The Last Tycoon

Kathleen:
How old are you?

Monroe:
I've lost track, about thirty-five I think.

Monroe:
I don't think I have more brains than a writer, I just think that his brains belong to me

Monroe Stahr:
Your name's well-known here.

Brimmer:
And yours is well-known in New York, Mr. Stahr.

Cecilia Brady:
[serving Monroe and Brimmer] You have done well by water and you by land.

Monroe Stahr:
What?

Cecilia Brady:
Anthony and Cleopatra, didn't you recognize it?

Monroe Stahr:
Shakespeare? No, l didn't get any Shakespeare at school. How about you, Mr. Brimmer?

Brimmer:
Oh, a bit.

Monroe Stahr:
Where do you come from?

Brimmer:
Tennessee. Baptist.

Monroe Stahr:
l'm New York. Jewish.

Brimmer:
l know.

Monroe Stahr:
Oh, at least we're all Americans.

Brimmer:
We sure are, Mr. Stahr. [Monroe smiles and nods; Brimmer takes a sip from his coffee; Cecilia smiles and looks on the both men] Well?

Monroe Stahr:
Well, l'm glad you came out here. l wanted to talk to you. You've got my writers all upset.

Brimmer:
Keeps them from going to sleep, doesn't it?

Monroe Stahr:
l want them awake, but l don't want them crazy. [Brimmer stretches himself comfortably on his chair]

Brimmer:
Well, we're simply f***ing concerned that they have the proper protection, that's all.

Monroe Stahr:
[eyeing Brimmer irritably] Who from, me?

Brimmer:
You're a very good employer, Mr. Stahr, but, uh... we still think that the position can be... rationalized. [smiles]

Monroe Stahr:
l'll tell you three things: All writers are children. Fifty percent are drunks. And up till very recently, writers in Hollywood were gag-men; most of them are still gag-men, but we call them writers.

Brimmer:
[nods and smiles] Uh-huh. But they're still the farmers in this business. They grow the grain, but they're not in at the feast.

Monroe Stahr:
This looks to me like a try for power, Mr. Brimmer, and I will not give them power. I'll give them money, I won't give them power. Anyway, they're not equipped for authority.

[Cecilia continues to look on the two; Brimmer laughes]

Cecilia Brady:
More coffee, Mr. Brimmer?

Brimmer:
No, thank you.

Brimmer:
I always wanted to hit ten million dollars.

Cecilia Brady:
[about returning to school] Oh, I don't know. I'm pretty well educated. [flirtatiously] Maybe I should get married.

Monroe Stahr:
[lightly] Well, I'd marry you, I'm lonely, but I'm too old and tired to undertake anything.

Cecilia Brady:
[seriously] Undertake me.

Pat Brady:
I was just saying, they'll never get the writers unionized. You know why? Because they hate each other's guts. They'd sell each other out for a nickel.

Monroe Stahr:
This man from New York seems pretty set on doing it, the one who's coming out to see me. What's his name?

Fleishacker:
Brimmer.

Monroe Stahr:
Brimmer.

Pat Brady:
Communist, yeah?

Popolos:
You mean a *real* communist?

Pat Brady:
Yeah, sure, a real one.

Popolos:
I mean, some of these guys are just jokers who call themselves communists. And mostly they are fairies, too.

Pat Brady:
You know who first told him you were a genius? Guess.

Monroe Stahr:
You.

Pat Brady:
Right.

Monroe Stahr:
Damn good of you, Pat.

Pat Brady:
Oh, no. If I admire a man, I say so. I want the whole world to know. Perhaps that's because I'm Irish. The Irish are a very warm-hearted people.

Popolos:
The Greeks are warm, too. I mean, try to find me a Greek communist. You couldn't find one.

Fleishacker:
You know, I'm fairly new out here. Do I understand you to say you expect to gross a half a million *short* of your budget?

Monroe Stahr:
It's a quality picture.

Fleishacker:
Quality picture? What the hell are we?

Monroe Stahr:
We've played safe for two years now. It's time we made a picture that isn't meant to *make* money. Pat Brady is always saying at Academy dinners that we have a certain duty to the public. Okay. It's a good thing for the company to slip in a picture that will lose money. Write it off as good will.

Pat Brady:
[after a film screening] What's Eddie, asleep? Jesus. Goddamn movie even puts the editor to sleep.

Assistant editor:
He's not asleep, Mr. Brady.

Pat Brady:
What do you mean, he's not asleep?

Assistant editor:
He's dead, Mr. Brady.

Pat Brady:
Dead? What do you mean, he's dead!

Assistant editor:
He must have died during the...

Pat Brady:
How can he be dead? We were just watching the rough cut! Jesus, I didn't hear anything. Did you hear anything?

Fleishacker:
Not a thing.

Assistant editor:
Eddie... he probably didn't want to disturb the screening, Mr. Brady.

Popolos:
This is the greatest country in the world. Everybody stands a chance in this country. There's not going to be a revolution. The only people who want a revolution are the Communists.

Pat Brady:
And the fairies.

Fleishacker:
What kind of a revolution do the fairies want?

Popolos:
A Communist one.

Pat Brady:
What else?

Fleishacker:
Do you think Stalin likes homosexuals?

Popolos:
Homosexuals, eh? Let me tell you something. You know "homo" is a Greek word. I come from Europe, I'm Greek.

Pat Brady:
That's why he knows so much about Stalin.

Fleishacker:
But Stalin ain't Greek.

Popolos:
You're damn right he ain't!

Pat Brady:
He's a fairy.

Popolos:
He's a bastard Communist Russian fairy, that's what he is!

Pat Brady:
Fleishacker, let me tell you something. After the revolution, you'll be the only safe one. You know why? Because they always need lawyers after a revolution to straighten out the legal end.

Seal trainer:
[about the seal] See? He remembers you.

Monroe Stahr:
This seal has the memory of an elephant.

Seal trainer:
He likes him because he's such a charming guy.

Kathleen Moore:
Does he respond to affection?

Seal trainer:
He responds to *fish*. This seal's got taste.