Original subtitles

[logo whooshing] [chimes tinkling]

[bright dramatic music]

[bug chirping] [dramatic spare music]

[Reporter] The committee is scrutinizing

reclusive aviation tycoon Howard Hughes

over a transfer of a $100,000 in cash made to Richard Nixon

via the President's close friend, Bebe Rebozo.

Hughes, who maintains an army of operatives

throughout the world, has denied the charges.

The Watergate scandal continues to grip the nation,

[radio squealing]

While the 18-and-a-half minute gap in the Nixon tapes

tops headlines again this week.

Since last month's revelation that 18-and-a-half minutes

of a taped conversation between President Nixon

and his former Chief of Staff HR Bob Haldeman,

[radio buzzing]

Theories continue to emerge as to the content

of those lost minutes, and who erased the tape.

The conversation between Nixon and Haldeman took place

on June 20th, 1972, just days after the bungled burglary

of the Democratic National Committee headquarters

at the Watergate Hotel.

Chief of Staff Al Haig, who replaced Bob Haldeman

just months ago,

[radio hissing]

Explained the gap by claiming

Presidential Secretary Rosemary Woods

mistakenly deleted the tape.

Ms. Woods recent demonstration to the media,

stretching for the play button with her hand

and record button with her foot,

has been met with wide levels of ridicule.

Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski empaneled a Grand Jury.

[reporter drowned out by music]

[tense dramatic music]

[Server] Oh hi hon, is it just you today?

I'm with him.

Oh, I'd love to see the man waiting, good for you.

All right let's see, we got some specials here.

We got the Linguini with the marinara clam sauce,

spicy, but not too spicy.

Choice of side salad, Italian, thousand island, French,

or your vegetable medley.

Today there's broccoli, carrots and Lima beans.

Comes with a dinner roll or garlic toast.

Then there's pie, apple, peach, strawberry or cherry.

495, and the Wonder Bread is on the house.

- Hi. - Hello.

Want anything to drink?

- What's he drinking? - Tea.

I'll have that.

You took the ferry up from Oxford Landing?

- Just like you said. - Good.

I know it's a little outta the way.

I was just coming back from Rehoboth,

and a little outta the way isn't bad

under these circumstances.

You look different than I pictured.

[Paul] What did you picture?

Older, gray hair, doughy.

The tragic anonymity of print reporting.

Everyone thinks I look like Walter Cronkite.

Meanwhile, I'm half the age and twice as handsome.

[Server] There you go hon, ready to order?

What was the special again?

I'm gonna look at that-

Linguini with marinara, clam sauce,

spicy, but not too spicy.

It comes with a side salad, choice of Italian,

thousand island or French dressing,

or veggie medley, broccoli, carrots and Lima beans.

Comes with a dinner roll or garlic toast and pie,

apple, peach, strawberry or cherry,

Wonder Bread on the house, 495.

What she said.

I'll have the special, side salad, French,

garlic and peach.

Wow, I think I'll take a steak.

[Server] I'll get you what she's having.

Judge and jury.

So you're a transcriber?

Yes, that's right.

[Paul] What do you transcribe?

OMB meetings, mostly.

- Schedules, budgets? - The classics.

Mm-hmm, you're a GS-4?

GS-2, nobody.

Well not for long. [Connie inhaling]

[telephone ringing] [typewriter keys clicking]

[office workers chattering]

- Hey. - Hi, Cheryl.

These tapes are all the news is talking about.

Not these tapes.

[Both] Got the only boring tapes in Washington.

Yeah.

Jeffries knows you wanna move up,

he's just testing you.

Well, at this point I have passed or I've failed.

Rosemary worked on the House committee

for how long before she moved to the Oval Office?

I know.

[Cheryl] Uh-huh, besides, this isn't where

you're gonna make your real money.

Are you making real money?

I'm exploring my options.

Seeing what's on the other side of things.

Well, Jeffries can't ignore me forever.

Yes, he can.

At least use your vacation days this year.

Get away, meet somebody.

Okay, it is too early for this conversation.

Morning Cheryl, I see a nice little tape recorder

over there waiting for you.

And Lashley, how about doing a little work today?

There it is, once a day for three years.

Four years.

[Jeffries] And a lifetime over.

Ms. Lashley, Miss, Mrs Lashley?

- Connie. - Connie.

Connie Lashley.

Good, I just need to know what to call you.

- Connie. - Connie.

Connie, so that was the tape, right?

No, no not that one.

It wasn't until later in the day.

[Jeffries] Jesus, you're still here? Go home.

Got one left.

[Jeffries] Geez, you modern women aren't kidding.

[tape recorder clicking] [paper rustling]

[soft expectant music] [typewriter clicking]

[Eric] November 2nd, 1973, tape 465.

The sandwiches are on the credenza, please help yourself.

Today's agenda, wheat subsidies

and the processed bread industry.

Assistant Director Paul O'Neil

is sitting in for Director Roy L. Ash.

- Eric. - Eric.

[Al] O'Neill's home sick, kill the tape, let's eat.

[Richard] We could to use the player in here, Al.

[Al] Yes, sir.

[Richard] I don't understand, Bob.

How could those idiots have gotten caught at the Watergate?

[Bob] We're still trying to figure that out.

I can't believe those Cubans and that funny guy

with the vague name, what was, Gordon Liddy?

- Yes his name, and the name- - Mr. President.

This is the conversation I was talking about.

[Bob] We can't turn this over to them.

- Haldeman. - When you-

[tape reel squeaking]

- One thing is- - Haig.

[Connie And Al] The subpoenaed tapes

were where then recorded three days after the burglary.

- Nixon. - How long did you say it is?

- Haig. - Just under 20 minutes.

Nixon.

[Connie And Richard] Loose ends, there are too many

goddam loose ends to sleep at night.

[Richard] Thank God we're erasing this, Al.

This tape would've killed us.

[door clattering]

Do you have the tape here?

Yeah.

Um. [chuckling]

[Customer] Sons of bitches.

Goddam Watergate, I'm sick of hearing about it.

[bells tinkling]

Let me see it.

It's a paper bag.

It's inside of the paper bag.

- Take it out. - Oh my God.

That's it?

It's a tape in a box in a bag in a purse, that is it.

[chuckling] Okay.

So the tape is a tape within a tape.

Okay, this is a road.

Here's the White House.

Across the street from the White House

is the old Executive Office Building,

and then down here, that's the Washington Monument.

Inside of the OEOB is a conference room, one of many.

This particular conference room though,

has an accessible tape player.

Nixon and Haig listened to that original tape,

the one that was subpoenaed, on that tape player.

What they didn't realize was that

this specific conference room,

which is normally reserved for OMB meetings,

also has a sound-activated recording system.

There was a tape already queued up and waiting

from a meeting earlier in that day.

Nixon and Haig, listening to their tape,

all of their conversation, everything that the room heard

ended up at the end of a rather brief OMB meeting,

and in my box of tape to transcribe.

Yeah, this tape was never subpoenaed, why?

Nobody knows it exists.

The original tape, the one that they blamed

on Rosemary Woods, was erased.

Jesus, okay.

I think the best course of action is that I take the tape

and we go our separate ways.

- You're gonna take the tape? - Yes.

Okay, and what are you gonna do with it?

[Paul] I'm gonna listen to it.

- And then what? - Depends on what I hear.

No I, I don't wanna just hand it over.

Why not?

[Connie] Because I haven't heard it yet.

You know, I, what,

Don't you have a tape player at your house?

You could've listened-

No, I don't have a tape player.

I listen to tapes all day, every day at work.

[Paul] Well, you could've waited until Monday.

You could-

Everything is logged.

I have to turn the tape in Monday morning.

Have you told anyone that we're meeting, anyone?

Your parents, Cheryl, your dog, anyone?

Yeah, my parents aren't around.

I had to borrow Cheryl's car,

but I told her it was to get away.

She thinks I took her advice and went on vacation.

Nobody knows about the tape.

You could have called the Special Prosecutor's office,

or the Judiciary Committee like you're supposed to.

And get paraded and dissected like John Dean and his wife,

no thank you, not interested.

So a Watergate reporter from the "Times", why?

Because I read the "Times", I read your byline.

- "Times" DC bureau. - Paul Marrow.

- What's it about? - The gap, I've got it.

[Paul] Still, you could've talked to someone-

Should I have called the "Post"?

No, God no. [chuckling]

I've been chasing their scoops for a year now.

Well there.

I appreciate you calling me, I do.

I need you to understand, I'm looking out for you.

I get it, I get it.

If anyone knew about this meeting,

it would probably damage your career.

[laughing] Career yeah, I'm a steno machine.

[Paul] You're so much more than that.

[Server] You two look like

you're planning the end of the world.

All right, two specials, salad with French.

Garlic bread, pasta's on its way.

Okay.

You're probably recording me right now.

No, what?

