The Plastic Men (2025) Movie Script
1
I was only in my twenties,
the first time I saw a dead body.
You never forget that, really.
Until the moment of
your last breath,
it sticks with you
until the very end.
It did, for me.
For generations, US children have played
with little plastic green army men.
I did.
Along with other war toys, they contribute
to the socialization
of some young boys
into the idea that war is an exciting
and heroic adventure.
I know now that has
never been more wrong.
Oh!
Yeah.
So, I go to this girl's party,
and it's about a week
after she just beats
the living shit outta
my friend, right?
And I do a little recon.
While everyone's getting trashed,
I find this back window.
Mission Impossible
myself in there.
And I did my thing.
Dude.
Shut up.
Stop. I'm serious, man!
I'm telling you!
I went around and I put tuna in
every single curtain rod.
For weeks, they're trying
to figure out why this place
smells like festering
death, right?
I mean, just, just god awful rotten.
She starts going to
the pussy doctor.
Yeah!
She thinks she's
festerin' up the place.
A little fire in the hole.
Boom!
Dude, you are sick.
You know that, right?
Sick, who?
They wronged me.
That's just the way it goes, man.
Fuck 'em if they
can't take a joke.
How did you talk me into this?
Beats the hell outta me.
Fucking hot as shit!
Come on, you piece of shit.
Shit.
Come on!
You're glad you came!
Yeah. No.
Oh, well, you weren't
complaining too much,
when you were in line for
the El Buffet, last night.
-Yeah!
-Get it, baby!
Yeah!
Dude, that was you.
Are you sure?
Yes.
No, but in all seriousness,
it was good to see you
smile for once, man.
You worry too damn much.
I can't help it.
Yes, we can.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Especially, if you got
a nice eleven-inch cock.
-Dude.
-Oh, I'm serious, man.
I'm serious.
Dude, what are you
fucking doing, man?
The truck needs a little car wash, baby!
Man, come on! Dude, come on!
I told you, not in the truck!
Little car wash for Daddy!
Oh!
Come on, man! You get an anxiety attack
if we leave the zip code.
I mean, that's not normal behavior.
No fucking way!
Yeah!
"Normal." Right!
You're welcome.
Dude, we were in Mexico.
Precisely.
It was kinda nice.
Boom!
This is what I'm talkin' about!
That's what I'm talking about, man!
Come on! Loosen up!
Life's too short.
-Relax.
-Just relax.
Yeah.
I can do that.
-Boom!
-Dude, what?
Come on, man. Who do you
think you're talkin' to?
I can totally relax!
All right.
Tell me a joke. Go ahead.
Come on. Make me laugh.
R-E-L-A
Dude, what the fuck, man?
I'm fucking driving!
-You trying to get us killed?
-Oh, my god.
Where did you get your license?
Oh, man. Wake me up
when we get there.
You drive slower
than my grandmother.
Dude, I'm about to kick your
greasy ass out of this car
and make you walk,
how's that for relaxed?
Well, why don't you drop me off
at your mom's on the way?
You wish.
That I do.
That I do.
Any more cold ones?
That's doubtful.
But I can check.
Among men too
on issues like the war itself.
Hold on.
Can't reach 'em.
Did you leave 'em?
I, I don't think so.
And you volunteer in your regular army.
Yeah, I didn't volunteer to go to Vietnam.
I did volunteer
to come into the service.
Tell me this, Jobs.
We've lost something
over 40,000 men now.
Forty thousand American lives.
As far as you're concerned,
it's worth it?
You fuckin' drank 'em, didn't you?
Watch out!
Dude! What the fuck?
What did we hit? What, what?
I'm fuckin' with you, man!
Come on, come on!
Come on!
Come on.
Come on.
You got it. You got it.
You got it. Come on.
Shit!
You tried that about
a hundred times, dude.
Dude, it's getting cold.
You got a sweater?
Yeah, in the bag.
Speedy, what is this?
That is pot.
Okay, Speedy, I need you to tell me,
I need you to explain to me
that we didn't go all the way
to Mexico for you to buy pot.
We went all the way
to Mexico to buy pot.
Fuck!
What?
Speedy, I need you
to roll down the window
and throw that shit out
of this car, right now.
-Shit.
-Shit.
-I'm stuck, man!
-Well, figure it out!
-Yeah, I'm trying!
-Okay! Okay.
-Dude, fuck!
-Okay
That's good. I got it.
Okay! Just, just
-You got it? Okay.
-I got it.
Flask.
Hello, Officer.
How can I help you?
What you boys doing out here?
Well, we were on a trip
and our car broke down.
We were just trying to
get back home. That's all.
You alright there?
I'm gonna need you to step
out of the vehicle, sir.
Officer
Like I said, we're just
trying to get home.
I need to inspect
this vehicle, right now.
So, I need the two of
you to get outside.
Put your hands on the hood.
This isn't fucking happening.
Put your hands on the hood.
We're just
That's you too, passenger.
Officer
I'm not askin'!
Step out of the vehicle!
Let's go!
-Get outta the vehicle!
-No!
I'm saddened to see
such potential as yourself
drift into a darker place.
You've clearly forgotten
what is right, young man,
and I hope this may
set you in that path.
Your actions were a disgrace.
That is true.
You have a visitor.
However, with your clean record
and no prior history,
I am giving you a choice.
To go to prison,
or to serve in the Vietnam War.
These proceedings can continue
when you've made that decision.
You have a visitor.
My name is Jonathan Teller,
and I am a haunted man.
I guess this is a good place
to start as any.
If I go back any further,
you'd despise me.
But don't give up on me just yet.
Hi, Jonathan.
Look at me.
Jonathan, look at me.
Jonathan, look at me, please.
-After everything that you put me--
-What do you want me to say?
Jesus Christ, Jonathan.
Did you really think
that I wouldn't find out?
That what? That I was just gonna
come here one day,
and not notice that
you weren't here?
And that you went off to fight
some stupid, unimaginable,
not to mention unwinnable war,
clear across the other
side of the world, right?
