Look!
Now who could that be?
That's you, Otto. Who else could it be?
That Blackie Gallagher, he's at it again.
Hi, Spud, you still got that nickel?
How'd you like to have a dime
to go with it?
All right, I'm thinking of a number
between one and three.
If you guess the number,
I'll give you the dime,
and if you don't,
you gotta give me your nickel, okay?
All right, what's the number?
One?
You lose, it was two.
Come on, give me your nickel.
- Oh, doggone it, I always lose.
- Too bad.
Hey, Jim, let's get a hot dog. I got a nickel.
- Where'd you get it?
- A kid gave it to me.
Gave it to you, nothing.
You keep on playing tricks
and you're gonna get in trouble.
That's what you always say, Jim.
Come on.
I ought to finish my reading.
Reading, reading, reading,
don't you ever have any fun?
Do you a lot of good
if you did a little reading and writing.
Say, I've been doing plenty of writing.
I got this whole boat changed around.
- Come on, Jim.
- Okay.
Did you ever see a prettier picture?
It's a fine thing that my boy, Patrick,
is finally hearing something
that's good for his soul and he's liking it.
And that's my Maurice there.
I wonder what Father Joe could be saying
that's good for your Patrick
and my Maurice, too.
Jim Corbett was a great fighter,
but Jeffries was the greatest
what ever lived.
Let me go! Let me go!
Take it easy, Maurice.
I only want some ice cream.
It's not your ice cream, it's mine!
That's good! Give it to him! Give it to him!
That's good!
Fire! Fire!
Papa!
Fire?
I got you.
- No, Jim, you go ahead!
- No.
Put your hand on my shoulder, Blackie.
My child, my child.
- I can't leave him. I can't leave him.
- You must be brave. You must be brave.
Mama. Mama!
- Blackie!
- Jim.
Don't cry, Blackie.
- But Mom, she's...
- I know, mine, too.
And Pa...
Jim, don't you cry, either.
My little son!
Are you Maurice's father?
He was a swell kid.
Yeah, he was a swell kid.
My mother and father
and Blackie's mother, they...
You poor boys.
What... What are your names?
My name is Edward Gallagher,
but they call me Blackie,
and he's Jim Wade.
Yeah, I knew your parents very well.
And now, Blackie, and you, Jim,
you have no place to go, huh?
No. We'll find someplace.
They have regular homes for orphans.
No, no, they are not homes.
How... How would you like to come
and live with me in my home, huh?
And be my sons?
But I'm not a Jew and neither is Jim!
Catholic, Protestant, Jew...
What does it matter now?
What you got, Spud?
- Heads.
- Tails.
- Heads.
- I win.
Gee, if you don't win, Blackie,
then Spud wins. I never do.
Hey, Blackie, nix!
Forget the promises
of Taft and Bryan!
Forget the fine words
of Charles E. Hughes!
Trotsky's getting wilder every year.
- Him and his revolutions!
- Yeah.
In Russia, I promise you,
there will be a revolution in 10 years.
From Russia, you talk?
I'm from Russia, too.
In Russia, I starved! I was cold!
I was persecuted!
But here in America, I'm able to work
and earn my food and clothing.
This is the land of opportunity!
There's plenty here for everyone.
So what have we got to fight about, huh?
You dirty capitalistic stool pigeon!
Give it to him!
Hey, buzz off!
What's a loaf of bread anyway?
Poppa Rosen.
He didn't do nothing, Jim!
He didn't start it.
They run over him with a horse.
I saw them, Jim. Gee, I...
Poor Poppa Rosen.
Someday, I'll get even with you, you...
Number three and nobody on it.
I guess you just ain't
hitting them tonight, Mr. Coates.
Tonight or any night.
Why don't you people
get an honest wheel?
I've dropped enough money
in Blackie Gallagher's crooked joints.
- I'm through.
- I'm glad you are through.
I've heard enough of your beef.
- How much did you drop tonight?
- $7,500!
And I'd had more fun
throwing it down a sewer!
Give Mr. Coates $7,500.
Remember one thing, you wanted
to gamble, so you came in here.
I didn't send for you.
- But, boss, I think...
- What with? Give him the dough.
Better count it, Mr. Coates.
- Boy?
- Yes, sir.
Here, this is for you.
- For me?
- Buy yourself some yeller shoes.
I can afford to be a chump.
Is it all right for me to keep this, boss?
- No.
Yes.
Hallelujah!
You're an ace-high gambler.
I'll give you a chance to get even,
if you want to.
- Would you like to bank the game?
- Against you? Certainly.
We'll bet odd or even.
We'll alternate spinning the wheel.
You got a bet.
- You? Or shall I?
- You go ahead.
You win again.
That's 40 grand.
One last bet.
- You know my yacht, the Lady Luck?
- I've heard about it.
I'll play it against the $40,000.
It's worth a lot more.
Spin it. I'm on the odd.
Seventeen. I've been playing it all night
and it wins for you.
Now I've got a yacht.
Don't change the name.
Lady Luck suits you perfectly.
I don't know,
I might name it for another lady.
- Don't tell me you're lucky in love, too?
- Me? I'm just an all-around lucky guy.
Okay. Now, ladies and gentlemen.
Your attention, please.
There's going to be a slight interruption.
Please put your chips in your pockets
and don't get excited.
All right, boys.
Just relax for a little while.
Everything's under control.
Good evening, Inspector. Come right in.
- Hello, Spud.
- Hello, boys.
- Hi, Joe. How's the missus?
- Just fine.
That's all right, folks.
Now stay just where you are.
Now don't get excited.
What happened to the roulette wheel?
Uh-huh.
- What's your name?
- Eddie Mathews.
- Yours?
- Al Barnes.
Yeah, that's right. Take them along.
Well, I guess that's all.
Goodnight, folks. Sorry to disturb you.
Good evening, Inspector.
Are you the new doorman?
Doll, I'll have you understand
we've just been raiding this joint.
Again? Are the six months up already?
Well, you know how it is, lady.
The law must take its course.
Yes, and all that sort of thing.
May I come in?
Come on, boys.
Just a minute, McGinty.
Why, you have caviar all over your badge!
There! That's better.
- Thanks.
- Don't mention it.
That's just what the police force needs,
a woman's touch.
That's just what we gets, mostly.
All right, boys, open them up. Let's go.
What's on your mind, Einstein?
Them cops swiped a couple of chickens
out of the kitchen.
You can expect that from a cop.
What happened to that ham
I told the cook to slice up for them?
Ham! They wouldn't touch it.
They wanted caviar.
Well, we'll take it out of
their allowance next week.
- All right, beat it.
- Okay.
Say, chief, I can't wait
till we get aboard that yacht of yours.
Yacht?
Yeah. Yeah, I won a yacht tonight.
Betting a guy odd and even.
Little present for you.
Wanna go have a look at it?
Thanks. You're getting better all the time.
You're going to win somebody's mother
some night in a crap game
or maybe a baby.
Snap out of it. The guy wanted
to gamble and I won, that's all.
Sure, that's all. That's all it means to you.
Everything in life can be paid off in chips.
A yacht,
somebody thought about
and dreamed about and planned...
