" What's wrong with the Bradley place?" " That's where Frankenstein lives." "Frankenstein?" "That's what everybody calls him because he's a monster." "Just like out of the movies." "He's the biggest, evilest, wickedest creature that ever walked the earth, and that's the gospel truth." " Steve, this is Jonathan Smith." " Hello." "And this is my cousin Mark Gordon." " Hi." " Steve, how you doing?" "And this is my husband, Scotty." " Hi, Scotty, it's nice to meet you." " You'll forgive me if I don't get up." "Hey, don't look embarrassed." "That was just a little humour." "Right." "Well, it was nice meeting all of you, and I'll see you later, Diane." "Hey, don't try and put a hit on my wife." "You don't have a chance." "I might be in a chair, but that doesn't mean I'm dead." " You know what I mean?" " Scotty." "Please say something." "You're frightening me." "Don't be afraid, I'll help you." "Scotty, I don't mind working, as long as I know you're trying." "What do you tell them at work?" "What do you tell that jerk I met tonight?" "That you support your pathetic husband because he can't make a living?" "Hey, come on, Scotty." "That's enough." "Hey, you bet it's enough." "I'm taking the pressure off you, Diane." "I know it's tough to walk out on a cripple." "A lot of guilt and all." "So I'll make it easy on you." "I'll get Willis to move me out tonight." "What is it?" "What is it?" "You'll be able to see my face." "You'll hate me, just like all the others." "Why?" "Why?" "Clark, I don't know what you're talking about." "I'm not Clark." "I'm Julian!" "Don't you understand?" "I'm Julian!" "Hey, freeze or you're dead." "Julian, don't run!" "For God's sake, don't run!" "Julian Bradley, you are under arrest for kidnapping and attempted murder." " Hey, Willis." " Yeah?" "After dinner tonight, why don't you go see a movie or something?" " What about you?" " I'll be okay." "I just wanna be alone." "Do some thinking." "Okay, thanks." "Your son is right here, Mrs. Bradley." "He has a visitor with him right now, and normally we only allow one at a time." "But I don't want anyone saying I didn't bend over backwards to see that he was treated fair in my jail." " Visitor?" " That's right." "After you, ma'am." "Who is this man?" "I don't know him." "And I don't want some reporter scandalizing my family." "I'm not a reporter, Mrs. Bradley." "My name's Jonathan Smith, and I'm a friend of Julian's." "My son doesn't have any friends." "He doesn't have anyone but me." "And the sooner he remembers that, the better." "He has a friend now, Mrs. Bradley." "This is Mr. Kling, the attorney I told you about." "Now, he has explained everything to me and I suggest that you listen to him." "Now then, Julian, I've been talking to the prosecutor, and I think we just might be able to do a little plea bargaining." "As long as that girl doesn't die, of course." "How is she?" "How is Rachel?" "She's still in a coma." "Now, I think with a little luck, we can get the DA's office to accept a plea of manslaughter." "Why would he plead guilty if he hasn't done anything?" "I'm trying to save his life." "Save his life?" "You haven't even asked him if he's innocent or not." "Fine." "Julian, did you do it?" "Did you try and kill her?" "No." "I love her." "Love." "I love her." "I didn't do a thing." "She fell." "I wasn't even near her." "Great." "Now, if we get lucky we can get the DA to agree to a guilty plea on manslaughter charges." "He just told you he was innocent." "Do you think a trial has anything to do with innocence or guilt?" "It has to do with winning." "Have you seen the paper this morning?" " They're calling him a monster." " He's not a monster." "That's what they'll make him into in that courtroom and there's not a thing I'll be able to do to stop them." "The minute they see his face, half the battle will be lost." "I'm sorry to put it so bluntly, but that's the truth as I see it." "Then maybe you're not the right man to defend him." "You stay out of this." "I'll say what's best for my son." "Do you want him to go to jail?" "Of course I don't." "That's where he's gonna go if he pleads guilty." "You have to give him a chance." "If you hadn't left that house, you wouldn't be here now." "I tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen." "Your mind was so filled with lust." "Now you're being punished by God." "Mrs. Bradley, he's not being punished by God." "He's being punished by people because he's different." "I want a trial." "Mr. Kling, we'll go to trial." "Then you're going