Original subtitles

Nothing works around here.

I'll come back later.

She's got a bit of a form on her, hasn't she? Yeah.

Well, if you're thinking of doing something about it, you'd better hurry up.

A few more hours, you won't be capable.

Don't remind me.

Cowie.

Bloody cowie.

Hang on, bit keen.

Listen, sunshine, thinking about it, that's worse than doing it.

Well, soon we're in, soon it's over. Yeah. Oh, put it away. Hey, you know the rules.

Soon as we're on the other side of that door, we're fair game.

You know a crazy bastard in there who sees a gun, he's gonna start shooting. Yeah.

Let's do it in style, surprise him, eh?

Right, let's go. All right, let's go.

Hello, Macklin.

Flabby.

Definitely flabby.

Wouldn't you agree, Taza?

I forgot.

You haven't met Taza, have you?

Well, you'll be bumping into him quite a lot in the next couple of days. Or rather,

he'll be bumping into you.

Just me and Taza.

You'll have our undivided attention.

Who is it?

Is that a boy?

Sir Ploy, the faithful aide, the inside mate.

Ben Musser sends his felicitations.

He wishes and hopes that you... Just as long as he sent them.

Nothing's changed? It's still all set for the 25th?

Yes. But you still don't know where? Not yet. A British security.

They're being... The minute you know.

I know, right? I'll contact you. Yes, but not here. I can't stay here.

Can't? I ran into a little trouble.

Don't worry.

Trouble is my business.

Call this number.

Just leave your name. I'll call you right back.

Why must it be the 25th? Why not before?

Because that is the one time when we will know exactly where the target will be.

But on such an occasion, security would be drawn tight.

That's what they thought in Vienna.

Anyway...

How will you do it? I won't be doing it.

You said yourself, security will be drum-tight.

To my face, no matter how I change it, it's too well-known these days.

But Ben Massar... He's paying me for one thing.

To see the job is done successfully.

I'll select the men to do that job. I'll train them.

I'll guarantee their success.

We don't want to be seen leaving here together.

Go on, son, get him now!

I thought, sir, you're just like Doyle.

Reflex is shot to pieces. Come on, Bodhi.

Now, get him! Go on!

Hey, mind the shirt. He borrowed it from me. That's better. A little bit of hate.

Not enough hate.

Too much of the other. Eh, Bodhi? No!

Even Cowley doesn't want us cut to pieces!

Go on, get him!

Cowley doesn't want you dead either.

Bloody fools. This isn't a game. Not with a knife in your hand, it's not.

Your play, Doyle.

I got a good one.

Nice!

Don't break any bones, we just take them apart.

Then we can start putting them together again.

Frank Kony?

Who wants him?

Just a minute.

You're good.

Very good indeed.

But not quite good enough.

Not yet.

However, we have a few days. We can alter that.

Such suspicion. There's 500 there.

You're not a fisherman, then?

Nice fat worm?

Big plump fly, what the fish has been dreaming about all week.

He takes it.

Suddenly he's dead, surrounded with chips.

Animal caution.

I like that.

I like curiosity, too.

You're not gonna shoot me before you've heard the whole thing.

Well, I do like a nice story.

Name?

No name.

But I come highly recommended.

And so do you.

Other names, then?

Chuck Wiley.

Dead.

November 1st, 1978, Taiwan.

A girl.

It would have had to have been a girl.

Say you read the papers.

It never made the papers.

More names.

Mal Tyler. I can call her. She's expecting you to.

She'll be on her bar from 5 to 5.30. Then there's Gaston.

The Frenchman?

The Belgian.

And then there's Mad Mike.

Not that mad. He can still take the pip out of an orange at 40 paces.

50 paces.

But he shortens his stride for the last ten.

I can still call Ma Tyler.

If you didn't, you wouldn't be the man for me.

It's a job, then. It's a job.

Pay off?

Must be agreed.

But I think you could put a Rolls or two in here.

I always fancied a Ferrari myself.

You took your damn time calling me.

It took time for the report to filter through. Our EFI has been out for two weeks.

Anything, any crime, even a misdemeanor involving an Arab.

We don't know that this does involve an Arab.

The old boy just thinks he saw an Arab coming up to this floor. Fetch him.

Yes, sir.

Do you want to tell me about this job?

Not yet.

That big, eh?

That big.

Will I end up dead?

It's possible.

You're the master of the hard sell, aren't you?

The risks will become apparent sooner or later. Why not sooner?

I'll drink to that.

It's a kill job. Naturally.

And the Ferrari at the end of it, which I may not get to drive. One-man job?

Two.

Oh. For safety.

