The Sandpiper (1965) Movie Script
If you didn't mean to do it, why did you?
I guess I wanted to find out
what the fun was.
Fun?
My mother says that men
are the only animals that kill for fun.
Danny, will you wait for me outside?
I want to have a word with your mother.
We won't be long.
Why did you take that boy out of school?
His teacher was a fool.
I taught him more in two months
than he learned at school in a full term.
In the course of his studies,
what have you taught him
about respect for the law?
As he grows up, he'll learn that
there are good laws and bad ones.
- He'll respect the good ones.
- And disobey the bad ones?
At least I hope he does.
Based only on his personal judgment
as an individual human being?
Now, you can't choose between
right and wrong by taking a census.
You can choose by respecting
the whole body of the laws
as man's best hope for justice.
Why does a young woman like you
live way out there alone
in a shack on a deserted beach?
I don't live alone. I live with my son.
And I live there because I love it.
I love every day I spend out there
and every night.
I love the sea and the mountains and
the sky and the birds and I love all of it.
Then I take it you feel you have escaped
from the corruption and conformity
of the modern world
and that your life is serene,
because, like Thoreau,
you live in direct communion with nature.
But Thoreau didn't go to Walden Pond
with a 9-year-old boy.
What are you trying to raise,
a "noble savage"?
What would you have me raise?
A slick little specialist
in weathercocksmanship?
I beg your pardon?
Oh, you know,
whirling around like a weathercock
every time the wind changes.
Oh, yes, of course.
I see.
Let me see, is this the third time
that you and Danny have been
brought up before me or the fourth?
- Third.
- And the first was?
The little girl.
Oh, yes. Of course.
She was swinging.
Her skirt blew back
and Danny put his hand on her thigh.
- Well?
- Oh, the child was frightened.
Oh, come on! She was delighted.
And it was her dirty-minded mother
that made the trouble.
And then there were the two horses
that Danny turned loose,
and finally the deer.
Well, that makes three strikes and out.
You've heard of San Simeon School,
haven't you?
- That religious school?
- Episcopalian.
Headmaster is a friend of mine.
I'm going to ask him to enroll your son.
Oh, no, you don't! He is my son.
I'll be damned if...
It's either that or reform school.
Now force my hand and I'll take him
away from you altogether.
I'm going to make an appointment for you
with the Reverend Dr. Hewitt.
And I suggest that you keep it.
It's Cos and Larry. Hi!
Sweetie, what are you doing
way out here?
We called by your home
and there was nobody there.
- And now you see why.
- Where are you going?
Oh, San Simeon.
Is that too far out of your way?
Out by about 10 miles.
San Simeon? Two nice people like you?
What's the word?
Our English tongue has a long history,
and I am pleased with your interest
in its oldest and most ardent words.
I think it's sad, however,
that these ancient expressions
should be degraded to a position
on lavatory walls.
You will scrub the walls down, of course.
Then you will learn the equivalent words
in German, French and Latin,
after which you will decline each noun
and conjugate each verb in all tenses,
including the subjunctive.
Thank you for your attention,
and good day.
- Edward, do you have a minute?
- Of course.
I just had another call
from Ward Hendricks.
And he said, since it was you who put him
in charge of the Building Fund,
the least you can do is make up your mind
about flunking the Rogers boy.
Chapel in 15 minutes, sir.
Thank you, Tommy.
What's this got to do
with Ward Hendricks?
Jack Rogers is willing to make
a substantial donation to the fund,
if his boy stays in school.
So, quite naturally,
Ward wants your answer.
What would you do in my shoes?
Wear them.
Very well.
If Jack Rogers' contribution
falls within the range of $2,000,
that quality of mercy
which runs through my blood like a fever
whenever money is mentioned,
will be strained yet once more
to give the Rogers boy another chance.
His third, I believe.
Dr. Hewitt.
The boy Judge Thompson sent you
is here with his mother.
Thompson?
Oh, yes, yes. Send the mother in first.
- Her name is Reynolds.
- Reynolds. Thank you.
You're... Mrs. Reynolds, I'm Dr. Hewitt.
Please sit down. Over there.
I am told you brought a young man for us.
I was ordered to bring him.
Yes, well, I hope we'll be able to help him.
I want to make it quite clear that
in my opinion he doesn't need any help.
Yes, I see. Judge Thompson
has briefed me, of course,
but I'd like
a little more general background.
For example, what is the chief source
of your income?
I'm an artist.
I paint. Nobody buys.
Then I turn out watercolors
when I need grocery money.
May I ask what are your
religious affiliations?
- Of course. I am a naturalist.
- What?
We believe that man is doomed
by his myths.
That there can be no peace on earth
until man rids himself
of all belief in the supernatural.
I see, yes. Very interesting. Go on.
That's about it.
It's a very small sect.
With a membership of approximately one?
Exactly one.
With Danny as an officiate, of course.
But I have no objection
to your lack of religion or to your son's.
But you do have compulsory
religious training here, don't you?
Well, chapel is compulsory, yes.
But I have never yet forced a boy to pray.
It can't be done, you know?
It could be tried.
San Simeon is not a jail, Mrs. Reynolds.
Students don't come here to be punished.
They come here to be educated.
Now, we don't have many boys
from broken homes, but...
My son is not from a broken home.
Oh. Forgive me. I was under the
impression that you've been divorced.
I've never been married.
Oh, I see.
Puts an entirely different light
on the matter.
Abandonment by the father...
I was not abandoned by the father,
Dr. Hewitt.
The father was abandoned by me.
Are you trying to shock me,
Miss Reynolds?
You may call me Mrs. Reynolds,
if you like.
Because if you are, it's not easily done.
You asked the questions.
You're a minister, you wouldn't want me
to lie to you, would you?
Neither would I want you to lie to me
if I were a truck driver or a disk jockey.
I questioned you
because it's my job to do so.
You send us a deeply disturbed boy...
My son is not deeply disturbed.
He is not disturbed at all!
He's a healthy, normal boy
because he hasn't been brainwashed yet!
And I aim to see that he stays that way.
What happened?
I am not exactly sure.
She didn't seem to have any doubts.
Apparently, she thought
I was behaving like a pompous idiot.
Were you?
Probably.
Look out for those rocks.
Be careful, they're loose.
You! Cross over and cut him off.
If he gets to the top, we'll never catch him.
Danny, they're trying to head you off!
Run, Danny, run!
Oh, God.
Lady, he's not going to jail.
He's just going to school.
School!
Just 10 more minutes
and we would have been gone.
It's an outrage, dragging a 9-year-old child
into San Simeon under armed guard!
Well, how else can you take him?
What, do you think one runaway boy
justifies setting up a police state
in Monterey County?
Yeah, that's about the way
it shapes up, Ed.
If you'd treated the mother a little more
tactfully, it might not have happened.
Now that it has,
I'm darn well gonna see it through.
Do you accept the boy or don't you?
Of course I accept him.
But after what's happened,
it's gonna be difficult to prove to him
that we're not running
an extermination camp out here.
I've never been too sure myself.
I got somebody on the other wire.
Goodbye, Ed.
One of your roommates
is younger than you.
The other two are a little bit older.
Don't their folks like them?
What do you mean?
Sending them away like this.
Well, of course they like them.
They love them.
My mother wouldn't send me away.
She likes me to be with her.
So do all the parents, Danny, but...
Tell me about your mother.
How do you spend your time?
What do you do together?
Oh, we... We fish, and she paints.
And I hunt and get the firewood.
We swim and we play music.
And she teaches my lessons.
And we read poetry to each other
to memorize it.
What sort of poetry?
The last was Canterbury Tales.
Only we didn't get to finish it.
You were memorizing
The Canterbury Tales?
Yeah, by Chaucer, you know.
A long time ago.
"Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
"The droghte of March
hath perced to the roote
"And bathed every veyne in swich licour
"Of which vertu engendred is the flour"
You know?
Which is my bed?
Oh, this one.
And this is your desk.
And this is where your clothes go.
I didn't bring any clothes.
Oh, well, we'll pick them up for you.
This is your study kit
and this is how it opens.
You work with that for a while
and I'll go get your bedding.
The bathroom's right behind you.
I'll be back in a minute.
The background
is still quite unclear to me.
But what I know of it thus far isn't good.
I advise you to keep him
on a very tight leash.
I saw you through the window
and decided not to interrupt.
Just as well. He was reciting the prologue
to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
in Old English.
- You're not serious.
- I'm completely so. So was he.
So apparently was his mother
when she taught him.
It sounded perfect.
Now you see the problem.
Oh, it's rather pleasantly different.
It will be like taming a bird.
Two birds, really.
Why two?
The mother will need as much help
as the boy.
Oh, and another thing.
We'll have to pick up his clothes.
Oh, yes.
Could you arrange to pick up his things?
Why don't you do it yourself?
It's a good opportunity to see
where the boy has been raised.
Good opportunity to take more abuse
from the mother, if you ask me.
Anybody there?
Sorry. I knocked.
The door was open. I decided to wait.
It's a baby sandpiper.
I think his wing is broken.
Would you light that lamp for me, please?
- There's some matches right there.
- Sure.
I have to try and make a splint.
- What you doing that for?
- This is supposed to hypnotize him.
Break's here.
- Is it strong enough?
- Should be. Hope so.
Would you tear off
about an inch and a half of this?
Baby.
Now, would you put that
right over this part of the wing? Gently.
Wait a minute. There.
You will need a cage until it heals.
- That would spoil everything.
- It's wild.
That's why he shouldn't have a cage.
The only way you can tame a bird
is to let him fly free,
if he can fly, of course.
It's the only way you can tame anything.
There, little sandpiper.
You don't have on your collar.
Well, I don't wear it always, you know,
it's not even a requirement
of my profession.
Why did you come here?
Well, I wanted you to know
that Danny is in good hands.
My wife has been with him
most of the afternoon.
- She says he's a fine boy.
- Your wife?
My God, he is my son, not hers.
Look at this place.
It's clean, it's dry, it's warm.
We have food.
We have music, we have books to read.
We have paints.
We have clay to make things up.
What's wrong with it?
Who in this whole damn world
could be rotten enough
to take a kid away from his home
and give him away to a school?
It may be hard for you to believe,
Miss Reynolds,
but boys like children of their own age.
They also like some order in their lives.
Given just a little time,
Danny will adjust beautifully.
Adjust to what?
To himself, to other people, to society.
That's just it.
I don't want him to adjust to society.
Well, if you want Danny
to be a non-conformist,
San Simeon is the best place
that could happen to him.
We'll give him a set of values there
that he can rebel against later.
Otherwise, he may rebel against yours.
Oh, I see.
You mean you... You teach children evil
so they can rebel against it
when they grow and become good.
I didn't mean that at all and you know it.
Meanwhile, the court has ordered us
to take the boy
and I beg you to give the school a fair trial.
I don't see what choice I have.
His bag was already packed.
We were going to Nevada
when the cops came.
It's all I have left of him.
You might as well take that, too.
We're not going to devour him,
Miss Reynolds.
You've got quite the wrong idea.
We're not the lions at San Simeon,
we're the... We're the Christians.
Goodbye.
Well,
there you have it.
I can't believe we made him that unhappy.
Has it shown in the rest of his work?
He is falling behind in all the subjects
he likes best. Particularly English.
Have you tried taking away his privileges?
- I don't think it would work.
- Then what will?
I'd like to try an experiment.
Let him sit in on other English classes
regardless of the age group,
and choose the one he'd like to join.
No, no, no.
I don't agree with that theory at all.
Besides, I don't want to
start making exceptions.
The boy himself is an exception.
Even so, I don't want to start something
that will make people think
we're turning radical around here.
Even if you would,
nobody would ever believe you.
- Hello, Walter.
- Hello.
Ward Hendricks called from San Francisco.
He's driving down this afternoon.
Wants to know if you'll fill out
a golf foursome at Pebble Beach.
Oh, Jim Harold and Phil Sutcliff
will be there.
Oh.
The money is in town.
Good idea. Tell him I'll call him back.
Tell them to bring their checkbooks.
- You mean it, Phil?
- Sure I mean it.
You hit the green and it's 3 grand
out of my hide for your Chapel Fund.
If you flunk it, I don't lay out a dime.
All right.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
Take not the name
of the Lord thy God in vain.
Hey, what are you doing
with three aces, kid?
That Reynolds boy, is he bridle-broke yet?
I think we're getting
the bit between his teeth.
The colt's been too long with the mare.
If you weren't a man of the cloth,
I'd recommend you gentled her
before you tackled him.
Lady artists can be fun.
Judge Thompson, I've finally found
one bottle of your favorite blend.
Did he say Reynolds?
Yeah. New boy at school.
Would the lady artist's name be
Laura Reynolds?
- Do you know her?
- Yeah, well, sort of.
Does she live around here?
Yeah, she's got a cabin
on the coast in Big Sur.
Really?
You...
You know her well?
Well, that's hard to say.
I don't think anybody knows her well.
No, it's not a tale for your ears.
Well, if you're referring to the boy,
I know he's illegitimate.