to have to get an attorney who'll know how to defend you in that trial better than I will." "And to tell you the truth, I don't know of such a man around here." "Well, I do." "Why didn't you just leave me there?" "Why couldn't you have just left me alone?" "It would have looked like an accident." "At least Diane could have gotten the insurance money." "Oh, that's really nice." "You did this for Diane." "What a loving gesture, Scotty." "I'm not worth anything to her alive, at least this way" "Oh, come on, stop it, will you?" "You can lie to yourself, but don't lie to me." "You know, what a phoney you turned out to be, you, always preaching about living in the minute." "Oh, get off my case." "It's my life." "No, it's not just your life." "It's Diane's too." "And what about the guys in the hospital?" "The ones you con just to puff up your own ego." "What about them?" "What do you think this would've done to them and the rest of the people that care about you?" "Hey, man, I can't carry everyone else anymore." "Well, who the hell asked you to?" "Nobody asked you to be Superman." "You're the one who's always saying it." "Yeah, well, now I'm saying I'm tired of living like this." "I'm tired of it." "I don't want it anymore." "Yeah, what don't you want anymore?" "Being helpless." " I'm tired of being helpless" " Will you stop the helpless stuff?" "You're a man who went to college, you passed the bar exam, and you're telling me you're helpless." "And where did it get me?" "Have I got any clients?" "As a matter of fact, you do." "If you hadn't been so busy trying to knock yourself off, you'd have known about it an hour ago." "What are you talking about?" "Your first case, that's what I'm talking about." "Case?" "Well, what kind of case?" "The best kind for you." "The kind nobody else wants because they figure he can't win it." "Now, what do you say?" "You want the case or not?" "You kidding?" "All right." "I'll heat you up some broth and we'll talk about it." "Jonathan?" "Yeah, Scotty, I know." "But the next time you try to adiós yourself, do me a favour." "Call Jacques Cousteau, okay?" " There you go." " Julian?" " This is ScottyWilson." " Hi, Julian." "What's the matter?" "Haven't you ever seen anyone in a wheelchair before?" "No, I haven't." "Except on television." "Well, this is what it looks like." "My body's in the chair, Julian." "My mind works just fine." "I wasn't staring at the chair." "I was looking at your face." "My face?" "What's wrong with my face?" "Nothing." "It's so perfect." "Your skin is so perfect." "I suppose I was envying you." "You've gotta be kidding." "Mr. Wilson, when I look at people, they run." "Yeah, well, you're lucky." "I can't run." "Jonathan tells me you're innocent." "With God as my witness." "If you had him as a witness, you wouldn't need a lawyer." "All right, first thing we do is arrange a bail and get you out of here." "What for?" "At least in here, people can't look at me." "Besides, I don't have the money for any bail." "Julian, the judge is going to release you on your own recognizance, because I'm going to tell him that with your face, there's absolutely nowhere you can run that you wouldn't be recognized." "That's true." "And you said I wasn't a monster." "You're better off staying with us for a while, Julian." "I got a feeling this town is not too friendly towards you right now." "That's Ridley." "That's the boy who saw me going over to Rachel's that night." "Jonathan, can you pull over for a sec?" " I wanna ask him a few things." " You got it." "How you doing, Ridley?" "What are you doing here?" "This is our hotel." "We're staying here during the trial." "Yeah?" "Well, that trial won't last too long." "Hi, Ridley, can I ask you a few questions?" "Who are you?" "I'm a friend of Julian's." "Well, then I'm not gonna talk with you, not if you're a friend of that monster." "He tried to kill that poor blind lady." "That's not true." "Why are you saying those things?" "Hey, get away from me." "Don't you try to grab me." "Hey, Ridley!" "See what I mean?" "They've been running away from me all my life." " Who is it?" " It's Jonathan, Diane." " Is anything wrong?" "Is Scotty okay?" " No, no, he's fine." "Can I talk to you for a minute?" " Sure, come on in." " Thanks." "How are you doing?" "Okay." "Learning to cook for one again." "How's Scotty?" " He's scared." " About the trial?" "Mark told me you got him a case." "I'm very happy for him." "Then why don't you tell him that?" "I tried calling him, but I just got his machine." "I