Winter Kills (1979) Movie Script
Hello, this is
Yvette Malone speaking.
I'm not home just now,
but if you'll be kind enough...
to leave your name and telephone
number, Ill call you when I return.
Please begin at the tone.
Yvette, nick here. Uh, I just
thought Id let you know that...
Im still on pa's ship off the
coast of Malaysia thinking about you.
And, uh, sure is nice to hear
your voice. Even if it is recorded.
IWell, we're getting some
rough weather here, honey.
So, uh, I guess I
- They want you to go up, sir.
Okay, let's go.
All right,
now move your asses.
Get him to sick bay,
and do it now.
Ha! Well, if it isn't Mr. Keifitz.
Looking' more like
your father every day.
You came all the way
out here to tell me that?
No, no, sir.
I brought you an assassin.
- A what? - Yeah, well, that man
that they're moving there.
He says he shot your brother.
He was second rifle at city hall.
It's an outrage
to bring this man here.
You prefer the native hospital in Brunei
where a man can die of athlete's foot.
I don't have the facilities.
This man fell off an oil rig.
Doctor,
will you leave us?
Then I take
no responsibility.
That's right.
And you, out.
And you, stay.
Now, can you write?
Sir?
English. Can you write
English? I think so, sir.
Do your best.
Be our witness. Just write
down whatever he says.
Fletcher!
You hear me?
Nick Kegan is here.
You understand?
I think he wants
to shake your hand.
Now, what's
your full name?
Arthur Turkus Fletcher.
How old are you?
Fifty-Eight years.
We will hear your testimony.
I shot president Kegan.
IJesus.
How?
I was second rifle in city hall,
February 22, 1960.
I hit with both shots.
Where was
the number one rifle?
Behind the wall.
I shot on the line with him.
Who hired you?
Junior. Casper Jr.
They remembered me from shooting
demonstrations for the rifle association.
Said he'd push me into history.
Twenty-Five thousand dollars
for a morning's work.
A morning's work.
Please,
Mr. Kegan,
The rifle's in the steam pipe under the
middle window in the Engleson building.
Room 903.
I left my fingerprints and
all with my name taped to it...
for when the time came to prove
that I killed the president.
What about Willy Arnold?
The Pickering commission proved
Willie Arnold shot my brother.
INick, he's dead.
You can't run away
from this.
Get a hold of
miles garner in Philly,
Have him meet me at the airport
with some long underwear.
It'll be freezing there.
What are you gonna do?
I'm gonna look for his rifle. Mm.
IWhether this guy is real or not, pall
understand I had to leave the ship.
- I'm sure he will.
- I hope so.
You get that down?
I'll look at it.
Jesus, you print
like an ape.
I'm a high school graduate.
But Ive never been involved
in anything like this.
Now,
You were just a little boy
when president Kegan...
was gunned down
in Philadelphia.
But in the subsequent
More than 16 people,
Who seemingly had nothing
to do with that awful event,
Have died under
mysterious conditions.
If what you say is true, nick,
it's gonna shake up a lot of people.
President, congress,
everyone. Especially pa.
Does he know?
No, not yet.
I guess this assassin thought nobodys look
for him, working for the president's father?
We're gonna need a wrench
for the steam pipe.
We'll get it
from the building supervisor.
Captain Heller, this way.
Captain Heller,
that's the wrong building!
Is he reliable, miles? Captain
Heller, Philadelphias finest.
He drinks a bit, but if there's a rifle
up there, he'll know how to handle it.
Captain Heller, nick Kegan. We
have no time to lose, captain.
You say you're Nicholas
Kegan? That's right.
Got any identification?
ICome on. I've known nick since he
was a boy. He's tom Kegan's son.
Our late president's
half-Brother, okay?
You'll vouch for him?
Of course, yes.
Good enough. Now, uh, what's
the problem here, fellas?
It's this way, captain.
Oh. Kegan,
We did everything possible
to protect your brother here.
But you can't protect
anyone against a nut.
Nine-Oh-Three.
Damn shame.
Police, open up. Open
up in there. Police.
You John Kullers?
- We'd like to have a look at
your steam pipe. - My steam pipe?
We'll get a search warrant
if necessary.
Search warrant
for a steam pipe?
How long have you
occupied these premises?
ICops. Why me?
Answer the question.
IFour years, I don't know. Where
were you on February 22, 1960.
I1960? What is this? You don't remember
the date president Kegan was shot?
Long island. In school. Mrs.
Sayers' eighth grade English class.
Oh, yeah?
Look, hey, I got a
legitimate operation here.
All right, miles. I'll
check it. Stand back.
I'm sorry.
Sorry? What for?
Now you'll have to
live it all over again.
I could put it back.
You'll always
know where it was.
Oh, the hell with it.
What's that? What is
that? That's not mine.
You make one sound about
what you saw here today,
And you'll be the sorriest
little man in the sticks.
Boy, this'll stink
right up to heaven.
Yeah, this is the kind
of thing that rises.
Hey, take this. I don't
like the way it feels.
- Where to, captain?
- Bring it to the f. B.I., wouldn't you say?
Oh, why not?
They probably built it.
"They probably built it. "
Miles! Miles.
Help!
Phone? Do you have-
Mr. Kegan's office.
Who's calling, operator?
Yes, we will.
Hello, Mr. Kegan?
No, Im sorry. Your father
left for Rockrimmon last night.
I'm not sure.
I'll give you rosemary.
Yes, nick.
How nice to hear from you.
Your father's left the house
already for his golf.
May I help you?
In the desert, yes.
Well, how urgent?
I see.
Oh, dear. I'd better connect
you with John Cerruti. Hold on.
Nick. Surprise, surprise.
How are you? Where are you?
You left the boat, nick. Left
the ship. That's naughty of you.
Very bad not telling
headquarters. Your father-
What? What rifle?
Uh-Huh. In Philadelphia?
Well, that's astonishing.
Well, it's startling.
Shocking about miles.
Listen, now where are
you now? Exactly where?
Okay, follow me carefully. Do nothing.
I'll handle the police. You wait for a car.
We'll pick you up and you can discuss
this with your father in Rockrimmon.
And nick, don't panic.
Panic is counterproductive.
How are you, Keith?
The same. Always the same.
And you,
you're looking good.
Where's pa?
He's playing golf.
But he should be
back any time now.
I've got to see him right away.
Hey, shogun. Shogun. Shogun.
You've been gone
a long time, nick.
Shogun forget.
Have you had dinner?
No, not yet.
First, Id like to take a look at
pa's copy of the full Pickering report.
That will only make you sad.
Sad? Now, you once told me
all knowledge was good.
I don't recall. Actually,
that not something I would say.
I'll go find pa.
I'm freezing.
Sun's going down. The
desert's supposed to be hot.
Quit bitching. You've been
bitching all day. I don't like it.
What am I gonna do with
these girls, Mr. Secretary?
First they're hot,
then they're cold.
When she's hot again,
send her over.
I'm always hot.
Hello, pa.
Y'all know my son, Nicholas. Hi, nick.
IAll grown up, nick.
IHe ain't a global figure, like
his brother was. No interest.
He's a seafaring man
like yourself, admiral.
Good boy.
Right, nick?
If you say so, pa.
- You didn't tell me you were
leaving the boat, son. - I had to.
What do you think these girls
are doing under this blanket, son?
I don't know, pa.
Think they're
playing with my nuts?
You're awful.
I gotta talk to you, pa.
You better believe it, boy.
"Clair de lune" ]
Am I disturbing you?
Mother, what are
you doing here?
Oh, shh! I'm supposed
to be a secret.
I thought you
were in Nantucket.
Oh, it was freezing there.
And nobody came to visit.
I met this real nice man.
Pa said he just
wanted my money.
So he sent for me.
It's a big secret.
The newspapers, you know.
IOh, Nicholas, cocoa's sick.
She's sick.
Aw, let me see.
No, no.
No, she's not well.
Look.
See, she's sick.
Don't be sick on me, honey.
Please don't.
It's just her paw, mom.
She'll be all right.
Keith will take her to the vet
tomorrow. They'll know what to do.
She's never been
like this before.
It frightens me.
You frighten mommy.
I'll speak to Keith
before I leave.
He'll take care of it
for you.
You look real handsome.
Thank you, mom.
Listen, I got a great idea. Let's
have an Easter egg hunt on the lawn.
We'll get all dressed up. Everybody
will come. We'll make it black-Tie.
Wouldn't that be wonderful to have a formal
Easter egg hunt on the lawn with our friends?
You can stay for that.
It's winter.
The middle of winter, mom.
But isn't it
a lovely idea?
Yes, mom, it is.
C- Cocoa's sick.
You didn't tell me
nick was here.
- I didn't know he was coming, Emma.
- You're always mad...
just because nick doesn't
wanna be president like Tim did.
He's different,
that's all.
He's my son
and he's-
He's sensitive.
Different wives
have different sons.
Yes, Emma.
Come on, honey.
Let's go up to our room.
I'm flying dr. Marshall
in from Washington.
He's got some new cure thinks maybe
will help her. Some kind of vitamins.
- I hope it works.
- It won't.
You abandoned my ship.
Pa-
I got 60 million bucks floating there and
you take off like she's Friday night's hooker.
- If you'll let me, Ill tell you why.
- Make it snappy.
I got people outside. What the
hell were you doing in Philly?
- I called you. You don't take my calls.
- Didn't Cerruti tell you?
Cerruti? I gotta hear from Cerruti?
What's he gotta do with this?
It concerns Tim, pa.
Tim?
What about Tim?
I was on the Teekay when a man named
fletcher confessed on his deathbed...
that he'd been
one of the two riflemen.
- Bullshit.
- He told us where he'd hidden the rifle.
And this morning I found it with miles garner
and captain Heller of the Philadelphia police.
Where is
this historic weapon?
- I dont know.
- You don't know?
Everybody was killed
as we were leaving the building.
I was trying to reach you when the car was
driven away with their bodies and the rifle.
And this is the tale
you come home with?
Keifitz heard the confession on
the ship. An orderly wrote it down.
Wrote it down?
Pa?
You all right, pa?
Just wanted
to say good night.
Oh, would you please have a
veterinarian check out mother's dog?
Something's wrong
with its leg.
I'll have it attended to.
Don't turn out
the light, please.
All right. Good night. Good night.
Hope I don't
sound too depressed,
But so much has been
happening in the past few days.
I got a lot to tell you.
Most of all,
I wanna tell you that the more I hear
your voice, the more I feel I do love you.
Maybe Ill come to New York and
make an honest woman out of you, huh?
Bye-Bye.
Hello? Hello?
Hello, nick.
Come on, boy.
Wake up.
Got to get our ass
in gear.
What time is it?
Time for action.
I've been up all night.
Talked to Keifitz in Brunei.
Um, looks like
you were telling the truth.
The truth?
Pa, Im your son.
Yeah, you always had
an excitable imagination.
For a while, as a boy, I was afraid
you might turn out to be a fag.
You're a real winner, pa.
Keifitz is on his way here
with that killer's confession.
Then we go the limit to
bust this thing wide open.
You're bringing the
confession to the president?
Hell, no. That moron can't
read to find the men's room.
We gotta picture it for him.
Evidence. Find the rifle.
The men behind this fletcher. And the man
behind those men. Then we go to the president.
This is bigger
than we are, pa.
What the president will do is
resurrect the Pickering commission.
Fucking corpses to begin with.
Well, you accepted that
willy Arnold acted alone.
Sure as hell I did.
If I had pointed a finger
at the Russians, the Cubans,
Some goddamn hoodlums
or industrialists-
Maybe throw us
in a world war, civil war.
Sure I accepted it.
I got interests in this country.
Interests in this country?
Yeah, interests. But don't think
I fell for the Arnold theory.
I've been a hunter all my life.
I know the best of them.
And the best have trouble with one
shot of the kind that killed Tim.
Let alone three.
And then Arnold getting it from Joe
diamond, the plump saloon keeper,
While Arnolds handcuffed to
detectives surrounded by 75 rookies.
That's what I mean, pa. We need
help in this. Help? Like who?
The CIA? They smuggle my cigars
from Havana, that's what they do.
Import, export. And the FBI's
good for chasing runaways.
