Other People's Money

1991

directed by Norman Jewison

 

I Love Money    [Scene runs from 00:15-01:29, track 1]

[Opening credits, and what sounds like coins being counted. Lawrence Garfield, playing with a slinky.]

GARFIELD: I love money. I love money more than I love the things it can buy. Does that surprise you? Money, it don't care whether I'm good or not. It don't care whether I snore or not. It don't care which god I pray to. There are only three things in this world with that kind of unconditional acceptance: Dogs, doughnuts, and money. Only money is better. You know why? Because it don't make you fat, and it don't poop all over the living room floor. There's only one thing I like better: Other people's money.

New England Wire and Cable  [Scene runs from 09:35-15:32, track 3- 4]

[Lawrence Garfield and Bea Sullivan walking to the office of Andrew Jorgenson, chairman of New England Wire and Cable. They had to walk up the stairs to get there, because the elevator is not working.]

GARFIELD: Should have warned me, I would have brought a paramedic. Is it much further, I'd like to get there before dark.

BEA: Jorgy, this is Mr. Garfield. Mr. Garfield, Andrew Jorgenson, our chairman.

JORGY: Call me Jorgy. Everybody else does. Sorry about the elevator. It has a mind of its own.

BEA: Mr. [Bill] Coles, president and general manager. Emma, bring in the coffee!

BILL: Nice to meet you.

BEA: Last limousine we saw here was in '48 when Truman was running for president.

[Garfield lights a cigarette.]

JORGY: That's right. He stood right out there on those stairs, exactly where you were.

GARFIELD: Is that so?

JORGY: Yep. That was the golden age. Rebuilding America and all that. Old Harry made a great speech that day.

GARFIELD: Is that so?

BEA: Oh, yes. He was very impressive.

JORGY: He's the only Democrat Bea and I ever voted for.

BILL: Do you know much about the wire and cable business, Mr. Garfield?

GARFIELD: I know if the cable's out of whack, the elevator don't go up.

BEA: I'm thinking about the doughnuts.

JORGY: Doughnuts?

BEA: Mr. Garfield was wondering if we had any.

JORGY: Bill, do we have doughnuts?

BILL: I don't think so.

GARFIELD: How's that coffee coming along?

EMMA: Here we are, Mr. Garfield.

GARFIELD: Thank you.

EMMA: Sugar and cream?

GARFIELD: Sugar. I'll take care of it.

BILL: Thank you, Emma.

BEA: I could have Emma get doughnuts.

BILL: No, no. Why don't we get down to business?

GARFIELD: What's the matter? You're not interested in doughnuts?

BEA: Would you like me to get some doughnuts?

JORGY: No. Never mind, Emma.

GARFIELD: You're right. Let's talk business.

JORGY: Good idea. What business are we talking about?

GARFIELD: Good coffee. Well, let's put it this way: Back in New York, I got a computer. Her name is Carmen. Every morning, right after I brush my teeth, I punch out: "Carmen, computer on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" Now, most mornings, she spits out, "Garfield, you're the fairest." But three weeks ago, she said: "Garfield, Garfield, scratch your balls. New England," pardon me, "New England Wire and Cable is the fairest of them all." "New England Wire and Cable?," I said, "What's it worth?" So she showed me the numbers. You got equipment here that costs 120 million dollars. Even at salvage, it's worth 30, 35 million. Can I use that blackboard over there?

JORGY: Yeah, go ahead.

GARFIELD: Thank you. Come with me. Carmen will educate us. Gonna erase this stuff here. Here. Let's put down 3O million. How many acres you got?

ALL: A hundred and ten.

GARFIELD: Carmen and I figure, even as farmland, grazing land, it's worth 10 million. Is that fair?

JORGY: Yeah.

GARFIELD: Let's lay the 1O under the 3O. That makes 4O million. You bought some other companies, didn't you, Bill? You have a plumbing, an electrical and some kind of adhesive company. Boring, but all making a decent profit. Carmen says they're worth another 6O mil. Let's put the 6O under the 4O. And you have working capital of 25 million, 1O of it in cash. Let's put down 25 million, add them up and see what you got. $125 million dollars.

