Gentleman's Agreement Page #11

If I tell you

that's anti-Semitism...

...your feeling of being Christian

is better than being Jewish...

...you'll say

I'm heckling you again...

...I'm twisting your words around,

or it's just facing facts...

...as someone else

said to me yesterday.

Face me. Look at me.

Same face, same eyes, same nose,

same suit, same everything.

Here. Take my hand. Feel it!

Same flesh as yours, isn't it?

No different today

than yesterday.

The only thing that's different

is the word Christian.

Of course I'll see him.

Send him right in.

Good morning.

Thanks for seeing me,John.

I'm sorry to break in like this.

I turned in the first half.

I'll finish the rest

by the end of the week.

-Good.

-I want to clear out.

-Completely?

-Completely.

Going back to California?

Yes. Will you help get

train reservations?

Yes.

What about future assignments?

I'll let you know.

I don't want to be disturbed

for anything.

Sorry about you two.

Kathy told my wife this morning.

She seemed pretty upset.

I'd have liked it to go on.

It seemed so right, you two.

Anything I can do? Can I help?

Talk is useless, I know...

...but maybe someone

who knew you both...

Thanks,John. Thanks a lot.

I'd better be getting back.

I'm clearing out

of the office tonight.

I'll finish the last three

installments at home...

...and I'll bring them in.

We'll have one more session.

Hey, I'm looking for you.

It's the goldarnedest idea

this magazine has ever run.

I couldn't put

these ten pages down.

The whole place is buzzing.

Now, about artwork.

Photographic treatment's

my hunch. What do you think?

No pictures of my kid or me

or my mother, understand?

Stop pushing me around.

That's the trouble

with you Christians...

...too aggressive, loud, pushing.

Everybody's got a copy but me.

When's my turn?

The place is in a frenzy

over the wonderful plot.

What plot there can be

on anti-Semitism escapes me.

This is something.

It's hot, all right.

You fooled me, Phil, completely.

Though I did want to say...

...how have you lived this long

spending this much juice on it?

I get it now.

Everything.

This is dynamite.

Wait'll you read the rest.

If everybody would act it out

one day...

...it'd be curtains

on the thing overnight.

Minify ordered everything

stopped for this.

It's a wonderful notion, Phil.

Congratulations.

Hey, you look kind of beat.

I worry about you.

I'm fine.

Uh-huh.

It's over with you and Kathy,

isn't it?

Phil, I guessed it last night,

but I wasn't sure.

It is over, isn't it?

Everything's so rotten, Phil.

With me, too.

Look, if you're free tonight...

...come to my place

and listen to my troubles.

How about it?

OK. Thanks.

We'll have dinner.

Feeling better?

Yeah.

Good.

You almost smiled a minute ago.

You take your coffee black,

don't you?

And one lump.

I remember from the party.

You do?

You're quite a girl, Anne.

I don't think

I told you that before.

Me? Sure.

Everybody loves Anne.

You said you weren't very happy.

Do you want to talk about it?

Nothing bores any man

as much as an unhappy female.

Now, look, Anne...

...we're good friends.

Somehow, even in this

short a time...

...we've been through

quite a bit together.

It's been good for me

to be with you tonight.

I wish you would talk to me.

All right, I'll talk.

We've been skirting it

all evening.

Let's bring it out

and clear the air.

You mind if I say something

about you and Kathy?

Let's don't.

All right, Phil.

Mind your manners.

Be a little gentleman.

Don't let the flag

touch the ground.

This sort of honorableness

gets me sick.

It's just that I think you're

pretty straight, and she's...

Anne, drop it.

OK.

I'm a cat...

...and this is dirty pool.

But I'm intolerant

of hypocrites.

That's what I said, Phil.

Hypocrites.

She'd rather let Dave

lose that job than risk a fuss.

That's it, isn't it?

She's afraid.

The Kathys everywhere are afraid

of getting the gate...

...from their little groups

of nice people.

They make little clucking sounds

of disapproval...

...but they want

you and Uncle John...

...to stand up and yell

and take sides and fight.

But do they fight?

Oh, no. Kathy and Harry

and Jane and all of them...

...they scold Bilbo twice a year...

...and think they've fought

the good fight for democracy.

They haven't got the guts...

...to take the step

from talking to action.

One little action

on one little front.

I know it's not

the whole answer...

...but it's got to start somewhere.

It's got to be with action,

not pamphlets...

...not even with your series.

It's got to be with people...

...nice people,

rich people, poor people...

...big and little people.

And it's got to be quick.

But not Kathy.

She can't. She never will.

She doesn't rate you, Phil.

Phil, do you hate me

for saying this?

No.

I'd like to say

one thing more...

...if there's time.

If two people

are right for each other...

...they usually discover it

in time.

If I had a kid I loved,

I'd want him to be brought up...

...with people who felt like I did

about the basic things.

You proposing, Anne?

Maybe.

Maybe I am.

Hello.

Oh, Dave. Hello.

Thank you for coming.

It was good of you.

You know about Phil and me?

Yes.

I want to ask you something...

...and I want you

to answer me honestly.

Go ahead.

Do you think I'm anti-Semitic?

No, Kathy, I don't.

-Phil does.

-Does he?

You know I'm not anti-Semitic.

You're a Jew, and you know it.

Why can I make it clear

to everybody but Phil?

Did you know I was the one

who suggested the series?

No, I didn't.

I hate this thing

as much as he does.

Why can't he see it?

At dinner,

a man told a vicious story.

I was ill with shame.

What kind of story, Kathy?

Oh, it was just a story.

Suppose you tell me.

Well, it was just

a vulgar little joke.

It has nothing to do with this.

Maybe it has.

What kind of a joke?

I can take naughty words.

But why?

Oh, all right.

It was a man named Lockhardt...

...and he tried to get laughs

with words like kike and coon.

I despised him,

and everybody else...

What did you do

when he told the joke?

What do you mean?

I mean, what did you say

when he finished?

I wanted to yell at him.

I wanted to leave.

I wanted to say to everyone...

...''Why do we take it...

...''when he's attacking

everything we believe in?

''Why don't we call him on it?''

What did you do?

I just sat there.

I felt ashamed.

We all just sat there.

Yeah.

And then you left

and got me on the phone.

Later, after dinner was over...

...I said I was ill, and I am.

I wonder if you'd feel

so sick now, Kathy...

...if you had nailed him.

There's a funny kind of elation

about socking back.

I learned that a long time ago.

Phil's learned it.

And I haven't?

Lots of things

are pretty rough, Kathy.

This is just

a different kind of a war.

And anybody who crawls away

is a quitter just as much as...

I didn't say that.

You did.

Somebody told a story.

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