Original subtitles

All this is controlled by one man,

a multimillion-dollar industrial empire reaching halfway around the globe,

a smoking, sprawling monument to the single-minded genius of Jonathan Amber.

His success is due largely to an industrial espionage

organization to which nothing is sacred.

Business deals, personal involvements, industrial plans, new designs, sealed bids.

All these are targets for Jonathan Amber.

Jonathan Amber, a species of shark.

Who knows every reef and shoal on which a business can founder and can pick

the precise moment to move in on the survivors and strip them to the bone.

Amber, the wrecker, who grows fat on the misfortunes of others.

Are you telling him he's through?

As of now?

No, no, no, no, I gotta protect my business.

All right, Max, bring me up to date.

Penel's dead.

Coronary.

When?

Three hours ago.

Give his widow another 12 hours,

then get one of our men out there before she talks to her lawyers.

I want all the Penel Company stock she's got.

Anything else? Did you let your daughter know you were coming home?

No, I tried to call her before we took off from Hamburg. I couldn't reach her.

She was out of town and just got back. Where out of town?

Are you sure you didn't get a cable from her?

No.

Why? What's going on, Max?

She's married.

Who? Harvey Warner.

Why don't you stop him? I tried to stop him. He sneaked off to Nevada.

By the time I got there, it was too late.

Where are they now? Your house.

It's a party.

I'm coming to the party, too, Mr. Harvey Warner.

That was Ken. He's been trying to reach us for half an hour.

Is my father back?

He'll be here any minute. Max Nordman is playing.

Oh, baby, don't look like that. He can't hurt us.

Harvey, would you ask them to leave?

Well, they might as well get used to it, Ann.

Please. Okay.

It's time, boys and girls.

Break up. Pub's closing.

Look, I'm very sorry, but...

The truth is we just had a red alert from the airport,

and my newly appointed daddy-in-law flew in unannounced.

And he's going to be here any minute now, so since we don't have a fallout shelter,

I'll have to insist that you all evacuate, women and children first.

Never miss a chance for bride kissing.

Well, if you can do it.

See what I'm stuck with now that you're out of circulation?

Come on.

Take it easy, Stan.

Hey.

She's very pretty.

You've known her long?

Gee, I can't remember.

There were never so many young people in the house.

I hate to see them go.

We'll have a lot of parties, Mother. You can come to all of them.

Why are they all leaving? Oh.

Is he back?

Don't worry, Mrs. Amber. We'll all survive the explosion.

I told you to stay away from her.

You told me she didn't.

You think you're going to get a hold of my money, is that what you think?

I've got what I want, Mr. Amber. You've got nothing.

You'll get nothing. Nothing but grief.

Stop it, please.

Why'd you sneak off behind my back? Why? Why?

Because you didn't give us any other way.

Come on, Ann. Let's get out of here.

Annie.

I never lost anything in my life and don't intend to start now!

While Jonathan Amber recovered from one unpleasant surprise,

I was preparing another for him.

I'd long wanted to do an expose on Amber's unsavory business practices.

Now I was en route to Amber's operations center to begin my investigations.

You have more stuff on Jonathan Amber?

Yeah, it makes pretty interesting reading.

His last few business deals all have the same ripe aroma about them.

He's been up before a couple of investigating committees, hasn't he?

Sure, but so far nobody's been able to prove a thing.

There's so much confusion when a big company goes in the rocks.

By the time the smoke clears, Amber's already moved in.

Nobody can prove for certain that he's done anything crooked.

I hear that his business espionage setup is as efficient as the Gestapo used to be.

I see you've been looking into Max Nord.

You ready to go to work for him?

Think he could teach me something? You?

No, but suppose your name were Ed Peterson.

We just got fired from Latham Industries.

Ben Latham willing to back that up? He'll do more than that.

He's contributing one of their processing secrets for bait.

Amber bought away one of their top engineering teams last year.

And now they want to get even.

What's your angle going to be? Amber's a wrecker.

He lives on the salvage from wrecked corporations.

He helps things along by getting them into trouble,

then jumps in and buys them up for a fraction of what they're worth.

You're taking on a big order.

Amber's big and rich and completely ruthless.

He covers himself with a pretty good legal smokescreen.

