Original subtitles

The acting company is now in danger. Someone has jammed the stage door, and

they've also cut the telephone.

We're trapped.

One of you has to suffer and die.

We're all going to die.

Don't play games with me.

Somebody in that lounge knows exactly who he is.

All of us are going to be blown to hell. Some of us are already in hell.

God, how I've missed you.

Kristen. Have you got them on the run?

It's just a matter of days now.

We'll be back on the boulevard soon, dancing on their bones.

Get off the street. Take me to your place.

I don't have a place anymore, Lucy.

It's destroyed in the fire. Have you been living in the streets?

No.

You've been inside, haven't you?

Yes.

I've been inside.

I'm sorry.

Don't be.

I got through it.

How did you get out?

I seduced the watch commander, you see.

What?

Look at me that way.

What have you done? How many 15 -year -old soldiers have you shot?

How many of your friends have you left lying in the gutter so that you could go

on killing them?

She's damn good, Robin. Whose bones are we dancing on this year?

No, she's not. She's wonderful.

No, Stan.

No!

What have we said has been going on here?

My character's in pain because... Ah, you's the first person. Your character

you.

I'm in pain because I've compromised myself.

Look, Sandra, you haven't seen him for two months, and all he wants to do is to

take you back to your place and go to bed with you.

Now, after all you've just been through at the hands of another man, what does

that do to you?

Makes me angry and rage. Why?

Because he's treating me like an object.

Just like the watch commander.

Yes. Then why did you let him take you back into his arms so easily?

Look, Sandra, try it again.

From don't look at me that way, and this time I want you to look into Lucien's

eyes until he becomes that watch commander.

Do you understand?

Yes, I think so. I thought she got it right the first time.

Apparently,

in Everett, Boston, whatever the name is.

Some kind of a genius.

You're hot.

I want your play to come to life, Jenna. Yeah, so the critics can murder it.

Stop with the defeatism. I haven't gone at a bad review in six years.

Five. Phil, I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man.

Okay, let's go.

Don't look at me that way.

What have you done to survive?

How many 15 -year -old soldiers have you shot?

How many of your friends have you left lying in the gutter so that you could go

on killing?

So that you could go on winning?

Whose bones are we dancing on today?

Whose?

For you, for you, for you.

Hold me, please.

Just hold, just hold, just hold.

That's it, Jimmy.

Tomorrow's called, nine o 'clock.

Make sure you lock the stage door.

Sandra.

Brilliant.

Josh, come on.

You've got some work to do.

Bravo.

It's so good to see you.

Sandra, standing as I live and breathe.

My goodness me, I remember you when you were playing tooth fairy in a school

play. And look what you're doing now.

It's removed.

Uh -oh.

I'm still a week away from opening it. Am I peaking too soon? Right.

Well, I wouldn't know what that meant.

What I do know is that on opening night, you are going to bring the house down.

I used to love it when my dad brought him home.

Such a fan.

Such a gentleman.

Huh? Robert, have I done an introduction?

Oh, sorry, sir.

You're Harley Gage, Sandra Benning. Sandra Benning, Harley Gage.

Hello, Harley.

I really enjoyed your performance, Sandra.

Rehearsal. Not performance, but thanks anyway. You can't remember the lines?

Holly, there's another friend of your father's.

Not so old.

I met him in Moscow when I was with the State Department.

Here, here.

You want me to go back on book?

Here. It's only a week from opening, but what the hell? Who cares, right?

Sandra, will you get back here, please? We're going to rehearse this until Josh

gets it.

going to do the autumn scene gotta run up to my dressing room see you in a

minute austin you can't do that the stagehands are already gone the union i

don't care about the union i am the director and i'm extending this

another hour

We plead. We plead. It's just home. It's just home. It's just home.

It's just home.

It's just home. It's just home. It's just home.

It's just home.

It's just home. Who

are

you?

What do you want?

One underline.

There's a man upstairs.

Calm down. I saw his face. It was all... Calm down. What's the matter? Calm

down. No.

Just be calm. You're quite safe here. No, I'm not. He's up there.

This man, have you seen him before? No. No, but someone's been leaving notes for

me. Notes?

Let me go check it out.

Can I get backstage this way? Yeah.

All right. What kind of notes?

Romantic. And to Mendel, I thought Josh was writing it, but he kept denying it.

Did you keep these notes?

No. I never thought anything of them.

Why? There's some silly note. Why would I keep them? Okay, okay. Calm down.

