Original subtitles

(orchestral music)

(upbeat jazz music)

- Mr. Brighton?

- Yes, yes, Joe.

- [Joe] We can't run in any closer

unless you want to try through the reef.

- Alright.

(upbeat jazz music)

Well, you wanted an isolated beach,

here it is, Little Harbor, Catalina Island, Pacific side.

On a clear day, you can see Formosa.

- Well, it's been grand.

(splashing)

- That's a grandstand play.

- What does she think she'll find in there anyway?

- What is there to be found, that isn't already lost?

(group chattering)

- It's about an hour into Avalon,

fifteen minutes to get these things refilled,

and an hour back.

It's 11:00 now, I might as well grab lunch

while I'm in town.

I'll be back about 2:00.

You want those bull lobsters we spotted this morning,

You better be back before then.

You know, they're deep enough now, and the plug's out.

- Ah, there's another low tide tomorrow.

- Not for this city boy.

- You know your trouble?

No soul.

Stout Cortez, with eagle eyes, stared at the Pacific,

and all his men looked at each other

with a wild surmise, silent upon a peak in Darien.

And then, do you know what he said?

- Who?

- Cortez.

- You seen one wave, you seen them all.

(upbeat orchestral music)

(sweeping orchestral music)

- What's the use?

- Hey!

(orchestral music)

- Don't tell me, let me guess.

You're the local sommelier.

- Some girls have to walk home,

but, well, whoever you are, welcome ashore.

What's a sommelier?

- Where do you go?

Isn't there anyplace where Friday

hasn't put his big, fat footprint?

- I was about to cook some bass.

Interesting?

- Revolting.

I brought my own lunch.

A sommelier is a wine steward.

- Oh, you mean one of those guys with a chain,

and the fancy suit, and the gold corkscrew.

- That's right.

You know, one of these days, I'm going to say,

"Sorry old chap, you know, it's just like vinegar.

Take it back to the cellar and give us a '53,

a good year, of course."

You're camped around here?

- Yeah.

- Live grand.

- Hey, I know why you came ashore!

You got cabin fever.

You wanna bust out.

You married?

- I came ashore to rehabilitate the natives.

Don't you know everybody's married?

Everybody except the people that ought to be.

- Hey, you want a towel?

- What's the sun for?

(orchestral music)

(upbeat jazz music)

(sultry jazz music)

- The other one went from the frying pan into the fire.

- Why don't you give fish a gun?

Even up the odds.

- I'm too tough to cook.

- Well, why don't you try it

off a shark net in Panama City?

- I don't think the message's in your bottle.

All the sad, young women of the world,

all writing history books, their own,

about how they're beautiful, white swans

turned into geese and flew South.

- Well, what do you know?

How does that go?

An eye isn't an eye, because you see it,

it's an eye because it sees you.

To you, eye.

- Armistice?

- Who's at war?

I cut my barbed wire today.

Aren't you gonna ask me why?

- No.

- No?

Well, I'm looking for a sea

on which no sail has ever been raised,

a beach in which Joe Robinson can't check

on Wednesday's child, me.

So, I find a piece of nowhere,

and I wade ashore as bright as Balboa,

and it's already subdivided.

You're here.

You know, as I was swimming into shore today,

I said to myself, no bongos, no people,

just time, clean and empty.

Time to walk alone, time to bake in the sun,

time to turn nothing, you know, into something,

even for a few hours.

- Okay.

It's a big island, so walk, bake.

You take the North and I'll take the South.

Mason-Dixon Line, okay?

- Right.

- I'll save you some fish.

(dramatic orchestral music)

(waves crashing)

- This is South, not North.

- It's a usual cup of struggle.

The story of my life, I slipped.

- Your ankle is swollen.

I think that's what's trapping it in there.

- Well, ankle stop swelling.

- Look, I better go back to the lean-to

and see if I can't get some fat, grease,

or something I can put around your ankle,

maybe I can slide it out.

- It's broken, isn't it?

- I can't tell.

- When I slipped, I dropped my bottle of champagne.

- I don't think we'll worry about that right now.

(dramatic orchestral music)

Try it now.

Easy.

- Well, it looks like six more week's of winter.

- There's a ledge or something right here.

See if you can slip your foot right past it.

Do you feel any barnacles or anything under there?

- No, it just feels numb.

- I guess I better get an iron,

and see if I can't chip some of that away.

- I'd like you to know that

that troublesome ankle wedged

in the Rock of Ages was once considered

by experts in the matter

as one of the trimmest ankles ever seen.

- Look, I'll be right back.

- Oh, if I want to call you, what'll I call you?

- Buz.

- What are you looking at your watch for?

- Oh, I was just wondering about the fish.

I guess it's probably time to turn it.

- Now, that's the high water mark, isn't it?

- Yeah, so?

- So, when's high tide?

- Why?

Of course, be right back.

(orchestral music)

Watch it!

This is solid rock.

