All the King's Men (2006) - full transcript

[FUN BLUES SONG PLAYING]

[POOL BALLS CRACK]

♪ Smokestack lightnin'' ♪

♪ Shinin' just like gold ♪

♪ Why don't you
Hear me cryin'? ♪

♪ Wah-ooh-ooh ♪

Hey, Jack.

Mr. Duffy.

Uh...

this is Willie Stark
from up Mason City.

County treasurer.



Glad to meet you.

Jack Burden.

From The Chronicle.

Good to meet you, Mr. Burden.

ALEX:
Yeah, Willie's on business
for Mason City.

Bond issue them got up there.

Gonna build a schoolhouse.

Ooh.
Yeah.

Yeah, me and Willie
was in school together.

Oh, you was in school, Alex.
I didn't know.

Not the teacher's favorite,
I don't expect.

No, sir,
that's true.

Willie was, though.
Still is, ain't you, Willie?

Yeah, Willie married
a schoolteacher.



Well, you know...

they tell me that schoolteachers
are made with it

in the same place as the rest.

Now, is that right or not,
Mr. Stark?

Yeah, that's right.

TINY:
Slade!

Beers all around.

Not for me, thanks.

Oh, that little schoolteacher
don't like it when you drink?

Well, she don't favor it,
for a fact.

[CHUCKLING]

Well, beers all around.

Well, I sell beer
to those who want it.

I don't make nobody
drink 'em.

ALEX:
Well, maybe you got some
orange pop for him.

That's what he wants.

Yeah, I think I'd like some
orange pop. Two straws.

[TYPEWRITERS CLACKING]

Jack,
get up Mason City.

See who's this fella
who thinks he's Jesus Christ

come down off the cross
to scourge the moneychangers

out of that shinplaster
courthouse they got 'em there.

I know who he is.

Fella with a Christmas tie
pushed a school bond through.

You know him?
Met him.

Watched him drink
a bottle of orange pop once

through two straws
on account of a wife

who don't
favor drinking.

She favor him
stayin' parish treasurer?

Don't you know
how things are run up there?

Run up there
like they're run down here.

Yeah?

Well, you leave down here
and run on up there.

[TRAIN BELLS RINGING]

[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING]

JACK:
As a commissioner, as chairman,
I guess you're in a position

to know the situation regarding
the schoolhouse contract.

Ain't no situation.

Maybe not, but maybe so.

Ain't any situation.

Board took
a bid offer.

A.J. Moore's bid,
the fella's name,

schoolhouse
gets built.

This Moore fella's bid,
I take it, was the lowest?

Now, you lookie here.

Ain't nobody tells a board
what bid to take.

Anybody can come along
put in a little pissant bid.

Board doesn't
have to take it.

Board takes somebody
who can do the work right.

Ain't nothin' done
but legal.

Who was it put in
the little pissant bid?

Name of Jeffers,
if I recollect.

Jeffers Construction?
Yeah.

Well, that's a real firm,
a big firm.

The board picks
who can do the work right.

That's all I got to say.

Don't you wanna
tell your mama

you wanna see yourself
shinin' in the table? No?

All right. I wish I could have
sold some to you.

Be out of your way
in a second here.

And no brushes, you sure?

I'm sure.
All right.

Thank you. Thank you
for your time. Bye-bye.

Mr. Stark.

Why, Mr. Jack Burden,
how are you, sir?

JACK:
People would think parish
treasurer paid well enough

a man wouldn't have to sell

household fix-it kits
door-to-door.

People'd think.

Doesn't in Mason City.

Well, I'm maybe not so good
at mathematics

as some other parish treasurers
you may've met.

Or too good at it.

How much they steal
on the schoolhouse contract?

Well, let's see...

Jeffers come
in $142,000.

Moore, $175,000.

That's $33,000
split six ways,

5500 per commissioner.

And they done it
so plain and pretty,

well, you'd almost
have to admire 'em.

Just point out Jeffers
uses nigra laborers,

skilled men, you know?

Next thing, it's,
"Lookie here,

"nigras making more money
than you men.

Pushing wheelbarrows,
hauling dirt."

And that's it. "Goodbye,
Mr. Jeffers and your low bid.

You go build your nigra
schoolhouse somewhere else."

Not that you didn't try and get
people to see what was goin' on.

Oh, I yelled so long and loud

about these old boys
linin' they pockets.

I'm lucky to have
any job in Mason City:

Government, door-to-door
or any other variety.

I stood out there
on that street corner,

pencil in one hand,
paper in the other,

tryin' to show people
the numbers.

But you stop people out there
in that hot sun,

try to show 'em arithmetic,

well, they can't see it so clear

through the sweat
pouring in they own eyes

from they own hard labor.

Especially if you put
nigras in the equation.

Why, you're likely
to get beat up.

Likely?

Once or twice.

You gonna run again
in November?

Nah, I'm all...
I'm done.

A lame duck. Lucy too. They got
her fired from teaching.

I don't care. I don't want
to teach in a schoolhouse

they built just so
they can steal money.
Right.

You're looking at your own
private two-person leper colony.

Sippin' pop.

So, what are you gonna do, then?

I don't know.
String my pa a fence,

slop some pigs,
milk some cows.

[♪♪♪]

I'm gonna keep the faith,
Mr. Burden,

that's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna keep the faith
in the people,

because you know why?

Time...

brings all things to light.

I trust it's so.

[♪♪♪]

[MAN SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[MAN SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[SPEAKING IN LATIN]

Joe.

Did you get a photograph of him?

Who?

JACK:
The next mayor of this town.

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

TINY:
You know what
people are sayin'?

People are sayin'
that God himself had a hand

in this schoolhouse business.

That God stepped in
on Willie Stark's side.

Yes, sir. He does work
in mysterious ways sometimes.

Sometimes...

he has somebody else do it.

Sends over a fat man
in a striped suit

with a big car
to do his will.

Well, I have had some
worse employers, I admit that.

What you want?

Well, I wanna work for you,
Mr. Stark.

And you wanna
work for the people,

unless I been misinformed.

People vote me,
I'd be privileged to serve 'em.

What, as the--?
The county treasurer?

Yes, sir.

Mr. Stark, you could run
for mayor of Mason City,

and you could win

without climbing out of bed
in the morning.

You just put the word out

about Willie Stark,

who tried to take on
the crooks single-handed.

Willie Stark,
who tried to warn us.

Willie Stark,
who could've saved our kids

if we'd have just listened.

Now, I'm not talkin' about

Willie Stark for the mayor
of Mason City. No, sir.

I'm talkin' about
Willie Stark...

as the next governor...

of the great state of Louisiana.

Now, you saw a man holding out
a handful of cash to you,

and you said no.

This is what I see.

I see a man in a booth

lookin' down at a ballot,
a workin' man.

And he sees three names there:

Harrison, MacMurphy and Stark.

Now, what this man really sees

is that picture in the newspaper
of them three little coffins

and the one man since
the great Governor Stanton died

that had the guts to buck
the powers that killed 'em.

Now, that man, that votin' man,
he's got a pencil,

he checks a box,
you wake up governor.

And that little lady
lyin' beside you,

the one that don't...

...favor liquor...

she wakes up
the governor's wife.

That's what I see.

Now, why don't you take a minute
with your orange pop,

see if you can't see it too...

...governor.

[ACCORDIONS PLAYING
FESTIVE ZYDECO MUSIC]

[PLAYING ZYDECO MUSIC]

You got your speech? Huh?

Yeah.

All right.

Willie Stark!

[APPLAUSE]

Thank you, folks.

[MUSIC STOPS]

Thank you kindly.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

My name's Willie Stark
from Mason City yonder.

And I'm pleased to have a chance
to talk with you all here today.

Now, friends,

what I wanna talk about

is something
that's been troubling me.

Coffee, please.

WOMAN:
Yes, ma'am.

Can I sit with you?

Or anything else.

No, thanks.

You don't like my looks?

I don't care about
anybody's looks,

but I can't recall
ever going for anyone

who reminds me
of a box of spilled spaghetti.

Miss Burke, I'm sitting here
having a cup of coffee.

I'm almost through,
then you couldn't sit with me,

which is what you asked for.

Sorry.

Not working
for Sen-Sen Puckett anymore.