Fucking FBI. Gave the commission its
information in the first place, remember?
This ain't the forties anymore.
It's a whole new ball game.
We gotta be pioneers, son. We gotta
face that we're alone in the wilderness.
We got what the pioneers had,
all they had.
- The family.
- The family unit.
God blessed you, goddamn it,
with the best of families.
My international vice president,
John Cerruti,
Has files on the high and mighty
and the low and ornery...
That make the CIA. Record
look like the corner newsstand.
Information's power. And now we're gonna
use it to get to the bottom of this thing.
Then we go to the president
and congress, as a family unit.
And rub their fucking noses
in the dirt that killed my son.
Now, get your ass out of bed.
Oh, and by the way,
you won't need the vet.
The vet?
Yeah, the vet for cocoa.
Your mother passed out last night
and smothered the mutt in her sleep.
- Oh, no.
- Yeah.
Sleeps with the goddamn dog.
Crazy woman. Now move!
I'm sorry, mom.
You stink, pa!
You stink!
Captain Heller
died two years ago...
in the virgin islands
of a heart attack.
So miles was either duped
or duped you with a phony.
And your wig-Maker friend
jumped out the window.
Police say suicide, 'cause
vandals wrecked his business.
Sit down.
No, thanks.
Now, where do we start?
Looks like
we've already started.
We got three names at the top.
Fletcher, Casper Jr.
And z. K. Dawson.
Dawson's the big one. One of the
richest cocksuckers in the USA.
Christ. This takes me back.
Yeah, there it is.
Tim and me in the primaries.
Dawson was up against us,
pushing us hard.
You were just a kid. Spent
a lot of money in that state.
I mean, over-The-Counter, under-The-Table,
tucked-Into- A- Box-Of-Cigars money.
Shit, put out 9,700
primary-Day workers alone.
Most gorgeous TV commercial
you ever saw.
Tim leading tanks to liberate the Hess
sector in Germany. Geez, he looked great.
Ah, made a big noise
in that shitty little state.
Got 53 movie stars
to turn out.
And, uh,
all that time and...
after and...
before and during.
Everything I did,
every dime I spent,
Every threat I made, I was just
leading Tim further along the road...
to meet that bullet.
- It sounds like that's just
what you were doing, pa. - What?
Leading Tim along.
Listen, kid. We find the killers of your
brother and you'll be a hero like he was.
A fucking legend.
- I don't wanna be
a legend.
- What the hell do you wanna
be, a goddamned piano player?
Maybe, but Im not very good.
- You stink. You're lousy.
- I know that.
You know that? You ain't a piano
player, you ain't an artist.
You got no business sense,
no political sense.
What the hell do you want anyway?
Where are your values in life?
I honestly don't know.
Do you get laid?
- I ask you, do you get laid?
- Yeah.
You know how many times your
brother got laid in office?
I- What are you, the national
inquirer? - One thousand seventy-Two.
And with a schedule like his.
Maybe politics
don't turn me on.
Your brother was a giant.
You'll be the same. You watch.
Now, I set up a meeting
with you and Z. K. Dawson.
He'll lie of course. But you'll
get something from the meeting.
- No, pa.
- What?
I said no.
What no? Here's a map
on how to get there.
He's south of Tulsa.
It's all arranged. Take it.
Take it!
- Okay, pa. For the family.
- You bet your ass.
Good luck, boy.
I'll be with you.
II know you will, pa!
Hello. Good afternoon. Can I help you?
Yes, Im here to see Mr.
Dawson. Your name, please.
Nicholas Kegan.
You go right ahead. Z.K.'s on the playing
field. Take the turn to your right...
before you reach the house and
that's where you'll find him.
Thank you.
Yeah, Im Z. K. Dawson.
Who the hell are you?
I'm Nicholas Kegan!
Get out of the vehicle.
I said,
get out of the vehicle.
Uh, speak up.
I'm, uh, nick Kegan.
Tom Kegans son.
I know that. But what are you doing here
on my playing field, messing up our games?
Oh, the guard said, well-
I don't care what the guard told you,
I wanna know what you're doing here.
We had an appointment,
Mr. Dawson.
I'm aware of that fact.
Now you're wasting my time.
- Well, look here, uh-
- Watch your tone.
- Mr. Dawson-
- That's better.
Mr. Dawson,
we've discovered a rifle.
We have every reason to believe it's the
weapon that killed my brother in Philadelphia.
Your brother was a miserable,
cold-Assed, arrogant son of a bitch.
And not a good friend of mine,
as I guess is well known to you.
Yes, Im aware of that.
But the assassin was hired
by a man named Casper Jr.
And as you know everyone of
importance in the area, we thought-
What I ought to do is run right
over you, flatten you like a waffle.
Sir? I know why you're here.
You're here because you think I had some
part of a conspiracy killed your brother.
You and all the other conspiracy lovers
in this conspiracy-Loving country.
Actually, Mr. Dawson-
Why should I kill your brother
when Im getting rich off him?
Off his military spending',
his space spending'.
His tax reduction
a- And h-His crisis spending'.
Hell, you know if your old man didn't own
him already, I might have bought him myself.
Except for
his snotty personality.
I didn't come here to listen
to slander, Mr. Dawson.
Slander?
You think before you speak,
young man.
Hell, they didn't teach
you kids nothing since 1944.
Hey, I didn't kill your brother.
That's a vile, cruel,
mythological invention.
But it is also a-
An infectious invention.
And when it reached the ears of my
daughter, I thought, maybe Ill make...
a couple of phone calls and
really find out who did the deed.
Who might that be?
The Philadelphia police
killed your brother.
The man in charge of the
operation was a captain Heller.
So if I was you, Id just go
and have a talk with that man.
- Uh, he's dead. - Well, then Id
track down a sidekick of his.
A man named Ray Doty.
Thank you. Yeah, well, you're welcome.
Now, Im gonna
tell you one more thing.
I'm gonna give you
a head start of 30 seconds.
And then me and my boys here,
we're coming after you.
Sir?
You heard me.
We still got some private
property in this country.
Ten... nine... eight... seven...
Im looking for a passenger
named Nicholas Kegan.
Mr. Kegan?
Yes?
Telephone call for you. Please
hurry. We're beginning our descent.
You have a telephone
call for me here? Please.
I have a telephone call
up here.
Where the hell is he?
Pa? You didn't call me
when you left Dawson.
Pa, there are hundreds of people
on board. Uh, we're about to land.
Maybe, but Im still losing money on
this airline. Now, what'd Dawson say?
He says it's Heller
in the Philadelphia police.
Says I should talk to a cop named ray
Doty. He also fired on my car with tanks.
The old coot. Ray Doty. I'll arrange
it. That why you going to new York?
Come on. Come on.
No, Im gonna see my girl.
Girl? What girl? Just a
girl, pa. Look, I gotta go.
Forget the girl. You go see
Doty. By the way, Keifitz is dead.
Keifitz?
Died in Brunei.
Keifitz?
What about the confession?
Orderly's dead too. Fell off the
toilet and broke his neck. What?
It's safe to talk in here.
These lights
stay on all the time?
Day and night.
All year round.
They never know what time it
is. Just keep laying those eggs.
And they never hatch.
Never do.
Give 'em hormones, of course.
And amphetamines. Keeps 'em going.
They're all on speed.
Jittery as hell.
My father's information agency
has paid you. Is this, uh-
I took the cash.
Just like in the old days.
Once a cop,
always a cop.
Wish I was back
on the force sometimes.
So how did, uh,
Casper Jr. Get to you?
Oh, he didn't get to us.
He got to Joe diamond.
You do that very well.
I think-
Now you gotta understand...
that Joe diamond
was a notorious cop lover.
II mean, a real cop lover.
He always kept this nightclub
full of rookies.
Drinking beer, getting high.
IAnyway,
the meeting was set up...
between diamond
and an old pal of his.
It took place in Tucson.
How you been, Gameboy?
Oh, older and fatter.
Uglier. Like you.
I don't know.
- Did you eat?
- Yeah.
What'd you eat?
Pastrami on whole wheat
with celery tonic.
Any good?
Lousy.
Tucson.
Don't ever order the wild
west pastrami. Sit down.
It's like old times.
Y- You remember us
in Atlantic city?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But I got
a contract for you.
One of the biggest contracts
ever handed out anywhere.
Me? I-I'm a restaurant man.
You're also a thief
who is crazy enough to steal...
from Moey and Sam
and Morris and uncle Louie.
I wanna pay back.
You are fucking right.
I- I can pay back?
When you handle this hit,
you'll be paying back.
A hit?
Why me? There must be 200 mechanics around
here can make any hit better than me.
I told 'em. No good.
Those guys aren't political.
I'm political?
You were in Cuba. Very good
friends with a certain minister.
I thought about you a lot,
Gameboy.
You have a commie background
in the f. B.I. Files.
Commie? I was out of Cuba
ten years before Castro.
Joe, what do you want
from me? You were in Cuba.
This is crazy. Anyways,
you gotta make the hit.
- Who's the contract?
- There are two.
We've already taken care
of the first one.
You make the second hit.
A kid named Willie Arnold.
I don't know him.
A- And who's the first?
President Kegan.
So diamond went back to Philly
to get ahold of captain Heller.
Heller was my superior officer
at the time.
He was a great family man.
Seven daughters
and a big house.
Daughters are expensive.
After the assignation, diamond's
job was to shoot the phony assassin,
Willie Arnold,
in the police station.
Heller was paid to get an in.
Heller was terrific
at organization.
Our last meeting took place
right here at this farm.
Here's two sets of keys
to the Engleson building.
Get them to the Texan when he
arrives tomorrow. Right, captain.
Willie Arnold should be planted in the
TV center warehouse by half past 9:00.
The motorcade will pass
towards city hall at 12:30.
Ray will give you your rifle and some shells
to have Arnold throw on the floor as evidence.
Tell Willie Arnold to go home after the real
hit. If we need him, we'll send a patrol car
Ray will give you
the rest of the details.
And when we arrest Arnold after the hit,
you know what you have to do. Right, Joe?
Yeah, I know.
There are a lot of things
we gotta consider here.
All right, cut it out,
will you? Come on.
How did they find diamond?
IWho? Casper Jr. And his people.
Figures to me
the mob found him.
Diamond was with the boys
in Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit.
Why would the mob wanna kill
the president? Business reasons.
Heard a very big man in the
syndicate say one day that...
Kegan took $2 million in campaign
contributions from the boys and then...
didn't do anything
about it.
Nonsense. Tim didn't
need the money.
Who knows.
Anyway, whoever did it still
has a terrific amount of clout...
after it happened.
Yeah.
Hello?
You're home!
Nick?
Oh, wonderful.
II've been trying
to reach you for days.
Where are you? Grand central. I'm, uh-
I'm on my way over, okay?
Okay. I can't wait.
Yvette-
Oh, I got something to tell you.
I can't believe you're real!
Yeah, well, Im not real. I'm just
a more complicated new machine.
You're what?
You come on over and see
what this new machine can do.
I'm on my way.
I can't wait.
I love you.
Then come and get me.
IOh, shh! Somebody's
gonna call the police!
Shh. Shh.
Shh!
Marry me.
Marry me!
Shh. Shh. Shh.
Oh, marry me.
Marry me!
Yes! Yes! Oh, god, yes!
Oh, you make me so happy.
Shh. Come on. Somebody's
gonna call the police.
Shh.
Hi.
Hi.
- When should we do it?
- Let me rest a minute first.
No, I mean get married.
Get married?
You just said yes.
Oh, I always say yes
at those times.
You know I can't marry you.
What?
Come on. Up.
Ah, be right back.
- Why won't you marry me?
- You hardly know me.
We see each other. I talk to you
all the time. You talk to my machine.
I- Oh, so what. I can tell the difference.
- That's a beginning.
I'm making an honest
proposal of marriage.
Tell you what.
I'll give you a copy of my answering
machine tape. You can take it with you.
Come on.
Don't toy with me.
I'm serious.
We'll have this huge wedding
in saint Patricks cathedral.
Saint Patricks?
What if Im Jewish?
That doesn't matter.
Pa knows the cardinal.
You see, darling.
You know nothing about me.
I know all I need to know.
IYou know what? That you're in
love with my answering machine.
