Hey, Nick, why don't you
give the kid a chance?
- Come on, use your left.
- Please, Pop.
- Use your left. Come on, fight me back.
- Please.
- Please, stop.
- Come on. Cover up.
- Stop.
- Come on, use the left. Cover up.
I seen guys get more action
just shadowboxing.
- Cover up.
- Please.
Hey, Nick, why don't you
give the kid a chance?
That's for leaving yourself wide open.
What's he trying to do?
Fan his old man to death?
Rocky ain't no more a fighter
than his old man was.
Good thing Ida made you hang
the gloves up, Nick.
I don't like cry babies. Get up.
Get up.
How do you expect
to learn the kid anything, Nick?
You was nothing
but a lousy prelim fighter yourself.
All right, you no-good little bum...
...let's walk nice and quiet
down to the station house.
Let me go, copper.
Save your shoe leather.
Well, there goes another
little greaseball on his way.
Ten years from now,
the Death House at Sing Sing.
Again, Rocky?
Hey, Ma, how'd you know
I was up here?
Like a homing pigeon.
I busted out of the protectory.
The bulls tell you?
- Me, Vinnie and Lou.
- Three times in two years.
Wait until the guys
find I'm on the lam again.
I bet the cops gave the flash to every
cop car from the Bronx to Brooklyn.
Maybe even the radio stations.
Let them try and find me.
They're not looking for you.
- What are you talking about?
- That's why the police come tonight...
...to tell me Brother Benedict's
given up on you.
They're through with you
at the protectory.
"Don't come back," they said.
They're trying to fool you.
That's a trick. I'm on the lam.
- They don't want you, Rocky, but I do.
- No.
No, leave me alone, leave me alone.
- Why don't you give up on me, Ma?
- I don't know how.
I ain't no good, I never will be.
Everybody knows it.
Why don't you give up on me, will you?
Sure, maybe tomorrow.
But tonight you're gonna
get some sleep. Come.
What am I gonna do with you,
you wild no-good devil?
Why you getting upset?
How much you think your mother
can take?
Twice she's been in the hospital,
sick with worry.
You're driving her to her grave.
Nobody can hold you,
even with iron bars.
You won't go to school or to work.
Pool rooms, stealing,
traveling with bums.
- Just don't worry about it, will you?
- That's all you ever say:
"Don't worry about it."
When are you gonna stop all this?
- When are you gonna be something?
- Like you, huh?
How much did you ever make?
So that I didn't have to go down
and rob bread...
...and steal coal from the blind man.
What did you ever give us around here?
Except your wine breath
and the back of your hand.
Why, you...
I look at you and I see the devil.
Get out of my sight.
- Hi, Rocky.
- Hi, Sis.
I got you some eggs for breakfast.
A celebration.
Never mind, Ma.
- Where you going?
- To be something.
Rocky.
Tomatoes. Tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes.
Hey, big man. Whose house
you gonna rob tonight, huh?
Who you gonna knock over,
huh, big man?
- Hey, Romolo.
- Hey, Rocky boy.
- When did you get home, huh?
- I didn't get home, I got out, that's all.
- Hey, what about my other shoe?
- Eat it.
Without you, I'm just nickels
and dimes, you know that?
Buddy boy, we find Fidel and Shorty
and then we make plans.
- What do you say, Fidel?
- Rocky.
- Come on.
- Hey, when did you get out, huh?
Hey, Shorty the Greek.
Come on, buddy boy,
we got work to do.
Hey, what you think you're doing?
Why you stinking little...
- What are you trying to do? Get killed?
- No.
I just wanted to see
whether your brakes worked.
Hey. Hey, I think I got a bite.
Look out below.
- Fifty?
- Come again. Come on.
Seventy-five tops.
My inventory's way overloaded.
How can you split 75
four ways, huh?
- It don't come out even.
- Eighty then.
Come on.
- What are you gonna do with the money?
- Buy some clothes. What do you say?
We don't want people
to think we're bums.
Wait a minute. Take a look.
Beautiful $ 100 suits.
For you guys, 20 bucks apiece.
Get out of here. Come on.
What are you...?
- Good morning.
- Oh, yeah, good morning.
- Breakfast.
- Oh, thanks.
- Hey, what's the program for today, huh?
- Pick up Fidel and Shorty the Greek.
Then what?
School.
- School?
- Yeah.
All my life I've been dreaming
of robbing a school.
- Thanks.
- Hey, you two. Get away from there.
- Come on.
- What do you think you're doing?
Come back here.
What do you think...?
I'll get you, guys.
How many times we gotta tell you
to stay out of Polack territory?
Nobody robs our schools but us.
The bulls. The bulls.
- I can't make it.
- Come on, jump.
Hold it, punk. Frisk him.
All right, who'd you
unload the stuff with this time?
What stuff?
Everything in the precinct
that wasn't nailed down.
- Come on, who was the fence?
- I don't know what you're talking about.
I'm talking about
who give you the money?
My old man give it to me.
Yeah, my old man give it to me.
Nick Barbella, huh?
Two hundred and 10 bucks,
Mr. Barbella.
If he can't account for it,
I have to put him in the lineup.
- He says you give it to him. Yes or no?
- Yeah. Yeah, Nick, you remember.
- Of course he give it to him.
- Mr. Barbella?
All I ever give him was a wine breath
and the back of my hand.
- Thanks.
- Come on.
All I could think of, Your Honor,
as I walked...
...into the cold, gray shadows
of the Tombs...
...and saw this little child crying...
Do you know that this little child once
attempted to burn down a police station?
It's against my better judgment,
but I'm gonna give him another chance.
I'm going to remand him to the custody
of his parents and the probation officers.
But this other fellow here,
his probation reports are a disgrace.
- True, Your Honor, but I thought...
- Are the parents in court?
Yes, Your Honor, the mother is here.
- Where's the father?
- He refused to come.
Rocco Barbella's been a burden...
...to his mother
during the whole of his life.
Ever since he was old enough to run,
he was a court problem.
They remanded him
to the Catholic protectory.
Three times he broke out...
...each time to join his gang
and terrorize the neighborhood.
Something has got to be done
to save this boy from a criminal career.
He has got to know that
if he is going to commit burglaries...
...and make of himself a thief,
he cannot be at large.
I am therefore committing him
to Mackinock...
...for an indeterminate sentence.
- No.
Maybe they will be able
to break his spirit.
- Next case.
- We'll see whose spirit gets broke.
Don't wreck the floor,
you're gonna have to sleep on it.
Shut up, you lousy screw.
You'll get over it, kid,
even if it takes 20 years.
Open 32.
- Now, what would you like for breakfast?
- Your cruddy head on a silver platter.
I'm George Niles.
Cigarette?
My men tell me you're giving yourself
a rough time here.
