The Wichita Lineman

Tone & Style: Slow-burning conspiracy thriller set in the late ‘60s about events that still resonate today: racial violence, twisted patriotism, right wing conspiracies and the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK. And while the tone is dark and menacing and filled with explosive conflict, life-threatening danger and unspeakable tragedy, there are many funny and endearing moments as a wildly rambunctious and high spirited romance blossoms between two young misfits from opposite sides of the tracks drawn together by passionate idealism and dreams of a better world. The razor-sharp tension of THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR and ENEMY OF THE STATE, the spider web conspiracy of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, the shattering effects of the Vietnam War and the endearing passion of LOVE STORY combine in a highly cinematic and gripping tale of a brave young man caught in the crosshairs of a ruthless conspiracy as he fights to stay alive, get to the truth and hang on to a love he can’t bear to lose. Story Overview: Trouble is brewing. The Vietnam war is escalating. Thousands of soldiers are dying, roiling college campuses. The Civil Rights movement is pressing White America hard. Sgt. Pepper’s, Jimi Hendrix and the Summer of Love are happening. Long hair and miniskirts are in. Women’s Lib is in. The Pill is in. Laugh-In is in. Smoking pot is very in. The counterculture is on the rise and the Generation Gap is widening. Families are being torn apart. Civil disobedience. Protest marches. Stop The War. Stop The Draft. Fight The Power. Fuck The Establishment. But The Establishment is fighting back. The storm is threatening. Dark forces are at work. The Establishment is digging in. And in the spring of 1968, two great men of peace and vision are murdered, igniting a firestorm of violence and rage that will rip the nation’s soul out and scatter it to the wind. It’s just a shot away. Vietnam. October, 1967. Gunner’s Mate Jay Lyons is in his element. He’s got his boat, his buddies and a war he believes in, unlike his best friend Nate, a tough Black sailor and notorious card sharp who can’t wait to get home to the mean streets of Chicago. When the crew rescues four Navy Seals deep upriver and Jay risks his life under heavy fire, he’s awarded the Silver Star, the third highest honor the Navy can give. A medal so special that everyone – including Presidents – salute with respect. But days later, Jay is badly wounded in a fierce firefight when an RPG slams into his boat. As he recovers in a hospital with a heavily bandaged leg, torso and ear, Jay and his Alan Alda-like Navy doctor have a pointed talk about the war and patriotism and the right people have to protest if they don’t like what the government’s doing. Jay is shocked to hear an officer say these things and for the first time in his young life, Jay is forced to question everything he’s been taught to believe. Saddled with a hearing aid and cane, Jay returns home to Wichita angry and embittered and as he struggles to fit back into a country he barely recognizes, takes back his old job as a telephone lineman, fights with his father, suffers terrifying flashbacks, moves into his own apartment and follows the escalating war with growing alarm. Suddenly Bobby Kennedy enters the race in March vowing to end the war and Jay gets politicized. After a tornado rips through the prairie, Jay goes to Kansas City to help restore service. Up on the pole, he taps into a damaged line and overhears a shocking, static-filled conversation about killing King and Kennedy. And when he reports it to the Feds (“Son, if I had a dollar for every death threat we’ve gotten on King I’d be a millionaire”) a routine memo winds up on Hoffman’s desk in Washington with Jay’s name on it. Suddenly all hell breaks loose. Jay’s apartment is tossed, his car is tampered with, his credit card is cancelled, his bank account is wiped out and a tough-guy stranger visits his Mom. Somebody’s trying to silence Jay – but who? Two days later, King is killed and the country explodes. As the walls close in, Jay makes a fateful decision to protect himself and his parents. With the last of his emergency cash he buys an old VW bus with Texas plates, leaves his dog tags and a suicide note in his beloved Mustang, jumps from a bridge, fakes his own death and goes on