The mother told me so herself.
Don't look at me like that.
I'm not the daddy.
I wasn't trying to pry into your private life,
but the boy poses something of a problem
at school.
It would be helpful if I knew something
of the mother's background.
- Well, I take it this would be confidential?
- Of course.
- Charlie. One more time.
- Right, Mr. Ward.
Well, if she was telling the truth,
which she usually does,
it shapes up something like this.
From a nice,
respectable Indianapolis family.
Boy the same, only rich.
Boy 19, girl 17. Girl pregnant.
And the boy wanted to marry her.
But she'd have no part of it.
Her father arranged an abortion.
She'd have no part of that either.
So she left home, comes to California,
has the baby,
and is still there.
- Thank you, Charlie.
- All right.
Who's paying the boy's tuition?
I'm asking several of the trustees
to share it.
You included.
All right, all right. Fair enough.
Listen. Sure you won't stick around,
change your mind, have dinner?
No. Thanks all the same.
Come on in.
Oh, I'm sorry,
I was looking for Miss Reynolds.
She's over there.
Miss Reynolds?
Dr. Hewitt, meet Cos Erickson.
Boy beatnik.
How do you do?
Glad to know you, Reverend.
Why don't you sit down?
Yes, well, thank you.
I was driving from Monterey
and I spotted your mailbox.
Laura, this way a little bit more.
- Is that right?
- Yes.
What were you saying, Dr. Hewitt?
He was saying he was driving around
in the dark of night,
and just happened to spot your mailbox.
Yes, and I thought I'd tell you
that we have high hopes
for Danny's progress.
In what way, Dr. Hewitt?
Well, we were thinking of
changing certain classes for him
in certain subjects.
That's nice. What subjects?
English and history.
I should hope so.
He was very good in those subjects
before you took him away from me.
I taught them to him.
Yes, I know that.
The sandpiper appears to be
doing rather well, I see.
Yes, he'll be flying soon.
Cos, can we quit work now?
I'd like to get some clothes on.
All right, sure.
It's all right, since I'm not paying you.
Thanks.
- Reverend, you interested in art?
- Reverend is not a title.
It's an adjective that qualifies...
That qualifies a title.
You may more properly address me
as doctor or mister.
- Excuse me.
- No, not at all. It's a common error.
As for your question,
yes, I am interested in art.
Yeah, probably the same way
I am interested in religion.
I doubt that.
You know, Reverend,
I've always had a yen to ask
some qualified person a few questions
about the Virgin birth.
Having so powerful a thirst for knowledge,
you should have asked those questions
years ago. Fire away.
Well, you see,
I've had a theory
that no well-educated priest or minister
could possibly believe the greater part
of our Christian dogma
in this year of our...
Cos, stop picking on Dr. Hewitt.
"Picking on..."
He damn near picked on me!
Cos has to be leaving.
You can stay for a few minutes,
can't you, Dr. Hewitt?
Yes. Of course.
I'll walk you to the path.
Well, good night, Reverend.
Good night, son.
Hey, you were very rude.
You sounded like
some little village atheist.
Yeah?
Well, that's what I am. A village atheist.
You gonna seduce him?
Maybe. I don't know.
It would serve him right if I did.
No, Cos, I won't seduce him.
You sure?
Positive.
I wouldn't give him the satisfaction
of blaming me afterwards.
Or you either.
Good night.
Night.
Well?
They're... They're reverent.
Oh, you're joking.
Does the word offend you?
They have the kind of reverence without
which religion would mean nothing.
I wouldn't know.
Can I get you some tea?
- Would you like some grappa?
- Grappa, if you please.
Okay.
I talked with a friend of yours
this afternoon,
Mr. Ward Hendricks.
He isn't exactly a friend anymore.
He gave me the impression
he knew you rather well.
In the biblical sense, he did.
That is, he had carnal knowledge of me.
Does that answer your question?
I... I didn't ask one.
I met him in San Francisco.
Danny was just a baby. I was broke.
He set me up in an apartment. He
put me through two years of art school.
When I was finished with school,
I was finished with him.
Did you know such things went on
in the world?
He told me something of your background.
I'll bet he did.
And where did this cozy conversation
take place?
In a pool hall or a locker room?
Why, in a locker room, as a matter of fact.
That's where the boys really let down
their hair and pride, isn't it?
Yes, I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have brought it up. I apologize.
I didn't mean to...
Pry into my sex life?
Of course you did.
You've been dying to pry into it.
Now that you've seen me modeling
for Cos Erickson,
you are dying to know about him, too.
I am not so much interested
in the men in your life
as your attitude towards marriage.
Okay.
Ask it and it shall be answered unto you.
Well, I understand that Danny's father
was quite prepared to marry you?
That's right.
But I didn't love him.
- But you must have at one time.
- Oh, that...
I was only in love with him
or thought I was.
There's a difference between being in love,
and loving and liking.
Besides,
I didn't want to wake up 50 years old
some morning
and peer across the pillow
with his face peering back.
- How did your parents react?
- Very well.
They offered me an abortion.
And when I wouldn't do it,
they said I could stay at home
and have Danny there.
Why didn't you?
Look, they were trying to be sweet,
but they were ashamed.
By offering the abortion,
they showed me how they really felt.
A child can't just be accepted.
It has to really be wanted.
So I went away and had Danny by myself.
I still don't know much about
your attitude towards marriage.
I'm withholding judgment
until I see a happy one.
How is yours?
Adequate, as they say?
No, it's more than adequate. It's good.
Well, bully for you.
Cover this up.
Has your marriage, as my non-marriage
been blessed with children?
Yes, twin boys,
they're both in prep school.
Learning to adjust?
Or were they adjusted before they left?
I better go before I start answering you
in kind.
I won't bother you anymore.
From now on, you'll get written reports
about Danny's progress.
Dr. Hewitt,
don't be so pompous.
- Do you allow visitors?
- Yes.
Next time I'll come and visit you.
All right.
- Good night.
- Good night.
What I'm actually looking for
in this new chapel
is a sense of modesty, a sense of purity
that has no relation to size.
You know the
Church of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome?
Yeah.
- Well, that illustrates what I'm after.
- I see.
- Not in actual design, but in...
- Excuse me.
Good morning.
Good morning.
It is very good to see you here.
I want to show you something.
This is the fourth form
American literature class.
It corresponds to the eighth grade.
We allowed him to select the class
he felt he could do best in
and this is the result.
We've been... We've been spotted.
So, you see, his first clash
with the Christians
isn't the calamity you expected.
I can see. I'm very grateful.
Incidentally, I was... Oh, please.
I was talking to our architect about you.
That is to say, I was talking about
you and our new chapel.
The one we're going to build.
It calls for two stained-glass windows
and it occurred to me
we might try for something indigenous
to this particular area.
I mean, the mountains, the sea,
whatever it is
that makes this part of the world unique.
That would seem to call for
a local artist and I was...
I was thinking of you.
Well, but I am an atheist.
How could I design something
that glorifies a creed I don't believe in?
Do you think Orozco
believed in Christianity?
Or Rivera, or Portinari, or Chagall?
Some of their best work
is found in churches.
It's not at all rare to find
the religious vision
more purely apprehended
by the non-believer than by the saint.
Why... Why do you say that?
Well, saints tend to be myopic,
whereas the atheist
is almost always innocent.
And innocence is what we want
in this chapel.
Couldn't you sell some
just for grocery money?
Believe me, honey,
you've got what it takes.
But you're not ready yet.
- The price doesn't matter. It doesn't...
- I don't want cheap pictures.
I want expensive ones.
To match the rent
those burglars charge me.
Ellie, you're the biggest fraud
in Monterey County.
Phil Sutcliff told me how much you
paid for this place and it's a scandal.
This one.
I'II...
Since you won't handle her work,
I'll deal with the artist directly.
How much?
Cool, baby. Play it cool.
- A hundred.
- And sold.
Ellie, would you have this framed for me?
Thank you.
You're serious, aren't you?
I was also serious about
the chapel windows, were you?
Sure she was.
Look, baby, with a parson and a preacher
for a patron,
you've got it made.
Just think of all those Renaissance cats.
Well?
Well, yes. I've made some sketches.
You know,
just to try and find an approach.
- When can I see them?
- Well, tonight on your way home.
Maybe you could stop for dinner.
- You're free, aren't you?
- No, no, no.
- Tonight's my night for the drive-in.
- Can you?
Well, I'd like to, but I...
I've got a lot of appointments.
I don't know when they'd be through.
Well, it's up to you.
Anytime after 8:00, if you can.
Well, I'll try. Thank you. Goodbye.
- You don't like them.
- On the contrary, I like them very much.
All the charm and wonder
of a child's vision of creation.
But there's one thing missing.
- God?
- No, man.
- I left him out.
- Why?
Well, I...
I wanted the world to be innocent
and it can't be with man in it.
You see, this is the universe
before man came along.
It won't do. Man is essential
to any concept of the universe.
Without him the universe would be here,
but it wouldn't be conceived.
That is the miracle of man.
That he can imagine the awe and terror
of an infinite universe
and still not be frightened by it.
But facing the mystery of time
and the implacability of death,
he can still laugh, work, create...
And love.
Well, good for him.
Then he'll have to be
in somebody else's sketches.
Tell me.
You isolate yourself here
to eliminate man from your life
as thoroughly as you've eliminated man
from your sketches?
That could be true.
I suppose in a way it is.
- Why?
- You know,
men have been staring at me
and rubbing up against me
ever since I was 12 years old.
They've always been, sort of,
waiting for me to stumble
so they can close in.
Sometimes I get the suffocating feeling
that they will.
And I...
I see myself
perhaps tomorrow, perhaps next year,
being handed from man to man
as if I were an amusement
for men who only
have had me and never really loved me.
So I came here, and you don't
believe a word I've said.
On the contrary, I do.
However, instead of eliminating man
from your life totally,
why don't you solve the problem
by finding a man,
a kind of man who would really love you?
I don't think it's possible
for a man to really love a woman like me.
He only just has her, I think.
How much is this crazy chapel
going to cost?
About $100,000.
For just a place to pray?
Well, a place to pray
is not as trivial as you think.
But you can pray anywhere.
If man is so important, why...
Why don't you spend the money on him?
How many poor children
could you educate for
$100,000?
Don't do that.
Destroying your work like that is like...
It's a kind of suicide.
No, it's a kind of discipline.
I've always been too eager for recognition.
For praise... For the praise's sake alone.
Why else would I have designed sketches
for a building I have no feeling for
and I don't believe in?
I wanted your praise.
You think I praised your work
to make you like me?
I suppose not.
But that's what you accomplished.
- Does your wife know you're here?
- No.
Why didn't you tell her?
I often make appointments
without having to call up my wife.
Of course.
Do you like it?
Yes, I like it. I don't like him.
- Cos is all right.
- Lf you say so.
- I better be going.
- Why?
I can talk while I work.
I want you, Laura. I want you.
Oh, God.
Grant me some
small remembrance of honor.
Give me strength.
Give me
emptiness.
Come in.
Who told you I live here?
Hey. Ed Hewitt.
Oh, yeah. The locker room session.
You were swapping stories
about me, right?
Yes, well, it seems as though I swapped
considerably more than I got.
He never even hinted
you were seeing each other.
- We're not.
- I dropped by to see you last night.
Ed's car was parked up by the mailbox.
So I drove on to Nepenthe instead.
He dropped by to report
on Danny's schoolwork.
Must have been a hell of a report.
I drove back about 1:00 in the morning,
the car was still there.
- What do you want, Ward?
- Well, I want to help you.
You're too level-headed a girl
to start kidding yourself now.
Ed's married.
He's got a wife, two teenage boys.
He's not going to leave her for you
or anybody else.
There's no future for you there, baby.
No future at all.
- As there was with you?
- Well, you thought there was a future.
You said you wanted to be an artist.
So, I went with the art school bit
just as long as you did.
- You got what you wanted, didn't you?
- And you didn't?
Well, of course I did.
Well.
I apologize, Ward.
I sounded pretty phony there for a minute.
You did give me what I needed
and you never beat me or cheated me.
Won't you sit down?
Would you like some coffee?
No, not now. Not yet.
- Selling lots of cars?
- Oh, God, yes.
I'm rich.
I was never poor. Now, I'm rich.
- Who did this?
- A friend.
Yeah?
- How's your family?
- Peggy and I are divorced.
We...
We get our final in three months.
What happened?
Well, if you see a pair of nubbins,
I earned them.
You mean, this time it wasn't you?
- It was...
- That's right. Peggy.
I caught her cold, too.
Another man.
Caught?
- You mean, detectives?
- Yeah, a little bit.
I even got custody of the kids.
Aside from that, I'm free as the wind.
How does it feel?
Lonely.
You know, it's...
It's been Ionely ever since you left.
Look, Laura baby, if there's anything at all
like the old spark between us,
I'd marry you this time. Honest I would.
Don't be silly, Ward.
I don't want to go to bed with you.
I certainly wouldn't marry you.
You would play house with me,
but you wouldn't get married?
That's right.
