Original subtitles

100 pounds.

Who do you want shot?

Big Jim Devine.

I wanna get her right where she breathes.

Jim and I are married. For life.

You'll never know what that is.

You'll die alone.

And you'll die sooner than you think.

Let's go!

♪ It's a jungle out there ♪

♪ It's a jungle out there ♪

♪ It's a jungle out there ♪

♪ Do you believe in heaven above ♪

♪ Do you believe in love ♪

For a decade, Tilly Devine

and Kate Leigh had battled it out

to be the queen of the underworld.

And now Razorhurst was about to explode

one last, decisive time.

♪ Burning heart ♪

Hello, Kate.

Life on the coast getting a bit dull for you, was it?

Back to play with the big gals?

Well, I never left the field.

You just took your eye off the ball.

While you've been playing tit for tat with Tilly Devine,

I've been expanding my horizons.

The Fifty Fifty Club?

You've been sold a pub, Phil.

Keep it.

You might wanna drop by.

See what I done with the old joint.

If you're not too rushed off your feet here.

You're not gonna go, are you?

♪ Mm, mm ♪

♪ Send me an angel ♪

♪ Right now ♪

♪ Right now, yeah ♪

♪ Empty dreams can only disappoint ♪

♪ And all behind me smile ♪

You said it weren't fancy.

Horrible stockings without holes.

Amazing what you can achieve

with a bit of spit and polish, innit?

You trying to impress me?

Well, I have to try. You're here.

Lovely voice. And ain't she gorgeous?

Yeah. I need a drink.

Wouldn't spend too much of your hard-earned here, Phil.

I could have you shut down in a bee's dick.

See, you don't have many friends left in this town.

Speaking of friends, you see Edmond over there?

Big wig in the city branch of the Bank of New South Wales.

Roland, Randolph, they're brothers.

Roland's a barrister, Randolph's a solicitor.

And old Nijinsky over there,

that's Justice Barnes from the Supreme Court.

I made some new friends befits my new status.

You put three bullets in my chest, Kate.

I could crush your penny a pint

sly-fucking-grog shops in an eye blink.

I wanna do you slowly and watch you wither

until you're nothing but a beggar in the street.

I'm gonna enjoy every minute of it.

I was round long before you.

And I ain't going nowhere.

Come on, let's get outta here.

Your whisky's shit, mate.

Might wanna get yourself a new singer there, Kate.

That old one, oh, she's a bit off-key.

♪ Ooh, ooh, no ♪

♪ Hey, yeah ♪

You know about him, love.

You missed your chance, Calletti.

Yeah, and I missed your heart by how much?

Hadn't you better get back to your grapes

and your grapefruit?

Grapes aren't even in season.

Fruit's in my past now, Frank.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

Come back and see me in a year

when you'll still just be a hired hand,

still doing what Big Jim tells you to do.

I don't work for Jim Devine no more.

You kiss his arse for free now, do you, mate?

No.

I hate the prick.

And the fact is,

I'm planning on shooting Jim Devine first chance I get.

Then I'm gonna cut the ears off his damnable corpse

and I'm gonna pin 'em to the wall in Stanley Street!

Come on.

I just saw Frank Green.

Lucky you.

He was looking very flash.

New clobber, new watch.

He was boasting that he was gonna kill Jim.

Oh dear.

Is this your doing, Kate?

You got your claws into Frank, bought him off?

Poisoned his mind against me?

Well, if I had,

that would mean that I was using a bloke

who you turned into a killer to kill your hubby.

And wouldn't that be ironic?

Frank wants to shoot me?

I heard him say so himself.

He'll just be joshing.

Frank looks up to me.

Thinks the sun shines out me bumhole.

Nice work, mate.

He's not joshing, Jim.

I think he's switched sides,

I think Kate Leigh's bought him.

This is all your bloody fault.

My fault?

First thing in the morning, it's Kate Leigh.

Last thing at night, it's Kate Leigh.

I told you years ago you were making a rod for our backs

with all your feuding.

But you wouldn't listen.

And now Leigh's sicced Frank on me.

Oh, quit your fucking whinging!

