The Big Cigar (2024) s01e06 Episode Script

1
[FEDERALE, IN SPANISH] You know
I do admire loyalty.
It's an honorable position.
But it can be exhausting, too.
And you, my friend
You look exhausted.
I got out of the pen,
I swore I'd never go back.
But somehow, I keep
finding myself in, uh,
one form of prison or another.
Celebrity. Surveillance.
[SCOFFS] Prison of my own mind.
Even that luxury penthouse was
just a fancy jail cell in the sky.
- [SIGHS]
- [DISTORTED VOICE ON RADIO]
[FEDERALE SPEAKING SPANISH]
there, pig. [BREATHES SHAKILY]
I can smell you. [BREATHING SHAKILY]
I-I know you right there, motherfucker.
Come on. [BREATHES SHAKILY] Come
on, ain't nobody scared of you.
I ain't scared of you.
Come on. [EXHALES SHAKILY]
[BREATHING SHAKILY] Come on,
motherfucker. I'm right here.
Come and get me, motherfucker.
- [FEDERALE, IN SPANISH] Liar!
- [ALDO SCREAMING, CRYING]
[ALDO SCREAMS]
- [SIGHS]
- [FEDERALE SPEAKING SPANISH]
[ALDO GROANING]
[OBJECT THUDS]
[STRAINS, BREATHING HEAVILY]
vámonos, vámonos. Hurry up.
They'll be back.
Guys, Artie's boat sank.
- What? Here, Aldo, sit, please.
- You're no longer safe here.
What about, uh, Cozumel,
your smuggler friend?
Yes.
I have arranged a car to Mexico
City to the Hotel Corazon.
- Wait, to the city?
- [ALDO] Yes.
There's a contact there who can help
you to get to the Caribbean coast.
Federales will be everywhere.
[ALDO] I know it's dangerous,
but it's the only way.
We leave right now.
Wait, wait, wait. Aldo, Aldo,
Aldo, my friend my friend,
I am so sorry.
Thank you, truly.
- It's not a problem. Come on.
- [EXHALES SHARPLY]
We owe you a debt forever.
My reward is your friendship.
- Stay safe, okay?
- Thank you.
We won't let you down.
I know, my friend.
Que viva la revolución.
Ándele.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
Hey, this is it.
Hola, mi amiga.
[CHATTERING IN SPANISH]
[BERT SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
Uh, will y Will you
excuse me for just a minute?
Uh, my friends have arrived.
I wanna continue this.
What in heavenly fuck
are you doing here?
I'm here to finish this
with you. [CHUCKLES]
You ain't got nothing I need.
Go home.
[STEVE] Let him go.
- I have to talk to him. I have to explain.
- Bert
Now is not a good time.
He just found out his father died.
We gotta be practical about this.
Can't rely on that motherfucker.
We gotta take care of this on our own.
You have such a tremendous gift
for shitting on your friends, Bert.
And you just do it with such panache.
Here we thought you
were in jail or dead.
Kunstler had no idea where you were.
And then we come to find out you
were fucking loaded at Jessica's.
I know.
- I'm a fuck up.
- What?
I'm sorry for everything
I've put you through.
I'm here now.
Yeah, well, you missed your call time.
[INHALES SHARPLY] I'm
gonna find us another car.
Sweetie pie, it is not
safe for you out there.
They have already raided us in Yelapa.
They're sure as hell
looking for you here.
Do you have some kinda death wish?
I don't know.
[CLARK WHISTLES] Hola.
Looks like it was a great party.
Federales are terrible houseguests.
You're Aldo, right?
Yeah, that's me, sir.
Well, they were looking for something.
They didn't ask nicely?
They did. I just didn't
have anything to say.
Yeah, I was just checking with you.
Just checking.
Ah.
So, you didn't tell 'em you know
the whereabouts of Huey P. Newton?
That you hid him here,
aiding and abetting his escape
for charges of capital murder,
which is a serious offense
in my country and in yours?
[ANTONIO LAUGHS]
[CLARK] Oh, hi there. Hey, chico. Hola.
Hello.
Cinco. Cinco. Nice hat.
[SYDNEY] Ah.
- Papá [SPEAKING SPANISH]
- [SPEAKING SPANISH]
[ALDO SPEAKING SPANISH]
Makes you look like a
fucking clown. [CHUCKLES]
Probably he found that on the beach.
- [SPEAKS SPANISH]
- [SPEAKS SPANISH]
- [CLARK] You too, you fucking spiclet.
- Come on, man. Ease up.
Where did they go?
[HUEY] Just do me a favor.
Just-Just do me a solid, man.
