Welcome everybody to another episode of the nonprofit show. We're so excited you're here. I'm really excited you're here to be with Emily Taylor. She's gonna talk to us about something that can be very controversial and why it is I don't know. And so this is what she's gonna help us with. And that is strategic planning pitfalls. And let's give you a little hint. It's like maybe you shouldn't just jump in, right? So we need to kind of talk about what this looks like. And Emily, the principle of teeny big is gonna help us today. And we are so excited that Emily, you could join us. We know that from our conversation, you're coming to us from Chicago. Again, I'm Julia Patrick. I'm coming to you from the Southwest. Jared Ransom, believe it or not, the nonprofit nerd herself, she's conducting a strategic planning seminar today for a client. So I mean, this is just such an interesting confluence of what goes on. Things like that happen all the time at the nonprofit show. And we are so blessed to have these amazing sponsoring partners with us. Bloomerang, American nonprofit academy, nonprofit thought leaders, staff and boutique, your part time controller, 180 management group, fundraising academy at national university, JMT consulting, nonprofit nerd and nonprofit tech talk. If you've missed any of the 950 plus episodes, you can find us on our sexy new app. You can get a streaming broadcast or you can listen to us on podcast. Kevin Pace, our stellar producer, just informed me this morning before we went live that we just hit our 500th, say that fast three times, Emily, 500th podcast download. So it's really- Really a cool thing, excuse me, not download, but podcast being positioned up. We didn't start with podcasts. We've always been a broadcast and so this is kind of a cool thing. Okay, Emily Taylor, enough about us. You are in the hot seat, my friend. Coming to us from a snowy blustery day in Chicago, talk to us about Teenie Big and what your work is. So at Teenie Big, I focus on strategic listing and it's really to help organizations that are stuck in making decisions, stuck in moving forward to really hit that, keep going and moving forward on their growth trajectory instead of really just stalling out and losing sight of where they're going because they've sort of put on a lot of challenges. So I help organizations get clarity and a lot of that is through listening to their community. Wow. I gotta believe that you deal with a lot of frustration, folks that are like that wanna do well, they wanna do good and they wanna do well and good at the same time, but they get frustrated and they need kind of a help and a roadmap. Yeah, I like to call it a reset. And this, a lot of times comes from you know, nonprofit leaders and staff are so good at what they do, but often they can get themselves into a bit of a bubble. And so when, it happens to the best of us that really become expert at what we do, we can lose sight of what's around us. And so that's really where I love to help, is help get people out of that bubble but also do it strategically. We don't need too many cooks in the kitchen, but we need, sometimes need a reset to really understand our value and who we are as an organization. So I love that and I love the spirit of it and I've gotta be really candid with you. I don't hear that very often, right? I mean, it doesn't seem like that's an approach that is out there very often, sadly.  And I wanna start by asking you this very first question and that is, why take a step back from strategic planning? Is this like a don't do it or is it just like a 60 day thing or a year or what does this look like to you in the bubble of strategic planning? Yeah, so I'm really talking to those organizations that feel a little lost. COVID threw a lot of people for a spin. Organizations hired a ton of people. They got different sources of funding programs around them. Other partners they may have become different people. Funders, just the everyday people around them have become different. And so even though we're coming out of a pandemic, I think just really being able to stop and take a moment to say, hey, it's not just one thing that's different. There's like all sorts of things that are different. And so if we jump into a strategic plan right now, can we go through it in a really intentional way? So I really recommend to organizations that feel a little bit in turmoil, that feel like they might have lost a little bit of track of who they are, really take a step back because if you're not going in with at least a little bit of alignment, a little bit of idea of what that future might hold, you might not be able to really work cohesively and make those big decisions that you need to in a strategic plan. And I also will say that maybe a strategic plan isn't the right next step. If a lot of things in spin, there's a lot of different options of next steps. So I always have to be a strategic plan. Okay, so when you're talking, I love again the spirit with which you're looking at this and trying to be not so just task oriented, but really thoughtful and looking at things in a deeper way. Let me ask you a follow up question because I feel like there's one approach and one silo with the staff and the team, and then yet another one with the board. So often we see, and you've got to be at the front of this line, you see a board that comes up with a strategic plan that really cannot be enacted by the staff or the team. That there's, it hasn't come together holistically by everyone. So do you see this more so with the board versus the staff or do you see it going both directions? Well, again, we're talking about pre-strategic planning. So before really getting into those things, but yeah, if an organization has grown a lot over the last three years, there's staff that have worked there for 20 years and staff that have worked there for one year. They're not, they don't see the organization in the same way and same with the board. So really hoping people get aligned on who the organization really is and what it values and how it makes decisions can help unify people and set them up for success as they do go about making those decisions. And you'll see this in conflicts of staff feeling different ways about what the organization is and what it should be, boards bringing in their different ideas. And that's really where you get into this, I called decision making quicksand and sort of like you are, no one can really move forward, things get pushed off to the next meeting, but at the same time, you're not making them and you're slowly sinking into the consequences, the loss of time and money of impact that you might be facing by not making those decisions. Oh man, I love that description because I have been there, I see it. It's an awful feeling and yet you have the pressure of your community bearing down on you to solve a problem, to be doing the business of what you were formed to do, whatever that may be. It's a super tough thing. Let's talk about and have you explained to this something about the value of a pause. This is a really interesting thing because in the beginning of the pandemic, so many people were like, we're gonna pause, we're gonna pump the brakes. And now everybody's like, bad decision, move forward, get going. It just seems like everything's escalated and the pressure is bearing down on us. So how do we know what the value of a pause is and when to take it? Sure, so I think having some of those things, like not being able to talk about your organization in a similar way or everyone's talking about it differently, maybe not being fully staffed, maybe there's some big changes coming up like program changes or leadership changes. A lot of those things could create that turmoil. And the value of taking a pause is to give back that confidence in knowing who you are, how you sit in your community and how you make decisions. And not just the executive director knowing this, like really having a lot of the leadership be aligned as well as knowing that your community, where your community supports you, maybe where your actions are actually meeting their perception, your intentions are being perceived in the way that you think. So those are some of things. And it just reminds me of a client that I've been helping over the last year where they doubled their staff over the pandemic. They were doing some amazing work as they were getting grant funded for it. But they also took on a bunch of projects that maybe weren't always in their scope because the need was there. And so they felt a little lost in 2022, 2023. And so, and the other big thing was their executive director had been talking about retiring for 10 years. Luckily for them, he was still there, but it was the situation where they hadn't done a strategic plan in probably 20 years. They knew they needed to change, but they didn't really have this path forward. And so their number two actually reached out to me, which happens a lot because they could kind of see, right, we could see this bubble sometimes a little earlier. And so as we were talking about some of their layers of challenges, I just asked her, I'm like, well, what if he doesn't retire for another three years?  I was just like, she hadn't even thought that that could happen, but it already had happened. He'd been talking about retiring forever. So she could see that decision quicksand of it maybe subconsciously, but by bringing that to the surface, it would just really started to put forth like, okay, we need to work on these steps. That's really your next step. And so we've been meeting over the last year and they actually just hired a search firm. So I'm really super excited for them and their future. So two questions come to mind. One of them, like sometimes you could say, a pause is like a long weekend, right? Or a pause is a fiscal year or a season. What are you seeing when it comes to actually embracing the concept of pausing this looming issue of strategic plan? Yeah, well, and I, so in this case, this example I gave, we worked together for about four months and then I helped support them ongoing throughout the year, but we really were able to like build that identity and decision-making, understanding it through the whole organization in the shorter time period, but it really takes this ongoing sticking with it, accountability to be able to really start implementing those changes. So in this case, the goals were to start working through some of their priorities versus doing a strategic plan. And they had a lot of those, I call them the chicken and egg challenges, doing a strategic plan and then hire an executive director. Do we hire an executive director in that strategic plan? Right. And so, and some of those things can really cause, be the cause of that decision-making quicksand because no one knows. And so it goes to the next meeting and at the next meeting. And so we just decided to work through their priorities versus do a strategic plan. And so that's really part of that step back is to not just pause and then go about what you were gonna do anyways, it's to really go and think of like, is this, what is the right next step? Is it doing a strategic plan ourselves? Is it hiring some of the amazing strategic planners that are out there that come in all different, scopes and sizes? Or is it something totally different where you really just need to test some things out, you need to hire new leadership, you need to do a reorg, like just doing what you need to do versus what you feel like you should do. Yeah, it seems to me like that you're talking about a lot of heavy lifting that can become quickly emotional and frightening because people are thinking about, who's gonna be here, who's not, the health of the organization. Does this mean that it's easier if you do have that outside voice that can bring truth to power? Or