That's exactly right.
Why not?
Because you're a creep, Ward.
I can't help it, but you're a creep.
You're a terrible creep.
Running around with the Reverend
the way you are,
you are in no position
to throw stones at me.
What do you mean?
I mean that if I wanted you right now,
there is nothing that you could say
or do about it.
- All right. All right.
- You do it, and I'll kill you!
Whatever you say, baby.
Just remember, when the chickens
come home to roost, I'II...
I'll be there, baby.
Just give me a ring, huh?
But I mailed them two weeks ago.
Why hasn't she signed them?
My fault, Fred. I've been so busy out here,
I kept postponing it...
Well, don't postpone it any longer.
My first order expired a week ago.
Legally, that boy is in limbo.
That's a hell of a place for a 9-year-old.
Get those papers signed and goodbye.
Goodbye.
In a lesser sense, the temptation of Jesus
in the wilderness
is the common experience of all mankind.
In the text itself,
St. Matthew makes the matter very clear.
Quote.
"Then was Jesus led up of the spirit
into the wilderness
"to be tempted..."
I deserve a medal.
I spent two hours straight
with Mrs. LeMoyne Richards
and all I got for the building fund
was $100.
- That's good.
- What did Judge Thompson want?
Oh, he sent me some legal papers
he wants Miss Reynolds to sign.
I have to drive over there this evening.
Care to come along?
All I want after Mrs. Richards
is a hot bath and an early bed.
Besides, I owe the boys a letter.
So do I.
- Don't you like it?
- Yes.
I'm glad you could find a way
to help her out.
I bought it because I think it's good.
Better come in to lunch now.
I've been waiting half the night for this.
All right, just bring another bottle.
Thanks.
That ought to cheer you up a little bit.
I know.
Here comes your preacher friend.
- Hello.
- Could I speak to you for a moment?
Everybody, this is Dr. Hewitt.
Doctor, welcome to the Club Nepenthe.
Sit down. Join us.
- Well, I'm...
- Oh, please sit down.
You know, we were just talking
about the word "nepenthe."
Howard here says
it means the same as "nirvana."
But Cos says it means
the banishment of all pain and sorrow.
I don't really know. I'm not an authority,
but I think that probably "oblivion"
is a better translation.
The Greeks, I think, thought of nepenthe
as a state of mind induced by drugs,
probably hashish.
Oh, say there, Reverend,
I got a friend
and he claims
he gets a mystical kick from H.
- H?
- Yeah, H.
So, what do you say, Reverend?
You think you can find God
at the end of a hypodermic needle?
Cos, cut it out.
Oh, well, I served in the Medical Corps
during the war,
and I can't tell you
how many dying and wounded men
found something of God's mercy
at the end of just such a needle
as you described.
Cos, you've just been dropped.
I have some papers
that Judge Thompson wants you to sign.
What kind of papers?
They're related to Danny's custody.
Hey, what do you say about that,
Reverend?
Cut it out, Cos.
They got a point there. But it's all right,
okay, Reverend? I'm sorry.
These papers about Danny.
What are they supposed to be?
Well, I think you better
read them over first
and anything you don't understand,
I'll try to explain.
Reverend?
You can't explain anything here.
Let's get out.
Hey, what's the matter? Wait a minute.
Did I say something wrong?
What's going on?
What is going on is business.
Mine.
Now, wait a minute. I'd like the Reverend
to straighten us out on angels.
- What?
- Come on, let's dance.
Angels, you know.
Cool it, this sounds interesting.
Okay?
All right. Yeah.
This is a problem of sex.
Catherine says that angels are neuter,
you know, kind of like mules.
Overton says that she read someplace
that angels are just like people.
You know, the boy angels and
the girl angels, and all that kind of thing.
So?
Well, that's it, man, you know.
What's the answer?
I think you'll probably find the answer
in Proverbs.
It's Chapter 16, verse 22.
"Understanding is a wellspring of life
unto him that hath it.
"But the instruction
"of fools is folly."
Cos, you go stand in the corner.
According to this, you're...
You're Danny's guardian.
I can't take him out of San Simeon
no matter what happens?
Not this term you can't.
Then I won't sign it.
It still has to be proved to me
that San Simeon is the best solution.
I agree.
However, I'll talk to Judge Thompson
about it.
Then it wasn't really that urgent?
You didn't need the signature tonight.
It could have waited.
It was urgent to me.
I cannot dispel you from my thoughts.
One minute you were asleep,
the next minute I woke up
and you were gone.
I didn't want to wake you.
Oh, how awful you have to get out of bed
and drive home.
I mean, in the fog and the dark,
all the time.
Your tie is crooked.
I can hear your heart.
Do you hear mine?
Am I as good for you as you are for me?
I must leave.
- Forgive me, I must go.
- Why?
Don't ask me such a question.
You know why. You must know.
I don't know.
You just did what you've been
wanting to do ever since you first saw me.
If it's so bloody tragic,
why didn't you hurt then instead of now?
I have no defense.
- I have no sympathy.
- Sympathy?
Yes, sympathy.
I'm a minister of the Christian faith.
If you feel that that's meant
anything to me, anything to me at all,
what would you expect me to feel like
at this minute?
That depends
on how you expected to feel about me.
Whether you wanted me as a woman
or just a whore.
My God, I...
Because if you wanted me as a woman,
you would feel as I do now.
At peace with myself.
Clean and content.
Without any sense of guilt.
You're blameless and without guilt.
You're good.
You're a glowing woman.
I don't approve of many of your beliefs.
But at least you are true to them,
and to yourself.
I'm just a hypocrite.
Please don't feel so bad.
Don't go like this.
Look, let me make some coffee
and we'll sit and talk.
I must go.
Don't you realize
what happened between us is good?
Can't you see that?
Edward?
Edward, are you there?
You still awake?
I hope I didn't worry you.
I had visions of you
going over a cliff in all that fog.
What happened?
I pulled the car to the side
and waited for it to lift.
It didn't, and I fell asleep.
Miserable.
- Were you praying when I came in?
- No.
I don't know, I was thinking.
Thinking is almost always a kind of prayer.
I'm so glad you're safe.
I do love you, Edward.
Damn.
I tried to pray, you know, but I couldn't.
Because I knew
that whatever I should've thought about it,
inevitably I would've been praying
not to forget you,
but to possess you.
And that you felt you could arrange
without heavenly interference?
A do-it-yourself kind of a proposition?
Exactly.
You see, I've lost all of my sense of sin.
It's about the nicest thing
a person could lose.
Also, I have become one of the world's
most accomplished liars.
You have lots of competition.
You know what I told my wife?
I said I was going to San Francisco
for three days on a fundraising drive.
I have no intention
of going to San Francisco.
That is, unless you kick me out.
I won't kick you out. I'd be afraid to.
You might get a court order
from Judge Thompson.
What would it be?
A writ for search and seizure?
No. A writ of habeas corpus,
demanding delivery of the body.
- And I'd have to?
- Of course.
I'd see you in hell first.
Sooner or later, you will anyway.
You know, he's becoming a nuisance.
You know, you were quite right
to let him fly free.
How did you know about that?
Life always flies back to life
if it isn't penned up.
You know, I've been keeping him
on the porch during the daytime
so he can see the ocean, and see the birds.
So he can know what he's supposed to be.
And when he does, he'll leave you.
And so will you, my love.
I think he's ready to try the outside.
He's had enough porch time
to find his way back
if he gets frightened or Ionely.
Wait a second.
Come on, little sandpiper.
Don't be afraid, baby.
You can fly through it.
He's making his own prison.
Look!
I think they're watching us.
And they don't like us.
We're intruders. Nobody ever comes here.
And they prefer it that way.
The only way you can get in
is through that inlet.
I feel as alone as Robinson Crusoe.
Even with the footprints
of a man beside me.
You should always have
a man's footprints beside you, Laura.
How do you know I haven't always?
Because you're afraid of them.
- Want some more wine?
- No, thanks.
But I'm not as afraid as you think.
Do you think that one of these days
Danny's going to feel somehow
that you robbed him of a father?
Well, that's a chance
I'm gonna have to take.
Do you know something?
If I were a devoted widow,
and Danny's father were a dead war hero,
would you be pitching me this bit about
finding a second father
to replace the dead one?
Touch.
Bonne sant. Continue the pitch.
It's no pitch. I just want to find out
what you want from life, that's all.
Oh, aside from raising Danny,
most of all I want to know myself,
to be myself.
I won't have a chance to do that
if I spend my life
playing the matrimony game,
which was rigged before I was even born.
Rigged?
Of course it's rigged. It always has been.
First 20 years of a girl's life,
she gets so used to going
to the same schools as the boys,
taking the same classes,
living in the same world with him.
She can't get it through
that square little head of hers
that she isn't his absolute equal.
Which, of course, she is.
Just wait until they get married,
and then see what happens.
The man enters into a professional life.
The woman becomes
an unpaid domestic servant.
So there goes your equality.
What good does all that education do
except make her unhappy?
Well, perhaps it's something
to fall back on when her beauty fades
and her husband turns
to a younger woman.
I wasn't talking about you
or any individual man.
- I was talking about men as a group.
- I know,
but most women
who become homemakers
are not necessarily miserable.
I didn't say miserable.
I say they're unfulfilled.
Look, a man is always
a husband, and a father,
and something else, like a doctor.
A woman is a wife, and a mother,
and what else?
A nothing.
The nothing is the thing that kills her.
And you don't care.
You want her to stay just the way she is.
Fertile and unfulfilled, then in her place.
Who wants this?
Oh, creatures like you,
judges like Thompson.
All the doctors, the President.
The whole male establishment.
Every last one of you.
You make it sound
like one enormous conspiracy.
Well, of course, it is.
Ever since Adam stool-pigeoned on Eve.
Oh, damn!
- Don't do that.
- Well, you made me spoil it.
Sometimes you're no judge
of what's no good.
What is it?
- Now, let me see!
- It's you.
Adam, after he stool-pigeoned.
Where's Eve?
Standing behind the tree
looking morally superior.
"But smugness, like pride,
"goeth before destruction,
"and a haughty spirit
"before a fall."
Is this something close to married love?
Well, I...
Did you expect
there would be a great difference?
Well, yes, wouldn't you?
I don't...
Don't really know. Why do you ask?
Well, because I've never known anything
like this particular feeling
that I feel with you.
Never before.
Never at all.
I've, of course, wondered about it.
Is it like married love?
It's, well... It's difficult to...
I'm not prying.
I don't want to know any secrets.
It's just...
Well, the way we touch each other.
The way you feel to me.
And I to you, I suppose.
The pleasure that comes
whenever I think of you.
Does this happen to married people?
Yes.
Oh, God, I envy her.
I hate her.
I hate her and I envy her.
And I want to be her.
Please, Laura.
It's such a terrible trap.
I do want to be her.
Except now.
Right now, I only want to be me.
Only me in the whole world.
Only me.
You almost scared me to death.
And I called the St. Francis
and the clerk said that you weren't there,
and you hadn't even made a reservation.
The clerk was wrong.
I had made a reservation.
Then Phil Sutcliff fixed me up
at the Union League Club.
I canceled the hotel.
I meant to let you know,
but the whole thing
completely slipped my mind.
Well, everything worked out anyway.
I ran into Ward Hendricks in Carmel
the next day.
I asked about you.
He said he had seen you in San Francisco,
and you were just fine.
Ward Hendricks said...
Oh, he's back in Carmel already?
- Did the pledges go well?
- The what?
San Francisco, the chapel?
Oh, the pledges. Yes, yes, quite well.
Claire, I've been thinking that I might
abandon the idea of a chapel altogether.
With all the pledges you've got?
And the trustees meeting
set at Del Monte?
- Yes.
- Well, why, Edward?
I mean, if there's some problem
about the chapel I don't know of,
maybe I can help you.
I can't right now, Claire.
I'm not quite sure of the problem myself.
Actually, I'm quite tired.
Do you mind if I go to bed?
I'll come with you.
That's very good.
Do you think it'll hold up in a tax court?
With two certified appraisals?
The lowest one's got to stand up.
Even that's a fat $22,000 tax deduction
for paintings that cost me under $5,000.
So what's the problem?
Well, I'm trying to give the damn things
to Ed Hewitt's Chapel Fund,
- and he won't take them.
- Why not?
I think he objects to the tax angle.
Says he won't let his Chapel Fund
take two or three grand from me
so I can take 22 from the government.
Well, if the government says it's okay,
what the hell is he worried about?
Well, that's why I thought
maybe you could talk to him, Ward.
You know, make him see the light.
I'll be glad to. I might want
the same deal myself sometime.
Well, in that case,
why don't you talk to him right now?
What?
Well, he's sitting right over there.
- Where?
- Over by the window.
Well, look who's here.
My two favorite saints.
Hello, Ward.
- Spending the weekend in Monterey?
- The afternoon.
Oh.
I'm down for Ed's trustee meeting
in Del Monte.
It should break before dinnertime.
Maybe if you're still around,
we can do the town.
I won't be.
Some other time.
