The Butcher (2009) - full transcript
For nearly twenty years after his boxing career ended Merle Hench works for Murdoch, the capo of a San Fernando mob outfit. Merle spends his days cracking heads and collecting debts, it is not a job he enjoys. Cool, calm and collected, soft spoken even, Merle's an anachronism, a man out of place and out of time. His Boss thinks Merle has outlived his usefulness and is expendable. So they set him up to take the fall for a multi-million $ heist of a rival mob boss. A habitual gambler on a 20 year losing streak, Merle's luck turns as he survives the trap and winds up with a piece of the take and the girl. Merle might have been content to just disappear and spend his windfall with Jacqueline. But the betrayal of his loyalty for 20 years snapped something inside. Merle Hench, otherwise known as the Butcher is slow to anger yet quick to act, he's learned to live and let live to keep on going, but not this time. Everyone thought his nickname was a joke, what they didn't know was that Merle had a dark side, a secret past that earned that awful name. Merle finds himself in the cross-fire of a gang war, with all the guns aimed at him. It's an all-out race to win his freedom, win the girl and win redemption. They tried to bury him twice, but twice he got away. Underestimating Merle Hench is their biggest mistake and their final career move.
You know, it's just not like the old days.
It's not.
Guys then they had charisma.
Style.
Used to call it panache.
So,
still play the ponies, Merle?
Panache?
- Yeah, look.
You walk into a room full of shooters.
And you're calm.
I mean you got ice water in your veins calm.
And you think.
You don't react.
You think.
You're always gonna have the advantage.
Now, bear with me here.
Most people that pull a gun,
they have no intention of killing.
They don't even aim.
They point, pull the trigger
and turn away.
That's because killing
is against the most fundamental of human responses.
When the stress is on and the shit really hits the fan
and you're facing down bad guys,
that's what it comes down to.
Fundamentals.
Comes down to panache.
You go in there cold-minded.
Age don't matter.
Numbers don't matter.
You kill 'em all.
Hope you got a hot tip for me.
- Carmelita.
Spanish Angel.
She's a two-year-old thoroughbred out of Shreveport.
She's running at Santa Ana on the 5th.
You bet her to win.
- Carmelita?
No shit.
See you around, Teddy.
- You look after yourself, Merle.
More important things to talk about.
I've always got five digs here in Hawaii.
We'll start off by going to the beach.
Hey, Jackie.
A luau.
Jackie has the best luau.
She grills fish and everything.
Wait till you eat it.
What do you mean?
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's part of their culture.
- Owen Geiger.
Remember me?
- Fuck!
Let's go.
Fuck, man!
- Ow.
- Look, I'm sorry it had to come down to this, but
you know why I'm here.
You're not supposed to be operating
on this side of the river.
Murdoch needs you to keep it in the barrio, East LA.
It's business, he understands what you gotta do
but if we have to tell you again, you might not walk away.
A word to the wise.
Lay low for a while, all right?
In fact, a word to the wiser, disappear.
Do we have an understanding?
Do we have an understanding?
- Yeah, yeah.
It's understood, bro.
- Stay hungry kid.
- Very well could be the dog hears things.
Could be I heard the big man jawing on you.
- I work for him.
- Yeah.
That's as is.
But that cracker from Carolina,
he's not hot for you, Butcher.
Nah.
Word on the street is
that he's sniffing at your pension plan.
- That's a good line.
It's also horse shit.
Merle was a one time gun man,
A some time prize fighter.
A man who now preferred a drink over a fight.
He'd had more chances in life than most
but failed to see any of them through.
People liked Merle.
They just felt he should have amounted to more.
- Hmm, the long goodbye.
Maybe it's for the best, Carmelita.
Maybe it's for the best at that.
- Good morning, Merle.
- Good morning, Jackie.
You look ravishing as always.
- Your friends are in the back.
- I know.
You got any of that liquid tarmac for me?
- No cream, no sugar?
No cream, no sugar.
- Look like you haven't slept.
- Because I haven't.
There's no softer pillow than a clean conscious.
So said my grandmother Beatrice.
- Do you think it's true?
- What you talking about?
Do you think we have a sell by date?
Just seemed like so much was possible once and then slowly,
steadily, it all went away.
- Oh baby.
I have this technique.
It's a way to get rid of all
the bad, dark, bleak things in your life.
Visualize it.
Look at it.
See it.
Turn it into a two dimensional photograph.
Light a match
and burn it.
Vaporize it.
Just get rid of it.
I find that it helps some times.
You're still young baby.
Enjoy yourself.
- I can only imagine dealing with a guilty conscious
that a man
with the nickname The Butcher might have.
- Oh, come on.
It's a nickname they gave me when I was a fighter.
But those were the old days.
Nobody remembers that anymore.
- If it isn't young Merle.
- Good morning, Pearl.
- Join us, why don't you.
- I'll do that.
- Is it true what they say about him?
- What do you mean?
- That he fought with a real bear.
- Yeah, that's true.
But it was a long time ago.
- It's been 35 years since I come to this country.
Had $18 in my pocket and a dream in my head.
Saw what I wanted to do and did it.
And pity the man who tried to get in my way.
Found some rough souls among you.
And gave you all a damn good life now, didn't I?
Well those that could keep a simple rule or two.
Like Eddie here.
Now you all know Eddie Hellstrom.
Eddie's been watching my club investments
since he was old enough to chisel an angle.
He's a pushy goddamned kid and I like him.
First time he tried to hustle me
he wanted to run the old strip joint on Rampart.
He told me,
"You see that Bentley?
"You let me run this club
"you'll have one in three months."
I asked him if he'd like to go for a ride
in the trunk of my Cadillac.
I liked the kid straight off.
So here we are.
We all know Molo the Shank's retiring
so I'm handing his duties over to Eddie here.
It's a big day for you, kid.
- Thank you, Murdoch.
- Congratulations.
Gentlemen, pay your respects to the kid.
You'll probably be taking orders from him in a few years.
- Murdoch.
- Merle "The Butcher" Hench.
You run that beaner spic Geiger off my Santa Fe project?
- I wanted to talk to you about him.
Think he's a good kid.
Maybe, maybe he could run an angle for you?
- Run an angle?
Maybe.
- Really?
That's interesting.
By the way, ever meet my cousin Maguire?
Mm-mm.
- Ah.
Come on.
Now, Merle, last night somebody was around here.
Geiger and this faggot jungle bunny
tried to rob Maguire's liquor store on Alvarado.
Now my cousin's a bad motherfucker.
Did seven to ten up in Pelican Bay for armed assault.
So he beat the living crap out of the wetback
before burying him alive in Bakersfield.
Now it's a long drive out to Bakersfield,
and these stupid fucking crackheads start talking
like a pair of balling bingo bitches all the way there.
- Geiger?
- Now I don't specifically blame you, Merle.
This punk would've found a piece somewhere,
but he used the heater you let him keep.
- You give me a hand with this cocksucker?
- Quit breaking my balls.
Can't you see I'm eating my candy over here?
Come on, get out.
Get up.
Come on.
- What, you got nothing else to say tough guy?
You got nothing to say now?
Huh?
Punk?
I took his bullets.
Told him to stay away from downtown.
- Are you out of your fucking mind?
- What?
- Are you so goddamned ignorant of human nature?
What kind of fucking enforcer,
what kind of soldier lets a two-bit punk
have his gun back after a beating?
What the fuck is wrong with you?
- You're right.
You're right.
- I don't know what happened to you, Merle.
Think about retiring, huh?
You know you should invest
in some kind of strip joint or a club.
Your friend Manny's got two of them nudie mag stores.
The old boy never has to lift a finger.
- I know.
- Living life like he's on the red neck Riviera.
- You don't gotta worry about me.
I have investments.
Real estate.
- Start thinking about your retirement.
Let the young bloods move up.
Let them take the risks.
Be smart.
- Yeah.
- Anyways, I got a deal might work for you.
- Hm?
- I gotta go to this fundraiser, Commissioner Scobyn.
Just got honored by the Jewish Retirement Community.
Merle the fucking Butcher.
My cotton-tailed ass.
See yous later boys.
- Later Murdoch.
Merle, I'll call ya.
Okay.
- Gentle touch for an old prizefighter, Merle.
You stroke that glass like a mother
might hold a baby's hand.
Ever tell you I saw you fight.
- No.
- Plaza de la Raza, East Los Angeles.
Barrio club fight.
- Right.
- Professionally rated, as I recall.
- Yes it was.
- You could have used it as a dollar ticket fight.
Take the don'ts and pay the line!
Plastered that plucky wetback.
Took him apart like a rank amateur.
Thought I was watching the making of a star.
Used a quick hook, that kinda twisted as it made contact.
Lifted the little finger on the inside.
His face looked so goddamned bad afterward,
even his own mother would be hard pressed to recognize him.
That left hand of yours,
that left hand of yours could decapitate a grown man.
- Would have been March 23rd, 1979.
Soldier De Santos, 15 to zero on the pro circuit.
He was supposed to be bad.
It was a hell of a night.
- We still got Paris, right?
- Oh, yeah.
- You're about three and a half into the hole now, Merle.
That's why I had to come out myself.
You come up spades,
that winds your ticket up to 19 big ones.
Now, I've been brotherly and not clamped down.
Had to see if your luck turned tail.
Hasn't, and I ain't got time to wait.
You gotta come good by Thursday.
- Mm-hm?
- Or my associates take over.
That shiny car of yours has to be worth a couple of Gs.
Sell it.
Get straight with me, Merle.
You know I like you, we'll do business again.
But pay me by Thursday, Merle, or we got a problem.
Catch my drift?
- Mm-hm.
- There you go babe.
- Oh, man.
- Lost its flavor, honey?
- Oh yeah, but just you watch me Rose,
I shall rise triumphant from these fucking ashes.
You know I got 15 loose bills on me.
Maybe I'll just leave.
- It's a 1969 Dodge Charger
with a 440 magnum big block and original Super Bee 4-speed.
Only made a couple hundred like this so,
the price was 21,000 in cash when you arrived.
The price is still 21,000 in cash.
- You know, we're wasting each other's time.
My card.
No bites.
You wanna shift the wheels, you know,
you come by and see me.