Is it true?
It was that,
or rot in here for the rest of my life.
What do you want me to do?
Hey.
I'm here.
I always will be.
Always thinking of yourself.
Hands off the glass!
I just want you to know, you know
Sorry.
It's hard to describe
how I felt in those days.
It was as if I'd walked through
a minefield blindfolded.
Somehow ending up a hole,
in the middle of a concrete jungle.
Completely unaware that I was crawling
further away from myself.
Yeah, we got a lot of vets here,
of course, you know.
You're one of our first Vietnam.
Now, you gotta be a little
careful in the neighborhood.
It's not bad, but it's not good.
But I'm sure you know how
to look after yourself.
You know, just keep
your eyes open.
But I think you're
gonna like it here.
Well
This is you.
What are my odds?
Excuse me?
Of getting murdered in here.
You hear me, motherfucker?
Suck my
Oh, right. Well
The walls are thin,
so try and keep it down.
Thank you.
Good day.
I had lost my way.
But soon, I would find it in
the most unusual of places.
I just didn't know it yet.
In the quiet of morning
When the world is still asleep
No, no, no
I'm sitting here all alone
With the thoughts you keep
Thinkin' about the road I traveled
All the miles that I've gave
Attention, all shoppers.
What do you think you're doing?
Canned goods and bread and flour
don't get stocked
next to cereal!
I can't have this liability.
Don't make me ask you twice.
Do you understand?
Yes, sir.
Despite the facade of normalcy
that I tried to maintain,
I had the strangest feeling
that something was
closing in on me.
Something
that came home with me.
I'm okay!
All right, we've been hit!
We are going down!
Charlie 3125, we are under fire!
We are going down!
I'm losing my controls!
Come on!
-Come on! We're going down!
-We're going down!
No!
As the days
faded into the next,
I felt trapped.
Like a prisoner,
caged by the bars
of their own mind.
You have a visitor.
Look after yourself.
I think you're gonna like it here.
I feared my wall of sanity
was beginning to fall.
And just when I thought
the dust settled,
and the echoes of
screaming gunfire faded,
my true nightmare
was only beginning.
Relax.
Why are you doing this to me?
Relax, man.
No!
A year had passed.
And although I was free,
the blinders that were
permanently latched to my eyes
kept me buried
within those walls.
Clean up on aisle four.
Large spill.
That's aisle four.
Clean up.
Don't make me ask you twice,
people, or it's your ass.
Come on now. Chop, chop.
That's when I found myself
in the last place I ever expected.
But looking back,
the one place I needed to be the most.
Hi.
I'm Jonathan
and I'm a Vietnam veteran.
Hey.
-Welcome Jon.
-Welcome, brother.
-Welcome, Jonathan.
-Welcome to the family, brother.
Alright.
Anyone wanna start us off today
with a share?
Not me.
I'll go.
Hey, guys.
Happy to-- happy to be here.
You know me. I'm no stranger here.
I just wanted to say
it's been a while since my last
quote-unquote outburst.
Pretty proud of myself.
I feel like I'm making strides.
Went on a camping trip with
some veteran buddies, recently.
It felt like it's what I needed
to unwind, to get away.
And that evening, I came home
and the closet was empty,
the car was gone,
and I haven't seen my wife
and kid in a year and a half.
You've come to the right place.
Keep coming back.
Keep coming back!
Keep coming back.
Keep coming back.
Now, Tommy,
thirty-four suicide attempts
Tommy.
Thirty-four suicide attempts
is considered a red alert.
Okay?
Yeah, 'cause he ain't doing it right.
-Mr. Abbot.
-Goddamn it, Abbot!
If you don't shut the fuck up,
I'm gonna break my foot off
in your goddamn ass, boy!
I'm telling you, every goddamn week,
you come in with--
Gentlemen.
-Get the fuck outta here.
-I expect more from you.
-Mr. Abbot!
-Come on, bitch!
Come on, Sanders! Bring it on!
-Mr. Abbot!
-You wanna go, motherfucker?
We have a newcomer in the room.
Please, Jim.
Gentlemen, enough.
Please. Jim?
Please ignore him.
-You know he likes to get people--
-What you gonna do, Sanders?
Talking shit, motherfucker!
Come on!
Stop it!
Mr. Abbot, you are
causing a ruckus here.
Who are you calling boy, boy?
Who are you calling boy, boy?
Gentlemen, I
Just sit down!
Sit down. Gentlemen.
-Shut up, bitch!
-Jim!
Jim!
It wasn't long before I went back,
but the unspeakable
horrors we witnessed
offered its own kind of trauma.
I saw it on their faces, every time.
Clean up.
Come on now, chop chop.
The war claimed the lives
of more than 58,000 of us.
For the ones that came back,
there were no welcome home parades,
no nurses to kiss upon return.
We were not heroes.
And we were discarded for it.
No matter how hard we tried,
we could never escape
what we did over there.
That was our curse.
On the morning of that day,
I found myself drifting
somewhere between
the depths of my purgatory,
and what I imagined
hell would look like.
I dreamed of ending it all,
for an accident.
A head-on collision.
To make friends
with a bullet in a chamber.
God, how I would thank the maker.
It was only a matter of time now.
I ran to the only place I could.
September 7th, 1970.
That anger and give it--
A date I will never forget.
Let him carry your burden!
-The night of my last meeting.
-You must be outta your god damn mind.
You think I'm
-Fuck you!
-Fuck you!
Fuck you!
You think I'm touching
some kinda faggot?
Oh, all right. Oh.
They made me kill babies,
but I ain't doing that.
They fuckin' made me! They made me!
Christ's sake, if you don't like it,
then get the fuck out!
Go fuck your mother, you philistine!
Language!
All right! All right, all right, let's
Let's recenter.
Recenter.
Gentlemen.
Gentlemen, calm.
Calm.
Let him take your burden.
Let him take your burden.
Look into your brother's eyes.
Let him feel your pain.
He knows your pain.
Let it out, gentlemen.
Let him take your burden from you.
