Original subtitles

[DISTANT WAVES CRASHING]

♪ I was wayward in a dark place ♪

♪ silence so loud you can't see straight ♪

♪ time is moving, how'd you get there? ♪

♪ your light is over, it's only darkness. ♪

♪ If I could reach you, I'd guide you and I'd tell you ♪

♪ all of your dreams, they're coming true ♪

♪ take hold of my hand, I'll lead you from where I've been ♪

♪ follow the light, it'll lead you through. ♪

[SPOTLIGHT SWITCHES OFF]

[STIRRING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]

1948 was the summer I saw stars.

In my New York,

the city looked like fresh paint,

wet oils on a pentimento canvas,

especially when marquees went dark

and if you worked here

a hot night dragged on till morning.

Here, the cinematographer is a god

who paints in light

and everyone looked and sounded

as if they've been written.

My roots are in the theater, so I'm doing this live

we're not gonna fix it later like the movies

and what happened in Hollywood

stayed on Broadway.

[DRAMATIC EMOTIONAL MUSIC]

[GARBAGE CAN CRASHES]

Hey, are you alright?

- Giving it a try.

- Hey, you're not trying very hard, pal.

You don't want the cops.

- This is my alley

they leave me be.

- Yeah, why would they do that?

- Because when they see this face, they know it's me

and make more of it than I do.

- Well, lucky you.

- I had a bad day.

Yeah, it's pretty hot, huh? As hot as L.A.

- Yeah, I'm from Brooklyn. In the winter you can bundle up

but in summer you can take off just so much.

- Especially at night

when it's real hot, and you're too drunk to sleep

almost everybody looks good enough to eat.

Wait, no, not you.

Girls... women.

On a hot night any chick with an Equity card and no credits will even screw a screenwriter.

- It's not that way in New York, so listen up.

Here, the writer is coveted.

- I know.

That's why I hate Hollywood. That's...

one of only two reasons why I'm hammered tonight.

[SHUFFLING FOOTSTEPS]

So what are you doing out here?

- Well, I wasn't planning on it

but I got to meet you. - And I you.

I'm Monty. - Sid.

I just saw Red River, and The Search.

- The Search... hardly anyone saw that one.

- Pretty sure you're wrong, but I see everything.

I work for a Broadway big shot.

- Yeah, who?

- Josh Logan.

- Really? Joshua Logan, all those musicals?

Yeah, but he also writes and directs

plays and movies where people just talk.

Annie Get Your Gun... wow!

Yeah. Listen, where do you live? Let's get you a cab, huh?

- I wish I could carry a tune.

Yeah, I wish could dance even more.

- I'm sure something right will come your way.

- What are you doing out here, Sid? You're dressed like you came from a funeral.

- Yeah, I did. I got the day wrong.

- [SCOTTISH ACCENT] A funeral? Me too.

We just buried our great uncle, Angus.

But however did you get the day wrong?

- [SCOTTISH ACCENT] If you only knew, laddie.

- [ SCOTTISH ACCENT] He was only fifty-eight. Survived the Titanic, he did.

but an ice truck... struck him.

- [SCOTTISH ACCENT] Well, I bet it was painless. - [SCOTTISH ACCENT] Aye, I hope.

In life, there's a lot of ouch till it's over.

- [SCOTTISH ACCENT] So Monty, why aren't you in Hollywood?

- Why aren't you?

- The Actors Studio is here.

- Excuse me?

- Mr. Clift...

just like you, I'm on my way to being someone else.

- You're gonna be a giant, little man.

Thanks.

[EMOTIONAL MUSIC]

[WOMAN PLAYS PIANO SLOWLY]

♪ There's a bright golden haze on the meadow ♪

♪ The corn is as high as an elephant's eye. ♪

- There is no God.

- Come on, don't I kind of count?

- I'm not in any mood.

- Okay, the dancers can come out from wherever they are.

- I let them go. - Of course you did.

With full salary I bet... for the second day in a row.

I was coming here to welcome them.

How do you think this would've sounded, Nedda?

Kids, listen up.

Hammerstein's lyrics don't have to be sung on the money

but my arrangements are engraved at the U.S. Mint

and your congressman is lobbying to have my face carved into the granite of Mt. Rushmore.

- That would have brought down the house, Dick

because shell-shocked chorus boys bring grenades.

DICK: You know, when it's empty like this...

that's when I'd like it the least.

And on opening night, right before they open the house and

the ushers are going around making sure all the

chairs are folded up, that's when it's like a...

a spiritless church waiting its congregation, who're so filled with hope

and we're all scared, up here and behind the curtain

because the audience thinks the show... just happens.

But Nedda, we know different.

- Yeah.

- And yet once again, Josh is letting you take the reins.

- What else is new?

- Well, you're both separated, but, uh...

that's like Siamese twins trying to live in different Dakotas.

- The show's in trouble.

- And Josh is running from it. He's missed three rehearsals.

He tells Oscar... things, but not me.

Where's Sid, isn't he supposed to be here?

- He's not, but he is.

Loyalty is transcendent.

- So tell me, which is in worse shape right now, my play or its director?

And are you holding out for him?

- I swear, I'm not covering--

- Huh...

- But what has he done? Other than make you and Oscar look good.

- He's off his rocker.

- Only I get to say what's off.

- Okay, Allegro is gonna open on Broadway. I promise that.

- You might regret that.

SID: Like a high school quarterback that doesn't pull out of a cheerleader in time.

- Oh Jesus.

