Music Box

Synopsis: Hungarian immigrant Mike Laszlo has done well for himself since arriving in the USA over 40 years ago after WWII's end. He is particularly proud of his daughter, Ann, a successful lawyer. Following the release of some secret WWII records by the Russians, Mike finds himself accused of being a notorious war criminal. He's convinced it's a Communist plot to discredit him and insists that Ann defend him in court.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director(s): Costa-Gavras
Production: TriStar Pictures
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Rotten Tomatoes:
75%
PG-13
Year:
1989
124 min
1,075 Views


1

- She's pretty, the lawyer, huh, Irma?

- Yeah. She is.

They say her brother's a jerk.

I hope the sister's okay.

- What do you think, Karchy?

- Yeah, the sister's okay.

You know her?

I'm the brother.

- What?

- That's enough.

Come on.

- How are you, Mr. Laszlo?

- How are you, Mrs. Kiss?

- Hello, Ann.

- Mrs. Kiss.

- Grandpa, are you tired?

- I'm okay.

You should learn this dance.

Maria, teach him.

- No.

- Yeah.

- Mikey, come on.

- I don't know how, Mom.

- Come on.

- I don't know how.

- So they found the coke on you? Then?

- He began the Miranda.

Then the other agent,

the one with the pigtail...

...he said, " Cuff him." The first one

never finished the Miranda.

Okay, that's it.

- He'll never cop to it.

- We'll make him.

- He's got a history on Miranda.

- Now, they've got two witnesses.

One's a hype.

But the other is solid gold.

We'll dirty the hype

and rub some off on the gold.

- How you gonna do that?

- We'll deal with it. See you.

What about that B-and-E case

we've got tomorrow morning?

- They don't wanna deal.

- They'll deal. Thanks.

You must be a very foxy woman.

Just remember who you are,

scumbag.

- Hi, Annie.

- Hey, Johnny.

- Your secretary's trying to reach you.

- Yeah?

- Call your dad.

- My dad?

- Papa, what are you doing?

- Here, read it.

- Why do you got these old pants on?

- They say I killed people.

I asked you to throw those away.

Come in, it's cold.

- Garbage.

- What is this?

A man brought this, this morning.

I don't know nothing about.

I work in the mill...

...I raise my kids.

It's my country.

I've been here 37 years. I know.

They're going to take

my citizenship away, I'll show you.

- Papa. Papa.

- I'll show you.

Well, this Michael J. Laszlo...

...must have lied when

he went for his citizenship.

He's accused of war crimes.

- Come on. I'll make some tea.

- No. I'll make the tea.

How can they mix up?

- I was a farmer.

- It's not you.

It's not you, they made a mistake.

We will get this all cleared up.

Mrs. Talbot, are you here as

Mr. Laszlo's attorney?

No, no, I just wanna get

this thing cleared up.

- Papa, take your coat off.

- No.

- Take your coat off.

- No.

This is Jack Burke, he's from

the Office of Special Investigations.

- How do you do, Mrs. Talbot?

- Wanna go in?

- Mr. Laszlo.

- Mike Laszlo.

My father.

Look, this is a mistake.

You've got the wrong

Michael J. Laszlo.

Like hell we do.

- I beg your pardon.

- We don't have the wrong man.

I didn't do any of this. Lt is not me.

I'm a citizen, I'm a...

I'm a good American.

If you're a good American,

this country's in big trouble.

What the hell is this?

You don't talk to him this way.

I won't allow anyone

to talk to him this way.

I know why you do this to me.

I know why.

The Communists are doing this to me.

They are getting back at me.

Because of what you did

to the dancers five years ago?

Went on TV, talked to the newspaper.

Made the dancers stop.

That's what I did. That's all.

With all that activity, Mr. Laszlo,

you gave yourself a nice alibi.

Are you accusing him

of being anti-Communist?

Ln addition to the crimes he would have

committed 40 years ago?

Why wasn't he charged earlier?

The witness reports were locked away

in the United Nations until last year.

- That's why he wasn't charged sooner.

- I don't...

- Papa.

- Wait, Annie. I don't hurt nobody.

I work in the steel mill.