No shell, just rock.

It's gonna take more than this iron.

The iron won't break this.

(orchestral music)

If we only had the car.

I'd improvise some kind of winch with the wheel.

All we need is an inch.

We could get your foot free from there,

if I could only get a hold of my buddy.

- Well, who's your buddy?

- He's over in Avalon.

- Go get him, I'll wait.

I promise.

- I wonder if there's a phone around here somewhere.

- Hey, why don't you call Maxine's?

Tell him it's for Lola, and ask him

to give us the secret to the tartar sauce.

- Listen you, I'm going on the assumption

that your life is worth something.

Now, if you don't want it,

you can throw it away somewhere else

after I let you loose, but not in front of me.

So until then, knock off all the lousy wisecracks!

Look, maybe we don't have any champagne,

but there's a bottle of something over there.

I'll get it for you.

- I don't want any now.

(engine revving)

- Hey, fella!

Your tanks are all charged, and ready to go!

- Hey, there a good place around to grab some lunch?

- Yeah, there's a little bar around the corner

just off Crescent Avenue, serves a great barbecue beef.

- Thanks, can I leave these here awhile?

- Sure can. - Thank you.

(waves crashing)

(dramatic orchestral music)

(waves crashing)

- You alright?

- I'm, how do they say it, a-okay?

- I went South to (unintelligble) Cove.

Everything's closed for the winter.

That buddy of mine's supposed to be back by 2:00.

It's after 2:00 now.

Listen, can you hold on?

I'm gonna go North and see if I can find anything.

- Yeah.

- You alright?

- Yeah.

- Good.

(waves crashing)

(seagulls crying)

(upbeat bongo music)

- In a hurry?

- Huh?

- You in a hurry?

- No, not especially.

- Charlie will be back in a few minutes,

had to go over to the school

and see Lauren's English teacher.

Lauren's his kid.

Sixth grade, but he can't spell yet.

Oh, he's bright enough.

He knows all about retro-rockets, and orbital flights,

but he just can't spell, you know?

- It's the way they teach now,

sight, technique and memory reading

versus the old phonetic system.

Now, when I was in school, it was all phonetics,

the only way.

- How about I fix you a drink while you're waiting?

- No rush.

- Oh, Charlie won't mind.

As a matter of fact, anybody who favors

the phonetic system, he'll insist

you have a drink on the house.

Now, what'll it be?

- Well, let's see.

Martini on the rocks.

- Right-O.

(dramatic orchestral music)

Hey!

(whistles)

(glass breaking)

(panting)

(water splashing)

(dramatic orchestral music)

(electricity sparking)

(buzzing)

- Number, please.

Number, please.

Number, please.

I'm getting a permanent signal

on the isthmus toll line, Frank.

Maintenance is out at Kirby Beach, now.

Will you get them this report as soon as possible?

(dramatic orchestral music)

(waves crashing)

- Nobody home?

- No.

- Well, they said around four-ish, didn't they?

- Right.

- Well, what time is it now?

- Late, too late.

Oh Jesus, hold on will you?

Hold on!

Look, I'm going back to the lean-to

to see if I can't get anything.

Hold on!

(somber orchestral music)

- I thought life had nothing else to steal from me,

and I had nothing left to steal from it.

- I just don't know what else I can do, do you?

- Buz, I never was very strong.

Honestly, I never was very strong.

Hold me, Buz.

Please, hold me.

- Tod, where are you?

Where's anybody?

I just can't sit here and do nothing.

You understand that, don't you?

- Well, in Rome it's tomorrow already.

The same sky, but tomorrow.

- Lola, just keep looking at the sky.

(dramatic orchestral music)

Hurry, somebody!

(screaming)

Hold on, will you?

Please, just hold on.

Hold on, please.

I'll be right back.

- Come out, Lola, wherever you are!

I am speaking to you as a vagrant,

and it's depleting.

Come out, Lola!

All is forgiven!

And, the champagne is properly chilled.

- Hey!

- Come out, Lola!

Lola!

- Hey!

- Lola!

Joe!

Get in there, Joe, as fast as you can,

and as far in as you can.

(dramatic orchestral music)

- Hold on, I'll be right back!

(dramatic orchestral music)

(winch grinding)

(waves crashing)

(rock cracking)

(joyful orchestral music)

- Well, I don't think there's anything broken but,

we'll head back to the mainland and have it x-rayed.

Well, in that case, I'd say first,

stay away from those rocks.

Second, interesting looking as he is,

you'll be bored with him within 24 hours.

So, in the event that you do get bored

faster than I anticipate, remember this.

This will be by sea, and this will be by land.

- I told you how it was with me,

just one wave after another,

same old pattern over, and over again.

There I am, there I always am.

I lost you a long time ago.

Let's go.

(orchestral music)

(upbeat jazz music)

- [Narrator] This has been a Screen Gems film presentation

from Columbia Pictures,

Herbert B. Leonard, Executive Producer.