Maybe we ought to talk things over.
Why you... Hold it. Hold it.
All right, you licked me, Barbella.
Twenty years and I never
laid a hand on one of my boys.
Maybe you guys will learn,
ain't no place I can't lick.
Send him to the reformatory.
Get rid of him.
Come on.
- Come on, dig.
- Just one mouthful. Just one.
Dig.
- Why don't you give him a drink, geezer?
- Sure.
Sure, you have one first, huh?
- Why you...
- Start something.
Just give me an excuse.
Come on, let's get out of here.
Come on, let's make a break.
- Give me the gun. Give me the gun!
- Will you come on?
- Give me the gun.
- You wanna get the chair?
No. No, don't. Don't.
You ever think of putting
a glove on that lead pipe?
Not a chance.
On the outside, I owned little pieces
of two fighters. Good boys.
Sometimes they win,
sometimes they dive like swans.
- Either way, there's money in it.
- I ain't putting gloves on.
- Not for money. Not for nothing.
- Why not?
Because the only glove fighter I ever
knew was a bigger bum than I am.
Well, if you ever need quick money,
just look me up at Stillman's Gym.
- Ask for Frankie Peppo, that's me.
- Yeah, Rocky Barbella.
- I'm pleased to meet you.
- No, that's my pleasure.
Welcome to Rikers Island.
They couldn't handle you dumb
little punks at the reform school.
Well, this is no reform school.
We run a good penitentiary here,
and a tough one.
You pull here what you pulled up there...
...and our men would just as soon
put a bullet through your head as not.
- Now, you got that straight?
- Yes, sir.
You don't believe that, do you?
Thirty days in the hole.
Let him spit in the dark.
I don't know why anybody
would wanna see you, Barbella...
...but you got a visitor. Special privilege.
Come on.
Hey, Ma.
Don't worry about me, Ma. I'm gonna
have this joint licked in no time.
Why don't you ask me why I haven't
come to see you for six months?
Why don't you ask me where I've been?
County Hospital, that's where.
Tied to a bed.
Electric-shock treatment. Trying to
save me from going out of my mind.
- Ma.
- You, Rocky.
You're the one keeps me up all night
with worry, so as I can't sleep.
Going out of my mind.
I can't go on.
- Ma, cut it out. Will you stop it?
- I'm through, Rocky.
I can't fight your fights.
I can't raise my hand for you no more.
- Who you been talking to? The priest?
- What am I going to do with you, Rocky?
Don't worry, huh? Just don't worry.
All you ever say is "don't worry."
You think I talked to the priest?
Yes, I talked to the father and he
told me I'm doing the right thing.
He said nobody can help you,
Rocky, but you yourself.
That's what the father said to me.
Maybe you think I'm hardhearted,
your own mother...
...but what I'm gonna do
is the only thing I can think of.
Gonna do what?
I am the last person on Earth who cares
whether you live or die or rot in jail.
But if you turn your back on me, and
go back to that scum you call friends...
...I turn my back on you.
You are no longer my son.
Ma, I try to turn the leaf,
but I can't make it.
It's something inside of me.
I try, but I can't make it.
I pray to God you'll try.
If you don't, I'll be through.
I don't wanna be,
but I don't know what else to do.
Look, Ma, just don't worry.
Just don't worry about a thing.
Don't worry about a thing.
Don't worry about a thing.
Ma?
Ma?
You got three minutes to go.
You're gonna serve every second of it.
Anything you say, sir.
Only thing good I can say
is I'll never have to see you again.
The next time up,
you go to state or federal pen.
No, sir. There ain't gonna be
no next time. I mean, I'm all paid up.
Six years out of 10
I been in one can or another.
I'm never gonna get locked up again.
- No?
- No.
One thing you and this lousy place
give me...
...is a big taste
for being on the outside.
Definitely.
- Get out, Barbella.
- Thanks.
What do you know?
Two minutes off for good behavior.
- Rocco Barbella?
- Yeah.
Look, you guys ain't got nothing on me.
I'm clean. I'm gonna stay clean.
That's nice, because you got a date.
We're here to make sure you keep it.
Date? What are you talking about?
Barbella, you're about to volunteer to
be drafted into the United States Army.
What? Back in stir again?
You're kidding.
No, we're not kidding.
Neither is Hitler.
Hey, look, I can't make it right now.
I got a little living to catch up with.
Look me up in about six months.
We talk over this Army deal again. Okay?
All right, fall in.
- Yeah, who is it?
- Corporal Quinbury.
- Am I disturbing you, Barbella?
- Well, what time is it?
Five minutes past 11.
- Well, good morning, private.
- Yeah, what do you say?
I trust you found everything
satisfactory, private?
I don't know, where do you get
something to eat around this joint?
Where were you at roll call?
Don't you know you're in the Army?
- Well, yeah, sure.
- Stand at attention and say, "Yes, sir."
Why don't you just knock it off, Mac?
Barbella, you're on permanent company
detail as long as you stay in my outfit.
You can start now by policing
every inch of the area around this tent.
Now pick up that cigarette butt.
- What did you say?
- I said, "Pick up that butt and move."
Listen, I'm running this tent
and don't forget it.
Sleeping late, staying up as late as
I want, I'm eating when I feel like it.
Now, you rat on me to the warden,
I'll bust your skull.
Pick up that butt and move.
Oh, anybody bothers you guys
just let me know, huh?
Hundreds of them. Thousands of them
marching around in circles.
Not one lousy face that I know.
Not from the East Side, not from any
can I ever been in, not from nowhere.
Never seen so many square creeps.
Come on, let's go into town, huh?
Schmooze. Shoot pool.
What do you say?
Stop trying to get us into trouble.
What are you talking about?
You seen what I done.
No trouble so long
as I'm running this tent.
They can court-martial you
for going into town without a pass.
- What's this court-martial?
- You'll find out.
Come on, buddy boy. Let's go, huh?
Let's you and me go into town.
We'll go into town,
have a lot of laughs.
In the first place,
I'm not your buddy boy.
And second, I'm not gonna break
regulations because you want company.
Neither is anybody else.
We don't like being drafted
any more than you...
...but we got put in the Army,
we're gonna do the best we can.
- Do you think you can understand that?
- You little creep.
Go ahead. Hit me.
The only thing it'll prove is
you're a common criminal.
We know you've got a record
so go ahead, knock me out...
...if you think it'll make
you feel any better.
Here he is.
That's the one.
All right, soldier, let's go.
You sure don't seem to have
much regard for rules and regulations.
You don't have much regard
for anything.
What is all this talk about rules
and training and stuff?
Put me someplace
where I can fight them Hitler soldiers.
Let's get it over with.
We ain't gonna win hanging
around this camp.
I see by your records you're from
New York City.
Yeah.
You mean, "Yes, sir."