And built and I won it on a bet.
Baloney.
Caviar. What are cops coming to?
It's rotten.
It's rotten, through and through.
- What is? The caviar?
- No, everything about this place.
The way you won that yacht
and that ridiculous raid.
You knew the cops were coming.
And they knew I knew they were coming,
and I knew they knew I knew they...
Work it out yourself.
It's a silly, stupid farce, and it's not funny.
Yes, but it puts dollars in the kitty, baby,
and that's what counts.
It puts those shiny things on your wrists
and those ones in your ears and...
Who cares about those?
I'm not in love with Cartier's.
I'm in love with you.
Blackie, get out of this.
Take me out of this.
- Quiet, quiet, quiet.
- Blackie, please listen!
All right. Let's go and look at the yacht.
Well, that's something else, again.
Baby, wait till you get a load of this.
Brass rails, soft cushions, moonlight...
Them ships don't look real.
They look like etchings
drawn against the sky.
Why, Spud, there's a bit of the poet in you.
Do I gotta take what she calls me?
Things like that?
Fight your own battles.
I guess this must be her.
Come on, let's have a look at her.
Not a bad-looking layout.
Pretty nice.
They must be expecting us.
Coates said he would phone.
Hey, are we being hijacked?
- Mr. Gallagher?
- Yeah.
- I'm Captain Swenson.
- Captain Swenson. How do you do?
- Miss Packer, Captain Swenson.
- How do you do, Captain?
Mr. Coates phoned me,
said you were the new owner.
Shall I turn the ship over to you,
or will you want me to stay on?
We'll fix that up later on.
We're just looking around now.
- Where's the anchor?
- The what?
The anchor, the anchor.
I guess you think we're a bunch
of land lovers? Where's the anchor?
- Why, it's up forward.
- That's what you say. Show me.
That a boy, Spud. You check the ship up
and see that it's got a bottom in it.
Eleanor and me'll just have to look around.
Blackie, now that you've got this boat,
let's go away, far away.
Let's go to the South Seas or the Orient or
the Mediterranean, anywhere you want to.
We'll have quiet, peaceful days,
nights like this.
Yeah, that'll be just dandy.
We'll work out a lot of crossword puzzles
and play Double Canfield.
Blackie, why don't you take this chance
to get away from those hoodlums
that hang around you like a bunch of flies,
and from gambling houses
and rackets and graft,
and all the rotten,
vicious things about you?
Hey, now wait a minute.
That's my business. That's me.
- That's who you fell in love with.
- You're wrong.
I fell in love with a very little boy
who was playing
with a great big box of matches,
and I don't want that little boy
to get burned.
Yeah, don't worry about your little boy.
Blackie.
Don't, darling.
- What's got into you tonight?
- It isn't tonight, it's every night.
Worrying about you, wondering about you,
hating everything you do,
hating everybody you meet.
Hey, you sure this anchor
belongs up here?
Certainly.
You're enough of a sailor to know that.
Okay, but it sounds kind of goofy to me.
Programs!
Get your programs! Programs!
Programs! Get your programs!
Programs! Get your programs!
Hello, Mabel, how are you?
- Spuddie, look what I found.
- Give me that! Let go of it! Let go of it!
Work, work, work.
That's all you ever think of.
- Come on, midget.
- Spuddie, can I have a hotdog?
Get your programs!
Programs! Get your programs!
Main event on yet?
Yes, Mr. Gallagher, in a couple of minutes.
- Hey! Blackie!
- Jim!
- Well, you old son of a gun!
- Say, you're looking swell!
Gee, I'm glad to see you!
- Say, let's get away from this jam.
- Yeah.
What are you doing up here
with all these common people?
You know, this is the first time
I've seen a fight
since you and I cleaned up
on the O'Malley brothers.
Is Dempsey as good as you?
- You've never seen Dempsey?
- No.
I'll have to have you meet him sometime.
- He's a nice guy.
- That's what I hear.
Say, look, I wish I'd known
you were coming. We'd have sat together.
I'd have made my girl stay home.
She's waiting for me in there.
Firpo. Wait till you hear
what they hand Dempsey.
Say, look, how are things down
on Centre Street?
You know, I hear you're the guy
that really runs
that district attorney's office.
I wish I did.
I've just been handed the toughest...
- Dempsey.
- You know, I've been meaning to call you.
You know anything about a
West Side hoodlum called Pants Riordan?
- I know everything about him.
- Yeah?
Well, I've got an indictment against him.
I can get a conviction, too,
for first-degree robbery.
But everybody's putting the pressure
on me, even the biggest boys in the party.
"Go light on him.
Let him take a plea of third-degree. "
You're not gonna do it.
You don't play ball with those grafters,
Jim.
You never have,
and you're not gonna start now.
Listen to who's talking.
What's that line
about practicing and preaching?
Now, look, pal, you're big stuff, see?
Me, I'm a flash.
I'm the guy with the ready dough.
But you're going places.
- Yeah? Where?
- Well, I'll tell you where.
To a great big house in Washington,
all done up in white paint.
And by the way, change the color
when you move in. I don't like white.
Maybe I'd better go home
and wire Coolidge to move over.
You're a cinch!
Now, look, Jim,
you're the one guy that's on the level,
and everybody knows that.
And that's what pays off in the end.
And you're not gonna let those grafters
shove you behind the eight ball.
You do and I'll punch you right in the nose.
Yeah?
You never saw the day that you could.
Let's get a load of
this Dempsey-Firpo binge, shall we?
Yeah, yeah. But when are we gonna
get together again? Gee, it's been weeks.
What about tomorrow night?
Saturday? I can't. That's my busiest night.
- Sunday?
- No, that's bar association.
- Monday?
- Well, I start the Riordan trial Monday.
That'll keep me tied up
every day and night for a week.
- Well, I'll call you up sometime.
- That's the way it always ends.
Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy!
The fight's over! The fight's over!
- Dempsey!
- How do you know?
I bet on him, didn't I?
Boy, did we show that big Spaniard!
I always thought he was a Argentine.
Same thing, dummy.
Argentine's a city in Spain.
And did Dempsey show that big Firp!
Oh, boy!
Wasn't it the greatest fight you ever seen?
I don't know. I didn't get here in time.
Look, I gotta find my gal
before she gets trampled to death.
Okay, kid. We'll get together sometime.
- Yeah. So long.
- Bye-bye.
He should worry if he seen it.
He cleaned up plenty on Dempsey.
Which one was Dempsey?
Well, I don't see
why they let it be all over so soon.
'Cause Dempsey
knocked the other guy out!
Well, but the advertisements said
they were gonna fight for 15 rounds.
I should think we could get
at least part of our money back.
I can think
of a lot more pleasant things to do
than look at numbers on a bulletin board.
Yeah?
Well, they're swell-looking numbers to me.
You see, Jim's away out in front.
Come on, come on, let's go.
I won't be a minute, honey.
I wish we could have a fourth person
on these bet-collecting trips.
Someone to play rummy with me
while you and Spud are gone.
This is the only one on the level.
But if I don't tap Manny Arnold
for mine tonight, I may never get it.