The only bad news is that this wire and cable division isn't making a profit, and all the other divisions have to support you. Now, as a stockholder, that doesn't make me very happy.

BILL: Are you finished, Mr. Garfield?

GARFIELD: No, I'm not, Bill. Let's say Carmen was suffering from premenstrual syndrome. No offense. A little nuts. Let's say she was too optimistic. Let's knock off 25 million. Here we go. Let's make it 100 million dollars. A nice round number. I like nice round numbers. Any debt? No. Any lawsuits? Any environmental bullshit? You throwing your garbage in the water? Of course not. Not you. What about pension liabilities? Carmen says you're fully funded. You people are dreams.

JORGY: I think this meeting is over.

GARFIELD: No, no, wait a minute. Here comes the fun part. How many shares outstanding you got?

BILL: Four million.

GARFIELD: Divide 4 million into 1OO million, what do you get?

BILL: Twenty-five.

GARFIELD: Good. That means each share is worth 25 dollars. But that was all foreplay. Let's go for the real thing. The stock was 1O when I woke up three weeks ago. That's a 1O for a 25-dollar item. What a sale! Something worth $25 dollars can buy it for 1O.

JORGY: The company's not for sale, Mr. Garfield.

GARFIELD: I don't want your company, Jorgy. I just want what every other stockholder wants: I wanna make money.

BILL: You are making money, Mr. Garfield. You bought the stock at 10, and it's now 14.

GARFIELD: The stock is 14 because I'm buying it. I'm doing my part. Now you do yours. Get rid of this wire and cable division. It's a financial cancer.

JORGY: Would you excuse us, please? I want to talk to Mr. Garfield alone.

[Exit all but Jorgy and Garfield]

JORGY: What the hell do you think you're doing, you little son of a bitch? You can't come into my town, my plant, take my company. You can't do that.

GARFIELD: What, you been living on Mars, Jorgy? It's called a corporate takeover.

JORGY: I know what it's called, and I'm not gonna let you do it.

GARFIELD: It's simple. I do it all the time.

JORGY: Well, do it someplace else. I'm not gonna commit suicide.

GARFIELD: Don't think of it as suicide. Yuck. Think of it as euthanasia.

JORGY: Get out. Get out. Get out before I throw you out.


Kate Sullivan    [Scene runs from 20:55-23:34, track 6]

[Office of Lawrence Garfield. His assistant Harriet speaks to him over the intercom. Kate Sullivan is introduced in this scene. She is the step-daughter to Jorgy, and a lawyer.]

HARRIET: A Miss Sullivan from Hudson, Bradley and Flint is here. And Granger wants to see you about Trundel. Your suits are ready for a fitting; can they come up at 5?

GARFIELD: Yeah, 5 o'clock is okay. But tell them not to send the blind son of a bitch with the pins.

HARRIET: Right, no pins.

GARFIELD: And tell Granger, if he wants to see me, he better make more sense than last time, or he can get on unemployment.

HARRIET: Shall I use those exact words, sir?

GARFIELD: Send in Hudson, Bradley and Flint.

[A very attractive Kate Sullivan walks in. Garfield is impressed with her looks and makes that known to her.]

GARFIELD: Wow. You know what kills me? I've done maybe seven, eight deals like this before, and you know who I negotiate with? Skinny little joggers with contact lenses, all stinking from the same aftershave.

KATE: I'm Kate Sullivan.

GARFIELD: I know. Want a cigarette?

KATE: No, thank you. Don't let me stop you.

GARFIELD: Why would you stop me? What are you, a ******* lawyer?

KATE: Depends on who I'm with.

GARFIELD: Welcome to my life. So, what's it going to be? Sue, settle, defend?

KATE: I came to talk.

GARFIELD: Oh, that's trouble. Lawyers want to talk, nothing but trouble. How about a doughnut?

KATE: No, thanks.

GARFIELD: Why, are you a health-food freak?

KATE: No, just not hungry.

GARFIELD: You have to be hungry to eat a doughnut?

KATE: You don't?

GARFIELD: What, are you shitting me? I never heard of such a thing, have to be hungry. Why? It don't taste better that way.

KATE: How would you know?