Embrace your brothers.
Let go of that pain.
Let go of that pain.
Let him take your burden.
Let him hold it away.
Let, oh!
Good.
Good. Gentle!
Gentle now.
Gentle now.
Let it out. Let it out.
Is this what you imagined
hell would be like?
Okay, let go.
I've already been there, brother.
Focus on your brother.
And breathe.
Deep breathe.
Nice.
You know, you smell like
somethin' rottin' around you, brother.
And when you've been a tunnel rat
for as long as I have, livin' in the dark,
you tend to trust your other senses.
What're you talking about?
I'm sayin' that you got a passenger
on your shoulders, brother.
Death!
-Fuck off!
-You reek of it!
It's okay. It's okay.
Just let it go.
Let him take that
What did you do?
Come on, did you touch the devil
or did he touch you?
How the fuck would
you know what I did?
Oh, brother, you went
down the mouth of madness,
and now you're looking
for penance, aren't you?
Yes, isn't that
You're wrong.
Oh, am I?
Yeah.
Sure I am.
Let it go.
I don't wanna see your
face here ever again.
You hear me?
What're you talking about?
I'm sayin'
that these are my people.
My camp.
Mine.
You go find your own. You understand?
-Man, you're fuckin' crazy.
-Yeah.
According to my last
psych evaluation, yes.
Did you know that there are
several ways to make napalm?
All you need is a
little OJ and gasoline.
Can you just stop?
Just fuckin' stop.
Listen to me.
This is my group.
I have nowhere else to go.
Well, then you better
understand somethin', brother.
Let it go.
The ghosts of the people we kill
will haunt us
for the rest of our lives.
Believe me. I know.
I know. I know.
-Gentlemen.
-I know. Yeah.
What do I do?
Take him as an example of courage.
Oh, brother, this is all one big bucket
of piss that we're drownin' in.
Let it all go.
Do yourself a favor.
-Wonderful
-Make it quick.
That's what you do.
That's it.
No. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Make it quick, baby.
Yeah, make it quick.
-No.
-No, yeah.
-Make it quick, you gotta make it--
-No! No!
We ain't never getting right
with the wrongs we done, brother!
We ain't never getting
right for nothin'!
You hear me? Nothin'!
Oh, oh, oh!
I control my life and what I do!
I do! I do!
I do! I do!
'Cause I'm a baby killer!
No, Mr. Abbot! No!
Oh, my god!
-Fuck!
-Somebody call an ambulance!
Oh, my god. Oh, my god.
Somebody!
The time is 05:30.
David Brinkley is on vacation.
I'm Chad Huntley.
For an hour and a half today,
the normally placid university
and capital city of Austin, Texas
was held in the grip of a terror,
which began in killing
and ended in killing.
A maddened former Marine,
a 24-year-old student
in the architectural school
named Charles Whitman
first killed his wife
and mother in their home.
Then he fled to the top
of the university tower,
a 27-story building, and
from there, shot to death
at least 13 other people
and wounded at least 31.
The carnage did not end until police
ended Whitman's life with several bullets.
Here is a report from Neil Speltz
of KTBC TV Austin.
A marine veteran
who was an expert marksman
shot and killed ten
unsuspecting noontime strollers
on the University of Texas campus today.
And then he was cut down, an hour
and a half later, by an Austin policeman.
When the shooting ended,
30 others were seriously injured.
And then the bodies of the
alleged sniper's mother and wife
were found in his apartment, both dead.
The tally at this hour
is 13 dead, 30 wounded,
and that figure includes the death of
the man police say did the shooting.
A sniper identified as
24-year-old Charles J. Whitman
started shooting from
the observation deck
of the 27-story-tall university tower.
He fell moving targets blocks away.
The terror-filled
90 minutes started
at five minutes
before 12:00 Austin time,
and it was 01:22 when policeman
Ramiro Martinez shot Whitman.
Those who were
felled with bullets
from the high-caliber rifle
were pulled to safety,
as soon as possible
by officials and passers-by.
Others crouched in terror.
Heavily armed Austin Police,
sheriff's deputies,
highway patrolmen,
and Texas Rangers,
converged on the campus
and began returning
the sniper's fire.
But he was well entrenched,
and he had a fantastic vantage point
of the entire area.
I'm not paying you
two ladies to watch TV.
Reporter Charles Ward was
on the scene, as the gun--
Chop chop. Get to work!
Sir! Yes, sir!
Holy fuckin' heaven!
Kill!
Or be killed!
Kill or be killed!
Kill or be killed!
Kill or be killed!
Kill!
Someone once said
hell is an illusion.
But the first real casualty of war
is the soul.
I woke up, months later,
barely holding on.
My grip on reality faltering
in a sterile fortress
of white walls and
unending corridors.
I was surrounded by
others whose minds
had also betrayed them.
And I couldn't
help but wonder if,
if I would ever find a way to
piece myself back together again,
or if I was destined
to be a lost toy soldier.
Never remembered.
As if I never existed
in the first place.
But
She wouldn't let that happen.
I'm not supposed to be here!
Get off! Get off of me!
Please don't
No!
I swear. I swear
We gonna have
ourselves a pool party tonight!
Watch your six.
Watch out.
God, Abbot.
Don't you sleep?
God doesn't have anything
to do with this shit hole.
But you can call me Jesus Christ.
And believe me,
I would staple my eyes shut to sleep
for one goddamn minute,
but then the demons come.
Leave him.
Let him lay where he fell.
Give him the common
decency to die
on the patch of fucking concrete
that chose him.
That's the least you could do.
Death gives you perspective, doesn't it?
We're not dying, man.
Oh, that's where you're wrong, brother.
We're already dead.
You know, it's funny
how people find it odd.
They're always so
confused about life
and how the hell things
didn't go as planned.
And that's 'cause
they're all in a coma.
Gone.
And it's not supposed
to make sense.
And if you learn that,
I mean, truly embrace that,
you'll live a better life.
It happened again.
Where were you this time?
Where were you this time?
Fuck you.
