- Name? - Karen Silkwood.
- Drew Stephens. - Dolly Pelliker.
Hi, Ham.
- Good-bye. - All right.
All right, see you.
So then the woman got up...
and she was dressed in a long white dress...
just like an angel.
And she called for the people to come on up...
and this kid came up with an arm...
that was almost pitch black from blood poisoning.
But that woman held that arm...
and she prayed over it...
and it turned pink right in front of your eyes.
And then it fell right off.
I was there, Wesley.
I was sitting right there.
When I was in the service, I saw this gook...
drink a glass of milk through his pecker.
What? Then what happened?
Didn't follow him home to find out.
This is dry processing...
the heart of the production process.
Come on in, trainees.
This brown powder you see here. ..
is mixed plutonium and uranium oxide.
And these trained technicians...
are fabricating it into fuel pellets.
Karen, could you explain...
the procedures in this glove box?
Yeah. what we're doing is we're blending and mixing...
the plutonium and uranium oxide into correct ratios.
And then we sift it for impurities.
And then it's fed into the slugging press...
which makes the pellets.
This is the slugging press...
where the powder is turned into pellets.
What about radiation effects from all this material?
We've all seen a poor guy...
suffering the effects of sunburn.
Radiation is like that.
It's the kind of thing that can't hurt you...
unless you're careless with it.
Hey, Wesley?
Come here. I need the help of a trained technician here.
Come here.
Put it back in!
Hey, Georgie. You know that 0' girl Jeane Dixon...
the one with the stars on her palms?
She was on Johnny Carson one night. ..
and she's telling how her niece phoned her up.
Niece goes, "I got to catch this airplane to Houston."
And Jeane Dixon goes...
"Now, don't you get on that airplane."
And by golly, that airplane crashed.
What do you make of that?
She's got the gift, all right.
Or maybe she just tells everybody she knows...
not to get on planes, and then one day...
one crashes and that's her lucky day.
Drew says he's got to work an hour overtime. ..
so he can't leave till 7:00.
OK. Shit! I forgot to get permission.
I don't know. I believe in that stuff.
Sometimes it happens where I know things.
Can you tell if I'm getting this weekend off?
- Go see my kids? - It don't work like that.
I can't sit here and find out just anything.
I have to wait for it to smack into me.
- Lunch! - I got to find Hurley.
Karen, you never monitor yourself.
Come back here and do it like the rest of us.
"Karen, you never monitor yourself."
I'll get you, girl.
Know what happens to girls that don't monitor themselves?
Your nipples turn green.
There's nothing they can do.
Where they going to park a contaminated truck?
It'll stay that way twenty-five thousand years.
They can put it in space. Hell, put it in orbit.
- Yeah, in orbit. - Put it on the moon.
- What's going on? - They cooked a truck.
There was a leak in one of the barrels.
Dolly tell you I have to work late?
Yeah. The whole weekend's screwed up.
I forgot to get permission. Now I can't find Hurley.
You better find him.
Heard those guys on the truck didn't monitor themselves.
That's a surprise.
- New guy in X-ray. - See y'all later.
- What's his name? - OK. Take care.
Winston something. Do you like him?
As a matter of fact, he's the type I hate.
Curtis, what is that?
Gilda's got some recipe from a magazine...
about putting pineapple in everything.
She puts pineapple in pineapple.
What you got?
What do you want?
- Mystery meat. - It's no mystery.
What's that? Peanut butter again?
Lay off my sandwich.
I don't want that.
- Hey, Thelma. - Hi, honey.
How's your daughter doing?
She's had one of them remissions.
If you believe in them.
Thank the Lord I got six others.
Mr. Hurley?
I hear you want the weekend off.
- I know it's late. - we can't give it to you.
This plant's operating 24 hours a day on a deadline.
- You know that. - Yeah.
How about if I get somebody to switch with me?
Most people are working a double shift now.
So, anyway...
don't everybody volunteer at once.
We have a revival, Karen.
And you?
Jimmy and me are going to Oklahoma City for a concert.
Curtis would have a fit.
Promised my kid I'd take him to Gar Creek.
How about you, Carl?
I got to work myself.
- what the hell was that? - It's a test.
How do you know?
This is a test. This is only a test.
You always say that.
You know some poor son of a bitch got his ass fried.
What I don't get is how we have all these tests...
but never go through the drill.
If this was a real airborne contamination...
we're supposed to get out of here.
We can't do the drill.
It might stop production for ten minutes.
If it had been the real thing, they'd shut down the plant...
and I could have had the whole weekend.
Karen, I've been thinking.
If you'll work the next shift back-to-back. ..
I'll switch with you.
Don't tell Curtis, hear?
You mean Curtis still doesn't like me?
No, but you know how he is.
What are they doing to that truck?
Move on out, OK?
Dolly.
You coming, or aren't you?
What's there to do down there?
Nothing. There's nothing to do down there.
All right. I'll come.
She's coming!
It's not going to be a party, so don't blame me.
It stinks around here.
That's home. That's what I left.
They'll be back in a little while.
Just went to get some beer.
This is great, Linda.
Come on. Come on in.
Oh, boy.
You look so big.
Go on. Say hi to your mama.
Donny, come here.
Denise, Donny, come sit over here.
Donny? Donny, come.
It's OK, son. Go ahead.
That's such a pretty dress.
I know. Linda made it for me.
Did you get that baseball I sent you?
You all remember Drew?
- I'm so happy to see you. - where were you, Mama?
I was up near Oklahoma City. I told you that.
