to lie to them in order to line their own dirty pockets with the taxpayers' money. when have the citizens of kanoma county ever witnessed a campaign like this? why is the opposition so anxious to defeat me? why have they used every dirty method known to make sure i'm not elected county treasurer? well, i'll tell you why.
because they're afraid of the truth.  and the truth is this. they're trying to steal your money. yeah, i said steal. the county commissioners rejected the bid on the schoolhouse. why? well, they'll tell you their reason is the job will be done better. the county commissioners would have you believe that they're interested in public welfare. they're interested in welfare, sure. but it's their own. let's look at the reason in the light of the facts and the figures. that brick factory is owned by one of the commissioners. that same brick factory uses convict labor.
why?
if you folks'll be so kind as to read these handbills, my boy will pass them out among you.
pass 'em out, tom.
let him alone!
i'm going to be on that same street corner tomorrow, mr. duffy.
my boy is out distributing those handbills now.
what did you want to see me about, mr. duffy?
i'm happy to know you, sir.
none for me, thank you kindly.
i'll have some orange pop if you don't mind.
he stutters, mr. duffy, but you.  you don't say anything. let's go, mister.
this is my wife, lucy, mr. burden.
that's my pa.
now we'll talk.
he's a strong boy. don't worry about him. he can take care of himself.
fifteen.
nine years.
oh, he's the best. i couldn't love him any more if he was my own flesh and blood.
get the coffee, lucy.
i'm going to run. they can't keep me from running.
i'm going to run. they're not going to kick me around like i was dirt.
hmmm?.  yeah, yeah, sure, that's right.
by myself, at night.
if i ever find the time i'm going to take a course at the university.
speak up. speak up.
good boy. have you eaten yet, tom?
i'm going to run.  and you're not going to stop me. i'm gonna run even if i don't get a single vote.
measure of the damages is caused by.
a breach.
of an agreement.
to sell.  oh, two years of this.
willie stark.  bachelor of law.
if you'll just let me take your case.
really, i'll wait for my fee. just as long as you want me to.
how about that, lucy, that's me.
no, i worked too hard in my time to get there. i think i'll just go on practicing law and make a little more money.
wonder who that is?
folks, if you'll just bear patiently with me for a couple of minutes, i'd like to tell you what this state needs. it needs a balanced tax program. now i'd like to give you the facts and the figures.
how did it sound, jack?
say.  i forgot to send a telegram to lucy.  conductor!
now right here.  right here i'd like to add something about last year's taxes.  eh?
what this state needs is a balanced tax program. last year, last year the state claimed to have spent on roads.
did it sound all right, mr. burden?
thanks.
oh, no. wait a minute. my feet are killing me. let me stay here, huh?
that's what i say.
a man don't have to be governor.
a man don't have to be governor.
oh, i'm going to lose, mr. burden. i know that. don't try and fool me. i'm not going to lie to you. i wanted it. i wanted it so badly i stayed up nights thinking about it. a man wants something so badly he gets mixed up in knowing what he wants. it's something inside of you. i would have made a good governor. better than those other fellows.
a great governor.
build them highways.  greatest system of highways in the country.
i'll build schools.
told me what? told me what?
jack! told me what?.  told me what?
framed?
is it true?
is it true?
my friends.
my friends.  i.
i have a speech here. it's a speech about what this state needs. there's no need in my telling you what this state needs. you are the state and you know what you need.  you over there.  look at your pants. have they got holes in the knees? listen to your stomach. did you ever hear it rumble from hunger?.  and you, what about your crops? did they ever rot in the field because the road was so bad you couldn't get them to market?.  and you. what about your kids? are they growing up ignorant as dirt, ignorant as you, 'cause there's no school for them?.  no, i'm not going to read you any speech.
but i am going to tell you a story. it's a funny story.
get ready to bust your sides laughing, 'cause it's sure a funny story. it's about a hick.  a hick like you, if you please. yeah, like you. he grew up on the dirt roads and gully washes of a farm. he knew what it was to get up before dawn and get feed and slop and milk before breakfast.  and then set out before sunup and walk six miles to a one-room, slab- sided schoolhouse. oh, this hick knew what it was to be a hick, all right. he figured if he was going to get anything done, he had to do it himself. so he sat up nights and studied books. he studied law because he thought he might be able to change things some.  for himself, and for folks like him.