Well, Ill know you
better later on.
Do you know
what I do for a living?
- That doesn't matter. You will never
have to work again. - But I wanna work.
II'm assistant editor
at national magazine.
Maybe pa owns it.
Do you want a promotion?
I want my own life
too, nick.
- Well, Ill buy you whatever you want.
- No.
You just said no.
I said no.
How can you say
a thing like that?
Why complicate things?
We have great sex, freedom,
no kids, no responsibilities.
Why duplicate
the messes others make?
- But we don't have to.
- We can make a mess of our own?
- Who knows what will happen?
- Don't ask me anymore, nick.
I adore you. I really do. But
the answer's gonna stay the same.
I'd tell you why
if I could but I can't.
Don't say you can't.
Say you don't want.
I don't want.
Then forget it.
All right.
I think Id better
leave. If you want to.
I have a friend coming over
if you'd like to meet her.
A friend? Who? Patty. She's
from the magazine. You'd dig her.
- Dig her? What does that mean?
- Whatever you want it to mean.
God, you're just
like the others.
Others?
How many are there?
Fewer and fewer.
Oh, I get it.
You're into women.
- I am a woman.
- You know what Im talking about.
Nope. And I won't marry
a person I can't understand.
Good night.
Call the machine whenever you
want, darling. It only goes one way.
Mr. Wilson?
Good evening.
Mr. Kegan. This is
a pleasant surprise.
Can I have my key, please? Certainly.
My, you're looking... worse
than Ive ever seen you, sir.
I've been traveling. It
certainly doesn't agree with you.
Good night.
Good night.
I'll alert the staff that you're
in residence. And get some sleep.
Welcome home, nick.
It's good to see you.
Good to see you too,
Raymond.
The maid is freshening
your room, sir.
Get me a double,
please, Raymond.
A double what, sir?
Uh, on second thought,
make it triple.
A triple what, sir?
Hello. This is Yvette Malone
speaking. I'm not home just now.
I hate this machine! Leave
your name and telephone number,
I'll call you when I return.
Please begin at the tone.
Hello, Yvette, listen,
Im sorry I was so, uh, rude.
I didn't, you know,
listen to you or anything.
I want you to know that I still
care about you and I wanna see you.
Why don't we have lunch tomorrow
at the Lorraine, huh? 12:30.
Nicholas?
Help! Help! Help!
Raymond!
I brought your drink, sir.
Hello. This is nick Kegan. A maid just left
my room. Have security stop her, please.
She tried to kill me.
Sorry Im late.
I'm glad you came. Well, me too. I
hate saying good-Bye to a naked man.
Excuse me.
Yes, sir. Can I help you?
We'd like a table, please.
For the two of you?
Yeah, someplace we can talk.
Well, Im sorry, sir. We don't allow
ladies in trousers in the dining area.
You what?
Uh, it's no problem.
You know what happened
to me this morning?
I go out of the taxi, and the
cabdriver followed me on the sidewalk,
Swearing at me because he
didn't think I tipped him enough.
IMadam, we will
have to ask you to leave.
We're staying, my friend.
She's got you.
Impossible.
My name is Nicholas Kegan.
My father owns this place.
Oh, Im awfully sorry, sir.
I didn't recognize you.
Please, right this way.
Right this way.
Thank you.
Listen, Im, uh
- I'm sorry about last night. No, Im sorry.
I got about six different kinds
of jet lag. No, I understand.
Tell me, where were you
one week ago today?
Uh, Brisbane, Australia.
Oh, Brisbane.
The coral sea, stonefish,
Captain cook sweeping north
through that treacherous channel.
Oh, that's beautiful.
Yeah. Look, Yvette-
I still wanna marry you.
Is that why this lunch?
No.
I need
your magazine's help.
Maybe
it's your magazine.
I need to contact someone in the mob
- Someone big.
What for? It is not to be talked about.
I cross my heart.
II also need everything in your
files on Joe diamond. Joe diamond?
Who he knew in the mob.
Who knew him.
What for? Does it
concern your brother?
We have reason to believe that we're
on the track of uncovering a conspiracy.
A conspiracy?
Three days ago,
I met the true assassin
of my brother.
Is this on the level? Now I want to
find out who actually hired diamond.
Not the go-Between. I wanna find
the man who is responsible for this.
Well, sure.
It'll cost.
It cost to have my brother killed.
I think we can pay whatever it cost...
to find those who-
Who did it to him.
And I don't want
any press until I say so.
Are you offering us
the exclusive?
Thank you.
If you come up
with the contacts.
Wow. This is big.
I mean, really big.
Hey, wow!
You know,
When Im with you, the-
- Wow!
- Yvette?
Yvette-
You know, Tim-
He had thousands of women,
and Ive, uh-
I've actually
only had twelve.
And I know that may
seem conservative to you.
Oh, listen, honey. You get me this
story, Ill get you all you want.
Are you listening to me?
I sure am. And if you want this
story, I gotta get my tail in gear.
I call you from the
magazine. Thanks for lunch.
Lunch? This news makes
my day. It's wonderful.
Excuse me.
What the hell were you doing
with that broad at lunch today?
She's a friend of mine.
Are you screwing her?
Oh, I forgot. You're the
boy scout of the family.
Tim always shared
information on his broads.
II'm not Tim.
Where'd you meet her?
Keifitz introduced us
in Paris one weekend.
She's the press.
I said no press.
I need contacts
with the mob.
I'm in business, for Christs sake.
Been dealing with the mob for years.
But you go to some dame you got
the hots for and spill everything.
IThat's wrong.
Like hell.
Cerruti played the whole lunch
to me ten minutes ago.
- You had us bugged?
- It's my restaurant, son.
A lot of people more important
than you make deals there.
IOf course
I have it bugged.
Telephone for you,
sir.
I'll take it in my room.
Take it here.
Cerruti's recording it anyhow.
Hello.
Hello, Yvette.
You what?
Already?
Yeah, you sure do.
How much?
Who is it?
Uh-Huh.
Cleveland.
All right.
I'll catch the next plane.
And thanks.
Who are you meeting?
Someone named Irving Mentor.
Yvette says he's the magazine's
direct line to the mob.
I'll check on him.
I got something for you.
What you scared of? I don't want you in
any more situations you can't handle.
- I don't want a gun.
- Look,
Somebody tried
to kill you last night.
This ain't no treasure hunt you're on.
Pa, Im not
gonna carry a gun.
I admire the way you
fought off that killer, boy.
Single-Handedly.
It was only the maid.
Ah, trained killer. We got
her, by the way. We got her?
Yeah.
Working her over now.
My people are on this
all the way.
All right. If you won't
carry a gun, take this.
For my peace of mind
if nothing else.
You're amazing.
Take these, uh,
brass knuckles too.
Uh, don't lose them. They
have a sentimental value.
Thanks.
Uh, Ill see you in Cleveland.
I'll be in the hospital.
Oh, nothing's wrong.
Six-Months' blood change is all.
- Blood change?
- Yeah.
I take it from the kids at Amherst.
Got a deal with the red cross.
Uh, for the circulation.
I'll see you, pa.
ICall me from Cleveland.
I'm looking
for Irving mentor.
Never heard of him.
Uh, my name
is nick Kegan.
I bought you
coffee.
Cream?
No, thanks.
You got the cash?
Better count it.
Humph. You bet your ass.
Okay.
The contract for the hit
came from Gameboy baker.
- Gameboy baker.
- You got it.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Wait a minute. Sorry.
This ain't a social visit. Oh, yeah?
It's not worth 15 grand,
either. Now sit down.
Sit down
or give me my money back.
Watch your language.
These are my boys, you know.
IGet out of here.
Tell me about this, uh,
Gameboy baker.
Joe diamond is from
the old neighborhood.
Small-Time thief.
No sense.
It was Gameboy baker...
who helped set Joe up
in his nightclub.
Only Joe wasn't paying back. He was too
busy supporting some of the local rookies.
I was the one
who delivered the message.
That Moey and Sam and Morris and uncle
Louie wanted a conversation with him.
So Joe skipped to Cuba.
And by the time
the boys found him,
He was in bed with every
corrupted politician in Havana.
Joe took protection
from his Cuban friend...
and went back
to his club in Philly.
But he still owed the boys
an obligation,
Which he paid back on that day
he shot willy Arnold.
Open that door. The
smoke's getting to me.
That could be a signal
or something.
Open the door or Ill shove
the cigar down your throat.
Eighty-Five cents,
wholesale.
Now, who is Casper Jr.?
A Hollywood agent.
What? Deals for harry small,
head of federal studios.
Why would people like that
wanna kill a president?
That particular president
cost that studio...
$50 million...
when he stopped screwing Ellamae
Irving and she killed herself.
I give you $15,000
and you tell me gossip.
Where there's smoke,
there's fire.
What can I tell you?
Hold it, hold it, hold it.
Just a moment.
What the hell?
What are you feeding us?
The cat's dead. What is this?
Calling dr. Rogers.
Telephone call, dr. Rogers.
My father's
a patient here.
Your name?
Nicholas Kegan.
IThank you, doctor.
Federal studios? Hell, you couldn't
spot a nigger in a Snowbank.
I'm telling you what he said. I got
interlocking companies controlling federal.
Her last two pictures lost money. Harry
small was glad to get out of her contract.
IYou gotta stop
chasing mare tails, boy.
I fixed up a meeting
for you with Frank Mayo.
- Mayo?
- Heard of him, huh?
Grand vizier
of the underworld.
I thought he was in jail.
Upstate, maximum security.
I got him out to meet
you this afternoon.
What can he tell me
that mentor didn't know?
What did mentor know? Nothing. You tell
that broad of yours she owes you 15 grand.
- Have a pastry?
- Think that sugar's good for you?
It's my hospital.
Own what you use. Nothing competes
today with owning a hospital.
No customer credit. Pay in advance
or get out. Unique product pain.
Laundry alone throws off enough
to pay the orderlies and lab.
And what the lab turns over-
- When is the meeting with Mayo?
- I'm talking business here.
You should see the net
on what the lab throws off.
I own 27 hospitals in 15
major cities. Wish I had more.
Where is the meeting
with Frank Mayo, pa?
Grant's tomb, 4:00.
IHey, nick.
Uh, would you
like a little?
No, thanks, pa.
Please, sit down.
Uh, pa says that you have some
information on Joe diamond.
Oh, yeah, but...
before we get into that,
I, uh-
I wanna tell you that
Im apologetic about-
About what happened to your
brother, even at this late date.
But, uh, unfortunately,
Mr. Kegan,
You always hear about
these things too late.
II was on key Biscayne
at the time.
But I could have done nothing, anyway,
because, uh, it wasn't our business, see?
They, uh-
They did it on their own.
Mr. Mayo,
Who actually made the contract
to kill the president?
See what I mean?
That, for me, has always
been a mystery. I don't know.
What about diamond's
connections in Cuba?
Diamond had no connections
in Cuba.
Well, Irving mentor
says he did.
Irving mentor.
Mm-Mm.
I never heard of him.
IWho send you to this, uh,
to this mentor man?
A friend.
Mm.
That's funny.
No, no, no. No, diamond
was never in Cuba.
I'm told he was out of-
Out of Chicago.
Mr. Kegan, uh,
You're getting
the runaround here.
I'm sorry, sir. Personnel has
no record of any Yvette Malone.
She works here.
Apparently not.
Could you check again? I mean,
you must have a record of her.
Sir, this is
national magazine.
Everything we must have,
we have.
Thank you.
It's no good, mister. The
lady in 12-G is 62 years old.
Drinks like a fish. But Yvette
lived here. I visited her here.
Why don't you try number 86?
Maybe you got the wrong building.
You have nobody
of that description?
Buddy, we haven't had a good-Looking
woman in this building in four years.
Floor upon floor of ugly
people is all we got.
Here's 50 bucks.
I gotta find her.
Make it a hundred.
I'll tell you
everything I know.
Okay.
Here's a hundred.
I already told you
everything I know.
No such person
ever occupied these premises!
- Look here, mister.
- Now, hold on, cocksucker.
You can't buy me, huh?
You don't accept my word for it, you deserve
to pay. Now, get the hell out of my si-
Come on! Come on! I'll bop your
skull open, you bastard, you!
