["Follow The Path of The Stars"
playing]
? I'll find a better life
For you ?
? The stars have said
Our love's untrue ?
? And just because
We shared a lie ?
? There is no reason
For a soul to die ?
? I've got a soul
And you broke my heart ?
? Find a new scene
And let us depart ?
? Don't hang around
And let yourself be
Caught in this ?
? You'll find a better
People there ?
? A friendly love
The kind who care ?
? And not the sort
Like me you've found ?
? We're mean and hard
And we push around ?
[scatting]
? I've got a soul
And you broke my heart ?
? Find a new scene
And let us depart ?
? Don't hang around
And let yourself be caught ?
[scatting]
? I've got a soul
And you broke my heart ?
? Find a new scene
And let us depart ?
? Follow ?
? Follow, follow ?
[dinging]
You scratch all day, Charlie.
Still a loser.
[door opens]
Somebody busted the lock.
I had to hold my foot
against the door.
-Good thing, you're flexible.
-Shut up.
-Cutting it pretty close.
-Just fixing my face.
That's my last one.
I'll trade you for it.
Suits you better anyway.
Better go out
through the back.
Story of my life.
Parking lot D.
Don't be late.
[footsteps fading away]
[scratching]
Well, well, well, boys.
What do you know?
[man]
What did you get?
Mickey, tip.
What can I tell you,
Professor? Strippers.
My wife will get
everything now.
[sobbing]
She'll get my boat.
Maybe not.
-She hasn't seen these?
-Yet.
[sighs]
I'll give you 500.
She gave me a thousand.
Oh, man.
I love my boat.
-Can I keep these?
-You can get 'em framed.
Okay.
You won't make
other copies?
What kind of a guy
do you think I am?
[commentary over radio]
?
?
[screaming]
[indistinct radio commentary
continues]
[tuning radio channels]
[man on radio, indistinct]
...our technical director
of the project
of the day was Nicola Tesla...
[camera clicks]
-Damn it.
[woman] Charlie!
[gunshot]
[tires screeching]
?
[phone ringing]
[over the phone]
Hey, it's Kat.
Leave me a message.
[Charlie]
Pick up, god damn it!
I don't know where you are
or what the hell just happened.
I'm going to the club, okay?
[loud rock music playing]
[speaking, indistinct]
You know
what I mean?
[indistinct]
?
[indistinct]
Tom Soberin.
-Hey!
-Get out of here!
Seven bucks
for a cranberry juice?
[rock music continues, muffled]
I didn't know
she was working
the Canadian ballet too.
What you don't know
could fill the lake.
She made a date
last night.
Jealous?
[giggles]
Never heard of him.
She doesn't try that
bull shit, of course,
on her regulars.
She's in trouble.
Ah, the worst trouble
she's got is you, Charlie.
-Listen if you got her
messed...
-I'll find her.
You're such a bastard.
Mayflower Apartments.
She asked if they were nice.
Maybe she was
sizing him up.
[man]
Hey, I think you've had
enough of rest. Move it!
Get off the bench!
-Tom Soberin.
-Who wants to know?
"Charlie Paczynski."
[laughs]
Used to bowl for
Charlie Pazinci
Any relation?
[Tom]
I said move it
or I'll call the cops!
?
[door creaking]
['40s music playing]
Come on in, tough guy.
I'm ready.
I already died in '45.
Field surgery during
the Bulge.
But, you know, I never did
see that bright light
bull shit either.
6G, you know him?
I know everybody.
You know where he went?
Well, I know,
he left in a hurry.
And he left with nothing.
-When?
-Last night.
Oh, damn it.
What are you?
Private investigator?
Yeah.
Oh, I thought
I was making a joke.
You ever investigate
the hazards of man, hmm?
You know anything about him?
I know 6A cooks meatballs
every Friday night,
filled with garlic.
And I know 6B keeps
an illegal pet named Sparky.
And I know that 6D
keeps a key under the mat that
is frequently used by 6H.
But 6G never drew
anyone's attention.
Until you heard him
bolt out of here last night.
And the ado that
followed, yes.
What do you mean, ado?
Men in suits.
-Would you like a drink?
-No, no. What suits?
What do you mean,
"what suits?"
Everyone looks the same
in a suit, like a rat.
Oh. I did hear through
that door over there
they wanted 6G's Tesla file.
"Tesla file," they said.
Tesla file? What's that?
How should I know?
I don't go nosing around
in other people's business.
Sorry about the lock.
I'm 85 years old,
and I'm not scared.
I'm ready.
[commentary over radio]
[indistinct chattering]
[phone ringing]
Uh-uh, that's mine.
What do you got?
[man on phone]
Never mind, Charlie.
What have you got for me?
Well, Your Honor. I've got
a shoe box full of photos
might influence your
constituents in November.
Give me the name.
