Original subtitles

The ranking business in the United States is government.

It makes and spends more money than any other enterprise, legal or illegal.

And where that kind of wealth is involved,

you'll find the corruptors reaching for their cut. They know what's at stake.

And when a crusading young man campaigns on a platform

devoted to ridding the government of such thieves,

he's one of three things.

A fool, a liar, or an idealist.

My reason for spending the last two weeks of June in this

New England city was to find out which one he was,

and to report my findings to the readers of my

syndicated column entitled The Corruptors.

It was also a chance to renew an acquaintance with ex-Governor Hayes,

who had given his son strong support in getting him elected district attorney.

Some of the party supporters attending the victory celebration bothered me.

They were the old line guard, hardened politicians.

Who didn't go with the image of this knight on

horseback and his clean house reform ticket?

My son, and our new District Attorney of Somerville, Michael Francis Hayes. Well,

we did it. We knew what the people wanted, and we gave it to them.

We did it.

As the skipper was trying to tell you, and I'm sure he would have, we did it.

In spite of all the pollsters,

and in spite of all the wiseacres and the smart money,

I was elected district attorney of this city.

So we know what the people want.

They want to be rid of municipal corruption.

They want to kick the cheaters out of City Hall.

And we won our election because they believed me

when I said I would flush out the cheats and

the privileged givers and privileged seekers

and the leeches who feed but do not serve.

As of this moment, Party loyalty goes out the window.

No man can expect immunity from investigation

just because he belongs to the right party.

Now, the honeymoon is over.

And at 10 o'clock Monday morning on the 16th of July,

the district attorney's office will be open for business.

And the first order of business...

It's to clean our own house, because in our own house I can see the dirt.

And as I promised the voters, I'm starting here and now.

I'm starting with the biggest and the dirtiest.

I'm starting with them.

I think you'd better hop a train and get up here.

My old friend Mike Hayes has promised to kick

Shannon and his party boys out of City Hall. You're kidding.

No, I'm not kidding.

And I think we'd better be around to see what happens after that meeting tonight.

Well, I look so depressed.

You've been in politics too many years to pay any attention to speeches.

I didn't like the way he was talking about dirt, Harry.

I hate dirt.

I've been a commissioner of one department or other in this city for 20 years.

Well, with our help, you'll be a commissioner for 20 more years,

and you'll get richer and richer each year.

It ain't your help I'm worried about. It's that baby tiger, Mike Hayes.

He's just like his old man. Maybe even worse.

Well, here's to good government.

Well, government anyway.

Harry.

I've got a $40 million contract with the city.

If he starts in on me... I wouldn't lose any sleep about it, Chuck.

Mike Hayes may have won this election,

but he can't keep on winning without the party. And we are the party.

Suppose he doesn't know about it.

Then his papa will have to tell him.

You don't think young Michael makes any decision without asking his father first,

do you? Well, whose idea was it to start cleaning up with us?

We helped put him there.

Before he goes any further, somebody better reach that boy.

Fell, Stu Hayes is no one's fool.

He knows he's got a hot shot in young Michael. When you've got a hot shot,

you enter him in the big races.

When a man thinks he's bigger than the party, he has to be chopped down.

Stu Hayes knows that if he wants to see his son sitting

in the state capital within the next three years,

he's got to make a deal with us. Yeah, that tiger

doesn't chew up half of us first. Oh, just wait.

Ah, Chuck, why don't you go home?

You've been scared for 35 years. Go home, get some rest.

Yeah, maybe you're right.

Imagine me going home before daylight on an election night,

first time in nearly 20 years. Chuck.

I'll take a lift from you.

Might as well you take everything else, Commissioner.

Harry, it's all right to reassure them that there's

no point in you and me kidding ourselves.

This kid's got a lot more on the ball than we thought he had.

Just what does Stu Hayes want?

My head, for one thing.

You know, he's never forgiven me for what happened

at the convention eight years ago.

He couldn't have won then. He doesn't think so.

When you cheat a man out of a chance to be president of the United States,

he's never quite sure but that he could have won it.

He's going to want control of the Seneca Club.

Give it to him then.

You guaranteed me that this election wouldn't disturb my status quo.

I don't have to tell you how much money that means to us.

He's gonna want more than that.