should it be more, is it something that a group can do on their own? I love that you brought that up because I do think, one, there is so much emotion and if we ignore that emotion, that's part of why people aren't moving forward. They're afraid to make that decision or they're not sure if they get canceled or there's something, like with an executive director leaving so much emotion there, both the staff not even be able to envision an organization without that leader, to the leader be like, I can't envision a life without leading this organization. Right, right. So part of it is to acknowledge the emotion and what I find is by listening to your community, again, it's not to get all the cooks in the kitchen and get some sort of consensus on what you should be doing, but by hearing from your community what, for instance, your magic is to hear stories about what they think you do best, it really helps align everybody and see past some of those fears, for instance, like being able to envision the organization without the current leader. When you hear from 15 different people in all different aspects of your community, they think your organization is XYZ, that's your organization, that's not the leader, and so you can start to envision how you move forward and what that future might be because it's not so intertwined. Okay, so when you're talking about this, what, and you're doing a review or an interview of your community, what is that looking like? What numbers are you saying, we've got to interview 100 people, 20 people, 1,000, what does that look like to you? My work is all customized by what the organization needs. So sometimes it's a mix, if we need to hear from a lot of people in the survey, if it's sort of similar groups of people, we can do focus groups, but need to hear from specific people, interviews can really get to some of those in deeper questions about why and those stories that you don't always get to hear in the other formats. But yeah, it's really about hearing from a range of people and looking for patterns that can, and translating them not into just like, here's a bunch of opinions, but into what can help you prioritize and make decisions for your organization. And not just get mixed up by all the voices. Right, so Emily, I've got to ask this question. When you do this, how often, when you give this information back to an organization, how often does it misalign or align with what they think is going on? I mean, I got to believe that in some cases, it's a tough thing to reveal, right? Maybe somebody, maybe a group doesn't have a great reputation or maybe the community thinks that they actually do something different than what they think they're doing. I mean, how does all that alignment take place? Yeah, well, a lot of times it's not this huge misalignment. Okay, good. So I think organizations, even if they're a little self-conscious about certain things or maybe have been feeling the effects of misalignment, that most often, their partners, their funders, their staff, their clients really appreciate and love what they do. And so I kind of liken it more to, it's usually not like a whole new path is revealed as you talk to people, but what you do find are all these little pebbles rather than moving a big rock. We're finding little pebbles along those relationships. And so by able to pick those out and say, these certain situations aren't making me feel welcome or I have no idea what's going on in this part of your organization, it really, doing this work helps clear those pebbles so that you're not tripping over them and you're really able to focus on your work. Just as another example, I worked with an organization that had a amazing founder who really grew the organization a ton and was getting a lot of attention, but their number two was welcoming to me because they felt like something was affecting the relationships and by doing this work, we were able to realize that partners and people outside the organization really only felt like the CEO was the only person they could trust to make the decisions, not that they didn't trust the rest of the staff, but they just felt like, oh, if we make a decision, it's just gonna get overridden by the CEO. And so the CEO didn't see this, but as we brought this up, the directors were like, oh, yeah, I've been having this problem, this problem, this problem, and it's all cause now I can see it's cause they don't, they don't trust that our conversation is the final conversation. And so that is an area that was maybe a little bigger than a pebble, but an area where they could start to really address how do they give power to the rest of their leadership so that they can do their best work. Right, you know, it's so interesting because a lot of times within strategic planning, we identify who's going to lead whatever that action is, how it's gonna be reported out. And so we don't have some of these things defined and structured, the strategic plan becomes a whole mess. I can see how that ecosystem of performance and decision making factors in a way that it's really powerful, but not always identifiable. I wonder before we let you go, and I have so many more questions, it seems to me that a lot of funders, board members, stakeholders, they kind of demand a strategic plan, whether they know if it's good or it's bad or it's accurate or it's being worked, whatever is not the question. It's almost like they want that book, that might just be sitting on a shelf, right? Sit on the shelf, yeah. It's on the shelf and until you bring it out before the next strategic plan, and you're like, oh yeah, we forgot about that. We didn't do this, we didn't do that. How do you communicate to your stakeholders in the community that you're in this process, that maybe you're not gonna just do a strategic plan like everyone else, or you're gonna look at it differently? What does that look like? Yeah, I find a lot of people feeling like they should do a strategic plan. And a lot of times that is coming from funders or board members who know that's what nonprofits do. But I would say if your intuition is saying, yeah, this just doesn't feel right, it's probably onto something because just, should doing a strategic plan really isn't a great reason for it? And so the question I always ask is what are those funders really looking for? And what I typically find is that you have funders, they want to know that you're thinking ahead, that you're not just focused on the now, that you have not only a vision statement, but a vision and have processes to get there.  It could be a spreadsheet. It could be a series of pictures that are your inspire you, but also talk about your plan for the future and allow you to share it with people who don't wanna read a big book. So once we start to think through that, and that's usually part of my process is really, and grounding and like, well, now that we know the challenges and know what you wanna prioritize, what's the best tool for you to move forward? Because it could be a strategic plan in various formats, but it could be something else. You might have a team of visual thinkers and they really need something different than, 12 pages of words, but that might be your thing. So I think I like to take words and really pull them apart. Like, what are we really talking about? And that starts to answer that question of what you need to do. You know, Emily, this has been such an amazing conversation and it's really an important conversation, especially this time of the year as we're looking forward. A lot of changes are occurring right now in the nonprofit sector and across all society, but it's just for our sector, it's such an important time to be thinking about this. Before I let you go, can you give us an idea and not just your company, but what we should be looking at when we go out to find somebody that can facilitate this? What would that budget range look like? The budget range could be huge. So I'm not quite even sure how to put a number to it, but I think really going back into finding what you need because you can do strategic planning on your own and you can hire people into the tens of thousands of dollars, but in a pre-strategic plan, you really need the time to be thoughtful and reflective so that you can find the right answer. And I know, I think we're talking, I do have a resource that people can also grab as well that will help them think through, do they need to take that stuff back or not? Awesome, and they can find Emily Taylor, Principal of Teeny Big, go to teeny, T-E-E-N-Y-B-I-G, teenybig.com and check out her website. And that's where you can find those resources and that information. Oh, if you're able to include the link, we can add it to this, but yeah, I don't think I have it on there at the moment, but people can certainly reach out to me and I can get it to them. Awesome, very, very good. Well, Emily, it's been great to have this conversation with you. I like a lot of what you said, it's stuff that I haven't heard before. I do think that across the sector, 1.8 million nonprofits registered in this country, they all feel like they gotta have this strategic plan and why or how they use it is a whole nother story. Unfortunately, it seems like we just rushed to get this done, like it's a pro forma issue. And so I appreciate you helping us understand how we can step back and maybe look at the strategic plan in a different way. I also wanna add that I noticed even like with the different accounting companies and finance companies that we work with or that come on the show, we learn this from your part-time controller. I mean, they're working more and more with DataViz. I mean, understanding that they can't just be communicating in the same old, same old, that they have to embrace different ways of sharing information. So what you said was fascinating to me because I think that's where a lot of us are kind of trying to navigate towards. And so it'll be really interesting to start to hear more and more about that. Very, very important. Very, very cool. Totally. Yeah. Well, Emily, we, again, so appreciate you coming with us and being with us today. Again, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. Jared Ransom, the nonprofit nerd, honest to goodness is conducting a strategic planning seminar today. And we couldn't have scheduled this. It was just like a crazy thing, but that's how it happened. So anyway, she'll be back with us shortly. Again, we have so many amazing folks that partner with us and they include Bloomerang, the American Nonprofit Academy, nonprofit thought leader, staffing boutique, your part-time controller, 180 management group, fundraising academy at National University, JMT consulting, nonprofit nerd and nonprofit tech talk. They've joined us along with Emily Taylor today to get into some of the weeds on some of these things so that you can achieve your mission, vision and values. And we are super grateful for that. Okay, my new friend, you've given me a lot to think about today and that's always a great thing. So thank you. But it was great to talk to you, Julia. A lot of fun. And I think that we need to have you back on as we start to rethink this whole drama. And I'm gonna call it out of the drama and nonprofit strategic planning. Not too many- For sure. Yeah, not too many people show up and say, whoa, I can't wait to do that, right? It's usually just like a uh. And so I love- Yeah, let's make it less and more purposeful, intentional and helpful. Yeah, and really a tool to your point and that it becomes helpful and it gives us a roadmap that we can use. Well, Emily, every day we end the nonprofit show with this monitor and I will share it with you, our viewers and of course our listeners. And that is to stay well so that you can do well. We hope that you have a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow.