I'll give you a fair nickel.
I appreciate that.
50, 100, 200,
250, 70, 90.
290 cash.
Plus I'd like to use my Rolex as collateral
for the other 60.
- Real Submariner, thick pearl face.
I'll stake you for it, Merle.
Word in your shell, like a brother,
never ever gamble when you are desperate.
It's liable to affect your judgment.
- You want me to go home, Pete?
I'm a big boy and I feel lucky tonight.
- You must call, Merle.
- All in.
- Too rich for me, Merle.
Your luck has beaten mine like a redheaded step-child.
19,000, it's a good night's work bro.
I'll come back tomorrow.
I like you, always been fair.
I'd hate to see you lose your shirt when your vein pans out.
A little luck often proves more deadly then a flat out loss.
Be careful what you do with that moolah.
- I won't be back, Pete.
I've seen good luck, I've seen bad luck.
I know the difference.
- I understand why they call you The Butcher.
- Nobody calls me that anymore, Pete.
All right?
- Oh, no!
Jesus, Merle, they're with me.
Oh!
Sweet mother of mercy!
Who do you think is going to pay the hospital bills?
- Larry, what are you doing here?
- Pete's security was on alert to call if you turned up.
We've been here since one o'clock this morning.
It's just business with me, Merle, you know that.
I've got a family to feed, it's just business.
- Larry, I did not recognize your boys.
I wouldn't make them look so bad if I knew who they were.
How's that ankle, pal?
- Look, you got him in the boiler room man.
Still got a couple of moves for an old man.
- Let me take you boys for breakfast, come on Larry.
- I don't feel like eating breakfast.
- Suck it up.
Everybody likes breakfast.
Get in the car.
Here you go.
You all right?
Here you go.
- We're square, Merle.
I gotta be straight with you.
I hadn't foreseen this.
I mean but then again I can be a cynical son of a bitch.
Comes with the territory one would suppose.
I hear things, you know.
Haven't heard anything good about you.
I'd have put money on your not having a winning streak now.
- There's a horse running this afternoon,
Carmelita, I got a hunch.
I want you to bet the whole bundle on her to place.
- Sounded like you said you want me to put the whole bundle
on a horse called Carmelita.
- Mm-hmm.
- We'll be back where we started you know that, Merle.
- Only if I lose.
She's 15 to 1, Larry.
A long shot.
- 19,000
on Carmelita,
to win, Merle.
- That's not what I said, Larry.
- Take it or leave it, Merle.
That's the only way I'm covering you.
- I'll take it.
- Carmelita?
That's the skin dancer from Reseda,
A nightclub canary and a hell-roaring drunk.
Shacked up with Dennis Tull.
Seem to remember she rolled with you for a while.
- I married her.
- Oh.
Well, I hope for your sakes the bitch don't fuck you again.
Sentiment's a hell of a luxury, Merle.
- Yes it is.
- Hello there, stranger.
- Hi.
- That looked like a serious conversation.
- You look ravishing today.
When are you going to run away with me?
- Don't be so sure I'm picky about
who it is rescues me from this place, Merle.
Just think about how you ask me.
There's always that chance I might say yes.
- Hmm.
- You know, they say that the arrival of coffee
and tobacco in Europe
signaled the start of the industrial revolution.
- Mmm.
- Stimulated the brain.
I fucking hate you can't smoke
in these goddamned places anymore.
- Good morning Eddie.
What can I do for you?
- Why don't you like me, tough guy?
We're a lot alike, you and I.
I boxed out of the old prison gym in Lincoln Heights.
It was kind of like one of those
undecorated East Coast sweatshops from the movies.
- You know, where you work the weights
and get that fucking rust shit on your hands afterward.
In our line of work Eddie, we have excuses
for all kinds of bad behavior.
But a man's a man.
How he carries himself is all I'm concerned about.
I don't judge people Eddie, I just don't like you.
- It's okay, in Kentucky, when we've wronged a man,
we recognize his privilege to resent it.
It's because I got that kid to take a dive.
The Puerto Rican puncher from Boyle Heights.
See.
That's what made me.
Yeah, that was it.
He lost his title and the right to fight.
That got to you, didn't it?
- Maybe.
- It's no wonder why you never made it in this game, Merle.
You got a soft touch.
That's the kiss of death in our racket.
You gotta have the ferocity to pick a fight
over five bucks and not give up.
You just don't get that, do you?
Murdoch wants you to run an errand.
There's a redneck prick.
A fucking dog hick dick, we deal with, Doyle.
He has a titty bar.
City of Industry, Spearmint Rhino.
We need you to go by, and pick up a payment.
He wants somebody who can handle themselves,
and will be on time.
Four o'clock this afternoon.
No earlier, cause that's when the money,
everything will be ready.
Are we understood?
Am I understood?
- Spearmint Rhino, four o'clock.
Got it.
- Take care then.
- Hmm.
- 1915, Model .45.
Normally I wouldn't recommend it for a concealed carry
but it's all I can give you.
It'll buck like a turpentine mule.
If you plan on firing it, I suggest you grip it
like a politician making election hay,
can't hold it too tightly.
This one supposedly belonged to Cherokee Tom Threepersons
out of El Paso, but I doubt it.
Not as easy an iron to hide as your Colt's
but it'll shoot clover leaves at 15 paces.
Want to see your babies before you leave?
- Love to.
- Boy!
Get them two gold .45s.
The one I was talking to you about.
I look at them myself once in a while.
Tiffany and company couldn't do better.
- I know.
- I wouldn't dare shoot them, be afraid to use them.
You won't catch me playing with them.
You're safe with me.
- Thank you, Naylor.
I really appreciate it.
I'll be back real soon.
- Look, you end up using that six gun, just lose it.
Don't bring it back here.
- Thanks, pal.
- See ya later, Merle.
♪ And I've had so much time
♪ To sit and think about myself ♪
♪ And then there she was
♪ Like double cherry pie
♪ Yeah, there she was
♪ Like disco Superfly
♪ I smell sex and candy here
- Hello, doll face.
- What can I get ya?
- Get me a bourbon on the rocks.
- That's $11.
- Make it a coke, sister.
You got it.
♪ Devious stares in my direction ♪
♪ Mama, this surely is a dream
- You look like a man on a mission.
How about a private dance?
I've been fired and re-hired three times
for too much personal contact.
Oh Jesus, mister.
♪ Hangin' 'round
♪ Downtown by myself
- Buy the lovely ladies a drink?
- No drink, no dance.
But thank you both.
- You can have us both if you'd like.
- No thanks.
Oh.
You're gonna leave us hanging just like that?
- Just like that.
♪ Like disco lemonade
♪ I smell sex and candy here
- I'd like to see Mr. Doyle.
Is he here?
- I'll see what I can do.
♪ Who's that casting
- You walk into a place
asking for a man like me and then demand money.
You're looking to commit suicide the hard way, Mr. Hench.
- I asked, I did not demand.
- I'll tell you.
I know Eddie and Murdoch.
They've been trying to buy me out for years.
I won't sell because I don't want to.
I'm not ready to move on yet.
I'm fairly connected myself, I know certain people.
I can make a phone call or two.
Believe me when I say these are
grim characters.
I run an expensive establishment that's hardly ever full.
Do the math.
I have other dealings.
- There's obviously been a misunderstanding.
If I can use a telephone I'll clear all of this right up.
Do you have a telephone?
- Use this one.
- I'd like a little privacy.
- In that case, use the one in the men's room.
It's down the stairs and to your right.
You should get a cell phone.
- That's what they tell me.
Excuse me.
Thank you very much.
He's not?
Okay.
Uh, tell him I'll call him back this afternoon.
I'm at the Spearmint Rhino Club right now.
Yeah, Doyle's.
Okay, tell him Doyle will call him this afternoon
as well, all right?
Thanks.
Okay.
Bye.
Naylor, could you have found a bigger gun?
♪ You may think it's just a stupid thing ♪
♪ I've hurt you again and again ♪
Whooo!
Oh!
There you are Merle.
Nice of you to join the party.
- Get out of the way!
Move!
Get down!
Good idea to rob the place.
Too bad you get shot in the process.
- I may not live long Eddie, but I'm living longer than you.
Go, go, go!
- Son of a bitch.
- Don't know what's going on, Mr. Hench.
- They tried to set me up.
- I run a laundering operation.
We clean dirty money, mob money.
Murdoch has messed with a hornets nest
the size and fury of which he has no comprehension.
You tell that bucko he has just signed
his own death certificate.
I'm letting you leave on account of
I believe you didn't know what was gonna go on.
Now tapping that pathetic piece of white trash
did me a favor but that's as far as it goes.
I'm not going to be able to stop the gentlemen
who's money that is.
They will come after you.
- I appreciate it.
- Now you just consider this a head start on them.
- Can't park your car here, sir.
- I'm sorry officer, I thought this road went somewhere.
- Well that's all right this time.
That's a good-looking car.
All stock?
- Just like I ordered it in 1969.
I only used original replacement parts.
- I'll tell you what.
They don't make them like this anymore, do they?
- They sure as hell don't.
So, do you need to see my license?
- I don't think that's going to be necessary this time.
You just be careful.
- I always try to be.
Thanks, pal.
Right on.
- I've lost weight, who knew?
- You've got more than 3,000 here Merle.
You betcha.
- I'm not gonna see you again, am I?
Merle Hench, 190 grain for practice.
You're loaded for bear, Merle, 240 grain,
semi-jacketed factory hollow point,
either you're knocking down a wall, or,
well we know what you're loaded for, don't we?
Too damned old for this.
I wish I was going with you. Merle.
I look in the mirror I see a 25-year-old.
Everyone else sees a tired old man.
I have asked no odds of any man, just waiting to die now.
I've seen them come and go.
You lose the old .45, Merle?
- Most of it.
That's too bad.
- All lost but one bullet.
That's stuck in a wall of a nudie bar
in the City of Industry.
Got stuck in the wall after I blew a man's brains out.
I knew you'd appreciate that.
- Uh-huh.
There are very few men could beat you on the drop, Merle.
One of the old timers, Merle.
One of the greats.
It was a genuine pleasure my friend.
