-- we will too.
He looks around for any contrary opinions. There are none.
The men move silently away. Lang comes in from the next
room.
LANG
There's some hot coffee and beans on
the fire, sir ...
HUNT
No, thanks.
FLEERS
I could use some.
He looks inquiringly at Hunt. Hunt sinks to a box without
replying. There is a shell burst close by. The men hunch
within themselves. The building trembles and subsides.
ERNIE
Me, too.
STROBEL
(trying the phone)
D Company -- hello, hello. -- They
don't answer, Colonel.
HUNT
Okay.
They follow Lang toward a side doorway, following which we
see them flashlight their way down a narrow passageway
toward the kitchen. Two more shells burst just overhead. The
passageway is too narrow for them to do anything but huddle
against the wall until the trembling building subsides.
FLEERS
He's beginning to split the plate.
The view moves with them down a stairway leading to the
kitchen on the ground level. Next we see them in the KITCHEN
moving across to the stove and being forced to step across a
young girl's legs as they go ... Then we see the GIRL from
Ernie's angle. Only a slight trembling of her body and a
tighter gripping of her chair reveal any reaction. Her eyes
still remain fixed into space. There is the sound of the
door opening.
The scene cuts back to the main room of the farmhouse, the
officers' dugout, where COLONEL HUNT is seated in the
foreground. The door opens. Hunt looks up. Walker enters the
room and comes toward him. Walker's unshaven face is gaunt
with weariness; his uniform gray with caked mud.
HUNT
(tensely)
How's it going, Walker?
WALKER
(his voice deadly tired)
Oh -- we're holding out okay, sir
... Our phone went dead ... Captain
Roberts sent me up to see if there
was any -- any change in plans -- or
-- or what ... well, if there was--
Hunt glances over to Strobel, who is listening intently at
the phone. Strobel shakes his head.
HUNT
(to Walker)
No. No change -- yet -- Better
stick around for a while.
Walker turns away, the scene moving with him as he goes
wearily toward a box. Ernie, preceded by Lang, comes out of
the passageway. Ernie and Walker stare at each other for a
moment, their eyes expressive of all their thoughts. Behind
them, in the shadows, Fleers and Wilson return to the room.
Suddenly, as Walker sinks to a box, all sound of gun fire
ceases outside.
A deadly and ominous silence falls over the room. The men
lift their heads, straining their eyes, their bodies tense.
The silence is sharply cut by the jangle of the phone.
VOICE OVER RADIO
Day to Hunt ... Day to Hunt ...
Over ...
STROBEL
(who has lifted
the phone)
Hunt to Day. Over.
VOICE OVER RADIO
Withdraw tank positions -- Zebra 87.
Zebra 87. Over and out.
Hunt's lips tighten. There's a brief pause. Then he speaks:
HUNT
Fleers -- put all these papers in
the fireplace. --
FLEERS
Burn 'em, sir?
A wider angle shows everyone tensely watching Hunt, waiting
for his decision. Hunt's face mirrors his brief hope that he
can still hold.
HUNT
Not yet.
Fleers quickly goes about the business of gathering up the
company documents lying on boxes near Strobel, taking them
to a small fireplace at the right. Suddenly the sound of
shell fire starts again in the distance. And as suddenly the
door bursts open and a worn and bloody soldier staggers into
the room. Several flashlights turn on him as the view
swiftly moves in to him. It is Warnicki, bleeding profusely
from a cheek wound, his eyes glazed, his tongue thick with
shock.
WARNICKI
(panting; thickly)
Lieutenant Walker -- Lieutenant
Walker--
WALKER
(who is at is side)
What is it, Sergeant?
In his shocked state Warnicki doesn't recognize him. He
starts moving on.
WARNICKI
Lieutenant Walker ... Got to see
Lieutenant Walker ...
Walker holds him, turns him around. The others gather around.
WALKER
Here I am, Warnicki!
WARNICKI
Never saw anything like it. Never
saw anything like it in my life.
A faint look of recognition flickers in Warnicki's dazed
eyes. He tries to talk, but his tongue is too thick with
shock.
WALKER
(soothingly; his voice
surprisingly soft)
Take it easy. Easy -- boy --
easy. ....
Someone -- Lang -- comes up with a drink. Warnicki gulps
it; seems to revive -- recognizes Walker's friendly face for
the first time. He begins to talk, his lips still
stammering.
WARNICKI
Th-their heavy t-tanks overran our
position -- p-point blank! Point
blank, sir ... had to get out ...
had to get out. Got some of the men
behind the hill. Did the best I
could, sir ... did the best I could.
The men are seen closely, the view favoring HUNT, as he
watches Warnicki's agonized face and hears his words.
HUNT
(decisively)
Fleers, burn the papers ...
An officer at his side starts to protest.
HUNT
(a little sharply)
This'll be the first time I ever
ordered any outfit out of anywhere.
I wonder when we're going to start
winning this war.
He turns to the others, the angle widening. The flames of
the company papers cast an eerie dancing light over the
scene.
HUNT
Strobel, notify the company
commanders we're pulling out.
(Grimly)
We'll save what we can for another
day. All right, men, on your feet.
STROBEL
Strobel to Day. ... Come in. Over.
VOICE OVER RADIO
Day to Strobel. Over.
STROBEL
Scram ... Scram. ... Over and out.
Hunt starts toward the door, followed by the various
officers and men, the view moving with them to the door.
FLEERS
(to Ernie, nodding
toward a "sleeping" man)
Come on ... he's dead.
The view "holds" on the door, as the men hurry, limping
grimly into the night. The dancing flame of the burning
papers is reflected on the door as the scene fades out.
[C]
A rocky landscape fades in. There is a long view of the
countryside as soldiers are winding over a hill and coming
forward. Then we see ERNIE seated at a typewriter in the
foreground. As he types, he is seen drinking coffee from a
flask and soaking his feet in a helmet filled with water.
ERNIE
(as he types)
American boys -- beaten -- beaten
badly. One of the few times in our
history. It was a bitter and
humiliating experience, and Joe
McCloskey was wondering what the
folks back home in Cleveland were
thinking of him now; -- As we look
back on that first defeat and the
bloody victories that followed we
realize that only battle experience
can make a combat soldier. Killing
is a rough business -- men live
rough and talk tough. -- Jimmie
O'Brien -- 1918 -- State ...
We see a GI standing near Ernie, looking over his shoulder.
JIMMIE
Hi, Ernie, thanks for putting my
name in the paper -- I believe I'll
get a commission--
ERNIE
Selling what?
JIMMIE
Me and my buddy -- E-l-b-r-i-g-h-t ...
ERNIE
That was cute the way he told the
joke.
JIMMIE
Best outfit in the whole army.
ERNIE
(continuing to type)
On a dull day you can always get a
fight in the Army by arguing which
is the best outfit. In a year I've
been to a lot of places and learned
to love a lot of men. One special
place in my heart was with the boys
I'd started with. Everybody else had
a company and I felt I had one too
-- Company C -- 18th Infantry. And I
was wondering about Wingless Murphy,
Sergeant Warnicki and Lt. Bill
Walker and a funny little mutt named
Ayrab.
The scene dissolves, showing the BOOTS OF GIS ON A DUSTY
ROAD. The boots, hard and encrusted, look as though they've
been slogging over three of the five continents and are well
on their way over the next two. Tagging along with them,
like a lean, gray-dusted veteran, is Ayrab, the company pup.
As the swirls of dust rise, the view moves up and reveals
Dondaro and Murphy. They look tough, whiskery, hard-shelled
-- and weary as they march on.
MURPH
Hey, Dondaro ... What town do we
take today?
DONDARO
San Raviolo.
MURPH
Didn't we take that one yesterday?
DONDARO
Naw, that was San Something Elsio.
They walk on for a few moments.
ERNIE'S VOICE
(coming over the scene)
Hadn't seen 'em in a long time --
now I set out to find 'em. They'd
been through a lot by now -- Conquest
of Sicily -- murderous landings in
Salerno -- hammering down the long
hard road to Rome....
We now see a STEEP HILL as our men slog up a few steps,
reaching a level spot. Walker climbs into view.
WALKER
All right, men. Fall out. Chow up.
The men flop wearily to the ground.
MURPH
(as he stretches out)
You know after this war is over I'm
gonna get me a map and find out
where I've been.
Mew, nearby, glances off and grins. He nods across the road,
whereupon the view moves slightly to include a windmill
standing in a field. It bears the manufacturer's sign:
"Meline Company, Illinois."
The GI's on the GROUND are startled by a loud, but distant
reverberation which shatters the otherwise peaceful scene.
Spencer, who has been dozing, wakes up, alarmed. As the boys
sink back and relax again, we hear the noise of trucks
grinding up the hill, immediately followed by a cry of "Mail
Call." Spencer and the others instantly come awake and run
off in the direction of the cry, and we next see them
gathered around the jeep waiting for their mail. The jeep is
one of several other supply trucks that are still coming up
and parking. As the lucky ones get their letters, they go
off by themselves to read them. -- As the view moves past
them it stops at the various boys. One kisses his letter
surreptitiously; another frowns; a third, Dondaro, laughs
aloud. As he continues to read, the camera moves on past
Lopez whose smile-wreathed face nods, "Si, si, si," as he
reads, then pauses on Mew who seems puzzled as he turns an
official looking paper over.
MEW
Hey, what's this?
SPENCER
(looking over)
Your insurance form. What's the
matter with you -- You forgot to put
in the beneficiary's name.
MEW
What's that?
SPENCER
Anybody whose name you put in there
gets the 10,000 semoleos.
MEW
(a little taken aback)
Anybody whose name I put there
gets ...
SPENCER
(laconically)
Yeah. And you'd better put it in
before the next shindig, bub, or
there won't be no dough. Stick your
old lady's name down and you're okay.
MEW
I ain't got no--
SPENCER
(Shortly)
Your old man, then.
(As Mew shakes his head)
Ain't you got no relatives?
Mew grins and again shakes his head.
SPENCER
(a little impatiently)
Well, stick anybody's name down. You
don't wanna let all that dough go to
waste.
He goes, leaving Mew grinning like a potential millionaire.
But suddenly a worried look appears on Mew's face. Whom
shall he put down? Here he has all this bounty to dispense
but-- Suddenly his face lights up. He starts to put a name
down -- then changes his mind. He's in a quandary. He looks
around and suddenly spots Warnicki. His face lights up as he
hurries over to him.
MEW
(elatedly)
Hey, Sarge -- what do you know!
Yesterday I ain't worth a plugged
nickel, today I can throw ten
thousand bucks away just like that.
But Warnicki has his own little problems. He's holding a
large flat cardboard package and he doesn't know what to
make of it. He keeps turning it over. Ayrab keeps leaping
around him, thinking the package is something for him.
MEW
(suddenly caught by
Warnicki's package;
inquisitively)
What've you got there? Somethin' to
eat?
WARNICKI
I dunno.
MEW
Well, open it. How're you gonna find
out unless you open it?
WARNICKI
That's an idea.
His dirty, claw-like hands rip the wrapping off and it's
wrapped better than an onion. Warnicki finally reaches the
bottom layer, revealing -- a phonograph disc. He quickly
reads its label and his grizzled pug's face lights up.
