The Conversation Page #4

I'd like a rolling 10-28 on...

California 5-6-0...

Boy Adam Lincoln.

What are you calling

for a 10-28 for?

Thanks.

Hey, Willie Sanchez...

Want me to pick

that lock for you, Harry?

Hey, this'll be the bar.

It's freezing in here.

Oh, boy, Harry.

Okay.

All right, the bar is now open.

Stanley.

Yes, sir.

How about a little music?

The man wants a little music.

Harry, you got a nice shop here.

I was rereading Dear Abby

the other night.

There was a letter from a fella

called "Lonely and Anonymous."

I think it was Harry.

Hey!

Ahh.

Where's the club soda?

Let me tell you

something about Harry Caul.

There you go.

I know you heard this

a thousand times...

but let me say it again.

Here's to Harry...

the best, bar none.

I'll drink to that.

Best what?

The best bugger

on the West Coast.

Who's the best bugger

on the East Coast?

Me.

I'll drink to that, too.

I'll bet you will.

I'll bet you will.

It's funny we never bumped

into each other in New York.

Why is that funny?

We're in the same

business, same city.

I figure we'd bump

into each other.

I didn't know

you came from New York.

Are you kidding?

Harry's famous in New York.

You know the only one

I couldn't figure out?

The welfare fund back in '68.

How'd you know about that?

Everybody in the biz knew.

Nobody knows how you did it.

Hmm?

How'd you do it, Harry?

Harry.

Hmm?

Come on.

Ooh.

You all right?

You hurt yourself?

No. Don't worry about my head.

It happens all the time.

When I was a little baby...

I loved to love to bang my head

up against the wall.

Sometimes I still feel

like doing it. It's comforting.

I tapped my first telephone...

when I was 12 years old...

It was a hallway payphone

where I lived.

For six months,

they didn't know who it was.

My father, he was proud as hell.

He was beaming.

Yeah, boy.

"That Bernie's got a real brain,"

he said.

From then on,

it's been all uphill, Harry.

I got contacts you

wouldn't believe.

Here. Well, bring them over.

Take a cab over.

Nothing's sacred

with you, is it, Harry?

Sure. The more, the merrier.

We'll be here all night.

Oh! You son of a..

Ha ha ha ha!

What's the matter, Harry?

Can't you take a vacation?

When are you getting

a new scrambler, Harry?

This went out

with the Trojan War.

Come on.

I want to hear all about you.

Really obsolete, you know that?

Harry got himself a girlfriend.

Watch out, Harry.

Where are you from?

New York.

I used to live in New York.

First I worked

as a receptionist...

and then I got

promoted to secretary.

And then I was promoted

to gal Friday...

and special assistant

to the boss...

and then I married him.

Do you live far from here?

Harry?

Are you still married?

Oh, I don't know.

Probably.

I guess maybe I am.

Last time I heard...

Well, he was trying to

scrape up enough money...

to buy another hardware store.

Yeah.

And I ended up out here

in San Francisco, unemployed...

which is the entire story

of my life...

up until tonight.

Here's to you. Salute.

You don't like me

very much, do you?

You don't want to

talk to me or anything.

I didn't say that.

Something is on your mind.

I wish you'd tell me.

I really do.

I wish that you'd feel

that you could talk to me...

and that we could be friends.

I mean aside from

all of this junk.

Would you, um...

If you were a girl who'd

waited for someone...

You can trust me.

Well, you never really knew...

when he was going to

come to see you.

You just lived in a room alone...

and you knew nothing about him.

And if you loved him...

and were patient with him...

and even though

he didn't dare ever...

tell you anything

about himself personally...

Even though he may

have loved you...

would you...

Would I what?

Would you...

Would you go back to him?

Well, how would I know...

How would I know

that he loved me?

You'd have no way of knowing.

Hey, Harry!

Did you hear the one about

the broad who busted Vegas?

She wore a see-through blouse.

Where are you going?

Hey! Hey!

You know something, Harry?

every telephone call...

made by the

presidential nominee...

of a major political party.

I don't want to say which party.

Everywhere he went,

that's where I was.

Coast to coast, I was listening.

I'm not saying I elected...

the president of

the United States...

but you can draw

your own conclusions.

I mean, he lost.

Harry, tell them

about the time...

you put the bug

in the parakeet.

Parakeet?

No kidding.

Harry one time actually

put a microphone...

in a little parakeet.

Is that right?

Parakeets don't happen

to be my thing...

but I sure would

like to know...

how you did

the teamster local back in '68.

What was that?

Don't you get papers

in Chicago, Millard?

Probably out on strike.

It was all over the front pages.

Harry was working

for the attorney general.

You didn't know I knew, did you?

The president of

this teamster local...

set up a phoney welfare fund.

I mean, you correct me

on the details, Harry.

I may be a little fuzzy.

Only two people seemed to know...

the president and his accountant.

They only talked about it

on fishing trips.

On a private boat...

That was the only place

they talked details.

That boat was bug-proof.

That's a fact.

They wouldn't strike up

a conversation...

if there was another boat

on the horizon.

That didn't stop Harry, did it?

No, he recorded everything.

Nobody knows

how you did it though.

Caused a hell of a scandal.

Why?

No reason.

Three people were murdered.

Harry's a bit too modest

to tell us how he did it.

It had nothing to do with me.

I just turned in the tapes.

The president thought

the accountant talked.

Nobody really knows for sure.

Three days later...

they found the accountant,

his wife, and kid...

naked and tied up in the house...

Hands and feet

tied up with rope...

all the hair on their bodies

shaved off.

The heads were found

in different places.

They killed them?

No. They gift-wrapped them.

This is ancient history now.

Harry, how'd you do it?

What they do with the tapes

is their business.

Next thing I knew,

you moved out of New York.

It had nothing to do with me.

Come on, show and tell.

How'd you do it?

For God's sake, tell him.

Turn it off, Stan.

What for?

Stan, turn it off.

They ought to hear this.

It's the best thing

you've ever done.

What was that, Stan?

Well, it's the assignment

that Harry did this week.

It'll make history.

Yeah?

There's no moment between

human beings that I cannot record...

and there's no method

that I cannot figure out.

I could figure out

any of Harry's schemes, right?

Come on, come on. Try me.

Let me give him

the assignment, Harry.

Yeah.

This is a quad

in the centre of the city.

These are steps,

benches all around.

It's 12:
00 noon...

which means

that it's lunchtime...

for the people working

in these offices.

They're walking, talking,

having lunch...

and it's crowded.

Naturally. Come on, Stan.

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