08x22 - Finish Line

[bunniefuu]

- The fact that he's in today should tell you

most of what you need to know.

- What does that tell you?

- Well, he was only out three days.

That should tell you that there was no invasive surgery,

and that should tell you there was no metastasized tumor.

- How do you know so much about this?

- Oh, I've been in consultation all week.

A very good friend of mine is one of the leading

urologists out here.

I've spoken with him.

I've spoken with Mel Silverblatt, whom you know,

who's at Sloan-Kettering.

- You're convinced it's prostate cancer.

- Oh, it's absolutely prostate.

- Well, just so I know, what does

this do to the surprise party?

Because I got a lot of organizing to do.

- Let's see how he is when he comes in.

- It is his th birthday.

That merits a celebration of some sort no matter how he is.

- I'm sure he's fine.

- Leland, welcome back.

- Thank you.

- Carry on.

- Troneks versus McMillan?

- Motion for summary judgment pending.

I'm expecting a decision by the end of this week.

- Killian versus Burt Robinson Enterprises?

- Action for the return of goods.

It falls squarely under the UCC.

I'm expecting to settle.

- Schoen versus Schoen Limited?

- We represent Isidore Schoen, as we have for many lawsuits

over many years.

He's being sued this time for wrongful termination

by his son.

Efforts toward settlement having been unsuccessful,

we're proceeding to trial.

Eli will be litigating.

[tapping]

- That about does it.

- In that case, I have an announcement to make.

At the end of this month, I will be retiring.

Now, I understand that this may have some ramifications insofar

as the firm is concerned, and while I will do my best

to minimize the impact, the loss of certain clients

is probably unavoidable.

I will not be taking on any additional business.

I will be disengaging from whatever business

that I have been involved in.

- Leland, why are you doing this?

- I'm retiring for medical reasons,

and I'd just as soon leave it at that.

[sighs]

- He's dying.

- He's not dying.

He has prostate cancer.

He's had a transurethral resection,

and in all likelihood he's going to be fine.

What you're hearing here is the emotional spasm

of a man who's coming to grips with the fact

that he has cancer.

That's all.

- Boy, all I can say is, thank you, Leland.

Just gotten through being arrested for m*rder,

I've been the victim of a deranged prosecutor bent

on destroying me, I've just set about restoring some sense

of normalcy to my life, and now I have

to deal with his having cancer.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time.

- I'm sure he didn't plan this, Arnie.

- I'll tell you something else, cold-blooded

though this may sound, when he retires,

I've got dibs on his office.

[music playing]

- It's buyer beware in the thoroughbred game, Ben,

especially with the cheapos.

But if I ever saw a horse ripe for the plucking,

Sammy F is the one.

- I like his name.

- Oh, granted, he's been nothing special so far,

but he's only four.

He's sound, runs without front wraps, and he's all heart.

And what did I tell you about horses who are all heart, huh?

- You said that they always win.

- And?

- And you said they make you a lot of money.

- And that's what Sammy F is going to do for us.

It's going to be a money making machine.

Because you know what else?

You know what I know that no one else seems to know?

This horse will kick ass on the grass,

which is what he's running on tomorrow for the first time.

- Where's he been running till now?

- The dirt, Ben.

He's been running on the dirt.

Tomorrow he's running on the turf, which is what

he's bred for, on the turf.

This is a $, horse.

- How much does he cost?

- The guy who trains the horse owns the horse.

He's got some debts.

He'll let him go for $,.

- $,.

- We're stealing him, Ben.

We bet an extra $, apiece, make back what we paid,

have money in our pockets.

This is a great country we're living in, huh?

- You're not kidding.

- You know who's going to be riding him for us

tomorrow, huh?

- Who?

- Eddie Delahoussaye-- for my money,

the best grass jockey there is.

Tuck him in behind the pace, sit tight against the rail,

wait till the speed comes back to him, and then

down the lane-- ba-da bing!

- Ba-da bing.

- We go $, for the animal, $ for the bet.

We're / partners, $, apiece.

Can you handle it?

Can you come up with $,?

