Mickey One (1965) - full transcript

(MUSIC ONLY
THROUGHOUT CREDITS SEQUENCE)

MICKEY:
The ride was over.

I was trapped.

And I find out I owe
suddenly a fortune.

We made a deal:
I work and pay back.

They'll okay me,
I can keep twenty dollars a week.

They'll let me know
when I'm paid up.

Stick, kid. I know.

Ruby, what did I do?

What do they want?

MICKEY: What did I do?



They're sore I been cutting out
too much on the job?

Huh?

All right, so tell me how
they set me up, at least?

Shootin' craps, drunk...
that's the only thing they could've.

Hey, how much they fix
I should lose?

You can tell me that.

What, five grand?

Ten?

Twenty?

Tell me!

No.

But why?
What...?

Was it the girl?

I've been playing around this time
somebody's private stock?



She ain't private any more.

Who owns me?

Ruby...

Stick.

You know,
I really was nuts about that girl.

(INAUDIBLE)

MICKEY: I couldn't be funny
even if my life depended on it...

...and it did.

(JAZZ DROWNING
OUT CONVERSATIONS)

(CYMBAL CLASH)

No! Where are you going?

There's no place
you can hide from them!

You'll have to be an animal!

(TRAIN WHEELS CLATTERING)

(SIREN)

(SIREN)

This Westside Chicago?

(TRAIN BELL RINGING)

(SIREN)

LIEUTENANT:
...then it's my guess, gentlemen.

They brought his
ventilated body out here,

transferred it to one of
the used car beauties

you see above you right now,

and passed it
gently through the air.

(SCRUNCHING METAL)

And somehow our boy just never
made it to court in the morning

to testify about his
sources of revenue.

Or anybody else's.

Neat.

Then they sent him through channels
to the steel furnaces.

No mess, no body
for the family to scream over,

or the papers to report on,

or the police to identify.

Total death.

(STAMMERING)
"Jeremiah was entered into

"the dungeon
and into the caverns,

"and Jeremiah had remained there
many days.

"Then Zedekiah the King

"asked Jeremiah secretly
in his house and...

"...and said, 'Is there any word
from the Lord?"

"And Jeremiah said..."

Social Security card.

EMPLOYMENT MAN:
Lumber handlers!

Truck helpers!

Miklós...

...Wunejeva.

Your name's Mickey One.
Garbage.

(FOOTSTEPS)

(CYMBAL CLASH)

Watson.
Bernavsky.

Mickey One.

Gus.
Wright.

Jackson.
Harlow.

What are you lookin'?

You.

What are you thinkin'?

Not about me.

No...
What are you doin' in a cafeteria?

All right, let's cut it out, huh?

What are you somethin',
the FBI or somethin'?

I'm the king of the silent pictures.

I'm hidin' out till
talkies blow over.

Will you let me alone?

I gotta go.

You're a nice girl.

If you ever need me...

♪ The way you're in love
you're a hero

♪ A Nero, Apollo,
The Wizard of Oz

♪ You've a kingdom,
power and glory

♪ The old, old, oldest of stories
is new, true,

♪ You've built your Rome
in just one day

♪ Life is mystic,
a midsummer's night you live in

♪ A Turkish delight,
you're in heaven

♪ It's swell when you're
really in love ♪

(POLITE APPLAUSE)

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen,

and I say that
from the bottom of my cups.

I come to you, as all of you
readers of my mail already know,

direct from the Starlit Roof of the
fabulous Ritz Gotham in New York.

You see, they don't have a club
at the Ritz Gotham, just a Starlit Roof.

I couldn't afford a room,
and it was a warm night...

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

COMIC:
I used to be quite a fella...

(FLAMENCO TUNE)

(SPORADIC APPLAUSE)

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

And I say that from
the bottom of my cups.

(JUST MICKEY APPLAUDING)

Still there, huh?

Boy, you've got
an iron constitution.

And if you don't watch it,
your constitution is going to rust.

And speaking of constitutions,
I used to be quite a fighter.

I really was.

I'll never forget my first opponent.
He was also my last opponent.

He was a little guy,
he only came up to my chin.

