Cradle Will Rock Page #3

Synopsis: In 1930s New York Orson Welles tries to stage a musical on a steel strike under the Federal Theater Program despite pressure from an establishment fearful of industrial unrest and red activity. Meanwhile Nelson Rockefeller gets the foyer of his company headquarters decorated and an Italian countess sells paintings for Mussolini.
Genre: Drama
Director(s): Tim Robbins
Production: Buena Vista Pictures
  5 wins & 7 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.9
Metacritic:
64
Rotten Tomatoes:
63%
R
Year:
1999
132 min
Website
839 Views


been so obvious

and so dangerous.

Five dead.

Two shot in the back.

Twenty-seven injured...

by the blackjacks and fists

of the strike breakers.

And who were the attackers?

- Thugs? Pinkertons?

- No! No!

No, ladies and gentlemen. The murderers

last night were government employees!

Policemen killing and beating

the very citizens who pay their wage.

Lending their nightsticks...

and guns to the industrialists,

to the strike breakers!

I think it's time...

- What is your play about?

- What are your plays about? What's Threepenny Opera about?

- What is your play about?

- It's about a prostitute, uh, poverty.

That's survival. That is not enough.

What about

the other prostitutes?

You don't have to be poor to be

a whore. Look around you.

In the mansions, in the churches,

in the universities.

Everyone is corruptible,

even your union leaders.

- The cradle of power is rocking!

- Yeah!

Now who's the dummy?

- Now who's the dummy?

- Now who's the dummy?

- Now who's the dummy?

- Now who's the dummy?

- Now who's the dummy?

- Stop!

You want to use...

the back of your mouth.

Try again.

Now who's the dummy?

Now... who's the dummy?

- Now who's the dummy?

- Now who's the dummy?

- Now...

- Cut!

Your mouth is moving.

If your mouth is moving,

the effect is ruined.

Try to keep your lips

immobile.

Mmm, mmm, the dummy?

Now who's the dummy?

"Federal Theater's touring show, Broadway

Bandwagon, rolled into Peoria last night,

and for two hours,

gaiety and glamour...

obscured thoughts of drought

and other financial worries. "

Peoria Star.

They performed Dubuque, Waterloo,

Eau Claire, Sheboygan,

Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids.

And I saw it in a high school

in Manitowoc.

with live actors. It was very exciting.

I just got a letter from the director

of the Portland, Oregon, project.

Their debut was a resounding success.

Sold-out shows every night.

Denver's a week away from opening Rakes

Progress. That'll be Colorado's debut.

- It Can't Happen Here?

- It is happening.

It Can't Happen Here

is a steamroller.

We have a commitment

from the Detroit project.

Also, the Seattle

Negro Company's in.

And Brooklyn is doing

a version in Yiddish.

Twenty-one productions of

It Can't Happen Here in 17 states.

- Same play, all opening on the same day.

- Great.

- A national theater, Hallie.

- Birmingham, Boston, Chicago, Detroit,

Newark, Bridgeport, Yonkers,

Staten Island, Tampa,

- Wooster, Cleveland, Los Angeles...

- That's how beavers

Make their living since the day

they left the ark

- Miami, Omaha, Seattle, San Francisco...

- And we clip, clip, clip

And we stack, stack, stack

And we pack, pack, pack

And we strip it and we clip it

and we stack it and we pack it

And we work, work, work

all day

- So did he stomp his feet?

- A couple of times.

He sounds like such a child.

Let's not talk about Orson.

Let's talk about Antonio.

Hmm? Antonio?

You don't like it?

I... No, I like it.

You're beautiful, hmm?

That's your mama.

She made you.

She's amazing.

You're the artist.

Thank you.

I take pride in my work.

- Your mother.

- There's only one voice like it.

- I thought I'd find you in a room.

- Shh! This is a room.

A bigger room, yes. I thought

I'd find you without so many people.

- We couldn't afford that.

- Oh! Poverino.

If your papa had a better job,

you could get a better room.

Mama, don't start. Speak good things

in front of my son, please.

So many people.

Someone could be sick.

- Say hello to Sophie.

