God's Pocket (2014) - full transcript

- The working men
of God's Pocket

are simple men.

They work.

They follow their teams.

They marry and have children

who rarely leave the Pocket.

Everyone here has stolen
something from somebody else...

or when they were kids,

they set someone's house
on fire...

or they ran away

when they should have
stayed and fought.



They know who cheats at cards

and who slaps their kids around.

And no matter what anybody does,

they're still here.

And whatever they are

is what they are.

The only thing
they can't forgive

is not being from God's Pocket.

- Say it.

Say it.

- Oh, your balls.

Oh-oh, my God.

- Oh.
- Oh, my God.

- It's good, right?



- Oh, it's so good.

- Oh!
- Your cock's so good-.

- Mm.

- You okay?

- Great.

- Jeanie.

- Mickey, I know.
You love me.

- I do.

If Leon is going to work today,

I got to be down at Bird's
by 8:00 if he wants a ride.

- Leon, honey,
it's time for work.

All right.

- Mickey's got to be to Bird's
by 8:00 if you want a ride.

Honey?

- I'm up!

- "Everyone here
has stolen something

"from somebody else,

"or when they were kids,

"they set someone's house
on fire,

or they ran away when they
should have stayed and fought."

That Richard Shellburn's
got it right.

- I don't know why writing down
what everybody knows

is any better than knowing it
in the first place.

- If you were from here,
you'd get it.

- That's what everyone tells me.

I don't know how you eat
that shit

and still look so good.

You get sugar diabetes,
they're gonna out your feet off.

- Fuck you looking at?

- Something to eat
in the truck, hon.

- See, I told you it'd take me
no time at all.

- You got me
ten minutes late already.

Fuckin'...fuck it.

You mind spotting me 20 bucks?

- They start on one end,
and the air in Camden is so bad

and it takes so fucking long
to get to the other end

that by then,
the paint is all peeling,

and they got to go back
and start all over again.

Year after year,

painting the same fucking bridge
over and over.

It's like a nightmare.

Ho!

You're late.
- I know. I'm sorry.

- Another five minutes,
we was gonna leave without you.

- "We"?

This horse is a fantastic,
beautiful horse,

talented horse.

- Hard for me to believe.

- I seen it myself in Florida.

- You're telling me
there was something wrong

with the horse's pussy,

made her quit 300 yards
from the finish?

- Turning Leaf, her name was,

and she hit the stretch
and just quit.

Turns out she sucked up air,
you know, vaginally.

A couple gallons of air
get trapped up in there,

and she cramps up,
and she can't run-

very uncommon.

- It's like running while you're
trying to take a shit, huh?

- It was the humidity.

Horse like that runs up here,
she'd take the field.

- Let's go!

- I want to know what
a white man's doing walking...

while this nigger
is riding around all day.

Nothing personal, Lucy, huh?

So I grab that fucking cat
by the tail, right?

I hold him upside down,
and that little stewardess

is screaming
for me to leave him alone,

and I says, "I'll leave him
alone, all right," and-

and I take my knife-

- Boy, you're about to figure
a way to wipe your ass

with that razor, ain't you?

- I ain't said a word
all morning.

- Which one is it'?

- It's a green truck

I got a plate number
right over here.

- All these trucks are green.

- Yeah, but I got a number
right over here.

- It's gonna take
a fucking month

just to read the fucking
license plates on that one.

- Well, that ain't it.

We're looking for a reefer.

A refrigerated truck, you know,

so the meat don't cook
on its way to Vermont.

- Mm-hmm-.

- It's running.

- They don't shut them off.

They're diesels.

Keep them running
for weeks at a time.

- That's very interesting-

the history
of the trucking industry.

All right, stay here.
I'm gonna go take a piss.

- All right.

Oh.

- What's Sal doing here?

Doesn't take three people
to steal a truck.

- I owe him a little money.

He just wants to make sure
everything goes down.

- Look at him over here.

He's pissing on his shoes.

- Yeah.

Why don't you tell him?

He'll shoot you just to show you
he knows what he's doing.

That's it right there.

Hey-

- Yeah?

- Notice the whole world's
got a fucking attitude lately?

- Listen, you go in there,

and you have a nice breakfast,
pal, all right?

You take an hour.
Understand?

One hour before you come back
out here looking for your truck

Who's driving?

- You all right, pal?

- Look, you got your business.
We got ours.

You take the money,
your business is over.

Am I right or wrong?

Huh?

Okay, just take a couple
of deep breaths.

Here's your hat, all right'?

Can you get up?

And gonna have a nice breakfast,
just like I said.

Come on.

- All of a sudden, the world
ain't got no attitude no more.

- What the fuck?

Don't do it.

Shit.

Jesus Christ.

Motherfucker.

You shit yourself, Mickey?

- Oh, yeah.
- Huh?

- Fuck you.

- I almost cut her tits off
after I, uh,

took care of her fucking kid.

I seen that happen
to a girl once.

Huh?

Sliced and diced,
just right fuckin'-

- Bullsh-shit.

- What the fuck you say?

I heard you talking about me.

I don't give a shit personally,

but I don't like a nigger
talking about my business.

This old nigger's

been talking about me
all morning.

Whoa.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

You hear me now,
don't you, fuck?

I didn't mean to cut you, Lucy.

Somebody get Lucy a Band-Aid.
He's-

He's got a cut.