no, i'm not going to lie to you. he didn't start off thinking about the hicks and all the wonderful things he was going to do for them. no. no, he started off thinking of number one. but something came to him on the way. how he could do nothing for himself without the help of the people. that's what came to him. and it also came to him, with the powerful force of god's own lightning, back in his home country, when a schoolhouse collapsed because it was built of politics.  rotten brick. it killed and mangled a dozen kids. but you know that story. the people were his friends because he fought that rotten brick. and some of the politicians down in the city, they knew that.  so they rode up to his house in a big, fine, shiny car and said as how they wanted him to run for governor.
so they told the hick.  and he swallowed it. he looked in his heart and he thought in all humility how he'd like to try and change things. he was just a country boy who thought that even the plainest, poorest man can be governor if his fellow citizens find he's got the stuff for the job. well, those fellows in the striped pants.  they saw the hick and they took him in.
there he is! there's your judas iscariot. look at him.  lickspittle.  nose- wiper.
look at him!
look at him! joe harrison's dummy! look at him!
look at him!
now, shut up! shut up, all of you. now, listen to me, you hicks. yeah, you're hicks too, and they fooled you a thousand times, just like they fooled me. but this time i'm going to fool somebody. i'm going to stay in this race. i'm on my own and i'm out for blood.
listen to me, you hicks.
listen to me and lift up your eyes and look at god's blessed and unflyblown truth.  and this is the truth. you're a hick. and nobody ever helped a hick but a hick himself.
all right, listen to me.  listen to me. i was the hick they were going to use to split the hick vote. but i'm standing right here now on my hind legs.  even a dog can learn to do that. are you standing on your hind legs? have you learned to do that much yet? here it is, here it is, you hicks. nail up anybody who stands in your way! nail up joe harrison! nail up mcmurphy! and if they don't deliver, give me a hammer and i'll do it myself.
double bourbon.
and a beer. i hear you got fired from the paper.
you're smart. 'cause before i'm through with that mob they're not going to have enough money left to pay the boy that cleans the spittoons.
i feel fine, fine. you see, jack, i learned something.
how to win.
do you want to know what my platform is? here it is: i'm going to soak the fat boys and i'm going to spread it thin.
this is jack burden, a friend of mine. from now on he's going to live here. give him anything he wants.
duffy works for me now.
no. no, not yet. but i want to keep him around. he reminds me of something i never want to forget.
come on, come on, come on, come on. are these the boys?
how many do you think we can get?
how much?
what do you think, sugar? do they look like good boys?
get a hundred.  all right, go on, all of you. blow. blow, blow. you too, duffy. go on.
handbill distributors.
that's the object. not like when they beat up my boy tom.
oh, he's fine. he starts college in the fall.
fine.  fine.
sadie is my secretary now. oh, pardon me.
hey, sugar.
keep everybody out of here. i want to talk to jack and sadie alone.
from now on you're working for me.
i don't know. something will turn up, won't it, sadie?
how much did they pay you on that newspaper?
i could buy you cheap, couldn't i?
no. no, i don't play that way. i like you, boy. i always have. i'll tell you what i'll do. i'll give you four hundred dollars a month and traveling expenses.
money?.  i don't need money. people give me things.
because they believe in me.
it's a far cry from where i come from.  to this house.
and standing here under the portrait of one of the greatest governors of this state, talking to you people.  well, it's an honor i never thought i'd have.
shoot.
yes. yes, that's true. i have nothing to hide. i'll make a deal with the devil if it'll help me carry out my program. but believe me, there are no strings attached to those deals.
doc, jack here has been telling me how you feel about things.  how you'd like to see a new hospital built, a hospital that's the biggest and best that money can buy. you want those things, doc, because, well, because you're a man who wants to do good. now, i'd like to ask you a question.
do you know what good comes out of?
out of bad.  that's what good comes out of. because you can't make it out of anything else. you didn't know that, did you?
why not?