If Frank's seen you for the weakling you really are,

then who's to blame him, hey?

I'm not the one that screwed up shooting Barney Dalton.

Weakling, huh?

Well, how weak's that then, huh?

What?

Excuse me, Frank?

What?

Tilly. She wonders if your arm might be on the mend.

Well, it's just, it's been a few weeks since we've seen you,

and she- - And she wants me, does she?

Yeah, she's short-staffed for muscle.

Well, you tell Tilly

there's more than one Sheila round here who wants me.

Why didn't you just bring him like I told to you,

you useless ninny?

I tried!

Get you fed, Percy.

Hello, Guido.

You got a minute?

That's quite a push you've put together.

Takes a bit of clout.

You spotted my talents at long last, have you, Tilly?

We've never had much in common, have we, Guido?

We've sort of moved in different circles.

Well, we've got something in common now.

Frank Green.

What about him?

Well, he's pinched your girl and blacked your eye

more times than I've had rumpy-pumpy.

I reckon a man of your new stature

would be wanting him dead.

So do I.

♪ What is everybody saying ♪

♪ It's the bridge we've been waiting for ♪

♪ Like a giant of steel, at last the dream is real ♪

♪ Doesn't it make you feel your love of Sydney more ♪

♪ Right across the dear old harbor ♪

♪ There's an ever-open door ♪

♪ Australian sons, let us rejoice ♪

♪ It's the bridge we've been waiting for ♪

Tilly of course had heard

that Phil Jeffs was back.

And Tilly was never one

to look a gift horse in the chompers.

It's a nice place, Phil.

Fairly classy.

But to my mind, you're lacking a certain je ne sais quoi.

And what might that be?

Little addition to your entertainments.

It'd knock that slut's shabby saloon right out the park.

Tilly and Phil

entered into a business arrangement.

Tilly would provide the Fifty Fifty

with her prettiest girls,

offering private time to Phil's customers.

Phil's cut wasn't huge, but having his club offer girls

as well as grog and gambling and cocaine

was a flanking maneuver in his war on Kate.

Phil Jeffs is running the Fifty Fifty?

Place is a den of iniquity.

Booze, gambling, snow.

And now Tilly Devine's in it,

supplying the club with her girls.

You expect me to do your dirty work?

I'm wasting me time, where's Bill Mackay?

I wanna speak to the boss.

Superintendent Mackay has got security

for the bridge opening to supervise.

Stuck with me, I'm afraid.

Well then, I'm wasting my breath as well.

Hear you've commissioned another murder.

You tell that little savage Frank Green

I'm watching him.

As much as I'd like to see him take out Jim Devine,

see the whole bang lot of you go out

in a hail of bullets,

I actually believe the law's worth upholding.

You sounded just like Bill Mackay then.

A poor man's version.

Forgive me for talking your business,

but if I was gonna shoot someone,

I wouldn't be all over Darlinghurst talking it up.

It's called

spooking the competition. - It's called being

a loose lipped,

loud mouthed galah. - You don't speak

to me like that!

I speak how I fucking want.

That's my money you're spending on yourself and your tart.

I want Jim Devine dead.

You can make it look like a robbery, a break in,

I don't care.

I want him dead.

As soon as I get me arm strength back.

That wing of yours isn't just an excuse, is it, Frankie?

You got the guts to kill Big Jim or don't you?

I've got the guts, alright.

But I'm a professional, and if I'm gonna do this right,

I need to be able to hold a gun,

I need to be able to throw a punch,

and take on any of Jim's mates who wanna have it-

Oh, fuck,

Oh, I'm sorry.

They moved the raiser down!

Mona, come on.

For God's sake,

as if I haven't got enough troubles of me own!

Come on!

♪ Just drink and be ♪

Stop it. Stop it!

Throwing myself into my performance!

Stop. Stop it!

Stop.

I'm sorry, Katie.

I'm sorry I'm so useless.

Why have you stopped playing?

Come clean this mess up.

I'm sorry, Maisie.

What are you staring at?

Hey, shoo.

Get out. Go on, get out.

How many times are you gonna do this for me?