Your money can't buy me, huh? You
give me the creeps. Get out of here!
Go on!
Filthy bastard, you.
You give me the creeps,
all of you! Go on!
Then Ill say
good night, sir.
Oh, uh, Raymond.
Sir?
Do we have any ovaltine?
Ovaltine?
I think Id like some
before I go to sleep tonight.
I seem to remember when I was a kid I
had this cup with a Bordens cow on it.
Cow, sir?
Oh, just give me
a glass of milk.
Very good, sir.
Boy! I have
come back for you!
Now, wait!
Wait! Hey!
IHey! Wakey, wakey, wakey!
IIt's me!
- You're a dead ghost!
- Like hell I am.
IPa said you're dead.
Do I look dead?
II need some sleep, but...
they're still dredging for
my body and Ive still got it.
I- Then you're not dead.
- No. I got an obit in the times...
but I am not dead.
Now, when they
got the medic,
I figured it was
healthier not to be alive.
Yeah.
Ain't you
glad to see me?
It's a conundrum-
Riddles within riddles.
Now Yvettes gone.
That broad we met in Paris?
The one you kept calling?
- I wanna marry her.
- You're gonna give the whole thing up?
Someone is trying to teach
me a lesson in futility.
Why am I the only one
who wasn't killed?
They will run you dizzy.
They will pile falsehood
on top of falsehood...
until you can't tell a lie from the
truth and you won't even want to.
That's how the powerful keep their
power. Don't you read the papers?
IYou've got to accept that there
is a world outside of you...
and that
you affect that world.
- Your dad knows it.
- Pa thinks, uh,
Moses lied about the ten commandments,
because what god really said...
Was, "do what you want,
but don't get caught. "
- Pa's awareness is global.
- Yeah, so is mud.
Nick, use him.
Use the organization.
He's got more clout
than the common market,
And you're taking the advice of
a broad who's probably a plant.
Now, you could've
been killed in that diner.
- I thought you liked staying alive.
- Come on.
I'm gonna find her. Go to Cerruti.
He works for you, remember?
- What about you?
- I'm gonna stay dead for a while.
I feel healthier that way.
IWhere are you going? Gonna
order Cerruti to produce Yvette.
This is the contract silo, nick.
Contracts, contracts,
contracts.
Agreements kept.
Agreements broken.
Papers, papers, papers.
Signatures. Your father's
holograph signature...
on his interlocking companies
going back, oh, 30 years.
Also those of diplomats,
authors and inventors.
Tax deals.
Foundation deals.
Signatures of presidents
and sheiks.
Signatures to put men away
for, oh, decades.
Destroy careers, public lives,
marriages, estates.
Love affairs. Letters of passion,
indiscretion and conspiracy...
acquired by your father's
intelligence network.
Letters to persuade a man to close a deal
or leave a job or sell out on his brother.
Data necessary to sustain
a financial empire.
And here-
Here are the spoken words.
Shh. Voices and sounds.
And visuals. Pictures on
microfilm. Movies. Video.
Marvelous little gadgets
that document verbatim...
all your father's conversations
with all his people.
And his people's
conversations with others.
From our satellite,
we can watch everything.
Nasty little wars in Africa. Troop
movements. Ship movements. Nuclear tests.
The Sinai.
The panama canal.
Every little thing to check an
investment, buy us in or out.
Even tonight, while most
of our workers sleep,
IIt goes on.
Take a coffee break,
gentlemen.
I have a rare visitor
and we'd like to be alone.
Information. Black holes of information.
Galaxies within galaxies. Multiple
expanding universes of information.
Aren't you glad
you came?
Pa never allowed the family
here in his office.
Ah. Misjudgment. You'll
run all this someday.
You'll need to know.
All this and you couldn't
find my brother's killer?
II'm so glad you're here.
I receive so few outsiders.
IWho to trust?
Who to trust?
All the nerves
but none of the flesh.
End of our social. Why did you
come here without an appointment?
What do you want? I want
to find Yvette Malone.
Impossible. She's been
kidnapped. Kidnapped?
Yeah. Abducted, swept away,
taken off, snatched, kidnapped.
- By whom?
- The kidnappers. Bad guys. Casper Jr.
Where are you going?
To find my father.
I just realized.
He's been keeping me alive.
He's protecting me.
She's... involved, nick.
Miss Malones involved.
It wasn't the tub esters who got to
diamond. We have new information.
- While you sleep, we continue.
- Who was it?
You met the man this afternoon.
Frank mayo.
And it was Lola Comante who got to
Mayo and had the president killed.
Miss Lola Comante!
Thrice married by 23,
movie queen at 30,
Lola entered middle age as friend
of the shady and legit alike...
with the special power
of a president's procuress.
Lola got Tim his girls, and he
blessed her with fame and fortune.
Tim enjoyed her favors
and the favors of her friends...
in the privacy of Rockrimmon.
Sanctioned and abetted
by your father,
Who occasionally
indulged in Lola himself...
and who also had some
business connections with her.
Until it all ended one day when
Lola tried to collect on a deal.
Enchanted by ambition
as she was,
Lola had arranged a $2 million
campaign contribution...
from the family of Frank Mayo.
Mayo wanted the president
to kick out Castro...
and restore the casinos
to Havana.
But the president was aware of no
such contribution and no such deal.
It was your father who had
accepted the money from Lola.
When did you get
so lily-White, son?
Been reading
your own press?
This thing's
gone to your head.
Sure, I took that cash.
You think you got those
votes on your good looks?
I bought 'em and I paid for 'em.
And when I needed cash, I got it.
Now, uh,
you remember your debts.
You want out of this Cuban thing,
you gotta pay back another way.
And, uh, be nice to Lola.
She's on your side.
Where you going?
Hey. Where you going?
Come back here!
I'm your father!
Goddamn it! Why do you
think I got you this job?
To review the fucking fleet?
The president broke contact with
your father on this matter...
and with Lola as well.
He never spoke
to either one again.
ISo Tim turned against pa?
Mm. It hurt your father
a great deal,
Both personally
and... financially.
Then it was Mayo who killed my
brother and you've known it all along.
A qualified no
on both counts.
- Z.K. Dawson.
- The guy in the tank?
No, no, no. Not that asshole. The real
Dawson who hasn't left Venezuela since 1956.
Your Oklahoma adventure was a little
something I cooked up. You cooked up?
Yes. A scene. A skit.
Rather humorous, I thought,
with a point.
And what can the point be,
Mr. Cerruti?
You see, it wasn't Dawson himself who
plotted your brother's assassination.
It was his only daughter, formerly
Maggie Dawson, then Mrs. Luigi Bellini...
and lately-
Yvette?
The attraction between you two becomes
Romeo-And-Julietish, no? Opposing families.
- That is ridiculous!
- Don't snap at me, you.
She plotted the whole thing. She
was your brother's mistress too.
Bet you didn't know that.
- Where is she now?
- Yvette? I told you. Kidnapped.
- By whom?
- By whom? By the kidnappers.
Bad guys. Casper Jr.
You are lying, Cerruti.
No one's allowed up here,
nick.
Tell me where she is or Im
gonna blow this whole thing open.
No way. You're not to be
believed. What have you got?
A half a dozen different scenarios
all going in opposite directions.
Fantasies. They'd lock you away in
the booby bin. You're no threat to me.
You give me this information or Im
gonna get it the old-Fashioned way.
The ol- Oh.
The old-Fashioned way.
I see. What are you gonna do,
break my arms?
God, it's painful
to see you like this, nick.
It's painful to see you suffering
under a delusion so intense,
So aggravating that you actually
believe that you have the nerve...
to come in here
and threaten me like this.
You're just not the type.
Did you hear that? Did
you hear that, you clown?
You've broken my arm.
Is it him?
Huh? Huh?
Is it pa?
Is it him?
Please tell me.
Is it pa?
IOw!
Is it pa, Cerruti?
Your legs are next.
Cerruti, is it pa?
Your father spent $11 million
to raise your brother up...
from a skirt-Chasing college boy
to president of the united states.
For 20 years, he told him
what to do and how and why...
and what would happen
when it was done.
Your father put Tim
in the white house. Why?
Because that's where you
can generate the most cash.
A cold-Ass business proposition
like everything else in society.
But your brother decided
to stir up the population,
Began to think we were
all living in a democracy.
He started believing it. Lunch with
De Gaulle, dinner with Khrushchev.
The whole razzle-Dazzle
went to his head.
Yet in spite of the fact that
everybody in this country...
lives in the same
dog-Eat-Dog way,
Grabbing any angle
to make a buck,
If you were to inform them
that your father had Tim killed,
They'd wanna tear the old
man apart limb from limb.
Pa had-
Pa had him killed?
What the hell? That's the
system you wanted, nick,
And that's the system
you've got.
The whole secret, as your father
says, is not to get caught.
I want to find Yvette.
Yvette Malone...
was a professional actress
named Jenny OBrien,
But I don't think she wants
to see you today, nick.
She's the guest of a freshman anatomy class
over at Kegan university medical school...
and she's kind of tied up right
now, if you get the picture.
You get the picture, nick?
You get the picture?
You get the picture, nick?
Don't touch.
What the hell? He was
caught trying to enter.
That's my son!
He refused to tell us
his name, Mr. Kegan.
Rosemary will call dr. Grokest
when she comes in.
You sure
made a night of it, boy.
You should have called first.
Ought to know that by now.
I'll get you some whiskey.
You want those fellas fired,
Ill have 'em fired.
Good men, though.
Ah. You gonna
pass out on me?
Pa, Cerruti
told me everything.
- You saw Cerruti?
- You killed him.
Your own son.
IWas it really
for money?
Rosemary, where the hell
are my cigars?
Rosemary!
A wise man
fools the doctors.
Was it for money?
Where did you get the balls
to suggest to me...
that Id have your brother
murdered for some additional cash?
The president
of my country.
Is this an attack, son? A conspiracy?
Have you gone over to the enemy?
Or are you mad?
For money.
Shame.
For shame on you.
Somewhere deep
in your soul, pa,
You wanna get caught
and punished.
Like a petty thief back
to the scene of a crime.
Petty thief? Hell,
Im the king of thieves,
The Jupiter of thieves.
But Im not a killer.
There he is...
and there and there.
My guardian angel.
My unseen listener.
John Cerruti.
Somewhere in the air,
Recording, peeking in.
John Cerruti killed Tim.
Cerruti.
Did it with my men
and my money.
And the profits
went into my companies.
When he told me he'd killed my son,
there was nothing I could do against him,
'Cause every finger in the
country would point to me.
Tim's own pa.
And you too.
And our family.
- No, pa.
- You think Im in control here?
I'm nothing
but a goddamn front.
Cerruti has run everything
since the day Tim was shot.
Darndest part-
Don't even
give himself a raise.
Lives in Brooklyn
in a rabbit hole.
IWhat you doing?
I'm calling the police.
You begging to die?
You got eyes
in that empty head?
Look, Im an old man - Skin sagging,
false teeth, eyes milking over.
But Ive been holding this thing
together with the minutes ticking by...
'cause when this old clock comes undone,
you watch where the wheels will fly.
- I won't buy it, pa. - I'm standing
between you and darkest night, son.
The other side of me
is chaos.
Hold it, Keifitz.
We won't need the gun.
Won't need the gun? God, son, it
must've been the milkman after all,
'Cause you sure as hell
ain't no part of me.
That man damn well
needs his gun...
'cause he's gonna
shoot you with it.
Pa!
Pa, take my hand!
Stupid! You wanna go
with me? Take my hand, pa!
You get out of this alive, son-
You get out of this alive.
Take our money out of the western
world and put it in south America.
- Oh!
- Brazil. Ah!
- Aah!
- Brazil! They're the next ones up!
Pa's dead.
I'll connect you
with John Cerruti.
Call the police, rosemary.
Yes, Mr. Kegan.
Are you coming back?
I'm part of the family.
Hello. This is
Yvette Malone speaking.
I'm not home just now,
But if you'll be kind enough to
leave your name and telephone number,
I'll call you when I return.
Please begin
at the tone.
Hello, honey.
This is nick.
I just wanted to hear
your voice once more.
And I wanted to tell you
that I love you...
and Ill miss you.
