Insignificance

Synopsis: Four 1950's cultural icons (Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joseph MacCarthy) who conceivably could have met and probably didn't, fictionally do in this modern fable of post-WWII America. Visually intriguing, the film has a fluid progression of flash-backs and flash-forwards centering on the fictional Einstein's current observations, childhood memories and apprehensions for the future.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director(s): Nicolas Roeg
  1 win & 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
6.7
Rotten Tomatoes:
67%
R
Year:
1985
109 min
316 Views


# I came by this morning #

# Your friend said you'd moved on #

# Gone without a warning #

# Only leaves a need in me #

# When your heart runs out of time #

# When you're up against the night #

# I can help you stand alone #

# In the dying of the light #

# When your heart runs out of time #

# I will never let you go #

# I can help you dream again #

# In a world you'd love to know ##

All right. I'll be right there.

Tell 'em where to put it.

- What do you think?

- I'm ready.

I'd say that's okay. Take it to "B."

Give me some focus, would you?

I need... I need some more light here.

Hold it there!

- You got it all wrong.

- Get out of here.

Let's have some more fizz here.

Come on. Come on.

- Come on, guys. Get-Get...

- Hold... That's it.

Don't tell me. Nothing's right.

What can I do?

Okay, that's great. That's perfect.

It's thick. All of them are...

A minute, 28. I know. What about, uh...

...and there at the plate... He steals home!

We got this. Try for a reverse.

She there yet?

- I can't see.

- Can't see nothin'?

- Just the stars.

- Screw the stars.

I like the stars.

You look at the stars, and you feel like

tomorrow you can do anything...

kiss that girl, walk on the grass.

Stars won't think the worse of you.

Stars won't even notice.

Know what I mean?

Is she there yet,

you philosophical f***in' bastard?

- That's her.

- I can't see a f***in' thing.

If I can't see nothin', how do I know

when to hit the f***in' fan?

- You guys ready?

- Yep.

I was ready last time.

And the time before that!

Ready, ma'am? This is a take.

All right now. Stand back

and make way, please, gentlemen!

Just get it right this time.

I ain't in no hurry.

I hope you go blind.

- Go fan.

- Go.

Jesus! Ow.

Move, by God! Move to me!

It's the breeze from the subway.

Isn't it delicious?

That's a kind of interesting point of view.

Okay. Cut!

What'd you see?

What'd you see? Did you see anything?

I saw the face of God.

Ah.

Uh, you know that according

to the laws of probability...

you drink a glass of water,

you drink a little piece of Napoleon's crap.

Maybe even Mussolini's.

But more like Napoleon,

'cause he's been dead longer.

This way. It's for Life magazine!

Hey, watch out for my leg, buddy.

Hey!

Hey. Honey. Honey!

Hey!

Who does she think she is?

- You think that's cute, don't you?

- Yeah.

Boy, what a night!

Oh, would you mind?

For two minutes, I wait eight hours?

Anything for money.

Wherever it is you're taking me...

I don't wanna go.

Now, Attila the Hun,

he's a dead cert, see?

'Cause he's been gone too long.

So don't you see? All of us, we're all part

of that great f***in' alimentary canal.

- Hmm.

- Did you know that?

# You're gone again this morning #

# How long will you #

# Keep running on and on? #

# Can't you see the warning? ##

Professor?

Professor?

Yes.

Professor?

Yes, yes.

- Professor.

- Yes.

Good evening, Professor.

It sure is a dog of a night.

Sorry to bother you so late.

But, uh, I thought that there was

something that had to be said...

and it's gotta be said before the morning.

Yep, it sure is a dog of a night.

Tomorrow's gonna be a dog of a day.

Hey.

Is this the stuff you hump around

with you all the time?

Must be a few years' work right there, huh?

I'm not an educated man myself, Professor,

but I sure would love to know what you know.

I guess I'm just a man

who likes to know things.

Hey, do you know

where there's a five-and-dime?

An all-night store or somethin'.

I need a few things.

Well, I don't know, ma'am.

I was told to take you straight to your des...

- Well, f*** them.

- Destination.

- Well, I was told no stopping.

- Please.

It's important.

Just for me, huh?

Okay.

For me.

You're not on trial here.

You know that.

You know? You're not being accused

of anything.

You know? You are not the accused.

If you feel accused,

that makes me a very unhappy man.

Sit down. Sit down, will ya?

Now, tell me.

Are you feeling accused?

I feel persecuted.

Hmm. Are you now?

Or have I ever been?

Cheer up, will you, Professor?

That's not an accusation.

Do you understand? It's just an inquiry.

You want a drink?

But, uh, off the record,

would you tell me what...

What do you think your answer

to a question like that would be?

I mean, it seems to me,

it'd be simple as just a yes or a no.

But you'd be surprised how many citizens

find it hard to just even say those two words...

and they've turned these hearings

into one royal pain in the butt!

You know how many times

one guy cited the Fifth Amendment?

Guess.

You'II never get it. Seventy-nine times.

He got awfully tired.

Look, all I'm asking you

is for a simple answer to a simple question...

so that we can all get home

for the long weekend.

Professor, I haven't seen my sweet wife

in over a month.

The last time I bought tickets,

I... I had to cancel.

We had two extra sessions to try that

jumped-up n*gger Robeson for contempt.

Ah.

And I missed the damn plane.

Professor, let me make this

perfectly clear, you know?

Now, military men and politicians...

they'll wallow around in the mud,

and they come up smelling roses.

But not you. Nah, no. Not you.

You... You're in a special category.

You know, a different type.

You know what? The movie star type.

The kind that mud sticks to.

You help us, and I'll help you

come out nice and clean.

Uh-huh. Nice and clean. Nice and clean.

I bet I know what you want me to do

to come out nice and clean.

You want me to answer yes.

Isn't that right?

- Right.

- Ah. Mmm.

- Yes. Yes would be just fine by us.

- Uh-huh.

And if you couple that with a denunciation

of any Communist ideals you once held...

I mean, that would be a good plus as well.

Uh, and you could mention

a couple of names.

Mm-hmm. Is that all?

Well...

a formal condemnation

of the Soviet arms initiative...

wouldn't do you any harm at all.

Huh.

In confidence between us, Professor,

I'll tell you something.

These hearings

are not gonna go on much longer.

You could be our last great civilian fish.

And what a fish.

I mean, you know everything there is

to know about everything...

the cosmos, space,

"pootons," protons, "clutons."

I mean everything. The Jewish problem.

They call you the mommy and

the daddy of the H-bomb.

A true child of the universe.

Well, I have to tell you something

about all this.

In my lifetime of experiences...

the Swiss authorities

called me a German fascist...

disregarding that I'm Jewish.

But you delicately alluded to that

a moment ago.

And in Germany, by the German fascists...

because I was Jewish,

I was called a Zionist conspirator.

I come to democratic America...

some small-minded people called me

a German fascist and a Zionist conspirator.

And now I presume that you are suggesting

that I'm a Soviet Communist!

Well, listen.

Two weeks ago, two magazines,

at the same time variously called me...

a warmonger and a conscientious objector

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Terry Johnson

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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