I thought he was-

- I love this city-

not the sights, the city.

I love her last night,

and I loved her this morning,

before she brushes her teeth

or I know she snores.

I'm used to the feel
of her beside me.

I'm used to the feel of her
beside me.

I've known her warmth
and her coolness.

She's... forgiven me.

I've forgiven her.

I'm used-

I'm used to the feel
of her beside me.

I'm used to the feel of her
beside me.

- You're right.

I think I fucked her
last night too.

I hope she don't have
no type of herpes.

I'm used to the feel of her,
you know'?

- I've been writing the story
of this city for 20 years.

- What's up with the lights?

- Oh, talk to Arthur, Mick.

I keep telling him
he's got to relax.

- I'll do that.
- Do that.

All we can do is have faith
in the electric company.

Am I right?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, yeah.

Sophie says we ain't had
electric for two hours.

- It's out in the whole
neighborhood.

- Yeah.

- What are we gonna do
with the load I just brought in?

- What the fuck do you think

we're trying to figure out
here, Mick?

- It's gonna be back fight away.
Just relax.

- Yeah.

Listen, we got a little business
to talk about, all right?

- Right.

- I got a problem.

- Let me guess.

You don't have my $700.

- I'm into Sal for 20 large.

Jesus Christ.

- I got so much shit going down,

I don't even know
where it's coming from.

- Forget it.
I'm doing all right.

When you get it,
you can give it to me.

All right?

- Take some of the meat.

- Nothing I can do with that.

It's not even cut.

- Fuck it.

Let's get this shit
in your truck.

- I can't use it like this.
There's nowhere to cut it up.

- Look, we'll get
the electric back on,

you come back tomorrow,

we'll get somebody
to cut it up for you.

Here you go.
- I got it.

- You got it, Mick?
- All right.

- You okay?
- Yeah, I'm fine.

Fuck it all.

It all works out in the end.

- All right, what happened here?

- It was the lift.

The shackle come loose.

Usually it's tied down
when we're not using it.

The...

chain swung out,
and the shackle...

hit the boy
right in the back of the head.

- That's what happened.

I seen the whole thing.

Kid never knew what hit him.

- Anyone else?

- I seen it too.

- What was his job?

- He was a day laborer.

That it?

- That's what happened.

- Jeanie?

Jeanie.

- Leon's dead.

- Richard.

You feeling all right?

- Yeah, I had the flu.

- Didn't see your column
on page two yesterday.

Opened the paper to see
a goddamn picture of some girl

that had her teeth
wired together to lose weight.

Readers count on you, Richard.

- Feeling much better today,
okay.

- So I looked over
the last year.

Did you know you missed 42 days,
not counting vacations?

- Really?

- Mm-hmm-.

And I got to thinking about it.

Maybe we ought to bring in
another columnist, you know,

someone to lighten the load.

- Found one yet'?

- Thought I'd give you
a chance to think it over.

- Whatever you want, Brookie.

- But of course,
if it's a drinking problem-

- No.

- 'Cause we have sent people
up to Horizons to dry out.

We could do it for you too.

- No.

It's a bug I caught.

Here's my anniversary column.

- Yeah.

- You have to eat something.

- She probably
already ate lunch.

He was just a baby.

- Hello.
- Mick, it's Bird.

- Hi.
You get your electricity back?

- Yeah, it came on
right after you left.

- This isn't a great time.

- Why, what's the matter?

- We had an accident with Leon.

- What, he got his dick caught
in somebody's cash register?

- No, it's a real thing.
Something happened at work

Some kind of accident.
He's dead.

- What?

What is it'?

- Well, they say
something fell on him.

- Fell on him?
No shit.

- Yeah.

- Jesus.

I'm sorry to hear that.

- Yeah.

- Anyway, what I was
calling about-

I don't know if it's
the appropriate time,

but it's that horse,

the one you was talking about,
Turning Leaf?

She's running in a $15,000
claimer tomorrow at Keystone.

I'm scaring up everything I can.

I figured you'd want
to do the same.

- Okay, thanks.
- Okay.

- I'll let Jeanie know.

Uh, just a friend,
heard about the accident.

Uh, I got to take care
of the arrangements.

- I' I think We been there I'

♪ I think I know just what
you're going through ♪

♪ A fallen angel
is what you are ♪

- You're Richard Shellbum.

- Yes, I am.

- I thought you'd look older.

- Thought you would too.

You go to Temple University?

- No'

I graduated.

Journalism.

- On.

- Yeah.

Now I freelance, mostly sports.

- Who's Yama Bahama?

- ♪ A fallen angel
is what you am ♪

- Is that a name for your penis?

Jesus.

Everyone's got a name
for their penis.

- Mickey.

We're real sorry, Mick.

Leon was a good boy.

- It don't make no sense to me.

I mean,
somebody ought to do something.

The youth is our hope
for the future.

- What happened?

- I don't know.

They say something
dropped on him...

down at the job.

- Jesus.

That's a shame.

- Got to go see Smilin' Jack,
make arrangements.

Jeanie's messed up.

- Well, Saturday's a good day
for a funeral, always.

Nobody has to get up
the next day.

- Mm.

- We're collecting
for the funeral.

- Fuckin' Leon's gonna
cost me more dead than alive.

- He was always
a nice youngster.