I need a ride to Cozumel.
I have money. Uh, dollars.
No, no, no, no, no.
[SPEAKING SPANISH] No, no, no.
- [ENGINE STARTS]
- No, no, no.
Oh, come on, man.
It ain't gonna take
that long, man. Come on.
- Just-Just do me a solid.
- No, no, no.
[BERT] Hey. [PANTS] Huey.
Listen, I blew it.
You know, I-I got scared.
Right, and so now you
decide to come down here,
risk compromising us, all
to make yourself feel better?
Not like that. I didn't [SIGHS]
I had some stuff happen
with my family, and
- Anyway, it doesn't matter. I I
- Oh, you right.
It don't matter. It don't.
You know what, man? I fucked up too.
I should've never gotten
involved with Hollywood.
But you?
Man, I really thought I could
come to you if I was up against it.
I'm here to prove to you that you can.
Yeah, and why in the world would
I ever trust you again, man?
What's changed, Bert?
What's changed is I'm
not afraid to die anymore.
I don't care.
I had all these grand ideas.
My politics. My beliefs.
I end up asleep on some chick's couch.
So, w-what am I even afraid
to-to-to lose anymore?
I've lost everything except for you.
All I want is to get
you to fucking Cuba,
and I don't care if I die doing it.
Cool, man. Cool.
Please. It means everything to me.
It's cool. It's cool.
I'm glad that mobilizing
for the revolution
is giving your life meaning or whatever.
Hey, man. Hey, hold up!
Goddamn it.
But I got more important
shit to do, Bert.
I'm not here for the revolution.
Just you.
[CHUCKLES] Man, that's bullshit.
It's bullshit, man. You wouldn't be here
if I was just Walter Newton's son.
From the very beginning,
me and you was friends
because you thought I was
gonna be the next Malcolm.
Because you wanted to
walk on the wild side.
Because you want to be
a modern-day John Brown,
but when it came to
raiding Harpers Ferry,
your ass don't want
nothing to do with it.
You are here because you thought
I was gonna change the world.
And you you wanted
to be a part of that.
That's all it is, man.
You lying to yourself.
[SIGHS]
Look, you don't have to forgive me.
You don't even have to talk to me.
But we should talk
about getting to Cuba.
You see, we have been talking about it.
And we been living it.
I already got a boat
lined up in Cozumel.
Right, and I have a car
coming to get us all there.
[PATRONS CHATTERING]
[PARTNER, IN SPANISH] Excuse me, miss.
I am looking for any boat captains
Who might be willing
to make a trip to Cuba.
what I was asking for, but
[PARTNER GROANS] Oh. Well.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
Mmm. [SIGHS]
What I was saying was, uh, el capitán
Mmm. That's all I got.
[IN SPANISH] You may want to speak
with the man they call "The Pirate."
Gracias.
He will not take kindly to you.
- Give her some cash.
[STAMMERS]
Yeah.
There's something I've
been meaning to ask you.
You catch this guy, what
exactly you plan to do with him?
If I stop him, I'll hold him.
If he gets away, I'll follow him
till we can get the cops, the Federales,
whatever, to apprehend his ass.
That's what I plan on doing.
Señores I heard you
want to make a little cruise.
It's the church we
supposed to lay low in.
Wait a sec. Wait a sec.
How the hell do we even
know this place is safe?
The priest is a, uh,
liberation theologist
sworn to protect all political refugees.
Aldo said we supposed
to meet his contact
in a bar somewhere down there.
- Let's go.
- [GWEN] No, no, no.
I-If this church is the
sanctuary, that is where you'll be.
Let Bert make himself useful.
- Let me at 'em.
- Should be easy, all right?
No grandstanding. Just go
in there and make a deal.
Let's go.
You all right?
We need to hide out in this
church until we secure a boat.
[BERT] So, do we have a deal?
[CAPTAIN] Cash up-front.
And you are going to have
to stand good for my boat.
What? I thought we agreed.
Cuban waters are very dangerous.
Their navy, as ragtag as
it is, remains on the edge.
If my ship was to sink,
I will require a new one.
If your ship were to sink,
would you be alive? [CHUCKLES]
If it sinks, you can root
for me to die. How about that?
[BERT] Deal.
I hope you live.
[PRIEST] You can sleep
here. You'll be safe.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, Father.
[HUEY EXHALES SHARPLY]
What's going on?
You sent them out there to take
care of the boat and the smuggler,
and we're in here hiding
like some church mice.
And I know he gonna mess it
up. He mess everything up.
You know, I thought you had an epiphany.
The other day in the ocean,
I actually thought you
were holding yourself
to account for your actions.