For as long as you keep doing this to yourself.

I am gonna give up the booze, Katie.

This time for sure.

Hey, do you remember when we first met?

You were singing for your supper on Bayswater Road.

God.

Oh, your voice was so sweet,

I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

That was a long time ago.

Not that long.

Go on, give us a verse.

- No. - Go on.

- Oh, Kate, I don't wanna. - Please? Please.

♪ As I went down in the river to pray ♪

♪ Studying about that good old way ♪

♪ And who shall wear the starry crown ♪

♪ Good Lord, show me the way ♪

You need a new singer, Katie.

I can't do this anymore.

I can't. - That's bullshit.

No, look at the Fifty Fifty club.

That gorgeous girl.

You need someone like her, someone young.

Modern.

You must be pissed 'cause that's the biggest load

of bull's wool I ever heard.

You could sing that smiling coconut

off the stage in any country.

Hey.

I need you, Mona. You know that.

Sweetheart, I need you to be at your best.

I know.

I'll try, Katie.

Promise.

I didn't like her tone.

I'll tell you that for free.

When are you going to kill Jim?

As soon as this stops giving me gyp.

I've been thinking.

You know, Jim knows I'm after him.

What if I front him?

Say that if he pays me the money I'm owed,

I won't knock him?

That way, I get dosh from him and Tilly as well as Kate.

But you will still kill him?

Yeah.

Why?

Because I wanna watch.

I've never seen anyone die before.

I wanna see what it's like.

To face that darkness. That emptiness.

I wanna see what it's like

taking your very last breath.

Guido Calletti wanted to become

Australia's Al Capone.

But he was a very busy man.

Not only had he agreed to kill Frank for Tilly,

he was also planning to take over Kate's cocaine trade.

Trouble was, he still hadn't figured out

how she got her supplies from the wharf.

Guido, hello.

Where have you and your little Leigh been

this time of night?

Ah, she can't sleep.

Big pram.

Me ma bought it for me.

Five guineas.

Five guineas? Jesus.

What a devoted grandma that Kate Leigh is, hey?

She's a regular doll.

Can I have a hold?

Aw, the Princess of Darlinghurst, hey?

Who's a little princess?

What's this poppet's future, hey Percy?

You gonna grow up to be a big important lady

like your grandma?

Or is there something else in store for you?

I should get her back to bed.

I ain't finished.

Third of May.

Yeah.

Actually, those were 3.90.

Yeah. Yeah.

What's the matter?

We bumped into Guido Calletti.

Well, did he hurt yous?

Nah. He picked up Charlotte, though.

See, my bet is Kate uses that pram to move her snow.

Kate would sell that sprog to white slavers

if there was a quid in it.

Yeah?

Well, they never went nowhere near the docks tonight.

Shit.

What the hell's he up to?

Since when has the saloon served tea?

Sh.

Understand?

Grab the boys. Meet in the usual spot.

Yes, everything was going swimmingly

for Aussie Al Capone.

Too bad he'd forgotten about the Consorting Squad.

Argh! Get out!

You bastard, Blissett!

We weren't doing nothing!

I didn't make the consort laws, mate.

Now, here's how I see this, Guido.

You shouldn't have raised a hand to me property.

You shouldn't have raised a hand to me people.

You shouldn't have raised anything

other than your hat to me and mine.

And you shouldn't have gone

near my daughter or granddaughter.

We need 100 police stationed

along the entry streets.

The north and the south?

Aye, north and south ends.

Now, every man is drilled,

every man is ready for trouble.

But there won't be any.

There won't be any.

We need this to go well, Bill.

I do, you do, God knows the people do.

I don't want rat bags of any color spoiling their day.

There won't be any trouble, Mr. Premier.

♪ Oh, what a beautiful city ♪

You've got plenty of stock in? Plenty of fizz?

Pink as well for the ladies.

Oh.

You put the call out, didn't you?

It's gonna be a big night tonight.

Been shouting myself hoarse

up and down the streets.

Party at Katie's!

What a picture bloody perfect day.

Come on, Premier, over to you!

Woo!

This is John Harper

announcing the Paramount Sound News.