MICKEY:
Trouble was, he came up too often.

Watch it, Buster.
You've heard of ground beef?

I'll never forget
I had this opponent covered with blood.

MICKEY:
Yours.

Kid, when you're working...

...do you come and
monkey around with my mop?

Oh, I can see this kid
believes in justice...

...getting 'justice' drunk as he can.

Waiter, let me mix
this man's next drink.

Blessed are the pure in spirits.

There's nothing wickeder
than a mixed drink.

I wouldn't say this kid gets drunk,

but they caught him last night
putting pennies in a parking meter

and looking up at the clock
on the Wrigley Building

to see how much he weighed.

Brother Rat!

-Get him up here.
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUSE)

(CASH REGISTER PINGING)

LUCILLE: Georgie, Georgie,
you're my baby agent.

Come on now, talk to me.

(CYMBAL CRASH)

(SLOW JAZZ DANCE)

(APPLAUSE)

How do you do, gentlemen.
Welcome again to the Pickle Club.

You all remember me,
the human tranquilliser.

I'm the management's answer
to the cold shower.

A tidal wave just wiped out
all sex in Chicago.

Georgie, I figure I'll spend
another month or here about...

Free band, nobody listening.
I'll work up the whole act,

and you'll get me a booking
someplace human.

Even all night, away the hell out
in a neighbourhood spot.

But women in the audience,
at least.

And guys living. They got in them
laughs I can get to you.

And the eyes on them
closed sometimes.

And they listen at least to me.
Not like that other place.

If I can just last past the night.

Did you talk to the fat guy yet,
tonight? No?

-(BAND STARTS UP)
-Mickey, I think it's time. The band.

Hey, boy!
Don't you know it's time?

Hey!

Going to have a little talk
with your agent here,

see can we keep you over.

You want to get paid, huh?
How much? How much, huh?

I'll pay you poison!
You can take your head of lettuce

and stuff it in the Drainage Canal.
I said get out of here!

Hey, you got the wrong place.

We don't use broads
here at the Big X.

Well, no, Mr Fryer, please.
I got now a high class, a boy...

...a comic.
You wouldn't find it a finer.

I don't care.
The Drake Hotel, the Waldorf Astoria,

A Polish boy, a beauty.
Made for here, this club.

Dance, plays, sings,
his own material, jokes.

What's his name?

His name?
Mickey One.

You didn't heard yet,
but wait, he...

Ed Castle's in complete charge here,
all this kind of stuff,

I'm just the business.

Ed, listen, that little period
flesh-peddler guy's out here.

Maybe you can give him a minute?
Who knows?

ED: Fine, Larry, why not?
Show him in.

Prince of a gentleman in there.
A king. Get in there.

Hey, what do you little guys
do for women, huh?

(FRYER LAUGHING)

(BLENDER WHIRRING)

I'll be with you in a moment.

(BLENDER SWITCHED OFF)

All organic foods.

You know what organic means?

Organic means goodness.

Toward nature,
toward ourselves,

towards our fellow man.

Goodness of spirit
that tones the body

to absorb all the nutrients.

Now tell me about your man.

Mr Castle,
a golden talent, a comic.

His own material.
He sings, dance...

What's his background?

-What?
-Where has he played?

He plays now in a nice tavern
on the West Side.

-No?
-No. I'm sorry.

But come only to look.
Mr Castle, I promise you...

No. I'm sorry.

FRYER:
Hey listen, Ed, maybe...

...we could at least
go look at this guy. He looks...

He could be a bargain.

Course, I'm only the business end.
It's your say-so.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

...nineteen dollars
and forty cents for my teeth.

-(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)

-I'm coming, Virginia!
-(PLAYS DRAMATIC CHORDS)

♪ Mmm-mm, I'm coming

♪ To stay
Don't hold it against me

-3 Oh honey, no way ♪
-(PERCUSSION SOLO)

(LAUGHTER)

-(PERCUSSION SLOWS DOWN)
-(LAUGHTER)

♪ I try to forget you

♪ And now I'm tryin'
I'm all wrong

♪ 'Neath your bright southern moon

♪ Once more I'm gonna croon ♪

Did you ever wonder
how an astronaut feels?