WARNICKI
It's from the old lady! Look what
she done. She had the kid's voice
put on a record. Junior's voice. He
couldn't even say ma-ma when I left.
MEW
(delighted for him)
Geez. Let's listen to it.
WARNICKI
Who's got a phonograph around here?
MEW
Maybe they got one in the next town.
WARNICKI
Yeah! What are we waiting for! Let's
get going!
As he whirls off with no other thought than getting to the
next Italian town as quickly as possible, there is a sudden
shriek of brakes near him. He almost drops the record. -- A
jeep has nearly run Warnicki down. Warnicki turns in sudden
murderous anger. His expression has swiftly changed. There's
really a killer in his expression.
WARNICKI
(starting toward
the jeep; humorlessly)
Why don't you look where you're
going you--
We now get a close view of the jeep and its occupants: the
driver and Ernie. Ernie looking haggard, worn, combat-
strained, starts to smile, but suddenly he becomes anxious
as this murderous looking animal in khaki bears down on him.
WARNICKI
(glowering)
Get outa that jeep'n I'll beat your
brains out--
(Suddenly he stops.)
Hey, it's Ernie! It's the little guy!
Ernie relaxes. It was a bad moment. But he doesn't have a
chance to savor his relief, for others have come crowding
up.
DONDARO
It's Pyle.
Ernie beaming, shakes hands on all sides.
GI'S
(ad libbing)
Seen any dames?
What's been keeping ya?
Good to see you, Ernie.
Been saving sugar for you, Ernie.
At last I met Ernie Pyle, now I can
write the old man and he can relax.
BENEDICT
Here we go again. Every time you
show up there's a big battle. That's
the way it was in Tunisia. You
better check your dog tags, boys.
You know something -- my old man
says I look like you!
ERNIE
Yeah, that's me. I go around
starting wars. A guy's gotta make a
living. Gotta have something to
write about. Good to see you boys
again.
At this point, Walker appears, bringing the expected news.
WALKER
On your feet men, we're pulling
out....
ERNIE
(seeing Walker, who
is a Captain now)
Hi, Bill.
WALKER
(warmly)
Hi, Ernie.
The sergeant's voice rings out -- and is echoed down the
line. The GI's slouch off, obeying the whistle. Ernie gets
out of the car, and we see him with Walker.
ERNIE
(grinning; with a glance
at Walker's bars)
Well, I see you've been going up in
the world -- congratulations.
WALKER
(glancing at
his shoulders)
Oh, these. Thanks.
(with a grim smile)
You know that's because I survived
longer than the other Looey's, I
guess. Okay, Sergeant. Move 'em out!
Ernie and Walker start moving down the line as the sergeant's
whistle blows again.
ERNIE
How are you, Wingless. How's the Air
Corps?
MURPHY
'Fraid the Buddy system's got me.
ERNIE
Me too.
(Ernie glances off toward
the men; grinning, to
Walker:)
Well, you got an outfit now?
WALKER
(grimly)
You bet your life we're an outfit.
Ernie again looks off toward the men, and we see, from his
and Walker's angle, the GI's slogging down the road. There
is something about their slouching stride, their cold,
intent, impersonal movements, the way they carry their
rifles, the slant of their shoulders that characterizes
them, sets them apart.
ERNIE
They look tough.
WALKER
They are tough ...
(quietly; grimly)
They're killers.
Something in Walker's tone makes Ernie look up. He looks
directly ahead. The reverberation of heavy shelling comes
from the not too distant right. Walker looks off, his lips
compressed.
WALKER
(grimly)
And they'd better be.
Ernie glances up at Walker. His face too is grave, as the
two slog on and disappear. The scene dissolves to a BATTERED
SIGNPOST, with GI's marching in the foreground. The Signpost
reads:
Roma 188 Km.
Cassino 19 Km.
San Vittorio 3 Km.
We see a long view of SAN VITTORIO under heavy artillery
bombardment, then a SAN VITTORIO STREET. Slam-banging
furiously through the battle-clouded piazza, an Anti-Tank
37 swings into action against a shell-spitting pillbox
blocking its way. With workmanlike precision the five-man
team blasts shell after shell at the pill-box ... in the
background a pack of wild dogs run howling through the
street ... (Throughout the following sequence of street
fighting, there is the continuous rat-tat of machine-gun
fire, ping of sniper bullets and the blast and boom of
shells.)
BEFORE A THEATER: A Bazooka team dives through enemy fire to
the protection of some rubble. They wham away at a shell-
torn, sniper-infested theater. As they inch forward the rear
man is hit by machine-gun fire. Glancing back only
momentarily, the front man carries on alone amid the
machine-gun fire from the theater....
A NARROW STREET: A tank plows through a narrow street
blasting at the houses on either side. Its sides seem to
swell with each shell burst. Half-exposed, the Tank Guide
blazes away in a circular fire. Now coming into the clear,
guns ablaze, the tank sprints across an avenue, nimbly
crunches up the steps of a public building and smashes
through its walls -- and continues on ...
A SHELL-TORN STREET: A squad of GI's whirl around the corner
in the background only to be pinned down by a rain of
machine-gun fire from a rooftop in the foreground. They
swiftly dive behind some rubble on the ground. One of the
GI's (Murph) in the rear, slinks off to the right.
A CORNER BUILDING: Pressed against the walls, Murph comes
around the corner of the building in an almost careless
slouch.
We get a close view of MURPH unpinning a grenade. He hurls
it with an over-hand motion to the roof-top above him. And
waits -- with an almost comically meditative patience. There
is a blast above him. Smoke and powder billows out of the
smashed window. Murph kicks open the door and peers in. He
pops out again, his mud-caked face split in a grin as he
holds up three fingers.
We see ERNIE peering out cautiously from behind some rubble
in the direction of the street fighting. He's evidently
making up his mind to dash across the street. Bullets
spatter all about. Suddenly there's a lull -- and he chances
it. -- As he darts across, doubled over, several rifle shots
ping at him. He reaches a wall, from behind which Walker is
covering him, firing with cold precision at the sniper.
We get a close view of ERNIE and WALKER: Ernie is panting
and sweating.
ERNIE
When you're in the Infantry --
there's no way to reach a ripe old
age.
Several bullets splinter the brick above them. Walker
swiftly fires back. The enemy is silenced.
WALKER
(his eyes glinting)
I'm gonna build me a highway to
Berlin over them ...
The rattle of machine-gun fire cuts his words. This is
immediately followed by a cry of "Medic! Medic!"
From another angle we see Mew and Spencer hiding behind some
rubble. With them is a Medic who has just finished bandaging
a wounded GI. The cry of "Medic!" comes over. The Medic
exchanges a short swift glance with Mew and grimly crawls
off in the direction of the cry. Suddenly Spencer raises his
rifle upward.
Next we see Dondaro, sweating and breathing hard, breaking
into a small cafe where there is a sudden scream. He is
about to shoot when he sees a young, disheveled, frightened,
but obviously handsome, woman backing away in a corner.
DONDARO
(almost to himself)
The Promised Land.
(Grinning softly)
Hiya, babe--
As he approaches, she backs away slightly. Her look of
fright has disappeared; her lips part in a soft, sultry
smile. They are both breathing hard, their eyes fastened to
each other. The war outside has vanished, has been
forgotten completely -- if anything, enhancing and adding
excitement to their meeting.
DONDARO
(in Italian, softly)
My bones told me all the time you
were waiting right here for me,
babe--
AMELIA
(her eyes suddenly
widening with a new
delight; in Italian)
You -- Americano--! You speak
beautiful Italian--!
DONDARO
(as he moves closer
to her; in Italian)
Yes, from Brooklyn ... gift to
Italian womanhood. The liaison
officer. Your long lost cousin.
AMELIA
(delighted with
his Italian)
Bello! Bello! You speak my language!
His hand strays to her hip.
DONDARO
(half Italian,
half English)
Listen, Rainbow, even if I was dumb,
I'd still speak your language. Si?
Her eyes glance sidelong down at his hand and then back at
him.
AMELIA
(softly)
Si.
With a throaty little laugh, she slips excitingly away from
him to behind the counter. He swiftly follows her. Suddenly
they look at each other and words are superfluous. He grabs
and kisses her fiercely -- pouring all his hunger,
loneliness, anguish, dreams in that kiss. She yields,
returning his kiss with the same intense hunger. As he bends
her back, their figures are hidden by the counter. The view
holds on the hall -- shattered shelves with broken wine
bottles. The beat and throb of the battle outside comes
over.
Machine gun fire suddenly rakes the wall, sending down a
shower of glass. But still they don't come up for air.
Suddenly there's a burst of nearby shellfire, shaking the
house. Dondaro lifts his head, dazed. He slowly seems to
remember where he is, what's going on outside. He shivers as
if pulling himself together.
DONDARO
(disgusted)
There's that ...
(another shell burst)
... war again. Sounds like they're
paging me--
He releases her and hurries toward the spot where he dropped
his rifle. Amelia, trembling, clings to him.
AMELIA
(in Italian)
Oh -- no! Don't go!
DONDARO
(in English;
half tempted)
Honest, Rainbow, this hurts me more
than it does you--
He kisses her again; quickly this time -- and picks up his
rifle.
DONDARO
(in English)
I'll be back, don't worry--
He starts toward the door.
AMELIA
(shaking her
head; in Italian)
I don't understand what you mean--
DONDARO
(Stopping; with a
grin; in Italian)
When I get back -- you'll understand --
(in English)
-- okay, okay --
(He gestures;
in Italian.)
You wait here. Si?
She nods with a little laugh.
AMELIA
(in broken English)
Okay -- Okay.
As Dondaro hurries toward the door, he turns. Amelia smiles,
and nods eagerly. Dondaro opens the door. The sound of
battle grows louder. Grinning, he pauses only long enough to
note the number "29" on the door, and ducks into the battle-
riddled street.
The TOWN SQUARE: In the foreground, Warnicki, Walker and
Rogers, grimly move down the rubble-strewn square seeking
out snipers. Suddenly Rogers, bringing up the rear, steps on
a hidden mine. There's a terrific explosion. Warnicki and
Walker flatten out.
As the shower of rocks and smoke subsides, they look back.
Rogers has completely disappeared from the face of the earth.
Their lips frame soundless curses. Grimly they start forward
again, only to be suddenly pinned down by a sharp hail of
bullets from the right. Swiftly they dive behind some rubble
and peer in the direction of a half-ruined church diagonally
across the street.
WALKER
Where's our platoon?
WARNICKI
Up the street.
WALKER
Looks like this one's on us.
WARNICKI
Okay. I'll cover you.
The CHURCH BELFRY comes into view and we see a pair of
German snipers firing down at Warnicki and Walker from the
windows, following which WARNICKI and WALKER are seen firing
back futilely.
WALKER
Let's go to church, Warnicki.
WARNICKI
Okay. Wait a minute.
Walker nods and keeps firing as Warnicki quickly unloosens a
smoke-grenade from his belt. The two men act in accord, as a
team, without words. Warnicki removes his carefully
blanketed record and lays it in a little cache amidst the
rubble.
WARNICKI
(patting it as he
might a child)
You stay there, Junior. Papa'll be
right back.
