August 30, 2008

The Hoax

Year: 2006
Genre: Comedy, Drama
1

00:02:01,614 --> 00:02:02,581

Dana?



2

00:02:03,115 --> 00:02:04,913

Dana, can you hear me?



3

00:02:06,519 --> 00:02:08,986

Just follow the instructions.

Is that so difficult?



4

00:02:09,088 --> 00:02:10,420

No, no, "N"!



5

00:02:16,596 --> 00:02:17,562

Harold.



6

00:02:18,098 --> 00:02:20,156

It's very becoming. I like that.



7

00:02:24,671 --> 00:02:26,763

Guys, there's nothing

I can do, all right?



8

00:02:26,873 --> 00:02:28,670

The meeting's gonna be canceled.



9

00:02:28,774 --> 00:02:30,675

The building's being evacuated.



10

00:02:30,777 --> 00:02:33,610

Top four floors are closed off.

I don't know what's going on.



11

00:02:33,714 --> 00:02:36,738

It doesn't matter.

Nobody's supposed to be there.



12

00:02:36,949 --> 00:02:39,816

Just follow the instructions.

Is that so difficult?



13

00:02:39,952 --> 00:02:43,217

Clifford, it's 2:37

and my interns are stranded.



14

00:02:43,323 --> 00:02:44,756

- Where the fuck is he?

- He's coming.



15

00:02:44,858 --> 00:02:46,484

- He's coming?

- He's coming.



16

00:02:49,829 --> 00:02:51,625

I think we got something.



17

00:02:51,731 --> 00:02:53,721

Oh, my God. Is that him?



18

00:02:53,832 --> 00:02:54,890

South side of the building.

Do you see it?



19

00:02:55,001 --> 00:02:57,993

- That's him! He's here!

- Oh, my God!



20

00:02:58,104 --> 00:02:59,695

He's landing! Clear the roof!



21

00:02:59,805 --> 00:03:02,365

- Get your things. Go! Come on!

- Quickly.



22

00:03:12,885 --> 00:03:14,717

He keeps his promises.



23

00:03:22,395 --> 00:03:23,554

Fake.



24

00:03:25,063 --> 00:03:27,088

- Fake.

- Yes.



25

00:03:27,533 --> 00:03:30,661

Malika, Clifford is the man

who wrote Fake.



26

00:03:30,769 --> 00:03:34,796

An excellent book

about the guy, artist...



27

00:03:34,908 --> 00:03:35,895

I'm blanking... Who was it?



28

00:03:36,008 --> 00:03:37,340

- Art forger.

- The art forger.



29

00:03:37,443 --> 00:03:40,138

- Exactly. Elmyr de Hory was his name.

- Okay.



30

00:03:40,246 --> 00:03:45,182

He forged Picassos, Matisses,

Modiglianis...



31

00:03:45,417 --> 00:03:48,909

The whole theory of forgery as art.

What is art?



32

00:03:49,022 --> 00:03:50,784

Very subversive kind of act.



33

00:03:50,890 --> 00:03:52,652

The book sold poorly.



34

00:03:54,060 --> 00:03:56,857

- Well, it could've done better.

- Let's not talk about that today.



35

00:03:56,963 --> 00:03:59,260

Regardless. The new one. Fiction.



36

00:03:59,399 --> 00:04:01,764

- Yes.

- Rudnick's Problem.



37

00:04:04,703 --> 00:04:07,536

I like it. You're right.



38

00:04:07,940 --> 00:04:09,271

- I like it. Malika liked it, too.

- MALIKA: Yeah.



39

00:04:09,374 --> 00:04:10,932

Yes, I did. I loved it. It was stunning.



40

00:04:11,043 --> 00:04:13,876

It scared the hell out of me, actually,

to tell you the truth.



41

00:04:13,980 --> 00:04:15,947

- It's an angry book.

- ALBERT: But funny!



42

00:04:16,048 --> 00:04:17,879

I mean, I read it,

I thought it was hilarious.



43

00:04:17,983 --> 00:04:19,814

It wasn't angry to me.



44

00:04:19,918 --> 00:04:21,043

It was nice to me. It made me laugh.



45

00:04:21,153 --> 00:04:23,815

But anger's important. We need anger.



46

00:04:23,922 --> 00:04:26,549

Which I think will help us in Germany.



47

00:04:26,925 --> 00:04:29,894

Regardless,

marry us and have our children?



48

00:04:31,363 --> 00:04:35,026

Brad Silber at Life is reading it

right now for serialization rights.



49

00:04:35,132 --> 00:04:36,122

Great.



50

00:04:36,235 --> 00:04:38,567

Harold McGraw himself

is reading it this weekend.



51

00:04:38,670 --> 00:04:40,501

- You're kidding.

- That's just a formality.



52

00:04:40,606 --> 00:04:42,539

You have waited, Cliff.



53

00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,202

You've watched as less talented writers

have bypassed you.



54

00:04:46,311 --> 00:04:49,143

But now, justice at last.



55

00:04:49,248 --> 00:04:53,275

They're going to push this one hard.

They're going to bet the bank.



56

00:04:53,385 --> 00:04:56,183

- Is that a promise?

- You can set your watch by it.



57

00:04:56,421 --> 00:04:58,082

Andrea, I don't have a watch.



58

00:04:58,189 --> 00:05:00,384

Then buy one.

Trust me, you can afford it.



59

00:05:06,899 --> 00:05:09,129

HERE COMES THE SUN PLAYING



60

00:05:09,233 --> 00:05:11,599

Calls unreturned, they don't read you



61

00:05:11,703 --> 00:05:13,636

for six months, they're indifferent.



62

00:05:13,738 --> 00:05:18,142

Then overnight... God.

Dick, can you hear me?



63

00:05:18,243 --> 00:05:21,610

Dick! Here, try these. They're bigger.



64

00:05:21,746 --> 00:05:22,713

No, they're fine.



65

00:05:22,813 --> 00:05:26,682

We're doing a vacation,

a gentleman's celebration kind of thing.



66

00:05:27,085 --> 00:05:29,315

You got harpoons?

The ones that shoot?



67

00:05:29,421 --> 00:05:31,719

- Yeah, most of them shoot.

- Good.



68

00:05:31,957 --> 00:05:35,221

He looks like a sausage.

All right, I'll take the whole outfit.



69

00:05:35,327 --> 00:05:38,057

Set me up as a regular account.

I prefer monthly payments.



70

00:05:38,163 --> 00:05:41,393

You're a prick, Robert, you are such

a prick. You played me like a harp.



71

00:05:41,499 --> 00:05:44,468

Whitewalls, leather...

Is this guy a salesman?



72

00:05:44,568 --> 00:05:46,764

Now, when my accountant comes by

with the check,



73

00:05:46,871 --> 00:05:49,135

should he talk to you directly?



74

00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:53,298

He should speak to me directly, yeah,

with the check, yeah.



75

00:05:56,949 --> 00:05:59,610

Call the police, there's a

beautiful woman in front of my house!



76

00:05:59,751 --> 00:06:01,308

SCREAMING WITH JOY



77

00:06:06,358 --> 00:06:07,450

What's the matter, pear?



78

00:06:07,558 --> 00:06:09,924

You haven't seen

a bestselling author before?



79

00:06:10,027 --> 00:06:13,292

- Oh, Cliff.

- Yes.



80

00:06:13,398 --> 00:06:14,659

You didn't think I was going to do it,

did you?



81

00:06:14,766 --> 00:06:18,222

Stop, Cliff, stop.

Look, they're taking the sofa.



82

00:06:20,272 --> 00:06:22,501

Oh, I love that sofa.



83

00:06:22,606 --> 00:06:23,507

Hey, guys. How are you doing?



84

00:06:23,507 --> 00:06:24,769

Hey, guys. How are you doing?



85

00:06:25,277 --> 00:06:26,766

Ah, fuck the sofa.



86

00:06:26,944 --> 00:06:29,538

- Close your eyes. Close, close.

- What?



87

00:06:31,582 --> 00:06:35,245

- Okay.

- Oh, Cliff.



88

00:06:35,353 --> 00:06:36,479

Cliff!



89

00:06:37,588 --> 00:06:40,250

There, perfect.

You are a beautiful man.



90

00:06:41,058 --> 00:06:43,117

I am sure you would desert me.



91

00:06:43,226 --> 00:06:45,923

No, will desert you,

the tense is future active.



92

00:06:46,029 --> 00:06:49,989

Don't correct the grammar of it.

You are not this perfect person.



93

00:06:54,270 --> 00:06:57,536

Honey, it's finished.

I told you it was finished.



94

00:06:57,641 --> 00:06:59,336

It's finished with her.



95

00:07:00,945 --> 00:07:02,707

- Good night.

- Cliff...



96

00:07:03,481 --> 00:07:06,348

- Keys to my new car.

- Yeah, got it. Bye, honey.



97

00:07:06,450 --> 00:07:07,440

Have fun.



98

00:07:13,090 --> 00:07:14,079

Andrea!



99

00:07:14,190 --> 00:07:18,025

Andrea! Hi, isn't this amazing?

Isn't this wild?



100

00:07:18,129 --> 00:07:20,290

- Can I talk to you a second?

- Let's talk on Monday, Cliff.



101

00:07:20,398 --> 00:07:22,865

No, just for a second.

It's really important. I'd like to...



102

00:07:22,966 --> 00:07:25,094

Look, 30,000 copies is not gonna do it.



103

00:07:25,201 --> 00:07:27,533

A short run like that,

it sends out a message,



104

00:07:27,637 --> 00:07:28,605

and it's not a good one.



105

00:07:28,706 --> 00:07:31,436

- We're not publishing the book.

- Exactly, exactly.



106

00:07:31,541 --> 00:07:34,409

With 30,000 copies, it's like

we're not really publishing the book...



107

00:07:34,512 --> 00:07:37,810

Brad Silber at Life magazine hated it.

He called it,



108

00:07:37,915 --> 00:07:42,750

"A third-rate Philip Roth knock-off."

And he told Harold. And it was awful.



109

00:07:42,852 --> 00:07:44,718

It just rolled like a snowball.



110

00:07:46,190 --> 00:07:48,954

I wanted to tell you on Monday.

I'm sorry.



111

00:07:51,529 --> 00:07:53,462

Fine, we'll do The New Yorker.

The New Yorker's better anyway...



112

00:07:53,564 --> 00:07:54,588

You're not listening to me, Cliff.



113

00:07:54,698 --> 00:07:57,030

McGraw-Hill is not publishing

your book.



114

00:07:57,134 --> 00:07:59,499

Book, gone. The bomb has dropped.



115

00:07:59,837 --> 00:08:01,599

It's over.



116

00:08:04,574 --> 00:08:07,202

Andrea, you said

that this was a formality.



117

00:08:07,311 --> 00:08:09,404

Well, apparently, I was mistaken.



118

00:08:09,512 --> 00:08:12,811

Look, if you have other ideas,

my door is always open to you.



119

00:08:44,447 --> 00:08:48,008

The enemy, very deceitfully,



120

00:08:48,119 --> 00:08:50,417

has taken advantage of the troops...



121

00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,889

They are potatoes, all of them.

Potato people.



122

00:08:55,525 --> 00:09:01,158

And you are a brilliant, strong man

who will have all his dreams.



123

00:09:02,066 --> 00:09:03,396

All of them.



124

00:09:16,713 --> 00:09:19,704

You know what I'm getting

for dinner? Swordfish steak.



125

00:09:19,816 --> 00:09:22,114

It sounds good. Sounds enticing.



126

00:09:22,719 --> 00:09:25,482

Oh, come on, Cliff. Forget it, forget it.



127

00:09:27,090 --> 00:09:29,115

All right. Enough, enough.



128

00:09:29,225 --> 00:09:31,318

I want to talk about my friend.



129

00:09:31,427 --> 00:09:33,088

Tell me about the children's book

you're working on.



130

00:09:33,197 --> 00:09:36,654

Oh, Richard the Lionhearted.

That's going okay.



131

00:09:37,333 --> 00:09:38,994

I should be done

by the end of the year.



132

00:09:39,101 --> 00:09:42,036

You know, it's a great subject.

War, sodomy.



133

00:09:42,138 --> 00:09:44,731

I mean, the war part's great.

Kids love war.



134

00:09:44,841 --> 00:09:47,071

But what do you do with the sodomy?

You know?



135

00:09:47,177 --> 00:09:49,543

You see, I want it to be

historically accurate.



136

00:09:49,647 --> 00:09:53,844

And you will make it so

because you are a superb researcher,



137

00:09:55,318 --> 00:09:56,807

and a fine writer.



138

00:09:57,921 --> 00:09:59,114

Thank you.



139

00:10:03,861 --> 00:10:06,420

Bumped by this adolescent coffee boy.



140

00:10:07,564 --> 00:10:10,658

My lit professor at Cornell

compared me to Hemingway.



141

00:10:11,601 --> 00:10:15,037

The middle of my life is at hand.

I don't have a couch.



142

00:10:15,805 --> 00:10:16,897

Think about this.



143

00:10:17,006 --> 00:10:19,497

Henry Miller was 38 years old,

unpublished.



144

00:10:19,609 --> 00:10:21,940

His wife left him for a lesbian.



145

00:10:24,279 --> 00:10:26,679

You're kind to tell me that, Dick.



146

00:10:26,916 --> 00:10:28,781

You're a very good man.

You're a good friend.



147

00:10:28,885 --> 00:10:30,648

- Need a loan?

- Always.



148

00:10:32,154 --> 00:10:34,248

- No, no. I was kidding, Cliff.

- You got a pen, kid?



149

00:10:34,357 --> 00:10:36,985

I was kidding.

Your house is going into foreclosure.



150

00:10:37,093 --> 00:10:40,426

- I'm post-dating it.

- Stop that. Stop being the hero.



151

00:10:41,497 --> 00:10:44,523

- Go to bed.

- I got it, I got it. Walk away. Go.



152

00:10:45,235 --> 00:10:46,997

- I got it.

- All right.



153

00:10:47,837 --> 00:10:49,599

- Go to bed.

- I will.



154

00:11:00,950 --> 00:11:04,044

Everyone's being relocated

to another hotel.



155

00:11:04,453 --> 00:11:06,717

Please stay calm and follow me.



156

00:11:07,290 --> 00:11:09,258

- Excuse me. Can you...

- MAN: Follow me, please!



157

00:11:09,359 --> 00:11:11,054

Somebody told me

that Howard Hughes is



158

00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:13,025

moving into this hotel.



159

00:11:14,296 --> 00:11:16,196

What is this? What's going on?



160

00:11:16,298 --> 00:11:20,098

It's an executive decision

to close the facility for the weekend, sir.



161

00:11:20,203 --> 00:11:23,104

- You're being relocated.

- Executive decision?



162

00:11:23,672 --> 00:11:25,196

Howard Hughes

wants the pool to himself,



163

00:11:25,307 --> 00:11:27,208

so he's kicking everyone out

at 1:00 a.m.?



164

00:11:27,310 --> 00:11:29,471

I don't know about that, sir.



165

00:11:33,650 --> 00:11:35,116

That's power.



166

00:11:57,739 --> 00:12:03,041

It's a friendship

between Tom Mix and Pancho Villa.



167

00:12:04,913 --> 00:12:07,279

Revolution, Mexican revolution.



168

00:12:08,450 --> 00:12:09,781

Men were men.



169

00:12:10,352 --> 00:12:12,650

- Friendship and...

- Mr. Clifford?



170

00:12:13,322 --> 00:12:16,883

Andrea's running late, so she said

that we should just go ahead



171

00:12:16,992 --> 00:12:19,392

and start the meeting without her.



172

00:12:20,128 --> 00:12:23,587

"Mr. Clifford"? Wait a minute.



173

00:12:25,233 --> 00:12:26,996

I'm meeting with you?



174

00:12:39,848 --> 00:12:42,544

Oh, no. Excuse me.



175

00:12:44,753 --> 00:12:46,243

Mr. Clifford...



176

00:12:47,856 --> 00:12:49,790

Excuse me!

Hello, I'm sorry, everybody. Andrea...



177

00:12:49,891 --> 00:12:52,257

I'm sorry. I did tell him, but...



178

00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:54,363

Cliff, I'm in the middle

of a conference meeting.



179

00:12:54,363 --> 00:12:55,488

Cliff, I'm in the middle

of a conference meeting.



180

00:12:56,031 --> 00:12:59,330

Andrea, our personal history demands

that I bring this to you first.



181

00:12:59,434 --> 00:13:00,765

Bring what?



182

00:13:02,905 --> 00:13:06,567

I'm working on the most important book

of the 20th century.



183

00:13:06,975 --> 00:13:10,103

It's unprecedented.

I'm gonna discuss it tomorrow.



184

00:13:10,211 --> 00:13:12,304

I'm gonna present the details

about it tomorrow.



185

00:13:12,414 --> 00:13:15,872

- Okay.

- Morning, 9:00 a.m.



186

00:13:16,151 --> 00:13:19,712

- Thank you.

- At Nathan's Bowling Alley in Queens.



187

00:13:19,822 --> 00:13:22,084

- Did I ever take you there before?

- Sir?



188

00:13:22,190 --> 00:13:24,385

Okay, yeah, I'm going, I'm going.



189

00:13:26,127 --> 00:13:28,527

You'd better be sure, Andrea,

that I don't have anything,



190

00:13:28,629 --> 00:13:31,121

'cause Simon and Schuster is coming.



191

00:13:32,067 --> 00:13:35,730

"Of the century"? Couldn't you

have just said "of the decade"?



192

00:13:35,837 --> 00:13:36,803

All right, all right.



193

00:13:36,904 --> 00:13:39,896

- And why a bowling alley?

- Please, make a contribution here.



194

00:13:40,008 --> 00:13:42,306

Just open your mind.

The first thing that comes to your mind.



195

00:13:42,410 --> 00:13:44,379

- Potato famine.

- Too Irish.



196

00:13:44,479 --> 00:13:47,140

- A history of agriculture.

- Oh, that's a bestseller.



197

00:13:47,249 --> 00:13:50,150

- Shedding new light on World War I.

- What's the new light?



198

00:13:50,252 --> 00:13:53,949

Write about Picasso.

Everyone loves Picasso.



199

00:13:54,054 --> 00:13:55,682

- I don't.

- Charlemagne?



200

00:13:55,791 --> 00:13:58,726

- Too French.

- History of the Vatican.



201

00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,257

- I'm dying.

- Give me a clue here.



202

00:14:01,962 --> 00:14:05,193

- I'm being self-destructive.

