[Double Indemnity. 1944 film directed by Billy Wilder. Listed by the U.S. Library of Congress as one of the hundred best films of the Twentieth Century. The term "double indemnity" refers to a clause in certain life insurance policies that doubles the payout in cases when death is caused by certain accidental means.]
___________________________________________ [Manhattan Murder Mystery] MARILYN It starts in a little while. INT. Movie theater - Night Up on the screen, Edward G. Robinson (portraying "Barton Keyes") and Fred MacMurray as "Walter Neff." BARTON KEYES I'd have the police after her so fast, it'd make her head spin. They'd put her through the wringer. And brother, the things they would squeeze out. WALTER NEFF We haven't got a single thing to go on, Keyes. KEYES Oh, not too much, I guess. Just twenty-six years' experience... all the percentage there is, and this hunk of concrete in my stomach. The third character in the sequence, Phyliss Dietrichson, played by Barbara Stanwyck, is hiding behind a door. NEW YORK EXT. Liptons' residence street - Night FULL SHOT of the street. Carol and Larry walking toward the CAMERA, which is by their apartment building entrance. CAROL God, that movie was great, wasn't it? LARRY Yeah, I... it was one of my favorites. CAROL I loved it. LARRY It just... they were all so wonderful, in the picture. CAROL You know, who could we fix Ted up with? I mean, there must be somebody in your office.
LARRY Ted? CAROL Yeah. LARRY Well, I don' t know. Ted... I always thought Ted had a crush on you. CAROL Me? She laughs. They enter their building. In the glass door we see the reflection of flashing ambulance light. LARRY Yeah. Why are you so stunned? I think that... CAROL Please. I mean, you know, I adore him, but you know, he's like a girlfriend to me. LARRY Uh -- now he's divorced, you know? CAROL Do I detect a note of jealousy? INT. Elevator Carol and Larry standing inside. INT. Hallway As the Liptons step out of the elevator, we see a small, haphazard gathering of people. NEIGHBOR (voice over) I had to come up here and call nine-one-one. ^ So what's the trouble? ^ Oh, is that the -- the E.M.S.? ^ The doctor and the E.M.S. CAMERA follows Larry walking toward the group in the hall. The door to the Paul and Lillian House apartment is wide open.
LARRY What's the matter? What's going on? What happened? TALL MALE NEIGHBOR She had a heart attack. CAROL (voice over) Oh my God! TALL NEIGHBOR She's -- dead. Ambulance people coming out with the stretcher. Doctor with his black leather case. LARRY She's -- she's dead? CAROL Dead? NEIGHBOR They're giving Mr. House a sedative right now. He was running around like crazy. The CAMERA turns back to the tall neighbor standing near the Houses' front door. A policeman enters the apartment.
TALL NEIGHBOR I called E.M.S. and they got here as soon as they could, but it was too late. LARRY She -- We just met her last night. ELDERLY FEMALE NEIGHBOR Awful, just awful. LARRY What happened? DOCTOR Well, it was a classic coronary. She just went like that. CAROL Is there anything we can do? LARRY Oh -- my God.
DOCTOR You can be good neighbors. You know, we calmed him down, uh... LARRY Th-th-th-The first time we saw them was last night. We just met them. W-We had... They invited us in for coffee. TALL NEIGHBOR Such a -- such a nice lady.
FEMALE NEIGHBOR Nice lady. OTHER NEIGHBOR Sweet person. EXT. NEW YORK - Liptons' street - Night FULL SHOT on the entrance of their apartment building. Larry and Carol are exiting, going out for the evening. ____________________________________
[she's seriously thinking of starting a little restaurant] LARRY Oh, she's a great cook, though, really. Her duck and fennel omelette on a bed of scallops and hollandaise sauce with truffles and sweetbreads'll make you snap into a fetal position and have you in bed screaming for a month. CAROL He loves to tease me, but actually, he really loves exotic food. LILLIAN My weakness is any rich dessert, cream, butter, anything with fat. CAROL Oh, really? Oh well, let... listen... I'll fix you a dessert that'll make your eyeballs roll up. You'll have to exercise for a month to work it off. LILLIAN Ah! PAUL We're going to Le Cirque for our anniversary. CAROL No, really? LILLIAN Yes. Twenty-eight years. November. CAROL Really?
