The Whole Truth - Recap

"Honest" Harvey Hunnicut runs a used car lot and goes to work on a young couple looking for a car. An old man drives up in a Model A and Hunnicutt takes it off his hands for $25. He heads back to the couple who are sitting in the car and works to hold it together with wires. Inside the office, the old man is signing the transfer papers on the Model A and mentions one more thing about the car: it's haunted. The old man warns that the only way to unhaunt it is to sell the car.



Hunnicut goes back to the couple and tells them he's not selling it: the car is a wreck. Surprised, Hunnicut tries to direct them to another car, but admits that everything in the lot should be junked and tells them to go to a reputable place. After they leave, Hunnicut's assistant Irv arrives and Hunnicut is forced to tell him to sell the Model A as is. The used car dealer calls his wife and ends up telling her that he'll be playing poker with the boys, and that he's been lying to her all the time. Hanging up, Hunnicut realizes that the old man was telling the truth.



Three days later, Hunnicut hasn't sold a single car and Irv wants a raise. Hunnicut tells him the truth that Irv won't be getting any his six-month raise and Irv punches him before walking out. Hunnicut spots an alderman, Honest Luther Grimbley, checking out the Model A. He starts his sales pitch and ends up telling the truth about it, but Grimbley wants it anyway and figures Hunnicut is downplaying it deliberately because he knows Grimbley wants it. Alderman offers him $25 so he can drive around in an old car to impress his constituents. However, when he asks if there's any strings attached, Hunnicut has to tell him the truth about the curse. Grimbley realizes what telling the truth would do to his career and quickly backs out of the deal. Hunnicut notices the alderman carrying a newspaper and jokingly says that he should sell the car to the man in the main article, and Grimbley says if he could, it'd be the greatest gag of all time.



Later, a black limo pulls up and Hunnicut deals with the owner's representative. The man wonders if Hunnicut is trying to cheat him but checks with his employer, who agrees to the purchase. Hunnicut makes sure the boss signs it personally and says it's the perfect propaganda piece against Americans. Hunnicut goes back to his office and makes sure he has the owner's signature: Nikita Khrushchev. He then calls John F. Kennedy with the news about the car's newest owner.



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