Christian Bale and John David Washington play longtime best friends suspected of a murder they didn’t commit. While trying to uncover the truth about what’s going on, they stumble upon an even larger and more sinister plot.
* * *
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
MAN: I was working in my office on 138th Street.
Mostly fixing up banged-up guys, like myself, from the Great War.
See? Beautiful.
All from injuries the world was happy to forget.
Fixing faces, lifting spirits, singing songs.
ALL: ♪ Peanuts ♪
MAN: I left my eye in France.
And I was constantly on probation with the medical board for trying to make new medicines.
I mean, we needed medicines that didn’t exist yet just to get through the day, with the pain and the nerves.
I hope this is a better pill. That’s all I’m saying.
I hope you’re right.
MAN: Some worked better than others.
This is my second of the day.
(INHALES DEEPLY)
And I feel great.
Victor, you wanna try one?
Yeah. I’ll try the new one next week.
All right. That gives you zing.
Put your pants on, Burt. I repaired ’em for you.
Are you all right?
BURT: Because of my war injuries, I had a back brace I hated.
(GROANS) They’re gonna put you away if they don’t close this place down.
BURT: That’s not helpful, Shirley.
SHIRLEY: Experimental medicine.
(PHONE RINGS) BURT: You look good.
How’s the infection? All right.
Good, good, good, good, good.
And I got the message.
No need to pay yet.
SHIRLEY: Burt, you got messages.
Your parents called. They can’t make the holiday.
Herb Getz called about the ear drops.
And Harold Woodman called. Meet him at this address.
Walk right in. Urgent.
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYS)
BURT: I worked with an attorney, my best friend from the war, Harold Woodman.
Hey, Burt.
BURT: What is going on? What is this place?
It’s a very important case. Yeah?
Pays very handsomely. Nice.
We have a lot of back bills.
People depend on us, our business.
Most importantly, it’s very meaningful to both you and I.
Meaningful how?
Well, you care about the annual gala, don’t you?
Yeah.
And you always say it’s important for us vets to have reunions, to be remembered. It is.
And you say it’s great medicine for us to get together and sing. Don’t you say that?
Where’s this going?
It’s going to a particular procedure, and I know how you prefer some procedures over others.
Just tell me what it is.
What… What kind of procedure?
What are you doing with these flowers?
Dinner date with Beatrice.
Dinner date with Beatrice?
Yes.
So disappointing.
She’s my wife.
Is he all right to perform the procedure?
(HAROLD SIGHS)
(HESITATES) Yes. He… He is. It’s okay.
He’s not gonna do it.
He’s gonna do it.
Calm down.
Who is this?
This is Liz Meekins, Burt.
Meekins? As in, relation to…
He’s my father. I know you admire him very much.
Oh, my God. Yes. We both did. Do.
I really do.
That’s why he’s gonna speak at our reunion this year.
Very nice to meet you.
Are we meeting your father here?
Let her finish, Burt.
(IN HUSHED VOICE) My father came back yesterday on a boat.
Okay. He goes to Europe on business, right?
Did he catch a bug or something?
I’ll look at him. Where is he?
You should see him.
Yeah. Come on. Let’s go.
This place is gorgeous. Look at it.
So, where… where is, uh, the good General “Quiet and Still” Bill?
(DOOR THUDS)
(NOSE BLOWING LOUDLY)
(CONTINUES BLOWING NOSE)
WOMAN: Excuse me.
(MUFFLED) My allergies are terrible today.
I wake up, it’s in my sinus, and it’s the whole day.
I don’t know what you’re doing, and I don’t wanna know what you’re doing.
You have two hours until the embalmer comes.
What happened? He was gonna speak at the gala.
(DOOR OPENS)
You will help me, won’t you? (DOOR CLOSES)
I’m not buying that he died of natural causes.
He was a very healthy man.
No one in my family agrees with me.
They’re all wrong. They’re all liars.
I want an autopsy.
HAROLD: That’s correct. It is your right.
Your father died intestate.
You’re the next of kin. I read the papers.
I hate autopsies, Harold. You know that.
We have to do it, Burt.
Bill “Quiet and Still” Meekins is the reason we met.
He formed our regiment.
How did a man like this end up dead?
You’re telling me it’s suspicious?
LIZ: Yes, I’m telling you it’s suspicious.
Will you please sing with me?
He said that you used to sing with him when you were at war.
He enjoyed it so much.
♪ Precious memories
HAROLD: ♪ Memories
ALL: ♪ Unseen angels
♪ Sent from somewhere to my soul ♪
(DOOR OPENS)
WOMAN: Hurry up.
You only have two hours to do whatever it is you’re gonna do.
All right. You have to do the autopsy, and immediately after, meet me at Minters Restaurant.
I need to know what you find.
Why did she say two hours?
Because we’re in the mortician.
They’re gonna put him in the ground.
Minters Restaurant, after 5:00.
You’ve gotta get him out of here.
Yeah, we should get going, Burt.
Harold? I don’t know what you think you’re doin’.
Liz, excuse me. Hello.
You got a dead white man in a box.
Not even a casket.
Important man, in a pine box of old wood.
Doesn’t even have a top on it.
His daughter’s cryin’.
(LIZ CRYING)
Who do you think is gonna get in trouble here?
The Black man, that’s who. Milton.
Right now we need to get him, our leader, who founded our regiment, into the truck.
Do the autopsy.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
Meet me at Minters Restaurant immediately after.
Got it. I need to know.
I need to know what you found.
Okay.
Minters Restaurant at 5:00. Milton. Milton.
(COFFIN THUDS)
LIZ: Please be careful.
MILTON: It’s got a bum wheel.
(COFFIN THUDS)
LIZ: That’s not careful. Milton.
This is why you’ll never drive my car.
The embalmer is coming for this.
You better be here. Two hours.
HAROLD: You remember Burt, don’t you?
Of course.
HAROLD: Irma St. Clair.
Hello, Burt.
Hello, Irma.
IRMA: Don’t be nervous.
I do at least two autopsies a month.
I’ve done two autopsies my whole life.
One to prove I didn’t leave a clamp on someone’s small intestine, the other to remove a clamp I did leave on someone’s small intestine.
Now we know you’re good with small intestines, Burt.
Thank you.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
You know, you and Burt should get coffee sometimes, Irma.
Maybe you and Irma should get coffee sometime.
HAROLD: We’re friends, Milton.
You know, Irma, his wife wouldn’t stand up for him to her family.
They haven’t lived together in over a year.
(WHISPERS) That is my situation. Not now.
I just wanna see you happy.
Dead man makes you realize time is short and love is real, if you know what it is.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
(DOOR SLAMS OPEN)
What’s going on here?
Autopsy. Paperwork.
The police are waiting for this body to return to the mortuary.
The sooner we start, the sooner he’s out.
These two men need to leave immediately.
BURT: They’re veterans. They served their country.
Go wait at McGee’s.
We’ll be downstairs at McGee’s.
At McGee’s.
Irma’s Portuguese. That’s different.
(DOOR OPENS)
I didn’t know you were Portuguese.
I’m not.
Do you wanna start this or shall I?
Uh, just emotional because I knew him.
You can just sign this if you want.
No, no, no, no, no.
That’s what Harold needs. I… I can help.
He was such a kind man.
There we go.
(GRUNTS SOFTLY)
(SNIFFS) Oh, God.
(TOOL CLATTERS)
IRMA: Mm.
(IRMA GROANS)
Um, didn’t ask how you were doing.
(GRUNTS) My man left.
(BREATHES SHARPLY)
This kind of thing happens every day.
BURT: I’m sorry.
IRMA: It’s fine.
True love is based on choice, not need.
Do you need your wife or do you choose your wife?
Well, can’t it be both?
No. The second one is the one that truly matters.
At the end of the day, it is.
Choice matters over need.
I don’t like to be alone.
Ah.
That sounds like “need.”
I’m opening up the stomach. Look at that.
BURT: Oh, yeah. That’s an unusual color.
Something… Yeah.
Given to him over a period of time.
Hmm. It’s hard to tell how long.
IRMA: Hmm.
He just got back from Europe.
I’ll close him up and take more blood samples.
I’ll have more news for you tomorrow.
I take it you’re still at the same office?
Yeah.
Harold says you deserve a better circumstance, but you allowed yourself to be corrupted.
He says you followed the wrong God home.
What? “Corrupted”?
“Followed the wrong God home”? Why doesn’t he say that to me?
What does that even mean? I don’t know.
Maybe you spent enthusiasms and urgencies you didn’t know you were wasting until it was too late.
You ended up without a chair by the time the music ends, even in your own home.
(DOOR OPENS)
NURSE: We need this room.
IRMA: That’s perfect, ’cause we were just leaving.
Liz said to meet her after 5:00 at Minters.
Right. But I wanna talk to you about Irma.
Oh, the reason I pushed that, Burt, is because I wanna see you happy.
And I’m your friend.
My friend who thinks I’m corrupted somehow, yet doesn’t have the guts or decency to tell it to my face.
You don’t wanna hear that to your face.
You’ve got flowers for your wife who won’t let you live in your own apartment.
Explain the word “corrupted” or the term “following the wrong God home.”
It’s your in-laws, Burt.
They hate that we work together, let alone that we’re friends.
Well, I don’t listen to any of that Park Avenue garbage from them.
Yes, you do. You care a little bit.
And all it takes is a little bit, Burt.
Then they got you.
Like that drop of blood from the cut you got from the war before I stabbed that German.
Those cuts clouded your eye, and guess what, you lost the eye forever.
(PATRONS CHATTERING AND LAUGHING)
Welcome to Minters, gentlemen. Table for two?
Uh, we’re actually meeting someone…
Uh-huh. …a tall woman, blonde…
Yes. …serious face.
Yes. Right this way.
Wait. She was here. I don’t know what happened.
(SHOP BELL JINGLES) She was…
Right here.
HAROLD: Miss Meekins.
MAN: There she goes, pal.
HAROLD: Miss… Wait. Miss Meekins.
Miss Meekins. Miss Meekins.
We did what you asked.
We found something suspicious, just like you thought.
LIZ: I can’t do it. I’m sorry.
(CAR HORN HONKS) What…
I spoke to a personal friend, Mr… Mr. Voze.
He said I have to be careful.
Who? Did he scare you? He said it was dangerous.
Wait. Miss Meekins, wait a second.
I just need to drop it.
BURT: Come off the street. Come on.
You knew my father. Yes, yes.
And you knew my father. We did.
We loved your father. Yes.
And you know what he used to say is, he used to say you can’t run from fear.
You can’t let fear chase you around.
I know that I seem afraid, (SHUDDERS)
And I shouldn’t be because Mr. Voze, he was just cautioning me.
He wasn’t… He meant well.
He’s a friend of the family.
What did you find?
We believe that he might have been poisoned.
Do you know why?
Is somebody watching me? I can’t…
HAROLD: It’s okay. It…
I don’t know if I can talk about this.
(MUFFLED) They have interests in an alliance, and he knew that.
But he wasn’t gonna go along with it.
He knew something. He saw something terrible.
He did.
And they knew he was gonna tell.
Tell what? What did he see?
LIZ: It’s dangerous.
I think that…
(CAR HORN HONKS)
(LIZ SCREAMS)
BURT: Miss Meekins!
Oh, my God! Miss Meekins!
(TIRES SCREECH)
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
These two, they did it. Right there.
Miss Meekins!
HAROLD: She’s dead.
Ow!
MAN: They did it.
Right there.
HAROLD: You’re lying!
WOMAN: These two right there. They did.
These two guys. Right there.
No! You did it! You pushed her!
MAN: They killed that woman. I saw you push her!
WOMAN: They killed her!
HAROLD: I saw you, sir!
They did it. I saw it.
I’m an attorney. This is a doctor.
MAN: Them two. I saw ’em do it.
She hired us. This is our client.
Look what he’s got in his hand.
He’s got her purse! He’s got her purse.
You killed her and took her purse!
No. I saw you. You pushed her.
I’m an attorney… (CLAMORING)
No, no, no! He’s…
HAROLD: (GRUNTS) Get off!
MAN: Citizen’s arrest! Citizen’s arrest!
We’ll make a citizen’s arrest!
(MEN CLAMORING)
(WOMEN SCREAMING)
(WHISTLE BLOWS)
MAN 2: Shoot ’em!
Get them! Those two, right there!
OFFICER: Stop!
Stop!
(GUNSHOTS)
(HAROLD GRUNTS)
(SIREN WAILING)
(WHISTLE BLOWS)
MAN 3: Cowards!
BURT: That poor girl. Oh, God.
MAN 4: Come on. Let’s go.
MAN 5: Behind those cars!
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(BOTH PANTING)
(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)
That’s the man.
MAN: You’re not driving.
I’m driving. We talked about this.
That’s him.
MAN: Stay organized.
We’re an organization. Stay organized.
HENCHMAN: They won’t get away.