How would you feel
sitting on 150,000 parts

-built by the lowest bidder?
-(LAUGHTER)

- ♪ And if I can win ya
-(BAND STARTS UP AGAIN)

- ♪ I'll never more roam
-(RIPPLING ARPEGGIOS)

♪ I'm comin', Virginia

- ♪ Mmmm my Dixieland home ♪
-(APPLAUSE)

(INAUDIBLE)

Mickey! We got it!

The man gave it
just now the okay.

-What are you talking about?
-Mickey, a booking downtown.

A booking downtown?
I don't want a booking downtown.

What are you pulling on me?

Who's this guy?

I am Ed Castle.

I suppose Berson has told you.

You open for me
the next bill at the Xanadu.

On Rush Street.

Splendid.

Berson here will give you
all the particulars.

(FAINT APPLAUSE)

Now who's that guy?
I'm not taking that booking.

You can cancel me out of this place.
I'm through.

(MACHINE GUN SOUNDS)

(ARCADE SOUNDS)

(SUDDEN SILENCE)

(ARCADE SOUNDS)

(YAWNING)

(CLICKING)

-(ARCADE SOUNDS)
(MANIACAL LAUGHTER)

(KLAXON)

(LANDLADY SPEAKING POLISH)

-(TELEPHONE RINGS)
- I told you to stay out.

What, are you bringing him
here where I live?

It's all right, my boy.
It was my idea.

I'm here to help you.

What's happened to you,
Mickey, since Shaley's?

Are you worried about
the sudden jump to Rush Street?

All right.

I'm going to New York tonight.
This is my offer:

Seventy-five dollars a week
over what we discussed

and we'll defray the cost of
any new arrangements.

Run-throughs start the day I get back.
Sunday week.

And any favours,
or extras that you find you need,

we'll gladly absorb.
Now don't hesitate to ask me about...

-Why?

What you said.
I'm not ready for the jump.

My boy, there is no jump.
Not for people like you.

Your talent is a bridge.
You'll walk across.

Mickey, the successful comic
is the king of show business.

People, respectable strangers,

they'll stop you on the street
just to touch out at you.

Driving, you'll drive a
milk-white Cadillac

with a portable bar
and air conditioning.

Your name across the pockets
of your custom silk pyjamas.

You'll have everything
you ever prayed for.

Money, clothes, success.

Al Jolson had
a hundred and fifty overcoats

in his closets when he died.

No, now wait, you can't...

I want you!

You're throwing away
an opportunity.

Let me help you.

(LANDLADY SPEAKING POLISH)

All right, the hell out!
Come on, out!

-She said you were being...
-You!

...that you knew.

I just gave her
nearly all my money.

It's dark out.
I can't...

All right, the only thing
I can help you out...

A little room in there,
you can sleep tonight.

Then get your money back.

It's got a lock on it.

Listen, you don't
interest me sexually.

Talk! What are you,
some kind of Mahatma Gandhi?

All right.
We'll work something.

I'll sleep there.

(DISTANT SCREECHING)

Who told you to come?

Ruby Lapp?
Lapland?

Want the place clean?

(DISSONANT CHORD)

Cry.

What'd ya have troubles at the
other place? You're gun-shy.

Here you don't have to worry.
The only one here's the old man.

But lucky, five years ago
he got smart, he got lumbago.

Now she works, he sits all day, reads
the want ads in the Dziennik Chicagoski

in case some day
somebody happens to advertise

for an ignorant Polack with lumbago.

To read the want ads
in the Dziennik...

Chicagoski.

You know you made a joke?

You hungry?
I'll get you something to eat.

(DOOR SLAMS)

Don't knock, come right in!
Bring a friend!

It's a public place.
A comfort station.

JENNY:
What?

What?

Your name's Genevieve Drayton.
Your family lives in Medford, Kansas.

Jenny Drayton.

The other's just
in case of accident.

You told the truth, about the money.

I thought you were lying.

What kind of name is that, Drayton?
American something?

I guess so.

My brother found
some people in England,

but I don't think we have
any family there.