why, that's easy. just.  just make it up as you go along.
folks, there's a time to talk and there's a time to act. i think the time to act is right now. and with your support, i not only will win but i will do all of the things i promised. i need your help. oh, i need it badly. but i'm not going to beg for it. in the name of this state which we love.  in the name of the governor in whose house we meet.  i demand it.
well, what do you say, sir?
but a game one.
look, i'll give you complete power as attorney general. you can do anything you see fit. i'll swing the ax to clear the way for you. is that a deal?
jack, we have to get back to town.  a lot to do. dr. stanton.
this is not a time for speechmaking. i should get on my knees and ask god to give me strength to carry out your will.
this much i swear to you. these things you shall have. i'm going to build a hospital. the biggest that money can buy.  and it will belong to you. that any man, woman, or child who is sick or in pain can go through those doors and know that everything will be done for them that man can do. to heal sickness. to ease pain. free. not as a charity, but as a right. and it is your right that every child shall have a complete education. that any man who produces anything can take it to market without paying toll. and no poor man's land or farm can be taxed or taken away from him. and it is the right of the people that they will not be deprived of hope.
i demand that this bill be passed. nobody's going to tell me how to run this state.
oh, look at him go. he's going to be all-american.
all right, come on, both of you. let's go, hurry it up.
come on. pillsbury put his hand in the pork barrel and got caught. you know, i never did trust that guy.
later, boys, later. say, jack, go back and get the judge. let's get him over to my hotel just as soon as you can.
well, i'm very sorry. something very important came up. you'll call me later, won't you?
look at you, pillsbury. fifty years old, gut-sprung, teeth gone, never had a dime. if the almighty had intended for you to be rich he'd have taken care of that a long time ago. the idea of you being rich.  that's plain blasphemy. ain't that a fact?
answer me!
louder, man. don't mumble. speak up. say it's a fact, a blasphemous fact.
i don't care if she's dying. sugar, get the car. get him and bring him over here.
now, you know what you're supposed to do, don't you, pillsbury? you're supposed to stay poor and take orders. oh, there'll be some sweetening for you from time to time.  but duffy'll take care of that. don't you go setting yourself up on your own again, do you understand that?
louder, man. and say, i understand that.
give him a pen and some paper, sadie.
see who that is, duffy.
oh, hello, judge. sit down. i'll be with you in just a couple of seconds. now write what i tell you to write.  dear governor stark. i wish to resign as auditor due to ill health, to take effect as soon as you can relieve me. respectfully yours. did you sign it?
well, sign it! don't put any date on it. i can fill that in when i need it.
now bring it to me.
now get out.
yeah, i know.
against who?
i got that "this time," judge.
it's too true.
what have we got on hopkins, jack? hello, jeff. about that pillsbury business.  here's what i want you to do when it comes up in the legislature. now, wait a minute, wait a minute. you listen to me. you got a mortgage coming due on that place of yours in about five weeks, haven't you? you'd like to get it renewed, wouldn't you? all right, tiny'll talk to you in the morning.
get going, tiny.
i'm not a bit interested in pillsbury's hide. it's something much more important than that. if the mcmurphy boys get the notion they can get away with this, there's no telling where they'll stop.
judge, you talk like pillsbury was.  was human. he isn't. he's a thing. you don't prosecute an adding machine if the spring goes busted and makes a mistake. you fix it. well, i fixed him. i'm not a bit interested in pillsbury. it's something much bigger than that.
it took you a long time to make up your mind, judge. a long time. what made you take such a long time?
and now you are?
i'll tell you what you are. you're scared. you sat in that big easy chair of yours for thirty years and played at being a judge. then all of a sudden i came along and put a bat in your hand, and i said, go ahead, judge, start swinging. and you did. and you had a wonderful time. but now you're scared. you don't want to get your hands dirty. you want to pick up the marbles.  but you don't want to get your hands dirty. look at my whole program, judge. how do you think i put that across?
you're not by any chance thinking of going over to mcmurphy's boys, are you?
i'm happy to hear that. no hard feelings.
do you think he means it when he says he's through with politics, sadie?
what about you, jack?
