Mank (2020) EN

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[suspenseful instrumental music playing]

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[wind gusting]

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[sign creaking]

4
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[birds singing]

5
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[typewriter dings]

6
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[dog barking in distance]

7
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[Mank straining]
It's all right. I've got this. I'm good.

8
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- [horse neighs in distance]
- [Mank grunts]

9
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[man] Here.

10
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[Mank sighs]

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I had them set you up out here
so you wouldn't feel quite so confined.

12
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The ladies will scandalize
the neighborhood

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by occupying both bedrooms.

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I will be staying in town
at a bucolic spa called,

15
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if you can believe it, the Shoulder Arms.

16
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I will do my editing there.

17
00:03:03,291 --> 00:03:04,291
As you know,

18
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Fraulein Freda is not only
a nurse and physical therapist,

19
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she studied nutrition
back in the old country.

20
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- Ja, liebes Fräulein?
- Jawohl, Herr Houseman.

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It's a dry house.

22
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The owner of the ranch
doesn't permit alcohol.

23
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- [Mank grunts]
- [Houseman] But you're from Pennsylvania.

24
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You're no doubt used to it.

25
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[chuckles] Saved by the proverbial bell.

26
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Set it here, please.

27
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And, uh, careful.

28
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- Careful. Thank you.
- [Mank sighs]

29
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[door closes]

30
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- Observe.
- [button clicks]

31
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Naturally,
you'll do your damnedest to get at it.

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By the time you finish the first draft,
which is to say, in 90 days,

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you should be a world-class sprinter.

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Rita, come in here, will you?

35
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This is Mrs. Alexander.

36
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She types 100 perfect words a minute
and takes dictation like a clairvoyant.

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Rita Alexander, Herman Mankiewicz.

38
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How do you do, Mr. Mankiewicz?

39
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Uh, that's a big question.

40
00:04:04,458 --> 00:04:08,000
Well, since you like working nights,
Rita here runs on London time.

41
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Her husband
is one of our bold lads in the RAF.

42
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- Flies… What is it, Rita? Spitfires?
- Hurricanes.

43
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- My sympathy and prayers.
- I beg your pardon?

44
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Given the speed, climb, and turning radius
of the Messerschmitt Bf 109...

45
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I hope we won't need your sympathy,
Mr. Mankiewicz.

46
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We'll do the praying and the fighting.

47
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[Houseman] I will meet with Orson weekly.
Keep him to date on our progress.

48
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We're expecting great things.

49
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What is it the writer says?
"Tell the story you know."

50
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- [telephone ringing]
- [Rita] Hmm.

51
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I don't know that writer.

52
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- Hello.
- [woman speaking on phone]

53
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Yes. Yes, he's right here.

54
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Well, you should have everything.
If I've forgotten, there's a clipboard.

55
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- Yes? Hello?
- They're getting him.

56
00:04:58,125 --> 00:05:01,458
Our wunderkind
does have the gift of theatrical timing.

57
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- Orson, hello. We just got in.
- [Welles speaking indistinctly on phone]

58
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Oh.

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[Mank grunts and sighs]

60
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- Hello.
- [Welles] Mank!

61
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Houseman tells me
we have you just where we want you.

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[Mank] Lucky me.

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- How's the leg?
- "Thigh bone's connected to the hip bone."

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Excellent.

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Ready and willing
to hunt the great white whale?

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Just call me Ahab.

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I understand we've 90 days.

68
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[Welles] Let's aim for 60.

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[softly] He's just cut a month.

70
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I used to do it in five for you
at the Mercury. This is leisurely.

71
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- Sixty days, and then we can noodle.
- Nothing like a good noodle.

72
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Uh, is the reason you lopped 30 days
to run it past the RKO legal?

73
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[Welles] I thought I told you, Mank.
I have final cut, final everything.

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There are no studio notes.

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We'll have no one but ourselves to blame.

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- [Mank] Sixty days and a noodle.
- [man] Mr. Welles, we're ready.

77
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Gotta run.
I'm doing tests for Heart of Darkness.

78
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Oh, little that, lesser Joe Conrad.

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If anyone should ask,
tell 'em you're adapting.

80
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[Mank] Oh, you don't know
this sun-bleached sewer here, my friend.

81
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Break wind at Hollywood and Vine,

82
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and a producer in Santa Monica
reports a ruptured main.

83
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[Welles] No,
I don't know this burgh, not yet.

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I'm toiling with you in spirit, Mank.
And I don't hear any typing.

85
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[hangs up]

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No notes.

87
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And then he turns 24.

88
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[sighs] Trapped.

89
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[typewriter dings]

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- [Mank grunts]
- [woman] Uh-uh.

91
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Let me take off these clothes.

92
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[slurring] They let me go
just as I achieved perfect equilibrium.

93
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I won't work
with half the producers on the lot,

94
00:06:57,125 --> 00:06:59,875
and the other half won't work with me.

95
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What's this, a racing form?

96
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- You stop reading, you stop learning.
- [chuckles]

97
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Hold still.

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Lay back.

99
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[grunts]

100
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Cigarette, please.

101
00:07:13,791 --> 00:07:15,708
Hermie, if a match gets
anywhere near your breath,

102
00:07:15,791 --> 00:07:16,833
you'll burst into flames.

103
00:07:16,916 --> 00:07:19,666
Even the dog's name is awful.

104
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Sounds like a Japanese houseboy.

105
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You mark my words, Sara.

106
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The Wizard of Oz
is gonna sink that studio.

107
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Sleep. You're driving
to New York tomorrow.

108
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[exhales] Remember
when you used to take the train

109
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from back East?

110
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I'd sneak aboard in Albuquerque
and climb into your compartment naked.

111
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I also remember
how I spent my honeymoon in Berlin,

112
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with hookers running up and down
the stairs all night

113
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because my dashing correspondent
couldn't afford a nice hotel.

114
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Weren't those the days?

115
00:07:50,375 --> 00:07:52,791
Yeah, yeah,
and the nights weren't bad either.

116
00:07:53,541 --> 00:07:56,041
- [Mank] Schnutz.
- For the last time, what?

117
00:07:56,125 --> 00:07:59,083
- What year is it?
- Herman…

118
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- I should have done something by now.
- Oh, Hermie…

119
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Give me a sign, oh, Lord.

120
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I am as your servant Moses,
though I won't work half as cheap.

121
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Go to sleep, meshuggener.

122
00:08:14,708 --> 00:08:16,125
- [Mank] Schnutz?
- What?

123
00:08:16,208 --> 00:08:18,041
Why do you put up with me?

124
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[sighing] I don't know.

125
00:08:22,166 --> 00:08:24,125
That bush in the front yard,

126
00:08:24,208 --> 00:08:28,750
if it catches fire tonight,
you will let me know? [grunts]

127
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[man] I mean,
you know all kinds of things.

128
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Iambic pentameter,
the words of the great poets.

129
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What about the way she signed it?
"Always, Ethel." [chuckles]

130
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Can you beat that?
Not just "Ethel." "Always, Ethel."

131
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Tommy, if we can find civilization
by sundown,

132
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I hope to climb out of this crate
and into a cold martini.

133
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She's not the kind to use "always"
if she didn't mean it.

134
00:08:52,458 --> 00:08:55,250
If she meant just "Ethel,"
she'd write just "Ethel," not "always."

135
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- Wouldn't you think?
- Uh, the road, Tommy.

136
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I know.

137
00:08:58,958 --> 00:09:01,416
You read it and see what I mean.

138
00:09:03,583 --> 00:09:05,375
- [tires squeal]
- [loud crash]

139
00:09:12,041 --> 00:09:14,333
[Tommy] She loves me, don't you think?

140
00:09:22,541 --> 00:09:24,750
[footsteps echoing]

141
00:09:25,833 --> 00:09:28,625
[unsettling music playing]

142
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[echoing] Mank? It's Orson Welles.

143
00:09:38,708 --> 00:09:42,875
- Of course it is.
- [Welles] I think it's time we talked.

144
00:09:43,708 --> 00:09:45,750
I'm all ears.

145
00:09:45,833 --> 00:09:48,750
[Welles's laughter echoing]

146
00:09:52,541 --> 00:09:55,166
[Mank] Once a castle on a hill,

147
00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,833
now a memory of what once was.

148
00:09:59,791 --> 00:10:05,250
Alone in his unfinished,
already decaying pleasure palace,

149
00:10:05,333 --> 00:10:09,208
aloof, seldom visited, never photographed,

150
00:10:10,125 --> 00:10:15,458
we see an old man in a robe,
smoking a pipe,

151
00:10:15,541 --> 00:10:17,875
sitting alone by his pool…

152
00:10:17,958 --> 00:10:19,583
- [fly buzzing]
- [Mank grunts]

153
00:10:19,666 --> 00:10:24,291
…um, uh,
discarded pages scattered at his feet.

154
00:10:25,041 --> 00:10:26,208
Narrator,

155
00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:33,708
"An emperor of newsprint
continued to direct his failing empire,

156
00:10:33,791 --> 00:10:36,666
vainly attempting to sway, as he once did,

157
00:10:36,750 --> 00:10:38,166
the destinies of a nation

158
00:10:38,250 --> 00:10:40,583
which had long since ceased to listen
to him…"

159
00:10:41,083 --> 00:10:43,625
No. "Had ceased to trust him."

160
00:10:44,125 --> 00:10:49,125
We see through trees as an aide
pushes this old man in a wheelchair

161
00:10:49,208 --> 00:10:51,916
across neatly groomed lawns.

162
00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,791
Narrator, "There, last month,

163
00:10:55,541 --> 00:10:59,375
as it must to all men, death came to..."

164
00:10:59,458 --> 00:11:01,041
- [thwacks]
- [chuckles]

165
00:11:01,958 --> 00:11:04,291
- Let's have that cuppa, Mrs. A.
- Oh.

166
00:11:12,083 --> 00:11:14,916
- I know who it is.
- [Mank chuckles softly]

167
00:11:18,083 --> 00:11:20,833
[Rita] Or who it's meant to be.

168
00:11:22,500 --> 00:11:25,250
What makes you think
it's meant to be anybody?

169
00:11:25,333 --> 00:11:26,333
Oh, come, now.

170
00:11:26,416 --> 00:11:29,166
Everyone in the English-speaking world
will recognize him instantly.

171
00:11:29,250 --> 00:11:31,500
Exactly what he would say.

172
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,333
- Did you know the man?
- Maybe.

173
00:11:37,208 --> 00:11:38,083
I used to.

174
00:11:39,125 --> 00:11:41,833
- You wrote for one of his papers?
- Oh, no, praise God.

175
00:11:41,916 --> 00:11:45,666
I met him after he started bankrolling
his girlfriend's pictures.

176
00:11:47,166 --> 00:11:48,875
You knew Marion Davies?

177
00:11:49,625 --> 00:11:51,750
- If anyone did.
- Really?

178
00:11:52,750 --> 00:11:54,000
What's she like?

179
00:11:54,083 --> 00:11:58,208
Why is it when you scratch
a prim, starchy English schoolgirl,

180
00:11:58,291 --> 00:12:00,791
you get a swooning moving-picture fan

181
00:12:00,875 --> 00:12:03,791
who has forgotten all she ever learned
about the Battle of Hastings?

182
00:12:03,875 --> 00:12:07,250
Hastings. 14 October 1066,

183
00:12:07,333 --> 00:12:08,791
ten centigrade.

184
00:12:12,875 --> 00:12:13,916
[typewriter dings]

185
00:12:19,125 --> 00:12:21,250
[upbeat music playing]

186
00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,000
[studio bell rings]

187
00:12:31,625 --> 00:12:32,666
[animal snarls]

188
00:12:33,833 --> 00:12:36,250
[imperceptible conversation]

189
00:12:43,916 --> 00:12:44,958
[Lederer] Mank?

190
00:12:45,833 --> 00:12:47,666
[toilet flushing]

191
00:12:51,083 --> 00:12:53,041
Sorry.
Somebody told me Mankiewicz was in here.

192
00:12:53,125 --> 00:12:56,125
He is. I'm the promising brother, Joe.

193
00:12:56,958 --> 00:13:00,458
- I didn't know Herman had a brother.
- Neither does anyone else.

194
00:13:01,041 --> 00:13:02,291
Let me guess.

195
00:13:02,375 --> 00:13:03,916
"There are millions to be made,

196
00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,708
and your only competition
is idiots," stop.

197
00:13:07,416 --> 00:13:08,375
How did you know?

198
00:13:08,458 --> 00:13:11,041
I hate to tell you,
anyone who can rub three words together

199
00:13:11,125 --> 00:13:13,000
and make a sentence gets one.

200
00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:17,916
Come on.

201
00:13:24,958 --> 00:13:28,375
It's after lunch, and we're on a deadline.
He may be busy.

202
00:13:29,416 --> 00:13:32,750
- I promise I won't be a bother.
- Not exactly what I meant.

203
00:13:32,833 --> 00:13:34,875
[men exclaiming]

204
00:13:38,125 --> 00:13:41,125
Come on! Hey.
You know I'm good for it.

205
00:13:41,208 --> 00:13:44,291
- Fellas.
- Shh. These are high stakes.

206
00:13:44,375 --> 00:13:45,333
[coin flipping]

207
00:13:45,916 --> 00:13:46,958
[man 1] Go on.

208
00:13:47,875 --> 00:13:51,166
- [laughing] Ooh, tails! That's it!
- God damn it!

209
00:13:51,250 --> 00:13:53,916
- [man 2] Oh, Mank!
- All right. Double or nothing.

210
00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,291
This time, banjo-eyed son of a bitch,
let it hit the floor.

211
00:13:56,375 --> 00:13:57,875
- "Banjo-eyed."
- [man 1] Son of a bitch?

212
00:13:57,958 --> 00:13:59,583
[man 2] Mank once bet me a five-spot

213
00:13:59,666 --> 00:14:02,625
to see how long it would take
a falling leaf to hit the ground.

214
00:14:02,708 --> 00:14:05,875
- Had to go to management to cover it.
- For five bucks?

215
00:14:05,958 --> 00:14:07,500
Five thousand.

216
00:14:07,583 --> 00:14:08,791
[Mank] Come on, come on.

217
00:14:09,458 --> 00:14:12,750
Heads, you bastard!

218
00:14:13,500 --> 00:14:15,250
[all] Oh!

219
00:14:15,333 --> 00:14:17,458
- [man 3] Oh, Mank!
- [group chuckles]

220
00:14:17,541 --> 00:14:20,250
[man 1] Ooh! Pleasure doing business
with you, gentlemen.

221
00:14:20,333 --> 00:14:22,125
Hey, Charlie.

222
00:14:22,208 --> 00:14:26,708
Yeah. You all remember
the Algonquin cabin boy, Charlie Lederer,

223
00:14:26,791 --> 00:14:29,250
a poor
but somewhat talented magazine writer,

224
00:14:29,333 --> 00:14:31,291
come West to join our merry band.

225
00:14:31,375 --> 00:14:33,583
- Well, you know most everyone.
- Mr. Kaufman.

226
00:14:33,666 --> 00:14:34,833
George is fine, kid.

227
00:14:34,916 --> 00:14:36,500
- Mr. Perelman.
- Nice to meet you, son.

228
00:14:36,583 --> 00:14:38,041
Do you prefer Sidney or SJ?

229
00:14:38,125 --> 00:14:41,125
Uh, he takes what he gets.
The great Charles MacArthur.

230
00:14:41,208 --> 00:14:42,750
[Lederer] Good to see you again.

231
00:14:42,833 --> 00:14:45,250
My resident jack-of-all-trades,
Shelly Metcalf.

232
00:14:45,333 --> 00:14:46,625
- Hey, kid.
- Mr. Metcalf.

233
00:14:46,708 --> 00:14:48,666
Oh, save the "mister" for the anointed.

234
00:14:48,750 --> 00:14:50,791
And last, not yet among them,
my brother Joe.

235
00:14:50,875 --> 00:14:54,791
Have Cyclone say, "I don't mind the heat
as much as I do the humanity."

236
00:14:54,875 --> 00:14:58,583
And the one and only Ben Hecht.

237
00:14:58,666 --> 00:15:00,041
Have you been laid yet?

238
00:15:00,125 --> 00:15:01,125
[all snickering]

239
00:15:01,208 --> 00:15:03,083
[Perelman]
Do you have to think about that?

240
00:15:03,166 --> 00:15:05,583
[telephone ringing]

241
00:15:06,333 --> 00:15:07,208
Hello.

242
00:15:07,875 --> 00:15:09,958
Yeah. Right away.

243
00:15:10,666 --> 00:15:13,250
Selznick, everyone. Five minutes.

244
00:15:13,333 --> 00:15:15,208
[Mank] You've arrived
in the well-known nick.

245
00:15:15,291 --> 00:15:18,708
Just in time for a story conference
with the great David O.

246
00:15:18,791 --> 00:15:22,333
- Once more unto the breach…
- [Kaufman] Breach? Hell, unto the wire…

247
00:15:22,416 --> 00:15:23,541
Without a net.

248
00:15:23,625 --> 00:15:26,250
Keep your mouth shut
and watch us for your cue, okay?

249
00:15:26,333 --> 00:15:27,666
- Cue?
- [Mank sighs]

250
00:15:27,750 --> 00:15:31,833
What I wouldn't give
to see that in a tight sweater.

251
00:15:31,916 --> 00:15:33,666
Herm, can I use that?

252
00:15:35,208 --> 00:15:38,291
I need a status report. Boys, come on in.

253
00:15:41,083 --> 00:15:43,416
Ah, make yourselves at home.

254
00:15:45,708 --> 00:15:47,833
Now, you all know Joe von Sternberg.

255
00:15:48,583 --> 00:15:53,041
You wanted 72 hours, you got 72 hours.
Tell us what you have so far.

256
00:15:55,291 --> 00:16:00,250
- Ben, why don't you start?
- Well, this was tough, David.

257
00:16:00,333 --> 00:16:03,166
In the beginning,
we couldn't agree on an approach.

258
00:16:03,250 --> 00:16:04,333
Really? And why was that?

259
00:16:04,416 --> 00:16:08,291
Well, we see a different kind
of Paramount picture.

260
00:16:08,375 --> 00:16:09,833
[Selznick] Different how?

261
00:16:10,333 --> 00:16:13,750
Frankenstein and The Wolf Man
all rolled into one, only...

262
00:16:13,833 --> 00:16:15,833
I don't make cheap horror pictures,
Universal does.

263
00:16:15,916 --> 00:16:20,208
Uh, this is different.
This is about something.

264
00:16:21,666 --> 00:16:22,625
Okay…

265
00:16:23,250 --> 00:16:24,500
Sidney.

266
00:16:26,291 --> 00:16:28,875
Imagine a mad scientist,

267
00:16:28,958 --> 00:16:33,666
touring the boonies
with a mechanical freak he's fabricated.

268
00:16:33,750 --> 00:16:35,208
Now, what does he mean, "fabricated"?

269
00:16:35,291 --> 00:16:40,750
And displays it to superstitious hayseeds
in a giant, silk-lined casket

270
00:16:41,250 --> 00:16:42,583
for the price of admission.

271
00:16:43,083 --> 00:16:48,875
But every full moon, the monster awakens
and raises unholy hell with the villagers.

272
00:16:48,958 --> 00:16:50,916
Give it a Eastern European look,

273
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,875
men in leather shorts,
gals in tattered peasant blouses.

274
00:16:53,958 --> 00:16:57,125
- Let me guess. They think it's the devil?
- Villagers always think it's the devil.

275
00:16:57,208 --> 00:17:00,291
And the scientist and his creation
are forced to flee

276
00:17:00,375 --> 00:17:02,041
during a raging electrical storm.

277
00:17:02,125 --> 00:17:04,541
Flee from outraged peasants…

278
00:17:04,625 --> 00:17:06,166
Who pursue them mit torches…

279
00:17:06,250 --> 00:17:08,000
Overturn their creaky wagon…

280
00:17:08,083 --> 00:17:09,375
And set fire to it.

281
00:17:10,750 --> 00:17:14,208
Tell him about the finale, Charlie.

282
00:17:16,625 --> 00:17:17,541
Oh.

283
00:17:19,875 --> 00:17:20,750
Well…

284
00:17:21,958 --> 00:17:24,500
The rain turns to sleet,

285
00:17:25,083 --> 00:17:29,083
puts out the fire,
and entombs the monster in solid ice.

286
00:17:31,250 --> 00:17:35,583
While nearby, an old priest weeps.

287
00:17:37,250 --> 00:17:40,125
Hmm. A weeping priest?

288
00:17:40,208 --> 00:17:44,625
Thunder, lightning, blood, fire, religion…

289
00:17:44,708 --> 00:17:45,541
All in one film?

290
00:17:45,625 --> 00:17:47,500
And with an unseasonal thaw…

291
00:17:48,333 --> 00:17:49,458
A sequel.

292
00:17:49,958 --> 00:17:52,833
I thought you said this was
about something, this was different.

293
00:17:52,916 --> 00:17:55,916
Plus, the ominous futility
of man playing God.

294
00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,916
The Faustian bargain of life everlasting.

295
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:00,583
And the triumph of the human spirit

296
00:18:00,666 --> 00:18:04,208
over the beast incarnate
in our far-too-solid flesh.

297
00:18:05,291 --> 00:18:06,500
It's director-proof.

298
00:18:06,583 --> 00:18:07,583
Joe.

299
00:18:08,375 --> 00:18:09,791
- B picture.
- It's not for Joe.

300
00:18:09,875 --> 00:18:12,958
Boys, this is serious. We need your help.

301
00:18:13,041 --> 00:18:15,250
We've got to get people
into theaters, but…

302
00:18:16,708 --> 00:18:17,583
How?

303
00:18:22,083 --> 00:18:24,833
- Show movies in the streets.
- [clicks tongue]

304
00:18:26,708 --> 00:18:28,166
[energetic music playing]

305
00:18:28,250 --> 00:18:29,500
You okay, Charlie?

306
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,833
Taken care of this weekend?

307
00:18:31,916 --> 00:18:34,958
- I'm going to see my aunt.
- Oh, that sounds like fun.

308
00:18:35,041 --> 00:18:38,833
You obviously don't know my aunt.
If you're not doing anything, come along.

309
00:18:38,916 --> 00:18:40,208
Careful, I just might.

310
00:18:40,875 --> 00:18:43,833
Glendale station at 7:00.
Bring Sara if you like.

311
00:18:43,916 --> 00:18:46,375
- Who?
- Sara, isn't that your wife?

312
00:18:46,458 --> 00:18:48,958
Oh, you mean Poor Sara.

313
00:18:49,041 --> 00:18:51,166
No, she and the kids are back East.

314
00:18:57,125 --> 00:18:59,000
[car horn tooting]

315
00:18:59,583 --> 00:19:01,666
[crowd clamoring]

316
00:19:11,458 --> 00:19:12,458
[Lederer] Herman.

317
00:19:15,958 --> 00:19:16,958
Herman.

318
00:19:22,958 --> 00:19:25,166
- Herman!
- [Mank slurring] Charlie!

319
00:19:33,541 --> 00:19:36,000
- [woman screaming]
- [gasps]

320
00:19:38,666 --> 00:19:39,833
[birds singing outside]

321
00:19:40,708 --> 00:19:41,708
[Mank grunts softly]

322
00:20:02,333 --> 00:20:03,333
[Mank] Ah.