- Are you Mama? - I'm Mama. That's right.
Mama's going to take you to the beach for the weekend.
Am I going?
You're going, and we'll stay in a motel. ..
and get those little pieces of soap all wrapped up.. .
You should have talked to me.
I got the weekend off. I'm taking them out to Daddy's.
I talked to Linda.
You should have talked to me.
You can take them out for a while if you want to.
Scoot through.
What am I supposed to eat here?
- French fries. - Shit.
Don't say that, Dolly.
Donny, you're not eating anything.
- I've got to use the bathroom. - Go ahead.
Mom, can I buy a coke?
OK. Here you go.
Drew, you help Tammy. Nobody'll see her up there.
- I couldn't go. - You couldn't go.
Do you still sleep with Mama?
Shit!
Don't say that, Mama.
Don't drip it in my fries!
Old McDonald had a farm.
E-I-E-I-O
Yeah, here we are.
All right, Tammy, don't forget your moose.
Drew, help me get her out of the back seat, will you?
One, two, three!
Good girl!
What you got?
Kiss your mama. That a girl.
I don't want to!
I'll see you next month.
Take them in.
Pete, did you give her our new address?
All I know is Midland, Texas, care of the company.
- Midland? - Yeah.
Big strike near the New Mexico border.
I just can't picture it.
What?
How long were you married to him?
You want to hear something funny?
How about some for the back?
We ran off to get married.
We heard you could get a license in Louisiana under-age.
But we couldn't, so we came home...
we told everybody we got married.
And we never did.
I thought you were divorced.
We're divorced, all right.
How come you got divorced if you never got married?
Common law.
Goddamn government fucks you coming and going.
Amazing grace.
How sweet the sound.
That saved.
A wretch like me
I once was lost.
But now I'm found.
Was bound.
But now I'm free.
I had them in the car.
I could have just headed straight for Oklahoma.
What would you have done with them?
I don't know.
Hey, Karen?
Joe... from the concert.
Hi. What you doing?
We did a job out here the other night, buried a truck.
Sure you did.
Yeah. We had a hot truck.
We chopped it up, put it in these little baggies...
and they sent it off to be buried.
Friday night? Yeah, I saw that.
Some bozo was here barking at everybody.
See you.
What did he want?
He's a friend of Wesley's.
My windshield wipers broke.
You think you could ask Drew to take a look at it?
He's got two cars ahead of you, but I'll ask him.
Thelma, your hair looks different.
I gave my daughter my good wig. Her hair is falling out.
They give her them treatments.
Do you know they're making my daughter die...
next to a colored person?
Come here. Go like that.
There.
I like your hair that color, Thelma.
But this here is my bad wig.
It ain't human hair or nothing.
You and Drew ought to settle down.
Stop people talking about us.
I don't care about that stuff.
- What stuff? - The pot.
Yeah. The pot.
And the kind of sex.
The kind of sex.
Oh, God.
Gilda, how did it go?
We had to go to my mother-in-law's after church.
She served up this casserole...
that she'd been slow cooking for three days.
We've both been up sick all night.
You were supposed to work my shift yesterday!
Karen, they shut down.
Say what?
There was a contamination in our section.
When?
Right after you left.
Karen, I'm not saying this to upset you...
but you ought to know they're saying that you did it.
I did it?
They knew you wanted the weekend off.
Gilda, that is so dumb.
I know.
I hope you enjoyed your weekend, Karen.
Shit!
Monitor yourself on the way out.
Did you hear about this thing?
Why don't we talk about it at lunch?
I hate people talking about me that way.
Then quit and live on your savings.
Somebody contaminated your section.
Why would anybody think I did it?
Whoever did, it wasn't funny.
I brung your plastic, Drew.
Thanks, Zachary.
You could have done it a lot easier than I could've.
Anybody could have done it.
Well, it wasn't me!
Here's Quincy. Here's the head of the union.
Talk to him. The union will get you out of this.
Yeah, sure, OK.
The company has got to blame somebody.. .
otherwise, it's their fault.
What are you looking at, Zachary?
Get lost, OK?
Karen, you ever thought of going into politics?
I am really not interested.
Come on. Try Karen.
Asshole.
No! I'm scared!
I'm scared! I don't want to die. No!
Just stay calm. Come on.
Thelma's cooked.
I said Thelma is cooked.
Shit.
Did they take her down to decon yet?
I think so.
- You can't go in there. - Come on, Earl!
Karen! Get on out of there!
She wants me here.
Oh, God!
This is just to take off the contamination.
I was doing a transfer...
and they must have had a leak in them!
When I went through the check, I was hot!
The exposure that you got...
is under the acceptable body burden.
I'm going to get cancer. I'm going to die.
Now, Thelma.
I know something about this.
So does Earl know something.
What would he know? He's a vet.
That's what he was trained at!
Thelma, you're OK. There is no internal contamination.
There's just a little external contamination...
and we've taken care of the problem.
Oh, my skin.
My skin hurts.
Honey, try not to cry. Salt's going to make it worse.
Hell, you can make money on any kind of place...
as long as it wasn't too far from town.
There aren't that many mechanics who know sports cars.
Where you gonna get the money?
Guess I'll have to sell my body.
I'll give you five bucks for it...
but I'll think of it as a charitable contribution.
That's beautiful.
What are you going to call your place?
Drew's.
That's original.
What's your idea?
Lillian's.
Drew's Car Repair and Live Bait Dealership.
Thought I'd keep a few worms for a sideline.