He hurls the grenade into the street. -- We see the STREET
as it is instantly filled with obscuring smoke. Warnicki and
Walker dive into it. A frantic spray of bullets from the
church seeks them out. -- Through the thinning smoke,
Warnicki and Walker, uninjured, are revealed tensely
flattened against the wall. Walker is about to dash into the
church. But Warnicki checks him. He loosens another grenade
and hurls it through the door. Again smoke blots out the
scene; again the excited searching spray of tommy-gun fire.
Inside the CHURCH: Smoke still fills the scene. But the
sound of the gunfire is strangely different. It echoes and
re-echoes eerily through the cavernous building. Suddenly it
ceases. The scene is filled with a deathly stillness as the
last echo dies away. As the smoke thins we see Warnicki and
Walker hidden behind a pile of rubble. They listen tensely.
They scarcely dare breathe as they peer about cautiously.
There is not a sound, not a movement in the half-demolished
church. A single fading ray of sunlight shoots down through
the torn roof. The rest is in massive shadows. The statue of
an angel stands like a ghost in the half-light. Before the
altar lies a heap of rubble. The stillness is filled with an
awesome terror; death may spit instantly from any shadowed
niche or crevice.
WALKER
(barely audible)
Pst!
(Suddenly he shouts
out a taunting insult.)
Lousy Kraut schwein!
As the shout echoes and re-echoes against the walls, from
somewhere an other shout comes over.
SNIPER'S VOICE
Americanische Schiese!
The shouts and the echoes intermingle in weird and
bewildering reverberations. Walker, ready to shoot, doesn't.
The echoes are too bewildering. Warnicki grimly realizes
something must be done to get the snipers to disclose their
position. Silently he gestures his intent to draw the
German's fire by dashing across to a pillar toward the
alter. As he does so, Walker is to cover him. Walker nods.
Warnicki tensely sets himself.
We get a wider angle of the CHURCH, with Warnicki and Walker
in the foreground. As Warnicki with a cry of "Lousy Kraut
Swine!" exposes himself by swiftly diving across from the
rubble heap to the pillar, a shot rings out. Shot and cry
reverberate.
We see WALKER swiftly firing toward the gallery, and then
the GALLERY as a sniper tumbles forward, following which
the view widens to disclose Warnicki, hidden behind the
pillar, indicating he's all right. They grin at each other.
They are breathing hard with the tension. Walker lifts his
fingers indicating "That was one, but there are two." He
gestures it's his turn now to try Warnicki's trick. Warnicki
grins and bows his acquiescence.
We get a close moving view of WALKER as he dives with a cry
toward another rubble heap near the altar -- But there is no
revealing shot. Warnicki tensed to fire, looks puzzled. He
looks across at Walker. They look troubled, let down. Where
is that other German? Warnicki shouts again. But only his
own voice echoes through the church. Stillness again. A more
ominous stillness.
Slowly a rifle barrel appears between the wings of the
STATUE OF THE ANGEL, aiming downward. -- WARNICKI swiftly
fires at the angel, and we see it, then, toppling with the
sniper. Warnicki and Walker rise from their places with
audible sighs of relief.
WARNICKI
It's a funny place to be killing men
in, isn't it?
And on these words Walker goes toward the sniper near the
angel, while Warnicki, in his simple gratitude, picks his
way over the rubble to the altar.
Through a narrow break in the debris -- a perfect sightline
for a sniper -- Warnicki can be seen kneeling to cross
himself in devotion. A shot rings out. -- Simultaneous with
the shot, Warnicki bows his head. The bullet pierces through
the top of the helmet, missing his skull by the fraction of
an inch, caused by his bowing.
Thereupon the scene tilts upward past Warnicki to the belfry.
Warnicki swiftly swings around. He fires at a sniper exposed
in the belfry. He hits him. The sniper staggers and grabs at
the bell-rope to steady himself. The bell begins to toll --
slowly, with a death-like knell. Warnicki and Walker drill
steel at the swaying body, until the German's grasp loosens
and his body plunges downward. As he falls, his plunge gives
momentum to the swinging bell, and its rhythm accelerates
into a joyous, triumphant ring, echoing and re-echoing
through the church as the scene fades out.
[D]
A WINDOW fades in; the sound of the church bell still
ringing over the scene. An old, wrinkled woman timidly peers
out from behind the battle-scarred, shattered window. She
looks uncertainly up and down the street. Evidently
reassured, she sticks a small American flag in a corner of
the window, a broad smile wrinkling her face. -- Fresh
American troops pour across the PIAZZA. Several ambulances
of the Surgical Unit drive by. Old Italian villagers with
children and bundles trudge back wearily but happily, to
their homes. In the foreground -- the engineers have begun
to repair the shattered bridge. -- Outside the CITY HALL, a
vociferous crowd is angrily milling around the shattered
doorway. They drag out a rat-faced civilian from his hiding
place. They shower him with blows, cursing: "Fascista Manure
Traittore!" as he coweringly runs their outraged gauntlet.
Several MP's enter the scene and take the Fascist in tow.
MP SERGEANT
Okay, guys! We'll handle him from
here on!
As the MP's drag him off, the villagers still spit and hurl
their curses in the traitor's face.
We next see a STREET CORNER where GI's are distributing hot
soup and bread from a food truck to a long line of women,
children and old men. The children gulp their food down
without chewing, as if they had never eaten before. Grins
gradually suffuse their faces as the hot food begins to
take effect. One little girl looks up at the ladling GI.
Cries of "Viva Americano, Viva Americano" are heard.
A STREET INTERSECTION comes into view. A double file of
German prisoners, guarded by GI's, come down a side street.
Some are still a surly, arrogant-looking lot. Others are
beaten to a point of cretinism. A couple of Signal Corps
cameramen run up and take pictures of them. -- The view
swings sharply toward a side street where several returned
villagers are poring over the rubble in the middle of the
street. -- A MIDDLE-AGED COUPLE stands forlornly looking at
the wreckage of a shop. The man holds a child in his arms;
beside the woman stands a little ragged girl -- obviously
their children. There is a black armband around the man's
sleeve. -- Tears fill their eyes as they view the wreckage
of their life's work. He looks up at the ruined building.
They all follow his gaze, and we see American flags
appearing in many windows -- Smiling through their tears,
the little group enters their wrecked shop and starts to
straighten it up. -- Then we see ANOTHER STREET as the fresh
GI's march down, a bunch of children tagging after them,
brashly importuning.
CHILDREN
Americano cigarette! Gimme!
One, a ragged boy in a GI barracks bag with name, serial
number, etc., imprinted across the seat, is particularly
persistent.
BOY
Gimme Americano cigarette! Gimme.
GI
Cigarettes are no good for children
-- go away -- go away.
BOY
(pleading)
Gimme! Gimme! Me Americano!
GI
Sure. Your name's GI Joe, ain't it.
BOY
Si, Si! Me. GI Joe!
(As the GI laughs)
Cigarette! Cigarette!
GI
(reaching into
his pocket)
Cigarettes no bono for kids.
He throws the child a small package, and the boy expertly
catches it. It's a bar of chocolate. The boy bites into it
and grins. Then he runs after the GI; and in the distance we
see him take the GI's hand and go off skipping as the scene
dissolves to the OUTSKIRTS of the TOWN. Lying around in
various stages of exhaustion, on both sides of a tree-lined
road, are our GI's. Dondaro has taken off a mud-caked shoe
and is examining his arch. Nearby Ernie is washing an extra
pair of socks in his tin helmet. Warnicki is lying back on
his equipment staring at the sky, a wisp of grass between
his teeth, Ayrab at his feet. Mew keeps polishing his rifle;
Murph is yawning. -- Dondaro lets out a groan.
DONDARO
If this war don't kill me first, my
feet will.
WARNICKI
(with a jaw-cracking yawn)
Me, I feel like forty-five.
Ernie wrings out his hose.
ERNIE
I feel like I was too. And I damn
near am.
MEW
How old are you?
ERNIE
Forty-three.
DONDARO
I'm twenty-six. If I knew I'd live
to be forty-three I wouldn't have a
worry in the world.
ERNIE
Oh, yes you would.
(He empties his helmet.)
You'd be just like me. Worrying
whether you'd ever get to be
forty-four.
Spencer comes into the scene.
SPENCER
Hey, guys -- we got twelve hours
rest until they rebuild that
bridge--
DONDARO
(leaping up as a bright
idea suddenly strikes him)
Stop pooch!
ROSS
Where's that whizz bang going?
ERNIE
I know I'm going to get some sleep.
Dondaro hops around on one foot, trying to get his shoe on
and laced in a hurry. Warnicki has a bright idea of his own.
He reaches under his equipment for Junior's blanketed record.
Murph just relaxes.
SPENCER
(swinging into the scene)
Hey, Murph -- hey, Murphy. That red-
headed nurse of yours is in town --
you know, your fiancee!
MURPH
Is she?
ROSS
What a lucky guy you are -- meeting
a girl you're engaged to in the
States way over here.
MURPH
(sitting up,
leaden-eyed)
Hey, did you hear that? My ever
lovin' is coming to town.
But it still takes a moment before this news penetrates his
sleep-befogged mind.
The scene then dissolves to a full view of a PORTABLE
DELOUSING UNIT. The delousing mechanisms are at both ends of
four showers. The men feed their combat clothes in at one
end, stand in line for their showers, and emerge cleansed at
the other end to receive their deloused clothing. A QM
Sergeant -- snappily uniformed, clean shaven, wearing horn-
rimmed glasses -- directs the operations.
SERGEANT
(Officiously)
Okay men, your three minutes are up
now -- move out of there -- come on,
get out of there.
(He is greeted
with ad libs.)
Snap it up, men! Two minutes to
lather -- one to rinse! We haven't
got all day!
(Barking at a bather)
What do you think this is -- a
bubble-bath?
Mew and another GI, both bearded, dirty, exhausted, stop
before the Sergeant and stare at his "fruit salad," his
ribbons.
MEW
(innocently)
Hey, Sarge, what's all that?
SERGEANT
This?
MEW
Yeah, yeah.
SERGEANT
(Proudly; pedantically)
Well, the yellow one is for National
Defense; the red and white is for
very good conduct; and the real
pretty one with all the colors, is
for being in this theatre of
operations.
MEW
(in amazement)
No kidding!
GI
(innocently)
Yeah. Know any good war stories,
Sarge?
SERGEANT
Yeah, as a matter of fact--
(Laughing)
Oh, come on, your three minutes are
up.
SPENCER and LOPEZ, naked, are waiting in line to shower.
SPENCER
(looking toward
the showers)
Hey, look at Murph. -- He's falling
to sleep on his feet.
He pushes toward Murph, whom we then see under the shower.
Bearded, hollow-eyed, he desperately tries to keep his eyes
open as he lathers. Spencer comes up to him and pokes him.
SPENCER
(troubled)
Hey, Murph, come on! This is your
big day!
MURPH
(heroically; between
globs of water)
Okay. If Red wants to go through
with it, I'm game.
He almost falls asleep there and then; Spencer shakes him as
the scene dissolves out.
AMELIA'S STREET dissolves in as Dondaro comes tearing down
to DOOR No. 29, and as he disappears through the door it
slams closed. -- This dissolves to ANOTHER STREET where
Warnicki, holding his blanketed record, comes up to a group
of Italians. Ayrab is with him.
