All language subtitles for Escapes (2017)

Duende's
a hard thing to explain.

It's like explaining the soul.

It's very Spanish.

Anything that has
death in it...

...and wants to live
beyond its limits,

that is expressive and crazy,

that hasduende.

It's a term that tries to...

It tries to express...

I, in my stories and novels,

often write about
counterfeit worlds.

Semi-real worlds,

as well as
deranged private worlds,

inhabited often
by just one person.

While meantime,
the other characters

either remain
in their own worlds throughout

or are somehow drawn into
one of the peculiar ones.

Shouldn't we
ought to get going?

Wait till I finish
my drink.

I'm getting nervous
just standing here.

There's nothing
to worry about.

Nobody suspects anything.

All we got to do is
ride out slow and easy
and keep going.

What about Mal?
What if she tells about
the baby and all?

By then, we'll be
in Colorado.

Now forget it,
I'm telling you.

Now one more,
and then we'll...
We'll walk.

I was doing okay
up until a certain point

in that phase of my career.

And then, there was nothing.

Changed agents, whatever,
nothing happened.

And so, I was going
months without work.

And not able to pay the rent,
not able to eat,

not able to do anything.

Impoverished, living
in this little guest house,

you know, above a garage
in Laurel Canyon.

And got involved
with Teri Garr.

Burger!

I met her
at Eric Morris' acting class.

You know, she and I didn't
have a lot in common
it seemed,

but I was really
taken with her.

Her behavior, her person,
her face, her whole...

She was a dancer,
she did TV shows,

she did commercials.
She knew how to make a living.

I was quite impressed
with her.

We were together a lot,
but she had her own place.

She was doing fine, you know,
she had money,

she wanted to do things.

And I refused to do things
because I couldn't pay
for anything.

It wasn't very good
for the relationship.

And I was stubborn about it.

I was grim.

None of our friends
call us anymore!

You're out of work,
you don't care!
It's just a small...

Couldn't go
to the movies,
couldn't go out to eat,

couldn't buy things,
couldn't do anything.

And she had money,
"Hey, I'll take care of it."

And I said no.
I don't wanna do that.

Because I'd done that
before in my life,

and decided I was never
going to do that again.

I wasn't gonna be a rent boy.

That was no fun.

And there was something
that was eating me.

I was very jealous
because she'd had
a boyfriend before me

that she'd given money to.

A few thousand dollars,
as she told me the story,

and that pissed me off.

Did that idiot ever give you
the money back?

Me, I don't take
money from her.

And this guy
took money from her,

and during this period
of my not working,
after doing that show,

three or four months
into this,

she gets a little job.

Arnie, this is my girl,
Mary Jean.

Oh, hi.
Hello.

It was a small movie.
I said good.

And I was happy for her.

And then I find out

that that guy who had taken
money from her is her co-star.

And that made me very jealous.

So, I said, "When you get paid
at the end of the week,

"you ask him
for that money back."

And she was kind of shy
about all that.

But I was forceful.

I said, "You have
to do that, Teri,

"you just must,
for your own dignity,

"you've got to get
that money back."

In the meantime,
I'd gotten a job
as a ditch digger.

I've never had a job
in my life.

But she thought
it would be a good idea.

So, I went out and got
the worst job I could find,

because I didn't have
any credentials to get
any other kind of job.

And in Laurel Canyon
at that time,

they were doing this
excavation for a place
called Mount Olympus,

which is now this huge tract
up in those hills.

I knew they were hiring
people, unskilled,

so I went up there
and applied for the job

that only like, you know,
braseroswere there.

It was like, you know,
150 wetbacks, basically.

And then one guy
in the trailer,
who was the foreman,

this really tough,
gangster-like guy
who drove a Cadillac,

was hiring these guys.

So I went up there
and he said,

"You wanna work like this?
You wanna work in a..."

You know, "Up the side
of these hills digging holes
to plant trees?"

I said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"Have you done that before?"

"Yeah, yeah,
I've done it before."

"Where?" And I lied and
told him all this stuff.

So, I got the job and
I was pretty proud of myself

and so I came back
to my little cottage

where she was and I said,

"I got this job
as a ditch digger.

"You know, don't you
feel sorry for me

"and see how great
and noble I am?"

I think that was a Friday.

It was my first day at work

and I didn't have a clue
about what to do.

In the morning,
they take you in a truck
with all these other guys,

and you're set loose
on these hillsides,
they're very steep,

to clear away the brush
and dig holes to plant trees,

so you can beautify the area
for the tract housing.

It was really hard.

I kept falling,
because these guys,

you know, they're agrarians,
they know what they're doing.

And they didn't know
I spoke Spanish
so that was sort of funny

because, the Mexican guys,
every time I take a tumble

they'd say,
"The faggot flies again."

And I just kept to myself
and kept quiet.

When I got home that night,
she had been paid

and so had her ex-boyfriend.

And so I said, you know,

I was pissed off
from doing that all day.

I was dirty and tired and just
resentful that I had to do it.

And so, I asked her
if she had gotten
the money from him.

And she said,
"No. He had some excuse."

And I hit the ceiling
and said,

"Where does he live?
I'll go get the money."

And she didn't want me
to do this.

I said, "No. no.
You tell me where he lives."

I wrote it down.
It was up in the hills,

not too far
from where I lived.

And I remember,
I put on boots.

I had a big sheepskin coat

that I'd gotten in Australia
the year before.

So I went to his house.

It was an open stairway
up to the top

of this rickety porch
where he lived.

And I didn't know who he was.

I didn't know what
he looked like,

I didn't know how tough
he was, whatever.

But I knew I was going
to get this money.

And so... Oh, this is
a terrible story.

His roommate was this huge
impotent fat guy.

And I was really angry,

so I said, "Come on,
tell me where he is."

He said, "What do you
want with him?"

I said, "I'm gonna kick
the shit out of him,

"because he owes my old lady
a lot of money.

"And he just got paid
today and I know he did
so he's here."

He said, "No, he's not here.
I swear to God,
he's not here."

I said, "Okay. I'll just stay
right here on the porch
until he gets here,

"or until he gets tired
of hiding from me."

It's like, you know,
7:00, Friday night.

And after a while,
I fell asleep.

I just curled up on the porch.

And when I woke up,

there's this guy
standing over me,

and he said,
"What do you want?"

I got up and, you know,
he was almost
as tall as I was,

he was built like I am.

He kind of acted
like a tough guy

but I had, you know,
God on my side,

and I said, "You owe
Teri money and I want it.

"And you got paid today.
Let's have it."

And he said, "Fuck you!"

And I said, "Oh, really?

"Then...

"Then I'm gonna
fucking kill you."

He said, "Go ahead."
And I didn't know what to do.

I said, "Here?
You want it here?

"You want to go inside?
You want to go down
in the street?"

He said, "Let's go
down in the street."