If you ever need anything, anything at all.
You're going to do it, aren't ya, Merle Hench?
- What ya talking about?
- You're gonna go out with a bang.
- Shit happens.
And Naylor,
thanks for everything.
Yeah.
- A failure.
An also-ran lemon flavored dud.
Merle Hench is a washout who doesn't
have the balls or the brains for this kind of caper.
You're clutching at straws
to preserve your own bacon, Murdoch.
That's offensive to me.
- You know the difference between you and me, Doyle?
It's not the number of men standing behind us
at a given moment,
but a bit of philosophy.
You see I've always believed that to keep what you own
you can't be afraid to lose it.
Go all in with your chips
otherwise everyone knows you're just a paper tiger.
You got quite a collection of shit here.
Personally I hate guns
so I brought this for your collection.
Brush me and I release the spade
which gives you three seconds of 40 year old fuse
to clear the room or become mincemeat on the ceiling.
Now fellas,
I'd rather this conversation be private
between me and Doyle.
But of course you're all welcome to stay.
Now get the fuck out of the room, go on, get the fuck out!
Get the fuck out of the room!
Now!
- You're out of your fucking mind.
- Oh, no, no, no, see,
I just made my peace with the lord.
I've been to church regular to ask His forgiveness.
Lived my whole life knowing He might call me at anytime
and ask me to answer.
Now how about you, Doyle?
Think you're sitting good with him?
- I'm not your problem, Murdoch.
You know as well as I do
that that money belongs to a select group
of Nevada gentleman.
A company famous for possessing
a severely humorless disposition.
Now, Eddie Hellstrom is your boy
and that means you will be the first person they come after.
You are the one who is going to be accountable
for this, chief.
- I can see how Eddie caught you
with your pants around your ankles.
You have trouble seeing the big picture.
I've had all the years I wanted
to make a move on this dough.
What would I gain to do it now?
Have the Nevada boys all upset with me here
that I'm looking at my sunset?
No, that's the interest of young-bloods alone.
Eddie's dead but his boys are still alive.
When I find them,
I'll have Nevada's money for you.
And then you owe me one,
big time.
- You know I got a pretty sweet deal here.
I'd just assume none of this ever happened
because I dig flying under the radar.
You've got three days to find that money,
or you're going to have a serious problem.
- You've got to know who your enemies are
and learn to trust your friends, Doyle.
- I'll do it.
- I want you to find Merle.
Go where he eats, drinks, gambles, chases pussy.
All of it.
Bring him to me.
- You want me to go to the ex-wife?
- Yeah, why not.
Just find him.
- They're all out, Merle.
They've been gone for over an hour,
the whole gaggle of them.
- Mm-hm.
That tar fresh?
Thanks.
How was your day, Jackie?
- The usual, nine long hours.
58 minute count down, nerves deadening to the pain.
How was yours, Merle?
- Could have been worse.
Jackie, do you trust me.
- You're okay, Merle.
As costumers in this place go, you're not the sleaziest.
- I'm going to put something to you
and I want you to think long and hard before you answer.
- You have my full attention.
- Murdoch and his goons
are looking for the man
who killed Eddie Hellstrom this afternoon.
The same man stopped a robbery in the City of Industry.
While he was stopping this robbery he relieved the robbers,
that's Eddie Hellstrom's boys,
of nearly three quarters of a million in used bills.
Now right now,
Murdoch himself is meeting with the folks who got robbed.
And they're looking to devise a plan to pin this whole deal
on the guy that killed young Eddie.
Are you with me?
- What are you doing here on your own, Merle?
- Are we alone here?
Is it just me and you?
- Yeah.
- A man with patience,
a man who has seen a lot of people make a lot of mistakes
could make that money work for him,
could make it have returns.
I can turn it into my retirement plan.
- I'm not sure I understand.
- Ever imagine a life on the road?
It is exciting, not like this place.
And you wouldn't have to work.
At least not for a couple years if you didn't want to.
Of course, it's temporary but then
isn't everything that's great
in life unfortunately temporary.
I'm not saying it's going to be glamorous
but it will be better then this place.
And baby, you deserve so much better then this place.
- You are serious, aren't you?
- Murdoch and Eddie set me up to take a fall
for them but I got lucky.
I shot my way out.
I killed Eddie Hellstrom and I got away
with nearly a million dollars in cash.
I want to ask you now if you'd like to come away with me?
Now, regardless of your answer, in less then five minutes
I've got to walk out of that door never to come back again.
So take your time,
but decide.
Don't take too much time.
- You're not kidding me, are you?
- Straight as a new razor blade, doll.
- It would probably not be the dumbest thing I ever did.
But if I didn't,
I think I would regret it everyday for the rest of my life.
I'm coming with you, Merle.
- Good for me.
Let's blow this hole.
- I've never done anything like this before.
- I have to go back.
- Bad timing, Merle.
- You should have been five minutes later, Pearl.
- I won't go without a fight.
- He had a good evening, winning streak.
He was lucky.
He's lost to me more in the years then he won last night.
Left after sun up.
I usually get a turnaround then.
Around six, 6:45 in the a.m.
Guys with regular jobs fold and leave.
The others take it as a cut off.
That's the last I seen him.
When he's won in the past he comes back,
I take back what he wins, after he pays a few bills.
He's a regular guy with a routine.
You'll find him.
- Very strong man indeed.
This is a gunshot related homicide
and there are certain state and federal laws
that I must administer to, Mr. Murdoch.
I can just go home.
- Thanks Doc.
Merle's on the run so be careful, he's dangerous.
- Pearl saw him leave with Jackie the waitress
so we have one more spot to visit.
- Dutch, Sue,
wrap Pearl up.
We'll store him in the meat freezer for now.
When we get Merle we'll take them both out to Bakersfield.
They can share an apartment out there, in the fucking dirt.
- We've been watching it for 20 minutes, Merle.
I think we're okay.
I'll be five minutes.
There's things, just small things.
I can't leave them behind.
- All right, five minutes.
No more.
Oh, man.
- Good morning, Merle.
- Sue.
- Calm your nerves, Merle.
All I want is a quiet word or two with you.
- I wish to hell you'd leave, Sue.
- Oh, I'll leave
with you beside me, if it's all the same to you.
I don't think you're going to try anything, not here.
But just in case, I brought along numero .44.
- You're too young to make that call, Sue.
- Guess I'm gonna have to take a gamble
at that, Butcher Boy.
- Never, ever gamble when you're desperate, Sue.
- Come on Merle, get out of the car, it's embarrassing.
- Sue, what about,
Sue, what about the girl?
She's up there changing clothes.
She's,
by now she's naked.
What do you think?
Jackie, we should be leaving!
Got no choice.
We've got no time, let's go.
Come here, hold on to me.
Hold on to me.
You'll be fine.
Okay.
- Hold tight and keep down.
Okay.
They are as scared as you.
They're just shooting blindly.
It's loud and it's scary but it's harmless.
Okay?
These guys can't shoot.
Now when I shoot back they're going to duck.
When they duck, we go.
We can do this.
You can do this.
Trust me Jackie, I do this for a living.
You okay?
- Yeah.
Okay.
- Go, go, go!
Okay, try and reload this.
Charles, figured you'd be involved.
- Merle.
- Murdoch sent a damn militia to finish me off.
- Doyle's place was used as a safe haven for Reno's mob.
You stole mob money, Merle.
You even got Murdoch spooked.
- I'm fine with that.
- Right now,
I wouldn't trade places with you for the world.
- Charlie,
I don't want to kill you,
but you don't put that rifle down, I'll do it.
Mm-hm.
Good man.
Yeah, you should have kept your good eye open, Sue.
So, did you get everything you needed?
- This was on the seat.
- Oh, thanks.
- You hurt?
- Yeah, it burns.
But you should see the other guy.
♪ Tramp
♪ What you call me
♪ Tramp
♪ You didn't
♪ You don't wear continental clothes, or Stetson hats ♪
♪ Well, I tell you one dog-gone thing ♪
♪ It makes me feel good to know one thing ♪
♪ I know I'm a lover
♪ Matter of opinion
♪ That's all right, Mama was
♪ Papa was too
- Hey, you did good back there.
You bit down hard when you had to.
- You sure know how to show a girl a good time.
- It'll be better tomorrow.
- Where are we going?
- Well, if Charles is correct
and Doyle was holding mob money
and they pinned this all on me
then we have a fucking problem.
- Just tell Doyle Murdoch was behind the heist.
It'll be simple.
Yeah, just blame the whole deal on Murdoch and get away.
You can get away just like you planned.
- Maybe.
♪ Make you
♪ Oh, that's all right
♪ But I'm the only son of a gun this side of the sun ♪
- Okay, hop in the driver's seat.
Anything suspicious, anything at all, you get out of here.
Shoot if you have to, just get out of here.
Don't worry about me.
You're gonna be all right.
Hell, doll face, we're a good team.
- No, I didn't believe that story anymore the second time
than I did the first time.
That's right.
Stevie, hey, I gotta call you back.
Do you have any idea who
you're dealing with here, Mr. Hench?
- Sure I do.
Do you, Doyle?
Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?
- So Murdoch was behind the robbery
and behind trying to set you up for it.
Except they didn't expect you to get the drop on the kid.
They all figured it would be
the other way around, didn't they?
I'm glad you came down.
Makes it all so much simpler.
Look how civilized we can be.
Just a couple of old hoods.
However, if Murdoch doesn't return that dough,
you'll be erased, you get my drift.
That could be an opportunity for a man like you.
A guy with a degree in the science of violence.
It took balls to show up here.
We'll get caught up once this is over.
You need a place to hang your hat, give me a call.
- So,
we're square then?
- As far as I can figure.
- Nice.
Looks like Father's Day in Harlem.
- There's just one thing, one little thing, Hench.
- I thought you said we were square, Doyle?
- I got video cameras all over this club, Merle.
I got them in changing rooms,
in the booths,
and in the parking lot.
Now, I know you weren't in on the robbery
but you found a bag of my money
that the real thieves dropped
and you stowed it in your car like a two-bit opportunist.
You give it back, then we're square.
- Excuse me, baby.
It all comes down to fundamentals.
- That didn't sound like it went well.