I raise my kids. My boy, my girl.

My boy was an American soldier.

He fought in Vietnam.

My girl, I'm proud.

She is American lawyer.

And you, you laugh at me.

You son of a b*tch.

Mrs. Talbot, you should know

the Hungarian government...

- ...has already filed for extradition.

- What?

What does it mean?

What does it mean?

Lt means if your citizenship

is taken away...

- ...you'll be sent to Hungary for trial.

- They'll send me to die.

Nobody is going to take away

your citizenship, Papa.

- Papa, nobody.

- Yeah.

I don't know, Papa.

We'll get you a lawyer,

we'll get you the very best lawyer.

- You're gonna be my lawyer.

- No, Papa.

I don't know anything

about naturalization.

We'll get you the best

immigration lawyer.

- Papa, I'm a criminal lawyer.

- They say I'm a criminal.

They say I'm a humanity criminal.

The car is here.

The first time you kissed a boy,

he touched you...

...we came here.

I didn't know what to say.

We came here.

Words came easier here.

Your mama helped me.

What did I know about...?

About raising a girl?

Here.

You remember, Annie?

We were in the refugee camp.

After the war, in Austria...

...I met your mama there.

Now you have the same age...

...like your mama when she died,

Annie.

They came around the camps.

Hungarian Communist officials

from Budapest...

...looking for anti-Communists.

They say you are a war criminal

and send you back to Hungary...

...hang you from a tree.

" Repatriation, "

that's what they call it.

Everybody knew that if you said

you were a farmer...

...you got to America quicker.

America had a quota for farmers.

I said I was a farmer.

I got here quick.

Weren't you a farmer, Papa?

Yeah. I was a farmer when I was...

When I was a boy.

Well, what were you then?

I was a gendarme. A policeman.

A gendarme.

No, no, don't look at me like that,

Annie. I didn't do anything bad.

Crazy Hungarian Nazis, they took over.

I told them:

" I want to be a clerk in the office."

So that's what I did.

I was a clerk in the office.

Come here. Come here.

Give me your hand.

And so the legal paper,

what it said I did...

...you think I did that?

Oh, no.

Oh, no, Papa.

Yeah, it was so cold.

- Hi.

- Hi, Grandpa.

I didn't know you were here.

- Stopped by to see Mikey.

- Hi, Mom.

- Hi, baby.

- Mischka.

- Saw you on TV.

- Yeah, we saw you on TV.

It's all fake. We'll talk later.

You wanna make some popcorn,

Mikey? Lot of salt?

No salt, Papa.

- Lot of salt, Annie. Paprika.

- Come on, Grandpa.

What that?

I asked my dad to help...

For him to help me get rid

of the rust. But he didn't know how.

Give me a Coca-Cola and a sponge.

He wants me to represent him.

Were Harry, I wouldn't

represent him.

- Bye, Mikey. Bye, Mischka.

- Bye, Dad.

- Bye, Dean.

- What if he did it?

Oh, Christ, Dean.

You'd still love him. He's still your dad.

Blood's thicker than spilled blood.

That sounds just like something

Harry would say, not you.

I'm just saying, don't represent him.

It's not just another case to win.

I always say my prayers

and do my pushups.

Maybe it does good, maybe not.

You gotta pass, run, try everything

to make a touchdown, Mikey.

Do you always

do your pushups, Mikey?

- Yeah, makes a healthy body.

- A healthy body makes a healthy spirit.

God, you're strong, Grandpa.

Getting weaker every day.

No, you're not.

You wanna talk about the TV?

- Okay.

- It's not me they're talking about.

They made a mistake.

I didn't kill anybody or hurt anybody.

- That's not your grandpa.

- I know, Grandpa.

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Joe Eszterhas

József A. "Joe" Eszterhas (; Hungarian: [ˈjoːʒɛf ˈɛstɛrhaːʃ]; born November 23, 1944) is a Hungarian-American writer. He wrote the screenplays for the films Flashdance, Jagged Edge, Basic Instinct and Showgirls. He has also written several books, including an autobiography entitled Hollywood Animal, American Rhapsody and Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Music Box" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 17 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/music_box_14272>.

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