But if he thinks he's above public opinion, he's riding for a fall.

He's been asking for you, Mr. Nord. I'll tell him you're here.

I have a report ready this morning. Now, don't come back till it's done.

All right. Mr. Amber, Mr. Nord is here.

Send him in.

I have a couple of men working on his net worth, but most of it I can give you now.

It's kind of rough, so I'd better read it to you. Here we are.

Harvey Warner, only son of Paul and Estelle. Yeah, yeah.

Graduated Harvard Business School, commissioned Navy.

Skip all that and get to the point.

You know what I'm after. And is currently engaged

in work of a promotional nature. Here it is.

Personal habits and character.

Drinks socially in moderation enjoys the company of attractive women.

Careless with personal finances. Personality that of a born salesman,

gregarious and outgoing. Handsome and magnetic.

Lacking in specific knowledge and perseverance.

While somebody has had a number of promising opportunities,

he seems unable to capitalize on them because of inability

to back up salesmanship with comprehensive hard work.

The rest is credit rating stuff, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is all good. This is fine.

What else you working on now? Oh, Pinnell Construction.

Oh? We're going to have a problem out there.

The widow won't sell.

Does she want a bigger price? Just doesn't want to sell, period.

Understand, she's a real shrewd cookie. She was

16 when she married Pennell, about half his age.

Well, she was smart enough to make a good thing in the marriage,

and now she probably figures she's smart enough

to take over the business, run it herself.

Soft and sweet on the outside and a rock inside.

Sounds like Harvey Warner and the widow Pennell ought to make an ideal couple.

All right, tell everybody to keep away from her.

Let Pennell construction alone for now.

You get started on another part of this.

There's a new housing project planned out at Camp Adair.

Find out who's going to bid and how much.

Yep.

Sure. We're going to do a job on Mr. Harvey, Warner.

One for your scrapbook, Max.

I'll talk to you later.

Hello, Max.

What can I do for you, Mrs. Warner?

I didn't think I'd ever be able to talk to you again after last night.

All right, so I was rough.

But don't forget, you were pretty rough on me, too.

Look, I know you don't like Harvey,

and you never would have approved of the marriage, but now that it's done,

can't you at least try to understand?

How about you? Why don't you try a little understanding?

After all, who else have I got?

You have mother.

Ah, mother.

I have nothing.

I know I'm no bargain.

I'm not educated. I know people don't like me. I've learned to live with that.

But a man's got to have somebody.

Your mother? She's a coward.

She hides behind a curtain of brandy because she's weak.

Well, why do you have to put a label on everybody?

Put a stamp on them.

All right, maybe she is weak.

Does that mean I shouldn't love her?

What if Harvey isn't a tower of strength?

Does that really make any difference?

Really?

Please. I love you both.

Don't make me choose.

All right.

I'm not making any promises, but if he wants

to come around tonight, I'll talk to him.

Thank you.

My name's Peterson, Ed Peterson.

Oh, okay, now we got that settled, why don't you scrape yourself off my car?

I'm leaving. Well, you see, I think that we could do some business.

Look, I have an office, but I don't do business in parking lots.

I hear you do business anywhere.

Look, Mr. Nord, I'm an investigator, and a pretty good one.

I hear you run the best industrial intelligence department in the country.

I want to work for you.

You must be out of your mind.

You think I'd hire some joker right off the street?

I never saw you before in my life. Oh, look, I get lost. I got things to do.

Can you take a look at this first?

What's this?

Just what it looks like. Specifications for one of

Latham Industries' newest manufacturing processes.

Don't ask me how I got it.

Why don't you come around to see me in the morning?

At my office.

We'll talk.

Mr. Amber is waiting for you, Mr. Wardown.

Well, I guess the worst he can do is throw me out again.

Hello, darling.

I didn't know you were coming.

Does your father know you're here?

Harvey's in with him now.

Oh.

Well, be careful, Ann. Harvey's a very nice young man.

Want a drink?

There it is. Help yourself.

You're not having any.

My wife does all the drinking in this family.

Thanks, I'll pass.

What are you?

What do you do? I think you know pretty well what I do, Mr. Amber. A promoter.