Tell Jeanie that for me.

- For Christ's sakes, Eleanor.

You didn't even know him.

- That's a damnable lie!

I know all our youngsters!

He was nice back then, Mickey.

He never broke into nobody's
house in the neighborhood-

- Eleanor!

Are you gonna sit down,
or I got to pour out your drink?

I mean it today.

I'm cutting you off!

- Yeah, well,
you can't cut off the truth!

- Fuckin' neighborhood.

- Jack

- Mickey.

I'm so sorry to hear about Leon.

- Yeah.

- You know, sometimes you wonder
about God's plan.

- I just want to make
Jeanie feel better.

- Let me show you
what we got, Mick.

This is our best seller...

mahogany veneer,
champagne interior.

- What about that one?

- Well, of course,

you know Jeanie best,

but she ain't gonna want
some piece of junk

- I got to think it over.

- Mick...

we'll work something out.

- I just don't want
to give her anything

that she ain't gonna like.

- Well, how about I stop over
tomorrow morning?

It might be easier
for her to talk about it

in familiar surroundings.

- I guess so.

- Yo, Mick.

Was the body messed up?

- No, his body's fine.

It's just the back of his head.

- That's no problem at all.

The back of the head
takes care of itself.

- Leon didn't take no shit.

If I was a father, that's what
I'd want my kid to be like.

- You know what I did
the day my mother died?

I went out and I banged
a Locust Street whore.

Remember those girls?

- No'

- I got home
at 1:00 in the morning.

My whole family
was waiting up for me.

It was the Christians
and the lions all over again.

- On the day your mother died?

- I felt bad,
but I had to do something.

- What the fuck you doing, man?

Fuck you.

Fuck him!

- Hey, what the fuck is wrong
with you guys?

- You're always doing that!
- Play the game.

- Get out of here!
- Sit down!

- Got a problem?
- Get the hell out of here!

- Fuck him!

- I got to get
the fuck out of here.

- Your fucking shoe.

- You had a lot
of those screwdrivers.

- 18.

But you drank one.

That's why I can't get it up.

- Could you always write?

I mean, did you always
want to be a writer?

- What?

- Do you think sometime
I could watch you

write one of your columns?

- Sometime.

Oh.

It is the damndest thing.

I can't remember
which one of you is which.

- What time is it'?

- Closing time.

- You been drinking?

- Yeah.

- Tonight you've been out
drinking?

And don't go in Jamie's room.

The doctor had to come twice
to give her medicine,

and he said that she needs
a good night's sleep.

- I thought maybe
she might want someone-

- Joyce is in there with her.

- So you're Joanie.

- Aah!
Oh, Jesus.

- Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
- What?

- Oh, my God.

It's all right.
It's all right.

I thought I saw Leon!

Oh. my God!

- It's all right.

- Now, last
but perhaps not least,

I feel obliged to show you
the blue-gauge steel.

In my opinion, uh, I think...

I think she likes the mahogany.

Now, do you have

a particular suit in mind
for the service?

- Come upstairs.

Voilà.

Jesus Christ.

It's a fucking men's shop.

You know, I never owned
anything you couldn't put

in a fucking drawer
till I met Jeanie.

You suppose all this shit
is hot?

- You learn in my business
not to question.

- So the 6 grand,

can I put it on layaway or what?

- You want me to tell Jeanie
you want something cheaper?

- Hey, I'm just-

- This should be all I need.

- Something happened to Leon
over at that job,

something nobody's told us yet.

Anybody tell you anything
you didn't tell me?

- All they told me
was that something dropped

and hit him on the skull.

That's the whole thing.

- Something else happened.

It did.

. Okay-

I'll see what I can find out.

Okay'?

- Hey, Mick.

The power's back on.

Let's get that meat cut for you.

- Listen, Bird...

- I appreciate you taking it
instead of the cash.

We'll get all this shit
straightened out.

Don't you worry.

Hey-

Lookit, queers, huh?

- Remember in school
when they said you was queer

if you wore yellow on Tuesday?

- That's the stupidest
fucking thing I heard all day.

I forgot you ain't from here.

You missed a lot
of great shit, Mick.

Hey, Tony!
Come here.

This is my nephew.

Say hello to Bird's main man.

Hmm?
He don't talk much.

But this little fucker
can cut meat.

Take the meat
out of Mickey's truck

and cut it up for him,
all right?

Do a nice job.
Don't sneeze on it or nothing.

Listen, Mick.
I made up my mind.

That horse, Turning Leaf?

- She's gonna come in tomorrow.

- Nice horse.

She's running
with a bunch of shit too.

- She's a lock.

- Bird, there's nothing
weighs half a ton

with little bitty ankles
that's a lock.

- Hey, I'm trying
to help you out here,

but if you don't want to listen,
it's on you.

- You want to help me?
I need that $700.

- Hey, all I got is this horse.

- Smilin' Jack ain't exactly
giving away funerals.

- Jesus, the funeral.

I-I forgot.

How's Jeanie doing?

- She's got some idea

that something else happened
down there to Leon.

I don't know where the fuck
it came from, but there it is.

- Yeah, fucking Leon.

- Yeah.

Actually, I was hoping you-
you'd ask around for me.

- Yeah.

You mean you want me
to talk to Sal?

- I-I hate to ask, but Jeanie
ain't gonna let go on this one.