-Soberin. S-O-B-E-R...
-Can't help you.
Never heard of him.
Hello?
Jerk.
?
Help me, Mr. Paczynski.
-How do you know my name?
-Please, I cannot be seen.
What do you hear?
Take it easy.
-Did you find him?
-Find who?
[tires screeching]
Ah, shit.
[tram bell dinging]
[woman]
Your door was open.
Oh.
Been a bad day, miss.
Meeker.
Nicole Meeker.
What brings you to me?
You're the only
private investigator
in the Buffalo phone book.
What, people don't cheat
on their spouses anymore?
Sure they do.
But the spouses don't mind.
The man I was involved with,
he disappeared.
Maybe he ran off
with his wife.
I finally found the address
and drove up from Pittsburgh
last night.
I went by this morning,
couldn't get in,
but I did see something
that interested me.
Yeah? What did you see?
I saw you.
What do you mean, me?
The man I'm looking for
is Tom Soberin.
The doorman said that
you were also asking for him.
Tom hasn't been well.
He's been taking medication
for depression.
He's been paranoid,
delusional.
He says that people
are watching him.
Even trying to kill him.
He may be right.
Please tell me where he is.
Might not make any sense
to you, but if I speak
to him personally...
I don't mind getting paid
to look for somebody
I'm already looking for.
I'm not paying you
to look for him.
I'm paying you to find him.
You say Soberin's up here
from Pittsburgh?
Distinguished Professor
of Engineering
at Carnegie Mellon University.
He must be distinguished
in all the right places.
My number's on the back.
And yes, I do have
very unconventional taste.
[door closes]
?
[people chattering]
Who are you?
Don't look at me!
Keep your eyes out.
You made a date
with my friend last night.
Oh.
-Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't know.
-God damn it!
It's supposed to be a hit,
and you stick her
in the middle of it?
No, no. What's happening here
you can't begin to comprehend.
I'm three seconds,
from throwing you
over the rail.
I'm trying to listen too.
Christ!
She said you lost it.
-Who?
-Nicole Meeker.
-You saw her?
-She's looking for you.
Thinks you're worth
the trouble. I didn't mention
the carnival parking lot.
-I have to tell her.
-If you want to confess
your sins, find a priest.
Who fired the gun?
Tell Nikki
I found the Tin Man.
What the hell
are you talking about?
You wanna know
who fired the shots?
Have Nikki meet me.
Where and when?
Today,
out on Three Sisters.
You see her,
then you see me.
Got it?
I'll be waiting.
Don't let yourself
be followed again.
I'm so sorry about...
About Kat, I...
Yeah. He's waiting there now.
I gotta go.
[dramatic music playing]
?
Hey!
Damn it!
[car starting]
[man]
Get the hell
out of here.
[Charlie]
You got the road
jammed up.
[man] You're a long way
from Polonia.
[Charlie] Working a
missing person case.
You couldn't find a hole
in a donut.
Can I get one of those?
No.
Male or female?
The jumper is male.
Got a light?
Fifth of the season.
The place is a magnet.
Honeymoons and suicides.
What's the difference?
Ha, you should take that
routine to Vegas.
I'll escort you
to the airport.
I told you, I got a job
and I already
found the guy.
Some nut out of Pittsburgh
name of Soberin.
Which one of these maroons
put you up to it?
-I don't get it.
-Soberin?
You can help tuck him in.
[engine starts]
[siren wails]
?
She's dead, isn't she?
-If you want me...
-Don't you dare.
I'm gonna find the guy.
Well, you won't
have to look far.
[footsteps fading]
[footsteps approaching]
When he didn't show up,
I knew.
So the police said
that it was a suicide?
That's how they see it.
And how do you see it?
He was a mess,
like you said.
I think somebody
made him a mess.
Doesn't really matter anymore,
does it?
Doesn't it?
Why do you care so much?
Ask me something else.
You ever just want
to disappear?
I already have.
No, I mean it.
Go some place where
no one can find you.
I've never been
to the ocean.
Yes, what?
What?
Any other day.
There's another day.
[tram rumbling]
[telephone ringing]
Yeah.
[woman on phone, indistinct]
I don't know what...
Slow down!
What the hell...
[indistinct voice continues]
Yeah?
Yeah, you stole my lighter.
Have you been to St-Paul's?
Can you meet me there?
Jesus, not since
I was baptized.
And not today, kid.
[siren wailing in distance]
?
Son of a bitch.
You ever hear the one
about the tallest detective?
You saved me a trip.
What would you do if you
were in my shoes, Charlie?
-I'd burn my socks.
-Funny.
Ticket at the airport,
carrying more bread
than Hansel and Gretel
and your partner in crime
laying dead in the morgue.
That funny too?
Her name is Kat.
I wanna see her.
Her family is here
and they've never
heard of you.
