Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues 1972

Peter, Robert F. Lyons, is a cocky Harvard law student who is tired of playing it safe, so his best friend and theater director John, John Lithgow, drags him into the drug world. Peter loves the rush of bending the rules and agrees to transport a suitcase full of pot from his suppliers to him, a risky gig that marks his full plunge into an underworld he never imagined. Inspired by the Rolling Stones’ song Sympathy for the Devil, he adopts the street name Lucifer, a bold badge that matches his newfound appetite for danger.

At the drug dealers’ hideout, Peter meets Susan, Barbara Hershey, and he falls for her hard, drawn to how she stands in stark contrast to his own prudish and uptight girlfriend Annie, Ellen Barber. Susan feels the same attraction, and she agrees to help by taking him to a train station to stash the dope in a locker, a plan that pushes them closer together even as the risk grows. They hit it off quickly, sharing a spark that strengthens Peter’s resolve to chase more time with her.

When they reach the station, they notice a military officer overseeing a funeral transport for what looks like a casket returning from the Vietnam War, a somber sight that chills their nerves and gives them pause. This stark reminder of life-and-death consequences prompts them to retreat and spend a night together at one of Susan’s musician friends’ place, a brief pause that deepens their bond and complicates Peter’s loyalties.

Peter then completes the initial job but soon asks John for another gig, eager to see Susan again and to test where their growing feelings might lead. The second mission goes sour in a brutal turn of events, as the girl is busted with forty bricks (or kilos) of marijuana by police sergeant Murphy, Charles Durning, a dirty cop who happens to be in bed with Cortez, a dangerous Cuban gangster. The betrayal from within the system adds a sharp edge to the danger surrounding everyone involved.

John wants his dope back and Peter wants to save Susan, so they concoct a risky plan that centers on a round metal casing full of red heroin—an object that everyone in the underworld desires and one that many are willing to kill for. As they thread this dangerous path, the story tightens with tension, testing loyalties and pushing each character toward decisions that could cost them everything.