There is something
I'd like to talk to you about.
Maybe we could get together before
the trustees start conning each other.
I'm tied up for this afternoon.
What do you say around 4:30 or 5:00?
It's important.
Besides, I think you owe me a favor.
I'm not aware
of any favors given or owed, Ward.
However, I'll meet you at 5:00.
Will the lodge be all right?
Fine.
Cheers. See you later.
Seems to me you've got
a lot of explaining to do, old boy.
That figure for the chapel is 50% higher
- than the figure you gave us last year.
- Exactly.
We can presume therefore
that the present figure is merely a prelude
to further fiscal miscalculations,
and continued embarrassment
to the headmaster.
I've come to the conclusion
that so vast a sum
would be misspent on a chapel anyhow.
What I'm asking is
that the Chapel Building Fund
be used as the nucleus
for an expanding free scholarship fund,
for the education of gifted
but underprivileged boys.
Having stated the matter that simply,
I will spare you any further oratory
and throw the matter open
for general discussion.
What does that mean to him anyway?
Looks to me
as once you lower social standards,
academic standards have got to follow.
Gresham's law applied to education.
We're not going to accept these boys
simply because they're poor.
We accept them because they're bright
and just happen to be poor.
Either we break down
the exclusiveness we've been practicing
or risk crippling the minds of our children
with class and racial concepts
that have no place in modern life,
much less in Christian dogma.
Hear, hear!
That's all very well,
but I think you're missing the point.
Our donors didn't give their money
for scholarships. They gave it
because they wanted a more beautiful
place of worship for their children.
I think our present chapel
is quite beautiful enough
to sustain the quality of prayer
that rises from it.
Tell that to our donors,
they'll demand their money back.
I'm aware of that. Our task will be
to persuade them otherwise.
Our task?
You speak for yourself.
I don't raise money under false pretenses.
You talk of false pretenses
after the tax avoidance scheme you tried
to put over on me less than an hour ago?
Tax avoidance?
He turned down a perfectly legal gift,
that would've netted the Building Fund
$3,000 or $4,000 minimum.
You've always accepted those gifts
in the past.
Now, do you dare deny that?
No. I affirm it.
And I'm ashamed of it.
I've got to put a stop to this.
From now on,
San Simeon will only accept those gifts
that come at least within
shooting distance of your fancy appraisals.
Why don't you stop?
What the hell has gotten into you anyway?
- You never talked like this before.
- Listen, Ward, your ideas...
My ideas may not be perfect,
but they are my ideas.
Where do you get yours from?
Laura Reynolds?
I don't understand it. I don't expect you to.
I don't understand it myself.
We made love.
Even in motels, God help me.
Stop the car.
Why?
I'm sick.
- Claire.
- Leave me alone!
Why?
- Claire, can I...
- Leave me alone!
- Claire!
- No!
- Claire, please...
- You leave me alone. I want to walk.
- Claire.
- Don't talk to me. I have to be alone.
- Claire!
- Go to her!
It's she you must talk to now, not me.
You must leave me alone!
Hey, Laura!
Hey, Laura!
I've great news for you.
We're so proud of you.
Ellie Mclver
bought two of your paintings today.
At $300 a piece.
By the permission of God.
Plus 25 bucks for food and drinks!
Not only that. The Edward Gallery in
San Francisco wants to give you a show.
- I don't believe it.
- Well, will you believe this loot?
Well, Laura, this is your night.
If you hadn't given me that buildup with
Mclver, this never would have happened.
Come on, this is the baby
you're talking to, honey.
Don't try giving me that.
It was the preacher.
When are you going to conclude
that scene?
I don't know.
You're in dangerous orbit.
Maybe more for him than for you.
Oh, I know.
I keep trying to find a way to...
I keep thinking, just one more month,
one more week,
just one more day.
What's so special about this preacher?
Something I never knew really existed.
All right. Come on, come on.
Let's get it out.
Tenderness.
I never knew a man could be so strong,
yet so tender.
That's even worse.
Stop messing around, baby.
It can't go anywhere but wrong.
You're wrong.
Because I love him.
I never knew what love was before.
Now I know what I want in a man.
Even in a marriage.
And I will find it someday.
- Oh, boy, oh, boy. Oh, boy, oh, boy.
- Again.
You know the trouble
with me and hard liquor?
I get it so seldom,
I forget how to handle it.
Poor Cos.
Yeah, poor old Cos.
Caught drunk
right in the middle of a losing streak.
Lost his youth,
lost his girl,
- Iost his...
- Sense of humor.
Does that make it any better?
What are you doing here?
Do you want everybody to know?
We've got to talk.
Come on.
Fill me in on something.
Did you ever hear of an honest preacher?
Just don't lose your cool, man.
Don't lose your cool.
No, I'm asking you straight.
Did you ever hear of an honest preacher?
You leave them alone, Cos.
You mean you told her about me?
Yes.
That we've made love?
Yes.
How could you?
How could you bring yourself
to tell anyone about me?
It's too private.
It's too private to tell.
I felt she had to know.
Isn't the relationship between
a man and a woman in love
as privileged as between
a lawyer and a client?
A doctor and a patient?
A priest and a confessant?
Isn't it just as holy?
Laura, it is holy. I swear to you it is.
Not with you.
Not when it's with me.
- Laura.
- Don't touch me!
Go away.
Go back to your wife.
- Laura.
- No, no.
Leave me alone.
- You heard what she said. Leave her alone.
- Get out of my way.
I have known hypocritical clerics
in my time,
- but you lead the parade.
- Cos!
Edward, stop it.
Sniffing around here like a hound dog.
Edward.
There's no need for that, Preacher.
Why don't you go back
- to corrupting little boys?
- Edward.
Stop it, you'll kill him.
Stop it. Stop it, Edward.
Edward. Edward!
Oh, God!
He's all right.
I just tapped him.
He'll come to in a moment.
What's going on here, Cos? What's wrong?
- There's nothing wrong.
- Are you all right?
Edward. Edward.
I wanted to kill him.
I wanted to kill him.
Edward.
Ask him to forgive me.
Edward.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
You've slept four nights in the library now.
Where would you have me sleep?
Separately, of course.
I made no complaint. I...
I really think it's time we talked.
What are you going to do?
I don't know.
You bear no responsibility
for what's happened,
and neither does Laura Reynolds.
It was my betrayal of myself
that injured you both.
Self-betrayal that began years ago,
almost without my knowledge.
Have you any conception
of how corrupt I've become?
In what way?
By acquiescing in
a thousand little schemes that pertain
to charity and end up as profit.
By overlooking a boy's grades
for a bribe called "contribution."
By putting desire above duty
and ambition above dignity.
Why all this self-contempt?
Unhappily, I'm no longer
a man of religion, Claire.
I've become a fundraiser,
a sloganeer,
a keeper of the treasury.
I'm not even an educator anymore. I've...
I've become a business executive
who doesn't have the time
even to make the acquaintance
of his own students.
But those tasks make the difference
between a fine school
and a mediocre one.
You've performed them well,
apparently willingly.
They're simply not the tasks
I chose for myself 20 years ago.
That we chose.
You remember?
I never forgot.
We were God's sweet fools.
We were going to minister to the poor.
Live in perfect trust, one with the other.
To trace in our lives
the gentle footsteps of Francis of Assisi.
We were going to call it...
It seems so long ago.
We were going to call it of all things,
"The Ministry of Love."
And she carried you back
to all those young, hot hopes.
All those brave, old dreams.
I'm just beginning to understand.
Just beginning to grasp it.
But do you think I like what I've become
with the boys grown and raised
and not needing me anymore?
And me filling these unwanted years
with petty tasks
and busy little trivialities?
What would you do if you left this school?
Churches everywhere are calling
for ministers who won't come.
The neighborhood is bad
or the pay is too low,
or the congregation is the wrong color.
And if you stayed here, then what?
It's up to the trustees.
I don't think they'll want me
after my blowup with Hendricks.
I'm not talking about the trustees.
I'm talking about this girl.
You were... You were in love with her.
Are you still in love with her?
Yes.
I'm afraid so. Yes, I am,
in a way I can't hope to explain.
I can't expect you to understand.
And I want your understanding
above anything else.
Because I must invite your contempt.
By insisting that I... I love you, too.
It's not possible.
Six months ago, I...
I wouldn't have thought so either.
It's true.
I promise I won't go back to her again.
It's an answer of sorts.
Enough to see me through the week.
Oh, look. Is that him?
See how one wing hangs
just a little lower than the other?
Do you think he knows you?
Probably. He cocks an eye at us
every now and then.
He likes us.
Then why did he leave?
He was healed. He didn't need us anymore.
Listen, Danny, I have a surprise for you.
About school, I mean.
About school?
My paintings are beginning to sell.
Not always, just once in a while. But...
Well, I can always get a job to fill in.
Which means we can
afford to move away from here,
if you'd like to.
But where would we move to?
Oh, San Francisco probably, or Monterey.
I'd get an apartment
and you can go to public school
instead of San Simeon.
We could live together again.
I just get used to something and you
want to start doing something else.
You mean you...
You want to go back to San Simeon?
Well, sure, I've got friends there.
You don't get homesick anymore?
I mean, you...
You don't mind living without me?
Why should I? You can't live
with your mother all your life.
Of course not.
We all want to fly free, don't we?
Okay, that's settled.
You'll go back to San Simeon
and I'll stay here.
The two of us will...
We can see each other on weekends.
Well, if I'm going back next term,
then you've just got to come
to Charter Sunday.
What's so important
about Charter Sunday?
Well, it's the end of the term
and all the kids come.
And their folks, too.
Well, it's a special thing.
In the chapel, I suppose, with a sermon?
Yeah, but that's not so bad. Honest.
The other guys, their parents are coming.
They'll think I'm some kind of an orphan.
Okay, Danny. I'll come.
You will? Man, will that be cool.
I mean, when you walk in and all the guys
see how pretty you are.
Such improvement calls
for a new program.
And new programs are best instituted
under new leadership.
In announcing to you my resignation
as headmaster of San Simeon,
I'm filled with sadness
to contemplate the end of a long
and significant period of my life.
Yet a sadness commingled with joy.
As I look forward
to the beginning of a new life,
which I hope as indeed do not we all,
may be more meaningful to myself
and to others
than the old
which today approaches its end.
Thinking back, I discover that I've learned
immensely more at San Simeon
than I have taught.
Humility and pride.
Innocence and aspiration.
Perseverance and faith.
And reverence.
Reverence for life,
no matter what form it takes.
Reverence also
for the needs of each individual
and his right to move as swiftly
along the path of enlightenment
as his ability permits.
I've learned not only from students,
but from their parents also.
I've had the privilege of warming myself
before the hearth of a generation
younger than my own,
holding ideas newer than my own,
and different
and perhaps to some of us still strange.
I've learned that total adjustment
to society
is quite as bad as total maladjustment.
That principle disobedience of unjust law
is more Christian,
more truly law-abiding
than unprincipled respect.
That only freedom
can tame the wild, rebellious,
palpitating heart of man.
Encagement, never.
That life, unfettered, moves towards life.
And love to love.
That in the full blaze
of God's cleansing sunlight,
men and women are purely innocent,
and therefore, most purely
beautiful.
There is another for whom feelings flow
too deep for gratitude.
Too wide for the heart's long explanation.
Too swiftly, perhaps, even for forgiveness.
Who led to the dreaming of brave dreams,
who held eternally high the chalice
of youth and its hot, young hopes,
gave living proof
that thinking and therefore being
is but a form of prayer.
What does one say
when confronted with such bounties?
One thanks God and remembers.
So it is that I thank him now for all of you.
I thank him, and in whatever place
to which his hand may lead us,
I will remember.
I will remember always.
Amen.
Please, Mother, I've got to get them.
My dorm's right over there.
It'll only take a minute.
All right, Danny, but please hurry.
- I want to get out of here.
- Okay.
- Did you make these special for me?
- Of course, Mr. Hendricks. Just for you.
Oh, heavens, I never touch the stuff.
Well, Edward, you really pulled the rug out
from under me.
If I had known you were leaving, I'd have
never gone for the scholarship fund.
Well, clergy have always been noted
for their guile.
Well, what are we supposed to do?
I mean, he's irreplaceable.
Not at all. My successor is at this moment
on the campus.
He's mighty young.
And so was I.
Excuse me.
- When are you leaving?
- In a few days.
I may drive down the coast.
Perhaps to Baja California.
Probably alone.
My wife hasn't any definite plans.
And after the trip?
I don't know. I have no plans, really.
And you?
I'll stay here.
Danny wants to go to San Simeon
next term.
I don't know about the financial situation.
It's all arranged. His scholarship, too.
Everything.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
I'll write you from La Paz.
- And write the boys, too.
- Yes, of course.
Well, perhaps in September...
I can't promise by September.
I've got to think my way back through
almost 21 years.
I really don't know, Edward.
We'll just have to wait and see.
Yes.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye, Edward.
- Five-to-one you get the appointment.
- Thanks to you.
No. Thanks to Judge Thompson.
He'll be in your corner.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
God bless.