Weren't you due
a promotion like
three years ago, Escobar?
Meanwhile the guy you set up
takes a nose dive
into the whirlpool.
-They're connected.
-By you.
They're connected by you!
I didn't buy that
plane ticket.
Right, it was the knockout
with the wad of cash.
I've had that same dream.
Only my wife's
the knockout
and she's carrying
a six pack of beer
and a bucket of wings.
Your wife likes
Polish sausage,
mac, trust me.
Whoa! I'm still
in the room.
[knocking]
We'll need your passport.
You can eat it.
Come on,
where's the rest of it?
No, no, no, no, no.
We don't just walk up here.
What do we do?
Well, if we're lucky,
we schedule an appointment.
Appointments
are for assholes.
You probably
make 'em all the time.
[elevator dinging]
[man speaking, indistinct]
[man]
His mother told him to stop
'cause he ran out of fuel...
But Tesla's mind was already
busy concentrating that...
Did I miss anything good?
Secrets of
the universe revealed.
[man]
Like the charge
on the cat's back,
these are examples
of the primitive effect
depicting the energy fields
that surround
every living thing.
Tesla was one of the first
to experiment
with these energies
in a field so often
dismissed as more spiritual
than scientific.
Yet so many of his imaginings
have become our realities,
do we dare doubt the others?
There's a no greater potential
in the world
than those undeciphered
imaginings in our
government's Tesla file.
[audience applauding]
Hey, you know which one
of these guys is Whitmore?
Yeah. This one.
Tom Soberin.
An expert technician.
And now he's
a dead one.
I read that.
Threw himself in the drink.
Maybe.
What is he to you?
I'm a private investigator.
Glad to know
they still make those.
Tom Soberin was using
the Chase-Whitmore
company card.
You'd have to ask
Borden about that.
It's Chase-Whitmore
in name only these days.
My partner was
Borden's old man.
So Soberin wasn't
working for you?
If he was working
for Borden,
he'd have been lucky to see
daylight, never mind
moonlight for me.
Borden doesn't share.
But you can
ask him yourself.
He keeps inviting me
to his shindigs and I keep
not showing up.
Have fun.
Don't talk business.
Weaving spiders
come not here.
[classical piano playing]
[people chattering]
[dramatic music playing]
[machine buzzing]
[man]
Giovanni Aldini.
Charlie Paczynski.
Those drawings are from a book
by the Italian physician.
Examples of galvanism.
He ran electric current
through the bodies
of dead animals.
-For what?
-Theatrics.
But he was also among the first
to treat the mentally ill
by shocking the brain.
Shock treatment?
Thought that was lot of hooey.
History's great discoveries
were all at one time
thought to be,
as you
so provincially put it,
"a lot of hooey."
Top shelf.
Where mama hides the cookies.
What's this character up to?
That's a publicity photo
of Nikola Tesla
in his laboratory.
What's he trying to publicize,
that the cheese
slipped off his cracker?
When Tesla needed money
for a project,
he would send
Westinghouser J.P. Morgan
one of those
fantastic pictures,
whether it related or not.
It's a fake.
Double exposure.
I'm told a touched up
photo or two
has helped you pay
your bills from time to time.
This isn't an open house,
Mr. Paczynski.
Any idea what sort of trouble
Tom Soberin was in?
Ah, Tom has never said no
to a whiskey or a woman.
-Wasn't he married?
-Please.
Legal trouble?
Money trouble?
Did he gamble?
He used his standing
at the university to woo
a co-ed or two.
Pretty risky business,
don't you think?
You gamble,
Mr. Paczynski?
Football
and horses. You?
I make bets.
But it isn't really gambling
if you know who's going to win.
I'll see you out.
[Charlie]
Your old partner tells me
he didn't much care
for Soberin working
both sides of the street.
Even you
appreciate loyalty.
-So you made him choose.
-Of course.
And Whitmore lost his man.
No. No, I did.
Then why was Soberin
carrying the company...
[Borden]
Ah, my sister
makes an appearance.
Emily, meet
Mr. Paczynski.
Sterling's stand-in
for the evening.
[Emily]
How do you do?
Emily, is it?
Mr. Paczynski
is a genuine gumshoe,
in the great grand tradition
of Philip Marlowe.
I always preferred
Mike Hammer.
Even your idols
are second rate.
Must be interesting work.
What brings you here?
Bad habit.
When someone lies,
I take it personally.
You shouldn't.
Who lied?
Sterling's been rounding off
the corners of the truth again.
It seems Mr. Paczynski, isn't
buying the official version
of Tom Soberin's demise.
I don't blame him.
You don't know
the half of it.
Thanks for the drink.
[footsteps approaching]
You came to me looking
for Tom Soberin, didn't you?
The newspaper
said suicide.
Who was he to you?
My mentor,
at the university.