Drew's Car Repair and Live Bait Dealership.
Rolls right off your tongue.
What is this?
Spaghetti.
Yeah, I can see that.
You wrap this stuff up in aluminum foil.
You don't even know what it is.
It sits in the refrigerator and grows cooties.
One third of the refrigerator is mine.
I can grow cooties if I want to.
When you do, one third of the cooties is mine.
Dolly, look at the floor.
It's just seeds, Karen.
I don't care what it is! I just cleaned up!
See you around the track.
Thelma says she's going to get cancer.
If anybody's going to get cancer around here...
it's going to be me, Dolly Trashbags.
Everything isn't about you.
If anybody around here is going to get cancer...
we're all going to get cancer.
How long have I been at Kerr McGee?
Two years in October.
Thelma only got 24 DPMs.
Is that bad?
It's not super bad.
Are you just waking up to this?
You think we're working with puffed wheat?
I'm just asking a question.
If you're really worried about it, stop smoking.
Come on. Let's go to bed.
Let's go to bed.
You getting bored with it?
Come on.
Didn't you go to bed yet?
I'm sorry I yelled at you last night.
I love you, Karen.
I love you, too.
I don't mean "I love you, too."
I know that's not what you mean.
That's what I mean.
We'd better go.
- What's going on? - Nothing.
I saw Thelma this morning.
Thelma hasn't had her mind on her work...
since her daughter took sick.
It's terrible what they do when they scrub a person.
I've been through it. It ain't so bad.
Did she have just external, or was it internal?
- Just external. - They give her a nasal smear?
That's how they tell about the internal.
No, I don't think so.
Shoot, I knew that! Why didn't I think of that?
They should've given her a nasal smear.
You can't think of everything.
Boy, they didn't even give her a nasal smear!
- Why are you so interested? - Huh?
Why are you so interested all of a sudden?
Karen, I got one for you.
For as long as anyone could remember...
this Indian chief was in charge...
of naming all the children that were born in the tribe.
One day, this brave comes up to him and says...
"Chief, can I ask you something?"
"How do you name these children?"
"How do you think of their names?"
And the chief says, "It's very simple."
"When a child is born..."
"and I see snow gently falling..."
"I say, you shall be called Snow Gently Falling."
"And when a child is born and I see a hawk flying over..."
"I say, you shall be named Hawk Flying Over."
"But tell me, Two Dogs Fucking, why are you so interested?"
That's terrible.
Thelma, did they give you a nasal smear?
You make them give you a nasal smear.
They're supposed to. Make Hurley give you one.
And make him tell you the count!
And make sure he's telling you the truth. ..
because there's a lot of liars around here.
Nice going.
Happy birthday to you.
That's beautiful!
It's got my name on it. Look at that.
- Wait a minute. - Finally, you're twenty-one.
There's your happy birthday hat.
A happy birthday to you.
A present, too? This is too much.
Look at the way they decorated this.
Open it up.
Be careful, Gilda. It's hot.
- Hot? - I didn't see this.
- Oh, look! - Look at that!
Check this out, Georgie.
- Take it off. - Oh, my Lord.
- Panties, too, ma'am. - Put it on, Gilda.
Oh, my Lord, Cultis'd kill me.
I want to know what's under them little bows.
Here's your piece. Goddamn, this cake is just...
It's Gilda's birthday, Mr. Hurley.
Would you like a piece of cake?
Who brought the cake in?
We are three months late on this contract.
The day we deliver the last fuel rod to Hanford...
we'll only be one million dollars in the hole.
The contract isn't going to be renewed...
and none of us will have a job. Even this is taking time.
Clean those crumbs up after your shift.
I get to clean up after you for a change.
Have a good time!
It's like staying after school. I don't know.
- Karen was a bad girl. - Oh, God.
You bring one of these in every week...
and leave it on the shelf just outside the locker room.
We'll monitor them for radiation.
I'm supposed to pee in it at home.
That's right.
My hair feels awful.
I wish I had some of that conditioner around.
I'm going to call my mama, tell her to send some up.
She called me the other day.
She said...
"Karen Gay, I been thinking about your nails."
"How are your nails?"
"You taking care of them? You been biting them?"
I said, "Oh, boy, I'm taking good care of them, Mama."
"Don't cut the cuticles, now, you hear?"
I wish I could take care of you better.
I remember...
in high school her saying to me...
"Now, what'd you want to go and sign up..."
"for that science class for?"
"There's no girls in that science class."
"Why don't you take Home Ec?"
"That's the way to meet the nice boys."
I said, "Mama, there ain't no boys in Home Ec."
"Boys are in the science class."
She hated it when I said "ain't."
Yakety, yakety, yak.
At least he doesn't talk. ..
when he doesn't have something to say.
Who?
My daddy.
Does that hurt?
I can't stay away from you.
You know that.
You can be the biggest bitch God ever made...
and then you turn around on me...
and you're like this, and I want to die.
And the next thing I know...
you decide about me not having socks on...
the day before, and you throw a fit.
It's not that, Drew.
- You know. - I know.
I know what it is.
I know all about you.
You do, don't you?
Poor old Drew.
Haul ass, you guys.
I gotta take my own car. I'm working a double shift.
This says...
This says all that stuff about acceptable levels.. .
it's all bullshit.
What is?
Well, it says here.. .
"Plutonium gives you cancer."
Says it flat out.
Where'd you get that?
It came in all that union stuff from Washington.
You got one. Everybody got one.
Hurley works there.