This? This is a flower, you told me to wear it.

I'm a reporter, not a spy.

See? fresh cut, all yours.

You, you'll keep my name out of this, right?

[Paul] I thought you'd hit the ceiling of your career.

Well, I still need a job.

That's the way it works, yes.

No one will know your name, not even my editor.

Okay, good. [sighing]

[Paul] I think I have a reel-to-reel player

in the trunk of my car.

You have a player in your car,

why didn't you mention that? What?

Because in a perfect world,

I would have the tape and be listening to it alone.

But it's your tape? - It's my tape.

Yes, it's your tape.

And maybe I'm not making this clear,

but I'm looking out for you.

Okay, and maybe you're not listening to me,

but I don't need you looking out for me.

I give you this tape,

You splash it all over the cover of the "Times".

It gets traced back to me in a heartbeat.

You win the Pulitzer and I get indicted. [chuckling]

No, no, we're not doing that.

We're gonna listen to the tape together.

You're gonna take your little notes,

and I return the tape at work on Monday morning.

That's the deal. - Okay, okay.

I think there's a motel nearby.

I saw it on the way up here, the Silver Sands.

We can check in there.

We'll say that we're a married couple,

so we don't draw attention.

Or dating, no married, married's better, one last name.

- What? - What?

What is the Silver Sands?

[Paul] It's a motel.

I saw it on the way up here.

Why can't we just listen to it in your car?

I need an outlet and we want someplace private.

Okay fine, why can't we just be there together,

and then separately?

[Paul] Have you seen the size of this town?

It's gonna draw-

Nobody knows what we look like, so-

Look, we have to play the long game here.

No one can ever know we're here.

Not tomorrow, not 30 years from now.

So we go there, we listen to it, we leave.

Do you expect me to check into a motel

with a man that I just met?

[Paul] Do you have a better idea? Because I don't.

You seem really nervous.

I'm not nervous, I'm not.

I'm excited.

I've been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.

If I'm nervous about anything,

it's that you're lying to me.

[Connie laughing]

We can take your car.

I don't want you to feel uncomfortable.

Yeah, well it's a little late for that, I'd say.

[chuckling] Oh, I'm sorry.

Maybe you have something better to do, like transcribing.

It's Saturday.

You got a little something right there.

[soft expectant music]

What are our names?

Connie, Paul.

No our married names, for when we check in.

- Oh, um- - Archie and Diane Spiano.

That is incredibly specific.

I like it.

I don't, I don't actually, I don't like it.

I'm sorry, well do you have a better suggestion?

- Ruth. - Ruth.

Ruth, I'm gonna be Ruth.

All right, I like Archie, like the comic.

[soft expectant music]

[anchor knocker clanging] - It says no vacancy.

That can't be true.

[anchor knocker clanking]

Oh folks, I'm sorry.

I'm just watching the Bullets game

and it's a real nail-biter.

Had to watch with one eye closed. [laughing]

I'm kidding, it's not even half-time,

But Unseld just got off the injury list,

so I wanna see how he's doing.

He's doing pretty good, I gotta tell you.

So what can I do for you?

[Paul] You have any space available?

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

More, more than I can afford.

- The sign. - Oh no, no.

That's just left over from the summer.

[Paul] We'd like a room please.

[Connie] One of the cottages, if possible.

It's off season, anything is possible, young lady.

May I have your name please?

Archie and Ruth Spiano.

Ruth, huh?

My mother's name is Ruth, God rest her soul.

Spiano? - Yes.

- Spelled just as it sounds? - Just like it sounds.

That's great, that'll be $22.

And may I ask how many nights you'll be staying with us?

[Connie] Oh, just one.

That's fine, my name's Jack, by the way.

- Hey man. - Ah Jesus Christ.

Why is the ice machine still broken?

I told you it's not broken,

it just takes a while to get going.

What the hell do you need so much ice for?

[Daisy] Oh why don't you come over and find out.

Actually I was in line first.

Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I went into their rooms, okay?

And they had like a dozen clocks and miles of wire.

No, I'm gonna take a pass.

You're uninvited.

[Jack] Yeah okay, you're gonna break my heart.

How can you eat this poison, man?

Can we just get the key?

- It destroys the mind. - Just shut up.

Corrupts the soul, brother.

[Daffodil] Is that your swinger out front?

Will you please just shut it?

No, it's just a Dodge.

Hey, shut up right now.

Hey, hey buddy, you want me to call the police?

I'll call the police. [group chattering]

Get outta here, will you please?

Get outta here, it's a little late for the hippy state.

It's about love, man.

We just want to join the revolution.

- I'm sorry. - It's fine.

I'm more sorry for me, if you must know.

Here you go, you'll be in,

you'll be in cottage 33, okay?

It's just down the road down that, it's down that way.

You'll see it, it's on the left.

It's not the biggest cottage, but I gotta tell you,

It's got my favorite view.

[Connie And Al] Great, thank you Jack.

Yeah, and if you need anything I'm here.

I'm all alone, just mean and "The Late, Late Show".

I think we, I think we'll be fine.

Okay, great.

Yeah, they're showing "House of Wax" tonight.

Isn't that in 3-D?

Look at you Archie, huh?

Very good, very smart.

You know where you're going?

It's this way. - This way.

- Honey. - 26, 27.

- 29. - Hello?

Hello, [speaking in foreign language].

We are staying just here in the big house.

Oh, sorry.

I'm Lena. - Samuel.

- Ruth. - Archie.

Have a good day.

Not to overstep, but would the two of you

like to join us for dinner?

Well, we usually have the place to ourselves

this time of year, but, ha, gets rather lonesome,

just the two of us in our boss a nova.

- Oh, it's groovy stuff, ooh. - Very groovy.

Thank you, we've been traveling all day,

so we're exhausted.

[Lena] Are you brother and sister?

[Archie laughing] - Just married.

- Ah, this is your honeymoon. - It is.

Where are your wedding wings?

I know your generation is full of little rebels,

but I do hope rings are still exchanged on the altar.

They're getting engraved,

engraved with each other's initials.

Kitschy but- - Kitsch nothing.

That's romance, we knew it once.

Mm, well if you change your minds,

we're just a stone's throw away.

And please, do change your minds.

[Lena speaking in foreign language]

[soft mellow music]

It's this way. [Connie chuckling]

[soft groovy music]

Oh, there we go.

Well this is cute.

Yeah.

Hang on, don't say anything yet.

[chuckling] What are you doing?

What's it look like?

You put a dress on the television

and a miniskirt on the radio.

It's due diligence.

Well, I feel much safer now.

- Good. - Wow, it's a nice new player.

[door clacking]

[Paul] Nothing in the bathroom, okay.

[telephone clattering]

Okay, are you ready?

Absolutely.

[tape machine whirring]

Where are the voices?

The volume's all the way up.

Does this work?

It did, did you bring the wrong tape?

- I brought the right tape. - Are you sure?

Yes, of course it's the right tape.

- Did you break it? - No, I didn't break it.

It was already broken.

Did it get banged up in Rehoboth?

No, it didn't get banged up in Rehoboth.

Can you fix it? - No, I can't fix it.

Jesus Christ.

[Connie] The play head is completely snapped off.

Well, there has to be

another tape player around here someplace.

[birds calling]

Dammit, what are you doing?

Diane, who is Diane?

Not, it's nothing.

- You tried to name me Diane. - It's a name.

It came into my head.

Okay Paul, I'm sorry that I looked in your wallet,

but who is Diane?

She's my fiance, was my fiance, didn't work out.

I'm sorry.

She works at the "Times", she's the receptionist.

She must have answered the phone when I called.

Yeah, she gave me your message.

Well, it must be hard

having her around all the time.

Ha, you see?

That's odd? - What?

This guy. [birds calling]

- I don't like that. - No.

[shades clattering] - It's a good idea.

So I'm guessing that you didn't

find a tape player in here?

[Paul] Oh, observant.

Oh you know, we should just call Jack.

No don't, don't plug that in.

Maybe he has another player that we could borrow.

[Paul chuckling] [telephone ringing]

It's ringing.

[Paul] Just hang up, he's not gonna answer.

We'll try back later.

He's busy watching movies he can't even see.

The phone stays plugged in.

- No. - Yes.

- Connie. - Archie.

- You're unbelievable. - You're unbelievable.

Grab the tape, let's go ask the long hairs.

They might have a tape player.

I have more faith in them than Jack.

Oh, so you trust the sex fiends?

I don't know if they're sex fiends,

it could be a cult.

And that's better?

♪ Deadly butterfly ♪

♪ She's a deadly butterfly ♪

[Barry] Have you ever wondered why Wonder Bread

is not in fact that wonderful?

They tell us to wonder at the wonder of Wonder Bread

when we know the difference, don't we?

There's no wonder.

When we served in Vietnam,

we were fed Wonder Bread day and night, night and day.