And Godspeed.
English
I guess I wanted to find out
what the fun was.
Fun?
My mother says that men
are the only animals that kill for fun.
Danny, will you wait for me outside?
I want to have a word with your mother.
We won't be long.
Why did you take that boy out of school?
His teacher was a fool.
I taught him more in two months
than he learned at school in a full term.
In the course of his studies,
what have you taught him
about respect for the law?
As he grows up, he'll learn that
there are good laws and bad ones.
- He'll respect the good ones.
- And disobey the bad ones?
At least I hope he does.
Based only on his personal judgment
as an individual human being?
Now, you can't choose between
right and wrong by taking a census.
You can choose by respecting
the whole body of the laws
as man's best hope for justice.
Why does a young woman like you
live way out there alone
in a shack on a deserted beach?
I don't live alone. I live with my son.
And I live there because I love it.
I love every day I spend out there
and every night.
I love the sea and the mountains and
the sky and the birds and I love all of it.
Then I take it you feel you have escaped
from the corruption and conformity
of the modern world
and that your life is serene,
because, like Thoreau,
you live in direct communion with nature.
But Thoreau didn't go to Walden Pond
with a 9-year-old boy.
What are you trying to raise,
a "noble savage"?
What would you have me raise?
A slick little specialist
in weathercocksmanship?
I beg your pardon?
Oh, you know,
whirling around like a weathercock
every time the wind changes.
Oh, yes, of course.
I see.
Let me see, is this the third time
that you and Danny have been
brought up before me or the fourth?
- Third.
- And the first was?
The little girl.
Oh, yes. Of course.
She was swinging.
Her skirt blew back
and Danny put his hand on her thigh.
- Well?
- Oh, the child was frightened.
Oh, come on! She was delighted.
And it was her dirty-minded mother
that made the trouble.
And then there were the two horses
that Danny turned loose,
and finally the deer.
Well, that makes three strikes and out.
You've heard of San Simeon School,
haven't you?
- That religious school?
- Episcopalian.
Headmaster is a friend of mine.
I'm going to ask him to enroll your son.
Oh, no, you don't! He is my son.
I'll be damned if...
It's either that or reform school.
Now force my hand and I'll take him
away from you altogether.
I'm going to make an appointment for you
with the Reverend Dr. Hewitt.
And I suggest that you keep it.
It's Cos and Larry. Hi!
Sweetie, what are you doing
way out here?
We called by your home
and there was nobody there.
- And now you see why.
- Where are you going?
Oh, San Simeon.
Is that too far out of your way?
Out by about 10 miles.
San Simeon? Two nice people like you?
What's the word?
Our English tongue has a long history,
and I am pleased with your interest
in its oldest and most ardent words.
I think it's sad, however,
that these ancient expressions
should be degraded to a position
on lavatory walls.
You will scrub the walls down, of course.
Then you will learn the equivalent words
in German, French and Latin,
after which you will decline each noun
and conjugate each verb in all tenses,
including the subjunctive.
Thank you for your attention,
and good day.
- Edward, do you have a minute?
- Of course.
I just had another call
from Ward Hendricks.
And he said, since it was you who put him
in charge of the Building Fund,
the least you can do is make up your mind
about flunking the Rogers boy.
Chapel in 15 minutes, sir.
Thank you, Tommy.
What's this got to do
with Ward Hendricks?
Jack Rogers is willing to make
a substantial donation to the fund,
if his boy stays in school.
So, quite naturally,
Ward wants your answer.
What would you do in my shoes?
Wear them.
Very well.
If Jack Rogers' contribution
falls within the range of $2,000,
that quality of mercy
which runs through my blood like a fever
whenever money is mentioned,
will be strained yet once more
to give the Rogers boy another chance.
His third, I believe.
Dr. Hewitt.
The boy Judge Thompson sent you
is here with his mother.
Thompson?
Oh, yes, yes. Send the mother in first.
- Her name is Reynolds.
- Reynolds. Thank you.
You're... Mrs. Reynolds, I'm Dr. Hewitt.
Please sit down. Over there.
I am told you brought a young man for us.
I was ordered to bring him.
Yes, well, I hope we'll be able to help him.
I want to make it quite clear that
in my opinion he doesn't need any help.
Yes, I see. Judge Thompson
has briefed me, of course,
but I'd like
a little more general background.
For example, what is the chief source
of your income?
I'm an artist.
I paint. Nobody buys.
Then I turn out watercolors
when I need grocery money.
May I ask what are your
religious affiliations?
- Of course. I am a naturalist.
- What?
We believe that man is doomed
by his myths.
That there can be no peace on earth
until man rids himself
of all belief in the supernatural.
I see, yes. Very interesting. Go on.
That's about it.
It's a very small sect.
With a membership of approximately one?
Exactly one.
With Danny as an officiate, of course.
But I have no objection
to your lack of religion or to your son's.
But you do have compulsory
religious training here, don't you?
Well, chapel is compulsory, yes.
But I have never yet forced a boy to pray.
It can't be done, you know?
It could be tried.
San Simeon is not a jail, Mrs. Reynolds.
Students don't come here to be punished.
They come here to be educated.
Now, we don't have many boys
from broken homes, but...
My son is not from a broken home.
Oh. Forgive me. I was under the
impression that you've been divorced.
I've never been married.
Oh, I see.
Puts an entirely different light
on the matter.
Abandonment by the father...
I was not abandoned by the father,
Dr. Hewitt.
The father was abandoned by me.
Are you trying to shock me,
Miss Reynolds?
You may call me Mrs. Reynolds,
if you like.
Because if you are, it's not easily done.
You asked the questions.
You're a minister, you wouldn't want me
to lie to you, would you?
Neither would I want you to lie to me
if I were a truck driver or a disk jockey.
I questioned you
because it's my job to do so.
You send us a deeply disturbed boy...
My son is not deeply disturbed.
He is not disturbed at all!
He's a healthy, normal boy
because he hasn't been brainwashed yet!
And I aim to see that he stays that way.
What happened?
I am not exactly sure.
She didn't seem to have any doubts.
Apparently, she thought
I was behaving like a pompous idiot.
Were you?
Probably.
Look out for those rocks.
Be careful, they're loose.
You! Cross over and cut him off.
If he gets to the top, we'll never catch him.
Danny, they're trying to head you off!
Run, Danny, run!
Oh, God.
Lady, he's not going to jail.
He's just going to school.
School!
Just 10 more minutes
and we would have been gone.
It's an outrage, dragging a 9-year-old child
into San Simeon under armed guard!
Well, how else can you take him?
What, do you think one runaway boy
justifies setting up a police state
in Monterey County?
Yeah, that's about the way
it shapes up, Ed.
If you'd treated the mother a little more
tactfully, it might not have happened.
Now that it has,
I'm darn well gonna see it through.
Do you accept the boy or don't you?
Of course I accept him.
But after what's happened,
it's gonna be difficult to prove to him
that we're not running
an extermination camp out here.
I've never been too sure myself.
I got somebody on the other wire.
Goodbye, Ed.
One of your roommates
is younger than you.
The other two are a little bit older.
Don't their folks like them?
What do you mean?
Sending them away like this.
Well, of course they like them.
They love them.
My mother wouldn't send me away.
She likes me to be with her.
So do all the parents, Danny, but...
Tell me about your mother.
How do you spend your time?
What do you do together?
Oh, we... We fish, and she paints.
And I hunt and get the firewood.
We swim and we play music.
And she teaches my lessons.
And we read poetry to each other
to memorize it.
What sort of poetry?
The last was Canterbury Tales.
Only we didn't get to finish it.
You were memorizing
The Canterbury Tales?
Yeah, by Chaucer, you know.
A long time ago.
"Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
"The droghte of March
hath perced to the roote
"And bathed every veyne in swich licour
"Of which vertu engendred is the flour"
You know?
Which is my bed?
Oh, this one.
And this is your desk.
And this is where your clothes go.
I didn't bring any clothes.
Oh, well, we'll pick them up for you.
This is your study kit
and this is how it opens.
You work with that for a while
and I'll go get your bedding.
The bathroom's right behind you.
I'll be back in a minute.
The background
is still quite unclear to me.
But what I know of it thus far isn't good.
I advise you to keep him
on a very tight leash.
I saw you through the window
and decided not to interrupt.
Just as well. He was reciting the prologue
to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
in Old English.
- You're not serious.
- I'm completely so. So was he.
So apparently was his mother
when she taught him.
It sounded perfect.
Now you see the problem.
Oh, it's rather pleasantly different.
It will be like taming a bird.
Two birds, really.
Why two?
The mother will need as much help
as the boy.
Oh, and another thing.
We'll have to pick up his clothes.
Oh, yes.
Could you arrange to pick up his things?
Why don't you do it yourself?
It's a good opportunity to see
where the boy has been raised.
Good opportunity to take more abuse
from the mother, if you ask me.
Anybody there?
Sorry. I knocked.
The door was open. I decided to wait.
It's a baby sandpiper.
I think his wing is broken.
Would you light that lamp for me, please?
- There's some matches right there.
- Sure.
I have to try and make a splint.
- What you doing that for?
- This is supposed to hypnotize him.
Break's here.
- Is it strong enough?
- Should be. Hope so.
Would you tear off
about an inch and a half of this?
Baby.
Now, would you put that
right over this part of the wing? Gently.
Wait a minute. There.
You will need a cage until it heals.
- That would spoil everything.
- It's wild.
That's why he shouldn't have a cage.
The only way you can tame a bird
is to let him fly free,
if he can fly, of course.
It's the only way you can tame anything.
There, little sandpiper.
You don't have on your collar.
Well, I don't wear it always, you know,
it's not even a requirement
of my profession.
Why did you come here?
Well, I wanted you to know
that Danny is in good hands.
My wife has been with him
most of the afternoon.
- She says he's a fine boy.
- Your wife?
My God, he is my son, not hers.
Look at this place.
It's clean, it's dry, it's warm.
We have food.
We have music, we have books to read.
We have paints.
We have clay to make things up.
What's wrong with it?
Who in this whole damn world
could be rotten enough
to take a kid away from his home
and give him away to a school?
It may be hard for you to believe,
Miss Reynolds,
but boys like children of their own age.
They also like some order in their lives.
Given just a little time,
Danny will adjust beautifully.
Adjust to what?
To himself, to other people, to society.
That's just it.
I don't want him to adjust to society.
Well, if you want Danny
to be a non-conformist,
San Simeon is the best place
that could happen to him.
We'll give him a set of values there
that he can rebel against later.
Otherwise, he may rebel against yours.
Oh, I see.
You mean you... You teach children evil
so they can rebel against it
when they grow and become good.
I didn't mean that at all and you know it.
Meanwhile, the court has ordered us
to take the boy
and I beg you to give the school a fair trial.
I don't see what choice I have.
His bag was already packed.
We were going to Nevada
when the cops came.
It's all I have left of him.
You might as well take that, too.
We're not going to devour him,
Miss Reynolds.
You've got quite the wrong idea.
We're not the lions at San Simeon,
we're the... We're the Christians.
Goodbye.
Well,
there you have it.
I can't believe we made him that unhappy.
Has it shown in the rest of his work?
He is falling behind in all the subjects
he likes best. Particularly English.
Have you tried taking away his privileges?
- I don't think it would work.
- Then what will?
I'd like to try an experiment.
Let him sit in on other English classes
regardless of the age group,
and choose the one he'd like to join.
No, no, no.
I don't agree with that theory at all.
Besides, I don't want to
start making exceptions.
The boy himself is an exception.
Even so, I don't want to start something
that will make people think
we're turning radical around here.
Even if you would,
nobody would ever believe you.
- Hello, Walter.
- Hello.
Ward Hendricks called from San Francisco.
He's driving down this afternoon.
Wants to know if you'll fill out
a golf foursome at Pebble Beach.
Oh, Jim Harold and Phil Sutcliff
will be there.
Oh.
The money is in town.
Good idea. Tell him I'll call him back.
Tell them to bring their checkbooks.
- You mean it, Phil?
- Sure I mean it.
You hit the green and it's 3 grand
out of my hide for your Chapel Fund.
If you flunk it, I don't lay out a dime.
All right.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
Take not the name
of the Lord thy God in vain.
Hey, what are you doing
with three aces, kid?
That Reynolds boy, is he bridle-broke yet?
I think we're getting
the bit between his teeth.
The colt's been too long with the mare.
If you weren't a man of the cloth,
I'd recommend you gentled her
before you tackled him.
Lady artists can be fun.
Judge Thompson, I've finally found
one bottle of your favorite blend.
Did he say Reynolds?
Yeah. New boy at school.
Would the lady artist's name be
Laura Reynolds?
- Do you know her?
- Yeah, well, sort of.
Does she live around here?
Yeah, she's got a cabin
on the coast in Big Sur.
Really?
You...
You know her well?
Well, that's hard to say.
I don't think anybody knows her well.
No, it's not a tale for your ears.
Well, if you're referring to the boy,
I know he's illegitimate.
The mother told me so herself.
Don't look at me like that.