GARFIELD: What do you want?

KATE: I need a month.

GARFIELD: Get lost.

KATE: I just got involved. I need time to get everybody's act together.

GARFIELD: My act is together.

KATE: If you give me some time, I think we can work something out.

GARFIELD: Settle?

KATE: Work something out.

GARFIELD: I only settle when I'm in trouble.

KATE: Or when it makes sense.

GARFIELD: It only makes sense when I'm in trouble.

KATE: Well, if you prefer, we'll go to court. Get an injunction, have a fight, all kinds of allegations. Costs them, costs you, and for what?

GARFIELD: I live in court. You got to do better than that.

KATE: I won't love you anymore.

GARFIELD: Two weeks.

KATE: Standstill agreement.

GARFIELD: Both sides.

KATE: No more buying.

GARFIELD: Two weeks.

KATE: Thank you.

And then what?    [Scene runs from 29:25-31:52, track 8]

[Offices of Lawrence Garfield. Kate is coming up to see Garfield. She is unannounced and angry. Although both sides had agreed to a standstill in stock purchases, Kate had instructed Jorgy, her step-father, to buy through an out-of-state firm. Jorgy, however, had refused to do so. We learn later that Bill, President of the company, made purchases using a Rhode Island firm, that is, a firm in the state where the company is located. He did so as a private individual. Neither Jorgy or Kate know about the purchases made by Bill. Garfield, however, having made purchases of his own through OPM Holdings, is aware of the purchases, but believes Kate is responsible for them.]

HARRIET: Hello, Miss Sullivan, may I help you?

KATE: No, I'm sorry. I don't care. I will, I don't care! I'm not going to.

GARFIELD: It's all right, Harriet.

HARRIET: You can't go in there.

KATE: It's not all right, you hypocrite! You lied!

GARFIELD: But, baby-poo.

KATE: We had an agreement. We had a standstill! No more buying! OPM Holdings? You know nothing about it?

GARFIELD: OPM? Not a lot to know.

KATE: You broke the agreement! You embarrassed me with my firm. You embarrassed me with my clients!

GARFIELD: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Don't come on so holier-than-thou with me. What am I supposed to do, sit here while you drive up the stock?

KATE: I did no such thing.

GARFIELD: You're full of shit. All that buying coming from some little cockamamie brokerage firm in Rhode Island? You'd think you'd use an out-of-state firm.

KATE: I know nothing about that.

GARFIELD: Give me a break. Who am I dealing with here, Mother Teresa? You want to play the game, learn to play it right.

KATE: Oh, is that what you call it, a game?

GARFIELD: You're damn right. The best game in the world. I'll teach you. It's easy. You make as much as you can for as long as you can.

KATE: And then what?

GARFIELD: "And then what?" Whoever has the most when he dies, wins. Look. It's the American way. I'm doing my job. I'm a capitalist. I'm simply following the law of free enterprise.

KATE: What law is that?

GARFIELD: Survival of the fittest.

KATE: Maybe some people don't see it that way. Maybe they don't see it as survival of the fittest. Maybe they see it as survival of the fattest!

GARFIELD: Oh, Katie, why are you so hard on me?

KATE: Because you're not nice.

GARFIELD: Since when do you have to be nice to be right?

KATE: You're not right. You're what is happening. One day we'll smarten up and pass some laws and put you out of business.

GARFIELD: They can pass all the laws they want. All they can do is change the rules. They can never stop the game. I don't go away. I adapt.

KATE: Ten years from now, they'll be studying you at the Wharton School. They'll call it the Garfield Era, and rinse their mouths out when they leave the room! I'll see you in court!

GARFIELD: Oh, Katie. Don't leave. We haven't talked about sex yet. At least have a doughnut.

KATE: Stuff it!

GARFIELD: Come on. Don't be a poor loser! Lying to protect your client is just doing a good job. I understand that. You didn't even ask me what OPM stands for. Other people's money!


Love and Money    [Scene runs from 38:20-43:15, track 10]

[Home of Lawrence Garfield. Kate waits for Garfield in his sitting room. The table is set. Kate is dressed to go out after this business meeting. She is looking at a photo on Garfield's side table. It is of a young woman he once went to school with.]

