PEARL HARBOUR 1941

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan).

In early 1923, two young boys from Tennessee, Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker, pretending to fight the Germans, climb into Rafe's father's biplane crop duster and accidentally start it, giving them their first taste of flying. Soon after, Danny's father comes to drag him home, berating him for playing with Rafe and beating him. Rafe attacks Danny's father calling him a "dirty German"; Danny's father counters by explaining that he fought the Germans in World War I and wishes that they never witness the horrors of war.

By January 1941, Rafe and Danny are still best friends. They are both First Lieutenants in the United States Army Air Corps under the command of Major Jimmy Doolittle (Alec Baldwin). 4 weeks earlier Rafe had met Evelyn a United States Navy Nurse who passes him for his physical examination even though he has dyslexia. They begin a relationship, but prior to meeting Evelyn, Rafe had volunteered to join the Royal Air Force's Eagle Squadron. He tells Evelyn he has volunteered the night before he leaves, and asks her not to see him off at the train station the next morning. He lies to Danny, telling him that Doolittle had assigned him to the Eagle Squadron. The next day, Danny and Rafe say goodbye. At first, it seems that Evelyn will not come, but as Rafe takes his seat on the train, he sees her through the window, and says the bemused man next to him that he knows she loves him. Evelyn and Danny are transferred with their respective squadrons to Pearl Harbor. Rafe fights in The Battle Of Britain over the English Channel and is shot down. His plane crashes into the Channel and is presumed to have been killed in action. Danny receives a letter telling him Rafe has been killed, and imparts the news to the others, including Evelyn.

Three months later, Evelyn and Danny bond over their mourning of Rafe and unexpectedly develop feelings for each other. They soon begin their own relationship.

On the night of December 6, 1941, Rafe unexpectedly returns to Pearl Harbor. After crashing his plane into the Channel, he floated on the wreckage of the plane until he was picked up by a French fishing boat and taken to Occupied France. After many months he has made it back to America, and was granted permission to go to Pearl Harbour, where he thought his girlfriend and best friend were. He quickly realizes that Evelyn and Danny are now together, and feeling hurt and betrayed, the two friends soon get into a fight at the local hula bar. The next morning, on December 7, they are interrupted by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour by Zero fighters, Val dive bombers and Kate torpedo bombers.

The surprise Japanese air raid sinks the battleships USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma and many other ships. Back at the hospital, Evelyn helps tend to the dozens of wounded who come in and must help decide who can and cannot be saved. Meanwhile, Rafe and Danny are the only two who manage to get airborne and shoot down seven Japanese aircraft with P-40s using their reckless tactics, including an old game of theirs called chicken. The two men then go to the hospital, where Evelyn takes blood from them for the hundreds of injured soldiers, and later aid in trying to rescue the many men still in the harbor. In the aftermath, the survivors attend a memorial service for the fallen victims after the U.S. declaration of war on Japan.

Rafe and Danny are both promoted to Captain, awarded the Silver Star and assigned to now-Colonel Doolittle for a dangerous and top-secret mission. Before their departure, Evelyn meets Rafe and reveals that she is pregnant with Danny's child, although she doesn't want Danny to know so he can focus on the upcoming mission. She says that she is going to remain with Danny, though deep down she will always love Rafe just as much. Rafe accepts this.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Jon Voight) wants to send a message that the Japanese homeland is not immune from bombing. Danny, Rafe and others are to fly North American B-25 Mitchell medium bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, bomb Tokyo and then land in friendly Chinese territory. The two men succeed in their bombing but crash-land into a rice field in a Japanese-held area when their bombers run out of fuel. Just as Rafe is about to be shot, Danny flies over head and shoots the attacking Japanese soldiers. Danny's plane then crashes and he is wounded. Japanese come in and attack Rafe and start to hold the others captive. They tie Danny to a cattle holder. Rafe picks up a gun and kills several Japanese. Danny acts as human shield for Rafe and is fatally wounded. Rafe holds a dying Danny in his arms, tearfully telling him he can't die because he's going to be a father. With his dying words, Danny tells Rafe to raise his child for him. The crew arrives back in Hawaii and a hopeful Evelyn awaits. She sees Rafe and is excited, but then sees him carrying Danny's coffin.

Dorie Miller becomes the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross. Rafe is discharged from the Army. He and Evelyn, who are together again, and Danny's son, also called Danny, who Rafe is bringing up as his own, are back at the farm in Tennessee visiting Danny's grave. Rafe then takes his son flying, and the two fly off into the sunset in the old biplane.

This movie was based on a movie called Pearl Harbour in 2001 by Micheal Bay