operationeagletenspot
Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.
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A Screenplay by
Sean Ryan
Operation Eagle
Copyright 2004
registered with the
Screenwriter's Guild
All Rights Reserved
Contact: seansshack@oceanfree.net
EXT. FRANCE - SKYLINE - NIGHT
TITLE: May 20th 1944. Somewhere over occupied France.
A small transport plane comes into frame. The camera pans
back to show it is not alone.
The sky is filled with similar planes. The roar of the
engines are almost deafening.
INT. PLANE - CARGO BAY - NIGHT
A group of about 20 men fill both sides of the plane. They
are all dressed in combat gear.
Some of the men are checking gear, others are looking
nervous.
The camera slowly moves past the men towards a loan figure
are at the end of the cargo area.
The man is MAJOR WILLIAM PATRICK. He is loading bullets
into a machine gun magazine.
A young looking soldier turns to the man beside him.
SOLDIER # 1
(shouting)
Who the hell is that guy?
SOLDIER # 2
(shouting)
Special ops I think.
SOLDIER # 1
Doesn't say much does he?
SOLDIER # 2
They never d...
A large hole appears in the fuselage of the plane as
soldier #2 is ripped to pieces.
Large explosions begin to rock the plane as flak from the
ground explodes all around.
Soldier #1 goes into shock and starts to scream.
Patrick stands up and grabs the soldier by the collar.
PATRICK
(shouting)
Forget him he's gone. Now follow
your training and you might pull
through this.
The flak attack is getting stronger.
Patrick looks out through the hole in the plane, a look of
worry comes over his face.
EXT. SKYLINE - NIGHT
The sky is filled with explosions. Planes are being hit in
every direction.
One plane turns as flames pour from its cargo bay. The
pilot attempts to turn back but it is hit from above by
another plane.
Men are jumping from planes to escape the flames, some are
on fire.
INT. PLANE - CARGO BAY - NIGHT
Patrick looks back at the collection of terrified faces.
They are all looking to Patrick.
He looks around the plane for the group's leader and
notices a set of sergeant stripes on a decapitated corpse
in the corner.
PATRICK
(whispers to himself)
Great, just fucking great.
He kneels down to address the men and steadies himself in
the rocking plane.
PATRICK
All right listen up. We're going
to jump. I'm not to sure of your
orders but if we stay in this
heap of junk we're done for. We
will be jumping into a Nazi
firing range, so when you hit the
ground, hit it running. Are you
ready?
One of the soldiers leans over and vomits.
PATRICK
(whispers to himself)
Guess not.
He signals the group using a countdown with his five
fingers.
PATRICK
(shouting)
5, 4, 3, 2, 1. OK, go.
The first soldier approaches the door and jumps.
The plane begins to burn as the last 3 soldiers attempt to
jump. They are engulfed in flames.
Patrick is forced to jump as the flames race through the
plane.
He clears the door just before being burned. The flames
surround him as he starts to descend.
EXT. SKYLINE - NIGHT
The sky is filled with flak and burning troop planes.
He is passed by a soldier screaming and falling, his
parachute has failed.
Another is struggling to untie his parachute, he's on fire
and frees himself, committing suicide, falling towards the
ground like a Roman candle.
The sky is awash with hundreds of parachutes, slowly
descending towards the machine gun fire coming from the
ground.
As Patrick gets closer to the ground the dull thump of
machine gun fire can be heard.
The Germans are perched in machine gun nests and are
picking off the parachutists as they fall.
PATRICK
Motherfucker...
He aims his machine gun and fires as he descends.
His bullets rip through the machine gun operator and ammo
feeder of one of the nests.
A few seconds later Patrick hits the ground. He rolls, and
falls to a prone position.
Patrick scans the area with his gun before detaching
himself from his chute.
He runs rapidly in the direction of another machine gun
nest.
He approaches the nest at full speed, shooting the men
inside as he jumps over the sandbags.
PATRICK
Chicken shit bastards. Shooting
helpless para...
Patrick grabs the machine gun and turns towards the
direction of another nest and opens fire.
The men inside don't get enough time to react and are
killed.