This is Saturday, the 19th of March, 1932,

the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The arrival of the premier of New South Wales,

the Honorable JT Lang.

It was a moment

the whole country had been anticipating

for over a decade.

But the ceremony didn't go quite according to plan.

The New Guardsman, Francis de Groot,

appalled that a Labour Premier was doing the honors

and not the King, pipped Lang at the post.

Luckily, none other than Superintendent Bill Mackay

was there to ask him nicely to cease and desist.

The ribbon was retied

and Jack Lang eventually got his big moment.

The bridge everyone had waited so long for was finally open.

Sydney Harbour Bridge was more than just a thoroughfare.

In the middle of the Great Depression,

it was a symbol that the nation,

less than four decades old, was growing up.

How did that idiot get through?

No one noticed an extra horseman in the honor guard.

But you managed to get him locked up at last?

He's being brought here as we speak.

Throw the fucking book at him.

Assault with a deadly weapon.

Attempted murder, treason.

I want him hung, drawn, and quartered.

You know, Mr. Premier,

I don't think that's such a good idea.

I don't think you're in any position

to offer such advice, Bill.

The New Guard want to appear victimized.

They want you acting like a tyrant.

The group will have nothing better

than for us to make a martyr of him.

The man waved a bloody sword at my face.

I won't just do nothing!

I'm not suggesting we do nothing.

It should never have been Lang cutting that ribbon.

Where was the King? The Governor-General?

Do you feel your message is appreciated

by the people of Sydney, Mr. de Groot?

Well, it's certainly not appreciated

by Premier Lang and his communist buddies.

Ah, and what trumped up charges

are you bringing against me, Superintendent?

None.

Mr. de Groot won't be staying with us.

I deem this man to be insane.

What's this? I'm perfectly sane!

He's silly and childish,

thinks by waving a saber in the air,

he officially opened the bridge.

I did!

I opened it, for the, for the decent

and loyal citizens of New South Wales.

Not fit to go into the cells.

Take this man to the mental ward

for a proper examination.

Francis de Groot was eventually charged

with the single offense of damaging government property,

one blue ribbon,

and fined a week's wages.

♪ Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow ♪

♪ She rubbed herself along his back ♪

♪ And murmured, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

Oh, what, I saw your husband there last night.

They've been knocking chop!

♪ Mary had two little tits with nips the size of thumbs ♪

♪ She twiddled them from left to right ♪

♪ Because it was such fun ♪ - Excuse me,

there's children here. - Oh, shut up, sister,

go suck an egg!

Oh!

♪ Mary had the plumpest rump, it was so very round ♪

Want me to add damaging police property

to obscene language and resist arrest?

Why don't you come in here

and see how your kidneys take to being frozen solid?

I can provide you with a blanket.

Full of vermin and lice? No thanks.

Oi!

I wanna make a phone call.

I can make one on your behalf

to a lawyer or next of kin.

Next to kin will be fine.

Call me husband and tell him to bring me fucking fur.

No, Mr. Devine, I don't know

whether she meant her silver fox or her Russian sable.

Just bring her a coat

so I don't have to listen to her complain.

So that's what marriage means.

A man bringing your coat when you're cold.

Also it means a lot of black eyes

and heartbreak for Tilly from what I hear.

At least she's not alone.

Special Sergeant Armfield?

Hm?

Today's my last day.

I'm getting married.

But you...

Right.

Well.

I'll be sad to lose an officer

so soon after you joined us.

But I'm sure marriage will be...

Will be good for you.

Told her yet?

Congratulations to both of you.

Thanks, Lillian.

Sorry, I realize I'm gonna probably make

your job a lot harder,

snaffling away one of your new recruits,

but when it feels right,

you've gotta seize the opportunity.

Tilly.

I brought you the white marabou.

Although it might show the dirt.

Thanks.

They're keeping you in overnight?

Do you need anything else?

Tilly.

What?

Nothing.

Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em.

Are you married, mate?

Uh, yeah. 42 years.

Never a cross word, eh?

I've seen you round, you're a cabbie, right?

Yeah.

Did you serve at all, mate?