- Nedda.

- Go ahead.

- No, I got a cab waiting.

- How come you always know so much before she does?

- Because she knows how much I can keep to myself.

[CONTEMPLATIVE DRAMATIC MUSIC]

- Theda.

THEDA: Mrs. Logan, how was rehearsal?

- I've got the dough in tow. - Hi, I'm Richard Rodgers.

- Ah, Theda. I'm so pleased to meet you, I'm such a fan.

- What happened to Josh?

- He had a complete psychotic break. He's getting shocked into submission.

- Jesus, what was it this time? THEDA: Winchell's column in The Times.

- He reviewed Josh's latest film and

"...it was an unintentional slapstick farce."

- Christ's sake, it's a Nazi newsreel.

- And yet still no part for me.

- Has he got his usual room?

- Yes, but Nedda, wait a little while. He's docile as a bit player right now. Sit down.

It's going to be you next, honey, if you don't get away and

find someone else for the in-between.

- What happened all the fun and frolic when I said, "I do"?

- Well, Abe Lincoln got that bullet to the head but

there was an awful lot of blood on Mary Todd.

MAN: Nedda Harrigan.

Please say you're separated.

- Yes, but only for the holidays.

Gene...

SID: Hey, champ. - Hey, Sid!

- When you getting out?

- Um... I'm just getting in.

Hey, I'm Gene, Gene Tunney. - Tunney, Jesus. Richard Rodgers.

Did you bring Hammerstein? I love his words.

- What a surprise, and you're in this loony bin.

[POIGNANT MUSIC]

GENE: Hey... hey...

you don't look like you're having as much fun as you used to.

- You don't look as much fun as you used to be. - I could, though.

She left me again

- That's fame for you...

somebody left.

- I met Gene Tunney right here.

Gave him a sponge bath.

- Hey, uh, Nedda?

Tell him how we met. Come on. It's such a good story.

- Josh made a lot of friends here.

- I liked the way Gene looked, naked in a corner.

- Weeping uncontrollably.

- Broadway's bringing me down.

- You know, I got a play in me.

- Yeah. We've all got "a play in me".

GENE: I'm already feeling pissed off and... snuggly on the inside.

[BANGS HEAD]

[FAINT LILTING MUSIC]

- Who are you people?

- Something's wrong--

- [IRISH ACCENT] And you would know that how?

He would, right, Ma? NEDDA: What?

- [IRISH ACCENT] The Da, there. The bastard face.

- Gene, let's get you back to your own room, right?

- [IRISH ACCENT] It was one hell of a fight, Da, but you didn't come.

Not to any of them, but you tied the laces on me first pair of gloves.

How's that work, Da, in your head?

I was ten.

You wanted your child to fight for money.

I took all those beatings for you.

[GENE SOBS]

I didn't want to be a fucking priest either.

I'll tear him apart--

THEDA: It's all right, it's all right-- GENE: long time coming.

- [IRISH ACCENT] It's okay, lad. I've got you.

Say what you want.

- [IRISH ACCENT] But my first pair of gloves--

- [IRISH ACCENT] But you had to defend yourself. Remember the punks.

- [IRISH ACCENT] They were cruel... I was small.

Then you wanted me to be a priest

but bless me Father for I have sinned!

- [IRISH ACCENT] No, I did. I betrayed your dreams

and you never forgave me.

- [IRISH ACCENT] I forgive you.

I did then too...

after I stood over your open grave and spat.

then-- then I just wanted to climb in

to shake you back to life.

[GENE SOBS]

GENE:Thanks, Mr. Rogers. DICK: Oh, thank you...

Uh, I think I just fell back in love with show business.

GENE: Gonna go sit.

GENE [WHISPERS]: I don't feel good, Sid.

GENE [WHISPERS]: I don't feel good.

What's with you?

- I can't believe it.

You were...

gone.

- Yeah, I was. But Sid...

there's gone...

and then there's gone.

Thanks.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

SID: I'm pretty sure we can do anything if we try hard enough.

- True for the most part, except when we're agile-challenged.

SID: Eventually, or on the spot? MONTY: Both.

- Wow, you don't know me very well.

- But even without knowing you, it applies to everyone.

Some people are known for the things they can't do.

- Maybe I can live twice

and Jews can't play football.

Well, we can but choose not to.

- Why is that? - Well, I can only speak for myself...

but running headfirst into a mob that could crush every bone in my body

doesn't sound like my idea of fun.

- I get it. But baseball

aside from Hammering Hank Greenberg, you guys can run like hell.

- That's from being chased by Cossacks.

I could flee Poland or round the bases on my hands.

- Any gymnast worth his salt.

- Oh yeah, well, listen, Monty. I'm not an any-anything, so back up

like you got eyes in the back of your head.

MONTY: Too bad we don't. [SID LAUGHS]

Then we'd think twice about everything.

[CONTEMPLATIVE, UPBEAT MUSIC]

Do you ever wonder, will the sun come up on cue?

Will the day have a strong finish?

Will the moon be terrifying or romantic?

A perfect world isn't stale or boring.

It must be both lovely and lonely

as if staged by a benevolent director

or a God who's madly irresponsible

and who thinks kindness cures everything.

but from where I stand, good movies are about smart sexy women

and funny, bad little boys.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

- That's what I needed Freddie. It's beautiful

It's private, personal.

They know within moments of seeing your face

whether you've got the part in you.

It's up to you to show it to them.

All right, that's all you get from me today. Let's get out of here.