Why don't you sit down? Come on.

Sit down. Shh.

Did you see him?

I didn't see his face, but I know he's up there.

Sandra, get up here.

I'm not going to let you down.

Any harm, do you think? I couldn't tell.

I found this.

Well, she's having... notes from before.

I don't think you've met the stage manager, Phil Daveney, Harley Gage.

Hello.

Mr. Daveney, can we get up there above the stage?

The tap door leads out two floors above this lighting grid.

How did he get into the theater in the first place?

Well, the only way to get in from the street is through the stage door, and

that's kept locked during rehearsals.

Which leads to the front of the house.

And the box office. Now, sure enough, you would have been noticed coming

the lobby, wouldn't you?

Well, now, there's a janitor who comes in every night to clean up. I suppose

someone could have slipped in with him.

I don't think he slipped in at all.

You think someone opened the door for him?

How else would a man like that get into this place without being noticed?

Well, I'll tell you one thing.

I've stage -managed three productions here over the last 15 years.

And I had no idea where that trapdoor led until a few weeks ago.

Well, he knew, didn't he?

Which means he knows this theater very well.

Very well indeed.

You've been surviving a war for three years. You're a street fighter, not a

sentimentalist. Now forget your boogeyman, Sandra. You're outside of

Focus inward. See that child.

Remember a moment when he made you laugh.

And you, Josh, you're just sitting there like... You can't get through the stage

door now.

He's jammed the lock. Active listening, Josh. You want something from her even

when you're not speaking.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll excuse me.

My name is Robert McCall.

Mr. Austin, the company must now leave this theater.

Mr. McCall, you may continue with this security thing, but you may not

my rehearsal.

This acting company is now in danger.

You see, someone has jammed the stage door, and they've also cut the

Now, we don't know why, but what I'm saying is, this company will now proceed

and exit through the front.

Now.

I'll get our jackets.

Will you follow my colleague, Mr. Gage, please?

Everyone, stop.

Just stay where you are. Don't move.

What's the problem now?

Look above the doors.

So the doors are wired together. Why don't we just cut the wires?

Someone tapped into the alarm system.

Looks like a booby trap.

My God, why is he doing this?

Who's the last person to use these doors?

The janitor last night. The cast uses the stage entrance.

And when's the janitor coming back tonight?

He should be walking through those doors in one hour.

All right, everybody.

Let's move back.

What

are

you going to do?

I'm not going to do anything.

I think I'll try to defuse this thing.

I love working with bombs. Great adrenaline rush.

All right, Holly.

Over to you.

Why don't we just break down the stage door? It's 300 pounds of brick and

Austin. Don't you get flipped with me.

Surely there must be a way out.

If there is, it is not the stage door.

When he jammed that lock, he may well have put another explosive device.

I'm not going to risk it.

I'll take you the chance.

After you, sir.

We don't want to cry when we want to cry.

We are not going anywhere.

That's a pressure -type bomb. Very amateurish, but very effective.

The only way to defuse it is to get at the tripwire contacts.

But they're protected by a combination lock. If I try to pick the lock, then

boom.

There's enough plastic explosive there to bring down the house, literally.

But we're trapped, Ed.

No, not necessarily. All we have to do is to find the man and get the

combination from him.

I don't suppose by any chance any of you know who this person could be or why

he's doing what he's doing.

No, I thought not.

You have just one hour before their janitor walks through these doors and

us into the big forever, McCall. I suggest you hurry.

Sandra, what would you say is the most secure part of this theater?

The downstairs lounge, I think.

Fine. Would you take everybody to the downstairs lounge and make sure that

nobody leaves for any reason whatsoever?

McCall, I am overseeing the welfare of this company, and I think we should stay

right here. Oh, you do, sir. You really do.

Perhaps then you would prefer that we went down to the lounge and looked after

everybody while you searched this building for the man.

No, thought not. Excuse me.

Right, Sandra, take everybody to the lounge. Miss Roydale, would you please?

I'd like you to come with us.

Me? Take me along.

I'd like to get my hands on that guy.

Sir, the lounge, if you please.

You know your way around this theater quite well, I believe.

Pretty well by now, but still, it's the expert. I know.

It's precisely why I don't trust him.

Who else could have let that man into this theatre but Phil?

How about the basement area? Do you know that?

Sure. Would you mind showing it to me?

What about Josh? No, no, no. Josh is no good. I'm sorry. He's too anxious to get

into battle. I'm sorry. You are the only logical choice, Miss Rydell.

