52 Pick-Up

- Hey, boss. You want in the baseball pool? - Let's try this one.

- What inning? Valenzuela. - The third.

Great. Good luck with it.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

- Hello. - Hello.

Well? Will you do it?

It's quite a surprise.

Good morning.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

- You have a 10:00 with Sol Rosenthal. - Thank you.

Coffee's on its way and please, call your wife.

Hi, Barb. How's it going?

Well, tell me when you see me.

No, I'll probably be late again. Preparing a demonstration for tomorrow.

If you need me for anything and the nightline is busy,

I'll be back in the shop.

So just leave a message, and I'll get back to you. Okay?

I love you, too. Bye.

- Oh, hello there. - Good morning.

Cini!

Cini!

Sit.

- Where's Cini? No talking during the show.

You've seen some of this before, Mitch, stuff your girlfriend shot,

Las Palmas Hotel, Palm Springs, August 17 through 21st

while your wife thought you were in a convention in Miami. You rascal.

Now here you are shooting a broad.

Nice little body.

Great tits, what do you think?

Hot shit hotel. Two bills a day. It's a very jazzy outfit.

Oh, that's a jazzy outfit, too.

Still with the beer. That's your background showing, man.

What? Eleven years at Douglas, right? And a few more at Lockheed?

I want you to know what we know so your mind will be clear. You dig?

What is this? Live nude models?

Oh, there's your girlfriend again. She told you she was a model, right?

What, did you think it was for Vogue?

There she is again. In your very snappy car.

I must say, very snappy, indeed. Jag XKE? You restored it yourself, didn't you?

Oh, I really like that car.

And as the sun sets slowly in the west, we say goodbye to beautiful Palm Springs,

Oasis of Intrigue

and extracurricular games of Hide the Salami, and we return to real life.

Here comes some of the new stuff. You recognize this?

Ranco Steel. Gross sales last year, almost 12 mil.

Huh? Oh, there goes one of your trucks, probably taking a load to the bank.

Eighty some employees, and you hold some patent

that fuses fucking metal together. Right?

They use it mostly on those spaceships, huh?

You get a smooth 120 grand on that alone.

And there's your old lady. Keeping herself in shape for you.

It's not bad, Mitch, huh? Oh, you've got good taste in broads.

Chalet Lodge Motel. Oh, I like this one.

This one here. This expression, huh? Mr. Casual.

It's not a bad place, 40 a night.

That's you going in to buy the room

while the broad stands outside. Christ.

You know, you start chasing that young pussy, you got to stay in shape.

I bet she drains you dry.

Too bad we hadn't had time to score the shit, but we're working on it.

Jesus, Mitch, you don't mind my saying so,

but for a guy who was a major in the Air Force,

decorated in Korea, and now a successful businessman,

you got fucking rocks in your head to let yourself get put on film like that.

I mean, as you can see, it's just plain fucking dumb.

- Well, sport, here's the deal. - The girl in on this?

Let's just say she did what she was told, but back to the deal.

You pay us 105 grand, that's not even what you make in one year on that patent,

you get to buy this video for your very own.

Nice color footage of a very expensive piece of ass.

105 grand, and it's done.

You think I just walk into a bank and withdraw that kind of money?

It could take some time. Sure. 105 grand's a lot of money.

So, let's keep in touch.

And as a sign of good faith, the first payment is,

shall we say, 10 grand day after tomorrow.

We'll let you know where and when.

Oh, and, yeah, you get the tape after the last payment.

So why don't you be a good boy and stick around for another five minutes?

- Okay? So long, sport. Take care.

Come on, sweetheart.

We're getting too busy, you know, the two of us.

You think perhaps I could book an evening with you?

Sure.

- Soon? - Why not?

They want me to run with Arveson.

- You want to do it? - I don't know yet.

- When do they have to know? - I have to make up my mind pretty soon.

You see, if I do it, it means spending even more time...

I know. I know.

Look, I gotta meet O'Boyle this morning

because we're having that special demonstration for NASA.

Can we talk about it tonight?

- Congratulations. - Thanks.

- They made a good choice. - Say, "Hello."

Yeah. I will.

We're gonna look at a series of three explosions, Mr. Mitchell.