- Got complicated.
We're done, clear.
We could and should walk.
Walk away from the table.
I could have done that once.
Just walk away.
I ran with those guys over 20 years, Jackie.
They saw the best of me and the worst of me.
- You don't have to do anything, Merle, we have the money.
- That's the thing about jackals, they eat their weak.
They eat their own family, and no family.
And what'll do we do when the money's gone?
I can't work a normal job, what the fuck can I do?
I mean you want to go back to waitressing?
I don't even have a social security number, Jackie.
I'm an enforcer for the goddamned mob.
Men like me we don't change trades, we get capped.
Jackie,
I was a bad guy who came knocking at the door.
I know what I'm talking about.
If they're going to pin this all on me,
I want all of the dough.
Not just what we have.
I want every goddamn last red cent.
- How much is it, Merle?
- Well they dropped the small bag.
That's three quarters of a mil.
They got away with three big bags,
a mil and a quarter maybe.
So, add that up, something like four, five mil more or less.
A lot of money, baby.
I've never had a partner before, Jackie.
I think we'll do good together.
Okay, don't leave anything.
♪ I am standing still
♪ This page I've yet to fill
♪ With words describing thoughts that dread ♪
♪ To leave my head
♪ You leave me here, un-led
♪ You are an ocean song
♪ I can sing it all night long
♪ I see the tune march through the room ♪
♪ In sound balloons Then you feed me the moon ♪
♪ With a spoon
♪ Overwhelm me
♪ Show and tell me
♪ Let me breathe the brilliant blues again ♪
♪ Up in arms
♪ Don't see the harm
♪ So let me dream a scene from life back then ♪
♪ I want to sleep on a train
- Doll face,
I just don't want to take you down with me.
- I want you
to take me down with you.
- Hey, baby.
Mmm.
Larry, Merle.
Jesus, that rough, huh?
Listen, that race this evening.
- Sounded like you said you wanted me
to put the whole bundle
on a horse called Carmelita.
- I need you to do something with that dough.
You find her.
You give her that dough.
Yeah, the little waitress.
Give her that money, Larry, and then we're straight.
Understand me?
All right.
You take care of you.
Jackie, hi, how you doing?
We need these wheels.
There's only two places Murdoch would stow a load this size,
at the Ranch or at his home.
So I bet this money's at the diner with him.
He won't want to involve his family.
- Do you have a plan?
- Well, I'm going to start by asking him nicely.
- Merle.
- Oh, baby, don't worry.
I'm feeling good.
Today is my lucky day.
- Maybe you'll pay your penance, Merle.
- Something inside me died
when I started running with Murdoch.
I started just existing, making up excuses.
I'm going to end that all right now.
- Let's go, Merle.
Let's just turn around and run away.
- It's tempting.
It's really tempting, baby,
but I can't.
I'll be back before you know it.
This is Sue's revolver.
It's a full house .44.
All you gotta do is point and shoot.
Keep pulling the trigger until the danger's gone.
The key is in the ignition.
If I'm not back by morning, go.
Go back to the hotel.
If I've made it, I'll be there.
Otherwise head out of state and don't look back.
What's most important,
don't ever talk about what happened here, all right?
I will see you in a minute.
- It's been swell, Merle.
Something else.
- That it has.
Oh, yeah.
- Aces and eights.
That was the hand Bill Hickok held
when he sat with his back to the door.
A mistake he made only once.
- The way I see it, you got some money here
that belongs to me.
- Guy named Jack McCall.
Said he did it for revenge.
Claimed Hickok killed his brother.
Won him sympathy at first,
till it was learned he never had a brother.
Then he got hanged.
The lesson is, only put your back to a man you can trust.
Your money's on the bar.
- The way I figure it,
you set me up to take the heat.
- More of a bet I'd say.
On you, Merle.
The patient old hammer verses
the overly ambitious young punk
coming after me five years down the line.
- That's fine, I'll take the rap for it.
I'm going to do that for you Murdoch
but you've got to give me the money Eddie's crew ripped off.
Then we can go our separate ways.
- I've never been a man to pass up an opportunity.
You took care of my Eddie Hellstrom problem.
Doyle buys it either from you or Nevada, I'm not picky.
You keep the chump change.
I get to take over the laundering operation
I've had my eye on for so many years.
- He's with Murdoch in the bar, he doesn't know we're here.
- Take your winnings and go home, Merle.
You played a good game.
- I'm going to leave here with that money, Murdoch.
One way or another.
- There's enough charity to put a wound
in the pupil of God's eye.
Go home, Merle.
What kind of fucking enforcer,
what kind of soldier lets a two-bit punk
have his gun back after a beating?
Start thinking about your retirement.
Thought I was watching the making of a star.
That left hand of yours can decapitate a grown man.
It's no wonder why you never made it
in this game, Merle.
You've got a soft touch.
You'll walk into a room full of shooters.
And you're calm.
I mean you got ice water in your veins calm.
And you think.
You don't react.
You think.
You're always gonna have the advantage.
When the stress is on and the shit really hits the fan
and you're facing down bad guys,
that's what it comes down to.
Fundamentals.
I understand why they call you The Butcher.
- It's going down then.
- A man's most dangerous when he doesn't care.
We go in shooting.
- Go on, Franco!
- Mother fucker!
- Fuck me, he killed Franco.
Come here.
Kill that fucker.
Listen to me.
I need help!
He's got me pinned down!
- Where is he?
- He's somewhere behind the bar.
- Murdoch don't pay me enough for this shit.
Fuck!
Where is he?
Fuck!
Fuck, I need ammo.
You're fucked.
Fuck you.
I need magazines.
Fuck.
Merle, you fucker!
Merle, I'm all out of fucking bullets.
Forget it.
- Swede!
Johnny!
El Paso!
Somebody answer me, will ya, for Christ sakes?
What are ya, a bunch of running coward bastards?
Tyke, I know you're still with me!
- How you doing?
Your bullet boys didn't run out on you Murdoch.
They died for you.
Oh, Goddamn it!
- Will you look at this?
Oh, Christ.
Oh, man.
I'm fucking hurt, I'm hit bad, I'm hit bad.
Merle!
Oh, God.
Sweet Jesus.
Oh, fuck!
I feel like a silly teenage girl right now.
Oh, fuck.
Merle?
Come on, answer me will ya?
I, uh,
I, uh,
I'm glad to see you're alive.
You know, now we could, we could work this out.
- I thought we could, Murdoch.
- Oh, geez,
you cut, you cut through my best mustangs, Merle.
You cut through them like butter.
Why did you never shoot like that for me?
- I guess I never had the motivation.
- Motivation?
The motivation was fucking loyalty.
Oh, Jesus!
- November, 1979,
the Maltese Brothers.
They owed you seven G's, remember?
Closest weapon at hand was a butcher's cleaver
just like this one.
Took the whole afternoon.
Who would have thought those Maltese
were such good scrappers, huh?
- I remember the Maltese.
- Goddamned for sure, Murdoch.
Man, I was so ashamed of what I did.
I worked for 20 years to lose that God awful nickname.
Wanted to bury the story forever of what happened that day
but I never could forget it.
You know?
Trash like that...
- Trash like that dies every day, Merle.
- I did it for you, Murdoch,
not for the reputation.
A reputation I never really wanted.
- So, what are you gonna do about it?
- What am I gonna do about it?
Well,
what I'm going to do about it
is I'm going to live up to it.
That is a fine cigar.
Man, you are bleeding like a stuck pig.
I had my belly full of killing today.
More than enough.
So,
I'll be taking this.
And I'll be taking this.
- Oh, mother fucker!
- Here we go.
- This,
this,
so that's what this was about?
A fucking nickname?
The Butcher!
A fucking nickname!
Out the front door, the motherfucker.
You're going to need all the luck you can get.
Butcher!
- Merle!
Merle!
- Don't touch me,
Open the door.
- You need help?
- Open the door.
- Merle?
Okay, here we go.
Okay.
Okay, slowly.
Slowly, okay.
Merle?
- Oh!
Oh, man!
Son of a bitch.
I have been shot to shit.
Oh, baby.
- Stay, Merle.
Open your eyes.
- We've got to go.
- Excuse me, I think you might be able to help me.
- I'm sorry, I don't know you.
- Doesn't matter.
What does matter is you have something that belongs to me.
Just let him take it.
Son of a bitch, son of a bitch.
- You know kid, I'm going to let you slide on that one.
- You're the ones from Reno.
- Maybe from there or maybe from hell.
Now do you really want to find out?
Looks like its been a pretty busy morning for you guys.
You know considering the lengths
that you've gone to get this
I almost hate taking it away from you.
Almost.
But it's mine and besides its only money.
Life's a bitch.
The ones that need it most don't get it.
The ones that don't need it have too much of it.
I'm here to tie up and bury all the lose ends.
But I'm really touched by the two of you.
So maybe we don't have to rush the inevitable after all.
- You mean we can go?
- I'm not going to stop you.
But a little advice for you.
Get your man to a doctor real soon.
Getting caught in a car with a dead guy full of bullet holes
would be a little hard to explain.
So go on, get out of here.
Hey kid,
good luck to ya.
Both of yas.
- Oh, you think my lucky day's over?
- No, Merle.
You got something to live for now.
A new beginning.
- I had something to live for.
Doll face,
I am done.
- What about me, Merle?
What about me?
- I'm gonna die.
Now when I do,
you kick me out of this car, somewhere deserted, all right?
You go back to LA.
You find a man named Larry Cobb, all right?
He's a bad ass looking black dude.
You met him once at the diner.
Okay?
He's got something for you.
- What about us, Merle?
- It don't hurt no more, I think it's a good time to go.
I don't think I want to stick around here
much longer anyway, you know?
Oh, honey.
- I can't do this without you.
I can't do this without you.
- You're gonna be all right.
You're gonna be all right.
- Merle?
Well Merle, I took your winnings,
285,000, minus Larry's cut,
and invested it in the diner.
I own the place now.
So it's a different feeling coming to work.
You know I think about the short time we spent together.
I still think about you every so often.
The day the Butcher's luck changed.