left him a message." "I guess he doesn't wanna talk to me." "Well, maybe that's part of what he's scared about." "What do you mean?" "All this time he's complaining about the world not giving him a chance, and now he's got one and he's afraid he's gonna blow it." "He needs you to be there in his corner, to cheer him on." "I don't wanna be his cheerleader, Jonathan." "I want to be his wife." "Come on, Diane, can't you be both?" "Every man needs his wife there in his corner." "Well, what about me?" "I have needs too." "I need some support around here." "Don't you think Scotty knows that?" "He knows he was a jerk." "That's why he's afraid to call you to ask you to the trial." "He's afraid you're gonna say no." " That is ridiculous." " Well, then tell him that too." "How can I tell him that if he won't even talk to me on the phone?" "Come on, Diane, I mean, if we're gonna play this dumb game about who's supposed to call who first..." "Jonathan, he is the one who walked out on me, remember?" "Yeah, I remember." "Hey, let me ask you something, you still love him?" "Yes." "Then you're acting like a jerk now." "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury." "We have no ordinary case before us." "The victim, who even now lies in a coma," "her very life dangling by the thinnest of threads, was blind," "helpless." "She was not able to see, as you are, the monster who loomed before her." "Objection, Your Honour." "The characterisation of the defendant as a monster is prejudicial and" "I withdraw the characterisation." "Alleged monster, shall we say." "And we'll let the jury decide just how monstrous, in fact, his actions were." "Now, this creature, who hid himself from public view for 25 years" "and prowled among us only under the cover of darkness," "until he could find the one victim who lived in a world of darkness." "And when he found her, like a fiend from a horror movie" " Objection." " Overruled." "Like a fiend from a horror movie, he attacked her, carried her off, and only by the grace of God did he fail in his attempt to murder her." "Now, the defence will attempt to show you that this poor blind girl did in fact care for Julian Bradley," "that theirs was a love affair." "But I submit to you that this is a perversion of the very notion of love." "And that if any such romance existed, it existed only in the perverted mind of the defendant!" "Yeah!" "Now, they will attempt to elicit your pity for this man." "They have even gone so far as to secure the services of a crippled attorney in an attempt" "I object, Your Honour." "On what grounds?" "On the characterisation of the defence attorney as a cripple." "I am a quadriplegic." "We refer to ourselves as physically challenged, and I am not the issue in this case." "Sustained." "Thank you, Your Honour." "That is precisely my point." "The defendant's counsel is not the issue in this case." "And I would ask you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, to not allow the natural pity which any of you might feel for the defence counsel." "Objection." "No one's asking for anybody's pity." "Overruled." "Counsellor, you just said you were not the issue in this case." "If that's so, why don't we let the prosecutor finish his opening statement?" "Thank you, Your Honour." "I would ask you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, to not allow the natural charity which any of you might feel for the defence counsel's infirmities deflect your vision from the facts of this case, which, I am sure, will lead you to see" "Julian Bradley for the heinous monster he is, and return a verdict of guilty as charged." "Thank you." "Order in the court." "Order in the court." "Mr. Wilson." "Thank you." "Well, not at all, counsellor." "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury..." "Jonathan..." "What's the problem, counsellor?" "My notes, they're upside down." "I need to..." "Just take it easy." "You're just gonna do fine." "Okay." "Your Honour, may I ask for a 15-minute recess?" "Just to get my notes back in order?" "Mr. Wilson, are you able to try this case?" "Yes, of course I am." "Well, then, get on with it, son." "Yes, Your Honour, I" "Your Honour, counsel is having a clonus spasm." " A what?" " It's an involuntary spasm, sir." "It'll pass, but with the court's permission, if we could just take a short recess?" "The court will recess until Mr. Wilson is able to continue." "Here you go, Scotty, you want some water?" "No." " Hi." " Hi." "Jonathan, could you leave us alone for a