I'm not the daddy.
I wasn't trying to pry into your private life,
but the boy poses something of a problem
at school.
It would be helpful if I knew something
of the mother's background.
- Well, I take it this would be confidential?
- Of course.
- Charlie. One more time.
- Right, Mr. Ward.
Well, if she was telling the truth,
which she usually does,
it shapes up something like this.
From a nice,
respectable Indianapolis family.
Boy the same, only rich.
Boy 19, girl 17. Girl pregnant.
And the boy wanted to marry her.
But she'd have no part of it.
Her father arranged an abortion.
She'd have no part of that either.
So she left home, comes to California,
has the baby,
and is still there.
- Thank you, Charlie.
- All right.
Who's paying the boy's tuition?
I'm asking several of the trustees
to share it.
You included.
All right, all right. Fair enough.
Listen. Sure you won't stick around,
change your mind, have dinner?
No. Thanks all the same.
Come on in.
Oh, I'm sorry,
I was looking for Miss Reynolds.
She's over there.
Miss Reynolds?
Dr. Hewitt, meet Cos Erickson.
Boy beatnik.
How do you do?
Glad to know you, Reverend.
Why don't you sit down?
Yes, well, thank you.
I was driving from Monterey
and I spotted your mailbox.
Laura, this way a little bit more.
- Is that right?
- Yes.
What were you saying, Dr. Hewitt?
He was saying he was driving around
in the dark of night,
and just happened to spot your mailbox.
Yes, and I thought I'd tell you
that we have high hopes
for Danny's progress.
In what way, Dr. Hewitt?
Well, we were thinking of
changing certain classes for him
in certain subjects.
That's nice. What subjects?
English and history.
I should hope so.
He was very good in those subjects
before you took him away from me.
I taught them to him.
Yes, I know that.
The sandpiper appears to be
doing rather well, I see.
Yes, he'll be flying soon.
Cos, can we quit work now?
I'd like to get some clothes on.
All right, sure.
It's all right, since I'm not paying you.
Thanks.
- Reverend, you interested in art?
- Reverend is not a title.
It's an adjective that qualifies...
That qualifies a title.
You may more properly address me
as doctor or mister.
- Excuse me.
- No, not at all. It's a common error.
As for your question,
yes, I am interested in art.
Yeah, probably the same way
I am interested in religion.
I doubt that.
You know, Reverend,
I've always had a yen to ask
some qualified person a few questions
about the Virgin birth.
Having so powerful a thirst for knowledge,
you should have asked those questions
years ago. Fire away.
Well, you see,
I've had a theory
that no well-educated priest or minister
could possibly believe the greater part
of our Christian dogma
in this year of our...
Cos, stop picking on Dr. Hewitt.
"Picking on..."
He damn near picked on me!
Cos has to be leaving.
You can stay for a few minutes,
can't you, Dr. Hewitt?
Yes. Of course.
I'll walk you to the path.
Well, good night, Reverend.
Good night, son.
Hey, you were very rude.
You sounded like
some little village atheist.
Yeah?
Well, that's what I am. A village atheist.
You gonna seduce him?
Maybe. I don't know.
It would serve him right if I did.
No, Cos, I won't seduce him.
You sure?
Positive.
I wouldn't give him the satisfaction
of blaming me afterwards.
Or you either.
Good night.
Night.
Well?
They're... They're reverent.
Oh, you're joking.
Does the word offend you?
They have the kind of reverence without
which religion would mean nothing.
I wouldn't know.
Can I get you some tea?
- Would you like some grappa?
- Grappa, if you please.
Okay.
I talked with a friend of yours
this afternoon,
Mr. Ward Hendricks.
He isn't exactly a friend anymore.
He gave me the impression
he knew you rather well.
In the biblical sense, he did.
That is, he had carnal knowledge of me.
Does that answer your question?
I... I didn't ask one.
I met him in San Francisco.
Danny was just a baby. I was broke.
He set me up in an apartment. He
put me through two years of art school.
When I was finished with school,
I was finished with him.
Did you know such things went on
in the world?
He told me something of your background.
I'll bet he did.
And where did this cozy conversation
take place?
In a pool hall or a locker room?
Why, in a locker room, as a matter of fact.
That's where the boys really let down
their hair and pride, isn't it?
Yes, I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have brought it up. I apologize.
I didn't mean to...
Pry into my sex life?
Of course you did.
You've been dying to pry into it.
Now that you've seen me modeling
for Cos Erickson,
you are dying to know about him, too.
I am not so much interested
in the men in your life
as your attitude towards marriage.
Okay.
Ask it and it shall be answered unto you.
Well, I understand that Danny's father
was quite prepared to marry you?
That's right.
But I didn't love him.
- But you must have at one time.
- Oh, that...
I was only in love with him
or thought I was.
There's a difference between being in love,
and loving and liking.
Besides,
I didn't want to wake up 50 years old
some morning
and peer across the pillow
with his face peering back.
- How did your parents react?
- Very well.
They offered me an abortion.
And when I wouldn't do it,
they said I could stay at home
and have Danny there.
Why didn't you?
Look, they were trying to be sweet,
but they were ashamed.
By offering the abortion,
they showed me how they really felt.
A child can't just be accepted.
It has to really be wanted.
So I went away and had Danny by myself.
I still don't know much about
your attitude towards marriage.
I'm withholding judgment
until I see a happy one.
How is yours?
Adequate, as they say?
No, it's more than adequate. It's good.
Well, bully for you.
Cover this up.
Has your marriage, as my non-marriage
been blessed with children?
Yes, twin boys,
they're both in prep school.
Learning to adjust?
Or were they adjusted before they left?
I better go before I start answering you
in kind.
I won't bother you anymore.
From now on, you'll get written reports
about Danny's progress.
Dr. Hewitt,
don't be so pompous.
- Do you allow visitors?
- Yes.
Next time I'll come and visit you.
All right.
- Good night.
- Good night.
What I'm actually looking for
in this new chapel
is a sense of modesty, a sense of purity
that has no relation to size.
You know the
Church of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome?
Yeah.
- Well, that illustrates what I'm after.
- I see.
- Not in actual design, but in...
- Excuse me.
Good morning.
Good morning.
It is very good to see you here.
I want to show you something.
This is the fourth form
American literature class.
It corresponds to the eighth grade.
We allowed him to select the class
he felt he could do best in
and this is the result.
We've been... We've been spotted.
So, you see, his first clash
with the Christians
isn't the calamity you expected.
I can see. I'm very grateful.
Incidentally, I was... Oh, please.
I was talking to our architect about you.
That is to say, I was talking about
you and our new chapel.
The one we're going to build.
It calls for two stained-glass windows
and it occurred to me
we might try for something indigenous
to this particular area.
I mean, the mountains, the sea,
whatever it is
that makes this part of the world unique.
That would seem to call for
a local artist and I was...
I was thinking of you.
Well, but I am an atheist.
How could I design something
that glorifies a creed I don't believe in?
Do you think Orozco
believed in Christianity?
Or Rivera, or Portinari, or Chagall?
Some of their best work
is found in churches.
It's not at all rare to find
the religious vision
more purely apprehended
by the non-believer than by the saint.
Why... Why do you say that?
Well, saints tend to be myopic,
whereas the atheist
is almost always innocent.
And innocence is what we want
in this chapel.
Couldn't you sell some
just for grocery money?
Believe me, honey,
you've got what it takes.
But you're not ready yet.
- The price doesn't matter. It doesn't...
- I don't want cheap pictures.
I want expensive ones.
To match the rent
those burglars charge me.
Ellie, you're the biggest fraud
in Monterey County.
Phil Sutcliff told me how much you
paid for this place and it's a scandal.
This one.
I'II...
Since you won't handle her work,
I'll deal with the artist directly.
How much?
Cool, baby. Play it cool.
- A hundred.
- And sold.
Ellie, would you have this framed for me?
Thank you.
You're serious, aren't you?
I was also serious about
the chapel windows, were you?
Sure she was.
Look, baby, with a parson and a preacher
for a patron,
you've got it made.
Just think of all those Renaissance cats.
Well?
Well, yes. I've made some sketches.
You know,
just to try and find an approach.
- When can I see them?
- Well, tonight on your way home.
Maybe you could stop for dinner.
- You're free, aren't you?
- No, no, no.
- Tonight's my night for the drive-in.
- Can you?
Well, I'd like to, but I...
I've got a lot of appointments.
I don't know when they'd be through.
Well, it's up to you.
Anytime after 8:00, if you can.
Well, I'll try. Thank you. Goodbye.
- You don't like them.
- On the contrary, I like them very much.
All the charm and wonder
of a child's vision of creation.
But there's one thing missing.
- God?
- No, man.
- I left him out.
- Why?
Well, I...
I wanted the world to be innocent
and it can't be with man in it.
You see, this is the universe
before man came along.
It won't do. Man is essential
to any concept of the universe.
Without him the universe would be here,
but it wouldn't be conceived.
That is the miracle of man.
That he can imagine the awe and terror
of an infinite universe
and still not be frightened by it.
But facing the mystery of time
and the implacability of death,
he can still laugh, work, create...
And love.
Well, good for him.
Then he'll have to be
in somebody else's sketches.
Tell me.
You isolate yourself here
to eliminate man from your life
as thoroughly as you've eliminated man
from your sketches?
That could be true.
I suppose in a way it is.
- Why?
- You know,
men have been staring at me
and rubbing up against me
ever since I was 12 years old.
They've always been, sort of,
waiting for me to stumble
so they can close in.
Sometimes I get the suffocating feeling
that they will.
And I...
I see myself
perhaps tomorrow, perhaps next year,
being handed from man to man
as if I were an amusement
for men who only
have had me and never really loved me.
So I came here, and you don't
believe a word I've said.
On the contrary, I do.
However, instead of eliminating man
from your life totally,
why don't you solve the problem
by finding a man,
a kind of man who would really love you?
I don't think it's possible
for a man to really love a woman like me.
He only just has her, I think.
How much is this crazy chapel
going to cost?
About $100,000.
For just a place to pray?
Well, a place to pray
is not as trivial as you think.
But you can pray anywhere.
If man is so important, why...
Why don't you spend the money on him?
How many poor children
could you educate for
$100,000?
Don't do that.
Destroying your work like that is like...
It's a kind of suicide.
No, it's a kind of discipline.
I've always been too eager for recognition.
For praise... For the praise's sake alone.
Why else would I have designed sketches
for a building I have no feeling for
and I don't believe in?
I wanted your praise.
You think I praised your work
to make you like me?
I suppose not.
But that's what you accomplished.
- Does your wife know you're here?
- No.
Why didn't you tell her?
I often make appointments
without having to call up my wife.
Of course.
Do you like it?
Yes, I like it. I don't like him.
- Cos is all right.
- Lf you say so.
- I better be going.
- Why?
I can talk while I work.
I want you, Laura. I want you.
Oh, God.
Grant me some
small remembrance of honor.
Give me strength.
Give me
emptiness.
Come in.
Who told you I live here?
Hey. Ed Hewitt.
Oh, yeah. The locker room session.
You were swapping stories
about me, right?
Yes, well, it seems as though I swapped
considerably more than I got.
He never even hinted
you were seeing each other.
- We're not.
- I dropped by to see you last night.
Ed's car was parked up by the mailbox.
So I drove on to Nepenthe instead.
He dropped by to report
on Danny's schoolwork.
Must have been a hell of a report.
I drove back about 1:00 in the morning,
the car was still there.
- What do you want, Ward?
- Well, I want to help you.
You're too level-headed a girl
to start kidding yourself now.
Ed's married.
He's got a wife, two teenage boys.
He's not going to leave her for you
or anybody else.
There's no future for you there, baby.
No future at all.
- As there was with you?
- Well, you thought there was a future.
You said you wanted to be an artist.
So, I went with the art school bit
just as long as you did.
- You got what you wanted, didn't you?
- And you didn't?
Well, of course I did.
Well.
I apologize, Ward.
I sounded pretty phony there for a minute.
You did give me what I needed
and you never beat me or cheated me.
Won't you sit down?
Would you like some coffee?
No, not now. Not yet.
- Selling lots of cars?
- Oh, God, yes.
I'm rich.
I was never poor. Now, I'm rich.
- Who did this?
- A friend.
Yeah?
- How's your family?
- Peggy and I are divorced.
We...
We get our final in three months.
What happened?
Well, if you see a pair of nubbins,
I earned them.
You mean, this time it wasn't you?
- It was...
- That's right. Peggy.
I caught her cold, too.
Another man.
Caught?
- You mean, detectives?
- Yeah, a little bit.
I even got custody of the kids.
Aside from that, I'm free as the wind.
How does it feel?
Lonely.
You know, it's...
It's been Ionely ever since you left.
Look, Laura baby, if there's anything at all
like the old spark between us,
I'd marry you this time. Honest I would.
Don't be silly, Ward.
I don't want to go to bed with you.
I certainly wouldn't marry you.
You would play house with me,
but you wouldn't get married?
That's right.
That's exactly right.
Why not?