Boer War.

Too old for the last one.

Belgium.

Fourth Tunnelers.

The things we've seen, eh? Us soldiers.

Things no man should have to.

G'day, Jim.

What do you want?

Let's open with what you owe me.

25 quid for starters.

I don't owe you a thing.

If anything, you owe me.

Give me that money, Jim.

If you want a long and happy life.

You stay at home Johnnies

ain't worth a stink off a digger's shit.

Come on, mate.

Just so happens I'm in need of a bloody taxi.

Uh, yeah, alright.

I couldn't do it here. Alright?

I need a drink. Sherry, please.

What are you looking at?

Do it tonight.

Once you finished him,

you go after Tilly.

Five bob to wait here.

Hey. Hey!

Forget it. Forget it.

You're really gonna do it?

What if I am?

Are you really gonna watch?

I really should get going.

My missus will be wondering what I'm up to.

Oh yeah, good sort, your lady?

The best.

Mine too, best girl in the world.

Do anything for her.

Think she would've worked that out by now, wouldn't you?

But no, no, she's just-

What you gonna do, Frank?

I'm gonna blow your guts out.

Do it then, you little brat.

'Cause I'm just about jack of all this, anyway.

Come on, Frank. Do it.

Do it! Come on!

Come on!

My wife gave me that bloody tie pin.

Why didn't you shoot him?

He was just there, he was-

Stop there, Frank, and give that bloody tie pin!

Stop nothing!

Come out here and don't be a dog!

Watch out, Fred!

He's trying to kill us!

Drive.

Drive!

Drive, drive, drive!

Oh, I didn't mean to hit him.

I was aiming for the bloody rear.

Frank turned up to kill me, I just...

What happens now, Tilly?

What happens to us now?

Hey, what, what's going on?

You're being released? Hey, Tilly.

You're being released, sweetheart.

Hey, Tilly girl.

We're apples, aren't we, sweetheart?

Right as rain and peachy.

When you get bail I'll send Nugget.

Jim was eventually granted bail,

but Tilly somehow forgot to send the car for him.

So he just hung about Darlinghurst

waiting to see what turned up.

Bastard put me off, having a go like that.

He put me off me game.

But as soon as he's bailed,

I'm gonna go out there again

and I'm gonna put one right between his eyes this time.

You hear me, Nellie?

Nellie?

His eyes.

His blood.

Frank!

No. No!

No.

What do you see in him, Nell?

What's he give you that I don't?

He almost died for me.

I would die for you, Nel.

I would die, I would kill him first,

and then I'd die for you.

Please, no, no!

Please don't, don't!

Jesus, Nel.

Which one of us do you actually want?

Let's settle this. Once and for all.

Come on, get up!

This time!

Hey! Stand aside!

How are we gonna break them up?

We don't.

Bit of luck, they'll kill each other

and save us a lot of bother.

♪ Who needs advice from cardinals ♪

♪ Who votes for Governor-Generals ♪

They fought for over an hour.

One of the great standup, one-on-one street fights

of the era.

♪ Who's been touched by Her Majesty ♪

Come on!

♪ Of contradicted history ♪

♪ Confusion by formality ♪

♪ Put into lists and categories ♪

Nel, please.

You gotta.

You gotta.

Let's solve this like civilized people, eh?

Heads it's Frank, tails it's Guido.

Tails.

Phil Jeffs was content to bide his time

and watch Kate and Tilly battle.

Their war had taken the life of an innocent bystander

and that meant the game was over.

Police commissioner would like a word.

So this is where your feuding's brought us to.

Innocent man shot to pieces.

It's a bridge too bloody far.

And it will not happen again on my watch.

Grog and girls, eh?

Part of the city, whatever the law says.

So, if you, Kate, run your sly grogging

and you, Tilly, run your brothels quietly and cleanly,

then I will ensure you do so

with a minimum of police harassment.

But the shootings, the slashings, the mayhem, stops.

You call off Green, you call off Calletti.

No one murders, as of now, for good.

See, you have a choice, ladies.

Behave yourselves,

we'll all get along fine.

So, we have a deal?

Where are the guns?