No, I don't think we have
any family there either. In England.

We have family in Buffalo,
Calumet City, Hamtramck, Warsaw.

Wherever particular
Polacks congregate.

-Do you drink?
-No. Not really.

-Smoke?

What do you do?

To the President...
Ignacy Paderewski.

I always gotta have
a drink in the daytime.

My old man must have been a lush.

Is your father...?

How would I know?

My mother was a waitress
on a fast streetcar line.

I don't want you to get
the wrong idea about her.

She was a...
she was a tramp.

Nah, I'm a wise guy:
she was all right.

Listen, I was the only kid
in the neighbourhood

who had to go out in the street
to learn how to swear.

She never talked dirty.

Later on I found out:
the words they said, she did.

Honest to God, like...

She never...

...you know, shanty
or some fleabag hotel.

I wanted I grow up like other kids.

So I did. I grew up like any
red-blooded American kid

with six different "misters"
for a father

and a mother who's
on a honeymoon always.

She never drank or smoked.

And I bet you haven't gotten
a Drayton that's any better like that.

Well, I...

-I have a father...
-That's what I mean.

-No, I didn't mean it like that.
-It's all right.

Besides, it's different in English.

So your old man's a rounder, huh?

I like to hear things like that.
About Protestants.

I'm the only American who ever went
to Berlitz to learn American.

"Do you make these
mistakes in English?"

Their mistakes were better
than my English.

Are you in the...
theatrical business?

Why?

Well, you're very quick.
That's all.

I'm a comic.

You... are you very good?
I'm sure you are.

On stage I'm a
Polack Noël Coward.

-Ever worked a stage?
-Oh no. No, I'd be terrified.

Oh, I dunno.

(PIANO CHORD)

Sometimes it's the only place
in the whole world you're free.

I mean a couple of hours
every night at least,

you're out there on that floor,

you're the best person in the world
you always wanted to be.

Yourself.

The one exactly
they want you to be.

They clap for.

The same.

One.

Where else?

-In your dreams.
-(PIANO CHORD)

In bed.

(PLAYS CHORD SEQUENCE)

What?

What is it?

-If I could...
-(PLAYS BASS NOTES)

MICKEY: You don't know.
You never asked me my name even.

JENNY:
Mickey.

(COUGHING)

Again?

Fellow comics of the Club Lapland,

I see that you too have found out

that the management here
is in the meat business.

Prime ribs of comedian.

Ruby, I can't.

Three times a night go out
and make jokes on my own grave.

I can't.

Or maybe I can raise the money
and pay 'em up.

You help me. Twenty thousand.
It ain't the end.

Why not?

How do you know it's
twenty thousand? I didn't say.

How do you know it's only money?

-Why, shootin' craps. You said..
-You said.

How do you know it's not
all the other crap games

they tore up on ya?

And the bookie slips.

How do you know it's not the car
they gave you, you smashed up?

And the liquor, and the
good times, and the apartment?

And the clothes,
and Christmas, and birthdays,

-and the rehearsal halls?
-These were favours.

They're favours as long
as they want them to be favours.

How do you know it isn't
all the trips they paid for,

and the special material,
and the arrangements in music?

The dentist.

The lawsuits, the parties,
the "expenses"?

Twenty thousand?
Twenty thousand's just a fraction.

How do you know it's not the...
your whole life you're living.

Big mouth in the steam baths,
four a.m.

So they bought me.

I'm tied up here
the rest of my life.

RUBY:
Where are you going?

There's no place
you can hide from them.

You'll have to be an animal!

MICKEY:
Four and a half years I travelled,

Up and down the back end
of the South. An animal.

Tried two, three times to get
in touch with Ruby Lapp in Detroit.

Nothing.

Now today they're here
pressuring me.

JENNY:
Do they know?

MICKEY: I don't know for sure
they know who I am or not.

Yet.

But I haven't got that kind of guts
to stick around and find out.

Couldn't you talk to someone?

I talk to you.

This you don't talk.
Nobody's going to talk to you.

JENNY:
I don't understand.

Anything. I mean,
hiding from you-don't-know-who,

for a crime you're not
even sure you've committed.