That dark is all we have left.
You better get used to that, brother.
No. I'll never get used to it!
Oh, no. One day you
will learn to embrace it.
Tell her we have to.
We don't have any other fucking
chance, man. We're gone!
All the wisest do not
let themselves be tricked
a second time.
What the fuck does that mean?
Hey.
Wait.
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
They'd let me go a year earlier
at the behest of Richard Nixon.
I'd crawled four stories
below Hanoi, Vietnam.
I mapped out dozens of tunnels,
detonated 48 bombs.
How many lives have I destroyed?
How many I ended?
I'll never know.
What I do know
is that I met you on
the final day of 1972.
The same day I resolved
to kill myself.
-Hey, sweetie.
-Hey, baby.
-What can I get you today?
-What you got?
In a barren motel room
with a fifth of Tennessee rye,
and a pang of shame permeating
the recesses of my soul,
I vowed that this was it.
That I would give myself
the discharge I deserved.
For hours, I obsessed about doing it.
I remember the seconds
felt like lifetimes,
but I couldn't do it.
I couldn't experience what my
victims had, those years before.
I could live with nothing.
Piece of shit.
Only the tortured echoes from the past
that were forever by my side.
I walked for what
felt like days.
I roamed the common,
scaled the hell,
and meandered into a
labyrinth of the world
I no longer remember.
While the pedestrians howled
at the world around me,
I trudged further into the
darkness I had loathed so much.
I thought, or
rather, hoped, that it might
wash away the patina of guilt
that had coagulated
around my heart.
I saw my way out.
Hearing about the massive
invasion of South Vietnam
by the communist armies
of North Vietnam.
I killed that little girl.
It wasn't the first time,
nor the last.
And the efforts we are--
I didn't even know
who I was anymore.
What I did know
was that I was a murderer.
And what we have
done since then,
to end American
involvement in the war
In the eyes of my superiors,
I had served my
country honorably
and I was thusly discharged
with such distinction.
"Distinction".
If they only knew.
And then
Hawthorn Street.
This is Hawthorn Street.
I saw you.
To this day, I don't
know what made me stop,
but there you were.
Next stop will be
the last stop on this bus.
I'd never
seen anything so beautiful.
You were wearing
a teal ball gown
that appeared to me to be
both regal and
ridiculous.
Your brown hair was matted
to the right side of your face.
And a galaxy of freckles
dusted your shoulders.
I couldn't speak.
When I joined you at the seat,
you looked at me with
those big green eyes,
and I could tell that
you'd been crying.
And I said
I, I
Ladies and gentlemen,
this is the last stop.
Please exit the bus.
Yeah. Yeah, I'm, I'm fine.
Where are you headed?
Don't you speak?
I
I don't, I don't know.
I don't think I've ever known.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah. I'll I'll play along.
Who's there?
Mustache who?
Oh, it's
It's been a long time since I
Thank you.
Yeah.
Before I knew it,
you snatched my hand
and led me on a dash through
downtown and into a diner.
We sat at the booth
at the five and dime
and talked like old friends.
We laughed as easily
as we lamented.
And you confessed over coffee
that you were engaged to a man
you didn't love.
A banker from some
line of nobility.
Either way,
his parents were throwing a
soiree to ring in the new year.
Hence the dress.
For my part, I shared more of myself
than I could have ever
imagined possible at that time.
Didn't mention Vietnam,
but I got a sense that you could see
there was a war
waging inside me.
Still
Your eyes offered no pity.
And I loved you for it.
Last many, many years that
people gathered here on New Year's.
The only year that ever had
that small a crowd was 1917.
Hell of a way to chime it in?
You remind me of someone.
And in just a few moments,
we'll be turning over to look at
She speaks?
That will signify New Year's
to an awful lot of people all over
the United States and Canada.
We're just getting ready to close up.
Can I get you guys anything? Dessert?
-Apple pie.
-Pie.
A moment ago,
I was planning to end my life.
In an instant,
everything had changed.
Now I suddenly wanted pie?
What was happening to me?
Who were you?
Why are they there?
Very good question!
Could you excuse me
for just a moment?
Very unusual
and a very strange way
to celebrate New Year's.
Moments from now,
this giant crowd herein
Hey!
Judy.
My name is Judy.
Judy.
I remember consulting
myself in the mirror,
wondering if I should kiss you.
It was New Year's in minutes, after all.
No, I couldn't do that.
Could I?
If I should tell you what I'd done
from the tunnels of that
village a year before
If I should return
to the .44 caliber
that was tucked in my waistband
I decided, ultimately,
that I was unworthy
of the resuscitation
this stranger in a
ball gown had given me,
and to turn my back on such sweet
serendipity would be the real disgrace.
On my way back to the booth,
my heart thumped in my chest
like an angry judge's gavel.
And a future,
our future,
flicked in my mind.
When I reached the booth,
I had no idea what
I was going to find.
You were gone.
As strangely as our
union had begun,
so too had it ended.
I was devastated.
But somehow,
I knew.
I went back to that diner
every day, for a year.
I think it's a parking lot now,
but
I never saw you again.
Are you good, doll?
Can I get you anything else?
From Time Square, a roar
like you've never heard before.
Here we go with the countdown.
Five
Four. Three.
Two.
One and happy, happy,
happy, happy, happy
I am an old man now,
and all I know of you is your name
and that you lived in this city once
and even by some miracle,
if I happened upon you,
I'm not sure I would recognize you.
Time is cruel that way.
In these intervening 42 years,
I've lived a good life.
I've loved a good woman.
I've raised a good man.
I have hard days, too.
My wife passed away
four years ago,
and my son, the year before.
I can still smell the smoke over Vietnam.
But then I think of you.
I never really stopped
thinking of you.
So, wherever you've been,
wherever you are,
and wherever you're going,
know this.
You're always with me.
But as I cast this coin into
the wishing well of the cosmos,
it occurs to me,
after a million what-ifs in
a lifetime of lost sleep,
that our connection
wasn't missed at all.
I met you on that night, back in 1972.