This election must have cost him
100 grand.
I'm not complaining, darling.
I'm just wasting the best years
of my life in a taxicab, that's all.
Congressman Robert Manning,
candidate for mayor,
and Albert Panker,
candidate for district attorney,
both conceded their defeat
shortly after midnight tonight.
Wait a minute, folks.
I want you to meet the new prosecutor.
Congratulations!
I'm very grateful to every one of you.
The ladies, too.
Say, just a minute.
I want you to meet an old friend of mine.
This is Father Joe.
Now, wait a minute, Blackie.
Blackie, wait a minute.
Now listen to me, will you? Blackie.
Now listen, will you wait a minute?
When I lose, I pay,
and when I win, I expect to get paid.
I don't ask anybody to trust me,
and I don't trust anybody.
Big shot or a penny-ante chiseler.
But I tell you I haven't got it.
If I had, I'd give it to you.
Now, don't be like that, Blackie.
- Give me a couple of days and...
- I'll give you a couple of months.
- You've got until the first of the year.
- Thanks, Blackie.
You'll pay up then or else.
Nice little man.
Why don't you introduce me
to your fine friends?
That welsher's no friend of mine.
Listen, Blackie, you're heading for trouble.
A man like Manny Arnold,
you threatened him.
I didn't threaten him, Your Honor.
I only said if he didn't pay up, I'd be mad.
I'm under oath, Your Honor.
- Which reminds me... Jim!
- Jim?
Yeah. I promised to meet him at 12:30.
Gee, it's after that now.
We were going to celebrate his election.
Say, look, driver,
pull up a minute, will you?
Well, what about Eddie?
You said you'd meet him at 1:00
and give him a chance
to get his dough back.
Say, look, honey,
you've got to do me one great big favor.
No. You're not gonna pick
on this little girl this time.
Entertaining your gunmen pals
is bad enough, but politicians...
- No, that's out! No.
- Come on, now, now.
Look, you've just got to do this
just this once,
because remember, this is for Jim.
Can I give you a lift?
No, thanks, but can't you stay
a little longer and see Blackie?
That'll be the first time the three of us
have been together since the East Side.
- A real reunion.
- Say, I know Blackie.
He's half an hour late now,
and he probably won't get here
for another week.
I'm dead tired.
I'm going to catch up on my sleep.
- Goodbye.
- Good night, Father.
Well, pardon me if I seem to intrude.
Well, I made it.
You almost got away from me.
I did, eh? Just who might you be?
Don't be unpleasant.
My taxi got in a jam.
It wouldn't move an inch.
Had to force my way through the crowd.
It's a wonder I have any clothes left.
After all, this election hoopla is your fault,
not mine.
I wasn't elected, or was I?
What's the name of the game?
I'd like to play, too.
Just a simple little frame-up.
I force my way into your car
and tear my clothes and scream,
and after all, you have to protect
your career, so you pay.
Well, that is a nice little game.
Driver, just pull up to the curb.
This is your corner.
- But wait a minute. Wait a minute.
- Yes, outside.
- Listen, I'm Eleanor.
- That's my favorite name. Outside.
- I know, but Blackie sent me.
- Blackie?
Well, I'm so sorry.
Well, nothing like a district attorney
to keep a girl in shape.
You and I must have
a good wrestle someday.
What about Blackie? Where is he?
Well, you see, it's like this.
Blackie sent me, Eleanor,
to meet you, Jim.
- Yeah.
- And to say that he was sorry,
and to ask you to take me, Eleanor,
to the Cotton Club,
and that he, Blackie, would meet us,
Eleanor and Jim, there later.
- Well, did he say what night he'd meet us?
- You, too? You've waited for Blackie?
Say, I've waited for that gypsy
since he was six years old.
Of course you have.
You know,
I want to get a good look at you.
Yeah? What's the idea?
So, at last,
I've met Blackie's little white gull.
As soon as we get out of the car,
I'll flap my wings for you.
You know, I've had a question on my mind
ever since Blackie first mentioned you.
Yeah? Shoot.
- Why?
- Why what?
Well, why be a freak?
I mean,
why don't you give in like the others do?
"Dip in the gravy," as Blackie says?
Well, now, that's a long, long story.
Well, you might as well start now,
because we'll probably have a long,
long wait for Blackie.
Well, I was born at home because
I wanted to be near Mother at the time...
...and I'm not sure,
maybe ideals have ceased to exist.
Maybe they're outmoded
like oil lamps and horse cars,
but they're mine and I'm stuck with them.
- You'll do all right.
- I hope.
Well, so ends the reading of
this week's success story.
Send 25 cents for our little booklet
telling how Jim Wade does it
in 10 easy lessons.
- Shall we dance?
- No. Talk some more.
No, no more talk. Let's make noise.
- It's nice and warm.
- Yes.
How about a nice, thick,
gooey oyster stew?
At 5:00 in the morning?
Are you out of your mind?
Sometimes I think I am.
But Blackie and anywhere
from one to 20 hoodlums
will be here any minute, screaming for it.
Not me. I've waited all I'm going to wait
for Mr. Gallagher tonight.
And a very pleasant wait it was.
- I had a swell time. Thanks.
- Thank you.
You've been very kind.
You let me talk myself hoarse,
and you never interrupted me,
and you didn't let on that I bored you.
- Now you're just making talk.
- No.
Well, good night.
No good night kiss?
Well, that proves something.
I've been asleep all night and
you're just something I dreamed about.
Do you have these nightmares often?
Well, say hello to Blackie for me.
Tell him I'm sorry he couldn't make it.
Well, at any rate,
when Blackie talks about you now,
I'll know what he means.
- Well, good night.
- Good night.
Your overcoat.
- Well, I had a marvelous time.
- Sure, sure, I knew you would.
Do you good being out with a gentleman
like Jim once in a while.
Do me good. He spoiled me.
He opened doors for me
and helped me in and out of cars. Imagine.
And he was like that all night.
He stayed right with me.
No table-hopping.
And he didn't make dice
out of the sugar cubes.
He wouldn't even kiss me good night.
And he thanked me for being with him.
Sounds kind of dull.
Wish I could get just one dull evening
like that out of you once a year.
You couldn't stand it, honey.
Too rich for your blood.
Blackie, did you ever figure ahead
any further than 15 minutes?
Sure, sure, right now I got bets
on the World Series for next October.
I don't mean that. I mean us, you and I.
Did you ever figure
where we might wind up?
Say, Jim must have had
a terrific effect on you.
Terrific.
Terrific.
I saw so much I want and haven't got.
Security, consideration,
a shelter, Blackie,
someplace to get in out of the rain.
I only tasted them tonight,
but I saw enough to know I want that
more than anything else in this world.
Say, what are you trying to do,
make an honest man out of me?
Why not? It's been done.
People in love get married all the time.
- You love me, don't you?
- Sure. Sure I do, but...
And I love you, dear.
Blackie, let's live like human beings.
Let's quit running around
like a pack of wolves.
Why won't you let me have what I want?
My own home, my own kids...
You're talking a lot of hooey
right out of nice clean storybooks.
There's nothing you really want
that you haven't got.