I am holding myself to account.
- For your actions?
- That's what I just said, yeah.
He took responsibility for his.
You gotta forgive him.
But he don't deserve it.
You know what? You right. I
don't think he does deserve it.
Maybe it wouldn't be
forgiveness if he did,
but it's not about him. It's about you.
You're the one who's
dying from all of this
this rage and this anger.
Now look, I know you probably
can't see yourself doing it
'cause you don't know how,
but you're gonna have to learn.
'Cause you have to forgive yourself.
I don't deserve it, either.
Yes, you do.
- Mmm.
- Yes, you do.
Oh, sweetie pie. When are you gonna see?
All this time, you have been waiting
for them to come up and shoot you
like they did Lil Bobby.
Like Fred. Like George, Malcolm
and Martin, and everybody else.
But they did change
the rule book. Now
Now they're trying to get
us to do it to ourselves.
They want you, me, all
of us to live in fear
'cause fear makes people reactionary.
Now, the Huey that I
know is not reactionary.
The Huey that I know is a revolutionary.
You, uh
You don't back down, do you?
That's what love is.
Take it or leave it.
[KISSES]
I'll take it. [INHALES SHARPLY]
Marry me.
[CHUCKLES] You're just saying that
'cause you think we might not live.
Well, we might not live.
We might die tonight. We might
die tomorrow on that boat.
We might die in Cuba next week.
Whenever that moment
comes for me, Gwen
I want it to be as your husband.
You're not serious, Huey.
Come on. We got a
church. We got a priest
- You're crazy.
- What d
What do you want me to do? Want me
to get down on my hands and knees?
- First of all, it's just one knee.
- All right. Well, then, I'll do that.
No, I'm Stop. Stop, please.
If you're serious,
then you think about it,
and you get me a ring.
And then you ask me, okay?
All right.
[SIGHS]
You asked me in that hotel
if I had a death wish.
Mm-hmm.
Well, thought about
it. Wondered about it.
And I had to ask myself, well, why
am I Why is it that I keep going?
Is it the, uh Is it the
people? Is it the dream?
It's the revolution.
It stopped being about just the
revolution for me a long time ago.
It's you, Gwen.
You're the reason for me.
I love you.
Even when I hadn't loved
myself, I've always loved you.
You're my everything.
You are everything.
You are my reason.
You're a part of me, and I
wanna be a part of you, always.
I love you.
- If I gotta tell you all this
- You don't.
[CHUCKLES]
I just wanted to hear you say it.
[INHALES DEEPLY]
[KISSES]
["BRING IT ON HOME TO ME" PLAYING]
- You still gotta say yes.
- [CHUCKLING] Okay.
- Yes, yes. Yeah.
- Yeah?
[PRIEST] The sacred
ceremonial rosary signifies
the eternal bond of love and marriage.
The figure eight.
No beginning and no end.
Let your union with this lasso
be an inspiration to you.
May the Holy Family of
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph be
[CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY]
I now declare you husband and wife.
[CHUCKLES]
[GUESTS CHEERING, APPLAUDING]
[BERT] Mind if I join you?
I hate weddings, but that
was a beautiful ceremony.
I'm so glad that I got to see it.
I wasn't sure that you wanted me to.
It wouldn't be forgiveness if I didn't.
[PARTNER] Oh, Jesus. [GROANS]
I hadn't gone to that many shithole bars
the whole time I was at Texas A&M.
- [PARTNER GROANS] Oh, sh shit.
- I majored in shithole bars.
[PARTNER] You ain't kidding, man.
- Oh, holy Christ.
- [SIGHS]
You thought any more about what
you're gonna do when this is all over?
- Go back to living undercover?
- [EXHALES SHARPLY] I don't know, man.
Maybe you got it all right.
'Course I do. [INHALES SHARPLY]
About what, specifically?
Got a woman you love.
Yes, sir. Thirty-six years old,
and we're like two
18-year-olds in the sack.
I got a girl.
Hippie chick.
Found out what I did.
She loved me anyway.
Be these moments I'd just,
like, f-forget what I was.
I was like, "Fuck the FBI." Man. Fuck.
[SNIFFLES] I was, like, free.
I [STAMMERS] One of them.
[STAMMERS] Alice, making
making love to her,
it was the only time I
was able to lose myself.
For us, sometimes
it's better we be lost.
[KNOCKING]
[PARTNER] Holy crap.
- [KNOCKING]
- Fuck! Hold on a second. Hold on.
[IN SPANISH] I've been
looking everywhere for you.
There were men at the bar.
- [SPEAKING SPANISH]
- They wanted to get someone to Cuba.