And I said, "After you."
And he said, "No, after you."

And it's just this
long stairway, down
these wooden stairs.

Oh, we're both bumbling.

But I was really furious.
And scared.

And I don't know
if he was scared or not.

But we went down
to the street,

very narrow, slopey street,
with cars parked.

And we stood there
facing each other,

and I said, "Why don't you
just give me the money?

"And we can avoid
the bloodshed."

And we started
circling each other.

He said, "Go and take
your best shot, asshole."

I said, "You call me
an asshole..." You know?

Then, I just lost it.

I just lost...
You know, I lost...

You know, I went blind.

And I guess the upside of that

is that I can box
and he couldn't.

So I hit him really hard
in the face.

Bam! Just a left jab.

Like that.

I think, you know,
looking back at it,
he just wasn't...

You know, he'd probably
never even been in a fight.

Because it knocked him down,
and he was shocked.

And then I was an ape.

But when he went down,

he jumped up
and started running
down the street.

And I ran after him.

And I've got my hands up.

"I'll kill you!" I'm screaming
something like that.

And he jumps up
on the roof of the car.

And I grab him by the legs
and I pull him down.

And he falls down
on the street.

And I'm on top of him now.

And I'm nuts.

And, oh,
I do want to kill him.

And so, I start hitting him
in the head, in the face.

Well, that lasted
just for a second.

And he screams, "Okay, okay,
I'll give you the money!"

And I pull him up
and follow him
back to the house,

and I realize,
I've got a compound fracture.

The bone is sticking
out of my...

I wasn't hitting him
in the face. He was
dodging my punches.

So I hit the asphalt,
with this hand, the left hand.

And so we go down the stairs
to his bedroom.

And I'm pushing him
ahead of me
with my other hand.

And then, when we get
to the bedroom,

he turns around
and he says, "Fuck you!"

And one of us spit
on the other.

I can't remember which,
whether I spit on him
or he spit on me.

You're not as fierce
without your gun,
Mr. Paladin.

It's dangerous
to wear a gun
if you can't use it.

And that wasn't it.

No, he said, "Fuck you!
I'm not giving you the money."

And I start...
And I knocked him down again.

And then he said,
"Okay, okay."
And I'm such an idiot.

He said, "I don't have
any cash, so I'll have to
write you a check."

I said, "Make it out to her."

You know, it's for like,
$2.500, and he just
gives it to me.

And I think that's when
I spit on him, actually.

And Teri is horrified
when she sees my hand.

And I give her the check.
Turns out the check bounced.

And she's got to take me
to the emergency hospital.

And I'm in the hospital
all night long

with a bad fracture.

And my hand's in a cast.

And she didn't act like
I was her hero or anything.

She seemed embarrassed
by the whole thing

and I was glum.

And, uh... And this...

The hand, it was bad to,
you know, have no hand.

No left hand.

And I go to work
on Monday morning.

The guy said, "What the hell
happened to your hand?"

I didn't tell them.

And he says,
"How are you gonna work?

"You can't be out there
digging holes with this hand."

And I said, "I know."

Then somehow, I told him,

or he knew that
I speak Spanish.

So he said, "Wait a minute.
I can use you.

"You can help me.
You can translate things.

"You can be my assistant."

So that's what I did.

And that was
up until lunchtime.

And what do you call that?

The taco wagon comes
at lunch time.

And I buy something to eat.

And I go by myself
up this hillside.

And I'm sitting there
eating alone.

And I see a cop car

drive up to the trailer
where the foreman is.

What's the matter?
Cops.

Squads of them,
just, uh, waiting.

And I see the cop
talking to the foreman.

And I see the foreman
point up to me.

The cop walks up to me
and arrests me

for assault.

This guy, this prick,

her ex-boyfriend had filed
charges against me.

He handcuffs me,
and my hand's in a cast.

He handcuffs me
in front, I think.

And we walk back
to get in the car.

But he told the foreman
what had happened.

Why he was gonna arrest me

was because I had
beat up this guy.

The foreman liked that a lot.

I remember, as I was being
driven away, he says,

"You come back, Fancher.
You always got a job here."

I was taken
to the Hollywood Precinct.

And Teri bails me out.

I was mad at her,
because she had told
the cop where I was.

Because they'd come
to my house and she was there.

I go to work the next day.
I'm there, and the guy
likes me now. He says,

"You're more than
my assistant.

You're gonna do
all my real stuff."

Like, you know, get
his laundry, whatever.

"Here's the keys
to my Cadillac."

The next couple of days,
I drive around and do that.

I got a cushy job there.

And he treats me
affectionately bad.

He likes to make fun of me.
Gives me easy jobs.

He wanted me to paint
some posts that they were
gonna put up,

and signs all along
this tract.

Fifty posts that needed
to be painted white.

And I'd never painted
anything before.

And so I took a long time
painting just a few posts.

I did a really good job,
I thought.

He came back,
like, after lunch

and he said,
"You're not finished yet?"

And he was outraged.

And I said, "No."
I said, "Look at this.
This is good though."

He says, "Stop using your dick
and start using your brain,
Fancher!

"Look at this guy,
what he's doing." You know?

I came to work
the following Monday.

Everybody's like this.

I mean, this guy
is your foreman.

So those people were,
you know...

The gangster-type guys
were kind of, like,
awed by my presence.

And it turned out,
that they'd seenBonanza
the night before.

They all loved that show,
they all watch that show.

"What, Fancher,
you're a movie star!"

I worked from like 7:00
in the morning til
3:00 in the afternoon.

And the phone was
literally ringing when
I walked in the door,

and it was head
of casting at Fox.

He said, "Hampton?"
I said, "Yeah?"

And he said, "I'm so-and-so."
And I said, "Yeah?"

And he said,
"Can you come out?
We'd like to have a talk."

I don't think I even had
an agent at that moment.

And so, they signed me.

So then I was back
in the chips.

It was very clever
of you to romance me.

Soft lights and music
just to promote
a receptive mood.

Then I suppose
you've always been
an opportunist.

Especially in your
dealings with women.

All you men
are all alike. Skunks! Skunks!

- You're all alike!
- Stacy!

You didn't have to come
down to the train
just to say goodbye.

But what about
that poor girl's heart
in the meantime, huh?

What about her
in the meantime?

Oh, come on, now,
don't make a scene.
Stop crying!

Sixty bucks.
Come on, Grandpa,
where is the rest of it?

They have these names,

Klaus Kinski,
Broderick Crawford.

This is 1969.

Lionel Stander.

These guys are paid
a lot of money to be
in this movie.

So I get a call from my agent.
There's this movie about
an American cheerleader,

What's a Girl Like You Doing
in a Business Like This?

with Barbi Benton,
Hugh Hefner's girlfriend.

And she's the lead, and
she plays a prostitute,
or a girl of the night,

but an easy-going, American,
kind of cheerleader-type.