When you raise a tiger, you have to feed him on raw meat.

Okay, then you can feed his tiger, Phil Constantine,

and Chuck Hare. He might even want you.

Well, we draw the line right there, Harry.

We'll draw the line when I see it has to be drawn.

And just you remember, this is something that cannot be bought with money.

Never underestimate the power of money, Harry.

It makes the world spin round. Yeah, maybe it does.

But it doesn't mean anything to tigers.

Congratulations, Mr. White.

Come on, let's give it to old Seneca Club.

Roar!

Listen, I'd like to make an announcement here and now

that I couldn't have made it without the skipper. Did you win, Daddy?

He sure did, honey.

And why did Daddy win?

Because he listens to you, Grandpa.

You're a smart boy and a smart girl.

All right, children, now you've seen Daddy. Time for bed.

You're training the next generation, to mind you, Governor. Well,

that's the way I raised Michael here, to listen to Daddy. And it paid off,

didn't it? It certainly did, Skipper.

Why shouldn't he listen? Haven't I spent a lifetime in politics?

Oh, fine. Here, let's drink a toast.

A toast to good government. Excuse me, sir.

Mr. Wilson wishes to see you. He's in the library.

Thank you, Don. Yes, sir.

Excuse us, please.

Doug Wilson is here.

Didn't I tell you they'd come swimming upstream right into our hands?

I don't think we should see him.

You haven't taken your oath of office yet. You can talk to him.

I don't think it's a good idea, Skip.

People might get the idea we owe him something. Now, don't be so prissy, Michael.

You sound like your mother.

People have seen Doug Wilson around here before without getting any wrong ideas.

When I told him off tonight, I meant it. Of course you meant it.

The man's here to parley a little. Give him a hearing.

Sorry to break in on your victory dinner this way, Mike. Governor,

may I add my congratulations?

As you know, I have clients who do business with city and state departments.

That's my job to smooth the way.

Yes, I know how you smooth the way. By bribing elected officials.

I consider those activities criminal, and I'm going to prove it.

You aren't giving me a chance, Michael.

Governor, I want to help you take the Seneca Club away from Harry Shannon.

In exchange for what?

Some assurances.

Oh, Doug, that's very generous of you.

You wouldn't be able to be much help in that matter if you should go to prison.

Governor, you'd better explain the political facts of life to your baby tiger here.

Which facts are you referring to, Mr. Wilson?

That there's a limit to how far an independent candidate can go. At the moment,

I'm only interested in the district attorney's office.

What you're interested in doesn't count.

It's what the governor here wants that matters.

And for what he wants, he needs party support.

You want Harry Shannon out of the party leadership, right, Governor?

Well.

I'm ready to help you.

We want no help from you.

What do you say, Governor?

You heard the district attorney.

All right.

But remember, I was ready to make a deal.

Good night.

You can always reach me if you change your minds.

He carries a lot of cards in his hands, Michael.

He swings weight in the party organization upstate.

That won't give him immunity from prosecution.

He's a thief.

Yes, he is.

But certainly not as bad as old Commissioner Constantine

and his partner, Chuck Hare.

I'm going after them first. And so you should.

That old crook Constantine was just starting his petty larceny

in City Hall when I came into the DA's office as a young man.

Why couldn't you stop him?

You know, Michael, we haven't drunk a toast to your victory.

Fix us a drink.

Come on, come on, Skip. Now, why couldn't you stop?

In those days, I was considered that insufferable rich kid from uptown.

I had made up my mind to turn the party upside

down and kick out the thieves and the hacks.

Why didn't you?

Because I was ambitious and green as new wood.

And what I learned after a great deal of pain was that

you didn't have to be a crook to be a politician.

But to be a politician, you had to deal with them.

I don't believe that.

There'd be no bribe-taking in government if there were

no so-called honest citizens to offer the bribes.

Remember that.

Well, you have nothing to be ashamed of in

your career, Skip. You never took a dollar.

But saw plenty of others who did.

And put them in jail. And put them in jail.

Remember, Michael, I never needed to take a dollar. I was a rich man's son.

Public service is underpaid and largely unrewarded.

And considering the temptations,

the wonder is not that there are so many crooked politicians,

but the fact that there are so few.

Here's to the good ones.

Michael.

Your success.

We finally made it.