WARNICKI
Hey! Know where I can find a
phonograph?
(The group doesn't
seem to understand.)
A phonograph -- a victrola -- a
music box, see? What's the matter?
You can't understand plain English?
Heart-broken in their eagerness to be helpful, the Italians
volubly canvass each other. Warnicki watches hopefully.
We get a close view of AYRAB looking up, a little ashamed of
his master for even deigning to listen to this jabber. Then
we see the CROWD again. No luck; none understood. Warnicki's
face "neons."
WARNICKI
Look -- A phonograph, a victrola, a
music box.
He motions as if winding a machine. A light dawns on one of
the women.
WOMAN
(in a rising scale)
Oh! Oh!! OH!!
She also makes a winding motion. Warnicki nods. The woman
hurries into her ruined house.
WARNICKI
(elated)
She's got one, Ayrab! We're gonna
get to hear Junior yet!
The Italians are delighted. Jabbering, they assure Warnicki
she's a smart woman, a fine woman, a brilliant woman. She'll
find it. And there she comes with an old-fashioned coffee-
grinder. The Italians look eagerly at Warnicki -- and are
crestfallen at his look of disgust.
WARNICKI
No! No! NO!!
(Another idea hits him.)
Look--
(He stars singing.)
"Oh, Marie! Oh, Marie! Did-da-da-tum
ti-da-dum -ti-da-dum--"
Again the Italians brighten. Eager to oblige their liberator
they sing too.
ITALIANS
"Oh, Marie -- Oh, Marie--"
WARNICKI
(with abysmal disgust)
Aw, nuts!
He continues down the street, Ayrab after him. The Italians
helplessly twirl their fingers at their temples as the scene
dissolves out.
A half blown out BUILDING dissolves in, the view moving up
along the shattered building past one demolished floor,
then another, and then a third, holding on Warnicki in the
bomb-shattered flat, where he has finally unearthed a
battered old portable victrola.
WARNICKI, with an intense, happy gleam, examines the
battered phonograph, trying to make it go. He presses the
lever. Nothing happens. He spins the plate with his finger.
But all he can get is a grinding noise. Warnicki listens:
WARNICKI
Little rusty--
(The scene widens to
include Ayrab cocking
his ear.)
Ayrab, you're gonna hear Junior, or
else ...
Hastily he searches through his pockets for a knife, as the
scene dissolves.
The scene dissolves to a close view of MURPH soaping up his
two-week beard before a mirror propped against his helmet.
His eyelids still weigh a ton. As he starts a jaw-breaking
yawn, the view expands, disclosing a half-ruined cottage.
Mew, Spencer and Lopez are with Murph. Lopez is practicing a
wedding march. Murph yawns again.
SPENCER
Hey, cut that out! You can't let Red
down now.
MEW
If you do, the best man'll take over.
MURPH
(shaking his head)
I'm afraid I'll fall asleep and cut
my fool head off with this Eytalian
razor.
SPENCER
So what? If we can't marry you,
we'll bury you.
He signals Lopez to go on with the music.
LOPEZ, also yawning, starts to play the wedding march
again, when suddenly there's a metallic crash.
LOPEZ
Ay dime! Look at that!
And we see that Murph has collapsed over the table.
SPENCER
He's folded! Gimme that razor. I
done a little barbering in my time.
The whole town must have shaved with
this thing.
Mew hands Murph's razor to Spencer. Spencer pulls back
Murph's head with a professional flourish and starts to
shave him. A soldier, Jacob, comes running in while this
goes on.
JACOB
Everything's fixed to the Queen's
taste.
SPENCER
(as he shaves)
Get Ernie. He's gonna give the bride
away.
MEW
Yeah! We'll get this wedding in the
papers.
Mew starts toward the door.
LOPEZ' VOICE
Get the Captain, too. He's an okay
Joe.
As Mew and Trenton hurry out the scene dissolves to a view
of the BATTERED PHONOGRAPH. The plate whirls about merrily.
WARNICKI'S VOICE
(elated)
It works! What did I tell you! It
works!
The scene expands and we see that Warnicki's sweaty face is
lit with joy. Ayrab's head follows the revolving plate
suspiciously. Treasuringly, Warnicki unwraps the record,
places it carefully on the plate and cranks up the motor.
But as he's about to lower the arm, he discovers that it
lacks a needle.
WARNICKI
(dismayed)
No needle.
Frantically, he searches around the box. No needle. He looks
around the apartment, sees a broken-down dresser. He rushes
to it in almost a frenzy of excitement, and searches through
the drawers for a needle.
The scene dissolves to a BARN. Sleeping comfortably on a
pile of hay, is Ernie. His snores come regular and sweet.
Mew hurries in and tries to awaken him.
MEW
Ernie--
ERNIE
(rousing himself)
Ugh.
MEW
Wake up. We need you. Red wants you
to give her away.
ERNIE
(too sleepy to know
what he's talking about)
What I wanna give her away for? I
like Red.
He turns over and goes back to sleep.
MEW
(shaking him)
Hey, don't go back to sleep.
ERNIE
(slurring)
Oh, leave me alone. The only way
you'll get me out of here is to
carry me out.
MEW
We figured on that too.
He looks off and gives a sharp whistle. The angle widens as
Jacob and another GI, carrying a stretcher, come up to
Ernie. They roll our very sleepy and very astonished
correspondent on to it, and haul him away.
This dissolves to a SHATTERED APARTMENT, where, in the
fading daylight, Warnicki is breaking off the tip of a
safety pin which he has found. As he bends it forward and
backward, his bearded face gleams with sweat and excitement.
Suddenly the pin snaps off, needle size. Feverishly, he puts
the needle in place, almost fumbling it in his anxiety. He
picks up the record, kisses it and breathlessly replaces it.
WARNICKI
(in a whisper
of excitement)
Here goes, Ay-rab-- Junior's goin'
to talk to his papa.
He presses the lever. The record whirls around. Gently,
perspiration tipping his nose, he places the needle on the
record -- and the "sweetest voice in the world" goes
backward--!
VICTROLA
(screeching)
A-gul-ub! A-gul-ub! A-gul-ub!
Ayrab jumps back, barking indignantly. Warnicki's face is a
study in dismay and disappointment. Hastily, he shuts the
phonograph off.
WARNICKI
(almost apologetically,
to Ayrab)
Backwards! I'm a son-of-a-
Suddenly, there's a sharp whistle from down below.
SPENCER'S VOICE
Hey, Warnicki--!
Warnicki looks down, and from his angle we look down below,
across the street: The wedding procession is nearing the
ruined church. Twilight is fast falling.
SPENCER
(calling up)
Come on, Warnicki! Murph's getting
married.
WARNICKI
(hastily gathering up
the phonograph and record)
I'll fix it later. Come on--
He hurries over to the stairs and starts down, Ayrab with
him, the scene cutting to the CHURCH. Led by Lopez and
Spencer, playing the Wedding March, the procession moves
slowly toward the altar and the Army Chaplain. Red is on
Ernie's arm. Murph, best-manned by Mew, waits for them
beside a rubble heap at the altar. Walker is in the
procession. Various GI's bring up the rear. As they reach
the altar, the music stops and they form before the Chaplain,
who is now seen close; he is wearing a stole over his
uniform.
CHAPLAIN
Dearly beloved, we are gathered
here ...
MURPH and RED are seen close. Murph has court plaster
patches over his face. He valiantly tries to keep his eyes
open. Red's eyes are shining.
CHAPLAIN'S VOICE
... in the sight of God and this
company ...
Now Warnicki appears at the church door. He almost stumbles
over the threshold.
WARNICKI
(cautioning Ayrab)
Sh! Sh!
As he clumsily tiptoes to the outer fringe of the wedding
party, we hear the Chaplain's voice continuing:
CHAPLAIN'S VOICE
... to join together this man and
this woman in holy matrimony.
Twilight is now turning to night, as the scene cuts to the
Chaplain and to some GI's with Ernie among them.
CHAPLAIN
Who giveth this woman to be married
to this man?
No one moves. Several eyes turn on Ernie, who is then seen
close. Ernie's eyes and thought are far away. After a pause,
the Chaplain repeats:
CHAPLAIN'S VOICE
Who giveth this woman to be married
to this man?
Ernie comes to himself and steps forward as the angle widens.
A little sheepishly he takes Red's hand.
ERNIE
I do.
Red presses his hand and smiles at him as, embarrassed, he
returns to his place.
CHAPLAIN
(to Murph)
Repeat after me -- I, Robert Murphy
take thee, Elizabeth ... to be my
wedded wife ... to have and to hold
from this day forward ...
Murph repeats each phrase after the Chaplain.
We get a close shot of Mew. He is beaming. Suddenly he gets
an idea. He looks secretively about him, withdraws his
insurance blank and with a stubby pencil writes some figures
on it as the Chaplain's voice comes over, Murph repeating.
CHAPLAIN'S VOICE
... for better, for worse ... for
richer, for poorer ... In sickness
and in health ...
We see the INSURANCE BLANK. It is marked: Beneficiary --
Warnicki -- $2,000 Junior -- $2,000. And now Mew's stubby
pencil adds -- Mrs. Murphy -- $2,000.
RED and MURPH are seen close as the Chaplain continues:
CHAPLAIN'S VOICE
... to love and to cherish, till
death us do part....
It is night now outside, and German DIVE BOMBERS appear in
the sky.
We see the CHAPLAIN in the foreground, in the church, as he
continues with the wedding ceremony.
CHAPLAIN
Those whom God hath joined together --
(Rushing the ceremony as
the sound of the dive
bombers increases and the
bombers go into action)
... let no man put asunder ... HIT
THE DIRT!
He throws himself flat. The whole party follows suit. The
shell explodes with a bang beyond the ruined walls. Warnicki,
in the background, covers the phonograph and record with his
body.
We see RED and MURPH on the ground.
MURPH
(half-covering Red's body)
Take a better man than that to put
us asunder.
They kiss, and the scene dissolves to a moving view of the
newlyweds as, accompanied by the musicians and their
escorts, they reach the edge of a road.
MEW
(suddenly yelling out)
Procession -- halt! Okay, kids ...
It's yours.
Grinning he points off to the right, and the view moves past
a ruined wall and "holds" on a wrecked ambulance with a sign
planted beside it: "Bridal Suite." Where once the doors were,
blankets have been tacked and looped back with GI neckties.
A horseshoe is suspended over the entrance; a battered field
telephone at one side is marked: "Room Service." Red and
Murph enter the scene, laughing and breathless.
RED
(looking back)
Boys -- honestly, thanks.
And Murph sweeps up Red and carries her over the threshold.
-- This cuts to the WEDDING PARTY, the faces displaying
varied emotions as they stare across at the married pair.
Next, in the AMBULANCE, Murph removes the neckties, and the
blankets drop over the entrance. The blankets are chalked
with huge letters: DO NOT DISTURB.
This cuts to the WEDDING PARTY outside. The men haven't
moved; they stand and stare.
WARNICKI
(finally; gruffly)
Awright ... What are you guys
looking at? ... Let's get going.
They start to leave. Lopez, however, sits down with his
guitar, deliberately turning his back to the ambulance.
