To Kill the King
Maggie van Birchard (Susan Tyrrell) and her boyfriend, restaurant owner Hank Adams (Lance Henriksen) drive to the Van Birchard estate in Dulles, Virginia; Maggie wants to sleep with Hank, but feels un…
To Kill the King
Maggie van Birchard (Susan Tyrrell) and her boyfriend, restaurant owner Hank Adams (Lance Henriksen) drive to the Van Birchard estate in Dulles, Virginia; Maggie wants to sleep with Hank, but feels unsure about doing it at her own house, but Hank convinces her otherwise. Maggie is married to Dr. Stephen van Birchard (Cec Linder), the White House Aide on Science, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs, and a Joint Chief of Staff of the Department of Defense, a position he shares with Zachary Taylor (Robert Goodier), an Admiral in the United States Navy. Stephen and Taylor, having returned from a mission in Manila hours ahead of schedule, drive to the Van Birchard estate, listening to the radio. The announcer mentions the President holding a press conference regarding permanent peace at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. As this is the President's first public appearance in two years after his second inauguration, there have been riots and protests, and the Justice Department is determined to deal with any threat to the President or his reputation. As Maggie and Hank make passionate love in bed, they hear the guard dogs barking outside and soon realize that Stephen is home. They prepare to leave, but Maggie keeps the door partially open so that they can overhear the conversation. Stephen and Taylor are disgusted by how the President deceived everyone with his lies. As they walk outside, Maggie overhears further: Taylor plots to assassinate the President, and has roped Stephen into helping him. Despite believing it's the right thing to do, Stephen feels unsure that they should proceed, but Taylor stands firm on the goal, and strongarms Stephen into the plan. Stephen gives Taylor total control over the plan, and refuses to cooperate further unless he knows more of the plan, so Taylor informs him: a news cameraman has planted a bomb at the United Nations, and has the triggering mechanism hidden inside the camera. While Hank is confused, Maggie is horrified that her husband is in a conspiracy to commit treason. The next morning, David Howard (Patrick O'Neal), the deputy of the Federal Security Agency, is woken up by a phone call informing him of a secret tape recording of Maggie and Hank overhearing the plan. After the call ends, David makes a call to his department, and tells them to bring both of them to their headquarters: a studio in Georgetown. David is granted permission from the United States Secretary (Barry Morse) to perform an investigation on the case. When Hank and Maggie arrive, David grills them both, even exposing Hank as Henri Ademski, a man who committed mail fraud in Montreal in 1963, and got a suspended sentence of two years; David threatens to expatriate him back to Canada if he doesn't comply. Maggie confesses that she loves both Hank and her husband; and tells David that she and Hank were on vacation in Bermuda, and arrived in Dulles a day ahead of schedule, and also explains what they overheard. Hank is sent home under the guise of quarantine, but David continues to interrogate Maggie. Maggie is insulted by David's questions, and David elaborates a ruse: Maggie will arrive back in Dulles, and everything of hers will be placed as if nothing happened. A regretful Hank meets Maggie outside, and as she gets into a taxi bound for the airport, they kiss each other goodbye. The ruse is carried out, and Maggie goes back home after driving from the airport. She calls Stephen, who has also just landed in Dulles under a ruse. Maggie wants to see Stephen, but he says he is regretfully busy, but promises to meet her at a cocktail bar for dinner that night. The phone lines are bugged by the FSA, who learn of Stephen's location, and David sends a surveillance team to spy on Stephen. At a gym, Stephen, Taylor, and two other doctors - Vincent O'Connell (Murray Westgate) and Mitchell Dawkins (Claude Rae) - discuss their plan. Stephen, having taken medical transcripts, views the President as a dangerous, power-hungry man who sees himself as a god, and is psychologically deranged. They all regret not seeing the signs in the president's first term, and having gotten him re-elected for a second one, as the President is now twisting the Constitution to suit him. O'Connell, the President's medical doctor, regrets funding the president's campaign, and believes that America may be beyond saving. All four of them agree, and set in motion the assassination plan for the following day. David and his assistant MacGilvrey (Ken James) overhear the conversation; Mac suggests that they kill the assassins, saving the