What the hell?

Fine.

I've got something I want to try. Would you wait here for a minute?

I can't sit here all night. Look, these men know what they're doing. We'll be

out of here soon. Look, I'm going to go find that psycho. Now, Josh, don't be a

fool. Give me your hand, please.

Wait, Josh!

There's nothing you can do out there.

I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me.

I just... He just wants to find the maniac.

If he does, I'm sure he'll blow it like he's blown his rehearsal.

Josh!

I think the scenic shop is there.

have to suffer and die.

But if you get in that way, I'll kill you all.

Why does anybody have to die?

Some of us want to die.

I hurt my knee.

Any sign of McCall? No, he's still out there looking for the guy.

What happened to you?

The madman tried to kill me.

Knocked me off the grid.

Oh, here.

Watch out. He's blocking us. Here.

Oh, shh. Sandra, keep an eye on the carter.

If you see or hear anything strange, give me a hand with the master.

Get his leg up.

How could you let this happen?

What are you saying?

I'm asking this man. Well, you was the one who humiliated Josh.

Well, you almost pushed him out of here. Shut your mouth, Phil. I had no idea

things would get so out of hand.

Maybe you're the one to keep his mouth shut. Look, you and your friend are in

charge here now. It was your responsibility.

It was my fault.

I shouldn't have been up there.

Austin, he shredded our scenery.

He's trying to deter the production.

I'm doing a damn good job of it.

I lose one actor in a two -character play, and all my sets a week before the

opening.

My first play to close before it opens.

I'm sorry, Robert.

Is there a passageway here, you know? Any other way up?

I don't know. I don't think so.

All right.

Be close to me.

I'll take over for you, Sandra.

Thanks.

Who's Jack? I think it's Phil.

Is this your jacket?

Yeah.

What are you doing here? Leading an army?

We work long hours. I get hungry.

Sure you do.

You are the image of her, of my own elite. Look to the sky, see what she

to see, the approach of a total eclipse.

Oh, weird.

Anybody mean anything to you? No.

to be on his side.

Sandra, what have you done to bring this monster down on us?

He's not after her.

What? Who else does he send roses to?

Turn this, Sandra, just run from this place, my darling,

before your beauty crumbles into ashes.

Well, at first I thought this was the ravings of some lunatic.

But now, I have to take his face out.

He's telling her to run from this place.

What?

Here, Robert.

It's the playbill from a production in this theater two years ago. And the

play's called Dark Night. An actress named Elise Deven is the star.

A man called Edward Austin is the director.

Austin?

Yes, Mr.

Austin.

Phil, you know something. Better tell me now.

Well, tell him, Austin.

Tell him what?

About Elise Deven.

Who's Elise?

She was an actress.

What?

She died about three months ago.

No, she killed herself a year ago.

No, Philip, please.

Don't say no to me.

I'm sick of you telling me what to do.

Elise was the most beautiful creature I've ever seen.

And never was there such an actress.

She could jump right into a character's skin.

Austin saw how intuitive she was.

He discovered her.

He molded her.

He'd drive her to starve herself skinny for one role and then fatten herself up

for another. He ruled her life.

But Elise didn't seem to mind.

You see, she worshipped him.

Even Michael worshipped him. Michael?

Her boyfriend.

He was an actor.

And a good one.

Both of them worked for Austen at almost every show he did.

It was a wonderful partnership.

Until Dark Knight.

That was a play that was written by a woman who'd spent half her life in a

mental institution.

And Austen nearly drove Elise insane so that she could actually become that

woman. He pushed her. And he pushed her until she was teetering.

Right on the edge.

Now, Austin promised her that role when the play was to be made into a movie.

He owed her the role.

She'd nearly sacrifice her sanity for him.

But when the time came... The studio wanted a Hollywood name and there was

nothing I could do about it, Philip.

There was everything you could do about it.

You used her.

And she worshipped you.

How could you just...

Throw her away.

By then she was so fragile, she just fell apart.

She started using drugs.

It's a sordid tale of self -destruction, and I don't want to hear it.

People are responsible for themselves. And for what they do to others.

Go on, leave.

Well, I love those kids.

Michael and Elise.

He followed her lead, always.

And he followed her right into hell.

She blew herself up.

We made some cocaine.

Michael tried to save her from the fire.

They were both burned.

Bad.

Elise lingered in the hospital for one terrible year.