- I'll do it for you.

You got my word.

- All fight.
- On.

- What the fuck?
- Come on.

- We ought to sue
these motherfuckers.

"A 22-year-old construction
worker was killed yesterday

when he slipped
and fell to his death."

Leon Hubbard
didn't slip on nothing.

They're laying block down there.
Where was there to fall?

- Jeez, you look worse
than I do.

- Everybody in the fucking
city's gonna think

we're a bunch
of jerk-offs down here,

walking around
falling off shit all the time.

- I'm gonna call
these motherfuckers.

- And they fucked up his age.

He was a year
ahead of me in school.

- 1,440 bucks.

Yeah?

Let me have the bag back
sometime.

- Yeah.

Thank you.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Thank you.

- Richard.

" Huh?

- Brookie here.
You feeling better?

- Well...

I'm lying here with a...

jaybird-naked-ass girl graduate

of the Temple University
School of Journalism.

- I'm glad to hear it.
How was she?

- Well, if you
get off the phone,

I'll try and find out for you.

- Did you notice
that you weren't

in the paper again this morning?

- why?

I gave you my anniversary column
yesterday.

- And I enjoyed it,

just like I did last year
and the year before that.

You've written the same
anniversary column

four different times.

- I could write the same column
every day and get away with it.

- I need a favor.

We ran a story about a kid

got killed
on a construction job,

and somehow we fucked it all up.

- Is this really important,
Brookie?

I mean, she got my dick
in her mouth.

- So I'm thinking,
'Why don't I ask

"Richard Shellburn
to go down there

''and write me a column
about that boy

and get it done right?'

Bibles, pictures...

I really-l can't talk now.

I'm eating pussy.

- 1821 25th street,
God's Pocket.

- Thank you for listening.

I'll get you some more coffee.

- It's my pleasure.

- This is my husband.

- We'll be in touch.

Sorry for your loss.

We're still investigating
the accident

We'll get back to you
when we're finished.

- Thank you, Officer.

- So what did they say?

- They were nice.

They said they'd go back
to the yard and talk to the men.

Something happened.

- How do you know that, Jeanie?

- I don't know, but I know.

- Sal.
How you doing?

- You got my money?

- Hey, the electric went out.

As soon as I get the meat cut,
get it out, everybody gets paid.

- All right,
don't fuck around, Arthur.

- Sal.

Hey, I got a...

a favor to ask.

This kid got killed
at the block yard downtown.

His mother's going crazy.

They ain't telling her
what happened.

- What's this to me?

- The mother's married
to a guy who works for me-

Mickey,
the guy who took the truck?

- Yeah.

- Maybe you could send
a couple of guys down there,

bounce somebody around

so they talk to you.

- Nothing's gonna happen
down there?

- Nah.

- Just a couple guys
to push around?

- That's it.

- All right.

For a point on top
of what you already owe.

- Fine.

Whatever you want.

- And, Arthur,
don't fuck around.

. Okay-

- Hey.
Make sure you get my money.

- You'll get it
You'll get it.

You'll get it.

- It was an accident.

That's...

all there is to it.

Kid was the wrong person
at the wrong place.

- Cops get the... n-nigger?

- You ain't grown enough

to call that old man a nigger.

- Old Lucy will be back
when he's ready.

All right, let's go.

- I'll have a beer.

- ♪ She don'! even
care about me ♪

Is that Leon Hubbard's house
across the street?

- You're aren't
Richard Shellburn, are you?

- Mm-hmm-.

- I-I read you every day.

Yeah, you're different
from your picture,

but I knew it was you.

- It's me.

So is that the Hubbard place?

- Scarpato.
- Oh.

- The mother remarried.
Jeanie Scarpato.

- How's she taking it?

- Well, it was her only child.

- Mr. Shellburn,

you're the only one
that knows what it's like

down here in the Pocket.

God bless you.

- Another?

- Thank you.

- It's the mother.

The mother thinks
something happened.

- What does she think?

- You missing somebody today
besides Leon Hubbard?

Seems like there was an old man.

Ha was sitting against the wall.

- That's Old Lucy.

Some days, he comes in,
and some days, he don't.

He does as much work either way.

He's about 100 years old.

- Look

That mother,
she's got something.

She could look at you
a certain way

and you'd stick a fork
in your leg.

They say that her husband
is connected.

If that's true, that might be
where your problem comes from.

- Either way, she's got
his balls in a blender.

You can see that.

- And there ain't no telling
what anybody will do

with his balls in a blender.

- Fuckin' write it down
or something.

- Hi.

All right.

Same race it was last night,
Bird.

- I don't like this other filly,
the 6 horse.

She scares me.

She got a decent workout
last week.

- So?

Put her at the bottom
of an exacta.

- I don't like her.

This horse can beat
Turning Leaf, the 6 horse.

- Your nerves are eating
your brain, Bird.

- I am telling you, Mick-

- Bird, if Turning Leaf
runs at all,

there's nothing
in that fucking dog kennel

that's gonna catch her.

How much you got there?

- Whatever I could
get my hands on it.

I borrowed some of Sophie's
flower money.

Feel terrible.

- Turning Leaf, eight-to-one.

You'll feel better
once you place your bet.

- I'm telling you, Mick.

It's the 6 horse.

- Jesus, Bird.

I'll be right back
Stay here.