And she has these
affairs with these men.

And they want me
to play one of the men.

And I said, "No way."

And then they said,
"Uh, a lot of money."

And they said,
"You can pick whatever
part you want."

I said, "You pick it for me.
I want the smallest part.

"I want a part with,
you know, two lines,
if that's possible.

"And I don't want
to be in the film."

They come to Los Angeles
to talk with various people.

I guess it could be just me,
but it was at the
Chateau Marmont,

and the director
and the producer are there.

And they were saying,
"Anything you want.
We want you."

And so I said,
"Okay, what I want is,
I want a little part,

"and a lot of money,
and a little time.

"I want to work
as little as possible."

They said, "What about a day?"
I said, "A day is perfect."

So, I become the
most expensive day player
in German film history.

Um, I think they
gave me $10.000.

In 1969, that wasn't bad.

It turned out to be
several more days.

And so, I was having
to go to Berlin, to Rome,
to the Riviera,

you know, Saint-Tropez
or Monte Carlo.

So I made a lot of money.

And the money, by the way,
was in cash.

And I carried it with me.

And I lost it all.

I hid it, and after
I finished the film,
I went to...

Oh, that's another story.

Um...

I don't think that film
was ever released.

It's just a dumb film.

And I never saw it.

And around 19...

I don't know. It was maybe
'72 or '73, I'm in trouble.

I'm living in Laurel Canyon
in a place that cost
$175 a month.

It's a cracker box,
against the code.

You know, someone
just put it up on
top of a hill.

And it's made out of plywood.

And I can't even pay the rent,
I'm in trouble.

My agent calls me and says,

"Listen, there's
a terrible job if
you want to do it.

"You can make $1.000.

"A distribution company
has bought the rights

"toWhat's a Girl Like You
Doing in a Business Like This?

"and going to distribute it
in certain very small venues

"and none of the stars of
that film will cooperate
with any PR business."

"But they want you to do it
and they're willing to give
you $1.000."

I said, "For how long?"

He said,
"For, like, five days."

I said, "Okay, I'll do it."

But it's not like, you know,
where you do a thing
for the studio,

the limo picks you up
and you go first class,

and you stay at a nice hotel
and you have handlers.

This is gonna be,
like, roughshod.

And I've got to go
to three cities.

The way the planes
are working,

because they're on the cheap,

I have to keep changing
little prop planes.

- It's not like one...
- Get there.

I have to change
and wait for a plane.

It's really gruesome,
the whole affair.

And I don't know what to say,
and the radio people don't
know what to ask me.

There's pictures taken,
I do a TV show
in local television.

I was leaving the South,
going to Pennsylvania,

I had to change planes
in Washington, D.C.

And the plane gets in at,
like, 8:00 in the morning,

and my other plane leaves to
go to Philadelphia at 10:30,

and so I've got, like,
two and a half hours.

And I think,
"I'll get in a cab,

"and I'll go to the National
and I'll do some quick looks
and come back to the airport."

And I was very
excited about that.

The museum hasn't opened yet.

I bang on the door,
a guard opens it

and I say, "Please let me in.
I've just come here,
I just have an hour,

"and I came all this way."

And he takes pity on me
and lets me in the museum.

So it was rather nice.
I'm running around,

but they'd also opened the
museum for schoolchildren,

so that there's
classes going on.

Like, there was one painting
in particular I wanted to see,

you know,
Watson and the Shark.

So, I said, "Where is that?"
to the guard.

And he says, "That way."
I go up some stairs.

And there was little children
sitting in front of it

and there was a teacher
talking about the painting,

and asked a question.

Like, what did they notice
that was one thing,

one singular thing
in the painting,

that was different
from everything else
in the painting?

What she was driving at was
Watson is completely white,

he's like dead-white,

and everybody else
is like another color.

And so, a little black...

Nobody had said anything,
and then this little kid

raises his hand, and
the teacher said, "What?"

And he said,

"That white man ain't
got no clothes on."
Which is true.

And I was in the back
of the room
and I just started laughing.

I was at the doorway,
you know? They didn't
know I was there,

and I started laughing
and they all looked,

and then they all started
laughing. It was wonderful.

That was the only good thing
that happened on this trip.

So I go back to the airport,
I get on a plane,

little plane,

and fly to Harrisburg.

That is a very
depressing place,

because what's happened
just before that

is that they had
the worst flood
they've ever had,

in that area, in history.

It's killed people,
it's completely ruined
the economy.

It just happened.
I'd seen it in the
press beforehand.

The city was depressed.
It was muffled.

And the guy that picks
me up at the airport,

he's got my name,

and I thought maybe it was
a chauffeur or something.
It wasn't.

It's the theater manager from
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

He's a little man,
a gray man.

To him, I was some
famous guy who he didn't
know, from Hollywood.

What do you call
this hick town, Sheriff?

He was embarrassed.
He can't look at me,
he can't talk.

And he's got an old Cadillac,

and we're driving
to Wilkes-Barre.

It's night time now.

It's totally dark,
it's freezing cold,
it's in the mountains,

and this guy is
driving like a maniac.

The roads are really icy,
the car is slipping.

And it's this huge car.

And he's going like
80 miles an hour
and I am horrified.

What a place to die,

with this guy, who's looking
straight ahead, not talking,

can't talk, and
we're gonna die.

And I don't say anything.

I can't say,
"Hey, man, slow down."

And he drives me to a motel,

you know, like,
little cheap rooms.

And that's where
I'm gonna stay.

He tells me the itinerary.
He says, "Tomorrow..."

He said he'll pick me up
first thing because
we have a full day.

We have to go back
to Harrisburg,

where the mayor's gonna
give me the keys to the city.

And then there's a brunch,

because the radio has
been advertising the film

and the lucky winners
get to have dinner
with Hampton Fancher.

And there's the premiere.

Then I have to stand there and
welcome the people into...

I never knew what
a shopping mall was
until that.

But this is a shopping mall,
and it's a brand new theater,

this is the first film that's
ever going to play there.

And it's horrifying.

And he tells me all this
in five minutes.

I go, "Wow." I wish it was
the day after, you know? That.

My plane leaves
from Harrisburg at
7:00 in the morning.

And I said, "Yeah,
but, it's like..."

I was already worried about
how do I get from Wilkes-Barre
and catch that plane for sure,

because then I have to get
another plane, like,
in Philadelphia,

and then another
change in Chicago,

and then I'm going to Frisco.

And... I mean, on my own.

And all I could
think about was,

"Get me to Harrisburg
on time."

So I get out of there
at 7:00 in the morning.

Uh, I don't remember
that night.

I went to sleep, I hope,

and in the morning,
he's there

to take me.

And now he's kind of excited
to show me this
shopping mall theater.

And so he said, "Come on in."
He was happy.

And he's got an office.

So we go in the office
and he says, "This is Suzy."

