The Conspirator Page #2

Synopsis: In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, the Vice-President, and the Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt, 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken, a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. As the trial unfolds, Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her own son.
Genre: Crime, Drama, History
Director(s): Robert Redford
Production: Roadside Attractions
  2 wins & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.9
Metacritic:
55
Rotten Tomatoes:
55%
PG-13
Year:
2010
122 min
$11,538,204
Website
659 Views


John Wilkes Booth.

Are you certain?

They've performed with him many times.

They're positive.

We haven't done anything wrong.

It's gonna be all right.

Well, one man did not orchestrate

all of this on his own.

Where's Grant?

He's on a train to Philadelphia.

Bring him to me.

I want the commander

of the Union army here.

- Move.

- Yes, sir.

Put the forts on alert, all guns manned.

And find out which members of the Cabinet

are still unaccounted for.

Sir, we should move to the War Department

to facilitate operations.

- I'm not leaving him.

- Yes, sir.

Damn the rebels.

Damn them all to hell.

Mr. Secretary, sir.

Several names have come up, sir,

including an intimate of Booth's,

a John Surratt.

What is known of him?

His mother runs

a boarding house in town.

Find him.

I want the city closed.

If any of these assassins

get south of the Potomac

or up into Canada,

they will never be found.

Right away, sir.

Also the vice president wishes

to pay his respects.

When I say it is safe

for him to do so.

And keep him away

from the liquor.

Yes, sir.

Take that woman out,

and do not let her in again.

Let's go.

It wasn't me. It wasn't me.

Move it!

Get up, you!

No!

Booth.

Yah!

That's for the judge to decide.

Sir.

Well, nice of you

to show, Mr. Aiken.

I'm sorry for being late, Senator.

You aware the trial of the conspirators

begins today?

Yes, sir.

There's not a seat to be had.

Well, now you have one.

How's that, sir?

I've taken one of the cases,

and I want you

to be my second chair.

I thought the government

was planning a military tribunal.

Oh, indeed. Stanton has chosen

nine of his most loyal officers

to be judges, all for Union.

In fact, he's picked one of the Lincoln's

pallbearers to head the Commission.

Uh, let's go.

Uh, I'm sorry, sir.

I might be being a little slow,

but won't the War Department

be handling the prosecution?

Stanton's most trusted

judge advocate general,

Joseph Holt, will be in charge.

Then what are we to do?

Defend one of the eight.

Defend one

of the assassins?

Alleged assassins, counselor.

I had a letter from the lady this morning.

She runs a boarding house,

a Mrs. Mary...

Surratt?

Yes, that's it.

Sir, her son John was Booth's right hand.

Well, if they suspect her son,

they should try him.

They would

if they could find him,

but they've got 250 agents

out looking for him.

She built the nest

that hatched this plot.

President Johnson said it himself.

Well, I know this goes hard

with you, Freddie,

but... but what they're plannin',

which is a military trial of civilians,

is an atrocity.

No, no. What she did is an atrocity.

There's no presumption of innocence,

Rate this script:3.0 / 1 vote

James D. Solomon

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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