323
00:20:05,041 --> 00:20:07,708
[man whistling]

324
00:20:12,208 --> 00:20:14,500
[exhales, sniffles]

325
00:20:15,833 --> 00:20:17,750
[birds squawking]

326
00:20:19,083 --> 00:20:21,375
[woman screaming]

327
00:20:29,416 --> 00:20:32,458
[indistinct chatter]

328
00:20:32,541 --> 00:20:34,000
[men vocalizing and chanting]

329
00:20:34,083 --> 00:20:37,458
[woman continues screaming]

330
00:20:38,583 --> 00:20:40,958
[director] Cut! Next setup, please.

331
00:20:43,291 --> 00:20:45,166
[indistinct chatter]

332
00:20:45,250 --> 00:20:47,250
[big band music playing on phonograph]

333
00:20:49,041 --> 00:20:50,708
What is Mank doing here?

334
00:20:51,625 --> 00:20:53,375
- Who?
- Herman Mankiewicz.

335
00:20:55,375 --> 00:20:58,166
- Do I know him?
- He wrote one of our Lon Chaneys.

336
00:20:58,250 --> 00:20:59,541
- Ah.
- Mank!

337
00:21:01,791 --> 00:21:05,875
- Thalberg, the boy genius.
- I am shocked to see you here.

338
00:21:05,958 --> 00:21:10,833
I'd be shocked to see me here, too,
Irving, if only I knew where here was.

339
00:21:10,916 --> 00:21:13,666
- You wrote one of our Lon Chaneys.
- [Mank] Among many.

340
00:21:13,750 --> 00:21:15,250
- Pictures?
- Writers.

341
00:21:15,333 --> 00:21:19,333
- At MGM, movies are a team sport.
- Which may be why I'm at Paramount.

342
00:21:19,416 --> 00:21:22,083
Since when don't Paramount
use writers by the truckload?

343
00:21:22,166 --> 00:21:24,541
But all at once, not in relays.

344
00:21:24,625 --> 00:21:26,125
Helps spread the blame around.

345
00:21:26,208 --> 00:21:28,250
You remember our chairman, Louis B. Mayer?

346
00:21:28,333 --> 00:21:29,750
By reputation only.

347
00:21:29,833 --> 00:21:32,541
- Long night?
- A short one. Plagued by spirits.

348
00:21:33,541 --> 00:21:36,375
A hell of a way to spend
the Sabbath, fellas.

349
00:21:36,458 --> 00:21:38,000
Here in support of a friend.

350
00:21:38,083 --> 00:21:41,208
His leading lady is making
a mid-career adjustment.

351
00:21:41,291 --> 00:21:45,041
Ah, I'm on my way over.
Any notes from the oversight tent?

352
00:21:49,666 --> 00:21:51,750
- Who was that again?
- Just a writer.

353
00:21:54,750 --> 00:21:57,166
Slumming on a Saturday, Mr. Metcalf?

354
00:21:57,250 --> 00:21:59,916
[chuckling] Mank.
No, sir, helping out on B camera.

355
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,750
It's a home movie,
but his idea of a home movie.

356
00:22:02,833 --> 00:22:03,916
I know you.

357
00:22:04,708 --> 00:22:06,791
[Mank] Well, what's at stake here?

358
00:22:07,541 --> 00:22:11,250
We met at John Gilbert's birthday.
You're Herman Mankiewicz.

359
00:22:11,333 --> 00:22:12,208
Guilty.

360
00:22:13,083 --> 00:22:15,208
And I remember you, Miss Davies.

361
00:22:15,875 --> 00:22:20,333
Regaling us with stories
about dodging trolley cars in Brooklyn.

362
00:22:21,541 --> 00:22:25,000
- Your Flatbush was showing.
- [gasps]

363
00:22:26,583 --> 00:22:29,916
You fractured Wally Beery's wrist
Indian wrestling.

364
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,125
Admittedly, a lucky break.

365
00:22:31,208 --> 00:22:33,916
Boy, was he surprised.
You're stronger than you look.

366
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,500
And from what I understand,
you're smarter.

367
00:22:37,583 --> 00:22:39,500
That was a compliment.

368
00:22:39,583 --> 00:22:42,125
- See what I mean?
- [Marion laughing] You are interesting.

369
00:22:42,208 --> 00:22:43,083
I need a favor,

370
00:22:43,166 --> 00:22:45,208
but you're gonna have to promise
you won't laugh.

371
00:22:45,291 --> 00:22:47,500
Given the state of the world,
a tall order.

372
00:22:47,583 --> 00:22:48,916
You're gonna. I just know you are.

373
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:54,083
I have got such a hangover right now,
there's just a fighting chance I won't.

374
00:22:54,166 --> 00:22:57,583
I'm being burned at the stake,
and I am dying for a ciggie-boo.

375
00:22:57,666 --> 00:23:00,416
- [both laugh]
- There. God's punishing you.

376
00:23:00,500 --> 00:23:02,708
[wood creaking]

377
00:23:02,791 --> 00:23:05,041
Watch those stairs. They're treacherous.

378
00:23:05,708 --> 00:23:08,125
[Mank]
Every moment of my life is treacherous.

379
00:23:10,750 --> 00:23:12,208
Any last words?

380
00:23:12,916 --> 00:23:14,583
Welcome to San Simeon.

381
00:23:15,791 --> 00:23:16,625
I've written worse.

382
00:23:16,708 --> 00:23:20,666
- [Marion] You've never seen it?
- No, but George Bernard Shaw was right.

383
00:23:21,750 --> 00:23:22,750
How's that?

384
00:23:23,375 --> 00:23:26,041
"It's what God might've built
had he had the money."

385
00:23:26,583 --> 00:23:30,583
Well, as they say in the Bronx,
"Make yourself to home," Mr. Mankiewicz.

386
00:23:30,666 --> 00:23:33,958
- Or shall I call you Herman?
- No. Please, call me Mank.

387
00:23:34,041 --> 00:23:36,250
- Good morning, Charles.
- Charlie.

388
00:23:36,333 --> 00:23:39,416
- Aunt Marion. Mank.
- [Marion] You sleep well?

389
00:23:40,125 --> 00:23:42,083
Until your rather dramatic wake-up call.

390
00:23:42,166 --> 00:23:46,458
This is all Pops's idea.
He wants me ready to take on the talkies.

391
00:23:46,541 --> 00:23:47,791
[director] First positions!

392
00:23:48,500 --> 00:23:49,916
Riders, ready!

393
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:52,125
Rolling!

394
00:23:52,916 --> 00:23:55,333
- Speed.
- [crew member 1] Speed! Action!

395
00:23:56,208 --> 00:23:57,833
[guns firing]

396
00:24:01,166 --> 00:24:03,166
[energetic instrumental music playing]

397
00:24:05,875 --> 00:24:09,541
Help! Please! Someone save me!

398
00:24:10,125 --> 00:24:11,125
[crew member 2 coughs]

399
00:24:13,291 --> 00:24:14,291
[crew member 3] Cut!

400
00:24:14,375 --> 00:24:15,666
[coughs]

401
00:24:21,833 --> 00:24:23,875
[horse whinnies]

402
00:24:24,500 --> 00:24:28,958
[Marion] Pops, this is Herman Mankiewicz,
but we have to call him Mank.

403
00:24:29,458 --> 00:24:30,458
Mankiewicz?

404
00:24:31,708 --> 00:24:35,458
Herman Mankiewicz,
New York playwright and drama critic?

405
00:24:35,541 --> 00:24:38,250
Turned humble screenwriter, Mr. Hearst.

406
00:24:38,333 --> 00:24:41,458
[Hearst] Why, no need to be humble,
Mr. Mankiewicz.

407
00:24:41,541 --> 00:24:43,125
Pictures that talk are the future.

408
00:24:43,208 --> 00:24:46,416
They're gonna need people who honor words,
give them voice.

409
00:24:46,500 --> 00:24:50,958
There's a golden age coming
when all the world will be a stage,

410
00:24:51,458 --> 00:24:53,166
and you, perhaps, their Shakespeare.

411
00:24:53,250 --> 00:24:55,041
[Mank] Oh, I wouldn't have thought

412
00:24:55,125 --> 00:24:57,333
you'd be that keenly interested
in the honoring of words.

413
00:24:57,416 --> 00:24:59,416
- [Marion laughs]
- What's so funny?

414
00:25:00,541 --> 00:25:04,583
I'm just surprised
that a vaunted muckraker like yourself

415
00:25:04,666 --> 00:25:07,958
sees Hollywood's future
as such a shiny penny.

416
00:25:08,458 --> 00:25:09,416
[director] Back to one.

417
00:25:09,500 --> 00:25:11,500
Times are changing, Mr. Mankiewicz,

418
00:25:12,125 --> 00:25:14,416
and I'm not just referring
to this Depression.

419
00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:15,375
All that bother.

420
00:25:15,458 --> 00:25:16,875
[Hearst] And when all this is over,

421
00:25:16,958 --> 00:25:20,250
picture-makers are gonna have
to service this new entertainment.

422
00:25:21,041 --> 00:25:24,875
I intend to make pictures
with the help of real literary minds.

423
00:25:24,958 --> 00:25:26,208
Mm, I support that.

424
00:25:26,291 --> 00:25:30,958
Instead, what do most studios give us?
Gangster flicks, zanies.

425
00:25:31,041 --> 00:25:32,041
[Mank] Too true.

426
00:25:32,125 --> 00:25:35,125
Now, how many gangsters
do Americans meet in a lifetime?

427
00:25:35,708 --> 00:25:38,083
How many families
are like the Marx Brothers?

428
00:25:38,166 --> 00:25:39,625
You mean besides my own?

429
00:25:39,708 --> 00:25:40,750
[Hearst laughs]

430
00:25:40,833 --> 00:25:44,708
Very good. Have him seated next to me.

431
00:25:44,791 --> 00:25:47,583
[energetic music resumes playing]

432
00:25:48,666 --> 00:25:51,500
Miss Davies, Mr. Hearst would like
Mr. Mankiewicz seated

433
00:25:51,583 --> 00:25:52,833
to his left at dinner.

434
00:25:54,583 --> 00:25:57,125
Oh, Pops likes you.

435
00:26:10,166 --> 00:26:11,666
[Mank sighs deeply]

436
00:26:12,666 --> 00:26:14,750
Why is it when Houseman edits,

437
00:26:14,833 --> 00:26:18,875
everyone ends up speaking
like a constipated Oxford don?

438
00:26:18,958 --> 00:26:20,708
[telephone rings]

439
00:26:23,875 --> 00:26:25,583
- Hello?
- [indistinct chatter on phone]

440
00:26:25,666 --> 00:26:28,375
Yes, he is. No, not at all.

441
00:26:28,458 --> 00:26:30,458
Please hold on. It's Poor Sa... [gasps]

442
00:26:31,416 --> 00:26:33,625
I'm sorry. It's your wife.

443
00:26:40,458 --> 00:26:42,333
- Schnutz.
- [Sara] I heard that.

444
00:26:42,416 --> 00:26:43,250
Hermie,

445
00:26:43,333 --> 00:26:44,666
Joe called four times
in the last three days.

446
00:26:44,750 --> 00:26:47,375
- He wants your number up there.
- [Mank] So give it to him.

447
00:26:47,458 --> 00:26:48,708
- [clattering]
- Knock it off!

448
00:26:48,791 --> 00:26:49,916
[children laughing]

449
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:51,208
The boys are remodeling.

450
00:26:51,291 --> 00:26:54,125
He seemed concerned about something.
Is everything okay?

451
00:26:54,208 --> 00:26:56,541
If I could swim, I'd be doing swimmingly.

452
00:26:56,625 --> 00:26:58,000
And don't mind Joe.

453
00:26:58,083 --> 00:27:02,416
- He's a worrisome old woman in disguise.
- Well, he wants to offer you work.

454
00:27:02,500 --> 00:27:04,708
Baby Joe offering me?

455
00:27:05,666 --> 00:27:08,875
[scoffs] Well, if he calls again,
give him this number, Schnutz.

456
00:27:08,958 --> 00:27:11,625
- I've gotta run. Kiss the offspring.
- [kisses]

457
00:27:16,875 --> 00:27:18,500
[in British accent] I say…

458
00:27:19,250 --> 00:27:21,916
A letter from the gallant "leftenant"?

459
00:27:22,875 --> 00:27:25,458
[in normal voice] Now, let's hope
it makes more sense than the last.

460
00:27:25,541 --> 00:27:27,791
Fighters off the decks
of aircraft carriers.

461
00:27:27,875 --> 00:27:30,541
- Whoever had that idea?
- It's not good?

462
00:27:30,625 --> 00:27:31,750
[Mank] Not good?

463
00:27:31,833 --> 00:27:34,208
German U-boats
are starting to hunt in packs,

464
00:27:34,291 --> 00:27:38,500
and a Stuka dive-bomber can drop one
down your stack from 500 feet.

465
00:27:39,083 --> 00:27:42,333
[in British accent] What's our
valiant laddie have to say for the cause...

466
00:27:43,708 --> 00:27:44,875
[door opens]

467
00:27:57,375 --> 00:27:58,875
It's not from her husband.

468
00:28:00,708 --> 00:28:02,333
His ship's been sunk off Norway.

469
00:28:03,041 --> 00:28:04,708
Presumed lost at sea.

470
00:28:05,583 --> 00:28:06,583
[sighs]

471
00:28:07,375 --> 00:28:10,166
Always the smartest guy in the room.

472
00:28:12,500 --> 00:28:13,583
[exhales]

473
00:28:13,666 --> 00:28:17,041
[jazz music playing on radio]

474
00:28:17,875 --> 00:28:21,291
[woman singing on radio]

475
00:28:22,708 --> 00:28:25,000
[owl hooting outside]

476
00:28:37,291 --> 00:28:38,333
You're right, of course.

477
00:28:38,416 --> 00:28:42,416
Aircraft carriers are a shitty idea,
but I don't appreciate the callousness.

478
00:28:43,666 --> 00:28:45,375
I expect more of you.

479
00:28:48,250 --> 00:28:52,791
"Presumed" means they don't know,
so I choose to believe he's alive until…

480
00:28:55,291 --> 00:28:56,291
Mank.

481
00:28:58,833 --> 00:28:59,750
Mank!

482
00:29:01,083 --> 00:29:02,416
- Mr. Mankiewicz?
- [thuds]

483
00:29:22,458 --> 00:29:24,541
He's all right. Just sleeping.

484
00:29:25,250 --> 00:29:26,083
Well…

485
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:27,958
I shouldn't wonder.

486
00:29:28,041 --> 00:29:31,666
There's enough Seconal in those bottles
to bring down a bull elephant in heat.

487
00:29:34,583 --> 00:29:37,000
Young Orson doesn't believe in chance.

488
00:29:43,708 --> 00:29:45,666
[snoring]

489
00:29:51,041 --> 00:29:52,125
[grunts]

490
00:29:56,375 --> 00:29:57,791
[indistinct conversation]

491
00:30:01,708 --> 00:30:05,000
[Mank] Houseman, you sly thing.
You slipped me a Mickey.

492
00:30:05,083 --> 00:30:06,041
So we did.

493
00:30:06,541 --> 00:30:08,958
How you managed to reach it
so early in your rehabilitation,

494
00:30:09,041 --> 00:30:09,875
I cannot imagine.

495
00:30:09,958 --> 00:30:11,333
How was it? Mother's milk?

496
00:30:11,416 --> 00:30:15,416
On balance, better than nothing.
I plan to use it as a nightcap.

497
00:30:15,500 --> 00:30:17,750
As you Yanks say,
"He went out like a light."

498
00:30:17,833 --> 00:30:22,500
I couldn't have put it better myself,
which may be why I write for the movies.

499
00:30:22,583 --> 00:30:24,000
Will you stop?

500
00:30:24,083 --> 00:30:26,500
You write for the movies
because you're super at it.

501
00:30:26,583 --> 00:30:29,708
Excuse me, you two,
I've masses of typing to do.

502
00:30:31,833 --> 00:30:33,250
[Houseman] Seventy-six pages.

503
00:30:33,333 --> 00:30:35,833
By the time she translates
your red chicken scratches,

504
00:30:35,916 --> 00:30:37,250
it'll be less than 40.

505
00:30:37,333 --> 00:30:38,833
At this rate, you'll never finish.

506
00:30:38,916 --> 00:30:41,583
What I wanna know is what you think of it.

507
00:30:41,666 --> 00:30:44,208
[Houseman] The writing is first-rate,
but you know that.

508
00:30:44,291 --> 00:30:45,166
His lust for power,

509
00:30:45,250 --> 00:30:47,208
your exquisite evocation
of his hunger for love

510
00:30:47,291 --> 00:30:49,166
from those who fear his worst side, but...

511
00:30:49,250 --> 00:30:51,375
The dreaded yet foreseeable "but."

512
00:30:51,458 --> 00:30:54,541
You're asking a lot
of a motion picture audience.

513
00:30:54,625 --> 00:30:57,583
- All in all, it's a bit of a jumble.
- Did you say "jumble" or "jungle"?

514
00:30:57,666 --> 00:30:59,291
[Houseman] A hodgepodge of talky episodes.

515
00:30:59,375 --> 00:31:01,750
A collection of fragments
that leap around in time,

516
00:31:01,833 --> 00:31:03,458
like Mexican jumping beans.

517
00:31:03,541 --> 00:31:05,083
Welcome to my mind, Old Sock.

518
00:31:05,166 --> 00:31:08,250
The story is so scattered,
I'm afraid one will need a road map.

519
00:31:08,333 --> 00:31:09,333
You mean it's a mess.

520
00:31:09,416 --> 00:31:11,250
Would you consider simplifying?

521
00:31:11,333 --> 00:31:13,000
[Mank] As Pascal once said,

522
00:31:13,083 --> 00:31:16,500
"If only I'd had more time,
I would have written a shorter letter."

523
00:31:16,583 --> 00:31:19,166
All I am saying is
no one can write like that.

524
00:31:19,250 --> 00:31:22,791
But I can write like that, Houseman.
I have.

525
00:31:22,875 --> 00:31:26,916
The narrative is one big circle,
like a cinnamon roll,

526
00:31:27,416 --> 00:31:30,791
not a straight line
pointing to the nearest exit.

527
00:31:30,875 --> 00:31:34,375
You cannot capture a man's entire life
in two hours.

528
00:31:34,458 --> 00:31:36,916
All you can hope
is to leave the impression of one.

529
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,791
[Houseman] But nobody expects Shakespeare.

530
00:31:38,875 --> 00:31:42,791
People aren't spending
their hard-earned 25 cents to see Macbeth.

531
00:31:42,875 --> 00:31:45,166
Maestro the Dog-Faced Boy did Macbeth.

532
00:31:45,250 --> 00:31:48,333
Voodoo Macbeth.
Don't be fooled. He's a showman.

533
00:31:48,416 --> 00:31:50,583
Busker reveling in sleight of hand.

534
00:31:51,083 --> 00:31:53,208
Save yourself the trouble,
be done in 60 days.

535
00:31:53,291 --> 00:31:55,833
He'll get this,
and the audience will too.

536
00:31:55,916 --> 00:31:58,125
Stop worrying. Have a pickle.

537
00:31:58,208 --> 00:31:59,875
No, thank you. I'm not hungry.

538
00:32:00,416 --> 00:32:02,250
Haven't been since we got here.

539
00:32:03,708 --> 00:32:04,541
Cheerio.

540
00:32:07,916 --> 00:32:10,916
Write hard. Aim low.

541
00:32:11,416 --> 00:32:12,250
[laughs dryly]

542
00:32:13,500 --> 00:32:14,958
[door closes]

543
00:32:18,666 --> 00:32:19,958
Where were we, chief?

544
00:32:20,833 --> 00:32:22,125
[Rita] What are you gonna do?

545
00:32:22,208 --> 00:32:23,958
- [sighs] About what?
- [Rita] He's right.

546
00:32:24,041 --> 00:32:25,791
You won't be done till Christmas.

547
00:32:25,875 --> 00:32:28,041
- What?
- [Rita] You made a promise.

548
00:32:28,125 --> 00:32:30,875
- I did what?
- Sixty days is two weeks from now.

549
00:32:30,958 --> 00:32:32,666
[car engine starts]

550
00:32:32,750 --> 00:32:34,291
Where were we?

551
00:32:39,166 --> 00:32:42,250
Bernstein's speech,
the young woman on the ferry boat.

552
00:32:42,750 --> 00:32:44,666
Read it back, please.

553
00:32:46,041 --> 00:32:49,708
"A white dress she had on,
and she was carrying a white parasol,

554
00:32:50,666 --> 00:32:55,000
and I only saw her for one second,
and she didn't see me at all."

555
00:32:56,125 --> 00:33:00,875
"But I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since
that I haven't thought of that girl."

556
00:33:02,750 --> 00:33:04,833
A snapshot
from the Mankiewicz family album?

557
00:33:04,916 --> 00:33:06,166
You might say that.

558
00:33:07,708 --> 00:33:09,750
It really is a gorgeous...

559
00:33:09,833 --> 00:33:11,375
Spot to get stuck?

560
00:33:14,666 --> 00:33:16,458
Is Bernstein meant to be Louis Mayer?

561
00:33:17,041 --> 00:33:18,666
If form follows function.

562
00:33:18,750 --> 00:33:22,416
Mayer is the same pathetic
sort of lap dog to our Charles Foster?

563
00:33:22,500 --> 00:33:25,000
Bernstein is a far nicer character.

564
00:33:25,083 --> 00:33:27,125
You don't much like Mayer.

565
00:33:27,208 --> 00:33:32,583
If I ever go to the electric chair,
I'd like him to be sitting in my lap.

566
00:33:33,625 --> 00:33:34,625
[gasps]

567
00:33:38,083 --> 00:33:41,041
$750 a week?
That's half what you make, Herman.

568
00:33:41,125 --> 00:33:43,625
- You're a junior writer, Joe.
- So?

569
00:33:43,708 --> 00:33:46,166
So, you're only half the wit
your big brother is.

570
00:33:46,250 --> 00:33:49,625
- How many half-wits make that?
- Herm, how do I look?

571
00:33:50,291 --> 00:33:54,291
- You look like you. Fine.
- [sighs] What should I be expecting?

572
00:33:54,375 --> 00:33:57,916
You're related to me.
He already thinks you're a genius.

573
00:33:58,000 --> 00:33:59,000
Enough.

574
00:33:59,500 --> 00:34:02,208
[Mank] The job will be yours
if you can do two things.

575
00:34:02,291 --> 00:34:06,125
One, don't roll your eyes.
Two, try not to fall asleep.

576
00:34:06,791 --> 00:34:08,208
[Mayer] This isn't Gower Gulch.

577
00:34:08,291 --> 00:34:10,625
You want I should make a picture
about a prostitute?

578
00:34:10,708 --> 00:34:11,833
[Gilbert] What's wrong?

579
00:34:11,916 --> 00:34:13,750
My mother was nothing but a whore.
[grunts]

580
00:34:13,833 --> 00:34:16,416
[Mayer] You would talk about
your own mother that way?

581
00:34:16,500 --> 00:34:19,083
The woman who gave you life?

582
00:34:19,166 --> 00:34:21,916
You ungrateful bastard!
I ought to cut your balls off!

583
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,583
Do it, you fucking junk dealer!
I'll still be the better man!

584
00:34:29,333 --> 00:34:31,958
L.B., this is my brother, Joe.

585
00:34:32,041 --> 00:34:34,458
Nice to meet you, Joseph. I'm Louis Mayer.

586
00:34:34,541 --> 00:34:37,083
I can't tell you
what this means to him, Louis.

587
00:34:37,583 --> 00:34:41,250
- They're all there, Mr. Mayer.
- On my way. Joe, walk with me.