And the only thing I know:
I'm guilty.

-Of what?
-You sure you don't want a drink?

Of what are you guilty?

Of not being innocent.
What am I, a lawyer?

Ed?

This kid, Mickey.

ED: Larry, I admire the boy
as much as you do.

I phoned his agent
five days running

to get him down here.
When I get back...

Would I be stepping out...

Like, would I be stepping out of line
if I tried with him?

No!
I'll get to him.

I'll get to him.

(PHONE RINGING)

(PHONE CONTINUES RINGING)

JENNY:
It's Mr Castle again.

(MUSIC ONLY)

(APPLAUSE)

(PERCUSSIVE CLANKING)

(RANDOM PIANO NOTES)

It's called 'Yes'.

-(MACHINE STOPS)
(CROWD HUBBUB)

(CROWD GROANING)

-(DOOR CHIME)
-(PERCUSSIVE CLANKING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

READER: "Yes' will come alive
even while destroying itself.

"Its greatest freedom will come out
of its greatest threat.

"For 'Yes', courage is freedom."

(EXPLOSION)

(SIREN WAILING)

(CROWD BOOING)

(SOFT CHIME)

(LA DONNA E MOBILE' PLAYING)

And beautiful music.

That's my own jukebox.

But they're pushing me.

This mob guy comes in,

put in their noisebox,
forty per cent off the top.

No, sir. What for?

Who told you to turn out the lights?

You don't know these people.

(DOOR CLICKS SHUT)

Get down.
I'll do your back again.

No, you're tired.

Boy, they got me now.
I'm scared to stay.

I don't know if I can stand it
to go without you.

Darling, don't go.

Let's stay.

To the run-through.

One day. For me.

You don't have to go.

-It's not true.
-Shut up, you don't know...

You distrust everybody.

Who should I trust?

-Mr Castle has phoned you...
-He's in with them.

...at least three times from New York.

He's in with them.

How do you know?

Because I don't know that he isn't.

-Your own agent brought him here.
-He's in with them.

You're in with them.

No, that's the way
you've got to be, to live.

Now will you let me
the hell alone?

Only to the run-through, darling.

Just to be at the club
and to see what you're afraid of.

To scale it down.
To make it real.

Then the nightmare would be over.

We could live.
With the lights out at night.

We could make love in the dark.
We could...

(TRAFFIC SOUNDS)

You had me worried there.

Hey, that kid.
He's coming, isn't he?

Yes, I should hope so.
You off to pick up your people now?

Yeah. Hey, but no, this Mickey,
no kidding.

What's the name of this
person you're picking up?

I need that kid to be here today.
He's your responsibility.

Of course he is. Gladly.

I mean he's your responsibility.

I mean, any extras
or specials on your trip,

don't forget,
the company's pleasure.

Well now, I picked up
some art pieces that cost...

The company.

Just hand in the
piece of paper, the receipt.

The hell you're doing, anyways?
The library. The one day I need you.

Sweetheart, I promise
I'll be at the club before you.

I never went to a library Sunday
in my whole life.

I'm supposed
to go all week.

You know [I've hardly
been to the office.

Oh darling,
you give me everything.

I love you. Believe.

Hey, Ed. I only got a second.
I got the man with me.

Did you hear from the kid?

He'll be here.

Now you're sure?

What do you mean,
you've got them with you?

Where are they?

Up in the light booth.

Larry, what's this all about?
I don't...

You're sure that he's coming?

ED:
I'm in touch with him right now.

Ah, good. Swell. Yeah.

Hey, uh...

They'll call you when they're ready.

(KNOCKS LOUDLY)

C'mon, let's get outta here.

I thought perhaps I'd
misunderstood you on the phone,

but Mickey will be here,
is that right?

Oh yes, but...

Splendid boy.

But just for the run-through so far.
You said...

No, but you've double-checked
with him, haven't you?

About being here today.

You see, I have my people out there
rigging up a special audition for him.

-Audition?
-Don't you see?

He doesn't know.
Mickey trusts no-one.

Why not?
Do you know?

Do I?

Well, yes.

Actually, it's the reason I asked
to see you before he came.