- Let me talk to Rosalie, but I think I can.

- Tell her we're in for the time of our lives.

[sighs happily]

- It's why I go for a checkup four times a year.

There's something wrong with my prostate,

I want to know about it.

- Leland didn't do that?

- No, Leland did not.

If he had had a PSA on a more regular basis,

he would have known about this a lot earlier, believe me.

- They say if you live long enough,

most men will develop some form of prostate cancer.

- No, absolutely not, not if you take care of yourself.

- It's one thing I don't have to worry about.

I have other things to worry about.

- It's funny, because he doesn't seem sick.

- Well, that's how it is with prostate cancer.

It can be completely asymptomatic,

this according to Mel.

- My doctor wanted to know if they were

going to start him on chemo.

I had no idea what to tell him.

- [laughs] Mine wanted to know if he had had a bone scan.

He wanted to know about distant metastasis.

I had virtually no information for him,

which when you're consulting with a doctor over the phone

is a pretty embarrassing position to be placed in.

- Stuart, this is not about you and your embarrassment.

This is about Leland.

- Excuse me, Ann, I have been on the phone

with doctors all week-- not for me, for him, for Leland.

This is not about me because I am not

suffering from prostate cancer.

I happen to have a very healthy prostate.

- As do I.

- When's the last time you had it looked at?

- As recently as last month.

- He had his checked on Monday.

- Yeah, that's right, Miss Potshot.

[rustling papers]

- Lunch, my husband!

- Hi.

- I got some cheese and bean and beef burritos.

They call them gut busters.

- Well, we can eat outside if you want.

- OK.

- Uh, Rosalie--

- What?

- D-- Do--

Dominic wants me to go partners with him on buying a horse.

- What do you want to get a horse for?

- Well, it's a race horse.

He-- he says that it's a turf horse,

but it's been ridden in the dirt.

And if we race it on the turf, he can make a lot of money

for us-- ba-da bing!

- [laughs] Great.

- So I need $,.

- What for?

- Well, $, to buy the horse and then--

and $, to bet on him.

- But-- but we don't have $, to buy a horse.

- Yeah, we do.

We got $, in the bank.

- That's our savings, Ben.

We can't use that money to buy a horse.

- OK.

- Mr. Schoen, what is your relationship to the defendant?

- I'm his son.

- Do you also have a business relationship?

- Yeah, I worked for him since I'm .

- Are you working for him currently?

- No, I'm not.

Some and / months ago, I was terminated.

- Would you describe the circumstances

surrounding your termination?

- Circumstances were that I signed

for a shipment of corduroy late one afternoon,

and next morning, I tried to go to work,

and all the locks were changed.

- What explanation were you given?

- I ordered the fabric without my father's approval.

- Is that the first time you did that?

- No, I make , decisions a day, and some of them I talk

to him about, and some I don't.

- Why, in your opinion, did your father

see fit to fire you this time?

- Because it's the only way he has got left to prove

that he is still in charge.

That's why he calls me every morning--

:.

That's why he yells.

That's why he gets everybody to answer to him about everything.

- Was there ever an agreement between your father

and yourself under which he would relinquish

control of the company?

- There was a promise.

He told me, when he was years old, he was going to retire,

and at that point I would run the company.

- How old is your father now, Mr. Schoen?

- He's .

- And has he in fact retired?

- No, he has not.

- Given the atmosphere that existed between your father

and yourself, one is tempted to ask why you didn't just

leave of your own free will.

- This is a family business.

I never wanted to leave.

- I have nothing further.

- Did you or did you not tell a buyer for Bloomingdale's

that your father tended to be one

to five years behind the times where fashion is concerned?

- Well, I know this woman for years.

It was said in jest.

- Was it said in jest when you told a vice president at Bank

Leumi that you intended to manufacture the so-called

Ma Bay line on your own?

- It was a conversation.

That is all that that was.

- Was it in jest and you try to obtain financing?

- I'm not a serf, counselor.

I am allowed to conduct business on my own.

- In your effort to obtain financing, Mr. Schoen,

did you not say that two of the principal designers

in your father's business had committed to coming

with you when you left?