all right. all right. take it easy. i'll take your word for it.
sugar, take miss stanton home. when am i going to see you again?
what's the matter, anne?
you've got to understand me.
do you think i like sneaking around corners any more than you do? but right now, with the pillsbury business and with your uncle quitting.  if i got a divorce.
no. no, we won't stop seeing each other, will we?
because you believe in what i tell you.
sugar, meet me at the hotel as soon as you can.
these things are never over. i'll tell you what i want you to do, jack. i want you to start a new page in that black book of yours.  under then name of judge stanton.
ssshhh, easy.
you know, some of this has rubbed off on you.
no.  no.  but i'll have to get myself a new boy.
jack, there's something on everybody. man is conceived in sin and born in corruption.
what's the matter, jack? are you afraid you might find something out?
it's only practice. he'll be all right tomorrow.  you been gone a long time, jack.
why'd you lay around the hotel?
about what?
what did you find on the judge?
you sure you didn't find anything on the judge?
you're going to keep trying, aren't you?
i want you to. there's something else i want you to do too.
what's eating you, jack?
if you've got something on your mind, boy, spit it out. we've been together too long to play games.
i hear your pal adam stanton turned down the job as director of the hospital. that's bad. especially at a time like this.
why? what difference does it make?
i heard it around.
i'll be right back, jack. i want to see what's happening here.
tom, come here. what's going on here?
well, it does to me. what do you want him to do?
tom, you're going to have to obey the rules. do you hear me? you're going to obey the rules.
tom! he's a little high-strung. tom, come here. tom!
go on upstairs, lucy. i have some business i want to talk over with mr. hale.
now.  now, don't get excited. get me another drink, sugar.
she's not going to die. she'll get the best medical attention there is. no expense will be spared.
wait a minute, lucy. he's asleep. and the doctor said after a good night's sleep he'll be all right.
lucy! you care for a drink?
accidents will happen, you know.
i saw the police report. there.  there was nothing about drunkenness on the police report.
tom, the doctor says you need rest, boy.
you don't know what you're talking about. i saw the police report --
nobody has to do anything. stop worrying. i'll take care of everything.
tom, go on upstairs and get some rest, boy. go on.  go on.  go on.
sugar, help him.  mr. hale, come on over and sit down. you sure you wouldn't care for a drink, mr. hale?
hey, tiny, go home. go on, out of here.  out of here. go on.
what business did you say you were in?
what business are you in?
trucking business. trucks run on state roads. if a man in the trucking business had a contract with the state, a big one, that would be pretty good, wouldn't it? go on, jack. tell him what would happen.
go on, tell him.
no, no. no, i'm not trying to bribe you. i'm.  i'm only talking things over with you, that's all.
sugar, follow him. keep calling in.
lucy!.  lucy!
all right, all right, gentlemen. i'll give you a statement. this whole thing is a mess of lies. it's a frame. the man that made that statement.  have him repeat it to my face. he can't. he vanished. let me ask you some questions. where has he gone? where is he?
i won't dignify that question with an answer.
at the football stadium, where he's supposed to be. he's going to play for state university, which this administration is responsible for. he's not hiding from anybody, gentlemen. he'll be out there in full view of seventy thousand cheering fans. one of which will be me. see you, men.
why don't they put him in!
get that man out of here! come on, get him out of here.
they're booing you.
the doctor said it was nothing.
you're scared.  plain scared.
atta boy.  get mad. show some spirit. jack, tell him what his playing means. go on, tell him.
he's hurt? i'm hurt. it wasn't me that wrapped that car around the tree. it wasn't me that got drunk. but me, i'm takin' the rap. go on, kid. get out there and play. show 'em the kind of stuff a stark is made of.
i'm the one that made him play. i sent him in.
i sent him in.
what goes on?
they gotta fly. this is my son. he's got to live.
isn't there anybody else we can get?
how bad is it really, doctor?
has he got a chance?
what do you mean?
you'll do everything you can, won't you? anything between you and me.  that won't count, will it? it doesn't have to. look, doc, anything you want in the world you just ask for it and you got it. go on, doc.  ask for it.
how much does the doc know?