Now, he wasn't
a bad-looking fellow.

Heel.

Well, sure,
politically and elsewise.

Who didn't know that?

I guess I'm slower
on some things than others.

Like you.

Am I?

I think so.

I think not.

Not on this charade.

That's the topic
of the interview.

Then tell me,
if you're so smart.

All right.

Harrison's a city man,
MacMurphy's a cracker.

Not a cracker precisely, but
enough of one to worry Harrison

that crackers won't know
the difference.

So Harrison looks for someone
to split the cracker vote.

Hears about an honest man
up in Crackerville

where some cracker kids go down
with a fire escape

that was supposed to be stuck

with more than spit
to their schoolhouse.

Sends his man Tiny Duffy
up there to romance him

and then Sadie Burke
to romance him some more.

Both telling him
how good he is,

how he has better
than a chance in hell

to change things in this state,

where nothing will ever change.

'Cause you and Tiny
and the rest of 'em

don't care how much of a fool
you make a man.

And you do care, I suppose?

I didn't say that.
I don't care.

If I did, I'd do something
about it, wouldn't I?

No, I'd rather watch from here.

Like passin' a car crash.

I know you all can't see this
from all the way back there,

but I've got a pie chart
representin' it.

And you can see here

where public welfare
and hospitals end up.

[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING]

[TYPEWRITER DINGS]

[SIGHS]

[WILLIE TALKING INDISTINCTLY]

WILLIE:
--should be the same.

Rather,
the ratio...

[SCOFFS]

[♪♪♪]

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

We should go.

Not yet.

Let's go in again.

You don't wanna swim?

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

[DOOR OPENS]

Hey.

How you think we doin'?

Fine, I guess.

You think?

That how you reportin' it?

Sure.

Seems to me
they listen less and less

the further I get from home.

Well, that makes sense,
don't you think?

Maybe...

...you tryin' to say too much.

I'm tellin' 'em
what they need to know:

Taxes, wages, highways.

Well, maybe it's how
you're telling them.

Maybe if you told 'em the way
you tell Lucy or Tiny or me

or anyone face to face,
they'd listen better.

I don't know how that is.

Hard to know how you sound
to somebody else.

Mad, fed up, like you mean
business is how you sound.

But not on the platform.
You climb three steps,

and you sound
just like the rest of 'em.

Like a man who wants
to win an election.

Willie...

Yeah?

What?

Nothing.

Well, a man don't
have to be governor.

I don't deny wantin' it.

I won't lie to you,
I lie awake wantin' it.

But sometimes a man
can want somethin' so bad,

be so full of want,

he plain forget
what it is he want.

I could have been
a good governor.

A lot better
than them other fellas.

But I ain't gonna be governor.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

Hi.

Come on in.
Why not?

Oh, Mr. Stark.

Sadie.

What's up?

Willie here
was just telling me

how he's not gonna
be governor.

You told him?

No, I didn't,
as a matter of fact, no.

Told me what?

Told...me...what?

Oh.

[LAUGHS]

Oh, yeah, well,
that makes sense.

I see.

So that's true?

I'm being used.

So they tell me.

I saw it in his eyes

the first time
he come to see me, Tiny.

But I just pushed it out
of my head.

Pushed it clean out.

[CHUCKLES]

I should've known better.

[SIGHS]

[CHUCKLES]

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

SADIE:
Mr. Stark?

[KNOCKING]

Mr. Stark?

[SIGHS]

You thought you were the little
white lamb of God, didn't you?

Just waitin' for the chance

to stand on your hind legs
and make a speech.

They would've paid you
to play the part.

They pay me.

But you were too stupid
to see even that.

You did it for free.

You're just their dumb
sacrificial sap, and I'm...

I'm sorry I let them.

[CALLIOPE PLAYING
CHEERFUL MUSIC]

Your stomachaches, your colics,
your bloats, your diarrhea.

Even the fistulae...

MAN:
Boy, you get yourself
up here right now.

Come see the two-headed snake.
Two-headed snake, right here.

The show is about to start.

Step right up
to see the two-headed snake.

You're looking
a little peaked.

I can't imagine.

Slept like a baby.

Mm-hmm.

[BAND PLAYING HAPPY MARCH]

Got your speech?

All right, then.
Let's go. It's time.

"Hail, Hail,
The Gang's All Here."

What?

The song.

Yeah.
That's what it is.

Hello. Hello.

How are you?

Here's that speech
you was just asking about.

My name is Willie Stark.

From Mason City yonder.

I had a speech...

about this state
and what it needs.

There's no use in me
tellin' you about it.

You are the state.
You know what you need.

Look at the knees of your pants.

Look at your crops.

Look at your kids.

You got holes and rot

and ignorant offspring
on account of this state.

Well, I had a speech,
but I ain't got it no more.

Mr. Duffy got it now
in his fat little hands.

Don't you, Tiny?

Go ahead, show the people.
Hold it up.

Well, since--
Since he got it,

I'm gonna have to say
something else.

It's all right.

Because I got
something else to say.

I got a story...

about a redneck hick.

He's like yourselves,
if you please.

Well, this fella,
awhile back,

this hick...

started thinkin'
about all the other hicks,

what he could do for 'em.

Well, one day...

it came down...

with the powerful force

of God's own hand!

When the only brick schoolhouse
ever built in his parish

collapsed on account of
it was built

with politics-rotted brick.

And it killed and mangled
a batch of poor, young scholars.

Oh, you know this story.

You heard it.

He fought the politics
that built that schoolhouse

with rotten brick and bolts.

But he lost.

He lost.

And it fell.

It fell.

Well, it wasn't long

before some public officials
from the city

rode out in their big fine car

and told this hick
how they wanted him

to run for governor.

Them in them striped pants
told me

MacMurphy was a limberback,

Joe Harrison, he--

He was just a tool
of the city machine.

And they wanted this nobody,
do-gooder hick to step in,

give 'em some honest government.

You know who they were?

In that big fine car?

They was Joe Harrison's
own lickspittles

coming in to split
MacMurphy's hick vote!

That's right! Your hick vote!

There he is!

There he is right there.

There's the Judas Iscariot
lickspittle nose-wiper

from the city, right there.

Come on, Tiny. Look at him.
Joe Harrison's dummy.

Come on, take a bow.

Come on. No, come on now,
people wanna see you.

Take a bow,
come on.

Ah! Oh!

And there he goes!

[CROWD GASPS]
No!

No, let him lie! Let him lie!

Let that hog lie
in his own filth!

Let him lie,
but listen to me, you hicks.

That's right,
I'm not the only one here.

You hicks too.

They fooled you too,

just like they fooled me
a thousand times.

But it's time I fooled somebody.

It's time I fooled them.

Them big-city, striped-pants,
lickspittle hick-haters.

I'm runnin' for governor
on my own.

I'm coming for 'em,
and I'm coming for blood!

[CHEERING]

First thing I'm gonna do
is build me a road out here

across the swamps and alligators

and anything else
that gets in my way.

A thousand miles of concrete,
if that's what it takes,

so I can come out here
and visit with my fellow hicks

on a regular basis.

Then I'm gonna build me a bridge
across that mighty Mississippi.

Name it after myself,
'cause I'm the one who built it.

Then I'm gonna build
you all new schools.

Send your kids home
with free tablets

and pencils and books
to study and learn

on the way to the new university
I'm gonna build,

where every one of 'em can go.

Same as rich folks' kids.

Now, I hope you're listening,
you hicks.

'Cause I don't wanna drive
all the way back home

just to drive back out here
next week to tell you again.

And this is it:

If you don't vote,

you don't matter.

You don't matter!

You don't matter!

And then you're just as ignorant

as them in the city say you are

while they stealin'
the food off your table

and every last nickel
out your pocket,

sayin', "Thank you, please."

Because then you are
just a bunch of ignorant hicks

who got nothin'...

'cause you deserve nothin'.

So listen to me.

Listen here.

Lift your eyes,

and look on the God's blessed

and unflyblown truth:

You are a hick!

And ain't nobody never helped
a hick but a hick hisself.

It's up to you
to nail these parasites up.

Up to you and me and God.

WOMAN:
Amen!

Nail up Joe Harrison!

CROWD:
Nail him up!

Nail up MacMurphy!

CROWD:
Nail him up!