in all of my flipped classes. Actually, when I first started flipping for a year, I did not use clickers. And the class activities were rather weak, shall we say. And I relied on students to ask questions. And my attendance was not phenomenal. And then I was like, dude, something's got to shift. This isn't cool. So then I started using clickers and have been for the last since, what would that be, 2013? I've been using clickers. Clickers, my children love them. They're like little remote controls. When they get to come to one of my classes, the first thing they ask is, can I have a clicker? And then they love clickering in the wrong answers to the questions. The punks, what's up with that? So I use the turning tech clickers. I don't know how long that's going to last. But part of me wishes that I wasn't doing it that way. They're kind of expensive in the bookstore. I do have some to borrow. So if you're interested in borrowing one, give me a hala-hala. And I'll put you on the list, first come, first served. You do have to give me a deposit at $25 so that I can keep them up, replace batteries, and make sure that if you disappear, that I'm not out a clicker, which has happened too many times. You give me a deposit at $25. I will give you back a $20 bill at the end of the semester when you return your clicker to me. So really, you're renting the clicker for me for $5, which is a stealing, phenomenal deal. Okay, there's something else that I wanted to tell you about clickers, and it was, oh, this is how they work. They're so fun. So in class, what I'll do, in addition to other things, like I often do things that are not clicker-based, you will earn points for being class and answering clicker questions that are spread throughout the entire day's work. So you would get a question like this. They're usually multiple choice, and you would click in your response, like everybody knows that there is no simple cuboidal epithelium in bone organs, and so then you would proceed to click in C as your answer. And then I get to click Space, and up comes the distribution of our answers. Now, I don't know what's the matter with you guys out there, because we had equal numbers of people getting all the wrong answers. Just kidding. And then what happens is that the correct answer comes up. If we ended up with something like this, I probably would have you fight about it in class, find somebody who voted differently, and then try to convince them that your answer is correct. We would repoll it. We'd see if we fixed the problem. If we didn't fix the problem, clearly, there is a misconception out there that must be dealt with. We try to figure out what the problem is and make it so that in the end, everybody knows that this kind of tissue you wouldn't expect to find in a bone organ. Yeah, that's it. That's all. That's 5% of your grade that you get for coming to class and being conscious and participating. So it's a little bit of motivation, a little bit of reward for doing something that you should be doing anyway, right? Okay, let's talk about the external brain, which is another thing that I do in all of my classes.


how to identify predatory journals. Number one is the publication fee. It may not be too high so that they can slowly collect money from the authors. Second one is the scope of the journal. Usually these journals will have wide, multiple and unrelated subjects as their scope of journal. There will not be any verifiable address or phone number. When we look at the quality of the publication, it will be very poor with no editing concerns on ethics, plagiarism check, putting guidelines, fake information will be displayed regarding the experts in the editorial committee. And there will not be any peer review process. Then these journals will be contacting the authors with repeated mails and calls. And if you look at their website, it will be poorly maintained. And there will not be any ISSN and the DOI will not be present. Other important false credentials will be on the impact factor and indexing. What will be the consequences? Articles will disappear from their website and it won't appear in the searches. And hence it will be least cited.  So it is duty of every researcher by not becoming a prey to these predatory journals.


Hey, Rick. Hey, Corbin. You're ugly. You like the movie.  You need some Corbin. I'm Rick. And you can follow us on Instagram. Instagram. We talk more juicy content. Instagram. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Look at what he did. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And yes, I don't remember. We've got, I have no clue. All I know is I'm excited. Why the days are mixed together. I'm high tech again. Yeah, we upgraded Rick's audio. Thank goodness.  I have coffee, but I've made chai before. Anyways, today is, I think, I mean, we have a lot of favorites of stuff we do here, but we love doing movie reviews. I mean, we like movies, and we like talking about it, and we like watching them. And so this is, for those of you who don't know, which most of you do, this isn't just what Corbin and I have done for years. Yeah, we just always just talked about our opinions of movies.  But today we reviewed Anurag Kashyap's ugly. Highly, highly recommended. I've told you how many times I want to get into Anurag Kashyap more, because everything we've seen of his has been incredible and amazing. He's a really talented writer, director, everything like that. But yes, so we started with ugly based on everybody's recommendations.  Please, Rick. Yes, let me get to, I'm sure I've gotten straight to it. No, there it is, I got it. Okay. The case of a missing girl takes us through a journey of human greed and brushes upon the egos and repressed emotions of the characters. That's pretty good. That's a pretty good synopsis. It was directed by Anurag Kashyap, the writers. He was the writer, but there was a couple other writers in there as well. And starring, this is the definition of almost like a ensemble, but it did have a few people that we knew from other films that we'll get into. But once again, 100% spoiler review, go watch this film. Yeah, basically. If you haven't seen it, it's Anurag Kashyap, go watch this film.  And then we'll do it twofold. We'll do a non-spoiler segment and then the second half will be spoiler. But for a film that's been out, which this is since 2013, right at the outset, we'll let you know if this should be watched or not if you haven't seen it. So go watch this and then come back. We prefer talking spoilers, so. We do. Initial thoughts, right? Well, obviously, Corbin and I won't tell you to go watch something if we didn't like it. Oh no. Because you have a certain amount of... You know, mama loved this film.  And I can tell you right now, based on just everything, everything about this film, but especially how it ended, I was talking to Indrani about it just before we started filming. I said, Corbin's gonna love this movie. Oh, I loved this film. I... Yeah, so I...  I love... There's not been one thing on your unconscious of his that we've seen that I've not loved because of how he... I don't know if he's a writer first, but it wouldn't surprise me if he's a writer termed a director. Because that his stuff is always so well written and unique and very, very layered. And this, a very fitting name for this movie, Ugly, it's just... Man, is everything in it and everyone in it the epitome of ugly. Exactly. And I think he did a great job. Let's talk about just that, the thematic element of the fact that this picture depicts the fact that all of us have something ugly about us. And there's a brilliant job of depicting it without even our main character who's the seeming antagonist in it. Even he, we're given some snapshots into his personality that we're not allowed based on the greatness of the writing and the greatness of the directing. You're not allowed to put him into a box of stereotypical antagonists. It's very Shakespearean in that these are layered people. Very Shakespearean, yeah. Very Shakespearean, very layered. They're not hollow Easter egg, I mean, Easter chocolate money characters. These are flesh and blood people. My favorite. The way he writes it, and we'll talk about it and cause you up first and we'll get into the acting. He writes one, I'm actually shocked he's not more popular here in America.  