And we knew from the beginning

that it was tarnishing our bodies.

And so brothers and sisters, we stand together

to fight against "The Brady Bunch", Skippy,

fake peanut butter and jelly, napalm on Wonder Bread

sandwich of the military aggro industrial complex

that suffocates our minds with sitcom synapses,

and obliterates our bodies with vitamin-enriched venom.

Who owns Wonder Bread? - ITT.

- And who is ITT in bed with? - Nixon?

ITT, who arms and aims the bombs

we drop in Southeast Asia, ITT who was up to their eyeballs

in the coups d'etats of Brazil and Chile.

Every loaf of Wonder Bread supports the ITT Nixon tyranny.

You can't spell vitamin without Vietnam.

We are the yeast of the proletariat,

and the time to rise is now.

We burned our draft cards. - We burned our bras.

Now let us burn the toast of freedom.

[hippies laughing]

- Oh, look who it is. - I told you they swing.

No, we just-

We're actually just, we're looking for a tape player.

Do you guys have a reel-to-reel tape player?

[Daffodil] Reel-to-reel, what year is that?

[Daisy] The revolution will not be on reel-to-reel.

[Daffodil] Eight tracks baby, that's where it's at.

[Barry] You've come to join the revolution.

- Oh. - I dig the vibe,

but loosen up brother.

It's, no it's, I'm good, thank you.

- You narcs? - You look pretty straight.

- Oh. - No, we're cool.

We're just, we're here to see if you have a tape player.

Oh, well you're welcome to look in the cottage.

We're working on a little science project.

Who knows what else is in there?

- Well, let's see. - Dig, I'll join you.

- Okay. - Gotta check on something,

But see that's the difference between our species

and other species, other species

just eat bread for consumption.

[Paul] Yeah.

To have things to fulfill the body.

But our species uses bread as a form of capitalism,

which we're trying to eradicate, If you catch my drift.

Because we are federalists-

- Daffodil. - Yeah?

[Barry] And heuristically conscious creatures

born between here-

Do you think she's Wonder Bread?

No Daisy, I think she's whole wheat.

- Pumpernickel. - Rye.

Sister, why are you so buttoned up?

And with a square so buttoned down?

You let the man put you in a box.

- I bet you live in a box. - You work in a box.

You drive in a box.

Are you a woman, sister?

Or are you a plastic-wrapped, pre-sliced loaf of bread?

[mellow psychedelic music]

Sourdough.

[Daisy and Daffodil laughing]

- Sourdough. - I'm sourdough.

That's perfect.

Are you on your honeymoon, baby?

Yes, yes I am.

I knew it, you've got that aura.

That fresh-baked glow.

Barry says we've got auras too.

You definitely have something.

There is something that is going on, that is for sure.

Oh did you find one? - No luck.

Let's, let's go.

Hey, you're welcome to drop in with this.

I dosed up some electric Kool-Aid.

Liquid courage for the revolution.

- Please. - I'm good.

[Barry] Would you like to join the revolution?

- I think we're okay. - Come hang out.

Do you wanna hear more about the revolution?

Bye.

I like her.

[Paul] Join the revolution while I was inside?

[Connie] Maybe.

[chuckling] You don't seem like the type.

[Connie] What is that supposed to mean?

It means, how many times did you vote for Nixon?

- All right. - Twice?

[Connie] It wasn't a straightforward decision,

just so you know.

'68 was easy, '72 not as much.

[Paul] Okay.

What do you think is on that tape?

I mean, after everything that he's already turned over,

what's on this one?

[Paul] Hmm, something like, "Al, you hired these idiots,

and then they drag me into this?"

What if it does have something to do with the ITT?

You get brainwashed by the hippies?

"Rosemary, hand me some Wonder Bread."

Or maybe it was about the Plumbers.

[Paul] Liddy, hmm.

Ah, it could be ITT, could be anything.

You cold? Want my jacket?

No thanks, my aura is keeping me very toasty.

[Paul] Oh good, 'cause I'm freezing.

[Reporter] That puts the germophobic recluse

Howard Hughes in a precarious position, if his connection

to Nixon and Watergate are revealed further.

- Jack? - Archie, good timing.

I got a message for you.

- You got a message? - Uh-huh.

Who is it from?

Oh, they didn't say.

You know, they just said,

"Give a message to the couple that just checked in."

Have you been watching the news lately?

This guy Howard Hughes, oh my God, what a nut.

You know, one indictment and that'll ruin your reputation.

- Right. - But he's a loon.

I don't know what he's gonna do next.

- Look, can- - He's just crazy.

Was it a man or a woman who gave this message?

It was a man.

And what did they say exactly?

- Exactly? - Yes, exactly.

"Hello, Silver Sands Motel, this is Jack speaking."

"Yeah, I'd like you to relay a message

to the couple that just checked in."

"May I ask who's calling, please?"

"Just tell them, don't leave, they're there.

They'll understand."

"Is they'll understand, is that just part of the message?"

"No," "So it's just, don't leave, they're there.

And the second part, they're there,

is that they are there or is it there there

as a sign of comfort?"

Okay, and then he hung up.

[Paul] This didn't strike you as odd, Jack?

I mean, well, you should see the weird things that go on,

especially during the off season.

You saw those hippies, I mean, you met them.

They're just crazy.

Well there's, there's a man out there,

fishing on the water, is that normal?

He's not gonna catch much.

Well she asked you, is that normal though?

What's normal, really?

I mean, to be honest, I don't know and it doesn't bother me.

Like that note, I didn't understand that,

but I didn't bat an eye, not one.

Enough with the note.

Do you have a reel-to-reel player around?

No, no I used to have one.

My mom, she loved her tapes,

so I buried the tapes and the player with her.

Me, I love television, but I don't think

they're gonna fit a television in my casket.

- Okay- - Archie let's just-

Yet, is there a place in town

where we could maybe buy a tape player?

Nah, the city shuts down when snow is expected.

I think though the ferry's just,

yeah, the last one I think has left already.

- So, no. - Oh you know what there is?

There's the gas station.

They, they, they sell snacks and batteries, film,

sundries, and the thing of the like,

but I don't think they sell reel-to-reel players.

And Leon, he's the gas man, geez, he's a piece of work.

He may even have a reel-to-reel player.

You never, he probably, he might have it.

I don't need to hear about Leon, Jack, all right?

I just need a goddam tape player.

Archie, it's not his fault, okay?

I don't understand, it's a question.

Archie. This is a simple question.

Jesus Christ.

I'm sorry.

I'm not for everyone.

- Hey, hey. - They know we're here.

I told you, I don't know how, but they know we're here.

Hey, hey, who is they?

It could be anyone.

It could be the FBI, the CIA, KGB.

It could be a "Post" reporter, for all I know.

[Connie] We need to do-

We need to listen to the tape, that's what we need to do.

We need to listen to the tape,

and see what we're dealing with, Connie.

[Connie] Ruth, Paul, Archie, shit.

[Paul] We're being followed, who gives a shit

about our goddam names?

You heard him, we have to listen to the tape

or you have to give it to me,

and we have to go our separate ways.

But it seems like you're the one making all the-

- Archie, you need to relax. - I need to relax?

- You need to relax. - Oh that's.

[Connie] Just stop shouting.

[Paul] It doesn't feel like you even wanna be doing this.

What? Look.

Watching Ike or JFK when I was a kid

was the closest thing I had to a father figure.

God, what I'm trying to say is that

I've wanted to work for the President my whole life.

- The Presidency. - Yes, sure.

- Not this President. - What I'm saying is,

that there are a lot of good people in this administration.

A lot of them. - There's a greater good-

- Who could lose their- - Element to this.

I know that there is.

I think that's why you called me.

I understand that.

But it doesn't feel like you're committed.

- Committed? - Yes.

- Committed. - Yeah.

My husband, God. [crying]

Your husband.

[sighing] He asked me to marry him

the morning before he shipped out.

It was romantic, I was in love, we were young.

[sighing] Remember Nixon's promise in '68,

his secret plan to get the troops out of Vietnam?

Yeah, well three months after Jimmy was deployed,

he was gone, that was that.

So yes, there is a lot to think about,

but I am committed, okay Archie?

[mellow boss a nova music] [heels clicking]

Boss a nova.

Groovy.

[knuckles knocking] [mellow boss a nova music]

Mm dear, what a pleasant suprise.

- Who is it dear? - Oh, the newlywed couple.

[Samuel] Oh, here to save us, are they?

[Lena] Are they?

Well, we had a question about the music.

Oh, mm-mm, not unless you agree to have dinner with us.

It's just a quick question, it won't take long.

Please, I'm so bored, I need a distraction, please.

- I don't- - We'd love dinner.

[gasping] I love you.

Okay, come in.

Come on, it's cold out.

Darling, they are here to save us.

Thank God, welcome to the palace.

- Drinks? - Drinks.