[APPLAUSE]

- Señorita Jurado. Can you cook?

- You know I cannot, Señor Clift.

- Ah yes, Katy, I forgot.

- Sí, much like your lines.

- Then I'll grab a bite before I come over.

- I did not say I had nothing for you to eat.

- Hey, wait up.

SID: What's wrong ? - You're so Jewish.

Why does everything have to be wrong?

- Am i right?

- Yes. I'm up for a part I'm wrong for. You have to help me.

- Monty, you got nominated for an Oscar

I don't think you're up for anything anymore.

- Please, they want me to do a test. They say it's for makeup and wardrobe

but that's more bullshit, right?

- You're a star, ask Kazan.

- He doesn't have time. Besides, I want you.

And you.

- If there were two Montys, you'd want yourself.

[FOOTSTEPS UP STAIRS]

- Okay, what's the movie?

- The Heiress. William Wyler's directing.

- Wyler! No, that's Josh's picture.

- Not anymore. Why do you think he took on Mr. Roberts?

[CLICK-CLACK OF A TRAIN ON TRACKS]

MONTY: You made it with Marilyn?

- Oh yeah, she's a friend of the family.

MONTY: Is that code for...? SID: Yeah, for, uh...

MONTY: Mind if I use it? SID: Feel free.

SID: What are you doing?

- Aren't you warm?

- No. And neither are you.

- You're a bush hog. I thought you got Liz Taylor pregnant.

- She thought it. I thought I hit her headboard

- Oh, that's code for Hollywood.

- In New York, there's something bigger than myself.

- Yeah...

Stanislavski and existentialism.

- You see you're smart, and you coach at the Actors Studio.

SID: Seduction's not your strong suit. MONTY: I know...

but I gotta try different things on guys I'm not too sure of.

SID: I'm sure...

[SEDUCTIVE MUSIC]

I'd have to be out... cold.

MONTY: Might have been nice. SID: Almost sex almost always is.

- I dig you.

- I dig you too...

but I like being pals.

- You're right. Pals has legs.

- We're too much alike.

MONTY: So this is Sid, somewhere between chess

and "hey, wanna screw?"

- Who talks like that?

- Guys you go through with what they think they want.

- No, guys with ether...

which you bring to parties.

- One time. My dead uncle Angus was a dentist

and you know too much about me.

- Yeah, don't worry. I won't write about it.

Someone's gonna, though. Eventually...

as long as you're famous.

- I'm sure I'll fuck up way before then.

[MELANCHOLY MUSIC]

- Checkmate.

- No way.

- The trouble with your ilk--

MONTY: My ilk? SID: Beauts.

MONTY: Beauts? SID: Beauts get away with murder.

Guys like me are snuggly and easy to fall for.

MONTY: If you do say so yourself. SID: Someone's got to. Who else will?

- Me.

SID: I want to be your friend, your brother... - [WHISPERS]: Okay.

- to hang around with, drink... smoke... - [WHISPERS]: Okay.

- talk about movies and the theater.

- Okay.

- Okay.

[ROMANTIC MUSIC]

- Oh yeah, and chess.

- Yeah, well, okay.

SID: Hmm, what? MONTY: I just thought--

- You hit my headboard?

[ROMANTIC MUSIC]

[MEN CHUCKLING]

- You know it had to be a man who put the dick in dictionary.

- We'll stick that thing in anywhere.

- Mr. Clift, do you by any chance sing?

- Mr. Rodgers. I can sing Pagliacci in a stupor because I am him.

- I only know who one of them guys is.

Look at you.

- What have I missed?

DICK: I've always wanted to own a boxer.

GENE: Speaking of which...

get over here and rub my chest. But don't you crop my ears.

[NEDDA GIGGLES]

[NEDDA GIGGLES]

- We've got an 8:30 curtain in the city.

Don't you want to get there early, Dick?

- Do I have time for a little nap?

- I think you've had a little nip. - Oh ho, and then some.

Allegro is a stinker, and Josh is on a drip.

- We'll make it. You don't have to be a wife tonight.

- Thanks, I think.

Where's Mary?

- She's at the theatre. She always counts the heads.

- Hmm, my wife's mad at me this year.

- Too bad there's not a drip for that.

- Jesus, think about it.

I mean, tonight. The price of admission

buys a thousand people the opportunity

to see a once-in-a-lifetime event

emerge from a single sheet of paper.

They all have ex-husbands, ex-wives, girly girlfriends

who want nothing more than the accoutrement of limelight

for the price of a dead-end whore, right?

They have mothers they lie about and children they're either proud of or despise

But the theatre, like no other place, is a cathedral

- So Nedda, will we have good seats? - Oh yeah.

[DOORBELL RINGS]

NEDDA: Here too.

- Hey, the show won't start without Dick

and nobody expects you to keep things moving.

BRUNETTE WOMAN: Oh c'mon, Sid, what could I possibly say to offend them?

They're your pals, right?

Let he or she without sin stone the first cast.

- Hannah, we're inside now. So watch it...

figuratively.

- I like to hang with a high class of people. Should I just talk to myself?

NEDDA [SOFTLY]: Careful. - Heard that.

- I'm Hannah and I was warned that everything's antique...

except the scruples.

- And, uh, I'll have a shitload of whatever you're all having.

SID: Monty...

Hannah.

- So nice to meet you. Sid's told me absolutely nothing about you.

- [GIGGLING] What difference does that ever make?

Double the dude's dizzle for me.

GENE: Hello, I'm Gene Tunney.