Now it's all these famous directors from other places that are so, so talented and they got more recognition now in America. I'm surprised at the fact that he is not. I totally agree with you. Every single thing he writes and directs is very palatable and very, I mean, not saying it's Western, but it's very like anybody could sit down and watch this film and just be like, whoa, what is going on? And enjoy. Yeah, yeah. I've said this before about I have felt if anyone from Indian cinema has the best shot at garnering an Oscar, it would be Priyanka because I know she's got the skill, but she's also got the resume now in America. They know who she is. I think when it comes to directing of all the directors we've seen, the person who has the skill level and makes cinema that is palatable to an American audience based on what we're used to seeing from this kind of genre, I would say he would be my leading candidate for a director that I think if he was given the right project with the right people, he could break through in the same way that Inuitu did representing Mexico. I think he could become the first director from India that Hollywood looks at and is like awaiting his next film with Bated Breath. Oh, absolutely, 100%. I totally agree. 100%. Ham Vashal would be right after that. He is exactly. That's when I hesitated. Yeah, it's... I hesitated a moment. Vashal is right there. Yeah, they both make it really... Neck and neck, they're both right there. Gritty films, but I loved the... Because you start with this film and you follow this main... One, it starts with the woman almost committing suicide. Yeah, let's just... Can we talk about... In fact, hold on, I gotta grab... I took some notes down, okay? So I gotta write down my first thoughts when I was watching this at the very beginning and I wrote something about the... I wrote something. Hold on, let me sit down here and get back into that picture. Did I screw the picture up or am I okay? Now you're fine. Okay. Very first frame. Very first frame of the film. With that... She's just... It is so disconcerting. Like it's like a horror film. And it shows you... I wrote down the very first frame proves film is a director's medium.  And I was literally gripped from first frame to final frame. Oh, me too. And we're getting... I think actually, even though I love the acting and we'll get into more of that, I think he was the star of this film. 100%. Because this is such an ensemble cast, there wasn't like one performance that stood out in terms of like this was the... He drove this film. They all did amazing jobs. So it was more like that. But I feel like from the shots to the writing to the directing, Anurad Kashyap in this film was the star of this entire thing. I absolutely agree. And I want to... I had this thought while we were watching it. And I mean this as both a compliment but it also can be a minimization, okay? He's a blend of Scorsese and Stanley Kubrick. Oh, okay, interesting. But has his own... Yeah. He has his own originality in the same way. I'm not comparing his style to Tarantino. I'm saying when you watch a Tarantino film, you know you're watching a Tarantino film based on the banter, the way he's using the music, the way he's using his shots. Tarantino puts his thumbprint on it as the Scorsese. And it's different than say a Sanjay Leela Banzali film that has the aesthetic you expect. I'm talking about there's a greasy thumbprint to the thing that has their DNA oozing in it. And he's got that quality. 100%. And it's different. He's very, very original. That's what I mean. I want to minimize him by saying it's just something as simple as a Scorsese Kubrick blend. Yeah. It starts there. And then you add all of the other elements that are his brilliance. So we can talk about some of the acting right now. Absolutely. Starting with the... Where is he? What's his... Ronit Roy, who plays Bose? The main police officer, right? Yeah, yeah. He plays Bose. The dad from Udan, right? The dad from Udan, who was just as good in this. Right when he came on the screen, I'm like, oh, it's him. I got excited because we hated his character, but we loved the actor. Yes. Which is a mark of a great actor, like the actress who plays Umbridge in Harry Potter. Correct. I despise that character and I can hardly watch it because I hate her so much. But that is because the actress plays her so well. And this actor is just as good in this one.  You would... Yeah. In the same way, like you mentioned Umbridge, I feel the same way, like one of the best performances of somebody ever that made me hate their guts was Jack Gleason playing Joffrey in Game of Thrones. But this is what I think is so great about On Yard Cushy Up, as well as these are very similar roles. So the acting of Ronit Roy, he didn't just... This isn't just a carbon copy of that other character. No, no, no. That's not what I was... Yeah, no. That... No, and I didn't say you were. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're very, very similar, but that this guy, there was always lurking underneath him. Something going on behind him. Something else going on that you felt... I wonder how much of his meanness is this facade he's put on because he feels he has to protect himself and to defend himself against the deep, deep hurts that have caused him to... Because even like... Can we just talk for a minute about that last real moment he has with his wife where he finds out she got 1.5 million more, right? And then On Yard Ragh shoots that. He walks and follows her back into the room and On Yard Ragh is literally sitting on his shoulder, just tight on her, just like he's doing to her, will not let her escape from frame. And when she gives the answer, part of me was like expecting him to slap her. Yeah. But again, On Yard left it more real and complex than that. Yep. And her words seemed to hit home. Which is, that's the Shakespearean side of it. It's so believably real. She's also a terrible shot. Like... Exactly. Like, you go rough... How would you miss him at point-blank range? What? Like you were right above him and you just hit him in the shoulder. What? But you know what? That's actually statistically accurate. You probably know this, is that when people who've never shot at another person... Oh yeah, because... Yeah. It's not as easy to shoot an animal if you're hunting or a person if you're at war, or even if you're defending yourself. You'd be surprised how often people miss at point-blank. Who've never pulled the trigger. Yeah, so... Yeah, she missed. But I also want to talk about, where is he? He's my... What is... Where is she at? Oh, he at. That's what I meant. That, right there. I know who you're referring to. Grish. Our buddy from Sacred Games. Yeah, we've seen him in quite a bit, actually. Quite a few things. And I love the guy. Dongle. We saw him in Sakura Gums. We've seen him in, I think, quite a few things. He's always really good. He's always... He's one of those actors that you just... Like, there's probably thousands of them.  And they're always really, really good. I think this was probably my favorite thing of his so far. I think, didn't we all just... Did we see him in Chalk to India? Or no? Am I dreaming? I might be dreaming. Anyways, but yeah... Was he part of the coaching staff for SRK? That's what I'm thinking about. I could be wrong. But everything we've seen him in, he's been really, really good. But he was probably my... This is probably my favorite thing he's done in it. And I want to talk about the scene. Come on, I know what you're gonna play. Yes. At the beginning. In the police station. Dude. Oh, it was incredible. How good was that scene? Like, because... I didn't want it to end. Their son, I mean, his daughter is lost. Right. Possibly abducted, in danger. Right. And they are talking about everything else. Besides that. I was cracking up. My wife was like, this is awful.  Brilliant. But I actually figured out, and I'm hoping this is true. That scene was supposed to be a minute long. The actors improvised it, and it came out to be 14 minutes. Yeah, I did a little reading on how he films, which talk about a guy you'd like to work with. This is an actor's director. It is. And... I mean, man, I would love to work with this guy. Yeah. That scene was so good that if I was still teaching theater, it would be one of the scenes I use to show people what really good acting is all about. You wanna watch a scene that gives you about as believable as acting can possibly be. That scene in Ugly is it. Yeah, and he was carrying it too. 100%. You could tell how seasoned of an actor he is, because he never stumbled. He was just like, I was doing this. You started teaching him how to put a picture on his phone during a kidnapping. Brilliant. Brilliant. Oh, I was cracking up. All of the ladies, including the girl who had a very small role, but played his daughter in the car. Yeah. All of the ladies, this whole ensemble, even the aunt who they questioned every once in a while. Everybody seemed very real. It was almost like a Malolium film. Yes. That everything is so realistic. Yeah, or in fact, I wondered if some of the smaller roles, like the aunt, I thought I wonder if he went Satyajit Rai on us and just found people that looked right and they'd never acted before. It's possible. You know what I mean? Yeah. That just so believable and good and I really believed. The main two. The main two women. The main two women of like his girlfriend, which I believe her name is Surveen. Surveen Chawla. Yes. And his rocky. And his wife. And his wife. Both did really, really well. And the main two guys, the main guy who lost his daughter and his friend. Yeah. Is that, where is she? The wife? Yeah. The actress who played his wife. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Wait, hold on. Why is Ali Abad credited here? Cause she has a cameo. Where? In ugly. Where? What was she? She played young Shalini. Yeah, I know. But what is that? I honestly can't tell you. Did you catch it? No. Hold on. I really didn't. I was talking with Andrani about it. And I said, Ali Abad, cause I was reading up on some of the background on it. And it said that Ali Abad had a cameo in it. And I thought, I completely missed that. What? I wanted you to think I didn't have personal. She wasn't the young girl, like his daughter, right? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, she played, her credit on IMDb is that she was young Shalini. I don't know where that, anyways. Don't wax on that very long. But if somebody can show me like a screenshot of where she is in the film, cause I don't remember that in the slightest. I even looked up on YouTube. I looked up for Ali Abad seeing an ugly. There's nothing. Maybe it was cut. Anyways, but yeah, they did well. The main guy, the father, he did really, really well. Have we, did we see him in something? The dad of Bows and Shalini? Is that, am I getting that right? What was the little girl's name? I don't remember. Shalini was the little girl. If that was her, damn man, I didn't recognize her as a kid at all. I know she's young, but I guess it was- No way that was her. Maybe that's why that little girl was so good. I guess that was eight years ago. So she could have been a young girl. Cause she's not old, obviously. Ali Abad's not old. No, but still, hold on. That's gonna drive me nuts. Anyways, we can- No, no, there's no way. This was, this was what? Eight years ago? Eight years ago. There's no way she played a 10 year old girl when she was frickin' 19. Yeah. Anyways, you guys are gonna have to let us in. Anyway. No, because that's gonna bother me. It's gonna bother us. But anyways. And I'm, what's the name of the actress who plays Bows' wife? Who we see at the very beginning of the film and is the one who asks for the 1.5 million more? What was that character's freaking name? Anyways, we'll figure it out. Sorry, guys. But I also wanted like the, one of my favorite things about, and we talked about this in Gangs of Wasp or about Anyard Kashiop, what he does with his scores, they're so unique. Because a lot of times he put like these big, almost in gangs, I don't know if you remember, he'd put like rave music almost behind some scenes that were like supposed to be like really serious and they were like these very different style things that you wouldn't normally have behind a scene. He did that in this as well in a couple of times and I thought it was really good and really unique. I thought the score behind this entire film was really good. Yeah, he also does, again, similar kind of thing that Tarantino does. Tarantino did a lot in Kill Bill, Volume 1 and 2 where a song is going full tilt, like all engines are going and you feel like it's just getting started and then there's an edit and everything stops. Yeah. Okay, Shalini is the wife. Okay. Played by Tejaswini Kolipur. That's the actress who played Shalini and Alia played her younger. Okay, gotcha. Got it. I still didn't catch that though in the thing. And the hats off to the actresses to specifically Tejaswini who plays Shalini Bose and to Serbian Chawla who plays Rocky. I thought those ladies were so, so good. I do want to talk about the end. Yeah. Because, you know, I loved it. But I thought it was so brilliant the way this film was written because if in the beginning, people didn't get caught up in, you know, vendettas and just being greedy. Yes. They could have found her very easily because it was the guy with the cell phone. If they would have just traced to find his vehicle or wherever they parked, they would have found her in hours. Which goes back to the brilliance of the seemingly throwaway extended scene in the police station where they're going on forever and there's this missing girl. Yep. Because it conveys throughout the underlying message that keeps getting hammered home not just that everybody's got on the ugly side, but that everybody can be so focused on their own self interests that even something as small as how do I use this phone? You're missing the larger picture of something that's way more important. Like the entire time you're trying to figure out who it is and who took this child and everybody is either trying to just make, like her brother's trying to make money, the mother of the girl missing is trying to make money. The only good people I think of the entire thing are her parents and those- Right, and that's what is so brilliant in that it's frustrating, but at the same time it's brilliant because everybody seems to be way more focused on the money than they are the little girl. Yep, everybody's like, like right when she was like the one, her brother was trying to do her for five million and then she said, I need 6.5. I was like, really? You as well? Yeah, which for me it's the, that for me is the larger takeaway of the film is the larger metaphor. Obviously he's conveying number one, a stark reality that these kinds of things do happen and apparently the statistic I think was like 70 to 80% of all kidnappings have no ransom associated whatsoever. They're just vendettas and vengeance things.   Obviously in this film, the kid is dead but that can be a metaphor for the fact that not every single child's childhood will come to an end and if you're not paying attention, if you're not investing the time where it needs to be invested, you're gonna turn around one day and you're gonna realize that your parenting stunk and you missed the time with your kid then that metaphor of them realizing that was there the whole time and all I had to do was make some different choices and it could have been better. That for me is the most powerful thing and at every level from actors in this thing, actors pursuing their dream. That little message of, dad, I don't like it when you work when you're supposed to be spending time with me. But what's he supposed to do when he's got some sides to pick up for a big role? We can relate to that. Yeah. Hard choices, man. Everybody was basically evil in this thing. I loved that. What made you happy?  I was very happy because he didn't, on your unconscious, it does not feel the need to make audiences happy. Correct. And I love that because I'm happy when the audience is very unhappy and that makes me very happy. And the other thing that he does that all great directors do, is they have a mastery of the medium and know that they are the captain, they're the dictator, they're in control. You only get to see, hear, feel, experience what they allow you to see, feel, hear and experience. Hitchcock was the master of that. Yeah. And that, but do it in such a way like he doesn't do and Scorsese does this a little bit.  Pardon my French for those of you who don't like that word. It is a real word, you can look it up, where he will either in his dialogue or what he's doing with his filming, it's just gratuitous. He's just doing it because he wants to and he really doesn't care. Scorsese's starting to do that with his runtimes. Yes, he is. On your occasion, I don't think, I feel like his commitment to storytelling is higher than his own need to do what he wants to do. And the way he edits and the way that he includes music, but at the same time, one of the best, I agree with you, one of the best attributes of him as a director is that he doesn't give you what you want, he gives you what he wants. Yeah, we saw that in gangs, we saw that in soccer gums, we saw that in Udan and that's just his writing. So yeah, obviously we love this film a lot. Let us know what film we should watch next, what you're on, you've got Kashyap, there's a lot. There's ones we've heard Black Friday. Devdi. Gulal Devdi and then Rock, I always forget that R, it's the one with Nawaz that he plays the psycho. Oh my goodness, yes. I think it's Rob Rom 2.0 or something like that. Rob Rom 2.0, Rob Rom 2.0, something like that. Obviously, so let us know down below what we should watch and review next. Thanks.