588
00:34:47,500 --> 00:34:50,291
My boy,
there are three work rules at this studio.

589
00:34:50,375 --> 00:34:53,916
Rule number one.
Ars gratia artis, art for art's sake.

590
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:54,916
How you doing?

591
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,625
One million dollars a year
we spend on stories we never even film.

592
00:34:58,708 --> 00:35:02,333
Why not? I'll tell you.
They don't make me cry.

593
00:35:02,416 --> 00:35:04,791
What makes me cry? Emotion.

594
00:35:04,875 --> 00:35:06,958
Where do I feel emotion?

595
00:35:07,041 --> 00:35:09,583
Here, here, and here.

596
00:35:09,666 --> 00:35:10,833
Rule number two.

597
00:35:10,916 --> 00:35:14,000
You may have heard MGM has more stars
than there are in the heavens.

598
00:35:14,083 --> 00:35:15,333
Do not believe this.

599
00:35:15,416 --> 00:35:19,250
Hiya. We have only one star.
That is Leo the Lion.

600
00:35:19,333 --> 00:35:20,625
Never forget that.

601
00:35:20,708 --> 00:35:23,750
Many stars have,
and now they twinkle elsewhere.

602
00:35:23,833 --> 00:35:24,708
Rule number three.

603
00:35:24,791 --> 00:35:28,333
People think MGM
stands for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

604
00:35:28,416 --> 00:35:29,625
It does not.

605
00:35:29,708 --> 00:35:34,375
It stands for Mayer's gantze mishpokhe,
Mayer's whole family.

606
00:35:34,458 --> 00:35:35,708
Never forget that.

607
00:35:35,791 --> 00:35:37,791
You got a problem, come to Papa.

608
00:35:38,458 --> 00:35:42,666
This is a business where the buyer
gets nothing for his money but a memory.

609
00:35:42,750 --> 00:35:45,541
What he bought
still belongs to the man who sold it.

610
00:35:45,625 --> 00:35:49,375
That's the real magic of the movies,
and don't let anybody tell you different.

611
00:35:49,458 --> 00:35:50,583
[studio bell rings]

612
00:35:53,500 --> 00:35:55,250
[crowd murmuring]

613
00:36:04,166 --> 00:36:08,250
[applause]

614
00:36:11,708 --> 00:36:17,541
I find myself in a horrendous position,
and I come to all of you on bended knee.

615
00:36:19,458 --> 00:36:22,500
We are suffering, as all Americans are,

616
00:36:22,583 --> 00:36:25,000
from our country's terrible economic woes.

617
00:36:25,791 --> 00:36:29,125
Good people, everyday people,
can't afford to go to the movies.

618
00:36:29,208 --> 00:36:33,125
So even our preeminent dream factory…

619
00:36:34,291 --> 00:36:36,875
Is in grave financial difficulty.

620
00:36:36,958 --> 00:36:38,833
[crowd murmuring]

621
00:36:38,916 --> 00:36:44,500
I am asking everyone in the MGM family
to take a painful step.

622
00:36:45,333 --> 00:36:48,875
- I am asking to roll back salaries.
- [crowd grumbling]

623
00:36:48,958 --> 00:36:50,708
[Mayer] I don't want to,

624
00:36:50,791 --> 00:36:55,625
but for this hallowed place
to continue to exist, I am forced to.

625
00:36:56,250 --> 00:37:00,416
I won't break up this family
over something like money.

626
00:37:01,125 --> 00:37:03,625
- How long are you asking for?
- Shouldn't be long.

627
00:37:04,208 --> 00:37:05,958
- How much are you asking for?
- [Mayer] Half.

628
00:37:06,458 --> 00:37:07,833
- [worker 1] Half?
- Could be less.

629
00:37:07,916 --> 00:37:10,291
Is everybody going to be pitching in?
Are you, Mr. Mayer?

630
00:37:10,375 --> 00:37:13,958
Real families root for each other
in the good times,

631
00:37:14,041 --> 00:37:17,125
take care of each other in tough ones.

632
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:19,000
We're with you, L.B.

633
00:37:19,083 --> 00:37:20,541
You may be, Mr. Barrymore,

634
00:37:20,625 --> 00:37:23,083
but a 50% pay cut
for grips and electricians...

635
00:37:23,166 --> 00:37:26,375
Eight weeks, my friends,
eight short weeks.

636
00:37:26,458 --> 00:37:31,125
As soon as FDR reopens the banks,
you'll get back every penny.

637
00:37:31,208 --> 00:37:36,541
On that,
you have the sacred word of L.B. Mayer.

638
00:37:44,333 --> 00:37:45,583
Well, I vote yes.

639
00:37:47,791 --> 00:37:50,375
- I do as well.
- Me too.

640
00:37:50,458 --> 00:37:51,750
[all chuckling]

641
00:37:51,833 --> 00:37:53,416
[crowd murmuring]

642
00:37:58,541 --> 00:37:59,625
[murmurs]

643
00:38:10,208 --> 00:38:12,708
- How'd I do, Ben?
- It was great, Mr. Mayer.

644
00:38:12,791 --> 00:38:13,708
Ah.

645
00:38:13,791 --> 00:38:15,791
[upbeat jazz music playing]

646
00:38:18,041 --> 00:38:21,208
Not even the most disgraceful thing
I've ever seen.

647
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,000
- [Fraulein Freda] Good.
- [Mank moans]

648
00:38:30,500 --> 00:38:32,416
- [Fraulein Freda] Okay.
- [Mank moans]

649
00:38:33,208 --> 00:38:35,000
- Yeah?
- [Mank] Oh, yeah.

650
00:38:35,083 --> 00:38:37,375
[Fraulein Freda] Yeah? Okay.

651
00:38:37,458 --> 00:38:39,583
Maybe a little bit left?

652
00:38:39,666 --> 00:38:41,375
- Yeah?
- Yeah.

653
00:38:41,458 --> 00:38:42,291
Here?

654
00:38:42,375 --> 00:38:45,416
- Ooh, yeah.
- I've got to get typewriter ribbon.

655
00:38:45,500 --> 00:38:48,250
- Here are this morning's pages.
- [Mank] Dreck. It's all dreck!

656
00:38:48,333 --> 00:38:50,291
Don't flagellate.
At least you're writing again.

657
00:38:50,375 --> 00:38:53,083
- [telephone rings]
- None of it sings. None of it. Not a note.

658
00:38:53,166 --> 00:38:54,625
You're not writing an opera.

659
00:38:56,041 --> 00:38:57,041
Hello?

660
00:38:59,041 --> 00:39:00,708
But I am writing an opera.

661
00:39:03,916 --> 00:39:04,916
It's for you.

662
00:39:07,708 --> 00:39:09,708
- Yeah?
- Herman, it's Joe.

663
00:39:09,791 --> 00:39:11,750
Hey, hey, kid. What's up?

664
00:39:11,833 --> 00:39:14,958
- Checking in. How are you getting around?
- Gingerly.

665
00:39:15,041 --> 00:39:17,416
- Any rest?
- Haven't seen a sunrise yet.

666
00:39:17,500 --> 00:39:19,333
You've never seen a sunrise.

667
00:39:19,416 --> 00:39:22,333
- Sara said you wanted this number.
- Just to hear your voice.

668
00:39:22,416 --> 00:39:26,833
Oh. She said you had some work
you wanted to talk about.

669
00:39:26,916 --> 00:39:31,458
Ah. I was thinking about that old play,
The Wild Man of Borneo,

670
00:39:31,541 --> 00:39:33,041
the one you wrote in the Ice Age.

671
00:39:33,125 --> 00:39:36,416
One never remembers one's disasters.
It's considered gauche.

672
00:39:36,500 --> 00:39:37,791
A play is never a disaster

673
00:39:37,875 --> 00:39:39,125
till the movies say it is.

674
00:39:39,208 --> 00:39:41,666
- [Mank laughs]
- I brought it to my people at the studio.

675
00:39:41,750 --> 00:39:43,125
We want W.C. Fields.

676
00:39:43,208 --> 00:39:47,541
- We want you to adapt.
- I'm kind of on something right now.

677
00:39:47,625 --> 00:39:50,416
I can get you paid for the play
and the adaptation.

678
00:39:50,916 --> 00:39:52,333
Sounds great.

679
00:39:52,416 --> 00:39:53,625
I'll have to think about it.

680
00:39:53,708 --> 00:39:55,500
You know how these things
have their moment.

681
00:39:55,583 --> 00:39:58,166
So this isn't an offer.
It's a subtle ultimatum.

682
00:39:58,250 --> 00:40:01,333
[sighs]
Nobody could ever tell you what to do.

683
00:40:02,250 --> 00:40:03,958
Did Sara put you up to this?

684
00:40:04,041 --> 00:40:06,583
Not at all, but I know how things are.

685
00:40:06,666 --> 00:40:08,083
I can tell by her voice.

686
00:40:08,166 --> 00:40:11,041
- And how bad is that, baby brother?
- How bad?

687
00:40:11,125 --> 00:40:12,500
I went to a party last night

688
00:40:12,583 --> 00:40:16,208
where Scott Fitzgerald
referred to you as a ruined man.

689
00:40:16,291 --> 00:40:18,458
- [laughs]
- That's how bad things can get.

690
00:40:18,541 --> 00:40:20,125
- That's good. I may use that.
- [chuckles]

691
00:40:20,208 --> 00:40:22,458
- Hermie...
- [sighs] Please, stop, Joey.

692
00:40:22,541 --> 00:40:24,333
Just tell me what's on your mind.

693
00:40:24,416 --> 00:40:28,625
[sighs]
I hear you're hunting dangerous game.

694
00:40:29,583 --> 00:40:34,208
Word on the street is radio's golden boy
wants to go toe-to-toe with Willie Hearst,

695
00:40:34,291 --> 00:40:36,375
and you're helping in the kitchen.

696
00:40:39,708 --> 00:40:40,625
Oh?

697
00:40:42,041 --> 00:40:43,416
- And?
- "And?"

698
00:40:45,125 --> 00:40:46,333
Herman, "And?"

699
00:40:46,416 --> 00:40:47,500
How stupid of me.

700
00:40:47,583 --> 00:40:50,958
I thought
I was rejecting a humiliating handout,

701
00:40:51,041 --> 00:40:54,208
when all the time,
I was nixing a respectable bribe.

702
00:40:54,291 --> 00:40:56,000
And I'm sorry I ever cared.

703
00:40:56,666 --> 00:40:57,666
[hangs up]

704
00:41:00,250 --> 00:41:01,291
Oops.

705
00:41:08,458 --> 00:41:10,291
- [Fraulein Freda] Come on.
- [grunts]

706
00:41:13,125 --> 00:41:14,083
[sighs]

707
00:41:17,291 --> 00:41:18,291
[typewriter dings]

708
00:41:18,375 --> 00:41:21,875
[Hearst] Marion and I are pleased
you all could come stay for the weekend.

709
00:41:22,375 --> 00:41:24,708
I hope the train ride wasn't too arduous.

710
00:41:25,833 --> 00:41:30,458
And tonight, we're celebrating
our great friend's birthday

711
00:41:30,541 --> 00:41:33,625
in our little hillside home. Charlie.

712
00:41:33,708 --> 00:41:37,458
- [playing piano]
- [all] ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

713
00:41:37,541 --> 00:41:41,083
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

714
00:41:41,166 --> 00:41:45,625
♪ Happy birthday, dear Louis ♪

715
00:41:45,708 --> 00:41:48,791
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

716
00:41:48,875 --> 00:41:50,458
- [man] Happy birthday!
- [guests cheer]

717
00:41:50,541 --> 00:41:51,958
[blowing]

718
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:56,750
Louis, you should be joyous.
You don't look a day over 48.

719
00:41:56,833 --> 00:41:58,500
I feel 35.

720
00:41:58,583 --> 00:41:59,625
[all laughing]

721
00:42:03,583 --> 00:42:06,791
Mr. Hearst, Marion, all of you,

722
00:42:07,333 --> 00:42:09,916
my heart is full to bursting.

723
00:42:10,958 --> 00:42:12,958
I can't express in words…

724
00:42:13,041 --> 00:42:14,791
[muttering] Please don't try.

725
00:42:14,875 --> 00:42:21,250
W. R., nothing is more precious to me
than your friendship and sage advice.

726
00:42:21,333 --> 00:42:23,875
I am blessed to call you my friend.

727
00:42:25,416 --> 00:42:28,166
God bless William Randolph Hearst.

728
00:42:28,250 --> 00:42:30,375
- [all] Cheers.
- [softly] God bless us, everyone.

729
00:42:31,458 --> 00:42:34,041
- Hear, hear.
- A very happy birthday, Louis.

730
00:42:34,125 --> 00:42:37,708
Our country should be flattered
you picked its birth date as your own.

731
00:42:37,791 --> 00:42:41,250
The rest of us have to be satisfied
with the one we happen to be born on.

732
00:42:41,333 --> 00:42:42,666
- Mank.
- [all chuckling]

733
00:42:42,750 --> 00:42:46,375
Here's to your rich Canadian imagination.

734
00:42:46,458 --> 00:42:49,500
[all] Rich Canadian imagination!

735
00:42:49,583 --> 00:42:50,916
Here's to banks reopening.

736
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:52,875
- And to freedom.
- [all] Freedom!

737
00:42:52,958 --> 00:42:55,875
I believe you've met
our distinguished guest,

738
00:42:55,958 --> 00:42:57,708
Mr. Rexford Tugwell.

739
00:42:57,791 --> 00:43:00,666
Now, Rex is special assistant
to President Roosevelt,

740
00:43:00,750 --> 00:43:03,916
and we're all interested
in what you might share with us.

741
00:43:04,500 --> 00:43:06,541
We all wanna welcome the Thalbergs

742
00:43:06,625 --> 00:43:09,583
back from Irving's long convalescence
in Europe.

743
00:43:09,666 --> 00:43:12,041
- Thank you, W.R.
- [Hearst] Good to see you, Irving.

744
00:43:12,125 --> 00:43:13,500
- Thank you, Mr. Hearst.
- Norma.

745
00:43:13,583 --> 00:43:16,125
[plays flourish on piano]
Anybody seen anything good lately?

746
00:43:16,208 --> 00:43:20,208
I just saw 42nd Street. It blew my wig!

747
00:43:20,291 --> 00:43:22,041
You can take the girl outta Bed-Stuy.

748
00:43:22,125 --> 00:43:24,666
- When was that?
- Over the weekend.

749
00:43:24,750 --> 00:43:27,541
You were in D.C.
I went to the pictures in Santa Barbara.

750
00:43:27,625 --> 00:43:30,541
- We have a fine screening room here.
- [Mayer] Warner's picture?

751
00:43:30,625 --> 00:43:32,291
- Why waste money on that?
- [all laugh]

752
00:43:32,375 --> 00:43:34,583
- Next time, I'll go with you.
- [Marion] Of course.

753
00:43:34,666 --> 00:43:38,875
I am bonkers about Movietone News.
I love Lowell Thomas's voice.

754
00:43:38,958 --> 00:43:41,416
- Oh, is he single?
- [both laugh]

755
00:43:41,500 --> 00:43:43,916
I sat across from him
at the Brown Derby once.

756
00:43:44,791 --> 00:43:46,250
- He bought me a drink.
- He didn't!

757
00:43:46,333 --> 00:43:47,500
[actress] Not technically.

758
00:43:47,583 --> 00:43:50,375
But I made sure
to run into him in the parking lot after.

759
00:43:50,458 --> 00:43:53,541
- I asked him, "Do you need a lift?"
- You didn't! What did he say?

760
00:43:54,125 --> 00:43:56,916
- I'll never tell.
- There's a point to this, dear?

761
00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:01,666
Well, yes, they showed that Hitler
giving a speech, kissing babies.

762
00:44:01,750 --> 00:44:03,166
He is creepers!

763
00:44:03,250 --> 00:44:06,250
Lederhosen and suspenders. Terrifying.

764
00:44:06,333 --> 00:44:08,708
- No, it's the mustache that's the horror.
- [all laugh]

765
00:44:08,791 --> 00:44:11,458
[Hearst] Don't be alarmed, Marion.
He won't be around for long.

766
00:44:11,541 --> 00:44:14,541
The Germans
are a thoughtful, considerate people.

767
00:44:14,625 --> 00:44:16,333
Enough about Nazis.

768
00:44:16,416 --> 00:44:19,375
Irving, tell us about your travels.
Where were you?

769
00:44:19,458 --> 00:44:22,333
- [inhales sharply] Uh… Berlin, in fact.
- [all chuckle]

770
00:44:23,041 --> 00:44:24,333
But it was quite interesting.

771
00:44:24,416 --> 00:44:27,541
Thugs in brown shirts
goose-stepping past our hotel all night,

772
00:44:27,625 --> 00:44:29,333
screaming anti-Semitic slogans.

773
00:44:29,916 --> 00:44:32,666
- I was terrified the whole time.
- This Hitler sounds like an utter drip.

774
00:44:32,750 --> 00:44:35,416
Shouldn't the United States
do something, Mr. Tugwell?

775
00:44:35,500 --> 00:44:37,125
We are weighing all options.

776
00:44:37,208 --> 00:44:40,041
Can't last. Who in the world
takes a lunatic like that seriously?

777
00:44:40,125 --> 00:44:42,666
Well, the last time I looked,
40 million Germans.

778
00:44:42,750 --> 00:44:45,250
Mank! You're always
so wonderfully contrary.

779
00:44:45,333 --> 00:44:47,583
"Chase & Sanborn's der coffee."

780
00:44:47,666 --> 00:44:50,125
[in German accent]
"Can 40 million Nazis all be wrong?"

781
00:44:50,208 --> 00:44:53,333
I just read they've opened
their first concentration camps

782
00:44:53,416 --> 00:44:54,916
and started burning books.

783
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,791
- What's next? Movies?
- Enough.

784
00:44:57,875 --> 00:45:00,000
- Is that true, Irving?
- Yes, L.B.

785
00:45:00,500 --> 00:45:02,250
Ah, Hitler, schmitler!

786
00:45:02,916 --> 00:45:05,000
You don't turn your back on
a market as big as Germany.

787
00:45:05,083 --> 00:45:08,875
Please. It's upsetting enough
Marion had to endure the man in newsreel.

788
00:45:08,958 --> 00:45:10,583
What's a concentration camp?

789
00:45:10,666 --> 00:45:12,958
It was fascinating.
Those people adore him.

790
00:45:14,916 --> 00:45:18,541
- I'm probably talking nonsense.
- You're the first tonight that isn't.

791
00:45:18,625 --> 00:45:21,125
[Selznick] Speaking of socialists,
how about Upton Sinclair's book?

792
00:45:21,208 --> 00:45:22,041
No!

793
00:45:22,125 --> 00:45:24,250
He wants to turn private enterprise
over to the state.

794
00:45:24,333 --> 00:45:26,125
There's one we won't be optioning.
Eh, Irving?

795
00:45:26,208 --> 00:45:27,583
Well, it's selling like crazy.

796
00:45:27,666 --> 00:45:30,541
Walter Winchell says Sinclair may run
for governor next election.

797
00:45:30,625 --> 00:45:33,666
That rat Bolshevik
belongs right up there with Hitler

798
00:45:33,750 --> 00:45:36,583
on the list of people
not to be taken seriously.

799
00:45:36,666 --> 00:45:39,041
There's a world of difference
between communism and socialism.

800
00:45:39,125 --> 00:45:41,125
[Mayer] They both
want something for nothing.

801
00:45:41,208 --> 00:45:42,666
Like a workforce for free?

802
00:45:42,750 --> 00:45:44,416
Half, and only in the interim.

803
00:45:44,500 --> 00:45:47,041
I think it's safe to assume
none of us here would welcome

804
00:45:47,125 --> 00:45:50,125
a crusading socialist
as California's political savior.

805
00:45:50,208 --> 00:45:52,666
Certainly not FDR. Am I right, Rex?

806
00:45:52,750 --> 00:45:55,375
Off the record,
President says the man bears watching.

807
00:45:55,458 --> 00:45:58,916
Especially now that Republicans
seem bent on running Frank Merriam again.

808
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,750
Sinclair's run twice before
and got, what, 2% of the vote?

809
00:46:01,833 --> 00:46:05,541
- Good people, the man is an author.
- As was Thomas Jefferson.

810
00:46:05,625 --> 00:46:09,500
Ha! Come now, Mank.
Upton Sinclair as Thomas Jefferson?

811
00:46:09,583 --> 00:46:10,958
No, you're right, W.R.

812
00:46:11,041 --> 00:46:14,375
Jefferson never got federal laws
passed to ban oil monopolies,

813
00:46:14,458 --> 00:46:17,541
or railroad trusts,
or cleaned up the stockyards.

814
00:46:17,625 --> 00:46:20,958
- He's an angry scribe, a provocateur.
- Because he provokes thought.

815
00:46:21,041 --> 00:46:22,916
You always side with the writer, Mank.

816
00:46:23,500 --> 00:46:26,625
Poor souls surviving a depression
on five grand a week.

817
00:46:26,708 --> 00:46:28,125
- Commies.
- L.B. is not wrong.

818
00:46:28,208 --> 00:46:29,916
[Mank] Irving, you're a literate man.

819
00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:32,750
You know the difference
between communism and socialism.

820
00:46:32,833 --> 00:46:35,000
In socialism, everyone shares the wealth.

821
00:46:35,083 --> 00:46:37,458
In communism, everyone shares the poverty.

822
00:46:37,541 --> 00:46:39,041
Thank you, Mr. Mankiewicz.

823
00:46:39,125 --> 00:46:43,000
Upton just wants you to apportion
some of your Christmas bonus, Irving,

824
00:46:43,083 --> 00:46:45,041
to the people who clean your house.

825
00:46:45,125 --> 00:46:46,083
[guests laughing]

826
00:46:46,166 --> 00:46:49,625
- Now that's why I always want Mank around.
- [chuckles] Me too.

827
00:46:49,708 --> 00:46:52,708
Upton, Mank? Nobody's asking
to hear you sing "The Internationale."

828
00:46:52,791 --> 00:46:54,250
[plays "The Internationale"]

829
00:46:54,750 --> 00:46:57,250
- What's that?
- The Communist national anthem, darling.

830
00:46:57,333 --> 00:46:59,750
I would. Do you sing?

831
00:46:59,833 --> 00:47:02,208
No one should have to hear me sing.
Isn't that right, Sara?

832
00:47:02,291 --> 00:47:03,458
If at all possible.

833
00:47:03,541 --> 00:47:05,625
[Mayer] As Republican state
chairman-elect,

834
00:47:05,708 --> 00:47:08,250
I'm telling you,
nothing's going to happen here.

835
00:47:08,333 --> 00:47:11,750
The people who count
in California won't let it.

836
00:47:11,833 --> 00:47:14,625
All this talk
is so much pissing in the wind.

837
00:47:14,708 --> 00:47:15,583
Nicely put.

838
00:47:15,666 --> 00:47:19,125
I heard Pops on the phone
helping to pick the president's cabinet

839
00:47:19,208 --> 00:47:20,416
like casting a movie.

840
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:22,708
They can stop a guy like Sinclair.

841
00:47:23,291 --> 00:47:24,500
Couldn't you, Pops?

842
00:47:27,166 --> 00:47:28,166
Pardon.

843
00:47:28,250 --> 00:47:30,166
[unsettling music playing]

844
00:47:30,250 --> 00:47:32,041
I don't know what I'm saying.

845
00:47:45,333 --> 00:47:46,250
Go.