- I heard you were coming. You smell like a boxer.

DICK: Hello, young lady, I'm Richard Rogers. HANNAH: Oh my my, the master of melody.

HANNAH: Sid, did you know he'd be here? SID: Well...

[CIGARETTE LIGHTER SNAPS]

- Nice. Camels and Colonia

Hmm. The mistress of the house. You're wearing...

HANNAH: Baccarat Les Larmes Sacrees de Thebes. [NEDDA [GIGGLES]: Well Good Lord

I hope I didn't spend as much time putting it on

as it did for you to spit it out.

DICK: So Nedda, darling. What's your deductible?

- Your cocktail. - Oh, thank you.

- You know, I've been thinking of doing a musical about Helen Keller.

DICK: Her blindness wouldn't be the issue

but her deafness. That voice of hers, where's the vibrato?

- Dick, don't you wanna freshen up before we go to the theater?

- You should, Dick.

- Oh no, do I feel sick?

- Cheers, Dick.

HANNAH: Thank you, Monty.

- Hannah, take it easy.

- My limit is three, so put the next one in a bucket?

- Coming right up.

- Okay, who's sucking on a long lean King?

- Uh, that would be me.

- Hannah, your bucket of booze.

- Yes, that's the ticket. - Here you go, you got it?

- All good. MONTY: You think?

[CANE TAPS]

HANNAH: Um hmmm...

[QUIET PIANO NOTES]

- Pec-tacular.

- Good word.

- So many writers, so few parts.

- Since I won't ever see

a breathing, Louvre-like belly feels like heaven to me.

And good lord this martini deserves a lick and a promise.

- Hannah--

- Mmm hmmm?

Is Joshua Logan living up to all he's cracked up to be?

- I'll tell you when he comes home or dies.

- What are you doing? Is it me? Because I don't have to be here.

- She's hell on heels, so knock off the booze.

You too... I need a sober living legend.

- I can't live up to that.

- I'm in the company of extraordinary tipplers.

SID: Hannah, remember what I told you about being yourself.

- Two of the best things in life are Sid's hands.

They hold mine to... Carnegie Hall

to the New York Philharmonic...

to Nathan's at 9 a.m. for a fresh hotdog that snaps in your mouth

and like tonight, to a big Broadway show.

After that we'll hit the Savoy Ballroom,

where the booze makes way for Sweet Mama String Bean

and I know how great she is without my

ever knowing why a Negro causes such a fuss.

[MONTY PLAYS CHOPIN'S "RAINDROP PRELUDE"]

I can't possibly know what others see in him

the way he makes me feel when he's this close

the air tastes like a kiss

[CHOPIN'S "RAINDROP PRELUDE"]

and his lips taste like Christ on a cracker.

[CHOPIN'S "RAINDROP PRELUDE"]

[EMPHATIC OFF-KEY PIANO CHORD]

- We can still make curtain. They haven't called the half.

NEDDA: Of course. Gene?

- Let me have a look at you.

[SEDUCTIVE MUSIC]

- Well, I didn't see that coming.

[SEDUCTIVE MUSIC]

[DOOR CLOSES]

- She can do almost anything.

- But she can't weigh in on mimes.

- You should weigh in, too. - On what?

- On whether you want to be bad or not tonight.

[ROMANTIC MUSIC]

DICK: Monty...

isn't that why you came back to New York?

So guys like Tunney, Kazan, Sid...

even a guy like me, a cheap showman, can offer the moon

or a musical.

- How did it look from up there? DICK: Familiar.

I saw the two of you looking both ways, which reminded me

you've got to punt at least a couple of times in life to get anywhere.

- You know there's a great big word-of-mouth world out there

with your wives and your children, our friends and fellow artists

our boose, our off-camera crack-ups

the wars and the parties before opening nights

that are either the beginning or the end

and I missed all that. - You never left.

The truth is simpler, my friend

you need a hit. Everybody no matter what they do in life needs one.

On my opening night, 45 minutes from now

we're all dressed up with no place to go after except to bed to fret

or fuck... or both.

- And I'm in the middle, with the voices fighting for vistas in my head.

- Welcome to the club, Mr. Clift. You're going places.

[ROMANTIC MUSIC]

[WAVES CRASH ON THE BEACH]

[1940s SLOW BAND MUSIC]

- Why do you read that rag? It's all malarky.

You think?

- It verifies Josh and I are separated again.

- We're in Nantucket. Where's he?

- He's directing the Annie Get Your Gun national tour.

[GENE SIGHS HAPPILY]

- What page?

With Mary Martin?

That's a big deal, right?

- How would you know how big a deal that is?

- Because I know you

and I know you know it is.

Besides, I like her.

Everybody likes her.

Does Josh like her?

- Who knows?

Besides, it wouldn't matter. He's a hit whore.

Merman's been doing the show on Broadway for over a year.

It's not enough for Josh.

His mistresses are musicals.

- Oh, that sounds about right.

That puts him out of town, and me inside you.

- Hey!

I don't like dirty talk.

- Sorry, I forgot.

- We're in broad daylight.

- Yeah, and who came up with that, "broad daylight"?

There's alliteration if you say "dude daylight".

- Alliteration? - Yeah!

- This boxer has two legs.

- Sometimes I forget just how much rolls off his tongue.

- It ain't me who's putting words in this mouth. [NEDDA GIGGLES]

- I don't see a writer.

- Can't you feel his chains?

- When you put it like that

let's just fuck it in Nantucket.