Fancy name for a salesman, isn't that right?

I can keep your daughter in comfort if that's what bothers you.

That's not what bothers me.

What bothers me is you. I think you promoted my daughter.

You have a right to your opinion.

I think you had a couple of deals go sour. You're running short of cash.

I figure marrying Amber's daughter will give you a better credit rating.

Well, I guess we don't need to talk anymore, Mr. Amber.

Wait a minute.

You better get used to something. I don't pussyfoot. I say what I think.

Your feelings get hurt easy. You don't work for Jonathan Amber.

Aren't you getting a little confused, Mr. Amber? I

don't work for you, and I'm not going to.

Just so happens that I fell in love with Ann, and I married her.

Ann, Mr. Amber, not you.

My only concern with you is, do I love Ann enough to put up with you?

And it just so happens that I do.

One thing I'd like to know.

First time you met Ann, what'd you think? What do

you mean, what did I think? What did you think?

Did you think pretty girl?

Or did you think Amber's girl?

All right. As long as we're not pussy-putting,

of course I thought Amber's daughter until I got to know her. Now you know her,

now you're married, it's different now. That's right, it's different now.

And if I were to make you a very fine offer now, you wouldn't be listening.

You trying to buy me off? Is that what this is all about?

No.

No, I want to find out how good you are, Mr. Warner.

You got a nice, all-American face. You got clean fingernails. You got my daughter.

Now, I want to find out what else you've got.

You know, I think you want to find out, too. I said it last night.

I've got what I want.

You sure?

It never entered your head, who's Amber? Why is he any better than me?

You never thought to yourself, give me the breaks he's had, I could do it, too?

Maybe I'm not as concerned as you.

Think I am about being rich.

Not rich.

Good.

What do you mean by good, Mr. Amber?

Good.

Good enough to take hold of a sick company and kick it into shape.

Good enough to stand up to the biggest men in the country, the unions,

the stockholders, the government.

Fight them and whip them. Stay on top.

Seems to me you gotta find that out, mister,

or admit to what a lot of people are already saying.

That the only way you could make it was to promote Amber's daughter.

Let's throw you in and see if you swim or go belly up.

Let's see if you turn out to be a pretty good man or just Amber's son-in-law.

What's this? Pennell Construction.

I own a piece of it. Not the biggest piece,

but enough to put you up for vice president.

What makes you think that I need your help, Mr. Amber?

You don't want any favors?

Mr. Warno.

I wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire, except for Annie.

For Annie, I'll do anything in the world.

Let's understand something else.

I'm not offering you any gold-plated proposition.

I'm not even sure you'll get the job. I can

put you up for it, but I can't put you in.

Who can?

The majority stockholder, Mrs. Pinnell, you'll have to sell yourself to her,

and that isn't going to be any pushover.

And if you do get in, you'll still have to scramble.

Pinnell's going under.

The only thing that'll save him is government housing contracts. You get contracts,

you may make a go of it. What happens if I don't make a go of it, Mr. Amber?

Then a very small portion of my stock portfolio will drop a few points.

And we'll know you're not good enough.

Oh, we'll know it.

What's more, Annie will know it.

It's a shame you didn't bring your trunks.

The water's perfect.

Well, I didn't really expect to...

You didn't expect to find me frolicking in

the pool so soon after I buried my husband.

Is that what you were going to say?

You see, I am wearing black.

Water must be kind of cold. It's giving you a slight edge.

No, it's not the water. It's you.

This visit.

I find it very objectionable.

I'm not surprised.

Bad timing.

Couldn't be helped.

Not just the bad timing.

The reason for the visit.

And everything that's happened since Charles died.

Your father-in-law's attempts to buy me out, and then when that didn't work,

this bold effort to get control of the company through you.

Well, what makes you so sure I'd be working for him?

Oh, stop it.

Oh, I mean it.

Isn't there just the faint possibility that I might want to work for you?

And for myself?

For yourself, certainly.

For me? Only until Boss Amber decides you're ready for bigger and better things.

My husband spent years building this company.

I don't intend to use it as a teething ring.

Your husband's dead, Mrs. Pinnell.

At your company now.

That's right, it is.

And I intend to keep it.

How?