PAUL Well, what do you buy the woman who buys everything? LILLIAN We already have twin cemetery plots. LARRY Well, it's... I always think a Bentley is in good taste. You know, or you can go the route that I went with her. On our twentieth, I got her some very lovely handkerchiefs.
CAROL Yeah. Oh no, but, you know -- they had my initials on them. LARRY Yes, it was a very, very high-class item. I didn't even know her size! Carol bursts out laughing.
CUT TO: Black Screen. INT. Larry and Carol Lipton's apartment - front hall - Night We hear a door opening. LARRY Jesus, couldn't you keep the conversation going a little longer in there? [Lights are turned on.] He's holding the door for her as they enter. LARRY I was signaling you frantically. He closes the door. CAROL I was just trying to be neighborly.
LARRY Neighborly? If this guy showed me his stamp collection one more time... I mean, my favorite thing in life is to, you know, look at canceled postage. CAMERA follows Larry walking in the corridor toward: INT. Bedroom - Night CAROL (voice over) Oh, come on Larry -- it was sweet. They, you know, they're looking forward to their anniversary. Larry, taking his jacket off -- puts it on a chair. LARRY Yeah, and I'm looking forward to seeing that Bob Hope movie. I don't know why they put it on so late. CAMERA on Carol, still in the front hall. CAROL You know, do you think that's gonna happen to us? LARRY (voice over) What? Carol walks down the corridor, toward the bedroom. CAROL Well, that we'll become like them. You know -- just another dull, aging couple, you know, with our little walks, you know. ... She enters the bedroom. LARRY (voice over) We are a dull aging couple. CAROL With our TV, our lox and bagels. And... and our twin cemetery plots? [Larry is seated on the bed. Carol looks at some pill bottles on the night table.] LARRY No, we should be as lucky as them. To, you know, to be in their physical shape, at their age? They look great. Did you see the dumbbells this guy lifts? If I lifted dumbbells like those, I would get a hernia the size of the San Andreas Fault. CAROL How often do you think they make love? She goes out of the main part of the room, and the CAMERA follows her. She's taking her shoes off. LARRY (voice over) Oh, you know, probably more than we do, in their shape. You know -- I'm sure as much as once a week. CAROL Larry? LARRY (voice over) I'm exhausted. What? CAROL Do you still find me attractive? LARRY Of course. What kind of question is that? Of course I do. Carol crosses the room. In the shot is a large, round clock on the wall -- the kind of clock you see in an office or classroom. CAROL Yeah but we're not turning into a pair of comfortable old shoes, are we? Do you think? LARRY (with a light laugh in his tone) Never comfortable. CAROL No? LARRY I don't think you have to worry about that.
CUT.
EXT. Market Place - Day MED.-LONG SHOT: outdoor antique and craft market, very colorful. We hear the voices of Larry and Carol, and another couple with them, in Voice-Overs. LARRY How you guys doing? SY We're fine. MARILYN We're good. SY We like that. We're gonna get this one. MARILYN That's very nice, actually. LARRY So -- umh -- MARILYN Listen, are we going to see you at Elaine's Thursday? CAROL Oh, no. Thursday's our Wagner opera. ["Vog - ner"] MED. SHOT: Larry, Carol, Sy and Marilyn, standing. MARILYN Uh..uhm... you know -- Ted's coming to Elaine's with us. CAROL Ted. MARILYN Yeah. CAROL How is Ted? MARILYN He's... he seems to be doing well. I mean, I... I actually think he's glad... I think he's glad he's divorced. SY Well, I don't think he's... no, he's not doing... Come on, he's not doing well at all. He's not used to it. MARILYN Well he looks... I think he looks, you know, like he's glad. Sy looks at some of the arts and crafts items displayed on a nearby vendor's stand. SY Yeah, yeah. This. LARRY So what do you want to do? You guys gonna browse, or... SY No, we're gonna go to a movie. MARILYN Yeah, we're gonna go see Double Indemnity.