- [SPEAKS SPANISH]
Fuck. Let's go.
No, no, look
Let's go. Come on.
[SIGHS] Shit.
Where will we live?
Mmm, probably on a blanket
on a sidewalk somewhere.
[CHUCKLES]
Castro and the Cuban government
gonna welcome us with open arms.
- They'll set us up
- Mmm.
with a nice little house.
Picturing one of those,
uh, thatched roofs.
Can we see the ocean?
Mm-hmm, and hear it every night.
Smell that salt air. Feel that breeze.
I'm happy there.
I'm happy here. Right here.
[KISSES] This is free.
Hmm.
Hey! We have to go now!
Come on! Come on! Hurry!
Federales are coming now.
Somebody must have tipped
them off. Hey! Leave your bag!
Leave your fucking bag!
Come on! Follow me this way.
["I'D LOVE TO CHANGE THE WORLD" PLAYING]
Come. Hurry.
[PANTS]
Huey!
[SIGHS]
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
[PARTNER] Take it easy, Clark.
The Federales are coming.
Think you got me, man?
[CHUCKLES]
See, I've been ready to
die a long time, brother.
Put the gun down, man.
You know, I've been ready.
[GUNSHOT]
["I'D LOVE TO CHANGE THE WORLD" RESUMES]
- Holy shit!
- [STEVE] Get down, Huey! Get down!
- Move! Fuck! Get down!
- [SCREAMING, SPEAKS SPANISH]
Everybody, help him. Come on.
- [SHOUTING IN SPANISH]
Fuck! [GRUNTS]
[SHOUTING IN SPANISH]
Keep moving! Keep it moving!
[BERT SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
[BULLETS WHIZZING]
- [GRUNTS] Go!
- Vámonos!
[GUNSHOTS CONTINUE]
[FEDERALE, IN SPANISH] Now
they are Castro's problem.
He's not shooting.
[GWEN WHIMPERS]
[SPEAKS SPANISH] Hmm?
don't touch those lines.
Oh. Sorry.
- Yeah, don't touch those lines.
- [SCOFFS]
[THE PIRATE] We keep heading here.
We can able to drop you off on shore.
At Cancún you can
rent a car, drive home.
After that, it will be
two days' sail to Cuba.
Forty-eight hours to freedom.
Freedom.
They let me outta prison.
"Free Huey!"
I give you the truth, free Huey! ♪
That's what everybody said.
All the buttons and all that.
And there I was, free.
And they still came after
me. And they won't stop.
Gonna have to anchor. You
two will have to get off here.
Here? You want Bert and me to swim?
[THE PIRATE] Can't get
closer, or we'll bottom out.
[STEVE] You know what, fuck it.
Fuck it, in for a penny,
in for a pound. Maybe
Maybe we just come to
Cuba with you, all right?
No man. You gotta go on
back and do your thing.
Go back to Hollywood. Go
home. Keep making your movies.
Ah, we'll see. [SIGHS] I think
the schneid's out. [SIGHS]
I don't think I have another one in me.
Ain't about you, man.
Everybody's gotta raise consciousness,
get the people ready to to rise up.
What, and change the world?
I believe, uh I believe
we gotta change everything.
Well, shit
I guess that's it,
then. [CHUCKLES] Right?
End of the line.
It's just the beginning.
You sure you want to do this?
We can head back.
I'll drop you out in the
Keys, and you can hide there.
They'll kill you, Huey.
We've come too far.
Okay.
You see that lighthouse?
That is Cuba. Aim for that.
I'll stay here and pick up your bodies.
Good luck, amigo.
[ENGINE STARTS]
[ENGINE SPUTTERS, STOPS]
Hey.
[SIGHS, GRUNTS]
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
[SIGHS] Here, I got it.
You okay?
[GRUNTS, GROANS]
[GRUNTS, STRAINS]
[GRUNTS]
- Huey! [GASPS]
- [YELLS, GRUNTS]
- [YELPS, INHALES SHARPLY]
- Gwen!
[GASPS, GRUNTS]
- [GRUNTS] Gwen!
- [STAMMERING]
[YELPS]
[HUEY] What you think
about Black Panther Party
For Revolutionary Action?
I wanna transform society.
[CHILDREN] All power to the people!
[HUEY] The time has come
to fight back, brother.
[BOBBY] It's time we do
our own goddamn thing.
[HUEY] You ever face down a line
of police with your own 12-gauge?
[POLICE OFFICER] Hand over
all your guns right now!
[HUEY] Got these voices. In my head.
All the time.
And I can't turn 'em off, man.
They just They on
me. They relentless.