846
00:47:52,416 --> 00:47:53,625
[sighs deeply]

847
00:47:58,166 --> 00:47:59,250
[gasps]

848
00:48:06,708 --> 00:48:08,250
Hello, Tokyo?

849
00:48:10,416 --> 00:48:12,000
London, you there?

850
00:48:12,916 --> 00:48:15,208
- Ah, nerts!
- [Mank] What is that?

851
00:48:15,291 --> 00:48:17,833
[Marion] Oh, Pops's radio-phones.

852
00:48:17,916 --> 00:48:20,333
Never ever be out of touch
with your empire.

853
00:48:20,416 --> 00:48:25,125
- No, no. What's "nerts"?
- Nerts is Brooklynese for "nuts."

854
00:48:25,708 --> 00:48:26,708
Jeepers!

855
00:48:36,250 --> 00:48:38,541
What did I do that was so terrible?

856
00:48:39,250 --> 00:48:42,208
I shouldn't have said that thing
about the cabinet in front of Tugwell,

857
00:48:42,291 --> 00:48:45,833
but since when does anybody care
what I have to say?

858
00:48:45,916 --> 00:48:48,125
Those things just pop out of my mouth,

859
00:48:48,208 --> 00:48:51,458
and the moment they do, I feel like…

860
00:48:51,541 --> 00:48:53,541
Like you got caught, jambes en I'air.

861
00:48:53,625 --> 00:48:55,250
[gasps] No!

862
00:48:56,208 --> 00:49:01,041
Well, do you always
just say whatever you think? Hmm.

863
00:49:01,125 --> 00:49:04,000
- [chuckles]
- [Mank] You're blushing.

864
00:49:04,500 --> 00:49:05,833
- Am not.
- Are too.

865
00:49:05,916 --> 00:49:10,250
- Am not.
- Are too. I can see it even in the dark.

866
00:49:10,333 --> 00:49:13,416
Well, what can I tell you, Mank?
Marion Douras…

867
00:49:14,333 --> 00:49:15,958
Went to convent school.

868
00:49:16,041 --> 00:49:18,750
- Hedda! Louella!
- [laughs]

869
00:49:18,833 --> 00:49:21,500
Where's a gossip columnist
around this castle when you need one?

870
00:49:22,291 --> 00:49:25,333
I hate shop talk.
I never know what's going on.

871
00:49:26,291 --> 00:49:29,708
The one thing you never ever talk about
is Upton Sinclair.

872
00:49:29,791 --> 00:49:31,083
I noted.

873
00:49:31,166 --> 00:49:33,708
The moment he's mentioned,
the evening turns.

874
00:49:33,791 --> 00:49:36,416
- It's sort of a sore subject.
- Really?

875
00:49:37,666 --> 00:49:38,708
Do tell.

876
00:49:42,375 --> 00:49:44,791
[Marion] I don't even know
who this Mr. Sinclair is,

877
00:49:44,875 --> 00:49:46,750
but he wrote about us for a book.

878
00:49:47,250 --> 00:49:49,375
I used to quote it word for word.

879
00:49:50,041 --> 00:49:54,375
"I saw our richest newspaper publisher
keep his movie mistress

880
00:49:54,458 --> 00:49:57,750
in a private city
of palaces and cathedrals,

881
00:49:57,833 --> 00:50:01,625
furnished with shiploads
of junk imported from Europe

882
00:50:01,708 --> 00:50:06,750
and surrounded by vast acres
reserved for use by zebras and giraffes,

883
00:50:07,250 --> 00:50:10,916
telling in jest
that he had spent six million dollars

884
00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:13,166
to make his lady's reputation

885
00:50:13,250 --> 00:50:16,291
and using his newspapers
to celebrate her change of hats."

886
00:50:16,875 --> 00:50:20,250
It must be hard
to be on the receiving end of that.

887
00:50:20,333 --> 00:50:22,875
People think because you're
on the cover of Modern Screen,

888
00:50:22,958 --> 00:50:24,000
they know you.

889
00:50:24,083 --> 00:50:26,000
- [Mank] Hmm.
- Ah, nerts!

890
00:50:26,083 --> 00:50:27,666
What do I have to complain about?

891
00:50:27,750 --> 00:50:30,666
I live in a fishbowl,
but anything I want is mine.

892
00:50:31,416 --> 00:50:35,250
If I could, I'd share with everyone.
You know that, Mank.

893
00:50:35,750 --> 00:50:38,916
This Upton doesn't know
a thing about the real…

894
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:40,958
- [gasps]
- [monkeys chattering]

895
00:50:41,041 --> 00:50:46,500
[shouting] Nobody but nobody makes
a monkey out of William Randolph Hearst!

896
00:50:46,583 --> 00:50:47,708
[giggles]

897
00:50:47,791 --> 00:50:50,583
- I understand why Mayer loathes him.
- Why?

898
00:50:51,291 --> 00:50:55,250
- Sinclair caught him with his pants down.
- [inhales sharply] Yikes!

899
00:50:55,333 --> 00:50:59,166
He wrote that Mayer took a bribe
to look the other way

900
00:50:59,250 --> 00:51:01,166
so a rival could buy MGM.

901
00:51:01,250 --> 00:51:02,291
[gasps]

902
00:51:02,375 --> 00:51:05,208
- It's complicated.
- Over my head?

903
00:51:05,291 --> 00:51:08,416
No, over mine.
You'd need a degree in larceny.

904
00:51:08,500 --> 00:51:11,708
- Isn't bribery a crime?
- That's what Sinclair said.

905
00:51:11,791 --> 00:51:14,541
The little sausage
might have gone to jail.

906
00:51:14,625 --> 00:51:16,125
Jeepers!

907
00:51:16,208 --> 00:51:17,666
[Mank] The hypocrisy.

908
00:51:18,166 --> 00:51:20,666
"Mayn gantze mishpokhe. My mishpokhe."

909
00:51:20,750 --> 00:51:24,125
- [Marion] I don't speak a lot of Jewish.
- [laughs] Really?

910
00:51:24,208 --> 00:51:26,541
"My mishpokhe. My family."

911
00:51:26,625 --> 00:51:30,166
Everything he does is for family,

912
00:51:30,250 --> 00:51:32,500
except when it comes
to selling his last name

913
00:51:32,583 --> 00:51:35,041
to a competitor
in the middle of the night.

914
00:51:35,541 --> 00:51:38,083
Wow. He would do that to his own studio?

915
00:51:38,583 --> 00:51:41,875
He doesn't own MGM
any more than Sam Goldwyn.

916
00:51:41,958 --> 00:51:44,083
They just run it
for the moneyboys back East.

917
00:51:44,916 --> 00:51:49,166
And jail is not something
an animal like Mayer is likely to forget.

918
00:51:49,250 --> 00:51:50,875
[elephant trumpets]

919
00:51:50,958 --> 00:51:53,000
[both laugh]

920
00:51:53,500 --> 00:51:57,541
Irving must be clean.
He looks like he shaves three times a day.

921
00:51:58,125 --> 00:52:00,833
Well, there's clean, and there's clean.

922
00:52:01,583 --> 00:52:04,166
Irving bought one of Sinclair's novels.

923
00:52:04,750 --> 00:52:09,291
Sinclair demanded a guarantee
that not one word could be changed,

924
00:52:09,375 --> 00:52:12,375
in writing,
on the back of the purchase check.

925
00:52:12,458 --> 00:52:15,750
[gasps] He didn't want notes
from Irving Thalberg?

926
00:52:15,833 --> 00:52:19,208
When Thalberg refused,
Sinclair took his money

927
00:52:19,291 --> 00:52:23,666
and ran off to Mexico and financed
a picture about the Russian Revolution.

928
00:52:23,750 --> 00:52:26,625
[both chuckle]

929
00:52:26,708 --> 00:52:29,416
Now, that's sticking the old neck out.

930
00:52:29,916 --> 00:52:31,083
[Marion] Oh.

931
00:52:31,166 --> 00:52:33,250
[Marion laughing]

932
00:52:38,833 --> 00:52:40,083
- [gasps]
- Oh.

933
00:52:40,166 --> 00:52:42,666
I'm sorry. Instinct!

934
00:52:43,250 --> 00:52:44,250
My fault.

935
00:52:45,375 --> 00:52:47,791
I've been a little
sixes and sevens recently.

936
00:52:48,791 --> 00:52:51,166
Tell me something, Mank. The truth.

937
00:52:52,833 --> 00:52:54,125
Could you see me playing

938
00:52:54,208 --> 00:52:56,583
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
or Marie Antoinette?

939
00:52:56,666 --> 00:53:00,833
Irving's bought 'em both,
you know, because of Pops.

940
00:53:02,125 --> 00:53:03,125
What do you think?

941
00:53:03,708 --> 00:53:05,416
And honestly.

942
00:53:07,958 --> 00:53:10,000
I see you more as Dulcinea.

943
00:53:10,583 --> 00:53:12,416
- Who?
- Dulcinea.

944
00:53:12,500 --> 00:53:14,708
From the Spanish, for sweetness.

945
00:53:14,791 --> 00:53:16,666
[gasps] Ah.

946
00:53:16,750 --> 00:53:21,416
"Her hair, gold. Her cheeks, roses."

947
00:53:21,500 --> 00:53:22,541
Nice.

948
00:53:22,625 --> 00:53:25,791
- "Her lips, coral."
- Mmm.

949
00:53:25,875 --> 00:53:30,083
"Her neck, alabaster. Her bosom, marble."

950
00:53:30,166 --> 00:53:31,125
Marble? [scoffs]

951
00:53:31,208 --> 00:53:32,458
Maybe once.

952
00:53:32,958 --> 00:53:37,250
"Ivory, her hands,
and her whiteness, snow."

953
00:53:38,083 --> 00:53:42,208
- You wrote that?
- No. A fella named Cervantes.

954
00:53:42,291 --> 00:53:43,166
[clears throat]

955
00:53:43,250 --> 00:53:45,750
"There are meters
of accent and meters of tone,

956
00:53:45,833 --> 00:53:48,666
but the best of all meters
is to meet her alone."

957
00:53:48,750 --> 00:53:53,416
- Ah, a poem with a message.
- That's just the first verse.

958
00:53:54,041 --> 00:53:55,291
The last…

959
00:53:56,250 --> 00:54:00,666
"There are letters of accent
and letters of tone,

960
00:54:00,750 --> 00:54:03,416
but the best of all letters
is to let her alone."

961
00:54:03,500 --> 00:54:05,041
[Marion laughs]

962
00:54:06,125 --> 00:54:08,166
Now, those I wrote.

963
00:54:09,666 --> 00:54:10,583
[Mank chuckles]

964
00:54:12,750 --> 00:54:14,500
[Marion sighs happily]

965
00:54:23,333 --> 00:54:26,125
[coyotes howling in the distance]

966
00:54:47,208 --> 00:54:50,208
[bottles clinking]

967
00:54:51,083 --> 00:54:52,250
[gasps softly]

968
00:54:54,958 --> 00:54:56,125
[Mank sighs]

969
00:54:58,666 --> 00:54:59,708
Do come in.

970
00:55:02,916 --> 00:55:06,875
- Jesus! What is that?
- Sunlight. It's nearly noon.

971
00:55:06,958 --> 00:55:09,916
Mother of God! Where did the night go?

972
00:55:11,041 --> 00:55:14,916
- Your support device is here.
- Oh, good. Send it in.

973
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:16,333
As is Mr. Houseman.

974
00:55:18,833 --> 00:55:20,458
What would you like me to do?

975
00:55:21,125 --> 00:55:22,708
Well, send him in too.

976
00:55:32,541 --> 00:55:33,750
[coughs]

977
00:55:38,291 --> 00:55:40,750
Uh, put it over there, please.

978
00:55:41,791 --> 00:55:44,750
- You're early.
- I thought we should talk.

979
00:55:45,333 --> 00:55:47,750
- [Mank] Why are you wearing a coat?
- I always wear a coat.

980
00:55:47,833 --> 00:55:49,375
Must be 108 degrees.

981
00:55:49,458 --> 00:55:51,791
- We're at a Rubicon moment, Mank.
- [Mank] Uh-huh.

982
00:55:51,875 --> 00:55:54,791
It's not the work.
That's everything we hoped it would be.

983
00:55:54,875 --> 00:55:57,333
- [Mank] Enough room there?
- Oh, it should be.

984
00:55:57,875 --> 00:56:00,416
[sighs] I'm sorry, John.

985
00:56:01,750 --> 00:56:04,000
- You've only written ninety pages.
- Ninety-one.

986
00:56:04,083 --> 00:56:07,041
[Houseman] In my expert opinion,
you're hardly out of the first act.

987
00:56:07,125 --> 00:56:11,041
I mean,
how do you hope to be done in 14… 13 days?

988
00:56:11,708 --> 00:56:14,458
We gave him
our solemn word we would deliver.

989
00:56:14,541 --> 00:56:16,416
- "We"?
- I don't think he's going to take it well.

990
00:56:16,500 --> 00:56:17,375
Not very well at all.

991
00:56:17,458 --> 00:56:21,583
You said 90 days. Welles said 60.
I'm doing the very best I can.

992
00:56:21,666 --> 00:56:25,416
- We are surely to be axed.
- Not just yet.

993
00:56:26,666 --> 00:56:27,875
I've never been fired.

994
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:31,500
- I've never not been fired.
- I don't get fired.

995
00:56:31,583 --> 00:56:33,875
It's not as unpleasant
as you might imagine.

996
00:56:33,958 --> 00:56:36,000
You worry too much, John.

997
00:56:36,083 --> 00:56:38,916
- What do you do for pleasure?
- [telephone rings]

998
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:42,791
- Hello? Yes, he's here.
- [man speaks indistinctly on phone]

999
00:56:43,958 --> 00:56:44,958
[softly] It's Orson.

1000
00:56:45,708 --> 00:56:47,833
[inhales sharply] Will you talk?

1001
00:56:47,916 --> 00:56:50,041
[Rita] He'd like to speak
with Mr. Houseman.

1002
00:56:51,208 --> 00:56:52,125
[Houseman] Me?

1003
00:56:59,333 --> 00:57:01,791
- Orson.
- [Orson speaking indistinctly]

1004
00:57:01,875 --> 00:57:04,166
I came early
to see where we were with, uh…

1005
00:57:05,416 --> 00:57:08,875
No, not at all.
Everything's going absolutely according…

1006
00:57:09,916 --> 00:57:12,708
Well, that's difficult to say exactly.

1007
00:57:13,250 --> 00:57:15,416
Yep. Yes, I know the clock…

1008
00:57:17,375 --> 00:57:19,708
Well, as I've told you, it's quite unique.

1009
00:57:19,791 --> 00:57:22,083
In fact,
I would venture to say, one of the most…

1010
00:57:24,333 --> 00:57:27,541
Yes, well,
it will absolutely need your marvelous…

1011
00:57:29,041 --> 00:57:31,666
He's on the mend, working tirelessly.

1012
00:57:32,500 --> 00:57:34,875
- [crate creaks]
- [Houseman] Of course. When?

1013
00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:37,500
I'm on my way.

1014
00:57:37,583 --> 00:57:39,250
Yes. Hang on. He's right here.

1015
00:57:41,958 --> 00:57:44,458
He wants to see me right away.
Wouldn't tell me why.

1016
00:57:45,250 --> 00:57:46,375
Perhaps he will you.

1017
00:57:47,166 --> 00:57:48,291
[Mank grunts]

1018
00:57:52,541 --> 00:57:55,541
- Orson.
- [Welles laughs] Tell me what's up, Mank.

1019
00:57:56,125 --> 00:57:57,500
He's getting on my nerves.

1020
00:57:57,583 --> 00:57:59,666
I sensed that.
I told him I had to see him at once.

1021
00:57:59,750 --> 00:58:02,083
Hopefully, I can think of a reason
before he gets here.

1022
00:58:02,166 --> 00:58:04,458
I've finished my test
for Heart of Darkness.

1023
00:58:04,541 --> 00:58:06,708
I'm turning my full attention
to our little project.

1024
00:58:06,791 --> 00:58:08,083
[Mank] "Let there be light."

1025
00:58:08,166 --> 00:58:12,041
- [Welles] Tell me what to expect.
- I thought you'd want to be surprised.

1026
00:58:12,125 --> 00:58:14,875
Ha. You're always surprising.
That's why you were my only choice.

1027
00:58:14,958 --> 00:58:19,125
No one else is Mankiewicz.
I can almost hear the finish line.

1028
00:58:19,208 --> 00:58:22,333
- We're about to turn a corner.
- Unto the breach!

1029
00:58:23,708 --> 00:58:25,291
Slim, you may tote

1030
00:58:25,375 --> 00:58:27,208
those lovely highland beauties
to the kitchen.

1031
00:58:27,291 --> 00:58:29,416
Fraulein Freda, empty the Mickeys

1032
00:58:29,500 --> 00:58:32,416
and start replacing
their contents, raus schnell.

1033
00:58:35,083 --> 00:58:37,041
- Thank you, Slim. You may go.
- [Mank] Slim.

1034
00:58:44,250 --> 00:58:48,125
Mr. Mankiewicz, please don't ask us
to help you in this sad deception.

1035
00:58:48,208 --> 00:58:49,583
My dear Mrs. Alexander,

1036
00:58:49,666 --> 00:58:54,583
Charlie Lederer and I went to a great deal
of trouble to engineer this sad deception.

1037
00:58:54,666 --> 00:58:57,625
My deadline
is two weeks away and I intend...

1038
00:58:57,708 --> 00:58:59,291
It could mean our jobs.

1039
00:58:59,375 --> 00:59:03,750
I do my best thinking
before I fall asleep.

1040
00:59:03,833 --> 00:59:06,750
And I am sick and tired
of having my evenings end

1041
00:59:06,833 --> 00:59:11,500
with the abrupt sensation of being
struck on the head with a croquet mallet.

1042
00:59:11,583 --> 00:59:13,875
- A way to put it.
- I'm not asking you to help.

1043
00:59:13,958 --> 00:59:15,333
- You're not?
- I'm telling you.

1044
00:59:15,416 --> 00:59:16,250
[scoffs]

1045
00:59:17,708 --> 00:59:21,708
I'm sorry. I won't be bullied.
You'll have my resignation in the morning.

1046
00:59:21,791 --> 00:59:24,625
I know Freda's been sneaking
you nightcaps from the cabinet.

1047
00:59:24,708 --> 00:59:27,166
If she continues
to cooperate in this cheap ruse,

1048
00:59:27,250 --> 00:59:29,083
I'll have to report the both of you.

1049
00:59:29,166 --> 00:59:31,416
- Fraulein Freda.
- Ja, Herr Mank?

1050
00:59:31,500 --> 00:59:33,916
- Please do as I instructed.
- Ja, Herr Mank.

1051
00:59:37,666 --> 00:59:38,875
[groans]

1052
00:59:44,416 --> 00:59:45,458
Humph.

1053
00:59:51,166 --> 00:59:53,125
Freda, you mustn't let him intimidate you.

1054
00:59:53,208 --> 00:59:54,375
[chuckles]

1055
00:59:54,458 --> 00:59:57,916
- I am not intimidated, Frau Alexander.
- Then, why?

1056
01:00:00,083 --> 01:00:01,250
[Fraulein Freda sighs]

1057
01:00:02,625 --> 01:00:05,375
Herr Mank sponsored
my family's entry into this country.

1058
01:00:05,458 --> 01:00:09,666
He's responsible for us getting safely
out of Germany, legally and financially.

1059
01:00:10,375 --> 01:00:13,250
- Really?
- Our entire village, he brought here.

1060
01:00:14,250 --> 01:00:17,458
- Entire village?
- Over 100 people.

1061
01:00:19,208 --> 01:00:21,125
Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister,

1062
01:00:21,208 --> 01:00:24,166
will not allow his films
to be shown in the Fatherland.

1063
01:00:25,291 --> 01:00:26,791
I didn't realize.

1064
01:00:27,291 --> 01:00:31,625
He wrote a picture about the Nazis,
which no studio anywhere will dare make.

1065
01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:37,250
I assume if he wishes to drink,
he's a grown man, a good man,

1066
01:00:37,750 --> 01:00:39,333
and should be treated as such.

1067
01:00:40,666 --> 01:00:41,791
Nicht wahr?

1068
01:00:54,166 --> 01:00:56,750
To Mank-town. Or is it Mank-ville?

1069
01:00:59,500 --> 01:01:00,958
[sighs] Dear Freda.

1070
01:01:02,000 --> 01:01:04,416
What's German for blabbermouth?

1071
01:01:04,500 --> 01:01:06,583
Either you demonstrate
you can handle this,

1072
01:01:06,666 --> 01:01:08,541
or we will all end up getting sacked.

1073
01:01:08,625 --> 01:01:11,833
There's nothing like
a vote of confidence from one's peers.

1074
01:01:11,916 --> 01:01:13,875
To Mank-berg. Prosit.

1075
01:01:13,958 --> 01:01:16,666
Mank-heim. Bottoms up.

1076
01:01:22,041 --> 01:01:23,208
[typewriter dings]

1077
01:01:33,208 --> 01:01:36,291
Hey, Mank, you remember me?

1078
01:01:36,375 --> 01:01:39,750
[chuckles] Oh, my God.
Of course I remember you, C.C.

1079
01:01:39,833 --> 01:01:42,791
C.C. for Central Casting.
How you been, Mank?

1080
01:01:42,875 --> 01:01:43,833
What happened?

1081
01:01:43,916 --> 01:01:46,458
[C.C.] What happened?
The goddamn Depression happened.

1082
01:01:46,541 --> 01:01:49,333
I ain't had so much
as a walk-on since Tugboat Annie.

1083
01:01:49,833 --> 01:01:51,541
Listen. I hate to, you know…

1084
01:01:51,625 --> 01:01:54,916
Uh, yeah. Ed, lend me a buck.

1085
01:02:02,583 --> 01:02:07,125
Uh, me and Grady here
been thinking of bummin' east to Miami.

1086
01:02:07,541 --> 01:02:08,875
I heard it from someone who knows,

1087
01:02:08,958 --> 01:02:10,875
the Hollywood studios are movin'
to Florida.

1088
01:02:10,958 --> 01:02:12,958
- Who told you that?
- Oh, I can't say.

1089
01:02:13,041 --> 01:02:14,166
Somebody in the know.

1090
01:02:14,250 --> 01:02:16,500
In certain echelons,
it's common knowledge.

1091
01:02:16,583 --> 01:02:18,500
Well, people in certain echelons

1092
01:02:18,583 --> 01:02:21,416
don't usually trust me
with sensitive information.

1093
01:02:21,500 --> 01:02:25,833
But the studios aren't moving anywhere.
That's just company-town propaganda.

1094
01:02:25,916 --> 01:02:29,000
Believe what you want,
but say, you think you could spare…

1095
01:02:29,791 --> 01:02:31,583
Uh… Ed?

1096
01:02:33,041 --> 01:02:34,041
[sighs]

1097
01:02:34,708 --> 01:02:36,125
[C.C.] Bless you, Mank.

1098
01:02:36,208 --> 01:02:38,416
[Joe] The bastard reneged. You were there.

1099
01:02:38,500 --> 01:02:40,166
Yes, he reinstated salaries,

1100
01:02:40,250 --> 01:02:42,541
but he never gave back the money
he promised.

1101
01:02:42,625 --> 01:02:43,833
Giant surprise.

1102
01:02:43,916 --> 01:02:47,666
Come on, Mank. We need guys like you
to keep people like Mayer honest.

1103
01:02:47,750 --> 01:02:50,250
I'd refer you, for that,
to the power of prayer.

