Original subtitles

[FOOTSTEPS]

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

[DOORBELL RINGING]

[WOMAN SCREAMING]

LINDA: I really couldn’t believe

that this could be happening.

[SIRENS WAILING IN DISTANCE]

Everybody was screaming around me...

and I was terrified.

All I can think of is, my God, I just couldn’t see.

Was I frightened to death?

It was too late to be frightened to death.

Because I was already dead.

[♪♪♪]

BOB: I was in a very, very good mood.

It was a Jewish holiday.

I drove over to Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx,

and all of a sudden he jammed on the brakes.

I said, "What’s the matter?"

He says, "Look at that girl over there on that bench.

She is absolutely gorgeous. I gotta have her."

BURT: She had the most gorgeous face in the world.

Looked like Elizabeth Taylor.

Just completely beautiful.

I had never seen a girl as beautiful as her.

LINDA: I was waiting for one of my girlfriends

to meet up with me,

and along came Burt,

and said something very strange,

or very weird to me,

which I did not understand.

Something about England on the Thames.

I don’t know what the hell he was talking about.

[LAUGHS] Thought he was very weird.

I had just come back from London,

where we did a movie.

[JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING]

The movie was with Keefe Brasselle,

who was a pretty well-known actor.

He played The Eddie Cantor Story.

Joe!

And he said to me that he would like to know me,

and meet me, and see me, and--

And he just came back from England.

And he just made a movie. And dah, dah, dah.

And I looked at him like he was a nut.

I mean, this was so far above my head, it’s, you know.

We weren’t on the same wavelength.

I asked if she was working there as an extra.

You know, "Hi, how are you?"

"Aren’t you the young lady I met walking on the Thames?"

That kind of thing.

LINDA: I probably gave him my phone number

just to get rid of him, you know?

Just, "let’s move on." And when I get to my home,

I think there were a dozen roses that have been delivered.

And I said, "What the hell is all this?"

♪ When I go to sleep I never count sheep ♪

♪ I count all the charms About Linda ♪

♪ And lately, it seems In all of my dreams ♪

♪ I walk with my arms About Linda ♪

SYLVIA: She was always beautiful.

Her skin was just absolutely without a flaw.

And perfect features.

Beautiful nose, beautiful lips, beautiful cheeks.

And big, beautiful brown eyes

with beautiful, beautiful lashes.

You would think she’s a painting,

that’s how pretty she was.

RITA: Burt was not a very good-looking man.

He looked a little like--

Could I say it?

How you do?

RITA: He looked like Arnold Stang.

You Arthur Murray?

[AUDIENCE LAUGHING]

RITA: But he was a lot of fun.

And I liked Burt almost immediately.

The day after she met him,

she told us that she met a wonderful person.

He’s a professional person, he’s a lawyer,

he’s rich, he's gonna wine her and dine her.

LINDA: And my grandmother was very impressed.

She said, "Who is this man who sent you the flowers?"

I said, "I don’t know, he tells me he’s some sort of a lawyer,

you know, and he works in the Bronx," and dah, dah, dah.

And my grandma-- And I said, "But you know what?

He’s not that good-looking, I’m really not interested."

And I never forgot my grandmother’s words.

She said, "If he’s better looking than the devil,

he’s good-looking."

Grandma was very happy I found a lawyer.

And so, hey, this is interesting.

It’d be a whole new life for me.

And I’m big on adventure.

So I guess a day or two later,

he said, "Do you wanna go for a ride in my plane?"

[♪♪♪]

BURT: I grew up in the Bronx.

It was a time in the ’30's

where nobody had anything.

The only thing anybody had was their honor.

Unfortunately, I had a terribly doting mother.

Her theory was that I was completely incapable

of functioning on my own.

I hate to tell you this.

Until I was about 10, 12 years old,

she even bathed me.

I didn’t grow up with my folks.

When I was about 4, or thereabouts,

my parents split up.

My mother became a businesswoman,

and went to work,

and now she was stuck with a kid

who she had to send somewhere,

because she wasn’t home to take care of me.

So I went to an aunt’s house.

Linda came to live with us at the age of 5.

It might seem strange.

Why didn’t she live with her parents?

But she accepted it.

RITA: She didn’t have family security,

or the way a family will project confidence

in their children.

She missed that.

She missed that.

She had to miss that.

I was a very poor eater.

And she went into panic over that.

And I would get terrible beatings from her.

Awful beatings.

Uh, belt me in the face.

Uh, my lower teeth were displaced

as a result of that,

all my life.

Beatings that were severe enough that my aunt would come up

and, uh, tell her to stop it already.

She would constantly refer to me

as a book-learned idiot.

JOYCE: I first met Linda on the street,

just hanging out.

She acted like she was sort of tough.

But there was something underneath I saw.

We became friends.

I think it was difficult not having a father around

when most families had fathers then.

’Cause even if he was a bum,

he was there.

LINDA: When I was 12 years old,

I got rheumatic fever.

I already lost a sister because of that.

So I had to move back

to my mother and my grandmother’s house.

I was feeling very insecure.

I would suck my thumb when I went to sleep.

I think I did until I was a teenager.

RITA: Linda grew up with women.

There is nothing in her life

that could connect her with a male.

JOYCE: Four women lived there.

And they-- They weren’t into men.

They didn’t like men.

BURT: My father was my protector.

If I were getting a beating,

I remember crying one phrase:

"I want my daddy here."

Because I knew when he came home at night,

the beatings would end.

As a-- As a child,

the people tended to look down on Burt and make fun of him,

and did things like that.

And it all stems from this--

This parent relationship.

BURT: They shouldn’t have ever gotten married.

She had utter contempt for him.

As a result, he philandered a lot.

He had his bar mitzvah in a Chinese restaurant,

which was really

tremendously embarrassing to him.

All the other little Jews were going to have bar mitzvahs in--

But they chose a Chinese restaurant.

JOYCE: Boys were attracted to Linda.

She was popular because of her looks,

because of the way she acted.

I think she came across as something she really wasn’t.

Back then, you were called a "tease."

And they thought... [CHUCKLES]

...she was easy.

But she wasn’t.

She looked it, and she dressed it.

So sometimes people look at you

and see you differently than you really are.

RITA: To some of us, sex was very significant.

Sex was very important.

But there was nothing ever,

ever, promiscuous about Linda.

Linda did like boys.

Linda liked boys,

but that doesn’t mean you want sex with the boys.

[THE MIRACLES’ "YOU REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME" PLAYING]

LINDA: The telephone rang, and it was him

asking me if I received his flowers.

And I said, "Yes, I did.

And thank you, they were very lovely."

And could we go out for a drink?

BURT: I took her to a cabaret in New Rochelle

with the lights low, and couches,

and made sure the setting was as romantic as possible.

And from there on in, we were together.

♪ I don’t like you ♪

♪ But I love you ♪

♪ Seems that I’m always ♪

♪ Thinkin’ of you ♪

♪ Though you treat me badly ♪

♪ I love you madly ♪

♪ You really got a hold on me ♪

♪ Really got a hold on me ♪

He would take her to nightclubs. He would take her to--

She always felt like she was, like,

in Hollywood with stars.

Oh. Hello, Julie.

Hi, Jack.

JOYCE: Oh, it was exciting,

’cause she got to meet stars.

I think they were friends with The DeMarco Sisters,

and what was his name, Keefe Brasselle, or something?

Yeah.

Oh. ’Course she was flying high.

