The Man Who Wasn't There Page #19

Synopsis: The Man Who Wasn't There is a 2001 British-American neo-noir crime film written, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Billy Bob Thornton stars in the title role. Also featured are Tony Shalhoub, Scarlett Johansson, James Gandolfini, and Coen regulars Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, Richard Jenkins and Jon Polito. Joel Coen won the Best Director Award at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen's brother and co-director of the film, did not receive the Best Director Award as he was not credited as a director.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Production: USA Films
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 24 wins & 41 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.6
Metacritic:
73
Rotten Tomatoes:
81%
R
Year:
2001
116 min
$7,408,031
Website
463 Views


ED:

Yeah.

RIEDENSCHNEIDER:

And now it turns out this dope spent

the war sitting on his ass in some

boatyard in San Diego. You asked for

blackmail, let me give you blackmail:

Mr Hale-Fellow-Well-Met, about to

open his own business here, has been

lying to everybody in this town for

the last four years, probably

including half the people sitting on

that jury. Well, it finally caught

up with him--these dopes, it always

does; someone threatened to spill

it. Somebody knew his dirty little

secret, just like your wife says.

They called, they demanded money...

He is looking at Doris.

RIEDENSCHNEIDER:

...Did Big Dave mention that it was

something about his war service? I

don't know, I wasn't there, *you'll*

have to tell *us*. Maybe he specified,

maybe he didn't; I'm not putting

words in your mouth; the point is

that this liar, this cynical

manipulator, this man who through

his lies sneered and belittled the

sacrifice and heroism of all our

boys who *did* serve and bleed and

puke and die on foreign shores, and

who made a fool out of this entire

town, turns to *you* to help him out

of his jam. Fat-assed sonofabitch!

ED:

So... who... who actually--

RIEDENSCHNEIDER:

Who? *Who?!* I don't know who! But

the point is that if Mr Prosecutor

over there had devoted half the time

he's spent persecuting *this* woman

to even the most cursory investigation

of this schmoe's past, then we might

*know* who! But we can't *know* what

really happened! Because of Fritz,

or Werner, or whatever the hell his

name is! And because Me Prosecutor

is *also* a lazy fat-assed sonofabitch

who decided it's easier to victimize

your wife! Because it's easier *not*

to look! Because the more you look,

the less you know! But the beauty of

it is, we don't *gotta* know! We

just gotta show that, goddamnit,

*they* don't know. Reasonable doubt.

Science. The atom. *You* explain it

to me. Go ahead. Try.

He chuckles as he heads for the door.

RIEDENSCHNEIDER:

...Yeah, Freddy Riedenschneider sees

daylight. We got a real shot at this,

folks. Let's not get cocky.

The door shuts behind him.

Doris stares down at the table, as at the head of the scene.

A silent beat; a smile starts to tug at the corners of her

mouth.

ED:

Honey...?

The smile twitches, and then stays. Doris starts to laugh.

Ed frowns.

ED:

...Honey?

Her laughter builds, almost to hysteria. Finally it subsides

and, still staring at the tabletop and smiling, she shakes

her head:

DORIS:

What a dope.

ABUNDAS LIVING ROOM

Ed sits listening as Birdy plays. She talks, after a moment,

her eyes on the sheet music:

BIRDY:

He was deaf when he wrote this.

ED:

Who?

BIRDY:

Beethoven. He created it, and yet he

never actually heard it. I suppose

he heard it all in his head, somehow.

Over her continued playing:

ED (V.O.)

So maybe Riedenschneider could get

Doris off. Maybe it would all work

out. And I thought--I hoped--that

maybe there was a way out for me as

well...

A SIGN:

The cardboard sign on an easel says "COME ONE, COME ALL /

PETALUMA HIGH SCHOOL TALENT SHOW / WEDNESDAY APRIL 29, 1949,

8:
00 P.M.

ED (V.O.)

The girl had talent, anyone could

see that. And *she* wasn't some fly-

by-nighter, she was just a good clean

kid...

SCHOOL GYMNASIUM

A young man holding a saxophone is just leaving the makeshift

stage to a smattering of applause. Birdy walks out to the

baby grand that has been set out center stage.

ED (V.O.)

...If she was going to have a career

she'd need a responsible adult looking

out for her...

We track up the rows of folding chairs that have been set

out on the gym floor for the audience of students and parents,

many of whom fan themselves with programs. We come to rest

on Ed.

ED (V.O.)

...some kind of... manager. She'd

have contracts to look at, be going

on tours, playing on the radio maybe.

I could help her sort through all of

that, without charging her an arm

and a leg, just enough to get by...

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Joel Coen

Joel Coen was born on November 29, 1954 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA as Joel Daniel Coen. He is a producer and writer, known for No Country for Old Men (2007), The Big Lebowski (1998) and Fargo (1996). He has been married to Frances McDormand since April 1, 1984. They have one child. more…

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