- 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 ol' 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?
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-l-E-l-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.
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, Curtis'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, 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.