- I brought those designers into this company.

- Were they not under contract--

- Ma Bay line is my line.

I'm the one who set up the factories in Hong Kong

and Indonesia to make the line.

- Mr. Schoen--

- I went to all the stores to sell the line.

- Mr. Schoen--

- He didn't do any of that.

I did all of that.

Now he wants to take it all away from me

and kick me out on my ass.

I don't think so.

I don't think I'm going to take this lying down.

years old, Dad.

Clock is running for me too.

[rustling papers]

- So, like, what happens now?

- It's too soon to tell.

- What do you anticipate the actual consequences of his

retirement and/or death to be?

- I really don't know, Patrick.

The fact is virtually all of our biggest clients

are here because of Leland McKenzie.

- Would they leave?

- They might.

- Can they be replaced?

- Maybe they can.

- The problem is, the one of us who's most capable of replacing

them is Leland.

He's been the rainmaker around here since my father d*ed.

- I never would have thought of Leland as someone

who drums up business.

- Why not?

- He seems too dignified.

- Let me tell you something, Jan,

in addition to having a first rate legal mind,

Leland McKenzie is the greatest salesman you'll ever meet.

- Well, do you think the firm can survive his leaving?

- I don't know.

- Plus, we don't know how sick he is.

- Right.

It makes it a little tough to plan for the future.

- I haven't thought about the future.

[knocking]

- Hey Denise, [non-english speech]..

- What's up, Dominic? - Where's Mr. Stallworth?

- He's in the file room.

- Thank you very much.

- [whistles] [SINGING] There is a smile on every face

and a winner with each race, where the turf

meets the surf at Del Mar.

- I hate thinking about death.

I hate thinking about losing people.

- It's a terrible thing to think about.

- Well, why would you think about it?

- When your time's up, your time's up.

- You know, for someone who knew the guy his whole life,

you seem fairly unperturbed.

- Death is a proper and inevitable end.

I try not to expend a lot of emotion on it.

- That's an admirable trait.

- Thanks.

- What do you mean, she said no?

- Well, she said no.

She said we didn't have enough money.

- Uh, you told me you had enough money.

- Well, we have enough in the bank,

but Rosalie says we have to leave it there.

- Who's calling the sh*ts here, Ben?

- What do you mean?

- Who's making the decisions, you

know, who's wearing the pants?

- Well, when-- when it comes to money, she is.

- At the risk of fanning the flames of discontent,

let me just say that that should not be the case.

- Why not?

[machine whirring]

- Who's working?

Whose feet hit the floor first every morning?

Who comes in here religiously to earn thy daily bread?

Her? You.

And that, my friend, entitles to you certain prerogatives.

- Prerogative?

- You make the decision.

- But-- but-- but she takes care of the money.

She shops, and she makes sure all the bills are paid, and--

- And you give her an allowance with which to do all that,

all well and good, but that's not this.

This is a decision.

You're the breadwinner.

You're the man of the house.

You're the decision maker.

You sit in the pilot's seat.

You fly the plane--

simple as that.

- What is your relationship to Isidore Schoen?

- I'm his daughter.

- Have you spent time at your father's place of business?

- I used to work there.

- Were you in a position to observe your brother at work?

- Yes, I was.

- To the best of your knowledge, did

he ever act with the intention of undermining your father's

control of the company?

- Objection.

This witness is not in a position to testify

to her brother's intention.

- Overruled.

I'll allow it.

- Laura?

- My brother was trying to create something

within the company that was his.

One year, it was ties.

Another year, it was t*nk tops.

Another year, it was knocking off Guatemalan peasant blouses

until he figured out that it was cheaper

to just import the real thing.

I don't think that he was trying to undermine anyone.

I think he was just trying to be a success.

- Would you tell us, Laura, why at the age of

you left the family business?

- I couldn't take it.

- My father yells.

He yells at the cutters.

He yells at the -year-old woman in the office

who answers the phone.

He yells at the designers all the time,

and since I was a designer of sorts, my father yelled at me.