We’ll keep an eye out for ’em right here.
How the hell did they follow us over here?
(CAR ENGINE STARTS)
(METAL CLATTERS)
(MAN SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY)
(DOG BARKING)
Come on, come on.
(BURT GROANS)
BURT: God, this brace.
HAROLD: Hey, hey!
Hey!
I think they’re still watching us.
You think?
I think so.
BURT: Holy shit. What fresh hell is this?
You don’t get here without things starting a long time ago.
(CLOCK TICKING)
You want me to go to our favorite tree… and get bark in the Argonne Forest where they are blowing people up?
It will be honorable, glorious.
Good for the family.
But it… it’s good, Burt. It’s good.
You’ll fit in better when you have more medals.
MAN: You’ll fit in on Park Avenue.
People respect military service.
I could be killed.
OLDER WOMAN: We cannot think that way.
Of course you won’t be killed.
BURT: Ah, Beatrice.
I didn’t come all the way over here to be talked to like a damn dog.
It’s a crime against the flag.
I don’t think they have the ability to possess the admiration or the confidence to wear the uniform.
Who are we talking about?
One of these crackers get in my way, I’mma shoot ’em in the back.
Well, we know you even like this even more.
I was done talking to you.
You’ll never be done talking to me.
MAN: That’s enough, Sergeant.
Yes, sir, General Meekins.
You don’t need to be involved anymore.
Attitude doesn’t help.
That’s why I wanted to bring you on as a medical officer, Bernstein.
Berendsen, sir.
I’m sorry. This is Mr. Woodman.
Got a situation here that I thought you might be able to help with.
What situation, sir?
GENERAL MEEKINS: Mr. Woodman, why don’t you tell him why you’re here in the stockade.
Why are we in a stockade?
Insubordination.
Were you insubordinate?
HAROLD: Yes. Why?
They gave us Jim Crow officers like that knucklehead.
But we refuse to continue till they’ve replaced him with somebody good.
Someone decent and respectful.
Is that supposed to be me, sir?
GENERAL MEEKINS: That is you, Berendsen.
BURT: I mean, the people you meet in these circumstances of tremendous stress are bonded to you for life.
Are you the kind of doctor that’s gonna leave me bleeding out and I’ll have to shoot in the back?
Because let me tell you, the officers that they had, they didn’t care whether we lived or died.
I am not gonna let anybody bleed out, and I do not wanna get shot in the back.
I am the son of a mechanic from Elmira.
I am married.
I’m half Catholic, half Jewish.
I’m a doctor. I have a practice on Park Avenue.
And I think that my in-laws sent me here to get rid of me.
Well, that all sounds pretty good, except that… in-laws part, but maybe that’s why I can trust you.
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
So, we’ll make a pact.
You see to it that we won’t die.
And I’ll make sure you won’t get killed.
We’ll look out for each other.
Harold Thaddeus Woodman.
Bertram Berendsen.
Welcome to the 369. Thank you.
Finally, that’s what I’ve been looking for.
Just some respect.
Now let’s go deal with this unfortunate uniform situation.
Yeah, let’s go deal with this uniform shit.
HAROLD: Welcome to my army.
Why are we wearing French uniforms?
The American soldiers, they don’t wanna be seen with us.
It’s disgraceful. I fought to create this regiment in the spirit of kindness and unity.
Hope to see you on the other side of the Argonne in good shape.
God be with you.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(PAINED SCREAMING)
BURT: I saved Harold.
He saved me.
And there was this French lady saving both of us.
(SCREAMING CONTINUES)
(HAROLD GASPING)
(HAROLD CRYING)
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
NURSE 1: Et vous ne portez pas de bonnet en plus!
Comment? Vous ne portez pas de bonnet!
(GASPS)
NURSE 1: Oh la la!
(DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES)
(HAROLD SHUDDERING)
Croyez-moi.
(GRUNTING)
(HAROLD GROANS)
(DOOR SLAMS OPEN)
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
CHURCH OFFICIAL: Oui.
Oui.
Merci.
CHURCH OFFICIAL: Quoi? Merci.
(IN ENGLISH) Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(RESUMES IN FRENCH)
Vous voyez! Allez. Allez.
Tout le monde! Tout le monde!
CHURCH OFFICIAL: Du calme! Du calme!
(IN ENGLISH) Take it easy, Harold.
NURSE 2: Il a raison! Vous voyez!
HAROLD: Vous voyez! Allez. Allez.
(IN ENGLISH) Oh, my God!
(ALL SQUABBLING)
CHURCH OFFICIAL: Ca suffit.
I don’t know what is happening. (GIGGLES)
NURSE 2: Liberte pour nous tous. Arretez de mentir!
BOTH: Liberte pour nous tous. Arretez de mentir!
Liberte… (LAUGHS)
(PATIENTS CHATTERING)
(IN ENGLISH) Mr. Woodman, I believe I owe you my gratitude.
Oh, you speak English?
Yes. I thought you were French.
I’m Valerie Bandenberg.
You’re not French? No.
May I buy you a drink?
(HESITATES) Yes. We… We can do that here?
I can. We can… We can drink here?
Harold!
What the hell are you doing? Young man!
Where you goin’?
VALERIE: Oh, he’s in safe hands with me.
If those Mississippi crackers could see you now…
What happened to the pact?
I lost an eye here.
A woman who smokes a pipe.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Are you intimidated?
A little bit right now.
(BOTH LAUGH)
VALERIE: When you see someone, and you really see them, you see the kid that used to be them.
You see the part of them that’s vulnerable.
Harold and I had that kind of seeing each other right from the start.
Well, now that the war is over… I just want to be a person. You know?
I just want to walk around free…
VALERIE: Mm.
…as a person. Just…
Just living my life.
Here in Europe.
That’s the ticket. Just live and be free.
I highly recommend it. I’ve walked around Europe.
It’s done wonders for me.
HAROLD: Without even too many words,
I mean, she’s looking right into your soul.
Yeah, you wear it well.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
Both our lives were in the balance before God. Right there.
Can I ask you something?
VALERIE: Mm.
What do you do with the bloody shrapnel that you take from our bodies?
I can’t give you that for nothing.
You have to trade me something.
You don’t get that for free.
Trade you?
Okay. What does it cost?
Something beautiful.
Something to live for.
I’m looking at that right now.
I already gave you pieces of metal shrapnel from my body.
You know, actually, I took a lot more metal from your friend’s body.
What’s his name?
BURT: His name is Burt Berendsen.
Oh, boy.
BURT: And he is hobbling along here, remembering something about a friendship pact.
Do you remember that? Remember me? Here I am.
Good to see you, Burt. Hello.
My apologies, Burt Berendsen.
Never again shall I pour two without a third.
Hey, Burt, you gotta help me…
Very good. …trade something beautiful, and in return, she’s gonna show us what she does with all the metal she took from our bodies.
Her name is Valerie.
What do you do with all that shrapnel, Valerie?
If you want to know, you have to trade me something.
She told me the same thing. I got nothing.
Nonsense song.
That’s a good idea. How about that?
What’s a nonsense song?
All right.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
HAROLD: Um…
(ALL SINGING IN FRENCH)
(IN ENGLISH) You got it.
(CONTINUES SINGING IN FRENCH)
(ALL LAUGHING)
(BOX THUDS LOUDLY)
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(IN ENGLISH) I’ve taken all these pieces out of people’s bodies.
Look. This is more primitive, this stuff.
Look, I’m having a tea party.
This is made out of gun powder. And shrapnel.
The height of civilization.
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC CONTINUES)
(IN DEEP VOICE) Welcome to my world.
(IN POSH ACCENT) Oh, I’m doing my makeup.
Oh, do I only have half a face?
How did that happen?
As long as I have my lipstick.
(IN NORMAL TONE) Pretty.
You got to know what you love.
And you got to get a real kick out of it, or there’s too much damn trouble in it to spoil this affair of living from beginning to end, if you let it.
Why not live it for the beautiful things, even if you were a bit broke?
(BURT SIGHS)
What will my Beatrice think about the missing eye business, and the scars, and the scars on my back and everything?
Can we do anything about that, Valerie?
I know benefactors in a hospital in Amsterdam.
They’ll give you a new eye.
Amsterdam?
When I was first going through France a couple of years ago, okay, things were a little more difficult.
I had to stab a guy.
I had to hit a lady with a brick one time.
What?
Wow. Yeah, it’s a long story.
But with you two, it will be a cakewalk.
And besides, I’m far better at forging documents now.
Come on, Burt. Let’s go to Amsterdam.
Okay.
HAROLD: Merci mes freres.
BURT: Courage!
Nous avons I’ordre officiel de transfert pour Amsterdam.
Regarde ca. Merci.
Merci Madame. Mais attendez!
Mais qu’est-ce que vous faites?
Mais… Mais… Messieurs dames…
Mais… vous rigolez?
Oui, oui Madame. C’est tres important.
Mais Madame remettez les cles.
Merci.
Bonjour mes amis. Ah!
Bonjour.
VALERIE: Bonjour. Ca va?
Mwah. Ca va.
(IN ENGLISH) There you are.
Paul Canterbury. Canterbury Glass.
London, England.
We make the finest prosthetic glass, industrial glass, top-secret glass, military glass, every kind of glass except window glass…
Unless, of course, it’s bulletproof.
Have no fear. A friend of Miss Valerie is a friend of Paul Canterbury, who offers you a lifetime supply of Canterbury glass eyes.
Not too bad.
As you can see, I’ve got the same injury as you.
Or perhaps you can’t see due to the fine craftsmanship of Canterbury Glass.
Let me see. I believe you are a…
Yes, a dark hazel-green. Am I correct, sir?
You’re correct.
Huzzah. This is my American colleague, Henry Norcross.
How do you do? We’ve been friends of Valerie’s family through international business for many years.
We’ve kept her safe on her adventure, and in return, she’s helped serve the good of the world.
How did she do that exactly?
By attending various dinners and functions, and telling us what she’s learned about banks and troop movement, so on and so forth.
HAROLD: Uh-huh. You’re spies.
(PAUL CHUCKLES) No. No, sir.
He, uh, works for a glass company, and I work for the Department of the Treasury.
VALERIE: They’re old friends.
They’ve helped me out, and I’ve helped them out.
Now I think they’ll help you out.
HENRY: Even Paul and I have found some time to do a little birding here.
We’re avid birders.
Yes. It’s an exquisite hobby, really.
HENRY: Yes.
This is, uh, the African gray crowned crane.
PAUL: Yep.
These are extinct.
Yes, we have the last two.
HENRY: The Nicobar, uh, pigeon.
PAUL: Yes.
They were alive at one point.
And this is the North American pheasant.
It’s a North American pheasant, which I like to call the peasant of pheasants.
They’re so common, you see.
But they are beautiful.
HENRY: Yes.
The plumage is really outstanding.
So, you know, we’re happy to pay for the faces, whatever cosmetic healing you might need, uh…
Top-shelf, nothing but the best.
Yes, yes. As well as a good life here in Amsterdam, where you deserve a rest and some freedom after what you’ve been through.
We’ll come a-calling sometime in the future when we need you good people to help us out.
Yes.
Because there will come a time to say “enough” to these madmen who create this war we cannot make any sense of.
Well, how could this monstrosity repeat itself?
It’s supposed to be the war to end all wars.
Right.
Because the dream repeats itself since it forgets itself.
That’s why it repeats itself.
This is the good part.
But the bad part will come again one day.
But for now, this is the good part, in Amsterdam.
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
These are the lights right here.
They can be a little tricky.
You gotta go up, down, up, down, up.
They’ll flicker for a little bit. See?
Lumiere.
I mean, it’s a big place.
Paul and Henry organized it for me, but it’s a wreck.
BURT: She was right.
This was the good part. And this tap…
BURT: It was fantastic. I mean, don’t let it scare you. When you use the water…
(FAUCET SQUEAKS, RATTLES)
…it will do that.
BURT: The world was suddenly our oyster and it was glorious.
That’s normal.
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC CONTINUES) (PEOPLE LAUGHING)
BURT: Yeah. Amsterdam is in the heart, and was there all along.
Go on! (VALERIE LAUGHING)
HENRY: Paul, show them the sand dance!
(PAUL GRUNTING)
BURT: The sand dance.
The crazy British Empire sand dance.
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
(MAN WHISTLING)
(CHEERING)
BURT: She was brilliant and nuts.
But she was our kind of nuts.
And so the pact now had three.
I stayed in Amsterdam for a while because it was glorious there.
He was steady and strong.
She was bold and luminous.
It was what the French call a coup de foudre.
Love at first sight.
She made her art.
I was their best friend, with my new eye.
(GLASS EYE CLINKS)
We helped vets passing through town. Okay. That works.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)
BURT: We went dancing all the time.
It was magnificent.
These tango parlors, you really feel like you’re flying.
(DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING)
You can’t go. I…
It’s terrible over there right now.