1104
01:02:50,333 --> 01:02:52,166
The Writers Guild
doesn't have to hit the bricks

1105
01:02:52,250 --> 01:02:54,125
for the $2,500-a-week guy.

1106
01:02:54,208 --> 01:02:56,583
We're doing it for the $250-a-week guy.

1107
01:02:56,666 --> 01:03:01,208
Joe, all the $250-a-week writers I know
are getting $2,500.

1108
01:03:01,791 --> 01:03:05,416
Stop crying for your just deserts,
or they're liable to give them to you.

1109
01:03:05,500 --> 01:03:07,333
Then we'll all be working
for 75 bucks a week.

1110
01:03:07,416 --> 01:03:10,250
I don't know if you've ever walked
a picket line. You might have to.

1111
01:03:10,333 --> 01:03:11,916
And Dave Chasen will cater.

1112
01:03:12,000 --> 01:03:15,583
"Junior writers only paid $750 a week."

1113
01:03:15,666 --> 01:03:17,875
If that happens, you'd better run

1114
01:03:17,958 --> 01:03:21,541
before real folk
with real troubles stone you to death.

1115
01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:26,083
Hermie, the guild's in its infancy.

1116
01:03:26,166 --> 01:03:27,833
- It needs you.
- [Mank] You're telling me.

1117
01:03:27,916 --> 01:03:29,666
What writer failed to notice

1118
01:03:29,750 --> 01:03:32,291
the Screen Writers Guild
needs an apostrophe?

1119
01:03:33,000 --> 01:03:34,791
As Groucho always said,

1120
01:03:34,875 --> 01:03:36,375
"Never belong to any club

1121
01:03:36,458 --> 01:03:38,833
that would have someone like you
for a member."

1122
01:03:38,916 --> 01:03:40,416
[Joe groans, sighs]

1123
01:03:40,500 --> 01:03:41,583
And look at him.

1124
01:03:42,083 --> 01:03:44,833
The most miserable bastard
on God's green earth.

1125
01:03:44,916 --> 01:03:48,375
I'd tell him you said that,
only he'd think you were brownnosing.

1126
01:03:58,416 --> 01:03:59,833
[grill hissing]

1127
01:04:01,708 --> 01:04:02,708
Close the door.

1128
01:04:02,791 --> 01:04:04,500
[Mank sniffs]

1129
01:04:05,458 --> 01:04:08,041
Ah… summer.

1130
01:04:08,125 --> 01:04:11,541
Inez, you are not to let the Brothers Marx
wait in my office. Ever.

1131
01:04:11,625 --> 01:04:13,750
They've been grilling hot dogs again.

1132
01:04:14,916 --> 01:04:15,750
Sit down.

1133
01:04:26,083 --> 01:04:29,250
[Mank exhales]

1134
01:04:32,750 --> 01:04:33,833
You wanted to see me?

1135
01:04:33,916 --> 01:04:36,666
Not that I care,
but why aren't you contributing

1136
01:04:36,750 --> 01:04:38,625
to MGM's anti-Sinclair fund?

1137
01:04:38,708 --> 01:04:41,833
Well, call me old-fashioned, Irving,
but I don't like being told

1138
01:04:41,916 --> 01:04:43,916
which side of a fight I'm already on.

1139
01:04:44,000 --> 01:04:46,333
How's it gonna look
if the GOP chairman himself

1140
01:04:46,416 --> 01:04:48,791
can't get unanimous support
from his own studio?

1141
01:04:48,875 --> 01:04:49,833
[Mank chuckles]

1142
01:04:51,375 --> 01:04:52,583
You're serious.

1143
01:04:52,666 --> 01:04:55,083
I was taught
by my parents to be straightforward,

1144
01:04:55,583 --> 01:04:59,083
to ask simply for what I want, and expect
that I may have to elucidate my position.

1145
01:04:59,166 --> 01:05:01,541
Well, I was encouraged by mine
to use my imagination,

1146
01:05:01,625 --> 01:05:03,958
but I taught myself
to avoid the consequences.

1147
01:05:04,041 --> 01:05:05,541
It's ten bucks, Mank.

1148
01:05:06,291 --> 01:05:08,416
You piss that away between hopeless bets.

1149
01:05:08,916 --> 01:05:11,958
I hate to think what L.B. might do
if he knew you were the only holdout.

1150
01:05:12,625 --> 01:05:16,083
- I am, and he doesn't?
- And we're not gonna tell him.

1151
01:05:19,041 --> 01:05:22,041
- I could let you go for this.
- It is a hanging offense.

1152
01:05:22,125 --> 01:05:24,416
I'll add the appropriate amount
to your gambling debt

1153
01:05:24,500 --> 01:05:26,625
and forget we ever had this conversation.

1154
01:05:26,708 --> 01:05:27,541
You do that.

1155
01:05:28,416 --> 01:05:30,291
And the brand-spanking-new Writers Guild

1156
01:05:30,375 --> 01:05:33,708
might find it very interesting,
not to mention the newspapers.

1157
01:05:33,791 --> 01:05:36,708
I'm not sure the guild
intends to cover games of chance.

1158
01:05:36,791 --> 01:05:41,083
And you won't go to the press,
because in California, that means Hearst.

1159
01:05:41,166 --> 01:05:44,875
Irving, you are the shrewdest executive
in this town.

1160
01:05:44,958 --> 01:05:48,291
Why are you acting
like some dumb ward heeler?

1161
01:05:51,333 --> 01:05:54,791
You don't need my donation.
You don't need anybody's.

1162
01:05:55,375 --> 01:05:57,416
You have everything it takes right here.

1163
01:05:58,333 --> 01:05:59,333
Meaning?

1164
01:06:00,750 --> 01:06:05,708
[sighs] Meaning you can make the world
swear King Kong is ten stories tall

1165
01:06:05,791 --> 01:06:08,125
and Mary Pickford a virgin at 40.

1166
01:06:08,833 --> 01:06:12,666
Yet you can't convince
starving voters that a turncoat socialist

1167
01:06:12,750 --> 01:06:15,541
is a menace
to everything Californians hold dear?

1168
01:06:16,458 --> 01:06:18,000
You're barely trying.

1169
01:06:18,625 --> 01:06:19,958
[door closes]

1170
01:06:24,875 --> 01:06:26,875
[indistinct chatter]

1171
01:06:32,500 --> 01:06:34,125
[man 1 on speaker]
Millions of Californians

1172
01:06:34,208 --> 01:06:36,000
are being taxed out of their homes,

1173
01:06:36,083 --> 01:06:38,458
yet the Depression is one of abundance.

1174
01:06:38,541 --> 01:06:41,750
Fruit rots on the ground
and vegetables are dumped into the ocean

1175
01:06:41,833 --> 01:06:43,416
because there are no markets for them.

1176
01:06:43,500 --> 01:06:47,208
[man 2] Aimee Semple McPherson says
you're a godless commie, Upton.

1177
01:06:47,291 --> 01:06:48,125
[crowd booing]

1178
01:06:48,208 --> 01:06:52,416
[Sinclair] Too often, sir, the religion
of Jesus is used by the ruling classes

1179
01:06:52,500 --> 01:06:55,791
to keep themselves in power
and the poor ever poorer.

1180
01:06:55,875 --> 01:06:59,916
And that, my friends,
is a sin and an error.

1181
01:07:00,000 --> 01:07:01,625
And I say with Thomas Jefferson,

1182
01:07:01,708 --> 01:07:06,958
"Truth has nothing to fear from error
where reason is left free to combat it."

1183
01:07:07,041 --> 01:07:08,875
[crowd applauding]

1184
01:07:08,958 --> 01:07:11,000
[Sinclair] My friends,
income in this country

1185
01:07:11,083 --> 01:07:14,583
is going to be redistributed
by one of two methods,

1186
01:07:14,666 --> 01:07:18,041
legal enactment or violent revolution.

1187
01:07:18,125 --> 01:07:21,291
We haven't much longer
to exercise our choice.

1188
01:07:21,375 --> 01:07:22,791
Thank you all for coming.

1189
01:07:22,875 --> 01:07:24,083
[crowd applauding]

1190
01:07:24,166 --> 01:07:26,083
[man 3] Tell us about Hollywood!

1191
01:07:26,166 --> 01:07:29,375
Are the studios moving
to Florida like they've been saying?

1192
01:07:29,458 --> 01:07:30,750
[Sinclair] Absurd, sir.

1193
01:07:30,833 --> 01:07:34,000
If they were serious,
why have the brothers Warner broken ground

1194
01:07:34,083 --> 01:07:36,875
on an additional
100,000 square feet of sound stages?

1195
01:07:37,458 --> 01:07:42,041
While MGM has the most contracts
with stars in their history.

1196
01:07:42,541 --> 01:07:44,708
Well, he may not get Mayer's vote…

1197
01:07:44,791 --> 01:07:45,958
[Sinclair] Jobs will be here…

1198
01:07:46,041 --> 01:07:47,083
…but he gets mine.

1199
01:07:47,166 --> 01:07:48,458
…In California.

1200
01:07:48,958 --> 01:07:50,416
Thank you all for coming.

1201
01:07:50,500 --> 01:07:52,416
[crowd applauding and cheering]

1202
01:07:56,333 --> 01:07:58,833
[Houseman] Well, I have seen
some miracles in my day,

1203
01:07:58,916 --> 01:08:02,208
but I have over 200 pages in 13 days.

1204
01:08:02,291 --> 01:08:03,958
I never would've thought it possible.

1205
01:08:05,083 --> 01:08:08,541
- To support devices.
- Support devices.

1206
01:08:13,916 --> 01:08:17,125
[exhales] It's good, Mank. Damn good.

1207
01:08:17,208 --> 01:08:20,208
I have it on highest authority
it's the best thing he's ever done.

1208
01:08:20,958 --> 01:08:22,958
[Houseman] As a moving picture,
it's more than good.

1209
01:08:23,041 --> 01:08:28,458
I'm at a loss to even express
how wealth and influence can crush a man.

1210
01:08:28,541 --> 01:08:31,208
It's Lear. The dark night of the soul.

1211
01:08:31,708 --> 01:08:33,500
And I was completely mistaken.

1212
01:08:33,583 --> 01:08:37,083
The shifting point of view
is revolutionary.

1213
01:08:37,166 --> 01:08:40,000
I never thought
one could care so much about a sled.

1214
01:08:40,583 --> 01:08:42,250
It's kind of you to say.

1215
01:08:42,333 --> 01:08:43,166
But.

1216
01:08:43,250 --> 01:08:45,625
[laughing] "But," again.

1217
01:08:45,708 --> 01:08:49,625
It's 327 pages.
An embarrassment of riches.

1218
01:08:49,708 --> 01:08:53,250
When the Dog-Faced Boy gets here,
there will be plenty of branches to prune.

1219
01:08:53,333 --> 01:08:57,750
"A far too long screenplay for the ages."
John Houseman.

1220
01:08:57,833 --> 01:08:59,166
[chuckles]

1221
01:08:59,250 --> 01:09:03,500
I built him a watertight narrative
and a suggested destination.

1222
01:09:04,166 --> 01:09:06,291
Where he takes it, that's his job.

1223
01:09:13,041 --> 01:09:16,000
I was, uh, looking to get you paid.

1224
01:09:16,791 --> 01:09:19,125
I don't know if you were aware or not.

1225
01:09:21,083 --> 01:09:24,250
You signed your rights to the Mercury.
You agreed not to take screen credit.

1226
01:09:24,333 --> 01:09:27,416
- I needed the work.
- You may want to reconsider.

1227
01:09:27,500 --> 01:09:33,458
All I currently want is a real shower,
a cocktail, and my Sara to wake up to.

1228
01:09:33,541 --> 01:09:34,666
Are you certain?

1229
01:09:36,166 --> 01:09:37,166
It worked out.

1230
01:09:42,750 --> 01:09:46,541
Mank, if I may be so bold, why Hearst?

1231
01:09:47,750 --> 01:09:50,333
Lord knows,
outside his own blonde Betty Boop,

1232
01:09:50,416 --> 01:09:52,750
you were always
his favorite dinner partner.

1233
01:09:55,083 --> 01:10:01,666
John, are you familiar with the parable
of the organ grinder's monkey?

1234
01:10:08,333 --> 01:10:09,250
[typewriter dings]

1235
01:10:09,333 --> 01:10:11,333
[peppy music playing over radio]

1236
01:10:19,666 --> 01:10:22,500
[melancholy music playing]

1237
01:10:27,875 --> 01:10:29,875
[peppy music resumes]

1238
01:10:34,166 --> 01:10:36,166
[indistinct chatter over radio]

1239
01:10:41,166 --> 01:10:43,083
[tuning radio]

1240
01:10:43,166 --> 01:10:44,958
[reporter] Today, our roving reporter

1241
01:10:45,041 --> 01:10:47,208
is visiting Mrs. Elsie Hammontree
of Azusa.

1242
01:10:47,291 --> 01:10:51,083
Elsie, would you mind telling the folks
at home why you're voting Republican?

1243
01:10:51,166 --> 01:10:53,041
[Elsie] Young man, I'm a widow,

1244
01:10:53,125 --> 01:10:56,916
and this little home may not be much,
but it's all I have left.

1245
01:10:57,000 --> 01:10:59,875
- And I intend to protect it.
- Poor old woman.

1246
01:10:59,958 --> 01:11:03,250
[reporter] Would you mind telling folks
why you're voting for Frank Merriam?

1247
01:11:03,333 --> 01:11:07,416
[Elsie] Well, I'm voting for Frank Merriam
because I wanna keep our way of life…

1248
01:11:07,500 --> 01:11:08,791
I know that voice.

1249
01:11:10,041 --> 01:11:11,083
It is familiar.

1250
01:11:11,583 --> 01:11:13,333
That's Maude Anderson.

1251
01:11:13,416 --> 01:11:16,833
- [Elsie] I don't know much…
- It is. Aunt Bertha from Lonely Trails.

1252
01:11:16,916 --> 01:11:20,958
Well, she's no widow.
And she's absurdly rich.

1253
01:11:21,458 --> 01:11:25,250
That "poor old woman" has got
enough oil wells south of El Segundo

1254
01:11:25,333 --> 01:11:26,750
to buy us both, Schnutz.

1255
01:11:26,833 --> 01:11:29,083
- [radio tuning]
- [upbeat jazz music playing]

1256
01:11:29,166 --> 01:11:33,416
I'd know that whiskey gargle anywhere.
[chuckles]

1257
01:11:47,125 --> 01:11:49,375
Hey, Mank.

1258
01:11:49,458 --> 01:11:50,875
[Mank] Well, well.

1259
01:11:50,958 --> 01:11:53,250
Looks like you found work, C.C.

1260
01:11:53,750 --> 01:11:57,000
Don't nose it around,
but yeah, just in the nick.

1261
01:11:58,666 --> 01:12:00,458
- Who's hiring?
- MGM.

1262
01:12:01,166 --> 01:12:04,958
They cleaned out the Washington
and Culver gates like a dose of Ex-Lax.

1263
01:12:05,041 --> 01:12:07,083
Grady gets a speaking part.

1264
01:12:07,166 --> 01:12:09,375
They told us to come dressed as we are.

1265
01:12:09,458 --> 01:12:13,375
I don't know who thought of it,
but it keeps a lot of us off the streets.

1266
01:12:15,208 --> 01:12:16,916
Don't forget to vote.

1267
01:12:18,041 --> 01:12:20,166
[laughs] Okay.

1268
01:12:20,250 --> 01:12:22,208
[Kaufman] He's confused
with Sinclair Lewis.

1269
01:12:22,291 --> 01:12:26,166
So many hicks think he wrote Elmer Gantry,
it's cost him the Dust Bowl vote.

1270
01:12:26,250 --> 01:12:27,375
I'm in.

1271
01:12:27,458 --> 01:12:29,958
Poor sap.
Not only has he got no money,

1272
01:12:30,041 --> 01:12:32,333
he's an idealist, for Christ's sakes.

1273
01:12:32,416 --> 01:12:34,958
Talk about political handicaps. I'm out.

1274
01:12:35,041 --> 01:12:37,083
[Perelman] Times says
he'll lose by 200,000.

1275
01:12:37,166 --> 01:12:39,458
It's amazing
what $10 million against him bought.

1276
01:12:39,541 --> 01:12:40,375
Raise.

1277
01:12:40,458 --> 01:12:43,000
That's what he gets
for surrounding himself with amateurs.

1278
01:12:43,083 --> 01:12:44,708
They not only charge admission to rallies,

1279
01:12:44,791 --> 01:12:47,625
they pass a plate
once the suckers are inside.

1280
01:12:47,708 --> 01:12:48,666
Call.

1281
01:12:48,750 --> 01:12:51,791
He's the most famous schlub
after FDR, Hitler, and Mussolini.

1282
01:12:51,875 --> 01:12:53,416
That oughta count for something.

1283
01:12:53,500 --> 01:12:55,583
- Hiya, Shell, sit in.
- [Hecht] The bookies know.

1284
01:12:55,666 --> 01:12:57,708
Soon as old Maude's
radio spots started running,

1285
01:12:57,791 --> 01:13:01,291
the odds went from 7-5 for to 2-1 against.

1286
01:13:01,375 --> 01:13:04,875
Could you effete political snobs
please shut up and play?

1287
01:13:04,958 --> 01:13:06,083
Mank, can I talk to you?

1288
01:13:06,166 --> 01:13:09,958
I'll see you guys
and bump you two big ones.

1289
01:13:10,041 --> 01:13:11,125
It's important.

1290
01:13:11,208 --> 01:13:13,333
What, now, Shelly?

1291
01:13:14,125 --> 01:13:16,666
[sighs] It better be.

1292
01:13:17,666 --> 01:13:20,291
That's the first good hand
I've had all day.

1293
01:13:22,333 --> 01:13:24,875
I didn't know he knew
what a good hand looked like.

1294
01:13:24,958 --> 01:13:26,041
[Mank] I'm out.

1295
01:13:26,541 --> 01:13:29,083
[reporter on film] Mind telling
who you favor in this election?

1296
01:13:29,166 --> 01:13:31,458
[man 1] I'm going to vote
for Frank Merriam.

1297
01:13:31,541 --> 01:13:33,375
[reporter] Tell us your principal reason.

1298
01:13:33,458 --> 01:13:36,458
Well, I want Merriam because I want a job.

1299
01:13:36,541 --> 01:13:39,583
If you drive all the capital
out of the country, who's gonna pay us?

1300
01:13:39,666 --> 01:13:42,333
[reporter] You think Merriam
would be safest for all of us?

1301
01:13:42,416 --> 01:13:43,458
[man 1] Absolutely.

1302
01:13:44,041 --> 01:13:46,833
It's no time
to trade horses in the middle of a stream.

1303
01:13:46,916 --> 01:13:49,166
[reporter] Mr. Butler,
are you voting in the election?

1304
01:13:49,250 --> 01:13:51,500
- [Butler] I am.
- [reporter] Who would you vote for?

1305
01:13:51,583 --> 01:13:53,583
I'm sure
that I'm gonna vote for Mr. Sinclair.

1306
01:13:53,666 --> 01:13:55,708
[reporter] You must have a good reason.

1307
01:13:55,791 --> 01:13:58,916
Mr. Sinclair's got something new.
He got that EPIC Plan.

1308
01:13:59,000 --> 01:14:02,375
I feel as though it's time
we should try something new out again.

1309
01:14:02,458 --> 01:14:04,416
I need prosperity.

1310
01:14:04,500 --> 01:14:06,791
[man 2] Well, first of all,
I'm an American,

1311
01:14:06,875 --> 01:14:08,750
and I believe that Mr. Merriam

1312
01:14:08,833 --> 01:14:13,583
will support all the foundations
and principles

1313
01:14:13,666 --> 01:14:16,916
that this country has stood for
in the past 150 years.

1314
01:14:17,000 --> 01:14:18,875
I have a job now, and I wanna keep it.

1315
01:14:18,958 --> 01:14:21,916
My wife and I love California,
and we'd like to stay.

1316
01:14:22,000 --> 01:14:24,666
But in case we should have to leave,

1317
01:14:24,750 --> 01:14:27,250
I'd like to have
at least a couple dollars.

1318
01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:28,916
[director] Cut.

1319
01:14:29,000 --> 01:14:31,708
[indistinct chatter]

1320
01:14:34,750 --> 01:14:38,291
[reporter] Mrs. Hammontree, tell the folks
why you're voting for Frank Merriam.

1321
01:14:38,375 --> 01:14:41,375
Well, I'm voting for Frank Merriam
because I wanna keep our way of life.

1322
01:14:41,458 --> 01:14:44,083
[reporter] A Democrat
wouldn't protect your way of life?

1323
01:14:44,166 --> 01:14:46,416
[scoffs] Why, that man's a socialist.

1324
01:14:46,500 --> 01:14:50,750
I don't know much about politics,
but I do know this.

1325
01:14:50,833 --> 01:14:52,916
If Upton Sinclair wins this election,

1326
01:14:53,000 --> 01:14:56,083
private ownership in California
won't amount to a hill o' beans.

1327
01:14:56,666 --> 01:15:00,416
[in faux Russian accent] Well, we need
complete rejuvenation of our system,

1328
01:15:00,500 --> 01:15:02,500
so I vote for Comrade Upton.

1329
01:15:02,583 --> 01:15:05,666
His system work in Russia, why not here?

1330
01:15:05,750 --> 01:15:07,250
[director] Cut. Do it again.

1331
01:15:08,375 --> 01:15:09,958
- [sighs]
- What'd you think?

1332
01:15:10,916 --> 01:15:13,916
Truthfully, Shelly,
if the performances were any better,

1333
01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:15,500
you'd be ashamed of yourself.

1334
01:15:15,583 --> 01:15:17,666
- Only half of 'em were actors.
- [sighs]

1335
01:15:17,750 --> 01:15:21,416
It's got that raw newsreel feel,
hasn't it?

1336
01:15:21,916 --> 01:15:26,500
- But it isn't news and it isn't real.
- I wasn't looking for an ethical debate.

1337
01:15:26,583 --> 01:15:29,541
- When did they cook this up?
- At a meeting in production.

1338
01:15:29,625 --> 01:15:33,375
They were passing around a pamphlet
Sinclair wrote called "Ending Poverty in…"

1339
01:15:33,458 --> 01:15:36,166
"America's unemployed
will invade the Golden State."

1340
01:15:36,250 --> 01:15:39,583
- Mayer was giddy to use it against him.
- Yeah, I bet he was.

1341
01:15:40,958 --> 01:15:44,375
[sighs] It's enough to persuade me
that a writer is more of a menace

1342
01:15:44,458 --> 01:15:46,875
to an unsuspecting public
than a party hack.

1343
01:15:46,958 --> 01:15:49,916
- Manky... [spills drink, inhales sharply]
- You okay?

1344
01:15:51,125 --> 01:15:52,250
Just nerves.

1345
01:15:53,791 --> 01:15:56,916
If it's bothering you, Shelly,
why get involved?

1346
01:15:58,125 --> 01:15:59,708
They gave me a chance to direct.

1347
01:16:03,791 --> 01:16:07,166
You don't think anyone old enough
to vote is gonna buy this shit?

1348
01:16:07,250 --> 01:16:10,458
Only the ones who believe
King Kong is ten stories tall

1349
01:16:10,541 --> 01:16:13,083
or Mary Pickford a virgin at 40.

1350
01:16:14,541 --> 01:16:15,791
[door opens]

1351
01:16:25,458 --> 01:16:27,125
Thanks, Cedric. These are fine.

1352
01:16:32,458 --> 01:16:35,375
I've just watched our Sinclair films.