Yeah, yes, sir.
I gather from the way
you talk and think...
...you're like a lot of the tough guys
we got coming in here.
I guess we're gonna have to knock
some of that out of you, fella.
I reckon we're gonna have to teach
you a little lesson.
I wanna tell you something now:
There's no room in this man's Army
for a wise guy.
- You understand that?
- Wait a minute, you bum.
You could be a captain and all that,
but you don't impress me so hot.
You're so tough, come on outside.
- Soldier, are you just plain crazy?
- Yeah, maybe I am.
Crazy with being sick and tired of this
creep joint, but at least I ain't yellow.
Hey, sarge?
Say, what's a nine letter word...
...for different methods
of governing a society?
I keep getting confused.
You're in the Army now.
You've gotta forget everything
but four-letter words.
- Who is it?
- Come... It's me. Come on, open up.
Hey, Rock.
Hey, I thought you was in the Army.
What are you doing here?
- No, not 10 after 6.
- Come on, you got some scratch on you?
Me? Nothing.
A couple of bucks.
I been doing pretty lousy, Rocky.
Everybody's in the Army.
Can't get no one to muscle for me.
Hey, Rocky?
Hey, you coming back with me?
No, I got into this jam, this bad jam
with this captain out at the camp...
...and it's gonna take
dough to buy him off.
- How much?
- A couple yards, maybe a grand.
I don't know the price
but I can't go back to the Army...
...until I got what to square the rap.
- What about your old lady?
She always done pretty good for you
with them bail bondsmen.
No, she don't know I'm on the lam.
She wouldn't like it.
- Hey, what's-his-name?
- Who?
This guy, Frankie Peppo.
He said if I ever needed quick dough...
I've gotta get me some clothes first.
Hey, what size suit you wear?
- You'd split the seams.
- Knock it off, will you?
Go get me a suit someplace.
I'm gonna get some shuteye.
Get you a suit?
Rocky, I ain't got any dough.
So?
Ring One:
Ramon Santalito and Eddie O'Flare.
Look out below.
I listen to you enough.
Now you're gonna listen to me.
You're tired, huh? Course you're tired.
How many times I gotta tell you?
Either you wanna be a fighter
or you wanna have fun like Errol Flynn.
- What's on your mind?
- Where can I find Frankie Peppo?
What is this? Information, please?
Can't you see I'm busy?
Try Lou Stillman.
Come here, you.
Let me show you something.
Telephone call for Marty O'Brien
for a change.
Hey, Mr. Stillman, the floor in
the shower is very slippery.
- I almost fell and hurt myself.
- Do me a favor.
Take your showers at home
if you got a home.
Hey, you're blocking the path.
No, this guy said
maybe you could tell me...
Max. Booth Two.
What's going on here?
Max Natfield's wanted on the phone
and that ain't all he's wanted for.
Who are you looking for?
Frankie Peppo.
Just tell me how to find him.
Sure. I'll tell you how to find Peppo.
You take a subway
down to Grand Central Station...
...and then you take
the train to Sing Sing.
But don't hurry because you got
two to 10 years to get there.
And when you do find Peppo,
tell him to stay away from here.
I'm not running a social hall for thieves.
Say, Lou, Eddie is giving me the
twisted-ankle routine.
I think his ankle isn't twisted,
it's yellow.
Well, what do you expect
for 10 dollars? Tiger-flowers?
All right, so send out a call
on WHN there.
See if you can dig me up
a sparring partner real fast.
There must be someone around
who needs a sawbuck.
Yeah. Me.
- You wanna mix with my boy?
- Yeah, sure.
- Have you done much fighting?
- Well, yeah.
- Where?
- All around.
All around with who?
What do you mean? Lots of guys.
What's your name?
- Rocky.
- Rocky what?
Graziano. Rocky Graziano.
- Like the Italian wine.
- Yeah, like the Italian wine.
You go in the locker room
and tell Chuck...
...that Irving Cohen said you should have
trunks and a head guard.
Yeah, in there.
And look, make sure
that he gives you a cup.
Oh, that's okay, Mr. Cohen,
I don't need no cup.
I'll drink out of the bottle.
That's it. Jab. Jab.
- Throw your right. That's it.
- Throw your right.
Get in close.
Get him.
Stay down.
Come here.
Come here. Do you realize
who you just knocked out?
That's the top light heavyweights
from South America.
I'm sorry, he got me mad.
I forgot where I was.
- Where did you learn to hit like that?
- Do I still get the 10 bucks?
Sure.
Ramon bought that jaw
at Steuben's Glass.
Listen, Rocky, this is Whitey Bimstein.
- Yeah. How are you, Whitey?
- Hi.
- Like to have him train you?
- What do you mean?
Come on,
Give me my 10 bucks, will you?
Sure, sure, but you see,
I like the way you hit, kid.
And I'd like to handle you.
I ain't got time
for 10-dollar fights.
No, no, no, 50, 75, 100 dollars
a bout in no time at all.
Sure, sure.
You get another guy for me to flatten...
...and get ahold of me
at Benny's Candy Store.
That's 10th Street by Avenue A.
If I ain't found a better way
of picking up some dough...
...I'll fight for you, okay?
Okay.
Meshuggenah.
Sometimes I think I never
should have left the lingerie business.
I was the happiest man
in ladies underwear.
Couple hundred places
where they have fights...
...and these guys
gotta go pick the Army.
Will you sit down, Rocky?
Relax a little?
Everybody's nervous their first fight, kid.
- You got nothing to worry about.
- Yeah, nothing to worry about.
Yeah. I got nothing to worry about.
You better come along with us.
All right. I'll come along with you.
Big crowd, and they got
the aisle blocked.
You just follow us,
we'll get you to the ring.
- Come on. Come on.
- Oh, yeah.
Let's go, Hightower.
Come on, Hightower.
Rock this baby to sleep.
Hey, Graziano, your bicycle has a flat.
Somebody introduce these guys.
Come on, Hightower.
Come on, Hightower. Let's go.
Let's go, Hightower.
What are you looking out there for?
He's right there in the ring,
right in front of you.
- Break it up.
- I gotta get out of here.
All right, move to your corner.
Yeah, yeah, I know you got
a great right hand, kid...
...but there's more than one hand
on a fighter.
You have to train.
Learn how to box a little.
Look, I ain't got time
for training talks now.
- Just give me the dough, huh?
- Okay, kid. Okay.
Here's 40 for you and 10 for me.
Thanks.
Now, what about you and Whitey
getting together tomorrow?
No, just leave a message at the store
when you got another guy for me.
Now, wait a minute,
aren't you even gonna take a shower?
That's okay, Mr. Cohen.
It's raining out.
Hundred and fifty-five and a half.
One fifty-five and a half.
Okay, Graziano. Purple tights.