Well, let's get back to the party.

In at least one respect, the new DA lived up to his campaign promises.

On a Monday morning in July, following the swearing-in ceremonies,

he started to clean house.

And where once the old guard might have been reaching

into the barrel for their political plums,

this time things were reversed.

Young Hayes was reaching into the barrel to throw out the rotten apples,

and his office was bustling with activity.

Congratulations, Mike. Thanks.

You're a half hour late. Where were you?

A tough morning and a tough judge.

A rumor has it that you're going to the grand jury

to get an indictment against that old crook,

the not-so-honorable Philip Julian Constantine.

Well, I'm starting with him, and then running right on down the list.

What list? Come on with me.

Listen, Bob, you've been popping off for years. Close the door, will you?

You've been popping off at women's clubs and civic association shindigs

for years now about the corrupt politicians running this city.

Are you willing to do something about it,

or are you strictly out for those chicken-out-of-king dinners?

What do you have in mind, Mike?

An appointment?

That's quite a list you got. Mm-hmm.

Now, what was that about an appointment?

As a special assistant district attorney, you'll be underpaid, overworked,

insulted, abused, and otherwise put upon.

But you can put a sticker on your jalopy and park

in the reserve spot in front of City Hall.

And you can finally do something about everything you've hated

and yapped about ever since you got your law degree.

I like the light in your eyes.

A bit fanatic, perhaps, but what do I do?

You're going to get me documentation and witnesses

for an indictment against Douglas Hayward Wilson.

You'll be working alone on this.

I want you to keep this assignment strictly to yourself.

Mike, I talk in my sleep. You know, Helen's gotta know.

All right, Helen's gotta know, but nobody else.

What do you know about Wilson?

I know his function.

He's a bag man.

Contractors, businessmen, manufacturers, vendors,

suppliers of all sorts give him money, generally in cash.

And aside from his usual fee, he distributes the money where it'll do the most harm.

I believe he's a dedicated,

ruthless corrupter of public officials with a bottomless money bank.

The reason I want you to keep it quiet is that

he's easily the most slippery of the bunch,

and potentially the most dangerous.

A man who knows where to buy anything he needs knows

where to buy violence, if he needs that too.

Well, bring out the Bible and swear me in.

And I promise to defend motherhood, the mayor, the law, and put Wilson in jail.

I do.

You are the project supervisor for the Bureau

of Public Works, are you not, Mr. Healy?

Yes, sir.

Do you recognize these papers, Mr. Healy?

Yes, sir, I do.

Records of people who worked on city projects.

The names, the addresses, the social security numbers,

and the hours worked by each employee?

Yes, sir, but they're not city employees. No, they're not.

They're employees of private contractors.

Laborers, truck drivers, helpers, and so on.

Is that your signature on the bottom of each sheet?

Yes, sir.

Mr. Healy, are you aware that my staff has

carefully checked each one of those sheets?

And that there are 130 names in those sheets of men who do not exist?

I wouldn't know about that.

I repeat, Mr. Healy, 130 men who do not exist.

My staff and the police have tried to find them.

They're not simply gone.

They do not exist.

Their addresses are fake, their names are fake,

their social security numbers are fake. They do not exist.

I can't keep track of every drifter who does a day's work on a city project.

Your project supervisor, Mr. Healy,

tells me that he can't keep track of them either, Mr. Constantine.

Why ask me?

Who should we ask?

Ask Mr. Hare.

I don't know where they are.

My firm employs 20,000 laborers a day. You can't expect me to keep track of them.

But you keep track of them carefully enough to pay them, don't you, Mr. Hare?

Oh, sure, they get paid.

Do they get paid in cash?

Oh, yes, sir, generally. They like cash.

A day laborer gets, what, $15 to $18 a day, doesn't he? Oh, yeah, union wages.

And 130 day laborers would get paid about $2,000 a day. About.

And in a five-day work week, about $10,000.

And in a work year of 50 weeks, about a half million dollars.

Yeah, about that.

Well, that's a lot of cash, Mr. Hare.

A half million dollars a year of the taxpayer's money goes out

into the hands and pockets of 130 men who don't have names

or homes or families or friends or enemies or creditors or

anything to mark the fact that they lived on this earth.

Well, the way you put it, it does sound funny.