You were
working with him?
I work alone.
[thud]
Look, I didn't even know
Tom Soberin was here.
I was hired by a man
named Sterling Whitmore.
To do what?
Study a design, an invention.
Anyway,
every night I had to turn in
my notes, and every morning
I would get them back.
People take all kinds
of precautions
in my line of work.
Okay.
But two days ago,
something odd happened.
When I got my notes back,
there was a mark on them.
A symbol Tom Soberin
would make when he thought
I miscalculated.
So Whitmore hired Soberin
to double check your homework?
-But there was no mistake.
-How do you know?
I know.
Why did he
make the note?
To send a message.
-What kind of message?
-To stop.
To stop working
on the design and see him.
Just like at school.
So I called the university
and they told me he was here,
at the Mayflower.
When I went to my apartment
there were men
coming out of it.
I've been dodging them
ever since.
What do you expect me to do?
If Tom wanted me to stop,
whoever killed him knows why.
[sighs]
What makes you think
I care?
Well, you're here.
You got a name?
I'm Nikki Meeker.
Here, your lighter.
Tom was a master technician.
Great.
You don't hire him
to design.
You hire him
to build.
[engine stalling]
[engine stops]
Damn it.
?
[engine revving]
[tires screeching]
[man]
Let's go, man.
I've been run out of a few
of Borden's parties myself.
I can only take those assholes
for so long before I say
something that pisses 'em off.
You saying Chase
tried to run me down?
Wake up, Paczynski.
That's Bohemian Grove
Buffalo style.
Bohemian Grove?
That camp
near San Fran
where all the big wigs
dance around the bonfire
thinking up ways
to manipulate
the world economy?
Nixon said it was
the faggiest thing
he ever saw.
Look what
happened to him.
[laughing]
That's a string pulling crowd
pulling your string.
Chase got
something to hide?
We all got something.
You, uh... You've done some
strange pulling yourself.
I'm one generation removed
from a carnival barker.
What lie did I tell you?
You said Tom Soberin
wasn't on your payroll.
I said he didn't get
the Chase-Whitmore
company card from me.
Check your notes.
-What was he doing for you?
-Great story.
Little Roger Wood,
a propeller pin sheared off
their boat motor.
Boy went over the edge
of Niagara Falls
with nothing more than
a life vest
and his swim trunks.
Nary a scratch.
The boat driver was
battered and drowned.
Great story.
Same journey,
different results.
Of course, that was
the Canadian Horseshoe.
What no one has ever done
is survive the American side.
Great for suicides,
not so good for pickle barrels
and diving bells.
But there is a way.
With precise trajectory
and an ideal rate of flow,
a properly built device
could manage it.
Good luck.
[Whitmore]
Come on in, Stick.
Stick, this is
Mr. Paczynski.
Ah, we picked up
your car.
Have it humming
by morning.
Mr. Stickney, here,
is a riverman.
Knows Niagara better than
the average man knows
his own shoes.
When you first heard the falls,
how close were you?
Uh, I don't know
a mile or two.
I can hear 'em right now.
[laughing]
If you think I'm buying that
Tom Soberin was building
you a barrel, you're nuts.
One man's nuts
is another man's balls.
[laughing]
Nikki Meeker wasn't making
notes for a sideshow stunt.
You talked with her?
-Is she all right?
-She's fine.
Where is she?
Tell me about
Chase's sister.
Mighty sexy, if you ask me.
What does she do?
Looks good
in the company newsletter.
You look like you could use
some shut-eye, Mr. Paczynski.
You're welcome to one
of our guest rooms.
There are planners
and there are doers.
You strike me as a doer.
Am I right?
I'm just a guy.
[laughing]
Yeah.
[clock chiming]
Quite a feat, isn't it?
I was with
the Corps of Engineers
on that one.
Wish we could
do it again.
Give us a leg up
on our travel plans.
You ready?
[exhales]
?
[car engine starting]
?
?
?
Charlie, you been
following me?
Don't think
I won't crack you.
I think you'd love to.
You set up Tom Soberin.
-What are you talking about?
-You paid Kat to get him
in that parking lot.
I paid her to make sure
Tom had a good time.
He didn't.
-You all right, miss?
-She's fine.
It's fine.
-Do I need to call the police?
-Yeah, ask for Maguire.
And you used me
to finish the job.
Please, can't we talk
about this...
Phone book's full of names,
why call yourself Nikki Meeker?
If my brother
found out what I did...
Please it's not safe.
You can tell me or the police,
maybe squirt out
a few tears this time.
My brother kept
a design in his safe.
A very valuable
but incomplete design.
Whitmore knew
it would rot in there, so
we made a deal.
I'd get it, and he'd find
someone to make sense of it.
Now, we're
getting somewhere.
Whitmore gave
Nicole's notes to Soberin.