Think he'd work there if he was going to get cancer?
Listen to this... "genetic damage."
Meaning what?
Meaning it goes on down into your kids.
It says here. ..
"Gross physical and mental defects."
I already got them.
Boy, I missed you.
How many more nights you gotta work?
A couple.
You got transferred.
I what?
Posted it this morning as I was leaving.
You're in metallography.
What?
- Metallography? - That's what it said.
That'll take me three months to requalify for overtime!
Shit! I love that!
Hurley throws a fit how we're late on the contracts.. .
then he transfers me out?
The union going to help me out now?
I'm one of the best people he's got.
I got transferred to metallography.
Metallography, with Winston?
Now...
them little gray pellets you've been making...
are put into those long fuel rods...
and the long fuel rods are packed into bundles...
over at your friend Drew's section.
And after the weld is made, they take a slice out of it...
and they make a cross section.
So, what your job is...
is to mount that cross section over here.
And then you grind it, and you polish it.
And here's where you take a picture of it.
And then you develop it in the darkroom.
Then I inspect the negative for any imperfections in the weld...
and if it's OK, we pass on that lot...
and they get shipped out.
You're familiar with developing procedure?
Yeah. I am.
I got some pictures in here.
They're all backed up, so...
why don't you get to work on them...
and then tomorrow I'll be glad...
to go over the polishing procedure with you.
Great.
What are you doing?
I'm looking at you.
What are you doing to the negative?
Sometimes when you take a picture...
you get these white spots in there...
so we make them go away.
Doesn't somebody have to look at them to make sure they're OK?
Me.
Yeah, but I mean...
- You mean what? - How do you. ..
How do you know if they're just spots?
They could be defects in the weld.
No, no, no. I've already checked the weld.
I'm just putting beauty marks on them.
Winston, get away with that thing.
Thank you.
I just want to bring y'all up to date.
Some of you weren't here last time...
and some of you who were here last time...
aren't here this time, that's for damn sure.
Now, three weeks ago. ..
the company got enough names on this petition...
to hold a decertification election.
I know you all are confused about this.
What this means is...
that the National Labor Relations Board...
will come in here and hold an election...
where everybody votes whether to certify or decertify...
the union's staying on in this plant.
Morgan, did I do that right?
What this means...
is that we are in deep shit.
What this means is, if we lose this election...
there ain't going to be any union at this plant.
Nobody standing up for us against Kerr McGee...
which I read in the newspapers...
is gonna take in $1.5 billion this year.
And which, as you all know...
takes about as much time thinking about our problems...
as grease takes to go through a goose.
We gotta do a lot of work. ..
between now and the election in October.
We lost a lot of members...
since the strike didn't work out last year.
So now I want to know...
who can help me?
They said if you're really worried about it...
you're welcome to get involved.
You could be on the committee.
What committee?
Negotiating committee.
- You? - Yeah.
On the union negotiating committee.
Karen, let me give you a hint.
Don't flash 'em.
It turns you on.
Yeah, but I'm not management.
- I'm as smart as Hurley is. - Just as tactful.
You sound like my mother.
You don't just stand toe to toe with someone...
call him a motherfucker, and get anywhere.
I'll keep it in mind.
Do you...
Do you feel different about me...
since I got cooked?
What do you mean?
You know.
Well...
I still want to fuck you.
I sure as hell don't want to fuck Thelma anymore.
Oh, Jesus.
I'll give you something.
- Where are they? - They're next door.
Oh, God.
Think you made enough noise there, Dolly?
You two ain't exactly a silent movie yourself.
This here is Angela. She's a beautician.
Well, hi there.
Personally, I don't see anything wrong with it.
No. Neither do I.
Guess it figures, doesn't it?
I can handle it.
Me, too.
So why are we talking about it?
What if we wrote them?
What if we wrote the national union. ..
told them what's going on down here?
Maybe they'd help us.
We're not going to win the election by ourselves.
We gotta do something, I think.
Management is putting up these memos now...
saying no union business on our breaks.
That's our own time, Quincy.
Yeah. They think they can get away with anything.
I'll see you in the morning.
Sounds like they're trying to get rid of you.
They're going to get a big fight if they try.
Karen, you ever been downtown?
There are two big streets.
One's called Kerr, and one's called McGee.
And that's how I see it.
They own the state.. .
they own everybody in this state.. .
and they own practically everybody I work on.
What do you think?
What kind of make-up base do you use?
The kind I always use.
I don't mind somebody taking my beers if they replace it.
You're making a big deal out of everything lately.
Everything's going to hell around here.
Meaning you're out of beer?
Meaning you're on the goddamn phone night and day.
Heavy.
What did you do to your face?
Doesn't she look great?
Looks like a fucking corpse.
That's not very nice.
It's not very nice to make fun of what a person does.
If that's what a beautician does, I'll take mine rare.
Drew, Angela works at Thayer's.
Funeral home?
Hell, why didn't you say so?
Drew, I can always tell...
when a dead person I beautify worked for Kerr McGee...
because they all look like they died before they died.
Why don't you lay off her?
Jesus Christ.
I bet there's something to that.
To what?
About people looking like they died before they died.
You know, plutonium and all.
Drew?
Drew, what's your opinion?
It's fine. The other one was fine, too.
They're all fine.
Honey, this is really important.
This is a meeting with the national union...
and the Atomic Energy Commission.
The national union is paying...
for our plane tickets and our hotel room.
He's just jealous.
Is this meeting in Washington state...
or Washington, D.C.?