[♪♪♪]

LINDA: He would pick me up in the morning

to take me for breakfast,

and drop me off at where I worked.

He then would reappear at lunchtime

to take me out for lunch.

Then, at 5:00 closing,

there he was again,

taking me back to my house

to change my clothes, and would go out.

BURT: And we went every week.

We’d be going to the Copa during the week,

the Latin Quarter.

You know, really all the nice places.

Burt was such an attraction

as compared to the boys we went out with.

I would buy convertibles to be sharp,

so the girls would like me.

Powder-blue Caddy convertible.

I would have a new one every year.

I was making about 40, 50,

up to 80,000 a year,

when the average person was making 4000.

He owns a nightclub. He is a lawyer.

He has a plane.

RITA: It was the four of us.

Linda, myself, the pilot and Burt.

And, uh,

Burt was in the driver’s seat.

LINDA: This was an adventure.

How many people get up in a plane at this tender age.

And they’re taking odds--

The people that are on the land,

they’re taking odds whether the plane

is gonna make it or not.

[LAUGHS]

[♪♪♪]

BURT: I was so much in love with her

that looking at her made me feel good.

Just being with her made me feel good.

Just talking with her makes me feel good.

Whether she’ll deny it or not, she liked me too.

RITA: I believe

that Burt fell in love with Linda.

I believe

that Linda was impressed with Burt.

He was considered

the genius of negligence attorneys.

He was successful from the minute he went into the law.

He was an ambulance chaser.

I mean, he was a guy who pursued the nefarious kind.

It didn’t matter to him. But he made a lot of money.

He bought an airplane. He bought a nightclub.

He had himself a Cadillac and a Lincoln, and--

And he had a house.

He was gonna be successful. He didn’t care how he did it.

I’ll never forget graduating law school,

when I was told by a good friend of mine...

"Your skills mean nothing.

Every case is a fix."

[♪♪♪]

JANET: I think they probably hired me

’cause he liked the way I looked.

The-- Not that I was a bad secretary, but--

Maybe I was bad. I didn’t really like being a secretary.

Pugach and Weitz

were running a negligence mill.

You know, a case came in,

someone was injured in an accident,

you’d send them to a doctor who was friendly,

who would write up a good report,

you’d get a check, and everybody’s happy.

Burt admits that he was a, uh,

professional adjuster,

rather than a lawyer.

Well, you could be a crook.

You could stage your own accidents and everything,

which I never did.

People, uh, called it fee splitting.

And that would be utterly illegal.

But Burt says it was not fee splitting.

It was paying someone for a service.

Heh. Okay. Yeah.

I never did it.

I never did that.

Uh, I’ve always been--

I’ve always been

a prude in regard to fraud,

to this day.

I did have an accident.

I wasn’t really hurt. I really don’t like this.

And Burt said, "Go into the hospital."

And I went into the hospital.

Burt did not take advantage of me.

Maybe he did a little bit, but I could have said no.

He didn’t force me or promise me anything,

other than dinner.

He would ask every woman client, "Yes or no?"

You know. And she would either say yes or no.

And I said, "Burt,

you must get your face slapped quite a bit."

He says, "Yeah, but I get laid a lot."

[LAUGHS]

Sex was important to me,

as well as the fact

that it gave me a certain amount of esteem.

Self-esteem, that I guess I needed.

I think I was impressed with the fact

that he graduated second in Brooklyn Law,

and then he had a lot of money.

But I don’t think I actually found him appealing.

I mean, you know,

he wasn’t too cheap to go to a motel.

And who had the time?

I had to get home to my husband anyway.

[SCOFFS]

♪ Let’s love Press your lips to mine ♪

♪ Let’s kiss For that thrill divine ♪

♪ As we realize There’s no one but you and me ♪

LINDA: I started to date Burt.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday,

we went to his nightclub. Heh.

We had big-name people.

And one of them was Johnny Mathis.

♪ Let’s love ♪

BURT: The Showhouse was a place

that I used to meet women.

And it was a playground for me

until I met Linda.

The band always played the song, "Linda."

And every time we’d walk in,

the band was under instructions to play "Linda."

♪ You walk down the street

♪ People you meet

Something--

♪ All my heart about Linda

[BUDDY CLARK’S "LINDA" PLAYING]

♪ And lately it seems ♪

♪ In all of my dreams

♪ I walk with my arms About Linda ♪

BUDDY CLARK: ♪ So miracles do happen ♪

♪ And now my lucky stars Begin to shine ♪

♪ One lucky break

♪ I’ll make Linda mine ♪

LINDA: Well, we come from a very suspicious family.

Grandma started the ball rolling.

She said, "I don’t know.

He’s too prosperous to be a single person."

I think that was probably the attitude, you know?

Why would he still be on the marketplace?

We had a date, and a friend of mine called up and told me,

"She knows you’re married."

So when we went out,

I used all kind of tricks.

I beat her to the punch by telling her.

And she began crying.

So I told her I would get a divorce.

LINDA: I was devastated.

It never occurred to me that he would be a married man.

I mean, here was this wonderful catch that I was gonna get,

that was just, ha, falling through my fingers.

I was stalling.

I brought Keefe Brasselle

out to her.

This is, you know, creating an aura.

And Keefe Brasselle sat down with her and told her,

"I guarantee you, he’s gonna get a divorce."

And I told him, "Oh, okay.

"I’ll tell you what.

"As soon as your divorce is finished,

give me a buzz."

And, uh, he said,

"But I’m gonna get it probably momentarily."

I said, "Okay.

"When you get the papers,

just give me a ring."

And the next day I got a call from Burt.

"Would you believe my papers came through?"

I said, "Okay, well,

I’d like to see them."

I took her into the office and showed her a divorce decree

which I typed up myself.

And I guess she copied down the number.

LINDA: I told my mother that I had the index number,

and her lawyer can check it out,

and make sure this is legit.

This doesn’t get done in a day.

You know, until he writes to Alabama.

Till Alabama gets back to him.

It’s a long process.

During that time, I still continued to see Burt,

because for all I knew this was on the level.

BOB: I met his wife, Francine, a few times.

She was just a nice, ordinary Bronx girl.

Someone that a normal guy would not mind as a housewife,

who cooks and cleans,

takes care of the kids, and everything.

I went out with Francine for three years

and never had intercourse with her.

Everything up to that: hand jobs,

crazy things like that, you know.

One day, she said to me that everybody thinks

that you’ve been going to bed with me,

which was a bad thing in those days.

I said, "But I haven’t."

And she then said,

"Yeah, but everybody thinks so."

And she started crying. So I married her.

And this was it. I didn’t want to, but I did.

She probably-- Probably didn’t love him.

Probably not.

How could you love a man

who’s cheating on you constantly,

and you know it?

BURT: Francine knew that I was seeing other women,

and accepted it, as she covered for me,

because she wanted to keep me at all prices.

We had a baby.

And the baby turned out to be retarded.

Not only retarded. Totally--

Couldn’t walk, couldn't talk.

She couldn’t sit up.

She couldn’t do anything by herself, at all.

I was beginning to just fall completely apart,

because I had--

You know, I loved the little girl very much.

When this happened, I was--

I was devastated.

And then after growing apart,

growing in business, growing socially,

she was this frump that was at home,

taking care of this little girl that he produced,

that he couldn’t carry around,

and show everybody his beautiful daughter.

You know, that’s, uh--

It can play on you.

BURT: And then the bar association investigation

in the late ’50's

went after lawyers-- hundreds of them

--claiming they were kicking back,

they were splitting fees.