His secretary.

And she is a frightened,
kind of nondescript,
frumpy girl.

Uh, is bashful,

because she's bashful
anyway probably, and doesn't
think much of herself.

But she's scared to meet me,
and that's obvious.

But that gives me an interest
to put her at ease and make
her feel good about herself.

So I'm joking around with her,
but she doesn't know what to
do about that.

I fuck around, he's like...

He starts acting bossy,
and for me, I think.

You know, "Uh, Suzy,
did you..."

- And she said...
- And she says that.

And I said,
"You know what?"

Let's call him Al.
"Al, I think I got
a good idea here.

"All this stuff
I gotta do today,

"I want Suzy
to do it with me."

He doesn't like that too much,
but I'm, like, pushing it,

and he's got to go
with it, kind of.
And so, that's it.

I'm relieved. I have this girl
who I'm much more comfortable
with than this uptight guy.

But what I'm really
thinking is,

I know, I have a conviction,
that I can communicate
with her.

An most importantly,
I can be on time to Harrisburg
the next morning

before the sun comes up
and get on my plane.

That's what it was about.
It was manipulation.

We take off, guy says,
"Shouldn't we have lunch
first or something?"

And she said,
"Yes, if you want."

And she's very uptight,

but as I'm talking
to her in her car,
it gets a little easier,

and she starting to
enjoy herself,
she's starting to laugh,

and I'm becoming interested
in who she is and all that
and asking questions.

And then she wants to go
to the country club.

She's been living there
all her life,
she knows everybody,

and she shows up at
the country club with the
movie star to have lunch.

And there was something
about that, I thought.

And so, I did
that well with her.

You know, I was like,
I was fun with her,
I held her hand,

I said, "Come on,
let's do this and do that."

And she was, like,
breaking character.

We go back to Harrisburg,
and the mayor,

and there's still remnants
of the flood everywhere,

and I get the keys
to the city.

And there's a
photographer there,

and it's a little platform,
and when this happens,

she's standing there because
she's just part of the town.
She's a nobody.

But I grab her
and I pull her up,
and I put my arm around her.

And she's like, flushes,
she's excited,
it's a happy time.

We go back to Wilkes-Barre.

Takes like 40 minutes
to get there.

And I do a radio show.

And the winners come in,
who get to have dinner
with me.

And there's like, you know,
four people have won,
and they bring their mates.

And so, she knows,
by this time,

that I think
that's rather funny,

and so she kicks in with it.

She's beginning to be charmed
by the whole idea.

Then we go to the film,

and I've got to stand out
there and she knows how
I feel about this,

and the theater manager's
there now,

and people are coming up
to go have a seat

and I've gotta go say,
"Hi, I'm in the movie.
I hope you enjoy yourself."

So, this is...
I hate to tell this story.

This is really ugly.

Um...

The movie starts

and I say to her,
"Let's get out of here,
I don't wanna watch this.

"And we'll go somewhere
and have a drink

"and come back when
the movie's over."

Friends, wait!

Stop! Please stop.

Please, I hope
you'll forgive me,

but I'm sure you'll understand
if we leave now without any
further formalities, okay?

In the meantime, eat, drink,
dance, and have a good time
for as long as pleases you.

Come on.

She's happy to do that.

And we go to what their
version of a nightclub is,

where there's a live band,

and she knows them all.

They're like her little chums.

And I'm older than everybody,
and I'm taller than everybody,
and I'm from out of town.

And I come in and everybody,
"Hey, Suzy, hey."

And they're like shy
about me being there.

I'm ordering Jack Daniel's
after Jack Daniel's,

and we're dancing now
to the band and people
are getting out of the way.

And we finish that
and then she takes me
back to my place.

We're drunk.

And I think,

"If I let her go,
I'm fucked for the morning.
I gotta keep her with me."

And I say, "Do you wanna
come upstairs?"

And she's like... Like that,
but she comes upstairs.

And we get upstairs,

and she walks in,
and I open the door,

and it's cold,

and she walks in and
she's like, kind of stiff.

And I know that
she wants love.

She wants romance,
she wants all this.

And there's that moment
for me where I think,

"If I keep her here,
it can't be, like, frigid."

You know, like, "Hey,
how are you doing?

"You want to spend the night,
sleep in bed?"

And I just went for...
I just did it.

I walked up behind her and
I put my arms around her

and she just kind of
melted into that.

She liked it a lot.

She liked being touched.

She liked, you know, my...
Whatever I was saying to her.

And she was natural and fine,
and it was good.

I wanted to take
good care of her,

I wanted to make her happy.

And at the same time,
there was the manipulation.

It's like, I'm keeping her
here so that we're out
of here in the morning.

And...

So, I had the feeling that
she'd never been made love to
in the way we made love,

and it went on
for quite a while.

And I talked to her
about herself,

about what I thought
her qualities were,

and I don't think she'd ever
heard those things before.

And by the end of that,
she was very thrilled.

I didn't have that
good of a time,

I was still guilty
because I knew what
this was leading to,

and I knew why
I was doing it,
and I'd never done that.

I mean, I'd done crazy things,
but not for purposes that were
utilitarian, you know?

We slept for a while.
It was very dark.

I was scared to death
about making sure we had
the right amount of time.

I was thinking the car was
gonna break down, whatever,

I'm not gonna get
to Harrisburg and
get the plane.

It's like, you know,
4:30, 5:00 in the morning,

it was dark, it was bleak
and it wasn't nice,

because I was leaving and
I knew that her feelings
were strong,

and that this was over with
and she'd never talk to me
again.

And we got to the airport,
it's a little, tiny airport,

and I stay in the car
a little while with her.

I mean, she knows she
doesn't own anything here,

so she can't justify
any questions or accusations
or anything.

But she's not pleased.

And I get out of the car,
and I have one bag,

and I walk around
to her and I say...

I'm just saying "Suzy."
I don't know what
her name was.

And I say, "Thank you so much,
and you are something,

"and I'm so glad,
and you were so nice."

And I kiss her goodbye.

It's a little cube...
It's a small, open airport.

And I walk in, there's
a little coffee thing

and there's a lady
behind the counter.

It was a prop-jet there
warming up, and I was
walking, I could see it,

and when I looked
back to her to wave,

she was behind the wheel of
her car with her back to me,

the car was backed
to where I was going.

And she was just like this and
she didn't look or anything.

And it was a sad pose.

And so, I say to the
woman at the counter,

"Is there another plane
that goes to Chicago?

"Could you look and see
what time that's leaving?"

And if there's a plane in
between, I could postpone,

because it looked like these
prop-jets were going,
you know, the commuters.

And so, she said,
"There's one that
leaves in an hour,

"and that would get you
there on time for
your flight to Chicago."

And I said,
"Put me on it."

And so, I go back outside,
and it's right there,

and she's still
in that position.

And I walk up to her
and I tap the window
and she looks.