This other stuff, marriage,
a nice little home
with roses around the door,
you're not the type.
- Blackie...
- Now, wait a minute. Let me talk.
You got a big load of Jim tonight,
probably did you a lot of good
outside of these silly notions.
But get this, Jim's as much
out of your class as he is out of mine.
I used to get ideas, too, listening to Jim,
ideas about being something.
But I forgot them
because they're not my stuff.
And you forget yours, too,
because whether you know it or not,
two weeks of being a sweet little wife
and waiting for hubby to come home
and having babies while you're waiting,
you'd go crazy.
All right.
Goodbye, Blackie.
What is this? Don't be silly.
I'm not being silly.
I was once, but I'm all right now.
Now I know what I want.
I know where I'm going.
Blackie, up to a minute ago,
I loved you very dearly.
You were all that mattered to me.
But right now I can't even remember
having been in love with you.
Wait a minute now, baby.
No, that won't ever work again, either.
Blackie, I got some ideas of my own now.
They may be old and discarded
like oil lamps or horse cars,
but they're mine and I'm stuck with them.
I know it's the very latest style
to be cynical and callous
about stupid things
like marriage and home and babies,
but maybe I don't like the very latest style.
Maybe I want to wear last year's hat.
I give it all back to you, Blackie,
including the yacht.
I want you to have that yacht.
Goodbye, Blackie.
Yeah, hello?
Is Eleanor there?
Who? Blackie?
Hello, Blackie. This is Tootsie.
I saw Eleanor at the Cotton Club tonight
and thought I'd call up
to find out what's what.
Now, now, now, I know all about that.
Everything is just fine.
You're not on the loose, are you, Blackie?
Sure, sure, I'm always on the loose.
Yeah, yeah, I got it, yes.
Georgia 4-1111. Yeah. Sure, sure, I will.
Yeah, yeah. All right, all right, goodbye.
Eleanor.
Well, this is wonderful
after all these months.
Where's Blackie, inside?
I haven't seen Blackie,
to be exact, since election night.
I didn't know.
Well, you having fun?
Well, as much fun
as an extra girl can have.
I'm a spare,
in case some of the others give up.
It sounds fascinating.
I'm about to join a very formal party
as 13th guest,
or maybe I'm not.
Mr. Wade, you can't mean that...
Have you left anything at your table
that you have to go back for?
I'm fully equipped.
Let's go.
Come in.
- Hello, fellows.
- Hello.
So that's why
you birds got me up here, eh?
I thought it was for a stud game.
We're through playing with you, Manny.
You owe everybody here dough,
big dough.
And we're gonna collect.
- Well, what if I haven't got it to pay you?
- You've got it.
You won 40 grand on the Harry Greb fight,
you've been cleaning up in the market,
and you've got a piece of
four big speakeasies.
You got it, Manny.
And we're gonna collect,
one way or the other.
You hear those?
When they stop blowing,
it's going to be a new year in the world
for everybody except you.
You can't scare me.
I'll pay you guys
when I get good and ready.
All right, boys.
You too, Spud.
- But, boss, you promised me...
Beat it!
The whistles have stopped, Manny.
A couple of months ago,
I might have felt sorry for you
and let you crawl out,
but a lot of things have happened to me
since then,
and I don't feel the same
about you anymore.
You can't do it, you can't.
Not in cold blood, Blackie.
You better cross yourself, Manny,
and make it double,
because this is once
you doubled-crossed yourself.
Wait a minute, Blackie, wait a minute.
I'll give it to you. I'll pay you off.
Look, what's that behind you?
- Where's your overcoat?
- Huh, coat?
Yes, yes, your coat.
You were wearing a coat, weren't you?
Gee, boss, I left it back there in the room.
I'll go get it.
No, no, don't be silly.
The cops are there by now.
- Look, can they identify that as yours?
- I only wish they could.
- It was Jim's coat.
- What? Jim?
Why you stupid...
I told you to return that coat weeks ago.
I know it,
I ought to have my head examined.
Why didn't you just leave
my name and address?
We gotta figure out something.
Gee, it was a swell coat, too.
I was only wearing it till mine was ready.
Your what was ready?
My overcoat, I wanted one just like Jim's,
but I couldn't figure out where he got it.
There was no marks or labels in it,
so I had my tailor make one exactly like it.
Mine will be ready
first thing in the morning.
Say, look, you had Jim's coat
copied exactly by your tailor?
Yeah.
Palsy, I think everything
is gonna be all right.
Just as the cops said, not a mark on it.
Not even a dealer's, jobber's
or a manufacturer's number.
Doesn't give us a thing.
What about the hotel people,
don't they know who registered
for the room?
No. The name was a phony, of course,
and I had the clerk downtown,
he went over half the pictures
in the gallery and couldn't pick anybody,
or else he didn't want to.
The same with the bellboy.
If he knows anything, he isn't saying.
It's a tough one, chief,
as bad as the Rothstein case.
It's kind of rotten for you,
taking one like this your first day,
and your chair isn't even warm.
- Is Blackie Gallagher out there?
- Yes, sir.
Say, you don't think
he knows anything about it do you?
- Show him in, will you please?
- Yes, sir.
Well, here we are.
It's been months, as usual.
Sit down.
You're headman of the city now.
Next you're going to be headman
of the state, and then...
Skip it, kid, skip it.
I didn't get you down here to hear again
how good I am.
Pardon my enthusiasm.
What's on your mind?
Well, first of all,
I wanted to tell you about Eleanor.
What about Eleanor?
- We're thinking of getting married.
- What, married?
Yes, you know, man and wife,
it's an old custom.
Any reason why we shouldn't?
No, no, I can't think of any...
It just surprised me, that's all.
I never figured Eleanor...
Say, she couldn't make a better choice,
and she's a swell gal,
and I hope you both click.
- Thanks, Blackie, I knew you'd say that.
- Why shouldn't I say that?
We've been pals all of our lives.
Well, Eleanor and I were good pals, too,
but...
Hey, everything is just hotsy-totsy.
Say, look, I got a date uptown.
I gotta beat it. Give my best to Eleanor.
Say, wait a minute, kid.
I'm much obliged to you
for returning my overcoat.
A little round about,
the police found it in room 14 B
at the Uptown Hotel
where Manny Arnold was killed.
Your overcoat?
What are you talking about?
Come on, Blackie, you never could kid me.
That's the coat
I loaned Eleanor last election night,
and it's the coat the murderer left
behind him after killing Manny Arnold.
I wouldn't kid you, mister.
Maybe the nasty old murderer
did leave that coat,
but that isn't your coat.
Blackie.
Hey, wait a minute.
I wanna find out something.
- Spud.
- Yeah? Yeah?
Look, slug, how come you didn't return
Jim's coat like I told you to weeks ago?
- Well, to tell you the truth, I kind of forgot.
- You kind of forgot.
Yeah, well, your kind of forgetting
kind of got me into a lot of trouble.
Now suppose you kind of get on the phone
and kind of tell the butler to jump in a cab
and bring that coat down here right away.
It's in the closet.
- Okay, boss.
- Beat it.
You know,
I'm really working wonders with Spud.
