Matlock

Bad news.

That's what I've got.

Bad news.

There is no will.

Or if there is one, no one has found it yet.

I called you here for another reason.

A little discussion about murder.

Marshall wasn't murdered.

We all saw the body.

He was ripped apart by some hideous creature.

The hounds.

Oh, my God, it must be the hounds.

Superstitious rot.

You wouldn't say that if you'd seen what was left of him.

It was...

It was...

It was... "Murder, Miss Isabel."

What?

Murder, Miss Isabel.

Murder, Miss Isabel.

That's what it was.

And while I did not find the will,

I did find...

- Oh, this. Oh, I'm sorry. - Aah!

I'm sorry about the knife.

It got caught on a thread or something.

All right, all right, all right.

Let's take five, everyone.

Ben, a word with you, please.

I'm sorry about the knife.

Either I can't get it out of my pocket or hang on to it once I do.

But I'll keep working on it.

Good. I'm sure Ms. Dryden will appreciate that.

Yeah. Uh-huh.

Listen, my friend, your delivery in this scene seems a little stilted.

Uh-huh. Mm-hm.

- I mean, a little too stilted. - Oh.

See, you're playing a detective.

But he's a very caring detective with deep emotions.

You know what I mean?

Oh, yeah, yeah, he's a detective with, uh, deep emotions.

Yeah, I want you to reach down inside yourself, into your very soul

and deliver those emotions, bare yourself to the audience.

Now, this may be community theater, but it's theater nonetheless.

- So I want passion. - Passion, right.

Remember, your character is a vestige of the Old South,

a gentleman of culture and breeding.

So when you reach down inside yourself

and deliver those painful emotions, think...

Think Orson Welles.

Orson Welles. Yeah.

Think someone larger than life.

Larger than life.

A detective who stalks his prey with civility, patois, panache.

A detective with panache.

Now, I realize that neither you nor anyone else here is a professional,

but the audience that's going to be sitting out there next week

is still going to expect to be, nay, want to be,

transported to another realm.

Yeah.

And you can do it, Ben. We can do it.

- But you have to think reality. - Reality. Reality.

- Reality. - Reality.

- Good. - Yeah.

- Let's try it again. - Okay.

He's terrible.

I've seen kumquats with more talent.

Give him all the energy you can. Help him, Jane.

- Help me, help the show. - I will try.

- All right. Same scene from the top. - Right.

Places, everyone. BILLY: From the top.

Places, everyone.

Billy.

You're supposed to be coming in out of the rain. It'll help you get in character.

Knock, please, Billy.

Line.

Everyone is gathered in the drawing room, as you requested.

Everyone is gathered in the drawing room, as you requested.

Oops. Sorry, Doug, I gotta take this. It's my broker.

What is going on?

We are rehearsing a play, for heaven's sake.

Cliff has one line. He can't remember it.

Ben keeps dropping his knife.

Now Carl has to talk to his broker.

All right. Let's break for lunch.

I want everyone to take care of their personal transactions

and be back here no later than 1:30.

- You got a minute? - For what?

You know what. We're one week away from opening.

None of the scenes work, not one.

Don't look at me.

If you could just rewrite them so that Ben Matlock has fewer lines.

I told you not to give him the part.

Beth, I'm begging you.

Doug, if you take lines away from Hamlet, then it's not Hamlet.

The play hangs on his role.

What am I gonna do?

Isn't Billy coming?

No. He's gonna stay and work on some lights.

He's really got the theater bug, doesn't he?

Oh, yeah.

He's not the only one, is he, Dad?

I think I'm really getting there now.

I feel like an actor, like I'm bringing things up from my soul.

Oh, see, that's Doug. He's a genius.

Yeah, he's good. He's good.

But you know what else it's like? CLIFF: Hmm?

It's like being a lawyer is not all that different from being an actor.

You're up there in front of an audience.

You know what you wanna say.

But you also gotta know when to say it and how to say it.

You know that speech you have in the second act

about how it was being Marshall's nurse?

You mean: Being his nurse wasn't a job, it was a privilege.

And none of you will ever know how much I'll miss him.

You see how you're emphasizing the word "ever"?

- Yeah. - Try it this way.

It was a privilege. And none of you will ever

know how much I'll miss him.

You want me to emphasize the word "know"?

Exactly. See what I mean?

Just one little inflection makes all the difference, heh.

Say it that way from now on.

I'd better check it out with Doug just to make sure.

What about me? I know I only have this one line,

but can you give me any tips?

Well, Cliff, just try to remember it.

Tell Jeff I looked over the files last night.

He's to go ahead and approve the Stevenson loan.

But under no circumstances is he to move on the Conklin loan

until he and I talk.

No, it'll have to be tomorrow.

I'll be here rehearsing until at least 10.

Can't. Gotta go. Put it onto my desk. Okay. Bye.

Doug.

Hi.

Wanna go get some lunch?

No. I, uh, brought a sandwich.

I thought I'd stay in my office and get some paperwork done.

Couldn't help but notice how, um, chummy you seem to be getting

with Jane Dryden these days.

I am the director.

- I was just giving her direction. - Oh, heh.

Does your wife know how hands-on you tend to be

when directing beautiful women?

Glenda, don't.

Let's have dinner. DOUG: I can't.

Sure, you can. Go to my place.

You know where that is by now, don't you?

This has got to stop.

You're the one who started it.

Six o'clock.

Tell your wife you won't be home.

Or would you like for me to?

Six o'clock.

Then opened the window,

looked out,

dropped the knife down the rain spout,

knowing

that even if someone like me were to find it,

the rain would wash it clean of blood

And fingerprints.

You are wrong, Mr. Angeline.

I saw the body.

And I cannot believe, no, I refuse to believe,

that one human being could do that to another.

It was the hounds.

I knew it.

They've come back.

And where are they now, Vanessa?

Out in the yard?

Actually, speaking of whereabouts...

Aw, Ben, for God's sake.

We're one week away from opening.

You've yet to get through a scene without fluffing your lines.

Glenda's winking at me.

I have something behind my contact lens.

Well, don't just stand there. Stay in character.

Improvise, turn away, pace, use your brain.

You've distracted him. You've broken everyone's concentration.

You should know better than that.

Are you sure you want to speak to me like that?

We'll take it again.

I love the clean fragrance in the air

After the rain has stopped and justice has been done.

He's horrible.

I told you that during auditions.

But did you listen? No.

I thought we should have a name, someone people would come to see.

Curtain, please, Billy.

All right, let's break for dinner.

Back at 7 sharp.

We'll run the whole thing through from the top.

Oh, Ben, a word with you, please, out in the lobby.

- Ahh. - That last scene felt good.

That's what I wanted to talk to you about.

I'm getting the hang of this, Doug, a handle on my character.

I'm reaching down into my soul, like you said.

I really thought I played the truth of the moment just now.

- Ben, I've got to replace you. - Truth of the moment.