I understand you already have a partner.

Not a partner.

Get yourself a partner.

You start worrying about him, and you both end up dead.

What about this Arab you saw coming up here?

He's not surely... I'm asking him.

Well?

Might have been. Just got a glimpse.

I don't even know that he was coming up here. But you think he was an Arab. Well,

he was dark, but then these days, who can tell?

What about the man who rented this room?

Who did he register as? He didn't register. It's that kind of hotel.

He paid a week in advance. I was going to get him to register.

It could have been...

This man?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this? Hold on.

Yeah, I don't know.

It might have been him.

All right.

Well, we know why she was killed. I know why she was killed,

because she was a chambermaid.

She had a passkey.

And this chain... doesn't work.

She walked in and saw something she wasn't supposed to see, so he killed her.

And God preserve us if it was this man.

Yeah?

You know the irony of it?

What?

You know the former sign where it says, occupation, you know, to put... Punch bag.

Civil servant.

Birds think I drink tea and push pens.

Well, you can always resign. No.

That's what Cowley wants. He wants us to resign. What for?

You think of any other reason?

No.

Oh, here we go again.

He's late.

That's good.

That could mean, I hope it means, he's looking the place over first.

I called him.

Possibly with a gun at your head?

Eh?

Oh, yeah, I see what you mean.

Joe's OK.

I'm sure.

He's the best there is.

Excellent.

I need the best there is. Joe's canny.

He's on my other half, so to speak.

Or I go blundering in, Joe waits, thinks.

Joe and me, well, we're... Partners.

I told you.

Look, don't be surprised when you see him.

He's on the small side, but don't mention it.

Gets up his nose.

He comes straight to the door.

He'll look the place over for us.

And then through the door?

He's the perfect target. If he comes through the door, he's out.

You get yourself another partner.

I told you, he's not my partner. We just work together, that's all.

And small or not, he's the... Frank, you okay?

Yeah.

Yeah, he's a friend.

I told you.

Back when we didn't even hear it. Ten out of ten.

Nine out of ten. One foot above the torch beam.

Wouldn't do you any good.

I told you, didn't I?

Pleased to meet you, Joe.

Very pleased indeed.

I can't say anything.

It's a dream. Eh?

Well, he stopped hitting us. It's nice, isn't it?

You think that means we've passed?

What's this, a traditional last hearty breakfast?

You're hurt, both of you.

You're battered and bruised, and you hurt.

He's psychic.

So now you stop getting hurt. You mean we can go home?

I mean you stop getting hurt, because I teach you how to stop getting hurt.

I know, you've both been through it all before, and you're good.

Well, you're adequate, but you're not good enough.

Towser, he's just a pushover.

Who should tell him that? You've met better and bigger, and you'll meet even better.

But you're rusty.

And Cowley doesn't want you rusty. He wants you fit.

He wants you honed to a fine edge, razor sharp.

Enjoying those eggs?

The eggs are poisoned. No, no, no.

They're full of protein, energy.

Energy. You need plenty of that.

A ten-mile run.

You mean a ten-mile jog?

Well, yes.

You jog the first ten miles.

Why don't you two boys take a walk?

The location has been agreed.

Well, what do you think?

Arabs.

Oil and money. A job. Don't know what it is yet, but we will.

And we'll be nicely set, I know that.

Eh?

You never look at anything but page three in the sports, do you?

I recognised him right away, even though he's tripped his face up a bit.

That identity kit was close.

Eh?

The big one in Vienna. And before that, Berlin.

Sweet, both of them.

And he didn't lose a man.

You mean he's the... That's right.

Different league for us, Jerry. The risk's the same.

Always the same.

But it's time.

The money's different.

Yeah, when I get my hands on that money, when I get my hands on some of that,

it's got some form on it.

This is terrible.

It's impossible. But you assured us that there would be no problems.

What's the alternative?

Come on, come on, something as important as this, there has to be an alternative.

There is an alternative venue.

Should there be any hint of danger at number one,

the ceremony will be switched to another area.

Which they did not confide, even to me.

But you found out just the same.

The British did not confide in me, but of course my president trusts me implicitly.

But you have to be very sure. If anything went wrong,

they would trace it straight back to me.

This is more like it.

This house is empty right now?

A token security watch only. And when will it be turned into a fortress?

The day before the ceremony. The day before?

Leave my business to me, all right?

Very well.

I wish you good luck. Luck?

Won't have anything to do with it.

You understand, I shall be attending the ceremony too.

We are being paid for only one hit.

Yes.

So don't worry.

Is that usual, that they don't let you in on everything?