oh, you know what i'm talking about.
about anne and me.
right over there, that's going to be the main building.  fifteen stories high, like on the model. over there, that's the laboratory. finest technical equipment in the world.
why?
to do some good for the people of the state.
oh, there are lots of ways to get votes.
i won't interfere. i may fire you, but i won't interfere.
yes, i know. i'll tell you what.  you stay on your side of the fence; i'll stay on mine. is that a deal?
how many theaters will this play in?
hear that, jack. all over the country.
oh, there's one thing in there i didn't like too well. that messiah or dictator.
all right, all right, that's the way it stands.  as of now.
hello, lucy.  how are you making it, pa?.  how are you, tom?
you're still a great cook, lucy. great cook. well, i guess i better be getting back to town. nice to have spent the day with the family. goodbye, lucy. tom.
take care of yourself, pappy. oh, uh.  how do you like the new radio i got you? you know how it works? you can get police calls on it. come here, come here.  i'll show you.
this one for police calls up here.
all right, go ahead, go ahead.
your friend, the judge.
how long will it take you to pack? i want you to go back to capital city with me tonight.
because i need you.
i'll explain all of that later. now, lucy, do like i say.
you stay right here, jack. i want you bear witness to what i've got to say.
you stay right here, sadie.
all right, then tell duffy not to do anything or say anything until i get there.
shut up!
leave him alone. how many scrapes have i gotten him out of? how many girls?
it's not him they're after. it's me. how many halfwitted apes do you think i'm going to have to pay to square this one? what do you think this is going to cost me?
a man builds for his son. that's all he builds for.
give me a drink, jack.
she'll go.
what's the score?
how do you know? were you there?
selling me out.
how many votes have we got?
we need twenty.
yeah. do you know how?
oh, jack. come here. what have you got in your black book about that old friend of yours?
you know who i'm talking about.  your old friend, the judge.
if and when? i need it right now. he's got four senators wrapped up in his hip pocket. come on, come on, boy.  what have you got?
i ought to bust you, jack.
who are they?
all right, give him a break. but if you got the facts, you got the facts. the truth is sufficient.  just like it says in the bible.
all right, boy.  i'll trust you. where are you going?
are you sure?
tell the boys to get the hicks out. bring 'em in from the sticks, empty the pool halls. turn 'em out. turn the yokels out.
boy, i'll live to be president.
i've got fourteen senators to vote against impeachment. if i win, you're out of politics.
you sure you don't want me to go in with you?
well, hurry it up, boy. we've got places to go.
i can't wait until tomorrow. i'm a very impatient man.
is it true, judge, that you're behind the impeachment proceedings?
i wanted to hear you say it with your own silver tongue.
mind if i pour myself a drink? how about you, judge, will you have one? you better.  you're going to need it.
what'd he say, jack?
are you kidding? did you show it to him, or didn't you?
that's what i figured. let's get down to cases, judge. do you remember a man with the name of littlepaugh?
remember the fortune electric company?
remember how you got the job?
do you remember how you got the job?
you know, judge, dirt's a funny thing. some of it rubs off on everybody. how did you get the job, judge? blackmail?
yeah. but it did.
well, i guess you know what the next move is, don't you?
everybody except you, judge. you're alive. and people think you're a certain kind of man. and you just couldn't bear for people to think otherwise.
yes, yes, you did.
how about my answer?
i want it tonight.
we've got a lot to do. it's getting late, jack. let's get back to town.
aw, you don't mean that, boy.
it's all right, doc. just here to discuss some politics with the judge.
good night.
wait a minute, jack --
they tried to ruin me. but they are ruined. they tried to ruin me because they did not like what i have done. do you like what i have done?
remember, it's not i who have won, but you. your will is my strength, and your need is my justice, and i shall live in your right and your will. and if any man tries to stop me from fulfilling that right and that will, i'll break him. i'll break him with my bare hands. for i have the strength of many.
hello, jack boy, i'm glad you're here. i knew you'd come back.
oh, doctor, i'm very glad to see you.
it could have been the whole world, willie stark. the whole world.  willie stark. why did he do it to me.  willie stark? why?