And it's like...

You know, not that I'd
come back so we could
get married,

but you know, she was happy.

And I said... You know,
she rolled the window down,
or opened the door...

And I said, "Listen,
I don't have to leave
for another hour.

"We could have breakfast
or something if you want."

And there's a
little cafe there.

And she was so happy.

And we went in and
we had some stuff,
we talked more,

and that was it.
That was great.

So, and she, you know...
It was a wave goodbye,
it was a nice goodbye.

And I get on the plane.

I missed the connection
to Chicago.

Fuck!

And I missed it by an hour
or two hours or something.

And so, but there was
another plane coming.

I got on that place,
I got to Chicago and
on my plane to Frisco.

I get to Frisco,

and the plane that I missed
crashed in Chicago.

A couple people lived.

The reason it was
something was because
the congressman's wife

was carrying bag money
to pay off...

It was during the Nixon...
You know, Watergate.

You know, beside the plane
crashing, that's news.

Not everybody died.

I never figured out whether,
from where I was sitting,

whether I would have
died or not.

I think the first class died.

And so, I was in back of that,
and so maybe I wouldn't have.

But when I got back to LA,

there was an envelope
to my agent,

and it was the front page
of the Harrisburg newspaper

of me getting the keys
to the city with her.

And there was a circle
around both of us,

and then an arrow
to herself,
in the photograph,

and it said,
"Your guardian angel."

And that was it.

Brian Kelly was probably
the funniest guy I ever knew.

He could walk up
the stairs to get his hat,
and come back down

and tell you what it was
like walking up the stairs
to get his hat,

and you would be
rolling on the floor.

Not because he was trying
to be funny, although he
knew he was funny,

it's just, his take on the
universe was so funny.

And he wasn't...
He was a very smart guy,

but he wasn't interested
in smart things per se,

although he was very
proud of himself,

and very contained,
very autonomous.

And he was irresistible
to women.

Women would, you know,
fall over themselves
trying to get to Brian.

I mean, he's a handsome guy,
he's a sexy guy,

he's a funny guy,
he's a strong guy,

he's formidable,
he's a heroic guy.

But that much?
It bothered me a little bit.

I felt competitive, I felt
jealous of him a little bit.

But we loved each other
and we were buddies.

He was simple in a way.
He didn't...

Like the things that
plagued normal old fellows
didn't bother him

because he didn't
think about it.

He didn't ask questions.

He didn't ask deep questions,
by the way.

Not that he was frivolous,

but he didn't ever
ask me deep questions.

And the one time
I said to him,

I said,
"Do you get jealous ever?
Ever get the feeling?"

You know, because I have.
I've felt possessive and
all that stuff and suffered,

since I was 11.

And he never did.

And it wasn't the kind
of guy you could ask,
"Well, why is that?"

You know? But I did,
and he said,
"What's the point?"

I knew men, and I'm
probably one of them,

who's known a lot of women.

That way, I mean.

But not as many
as that guy knew.

That guy was
with many women.

And I've known a
few people like that.

You know, three women,
different women
in a day and all that

for many days in a row.

But he had that.

And women would just...

And he wasn't nice to
women necessarily, either.

That was another odd thing.

Maybe not so odd, you know.

He was dismissive of women.

There was a party
given for me in Vienna,

and every woman around always
only had eyes for Brian,
never for me.

And like I said, I was
a bit envious of that,

or I thought that I'd been
usurped and that wasn't fair.

But this party,
I was invited down in a plane,

all that stuff,
he came with me,
we go to this fete,

and there's a lot of people.

And there is one woman
that is knock... Knockout.

And we called her,
"the Apache."

I said, "Have you checked
out the Apache?"

You know, she's German,
but she's this, you know,
Austrian.

And she was
wonderful-looking.

And so,
the whole night goes on,

I don't talk to her,
he doesn't talk to her,

but she looks at me,
and it's about me,
this party,

and there's some
speeches and stuff.

And then I see her
walking across the floor,

and then she comes up
to me and I'm like, "Yes!
Finally!" You know?

And I look at her
and she says...

"Hampton?" I said, "Yes?"

She says, "You are
with Brian Kelly?"

I said, "Yeah." She says,
"Could you introduce
me to him?"

I said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

So I... Actually,
this story is so terrible,
I'm not going to tell it.

We're counting on you, son.

Now, if I decide to call
for a full-scaled search,

I want Coast Guard
helicopters in a hurry.

He was... It was a
stupid show, right?

It was a very popular show.

He played the lead,
the guy, you know,
the adult, the father.

The ranger.

They have a thing in
television called TVQ

and his TVQ was very high
because of that show.

So he was in a good spot
to become a star.

His father was governor
of Michigan before that,
before I knew him.

Republican.

You know, Brian wasn't
exactly, in the '60s
the same way I was.

It was almost a narcissistic
relationship we had.

And also, it was
a great thing to be, uh...

Loved by a guy like him,

who is a man's man,
and very irreverent.

I was involved with
his girlfriend Maggie,
is how I met him.

That's what's weird
about the accident.

Because he was a guy
that as a man or a woman,

if you wanted somebody
in your corner,

somebody who couldn't be
harmed and made sure
you weren't harmed,

somebody untouchable that way,

you would choose Brian.

He was like some kind of
B-movie detective hero.
That's just who he was.

He had a Maserati.

We were driving down
Sunset Boulevard
late at night,

but it was one of those...
All those teenagers
or whatever.

And he was
a very bold driver,

and inconsiderate driver.

And someone was inconsiderate
at the same time
he was inconsiderate,

and they said, "Pull over,
you motherfucker!"

You know? And there was like
five or six of these guys.

And he just pulls over.

And jumps out.

And I thought, "Oh, God."

And there was a lot of 'em.
And I get out, too.

And he told stories
about himself and I'd
heard things about him.

He was just a guy
who knows how to do stuff.

But I knew he didn't
know how to do that.

Not with those many people
and that kind of people.

But he had a legitimacy
about him,
he just looked like it.

And he said,
"These are registered.

"You want some?"

They got back in the car
and then we laughed like hell.

We never stopped driving
from Frisco to get to LA
one evening.

We were gonna take
some shortcuts.
He always had shortcuts.

The drive took 16 hours.

That's Brian, you know?
It wasn't a pain in the ass.

You're screwed up
every which way.

"No," he says, "I got a way."

You know? And it
was always hilarity.

But in that drive, there
was one thing I remember
that was typical Brian.

It was like in Stockton
or Modesto
or some weird place.

We're driving and he said,
"We better go in there
and have a drink."

And what it is, is
a roadhouse for Chicanos.

You can see the cars out there
and you can hear the maria...
You know, the accordion music.

This is, like, not a good
place for gringos.

And especially, you know,
just two kind of handsome
"Dan" kind of guys

going into a place like this.

And it's like, "Okay,
sure, let's go in there."