I was only in my twenties,
the first time I saw a dead body.
You never forget that, really.
Until the moment of
your last breath,
it sticks with you
until the very end.
It did, for me.
For generations, US children have played
with little plastic green army men.
I did.
Along with other war toys, they contribute
to the socialization
of some young boys
into the idea that war is an exciting
and heroic adventure.
I know now that has
never been more wrong.
Oh!
Yeah.
So, I go to this girl's party,
and it's about a week
after she just beats
the living shit outta
my friend, right?
And I do a little recon.
While everyone's getting trashed,
I find this back window.
Mission Impossible
myself in there.
And I did my thing.
Dude.
Shut up.
Stop. I'm serious, man!
I'm telling you!
I went around and I put tuna in
every single curtain rod.
For weeks, they're trying
to figure out why this place
smells like festering
death, right?
I mean, just, just god awful rotten.
She starts going to
the pussy doctor.
Yeah!
She thinks she's
festerin' up the place.
A little fire in the hole.
Boom!
Dude, you are sick.
You know that, right?
Sick, who?
They wronged me.
That's just the way it goes, man.
Fuck 'em if they
can't take a joke.
How did you talk me into this?
Beats the hell outta me.
Fucking hot as shit!
Come on, you piece of shit.
Shit.
Come on!
You're glad you came!
Yeah. No.
Oh, well, you weren't
complaining too much,
when you were in line for
the El Buffet, last night.
-Yeah!
-Get it, baby!
Yeah!
Dude, that was you.
Are you sure?
Yes.
No, but in all seriousness,
it was good to see you
smile for once, man.
You worry too damn much.
I can't help it.
Yes, we can.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Especially, if you got
a nice eleven-inch cock.
-Dude.
-Oh, I'm serious, man.
I'm serious.
Dude, what are you
fucking doing, man?
The truck needs a little car wash, baby!
Man, come on! Dude, come on!
I told you, not in the truck!
Little car wash for Daddy!
Oh!
Come on, man! You get an anxiety attack
if we leave the zip code.
I mean, that's not normal behavior.
No fucking way!
Yeah!
"Normal." Right!
You're welcome.
Dude, we were in Mexico.
Precisely.
It was kinda nice.
Boom!
This is what I'm talkin' about!
That's what I'm talking about, man!
Come on! Loosen up!
Life's too short.
-Relax.
-Just relax.
Yeah.
I can do that.
-Boom!
-Dude, what?
Come on, man. Who do you
think you're talkin' to?
I can totally relax!
All right.
Tell me a joke. Go ahead.
Come on. Make me laugh.
R-E-L-A
Dude, what the fuck, man?
I'm fucking driving!
-You trying to get us killed?
-Oh, my god.
Where did you get your license?
Oh, man. Wake me up
when we get there.
You drive slower
than my grandmother.
Dude, I'm about to kick your
greasy ass out of this car
and make you walk,
how's that for relaxed?
Well, why don't you drop me off
at your mom's on the way?
You wish.
That I do.
That I do.
Any more cold ones?
That's doubtful.
But I can check.
Among men too
on issues like the war itself.
Hold on.
Can't reach 'em.
Did you leave 'em?
I, I don't think so.
And you volunteer in your regular army.
Yeah, I didn't volunteer to go to Vietnam.
I did volunteer
to come into the service.
Tell me this, Jobs.
We've lost something
over 40,000 men now.
Forty thousand American lives.
As far as you're concerned,
it's worth it?
You fuckin' drank 'em, didn't you?
Watch out!
Dude! What the fuck?
What did we hit? What, what?
I'm fuckin' with you, man!
Come on, come on!
Come on!
Come on.
Come on.
You got it. You got it.
You got it. Come on.
Shit!
You tried that about
a hundred times, dude.
Dude, it's getting cold.
You got a sweater?
Yeah, in the bag.
Speedy, what is this?
That is pot.
Okay, Speedy, I need you to tell me,
I need you to explain to me
that we didn't go all the way
to Mexico for you to buy pot.
We went all the way
to Mexico to buy pot.
Fuck!
What?
Speedy, I need you
to roll down the window
and throw that shit out
of this car, right now.
-Shit.
-Shit.
-I'm stuck, man!
-Well, figure it out!
-Yeah, I'm trying!
-Okay! Okay.
-Dude, fuck!
-Okay
That's good. I got it.
Okay! Just, just
-You got it? Okay.
-I got it.
Flask.
Hello, Officer.
How can I help you?
What you boys doing out here?
Well, we were on a trip
and our car broke down.
We were just trying to
get back home. That's all.
You alright there?
I'm gonna need you to step
out of the vehicle, sir.
Officer
Like I said, we're just
trying to get home.
I need to inspect
this vehicle, right now.
So, I need the two of
you to get outside.
Put your hands on the hood.
This isn't fucking happening.
Put your hands on the hood.
We're just
That's you too, passenger.
Officer
I'm not askin'!
Step out of the vehicle!
Let's go!
-Get outta the vehicle!
-No!
I'm saddened to see
such potential as yourself
drift into a darker place.
You've clearly forgotten
what is right, young man,
and I hope this may
set you in that path.
Your actions were a disgrace.
That is true.
You have a visitor.
However, with your clean record
and no prior history,
I am giving you a choice.
To go to prison,
or to serve in the Vietnam War.
These proceedings can continue
when you've made that decision.
You have a visitor.
My name is Jonathan Teller,
and I am a haunted man.
I guess this is a good place
to start as any.
If I go back any further,
you'd despise me.
But don't give up on me just yet.
Hi, Jonathan.
Look at me.
Jonathan, look at me.
Jonathan, look at me, please.
-After everything that you put me--
-What do you want me to say?
Jesus Christ, Jonathan.
Did you really think
that I wouldn't find out?
That what? That I was just gonna
come here one day,
and not notice that
you weren't here?
And that you went off to fight
some stupid, unimaginable,
not to mention unwinnable war,
clear across the other
side of the world, right?
Is it true?