I got him where he eats with a fork now.
- What's the gag?
- Gag? There's no gag.
Your coat'll be here any minute now.
Blackie, let's face the facts.
Manny Arnold owed you a lot of money.
You quarreled with him election night
when he wouldn't pay up.
- You threatened him.
- I threatened him?
Sure I threatened him,
so did everybody else.
That's the only way you could get
your dough out of that chiseler.
- I got mine. Why should I wanna kill him?
- I don't know, unless you didn't get yours.
And I know what you think of welshers.
Blackie, I'm not interested in anything
but the fact
that Manny Arnold was murdered
- and I've got to find the murderer.
- I know you have.
And if anybody can do it,
you're the man that will.
Now look,
don't you think I've got more sense
than to try to pull anything,
knowing you the way I do?
I hope so.
We're in a tough spot now.
My job means
fighting you and your crowd.
And Blackie, I'm going to fight.
I never saw the day
I was big enough to lick you.
I've got too many guys in my gang.
You're going to find yourself getting away
with less and less, kid,
and it's going to be my fault.
We had one or two crooked inspectors.
Well, they're gone now.
No more paid cops,
no more quashed indictments,
no more handpicked juries, all gone.
I'm going to clean out every rotten spot
I can find in this city.
And, Blackie,
I don't wanna find you in one of them.
- And if you do?
- What do you think?
You're gonna give me everything
I got coming to me.
You're gonna nail me every time
I step out of line and sock me to the limit.
- You said it.
- And cockeyed as it all sounds,
I'll be proud of you.
What'd you think of that?
Well, how about the Manny Arnold killing?
All right, I'll bite. What about it?
I may have to get
an indictment against you.
Are you still harping on that coat?
I tell you, Jim, that isn't your coat.
Now, if you're not satisfied
when it gets here,
you know I'll always be around
when you want me.
Yes, I know that.
Well, I gotta beat it.
- Goodbye, old timer.
- So long, kid.
- I'll be seeing you.
- Right.
- Pardon me.
- Pardon me.
Do you want these
homicide squad reports?
No. Not now, thanks.
This just came for you.
How do you think this fits me?
Why, all right, I guess.
I couldn't tell for sure.
What, another one?
Looks like it, doesn't it?
Where did this come from?
How does that fit?
Why, just about the same.
Just the same, huh?
Well, don't get them mixed up,
because this is my coat.
Yeah, the jury just went out.
Hey, am I late.
Did Miss Adams...
Yes, she did unpack my stuff.
- Is Blackie Gallagher here?
- Blackie Gallagher?
Yes, he's going with me to the church.
He should have been here an hour ago.
- Get him on the phone, will you, please?
- Yes, sir.
Mr. Wade.
I'm sorry, Miss Adams, I'm afraid
I'm going to be late for my own wedding.
You're not really going
to have Blackie Gallagher there?
Why, he'd better be there.
He's going to be my best man.
- I'm sorry.
- Why, what's on your mind?
Oh, but you shouldn't, you can't.
Everybody knows
what Blackie Gallagher is.
- Think of what the papers will say.
- The papers?
Well, most of the papers were against
me at the election, but I was elected.
But this is different. This can hurt you.
Remember what happened
to that district attorney in Chicago
just for having his picture taken
with some gangsters at dinner.
And now right on top
of the Manny Arnold case.
Well, what about the Manny Arnold case?
Some people know you had
Blackie Gallagher down here.
They think he killed Manny Arnold,
that you let him go just out of friendship.
What people think doesn't matter to me.
I do what I think is right.
As district attorney, I am convinced
that Blackie had nothing to do with it.
He's my friend.
He's going to be best man at my...
Come in.
I tried to get Gallagher on the phone,
but he doesn't answer.
- This just came for you.
- That's all, Miss Adams.
I'm sorry I opened it.
I thought it might be office business.
Tell Miss Adams she can rest easy,
because Blackie Gallagher seems to
feel the same way she does about it.
Yes, sir.
Well, my dear...
Father, will you and Eleanor wait right
over there while I tend to the bags?
Keep an eye out for Blackie. Porter!
It was sweet of you, Father, to come all
the way down from Sing Sing to marry us.
You won't get in any trouble
marrying non-Catholics, will you?
Not at all. Besides, didn't I fish Jim
out of the East River once?
I should have some rights, huh?
About Blackie,
you know I use to be in love with Blackie.
Yes, I know.
But there's only Jim in my life now
and from now on.
You believe that, don't you?
Completely but...
What did you want
to tell me about Blackie?
Blackie loves you, Father.
I've heard him say it many times.
He needs you.
He needs you more than any of us.
I want you to help him before it's too late.
You know you fished Blackie
out of the East River, too.
From now on,
your principle trouble is Jim.
I will take care of Blackie,
but I will make no promises.
Didn't Blackie promise to come down
and see you both off?
Yes, but he's always late.
Father, I'd rather not see Blackie just now.
Will you see him and say goodbye for us?
All right, all set. Bye-bye, Father.
Thanks once again.
Come on, dear. Let's get going.
Goodbye, Father.
It must be nice in jail with you there.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye. Good luck to you both.
Say goodbye to Blackie.
- Will your wife need a stretcher?
- I don't know.
I'll have to let you know when I get a wife.
I was in a hurry.
- Thanks for the ambulance ride.
- You're too late. You missed the boat.
What?
And so,
for the governorship
of the Empire State of New York,
for the chair of Theodore Roosevelt,
of Charles Evans Hughes,
of Alfred E. Smith,
I place a nomination,
one whose integrity
is conceded by friend and foe alike.
James W. Wade!
- Good night, Governor.
- I can't tell you how much obliged I am.
- Good night. Good night.
- Good night.
Good night.
Well,
thank goodness that's over.
You know, I think those yes men would
go to bed with me if they had a chance.
Don't worry, darling,
they won't have a chance.
My, am I proud of myself.
Imagine me, the Governor's wife.
Hey, wait a minute.
I've only been nominated.
Well, I can't be worried about details.
I'd love you just as much, darling,
if you were
Vice President of the United States.
I'll bet you say that to all the boys.
Don't you?
Oh!
Well, hello, Snow.
How did you get in here?
They don't know downstairs yet
that you've soured on your assistant.
Allow me to congratulate you, Governor.
That can wait until November.
I've not been elected yet.
But you're a cinch. It's in the bag.
You haven't got me to weaken the ticket.
And you were going to make
them run me as district attorney.
You were going to put up a fight for me.
I'm sorry to say that I did put up a fight.
When I told them last night
that unless you were on the ticket,
they could count me out,
I learned a number of things
that I never knew before.
Darling, would you mind? Please, dear.
Good night, Mr. Snow.
Snow, in all the years
I've worked with you,
I've disregarded the gossip about you.
I refused to believe
the Citizens' Nonpartisan outfit.
But last night, from our own people,
I got the proof.
You're nothing but a cheap,
chiseling grafter.
The party won't stand for you and I won't.
You not only don't go on the ticket
as district attorney,
but from tonight you're not even
my chief assistant any longer.
Well, that's just too bad.
Have you finished
your address to the jury?