It doesn't sound funny, Mr. Hare.

It simply sounds crooked.

Hi, Jack.

Have something?

No, no thanks.

I take it that's the hotshot DA over there that

I've been reading about in your column.

Well, it sure is. What did you find out about him?

He's clean all the way through, made no deals with anyone.

Glad?

Sure, I'm glad, but that's what worries me.

It means he's raw.

When a kid's that clean, he's ripe for anything the old pros have in mind for him.

Won't he listen to you? That's just the trouble.

He's one of those rare commodities that doesn't

want to believe in a political machine.

When they find out one of the wheels isn't turning,

they'll get out the axes and go to work on it.

To break the machine? No.

To break his heart, maybe.

That's why you're going to hang around here. Well,

you don't want a detective. You need a watchdog.

I can't think of anybody who barks better than you do, Jay.

Hey, don't keep knocking Bob. He's doing an awful lot on this job.

It's nice work, Mike.

Constantine makes one man down, only three to go.

Well, thanks for the plug in your column, Paul.

I don't believe you know Mr. and Mrs. Larch, my wife Carol.

We saw each other during the campaign.

And I'm glad my husband cured you of your cynicism.

Not completely.

I'm waiting to see what he does about that list.

What list?

Oh, the list that they're gonna... I shouldn't have said that.

No, dear, you shouldn't have.

If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go to the ladies'

room and see if I can do something with my place.

I suggest covering it. Just ask the attendant for some sackcloth. Come on.

Paul?

Is this really that secret? I don't know what the hell she's talking about.

And anyway, you'll get all the names as the grand jury indicts them.

You know you'll be cutting your throat at the party if you go too deep.

I wasn't elected head of the party, just DA.

If you don't want it to be the last job you ever hold.

I'm too young to worry about the last job I'll ever hold.

Mike, you're an honest guy. I don't want you to get hurt.

But these boys you're dealing with aren't exactly amateurs.

They know all the angles.

That's why I'm worried about how they may get to you.

Don't worry, Paul.

They won't get to me.

Well, have a nice dinner. Thanks.

The indictment of Commissioner Constantine brought special panic to the

members of the Seneca Club employed in the Bureau of Public Works.

And by Friday evening, Shannon had called a hurried meeting of the party leaders.

There you are, Harry. Now, Peter, stop worrying,

huh? How are we doing? It's me, man.

Come on, wait, wait, wait.

We're getting nowhere like that.

What are you scared of?

Wait. I know, I know. Phil Constantine's going to court. Well,

Phil knows what the score is.

Phil's ready to take the rap.

Don't you realize that we have protection here?

Don't you know that we have this organization

that took us a good many years to develop?

Now, Mike has nothing but amateurs, and in politics,

amateurs die away like morning glories.

Hayes hopes to see his son in the governor's house in a few years,

and he knows that he'll need this organization to get him there.

Now, it stands to reason that a man doesn't kill the thing he needs. Yeah,

but this young DA's a wild man. Ah, no, he may be wild, but he's not crazy.

Look, a club like this political club didn't grow overnight.

It took years to make it. Why,

I was a member of the Seneca Club when I was 14 years old.

I've given my whole life to it.

I don't even have a wife. I don't have any children. I don't even have a hobby.

All I've got in this world is you fellas here.

And the mighty ugly, hairy-looking punch you are at that.

But if you're going to act like a lot of scared

washwomen throwing your aprons over your head,

the first sign of trouble, you'll be of no use to yourselves or anybody else.

Every reformed DA has got to get it out of his system.

Now Mike is getting it out of his system.

And as soon as he stops breathing fire so I can

get close enough to him and not get toasted,

we'll talk, we'll make a deal, and then it'll be business the same as usual.

No DA ever bothers with little crooks when he can get a chance at the big ones.

So you go on out there and you tell those little

crooks to take it easy and tell any of them that

are worried about their job that no man ever suffered

because he was a member of the Seneca Club. Now, good luck.

Mr. Shannon, sir.

Show him in. Yes, sir.

Sit down, Harry. Make yourself comfortable.

It's a long time since you've been here, Harry, isn't it?

Too long, Governor.

Yes, I've regretted that myself, Harry.

Governor, your boy has me over a barrel.

Brilliant boy, Michael, brilliant.

