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  February 10, 1960: MurderOn a dark night (February 10, 1960), Thomas Morely (Robert Colbert), gardener, dressed in pinstripes, reconnoiters the home of one of his clients, Paula Thornwall (June Blair). He enters the house and confronts her in her bedroom. He's "looking for a little action" and has some reason (how good a reason, we'll learn later) to believe that she might favor him with some. But of course she thinks he is beneath her, so she tells him to get out of there, or she'll call the police. Morely puts his lighted cigarette into her ashtray and otherwise does not move. So she picks up the phone. He takes the phone away from her and assaults her. She bites his hand, and he hits her hard enough to knock her out and lay her out on the floor. Now thoroughly angry, Morely picks up the nearest handy object, a pillow, and smothers her with it. Once she is dead, he puts the pillow back onto the bed, picks her up, lays her out on the bed, takes the cigarette from the ashtray, and places it in her hand. Then he leaves the house, just as the smoldering cigarette catches the sheet on fire. But on his way out, he is nearly blinded by the headlights of a car, and hides in a hedge, causing it some minor damage. (That will come out later in court.)In the next scene, Judge Leland "Lee" Hoffman (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr) and District Attorney Dan Callahan (James Kelly) are shooting ducks in a swamp. Matt Keenan (Carroll O'Connor), the local newspaper publisher, gives a shout to the other two and asks them who shot down a duck. The three gather inside a nearby cabin, which Hoffman owns. There Hoffman tells the other two that a political operative called him and told him that he could have the gubernatorial nomination in his party if he wanted it. Hoffman would like Callahan as a running mate, but Callahan demurs. Matt tries to persuade Callahan, without success (though Callahan won't say his preferences out loud). As the three are talking, a messenger arrives with a telegram to Callahan: get back to town to handle a murder case. Callahan send back another telegram, insisting that he will finish out his vacation, and unless Assistant DA Gorman was the murder target, he will not come back.The next morning (February 12), Police Sergeant Mickey Beers (Jesse White) drives up to Judge Hoffman's cabin and raps on the door. He is looking for Callahan. He tells Callahan that he has a perfect prime suspect: Walter Thornwall, ex-husband of Paula and nephew of ex-Govenor Oliver P. Thornwall. Callahan pays his respects to Hoffman and leaves without telling Hoffman the nature of his errand.Callahan returns to town and calls on Walter Thornwall (Rhodes Reason) at a project site that his contruction firm is working on. Callahan questions Thornwall about his marital status and his whereabouts on the night of his wife's death. What develops is that he has no alibi, for he has no one to vouch for him. Callahan then, in a blaze of publicity with cameras flashing, arrests Thornwall.Political Operative Charles Bosworth (Parley Baer) confers with Callahan and mentions a mutual friend and political operator: US Senator Alex S. Simon (Don Ameche).Simon is staying at the Dome Hotel, the most prestigious hotel in Capital City. Callahan goes to see Simon and boasts that the case of State v. Thornwall will be his ticket to the nomination. The reason: by prosecuting without hesitation a man connected with the Party, Callahan comes off as not "putting in the fix." Senator Simon expresses doubts. Callahan cites a rumor that Walter Thornwall once attacked his wife with a carving knife. To be more specific, Paula Thornwall called police, accusing Walter of the threat, but recanted when police arrived. Simon insists that such hearsay would never stand up. (Paula obviously cannot substantiate it, because she's dead.) Simon then drops a bombshell: he wants to run for governor himself. Callahan can't understand why any US Senator would "step down" to become Governor. Simon, unmoved, insists that he will run. He offers Callahan the bone of filling out his (Simon's) unexpired Senate term. Callahan refuses. The battle lines drawn, the two men part bitter enemies.As Callahan and Bosworth walk out of The Dome, they run into none other than Judge Hoffman. Callahan now reveals to Hoffman that he's running for Governor. Hoffman takes it with slightly more equanimity than Simon did, but reminds Callahan that he, Judge Hoffman, will try the case of State v. Thornwall.Hoffman checks in at The Dome (where he has a permanent suite of rooms) for messages. In the meantime, Cathy Simon (Angie Dickinson), Alex' wife, enters the hotel and chats with the keeper of the gift shop. She and Hoffman know one another from before her marriage to Alex and are close friends. That's all they are to one another, but Cathy's demeanor suggests that she is sorry she married Alex Simon and not Lee Hoffman. In fact, Hoffman married another woman, but she fell ill and finally died. That happened two years before and Cathy has never really gotten Lee Hoffman out of her heart.That night, Hoffman talks to Simon about his governorship run. Simon dishes out the "good for the Party" line. Hoffman isn't buying. Hoffman reveals that his late wife steered him into politics. Simon wants Hoffman for his running mate, but Hoffman refuses to enter the race for any office until