The location of the alternative meeting place.

It is the British way.

Minimise information, minimise risk.

Ben Mussel.

The whole movement.

Hello, George.

Brian.

Come to view the remains?

I sincerely hope not.

Are they shaping up?

They'll do.

In fact, they're the best that you've got.

They're the best.

Mr. Cowley. Sir.

Yes, we'll be going back to duty, sir.

Ryan, are we outside?

This isn't an empty exercise.

I told you, Doyle, we're being sponsored by Oxfam to destruction.

I offered the best, and that's what I intended, providing the very best.

The very best, Doyle.

I don't know. Borg at Wimbledon, Muhammad Ali.

I feel more like Ali.

Someone at the peak of physical fitness.

Exactly. The big one.

Parsali.

President Parsali.

Until a moment ago, only 23 people knew. Now it's 25. Knew what?

The treaty. It will be signed here in England next Tuesday.

And there's a whisper of a kill.

But with someone as controversial as Persali, there is always a whisper.

Nevertheless, we've got to heed everything. He's our pigeon. We're providing cover.

Such cover that the only kill that might ever hope would have to be a close kill.

Kamikaze kill?

Perhaps, like Gandhi, some maniac willing to die to kill.

I couldn't tell you before because part of our cover is

minimal information to the fewest possible persons.

But now you've got to know.

Because that's the task you train for.

To keep Persali alive.

Parsali.

President Parsali. It's the man you are being paid to kill.

Okay, let's go to work.

Venue one, and a backup alternative.

Venue two, for use in emergency only.

Well, these are just ground plans, no addresses. That's right, Brodie.

Minimal information, best security of all.

You'll be told where they are as and when. Meanwhile, get to know them.

Get to know both areas better than your own apartment.

The very best.

I'm relying on you.

Table, foyer, stairs, upper landing. It's your bloody staircase.

The half landing is the spot. Get there before they realize what's happening.

Go down one step and you're dead.

Frank, you'll be making the hit from here.

Just enough elevation to see the target and close enough not to miss.

Joe, you'll be on the landing above, covering.

Well, come on, come on.

Your job will be to take out the bodyguards.

You'll know them because they'll be like yourself.

Thoroughbreds, nervous, on the balls of their feet, spoiling for a fight.

But you'll have the advantage of surprise. Say, two seconds.

Use them well. Hit, and hit hard.

Frank, you'll put three shots into Pasali. Three body shots.

And he'll turn your attention to the bodyguards, too. Now, during the panic,

they will be the only ones who will try to stop you.

If you don't take them out, then you're both finished.

Slice guns!

Okay?

You don't really need us, do you?

Oh, you'd be great on your own.

Tazi, make us some coffee.

Yeah, I used to be good.

Used to be?

I got myself gut shot in Hong Kong.

They broke my pelvis, both my arms, and heaved me into the bay.

The service flew me back. Tourist class, of course. They didn't want to pamper me.

And then, just like Humpty Dumpty, they stuck me back together again.

As good as new.

But the cracks still show.

My nerves were shot to hell.

I...

I can't face a target that shoots back at me anymore.

And that's why I drive you so hard.

Because it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

I was below par, out of shape, vaulting a 12-foot fence with a 10-foot pole.

So don't do as I do, just do as I say and stay in one piece.

That's what you'll be using this trip.

44 Magnums.

Stoppers.

Now, they're clean and very effective at the range you'll be shooting.

The shock of a body wound can often kill, but we won't take any chances.

The shells will be dum-dummed to make them spread on impact.

That's a hell of a dirty thing. If you're not up to it.

I didn't say I wasn't up to it.

I said it was dirty.

Well, just another way of killing.

Exactly.

Just another way.

Right, let's run through it again. Up the stairs.

You know, I've been thinking. Oh, yeah?

What about a kamikaze kill?

Well, like that Chinese last year with the hatchet. Yeah.

Poor mad bastard. Took ten to put him away.

Yet one soft nose would have stopped him flat.

You know, Tuesday, if that's what we've got to deal with,

I reckon we ought to doctor our pal. Are you talking about dum-dums?

Yeah. Oh, you're not going to give us that one, man, do you?

Do you have a convention bit, are you? No, I've seen what they can do.

Yeah? Stop some dead.

And I mean dead.

No objection to dead, have you? It's next Tuesday.

I don't want to be standing alongside you while you make your decision.

It's not dead.

It's dum-dum.

Dead or dum-dum, what's the difference? It's them or us.

I didn't come into this mob to use dum-dums.

The house is empty at the moment. Just two guards patrol the grounds.

But on the day of the signing ceremony, it will be swarming. Any wires?