LOPEZ
(singing as he strums)
Tu eres, Lupita, divina
Como los rayos del sol--
As Lopez' singing comes over, the GI's move away, one by
one, their thoughts far away. They are joined by
superimposed images of their beloved ones: Warnicki holding
Junior in his arms with Mollie by his side, Ernie with "That
Girl," Spencer, with his mother, etc. Then, as they recede
down the night-shadowed road, the superimposed figures have
vanished. The men are alone, forlorn.
LOPEZ' VOICE
Tu es la flor nicaragua
En la morada de amore.
We see AYRAB near the AMBULANCE. He has remained behind. He
cocks his head curiously, up toward the ambulance. Lopez'
singing continues.
Inside the AMBULANCE Murph has collapsed, and is fast asleep.
Tenderly, Red bends down and kisses him as she tucks the
blanket over him. Lopez' song can be heard from outside.
The view looks toward snow-capped CASSINO. Flashes of
artillery burst on the horizon.
LOPEZ' VOICE
Recibe se esta cancion
Tu eres, Lupita, divina
Como los rayos del sol ...
His voice fades away. And now only the low rumble of distant
gunfire is heard as the scene fades out.
[E]
The ROAD LEADING from the city fades in at dawn. The GI's,
led by Walker and Ernie, are slogging on again in the gray
dawn. The view moves past several GI's to Warnicki and Mew,
then to Murph, gloomily thinking of the brilliant figure he
cut on his honeymoon; then to Dondaro tearing up the road,
double quick. Beyond him lies the town of San Vittorio.
Reaching the line he sneaks in furtively between Spencer and
Murph. -- He looks wonderfully relaxed, in sharp contrast to
the others. Suddenly he is attracted to something on Murph's
back, which we see from DONDARO'S VIEWPOINT: Some company wag
has chalked on it, "JUST MARRIED." -- DONDARO grins. Spencer
leans over.
SPENCER
Hey!
(Seeing Dondaro's
beaming face)
Oh, oh!
(Then ironically)
Tell me, Dondaro, what's your power
over women?
DONDARO
(glibly giving
his recipe)
Klk! Klk!
(Looking around,
grinning)
Whatsamatter with you guys, you all
look tired?
Murph's doleful face looks over at Dondaro. Their faces are
a perfect study in contrast. Dondaro grins.
DONDARO
(cheerily)
Good morning, dear.
As Murph starts to curse, the scene dissolves to a moving
view of a ROAD favoring WALKER and ERNIE. The GI's spirits
have risen with the sun. Walker, however, has a troubled
look on his face as he looks ahead.
WALKER
I don't like it -- too quiet.
ERNIE
Maybe they've pulled back all the
way to Rome--
WALKER
(shaking his
head doubtfully)
Uh uh--
From another ANGLE we see several GI's; having met no
opposition, they are feeling pretty chipper.
SPENCER
A walk-away -- a walk-away--
LOPEZ
At this rate we'll be in Rome in
three days.
SPENCER
(with a sly dig)
Maybe Dondaro will give us a knock-
down to some of his cousins -- Klk!
Klk!
As they turn a bend in the road, Dondaro suddenly spots
someone up ahead. This dissolves to a ROCKY HILLSIDE at
dusk. Tense, cautious, wary of attack, our company spreads
out to occupy the hill slope. The men watchfully work their
way toward the crest on which stands an old stone farmhouse.
It is a rocky defile. Somewhere beyond that gap is the
enemy.
We see the crest of the HILL, the STONE HOUSE in the
background. Crawling up to the crest are Walker and Ernie.
Walker looks through his binoculars.
WALKER
Look at that old monastery. So
peaceful --
(Handing the
glasses to Ernie)
You'd never think ...
The scene cuts to the MONASTERY and MOUNTAINS: Atop Mt.
Cassino, the Monastery dominates the entire countryside --
aloof, brooding, eternal.
WALKER
... there was a war within a
thousand miles of it.
ERNIE'S VOICE
Or a thousand years.
Ernie hands the glasses back.
WALKER
Well, maybe you're right about the
Krauts pulling back to Rome. I don't
get it, though--
(Shaking his head)
If they want to slug it out here,
they can make it plenty tough ...
At this, the scream of several shells splits the air. Ernie
and Walker "hit the dirt" and start scrambling down the
slope.
As the GI's scramble behind rocks for cover, shell after
shell bursts on the hillside. The stonehouse is struck.
We get a view of a SHELL CRATER as Ernie tumbles into it and
cowers from repeated explosions.
We next see a shallow FOXHOLE with FIELD PHONE and ROCKS.
Walker's runner ducks behind the rocks as Walker scrambles
into the foxhole and grabs the phone.
WALKER
(into the phone)
Get me Artillery Fire Control.
(He ducks as
debris falls.)
Pete? Walker. Y'know that building
on top of the mountain?
In a close view of an AMERICAN OBSERVATION POST we see LT.
PETERSON at the phone.
PETE
(looking off)
The monastery?
WALKER
(at the phone)
Call it that if you want to, but I
call it, in military terms, an
observation post. If you don't want
to get us all killed you had better
give it the works.
We get a close view of WALKER at the phone.
PETE'S VOICE
Can't. Got an order about it.
Religious shrine.
WALKER
(angrily, as a
shell screams over)
Does that sound like religion to
you?
He reaches up and places the telephone on the parapet of the
foxhole. -- This cuts to a close view of PETERSON as the
explosions nearly wreck his phone. He grimaces.
We again see the HILLSIDE, with the MONASTERY and MOUNTAINS
in the background. A piercing cry of "Medic! Medic!" rises
as more shells scream over. In the distance the monastery
stands like a symbol of eternal tranquillity -- ostensibly
beyond reach of violence. The scene dissolves to a HILLSIDE
at twilight in the rain. The men are wearily digging their
foxholes deeper, making use of the terrain for added
protection. In the foreground Ernie is watching a patrol,
led by Warnicki, slog past the shattered stonehouse with
its little shrine as the scene dissolves to a full view,
shooting toward a DEFILE at NIGHT in the RAIN. Lit by
flashes of distant artillery, the remnants of the patrol
straggle back. They are drunk with exhaustion and foul
beyond recognition. As they pass, the view moves to Ernie,
watching ...
WARNICKI
All right, men -- let's go!
(to Ernie)
Lost three.
The scene dissolves to an outcrop of SHELF ROCK in a fog.
Ernie and Mew are widening the entrance to a dugout under
the slanting shelf of rock. Ernie straightens wearily -- and
bangs his head against the rocky ceiling.
ERNIE
Guess it could be deeper.
MEW
Yeah, kind of looks like we'll need
a permanent home here.
ERNIE
Yeah ...
He looks off, and from Ernie's angle we see the MONASTERY
and MOUNTAINS still standing aloof and imperturbable.
Into the scene, heading toward the defile, comes a sizeable
patrol, again led by Warnicki.
SPENCER
(shaking his head)
Patrol, patrol, patrol ... one more
patrol and I'll go nuts!
DONDARO
Personally, I'd feel a lot healthier
if that monastery wasn't lookin'
down my throat.
They head into the defile, and the scene dissolves to a view
of the DEFILE as Ayrab comes romping gaily out of the defile,
his tail up like a flag -- his friends are back! In direct
contrast to Ayrab, come the men, great leaden hunks of
exhaustion. Several heads stick out of the dugouts and
silently watch them returning. The men separate and head for
their foxholes. Warnicki heads for Walker's dugout.
WALKER'S DUGOUT: Lit by a candle, the dugout is dank, wet,
dreary, just big enough for three people. Gas cans serve as
furniture. With Walker is Lieutenant Henry. Walker, haggard
and grimy, looks up as Warnicki enters.
WARNICKI
(with flat weariness)
Just got back, Captain ... Drew lot
of small arms fire on Hill 457 ...
Mortar fire 793 ... Terrific
artillery fire, but couldn't locate
it.
(After a slight pause)
They got Lt. Josephs, Spencer and
Trenton ... Michaelson got it in the
arm, but I got him back okay.
There's a moment's pause; then Walker speaks quietly:
WALKER
Okay, Steve ... Better get some
chow.
Warnicki turns and wearily goes out. Walker turns to his
papers.
WALKER
You take over Josephs' platoon ...
HENRY
(starting to leave)
Right, sir ...
WALKER
And, oh--
Henry half turns; Walker speaks without looking at him.
WALKER
... If Lieutenant Josephs had any
personal stuff, send 'em over ...
will you?
Henry nods and goes. For a moment Walker stares before him;
then shakes himself and concentrates on his maps. A shell
whines over. Walker stiffens.
Inside WARNICKI'S DUGOUT as Warnicki enters and slumps down
to a flat rock: This dugout is under a slanting rock which
seems to crush down oppressively on the men's heads. They
sit around huddled in their great coats, mud-caked, begrimed,
exhausted. The only decoration is a picture of Murph's wife,
Red. Mew is heating coffee over a fitful fire. Murph, his
big knees under his chin, is huddled in a corner sipping
coffee. Dondaro is lying on his back, staring up at the rock.
There's the constant sound of enemy shells slugging over.
Slow drops of water keep dripping on Dondaro's face.
DONDARO
Somebody ought to phone the plumber.
But he doesn't move.
MURPH
You know, it sounds pretty silly
when you say it, but sometimes
resting like this, I get a kick out
of just breathing.
MEW
(offering Warnicki a cup)
Hot java, Steve--
WARNICKI
No.
Warnicki shakes his head, picks up his battered victrola and
spins the platter. It emits some outlandish sounds. Suddenly
there's a swift succession of shell bursts nearby. The
entire hillside trembles. Fragments of rock fall. No one
stirs.
MURPH
(exasperated)
Between the monastery and Steve's
phonograph ...
WARNICKI
(grimly)
I'll fix 'em both before I'm
through!
Two more shells slug the hillside.
MURPH
(bitterly)
There goes that monastery again.
Everybody knows it's an Observation
Post. Why don't they bomb it!
There's an unspoken answer. The men look away, and in a view
favoring LOPEZ we see him looking from one to the other.
LOPEZ
(quietly)
I'm a Catholic, and I say bomb it
to hell!
DONDARO
Check, brother.
LOPEZ
I got a wife and a kid. Think I want
to die for a piece of stone?
DONDARO
(sighing)
Why wasn't I born a 4-F instead of
good-looking?
Which reminds him: Secretively he pulls a small phial from
his pocket and passes it under his nose. His eyes melt with
memories and longing. Offscene Warnicki's record emits some
outlandish sound.
The scene dissolves to a HILLSIDE. Led by a Lieutenant, a
squad of replacements trudge up the mule trail, coming to a
halt before Walker's dugout. The Lieutenant heads toward it.
-- He enters and salutes.
LIEUTENANT
Lieutenant Hawkins reporting, sir
-- replacements.
WALKER
(after a pause)
Yeah, I'll be right with you.
Hawkins goes. Walker takes another sip of coffee, obviously
stalling against a job he hates. Finally he buttons his coat
and goes; Ernie follows.
ERNIE
Maid'll clean it up later.
This cuts to the HILLSIDE: Approaching the squad, Walker
looks over the new men. They are all young. Some look eager,
some look scared, but all look young. Warnicki comes up.