minute?" "Yeah, sure." "I don't need your pity, so why don't you just save it?" "What do you need from me?" "Nothing, so just leave." "I'm blowing it, okay?" "It's not the world's fault, it's mine." "I'm no good at this, okay?" "You don't need my pity." "What you need is a swift kick." "You are a damn good attorney, Scotty." "How many times have you sat in front of me and rehearsed speeches to a jury?" "What?" "One hundred?" "Two hundred?" "I know, because I've been there, Charlie." "And now you are letting this two-bit shyster fake you out of your mind." "Okay, you said your piece." "Let's leave it at that." "No, I will not leave it at that." "Stop thinking about yourself all the time, Scotty." "You've got a client out there who needs you, remember?" "Damn it." "I want you to go out there and kick his butt." "I love you, Scotty." "See you in court, counsellor." "Now, Ridley," "I'm going to ask you a few simple questions and I would like for you to answer them just as honestly as you can, so don't you be nervous." "I'm not nervous at all, Mr. Thrasher." "Good, good." "Now, Ridley, on the night of the 20th of this month at about 8:00 in the evening, where were you?" "I was out over by the McCulloch place, and it was exactly 8:16, because I'd just looked at my watch, and I always set it by the radio, so I know what time it was." " And then" " What did you see?" "Well, I saw that man right over there." "Let the record show that the witness has indicated the defendant." "Go on, Ridley." "Well, I saw that man right over there, the defendant, sneak over to Miss McCulloch's cottage." "And then I saw him looking all around, like he was scared that somebody might be watching what he was up to." "Objection, Your Honour." "The witness is characterizing the defendant's actions as sneaking, when in fact" "When I see a man walking all hunched over and looking like he's up to no good, I consider that sneaking." "Sustained." "Just say what you saw Ridley, without the interpretation." "I wasn't interpreting a thing." "He was sneaking, Your Honour." " Objection." " Sustained." "Mr. Thrasher, you will caution the witness." "What did the defendant do then?" "Well, he went up on the blind lady's porch, and then he looked all around, then he peeked through some window like some kind of a peeping Tom." "Objection." "Just say what you saw, young man, without any embellishment." "And then what happened?" "I don't know, because I ran." "Why did you run, Ridley?" "Well..." "Because I didn't want him to see me and then come after me." "Well, why did you think that he would do that?" "Because he just tried to do that the other day." "Go on, Ridley." "Well, I was riding my bicycle when he and Mr. Smith came up in this big old van and he leaned out and he said, real mean-like:" ""Hey, Ridley, come here, I want to talk to you."" "And then that van just forced me off the side of the road." "And then I just fell off my bike, and then he grabbed for me, and then there was this other guy in the van, and then they grabbed at me." "But I was too fast for them and I got away." "Your witness." "Hi, Ridley, how you doing?" " Very well, thank you." " Good." "Ridley, you're very precocious, aren't you?" "Yes, sir, I am." "I bet there's not anybody in this whole town who knows more about what's going on than you do." "Is that true?" "Well, I do keep my eyes and ears open." "I thought so." "So the other day," "Julian Bradley pulled up in a van and tried to grab you." "You sure about that?" "Positively." "And you say there was another man in the van and he tried to grab you too." "That's right, and he would have if I hadn't gotten away." "Have you ever seen this other man before?" "No, I don't think so." "It was kind of dark in the van." "Could you describe how he tried to grab you?" "Well, he just leaned out and he tried to grab me, that's all." "You're sure?" " Yes!" " Objection, Your Honour." "The boy has already answered that question." "Sustained." "Could you describe the man?" "Well, like I said, it was kind of dark in the van." "But he did wear this cap over his eyes, kind of like a crook in the funny papers." "I see." "Can I be excused now?" "Not yet." "Jonathan, get my cap out of my briefcase." "You bet." "And did he say something like:" ""Hey, kid, we just wanna talk with you."" "You were the guy?" "That's right." "I'm the guy who you have just testified, under oath, reached out, reached out, Ridley, and tried to grab you." "I'm paralysed from the neck down, Ridley." "It couldn't have