I'm a businesswoman. My marriage was a business deal.

I'm not helpless.

I can manage.

And how do you run a company without doing business?

I've seen your records, Mrs. Pinnell.

Your husband lost out on the last five jobs he went after.

That's none of your affair.

I think it is.

When I go after a job, Mrs. Pinnell, I like to know what the job is.

Your company needs a salesman.

It's dying for some plain hard sell. I'm the man who can give it to you.

You have a pretty high opinion of your abilities.

Look, Mrs. Pinnell, let me explain something to you.

When I married Ann Amber, I knew that sooner or later,

her father and I were going to square off and take swings at each other.

It's not just that he disapproves of me or that I resent him.

We just plain hate each other's guts. It's as simple as that.

Well, we squared off now, and he's picked his weapon.

It just happens to be Pinnell Construction Company.

He wants me to come in here and fall in my face

so that he can show Ann what a terrible

mistake she made and convince her that it's not too late to get out of it.

Well, I'm not going to fall in my face, Mrs. Pinnell.

And all I want from you is just a chance to

build you the best company anybody ever saw.

You're saying all the things you know I want to hear.

I told you I was a salesman, Mrs. Pinnell.

If I say yes to this, if I agree, it would have to be on my terms.

Any terms you like. You name them.

If at any time I feel you're not working for my best interests,

I must have the right to remove you from the company immediately.

Fine. You want it in writing?

Mr. Warner, I think this is going to be a very interesting relationship.

While Jack Floyd was successfully working his

way into Amber's intelligence organization,

I made several attempts to interview Jonathan Amber in person.

Finally, I gave up the polite approach and

tried to surprise him at home on a weekend.

I had better luck with Amber's butler than I'd had with his receptionist.

I was able to bluff my way past him into the presence of the great man himself.

In the matter of our mill at Asheville,

I believe another round of layoffs will bring the local union to term it.

Who let you in? I told your man you were expecting me, Aunt Paul Moreno.

Talk to my publicity department. I don't hand out interviews.

Is it true that you're giving your son-in-law the Pinnell Construction Company

for a wedding present?

Does Louise Pinnell know that you've bought

up all the available stock in her company?

But now you and she are virtually the only

stockholders in Pinnell. What do you want?

Are you looking for trouble?

I'm looking for the truth, Mr. Amber.

Not just a publicity handout.

The real good, straight from the horse's mouth.

About the Pennell deal, that's peanuts.

About you.

About Jonathan Amber and where he's going.

You asked me if I wanted trouble.

Now I'll ask you the same question, because you seem

to thrive on trouble, all types and varieties.

You have a genius for making a profit from adversity.

I'm going to write my story anyway, Mr. Amber.

The question is, do I write it your way or do I get it

from Biggs or Latham or another of your competitors?

Do you know what this is I'm eating?

Sour belly.

Cheapest meat you can buy.

Every Sunday for lunch, I eat sow belly and beans to remind me where I came from.

There was a time when this was the kind of food I dreamed about and couldn't have.

You got any idea how migratory farm workers lived in the Depression years?

There were never enough jobs, so you fought to see who'd work.

When there weren't any jobs at all, you fought for a place in the bread lines.

You fought for a corner of a Hooverville shack.

Sometimes you're fought just to stay in practice.

You've come a long way.

Because I learned the rules early and never forgot them.

Is that the story you want? Think anybody would be

interested if you printed it? I think they would.

That's just the beginning of the story.

What comes next, Mr. Ambrose?

That's for you to find out, sir.

Lunch is over, and so is the interview. Come on.

I'll find my own way.

I'm afraid you'll get lost.

Amber's intelligence organization was laying the groundwork for

Pennell's entry into the field of government housing contracts.

Jack Flood was now operating as one of Amber's investigators,

working closely with Max Nord.

Tonight, Jack was wired for sound,

with a miniature tape recorder clipped inside his coat.

Let's get this report now down to size.

Chambers and Locke Construction.

Well, their estimating team is still playing with it,

but they have a tentative bid of $2,985,000 and some change.

When can I get a breakdown?

A week, maybe. Anybody got any breakdowns tonight?

Got a rough one from Orly Waterhouse. They're still working on it, though.

How about Southland Building?