We go in. As soon as
we walk in, every head
there was is, you know,

"What the fuck are
you doing here, mother..."

They didn't say anything,
but that's the feeling.

And we sit down at a table,
order two tequilas,

and Brian is very, "Two!"

You know? Like, "Don't call
attention to yourself, man.
It's bad enough."

So we sit there,
we're having the drinks
and there's bad looks.

Everything is like...
You know, they pulled the plug
on their happiness,

and now it's like
it's macho meanness.

I can feel it from
every direction.

And he can too, but he
acts like it's not there.

He acts like he's a clown
and it's his party.

And then I see him get up,
I say, "Don't do it, man."

And he walks over to a table
with a beautiful
somebody-else's-girlfriend,

and the band is playing.

And he goes like this.

And she's like...
She looks at her boyfriend.

This is just too much.

But it's so much too much
that they can't do what
normally they would do.

And he knows that
somehow, always,
in his life.

And he just picks her up
and he starts swinging
her around

and polka dancing almost,
you know, around the floor.
Everybody...

And finally, it ends up,
everybody's clapping for him
and buying him drinks.

And that was Brian.

I never saw him
get in trouble.

Except the one trouble
he got into and knocked
his brains out.

He was going
five miles an hour

and went over a curb
and fell over
and hit his head.

Bingo, he just hit it
in the wrong place.

But it wasn't, you know...
I was right behind him
on my other bike.

And my nanny was
on the bike with him,

and my daughter's
on the bike with me.

It was nothing. It was just
another fluke thing.

Well, I thought he was joking,
in fact. I thought
he was fucking with me,

because we always did that.

And he might have been,
but then, hurt himself.

And it was not more than...

I mean, you've run into poles
with your head harder than
he hit his head,

but it was just at the
right moment, the right place.

Yeah.

I met him in late
'68 or early '69.

The accident happened in '71.

And even after he was crippled
and had the aphasia,
and he couldn't think right,

uh, he still expected...

You know, one arm didn't work.

He looked like
a stroke victim.

And, uh, he had no hesitation
in a restaurant

to tell the waiter or
the waitress to cut
something for him.

Expected it.

And he wasn't embarrassed
about that kind of thing,

or embarrassed about
his condition, either.

Although, I mean,
it took his life away,

and the life he knew
and the life he expected
to live was gone forever.

And he handled
that pretty well.

I only saw him cry once.

I took care of him
for a long time, for about
a year afterwards.

Because he had
to reconstitute himself.

He couldn't speak.

He didn't walk right,
and all that.

There was therapy,
and I would take him.

I felt complicit...
I mean, I felt guilty.

Not guilty, but I felt,
if it hadn't been for me,
it wouldn't have happened.

And he was my friend as well,
so I would do that anyway,

but probably it was
somewhat informed by
my part in that accident.

And it's just
before the accident,

I had decided that I didn't
wanna be part of it anymore.

It was just, I had other
things I wanted to do,

and it was taking too much
of my life away and I felt,
you know, I had to get out.

We were having fun,
only all the time.

I don't think I stand a chance
of making you stop your grin.

Although it was fun
while it lasted,

I wasn't doing this anymore.

And it was painful in a way,
you know, to everybody.

He didn't remember.
Brian didn't know,

because after the accident,
it was like he didn't...

You know, his short-term
memory had gone.

Like his girlfriend,
that girl, well,
they were broke up.

But he didn't remember that.

So to him, it was like,
"She's leaving me because
I'm not a man anymore."

And not that he even felt
sorry for himself outwardly,

but he couldn't...

And I would talk to
him about that. I said,

"You'd moved into a hotel,
you were finished, you know,
with Maggie."

And she was finished with you.

And he couldn't
quite comprehend that.

You know, he did,
he sucked it up,

but he didn't have any memory
of his disenfranchisement
from anything.

And you'll write it?

Yeah.

Yes, I am.

Seventeen months'
worth of notes there.

Barbara!
I was under contract at Fox

and she was a teenager
doing a TV series.

And I used to see her
picture in the hallway at Fox.

And I used to go put my
finger on her face and say,

"I'm going to marry you."

You know, I used to
say that every week.

I got sent to do her show
The Monroes.

Easy, easy!

That wagon has to
be dead center.

You know,
I was a contract player.

And so, I got sent to Wyoming,
that's where they did it.

It was... You know,
it lasted one season.

And I did not want to go.

I didn't want her to see me.
A small...

Because I knew when
we did see each other,

it was going to be forever,
you know, kind of thing.

And I'd seen her
in a movie already,

I loved her work.

I saw her on
the set out there,

outside, you know, location.

And I saw her chair

and I was walking
in that direction,

she would've seen me
if I'd have kept walking

but I turned around
and went the other way

because I knew
it was the wrong time.

I have better things to do
than watch the creek.

And that was in sixty...

I don't know, '66?

And then in '74,

my friend Michael
and Patty, his wife, said,

"You'll never guess
who we're friends with."

And I said, "Who's that?"

He says, "Barbara Hershey
and David Carradine."

"David Carradine?
What's he have to do with it?"

He said "They're together."
I said, "Really? Oh, good."

And inside I thought,

"Excellent. That's a good
thing for her.

"So much for me."

But then, they conspired
to get me to meet her.

Because they thought it would
be a good idea for her

because they didn't
like David.

And so, I met her.

The rest is history.

David didn't like it
but he didn't do well by her.

She was ready,
probably, to get out.

We were together
for the longest I've ever
been with anybody.

But we never lived together,
we traveled together.

We'd stay... You know,
she would stay at my place,
I'd stay at her place.

But we kept separate places.

That's...

That's one reason why
it worked probably.

And, uh, she was wonderful.

She's still wonderful.

You're pretty.

Very pretty.

You have a remarkable figure.

Quite full.

Thank you.

Michael and Patty
called me and said,

"Hey, um...

"Barbara's over here,
we're gonna go to Royce Hall

"to see a dance concert."

I said, "Where's David?"

"He's out of town."

So, I go to Michael's place
and there's Barbara!

And it was wonderful
to see her.

I didn't talk to her.

Just talking to Michael and
Patty was talking to Barbara

and we went to Royce Hall.

Patty said, "Here, you guys
take the front seat."

I said, "No, no." She said,
"No, take the front seats."

We sat there and watched
the first half of the show.

A Javanese kind of concert.

It was great.

And we didn't
talk or anything.

I hadn't talked
to her. Literally.

Then the intermission came

and we walked up
to go to the lobby

and then
intermission was over,

and I said, "You guys
go down and sit now
in the front seats."

And then, they went down
and sat in the front seats.

And then, I knew by sitting
with her in the backseat,

that something had
changed right then.

Later I found out
what it was is that,

she wasn't used to that.

Not that David was
not generous,

he was generous, I think.

But he didn't think
of other people a lot.