It was that,
or rot in here for the rest of my life.
What do you want me to do?
Hey.
I'm here.
I always will be.
Always thinking of yourself.
Hands off the glass!
I just want you to know, you know
Sorry.
It's hard to describe
how I felt in those days.
It was as if I'd walked through
a minefield blindfolded.
Somehow ending up a hole,
in the middle of a concrete jungle.
Completely unaware that I was crawling
further away from myself.
Yeah, we got a lot of vets here,
of course, you know.
You're one of our first Vietnam.
Now, you gotta be a little
careful in the neighborhood.
It's not bad, but it's not good.
But I'm sure you know how
to look after yourself.
You know, just keep
your eyes open.
But I think you're
gonna like it here.
Well
This is you.
What are my odds?
Excuse me?
Of getting murdered in here.
You hear me, motherfucker?
Suck my
Oh, right. Well
The walls are thin,
so try and keep it down.
Thank you.
Good day.
I had lost my way.
But soon, I would find it in
the most unusual of places.
I just didn't know it yet.
In the quiet of morning
When the world is still asleep
No, no, no
I'm sitting here all alone
With the thoughts you keep
Thinkin' about the road I traveled
All the miles that I've gave
Attention, all shoppers.
What do you think you're doing?
Canned goods and bread and flour
don't get stocked
next to cereal!
I can't have this liability.
Don't make me ask you twice.
Do you understand?
Yes, sir.
Despite the facade of normalcy
that I tried to maintain,
I had the strangest feeling
that something was
closing in on me.
Something
that came home with me.
I'm okay!
All right, we've been hit!
We are going down!
Charlie 3125, we are under fire!
We are going down!
I'm losing my controls!
Come on!
-Come on! We're going down!
-We're going down!
No!
As the days
faded into the next,
I felt trapped.
Like a prisoner,
caged by the bars
of their own mind.
You have a visitor.
Look after yourself.
I think you're gonna like it here.
I feared my wall of sanity
was beginning to fall.
And just when I thought
the dust settled,
and the echoes of
screaming gunfire faded,
my true nightmare
was only beginning.
Relax.
Why are you doing this to me?
Relax, man.
No!
A year had passed.
And although I was free,
the blinders that were
permanently latched to my eyes
kept me buried
within those walls.
Clean up on aisle four.
Large spill.
That's aisle four.
Clean up.
Don't make me ask you twice,
people, or it's your ass.
Come on now. Chop, chop.
That's when I found myself
in the last place I ever expected.
But looking back,
the one place I needed to be the most.
Hi.
I'm Jonathan
and I'm a Vietnam veteran.
Hey.
-Welcome Jon.
-Welcome, brother.
-Welcome, Jonathan.
-Welcome to the family, brother.
Alright.
Anyone wanna start us off today
with a share?
Not me.
I'll go.
Hey, guys.
Happy to-- happy to be here.
You know me. I'm no stranger here.
I just wanted to say
it's been a while since my last
quote-unquote outburst.
Pretty proud of myself.
I feel like I'm making strides.
Went on a camping trip with
some veteran buddies, recently.
It felt like it's what I needed
to unwind, to get away.
And that evening, I came home
and the closet was empty,
the car was gone,
and I haven't seen my wife
and kid in a year and a half.
You've come to the right place.
Keep coming back.
Keep coming back!
Keep coming back.
Keep coming back.
Now, Tommy,
thirty-four suicide attempts
Tommy.
Thirty-four suicide attempts
is considered a red alert.
Okay?
Yeah, 'cause he ain't doing it right.
-Mr. Abbot.
-Goddamn it, Abbot!
If you don't shut the fuck up,
I'm gonna break my foot off
in your goddamn ass, boy!
I'm telling you, every goddamn week,
you come in with--
Gentlemen.
-Get the fuck outta here.
-I expect more from you.
-Mr. Abbot!
-Come on, bitch!
Come on, Sanders! Bring it on!
-Mr. Abbot!
-You wanna go, motherfucker?
We have a newcomer in the room.
Please, Jim.
Gentlemen, enough.
Please. Jim?
Please ignore him.
-You know he likes to get people--
-What you gonna do, Sanders?
Talking shit, motherfucker!
Come on!
Stop it!
Mr. Abbot, you are
causing a ruckus here.
Who are you calling boy, boy?
Who are you calling boy, boy?
Gentlemen, I
Just sit down!
Sit down. Gentlemen.
-Shut up, bitch!
-Jim!
Jim!
It wasn't long before I went back,
but the unspeakable
horrors we witnessed
offered its own kind of trauma.
I saw it on their faces, every time.
Clean up.
Come on now, chop chop.
The war claimed the lives
of more than 58,000 of us.
For the ones that came back,
there were no welcome home parades,
no nurses to kiss upon return.
We were not heroes.
And we were discarded for it.
No matter how hard we tried,
we could never escape
what we did over there.
That was our curse.
On the morning of that day,
I found myself drifting
somewhere between
the depths of my purgatory,
and what I imagined
hell would look like.
I dreamed of ending it all,
for an accident.
A head-on collision.
To make friends
with a bullet in a chamber.
God, how I would thank the maker.
It was only a matter of time now.
I ran to the only place I could.
September 7th, 1970.
That anger and give it--
A date I will never forget.
Let him carry your burden!
-The night of my last meeting.
-You must be outta your god damn mind.
You think I'm
-Fuck you!
-Fuck you!
Fuck you!
You think I'm touching
some kinda faggot?
Oh, all right. Oh.
They made me kill babies,
but I ain't doing that.
They fuckin' made me! They made me!
Christ's sake, if you don't like it,
then get the fuck out!
Go fuck your mother, you philistine!
Language!
All right! All right, all right, let's
Let's recenter.
Recenter.
Gentlemen.
Gentlemen, calm.
Calm.
Let him take your burden.
Let him take your burden.
Look into your brother's eyes.
Let him feel your pain.
He knows your pain.
Let it out, gentlemen.
Let him take your burden from you.
Embrace your brothers.