- Oh sweetie, that's so on the nose.

We'll end up on the cutting room floor.

[1940s ROMANTIC SLOW MUSIC]

[NEDDA LAUGHS AND WINCES]

- Hurt?

- Only when I laugh.

- Is the play any good or any bad?

- Yes.

- I don't know what that means.

[Nedda] There's got to be a big reveal

an hour into the story or it's just another been-there-done-that show.

GENE: Hey, put it away.

Come on, come to bed.

- I have mixed emotions.

- We're both supposed to.

- This is Josh Logan's house.

- Gene Tunney's in the guest room.

- I'm pregnant.

- It-- it could be mine.

- It's not.

It would end my marriage and do nothing to yours.

- You don't know that.

- Oh, yeah.

A woman knows.

A lot of women believe that a man's infidelity is all in their heads

but it's probably not.

Josh thinks I'm alone while he's getting better

So he asks me about Sid... and the play.

- Josh has been more unfaithful than you have.

I know. And when he was, I cared but...

I didn't leave.

What does that make me?

- I care about you.

- Not like a man who's only screwing his wife.

- Is that how you really feel?

- Of course, Gene. I'm not a whore.

[NEDDA GROANS IN PAIN]

[NEDDA GROANS AGAIN]

- You all right?

[NEDDA CRIES]

NEDDA: Oh my god.

I wanted it.

GENE: Come here, come here. It's gonna be all right.

It's gonna be all right.

It's gonna be all right. It's gonna be all right.

[OMINOUS MUSIC SWELLS]

[WAVES CRASH ON BEACH]

[CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC]

- I know when people see us together, they must think

"What would she do without that guy?"

That's really stupid, isn't it?

How do they know what I'm missing?

I don't know what they're missing.

I've learned that a man can be kind

and loving... gentle.

But I confess that I'm very frustrated

Sid, I've been nearly going out of my mind.

Would seeing you make it any clearer

why I always feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world?

- I don't know.

[CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC]

- See what people could actually be thinking is

"What would he do without her?"

"What purpose would he have?"

Such a burden for the sighted...

everything's a reference point.

[ROMANTIC MUSIC]

[SAD MUSIC]

[TYPEWRITER TYPING]

- Now hear this. Attention all hands...

because another cigarette butt has been found in the container of the captain's palm tree

There will be no movies again tonight. That is all.

- What?

- I'm picturing you pouncing on that virgin heiress you want so badly.

Jesus, the way you look tonight.

- That's because a key grip lit me from up there...

and up there.

- Huh, so say the sexy on sight.

- So say something then.

- I never stayed till the sun came up. MONTY: What?

- Sometimes you gotta wonder

how's his coffee?

- Turn around.

- Hi.

I like your typewriter.

- It's the latest thing.

- You're the latest thing.

- Been clearing your docket, huh?

SID: Look at me. MONTY: Okay.

- It's been a long time since I've gone it alone

without Hannah being there.

- And I haven't singled anyone out since you.

SID: Is that noteworthy? MONTY: Let me guess...

People tell you you're a decent guy who's nice to look at.

- Yeah, I guess.

Josh says the way to success is four-fold.

Find religion, lose virginity...

maintain humility, and learn when to close out a tab.

- I got seduced at 14 by a Parisian postulant

whom afterward told me I was just okay

fed me pink champagne as a consolation prize

but never took her vows

so fuck her.

- Does that qualify?

- Yeah, pretty much.

MONTY: What're we doing?

SID: You're making me feel good about myself.

Guys haven't done that before.

- For me either. At least not this much.

- Yeah, but we're making some people out there in the dark

a little uncomfortable.

[SID GROANS]

SID: Why do I dig it when you do that?

- Because Hannah doesn't, and you'd never do it to her.

SID: Yeah.

- What did I get myself into?

SID: You weren't subpoenaed. MONTY: A little bit.

SID: No worries, though, right? MONTY: Relax. Red River's a hit

- with your help I have a shot at The Heiress

and rumor'll be I got engaged.

- And I've already got a fiancé.

- We've got it covered.

- Nothing but a transient thing.

[FOOTSTEPS]

[SEDUCTIVE, OMINOUS MUSIC]

SID: Hi. HANNAH: Hi.

- Come to bed.

- Hell no. Not in there.

- What's going on?

- He likes you.

- No, he doesn't--

- Sure felt like Bogie and Bacall to me.

[SID LAUGHS]

- Well, that's a pretty funny way to put it.

- Not ha-ha funny.

- Oh.

That's too bad.

- Do you like him too?

- Don't you?

[HANNAH SLAPS HIM]

- Shut up. Shut up.

- Okay.

- I love you

but we agreed to whores and morons.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

[DISTANT TRAFFIC]

SID: Come at me! MONTY: I've got colitis.

GENE: Well, we'll just have to write that into the script.

- Red River, John Wayne. Boy, he kicked your ass.

- Yeah, in this next one he plays a prick...

a cad... a bounder!

GENE: Thank God, you sent for me.

MONTY: I guess I'm just too sensitive.

[BOXING PUNCHES]

- He needs to be able to rough up a woman.

- Not literally.

- No shit.

The other sucks, it means jail time and on your arrival

all you'll hear is "I get dibs"

[PUNCH]

- This guy crazy? No offense.

- Very often... and none taken.

- I did some boxing before the war.

GENE: So you served? MONTY: Almost. 4-F...

stomach.

[LOUD THUD]

- Jesus Christ, Monty.