D.C.
The one you got on is much better.
OK. I will wear this to the AEC.
And what shall I wear on the plane?
Something that won't wrinkle.
Like a shroud, maybe.
I get so tired of your jokes.
Sir, would you mind putting your tray down, please?
Thank you.
Miss, how much is this?
It comes with your ticket.
we're going to union headquarters first...
and you'll meet Max Richter, who runs our Washington office.
Then we'll go over what you're telling the AEC tomorrow.
Is the company going to find out about this?
It's highly unlikely.
Whenever the AEC Inspector comes to the plant...
anybody says anything to him, the company finds out.
Yeah, right. Maybe you could bring that up.
Could we stop over there?
Excuse me. Could we stop? Please?
Yeah. Sure. OK.
Look this way. Straight ahead.
Yeah, that's good. Perfect.
Bobby Beckwith tore a hole in his glove.
Let me see if I can read this here.
I think it says July the 23rd.
Isn't that about right, Morgan?
Yeah. That was right before Karen came back...
and they tried to pin the contamination on her.
The plutonium soaked through his coveralls to his arm.
what the hell is going on out there?
It's National "Something" Day.
Can't breathe.
- What? - Can't breathe.
There's a lot of stuff here about the respirators.
We get these contaminations...
and sometimes we got to wear these masks...
for a week, 10 days, sometimes 12 hours a day.
Are you working 12 hours?
They're late on the contract. Running double shifts.
And they got us working in these respirators...
and I want to tell you, it gets real hot.
And they don't fit.
I mean, mine doesn't fit.
What you people have brought in today is wonderful.
Excuse me. I just wanted to say one thing.
That was the thing about the showers.
There are only two showers for 75 workers per shift.
And it's not really clean.
Everybody wanted me to say something about that.
Right. It's probably best if we stick to the stuff...
that's really connected with the radiation.
What about that contaminated truck?
They cut up this hot truck and buried it.
Right. That was in your letter.
I've got to catch my plane. Paul will take care of you.
The only way we can get enough votes...
to keep the union in your plant.. .
is on the health and safety issue.
So we'll get a couple of hotshot doctors in to speak.
You keep telling Paul all this stuff.
And try to get everything clear...
for the AEC tomorrow, all right?
I'll be back in a second.
Max?
I'm going to go find a restroom.
Excuse me. There's one more thing.
I work in metallography. In X-rays.
And sometimes we...
Quite frankly, we have negatives altered.
The negatives of the welds in the fuel rods.
They take a weld and cross section it.
Then they photograph it, and there's a defect.
Then they just touch it up.
Touch it up?
With a Pentel pen. Right on the negatives.
They fill in the white spots.
You're talking about X-rays of fuel rods?
The fuel rods they're sending up to that...
We're sending up to that breeder reactor...
they're testing in Hanford.
Do you know what that means?
I know they shouldn't do it.
Excuse us.
Why don't we go in there?
In an ordinary nuclear plant...
you can have meltdowns, poisonous gas, and dead people.
That's nothing compared to what can go wrong with a breeder.
You put defective fuel rods in a breeder reactor...
for all we know, the whole state could be wiped out.
Can you get documentation of that?
I guess so.
If you could get documentation, that would be very important.
We'll set you up with a reporter from the "New York Times". ..
get the company up against the wall on negotiations.
But you'd have to have documentation.
I don't know about putting names in the newspaper.
Names aren't the point.
The point is that if you're right...
they could kill off two million people.
There's a moral imperative involved here.
Think about it. Talk to Paul.
You look like a standup girl.
I'll be right there.
I've never seen so many bands in my life.
All right, we're going to go over...
your statements for the AEC meeting.
And later, you and I will go through yours.
There was 23 people there, including us.
Of course, I couldn't take any pictures...
while the meeting was going on.
Just imagine all these old geezers...
sitting there, pitchers of water...
and they all looked so bored.
It's like they had heard it all before.
I think the union's really going to help us now.
That doesn't belong in here at all.
That's one of them slides you can buy.
Oh, hell. May, did you put them in this order?
I didn't touch them, Quincy.
There's the Lincoln Memorial, of course.
That's where we stayed.
I couldn't get it all in the picture.
You could get dinner in your room if you wanted...
but we didn't.
I had one of the waiters take this one.
Who's that guy?
That's Paul Stone. He works for the union.
This is on the way to the airport.
And that's the White House.
I wanted to take a picture of Ol' Gerry Ford...
cooking his English muffin, but they wouldn't let us in.
How many people know about you going to Washington?
Only the people in that room.
Quincy and Morgan know about your spying?
No.
People are going to lose jobs, Karen.
Some of them ought to.
There's a moral imperative here.
You going to put some big story in the papers?
In the "New York Times."
Guess that about ties the package up with a bow.
What's the matter with him?
Some guy in Washington I should have told him about.
- Is that all? - No.
What you doing?
Thinking.
Thinking. Drinking.
I was just thinking...
if you'd ever quit and come away with me.
Well, I can't quit now.
That's what I was thinking.
It's cold out here.
Come on inside.
I quit.
You what?
This afternoon. Gave my notice.
- You quit? - That's what I said.
This afternoon?
Why didn't you tell me?
I don't know. I just didn't tell you.
why'd you quit?
I just don't give a shit.
You don't give a shit if everybody in the plant...
is being poisoned?
Don't give me a problem I can't solve.
Did you take the waylon Jennings tapes?
I left them for you.
They're yours. You can take them.
You can keep them, Karen.