Here's Dick Powell as Richard Diamond, Private Detective. It's five o'clock in New York City and the big neon signs light up the dark office that overlooks Broadway on the corner of 53rd Street. Behind the second-hand mahogany desk, relaxing in a swivel chair, is the leading figure of the Diamond Detective Agency, combination stockholder, office boy and clue chaser. He is Richard Diamond, and his mind is on a lovely redhead named Helen Asher, as she sits on a couch talking about things he likes to hear. At this moment, however, another scene is taking place in the wealthy district of Long Island. A long black convertible is just pulling up to an old English mansion, and a curvaceous blonde steps from the car. She is met at the door by her brother. Well, good evening, my dear sister. You're looking simply ravishing. How would you know the difference? Oh, drop dead. You disgusting excuse for a man. Why don't you sober up for five minutes and take a look at yourself? I did once. Oh, by the way, our dear stepfather would like to see you in the study. Tell him to go to- I already did. Now it's your turn. I don't want to. I'll get out of my way, Chris. Suit yourself. But Murray Lang's in there with him. Murray? Hmm? Did I start your heart going pity-pat?  You better go in and protect your money, darling. Bye, jailbird. Son. I don't care what your plans are. They can send my daughter, and that's enough for me to put a stop to them. You're not going to put a stop to anything. You can't intimidate me, Lang.  Come in. Oh, hello, Liz. Hello, Murray. I'm glad you're here, Elizabeth. Mr. Lang and I were just discussing your future. Now, I'm surprised you put up with it this long, Murray. Come on. Let's leave, my dear stepfather, until he's done. Elizabeth, I want to talk to you. Well, I don't want to talk to you. Let's go, Murray. Listen to what he has to say. Maybe you'll get a laugh out of it. Well, what is it? I've just been talking with Lang about your intention to marry him. I have advised him that if such a thing were to take place, he would result in the most serious of consequences. Is that all? No, that is not all. When you got into your trouble with the police, my dear stepdaughter, you were paroled in my custody. If I should report to the board that you had violated the terms of your probation, you would most certainly go to prison. Why, you... What's the matter? Are you satisfied with the sour you collect for taking care of Mother's estate?  Sit down. You look bigger behind a desk. Well, just yell and scream all you want to. After Monday, you better start looking for another source of income. You know very well it's not the money, but your greasy boyfriend here would certainly like to get his hands on it.  I'm not going to stand here and listen to you. Murray. No, baby, I won't take it.   It would give me the greatest of pleasure to call the police and have you locked up. I'll fix it so you won't have a head to call anyone with me. Murray, leave him alone. Can't you see that's what he wants? Yes, well, Mr. Lang. Come on, Liz, let's get some fresh air. I want to say one more thing. Just remember, Father, my probation expires Monday. After that, you won't control any part of my income, so you better start getting packed. And if I report you to the probation board in the morning... I wouldn't. If you do that, you'll not only stop being my guardian, but you'll stop breathing. Get out.  Come on, Murray. Try to intimidate me. I'll make them both sorry. Detective. Detective is... Private detective, yes, yes. And... Ah, here's one. Full-page ad must be doing very well. Richard Diamond, Private Detective. If you've got a case, share it with me. Richard Diamond. Seven, seven... Now, Mr. Diamond. That's right. I want to hire you for a few days. Oh, you saw the ad. Well, it just so happens I'm available. I can't tell you much over the phone to many extensions in the house, but it's about my daughter. I'm afraid she's going to get herself into some serious trouble. How old is she? Twenty. Tell her to wait a year. My name is Chase, Ralph Chase. I live at 82 Maple Drive, San's Point. Will you come out this evening? A hundred dollars a day and dips on the ice. I'll see you about eight. Goodbye, Mr. Diamond. What was that all about, Rick? Oh, I got a job, baby. When do you start? Oh, yes, you're right. No, Rick. You can start it in the morning. You can't break another one tonight. Ah, come on, Helen, baby. A job's a job. And a date's a date. I won't let you break this one. Your car downstairs? Yes, but I can drive myself home, please, Rick. You promised you wouldn't break another one. Keys in it? Yeah. Look, I want to hire you to protect me for this evening. I've been receiving mysterious phone calls, and I'm in fear of my life. Really? You've got to take the job. Old friends come first. I'll have to get home and shave before I start working. You mean you'll take it? After 12.30, bye, baby. You beast. Oh, you must be getting tired from driving that big car around all day. Grab a cab, honey. It'll give you some rest. I'll take good care of your car. What? Want a buck for the cab? What? No, no. On second thought, you only live about 25 blocks. Walk will do you good. Rick. Deep breathing all the way up Fifth Avenue. Nothing like it. Bye, baby. Oh! On the way to the car, I thought about Helen, the most wonderful girl in the world. Money, looks, but she had one bad fault. She wanted to get married. I got into the big sedan and headed for my apartment. I'd been up late the night before with the blonde singer, and I was feeling tired. Funny how things change. My nights in college were just as busy, but at one o'clock the next afternoon, I was out playing football. I faced facts pretty well. So when I got home, I took a nap. I slept until seven and got up and dressed. I drove Helen's car out to Long Island. And at eight o'clock sharp, I was ringing the doorbell of the Chase mansion. It was a big house, all right. If they built another one like it, Long Island would sink. Well, to someone at me chamber door. My name's Chris Boo. Blow your boo's some other direction.  My alcoholic exhalations are composed of the finest ingredients. You must have a weak stomach. Look, if you'll just stagger out of the way, I'd like to see Mr. Chase. Dead or alive. What? Just thinking out loud. Well, go right ahead. And after you talk with my stepfather, you can find me in the bar. You'll probably wind up like I am. That's a sweet thought. Where can I find your stepfather? Probably in the library lying in my money. I left him leaning against the front door, gagging in the fresh air. I wandered on a long hallway in the big sitting room, furnished with enough antiques to make the Metropolitan Museum give up in shame. There was something about the place. A heavy quietness, like a bar of gold in a dark room. The shot had come from up ahead, and I tried a couple of doors before I found the room. Mr. Chase! Mr. Chase! In here! In here! Mr. Chase? Yes, yes.  I looked over at Ralph Chase crouching behind a desk. He got up slowly, all five feet of him. And I tagged him for a guy who would give a thousand dollars for every inch you could put on his legs. He looked like he could afford to be a mile high. The tall French windows are open at the back of the room, and you could still smell burning cordite. Someone tried to shoot me from the garden. Yeah, I heard the shot. You must be Diamond. That's right.  Yes, yes, very good idea. You pull the diamond, the sage diamond. You can start earning your money right now. You're a little excited, but I'll start to work. All right. Be careful, he might still be out there. Well, I doubt it. I can't see anyone out here. He just missed me. You can see where the bullet hit the wall. I jumped and hid behind the desk. Didn't you hear him on the porch? No, he must have stood in the soft grass that surrounds the garden. That's a good ten feet for the house. You're lucky he didn't move in closer. He probably wouldn't have missed. Got any idea who it was? Of course, it was Murray Lang. Murray Lang? The gambler? Yes, do you know him? I used to be on the force, set him up six years ago on a larceny ramp. I know what he's like. He was in the house this afternoon. We had an argument and he threatened me. An argument with your daughter? Yes, about my daughter. How'd you know? Well, you told me she was getting herself into trouble. She couldn't have picked a better playmate than Lang to get there with. Father, we heard a shot. Not really. Oh, let's go. He's not dead. My step-children, Mr. Diamond. Oh, well, lovely. I'm quite alive, so you can both stop looking so unhappy. Does it show? Come on, sis. Let's find the guy who fired that shot. I want to give him a few pointers. Where's Murray Lang, Miss Chase? Yes, he's the man you want. I'm sure he types. Don't be absurd. Murray left three hours ago. What are you? A cop? Does it show? You're wearing too much cologne. Come on, Chris. Oh, she's nice. That's Elizabeth. The boy's her brother, Chris. I'd hate to draw straws. I married their mother and raised those two brats after she died. The courts appointed me executor of this tape.  