You can't portray a dick.

- You just saw me throw some punches.

- If you gotta play tough, you can't just be tough.

You gotta look tough.

- Come on! MONTY: I know.

That's why Sid called the master.

- Yeah, next to fighting, I like drinking best.

- I'll use my inner alchy. - There we go!

- Monty, do you want to be an alchy in The Heiress?

[PUNCH]

[MONTY GROANS]

- That rubs elbows with the elite, and secretly screws?

[GENE LAUGHS]

- Thank God you sent for Sid.

[LOUD PUNCH]

- Not bad.

Come on, touch gloves.

[BELL RINGS]

[BOLD, MELODRAMATIC MUSIC]

- Catherine, my darling, I know we've gotten here very fast

but I do love you, dearest.

- [FEMININE TONE] My father does not show you favor, Morris.

So when you ask for my hand it must be refined.

- What the hell was that?

- All right. Get off the mat, "Catherine".

Knock the crap out of this gold digger.

[BOLD MELODRAMATIC MUSIC]

GENE: I don't see cunning. I don't see rage.

You don't want to kiss her. You want to connive her into love.

- Hey, take it easy, will you?

- No no, my darling--

- Wait...! Who's who?

- It doesn't matter whose lines I say, it's what's underneath them.

- We call that an inner monologue.

[ALL THREE LAUGH]

- Wait, what do you know about acting exactly? You're, uh...

where are you now?

- In the history books. Where are you?

- Okay, this time, really come at me.

- Get in character and stay there.

- You're not gonna do it like that, are you?

SID: You gotta seethe, Monty.

- Seethe? Seething's nothing. Stalking is better.

Stalk the crap out of this little shit. Come on!

[DISTANT CROWD CHEERING]

[SID AND MONTY PUNCH AND GROAN]

[PUNCHING]

- Who else is in the movie?

- The arrogant, cruel father.

British actor.

- Ralph Richardson is playing the arrogant, cruel Dr. Soper.

[MELODRAMATIC MUSIC]

- [BRITISH ACCENT] Did you really expect that I would

throw my daughter into your arms?

- No, I had no idea, but the fact that I'm poor--

- [BRITISH ACCENT] No visible resources or prospects--

- Morris, jab now!

- [BRITISH ACCENT] and so, you're in a category

from which not to choose a son-in-law!

[PUNCHES]

Particularly not for my daughter

who's a weak woman with a large fortune!

- What a prick!

MONTY: Who? GENE: Him!

- No, I'm the prick.

- It's not where it needs to be.

[MELODRAMATIC MUSIC]

- [BRITISH ACCENT] What are you?

Nothing but a handsome face and figure, and a very good manner.

All of which are excellent so far as they go

but they don't... go... far... enough!

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[PUNCHES]

- Do you enjoy making her miserable?

[PUNCHES]

I have a great deal at stake.

[PUNCHES]

- [BRITISH ACCENT] I know, and you have lost it!

- I wouldn't be too sure of that!

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

- That's good, Monty. That's real good.

- Jesus, I just decided I don't want to make history until after I'm dead.

- I wanted to be an actor.

- Real actors can't walk away.

- Like boxers.

[MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYS]

I don't think I should have told the world why I quit fighting.

I'm in and out of Bellevue because I didn't want to...

and shouldn't have.

But boxers know what they're fighting for

the fame and money

not the journey and the roar of the crowd like you guys

but to get just famous enough to quit before our brains bleed out of our ears.

- What are you, a quitter?

you fuck!

- You're gonna bring up 1928?

- I want this part, and I have to be willing to call upon a side of myself at will.

- You'll end up cold as ice in the movie.

[TYPEWRITER TYPING]

- It was Halloween night.

[TYPING]

We had three pumpkins

[TYPING]

I put one

in my father's room.

I thought it would cheer him up.

At 8:30

[TYPING]

"Bombs Away" came on the radio.

[TYPING]

My favorite serial.

Main guy was a naval officer... a medic.

I was playing it so loud

I couldn't hear my dad

then, I smelled smoke.

It happened so fast.

[TYPING]

[SORROWFUL, POIGNANT MUSIC]

He was screaming.

[TYPING]

I ran upstairs

saw flames in his room.

[SORROWFUL, POIGNANT MUSIC]

I heard sirens.

Before I knew it

I was carried away by a fireman

down the stairs, out the front door

but why hadn't they gotten to my dad?

He was making the most horrific sounds

[TYPING]

I couldn't stand there and do nothing

so I rushed back in the house.

[TYPING]

My dad is still in there.

It's all my fault.

Then, I saw my mother

heard her wailing

had to be torn away from the flames.

By then, the entire house was on fire

A fireman came out

my dad slung over his shoulder

and laid him on the lawn.

At least he died in bed.

So Mama... closed his eyes.

[TYPING]

With all that had just happened,

the only thing I could think of to say was

"Mama, I'm sorry I forgot to cut the grass."

You know the funny thing

I couldn't stand the man.

I owed him... nothing.

But he gave me life

so I could write

and perhaps direct someday.

That's...

[MUSIC CRESCENDO]

everything.

Everything.

- I feel guilty.

- Finally.

- You don't?

- My rationale is that I can love Josh

who's far away in more ways than one

and like you, an awful lot simultaneously.

- Is there a designated category in heaven for that?

- If there isn't, there should be.

What I've only got is one life before I get to the next

This one I know for a fact it's lonely.

- Too bad infidelity isn't divvied up into categories.

- Amen to that.