My brother is strong.

He could take it.

I'm not strong.

I left.

- I have no further questions.

- Do you work?

- Yes, I do.

- What do you do?

- I'm a freelance designer.

- How much did you make last year as a freelance designer?

- Last year was a difficult year for me.

I made very little.

- What did you live on?

I receive a monthly check from my father.

- Did not your father inform you that it was time for you

to start making a living?

- Don't you think I want that?

- Isn't the reason you're up here today testifying

on behalf of your brother the fact that the checks

finally stopped?

- Believe it or not, Daddy, I have tried

to make my way in the world.

- I ask that the witness be direct--

- I have tried to have a skill and a life and maybe

even a family of my own.

So far, I haven't been too successful.

- Mr. Rossignol--

- Have you ever thought that maybe

you had something to do with how hard all of this is for me?

- The witness will confine her remarks to answering

the question she's been--

- I am not here because the checks stopped.

I'm here because I know what it did to me being your daughter,

and I know what it did to my brother being your son.

And of the two of you, he needs my help more than you do.

- I have no further questions.

- Here's the memorandum in the Glassman.

The citations are at the end.

- Jane, how's your health?

- My health?

My health is fine.

- I-- I just find myself thinking, what if it were me?

What if what's happening to McKinsey were happening to me?

- But it's not.

- It could be.

It could be happening to me.

How horrible, you know?

- Sickness is horrible.

- I don't know.

Maybe it's mortality itself that has me blue.

- I-- I just keep thinking, is this it?

Is this all there is?

In another years, I'm going to be McKinsey's age.

That's no time at all.

Your entire life happens in a wink of an eye.

On the other hand, when you're dead, that's it.

You're dead.

- There are those of us who believe otherwise.

- Do you believe otherwise?

- Yes.

- You actually believe it?

You-- you don't get up in the middle of the night

with cold sweats thinking that you might be sick

or that you might be dying?

- Sure I do.

I have moments of fear and panic just like anyone else.

- So what do you do?

- I go to church.

- Do you think that I might tag along

with you sometime so that I might receive

some of that same comfort?

- I'm going tomorrow night.

You're more than welcome.

[rustling]

- You, know, Rosalie, I was thinking

about what you had to say about the money for the horse, and--

and I was thinking that maybe we could afford it anyway.

- Benny, I pay the bills.

You don't pay the bills.

We can't afford it.

- Well, I wear the pants.

- I wear pants too sometimes.

- I'm calling the sh*ts.

I'm flying the plane.

- Benny, what are you talking about?

- I'm talking about--

about whose feet hit the floor first in the morning.

- Well, mine do because I make you breakfast.

- But I'm the one who goes to work, Rosalie.

- Well, I used to work, but--

and you told me to quit.

- I'm the one going to work now, Rosalie.

That means that-- that I make--

I make the decisions.

[cabinet bangs]

- Here's the bank book.

Make the decision!

- Mr. Schoen, did you in fact terminate your son's

employment from Schoen Limited?

- Yes, I did.

- Would you please tell us why you did so?

- I did so for a variety of reasons.

There were financial irregularities,

to put it politely, and he was passing himself

off as the head of the company.

- To whom did he represent himself as the head

of the company, Mr. Schoen?

- Oh, Tobias from Bloomingdale's and Filene's and Carson Pirie

Scott, to a factory owner in Hong Kong,

to the district manager from the International

Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.

Is that enough?

And how did you find out that he had so represented himself?

- People told me.

- Objection.

Hearsay.

- Oh, people didn't tell me?

- Mr. Schoen, permit me to rule on the objection

before you respond.

- My apologies.

- I'm going to allow it for the fact of the utterance only.

Proceed.

- It's been testified to by your son

that you assured him you would step

down and turn the company over to him

when you reached the age of .

Is that true?

- Well, that was never meant to be unconditional.

It was understood to be if circumstances permit.

Circumstances don't permit.

If I thought he was capable, if I thought he was honorable,

I would have done it, and I would have done it happily.

But I did not build this business

so that he could destroy it.