- I gotta call Barbara.



203

00:14:05,633 --> 00:14:07,692

I'm burning bridges, Edith.



204

00:14:08,936 --> 00:14:11,268

They never appreciated you there.



205

00:14:12,841 --> 00:14:14,273

I need lunch.



206

00:14:14,743 --> 00:14:16,643

I'm having a breakdown.



207

00:14:17,311 --> 00:14:20,337

- My gallery show's in three weeks.

- I know.



208

00:14:20,449 --> 00:14:23,907

I don't have time

for the drama now, darling.



209

00:14:27,221 --> 00:14:28,313

Shit.



210

00:14:45,539 --> 00:14:47,837

HERE COMES THE SUN PLAYING



211

00:14:47,943 --> 00:14:49,001

Dick!



212

00:14:51,712 --> 00:14:52,906

Size 7.



213

00:14:54,115 --> 00:14:55,080

How?



214

00:14:55,182 --> 00:14:58,049

No one knows where he is.

I show up, I've seen him.



215

00:14:58,151 --> 00:14:59,984

I've seen the snowman.



216

00:15:00,188 --> 00:15:02,280

I send him my de Hory book.



217

00:15:02,524 --> 00:15:03,922

He reads it.



218

00:15:04,058 --> 00:15:06,549

It's a positive portrayal

of a very complex man.



219

00:15:06,659 --> 00:15:08,457

Oh, my God, I get a response.



220

00:15:08,562 --> 00:15:11,360

Correspondence. Sparks fly.

Personal connection.



221

00:15:11,466 --> 00:15:12,989

We become best of friends.

What do you think?



222

00:15:15,569 --> 00:15:17,662

- What is it? What's the book?

- Wait, wait.



223

00:15:36,657 --> 00:15:39,217

Where's Simon and Schuster, Tolstoy?



224

00:15:48,902 --> 00:15:50,200

This is the key to it.



225

00:15:50,304 --> 00:15:53,966

Have a strong, continuous line,

keep the pen on the paper.



226

00:15:54,073 --> 00:15:55,267

Just like that.



227

00:16:12,826 --> 00:16:14,555

All these articles say the same thing.



228

00:16:14,662 --> 00:16:17,152

Hughes runs

a billion-dollar network of companies,



229

00:16:17,264 --> 00:16:19,925

but he only communicates

with handwritten memos.



230

00:16:20,033 --> 00:16:23,094

He doesn't even talk to his top guys.

There's no direct contact anywhere.



231

00:16:23,202 --> 00:16:24,500

That's why it's gonna work.



232

00:16:24,604 --> 00:16:27,199

Fine. Tell me my dick grew

five inches last night.



233

00:16:27,308 --> 00:16:28,502

I'll still use a ruler.



234

00:16:33,212 --> 00:16:36,773

Howard Hughes?

Howard Hughes, the billionaire?



235

00:16:36,884 --> 00:16:40,284

His exclusive,

authorized autobiography.



236

00:16:40,386 --> 00:16:42,787

He wants Cliff to write it with him.



237

00:16:42,890 --> 00:16:45,153

And they want us to publish it.



238

00:16:45,792 --> 00:16:49,388

Handwriting analysis? Right away.

Can we bring it over right now?



239

00:16:49,496 --> 00:16:54,763

"It would not suit me to die without

having stated the truth about my life."



240

00:16:54,867 --> 00:16:55,856

"My life."



241

00:16:55,970 --> 00:17:01,202

"I therefore authorize Clifford Irving

to act as intermediary



242

00:17:01,441 --> 00:17:05,275

"as to any arrangements regarding

the publishing of my memoir."



243

00:17:05,379 --> 00:17:08,109

ANDREA: "It would not suit me to die



244

00:17:08,215 --> 00:17:11,342

"without having

certain misconceptions cleared up



245

00:17:11,784 --> 00:17:15,015

"and without having stated

the truth about my life."



246

00:17:18,424 --> 00:17:19,652

So,



247

00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:22,751

taking you at your word...



248

00:17:23,496 --> 00:17:24,589

Yeah.



249

00:17:25,299 --> 00:17:27,892

How does Mr. Hughes propose

we proceed?



250

00:17:30,270 --> 00:17:31,236

I...



251

00:17:33,540 --> 00:17:35,200

Look, this is all very strange.



252

00:17:35,308 --> 00:17:37,776

I'm just getting

the lay of the land here myself.



253

00:17:37,877 --> 00:17:39,003

But what...



254

00:17:40,713 --> 00:17:45,150

What I can gather so far

is that he refuses to go outdoors.



255

00:17:45,884 --> 00:17:49,548

He will only initiate,

never accept, phone calls.



256

00:17:49,656 --> 00:17:52,454

Those two particular rumors

seem to be true.



257

00:17:52,558 --> 00:17:54,992

But he did say that he would provide



258

00:17:55,094 --> 00:17:57,790

handwritten contracts

for legal purposes.



259

00:17:58,464 --> 00:18:01,058

And... Whatever questions you...



260

00:18:02,001 --> 00:18:03,127

You know, you give them to me,



261

00:18:03,236 --> 00:18:04,533

I'll pass them on

when he makes contact with me.



262

00:18:04,638 --> 00:18:07,629

But beyond that,

I don't know what to say, really.



263

00:18:09,142 --> 00:18:10,803

Why you, Cliff?



264

00:18:11,844 --> 00:18:13,868

He could have any writer in the world

do this for him.



265

00:18:13,980 --> 00:18:16,504

Albert, I have absolutely no idea.



266

00:18:16,616 --> 00:18:19,414

This is the strangest thing

that has ever happened to me.



267

00:18:19,518 --> 00:18:22,317

Best guess, he likes me.



268

00:18:24,558 --> 00:18:28,584

So, the matching against the reprinted

letters from Newsweek magazine,



269

00:18:29,195 --> 00:18:31,788

Osborn Associates' preliminary opinion



270

00:18:32,098 --> 00:18:35,329

is that the handwriting samples

are genuine.



271

00:18:39,071 --> 00:18:41,267

- Okay, well, all right...

- Excuse me one second.



272

00:18:41,375 --> 00:18:42,635

Yeah, sure.



273

00:18:42,742 --> 00:18:43,731

Yeah?



274

00:18:53,619 --> 00:18:55,314

- Clifford?

- Yeah?



275

00:18:55,421 --> 00:19:00,016

Did you and Howard discuss

how much you both wanted?



276

00:19:00,126 --> 00:19:04,460

Because we would like

to make you an offer today.



277

00:19:09,634 --> 00:19:12,161

We did. We did. We...



278

00:19:13,973 --> 00:19:15,600

We did discuss it.



279

00:19:16,174 --> 00:19:16,576

UP AROUND THE BEND PLAYING



280

00:19:26,752 --> 00:19:28,277

- Can I weigh in here?

- No.



281

00:19:28,387 --> 00:19:32,720

A man walks in, he says something

completely implausible,



282

00:19:32,824 --> 00:19:35,292

and for that exact reason,

he is believed.



283

00:19:35,394 --> 00:19:38,157

No, it's an Aquarian phenomenon.



284

00:19:38,263 --> 00:19:41,721

- Very, very spiritual.

- Lawyers are not spiritual.



285

00:19:42,134 --> 00:19:44,034

Presumably, this is gonna make news.



286

00:19:44,136 --> 00:19:46,798

Howard Hughes hasn't spoken

to the press in 15 years.



287

00:19:46,905 --> 00:19:48,737

What are you so nervous about?



288

00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:52,276

- You can't think, Dick. No thinking.

- All I'm saying is, once this gets out,



289

00:19:52,377 --> 00:19:54,902

what's gonna stop this guy

from suing our asses off?



290

00:19:55,013 --> 00:19:58,471

Three words. TWA shareholder lawsuit.



291

00:19:59,752 --> 00:20:03,916

Howard has a judgment of

137 million bucks waiting to hit him



292

00:20:04,022 --> 00:20:05,683

if he walks into any courtroom.



293

00:20:05,791 --> 00:20:07,851

So the book comes out,

it doesn't matter. He can't sue.



294

00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:09,483

He can still say it's a fake.



295

00:20:09,595 --> 00:20:11,960

He doesn't say anything

about anything. This guy...



296

00:20:12,063 --> 00:20:16,057

He uses ripped-up Kleenex boxes

for slippers and he drinks his own piss.



297

00:20:16,168 --> 00:20:19,297

- He's psychotic.

- DICK: Have you heard of Intertel?



298

00:20:19,405 --> 00:20:22,396

He has his own private CIA.

Ruthless advisors.



299

00:20:22,506 --> 00:20:24,771

His advisors don't know anything

about the book



300

00:20:24,877 --> 00:20:27,368

because he's too paranoid to tell them.



301

00:20:27,479 --> 00:20:31,006

And he'll never come out of hiding

long enough to denounce me



302

00:20:31,115 --> 00:20:33,949

because he's a lunatic hermit.



303

00:20:34,052 --> 00:20:37,852

And I am the spokesperson

for the lunatic hermit.



304

00:20:37,956 --> 00:20:40,789

So the more outrageous I sound,

the more convincing I am.



305

00:20:40,893 --> 00:20:43,383

Do you believe this, the perfection?



306

00:20:45,029 --> 00:20:48,226

- They offered half a million.

- Half a million dollars?



307

00:20:48,333 --> 00:20:50,631

Four-hundred grand for Howard

and a hundred grand for us!



308

00:20:50,734 --> 00:20:53,431

Oh, I thought you meant

just a half a million for us.



309

00:20:53,537 --> 00:20:56,837

Schmuck, it's all for us.

There is no Howard Hughes.



310

00:20:57,442 --> 00:21:00,036

- Dick, are you paying attention to me?

- Yeah.



311

00:21:00,145 --> 00:21:01,611

The problem is this.



312

00:21:01,980 --> 00:21:02,969

It's an oral agreement.



313

00:21:03,081 --> 00:21:04,775

Their lawyers are gonna

jump all over this,



314

00:21:04,883 --> 00:21:06,510

which is why

we have to leave right now.



315

00:21:06,618 --> 00:21:09,451

We gotta become experts

on this man's life.



316

00:21:09,554 --> 00:21:13,422

And if we find dirt and it rings true,

the top guys will shove this deal



317

00:21:13,524 --> 00:21:15,584

right down the lawyers' throats.



318

00:21:16,828 --> 00:21:17,795

Cliff,



319

00:21:19,430 --> 00:21:22,423

no visits with special friends, right?



320

00:21:25,203 --> 00:21:29,970

I'm not going to do anything

to jeopardize what we've rebuilt, okay?



321

00:21:30,508 --> 00:21:33,534

You just said to warn you

when you get excited.



322

00:21:33,845 --> 00:21:36,369

- You seem excited.

- Well...



323

00:21:42,420 --> 00:21:43,785

I love you.



324

00:21:46,858 --> 00:21:48,257

I love you.



325

00:22:19,391 --> 00:22:22,417

Cliff, Howard Hughes' testimony



326

00:22:22,527 --> 00:22:25,018

at the Senate committee hearings

in 1947.



327

00:22:25,462 --> 00:22:29,091

It's got his speech patterns,

his syntax, everything. It's perfect.



328

00:22:34,571 --> 00:22:36,062

Take a picture.



329

00:22:37,374 --> 00:22:39,740

You can't photograph

a government document, it's a felony.



330

00:22:39,843 --> 00:22:41,641

You gonna memorize it?

Take a picture. Take a picture.



331

00:22:41,745 --> 00:22:43,576

I'm a researcher, Cliff.

I am not a jewel thief.



332

00:22:43,682 --> 00:22:45,672

You own 25 percent of this book.



333

00:22:45,783 --> 00:22:48,411

You want it to be good?

You take a picture.



334

00:22:56,094 --> 00:22:58,152

DICK: You know, I've always had

a dangerous side.



335

00:22:58,263 --> 00:23:00,730

Barbara has often remarked on it.



336

00:23:00,831 --> 00:23:04,233

But to take down the Library

of Congress. God, the adrenaline.



337

00:23:04,336 --> 00:23:07,032

You took a nice picture

of your leg here.



338

00:23:07,738 --> 00:23:09,502

- Or is that your ankle? I can't tell.

- Where?



339

00:23:09,606 --> 00:23:10,971

Right there.



340

00:23:12,277 --> 00:23:15,735

- It's my ankle.

- It's all out of focus anyway.



341

00:23:15,913 --> 00:23:17,505

- Jesus.

- Want another drink?



342

00:23:17,615 --> 00:23:19,377

- Yeah.

- Yeah, me, too.



343

00:23:20,117 --> 00:23:21,346

Oh, fuck.



344

00:23:33,664 --> 00:23:37,100

Harold, this book will sell more copies

than the Bible.



345

00:23:37,335 --> 00:23:40,236

And our competitors will kill to get it,

and if they can't get it,



346

00:23:40,337 --> 00:23:43,272

they will do anything they can

to destroy it.



347

00:23:43,374 --> 00:23:48,505

I say we sign this contract immediately,

and institute absolute, total secrecy.



348

00:23:48,612 --> 00:23:51,081

Total. Not even wives can know.



349

00:23:53,384 --> 00:23:54,374

Within reason.



350

00:23:54,485 --> 00:23:58,421

From now on,

we refer to Hughes as "Octavio."



351

00:23:59,423 --> 00:24:02,358

The book is called "Project Octavio."



352

00:24:03,028 --> 00:24:04,186

HAROLD:

Get Ralph Graves on the phone.



353

00:24:04,294 --> 00:24:05,318

That's the code name.



354

00:24:05,429 --> 00:24:07,397

I want our journalist friends

to weigh in on this



355

00:24:07,498 --> 00:24:10,228

before I sign

Mr. Hughes' piece of paper.



356

00:24:14,405 --> 00:24:16,066

Look at all this security personnel.



357

00:24:17,340 --> 00:24:18,865

This is a secure facility.



358

00:24:18,976 --> 00:24:21,671

We need the information

in portable form.



359

00:24:24,048 --> 00:24:26,312

Just look comfortable, be buoyant.



360

00:24:26,416 --> 00:24:28,408

Hell, they can let anybody in here.



361

00:24:28,518 --> 00:24:31,954

- What if I'm a Russian?

- Be a buoyant Russian.



362

00:24:32,055 --> 00:24:34,853

Records? What for?



363

00:24:34,992 --> 00:24:38,450

You don't know what the hell's going on

with your own company?



364

00:24:40,130 --> 00:24:43,588

Well, to be honest with you, Sergeant,

no, actually, we don't.



365

00:24:43,967 --> 00:24:45,935

Mr. Hughes doesn't like

to share information.



366

00:24:46,035 --> 00:24:48,094

It's very frustrating for us.



367

00:24:48,204 --> 00:24:49,573

You want frustration?



368

00:24:49,573 --> 00:24:49,970

You want frustration?



369

00:24:50,074 --> 00:24:53,907

Call Hughes Aircraft and try to find out

when your plane's gonna be ready.



370

00:24:54,010 --> 00:24:57,309

I've seen decorated individuals

sobbing like six-year-old girls



371

00:24:57,414 --> 00:24:59,472

after dealing with you people.



372

00:24:59,582 --> 00:25:02,312

Could my associate

use your facilities, Sergeant?



373

00:25:02,418 --> 00:25:03,681

Could he?



374

00:25:07,491 --> 00:25:09,550

- Thank you for that.

- To your left.



375

00:25:09,660 --> 00:25:11,422

I'll level with you.

We've had some problems.



376

00:25:11,528 --> 00:25:13,120

Everyone has told us stories

about delays.



377

00:25:13,230 --> 00:25:14,856

Well, I can't get anybody on the phone,

for one thing.



378

00:25:14,965 --> 00:25:17,091

- I had no idea it was this serious.

- It's very serious.



379

00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,191

- Frustrating.

- Can you go into any more detail?



380

00:25:19,302 --> 00:25:20,564

Well, the only details I can tell you



381

00:25:20,671 --> 00:25:23,434

is that I've been on the phone

three times today to one girl,



382

00:25:23,539 --> 00:25:25,006

who doesn't know

what she's talking about,



383

00:25:25,108 --> 00:25:26,474

can't tell me when

I'm gonna get my airplanes.



384

00:25:26,577 --> 00:25:29,044

Which office were you talking to?

Do you mind if I write something down?



385

00:25:29,145 --> 00:25:31,340

- Sure.

- This was the complaint department?



386

00:25:31,447 --> 00:25:32,846

- No, acquisitions.

- Acquisitions?



387

00:25:32,948 --> 00:25:35,544

Acquisitions, as far as I know.



388

00:25:35,651 --> 00:25:38,676

My people been dealing with her,

or somebody down there,



389

00:25:38,788 --> 00:25:41,019

for the last three months,

trying to get two aircrafts.



390

00:25:41,125 --> 00:25:42,785

This is an outrage.



391

00:25:42,892 --> 00:25:45,657

An outrage,

the military should be treated that way.



392

00:25:48,197 --> 00:25:50,165

No. No. I'm not doing it.



393

00:25:57,574 --> 00:25:58,562

Hi.



394

00:26:11,688 --> 00:26:12,984

Thank you.



395

00:26:20,097 --> 00:26:21,723

- Hey, Dick. You all right?

- Yeah.



396

00:26:21,831 --> 00:26:23,525

Okay. Keep moving, keep moving.



397

00:26:23,633 --> 00:26:26,124

- Just fine, just fine.

- It's palpitations.



398

00:26:26,269 --> 00:26:29,295

It's okay. A little bit more,

a little bit more. Keep moving.



399

00:26:29,404 --> 00:26:31,032

Sit down here. That's good.



400

00:26:32,207 --> 00:26:33,506

You all right?



401

00:26:33,643 --> 00:26:35,473

You're fine. You're fine.



402

00:26:35,578 --> 00:26:36,977

Fight or flight. It's an animal thing.



403

00:26:37,079 --> 00:26:39,480

It's like you're being chased

by a cheetah or something.



404

00:26:39,582 --> 00:26:41,675

Okay, okay. I'll be fine.



405

00:26:48,024 --> 00:26:49,958

- You okay?

- Yeah, I'm good.



406

00:26:50,059 --> 00:26:53,187

Look, Noah Dietrich, on the right.



407

00:26:53,297 --> 00:26:55,388

Howard Hughes' right-hand man

for over 30 years.



408

00:26:55,498 --> 00:26:57,329

Retired to Vegas.

The other guy, I don't know.



409

00:26:57,432 --> 00:26:58,559

Vegas?