Don't do anything fucking crazy.

Number 3 horse, Turning Leaf,

to win.

45 times.

- Hey.

You the boss?

- I'm the only one here.

- That's a fact.

- The thing is, somebody
got killed here yesterday,

and there's some feeling
it didn't happen

the way the cops said.

So we were wondering if, uh,

maybe you were here
when it happened.

'Cause the guy who got it,
he was an important guy.

- Huh.

He always said he was important.

- So how do you want to do this?

- It happened the way I said
to the police.

And you Jew boys

can do it any damn way you want.

It don't matter to me.

- "Jew boys."

- Now, why you want to do that'?

Did we insult you in any way?

Huh?

- Come on.

Let's go somewhere we can talk

Hit him, Ronnie.

Fucking hit him!

- Oh, God!

- You didn't bet the 6 horse,
did you'?

- Well...

- You're fucking crazy.

- And they're off at Keystone,

$15,000 claiming race.

The number4 horse,
One Hit Wonder,

takes an early lead.

My Oh Might
tucked in at the rail

and Shana Three
coming up between the horses.

No Man's Land
moves up on the outside.

One Hit Wonder,

Shana Three, No Man's Land.

My Oh Might makes a move
on the inside.

One Hit Wonder, Shana Three,

and into third, Turning Leaf.

Turning Leaf still moving up
to the second spot.

One Hit Wonder, Turning Leaf,

Shana Three.

We're into the far turn,

and it's One Hit Wonder
showing the lead by a length

with Turning Leaf...

- Come on, you motherfucker.

- One Hit Wonder, Turning Leaf.

And it's Turning Leaf
pulling in.

- Come on!
- Yes!

- And at the top of the lane,

it's Turning Leaf
moving into first.

Turning Leaf-One Hit Wonder
holding on to second.

- Please.

- And passing the number 5 horse
is Holmesdale, the number 6.

Turning Leaf,

One Hit Wonder,
and Holmesdale

racing up on the outside.

Turning Leaf,
Holmesdale on the outside.

- It's the 6.

- Turning Leaf, Holmesdale-

they fight it out,
and it's Holmesdale.

- Ohh!
- No.

- I-I tried to tell you, Mick.

It was the 6.

- Mm.

- Hello?

Can I help you?

- Uh, I'm looking
for Mrs. Scarpato.

- Yes.

- You're Mrs. Scarpato?

- Yes.

- I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Uh...

I'm Richard Shellburn
of The Daily Times.

- Oh, my!-

Uh, please come in.

This one makes his ears
look bigger than they were.

Oh.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

- It didn't happen
like they said it happened.

There's something wrong with it.

I knew Leon, and he was my boy.

- I know.

- Mr. Shellbum?

So, um, what-
what kind of boy was he?

- Hey-

What was that job, uh,
yesterday-700?

- It's old business.
I took the meat.

- Fuck that.

Here.

- I took the meat.
Keep your money.

- Take 7.

Take 10, for the interest.
- Bird.

- Look, I got maybe
12 grand here.

I owe Sal 20.

But if I give him 10,
maybe he'll lay off for a while.

- 7?

All right.

Thinking of taking Sophie
to Florida.

She wants to live
in one of those trailer parks

with her friends,
grow some shit in the yard.

Jack.

Jesus, God.
You scared the piss out of me.

Oh, shit.

You think people are gonna
smell this shit on her?

- Irish funeral.

Listen, uh, I got a problem
with the money.

- Oh, that's too bad.

- Yeah, it's nothing permanent,

but if we have the service,

I could pay you back
in a couple weeks,

and if I can't
get it back to you then,

I'll sell the truck

- How much money you got'?

- 700.

- What about the fucking money
from The Hollywood?

There was more than 700 there.

- Things happen.
I'll get you the money.

I just-
I-l got to have the funeral,

and Jeanie's fucked up
over all this.

- That's nothing to me.

It's your fuckin' woman
and your fuckin' body

unless I get paid.

- Don't get hysterical.

I don't need my business
on the street.

- You ain't got
no fucking business.

What you got
is something on the side.

No.

No, you bet a game, right?

You bet a fucking game.

- What I did
has nothing to do with you,

and what you got to worry about

is making sure that everything's
all right Saturday,

and then you get your money.

- Sure, Mick

Sure.

- Yeah.

Don't look at me
like that, Jack.

- W-what?

What are you talking about-
look at you?

- Don't look at me like that.
- What?

Oh.

Motherfucker!

- No need to panic.

I'll pay you back
in a couple weeks,

a month on the outside.

You understand?

- I'm sorry, Mick.

I don't know
what's wrong with me.

Let me-
let me go get us a beer.

- Leon always loved animals,

ever since he was a little boy.

He always wanted a dog
or a cat or something.

I used to think it would be nice
to live out in the country

and have a few.

Think that country air would...

Mr. Shellburn?

- I have a place by the water.

I've had it
for a very long time,

and nobody knows.

I go there sometimes at night,

I drink too much,

and I wake up with the birds,

and things are growing
everywhere you look

- Do you need to know
anything else about Leon?

Yo, Mick.

I don't know what got into me.
I was wrong.

- I need this done right.

- We'll take care of it.

You and me got no arguments,
Mick

I hope you don't mind
going out the side.

I'm locked up in front.

- I don't mind nothing.