I think we're set for the series.

So anytime you're ready to conduct the demonstration,

just give me a signal and we're all set to go.

Okay. You'll tell the guy in the crane?

Yeah, and I'll be over here waiting for your instructions.

Okay, that's good.

All right, all right. Easy, easy.

This is it? You just blow it up? How does that fuse metal?

You ram the layer of titanium down on top of the layer of steel

with such force that they fuse together. It's very simple.

Yeah. So simple you're the only one doing it.

How can a guy smart enough to invent all of this, patent it, even...

- How can... - All right. Don't say it.

Okay. You met her at a bar. What? A few months ago?

Yeah. With a client.

What were you looking for? A little action?

No. He was. It was a Friday night after a convention.

I took him into Hollywood.

What kind of shape were you in? - Fine. You know me. A couple of beers.

So, you sat down and started talking.

Yeah, more or less. She had this friend who danced there.

A black girl. A beautiful black girl. Anyway, I bought her a drink.

She tells me she's going to secretarial school at night

and working in this modeling place in the daytime with the black girl.

- Mr. Mitchell! - Oh, excuse me.

How far apart would you like these blasting trays?

This is good. About 20 feet.

One, two, three, four, let her go.

I must have thought I was falling in love. What an asshole.

And Barbara?

Oh, don't think she didn't know that something was going on.

And the irony of the whole thing is, that morning I went to see the girl,

I was going to call it quits. Quits, for Christ's sake.

And the video. The guy talking, you ever heard this guy's voice before?

Never.

Eventually, we're gonna have to take it to the police.

No.

Barbara told me this morning that she's running as a candidate

on Arveson's ticket.

Can you imagine what the papers would do with that?

Look, Jim, she stuck with me all these years while I built this.

What am I going to do?

Am I going to destroy the one thing that she's built for herself?

I can't do that. I won't do it.

- Do I pay them and just forget it? - That wouldn't end it.

- You mean these guys don't forget. - Yeah.

How do you do? My lawyer, Jim O'Boyle.

My assistant, Bob Parker.

I'm really anxious to see this. What about all this wind? Is it...

No problem. No problem. Just step right up here.

- About ready, Johnny? - Whenever you're ready, Mr. Mitchell.

Okay. Count them out.

Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!

Good evening.

Good evening and thank you for coming.

Let's get right with it.

It is my pleasure to introduce Barbara Mitchell,

senior member of the Clean-Air Commission and, as of today,

candidate for councilwoman of the Thirteenth District. Barbara.

Thank you. Thank you very, very much.

I know that most of us who are living here in Los Angeles are not used to

breathing air that we can't actually see.

But, tonight, I would like to clear the air about one thing.

This city needs a decent, talented, strong District Attorney.

A man who is on a first name basis with the truth.

Now, Mark Arveson has demonstrated his personal integrity many, many times.

He knows that one small deceit, one head turned the other way, is one too many.

Ladies and gentlemen, Los Angeles County's next District Attorney,

Mr. Mark Arveson.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

I want to thank...

Well, what did you think of Arveson?

You mean, what did I think of his chances?

Oh, the speech. Him. All of it. Thanks.

I've been seeing someone.

I met her three, three and a half months ago.

- I don't do this very well. - Try.

- Do I know her? - No.

I wasn't looking. I didn't go looking.

How old is she?

Twenty-two.

- What's her name? - Cini.

- Cute. - Cynthia.

- Why are you telling me? - It's been bothering me.

- Feel better? - I'm not going to see her anymore.

I don't even know where she is.

She's young, 22.

Yes, she is young.

Maybe I've known for about a month. I've known.

God, I wish you hadn't told me.

Why aren't you going to see her anymore?

- Look, this just isn't what you think it is. - Was the sex that good?

- Lots of kinky things. Is that it? - It's not that simple.

No? Our marriage has lasted for 23 years.

That's longer than she's been alive.

- Is it the first time? - Yes.

- She was just a kid. - What does that mean?

- Did you play daddy? Is that it? - Maybe. In part.

It was different.

Maybe I just got tired of the part of our relationship that...

- The married part. - Not like that.

It's not that simple, Barbara. You know that.

Do you have any idea how this hurts?