And she was impressed.

And after that
I became impressed

because when the concert was
over, Michael was like a kid

and I have a bit
of that in me.

And people are sometimes
shocked or turned off
or embarrassed,

but we wanted to dance.

And it's Royce Hall
and it's out there,
there's some... Landscape.

And we started dancing
and doing things

and marching around
and doing funny things.

And Barbara went
right in with us.

She was, like, hooked up.

Literally, hooked up with us
and was doing these things.

And I went, "Whoa!
Yay for Babs!" You know.

I really liked her.

David was doing a show
calledKung Fu
and she was in one.

And so, she was at
her father's apartment.

There was a lot of suitors
around Barbara always.

Guys who were just friends
but had their eye open.

And there was about three
or four of them there.

I was embarrassed,
I was shy about it.

And her father's there,
and there's the television on

and there's a
pool table there,

and she's under
the pool table.

You know, away
from those guys.

And I looked at the...

And she looked at me
and she goes, "Hampton!"

I was like this, "Hi."

And I looked around
where I should sit and she
goes like this...

And then, I left.

But I was quite excited
to be invited to lie
next to her.

Brian had had a court
settlement about the accident

and gotten a lot of money.

And that had run out,
just about.

And he was interested in film,

always wanted
to produce, actually.

And he asked me
if I had any ideas
about a property.

And I said,
"See if you can option
Philip K. Dick's book,

"Do Androids Dream
Of Electric Sheep?"

I had tried to option it
before and not succeeded.

I just thought maybe
he could succeed.

I didn't know
what else to tell him.

I didn't have any faith in it

because I'd been
involved with Dick

and Dick was not involvable.
I didn't think it could work.

You know, he was very
elusive about that project.

He didn't... You know,
he wouldn't even
talk about it.

And we talked
about other projects.

He wanted me
to do two others.

And we did talk about those,
but I wasn't interested.

And every time
I'd bring it up...

Turned out years later,
I found out

that he had already optioned
it to some French company.

But he didn't say that.

And he was very, you know...
He was kind of paranoid.

I thought he was crazy.

You know, not just crazy
like my friends and me.

"You're crazy!" But I'll bet
really crazy maybe,

because he kept messages

from somewhere, maybe.

I was sure he didn't like me.

I'm not the kind of guy
that jumps to conclusions,

but I get the feeling
you don't like me.

I said that to him
and he said,

"I'll see you next time."

And I said,
"I don't think so."

And he said, "Why?"

And I don't talk like that,
but with him I did

because it was so clear
he didn't like me, I thought.

He thought I was a hustler.

I mean, a Hollywood-type
hustler and I'm not.

I wish I were.
I was trying to be.

But I guess
I succeeded with him

in letting him think
I was or something.

I said, "You think..."

And he said,
"No, I don't think that."

I said, "I should come
here with a cigar

"because I don't even know
what the fuck I'm doing.

"I don't know anything about
this. I'm not a producer.

"And I wanna be." You know.

So I never made sense
with him exactly.

So, I didn't succeed.

And then it's '77, I guess.

And I'm teaching acting,
I'm washed up.

I mean, there's nothing
I can do.

I stopped acting in '75.

Come on, Bing.
Get out of my way.
You're under arrest.

What?

There's traffic warrants
on him. Put your right hand
behind your head.

I never thought
of myself as an actor.

From the beginning,
I thought of it
very provisionally.

I didn't expect to do
anything as an actor.

I didn't feel myself
to be a very good actor.

And I was a lazy actor.

I kind of pretended to
study and take it seriously,

but I really secretly wasn't
that serious about it.

I was more serious
about writing.

And more serious
about directing.

And I guess my little tragedy
is I didn't get to direct
as much as I want to.

Wanted to.

And I thought
that was my talent.

And I denied it.

I refused to admit
how frightened I was

of not just acting, but...

Well, if you're
frightened of acting,

it means you're frightened
of life, I think.

Acting is life.

I knew that much.

If I was lying as an actor,

I was lying in my life.

And the lie, for me,
in the beginning

that it took me
a few years to face

was that I was
a frightened person.

That I was terrified.

That I had tension in me,

I was nervous and
I was lying about it.

I was redirecting that
into an arrogance,

into a fearlessness,

into a pomposity and it
became part of my persona.

I played characters like that.

Bad guys, rapists
and arsonists

and cowards and misfits.

You know, dumb people.
I played a lot of dumb guys.

Then Brian calls and he says,

"I only have a few
thousand dollars left.

"There's no prospect
of my getting anything."

He lived high.

And now I understood
and it was horrifying.

I said, "I don't know
what to tell you, man.

"The only thing we know
about is properties

"and there's one I know
that could be good,

"that it might be
a thing to come."

So, I told him about that

and he then calls me
a week later

and he got it for $2.000
or something like that.

And then he took
it to Michael Deely,

a great producer
and a renowned producer.

And Michael Deeley said,
"No way. Doesn't work."

The novel.

And then Brian told me that.

Then I got defense...
I said, "That's nonsense.

"It does work.
This is a very simple notion.

"A detective during
the future after these
mechanical creatures.

"It's simple.
Come on, it works fine."

He said, "Could you
write that down?"

I said, "No, come on."

He said just write it
and I'll show that to Michael.
So I wrote a page.

He showed that to Michael
and Michael said...

Then he told me that.

And then, a little
while later, he called me.

Kind of really beseeching,

demanding I write
a screenplay.

He said, "You're a good
writer, you can write this."

And I said, "I don't
wanna write that."

And then, Barbara
talked me into it.

She was makingStuntman
with Peter O' Toole.

Good evening, want a lift?

We were
staying at the Coronado

outside San Diego
on the beach.

And she had to do
a night shoot

and it was in the evening.

She was getting ready to go
and the phone rings.

And we're in a nice suite
overlooking the ocean.

And there's the courtyard
down there for the Coronado.

And it's Brian.

And I've already
had this from Brian,

I already told him I don't
want to be involved in that.

It's not my area.

I don't even have an area.

But that's definitely not it.
I'm not interested.

And, um...

So, he tried to talk me
into it on the phone
and I actually got angry.

I said, "Listen, don't you
understand N-O?

"I can't do this.
If I could, I would,

"but I can't.
I'm not interested.

"Even if I were interested,
I wouldn't know how
to even approach it."

"But you said..."

"I know the formula idea but
I don't know how to write it.

"I don't know what
the dialogue would be,
the stuff."

I hung up on him, disgruntled.

King of hung up
on him, actually.

And Barbara was watching
me and she said,
"What are you doing?"

And I said, "You saw
what I'm doing."

And she said, "The reason
you wanted to option this
three years ago

"was because you said
you wanted to walk
through the front door.

"You said this is
a front-door project.

"And he's asking you to
walk through the front door.

"Just like you've been
saying you wanted to do

"and you're saying no?"