- I got to get this light fixed.

- It's getting cold.

- Yeah, it's a cold world.

What the fuck?

Holy shit.

Oh, Jesus, Leon.

- I need to know what happened
to my boy, please.

- Oh, um...

can I call you tomorrow?

- Yes, please.

Thank you, Mr. Shellburn.

Okay-

- Jeanie?

- I'm up here
with Richard Shellburn.

He wanted to see Leon's room.

- Richard Shellburn,
this is my husband.

- Oh, um, yeah,
I'm sorry for your loss.

Um, you know,
I think that's, uh-

I think it's all I need,
uh, for now.

- Anything, please.
If you need anything, call me.

. Okay-

- It's all I have to do.

- All right.

- Jeanie, there's something
I need to tell you.

Jeanie.

Jeanie.

- Everything set for tomorrow?

- All set

Just a few last-minute details.

- Where's Arthur?

- Who?

- Where is he?

- This is the way
you do business-

scaring an old woman?

Oh, now-now you're gonna
steal from me?

- He's in the back.

- Want me go around back?

- Yeah, he can't run,
but what the fuck?

- Well, he's-
he's got the money.

He told me.

- This ain't about the money.

You see my cousin out there?

Yesterday he had two eyes.

Now he's gonna have
a piece of glass

in his fucking head
the rest of his life.

- Without Arthur,
what's gonna happen to me?

- If I were you,
I'd shut my mouth.

- Run for your life, Arthur!

- What the fuck?

Oh!

- Sophie!

What are you doing, Sophie?

- One second.

- On.

- This is my family,
you hear me?

You little fuck!
- No, no, no, no!

- I'll fucking kill you,
you fuck!

- Arthur, Arthur, Arthur!

- I'll kill you!
- Stop. Stop.

Arthur, you're getting-
- Yeah!

- You're getting blood
all over your pants.

Just go change.

The cops will be here.

- I swear to Christ, Sophie,

I didn't know nothing like this
was gonna happen.

- Go change your pants.

You don't want people
taking pictures of you

looking like this.

Right?

- Fuck
- Arthur.

- That fuck.

- Arthur, this is not the time
to go wacko-not now.

- Yeah, Operator?

I want to, uh, report
that two men

tried to rob my flower shop.

- Mickey left early.

He seemed different.

Hello.

- This is Richard Shellbum.

Richard Shellburn.

- Mr. Shellbum?

- Uh, we need to talk

- Did you find something out?

- I'll pick you up.

- Where are we going?

- We're almost there.

Almost.

- It all looks the same,
doesn't it?

If you woke up here alone,
you'd never get back.

- Never want to.

- Hey, Nick.

Got a minute?

- I'm here.

- I got some meat.

Thought maybe
you could use some.

- No.

Well, how much you got?

- Four sides,
Kansas choice beef.

- No.

How much you want'?

- $1,000-l don't got time
to fuck around with this.

- You got it with you?

- Yeah, let me take you
down a side to look at.

- I could look at it
in the truck

- I got some other shit
in there.

- I don't care
what you got in your truck

I don't see nothing but meat
when I'm looking at meat.

- Let me pull you down a side.

- Eh, fuck it.
I don't think I want in on this.

- All right, take a look.
- For Christ's sakes.

I don't see nothing-
- It's good beef.

- I don't see nothing
but what I'm looking at.

Anything else
is your own business.

Oh.

This looks good, man.

- What are you doing?
- Let me take a look at it.

- You don't got to go up there.

I'm just doing some guy a favor,
all right?

Don't pay any attention to that.
It's nothing.

- It's cold.

- It's a refrigerated truck

What do you say, Nick?

You gonna take it
off my hands or what'?

- It's a cheap suit.
What happened to him?

- He died.

I-I-I'm doing some guy a favor.

- I don't like this.

You put me in a bad position.

Because of you,
I'm an accessory now.

- You ain't nothing
because you ain't seen nothing.

- I ain't taking
that kind of meat.

Who knows what kind
of sickness it could have got

riding back here
with a human body?

- You're the one that wanted
to fucking look at it

- I didn't want to see that.

As a matter of fact,
I didn't see it.

I don't know nothing about it,
and you didn't come by today.

- Take the fucking meat.

- I ain't-
get the fuck out of here.

- I thought when you told me
about this place,

you might have made it up.

- I bought this for my wife
without telling her.

That's before she realized
that she hated me.

Okay-

Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.

All right.

This is where the living room
was supposed to be.

- It's a good view.

- Shit.

Ah.

I'm 60 years old.

- You don't look that old.

- Well...

I'm 60 years old,
and a whole city loves me.

I get letters every day
from people...

asking me to come to dinner,

visit them in the Poconos.

- Do you go?

No.

Golf-they want me to play golf.

It's pretty.

It's actually beautiful.

Tell me,

how long would it take you

to get tired of having
a celebrity around?

- Mickey!

What, you come hereto finally
sell me that truck, huh?

- Yeah, yeah.
I need to get rid of it.

- On.

What's-what's wrong with it'?

- Ah, nothing.

Temporary financial problem.

- Okay, well, what did you-

what did you pay for that thing?

Oh, my God, Mickey,
they saw you coming, huh?

- And there's
nothing wrong with it?

- 60,000 miles on it.

I check the oil,
keep it in the garage.