Yes. It's a shame he has no political future.

He's done all right.

Up to now he has, but he's gone about as far as he

can without major party support, and you know it.

And you're here to offer that, Harry, aren't you?

I am.

I was betting myself just how long it would

be before you walk through that door, Harry.

Well, let's say you've won your bet. Now,

suppose we put our cards face up on the table.

I don't care what happens to Phil Constantine.

You can hang him in front of the city hall if you wish.

I don't care about any of them.

But I've got nearly 3,000 people on the city payroll whom I'm worried about.

The party faithful.

Yes, the faithful.

Without them, you'd have no professional political organization.

If you want your boy in the governor's mansion,

you'll have to find statewide support.

And I'm ready to get it for him.

I'll submit your name as city leader.

At what price?

I remain the head of the Seneca Club, and I'll be your second man.

That's agreeable.

What else?

Get your boy to cut off the investigation just beneath Constantine. Now,

if he digs any deeper, it'll cut off the pay of every

precinct captain and political worker that I have.

And once they're in jail or even out of a job, they're useless to me.

That, too, can be arranged.

What else?

I'd like to save Doug Wilson.

Not really.

You know he's been here trying to sell you short.

That's typical of him.

But he's a bad enemy to make, Governor.

And we'll want him when your boy goes after the nomination for governor.

He swings a lot of weight upstate, and that's where we'll need him.

Yes, I suppose we will.

But I am not after the governorship, Harry.

We want the presidency.

We want the presidency of the United States of America.

That's what I really want.

Well, it could be done, Governor.

Don't stop me this time.

I won't stop your boy when he runs for it. I think he could win it,

if we both live long enough.

I don't know about you, but I fully intend to live long enough.

Corruption in government is one of the most difficult mazes to uncover.

It's not just a few men in on the take,

but an intricate network of small grafters stooging for the bigger ones.

That's why the little ones were ready to testify

against the top guns, to save their own hides.

The panic button had been pushed,

and the big and the little were all scrambling to cop a plea.

Looks like a dam broke, Mike. What happened?

Don't ask me. It all started at 8 o'clock this morning.

We'd been scratching for witnesses for weeks without luck, and all of a sudden,

all of a sudden, all these showed up.

Was all that any good?

Well, listen.

Sure I did. Lots of times.

Can you give me one particular time Commissioner Constantine

told you to pass inferior work?

They were building retaining walls for the bridge approach on Highland Avenue.

I saw the cement mix was running thin.

I told the foreman to keep his mix thicker.

He said he would.

I checked a week later.

Wasn't any better. Did you report that? The commissioner himself came down one day,

and I said to him, Commissioner, these guys are cheating on the cement mix.

And what did he say to that? He said, And I

remember his exact words. Pack your rage.

Go get yourself a beer and stop sweating about it.

All of them like that?

We didn't have anything compared to this when I went before the grand jury.

A lot of documentary evidence, but no real witnesses.

Why do they all come out?

Maybe they want to keep their jobs. Maybe they trust me.

Or maybe Harry Sharon sent them.

Could be. But whatever the reason, Constantine is finished, and so is Chuck Hare.

How about the others on your list?

We're working on them.

Mike, I'm going to ask you a tough question.

Constantine wasn't alone in this. A lot of other

people had to be in on the take. What about them?

And I do include a lot of your witnesses.

We haven't made any promises to anyone.

Testifying against Constantine doesn't buy them immunity.

Have you told them that?

In every case.

Well.

A lot of public-spirited citizens around.

Times sure have changed.

What do you expect me to do? Help me, that's what I expect you to do.

There was a time when you'd have found a way to

keep a kid like this from pulling me under.

That was another time before I made this deal with the governor.

You expect me to take the rap?

You take the rap if that kid nails you. He mustn't nail me, Harry.

Nobody's going to nail me.

A fired round of a young lawyer gets himself elected district

attorney in the teeth of his own party's resistance.

After his election, the very first thing he does is turn in his own supporters.

Now, in turning on those supporters,

he suddenly is offered help from the very man

he's trying hardest to nail to the wall.

What's wrong with that picture?

Something's missing. Or someone.

Like ex-governor Stuyvesant Hayes.

He's the one who got his son elected. And Shannon's

worst enemy. Political enemy, there's a difference.