And nail up any bastard
that gets between you

and the roads
and the bridges and schools

and the food you need.

You give me the hammer,
and I'll do it!

I'll nail their hides
to the barn door!

Nail 'em up!

CROWD:
Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!
Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!

CROWD:
Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!
Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!
Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!
Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!
Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up! Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up! Nail 'em up!

Nail 'em up! Nail 'em up!

[CROWD CHEERING]

[♪♪♪]

CROWD:
Nail 'em up! Nail 'em up!
Nail 'em up! Nail 'em up!

WILLIE:
Get out there and vote, now.

More about Stark?

He's colorful.
Makes it easy.

You know me,
always lookin' for easy.

Jack. You know
what The Chronicle line is

on the election.

Sure. MacMurphy again
because of his brilliant record

as an administrator

and high integrity
as a statesman.

Now, why can't you put
more of that in your column,

a little less
of Stark's ravin' madness?

Listen, Jack.

I know Stark's
a friend of yours, but--

He's not a friend of mine.

Personally,
I don't care who's governor.

But are you telling me
what to write, or am I mistaken?

You know
The Chronicle line.

All right.

What do you mean,
"All right"?

I mean it
the way I said it.

[♪♪♪]

[CROWD CHEERING]

WILLIE:
I, Willie Stark,
do solemnly swear

that I will support
the constitution and laws

of the state of Louisiana.

JACK:
Willie didn't need me
to get himself elected.

He won by a landslide.

By the biggest margin
in the history of the state.

WILLIE:
...all the duties
incumbent upon me as governor,

so help me God.

JACK:
Which isn't to say
everyone voted for him.

Jack, get up Mason City.

JACK:
My editor didn't vote for him.

Thinks he's Jesus Christ
come down off the cross.

JACK:
The publisher of this paper
didn't vote for him.

These men didn't vote for him.

Or these.

The governor's education bill
does not pass.

JACK:
Or the old boys in the Senate

who were in the pockets
of the oilmen.

My mother didn't vote for him.

[CHUCKLES]

This is my mother.

She doesn't vote.

Over there,
on her dressing table,

that's her
with her first husband.

First of four, if I recollect.

And that's my godfather
on the right, the best man.

He didn't vote
for Willie either.

In fact,

I think it's safe to say
nobody from where I'm from

voted for Willie Stark.

And why should they?

His promises to the poor

to build roads and bridges
and schools

were a declaration of war
on the rich.

They wanted him out.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

You Jack Burden?

I've come at the behest
of the boss.

Who?

The boss? The governor?

Oh.

[CHUCKLES]

MAN:
Governor, let me put it
in simple words

so you understand:

There's no money
for all these things

you wanna do for the poor.

Oh, there's money, senator.

You're wrong there.
There's plenty.

Nothing but money.

Every kilowatt
comes out of the river,

every barrel of oil
comes out of the ground.

But that doesn't
belong to you, sir.

That's right.

Don't belong to you either,
or them.

Belongs to the state.

How about the state
don't tax just 5 percent

to build my roads?

We take it all.

These are some
powerful companies

you talkin' about
takin' money from.

They ain't gonna
stand for it.

They ain't the power.

The power's in the hands
of the powerless,

and those hands
have handed it to me.

Realistically,
they'll approve

half the money,
maybe.

And that's after
we beat 'em up.

So we build 'em half a highway.

Mile of concrete, mile of dirt,
mile of concrete, mile of dirt,

all the way to Shreveport.

Now, how's anybody
gonna drive on that, huh?

People ain't gonna
stand for that.

TINY:
They like
their roads finished.

That's right.

What's right?

Hey, Jack.

Sadie, take Tiny out of here,
explain it to him.

He just said it,
and he don't get it.

Come on.
You want something to eat?

No, thank you.

WILLIE:
Well, sit down.

Hi, Sadie.
Hey.

I heard
you got fired.

Oh, you heard wrong. I quit.

Well, that's smart.

Time I get done
with that outfit,

they ain't gonna be able
to pay you,

nor the nigger
who sweeps the floor.

You want a job?

Working for whom?
The state?

Hell, no.

Me.

You, me, Sadie, Tiny.

Tiny? I was surprised
to hear Tiny was back.

Well, somebody gotta be
lieutenant governor.

Yeah, sure.

I keep Tiny around...

to remind me of something
I never wanna forget.

And that is?

When they come around
sweet-talking, don't listen.

Never again.

What would I be
doin'...for you?

Sweet-talkin'.

[♪♪♪]

MAN:
All right, everybody.

WOMAN:
Well, what on earth is that?

This is a ballista.

WOMAN:
A what?

Jack will tell you
all about it.

Jack, come on.
Tell them.

It's a pre-gunpowder weapon

fired with the tension
of animal sinew.

Oh, my God.

[CREAKING]

Jack?

Right. Uh, see the eagle
on top of the clock?

One...

Two...

[SCREAMS]

Oh. Ah. Oh.

[LAUGHS]

WOMAN 2:
They say you're in politics,
Mr. Burden?

It must be fascinating
to be in politics.

It's not, I assure you.

Well, they say you're
very influential.

It must be fascinating
to be very influential.

I honestly wouldn't know.

MAN:
Don't let him kid you,
Miss DuMonde.

My godson Jack
is very influential.

Like when he was
a newspaperman.

All right, then, yes,
I'm influential.

Any pals in the pen
anyone wants pardoned,

I'll put in the word.

Well, there is gonna be
somebody in the pen.

Before it's over,
what's going on there?

All these wild goings-on.

Fella givin' away
the state.

Free this, free that,
free the other.

Every wool-hat jackass
thinkin' the world is free.

Who's gonna pay?
That's what I wanna know.

Who's he think's
gonna pay?

Standard Oil and the utility
companies, I imagine.

And anyone else that can afford
to pay their share.

You and me, George.
We'll pay.

Government's committed
these days,

givin' services
we never heard of

back when.

Mm-hmm.

And he's gonna
tax this state to death.

Drive business right out.

You don't think
it boils down to this:

If the government,
for quite a long time back now,

had been doing anything
for the people,

they wouldn't have got fed up
and elected Mr. Stark.

Well, you ask him this
next time you see him:

Ask him how much
grabbin' there is,

all that money flowin'.

Then you ask him what's he gonna
do when they impeach him.

There's a constitution
in this state,

or was,
before he blew it to hell.

I'll be sure to ask him.

You do that.

Jack,

Miss DuMonde
plays the piano.

That's nice.

[PIANO PLAYING
BEETHOVEN'S "FUR ELISE"]

You weren't like
yourself today, son,

like you used to be.

Mother, if I'm ever
like I used to be,

do me a favor
and shoot me.

Who was that
at lunch anyway?

Mr. Peyton.
You've known him all your life.

He builds electrical plants
or some such.

The girl, Mother.
Miss DuMonde.

That's Mr. Orton's
sister's child,

and she will inherit
his money.

Somebody ought to wait
until she inherits it,

then marry her

and drown her
in her bathtub.

Oh, don't worry, I'd like
to drown her, but I won't.

Was Mr. Peyton sayin'
those people you're with

are mixed up
in some sort of graft?

Graft's what you call it
when who's doin' it

doesn't know
which fork to use.

Well, whatever you call it.

Because I worry to think that--
I don't know.

How would I, careful as I am not
to know what anybody anywhere

is doing at any time?

Oh, Jack, make a note.

Find out where they got
Senator Tucson's boy locked up.

What's his name?

The boy?
Hell, I don't remember.

Find out when's the trial,
get a lawyer down there.

JACK:
Who? Evans?

Not Evans.

Find somebody
with less oil in his hair,

and don't look like
he sing with a band.

WILLIE:
Put one of your pals on it.

You any idea
who it was got cut?

I don't care if it was

the sainted aunt
of the Apostle Paul.

Well, I just happen to know.

Uh, fella's son of a doctor,
paper said.

They're pretty important
around here, you know,

a doctor
in the country.

They, uh,

think they're somebody.

And, uh, maybe it gets out

you're trying to fix it
to get the boy off.

Wouldn't do you
any good.

Now, it appears to me,
maybe--

Tiny, you don't know
a goddamn thing.

Had you been listening.

I told Jack to prime
the lawyer through a pal.

Find somebody who don't need
to see his name in lights.