Be in the dressing room at 7:30.
Here. Take this with you.
They'll ask for it.
- Oh, yeah.
- Hundred and fifty-five.
One fifty-five.
See that? You faded
another two pounds.
- You haven't been eating.
- What do you want from me?
I mean, I can't do any better than six
straight KO's, can I?
Yeah, tonight, lucky seven.
Look, this Gasto is a rough guy.
And this is your first six-rounder.
- He could hurt you, Rocky.
- So he hurts me.
So I get 75 bucks
because it's a six-rounder.
Look, Mr. Cohen, do me a favor, huh?
Get me hurt in a 10-rounder.
What have you been doing
with all this money?
You certainly haven't been
eating good.
- A hundred and thirty-seven.
- One thirty-seven. Paxon:
White trunks. 8:00 in the
dressing room. Take this.
Look, I'll go along with you,
but please don't start no trouble.
- Who's your manager?
- Him. Mr. Cohen. He's my manager.
Have to take you along
for harboring a fugitive.
- Fugitive? I don't understand.
- No.
He don't know nothing about that.
I mean, I never told him...
...that I run away from the Army.
Well, I never told him nothing.
Not even my right name.
- It isn't Graziano?
- No, it isn't Graziano.
I guess we owe you an apology, Cohen.
Get your clothes on, Barbella.
Yeah.
- Look, Rocky, I'll go there with...
- No, no, just do one thing for me?
Sure, kid, sure.
Give this to Mrs. Barbella. Ida Barbella.
Top floor. 141 East 10th Street.
Tell her...
No, don't tell her nothing.
Just give it to her.
The accused has admitted his guilt...
...and can only hope
for the mercy of this court.
Barbella?
Well...
...I made a bad mistake, sir.
I been very stupid. Very stupid.
And I'm sorry I done what I done.
I should have known that the Army
wasn't just another can.
But too long, sir.
I mean, I've been in prison too long.
I know I can learn this Army business.
So, colonel, sir, I mean,
please just give me another crack at it.
- Is that all?
- Yeah.
Barbella, Rocco, " 32201881,
private selective service, unassigned.
To the charges of being absent
without leave for four months...
...the accused is found guilty.
To the specifications: guilty.
Upon secret ballot, two-thirds
of the court-martial concurring...
...the accused is to be
dishonorably discharged...
...from the service
of the United States...
...to forfeit all pay and allowances due
or to become due...
...and to be confined at hard labor
at Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks...
...for a period of one year."
Inside.
Okay to lock.
Door jammed somewhere.
- Check the line.
- Check the line.
- Check the line.
- Check the line.
Clear that door.
I said, clear that door, prisoner.
Man, can't you see I'm occupied?
Heldon, I'm gonna give you
If you don't move,
you're a dead soldier.
- One, two, three, four, five, six...
- Now you cut loose with that gun.
I'm gonna jump on you
the minute you fire.
Seven.
You and me's going over that railing
with you on the bottom.
You're gonna crack your skull
on that cement floor. You hear?
Wonder what he's in for?
Me, I'm in for shooting a second looey.
It was an accident...
...I think.
What are you in for?
For being a jerk, like him.
That's two packs you owe me.
Hey, how come you're so good,
if you never played before?
What do you mean? It's the same as
throwing bricks through store windows.
Little guy, go get me my horseshoe.
- Who? Me?
- Yeah, you.
Ain't in the mood.
Little guy, you just don't
hear so good, do you?
I said, go get me my horseshoe.
I don't wanna.
Hey, well, now, wait a minute.
Wait a minute, Heldon, look.
Why do you wanna make him
do something he don't wanna do?
If he don't wanna do something,
you ought to respect it, you see?
New York, you are absolutely correct.
Now, ain't he, fellas?
- Oh, sure.
- You're right, Hel.
Little guy, you don't have to get me
my horseshoe.
You do it.
Well, it's the same with me,
I don't wanna.
Well, he just don't wanna do it.
- Come on.
- Get up.
- There's your middleweight, sergeant.
- Well, it isn't over yet.
Better pull the package on him
and check his history.
I already did, sir.
He hasn't had a dull moment
since he was born.
Name's Barbella.
Fought under the name
of Rocky Graziano while AWOL.
Six bouts, six KO's. Good right, no left.
We got him for a year.
Minus the two weeks in solitary
he gets for this.
- Here he is, sergeant.
- You can leave us a while. I'll call you.
- Right.
- Barbella?
- Yeah.
- I'm John Hyland.
- Cigarette?
- Oh, yeah, thanks.
I run the boxing squad here.
Thought maybe you'd like to join.
No, thanks.
The bouts we put on do a lot for the
morale of the prisoners around here.
You could help.
Come on, what do you say?
I ain't interested in fighting.
For a man who isn't interested
in fighting...
...you did pretty good against Heldon.
- And look where it got me, the hole.
You did pretty well
as Rocky Graziano too.
I needed the scratch.
I would have done anything.
- Even clown around in the ring.
- Six KO's, not bad clowning.
All right, look, sergeant,
all my life I been fighting.
And all my life I been
getting in trouble from it.
I don't want no more trouble.
Just leave me alone.
I don't wanna fight,
with gloves, without gloves.
- I just don't wanna fight, okay?
- Sure.
Here. Sit down.
Come on, sit down.
Rocky, I'm gonna level with you.
I wasn't thinking about
the morale of the men.
I was thinking about myself.
You see, the boxing squad
is the colonel's pride and joy.
I can do myself a lot of good
around here...
...with a killer like you on the squad.
Now, mind you, I don't think
you'd ever show any real style...
...like some of my boys,
but you'd probably lick them all...
...because you got something
inside of you...
...that a lot of fighters will never have...
...no matter how much I teach them:
Hate.
I don't know why it's there.
I only know that if anybody hits you,
he better start ducking fast.
Because that hate pours into
your right hand...
...and makes it like a...
Like a charge of dynamite.
What a great big waste of a lot of hate.
Your whole life
you've let it get you into trouble.
Let it start
doing some good for you.
Oh, yeah?
What good is it gonna do for me?
I mean, what can it do
for a dishonorable discharge?
Can it get me back in the Army?
No, I'm afraid it's too late for that.
I'm sorry, Rocky...
...because I think you might have fought
a pretty darned good war.
Got any ideas of what you're gonna do
when you get out of here?
None of you guys ever do.
You walk out of a prison
as dumb as you go in...
...itching for the same trouble
that put you there in the first place.
Let me give you an alternative.
Join my squad and I'll put you through
a year of the worst hard labor...
...you ever sweat through.
I don't mean just skipping rope...
...and clowning
through exhibition bouts.
You'll dig ditches and carry bags
of cement till your back nearly breaks.
You'll curse me for it.
But when you get out...
