"At a certain point in my career as an artist" "I made a necessary decision to discontinue suffering fools." "My name is Eric Jonrosh." "I had written a book, a bestseller, called The Spoils of Babylon." "Thank you, Doris." "I had already been roughed up by the Hollywood game with my bestseller The Spoils of Alabama, a production presumably starring Tuesday Weld and Rod Steiger." "I began principal photography on The Spoils of Babylon at some juncture in 1976, ending production abruptly in January of '79 for reasons that I refuse to make clear." "Shooting on premium nitrate non-safety 93-millimeter tryex reversal stock and Henrik Zylet's three-times breathtake-o-scope anamorphic prime lenses." "The end result is nothing less than a masterpiece." "The original production of Spoils of Babylon had a running time of 22 hours and was considered..." "Not quite done with that." "And was considered too long for network television." "Tonight's abbreviated version pales in comparison and yet in my humble opinion, it is far superior to anything on television today." "Mm." "The cast is perhaps the finest assembled for the time." "There's the young romantic lead Dirk Snowfield coming off a week-long engagement on the hit television show Telepathy Man." "Sir Richard Driftwood, celebrated British stage actor in his first film performance, playing an American, no less, with great skill." "And my former wife, the beautiful Lauoreighiya Samcake, who left us much too soon." "And now lives in Arizona with a man who owns a chain of sporting goods stores." "I should have a drink for this part." "I should have..." "No, I know there's two drinks." "I should have three." "The light has faded on Eric Jonrosh and my somewhat illustrious career as an author." "My books continue to sell, but new children fill the playground and I am old." "Old but not quite gone." "As you shall see, I've saved the best for last." "Please enjoy Part One of The Spoils of Babylon." "[Somber music]" "[Horn fanfare]" "[Big band music]" "♪" "[Electrical buzzing]" "[Tribal music]" "[Ricochet sound effects]" "[Pleasant, jazzy music]" "♪" "[People chattering]" "No, no, stop, please." "Let this go." "Leave him." "You and I can run away together and never look back." "[Gunshots]" "[Screams]" "[Suspenseful music" "Episode 1 "The Foundling"" "[Panting]" "[Tires screeching]" "♪" "[Jazzy lounge music]" "♪ Misty visions cloud my mind ♪" "♪ All I've had I've left behind ♪" "♪ Like a stranger I walk alone ♪" "♪ Into darkness and unknown ♪" "♪ Good-bye ♪" "♪ To all I used to be ♪" "♪ Am I lost ♪" "♪ Or finally me ♪" "♪ Passion simmers ♪" "♪ And then it boils ♪" "♪ To the victor ♪" "♪ Goes the spoils ♪" "♪ ♪" "♪ Who are we ♪" "♪ That we choose to live ♪" "♪ Taking more ♪" "♪ Than we were meant to give ♪" "♪ Riches cannot hide the truth within ♪" "♪ To be in love and not to love ♪" "♪ Is just... ♪" "♪ Is just a sin ♪" "♪ ♪" "♪ A lotus flower left for dead ♪" "♪ Photographs ♪" "♪ Inside of my head ♪" "♪ Passion simmers ♪" "♪ And then it boils ♪" "♪ To the victor ♪" "♪ Goes ♪" "♪ The ♪" "♪ Spoils ♪" "♪ ♪" "[Groans]" "My name is..." "Devon Morehouse." "Yes, that Devon Morehouse." "But I didn't start out with that name." "Where did I come from?" "I had been walking for days with..." "No memory." "Look, father, there's someone walking'." "[Engine putters]" "[Engine backfires]" "What you doing out here, boy?" "Don't you know how to talk?" "My father asked you a question." "Why are you out here all by yourself?" "He don't know how to talk." "Maybe he fell off the train or something." "My name's Cynthia Morehouse, and I plan on being rich and powerful and beautiful and rich someday." " What's your name?" " Leave the boy alone, Cynthia." "He'll get to talking when he feels like it." "You can decide on what you want to call yourself in due time." "Ezekiah, Ezekiel," "Steve, Jim Bob, Skippy," "Jesus, Jerry, Vladimir," "Hortensio, Maharishi, Billy, Honus, Johnny One-Atep, Tyrone." "I was always partial to Clyde." "But from now on your last name is Morehouse, until I say it ain't." "Come along now." "And that's how I came into being a Morehouse, a name begot in honor and one that would end in blood." "Jonas Morehouse, my new father, traded his blue-blood eastern life for a grand bet on oil." "He was a wildcatter." "Before I came along, he had already dug over 50 wells without so much as one single drop of oil." "To make matters worse, in 1929 the greed in mankind had reached its end." "The world collapsed." "The money ran out and most of his land was sold off for taxes." "By the time I came into the family all that was left was a house, ten acres of dirt, one rig, a nine-year-old girl, and one indomitable spirit named