Bye.
Yvette Malone speaking.
I'm not home just now,
but if you'll be kind enough...
to leave your name and telephone
number, Ill call you when I return.
Please begin at the tone.
Yvette, nick here. Uh, I just
thought Id let you know that...
Im still on pa's ship off the
coast of Malaysia thinking about you.
And, uh, sure is nice to hear
your voice. Even if it is recorded.
IWell, we're getting some
rough weather here, honey.
So, uh, I guess I
- They want you to go up, sir.
Okay, let's go.
All right,
now move your asses.
Get him to sick bay,
and do it now.
Ha! Well, if it isn't Mr. Keifitz.
Looking' more like
your father every day.
You came all the way
out here to tell me that?
No, no, sir.
I brought you an assassin.
- A what? - Yeah, well, that man
that they're moving there.
He says he shot your brother.
He was second rifle at city hall.
It's an outrage
to bring this man here.
You prefer the native hospital in Brunei
where a man can die of athlete's foot.
I don't have the facilities.
This man fell off an oil rig.
Doctor,
will you leave us?
Then I take
no responsibility.
That's right.
And you, out.
And you, stay.
Now, can you write?
Sir?
English. Can you write
English? I think so, sir.
Do your best.
Be our witness. Just write
down whatever he says.
Fletcher!
You hear me?
Nick Kegan is here.
You understand?
I think he wants
to shake your hand.
Now, what's
your full name?
Arthur Turkus Fletcher.
How old are you?
Fifty-Eight years.
We will hear your testimony.
I shot president Kegan.
IJesus.
How?
I was second rifle in city hall,
February 22, 1960.
I hit with both shots.
Where was
the number one rifle?
Behind the wall.
I shot on the line with him.
Who hired you?
Junior. Casper Jr.
They remembered me from shooting
demonstrations for the rifle association.
Said he'd push me into history.
Twenty-Five thousand dollars
for a morning's work.
A morning's work.
Please,
Mr. Kegan,
The rifle's in the steam pipe under the
middle window in the Engleson building.
Room 903.
I left my fingerprints and
all with my name taped to it...
for when the time came to prove
that I killed the president.
What about Willy Arnold?
The Pickering commission proved
Willie Arnold shot my brother.
INick, he's dead.
You can't run away
from this.
Get a hold of
miles garner in Philly,
Have him meet me at the airport
with some long underwear.
It'll be freezing there.
What are you gonna do?
I'm gonna look for his rifle. Mm.
IWhether this guy is real or not, pall
understand I had to leave the ship.
- I'm sure he will.
- I hope so.
You get that down?
I'll look at it.
Jesus, you print
like an ape.
I'm a high school graduate.
But Ive never been involved
in anything like this.
Now,
You were just a little boy
when president Kegan...
was gunned down
in Philadelphia.
But in the subsequent
More than 16 people,
Who seemingly had nothing
to do with that awful event,
Have died under
mysterious conditions.
If what you say is true, nick,
it's gonna shake up a lot of people.
President, congress,
everyone. Especially pa.
Does he know?
No, not yet.
I guess this assassin thought nobodys look
for him, working for the president's father?
We're gonna need a wrench
for the steam pipe.
We'll get it
from the building supervisor.
Captain Heller, this way.
Captain Heller,
that's the wrong building!
Is he reliable, miles? Captain
Heller, Philadelphias finest.
He drinks a bit, but if there's a rifle
up there, he'll know how to handle it.
Captain Heller, nick Kegan. We
have no time to lose, captain.
You say you're Nicholas
Kegan? That's right.
Got any identification?
ICome on. I've known nick since he
was a boy. He's tom Kegan's son.
Our late president's
half-Brother, okay?
You'll vouch for him?
Of course, yes.
Good enough. Now, uh, what's
the problem here, fellas?
It's this way, captain.
Oh. Kegan,
We did everything possible
to protect your brother here.
But you can't protect
anyone against a nut.
Nine-Oh-Three.
Damn shame.
Police, open up. Open
up in there. Police.
You John Kullers?
- We'd like to have a look at
your steam pipe. - My steam pipe?
We'll get a search warrant
if necessary.
Search warrant
for a steam pipe?
How long have you
occupied these premises?
ICops. Why me?
Answer the question.
IFour years, I don't know. Where
were you on February 22, 1960.
I1960? What is this? You don't remember
the date president Kegan was shot?
Long island. In school. Mrs.
Sayers' eighth grade English class.
Oh, yeah?
Look, hey, I got a
legitimate operation here.
All right, miles. I'll
check it. Stand back.
I'm sorry.
Sorry? What for?
Now you'll have to
live it all over again.
I could put it back.
You'll always
know where it was.
Oh, the hell with it.
What's that? What is
that? That's not mine.
You make one sound about
what you saw here today,
And you'll be the sorriest
little man in the sticks.
Boy, this'll stink
right up to heaven.
Yeah, this is the kind
of thing that rises.
Hey, take this. I don't
like the way it feels.
- Where to, captain?
- Bring it to the f. B.I., wouldn't you say?
Oh, why not?
They probably built it.
"They probably built it. "
Miles! Miles.
Help!
Phone? Do you have-
Mr. Kegan's office.
Who's calling, operator?
Yes, we will.
Hello, Mr. Kegan?
No, Im sorry. Your father
left for Rockrimmon last night.
I'm not sure.
I'll give you rosemary.
Yes, nick.
How nice to hear from you.
Your father's left the house
already for his golf.
May I help you?
In the desert, yes.
Well, how urgent?
I see.
Oh, dear. I'd better connect
you with John Cerruti. Hold on.
Nick. Surprise, surprise.
How are you? Where are you?
You left the boat, nick. Left
the ship. That's naughty of you.
Very bad not telling
headquarters. Your father-
What? What rifle?
Uh-Huh. In Philadelphia?
Well, that's astonishing.
Well, it's startling.
Shocking about miles.
Listen, now where are
you now? Exactly where?
Okay, follow me carefully. Do nothing.
I'll handle the police. You wait for a car.
We'll pick you up and you can discuss
this with your father in Rockrimmon.
And nick, don't panic.
Panic is counterproductive.
How are you, Keith?
The same. Always the same.
And you,
you're looking good.
Where's pa?
He's playing golf.
But he should be
back any time now.
I've got to see him right away.
Hey, shogun. Shogun. Shogun.
You've been gone
a long time, nick.
Shogun forget.
Have you had dinner?
No, not yet.
First, Id like to take a look at
pa's copy of the full Pickering report.
That will only make you sad.
Sad? Now, you once told me
all knowledge was good.
I don't recall. Actually,
that not something I would say.
I'll go find pa.
I'm freezing.
Sun's going down. The
desert's supposed to be hot.
Quit bitching. You've been
bitching all day. I don't like it.
What am I gonna do with
these girls, Mr. Secretary?
First they're hot,
then they're cold.
When she's hot again,
send her over.
I'm always hot.
Hello, pa.
Y'all know my son, Nicholas. Hi, nick.
IAll grown up, nick.
IHe ain't a global figure, like
his brother was. No interest.
He's a seafaring man
like yourself, admiral.
Good boy.
Right, nick?
If you say so, pa.
- You didn't tell me you were
leaving the boat, son. - I had to.
What do you think these girls
are doing under this blanket, son?
I don't know, pa.
Think they're
playing with my nuts?
You're awful.
I gotta talk to you, pa.
You better believe it, boy.
"Clair de lune" ]
Am I disturbing you?
Mother, what are
you doing here?
Oh, shh! I'm supposed
to be a secret.
I thought you
were in Nantucket.
Oh, it was freezing there.
And nobody came to visit.
I met this real nice man.
Pa said he just
wanted my money.
So he sent for me.
It's a big secret.
The newspapers, you know.
IOh, Nicholas, cocoa's sick.
She's sick.
Aw, let me see.
No, no.
No, she's not well.
Look.
See, she's sick.
Don't be sick on me, honey.
Please don't.
It's just her paw, mom.
She'll be all right.
Keith will take her to the vet
tomorrow. They'll know what to do.
She's never been
like this before.
It frightens me.
You frighten mommy.
I'll speak to Keith
before I leave.
He'll take care of it
for you.
You look real handsome.
Thank you, mom.
Listen, I got a great idea. Let's
have an Easter egg hunt on the lawn.
We'll get all dressed up. Everybody
will come. We'll make it black-Tie.
Wouldn't that be wonderful to have a formal
Easter egg hunt on the lawn with our friends?
You can stay for that.
It's winter.
The middle of winter, mom.
But isn't it
a lovely idea?
Yes, mom, it is.
C- Cocoa's sick.
You didn't tell me
nick was here.
- I didn't know he was coming, Emma.
- You're always mad...
just because nick doesn't
wanna be president like Tim did.
He's different,
that's all.
He's my son
and he's-
He's sensitive.
Different wives
have different sons.
Yes, Emma.
Come on, honey.
Let's go up to our room.
I'm flying dr. Marshall
in from Washington.
He's got some new cure thinks maybe
will help her. Some kind of vitamins.
- I hope it works.
- It won't.
You abandoned my ship.
Pa-
I got 60 million bucks floating there and
you take off like she's Friday night's hooker.
- If you'll let me, Ill tell you why.
- Make it snappy.
I got people outside. What the
hell were you doing in Philly?
- I called you. You don't take my calls.
- Didn't Cerruti tell you?
Cerruti? I gotta hear from Cerruti?
What's he gotta do with this?
It concerns Tim, pa.
Tim?
What about Tim?
I was on the Teekay when a man named
fletcher confessed on his deathbed...
that he'd been
one of the two riflemen.
- Bullshit.
- He told us where he'd hidden the rifle.
And this morning I found it with miles garner
and captain Heller of the Philadelphia police.
Where is
this historic weapon?
- I dont know.
- You don't know?
Everybody was killed
as we were leaving the building.
I was trying to reach you when the car was
driven away with their bodies and the rifle.
And this is the tale
you come home with?
Keifitz heard the confession on
the ship. An orderly wrote it down.
Wrote it down?
Pa?
You all right, pa?
Just wanted
to say good night.
Oh, would you please have a
veterinarian check out mother's dog?
Something's wrong
with its leg.
I'll have it attended to.
Don't turn out
the light, please.
All right. Good night. Good night.
Hope I don't
sound too depressed,
But so much has been
happening in the past few days.
I got a lot to tell you.
Most of all,
I wanna tell you that the more I hear
your voice, the more I feel I do love you.
Maybe Ill come to New York and
make an honest woman out of you, huh?
Bye-Bye.
Hello? Hello?
Hello, nick.
Come on, boy.
Wake up.
Got to get our ass
in gear.
What time is it?
Time for action.
I've been up all night.
Talked to Keifitz in Brunei.
Um, looks like
you were telling the truth.
The truth?
Pa, Im your son.
Yeah, you always had
an excitable imagination.
For a while, as a boy, I was afraid
you might turn out to be a fag.
You're a real winner, pa.
Keifitz is on his way here
with that killer's confession.
Then we go the limit to
bust this thing wide open.
You're bringing the
confession to the president?
Hell, no. That moron can't
read to find the men's room.
We gotta picture it for him.
Evidence. Find the rifle.
The men behind this fletcher. And the man
behind those men. Then we go to the president.
This is bigger
than we are, pa.
What the president will do is
resurrect the Pickering commission.
Fucking corpses to begin with.
Well, you accepted that
willy Arnold acted alone.
Sure as hell I did.
If I had pointed a finger
at the Russians, the Cubans,
Some goddamn hoodlums
or industrialists-
Maybe throw us
in a world war, civil war.
Sure I accepted it.
I got interests in this country.
Interests in this country?
Yeah, interests. But don't think
I fell for the Arnold theory.
I've been a hunter all my life.
I know the best of them.
And the best have trouble with one
shot of the kind that killed Tim.
Let alone three.
And then Arnold getting it from Joe
diamond, the plump saloon keeper,
While Arnolds handcuffed to
detectives surrounded by 75 rookies.
That's what I mean, pa. We need
help in this. Help? Like who?
The CIA? They smuggle my cigars
from Havana, that's what they do.
Import, export. And the FBI's
good for chasing runaways.
Fucking FBI. Gave the commission its
information in the first place, remember?