...you'll be in the best shape
of your life.
And maybe, just maybe,
you might have learned enough...
...to get by in one of the toughest
rackets there is.
Oh, be a fighter, Rocky.
A professional fighter.
You were doing pretty good,
we'll do better.
Make that hate
work for you inside the ring...
...where it'll make a living for you.
Instead of outside the ring where it'll
just go on lousing up your life forever.
Who knows...
...it may work so many miracles
you might even lose that hate some day.
Is that bad?
Maybe you'd rather go on
spitting in your own face...
...for the rest of your life.
A year in the Army
didn't hurt him none.
Boy, I haven't seen anybody in such
good shape since I was selling girdles.
But he's got a lot to learn yet.
Yeah, we gotta learn him
not to kill anybody.
Seven, eight, nine...
...10.
I think I'll take a walk.
If Mr. Bimstein knows so much,
why don't he teach you how to duck?
What are you talking about?
Besides, it matches my shirt real good.
Anyway, look, folding money.
Mac Wade folded in the second round.
Come on, come on, come on.
I'm gonna get some ice cream.
And stand on the street corner
taking bows...
...from the whole neighborhood,
Mr. Jack Dempsey?
Oh, cammina, cammina.
How many times I gotta tell you?
- He's a heavyweight.
- Heavyweight, middleweight...
...so long as they can't put you
in jail for it.
Hey, Pa. Hey, what do you say?
Took him in two.
For what?
So I can wind up
with a breath like a winery.
Spend my life picking up butts
out of the gutter.
- For what?
- He didn't get that way being a fighter.
He got that way not being a fighter.
Remember that.
Who knows what he might have become
if he hadn't had the bad luck to find me.
What are you talking about?
It was so easy for him
to think he was in love with me.
I was the only thing in his whole life
that wasn't dirty and nasty...
...and hitting him in the face
with a glove.
So, what did I do?
"Give it up, Nick.
Stop being a fighter. I won't marry you."
Did I know fighting was in his blood,
like dope, so it kills him when he quits?
Don't blame him, Rocky. It's me.
Me, your mother who keeps telling you
what to do.
Come on, Ma, come on.
What are you doing, huh?
Cheer up, will you? I mean...
You'll see,
everything's gonna be okay, huh?
Don't worry about a thing.
- Okay?
- Okay.
Okay, I'll see you later.
- Hello, Rocky.
- Oh, hi, Sis.
Rocky, this is my girlfriend Norma Unger
from Brooklyn.
Norma, this is my brother, Rocky.
- Hello.
- Well, yeah, hello.
- Rocky.
- What?
- Where you going?
- I'm going down to the candy store.
Norma's just dying to meet you,
but she's kind of shy.
Well, she just met me.
Well, I thought that maybe
we could double-date sometime.
Palmer, throw me down the key.
Sis, don't worry about a thing.
I mean, just leave me alone.
I ain't got no time for girls.
- Hi, Rocky.
- What's new?
What are you doing, huh?
Hey, Benny.
Hey. It's says here
I'm a "promising young middleweight."
How about that?
Everybody who is young is promising.
The world should sue the young
for breach of promise.
Give me another one.
Eating and drinking are inadequate
substitutes for achievement.
Gas in the belly, unfortunately,
will not inflate the ego.
Must have said something
real smart, Benny...
...because I didn't understand
a word.
I've always been a very wise man,
Rocky.
I'm not exactly
what you may call a philosopher...
...but I know what I'm talking about.
When I graduated night school,
the class voted me the man most likely...
...to own his own candy store.
Something to drink, young lady?
I'm not exactly thirsty.
A nice Swiss-cheese sandwich, perhaps?
I'm not exactly hungry either.
Salami? Pastrami?
A hot corned-beef sandwich?
- No.
- Can I interest you in a cigar?
Could you tell me
how to get to Deager Street...
...in Brooklyn, by subway, I mean?
Three blocks north, four blocks west.
The BMT station.
Take the Brighton Express
to Kings Highway...
...and the bus to Ocean Parkway.
Or else, walk to 14th St.,
take Canarsie Line...
...or the 8th Avenue Subway.
Take the E train to 4th Street...
...then the D train to Kings Highway,
and the bus to Ocean Parkway.
Any questions?
Thank you, I'll find it somehow.
- Good night.
- Anytime.
Good night, Rocky.
Oh, yeah, good night.
I'll see you.
The check.
Hey, wait up.
I'll walk you down
to the subway entrance.
You don't have to do that.
Well, it's raining.
No, it's not, it stopped.
Maybe it'll start up again.
Come on.
Well, good night, Rocky.
Oh, yeah, good night.
Hey.
Hey, I thought I better wait with you
on the platform until the train comes.
You don't have to do that.
What do you mean? I mean...
...you shouldn't take no chances
in subway stations after midnight.
What kind of chances?
Well, you just shouldn't, that's all.
Do you want a stick of gum?
Okay.
Here.
- Thank you very much.
- Oh, it's my pleasure.
Well, good night, Rocky.
Yeah, good night.
l... I'd better ride you out to Brooklyn.
You don't have to do that, Rocky.
What do you mean? You don't wanna be
alone on a subway this late.
But the train is crowded with people.
Well, suppose they all get off
at the next stop?
Well... Come on.
Well...
...good night, Rocky.
- Oh, yeah, well...
...I better see you to the door.
- I always forget my key. I'll have to buzz.
- No, I'll buzz.
- What's the number?
- 3B. Right there.
It don't say Unger,
it says Levine.
Yes, that's my stepfather.
My mother married again
since we came over here.
- That's why it says Levine.
- Oh, you a Jewish girl, huh?
Yes.
Why? Does that make any difference?
No. Are you kidding?
Thanks for walking me
to the subway entrance.
Oh, yeah, take it easy, kid.
Will you call me or something?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I suppose so.
I don't know. I mean, you know,
fighters ain't got much time for girls.
May I kiss you?
No, you mustn 't.
Oh, darling, darling.
Have I ever told you
how much I love you?
You been telling her for two hours,
you creep.
I'm so frightened, David.
Of what, Alice?
Loving you too much...
... and losing you too soon.
- That will never be.
- Let's get out of here.
- I wanna see the rest of it.
- Come on.
- But when you're not here...
- I am always with you.
It's not just this time,
it's every movie we see.
Every time anyone kisses anyone
or says, "I love you"...
...you moan, groan, squirm.
- It's for the birds.
This whole love business.
Guys try to score with dames
just to feel big.
What do you do to feel important?
- Come see me fight sometime.
- I told you, no.
That's what makes me feel important.
You gotta be there.
You gotta hear them crowds
screaming my name.
Screaming for me
to kill off the other guy.
They grab at me when I go by.
That's what makes me feel important.
I can't stand seeing people hurt.