What are you talking about? I have to see my wife.
Burt, I have a very bad feeling about this.
I… I think it’s a bad omen if you leave.
Please don’t go.
(SOFTLY) I became a doctor on Park Avenue.
VALERIE: Park Avenue. I’m married.
We can… We can figure it out, right? We can…
VALERIE: I know a thing or two about Park Avenue.
Please don’t go.
Valerie.
(CHUCKLES)
Let’s be realistic. This can’t last forever.
How are we supposed to live?
I missed Beatrice, even though she and her family sent me off to war.
BEATRICE’S FATHER: Serve your country.
BURT: When I first met her, I was at a charity event at medical school.
And I see this woman, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Oh, my God. You should’ve seen her.
And we danced all night.
We were giddy. We were laughing.
We were in love.
I had no idea that she was the daughter of the guy who gave me the scholarship.
In his eyes, this half Jew, he was like, “You can have the scholarship, but my daughter, “uh-uh, off-limits.”
VALERIE: Sounds bad.
BURT: You can choose your friends.
You can’t choose your family.
And I choose you. And this…
I’m getting embarrassed, because you might not feel the same way.
But this relationship, probably the most important thing in my life.
(LAUGHS) Yeah.
VALERIE: We do agree. So stay.
But I can’t quit Beatrice.
I love her.
Sure, they say you’ll have medals.
You’ll fit in on Park Avenue.
Well, this was the hero’s welcome I received.
No, I’ve told you before, you cannot treat these patients here.
It’s just completely inappropriate.
The only reason I know these patients is because you made me go to war.
BEATRICE’S FATHER: You understand, this does not happen on Park Avenue.
And you’ve been taking too much morphine.
You stay away from my daughter.
You are blacklisted.
Go. Leave. You must leave. You must leave here.
Don’t go to the apartment. I’ll… I’ll send you clothes.
Bertram, stay! I’m sorry.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey.
How can I not help the veterans?
Hey.
I had relocated my practice to an alley off Great Jones Street.
(BIRDS FLUTTERING)
It got a little out of control with the pain medicine.
And I was given an enforced rest, courtesy of the State of New York.
OFFICER: Come on, buddy.
BURT: Wrote my friends to help get me out.
Had no idea what it would do to them.
If your family has the kind of influence that can help Burt get out of jail, I think you should do it.
I mean, the pact is the pact, Valerie.
I told you I ran away from something, didn’t I?
That’s all you need to know.
But, yes, my family could possibly help him.
But if I contact them, they’ll know where I am.
And if they know where I am, they will find a way to possibly drag me back.
And they’re very persuasive.
All he was doing was trying to help the regiment.
I hear those guys have it rough back at home.
I think we both knew where this was headed anyway.
Yeah. What do you mean by that?
Well, I mean, we… we only exist in Amsterdam.
You know, and you’ve spoken a lot about the things that you plan on doing back in America.
Maybe it’s time.
I said I wanted to become a lawyer.
To fight for people.
People like those soldiers back at home.
I wanted to fight for people like that who couldn’t fight back, who couldn’t fight for themselves, to use the law.
You also said that you wanna live in Amsterdam with me.
Yes.
I wanna do both. I wanna go back home and fight.
And I wanna stay here with you.
And I wanna live. I wanna truly live.
How do you have both those things?
There’s a way.
But right now we have to help Burt.
(SENTIMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)
What will happen to us? I love you.
We gotta help Burt.
Okay.
Get dressed.
(MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING)
BURT: She vanished, one day soon after, without a word to Harold, except a note.
I was suddenly released from jail.
Never heard from her.
Harold came back to New York. Got his law degree.
You have a claim.
BURT: We worked together over 10 years.
The good doctor and I will take good care of you.
BURT: All kinds of trouble we got people out of, until the Meekins case.
(CAR HORN HONKS) (LIZ SCREAMS)
(TIRES SCREECH) (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS)
This was trouble that now we were in, ourselves.
And we may very well not survive.
Oh, my God. That poor girl.
I can’t bear this.
Something… Something is very wrong, Harold.
What’s that thing that you always say to me?
We’ll fight through it.
We’ll find a way, no matter what.
Thank you. I need that.
Where… Where you going?
BURT: It’s safer if we can get off the street.
Oh… I know where we are.
I know where we are. Not that woman, Burt.
The lights are off. Is it a surprise dinner?
(WHISPERING) She knows people from Liz Meekins’s world.
HAROLD: The place looks the same.
Smells of mothballs, like your marriage.
Thanks, pal.
What are friends for if not honesty?
That burns. How we looking?
(TAPPING)
Good?
Help me.
Is that straight?
HAROLD: Yeah.
Oh, I see.
You’re really putting it on nice for her, huh?
(DOOR OPENS)
BEATRICE: Bertram?
BURT: Sit down. Relax.
(WHISPERS) Hey, Burt, don’t be too long.
BURT: Do me a favor.
Try to be optimistic.
BEATRICE: Bertram? Bertram?
Oh, look at you.
There is no dinner. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It was a mistake.
Why did you invite me?
Because it was… I had a moment of weakness.
That’s what we’ve become? A moment of weakness?
And my father can’t even know that I’m doing this because he’ll take away all kinds of privileges.
What’s wrong here?
Do you remember when we would have nights, just Emily Dickinson poetry, and singing together and just staring at each other?
What happened? I remember, yeah.
That’s why I love you.
Did you fall?
Did you hurt your back? Let me take a look at it.
BURT: My back has been killing me all day.
This is not the right time.
BEATRICE: Just a glimpse. Come on.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
You were once so beautiful.
BURT: Oh, for God’s sakes.
And now you’re just hideous and grotesque.
You’re so ugly and deformed.
(SIGHS) It’s so hard to look at you.
And you wear a corset like a woman.
You’re helpless.
BURT: Beatrice,
I can’t do this anymore.
This deviance that you’ve come to have about my scars.
(SHUDDERING) Do you choose me or do you need me?
What kind of a question is that?
I was talking to someone today and they said that love is choosing someone, not needing them for some other reason.
Did you need me when we met, or did you choose me as a person?
Was it the people around me?
The prestige of my family in medicine when you were a scholarship student from Upstate New York?
Or did you choose me?
Just me?
I asked Burt the exact same question just a little while ago.
BEATRICE: Harold Woodman.
Why do you have a woman’s purse?
Bill Meekins’s daughter, Liz, was pushed under a truck tonight.
What, are you serious?
HAROLD: She hired me because we were close to her father.
That’s why she trusted us.
Somehow, they think that we did it.
And we need somebody. We need something.
We need someone to help us.
What about the name “Rose”?
That’s the last thing Liz Meekins said before she died, that a Mr. Rose could help her.
Liz would never have known a Rose. That’s a Jewish name.
Oh. Thank you, Beatrice.
You’re only half. Harold, you misheard.
Why?
Because it has to be “Voze” with a “V.”
That’s a prominent family in the Social Register.
The Vozes are at the top of it.
Burt, this is what I’m talking about.
This is your world that we’re in trouble in, not mine.
(BANGING ON DOOR)
What’s that?
(DOOR OPENS)
How dare you come in here?
(DOOR CLOSES)
MAN: The door was unlocked.
This is still your listed address, right?
BURT: Apparently so.
Detective Getweiler, what brings you here at this hour? You need more pills, Lem?
I know you have the same brace as I do, not like Mr. Hiltz.
Your flat arches stopped the Germans from seeing you in the Rhineland.
You know why I’m here, Burt.
You and Woodman fled the scene after you pushed the Meekins woman under a truck.
Why would you possibly think that was us?
Well, there’s not too many people that fit the description of a doctor looking for his eye on the ground with his Black attorney.
The woman who died hired Harold to look into her father’s death.
I did an autopsy on him this afternoon.
He was the general of the regiment we served in, Lem.
Witnesses say you pushed her.
No, we had to get out of there. It was chaos.
A fight broke out. The killer pointed at us.
He’s very good at being a criminal.
Well, I know one thing.
I need to give my captain answers.
And at the moment, you two are the suspects.
Can you prove you have an employment contract with Liz Meekins?
That she hired you to be her attorney?
Absolutely. I can get that to you.
Plus, I can get you the preliminary autopsy report and the Bill Meekins estate papers.
Good.
DETECTIVE HILTZ: No, we gotta… we gotta take you in…
Get your hands off of me. Hiltz. Hiltz, Hiltz.
I’m a part of the Bar Association.
Don’t touch me.
I don’t even like that this man is a lawyer.
Columbia Law School.
Maybe those flat-ass arches of yours make that hard for you to comprehend.
Don’t talk to me about my flat arches.
I’ll crack your head right…
Hiltz, no, you won’t. Knock it off!
What if we got someone to vouch for us?
Someone from the Social Register?
Would that get your captain’s attention?
Someone like Mr. Voze, who knew Bill Meekins.
Bertram…
Beatrice.
BEATRICE: My family are long-standing members of the state medical board.
And I can attest to the fact that both of these men are horrible liars, to each other, let alone to the police.
If you take them in before giving them the chance to give you everything that they’ve offered, I’m afraid it might cost you your job.
My father has a lot of friends at City Hall.
(DETECTIVE GETWEILER SIGHS)
Get us everything you promised.
Understand, you and me, we got something in common.
We served, not like this guy.
What about the missing purse? Where did that go?
This could… This could be evidence.
What are you doing with that? Put that down.
DETECTIVE GETWEILER: Put that back.
DETECTIVE HILTZ: What’s in here? What’s this?
BURT: Put it down. I’m just saying…
Put that back.
(OBJECT SHATTERS) Oh-oh.
(GASPS IN DISBELIEF)
DETECTIVE HILTZ: I’m sorry. I was being careful.
What is the matter with you?
He’s learning, Burt.
He, uh… He can be a good detective.
(BEATRICE SCOFFS)
And when you spoke to Voze, you let me know right away.
I’m not gonna wait that long. You hear me, Burt?
Yes. I’ll give you a few days.
But if I have to, I’ll bring you in myself. I understand.
And I need some pills too. I got it.
I’ll be seeing you in your office pretty soon.
BURT: Yes. But it’s a bad situation.
It’s very bad.
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES) Well, that was exciting.
Go and get your things, but don’t get killed on the way home.
(DOOR CLOSES)
(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(CAR HORN HONKS)
Committee of the Five, stay alive.
Keep your mouth shut.
BURT: Why not just drive up and shoot us?
Committee of the Five, always alive!
BURT: What else did this guy have in mind for us?
MAN: We’re everywhere.
(TIRES SCREECH)
So now we have to lie to get into this guy’s house.
Doesn’t matter how. We are gonna see Mr. Voze.
What is this charity?
Okay, that’s the Episcopal one.
The door opens and you say?
I say, “Hello…”
My name is Dr. Burt Berendsen.
This is Harold Woodman, Esquire, Medal of Honor recipient.
HAROLD: It’s the Croix de Guerre, not the Medal of Honor, and you know that.
BURT: Croix de Guerre, yes. Sorry.
(AMUSING MUSIC PLAYING)
We know how the Episcopalians love Mr. Voze.
He’ll be sorry to have missed you. He’s not in.
BURT: Well, when do you think he’ll be back?
I don’t know.
But perhaps you could leave that letter with me?
HAROLD: We need to hand this directly to Mr. Voze.
On orders from the Bishop.
Right. Well, then, you can leave a card.
I’m sorry to disappoint you, gentlemen.
However, do you mind?
I’m looking at this cabinet, and I… I couldn’t help but recognize these crafts.
Are these made in a hospital, over here?
See? Yes.
HAROLD: Looks like the works of veterans. Yes.
WOMAN: All by veterans. Right.
Mr. Voze’s primary charity.
They send them all the time as thanks.
That, uh, is very kind.
And we, in fact…
(DOOR OPENS)
…uh, are veterans…
Libby, can I have the remedy, please?
I’ve got that numbness in my hands, and the chills in the nerves and shooting pains.
Please?
LIBBY: Valerie, please go into your room or go back upstairs.
Can’t you see we have company present?
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
What are you doing here?
What are you doing here?
No. Don’t talk to her. She’s not well.
Valerie, don’t talk to these men.
I’m not a hemophiliac, Libby. I can talk to people.
LIBBY: Yes, you’re not a hemophiliac, but you are epileptic, and you have a nervous disorder. No!
We talked about the doll. I’ll bite your ears off.
No! I told you not to do that with the doll.
Mrs. Moran! Carlton… (HIGH-PITCHED) Carlton!
You know that disturbs me, Valerie.
How dare you! Carlton!
VALERIE: (IN DEEP VOICE) Carlton.
LIBBY: Valerie, honestly.
We spoke about leaving me alone with her.
(IN NORMAL TONE) Come in here. We can talk in here.
(WHISPERS INDISTINCTLY)
(LOCKS DOOR)
(DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING)
How is this coincidence even possible?
Because it’s not a coincidence.