Shit I've done, man. Shit
that's been done to me.
I'm gone.
I'm done.
I'm through.
[GWEN] Huey?
Wake up. Wake up.
Huey?
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
[MOUTHS] I'm back.
- Yeah?
- Yeah. Yeah.
- [LAUGHS]
- [SIGHS, CHUCKLES]
[KISSING]
[BOTH CHUCKLE]
[GENDARMES SPEAKING SPANISH]
[BREATHING HEAVILY] Uh Uh Uh,
I-I'm, uh I'm-I'm Huey Newton.
We, uh We're We're
friends of your government.
I'm a revolutionary
from the United States.
- [BREATHING HEAVILY]
- Show them your papers.
Show [STAMMERS]
Show them your papers.
[HUEY] The gendarmes kept those guns
pointed at us for the next four hours
while we were trying to
tell them who we were.
We had brought letters
with us [CHUCKLES]
but, uh, they were a little damp.
When we finally convinced them
that I really was
comrade Huey P. Newton,
co-founder of the Black Panther
Party, all they said was,
"Hey, at least we didn't shoot you."
[HUEY] You can tell a
story a thousand ways.
Every story has many tellers. And
every teller has their own version.
It's like this thing, uh, Richard
hipped me to that John Ford said,
"If you gotta choose between history
and legend, print the legend."
From Liberty Valance. Always loved that.
Except, he didn't say it. An actor did.
Or rather, some screenwriter
who was adapting a book,
but that's not even the line.
What the dude really said was,
"When the legend becomes
fact, print the legend."
So, Hollywood made up a motto
about making up stories,
and everybody gets that wrong.
But everybody remembers it.
My own story has become legend
and truth and on and back.
[SHUTTER CLICKS]
Yes, I tried to spark
a domestic revolution.
- [OFFICER] Back up!
- You have no right to take our guns.
On behalf of the Black Panther
Party for Self-Defense
[HUEY] Yes, I believe in the
revolutionary potential of every person.
[CROWD CHANTING]
Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!
[HUEY] Yes, I sought exile in Cuba.
I was an icon and a mortal man.
So, how do I tell my story?
What's the beginning? What's the
end? And where does it take place?
Hollywood's where people go
when they, uh, wanna escape.
That's where I ran to.
And that's the revolutionary
potential of Hollywood.
It can mold minds.
It can create worlds that, uh,
that don't exist and
alter those that do.
Whoo! Huey!
- You ready to get back to work?
- I think I am.
Yeah? Then let's do it. Let's
make a goddamn fucking movie!
And we don't have to
make one every year now.
- We don't have to do that.
- No, we gotta be selective.
- Yes. Why?
- You know why?
Because we've ushered in the golden
age of the small personal art film.
Cheers.
[HUEY] The movie Jaws
came out the next year,
ushering in the blockbuster.
Just don't forget, you
still owe me a fucking Oscar.
[HUEY] Those two, uh, never
did make another movie.
The Big Cigar would be
their last great production.
Bert won the Oscar for Hearts and Minds.
That fool got up there and
pissed off all the old people
when he read a letter from Hô Chí Minh.
After Bert and Steve dissolved
their production company,
Steve produced Richard Pryor's
Live on the Sunset Strip and, uh,
briefly rebooted The Monkees.
Bobby Seale never returned
to the Black Panther Party,
but he remained an advocate for
racial justice and economic equality
and works with youth education.
[HUEY] Soon as we got settled in
Cuba, Gwen brought the kids over,
and we were all finally
together as a family.
Looking into their eyes reminds me
of the young people we need to mobilize,
and those we lost, like Lil Bobby.
There's a man with a truck outside.
And of the Oakland I was
forced to leave behind
and hope one day to return to.
Okay.
[HUEY] So, when I talk about
"whose story, how it's told,"
it's yours, and it's up to you.
We all part of each other's stories.
My pops used to say, "The
meek shall inherit the earth."
And Fanon said, "Each generation
must, from relative obscurity,
discover its mission,
fulfill it, or betray it."
But when their time comes,
they must answer the call
and be willing to fight.
I won't always be here
to fight with you.
But the children we feed
in the Breakfast Program,
educate at the Child Development Center
and keep with a roof over their heads
with the People's Cooperative
Housing Program, they'll be here.
They'll pick up the fight.
Black kids and future
comrades all around the world
will create their own
definition of revolution.
["(FOR GOD'S SAKE) [GIVE MORE
POWER TO THE PEOPLE" PLAYING]
[HUEY] "You can take my life,
but you can never kill my soul.
My soul will live forever."
[SONG CONTINUES]
[CROWD CHEERING]