This ain't the forties anymore.
It's a whole new ball game.
We gotta be pioneers, son. We gotta
face that we're alone in the wilderness.
We got what the pioneers had,
all they had.
- The family.
- The family unit.
God blessed you, goddamn it,
with the best of families.
My international vice president,
John Cerruti,
Has files on the high and mighty
and the low and ornery...
That make the CIA. Record
look like the corner newsstand.
Information's power. And now we're gonna
use it to get to the bottom of this thing.
Then we go to the president
and congress, as a family unit.
And rub their fucking noses
in the dirt that killed my son.
Now, get your ass out of bed.
Oh, and by the way,
you won't need the vet.
The vet?
Yeah, the vet for cocoa.
Your mother passed out last night
and smothered the mutt in her sleep.
- Oh, no.
- Yeah.
Sleeps with the goddamn dog.
Crazy woman. Now move!
I'm sorry, mom.
You stink, pa!
You stink!
Captain Heller
died two years ago...
in the virgin islands
of a heart attack.
So miles was either duped
or duped you with a phony.
And your wig-Maker friend
jumped out the window.
Police say suicide, 'cause
vandals wrecked his business.
Sit down.
No, thanks.
Now, where do we start?
Looks like
we've already started.
We got three names at the top.
Fletcher, Casper Jr.
And z. K. Dawson.
Dawson's the big one. One of the
richest cocksuckers in the USA.
Christ. This takes me back.
Yeah, there it is.
Tim and me in the primaries.
Dawson was up against us,
pushing us hard.
You were just a kid. Spent
a lot of money in that state.
I mean, over-The-Counter, under-The-Table,
tucked-Into- A- Box-Of-Cigars money.
Shit, put out 9,700
primary-Day workers alone.
Most gorgeous TV commercial
you ever saw.
Tim leading tanks to liberate the Hess
sector in Germany. Geez, he looked great.
Ah, made a big noise
in that shitty little state.
Got 53 movie stars
to turn out.
And, uh,
all that time and...
after and...
before and during.
Everything I did,
every dime I spent,
Every threat I made, I was just
leading Tim further along the road...
to meet that bullet.
- It sounds like that's just
what you were doing, pa. - What?
Leading Tim along.
Listen, kid. We find the killers of your
brother and you'll be a hero like he was.
A fucking legend.
- I don't wanna be
a legend.
- What the hell do you wanna
be, a goddamned piano player?
Maybe, but Im not very good.
- You stink. You're lousy.
- I know that.
You know that? You ain't a piano
player, you ain't an artist.
You got no business sense,
no political sense.
What the hell do you want anyway?
Where are your values in life?
I honestly don't know.
Do you get laid?
- I ask you, do you get laid?
- Yeah.
You know how many times your
brother got laid in office?
I- What are you, the national
inquirer? - One thousand seventy-Two.
And with a schedule like his.
Maybe politics
don't turn me on.
Your brother was a giant.
You'll be the same. You watch.
Now, I set up a meeting
with you and Z. K. Dawson.
He'll lie of course. But you'll
get something from the meeting.
- No, pa.
- What?
I said no.
What no? Here's a map
on how to get there.
He's south of Tulsa.
It's all arranged. Take it.
Take it!
- Okay, pa. For the family.
- You bet your ass.
Good luck, boy.
I'll be with you.
II know you will, pa!
Hello. Good afternoon. Can I help you?
Yes, Im here to see Mr.
Dawson. Your name, please.
Nicholas Kegan.
You go right ahead. Z.K.'s on the playing
field. Take the turn to your right...
before you reach the house and
that's where you'll find him.
Thank you.
Yeah, Im Z. K. Dawson.
Who the hell are you?
I'm Nicholas Kegan!
Get out of the vehicle.
I said,
get out of the vehicle.
Uh, speak up.
I'm, uh, nick Kegan.
Tom Kegans son.
I know that. But what are you doing here
on my playing field, messing up our games?
Oh, the guard said, well-
I don't care what the guard told you,
I wanna know what you're doing here.
We had an appointment,
Mr. Dawson.
I'm aware of that fact.
Now you're wasting my time.
- Well, look here, uh-
- Watch your tone.
- Mr. Dawson-
- That's better.
Mr. Dawson,
we've discovered a rifle.
We have every reason to believe it's the
weapon that killed my brother in Philadelphia.
Your brother was a miserable,
cold-Assed, arrogant son of a bitch.
And not a good friend of mine,
as I guess is well known to you.
Yes, Im aware of that.
But the assassin was hired
by a man named Casper Jr.
And as you know everyone of
importance in the area, we thought-
What I ought to do is run right
over you, flatten you like a waffle.
Sir? I know why you're here.
You're here because you think I had some
part of a conspiracy killed your brother.
You and all the other conspiracy lovers
in this conspiracy-Loving country.
Actually, Mr. Dawson-
Why should I kill your brother
when Im getting rich off him?
Off his military spending',
his space spending'.
His tax reduction
a- And h-His crisis spending'.
Hell, you know if your old man didn't own
him already, I might have bought him myself.
Except for
his snotty personality.
I didn't come here to listen
to slander, Mr. Dawson.
Slander?
You think before you speak,
young man.
Hell, they didn't teach
you kids nothing since 1944.
Hey, I didn't kill your brother.
That's a vile, cruel,
mythological invention.
But it is also a-
An infectious invention.
And when it reached the ears of my
daughter, I thought, maybe Ill make...
a couple of phone calls and
really find out who did the deed.
Who might that be?
The Philadelphia police
killed your brother.
The man in charge of the
operation was a captain Heller.
So if I was you, Id just go
and have a talk with that man.
- Uh, he's dead. - Well, then Id
track down a sidekick of his.
A man named Ray Doty.
Thank you. Yeah, well, you're welcome.
Now, Im gonna
tell you one more thing.
I'm gonna give you
a head start of 30 seconds.
And then me and my boys here,
we're coming after you.
Sir?
You heard me.
We still got some private
property in this country.
Ten... nine... eight... seven...
Im looking for a passenger
named Nicholas Kegan.
Mr. Kegan?
Yes?
Telephone call for you. Please
hurry. We're beginning our descent.
You have a telephone
call for me here? Please.
I have a telephone call
up here.
Where the hell is he?
Pa? You didn't call me
when you left Dawson.
Pa, there are hundreds of people
on board. Uh, we're about to land.
Maybe, but Im still losing money on
this airline. Now, what'd Dawson say?
He says it's Heller
in the Philadelphia police.
Says I should talk to a cop named ray
Doty. He also fired on my car with tanks.
The old coot. Ray Doty. I'll arrange
it. That why you going to new York?
Come on. Come on.
No, Im gonna see my girl.
Girl? What girl? Just a
girl, pa. Look, I gotta go.
Forget the girl. You go see
Doty. By the way, Keifitz is dead.
Keifitz?
Died in Brunei.
Keifitz?
What about the confession?
Orderly's dead too. Fell off the
toilet and broke his neck. What?
It's safe to talk in here.
These lights
stay on all the time?
Day and night.
All year round.
They never know what time it
is. Just keep laying those eggs.
And they never hatch.
Never do.
Give 'em hormones, of course.
And amphetamines. Keeps 'em going.
They're all on speed.
Jittery as hell.
My father's information agency
has paid you. Is this, uh-
I took the cash.
Just like in the old days.
Once a cop,
always a cop.
Wish I was back
on the force sometimes.
So how did, uh,
Casper Jr. Get to you?
Oh, he didn't get to us.
He got to Joe diamond.
You do that very well.
I think-
Now you gotta understand...
that Joe diamond
was a notorious cop lover.
II mean, a real cop lover.
He always kept this nightclub
full of rookies.
Drinking beer, getting high.
IAnyway,
the meeting was set up...
between diamond
and an old pal of his.
It took place in Tucson.
How you been, Gameboy?
Oh, older and fatter.
Uglier. Like you.
I don't know.
- Did you eat?
- Yeah.
What'd you eat?
Pastrami on whole wheat
with celery tonic.
Any good?
Lousy.
Tucson.
Don't ever order the wild
west pastrami. Sit down.
It's like old times.
Y- You remember us
in Atlantic city?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But I got
a contract for you.
One of the biggest contracts
ever handed out anywhere.
Me? I-I'm a restaurant man.
You're also a thief
who is crazy enough to steal...
from Moey and Sam
and Morris and uncle Louie.
I wanna pay back.
You are fucking right.
I- I can pay back?
When you handle this hit,
you'll be paying back.
A hit?
Why me? There must be 200 mechanics around
here can make any hit better than me.
I told 'em. No good.
Those guys aren't political.
I'm political?
You were in Cuba. Very good
friends with a certain minister.
I thought about you a lot,
Gameboy.
You have a commie background
in the f. B.I. Files.
Commie? I was out of Cuba
ten years before Castro.
Joe, what do you want
from me? You were in Cuba.
This is crazy. Anyways,
you gotta make the hit.
- Who's the contract?
- There are two.
We've already taken care
of the first one.
You make the second hit.
A kid named Willie Arnold.
I don't know him.
A- And who's the first?
President Kegan.
So diamond went back to Philly
to get ahold of captain Heller.
Heller was my superior officer
at the time.
He was a great family man.
Seven daughters
and a big house.
Daughters are expensive.
After the assignation, diamond's
job was to shoot the phony assassin,
Willie Arnold,
in the police station.
Heller was paid to get an in.
Heller was terrific
at organization.
Our last meeting took place
right here at this farm.
Here's two sets of keys
to the Engleson building.
Get them to the Texan when he
arrives tomorrow. Right, captain.
Willie Arnold should be planted in the
TV center warehouse by half past 9:00.
The motorcade will pass
towards city hall at 12:30.
Ray will give you your rifle and some shells
to have Arnold throw on the floor as evidence.
Tell Willie Arnold to go home after the real
hit. If we need him, we'll send a patrol car
Ray will give you
the rest of the details.
And when we arrest Arnold after the hit,
you know what you have to do. Right, Joe?
Yeah, I know.
There are a lot of things
we gotta consider here.
All right, cut it out,
will you? Come on.
How did they find diamond?
IWho? Casper Jr. And his people.
Figures to me
the mob found him.
Diamond was with the boys
in Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit.
Why would the mob wanna kill
the president? Business reasons.
Heard a very big man in the
syndicate say one day that...
Kegan took $2 million in campaign
contributions from the boys and then...
didn't do anything
about it.
Nonsense. Tim didn't
need the money.
Who knows.
Anyway, whoever did it still
has a terrific amount of clout...
after it happened.
Yeah.
Hello?
You're home!
Nick?
Oh, wonderful.
II've been trying
to reach you for days.
Where are you? Grand central. I'm, uh-
I'm on my way over, okay?
Okay. I can't wait.
Yvette-
Oh, I got something to tell you.
I can't believe you're real!
Yeah, well, Im not real. I'm just
a more complicated new machine.
You're what?
You come on over and see
what this new machine can do.
I'm on my way.
I can't wait.
I love you.
Then come and get me.
IOh, shh! Somebody's
gonna call the police!
Shh. Shh.
Shh!
Marry me.
Marry me!
Shh. Shh. Shh.
Oh, marry me.
Marry me!
Yes! Yes! Oh, god, yes!
Oh, you make me so happy.
Shh. Come on. Somebody's
gonna call the police.
Shh.
Hi.
Hi.
- When should we do it?
- Let me rest a minute first.
No, I mean get married.
Get married?
You just said yes.
Oh, I always say yes
at those times.
You know I can't marry you.
What?
Come on. Up.
Ah, be right back.
- Why won't you marry me?
- You hardly know me.
We see each other. I talk to you
all the time. You talk to my machine.
I- Oh, so what. I can tell the difference.
- That's a beginning.
I'm making an honest
proposal of marriage.
Tell you what.
I'll give you a copy of my answering
machine tape. You can take it with you.
Come on.
Don't toy with me.
I'm serious.
We'll have this huge wedding
in saint Patricks cathedral.
Saint Patricks?
What if Im Jewish?
That doesn't matter.
Pa knows the cardinal.
You see, darling.
You know nothing about me.
I know all I need to know.
IYou know what? That you're in
love with my answering machine.