taxpayers some money, but David protests that the men are too important to be killed, and that they'd be killing the only source to the rest of the plan. Mac suggests Maggie and Hank may know further; David agrees to use Maggie in their plan, but Hank may complicate things. David interrogates Maggie with a recording of her asking Hank if he heard the word "killing", to which he said no. Fed up with David harassing her and eavesdropping on her private conversations, Maggie storms out of the studio. At home, Hank calls the FSA, but Mac answers the phone and tells him that they don't know him, and hangs up. As Hank tries to call Maggie, he learns that she is not at home. Two FSA agents, who were waiting outside, walk into Hank's house, turn the television volume all the way up, and shoot him in the back of the head. In a park, Taylor and O'Connell, knowing that Maggie eavesdropped on their conversation, plan to secretly murder her without Stephen's knowledge; he plans to send her away on another vacation for a few days, and then have a couple of people murder her discreetly. Regarding the assassination, Stephen prepares to frame a foreign country for the future crime, and the Vice President will be sworn in imminently. Unknown to both of them, Mac, who was playing a game of chess, overhears this conversation, and gives the surveillance report to David. David learns that Maggie tried to call Hank, so he decides to go to her cocktail party as a VIP. Mac then talks about his game of chess, and says to David: "You know what chess really means? Checkmate. It's clearer in Russian: ''Shakh i mat''. That's from the Persian, which means 'to kill the king'." Maggie is approached by two hitmen at a department store; she manages to escape, and meets a little girl and her grandfather, who take her in. At a park, Maggie talks with the grandfather, regretting that she and her husband both wanted children, and even thought about adopting at one point, but nothing came of it. Maggie bitterly proclaims that she lives in a men's world, but the grandfather assures Maggie that not all men are bad, cheering her up. At the cocktail party, David meets the Secretary, who is not pleased by David's presence at the party, nor his decision to kill Hank since they had no use for him anymore; David reminds the Secretary that he gave him the permission to do so. David finds Stephen and talks with him about Maggie's absence. After reviewing surveillance of Maggie in the park, David learns that she was pursued by the men in the department store. David talks to the Secretary and informs him of what's happened. Realizing that the conspirators know about Maggie, David confirms that the FSA has a leak. David tells the Secretary to cancel the President's appointment at the United Nations, but the Secretary declines, knowing that the President will refuse to back down, instead telling David to double security. Maggie meets Stephen at a restaurant and embrace each other. They both make small talk, with each one wishing they could tell the other what was on their mind. As Maggie goes to use the bathroom, she meets her friend, a waiter named Dominic. Dominic tells Maggie that Hank was found dead in an apparent suicide; Maggie is in utter shock and disbelief. The next morning, a distraught Maggie talks with Stephen about Hank; Maggie knew Hank well enough to know he couldn't kill himself, and Stephen, having been fooled by many cases of people he once thought were sane, thinks that Hank may have been less sane than Maggie thought. As he leaves, Maggie tells Stephen that she loves him. Once Stephen leaves the room, Maggie - aware that the house is still bugged - breaks down crying, calls out David for killing Hank and wanting to kill her husband, and confesses that she overheard Stephen and Taylor mention a cameraman at the UN, before begging David to spare Stephen's life. The FSA goes over files on camera operators and single out two suspects: Bobby, who briefly worked with Dawkins in the Social Science Programming, and lost his son in the Vietnam War, and Eric, who did services for Taylor during and after the Korean War. Mac tells David that one of the cameramen was transferred out of the United Nations, and that he personally checked on the transferred one, leaving only one as the assassin. The surveillance team is knocked out with a gas grenade in a surprise attack outside the public library. Inside the bookstore, Taylor tells the other conspirators that the press conference at the United Nations is being televised, forcing them to change their plan. Stephen is on edge, but the others strongarm him into the plan. The FSA soon learns that their surveillance is gone, so David drives out to the stationed van. Through the control room, David learns that Eric is in police custody, but Bobby has been transferred