I told Liz Meekins to hire you two.
What do you mean, you told Liz Meekins to hire us?
She’s a friend of mine.
She needed someone she could trust.
Someone outside our social circle.
This is so strange.
I never really told you my real last name.
Bandenberg was a traveling name.
But that was our deal in Amsterdam.
Nothing about the past.
Right?
You live in New Jersey? This whole time?
Yeah.
HAROLD: This is a big house.
This is how you live? Yeah.
(HESITATES) No letter.
Not a phone call.
VALERIE: I was embarrassed.
This is not who I once was.
It’s not who you met in Amsterdam.
HAROLD: What’s wrong with your balance?
(SIGHS) I have a nerve disorder.
You never had that before.
No, she never had that before.
We are here for a reason.
Harold, let’s not forget, it’s pretty urgent.
Valerie, do you know Tom Voze?
Of course I know Tom.
HAROLD: We’re in a lot of trouble, Valerie.
We need him to vouch for us.
VALERIE: He’s a good guy, but I don’t know if he’s gonna vouch for you.
He avoids controversy. He doesn’t like that.
He’s easily intimidated.
Is he your husband?
LIBBY: Carlton’s on his way!
No, he’s not my husband.
He’s married to the woman out there screaming to have you kicked out right now.
He’s my brother.
After everything we had in Amsterdam, turns out Burt and I have no idea who you are.
You know exactly who I am. I know exactly who you are.
All three of us. Burt too.
We know each other the way it counts.
And if you two still have an arrangement, then I’m still part of it.
Maybe not after 12 years.
VALERIE: Yes, after 12 years. Yes.
Because I ended up here.
And I came back because of you and you.
That’s true.
I told you when you left Amsterdam, something bad would happen.
I said it would be the bad part of the dream.
Did I not say that?
It’s true.
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
And here we are.
LIBBY: Valerie, Carlton’s on his way.
(KNOCKING CONTINUES)
Open the door.
We can get out of it.
(DOOR BANGS)
Well, it’s different here, so I don’t know about that.
(DOOR RATTLING)
LIBBY: Carlton is coming, Valerie.
I have a feeling this is Carlton.
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
VALERIE: Oh, no.
No. Oh, no, no, no.
(BURT GRUNTS)
Ah…
(BURT GROANS)
Carlton. Carlton. Please. Wait. Wait…
Oh!
(BODY THUDS)
Valerie, do you see what happens?
How do you possibly know any of these men?
There he is.
The brandy, Mrs. Moran.
(BURT MUMBLES)
BURT: No, thank you. I don’t drink.
Well, I don’t think I trust a man who doesn’t like a drink, especially at a time like this.
Where is my eye, Harold?
HAROLD: Right here. Thanks.
I never expected two decorated soldiers to get knocked out in my own home.
No, just one, sir.
Oh, that’s right, Mr. Woodman. You were too fast for Carlton.
HAROLD: I was.
They started talking to Valerie, and she’s not well.
And please, darling girl, stop crying.
It’s only natural for her to cry, Libby.
She just found out her friend is dead.
We couldn’t keep it from her for forever.
I’m not so ill that I can’t talk to people.
LIBBY: You leave me here with this invalid when you know very well that I think she should be hospitalized.
TOM: Libby.
It’s for her own good. If you ever say that to me again… I can’t handle…
It will be a better place for you.
…I’ll put you in a hospital.
I’ll send you to a witch trial.
(LOUDLY) Ladies, please. Ladies. Stop.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry I had to raise my voice.
She was talking to these men like she knows them.
That terrified me.
(VALERIE SCOFFS)
(VALERIE SIGHS)
Do you know one another?
VALERIE: Yes.
LIBBY: No.
Yes.
HAROLD: We do, indeed.
Europe.
From Amsterdam.
VALERIE: The hospital.
They said they were from the Episcopal charities.
Is there any truth to that at all?
Uh, absolutely. In part.
LIBBY: In part?
Hey, the gala is coming up.
Mostly a veteran event.
But there might be Episcopalians there.
And Bill Meekins was our featured speaker.
But we find ourselves in this terrible situation where we’re accused of killing Liz Meekins, which is not true in any way.
Liz mentioned the name “Voze,” and so we thought you might know who was after her and can help clear our names.
We’re veterans. We’re respectable.
We wouldn’t be involved in any of this, except to help.
Bill Meekins was a graham cracker of a man.
Not a mean bone in his body.
Then why… Why did I have to help her?
Why did I have to encourage her to go around everyone we know and hire these two?
TOM: I did help her, darling.
I told her to come to me before it got bad.
Now look what happened.
Yes. Look what you did, Valerie.
I’m sorry, it’s unfortunate, but you shouldn’t have gotten involved.
It’s not her fault.
It’s not her fault. Tom.
How is this not her fault? It’s not…
Some things are her fault.
(VOICE BREAKING) Tom. Tom.
Oh, Tom.
TOM: (WHISPERS) She’s sick.
(VALERIE SNIFFLES)
We can find who killed Bill Meekins.
It’s probably the same people who killed his daughter.
We’re looking into it.
And, uh, that information will clear our names.
Now, the autopsy indicated that he was possibly poisoned by too many medicines while he was in Europe.
Do you know who he was traveling with, who sent him?
I can help you find out, but I can’t get personally involved.
You’re a coward, Tom.
Don’t you dare call him a coward.
You know that’s what he was called by those prep-school kids.
It’s cruel, Valerie, and you know that.
They want me to get involved in all these committees, clubs.
Do you know what I do instead?
I’m a bird watcher.
(VALERIE SCOFFS)
(VALERIE SCOFFS)
That’s what I do.
Mm, it must be good, get you outside.
You’re a bird watcher. He’s ridiculous.
He’s no more ridiculous than you are with your movies, razor blades, teacups, the horrid things you make.
Honestly, Valerie, they’re demented.
Excuse me.
You said that you could help us find who traveled with him to Europe. Who would know?
Gil Dillenbeck would know. Do you know him?
The whole country knows him.
He’s the most decorated Marine in US history.
Yeah. Yes, he is.
Dillenbeck was friends with Meekins.
They were both generals.
I never got involved in the military.
I just ran the family’s textile company.
Dillenbeck can tell you who was traveling with Meekins.
I wouldn’t trust anyone else.
And I don’t have access to that kind of information myself.
Okay, okay. We met him twice. Yeah.
Took a picture with him once in Belgium and another…
D.C. …at the Bonus Army march in summer ’32. Right.
We still have those pictures, Mr. Voze.
Yeah. Right.
He’s very particular about who he’ll speak to.
If you’ve met him, and you’re soldiers he respects, your chances are far better than mine.
Yeah, he distrusts people of means.
If you meet him, please do let us know.
I would love to shake his hand.
Libby saw Dillenbeck in the newsreel, and she has a crush on him.
Don’t be ridiculous, Valerie.
VALERIE: You have talked about that newsreel.
He’s a very impressive man.
Yes, he is.
And I happen to like that newsreel. (GASPS)
Don’t play it. Don’t play it, Tom.
Oh, we should play it before they go.
Valerie, Gil Dillenbeck is perhaps the one hope your friends have of getting out of all this trouble.
Would you like to see the newsreel?
Oh, good.
(ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The veterans who marched last summer for benefits remain under the leadership of General Gil Dillenbeck.
The veterans’ benefits are still unpaid, though the brave general remains their spokesperson.
Look, look, it makes me so damn mad.
A whole lot of people speak of you as tramps.
“Tramps! You men are tramps.”
Who are these people who dare call you that?
You’re soldiers.
You sacrificed your lives, your limbs.
You’ve suffered that for your country.
(VETERANS AGREEING)
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The government burned them out of the nation’s capital.
Veterans never got one benefit.
Who in the hell has done all the bleeding for this country, and for this law, and this Constitution anyhow, (DISTORTED) but you fellows?
LIBBY: Tom, it ruined the newsreel.
TOM: I’m so sorry, darling. I will replace that.
VALERIE: Libby’s precious newsreel.
BURT: We were there. We took pictures with the general.
LIBBY: Such a handsome man. Such a strong man.
Now that is true character in a man.
Tom is also of excellent character.
And, yes, he prefers birding to politics.
But it’s meaningful.
You said you’d come back.
Why? So you could leave me?
I didn’t know if I was a fleeting adventure or if you even thought about me at all, Valerie.
I never thought of anyone else. Not really.
What about you?
No. Not really.
Really?
Yes.
And what did you mean, “embarrassed”?
What did you mean by that?
Embarrassed to contact me all these years?
Just seeing me like this. I…
It’s not who I was in Amsterdam.
And for what? For what?
We can’t be together in this country.
(VALERIE SIGHS)
You see that garden?
I spend at least an hour out there every day.
Oh, that’s great. Mm.
See a rose-breasted grosbeak, a dark-eyed junco, reminds me of God’s green earth.
BURT: Hmm.
Yeah, I don’t know those birds. But…
There’s this man from England who has violated every sacred rule of birding by going into 24 nests of a near-extinct species of bird to take 24 eggs.
All for one man’s selfish glorification to get his name in a bird book for some meaningless discovery.
And that is the type of person, I think, who very likely did something awful to Bill Meekins and his daughter.
I’m trying to follow you here, sir.
You’re saying that man, the bird thing, England, the nest, and the book, that he killed Bill Meekins?
I’m trying to make a point. Yeah?
That type of man.
Okay. I’m still not certain. What do you mean?
Dr. Berendsen, you seem like a good person with your medicines and your veterans.
You shouldn’t be hindered. You should be helped.
But I’m only one person. Sir, we didn’t do anything, and we need the police to know that.
Maybe Dillenbeck.
(DOOR THUDS)
(VALERIE SIGHS)
Tomorrow? Tomorrow?
Can you come back tomorrow? The house will be empty.
(FALTERS) They’ll be at the other house for one of Libby’s culture talks, please.
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING) Shush.
What do you mean, “shush”? What are you guys doing?
I’ve been discussing crimes of the bird society of England.
Your brother’s a little kooky.
Burt, I don’t know what’s happening, but it’s far beyond Meekins and his daughter.
And I don’t trust my medications now either.
We just have to get Dillenbeck. That’s it.
Great, take me with you.
BURT: Valerie. I can come. I can help.
She can. It’s true. Burt.
The three of us, we were inseparable.
We did things, we got things done, and most of all, we lived.
Harold? I have to get out of here, please!
HAROLD: She’s right.
Burt. She could help us. I can help.
LIBBY: Valerie?
What are you doing?
It’s time to get your friends to the door.
Dr. Malin’s coming.
Thank you for coming. Sorry for the trouble.
BURT: Thank you. This turned out very helpful.
Looking forward to this.
Please say goodbye to Carlton for me.
Thank you. Talk to you soon.
(DOOR CLOSES)
Valerie?
Dr. Malin will be here with the remedies you asked for, remember?
HAROLD: Are you Dr. Malin?
Yes. Yes, I am.
Oh, I’m a doctor. If you don’t mind my asking, in your professional opinion, what is her condition?
Hereditary nervous disorder.
Affects her blood pressure, her balance, her nerves and movement.
No, she never had that before, Doctor.
It advances with age.
Thank you. Thank you, Doctor.
(MUFFLED FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL)
HAROLD: My God.
I can’t believe we saw Valerie.
BURT: First thing tomorrow…
She looks great.
BURT: First thing…
HAROLD: Such bad luck, she got that ailment.
BURT: …we go to Dillenbeck’s, and we hope we get in.
(PHONE RINGING) Dillenbeck said no, Burt.
Dillenbeck said no?
What do you mean, he said no? Did you talk to him?
I talked to his wife.
She said no. They get too many visitors.
We… We have to keep trying.
Uh, did you send, uh, the… the… the photographs of when we met him?
No, because you have to bring the pictures yourself.
All right, where is Harold?
He was supposed to take me to Dillenbeck’s.
He was meant to be here hours ago.
I don’t know.
But the police are here, and they wanna talk to you.
Okay. (SIGHS) All right, everything all at once.
SHIRLEY: Irma St. Clair is waiting, also.
Oh, God! All right.
Uh…
PATIENTS: ♪ Peanuts ♪
Not now. Not now.
(LA CONGA BLICOTI BY JOSEPHINE BAKER PLAYING)
Oh, come on. Are you sure this is safe, Valerie?
Yes, it’s safe. It’s fine.
They’re at the other house. They’ll be there all day.
Remember this?
(CAMERA WHIRRING) You look perfect.
That’s you.
That’s you.
(LA CONGA BLICOTI BY JOSEPHINE BAKER CONTINUES)
Pourquoi? (HAROLD LAUGHS)
Amsterdam. Say, “Amsterdam.”
Amsterdam.
Amsterdam.
MAN: This pill has gotta be better.
SHIRLEY: Of course.
BURT: Morty, it’s for the pain and the nerves.
Detective Getweiler, you want the medicine.