CAROL Oh, really? MARILYN Yeah. SY Why don't you come with us? __________________________________ {Manhattan Murder Mystery, 1993. Directed by Woody Allen.}
News / Laquan McDonald reprinted from the Chicago Tribune Live updates: Chicago police use-of-force expert takes stand for prosecution in Laquan cover-up trial NOVEMBER 28, 2018, 1:30 PM A key witness could take the stand as soon as Wednesday as the historic trial of three former and current Chicago police officers accused of a cover-up in Laquan McDonald's shooting enters its second day of testimony.
Chicago police Officer Dora Fontaine is expected to testify that then-Detective David March attributed statements to her in his reports that she never actually made. March, ex-Officer Joseph Walsh and Officer Thomas Gaffney are believed to be the first Chicago cops ever to face criminal "code of silence" charges stemming from an on-duty shooting. They are charged with official misconduct, obstructing justice and conspiracy.
Fontaine has been on paid desk duty since telling investigators that she did not make statements attributed to her in March's police reports. Prosecutors said her fellow officers consider her "a rat" and have told her that she would not be safe on street duty.
INT. The apartment of Paul and Lillian House - Night Lillian and Carol by the treadmill. LILLIAN Have a look at the instructions. They drive me crazy. You know? I don't know what I'm doing at all. Let's look... CAROL No -- please -- it's easy. Lillian picks up a book from a table near the bed. LILLIAN Wonderful book they've given me. Now I'm at Level Five. CAROL What? You're that advanced? LILLIAN Well, yes. CAROL God, I only got to Level Two. LILLIAN (looking in the book) Look at these diagrams. Do you believe this? CAROL That's amazing. LILLIAN (with the book) I can't understand this, even. CAROL Let me see. LILLIAN Yes, well. See this? CAROL Okay. INT. Mr. House's study - Night
The room is decorated in traditional fashion, with antique furnishings, lots of pictures on the walls; cozy lighting. Mr. House is bringing a stamp book over. PAUL Now, let me show you a mint 1933 airmail. Very rare... and very beautiful. They sit. LARRY Yeah. Paul picks up a special philatelist magnifying glass and holds it in front of the stamp, for Larry to view.
PAUL Look at that. And this plate block is quite unique because it has a flaw in the engraving. See if you can see it. Larry, a bit lost, scratches his head. LARRY Uh, it's hard for me. PAUL Actually I'll give you a little hint. Right down here in the corner. LARRY That tiny thing there? PAUL Interesting, yeah. LARRY Ah, you have a really... PAUL That makes it quite valuable, you see. And I just got a commemorative set of issues that are going to be quite valuable, too. He picks up a transparent envelope containing several stamps. LARRY Yes. PAUL Look at the color, right there. All these are gonna become a real...
LARRY (standing up) Well, listen -- we're probably keeping you up, right? PAUL Oh, no-no-no. This is wonderful. LARRY I should be going. PAUL What do you do, if I may ask? LARRY Me? I'm in book publishing. I work up at Harper's. PAUL Are you really? LARRY Yeah. PAUL I own an old -- cinema. Having it re-done. LARRY Oh. PAUL Used to have a string of three, but, you know -- business is not what it used to be. He picks up some more stamps from the table. PAUL Now, look at these presidentials. Look at the color work. Even the perforations are still intact. LARRY Where's Carol? PAUL All the... LARRY Because I should really be going, actually. PAUL Oh, really? LARRY Yeah. I mean so, we...
In the background we see Carol and Lillian entering the room. LILLIAN Coffee's ready! LARRY Oh, coffee. I forgot coffee. PAUL Good. We can get back to this later. (putting his hand on Larry's shoulder) Come on in. CUT TO: INT. Living room Paul and Lillian sitting in chairs; Larry and Carol are on the sofa. LILLIAN Well, we've never had any children, but it's easy to empathize. Umh -- what college does your son attend? CAROL Brown. LILLIAN Oh. PAUL Nice color. They all laugh. LILLIAN Paul never attended college. He'd self-made.