I'm not sure that he can even get by
this afternoon without your help.

Oh, uh, yeah, I...

Oh swell, boy!

-Larry?
-(SECURES DOOR)

What's Mickey's problem?

JENNY:
That was four years ago,

but he...

he still has this obsessive idea
that he'll be "rubbed out", or...

You're bleeding.

(RUNNING WATER)

(MICROPHONE FEEDBACK)

(KNOCKING)

Come in.

Mr Castle.

So how's it in New York?
Did you hurt yourself?

Where is everybody,
the other acts?

It's all right, my boy.
You've nothing to worry about.

They're coming later.

What do you mean?

And they're futzing around
the lights out there.

For a first run-through?

Oh that, Mickey, they're just
experimenting, that's all.

All right, Mickey.
Those lights are for you.

It's a marvelous opportunity.

I've arranged a special audition.

-This could insure your career.
-What audition?

You didn't...
I don't do any blind auditions.

I promise you
there's nothing to fear.

There's not...
not even a drummer.

I can't.
Nobody knows my material.

That doesn't matter to this man.

Why not?

-Well, he...
-Huh?

I don't know, he seems to think
he knows your work.

From where?

MICKEY:
What's the name of the guy?

What's his name?

MICKEY:
Huh?

All right, Mickey,
the situation is this.

This happens to be
Larry Fryer's project.

-Now he's on the business side.
-But you said that you...

ED:
I don't know the man's name.

I just know he's connected with
some clubs here in the Midwest,

and now he's here, and they want
to look you over for themselves.

They?

-He's here with an associate and a...
-Where?

-What?
-Where are they?

-What difference does that make?
-Where are they?

Where are they?
Look, it isn't what...

Mickey, they're back up in the
light booth, but that's not...

The light booth.

What'd you walk me into?

ED:
It's not true.

You're building your own monster.

What's not true?

Nothing.

What?

Nothing.

I didn't mean it that way.

What way?

You told him?

Mickey, I was sure that...

You told him?

-(GROANS)
(INTERCOM BUZZES)

-Castle.
-MAN: All right,

send the piece of talent out here.
We're ready for him.

ED:
Mickey, no!

There's nothing to run from.
You run now, they will remember.

(INTERCOM BUZZES)

Wait, just a moment.

These men are in a position to
guarantee your future.

ED:
They're businessmen.

All right, just a second.
I'm coming out.

My boy, we'll all of us be here
in the same room with you.

-JENNY: I was sure Mr Castle...
- I told you no.

I told you my life
in your hands. No.

What right you got
to turn me in

for some virgin idea
you're a god with my life?

You're a slut with
a snake in your mouth.

Die!

ED:
No, but I have this

-replacement in mind, and I...
-MAN: I thought he was a single.

She's a friend.
You know, but...

MAN:
And the little guy?

The agent.

But I have this other performer
in mind that I...

MAN:
And where have you been?

All right, you ready now?

I said, are you ready?

-Yeah.
-Okay, then the rest of you out.

I don't want any audience.
I'm the audience.

I said the rest of you, out!

-Now listen...
-Out!

LARRY: Mickey, we'll wait there
for you in the office.

ED:
No, I'll be using the office myself.

VOICE:
All right, next!

Next!

Hey!

Okay, now turn out
the light by you.

Murder, anybody?

What, are you laughing or aiming?

Who says I don't have
to do this for a living?

I mean, I heard of tough audiences,
but I think this is illegal.

I don't even know
if I'm in season.

Or couldn't you just give me a gun

and show me the way
to the men's room?

Boy, if I'm lucky, I got
the greatest finish in show business.

I only wish I could be there.

There's gotta be somebody there!
There's a light on.

(MICROPHONE FEEDBACK)

This gives you an appetite

to live.

Only a hundred and forty-nine
more overcoats I'd have been a star.

My name up on pyjamas.

I could have been
the King of Show Business.

God save the King.

The Queen.

Nah, the most beautiful...

-(CRASH OF FURNITURE)
-(MICROPHONE FEEDBACK)

(SALVATION ARMY BAND PLAYING)

Mickey?