Were you expecting someone else to come?

You. [Connie laughing]

[mellow boss a nova music]

You didn't know that we were gonna come to dinner.

Well, we hoped.

Hope is not a strong enough word.

Come, put your purse down, get comfortable.

You like boss a nova, Archie?

Hmm? Yeah, oh, mm.

We play this tape, you know, over and over and over again.

It reminds us of our time in Brazil.

I can almost smell it.

Mm, paprika, ginger, fresh cumin.

Yes, and the sweet savory smell of sweat,

and diesel exhaust, urine.

[laughing] Harder to put in a little tin box,

but just as memorable.

Fabulous travel is a gift.

I can't imagine what he catches.

- No. - What are we drinking?

- Oh, Pinot? - Pinot.

Pinot will go best with the Chateaubriand.

We're having steak, yes?

Do you like steak? - We're having steak?

Yes. [laughing]

- You wanted steak. - I hope you like it rare.

I like it rare. [mimics growling]

Oh, I always make such a mess.

[Connie] You had a, a lot prepared.

You love pickle?

If you didn't come, we would have leftovers.

Um, so do you and Samuel

have any children?

Oh children, no. [chuckling]

We have too much fun, we enjoy ourselves traveling.

No need to wait for empty nest, retirement.

Our lives, our time.

Samuel works in McCormick in Baltimore,

and they send him all over the world, I go too.

Middle East, Latin America,

wherever the spice trade leads us.

[birds chattering]

Not bad, huh?

[Paul] No, not bad.

Can I ask you a question, Archie?

- Sure. - How old are you?

31. [Samuel laughing]

- Goddam it. - Goddam what?

We've been married longer than you've been alive.

[Paul[ Oh, well I'm an old 31.

I'm sure at the wedding you had a lot of people

telling you how quickly it all goes.

Like they were the ones breaking that news to you.

Enjoy these beginning moments.

Soon you'll be chasing those,

but you never catch them again.

How did you meet? You and Archie?

- At a diner. - A diner.

- Mm-hmm. - Oh, that's so romantic.

Was that over the pickles and the coleslaw?

- Actually. - I love diners.

I love diner food.

You are quite a professional in the kitchen, you know?

[Lena] You keep flattering me.

Would you mind checking the Chateaubriand?

There's a spice I'd like to-

I've actually never cooked a Chateaubriand before.

Oh, it's so easy.

It's all right, I got it.

[Connie] So where did you grow up?

[Lena shouting] [oven clattering]

What happened?

Merde. [gasping]

Paris, by way of all Europe, that is my accent.

[groovy psychedelic music] [hippies shouting]

Peaceful.

[sniffing] Could be more peaceful.

Soak it up.

It'll soon be over.

[Lena] Men, come in.

I wouldn't want to interrupt your hard work

helping to get everything ready.

Bottoms up. [glasses clinking]

[groovy psychedelic music continues]

I love men.

Incorrigible species though, don't you think?

[singing in foreign language]

- What happened to your hand? - Battle wounds.

[Samuel] You gonna be able to manage with one hand?

- Of course. - The food'll get cold.

Oh, what happened to you, did you lose your fire?

- Never, never never. - Okay.

Here, here, dance on your wedding day, dance, dance.

Don't leave us dancing alone, boss a nova, yes.

You know son, there's a secret to a long and happy marriage.

Have your fights, but fight til you agree.

Oh.

If you agree 100% of the time,

you might make it out alive.

[Paul] And if you disagree?

Oh, then you agree to disagree.

What if we disagree 100% of the time?

Well, as long as you agree on that,

you're on fire. - Fire.

[Lena and Samuel laughing]

- Come. - Thank you.

[Lena] Oh, you're on fire.

Spin me, spin me, ooh.

Strong muscle, wow, you spin.

Dip, come on, dip me, oh, that was beautiful.

Hi. - Hi.

I see, there he goes, we're set.

Oh, where are you going?

[groovy boss a nova music] [couples chattering]

Oh, all right, come on now.

That was delicious, all right, come everybody.

We worked, since you worked up an appetite,

wasn't that fabulous?

Fantastic.

My wife's a regular Julia Child.

Oh, I don't know about that, but hey, we are you.

We have the fresh baked baguette.

None of this pre-sliced polystyrene stuff

that you serve in America.

You tear it apart, darling.

It's like an animal. [snarling]

Bon appetit. = Bon appetit.

Right? Fantastic.

- Mm, impressive. - Looks so good.

Oh well, what can I say?

[laughing] It's good to be back here, isn't it?

[Lena] Oh yes.

We have a history in this place.

- Here? - Yes, in this cabin.

We got engaged here.

I mean, it was almost by accident.

What happened was, I was gonna take her out

in a charter boat into the bay.

We love it out there.

So imagine this, a proposal, on the water at sunrise.

Calm, peaceful.

Oh, had romantic potential, right?

And then there was a monsoon.

- A monsoon? - It's chaos, right?

- In Chesapeake. - The lightning, honey.

It was so loud, it was just like the heavens.

They just burst open.

Woke us up, I mean honestly.

So I go over to the window and I see our charter boat,

the one I'd hired to pick us up.

Motor off into the rain.

I mean just left us high and dry.

Well or wet, you know, as the case may be.

And Archie, and Archie knows.

Well I'll ask, look.

Archie, when you were about to propose to Ruth,

didn't it feel like there wasn't anything

that could stop you?

- Absolutely. - Right, right?

But didn't mean you weren't nervous, right?

Right Archie? - Oh I was still nervous.

Oh my God, he was acting so strange.

I thought he was gonna break up with me.

[Connie laughing]

No, it's torture proposing.

A man's burden, darling.

No honey really it, it is.

Wouldn't you say Archie, a man's burden?

A burden I'm happy to shoulder.

Oh yeah, you see there?

He's a professional honey. - Beginner's luck.

So I watch the boat take off and I'm thinking,

the end of the world has finally arrived, you know?

I mean, it's like biblical almost, the rain.

It's just pouring, and I, I see Lena,

she comes stumbling out of the bedroom here,

and I just panic, and I'm panicking.

And I'm thinking I'm like, oh,

my whole plan is like gone to hell in a hand basket, right?

And I must have passed out, because when I come to,

I'm [laughing], she's standing over me, hugging me,

crying and raving about this ring on her finger.

So it's like, [laughing] oh man.

The big galoot, he doesn't even remember, and I said yes.

It, it it's an aggressive situation, darling.

It is, wouldn't you say Archie, an aggressive situation?

It is an aggressive situation.

- Ah, Archie. - Oh, you see there?

Something is definitely aggressive.

You say one true thing and you get a, "Ah, Archie."

It's fascism. - Fascism?

- Yes. - You fought fascism darling.

[Samuel] And I continue the good fight to this day.

[Connie] Were you overseas?

- He was stationed in Paris. - Oh.

I saw her in a bar.

Well I mean, it was a speakeasy really,

on Boulevard Raspail.

There were many men in uniform,

but there was only one who really wore it.

She was drinking absinthe, fending off advances

from ravenous 18-year-olds like a champ.

I suppose after four years of resisting Nazis,

that a couple Iowa farm boys weren't much of a challenge.

But you could see everybody just falling for her.

Like, like I did I mean, and I fell.

Love at first sight.

I wanted to stay in France, but.

It was not the Europe that I grew up in.

Next thing I know I'm proposing to her right over here.

Right here.

What did you do in the war?

[sighing] We won.

[Lena] You know, I'm gonna go and get us another Pinot.

[groovy boss a nova music] - So what is it you do?

Oh, I work in transcription.

- What do you transcribe? - Sports.

Sports broadcast. - Oh, you got him going.

- Uh-huh. - What team?

- The Orioles. - Chuck Thompson.

- Yes. - Oh.

Yes, Mr. Thompson.

Best goddam broadcaster in the business.

What do you think of him?

Oh, [laughing] what can you say

about Mr. Thompson that has not already been said.

Oh, you know, Chuck and I share, well he's your boss,

so I'm not gonna fill your head with a bunch of stories.

- Go ahead. - No I, no I shouldn't.

I really shouldn't, well- - Oh please.

What are you going to tell her, darling?

Well I, I could, I could, I could.

What? Tell me what?

Chuck and I were in the service together.

Oh wow. [Paul's plate clattering]

[Lena] Oh that's delicious meat, very highly fat.

So tender, it's slippery.

I would fill your head with a bunch of stories,

but I'm not, I'm not going to, I'm going to-

- Oh, you have to. - Not tell.

No, no, no, no.

Well, why don't you, why don't you tell us a story?

- Honey. - Tell you.

A story about Chuck as your boss.

- Honey. - Oh.

- Yes, a story about Chuck. - Salt.

Honey, could you pass the salt?

Yes.

Oh, you know who she reminds me of?

Nixon's secretary, what's her name, Rose?