Well, Ill know you
better later on.
Do you know
what I do for a living?
- That doesn't matter. You will never
have to work again. - But I wanna work.
II'm assistant editor
at national magazine.
Maybe pa owns it.
Do you want a promotion?
I want my own life
too, nick.
- Well, Ill buy you whatever you want.
- No.
You just said no.
I said no.
How can you say
a thing like that?
Why complicate things?
We have great sex, freedom,
no kids, no responsibilities.
Why duplicate
the messes others make?
- But we don't have to.
- We can make a mess of our own?
- Who knows what will happen?
- Don't ask me anymore, nick.
I adore you. I really do. But
the answer's gonna stay the same.
I'd tell you why
if I could but I can't.
Don't say you can't.
Say you don't want.
I don't want.
Then forget it.
All right.
I think Id better
leave. If you want to.
I have a friend coming over
if you'd like to meet her.
A friend? Who? Patty. She's
from the magazine. You'd dig her.
- Dig her? What does that mean?
- Whatever you want it to mean.
God, you're just
like the others.
Others?
How many are there?
Fewer and fewer.
Oh, I get it.
You're into women.
- I am a woman.
- You know what Im talking about.
Nope. And I won't marry
a person I can't understand.
Good night.
Call the machine whenever you
want, darling. It only goes one way.
Mr. Wilson?
Good evening.
Mr. Kegan. This is
a pleasant surprise.
Can I have my key, please? Certainly.
My, you're looking... worse
than Ive ever seen you, sir.
I've been traveling. It
certainly doesn't agree with you.
Good night.
Good night.
I'll alert the staff that you're
in residence. And get some sleep.
Welcome home, nick.
It's good to see you.
Good to see you too,
Raymond.
The maid is freshening
your room, sir.
Get me a double,
please, Raymond.
A double what, sir?
Uh, on second thought,
make it triple.
A triple what, sir?
Hello. This is Yvette Malone
speaking. I'm not home just now.
I hate this machine! Leave
your name and telephone number,
I'll call you when I return.
Please begin at the tone.
Hello, Yvette, listen,
Im sorry I was so, uh, rude.
I didn't, you know,
listen to you or anything.
I want you to know that I still
care about you and I wanna see you.
Why don't we have lunch tomorrow
at the Lorraine, huh? 12:30.
Nicholas?
Help! Help! Help!
Raymond!
I brought your drink, sir.
Hello. This is nick Kegan. A maid just left
my room. Have security stop her, please.
She tried to kill me.
Sorry Im late.
I'm glad you came. Well, me too. I
hate saying good-Bye to a naked man.
Excuse me.
Yes, sir. Can I help you?
We'd like a table, please.
For the two of you?
Yeah, someplace we can talk.
Well, Im sorry, sir. We don't allow
ladies in trousers in the dining area.
You what?
Uh, it's no problem.
You know what happened
to me this morning?
I go out of the taxi, and the
cabdriver followed me on the sidewalk,
Swearing at me because he
didn't think I tipped him enough.
IMadam, we will
have to ask you to leave.
We're staying, my friend.
She's got you.
Impossible.
My name is Nicholas Kegan.
My father owns this place.
Oh, Im awfully sorry, sir.
I didn't recognize you.
Please, right this way.
Right this way.
Thank you.
Listen, Im, uh
- I'm sorry about last night. No, Im sorry.
I got about six different kinds
of jet lag. No, I understand.
Tell me, where were you
one week ago today?
Uh, Brisbane, Australia.
Oh, Brisbane.
The coral sea, stonefish,
Captain cook sweeping north
through that treacherous channel.
Oh, that's beautiful.
Yeah. Look, Yvette-
I still wanna marry you.
Is that why this lunch?
No.
I need
your magazine's help.
Maybe
it's your magazine.
I need to contact someone in the mob
- Someone big.
What for? It is not to be talked about.
I cross my heart.
II also need everything in your
files on Joe diamond. Joe diamond?
Who he knew in the mob.
Who knew him.
What for? Does it
concern your brother?
We have reason to believe that we're
on the track of uncovering a conspiracy.
A conspiracy?
Three days ago,
I met the true assassin
of my brother.
Is this on the level? Now I want to
find out who actually hired diamond.
Not the go-Between. I wanna find
the man who is responsible for this.
Well, sure.
It'll cost.
It cost to have my brother killed.
I think we can pay whatever it cost...
to find those who-
Who did it to him.
And I don't want
any press until I say so.
Are you offering us
the exclusive?
Thank you.
If you come up
with the contacts.
Wow. This is big.
I mean, really big.
Hey, wow!
You know,
When Im with you, the-
- Wow!
- Yvette?
Yvette-
You know, Tim-
He had thousands of women,
and Ive, uh-
I've actually
only had twelve.
And I know that may
seem conservative to you.
Oh, listen, honey. You get me this
story, Ill get you all you want.
Are you listening to me?
I sure am. And if you want this
story, I gotta get my tail in gear.
I call you from the
magazine. Thanks for lunch.
Lunch? This news makes
my day. It's wonderful.
Excuse me.
What the hell were you doing
with that broad at lunch today?
She's a friend of mine.
Are you screwing her?
Oh, I forgot. You're the
boy scout of the family.
Tim always shared
information on his broads.
II'm not Tim.
Where'd you meet her?
Keifitz introduced us
in Paris one weekend.
She's the press.
I said no press.
I need contacts
with the mob.
I'm in business, for Christs sake.
Been dealing with the mob for years.
But you go to some dame you got
the hots for and spill everything.
IThat's wrong.
Like hell.
Cerruti played the whole lunch
to me ten minutes ago.
- You had us bugged?
- It's my restaurant, son.
A lot of people more important
than you make deals there.
IOf course
I have it bugged.
Telephone for you,
sir.
I'll take it in my room.
Take it here.
Cerruti's recording it anyhow.
Hello.
Hello, Yvette.
You what?
Already?
Yeah, you sure do.
How much?
Who is it?
Uh-Huh.
Cleveland.
All right.
I'll catch the next plane.
And thanks.
Who are you meeting?
Someone named Irving Mentor.
Yvette says he's the magazine's
direct line to the mob.
I'll check on him.
I got something for you.
What you scared of? I don't want you in
any more situations you can't handle.
- I don't want a gun.
- Look,
Somebody tried
to kill you last night.
This ain't no treasure hunt you're on.
Pa, Im not
gonna carry a gun.
I admire the way you
fought off that killer, boy.
Single-Handedly.
It was only the maid.
Ah, trained killer. We got
her, by the way. We got her?
Yeah.
Working her over now.
My people are on this
all the way.
All right. If you won't
carry a gun, take this.
For my peace of mind
if nothing else.
You're amazing.
Take these, uh,
brass knuckles too.
Uh, don't lose them. They
have a sentimental value.
Thanks.
Uh, Ill see you in Cleveland.
I'll be in the hospital.
Oh, nothing's wrong.
Six-Months' blood change is all.
- Blood change?
- Yeah.
I take it from the kids at Amherst.
Got a deal with the red cross.
Uh, for the circulation.
I'll see you, pa.
ICall me from Cleveland.
I'm looking
for Irving mentor.
Never heard of him.
Uh, my name
is nick Kegan.
I bought you
coffee.
Cream?
No, thanks.
You got the cash?
Better count it.
Humph. You bet your ass.
Okay.
The contract for the hit
came from Gameboy baker.
- Gameboy baker.
- You got it.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Wait a minute. Sorry.
This ain't a social visit. Oh, yeah?
It's not worth 15 grand,
either. Now sit down.
Sit down
or give me my money back.
Watch your language.
These are my boys, you know.
IGet out of here.
Tell me about this, uh,
Gameboy baker.
Joe diamond is from
the old neighborhood.
Small-Time thief.
No sense.
It was Gameboy baker...
who helped set Joe up
in his nightclub.
Only Joe wasn't paying back. He was too
busy supporting some of the local rookies.
I was the one
who delivered the message.
That Moey and Sam and Morris and uncle
Louie wanted a conversation with him.
So Joe skipped to Cuba.
And by the time
the boys found him,
He was in bed with every
corrupted politician in Havana.
Joe took protection
from his Cuban friend...
and went back
to his club in Philly.
But he still owed the boys
an obligation,
Which he paid back on that day
he shot willy Arnold.
Open that door. The
smoke's getting to me.
That could be a signal
or something.
Open the door or Ill shove
the cigar down your throat.
Eighty-Five cents,
wholesale.
Now, who is Casper Jr.?
A Hollywood agent.
What? Deals for harry small,
head of federal studios.
Why would people like that
wanna kill a president?
That particular president
cost that studio...
$50 million...
when he stopped screwing Ellamae
Irving and she killed herself.
I give you $15,000
and you tell me gossip.
Where there's smoke,
there's fire.
What can I tell you?
Hold it, hold it, hold it.
Just a moment.
What the hell?
What are you feeding us?
The cat's dead. What is this?
Calling dr. Rogers.
Telephone call, dr. Rogers.
My father's
a patient here.
Your name?
Nicholas Kegan.
IThank you, doctor.
Federal studios? Hell, you couldn't
spot a nigger in a Snowbank.
I'm telling you what he said. I got
interlocking companies controlling federal.
Her last two pictures lost money. Harry
small was glad to get out of her contract.
IYou gotta stop
chasing mare tails, boy.
I fixed up a meeting
for you with Frank Mayo.
- Mayo?
- Heard of him, huh?
Grand vizier
of the underworld.
I thought he was in jail.
Upstate, maximum security.
I got him out to meet
you this afternoon.
What can he tell me
that mentor didn't know?
What did mentor know? Nothing. You tell
that broad of yours she owes you 15 grand.
- Have a pastry?
- Think that sugar's good for you?
It's my hospital.
Own what you use. Nothing competes
today with owning a hospital.
No customer credit. Pay in advance
or get out. Unique product pain.
Laundry alone throws off enough
to pay the orderlies and lab.
And what the lab turns over-
- When is the meeting with Mayo?
- I'm talking business here.
You should see the net
on what the lab throws off.
I own 27 hospitals in 15
major cities. Wish I had more.
Where is the meeting
with Frank Mayo, pa?
Grant's tomb, 4:00.
IHey, nick.
Uh, would you
like a little?
No, thanks, pa.
Please, sit down.
Uh, pa says that you have some
information on Joe diamond.
Oh, yeah, but...
before we get into that,
I, uh-
I wanna tell you that
Im apologetic about-
About what happened to your
brother, even at this late date.
But, uh, unfortunately,
Mr. Kegan,
You always hear about
these things too late.
II was on key Biscayne
at the time.
But I could have done nothing, anyway,
because, uh, it wasn't our business, see?
They, uh-
They did it on their own.
Mr. Mayo,
Who actually made the contract
to kill the president?
See what I mean?
That, for me, has always
been a mystery. I don't know.
What about diamond's
connections in Cuba?
Diamond had no connections
in Cuba.
Well, Irving mentor
says he did.
Irving mentor.
Mm-Mm.
I never heard of him.
IWho send you to this, uh,
to this mentor man?
A friend.
Mm.
That's funny.
No, no, no. No, diamond
was never in Cuba.
I'm told he was out of-
Out of Chicago.
Mr. Kegan, uh,
You're getting
the runaround here.
I'm sorry, sir. Personnel has
no record of any Yvette Malone.
She works here.
Apparently not.
Could you check again? I mean,
you must have a record of her.
Sir, this is
national magazine.
Everything we must have,
we have.
Thank you.
It's no good, mister. The
lady in 12-G is 62 years old.
Drinks like a fish. But Yvette
lived here. I visited her here.
Why don't you try number 86?
Maybe you got the wrong building.
You have nobody
of that description?
Buddy, we haven't had a good-Looking
woman in this building in four years.
Floor upon floor of ugly
people is all we got.
Here's 50 bucks.
I gotta find her.
Make it a hundred.
I'll tell you
everything I know.
Okay.
Here's a hundred.
I already told you
everything I know.
No such person
ever occupied these premises!
- Look here, mister.
- Now, hold on, cocksucker.
You can't buy me, huh?
You don't accept my word for it, you deserve
to pay. Now, get the hell out of my si-
Come on! Come on! I'll bop your
skull open, you bastard, you!