And I got... I said,
"You don't understand."

I was like that.

She beat me down
just through intelligence.

And showed me myself, kind of.

Which made me cry,
made me whine.

And she said,
"Hampton, do this."

And I said, "I can't do this."

Then she had to go shoot.

And I remember watching her
as they set up down there,
the floodlights.

I didn't have anything
to do that night except
wait for her to come back.

And so, I sat down at
the desk there in the suite

and had that stationary
from Coronado.

And I thought, "What would it
be like if I wrote one page?"

So, I started writing the
opening idea of the thing.

And I rather liked it.

I thought, "Damn,
this is interesting."

So, I wrote that page.

Then I went to bed.

And then, um...

Before sun up,
she had come back.

And I hadn't slept.

I was lying in bed, but
I pretended to be asleep.

And I watched her come in.

You know there's that smell,
the makeup, it's nice.

And she came in
and she looked at me
thinking I was asleep,

and there was a basket
of fruit there and
she peeled an orange,

walked back and forth
peeling an orange.

She was just so hyped
from the shoot, I guess.

And I watched her
peel the orange.

Ate the orange ravenously.

On her knees,
she got down on her knees

and just concentrated
on the orange

and I was, kind of,
out of the corner of
my eye watching this.

And then she came to bed.

And I said, "You know,
I think I might have
something on this thing."

She read every page
I wrote after that.

I mean, I had a couple of
people who were helpful to me
but that was the first.

I went back,
I lived in Topanga,

she lived on top of Topanga.

I would work for a week
and then I would read to her.

Or sometimes she came down.

I remember her sitting
on the couch and I was
on the floor...

"Blah, blah, blah," reading.

And she said, "God,
that is so good."

"You know, this is wonderful."

And that was very nice,
I mean, it kept me writing.

It took a year.

When you do a term paper,

you gotta write
like a writer.

Make every sentence say
exactly what you mean.

If you got a big idea,
then you write a big sentence.

If not, don't. Simple.

I said, "Listen, I'll do this,

"but how do I get paid?"

My rent was $350 a month.

He said, "I'll pay your
rent for however long
it takes to write it."

And I said, "Great."

Because I could teach
one time a week,

and get the other money,
you know, for the car
or whatever.

And I did.

He was reading it
as I was writing it.

It was a lot of fun.
I mean, that script is nothing
like it turned out to be.

It was a far different draft,
that first draft.

But when it was finished,

I knew this was, like...

The writing was
okay, you know?

And the story was
interesting and unique.

And I...
And so, immediately,

Michael Deeley read it because
Brian took it to Michael.

And Michael
actually called me.

I didn't know him.
I met him once.

And he said, "We ought
to have a meeting.

"Could you come to the house?"

Two years later,
we get the money

but he said, uh...

"Oh, let's do this thing.

"What do you guys want?"

We go, "Huh?"

You know, Brian...
I didn't know anything.

And he said, "Okay, I'm gonna
tell you what you want."

We said,
"So there's no trouble?

"Thank you, Mr. Deeley."

He said, "We're all partners.
Equal partners on this."

Equal decision-making
powers and equal money.

I said, "That sounds
okay to me."

And so, right away,
I get sent a check.

Just to hold me over
for $20.000.

You know, in 1978.

I was quite happy.

I couldn't believe it.

Pan right
or pull back.

Enhance 34 to 46.

There's burn out
with any writer.

And Hampton, I think, said,

"I give up.
I can't do this anymore.

"I need time out."

Ridley never came
right out and said,

"If you don't do what
I'm telling you to do,

"then we'll get
somebody else to do it."

That never was said.

Ridley was shy,
he's manipulative,

you know whatever,
he didn't tell me.

I think what happened was,
I said to Hampton,

"Look, there's this guy around
who can come and do

"some of the city speak
and the dialogue.

"What I want you to
do is meet him.

"And you tell me."
'Cause I felt it was
so much his now.

This script, you know,
he's doing all the work.

I'm just sitting there
being creative.

I was disaffected
from the production.

I had nothing to do with it.

Once they started shooting,
then I get a phone call,

Michael Deeley is
saying to me,

"If you have enough
maturity to do this,

"we'd like you to come down,
look at dailies,

"we have one scene left
to do, the rooftop scene."

So, I went down.

And the first thing I did
was visit the set.

It was a night shoot.

It was probably in the
last week of shooting.

They had the whole back lot
at Warner Brothers.

So, I drive to the backlot,
it's midnight or something,

and, uh...

You know, it's...

It's like a phantom situation.
There's all these...

There's the set, the street,

you know, the chase
scene was being done,

but they were
momentarily in hiatus

because something
was going on.

Something serious.

But I didn't notice that.

All I saw was
this incredible set.
"Oh, my God, this came true."

I was out of my skin
with excitement.

I was so happy.

Maybe the happiest
I've ever been in my life.
I couldn't believe it.

So, I was amazed

and looking around for Ridley
and Michael Deeley,

and then I see them both,
they're talking.

They're, like, in a meeting
and then I realized...

I didn't realize it then,
it was afterwards.

All these people that are
not doing anything

are waiting for this
confabulation to take place.

But I was too excited
to notice it.

So, I run towards
the back of Michael Deeley,

who it turns out,

he's talking with
Jerry Perenchio
and Bud Yorkin.

And this is one of the
most crucial moments
of the production.

In terms of, "Shall we
continue as we are

"or are you guys
gonna be fired?

"Are we taking the movie
away from you?"
And I don't know that.

I come up behind.

I know they're gonna
be glad to see me

and glad that I'm happy

and I grab Michael
by the neck from behind,

and he looks around
at me and in a second,

he says, "Not now, Hampton."

And then I realized
what I'd stepped into
and I backed away.

I think I contributed
one line to that scene,
the rooftop scene.

I wrote a whole scene.

But I think they used
the Gaff character
I brought back into that.

That he lands there
and gives him the gun.

They used that one line.

It's too bad she won't live.

But then again, who does?

I, in my stories and novels,

often write about
counterfeit worlds.

Semi-real worlds,

as well as
deranged private worlds,

inhabited often
by just one person.

While meantime,
the other characters

either remain
in their own worlds throughout

or are somehow drawn into
one of the peculiar ones.

Too bad she won't live.

But then again, who does?

What is theBlade Runner?
What does that title mean?

It's the name of
the police unit

to which the character
I play is assigned.

Mmm-hmm. And is this
a movie that takes place
in the future or present?

Forty years in
the future on Earth,

in recognizable surroundings,

not so much science fiction

as a little bit of futurism

blended with
a detective story.

Uh-huh. How do things seem
to be 40 years from now?

It's no musical comedy, David.

It's a Spanish
Gypsy term.

If you had it,

you were in touch
with the ineffable.

Anything that wants to live
beyond its limits,

that is expressive and crazy,

and it can't be relied on,

that'sduende.