GARFIELD: Gloria Taylor, quarterback's girlfriend. All that putz wanted to do was take her pants off in the back seat, while I was ready to feed her, protect her, put jewels around her neck. I sent her poetry. Longfellow. Can't go wrong with Longfellow.

[He quotes from the poet, Longfellow's Hiawatha.]

Day by day I gazed upon her
Day by day I sighed with passion
Day by day my heart within me
Grew more hot with love and longing

I gave her "Hiawatha." All she wanted was a touchdown. Yeah, to the quarterback's girlfriend.

KATE: To Gloria.

GARFIELD: Drink, drink. It's the best. You look terrific.

KATE: Thank you.

GARFIELD: How about some mushroom dip?

KATE: I thought this was a business meeting.

GARFIELD: What's wrong with a little dip? I never met a person so hard to feed. Who are you mad at? Come on, have some dip. [He watches her take a bite.] Swallow.

[Kate swallows.]

GARFIELD: Nice.

KATE: I think we should talk business.

GARFIELD: You have an exquisite neck.

KATE: I have to leave by 7. I have another engagement.

GARFIELD: Oh, right. I forgot. You got a "proposition."

KATE: Thank you.

GARFIELD: Shoot.

KATE: What will it take for you to go away?

GARFIELD: Greenmail? You're offering to buy me out?

KATE: Why so uptight? It's not illegal.

GARFIELD: It's immoral.

KATE: A distinction that has no relevance for lawyers.

GARFIELD: But it matters to me.

KATE: Well, for someone who has nothing nice to say about lawyers you certainly have plenty of them around.

GARFIELD: They're like nuclear warheads. They have theirs, so I have mine. Once you use them, they **** up everything. Let me ask you: Do you have authorization to offer me greenmail?

[Kate says nothing.]

GARFIELD: Of course not. It's a lawyer's scheme. Everybody walks out happy. I get paid off. Jorgy keeps his company. The employees keep their jobs. The lawyer gets a big fat fee. Everybody walks out. Yumpin' yiminy.

KATE: Sounds pretty good to me.

GARFIELD: Except for the stockholders. Their stock falls out of bed they don't know what hit them.

KATE: Now you're Albert Schweitzer.

GARFIELD: No, not Albert Schweitzer, Robin Hood. I take from the rich, and I give to the middle class. Well, the upper middle class. Would you care for some caviar?

KATE: The stock is 18.

GARFIELD: Do you like music? The violin?

KATE: Let's be serious.

GARFIELD: Come on, let's change the subject. Arthur?

KATE: The stock is 18. We'll buy it back at 18.

GARFIELD: First you laugh at me, and then you insult me.

KATE: Then name your number. What will you take?

GARFIELD: Twenty-five.

KATE: The stock hasn't seen 25 in years.

GARFIELD: You want history? The stock was once 6O.

KATE: Take 2O.

GARFIELD: Such a high achiever. If you're mad at somebody, don't take it out on me. Twenty-five is my number, and that's a favor.

KATE: Well, I don't like your number, and I don't need to be analyzed. Do we have a deal or not?

GARFIELD: Let's discuss it over dinner.

KATE: Good night. Your 2O minutes are up.

GARFIELD: Wait a minute. I want us to be friends. Let's segue into some soup and French bread. Come on. Don't go away mad. I didn't buy your proposition. Come back with another one. You're an emancipated woman. Learn to lose.

KATE: I haven't lost.

Certain death [Scene runs from 50:07-53:19, track 12]

[New England Wire and Cable plant during the day. There is a lot of activity in the plant.]

JORGY: [Talking to Bill, President of the company] Forget it. Tell him to go to hell. He spends 13 million dollars for this place then he sells it for 35. My guys are out of work, and he's made 22 million dollars. Now how do I live with that?

BILL: We eliminate a losing division. The other divisions don't have to support us anymore.

JORGY: I don't want to hear that.

KATE: You still control the company. You just don't have the cable division.

JORGY: Why is it so difficult for everybody to understand why I can't kill these people and this town to enrich some son of a bitch who's trying to destroy me?

