Original subtitles

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?

What did I do?

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

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

Shooting 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.

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

...and it did.

No! Where are you going?

There's no place you can hide from them!

You'll have to be an animal!

This Westside Chicago?

...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.

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.

"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.

Lumber handlers!

Truck helpers!

Miklós...

...Wunejeva.

Your name's Mickey One. Garbage.

Watson. Bernavsky.

Mickey One.

Gus. Wright.

Jackson. Harlow.

What are you looking?

You.

What are you thinking?

Not about me.

No... What are you doing in a cafeteria?

All right, let's cut it out?

What are you something, the FBI or something?

I'm the king of the silent pictures.

I'm hiding out till talkies blow over.

Will you let me alone?

I gotta go.

You're a nice girl.

If you ever need me...

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...

I used to be quite a fella...

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

And I say that from the bottom of my cups.

Still there?

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.

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.

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.

Georgie, Georgie, you're my baby agent.

Come on now, talk to me.

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?

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? How much? How much?

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?

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?

I'll be with you in a moment.

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.

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.

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

I'm coming, Virginia!

Did you ever wonder how an astronaut feels?

How would you feel sitting on 150,000 parts

built by the lowest bidder?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Who told you to come?

Ruby Lapp? Lapland?

Want the place clean?

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.

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

It's a public place. A comfort station.

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?

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.

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.

In bed.

What?

What is it?

If I could...

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

Mickey.

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, shooting 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.

Where are you going?

There's no place you can hide from them.

You'll have to be an animal!

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.

Do they know?

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.

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.

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.

It's Mr Castle again.

It's called 'Yes'.

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

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

"For 'Yes', courage is freedom."

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.

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...

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?

I'm in touch with him right now.

Good. Swell. Yeah.

Hey...

They'll call you when they're ready.

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, yeah, I...

Oh swell, boy!

Larry?

What's Mickey's problem?

That was four years ago,

but he...

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

You're bleeding.

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...

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

From where?

What's the name of the guy?

What's his name?

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...

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?

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?

- Castle. - All right,

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

Mickey, no!

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

Wait, just a moment.

These men are in a position to guarantee your future.

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.

- 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!

No, but I have this

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

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

And the little guy?

The agent.

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

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!

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

No, I'll be using the office myself.

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.

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...

Mickey?

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.

Georgie. Find him. Maybe he knows something.

And tell him to stay out of it.

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

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...

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

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

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.

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!

Turn around, please.

You are on closed-circuit television.

You got the slip?

You know, his shirt is on inside out.

What is it? Vegas, New Orleans, Cleveland or Detroit?

- Detroit. - Read it.

But why is his shirt on inside out?

Of course, open it. Read it.

"Dear Lois,"

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?

Why is his shirt on inside out?

Get him out of here.

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.

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.

You start work tomorrow. First show eight thirty.

Be there.

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?

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.

Hey, get him!

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.

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.

Georgie?

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

He lived there.

Then he's got to be out front.

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.

Georgie.

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.

George?

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.

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

If I'm next...

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?

SUBTITLES BY POWERHOUSE FILMS LTD