PAUL Always regretted it. I think knowledge is the second most important thing. First is health, then knowledge. Then money. LARRY (putting his cup down on a low table) You know, it's amazing how time, we -- we'll just... LILLIAN And, do you work? Larry stands up. CAROL Huh? do I? LILLIAN Yes. Larry looks at Carol and sits back on the sofa. CAROL Oh, well, I actually, uhm -- I used to work at an ad agency, but that was many years ago. CAMERA moves closer to Carol and Larry. CAROL But... You know, I've been seriously thinking of starting a little restaurant. But -- well, Larry -- he's trying to talk me out of it.
_____________________________ {Manhattan Murder Mystery. Directed by Woody Allen. Screenplay by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman. 1993} -30-
"Hold the elevatorrrrr!" LILLIAN (voice over) I'm coming. Inside the elevator, Larry and Carol Lipton wait; Larry puts his hand on the edge of the door to keep it from closing. PAUL (voice over) Hold the elevator.
Paul and Lillian enter the elevator. They are a middle-aged couple. He is bald and tall, and very smiley. She is small, with salt-and-pepper hair arranged in a neat bun. LILLIAN That's right. PAUL Thank you. Lillian has a broad smile when she recognizes Larry and Carol. The elevator door slides shut. Lillian looks at Carol.
LILLIAN I, uh, I see you at the gym sometimes. CAROL Oh, you do? LILLIAN Yes, we live in the apartment down the hall. CAROL Oh, well, I go whenever I have the discipline. LILLIAN It's important to put that time in. It does wonders. CAROL Oh, yeah -- I agree with you. LILLIAN Exercising changed my life. CAROL Well, geez -- LARRY I prefer to atrophy. I'm not a very -- exercise person.
PAUL We bought a treadmill last week. CAROL Oh, well, we had one. But you know, we got rid of it because it was just taking up too much space. LILLIAN Oh, it -- it -- umh -- LARRY Because you have to turn it on and get on it once in a while... LILLIAN Hey, I -- exactly, I... and it's so confusing, with all those buttons and computerized programs. I'm just never gonna get that. INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT Elevator door opens; the two couples exit. They talk back and forth together. CAROL Oh, I know. It's late. LILLIAN It's so wonderful, meeting. CAROL Oh, well, yeah. PAUL It is just like New York. You have neighbors. You never meet them... You guys...
LILLIAN ...I've seen you so many times in the hallway, you know...and I've always wanted to come up and say hello. PAUL Well, anyway... good night. Larry and Carol walk away toward their apartment. CAROL (voice over) Good night. Such a lovely couple. You know that... Paul bends down to pick up something on the carpet. Lillian walks one step back down the hallway. LILLIAN Oh, uh, say, hello? Paul starts opening their apartment door, just across the hallway from the elevator. CAROL (voice over) Huh? Yeah? LILLIAN Uhm listen -- why don't you come in for a -- a second, and have a drink with us. I mean, we'd really love that. The camera pans around the corner, to Larry and Carol -- Larry makes a negative sign with his hand. CAROL Oh, oh well, that'd be fine... PAUL (voice over) She makes great Irish coffee. Muted conversation between Carol and Larry. Larry doesn't want to accept the invitation, but Carol does want to. LILLIAN (voice over) Oh, please? I -- want you to give me a treadmill lesson. LARRY There's a movie on television I want to watch.
Carol starts walking toward Lillian and Paul's apartment, followed reluctantly by Larry. As they enter the apartment, Carol is speaking to Lillian: "Oh, about the tread-- oh, well, if I can figure it out, then believe me, anybody can!" She laughs, with the other couple, and Larry gives a forced, polite, social chuckle.
