Steal This Movie

Hello.

Hello, Glenn, greetings from the underground.

Abbie, is this you?

David, I got something for you...

An exclusive story, Mr. journalist.

What are you talking about?

I need you to come up here.

I need to tell you some things.

Listen carefully.

Go to the corner of rose and flower.

Look behind the dumpster.

There'll be an envelope with a phone number.

Go to the phone booth across the street.

Dial the number, and...

You'll receive further instructions...

Dress warmly...

And hurry. They're closing in on me.

So when you called, i thought it was about--

I had to give you an exclusive on the story.

Glenn, you'll be the first reporter

to interview Abbie Hoffman

since he went underground 5 years ago.

Great. Sort of like a, uh, "where are they now?" Feature.

No, an exposé on the FBI's illegal cointelpro--

counter-intelligence program,

covert operations.

CIA has a similar operation called chaos.

They've been trying to harass me

with wiretapping and surveillance.

Trying to destroy me

and anybody else on the left who they think is a threat.

Come on, Abbie.

It's not the sixties anymore, you know?

It's 1977.

I mean after all this time, who cares?

The government cares.

Think they want another sixties to happen?

They almost got me 2 days ago.

Grabbed my car.

Freaked me.

You know, Abbie, if i didn't know you any better,

I'd think you're getting a little paranoid.

Glenn...

I have a long history

of rubbing the authorities the wrong way.

Like Mississippi, 1965.

Afraid I'm gonna have to take you gentlemen in.

Well, what's the charge, officer?

Running a stoplight, son.

Well, excuse me, sir,

but, uh, there's no stoplight back there.

We're putting one in next month.

Help me get us a little practice.

Look, Abbie--

they couldn't charge me. You can't charge a person

for legally registering black voters.

That was where I made

my first official enemies.

You gonna be down at that courthouse, Mr. Hoffman?

I wouldn't miss it for the world, sir.

'Cause white asses get whupped,

government moves that much faster.

That was the beginning.

I got their attention.

And once you have their attention,

well, they never, ever forget you.

And where'd you learn how to cook like this, huh?

5 years...

17 cities...

63 jobs--

being on the run is good for the resumé,

but it's hell on your personal life.

I've only seen my son twice in the last 18 months.

That's good. Maybe I can use that.

No, nothing about the kid, all right?

Or where I am now.

I can't jeopardize our safety.

Write about how i started to organize

against the war in '67.

Rally to protest this genocidal war.

It's, uh, gonna be at the--at the u.N.

My clean-cut days.

Nice try, narc.

You guys read the papers? You know what's going on?

Yeah, I read the papers.

You know lyndon Johnson just sent

50,000 more kids over to Vietnam?

What's your feelings on that?

That sucks.

You know kids younger than you, you know,

mostly blacks and latinos

getting their guts shot out in southeast Asia.

You know, Abbie, i can't imagine you're

at the top of the "most wanted" list anymore.

No one can imagine any of this

unless they've lived it, Glenn.

I mean, go write your article

about the government breaking laws,

and then they'll back off.

I mean, you can't imagine how much money they've spent

trying to silence good people

who have put their lives on the line

to stop the war...

To fight for change.

Help me, Glenn.

I'm running out of places to hide.

Ok.

I'm, uh, gonna need some leads, Abbie.

This is a list of people to talk to:

My lawyer Gerry lefcourt,

my mother.

Start with Anita.

Thank you for being--

for agreeing to be interviewed, Anita.

I know that it means a lot to Abbie.

Oh, you fixed it! That's great.

Hey, America.

Hey.

He's a little shy around new people.

He's--he's a smart kid. He's intuitive, you know?

He can understand.

I understand. Must be hard for him.

So when was the last time you and Abbie talked?

Come on, Glenn.

I tell you that, i could be committing a felony.

Don't forget I've had a little experience

with our criminal justice system.

Words fail to describe how much I loathe them

for what they've done to us. You've seen Abbie.

Anita, he's convinced that the government

is out to destroy him.

You say that like that's an absurd idea.

Well, it sounds a little far-fetched.

I mean, he's not exactly al Capone.

You know, they've been relentless for years.

But before they ran, Anita,

tell me about Abbie in the early days.

He was incredibly charismatic.

You know, he had a killer smile.

He was completely unique in every way.

Anybody got any socks?

Come on, bright eyes, take it off.

Come on, you don't need it.

You look better without it.

You know, you're the cutest person I've robbed.

Everything about him

threw my tight-ass, middle-class world

for a loop, and...

It was the summer of '67, and...

It was--it was--

it was just a changing time, and I was changing,

you know, it was the summer of love.

I don't care how many socks you got.

It's a silly, ridiculous action.

It's not silly, rubin, man.

It's political theater.

It's been going on since people fucked in caves.

Holding up a bus just trivializes--

No! It's making the personal, political...

And adding humor, you know?

I mean, that-- you know, dull is deadly.

That's true, Jerry, man,

you should have been there.

You know, you would have seen it work.

Yeah, you know, we're reaching people

with not just words,

but we're communicating with images.

Great, and why don't we just bust into CBS

and put a gun up to Walter cronkite's head

as he's doing the news?

That'll get people's attention, right?

Hey, Abbie Hoffman.

Hi, Anita.

You were on the bus.

You took my coat.

I took her coat.

You came to reclaim it at the free store

where we have free love and free dancing

And free dope.

Everything free, huh?

Yeah.

And you draft-dodging hippies,

you like giving stuff away to niggers, huh?

Ok, man, hey.

We don't like that word around here--"hippies."

Yeah, peace, love, and songs.

You know, flower power, man.

Yeah, we're gonna fill the east river with daffodils.

Bunch of fuckin' commie-lovin' idiots.

Next week we're having a ku klux klan meeting.

Maybe you could come back, 'cause we're--

we're planning a white sale.

Fuck you.

Stop it! Stop it!

Fuck you, Clarence!

Get the fuck out of here, man.

Oh, my god. Oh, my god.

Are you ok? Are you guys ok?

Do I need to call the police?

They were the police.