Oh, they decided to drop out of the Camp Adair

bidding and try for the job up at Fort Arden.

All right, uh, who's got biggest construction?

Uh, they're going $3,104,000.

Well, it was a most entertaining dinner, Mr. Amber.

I'm sorry your wife was indisposed.

I've learned more about business manipulations in the

past hour than my husband taught me in 15 years.

Your husband was an amateur. It's time somebody made your company pay.

Somebody will, and soon, if Harvey lives up to his promises.

We'll give it a run.

Have you made any definite plans yet?

I'm afraid Harvey's one of those husbands that never talks business with his wife.

I am interested.

Military housing units.

That's what the smart builders are going after. That's what you ought to go after.

That's what you ought to go after.

Excuse me, Mr. Amber. Mr. Nord is waiting in the library.

Mrs. Pinnell, I believe you and your new sales manager

will want to hear what Mr. Nord has to report.

Shall we?

Now, Max here has collected some information that's

going to be pretty valuable for all of you.

Max?

What's this? Announcement of contractors inviting bids.

They hit the papers about a week ago.

These are the specifications?

220 units of officers housing in Camp Adair. Now, in that envelope,

you'll find a list of your competitors and what they're going to bid.

What they're going to bid?

How do you know this?

What counts is we know. How we know doesn't really matter, does it?

I think it does matter.

Matters to me. All right.

That first name on your list there, Chambers and Locke?

Well, we've had a tap under interoffice phones for the past year and a half.

Same with the last three there.

Orly Waterhouse and Biggs Construction, well, they're a little smarter.

So at Biggs, we have their top estimator in our pocket.

Orly Waterhouse.

All right, all right, I believe you.

This is how you do business, huh?

Spying, bribery.

What about blackmail? How did you happen to overlook that? What do you think,

you're in some kind of gentleman's club?

You go after a $3 million contract like this,

you gotta take all the breaks you can get. And the man who makes his own breaks,

he's the one who's gonna get it.

May I ask a question?

We're supposed to submit a bid lower than this?

If you want that contract, yes.

How do we make a profit?

We can help you out here and there.

You're going to have to have somebody guarantee you're going to finish the job.

My bonding company will charge you exactly half what it should.

We supply the building materials to most of the subcontractors.

We give them a break on what they buy from us, they pass it along to you.

When you've shown the government boys what you can do,

when you're ready to spread out and go after the real big ones. I don't like it.

I'm putting a million dollars in your hands, and you don't like it.

Well, you two talk it over. Come on, Max. I'll get you a drink.

Stop fighting him. He's right.

Right?

If he'll do what he says, we'll make enough on that contract to get by.

And the next job... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

How do we know he's gonna do what he says?

He'll do it.

He owns a tasty slice of this company.

No matter how much he wants to see you drown,

he isn't gonna throw away good money to do it.

Uh, I'll get my accountants to work first thing in the morning.

We'll put together a bid that'll beat these.

All right with you? May I ask a question?

You could have done all this without me. What am

I in it for? Don't worry. You'll earn your pay.

How?

I'm a salesman, not a bid-rigger. So now you'll have something to sell.

Get this project going, and you'll have a piece of merchandise

that you can promote for all it's worth.

This contract's just the beginning. It's up to you to parlay it into something big,

something with a real profit in it for all of us.

Really, Harvey?

I'd say Mr. Amber is being very generous.

I know.

Maybe that's what worries me.

Can't she do it?

Sorry, you lost me somewhere.

Have I?

What's eating you?

You're so very attractive, Widow Purnell.

She's gonna try to take you away from me. Can she do it?

She's going to what?

Hey.

You really mean that, don't you?

Remind me to give you a vacation when we get through with this project. Yeah.

Well, what do you think?

Are we getting any closer to a showdown with Amber?

We've got a pretty clear picture of how he helped

Pennell Construction get that Camp Adair contract. That was pretty right.

Now, Amber could claim the whole thing was engineered

by subordinates without his knowledge.

He'd fire a few people and forget it.

Nor did it probably take the fall.

Now, what we need is something or somebody who can

prove that Amber knew everything that was going on,

that he personally approved and instigated everything

crooked done by Norton and his men.

