The Long Kiss Goodnight

Most years around Christmas time, Jenn and I get out our secondhand VHS tape of the 1996 movie The Long Kiss Goodnight and curl up with some popcorn. It’s a terrific action movie with a strong (scarily strong) female lead played by Geena Davis, and an ice-cold but weirdly charming villain (Craig Bierko). And it’s a Christmas movie!

If you’re into 9/11 conspiracy theories, the plot overseen by US intelligence official Leland Perkins (Patrick Malahide) will give you something to mull over. The section of dialogue below, between Perkins and Charly Baltimore (Geena Davis) may help explain why you don’t see this movie on TV much.

PERKINS
Budget cuts, remember? Congress blinded us in Eastern Europe, Central America. Across the board, an intelligence blackout. We had to recruit any eyes and ears we could find, even if it meant going to former targets.

Pause. Suddenly Charly’s eyes go wide. She whispers:

CHARLY
Budget cuts… oh, God. Is that what this is about...? The foot soldiers, the tanker truck… Fuck me, you’re running a fundraiser!!

Comprehension, dawning. She looks up in disbelief.

CHARLY
You’ll get all the money you want at the next budget hearing, won’t you...? All you need is a major terrorist incident.

PERKINS
Interesting theory.

CHARLY
Theory, my ass. I think some terrorists were planning a strike. Bought supplies from Daedalus, that’s how you knew they were coming…
(eyes widening)
No way. Don’t tell me you’re gonna sit there and let them go through with it, just to get a budget increase.

Perkins shrugs philosophically.

PERKINS
It’s not without precedent. 1993, remember the World Trade Center bombing...? The CIA had advance knowledge, don’t think they didn’t. Worse, the diplomat who issued the terrorist’s visa was CIA, they facilitated the bombing. Purely to justify a budget increase. Of course, they’d no way of knowing the terrorists would botch the job.

CHARLY
That’s not gonna happen this time...?

PERKINS
No. This time, the terrorist event will come off precisely as planned. This time the terrorists can’t muck it up… because we’ve killed them and taken over.