They were gonna take away my license for nothing.

For virtually nothing.

I was so depressed,

that my life, in my 30s, had come to an end,

and there was nothing I could do about it.

[NAT KING COLE’S "YOU CALL IT MADNESS" PLAYING]

♪ I can’t forget the night ♪

♪ I met you ♪

LINDA: All my friends were getting married.

They all had connected at that point.

And I was of the age where I figured, you know,

something should be happening in my life.

♪ But I call it love ♪

I’m making wedding lists,

I’m thinking of who I’m gonna invite.

And he’s giving me lists

of the people that he wants to invite.

BURT: We went house hunting in Scarsdale.

LINDA: And I picked this house, I picked that house,

I didn’t know which house. Heh.

I stalled her by looking for diamond rings.

And I stalled her

in every imaginable way.

He was gonna buy a ship, a boat, a yacht,

whatever the heck you call it.

We went shopping for boats.

We had fun. I loved it. It was nice.

It was a fantasy.

BOB: He was, I wouldn’t say in love.

He was crazy in love.

He was really smitten by her.

And she thought enough of herself

to say no to Burt.

Burt wanted to have sex with me,

and my attitude was, "No way, José. When I get married,

"that’s when I go to bed with you,

and not before then." So it was a constant battle.

And that really bothered Burt. I mean, uh,

"After all I’m doing for her,

how can she refuse me a little thing like that?"

And this,

combined with the attack on me professionally,

was beginning to take a terrible toll.

I began to drink.

Uh, very heavily.

[♪♪♪]

LINDA: We went out to the beach one day,

and we pull up for a light.

And there’s a young man in the other car,

and he screams, "Hey, Linda."

And it’s a boy that I had dated in the past.

You know, "Hi, how are you?"

We now pulled away,

and Burt went into a rage.

"You’re screwing around with all these men."

It-- It came from nowhere. It always came from nowhere.

He was-- Became nuts with this jealousy shit.

People told me.

You know, people that knew her.

LINDA: And if a phone rang,

and it happened to be someone who was just saying hello

who was a male caller, the rage would come back again.

I mean, you know, he thought I had sex with other men.

He even made me do something

which is so outrageous.

But just to shut him up and to get him out of my face,

I said, "We’ll go to my doctor,

"and he’ll examine me,

"and let you know

that I’m still a virgin."

Uh, I had to prove it.

Who came out with the verdict that she hadn’t.

It was a false accusation.

LINDA: I continued to see him,

but things kept on going downhill.

And finally my mother came back with the information.

"These were false papers.

Nothing in Alabama has ever been filed."

I said, "You know what? You have been deceiving me.

"Your papers are not legal papers.

I mean, what the heck is going on here?"

He said, "Well, I gave you these

"because I have a New York divorce pending,

"and a New York divorce takes some time.

But I promise you, this is the real thing."

I said, "You’d better forget this.

"I mean, I just have no more patience with you.

And get out of my face."

[♪♪♪]

I decided to pack up, and I quit my job.

And my friend Joyce and her family

were going to Florida to stay there for a month.

I said I’d get me a ticket, and "I’m going with you."

We went by train.

JOYCE: We were hanging out at the beach,

having a good time.

And Larry Schwartz was one of the guys that were there,

and they hit it off.

And she proceeded to see him for the rest of our stay.

LINDA: He was there with his friends,

and, you know, you’re sitting on the beach,

you start talking to people, and he said to me,

"How would you like to go out tonight?"

And I jumped at the chance, because--

He was gorgeous.

And everybody knows he was gorgeous.

Larry knew he was gorgeous.

Um, I think every girl who met him

had a crush on him.

But, you know, we get over it.

[LAUGHS]

They were good-looking people,

and they sort of gravitated to each other.

I went out with Larry Schwartz a few times

before I left Florida.

Unfortunately, at the time,

he went into the Army.

JOYCE: That was the first time I ever saw Linda show love.

She let someone into her heart,

and I had never seen her do that.

LINDA: The minute I came back from Florida,

Burt’s daddy came around...

and told my mother,

"Listen, the only reason Burt did this,

"he was afraid of losing Linda, and I’m personally--

"I personally will take care of this.

I will make sure the papers will go through."

You know, here’s the father coming to convince me

that this man is really on the level.

I mean, you kind of had to go along with this.

You couldn’t believe that the father

was as devious as the son.

And we resumed again.

But still nothing was happening regarding marrying her.

But there probably was a love-hate kind of thing,

you know, ’cause he had dangled me on a string for so long,

that I just didn’t know whether I was coming or going.

I was like a yo-yo.

You know, I would use all kind of tricks.

It was almost out of desperation

to use a trick to buy another month,

to buy another month, to buy another month.

This starts off being very flattering.

It shortly becomes very stifling.

Did I have any intelligible plan?

No.

Just some Band-Aids along the way,

and see when the magic comes.

LINDA: His wife called me.

And she said to me,

"You know, you can go out with him.

"You can do whatever.

"But I am never giving him a divorce.

That’s the bottom line."

So once I heard that, I figured, "I gotta get out of this crap."

And, of course, that’s what caused the breakup.

[♪♪♪]

JANET: Emotionally, he probably was too.

He was laying on the floor,

banging his head and kicking his feet.

And crying, "Linda, Linda, Linda."

And I mean, it got to the point

where we probably all thought it was a joke.

He just-- He just flipped. He just flipped.

I mean, when they weren’t going together,

after going together for a long time,

he would sit in the office

and sing to his iguana.

The name was Iggy.

The iguana’s name was Iggy.

He would have a ukulele.

What was it, a banjo? Whatever it was.

It wasn’t a guitar.

And, um, singing "Linda."

♪ We pass on the street My heart skips a beat ♪

♪ I say to myself "Hello, Linda" ♪

BURT: I got drunk as can be

and depressed as could be at a Christmas party.

And from there he carried on like a maniac,

was threatening to kill himself.

BURT: They put me into a car

and took me to Jacobi Hospital.

And a psychiatrist examined me,

and put me into a closed ward.

And they had committed me.

Everybody thought it was a big joke.

I mean, we were laughing.

I called Herb,

and he came down and raised the roof,

and got me out...

which was the worst thing that could have happened.

[♪♪♪]

LINDA: Burt was relentless.

He would not stop calling.

He would not stop following me.

It was a time of hell for me.

JOYCE: He was always there.

Always there, either on the phone,

or in person, or in her hallway.

Or... A lot of creepy things.

I received so many calls from Burt

telling me what he planned to do with her

if she wouldn’t go back to him.

BURT: I’m desperate.

And I’ve got to figure out some way to get her back.

And I was willing to get her back on any terms.

He hired people to throw rocks in my window

to frighten me, so I would look to him to help me.

And when I would call the cops,

they said, "Listen. Did you see him do it?"

I said, "No, I was in my house. I couldn’t see him."

"Well, there’s nothing we can do.

He’s a lawyer."

I then began approaching people to beat her up.

If she’ll be beaten up, she’ll be frightened,

and then she’ll come back to me,

because she wouldn’t want to be beaten up again.

LINDA: It was unbelievable. I cannot begin to tell you

how many times I went to that 42nd Precinct,

and cry and plead.

Her mother was scared, her grandmother was scared,

because they all lived together.

Thoughts are coming into my mind that are, uh--

Uh...

That are so primitive--

Primitive, that, uh,

there’s no handling them.

I believe Burt may have wanted to kill Linda.

I was the only one who was aware

of the danger I was in.