That way, nobody knows
who picked him wasn't me.

Might as well been the pope
himself far as anybody knows.

All right.

I get you.

Yeah, just barely.

[HANK WILLIAMS' "LONG GONE
LONESOME BLUES" PLAYING]

♪ I went down to the river ♪

♪ To watch
The little fish swim by ♪

Hey, there, Pop.

How you doin', son?

How you making out?

Oh, I'm
gettin' along.

Good to see you.
You looking good.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

I brought
the infantry here.

Oh.
How are you?

More prettier
than ever.

Hey,
Grandpa.

How you doin', buddy?
How's the arm?

He gonna be
all-American.

I know he is.
I know he is.

All right, governor,
sir, here we go.

One, two...

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[GLASS BREAKS]

Bastard.

[PIGS SNORTING]

Give me a slug.

Pa don't
favor drinkin'.

Used to be Lucy
didn't favor it.

[GUNSHOT, GLASS BREAKS]

I don't know what she do
or don't favor no more.

Not that it matters.

Yeah, I must have poured
10,000 gallons of swill

in them troughs.

Still doin' it.
Pourin' swill.

Some things
never change.

[GUNSHOTS IN DISTANCE]

[CHICKENS CLUCKING]

Hey.

What's up?

Judge Irwin.

Judge Irwin what?

[PANTING]
Spill it.

I'll spill it when
I have my breath.

You're usin' it up
explainin' you don't have it.

You think it's funny?
You won't when I tell you.

You tell me later.

Byram rang up.

He said the afternoon papers
have got the judge saying

the allegations warrant
a full-on investigation.

Two-timin' bastard.

That two-timin' bastard.

[GUNSHOT]

Clear 'em out.

Tiny was figurin'
on having supper up here.

Clear 'em all out.

[GUNSHOT]

[♪♪♪]

Which way up there?

Jack, tell Sugar
how to get to the house.

It's your people
live down here.

[♪♪♪]

JACK:
Suppose he don't open up?

Make him.
What I pay you for?

IRWIN:
Yeah, who is it?

It's Jack.

Jack?

Well, I'll be.

Hey, come on in.

You're not in any trouble,
are you?

No, Jack's not in any trouble.

Matter of fact, he doin' all
right, all things considered.

WILLIE:
I trust you don't mind

if Jack pours me
a slug.

I didn't know his duties
ran to those of manservant,

but if I'm mistaken,
I'm sorry.

Oh, hell.

Sometimes Jack
pours me a drink,

sometimes I pour him one.

Sometimes I pour myself one.

I could pour you one.

No, thank you.

WILLIE:
This today's?

Yeah, I don't get much time
to read the papers,

rushin' around the state
doin' the good work.

Well, perhaps, I can relieve
your curiosity on one point.

Somewhere in there's
my opinion on the severity

of the allegations against you,
if that's of interest.

Somebody told me that.

But you know how rumor
hath a thousand tongues.

And how them newspaper boys,

they can exaggerate some.

IRWIN:
It's no exaggeration.

WILLIE:
Yeah, I see.

Well, if you're clear on that
and finished with your drink,

I'd appreciate it if you'd just
get the heck out of my house.

Hey, thank you, judge,

I think I will have
just one more spot.

So I see it there in the paper,
and I hear you say it,

but are you sure you took
it to the Lord in prayer?

I settled it in my mind.

See, that's unsettling.

Because if I recollect right,
I recollect that...

when we had our little
conversation in town that time

you sort of felt like
what MacMurphy and his boys

were sayin' about me was...

beneath contempt.

I made no commitment
to you or to them,

only to my conscience.

I beg your pardon, your what?

[CHUCKLES]
I beg yours.

Judge, you been toilin'
around politics too long

to use a word like "conscience"
so easily.

No, my change of conscience came

when certain features
of your, uh,

public services, shall we say,
came to my attention.

Somebody dug something up
for you, huh? In the dirt?

Yeah, not just one thing,

and...not very deep.

Oh, well, dirt's a funny thing.

Ain't nothing but dirt
on God's green earth,

except what's under the water.

And that's dirt too,
come to think of it.

Dirt makes the grass green.

Let it breathe.

The diamond
on my wife's finger

ain't nothing but dirt
got awful hot.

What are we but dirt blowed off
the hands of God almighty?

You and me
and George Washington.

And Jack there.

Still doesn't alter the fact.

I'm not trying to alter
anything, just illuminate it.

[CHUCKLES]

Yeah.

You saying MacMurphy
and his bunch,

yellin' for my impeachment,

they're responsible,
law-abidin' men?

Yeah, they're responsible
all right,

to Alta Power and oil companies
and the rest of them thieves.

I wouldn't know about that.

Only way to not know
is to not wanna know.

I'm retired, Mr. Stark.

A reporter asked my opinion,
and I gave it.

If you was retired, no reporter
would wanna ask you anything.

What you say matters.

A lot more than you
pretend it don't.

So I'm askin' you...

call off the dogs.

Asking is different
than telling,

and that sounded like
telling to me.

Didn't it to you, Jack?

You been a judge
a long time.

Yes, I have.

How'd it feel,
do you think...

...to not be one no more?

[CHUCKLES]

No man has ever been able
to intimidate me.

I said what I said,

and I see no reason to say
or think anything different.

Despite your expositions
on laws and men, sir.

Suit yourself.

You're right, Jack.
He don't scare easy.

Judge, it's more in pain
than wrath I go.

WILLIE:
Let's go. It's past
Sugar Boy's bedtime.

Your employer
is calling you, Jack.

I wouldn't go around advertising
this visit to anyone.

In case you change your mind.

[♪♪♪]

[TIRES SCREECHING]

Bastard.

Well, Jackie,
you got a job cut out for you.

MacMurphy.

No, the judge.

You bring down the lion,

the rest of the jungle
will quake in fear,

and they'll all fall into line.

I won't find anything.

Oh, yes, you will.

A man is conceived in sin
and born in corruption

and passeth from
the stink of the didie

to the stench of the shroud.

You'll find somethin'.

And make it stick.

[♪♪♪]

JACK:
Apart from pleasin' the boss,

I could see little advantage
in finding anything

beyond what was already known
about Judge Irwin.

What was known,

was that he was kind to you
when your father

left you and your mother
without saying why.

What was known,
was that he taught you

the things your father
should have:

How to be a gentleman.

How to firmly shake a hand.

How to safely load a shotgun

and lead a duck
if you wanted to hit it.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

What was known...

...was that he was more
of a father to you

than your real father...

...who you didn't know at all.

[SEDUCTIVE MUSIC PLAYING]

Hold it, please.

Governor's penthouse.

WILLIE:
How you doin' diggin'
something up on Judge Irwin?

Nothin'.

Nothin'. Found nothin'
or done nothin'?

I told you there's
nothing to find.

I could dig to China,
wouldn't find anything.

And I'm not framing him.

Framing? Ain't nobody
talkin' about framing.

That's never necessary.

The truth is always sufficient.
You just find the truth.

It's a waste of time and money.

Jesus,

doesn't anybody listen
to what I say anymore?

You don't wanna do it,
don't do it.

Or are you just
lookin' for a raise?

I'm gonna give you $100 raise
whether you want it or not.

If I wanted more money,
I'd make it.

You gonna tell me
you work for me for love?

I don't know why
I work for you,

but it ain't for love or money.

Well, that's right,
it's not.

And you don't know why.

But I do.

Why?

Boy, you work for me
because I'm the way I am,

and you the way you are,

and that's just an arrangement

founded in the natural order
of things.

[CHUCKLES]

She sure could skate.

[SKATES SCRAPING ICE]

WILLIE:
Right now,

hidden away in chambers,

not out here in the open
like you and me,

there's a legislature

full of hyena-headed,
belly-draggin' sons of bitches,

sittin' around trying to figure
out how to impeach me.

[CROWD GRUMBLING]

Now, they say it's 'cause
I got crooks on the payroll.

I say, "Is that all?"

Course I got 'em.

I got a can of oil
in the garage too,

'cause there ain't a machine
made by man

don't need a squirt
of that from time to time

just to keep runnin'.

[LAUGHTER]

But my crooks...

...unlike theirs,

are all atremble

to be...too crooked.

They're itty-bitty compared
to their crooks in there.

