Silkwood Page #7

Synopsis: Fairly accurate recounting of the story of Karen Silkwood, the Oklahoma nuclear-plant worker who blew the whistle on dangerous practices at the Kerr-McGee plant and who died under circumstances which are still under debate.
Director(s): Mike Nichols
Production: 20th Century Fox
  Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 13 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.2
Metacritic:
64
Rotten Tomatoes:
75%
R
Year:
1983
131 min
1,508 Views


my babies' pictures.

If you're going to watch,

you have to stand back now.

Mr. Hurley,

they're taking everything.

Listen to me.

We're getting readings from

the sink, the toilet seat...

from the make-up you touched...

from the bologna and cheese

in the refrigerator...

from your samples...

and we're getting next to

nothing on Drew and Dolly...

and your car

is absolutely clean.

How do you explain that?

- I don't know.

- Think about it, Karen.

- I have to go.

- Where you going?

- I have to go with him.

- No!

I'll be OK.

I have it under control.

- Don't go anywhere with him.

- It's all right.

I'm coming!

Keep your goddamn hands off!

It's all right.

Come on, Karen. Concentrate.

How did that plutonium

get in my house?

Did you put it there?

Did I what? Are you crazy?

You think I put...

You think

I'd contaminate myself?

I think you'd do anything

to hurt this company.

- Then I spilled it.

- What?

I spilled

my urine sample container.

Somebody must have put

plutonium in my container.

And then I spilled it

on my bathroom floor.

I cleaned it all up

and my hands must have got hot.

And then what did I touch?

OK, I touched my sink...

I touched my make-up...

and I forget what stuff

in the refrigerator.

That's it. See?

Somebody spiked

my urine sample container.

- Who?

- Boy!

How do I know who?

Anybody could have done it.

You leave it sitting there by

the punch-in at the plant!

Anybody could've dropped

a little plutonium in there.

There's a lot of people

at the plant hate me.

The whole house is hot.

How did it get hot?

I spilled it! I told you, man!

That doesn't explain

the readings. ..

we're getting

on your nasal smear.

45,000 DPM.

What?

45,000 DPM.

Oh, my Jesus.

I'm internally contaminated.

That's what you mean.

We don't know what it means.

- That's what you mean!

- Karen, calm down.

Karen, listen.

Get out of my way!

Oh, Jesus!

Where am I going to go now?

I don't have anyplace to go now.

We're getting a room for Dolly.

we want to help you.

We can help you

with a place to stay.

We can help you with money.

But first I have

to sign something, right?

You want me to sign a statement

saying I did all this.

Just in your own words

what happened.

OK.

In my own words?

I'm contaminated.

I'm dying.

What are you doing here?

I'm just looking around,

like you.

You're here.

Jesus Christ.

I didn't know where you were.

What the hell happened?

They're killing me.

They're trying to kill me.

They want me

to stop what I'm doing.

They contaminated me,

you know that?

I'm internally contaminated now.

Now, you listen to me.

We're going to go

to Los Alamos on Thursday...

and we'll get a full body count

from some doctors...

who know what they're doing.

All three of us.

Oh, God! I'm so scared now.

It says here that

there's plutonium missing...

from just about every

nuclear plant in this country.

- who's got it?

- Any a**hole that wants it.

Man.

That's the guy, Drew.

The guy

Paul is bringing to see me.

Who?

The guy that wrote it,

from the "New York Times."

if you're going to be

in the newspaper...

I want to be in there, too.

Dolly, did you...

Did you tell the company

about the "New York Times"?

No. I don't think

I remembered that part.

Did you tell them

about the X-rays?

- Dolly?

- No.

Are you sure?

Karen, they know

everything about us.

They don't know

about the X-rays, do they?

OK. That's it.

All right, Mr. Stephens

and Miss Pelliker.. .

you both check out well below

permissible body limits.

You were exposed to

Miss Silkwood and the house...

but you show minimum

detectable activity now.

Miss Silkwood.

We have detected

americium in both lungs...

and both sides of your chest.

Americium is produced

when plutonium disintegrates.

And extrapolating from

your americium level.. .

we estimate you have

an internal contamination...

of six nanocuries of plutonium.

The maximum permissible

body burden...

for occupational exposure

is 40 nanocuries.

As you can see,

you are well under that level.

- I'm under it.

- As well as we can determine.

These are very sophisticated

instruments...

but their accuracy may be off.. .

by plus or minus 300%

at this level.

Plus or minus 300%?

That's correct.

Then what you're saying is...

that the amount

of plutonium inside me...

could be three times less

than you even think?

Or three times greater.

But even that would be under

the maximum body burden.

I think you should come on

down to Oklahoma City...

and bring that reporter

from the "New York Times."

Are you ready to see him?

I'm ready.

You got the documents?

Come on down.

Man, I love it here.

I love this country.

Wouldn't you like

to stay here forever?

Doctors are all goddamn liars.

Land's cheap there.

I read about this.

You can build yourself

a pueblo house.

Make it out of adobe brick,

like the Indians.

Mud, straw...

Comes right out of the ground.

Got to build a well,

but that's not too bad.

You get a bunch of guys

to do you a favor.

You do them a favor.

It's all barter system

out there.

You can make the rooms

any shape.

You can make 'em round.

It's not a right-angle

kind of life.

Yeah.

Have room for your kids.

Yeah.

Hell, we could have

kids of our own.

We love each other.

Why not?

They wouldn't...

They wouldn't come out right.

Hell, I didn't come out right.

You came out OK.

What is it?

Come on.

Come on. I don't care.

I know.

You aren't going

to contaminate me...

any more than I've already been.

I'm sorry.

I forgot to turn off the alarm.

I thought you weren't going in.

Well. .. I have to.

Call in sick.

No, I really do.

I really mean

you ought to call in sick.

Think they'll let you work?

There's something I got to get.

At the plant?

Are you wearing my shirt?

Huh? My shirt!

You don't have to get up now.

Sweetheart, don't get

anything out of the plant.

If I get hung up

at the union meeting...

will you pick up

Paul Stone and the guy...

from the "New York Times"

at the airport?

F*** no.

Come on, darling.

I don't know how late

this meeting will go tonight.

I don't want you doing that.

Well... I'm doing it.

You don't owe

the union anything.

Let's not fight.

You don't owe

the "New York Times" anything.

Let's not have a fight now.

OK?

OK.

We can always have a fight later.

Hey, Drew!

Amazing grace.

How sweet the sound.

That saved a wretch...

- Give me your notes.

- OK.

Listen, you sure you're OK?

I'm OK.

- Bye-bye!

- Bye.

Once was lost.

But now I'm found.

Was blind.

But now I see.

'Twas grace that taught.

My heart to fear.

And grace my fears released.

How precious

did that grace appear.

The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers,

toils, and snares.

we have already come.

'Twas grace that brought us

safe thus far.

And grace will lead us home.

When we've been there

ten thousand years.

Bright-shining as the sun.

We've no less days.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote

Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron ( EF-rən; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for her romantic comedy films and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Writing: for Silkwood (1983), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), and Sleepless in Seattle (1993). She won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for When Harry Met Sally.... She sometimes wrote with her sister Delia Ephron. Her last film was Julie & Julia. Her first produced play, Imaginary Friends (2002), was honored as one of the ten best plays of the 2002-03 New York theatre season. She also co-authored the Drama Desk Award–winning theatrical production Love, Loss, and What I Wore. In 2013, Ephron received a posthumous Tony Award nomination for Best Play for Lucky Guy. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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