Take it easy, Dolly.
Drew, come on. Stay.
Sweetheart, it's like you're two people.
I'm in love with one of them...
but the other one's...
Just a general pain in the ass.
I loved it, baby.
What are you doing in there?
What are you doing in my desk?
If I tell you, you'll promise not to tell anybody?
I keep my pills in there, in that drawer...
because I have an allergy...
and they don't let you bring medication into the plant...
so I hid them in there.
I don't believe you.
I think you should take a person's word for something.
These don't look like antihistamines to me.
Winston, you know what these are?
These are little tiny time capsules. ..
like the ones you see on TV.
They clear up your nasal passages...
for up to 12 hours straight.
- Excuse me. - God bless you.
In the coal mines years ago...
they used to put canaries in the tunnels.
If the canaries dropped dead...
they knew there was a gas leak.
But it's a brand-new industry...
so you're the canaries.
The trouble is, you're not going to drop dead right away.
It might take ten years. Twenty. We don't know.
Here's what we know... Plutonium causes cancer.
Anybody tells you we don't know...
how much plutonium causes cancer, they're lying.
What we don't know...
is how little plutonium causes cancer.
The government says.. .
that the maximum permissible body burden.. .
for your lifetime is 40 nanocuries.
Let me tell you how much that is.
That is a tiny dot on a piece of paper.
we say that's too much.
We say that it takes less than that to kill you.
We don't say it's twice too much...
or three times too much.
We think that that is 115,000 times too much.
A pollen-sized grain of plutonium.. .
injected in mice causes cancer.
When you inhale it, and it lodges in your lungs...
you're married to cancer.
We've been through all the training literature.. .
Kerr McGee hands out to new employees...
and there's nothing about cancer.
Did management give you any literature about cancer?
Then you get contaminated, and they tell you...
you've had an acceptable level of contamination.
I say there's no such thing.
There must be some questions.
Is there any way to get the plutonium out of you...
if it's inside your lungs?
You can take the lung out, but that's a little extreme.
You want to get something to eat?
Very nice meeting you.
Have a good night.
That was great.
The union is really in solid.
we don't have to worry about...
How come why didn't we hear any of this before?
And we didn't see any of you guys...
until they decided to vote the union out or not?
If you're so worried about us...
where the hell were you in the beginning?
What we're saying is you need someone...
looking out for your health and safety.
The company says they're taking care of you.
Do you believe that?
- Yeah. I believe that. - You do?
You're the only guy in that room that still does.
Let me tell you something else.
Doesn't matter if you work on plutonium or dog food...
because they won't give you a thing.
There's nowhere left to go. You start causing problems...
and Kerr McGee shuts that plant down, then what?
You're up in Washington, D.C.
We're down here out of work.
Your cancer is a maybe. That's all it is.
- He's just scared. - Yeah.
The meeting was really good.
Yeah, look... I got an early plane, Karen.
Meaning what?
I don't think this is smart, us getting involved.
We already got involved.
Hi. This is Paul Stone.
I'm out right now...
but if you leave a message after the beep...
I'll get back to you.
Hi, this is Karen.
I just wanted to let you know...
that we won the union election 80 to 61...
and I'm real happy.
It's real hard to keep calling you...
from a pay phone if you're never there...
so that's why I'm calling you from here.
I have some things that...
I really need to talk to you about...
and I just wish that I could talk to you.
Been under a lot of pressure here, boy.
It's great we won and everything.. .
but just.. .
Been under really a lot of pressure, and...
I don't know. I feel like I'm...
All alone.
Guess you didn't hear that last part.
Come on!
Do you want coffee?
I went to make popcorn last night.. .
and there's no Wesson oil.
So, go get some.
I'm not in charge of the Wesson oil...
I'm not in charge of the shopping.
I can't do it every time.
I can't do it this afternoon. I got a union meeting.
If you're talking like that...
to impress that outside agitator of yours...
he ain't here, so cut the shit.
We can't do the shopping unless you give us your key.
what happened to your key?
If we knew that, we wouldn't need yours.
- I lost it. - You lost it.
Leave it under the step.
What if somebody rapes me because you lost your key?
Who's going to rape you that you ain't already fucked?
- Hiya, Thelma. - Hi, honey.
- How are you doing? - Pretty good.
I was trying to get blood for my daughter.. .
and Hurley said asking people at the plant. ..
is against union rules.
Oh, yeah? He said that?
The workers in this plant...
have certified us as their representatives...
so we should get started on some real negotiations.
I talked to the lawyer last week downtown.
He said he'd get back to me on Monday.
You said that last week.
He hasn't gotten back to me yet.
Excuse me.
Mr. Hurley, did you tell an employee in wet processing...
that it was against union rules to give blood?
I don't recall saying that, no.
Good. Because I just called the bloodmobile...
and they can come over on Tuesday.
No, don't wake them up.
Just...
Tell them I called again.
And...
Tell them Mama's OK...
and I love them...
and I miss them...
and I'll come see them as soon as I can.
Yeah, I know. I'm not always here...
but we're working double shifts.
But Dolly can always take a message.
OK.
Thank you.
What's the matter?
Nothing.
I miss Drew.
Call him up.
Angela went back to her husband.
Gee, Dolly, I'm sorry.
You OK?
You could have thought of that this morning...
before your nineteenth nervous breakdown.
Don't you lay this off on me.
Anybody else would have thrown Angela out day one.
When Drew was here, you weren't like this.
You think Angela left on account of me?
Let me tell you something, girl.