Cops took them all, what you want a gun for?

I'm gonna kill Kate Leigh.

Come off the grass, Til.

Ah! Get the car.

Don't wanna be doing this.

Get the fucking car.

Yeah.

Let's settle this.

Cemetery at eight,

if you've got the guts.

I got the guts.

Go on, then.

I fancy you spending the rest of your life

in Long Bay.

Really?

'Cause I'm partial to seeing you swing.

Come on.

Then where will that leave us?

Hanged, jailed, or shot.

Ready for any one of those blokes to take our place.

And make a bloody mess of it.

We leave the debt here, then?

Yeah.

You still owe me five bob.

You owe me a fucking dog.

Once upon a time, there were two rival queens

who waged war on each other for so long,

they came to realize

that while they couldn't live with each other,

they couldn't live without each other either.

It all happened getting on for 100 years ago.

What became of them,

those colorful citizens of Razorhurst?

Well, Nellie married Guido,

but she left him after only a couple of months.

She went back to prostitution,

back to falling in love with bad men who owned her.

But no one ever really owned Nellie Cameron.

No one ever really knew her.

Or knew why in just a few years,

she would put her head in a gas oven.

After Nellie dumped him,

Guido Calletti went back

to the consolation prize of Dulcie Markham.

Back to declaring he was gonna set up

the biggest criminal empire Australia had ever seen.

He didn't even see the declaration of World War II.

Back at his fruit and veg barrow to make ends meet,

he got into one argument too many

and came off second best.

Frank Green's career as a gunman was pretty much at an end.

By World War II, he was reduced to working

as a cockatoo for an SP betting shop.

By 1956, he was dead after a quarrel with his lover.

Big Jim Devine was acquitted

of taxi driver Fred Moffitt's murder.

But his chronic gambling and violence

were wearing out his welcome in Maroubra.

By 1946 Tilly had finally had enough

and she divorced him.

Heartbroken, Jim moved to Melbourne

where he worked as a pub bouncer

and ended his days a lonely old man.

Phil "The Jew"'s vow to do Kate slowly

came to nothing in the end

when his gangster past caught up with him.

A bullet he'd carried in his gut since 1929

suddenly turned septic and killed him before he was 50.

Kate outlasted him, just as she'd promised.

Eileen Leigh had her fair share of scrapes with the law,

including getting done for nicking a fur coat.

But perhaps her daughter was the making of her,

because she certainly didn't follow

in Kate's criminal footsteps.

And what are the faithful retainers?

Bill "The Octopus" Flanagan, May Seckold,

the man known as Nugget,

whose real name may have been Henry Pearce,

and Kate's pal, Mona Woods?

Who can say?

One thing's for sure, they're long dead now.

Vale to them all.

As for the police, Ray "The Blizzard" Blissett

rose to the rank of Superintendent

and headed up the Consorting Squad.

He was awarded medals for distinguished service

and lived to a ripe old age.

Tom Wickham went on to become Chief Superintendent

at the New South Wales CIB.

In 1946, he was awarded a King's Medal

for distinguished service.

Tom's partner Syd Thompson

left the force under a cloud in the 1950s.

The less said, the better.

Bill Mackay was a great pragmatist and a great reformer.

He almost single-handedly created

the New South Wales police force.

He was also a great boozer.

After a decade as commissioner,

he died of a heart attack in 1948.

Lillian Armfield went on helping fallen women

until she retired in 1949,

the year after women officers were finally issued uniforms.

She died alone in her one room flat aged 86.

So that left just Kate and Tilly.

New generations muscled in on them,

laws were passed against them,

and the real scourge of all gangsters,

the taxman, inevitably came knocking.

Gutter low!

Neither woman ever recaptured

the glory days of the '20s,

their Roaring Days were over.

Kate kicked the bucket at 84.

Hundreds came to her funeral to say goodbye.

When poor old Tilly passed away six years later,

there was barely a soul to shed a tear.

But never before or since has the underworld in Sydney,

in Australia, or anywhere,

been so dominated by just two people,

and two women at that.

Long live Queen Kate. Long live Queen Tilly.