- Rosemary Woods? - Rosemary Woods.

Trying to erase the Watergate tapes.

Oh, did you see that paper?

The picture of her? It's ridiculous.

Trying to press erase with one finger while,

while pressing the pedal button thing with, with her,

with her foot way on the other side, come on.

[Lena] That's impossible.

They're lying to us, that's all.

Oh, the whole bloody thing is a disgrace.

I mean, 18-and-a-half minute gap?

You know Nixon did it.

[Lena] You know, or one of his jackals, you know,

trying to do him a favor.

Look at the bind he's in now.

[Samuel] I know, imagine with everything

that's come out already.

Well, maybe whatever is on that tape,

we're not meant to hear.

You know that's why, went to all this trouble,

risking everything. - Exactly.

Maybe no one is supposed to hear it.

[Samuel] That's what I think.

You know with every day that passes, I'm more intrigued.

- Me too. - Honey.

- No- - We don't-

- Rosemary Woods was just- - Talk about things we don't-

- Doing her job. - Know anything about.

She sticks her neck out for the President.

And her arms and her legs.

And she's the one who is made a laughing stock.

Oh yeah, blame the secretary.

- Exactly. - Gloria Steinem speaks.

Wow.

If she did anything to cover it up,

then that makes her culpable too.

- Oh, don't do that, don't. - What?

She was doing her job.

Exactly, who would believe her?

This 18-and-a-half minutes is just a distraction anyhow.

Ultimately it's Nixon's fault, right?

I mean, we all have dirty laundry,

but we don't all run for President.

[Lena] That's true, that's a good point.

Oh Ruth, what about you?

If you were going to run for office,

what would you be hiding?

[laughing] I don't have anything to hide.

I'm an open book.

[Lena] I think there's something delicious in there

that I would like to know.

Lena, Lena, just leave the girl alone, okay?

Why don't we change the topic

before the evening turns foul?

[Lena] Hmm.

So Archie, what is it you do?

- I work in print. - Christ.

- I'm sorry? - Here comes the foulness.

It's the goddam papers.

[Samuel] My wife's a tad disillusioned

with the state of the- - Disillusioned?

The press used to play golf with the White House staff

after the morning briefings.

Can you imagine that today?

Oh, it'd be a blood bath. [laughing]

That's the press, but thank you, thank you Archie.

Archie, the press are always trying to get us riled up.

Keep us going, keep us enraged.

You know, there's a special report,

there's an extra edition, something is happening.

There it is everybody, something is happening.

What is happening? Nixon.

Somebody is happening that we have to know about,

and so it's Nixon.

There is no one but Nixon?

I mean forget the, the sycophants

and the liars surrounding him.

Listen, listen, listen,

closely, then you can hear them laughing.

They're just smiling gleefully,

while they're smearing the shit on the faces

of every man, woman, and child from sea to shining sea.

I mean, let's be honest.

It's just a fraction of the truth,

you know, a slight of hand.

Are they well placed bread crumbs

that Nixon throws on the ground

as the press goes after them like rabid dogs,

while what's really happening is somewhere else.

Everybody is looking at A,

while B is what's really happening,

and no one is paying attention.

It's happening in the buried rooms, the tunnels,

the bowels under the Supreme Court,

under the Capitol, under the White House.

And Nixon, ah well, for all his bluster, hmm.

He will bend to the noise because he is fragile,

like the vicious swine.

I love this country as if it was my home, it is my home.

It is my home because of my Samuel.

I love my Samuel. [crying]

It's like, you know, there's people trying to ruin things,

the baseless corporations making the laws,

the Howard Hughes types afraid of the germs.

You could trace it all back to money.

The pigs, I would love to see them lying on their deathbed.

Realize that they, they can't take it with them,

and saying, "Good riddance, good riddance and au revoir."

[groovy boss a nova music]

I don't work in the news.

- Oh, but you said- - I said print.

I work in aviation publishing, aviation manuals for pilots.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

I-I-I, I feel very strongly.

[Samuel] We're all now acquainted with the strength

of how you feel, darling.

Well you know I, I think it's good to feel things.

I think there should be more people like me in the world.

[Samuel] You know, let's not talk about work any longer.

Yeah, and maybe no politics.

Oh, absolutely. [chuckling]

♪ You wonder why caterpillar hangs herself ♪

♪ A kind of killer as she walks around with silken threads ♪

♪ I wonder if she's dead or alive ♪

♪ She's a deadly butterfly ♪

♪ Deadly butterfly ♪

♪ She's a deadly butterfly ♪

♪ Deadly butterfly ♪

♪ Wonder what she's trying to hide ♪

♪ Wonder if she's dead or alive ♪

♪ She's a butterfly ♪

♪ Deadly butterfly ♪

♪ Cocoon didn't work ♪

Jack didn't have any batteries.

Drag.

- Look what I found. - Goddam Watergate.

You know what to do.

♪ She's a deadly butterfly ♪

♪ Deadly butterfly ♪

♪ She's a deadly butterfly ♪

♪ Deadly deadly butterfly ♪

♪ She's a deadly butterfly ♪

♪ Deadly deadly butterfly ♪

♪ She's a deadly butterfly ♪

♪ Deadly deadly butterfly ♪

♪ Mm mm mm ♪

[tape reel whirring]

Oh, Samuel, digestive.

[laughing] Oh, I would love a digestive because you know,

Samuel has the best taste in liquor.

[Samuel and Lena speaking in foreign language]

- Come, come. - No more politics, I promise.

I promise Samuel, no more politics.

Sit.

Oh Archie, you miss the music?

I'm sorry?

[Lena] Do you miss the music, Archie?

I don't-

I mean, you've been staring at the tape recorder.

Archie come, come Archie.

Now you had a question when you were at the door,

and I was so rude, I didn't answer you.

I demanded that you eat dinner with us.

If you're not gonna tell her, I will.

He recorded the proposal.

[Lena gasping]

He had mics set up at the restaurant where we were,

Italian. - I did.

All of the waiters were in on it, right?

It was what, a two-week job?

I put a microphone in the soup.

No, it was in the bread basket, remember?

No that, that doesn't make sense.

Right, it was in the bread basket, of course.

- Yeah, here we were. - A bread basket, yes.

In this restaurant.

I was shocked, as you can imagine,

because of what you were saying about his being off

for a couple of weeks before.

Well there I was, and the mic was in the bread basket,

and the ring was in the, the Linguini

with marinara clam sauce.

Yeah, it wasn't very easy to-

- Clean? - No, no.

It was so hard, it took an hour.

So anyways, I find the ring.

I'm sitting there holding the ring, and Archie stands up

in the middle of this very crowded restaurant

and blurts out, "Ruth will you,"

and then there's a pause.

And then he just starts stammering. [laughing]

- Aw. - He says,

he says, "Will you, will you, will you, will you,"

four times, I thought he was having a stroke.

[chuckling] I might be having one now.

[Samuel and Lena laughing]

Anyways, so then he takes a deep breath and he looks at me

in the eyes and he said, "Ruth, will you marry me?"

[Lena gasping]

And when you hear those words, it's all pretty simple.

All the build up, all the waiting, it just,

it comes down to saying yes and, and it was easy to say.

I wasn't sure if I'd be ready, and for a while I wasn't,

but he was patient and I am so thankful that he was.

Well, it was all a blur to me.

I don't have my wife's memory.

So we brought the tape, the proposal tape with us,

because we thought it would be fun

to listen to it on our honeymoon.

And I wanted to show him just how many will yous it took

for him to actually ask me-

- I think there were three- - To marry him.

- Honey. - There were four.

- I remember three. - There were four.

Brilliant, to three on the proposal tape,

I'm with Archie, Archie,

to the ring in the Linguini with clam sauce.

Is that correct? - Yes.

Are you drinking? Drink.

It's just a healthy dose of nostalgia.

Nostalgia? Your relationship is too young for nostalgia.

We, on the other hand, are ripe for reminiscing.

Well are, are you trying to say that we're old?

[Lena and Samuel laughing]

To the agreeable among us, so at any age.

At any age. [laughing]

Oh, we are doing this?

Mm. - Mm, mm.

Oh, you just have to let it

roll down your throat, you know?

- It's making me warm. - It's hot.

I love when you are warm.

- Oh darling. - Oh.

[Paul] Oh my God, oh.

[Lena and Samuel moaning]

Oh no, that's, maybe we should leave.

[Lena] Oh Samuel, oh Samuel, oh Sammy.

Oh Samuel, oh darling.

[groovy boss a nova music] [Lena and Samuel moaning]

Oh, oh Samuel.

Oh, oh come now, don't let me be

the only woman who's being kissed.

- That would be unfair. - That would be so unfair.

We're not exactly an openly affectionate couple.

- No. - No fears of open.

We are among friends.

Oh come, come, come, swallow that pill.

Oh.