the run, determined to find out who’s behind it. Jay steals a phone bill from the residence mailbox of the line he tapped into, drives to Chicago, tells Nate about the threats and his own faked death and as they study the phone bill, they see dozens of calls between the Kansas City number, a number in Cicero and a number in DC. Jay is baffled. But Nate, far wiser in the ways of the criminal world than Jay, sees the connection. “KC – Mafia town. Cicero – fulla Nazis. DC – government. You hit the trifecta, boy. Lemme know when you wanna go upriver on these fucks.” Jay calls his old boatmate Tek, now a government data processor, gives him the phone numbers and asks for names and anything he can find. And when they meet in quiet bar in DC, Tek confirms Nate’s suspicions. The numbers belong to Frank Carballo, a Kansas City mobster; Rudolph Goetz, a white supremacist leader in Cicero; and Walter Hoffman, a shadowy figure buried deep in Hoover’s FBI. The implications are staggering. But there’s more. Hoffman, Carballo and Goetz served together in WWII and never fail to go on an annual fishing trip to Big Pine Key in Florida. Tek tells Jay a lot has changed since he went to Vietnam and it’s time he opened his eyes. Hoover’s created a unit to spy on civilians and disrupt the antiwar movement, has files on millions of people and King and Bobby are at the top of his enemies list because they want to end the war. And the one thing the government won’t tolerate are threats to the status quo and military-industrial complex. Tek warns Jay not to fuck with these guys because it they get wind he’s still alive, he’s dead. And this time for real. Jay breaks into Hoffman’s Georgetown home, sees a framed picture of three middle-aged men outside Capt. Dan’s Fishing Charters in Big Pine Key and knows he’s found his men. But before he leaves, he steals a gold Cross pen from Hoffman’s meticulously neat desk set, sending a message that someone has violated his sanctum sanctorum. Jay drives to the Hudson Valley seminary to see his brother Phil, who’s stunned and overjoyed that Jay’s still alive but furious he faked his death, shattering their parents’ lives. After an explosive argument where Jay adamantly defends his actions, Phil promises to stay silent about Jay’s resurrection if Jay swears not to go after the conspirators. Phil and Jay attend the antiwar demonstration at Columbia and during the violent melee, Jay rescues Nancy Bennett, a beautiful high-spirited student radical, fervent Kennedy idealist and a dead ringer for a young Ali MacGraw. Despite their drastically different backgrounds and Jay’s military past, their love story blossoms beautifully. Nancy introduces Jay to a world of taste and refinement he’s never known and takes him to meet her beloved Grandma in Boston, Miriam Bennett, who blesses their budding romance. Relaxing at Grandma’s summer house on the Cape, Jay tells Nancy about the danger he’s in – the threats, faking his death and going on the run – flatly admitting that he’s “got nothing.” But instead of running away, Nancy digs in. “You’ve got me,” she tells Jay, sealing their love forever. Jay’s never been happier, but trouble looms. A surveillance photo taken at Columbia lands on Hoffman’s desk showing Phil, Nancy and Jay wearing his fatigue jacket and Silver Star ribbon. Hoffman’s shocked that Jay’s still alive and decides to take him off the board – permanently. FBI agents question Phil at the seminary and he angrily tells them his brother is dead. Another team questions Mrs. Bennett and she tells them she’ll call her friend President Johnson and have their badges if they don’t stop harassing her and her granddaughter. Jay and Nancy arrive at the seminary all smiles and are stunned to hear about the photo and the FBI. Jay calls Tek to warn him and when he’s told Tek is dead, Jay goes ballistic. “If they want a war, I’ll give ‘em a fucking war!” But Phil blocks his way. “That’s just what they want! Don’t you see that?” Phil and Jay come to blows and as Phil wrestles Jay down refusing to permit vengeance, Nancy begs Jay to lay low and stay alive. “You didn’t come home just to get killed by a bunch of assholes!” Jay hates to run but has no choice. Phil tells them to get as far away as possible, Nancy has friends in California, Phil gives them a huge wad of cash and they take off on a wild cross-country trip highlighted by amusing stops