Because you're a creep, Ward.
I can't help it, but you're a creep.
You're a terrible creep.
Running around with the Reverend
the way you are,
you are in no position
to throw stones at me.
What do you mean?
I mean that if I wanted you right now,
there is nothing that you could say
or do about it.
- All right. All right.
- You do it, and I'll kill you!
Whatever you say, baby.
Just remember, when the chickens
come home to roost, I'II...
I'll be there, baby.
Just give me a ring, huh?
But I mailed them two weeks ago.
Why hasn't she signed them?
My fault, Fred. I've been so busy out here,
I kept postponing it...
Well, don't postpone it any longer.
My first order expired a week ago.
Legally, that boy is in limbo.
That's a hell of a place for a 9-year-old.
Get those papers signed and goodbye.
Goodbye.
In a lesser sense, the temptation of Jesus
in the wilderness
is the common experience of all mankind.
In the text itself,
St. Matthew makes the matter very clear.
Quote.
"Then was Jesus led up of the spirit
into the wilderness
"to be tempted..."
I deserve a medal.
I spent two hours straight
with Mrs. LeMoyne Richards
and all I got for the building fund
was $100.
- That's good.
- What did Judge Thompson want?
Oh, he sent me some legal papers
he wants Miss Reynolds to sign.
I have to drive over there this evening.
Care to come along?
All I want after Mrs. Richards
is a hot bath and an early bed.
Besides, I owe the boys a letter.
So do I.
- Don't you like it?
- Yes.
I'm glad you could find a way
to help her out.
I bought it because I think it's good.
Better come in to lunch now.
I've been waiting half the night for this.
All right, just bring another bottle.
Thanks.
That ought to cheer you up a little bit.
I know.
Here comes your preacher friend.
- Hello.
- Could I speak to you for a moment?
Everybody, this is Dr. Hewitt.
Doctor, welcome to the Club Nepenthe.
Sit down. Join us.
- Well, I'm...
- Oh, please sit down.
You know, we were just talking
about the word "nepenthe."
Howard here says
it means the same as "nirvana."
But Cos says it means
the banishment of all pain and sorrow.
I don't really know. I'm not an authority,
but I think that probably "oblivion"
is a better translation.
The Greeks, I think, thought of nepenthe
as a state of mind induced by drugs,
probably hashish.
Oh, say there, Reverend,
I got a friend
and he claims
he gets a mystical kick from H.
- H?
- Yeah, H.
So, what do you say, Reverend?
You think you can find God
at the end of a hypodermic needle?
Cos, cut it out.
Oh, well, I served in the Medical Corps
during the war,
and I can't tell you
how many dying and wounded men
found something of God's mercy
at the end of just such a needle
as you described.
Cos, you've just been dropped.
I have some papers
that Judge Thompson wants you to sign.
What kind of papers?
They're related to Danny's custody.
Hey, what do you say about that,
Reverend?
Cut it out, Cos.
They got a point there. But it's all right,
okay, Reverend? I'm sorry.
These papers about Danny.
What are they supposed to be?
Well, I think you better
read them over first
and anything you don't understand,
I'll try to explain.
Reverend?
You can't explain anything here.
Let's get out.
Hey, what's the matter? Wait a minute.
Did I say something wrong?
What's going on?
What is going on is business.
Mine.
Now, wait a minute. I'd like the Reverend
to straighten us out on angels.
- What?
- Come on, let's dance.
Angels, you know.
Cool it, this sounds interesting.
Okay?
All right. Yeah.
This is a problem of sex.
Catherine says that angels are neuter,
you know, kind of like mules.
Overton says that she read someplace
that angels are just like people.
You know, the boy angels and
the girl angels, and all that kind of thing.
So?
Well, that's it, man, you know.
What's the answer?
I think you'll probably find the answer
in Proverbs.
It's Chapter 16, verse 22.
"Understanding is a wellspring of life
unto him that hath it.
"But the instruction
"of fools is folly."
Cos, you go stand in the corner.
According to this, you're...
You're Danny's guardian.
I can't take him out of San Simeon
no matter what happens?
Not this term you can't.
Then I won't sign it.
It still has to be proved to me
that San Simeon is the best solution.
I agree.
However, I'll talk to Judge Thompson
about it.
Then it wasn't really that urgent?
You didn't need the signature tonight.
It could have waited.
It was urgent to me.
I cannot dispel you from my thoughts.
One minute you were asleep,
the next minute I woke up
and you were gone.
I didn't want to wake you.
Oh, how awful you have to get out of bed
and drive home.
I mean, in the fog and the dark,
all the time.
Your tie is crooked.
I can hear your heart.
Do you hear mine?
Am I as good for you as you are for me?
I must leave.
- Forgive me, I must go.
- Why?
Don't ask me such a question.
You know why. You must know.
I don't know.
You just did what you've been
wanting to do ever since you first saw me.
If it's so bloody tragic,
why didn't you hurt then instead of now?
I have no defense.
- I have no sympathy.
- Sympathy?
Yes, sympathy.
I'm a minister of the Christian faith.
If you feel that that's meant
anything to me, anything to me at all,
what would you expect me to feel like
at this minute?
That depends
on how you expected to feel about me.
Whether you wanted me as a woman
or just a whore.
My God, I...
Because if you wanted me as a woman,
you would feel as I do now.
At peace with myself.
Clean and content.
Without any sense of guilt.
You're blameless and without guilt.
You're good.
You're a glowing woman.
I don't approve of many of your beliefs.
But at least you are true to them,
and to yourself.
I'm just a hypocrite.
Please don't feel so bad.
Don't go like this.
Look, let me make some coffee
and we'll sit and talk.
I must go.
Don't you realize
what happened between us is good?
Can't you see that?
Edward?
Edward, are you there?
You still awake?
I hope I didn't worry you.
I had visions of you
going over a cliff in all that fog.
What happened?
I pulled the car to the side
and waited for it to lift.
It didn't, and I fell asleep.
Miserable.
- Were you praying when I came in?
- No.
I don't know, I was thinking.
Thinking is almost always a kind of prayer.
I'm so glad you're safe.
I do love you, Edward.
Damn.
I tried to pray, you know, but I couldn't.
Because I knew
that whatever I should've thought about it,
inevitably I would've been praying
not to forget you,
but to possess you.
And that you felt you could arrange
without heavenly interference?
A do-it-yourself kind of a proposition?
Exactly.
You see, I've lost all of my sense of sin.
It's about the nicest thing
a person could lose.
Also, I have become one of the world's
most accomplished liars.
You have lots of competition.
You know what I told my wife?
I said I was going to San Francisco
for three days on a fundraising drive.
I have no intention
of going to San Francisco.
That is, unless you kick me out.
I won't kick you out. I'd be afraid to.
You might get a court order
from Judge Thompson.
What would it be?
A writ for search and seizure?
No. A writ of habeas corpus,
demanding delivery of the body.
- And I'd have to?
- Of course.
I'd see you in hell first.
Sooner or later, you will anyway.
You know, he's becoming a nuisance.
You know, you were quite right
to let him fly free.
How did you know about that?
Life always flies back to life
if it isn't penned up.
You know, I've been keeping him
on the porch during the daytime
so he can see the ocean, and see the birds.
So he can know what he's supposed to be.
And when he does, he'll leave you.
And so will you, my love.
I think he's ready to try the outside.
He's had enough porch time
to find his way back
if he gets frightened or Ionely.
Wait a second.
Come on, little sandpiper.
Don't be afraid, baby.
You can fly through it.
He's making his own prison.
Look!
I think they're watching us.
And they don't like us.
We're intruders. Nobody ever comes here.
And they prefer it that way.
The only way you can get in
is through that inlet.
I feel as alone as Robinson Crusoe.
Even with the footprints
of a man beside me.
You should always have
a man's footprints beside you, Laura.
How do you know I haven't always?
Because you're afraid of them.
- Want some more wine?
- No, thanks.
But I'm not as afraid as you think.
Do you think that one of these days
Danny's going to feel somehow
that you robbed him of a father?
Well, that's a chance
I'm gonna have to take.
Do you know something?
If I were a devoted widow,
and Danny's father were a dead war hero,
would you be pitching me this bit about
finding a second father
to replace the dead one?
Touch.
Bonne sant. Continue the pitch.
It's no pitch. I just want to find out
what you want from life, that's all.
Oh, aside from raising Danny,
most of all I want to know myself,
to be myself.
I won't have a chance to do that
if I spend my life
playing the matrimony game,
which was rigged before I was even born.
Rigged?
Of course it's rigged. It always has been.
First 20 years of a girl's life,
she gets so used to going
to the same schools as the boys,
taking the same classes,
living in the same world with him.
She can't get it through
that square little head of hers
that she isn't his absolute equal.
Which, of course, she is.
Just wait until they get married,
and then see what happens.
The man enters into a professional life.
The woman becomes
an unpaid domestic servant.
So there goes your equality.
What good does all that education do
except make her unhappy?
Well, perhaps it's something
to fall back on when her beauty fades
and her husband turns
to a younger woman.
I wasn't talking about you
or any individual man.
- I was talking about men as a group.
- I know,
but most women
who become homemakers
are not necessarily miserable.
I didn't say miserable.
I say they're unfulfilled.
Look, a man is always
a husband, and a father,
and something else, like a doctor.
A woman is a wife, and a mother,
and what else?
A nothing.
The nothing is the thing that kills her.
And you don't care.
You want her to stay just the way she is.
Fertile and unfulfilled, then in her place.
Who wants this?
Oh, creatures like you,
judges like Thompson.
All the doctors, the President.
The whole male establishment.
Every last one of you.
You make it sound
like one enormous conspiracy.
Well, of course, it is.
Ever since Adam stool-pigeoned on Eve.
Oh, damn!
- Don't do that.
- Well, you made me spoil it.
Sometimes you're no judge
of what's no good.
What is it?
- Now, let me see!
- It's you.
Adam, after he stool-pigeoned.
Where's Eve?
Standing behind the tree
looking morally superior.
"But smugness, like pride,
"goeth before destruction,
"and a haughty spirit
"before a fall."
Is this something close to married love?
Well, I...
Did you expect
there would be a great difference?
Well, yes, wouldn't you?
I don't...
Don't really know. Why do you ask?
Well, because I've never known anything
like this particular feeling
that I feel with you.
Never before.
Never at all.
I've, of course, wondered about it.
Is it like married love?
It's, well... It's difficult to...
I'm not prying.
I don't want to know any secrets.
It's just...
Well, the way we touch each other.
The way you feel to me.
And I to you, I suppose.
The pleasure that comes
whenever I think of you.
Does this happen to married people?
Yes.
Oh, God, I envy her.
I hate her.
I hate her and I envy her.
And I want to be her.
Please, Laura.
It's such a terrible trap.
I do want to be her.
Except now.
Right now, I only want to be me.
Only me in the whole world.
Only me.
You almost scared me to death.
And I called the St. Francis
and the clerk said that you weren't there,
and you hadn't even made a reservation.
The clerk was wrong.
I had made a reservation.
Then Phil Sutcliff fixed me up
at the Union League Club.
I canceled the hotel.
I meant to let you know,
but the whole thing
completely slipped my mind.
Well, everything worked out anyway.
I ran into Ward Hendricks in Carmel
the next day.
I asked about you.
He said he had seen you in San Francisco,
and you were just fine.
Ward Hendricks said...
Oh, he's back in Carmel already?
- Did the pledges go well?
- The what?
San Francisco, the chapel?
Oh, the pledges. Yes, yes, quite well.
Claire, I've been thinking that I might
abandon the idea of a chapel altogether.
With all the pledges you've got?
And the trustees meeting
set at Del Monte?
- Yes.
- Well, why, Edward?
I mean, if there's some problem
about the chapel I don't know of,
maybe I can help you.
I can't right now, Claire.
I'm not quite sure of the problem myself.
Actually, I'm quite tired.
Do you mind if I go to bed?
I'll come with you.
That's very good.
Do you think it'll hold up in a tax court?
With two certified appraisals?
The lowest one's got to stand up.
Even that's a fat $22,000 tax deduction
for paintings that cost me under $5,000.
So what's the problem?
Well, I'm trying to give the damn things
to Ed Hewitt's Chapel Fund,
- and he won't take them.
- Why not?
I think he objects to the tax angle.
Says he won't let his Chapel Fund
take two or three grand from me
so I can take 22 from the government.
Well, if the government says it's okay,
what the hell is he worried about?
Well, that's why I thought
maybe you could talk to him, Ward.
You know, make him see the light.
I'll be glad to. I might want
the same deal myself sometime.
Well, in that case,
why don't you talk to him right now?
What?
Well, he's sitting right over there.
- Where?
- Over by the window.
Well, look who's here.
My two favorite saints.
Hello, Ward.
- Spending the weekend in Monterey?
- The afternoon.
Oh.
I'm down for Ed's trustee meeting
in Del Monte.
It should break before dinnertime.
Maybe if you're still around,
we can do the town.
I won't be.
Some other time.
There is something
I'd like to talk to you about.
