What Makes Sammy Run?

A few months have passed, and Kit, Al, and Sammy are leaving the premiere of a new movie produced by Sammy and written by Al. It seems to be a success, and Sidney Fineman even comes to congratulate Al on his writing job. Fineman asks Sammy for his opinion on Fineman’s suggestions, which gives both Kit and Al pause as Fineman is a vastly superior filmmaker in comparison to Sammy.

As they leave the theater, Kit describes Hollywood as a “gold-rush town,” going on to say that “the three chief products this town turns out are moving pictures, ambition and fear” (261). Fineman’s recent films have flopped, and Al and Kit discuss his inevitable, approaching fall from power. A few days later, Al goes over to Sammy’s new house, where Sammy shows off all his expensive purchases and design choices. Al notices that Sammy seems to be self-conscious about living there alone.

After Al and Sammy come up with a new movie idea, Sammy invites Al to stay for a drink. Sammy doesn’t know how to enjoy his success without another person’s presence. As they share a drink, Sammy tells Al he has figured out how to force Fineman out. Harrington, the chairman of the studio’s board, is coming to town from New York, and Fineman has asked Sammy to help him impress the powerful man. Sammy has taken over the process of planning a reception for Harrington, which he will hold at his own house, ensuring that it will be himself and not Fineman who makes an impression. 

Sammy invites Al and Kit to the party, asking about their relationship, which Al tells him is permanent. Sammy expresses interest in getting married himself, but makes no allowance for love in his plans. Al leaves to go meet Kit for coffee. Kit has been working with the Guild again, which has reformed. At the party, Kit and Al are awed to see Sammy feel the first stirrings of love for the daughter of the board’s chairperson, Laurette Harrington. Sammy’s date for the evening, Ruth Mintz, is quickly thrown over in sacrifice to his new obsession with Laurette. Laurette humiliates Sammy by being more cultured than he is, which Al suspects is a part of the fascination.

Al hears Sammy telling the board members the same philosophy of movie making that Fineman once told him, stealing his words. The board members, focused on profit, are easy for Sammy to manipulate. Al speculates that Laurette fascinates Sammy because she is so unlike him, having been born to privilege. Kit and Al take Ruth home as Sammy shows off his house to Laurette.

The next day, Al and Kit observe Sammy and Laurette having lunch together in the studio commissary and speculate about how their relationship will develop. Kit argues that it’s the combination of wealth, status, beauty, and unattainability that attracts Sammy, and that he is feeling genuine love rather than making a strategic move. Part of the attraction is that Laurette repeatedly humiliated Sammy when they first met, forgetting plans, not falling for his charm, and bringing other men with her on their outings. Finally, Sammy left without saying goodbye and stopped showing interest, which he says reeled her back in.

Two months later, Sammy tells Al he is engaged to Laurette, with her father’s approval. Sammy also announces that Sidney Fineman is officially being ousted and that he is taking over as head of the studio. Sammy tries to justify himself to Al, saying that he fought for Fineman to stay. Al is horrified less at Sammy’s machinations, which he is used to by now, than at his attempt to justify himself. Sammy goes to the window and declares that all of Hollywood is his now. Al watches him do this, “as if [he] were watching The Phantom of the Opera or any other horror picture” (284) and asks Sammy how he feels. Sammy replies that it makes him feel patriotic.

Sammy has taken over as head of the studio, and both Kit and Al mourn Fineman’s leaving, as he cared for the art of filmmaking more than the money. Fineman’s final picture is original, artistic, and a hit, but Sammy directs most of the credit for it to an assistant he can control. A short while after leaving the studio, Fineman dies.

Sammy’s wedding to Laurette Harrington is a very grand affair, held at Sammy’s new Bel Air estate. Everything is done perfectly, and all the gathered guests agree that it is the grandest Hollywood wedding ever seen. Kit and Al are eager to leave and end up driving along the coast. They end their drive at an amusement park, riding a rollercoaster over and over again. They engage in a debate about elopement, during which Kit agrees to marry Al. Delighted, they discuss their plans for a quiet courthouse wedding and a honeymoon on the coast, away from Hollywood and Sammy Glick.

At 1:00 am that night, while Kit and Al share a drink at home, Sammy calls Al. He asks him to come over, his voice carrying “a ring of humility [Al] had never heard before” (293). This request confuses Al, as it is Sammy’s wedding night, but he nevertheless agrees after some urging. Arriving at Sammy’s mansion, Al finds it brightly lit with music blasting from the radio. Sammy is drunk, and Laurette is nowhere to be seen. Sammy admits that he couldn’t face spending his wedding night alone, and that he called Al because he knew he could talk to him. He says that after the ceremony and reception, he found Laurette having sex with one of the new stars he had just signed. She told him she sees their marriage as a mutually beneficial business arrangement, and she left. Sammy, who had truly fallen in love with her, is devastated.

Sammy asks whether Al hates him like everyone else, and Al says that isn’t quite true. Al thinks Sammy can’t help being the way he is, as “With you it was a choice of being a nice guy and a flop or the way you are now” (299). Al says he would leave the marriage, and Sammy agrees, but the minute he starts to pack he begins to wonder how it would affect his career. Sammy decides to stay. He asks Al for Billie’s number, and Al says that she’s working as a sex worker now and that she is “moral” and wouldn’t have sex with Sammy unless it was for money. Sammy has Sheik go pick her up for him. He wants Al to stay, but Al declines, telling Sammy about his and Kit’s upcoming marriage. Sammy obviously still doesn’t want Al to leave, walking him to the door. He tells Al to forget everything he told him.

As Al drives away, he feels exhausted. His last look at Sammy shows him tiny and alone among his palatial surroundings. Al realizes that while he wanted justice to come to Sammy in the form of a decisive punishment, his real comeuppance is that he will spend his life alone, desperate, and afraid. He is struck by the terrible nature of individualism. Finally, Al thinks of his own recording of Sammy’s career. He believes that “if you looked behind the picture and between the lines you might even discover what made [Sammy] run” (303) and thinks about how one day he’d even like to see it published.