Drew left on account of you and Angela.
If you believe that, you're crazier than people say.
You took about as good care of Drew...
as you took of your kids.
I know that you took good care of your kids.
You know...
the only thing everybody says I'm crazy about...
is to live with you.
You mean with a dyke?
I mean with a person who thinks she's in love...
with a person who puts lipstick on stiffs...
and smells like formaldehyde.
She didn't smell like formaldehyde.
She did so.
And I'm so tired of her jokes.
You know, maybe...
maybe Drew is right.
Maybe we should just quit...
get out of here.
Move someplace where it's clean.
You and me?
Jesus, Dolly.
Well...
Hush-a-bye.
Don't you cry.
Go to sleep, you little baby.
When you wake.
You shall have.
All the pretty little horses.
- I don't want it. - Eat something, Karen.
I'm not hungry.
That's just like Curtis. When he works late...
he don't get enough sleep and loses his appetite.
I've been blending up these shakes...
with bananas and chocolate syrup...
and making him drink them on the way to work.
Curtis is out working late?
- Out partying at the Red Dog. - Come on, Wesley.
He's been up four nights in a row flushing out pipes.
They come up short again.
They come up short on plutonium?
He's telling you he's working late...
but he's seeing a hot little number from Edmond.
Don't forget the banana...
and you can put in an egg if you want to.
They say they were missing more than a kilo?
I'll see you later.
Why are you writing it down?
The union is supposed to keep track of these things.
Am I right? OK. So?
You won your election.
We are still negotiating a contract here.
Well...
Why don't you concentrate on upping our wages...
and skip over what is none of our business?
This is our business, honey.
Karen, I like my job!
And I found out that this 18-year-old kid...
had been underneath uncapping the drain...
and a cup of the solution dumped right down on him.
Right on his head.
So they shaved his head...
and now the stubble is growing in hot.
Jesus, that's terrible.
Are you getting the stuff together?
Maintenance people are exposed to more hot stuff than anybody.
Look, Karen, the X-rays are really important.
We're going into the contract negotiations...
and we want to get the guy from the "Times" down there..."
in mid-November. That's three weeks.
I know, I know. I'm getting the stuff.
It's just not that easy.
"Morgan!"
- You scared me. - Meant to.
I'm doing something good.
I know what you're doing...
and you're the wrong person to be doing it.
And it's dangerous. That's all I'm saying.
Thank you, Curtis. It's good to know.
Gilda says Karen is going to get...
one of those Sherlock Holmes hats.
Then she'll find everything that's missing in the plant.
Winston, seen my clipboard?
No.
Why don't you speak to the union. ..
about how you're late for work all the time?
Late from your break.
Supposed to be in here ten minutes ago...
instead of wherever you were.
Tell them that next time you go to Washington.
Stopped in to say hi to y'all.
God, I don't know hardly any of you people.
Gilda, you have any time?
Maybe I could talk to you on your break?
I can't, Karen.
Just for a couple minutes?
Maybe next week.
You monitoring yourself, Karen?
Yes, Georgie!
I hope you write it down...
in your little notebook every time you don't!
Along with the stuff about the rest of us!
Oh, no! No! Damn it!
They haven't found a hole in the glove...
but they're still checking.
It's a very slight external contamination.
An acceptable level.
And you're clean now.
Been bringing your samples in?
Every week.
Start bringing them in on a daily basis.
You can pick up your kits on the way out of the plant.
Boy, I'll be happy the day I don't have to pee in a jar.
Are you all right?
Yeah. I'm all right.
Would you call somebody for me?
Yeah, sure.
Look! Drew! My God, you're back!
I missed you so much! Look at your little face!
Dolly, stop!
Jesus, I'm late.
Look at your little body!
Is she OK?
Shit!
I spilled my urine sample.
Her and that union monkey got nothing going anymore.
It's strictly business. Are you moving back in?
I got a place of my own, Dolly.
You two can come stay with me anytime you want.
Bologna and cheese.
Jesus!
If you're back, I'm really glad you're back.
Good morning.
Hi, Karen. How you doing?
I'm in the pink.
Oh, God!
Don't!
No! Stop it!
Stop it! Stop it!
Earl, what's going on?
Dolly, this won't take long...
but I don't want you getting in our way.
Who the hell are these people?
This is my house! Tell me what's going.. .
One package of S.O.S.
One box of S.O.S.
One bottle of Spray 'n Wipe.
One pack of Rice-a-roni.
One package Rice-a-roni.
Three framed photographs.
Don't take those!
These are my kids' pictures.
Earl, don't let them take my babies' pictures.
If you're going to watch, you have to stand back now.
Mr. Hurley, they're taking everything.
Listen to me.
We're getting readings from the sink, the toilet seat...
from the make-up you touched...
from the bologna and cheese in the refrigerator...
from your samples...
and we're getting next to nothing on Drew and Dolly...
and your car is absolutely clean.
How do you explain that?
- I don't know. - Think about it, Karen.
- I have to go. - Where you going?
- I have to go with him. - No!
I'll be OK. I have it under control.
- Don't go anywhere with him. - It's all right.
I'm coming! Keep your goddamn hands off!
It's all right.
Come on, Karen. Concentrate.
How did that plutonium get in my house?
Did you put it there?
Did I what? Are you crazy?
You think I put...
You think I'd contaminate myself?
I think you'd do anything to hurt this company.
- Then I spilled it. - What?
I spilled my urine sample container.
Somebody must have put plutonium in my container.