Nothing we can't handle.

The locks will be a pushover, too.

Now, you come across the grounds at the rear, in through this door, back stairs.

This is your escape route, too.

This is the room where the signing ceremony will take place.

We must presume guards at the doors inside and out and at the windows.

Passale.

Dignitaries, bodyguards either side of him. Top

men, maybe two, maybe four, but hand-picked.

Frank, you're on the half landing. Joe, on the landing. I want you to study this.

Get familiar with it.

Listen, a couple of days' time, this place will

be swarming with security, right? Right.

Then how do we get in?

Did you never hear of the wooden horse of Troy?

Okay.

It works.

It's great.

Except for one thing.

The house is their second choice.

Yes. So how do we get them to use it?

With subtlety.

Yeah, but...

Your call.

Well, you said it was urgent.

Yes.

This is necessary, but you do not have to watch.

What do you reckon when this is over? Bahamas, maybe?

They say the girls out there are built like...

How about New Guinea? They've got pygmies in New Guinea. That's more like it.

That's the job, isn't it?

Eh?

What job? Oh, I don't know.

Butcher, baker, candlestick maker.

Normal.

Nine till five and lunch on a company.

You want another?

Why not?

Right, what can I do for you?

Oh, if I'd told you.

You'd be chucked out on your ear.

Let's find some original dialogue, mate.

Look, did you come here to drink or just to make sounds?

Two halves a bitter, please.

Right.

Two halves a bitter.

Do you have the pint?

Yeah, me too.

This way we get two bites of the cherry.

Well, that's right, then.

Shut up and drink.

Out. Oh, come on, darling.

Look, I've told you lot before. You're not needed in here.

You're not drinking in here.

Look, just four pints of beer.

Gerry. Out.

Otherwise, we'll call the cops, right?

Stick your beer.

It's watered down anyway.

You see, you really ought to encourage the better class of customer.

That's my car.

Bastards. Stupid bastards. Not even getting paid to do it.

Fight's a fight, but he was gonna kill you.

Where have you been? Oh, uh, putting our training

to good use, sir. Oh, come on. Venues one and two.

Get to know every nook and cranny.

You ready?

When you are.

You'll do it again. Oh, come on. Again.

Then you won.

Too fast, hey? You're coming down too fast.

Sudden movement catches the eye. They'll have you right away.

You have to ease down slowly.

Let's do it again.

Bloody fortress, that.

Aye, it is. Seen all you need? Yeah, I've been right round the grounds twice.

And you, buddy, could find your way around in the dark, eh?

Yeah, just about. Good.

Now, let's go through the whole thing again now, shall we?

Then I'll show you venue two.

You're making us tired. I am making you efficient.

I'm keeping you alive.

Well, I've seen all I need.

In ten minutes.

This is only the standby place. We spent an hour covering the real one.

Every eventuality, Bodie.

Doyle.

Access. Six doors.

Not counting the cellar.

Windows.

27 lower, 35 upper, six dormers.

Uh-huh.

Attack from the windows.

From the main door. From the stairs.

Okay.

Let's go. That's good.

Good, excellent.

Well, go through everything again. A dozen times.

I will be here again tomorrow.

I'll be waiting for exactly 60 seconds after I hear the first shot.

After that, I will not be waiting.

After that, there wouldn't be much point, would there?

As you say.

This time tomorrow, eh?

Yeah.

Ahmed Serpoy, personal aide to President Persali.

Not very pretty, is it?

Tortured before they shot him.

You think he talked?

Well, of course he talked. Wouldn't anyone, wouldn't you, if they did that to you?

The question is, how much did he tell them? No,

the question is, what could he tell them?

He had full access to the original meeting place.

Another alternative. I know.

That's why I'm recommending we switch to venue two.

They don't know that they've got company.

Put that there.

John, Gerry, main floor.

Warren, Reg, upstairs.

I see the lads are here then.

I always knew you boys would turn out to be

useful one of these days. Works perfectly.

But can it fight?

No.

But it can tell you just where to go to get your head blown off.

A beam on every door and window.

Nobody can get in now without this little baby knowing.

Of course, the guys we're up against used to be miners, you know.

What?

Yes, you know, tunneling.

You're kidding me. Quick, isn't he? Yeah, sharp as a razor.

Well, we'll see you boys around.

Maybe.

So, this is where it's all gonna happen, eh?

Yeah.

Providing we let it.

Sleep on it? Wouldn't mind.

Yeah, I'll get the bags.

Wish I'd seen Claire last week.

Eh?

Well, you know, she drew nights at the hospital last week.