And no one else cared.

[♪♪♪]

Larry Schwartz gets out of the army.

And comes back into my life.

He was a million miles away

from where Burt was coming from.

And here I am, I’m rid of Burt.

Hey, what the hell, this sounds good.

He was a nice, easygoing guy.

Simple? Yes, we drove around in an old station wagon.

He took me to his home, I met his parents.

It was a normal way,

and I was enchanted with it.

They started to date,

and they fell in love all over again.

SYLVIA: They became engaged. And everyone was very happy,

because even though he wasn’t in the same situation as Burt,

with all his wealth,

he was a nice guy, and he showed a lot of promise.

LINDA: That was my undoing.

The minute I accepted a ring

and I got engaged,

that’s when Burt went ballistic completely.

That’s when he really lost it.

BURT: When I went over to her father

to illicit his help,

he told me it’s too late, she’s getting engaged.

That’s how I found out about Larry Schwartz.

I told him about this crazy that was in my face,

and, uh-- And he told me,

"You know, forget about it.

He’s, you know, just blowing off steam."

I went out and waited for her to come home.

Larry is taking me back to the house, and he said,

"There’s someone in a doorway across the street."

And I was in the shadows there.

And I was gonna kill him.

He was there and had a gun on him.

But I couldn’t do it.

I couldn’t do it.

It’s not an easy thing to kill-- To shoot a person.

I just couldn’t do it.

And I had to retreat.

[ESTHER PHILLIPS’ "RELEASE ME" PLAYING]

BOB: Burt hired them to do it.

BURT: A very tough-looking guy named Al Newkirk.

I gave him some money, but he didn’t do it directly.

He went to these two friends of his.

Herd Harden was called Joe Louis,

because he looked like him.

SYLVIA: She was so happy

because he was told she has a package, um,

for her engagement.

That’s what it was.

So she went to the door.

And her mother was behind her.

LINDA: Heh. I thought it was a gift from Larry.

And I was getting dressed to go to work.

My hands were busy behind my back,

making a French knot in my hair.

If he can’t have her, no one else will.

Nobody can have her.

Nobody’s gonna have her.

He said that, "If I can’t have her,

I’ll see to it that nobody will."

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Please release me ♪

♪ Let me go ♪

♪ I said I don’t love you ♪

♪ I just don’t-- I just don’t love you anymore ♪

LINDA: The door was already open, he had his foot in the door.

He was already in the vestibule,

and he threw the liquid right in my face.

The first thing I did was run to the bathroom.

I was burning. My face was burning.

I couldn’t believe--

You just don’t put it together.

You can’t believe this is happening.

And I put my head underneath the faucet.

My grandmother was in the house,

my mother was in the house.

The poor ladies were hysterical.

What can I tell you?

JOYCE: It was the week of my wedding.

So I come home from work.

And I usually read the newspaper

when I eat dinner.

And no one would get me the paper.

And I thought that was--

Everyone in my house was acting very peculiar.

And I looked and I found the paper,

and the headline said "Girl Blinded."

I’m gonna cr-- It was very sad.

I can still see it in the newspaper.

And it was a horrible time in my life.

A happy time, and a sad time.

Very sad.

SYLVIA: I heard it on the radio,

and I rushed out to get a newspaper.

Then I started getting phone calls from people.

It was a shocking thing.

I was just grateful she was alive,

but I didn’t realize how much damage was done to her.

I mean, we all think when someone hurts you,

you want to do something bad. But you don’t do it.

You just don’t do it. And he did it.

And then we had to wait.

I had to wait until an ambulance came to pick me up.

And then I probably, uh,

blacked out, I guess.

SYLVIA: Well, she had bandages all over her eyes

and her head,

and they thought she lost both her sight,

and that she’d be very badly scarred.

I just cried.

I-I-- I just cried.

RUSTY: I called Linda very early in the morning

after the engagement party.

It was her grandmother who got on the phone,

screaming and yelling.

You know, "There was a present, we opened the door.

He threw something. Linda’s in the hospital."

She kept saying, "The crazy one,

the crazy one, the crazy one."

LINDA: I just remember my mother crying,

and saying, "It was Burt Pugach."

As soon as the police could come

and visit me in the hospital room--

Which was less than 24 hours, I’m sure.

And I said, "That’s who did it."

No ifs, buts or maybes.

JOYCE: He couldn’t have her, and no one else was going to.

So he got his wish.

He got his wish.

[♪♪♪]

BRESLIN: It was a big story.

Three black guys threw acid in a white girl’s face

on behalf of her spurn boyfriend,

a white lawyer, in the Bronx.

Sensational.

The three blacks will go away forever.

Then we’ll get the white lawyer, he’ll go.

And we’ll-- We'll sympathize with the woman forever.

[♪♪♪]

It’s great.

You need it. That sells your papers.

BURT: Once this happened,

it hit the headlines like crazy.

And they referred to me as a mystery man

that is probably behind it.

He said to me, "Bob,

do you think I could do a thing like that?"

I says, "Burt,

"my heart says no.

"My head says maybe.

"But if you had anything to do with it,

"the only way you’re gonna get rid--

"Get out of this, without getting into trouble,

is to hire somebody else to kill the two niggers."

Three days later,

they played that tape for me in the D.A.’s office.

They had the office bugged.

And they tried to get me to make a statement.

I said, "I didn’t do anything."

I denied having anything to do with it.

RITA: Linda said very little about Burt in the hospital.

Her thoughts were her vision.

What was gonna happen to her? Where was her future?

Linda was a very sick girl.

Linda was in the hospital for a very long time.

I was in Medical Arts Hospital,

and I-- First thing I said, "Look Larry, get out of this.

"I’m gonna give you back your ring.

"I want you to, you know--

"To know that I’m not gonna hold you,

to commit you to anything."

And he said, "Oh, no way. No, no. I’m sticking with you."

So he stuck with me, and came to visit me in the hospital,

and made all the right moves,

and was very loving, and had his parents came to visit me.

And even brought me a little Jewish star.

And I was the one who said, "Listen, get out of this.

You know, this is a bad scene. You’re liable to get hurt."

BURT: Harden and McMillan

are blackmailing me.

I tried to lure Harden into a dark place to meet me.

He asked me for more money, and I gave him a place to meet me.

And he said that he’s not going to do it,

’cause he knows I’m gonna kill him.

My theory was, this was the only way I could survive.

He wasn’t gonna stop.

He was calling constantly.

Either they themselves,

or they got some of their friends

to go after Burt. They were gonna harm him.

In fact, they ran him off the road once,

and he ended up in the hospital for a few days

with broken ribs.

LINDA: I had police protection for 24 hours,

around-the-clock.

While I had the police protection,

Burt was still sending flowers to my house.

I mean, it just never ended.

And I said, "Oh my God, here I go again."

I mean, I was mortified.

I guess that might be the right word.

And my intention was I was gonna get the son of a bitch.

BURT: After the incident with Linda,

of course I did not call her for a while.

Then I called her up,

and I sent her a dozen roses,

and we spoke over the phone.

And, you know, I told her I wanted to see her.

It was a day or two after that that I was arrested.

[♪♪♪]

A wagon came.

Those paddy wagons were terrible.

There were no windows.

Uh, I was put in there.

They handcuffed me to Harden.

I was ducking from the cameras,

trying to stay away from them.

Harden yells out to a reporter,

"Give me a pack of cigarettes,

and I’ll turn him around so you can take his picture."