♪ I am standing still
♪ This page I've yet to fill
♪ With words describing thoughts that dread ♪
♪ To leave my head
♪ You leave me here, un-led
♪ You are an ocean song
♪ I can sing it all night long
♪ I see the tune march through the room ♪
♪ In sound balloons
♪ Then you feed me the moon
♪ With a spoon
♪ Overwhelm me
♪ Show and tell me
♪ Let me breathe the brilliant blues again ♪
♪ Up in arms, don't see the harm ♪
♪ So let me dream a scene from life back then ♪
♪ I want to sleep on a train
♪ Let the whistle blow my brain ♪
♪ And I would dream of blurring trees ♪
♪ And twisted greed
♪ That leads me on
It's not.
Guys then they had charisma.
Style.
Used to call it panache.
So,
still play the ponies, Merle?
Panache?
- Yeah, look.
You walk into a room full of shooters.
And you're calm.
I mean you got ice water in your veins calm.
And you think.
You don't react.
You think.
You're always gonna have the advantage.
Now, bear with me here.
Most people that pull a gun,
they have no intention of killing.
They don't even aim.
They point, pull the trigger
and turn away.
That's because killing
is against the most fundamental of human responses.
When the stress is on and the shit really hits the fan
and you're facing down bad guys,
that's what it comes down to.
Fundamentals.
Comes down to panache.
You go in there cold-minded.
Age don't matter.
Numbers don't matter.
You kill 'em all.
Hope you got a hot tip for me.
- Carmelita.
Spanish Angel.
She's a two-year-old thoroughbred out of Shreveport.
She's running at Santa Ana on the 5th.
You bet her to win.
- Carmelita?
No shit.
See you around, Teddy.
- You look after yourself, Merle.
More important things to talk about.
I've always got five digs here in Hawaii.
We'll start off by going to the beach.
Hey, Jackie.
A luau.
Jackie has the best luau.
She grills fish and everything.
Wait till you eat it.
What do you mean?
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's part of their culture.
- Owen Geiger.
Remember me?
- Fuck!
Let's go.
Fuck, man!
- Ow.
- Look, I'm sorry it had to come down to this, but
you know why I'm here.
You're not supposed to be operating
on this side of the river.
Murdoch needs you to keep it in the barrio, East LA.
It's business, he understands what you gotta do
but if we have to tell you again, you might not walk away.
A word to the wise.
Lay low for a while, all right?
In fact, a word to the wiser, disappear.
Do we have an understanding?
Do we have an understanding?
- Yeah, yeah.
It's understood, bro.
- Stay hungry kid.
- Very well could be the dog hears things.
Could be I heard the big man jawing on you.
- I work for him.
- Yeah.
That's as is.
But that cracker from Carolina,
he's not hot for you, Butcher.
Nah.
Word on the street is
that he's sniffing at your pension plan.
- That's a good line.
It's also horse shit.
Merle was a one time gun man,
A some time prize fighter.
A man who now preferred a drink over a fight.
He'd had more chances in life than most
but failed to see any of them through.
People liked Merle.
They just felt he should have amounted to more.
- Hmm, the long goodbye.
Maybe it's for the best, Carmelita.
Maybe it's for the best at that.
- Good morning, Merle.
- Good morning, Jackie.
You look ravishing as always.
- Your friends are in the back.
- I know.
You got any of that liquid tarmac for me?
- No cream, no sugar?
No cream, no sugar.
- Look like you haven't slept.
- Because I haven't.
There's no softer pillow than a clean conscious.
So said my grandmother Beatrice.
- Do you think it's true?
- What you talking about?
Do you think we have a sell by date?
Just seemed like so much was possible once and then slowly,
steadily, it all went away.
- Oh baby.
I have this technique.
It's a way to get rid of all
the bad, dark, bleak things in your life.
Visualize it.
Look at it.
See it.
Turn it into a two dimensional photograph.
Light a match
and burn it.
Vaporize it.
Just get rid of it.
I find that it helps some times.
You're still young baby.
Enjoy yourself.
- I can only imagine dealing with a guilty conscious
that a man
with the nickname The Butcher might have.
- Oh, come on.
It's a nickname they gave me when I was a fighter.
But those were the old days.
Nobody remembers that anymore.
- If it isn't young Merle.
- Good morning, Pearl.
- Join us, why don't you.
- I'll do that.
- Is it true what they say about him?
- What do you mean?
- That he fought with a real bear.
- Yeah, that's true.
But it was a long time ago.
- It's been 35 years since I come to this country.
Had $18 in my pocket and a dream in my head.
Saw what I wanted to do and did it.
And pity the man who tried to get in my way.
Found some rough souls among you.
And gave you all a damn good life now, didn't I?
Well those that could keep a simple rule or two.
Like Eddie here.
Now you all know Eddie Hellstrom.
Eddie's been watching my club investments
since he was old enough to chisel an angle.
He's a pushy goddamned kid and I like him.
First time he tried to hustle me
he wanted to run the old strip joint on Rampart.
He told me,
"You see that Bentley?
"You let me run this club
"you'll have one in three months."
I asked him if he'd like to go for a ride
in the trunk of my Cadillac.
I liked the kid straight off.
So here we are.
We all know Molo the Shank's retiring
so I'm handing his duties over to Eddie here.
It's a big day for you, kid.
- Thank you, Murdoch.
- Congratulations.
Gentlemen, pay your respects to the kid.
You'll probably be taking orders from him in a few years.
- Murdoch.
- Merle "The Butcher" Hench.
You run that beaner spic Geiger off my Santa Fe project?
- I wanted to talk to you about him.
Think he's a good kid.
Maybe, maybe he could run an angle for you?
- Run an angle?
Maybe.
- Really?
That's interesting.
By the way, ever meet my cousin Maguire?
Mm-mm.
- Ah.
Come on.
Now, Merle, last night somebody was around here.
Geiger and this faggot jungle bunny
tried to rob Maguire's liquor store on Alvarado.
Now my cousin's a bad motherfucker.
Did seven to ten up in Pelican Bay for armed assault.
So he beat the living crap out of the wetback
before burying him alive in Bakersfield.
Now it's a long drive out to Bakersfield,
and these stupid fucking crackheads start talking
like a pair of balling bingo bitches all the way there.
- Geiger?
- Now I don't specifically blame you, Merle.
This punk would've found a piece somewhere,
but he used the heater you let him keep.
- You give me a hand with this cocksucker?
- Quit breaking my balls.
Can't you see I'm eating my candy over here?
Come on, get out.
Get up.
Come on.
- What, you got nothing else to say tough guy?
You got nothing to say now?
Huh?
Punk?
I took his bullets.
Told him to stay away from downtown.
- Are you out of your fucking mind?
- What?
- Are you so goddamned ignorant of human nature?
What kind of fucking enforcer,
what kind of soldier lets a two-bit punk
have his gun back after a beating?
What the fuck is wrong with you?
- You're right.
You're right.
- I don't know what happened to you, Merle.
Think about retiring, huh?
You know you should invest
in some kind of strip joint or a club.
Your friend Manny's got two of them nudie mag stores.
The old boy never has to lift a finger.
- I know.
- Living life like he's on the red neck Riviera.
- You don't gotta worry about me.
I have investments.
Real estate.
- Start thinking about your retirement.
Let the young bloods move up.
Let them take the risks.
Be smart.
- Yeah.
- Anyways, I got a deal might work for you.
- Hm?
- I gotta go to this fundraiser, Commissioner Scobyn.
Just got honored by the Jewish Retirement Community.
Merle the fucking Butcher.
My cotton-tailed ass.
See yous later boys.
- Later Murdoch.
Merle, I'll call ya.
Okay.
- Gentle touch for an old prizefighter, Merle.
You stroke that glass like a mother
might hold a baby's hand.
Ever tell you I saw you fight.
- No.
- Plaza de la Raza, East Los Angeles.
Barrio club fight.
- Right.
- Professionally rated, as I recall.
- Yes it was.
- You could have used it as a dollar ticket fight.
Take the don'ts and pay the line!
Plastered that plucky wetback.
Took him apart like a rank amateur.
Thought I was watching the making of a star.
Used a quick hook, that kinda twisted as it made contact.
Lifted the little finger on the inside.
His face looked so goddamned bad afterward,
even his own mother would be hard pressed to recognize him.
That left hand of yours,
that left hand of yours could decapitate a grown man.
- Would have been March 23rd, 1979.
Soldier De Santos, 15 to zero on the pro circuit.
He was supposed to be bad.
It was a hell of a night.
- We still got Paris, right?
- Oh, yeah.
- You're about three and a half into the hole now, Merle.
That's why I had to come out myself.
You come up spades,
that winds your ticket up to 19 big ones.
Now, I've been brotherly and not clamped down.
Had to see if your luck turned tail.
Hasn't, and I ain't got time to wait.
You gotta come good by Thursday.
- Mm-hm?
- Or my associates take over.
That shiny car of yours has to be worth a couple of Gs.
Sell it.
Get straight with me, Merle.
You know I like you, we'll do business again.
But pay me by Thursday, Merle, or we got a problem.
Catch my drift?
- Mm-hm.
- There you go babe.
- Oh, man.
- Lost its flavor, honey?
- Oh yeah, but just you watch me Rose,
I shall rise triumphant from these fucking ashes.
You know I got 15 loose bills on me.
Maybe I'll just leave.
- It's a 1969 Dodge Charger
with a 440 magnum big block and original Super Bee 4-speed.
Only made a couple hundred like this so,
the price was 21,000 in cash when you arrived.
The price is still 21,000 in cash.
- You know, we're wasting each other's time.
My card.
No bites.
You wanna shift the wheels, you know,
you come by and see me.
I'll give you a fair nickel.
I appreciate that.
50, 100, 200,
250, 70, 90.
290 cash.
Plus I'd like to use my Rolex as collateral
for the other 60.
- Real Submariner, thick pearl face.
I'll stake you for it, Merle.
Word in your shell, like a brother,
never ever gamble when you are desperate.
It's liable to affect your judgment.
- You want me to go home, Pete?
I'm a big boy and I feel lucky tonight.
- You must call, Merle.
- All in.
- Too rich for me, Merle.
Your luck has beaten mine like a redheaded step-child.
19,000, it's a good night's work bro.