I have nothing further.

- Is it your contention, sir, that your son is incompetent?

- He is competent to be a salesman.

He is competent to work in a showroom.

He is not competent to run a company.

- Do you dispute the fact that all decisions

pertaining to the so-called Ma Bay line

were made by Harold Schoen?

- That's one line.

- Yes or no, Mr. Schoen?

- Yes, he ran that line.

- Would you characterize that line as successful?

- He was in the right place at the right time.

Once.

You measure success in this business over decades.

- Would it be fair to say, sir, that you

have some difficulty when it comes to relinquishing control?

- I have difficulty when it comes to betrayal.

That's with customers.

That's with partners.

And that's with children.

I have no further questions.

- You're going to put a Kn*fe in my back, Harold?

Not while I'm still breathing.

[music playing]

[knocking]

- Come.

- Leland, I need to talk to you as both

your partner and your friend.

- Douglas, let me stop you right there.

I'm not interested in discussing my condition.

- Why not?

- Because I don't choose to do so.

- People are concerned. - Well, I can't help that.

- Well, I don't understand why you can't be a little more

forthcoming with information.

I know that if it were me, I'd be offering up some details.

Is this something that's likely to require

extended hospitalization.

Is surgery indicated?

A surgery contraindicated?

Is the condition susceptible to treatment with medication?

Don't keep the shrouded in mystery.

Tell me what's going on.

- What's going on is that I'm dying.

Now, how much more do you need to know?

[horses neighing]

- They're at the far turn.

The exercise boy is going to start

the workout at the / pole.

How does he look?

- I can see the freeway from here.

- Give me those.

- Yeah!

Right there.

Come on!

- Look at the run.

- Come on!

- Look at that animal run.

- Here he comes.

[rapid hoof-beats]

- Oh, wow.

- It takes your breath away, doesn't it?

- That animal is % sound, Mr. Nuzzi.

- Let's see.

That's what the veterinarian's going to tell us, Mr. Pelt.

- Believe me, he is sound.

- What we're doing is we're getting the horse examined

before we decide to buy him.

We want to see if he's healthy.

- Too bad he can't talk.

- What do you think, Doc?

- His legs are clean, and his joints are cold.

And he jogs sound.

- Think he can run on the turf?

- Guess you'll find that out tomorrow.

- You passing him, Doc?

- Yeah, I'm passing him.

- So you won't mind just training them from now on, huh?

- Not at all.

For that $,, you and your, uh, partner there,

you get to be the masterminds.

- And in the paddock tomorrow before the race,

we get to give the jockey the instructions.

- No reason that Eddie D. can't ignore

you as good as he ignores me.

We got a deal?

- What do you say, Ben?

You're in or you're out.

[sighs]

[chicken coos]

- I'm in.

[music playing]

- What did he say?

- It's not good.

He said that he's dying.

- Is that all?

- That's all he would say.

- Douglas, of what possible use to us is this information?

- What do you mean?

- I mean, we're trying to piece together a diagnosis.

To say that he's dying is meaningless.

We're-- we're all dying.

- Stuart, Leland doesn't want to talk about this.

- Well, I hate to say this, Ann, but maybe Leland is

being a little overly dramatic.

- [gasps] How can you say that?

- I can say it because I have a little perspective, Ann.

He has prostate cancer.

Now, based on everything we know about prostate cancer,

his condition is quite manageable.

Given his age, statistically, he'll probably die of something

other than prostate cancer.

There's no metastasis, Ann--

I don't think.

- You don't think.

- What we need, Douglas, are details.

- Well, why don't you just march in there

and tell that to Leland?

- Well, maybe I will.

- I think you should.

I think you should go in there and tell him you need details.

- Believe me, I'm going to go to him,

and I'm going to get details.

- Let us know.

- Juan Rosario, por favor.

[chatter]

- Mrs. Ethel Britt?

- Leland-- McKenzie?

- Yes.

[chatter]

- I'll be this Thursday.

That's why I'm here.

- Birth certificate?

- I don't have a birth certificate.

I do have a copy of my discharge certificate

from the United States Air Force.