Let me do that for ya.
Come on. This hip is killing me.
No, no, no. Come on. Come on.
Give it to me. Give that to me.
DETECTIVE GETWEILER: (GROANING) My hip is killing me.
(DETECTIVE GETWEILER GRUNTS)
BURT: There you go.
DETECTIVE GETWEILER: So painful.
BURT: Please, please, please.
Let me do that next time. What are friends for?
DETECTIVE GETWEILER: I think there will be no next time.
Listen to me.
We might have to close down your office.
Lem, close down the office?
Yeah, close down your office, yeah.
We need hard evidence.
Detective Hiltz, look, you don’t understand.
Me and Lem, this and this.
Tell him, Lem.
DETECTIVE GETWEILER: Exactly, we got metal in our blood, in our brain. Imagine that.
You have flat arches.
You couldn’t serve. We understand.
You’re still our chief suspects.
BURT: Why?
Why? You know, you know we didn’t do this.
No, everyone says you did it.
Everyone says? Every… There was one man.
Yeah. He did it.
Now my captain needs to know why you did that, uh, hush-hush autopsy on the father.
There was nothing hush-hush about it.
Liz Meekins authorized it. Completely legal.
Harold can verify that.
Let’s see the autopsy results.
Yes, let me get the autopsy from Irma St. Clair right in here.
Excuse me, Doctor. Overseas, I understand that they have medicines for strength.
Do you got anything here for strength?
What? Power? Power.
Can I get the autopsy report…
Yeah, but…
…from Irma St. Clair… Hiltz, wait.
…one of the best autopsy nurses in the city?
DETECTIVE GETWEILER: Thank you. Yes, thank you.
BURT: Optimism.
I understand we both had a very unusual time since last we saw each other.
What happened?
Why is your coat over your shoulder?
That’s what I wanted to tell you.
I was filing the autopsy results when this red-faced man with an angry face… Oh, God.
…and this other man… What happened?
They threw me down, they broke my wrist, and they took the autopsy results.
They took everything.
But it wasn’t… That’s not well done.
I know. That is angulated.
That needs to be reset, or else that is gonna be very bad.
(IRMA SIGHS) Uh…
Can I? Okay.
Let me take your coat. Let me sit down. Thank you.
IRMA: Are you all right?
(PHONE RINGING)
BURT: No, this is not… not a good job.
That’s it. Hold on. Two more.
One time, you were telling me whether you like the Spanish melody…
What? …or was it classical?
Classical…
(BONES CRACK)
(GROANS LOUDLY)
(SHUDDERS)
BURT: That’s it. That’s it.
All done. It’s okay. (SOBS)
It’s okay. All right now. (EXHALES DEEPLY)
Okay? Yes.
That’s it. I gotta get a sling.
Just keep that supported. Yes.
I’m so sorry that you got mixed up in all this.
I’m an autopsy nurse.
I get mixed up in all sorts of things.
Besides, brought me closer to you and to…
They’re waiting for us.
Let them wait.
(RADIO TUNES)
(DOUCEMENT, DOUCEMENT BY HENRI SALVADOR PLAYING)
(WHISPERING) Why is he playing music?
(WHISPERING) He likes music.
I don’t know why he’s playing it now.
Do you like this music?
Me? I don’t know.
(DOUCEMENT, DOUCEMENT BY HENRI SALVADOR CONTINUES)
Beatrice.
What are you doing here?
Who is this woman?
This is Irma. We work together.
BEATRICE: Mm-hmm.
She’s, uh…
(TURNS OFF MUSIC)
She’s an autopsy nurse.
BEATRICE: Don’t give me that.
Come home.
I’ll defy my family so we can be together.
BURT: Is this real?
Why are you here now, of all times?
Like, you never come here.
‘Cause Shirley’s on my side, and she calls me and tells me when to protect my husband.
My father controls your medical license.
You know that.
Can you get your parents to put their names on the committee for the gala for the veterans, so we can get respect and dignity, and you can tell your parents that Tom Voze might, uh, get involved?
Well, uh, yes.
But how will you get him? You won’t get him.
I already met him.
I introduced you.
Well, you didn’t introduce us. You told us about him, and then me and Harold, we met him.
BEATRICE: Really sorry, Burt.
I think you should think about who you are and what you want to be.
BURT: Shirley. Not helpful.
We need a sling!
DETECTIVE GETWEILER: Where are the autopsy results?
She was rolled, Lem, quite possibly by the same man who pushed Liz Meekins.
SHIRLEY: I got the sling.
I can give you a description. He was about…
You mean, they’re stolen?
Yes, they were stolen.
So, what about the results?
I can tell you the results. I remember them.
I found mercury, luminol, and somnifene in his stomach, and they were in high amounts.
I believe they were given to him the last week of his life.
Last week, which means probably on the boat.
So, we don’t have anything to give our captain, right?
She just gave you the evidence.
I can give you an affidavit. I do them all the time.
I’m bonded by the city.
How about that? Right?
I mean, we are doing… And certified.
Yes. We’re doing your job for you.
What about the dead daughter?
Throw this guy in jail.
Let me handle this. Let me handle this.
Lem. Lem, Lem. What’s this…
BURT: Please do not touch that.
…degenerate tea set? That is art.
You gotta get rid of this. It’s obscene.
That’s art. No, that’s not art.
Art is beautiful, lovely, evokes thoughts.
That’s what that is.
That’s what that is? Yes.
Why would you take a tea set, a lovely tea set, and turn it into an instrument of violence?
That’s a good question. It makes no sense.
Perhaps, Lem, the question of the century.
(DETECTIVE GETWEILER SIGHS)
BURT: Don’t think about it too much.
Lem.
DETECTIVE GETWEILER: Burt.
Lem, where is the camaraderie?
We were in the Argonne. Let’s live.
Voulons vivre.
New pill. Remember this.
Souviens-toi.
You owe me. Okay.
But you owe me too.
Get me Harold’s contract with Liz Meekins.
I will.
Truth is possible.
And I think that love, maybe, is even possible.
And this pill is working.
(GLASS EYE CLATTERS)
Truth, love, what?
BURT: Harold has the car. I only got one eye.
They don’t let me drive. We’ll find them.
It’s okay.
MEN: ♪ Lady of Spain, I adore you ♪
♪ Right from the night I first saw you ♪
♪ My heart has been yearning for you ♪
♪ What else could any heart do? ♪
♪ Lady of Spain, I love you ♪
Oh, my God.
(IRMA CHUCKLES)
This sounds terrific. Larry.
LARRY: (LAUGHS) It’s not canceled, right?
MAN: It’s not canceled, is it?
Definitely not canceled.
MAN: Oh, thank you.
BURT: The reunion is a gem, and you’re gonna sing.
We are going to perform!
You be careful. You be careful.
Milton!
Harold was supposed to be at my office hours ago.
You okay? You don’t look good.
Things have gotten more complicated, haven’t they?
You know, my grandfather shot a guy in the face.
And he got shot in the face.
Separate occasions.
Separate occasions. Not the same guy.
And it all worked out.
Good. Let’s go.
Dr. Burt. Burt. I got a pinched nerve.
No, I’m… I… I don’t know what to do with that yet.
We can be right there. Okay, good.
Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick.
We went on a drive and found out a lot of things.
Well, you’re not supposed to go for a drive, when you’re supposed to meet Gil Dillenbeck.
And the police are waiting on papers that you promised them.
Did someone slap you, Burt?
‘Cause you have a red mark on your face.
I fell, I got slapped, I got…
Carlton punched me.
Yeah, I was there for that one.
We got roughed up too.
We were in quite a situation.
Please, not now. In the car.
Milton, get these to Detective Getweiler. All right?
This is Liz Meekins’s employment contract.
Did I mention that I predicted extreme trouble from a white man in a box?
Then added to (SHOUTS) by a white woman under a truck.
BURT: The point, Milton?
MILTON: You know, I’d rather be on trial for killin’ five white men than one white woman.
‘Cause this can lead to one Black man or more dead in a box.
BURT: Please, let’s get going.
We should’ve left for Dillenbeck’s hours ago.
That’s the only hope that we have to get out of this situation with the police.
BURT: Why are we stopping here?
This is not Bucks County.
This is not even out of the city.
VALERIE: We’re making a quick stop at the Waldorf.
BURT: Is Dillenbeck at the Waldorf?
HAROLD: We’re not here to see Dillenbeck.
BURT: What are you talking about?
What are we doing here? Harold, Valerie!
Unbelievable!
Welcome to the Waldorf Astoria, sir.
How long will…
We’re not staying at the Waldorf.
We had one thing to do today, Harold.
One thing. Try to talk to Gil Dillenbeck.
And maybe have an event with a modicum…
This is my situation… …of dignity and…
…from my past that we saw today, Burt.
And it’s my peace of mind that’s been twisted, Burt.
Dillenbeck can’t help us until we know what’s really going on.
Well, what is going on?
I don’t know, but we’re gonna find out.
Give me the keys. Give me the keys.
Absolutely not. Give me the keys.
You’re not driving. You can’t drive, you one-eyed nut.
Harold, this is not smart.
BURT: At least, just tell me who we’re seeing here.
Paul Canterbury.
Paul Canterbury?
Yeah. Yeah. The glass-eye guy?
From Amsterdam. The benefactor?
She still talks to them, Burt.
(PATRONS CHATTERING)
Hello, Paul. Oh, Valerie, how are you?
There you are.
Harold.
Paul Canterbury.
PAUL: Berendsen, how are you?
Here you go. Dark hazel green.
Eh. PAUL: Box of six.
Very kind of you. Thank you.
(TUNE PLAYS ON SPEAKERS)
PAUL: Ah!
It’s teatime.
Is it just me who fancies claret?
I like to have it going in one hand and tea in the other.
We’re in a bit of a predicament, Paul.
Thank you for taking the time to see us.
Valerie, we’re prepared to do anything we must as gentlemen.
MAN: You bounder! (GRUNTS)
(PATRONS EXCLAIM) You cheat! You disgust me!
History will redeem me.
Like hell it will.
PAUL: Sorry, everyone. (SIGHS)
It’s all right. Drinks on me. (CHUCKLES) Literally.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYS)
PAUL: Hello. This way, please.
(TYPEWRITERS CLACKING)
You remember Henry Norcross? He’s the American…
HENRY: Federal employee they don’t need to talk about, or I trust they wouldn’t be here.
What does all of this have to do with a “glass business” in England and, uh, financing in Washington?
Well, they overlap.
Lots of things overlap, Berendsen.
The whole world overlaps in its most treacherous way if you pay attention.
And hello, Burt, Harold, Valerie.
Hello, Henry. You’re looking good, Henry.
It’s good to see you too as we gather here once more on the right side of history. Huh?
Paul, I understand you had a drink thrown in your face in the tea court just now.
PAUL: Yes.
Just some old business from England, Henry.
No, no, no. A drink in your face is a drink in my face.
I’d like to hear about it, please.
Then we’ll get on to new business.
It was someone from the Ornithological Society of Great Britain.
Ah, one of those rotten bastards, huh?
Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
What?
I was told a story about a misdeed in the bird society of England.
And I’m starting to wonder if that story is about you.
Our discovery was hardly trivial.
Yes, we proved that the cuckoo lacks the capacity, the civility, the character to build its own nest.
BURT: Wow.
How is that possibly significant or interesting to anybody or anything?
PAUL: Because it shows that the cuckoo is a parasitic bird.
It tricks better birds who build nests.
Cuckoo destroys the host’s eggs, and then destroys the nest itself.
Berendsen, the cuckoo doesn’t give a damn. Okay?
I’d say it’s a profound statement on the parasitic destructive behavior of nature, including humans. Hear, hear.
That is especially true after what we saw today.
HAROLD: Burt, it’s the story about what happened to us. Listen up.
We have been trying to tell you, Burt.
And I think Paul and Henry should hear this too.
But we ended up at a very strange clinic today and we found this.
Those symbols were everywhere.
HAROLD: Have you seen it before?
The Committee of the Five.
I went to see Valerie as we’d arranged, but then we noticed somebody was watching us.
VALERIE: Someone was watching us through the curtains.
That’s the man who pushed Liz Meekins.
And he must’ve got bored waiting because he started to leave, and then we decided to follow him.
And he led us to Rockland County.
HAROLD: To an unmarked brick building.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
(GLASS SLAMS)
They assumed that we were patients for a procedure.
VALERIE: To be sterilized.
BURT: Ah, a forced sterilization clinic.
HAROLD: Then I saw the man.
This red-faced man. The man who pushed Liz Meekins.
He looked right at me, and he said…
This is your moment to end your inferiority.
You’re gonna have that procedure.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(BOTH GRUNTING)
Don’t move!
(GUN CLICKS) Shit.
(GUN FIRES)
MAN 1: Somebody call the captain!
Come on. MAN 1: Stop those people!
MAN 2: Help! We need help!