I'll come back tomorrow.
I like you, always been fair.
I'd hate to see you lose your shirt when your vein pans out.
A little luck often proves more deadly then a flat out loss.
Be careful what you do with that moolah.
- I won't be back, Pete.
I've seen good luck, I've seen bad luck.
I know the difference.
- I understand why they call you The Butcher.
- Nobody calls me that anymore, Pete.
All right?
- Oh, no!
Jesus, Merle, they're with me.
Oh!
Sweet mother of mercy!
Who do you think is going to pay the hospital bills?
- Larry, what are you doing here?
- Pete's security was on alert to call if you turned up.
We've been here since one o'clock this morning.
It's just business with me, Merle, you know that.
I've got a family to feed, it's just business.
- Larry, I did not recognize your boys.
I wouldn't make them look so bad if I knew who they were.
How's that ankle, pal?
- Look, you got him in the boiler room man.
Still got a couple of moves for an old man.
- Let me take you boys for breakfast, come on Larry.
- I don't feel like eating breakfast.
- Suck it up.
Everybody likes breakfast.
Get in the car.
Here you go.
You all right?
Here you go.
- We're square, Merle.
I gotta be straight with you.
I hadn't foreseen this.
I mean but then again I can be a cynical son of a bitch.
Comes with the territory one would suppose.
I hear things, you know.
Haven't heard anything good about you.
I'd have put money on your not having a winning streak now.
- There's a horse running this afternoon,
Carmelita, I got a hunch.
I want you to bet the whole bundle on her to place.
- Sounded like you said you want me to put the whole bundle
on a horse called Carmelita.
- Mm-hmm.
- We'll be back where we started you know that, Merle.
- Only if I lose.
She's 15 to 1, Larry.
A long shot.
- 19,000
on Carmelita,
to win, Merle.
- That's not what I said, Larry.
- Take it or leave it, Merle.
That's the only way I'm covering you.
- I'll take it.
- Carmelita?
That's the skin dancer from Reseda,
A nightclub canary and a hell-roaring drunk.
Shacked up with Dennis Tull.
Seem to remember she rolled with you for a while.
- I married her.
- Oh.
Well, I hope for your sakes the bitch don't fuck you again.
Sentiment's a hell of a luxury, Merle.
- Yes it is.
- Hello there, stranger.
- Hi.
- That looked like a serious conversation.
- You look ravishing today.
When are you going to run away with me?
- Don't be so sure I'm picky about
who it is rescues me from this place, Merle.
Just think about how you ask me.
There's always that chance I might say yes.
- Hmm.
- You know, they say that the arrival of coffee
and tobacco in Europe
signaled the start of the industrial revolution.
- Mmm.
- Stimulated the brain.
I fucking hate you can't smoke
in these goddamned places anymore.
- Good morning Eddie.
What can I do for you?
- Why don't you like me, tough guy?
We're a lot alike, you and I.
I boxed out of the old prison gym in Lincoln Heights.
It was kind of like one of those
undecorated East Coast sweatshops from the movies.
- You know, where you work the weights
and get that fucking rust shit on your hands afterward.
In our line of work Eddie, we have excuses
for all kinds of bad behavior.
But a man's a man.
How he carries himself is all I'm concerned about.
I don't judge people Eddie, I just don't like you.
- It's okay, in Kentucky, when we've wronged a man,
we recognize his privilege to resent it.
It's because I got that kid to take a dive.
The Puerto Rican puncher from Boyle Heights.
See.
That's what made me.
Yeah, that was it.
He lost his title and the right to fight.
That got to you, didn't it?
- Maybe.
- It's no wonder why you never made it in this game, Merle.
You got a soft touch.
That's the kiss of death in our racket.
You gotta have the ferocity to pick a fight
over five bucks and not give up.
You just don't get that, do you?
Murdoch wants you to run an errand.
There's a redneck prick.
A fucking dog hick dick, we deal with, Doyle.
He has a titty bar.
City of Industry, Spearmint Rhino.
We need you to go by, and pick up a payment.
He wants somebody who can handle themselves,
and will be on time.
Four o'clock this afternoon.
No earlier, cause that's when the money,
everything will be ready.
Are we understood?
Am I understood?
- Spearmint Rhino, four o'clock.
Got it.
- Take care then.
- Hmm.
- 1915, Model .45.
Normally I wouldn't recommend it for a concealed carry
but it's all I can give you.
It'll buck like a turpentine mule.
If you plan on firing it, I suggest you grip it
like a politician making election hay,
can't hold it too tightly.
This one supposedly belonged to Cherokee Tom Threepersons
out of El Paso, but I doubt it.
Not as easy an iron to hide as your Colt's
but it'll shoot clover leaves at 15 paces.
Want to see your babies before you leave?
- Love to.
- Boy!
Get them two gold .45s.
The one I was talking to you about.
I look at them myself once in a while.
Tiffany and company couldn't do better.
- I know.
- I wouldn't dare shoot them, be afraid to use them.
You won't catch me playing with them.
You're safe with me.
- Thank you, Naylor.
I really appreciate it.
I'll be back real soon.
- Look, you end up using that six gun, just lose it.
Don't bring it back here.
- Thanks, pal.
- See ya later, Merle.
♪ And I've had so much time
♪ To sit and think about myself ♪
♪ And then there she was
♪ Like double cherry pie
♪ Yeah, there she was
♪ Like disco Superfly
♪ I smell sex and candy here
- Hello, doll face.
- What can I get ya?
- Get me a bourbon on the rocks.
- That's $11.
- Make it a coke, sister.
You got it.
♪ Devious stares in my direction ♪
♪ Mama, this surely is a dream
- You look like a man on a mission.
How about a private dance?
I've been fired and re-hired three times
for too much personal contact.
Oh Jesus, mister.
♪ Hangin' 'round
♪ Downtown by myself
- Buy the lovely ladies a drink?
- No drink, no dance.
But thank you both.
- You can have us both if you'd like.
- No thanks.
Oh.
You're gonna leave us hanging just like that?
- Just like that.
♪ Like disco lemonade
♪ I smell sex and candy here
- I'd like to see Mr. Doyle.
Is he here?
- I'll see what I can do.
♪ Who's that casting
- You walk into a place
asking for a man like me and then demand money.
You're looking to commit suicide the hard way, Mr. Hench.
- I asked, I did not demand.
- I'll tell you.
I know Eddie and Murdoch.
They've been trying to buy me out for years.
I won't sell because I don't want to.
I'm not ready to move on yet.
I'm fairly connected myself, I know certain people.
I can make a phone call or two.
Believe me when I say these are
grim characters.
I run an expensive establishment that's hardly ever full.
Do the math.
I have other dealings.
- There's obviously been a misunderstanding.
If I can use a telephone I'll clear all of this right up.
Do you have a telephone?
- Use this one.
- I'd like a little privacy.
- In that case, use the one in the men's room.
It's down the stairs and to your right.
You should get a cell phone.
- That's what they tell me.
Excuse me.
Thank you very much.
He's not?
Okay.
Uh, tell him I'll call him back this afternoon.
I'm at the Spearmint Rhino Club right now.
Yeah, Doyle's.
Okay, tell him Doyle will call him this afternoon
as well, all right?
Thanks.
Okay.
Bye.
Naylor, could you have found a bigger gun?
♪ You may think it's just a stupid thing ♪
♪ I've hurt you again and again ♪
Whooo!
Oh!
There you are Merle.
Nice of you to join the party.
- Get out of the way!
Move!
Get down!
Good idea to rob the place.
Too bad you get shot in the process.
- I may not live long Eddie, but I'm living longer than you.
Go, go, go!
- Son of a bitch.
- Don't know what's going on, Mr. Hench.
- They tried to set me up.
- I run a laundering operation.
We clean dirty money, mob money.
Murdoch has messed with a hornets nest
the size and fury of which he has no comprehension.
You tell that bucko he has just signed
his own death certificate.
I'm letting you leave on account of
I believe you didn't know what was gonna go on.
Now tapping that pathetic piece of white trash
did me a favor but that's as far as it goes.
I'm not going to be able to stop the gentlemen
who's money that is.
They will come after you.
- I appreciate it.
- Now you just consider this a head start on them.
- Can't park your car here, sir.
- I'm sorry officer, I thought this road went somewhere.
- Well that's all right this time.
That's a good-looking car.
All stock?
- Just like I ordered it in 1969.
I only used original replacement parts.
- I'll tell you what.
They don't make them like this anymore, do they?
- They sure as hell don't.
So, do you need to see my license?
- I don't think that's going to be necessary this time.
You just be careful.
- I always try to be.
Thanks, pal.
Right on.
- I've lost weight, who knew?
- You've got more than 3,000 here Merle.
You betcha.
- I'm not gonna see you again, am I?
Merle Hench, 190 grain for practice.
You're loaded for bear, Merle, 240 grain,
semi-jacketed factory hollow point,
either you're knocking down a wall, or,
well we know what you're loaded for, don't we?
Too damned old for this.
I wish I was going with you. Merle.
I look in the mirror I see a 25-year-old.
Everyone else sees a tired old man.
I have asked no odds of any man, just waiting to die now.
I've seen them come and go.
You lose the old .45, Merle?
- Most of it.
That's too bad.
- All lost but one bullet.
That's stuck in a wall of a nudie bar
in the City of Industry.
Got stuck in the wall after I blew a man's brains out.
I knew you'd appreciate that.
- Uh-huh.
There are very few men could beat you on the drop, Merle.
One of the old timers, Merle.
One of the greats.
It was a genuine pleasure my friend.
If you ever need anything, anything at all.
You're going to do it, aren't ya, Merle Hench?
- What ya talking about?
- You're gonna go out with a bang.
- Shit happens.
And Naylor,
thanks for everything.
Yeah.
- A failure.
An also-ran lemon flavored dud.
Merle Hench is a washout who doesn't
have the balls or the brains for this kind of caper.
You're clutching at straws
to preserve your own bacon, Murdoch.
That's offensive to me.
- You know the difference between you and me, Doyle?
It's not the number of men standing behind us
at a given moment,
but a bit of philosophy.
You see I've always believed that to keep what you own
you can't be afraid to lose it.