the trial concludes.March 10, 1960: TrialAs the trial begins, the older neighbor, Emma Jensen (Louise Lorimer), who saw the assailant, misidentifies Thornwall as the man. Thornwall blurts out that she's lying, and Hoffman chides Defense Attorney Clem Marker (Ray Danton) on controlling his client in court. Mrs. Jensen tells the court that she drove to the corner drugstore before she saw the smoke from the fire that nearly destroyed the bedroom before the firemen arrived. On cross-examination, Marker establishes that Mrs. Jensen has grounds to resent Walter Thornwall over a neighborly dispute over land on their adjoining estates. Specifically, Walter Thornwall refused to grant an easement to a developer for the building of a subdivision.The next witness is the medical examiner (Maurice Wells). (Note: the title of "coroner" is misleading. A "coroner" is an elected law-enforcement official having the power to inquire officially into a person's death. A medical examiner merely performs an autopsy and offers medical evidence only.) He testifies to finding a bruise on Paula Thornwall's left temple, and the absence of any indicators of asphyxia. "In all probability she was dead before the fire started," he concludes. Callahan then asks the medical examiner how many sexual partners Paula Thornwall had in the twenty-four hours preceding her death. Now we know the motive that the prosecution is alleging: that Paula Thornwall was a sex maniac, and Walter Thornwall killed her in a jealous rage. (We also know, now, why Tom Morely thought he could "score a little action" from Mrs. Thornwall, not realizing that she could be pretty stuck-up about class distinctions.) Judge Hoffman finds that evidence distasteful, but in the absence of any objection to it by the defense, he cannot exclude it.At Simon's campaign HQ, Simon receives the newspapers playing up the adultery angle. Now he knows the kind of candidate (i.e., Callahan) he's up against.Next day, Callahan calls several male witnesses, all former lovers of the late Paula Thornwall. As he wraps up for the day, he takes more campaign advice from Bosworth. Judge Hoffman retires to his chambers, where Alex Simon is waiting. Simon insinuates that Callahan is risking making Thornwall sympathetic to the jury. (And an all-male jury in that day, in some jurisdictions, might have reduced the charge on a man who killed his wife in a jealous rage, if she were the type who "slept around.") Simon then reminds Hoffman of an elderly federal judge who died recently by accident. Simon is offering Hoffman an appointment to replace the late judge, in return for any help he could give the defense so that Callahan would lose the case. Specifically, he wants Hoffman to call a mistrial of the case on any pretext that comes his way. (Simon anticipates, but does not tell Hoffman, that Callahan will try to introduce the questionable prior domestic disturbance in the Thornwall home.) Hoffman, now furious, throws Simon out of his chambers for attempted bribery. Simon, unflapped and unrepentant, reminds Hoffman that he could become a Justice of the US Supreme Court if he "plays ball."That night, in a driving rain, Cathy Simon comes to see Hoffman. Cathy pleads with Hoffman not to hold Simon's bribery attempt against him. Hoffman cannot let it go, but Cathy pleads with Hoffman not to accuse him. Then she reminds Hoffman that Simon's heart is not up to par. But that's not why Simon wants to be Governor. Simon wants to control the delegation to the party national convention. He wants to run for President of the United States, in the belief that only in that way can he hold Cathy's love. Aiex, simply put, is jealous of Lee Hoffman's earlier association with Cathy, though Hoffman has never pressed the point. Hoffman, against his better judgment, agrees to let the matter drop.The trial resumes, and Tom Morely takes the stand. He is so nervous that Judge Hoffman has to calm him down. (Of course he's nervous; he's testifying at a trial in a death he himself caused!) Morely reveals that he had worked for the Thornwalls for six months. He testifies to damage to the hedge that he "found" (har-de-har-har) on the day after the murder. The defense stipulates to the damage to the hedge, but no one knows why Hoffman has to remind Morely twice that he can stand down.That evening, Callahan listens to an angry ultimatum from a campaign contributor who wants a favor. Callahan squeezes the contributor for as much as he can before he guarantees him an appointment that he wants.The next day, at trial, old Governor Thornwall (Herbert Marshall) himself testifies from his wheelchair. He testifies for the defense that he last saw the Thornwalls at his home. He tried to reconcile the two, but failed. They did not discuss divorce, nor did Walter criticize Paula at all. Callahan declines to cross-examine.Then Callahan asks to reopen his case. He calls Laura Mayberry (Andra Martin), who takes the stand after the bailiff calls her name twice. Walter denies to his lawyer that Ms. Mayberry can give any relevant evidence. She testifies that, after attending every session of the trial and appearing on time, she came in late this morning. Callahan draws out that she went to a beauty parlor, and then withdraws his question and gets to the point: she is Thornwall's private secretary, and often worked late with him and ate out at out-of-town restaurants. Callahan then presses her to say that she