Especially you.
- All that blood.
- Well, look, at least you could come...
...to the gym and see me train sometime.
I mean, just train.
I won't have to see men
hurting each other?
Scout's honor.
For six months I can't get him
to train...
...and then
when he should be resting...
...he trains.
He's a meshuggenah.
Hey, hold it.
- Who is next in Ring 2?
- Hey, that's her. Come on.
Hey, Lou. Hey, that's her.
That fine, nice-looking girl
is interested in you?
Yeah, come on, take care of her
for me, will you?
I'll take care of her.
I'm Lou Stillman.
So you're Rocky's girl, huh?
I suppose so.
You mean, there's still a chance
maybe you're not?
I suppose so.
Let's you and me take a walk around.
Let's you and me have a little talk
about the pugilistic profession.
You were superb.
- Turn around.
- What's the matter?
I wanted to be sure
he didn't smear your lipstick.
- Come on.
- That the way you're fighting...
...in the arena tonight?
- Hey, Lou.
Hey, Lou, where did you sit her?
Where is she?
Down the stairs. Gone out.
What? Is she coming right back?
I'll lay 4-1 against.
What did you do?
What did you say to her?
Why, nothing, I just asked her
why a nice Jewish girl like her...
...was interested in a no-good,
East Side fighter like you.
- Why, I ought to bust you right...
- No workouts after 2 p.m.
Hey, you, Arthur Murray's in Ring 2,
get out of there.
- All right, where you been?
- When?
What do you mean, when?
All day. All night.
Ever since you ran out on me.
Where you been?
- The movies.
- Which movie?
- I looked in 87 of them.
- The one you wouldn't let me see...
...because you can't stand hearing people
say nice things to each other.
What are you blaming?
It's no use, Rocky. I was right.
Seeing that place,
talking to Mr. Stillman convinced me...
- He don't know nothing about nothing.
- I don't like fighting and I never will.
It's all meanness and blood
and ignorance.
All right, all right.
Maybe it is all meanness and blood
and ignorance...
...and guys wind up
with their brains rattled...
...but where else can I be something,
if it ain't in the fight business?
I've never had nothing, I mean nothing...
...till I got a chance to
make some clean money in the ring.
What's better, huh?
Stealing, starving or fighting?
Oh, please, Norma,
now, you gotta understand this.
Mr. Stillman said you've probably been
in all kinds of trouble.
- You'll always be in trouble.
- Yeah...
...maybe I was in trouble once,
but never again.
- Never?
- No, never.
I mean, I give you my word.
Oh, boy, oh, boy,
I'm gonna go in that ring tonight and...
- Hey, what time is it?
- 11:30.
What's the matter?
I'm in trouble again.
Explain what happened last night.
Failure to show up for a scheduled bout
is serious business.
Tell me why the commission
should not revoke your license.
Well, commissioner,
you ever been in love?
Well, yes, I suppose so, in my time.
Well, l... You see, I didn't know it
till last night, but I am in love.
Yesterday afternoon, my girl and me,
we had this big trouble...
...and she run out on me, and...
I forget about everything in the
whole world except I gotta find her.
You know what I mean?
I mean, I forget what time is it.
I forget about the fight.
- Did you find her?
- Yeah, in Brooklyn, in the rain.
And she was crying, you know.
Well, by the time we kiss and make up,
it's too late to get to the arena.
And that's the whole story,
commissioner.
If you'd come before me
with any other excuse...
...your fighting days
would have been over.
But this... This is just too corny.
You could only be telling the truth.
Now, get out of here
and don't let it happen again.
Oh, yeah, thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, commissioner.
And you're such a worrier.
- Come here.
- What's the matter?
- Come here.
- What's the matter?
Come here.
Now, listen, kid.
I got 10 guys in my stable...
...doing better than you're doing.
I wouldn't be wasting five minutes
with you...
...if I didn't think
you had the potentialities...
...to work your way into the money.
- So, what do you want?
I want you to stop ruining
the whole schmeer...
...before I even get you
off the ground.
Rocky, you got to stop killing
yourself with Norma.
We're doing fine.
- Look at yourself.
- Yeah, I'm looking.
Look at your eyes.
What do you mean? Clear as a baby's.
Not a ring, not a circle.
Do you happen to know any grown-up
men without circles under their eyes?
Do you happen to know
that you're supposed to have...
...circles under your eyes?
Put your hand out.
Spread the fingers.
Steady as a rock.
Where is the average, normal...
I got it, you got it, everybody's got it.
- slight movement of the fingers?
Where is the tremor?
Wait.
What? What?
Rocky, you got to stop killing yourself
with Norma.
- Either give the girl up, or...
- Give her up?
Or marry her.
- Marry her?
- Yeah.
Maybe that's just the chutz you need...
...to keep you from being
a two-bit club fighter.
Maybe that's exactly what you need.
Responsibilities. Bills.
Another mouth to feed.
A lot of little mouths to feed...
...but maybe that'll be the chutz
that lays the golden egg.
The judge won't wait there all day,
Rocky.
You brung the license, huh?
I have it right here in my bag.
I thought maybe you forgot it.
No, I didn't forget it.
I ain't got enough dough
to pay the judge.
I have.
Where did you get it?
I pawned my Star of David.
Norma, you shouldn't have done it.
I ain't worth it.
I got a record. I got a prison record.
No, and worse than that,
when I was in the Army...
It's too late, Rocky,
I'm in love with you.
What you said is right, it's no good
being mixed up with a fighter.
It's all meanness and...
Meanness and...
- Blood and ignorance.
- Yeah, that's it.
Come on, we're late for our wedding.
Come on.
How can you ask me to go in
a courthouse building?
That happens to be
where people get married.
Well, being in courthouses
makes me be uncomfortable. Definitely.
Rocky, you've given me
a lot of reasons why not...
...but I still haven't heard the one thing
that would convince me.
What's that?
Just tell me you don't love me.
Come on.
For nobody else would I get out from
my warm bed in the middle of the night.
Nobody else would have
the chutzpah to ask.
Can I help it if Norma's gotta have
a dish of ice cream?
Can I help it if she's pregnant?
I can't get over it.
It looks just like you.
How can it? It's a girl.
How you doing, Rock?
Hey, Rock.
Hey, Dillman, what do you say?
See you later, Rock.
Hey, don't go breathing on the baby,
will you?
What's the matter? What is it?
Honey, it's only Daddy.
It's only Daddy.
Honey, it's only Daddy.
Honey.
Mommy, it's only Daddy.
Both fighters are covered with blood.
Zale has broken out of the corner now.
He's crowding Rocky across the ring.
A right to the kidney.
Another right to the kidney.
Zale smashes a tremendous right
to Rocky's stomach.
Graziano is staggered.
Zale explodes a left to the jaw.