Now, you can start it up,

but I don't want nobody
taking it out.

I got some stuff in the back.

- I don't see nothing
but what I'm looking at, Mickey.

- You heard me.

- All right.

Stretch! Stretch!

- It's hard to believe only
two days ago, Leon was alive.

- Nothing works against you
like time.

Time's a bitch.

Oh.

- So you said you found
something out about Leon?

- My husband's
gonna wonder where I am.

- Let me tell you
about your husband.

He can put an air conditioner
into a wall all by himself

or lift an engine block,

but he sits in that bar
for two hours every night,

and then he comes home,

and he doesn't say jack shit.

He doesn't have the faintest
idea what to do with you.

- How long you had that thing?

- About a year and a half.

- Well, you know,
if everything works out, Mickey,

you know, I could probably
get you, like, 5 1/2, 6.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, because business sucks
in the summer, Mickey.

Everyone's thinking about pussy.

- Hmm.

What the fuck?

- He's just gonna make sure
that everything checks out.

- What the fuck?

- He'll be right back.
He's gonna be back in a sec-

Mickey.

Mickey, I can't buy no truck

without taking it out
for a drive first.

You know that.

- I really should be
getting back.

- I'm not mad.
I'm just running!

Wait a minute!

Stop!

- This is my motherfucking meat.

- Take it easy, lady.

- Where the fuck did he think
he was going

in a suit like that'?

- Anyone see the vehicle
hit the victim?

- Jesus Christ.

- I love you.

The moment
that I laid eyes on you,

I was in love with you.

- Where-where's your truck'?

- It's wrecked.

- Stretch?

- I don't know-
hospital, I guess.

- You got insurance, Mick?

- I told you you could start it
but not to take it anywhere.

- I got to try it
before I buy it.

- You told me 6.

- Oh, Mickey, I-

You know, I can't buy
something that's wrecked.

I would love to help you out,
but I-

- You bought it already.

- You know, technically, Mick...

- That's for the mahogany box,
the funeral,

and everything else, right?

- Where's the deceased?

- He's down at the morgue.

There was another accident.

- When it rains, it pours.

- Yeah, well,
they got him down there.

They probably don't know
who he is.

He wasn't carrying
no identification.

- What the hell happened to you?

- Can we take care of this
tomorrow'?

I want it done tomorrow.

- Let me call down the morgue
and find out.

You know, this never
come up before.

- Jeanie.

Jeanie.

Hello.

- Hey, Mick.
It's Bird.

- Yeah.

- You heard, right?

- What?

- You should have seen it.

I didn't even know Sophie
kept that fucking thing loaded.

- What, Sal?

- Yeah.

Sophie and I are gonna
get out of hem tonight.

I'll let you know
where we end up.

Good luck, Mick.

- What the hell happened to you?

- The funeral's
tomorrow at 3:00.

If you wouldn't mind
letting people know?

- That's good.

Saturday is a good day
for a funeral.

- Small service at Jack's.

Shame about the kid.

The whole neighborhood
was sorry.

But they didn't live with him.

They don't know
what it's really like.

- That's the truth.

- And they didn't live
with Jeanie.

They can say this or that.

It's all just talk

- What is?

- Don't listen to them.

Nobody in here went any further
than the 10th grade.

- What's just talk?

- She was just riding
in his car.

It doesn't mean anything.

- What the fuck
are you talking about'?

- The big thing is,

you can leave
all of this behind.

That's the beauty part.

Remember that.

You want to know
why I never got out of here?

- What I want to know
is what everybody's saying.

- Ray.

- It's nothing.

I'm telling you.

- Ray.

- That Jeanie's been fucking
Richard Shellburn.

It's not what I think

It's what they're saying.

- ♪ Come down off your throne ♪

♪ And leave your body alone ♪

- She ain't fucking nobody.

- ♪ Somebody ♪

♪ Must change ♪

- She ain't.

- ♪ I've been waiting so long ♪

♪ Somebody holds the key ♪

♪ Well, I'm near the end ♪

♪ And I just ain't got
the time ♪

- She's got-
she's got some idea

that Leon died differently
than the cops said, is all.

He's helping her.

- What the fuck
you starting now, Ray?

- We're just talking.

- Fuckin' funeral's tomorrow,

and you're talking shit
like that?

- I didn't say anything
everybody else in here

didn't say first.

- Don't believe anything
this guy says.

Fuckin' people!

Talk about everything!

Last call!

- It's not even time!

- Right.
Drink up.

- ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ But I can't find ♪

♪ My way home ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ But I can't find my way home ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ But I can't find my way home ♪

♪ Still I can't find ♪

♪ My way home ♪

♪ And I ain't done nothing ♪

♪ Wrong ♪

♪ But I ♪

♪ Can't find my way home ♪

It's in the paper!

- What?

- That Leon was killed again.

- What?
Why would they say that?

- Because they found
his body in the street!

Why did they find his body
in the street, Mickey?

I didn't have the money
to pay to bury Leon,

so I took the truck
to Little Eddie's,

but his guy took it out
and wrecked it,

and Leon fell out.

- What?

What?

- Leon was in the truck

- No'

With the meat?

- He was separated
from the meat.

I knew that would upset you.

- Where is he now'?

- He's at Jack's.

And it's all settled.

- He was just a baby!

And it's in the paper.

- I'm sorry, Jeanie.