410

00:26:59,868 --> 00:27:03,531

You know, my guess is this guy,

Dietrich, is going to be really cagey.



411

00:27:05,341 --> 00:27:07,809

Information?

Las Vegas, Nevada, please.



412

00:27:14,584 --> 00:27:15,812

Hello?

Mr. Dietrich?



413

00:27:15,919 --> 00:27:19,318

- Yeah?

- Yeah, I'm sorry to bother you at home.



414

00:27:19,421 --> 00:27:21,686

My name is Clifford Irving

and I'm writing a book



415

00:27:21,791 --> 00:27:23,884

about the history of aviation.



416

00:27:23,993 --> 00:27:27,327

I'd be really grateful if you'd share

some of your expertise with me.



417

00:27:27,597 --> 00:27:29,565

Oh, great. Come on over.



418

00:27:33,969 --> 00:27:35,801

You like geranium tea?



419

00:27:37,907 --> 00:27:40,205

It helps your bowels. Follow me.



420

00:27:40,843 --> 00:27:42,400

Watch your step.



421

00:27:42,877 --> 00:27:45,778

- Hey, you're a writer.

- Yes, I am.



422

00:27:46,649 --> 00:27:48,742

I should show you something.



423

00:27:48,851 --> 00:27:51,546

This is an account

of my years at Tool Co.



424

00:27:52,087 --> 00:27:55,421

You know Tool Co.?

Howard Hughes' company.



425

00:28:00,863 --> 00:28:03,127

Has anyone seen this?



426

00:28:03,633 --> 00:28:06,032

Nobody's seen it. It's sensitive.



427

00:28:06,768 --> 00:28:08,703

Listen, I'll come right to the point.



428

00:28:08,804 --> 00:28:11,534

I'll give you $500

to clean up the grammar,



429

00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:13,575

'cause I'm bad with spelling.



430

00:28:13,675 --> 00:28:17,806

Yeah, well, I'd have to read it first.

When can I get it back to you?



431

00:28:17,978 --> 00:28:21,142

No, no, no,

I can't let it out of the house.



432

00:28:21,249 --> 00:28:24,218

Why don't you read it right now,

sitting here?



433

00:28:25,321 --> 00:28:27,015

- Now?

- Now.



434

00:28:28,891 --> 00:28:30,482

Right here? Okay.



435

00:28:34,262 --> 00:28:37,060

- NOAH: Take your time. See you later.

- Thank you.



436

00:28:40,735 --> 00:28:44,136

You know what this is?

Do you understand what this means?



437

00:28:44,239 --> 00:28:47,140

- This is exactly... It's gold.

- It's perfect.



438

00:28:47,877 --> 00:28:50,640

We have to find a way

to get it out of the house.



439

00:28:50,912 --> 00:28:52,345

Copy, we need a copy.



440

00:28:52,447 --> 00:28:55,348

Okay, get up. Stand in front of me.

Come over here.



441

00:28:55,450 --> 00:28:57,816

- It's great in the water!

- Keep smiling. What's he doing?



442

00:28:57,919 --> 00:29:00,217

- Oh, yeah.

- Tell me if he can see it.



443

00:29:00,321 --> 00:29:01,755

Grab it.



444

00:29:01,856 --> 00:29:04,792

Tell your friend to come in.

The water's beautiful.



445

00:29:04,893 --> 00:29:07,555

Copy that and get back here,

right away.



446

00:29:34,556 --> 00:29:35,614

Thank you!



447

00:29:44,631 --> 00:29:46,827

Sit down, sit down. Thank you.



448

00:29:47,735 --> 00:29:49,727

All right? Are you ready?



449

00:29:51,373 --> 00:29:53,135

All right. I'm done.



450

00:29:54,041 --> 00:29:56,066

Sir, honesty is my policy.



451

00:29:56,611 --> 00:29:58,408

This is atrocious. It's not publishable.



452

00:29:58,514 --> 00:30:01,778

It's run-on sentences,

it's mangled verbiage...



453

00:30:01,883 --> 00:30:03,407

I'm very sorry.



454

00:30:03,518 --> 00:30:07,009

You benefit and I benefit from honesty.

God bless.



455

00:30:09,657 --> 00:30:13,457

This is badly spelled gossip

from someone absolutely in the know.



456

00:30:13,561 --> 00:30:16,028

This is perfect. Perfect! Oh, my...



457

00:30:17,131 --> 00:30:19,464

You know what we should

do? Let's give Andrea some good news.



458

00:30:34,482 --> 00:30:37,246

This is amazing.

Everybody hates Howard Hughes.



459

00:30:37,352 --> 00:30:39,912

They call him cheap, everything else.



460

00:30:40,020 --> 00:30:42,750

But, you know, they're in his thrall.

They can't stop talking about him.



461

00:30:42,857 --> 00:30:44,653

He's Howard Hughes.

Who the fuck are they?



462

00:30:44,759 --> 00:30:47,319

Listen. "He rarely took vacations.



463

00:30:47,762 --> 00:30:48,096

"But when he did,

he usually booked a remote hotel



464

00:30:48,096 --> 00:30:50,860

"But when he did,

he usually booked a remote hotel



465

00:30:50,964 --> 00:30:54,196

"in the Juchitán mountains

called the Salina Cruz."



466

00:30:54,568 --> 00:30:58,026

- Remote. R-E-M-O-A-T. Vacation...

- I'm going for a walk.



467

00:30:58,205 --> 00:30:59,833

- I'll be back in a little bit.

- Okay.



468

00:31:02,376 --> 00:31:03,707

What is it?



469

00:31:07,182 --> 00:31:10,412

Look, you told me

not to call you ever again, so I didn't.



470

00:31:11,652 --> 00:31:15,110

- I say a lot of stupid things, you know?

- Yeah.



471

00:31:16,957 --> 00:31:19,050

It was funny seeing you the other night.



472

00:31:20,794 --> 00:31:25,924

I would have given anything

to get this call a year ago.



473

00:31:28,235 --> 00:31:30,896

- It's too late. I...

- Clifford...



474

00:31:31,004 --> 00:31:33,802

- You ran out of time. Sorry.

- Clifford, wait. I need to see you.



475

00:31:33,907 --> 00:31:34,931

Bye.



476

00:31:51,892 --> 00:31:55,624

Cliff, listen to this.

This is from the Dietrich manuscript.



477

00:31:55,829 --> 00:31:59,424

There's a full transcription here of a

conversation between Howard Hughes



478

00:31:59,533 --> 00:32:01,364

and Frank McCullough

from Time magazine.



479

00:32:01,469 --> 00:32:06,736

They mention Intertel, the Mormon guy,

George Gordon Holmes.



480

00:32:06,974 --> 00:32:09,273

- It's fantastic.

- Stop, listen to me.



481

00:32:09,376 --> 00:32:12,835

- Nina called from New York last night.

- Oh, here we go.



482

00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:17,810

Dick, it took me a year

to make things right with Edith.



483

00:32:17,918 --> 00:32:19,886

- Keep an eye on me, will you?

- Keep an eye?



484

00:32:19,987 --> 00:32:21,921

It's my second profession.



485

00:32:26,361 --> 00:32:28,191

- Here you are.

- Thanks.



486

00:32:31,632 --> 00:32:32,826

Cliff...



487

00:32:34,735 --> 00:32:36,430

I've been talking to Barbara,



488

00:32:36,537 --> 00:32:40,668

and she's found some kind of

publishing contract.



489

00:32:41,173 --> 00:32:44,302

And I was wondering

if maybe we could talk about,



490

00:32:44,478 --> 00:32:46,810

you know, some kind of credit deal,



491

00:32:46,914 --> 00:32:49,438

or just some more money for me.



492

00:32:51,686 --> 00:32:53,084

You're not happy

with what we talked about?



493

00:32:53,185 --> 00:32:55,449

- No, no, no, it's not that.

- What? What is it?



494

00:32:55,555 --> 00:32:57,080

Well, it's just like...

I sort of feel that, you know...



495

00:32:58,424 --> 00:33:00,392

Don't answer that! Don't...



496

00:33:00,493 --> 00:33:03,223

Hello, darling. It's Ms. Tate calling.

We have a bit of a problem.



497

00:33:03,329 --> 00:33:07,323

- Andrea thinks it's just me...

- Hello! Hi, Andrea, this...



498

00:33:08,201 --> 00:33:10,362

- Who is this?

- You can't say her name.



499

00:33:10,470 --> 00:33:12,664

- This is Dick.

- No, no, don't give your name.



500

00:33:12,773 --> 00:33:14,240

Dick Suskind.



501

00:33:14,540 --> 00:33:16,236

Dick, how do you know my name?



502

00:33:16,343 --> 00:33:19,470

- Don't tell her!

- Cliff mentioned you.



503

00:33:19,580 --> 00:33:22,208

What are you doing out there

with Clifford?



504

00:33:24,351 --> 00:33:29,583

- I am the...

- Co-coordinator of...



505

00:33:30,157 --> 00:33:34,058

- I'm the coauthor of Project Octavio.

- Excuse me?



506

00:33:35,328 --> 00:33:38,161

- Is Cliff there?

- Yes, certainly. He's right here.



507

00:33:38,264 --> 00:33:41,666

- Put him on the phone, please.

- I didn't know what else to say.



508

00:33:41,768 --> 00:33:43,633

- I heard you talking...

- I know what you're doing.



509

00:33:43,737 --> 00:33:45,226

- I know what you're doing.

- What?



510

00:33:45,338 --> 00:33:47,306

I know what you're doing.



511

00:33:47,406 --> 00:33:48,498

Hi, Andrea.



512

00:33:48,608 --> 00:33:50,235

Who the hell was that, Clifford?



513

00:33:50,344 --> 00:33:53,507

That is my associate.



514

00:33:53,613 --> 00:33:55,547

I was intending

to talk to you about him.



515

00:33:55,649 --> 00:33:57,513

He's working with me on this.



516

00:33:57,617 --> 00:34:00,780

All right. You need to be in New York

at 9:00 on Monday morning.



517

00:34:00,886 --> 00:34:02,718

You're meeting with Ralph Graves.



518

00:34:02,822 --> 00:34:05,450

He's the editor-in-chief

of Life magazine.



519

00:34:06,225 --> 00:34:07,886

Yeah, I know who he is.



520

00:34:07,994 --> 00:34:11,452

You need to go over all your contacts

with Octavio.



521

00:34:11,564 --> 00:34:16,228

Life knows a lot about him, so get

your memory clear and be specific.



522

00:34:16,335 --> 00:34:19,099

I don't want to lose the deal

over their knee-jerk suspicions.



523

00:34:19,205 --> 00:34:21,935

What do you... Wait, wait, wait.

What do you mean, "lose the deal"?



524

00:34:22,041 --> 00:34:23,599

What suspicions?



525

00:34:24,011 --> 00:34:26,002

Just tell them the truth.



526

00:34:40,026 --> 00:34:44,155

He gave me a prune.

He gave me a prune.



527

00:34:45,164 --> 00:34:47,222

Visualize the Mediterranean

or something.



528

00:34:47,333 --> 00:34:49,267

You're sweating like an animal.



529

00:34:49,368 --> 00:34:51,303

You know, it's pretty nervy

of these publishers



530

00:34:51,404 --> 00:34:52,701

to put us through this inquisition.



531

00:34:52,804 --> 00:34:56,332

Well, you can't sit it out now.

You're a coauthor.



532

00:34:59,779 --> 00:35:00,972

History.



533

00:35:02,181 --> 00:35:04,081

Quite a responsibility.



534

00:35:05,184 --> 00:35:07,209

The second handwriting analysis

told us



535

00:35:07,319 --> 00:35:11,187

your letters from Mr. Hughes

are authentic.



536

00:35:11,424 --> 00:35:13,654

ANDREA: 100 percent.

RALPH: No surprise there.



537

00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:17,492

Experts want to provide their employers

with good news.



538

00:35:18,497 --> 00:35:20,124

He gave me a prune.



539

00:35:22,768 --> 00:35:23,734

What?



540

00:35:31,378 --> 00:35:33,845

Right... In a bag.



541

00:35:34,479 --> 00:35:37,039

He gave me a prune. Howard Hughes.



542

00:35:37,148 --> 00:35:40,983

Dick is jumping forward a little bit.

It was a memorable moment for him.



543

00:35:41,087 --> 00:35:44,921

- Anyway, Ralph, how can we help?

- You know, no one likes to be accused.



544

00:35:46,125 --> 00:35:48,456

I really don't think anyone's

making accusations here, Dick.



545

00:35:48,561 --> 00:35:50,256

Are we going to stand around all day

looking at photographs?



546

00:35:50,362 --> 00:35:52,330

We came here to talk about

Howard Hughes. Let's talk about him.



547

00:35:52,430 --> 00:35:53,625

He gave me a prune.



548

00:35:53,733 --> 00:35:56,667

Howard Hughes gave me a prune

on the beach at Nassau.



549

00:35:57,302 --> 00:36:00,636

I thought you met Hughes

the first time in Mexico.



550

00:36:04,877 --> 00:36:07,675

Ralph, what happened was this.

I got a phone call.



551

00:36:07,780 --> 00:36:09,371

Really, out of the blue.



552

00:36:09,482 --> 00:36:12,918

From a man

named George Gordon Holmes.



553

00:36:13,085 --> 00:36:15,212

Longtime associate of Howard Hughes.



554

00:36:15,488 --> 00:36:18,149

He says he wants us

to fly down to Mexico City,



555

00:36:18,758 --> 00:36:21,625

wait for a call,

so we go ahead and do this.



556

00:36:21,727 --> 00:36:25,128

We fly down there,

we check into this fleabag hotel.



557

00:36:25,997 --> 00:36:27,965

Eighteen hours we wait,

no air conditioning,



558

00:36:28,066 --> 00:36:31,160

sand crabs in the bathtub,

I say, "The hell with him,"



559

00:36:31,270 --> 00:36:32,965

when we spot an envelope,



560

00:36:34,973 --> 00:36:36,201

shoved under the door.



561

00:36:36,307 --> 00:36:37,707

He rarely went on vacation,

but when he did,



562

00:36:37,810 --> 00:36:39,243

he usually booked into a remote hotel



563

00:36:39,344 --> 00:36:41,479

- in the mountains of Juchitán.

- It says,



564

00:36:41,479 --> 00:36:41,706

- in the mountains of Juchitán.

- It says,



565

00:36:41,813 --> 00:36:44,680

"There's a pilot waiting

to take you to Juchitán."



566

00:36:47,018 --> 00:36:51,717

So it's 6:00 a.m.,

we're flying low over the mountains,



567

00:36:52,024 --> 00:36:53,251

and I'm nervous.



568

00:36:53,358 --> 00:36:55,155

But he's got a touch, this bush pilot.



569

00:36:55,261 --> 00:36:58,957

He brings it right down

onto a gray pebble landing strip.



570

00:36:59,063 --> 00:37:00,793

Just as it comes down,

I see out of the corner of my eye,



571

00:37:00,900 --> 00:37:03,833

there's a jeep that's coming down

from the mountains.



572

00:37:04,269 --> 00:37:05,862

Mexican military?



573

00:37:06,805 --> 00:37:07,932

No.



574

00:37:08,807 --> 00:37:09,796

It's Holmes.



575

00:37:09,908 --> 00:37:13,901

- Mr. Irving?

- Yes, that's right. Mr. Holmes?



576

00:37:14,079 --> 00:37:16,012

- Who is this?

- Dick Suskind, sir.



577

00:37:16,114 --> 00:37:18,309

So, he's a little surprised to see Dick,



578

00:37:18,416 --> 00:37:20,782

but I explained that Dick

was my researcher and friend,



579

00:37:20,885 --> 00:37:23,183

and that's why he was there

and I couldn't do without him.



580

00:37:23,289 --> 00:37:24,346

We get in the jeep,



581

00:37:24,455 --> 00:37:27,891

and he takes us on this endless ride,

up through the mountains.



582

00:37:28,526 --> 00:37:32,121

We circled around the top of this hill

and we got to the hotel,



583

00:37:32,497 --> 00:37:34,055

which was called



584

00:37:34,933 --> 00:37:36,333

Salina Cruz.



585

00:37:38,903 --> 00:37:41,201

Holmes motions for us to follow.



586

00:37:43,675 --> 00:37:45,234

It's quiet.



587

00:37:50,315 --> 00:37:53,284

There's a room

way in the back, like a hut.



588

00:37:54,886 --> 00:37:57,115

Doesn't even have

a view of the ocean.



589

00:38:01,059 --> 00:38:02,493

We can barely see.



590

00:38:04,730 --> 00:38:10,497

There's a little slip of a man on a bed,

sitting like a monk.



591

00:38:14,706 --> 00:38:16,230

Howard Hughes.



592

00:38:20,979 --> 00:38:22,536

Howard Hughes.



593

00:38:23,514 --> 00:38:25,744

Howard Hughes is sitting right there.



594

00:38:28,553 --> 00:38:29,986

My heart...



595

00:38:33,024 --> 00:38:37,654

And then he was reaching out

through the mosquito netting,



596

00:38:38,730 --> 00:38:41,460

and he offered Dick a...



597

00:38:42,834 --> 00:38:44,028

A prune.



598

00:38:44,435 --> 00:38:45,663

A prune.



599

00:38:48,338 --> 00:38:49,806

Dick takes the prune,



600

00:39:00,585 --> 00:39:01,915

eats the prune...



601

00:39:03,955 --> 00:39:05,080

Not bad.



602

00:39:07,057 --> 00:39:11,050

And he started talking about

the extraordinary value of Mexican soil,



603

00:39:11,162 --> 00:39:13,026

organic farming, organic food,

et cetera, et cetera.



604

00:39:13,131 --> 00:39:15,655

The two of them started jabbering

like old friends.



605

00:39:15,767 --> 00:39:19,863

We ended up talking a little bit about

business, then Dick and I went home.



606

00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:23,799

- I'm a little hungry.

- Let's eat.



607

00:39:25,776 --> 00:39:28,438

Ralph, will you pick

something fabulous?



608

00:39:29,346 --> 00:39:31,314

The Latour please, '61.



609

00:39:31,416 --> 00:39:34,180

- That'll get us started. Thank you.

- Oh, yes.



610

00:39:34,284 --> 00:39:36,275

And some beluga,

shall we, gentlemen?



611

00:39:36,387 --> 00:39:37,648

MAN: Sounds good.



612

00:39:38,923 --> 00:39:41,618

You know, Howard Hughes

doesn't like caviar.