Patrick notices a young trooper struggling with his chute.
A German soldier is targeting him in his rifle sights from
a bunker.
Patrick aims him gun and kills the soldier before he gets a
shot off.
Patrick approaches the young soldier and kicks him in the
backside.
PATRICK
Ever heard the term, keep your
head down?
The man looks surprised and falls backwards. He is much
younger than Patrick and dressed in a different uniform. He
is corporal JOHN WATERS.
WATERS
(ENGLISH ACCENT)
Go Fuc.. Oh sorry sir. Just
having a spot of bother with my
chute.
Waters cuts the strings with a knife and gets on one knee.
WATERS
What's the plan?
PATRICK
Get the fuck out of here for
starters. This mission looks like
a complete fuck up. You should
try and make it back to your
group.
WATERS
The are all dead.
PATRICK
You sure?
WATERS
I got blown out of our plane as
it got hit at least twice, I
think. None of them, none of them
even knew what hit them.
PATRICK
You fit to travel?
WATERS
Not a scratch. Must be the Irish
blood on my mother's side.
Patrick studies a map with a small torch.
PATRICK
Right hard to tell where we are,
as there are very little markings
around. But I think we are here
(points at map)
Which means we have about 10
bloody miles to hump.
WATERS
Why is that?
(looks at map)
Shouldn't we be heading in that
direction?
Waters points at a section on the map.
Patrick nods his head and places the map back into his
jacket.
PATRICK
Nope. I have another mission to
complete.
WATERS
So you are just gonna leave me
out here?
Patrick looks around to observe the carnage still going on.
PATRICK
Since brass made a complete fuck
up of this, you can come with me.
If we meet up with any of your
regiment, you're on your own. But
for now you do what I say, when I
say. Got it?
WATERS
Roger.
Patrick picks up a German machine gun and some magazines
and hands them to Waters.
PATRICK
Here. Since you haven't noticed
it yet.
(points at Water's
browning machine gun)
Your weapon is toast. Use this
for now.
Waters drops the older weapon on the ground and loads the
new machine gun.
Before he can react, Patrick is 20 feet away running, flat
out.
PATRICK
Come on, we don't have much time.
Waters breaks into a run and catches up with Patrick.
WATERS
What's your mission?
PATRICK
Can't give you all the details,
but we've received word that a
high ranking General is in the
area.
WATERS
And what do you plan to do?
PATRICK
Well I'm not going to take him
out for dinner. Lets just say it
is now your mission to ensure he
never leaves.
EXT. OPEN FIELD - LATER - NIGHT
Patrick is crawling towards the side of a hill. Waters
approaches him from behind and almost collapses with
exhaustion.
WATERS
(out of breathe)
Christ. I can't breath.
Patrick looks over and gestures Waters to be quiet. He
points at his two eyes and then towards a building at the
bottom of the sloped hill.
Waters rifles for his binoculars and then focuses them on
the building below.
THROUGH BINOCULARS
The building is heavily guarded. Two machine guns nest
outside.
To the south of the building lies a camouflaged Tiger Tank.
WATERS
(whispers)
Shit, shit, shit.
Patrick is busy assembling a sniper rifle.
On completion he points the weapon in the direction of the
house. Scanning the building.
SNIPER SCOPE
The scope view moves from window to window and comes to a
halt at the top.
A figure of a half naked balding man, overweight and middle
aged. GENERAL RALF VON RANKE. Commander and chief for the
north of France.
Walsh crawls to Patrick's position.
WATERS
This is suicide. Lets get the
hell out of here.
Patrick doesn't speak. Just looks ahead.
WATERS
Come on, what the hell are we
waiting for?
The Tiger tank engine roars into action at almost exactly
the same time that Patrick pulls the trigger.
SNIPER SCOPE.
The general stands motionless for a few seconds before
collapsing.
PATRICK
Now lets get the hell out of
here.
WATERS
Christ.
Waters remains with his mouth open for a few seconds before
following Patrick.
The two get several feet away before breaking into a run.
WATERS
How the hell did you know?
PATRICK
Experience kid. You have to be
quiet in this game. But most of
all you gotta get the job done.
