Original subtitles

I bet you're wondering what I was doing in your closet.

Oh, no, sweetheart. I won't get to any wondering until sometime next week.

I was hiding my dad's Christmas present. Do you think your closet's a good

place? As good as any. I'd love to help you out, sweetheart, but I got exactly

45 minutes to finish my Christmas shopping before I have to be at that

Okay, I'll get out of your way. Merry Christmas, Benson. Merry Christmas, sir.

Merry Christmas, Clayton. Well, ho, ho, ho, and a Merry Christmas to you, too,

Katie. Santa Claus will soon be here with gifts for all the good little girls

and boys.

Clayton, do you know how old I am?

I don't know.

11?

I'm almost 15.

15 -year -olds don't believe in Santa Claus. They believe in powder blue

turbocharged trans amps with a hunk at the wheel.

Goodbye, Clayton. No, no, no, wait a minute. We have to go over your

presentation for the Community Business Administration.

Clayton, I've worked through breakfast, I've worked through lunch, and now I

have exactly 45 minutes to run the gauntlet of last -minute Christmas

so don't hold me up any longer than you already have, please.

Benson... Pretty please!

I simply think that it would be wise... Halt!

Krauss, if this is another question about the appropriations bill, I don't

time. What about my presentation?

Forget it to you, no to you, goodbye to both of you.

What's on your mind, boss?

I'm just trying to figure out what to get Katie for Christmas. She gets harder

to shop for every year.

Well, while you're thinking on it, why don't you try some of this?

This is my special recipe for eggnog. Oh.

Oh.

What is in that?

Vodka, brandy, and creme de menthe.

Takes away that eggy taste.

Yes, he's right here.

Just a minute, please.

Hello.

Yes, this is Governor Gatling.

I'll be there just as soon as I can. Yes, thank you.

Something wrong?

That was the emergency room at the hospital.

Benson's been hurt.

Vital signs of stable.

And he seems to be resting comfortably.

But all we can do right now is wait.

Wait? For what?

Hold on.

How did I get up here?

There's the governor, and Clayton, and Krause, and Katie, and me.

Me?

Wait a minute.

What am I doing down there if I'm up here?

Can't be in two places at once.

Where am I going now?

I feel great. I shouldn't even be in a hospital.

This can't be a nightmare.

Krause is nowhere in sight.

What's that?

Hello? Is anybody there?

Mama?

Mama, is that you?

Vincent, what on earth are you doing up here?

This isn't... No, I... I know what this is. This is those two chili

cheese dogs that I wolfed out at the mall last night.

It's not a dream, Vincent.

You are here where everybody longs to get to some days.

The love boat?

Do you see that light?

It's a reflection of the pearly gates.

The pearly gates?

The pearly gates?

Well, show me around.

Well, now, just a minute. Why are you so cranky? You're in heaven.

Because you interrupted my bridge game.

They allow you to play bridge up here?

Duke Ellington and I play every Thursday.

Hey, I think I'm gonna like this place. Well, now, just a minute.

Let me explain the procedure.

I hope there's no written exam.

Heaven is a matter of choice.

Once you get this far, you can either choose to walk through the pearly gates

back to your earthly existence.

Hmm. So what you're saying is I can either go to heaven or go to Krause.

Then, son... Well, why should I risk going back down there and miss up my

chances of coming up here? It's an easy choice. I'm going in.

Would you please make him listen to me?

Ask yourself, have you accomplished everything you can on Earth?

Does anybody?

Mozart did.

Well, Mozart was special.

You're special, too.

Well, thank you, Mama. I appreciate you saying that, but the world can get along

without me.

Well, that's true.

Well, you didn't have to be so quick to agree.

The point is...

Your friends still need you, son. The governor, Miss Krause -Cady.

Oh, they'll be all right without you. Oh, no, they won't.

Not if you leave them now.

Why can't you be so sure? I have it on good authority.

All right, okay, okay.

Stop, stop that, stop that.

Start that.

All right, so they'll miss me, but it's not going to change their lives.

All right.

I didn't want to have to do this.

But I guess I'll have to show you. Show me what?

The Christmas that might be seven years into the future.

Seven years?

Isn't this the kind of thing that usually takes ten years? I saw this

with Jimmy Stewart. Would you please let me do this my way? Excuse me for

living. Whatever it is I'm doing up here.

Please hush.

I'm trying to concentrate.

Do you recognize where you are, Benson?

The governor's office.

No need to whisper. Nobody can see us or hear us.

Oh, yeah. Well, I guess I should have realized that when nobody screamed when

popped in out of thin air.

Thank you, Governor.

Come along, everyone.

Nothing here has changed. I told you seven years in the future was not far

enough.

Everything's the same.

Pictures on the wall? The governor's chair?

The governor?

Clayton's the governor?

Yes, and without you to keep him in check, Clayton lost all sense of human

kindness. But if Clayton's the governor, where's the real governor?

Your lunch, Governor Endicott.

Ah, Eugene.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Hold everything.

This is the real governor?

Ex -governor.

Without you there, To watch out for him, he was framed by his political enemies,

impeached, and removed from office.

When Governor Endicott was elected, he felt pity for the poor, disgraced man

and hired him on as his personal valet.

Clayton became governor? Who was he running against, a lizard?

Won by a landslide.

His campaign slogan was...

Indica in the tradition of Vincent Dubois.

I must be turning over in my grave.

Here you are, sir.