And then three months ago, she died.

He was in and out of the hospital undergoing treatment.

When Elise died, he just disappeared.

At least now you know who you're facing.

Right.

Phil, there's still something I don't understand.

How does an actor become so adept with weapons and bombs?

He was a cop for a few years when he was in his early 20s.

SWAT team, something like that?

Maybe. He never talked about it much.

Austin, I want you to come up there with me.

Are you crazy?

No, I'm not.

I want to draw him out, see if we can reason with him.

You want to use me as bait?

Right.

Use us both as bait.

What if I refuse?

What's the matter with you, man? Afraid?

Don't try to embarrass me into it. It won't work.

Janet, you won't stay here to just your own life, huh?

This is our best chance.

To take him and keep from killing him says we all get out of life.

wants to talk to you.

Say you're sorry.

What?

Apologize to him. Say you're sorry.

Michael, I never meant any harm to Elise.

You know how much I cared for her.

You've got to believe me.

Always held her in the highest regard.

Watch it!

Get back to the hatch.

Phil and Sandra are gone.

Where?

Josh said Phil talked Sandra into going with him. She looks like Elise.

He must think the two of them can convince Michael to give up. That's

Is it?

The janitor's going to be walking through those doors in 15 minutes.

All right, get back to the lounge. Come on.

Let's sort of do it.

so beautiful.

Often should never have touched you.

Please, stop this.

Am I so terrible?

Michael, this has got to stop.

I never would have let you in if I'd known you'd take it this far.

Oh, no, Phil.

It hasn't gone far enough.

You cannot reason with him, Bill.

Keep Sandra away from him.

In ten minutes, the front doors are going to open and all of us are going to

blown to hell.

But some of us are already in hell.

Where in hell have you been?

I triggered some kind of booby trap.

It's just around the corner.

We got locked in.

Sounds like the stuff down below. Very telling.

I think I know how to handle this man.

Yeah, I got a good idea, too. Let's shoot him.

If he dies, it would not be a good idea, Harley.

It's easy for you to say. He's been shooting at me. Harley, if he dies, a

combination of that bomb dies with him. Do you want to be the man who greets

this janitor as he comes in?

Not really. No, precisely.

So we will discuss what is to be done.

Get down to the stage.

All right, stop right there.

All

right,

Bill.

Take that gasoline.

And you give Austin a bath with it. Ah! So that I can burn him clean.

McCall. Do it.

Do it!

Or I'll kill you.

Right, now, let the young lady go.

Ah, she's staying with me.

Our arrangement was that you would let them both go.

I'll let her go when Austin lights up the stage.

How's that sound, huh?

A great theatrical career of its smoke.

How do you like that, Austin?

Mr. Daveny, do it now.

Fill it down some with it.

You use the whole can.

Come on, what's the point? Come on, yeah.

Trust me, and you'll be all right. Come on, get down. Come on.

No! McCall, what are you doing to me? God!

Oh, God!

McCall, don't let him kill me, please!

Leave.

Leave.

Huh?

You don't want this, do you?

She only looks like Elise. Don't play games with me.

Elise.

You want Michael to take this revenge?

Michael, you know how Elise hates violence.

You can't do this.

Michael.

It's wrong.

I won't let you.

Oh, stop this. You're not Elise.

Elise is dead!

No, why not?

As long as you remember me, I'm alive.

Hold me, please.

Just hold me, please. Elise, is that you?

Please.

I will always love you, Michael.

God,

kill me!

God, kill me!

Kill me!

We're going to take you to the hospital to get you better.

Michael, the combination of the bomb, please.

Combination of the bomb. Now, please.

One, seven, four.

You working late tonight, huh?

Yeah, well, I'm out of time.

Gina's got this playwriting resume for you. Good for her.

I think she's got a crush on you, Robert.

Really?

You know, it's hard giving up that job.

Austin told me I'd never work again.

Yeah, well, it's sort of a remark a weak person would always make.

Talented people always work again.

Talking of working again, when's your new show open?

Next Wednesday.

Here, Robert.

For opening night.

One for you, and one for Harlan.

Thank you, my love.

Bye -bye. Take care.

Look who's there.

Well, it looks as though Mr. Boston has found himself a covetous place.

There is just no equalizing some people.

Oh, I don't know, Harley. Sometimes there is, sometimes.

Oh, a couple of seats.

Front row center.

Sound response night.

Hey, not bad.

Well, if you're good, you can come with me.