Because, if you have, there are
a couple of points I would like to make.
It's a shame you're quitting the DA's office
with the Manny Arnold case unsolved.
I don't feel very happy about that.
I simply couldn't find the murderer,
that's all.
You couldn't find the murderer?
You didn't even try to find him.
You could have, by asking
in any speakeasy in New York City.
Everybody knows
who killed Manny Arnold.
That is, everybody except
our district attorney
whose best pal, Blackie Gallagher,
happened to be the killer.
Wait a minute.
You know as well as I do
we had no case against Blackie.
We made every possible effort
to trace that coat.
You made a lot of weak, futile gestures,
if that's what you mean by effort.
Why didn't you get
an indictment against Gallagher?
That's what the people
would like to know.
I'm not going to discuss it with you, Snow.
For reasons of my own,
and as district attorney,
I'm convinced that Blackie
had nothing to do with it.
Now, get out.
All right, but I'm gonna open
this case so wide
that the voters will run you out of town.
You'd better get another story,
because I don't think
they like the one you've got.
Perhaps they'd rather believe the one
that's going around, the one I'll tell,
that you wouldn't hold Gallagher because
you wouldn't prosecute your wife's ex...
You better get your nose
out of that program, Blackie.
Somebody's looking at you awfully hard.
Yeah? Who?
Somebody you used to know
a long time ago.
- Where is she?
- You find her.
- What am I running, a lonely hearts club?
- I'll be right back.
- Now, look here...
- I said I'd be right back.
Can I have a hot dog?
- Hello, Mrs. Governor.
- Hello, Blackie.
Where's the law and order?
He's supposed to meet me here,
but you know this business
of running for governor.
I'm going to have to sue that campaign
manager of his for alienation of affections.
What's on your mind?
Why nothing, nothing at all.
No trouble between you and Jim, I hope?
Nothing in the world could cause trouble
between Jim and me.
That goes for me, too.
But what's the trouble?
Something's wrong
and I want to know what it is.
I'm worried about Jim's campaign,
about the election.
Is that all?
Well, you can stop worrying right now
and start planning your dress
for the inauguration.
He's a cinch.
He was until they brought up
the Manny Arnold case again.
Manny Arnold? Why, what about it?
Jim insists that this won't hurt him,
but his campaign manager
tells me that the election
would have been close anyway
and that this will...
Turn to your programs, please.
Number one, Commander, the Billing's
entry, was scratched at the last moment.
Imagine that.
I had three bucks on that plug, and he ain't
gonna run now because he's scratched.
Imagine that.
A great big horse like that
and they won't let him run
because he's got a little scratch.
Say, who are these guys? Why, the dirty...
It's just one man, Snow.
He used to be Jim's assistant.
He has a grudge against Jim,
and he's waiting until just before election
to spring everything.
Yeah. Yeah, I remember him now.
I think I'll look him up,
have a little talk with him.
Now, Blackie.
Blackie, don't do anything foolish.
Blackie?
Did I ever do anything foolish?
They're off!
Come on, Beverly!
Look, look at 'em go. Look.
Over there, over there! Come on, baby!
Come on, baby! Keep that stride!
Hold that stride! Take them jumps steady!
- Take those jumps...
- Spuddie!
What do you want? What do you want?
If you'll give me a dime
I'll get that hot dog myself.
Look at him come. Look at him come.
Oh, boy!
Come on, Beverly! Come on, Beverly!
There he goes past Gallant Madam!
Come on, Beverly! Come on, Beverly!
a close second.
Now can I have a hot dog?
Eleanor, I wouldn't say anything
to Jim about...
Well, about what we've been talking.
You know, he wouldn't understand.
And anyway, it's just between us.
All right, I won't, Blackie.
But, Blackie, tell me,
what are you going to do?
I don't know. I'll find something.
Well, look, I gotta go collect
for that last race.
Last race?
Do you ever lose?
Yeah.
Every once in a while.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
- Hello, Gallagher.
- Hello, Snow.
Well, what's on your mind?
Must be something pretty important,
getting me in here
in the middle of the game.
Never was anything
more important to you
in your life as being here right now.
Well, what is it?
Say, is there anybody here but us?
- Only us.
- What do you want?
I want to do a little favor for a friend.
Here, take it.
Okay, buddy, that's for luck.
- Good morning, darling.
- Good morning.
You look tired. Didn't you sleep well?
I haven't slept yet.
I've been at the office until now
with plenty to do.
Honey, Snow was murdered last night
in Madison Square Garden.
Snow murdered!
My dear, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have...
It mustn't be, it can't be, Jim!
Well, darling, the man's been asking for it.
He's made hundreds of enemies.
But it shouldn't upset you, dear.
I know.
Well, I guess it just must be the relief.
Hello?
Yes.
Police headquarters?
It's for you.
Wade speaking.
What?
- All right, I'll be down in just a little while.
- What is it?
- They made an arrest.
- Who?
Blackie.
Nice of you to come and see me like this.
Put you to a lot of trouble.
You're crazy to come here.
Suppose somebody spotted you.
I can see the headlines now,
"DA's wife in secret visit to slayer. "
- That'd be fine.
- But I had to come, Blackie.
It was because of what I said to you
at Belmont.
You said you'd do something about Snow.
You've got it all figured out, haven't you?
Hey, look, what are you going to wear
on the witness stand?
Blackie, please. I haven't told Jim yet.
I wanted to see you first.
And I thought you were smart.
That's what I always liked about you.
You were even smart enough
to walk out on me.
- But I'll have to tell him.
- That's great.
The one thing they haven't got on me
is a motive.
So the DA's wife pops out with a pip.
But Jim will understand. Jim will help you.
Blackie, you've got to tell me.
Did you kill Snow?
Now, don't be silly.
You don't kill rats like Snow.
You don't have to.
Hey, look, tell me something.
What?
You in love with Jim?
I love Jim more than anything else
in this world.
I never knew what love was, Blackie,
until I met Jim.
All right, then if you love Jim
as much as you say you do,
and you want to see him governor,
keep quiet!
Hey, look, you don't know that guy
as well as I know him.
Above everything else in the world,
he's the district attorney, remember that.
Now, if you tell what happened
at Belmont,
he'll put you on the witness stand.
And then where will he be when he comes
to his campaign for governor?
Well, what about you? It's your life.
They haven't got a thing on me
as long as you keep quiet.
You know, Blackie,
for a while I was almost ashamed
of having loved you,
but I'm not now. I'm proud.
Yeah? Well, I think you're okay, too.
Time's up.
Okay. So long, Eleanor.
Goodbye, Blackie.
Everybody rise.
The prosecution will proceed.
Your Honor,
District Attorney Wade intended
to make the closing address himself,
but as you know,
he is in the midst
of his campaign for governor.
He apparently has been delayed.
We expect him any minute.
Well, the court sees
no reason why politics
should be permitted to hinder or delay
the conduct of such an important case.
The prosecution will proceed.
With or without Mr. Wade.
Just a moment, please, Your Honor.
What a break for us.
- I shall insist on starting without Wade.
- Sit down.
We'll wait.
- But it'll gives us a chance to...
- Chance, my eye.