The Standard Oil
and the power companies.

Besides, I got my eye on mine.

Ain't nobody watchin'
over these crooks.

Ain't nobody got
their eye on 'em,

while they rob
the resources of this state.

[CROWD CHEERING,
CAMERAS SNAPPING]

Who made that son of a bitch
what he is?

Who made him governor?

And he goes and two-times me?
I'll kill him.

No, he's two-timing Lucy.

You need some other kind
of arithmetic

[CHUCKLES]
for what he's doing to you.

Lucy, she's a fool.
She's...

I don't know what.

His wife.

A hick with a college degree

from some Baptist
hole in the ground.

What was she like?

[SIGHS]

I didn't know Lucy
any further back--

The slut on skates.

I don't know,
I was lookin' at her skates.

Sure you were.

[SIGHS]

Was she pretty?

Look, just forget it.

How young was she?

Who cares?

Look at me.

SADIE:
He'll be back.

The world is full
of sluts on skates.

[DOOR OPENS]

Skates, grass skirts,

geisha outfits.

[BAND PLAYING UPBEAT MUSIC]

[DOOR CLOSES]

Contortionists.

♪ Every man a king ♪

♪ Every man a king ♪

♪ For you can be a millionaire ♪

♪ But there's somethin' ♪

♪ Belonging to others ♪

♪ Well, there's enough
For all people to share ♪

♪ When it's sunny June ♪

♪ Or December too ♪

♪ In the wintertime ♪

♪ Or spring ♪

♪ Well, there'll be
Peace without end ♪

♪ Every neighbor a friend ♪

♪ With every man a king ♪

JACK:
The judge married money.
Savannah money.

The daughter
of an industrialist out there.

He's clean, Willie.
He's washed in the blood.

You call yourself a detective.

I'm most certainly not--

The son of a bitch
is washed in whitewash.

Wanting it isn't the same
as being it.
I know.

I can feel it.

That isn't
the same either.

Where did you find this
itty-bitty out?

Hall of Records.

It's all there.

Marriage licenses,
property deeds, public record.

The public record
is for the public, not us.

That's why it's called that.

You ain't gonna
find nothing there.

Now, I told you to dig,

not scuff your shoe
a little bit.

You gotta get out there
and talk to 'em.

To who?

The public.

The people who knew him.

This was a long time ago.
Well, look,

he's still alive, isn't he?

Causin' trouble.

So you gotta get out there

and chafe up your hands
a little bit,

for chrissake,
like the rest of us.

Where the hell
is everybody?

JACK:
Whatever there was to find

in the case
of the upright judge

would be long-buried
in the past

like a dead cat
in the back yard.

[♪♪♪]

But what could be buried
there like that...

...in a place like
Burden's Landing?

Where you and your friends
grew up,

shaded by 300-year-old
live oaks

and the sense
of your own entitlement.

To dig around that past,
in that back yard...

you must first--
You tell yourself.

--seek out the girl
from that past:

Anne Stanton.

The daughter of the governor
back then.

The little sister
of your best friend, Adam.

Who, one day, you noticed,

and it struck you
kind of all of a sudden...

wasn't little anymore.

She was the first one
you loved like that.

And the last, it turns out.

So you hold on to her pictures
in your mind,

year after year,

in the belief that...someday
it'll be like that again,

even though
you have no evidence.

In church,
they call this faith.

So that's what I'll call it.

Every month or so, I come out
here and light a fire.

Dry the place out.

I know it doesn't really
accomplish that, but...

I got a feeling if I didn't,
if nobody ever came,

the place would just one day
cave in on itself.

Adam never comes out?

No. Not anymore.

He took the piano,
or someone did.

Took it and put it in that place
he's living.

Have you seen it?

God forbid my brother
ever spent any money on himself.

Or that people knew it.

How's your wife?

I'm sorry,
I've...forgotten her name.

That didn't quite work out
as I'd hoped.

A lot of tangled bedclothes
and unspoken loathing,

then spoken loathing
and no tangled bedclothes.

Didn't I read of your engagement
in the society column?

Which you know I always
turn to first in the paper.

I was engaged.

More than once.

Adam didn't care
for any of them.

Hmm.

But why that should matter,
I don't know.

Who needs them, anyway?

♪ If it ain't love
Why should I be in love? ♪

JACK:
Anne, way back,
was Judge Irwin ever broke?

What?

Judges don't make the kind of
money your father did,

or my father or anyone else
who lives around here.

Why on earth would you
wanna know such a thing?

Someone asked me,
and I didn't know.

Asked you what?

What I just asked you.

Why?

Oh, Jack, what're
you doin' for that man?

That man.

Whatever it is, don't.

That man is what those pushed
away from the trough call him.

Those invited to it
should find another name.

Accepting state money
for scholarships

is different
from being on his payroll.

Is it?

Yes, it is.

Oh, don't ruin it.

What?

Don't ruin this?

Or that fine, beautiful time
we all had here once?

You sure that's what it was?

Yes.

Then why did it turn into
this time?

With me drinkin'
myself to death.

Adam gettin'
more reclusive and strange,

and you once a month
comin' out to a house

with the electricity cut off?

This time came from that time.

We should go.

The fire can burn.

It will anyway, you know,
one day.

What will what anyway?

Cave in on itself.

Everything.

[♪♪♪]

Is the Seaboard Bank
in Savannah?

Not since 1938.

What happened in '38?

Bought out
by Georgia Fidelity.

Got any idea
who was president then?

Franklin Roosevelt.

Ma'am, of the bank.

LeMoyne Carruthers
was my friend.

A dear friend.

And his daughter,

Mabel, well, I did
what I could for her,

even after her...
financial reversal.

The year of her financial
reversal was roughly what?

She threw
that inheritance away!

Two or three notes
I paid myself.

For the memory of LeMoyne,
my dear friend.

But she'd come back at me
without shame and say,

"I want money."

For parties and balls
and to adorn herself.

For she was plain,

to be kind.

WILLIE:
Then she was broke
when she met the judge.

Mm-hmm, so was he.

This is when he was
still attorney general

under Governor Stanton
pullin' down 3400 a year,

while paying off liens
on his place on the Row

to the tune of 42,000.

Well, you see there,
you are a detective.

You dug and chinked
the metal box,

and are enjoying the sound of it
a bit, if I'm not mistaken.

Might still be empty.

No, it's full.

Crawlin' with maggots
by now, maybe, but...

still a little something
they was chewin' on.

You just have to look.

Still have to find the key.
And that ain't gonna be easy.

Well, there's nothin' easy
that means anything.

You'll do it.
I have faith.

I like this one, Slade.

WILLIE [OVER SPEAKERS]:
Now, they all is yellin'

that I got no right
to what's on their table.

What's on their table
is theirs.

I'm not tryin' to take it!

"Go ahead, sit down
at that table," I tell.

"Have all you want to eat.
Eat till you can't eat no more.

"Now, what's left
on that table...

"when you can't eat no more,
even if you tried,

"leave that there

'cause that's
for the rest of us."

[CROWD CHEERING]

And for that,
they're tryin' to ruin me.

For takin'
what they left on the table

and usin' it
to build somethin' for you!

To build 3000 miles
of paved highways,

111 new bridges,
208 new schools,

60,000 brand-new jobs!

[CHEERING]

Now, they wanna ruin me...

...'cause they wanna ruin you.

But your will is my strength.

Your need is my justice.

And I won't let them!

[PEACEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]

WILLIE:
Come to me...in a dream.

Whilst you were up in Savannah

with your pail and shovel,
eatin' oysters.

JACK:
What did?

I'm gonna build me...

the best-staffed,
best-equipped,

biggest goddamn health center
this state ever saw.

This country ever saw.
The-- The All-Father hisself.

You want me to do what to
further this noble enterprise?

Deliver me
my chief of staff.

Fine. You give me a list of
who you're thinkin' to run it.

Only one name on it:

Dr. Adam Stanton.

That's my boy, Tom!
That's the way! You see that?

That's an all-American pass.
Goddamn it. Thattaboy, Tom!

Well, somebody gotta
run this hospital.

He's gotta be the best,
don't he?

Adam Stanton is not the best.

Well, he is for what I need.

They'll never approve
the money otherwise.

Willie, Adam's
an old friend of mine.