Another left to the jaw.
He's down. Graziano is down.
Seven, eight, nine, 10.
It's all over. Zale wins.
Tony Zale is still the middleweight
champion of the world.
Norma, he'll be all right.
Sure, he will.
He's hard and tough.
He can take anything. But I can't.
He had to lose some time.
It isn't whether he loses or wins.
All he has to do is step into that ring
and I like to run and hide...
...knowing maybe they'll hurt him,
cripple him.
Did you ever tell this to Rocky?
Did you ever ask him to stop fighting?
It's his whole life. Everything he's got.
Then it's your whole life too.
Don't ever make the mistake
of forgetting that, like I did.
That's right.
I didn't marry a man, did I?
I married a middleweight.
Come, Yolanda, we must go.
Norma has to fix her face.
Soon her husband will be coming home.
A husband who's just been knocked out
for the first time in his life.
Hi.
Yeah, hi.
What are you doing?
Ironing.
What? Tonight?
Has to be done sometime. You hungry?
Hey, look, did you hear the fight tonight
or didn't you?
Yes, I heard it.
There's some chicken in the refrigerator
and I saved you a piece of blueberry pie.
What? Is that all you got to say to me?
- You were terrible.
- Oh, thanks. That's all I need.
You hit him with everything you had
and couldn't finish him.
You had him flat on his back
and still couldn't finish him.
Then he hits you, one punch...
One punch in that spaghetti basket
of yours and... you're through.
Yeah, wait till next time.
It's all set in March.
What I'm gonna do to Tony Zale,
I'll murder him.
I'll kill him. I'll tear his head off.
I'll bust his skull. I'll... I'll cream him.
Hey, come here.
That ain't what I'm gonna do
to Tony Zale. Definitely.
Zale, Zale, Zale.
All he thinks about is Zale.
What's so bad about that?
My job, gentlemen, is to keep
his mind on one fight at a time.
- Cowboy Shank comes first, then Zale.
- Who you kidding, Irving?
Rocky's a sure thing over Shank
and you know it.
It's strictly a warm-up bout.
Save that for your readers.
The only sure thing I ever heard of
was Billy Arnold at 6-1...
...the night Graziano knocked him out
in the third.
- How's it look?
- Still too low.
You gotta keep it up there like a cop.
Can we throw
a couple of punch lines at you?
Not right now, guys,
I got a date with a couple dames.
Don't you guys dare print that.
I'm taking Norma and Audrey to the zoo.
Don't print that either.
- Hey, what do you say, Rocky big shot?
- Hey, Peppo.
Hey. They sprung you, huh?
Yeah, all bad things
gotta come to an end.
- Hey, boy, you look great.
- The rest agreed with me.
Get dressed. We'll have a beer
downstairs.
Well, I can't right now.
My wife is picking me up.
How about that? Me with a wife and kid.
I think maybe you and me
better have a beer just the same.
We got something important
to talk about.
Like what?
Like this guy I run into.
He done a stretch at Leavenworth.
We got to figure out how to handle him.
Well, what do you mean?
What handle?
This guy figures it might be
worth something...
...to the title contender
everybody thinks is a big hero...
...that no one should know
he was kicked out of the Army.
Done a year at hard labor
in the federal pen.
I'll wait for you downstairs, Rocky.
What I done, I done.
It's just that I never got around to
telling my wife about it.
- It'll make no difference with her.
- Of course not.
You know, all these boys' clubs
that I go to...
...I gotta think what they'd say
and the neighbors...
...and, you know, the kids
that my Audrey plays with.
It wouldn't do nobody no good.
Which is why we gotta take care of him.
So, what does he want?
I mean... A couple C's.
I'll give him a couple of C's.
No, not him.
He just wants to make a killing
on the Cowboy Shank fight.
Are you kidding? There ain't no
book gonna take no dough on me.
They know I can take Shank
with no hands.
Not on you, Rocky.
He wants to bet on Shank.
Get maybe 5-, 6-1
with the out-of-town books.
- You mean I should go in the tank?
- Yeah, an upset.
- You're getting sore at the wrong guy.
- No, I ain't.
There ain't no other guy.
You're the guy.
Suppose I was to tell you
there's 100 G's in it for you.
I'll tell you to drop dead.
What are you trying to do to me?
I'm clean. Can't you understand?
There's... A lot of people think I'm okay.
I ain't gonna let you or me
or nobody louse that up for me.
I'm not gonna let you.
I'm not gonna let nobody.
I'm with you all the way, Rocky.
That's why I don't wanna see
no sad stories in the papers about you...
...and all them prisons and
a dishonorable discharge...
...and all the rest.
- Get off my back.
You're crowding me.
I can't think straight.
There's plenty of time to think.
Relax. Sit down here. Rock.
- Hey, Rocky.
- Any extra change, Rocky?
Can I have your autograph for my sister?
Rocky, how do you feel?
Hey, hey, hey, what are you kids doing
out in the street, huh?
Why aren't you at home where
you belong or in a playground?
- You looking for trouble?
- We was only waiting for you.
Go on home or some place where
there's a playground before I flatten you.
Come on, beat it. Come on, all of you,
beat it. Out of the street.
Hi, darling.
Rocky, I want you to meet
two friends of mine.
Lou, Willie, meet Rocky Graziano.
Lou and Willie just come back
from a little trip.
They was up around Minneapolis
and St. Paul...
...where they get 6-1 on Shank
with the books up there...
...and they go for
quite a little bit of action.
They figure when I tell them something
is in the satchel...
...I know what I'm talking about.
The bets are down, Rocky.
Don't go winning no fight now...
...and wind up with a bundle of
very bad newspaper clippings.
Come here, kid.
Let's see them.
Funny, they look just like any other pair
of ordinary dukes to me.
Go tell that to the crowd hanging
from the rafters downstairs...
...waiting to see these ordinary dukes
knock some ordinary bum's brains out.
Lou Stillman says you're the world's
most popular Italian...
...with the possible exception of
Michelangelo and Frank Sinatra.
- Where's Irving?
- Downstairs.
Go get him,
we gotta call off the fight.
What's the matter?
l...
It's my back. Yeah, that's what it is.
I must have pulled a muscle or something
and it hurts me when I throw the right.
- Let me see.
- Look, I told you I hurt myself.
We gotta call off the fight.
Go get Irving.
Sure. Sure.
We're back two days,
already I'm losing my tan.
Easy come, easy go.
- Mr. Graziano?
- Yeah.
D.A.'s office. They want to talk to you
down there. Just talk, that's all.
What about?
They just need some information.
Look, anybody wants tickets
to the Zale fight...
...let them call me up. I'm in the book.
Why don't you come along,
Mr. Graziano?
- I'll be right back.
- Are you sure?
Don't worry about a thing.