KATE: I can't play with him in the courts forever. He'll get the injunction lifted and buy more shares. Don't be a pigheaded fool.

[Jorgy walks away.]

KATE: He deserves to lose this company.

[Cut to the plant, later in the evening. No one remains but Jorgy and Gus, a night worker.]

GUS: Good night, Mr. Jorgenson.

JORGY: Good night, Gus.

GUS: Everything going along okay, Mr. Jorgenson?

JORGY: Everything's moving right along, Gus.

GUS: Everything's going to be okay, isn't it, at the plant? I mean, at the plant and everything?

JORGY: Everything's going to be just fine. We'll be making wire and cable for a long time.

BILL: Yes, sir. Good night, sir.

JORGY: Good night.

BILL: Jorgy? Have you got a minute?

JORGY: Sure, Bill.

BILL: Do you mind if I speak frankly to you, Jorgy?

JORGY: You always have, haven't you?

BILL: You know, I'm trained to think in contingency. You know I've spent my life managing businesses, and, and --

JORGY: Bill, you're in a panic.

BILL: Well, you know how it is with business, Jorgy. When things don't work out quite right and people have invested a lot of time, a lot of their energy, a lot of themselves, management takes care of its own, Jorgy. It happens all the time. And given the uncertainty surrounding us these days, and the fact that you haven't set up any financial guarantees for us, Jorgy. Lord, I hate giving this speech.

JORGY: When I retire in two years, I've told you, you're taking over the business. I promised you that.

BILL: There won't be any business in two years, Jorgy. There won't be any business in one year. You're holding on to a dream.

JORGY: Go home, Bill. Have a drink. Give my best to Jeanette.

BILL: I don't want the rug pulled out from under me so close to the finish line.

JORGY: Good night.

BILL: Jorgy, I've been here ??? years. I have a family. Something's due me. Now, I've worked my ass off for years. And you're going to let that man come in and take over the company. It's not right.

JORGY: I'm sorry, Bill. Up here we don't plan the funeral until the body is dead.


Marry Me?    [Scene runs from 1:10:10-1:12:53, track 17]

[Inside Kate's apartment building. She is on her way out on a date. Garfield has come by unannounced.]

KATE: [To her date] Excuse me, Bart. [To Garfield] What are you doing here?

GARFIELD: Who's Bart?

KATE: I'm on my way out. You should've called.

GARFIELD: I need to talk to you.

KATE: I don't have time.

GARFIELD: I have something important to tell you. I need to talk now. You look beautiful. Who's this guy?

KATE: Excuse me, Lawrence [Garfield]. Call me tomorrow.

GARFIELD: I can't talk tomorrow. It won't keep. I want you to marry me. Let me put it another way. I want to marry you. Are you thinking it over?

KATE: [Confused] What are you talking about?

GARFIELD: What do you mean? I want you to be my wife. We belong together.

KATE: I'm going to the opera. I have to go.

GARFIELD: No, no, Kate. You're the last thought I have when I fall asleep at night, and the first when I wake up in the morning. I want to be with you forever and ever. I want to have babies with you.

KATE: Babies?

GARFIELD: Yeah. You see, I have to do this now, because after I win, maybe you won't want to speak to me.

KATE: You can't win. I'm going to win.

GARFIELD: I know how important it is to you, but you're not going to win. This is what's killing me. I want you. I need you. I love you. I just don't want to lose you.

BART: Katherine.

GARFIELD: Keep your pants on, will you, Bart? I've got to go. All right, the opera. La Traviata. You don't want to miss the first act. It sets up the whole thing.

[Garfield follows them to the car.]

GARFIELD: It's a wonderful production. Have a good time.

[Kate departs in tears. Garfield returns to his car.]

GARFIELD: I'm going to lose her, Arthur.


Before the Vote    [Scene runs from 1:13:40:10-1:16:30, track 18]

[Inside Jorgy's office.]

BEA: I think every shareholder within driving distance is coming. I feel as if we're Harry and Bess on election night.

JORGY: Harry Truman was a better man than me. He slept on election night. I haven't slept in days.

BEA: Talk to me. Tell me.