As I certainly know,
else I wouldn't be asking.

I know him and I know you.
He won't do it.

What's wrong with me?

To him, what isn't?

You're everything
his father fought against.

He hates what you represent,
if not you yourself.

I'm not askin' him
to love me.

I'm askin' him
to run a hospital.

Your hospital.
The people's hospital,

where any poor redneck and
nigger can get the best there is

without payin' a dime for it.

He oughta like that.

No. What you're askin' is

for him to put his family's name
next to yours.

So you can
trot him out

in front of
recalcitrant senators and say:

"Lookie here, lookie who I got
standin' next to me.

"No less than the son
of the most honorable man

who ever served this state."

Just get him.

Not easy bein'
the son of a great man.

Don't look so hard
for my boy Tom out there.

Far as you know.

[♪♪♪]

We should go.

Not yet. Let's go in again.

JACK:
The friend of your youth...

is the only friend
you'll ever have.

For he doesn't really see you.

He sees in his mind a face,
which doesn't exist anymore.

And speaks a name,

Spike, Bud, Red, Rusty...

Jack...

that belongs
to that now nonexistent face.

He's still the young idealist
you used to be.

Still sees good and bad
in black and white,

and men as sinners or saints,
but never both.

Hey, Adam.

And feels superior
in the knowledge,

that you no longer
can distinguish the two.

Jack.

That's what drives you to it,
to try to stick the knife in.

Come on in.

For there's a kind
of snobbery in failure.

Like the twist
to the mouth of a drunk.

You're lookin' good, Jack.

Thank you. I'll take that
as a compliment.

Been playin' much?

Who wants to know, my sister?

It was just a question.

Everything good?

Yes, Jack, everything's good.

All right. I'm gonna
tell you something,

and I don't want you
to start yellin' at me

until I'm finished.

Governor Stark wants you
as director

of the new medical center
he's buildin'.

Whatever you want,

all you have to do is say,
it's yours.

Money?

I didn't say that.

What do I want money for?

I got everything I want.
Look around.

I didn't say money.

Then what? What's next
when that doesn't work?

A threat of some kind?

Of course not.

That's how he gets things done,
isn't it?

What he relies on?

The bribe and the threat?

I would never do that to you,
or let anyone else.

You know that.

Well, I don't know what you
think he's thinkin', Jack,

or what you're thinkin',
but couldn't be flattery.

He's thinkin'
what he thinks about anybody

he wants somethin' from
who doesn't wanna give it.

Something from their past.

You just said he wasn't.

Not their past,
their weakness.

Same thing.
No, it isn't.

I'm not gonna debate it
with you, Jack.

We're not in school
anymore.

And I don't care
if you know I'm right.

I don't care if I am right.
But I am.

Then what is it, Jack?
What is my weakness?

You can't look at anybody
with somethin' broke

without wantin' to fix it.

And that's a weakness?

Some would say.

You would say.

It's no disgrace.

Well, then tell me, Jack.

Tell me, please.
How is that a weakness?

I don't need to tell you.

I think you do.

No, if you don't know, I'll
leave you to think about it.

It'll come to you.

No, it won't, Jack.

And you'll have
to go to your boss,

and tell him that you failed
without takin' out the big guns.

So tell me, for your sake,
how is that a weakness?

'Cause it makes you do things
you don't wanna do.

If they're good.

And this is.

He may not be.

But this is.

[SCOFFS]

It's good
to see you, Adam.

WILLIE:
Now, before I tell y'all
the story

about how
this great university...

changed the life of a boy
from Mason City,

who, by all rights,
should still be swillin' hogs...

[LAUGHTER]

...first, I'm gonna set
your minds at ease

on another point of interest.

I brung my checkbook with me.

You own one share?

I do.

I just bought it.

Now, that gives me
the right as a stockholder,

to view the company's
equity records,

doesn't it?

[APPLAUSE]

MAN:
Governor, sir?

[♪♪♪]

[KNOCK ON DOOR]

Miss Littlepaugh?

[LATCH CLICKS]

You're from
the insurance company.

No, no. I'm not.

But I know about
your brother's insurance policy.

Not that there was
much left on it to collect.

He borrowed against it
almost down to nothing.

Didn't he?

Which means you lied...

for almost nothin'.

Now, don't you go
jumpin' out a window.

LITTLEPAUGH:
It wasn't the money.

It was the disgrace.

I wanted him buried in
the good part of the cemetery,

not in the back
with all the sinners.

Why'd he kill himself?

They drove him to it.

Make room for
that thief, Irwin.

My brother went
to the Justice Department,

and told 'em he knew
all about their man Irwin,

and the bribes.

But they wouldn't listen.

Are you lyin' to me?

No, that's what killed him.

He wrote the letter to me
and told me.

[TEARFULLY]
And then that night, he...

[SOBBING]

All right, wait.

What letter?

The letter he wrote me
explainin' it all.

The lawsuit

Irwin was paid to let up on,

and how the power company
hid the payoffs

by firin' my brother
and givin' Irwin his job.

Where's this letter now?

What happened to it?

Oh, I have it.

Kept it all this time?

You have the letter here?

[♪♪♪]

WILLIE:
You bring down the lion,

the rest of the jungle
will quake in fear,

and they'll all fall into line.

Your employer
is calling you, Jack.

Thank you.

[PLAYING PLEASANT BLUES MELODY]

[MUSICIAN HUMMING]

Hello.

Hello, Anne.

[CHUCKLES]
What's that?

Orange soda.

Two straws.

I think I might want
somethin' else.

I didn't say
one of them was for you.

It's the way it's drunk.

Tradition.

I know you went to see Adam.

I did. What of it?

What did you say to him?

I went there,
and I offered him a job.

No use blamin' me.

I'm not blamin' you.

Well, that's what
it sounds like.

That's what
you sound like.

If you could hear
yourself.

I want him to take it.
I want you to go back

and ask him again.

Jack, you know
how it is.

My brother is the son
of a governor,

the grandson
of a senator,

the great-grandson
of a general.

JACK:
She wasn't tellin' me anything

I didn't already know
about Adam.

But she was doin' it
walkin' next to me...

which is all that mattered.

...my face
in that picture...

So I let her go on...

as long as she wanted.

He's given up
findin' him.

[PLAYING PENSIVE MELODY]

I knew that Adam
had already made his decision.

He had decided to take the job
when I first brought it up.

He was just puttin' some time

between my visit and now
out of pride.

He needs to do this to be
part of something himself

before he disappears.

But something about what
she was sayin' bothered me.

The way an off-stage noise
bothers you.

What kind of life
is that?

Something you hear...

He's a guardian
of dead men.

...but not clear enough
to catch the meaning of.

I want him
to take it.

He has to
do it.

So you push it aside.

[MACHINERY RUMBLING]

I guess that's one of
your gunmen I've heard about.

Sugar Boy,
hell, no.

He just carry that peashooter
for decoration.

I tell you
one thing, though,

ain't nobody
can drive like him.

[MEN CHATTERING]

What do you think, doc?

I think it'll do the people
of the state some good...

and get you some votes.

[CHUCKLES]
There's a lot of ways
to get votes.

Cheaper ones.

So I understand.

Because there are
some things I understand.

And some things
you don't.

Just like there's
some I don't.

What I do know is
what makes the mare go.

And that you can always
make goodness out of badness.

That would be two things.

Them's the two things
I know then.

And both of them wrong.

No, neither
one of 'em, sir,

I beg your pardon.

You can always make
good from bad in all things.

In politics, poetry,
everything in between.

Makes no difference.

A man writes a sonnet...

and it's good.

Is it less good
if it turns out

the dame he wrote it about
is married to someone else?

That his passion
was illicit?

Come on, I wanna
show you something.

ADAM:
I wouldn't mind understanding
something, actually.

If, as you say,

there's only bad
to start with

from conception on...

and that good must be
made from bad,

then how do you ever know
what the good is?

[LAUGHS]
That's simple.

You just make it up
as you go along.

Make up what?

The good. What the hell else
we talkin' about?

Make it up
as you go along?

Yeah. Just like folks
been doin' for a million years.

Since we fall out of trees,
crawl out the swamp.

They just cook up
what is right.

If nobody likes that, well,
just cook it up again

a little different,
with a lid on.