WALKER
Okay, Sarge, you line the men up.
SERGEANT
All right men, fall in.
WALKER
(his voice unnecessarily
harsh)
You first four -- First Platoon --
Sergeant Warnicki'll show you to
your hotel suites ...
(As the four men fall
out and go with Warnicki)
Next six -- Second Platoon -- The
corporal will take care of you. The
rest of you go with Lt. Hawkins--
(Turning to Hawkins)
You'll replace Lt. Henry -- Third
Platoon. Turn right past the
mansion, and down the hill and turn
to the left. All right, take over.
The men start off.
This cuts to WARNICKI and his REPLACEMENTS trudging through
the mud.
WARNICKI
Any of you dogfaces know anything
about a phonograph?
As the men merely exchange puzzled glances, he is disgusted.
WARNICKI
The cream of the crop, I always get.
There's the scream of shells. Everyone dives as geysers of
mud and rock cascade, and we get a close view of one of the
soldiers looking out bewildered from a boulder.
GI
Gee -- a guy could get killed here --
The scene dissolves to the GROUP on the hillside: Tensely,
three Lieutenants wait with Walker for some signal.
WALKER
All right ... Let's synchronize our
watches.
(to Hawkins)
You stick with Sergeant Warnicki,
Lieutenant. He knows the terrain.
Okay, move out.
We see a flash of an AMERICAN BATTERY abruptly firing a
terrific barrage of shells, then the HILLSIDE. Led by their
Lieutenants, Warnicki and the GI's start through the defile.
Ernie holding Ayrab in his arms, grimly watches them.
MURPHY
So long, Ayrab.
ERNIE
(murmuring)
Good luck ...
His face is blue with cold as the raw wind rips across. The
thunder and scream of shells mount. It's begun to rain.
Ayrab whines softly and snuggles against Ernie. He pats the
pup and continues to stare out bleakly. The rain falls as
the scene fades out.
[F]
WARNICKI'S DUGOUT fades in. Ernie is sitting alone. Ayrab
lies disconsolately at his feet. There's a fire going,
coffee bubbling. Suddenly Ayrab leaps up and dashes madly
out. Ernie looks up hopefully. And now he sees the returning
soldiers. As the men return and flop down in their corners
-- one by one -- sodden masses of mud and exhaustion, Ernie
silently counts them. There's Lopez! And then Mew! Pause.
And that new kid, Whitey! A longer pause which seems like
eternity. And Dondaro! Again a long pause. Ernie's gaze
falters, and then there's Ayrab and Warnicki! And that's
all. Ernie watches for Murphy. But that's all.
WARNICKI
My poor aching back.
ERNIE looks at the corner where Murphy always sat. Then at
Red's picture. Then at Mew, who slowly takes out his
tattered insurance paper and a pencil, and starts to rub
something out, following which we see the INSURANCE PAPER:
Crossing out Murph's name, Mew changes the sum opposite Mrs.
Murphy's name to $4,000. The list now reads: Warnicki $2000;
Junior $2000; Mrs. Murphy $4000.
Deeply moved, Ernie, who has watched this, rises, takes
Murph's wife's picture off the wall, and goes out of the
dugout. We then see Ernie coming out and Walker, standing at
the the entrance of the dugout, watching him disappear over
the hill. ERNIE is then seen trudging along, looking down at
the ground, still stunned by the news, with hunched
shoulders and a frozen face.
This cuts to the CORRESPONDENTS HEADQUARTERS as Ernie nears
the shack. Prominent over the entrance is a sign that reads:
NEWSPAPER ROW. Directly below these words is the legend:
DON'T LOOK NOW -- BUT THROUGH
THESE PORTALS PASS THE WORLD'S
MOST BEAUTIFUL
WAR CORRESPONDENTS.
Ernie, still walking slowly, enters the scene and goes into
the building.
Inside the CORRESPONDENTS HEADQUARTERS, there are three
correspondents -- Roberts, Landry and Ruben. Ruben is
hunched over his typewriter. As Ernie enters the room, the
correspondents look up -- then quickly stand up and make a
deep salaam to Ernie.
CORRESPONDENTS
(in unison)
Our hero! Our hero! Our hero!
ERNIE
What's the gag?
ROBERTS
(subserviently)
Your mail, Mr. Pyle--
He throws Ernie a crumpled cablegram.
ERNIE
Thanks. See you already opened it.
LANDRY
Why not? It was marked "Personal."
ERNIE
(smoothing out
the cablegram)
What's in it?
RUBEN
Oh, nothing much. You've just won
the Pulitzer Prize, that's all.
ERNIE
Well, I'll be darned.
Reading the cablegram with a blank expression. He is still
stunned by Murphy's death.
ROBERTS
I regret to inform you, Mr. Pyle --
you are no longer a newspaperman ...
you are now a distinguished
journalist--
Landry, Ruben and Roberts turn their backs on Ernie. The
view moves with Ernie as he walks toward his desk. Over the
scene we hear Ruben's voice.
RUBEN'S VOICE
Poor devil will probably be famous
now ...
LANDRY
(sympathetically)
Tsk-tsk-tsk ...
Ernie makes his way toward his desk, slowly, still numb. He
sits down at his typewriter. Slowly he puts the telegram
down and mechanically rolls a sheet of paper into the
typewriter. He stares at it for a moment, then begins to
type.
Looking past ERNIE'S SHOULDER we see slowly emerging on the
sheet of paper the words: "I had long ago come to think of
Private Wingless Murphy as an old, old friend. He was just a
plain Hoosier boy." The typewriter moves back and forth:
"Now you couldn't imagine him ever killing anybody."
Ernie's eyes fill with emotion, his fingers are poised for
typing, but nothing comes out. He shakes his head, reaches
for a bottle of liquor in his desk, takes a swallow, blinks
and then begins typing furiously as the scene fades out.
[G]
The HILLSIDE, the MONASTERY in the background, fades in. The
stone house is now only a rubble, the shrine cracked. It is
raining. In the distance the monastery is dimly seen through
the mist. This cuts to WARNICKI'S DUGOUT. The first thing
noted is the sound of a radio in this dank, dreary hole.
It's a portable and the boys, huddled in everything they
own, are gathered around it. The men are listening to the
radio.
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
... it will be a comfort to you to
know that your sons, wherever they
are ... at sea, or in the sky or in
their foxholes ... Yes, sir, your
boys are celebrating too ... with
the finest turkey ... cranberry
sauce ... and all the fixin's ...
And then the radio starts playing "I'm Dreaming of a White
Christmas."
DONDARO
(tapping his ration can,
out of which he is eating)
Tough skin on this bird.
WAYNE
(digging at some beans)
I always like to eat the stuffing
first.
GROSS
(to an imaginary waiter)
Cranberry sauce ... Mm, mm!
DONDARO
Poor folks back home. Sure got it
rugged.
WARNICKI
(at his "vic," trying
to play it; morosely)
Shoulda got a phonograph.
This dissolves to a battle-scarred street at dusk as Ernie,
walking hunched through the snow-filled muddy street, sees
something that attracts his attention. Then we see the
QUARTERMASTER'S BUILDING from Ernie's viewpoint. Through the
office window, Walker can be seen furiously pounding the
desk of a startled QMC Lieutenant.
WALKER
You had turkey ... The other outfits
had turkey ... The general had turkey
... My men are going to have turkey.
LIEUTENANT
(spluttering)
But we did try to ...
WALKER
Trying ain't good enough!
(Suddenly, very quietly)
You either get those turkeys or the
Supply Corp is going to have to get
themselves a new Lieutenant!
His hand slowly moves toward his holster -- And by God, he
means it! He is holding his gun in a menacing attitude.
Ernie, unnoticed by either, has entered the scene.
LIEUTENANT
(nervously)
I'll scrounge around and see what I
can do, s-sir ...
He starts.
ERNIE
(innocently)
How about cranberries and stuff?
LIEUTENANT
(turning back;
exasperated)
Oh, now -- wait a minute--
WALKER
(after a swift glance
at Ernie; coldly)
Cranberries!
LIEUTENANT
Cranberries!
The Lieutenant nods and goes. Walker turns heartily to Ernie.
We next see the men on the HILLSIDE as jouncing along, laden
with provisions, Ernie and Walker's jeep pulls to a stop
before Walker's dugout. As the two men hop out and start to
unload, Warnicki approaches.
WARNICKI
Phone for you, sir. Battalion
Headquarters.
Walker and Ernie exchange a glance.
WALKER
(ironically)
Probably the Rules and Regulations
Committee on Uplift and Morale ...
He starts off. Ernie continues to unload with the aid of a
couple of GI's who drift up.
Inside WALKER'S DUGOUT:
WALKER
(into the phone)
Yes, sir ... Captain Walker ... I
see ...
(Then; mildly ironic)
Just one prisoner or two ...
Naturally, sir, as many as we can
get ...
(His face shadows.)
Replacements ... No, they haven t
gotten here yet ... yes, sir ...
As he hangs up, the angle widens to include Warnicki
entering.
WALKER
Another patrol ...
WARNICKI
(quietly)
I'll go.
WALKER
Like hell you will! You've been on
enough.
WARNICKI
(stolidly)
Every step forward is a step closer
... to home.
WALKER
(looking up at
Warnicki; then)
Okay. Get me ten men ...
Warnicki starts out of the dugout. Walker starts getting
ready.
The scene cuts to WARNICKI'S DUGOUT. Suddenly, through the
opening, a box appears, followed by Ernie, followed by a GI
(Simmons). Instantly the boys come to life.
ERNIE
Believe it or not, it's turkey, on
the level!
In less than a second flat, they're at work on that turkey.
DONDARO
Wine? You bring wine?
ERNIE
(holding a bottle up)
What's Christmas without wine? After
that little repast one cigar apiece.
Next we get closeups of WARNICKI and WALKER, who realize
it's time to go on patrol; we see them going out of the
dugout, Walker looking at his watch, and the patrol
disappearing in the rainy night, the scene fading out. When
the DUGOUT fades in again, the boys are in a relaxed mood.
Lopez tinkles softly on his by now one-stringed guitar.
Wayne puffs a corn-cob. Gross chews a wad, Dondaro, near
Ernie, is luxuriously smoking a cigar. Mew is half-asleep.
Although the air is cold, there's a feeling of old-shoe
warmth among them.
DONDARO
(stretching)
Hey, Ernie, you been to Hollywood.
... Ever know Carol ...
The sound of bombardment bursts into the merriment.
ERNIE
(a little startled)
Well ... I've met her ...
DONDARO
(intrigued)
Is it true she's got those great
big ...
Two shells slam over, drowning out his words.
DONDARO
Is it?
ERNIE
(half-embarrassed)
That's the rumor.
DONDARO
(doubly intrigued)
Well, tell me something. Are they
really on the level?
Two more shells slam over.
ERNIE
I forgot to ask. Probably.
DONDARO
Klk! Klk!
(Then very seriously)
You been around a lot -- Washington,
New York, Hollywood, everywhere,
haven't you, Ernie? Y'know, when
this shindig's over, I'm gonna look
you up ... I might ask you to get
me a job.
ERNIE
Yep.