And whatever was
in those notes made
Soberin come running to me.
Why?
He said the design
shouldn't be developed.
What do you mean?
What is it?
-I don't know. He didn't say.
-Come on!
It was never finished,
that's why we hired Nicole.
You have to believe me.
I did a stupid thing,
not a terrible thing.
You've done both
and your brother knows it.
My brother doesn't even know
the design went missing.
Well, someone tried to make
a speed bump out of me.
Whoever they were,
they killed Soberin and Kat.
And they'll come after you.
Just leave.
Uh-uh.
Well, I hope you can protect
Nicole better than I did.
You called her Nikki.
Please, let me
make this right.
We're way past
making it right.
I'm sorry, I...
I would've met you
on that beach.
You're a beautiful
piece of work, kid.
But if you killed Kat,
I'm gonna nail you to the wall.
[footsteps fading]
Slavko fixed your faucet.
Extraordinary what some people
learn to tolerate.
You may have something
we're looking for.
Sense of humor?
Maybe I can save you
some time.
I'm quite certain
you do not know
what we're looking for
or where it is.
But I've got it.
Don't feel bad.
Most of the world
does not know
what is under its nose.
Mustache.
Here you are, banging
your head against the dark,
as they say,
and you keep at it.
You keep at it.
Very good.
Excuse me.
[clearing throat]
[speaking foreign language]
Well, you've heard of the FBI.
Think of us
as their brothers.
[speaks foreign language]
Whoa! Final notice.
From last week.
[tram bell dinging]
[thud]
[footsteps]
-[thumping]
-[Charlie grunts]
-You.
-You.
Special Agent Barry,
I work with DARPA.
Who's she?
They track the best ideas
and the brightest minds
behind them.
I can see
why you came to me.
[footsteps]
My goodness, somebody
turned this place upside down.
The Serbs were here.
[Charlie]
Sounded Russian.
Tesla was a Serb.
Did they take anything?
Yeah. I had a Picasso
hanging right there.
-Who's a Serb?
-Come here.
[Barry]
I don't need you
to explain it.
I want to know if you've
ever seen anything like it.
Why would I?
Because Tom Soberin's lungs
were full of Niagara
90 minutes after he met you.
What the hell is going on?
Have you ever heard
of Nicola Tesla?
Yeah, about 48 hours ago.
He invented something right?
-Yeah, the 20th century.
-[thumping]
[Barry]
Your car.
[tires screeching]
[Barry]
I will tell as much as I can,
as fast as I can.
Tesla kept an notebook
of theoretical inventions
locked in his safe
at New Yorker Hotel.
That notebook contained
everything from a free energy
system to so called death ray.
Within an hour of his death,
the United States government
seized everything
in that room.
But somebody else
got there first
and the notebook was gone.
Six months ago there was
a black market auction
in Stockholm
for a disintegrating page torn
from a decades-old notebook.
Half a design
for an unknown invention.
Nicole Meeker
was the last person
to have it.
We think she smuggled it out
and we know she came to you.
I don't have it.
She never gave me anything.
She could've planted it
in your office, your car,
anything.
She's never
set foot in either.
There are less than
a dozen minds
that our government sees fit
to keep tabs on,
for their safety and ours.
Nicole Meeker is one of them
and it is my job
to bring her in.
Hey, I won't stop you.
[Barry]
Take a right up here.
Where do the Serbs fit in?
That notebook
is like the holy grail
for Serbian nationals.
They will track the globe
for any sign of it.
Half a design
and nobody even knows
what the hell it's for?
Imagine introducing
an automobile
with an unlimited energy supply.
Or a system to irrigate
the deserts of Africa.
Tesla thought it possible
for people
to transmit themselves.
Do you hear what I'm saying?
Transmit themselves.
Just because he thought it,
doesn't make it so.
When people were getting
around on horseback,
he envisioned
a wireless device
so small you could
keep it in your pocket.
It would let you check
the news or the stock market
or talk to anyone
anywhere in the world.
Here, all the way to the top.
Television,
satellite technology,
computers,
everything we take
for granted...
-Tesla?
-Yes, yes, Tesla. All of it.
How come I never heard
of him before Tuesday?
The politics of science.
Whatever it is, I'd rather
we have it than anybody else.
Chase killed Soberin
over this?
He's got a buyer,
we want them both.
We know when
but not where.
He can't sell
what he doesn't have.
But he expects
to get his design back
one way or another.
I'm offering you
a way out.
Bring Nicole in
and we can protect you both.
This is where you tell me,
my country needs me, right?
Tomorrow, Silo City,
foot of Ohio Street.
Should we expect you?
You had me at death ray.
[sighs]
[choir singing]
Get your things.
-What's happened?
-I had some visitors.
Just like me and Soberin?
I might've had
different guys.
They fixed my sink.