And you know what?

Things under a lid, they don't
look no different than things

not under a lid,
when there's one on it.

You don't have to convince me
of anything, Mr. Stark.

You've already
done that.

I'm here, aren't I?

That's right.

And you're
a good boy too, doc.

A lot better than you think.

So goddamn it...

...don't let none
of them bastards

tell you no different.

[TIRES SCREECH]

[HORN HONKS]

I got a question,
since everybody's tryin'

to understand everything
all of a sudden.

Back when we met...

at Slade's old place
when we shook hands,

do you remember
that moment?

Like it was yesterday.

Did you or did you not
give me a wink?

A wink?

Mm-hmm.

[♪♪♪]

Well, that's just gonna
have to remain a mystery.

You don't remember.

Sure I did.

Then...?

You know, I...

I just do recall
givin' you a wink.

But then, maybe I
got something in my eye,

which would make it
more of a blink.

Did you have something
in your eye?

What if I didn't?

What would that mean?

That maybe you figured
you and me

had something in common
the others didn't.

Well, I'm not gonna tell you...

and deprive you of the mystery.

There's just too few
honest-to-God mysteries

left to go around.

WILLIE:
And long after
I'm dead and gone,

and long after
these sons of bitches

are dead and gone--

I'm talkin' eternity now.

--the Willie Stark Hospital
will still be standing.

Where every man...

woman and child

who's sick or in pain
can go in...

knowin' they'll get
all a man can do.

Not as charity, but as a right!

As your right!

As it is that every child
shall have a complete education!

That no person, aged or infirm,
shall want or beg for bread!

That no poor man's land
or house will be taxed!

That you shall not be
deprived of hope!

[APPLAUSE & CHEERING]

And if any man...

stands between me...

and fulfilling your rights,

I will strike him down,

so help me God!

Hip, shin, thigh and neck bone,

I will hit him.

I will hit him with a meat ax.

Somebody give me a meat ax.

And bring me another one
for my friend and ally.

For it's not only God's
only son with us on this one.

It's the son of the last
great leader of this state:

Governor Joe Stanton's boy...

Dr. Adam Stanton!

[CHEERING & APPLAUSE]

[♪♪♪]

All right.

See there?

It's not so bad.
It's not gonna kill you.

[DOOR OPENS]

JACK:
What's up?

[DOOR CLOSES]

Sadie.

Now he's done it.

He's done it again,
and I swear this time...

Done?

Don't act so dumb.

Or any dumber than you are.

He's two-timin' me again.

Or four or one,

or whatever timin'
you wanna call it,

because she's
such a smartass.

She skate?

Shut up.

You and your friends.

Your highbrow friends.

All the money and privilege
and everything else

you pretend means nothing.

To someone with it...

it means nothing.

[LAUGHS]

Don't look so dumb.
I said it annoys me.

I have no idea what
you're talkin' about,

or what it was
tangled you two up

in the first place,
love or hate.

You know what
I'm talkin' about.

Maybe you fixed it up.
I'm sure you did.

Surely he's fixed you up

like that pathetic
and crazy brother of hers

to say thanks.

"Thanks, Jack.

"She is a looker,
I do declare. Mmm-mmm-mmm.

"I'm naming you SDP,
yes, sir.

State Director
of Pimps."

[♪♪♪]

What are you saying?

Are you saying...?

[♪♪♪]

Thank you.

Are you s--?

[MOUTHS]
I love you.

We're gonna walk
some more.

All right.

[PHONE RINGING]

JACK:
Hello.

Hello, Mother.

Yes, Mother.
Yes.

[SOFT JAZZ PLAYING OVER RADIO]

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

All right.

All right,
Mother.

Goodbye.

She and the Peytons
and the bridge partner

are going to La Grange
for a nightcap.

Jackie.

What?

[QUIETLY]
I came up here.

JACK:
This was years ago,
you understand.

Back when things
weren't set in concrete.

Back when you had a way of
changing the course of things.

If you knew how.

She was perfect.

She had always been perfect.

I wanted to keep her
that way...

and like this.

To be young and older...

somehow.

[LAUGHS]

Of course that's not
what it looked like to her.

When I came home
from school at Christmas,

we saw each other, of course.

We talked about things,
but never that.

We talked about love
in general...

like it was the subject of
an essay instead of real.

She said it was like
jumpin' off the high dive...

love was.

Or like almost gettin' drowned.

Which, honestly,
I didn't understand...

for a long time.

You wanna know the reason
I stopped that night?

It wasn't nobility.

That's only what I told myself.

We have all the time
in the world, right?

It was that I knew something

was about to be taken
from us...

leaving in its place...

something we didn't know.

Which didn't make her sad.

But it did me.

You only get
a couple of moments...

that determine your life.

Sometimes only one.

And then it's gone.

Forever.

TINY:
I talked to
Senator Loden this morning.

He said you find something nice
to put on his plate,

he might come around.

Vote any way you like.

Yeah. Well, you cut
yourself a slice.

Well, I ain't sayin' that.

I know what
you're sayin', Tiny.

You know, I'd rather
bust a man than buy him.

Well, that's up to you now.

Yeah, sure is.
Now go on. Get.

[SIGHS]

[DOOR OPENS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

Do you have
any information for me?

You sure there's not somethin'
you neglected to mention?

Somethin' you forgot?

Jack.

No.

Nothin'?

Nothin'! Well...

How about that, Sugar? Nothin'!

Am I alone
in this?!

The bastards are
poundin' at the gate!

They're gonna put a vote of
impeachment on the calendar!

They take that vote today,
I'm out!

[♪♪♪]

I need Judge Irwin with me.

Or at least
not against me.

[SIGHS]

So whatever it is...

that you don't have on him...

use it.

[GENTLE OPERA PLAYING]

I'm sorry.
What did you say?

I said I'm going over
to the judge's.

Well, you mean later.

He'll be nappin'
this time of day.

There isn't any time of day
he's gonna wanna hear

what I have to tell him.

He's not well,
you know.

I can't help that.

I do wish you wouldn't
get mixed up in things.

It isn't me mixed up in them.

The judge is napping
right now, Mr. Burden.

I'll wait in his study
until he comes down.

Fire this marble.

Watch the chandelier.

Okay, you can fire.

Hello, Jack.

I didn't know you were
at your mother's.

You just get in?
Last night.

Yeah.

Well, it's a bit early
in the day,

but, uh, what do you think?

A touch of bourbon...

never hurt anyone.

Least not you and me.

We're indestructible,
aren't we...

you and me?

No, thanks.

"No, thanks,"
he says.

Begging
the question,

as the old man
pours just one drink,

what's on your mind?

Out with it.

You know who I work for.

How could I forget?

But let's just sit
and pretend that I have.

Come sit over here with me.

Uh...

You know, the truth is,

I don't hold
the same low opinion of him

as many of our friends
on the Row.

I was almost for him

at one time.
He was, uh...

busting out
windowpanes, and,

yeah, letting in
some fresh air.

But now I am worried...

about him, you know,
knocking down the whole house.

So you threw in
with his enemies

after you said
you wouldn't.

Oh, Jack.

What is politics
but a matter of choices?

You make a choice knowing
there's a chance

it's the wrong one.
You know that.

I mean, you've
made a choice,

and you know how much
it's cost you.

There's always a price
for everything we do.

When we came by that night

and were leaving,

you said you would
think about it.

About calling off the dogs?
Mm-hmm.

No, I did not say that.

Your memory is faulty, sir.
He said, "Think about it,"

which I don't have to

because I don't have to think
about things I already know.

You should
think it over...

even now, because...

it's not too late.

Hm.

Too late for what?

Hey, Jack.

Jesus.

Heh. What is it?

Just say you'll back Stark
against these attacks.

No!
[GLASS TINKLING]

Now, that has the sound
of finality, don't it?

Yes, it does.

Yeah.

[CHUCKLES]

You know,
I find this, uh...

difficult to believe.

For me too.

And that your boss would
even think he could, uh...

pressure me,
could blackmail me.

The first word is better.

The first word is prettier,
not better.

Don't you know that this stuff
wouldn't stand up?

Not in any court. You--

It happened
almost 25 years ago.

You couldn't
get any testimony...

except from that woman
who is related,

and whose testimony,

if she gave it...

would be worthless.