The scene cuts to the HILLSIDE then: Returning wearily down
the road come Walker, Warnicki and two GI's with a sullen
Nazi prisoner in tow. Nearing Walker's dugout, they are met
by a lieutenant.
WALKER
(wearily indicating
the Nazi)
Take him down to Headquarters ...
LIEUTENANT
(putting the Nazi
under guard)
Replacements came up, Sir ...
He hands Walker a list. Walker takes it; his face shadows.
WALKER
Fine ... I'll assign them ... But
we'll need five more.
(The lieutenant
tows off the Nazi.)
Get him down to headquarters, and
even if it hurts take good care of
him.
GI
But good!
The scene cuts to WALKER'S DUGOUT as, lighting a candle,
Walker sinks wearily to a seat. He almost dozes off, but
the list of names catches his eye. He tries to avoid them,
but can't. He lifts a bottle from under his box, pours
himself a drink and starts checking off the names ... The
scene then cuts to WARNICKI'S DUGOUT where entering
leadenly, Warnicki is greeted by the others.
AD LIBS
Hi, Steve -- Saved you some turkey,
Sarge.
Warnicki silently slumps to his corner and concentrates on
his victrola.
WARNICKI
(with a sudden growl)
Don't want any ...
The boys, taken aback by this moroseness, exchange glances.
Ernie looks at Warnicki steadily.
WAYNE
(muttering)
Sure wish he'd get to hear Junior.
Dondaro, meanwhile, has stolen across to his duffle-bag and
withdrawn a small bottle of "Aphrodisiac." He sniffs the
"ambrosia" ecstatically and secretively dabs some behind his
ears. -- Thereupon, in a fairly close view, favoring WAYNE
and GROSS, we see the latter taking off his socks as the
pungent "fragrance" penetrates to their corner. Gross sniffs
and looks over at Wayne. Wayne also sniffing, looks over at
Gross. They eye each other suspiciously, then down at the
sock -- but shake their heads. That's a "Chanel #5" from
another bottle. Sniffing, they look around at the others.
-- The others have also begun sniffing and eyeing each other
suspiciously. Their eyes focus toward innocent Ernie.
ERNIE
(grinning wanly)
It's not me ...
WAYNE
Klk! Klk!
But as Dondaro swiftly slithers out, their faces light up.
The candle splutters and begins to die. Ernie rises and
yawns.
ERNIE
Well, I guess I better turn in.
Good night, fellows.
GI'S
Thanks for the merry Christmas,
Ernie.
He goes amid mumbled "Good nights" and "Merry Christmases."
The scene then cuts to the HILLSIDE. As Ernie comes out,
hunched against the cold, Dondaro can be seen disappearing
down the road. Ernie heads toward Walker's dugout ... The
distant roll of artillery is heard. -- Dondaro slithers
down the village street and slips into the wine shop.
Inside WALKER'S DUGOUT: Hollow-eyed with fatigue, Walker
sits huddled over his papers. The candle flickers fitfully,
casting strange shadows on the dank walls. There's a great
loneliness about this man as he sits there in this little
hollow tomb carved in this foreign hillside. Ernie is caught
by it as he enters. Walker glances up. Ernie goes to him
with a second joint of turkey he has saved for him.
ERNIE
(handing it to him)
Merry Christmas, Bill.
WALKER
(taking it)
Merry Christmas, Ernie.
His eyes shadow; he looks away; then, as if remembering,
holds up the bottle.
WALKER
Night cap?
ERNIE
Don't mind ...
Ernie sinks to a seat. There's only the soft gurgling of the
bottle in the silence. They lift their cups and drink. It's
murderous stuff.
ERNIE
(coughing)
What's this -- a secret weapon?
WALKER
(smiling)
Grappa. Italian moonshine. A Purple
Heart with every third drink.
ERNIE
(smiling)
I'd rather have some good
Albuquerque sunshine ...
WALKER
(wistfully)
It must be pretty nice in New
Mexico this time of the year ...
ERNIE
Sure is ...
WALKER
Always wanted to get out West --
Someday -- maybe--
ERNIE
If you do, look us up. That girl and
I will show you how it's done ...
You married?
WALKER
(filling his cup)
Well, yes and no ... She wanted one
thing; I wanted another ... She
walked out ... Chapter closed ...
He drinks, shudders as the drink goes down. Ernie fingers
his cup. Again the silence; only the wail of the wind and
the distant rumble of artillery.
WALKER
... Names ... I've been crossing out
old names ... putting new names in ...
(he looks up and laughs)
You're not the only writer in this
bunch ... I've been writing too ...
He checks himself, Ernie glances up, understanding the
burden on Walker's heart.
WALKER
Jones -- Peterson -- McCarthy --
Spidofsky -- Smith ... Dear Mrs.
Smith, your son died bravely today
on the ...
He fills his cup again. But doesn't drink. There is a short
laugh from him -- but there's no laughter in his eyes.
WALKER
And the new kids coming up. ...
That's what gets you ... Some of
them have just got fuzz on their
faces ...
We get a close view of ERNIE listening to him.
WALKER'S VOICE
... They don't know what it's all
about ... And they're scared to
death ...
We see them together.
WALKER
... I know it's not my fault they
get killed but I get so I feel like
a murderer ...
(Bitterly)
I hate to look at 'em -- the new
ones ...
(Then, almost mockingly)
Drink up, Ernie ... Here's to Faid
Pass ... Salerno ... Anzio
beachhead ...
(He drinks)
Geez, I'm tired ...
ERNIE
You better try and get some sleep.
WALKER
(laughing)
That reminds me of W. C. Fields'
sure cure for insomnia. Get lots of
sleep.
Silence ... The candle flickers. Ernie sips at his cup.
WALKER
(fighting sleep)
.... Names and addresses ... and
hills to be taken ... You'd be
simply amazed at the number of hills
still to be taken ...
(suddenly looking
up at Ernie)
Tell me, Ernie, why the devil don't
you go home?
ERNIE
(looking into his cup)
I've often asked myself.
WALKER
If only we could create something
good out of all this energy and all
these men ...
(His voice trails off)
They're the best, Ernie ... the
best ...
The view draws closer to Ernie as he stares into his cup.
ERNIE
(quietly)
Yip! They live in a world the other
world'll never know ... Even the Air
Force ... Up there they approach
death differently. When they die
they're well-fed and clean-shaven ...
(Wryly)
If that's any comfort ...
(He stares ahead
deeply moved.)
But the GI ... he lives so miserable
and dies so miserable, you just ...
He turns toward Walker, stops and smiles gently. Walker is
asleep in deep exhaustion, head on the table. Ernie rises
and puts a blanket around Walker's shoulders. He looks down
at the sleeping man -- then snuffs out the candle ...
There's the distant roar of artillery as the scene fades
out.
[H]
The HILLSIDE fades in as Dondaro is returning in the pitch
before dawn, a happy relaxed expression on his face. He
furtively steals past Walker's dugout. Walker, shivering,
comes out in the bone-chilling morning.
WALKER
Dondaro!
As Dondaro shakily approaches, Walker looks him over keenly,
but his tone is amiability itself. The sky's begun to gray.
WALKER
(smiling)
Have a nice time?
Expecting a lacing, Dondaro is taken aback by Walker's
friendly tone. He nods, puzzled.
WALKER
(still friendly)
Always like to see one of my men get
some relaxation ...
(Almost intimately)
Y'know, Dondaro, it would give me a
great deal of personal pleasure ...
Dondaro begins to beam. After all, the Cap's human. Maybe
he'd like a "telephone number" too ... Walker's sudden cold
tones knife him out of his daydreams.
WALKER
(incisively)
...to break every bone in your body!
Goin' off down there was one thing!
Up here it's another!
(Dondaro gulps;
Walker blazes.)
Now get out! Before I kick the--
Dondaro hastily starts to scoot. Heads have begun to stick
out of the dugouts to listen to this lashing.
WALKER
Wait!
(Dondaro halts.)
Report to Sergeant Warnicki. Tell
him you're going to dig latrines for
every man in this company from here
to Rome! Nice deep ones.
Dondaro scoots. The GI's' faces light with delightful
anticipation. A sudden shell-burst slams over as the scene
dissolves to a view of the HILLSIDE, where, wielding a
pickaxe, Dondaro has dug about two feet of trench. He's
tired, disgusted, grimy.
GROSS' VOICE
You're lucky, Dondaro. You're
learning a trade.
The angle widens to include several GI's ribbing him.
DONDARO
When this war's over, I'm gonna
write a book exposin' this Army.
WAYNE
(leaning over
to Dondaro)
Hey, Dondaro, tell me confidentially,
was it worth it?
DONDARO
(his eyes melting)
Klk! Klk!
He digs with renewed vigor. Suddenly there's a deep all-
encompassing drone in the sky -- a far-away surge of doom-
like sound. They all look up, crying out:
GI'S
Hey, look! Look!
In a rising crescendo, a vast armada of planes approaches,
wave on wave, blacking out the sky. Hurrying out of his
DUGOUT, Walker swiftly looks at his watch, looks at the sky,
and starts shouting to Warnicki--
WALKER
(crisp; businesslike)
Okay, Steve! Let's go!
WARNICKI
(shouting to the men)
Okay, men. This is what you've been
waiting for! Okay, men -- let's go!
On the double!
The GI's start running up excitedly, falling into their
formations ready to start out.
ERNIE'S VOICE
(heard over the scenes)
General Eisenhower had made his
decision. Bomb the monastery. If we
have to choose ... between
destroying a famous building and
sacrificing our men's lives ... then
our men's lives count infinitely
more. And -- here was one of the
grim ironies of war -- the very
rubble of the monastery became a
fortress for the Nazis and they
stopped us cold. We were right back
where we started from.
We see the MONASTERY. A bomb explodes on the abbey. Then
three -- then six -- Then all hell. -- The hillside seems to
lift. -- We see that the entire company is elated at the
pasting the Monastery is getting.
AD LIBS
On the button!
Paste 'em one for me!
That's the old haymaker!
Hit 'em on the kisser!
Tons of bombs pulverize the monastery! The bombardment is
volcanic. Then in a long view directed toward the STONE
HOUSE and DEFILE we see the men excitedly moving out into
the defile in a general attack. A GI salutes the statue in
the niche as he passes.
GI
So long, St. Chris. We won't be
seein' you no more.
Next we get a series of views showing the withdrawal of the
troops from the attack on Cassino. Limping back, our tanks
slowly grind past several overturned, still burning, tanks.
-- This cuts to WARNICKI'S DUGOUT as, beaten, scarcely able
to breathe, our GI's stumble in and flop down in
exhaustion.
Several are missing; Wayne and Gross are gone ... Dondaro
lifts his head and looks around.
DONDARO
Warnicki -- ain't he back?
This cuts to the HILLSIDE, near the DEFILE. Walker moves
tensely about, hunched in his rain coat. His nerve-strained
face keeps looking toward the mist-filled defile. But there
is no one. Only the swirling mist. His lips tighten ... He
keeps pacing ...
Outside the GI's DUGOUT, three GI's look up very much
concerned, toward Walker.
FIRST GI
Better take him some coffee ... and
keep your eye on him, too.
One of them, Babyface Pete, starts toward Walker with a pot
of steaming coffee.
SECOND GI
(to another GI)
When are we hittin' 'em again?