There was no way Larry could have stayed. There was--

He didn’t have the money to take care of the situation,

never mind the great love.

And this was gonna be surgeries and surgeries,

and hospitalizations, and--

And, you know.

The minute the case

was moved out of the newspapers,

the minute I was sent home...

he told me the engagement was off.

And he gave me a lovely ring.

Which I never returned.

I’m taken to the police station.

On the way there,

one of the cops pulls hairs out of my beard.

Another one asks me,

"Which side were your ribs broken?"

I said, "The right side."

Punches me with all of his might

in the ribs where they were broken.

And when my mother beat me, I would cry.

When they did, I didn’t.

[CLYDE McPHATTER’S "LOVER PLEASE" PLAYING]

♪ Lover, please Please come back ♪

♪ Don’t take a train Coming down the track ♪

♪ Don’t, please don't Don’t leave me ♪

♪ Don’t leave me in misery ♪

MARGARET: I was assigned to guard Linda

until Burt Pugach was convicted.

I introduced myself to her.

And I told her, "Linda, I’m Margaret Powers.

"And I’m going to be here with you

"for the next eight hours.

I’m going to be right outside that door."

And I said, "You could rest assured,

"you are in good hands.

Because no one will get into this room."

Margie Powers, a police officer--

Being with Linda all the time, she-- They had a lot in common.

They were together all the time,

and she became one of the girls.

MARGARET: With Linda, I believe,

it’s her courage that I mainly admired about her.

She’s just a good,

decent human being with a wonderful spirit.

I decided at that point I had to make a life of my own.

I cannot live with Mama any longer.

And so I branched out,

got my own apartment.

One room, the size of a cheese box.

I lived on 57th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenue.

She still went to work every day.

She didn’t have a seeing-eye dog, she didn’t have a cane.

She got out of the house, she went to work.

Linda utilized every opportunity

to improve or be involved

in different little pastimes like art.

And, uh,

she took up painting.

Now, she had some vision.

It was very limited.

But she was really rather good.

After my arrest,

that was the last I ever saw of my mother.

And no contact with Francine.

JANET: Francine did not seem upset.

She said, "I’m not surprised

that he’d do something that crazy."

They sold the house,

and then Francine put Karen into a home.

Unfortunately, I get a lawyer named Lowenberg.

My father gets him, with all good intentions.

But doesn’t realize the guy

is suffering from epilepsy

and has mal seizures constantly.

And the case

becomes like a force.

I realized I have to do something about this.

I’ve gotta fight back.

I certainly saw no point

in my going to jail.

[♪♪♪]

BURT: I sliced my wrist on purpose,

to try and get a mistrial.

I had no lawyer. I was being led down the "primsome" path

without any opportunity for a defense.

It was a desperate move.

I broke my glasses.

And I took one piece,

and I started cutting around my wrists.

The blood got all over me.

I rubbed it on my face

so you didn’t know where I was bleeding from.

The blood was warmer than I thought it would be.

And I started screaming.

Uncontrollably.

These are the scars,

when I tried to get a mistrial.

I heard about him slicing his wrists.

And I said, "That’s open-shut. Next case."

NORMAN: Psychopath.

That’s an absurd diagnosis.

Burt isn’t a psychopath.

First met him when he handled a custody matter for me.

And then, when he was at Bellevue

in the psychiatric ward.

I don’t think he was crazy.

Didn’t think he had a psychiatric excuse.

But there could have been something.

BURT: Now they put on the witnesses against me.

Her mother takes the stand.

And then they have a court officer escort Linda up there

to give the jury the impression that she was totally blind.

The case was a fraud from every point of view.

I could be guilty, yet it still was presented as a fraud.

Linda takes the stand.

And, of course, it’s very dramatic.

And she cries on the stand.

And it becomes very emotional.

I could not see well enough

to see Burt in person.

Um, I heard his voice.

But if someone told me Burt was dead,

I would have said, "wonderful."

BURT: I was still in love with her.

In court, I was still in love with her when I saw her.

And to me,

just seeing her in the courtroom

was a profit.

In other words,

I was happy to be a defendant because I was able to see her.

[♪♪♪]

BRESLIN: They were looking to keep him away forever,

which they had the right to do.

And the push was coming from the victim.

She was the first real victim-impact statement

heard in courts in this city.

I mean, nobody-- Nobody got up--

She said, "I want him dead."

Jury was out about two, three hours

before they came in with a verdict.

Total: 30 years in prison.

I felt it wasn’t long enough.

And yes, I was very happy.

I wanted him to rot there.

[CHUCKLES]

[MANFRED MANN’S "DO WAH DIDDY DIDDY" PLAYING]

I went to Europe.

♪ There she was just a-walking Down the street ♪

♪ Singing, "do wah diddy diddy Dum diddy do" ♪

LINDA: That must have been my most magnificent time.

I was probably a size 6, taken in.

♪ She looked good ♪

LINDA: And I would go out

and spend a fortune for a pair of glasses.

And they were dynamite-looking frames.

And it was not obvious.

That way,

I didn’t have any problem meeting men.

I certainly was feeling very secure.

Much happier.

He was out of my face.

♪ Do wah diddy diddy Dum diddy do ♪

BURT: I got to Dannemora in leg irons

via Sing Sing.

The guard behind me said,

"If you move your hand,

"I’ll smash your head open with this club.

"You’re no lawyer over here.

"If I catch you trying to be a lawyer

"with any of these inmates,

I’m gonna bust you and bust you good."

He goes into prison.

He knows nothing about criminal law.

He gets the books out, he reads the books.

All of a sudden,

this black guy over here who murdered some people,

he finds a loophole in the case against him,

he files a writ,

and the black guy goes out to kill somebody else maybe.

I represented everybody in the prison.

They were all my clients.

Willie Sutton.

Uh, Jerry "the Jew" Rosenberg.

Carmine "The Snake" Persico.

I reversed three murder convictions in a row.

So they put me in solitary confinement.

I was totally naked.

I had nothing in the cell

except a blanket and a mattress.

And no contact at all.

You have nothing to read, nothing to listen to,

nothing to do.

You could masturbate, but nothing else.

And the days just go by and by.

Every day. I missed Linda every day.

LINDA: I was not intimate with men.

My attitude was:

"Fuck ’em and fool 'em."

Is that what they say?

Uh, no, I was not.

My attitude was I had lost so much,

I’m just not giving it away.

I remained a virgin

for the longest time.

I think I was well into my 30s.

Now, I had one other friend who also was a virgin.

We were the only two left, I think,

in this whole town.

And her sister would say,

"Look, cut this crap already.

"Just make like you’re gonna go jump into a pool.

Hold your nose and just do it."

It was just something I had to do.

Get it out of the way.

To have sex.

Burt called me

on one or two occasions,

I think, during his jail term.

Burt cried. He cried all the time.

Burt was obviously very sick,

and was sent to--

BURT: Matteawan Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

After being there a number of months,

they started to give me,

uh--

what do you call them again?

--shock treatment,

which knocks you completely out.

They sent my mother authorization.

My mother thought it was good, and she signed it.

I met this young man who was very much taken by me.

He was a newcomer to New York.

He was from the South.

And we started dating.

And we just were necking and petting.

It never got beyond that point.

And he literally wanted to marry me.

Here I am, I’m never taking off my dark glasses,

and I don’t know if I’m ready for this.

He wants to take me to meet his parents.

And he is really sincere about this.

I just never figured I’m marriage material.

So I said, "Look, I’ve gotta get this out of the way."