And then I spilled it on my bathroom floor.
I cleaned it all up and my hands must have got hot.
And then what did I touch?
OK, I touched my sink...
I touched my make-up...
and I forget what stuff in the refrigerator.
That's it. See?
Somebody spiked my urine sample container.
- Who? - Boy!
How do I know who? Anybody could have done it.
You leave it sitting there by the punch-in at the plant!
Anybody could've dropped a little plutonium in there.
There's a lot of people at the plant hate me.
The whole house is hot. How did it get hot?
I spilled it! I told you, man!
That doesn't explain the readings. ..
we're getting on your nasal smear.
45,000 DPM.
What?
45,000 DPM.
Oh, my Jesus.
I'm internally contaminated. That's what you mean.
We don't know what it means.
- That's what you mean! - Karen, calm down.
Karen, listen.
Get out of my way!
Oh, Jesus! Where am I going to go now?
I don't have anyplace to go now.
We're getting a room for Dolly. we want to help you.
We can help you with a place to stay.
We can help you with money.
But first I have to sign something, right?
You want me to sign a statement saying I did all this.
Just in your own words what happened.
OK.
In my own words?
I'm contaminated.
I'm dying.
What are you doing here?
I'm just looking around, like you.
You're here.
Jesus Christ. I didn't know where you were.
What the hell happened?
They're killing me.
They're trying to kill me.
They want me to stop what I'm doing.
They contaminated me, you know that?
I'm internally contaminated now.
Now, you listen to me.
We're going to go to Los Alamos on Thursday...
and we'll get a full body count from some doctors...
who know what they're doing. All three of us.
Oh, God! I'm so scared now.
It says here that there's plutonium missing...
from just about every nuclear plant in this country.
- who's got it? - Any asshole that wants it.
Man.
That's the guy, Drew.
The guy Paul is bringing to see me.
Who?
The guy that wrote it, from the "New York Times."
if you're going to be in the newspaper...
I want to be in there, too.
Dolly, did you...
Did you tell the company about the "New York Times"?
No. I don't think I remembered that part.
Did you tell them about the X-rays?
- Dolly? - No.
Are you sure?
Karen, they know everything about us.
They don't know about the X-rays, do they?
OK. That's it.
All right, Mr. Stephens and Miss Pelliker.. .
you both check out well below permissible body limits.
You were exposed to Miss Silkwood and the house...
but you show minimum detectable activity now.
Miss Silkwood.
We have detected americium in both lungs...
and both sides of your chest.
Americium is produced when plutonium disintegrates.
And extrapolating from your americium level.. .
we estimate you have an internal contamination...
of six nanocuries of plutonium.
The maximum permissible body burden...
for occupational exposure is 40 nanocuries.
As you can see, you are well under that level.
- I'm under it. - As well as we can determine.
These are very sophisticated instruments...
but their accuracy may be off.. .
by plus or minus 300% at this level.
Plus or minus 300%?
That's correct.
Then what you're saying is...
that the amount of plutonium inside me...
could be three times less than you even think?
Or three times greater.
But even that would be under the maximum body burden.
I think you should come on down to Oklahoma City...
and bring that reporter from the "New York Times."
Are you ready to see him?
I'm ready.
You got the documents?
Come on down.
Man, I love it here. I love this country.
Wouldn't you like to stay here forever?
Doctors are all goddamn liars.
Land's cheap there.
I read about this.
You can build yourself a pueblo house.
Make it out of adobe brick, like the Indians.
Mud, straw... Comes right out of the ground.
Got to build a well, but that's not too bad.
You get a bunch of guys to do you a favor.
You do them a favor.
It's all barter system out there.
You can make the rooms any shape.
You can make 'em round.
It's not a right-angle kind of life.
Yeah.
Have room for your kids.
Yeah.
Hell, we could have kids of our own.
We love each other.
Why not?
They wouldn't...
They wouldn't come out right.
Hell, I didn't come out right.
You came out OK.
What is it?
Come on.
Come on. I don't care.
I know.
You aren't going to contaminate me...
any more than I've already been.
I'm sorry. I forgot to turn off the alarm.
I thought you weren't going in.
Well. .. I have to.
Call in sick.
No, I really do.
I really mean you ought to call in sick.
Think they'll let you work?
There's something I got to get.
At the plant? Are you wearing my shirt?
Huh? My shirt!
You don't have to get up now.
Sweetheart, don't get anything out of the plant.
If I get hung up at the union meeting...
will you pick up Paul Stone and the guy...
from the "New York Times" at the airport?
Fuck no.
Come on, darling.
I don't know how late this meeting will go tonight.
I don't want you doing that.
Well... I'm doing it.
You don't owe the union anything.
Let's not fight.
You don't owe the "New York Times" anything.
Let's not have a fight now.
OK?
OK.
We can always have a fight later.
Hey, Drew!
Amazing grace.
How sweet the sound.
That saved a wretch...
- Give me your notes. - OK.
Listen, you sure you're OK?
I'm OK.
- Bye-bye! - Bye.
Once was lost.
But now I'm found.
Was blind.
But now I see.
'Twas grace that taught.
My heart to fear.
And grace my fears released.
How precious did that grace appear.
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares.
we have already come.
'Twas grace that brought us safe thus far.
And grace will lead us home.
When we've been there ten thousand years.
Bright-shining as the sun.
We've no less days.
To sing God's praise.
As when we first begun.
Amazing grace.
How sweet the sound.
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost.
But now I'm found.
was bound, but now I'm free