- Do you miss Josh?

I miss my wife... I confess.

- If you didn't, I'd hate you.

[GENE SOBS]

[SOFT SAD MUSIC]

[WATER SPLASHING]

[ROMANTIC MUSIC]

SID: Hey, I've been thinking-- MONTY: Yeah, what about?

- About not doing this anymore. - This?

- Sleep-overs.

- Oh yeah, you mean here, right?

- I mean no place. We got ahead of our skis.

- That happens sometimes.

- Not to me.

This right now, it's fun because it's reckless.

- I know, because the kitchen's in Connecticut.

- Yeah, that too.

- Please don't be a prick today.

[SID CRACKS AN EGG]

- I tried.

I'm a little scared. - Who isn't?

[SID CRACKS AN EGG]

- I don't think you are. - You're right, I'm not.

- I'm pragmatic.

- You can fix that

and I think you ought to.

- What if I don't want to?

Besides, I'm engaged. I can't--

- You mean you won't!

- Hey, Hannah needs me.

MONTY: You love her for cover.

- I don't see you hanging out a sign.

- I would if I could

Jesus pal, the things you do and say when you're sweaty.

- I can't help the sweat.

- Neither can I.

- I'd never been pinned.

- I'm pretty sure you're trying to ditch me

but go a little to the left.

- Shit!

I gotta admit...

- I shouldn't fall for married guys

- You shouldn't fall for any guys.

- Neither should you.

Hannah needs me.

- Then stop hitching rides with movie stars.

- She can't see what she's missing.

- She gets around fine.

- I told her where I'd be. She had tickets to the opera.

- Guess what, she didn't go.

- I was surprised.

- Only just a little. So you left.

- Monty, you can't run around Connecticut in your PJs

- I've run around in a whole lot less.

- How does that not get out?

[DOOR SHUTS]

- The bigger the parts, the better the press agents

and yeah, you need Hannah like you need Josh and Nedda... even Tunney

to remind you you're still a man.

- You lettered in lightweight until you met him!

- I got the part.

- You're like a Jew in a bar brawl.

We negotiate, pray, then shit in our pants.

[MONTY LAUGHS]

- That feels like you can handle yourself.

- That's my ulcer.

- Of course it is.

The one you got trying to keep all your things and jobs and people separate?

- That's total bullshit.

- You hide us from yourself.

- That's not why I'm ambivalent.

MONTY: Then tell me.

- It's because you're not.

- And that's bad, why?

- Monty...

I don't know what's worse

my ambivalence or you don't know why that's bad.

- I can do love.

- I can too.

But not this kind.

Not in 1948.

- Please don't do this. We won't get caught.

- You won't get caught.

But Monty, you're gonna try to live as a two-faced man...

and it'll eventually kill you.

- I thought I could be anybody.

- But you can't.

You're a movie star, Monty

and commerce trumps cock.

- You're gonna miss this face.

- Yeah.

- Eventually the whole world will.

- Hey.

- Whatever happened to "sometimes you gotta wonder?"

- "How's his coffee?"

- Yeah.

- You fucking idiot!

That's just a line some guy wrote to put a button on a scene.

[BOTH MEN STRUGGLE]

GENE: Hey!

Hey! Hey hey hey hey hey!

- What's going on out here?

Do you know what time it is?

MONTY: Christ.

No one's who they're supposed to be with in this house

- Jesus Christ these guys rehearse a lot!

[SAD MUSIC]

[SPLASH]

[SAD MUSIC]

SID: You said we were going for a stroll. MONTY: We are strolling.

- This is hiking.

- You walked a lot in Manhattan.

- I work in television.

So now I ride in a hole in the ground and it rains in summer.

- It rains here too, just not in between quakes.

- Oh, fine, with my luck.

- Sid, I'm kidding, and it made no sense.

you still worry too much. - Uh-huh.

MONTY: And you're more cranky.

SID: Yeah, Rita divorced me. - Yeah, I heard.

I bet you wish she'd bought the farm before she took it.

- No shit.

You know these hills aren't actually in Hollywood.

- Sure they are. It says so on the sign.

SID: Whatever happened to "Hollywood-land"?

- Legend has it that during an earthquake--

- Again with the shaking.

- The letters were discarded nearby, left to rot among the chaparral.

SID: Yeah, like its stars.

You sound like one of them Hollywood tour guides.

- Good, I'll have something to fall back on then.

- Monty--

- Screw it.

I'll have a career on the stage

where I'll only be seen eight times a week in a live wide shot.

- Huh, then you thought about it.

- Ah, shut the fuck up.

Or let's talk about the eight years it's taken.

- I took the train.

- If I'd remembered how afraid you were to fly

I'd have wrapped my sedan around a pole in Poughkeepsie.

- Our lives went down different roads

but even so you've been back and forth to New York.

- Yeah, I have. What would've been the point of looking you up before?

Now I'm not too much to look at.

- You're having more surgeries, right? - They can only fix so much.

SID: Yeah, I know.

I'm sorry. I just can't come up with something.

- Camera's even less forgiving.

- Yeah, so are you, I'll bet.

- Wait.

Man, what am I gonna do?

- They'll cover you in close-up from the good side

the rest in long shot and shadow.

- Even now, I talk life, and you talk lenses.

- I get them mixed up sometimes

but you're not your face.

- Everyone's their face.

- Jesus!

- I know.

So take a good look at the side that defines me

Compared to the side you couldn't keep your eyes off.