Let go of that pain.
Let go of that pain.
Let him take your burden.
Let him hold it away.
Let, oh!
Good.
Good. Gentle!
Gentle now.
Gentle now.
Let it out. Let it out.
Is this what you imagined
hell would be like?
Okay, let go.
I've already been there, brother.
Focus on your brother.
And breathe.
Deep breathe.
Nice.
You know, you smell like
somethin' rottin' around you, brother.
And when you've been a tunnel rat
for as long as I have, livin' in the dark,
you tend to trust your other senses.
What're you talking about?
I'm sayin' that you got a passenger
on your shoulders, brother.
Death!
-Fuck off!
-You reek of it!
It's okay. It's okay.
Just let it go.
Let him take that
What did you do?
Come on, did you touch the devil
or did he touch you?
How the fuck would
you know what I did?
Oh, brother, you went
down the mouth of madness,
and now you're looking
for penance, aren't you?
Yes, isn't that
You're wrong.
Oh, am I?
Yeah.
Sure I am.
Let it go.
I don't wanna see your
face here ever again.
You hear me?
What're you talking about?
I'm sayin'
that these are my people.
My camp.
Mine.
You go find your own. You understand?
-Man, you're fuckin' crazy.
-Yeah.
According to my last
psych evaluation, yes.
Did you know that there are
several ways to make napalm?
All you need is a
little OJ and gasoline.
Can you just stop?
Just fuckin' stop.
Listen to me.
This is my group.
I have nowhere else to go.
Well, then you better
understand somethin', brother.
Let it go.
The ghosts of the people we kill
will haunt us
for the rest of our lives.
Believe me. I know.
I know. I know.
-Gentlemen.
-I know. Yeah.
What do I do?
Take him as an example of courage.
Oh, brother, this is all one big bucket
of piss that we're drownin' in.
Let it all go.
Do yourself a favor.
-Wonderful
-Make it quick.
That's what you do.
That's it.
No. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Make it quick, baby.
Yeah, make it quick.
-No.
-No, yeah.
-Make it quick, you gotta make it--
-No! No!
We ain't never getting right
with the wrongs we done, brother!
We ain't never getting
right for nothin'!
You hear me? Nothin'!
Oh, oh, oh!
I control my life and what I do!
I do! I do!
I do! I do!
'Cause I'm a baby killer!
No, Mr. Abbot! No!
Oh, my god!
-Fuck!
-Somebody call an ambulance!
Oh, my god. Oh, my god.
Somebody!
The time is 05:30.
David Brinkley is on vacation.
I'm Chad Huntley.
For an hour and a half today,
the normally placid university
and capital city of Austin, Texas
was held in the grip of a terror,
which began in killing
and ended in killing.
A maddened former Marine,
a 24-year-old student
in the architectural school
named Charles Whitman
first killed his wife
and mother in their home.
Then he fled to the top
of the university tower,
a 27-story building, and
from there, shot to death
at least 13 other people
and wounded at least 31.
The carnage did not end until police
ended Whitman's life with several bullets.
Here is a report from Neil Speltz
of KTBC TV Austin.
A marine veteran
who was an expert marksman
shot and killed ten
unsuspecting noontime strollers
on the University of Texas campus today.
And then he was cut down, an hour
and a half later, by an Austin policeman.
When the shooting ended,
30 others were seriously injured.
And then the bodies of the
alleged sniper's mother and wife
were found in his apartment, both dead.
The tally at this hour
is 13 dead, 30 wounded,
and that figure includes the death of
the man police say did the shooting.
A sniper identified as
24-year-old Charles J. Whitman
started shooting from
the observation deck
of the 27-story-tall university tower.
He fell moving targets blocks away.
The terror-filled
90 minutes started
at five minutes
before 12:00 Austin time,
and it was 01:22 when policeman
Ramiro Martinez shot Whitman.
Those who were
felled with bullets
from the high-caliber rifle
were pulled to safety,
as soon as possible
by officials and passers-by.
Others crouched in terror.
Heavily armed Austin Police,
sheriff's deputies,
highway patrolmen,
and Texas Rangers,
converged on the campus
and began returning
the sniper's fire.
But he was well entrenched,
and he had a fantastic vantage point
of the entire area.
I'm not paying you
two ladies to watch TV.
Reporter Charles Ward was
on the scene, as the gun--
Chop chop. Get to work!
Sir! Yes, sir!
Holy fuckin' heaven!
Kill!
Or be killed!
Kill or be killed!
Kill or be killed!
Kill or be killed!
Kill!
Someone once said
hell is an illusion.
But the first real casualty of war
is the soul.
I woke up, months later,
barely holding on.
My grip on reality faltering
in a sterile fortress
of white walls and
unending corridors.
I was surrounded by
others whose minds
had also betrayed them.
And I couldn't
help but wonder if,
if I would ever find a way to
piece myself back together again,
or if I was destined
to be a lost toy soldier.
Never remembered.
As if I never existed
in the first place.
But
She wouldn't let that happen.
I'm not supposed to be here!
Get off! Get off of me!
Please don't
No!
I swear. I swear
We gonna have
ourselves a pool party tonight!
Watch your six.
Watch out.
God, Abbot.
Don't you sleep?
God doesn't have anything
to do with this shit hole.
But you can call me Jesus Christ.
And believe me,
I would staple my eyes shut to sleep
for one goddamn minute,
but then the demons come.
Leave him.
Let him lay where he fell.
Give him the common
decency to die
on the patch of fucking concrete
that chose him.
That's the least you could do.
Death gives you perspective, doesn't it?
We're not dying, man.
Oh, that's where you're wrong, brother.
We're already dead.
You know, it's funny
how people find it odd.
They're always so
confused about life
and how the hell things
didn't go as planned.
And that's 'cause
they're all in a coma.
Gone.
And it's not supposed
to make sense.
And if you learn that,
I mean, truly embrace that,
you'll live a better life.
It happened again.
Where were you this time?
Where were you this time?
Fuck you.
That dark is all we have left.