As far as you're concerned,
this trial is over.
I'll hand you one thing, though,
you've been licked by the best.
Now keep your eyes open
and learn something.
Your Honor.
Gentlemen of the jury,
I...
I've started.
I beg the court's pardon
for this unfortunate delay.
We were about to proceed without you,
Mr. Wade.
Hereafter, I trust you will not again allow
your political activities to cause delay.
I trust not, Your Honor.
Class, it's written all over him. Class.
Your Honor.
Gentlemen,
there's very little more
that I can say to you.
The state has tried Blackie Gallagher
for the murder of Richard Snow.
The defense was quick to point out,
as their only defense,
that we could establish no clear,
indisputable motive for the crime.
Well, gentlemen, murder without motive
seems to be the fashion of the day.
And it is just this vicious practice
which we must stamp out.
For years, men and women in this country
tolerated racketeers and murderers.
Because of their own hatred of prohibition,
they felt in sympathy with those who
broke a law they felt to be oppressive.
Crime and criminals became popular.
Killers became heroes.
But, gentlemen, prohibition has gone
and these gangsters and killers
who came with it must go with it.
The defense has pointed out
Snow's shady character,
has indicated his large number
of personal enemies.
I concur with their opinion.
I found it necessary myself
to dismiss him from public office.
But Richard Snow was a man
killed by another man.
The law makes no distinctions.
Murder cannot go unpunished.
Our testimony against Blackie Gallagher
could not have been more complete
if we had had an eyewitness
to the murder.
We have proved that he was practically
caught in the act.
You have heard a fake,
blind beggar testify.
He heard the shot
and saw Gallagher come out of the room
in which he had been alone with Snow.
There is conflicting testimony
from various parties
at the Garden that night.
But Gallagher's own party
is the only one to insist
that he did not leave his box.
We have eight witnesses
to the fact that he did.
Gentlemen,
in finding Blackie Gallagher
guilty of murder,
we are faced with more
than the avenging of one death.
We are faced with the choice
which we must make.
Either we can surrender
to an epidemic of crime and violence
which will destroy our homes
and our community,
or we can give warning to the host
of other gangsters and murderers
that they are through.
In 1904, when the General Slocum burned,
I made a boyish effort
to save Blackie Gallagher's life.
Today, I demand from you
his death.
Gentlemen of the jury,
you are instructed that the defendant
is under the laws
of the State of New York,
presumed to be innocent
of the crime with which he is charged...
Who? Oh, yeah.
...until he is proven guilty
to your satisfaction
by competent evidence
and beyond a reasonable doubt.
This presumption remains with
the defendant throughout the trial.
And unless you are satisfied
that he is guilty of the crime charged,
and this beyond any reasonable doubt,
then you must acquit him of the charge.
A reasonable doubt is such a doubt
as a man of reasonable intelligence
can give some good reason
for entertaining,
if he is called upon to do so.
- Is he coming? Have you heard from him?
- I haven't heard a word. Not a word.
We've been waiting
more than half an hour outside.
Mr. Wade, the district attorney's
office wants you on the phone right away.
Hello. This is Wade.
The jury just came in
on the Blackie Gallagher case.
Verdict, guilty, first-degree.
You're practically up in Albany right now.
Say, if that doesn't put you
in the governor's chair
and me in the district attorney's office,
I'll miss my guess.
Well, congratulations, to both of us.
Come on, Governor.
They'll be tearing up the seats in a minute.
I'm afraid they'll have to tear.
I can't speak, not tonight.
Why, what's happened? Bad news?
Wife?
Friend.
Sick?
Going to die.
Blackie Gallagher has been convicted
of first-degree murder.
I'm sorry.
The defendant will rise and face the bench.
Have you anything to say
before sentence is pronounced upon you?
Not a thing.
Edward J. Gallagher,
the judgment of the court is that you,
Edward J. Gallagher, for the murder
in the first degree of one Richard Snow,
whereof you are convicted to be sentenced
to the punishment of death,
and it is ordered that you be delivered
to the warden of the Sing Sing prison
at Ossining, New York,
where, during the week beginning
Monday, February the 15th next,
the said warden is commanded
to do execution upon you.
Wait a minute, lady, that's not allowed.
Let me talk to him, please. Blackie.
Hello, boss.
Be a sport, leave a pal talk to him,
will you?
- So long.
So long, boss.
I do solemnly swear that I will support
the constitution of the United States.
And the constitution
of the State of New York.
And I do further solemnly swear
that I will permit no concern
other than the good of the state
to influence me in the exact performance
of those duties
which herewith I undertake.
I was getting to like that cell.
Why do I have to move to another one
for just 12 hours?
You ought to be happy, Blackie.
Them 12 hours
is all you got left to move in.
Cheerful little fellow, isn't he?
Does he crack jokes like that all the time?
So long, Blackie.
So long, boy.
So long, Blackie.
Goodbye, black boy,
don't take no wooden pork chops.
No, sir.
You better take these with you.
Give you something to do
in these next 12 hours.
Down there in that dance-hall cell,
all by yourself.
You can't miss with them
any way you shoots them.
Thanks.
So long, Blackie.
So long, kid.
Shorty. Hey, Shorty, music.
Keep your chin up
and your nose clean, kid.
Forget about that commutation.
You don't want it anyway.
Die the way you lived, all of a sudden.
That's the way to go.
Don't drag it out.
Living like that doesn't mean a thing.
So long, Blackie.
- So long, big boy.
- Hello, Blackie.
- Hiya, Warden.
Anything I can do?
You can order whatever you want to eat,
you know.
Yes, so I read in the papers. No, thanks.
How about a drink?
Well, I'm not supposed to give you a drink.
They got laws in the death house, too?
- But if it will help, I'll bring you one.
- Thanks.
Yeah, look, there is something
you can do for me.
Call up Hattie Carnegie and tell her
to send over a black lace nightgown
to Toots Malone, Mammoth Hotel.
She's been wanting one.
Kind of a going away present. You know.
I ask you to commute Blackie Gallagher's
sentence to life imprisonment.
First, because no really sufficient motive
has ever been discovered for this crime,
and secondly,
because you yourself were elected
to your present high office mainly
through the public acclaim you received
through the conviction of your own friend.
Certainly, more than any other governor
in the history of this state, you,
Your Excellency,
can afford in this case to be merciful.
No one can be more conscious
than I am of my present position here.
It has troubled me more deeply
than it could anyone else.
The men and women
of this state elected me
partly because I was instrumental
in the sentencing
of Blackie Gallagher to the electric chair.
Those men and women
have a right to expect
that I will not be corrupted
by money, influence,
or even by my own personal feelings.
The defendant has been tried
according to the laws of this state.
He has been found guilty
and sentenced to death.
This decision has been upheld
by the Court of Appeals.
You have presented no new evidence,
no cause to change
the verdict of the court.
The application for commutation of
the death sentence of Edward J. Gallagher
for the crime of murder in the first degree
is herewith denied.
Hello, dear.
What are you going to do about Blackie?
Nothing, there's nothing I can do.
You can save his life.
He's guilty. The jury says so.
Please stop talking like the governor
of a great state.