Is that it? Yes. Since they've been old enough to ask for 50 cents to go to a movie, they've condemned me for watching their interests. You said you were worried about your stepdaughter. Tell me about it.  Elizabeth got into some trouble with the police. Hit and run. She had been drinking. The man died. Liz was sentenced to a year in Fulton. But I got her all fund probation. What do you want me to do? Drive around with her and spoil her aim? Monday the probation expires. She says she is then going to marry this hoodlum, Murray Lang. And you don't want that because you think he's after her money? Exactly. When she marries, the will reads that I shall, as executor, give her half of the estate to Elizabeth. What about Christopher? He looked irresponsible when he was born. His mother left instructions that he should not receive his share until he is 35. That's another eight years. Well, your stepdaughter's old enough to know what she's doing. I can't see how you can stop her. That's what I want you to do. And if I do, you would be in a pretty good spot. What do you mean, Mr. Diamond? You continue as executor. I can understand you thinking something like that, but believe me, as much as I dislike my stepchildren, I wish to keep them in line for the great mother's sake. Oh, well, Mr. Chase, I'll take a look around outside. Maybe I can come up with something that'll point out the would-be killer. If it was Lang, you can stop worrying about Elizabeth. Sing Sing doesn't boast a wedding chapel. I went out through the French doors and started looking around on the soft grass that bordered the garden. I had a fat hunch, so I stopped looking and started wandering. I was halfway through the rose bed when I spotted them. It was Elizabeth and a man. In the darkness, I couldn't make him out, but Murray Lang was my best guess. They went up a narrow path to one of those Chinese pagodas at the far end of the garden, and I stepped up close enough to give my ears a workout. It was Lang, all right. I don't care what you think. I didn't take a shot at the old man. Then who did? He's got a policeman in there now and he's going to start trouble. Let him. I'm clean. If it was that luscious brother of yours. Chris hates him, but he never tried to kill him. Well, then stop hounding me. Maybe you took a shot at the old boy. Murray! Well, you got a good reason. Tired trying to buck the whole chase household. If you love me, let's take off tonight and get married. Tell the old man to go to the devil. You can certainly wait till Monday. Yeah, but he won't. He's going to cause some kind of trouble and get you tossed into Folsom. He's not going to give up all that money just because you're through with your probation. He probably cooked up that shooting just to get the cops here. Murray, what's going to happen to us? Oh, ask your stepfather. He's been doing your thinking for you. I don't have to. We'll get married Monday. Okay. I'm staying clear of this place too, Ben. But what if there's more trouble? I haven't got anyone to turn to. You worry about it, baby. I got a police record that makes yours look like a merit badge. I was too good a target in the moonlight, so I started back up the walk to the house. As I passed ahead, I noticed a funny-looking plant that was shoving its way out of the foliage. I'm sorry I did that. It was the Johnny Jump-Up variety. The guy on the other end of the sap gave it to me right over the eyes, and I went down like a crapshooter making a pass. I rolled over and watched the moon melt and run down in my eyes. Something warm and sticky sped over my face and turned the night red. Yeah, I was bleeding again. I guess I showed signs of recovering, so he started all over. This time, he used his foot as a sign Oh, a couple more kicks in the ribs and in the right place, and he could have whipped up a fast course of nola. I felt tired, so I rolled up in an old rose bush and went to sleep. When you finally start coming around, it's like swimming your way out of an acre of mud. If you've taken enough beatings before, it's like swimming your way out of an acre of mud. If you've taken enough beatings before, you've diagnosed things in a hurry.  The ache in your ribs is where he booted you. And the thought in your mind is oh, it's something about an eye for an eye as you've got one left. I sat up slowly and looked around. No one in sight. My watch said ten o'clock. I'd been out for an hour, and I was feeling lonely until I started to get up. I made it to one knee and looked down at the best reason I could think of for staying home nights. It was Murray Lang, and you couldn't blame him for staring. He wasn't impolite. Just dead. Something on the walk beside him gleamed in the moonlight. I took out my handkerchief and scooped it up. It was a little nickel-plated 32. You could still smell the fresh powder in the barrel. I put it in my pocket and stumbled back to the house. Chris opened the door. Well, you shouldn't drink so much. I never get salotadelic like that. Try it sometime. It might be an improvement. I told you once before not to do that. Now tell me, where were you ten minutes ago? I was in the bar. Who was with you? Red and green midgets. Now let go of my collar. Okay. Where's the phone? In the hall. Hey, what's going on? Who beat you up? Nobody. I always bleed like this on warm nights. Big pores. Homicide, Sergeant. Who was talking? Who taught you how? Did you sit up nights with a parrot? Oh, very funny. Only one guy could think of a lousy joke like that. What do you want, Diamond? A picture of you. I'm going to show some doctors that mercy killing has its points. Now let me speak to the lieutenant. Comic. Homicide, Lieutenant Levinson. Hello, Walt. This is Diamond. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me get the bicarbonate. What's the matter? I get stomach trouble every time you call. Go ahead. All right? I got a killing for you. I know it. I know it. Why can't you be a good boy and stop finding corpses? I'm out at Sands Point, 82 Maple Drive. I think I've got the murder weapon in my pocket. Who's dead? An old friend, Murray Lang, and you better step on it. There's a drunk staggering around the place and he's allowed to spot the body and put it in the cold shower to sober it up. All right. We'll be right out. Hold the fort. So Mr. Lang's dead. You better stop sneaking up on people, Buster. And you'd better stop telling me what to do in my own house, Mr. Diamond. You sobered up pretty quick. I heard what you said about finding the murder weapon. May I see it? No. It stays in my pocket until homicide gets here. Who's gun is it? It's a 40-pound broadsword. Now stop trying to look like a Chicago muscle man or I'll start slapping you... Oh, there you are, Diamond. I've been looking for you. I... Wait, Scott. What happened to your face? Someone was giving away hints. Miss, did you have something to do with this? Hardly. Mr. Diamond has a decided advantage over me. He has muscles. I'll be in the bar. What's happened? Where's Elizabeth? I don't know, but her boyfriend's got troubles. He can't explain the hole in his chest. Lang, what do you mean? He's out in the garden. Someone shot him. Is he dead? If he's not, he's trying awful hard. Then we'd better call the police. That's been taken care of. What kind of a gun do you own, Mr. Chase? You don't see... No, I don't. I just dig around until I come up with something. What kind of a gun do you own? By a 40-pound... Now, wait a minute, Diamond. If you've got any ideas about this murder, you'd better wait until the police get here.  That's a full night's work, and now I'm on my own time. Where can I find Elizabeth? I don't know. She may be up in her room. Where is it? End of the hall, head of the stairs, first door. Thanks. It's beginning to rain. What about Lang's body? Well, if he catches cold, call me. I went down the long hallway to the foot of a massive staircase. The only light was the one burning in the room where the stairs left. I looked over at my... over my shoulder and saw Mr. Chase framed in its dim glow, watching me. In that moment, I thought who Chase reminded me of. A triangle hat, his hand in his vest, and Napoleon had a twin. I went up the stairs two at a time. Pardon me for barging in, but some guy in the garden just beat all the bashfulness out of me.  