1353
01:16:35,458 --> 01:16:38,041
Ah. What did you think?

1354
01:16:38,125 --> 01:16:41,625
With all due respect to Shelly,
King Kong they ain't.

1355
01:16:43,291 --> 01:16:45,000
Though I do think footage

1356
01:16:45,083 --> 01:16:48,666
of invading hobos
has a certain xenophobic power

1357
01:16:48,750 --> 01:16:52,875
when front-paged in the Times
and backed by those tacky billboards.

1358
01:16:52,958 --> 01:16:57,000
Shelly got a chance to direct,
and I canceled your $12,000 gambling debt.

1359
01:16:57,083 --> 01:16:59,625
I'd call that a fair return
on a one-minute lecture

1360
01:16:59,708 --> 01:17:01,333
for uninspired studio chieftains.

1361
01:17:02,750 --> 01:17:05,250
Your director's been stricken
with a bout of conscience.

1362
01:17:05,333 --> 01:17:07,291
I'm sure he'll tell me himself.

1363
01:17:09,666 --> 01:17:12,333
Don't do this, Irving.

1364
01:17:14,083 --> 01:17:17,333
When I was just a boy passing out
socialist leaflets in the Bronx,

1365
01:17:17,416 --> 01:17:20,791
a couple Tammany goons came
to show me the error of my ways.

1366
01:17:20,875 --> 01:17:22,750
And one of them crushed my testicles

1367
01:17:22,833 --> 01:17:26,333
until I volunteered to distribute
my wares into the East River.

1368
01:17:26,416 --> 01:17:30,458
That's politics. I didn't invent it,
I don't apologize for it.

1369
01:17:35,083 --> 01:17:36,958
Mayer's not paying for this.

1370
01:17:37,958 --> 01:17:39,625
He never pays for anything.

1371
01:17:43,166 --> 01:17:44,250
Willie?

1372
01:17:46,625 --> 01:17:50,750
- Marion might be interested.
- Well, you're gonna have to hurry.

1373
01:17:50,833 --> 01:17:53,583
Mayer's over there now
giving her the company kiss-off.

1374
01:17:54,666 --> 01:17:55,875
Oh, haven't you heard?

1375
01:17:57,541 --> 01:18:01,208
She's taking her playpen
to Warner Bros. Permanently.

1376
01:18:02,250 --> 01:18:03,208
Warner's?

1377
01:18:03,708 --> 01:18:05,541
I wouldn't let her do Marie Antoinette.

1378
01:18:06,041 --> 01:18:07,500
Goldwyn's right for once.

1379
01:18:07,583 --> 01:18:10,041
[mimics Goldwyn]
"A comedienne in that role is to laugh."

1380
01:18:10,916 --> 01:18:13,916
Besides, her pictures
haven't made a dime in a decade.

1381
01:18:14,625 --> 01:18:16,375
Congratulations, Irving.

1382
01:18:17,750 --> 01:18:18,750
I know what I am, Mank.

1383
01:18:19,916 --> 01:18:22,166
When I come to work,
I don't consider it slumming.

1384
01:18:22,250 --> 01:18:24,666
I don't use humor
to keep myself above the fray.

1385
01:18:24,750 --> 01:18:29,791
And I go to the mat for what I believe in.
I haven't the time to do otherwise.

1386
01:18:31,041 --> 01:18:32,083
But you, sir,

1387
01:18:33,000 --> 01:18:37,000
how formidable people like you might be
if they actually gave at the office.

1388
01:18:38,416 --> 01:18:39,583
Close the door.

1389
01:18:41,083 --> 01:18:43,541
- [indistinct chatter]
- [camera flashbulbs crackling]

1390
01:18:50,250 --> 01:18:52,458
[Mank panting]

1391
01:18:57,625 --> 01:18:59,875
[photographer] Oh,
that's a beautiful shot right there.

1392
01:19:01,958 --> 01:19:03,000
[sighs]

1393
01:19:24,958 --> 01:19:27,375
Mank! Are you okay?

1394
01:19:27,958 --> 01:19:30,791
No, that almost killed me.
Where's Willie?

1395
01:19:31,416 --> 01:19:32,541
Cairo, I think.

1396
01:19:32,625 --> 01:19:35,791
- Can you phone him?
- I don't phone him, he phones me.

1397
01:19:35,875 --> 01:19:36,958
When's he due back?

1398
01:19:37,041 --> 01:19:39,916
After November 6th.
I'm joining him in Europe next week.

1399
01:19:42,125 --> 01:19:45,333
Marion, I need a favor.
It's just a little joke on Willie.

1400
01:19:45,416 --> 01:19:46,666
Sure, Mank, anything.

1401
01:19:46,750 --> 01:19:49,750
I want you to go back and tell Mayer

1402
01:19:49,833 --> 01:19:53,458
Willie wants
the phony Sinclair films pulled.

1403
01:19:55,625 --> 01:19:57,458
Which phony Sinclair films?

1404
01:19:57,541 --> 01:20:00,791
There isn't time to explain.
I just need you to tell him that.

1405
01:20:00,875 --> 01:20:03,250
Oh, I couldn't, not even as a joke.

1406
01:20:03,333 --> 01:20:06,166
- [Mank] Why not?
- You know I don't lie.

1407
01:20:06,916 --> 01:20:09,458
And that's why he'd believe you.
[chuckles]

1408
01:20:09,541 --> 01:20:12,625
Marion, please,
you're not in convent school anymore.

1409
01:20:16,083 --> 01:20:20,166
- I'm sorry. I… I know it's silly, but...
- But what? Why not?

1410
01:20:20,250 --> 01:20:24,500
- Promise you won't laugh.
- I promise I won't laugh.

1411
01:20:25,166 --> 01:20:27,416
- My exit.
- What?

1412
01:20:28,833 --> 01:20:30,875
I already made my exit.

1413
01:20:34,666 --> 01:20:35,666
[sighs]

1414
01:20:47,291 --> 01:20:50,291
[laughing uproariously]

1415
01:21:01,166 --> 01:21:03,291
- [Rita] Manky!
- Whatie?

1416
01:21:03,375 --> 01:21:07,833
- It's an ash-throated flycatcher!
- Congratulations! Best kind.

1417
01:21:08,916 --> 01:21:09,916
What can I say?

1418
01:21:10,708 --> 01:21:11,708
She's my aunt.

1419
01:21:11,791 --> 01:21:15,750
- Oh, it's not about her, it's about him.
- Oh?

1420
01:21:15,833 --> 01:21:19,791
- Or rather, it's him, but it's not her.
- It isn't?

1421
01:21:19,875 --> 01:21:23,000
The lonely showgirl, trapped in a castle,
doing jigsaw puzzles.

1422
01:21:23,083 --> 01:21:27,166
It's more, her as people
who don't know her imagine her to be.

1423
01:21:27,250 --> 01:21:28,375
I see.

1424
01:21:29,625 --> 01:21:32,625
It's her as they imagine her,
but it's him as you knew him.

1425
01:21:32,708 --> 01:21:35,125
- Damn it, Charlie.
- You asked me out here.

1426
01:21:35,208 --> 01:21:37,375
I was honored
to come and read your latest.

1427
01:21:37,958 --> 01:21:41,041
- Is this a test?
- A test? Of what?

1428
01:21:41,833 --> 01:21:44,708
- Friendship? Loyalty?
- Oh, come now.

1429
01:21:44,791 --> 01:21:46,958
Or just your way
of avoiding responsibility?

1430
01:21:48,000 --> 01:21:49,000
What do you mean?

1431
01:21:49,083 --> 01:21:52,500
Are you hoping I might absolve you
of such a personal betrayal?

1432
01:21:54,333 --> 01:21:55,500
I won't give you that.

1433
01:21:59,083 --> 01:22:01,000
Are you going to say anything?

1434
01:22:03,000 --> 01:22:04,500
[sighs]

1435
01:22:06,041 --> 01:22:09,500
- I have to think about it.
- Why?

1436
01:22:09,583 --> 01:22:12,208
'Cause I haven't made up my mind
how she might react.

1437
01:22:12,291 --> 01:22:14,041
What does instinct tell you?

1438
01:22:14,125 --> 01:22:15,666
[Lederer] It's mighty strong medicine

1439
01:22:15,750 --> 01:22:18,250
for a lifetime
of starry-eyed self-absorption.

1440
01:22:18,333 --> 01:22:21,458
It's one of those cures
that could be worse than the disease.

1441
01:22:21,541 --> 01:22:23,875
But you, of all people,
should know about that.

1442
01:22:27,541 --> 01:22:29,750
[car driving away]

1443
01:22:31,333 --> 01:22:32,750
He took the script?

1444
01:22:33,333 --> 01:22:34,541
Uh-huh.

1445
01:22:35,583 --> 01:22:36,583
Will he show it to her?

1446
01:22:39,916 --> 01:22:40,958
[Mank] I don't know.

1447
01:22:42,291 --> 01:22:43,583
[Rita] Do you want him to?

1448
01:22:46,000 --> 01:22:47,000
I don't know.

1449
01:22:57,291 --> 01:22:59,208
[fast jazz drumbeat playing]

1450
01:22:59,291 --> 01:23:01,208
[electricity crackling]

1451
01:23:01,291 --> 01:23:03,291
[indistinct chatter]

1452
01:23:05,708 --> 01:23:06,791
[typewriter dings]

1453
01:23:20,625 --> 01:23:23,958
- [upbeat jazz music playing]
- Sinclair is yesterday's fishwrap.

1454
01:23:24,916 --> 01:23:26,458
Never stood a chance.

1455
01:23:27,625 --> 01:23:28,625
Make up your mind.

1456
01:23:28,708 --> 01:23:31,666
Are we home licking our wounds
or here making the best of it?

1457
01:23:32,666 --> 01:23:34,416
We're making the best of it.

1458
01:23:37,166 --> 01:23:39,583
- Good evening. Name?
- Mankiewicz.

1459
01:23:39,666 --> 01:23:40,750
Sorry, what was that?

1460
01:23:40,833 --> 01:23:44,125
M-A-N-K-I-E-W-I-C, and outta nowhere, a Z.

1461
01:23:44,208 --> 01:23:47,291
- Table 14.
- Ends of the earth. Clean exit.

1462
01:23:47,375 --> 01:23:49,166
Mankiewicz, Herman.

1463
01:23:50,333 --> 01:23:53,708
Oh, terribly sorry.
Table one. Right this way.

1464
01:23:55,875 --> 01:23:58,916
If you can't say something nice,
don't say anything at all.

1465
01:24:00,041 --> 01:24:01,375
[camera flashbulbs crackling]

1466
01:24:11,291 --> 01:24:12,833
- Table one.
- [woman] Sara!

1467
01:24:12,916 --> 01:24:15,583
Good grief. Look who's here.
How about that?

1468
01:24:15,666 --> 01:24:18,500
- Sara.
- [Mayer] What a loyal friend you are.

1469
01:24:18,583 --> 01:24:21,416
- I never thought we would see Mank.
- I'm surprised.

1470
01:24:21,500 --> 01:24:23,500
I would've imagined you in pajamas by now.

1471
01:24:23,583 --> 01:24:26,375
Mank, turns out we have
the same dentist on Camden.

1472
01:24:26,458 --> 01:24:29,458
Sara, we have to plan
a day of shopping and catch up.

1473
01:24:29,541 --> 01:24:32,250
Herman, I met your brother.
He's a chip off the old block.

1474
01:24:32,333 --> 01:24:33,416
Quite handsome.

1475
01:24:37,333 --> 01:24:38,625
Please, sit.

1476
01:24:41,000 --> 01:24:44,041
I can't tell you how much it means.
I'm touched you'd come.

1477
01:24:44,125 --> 01:24:46,291
- [voice breaking] Thank you.
- [woman] Oh.

1478
01:24:48,458 --> 01:24:49,666
Why do I love you?

1479
01:24:56,833 --> 01:24:58,541
What's everyone else having?

1480
01:24:58,625 --> 01:25:00,791
- [all laughing]
- [sound fades out]

1481
01:25:00,875 --> 01:25:05,291
[upbeat jazz music continues playing]

1482
01:25:12,166 --> 01:25:14,583
[speaking indistinctly]

1483
01:25:25,291 --> 01:25:27,208
[radio announcer echoing]

1484
01:25:38,833 --> 01:25:42,458
- [Mayer] What a great night. Great result.
- I'll drink to that.

1485
01:25:42,541 --> 01:25:45,958
You see, if you just give people
what they need to know

1486
01:25:46,041 --> 01:25:49,958
in an emotional way,
you can expect they'll do the right thing.

1487
01:25:50,041 --> 01:25:51,666
I think what you mean,

1488
01:25:51,750 --> 01:25:54,125
"If you keep telling people
something untrue,

1489
01:25:54,208 --> 01:25:56,750
loud and long enough,
they're apt to believe it."

1490
01:25:56,833 --> 01:25:58,083
That's not what he was saying.

1491
01:25:58,166 --> 01:26:01,000
What's going on here?
Are we quoting Goebbels?

1492
01:26:01,083 --> 01:26:03,833
- I'd like to debate that with L.B.
- I'd like to see that.

1493
01:26:03,916 --> 01:26:05,583
Mank. Have another.

1494
01:26:05,666 --> 01:26:08,250
[Mank] It's early. Every vote counts.

1495
01:26:08,333 --> 01:26:11,250
Maybe the informed
of California were late leaving work.

1496
01:26:11,750 --> 01:26:14,125
The last I heard, Irving,
it's still a democracy.

1497
01:26:14,208 --> 01:26:16,291
- Of the people.
- By the people.

1498
01:26:16,375 --> 01:26:18,166
What are you two talking about?

1499
01:26:18,250 --> 01:26:20,875
[Mank] I tell you what, how about…

1500
01:26:22,166 --> 01:26:23,166
Double or nothin'?

1501
01:26:23,250 --> 01:26:25,041
- [Mayer] What's he saying?
- Herman.

1502
01:26:26,458 --> 01:26:28,375
You really will bet on anything.

1503
01:26:29,500 --> 01:26:31,750
Keep your money. I'm happy enough

1504
01:26:31,833 --> 01:26:34,625
just to nail
that utopian son of a bitch to the wall.

1505
01:26:34,708 --> 01:26:37,458
I told you. Your obligation
was canceled out of gratitude.

1506
01:26:38,250 --> 01:26:39,458
Wait a minute. What?

1507
01:26:40,416 --> 01:26:44,208
He wants to wager double or nothin'
on a debt he doesn't even owe us?

1508
01:26:44,291 --> 01:26:45,291
Mank.

1509
01:26:45,375 --> 01:26:48,250
It's a matter of principle, L.B.
You wouldn't understand.

1510
01:26:49,875 --> 01:26:54,125
I understand plenty. I'll take that bet.

1511
01:26:55,500 --> 01:26:58,125
Okay, Mank, you're on.
Twenty-four grand or nothing.

1512
01:27:02,875 --> 01:27:04,083
Excuse me.

1513
01:27:05,333 --> 01:27:06,875
I'm going to throw up.

1514
01:27:16,541 --> 01:27:20,166
[distorted radio announcer
delivering election results]

1515
01:27:20,250 --> 01:27:21,291
[man laughing]

1516
01:27:23,166 --> 01:27:27,791
- [unsettling music playing]
- [distorted election report continues]

1517
01:27:55,791 --> 01:27:57,791
[romantic music playing]

1518
01:28:18,666 --> 01:28:19,833
I needed some air.

1519
01:28:36,458 --> 01:28:38,208
Why do you love me?

1520
01:28:52,041 --> 01:28:54,000
Excuse me, friends.

1521
01:28:54,750 --> 01:28:55,791
[clears throat]

1522
01:28:55,875 --> 01:29:00,166
The final, incomplete, count
for tonight is…

1523
01:29:01,958 --> 01:29:05,333
- Upton Sinclair, the lousy Bolshevik…
- [man booing]

1524
01:29:06,500 --> 01:29:09,625
…728,653.

1525
01:29:10,666 --> 01:29:11,791
Frank Merriam…

1526
01:29:11,875 --> 01:29:13,083
[guests cheering]

1527
01:29:13,166 --> 01:29:15,541
…the good Republican,

1528
01:29:15,625 --> 01:29:18,625
- 948,814.
- [all cheering loudly]

1529
01:29:18,708 --> 01:29:21,875
My friends! My friends!

1530
01:29:21,958 --> 01:29:25,583
Everybody get up and sing with me!

1531
01:29:25,666 --> 01:29:28,166
Sing with me! Everybody, up and sing!

1532
01:29:29,000 --> 01:29:32,916
♪ O beautiful for spacious skies ♪

1533
01:29:33,000 --> 01:29:34,791
It was a team effort. Thanks.

1534
01:29:34,875 --> 01:29:39,375
♪ For amber waves of grain ♪

1535
01:29:40,000 --> 01:29:45,041
♪ For purple mountain majesties… ♪

1536
01:29:46,125 --> 01:29:48,833
Uh, Mr. Mankiewicz,
I'm so sorry to bother you,

1537
01:29:48,916 --> 01:29:51,875
but there's a telephone call for you.
Right back this way.

1538
01:29:52,791 --> 01:29:55,208
♪ America… ♪

1539
01:29:57,083 --> 01:29:59,375
- Hello.
- Mank, it's Shelly.

1540
01:29:59,458 --> 01:30:00,541
It's Shelly.

1541
01:30:00,625 --> 01:30:03,750
- [slurring] He lost, Mank.
- [Mank] Yeah, it's been a bad night.

1542
01:30:05,375 --> 01:30:06,250
It's my fault.

1543
01:30:06,333 --> 01:30:10,833
- Oh, easy, fella, you only voted once.
- He was just on the radio.

1544
01:30:10,916 --> 01:30:15,416
He said the phony newsreels
cost him the election.

1545
01:30:15,500 --> 01:30:17,208
That shows how naive he is.

1546
01:30:17,291 --> 01:30:20,208
FDR cost him the election
by staying on the sidelines.

1547
01:30:20,291 --> 01:30:22,916
- Sleep it off.
- I'm not at home.

1548
01:30:23,000 --> 01:30:24,916
Where are you? Let me call you a cab.

1549
01:30:25,500 --> 01:30:28,041
Never mind.
I'll take the Pasadena Freeway.

1550
01:30:28,125 --> 01:30:30,541
Nobody'd be on it election night.

1551
01:30:31,333 --> 01:30:32,583
Hello?

1552
01:30:32,666 --> 01:30:33,583
Hello?

1553
01:30:36,541 --> 01:30:40,041
- [operator] How may I direct your call?
- Normandie, 4761.

1554
01:30:40,750 --> 01:30:42,166
He's shit-faced.

1555
01:30:42,250 --> 01:30:44,416
- [phone rings]
- Shell, is that you?

1556
01:30:44,500 --> 01:30:47,166
- It's Herman Mankiewicz. Where is he?
- [sighs]

1557
01:30:47,250 --> 01:30:49,458
[wife] I don't know. I'm so worried.

1558
01:30:49,541 --> 01:30:53,458
He left here very upset,
and he's got a pistol with him.

1559
01:30:53,541 --> 01:30:56,000
Don't worry, Fay. I'll find him.

1560
01:30:56,083 --> 01:30:57,833
- Eve.
- What?

1561
01:30:58,500 --> 01:31:01,708
- I'm Eve. Fay was his first.
- I'll find him.

1562
01:31:01,791 --> 01:31:03,083
- [sighs]
- [hangs up]

1563
01:31:05,833 --> 01:31:10,250
Is Houseman coming back?
I never thought I'd miss him.

1564
01:31:11,291 --> 01:31:13,958
He and the wunderkind
are cutting the first draft.

1565
01:31:14,041 --> 01:31:16,916
A form of creative vivisection.

1566
01:31:17,000 --> 01:31:20,041
Vital organs are exposed,
nothing is learned,

1567
01:31:20,125 --> 01:31:22,000
the patient dies on the table.

1568
01:31:22,083 --> 01:31:24,500
- [car approaching]
- [dog barking]

1569
01:31:27,291 --> 01:31:29,250
What have we here?

1570
01:31:31,583 --> 01:31:36,791
Why, it's a puffed-up,
sharp-tailed, red-ruffled magpie.

1571
01:31:36,875 --> 01:31:38,125
A whatie?

1572
01:31:58,666 --> 01:32:03,375
- How do you like the Mojave?
- God's answer for drunks and reprobates.

1573
01:32:03,458 --> 01:32:05,416
Perfect place to dry out.

1574
01:32:05,500 --> 01:32:08,875
- How's that working?
- It didn't take. Cheers.

1575
01:32:09,458 --> 01:32:10,583
L'chaim.

1576
01:32:17,291 --> 01:32:18,458
Why are you doing this, Herm?

1577
01:32:19,083 --> 01:32:21,583
- Posterity.
- Posterity, my ass.

1578
01:32:21,666 --> 01:32:23,958
- From the original Latin.
- Don't patronize me.

1579
01:32:24,041 --> 01:32:25,708
My Latin grades were better than yours.

1580
01:32:25,791 --> 01:32:27,625
Bibamus, moriendum est.

1581
01:32:32,625 --> 01:32:34,708
I read your little script.

1582
01:32:36,375 --> 01:32:37,708
News travels fast.

1583
01:32:37,791 --> 01:32:39,250
Even without the title page,

1584
01:32:39,333 --> 01:32:41,625
you don't need
to be Philip Marlowe to know who wrote it.

1585
01:32:41,708 --> 01:32:44,125
[grunts] Have at it.

1586
01:32:44,791 --> 01:32:46,125
It's very…

1587
01:32:48,208 --> 01:32:49,041
Complicated.

1588
01:32:49,125 --> 01:32:50,833
Well, thanks for coming out.

1589
01:32:51,833 --> 01:32:53,708
Herman, this is me.

1590
01:32:54,333 --> 01:32:57,458
You pick a fight with Willie,
you are finished.

1591
01:32:57,541 --> 01:32:59,458
Mayer can't save you. Nobody can.

1592
01:32:59,541 --> 01:33:01,833
Especially the boy genius from New York.

1593
01:33:01,916 --> 01:33:05,875
- You're far too political, Joe.
- Self-preservation is not politics.

1594
01:33:06,458 --> 01:33:07,791
Him, I get.

1595
01:33:08,541 --> 01:33:10,500
But what did Marion ever do
to deserve this?

1596
01:33:10,583 --> 01:33:12,291
It's not her!

1597
01:33:13,958 --> 01:33:17,500
You know better than anyone,
not all characters are headliners.

1598
01:33:17,583 --> 01:33:18,875
Some are secondary.

1599
01:33:18,958 --> 01:33:22,875
Well, that's why I'm here.
On behalf of the secondary characters.

1600
01:33:25,083 --> 01:33:27,333
I thought you'd wanna know
there's a rumor in town

1601
01:33:27,416 --> 01:33:28,500
you're out to get Hearst

1602
01:33:28,583 --> 01:33:30,791
because they dropped you
from L.B.'s payroll,

1603
01:33:30,875 --> 01:33:32,541
that they didn't want you around anymore.

1604
01:33:32,625 --> 01:33:34,875
Don't believe everything
you hear at Schwab's.

1605
01:33:34,958 --> 01:33:37,916
Hey, you made yourself court jester.

1606
01:33:40,375 --> 01:33:42,083
Someone had to say it.

1607
01:33:51,208 --> 01:33:55,791
People are speculating Rosebud
is W.R.'s pet name for Marion's genitalia.

1608
01:33:55,875 --> 01:33:57,833
Now, I know you'd never stoop to that.

1609
01:33:57,916 --> 01:33:59,750
Only because I hadn't heard.