to a press conference at the White House. Realizing the assassins have changed their plan, David races to the White House. Bobby prepares the bomb, and is about to activate it, but David and his men arrive just in time; Bobby is arrested and the bomb is disarmed. At the studio, David finds Mac playing chess and having difficulty playing the game; David quips, "Can't kill the king?", revealing Mac to be the leak at the FSA. David and Mac walk down a staircase, but David stops halfway down while Mac reaches the bottom. David pulls out his gun, and condescends Mac for betraying his oath to serve and protect, and Mac retorts that David performed many unconstitutional acts, which David defends as being unjudgeable by both him and Mac. Mac appeals to David, who knows that there are many problems with America, a lot of them coming from the President. David acknowledges that Mac is right, then shoots him anyway. O'Connell, Taylor, Stephen, and Dawkins are all summarily executed by the FSA. David arrives at the Van Birchard estate and is greeted by the same two men who killed Hank; they had broken into the house and attacked Maggie. This reveals that David orchestrated her attack just as he did Hank's. David calls the Secretary and tells him that he wants to talk with him. Maggie wakes up, realizes that Stephen is dead and that David masterminded it, and breaks down sobbing, knowing that the two men she loved in her life are gone forever. David and the Secretary discuss their actions, clarifying that the ends justified the means. They frame Stephen's death as a coronary, brought on by overwork and his young wife, Taylor's death is disguised as a freak accident, and Dawkins' death is disguised as a plane crash. Outside of the FSA and the Secretary, nobody knows anything about the conspiracy, but due to the events that have just occurred, America won't be seeing its leader outside the White House from now on. At Stephen's funeral, Maggie mourns her husband's death. David and the Secretary walk with her to a black car. When David opens the back door for her, the two federal assassins are sitting in the back seat, armed with a pipe. The film ends on a freeze-frame of the assassins ready to strike, with the Secretary's voice saying: "And the woman? She knows a great deal, of course", implying that Maggie was murdered to complete the FSA's cover-up.
To Kill the King
Adventure,Crime,Drama
Film Details
Maggie van Birchard (Susan Tyrrell) and her boyfriend, restaurant owner Hank Adams (Lance Henriksen) drive to the Van Birchard estate in Dulles, Virginia; Maggie wants to sleep with Hank, but feels unsure about doing it at her own house, but Hank convinces her otherwise. Maggie is married to Dr. Stephen van Birchard (Cec Linder), the White House Aide on Science, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs, and a Joint Chief of Staff of the Department of Defense, a position he shares with Zachary Taylor (Robert Goodier), an Admiral in the United States Navy.
Stephen and Taylor, having returned from a mission in Manila hours ahead of schedule, drive to the Van Birchard estate, listening to the radio. The announcer mentions the President holding a press conference regarding permanent peace at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. As this is the President's first public appearance in two years after his second inauguration, there have been riots and protests, and the Justice Department is determined to deal with any threat to the President or his reputation.
As Maggie and Hank make passionate love in bed, they hear the guard dogs barking outside and soon realize that Stephen is home. They prepare to leave, but Maggie keeps the door partially open so that they can overhear the conversation. Stephen and Taylor are disgusted by how the President deceived everyone with his lies.
As they walk outside, Maggie overhears further: Taylor plots to assassinate the President, and has roped Stephen into helping him. Despite believing it's the right thing to do, Stephen feels unsure that they should proceed, but Taylor stands firm on the goal, and strongarms Stephen into the plan. Stephen gives Taylor total control over the plan, and refuses to cooperate further unless he knows more of the plan, so Taylor informs him: a news cameraman has planted a bomb at the United Nations, and has the triggering mechanism hidden inside the camera.
While Hank is confused, Maggie is horrified that her husband is in a conspiracy to commit treason. The next morning, David Howard (Patrick O'Neal), the deputy of the Federal Security Agency, is woken up by a phone call informing him of a secret tape recording of Maggie and Hank overhearing the plan. After the call ends, David makes a call to his department, and tells them to bring both of them to their headquarters: a studio in Georgetown.