Didn't see her.

Well, if she drew nights last week, she'd be all right this week, wouldn't she?

Yeah.

What are you worried about?

Worried? I'm just saying. I didn't see her. A few things I wish I'd said to her.

Cut it out, Ray, will you?

Cut what out?

You know what I mean. Just cut it out.

You know what you're sad?

Bad medicine.

Next minute you'll be asking me if I've made a will.

Have you?

I was just interested, that's all, you know.

Of course I've made a will.

Done all my letters, too.

First thing you do in the mob, isn't it? Get your affairs straight.

I wanted something better.

Better than me mum and dad.

Better than I could see ahead of me. You had the schooling. Yeah,

but it's a now society, isn't it, Frank? I want it now.

Now.

Because I'm still young, and you're a long time dead. Do you believe that?

No afterlife, just... Yeah, don't you?

You're a cop. You don't accept anything without proof, for God's sake.

For God's sake.

Figure of speech, all right?

Look, I believe in me, mate, because I was born tall, dark, and beautiful.

And engagingly modest, of course.

Just got dealt the wrong card.

That's all.

How do you mean?

Wrong town, wrong street, wrong time, wrong bloody everything.

I was the right tearaway, I was.

I cut up another kid and I was just a kid myself.

Yeah.

Well, the streets where I grew up, there was a fella like Macklin on every corner,

and I got away with it every time. Never got caught.

But you're all right now, Joe.

I haven't gotten any taller, have I?

That's what they kept promising me.

When you grow up.

I know I'm small. I lived with it all my life.

It's a hell of a thing, Frank, to be shorty all your life.

No matter how it's said, shorty.

So I joined the force, got some discipline.

Well, that's what you call it, is it?

Don't knock it, it's better than nothing.

Glad to get out of it, though. Glad to join this mob.

It's a good joke. I'm not.

The line was getting too narrow, what I was doing.

There's no difference between what I was doing and what the villains were doing.

In the blue corner, right, in the red corner, wrong.

How about you? Excitement.

Excitement.

Money.

So long.

Well, it's enough, isn't it?

It's enough for me, isn't it?

No, you could have another reason. You could have a better reason than that.

A short life and a happy one.

At least this way, Joe, I know I'm alive.

Until you're dead.

Then it's up to the pearly gates.

And then paradise.

Or maybe not.

Eh?

You never thought of that, did you? Thought of what?

You know Cal, he punches the Bible.

Reads the lesson.

Yeah, so?

Well, he's not even on standby, mate.

He's got a fully paid up reserve ticket.

He'll be up there with you.

There's your paradise now, eh?

Luckily, I'm going the other way.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

Shouldn't do that, sir.

Not on a day like this. Especially edgy today, are we?

Wouldn't you be?

Aye.

Now, come on.

It's catching. Shouldn't this thing have alarmed when

we came through that door? I switched it off, sir.

Anyway, we know who's coming through the door.

He'll be here at 1,400.

They're picking him up from the destroyer, then chopper to here.

And once he sets foot in British soil, he's our responsibility. Yours.

Yes, sir.

I'm not one for pep talks,

but there's two weeks' leave coming to you when this is over.

See you later. Sir.

Two weeks. Sir.

Maybe you know something we don't.

Are you Scott?

Yeah.

You?

Yeah.

All the time.

I don't know.

Two specials.

They're going to die, whatever we hit them with.

After the speech has started.

It is indeed an honour and a privilege to be here to witness

something so auspicious for both our countries.

East is east, and west is west, and ne'er the twain shall meet.

Kipling said that, and Kipling was wrong.

For in these days of interdependence, east cannot

survive without west, and vice versa.

The world is shrinking, and with it, its resources.

I now call upon President Parsali.

Ladies and gentlemen, or maybe it might be more

accurate for me to say citizens of a free world.

I only wish there were more of you here on this occasion.

Because there are some who would curtail that freedom.

Economically...

Thank you.

I know that in the past there has been a mausoleum,

but I would prefer to turn it into a misunderstanding.

Misunderstanding is to feast upon,

fend the flame of factions who are determined to become the queeness,

who revile the very thought of free thinking. Free thinking. Free thinking.

These factions have sought to prevent the signing

of this treaty between our two nations.

They have used every form of terrorism to deter us.

This treaty is probably the most important single document ever to exist between us.

It promises much and denies nothing.

It is a document to dispel fear, a document to succour the poor, feed the hungry.

To illuminate those dark areas which have stood for so long, too long,

between us and total friendship.

I say it promises much. It promises frequent...

Dum-dums.

The bastards, why they had to use dum-dums?

Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time.