Political enemies can become political friends when their stakes are high enough.

I don't know so much about politics, but I do know they're run by deals.

Maybe Mike Hayes made a deal with Shannon.

I hate to believe that about Mike Hayes.

I don't know.

I think he's an honest man.

How about his father?

Now you're talking about another horse race.

You know, I, uh... I wonder what Stuyvesant Hayes is really interested in.

Who he's talking to.

You got a job on your hands, Jack.

I have an idea he's going to supply us with something interesting.

Eureka!

That's it.

Hey, look here, young fellow. I left your work in here way past closing time.

You got to keep it quiet. You're done with that? I'm all through with this one.

No smoking in here.

These incorporation records aren't complete. Sure they are.

Aren't they supposed to show the names and addresses

of every officer of the corporation? They do.

Not this one.

The Spring Rock Country Club, incorporated June 1950.

President and Vice President Philip Julian Constantine and Charles Evans Hare.

But no secretary's showing, no other officers,

and no disposition of controlling shares.

Well, that's funny.

That don't look right. Sure doesn't. Hey,

nobody's allowed to take any pictures of city records.

Your five bucks don't buy that.

Pop, I'm a special assistant district attorney.

And this is a mighty important page in this book.

Nobody told me anything. No special authority.

You'll be told.

Meantime, you better keep this on a lock and

key until I can get a court subpoena for it.

Where's your real estate files?

Over there. Relax, Puff.

I'll be around for a while.

Hello?

Can I speak to Mr. Shannon, please?

I don't think I understand, Harry.

Just what was it that you found out?

Someone from Mike's staff had been nosing around the Hall of Records.

The incorporation papers for the Spring Rock Country Club. Oh,

yes, I remember that now.

Well, Harry, you see how the chickens come home to roost.

I never thought they'd go that far back.

I told you ten years ago that was a bad business.

As far as I'm concerned, that kills Doug Wilson.

I don't care how much weight he swings upstate.

I'd better tell him, hadn't I, Governor?

I don't care what you do, Harry,

but make it clear that if this whole Spring Rock business comes out,

then we're washed up with him. Yeah, right. I understand.

Mr. Larch?

Oh, hello, Wilson.

I see you've been busy. Yeah.

Great place, the Hall of Records.

Full of very interesting information, if you can dig it out.

There's no sense playing cat and mouse with me, boy.

You can hurt me. You can hurt me bad.

I want you to forget what you've dug up here.

Will you do that, son? What's that supposed to do?

Soften me up, make me feel kindly disposed, you call me son?

I suppose so.

I'm begging you, boy.

Try throwing yourself on the jury for mercy.

They're the ones whose pockets you've been rifling.

You want to play ball?

Not your kind, Wilson.

You break windows and run.

It's time you stood your ground and paid the damages.

Mr. Larch?

Yeah?

We've had a complaint that you've been photographing city records.

Look, I'm a special assistant district attorney. May we have the camera, please?

All right, but look, I'm a special assistant district attorney.

You'll have a chance to explain that when we get down to the office.

You'll get a chance to do that, Mr. Lodge, when we get down to the office.

Hello, Carl. Mike Hayes. Have you heard from him?

I don't understand that.

Well, try his apartment.

Try it again. He should have reported in by now.

Something very strange about that. About what?

Nothing.

A gentleman to see you, Mr. Harold Shannon.

Tell him I don't want to see him. That's very unfriendly of you, Michael.

Ask him to come in, please.

Yes, sir.

He won't bite you.

Would you please go in, sir?

Good evening, Governor.

Michael. All right, Shannon, what is it you want?

Well, you're a young man in a hurry, aren't you, Michael?

I've come here to ask you what you're going to do.

About what?

About the political organization that's going to elect you governor.

You've won, Michael. What Harry means is that the party

is ready to name you as its gubernatorial candidate.

I just talked to Maury Ames upstate.

He says that he'll get behind you.

Well, that's very interesting, Mr. Shannon.

Of course, you'll have to step down.

Yes, I'm prepared to give up control.

Those witnesses you've sent me. They don't all deserve to be in jail, Michael.

You know yourself that a man gets along as best he can.

If the top of a city department is rotten, the little fellow at the bottom, well,

he sees nothing wrong in cutting himself in for a bit of the take.