It's, it's just, it's just like,

it's just like it's your wedding.

Well, um.

It's just a kiss at the altar.

[Connie laughing]

- Oh that's, Archie- - One more.

Yeah more, you have to close your eyes.

Oh that's lovely, oh, it's beautiful.

- Now we're even. - Yeah.

Now let's take up just where we left off.

I mean, with your memory, I'm sure you can

bring us right back there.

Um, right, our player.

We brought our player from home, and it was broken,

and we didn't check it before we left the house.

And so we've just been looking at yours,

wishing that we had ours working.

And we were wondering whether, [sighing]

we could borrow yours just for the night,

just for the night, for nostalgia.

[Lena and Samuel laughing]

[Connie laughing]

Of course you can borrow ours.

Oh great.

Yes, we've been listening to that

same goddam tape for years, right?

- So exhausting. - That's great.

[Paul] That's, well we'll be on our-

[tape clattering] [group exclaiming]

[Lena] Samuel, Samuel.

[Samuel] It's like the Linguini from the restaurant.

[Paul] Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No, no, careful.

[Connie] It's the only one that we have, and-

[Lena] I don't think you people should listen to it.

[Paul] I think it's best if we-

[Connie] It's the only one that we have.

I like the tape, oh Archie.

[Samuel] Will you, will you, will you, will you.

It looks like about 40 will yous to me.

Oh, well it's embarrassing, it's just embarrassing.

It's best if we listen to it alone.

- Only one- - Well, it would be-

Can we do that?

Maybe we should all listen to it together,

if it's that good.

- Oh no. - Oh well, wow.

- I'll get the recorder. - Oh, thank you.

It was a lovely evening. - Oh, was it lovely?

It was so nice, really enjoyed it, so-

- Careful with the handle. - Okay.

- Oh! - I didn't have a grip on it.

I have a grip on it. - Wine's got him now.

[laughing] I got it, I can carry it.

- And we'll bring this- - Unexpected.

[Paul] We'll bring this back.

- Bye, have fun. - Good night.

[Lena and Samuel laughing] [smooth expectant music]

- All right. - I never drink wine.

Well, part of the job.

And fast.

It really does sneak up on you.

- Mm-hmm. - Okay.

We did it to ourselves though.

No, no, no, they did it to us.

[tape machine clattering]

All right.

[Paul] Did you have to make my proposal sound so inept?

Oh, was it smooth when you proposed to Diane?

- Oh, it was worse. - Yeah, see?

I know you. - You know me?

I do, I think I do.

- Okay. - You think the tape's okay?

- Let's find out. - Looks good.

You're good at that.

Yeah, nimble fingers, lots of practice.

[sighing] Oh, your notebook.

Right.

All right, ready? [sighing]

[Eric] November 2nd, 1973, tape 465.

Sandwiches are on the credenza, please help yourself.

It's after the meeting, right?

[tape squeaking]

[Al] Kill the tape, let's eat.

[Richard] We can use the player in here, Al.

We can use the player in here, Al.

[Richard] I don't understand, Bob.

How could those idiots have gotten-

See? [giggling]

Told you I brought the right tape.

[Richard] Those Cubans had that funny guy,

with the big- - Holy shit.

- In there, the one with the- - Howard Hunt?

[Bob] Yes, Hunt's name in their damn address book.

The Hunts are an important contact with-

[Al] Mr. President, this is the conversation

I was talking about. - Yeah I can hear, Al.

- When you and Haldeman- - Was that Al-

- Haig. - When he spoke-

[Al] We can't turn this over.

[Paul] The squeaky clean Chief of Staff.

[Connie] [laughing] Not so squeaky.

[Al] Recorded two days after the burglary, and-

[Richard] How long did you say it is?

[Al] It's just under 20 minutes.

[Richard] Loose ends, there are too many

goddam loose ends to sleep at night.

[Bob] Well hold on now, back to the Plumbers penthouse.

Hunt, that idiot. - You wanna sit down?

- Sloppy work. - No.

[Reporter] I thought he was a company man.

[Bob] He's working for Colson now.

[Connie] I want coffee, that's what I want.

- Should I- - No, no.

I can get it.

[Richard] That goddam, what are we calling him?

- Special counsel. - Special counsel.

What does that even mean, if he's not-

- Want me to stop it? - No, I can hear it.

[Al] It's not gonna take Hansel with Greta

to follow these bread crumbs to the white house.

- Gretel. - What did I say?

- Sounded like Greta. - Oh, I don't think so.

He definitely said Greta.

[Richard] What are we doing about Hunt?

[Bob] Oh, he did a great job for us

on the Ellsberg break-in, he even wore a red wig.

[Richard] I don't know anything about that.

[Bob] Ellsberg, the Pentagon Paper snitch.

[Richard] Bob, I-

Hunt broke into his psychiatrist's office to get the file.

[Richard] Bob, I don't anything about that.

[Bob] No, of course not sir, my mistake.

[Richard] I won't stand for anyone looking into Colson.

[Bob] Right now it's just some flatfoots at DC Metro.

[Richard] And by tomorrow it'll be the FBI.

Colson will fold light testicles in a nutcracker.

I don't trust a girl.

I assure you, with the-

- Sorry. - Don't apologize.

- Force of habit. - It's okay.

[Richard] Ever since Hoover died,

they're pissed off that we didn't promote from the ranks.

Who's that one, Mark something, satin, velvet.

- Felt. - Felt like a weasel,

when I shook his hand.

[Bob] We're months away from the election

and those jackasses at CREEP have been-

[Richard] CREEP, who in the hell

thought it would be a good idea to call

the Committee to Re-Elect the President CREEP?

Was that Colson as well?

[Bob] Might have been Mitchell.

[Richard] Mitchell, he's up to his eyeballs

in this Watergate mess too, I suppose.

[Bob] Yes, probably.

[Richard] And all we need now is his wife, uh-

- Martha. - Martha.

Yeah Martha, blabbing her mouth off to Helen Thomas at UPI.

[Connie] Oh my God.

[Bob] Martha's a bit of a leaker.

[Richard] She's a goddam fire hydrant.

[Bob] Now don't, don't worry we,

we handled her already handled her.

[Richard] Handled her.

[Bob] It took five FBI agents

and a shrink with a sedative,

but they got her subdued in a California hotel.

She should keep her mouth shut for a while.

[Richard] Bob, all I need to know is she's got-

- That's insane. - A drinking problem.

They're just idiots.

[Bob] Yes sir a, a drinking problem.

[Richard] Now Al, I can't imagine this will sound good

to women voters in middle America,

kidnapping my own campaign chairman's wife.

[Al] You know, at least Mitchell's

not your Attorney General anymore.

[Richard] We need to make that part go away, Al.

[Al] Yes sir.

[Richard] Did the Plumbers at least find out

what they were supposed to with the DNC?

[Bob] This time or the first time?

[Richard] First time? This was the second time

they broke into the Watergate?

- They broke in twice? - I thought you knew.

[Richard] I don't know anything Bob,

I keep telling you that.

[Bob] The bugs they planted last month didn't work.

They had to go back and, and fix them.

[Richard] Holy hell, were they wearing red wigs this time?

[Bob] Like Hunt?

[Richard] 'Cause they sound like the goddam clown squad.

[knuckles knocking] - Shit.

[tape machine clicking] - Hang on.

Who is it? - Hey man, it's Barry.

- Barry? - Barry.

Hey. - What is it?

Just wondering if you had any batteries we could borrow.

[Paul] Sorry, we don't have any.

That's a drag.

Do you know where we could get any, or-

- No, I- - Gas station.

Ask for Leon, snacks, batteries, film,

sundries and the like.

- Leon. - Mm-hmm.

- Thank you, comrades. - All right, peace.

- The revolution commences. - Groovy, go get 'em.

[Barry] Let's go to Leon.

[hippies cheering]

- Hound squad. - Right.

Okay.

[Bob] So Hunt and Liddy hired McCord and the Cubans.

They swore they were-

Oh it's hot, maybe- [kettle whistling]

[Richard] And this was one of Lin's plans?

I mean, he just isn't that well screwed on, is he?

Isn't he the asshole who wanted to photograph,

who was it now? - DNC delegates.

[Richard] Yeah, on a boat during this year's convention.

[Bob] In Miami, yes.

[Richard] Yeah, some of them with hookers down there.

[Bob] On a houseboat, he was going to lower them there.

Part of Operation Gemstone, that plan was called Ruby.

[Richard] Ruby, what were the other gemstones?

[Bob] Let's see here.

You know when ITT gave us that-

- Yeah- - What'd he say, ITT-

[Connie and Paul exclaiming]

- I'm sorry. - Oh, oh that's hot.

- Are you okay? - That's hot.

One second, I'll get a hand towel.

[Bob] It had been in San Diego,

diamond was the plan to kidnap radicals and troublemakers

and Shanghai them to Mexico until the convention was over.