David is granted permission from the United States Secretary (Barry Morse) to perform an investigation on the case. When Hank and Maggie arrive, David grills them both, even exposing Hank as Henri Ademski, a man who committed mail fraud in Montreal in 1963, and got a suspended sentence of two years; David threatens to expatriate him back to Canada if he doesn't comply. Maggie confesses that she loves both Hank and her husband; and tells David that she and Hank were on vacation in Bermuda, and arrived in Dulles a day ahead of schedule, and also explains what they overheard.
Hank is sent home under the guise of quarantine, but David continues to interrogate Maggie. Maggie is insulted by David's questions, and David elaborates a ruse: Maggie will arrive back in Dulles, and everything of hers will be placed as if nothing happened. A regretful Hank meets Maggie outside, and as she gets into a taxi bound for the airport, they kiss each other goodbye.
The ruse is carried out, and Maggie goes back home after driving from the airport. She calls Stephen, who has also just landed in Dulles under a ruse. Maggie wants to see Stephen, but he says he is regretfully busy, but promises to meet her at a cocktail bar for dinner that night.
The phone lines are bugged by the FSA, who learn of Stephen's location, and David sends a surveillance team to spy on Stephen. At a gym, Stephen, Taylor, and two other doctors - Vincent O'Connell (Murray Westgate) and Mitchell Dawkins (Claude Rae) - discuss their plan. Stephen, having taken medical transcripts, views the President as a dangerous, power-hungry man who sees himself as a god, and is psychologically deranged.
They all regret not seeing the signs in the president's first term, and having gotten him re-elected for a second one, as the President is now twisting the Constitution to suit him. O'Connell, the President's medical doctor, regrets funding the president's campaign, and believes that America may be beyond saving. All four of them agree, and set in motion the assassination plan for the following day.
David and his assistant MacGilvrey (Ken James) overhear the conversation; Mac suggests that they kill the assassins, saving the taxpayers some money, but David protests that the men are too important to be killed, and that they'd be killing the only source to the rest of the plan. Mac suggests Maggie and Hank may know further; David agrees to use Maggie in their plan, but Hank may complicate things. David interrogates Maggie with a recording of her asking Hank if he heard the word "killing", to which he said no.
Fed up with David harassing her and eavesdropping on her private conversations, Maggie storms out of the studio. At home, Hank calls the FSA, but Mac answers the phone and tells him that they don't know him, and hangs up. As Hank tries to call Maggie, he learns that she is not at home.
Two FSA agents, who were waiting outside, walk into Hank's house, turn the television volume all the way up, and shoot him in the back of the head. In a park, Taylor and O'Connell, knowing that Maggie eavesdropped on their conversation, plan to secretly murder her without Stephen's knowledge; he plans to send her away on another vacation for a few days, and then have a couple of people murder her discreetly. Regarding the assassination, Stephen prepares to frame a foreign country for the future crime, and the Vice President will be sworn in imminently.
Unknown to both of them, Mac, who was playing a game of chess, overhears this conversation, and gives the surveillance report to David. David learns that Maggie tried to call Hank, so he decides to go to her cocktail party as a VIP. Mac then talks about his game of chess, and says to David: "You know what chess really means? Checkmate.
It's clearer in Russian: ''Shakh i mat''. That's from the Persian, which means 'to kill the king'." Maggie is approached by two hitmen at a department store; she manages to escape, and meets a little girl and her grandfather, who take her in. At a park, Maggie talks with the grandfather, regretting that she and her husband both wanted children, and even thought about adopting at one point, but nothing came of it.
Maggie bitterly proclaims that she lives in a men's world, but the grandfather assures Maggie that not all men are bad, cheering her up. At the cocktail party, David meets the Secretary, who is not pleased by David's presence at the party, nor his decision to kill Hank since they had no use for him anymore; David reminds the Secretary that he gave him the permission to do so. David finds Stephen and talks with him about Maggie's absence.