But it's-it's nothing
to be ashamed of...

you know,
people having money problems.

- I have to live
in this neighborhood!

And everybody's gonna know.

- Everybody already knows...

everything.

- Until recently, you only had
to die once in this city..

Even if you came
from God's Pocket.

There was a time

when a 23-year-old working man
could die once,

have the event noticed
in his local newspaper,

and then move on to his reward

without the complications
of an additional death.

- Give us this day
our daily bread...

- Leon Hubbard's death
was reported incorrectly

by this newspaper last week.

But, then, Leon Hubbard
wasn't important.

- Mickey.
Oh, motherfucker!

Leon Hubbard was like the other

working people
of God's Pocket-

dirty-faced, uneducated,

neat as a pin inside.

- Motherfucker!

- They work, many,
and have children

who inhabit the Pocket,

often in the homes
of their mothers and fathers.

They drink at The Hollywood
or the Uptown Bar-

tittle places deep in the city,

and they argue there about
things they don't understand-

politics, race, religion.

And in the end,
they die like everyone else...

Leaving their families
and their houses

and their legends.

And there is a dignity in that.

We owe Leon Hubbard an apology

and all the people
who knew him and loved him

and worked with him.

If we stop listening
to Leon Hubbard's story

and all the neighborhood
stories like it,

eventually the neighborhoods
will stop listening to ours.

- ♪ Packed my bags,
I'm ready ♪

- Give me a beer.

- ♪ To go down to the city ♪

- Mr. Shellburn,
nothing personal,

but I think that I better
ask you to leave...

for your own good.

- Give me a beer.

- What the fuck are you writing
about us in the papers for?

How is it your business
what we do?

- Calling us ignorant,
dirty-faced.

- That was a compliment.

You work for a living.
You get dirty.

- That's dirty hands.

Dirty-faced,
you don't take a bath.

- I mean,
you ain't from around here,

and you're making us
look like assholes.

- You don't fucking know us.

- No, I don't-
I didn't make you assholes.

I said the opposite.

- If he wasn't busy
fucking Leon's mother,

he might have noticed
everybody in here ain't dirty.

No offense, Mickey.

- All right, maybe we all
ought to calm down.

- Fuck calm down.
What is he doing down here?

- I'm down here
because of a misunderstanding.

That's why-
- Misunderstanding, my ass.

- This motherfucker
came here to get fucked up.

- This is my city.

- Bullshit.
- Fuck you.

- But I'm on your side!

- Take it outside, Danny.
- Wait a minute.

- Let's go.
- Stop!

- It's his own fault
- What the fuck?

Because of something he wrote?

- Take it outside!
- Come on. Go.

- Come on.
- Get him out.

- Let's go.
- Get him out!

- What the fuck
is wrong with you?

- You ain't from here either!

- Yeah, you piece of shit.

This ain't your city,
motherfucker!

- What are you gonna do, huh?

20 of you against this old man

for something
he wrote in the newspaper?

- Ain't none of your business,
Mickey, so stay out of it!

- Shut the fuck up!!
I don't give a fuck!

Not this!

Get in your car.

- Get him!

- Watch the step.

- Morning, Mick

- Morning.

You want some breakfast?

- I can't even think about food
this time of the morning.

- We better go practice,
Sophie.

You want to come along, Mick?

- I'm gonna read the paper.

- You don't mind if we do.

- It's all right.
Just be careful.

- Mm-hmm.

Oh.

- Let me get those.

- Jesus.

Would you put something
on those legs?

- Yeah.

- Sweetheart.

- Yeah.

- Ah, Christ.

- We got to keep
our guard up, Mick.

You never fucking know.

- Bird, I can't stay forever.

I got to get a job,
start something.

- You'll be here
when they come, Mick.

You'll know what to do.

- A little bit to your left.

Okay, that was better.

Yeah, yeah-
and try not to shake.

- ♪ Last night I had a fight
with a bottle ♪

♪ A bottle full
of whiskey bourbon ♪

♪ I started a fight
with a bottle ♪

♪ And if you think I look bad ♪

♪ You should see him ♪

♪ Dad was a down-dirty fighter ♪

♪ He taught us a lesson or two ♪

♪ I may be a lovely
young flower ♪

♪ But I'll kick all the dirt
out of you ♪

♪ Yeah, I was banging nails
with a hammer ♪

♪ The day I found that blood
was really red ♪

♪ Yeah, I was banging nails
with a hammer ♪

♪ It turned out that the hammer
was my head ♪

♪ Mama was
a cold-blooded lover ♪

♪ She taught us a lesson
or three ♪

♪ I may be a lovely
young flower ♪

♪ But you won't take
the piss out of me ♪

Whoo!

♪ Yeah, Dad
was a down-dirty fighter ♪

♪ He taught us a lesson or two ♪

♪ I may be a lovely
young flower ♪

♪ But I'll kick all the dirt
out of you ♪

♪ Last night I had a fight
with a bottle ♪

♪ A bottle full
of whiskey bourbon ♪

♪ I started a fight
with a bottle ♪

♪ And if you think I look bad ♪

♪ You should see him ♪

♪ Yeah, if you think
I look bad ♪

♪ You should see him ♪

♪ If you think I look bad ♪

♪ You should see him ♪

♪ If you think I look bad ♪

♪ You should see him ♪