You better get used to that, brother.
No. I'll never get used to it!
Oh, no. One day you
will learn to embrace it.
Tell her we have to.
We don't have any other fucking
chance, man. We're gone!
All the wisest do not
let themselves be tricked
a second time.
What the fuck does that mean?
Hey.
Wait.
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
Are we the rats?
They'd let me go a year earlier
at the behest of Richard Nixon.
I'd crawled four stories
below Hanoi, Vietnam.
I mapped out dozens of tunnels,
detonated 48 bombs.
How many lives have I destroyed?
How many I ended?
I'll never know.
What I do know
is that I met you on
the final day of 1972.
The same day I resolved
to kill myself.
-Hey, sweetie.
-Hey, baby.
-What can I get you today?
-What you got?
In a barren motel room
with a fifth of Tennessee rye,
and a pang of shame permeating
the recesses of my soul,
I vowed that this was it.
That I would give myself
the discharge I deserved.
For hours, I obsessed about doing it.
I remember the seconds
felt like lifetimes,
but I couldn't do it.
I couldn't experience what my
victims had, those years before.
I could live with nothing.
Piece of shit.
Only the tortured echoes from the past
that were forever by my side.
I walked for what
felt like days.
I roamed the common,
scaled the hell,
and meandered into a
labyrinth of the world
I no longer remember.
While the pedestrians howled
at the world around me,
I trudged further into the
darkness I had loathed so much.
I thought, or
rather, hoped, that it might
wash away the patina of guilt
that had coagulated
around my heart.
I saw my way out.
Hearing about the massive
invasion of South Vietnam
by the communist armies
of North Vietnam.
I killed that little girl.
It wasn't the first time,
nor the last.
And the efforts we are--
I didn't even know
who I was anymore.
What I did know
was that I was a murderer.
And what we have
done since then,
to end American
involvement in the war
In the eyes of my superiors,
I had served my
country honorably
and I was thusly discharged
with such distinction.
"Distinction".
If they only knew.
And then
Hawthorn Street.
This is Hawthorn Street.
I saw you.
To this day, I don't
know what made me stop,
but there you were.
Next stop will be
the last stop on this bus.
I'd never
seen anything so beautiful.
You were wearing
a teal ball gown
that appeared to me to be
both regal and
ridiculous.
Your brown hair was matted
to the right side of your face.
And a galaxy of freckles
dusted your shoulders.
I couldn't speak.
When I joined you at the seat,
you looked at me with
those big green eyes,
and I could tell that
you'd been crying.
And I said
I, I
Ladies and gentlemen,
this is the last stop.
Please exit the bus.
Yeah. Yeah, I'm, I'm fine.
Where are you headed?
Don't you speak?
I
I don't, I don't know.
I don't think I've ever known.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah. I'll I'll play along.
Who's there?
Mustache who?
Oh, it's
It's been a long time since I
Thank you.
Yeah.
Before I knew it,
you snatched my hand
and led me on a dash through
downtown and into a diner.
We sat at the booth
at the five and dime
and talked like old friends.
We laughed as easily
as we lamented.
And you confessed over coffee
that you were engaged to a man
you didn't love.
A banker from some
line of nobility.
Either way,
his parents were throwing a
soiree to ring in the new year.
Hence the dress.
For my part, I shared more of myself
than I could have ever
imagined possible at that time.
Didn't mention Vietnam,
but I got a sense that you could see
there was a war
waging inside me.
Still
Your eyes offered no pity.
And I loved you for it.
Last many, many years that
people gathered here on New Year's.
The only year that ever had
that small a crowd was 1917.
Hell of a way to chime it in?
You remind me of someone.
And in just a few moments,
we'll be turning over to look at
She speaks?
That will signify New Year's
to an awful lot of people all over
the United States and Canada.
We're just getting ready to close up.
Can I get you guys anything? Dessert?
-Apple pie.
-Pie.
A moment ago,
I was planning to end my life.
In an instant,
everything had changed.
Now I suddenly wanted pie?
What was happening to me?
Who were you?
Why are they there?
Very good question!
Could you excuse me
for just a moment?
Very unusual
and a very strange way
to celebrate New Year's.
Moments from now,
this giant crowd herein
Hey!
Judy.
My name is Judy.
Judy.
I remember consulting
myself in the mirror,
wondering if I should kiss you.
It was New Year's in minutes, after all.
No, I couldn't do that.
Could I?
If I should tell you what I'd done
from the tunnels of that
village a year before
If I should return
to the .44 caliber
that was tucked in my waistband
I decided, ultimately,
that I was unworthy
of the resuscitation
this stranger in a
ball gown had given me,
and to turn my back on such sweet
serendipity would be the real disgrace.
On my way back to the booth,
my heart thumped in my chest
like an angry judge's gavel.
And a future,
our future,
flicked in my mind.
When I reached the booth,
I had no idea what
I was going to find.
You were gone.
As strangely as our
union had begun,
so too had it ended.
I was devastated.
But somehow,
I knew.
I went back to that diner
every day, for a year.
I think it's a parking lot now,
but
I never saw you again.
Are you good, doll?
Can I get you anything else?
From Time Square, a roar
like you've never heard before.
Here we go with the countdown.
Five
Four. Three.
Two.
One and happy, happy,
happy, happy, happy
I am an old man now,
and all I know of you is your name
and that you lived in this city once
and even by some miracle,
if I happened upon you,
I'm not sure I would recognize you.
Time is cruel that way.
In these intervening 42 years,
I've lived a good life.
I've loved a good woman.
I've raised a good man.
I have hard days, too.
My wife passed away
four years ago,
and my son, the year before.
I can still smell the smoke over Vietnam.
But then I think of you.
I never really stopped
thinking of you.
So, wherever you've been,
wherever you are,
and wherever you're going,
know this.
You're always with me.
But as I cast this coin into
the wishing well of the cosmos,
it occurs to me,
after a million what-ifs in
a lifetime of lost sleep,
that our connection
wasn't missed at all.
I met you on that night, back in 1972.