613

00:39:41,726 --> 00:39:42,715

Really?



614

00:39:42,827 --> 00:39:45,886

Really. In fact, he made a special point

of saying so.



615

00:39:46,096 --> 00:39:47,563

I remember that. I...



616

00:39:47,664 --> 00:39:49,359

It was such a non sequitur.

It was a strange thing.



617

00:39:49,466 --> 00:39:53,266

It was just after Clifford

finished talking about the...



618

00:39:54,905 --> 00:39:56,395

- The crash.

- That's right. The crash.



619

00:39:56,507 --> 00:39:59,135

The one in Beverly Hills.

He nearly hit the top of that house,



620

00:39:59,242 --> 00:40:02,406

parked it right on top of the house, hurt

his back, but he walked away from it.



621

00:40:02,512 --> 00:40:05,708

And he said that people

in Beverly Hills eat caviar,



622

00:40:05,816 --> 00:40:08,751

and he doesn't like it

and then he crashed his plane.



623

00:40:11,955 --> 00:40:16,325

Okay, then let's make it

two beluga appetizers, please.



624

00:40:16,426 --> 00:40:20,453

- Three maybe.

- Three, yeah. Make it three.



625

00:40:20,564 --> 00:40:22,793

- Andrea, yeah?

- Thank you. Okay. Good.



626

00:40:24,768 --> 00:40:28,101

Did you get any sense

of his business acumen?



627

00:40:29,006 --> 00:40:30,030

Go ahead.



628

00:40:30,141 --> 00:40:32,506

It's interesting. He said that...



629

00:40:33,276 --> 00:40:37,838

Very interesting. He said that people

often think of business as business,



630

00:40:37,948 --> 00:40:41,282

which of course it is, but also...

Within business, there is also pleasure.



631

00:40:41,385 --> 00:40:43,649

You know, business is pleasure.

Pleasure can be a business.



632

00:40:43,754 --> 00:40:47,190

Business has pleasure.

It's both. It's both at the same time.



633

00:40:47,691 --> 00:40:50,592

I didn't really understand it,

but after a while it sunk in,



634

00:40:50,694 --> 00:40:55,290

and I realized, you know,

that's his genius.



635

00:41:05,375 --> 00:41:07,934

This is your check for writing services.



636

00:41:08,045 --> 00:41:11,776

The second check for Mr. Hughes,

or, Octavio, sorry...



637

00:41:11,882 --> 00:41:14,680

It's gonna take

a little longer to process.



638

00:41:14,785 --> 00:41:18,084

I understand you're authorized

to receive Mr. Hughes' payment?



639

00:41:18,188 --> 00:41:21,384

Yeah, I am, I am, thank you.

But don't take too long, all right?



640

00:41:21,490 --> 00:41:24,551

Life magazine is prepared

to offer $250,000



641

00:41:24,660 --> 00:41:28,961

for worldwide exclusive rights

to serialize the Howard Hughes story.



642

00:41:32,203 --> 00:41:34,136

That's a record, Harold.



643

00:41:36,138 --> 00:41:39,700

I'm wondering if it's enough of a record,

Ralph.



644

00:41:43,813 --> 00:41:45,441

Oh, jeez.

The money makes this real.



645

00:41:46,649 --> 00:41:49,083

You can still back out,

but you gotta tell me now.



646

00:41:49,185 --> 00:41:50,175

- Back out?

- Yeah.



647

00:41:50,286 --> 00:41:52,811

Fuck, no!

We're the goddamn Musketeers.



648

00:41:52,923 --> 00:41:55,447

Good. That's good.

Don't spend any money, though.



649

00:41:55,559 --> 00:41:57,355

Better we keep it for later,

in case we need it.



650

00:41:57,461 --> 00:41:58,427

Absolutely.



651

00:41:58,528 --> 00:42:00,155

In other news,

the Supreme Court has agreed to hear



652

00:42:00,263 --> 00:42:04,756

the TWA shareholders' case against

reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.



653

00:42:04,968 --> 00:42:09,267

A loss could cost Hughes

$ 137,000,000



654

00:42:09,371 --> 00:42:11,532

and devastate his financial empire.



655

00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:13,472

The Nixon Justice Department

has thus far refused...



656

00:42:13,577 --> 00:42:14,736

We gotta reach big.



657

00:42:14,844 --> 00:42:17,837

We'll go for texture, gritty details,

we need blood, we need money,



658

00:42:17,947 --> 00:42:20,973

we need real juicy,

Shakespearean, big stuff...



659

00:42:21,083 --> 00:42:23,779

You want to critique a sitting president

who's also a war criminal?



660

00:42:23,886 --> 00:42:25,046

- No, no, no.

- You can do anything you want.



661

00:42:25,155 --> 00:42:27,146

You can impact culture

with something like this.



662

00:42:27,256 --> 00:42:29,247

"Lmpact culture." I want to make

some money and not get caught.



663

00:42:29,358 --> 00:42:31,121

You know,

we've got to make this plausible.



664

00:42:31,227 --> 00:42:33,627

Dick, I handed them

three yellow letters.



665

00:42:33,730 --> 00:42:36,720

They gave me $500,000.

Is that plausible?



666

00:42:36,832 --> 00:42:38,424

I don't think so.



667

00:42:42,571 --> 00:42:43,971

- You want to get a drink?

- Okay.



668

00:42:44,073 --> 00:42:46,541

I'm gonna change my shirt.

I'll be right out.



669

00:42:47,477 --> 00:42:50,843

- I'm heading home.

- You go. I'm sticking for a while.



670

00:42:51,847 --> 00:42:53,838

- See you, Tom.

- Good night.



671

00:43:13,836 --> 00:43:16,930

- Tommy, can I use your phone?

- Yeah, sure, go right ahead.



672

00:43:21,110 --> 00:43:23,374

I saw Elmyr a few months ago in lbiza.



673

00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:26,204

So, how is our old friend Elmyr?



674

00:43:26,615 --> 00:43:28,480

Well, I was having dinner with friends,



675

00:43:28,584 --> 00:43:31,382

and he was at the bar,

sitting all alone, drinking.



676

00:43:31,654 --> 00:43:32,916

He came up to me and he said,



677

00:43:33,022 --> 00:43:37,391

"I have always found your affair with

Clifford to be common and immoral."



678

00:43:37,493 --> 00:43:39,017

And he stormed out.



679

00:43:40,429 --> 00:43:42,727

You're lying. Elmyr didn't say that.



680

00:43:43,199 --> 00:43:43,365

Oh, I'm the liar?



681

00:43:43,365 --> 00:43:44,889

Oh, I'm the liar?



682

00:43:44,999 --> 00:43:49,061

And who's writing a fake book about

the most famous man in the world?



683

00:43:51,774 --> 00:43:53,298

Gotta get back.



684

00:43:53,542 --> 00:43:57,069

No! No, the clock is broken. You stay.



685

00:43:59,648 --> 00:44:01,308

Just to confirm,



686

00:44:01,749 --> 00:44:04,685

he's still rich

and you're still not gonna leave him.



687

00:44:05,221 --> 00:44:07,485

Oh, I want to, Cliff, I want to.



688

00:44:08,023 --> 00:44:11,151

But, no, I'm not going to.



689

00:44:15,898 --> 00:44:17,592

I'm shallow, Cliff.



690

00:44:19,435 --> 00:44:22,893

My greatest desire

is to be an American movie star.



691

00:44:23,504 --> 00:44:25,768

- How shallow is that?

- Pretty shallow.



692

00:44:27,042 --> 00:44:30,340

And besides, why does it bother you

so much that I'm your mistress?



693

00:44:30,446 --> 00:44:33,006

Brecht, Hemingway,

they all had mistresses.



694

00:44:33,115 --> 00:44:36,812

The lying gives me a headache,

if you want to know the truth.



695

00:44:37,085 --> 00:44:39,350

Oh, I forgot. You're a devoted husband.



696

00:44:39,622 --> 00:44:42,489

I think I forgot

while you were screwing me.



697

00:44:46,027 --> 00:44:47,255

Sorry.



698

00:44:49,063 --> 00:44:51,623

Sorry.

I know I should have not called you.



699

00:44:51,733 --> 00:44:54,430

I'm not gonna go through

this whole thing again.



700

00:44:55,504 --> 00:44:58,472

I can't do it to her. I can't.



701

00:45:00,341 --> 00:45:01,969

I'll see you next time?



702

00:45:07,549 --> 00:45:10,416

Oh, Dick, Nina!

There's no future with her.



703

00:45:10,918 --> 00:45:13,546

- She weakens me.

- Okay, all right. That's very helpful.



704

00:45:13,655 --> 00:45:16,145

Edith is stability, Dick. She's my rock.



705

00:45:16,257 --> 00:45:18,351

Give me a break, will you, please?



706

00:45:18,826 --> 00:45:20,886

Did you tell Nina about the book?



707

00:45:22,597 --> 00:45:24,031

Are you out of your fucking mind?



708

00:45:24,133 --> 00:45:26,829

I've got the "I'm an asshole" part

down pretty good.



709

00:45:26,935 --> 00:45:29,232

It's the "What do I do now?" part

I need help with.



710

00:45:29,338 --> 00:45:31,363

Please? Be my friend?



711

00:45:31,472 --> 00:45:33,565

- Are you my friend?

- Yeah, I'm your friend.



712

00:45:33,675 --> 00:45:37,237

I don't know what I'm gonna do

if she asks me where I went.



713

00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:39,010

Come clean.



714

00:45:40,448 --> 00:45:42,439

She'll leave me, for good.



715

00:45:43,418 --> 00:45:46,013

It's the best I got.

What else can I tell you?



716

00:45:47,655 --> 00:45:49,122

You wanna hear this?



717

00:45:50,391 --> 00:45:51,358

Yeah.



718

00:45:51,459 --> 00:45:54,019

All right,

this is the Senate hearings, 1947.



719

00:45:54,362 --> 00:45:57,331

I'm not even sure

that's a correct statement,



720

00:45:57,432 --> 00:46:02,028

but the fact remains

that if I made 15 million dollars,



721

00:46:02,136 --> 00:46:05,628

I made it selling oil well tools

and beer,



722

00:46:05,740 --> 00:46:08,835

Grand Prize beer,

to people down in Texas.



723

00:46:08,943 --> 00:46:10,706

"Beer down in Texas."



724

00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:16,073

And I don't think the public

should be led to believe...



725

00:46:16,184 --> 00:46:17,912

"Led to believe."



726

00:46:18,019 --> 00:46:21,181

... on war contracts while I did not.

Now, furthermore...



727

00:46:21,289 --> 00:46:23,121

"Now, furthermore..."



728

00:46:23,256 --> 00:46:25,521

- "Furthermore, Senator..."

- "Furthermore..."



729

00:46:25,627 --> 00:46:28,823

... a little money somewhere.

How could I put nine million dollars...



730

00:46:28,929 --> 00:46:30,454

A little pocket change



731

00:46:30,565 --> 00:46:33,694

worth five million dollars in my pocket.



732

00:46:36,170 --> 00:46:38,138

Mr. Hughes, where would you

like to begin?



733

00:46:40,507 --> 00:46:43,033

- Family, friends, father...

- Yeah.



734

00:46:43,143 --> 00:46:45,009

My father. We'll do father.



735

00:46:49,984 --> 00:46:54,044

People called my father Big Howard.



736

00:46:55,857 --> 00:46:57,119

Big Howard...



737

00:46:57,991 --> 00:47:02,827

Big Howard made his money

leasing drilling bits in the oil business.



738

00:47:05,298 --> 00:47:07,563

He said to me... He said, "Sonny..."



739

00:47:10,438 --> 00:47:13,339

"Sonny, these drill bits

are your bread and butter.



740

00:47:13,441 --> 00:47:15,271

"Don't ever let 'em go."



741

00:47:18,445 --> 00:47:22,677

Big Howard died when I was 18.



742

00:47:25,652 --> 00:47:31,352

His bunch of Texas roughneck friends

tried to sell his company.



743

00:47:33,727 --> 00:47:36,821

Pushed me out of the picture.

I don't like being pushed.



744

00:47:38,732 --> 00:47:44,637

Now, when two parties negotiate,

you got a lion and a donkey.



745

00:47:48,242 --> 00:47:51,938

One party, through bluster or leverage,



746

00:47:53,447 --> 00:47:56,940

claims control of

the situation right away. That's the lion.



747

00:47:59,086 --> 00:48:00,485

At 18,



748

00:48:00,988 --> 00:48:03,821

I sued these men

trying to sell my father's company.



749

00:48:03,924 --> 00:48:06,450

I sued them, I attacked them,

I blackmailed them,



750

00:48:06,561 --> 00:48:10,189

I pushed every which way I could!



751

00:48:12,265 --> 00:48:14,131

I learned to be a lion.



752

00:48:28,783 --> 00:48:30,215

Jesus, Cliff.



753

00:48:39,727 --> 00:48:42,126

- Read the women's rags lately?

- Hi.



754

00:48:42,897 --> 00:48:45,798

Excerpts from

Howard Hughes' autobiography



755

00:48:45,899 --> 00:48:49,596

in Ladies Home Journal

from the book by Robert Eaton.



756

00:48:51,872 --> 00:48:54,533

Life's lawyers are gnawing

the flesh from my bones.



757

00:48:54,641 --> 00:48:57,011

Would you like to tell me, Clifford,

what the fuck is going on here?



758

00:48:57,011 --> 00:48:57,669

Would you like to tell me, Clifford,

what the fuck is going on here?



759

00:48:57,776 --> 00:48:59,039

I don't know anything about this.



760

00:48:59,145 --> 00:49:01,169

This goddamn Eaton

supposedly has memos,



761

00:49:01,281 --> 00:49:04,444

the same handwritten memos

that you've got, so...



762

00:49:04,918 --> 00:49:07,854

Either you're selling this twice and

using Robert Eaton as a pen name...



763

00:49:07,955 --> 00:49:10,081

I won't even dignify that

with a response.



764

00:49:10,191 --> 00:49:15,685

Or, more likely, your demigod

lunatic friend is using two writers.



765

00:49:15,795 --> 00:49:16,853

You get it?



766

00:49:16,962 --> 00:49:19,022

All the sharks at my company

have is you,



767

00:49:19,132 --> 00:49:23,864

which means they will sue your skinny

ass for every cent of the advance,



768

00:49:23,970 --> 00:49:26,632

plus damages,

for making false representations...



769

00:49:26,740 --> 00:49:28,001

No, I made no false representations!



770

00:49:28,108 --> 00:49:31,076

...about an exclusive book

you said you could deliver.



771

00:49:31,176 --> 00:49:33,872

So she said that they said

that they would sue us both?



772

00:49:33,979 --> 00:49:35,003

- Yeah.

- Both of us?



773

00:49:35,115 --> 00:49:37,173

- I mean, she mentioned me by name?

- Yes.



774

00:49:37,284 --> 00:49:39,478

Can you believe this son of a bitch

had the same idea?



775

00:49:39,585 --> 00:49:41,383

But I spent the money.



776

00:49:41,921 --> 00:49:44,947

I told you we might have to give it back!

Jeez, Dick.



777

00:49:45,058 --> 00:49:47,391

Well, it wasn't exactly

a huge percentage to begin with.



778

00:49:47,493 --> 00:49:48,688

Look, just pay the money.



779

00:49:48,795 --> 00:49:51,787

Tell them that Hughes

has changed his mind.



780

00:49:51,897 --> 00:49:55,630

- And I'll owe you the difference.

- I can't. I'm down most of it myself.



781

00:49:55,735 --> 00:49:59,135

Yeah, well, borrow it.

This isn't a prank anymore, Cliff.



782

00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:01,104

If they go to the press with this,



783

00:50:01,207 --> 00:50:03,539

we're gonna have

Howard fucking Hughes chasing us.



784

00:50:03,643 --> 00:50:04,836

And Intertel.



785

00:50:04,945 --> 00:50:07,742

Remember, they'll stab us

with sodium pentothal?



786

00:50:07,847 --> 00:50:11,543

They'll kill us or tie us up or something.



787

00:50:11,884 --> 00:50:15,912

Howard won't be coming after us.

His advisors maybe, but he won't.



788

00:50:16,021 --> 00:50:17,079

- Oh, really?

- Yeah.



789

00:50:17,190 --> 00:50:18,714

- What, he tell you that over breakfast?

- Yeah.



790

00:50:18,824 --> 00:50:20,952

And what about this other book?

What if that's the real thing, huh?



791

00:50:21,060 --> 00:50:22,653

You thought about that?



792

00:50:23,095 --> 00:50:24,221

All right, the question is,



793

00:50:24,330 --> 00:50:26,458

what would Howard do

in a situation like this?



794

00:50:26,566 --> 00:50:28,726

I don't know. Buy a fucking airline.



795

00:50:30,769 --> 00:50:34,365

Diversion, end run, surprise.



796

00:50:36,543 --> 00:50:38,534

Who are you now? General Patton?



797

00:50:38,979 --> 00:50:42,573

Viruses and bacteria

are the most powerful enemies...



798

00:50:46,852 --> 00:50:48,081

Luce.



799

00:50:49,455 --> 00:50:52,185

the human body has got.

You look at the fingernail clippings...



800

00:50:52,291 --> 00:50:54,020

Henry Luce.



801

00:50:57,363 --> 00:50:59,991

Dick, I think you should

take a little holiday.



802

00:51:00,499 --> 00:51:02,058

You got everything?

You got your passport?



803

00:51:02,169 --> 00:51:03,567

- You got the letter? Okay, great.

- Yeah, I'm fine...



804

00:51:03,669 --> 00:51:05,228

You're gonna be fine. Bye.



805

00:51:05,338 --> 00:51:06,771

ONLY YOU KNOW

AND I KNOW PLAYING



806

00:51:39,538 --> 00:51:41,597

- Hello, this is Andrea.

- Yeah, Andrea, it's Cliff.



807

00:51:41,707 --> 00:51:43,937

Yeah, one more thing, Shelton Fisher

needs to be at the meeting.



808

00:51:44,043 --> 00:51:45,271

Do you know who he is?



809

00:51:45,378 --> 00:51:47,039

Chairman of McGraw-Hill, yes.



810

00:51:47,147 --> 00:51:49,411

- Has to be at the meeting.

- All right, I'll see what I can do.



811

00:51:49,515 --> 00:51:53,450

It's not me. It's him.

No negotiation. No Fisher, no meeting.