GI
(glancing at his watch)
Eighteen hundred.
WALKER stops as Babyface Pete approaches, silently offering
him coffee.
WALKER
(gratefully)
No, thanks. ...
PETE
It's hot.
WALKER
No thanks, Pete.
He continues pacing, keeping his eye on the defile. Babyface
moves off behind a boulder and watches Walker. Still pacing,
Walker anxiously glances at his watch and then toward the
defile. Still only the swirling mist ... -- Hopelessly now,
Walker slowly starts back toward the dugout. But suddenly
he hears something in the defile. He looks up, his eyes
lighting.... And in a distant view of the DEFILE, slowly
emerging out of the mist, we see a great leaden, mud-caked
figure -- a mass of fatigue and weariness -- Warnicki!
Walker starts to him with a cry of joy ... But the cry fades
as he sees the abysmal weariness in Warnicki's face.
WARNICKI
(tonelessly)
Tough time gettin' back, sir.
Walker nods, and Warnicki slogs leadenly toward the dugouts.
We get a close shot of WALKER staring after Warnicki. His
eyes are filled with pain. Then the scene cuts to WARNICKI'S
DUGOUT. Entering, Warnicki slumps down to his corner. He
does nothing but sit there for a moment, just breathing.
Ayrab sidles up and licks his torn, mud-caked hands. Then,
automatically, without thought, Warnicki reaches down for
the one comfort that has sustained him so long. His horny
blood-torn hands bring the PHONOGRAPH to his knees and
habitually, as he has done so often before, his thick
fingers fumble at the lever -- the disc revolves -- but now,
instead of the usual grating sound, there emerges from it
the sweetest, softest, most innocent voice in the world.
Junior's childish treble ... and ...
WOMAN'S VOICE
Come on Junior, say hello to your
Daddy.
JUNIOR'S VOICE
(on the phonograph)
Hello, daddy ... Hello, daddy ...
Hello, daddy ... Hello, daddy ...
Hello, daddy ...
The calloused mud-caked hand near the phonograph trembles.
The view slowly moves up to WARNICKI'S FACE. And it's a
horrible, terrifying thing to see. For this face of rock,
this granite face, this face that has endured every torture
and abomination of war, is cracking. Cracking as a child's
voice innocently sings on and on--
VOICE
Hello, daddy ... Hello, daddy ...
Hello, daddy ...
The giant frame of the man seethes with a volcanic emotion;
the tears burn out of his eyes. His breath comes in short
tortured gasps. And suddenly he can endure no more. He rises
and breaks. And it's like a great heart breaking. Not
weakly, but like a storm suddenly gone berserk.
WARNICKI
(terrifyingly;
between gasps)
If it wasn't for them, I'd be home
with Junior ... I'd be home with
little Junior. I'll ... I'll kill
every mother's son of them ... I'll
kill them!
He lunges fiercely toward the opening.
DONDARO
Grab him!
The phonograph goes on and on ... Springing at him, Waters
and Moss try to stop him. But he tosses them aside like
chips. -- Tearing out of the dugout, Warnicki bulls wildly
toward the defile, tearing past Walker.
WARNICKI
If it wasn't for them ... I'd be
home with little Junior! If it
wasn't for them! ... I'll kill 'em!
WALKER
(sharply)
Warnicki! Warnicki!
But Warnicki doesn't hear. He has only one thought. To get
at those Nazis who have destroyed so much of his and
everyone's happiness. To rip them apart with his own bare
hands! Dondaro, coming down from the road, leaps at Warnicki.
But Warnicki throws him aside ... -- Walker hurls himself in
a football tackle at the frenzied man -- The two men go down
in a heap near the ruins of the stone house. But Warnicki
lashes himself free. Dondaro now pounces on. And Waters and
Moss! But all four can't hold Warnicki in his berserk
strength ... From the dugout phonograph continues on ...
WARNICKI
(frothing fiercely)
Little Junior ... Little Junior! Let
me go! What's the matter with you?
You son of a--
His wildness seizes all of them like a contagion. They
battle with him frenziedly, until ... Walker suddenly shoots
over four sharp vicious jabs to the button, and Warnicki
sags ... They let him down gently ... The phonograph winds
down ... stops ... -- Waters and Moss bend over Warnicki
... Walker and Dondaro stand there panting ... Finally they
help Warnicki up, but as they do they hear--
WARNICKI'S VOICE
(muttering like a
gibbering idiot)
... hello, daddy ... hello, daddy
... hello, daddy ... hello ... Go
on, Junior ... say hello to daddy
... hello, daddy, hello, daddy,
hello, daddy ...
Deeply shaken, Walker fights to keep from turning away. The
men look to him for help.
WALKER
(his voice treacherously
uneven)
Take him to the medics....
But now, as they lead the still gibbering Warnicki off with
Ayrab dancing playfully at his shambling feet, a lieutenant
swiftly runs up to Walker. (In the background the company is
forming for the attack.)
WALKER
(grimly)
All right, men, let's do something
about that.
ERNIE'S VOICE
The machines had done their best but
it wasn't enough. Now came the time,
as it does in every war, for the
greatest fighting machine of them
all -- the infantry soldier -- to
go in and slug it out.
The scene dissolves and is followed by a series of scenes
representing the victorious attack of the infantry,
concluding with a close view of a SIGNPOST at night. It
reads "ROMA" with an arrow pointing up ahead. Then we see
the ROAD TO ROME as a long surge of troops is heading upward
toward the capital. There is a spirited victorious swing to
their movement. The moonlight reflects on their helmets,
their rifles, their armor. The sound of battle is faint,
intermittent, far to the north ...
In the midst of these fresh buoyant troops is Ernie. He
slogs along with them, an older man, reflectively noting
their swing, their excited gum chewing. Snatches of
conversation drift around him.
ERNIE
Where you from, Joe?
GI
Louisiana.
ERNIE
Louisiana? Good.
GI
(looking back,
smiling)
Cassino looks a lot better from
this side.
AD LIBS
All away to Rome!
I got a good telephone number there!
As Ernie tiredly smiles, he sees someone off the road. And
on the ROADSIDE, with the moonlight on the HILLS in the
background we see a GI who looks as though he's been thru
battle. Ernie approaches him.
ERNIE
Hey fellows, do you know where the
18th Infantry is?
GI
This is it.
ERNIE
C Company--?
GI
What's left of it.
He nods over his shoulder. Ernie starts up along a narrow
trail in the direction of his nod. We then see him coming to
a GLEN where lying about, mud-begrimed and weary, are
several GI's of our company, among them Babyface and Moss.
They are exhausted, but there is a certain sense of elation
over their victory. One of the men is wearily playing a
harmonica to himself. As Ernie comes up, he is greeted by
one or two--
AD LIBS
Hiya, Ernie--
Welcome to this side of Cassino--
Where you been, Ernie?
ERNIE
Hiya, boys -- Finally made it.
Covertly he counts heads as he looks around to see which of
the GI's of his company are still there; which are gone.
GI
(smiling)
Guys moving up the road look kind of
chipper, don't they, Ernie?
ERNIE
Sure do!
They look toward the troops on the main road, and next, in
the background, a long line of GI's can be seen marching up
the road to Rome, their helmets glinting in the moonlight.
-- Ernie continues down the line.
GI
Hi, Ernie.
ERNIE
Hi, boys.
FIRST GI
(not bitterly)
Yeah -- we kick the door open and
them guys make the grand entrance.
SECOND GI
Let 'em have their fun -- they're
still young.
ERNIE
Got an extra chair here? Haven't you
eaten that dog yet?
He suddenly stops as across their vision up the hills on the
opposite side of the road, comes a slow line of mules
winding their way down. The mules bear a burden slung across
their pack saddles, the nature of which is indistinct.
The MULE TRAIL is now seen, and so is the burden the mules
are carrying.
They are dead bodies lashed, belly down, across the saddles.
The stiffened legs stick out awkwardly. The mules are slowly
led toward a cowshed just off the road.
The boys silently watch the mules being led toward a cowshed
in the background. The line of troops marching toward Rome
has passed on. GI's unlash the bodies and lift them from the
pack saddles and lay them, one after another, in the shadow
of the cowshed's stone wall.
GI
(looking toward the mule
trail; suddenly, quietly)
It's Dondaro....
They all look up, and we see the MULE TRAIL, from their
viewpoint. Slowly, carefully, a GI is leading a mule with
its dead burden down the trail. As he leads the mule toward
the cowshed, we see that it's Dondaro. He looks half-dead
himself. Gently, he unlashes the body and slides it down the
mule. For a moment the dead man is stood on his feet. In the
half light he looks merely like a sick man standing there
leaning against Dondaro. -- Then we see the GROUP.
BABYFACE
(in a half whisper)
It's the Cap'n ...
They watch Dondaro lay Walker's body on the ground in the
shadows and sit down near him. -- Then we see, from another
angle, Dondaro sitting there staring at Walker. Slowly some
of the men across the road in the background stir and go
toward Walker's body, one by one, Ernie with them. Several
remain behind.
The men trail slowly up, pausing a little distance away from
Walker's body. Then one goes slowly forward and looks down
at Walker's body. Ernie watches them.
GI
God damn it!
That's all he says and walks away. And then another GI
comes up.
SECOND GI
God damn it to hell, anyways!
He looks down for a moment and then he too turns and goes.
And now a third comes up -- an officer and looks down into
Walker's face and speaks to him directly, as though he were
alive.
OFFICER
I'm sorry, old man.
And he turns away. Finally, Babyface files up, and we see
WALKER'S BODY, the view including DONDARO and ERNIE. Dondaro
remains immobile. The Babyface runner comes up and speaks,
not in a whisper, but awfully tenderly.
BABYFACE
I sure am sorry, sir.
And he too goes. Ernie watches, deeply moved. And now
Dondaro slowly reaches out and takes Walker's dead hand into
his own and stares intently into his captain's dead face,
for what seems to be a long time. And he never utters a
word ...
Finally Dondaro puts the hand down and reaches over, gently
straightening the points of the captain's shirt collar.
Then, tenderly, he sort of rearranges the tattered edges of
the uniform around Walker's wound. -- And this is the
gesture that breaks Ernie completely, as we see him closely.
He turns away sharply to hide his emotion, and fighting for
control, he walks away from the scene, toward the moonlit
trail leading to the main road .... leaving Dondaro and
Walker in the shadowed background.... The scene then cuts to
an OFFICER.
OFFICER
(quietly)
All right, men -- let's go.
And finally against the background of white wooden crosses
gleaming in the moonlight, we see the troops marching onward
to Rome. Ernie turns, walks after them. They go off into the
distance, becoming silhouettes in the background, and the
film fades out as Ernie concludes:
ERNIE
That is our war and we will carry it
with us as we go from one battleground
to another until it is all over. We
will win. I hope we can rejoice with
victory -- but humbly -- and that all
together we will try, try out of the
memory of our anguish, to reassemble
our broken world into a pattern so
firm and so fair that another great
war can never again be possible.
(After a pause)
For those beneath the wooden crosses
there is nothing we can do except
perhaps to pause and murmur "Thanks,
Pal."
Screenplay by Leopold Atlas, Guy Endore and Philip Stevenson
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