is not only in love with Walter Thornwall, but carrying his child. She refuses to admit to either, and the defense calmly declines cross-examination.Next, Callahan calls Mickey Beers. Beers testifies that he investigated the relationship between Laura Mayberry and Walter Thornwall. Beers says that he found no evidence that the two had any relationship other than professional. But he also testifies to her getting a hairdo that morning. Beers then reveals that the beauty parlor owner was a contact for an abortionist. In front of everyone, Walter Thornwall desperately tells Laura not repeat not to have an abortion, no matter what happens to him. (This film uses the euphemism "illegal operation" to refer to abortion, doubtless one of the last of the concessions to the old Hays Code.)Marker stands up to cross-examine Beers. He lays into Beers with both barrels, revealing that Beers took pains to summon Callahan (by telegram) the day after the murder. Marker draws out who told Beers to send the telegram: Charles Bosworth, Callahan's campaign manager. Marker forces Beers to reveal that he and Callahan have been friends as boys. Callahan repeatedly objects, and Hoffman cautions Marker not to press Beers further on Callahan's motives for prosecuting the case.Marker then turns to the statistics on smoking in bed. The point: this is the first time in recent memory that the police have suspected murder in a smoke-in-bed death. Beers pleads a hunch, but he can't explain why he thought that murder had been done. Marker lays into Beers with a proverbial rubber hose, and then Beers blurts out the history of Thornwall trying to kill his wife before.Triumphantly, Marker moves a mistrial. Hoffman strenuously gavels the courtroom to order and has the jury taken out. In the absence of the jury, Hoffman hears arguments on the mistrial motion. Marker's argument is simple: bringing prior history before the jury is needlessly prejudicial, and hearsay. Marker even accuses Callahan of coaching Beers to introduce the evidence; that causes Hoffman to threaten both men with sanction.Callahan stands by the allegation and gives the full history of the complaint, which Paula Thornwall recanted later. Callahan also says that Marker made the mistake of asking Beers specifically what made him suspect murder in a smoke-in-bed death.Hoffman, possibly looking for a reason not to declare a mistrial (and thus benefit Simon), says that he will deny the mistrial, but instruct the jury to disregard the question and the answer.That evening he checks in at The Dome, having sent the case to the jury. Alex Simon has left him a message. Then Cathy Simon greets Hoffman and gets him to admit that he overruled a perfectly sound mistrial motion just to send a message to Alex Simon that he, Hoffman, could not be bought. The two of them lamely discuss the prospect that Walter Thornwall, if convicted, could appeal his case, and the appellate court can remand the case for a new trial if Hoffman has committed reversible error.The note from Alex is brutal: Alex has submitted another man's name for consideration for the vacant federal judgeship.Hoffman then goes to see Callahan and asks him what he would do if Thornwall is acquitted. Callahan is confident that he will not lose. Hoffman reminds Callahan that the State Supreme Court might still remand the case for a new trial on account of the mistrial question. Hoffman offers to support Callahan if the verdict is guilty--but if it is not guilty, Dan should support him. The reason: Hoffman wants to stop Alex Simon at all costs. Callahan demands that Hoffman support him no matter what verdict the jury brings in.Callahan gets a telephone message from Bosworth to tune in the TV. On the channel, Oliver Thornwall is publicly telling Callahan not to run, and that he would not vote for either "active candidate." In fact, Oliver Thornwall wants Judge Hoffman to stand for the nomination. Hoffman renews his offer, and Callahan shakes on it.The next day, the verdict comes in: "Guilty." Laura Mayberry, of course, is crushed, even more than is Walter Thornwall. Hoffman, now that the crunch has come, is not sure that he wants to go through with his deal with Callahan.July 4, 1960: The PicnicAt the Independence Day picnic, Alex Simon is pressing the flesh. Cathy comes to see Hoffman to tell him that the appellate court refused to remand the case. Hoffman knows that he did wrong, and decides that he must get Thornwall a new trial no matter what it costs him, or anyone else. Hoffman goes to Callahan and tells him about the bribery attempt by Simon. Callahan, desperately afraid, doesn't want Hoffman to speak up. Hoffman thinks only of Thornwall, but Callahan thinks only of himself. Callahan offers to make the announcement himself, but Hoffman says that Hoffman, and only Hoffman, can break a thing like that.Callahan goes to Mickey and asks him to drive him to the TV station in town. The two get into a police car and start to drive. Tragedy strikes: the two men strike a boy on a side street. (The boy will survive, but those two men can't predict that then.) So the two men collaborate on a false story to give to the papers: that they were on official business, trying to arrest a drug pusher after Mickey had gotten a tip over the telephone in the park.Callahan does get to the TV station, to announce that he repudiates Judge Hoffman's suggestion that Alex Simon tried to bribe anyone. He then says