You can't hire the "fox" to guard the "hen-house," and that's why in the Constitution there is the "Advise and Consent" provision. Three U.S. Senators have a lawsuit filed, because of President Trump's appointment of Matthew G. Whitaker as Attorney General, following the forced resignation of Jeff Sessions. Mr. Whitaker had spoken openly on TV shows, saying he didn't think this president should be investigated. After Pres. Trump heard what Mr. Whitaker said, he gave the A.G. job to Mr. Whitaker. (Nothing like being obvious.) That's like saying the president of U.S. is "above the law"! It is a notorious step forward on any nation's road to fascist or communist dictatorship.
--------------------- The hypothetical "fox-henhouse" scenario is addressed in the Constitution, & the Blumenthal-Whitehouse-Hirono lawsuit bases its questions on this: [excerpt] ------------------ The constitutional requirement that principal federal Officers be appointed only with the Senate's "Advice and Consent," U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2, was adopted by our nation's Founders as an important check on the power of the President. Recognizing that giving the President the "sole disposition of offices" would result in a Cabinet "governed much more by his private inclinations and interests" than by the public good, and could result in the appointment of Officers who had "no other merit than that of . . . possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure," The Federalist No. 76, at 457-58 (Alexander Hamilton) (Clinton Rossiter ed., 1961)... ------------------------------ [end, excerpt] _______________________________________ ____________________________________
At the beginning of the movie, Manhattan Murder Mystery, a song called "I Happen To Like New York" (written by Cole Porter, sung by Bobby Short) plays over the opening credits. After a cheerful, tinkling, slim few notes to begin the song, the vocal comes in very strong and clear -- almost shouting out the lines like in opera, the lyrics a determined declaration!... I happen to like New York, I happen to love this town I like the city air, I like to drink of it The more I see New York, the more I think of it I like the sight and the sound and even the stink of it I happen to like New York I like to go to Battery Park -- and watch the liners booming in I often ask myself why should it be That they come so far across the sea? I suppose it's because they all agree with me They happen to like New York Last Sunday afternoon, I took a trip to Hackensack But after I gave Hackensack the once over I took the next train back I happen to like New York... NEW YORK - AERIAL VIEW - EXTERIOR. NIGHT While the camera is flying over New York, we hear the song; the camera reaches a round building that looks like a stadium and starts moving around the building. [Song ends.] HOCKEY GAME - INTERIOR. NIGHT [Immediately after the end of the song, the noise of hockey game replaces it, with sudden chaotic audio energy.] Long shot on the skating rink. A hockey game is in progress on the rink. The camera follows a player, and then pans on the audience. MED. SHOT of Larry and Carol, a couple in their early fifties. Larry seems fascinated by the game, but Carol appears to find it boring. She looks at the ceiling, and then puts her hand over her mouth to suppress a yawn. Larry turns toward her. LARRY Come on. CAROL What? LARRY You promised to sit through the entire hockey game without being bored, and I'll sit through the Wagner opera with you next week. CAROL I know, honey, I promised. I know. LARRY I already bought the earplugs. CAROL Yeah. Well, with your eyesight, I'm surprised you can see the puck. The crowd starts yelling and we guess that one of the players has done something really good. Carol mockingly claps her hands: "Yay, hooray." Then she raises her eyes to the ceiling.... APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT. Larry and Carol Lipton walking into the lobby, from the street. She's reading a newspaper. LARRY I can't wait to get into bed and stretch out. CAROL Yeah. LARRY You know, there's a Bob Hope movie on television later. CAROL (still reading) I know. Can you believe this guy in Indiana? Killed twelve victims, dismembered them, and ate them. LARRY Really? -- Eeh -- it's an alternative lifestyle. CAROL Yeah, I'll say. They walk into the elevator. We hear a voice from the hallway: PAUL (voice over) Hold the elevator!
____________________________________ When he says that, it's in a cheerful, eager voice, and he kind of draws out the last syllable as if he's singing... "Hold -- the elevatorrrrrr!" When Larry (played by Woody Allen) says "Wagner," he pronounces it Vog - nah... ----------------------------------------- {Manhattan Murder Mystery, 1993. Producer: Robert Greenhut. Director: Woody Allen. Screenplay written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman. Dist. TriStar Pictures.}