JORGY: I'm scared. I'm scared that time has passed us by. I'm scared I don't know this new environment. I'm scared that what I do know doesn't count for anything anymore. Things have changed. Whatever happened to people serving each other? I don't want this man to win.

BEA: I'm not scared. I'm just proud. I'm proud of the business we've built. I'm so proud of you. And if what we are counts for nothing anymore, then that's their failing, not ours. It'll be all right. Just go out and tell the truth. Go out and give them hell, Harry.

[Bea and Jorgy kiss. Cut to hallway where Emma walks by Bill.]

EMMA: Good luck to us all today, Bill. I feel we're gonna be just fine.

KATE: Looks like they've come from everywhere. New York, Boston. There's Ozzie.

BILL: Happening all over, isn't it? Everybody looking out for themselves.

KATE: So did you get your golden parachute, Bill? Did he finally promise to take care of you?

BILL: Lord of the manor, house on the hill. Said he didn't want to talk about a funeral while there was no corpse. Well, time to go.

KATE: Bill. How you going to vote?

[Bill doesn't answer. Kate realizes he is jumping ship. She exits.]


We care about people    [Scene runs from 1:19:35-1:24:25, track 19]

[Stockholders' meeting. Applause for Jorgy.]

JORGY: It's good to see so many familiar faces, so many old friends. Some of you I haven't seen in years. Thank you for coming. Bill Coles, our able president, in the annual report, has told you of our year, of what we accomplished, of the need for further improvements, our business goals for next year, and the years beyond.

I'd like to talk to you about something else. I want to share with you some of my thoughts concerning the vote that you're going to make in the company that you own. This proud company, which has survived the death of its founder, numerous recessions, one major depression and two world wars, is in imminent danger of self-destructing on this day, in the town of its birth. There is the instrument of our destruction. [Jorgy indicates Lawrence Garfield]

I want you to look at him in all of his glory. "Larry the Liquidator." The entrepreneur of post-industrial America playing God with other people's money. The robber barons of old at least left something tangible in their wake -- a coal mine, a railroad, banks. This man leaves nothing. He creates nothing. He builds nothing. He runs nothing. And, in his wake lies nothing but a blizzard of paper to cover the pain. Oh, if he said, "I know how to run your business better than you", that would be something worth talking about. But he's not saying that. He's saying, "I'm going to kill you because at this particular moment in time you're worth more dead than alive."

Well, maybe that's true, but it is also true that one day this industry will turn. One day when the yen is weaker, the dollar is stronger or when we finally begin to rebuild our roads, our bridges, the infrastructure of our country, demand will skyrocket. And when those things happen, we will still be here, stronger because of our ordeal, stronger because we have survived. And the price of our stock will make his offer pale by comparison. God save us if we vote to take his paltry few dollars and run. God save this country if that is truly the wave of the future. We will then have become a nation that makes nothing but hamburgers, creates nothing but lawyers, and sells nothing but tax shelters.

And if we are at that point in this country where we kill something because at the moment it's worth more dead than alive, well, then take a look around.

Look at your neighbor. Look at your neighbor. You won't kill him, will you? No. It's called murder, and it's illegal. Well, this, too, is murder, on a mass scale. Only on Wall Street, they call it maximizing shareholder value, and they call it legal. And they substitute dollar bills where a conscience should be. Damn it! A business is worth more than the price of its stock. It's the place where we earn our living, where we meet our friends, dream our dreams. It is, in every sense, the very fabric that binds our society together. So let us now, at this meeting say to every Garfield in the land, "Here, we build things, we don't destroy them. Here, we care about more than the price of our stock. Here, we care about people."

I'm your only friend     [Scene runs from 1:24:40-1:30:35, track 20]

[Stockholders' meeting, continued]

BILL: Thank you. And now I'd like to introduce Mr. Lawrence Garfield. Mr. Garfield.

[Boos from the crowd drown Bill out.]

BILL: Excuse me. Please. Let's show a little courtesy, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Garfield is the president and the chairman of the board of Garfield Investments. Mr. Garfield.