Talk to me as my husband,
as the man I love,
about another man we both love.
Jim, are you going to kill Blackie?
Can you kill him?
You couldn't do that to Blackie.
Not Blackie.
I can't commute his sentence
because of our feeling for him,
the fact that we both love him,
the fact that I'll never understand
why he killed Snow,
if he did.
Suppose I told you why he killed Snow.
Suppose I told you he did it for you,
would that mean anything to you?
I don't know what you're talking about.
I met him at the Belmont races.
I told him Snow had threatened you,
and I asked him to help us.
Blackie didn't care anything about
laws or verdicts or right or wrong.
You were in trouble,
and that was all that mattered to him.
He wouldn't even let me tell you.
He thought that if you knew,
you'd ruin your own chances
of being elected.
Do you realize what this means?
It means
that if it weren't for Blackie Gallagher,
you wouldn't be governor today.
It means that the state
has finally found a motive
for the killing of Snow.
There isn't a chance now.
I can't convince myself that anyone,
least of all you, could be so hard and cold.
Anyone who's loved me,
who's been so tender...
Darling, please.
I tried to stop Blackie. I told him.
I warned him at the time
of the Manny Arnold case.
You must realize I have my sworn duty.
Sworn duty?
Could you put yourself in Blackie's place?
Could you apply all your fine
and honorable rules to yourself,
punish yourself as calmly
and completely as you have Blackie?
I don't think you could, Jim.
- I know you couldn't.
- That has nothing to do with it.
I must do what I believe is right.
Then I must, too.
I think it's right to leave you,
if you let Blackie die.
We've no chance
of ever being happy again.
Jim, doesn't that mean anything to you?
You can't leave me. You mustn't.
Well, then, keep me here.
Jim, do you realize what you're sacrificing
for the sake of some principles?
Blackie's life, my love, our happiness,
are they worth that to you?
Eleanor.
Don't go.
I need you.
Will you save Blackie?
No.
Get me a car. I'm going to Sing Sing.
I want a motorcycle escort.
I got to be there before midnight.
Listen, I tell you
it was me croaked that guy!
Blackie Gallagher didn't do it!
You got it all wrong!
Say, you ain't the guy that bumped off
the Archduke of Austria, are you?
No, that wasn't me.
I guess I ought to know who I bumped off.
I tell you,
Blackie didn't know nothing about it!
There was thousands of people there
that night! Everybody seen me!
He didn't know nothing about it, I tell you!
I swear it!
You dummies!
Listen, it was like this,
it was during the intermission, see,
and I'd been drinking
too much lemonade...
You dirty so and so's.
You haven't shown me a natural
since I've been in here.
Already?
No. Someone to see you.
Well, I'm not dressed for company.
Well, hello, Jim.
- When you're ready, Governor, just call.
- Thank you, Warden.
Come on, come on, sit down here.
Here, take this nice easy chair.
Well, so I'm going to have
the Governor to see me off, huh?
Am I getting the keys to the city, too?
Blackie, I know why you killed Snow.
She shouldn't have told you that.
I asked her not to.
She thought it would help you.
But you know what it means.
Well, that's okay, Jim.
I wasn't expecting anything.
Blackie, what a terrific thing for you to do
and for me.
Forget it.
I can never forget it.
The pity of it is, there's nothing
I can ever do to repay you.
- You see, Blackie...
- Save it, save it. I heard you at the trial.
- What a finish.
- What? Not so bad.
Fresh towels, running water,
even a mattress.
They say "Two Gun" Crowley
went to sleep.
They had to wake him up
to take him to the chair.
It must be that black coffee I drank
why I'm not sleepy.
When you grin like that you make me
think of a little kid on the East Side.
We won't go into that.
Blackie, I should have stopped you.
Years ago I could have done it, too.
When Old Man Rosen died,
it was up to me to take care of you,
but I was too busy.
Too busy getting to be governor
so I could send you to the chair.
Say, you did everything anybody could do.
I'm just a no-good guy, that's all.
Well, hello, Father.
Just in time for Old Home Week.
I'm glad you came, Jim.
You know,
we were almost back to the time
where you pulled us both out of the river.
Now, you see, you just wasted your time.
Now you've got to go
and put me back again.
Well, we all got to be given back
sooner or later, Blackie.
Isn't that marvelous?
Anything you say, anything you do,
he turns it around and puts it into religion.
Except that time I knocked a home run
through your stained glass window
down on Hester Street.
Boy, I'll never forget that.
That's funny,
that doesn't seem so long ago.
And to think this is the first time
the three of us have been together
since the East Side.
A funny kind of a reunion.
Well, anyway, this is once I wasn't late.
Uh-oh, that man's in again.
I'm afraid you better say goodbye, Jim.
Goodbye, Jim.
I can't do it, Blackie.
I've got to commute you.
Have you lost your mind?
Now, you've made your decision,
now stick to it.
Look, as far as I'm concerned,
you're the best friend I ever had.
But above everything else,
you're the Governor!
I can't do this to you.
But you've got to.
Don't you see? You're right.
You get that? You're right.
Where do you get off commuting me?
I'm not afraid to spill it.
I not only got Snow,
but I killed Manny Arnold, too.
I can't help it, Blackie.
I'm not going to let you die. I can't do it.
Say, do you think you're doing me a favor
by keeping me locked up in this filthy trap
for the rest of my life?
You're going to make a great sacrifice,
ruin your career, for what?
So's that I can rot in this hole!
Would you do that to me? No, thanks.
Don't commute me, I don't want it.
Hey, look, Jim,
if I can't live the way I want,
then at least let me die when I want.
- Come on, Warden. Let's go.
- Here.
Give it to him. He needs it more than I do.
- Blackie.
- What?
Goodbye, Blackie.
So long, Jim.
Hey, hey, don't be silly.
This way out, Governor.
There he goes! They're giving it to him!
Quiet!
Ladies and gentlemen, quiet, please, quiet.
His Excellency, the Governor.
Mr. Speaker,
ladies and gentlemen of the Assembly
and the Senate.
A joint session of your two bodies,
called by me as governor of the state,
is an unusual procedure.
It is necessitated
by unusual circumstances.
A few nights ago, as you all know,
Edward J. Gallagher was put to death
in the electric chair at Sing Sing
for the crime of murder.
What you do not know is
that he committed the murder
to silence scandal about me,
which very likely would have cost
my election to the governorship.
The scandal is now unimportant.
But what is important is
that when I learned
of what Gallagher had done for me,
I let my affection for him blind me
in my sworn duty
to the people of this state.
I offered him
a commutation of his death sentence.
The fact that he refused my offer
is no mitigation of my offense.
My election was won with murder,
and I have proven myself
unworthy of my trust.
And I can do nothing less
than tender you my resignation
as governor of the State of New York.
No, Governor! No.
No! No! No!
Hello, Jim.
Hello, Eleanor.
Jim, I owe you an apology.
I once said I didn't think
you were honest with yourself.
That you couldn't apply
your rules of conduct to yourself.
Today, you proved how wrong I was.
What are you going to do now?
I don't know.
Try again, maybe something else.
May I try with you?