Hamilton, Guy

Born 1936 under the sign of Capricorn.
Occupation: Journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Service
Jakarta, first assignment as foreign correspondent

You're an enemy here Hamilton, like all Westerners. President Sukarno tells the West to go to hell. And today, Sukarno is the voice of the Third World.
 

Most of us become children again when we enter the slums of Asia. And last night I watched you walk back into childhood. With all its opposite intensities: laughter and misery, the crazy and the grim, toy town and a city of fear.
 
 

Scene One: Typical Journo's Answer

BILLY And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?  GUY What's that? BILLY It's from Luke, chapter three, verse ten. What then must we do? Tolstoy asked the same question. He wrote a book with that title. He got so upset about the poverty in Moscow that he went one night into the poorest section and just gave away all his money. You could do that now. Five American dollars would be a fortune to one of these people. GUY Wouldn't do any good, just be a drop in the ocean. BILLY Ahh, that's the same conclusion Tolstoy came to, I disagree. GUY Oh, what's your solution? BILLY Well, I support the view that you just don't think about the major issues. You do whatever you can about the misery that's in front of you. Add your light to the sum of light. You think that's naive, don't you? GUY Yep. BILLY It's alright, most journalists do. GUY We can't afford to get involved. BILLY Typical journo's answer.

You're ambitious, self-contained, moderate to conservative in politics,  and despite  your naivete, I sense a potential, something immediately apparent, a possibility - could you be the un-met friend?
 
 
 

Scene Two: I Can be Your Eyes

BILLY Did you get an interview today? GUY What? BILLY Did you get an interview? GUY No, no I didn't. BILLY You're in trouble, do you realize that? GUY It's early days yet. BILLY All the top doors are shut to Western journalists. GUY Curtis got an interview. BILLY Curtis and Wally have got reputations, they can't be ignored. Your only way in is personal contacts. Potter sabotaged you. GUY What do you want me to do, shoot myself? Ten years I've waited for this. And if I mess it up, they'll send me back to the newsroom in Sydney, and that's a bloody graveyard. BILLY If you could get any interview you want, excluding one with Sukarno, who would it be? GUY The leader of the Communist Party BILLY I'll get it. I can get you to him tomorrow. GUY He doesn't give interviews. BILLY He does when he needs to. He's a friend of mine. I've alredy spoken to him about you. GUY How come you're on speaking terms with the head of the- BILLY If you want it, it's yours. It should make quite a stir internationally. GUY If you can get me to Aidit, I'll get you all the film work you can handle. Exclusive. BILLY That's great old man.That's what I've always wanted, a real partnership. GUY Why the break to me? Why not Potter? BILLY I didn't like him. We'll make a great team old man. You for the words, me for the pictures. I can be your eyes.

Scene Three: A Great Aphrodisiac

FRANK Beauty among the squalor. Took that with a 200mm. Got a natural elegance, haven't they? PETE Condon, Condon, Condon. I'm talking elegance, all you ever shoot are tits. Why don't you quit trying to sell us the pursuit of abstract beauty and admit you're a pervert? KEVIN Come on Billy, you're a professional, is that pornography or art? BILLY If it's in focus, it's pornography, if it's out of focus, it's art. WALLY Definitely art. They really are exquisite creatures, aren't they. PETE Let me ask you something Hamilton. I've been worried about this ever since you got here. What do you do for sex? GUY You worry about that? PETE Yeah, whenever I hit the front page I get a hell of a hard on. GUY So what do you do? PETE I go up to the cemetary. Ever heard of the cemetary? GUY What are you, a necrophiliac? BILLY No, it's where the prostitutes hang out. PETE Fantastic girls Hamilton. Best value for your money ass in Asia. Come on, I'll take you up there right now, huh? GUY Some other time. WALLY Wise man. FRANK They're riddled with VD. PETE You've never heard of penicillin? I'm telling you, you will love this action. You want to spend the night? Costs you one dollar. BILLY Starvation's a great aphrodisiac. PETE Keep it up Billy, keep it up. We'll just nail you to the old cross, huh? Besides, he can afford to be virtuous you know, he's holding hands with the best looking chick in town. BILLY She's a friend Curtis. PETE Sure she is Billy. BILLY You'd find that kind of relationship hard to understand, wouldn't you Curtis? PETE Oh get me the nails, I'm going to hang the little bastard up right now.

Memorable Lines:

• Billy Kwan: "But the one great advantage of being a dwarf is that you can be wiser than other people, and no one envies you."