happened, Ridley." "It didn't happen." "You were lying just now, weren't you?" "No, no, I wasn't lying, honest." "I really thought" "And what you say you saw concerning the defendant, that was the same thing, wasn't it?" "Wasn't it?" "Yes." "Thank you, Ridley." "No further questions." "Mr. Smith, where were you on the night of the 20th at approximately 8:00?" "I was in Rachel McCulloch's cottage." "I was rigging up a light fixture for her." "A light fixture?" "For a blind woman?" "Well, she was having company that night, a dinner guest." "And she wanted the place to look especially nice." "I painted a little bit, put up some light fixtures." "A few flowers, things like that." "All that just for a dinner guest?" "I had a feeling this was more than just another dinner guest." "What was Miss McCulloch acting like that day?" "Was she apprehensive?" "Was she afraid of this guest?" "Well, no, I don't think she was afraid." "Little apprehensive, she was acting like a woman in love." "Objection, Your Honour." "The witness is not an expert on love." "I wouldn't be so sure about that." "Sustained." "Who was Miss McCulloch's dinner guest?" "Julian Bradley." "Were you apprehensive at all about his actions?" "No." "No, not apprehensive in any way." "He was acting like a man falling in love." "Objection, Your Honour." "There he goes talking about love again." "There are worse subjects to talk about, counsellor." "Sustained." "Was Rachel upset at his presence?" "Was she frightened by him?" "Was she concerned for her safety?" "No, I think the only concern she had that night was how dinner was gonna turn out." "When I left, they were both very happy." "Your witness." "Mr. Smith, may I call you Jonathan?" "Well, certainly." "A long as I can call you Egbert." " That is your name, isn't it?" " No, it is not." "Well, it was until you changed it to Richard." "Could we get on with the testimony?" "Of course, Your Honour." " Mr. Smith." " Richard." "Excuse me, Your Honour." "Excuse me, Your Honour." "I have just received word that Rachel McCulloch has been rushed to surgery due to haemorrhaging." "Her chances are very slim." "No." "In light of what we have just heard," "I will declare a recess until 2:00 this afternoon." "It's all my" " It's all my fault." "It's my fault." "It's my fault." "Julian, you've got to take the stand." "You've got to tell the jury what happened or we don't have a chance." "It doesn't matter now." "What the hell do you mean, it doesn't matter?" "We're talking about your life here." "I don't wanna live." "She was the one person in life who cared for me, who accepted me, and I've killed her." " That's not true." " Yes, it is." "She'd be all right now if it wasn't for me." "My mother was right." "She tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen." "I'm a monster, just like they say." "I'm sorry, I know you mean well." "But you could never understand how I feel." "I want to die." "I want my life to be over." "From his own mouth, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the defendant say:" ""It is my fault, my fault,"" "upon learning that the one person who had shown him any kindness in his tortured life," "because she could not see his disfigurement..." "Upon learning that that person would soon be able to see again, he ran, he flew into a rage." "And there in that cave in the woods, he smashed all the statues which he had made." "Objects which were near and dear to him." "Dearer, in fact, than any living person up until the time he met the victim," "Rachel McCulloch." "And with that same rage, he turned upon that poor blind girl." "It's a story as old as Beauty and the Beast." "If the Beast cannot have Beauty, he would destroy it." "That's what happened up there in the woods." "Pity not Julian Bradley." "Pity instead the victim, Rachel McCulloch, and return the verdict of guilty as charged." "Thank you." "Go get them, counsellor." "My client refused his right to testify on his own behalf, and I'm sure you know why." "Because Julian Bradley is guilty." "But not of the attempted murder of Rachel McCulloch." "That was an accident, pure and simple." "And if Julian Bradley didn't look the way he looks, and if the medieval legends about him hadn't sprung up in this town, he wouldn't be on trial here today at all." "If all of you were as blind as Rachel McCulloch, if you couldn't see his face, but just the man, this talk of monsters would be absurd." "But he is guilty of one thing." "He is guilty of attempting to destroy something that is