- Will that suffice?

- Married?

- Yes-- oh, widower.

- Wife's death certificate?

- Yeah.

Copy of that.

- Children?

- No.

- Do you make in excess of $, a year.

- Yes.

- $ will be deducted from your benefits for every $ in income

until you reach age .

- I was primarily interested in Medicare benefits.

- This lists medical.

This lists hospital.

- All right.

- You'll be contacted within days.

- Is that it?

- That's it.

- Thank you.

- Have a nice day.

- I beg your pardon?

- Have a nice day.

- Thank you.

[car horn]

- Have you ever been present when

your son willfully disobeyed instructions given to him

by his father.

- You have to understand something.

These are both headstrong individuals,

and sometimes Harold was a little too headstrong.

He'd do things he shouldn't have done.

- Like what?

- Well, he'd-- he hired people.

He-- he-- he signed work orders.

He promised delivery dates for buyers.

Well, these were things that-- that his father needed

to-- to-- to approve of, and Harold would

do them without his approval.

- Did you ever know your son to malign his father while

in the presence of others?

- He said things I thought he shouldn't have said, yes.

- Did you ever confront him about it?

- Yes.

- And what, if anything, did he say in response?

- He said that it was time that he should be in charge

of the business, and it was time that his--

for his father to retire.

- I have nothing further.

Thank you.

- What did you do when your son told you

it was time he was in charge?

- I said that we had a family business, that one

day he would be in charge.

- And did you inform your husband of this discussion?

- My role was to keep things calm.

I didn't see the need to say anything.

- Your son has enjoyed a considerable amount of success

this past year, hasn't he?

- Yes, he has.

- Were you pleased about that?

- Of course.

- Was your husband pleased?

- Yes. - Was he really?

- Objection.

Asked and answered.

- Sustained.

- Isn't it a fact that when the Ma Bay line proved successful,

your husband did everything he could to sabotage that success?

- No.

Isidore wants his children to succeed.

He wants for them to be happy.

- How much did he want it for his daughter?

- Objection-- irrelevant.

- Overruled.

- Mrs. Schoen?

- He wants Laura to be happy the same way I do.

- Did your daughter really leave because she was lazy,

Mrs. Schoen?

- You know, you have no right to ask me to do this.

Isn't what happened that she left because your husband so

denigrated both her and her work that she was

hospitalized with what was described as,

quote, "nervous exhaustion"?

- Objection.

The witness is in absolutely no position

to offer up expert psychiatric testimony.

- But the witness can testify as to whether or not

her daughter was hospitalized.

- The objection is overruled.

- The witness can answer.

- Yes, she was hospitalized.

- I have no further questions.

- Look what you've done to us, Isidore.

- The witness can step down.

- This court is in recess till : this afternoon.

[coughing]

- You'll excuse us for a minute.

We will have to put her back on the stand.

- What for?

- I came up like a n*zi to listen to her.

You have to undo that.

- How?

- I have to tell my lawyer how?

- Isidore--

- I will speak to my wife this evening.

Tomorrow morning, you will tell her what you wanted to say.

She will take the witness stand and say it.

- I'm not going to do that, Isidore.

- What do you mean, you're not going to do it?

- Just what I said.

I don't think she did you that much harm.

But even if I thought she did, I'm not about to suborn

perjury to overcome it.

- Well, you're going to do what I tell you to do.

- Mr. Schoen, I am not your son, and I'm

not going to do what my best legal judgment

tells me not to do.

- Then you're fired.

- Then I'm fired.

- [SINGING] The wicked oppressing the seed from its--

sing praises to his name.

He forgets not his own.

He tries to guide us--

- You all right?

- I'm scared.

- What are you scared of?

- I'm scared to die.

- And I guess going to church didn't help, huh?

- Jane, for the first time since I've known you,

I want to be perfectly truthful.

My interest in coming to church, just

like my interest in reading the Bible,

it's just a means to an end.

My real interest has always been getting in the sack.

- Gee, really?

- I know, but I was sitting in there just now,

and I realized, I shouldn't be pretending when

it comes to things like this.