And everybody else, Jack...

...everybody else is dead.

You're not.

You're not dead.

And you don't
live in any court.

You live in the world,
where people think

you're a certain
kind of man.

I am a certain
kind of man.

You know,
when I was a kid,

it seemed natural...
that a grown man

would stay up nights
with catgut

and steel wire, pliers
and scissors,

and make little catapults.

Read books about 'em.

Will you change your mind?

You know, I could
hurt you, Jack.

Like you're tryin'
to hurt me.

I could say something.

I could tell you something...

that would hurt.

But I won't.

Think it over.
I'll be by tomorrow.

My mind's made up now.

I'll come back tomorrow.

[DOOR CLOSES]

Made up now.

[WOMAN SCREAMS IN DISTANCE]

[WOMAN SCREAMS]

[DIAL TONE HUMMING]

[WOMAN SOBBING]

Mother. Mother.

Mother. Mama.

You! You! You did it!

What?
You killed him!

Who?
You killed him.

Mother, who?
You killed him.

Who?
You killed him!

Who, M--? Who, Mother?
You killed him! You killed him!

Your father!
You killed your father!

[SOBBING]

[♪♪♪]

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[RAIN PATTERING]

[IRWIN LAUGHING]

MAN:
"I am the resurrection
and the life," saith the Lord.

"He that believeth in me,
though he were dead,

"yet shall he live.

Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die."

I know that my redeemer liveth

and that he shall stand at
the latter day upon the earth.

And though this body
be destroyed,

yet shall I see God,

and I shall see for myself,

and mine eyes shall behold,
and not as a stranger.

We brought nothing
into this world

and it is certain
we can carry nothing out.

[♪♪♪]

[SIGHS]

MINSTER:
The city of God, the holy place

of the tabernacle
of the Most Highest.

God is in the midst of her.

Therefore,
shall she not be removed.

[MINSTER SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

In every good work
to do his will,

working in you that which
is well pleasing in his sight

through Jesus Christ

to whom be glory
forever and ever.

Amen.

CROWD:
Amen.

[♪♪♪]

I told you to scare him,
not scare him to death.

He wasn't scared.

Then why did he do it?

Jack?

I don't wanna discuss it.

Well, let me just say this.

I know that he was some kind
of friend of the family

growing up, all that,
so I'm sorry

the old bastard shot himself,

but we still got MacMurphy
and his boys to deal with.

And that didn't work out
the way we hoped.

You need to get someone else for
all of it 'cause I'm through.

Through with it or with me?

JACK:
I don't wanna discuss it.

[♪♪♪]

JACK:
After any great trauma

or crisis...

after the shock subsides, and
the nerves stop twitching...

you settle down
to the new condition of things

because you know that all
possibility of anymore change

has been used up.

You've seen
the pattern finally

'cause you've
stepped back far enough

to take in the whole picture.

But it's too late now
to do anything

but accommodate yourself to it.

And that's it.

There's nothing left
to do or say

except that God and nothing
have a lot in common.

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

The end.

What you don't know
is that you're wrong.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

Oh, God, Jack.

[PANTING]

You've gotta help me.

He's crazy.

He came to see me,
said the most terrible things,

and then he walked out.

Who? Willie?

No, Adam.

He said it was my fault.

Everything was my fault.

Well...

Someone called him

and told him...

...about me.

About you?

About you and the governor.
You can say it, Anne.

It doesn't hurt any more
to hear it than to know it.

He told him what I'd done,

and he said that I'd do anything
else to help the governor

get what he wanted,
even if that meant

sacrificing my brother
to some kind of fraud.

[PIANO PLAYING DELICATE MELODY]

ANNE:
Which is all
the hospital was.

Nothing but a scheme
to rob the state.

And that when
the truth came out,

and it would,
Adam would take the blame.

He'd go to prison.

For every scheme
needs a fall guy, and he's it.

JACK:
Whoever said that is lying.

ANNE:
I know.

I tried to tell him
that's not the way it was.

That he was wrong.
But he wouldn't listen.

He grabbed me and said that
he would not be made a fool.

That everything else
could be filthy and corrupt,

but that a man
didn't have to be.

And then he said that...

he wouldn't be a paid pimp
to his sister's whore.

He said that to me.

Well, neither will I.

Why'd you do it?

You knew
what it would do to me.

It had nothing to do with you.
Then what?

I don't know!
You better think of something!

I wasn't thinking--!
Yes, you were!

Yes, you were. Was it because
of me or in spite of me?

I'd never hurt you like that.

[TEARFULLY]
You would and you have.

Oh, God, Jack.
You have to help me.

I'm afraid Adam's gonna
do something to himself.

[PIANO STILL PLAYING
DELICATE MELODY]

[STOPS PLAYING]

[♪♪♪]

Adam?

MAN:
Dear God,

you are the unseen Lord
of this chamber,

the silent listener,

the judge of our deliberations.

Bless the senators
you sit among.

We place our trust
in your guidance.

You are our Lord and Savior.

Amen.

CROWD:
Amen.

MAN 2:
All persons are commanded
to keep silent

on pain of imprisonment...

JACK:
Adam!

...while the Senate of
the state of Louisiana sits...

Adam!

...for the trial
of the articles of impeachment

against the honorable
William Stark,

governor of state of Louisiana.

I'll go up
and make some calls.

Anne...

[CHUCKLES]

...I'm sure it's gonna be fine.

MAN:
Mr. Gidré.

GIDRE:
Nay.

MAN:
Mr. Honoré.

HONORE:
Yea.

MAN:
Mr. Hobbes.

HOBBES:
Nay.

MAN:
Mr. Landmark.

LANDMARK:
Nay.

MAN:
Mr. Latché.

LATCHE:
Yea.

MAN:
Mr. Mouton.

MOUTON:
Nay.

MAN:
Mr. Pelerant.

PELERANT:
Nay.

MAN:
Mr. Rivette.

RIVETTE:
Yea.

MAN:
Mr. Rousseau.

ROUSSEAU:
Nay.

MAN:
Mr. Savoir.

SAVOIR:
Nay.

MAN:
Mr. Tesh.

TESH:
Nay.

[♪♪♪]

MAN:
Seventeen yeas,

22 nays.

The impeachment
of Governor Willie Stark fails.

[GAVEL CRACKS]

MacMURPHY:
There is a line
between what is acceptable

and what is not.

Now, the governor has stepped
over that line

to guide this vote

using means
that are inappropriate.

Now, I'll call that
undue influence.

I'll go further,
I'll call it coercion.

Mr. MacMurphy!

Governor!
Sir!
Governor!

Governor!
Sir!
Sir!

You say every word
but the one you mean, sir!

Go ahead, say it out loud.
We're all friends here.

But I blackmailed nobody,

to be factual!

I merely gave you
the opportunity to act

in accordance
with your own nature

and like all good men,

rise above principle!

[LAUGHTER & APPLAUSE]

Jack!

[♪♪♪]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[FLASHBULBS POPPING]

[CROWD SHOUTING CLAMORING]

WILLIE:
Where's Jack?

We did it, boy!
We stopped that clock!

Ain't gonna be
no impeachment today!

[♪♪♪]

ANNE:
Someone called him, Adam.

And said that I'd do
anything else

to help the governor
get what he wanted.

Even if that meant sacrificing

my brother to some kind
of fraud.

Which is all the hospital was.

Nothing but a scheme
to rob the state.

Adam would take the blame.
He'd go to prison.

For every scheme
needs a fall guy, and he's it.

JACK:
That's not true.

Whoever said that is lying.

Hey, doc. Where you been?
You been out there swimming?

[GUNSHOT]
[GROANS]

[CROWD SCREAMING]

[GUNSHOTS]

[♪♪♪]

WILLIE:
So listen to me. Listen here.

And lift your eyes

and look on the God's blessed
and unflyblown truth:

You are a hick!

And ain't nobody never helped
a hick but a hick hisself.

It's up to you
to nail these parasites up.

Up to you and me

and God!

Nail up Joe Harrison!

ALL:
Nail him up!

Nail up MacMurphy!

ALL:
Nail him up!

And nail up any bastard

that gets between you

and the roads and the bridges
and the schools

and the food you need.

You give me the hammer,
and I'll do it!

[♪♪♪]