- Ah. - Okay.

- Oh, it's sticking. - I know, I know.

It's gonna be easier to take care of,

if you take off your shirt.

[Bob] And the other plan, crystal,

was electronic surveillance and wiretaps,

and sapphire was sabotage of other campaigns.

[Richard] These are the best names

you guys could come up with?

Don't, no. [Paul murmuring]

[Bob] It beats the plan we had last year,

Operation Sand Wedge.

[Richard] Operation Sandwich, is that another

ITT Wonder Bread operation?

[Bob] Oh no sir, sand wedge, like a sand iron,

it's a golf club to get us out of a sand trap.

[Richard] I know what a sand wedge is, Bob.

Still sounds like sandwich, who thought of that?

[Bob] Dean's man, Caulfield, the Irish ex-cop.

[Richard] Well no wonder he thought of a sand wedge.

[Bob] He's the one we asked to wire tap Don.

Dry here.

[Richard] Wiretapping my own brother

doesn't sound good, Al. - No sir, no.

[Richard] I mean, Christ.

If the Judiciary Committee heard about all these operations,

they'd impeach me in a heartbeat.

They can't get this tape, Al.

Not Congress, not the grand jury,

and sure as hell not that damn special prosecutor,

this new guy. - Or Jaworski.

[Richard] Look, I thought we fired those prosecutors

that was the Saturday Night Massacre.

They crop up like goddam venereal disease

on a Miami houseboat. - Oh yes sir, they are.

[Richard] First the aptly named Archibald cocksucker.

Now what's his name, Jew-orski, no wonder.

[Al] Oh he's not Jewish, his father was Polish.

[Richard] Oh, so they send the Polack.

[Al] His mother was Austrian.

[Richard] Well so was Hitler the Kraut.

Now the Justice Department works for me Al, don't they?

You know, none of those traitors can hear this.

None of them. - What do you suggest?

[Richard] We'll have Rose tell the press she erased it by-

[Al] Just a second, how would she have, you know-

[Richard] She'll come up with something.

[Al] Been able to-

[Richard] And I'll believe her Al,

she's got thick fingers.

She'll say she, she pushed the wrong buttons,

[Al] And she'll do what we say?

[Richard] She's a glorified secretary, Al.

She's loyal like a puppy, like Checkers.

[chair thudding] [Connie laughing]

[Al] Okay, well let's start with this section.

[Richard] Now which button do I-

[Al] We'll, we'll rewind first a little before,

before we do anything.

[tape speeding]

And now we'll just hit play and record-

[Bob] Like this Al?

I push the right two buttons, right?

[Al] Mm-hmm.

[Richard] Ah, thank God we're erasing this, Al.

This tape would've killed us.

[Al] Sir, we can't talk when you hit play and record.

[tape squeaking]

[Richard] Thank God we're erasing this, Al.

This tape would've killed us.

Oh, well, well that's no good Al.

[Al] It's okay, sir.

Now let's just listen to the whole thing.

[knuckles knocking]

Then we'll go back and record all over it.

You know, quietly though.

[Bob] Sterling and I thought it'd be better

to go with a boss lawyer like Liddy,

to keep to the up and up. - Hang on.

[Richard] Well that's just working out,

just peachy Bob. - I-

[tape machine clicking]

- Barry? - No, it's Jack.

[Paul] Jack, Jack Jesus.

Look Jack, kinda in the middle of something here.

[Jack] Oh geez, I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to bother you, I can come back.

No, it's all right.

It's just I heard voices,

and I thought it was probably the television.

What is, is that the news?

Are, are you listening to Nixon?

Is that what you're, anyway, I came about the note.

What about the note?

The, the note, you know about the couple?

Okay the, the note for the couple I got to thinking,

"Whoa, it could be the other couple."

Maybe you're not the couple.

You know, it was the couple with the loud boss a nova music.

[Paul] What do you mean?

Here, I'm sorry about the handwriting.

I have a slight tremble in my hand.

I've had it since I was a kid,

it was, it's mercury poisoning.

I used to suck on this thermometer,

and one time I'm sucking on it, and I bit it.

Telling me that this note

might be for the people down the road?

See, I don't know.

But I wanna check it out, because I saw how cranky you got.

So I thought, well I would ask them,

'cause I wanna put your mind at ease,

because I like to have peace here at the Silver Sands, okay?

So I'm gonna say goodnight now, okay?

Okay bye-bye, I'm gonna go talk to, okay, goodnight.

Where were we?

I need the tape Connie.

If this thing's gonna get published,

my editors need to hear it, all of it.

[Connie] What happened?

You were right.

The tape's real, but now we gotta go.

Yeah, but I have most of it memorized.

I can turn the tape in Monday morning-

- No no no no no. - And then I can go in and-

They will never believe a GS-2, okay?

You have to give it to me, my editors need proof.

If they have proof, then we can keep you safe.

I wanna protect you Connie, I do.

You wanna protect me?

But things are gonna move very fast

once this thing gets published.

It's okay, because everything will change by then.

- Because things are gonna be- - Because Nixon will be gone.

[knuckles rapping]

- Jack- - Jack not now!

It's not a good time! [door creaking]

[Richard] We've got to send a message Al,

a strong message to everyone who's after us.

Don't screw with the President.

Are we interrupting?

Bonjour, le President! - We can talk about this.

There's nothing to talk about, you two.

[Paul] You just can't, we'll give you the tape.

Can we have the tape Connie?

Can we have the tape Paul? - We have money.

[Connie] Oh God.

[Paul] I can get you a ton of money, whatever you want.

Paul, the "Times" could never match

what Nixon and his friends are paying.

Are you even married?

We would never lie about something like that.

- Jack, Jack has seen us. - Has Jack seen you?

- Oh. - The hippies.

Perfect patsies.

If you were just gonna kill us, why,

why did you feed us dinner?

Sacre bleu, we are not savages.

Just let Connie go, we can talk about this, just us.

Let her go.

[Al] I suggested we call the pros in the first place.

They don't mind the wet work- - It's Al!

- And they tie up loose ends. - Well then, let's call them.

- I agree. - After you, darling.

[tire iron thumping] [men grunting]

[dramatic groovy music] [women screaming]

[men grunting] [women shouting]

[fists thudding]

[Lena shouting]

[Richard] That idiot brother-in-law

cost the damn election of Kennedy,

for taking that money.

That's why it's called a bribe for God's sake.

Ever since then, he's been up my ass

about those nuclear tests, but now I'm paranoid

about pulling off those precious casinos.

He's a nut job, is what he is.

[Al] But the money he could make you,

has to be like Bebe Rebozo-

[Richard] Are those the cash flows I used

to fix up my place at Key Biscayne?

[Al] Yes, for the putting green and the fireplace.

[Richard] Well it's not a bribe

if I used it for something else.

[Al] I, I think it still is, sir.

[Richard] Well not a very effective one.

Hell, there's not even a sand trap in that green.

Damn Howard Hughes, damn him and his sandwiches.

[Al] Yes, there was no telling how much

the DNC knew about this Hughes money.

[Bob] Since those nitwits got caught,

now we don't even know what the DNC knows, huh?

[Al] I'm sure Hughes isn't gonna want

these payments coming to light.

[Richard] God, what a mess.

[Al] We can't let either his people

ever get his hands on this.

He's got access all over town.

[couples shouting]

- Hang on, Bob. - What a goddamn mess.

[Richard] This pervert's sandwiches is making me hungry.

Rose. - Yes, Mr. President?

[Richard] Get them to bring up

some cottage cheese sandwiches for me, okay?

[Rosemary] Your usual, yes sir.

I'll have them bring it right up.

[Bob] Don't leap into the path.

And don't forget about Project Azoria,

our deal with Hughes on the Soviet submarine.

[Richard] Yeah, that Russkie sub

that sank off the coast of Hawaii in '68.

Project Azorian?

[Bob] It's an anagram for Arizona.

- Arizona? - Who do you work for?

- Sir? - Who do you work for?

[Bob] I guess he thought it was ironic.

And he said, you know what would make a great distraction?

[Al] Don't we have the sub?

[Richard] You're not supposed to know about that, Al.

[Bob] They have some of these in Mont Matteo, don't they?

- I suppose they're popular. - Paul!

[Bob] So where are we, the agency contract with Hughes?

[Richard] Christ, how much did we pay him for that?

[Bob] $ 250 Million.

[Richard] For a couple of mini subs and a hoist.

[Bob] A sea mining ship sir, and a barge.

He said he was going to mine

manganese nodules on the ocean floor.

[Connie and Lena screaming] - Manganese nodules.

[Bob] That was the cover story.

[Richard] Does Hughes ever get the nuclear codes

or any of the silver missiles?

- No sir, not yet. - Thank God.

[Bob] At least that's what he's told us.

- You mean we don't know? - Not exactly.