MAN 1: Call the captain!
HAROLD: Well, when Valerie’s gun finally went off, it hit a glass, and we got out of there and headed back to the city.
BURT: My God.
Well, I’m glad you’re all right.
But if you didn’t get the red-faced killer’s identification, then it’s of no help, whatsoever.
What are you talking about, Burt?
It has everything to do with everything.
Today, that what happened, has to…
How? It starts with me.
Well, it starts with me.
I told some friends in Long view, Texas, not to visit this very horrifying clinic, a lot like the one we saw today.
A mob. A mob of white men chased me.
They harassed me. They tried to kill me.
They were unsuccessful. They were very unsuccessful.
I left Long view, Texas, and I never looked back.
It’s not just about you and Texas, nor today in Rockland.
There is an organization that wishes to do this all over the world.
What does it mean?
It means there’s a cabal in this country tied to another in Germany who supports these clinics, who want to rule the world.
Rule the world?
Exactly correct.
Who’s in the cabal?
HENRY: Maybe who is the wrong question to ask. Instead ask why.
Go see Dillenbeck.
Ask him why his fellow, General Meekins, was murdered.
Dillenbeck, he’s been leading on this cabal to find out who they are, what they plan.
Committee of the Five.
The organization named Der Funf.
Committee of the Five.
Trying to figure out who they are.
Committee of the Five.
HENRY: Yeah. Yeah.
I think it would be wonderful if Dillenbeck was the speaker at your reunion.
Seems your event’s becoming rather important, Berendsen.
If you can get Dillenbeck to speak, perhaps it might attract more influential members of the cabal.
Yeah, the killer from the street or the higher-ups paying for it all.
BURT: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
No. I don’t want our event, Harold’s and my event, to be used like this by anybody.
Used? No.
Think of it as protecting what you love.
Okay?
We told you in Amsterdam we’d come a-calling, and here we are.
And here you are.
(ROUSING MUSIC PLAYING)
Well, we done here?
Or you wanna talk more about birds?
You know, a lot of people assume that it’s about the, uh… the tranquility or the communion with nature.
But I find bird-watching so fascinating because it forces you to decide what you are looking at.
I am honing my art of discernment.
And I want you to trust me that I believe now is the time to intervene.
We get Gil Dillenbeck to be the speaker at this event, he will be the magnet that draws all the nails out of the wood and brings this house of treachery down to the ground.
So what do you say, Burt? Please.
PAUL: Please try, Burt.
I don’t like to say, “I told you so,” but this is all turning out to be a lot larger than any of us imagined.
Yeah.
If the gala is used by Paul…
Are you okay? You good?
Mm-hmm. Fine. It comes and goes. I’m fine.
Yeah?
You feel fine, then all of a sudden, vertigo, you get dizzy…
It comes and goes.
First, they told me that I had epilepsy.
I’d never had a seizure, but they said I had epilepsy, and the seizures would come sooner or later.
But that could be avoided if I took medication.
And so I did.
And then I started having other symptoms, more symptoms, and they said, “That’s hereditary.
“That’s from your mother’s side.”
So they gave me new medications, and I kept taking that.
And now years and years have gone by and I’m barely leaving the house, and I feel like I’m a patient, and I can’t live, and I… I’m starting to question all of it.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(HAROLD AND BURT EXCLAIM)
HAROLD: You okay?
VALERIE: Mm-hmm.
No, don’t touch me. Don’t hold me.
I’m fine. I can do this, and I just need… I just need a minute here to rest, just…
(PANTING)
Oh, God. You good? Bitch.
Valerie. Oh, yes.
I’m fine.
Look, I’m doing stairs.
I can go up stairs with no vertigo.
No vertigo. I’m fine. I can run.
Oh, my… Valerie! Valerie!
(BODY THUDS)
Collect that drunk woman and go!
BURT: We know the general.
We have pictures.
VALERIE: I’m all right, damn it.
MRS. DILLENBECK: There, I don’t want the pictures.
Go, now! I’m a doctor.
Go now. And I am a veteran.
You’re gonna need a doctor…
Thank you.
…when I’m through with you. Breathe. Just breathe.
Now, go or I’m gonna call the police.
BURT: Just a few minutes… No, I’ve got it. I do.
…of your husband’s time.
MRS. DILLENBECK: No.
VALERIE: I have to fight through these symptoms at some point.
BURT: There goes…
VALERIE: I’m not getting depressed about it.
BURT: …our one chance to clear our names.
You have to change your medicine and your doctor.
Son of a bitch. I was fine.
Maybe it’s time for me to leave anyway.
VALERIE: What do you mean, leave?
HAROLD: Well, even if we solve Meekins out of the three of us, I’m the one that’s going to jail.
The system’s rigged.
BURT: Harold.
I told you from the get-go, this job was a bad idea.
Milton told you this job was a bad idea… but she had to get us hired.
Oh, “she”? “She had to get…”
“She” also got you out of jail, which you seem to forget a lot.
You can’t turn your backs on me now.
You broke the pact, remember?
I broke the pact? When?
We told you not to leave, Burt.
At least you found love, even if you can’t get it.
I’ve never been lucky enough to even know what the hell it is.
And that’s a terrible affliction I don’t wish on anyone.
I wish I never did find it.
Because it hurts too much.
MRS. DILLENBECK: Wait!
The general wants to meet you.
(HOPEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
Don’t screw this up.
Straighten up.
MRS. DILLENBECK: Come on!
Help me walk.
MRS. DILLENBECK: I’m sorry about the misunderstanding before.
Never mind. Never mind.
MRS. DILLENBECK: We get so many uninvited guests here.
Of course. People we don’t want to see.
I’m sorry. Thank you.
I’m not drunk.
MRS. DILLENBECK: Uh, young lady, what is wrong with you?
Are you all right?
It’s a touch of vertigo and a couple of other…
I’m coming off some medication at the moment.
I had vertigo once and the world just keeps moving.
I’d offer you a drink, but we don’t keep alcohol in the house.
Oh, that’s fine.
(SIGHS) You can put your hat and coats over there.
You’re going up this way.
Are we jumping ahead of another visitor?
Oh, Mr. Maguire comes every month to discuss something my husband can never get a clear answer about.
Right, Mr. Maguire?
BURT: Ah.
(MUFFLED MUSIC PLAYING ON SPEAKERS)
MRS. DILLENBECK: (SIGHS) What do I know?
I’m just trying to make bouillabaisse because the general had it once in France.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
General? Your visitors are here.
You call your husband “General”?
Only on the weekdays.
What do you call him on weekends?
That’s a very personal question.
Were you taught no manners?
Don’t blame me for getting us kicked out.
I didn’t mean anything by it. Are you nervous?
She’s pulling everybody’s leg half the time.
That’s why I love her.
What an honor, sir.
Um, was it the pictures that made you change your mind about seeing us?
How can I know this is you, really, in the picture?
BURT: Uh, yes, sir.
So, well, I’m the doctor.
She’s the nurse. He’s the attorney.
We all met in Belgium, which, if you recall, is where we met for the first time.
As well as Washington, last summer, at the B.E.F. March.
I’ll tell you one thing that I can remember quite clearly.
You did something that…
You sang a song, I believe.
Which… Which one, sir?
DILLENBECK: Well, that’s for you to remember.
I met thousands of people. You just met me twice.
So, you should remember the song.
I’d like you to sing it now, then I’ll know it’s you.
Sing a song.
♪ Did you ever see a dream ♪
♪ Dream walking? ♪
Walking?
♪ Well, I did ♪
Yes…
♪ Did you ever hear a dream… Talking? ♪
See… Right.
♪ Then I did ♪
Oh, no, no. That’s… That’s not it.
Um… Was it in French?
I’ll know it when I hear it.
Yes. That was it.
That’s right.
We made it up. (CHUCKLES)
Well, it’s not supposed to make sense.
It’s just a nonsense song.
But it makes us feel good. (CHUCKLES)
And you’re the doctor?
BURT: That’s right, sir.
And you evacuated 4,000 men in one day.
You’re very famous.
Different doctor.
That’s the social guy from San Francisco.
Story of my life.
Not you?
Burt and I did evacuate a couple of thousand men in one day, though, sir.
And you, sir, you stabbed 30 Germans with your knife, and they called you “Black Death”?
No, sir, that was Black Death Henry Johnson.
But I did get 12 of ’em
before they gave me this.
DILLENBECK: Oh.
I also saved a lot of lives.
DILLENBECK: You did? Yeah.
Well, that’s something to be proud of.
It’s shameful they made you wear those French uniforms.
You should wear your own country’s uniform.
From your mouth to God’s ears, sir. Thank you.
So, uh, General?
Bill Meekins.
Well, Bill Meekins was a friend of mine, and it’s a tragedy what happened to him and his daughter.
And it’s a disgrace that no one cares.
Oh, we care. Indeed.
The late Elizabeth Meekins hired us, actually.
She hired you? Why?
She didn’t believe that her father died of natural causes.
On his way back from Europe.
The last time I spoke to my friend, he called me from Rome.
Called me from the hotel.
Told me of something monstrous that he had seen.
Disturbed him greatly.
That was why Bill was killed.
You see the man downstairs when you came in?
Every couple of weeks, he comes and he brings…
Did you see a bag?
VALERIE: Mm-hmm.
A bag of money he offers to me.
Money for what?
To give a speech.
He won’t tell me who’s behind him. I ask him.
And say, “Who’s this from?”
And he doesn’t give me an answer.
They’re paying you to be their mouthpiece.
DILLENBECK: That’s right, exactly.
And they know the veterans will follow.
HAROLD: The Committee of the Five.
Well, somebody is trying to do something dark and treacherous.
Come here.
(WHISPERS) Ask him if he’ll speak at the gala.
Push it further. Like Henry said.
Sir, um, if these guys are meeting you… Hmm.
…and you wanna find out who’s behind it all, why not go further and lead them to our reunion gala event?
They might show themselves in some fashion.
(DOOR OPENS)
Maguire, can you tell me, why do you come every month?
Well, General, I can’t speak about it in front of other people.
Well, why not? I mean, you say there’s nothing to hide.
And it’s in the name of a good cause.
Well, yes, sir. But not everyone understands it.
DILLENBECK: What I don’t understand is who or what you represent.
Can you tell me?
Well, I’m not at liberty to say who I represent, sir.
Uh, but they are very important people, and they have a very important organization that’s gonna change everything for the better.
The purpose, as I’ve told you, sir, is to lead this nation properly in this time of economic crisis.
There’s a cripple in the White House.
Roosevelt is weak. We’d like you to speak on behalf of the veterans and new leadership.
Well, that’s what elections are for, Maguire.
Don’t you believe in the Constitution?
Of course, but we feel that action is urgently needed now.
From a retired general before the election?
Do you want me to be a dictator?
Is that what your big sponsors want?
Uh, a… A dictator?
No, it doesn’t have to be said like that.
Okay, chancellor? Does that make it better?
It still violates the Constitution.
MAGUIRE: They did this with veterans in Germany and Italy.
Very successful.
18,000, sir, from the Committee of the Five.
Uh, Committee for a Sound Dollar.
From who?
BURT: Committee of the Five?
Committee for a Sound Dollar.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
The nation needs your leadership.
Do you see where I’m going, sir?
DILLENBECK: Mr. Maguire, I’ve changed my mind.
I’ve decided I will do the speech.
This is very exciting.
I’ll choose the event. I’m most comfortable speaking with the veterans Bill Meekins knew from the regiment he created. I’ll speak at their reunion.
MAGUIRE: Of course, but…
DILLENBECK: Because I want to see the men who put the money in that bag.
And I wanna look them in the eye, and I wanna shake their hand.
Given that we’re partners now, I can guarantee that you will meet the distinguished gentlemen on the Committee for a Sound Dollar.
They will be there to meet you personally, although we might need to be in a private room.
Okay.
MAGUIRE: Thank you.
This is wonderful. This is the speech.
DILLENBECK: Mr. Maguire, take that bag.
MAGUIRE: Yes, sir.
So, you still won’t tell me who they are.
Is that true?
At the event, sir.
(DOOR OPENS)
Whoever offers me more money and tells me what to say…
(DOOR CLOSES)
…and what not to say in my speech very likely killed Bill Meekins and his daughter.
And is behind all this.
BURT: And so, two soldiers and a nurse found ourselves in league with the great honorable, decorated General Dillenbeck.
General, you should really speak to Tom Voze, Valerie’s brother.
(MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
(PA BUZZES)
WOMAN: (ON PA) Production Room 7, please.
Production Room 7, mechanic needed.
Never saw that.
Maybe it’s… Maybe it’s modern art.
Kinda wanna go over there and take a look at it.
I would like to try again in Amsterdam.
You would?
Yes.
Well, let’s hope this goes well.
(DOOR OPENS)
BURT: Mr. Voze.
Burt. BURT: May I call you Tom?
Of course. BURT: Mrs. Voze.