If you get out alive, all the
better. But too many lives are
depending on us to be concerned
with saving our own skin.
The two continue to run.
Moments later the sound of heavy machine gun fire. Patrick
gestures for Waters to slow.
A group of British soldiers are pinned down under machine
gun fire coming from an old farmhouse.
One of the soldiers is wounded and the rest are attempting
to reach him.
The machine gunner sends a round through the wounded
soldiers foot.
The soldier screams in pain.
PATRICK
Bastards. Torturing him so the
others will rush and get
slaughtered. Lets just see if we
can even up the score a little.
You got any grenades?
Waters searches through his gear.
WATERS
Just the one, I think.
PATRICK
Come on kid give it here. Hold
this.
He hands the sniper rifle to Waters and takes the grenade.
He pulls the pin from the grenade and starts to run at the
farmhouse.
PATRICK
Wait for me here, I'll just be a
second.
Patrick runs to the back of the house and slowly creeps
towards a window.
He throws the grenade through the windows and dives for
cover.
Screams can be heard inside.
SOLDIERS
(In German)
Shit. Grenade, move, move, move.
Then an explosion as all the windows explode outwards.
Glass and debris are thrown in all directions.
Patrick pulls out his pistol and runs inside.
Gunshots and screams are heard from inside. Seconds later
he comes out the front door.
PATRICK
Don't shoot. You guys need a
lift? I see a truck out back.
The soldiers stand and smile with relief.
ENGLISH SERGEANT
Excellent. Just give us a few
moments to tend to our wounded.
PATRICK
Take your time. I think I saw
some coffee inside. By the way
you British ever hear of a
flanking procedure?
ENGLISH SERGEANT
Typical yank. We tried that, but
Gerry got two of our men. No one
here is in good enough shape to
run. Lucky you came by when you
did.
Patrick gestures for Waters to come over.
PATRICK
Found one of your guys wandering
around trying to get himself
captured. Can you see he gets
back to his regiment as he is
cramping my style?
ENGLISH SERGEANT
No problem. Nice to get some
fresh blood.
Waters approaches the men and helps carry the wounded.
PATRICK
OK, lets get this show on the
road. Don't want to have a run in
with the bunch we just met, as I
don't fancy trying to outrun a
tiger.
ENGLISH SERGEANT
Following your lead major.
FADE OUT.
TITLE: 2 DAYS LATER.
INT. ENGLAND - OPERATIONS PLANNING ROOM - DAY
The room is decorated with reconnaissance maps and
pictures.
PATRICK
Why kill him? From all accounts
he's loosing grip anyway.
Wouldn't it be better for us if
he stays?
GENERAL MASTERS
Well we'll had our health experts
answer this.
JOHN SHAW, middle aged, average build.
DOCTOR SHAW
We believe Hitler is sick and has
been sick since the mid 1930's.
If we are lucky, it's just
Parkinson's disease. But from our
studies we believe it could be a
brain tumor.
The doctor hands Patrick some paper work.
DOCTOR SHAW
As you can see, he has made
himself less and less available
to public viewing and from the
paper samples, his handwriting
has deteriorated. From the slip
you see now, you can see a
visible tremor in the right hand.
He is also reported to be
suffering from chronic depression
and anxiety.
Patrick examines one of the reports.
PATRICK
Sounds good. The more problems
for him the better. But why not
leave him suffer? Sounds like
this is all good for us.
GENERAL MASTERS
It's all about timing. He's
making stupid decisions and good
or bad it's costing lives. His
moves have become too
unpredictable. But the biggest
fear is that he will so something
drastic.
PATRICK
Drastic?
GENERAL MASTERS
We have some evidence of mass
killings, ethic cleansing and the
like. What I am about to tell you
is classified.
PATRICK
It's OK General I have heard this
song before.
The general slides a file across the table.
GENERAL MASTERS
Our belief is the Nazis have been
working on a rocket that will be
aimed at New York.
PATRICK
But the British have been dealing
with their flying bombs....
GENERAL MASTERS
(cutting him off)
Let me finish son. This is no
ordinary rocket. We think the
Nazi's are almost ready with a H
bomb.
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Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.