1610
01:33:59,833 --> 01:34:04,208
[both laughing]

1611
01:34:07,666 --> 01:34:08,666
[sighs]

1612
01:34:15,166 --> 01:34:18,208
[Mank] Charlie tells me
you're up for Thalberg's old job.

1613
01:34:18,291 --> 01:34:20,875
- [Joe] Not anymore.
- Did I bollix that?

1614
01:34:20,958 --> 01:34:24,250
Don't flatter yourself, Herman.
I did it all alone.

1615
01:34:24,333 --> 01:34:25,416
Now, there's a first.

1616
01:34:25,500 --> 01:34:29,208
I exposed myself,
not entirely metaphorically, in court.

1617
01:34:29,291 --> 01:34:30,166
Do tell.

1618
01:34:30,791 --> 01:34:34,458
Somebody was bitching about Mervyn Leroy
running over budget on Wizard of Oz.

1619
01:34:34,541 --> 01:34:37,333
- Goddamn movie again.
- I said, "Le Roy s'amuse."

1620
01:34:37,416 --> 01:34:39,416
I was then forced to spend
the next 20 minutes

1621
01:34:39,500 --> 01:34:41,125
having to explain that "Le Roy"

1622
01:34:41,208 --> 01:34:43,958
is "le roi" in French
and means "the king."

1623
01:34:44,041 --> 01:34:45,958
Or to be specific, François I,

1624
01:34:46,041 --> 01:34:48,083
and his royal habit of s'amus-ing himself

1625
01:34:48,166 --> 01:34:50,583
by diddling all the ladies of his court.

1626
01:34:50,666 --> 01:34:53,958
- [both laughing]
- [Mank coughing]

1627
01:34:55,416 --> 01:34:58,916
You know, Pop was right.
You should've been a professor.

1628
01:34:59,583 --> 01:35:02,250
Nobody knew
what the fuck I was talking about.

1629
01:35:02,750 --> 01:35:06,125
They say I was passed over
because I'm not a team player.

1630
01:35:06,791 --> 01:35:07,750
But I know better.

1631
01:35:08,250 --> 01:35:10,625
It was the goddamn French pun
that did me in.

1632
01:35:10,708 --> 01:35:12,250
[laughs]

1633
01:35:17,708 --> 01:35:19,208
I'm washed up, Joe.

1634
01:35:21,500 --> 01:35:23,916
[exhales] Have been for years.

1635
01:35:29,625 --> 01:35:31,708
It's the best thing you've ever written.

1636
01:35:40,125 --> 01:35:42,125
[car driving away]

1637
01:35:48,958 --> 01:35:50,458
A rare bird, that.

1638
01:35:52,833 --> 01:35:54,000
A Mankiewicz.

1639
01:36:08,166 --> 01:36:09,500
[typewriter dings]

1640
01:36:09,583 --> 01:36:10,958
[crickets chirping]

1641
01:36:17,750 --> 01:36:20,958
- You can't do it that way.
- Do what?

1642
01:36:21,041 --> 01:36:24,500
Kill yourself. I've tried. It takes years.

1643
01:36:25,000 --> 01:36:28,333
I was tired of doing inserts
and pick-up shots.

1644
01:36:28,416 --> 01:36:31,125
You're not the first person
to trade integrity

1645
01:36:31,208 --> 01:36:33,041
for a chance in the big chair.

1646
01:36:34,125 --> 01:36:36,875
Thalberg said this was your idea.

1647
01:36:36,958 --> 01:36:40,208
Sometimes my asides
are too clever by half.

1648
01:36:43,750 --> 01:36:45,708
Go home to Fay.

1649
01:36:45,791 --> 01:36:47,958
- Eve.
- Eve. Sorry.

1650
01:36:50,458 --> 01:36:54,250
Look at what we did.
We can't un-ring this bell.

1651
01:36:54,333 --> 01:36:56,208
We have to be vigilant.

1652
01:36:56,291 --> 01:36:57,791
In regards to?

1653
01:36:57,875 --> 01:36:59,750
People sitting in the dark,

1654
01:36:59,833 --> 01:37:02,583
willingly checking
their disbelief at the door.

1655
01:37:03,083 --> 01:37:05,583
We have a huge responsibility.

1656
01:37:07,250 --> 01:37:08,125
I got it.

1657
01:37:09,291 --> 01:37:10,250
Got what?

1658
01:37:11,750 --> 01:37:13,083
Parkinson's.

1659
01:37:17,000 --> 01:37:21,000
[sighs] No, Shelly.

1660
01:37:23,333 --> 01:37:24,541
[Mank sighs]

1661
01:37:27,250 --> 01:37:28,291
I'm so sorry.

1662
01:37:29,500 --> 01:37:31,000
First, you get the tremors,

1663
01:37:32,375 --> 01:37:34,583
and your muscles begin to fail.

1664
01:37:35,916 --> 01:37:38,291
Pretty soon, you can't get out of a chair.

1665
01:37:39,500 --> 01:37:42,625
Then smiling, speaking,

1666
01:37:42,708 --> 01:37:44,000
everything goes.

1667
01:37:45,375 --> 01:37:47,750
And it keeps going till…

1668
01:37:48,500 --> 01:37:50,333
You could always produce.

1669
01:37:50,416 --> 01:37:52,625
[laughs]

1670
01:37:54,083 --> 01:37:55,375
[Mank sighs]

1671
01:37:57,541 --> 01:37:59,208
Give me the gun, Shelly.

1672
01:38:05,583 --> 01:38:06,583
[Shelly grunts]

1673
01:38:13,500 --> 01:38:14,750
[bullets rattle]

1674
01:38:23,125 --> 01:38:24,041
Take 'em, Mank.

1675
01:38:26,666 --> 01:38:29,458
Go on home. I'll be fine.

1676
01:38:38,041 --> 01:38:40,625
[unsettling music playing]

1677
01:39:09,250 --> 01:39:10,250
[knocks]

1678
01:39:11,125 --> 01:39:13,041
[footsteps running]

1679
01:39:15,000 --> 01:39:16,125
Is he with you?

1680
01:39:17,416 --> 01:39:18,750
He… He wouldn't come.

1681
01:39:18,833 --> 01:39:21,833
[sighs] Please tell me you got the gun.

1682
01:39:22,583 --> 01:39:23,791
[bullets jingling]

1683
01:39:28,250 --> 01:39:30,375
- [bullet falls to floor]
- [Eve] Oh, my God!

1684
01:39:31,750 --> 01:39:35,083
- What?
- He had a whole box. [breathing shakily]

1685
01:39:38,833 --> 01:39:40,916
- [gunshot]
- [loud thud]

1686
01:39:49,250 --> 01:39:50,541
- Mank.
- [gasps]

1687
01:39:52,125 --> 01:39:53,583
You have another visitor.

1688
01:39:55,250 --> 01:39:56,250
What?

1689
01:40:15,416 --> 01:40:16,250
[sighs]

1690
01:40:17,458 --> 01:40:21,208
[Marion] Drink it fast.
In this heat, it'll flash to sugar.

1691
01:40:28,958 --> 01:40:30,791
Why the wine and dine, Marion?

1692
01:40:31,625 --> 01:40:33,083
Good cop, bad cop?

1693
01:40:33,166 --> 01:40:36,083
- How do you mean, Mank?
- First Joe, now you.

1694
01:40:38,041 --> 01:40:40,375
Can't you just tell me
what's on your mind?

1695
01:40:40,458 --> 01:40:41,958
[sighs]

1696
01:40:42,041 --> 01:40:45,000
Well, I read the script.

1697
01:40:45,083 --> 01:40:46,208
Who hasn't?

1698
01:40:46,291 --> 01:40:50,250
It's very grand, Mank, in its own way,
and very much you.

1699
01:40:51,166 --> 01:40:53,083
I would've loved to play me ten years ago.

1700
01:40:53,166 --> 01:40:55,208
It was never meant to be you.

1701
01:40:55,291 --> 01:40:57,875
For myself, I don't care, Mank.
Really, I don't.

1702
01:40:58,750 --> 01:41:02,833
But I beg you,
don't kick Pops when he's down.

1703
01:41:02,916 --> 01:41:05,500
- Willie, down?
- [peppy music playing on car radio]

1704
01:41:07,833 --> 01:41:09,625
I haven't told a soul this,

1705
01:41:10,333 --> 01:41:14,083
but I had to loan him a million dollars
just to save San Simeon.

1706
01:41:14,166 --> 01:41:15,791
You hocked your jewels?

1707
01:41:15,875 --> 01:41:18,125
[scoffs] Of course not.
Just some real estate.

1708
01:41:18,208 --> 01:41:19,791
He bought me most of it anyway.

1709
01:41:20,625 --> 01:41:22,125
Willie sent you.

1710
01:41:22,958 --> 01:41:23,958
Didn't have to.

1711
01:41:27,458 --> 01:41:28,958
That surprises you?

1712
01:41:29,458 --> 01:41:31,375
You're the most observant man I know.

1713
01:41:31,458 --> 01:41:34,583
- Then you deserve better.
- That's very sweet.

1714
01:41:37,208 --> 01:41:38,458
I always wanted better.

1715
01:41:39,416 --> 01:41:40,541
Mama Rose too.

1716
01:41:40,625 --> 01:41:43,333
She made sure
her daughters learned to sing and dance.

1717
01:41:44,000 --> 01:41:45,958
We were never gonna end up in Brooklyn.

1718
01:41:46,958 --> 01:41:50,500
I was only 16
when I was cast in Stop! Look! Listen!

1719
01:41:50,583 --> 01:41:52,333
[chuckling] That's some title.

1720
01:41:53,125 --> 01:41:55,833
[Marion] Willie came to the show.
Same seat every night.

1721
01:41:55,916 --> 01:42:00,625
And all the other girls said to watch out.
He was too old for me and too interested.

1722
01:42:00,708 --> 01:42:03,458
Come, now, he wasn't your only admirer.

1723
01:42:05,500 --> 01:42:08,041
The thing you got so right in your script…

1724
01:42:08,875 --> 01:42:11,625
Was how lonely he'd been as a boy.

1725
01:42:14,458 --> 01:42:18,000
When my own mother heard
he was one of the richest men in America,

1726
01:42:19,000 --> 01:42:20,791
she said, "Kick a little higher."

1727
01:42:23,333 --> 01:42:26,625
He has always been so kind to me.

1728
01:42:28,458 --> 01:42:30,000
I love the old guy, Mank.

1729
01:42:31,750 --> 01:42:36,000
Maybe I didn't always,
back when he was my social security.

1730
01:42:36,666 --> 01:42:39,333
But now,
there are things about us together…

1731
01:42:40,000 --> 01:42:41,791
That no one could possibly…

1732
01:42:45,541 --> 01:42:47,291
Am I persuading you at all?

1733
01:42:50,666 --> 01:42:53,583
I hope, if this gets made,

1734
01:42:55,416 --> 01:42:56,750
you'll forgive me.

1735
01:42:57,833 --> 01:43:00,916
And I hope, if it doesn't,

1736
01:43:02,500 --> 01:43:03,750
you'll forgive me.

1737
01:43:12,583 --> 01:43:13,791
[typewriter dings]

1738
01:43:13,875 --> 01:43:16,000
[rabbi] He was a modest man.

1739
01:43:16,083 --> 01:43:18,083
His name never appeared on the marquee

1740
01:43:18,166 --> 01:43:22,166
with the great stars, producers,
and directors who worked alongside him.

1741
01:43:22,250 --> 01:43:23,250
[people crying]

1742
01:43:23,333 --> 01:43:26,291
But he loved moving pictures
more than he loved anything.

1743
01:43:26,375 --> 01:43:29,916
And he left his impeccable taste,
his incredible attention to detail,

1744
01:43:30,000 --> 01:43:32,416
on every frame he touched.

1745
01:43:32,500 --> 01:43:36,583
It is not for us to say
why he was taken from us so unexpectedly.

1746
01:43:36,666 --> 01:43:38,791
Behind, he leaves his memory.

1747
01:43:39,291 --> 01:43:44,583
The memory of a great man, a talented man,
a man of unblemished integrity.

1748
01:43:45,416 --> 01:43:47,750
Irving G. Thalberg.

1749
01:43:48,250 --> 01:43:50,250
[indistinct chatter]

1750
01:44:01,541 --> 01:44:02,500
Mank.

1751
01:44:03,791 --> 01:44:07,666
I haven't seen you since,
what was it, Jack Gilbert's funeral.

1752
01:44:07,750 --> 01:44:10,541
Well, I haven't seen you
since Shelly Metcalf's.

1753
01:44:11,375 --> 01:44:12,500
Has it been that long?

1754
01:44:14,333 --> 01:44:15,208
How you been, Mank?

1755
01:44:15,791 --> 01:44:17,041
Between pictures.

1756
01:44:18,125 --> 01:44:19,916
I thought you were still at MGM.

1757
01:44:20,458 --> 01:44:21,458
I am.

1758
01:44:23,541 --> 01:44:27,000
Well, look, come see me at International.
Let's work something out.

1759
01:44:27,083 --> 01:44:28,750
I did come see you.

1760
01:44:28,833 --> 01:44:31,833
You gave me the same invitation
after Shelly's funeral.

1761
01:44:32,541 --> 01:44:35,708
I couldn't get past
your secretary's secretary.

1762
01:44:36,958 --> 01:44:38,250
Is that right?

1763
01:44:40,625 --> 01:44:41,958
Good to see you, Mank.

1764
01:44:52,833 --> 01:44:54,458
[Mayer crying]

1765
01:45:12,541 --> 01:45:14,166
[Mank snoring]

1766
01:45:15,416 --> 01:45:17,000
[flies buzzing]

1767
01:45:24,208 --> 01:45:26,083
[telephone ringing]

1768
01:45:27,416 --> 01:45:29,333
- [Rita] Hello.
- [Welles] Mank?

1769
01:45:30,166 --> 01:45:31,250
One moment, please.

1770
01:45:38,166 --> 01:45:39,166
Mank.

1771
01:45:39,791 --> 01:45:40,833
Mank!

1772
01:45:41,458 --> 01:45:42,625
It's Orson.

1773
01:45:43,166 --> 01:45:44,875
- It's Orson.
- [Mank] Hmm.

1774
01:45:53,000 --> 01:45:53,875
Hello.

1775
01:45:53,958 --> 01:45:56,916
[Welles] Mank, I've just finished
your first draft and I must say

1776
01:45:57,000 --> 01:45:58,916
I'm pleased and impressed.

1777
01:45:59,000 --> 01:46:02,708
- Are ya? Good news.
- It'll need work, of course.

1778
01:46:02,791 --> 01:46:05,250
But there are no problems
that can't be solved together.

1779
01:46:05,333 --> 01:46:06,958
Well, I'm delighted to hear it.

1780
01:46:07,041 --> 01:46:09,000
Houseman's bringing my notes.
Think about 'em.

1781
01:46:09,083 --> 01:46:11,166
Meantime, I'll run everything
through my typewriter.

1782
01:46:11,250 --> 01:46:12,625
Everything will thank you.

1783
01:46:12,708 --> 01:46:15,041
I understand you're in touch
with your Hollywood crowd?

1784
01:46:15,125 --> 01:46:17,125
Oh, good old Houseman.

1785
01:46:17,208 --> 01:46:20,208
So perhaps you've heard.
None of the theater chains will touch us.

1786
01:46:20,291 --> 01:46:23,458
It looks like RKO will have to sue
for restraint of trade.

1787
01:46:23,541 --> 01:46:25,041
They'll countersue, of course.

1788
01:46:25,125 --> 01:46:27,208
If you own that lovely home of yours,

1789
01:46:27,291 --> 01:46:30,500
it might be a good idea
to put it in Poor Sara's name.

1790
01:46:31,750 --> 01:46:36,000
- You still there, Mank?
- Oh, yes. Where else would I be?

1791
01:46:36,083 --> 01:46:37,500
I've saved the best for last.

1792
01:46:37,583 --> 01:46:40,125
Guess who phoned with an offer
to buy out RKO's investment

1793
01:46:40,208 --> 01:46:41,791
and shelve the picture permanently?

1794
01:46:41,875 --> 01:46:44,458
- Not Hearst?
- Mank, I'm surprised.

1795
01:46:44,541 --> 01:46:47,541
Would Othello snoop
on Desdemona when he has Iago?

1796
01:46:47,625 --> 01:46:51,875
Ah, Mayer. What did RKO say?

1797
01:46:51,958 --> 01:46:55,000
No dice, for now, but they're
on their uppers. Whether they...

1798
01:46:55,083 --> 01:46:57,916
- You'd better drive up.
- I plan to, just as soon as I'm done...

1799
01:46:58,000 --> 01:46:59,875
Today, if possible.

1800
01:47:00,375 --> 01:47:02,750
Dear Jove, did I say something
I shouldn't have?

1801
01:47:02,833 --> 01:47:04,791
I hope you haven't lost your nerve.

1802
01:47:04,875 --> 01:47:07,208
Nerve's about all I've got left.

1803
01:47:14,833 --> 01:47:17,958
[Hearst] What a year you've had, Louis.
How have you weathered it?

1804
01:47:18,041 --> 01:47:23,250
Despite everything, the MGM ship,
I'm happy to say, is full steam ahead.

1805
01:47:23,333 --> 01:47:28,750
We're on track with this recent slate
for our most successful year ever.

1806
01:47:28,833 --> 01:47:30,083
Well, that's great news.

1807
01:47:30,166 --> 01:47:32,875
- [loud clattering]
- [man 1] Would you like to go lay down?

1808
01:47:32,958 --> 01:47:34,916
[Mank slurring] I think
I'd rather stay upright.

1809
01:47:35,000 --> 01:47:37,000
[man 1] Perhaps we can find you a costume.

1810
01:47:37,083 --> 01:47:39,125
[Mank] Well, why would I need a cos…

1811
01:47:41,041 --> 01:47:42,125
[Mank clears throat]

1812
01:47:42,208 --> 01:47:45,541
Hello, everyone. Better late than never.

1813
01:47:45,625 --> 01:47:47,000
[woman] Mank! Where's Sara?

1814
01:47:47,083 --> 01:47:49,750
Uh, caring for clan Mankiewicz.

1815
01:47:49,833 --> 01:47:54,916
- [man 2] And what train did you take?
- [Mank] Glendale. I missed my stop.

1816
01:47:55,000 --> 01:47:57,250
Got a taxi from Morro Bay.

1817
01:47:57,333 --> 01:48:03,458
I'm confused. I thought the invitation
called for circus attire, not flea circus.

1818
01:48:03,541 --> 01:48:07,458
I was cornered by a man
who sold vacuum cleaners.

1819
01:48:07,541 --> 01:48:11,458
A show of hands,
who knows what a vacuum cleaner is?

1820
01:48:11,541 --> 01:48:14,166
[Hearst] Martin, would you set a place
for Mr. Mankiewicz,

1821
01:48:14,250 --> 01:48:16,500
somewhere where he might get some air?

1822
01:48:19,000 --> 01:48:20,750
[Martin] Follow me this way, sir.

1823
01:48:21,375 --> 01:48:22,958
[Hearst] And offer him some coffee.

1824
01:48:23,041 --> 01:48:26,083
[Mayer] Yeah.
Mr. Monkeywitz could use some coffee.

1825
01:48:26,166 --> 01:48:28,416
[guests chuckling]

1826
01:48:28,500 --> 01:48:29,833
[chair being pulled out]

1827
01:48:32,875 --> 01:48:35,541
[Hearst] And how's Marie Antoinette
coming together?

1828
01:48:36,375 --> 01:48:39,125
[Mayer] Previews have been
a struggle for general audiences.

1829
01:48:39,208 --> 01:48:41,833
We made some trims, but I should've known.

1830
01:48:42,500 --> 01:48:45,458
Versailles, all those costumes and wigs.

1831
01:48:45,541 --> 01:48:46,875
You can't tell those stories

1832
01:48:46,958 --> 01:48:49,291
without overhauling them
for a modern audience.

1833
01:48:49,375 --> 01:48:51,416
How's the performance
of your leading lady?

1834
01:48:51,500 --> 01:48:53,125
[Mayer] The picture depends upon her.

1835
01:48:53,208 --> 01:48:56,250
Norma put her heart and soul into it.

1836
01:48:56,333 --> 01:48:58,916
I should've insisted she take some time.

1837
01:48:59,000 --> 01:49:00,833
It's a lot to deal with, a loss like that.

1838
01:49:00,916 --> 01:49:02,708
Marion would've made it her own.

1839
01:49:02,791 --> 01:49:05,833
- Marion would've been perfection.
- [women] Aw.

1840
01:49:05,916 --> 01:49:07,250
Marion Antoinette.

1841
01:49:07,333 --> 01:49:10,291
- [Mayer] But it was Irving's picture.
- Marionette.

1842
01:49:11,666 --> 01:49:14,291
I'm not interested
in educating our customers.

1843
01:49:15,000 --> 01:49:17,500
You want to send a message?
Call Western Union.

1844
01:49:17,583 --> 01:49:19,333
[guests laughing]

1845
01:49:19,416 --> 01:49:20,791
[Mayer] Literary pictures.

1846
01:49:20,875 --> 01:49:22,375
"Let them get cake."

1847
01:49:22,458 --> 01:49:24,250
Who needs to see that?

1848
01:49:25,458 --> 01:49:27,000
- [glass shatters]
- [all gasp]

1849
01:49:28,541 --> 01:49:29,916
Joanna, come along.

1850
01:49:30,000 --> 01:49:32,583
I'll show you those horses
we talked about. [grunts]

1851
01:49:33,791 --> 01:49:35,375
[both chuckle]

1852
01:49:36,791 --> 01:49:38,125
[Joanna giggles]

1853
01:49:40,208 --> 01:49:41,375
She's very pretty.

1854
01:49:42,041 --> 01:49:45,875
Also, very bright,
bullheaded, and British.

1855
01:49:47,750 --> 01:49:50,125
Are you here
to try your luck, too, Schnutz?

1856
01:49:50,625 --> 01:49:54,083
- [Sara] At what?
- Changing my mind.

1857
01:49:55,250 --> 01:49:57,541
I never had much success
with that, Herman.

1858
01:49:58,041 --> 01:49:59,541
In the end, you'll do what you need to.

1859
01:49:59,625 --> 01:50:02,500
Charlie's been here,
Joe's been, Marion's been.

1860
01:50:02,583 --> 01:50:05,708
For one reason or another,
all of them want me to walk away.

1861
01:50:06,500 --> 01:50:08,333
You care to hear what I've decided?

1862
01:50:09,541 --> 01:50:10,375
Not really.

1863
01:50:11,750 --> 01:50:14,125
[Mank] After 20 years of connubial bliss,

1864
01:50:14,208 --> 01:50:17,125
blind loyalty
can get a little suffocating.

1865
01:50:17,208 --> 01:50:20,291
Okay. Here goes.

1866
01:50:21,083 --> 01:50:23,000
[muttering] God knows
I've rehearsed it enough.

1867
01:50:23,583 --> 01:50:26,500
I've raised your kids kosher
and all but by myself.

1868
01:50:26,583 --> 01:50:28,625
I've put up with your suicidal drinking,

1869
01:50:28,708 --> 01:50:31,750
your compulsive gambling,
your silly platonic affairs.

1870
01:50:31,833 --> 01:50:33,416
You owe me, Herman.

1871
01:50:35,166 --> 01:50:36,750
So Joe says he can't promise,

1872
01:50:36,833 --> 01:50:40,375
but he thinks if you make nice with Mayer,
you can have your old job back.