I wish I knew what he was up to.

He's gone to such extreme trouble to build up Pennell.

He only owns about a quarter of it.

I don't like the smell.

I have a feeling Amber is getting ready to set off an explosion.

While Jack Flood and I watched and waited,

work went forward on Pinell Construction's Camp Adair project.

Dozens of subcontractors were employed on the site.

Almost all of them using supplies from various of Amber's manufacturing companies.

Materials furnished at prices much below normal market values.

We were soon to learn that this was the key to Amber's ultimate goal.

We're all set.

Every single piece of building material ordered from our supply

companies has been delivered to the Camp Adair site,

and most of it's been used. How about Warner? We'll do back on the 8 o'clock train.

All right, Max.

Let's roll out the carpet for him.

We'll give him a real welcome.

Take a memo to Max Nord.

Subject Capadare Project.

It has come to my attention that several of our supply companies have sold building

materials to Pennell Construction at prices far below market value.

I suspect illegal deals have been made between

some of our men in the supply companies.

And Pennell's new vice president, Harvey Warner.

Lovely.

Thank you, that'll be fine for me.

Hello.

What's this?

Oh, a little celebration.

Because we're a very nice sales manager, and we have two nice new contracts.

Please.

Looks quite good.

You're a very thoughtful boss.

What shall we drink to?

Bigger and better contracts?

Always the business man.

Not always.

Sit down.

Make yourself comfortable.

We have a long ride ahead of us.

Maybe next time we should fly.

Thanks just the same. Flying to me is purely a spectator sport.

Oh, there it is again.

What?

That little smile you use every so often. Really quite devastating.

What is this? Analyze your sales manager day?

Did you know?

You're the most interesting man I've ever met.

Next to Charles.

Well, lucky for me, you haven't met many men.

As a matter of fact, I haven't.

I was a child bride, you know.

No, I didn't.

My father worked in a boatyard on Long Island.

One day, Charles Yacht came in for repairs.

It was the most fabulous thing I've ever seen.

All teak wood and brass.

I made up my mind, when that boat left, I'd be on it.

And I was.

Just like that?

Just like that. Poor Charles didn't have a prayer.

The rest of it was better than I deserved, I guess.

Our life was quite pleasant, slightly dull.

And now that it's over, I find myself free, wide-eyed, 33, and quite alone.

Until now.

End of chapter one.

Quite a story.

It's only the first chapter. You have any suggestions for chapter two?

I could tell you a story about a guy who was so busy scribbling

words and sentences and a few off-color paragraphs,

he began to think life was a lurid paperback.

Pretty girl on a cover and nothing inside.

Until he met someone who offered to tear up

the book and let him start all over again.

Don't get me wrong.

I'd like very much to collaborate on your chapter, too.

I think it would make very exciting reading.

But someday, sooner or later, I'd have to look my wife in the eye and lie to her.

Lie to her or watch her break apart.

And maybe go the way her mother did.

I'm just not sure that I'm that good a liar.

And Ann is too rare a creation to be smashed.

It's not very good wine, is it?

You're getting me a bad head.

You mind?

Call me if you need anything.

If I act a little punchy, I am.

Amber's shutting down the Camp Adair project.

He's what?

Nord and the boys were out there slapping attachments

and all the stuff Amber sold Pennell.

Amber can probably tie up the project with lawsuits for the next couple of years.

That means Pennell Construction won't be able to meet their work deadline.

They'll default that contract,

and the government can sue them for everything

they've got. Why would he do it, Paul?

He owns a piece of the company, and his own son-in-law, Warner,

he'll take the real beating.

Sure he is.

It was so simple, I couldn't see it.

Do you realize the trap that boy's in?

He signed all the contracts.

His building materials are attached. He's being sued by Amber, by the government.

Pretty soon his subcontractors will be suing him for the money he can't pay them.

Where is Warner now?

On his way back from Washington.

I don't think he knows about this yet.

All right, I want to see when he gets back.

If he'll fight back at Amber, we can tell a story that may just wreck the record.

How is Washington?

Profitable.

Mr. Amber, I'm taking your son-in-law out of my company.

Oh?

Already?

He's not living up to expectations?

I simply want him out.

That's already been taken care of.