And Elaine said to me,

"Listen, the next time you see him,

"wear your clear glasses and see what happens.

I mean, you’ve gotta face up to this."

And lo and behold,

he came up to the office one day.

And I was wearing my clear glasses.

And apparently, it, uh--

It kind of floored him. Let me put it that way.

It was more than he expected. Couldn’t handle it, you know.

It devastated me. It hurt me, you know.

Destroyed me.

SYLVIA: The eyes are not normal looking.

The-- They’re, like, bluish.

And, um,

you could see--

I mean, it’s just not pretty.

Not pretty.

LINDA: You have to understand, now I’m a different person.

I’m walking around with shades.

I ain’t taking off these shades.

I’m not thinking in terms of ever getting married.

It’s just not gonna happen.

I am now damaged merchandise.

NARRATOR: ’71 was a turbulent year for the nation’s prisons.

At Attica, New York State Prison,

more than a thousand inmates erupted in a volcanic orgy

of mayhem, arson and hostage-seizing.

And when it was over, the death count was 43.

Prone or dead, they lie, ending the holocaust.

The Attica riot breaks out.

MAN [ON MEGAPHONE]: Don’t harm the hostages.

BURT: Two black guys came over and said,

"Pugach, come with us. They’re coming in here shooting.

"And if you don’t get out of there,

you’re gonna get killed."

MAN: Inmate on a stretcher being moved out.

BURT: The black Muslims carried me to the gate.

And there’s no doubt that they saved my life in the yard.

[HELICOPTER WHIRRING]

It was then that I became friends with William Kunstler.

WILLIAM: They waited four short days, and then they moved in.

This will polarize situations in prisons, in the ghettos,

in the Puerto Rican and black communities...

[♪♪♪]

RUSTY: She was living by herself here in New York.

And she wasn’t in a position to find dates or friends.

She was pretty much in her own little world.

RITA: Linda was going downhill.

Linda no longer could work,

her vision was getting worse on that one eye.

MARGARET: Her mother’s now getting senile.

She was getting into Alzheimer’s

a short while later.

The grandmother had died.

RUSTY: Didn’t really have anything in her life.

It was a pretty empty life.

And he would send messages all the time.

LINDA: Burt used to send me mail from prison.

Pages and pages of letters.

[♪♪♪]

BURT: I would bring lawsuits

to, uh, have some contact with her.

If she complained,

at least it was some form of communication.

I used to change numbers like you would change underwear.

Didn’t work. It never helped.

No matter what I did,

there was no getting away from Burt.

One day,

Bill Kunstler gets on the phone

and tells me how much Burt loves me,

and he wants to get back with me,

and all of this crapola. I said,

"Well, if he’s so freaking interested,

"why the hell doesn’t he send me some money?

"I’m living like a peasant,

"I have no money.

Let him show his good faith."

And then when I spoke to Bill, he said,

"Look, she’s gonna go back with you.

She will definitely go back to you. I’ve spoken to her."

And then she and I started speaking on the phone.

Oh, well, Kunstler’s a different story.

Come on, he’s a giant in this city.

That would be his style.

He stood for anyone that made mistakes,

or was getting buried by society.

So he stood for ’em. Sure.

She told me that, you know, "You never sent me any money."

And I said to her, "How can I? Where am I gonna get it from?"

I said, "Is that what you want?"

And I started charging for my services.

In about a week or two, she had $4000.

She writes to the parole board, "Don’t let him out.

He sent me $4000 to harass me."

And she was the one screaming, right in his presence,

"I want him in a box."

I figure I’m dead.

I go before the parole board.

I even tell the hack who’s taking me there,

"Why you wasting my time?

They’re gonna turn me down again."

He says, "Go. You got nothing to lose.

"See what happens.

What’s the big thing that you gotta do in your cell?"

And the first thing they tell me:

"Did you send her this money?"

I said, "Yes."

He said to me, "If you get out,

would you continue sending her money?"

I said, "If I make it and I have it,

of course I will."

He said, "You’re leaving here March 21st."

I almost died. I almost died.

[♪♪♪]

I met Burt,

I would say shortly after he came out of jail.

When he moved to Queens County.

And he started doing work as a paralegal in Queens County.

As a matter of fact, I used Burt in several cases.

He was not allowed to contact Linda.

LINDA: One day, my friend says to me,

"Look, come to the fortuneteller with me."

She goes, "Oh,

"you’ve had such terrible things have happened to you.

"I see a man. It’s all because of him.

"But I want you to know,

he loves you desperately."

[SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS' "I PUT A SPELL ON YOU" PLAYING]

BURT: By the time I come out,

it’s all over the papers.

Marvin Scott, Channel 11,

they come to see me.

And they ask me about her in the interview.

And I said,

"You know, my condition is I can’t go near her.

Or I’ll go back."

I tracked down Burt Pugach.

And he was more than happy

to accommodate me with an interview.

He told me this whole story. And at the same time,

he told me how much

he loved this woman.

They have little advertisements all day long

that this is gonna come out.

So her friends tell her to watch.

He told Marvin Scott through this broadcast

that he just wanted to make up to Linda

for what he had done to her.

And, well, Marvin Scott had said something like,

"I have on my show today

"a man who’s been in prison 14 years, Burton Pugach.

And he wants to say something to Linda Riss."

"I paid my debt to society. I can’t undo what I've done.

"And the only thing I could do now

is try to spend the rest of my life making it up to Linda."

And he looked at me, he looked at the camera. And he said,

"Linda, I know you’re out there.

"Linda, I love you.

Linda, I want to marry you."

♪ Ah! I love you ♪

Shocked.

♪ I love you ♪

I mean, that was-- That was incredible.

♪ I love you anyhow ♪

I couldn’t believe it. I said,

"Oh, my God, this is even sicker."

♪ I’m yours, right now ♪

[SCOFFS, CHUCKLES]

"Tonight at 10,

"Burt Pugach proposes to the woman he blinded

on the 10:00 news." Heh-heh-heh.

Burt was in my apartment.

Watching the television all by myself.

And then my mother called me from her apartment:

"How do you like that bum?"

♪ Because you’re mine! ♪

♪ Mine! ♪

♪ Mine! Ow! Aagh! Ugh! ♪

♪ Ooh, you’re mine ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh ♪

MARGARET: This was interesting.

This was now a happening in her life.

I mean, she was in the paper again.

Maybe it’s human nature.

Doesn’t everyone want to be noticed?

They certainly don’t want to fade into the woodwork.

It was almost a little exciting for her.

Because she-- This was attention.

She had a wine party one day.

Wine and cheese and crackers.

And she invited me to join her and her girlfriends.

And a few other girls were telling Linda

about their love life, et cetera, et cetera.

And there was Linda, who had no one.

Afterwards, I got on the elevator,

and a little old lady got on.

And she was trundling one of those open carts

with her groceries in it.

In the cart was some little g-- A little k--

I could see a little can of peas,

a little loaf of bread,

a small something of cereal,

couple of bars of soap.

It absolutely reeked of loneliness.

And I could only see Linda.

She was now 35, with nobody in the horizon.

And, to me,

I saw her life as being bleak.

RITA: I could not get into Linda’s heart, you know.

Neither could anybody.

But it was evident that Linda was thinking

of more than she was saying

about Burt.

MARGARET: I called Rita,

and I said,

"Suppose you were to call Burt."

And I said, "Tell him you’d like some advice from him about--

Something about your divorce from Bobby."

She and I decided

that she would get together with him.