very precious." "Love." "It was offered to him, pure and innocent and true, and he ran away from it." "He ran away from it because he couldn't bring himself to trust it, or the girl who was offering that love." "He couldn't believe that if she saw him as he really was, that she would still love him." "I know that's true, because I did the same thing." "I ran away from the person who loves me and who I love more than anyone on Earth." "I, too, felt I had to be some kind of superman for her to love me." "You see, there is a monster in this room." "It's the lie that people tell about those who are different." "About black people, or yellow people, or brown people, or people who are in wheelchairs, or people who are Jews or Catholics, or Mormons, or whatever is different." "And we who are different, sometimes, as stupid as it seems, we buy it and we end up living by that lie." "Oh, don't expect too much from me." "I'm handicapped, or no one could really love me because I have a birthmark splotched across my face." "It's a disease that has probably caused more death and destruction and suffering than any other in the history of the world." "And it's carried only by human beings." "And its name is prejudice." "And you are the cure for it." "We all are." "And that's why I ask you to find the defendant, Julian Bradley, not guilty." "Here it is, Harry." "Not guilty." "No, I'm not kidding." "The defence counsel took the jury apart." "The kid got off." "Julian?" "I'm Ella McCulloch, Rachel's aunt." "I just came from the hospital." "She's going to be all right." "What?" "When they operated to stop the haemorrhaging, they were able to excise the tumour that was pressing on the optic nerve." "She can see again." "The first thing she said was:" ""Tell Julian."" "I'm very happy for her." "Julian, let's go home." "Yes." "She's asking for you." "We could ride over together." "I have to go home now." " I wish you didn't have to go." " Hey, me too." "But duty calls." "Hey, Scotty, don't get a swelled head now that you're a bigtime lawyer." "Hey, it's too late." "I'll try not to." "Thanks, both of you." "Anytime, counsellor." " You take care of yourself, you hear?" " Oh, I will." " Call us, will you?" " Oh, I will." " Bye, Scotty." " See you later." " So long." " Bye." "Well, counsellor, in the two weeks since the trial, by my tally, you have ten new clients." "How's it feel?" "Wonderful." "I think we should celebrate." "All right." "What would you like to do?" "I would like to have a baby." "I would like to quit work and have a baby." "You would, huh?" "Yeah, I would." "Well, why don't we step inside my private chambers here and we'll see what we can do about that." "Well, what's our next assignment, Kemo Sabe?" "We're not through here yet." "I promised Mrs. McCulloch we'd pick Rachel up at the hospital." "You got it." "But" " No, but I just want to speak to him." "Why can't he tell me that himself?" "No, I don't understand." "I-- Mrs. Bradley?" "Mrs.-?" "Mrs. Bradley." " How you doing?" " Hi." "I'm all ready." " Is this it?" " Yeah." "Thank you." "What's the matter?" "You look a little down." "I just got off the phone with Julian's mother for the umpteenth time." "Still won't talk to you, huh?" "No." "I'm probably better off." "Hey, come on, you don't mean that." "No, I don't." "I love him." "Then why don't you tell him?" "How can I?" "He won't even speak to me on the phone." "Well, then go over there and tell him to his face." "That's the only way he's gonna believe you." "What's the matter, you scared?" "Yeah." "Let's go." "Hello, Mrs. Bradley." "I told you my son doesn't want to see you." "Your relationship with him has caused him enough pain already." "Mrs. Bradley, my relationship with your son is none of your business." "I wanna see him." "No." "He is my son." "And I know what's best for him." "Nice talking to you." "You'll see." "You'll see I'm right." "Go away." "Please." "No." "I won't go away." "Rachel, please." "I want you to remember me the way I was." "Please." "But I fell in love with you the way you are." "Do people stop loving each other because of the way they look?" "You don't understand." "No, you don't understand." "Look at me." "Look at me." "I love you, Julian." "I love you." "Mother, you've met Rachel?" "Yes, we've met." "We're going out for a walk." "We'll be back sometime." "A walk?" "Yes, Mother." "Outside, where everyone can see us." "We'll talk when we get back." "You really ought to open some windows in here, Mom." "Goodbye, Mrs. Bradley."