- No, you probably shouldn't be.

On the other hand, Jesus doesn't need

for your heart to be pure in order for you

to take comfort from.

- You're not allowed to do that, Jane,

not allowed to lead this miserable life

and then start asking for comfort

just because you're terrified.

- Yes, you are.

- [SINGING] The wicked oppressing the seed from its--

sing praises to his name.

He forgets not his own.

Amen.

[water flowing]

- Hey, Stuart.

- Leland-- uh, Leland?

What gives?

- What are you referring to?

- I'm referring to your medical problem.

- Well, I think I've said all I intend

to about my medical problem.

- Well, forgive me, Leland, but is

it possible you're being a little obsessively closed

mouthed about this?

- There's nothing obsessive about it.

I don't care to discuss my condition.

- Leland, most people would be willing to provide

a little more information for their loved ones, you know?

Besides, what's the big mystery, Leland?

You have prostate cancer.

You have prostate cancer.

But you were out of the office one week.

That means you had a transurethral resection.

If you had had a higher degree of metastasis,

that means they would have required a suprapubic.

And if they had required a suprapubic,

you would have been out of the office two weeks minimum.

From where I'm standing, this is pretty good news.

All I want is a little more specifics.

- Stuart, what the hell are you talking about?

- I'm talking about the most commonly recommended

alternative surgical procedures for prostate cancer

and what each one implies.

- I don't have prostate cancer.

- What are you talking about?

- I don't have prostate cancer.

Now, what part of that don't you understand?

- Douglas told me you went in for an examination

of the prostate and they found something.

- That's right.

That's what I told him.

And what they found, since you're intent on specifics,

was a level III melanoma located in the region of my groin.

While there is presently no indication

of distant metastasis, the likelihood

is that within five years I'll be dead.

- Now, does that satisfy your curiosity?

- I had no idea.

- That was by design.

What's your problem?

- They're here.

[door slams]

- I got to be there in minutes.

- Harold.

- Hi.

- Counselor, Leland McKenzie.

- Sharon Cummings.

I guess the first question I want to ask

is, if you're fired as counsel, why are we here?

- We're here to explore the possibility of a settlement.

- Is my father here?

- He's not here yet.

He'll be here.

- What are you offering?

- What are you looking for?

- Reinstatement, back pay with interest, money damages.

- I can get you reinstatement, no back pay, no money damages.

- That's not going to do it.

- Harold, I suspect that in some hidden corner,

you are profoundly grateful to have hit

with your father still alive.

- Yeah, so?

- So maybe you ought to do what you can

to preserve the relationship.

- Leland, he's the one who terminated me.

Why don't you go talk to him?

- I will talk to him.

But right now, I'm talking to you.

See, I've known you both a long time.

I know all about how difficult and unreasonable

your father can be.

I also know that you are exactly like him.

- Given I feel that the trial is going extremely well for us,

I'm compelled to ask why my client would take a deal

like the one you're offering.

- Because the day is fast approaching when his father

will no longer be here.

- That's a factor the legal process isn't meant to take

into account, Mr. McKenzie.

- No, but it's a factor he should take into account.

You should.

- Come on.

He's going to live forever.

- Is he?

- Isidore.

- I'm listening.

- I want to broker a deal.

- Is that because Mr. Levinson doesn't have the stomach

to do what is needed in court?

- No, no, it's because Mr. Levinson

is smart enough to know what can't be done in court.

- We feel as though it's possible for this dispute

to be resolved between the parties.

- What exactly do you think is going

to happen to make it possible?

- We think you might come to your senses.

- I should come to my senses.

- You and your son both.

- What do you propose I do reinstate your son

and increase his pay by %.

- Why would I want to do that?

- To not reinstate him makes absolutely no sense.

He can make $, a year more working for anyone else,

and your business can't afford to lose him.

As to the pay raise, your children

are getting everything anyway.

What difference does it make?

- Lest you've forgotten, I drew your will.

The truest indication of your feelings toward your children

is the fact that you have not changed that will.