What?

It's all been cleaned up.

Washed up.

Maybe that's a better way of saying it.

What are you talking about?

Pennell Construction is going through the wringer.

You're gonna default that Camp Adair contract. Then you'll go bankrupt.

Also, there'll be a congressional investigation.

You should have stopped at your office when you got off that train.

You'd have known all this without being told.

Have you seen the latest quotation on your stock, Mrs. Pinnell?

Tomorrow it'll reach bottom.

I'll give you 25 cents on the dollar tonight.

How did you do it?

Thoroughly. 25 cents on the dollar, Mrs. Burnett.

It's too much.

Almost generous.

Why are you willing to pay so much, Mr. Amber?

Let's say I got everything I want out of Pennell.

Not everything.

What more do you want?

When the investigation comes up, I want you to

testify that it was Warner's doing, all of it.

Fifty cents on the dollar.

Fifty.

Deal?

Deal.

All right, you pulled a string on me at Camp Adair. Are you happy now?

I didn't do it for pleasure.

Pleasure?

You don't even know what the word means. All you understand is hurt and pain.

You just weren't good enough, that's all.

It's a hard, cold world, mister.

You learn that, you'll survive.

You stop to think for one minute what this is going to do to Ann?

Let me worry about Annie.

She'll get over you.

Oh, she'll cry a little, mourn a little, and then forget you.

That isn't what I meant.

This Camp Adair thing is going to be a field day for the newspapers,

and probably for an investigating committee, and Ann's going to be dragged into it.

She's going to be dragged right through your filth.

So she'll get hurt a little.

She's strong.

She'll survive.

But you, you're through.

All through.

Because you grabbed.

Because you thought you could take me.

Well, nobody takes me, mister.

And nobody takes what's mine. Hello?

Harvey, I was worried. Did you miss your train?

No, no, I didn't look.

I'm out at the airport.

You're what? I don't understand.

Please, just listen.

I have to go away. I couldn't cut it, Ann. He was too rough for me.

I couldn't handle him, but I can do this. I can get out of here,

so you don't have to go through it with me. I'll see it through by myself.

Harvey.

Maybe after it's all over, we'll have another chance.

That's all I can say. I love you, Ann, and I'm sorry.

Jack, here's your ticket. The water's already aboard

the plane. Where am I going? Mexico City.

Let's hope it's a fast round trip. I'll phone you when we land.

You're Harvey Warner, aren't you?

I'm Marino, Paul Marino.

I have a few things to talk over with you, Mr. Warner.

I think you'll find that it'll make your trip a

little more pleasant than you expected it to be.

I'm sorry. No, really.

I'm sorry.

Are you?

He ran out.

Got himself into a mess and ran.

I told you from the start, he was no good for you.

Weak! Weak!

You're my daughter. You don't want a weakling for a husband.

Did he get into trouble by himself, or did you help him?

All right, so I proved it to you.

You want to stay tied to a failure the way I am to a drunk?

He wasn't a failure until you made him one.

And Mother, was she a drunk to start with?

You look for weakness so you can smash it.

That's how you prove how strong you are.

Why do you have to destroy Mother, Harvey, and now me?

Oh, you know I wouldn't hurt you any. I love you.

Don't do that. That won't work anymore.

Why couldn't you just leave me alone?

Why couldn't you just leave us alone?

All right, go ahead.

You cry. Good, good. Get it out of your system.

You'll get over it. You'll see.

Leave me alone.

Everything will be fine now, then. Everything's going to be fine.

Just leave me alone for a while.

Well, you're home again, darling. You're home for good.

Please!

All right, all right.

You want me to go, I'll go.

Anything you say, darling. Anything you want.

Where are you going?

I'm going to find my life.

I'm going to find Harvey.

Andy.

Andy!

Andy, come back! Come back, baby!

Portrait of Jonathan Amber.

Owner of a huge multimillion-dollar industrial empire and one empty house.

A great wave of incriminating evidence,

backed by the testimony of his own son-in-law, is poised to crash down upon him,

to sweep away the wealth he looted from those who are weaker than he.

Jonathan Amber, who grew fat on the misfortunes of others until

his own hate pulled him onto the reefs and wrecked him.