in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and Las Vegas, where they change their appearance and hit the casinos looking like Robert Redford in “Butch Cassidy” and Faye Dunaway in “Bonnie and Clyde.” Jay falls in love with the mellow Berkeley vibe and quickly bonds with Mark and Rachel, Nancy’s laid-back Columbia professors now on the UCB faculty, and Mark offers them their off-the-grid cabin in the Sierras for the summer where they can lay low and plan for the future. The cabin is perfect: nestled in the high alpine forest beside a sparking river with all the comforts of home. Jay and Nancy can’t believe their luck. But once again, trouble looms. When they drive to a nearby mountain town to buy supplies, Nancy finds a pay phone and makes a collect call to her Grandma telling her where they are. But the illegal wiretap Hoffman has put on Mrs. Bennett’s phone records the call and when he listens to the playback, he knows he’s found his man. The setting sun sparkles on the water as Jay and Nancy fish in a canoe a hundred yards from the cabin, laughing and talking about changing their names, going to law school, having kids and living happily ever after. Suddenly a shot rings out and the sniper bullet meant for Jay hits Nancy. Reacting instantly, Jay tips the canoe and dives deep as blood swirls around Nancy’s lifeless eyes. More shots rip through the hull and no bodies surface. Jay Lyons is finally dead. And a week later, so is Bobby Kennedy. We move ahead thirteen years to Big Pine Key, Florida and get a shocking surprise. As Hoffman, Carballo and Goetz, now in their 60s, swagger into Capt. Dan’s for their annual fishing trip, they’re greeted by a totally transformed Nate playing the role of a smiling, baldheaded Bahamian charter clerk named Palmerston Pinkerton Rolley, who sets them up with Captain Pete. As the men board a beautiful 50-foot Marlin Pacemaker with three fighting chairs fixed to the aft deck, Jay – wearing blue reflective sunglasses and totally transformed into the gruff, bearded, salt-stained Captain Pete – ushers them aboard and takes them out to sea. After thirteen years of meticulous planning, Jay is ready to exact his revenge. As the men settle into their fighting chairs fifteen miles out, their seat belts lock and they can’t get out. Jay cuts the engines, turns off the electronics, chops a hole below deck and cuffs their hands behind their backs. The men are enraged. Who the fuck is this guy? But the answer comes in a riddle. Jay pulls out the gold Cross pen he stole from Hoffman’s desk set and drops it in his lap. “Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name.” And as Jay removes his sunglasses, Hoffman knows exactly who it is. “Lyons.” Carballo and Goetz erupt in panic. Accusations fly and tempers explode. How could this guy still be alive? But Jay takes it slow. And in a methodical, Columbo-like interrogation, he poses questions that give each man a chance to explain his motives and dig his own grave. They not only arranged King’s and Bobby’s murders, but JFK’s assassination as well. Their reasons run the gamut from political to racist to protecting the system to raw personal hatred, claiming they acted in the best interests of a country being destroyed by civil rights, social liberalism and flagrant disregard for law & order. Their arguments are sickeningly familiar to us today, and when they call themselves patriots, Jay has heard enough. As water gushes on deck from below, Jay slips on a life jacket and as Carballo, Hoffman and Goetz scream in terror, Jay floats away as the boat sink beneath the waves and Nate arrives in a second boat with his fist raised in a Black Power salute. The mystery of Jay’s whereabouts since 1968 is revealed as we return to the seminary, where Jay, wearing a clerical collar and cassock, is absolved by Phil, who believes God will forgive Jay’s revenge, saying, “There is a time to kill and a time to heal." And it’s implied that Jay also spent time in Florida with Nate laying the groundwork for his vengeance. The brothers go to Wichita for a heart-wrenching reunion with their aging parents, then we move to the Sierras for an emotional closing scene as Jay lays a special headstone on the unmarked grave in the woods by the river where he buried Nancy thirteen years ago, remembering her joyful spirit, her passionate ideals and the love she gave so selflessly.