- Hello, Sophie.

- Hello, Mama.

- Oh, look at that face.

And today I saw Mr. Welles throw

a tantrum in front of his new cast.

They're mostly white.

He was so passionate.

I'm sure.

You're late, you know.

Oh, have I missed much?

Have any of the paintings moved?

- Most of the people have.

- Look. Da Vinci.

- Da Vinci.

- Splendid!

- Hearst says that the Federal

Theater is full of Reds.

- Communists? I can't imagine that to be true.

- Communists?

- Hearst is a smart man.

- Yes, and I suppose I'm a dim woman.

No, no, no,

I didn't say that.

Could Mr. Hearst explain to me

the Communist implications...

of the Scottish play

in the Caribbean?

Ah, Margherita Sarfatti,

my wife,

- the perpetually late Countess La Grange.

- Charmed.

- Likewise.

- Buona sera. Je suis Carlo.

- Oh, thank you.

- Grazie.

Your husband has

an excellent eye for art.

You're a lucky woman

to have such a cultured man.

Oh, blessed really.

- Margherita, we must go.

- Ah. Countess.

- Gray.

- Miss Sarfatti.

It has been a pleasure

talking to you.

And you can assure your trade

representative that Mathers Steel...

will put frames on Italian trucks

as long as wheels turn.

It will be

deeply appreciated.

Anything we can do to stop the spread of

Communism in Europe is in our own best interest.

Thank you.

Good day.

- Ciao.

- Countess, Gray.

- Good-bye.

- Marion.

- Did you just make a business deal?

- No, dear.

But you said you'd put frames

on Italian trucks.

That is none

of your business, dear.

Mr. Darwin claims that it took

for a monk... for a man... for nature

to make a monkey out of a man.

That's nothing. A man can ma... A woman

can make a monkey out of a man in an hour.

- That's true.

- Like your wife made a monkey out of you.

Melvin, people don't have to know that.

- With the merchant marine. Or was it a bricklayer?

- All right.

Those are my jokes

that you're butchering. My act.

I know you two probably don't

believe in personal property.

But this is not Russia.

This is not rice or grain.

It is my property,

my act.

You do not do

another entertainer's act.

It is not... done.

- Understood?

- Okay. Yes, sir.

Now who's the dummy?

I saw in the paper that that Welles you

work with is the voice of the Shadow.

- I like-a that show.

- Martha learns English from that show.

- "The Shadow knows. "

- Bravo.

- So he's famous, right?

- Yeah, he works a lot.

- So he's got lots of money, right?

- Yes.

- So, uh... why don't you do that?

- I'd like to.

- So what's stopping you?

- Well, you gotta get the job.

Well, apply for it, huh?

You know, you wait on line for it.

- It doesn't work that way.

- You're lazy.

You gotta get up early,

wait on line.

Early bird catches the worm.

No, no, no, you don't wait

on line for a theater job, all right?

Mama, give me Antonio.

- You, you audition.

- Shh, shh, shh.

- You try out.

- Shh, shh, shh.

- You read, okay? Right, Antonio?

- There we go.

- Yeah, there we go.

- You pretend to be the character, huh?

- You don't wait on line.

- There you go. With his papa.

- I gotta go pick the kids up at school.

- They're at Vincent's today.

- No, no. I'm taking them to rehearsal.

- Sure?

Mm-hmm. All right?

Good-bye, Antonio.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

I love you, my artist.

Listen

Here's a story

Not much fun

and not much glory

Low class

Low-down

The thing you never care to see

Until there is a showdown

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Tim Robbins

Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, and musician. He is well known for his portrayal of Andy Dufresne in the prison drama film The Shawshank Redemption (1994). His other roles include Nuke LaLoosh in Bull Durham, Jacob Singer in Jacob's Ladder, Griffin Mill in The Player, and Dave Boyle in Mystic River, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and for directing films such as Dead Man Walking and Bob Roberts, both of which received critical acclaim. In 2015, he played Secretary of State Walter Larson in the HBO comedy The Brink, and in 2018 he portrayed Greg Boatwright in Alan Ball's drama series Here and Now. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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