that if Hoffman presses the matter further, Callahan will push to have him disbarred.Alex Simon, in his rooms in The Dome, gives his own statement that Callahan and Hoffman are playing with fire, all in the name of politics. He suggests that Hoffman didn't do anything about the bribery attempt then because he had no evidence. Cathy, listening to him talk, can't take it anymore, and retires to their bedroom. Alex then dismisses his campaign advisers, saying that he doesn't feel well. But when he goes into the bedroom to talk to Cathy, the two argue about Hoffman. Cathy accuses Alex of destroying Hoffman for ignoble reasons, and then says that Alex seems to have no self-respect. Alex then returns to his old theme: he is jealous of Hoffman. Finally Alex blurts out that he wants to make her the first lady in the land. And then, so saying, he has a heart attack.Cathy summons medical aid, and has Alex taken to a hospital. Alex summons Hoffman, who comes to Alex' side. Alex lives long enough to confess to his campaign adviser, in front of Hoffman, that Hoffman was correct "from his point of view" in his accusation about the bribery attempt. Simon throws all his support to Callahan, who "knows all the rules of the game." His last words are to his wife, to ask her to remember him properly. So saying, he dies.Cathy flies back to Washington, DC for the funeral, and to arrange with a real-estate agency to sell the Simons' house (presumably in Northern Virginia). Hoffman decides to run for the Party nomination for governor against Callahan. He didn't like Simon, and now he likes Callahan even less.Hoffman goes to see a man named Earl Miller (Leonard Bremen), a private eye who taps telephones. He hires Miller to tap the telephone of Mickey Beers. Then Hoffman goes to see Beers, and to lay on him some information that he knows will frighten him: that he knows that the story that he and Callahan gave to the press, after the accident to the boy in the side street, was false. And how does he know? Because the park telephone, that they were supposed to have used, was out of order. Beers could get two years in prison for misprising official business. After Hoffman leaves, Beers calls Callahan. Outside, in a disguised van, Miller records everything.Two days later, Hoffman calls an unusual hearing with Callahan and Marker. Callahan objects, pleading politics, and Hoffman threatens him with contempt of court if he doesn't shut up. Hoffman calls Miller to the stand, and gets Miller to lay a foundation for the tape recording. Hoffman admits for the record that he hired Miller. Callahan and his assistant try to leave, but Hoffman orders the bailiffs to stop them, and the two to return to their seats. Then Hoffman orders the first part of the recording played. Marker wants to know whether the proceedings will serve his client's interests, and Hoffman assures him that they will.Hoffman plays enough of the tape to show that Sergeant Beers had called Callahan. But then Hoffman has a change of heart. He stops the tape, excuses Miller, and admits that he might have acted beyond his authority. He orders all remarks to and from the bench stricken. Then he orders everyone out of the courtroom except Callahan.Now, one-on-one with Callahan, Hoffman plays the rest of the tape. Clearly Hoffman has enough to ruin Callahan, including the key fact that Beers introduced the prejudicial evidence against Thornwall to do Callahan a favor. Hoffman gives Callahan an ultimatum: get Thornwall a new trial, and Hoffman will send him the tape.Callahan goes outside and tells the press that Thornwall should get a new trial, because he and the Judge were both candidates for governor.The State Supreme Court grants the remand. Tom Morely, his conscience never clear, hears that on his truck radio. He flees to his apartment, and suffers an acute upset stomach when two detectives come for him. All they want is to inform him that he will have to testify again, but of course he thinks they're there to arrest him. When the detectives leave, he flees the city--and the highway patrol chases after him for speeding. The patrolmen summon an interceptor. Morely leaves the road, but must stop for a moving train. He tries to hop the train, but the HP fire their guns in the air to stop him.Callahan gets Morely to confess, and so the headlines read: CALLAHAN CLEARS THORNWALL. But publisher Matt Keenan goes to Judge Hoffman to urge him to run for governor anyway. Hoffman, frustrated, packs a bag to go fishing; Matt can't stop him. But Matt does take a call from his editors: the bar association censured Hoffman for failing to report the bribery attempt, and suggested that he resign from the bench.The State nominating convention is in deadlock. Callahan is one of four candidates, none of whom can get a majority, even after twenty-nine ballots. In the middle of this, Cathy Simon goes to Hoffman's cabin and pleads with him to come to the convention. Hoffman is afraid to show his face, but Cathy insists that he come anyway.When Hoffman shows up, the delegates, as soon as they recognize him, stand up and cheer. Governor Thornwall, on the stage, introduces Hoffman and nominates him. Then county after county abruptly give all their votes to Judge Hoffman. Finally, another delegate asks to suspend the rules and nominate Hoffman by acclamation.
question: who turns ruthless and vindictive in achieving his political aims?
answer: Callahan and Hoffman