Your money can't buy me, huh? You
give me the creeps. Get out of here!
Go on!
Filthy bastard, you.
You give me the creeps,
all of you! Go on!
Then Ill say
good night, sir.
Oh, uh, Raymond.
Sir?
Do we have any ovaltine?
Ovaltine?
I think Id like some
before I go to sleep tonight.
I seem to remember when I was a kid I
had this cup with a Bordens cow on it.
Cow, sir?
Oh, just give me
a glass of milk.
Very good, sir.
Boy! I have
come back for you!
Now, wait!
Wait! Hey!
IHey! Wakey, wakey, wakey!
IIt's me!
- You're a dead ghost!
- Like hell I am.
IPa said you're dead.
Do I look dead?
II need some sleep, but...
they're still dredging for
my body and Ive still got it.
I- Then you're not dead.
- No. I got an obit in the times...
but I am not dead.
Now, when they
got the medic,
I figured it was
healthier not to be alive.
Yeah.
Ain't you
glad to see me?
It's a conundrum-
Riddles within riddles.
Now Yvettes gone.
That broad we met in Paris?
The one you kept calling?
- I wanna marry her.
- You're gonna give the whole thing up?
Someone is trying to teach
me a lesson in futility.
Why am I the only one
who wasn't killed?
They will run you dizzy.
They will pile falsehood
on top of falsehood...
until you can't tell a lie from the
truth and you won't even want to.
That's how the powerful keep their
power. Don't you read the papers?
IYou've got to accept that there
is a world outside of you...
and that
you affect that world.
- Your dad knows it.
- Pa thinks, uh,
Moses lied about the ten commandments,
because what god really said...
Was, "do what you want,
but don't get caught. "
- Pa's awareness is global.
- Yeah, so is mud.
Nick, use him.
Use the organization.
He's got more clout
than the common market,
And you're taking the advice of
a broad who's probably a plant.
Now, you could've
been killed in that diner.
- I thought you liked staying alive.
- Come on.
I'm gonna find her. Go to Cerruti.
He works for you, remember?
- What about you?
- I'm gonna stay dead for a while.
I feel healthier that way.
IWhere are you going? Gonna
order Cerruti to produce Yvette.
This is the contract silo, nick.
Contracts, contracts,
contracts.
Agreements kept.
Agreements broken.
Papers, papers, papers.
Signatures. Your father's
holograph signature...
on his interlocking companies
going back, oh, 30 years.
Also those of diplomats,
authors and inventors.
Tax deals.
Foundation deals.
Signatures of presidents
and sheiks.
Signatures to put men away
for, oh, decades.
Destroy careers, public lives,
marriages, estates.
Love affairs. Letters of passion,
indiscretion and conspiracy...
acquired by your father's
intelligence network.
Letters to persuade a man to close a deal
or leave a job or sell out on his brother.
Data necessary to sustain
a financial empire.
And here-
Here are the spoken words.
Shh. Voices and sounds.
And visuals. Pictures on
microfilm. Movies. Video.
Marvelous little gadgets
that document verbatim...
all your father's conversations
with all his people.
And his people's
conversations with others.
From our satellite,
we can watch everything.
Nasty little wars in Africa. Troop
movements. Ship movements. Nuclear tests.
The Sinai.
The panama canal.
Every little thing to check an
investment, buy us in or out.
Even tonight, while most
of our workers sleep,
IIt goes on.
Take a coffee break,
gentlemen.
I have a rare visitor
and we'd like to be alone.
Information. Black holes of information.
Galaxies within galaxies. Multiple
expanding universes of information.
Aren't you glad
you came?
Pa never allowed the family
here in his office.
Ah. Misjudgment. You'll
run all this someday.
You'll need to know.
All this and you couldn't
find my brother's killer?
II'm so glad you're here.
I receive so few outsiders.
IWho to trust?
Who to trust?
All the nerves
but none of the flesh.
End of our social. Why did you
come here without an appointment?
What do you want? I want
to find Yvette Malone.
Impossible. She's been
kidnapped. Kidnapped?
Yeah. Abducted, swept away,
taken off, snatched, kidnapped.
- By whom?
- The kidnappers. Bad guys. Casper Jr.
Where are you going?
To find my father.
I just realized.
He's been keeping me alive.
He's protecting me.
She's... involved, nick.
Miss Malones involved.
It wasn't the tub esters who got to
diamond. We have new information.
- While you sleep, we continue.
- Who was it?
You met the man this afternoon.
Frank mayo.
And it was Lola Comante who got to
Mayo and had the president killed.
Miss Lola Comante!
Thrice married by 23,
movie queen at 30,
Lola entered middle age as friend
of the shady and legit alike...
with the special power
of a president's procuress.
Lola got Tim his girls, and he
blessed her with fame and fortune.
Tim enjoyed her favors
and the favors of her friends...
in the privacy of Rockrimmon.
Sanctioned and abetted
by your father,
Who occasionally
indulged in Lola himself...
and who also had some
business connections with her.
Until it all ended one day when
Lola tried to collect on a deal.
Enchanted by ambition
as she was,
Lola had arranged a $2 million
campaign contribution...
from the family of Frank Mayo.
Mayo wanted the president
to kick out Castro...
and restore the casinos
to Havana.
But the president was aware of no
such contribution and no such deal.
It was your father who had
accepted the money from Lola.
When did you get
so lily-White, son?
Been reading
your own press?
This thing's
gone to your head.
Sure, I took that cash.
You think you got those
votes on your good looks?
I bought 'em and I paid for 'em.
And when I needed cash, I got it.
Now, uh,
you remember your debts.
You want out of this Cuban thing,
you gotta pay back another way.
And, uh, be nice to Lola.
She's on your side.
Where you going?
Hey. Where you going?
Come back here!
I'm your father!
Goddamn it! Why do you
think I got you this job?
To review the fucking fleet?
The president broke contact with
your father on this matter...
and with Lola as well.
He never spoke
to either one again.
ISo Tim turned against pa?
Mm. It hurt your father
a great deal,
Both personally
and... financially.
Then it was Mayo who killed my
brother and you've known it all along.
A qualified no
on both counts.
- Z.K. Dawson.
- The guy in the tank?
No, no, no. Not that asshole. The real
Dawson who hasn't left Venezuela since 1956.
Your Oklahoma adventure was a little
something I cooked up. You cooked up?
Yes. A scene. A skit.
Rather humorous, I thought,
with a point.
And what can the point be,
Mr. Cerruti?
You see, it wasn't Dawson himself who
plotted your brother's assassination.
It was his only daughter, formerly
Maggie Dawson, then Mrs. Luigi Bellini...
and lately-
Yvette?
The attraction between you two becomes
Romeo-And-Julietish, no? Opposing families.
- That is ridiculous!
- Don't snap at me, you.
She plotted the whole thing. She
was your brother's mistress too.
Bet you didn't know that.
- Where is she now?
- Yvette? I told you. Kidnapped.
- By whom?
- By whom? By the kidnappers.
Bad guys. Casper Jr.
You are lying, Cerruti.
No one's allowed up here,
nick.
Tell me where she is or Im
gonna blow this whole thing open.
No way. You're not to be
believed. What have you got?
A half a dozen different scenarios
all going in opposite directions.
Fantasies. They'd lock you away in
the booby bin. You're no threat to me.
You give me this information or Im
gonna get it the old-Fashioned way.
The ol- Oh.
The old-Fashioned way.
I see. What are you gonna do,
break my arms?
God, it's painful
to see you like this, nick.
It's painful to see you suffering
under a delusion so intense,
So aggravating that you actually
believe that you have the nerve...
to come in here
and threaten me like this.
You're just not the type.
Did you hear that? Did
you hear that, you clown?
You've broken my arm.
Is it him?
Huh? Huh?
Is it pa?
Is it him?
Please tell me.
Is it pa?
IOw!
Is it pa, Cerruti?
Your legs are next.
Cerruti, is it pa?
Your father spent $11 million
to raise your brother up...
from a skirt-Chasing college boy
to president of the united states.
For 20 years, he told him
what to do and how and why...
and what would happen
when it was done.
Your father put Tim
in the white house. Why?
Because that's where you
can generate the most cash.
A cold-Ass business proposition
like everything else in society.
But your brother decided
to stir up the population,
Began to think we were
all living in a democracy.
He started believing it. Lunch with
De Gaulle, dinner with Khrushchev.
The whole razzle-Dazzle
went to his head.
Yet in spite of the fact that
everybody in this country...
lives in the same
dog-Eat-Dog way,
Grabbing any angle
to make a buck,
If you were to inform them
that your father had Tim killed,
They'd wanna tear the old
man apart limb from limb.
Pa had-
Pa had him killed?
What the hell? That's the
system you wanted, nick,
And that's the system
you've got.
The whole secret, as your father
says, is not to get caught.
I want to find Yvette.
Yvette Malone...
was a professional actress
named Jenny OBrien,
But I don't think she wants
to see you today, nick.
She's the guest of a freshman anatomy class
over at Kegan university medical school...
and she's kind of tied up right
now, if you get the picture.
You get the picture, nick?
You get the picture?
You get the picture, nick?
Don't touch.
What the hell? He was
caught trying to enter.
That's my son!
He refused to tell us
his name, Mr. Kegan.
Rosemary will call dr. Grokest
when she comes in.
You sure
made a night of it, boy.
You should have called first.
Ought to know that by now.
I'll get you some whiskey.
You want those fellas fired,
Ill have 'em fired.
Good men, though.
Ah. You gonna
pass out on me?
Pa, Cerruti
told me everything.
- You saw Cerruti?
- You killed him.
Your own son.
IWas it really
for money?
Rosemary, where the hell
are my cigars?
Rosemary!
A wise man
fools the doctors.
Was it for money?
Where did you get the balls
to suggest to me...
that Id have your brother
murdered for some additional cash?
The president
of my country.
Is this an attack, son? A conspiracy?
Have you gone over to the enemy?
Or are you mad?
For money.
Shame.
For shame on you.
Somewhere deep
in your soul, pa,
You wanna get caught
and punished.
Like a petty thief back
to the scene of a crime.
Petty thief? Hell,
Im the king of thieves,
The Jupiter of thieves.
But Im not a killer.
There he is...
and there and there.
My guardian angel.
My unseen listener.
John Cerruti.
Somewhere in the air,
Recording, peeking in.
John Cerruti killed Tim.
Cerruti.
Did it with my men
and my money.
And the profits
went into my companies.
When he told me he'd killed my son,
there was nothing I could do against him,
'Cause every finger in the
country would point to me.
Tim's own pa.
And you too.
And our family.
- No, pa.
- You think Im in control here?
I'm nothing
but a goddamn front.
Cerruti has run everything
since the day Tim was shot.
Darndest part-
Don't even
give himself a raise.
Lives in Brooklyn
in a rabbit hole.
IWhat you doing?
I'm calling the police.
You begging to die?
You got eyes
in that empty head?
Look, Im an old man - Skin sagging,
false teeth, eyes milking over.
But Ive been holding this thing
together with the minutes ticking by...
'cause when this old clock comes undone,
you watch where the wheels will fly.
- I won't buy it, pa. - I'm standing
between you and darkest night, son.
The other side of me
is chaos.
Hold it, Keifitz.
We won't need the gun.
Won't need the gun? God, son, it
must've been the milkman after all,
'Cause you sure as hell
ain't no part of me.
That man damn well
needs his gun...
'cause he's gonna
shoot you with it.
Pa!
Pa, take my hand!
Stupid! You wanna go
with me? Take my hand, pa!
You get out of this alive, son-
You get out of this alive.
Take our money out of the western
world and put it in south America.
- Oh!
- Brazil. Ah!
- Aah!
- Brazil! They're the next ones up!
Pa's dead.
I'll connect you
with John Cerruti.
Call the police, rosemary.
Yes, Mr. Kegan.
Are you coming back?
I'm part of the family.
Hello. This is
Yvette Malone speaking.
I'm not home just now,
But if you'll be kind enough to
leave your name and telephone number,
I'll call you when I return.
Please begin
at the tone.
Hello, honey.
This is nick.
I just wanted to hear
your voice once more.
And I wanted to tell you
that I love you...
and Ill miss you.
Bye.