You can always ask for their resignations.

However, in some cases... Michael,

there comes a time in a politician's life when

he must make up his mind as to whether

he's going to be a rigid moralist or he's going on to do bigger and better things.

The people who do the dirty work in the precincts, the electioneering,

the canvassing, the phoning of voters, the ringing of doorbells.

They're small people, but they're absolutely necessary.

We had party workers, Skip.

Party workers who weren't bribed with jobs,

whose record of municipal employment wasn't phony.

They're your political amateurs.

They're wonderful when you're winning, but they fade away in the stretch.

Think what you like about Harry Shannon.

But he's not a fool when it comes to politics. I know he's right, Michael.

Are you willing to accept this?

I know we must accept it.

Because these are the political facts of life.

I'm willing to work with Harry Shannon because I know with him,

you can go as far and as high as your abilities can let you go.

But ability alone never did anything for a man in politics.

Yes?

Mike, we just found Bob Larch.

Where?

The bottom of an elevator shaft.

All right.

All right.

Yes.

Right away.

Now, let's get back to the subject.

You're no kid, Michael. You know that.

No, I'm not a kid.

Then finish the work you've started, but leave Doug Wilson for another DA.

I see.

That's part of the price for the governor's mansion.

Don't be sarcastic, Michael.

You were ready to use him to become district attorney.

Now he can be useful in making you governor.

I think that's a small enough price to pay.

And what about Robert Larch? What about the price he paid?

Who's Robert Larch?

The man I had investigating Doug Wilson.

They just pulled his body out of an elevator shaft.

How do you think his wife feels about the governorship?

How'd you make out? Got something I want you to hear.

I don't think I understand, Harry.

Just what was it that you found out?

Someone from Mike's staff had been nosing around the Hall of Records.

The incorporation papers for the Spring Rock Country Club. Oh,

yes, I remember that now.

I can tell you one thing, that Robert Lawrence died in the line of duty.

Do you believe it was murder, Mr. Hayes?

Yes, Mr. Marino, I do. I believe he was murdered because he uncovered

some evidence in the whole network of corruption of this city.

Are you accusing someone of the previous administration?

I'm accusing everybody.

I am accusing every citizen of this city, and of this state,

and even of this country who ever shrugged their

shoulders over accounts of municipal corruption.

I accuse every speeder who ever tried to bribe a police officer,

every businessman who ever kicked back part of his

earnings to inspectors or grafters or worse.

Every voter who failed to go to the polls,

every American who was either too lazy or too indifferent

to care about corruption in public life,

they're all individually and collectively guilty of the death of Robert Larch.

I hope it disturbs their sleep tonight and every night for a long time to come.

No statements, Paul, not tonight. I'm tired of talking.

I just want you to listen, Mike. That's why I'm here, okay?

What is it?

A telephone conversation my assistant recorded.

I want you to hear it.

Then I want to hear you reaffirm those statements you made this afternoon.

I want to see if you still can.

Well, Harry, you see how the chickens come home to roost.

I never thought they'd go that far back.

I told you ten years ago that was a bad business.

As far as I'm concerned, that kills Doug Wilson.

I don't care how much weight he swings upstate.

Well, better tell him, hadn't I, Governor?

I don't care what you do, Harry,

but make it clear that if this whole Spring Rock business comes out,

then we're washed up with him. Yeah, right. I understand.

No need to hear more. I know what I said.

You dig this up, Paul?

My assistant.

It figures.

You would admit this?

Boy, when the chips are down, don't ever try to squirm. No matter what you've done.

If you squirm, it makes you look twice as bad.

I'd like to ask a favor, Paul. I'd like to speak to my son in private. Well,

of course. I have some phone calls.

I'd like you to meet me at our office.

Well?

You want to know what the Spring Rock Country Club was?

It was a scheme to make a few men rich.

In 1948, the state embarked on an ambitious road building plan.

A group of men bought land after they got advanced looks at maps of the throughways.

In 1950, that land was amalgamated into the joint

property of the Spring Rock Country Club.

It was largely owned by Doug Wilson and his clients.

And you knew all this?

Yes, Michael.

I knew about it.

But you were the governor of this state, and you said nothing about it?

I wanted the nomination to the presidency.

Doug Wilson could have killed my chances.