Visitors were followed
by the FBI.
And the FBI was followed
by some dark suits.
So you're
handing me over?
To give them the design.
And what will
they do with it?
When a scientist
advances a theory,
they open it up to the world,
people make with it
whatever they want.
I can't protect you.
I don't need a protector.
I need an ally.
Is this it?
Half of it.
You know what it is yet?
A kind of amplifier
for energy.
I'm not sure how
it's meant to be used.
You think Soberin knew?
I don't see
how he could.
I've never seen
anything like it.
[Charlie clicking lighter]
Belonged
to a friend.
Then you better
hold on to it.
Michael.
You can do this one now.
And bring the original.
I burned it.
[dramatic music playing]
?
[engine stops]
[faint buzzing]
-Run!
-What?
[firing]
[dramatic music playing]
[panting]
[footsteps approaching]
?
[gun firing]
?
[grunting]
[Charlie]
You son of a bitch!
[gun fires]
Nikki!
?
Well, I'd say we're even.
What have I gotten
myself into here?
That's a hell of a question
he's asking.
Those suits back there
didn't mind killing
a federal agent.
Didn't mind killing me,
but not you. Why not?
Someone was killed?
Well, you must
understand by now.
[Charlie]
No, I don't understand.
I don't understand any of it.
I don't understand you!
You think they're pissed now.
Wait till they found out
you burned the thing?
Look, you want my help,
you better start sharing
some goddamn information.
Any more surprises,
now's the time.
Your FBI agent
pushed this into my hand.
What do you know
about DARPA?
Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency.
I'm a physics professor.
You a bit
of a science buff?
DARPA tried to recruit me
off the Carnegie Campus.
Well, la di dah.
Barry was working for them
or so she claimed.
If Tesla's involved,
they're never far behind.
Tesla?
Oh, come on.
I lecture on Tesla.
The war of the currents.
He beat out Edison.
He built a power station
at Niagara that
electrified Buffalo.
But most of his ideas
were suppressed.
It's all politics.
Same reason
I didn't get tenure.
The ideas that got support
were the ones that
could be weaponized.
That's why he stopped labeling
his diagrams and started
splitting them in half.
Splitting them in half?
He knew
someone would exploit them.
Yeah. They're called
the Department of Defense.
He even hid parts of design.
-What do you mean hid?
-Hid wherever he worked.
His lab in Colorado,
the tower he built
on Long Island.
Both destroyed. Coincidence?
[laughs] I think not.
What about the power station
in Niagara?
Collapsed with
10,000 cubic feet
of rushing water
blocking the access tunnels.
Look, Tesla, didn't just
cut designs in half,
he disguised how
the designs went together.
Look, just like these
nautical charts.
That looks right, right?
But this, see, doesn't go
directly next to that.
She's good.
Tesla was also one of the first
to warn against
the dangers of smoking.
What does this
look like to you?
Reminds me of a Tin Man.
Like from the Wizard of Oz?
No, Tin Man
from the Sound of Music.
What does it mean?
Something Soberin said.
We've been sitting here
too long.
[radio playing, indistinct]
[polka music playing]
[speaking in foreign language]
Lots of prohibition.
Polonia got into
witness protection.
You know where
the devil can't go,
he sends a woman.
She doesn't trust me either.
It's just a Polish proverb.
Well, she said it
in English.
I never said
I didn't trust you.
That's good.
'Cause I don't
have time to earn it.
Where are you going?
Those were Borden Chase's
men back there.
Chase?
His sister took the designs
from the safe.
He's been ringing her out
to get 'em back.
What will you do?
Convince her
to go to the police.
Get one good shot at him.
Really?
I don't even
own a gun.
Hey.
He doesn't know
I burned it.
[footsteps approaching]
[footsteps fading]
[electric sparking]
I must've shorted out
the security system again.
I've done some things,
but you take the prize.
Pretty wild stuff,
isn't it?
Oh, come on.
Don't be so provincial.
That's the second time
you called me that.
All these books
and no thesaurus?
-Where is she?
-In the dungeon.
I don't like your jokes.
You seem like the type of guy
who thinks anyone
with money is a crook.
I think everyone is a crook.
You're a killer.
I'm a businessman.
Now, what will it cost me
to turn your attention back
to reservation cigarettes
and discount liquor?
Your sister,
and I'll throw in a bonus.
What can you possibly offer me
besides admiration.
The former contents
of your safe.
I can get it back,
never mind how.
Mr. Paczynski.
-Refreshed?
-Recharged?
Apparently he caught a glimpse
of our little therapy session.
He can't get his
brain around it.
So now we're going
to spend the evening
staring one another?
She leaves with me.
That's the deal.
She's not on
a leash...today.
Deal for what?
The design, tell him.
That design took me
25 years to acquire.
