The Next Man (1976) Movie Script
I didn't realize you were so hungry.
Famished.
But you'll be with me, old friend, to pick up the pieces.
Air Lingus flight number 35 arriving from Paris.
Will be deplaning at gate number 6.
Passengers are cautioned not to leave their... So good to have you back, Miss Nicole.
Thank you.
I'll drive.
There was a call for you, wasn't there?
Any message?
Just a number for you to call.
I have it somewhere.
I'm sorry.
A call for you, Miss Nicole.
Excuse me.
Why does she bother to come home?
Yes, sir?
Where?
The basement?
Yes, sir?
Charlie, the Minister of State wants to go to the basement.
What the hell's in the basement at 4 a.m.?
Maybe he's interested in plumbing.
No, there's a train station in the basement.
Train station?
Yeah, there's a train station in the basement of this building.
Oh.
What's he saying?
Some of this country's great leaders used this station.
Roosevelt, Eisenhower, MacArthur.
I was a student here in New York when Eisenhower was nominated to be president.
On the battlefield of indecision lie the bleached bones of countless thousands...
who, in a moment of decision, waited.
And in waiting, died.
I was part of a speech by Senator Everett Dirksen.
It was a keynote speech at the Republican Convention.
Everybody wanted to know where the quotation came from.
Dirksen eventually admitted that he'd got it from an advertisement for soap.
It was a bleaching chemical.
Bleached bones.
Written by some obscure copywriter.
It's wonderful.
You'll be just as eloquent tomorrow at the United States.
The United Nations.
Eloquent.
Yes.
My good friend, I shall be just as eloquent.
Wait, no more questions.
....
Your Excellency, I heard your speech.
You're marvelous.
Are you there?
Of course.
Miss Salyer, excuse me, please.
Excuse me.
Perhaps we can discuss this later.
What is it?
The Palestinians will never sit down and talk.
The Israelis?
Surely you must know that.
I know it, but I don't understand it.
I don't understand it.
Because talk from the barrel of a gun is a sad and mindless language.
Not mindless, Salyer.
The Israelis used it and became a state.
And unless you understand that, your politics have no point.
There is only one point.
These murders must stop.
What is this death wish you have?
What are you saying, Adil?
You turn your back on the Palestinians?
You'll withhold your dollars?
They pour in dollars and guns from more places than you know.
We will miss Saudi Arabia's support.
But we will... ...get along without it.
Oh, I'm sure you will.
But... ...whatever the communists want the triggers pulled...
...they'll make sure you have the guns.
And the fascists too?
Does that surprise you?
No.
But wait till the hand you've built.
Fun.
...and persistently something called the, uh, Today Show.
The Today Show?
Well, what's that?
I haven't the foggiest nose.
I can be ready in one hour.
Here!
Let me go!
Don't touch me!
Let me go!
It's all your fault.
...you.
I'm alright.
Oh, come on!
Atif Abbas.
Who was it, Atif Abbas?
Wasn't it that great man, Mr. Kissinger, who said the
Middle East is an area of remarkable personalities?
The last bastion, where great men come out of the desert and do unbelievable things.
Mr. Kissinger anticipated a Khalil Abdul Mohsen.
Tell me, why shouldn't we?
You frighten me.
You look to the future, but you ignore the past.
The Arab has been looted.
There are accounts to settle.
That is the tie which binds us together.
Is it not better to have a gun in our hand and
face the enemy than to have one at our back?
Unless we proceed from there, we are fools.
What is it you want, Khalil?
Change.
To what?
To an Arab world that will not end in a pile of atomic ashes.
You are right.
He frightens me too.
What of the children dying in the dust, Prophet?
And the open wounds of the refugee camps?
Where the Jews, with their superior skills, have
taught our people to build homes with oil cans?
Tell us, Prophet, what of them?
Accept the responsibility for the Palestinians.
We shovel their youth onto those garbage dumps.
Where they either rot or, in their despair,
become terrorists and try to blow up the world.
Would you rather they lie there and rot, Khalil?
You have a plan, Khalil.
Just heard it.
We give our land.
We make it flower.
We collaborate with the Jews and we forget.
And we cooperate.
Ah, Khalil?
What a plan, brothers.
And when you speak to the United Nations again, this is what you'll tell them.
More eloquently.
Khalil.
I was wrong.
You are not the Christ.
He is your Christ.
Santa Claus.
Keep that bastard away from me.
The price of a hand grenade.
Those fantastic blankets in the house.
Come on, dance with me.