GARFIELD: Amen. And, amen. And, amen. You have to forgive me. I'm not familiar with the local custom. Where I come from, you always say amen after you hear a prayer. Because that's what you just heard. A prayer. Where I come from that particular prayer is called the prayer for the dead. You just heard the prayer for the dead, my fellow stockholders, and you didn't say amen. This company is dead. I didn't kill it. Don't blame me. It was dead when I got here. It's too late for prayers. For even if the prayers were answered and a miracle occurred, and the yen did this and the dollar did that, and the infrastructure did the other thing, we would still be dead. You know why? Fiber optics. New technologies. Obsolescence. We're dead, all right.

We're just not broke. And do you know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market. Down the tubes. Slow but sure. You know, at one time there must have been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I'll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw. Now, how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company? You invested in a business, and this business is dead. Let's have the intelligence, let's have the decency, to sign the death certificate, collect the insurance, and invest in something with a future. "But we can't," goes the prayer. "We can't, because we have a responsibility, a responsibility to our employees, to our community. What will happen to them?"

I got two words for that: Who cares? Care about them? Why? They didn't care about you. They sucked you dry. You have no responsibility to them. For the last ??? years, this company bled your money. Did this community ever say, "We know times are tough. We'll lower taxes, reduce water and sewer"? Check it out. You're paying twice what you did O years ago. And our devoted employees who have taken no increases for the past three years, are still making twice what they made ??? years ago. And our stock, one-sixth what it was ??? years ago. Who cares? I'll tell you. Me. I'm not your best friend. I'm your only friend. I don't make anything? I'm making you money. And lest we forget, that's the only reason any of you became stockholders in the first place. You want to make money. You don't care if they manufacture wire and cable, fried chicken or grow tangerines! You want to make money!

I'm the only friend you've got. I'm making you money. Take the money. Invest it somewhere else. Maybe, maybe you'll get lucky, and it'll be used productively. And if it is, you'll create new jobs and provide a service for the economy, and, God forbid, even make a few bucks for yourselves. And if anybody asks, tell them you gave at the plant. And by the way, it pleases me that I am called "Larry the Liquidator." You know why, fellow stockholders? Because, at my funeral you'll leave with a smile on your face and a few bucks in your pocket. Now, that's a funeral worth having.

[applause and boos, mixed]


It's money that I love [Scene runs from 1:35:47-1:38:28, tracks 22-23]

[Garfield has won the vote, but lost the day. He knows he has no hope with Kate any longer. He is back in his office, feeling forlorn.]


GARFIELD: [To his computer, which he calls Carmen] No. Well, Carmen, we did it again. I can always count on you, can't I? Another barrelful of money. Not bad for a kid from the Bronx. I love money. I love money.

ARTHUR: Mr, Garfield, Kate Sullivan is on the line. Are you in or out, Mr, Garfield?

GARFIELD: Hello?

KATE: You're a greedy, arrogant, self-absorbed, overbearing.

GARFIELD: Avaricious?

KATE: I have a proposition for you. Are you ready, Lawrence?

GARFIELD: Ready.

KATE: Air bags.

GARFIELD: Air bags?

KATE: Every car in America is about to have one. Did you know that air bags are made from stainless-steel wire cloth?

GARFIELD: Did you dump Bart?

KATE: The Mitsushimi Company of Japan is ready to make a long-term deal with New England Wire and Cable for the production of air bags.

GARFIELD: I love the sound of your voice.

KATE: Well, here comes the best part, Lawrence, You sell Wire and Cable back to the employees. They modernize and re-equip the plant and turn out air bags.

GARFIELD: What's in it for me?

KATE: They'll pay 28 bucks a share. You like?

GARFIELD: They'll go to 3O.

KATE: 30? You think so?

GARFIELD: Why not? We'll talk about it at dinner. I'll see you in an hour.

KATE: Lunch, tomorrow, one o'clock. You know where. Strictly business.

GARFIELD: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Strictly business.

[Garfield hangs up and addresses the computer, Carmen]

GARFIELD: Wow, did you hear that, Carmen? Harriet! Call my manicurist, call the barber, call the florist. Tell Arthur I want two tickets to the opera tomorrow night. Puccini. We're back in business! It's money that I love.

[Garfield dances and plays with his slinky.]

 

Other People's Money Questions — Guide to Unit 3 — Back to Unit 3

 

 

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