Do you know
what I would do to someone
who tried to steal it?
Lighting her up like
a Christmas tree
wasn't enough?
Over a million people
were treated with
electroconvulsive therapy
last year alone.
Treated for what?
Emily.
My sister wouldn't
steal from me.
Because she knows
that if she did,
the retribution
would be biblical.
[thud]
What kind of a man would
betray his sister's trust
because of the accusations
of a night crawler like you.
Open the safe.
We're family, Mr. Paczynski.
That's a gene pool
screaming for chlorine.
The feds will be coming.
[sighs]
[man]
He'd have taken the money.
This broad offers you
the golden goose
and you wanna
cook it for dinner.
He's got a goddamn
electric chair in his house.
Don't you think that's
a little out of the ordinary?
You're ordinary.
These people are not.
And the grain elevator?
Not only was there
no dead body,
but the FBI never heard
of your Agent Barry.
-What?
-And,
as you can see,
no sordid Chase
family history either.
He's got something on her.
Except maybe the old man
contemplating the long goodbye.
-Why?
-Read.
William C. Chase,
three arrests, three months,
summer of '69.
All up to the state park
at the Falls.
Trespassing?
Either he was suicidal
or smoking wacky tabacky.
Pretty thin, you'd agree?
Unless he was wearing
a scuba suit.
Just what the hell goes on
inside your head?
Personal items returned.
A flash light and an ax,
no snorkel.
Leave that
to the professionals, Charlie.
[door creaking]
What was Soberin
building for you?
I was there.
I was seven years old.
You didn't hire Nikki Meeker
for a barrel ride.
What do you think he could
build with half a design?
I didn't want him to build it.
I wanted to know what it was.
How would Soberin know
what it was any more
than Nikki?
He worked for the same outfit
as your FBI gal.
-DARPA?
-Sure.
Enlisted to inform them
any time he got wind of
extraordinary discoveries,
inventions or people.
DARPA has no
operational mission.
They want a radical innovation
of any kind.
You don't think that something
like guided missiles
came along because
some general filled out
an R and D request.
They don't mind
a thousand failures
because one success changes
the whole goddamn game.
And a guy like Tesla would
be a goldmine for an outfit
like that.
Don't kid yourself.
Tesla is the outfit.
?
Reagan's Star Wars,
the HAARP complex
in Alaska,
the Manhattan Project...
Bohemian Grove's greatest hits.
Soberin was briefed
on Tesla's
unpublished theories.
If a design surfaced...
He was trained to recognize
what it was for.
-But he didn't.
-He did.
He just didn't tell you.
If someone had both halves...
And knew how
to put them together,
that someone could
change the world.
?
[door creaking]
?
[Emily]
Charlie.
What happened?
I can't go back there.
Then go to the police.
They won't believe me.
-I'll make 'em.
-What can we prove?
Why'd you stand by him
back there?
He never believed
I broke into the safe,
but he put on a show
about trusting me.
And when you left,
he opened it.
Oh, Jesus.
Take your hand out.
Take it out.
Goddamn it.
It's not your fault.
I should have
never taken the design.
We gotta get you
out of here.
-I've made plans.
-Then go.
For all of us.
I'm not going anywhere yet.
He'll kill you.
He'll kill Nicole.
Please. Let me do this.
Then let's get you
and Nikki out.
[polka music playing]
[Charlie]
You all right?
I'm just, um,
figuring something out.
This is Emily Chase.
She can get you out.
The Professor will take you
both to the pump station.
She'll have a boat
there tonight.
The government keeps
track of people like me.
She's got the best forged
passport I've ever seen.
The sketch on that napkin?
I knew there was
something about it.
I had to flirt with my wife
to get this back.
It's a book I started
writing once.
Government conspiracies,
the moon landing,
Superbowl 25.
I'm kidding,
but there was
a Project Nick.
It involved particle beams,
and plasma, and projects
within projects.
And one of them
was a version
of Tesla's dream
to capture, amplify
and transmit the unlimited
energy of the ionosphere.
Something that could
only be accomplished
on a massive scale.
Theories.
There was also reference
to a discontinued offshoot
of that program
code named Tin Man.
-What was it?
-Nobody knows.
I do.
What Tesla thought he could
do for the energy
in the ionosphere,
he found he could do
for the energy that exists
around every living thing.
The energy of a person
amplified and focused
like a machine.
Tin Man.
Imagine a whole
army of soldiers.
That's why.
That's why he split it in half.
Why not destroy it?
Hope.
That someday we would
be wise enough to use it
as he intended.
The hell with hope.
I'm with you. Let it burn.
I still had hope.
Oh, shit.
Well, imagine this
in the wrong hands.
Or we can end it right here.
[sighs]
You think this thing
would actually work
Whenever you
look at the moon,
think of walking on it.
Some people have.