812

00:52:04,530 --> 00:52:08,591

Mr. Irving, it would appear

that either you



813

00:52:08,701 --> 00:52:12,466

or your illustrious sponsor

is jerking someone's chain.



814

00:52:12,938 --> 00:52:16,634

Let me assure you that chain

will not be connected to Life magazine.



815

00:52:17,843 --> 00:52:22,246

So, why don't you begin by telling us

who Robert Eaton is



816

00:52:22,348 --> 00:52:25,909

and why he's selling the book

you're supposed to be writing?



817

00:52:28,421 --> 00:52:30,889

Shelton, have you received

your mail today?



818

00:52:33,258 --> 00:52:34,557

Excuse me?



819

00:52:35,327 --> 00:52:37,319

Ralph, I was talking to Shelton.



820

00:52:37,631 --> 00:52:40,030

As a side comment,

watch your tone with me.



821

00:52:40,132 --> 00:52:43,589

I've been up for two nights negotiating

with a very stubborn billionaire,



822

00:52:43,703 --> 00:52:46,364

and my quota for verbal abuse

has been reached.



823

00:52:50,042 --> 00:52:52,010

Could you get the mail, please?



824

00:52:52,711 --> 00:52:55,077

Life magazine has been known



825

00:52:55,181 --> 00:52:58,513

to have a slight impact

on writers' careers, my friend.



826

00:52:58,617 --> 00:53:02,348

And we...

We are not afraid of civil litigation.



827

00:53:02,598 --> 00:53:05,863

That's the tone, right there.

You got that? Watch it.



828

00:53:16,813 --> 00:53:18,212

Is that it?



829

00:53:19,049 --> 00:53:20,881

All right, Shelton,

while you're reading this,



830

00:53:20,984 --> 00:53:23,714

assuming that Howard wrote

what he told me he was gonna write,



831

00:53:23,821 --> 00:53:26,187

I will give a summary to the group here.



832

00:53:26,290 --> 00:53:30,284

Howard doesn't know who Eaton is.

The book is a fake.



833

00:53:31,262 --> 00:53:32,593

But that doesn't really matter now



834

00:53:32,698 --> 00:53:35,495

because when he found out

that McGraw-Hill sold



835

00:53:35,601 --> 00:53:39,731

the serialization rights to Life magazine

without his authorization,



836

00:53:40,373 --> 00:53:44,672

he became...

What's the word? Apoplectic.



837

00:53:46,945 --> 00:53:48,937

You got a problem, Ralph.



838

00:53:49,047 --> 00:53:52,176

Your magazine is owned

by Henry Luce.



839

00:53:52,719 --> 00:53:54,914

What's the matter with Henry Luce?



840

00:53:55,021 --> 00:53:56,785

According to Howard?



841

00:53:56,890 --> 00:53:59,519

Well, Luce is in bed with Juan Trippe

at Pan Am.



842

00:53:59,626 --> 00:54:03,028

He's a goddamn socialist

and he's a lousy golfer.



843

00:54:03,130 --> 00:54:05,030

It's just... It's a rant.



844

00:54:05,599 --> 00:54:09,660

It's basically a three-page rant

about what a bastard Luce is.



845

00:54:09,771 --> 00:54:13,103

That's Howard's words, it's not mine.

I don't have a problem with Luce at all.



846

00:54:13,208 --> 00:54:16,268

And the postmark is Nassau.



847

00:54:16,611 --> 00:54:19,102

That is completely irrelevant.



848

00:54:20,183 --> 00:54:22,776

And we are talking about

a business agreement



849

00:54:22,884 --> 00:54:24,648

that will hold up in a court of law.



850

00:54:24,754 --> 00:54:28,588

We had a business agreement.

Not anymore.



851

00:54:30,993 --> 00:54:35,453

I pleaded with him to reconsider,

but I was unsuccessful, so...



852

00:54:38,602 --> 00:54:44,336

Per Howard's instructions,

I am returning



853

00:54:46,144 --> 00:54:48,704

his $ 100,000 advance check to you.



854

00:54:52,617 --> 00:54:55,018

Now, if you want to,

you can chase us around in court.



855

00:54:55,119 --> 00:54:56,643

Meanwhile, we're gonna look

for another publisher.



856

00:54:56,754 --> 00:54:58,523

Wait, no, Clifford.



857

00:54:58,523 --> 00:54:58,887

Wait, no, Clifford.



858

00:54:59,558 --> 00:55:02,755

Mr. Irving, we have a contract with you,



859

00:55:02,995 --> 00:55:05,521

which means that our company

owns the property.



860

00:55:05,631 --> 00:55:06,757

Wrong.



861

00:55:07,466 --> 00:55:12,369

Through all of my pleading, hours of it,

believe me, it could be yours, Shelton.



862

00:55:12,472 --> 00:55:15,771

It could. You could make a public

announcement within the week.



863

00:55:15,876 --> 00:55:17,400

You know, and he's all right, actually,



864

00:55:17,511 --> 00:55:19,672

with Ralph still being involved

with this thing,



865

00:55:19,779 --> 00:55:23,147

provided you increase his advance



866

00:55:23,251 --> 00:55:25,742

to one million dollars,

and not a penny less.



867

00:55:27,955 --> 00:55:30,219

- What? A million dollars?

- Yes.



868

00:55:31,158 --> 00:55:32,147

A million dollars?



869

00:55:32,260 --> 00:55:35,560

Wait, I think we should try

to maintain an atmosphere



870

00:55:35,663 --> 00:55:37,255

of goodwill and trust here.



871

00:55:37,366 --> 00:55:38,525

- Trust?

- Yeah.



872

00:55:38,634 --> 00:55:41,398

The man's a Texan copperhead.

"Trust."



873

00:55:42,337 --> 00:55:43,305

Thank you.



874

00:55:43,406 --> 00:55:46,898

Where are you going?

Where are you going? Wait a minute.



875

00:55:47,010 --> 00:55:50,809

Let me tell you something.

That book is mine, signed and sealed!



876

00:55:50,914 --> 00:55:53,644

And I'm not paying any goddamn

million dollars for it.



877

00:55:53,750 --> 00:55:55,082

You understand that?



878

00:55:55,184 --> 00:55:57,176

You listen to me,

Mr. Clifford fucking Irving.



879

00:55:57,287 --> 00:55:59,279

- You go and tell...

- I'm not Clifford Irving.



880

00:55:59,389 --> 00:56:03,120

I'm Howard Hughes!

Howard's mouth, Howard's words.



881

00:56:03,427 --> 00:56:05,658

One million dollars, or we walk

across the street to Doubleday.



882

00:56:05,763 --> 00:56:07,230

It's your choice.



883

00:56:10,101 --> 00:56:11,260

All right.



884

00:56:14,405 --> 00:56:16,203

You know, Shelton,

I just want to share this with you.



885

00:56:16,307 --> 00:56:18,173

You know, one of Howard's

alternate ideas,



886

00:56:18,276 --> 00:56:23,077

he said, "Why don't I just buy

a controlling interest in McGraw-Hill?"



887

00:56:24,417 --> 00:56:25,384

What was it he said?



888

00:56:25,484 --> 00:56:29,511

"I'll just keep the printing presses

and get rid of the idiots."



889

00:56:29,622 --> 00:56:31,487

That's an exact quote.



890

00:56:32,224 --> 00:56:33,191

Bye.



891

00:56:40,767 --> 00:56:43,396

UP AROUND THE BEND PLAYING



892

00:56:52,013 --> 00:56:54,208

- That's it. Thank you.

- Sure.



893

00:57:06,462 --> 00:57:08,521

Why are the boys so glum?



894

00:57:09,165 --> 00:57:11,928

In the midst of our brilliant scheme,

we forgot to figure out



895

00:57:12,034 --> 00:57:14,629

how to cash a check

made out to Howard Hughes.



896

00:57:17,907 --> 00:57:21,343

Open up a Swiss account in his name

for yourself.



897

00:57:21,444 --> 00:57:22,706

We were going to do that.



898

00:57:22,813 --> 00:57:25,246

And then we found out

that you need social security numbers.



899

00:57:25,349 --> 00:57:27,715

And it's traceable, even in Switzerland.



900

00:57:27,818 --> 00:57:30,378

Trust me, we've gone over everything.



901

00:57:32,124 --> 00:57:34,921

What if a woman deposits the check?



902

00:57:35,293 --> 00:57:36,954

No, no. The same person

who opens the account



903

00:57:37,061 --> 00:57:38,722

has to be the same person

that cashes the check.



904

00:57:38,830 --> 00:57:41,230

Howard Hughes. It has to be a man.



905

00:57:42,801 --> 00:57:45,793

Tell his publishers

he changed his mind.



906

00:57:48,341 --> 00:57:52,743

He wants the checks written

to his initials now. H.R. Hughes.



907

00:57:54,080 --> 00:57:59,416

Then, a fake passport, a fake name,

Harriet Rhonda Hughes,



908

00:57:59,620 --> 00:58:01,850

Helga Rhinoceros Hughes,



909

00:58:03,791 --> 00:58:05,759

And I can cash the check.



910

00:58:06,694 --> 00:58:09,629

- No, you're not going to Switzerland.

- Oh, Jesus. That's a great idea.



911

00:58:09,730 --> 00:58:11,323

Cliff, that's gonna work.

She can cash the check.



912

00:58:11,432 --> 00:58:12,957

- She's my wife, Dick.

- Yeah, I know she's your wife.



913

00:58:13,067 --> 00:58:16,128

I've reminded you of that fact

from time to time.



914

00:58:18,473 --> 00:58:21,637

You know, when he doesn't call,

stuff like that.



915

00:58:25,247 --> 00:58:26,235

We've talked about it already.



916

00:58:26,348 --> 00:58:27,405

No, I'm...



917

00:58:27,516 --> 00:58:30,246

- It's just about anonymity, that's all it is.

- I wouldn't...



918

00:58:30,352 --> 00:58:33,321

- Great. Which one's mine?

- That... No, that's the old one.



919

00:58:33,422 --> 00:58:34,548

So you're gonna destroy this?



920

00:58:34,657 --> 00:58:36,285

- Okay, very good, thanks.

- Okay.



921

00:58:37,894 --> 00:58:40,488

It's gonna take at least a week

for the check to clear,



922

00:58:40,597 --> 00:58:43,828

so you're gonna have plenty of time

to enjoy Zurich.



923

00:58:44,669 --> 00:58:46,727

The McGraw-Hill

Book Company and Life magazine



924

00:58:46,838 --> 00:58:49,602

announced the publication

of the Hughes' autobiography...



925

00:58:49,706 --> 00:58:51,971

... that he interviewed

Hughes on many occasions.



926

00:58:52,075 --> 00:58:55,512

... autobiography, urging

buyers to place an order now



927

00:58:55,614 --> 00:58:59,413

for what may prove to be the most

controversial book of the century.



928

00:58:59,518 --> 00:59:04,319

I have phone calls, I have telegrams,

I have cease-and-desist orders.



929

00:59:04,423 --> 00:59:07,586

Miss Tate, am I going to pay this man

a million dollars



930

00:59:07,693 --> 00:59:11,060

for a book that he is going to sue me

for publishing?



931

00:59:12,231 --> 00:59:15,861

My back is broken.

What did you order?



932

00:59:16,769 --> 00:59:20,035

If you were concerned,

maybe you can ask Howard



933

00:59:20,774 --> 00:59:24,073

to stop the more adamant denials.



934

00:59:24,845 --> 00:59:28,246

Yeah, yeah. I gotta run.



935

00:59:30,451 --> 00:59:32,612

Let me see if I can do

something about that, okay?



936

00:59:38,226 --> 00:59:41,023

"Hughes' lawyer

calls book complete fabrication."



937

00:59:41,129 --> 00:59:43,723

That's it, we're liars.

Hughes' lawyers calling us liars.



938

00:59:43,832 --> 00:59:45,629

We knew this would

happen. Why are you so nervous?



939

00:59:45,735 --> 00:59:47,531

My name's in the goddamn newspaper!



940

00:59:49,438 --> 00:59:50,666

Barbara's very concerned about this.



941

00:59:50,772 --> 00:59:52,707

A month ago, you wanted more credit.



942

00:59:52,809 --> 00:59:55,004

Yeah, well, you know, Hughes' people,

they're all ex-CIA.



943

00:59:55,111 --> 00:59:57,603

Did you know that?

They're all trained in martial arts.



944

00:59:57,713 --> 01:00:00,877

Good, good. I hope they drop-kick

some sense into you.



945

01:00:01,919 --> 01:00:04,683

- Shit. What is that about?

- Is it over with her?



946

01:00:04,787 --> 01:00:06,915

- Over with her?

- I don't know what this is.



947

01:00:07,991 --> 01:00:11,086

Edith, she did this

deliberately, maliciously,



948

01:00:11,195 --> 01:00:13,561

because I cut off

communication with her.



949

01:00:13,765 --> 01:00:15,289

She wants this to separate us.



950

01:00:15,400 --> 01:00:20,235

Did you see her? No, don't, don't...

I don't want to know.



951

01:00:21,640 --> 01:00:23,402

I don't want to know.



952

01:00:25,243 --> 01:00:27,576

I don't want you to go to Switzerland.



953

01:00:27,679 --> 01:00:29,944

It might be dangerous.

I don't care about the money.



954

01:00:30,049 --> 01:00:32,882

Bullshit.

You care only about the money.



955

01:00:33,519 --> 01:00:35,544

Oh, and being a famous man.



956

01:00:35,955 --> 01:00:38,185

Anyway, fuck you. It is my money, too.



957

01:00:42,028 --> 01:00:43,256

Fuck you!



958

01:01:37,154 --> 01:01:38,246

Oh, my God.



959

01:01:39,291 --> 01:01:40,815

We got him.



960

01:01:44,762 --> 01:01:45,730

We got him.



961

01:01:46,331 --> 01:01:48,390

- Dick! Dick!

- What?



962

01:01:48,500 --> 01:01:50,469

- Dick, we got it. We got it.

- Got what?



963

01:01:50,569 --> 01:01:52,001

You won't believe this.



964

01:01:52,104 --> 01:01:54,595

Okay, listen. Rebozo...



965

01:01:56,876 --> 01:02:00,608

"Rebozo accepted $ 100,000 in cash

to redecorate Nixon's home.



966

01:02:00,713 --> 01:02:04,081

"The acceptance was understood

to mean that our TWA appeal



967

01:02:04,183 --> 01:02:07,711

"and the Airwest matter

would be of highest priority."



968

01:02:07,820 --> 01:02:13,192

And also, in 1956, Hughes gave

Nixon's brother $205,000 dollars



969

01:02:13,361 --> 01:02:15,090

to secure Pentagon contracts.



970

01:02:15,196 --> 01:02:17,756

This is money-laundering. It's bribery.



971

01:02:17,864 --> 01:02:19,765

It's the end. This is...



972

01:02:20,368 --> 01:02:21,926

We publish this,



973

01:02:23,071 --> 01:02:27,532

Nixon... Nixon, the president,

is impeached.



974

01:02:28,977 --> 01:02:31,412

Do you understand

the power this gives us?



975

01:02:42,392 --> 01:02:44,121

Cliff, I'm not sure

I want the power this gives us.



976

01:02:44,227 --> 01:02:45,524

Yeah, well, I do.



977

01:02:46,364 --> 01:02:50,733

Cliff, you publish this, you will have

a storm of shit rain down on you.



978

01:02:52,470 --> 01:02:55,098

And there are people now,

God knows who,



979

01:02:55,305 --> 01:02:59,003

Nixon's political enemies, Hughes'

advisors, they know where you live.



980

01:02:59,110 --> 01:03:00,077

Yes.



981

01:03:01,012 --> 01:03:03,846

- I say you forget you ever saw this.

- Forget it?



982

01:03:03,981 --> 01:03:08,214

This is like a Torah

sent down from God



983

01:03:08,320 --> 01:03:11,687

to make us part of history,

and you want to forget it, Dick?



984

01:03:11,791 --> 01:03:12,985

Come here.

Let me show you something.



985

01:03:13,091 --> 01:03:15,389

It's postmarked from Nevada.

That's Hughes country.



986

01:03:15,495 --> 01:03:17,223

What are you saying?



987

01:03:17,630 --> 01:03:23,569

He wants us to help him bust Nixon.

He's with us, Dick! Howard is with us.



988

01:03:33,747 --> 01:03:35,009

How did you know the Dillon Read



989

01:03:35,115 --> 01:03:36,639

hydraulic systems were faulty?



990

01:03:36,751 --> 01:03:38,081

You're not listening,



991

01:03:38,185 --> 01:03:39,676

Clifford, goddamn it.



992

01:03:40,221 --> 01:03:44,214

I made sure they were faulty

through a couple of well-placed bribes.



993

01:03:44,325 --> 01:03:46,384

So, why didn't you just go to

Defense with the information



994

01:03:46,494 --> 01:03:47,620

and get the contract?



995

01:03:47,729 --> 01:03:48,753

Well,



996

01:03:48,863 --> 01:03:50,798

I couldn't have

handled the contracts then.



997

01:03:52,401 --> 01:03:55,392

So instead of tattling on them,

I fixed their planes.



998

01:03:56,572 --> 01:03:59,803

I intertwined our technologies.



999

01:03:59,910 --> 01:04:02,434

I ate that company from within,



1000

01:04:02,778 --> 01:04:05,942

and they let me

because they were hypnotized.



1001

01:04:06,283 --> 01:04:07,681

That's the way, Clifford.



1002

01:04:07,784 --> 01:04:11,311

When your rival is powerful,

find an opportunity.



1003

01:04:11,421 --> 01:04:13,355

Create a crisis for him.



1004

01:04:14,025 --> 01:04:16,822

But instead of taking

short-term advantage,



1005

01:04:17,462 --> 01:04:19,258

save the day for him.



1006

01:04:21,165 --> 01:04:25,499

Nothing confuses a man more

than a kind gesture from his enemy.



1007

01:04:25,971 --> 01:04:29,532

Nothing renders him more vulnerable.



1008

01:04:32,444 --> 01:04:35,004

It's Edith. Turn it off, turn it off.



1009

01:04:41,821 --> 01:04:43,948

I made sure they were faulty

through a couple of...



1010

01:04:44,057 --> 01:04:46,048

It was Andrea. We got a problem.



1011

01:04:52,867 --> 01:04:55,893

Keep it down, guys,

you're going to wake the neighbors.



1012

01:04:56,703 --> 01:04:59,468

Clifford, I don't believe

you've met Frank McCullough.