Let me introduce you to General Dillenbeck.
General.
General Dillenbeck, it is such a pleasure to meet you.
I think you are a man of such honor and strength, and such a…
Such a… (SIGHS IN AWE)
Truly just so dignified and wonderful, and I truly believe everything that you say.
Uh…
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY) Libby.
LIBBY: Such a…
Uh, su…
Such a…
str… strong… (EXHALES)
She’s so excited.
Very excited. Inappropriately excited.
Have you ever broadcast live on the radio?
The gala? No, never.
Well, can you imagine?
Think of your veteran friends in Cheboygan, Michigan, or Carbondale, Illinois, sitting at home, listening to the radio, hearing your songs, Burt.
Wow. And your speech, General.
The speech Maguire gave me?
No. No, no, no, no, no. Your speech.
The speech you want to give.
I… I don’t know who Maguire is.
But I want you to speak from your heart to vindicate Bill Meekins.
And all those voiceless veterans who’ve been abandoned.
Yes.
TOM: You lead the way. And the rotten apples, whatever they did to Bill Meekins, will reveal themselves.
I’ll give the speech my way. I wanna tell the truth.
BURT: The trick was to let the Committee of Five and Maguire think…
(ROUSING MUSIC PLAYING)
…the general would give their speech for new leadership in the White House.
Immediately. No election.
Conning the veterans into supporting it.
(CALL BELL BUZZES)
And Tom, as promised, had gotten us off the hook with the police who now, to our great surprise, were together with us, united in this plan to stop it.
And we all supported the general.
He was using himself as bait.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
(ROUSING MUSIC CONTINUES)
MAN: (ON SPEAKERS) Good evening, America.
This is Wilkin Hartsdale broadcasting to you live from the annual Veterans Reunion Gala.
(MUFFLED APPLAUSE)
Paul, Henry.
He’s here for you. He has questions.
Norcross, Canterbury.
I’ve never seen, uh, such a big picture of George Washington.
Let me ask a very simple question.
Whose side are you guys on?
We’re on your side, of course.
Same God, different church.
Same lady, different dress. We’re on the exact same side.
Do me a favor.
Explain this to me very carefully ’cause I’m about to do something that could cost me my life.
HENRY: The trick with all this is, is to wait till the absolute very last second to expose as much of the criminality as we are able to capture.
At my expense? No, sir, never at your expense. No, God. No, no, sir.
No, sir.
HENRY: Never at your expense, please.
There’s a lot of people I care about here tonight.
Trust our powers of discernment, General.
Yes, the cuckoo is in the nest, and the cuckoo is about to be trapped.
Cuckoo?
And please, let us have our gala.
Let us celebrate our lives.
Get the son of a bitch who killed Meekins and those bastards who wanna hijack our government.
Yes?
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
I hope this son-of-a-bitch thing works.
Or else we’re fucked. Hmm.
BURT: Welcome to the 14th annual gala for the 369th, 42nd, and the 33rd
New York regiments.
(BAND PLAYING UPTEMPO JAZZ MUSIC)
(ALL CHEERING)
(TRUMPET TRILLS)
(APPLAUSE)
WILKIN: This evening’s entertainment continues with Dr. Berendsen, the medical officer…
BURT: ♪ Peanuts ♪
This looks promising.
PAUL: Very promising, Henry.
BURT: ♪ Peanuts ♪
♪ If you haven’t got bananas, don’t be blue ♪
♪ Peanuts in a little bag are calling you ♪
♪ Don’t waste them No tummy ache ♪
♪ You’ll taste them When you awake ♪
BURT: ♪ Peanuts ♪
I mean, he is good.
He’s a little bit flat. Well, you do it.
BURT: ♪ Peanuts ♪
(HAROLD SINGS ALONG)
(SONG CONCLUDES)
Yeah, bravo!
BURT: Thank you, Wayne Katowski and Victor Barnes!
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Oh, my God!
Yes, Burt! Whoo!
Yeah. So, there’s Detective Getweiler.
PAUL: Yeah.
HENRY: Harold. And Dillenbeck’s right there.
What’s your name?
WILKIN: Dr. Berendsen says he believes music is medicine… Tony! (LAUGHS)
…for each and every one of these wounded veterans.
Fred! Larry! Wow!
What’s your name? Alfred, sir.
Is that the Vandenheuvels?
WILKIN: In just a moment, music will continue.
Yes.
That’s Dr. Vandenheuvel and his wife, and that’s Beatrice over there too.
WILKIN: Coming up later on in the program… Oh!
We’re very proud of you.
BURT: Wow! (CHUCKLES) What a difference a day makes.
Should I move my shaving kit back in?
That Hebrew sense of humor. Father.
I think it’s time that the medical board reassessed your situation, son.
I can make that happen. I’d be happy to.
Whoa.
Did you hear that? (CHUCKLES)
(WHISPERS) It’s a perfect evening!
This is happening, finally.
(BEATRICE CHUCKLES)
It would mean so much if you would introduce us to General Dillenbeck.
It means so much to you, or it means so much to your family?
(FRANTIC JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
We’re so very proud of Bertram.
It’s quite the coup he’s been able to pull off.
Very proud.
BOTH: Mm.
Oh, have you met the general?
He truly is the most wonderful specimen of a man.
Clammy, already.
Truly clammy. (LAUGHS)
She never gets that clammy for me.
Perhaps I should travel more on business.
Oh, Tom.
(BEATRICE LAUGHS) (BOTH CHUCKLE)
I wanna tell you what a fine veteran he is and a wonderful doctor.
And he deserves love.
Thank you, sir.
VALERIE: Hi, Burt.
BURT: Hi. Oh, Valerie.
Please, darling, could you stop filming people?
We’re documenting the night, Libby.
It could be a historical event, you know.
Yes, but some people appreciate their privacy.
VALERIE: You don’t mind, do you, General?
No, no.
VALERIE: Burt? We should go see those guys.
All right? Yes. Yes, we should.
Valerie and her home movies.
It’s art.
(CHATTER AND LAUGHTER)
(MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
Beatrice, will you dance with me?
BEATRICE: My darling.
My darling.
That is Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Mother?
MRS. VANDENHEUVEL: Yes, darling.
Mother, that is Cornelius Vanderbilt, and he’s standing right next to Alice Marble.
She might win the US Open.
My parents have to meet them.
They’ve wanted to meet Alice Marble the whole time.
Can you just wait for two seconds and we’ll come back?
Did you hear what Father said about you moving in?
Isn’t that exciting? No, thank you.
What? What do you… What do you mean?
No, thank you.
What does “No, thank you” mean?
I’ve waited too long for the wrong thing.
It turned into something very different than it ever once could be.
I think terrible things might happen to you.
What a thing to say to anyone… let alone your beloved.
BEATRICE: Mother, there’s Cornelius Vanderbilt and Alice Marble. Let’s go meet them.
(CLASSICAL GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS)
(SINGING FADO PORTUGUES)
It’s okay, Burt.
Yeah, you still have us.
Thank God. I’m running out of people, fast.
(HAROLD AND VALERIE LAUGH)
TOM: Some important men who, uh, I believe you wanted to meet. Is that right?
Yeah. Yes, I would like to meet them.
Berendsen, we can meet these people that we talked about.
Valerie, you looked so lovely dancing.
Maybe you should stay here with your friends.
There’s Tom Voze talking to the general.
Oh, yes.
I spent my whole life avoiding these people.
I feel the exact same way, General.
These might be some of the better ones worth giving a chance.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYS)
General Dillenbeck, this is Mr. Nevins of Nevins Telecommunications.
Mr. Belport, Belport Chemicals, Mr. Jeffers of Jeffers Newschain.
We wanted to have Mr. Tomlinson, legendary auto inventor, but he couldn’t be here tonight.
He has a fantastic operation in Munich.
Gil, may I call you Gil?
No. You can call me General.
He prefers General.
Gil, I understand. We understand.
He prefers to be called General.
How’s it going, Gil?
I’m Andrew Nevins. You can call me Andy.
Well, I’ll call you Andy. You call me General.
I’m here to reckon for the death of my friend Bill Meekins.
Oh, who’s that?
Bill Meekins? We’re honoring him tonight.
Ran the bond exchange.
Of course, I’m terribly sorry about what happened.
I almost forgot.
MR. BELPORT: Tragedy with the daughter.
MR. JEFFERS: Terrible tragedy.
I look forward to speaking with you tonight about business opportunities overseas.
Our plant in Munich is getting fantastic returns because of strong leadership.
Knowing how to get things done.
TOM: Let’s have a toast.
Yes, all right. Good. We are the three.
Tom, you could be the fourth, like we’re playing golf.
And for good luck, we need a proper fifth.
General?
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
Won’t you please step in?
TOM: To the general.
MR. BELPORT: The general.
MR. JEFFERS: To the general.
MR. NEVINS: To General.
BURT: Talk about following the wrong God home.
What’s more un-American than a dictatorship built by American business?
TOM: There are two properties, General, if you should ever want to use them.
You or your family.
Pioneer Point in Maryland, the home state of Belport Chemicals.
A great retreat for you or the veterans.
And another one out in East Hampton.
You and your family might like it.
I’ll think about it, though the wife and I enjoy a little place on the Jersey Shore.
Maybe you need a larger imagination, General.
That’s how we all ended up here.
Never mind these men, General. They think they own the world.
It’s time to be getting on with your speech.
We’re looking forward to your speech.
(TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CAMERA WHIRRING)
WILKIN: And now, a featured star of the 369th, Auggie, on the glasses.
(APPLAUSE) (PLAYING MELODY)
What is that?
This is one of the finest innovations from Zurich.
Removes all pain, all anxiety.
LIBBY: Hmm?
All needless thoughts that occupy the mind.
BURT: My back is killing me.
Now, normally, guys like me, we have to turn to booze and morphine, and that can lead to addiction…
Oh, that’s fast.
That is advanced.
(TOM AND LIBBY LAUGHING)
Oh, that is tremendous energy.
I feel no pain.
TOM: It’s good, isn’t it?
That is good.
There’s more where this came from, Burt.
I wanna know more about this.
I would love to have the chemical compound.
When I get together with my sisters at the Vril Society, we hold a seance where we let our hair down, and it acts as a kind of antenna.
It allows us to communicate with the greater race.
Honestly, they come from a different galaxy.
It’s truly fascinating.
WILKIN: And now, the Hinson Brothers.
(BAND PLAYING UPBEAT MUSIC)
♪ Lady of Spain, I adore you ♪
♪ Right from the night I first saw you ♪
I wanted to say, for your speech tonight, General, some friendly advice.
BURT: Oh, please, please, please, don’t give him any friendly advice.
Oh, yeah, well, what’s the friendly advice?
Tonight, people will be listening to you on the radio.
You’ll never have a bigger audience with more excited attention from everyone.
They’ll be looking to you for inspiration.
Remember the veterans who have bled and died on our behalf, and remember Bill Meekins and honor him respectfully.
If you improvise and get lost in the woods of some complicated criminal situation over Meekins’s death, it will reflect badly on you, and we don’t want that for you, General.
The general was very clear about that he was gonna honor Bill Meekins and tell the truth.
Well, that’s exactly what I mean.
Focus on the good qualities Meekins had.
His quietness and his kindness.
That’s what I intend to do in my own way.
What is that?
TOM: Feel this.
This is walrus.
BURT: Oh, that is soft.
A walrus was killed for this?
No, sir, he died of old age. He lived a long, happy life because he made smart choices.
It’s a contribution for your foundation.
I don’t have a foundation.
TOM: Well, maybe you should start one. I can help you.
$36,000, General.
Think of everything you can do with Dr. Berendsen and his medical innovations.
LIBBY: So much to be accomplished.
You have to take the money.
What do you mean, I have to take it?
Listen to me. Someone, not me, they will take your face and your name, put it in the New York Times, and wipe their dog’s ass with it.
(LIBBY SIGHS)
Think of everything you’ve accomplished in your life.
It’ll be forgotten, erased.
You’ll be treated like an old kook and buried by history.
That’s what they can do. Make the right speech.
Or they’ll turn you into a martyr and say an anarchist did it.
Don’t make the mistake like Bill Meekins.
That was a tragic theft of a life.
HINSON BROTHERS: ♪ Lady of Spain, I love you ♪
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
MILTON: That was the Hinson Brothers.
The Hinson Brothers, they were great.
Don’t you agree? Yes.
Hinson Brothers. Doing, uh, Lady of Spain.
Yeah, Lady of Spain. I met a lady of Spain once and she turned me into a gentleman of pain.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS) Yes.
Now, the gentleman I’m about to bring out right now is a doctor of our regiment and a man I like to call “friend.”
Please welcome Burt Berendsen.
Come on, Burt.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Time to give your speech, Burt. Burt?
Dr. Burt Berendsen.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
My name is Burt Berendsen. Most of you know me.