Jonas Morehouse." "Now, you kids eat your squirrel stew." "Got a lot of work to do tomorrow, and you're gonna need your strength." "I'm tired of squirrel." "Onions and squirrels." "It's all we ever eat." "I want cake." "Eat your stew." "There'll be plenty of cake when that well comes in." " That well ain't never comin' in." " [Pounds] Don't you ever say that, girl." "There's oil down in that ground." "And I'm gonna get it." "You know, God put me here on this earth for a reason..." "To extrapolate that oil." "I'm not so sure you're using the word extrapolate properly." "You see these hands?" "This nation was built by hands like these, honest hands." "Mostly African and Chinese, laboring' under the belief that hard work is a religion unto itself." "There's oil down in that well." "And I'm gonna expunge it." "Not for me alone, not for all the wealth in the world, but for all mankind." "It shall be..." "My legacy." "[Sweeping orchestral music]" "♪" "You didn't believe all that malarkey father was jabbering about, did you?" "What do you mean?" "When I grow up, I'm gonna be rich and have what I want." "And I'm not gonna lift a finger." "And if you're lucky I'll marry you." "You can't marry me." "You heard father, I'm your brother now." "Hardly." "We're not even related." "Kiss me." "Are you crazy?" "Go on." "Kiss me." "You know you want to but you're scared." " I ain't scared." " Then prove it." "Kiss me." "And that was it." "The kiss that sealed our fate." "And it was a long kiss." "Longer than I had anticipated, considering we were just kids." "Perhaps too long." "That kiss would drive the two of us to our ruin." "Such a kiss." "And we were not alone." "[Ominous orchestral music]" "♪" "Time was measured in work and also on clocks and watches, but mostly work." "The days passed, and then the years." "I hardly noticed that I'd become a young man." "I studied hard and worked hard and learned what it meant to be the son of Jonas Morehouse." "What does it all mean?" "You got another letter from that banker man." "Don't mean nothing." "Yeah, he could come in here and take our land away." "I guess we got our backs up against the wall, then, huh?" "There's something I wanna give you." "Something I've been holding onto in case..." "Well, in case." "It's a compass." "Was mine during the war." "I put an inscription on the inside." "Well. [Chuckles] There you go." "It says, "To my son Devon." "Love, Jonas Morehouse."" ""Fortune favors the man with purpose."" "There's more." ""..." "For he is so driven that all his senses"" ""obey his singular ambition, lust and dreams alike,"" ""and even love steered straight by one passion."" "Keep... keep reading." "There's more." ""Fearing not the abyss of moral incertitude"" ""and spiritual chaos, his purpose..."" "Both: "Shall be a lantern whereby which no shadow-haver"" ""so severe shall darken his path."" ""His footsteps forever will fall upon solid ground"" ""as no unseen surprise will interfere with progress,"" ""such is the man of purpose, a true leader..."" ""Not just of men but of all the Elements."" "Both: "Air, Water, Earth, and Fire"" ""conspire against his visionary zeal."" ""Undaunted he travels forth and bends all these things to fit his majesty."" ""Therein ends this inscription that I write for my beloved and..."" ""Most cherished son..."" ""Devon, who I have passed this compass along to,"" ""in hopes that he might ponder it from time to time should he lose his way."" ""Jonas Morehouse, your fat."" ""Your fat."" " Why did you put that?" " Let me see that." "Supposed to say "Your father."" "Damn fool ran out of pace." "He should've managed his space better." "[Horn honks]" "Jonas Morehouse." "Yessir." "You are a fool, Jonas Morehouse." "You had the chance to pick up stakes long ago." "But come noon tomorrow, you will have nothing to show for all your hard work." "Well, I'll have my dignity." "Now, by the time my trucks roll up here tomorrow you may very well be the poorest man in the count..." "[Rumbling]" "Most men would've walked away with something, but you ain't gonna have nothing." "No, sir." "Because you allowed your pride to get in the w..." "[Rumbling]" "Ay of reason." "Your children will be in the poor house." "Your name will be like dust in the wind." "Now, sir, you, Jonas Morehouse, are a failure." " Hey, my pops ain't no failure." " Easy, son." "A complete and utter failure." " You watch your tongue." " Son, please." "Who knows?" "As of this moment you may very well be the poorest man in the entire count..." "Son of a bitch." "[Explosion, pouring]" " It's oil!" " Son of a bitch!" " Devon, we struck oil!" " It's oil!" "It is oil!" "Son of a bitch!" "What was that you were saying about