Eugene, this is the money appropriated for the state orphanage.

I want you to take it over to the racetrack and put it all on sleazy Sue

But, sir, what about the orphans?

Well... Well, if that tip pays off, those orphans will have a place to

Well,

he's certainly not going to heaven.

Eugene. Sir. I understand that Catherine will be coming to the Christmas party.

Yes. Of course, she's still pretty messed up about the divorce.

Katie divorced?

Well, it's always nice to have a fresh divorcee at the party.

Make him stop laughing.

Well,

what happened to Katie?

Well, with the governor having problems, Katie fell in with a bad crowd at

college and ran away with a defensive lineman named Lunkhead.

Speaking of longheads, where's Krause?

Oh, she should be here any moment.

Come, see for yourself.

No, let me do it this time.

Ow.

Whoops.

Don't you ever watch where you are going.

Give me a break. I'm just a rookie at this.

Help me down.

Okay.

You know, that finger snapping could come in handy during rush hour. Oh, no,

wasn't supposed to let you do that.

So don't you say anything in front of you -know -who.

Oh, I think he already knows.

So, what happened between you and that football player?

Eh, kind of complicated.

Came to me one morning and said, Honey, clean out your locker. You've been cut.

Oh, that's too bad.

Twenty -five weeks of marriage down the drain.

Yep. Guess this means I'll be spending the rest of my life sitting on the

singles bench.

All that because I wasn't there.

You ain't seen nothing yet.

Oh, I think I get the point, Mama. I don't want to see this.

Oh,

no, the poor woman never looked like much, but...

There's stuff growing on her.

Merry Christmas.

It's me, Miss Nuts and Fruitcakes.

This place, it looks familiar.

What's wrong with her?

She got off at the wrong exit on the interstate of life.

kicks nuts on Christmas candy door to door.

Business slacks off a little bit in the summer, but otherwise it's not too bad a

life.

Does she have any marbles left?

I'm afraid not.

You were the only one who believed in Miss Krause.

After the governor was forced out, nobody else would give her a chance.

Hey, Krause, you want to stay for the Christmas party? I'm sure my old man'd

love to see you.

Nice of you.

Great, let's go.

Where?

To the party.

What party?

The party I just invited you to.

Who are you?

Oh, I've seen quite enough.

No, not quite yet.

There's just one more place we've got to go to. The office Christmas party.

No, wait, let's walk.

cross, remember?

No.

Well, you two go ahead and get reacquainted. I'm gonna party.

I love Christmas. It's so darn

joyous.

Anybody for a shooter of eggnog?

Eugene! Sir.

I thought I told you to paint the tree.

I'm sorry, Governor Endicott.

I'll sleazy Sue make out in the seventh.

Dead last.

To pity.

Hope those orphans have sleeping bags.

Cassidy!

How's the eggnog?

Oh, it's great, boss.

Good.

I hate that.

Come on, Mama. Nobody's that bad.

Well, I may be exaggerating a little.

I know what'll cheer us all up. A Christmas carol.

Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Of

all

the things... you showed them, did for them, meant to them.

The worst thing about you being gone is that without you they lost the spirit.

The spirit of Christmas.

Divorce court was more fun than this.

Christmas just isn't what it used to be.

Now go on, say it. I've heard it for the past seven years. Christmas just isn't

the same without Benson.

Benson? Is Benson here?

No, Miss Gross.

You know, when I was a kid, my favorite part of Christmas was picking out the

tree with Benson.

I accidentally gave Benson a wallet for Christmas four years in a row.

He never said a word.

The saddest thing in my life is that I was never able to give him that

turtleneck sweater I knitted for him. It's probably still in my office closet.

Oh, that Benson was a cutie.

So much like the late Mr.

Cassidy.

And he's more like him now.

When I think of Benson, I think of a man who had the people's best interest at

heart.

And in spite of that, I sort of like the son of a gun.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Go to them, Benson.

They need you, maybe more than ever.

Well, what can I do?

A Christmas carol might be nice.

They can't hear me or see me.

Would you just trust your mama?

Yeah.

There's no music.

Hit it, Duke.

Oh, little town of Bethlehem, how still...

The hopes and fears of all

the years

Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting

light.

The hopes and fears of all the years.

Oh, Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Come on, Benson.

We've both got some place to be.

Beam us up, Mama.

Our journey's over, Benson.

It's time for you to make a choice.

I'm staying.

Oh, what?

Relax. It's just a joke. Where's your sense of humor?

I know. I still got a lot of work to do.

Well, then it's time to say goodbye.

Mama, I don't want to say goodbye.

Oh, don't worry, son.

I'm with you every day.

Our bodies can't live forever, but our love can.

I love you, Mama.

I love you too, son.

See you here soon.

How soon?

When the time is right.

You'll be surprised how fast the years pass.

Make the most of them, Benson.

I will, Mama.

I will.

I will, Mama.

I will.

I will.

I will.

I think he's coming to.

Benson, can you hear me?

Yes.

And unfortunately, I can see you, too.

Oh, I would be so happy to be insulted in my life.

I knew you'd pull through, Benson.

Are you all right?

That depends.

Are you still the governor?

As far as I know.

There wasn't an election today or anything, was there?

Is Katie married?

Married? I'm not even allowed to date.

Clayton.

Laugh for me.

Laugh?

Everything's back to normal, Governor.

And Kraus, I sure hope that turtleneck in your office closet is blue.

How did he know that?

How in heaven's name could he possibly know?