1013

01:04:59,573 --> 01:05:01,336

- No. Hi, Frank.

- How are you?



1014

01:05:01,442 --> 01:05:03,376

Dick Suskind. Dick?



1015

01:05:04,679 --> 01:05:05,645

Hello.



1016

01:05:06,647 --> 01:05:09,673

I got a phone call yesterday

from Chester Davis,



1017

01:05:09,784 --> 01:05:12,776

- who's Hughes' personal attorney.

- Yes, yes, yes.



1018

01:05:13,688 --> 01:05:18,887

Apparently at 1:00 p.m., our time,

Howard Hughes is going to call



1019

01:05:18,995 --> 01:05:21,361

to speak to an intermediary

by telephone.



1020

01:05:21,763 --> 01:05:26,360

And as the last journalist

to have spoken to Mr. Hughes,



1021

01:05:26,470 --> 01:05:27,629

we mutually agreed



1022

01:05:27,738 --> 01:05:30,171

that Mr. McCullough

should receive the call,



1023

01:05:30,274 --> 01:05:33,334

because of his ability

to identify Mr. Hughes by voice.



1024

01:05:33,443 --> 01:05:36,880

Mr. McCullough has also assured us,

at least for the moment,



1025

01:05:36,980 --> 01:05:39,915

that all of this will remain off the record.



1026

01:05:40,017 --> 01:05:43,545

And Mr. Davis also insisted

that Ralph Graves be present



1027

01:05:43,654 --> 01:05:45,554

and in the room

at the time of the phone call,



1028

01:05:45,657 --> 01:05:48,558

which I have to say, Cliff,

that one kind of surprised me,



1029

01:05:48,660 --> 01:05:50,855

given Hughes' representations of Life



1030

01:05:50,962 --> 01:05:54,023

in your alleged communications

with him.



1031

01:05:58,437 --> 01:06:01,634

If you'll excuse me,

I have to go to the bathroom.



1032

01:06:08,782 --> 01:06:10,340

Shelton, this...



1033

01:06:10,550 --> 01:06:12,609

What am I supposed to say?

This is an ambush.



1034

01:06:12,719 --> 01:06:15,348

You know exactly what the guy is

gonna say on the other end of this line.



1035

01:06:15,455 --> 01:06:17,686

But that's why Mr. McCullough is here,



1036

01:06:17,792 --> 01:06:20,920

to identify the voice

of the man in question.



1037

01:06:21,295 --> 01:06:23,195

I'm neutral here, Mr. Irving.



1038

01:06:26,867 --> 01:06:29,496

So, now we wait.



1039

01:06:46,089 --> 01:06:49,616

Can't watch this charade.

You can find me in the lobby.



1040

01:06:52,028 --> 01:06:53,518

Stay close, Clifford.



1041

01:06:53,630 --> 01:06:54,620

Hello?



1042

01:07:19,357 --> 01:07:21,883

It says exit, there's no exit.

Oh, my God.



1043

01:07:21,994 --> 01:07:22,961

Shit!



1044

01:07:24,597 --> 01:07:28,363

We can't get out.

Howard Hughes. My God.



1045

01:07:28,467 --> 01:07:31,437

We have no reason

to believe that that was him.



1046

01:07:31,537 --> 01:07:35,304

McCullough hasn't heard from him.

He hasn't spoken to him in 12 years.



1047

01:07:35,409 --> 01:07:36,535

Breathe. Listen, Dick.



1048

01:07:36,643 --> 01:07:37,905

There's an angry billionaire.



1049

01:07:38,011 --> 01:07:40,207

- He's chasing me, he's hating me.

- You're hyperventilating.



1050

01:07:40,314 --> 01:07:41,282

- Go on.

- No.



1051

01:07:41,381 --> 01:07:43,350

Walk. We're going up here.



1052

01:07:49,057 --> 01:07:51,617

Keep moving, come on. Come on.



1053

01:07:52,627 --> 01:07:55,255

Cliff, I can't... I gotta take a piss.



1054

01:07:56,098 --> 01:08:00,125

I'll confess, I'll do anything they want.

I just have to use the bathroom.



1055

01:08:00,235 --> 01:08:01,533

- Okay, right here, right here.

- What?



1056

01:08:01,637 --> 01:08:03,298

Look, hide in there.



1057

01:08:03,405 --> 01:08:04,998

Watch your head.



1058

01:08:05,141 --> 01:08:07,268

Hide there.

If you've got to, piss in your pants.



1059

01:08:07,376 --> 01:08:11,143

- You just go ahead and you stay there.

- I'll stay right here.



1060

01:08:23,728 --> 01:08:25,195

What happened?



1061

01:08:25,496 --> 01:08:26,554

We don't know yet.



1062

01:08:26,665 --> 01:08:29,225

McCullough asked us

to leave the room.



1063

01:08:34,673 --> 01:08:36,868

The man I just spoke to

was Howard Hughes.



1064

01:08:36,975 --> 01:08:41,036

His speech patterns and inflections

would be impossible to imitate.



1065

01:08:42,280 --> 01:08:44,875

And he told me

that he's never met you,



1066

01:08:46,319 --> 01:08:48,549

and that your book is a fraud.



1067

01:08:49,188 --> 01:08:50,348

A hoax.



1068

01:08:52,225 --> 01:08:53,522

Mr. Irving?



1069

01:08:54,694 --> 01:08:56,162

I'm listening.



1070

01:08:56,697 --> 01:09:00,224

Now, knowing Howard,

I don't find this to be conclusive at all.



1071

01:09:00,334 --> 01:09:02,393

I mean, he is a very strange man.



1072

01:09:04,004 --> 01:09:06,996

But considering the scarcity of proof

that you've provided,



1073

01:09:07,108 --> 01:09:11,602

my best guess at this moment

is that you are a charlatan.



1074

01:09:12,781 --> 01:09:15,682

If there is even a whiff

of impropriety to this,



1075

01:09:15,917 --> 01:09:19,409

if you have exaggerated

or changed even the slightest detail,



1076

01:09:19,522 --> 01:09:22,047

I will prosecute you

to the full extent of the law



1077

01:09:22,158 --> 01:09:24,126

for grand larceny and mail fraud,



1078

01:09:24,226 --> 01:09:28,162

unless you tell me right now

just what the ballfuck is going on.



1079

01:09:31,233 --> 01:09:32,427

I have...



1080

01:09:37,874 --> 01:09:40,274

I have betrayed your trust.



1081

01:09:42,779 --> 01:09:45,340

The book, the entire story, is false.



1082

01:09:48,619 --> 01:09:51,987

I have lied to the entire world.



1083

01:09:53,225 --> 01:09:57,662

And no matter what happens now,

I am so relieved.



1084

01:10:03,869 --> 01:10:09,307

I have off-the-record material

on that two-faced prick,



1085

01:10:09,408 --> 01:10:11,377

puts him in fucking jail.



1086

01:10:12,245 --> 01:10:16,011

I'm going to tell Howard,

either he shows his ant-bitten face,



1087

01:10:17,183 --> 01:10:18,741

or I release it!



1088

01:10:21,054 --> 01:10:22,420

I've had it!



1089

01:10:25,259 --> 01:10:29,162

You have three days to produce

Howard Hughes and the manuscript.



1090

01:10:29,830 --> 01:10:32,425

Grand larceny, Cliff? Mail fraud?



1091

01:10:33,100 --> 01:10:35,797

Jesus... No way.

This is just too much! Too much!



1092

01:10:35,904 --> 01:10:38,498

We've got a move, there is

a move here, we're just not seeing it yet.



1093

01:10:38,607 --> 01:10:40,973

Stop the car. Pull over. Stop the car.



1094

01:10:41,077 --> 01:10:43,067

- I've gotta make a phone call.

- What are you doing?



1095

01:10:43,179 --> 01:10:45,010

What am I doing? I'm calling Barbara.

That's what I'm doing.



1096

01:10:51,121 --> 01:10:52,087

Yeah, it's me.



1097

01:10:59,428 --> 01:11:00,521

What?



1098

01:11:02,466 --> 01:11:05,026

It's over, Cliff. I can't go to jail.



1099

01:11:06,303 --> 01:11:08,464

Now, with you or without you,



1100

01:11:08,639 --> 01:11:11,165

I'm gonna tell them tomorrow

that Howard Hughes called



1101

01:11:11,275 --> 01:11:14,734

and he pulled out of the deal.

You can pay them back the money.



1102

01:11:15,513 --> 01:11:17,038

I talked to Barbara.



1103

01:11:17,148 --> 01:11:18,638

She had very strong feelings

about this.



1104

01:11:18,750 --> 01:11:20,342

I'm sure she did.



1105

01:11:23,556 --> 01:11:25,751

You're an honorable man, Dick.



1106

01:11:28,028 --> 01:11:30,519

Aren't you?

Are you an honorable man?



1107

01:11:30,729 --> 01:11:33,028

Did you make

a commitment to me, Dick?



1108

01:11:33,133 --> 01:11:34,691

Did you say you were in this

till the end?



1109

01:11:34,800 --> 01:11:36,826

- Yeah.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.



1110

01:11:37,804 --> 01:11:40,967

Reaching a worldwide audience,

taking down a corrupt President.



1111

01:11:41,074 --> 01:11:43,043

That's the end! Not this!



1112

01:11:44,911 --> 01:11:47,937

- It's finished, Cliff. It's finished.

- Yeah, right. Sure.



1113

01:11:48,049 --> 01:11:50,347

- I'm sorry I disappointed you.

- Good.



1114

01:12:41,373 --> 01:12:42,738

Do you read? Yeah.



1115

01:12:42,842 --> 01:12:44,571

I encourage people to read, because I...



1116

01:12:44,677 --> 01:12:46,872

- Right.

- That way, they read my books,



1117

01:12:46,978 --> 01:12:49,140

and I sell books

and I can make some money.



1118

01:12:49,247 --> 01:12:51,512

That is why I love it when people say,

"I'm a reader."



1119

01:12:51,617 --> 01:12:54,450

I say, "Good for you, and good for me."



1120

01:12:54,588 --> 01:12:56,680

- I bet you are a good...

- Hey, cowboy. We gotta go.



1121

01:12:56,790 --> 01:12:58,484

- No, no, I don't wanna go.

- Yes, you do.



1122

01:12:58,592 --> 01:13:00,355

We gotta go.



1123

01:13:00,459 --> 01:13:03,224

I've just been having a very interesting

conversation with these lovely ladies.



1124

01:13:03,330 --> 01:13:05,628

- Come sit, have a drink, have a drink.

- WOMAN: It's true.



1125

01:13:05,733 --> 01:13:09,396

No, you can't jazz anything up.

You have to be historically accurate.



1126

01:13:10,471 --> 01:13:13,804

I need to find a great book.

The one book...



1127

01:13:13,908 --> 01:13:17,366

- Tommy, two. Two more doubles.

- TOM: Yeah, sure.



1128

01:13:17,879 --> 01:13:20,712

His two main preoccupations...

Am I right?



1129

01:13:20,815 --> 01:13:23,842

Were war and sodomy.



1130

01:13:26,555 --> 01:13:29,285

Now, this is my problem.

It's a hazardous business, sodomy.



1131

01:13:29,391 --> 01:13:32,383

- Yes, this is what I hear.

- "What you hear..."



1132

01:13:34,363 --> 01:13:36,059

It's what you hear.



1133

01:13:36,900 --> 01:13:37,867

That's the way.



1134

01:13:37,967 --> 01:13:41,425

When your rival is powerful,

find an opportunity.



1135

01:13:41,539 --> 01:13:44,405

Create a crisis for him.



1136

01:13:45,076 --> 01:13:47,873

But instead of taking

short term advantage,



1137

01:13:49,513 --> 01:13:51,276

save the day for him.



1138

01:14:01,026 --> 01:14:01,993

Hi.



1139

01:14:13,371 --> 01:14:14,532

Cliff?



1140

01:14:34,362 --> 01:14:36,296

What happened last night?



1141

01:14:38,065 --> 01:14:39,363

I smell...



1142

01:14:45,540 --> 01:14:46,837

I smell...



1143

01:14:50,446 --> 01:14:51,606

Oh, no.



1144

01:14:56,485 --> 01:14:58,477

Oh, God. No, I didn't...



1145

01:15:00,856 --> 01:15:02,290

Oh, I didn't.



1146

01:15:06,363 --> 01:15:08,558

I did, didn't I?



1147

01:15:16,207 --> 01:15:17,674

It's all right.



1148

01:15:19,811 --> 01:15:21,507

Dick, listen to me.



1149

01:15:23,447 --> 01:15:24,683

It was a mistake.



1150

01:15:24,683 --> 01:15:25,047

It was a mistake.



1151

01:15:27,953 --> 01:15:30,513

She's wanted security for a long time,

hasn't she?



1152

01:15:30,622 --> 01:15:32,522

- Yes.

- Yes, she has.



1153

01:15:35,394 --> 01:15:40,628

Well, you can give her that now.

I promise you, I will make this work.



1154

01:15:42,635 --> 01:15:45,230

I will make this work. I promise.



1155

01:15:50,510 --> 01:15:53,503

I intertwined our technologies.



1156

01:15:54,181 --> 01:15:55,809

I ate that company



1157

01:16:07,295 --> 01:16:08,660

from within.



1158

01:16:09,598 --> 01:16:12,534

And they let me

because they were hypnotized.



1159

01:16:19,909 --> 01:16:22,504

HERE COMES THE SUN PLAYING



1160

01:16:26,083 --> 01:16:29,416

The Mayor of New York planned this

parade through his voting precinct...



1161

01:16:29,519 --> 01:16:32,215

... and Owen Brewster was

a thieving, lying jackal.



1162

01:16:32,323 --> 01:16:34,119

If you've got a jackal after you...



1163

01:16:34,225 --> 01:16:36,352

I flew around the world in 1938,



1164

01:16:36,460 --> 01:16:38,691

for the only decent reason

a young man does anything.



1165

01:16:38,796 --> 01:16:40,787

Because he feels like it.



1166

01:16:55,314 --> 01:16:59,182

They set a meeting for Mr. Octavio

and he's gonna show up here.



1167

01:17:00,086 --> 01:17:04,580

This is perhaps the most bizarre

communiqué I have ever received.



1168

01:17:05,025 --> 01:17:08,427

And I need your help

in implementing its requirements.



1169

01:17:08,795 --> 01:17:11,890

At 1:00 p.m. Tomorrow,

the top four floors of this building



1170

01:17:11,998 --> 01:17:13,659

are to be evacuated.



1171

01:17:13,768 --> 01:17:18,102

All the carpeting on the 14th floor

is to be removed.



1172

01:17:18,205 --> 01:17:20,503

Floors are to be washed and waxed.



1173

01:17:20,608 --> 01:17:23,840

All the windows are to be covered

with black material,



1174

01:17:23,945 --> 01:17:26,675

a kind which does not accumulate dust.



1175

01:17:27,249 --> 01:17:29,717

Does that apply to my windows also,

Mr. Irving?



1176

01:17:29,818 --> 01:17:32,286

Yeah. I'd go ahead

and cover them up, Harold.



1177

01:17:32,388 --> 01:17:34,378

I think it's the best thing. Play it safe.



1178

01:17:35,257 --> 01:17:37,419

This is sensitive material.



1179

01:17:37,526 --> 01:17:40,985

I'm still deciding whether or not

to put this in the book, but...



1180

01:17:41,864 --> 01:17:43,559

I think you should put it

somewhere safe.



1181

01:17:43,666 --> 01:17:45,657

- Of course, Cliff.

- Okay.



1182

01:17:46,202 --> 01:17:47,829

All right, then...



1183

01:17:49,406 --> 01:17:51,237

Here's our manuscript.



1184

01:17:57,445 --> 01:17:58,706

Hope you like it.



1185

01:17:58,813 --> 01:18:00,644

Hope to God I do, too.



1186

01:18:01,649 --> 01:18:05,210

All right, I'll bring down Howard

as soon as he gets here.



1187

01:18:06,521 --> 01:18:07,545

All right.



1188

01:18:11,726 --> 01:18:14,160

All right, check the western...



1189

01:18:14,262 --> 01:18:16,128

Make sure that the diameter

is exactly right.



1190

01:18:16,232 --> 01:18:17,358

It's okay?



1191

01:18:17,466 --> 01:18:20,196

- Yeah, don't worry about me.

- You're doing good.



1192

01:18:20,903 --> 01:18:24,704

Yes, on the spot. Correct.

You see and...



1193

01:18:27,743 --> 01:18:29,575

MAN: He doesn't like fumes.



1194

01:18:29,980 --> 01:18:32,505

We might not wanna

let this fly off the building.



1195

01:18:32,616 --> 01:18:34,345

- What do you think?

- Give me that.



1196

01:18:34,452 --> 01:18:36,044

- Did you copy this, by hand?

- Yes.



1197

01:18:36,152 --> 01:18:37,142

- From the original.

- Cliff!



1198

01:18:37,255 --> 01:18:38,847

- No photocopy, right?

- No!



1199

01:18:38,955 --> 01:18:41,083

I kept...

I am fully aware of the restrictions, Cliff.



1200

01:18:41,192 --> 01:18:42,159

- All right?

- Brad?



1201

01:18:42,260 --> 01:18:43,818

- I did it by hand.

- Okay, I'm sorry.



1202

01:18:43,928 --> 01:18:47,763

Why do I always want to strangle Brad?

Every time.



1203

01:18:50,135 --> 01:18:51,533

Is that him?



1204

01:18:51,637 --> 01:18:53,127

Do you see it?



1205

01:18:53,272 --> 01:18:55,604

- That's him! He's here!

- Oh, my God!



1206

01:18:56,876 --> 01:18:58,399

He's landing! Clear the roof!



1207

01:18:58,511 --> 01:19:01,173

- Get your things. Go! Come on!

- Quickly.



1208

01:19:37,118 --> 01:19:39,053

Where's he going?

I don't know.



1209

01:19:39,155 --> 01:19:41,350

Oh, no. This is not happening.



1210

01:19:45,561 --> 01:19:47,189

Can we head back?



1211

01:19:51,268 --> 01:19:53,963

He was 50 feet

from the fucking building.



1212

01:19:54,504 --> 01:19:57,439

All right? My diagram is fine.

It's not outside of...



1213

01:19:57,541 --> 01:19:58,633

- Andrea, do you have the original?

- Yes.



1214

01:19:58,742 --> 01:20:01,438

It's not outside the scope

of my capabilities, diagramming



1215

01:20:01,545 --> 01:20:03,776

- a simple copy of what he wrote.