me, banker man?" "Whoo!" "Whoo-hoo!" "It was as if God himself blessed Jonas Morehouse that day." "He blessed him for all his hard work and faith." "He blessed him because no man had worked harder and he blessed him because he wanted Jonas Morehouse to have that oil over any other man." "Indeed." "Announcer:" "News on parade." "And there's oils in them there wells, at least when it comes to the land of Jonas Morehouse." "Morehouse's liquid onyx empire continues to grow as he strikes it rich in the fields of Texas." "Jonas Morehouse, a regular folk hero, buying back his own land the bank took away." "And buying even more land." "Some estimates say 1/2 million acres." "And where does all this ebony crude go?" "Why, to refineries, of course, to process the oil." "Yes, Jonas Morehouse, a bona fide success story." "Through the force of his will, thriving when so many of the rest of the world are barely hanging on." "I mean, you're that successful, Washington comes to you." "Jonas, you have to back us." "Roosevelt is choking the whole country." " He's a socialist." " He's a Russian Jew." "He's gonna tax us businessmen out of business." "Maybe we ought to be taxed out of business, seeing as how it was our business that got this whole country in a mess in the first place." "Really, Jonas, you act like you don't want to make money." "I don't." "Never have." "I want to be useful, plain and simple." "I found oil for this country where there was none." "And I have big plans for these United States." "I believe Roosevelt does too." "[Exhales]" "I believe that given the proper stimulus, the economy can recover." "I believe that..." " What are they saying?" " Shh." "I can't hear." "Are they mad at father?" "No, they're just some greedy, old businessmen talking about the economy." "What's the economy?" "Gosh, you're a dummy." "The economy." "Money." "The way nations conduct business...?" "You don't know nothing about that." "Nothing to know." "What did Adam Smith say?" ""It's not by augmenting the capital of a country,"" ""but by rendering a greater part of that capital"" ""active and productive than would otherwise be so,"" ""that the most judicious operations of banking"" ""can..."" ""Can increase the industry of the country."" "Why don't you kiss me?" "It's been so long since you kissed me." "Did you forget how?" "Gosh, no, I didn't forget nothing." "It's just..." "Just that I'm not supposed to." "But don't you wanna?" "Yeah, I sure do, sis." " I just... oh, my God." " What?" " Why not?" "Come on." " I do." "I don't..." " I don't wanna do this." " Why not?" " I do wanna do..." " You do want to." "I do, you're right." " No, I can't do this." " Okay, fine." "My sister Cynthia and I had been circling around a forbidden desire for many years." "It was 1941." "What a night." "There you are." "Isn't this wonderful?" "All for moi." "You deserve it, sis." "19 years old." "Devon, you haven't asked me to dance all night." "Okay, sis." " I'd be honored." "Come on." " Not inside, with all those dopes." "I wanna talk to you." "I can hardly hear the music." "Why did you stop writing me when you were at school?" "Well, I-I got busy, I guess." "Don't you like me?" "You know I like you, sis." "Stop calling me "sis"." "I'm a woman now, full-bodied and filled with desire." "I can see that, but..." "You're still my sister." "Am I?" "Oh, Devon, why don't you kiss me?" "There you go." "Happy Birthday, sis." "Not like that..." "Like how you would with a woman." "As your heart demands." "♪ See the pyramids along the Nile ♪" "♪ Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle ♪" "♪ Just remember, darling ♪" "♪ All the while ♪" "♪ You belong ♪" "♪ To me ♪" "♪ See the marketplace in old Algiers ♪" "[Coughs] Father!" "What's going on here...?" "Well..." " I'm in love with Devon." " Ah!" "And he's in love with me." "I forbid it." "I..." " Forbid it." " Listen, wait." "Do you hear that?" "Do you hear?" "Pearl Harbor came under attack from Japanese and evil forces." "Casualties are reported to be high." " What does it mean?" " It means war, Cynthia." "War." " War." " War." "War." " "W"..." " W-o-r-e." "A-R." "W-a-r." "It means war." "Father, Cynthia..." "I'm joining up." "No." "No, Devon, you can't." " I love you." " And I love you." "[Footsteps running]" "Devon..." "Devon, no!" "Devon, my looo..." "[Sustaining note]" "Ve!" "Looking back I cannot help but wonder how my life could have gone had I released this 30 years ago." "I can't do that to myself." "So many events and arguments and underhanded doings." "It's no use." "We have to content ourselves with the house we built, or succumb to the madness." "Join me next time, for Part Two of The Spoils of Babylon." "[Glasses clink]"