(DOOR CREAKS OPEN)

(FOOTSTEPS)

I can go with you.
I'll work.

Nah. I got to go now different.

Where's Georgie?

Where are you going?

I'm going.
To find somebody.

To who owns me.

(SALVATION ARMY BAND PLAYING)

Georgie. Find him.
Maybe he knows something.

And tell him to stay out of it.

♪ Is there any word from the Lord?

♪ Though your sins be
rock and thunder

♪ Lift on high your hearts
and pray

♪ Is there any word from the Lord? ♪

I can't see where
he's my responsibility.

LARRY:
I want him here tomorrow!

As long as he's in this town
and you booked him,

-he's your responsibility!
-But Larry...

He's in this town,
he's your responsibility.

I don't know. I don't know
what you're talking about.

You told me yourself.
I was in here with that girl.

Go on, get out of here.

You said the mob guy
came in here...

I don't remember.

I'm in trouble.
I need help.

You said the guy came here,

he tried to get you
to use the mob jukebox.

You told him you'd...

EDDIE:
Jeez, I can't get over it, you.

Jesus, I can't get over it, you.

Huh? Hmm? Hmm?

Legal gambling.
I pay off every week.

The guy comes around.

Hey, how you happen
to come here, my place?

All these years.

I'm in trouble.

I'm trying,
I can't give myself up.

I gotta find out if the mob's
trying to kill me.

I've been eight different places,
everybody. Now you.

Now you.

How do you turn yourself in?

All right, just give me
the guy you pay off.

You said before.

Eddie, I need...

Eddie?

Niepowiem.

Save me.
Pomóź mi.

The only thing I know, the game.

Their big open crap game.

All their killers, the big shots go.

Area City someplace.
That's all I know.

No, Eddie, that's no good.

They could kill you there.
I got to go sideways.

Private. One guy.

BOSS:
Eddie!

No, beat it. I don't give handouts.
Here, go sell a calendar.

Get yourself a drink someplace else.

I don't want you.
Get out of here!

Only one
in the whole city of Chicago

can tell me a gangster
to go to.

Next year, dammit,
I vote!

-(KNOCKING)
(DOORBELL RINGING)

(KNOCKING)

WOMAN'S VOICE:
Turn around, please.

You are on closed-circuit
television.

MAN'S VOICE:
You got the slip?

WOMAN'S VOICE:
You know, his shirt is on inside out.

MAN'S VOICE: What is it?
Vegas, New Orleans, Cleveland or Detroit?

-Detroit.
-MAN'S VOICE: Read it.

WOMAN'S VOICE:
But why is his shirt on inside out?

MAN'S VOICE:
Of course, open it. Read it.

"Dear Lois,"

MAN'S VOICE:
Lois?

They're sending the collection reports
to the secretaries now?

-Come on, come on.
-"Give the bearer the quiet brush-off..."

The what? Who sent you here?

WOMAN'S VOICE:
Why is his shirt on inside out?

MAN'S VOICE:
Get him out of here.

HOTEL CLERK:
No, we don't have a Mr Berson here.

You must have been
calling someplace else.

Excuse me, do you have
a Mr Berson here?

No.

So I owe the Syndicate, and I could
get killed. Now what can I do?

Is it a gambling debt?

All right, yeah.

Forget it, you don't have to pay.

Gambling's illegal in Illinois.

ED:
Mickey!

Eleven hundred dollars.
To get out of the business.

Don't you understand?
I'm trying to help you.

Then help me. Get me
a mob guy to talk to.

Get out,
you're wasting your time.

-You're too weak for a big room.
-That's all the help I want.

-You'll spend your life in deadfalls.
-I don't care about that.

You're a talented amateur.

You're a Syndicate messenger boy.

Get out of the business.
You're not strong enough.

I'm strong enough.

You just find somebody to clear me.
I'll show you.

You ask anybody
knew me in Detroit.

Ask Ruby Lapp.

Ask Ruby Lapp.

The manager, the Lapland.
Did she tell you Ruby Lapp?

Ask him. You're a manager.
He'll tell you.

-You're being a child.
-No, you... Long distance?