Maybe we could get together before
the trustees start conning each other.
I'm tied up for this afternoon.
What do you say around 4:30 or 5:00?
It's important.
Besides, I think you owe me a favor.
I'm not aware
of any favors given or owed, Ward.
However, I'll meet you at 5:00.
Will the lodge be all right?
Fine.
Cheers. See you later.
Seems to me you've got
a lot of explaining to do, old boy.
That figure for the chapel is 50% higher
- than the figure you gave us last year.
- Exactly.
We can presume therefore
that the present figure is merely a prelude
to further fiscal miscalculations,
and continued embarrassment
to the headmaster.
I've come to the conclusion
that so vast a sum
would be misspent on a chapel anyhow.
What I'm asking is
that the Chapel Building Fund
be used as the nucleus
for an expanding free scholarship fund,
for the education of gifted
but underprivileged boys.
Having stated the matter that simply,
I will spare you any further oratory
and throw the matter open
for general discussion.
What does that mean to him anyway?
Looks to me
as once you lower social standards,
academic standards have got to follow.
Gresham's law applied to education.
We're not going to accept these boys
simply because they're poor.
We accept them because they're bright
and just happen to be poor.
Either we break down
the exclusiveness we've been practicing
or risk crippling the minds of our children
with class and racial concepts
that have no place in modern life,
much less in Christian dogma.
Hear, hear!
That's all very well,
but I think you're missing the point.
Our donors didn't give their money
for scholarships. They gave it
because they wanted a more beautiful
place of worship for their children.
I think our present chapel
is quite beautiful enough
to sustain the quality of prayer
that rises from it.
Tell that to our donors,
they'll demand their money back.
I'm aware of that. Our task will be
to persuade them otherwise.
Our task?
You speak for yourself.
I don't raise money under false pretenses.
You talk of false pretenses
after the tax avoidance scheme you tried
to put over on me less than an hour ago?
Tax avoidance?
He turned down a perfectly legal gift,
that would've netted the Building Fund
$3,000 or $4,000 minimum.
You've always accepted those gifts
in the past.
Now, do you dare deny that?
No. I affirm it.
And I'm ashamed of it.
I've got to put a stop to this.
From now on,
San Simeon will only accept those gifts
that come at least within
shooting distance of your fancy appraisals.
Why don't you stop?
What the hell has gotten into you anyway?
- You never talked like this before.
- Listen, Ward, your ideas...
My ideas may not be perfect,
but they are my ideas.
Where do you get yours from?
Laura Reynolds?
I don't understand it. I don't expect you to.
I don't understand it myself.
We made love.
Even in motels, God help me.
Stop the car.
Why?
I'm sick.
- Claire.
- Leave me alone!
Why?
- Claire, can I...
- Leave me alone!
- Claire!
- No!
- Claire, please...
- You leave me alone. I want to walk.
- Claire.
- Don't talk to me. I have to be alone.
- Claire!
- Go to her!
It's she you must talk to now, not me.
You must leave me alone!
Hey, Laura!
Hey, Laura!
I've great news for you.
We're so proud of you.
Ellie Mclver
bought two of your paintings today.
At $300 a piece.
By the permission of God.
Plus 25 bucks for food and drinks!
Not only that. The Edward Gallery in
San Francisco wants to give you a show.
- I don't believe it.
- Well, will you believe this loot?
Well, Laura, this is your night.
If you hadn't given me that buildup with
Mclver, this never would have happened.
Come on, this is the baby
you're talking to, honey.
Don't try giving me that.
It was the preacher.
When are you going to conclude
that scene?
I don't know.
You're in dangerous orbit.
Maybe more for him than for you.
Oh, I know.
I keep trying to find a way to...
I keep thinking, just one more month,
one more week,
just one more day.
What's so special about this preacher?
Something I never knew really existed.
All right. Come on, come on.
Let's get it out.
Tenderness.
I never knew a man could be so strong,
yet so tender.
That's even worse.
Stop messing around, baby.
It can't go anywhere but wrong.
You're wrong.
Because I love him.
I never knew what love was before.
Now I know what I want in a man.
Even in a marriage.
And I will find it someday.
- Oh, boy, oh, boy. Oh, boy, oh, boy.
- Again.
You know the trouble
with me and hard liquor?
I get it so seldom,
I forget how to handle it.
Poor Cos.
Yeah, poor old Cos.
Caught drunk
right in the middle of a losing streak.
Lost his youth,
lost his girl,
- Iost his...
- Sense of humor.
Does that make it any better?
What are you doing here?
Do you want everybody to know?
We've got to talk.
Come on.
Fill me in on something.
Did you ever hear of an honest preacher?
Just don't lose your cool, man.
Don't lose your cool.
No, I'm asking you straight.
Did you ever hear of an honest preacher?
You leave them alone, Cos.
You mean you told her about me?
Yes.
That we've made love?
Yes.
How could you?
How could you bring yourself
to tell anyone about me?
It's too private.
It's too private to tell.
I felt she had to know.
Isn't the relationship between
a man and a woman in love
as privileged as between
a lawyer and a client?
A doctor and a patient?
A priest and a confessant?
Isn't it just as holy?
Laura, it is holy. I swear to you it is.
Not with you.
Not when it's with me.
- Laura.
- Don't touch me!
Go away.
Go back to your wife.
- Laura.
- No, no.
Leave me alone.
- You heard what she said. Leave her alone.
- Get out of my way.
I have known hypocritical clerics
in my time,
- but you lead the parade.
- Cos!
Edward, stop it.
Sniffing around here like a hound dog.
Edward.
There's no need for that, Preacher.
Why don't you go back
- to corrupting little boys?
- Edward.
Stop it, you'll kill him.
Stop it. Stop it, Edward.
Edward. Edward!
Oh, God!
He's all right.
I just tapped him.
He'll come to in a moment.
What's going on here, Cos? What's wrong?
- There's nothing wrong.
- Are you all right?
Edward. Edward.
I wanted to kill him.
I wanted to kill him.
Edward.
Ask him to forgive me.
Edward.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
You've slept four nights in the library now.
Where would you have me sleep?
Separately, of course.
I made no complaint. I...
I really think it's time we talked.
What are you going to do?
I don't know.
You bear no responsibility
for what's happened,
and neither does Laura Reynolds.
It was my betrayal of myself
that injured you both.
Self-betrayal that began years ago,
almost without my knowledge.
Have you any conception
of how corrupt I've become?
In what way?
By acquiescing in
a thousand little schemes that pertain
to charity and end up as profit.
By overlooking a boy's grades
for a bribe called "contribution."
By putting desire above duty
and ambition above dignity.
Why all this self-contempt?
Unhappily, I'm no longer
a man of religion, Claire.
I've become a fundraiser,
a sloganeer,
a keeper of the treasury.
I'm not even an educator anymore. I've...
I've become a business executive
who doesn't have the time
even to make the acquaintance
of his own students.
But those tasks make the difference
between a fine school
and a mediocre one.
You've performed them well,
apparently willingly.
They're simply not the tasks
I chose for myself 20 years ago.
That we chose.
You remember?
I never forgot.
We were God's sweet fools.
We were going to minister to the poor.
Live in perfect trust, one with the other.
To trace in our lives
the gentle footsteps of Francis of Assisi.
We were going to call it...
It seems so long ago.
We were going to call it of all things,
"The Ministry of Love."
And she carried you back
to all those young, hot hopes.
All those brave, old dreams.
I'm just beginning to understand.
Just beginning to grasp it.
But do you think I like what I've become
with the boys grown and raised
and not needing me anymore?
And me filling these unwanted years
with petty tasks
and busy little trivialities?
What would you do if you left this school?
Churches everywhere are calling
for ministers who won't come.
The neighborhood is bad
or the pay is too low,
or the congregation is the wrong color.
And if you stayed here, then what?
It's up to the trustees.
I don't think they'll want me
after my blowup with Hendricks.
I'm not talking about the trustees.
I'm talking about this girl.
You were... You were in love with her.
Are you still in love with her?
Yes.
I'm afraid so. Yes, I am,
in a way I can't hope to explain.
I can't expect you to understand.
And I want your understanding
above anything else.
Because I must invite your contempt.
By insisting that I... I love you, too.
It's not possible.
Six months ago, I...
I wouldn't have thought so either.
It's true.
I promise I won't go back to her again.
It's an answer of sorts.
Enough to see me through the week.
Oh, look. Is that him?
See how one wing hangs
just a little lower than the other?
Do you think he knows you?
Probably. He cocks an eye at us
every now and then.
He likes us.
Then why did he leave?
He was healed. He didn't need us anymore.
Listen, Danny, I have a surprise for you.
About school, I mean.
About school?
My paintings are beginning to sell.
Not always, just once in a while. But...
Well, I can always get a job to fill in.
Which means we can
afford to move away from here,
if you'd like to.
But where would we move to?
Oh, San Francisco probably, or Monterey.
I'd get an apartment
and you can go to public school
instead of San Simeon.
We could live together again.
I just get used to something and you
want to start doing something else.
You mean you...
You want to go back to San Simeon?
Well, sure, I've got friends there.
You don't get homesick anymore?
I mean, you...
You don't mind living without me?
Why should I? You can't live
with your mother all your life.
Of course not.
We all want to fly free, don't we?
Okay, that's settled.
You'll go back to San Simeon
and I'll stay here.
The two of us will...
We can see each other on weekends.
Well, if I'm going back next term,
then you've just got to come
to Charter Sunday.
What's so important
about Charter Sunday?
Well, it's the end of the term
and all the kids come.
And their folks, too.
Well, it's a special thing.
In the chapel, I suppose, with a sermon?
Yeah, but that's not so bad. Honest.
The other guys, their parents are coming.
They'll think I'm some kind of an orphan.
Okay, Danny. I'll come.
You will? Man, will that be cool.
I mean, when you walk in and all the guys
see how pretty you are.
Such improvement calls
for a new program.
And new programs are best instituted
under new leadership.
In announcing to you my resignation
as headmaster of San Simeon,
I'm filled with sadness
to contemplate the end of a long
and significant period of my life.
Yet a sadness commingled with joy.
As I look forward
to the beginning of a new life,
which I hope as indeed do not we all,
may be more meaningful to myself
and to others
than the old
which today approaches its end.
Thinking back, I discover that I've learned
immensely more at San Simeon
than I have taught.
Humility and pride.
Innocence and aspiration.
Perseverance and faith.
And reverence.
Reverence for life,
no matter what form it takes.
Reverence also
for the needs of each individual
and his right to move as swiftly
along the path of enlightenment
as his ability permits.
I've learned not only from students,
but from their parents also.
I've had the privilege of warming myself
before the hearth of a generation
younger than my own,
holding ideas newer than my own,
and different
and perhaps to some of us still strange.
I've learned that total adjustment
to society
is quite as bad as total maladjustment.
That principle disobedience of unjust law
is more Christian,
more truly law-abiding
than unprincipled respect.
That only freedom
can tame the wild, rebellious,
palpitating heart of man.
Encagement, never.
That life, unfettered, moves towards life.
And love to love.
That in the full blaze
of God's cleansing sunlight,
men and women are purely innocent,
and therefore, most purely
beautiful.
There is another for whom feelings flow
too deep for gratitude.
Too wide for the heart's long explanation.
Too swiftly, perhaps, even for forgiveness.
Who led to the dreaming of brave dreams,
who held eternally high the chalice
of youth and its hot, young hopes,
gave living proof
that thinking and therefore being
is but a form of prayer.
What does one say
when confronted with such bounties?
One thanks God and remembers.
So it is that I thank him now for all of you.
I thank him, and in whatever place
to which his hand may lead us,
I will remember.
I will remember always.
Amen.
Please, Mother, I've got to get them.
My dorm's right over there.
It'll only take a minute.
All right, Danny, but please hurry.
- I want to get out of here.
- Okay.
- Did you make these special for me?
- Of course, Mr. Hendricks. Just for you.
Oh, heavens, I never touch the stuff.
Well, Edward, you really pulled the rug out
from under me.
If I had known you were leaving, I'd have
never gone for the scholarship fund.
Well, clergy have always been noted
for their guile.
Well, what are we supposed to do?
I mean, he's irreplaceable.
Not at all. My successor is at this moment
on the campus.
He's mighty young.
And so was I.
Excuse me.
- When are you leaving?
- In a few days.
I may drive down the coast.
Perhaps to Baja California.
Probably alone.
My wife hasn't any definite plans.
And after the trip?
I don't know. I have no plans, really.
And you?
I'll stay here.
Danny wants to go to San Simeon
next term.
I don't know about the financial situation.
It's all arranged. His scholarship, too.
Everything.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
I'll write you from La Paz.
- And write the boys, too.
- Yes, of course.
Well, perhaps in September...
I can't promise by September.
I've got to think my way back through
almost 21 years.
I really don't know, Edward.
We'll just have to wait and see.
Yes.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye, Edward.
- Five-to-one you get the appointment.
- Thanks to you.
No. Thanks to Judge Thompson.
He'll be in your corner.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
God bless.
And Godspeed.
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