I am the son of a mechanic from Elmira.
As a child, we love the world, naturally.
And we hope the world loves us.
As my friend Harold said sometimes I might have followed the wrong God home.
Well, not this man.
He always followed the right God home.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING AND CHEERING)
AUDIENCE: (CHANTING) Dillenbeck! Dillenbeck!
Dillenbeck! Dillenbeck!
BURT: Dillenbeck!
AUDIENCE: Dillenbeck! Dillenbeck! Dillenbeck!
MEN: (CHANTING) Drecksgesicht! Drecksgesicht!
Drecksgesicht! Drecksgesicht!
(GROUP CHANTING INDISTINCTLY IN GERMAN)
Listen to those Bund bastards.
Shower of bleeders, rotters.
If you people shouting at me in German had any courage, you would behave with dignity.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
MAN: Yes! General Dillenbeck!
I fought in five wars on three continents.
People shot at me my whole life. My whole life.
I know fear, and I know facing fear.
But the one thing I truly detest, the one thing I truly, truly detest, is cruelty.
(SCATTERED APPLAUSE)
I’ve been offered money to become the self-appointed leader of the veterans, veterans like you, to be put in the White House without an election as some sort of advisor by popular demand of you.
These same people want me to emulate a certain European leader named Mussolini.
(AUDIENCE GASPS)
They think he’s the type of leader that this country needs.
The type of leader who ran over a child and never stopped his car.
The type of leader whose excuse was, “What’s one person in the affairs of the state?”
(AUDIENCE EXCLAIMS)
General Bill Meekins was in that car.
He was a friend of mine.
He was a good person.
But when he told that story, when he intended to tell it again here on this stage, he became another person whose life was worth nothing in the affairs of the state.
He was murdered. (AUDIENCE GASPS)
Yes, he was murdered and dishonored, as I might be murdered or dishonored for telling that story here tonight.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
What kind of country does this become when that happens?
I became a Marine to serve the Constitution, which intends for us all to be equal in the brotherhood of mankind.
But what good is it when powerful people make exceptions for the people who stand in their way?
Some people of influence and power like it when regular folks are fired up by hatred because it distracts us from the fairness and kindness.
They don’t want us to think about too much just so they can get more and more of what they already have, which is vast wealth.
This is your country.
This is your country.
Don’t let the big men take it away from you.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
AUDIENCE: (CHANTING) Dillenbeck! Dillenbeck!
Dillenbeck! Dillenbeck!
Look, it’s that guy.
DILLENBECK: I’m the son of a banker.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) I’m a Republican.
Where’s Paul and Henry? Not here.
DILLENBECK: I’m a conservative.
What about the detectives? Do you know where they are?
Also not here.
DILLENBECK: That’s what it’s like when people who have money only think about wanting much more of it.
That’s all that they think about.
And they forget that you are the ones who went out and protected them.
You lost an eye or you lost your life, and your family had to suffer, though they were the heroes who sent you off to war.
(HAROLD AND VALERIE GRUNT)
(AUDIENCE GASPS)
Whoever’s shooting at me is a coward.
I’ve been shot at all over the world.
VALERIE: Get his gun!
I am not intimidated. I am not afraid.
You all right? Burt, are you all right?
Lem, I’m fine. I’m fine.
(ALL GRUNTING)
(MAN SCREAMS)
(AUDIENCE GASPS)
MAN: Sic semper tyrannis!
Dillenbeck’s a traitor!
Stop that man.
MAN: Tom Voze is a great man!
Tom Voze is a great man! You have…
(MAN GROWLING)
Keep that man down.
Sinful and legal. Ask Mr. Voze!
(AUDIENCE PANICKING)
(ALL CHANTING INDISTINCTLY IN GERMAN)
♪ My country ‘Tis of thee ♪
♪ Sweet land of liberty ♪
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
♪ Of thee I sing ♪
DETECTIVE HILTZ: Polizei. Polizei.
Break it up! Break it up! Come here.
I’m a veteran and a patriot, you fool.
You killed Liz Meekins, you son of a bitch.
And for all I know, her father too.
United States Treasury! Everyone, leave!
Are you okay?
LIBBY: This is terrible.
We never meant for anything like this to happen.
This is an outrage.
You’re gonna be charged.
You’re gonna be charged, Tom.
You. Yes, you.
TOM: No, sir. You are confused.
DILLENBECK: No, I’m not confused.
BURT: Between my own pill and getting shot, these eye drops are the only reason I’m standing and I feel no pain.
And holy shit! Look what’s happening in this room.
Everything.
PAUL: …gun from the Committee of the Five.
He called you by your name, Tom, with pride.
I don’t know that man.
We just fought that man for our lives.
HAROLD: Burt and I saw him push Liz Meekins.
He’s the killer.
HENRY: There is enough evidence.
I am sorry to say that the man who took a shot at General Dillenbeck on that stage tonight was the same man on the boat with Meekins, on a ticket purchased by your foundation.
LIBBY: There is no need to raise your voice.
HENRY: Yours, Mr. Voze.
VALERIE: Tom, what’s happening?
LIBBY: What are the charges?
PAUL: The charges are against you and the guests you invited.
The Committee of the Five. TOM: For what?
Committee of the Five.
Conspiracy to bribe a United States general.
Attempted assassination.
Conspiracy to overthrow the US government.
Trading with dictators, Italy, Germany.
Two murders your foundation apparently seems to be responsible for, Meekins and his daughter.
Tom, did you do this?
I felt it was wrong that Meekins died.
That was a tragic theft of a life.
But something had to be done because he didn’t see
the opportunity of the new ways to live.
He didn’t understand. Meekins didn’t understand.
Do you understand that?
All right. You need to slow it down.
Tom, please tell me you didn’t have anything to do with my medication.
Tom influenced your doctor, Valerie, as he had done with your mother before.
(VALERIE GASPS)
Is that true? A little.
A little?
I did it for your own good.
You poisoned me?
If that’s what you want to call it, fine.
I was looking after you, your best interests.
You’re reckless, like a child.
Listen to me. You’re running around all over Europe and saying bad things about the war?
(WHISPERS) Consorting with a Black man.
(SIGHS)
MILTON: Consorting with a man, a free man, in Amsterdam, that fought for you!
Like the clinics, Tom?
TOM: What clinics?
Committee of the Five.
You know what clinics I’m talking about, Tom.
PAUL: Forced sterilization.
We’ll see about that.
We saw the Committee of the Five symbol there. Stop lying!
BURT: That Tom had an angle was no surprise, but the horror of it…
My God. Right under Valerie’s nose.
They kept her distracted with the invented condition.
Goering, Hitler’s right-hand man,
and Hitler himself. (CHUCKLES)
Most people didn’t even know who he was yet.
Tom even paid Goering to write a column in the Jeffers papers about the new Aryan government.
Whatever that was.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
Tom had just finished the topiary with the symbol.
You couldn’t see it except from above.
I mean, you gotta be some kind of super-fanatic believer to make your bushes like that.
Don’t you look at me like that, Libby.
Valerie, darling.
All great societies are built this way.
You live in a dream world with your strange sculptures.
And that’s fine. You can have that.
But it won’t make the world go round.
I’m very happy to be unimportant and live in a place that has love and beauty.
Art and love, that’s what makes the life worth living, while you’re building this big, gigantic, terrifying future.
What a waste of your imagination.
I made plenty, for us, rebuilding Germany.
I wanted to stand with the strongest leaders in the world.
But I’m also happy to go to war against them.
BURT: Another war? But we just did all that.
You mean to tell me these rich guys will support dictators or fight them?
They believe in nothing but making money.
And that’s why Meekins was killed, because he wouldn’t go along with that or support it?
Insanity!
And we have walked right into it.
No. Oh, no, no, no.
VALERIE: Ah…
BURT: Tom quickly saw us as his best chance to get the general.
If you got someone like Gil Dillenbeck involved with your event, it would help me to get involved.
So, you need someone? You always…
He always needs someone… Valerie, would you give it a rest? …in front of him.
You thought you’d use these men to get me.
But I used them and their event to reveal you and stop your plan for at least a decade.
Maybe two or three more, hopefully.
BURT: We did stop the plot.
This is true.
The Committee of the Five didn’t get their American dictator.
I appeared before the congressional committee, the highest representation of the American people, under subpoena to tell what I knew of…
BURT: The general testified to Congress, and they agreed he was right.
What do powerful people want?
Is it never enough?
They do the craziest things.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
(GUNSHOT)
Oh, my God! What’s the matter with you?
HENRY: What the hell did you do?
Oh, my God! Valerie, what have you done?
What’s the matter with you? What did you do?
We had everything we needed to prosecute, and now it’s all out the window!
PAUL: It’s a huge problem now.
Yes, well done.
Tom, my face. She ruined my face! (SIGHS)
I couldn’t help it. They’re so awful.
PAUL: Woman, have you lost your mind?
MILTON: I told you she was trouble.
LIBBY: Yeah, that was rather stupid, Valerie.
TOM: You could go to jail, Valerie.
Tell them the truth, Harold.
Are you all right, Valerie? You’re shaking.
Oh, I’m fine. I was just thinking about shooting Tom and Libby in the face.
TOM: Hmm. I won’t do it. Don’t worry.
Well, that’s a good decision. Thank God.
Yes, it would’ve bollocksed everything. We’d have no case.
BURT: You have to stand up to them, as we had done.
And you have to live your truth.
I love Harold.
He’s given me the greatest happiness of my life, as has Burt.
(DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING)
BURT: There it is. Look at that.
That’s how you face such a world.
You must have love in your heart for your life.
It is love versus hate.
I love my life and the people in it.
Even Beatrice.
And clear, not Portuguese, I’m-in-love-with-her Irma.
Milton.
Shirley at the office with Morty.
The tapestry. Everything in it.
Even my glass eye.
Dillenbeck’s dog and the bouillabaisse we didn’t get to have.
Each one of us is given a tapestry, our own opera.
This person and this person.
Thinking about it.
Love is not enough.
You got to fight to protect kindness.
You get attached to people and things.
And they might just break your heart.
But that’s being alive.
My back brace that I so disliked had saved me from this bullet.
You lucky bastard.
BURT: And we three had helped stop this terrible plot.
I can’t believe that.
BURT: Burt Berendsen, Harold Woodman, and Valerie Voze.
Jerks, Nevins…
BURT: Tom would not stay arrested long.
Those people never do.
Talk to my lawyer. You’ll see.
BURT: Committee of the Five never faced any charges.
They disappeared, as they can do.
Tom and his friends smeared the general.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
It was a warning of what they were capable of.
Maguire died mysteriously at the age of 37.
He knew too much.
Valerie and Harold were no longer safe in this country.
(SEAGULLS CALLING) (SHIP HORN BLARING)
Friends for life means friends for life.
You do whatever it takes.
We had to get them on a boat that very night.
Woodman, you should…
HAROLD: Thank you, Henry.
I’m way ahead of you. I made my decision.
Harold’s coming with me.
No, you’re coming with me.
No, you’re coming with me.
HAROLD: You’ll be seeing me again, Dr. Berendsen, because history repeats itself.
Goodbye, old friend. We’ll see you in Amsterdam.
HENRY: Oh, no. You’re not going to Amsterdam.
BURT: What?
It’s only a matter of time before the Gestapo kicks down your door.
HENRY: Mm.
What’s the Gestapo?
PAUL: Oh. Yeah, you don’t wanna know.
We’ll, uh, send you somewhere safer.
Beautiful weather this time of year.
And the blue-headed vireo migration to boot.
Yes. It’s spectacular bird country.
Isn’t it, though? Really.
Yeah. I’m jealous. (CHUCKLES)
HAROLD: Burt.
Burt, why don’t you come with us?
I choose to stay.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll find a new life and a new love.
VALERIE: I hope so.
Because when it comes to love, there’s nothing quite so good as clarity.
I agree.
BURT: I stayed to stand up for my country so that one day, my best friends could come back.
VALERIE: Goodbye, Burt.
HAROLD: Au revoir, my good friend.
VALERIE: Be happy, Burt!
Henry. Paul. General. Thank you.
Farewell for now.
HAROLD: Milton.
BURT: Part of me wished I did run with my friends.
(DREAMY MUSIC CONTINUES)
(BURT GROANS)
But I didn’t.
You want for your heart and for your people to follow the right God home.
(DREAMY MUSIC CONTINUES)
Amsterdam.
Amsterdam.
(DREAMY MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
I appeared before the congressional committee, the highest representation of the American people, under subpoena to tell what I knew of activities, which I believe might lead to an attempt…
BOTH: …to set up a fascist dictatorship.
The plan as outlined to me was to form an organization of veterans, to use as a bluff or as a club, at least to intimidate the government and break down our democratic institutions.
(DREAMY MUSIC CONTINUES)
(BALLAD SONG PLAYING)
(SONG ENDS)
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
(UPBEAT MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(FRANTIC JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