- We'll find out.



1216

01:20:03,880 --> 01:20:06,281

- I can do that.

- You switched east and west. Why?



1217

01:20:06,384 --> 01:20:07,612

Why did you do... Look!



1218

01:20:07,719 --> 01:20:09,278

No, I wrote

what was on the damn page.



1219

01:20:09,387 --> 01:20:11,355

No, you didn't.

Look, he's an eccentric genius.



1220

01:20:11,456 --> 01:20:14,358

He likes things the way he wants them.

Why did you change it?



1221

01:20:14,459 --> 01:20:16,758

A three-year-old wouldn't have

fucked that up.



1222

01:20:16,862 --> 01:20:20,958

- Doesn't know east from west.

- Pray that you die, you sniveling twat.



1223

01:20:21,066 --> 01:20:23,091

I swear to Christ,

I wrote what was on his page.



1224

01:20:23,202 --> 01:20:25,569

Right the same. Exactly the same.



1225

01:20:36,684 --> 01:20:38,378

Your book is genuine.



1226

01:20:38,486 --> 01:20:40,009

There's no way your material



1227

01:20:40,121 --> 01:20:43,090

could have come from anyone

but Howard Hughes.



1228

01:20:43,524 --> 01:20:47,153

The colloquialisms,

the idiosyncratic philosophies.



1229

01:20:47,696 --> 01:20:50,220

Heck, you have got

a near-perfect account



1230

01:20:50,332 --> 01:20:51,629

of a conversation I had with Howard



1231

01:20:51,732 --> 01:20:53,199

that I didn't tell

another living soul about.



1232

01:20:53,301 --> 01:20:55,428

- Really?

- It's typical Howard Hughes.



1233

01:20:55,537 --> 01:20:58,995

- You write it, then deny it.

- It was so... I was having such... Yeah.



1234

01:21:00,042 --> 01:21:01,771

He really put you on one hell of a limb,

didn't he, Cliff?



1235

01:21:01,877 --> 01:21:05,814

It wasn't easy. No, it wasn't.

But I've had a lot of help.



1236

01:21:06,282 --> 01:21:07,977

- It's a masterpiece, Cliff.

- Really?



1237

01:21:08,084 --> 01:21:09,073

A masterpiece.



1238

01:21:09,185 --> 01:21:10,414

- You liked it?

- I loved it.



1239

01:21:10,520 --> 01:21:12,955

Oh, yes! Yes!



1240

01:21:36,715 --> 01:21:39,650

Davis is threatening

civil action if the book is published.



1241

01:21:39,751 --> 01:21:41,982

Why is he fighting so hard

if the book is authentic?



1242

01:21:47,861 --> 01:21:49,851

I wouldn't be surprised

if they got surveillance devices



1243

01:21:49,962 --> 01:21:51,988

all over my home, right now,

this second.



1244

01:21:52,099 --> 01:21:54,624

The controversy over the

Clifford Irving book on Howard Hughes



1245

01:21:54,734 --> 01:21:56,497

is apparently of little concern to those



1246

01:21:56,603 --> 01:21:58,662

who stand to profit

from high sales of that book.



1247

01:22:00,408 --> 01:22:03,536

If you ask my advice,

the election of George Bush



1248

01:22:03,643 --> 01:22:07,102

as United States Senator

will be good for Texas.



1249

01:22:07,615 --> 01:22:09,480

I know it will be good for America.



1250

01:22:09,884 --> 01:22:12,375

But in any event, he pulled out a bag,



1251

01:22:12,487 --> 01:22:15,047

reached in and he pulled out a prune,



1252

01:22:16,390 --> 01:22:20,293

and he looked at Dick and offered it

and said, "Would you like a prune?"



1253

01:22:20,529 --> 01:22:23,987

And Dick took the prune,

tasted it and he said,



1254

01:22:24,333 --> 01:22:26,164

"That's an organic prune."



1255

01:22:26,268 --> 01:22:27,826

When this book comes out,



1256

01:22:27,937 --> 01:22:31,270

all the naysayers will be amazed

at the wealth,



1257

01:22:31,374 --> 01:22:33,899

the depth, the quality, of the material

that's been given to us.



1258

01:22:34,010 --> 01:22:36,774

You are so royally full of shit.



1259

01:22:36,881 --> 01:22:40,339

I mean, I feel very humble

in this situation of being a conduit,



1260

01:22:40,985 --> 01:22:45,547

for this kind of revelation

that is not just about this man,



1261

01:22:45,656 --> 01:22:48,989

but about our age

and who we are as a people.



1262

01:22:52,296 --> 01:22:54,697

- Hello?

- Clifford, I have the money.



1263

01:22:54,799 --> 01:22:55,891

I am safe now.



1264

01:22:56,001 --> 01:22:59,437

- Edith, where are you?

- I'm at the airport.



1265

01:22:59,538 --> 01:23:01,733

But they're watching.

Someone is watching me,



1266

01:23:01,841 --> 01:23:03,705

and following me and...



1267

01:23:05,111 --> 01:23:07,806

Edith? Edith!



1268

01:24:10,615 --> 01:24:12,105

Where's Howard?



1269

01:24:12,516 --> 01:24:15,680

You know, Clifford, I have worked

in various capacities for Mr. Hughes



1270

01:24:15,786 --> 01:24:17,378

for 19 years now,



1271

01:24:17,622 --> 01:24:21,115

and never once have I referred to him

by his first name.



1272

01:24:22,995 --> 01:24:25,260

You don't seem to abide

such formalities.



1273

01:24:25,364 --> 01:24:26,525

He and I wrote a book together.



1274

01:24:26,632 --> 01:24:29,067

Assume for a moment

that I know you didn't,



1275

01:24:29,168 --> 01:24:32,001

and that it's not

the topic of the evening.



1276

01:24:32,472 --> 01:24:33,734

What is?



1277

01:24:33,840 --> 01:24:37,207

The world Mr. Hughes has created

is vast, Clifford.



1278

01:24:37,310 --> 01:24:40,211

It covers many industries

and many endeavors.



1279

01:24:40,947 --> 01:24:44,406

There are fiefdoms and factions,



1280

01:24:45,152 --> 01:24:47,347

traitors and minor rebellions.



1281

01:24:48,289 --> 01:24:52,226

You see, Clifford, the men Mr. Hughes

uses as his instruments in the world



1282

01:24:52,326 --> 01:24:55,353

are often themselves

the makers of history.



1283

01:24:57,032 --> 01:24:58,433

You mean Nixon?



1284

01:24:59,167 --> 01:25:01,898

Mr. Hughes wants to know

if you included the information



1285

01:25:02,003 --> 01:25:04,871

sent to you in the galleys of your book.



1286

01:25:08,077 --> 01:25:10,568

Howard wants to bury Nixon,

doesn't he?



1287

01:25:10,680 --> 01:25:12,978

Because his dog

isn't doing tricks anymore,



1288

01:25:13,083 --> 01:25:16,483

on TWA, on the Airwest merger,

on anything.



1289

01:25:16,585 --> 01:25:19,851

I'm not arrogant enough to speculate

on Mr. Hughes' motives, Clifford.



1290

01:25:19,956 --> 01:25:22,550

We just want an answer

to the question.



1291

01:25:23,727 --> 01:25:25,423

I'll just say this.



1292

01:25:26,363 --> 01:25:29,026

Nothing stops this book

from being published



1293

01:25:29,133 --> 01:25:31,226

exactly the way I wrote it.



1294

01:25:33,938 --> 01:25:35,565

He wants my help?



1295

01:25:36,040 --> 01:25:37,338

He has to speak to me directly.



1296

01:25:37,442 --> 01:25:40,502

Are you dictating terms

to Howard Hughes?



1297

01:25:40,612 --> 01:25:42,670

I'm the messenger for Howard Hughes.



1298

01:25:42,781 --> 01:25:45,614

Why such a burning commitment

to a man you don't know?



1299

01:25:45,718 --> 01:25:47,481

But I do know him.



1300

01:25:49,054 --> 01:25:51,079

And I deserve to see him.



1301

01:25:55,095 --> 01:25:58,394

Presidents have said the same thing

to me, Clifford.



1302

01:25:59,099 --> 01:26:01,533

I will tell you what I told them.



1303

01:26:02,702 --> 01:26:05,695

It's not a matter of

getting through a door, Clifford.



1304

01:26:06,474 --> 01:26:08,772

There is no door to get through.



1305

01:26:10,378 --> 01:26:13,814

Lf, though, Clifford, if there were a door,



1306

01:26:15,383 --> 01:26:18,512

you would now be hearing

the sound of it closing.



1307

01:26:46,550 --> 01:26:50,009

Mr. Hughes wants that information

in the book, Clifford.



1308

01:26:51,423 --> 01:26:52,753

I knew it.



1309

01:26:53,924 --> 01:26:58,259

So, I put the dirt in, Howard will

let the book go forward, right?



1310

01:26:59,330 --> 01:27:00,922

That's the deal.



1311

01:27:03,536 --> 01:27:05,526

Do I have any assurances?



1312

01:27:08,039 --> 01:27:10,133

Take it on faith, Clifford.



1313

01:27:41,543 --> 01:27:45,343

There is a perfect logic to it,

as everything Hughes does has.



1314

01:27:45,447 --> 01:27:47,608

It makes sense

that he would choose Cliff



1315

01:27:47,716 --> 01:27:51,174

and not someone like Mailer

because then it would be Mailer's book.



1316

01:27:51,287 --> 01:27:53,517

- Thank you.

- Thanks.



1317

01:27:54,290 --> 01:27:56,121

There are claims from some corners



1318

01:27:56,226 --> 01:27:59,787

that Mr. Irving has concocted this book

from whole cloth.



1319

01:28:00,331 --> 01:28:02,891

Well, for those of us who have read it,



1320

01:28:02,999 --> 01:28:06,662

we know that only a Shakespeare

could have accomplished such a feat,



1321

01:28:06,770 --> 01:28:11,070

and while Mr. Irving is a fine man,

he is no Shakespeare.



1322

01:28:14,612 --> 01:28:17,081

Ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Clifford Irving.



1323

01:28:29,028 --> 01:28:30,791

Thank you, thank you.



1324

01:28:41,141 --> 01:28:42,870

We could change the world

with this, Harold.



1325

01:28:42,976 --> 01:28:44,637

I want this chapter in the book.



1326

01:28:44,745 --> 01:28:47,339

Cliff, we will be sued for libel

by the President.



1327

01:28:48,682 --> 01:28:51,583

- You'll win. You will win. I promise you.

- Excuse me. Yes?



1328

01:28:51,685 --> 01:28:55,520

To put this out unsubstantiated

is at best unwise,



1329

01:28:55,623 --> 01:28:57,022

and at worst unethical.



1330

01:28:57,124 --> 01:28:58,422

Wait, wait.



1331

01:28:58,526 --> 01:29:01,017

Could you give me

a moment, Cliff, please?



1332

01:29:01,129 --> 01:29:02,994

- Yeah, sure.

- Thank you.



1333

01:29:05,467 --> 01:29:08,129

Ralph, if the President took

cash bribes, then we have every...



1334

01:29:09,538 --> 01:29:11,005

Harold, I'm sorry to interrupt,



1335

01:29:11,106 --> 01:29:13,370

but the Zurich District Attorney's office

is on the line.



1336

01:29:13,475 --> 01:29:16,001

Hang on, Ralph. I'll take it.

Yes, this is Harold McGraw.



1337

01:29:16,111 --> 01:29:18,910

Something to do with

a Swiss bank account.



1338

01:29:19,181 --> 01:29:22,345

Who told you that?

Where did you hear that?



1339

01:29:29,492 --> 01:29:32,859

This latest puzzle in the

case involves a Swiss bank in Zurich



1340

01:29:32,964 --> 01:29:35,558

where the checks were cashed

by H.R. Hughes.



1341

01:29:35,665 --> 01:29:38,191

That H.R. Hughes was

a mysterious lady



1342

01:29:38,303 --> 01:29:40,099

named Helga R. Hughes.



1343

01:29:40,205 --> 01:29:42,105

The police are looking for her,



1344

01:29:42,207 --> 01:29:44,869

and the normally silent Swiss bankers

are talking about the case.



1345

01:29:44,976 --> 01:29:46,945

Mr. Irving, who cashed the checks, sir?



1346

01:29:47,045 --> 01:29:49,206

Who opened up

the Swiss bank account?



1347

01:29:51,283 --> 01:29:54,377

The account holder in Switzerland

is a woman named Helga Hughes.



1348

01:29:54,820 --> 01:29:57,186

They suspect

she forged the endorsements.



1349

01:29:57,690 --> 01:30:00,056

This has become sleazy

and demeaning.



1350

01:30:00,159 --> 01:30:03,219

- I'm a publisher, Shelton.

- You're an employee, Harold.



1351

01:30:03,329 --> 01:30:05,593

I don't care what your name is.



1352

01:30:05,765 --> 01:30:08,495

We paid for a book

and we're going to publish it.



1353

01:30:08,602 --> 01:30:11,298

Just roll the goddamn presses.



1354

01:30:14,875 --> 01:30:16,867

Why are you calling us about this?



1355

01:30:16,977 --> 01:30:22,075

I'm doing this, sir, because I felt

the President deserved a warning.



1356

01:30:22,717 --> 01:30:25,208

- Anybody else have this information?

- No, of course not.



1357

01:30:25,320 --> 01:30:28,221

- Absolutely nobody?

- Absolutely no one.



1358

01:30:28,424 --> 01:30:30,186

Where's the book now?



1359

01:30:30,526 --> 01:30:33,051

You should receive it by messenger

this afternoon.



1360

01:30:33,162 --> 01:30:34,629

I'D LIKE TO TEACH

THE WORLD TO SING PLAYING



1361

01:30:49,946 --> 01:30:53,383

Thank God.

Honey, you okay? Are you all right?



1362

01:30:54,317 --> 01:30:57,947

- Let me help you with this...

- I am not staying!



1363

01:31:24,984 --> 01:31:27,248

What's in the book?

Everything.



1364

01:31:28,088 --> 01:31:31,490

Hughes' loans to the President.

The real amounts of the loans.



1365

01:31:32,625 --> 01:31:34,525

The shit about Bebe in Florida.



1366

01:31:34,628 --> 01:31:37,062

And you're saying

the President thinks this is authentic?



1367

01:31:37,164 --> 01:31:40,259

- How else could they know?

- We've got to talk to this guy, Fisher.



1368

01:31:40,367 --> 01:31:41,766

He's gotta kill the book.



1369

01:31:41,870 --> 01:31:43,564

Hughes is just using it

to get to the chief.



1370

01:31:43,672 --> 01:31:46,197

In fact, the President hit the roof

this morning.



1371

01:31:46,308 --> 01:31:49,300

He's terrified the book's been leaked

to the Democratic National Committee.



1372

01:31:49,411 --> 01:31:50,400

Shit.



1373

01:31:50,512 --> 01:31:54,279

He thinks they're sipping tea at the

Watergate Hotel reading it, right now.



1374

01:31:54,382 --> 01:31:57,215

All right, I'll call Hunt

and have him send his guys in



1375

01:31:57,319 --> 01:31:59,514

to see if the DNC has a copy yet.



1376

01:31:59,622 --> 01:32:02,113

And prepare something

for the President, if this breaks early,



1377

01:32:02,225 --> 01:32:04,352

if he has to address the nation.



1378

01:32:04,460 --> 01:32:05,860

To say what?



1379

01:32:06,130 --> 01:32:09,257

Checkers had puppies.

How the fuck should I know?



1380

01:32:10,700 --> 01:32:14,694

I was on the plane

and I was thinking for a long time.



1381

01:32:14,805 --> 01:32:18,970

I was thinking about all of your lies

from before.



1382

01:32:19,743 --> 01:32:23,008

I guess, maybe, I am not beautiful



1383

01:32:23,114 --> 01:32:27,141

- or very sexual enough for you...

- No, honey, no. It's not true.



1384

01:32:27,252 --> 01:32:29,311

You have made me feel that.



1385

01:32:30,089 --> 01:32:32,784

So, I'm leaving.



1386

01:32:33,692 --> 01:32:38,095

And I'm giving back all of the money,

all of the book money.



1387

01:32:40,633 --> 01:32:43,966

Look, you've worked so hard on us,

on the book...



1388

01:32:45,437 --> 01:32:47,303

Punish me, but don't punish yourself.



1389

01:32:47,407 --> 01:32:51,708

You're always so careful when you talk,

always so



1390

01:32:54,181 --> 01:32:57,583

soft like a cushion for what you want.



1391

01:32:58,753 --> 01:33:00,311

But I am leaving.



1392

01:33:02,757 --> 01:33:05,351

But before I go, I give you something.



1393

01:33:06,761 --> 01:33:09,127

You are exhausted from your lies.



1394

01:33:13,802 --> 01:33:15,429

So tell the truth.



1395

01:33:17,706 --> 01:33:22,370

Tell me the truth about

what you did with her this time.



1396

01:33:25,014 --> 01:33:28,381

It is your moment to be clean.



1397

01:33:40,531 --> 01:33:41,829

I saw her.



1398

01:33:45,135 --> 01:33:46,194

When?



1399

01:33:46,503 --> 01:33:47,868

Last month.



1400

01:33:52,544 --> 01:33:56,002

It was in town, down in the Village.



1401

01:34:01,587 --> 01:34:06,719

We were talking about the past, and I...



1402

01:34:08,628 --> 01:34:10,095

I was tempted.



1403

01:34:11,765 --> 01:34:13,960

I was tempted enough that I...



1404

01:34:16,370 --> 01:34:17,929

I went with her,



1405

01:34:18,839 --> 01:34:20,637

back to her apartment,



1406

01:34:25,313 --> 01:34:26,940

and I kissed her.



1407

01:34:29,183 --> 01:34:30,445

And...



1408

01:34:44,633 --> 01:34:46,898

And something happened. I...



1409

01:34:50,607 --> 01:34:54,839

Something physically...

I just recoiled and...



1410

01:34:58,883 --> 01:35:01,613

I couldn't go through with it.

I couldn't do it.



1411

01:35:01,719 --> 01:35:07,282

I just left her standing there

and I ran down the stairs.



1412

01:35:10,462 --> 01:35:12,191

I know you're making

a really big decision.



1413

01:35:12,297 --> 01:35:14,288

I know. I understand that.



1414

01:35:14,700 --> 01:35:15,689

I...



