The Carpetbaggers Page #9

You could fire a

cannon off that nose

without it deviating a degree.

Good prototype for a bomber?

Yeah.

Waist guns, tail guns,

bomb bay.

Better than any plane

I can think of.

Get busy.

Knock off a two-engine bomber

and get a four-engine job

on the drawing boards.

Now, look, Jonas.

We're just beginning

to show a profit again...

There's a war coming.

Which has nothing

to do with us.

Every war's got

something to do with us.

One day, three-star generals

will be scrambling around

like scared ants

looking for military planes.

What about our overseas

passenger franchise?

That'll have to wait.

Tell McAllister to come in.

Just keep it steady.

Keep the nose above the horizon.

Don't push on anything.

Morrissey, when we get back,

I've got some sketches

of a pursuit plane

I want to show you,

courtesy of the enemy.

What enemy?

Time.

Great plane, Jonas.

Years ahead

of anything in the air.

Thanks.

How much stock do we have

in Norman Pictures?

Four or five thousand shares.

I want control.

Start buying.

Use intermediaries.

That's only a hobby for you,

Jonas. There's...

Now, don't argue

with me, Mac.

Just buy the stock.

You know,

you've always given me orders,

and I've carried them out.

But you've never treated me

like the village idiot before,

and I don't like the feeling.

I'm turning in my badge.

You want more money?

No, I want a rest--

a vacation from you

and your wild schemes

and midnight phone calls

and from living up in the air

like a rich seagull.

Stick with me

a while longer, Mac.

I need you.

What you need

is the same thing--

a vacation from yourself.

More than the rest of us, even.

You're about to come apart

at the seams.

Will you buy the stock?

Yes, yes, like always.

Only instead,

why don't we buy stock

in a mental institution,

a whole string of madhouses?

That's where we're

all going to end up.

I need some coffee.

You take it, Mac.

Good morning, David.

Good morning.

Stock's gone up

another point and a half

this morning, Uncle Bernie.

How 'bout that, huh?

Well, it excites you?

Well, eight points

in two weeks?!

Look what you picked up!

David, I'm a fat old elk

who's picked up

a hungry wolf on his trail.

I don't get it.

Stock goes up

because someone is buying.

Why do people buy things?

So they can own them.

And who wants to own

the studio?

Jonas...?

Jonas Cord, that's right.

But he can't own the studio.

You have 51% of the stock.

for the right price.

You'd sell?

David, we're a one-star studio.

We always have been.

Now, who's our star

for this week?

Rina Marlowe.

Rina Marlowe.

That's right.

A lush, a bottle baby.

Arrested five times

already for drunken driving.

And what it costs to

get her out of trouble

and to keep it quiet...

Don't ask what it costs.

So, I made the mistake

of calling her on the

carpet for last month

and now she won't

even talk to me.

How do you like that?

Hmm. Here.

Here's a script.

Blue Goddess.

Its about Africa,

written especially for her.

She won't even read it.

Now, without her--

or someone like her--

what do you think my 51 /

is going to be worth next year?

Well, if it's that bad,

then, well, then sell.

David, buying and selling

is an art.

Its an art in which

I have few equals

including Jonas Cord.

When I sell, I'll pick the time.

You know,

you're a good-looking boy.

Well, what has that got to do

with buying and selling?

Here.

Take this script

to Miss Marlowe.

Maybe she'll read it for you.

Wh...

I-I don't know. D...

Do you think she would?

David, by the thousands

they write in for a photograph,

autograph, a lock of hair.

lf they only knew it

all they have to do

is push a doorbell--

they get everything.

Go ahead.

Go, go, go.

So, Uncle Bernie's

worried, is he?

Jonas made a mistake

putting me under contract

at the studio

instead of Cord Chemicals.

What did you say

your name was?

Uh, David.

"Little David was small...

but, oh, my".

Are you small, but, oh, my?

I... don't exactly...

Jonas hates me.

Oh, well, nobody could hate you,

Miss Marlowe.

That's sweet.

Most foolish statements are.

But he also loves me.

Oh, well, of course.

I mean, we all contain the seeds

of, uh, of our opposites.

Oh...

I like intelligent men.

I like men.

Or maybe I hate them.

I'm not always sure.

Are you strong?

Jonas likes to think

he's strong and tough

and bad.

When he wants to be tough

he goes out

and buys another company.

So, he wants Norman Pictures.

When he wants to be bad

he needs me.

So, he wants to buy me.

You know something?

No.

I think he's going to do both.

Well...

lf you'll excuse me,

Miss Marlowe.

I...

have to be getting

back to the studio.

I-I'm trying to

learn the business.

Ambitious, too?

Well, you've come

to the right place.

I'm something

of a schoolmarm myself.

Oh-oh, really?

Mm-hmm.

Until you learn about people

and their emotions

you don't know anything.

Oh, but I-I just want

to be a producer,

not an actor.

Well, how do you think

producers cast pictures,

from books?

Well, all right then.

Then you read the script

and then I can...

Oh, I'd like to,

if you'll stay

and read it with me.

Mmm.

You know, Jennie, baby,

you've got the world

by the tail.

So I've heard.

Want a drink?

For 200 bucks, I should get

a champagne bath, shouldn't I?

Honey, you can leave

any time you like.

Oh, no, sweetie, don't get sore.

No, seriously, Jennie,

you're...

you're nothing short

of terrific.

I just know my job.

Mmm.

You like it?

For God's sakes.

Do I like it?

How did I get started?

You going to ask those

same ol' john questions?

I thought you were

a sharp operator.

If I really were,

I wouldn't have to be here,

would I?

You know, that's the

first intelligent thing

I ever heard you say.

Every now and then I get weak

and turn honest.

It won't happen again.

I'm sure.

Well... here's to Adam and Eve.

They hold the original

patents

but you've certainly

improved on them.

Honey...

come around here, sit down.

You know...

Mmm...

Honey, I got an idea.

Mmm, that wasn't

hard to guess.

How would you like

to be in pictures?

I was once.

Mmm?

All I wore was goose pimples.

Oh, that.

No, I-I mean the kind

that you can...

...show at the corner bijou.

Oh, now, come on,

Mr. Pierce.

I've heard that one before.

I run a strictly

cash-and-carry business.

No checks, no promissory notes

no pie in the sky.

Did you ever hear

of Jonas Cord?

You ever hear

of anybody who didn't?

He's everywhere,

like the flu.

Twice as irritating,

they say.

I'm his right-hand man.

The price is still

the same.

You're the kind of girl

he'd like, you know?

Monday's open--

send him up.

You know, he made a star

out of Rina Marlowe.

Of course,

she's on the bottle now,

earmarked for oblivion.

But somebody's got

to take her place.

Mmm, look,

a joke's a joke.

I'll give you $300

for the test

and $750 a week

if we sign you.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes