There's no money.
We're completely bankrupt. Don't tell anybody.
It turned out that the Savings & Loan had already been robbed...
...not by armed bandits, but by speculators in Texas real estate.
All right, let's go!
Norther!
Yeah! There's gotta be close to $400 here!
And that's just from the drawers.
Let's see what you got from the vault.
This is it? The whole vault?
I'm afraid so.
It's got your deposit slip on it.
Well, I just didn't want you leaving empty-handed.
There's something you should know. The reason they don't have money...
I told Norther about the vagaries of Texas oil money...
...and its effect on real-estate prices...
...and how lax enforcement of fiduciary process...
...had made savings and loans particularly vulnerable.
Hearing this news, Norther was left with one conclusion:
I should go to Wall Street. That's where all the money is.
I knew then that while my days as a criminal were over...
Thanks for the hand!
...Norther's were just beginning.
When Norther made his first million dollars...
...he sent me a check for 10,000.
I protested, but he said it was my fee as his career advisor.
It was enough to buy my wife a proper house...
...with a white picket fence.
And for that, it was all the riches a man could ever want.
I was drying out.
I see.
I think we ought to get you a plant mister...
...so we can just spray you like a fern.
Come, now.
I don't think I'll ever dry out.
You carry on. I'll see...
Hello.
-Are you Jennifer Hill? -I am.
And you're Will.
I've seen a picture of you. That's how I recognize you.
Listen, Kenny, why don't we skip the lesson today?
We can go again next week.
Do I have to give it back to my mom?
Well, I won't tell her if you won't.
How did you know my father?
Well, this was on his sales route...
...so he was through here all the time, and everyone in town knew him.
Were you having an affair?
Wow. Wow, you just said it.
I was expecting to dance around this for another half-hour.
I've seen him with women. He flirts. He always has.
And on some level, I just presumed that he was...
...cheating on my mom. I just never had proof.
Well, can I ask you a question?
If you found this deed, why didn't you just ask Eddie?
Because he's dying.
Look, I don't know how much you want to know about any of this.
You have one image of your father...
...and it'd be wrong of me to change it...
...especially this late in the game.
My father talked about things he never did...
...and I'm sure he did a lot of things that he never talked about.
I'm just trying to reconcile the two.
The first thing you have to understand...
...is that your father never meant to end up here.
Yet he did.
Twice.
The first time, he was early.
The second time, he was late.
Those days, your father was working for himself.
If there's one thing you could say about Edward Bloom...
...it's that he was a social person, and people took a liking to him.
One night, he was returning from three weeks on the road...
...when he hit a thunderstorm unlike any in his life.
Fate has a way of circling back on a man...
...and taking him by surprise.
A man sees things differently at different times in his life.
This town didn't seem the same now that he was older.
A new road had brought the outside world to Spectre...
...and with it, banks, liens and debt.
Almost everywhere you looked, people were bankrupt.
The auction today is for the town of Spectre.
-The opening bid will be $10,000. -So Edward Bloom...
-...decided to buy the town. -50,000.
-I couldn't believe my eyes... -He was never a wealthy man...
...but he had made other men rich, and now he asked for their favors.
-I'm trying to save... -Most of them hadn't seen Spectre.
They only had Edward's words to describe it.
That's all he needed. He sold them on the dream.
So first he bought the farms.
Then he bought the houses. And then he bought the stores.
Whatever he bought, the people were not asked to leave or pay rent.
They were just asked to keep doing as they were doing.
In that way, he could make sure the town would never die.
Within six months, his trust had purchased the entire town.
With one exception.
You must be Edward Bloom.
How do you know?
No one would come out here unless they had business.
And no one would have business with me except for you.
You're buying the town.
Apparently I overlooked this one piece of it, and I'd like to remedy that.
In order for the town to be preserved, the trust must own it, in its entirety.
And so I've heard.
I'll offer you more than it's worth. And you won't have to move.
Nothing will change except the name on the deed, you have my word.
Now, let me get this straight.
You buy the swamp from me, but I'll stay in it?
You'll own the house, but it'll still be mine?
I'll be here, and you'll come and go as you please to one place or another.
Do I have that right?
In so many words, yes.
Yeah, then I don't think so, Mr. Bloom.
If nothing's gonna change, I'd just as soon it not change...
...in the way things haven't been changing all this time.
It's not like you'll lose anything. You can ask anyone in town.
Why are you buying this land, Mr. Bloom?
Some sort of midlife crisis?
Instead of buying a convertible, you buy a town?
Helping people makes me happy.
I'm not convinced you should be happy.
-I'm sorry. Have I offended you? -No.
You did exactly what you promised.
You came back. I was just expecting you sooner.
You're Beamen's daughter.
Your name's different. Did you get married?
I was 18. He was 28. Turns out that was a big difference.
I won't be selling you this house, Mr. Bloom.
I see.
Well, thank you for your time.
-It's stuck. -Yeah.
-Oh, I'm so sorry! I... -It's okay. Just leave it.
-No, I'll... -Please! Just go.
-But... -Go.
Most men in that situation would accept their failure and move on.
But Edward was not like most men.
Hold!
They both had completely different characters but...
...well, just one pair of legs.
As the months passed, he found more and more things to fix...
...until the shack no longer resembled itself.
Of course, the best part was coming up with the new material.
By the time the twins and I had got to Havana...
...we'd worked out a new routine, using only a ukulele and a harmonica.
-Well... -You could leave it there.
No.
Now, don't.
Don't be embarrassed. I should never have let you think that...
I'm in love with my wife.
Yeah, I know.
And from the first day I saw her until the day I die...
...she's the only one.
Lucky girl.
I'm sorry, Jenny. I am.
Wait! Edward.
One day, Edward Bloom left...
...and never returned to the town he'd saved.
As for the girl...
...the common belief was that she'd become a witch...
...and crazy at that.
She became something of a legend herself.
And the story ended where it began.
Logically, you couldn't be the witch, because she was...
...old when he was young.
Well, it's logical if you think like your father.
See, to him there's only two women:
Your mother...
...and everyone else.
And one day...
...I realized I was in love with a man who could never love me back.
I was living in a fairy tale.
I'm not sure I should've told you any of this.
No, no, no, I wanted to know. I'm...
I'm glad I know.
I wanted to be as important to him as you were.
And I'm...
I was never gonna be.
I was make-believe.
And his other life, you...
You were real.
Mom?
Josephine?
Will!
What happened?
Your father had a stroke.
He's upstairs with your mom and Dr. Bennett.
Is he gonna be okay?
I don't suppose that I could...
...stay here with him. I mean, in case...
In case he wakes up, I really ought to be here.
I'll stay.
Why don't you go home with Josephine. I'll stay tonight.
-Is that okay? -Fine.
Will, you'll call if there's any?
I will. I will. I'll call.
-Do you want some time with Dad? -Yes. Thank you.
Glad to see you're not trying to have a heartfelt talk.
One of my greatest annoyances is when...
...people try to talk to those who can't hear them.
Well, we have an advantage.
My father and I never talk.
Your father ever tell you about the day you were born?
Yeah, a thousand times. He caught an uncatchable fish.
Not that. The real story. He ever tell you that?
No.
Well, your mother came in about 3 in the afternoon.
Her neighbor drove her, on account of your father was away on business...
...in Wichita.
You were born a week early, but there were no complications.
It was a perfect delivery. Your father was sorry not to be there.
But it wasn't the custom then for men to be in the room for deliveries...
...so I can't see how it would've been much different had he been there.
And that's the real story of how you were born.
Not very exciting, is it?
And I suppose if I had to choose between the true version...
...and an elaborate one involving a fish and a wedding ring...
...I might choose the fancy version.
But, then that's just me.
I kind of liked your version.
Dad?
Hey, Dad? Hey, you want me to get the nurse?
What do you want? What can I do? What can I get?
You want some water?
You want a bit of water?
The river.
The river?
Tell me how it happens.
How what happens?
How I go.
You mean what you saw in The Eye?
I don't know that story, Dad. You never told me that one.
Okay. Hey, okay, I'll try.
I need your help. Tell me how it starts.
Like this.
Okay. Okay.
Okay, so it's in the morning...
...and you and I are in the hospital, and I've fallen asleep. And I wake up...
...and I see you, and somehow you're better.
Dad?
You're different.
-Dad. -Let's get out of here.
Then I say:
Dad, you're in no condition...
Get that wheelchair.
Hurry up! We haven't much time!
Once we get off this floor, we're in the clear.
And we get in the wheelchair...
-Faster! -...like we're escaping the hospital.
What are you doing?
We pass Dr. Bennett, who tries to slow us down.
-Stop them! -We're flying down the hall.
Orderly after orderly is chasing us.
Mom and Josephine are at the end.
No time to explain! Stall them!
We come flying out over the curb...
...and your old red Charger is there. But it's new. Brand-new.
And I pick you up...
...and somehow you hardly weigh anything. I can't explain it.
Leave it! We don't need it!
Water. I need water.
-Where are we going? -The river.
And we have to take Glenville to avoid traffic...
...because the damn church people drive too slow.
And as we get close to the river...
He's here!
...we see that everybody is already there.
And I mean...
...everyone.
It's unbelievable.
The story of my life.
The strange thing is, there's not a sad face to be found.
Everyone is just so glad to see you...
...and send you off right.
Goodbye, everybody! Farewell! Adieu!
My girl in the river.
You become what you always were.
A very big fish.
And that's how it happens.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Mom?
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside the quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...
...I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.
Have you ever heard a joke so many times you've forgotten why it's funny?
And then you hear it again and suddenly it's new.
You remember why you loved it in the first place.
So he said he'll fight the giant who was 15 feet tall!
-No way! -Dad! That's right, isn't it?
Pretty much.
See? So he was a giant.
That was my father's final joke, I guess.
A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories.
They live on after him.
And in that way, he becomes immortal.