1873
01:50:40,458 --> 01:50:41,958
Is that what you want me to say?

1874
01:50:42,041 --> 01:50:43,666
I know what your answer'll be,

1875
01:50:43,750 --> 01:50:47,833
so don't ask me to give you
Poor Sara's seal of approval.

1876
01:50:48,625 --> 01:50:51,333
Why do you put up with me, Schnutz?

1877
01:50:51,416 --> 01:50:54,416
My movie star looks
or my diplomat's charm?

1878
01:50:55,166 --> 01:50:58,250
I suppose because being
married to you, Herman,

1879
01:50:58,333 --> 01:50:59,250
I'm never bored.

1880
01:50:59,958 --> 01:51:03,083
Exhausted, yes. Exasperated, usually.

1881
01:51:03,166 --> 01:51:05,458
But having devoted so much,

1882
01:51:05,541 --> 01:51:08,000
I have to stick around
to see how it all turns out.

1883
01:51:12,291 --> 01:51:13,500
And whatever you decide,

1884
01:51:16,250 --> 01:51:19,791
please be mindful of those
who care about you most.

1885
01:51:24,000 --> 01:51:25,250
I'm going riding.

1886
01:51:25,833 --> 01:51:28,041
Haven't seen a horse's face in years.

1887
01:51:28,875 --> 01:51:30,166
[Mank chuckles softly]

1888
01:51:30,666 --> 01:51:32,375
Oh, and one last thing, Herman.

1889
01:51:33,708 --> 01:51:36,583
I don't want nobody
calling me Poor Sara no more.

1890
01:51:45,416 --> 01:51:46,750
[Mank sighs]

1891
01:51:50,125 --> 01:51:53,375
I've got a great idea
for a picture, Louis.

1892
01:51:53,458 --> 01:51:57,458
A picture I just know you're gonna love.

1893
01:51:58,500 --> 01:52:02,916
[echoing] It's a modern-day version
of Quixote.

1894
01:52:06,708 --> 01:52:10,583
Now, I know none of you read,
but you know what it's about.

1895
01:52:10,666 --> 01:52:15,250
A deluded old nobleman
who tilts at windmills.

1896
01:52:16,625 --> 01:52:19,583
So how might we update this story?

1897
01:52:19,666 --> 01:52:21,916
- Do you want me to get...
- No, no.

1898
01:52:22,000 --> 01:52:24,291
How about we make our Quixote…

1899
01:52:25,916 --> 01:52:27,208
A newspaperman?

1900
01:52:28,083 --> 01:52:31,125
Who else could
make a living tilting at windmills?

1901
01:52:31,208 --> 01:52:32,458
But that's not enough.

1902
01:52:33,583 --> 01:52:36,250
No, he wants more than readership.

1903
01:52:36,333 --> 01:52:40,666
He wants more than adulation.
He wants love.

1904
01:52:42,083 --> 01:52:47,000
So, he runs for public office,
and because he's notably rich, he wins.

1905
01:52:48,166 --> 01:52:49,875
No, wait, wait a minute.

1906
01:52:49,958 --> 01:52:53,208
Notably rich and powerful
can't win over an audience

1907
01:52:53,291 --> 01:52:57,750
unless notably rich and powerful sees
the error of his ways in the final reel.

1908
01:52:58,458 --> 01:53:00,333
Notably rich and powerful

1909
01:53:00,416 --> 01:53:05,666
and making no goddamn excuses
for it is only admirable in real life.

1910
01:53:05,750 --> 01:53:07,125
Isn't that right, Louis?

1911
01:53:08,083 --> 01:53:09,000
[grunts]

1912
01:53:10,208 --> 01:53:11,583
So what do we do?

1913
01:53:14,416 --> 01:53:15,875
Anybody?

1914
01:53:18,291 --> 01:53:20,791
We give him ideals.

1915
01:53:20,875 --> 01:53:23,583
Ideals that any dirt-poor,

1916
01:53:23,666 --> 01:53:26,875
depression-weary audience
can identify with.

1917
01:53:26,958 --> 01:53:29,708
Our Quixote is against crooked trusts.

1918
01:53:29,791 --> 01:53:33,583
He's for the eight-hour workday,
fair income tax, better schools.

1919
01:53:33,666 --> 01:53:37,375
Why, he's even
for government ownership of railroads.

1920
01:53:37,458 --> 01:53:38,375
[chuckles]

1921
01:53:38,458 --> 01:53:40,208
You know what we call those people?

1922
01:53:40,291 --> 01:53:41,583
- [man] Communists?
- [woman] Anarchists?

1923
01:53:41,666 --> 01:53:46,041
No, our Quixote,
he's a two-fisted muckraker.

1924
01:53:46,125 --> 01:53:50,041
In fact, someone predicts
that he will one day

1925
01:53:50,125 --> 01:53:53,708
win the presidency
and bring about, get this…

1926
01:53:54,958 --> 01:53:58,583
[laughing]

1927
01:53:58,666 --> 01:54:01,291
…a socialist revolution.

1928
01:54:01,375 --> 01:54:04,375
- What a bunch of bullshit!
- Is it?

1929
01:54:05,500 --> 01:54:06,375
Tell him, Willie.

1930
01:54:07,916 --> 01:54:09,041
Tell him.

1931
01:54:10,083 --> 01:54:15,000
Upton Sinclair used exactly those words

1932
01:54:15,083 --> 01:54:18,000
to describe
a young William Randolph Hearst.

1933
01:54:18,083 --> 01:54:20,958
- You miserable bastard!
- How do you do?

1934
01:54:23,875 --> 01:54:27,000
Our Quixote, he hungers, he thirsts,

1935
01:54:27,083 --> 01:54:29,708
he lusts for voters to love him.

1936
01:54:30,291 --> 01:54:32,458
Love him enough to make him president.

1937
01:54:32,541 --> 01:54:34,916
But they won't, and they don't.

1938
01:54:35,500 --> 01:54:37,125
How do you suppose that could happen?

1939
01:54:37,208 --> 01:54:39,250
Could it be because, in their hearts,

1940
01:54:39,333 --> 01:54:42,458
they know
that he values power over people?

1941
01:54:43,541 --> 01:54:46,000
Disillusioned in Congress,

1942
01:54:46,083 --> 01:54:50,458
he authors not one
single piece of legislation in two terms.

1943
01:54:50,541 --> 01:54:53,666
Can you believe that?
That'll take some writing.

1944
01:54:54,833 --> 01:54:57,166
Placed in nomination for president,

1945
01:54:57,250 --> 01:55:00,583
but it's too radical
for the boys in the back.

1946
01:55:00,666 --> 01:55:04,333
His bid goes nowhere,
but we're doing something.

1947
01:55:05,291 --> 01:55:07,583
We're building sympathy.

1948
01:55:08,583 --> 01:55:12,166
Rejected, he flees to lotusland,

1949
01:55:12,250 --> 01:55:14,958
where his faithful troll, Sancho,

1950
01:55:15,041 --> 01:55:18,083
has prepared a mythical kingdom for…

1951
01:55:20,125 --> 01:55:21,625
Wait a minute.

1952
01:55:23,125 --> 01:55:25,250
I forgot the love interest.

1953
01:55:25,916 --> 01:55:26,875
Her name…

1954
01:55:27,916 --> 01:55:29,333
Dulcinea.

1955
01:55:29,416 --> 01:55:32,833
Funny, adventurous, smarter than she acts.

1956
01:55:32,916 --> 01:55:34,125
Ah, she's a…

1957
01:55:34,625 --> 01:55:38,208
She's a showgirl,
beneath his social stratum,

1958
01:55:38,291 --> 01:55:39,291
but that's okay,

1959
01:55:39,791 --> 01:55:42,833
because true love on the big screens,

1960
01:55:42,916 --> 01:55:45,291
we all know, is blind.

1961
01:55:46,416 --> 01:55:47,416
And she…

1962
01:55:48,750 --> 01:55:50,500
Yeah, she loves him too.

1963
01:55:52,208 --> 01:55:56,125
So he takes her away
to his mythical kingdom.

1964
01:55:56,208 --> 01:55:57,666
Can I get a bicarb?

1965
01:55:58,750 --> 01:56:02,541
Now, along comes nemesis.

1966
01:56:02,625 --> 01:56:05,375
That's Greek for any guy in a black hat.

1967
01:56:05,958 --> 01:56:11,250
Nemesis runs for governor
and he's a shoo-in to win.

1968
01:56:11,333 --> 01:56:17,791
Why? Because he's exactly
what our Don used to be.

1969
01:56:17,875 --> 01:56:20,625
An idealist, you get it?

1970
01:56:21,291 --> 01:56:22,458
And not only that,

1971
01:56:23,166 --> 01:56:28,000
nemesis is the same guy
who once predicted our Quixote would

1972
01:56:28,083 --> 01:56:31,791
one day preside over
a socialist revolution.

1973
01:56:33,000 --> 01:56:37,791
Our Quixote looks
into the mirror of his youth

1974
01:56:37,875 --> 01:56:41,291
and decides to break this glass,

1975
01:56:41,375 --> 01:56:44,958
a maddening reminder of who he once was.

1976
01:56:45,041 --> 01:56:48,666
Assisted by his faithful Sancho,

1977
01:56:48,750 --> 01:56:53,791
and armed
with all the black magic at his command,

1978
01:56:53,875 --> 01:56:56,291
he does just this.

1979
01:56:56,375 --> 01:57:02,458
Destroying in the process
not one man… but two.

1980
01:57:05,375 --> 01:57:06,958
Well, what do you think, Louis?

1981
01:57:07,458 --> 01:57:08,333
Hmm?

1982
01:57:08,416 --> 01:57:10,000
You think it'll play?

1983
01:57:10,583 --> 01:57:11,583
[retches]

1984
01:57:15,375 --> 01:57:16,333
[vomiting continues]

1985
01:57:16,416 --> 01:57:17,916
[guests groan and clamor]

1986
01:57:21,833 --> 01:57:24,291
[Mank sighs, chuckling]
Don't worry, folks.

1987
01:57:25,291 --> 01:57:28,208
Uh, the white wine came up with the fish.

1988
01:57:30,500 --> 01:57:34,208
Who the fuck do you think
you are, Mankiewicz?

1989
01:57:35,625 --> 01:57:37,875
You're nothin' but a court jester.

1990
01:57:38,791 --> 01:57:40,916
And let me let you in on a little secret.

1991
01:57:41,000 --> 01:57:44,416
Do you have any idea
who pays half your salary?

1992
01:57:44,500 --> 01:57:46,750
He pays half your fucking salary.

1993
01:57:46,833 --> 01:57:48,625
Him, you fucking ingrate.

1994
01:57:49,291 --> 01:57:52,416
You didn't know that, did ya?
You wanna know why?

1995
01:57:52,500 --> 01:57:54,416
Because he likes the way you talk.

1996
01:57:54,500 --> 01:57:57,875
Not the way you write, the way you talk.

1997
01:57:58,541 --> 01:58:00,583
Don't that chap your ass?

1998
01:58:18,666 --> 01:58:20,375
[indistinct conversation]

1999
01:58:22,791 --> 01:58:25,291
- [Rita] Please, follow me.
- [Welles] It's very quaint.

2000
01:58:33,208 --> 01:58:35,125
Rise and shine, hombre.

2001
01:58:35,708 --> 01:58:37,750
Shoot-out at the O.K. Corral.

2002
01:58:39,333 --> 01:58:42,916
Before we buckle down, I gather you have
something to get off your chest?

2003
01:58:43,000 --> 01:58:44,916
As a matter of fact, I do.

2004
01:58:45,000 --> 01:58:47,041
[Welles] Frankly,
I think what I said upset you.

2005
01:58:47,125 --> 01:58:50,250
I know your health's not what it might be.
I understand that comes first.

2006
01:58:50,333 --> 01:58:53,375
- Really?
- [Welles] This studio fuss, this lawsuit.

2007
01:58:53,458 --> 01:58:55,416
God only knows
what pressure's yet to come.

2008
01:58:55,500 --> 01:58:58,208
At your age,
you'd be justified in wanting out.

2009
01:58:58,291 --> 01:59:00,375
I'm 43, but that's very understanding.

2010
01:59:00,458 --> 01:59:02,458
Mayer's buyout was rejected.

2011
01:59:02,541 --> 01:59:05,125
So, the fat's only starting
to hit the fire.

2012
01:59:05,750 --> 01:59:09,166
Now, I talked to RKO, and I'll tell you
what they're ready to do.

2013
01:59:09,250 --> 01:59:12,041
In recognition of the outstanding work
you've done so far,

2014
01:59:12,125 --> 01:59:16,000
they're prepared to relieve you of
the rewrite and still honor your full pay,

2015
01:59:16,750 --> 01:59:19,333
plus $10,000.

2016
01:59:20,166 --> 01:59:21,000
How's that?

2017
01:59:22,750 --> 01:59:24,416
That's more than generous.

2018
01:59:25,833 --> 01:59:27,833
But I don't intend to walk.

2019
01:59:29,750 --> 01:59:30,791
All right.

2020
01:59:33,166 --> 01:59:34,875
What's bothering you, then?

2021
01:59:34,958 --> 01:59:37,625
You're not going to like this, Orson.

2022
01:59:39,083 --> 01:59:40,125
[sighs]

2023
01:59:42,166 --> 01:59:43,500
I want credit.

2024
01:59:45,583 --> 01:59:46,708
Come again?

2025
01:59:47,666 --> 01:59:49,958
It's the best thing I've ever written.

2026
01:59:50,833 --> 01:59:53,166
Jack, get me some Cuban cigars.

2027
01:59:53,250 --> 01:59:55,333
- In Victorville?
- Do what you can, Jack.

2028
01:59:55,416 --> 01:59:59,083
Oh, stay, Houseman.
You'll miss the third act complicator.

2029
01:59:59,166 --> 02:00:01,125
Get going, Jack. Muy pronto.

2030
02:00:01,916 --> 02:00:04,125
I believe that means right away.

2031
02:00:10,458 --> 02:00:13,000
[tense music playing]

2032
02:00:21,250 --> 02:00:22,750
Mank, Mank.

2033
02:00:24,500 --> 02:00:28,375
[Mank] What I said was more
in sorrow than in anger, Willie.

2034
02:00:31,458 --> 02:00:36,041
Are you familiar with the parable
of the organ grinder's monkey?

2035
02:00:36,125 --> 02:00:40,083
Now, the organ grinder's monkey
is tiny in stature,

2036
02:00:40,166 --> 02:00:42,041
and having been taken from the wild,

2037
02:00:42,125 --> 02:00:46,791
he's naturally overwhelmed
by the enormous world around him.

2038
02:00:47,666 --> 02:00:53,833
But every morning, a sweet elderly woman
dresses him in a fine suit of clothes.

2039
02:00:54,500 --> 02:00:58,791
She fits him with a red velvet vest
adorned with pearl buttons

2040
02:00:58,875 --> 02:01:02,708
and a handsome red fez with a silk tassel.

2041
02:01:02,791 --> 02:01:07,458
She slips on brocade shoes
that curl at the toe,

2042
02:01:07,958 --> 02:01:13,208
and he's paired with a fine gilt music box
on an exquisite gold chain

2043
02:01:13,291 --> 02:01:16,666
fastened to his neck and his neck alone.

2044
02:01:17,208 --> 02:01:20,791
Whenever he ventures
into the city to perform,

2045
02:01:20,875 --> 02:01:24,416
he thinks,
"What a powerful fellow I must be."

2046
02:01:24,500 --> 02:01:28,333
"Look how patiently
everyone waits just to watch me dance."

2047
02:01:28,416 --> 02:01:29,458
Hey, Willie...

2048
02:01:29,541 --> 02:01:31,958
"And wherever I go," he thinks,

2049
02:01:32,041 --> 02:01:38,083
"this music box must follow, and with it,
this poor downtrodden man."

2050
02:01:38,583 --> 02:01:44,291
"And if I chose not to dance,
this sorry street peddler would starve,

2051
02:01:44,375 --> 02:01:48,791
and every time
I do decide to dance, every time…

2052
02:01:53,541 --> 02:01:55,208
He must play."

2053
02:01:57,041 --> 02:01:58,916
"Whether he wishes to or not."

2054
02:02:00,500 --> 02:02:02,625
You've had a bit too much
to drink, Herman.

2055
02:02:02,708 --> 02:02:05,583
I'll get Raymond
to drive you to the station.

2056
02:02:06,875 --> 02:02:07,958
Goodbye.

2057
02:02:14,583 --> 02:02:15,666
[sighs]

2058
02:02:16,333 --> 02:02:17,958
Put aside gratitude, Mank.

2059
02:02:18,041 --> 02:02:20,125
That you've done your best work
was no accident.

2060
02:02:20,208 --> 02:02:23,458
I removed any distraction,
eliminated every excuse,

2061
02:02:23,541 --> 02:02:26,041
your family, your cronies, liquor.

2062
02:02:26,125 --> 02:02:27,708
I gave you a second chance.

2063
02:02:27,791 --> 02:02:30,208
And for that, I cannot thank you enough.

2064
02:02:30,291 --> 02:02:34,541
But with credit for a risky undertaking
must go the weight of real responsibility.

2065
02:02:35,041 --> 02:02:37,125
Given your current health,
I wonder if you're up to it.

2066
02:02:37,208 --> 02:02:39,750
Frankly, I wonder, too,
but we'll find out.

2067
02:02:39,833 --> 02:02:42,250
You may never work
in this town again, Mank!

2068
02:02:42,333 --> 02:02:43,958
[laughing] Orson, please…

2069
02:02:44,041 --> 02:02:46,416
Then you force me to remind you!

2070
02:02:46,500 --> 02:02:50,083
We have a contract
that you understood and agreed to!

2071
02:02:50,166 --> 02:02:53,791
If you fight this, it will go
to what your new guild calls arbitration,

2072
02:02:53,875 --> 02:02:57,250
and you, my friend,
will lose script, money,

2073
02:02:57,333 --> 02:02:59,833
and assuming such a thing still exists
in Hollywood,

2074
02:02:59,916 --> 02:03:01,916
the respect of those who honor their word.

2075
02:03:02,000 --> 02:03:04,666
How can I put this nicely?

2076
02:03:05,750 --> 02:03:07,916
I may be a loose cannon,

2077
02:03:08,000 --> 02:03:10,916
but you, my friend, are an outsider.

2078
02:03:11,000 --> 02:03:14,166
They're exasperated by me,
and I've earned it,

2079
02:03:14,250 --> 02:03:17,416
but you, a self-anointed savior-hyphenate,

2080
02:03:17,500 --> 02:03:19,875
they're just waiting to loathe you.

2081
02:03:19,958 --> 02:03:23,125
Remind me never again
to work with a washed-up alcoholic!

2082
02:03:23,208 --> 02:03:25,541
Duly noted. Nelson Algren, please copy.

2083
02:03:25,625 --> 02:03:28,750
All right!
No doubt you'll get your credit.

2084
02:03:28,833 --> 02:03:31,625
But ask yourself,
"Who's producing this picture?"

2085
02:03:31,708 --> 02:03:34,250
"Directing it? Starring in it?"

2086
02:03:37,000 --> 02:03:39,333
That's just what we need
when Susan leaves Kane.

2087
02:03:40,041 --> 02:03:42,000
An act of purging violence.

2088
02:03:44,625 --> 02:03:45,583
Maybe.

2089
02:03:48,916 --> 02:03:50,375
[kicking glass shards]

2090
02:03:52,583 --> 02:03:53,500
[door slams]

2091
02:03:58,666 --> 02:04:01,833
[Rita] Mank! Mank, where are you?

2092
02:04:02,416 --> 02:04:03,916
Mank, come quick!

2093
02:04:04,000 --> 02:04:05,541
[car engine starts]

2094
02:04:09,166 --> 02:04:10,250
He's alive!

2095
02:04:11,208 --> 02:04:12,333
Ian's alive!

2096
02:04:13,041 --> 02:04:15,666
- He fetched up on the Orkneys!
- The what?

2097
02:04:15,750 --> 02:04:17,833
The Orkney Islands, you idiot.

2098
02:04:18,333 --> 02:04:20,333
Oh, Mank, are you ever serious?

2099
02:04:21,375 --> 02:04:24,208
- Only about something funny.
- [sighs exasperatedly]

2100
02:04:37,958 --> 02:04:40,916
[audience applauding]

2101
02:04:41,875 --> 02:04:43,125
[typewriter dings]

2102
02:04:47,750 --> 02:04:52,083
[clears throat] And the winner
of the best original screenplay is…

2103
02:04:53,625 --> 02:04:57,625
- Herman J. Mankiewicz…
- [audience applauding]

2104
02:04:57,708 --> 02:05:00,625
…and Orson Welles for Citizen Kane.

2105
02:05:02,833 --> 02:05:04,916
[reporter] This is the first nomination
and first win

2106
02:05:05,000 --> 02:05:06,583
for Mr. Mankiewicz and Mr. Welles.

2107
02:05:06,666 --> 02:05:08,416
Neither were able to attend tonight.

2108
02:05:08,500 --> 02:05:11,208
Accepting for both
is the president of RKO Radio Pictures,

2109
02:05:11,291 --> 02:05:12,875
Mr. George Schaefer.

2110
02:05:14,541 --> 02:05:18,375
- [reporter] Excuse me, Mr. Welles.
- [real Orson Welles] Good morning.

2111
02:05:18,458 --> 02:05:21,166
[reporter] Good morning, Mr. Welles.
You missed a big night.

2112
02:05:21,250 --> 02:05:24,125
[real Orson Welles] I was unable to attend
the Academy Awards

2113
02:05:24,208 --> 02:05:28,250
because I'm here in Rio
making a marvelous motion picture.

2114
02:05:28,333 --> 02:05:31,750
[reporter] Kane was nominated
in nine categories, including best actor.

2115
02:05:31,833 --> 02:05:34,750
Aren't you disappointed
that it only won one Oscar?

2116
02:05:35,416 --> 02:05:39,500
[real Orson Welles]
Well, that, my good man, is Hollywood.

2117
02:05:39,583 --> 02:05:40,458
[men laughing]

2118
02:05:40,541 --> 02:05:43,500
[reporter] Anything you'd like to say
to your coauthor, Mr. Mankiewicz?

2119
02:05:43,583 --> 02:05:47,083
[real Orson Welles] I do have a message.
You may tell him from me…

2120
02:05:48,500 --> 02:05:51,541
Mank, you can kiss my half!

2121
02:05:51,625 --> 02:05:53,125
[men laughing]

2122
02:06:00,208 --> 02:06:05,000
You ask me what
my acceptance speech might have been.

2123
02:06:06,791 --> 02:06:08,208
Well, here goes.

2124
02:06:08,833 --> 02:06:13,708
I am very happy to accept this award

2125
02:06:14,208 --> 02:06:17,333
in the manner
in which the screenplay was written,

2126
02:06:18,083 --> 02:06:22,500
which is to say,
in the absence of Orson Welles.

2127
02:06:25,208 --> 02:06:28,166
- How's that?
- [reporter] How come he shares credit?

2128
02:06:29,250 --> 02:06:34,750
[sighs] Well, that, my friend,
is the magic of the movies.

2129
02:06:34,833 --> 02:06:35,833
[man laughs]

2130
02:06:35,916 --> 02:06:38,833
[reporter] Hold up the Oscar, Mank.
Big smile.

2131
02:06:39,416 --> 02:06:40,583
[camera shutter clicks]

2132
02:06:41,083 --> 02:06:43,541
[dulcet music playing]

2133
02:08:43,541 --> 02:08:45,541
[slow piano music playing]