- I bring him back, I become the old man.

I'll come in every morning, I'll sit, I'll have a coffee,

I'll read the obituaries, and I'll

talk to anyone who will listen.

It'll happen, Leland, I've seen it

happen to men who were giants.

- Then it happens.

There are worse fates.

- Where is he?

- Please send them in.

- The people who indulge you are the people

you need to have around you.

You drive them away, you have nothing.

- Well, gentlemen, where are we?

- You want to come back to work?

- I don't know.

What are the arrangements?

- Same arrangements-- only you run your own line by yourself.

- What about back pay?

- He and I will work out the money.

- I thought that's what the lawyers were for.

- If they can work it out themselves,

I'm in favor of the lawyers staying out of the way.

- Come on, let's go back to work.

[thud]

[door closes]

[phones ringing]

- They came with you?

- Oh, we came on our own.

- So?

- We're fine.

- Come on.

[music playing]

- Come on, I'll buy you dinner.

- OK.

[humming]

[vacuum buzzes]

- What's that?

- This is what we won.

- Well, we have to get ready.

How much?

- We won $, on the bet, and--

and we have another $, coming when we get the purse.

[gasps] He won, Rosalie!

It went just like Dominic said it would.

He came out of that last turn, and he went out ahead in front

of all the horses, and he won.

- Well, I guess whatever Dominic says goes, then.

- I don't think that.

- Is that your money, or is it our money?

- Well, it's our money.

- Well, then give me a kiss!

Ba-da bing!

[giggles]

- What time is it?

- It's three minutes to :. [drink pouring]

- They should be here.

- You know what?

- There's one part we neglected to mention.

- Oh, what's that?

- Well, in the drafting of the settlement, we need to consider

how we want Harold's--

- Shh.

- I got it you covered.

- Leland, I just want to say, you did a hell of a job

today with those two people.

- Well, thank you.

- I just thought I'd mention it.

- Surprise!

[SINGING] Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear Leland, happy birthday to you.

- Make a wish.

- Get them all. - Hey!

- Hey!

[applause]

- Woo!

- Woo!

- Speech.

- Well I--

I appreciate the effort.

I'm not sure that it was necessary.

- It is your birthday.

- Oh, yes, and I thank you for remembering it.

- Here's some champagne for you.

- Here's to you, Leland.

- I'm sorry to seem ungracious.

I know you're all concerned about me,

and I know you were all thrown by my bit of news.

When you ambushed me in the men's room, Mr. Markowitz,

to interrogate me about my condition,

you chided me for not providing my loved

ones with more information.

Now, that's a term that is generally

used to describe members of one's immediate family.

- It was used deliberately.

- I know.

I know it was.

And in that you are my loved ones,

I would ask you to understand my leaving.

The truth is that I've found a new understanding of why

my old dog, my setter, went off by himself

when it was time to die.

Facts of my life are that I too am alone,

and I believe that the time has come for me to accept that.

- But you have us.

- I know that, Rosalie.

And I'm grateful for it.

- Then how come you're leaving?

- Because I think it's time.

- Forgive me, I disagree.

- It's not time.

You have a place here.

You have work here.

You have a group of people here who, however much time you

have left, however much time we have left,

who want you around for every single day

that we are lucky enough to have you.

- It's not time you left, Leland.

It's time when it's time.

If you have to, think about it.

It's not time.

- You're also not alone.

- Yeah, that's right, Leland.

- Your setter was alone.

- Right.

[laughter]

- You know, the truth is that, as much

as we want you to stay with us, you might want to leave.

You want to go around the world.

You might want to attend to something

other than the practice of law.

Should that be the case, I wish you well.

I will have gone through this life having had two fathers,

and for that, I am profoundly grateful.

- Well, I want you to stay here, stay here with us.

- I'm sure that you undoubtedly have dibs, Arnold,

but the fact is I may not be vacating my office

at the end of the month.

- That's fine.

- Can we get a toast?

- Absolutely.

[spoons hitting glass]

- Here's to you, Leland.

- Here's to us all.

[sentimental music]

[music playing]