[SAD, WISTFUL MUSIC]

- I wish that was all it had been.

For three months you took hold of me

so much so I couldn't think straight.

- Yeah, right, the fun part and then you left.

- Within reason.

- I guess.

But Sid, you were ice

- Come on!

- Not always

but when you were your muscles hung on bones of steel

and rubber bands snapped inside your head.

- But you put up with it

all summer.

- It was scary, fun, and good.

- Yeah, you let me go

but not without putting up a fight.

Nobody'd ever put a bishop on my belly before.

- It was a knight.

- Oh yeah, right.

It's like there is a camera guy in the room looking through the lens

thinking "what the fuck?

"Okay... whatever... I'll make it work."

- Last looks?

[SAD MUSIC]

♪ You'll find all the answers ♪

♪ that you're looking for on your journey ♪

♪ searching so far till it finds you ♪

♪ all you gotta know is how to get home ♪

♪ all you gotta know is how to get home. ♪

♪ If I could reach you I'd guide you and I'd tell you ♪

♪ all of your dreams, they're coming true ♪

♪ take hold of my hand I'll lead you from where I've been ♪

♪ Follow the light, it'll lead you through. ♪

♪ Your reflection is a lie even you cannot deny ♪

♪ see the truth in the dark it'll get you through the night ♪

♪ You make it through the night through to the other side ♪

[OMINOUS RUMBLE]

Jesus! You look like the tail-end of a misspent life.

- Tail-end, yeah, but not misspent.

[THE MAN CHUCKLES]

- Right, not one bit.

- In fact you look better than you did. Truth be told.

- That's the writer.

You hang around beauts long enough--

- I see. You sort of become one in your own mind.

- So, how'd it go, kid?

- How did what go, honey?

- I need to see Miss Emma.

- Yes.

- Is that what they call morphine?

- A rose by any other name, mm-hmm.

- That's good.

But you look pretty bad.

- I didn't look like you forever.

[OLD SID SIGHS]

- How's that?

- I'm delirious... ouch.

I sure wish I could go with you.

- I bet you say that to all the boys. [THEDA LAUGHS]

- You never change.

Clever forever.

- Take a box seat, will you?

[OLD SID GROANS]

- I saw them all.

- Yeah?

- We were in almost every scene.

- Good boy. Did you go behind the curtain?

- You were with me. What do you think?

[QUIET, GENTLE MUSIC]

- Those last late nights... they were the best.

Foreboding...

that's what the audience never sees. Nor should they. For us it's a journey.

But those people that dole out 4.40 for tickets...

it's about how much they laugh, cry...

or walk out at intermission.

Or how long they applaud, sometimes stand up

when the curtain comes down.

They hardly ever do that at movies.

- Do you want me to pray with you, Sid?

- What do you think I've been doing here?

- You can have as much morphine as you want

just between you and me.

- Take it.

- No.

When your body hurts this much

they get to feel everything else.

- I'm not ready.

- At some point, you don't get to pick.

- I'm there with you, Sid.

- She thinks it's her.

- It's none of us.

It's always the writer, kid.

- Who wished he'd been there instead.

- Good writing...

is a stiff drink. One part truth, one part bull

and a jigger of conceit straight up.

- "And it doesn't matter if a martini has an olive, or an onion"

"as long as it's a little dirty."

A camera guy said that.

- We can still catch the curtain

they haven't called the half.

I just wanted to be a peer.

Thanks for... knowing who I am

once someone told you who I was.

[EMOTIONAL MUSIC]

God made the world, but man made the lens

and this, here

it's when both pull focus to absolute perfection.

- I'll check the gate.

Then let's move on.

- Cue me.

I just gotta have this crew

[EMOTIONAL MUSIC]

[OLD SID GROANING]

[EMOTIONAL MUSIC TRANSITIONS TO QUIET PIANO]

[DISTANT WAVES CRASH]

[QUIET EMOTIONAL MUSIC]

[SURF RUSHES ONTO BEACH]

♪ All you gotta know is how to get home. ♪

[THEME MUSIC]

♪ Wayward, in a dark place ♪

♪ Silence so loud you can't see straight. ♪

♪ Time is moving, how'd you get there? ♪

♪ Your light is over, it's only darkness. ♪

♪ Your light is over, it's only darkness. ♪

♪ If I could reach you, I'd guide you and I'd tell you ♪

♪ All of your dreams, they're coming true. ♪

♪ Take hold of my hand, I'll lead you from where I've been. ♪

♪ Follow the light, it'll lead you through. ♪

♪ You'll find all the answers ♪

♪ That you're looking for while on your journey. ♪

♪ Searching so far, till it finds you ♪

♪ All you gotta know is how to get home. ♪

♪ All you gotta know is how to get home ♪

♪ If I could reach you, I'd guide you and I'd tell you ♪

♪ all of your dreams, they're coming true ♪

♪ Take hold of my hand, I'll lead you from where I've been. ♪

♪ Follow the light, it'll lead you through ♪

♪ Your reflection is a lie, even you cannot deny ♪

- Memory is fleeting... especially when it starts on a page

and it takes hours, maybe days, even weeks

for the players to come down off a movie high.

[THEME MUSIC]

♪ If I could reach you, I'd guide you and I'd tell you ♪

♪ all of your dreams, they're coming true ♪

♪ take hold of my hand, I'll lead you from where I've been ♪

♪ Follow the light, it'll lead you through. ♪

♪ All you gotta know is how to get home ♪

♪ All you gotta know is how to get home. ♪