And the police.

At my home.

I don’t think the police department

would have been too thrilled to know who was-- Who was--

Who played Cupid.

And they would have a meeting.

I said,

"You would have a chance to confront each other.

"If you found that it wasn’t for you,

"just have somebody help you go downstairs

"and get a cab and leave.

"But if you don’t give yourself that chance,

you’ll always wonder what might have been."

BURT: Rita invites me over for dinner.

When I ring the bell, I don’t wanna go in.

Because I got second thoughts

that this may be a revenge thing.

My feeling the first time

was probably a little bit uncomfortable.

It was, you know, a lot of time between drinks.

And to me, she looked just as beautiful as ever.

In jail, they made a new man out of him.

There he was, muscular, looked good.

[SCOFFS]

And I proposed to her.

And I said, "W-wait, let’s-- Let’s cool this.

I mean, you know, I just came to say hi."

And she said, "Give it a little time."

LINDA: I wore my clear glasses.

I don’t think I could have revealed myself

with clear glasses with anyone else.

He saw no difference.

To him, I was still beautiful.

BURT: From the time we started dating,

it was five months before we decided

we would get married.

[LOS BRAVOS’ "BLACK IS BLACK" PLAYING]

♪ Black is black ♪

♪ I want my baby back ♪

LINDA: Once I made a decision

that I was gonna go back with him,

I consciously made my head say,

"Hey, listen. You’re starting from the scratch.

"What was the past was the past,

and you have to go on from here."

BURT: It’s the page-one story up to the London Times.

And now, all the TV stations

are doing stories on us.

They’re photographing us. They’re everything.

My income doubled that first week.

Doubled. Maybe tripled.

♪ ’Cause I-I-I-I-I ♪

♪ I’m feelin' blue ♪

MAN: Eighteen years ago,

an unusual love story began to unfold

right here in New York.

The Pugachs maintain that their bizarre love story

has resulted in a happy marriage.

Why did you marry a man

who blinded you,

disfigured you, so many years ago?

It’s something that was very, very hard

for me to come to terms with.

To myself.

It’s very hard to, after something like this happens,

say, "Gee, I still care for this man."

Um...here--

It’s hard to admit it to yourself,

let alone the rest of the world.

Are you both happy?

I am. How are you?

Yeah. I’ll go for it too.

What do you mean, "yeah"?

Why not? Sure.

Would you please welcome Burt and Linda Pugach.

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS]

JOYCE: She calls him Pugi.

She seems to say sweet things to him.

And I know he’s good to her in certain ways.

You know, with her medicines and different things.

You wouldn’t call it an ugly story.

You’d call it a beautiful story, then?

Or partially ugly? How would you--?

LINDA: We’ve been through so much.

And, um, think we’ll stick it out.

SYLVIA: I’ve learned to accept it.

♪ Happy birthday

I can’t try to like him.

Because I really can’t.

I’m very cordial to him when he comes.

I even bake him a cake.

So he should be quiet.

RIVERA: Why, after what he did,

are you there today?

Because Burt is a good husband.

And in my way, I probably do love him.

I just find it hard to use that word.

Maniac. BURT: Yes.

RUSTY: They’re difficult,

they’re screaming and yelling all the time.

But they’re glued at the hip.

Walk backwards. BURT: Watch it.

RUSTY: She’s now totally blind.

BURT: Not so close. Not so close.

And he became her eyes.

RAPHAEL: There were other women who wanted him?

Yes. Did you marry him

because you thought somebody else would marry him?

Maybe.

Come on, we have to do big shopping.

BURT: Yeah, shopping. Bullshit.

RITA: Financial security

was the most important thing for her.

And Burt was her financial security.

You have beautiful hair.

LINDA: Did I ever regret not having children?

I suppose so, somewhere back when.

But I don’t think we've missed out on too much.

BURT: Venus, the goddess of love.

Linda, the goddess of breaking balls.

[♪♪♪]

REPORTER: Pugach and Riss have lived a quiet life here

in a four-room apartment on the fourth floor.

Until now.

Cops say that Pugach is up to his old tricks again.

This time, allegedly threatening a 42-year-old woman

who broke up with him after she found out

that he was still married.

REPORTER 1: Burton Pugach could face one year in prison

on charges that he terrorized another woman,

his former mistress.

REPORTER 2: Burton Pugach is accused

of harassing and sexually abusing

a woman that was his mistress for five years.

The 42-year-old woman claims Pugach threatened to quote,

"blind her like Linda," end quote.

[♪♪♪]

I should have just walked out

and left this horrible man.

Evangeline Borja was 27 years younger than me.

Twenty-seven. Yeah.

He said: "If I can’t have you, no one else can.

"Since you do not want to have dinner with me,

tonight will be your last dinner."

He grabbed me from behind.

He groped my right breast.

She’s a liar.

She starts carrying on about me.

That I promised to marry her.

I never did.

"I have tremendous connections.

"I will wait with my people tomorrow.

It’ll be quick. I’ll pay for your funeral."

He told me that "If you don’t wanna go to dinner

"with me tonight,

tonight will be your last dinner."

She said I promised I’d divorce my wife,

which I did not.

Oh, no, I might have said it,

but I never meant it.

I lied. I lied. I will concede.

"I will cancel the order to kill you

"if you have dinner and sex with me.

You know my background."

In view of those threats,

it behooved us to see to it that he was put behind bars.

LINDA: Calls me up. "I’m in the precinct.

Please come and get me."

And of course, I was a raging lunatic, screaming,

"What kind of a bum are you? What the hell’s going on here?

What has happened?"

I was shocked.

I was stunned by this revelation.

And for all intents and purposes,

he’s been a very good husband.

He sucks right now.

[♪♪♪]

This was like a shot heard round the world.

’Cause suddenly, all the people who remembered 1959

could not believe that this guy--

First of all, that he was still alive.

And second of all, that he’s up to his old tricks, evidently.

So the district attorney

asked for $500,000 bail.

I said, "This is just plain, ordinarily vindictive.

And besides," I said, "When this case is tried,

I’m gonna be acquitted."

In the press conference,

he states that I went out

and hired somebody to kill Evangeline Borja.

Yup. It’s right in the conference.

I’m yelling over there,

"Then why are you charging me with a misdemeanor?"

ANNOUNCER: Spurning the old adage

about representing oneself in a courtroom,

that is exactly what Burt Pugach is doing.

[♪♪♪]

BRESLIN: It was nuts that-- To think that you’re in a courtroom

in the supreme court of the state of New York,

county of Queens, on Queens Boulevard.

And it’s Burton Pugach and his--

He’s not a lawyer.

He lost his law ticket for blinding the broad that he--

And he’s questioning the jury.

There are men who break the jaws of women.

There are men who stalk women.

There are men who call them up 2 in the morning.

I mean, this was a lover’s quarrel at the most.

PEYSER: I wrote that Burton Pugach

was the most miserable excuse for a husband

since Joey Buttafuoco.

I would like to amend that and say

he’s a more miserable excuse for a husband

than Joey Buttafuoco.

SCOTT: I interviewed Linda

on the steps of the Queens Courthouse.

And there, she still stood by her man.

She defended him.

Hey. You guys.

Do your wives know what you’re doing all the time?

The only thing, you guys are smart enough

not to get into a jackpot like this.

MAN: What do you--? How did this man--?

Hey, come on. I mean, like this is the first affair.

Nobody’s ever heard of this. Come on, give me a break.

BURT: My wife knows that I’m innocent.