[Richard] Well good goddam grief, Bob.

That doped up recluse. - Baby, are you all right?

[Richard] For all we know he's sitting-

[tape player smacking] [Lena shouting]

[Richard] Playing footsie with the President.

[Bob] It's conceivable.

So if he thinks we screwed him over with Watergate,

he could- - Sell us out to the Russians?

Blackmail us with his own nuclear stockpile?

[Richard] Now I'm the one with my manganese nodules

in a Nutcracker, Bob. - Skull says hello.

[Richard] I'm getting tired of these charges all the time.

When the White House is at the beck and call

of Rich Lewis- - Lena!

[Richard] Of the FBI or Russian stooges,

then where will it end, huh?

The line is going be hard no.

Who is really running this country? Me, I am.

Those sons of bitches are gonna learn.

[Connie yelling] - No doubt about that.

I have changed things around here, haven't I?

- No question about it. - You quit screaming!

[Connie shouting]

[Richard] We can't let this Watergate thing

get out of our grip, Bob.

I've got a legacy to think about.

One person can make a difference.

[Samuel shouting]

30 years from now, I'll wanna be remembered, Bob.

[tape squeaking] [Connie screaming]

[Samuel gasping] [Connie shouting]

Well I think we've heard enough of this.

Go ahead and erase it, maybe this whole mess can disappear.

[Connie gasping] I want you to end it.

[Al] Like it never happens, sir.

[Richard] And make sure, for God sake,

that you push the right button.

[tape machine clicking] [Connie gasping]

[tape whirring] [intense tonal music]

[tape squeaking]

[tape machine clicking]

- Is that Al? - Haig.

[Paul] The squeaky clean Chief of Staff.

[Connie] Not so squeaky.

No, I want coffee, that's what I want.

- Are you sure? - No, no, I got it, good.

[tape squeaking] [tape machine clicking]

Connie. [tape squeaking]

- Nixon will be gone. - Nixon will be gone.

[knuckles knocking]

- Jack, it's not- - Jack, not now.

[Connie] A good time.

Get the player in your hands.

Wait until you play it, then take care of you.

That was the job. - I don't know.

[soft tense music]

They switched the buttons,

they switched the buttons.

They erased the...

[tape machine crashing] [Connie screaming]

[Connie sobbing] [soft poignant music]

[Connie shouting] [water splashing]

[soft poignant music]

[water sloshing]

[soft poignant music continues]

[ferry whistle blaring]

[radio squeaking]

[Steve] San Clemente, California.

We're joined now by one of the "Times"

premier political correspondents

to discuss recent Watergate developments.

Paul Marrow is live via telephone

from his office at the "Times" Washington bureau.

How are you this morning, Paul?

[Paul] Hello Steve, it's easy to stay busy these days.

Things change minute to minute.

[Steve] I followed your byline for 30 years now.

[Paul] 30 some odd years, that's right.

I started on the police beat in the '40s,

and moved to the Washington bureau

during the Johnson administration.

[Steve] It's safe to say that you

and the fellows at the "Washington Post"

are leading all of us through it.

[Paul] I might not get the recognition of a Cronkite

or a Dan Rather, but that's the job.

[Connie crying]

[Steve] A recent article of yours

concerning the 18-and-a-half minute gap in Nixon's tapes

has been the water cooler conversation of the week.

[Connie sobbing]

[Paul] Things aren't adding up.

By now, most folks doubt Rosemary Woods'

infamous explanation that she herself

was responsible for the erasure.

[Steve] You seemingly have access

to the darkest corners of this scandal.

Any working theories?

[Paul] Personally, I'm looking forward to the hearings

on Howard Hughes's connection.

The Senate Watergate committee is investigating

$100,000 of Hughes's money given to President Nixon's

close friend, Bebe Rebozo.

[Steve] Do you think that Hughes' money has a connection

to the 18-and-a-half minute gap?

[Paul] It could,

[Al] Hughes or his people ever get his hands on this tape.

[Richard] Don't forget about Project Azorian

and our deal Hughes on the Soviet submarine.

[Al] He's got assets all over town.

- What a goddam mess. - Who do you work for?

[Paul] Just let Connie go, I'll tell you.

- Who do you work for? - Hughes, Hughes!

Howard Hughes, please. - Paul!

[Paul] If the Hughes/Nixon connection

is what the taped outlined,

the field of potential suspects gets larger.

Nixon, Hughes, one of the operatives'll fold,

the section of the tape that proves

Hughes' stronghold over the administration

will drop the floor out of the White House,

and threaten Hughes' control.

[Steve] Well, how do you keep track of all the players?

[Paul] It's my job, I feel a responsibility

to take the, as you say, darkest corners of this scandal,

and flip the light on.

[Steve] What do the American people

stand to get from this?

[Paul] I believe...

Thank God we're erasing this, Al.

This tape would've killed us.

[radio squeaking]

♪ They love her from the gleaming streets ♪

♪ To to the favelas ♪

♪ She's Brasilia Brasilia Bella ♪

♪ She doesn't need an umbrella ♪

♪ Rain drops keep her dry ♪

♪ Even the wind will sigh ♪

♪ Will sigh ♪

♪ A Brasilia Bella ♪

♪ Eats pancakes with Nutella ♪

♪ She's the girl you wanna meet ♪

♪ A secret agent Cinderella ♪

♪ Ah Brasilia Brasilia Bella ♪

♪ And when she sings a cappella she'll mystify ♪

♪ Spy a caterpillar now be a butterfly ♪

♪ Ah ♪

♪ Ah ah ♪

♪ A modern girl for a modern world ♪

♪ From Rio to Oaxaca ♪

♪ Panama and Paris she won't embarrass ♪

♪ 'Cause she is yes she is ♪

♪ Brasilia Bella ♪

♪ Yes she is ♪

♪ Brasilia Bella ♪

♪ Yes she is ♪

[radio squeaking]

[Steve] Thanks again to Paul Marrow for joining us.

Now, a special bulletin.

A Wonder Bread factory in suburban Maryland

was bombed overnight.

Representatives from ITT,

the technology conglomerate that owns Wonder Bread,

confirmed that the factory was empty

and there were no fatalities.

A previously unknown group

calling itself the Wonder ground Revolution

has claimed responsibility for the attack.

[radio squeaking]

[birds squawking] [fishing reel clicking]

♪ Ever wonder why you're still inside your bed ♪

♪ Take a bite of the magic mystery bread ♪

♪ Wonder what it is that you just fed ♪

♪ Into your mouth that is inside your head ♪

♪ Wonder Wonder Bread ♪

♪ Wonder Wonder Bread ♪

♪ Now that you are through the looking glass ♪

♪ See what's on and is between the rest ♪

♪ Wonder what will happen when it gets in ♪

♪ You will make sweet love with Richard Nixon ♪

♪ Wonder what you'll say and what you'll see ♪

♪ One-Eyed Jack or maybe KGB ♪

♪ Wonder what it is that gets you free ♪

♪ No matter where you turn it's ITT ♪

♪ Dig it now ♪

♪ Tweedledum and Tweedledee ♪

♪ Are in our hearts but they're not me ♪

♪ Careful of burning free ♪

♪ The looking glass will make you see ♪

♪ Wonder why you're still inside your bed ♪

♪ Take one bite of the magic mystery bread ♪

♪ Wonder what it is that you just fed ♪

♪ Wonder bread ♪

♪ Into your mouth that is inside your head ♪

♪ Wonder what you'll see and who you'll meet ♪

♪ Howard Hughes or maybe KGB ♪

♪ Wonder what it is that gets you free ITT ♪

♪ Throw your mind into the sea ♪

[radio squeaking]

[Bob] Oh, did you see that new movie, "The Hot Rock"?

It's pretty funny.

[Richard] The heist picture?

[Bob] Yeah, they lift the glass box

and the guys all get in the box,

and it drops down with them inside it. [laughing]

[Richard] I know what that feels like.

[Bob] Yeah, Robert Redford is a thief

who's trained as a plumber.

[Richard] Oh, you don't say?

It's kinda like this Watergate thing here.

[Bob] Yeah, [laughing] they,

they screw everything up.

[Richard] Say now, that Redford's the kind of fellow

who should play me in a movie.

The raw face, small feet, but strong jaw.

I know that Pat's a big fan of his.

[Bob] Yes sir I will, I'll try to get

a print of it for you this week.

♪ You grew up baked and toasted ♪

♪ It's why they want you they want you ♪

♪ Don't you see that they're not alone ♪

♪ They cut off your crusts and slather on the jelly ♪

♪ A meal that poisoned may be it's solution ♪

♪ It'll cough you up and rip your constitution ♪

♪ Now is the time to seek your absolution ♪

♪ Rise up baby you know it's a revolution ♪

♪ Now each little piece of the flower is in the flour ♪

♪ Can't you see you're a part ♪