You get out of my room! You better put on something a little warmer, honey. Let's start a Harry Carey epidemic in Boston. What do you want? Yeah. What did you do after Lang left you in the garden? What? Big ears. I overheard everything you said. I see someone pushed your face around. It's an improvement. Did Murray catch you eavesdropping? Well, if he did, he won't have much time to gloat. What do you mean? If you've done anything to Murray... Aren't you getting ready for bed a little early? I don't know what you want.  Now, if you don't turn around and get out of here... What's the matter, baby? The drawer empty? Hmm, lose something? No. Maybe this is it. Where did you get that gun? It was lying in the garden beside your boyfriend's body. Beside it? That's it, lover. Now sit on and relax. As Murray did. Like Jimmy Fiddler's gossip column. Didn't you hear anything after Murray left you? Oh, no. I was crying. I ran back to the house, came up here. Is there another way back to the house besides the path that Murray took? It's one that leads to those outside doors. I came right to my room. Please leave me alone. This is your gun, isn't it? Yes, but I didn't do it. I didn't. Murray and I were going to be married Monday. Ballistics will probably show it's the one that did the job. You better tell me everything you know. I don't know anything. I didn't shoot Murray. Someone stole my gun from the drawer. Oh, please find out who did it. If they hold me, I'll go to prison anyway. Please, Mr. Diamond, please. It's going to be tough if this is the gun. I'm pretty sure it is. You could still smell the potter when I... Potter. What's the matter, Mr. Diamond? Oh, nothing. Nothing. Look, you stay in your room. Maybe I can do you some good. I promise you'll stay here. Sure. I'm not going any place. I'm trying to snap out of it. Sometimes you keep losing until there's nothing left to play with. It breaks the jinx. I went to the stairs and started looking for Chase. As I passed the doors leading to the garden, I stopped cold. The flash of lightning turned the garden flat white. Someone was standing over what was left of Murray Lang. Well, like the view. Oh, Diamond, I was just looking at the body. I talked with your daughter. She says the gun that killed Lang was hers. What? The claims had an argument. The board admits she shot him. Oh, I can't believe it. Certainly she had no reason...unless. Unless what? Unless she found out Lang was just after her money. That's possible. Anyway, if she did do it, I still can't figure who worked me over. Maybe it was Lang.  Maybe it was Elizabeth. Oh, no. It would have to be somebody very strong.  Tommy, when does Elizabeth come into her money? Why, at the end of the probation. The court set it aside until she was cleared of all charges. Who gets it if she goes to prison? Well, I'm the sole executive of the state, but she's not going to jail. She didn't do this thing. I'll get the best counsel in the country. I'm sure you will. Tell me something, Chase. It's pretty obvious that my face got pushed around, but how did you know my ribs got the same treatment? What? It doesn't show. It just hurts. Why are you here? Well, you told me. Uh-uh. What are you getting at, Diamond? You'd have to reach pretty high to sap me, but if you were mad enough, you couldn't make it. This is absurd. I'm going inside. And when I get grouchy, it's better to listen. I'm allowable to use you to make the flowers grow. Go ahead, Mr. Diamond. I'm listening. Well, everybody in this house is some sort of motive for killing. Well, Elizabeth, that could be the old story of a woman scorned. With your luscious stepson, he could want to put the blame on his sister so he'd get more than a share of the estate. And we certainly know you stand a profit if Elizabeth goes to prison because you retain custody of the family fortune. Right, Mr. Diamond? Everybody's story is weak, but only one of them doesn't stand up. You said earlier this evening someone tried to shoot you from outside your library. Of course they did. You have the shot and saw the bullet hole? That's right, I did. But you told me he was standing outside the room by a good 10 feet. Nothing to say, Chase. You're trying to catch me up in something. Oh, you are so right. Now, when I walked into that room, I could still smell burning cordite. To smell fresh gunpowder like that, you'd have to have been fired outside the room.  Is that all, Mr. Diamond? Outside of the slip you made about kicking me in the ribs. Now, let's go inside. I don't think so, Diamond. Oh. Oh, that the 45 you were telling me about? Yes. Go ahead, make a try for it. I'm going to show you how it works.   My stepdaughter could easily kill two men tonight. Now, you're in a spot.  So you've got to get the 32 in my pocket. Give me a Elizabeth gun, Diamond. You try and get it, Chase. Why, you rigged? Rick, are you out there? Better give it up, Chase. That's the law.  Rick! Stay right there, Diamond. Another killing won't matter if you try and stop me. What's he saying? If you're out there, Rick answer me. I'm getting soaked.  I'm getting out of here. You'll never make it, Chase. He'll pick you up inside of an hour. Not if you're too dead to tell them. Yes, that's it.  Look out! You should watch your step, Chase. Keep your head down or I'll have somebody smash.  And get out from under that bench. Rick! Over here, Walt. What's going on, Rick? Who's doing all the shooting? Well, he took turns.  I used this 32 in my pocket, shot him twice. He's dead, Lieutenant. Give me my baking soda, oldest. And he added them. Don't look so unhappy, Rick.  Oh, I'm not unhappy. I'm just sore that I didn't have time to take the gun out of my pocket. I ruined a darn good coat. The three of us went back in the house and Otis took Christopher up to bed so he could sleep it off. Walt listened to the story as I told it to Elizabeth.  Walt went downstairs to clean things up and I sat by her bed until she went to sleep. She didn't even wake up when I kissed her goodbye. Oh, I guess it was better that way. I said goodbye to Walt and Otis and headed for 975 Park Avenue. I was late. My face could use a mile of bandage. I hoped Helen wouldn't mind. Yes? Oh, my goodness. Hello, Francis. Tell Miss Asher I brought a car back. Oh, how bad a wreck was it, sir? Give me a glass of the backbone. Will you, Francis? Yes, sir. I do. Wait, sir. Miss Asher's in the study. Thank you. Thank you. Well, it's a bot. Oh, Rick, not again. Mm-hmm.   Well, you just stretch out in the couch and I'll get you a nice tall drink. Francis is already on his way. Feel better? Yeah. Oh, yes. Got a pillow?  How's this? Mm-hmm. Like some music to go with it? Sure. Turn on the radio. You comfortable? Mm-hmm. How about you? Uh-huh. That music sounds like San Francisco. Remember the top of the mark? Yeah, fun, too. Mind if I turn off the light? The glow from the fire is enough. You're cured. Better? That's... The snow is snowing The wind is blowing But I can weather the storm The high What do I care how much it may store? I've got my love to keep me warm Mm-hmm. Me. I can't remember The worst December Just watch those icicles form What do I care if icicles form? I've got my love to keep me warm I like your singing, too.  The flame grows higher So I... What do I care how much it may store? I've got my love to keep me warm That was nice. Why did you turn the radio off? This is nicer. Come here, Rick. Oh, honey. Honey, you're reading my mind. Here's your drink, Mr. Diamond. Oh, my goodness. You have just heard the fourth of a new series, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring Dick Powell. Helen was played by Virginia Gregg, Lieutenant Levinson, by Ed Begley. Also in our cast were Wilms Herbert, Betty Moran, Jane Ovello, Jack Edwards, and Tom Lavery. Music was under the direction of David Baskerville. Richard Diamond is written by Blake Edwards and directed by William P. Rousseau. Even here in America, we're able to have a few misconceptions about freedom. Many of us regard it as an outright gift with no strings attached. Well, that isn't quite so. All of us have received a heritage of liberty, a legacy of freedom forged in other days. Remember that the liberty you enjoy is a precious legacy, a legacy that can be lost through disuse. Don't ignore freedom. Work at it. For freedom is everybody's job. Now this is Eddie King, inviting you to be with us again at the same time next week when we will again bring you Dick Powell as Richard Diamond, Private Detective. This program has come to you from Hollywood. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.