1415

01:35:18,170 --> 01:35:21,868

I just want you to know, that's the truth.

That's the truth.



1416

01:35:38,425 --> 01:35:39,790

I hate you.



1417

01:35:43,163 --> 01:35:44,495

And I love you.



1418

01:35:45,632 --> 01:35:47,259

I hate you.



1419

01:35:48,969 --> 01:35:51,461

I think I'm coming down

with something.



1420

01:36:14,498 --> 01:36:17,467

Human relationships are impossible.



1421

01:36:18,135 --> 01:36:20,570

Especially with females, Clifford.



1422

01:36:21,238 --> 01:36:26,768

We try, of course, to police ourselves,

so that they might be happy,



1423

01:36:27,912 --> 01:36:31,713

believing that their happiness

might become our own.



1424

01:36:33,751 --> 01:36:37,209

We're intertwined now, son,

and I'm glad.



1425

01:36:38,490 --> 01:36:40,151

It's for the best.



1426

01:37:02,450 --> 01:37:03,439

Hi.



1427

01:37:05,986 --> 01:37:07,420

You're broke?



1428

01:37:10,425 --> 01:37:14,088

Why don't you ask your friend

for another birthday present?



1429

01:37:20,502 --> 01:37:21,969

2,400 of our boys...



1430

01:37:22,071 --> 01:37:23,503

Twelve years.



1431

01:37:23,672 --> 01:37:27,039

Twelve years I have been doing

free research for you.



1432

01:37:27,977 --> 01:37:29,945

I cover up all your sleazy affairs. Why?



1433

01:37:30,046 --> 01:37:31,274

Because I thought

it was an investment,



1434

01:37:31,381 --> 01:37:33,872

I thought there was someone in there.

Jesus Christ!



1435

01:37:36,519 --> 01:37:39,978

You paid her. You paid that hooker.



1436

01:37:41,625 --> 01:37:43,719

I could lose my wife, Cliff.



1437

01:37:44,661 --> 01:37:47,495

Always the Cassandra,

always bad news.



1438

01:37:47,665 --> 01:37:50,259

Cliff, I'm not like you. I confessed.



1439

01:37:50,568 --> 01:37:54,937

- You need your freedom, Dick.

- What's that? Your opinion?



1440

01:37:55,039 --> 01:37:57,064

You ruin my life

because of your fucking opinion?



1441

01:37:57,176 --> 01:38:00,737

I wanted this for you more than for me.

The whole thing. I always did.



1442

01:38:00,845 --> 01:38:04,304

And we did it, Dick.

Damn it, we did it. Look at this.



1443

01:38:09,489 --> 01:38:10,819

And look at that.



1444

01:38:12,424 --> 01:38:14,085

- I don't care about that.

- It's yours. Take it.



1445

01:38:14,194 --> 01:38:16,830

- I don't care about that.

- It's all yours. Take it. It's yours.



1446

01:38:16,830 --> 01:38:17,854

- I don't care about that.

- It's all yours. Take it. It's yours.



1447

01:38:18,665 --> 01:38:20,429

What's going on here?



1448

01:38:33,681 --> 01:38:34,943

Intertel.



1449

01:38:38,420 --> 01:38:40,217

Intertel, sons of bitches.



1450

01:38:40,322 --> 01:38:43,052

Motherfuck. They came in.

They broke into my house last night.



1451

01:38:43,158 --> 01:38:45,092

They were here. They abducted me.



1452

01:38:45,195 --> 01:38:47,253

They took me in a car,

and they flew me to Nassau.



1453

01:38:47,363 --> 01:38:49,626

And there, they threatened me.



1454

01:38:49,732 --> 01:38:51,699

They beat me up

and they chucked me out of a window.



1455

01:38:51,801 --> 01:38:55,737

I said, "No, this book goes...

Our book goes forward.



1456

01:38:55,838 --> 01:38:58,500

"Nothing is gonna stop it."

I was firm. Assurances were made.



1457

01:38:58,609 --> 01:39:01,543

"This Howard Hughes will not

be interfered with."



1458

01:39:01,644 --> 01:39:03,977

- This Howard Hughes?

- This Howard Hughes...



1459

01:39:04,081 --> 01:39:06,072

Cliff, Clifford Irving.



1460

01:39:06,550 --> 01:39:09,281

Intertel kidnapped you

and flew you to Nassau?



1461

01:39:09,386 --> 01:39:14,154

Yes! CIA, ex-CIA henchmen!

Martial arts! You were absolutely right.



1462

01:39:14,259 --> 01:39:15,385

I was here last night, Cliff.



1463

01:39:15,492 --> 01:39:17,620

I came here for lessons on

how to lie to my wife,



1464

01:39:17,729 --> 01:39:20,028

you being an expert in that field.



1465

01:39:20,131 --> 01:39:22,862

Jesus Christ, I was outside

that fucking window.



1466

01:39:22,968 --> 01:39:23,936

I saw you in here.



1467

01:39:24,036 --> 01:39:27,472

You were sitting on the floor,

drunk out of your head.



1468

01:39:27,872 --> 01:39:29,670

You don't believe me.



1469

01:39:31,911 --> 01:39:33,970

You, of all people.



1470

01:39:42,089 --> 01:39:44,057

Take your fucking money.

Take your money.



1471

01:39:44,157 --> 01:39:45,625

- Take your money!

- Oh, fuck you!



1472

01:39:45,727 --> 01:39:48,218

Take your fucking money,

all the fucking percentage you got!



1473

01:39:48,328 --> 01:39:49,295

Fuck you!



1474

01:39:49,396 --> 01:39:51,558

- Fuck you!

- Get out, go!



1475

01:39:51,665 --> 01:39:53,030

Take your fucking money

and get out of here!



1476

01:39:53,134 --> 01:39:55,068

Don't throw money at me.



1477

01:39:56,070 --> 01:39:59,472

You stay away from me,

you son of a fucking... Stay away!



1478

01:40:11,020 --> 01:40:13,421

No one flew you to Nassau, Cliff.



1479

01:40:15,659 --> 01:40:17,650

You're not that important.



1480

01:40:25,703 --> 01:40:27,432

One moment, please.



1481

01:40:30,074 --> 01:40:31,302

- Sir?

- MAN: Yes.



1482

01:40:31,409 --> 01:40:34,640

Chester Davis,

Howard Hughes' attorney on Line 1.



1483

01:40:37,182 --> 01:40:40,049

Okay. You're sure?



1484

01:40:42,387 --> 01:40:44,355

What time will it be on?



1485

01:40:45,791 --> 01:40:48,191

I can't thank you enough, Chester.



1486

01:40:48,627 --> 01:40:50,323

The President owes you one.



1487

01:40:50,896 --> 01:40:53,297

Of course, I have massive files



1488

01:40:53,700 --> 01:40:58,638

of photographs

and other recorded material



1489

01:40:58,738 --> 01:41:01,206

tracing my life from an early age.



1490

01:41:01,307 --> 01:41:04,766

I have volumes and volumes

and rooms full of...



1491

01:41:05,211 --> 01:41:09,876

Mr. Hughes, did you cooperate,

or do you know...



1492

01:41:12,921 --> 01:41:14,888

Congratulations, again.

Thank you.



1493

01:41:14,989 --> 01:41:17,856

- Wonderful evening.

- Thank you. Thank you very much.



1494

01:41:23,631 --> 01:41:27,068

I want to know why the hell

we weren't warned about this.



1495

01:41:28,604 --> 01:41:30,663

Why weren't we warned? Clara!



1496

01:41:35,812 --> 01:41:39,270

I have volumes and volumes

and rooms full of...



1497

01:41:39,683 --> 01:41:44,620

Mr. Hughes, did you cooperate,

or do you know



1498

01:41:44,721 --> 01:41:46,552

a man named Irving,



1499

01:41:46,657 --> 01:41:50,057

who claims to have taped

this biography with you?



1500

01:41:50,828 --> 01:41:53,523

Well, this must go down in history.



1501

01:41:53,931 --> 01:41:56,263

I only wish I were still

in the movie business



1502

01:41:56,367 --> 01:42:00,098

because I don't remember

any scripts as wild



1503

01:42:00,571 --> 01:42:04,564

or as stretching of the imagination

as this yarn has turned out to be.



1504

01:42:04,676 --> 01:42:07,804

I take it, sir, you do not know a man

named Clifford Irving, then?



1505

01:42:07,913 --> 01:42:10,474

No, I never saw him.

I never even heard of him



1506

01:42:10,582 --> 01:42:14,678

until a matter of days ago when

this thing first came to my attention.



1507

01:42:14,788 --> 01:42:16,653

It is so fantastic



1508

01:42:16,755 --> 01:42:21,159

and so utterly beyond the bounds

of anyone's imagination...



1509

01:42:23,096 --> 01:42:26,361

I mean, it seems to me

the motive for Irving could be money.



1510

01:42:26,467 --> 01:42:32,667

But McGraw-Hill and Time Life

don't have to deal in fake manuscripts.



1511

01:42:32,773 --> 01:42:37,734

They surely have a business that

operates at a higher plane than that.



1512

01:42:37,846 --> 01:42:41,373

There's gotta be a bank record

somewhere of this transaction.



1513

01:42:41,483 --> 01:42:43,747

So, I just don't have any idea.



1514

01:42:46,622 --> 01:42:49,249

There have been reports

that you have had dealings with...



1515

01:42:49,358 --> 01:42:50,324

He just lied.



1516

01:42:50,426 --> 01:42:53,452

... President Nixon's friend

Bebe Rebozo,



1517

01:42:53,562 --> 01:42:56,464

and also dealings with

the President himself.



1518

01:42:56,699 --> 01:42:58,291

Do you care to comment

on those reports?



1519

01:43:00,938 --> 01:43:02,268

A warrant was issued today



1520

01:43:02,372 --> 01:43:04,863

for the arrest of

Clifford Irving's wife, Edith.



1521

01:43:04,974 --> 01:43:07,603

She is charged with fraud and forgery.



1522

01:43:07,778 --> 01:43:11,806

She deposited in a Swiss bank

money intended for Howard Hughes,



1523

01:43:11,950 --> 01:43:14,008

whose autobiography

her husband says he wrote.



1524

01:43:14,118 --> 01:43:17,109

No, no, no, no!



1525

01:43:18,256 --> 01:43:19,381

Edith?



1526

01:43:24,363 --> 01:43:26,489

Martin Ackerman,

attorney for Clifford Irving,



1527

01:43:26,599 --> 01:43:28,066

who claims that he compiled the book,



1528

01:43:28,167 --> 01:43:31,136

reaffirms his conviction

that it is authentic.



1529

01:43:31,237 --> 01:43:32,704

Ackerman issued that statement



1530

01:43:32,805 --> 01:43:35,103

after a story

in this morning's New York Times,



1531

01:43:35,208 --> 01:43:38,142

a story reportedly saying

Irving may have been duped.



1532

01:43:38,244 --> 01:43:39,473

Edith?



1533

01:43:41,681 --> 01:43:42,806

Edith?



1534

01:43:43,817 --> 01:43:46,445

- Edith?

- Nina!



1535

01:43:48,655 --> 01:43:52,057

Is it safe to say

this was an intimate relationship?



1536

01:43:52,159 --> 01:43:54,922

Yes, the relationship was physical.



1537

01:43:55,029 --> 01:43:58,760

And you can confirm that Mr. Irving,

in fact, did not meet with Mr. Hughes



1538

01:43:58,866 --> 01:44:00,766

on the date in question?



1539

01:44:01,102 --> 01:44:03,901

He could not have met

Howard Hughes in Nassau



1540

01:44:04,006 --> 01:44:06,566

because he was with me

at The Plaza Hotel.



1541

01:44:06,675 --> 01:44:09,041

Well, did he confide in you

regarding the book?



1542

01:44:09,144 --> 01:44:11,442

No. I knew nothing about it.



1543

01:44:12,015 --> 01:44:16,417

I'm completely flabbergasted

by all of this attention and...



1544

01:44:16,518 --> 01:44:19,283

What exactly do you do,

Miss Van Pallandt?



1545

01:44:20,290 --> 01:44:21,780

I'm an actress,



1546

01:44:23,159 --> 01:44:24,593

and a singer.



1547

01:44:27,730 --> 01:44:28,789

Nina.



1548

01:44:30,768 --> 01:44:31,702

Always the details that undo us.



1549

01:44:31,702 --> 01:44:34,227

Always the details that undo us.



1550

01:44:37,107 --> 01:44:39,269

Can I run something by you, George?



1551

01:44:39,376 --> 01:44:40,866

Certainly, Clifford.

That's what I'm here for.



1552

01:44:40,979 --> 01:44:43,743

This was a really bad year for Howard,

wasn't it?



1553

01:44:43,847 --> 01:44:48,649

The TWA thing,

the Airwest merger unraveling.



1554

01:44:50,289 --> 01:44:53,747

He lost control of Nixon,

his fixer, too, didn't he?



1555

01:44:54,927 --> 01:44:58,920

He needed something.

He needed some leverage



1556

01:44:59,999 --> 01:45:02,024

to keep him back in line.



1557

01:45:02,135 --> 01:45:06,037

A loss could cost Hughes

$ 137 million...



1558

01:45:06,139 --> 01:45:09,575

So one day he opens his

disinfected newspaper,



1559

01:45:09,676 --> 01:45:11,268

and there we are,



1560

01:45:11,578 --> 01:45:13,170

us, with our little book.



1561

01:45:13,280 --> 01:45:15,374

When your rival is powerful,



1562

01:45:15,649 --> 01:45:16,742

find an opportunity.



1563

01:45:16,850 --> 01:45:19,615

Create a crisis for him.



1564

01:45:20,755 --> 01:45:23,724

Hardly had to do anything.

Just a little push.



1565

01:45:25,860 --> 01:45:29,058

Then he fed us some dirt.



1566

01:45:29,163 --> 01:45:30,222

The shit about Bebe and...



1567

01:45:30,331 --> 01:45:32,027

Just to get Nixon's

attention, a little more dirt.



1568

01:45:32,134 --> 01:45:33,863

The President thinks this is authentic?



1569

01:45:33,969 --> 01:45:34,958

How else could they know?



1570

01:45:35,070 --> 01:45:37,834

Nixon gets hysterical.

He thinks the book is real.



1571

01:45:37,941 --> 01:45:40,738

But instead of taking

short-term advantage,



1572

01:45:42,612 --> 01:45:44,409

save the day for him.



1573

01:45:45,482 --> 01:45:48,281

And then Howard makes it good

for the President,



1574

01:45:48,385 --> 01:45:50,081

cashes in his chip,



1575

01:45:51,088 --> 01:45:52,555

and we get buried.



1576

01:45:52,656 --> 01:45:56,058

I take it, sir, you do not know a man

named Clifford Irving, then?



1577

01:45:56,160 --> 01:45:59,618

No, I never saw him.

I never even heard of him until...



1578

01:45:59,730 --> 01:46:01,562

I'm not angry, George.



1579

01:46:03,201 --> 01:46:04,827

I'm disappointed.



1580

01:46:05,404 --> 01:46:07,770

You know, I thought that maybe...



1581

01:46:09,808 --> 01:46:12,504

I thought we were partners,

Howard and I.



1582

01:46:13,146 --> 01:46:16,172

Well, you mustn't

take it personally, Clifford.



1583

01:46:16,783 --> 01:46:19,877

Just as the trees

mustn't take it personally



1584

01:46:19,986 --> 01:46:22,478

when a forest is razed for lumber.



1585

01:46:23,389 --> 01:46:25,653

They're part of a grand design.



1586

01:46:27,795 --> 01:46:29,456

I played it good for a while,

though, didn't I?



1587

01:46:29,562 --> 01:46:33,556

You were tremendous, Clifford.

Mr. Hughes commented on that.



1588

01:46:33,667 --> 01:46:34,862

Really?



1589

01:46:36,236 --> 01:46:37,932

Would I lie to you?



1590

01:46:40,008 --> 01:46:42,568

Howard Hughes has spoken publicly.



1591

01:46:42,677 --> 01:46:45,737

And he has told us

that we may hear more from him soon.



1592

01:46:45,847 --> 01:46:47,337

All right, thank you. Thank you.



1593

01:46:47,449 --> 01:46:49,441

Good night, from NBC News.



1594

01:46:50,618 --> 01:46:52,020

YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET

WHAT YOU WANT PLAYING



1595

01:47:05,602 --> 01:47:07,763

Sir, do you have any comment?



1596

01:47:53,887 --> 01:47:57,722

I'll cooperate

in exchange for leniency for Dick,



1597

01:47:57,825 --> 01:47:59,816

and especially for Edith.



1598

01:48:02,730 --> 01:48:05,756

Mr. Irving received a sentence of

two and a half years' imprisonment,



1599

01:48:05,867 --> 01:48:07,858

Mr. Suskind, six months' imprisonment.



1600

01:48:07,969 --> 01:48:10,631

In addition, they will pay

full restitution to McGraw-Hill



1601

01:48:10,739 --> 01:48:14,402

and the Internal Revenue Service,

totaling $ 1.3 million.



1602

01:48:14,509 --> 01:48:16,773

Mrs. Irving received

a suspended sentence,



1603

01:48:16,879 --> 01:48:19,473

but we have no control over what

the Swiss authorities decide to do.



1604

01:48:19,581 --> 01:48:21,209

Are you happy with the outcome,

Mr. Newman?



1605

01:48:21,317 --> 01:48:23,411

I'm not sure you're ever ecstatic

when a bargain is reached but...



1606

01:48:23,519 --> 01:48:26,977

In a surprise reversal,

the Nixon Justice Department today



1607

01:48:27,089 --> 01:48:30,992

approved the acquisition of Airwest

airlines by Howard Hughes' Tool Co.



1608

01:48:31,160 --> 01:48:33,925

This on the heels of

last week's Supreme Court decision



1609

01:48:34,031 --> 01:48:36,465

to dismiss the TWA

shareholders' lawsuit,



1610

01:48:36,567 --> 01:48:40,527

rescuing Mr. Hughes

from paying $ 137 million



1611

01:48:40,637 --> 01:48:44,096

made it a very good week

for the eccentric billionaire.



1612

01:48:44,541 --> 01:48:47,272

In other news today,

five men were arrested



1613

01:48:47,378 --> 01:48:50,211

breaking into the Democratic National

Committee headquarters



1614

01:48:50,315 --> 01:48:52,579

located in the Watergate Hotel.



1615

01:50:23,549 --> 01:50:26,382

Yeah, that's them.

Don't choke on the dust.

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