Go all in with your chips
otherwise everyone knows you're just a paper tiger.
You got quite a collection of shit here.
Personally I hate guns
so I brought this for your collection.
Brush me and I release the spade
which gives you three seconds of 40 year old fuse
to clear the room or become mincemeat on the ceiling.
Now fellas,
I'd rather this conversation be private
between me and Doyle.
But of course you're all welcome to stay.
Now get the fuck out of the room, go on, get the fuck out!
Get the fuck out of the room!
Now!
- You're out of your fucking mind.
- Oh, no, no, no, see,
I just made my peace with the lord.
I've been to church regular to ask His forgiveness.
Lived my whole life knowing He might call me at anytime
and ask me to answer.
Now how about you, Doyle?
Think you're sitting good with him?
- I'm not your problem, Murdoch.
You know as well as I do
that that money belongs to a select group
of Nevada gentleman.
A company famous for possessing
a severely humorless disposition.
Now, Eddie Hellstrom is your boy
and that means you will be the first person they come after.
You are the one who is going to be accountable
for this, chief.
- I can see how Eddie caught you
with your pants around your ankles.
You have trouble seeing the big picture.
I've had all the years I wanted
to make a move on this dough.
What would I gain to do it now?
Have the Nevada boys all upset with me here
that I'm looking at my sunset?
No, that's the interest of young-bloods alone.
Eddie's dead but his boys are still alive.
When I find them,
I'll have Nevada's money for you.
And then you owe me one,
big time.
- You know I got a pretty sweet deal here.
I'd just assume none of this ever happened
because I dig flying under the radar.
You've got three days to find that money,
or you're going to have a serious problem.
- You've got to know who your enemies are
and learn to trust your friends, Doyle.
- I'll do it.
- I want you to find Merle.
Go where he eats, drinks, gambles, chases pussy.
All of it.
Bring him to me.
- You want me to go to the ex-wife?
- Yeah, why not.
Just find him.
- They're all out, Merle.
They've been gone for over an hour,
the whole gaggle of them.
- Mm-hm.
That tar fresh?
Thanks.
How was your day, Jackie?
- The usual, nine long hours.
58 minute count down, nerves deadening to the pain.
How was yours, Merle?
- Could have been worse.
Jackie, do you trust me.
- You're okay, Merle.
As costumers in this place go, you're not the sleaziest.
- I'm going to put something to you
and I want you to think long and hard before you answer.
- You have my full attention.
- Murdoch and his goons
are looking for the man
who killed Eddie Hellstrom this afternoon.
The same man stopped a robbery in the City of Industry.
While he was stopping this robbery he relieved the robbers,
that's Eddie Hellstrom's boys,
of nearly three quarters of a million in used bills.
Now right now,
Murdoch himself is meeting with the folks who got robbed.
And they're looking to devise a plan to pin this whole deal
on the guy that killed young Eddie.
Are you with me?
- What are you doing here on your own, Merle?
- Are we alone here?
Is it just me and you?
- Yeah.
- A man with patience,
a man who has seen a lot of people make a lot of mistakes
could make that money work for him,
could make it have returns.
I can turn it into my retirement plan.
- I'm not sure I understand.
- Ever imagine a life on the road?
It is exciting, not like this place.
And you wouldn't have to work.
At least not for a couple years if you didn't want to.
Of course, it's temporary but then
isn't everything that's great
in life unfortunately temporary.
I'm not saying it's going to be glamorous
but it will be better then this place.
And baby, you deserve so much better then this place.
- You are serious, aren't you?
- Murdoch and Eddie set me up to take a fall
for them but I got lucky.
I shot my way out.
I killed Eddie Hellstrom and I got away
with nearly a million dollars in cash.
I want to ask you now if you'd like to come away with me?
Now, regardless of your answer, in less then five minutes
I've got to walk out of that door never to come back again.
So take your time,
but decide.
Don't take too much time.
- You're not kidding me, are you?
- Straight as a new razor blade, doll.
- It would probably not be the dumbest thing I ever did.
But if I didn't,
I think I would regret it everyday for the rest of my life.
I'm coming with you, Merle.
- Good for me.
Let's blow this hole.
- I've never done anything like this before.
- I have to go back.
- Bad timing, Merle.
- You should have been five minutes later, Pearl.
- I won't go without a fight.
- He had a good evening, winning streak.
He was lucky.
He's lost to me more in the years then he won last night.
Left after sun up.
I usually get a turnaround then.
Around six, 6:45 in the a.m.
Guys with regular jobs fold and leave.
The others take it as a cut off.
That's the last I seen him.
When he's won in the past he comes back,
I take back what he wins, after he pays a few bills.
He's a regular guy with a routine.
You'll find him.
- Very strong man indeed.
This is a gunshot related homicide
and there are certain state and federal laws
that I must administer to, Mr. Murdoch.
I can just go home.
- Thanks Doc.
Merle's on the run so be careful, he's dangerous.
- Pearl saw him leave with Jackie the waitress
so we have one more spot to visit.
- Dutch, Sue,
wrap Pearl up.
We'll store him in the meat freezer for now.
When we get Merle we'll take them both out to Bakersfield.
They can share an apartment out there, in the fucking dirt.
- We've been watching it for 20 minutes, Merle.
I think we're okay.
I'll be five minutes.
There's things, just small things.
I can't leave them behind.
- All right, five minutes.
No more.
Oh, man.
- Good morning, Merle.
- Sue.
- Calm your nerves, Merle.
All I want is a quiet word or two with you.
- I wish to hell you'd leave, Sue.
- Oh, I'll leave
with you beside me, if it's all the same to you.
I don't think you're going to try anything, not here.
But just in case, I brought along numero .44.
- You're too young to make that call, Sue.
- Guess I'm gonna have to take a gamble
at that, Butcher Boy.
- Never, ever gamble when you're desperate, Sue.
- Come on Merle, get out of the car, it's embarrassing.
- Sue, what about,
Sue, what about the girl?
She's up there changing clothes.
She's,
by now she's naked.
What do you think?
Jackie, we should be leaving!
Got no choice.
We've got no time, let's go.
Come here, hold on to me.
Hold on to me.
You'll be fine.
Okay.
- Hold tight and keep down.
Okay.
They are as scared as you.
They're just shooting blindly.
It's loud and it's scary but it's harmless.
Okay?
These guys can't shoot.
Now when I shoot back they're going to duck.
When they duck, we go.
We can do this.
You can do this.
Trust me Jackie, I do this for a living.
You okay?
- Yeah.
Okay.
- Go, go, go!
Okay, try and reload this.
Charles, figured you'd be involved.
- Merle.
- Murdoch sent a damn militia to finish me off.
- Doyle's place was used as a safe haven for Reno's mob.
You stole mob money, Merle.
You even got Murdoch spooked.
- I'm fine with that.
- Right now,
I wouldn't trade places with you for the world.
- Charlie,
I don't want to kill you,
but you don't put that rifle down, I'll do it.
Mm-hm.
Good man.
Yeah, you should have kept your good eye open, Sue.
So, did you get everything you needed?
- This was on the seat.
- Oh, thanks.
- You hurt?
- Yeah, it burns.
But you should see the other guy.
♪ Tramp
♪ What you call me
♪ Tramp
♪ You didn't
♪ You don't wear continental clothes, or Stetson hats ♪
♪ Well, I tell you one dog-gone thing ♪
♪ It makes me feel good to know one thing ♪
♪ I know I'm a lover
♪ Matter of opinion
♪ That's all right, Mama was
♪ Papa was too
- Hey, you did good back there.
You bit down hard when you had to.
- You sure know how to show a girl a good time.
- It'll be better tomorrow.
- Where are we going?
- Well, if Charles is correct
and Doyle was holding mob money
and they pinned this all on me
then we have a fucking problem.
- Just tell Doyle Murdoch was behind the heist.
It'll be simple.
Yeah, just blame the whole deal on Murdoch and get away.
You can get away just like you planned.
- Maybe.
♪ Make you
♪ Oh, that's all right
♪ But I'm the only son of a gun this side of the sun ♪
- Okay, hop in the driver's seat.
Anything suspicious, anything at all, you get out of here.
Shoot if you have to, just get out of here.
Don't worry about me.
You're gonna be all right.
Hell, doll face, we're a good team.
- No, I didn't believe that story anymore the second time
than I did the first time.
That's right.
Stevie, hey, I gotta call you back.
Do you have any idea who
you're dealing with here, Mr. Hench?
- Sure I do.
Do you, Doyle?
Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?
- So Murdoch was behind the robbery
and behind trying to set you up for it.
Except they didn't expect you to get the drop on the kid.
They all figured it would be
the other way around, didn't they?
I'm glad you came down.
Makes it all so much simpler.
Look how civilized we can be.
Just a couple of old hoods.
However, if Murdoch doesn't return that dough,
you'll be erased, you get my drift.
That could be an opportunity for a man like you.
A guy with a degree in the science of violence.
It took balls to show up here.
We'll get caught up once this is over.
You need a place to hang your hat, give me a call.
- So,
we're square then?
- As far as I can figure.
- Nice.
Looks like Father's Day in Harlem.
- There's just one thing, one little thing, Hench.
- I thought you said we were square, Doyle?
- I got video cameras all over this club, Merle.
I got them in changing rooms,
in the booths,
and in the parking lot.
Now, I know you weren't in on the robbery
but you found a bag of my money
that the real thieves dropped
and you stowed it in your car like a two-bit opportunist.
You give it back, then we're square.
- Excuse me, baby.
It all comes down to fundamentals.
- That didn't sound like it went well.
- Got complicated.
We're done, clear.
We could and should walk.
Walk away from the table.
I could have done that once.
Just walk away.
I ran with those guys over 20 years, Jackie.
They saw the best of me and the worst of me.
- You don't have to do anything, Merle, we have the money.
- That's the thing about jackals, they eat their weak.
They eat their own family, and no family.
And what'll do we do when the money's gone?
I can't work a normal job, what the fuck can I do?
I mean you want to go back to waitressing?
I don't even have a social security number, Jackie.
I'm an enforcer for the goddamned mob.
Men like me we don't change trades, we get capped.