-Put it down.
-Don't you understand?

He'll tell you I'm
strong enough for a big room.

-Put it down, Mickey.
-Operator, we're trying

to locate in Detroit a...
Here, you tell her.

No.

Lapp. Ruby Lapp.

Ruby Lapp is dead.

When?

First with a broken bottle
in the face before they...

Run.

The game. Where's the game at?

The big guys.
The gambling.

-Run. Something new has been added.
-Outside of Area City someplace...

They don't close the tidy
machine guns any more.

It's the night of the bomb,
under the floorboard of your car,

-your porch, your bed, it's a crushout.
-I don't care.

If you know so much,
just tell me where the game is.

You know you're in with them.

I swear I'm not touched by them.

I happen to work in a field they
control. I have the right to work.

They don't control me. In the
real world, you have to be realistic.

You have to make
certain compromises.

-I don't care about...
-Mickey, you have no time.

Take this, get out of this town.
I don't want to be responsible for you.

You have no time.

-Just tell me where the game is.
-I don't know where the game is.

Now let me help you.

(CRASHING GLASS)

You start work tomorrow.
First show eight thirty.

Be there.

-(LOUD LAUGHTER)
(CHATTERING)

The cab driver said you could tell me
where the game's at these days.

-The big game.
-We've got games right here in the back.

You wanna play?

I mean the big game.

Well, if you don't know
where to find the big game,

we can't tell you.
You got to be invited.

Georgie!

Hey, Georgie!

Pencils? Shoelaces?
Razor blades?

Beat it, Eddie.

I mean, it's a great act
you got there, but tell me,

which one of you guys
is the straight man?

-(LAUGHTER)
-I mean, I...

Hey, don't I know you?
I do know you.

You're in the business.

What's your name?
I know you.

(PIERCING WHISTLE)

Hey, get him!

(POLICE WHISTLES)

(TARZAN YELL)

(POLICE WHISTLE)

(SQUEALING TYRES)

(WHIRRING)

(CRASHING)

(CRUNCHING METAL)

(RHYTHMIC CLANKING)

(PENNY WHISTLE MELODY)

(HONKS HORN)

I can't get over it.

Nobody in the whole world
you can confess?

Who were those men in the booth?

Why did Georgie run away?

Nobody.

JENNY:
Did they know?

You can't give up.

Then run!

I don't understand
why you won't go.

You still have a chance.

Ruby Lapp.

Nah, no more running away.

I haven't got any more
the guts to live that scared.

I gotta live the only way
I'm at least free.

With you.

Are you frightened, Mickey?

As long as I live.

(JAZZ MUSIC CRESCENDO)

Georgie?

They still say he didn't
live there at the hotel?

He lived there.

Ah, then he's got to be
out front.

(APPLAUSE)

And now, folks, I want you
to be nice to a boy

who comes to us tonight
with no time at all for rehearsal.

He wanted a spot on the show,
and we really put him on the spot.

The big X.

So I want you to give a big
Xanadu welcome to a new, fresh

and brave comedy talent.

-The one and only Mickey One.
-Mickey, if something happened to...

Maybe you shouldn't.

(ONE WOMAN LAUGHS NERVOUSLY)

Georgie.

(MUTTERING)

I played this room once before
under another face.

Now, any of you seen a little agent
at your table named Georgie?

No?

Yeah, I played this room before.

I ran out that time.
There was something I didn't like

about the audience.

-There wasn't any.
-(LAUGHTER)

George?

MICKEY:
No?

I lost him, Georgie, last night.
I got...

...caught in a crap game
with the United Nations.

And this game cost me
two teeth, six dollars

-and a naturalised midget.
-(LAUGHTER)

The only thing I...
I don't know if it passed or faded.

If I'm next...

(NERVOUS CHUCKLING)

This time I ran out of running.

This time I'm staying around
to see my finish.

Now who's up there?

Am I coming through?

All right, then.
Let's talk about the weather tomorrow.

Is there going to be any?

Is there any word?

Is there any word?

So this is the word, huh?

(PLAYS JAZZ PIANO)

SUBTITLES BY POWERHOUSE FILMS LTD