How much is a man willing to pay for power?

Everything he must if he wants it badly enough, as I wanted it,

and as I suspect you want it.

You killed Bob Larch.

Perhaps I did, Michael.

If you want to draw the long line of responsibility, I'm in the line.

Along with speeders trying to fix tickets,

and contractors who kick back to inspectors,

and the non-voters who helped Harry Shannon elect his political hacks.

No one ever went into life and stayed clean, Michael.

Life tarnishes you, it must.

The only things it can't tarnish are the things

which remain behind glass in a vacuum.

If you want to be pure as a driven snow,

then resign yourself to disappearing as fast.

I don't believe that.

I don't believe that everybody is tarnished, that everyone can be bought.

And what happens if you're wrong?

Then I'd get out.

Sure you would.

You always were ready to give in.

Ever since you were a child, I tried to instill some fighting spirit in you.

I thought you had it.

But when the nerve is down to the bone, you don't have it, you quit.

Then what's your answer? Get me to swallow deals, to swallow murder,

to swallow everything just to get ahead?

I don't care what you swallow or what you want.

Now on, you do as you're told.

A deal has been made to make you governor of this state.

Part of that deal was to let Doug Wilson off the hook.

You believe he was responsible for the death of Bob Larch. Well,

that's just too bad for you, because the deal stands.

If the police can find evidence to pin the murder on Doug Wilson,

then prosecute him. Put him in the chair. If they can't?

Drop the matter.

If you think I'll swallow that deal, you're crazy.

You're being told now.

I mean you to be in the governor's mansion, and I mean to go to the White House.

And you're going to get me there.

I'll see you in jail first.

No, you won't, because you haven't the courage for it.

Come on, Michael.

You take orders or you get out.

From this moment on, no one is interested in what you think,

whether you stay or quit.

Excuse me, Charlie. I'll call you back.

Well, Paul.

You got in your licks, didn't you?

I was just doing my job.

No, you weren't, Paul.

If you don't know it, wiretapping is illegal.

And the district attorney is confiscating that tape.

If I were you, I wouldn't make any reference to it in the story,

unless you can back it up.

We have such a thing as libel.

Yes, I know.

You would know the law, Governor.

Mike, I want my tape back.

I'm resigning, Pa.

I'll turn over your tape and what other information

I have to the DA who replaces me.

You're quitting, huh?

Good night, Paul.

And you said they couldn't get to you.

Listen, Paul, he's my father.

I'm not saying he shouldn't be prosecuted,

but it doesn't have to be me who does it. Who's going to do it?

Some pawn of Shannon's that he shoves into office?

Some joker who'll take orders from the machine from now on in?

Some man who can be impartial.

No man can be impartial.

You either fight corruption or you allow it. There's no in between.

Now, your father's being in the picture makes it rough, I know,

but it doesn't change the picture. You still have your obligations to the people,

and you can't let the Shannons and the Hares and

the rest of them run roughshod over this city.

Right now, you're the only man who can stop them.

Listen, Paul, he's my father. Well,

nobody told him how to act while he was in office.

He's the man who made the deal with Shannon,

who stood aside while thieves ran his state. He

made his own choice. Well, now it's your choice.

Sometimes I wonder which is worse,

the man who does wrong or the man who does nothing.

Good evening, Johns.

These gentlemen have been waiting for you, sir.

Good evening, sir. Good evening. My name is Otter Sands.

I'm from the district attorney's office.

This is Inspector Wheeler, police department. Oh, yes, I know Ed Wheeler.

How are you, Ed? I'm sorry about this, Governor.

Sorry? About what?

Sir, the inspector has a warrant for your arrest.

Arrest?

On what charge?

For attempting to bribe an elected official.

Which elected official?

This elected official.

We will also go into other matters for which you may have been responsible.

I am sorry about this, Governor.

See you in court, Mr. D.A.

A famous political boss now dead once said,

it isn't the voters who keep me in power, but the people who don't vote.

But the corruption starts earlier, because no matter who gets into office,

the same greedy fingers reach out to pull the strings.

And it's only the appearance of a Mike Hayes every once in a

while who cuts those strings that helps balance the scale.

It isn't just enough to put them into office.

We must see to it that they follow through on their promises no matter what the

cost might be if we're to keep this government of the people and for the people.