Jackie,
I was a bad guy who came knocking at the door.
I know what I'm talking about.
If they're going to pin this all on me,
I want all of the dough.
Not just what we have.
I want every goddamn last red cent.
- How much is it, Merle?
- Well they dropped the small bag.
That's three quarters of a mil.
They got away with three big bags,
a mil and a quarter maybe.
So, add that up, something like four, five mil more or less.
A lot of money, baby.
I've never had a partner before, Jackie.
I think we'll do good together.
Okay, don't leave anything.
♪ I am standing still
♪ This page I've yet to fill
♪ With words describing thoughts that dread ♪
♪ To leave my head
♪ You leave me here, un-led
♪ You are an ocean song
♪ I can sing it all night long
♪ I see the tune march through the room ♪
♪ In sound balloons Then you feed me the moon ♪
♪ With a spoon
♪ Overwhelm me
♪ Show and tell me
♪ Let me breathe the brilliant blues again ♪
♪ Up in arms
♪ Don't see the harm
♪ So let me dream a scene from life back then ♪
♪ I want to sleep on a train
- Doll face,
I just don't want to take you down with me.
- I want you
to take me down with you.
- Hey, baby.
Mmm.
Larry, Merle.
Jesus, that rough, huh?
Listen, that race this evening.
- Sounded like you said you wanted me
to put the whole bundle
on a horse called Carmelita.
- I need you to do something with that dough.
You find her.
You give her that dough.
Yeah, the little waitress.
Give her that money, Larry, and then we're straight.
Understand me?
All right.
You take care of you.
Jackie, hi, how you doing?
We need these wheels.
There's only two places Murdoch would stow a load this size,
at the Ranch or at his home.
So I bet this money's at the diner with him.
He won't want to involve his family.
- Do you have a plan?
- Well, I'm going to start by asking him nicely.
- Merle.
- Oh, baby, don't worry.
I'm feeling good.
Today is my lucky day.
- Maybe you'll pay your penance, Merle.
- Something inside me died
when I started running with Murdoch.
I started just existing, making up excuses.
I'm going to end that all right now.
- Let's go, Merle.
Let's just turn around and run away.
- It's tempting.
It's really tempting, baby,
but I can't.
I'll be back before you know it.
This is Sue's revolver.
It's a full house .44.
All you gotta do is point and shoot.
Keep pulling the trigger until the danger's gone.
The key is in the ignition.
If I'm not back by morning, go.
Go back to the hotel.
If I've made it, I'll be there.
Otherwise head out of state and don't look back.
What's most important,
don't ever talk about what happened here, all right?
I will see you in a minute.
- It's been swell, Merle.
Something else.
- That it has.
Oh, yeah.
- Aces and eights.
That was the hand Bill Hickok held
when he sat with his back to the door.
A mistake he made only once.
- The way I see it, you got some money here
that belongs to me.
- Guy named Jack McCall.
Said he did it for revenge.
Claimed Hickok killed his brother.
Won him sympathy at first,
till it was learned he never had a brother.
Then he got hanged.
The lesson is, only put your back to a man you can trust.
Your money's on the bar.
- The way I figure it,
you set me up to take the heat.
- More of a bet I'd say.
On you, Merle.
The patient old hammer verses
the overly ambitious young punk
coming after me five years down the line.
- That's fine, I'll take the rap for it.
I'm going to do that for you Murdoch
but you've got to give me the money Eddie's crew ripped off.
Then we can go our separate ways.
- I've never been a man to pass up an opportunity.
You took care of my Eddie Hellstrom problem.
Doyle buys it either from you or Nevada, I'm not picky.
You keep the chump change.
I get to take over the laundering operation
I've had my eye on for so many years.
- He's with Murdoch in the bar, he doesn't know we're here.
- Take your winnings and go home, Merle.
You played a good game.
- I'm going to leave here with that money, Murdoch.
One way or another.
- There's enough charity to put a wound
in the pupil of God's eye.
Go home, Merle.
What kind of fucking enforcer,
what kind of soldier lets a two-bit punk
have his gun back after a beating?
Start thinking about your retirement.
Thought I was watching the making of a star.
That left hand of yours can decapitate a grown man.
It's no wonder why you never made it
in this game, Merle.
You've got a soft touch.
You'll walk into a room full of shooters.
And you're calm.
I mean you got ice water in your veins calm.
And you think.
You don't react.
You think.
You're always gonna have the advantage.
When the stress is on and the shit really hits the fan
and you're facing down bad guys,
that's what it comes down to.
Fundamentals.
I understand why they call you The Butcher.
- It's going down then.
- A man's most dangerous when he doesn't care.
We go in shooting.
- Go on, Franco!
- Mother fucker!
- Fuck me, he killed Franco.
Come here.
Kill that fucker.
Listen to me.
I need help!
He's got me pinned down!
- Where is he?
- He's somewhere behind the bar.
- Murdoch don't pay me enough for this shit.
Fuck!
Where is he?
Fuck!
Fuck, I need ammo.
You're fucked.
Fuck you.
I need magazines.
Fuck.
Merle, you fucker!
Merle, I'm all out of fucking bullets.
Forget it.
- Swede!
Johnny!
El Paso!
Somebody answer me, will ya, for Christ sakes?
What are ya, a bunch of running coward bastards?
Tyke, I know you're still with me!
- How you doing?
Your bullet boys didn't run out on you Murdoch.
They died for you.
Oh, Goddamn it!
- Will you look at this?
Oh, Christ.
Oh, man.
I'm fucking hurt, I'm hit bad, I'm hit bad.
Merle!
Oh, God.
Sweet Jesus.
Oh, fuck!
I feel like a silly teenage girl right now.
Oh, fuck.
Merle?
Come on, answer me will ya?
I, uh,
I, uh,
I'm glad to see you're alive.
You know, now we could, we could work this out.
- I thought we could, Murdoch.
- Oh, geez,
you cut, you cut through my best mustangs, Merle.
You cut through them like butter.
Why did you never shoot like that for me?
- I guess I never had the motivation.
- Motivation?
The motivation was fucking loyalty.
Oh, Jesus!
- November, 1979,
the Maltese Brothers.
They owed you seven G's, remember?
Closest weapon at hand was a butcher's cleaver
just like this one.
Took the whole afternoon.
Who would have thought those Maltese
were such good scrappers, huh?
- I remember the Maltese.
- Goddamned for sure, Murdoch.
Man, I was so ashamed of what I did.
I worked for 20 years to lose that God awful nickname.
Wanted to bury the story forever of what happened that day
but I never could forget it.
You know?
Trash like that...
- Trash like that dies every day, Merle.
- I did it for you, Murdoch,
not for the reputation.
A reputation I never really wanted.
- So, what are you gonna do about it?
- What am I gonna do about it?
Well,
what I'm going to do about it
is I'm going to live up to it.
That is a fine cigar.
Man, you are bleeding like a stuck pig.
I had my belly full of killing today.
More than enough.
So,
I'll be taking this.
And I'll be taking this.
- Oh, mother fucker!
- Here we go.
- This,
this,
so that's what this was about?
A fucking nickname?
The Butcher!
A fucking nickname!
Out the front door, the motherfucker.
You're going to need all the luck you can get.
Butcher!
- Merle!
Merle!
- Don't touch me,
Open the door.
- You need help?
- Open the door.
- Merle?
Okay, here we go.
Okay.
Okay, slowly.
Slowly, okay.
Merle?
- Oh!
Oh, man!
Son of a bitch.
I have been shot to shit.
Oh, baby.
- Stay, Merle.
Open your eyes.
- We've got to go.
- Excuse me, I think you might be able to help me.
- I'm sorry, I don't know you.
- Doesn't matter.
What does matter is you have something that belongs to me.
Just let him take it.
Son of a bitch, son of a bitch.
- You know kid, I'm going to let you slide on that one.
- You're the ones from Reno.
- Maybe from there or maybe from hell.
Now do you really want to find out?
Looks like its been a pretty busy morning for you guys.
You know considering the lengths
that you've gone to get this
I almost hate taking it away from you.
Almost.
But it's mine and besides its only money.
Life's a bitch.
The ones that need it most don't get it.
The ones that don't need it have too much of it.
I'm here to tie up and bury all the lose ends.
But I'm really touched by the two of you.
So maybe we don't have to rush the inevitable after all.
- You mean we can go?
- I'm not going to stop you.
But a little advice for you.
Get your man to a doctor real soon.
Getting caught in a car with a dead guy full of bullet holes
would be a little hard to explain.
So go on, get out of here.
Hey kid,
good luck to ya.
Both of yas.
- Oh, you think my lucky day's over?
- No, Merle.
You got something to live for now.
A new beginning.
- I had something to live for.
Doll face,
I am done.
- What about me, Merle?
What about me?
- I'm gonna die.
Now when I do,
you kick me out of this car, somewhere deserted, all right?
You go back to LA.
You find a man named Larry Cobb, all right?
He's a bad ass looking black dude.
You met him once at the diner.
Okay?
He's got something for you.
- What about us, Merle?
- It don't hurt no more, I think it's a good time to go.
I don't think I want to stick around here
much longer anyway, you know?
Oh, honey.
- I can't do this without you.
I can't do this without you.
- You're gonna be all right.
You're gonna be all right.
- Merle?
Well Merle, I took your winnings,
285,000, minus Larry's cut,
and invested it in the diner.
I own the place now.
So it's a different feeling coming to work.
You know I think about the short time we spent together.
I still think about you every so often.
The day the Butcher's luck changed.
♪ I am standing still
♪ This page I've yet to fill
♪ With words describing thoughts that dread ♪
♪ To leave my head
♪ You leave me here, un-led
♪ You are an ocean song
♪ I can sing it all night long
♪ I see the tune march through the room ♪
♪ In sound balloons
♪ Then you feed me the moon
♪ With a spoon
♪ Overwhelm me
♪ Show and tell me
♪ Let me breathe the brilliant blues again ♪
♪ Up in arms, don't see the harm ♪
♪ So let me dream a scene from life back then ♪
♪ I want to sleep on a train
♪ Let the whistle blow my brain ♪
♪ And I would dream of blurring trees ♪
♪ And twisted greed
♪ That leads me on