After reviewing surveillance of Maggie in the park, David learns that she was pursued by the men in the department store. David talks to the Secretary and informs him of what's happened. Realizing that the conspirators know about Maggie, David confirms that the FSA has a leak.
David tells the Secretary to cancel the President's appointment at the United Nations, but the Secretary declines, knowing that the President will refuse to back down, instead telling David to double security. Maggie meets Stephen at a restaurant and embrace each other. They both make small talk, with each one wishing they could tell the other what was on their mind.
As Maggie goes to use the bathroom, she meets her friend, a waiter named Dominic. Dominic tells Maggie that Hank was found dead in an apparent suicide; Maggie is in utter shock and disbelief. The next morning, a distraught Maggie talks with Stephen about Hank; Maggie knew Hank well enough to know he couldn't kill himself, and Stephen, having been fooled by many cases of people he once thought were sane, thinks that Hank may have been less sane than Maggie thought.
As he leaves, Maggie tells Stephen that she loves him. Once Stephen leaves the room, Maggie - aware that the house is still bugged - breaks down crying, calls out David for killing Hank and wanting to kill her husband, and confesses that she overheard Stephen and Taylor mention a cameraman at the UN, before begging David to spare Stephen's life. The FSA goes over files on camera operators and single out two suspects: Bobby, who briefly worked with Dawkins in the Social Science Programming, and lost his son in the Vietnam War, and Eric, who did services for Taylor during and after the Korean War.
Mac tells David that one of the cameramen was transferred out of the United Nations, and that he personally checked on the transferred one, leaving only one as the assassin. The surveillance team is knocked out with a gas grenade in a surprise attack outside the public library. Inside the bookstore, Taylor tells the other conspirators that the press conference at the United Nations is being televised, forcing them to change their plan.
Stephen is on edge, but the others strongarm him into the plan. The FSA soon learns that their surveillance is gone, so David drives out to the stationed van. Through the control room, David learns that Eric is in police custody, but Bobby has been transferred to a press conference at the White House.
Realizing the assassins have changed their plan, David races to the White House. Bobby prepares the bomb, and is about to activate it, but David and his men arrive just in time; Bobby is arrested and the bomb is disarmed. At the studio, David finds Mac playing chess and having difficulty playing the game; David quips, "Can't kill the king?", revealing Mac to be the leak at the FSA.
David and Mac walk down a staircase, but David stops halfway down while Mac reaches the bottom. David pulls out his gun, and condescends Mac for betraying his oath to serve and protect, and Mac retorts that David performed many unconstitutional acts, which David defends as being unjudgeable by both him and Mac. Mac appeals to David, who knows that there are many problems with America, a lot of them coming from the President.
David acknowledges that Mac is right, then shoots him anyway. O'Connell, Taylor, Stephen, and Dawkins are all summarily executed by the FSA. David arrives at the Van Birchard estate and is greeted by the same two men who killed Hank; they had broken into the house and attacked Maggie.
This reveals that David orchestrated her attack just as he did Hank's. David calls the Secretary and tells him that he wants to talk with him. Maggie wakes up, realizes that Stephen is dead and that David masterminded it, and breaks down sobbing, knowing that the two men she loved in her life are gone forever.
David and the Secretary discuss their actions, clarifying that the ends justified the means. They frame Stephen's death as a coronary, brought on by overwork and his young wife, Taylor's death is disguised as a freak accident, and Dawkins' death is disguised as a plane crash. Outside of the FSA and the Secretary, nobody knows anything about the conspiracy, but due to the events that have just occurred, America won't be seeing its leader outside the White House from now on.
At Stephen's funeral, Maggie mourns her husband's death. David and the Secretary walk with her to a black car. When David opens the back door for her, the two federal assassins are sitting in the back seat, armed with a pipe.
The film ends on a freeze-frame of the assassins ready to strike, with the Secretary's voice saying: "And the woman? She knows a great deal, of course", implying that Maggie was murdered to complete the FSA's cover-up..