Come on.
How do you like my hat?
Famished.
But you'll be with me, old friend, to pick up the pieces.
Air Lingus flight number 35 arriving from Paris.
Will be deplaning at gate number 6.
Passengers are cautioned not to leave their... So good to have you back, Miss Nicole.
Thank you.
I'll drive.
There was a call for you, wasn't there?
Any message?
Just a number for you to call.
I have it somewhere.
I'm sorry.
A call for you, Miss Nicole.
Excuse me.
Why does she bother to come home?
Yes, sir?
Where?
The basement?
Yes, sir?
Charlie, the Minister of State wants to go to the basement.
What the hell's in the basement at 4 a.m.?
Maybe he's interested in plumbing.
No, there's a train station in the basement.
Train station?
Yeah, there's a train station in the basement of this building.
Oh.
What's he saying?
Some of this country's great leaders used this station.
Roosevelt, Eisenhower, MacArthur.
I was a student here in New York when Eisenhower was nominated to be president.
On the battlefield of indecision lie the bleached bones of countless thousands...
who, in a moment of decision, waited.
And in waiting, died.
I was part of a speech by Senator Everett Dirksen.
It was a keynote speech at the Republican Convention.
Everybody wanted to know where the quotation came from.
Dirksen eventually admitted that he'd got it from an advertisement for soap.
It was a bleaching chemical.
Bleached bones.
Written by some obscure copywriter.
It's wonderful.
You'll be just as eloquent tomorrow at the United States.
The United Nations.
Eloquent.
Yes.
My good friend, I shall be just as eloquent.
Wait, no more questions.
....
Your Excellency, I heard your speech.
You're marvelous.
Are you there?
Of course.
Miss Salyer, excuse me, please.
Excuse me.
Perhaps we can discuss this later.
What is it?
The Palestinians will never sit down and talk.
The Israelis?
Surely you must know that.
I know it, but I don't understand it.
I don't understand it.
Because talk from the barrel of a gun is a sad and mindless language.
Not mindless, Salyer.
The Israelis used it and became a state.
And unless you understand that, your politics have no point.
There is only one point.
These murders must stop.
What is this death wish you have?
What are you saying, Adil?
You turn your back on the Palestinians?
You'll withhold your dollars?
They pour in dollars and guns from more places than you know.
We will miss Saudi Arabia's support.
But we will... ...get along without it.
Oh, I'm sure you will.
But... ...whatever the communists want the triggers pulled...
...they'll make sure you have the guns.
And the fascists too?
Does that surprise you?
No.
But wait till the hand you've built.
Fun.
...and persistently something called the, uh, Today Show.
The Today Show?
Well, what's that?
I haven't the foggiest nose.
I can be ready in one hour.
Here!
Let me go!
Don't touch me!
Let me go!
It's all your fault.
...you.
I'm alright.
Oh, come on!
Atif Abbas.
Who was it, Atif Abbas?
Wasn't it that great man, Mr. Kissinger, who said the
Middle East is an area of remarkable personalities?
The last bastion, where great men come out of the desert and do unbelievable things.
Mr. Kissinger anticipated a Khalil Abdul Mohsen.
Tell me, why shouldn't we?
You frighten me.
You look to the future, but you ignore the past.
The Arab has been looted.
There are accounts to settle.
That is the tie which binds us together.
Is it not better to have a gun in our hand and
face the enemy than to have one at our back?
Unless we proceed from there, we are fools.
What is it you want, Khalil?
Change.
To what?
To an Arab world that will not end in a pile of atomic ashes.
You are right.
He frightens me too.
What of the children dying in the dust, Prophet?
And the open wounds of the refugee camps?
Where the Jews, with their superior skills, have
taught our people to build homes with oil cans?
Tell us, Prophet, what of them?
Accept the responsibility for the Palestinians.
We shovel their youth onto those garbage dumps.
Where they either rot or, in their despair,
become terrorists and try to blow up the world.
Would you rather they lie there and rot, Khalil?
You have a plan, Khalil.
Just heard it.
We give our land.
We make it flower.
We collaborate with the Jews and we forget.
And we cooperate.
Ah, Khalil?
What a plan, brothers.
And when you speak to the United Nations again, this is what you'll tell them.
More eloquently.
Khalil.
I was wrong.
You are not the Christ.
He is your Christ.
Santa Claus.
Keep that bastard away from me.
The price of a hand grenade.
Those fantastic blankets in the house.
Come on, dance with me.
Come on.
How do you like my hat?