[car starting]
[car starting]
I was very glad
to get your call.
I hope you'll keep in mind
that I've already paid
for this once.
We're all paying for it.
You're not still in a fit over
that childhood game of ours.
Emily and played it
a thousand times.
There's never been any danger.
I've seen her since.
You practically
took her hand off.
Paczynski, that Polish, right?
How'd you crack that code?
Did you know that
the Polish Underground
would kill their own members
just to prove
they weren't part
of the Polish Underground?
They're a very stubborn people.
Let me see my design.
What's this?
My father's weakness
was a curious mind.
Same thing with Whitmore.
You're old man got
nicked three times
when the falls were dry.
That's not curious,
that's driven.
Little late life to start
thinking, Mr. Paczynski.
The old tunnels to power house
number one were exposed.
You've heard one
too many Tesla-ments.
The quest for the holy grail
armed with a maul ax
instead of a sword.
Now, why would he take
a maul ax to the Falls?
Well, the beauty of a maul ax
is that one end is wedged
like a hatchet.
But the other is blunt enough
to bust rock.
And when the police
released him,
they gave it back.
Careful.
You had both halves.
Twice the profit.
Oh, 100 times.
But you needed someone
brilliant enough to put
the two halves together.
And that is a very short list.
I wouldn't let Nicole Meeker
or anyone like her near it.
I left a lot of interested
parties very disappointed.
You don't even know
what you had.
That design could be
a blue print for free energy.
It could destroy
the world economy overnight.
You lecture on the frontier
of science, but you kill
to keep the status quo?
The fact is that
the design is indecipherable
without both halves.
I wouldn't dirty
my fingernails
to get it back.
This can't be the half
your old man found.
[Borden]
It most certainly is.
This list,
it's not my hand writing.
[dramatic music playing]
[Charlie]
Nikki!
Nikki!
Nikki!
Nikki!
?
[foghorn blowing]
[gasping]
[flicking lighter]
[grunts]
Please!
[screaming]
[crickets chirping]
[gasping]
-[rock and roll music playing]
-[door opens]
Last call was 4:00.
Dude.
-What happened to you?
-Get me Mr. Smith.
After 2:00 a.m.
a man makes nothing
but bad decisions.
-Where's Nikki?
-You smell like the lake.
Come on,
you and Emily all along?
Look, I only got
a few laps to go.
I don't need money.
I want adventure.
Then why weren't you
in the barrel?
Jesus and the 12,
is that what
happened to you?
Where's Nikki?
The American side?
They sent you over...
-Where is she?
-How the hell would I know?
What was it like going
over the brink?
No points off for being
an reluctant astronaut.
FBI had everything
but the where.
Somebody stole the barrel.
Get it?
The date, the time,
the contact, it's all there.
0600, 19 September,
Celinda!
You tell me the place!
God save us
from the gifted amateur.
Celinda ain't a who.
It's a where.
Three Sisters.
Asenath, Angeline
and Celinda
Is this what I think it is?
Tin Man.
-Tesla's perfect soldier.
-In theory.
In practice.
The only thing
more valuable is...
Someone
to put it together.
I'll drive.
[dramatic music playing]
Go, man, go
?
Nikki!
Charlie,
hurry there's no time.
It's over.
My brother's men are coming.
-It's finished.
-What's happening?
[Emily]
Nikki let's go. Go!
-[Nikki] Where are
you taking me?
-[Emily] Just keep walking.
?
Whitmore has part of the plan.
-Don't believe him.
-Whitmore is a government agent.
She'll never believe you.
The design was
just bent, Nikki.
You're worth more to them.
Someone who can solve
all their problems.
Well, they could never make me.
She can't be smart
about everything!
-Go!
-No
-Move!
-Go!
-What about you?
-Go!
You can't get
in the way too.
-[gunshot]
-Charlie!
Come on!
[gunshot]
[wind howling]
[Nikki]
You need a doctor.
You gotta get out of here.
And don't look back.
Just rest.
You drew the half
you'd never seen.
Lot of people
want a piece of you.
Well, they have
a pattern of you.
There's a joker
in every deck.
Well, actually,
there's two.
Where is it?
She burned it.
That would be a great loss.
If it were true.
["A Street Called Hope"
playing]
?
[phone ringing]
[man]
Paczynski, it's for you.
["Motion" playing]
?
[rock and roll music playing]
? Wish you were here ?
? To whisper in my years ?
? That you love me ?
? More than words can tell ?
? I can't forget ?
? The day that we met ?
? Heeded what you mean ?
? More than words can tell ?
? Can you forget ?
? What I've done in the past? ?
? Please forgive me ?
? And give me one more chance ?
? Wish you were here ?
? I'd whisper in your ear ?
? That I love you
More than words can tell ?
? Can you forget ?
? What I've done in the past? ?
? Please forgive me ?