And my wife is very angry at what happened here.

And she’s told the press that constantly.

That I haven’t done anything.

The man didn’t hit her. He didn’t touch her.

He didn’t stalk her. He did nothing.

[♪♪♪]

LINDA: I said what a wonderful husband Burt was.

How he takes care of me.

How he’s very attentive. How he watches for--

Protects me.

He’s my best buddy.

I don’t know what she said.

I don’t know what anybody said.

You were so overwhelmed by what was going on,

you couldn’t even hear.

REPORTER: I mean, how could she love you?

I wouldn’t love you.

You don’t have to.

[♪♪♪]

BURT: I felt like I hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth.

And I walked out of the courtroom.

I knew God was watching me,

and God was gonna make it come right. And I knew that.

Are you gonna change your behavior?

You’re darn right I am. Okay.

Except for one thing: When I get my wife home,

there may be another sexual-abuse charge against me.

BRESLIN: I’ve been in the news business in the city of New York

for at least 50 years.

And of all the people I’ve seen,

nobody is as visibly insane

as Burton Pugach.

And still not institutionalized.

He says he’ll never do things like that,

having an affair again.

INTERVIEWER: Do you believe him?

Do I believe Burt?

He’s a little long in the tooth by now,

as far as I’m concerned. [LAUGHS]

I don’t think so.

He knows I’d kick him out on his backside.

I still would.

I’ve been good for almost 10 years.

Or hasn’t been caught. Ha-ha.

Put my hand on the back of the chair.

I always-- I will.

See, we’ll do it like we always do.

We sit. I take care of my own chair.

That’s right. You pull it in.

And then we start fighting again.

I’m used to being the underdog,

so it’s okay.

Poor baby.

Yeah. You know something?

They fired her at her job

when she married me.

Well, I don’t know that’s exactly--

Come on. One year to the day they fired her. But--

That’s your opinion. I have my opinion.

It’s not my opinion, I know it’s for fact.

How do you know it’s a fact?

Ah. You’re paranoid.

I’m not paranoid.

I know what the courts have done to me,

so I’m not paranoid.

I don’t believe that, but okay.

We don’t have to agree on all these issues, do we?

And we certainly don’t.

And so there.

[♪♪♪]

You better take care of this sleeve.

Take a look at it.

There’s nothing on it.

Are you sure? Yeah.

You know, you backed into me.

And then you blame me. That it’s my fault.

That I messed you up.

When did you hear me blame you?

Ah. Every day.

LINDA: Poor Burt, heh,

has to get along with me these days.

I lost some key material.

LINDA: And being with me is not an easy thing.

Why should you? What did I have to do with this?

Probably something.

LINDA: I figured this was the best revenge.

Hurry up. It’s hot like hell.

Okay.

[BUDDY CLARK’S "LINDA" PLAYING]

LINDA: It’s Burt and I against the world.

♪ So miracles do happen ♪

♪ And now my lucky stars Begin to shine ♪

♪ With one lucky break ♪

♪ I’ll make Linda mine ♪

Where are you, Burt?

BURT: Here I am. What do you want?

LINDA: Did you water the rest of the plants?

I will in a minute. Come on, stop it.

I want you to water the plants.

Oh. Okay.

Where are you, Burt?

Here. What do you need? Where’s my coffee?

One second, Linda. Where are you?

[BURT SIGHS]

Burt?

This time can be used better

making the world safe for democracy

rather than watering plants.

Linda? What?

It’s showtime.

I got the luggage ready.

[EDIE BRICKELL’S "I WISH I NEVER SAW THE SUNSHINE" PLAYING]

SYLVIA: In her head, I really think

that she really feels that it was a crime of passion.

That he really loved her.

And now he’s healed.

And in the end, maybe I’ve convinced myself.

Maybe she’s better off.

Because who’s gonna run there to go shopping,

to do things for her, all these years?

They’re married, I think, like, 28 years.

♪ Baby, do you know What you did today? ♪

♪ Baby, do you know What you took away? ♪

♪ You took the blue Out of the sky ♪

JOYCE: He sees what he did to her every single day.

I don’t know if it's a joy or a punishment.

I really don’t know.

♪ I wish I barely saw The sunshine ♪

JANET: I don’t believe in capital punishment.

But something like this, he should’ve been killed.

He created her.

He made her who she is today.

Blind and bald.

BRESLIN: Everybody deserves a second chance.

Everyone. No question about it.

I think he’s used up the ticket, though.

He better not even go through a red light.

BOB: I like Burt. I really like Burt.

I enjoy Burt as a friend.

Heh-heh.

Hey, Listen. They say even Hitler had friends.

So, what are you gonna do?

♪ All of my dreams I dream with you ♪

BURT: And I have tons of dreams about Linda.

Many of them, I lose her and can’t find her.

In many of them, I lose her and can’t find her.

Yeah.

♪ Who am I? ♪

LINDA: What do I dream about?

♪ Ooh ♪

I don’t dream about very much.

Had I married Larry Schwartz?

I sometimes reflect on that.

♪ I wish I never saw The sunshine ♪

♪ And if I never saw The sunshine, baby ♪

♪ Maybe ♪

♪ I wouldn’t mind the rain ♪

I’m sorry. I wish I could undo it.

Um...

but I can’t.

♪ I know there would not be ♪

♪ This cloud That’s over me ♪

♪ Everywhere I go ♪

WOMAN: They see each other in the past.

They see each other years ago, when they first met.

They can recreate that first meeting,

where she was beautiful and he was amazing.

This wonderful year.

Only she and Burt can live in the past together.

[ELVIS PRESLEY’S "BURNING LOVE" PLAYING]

♪ Lord almighty I feel my temperature rising ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ Higher and higher, it’s Burning through to my soul ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ Girl, girl, girl, girl You gonna set me on fire ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ My brain is flaming I don’t know which way to go ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Your kisses lift me higher ♪

♪ Like the sweet song Of a choir ♪

♪ You light my morning sky ♪

♪ With burning love ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, I feel my temperature rising ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Help me, I’m flaming I must be 109 ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ Burning, burning, burning And nothing can cool me ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ I just might turn into smoke But I feel fine ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ ’Cause your kisses Lift me higher ♪

♪ Like the sweet song Of a choir ♪

♪ And you light My morning sky ♪

♪ With burning love ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ It’s coming closer ♪

♪ The flames are now licking My body ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Won’t you help me? I feel like I’m slipping away ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ It’s hard to breath My chest is a-heaving ♪

♪ Mm, mm ♪

♪ Lord have mercy, I’m burning A hole where I lay ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Your kisses lift me higher ♪

♪ Like the sweet song Of a choir ♪

♪ You light my morning sky ♪

♪ With burning love ♪

♪ With burning love ♪

♪ Burning love ♪

♪ I’m just a hunk, a hunk Of burning love ♪

♪ Ahh ♪

♪ Just a hunk, a hunk Of burning love ♪

♪ Ahh ♪

♪ Hunk, a hunk Of burning love ♪

♪ Ahh ♪

♪ A hunk, a hunk Of burning love ♪

♪ Ahh ♪

♪ A hunk, a hunk Of burning love ♪

♪ Ahh ♪

♪ Just a hunk, a hunk Of burning love ♪

♪ Ahh ♪

♪ Just a hunk, a hunk Of burning love ♪

♪ Ah, ah ♪

♪ I’m just a hunk, a hunk Of burning love ♪

♪ Ahh ♪

♪ Just a hunk, a hunk Of burning love ♪