I don't know. I'm telling you,
I don't know.
Now, look, Rocky.
You have an opportunity...
...to do boxing and the community
a real service.
Just tell us who approached you
with the offer.
We need your help
to get rid of these vermin.
You're the only one involved,
not Cowboy Shank.
You say you had a sore back.
We say you faked the injury.
You didn't want
to double-cross anyone...
...and you didn't have it in you
to take a dive.
It doesn't make any difference
who's right.
The important thing is
you didn't accept the bribe...
...you didn't listen to these men.
You've already admitted
that our information was correct.
- You were approached.
- Well, yeah.
Finish the work you started.
Give us the names of these men.
- Look, I can't. I'm telling you, I can't.
- Why not?
Because I don't know who they were.
Look, there's always characters
like that hanging around.
They're creeps. Disturbers. They crawl
out from underneath the rocks.
Now, who bothers to ask their names?
Rocky, have you ever read the rules...
...of the New York State
Athletic Commission?
Oh, come off it. I mean, I don't know
nothing about no rules.
All I know is what my manager tells me.
- lf he tells me something is so, it's so.
- One of the rules states...
...that failure to report a bribe
is punishable...
...by having your license taken away.
Rule 64. If you'll tell us the names
of the men who approached you...
...I'll pass it to the commission.
You'll have complied.
Is that fair enough?
- I ain't got no names to name.
- Don't force our hand, Rocky.
We don't want to hurt you
unnecessarily.
Now, are you sure
that's your final answer?
It's my final answer.
I ain't got no names to name.
Rocky, do you know these men?
No, I never seen them before, I swear.
Okay, bring in the others.
Do you know these men?
No, I...
I never seen them before
in my whole life.
We find from the evidence
and from your own admissions...
...that a request was made
that the Shank bout be conducted...
...as a sham or collusive contest...
...in consideration of an offer
to you of $ 100,000.
You never reported this request
or suggestion to the commission.
The Shank contest was
called off subsequently...
...because of a back injury reported
by you to a commission doctor.
That has no bearing on this hearing.
Taking into consideration the facts
and circumstances adduced before us...
...and in accordance with
responsibility and discretion...
...vested in us by the state...
...the commission hereby revokes your
license as a boxer...
...effective immediately.
It follows that the proposed contest...
...between middleweight champion,
Tony Zale and yourself...
...in the state of New York
is hereby cancelled.
This hearing is adjourned.
Look, he's got nothing to say.
Please, fellas, have a heart.
He's got nothing to say.
Maybe you got something
to say about this.
How about a statement, Mrs. Graziano?
What does he have to do
to please them...
...become a thief again?
Turn off the lights.
What are you sitting in the dark for?
I'm thinking about all my friends...
...like the commissioner
and the D.A., that...
Turn off the lights, I can see them
better in the dark.
How long are you gonna
go on like this?
Listen, darling. Listen to what Bill Corum
says in the Journal American.
"Until Rocky has done more wrong
than I can find he has done...
...I'll sit here and fight
for his right to fight."
Yeah, sports writers. What?
They was always good to me.
But what about them other guys?
Smearing it all over the front page,
what a rat I am.
- What a liar, what a bum I am.
- Stop it, Rocky.
Sure, Graziano, he's a no-good criminal,
a coward, a yellow rat.
Remember, Graziano's the scum
of the slums. He'll never...
Stop it.
Hello.
Yeah, who is it?
- What do you want?
- I don't want nothing, Rocky boy.
I've been reading about your troubles,
I had nothing to do...
...with that story breaking
in the Chicago papers.
- You got a real raw deal.
- Peppo, you always want something.
Now, whatever it is,
I ain't interested. You get it?
Sure, kid, I get it.
Any time you decide
to stop playing patsy...
...for these guys, just give me a holler.
Maybe we do some business yet?
Peppo, don't call here no more.
Stay out of my life.
You got that? Stay out.
Come on, Irving. What's up?
- Irving, how about something?
- Come on, Irving.
Slip out the back,
take off for Florida?
Come on, Irving. Let's have it.
Look, look, within the hour...
...you may be in the living room.
- What do you mean?
- That's all I can tell you.
- How about more?
How about something?
Where's Rocky?
I've something to tell him.
- Good news?
- Oh, I've heard worse.
He's getting his license back.
No, but you get Rocky.
Rocky, it's Irving.
Yeah, what?
You ready? Here it is.
It's all set. July 16th. Chicago.
Fifteen rounds with Tony Zale...
...for the championship.
- Isn't that wonderful?
The Illinois commission wouldn't go
along with New York.
Oh, no, I ain't gonna fight
in no Chicago ring.
They hate me there.
The newspapers, the people.
Some rat blew the whistle. Look, now,
why have I gotta fight in a foreign city...
...where I ain't got no friends?
They don't want me to win there...
...I gotta tell you that?
What am I gonna do with him?
You're gonna take him to Chicago
and get him back into shape.
Then he's gonna take the title away
from Tony Zale...
...and show everybody in the world
who he is and what he is.
- Chicago. You heard him.
- It isn't Chicago.
He's got no stomach
for fighting anywhere.
Don't you see, Irving?
For three years he sweated hard,
the only way he knew how...
...trying to become a member
of what he calls the legit world.
He thought he had made it.
But now he's convinced that whatever
he tried didn't work and can't work.
And what's the use of trying anymore
if you're no good and never will be?
But it did work, Irving.
And it's got to work again, it's got to.
Rocky.
What's the matter with him?
- What do you think you're doing?
- Let me see those hands.
We're supposed to be
working out a defense for Zale...
...and you stand here beating
the heads off these stiffs...
...and maybe even breaking a hand
or two.
Okay, so I made a mistake.
- How are they?
- I'd rather be hit by a railroad train.
Lucky.
Here.
- Hey, where you going?
- Yeah. We got a lot of work to do yet.
Look, it's too quiet here.
I gotta go someplace...
...where there's buildings and noise.
I'm off my rocker.
Now, look, wait a minute, Rocky.
I got an idea.
You see, we'll move out of this suburb.
We'll set up shop in town.
You'll work out in a gymnasium,
like Stillman's.
They have one in the heart of Chicago.
Yeah, well, maybe Chicago's
got a heart...
...but I ain't found it.
- That's a pretty good line, Graziano.
- Can I quote?
- Stay away from me.
You Chicago guys is nothing
but trouble for me.
Well, I got my lead
for tomorrow's column.
Rocky Graziano is a beaten fighter...
...and Tony Zale hasn't
even laid a glove on him.
- Now what?
- Did you see that driver?
I mean, not a word
all the way back from the theater.
He just looks at me in the mirror
and not a word.
What did you expect him to say?
I mean, it wouldn't have killed
him to say good luck, Rocky...
...or drop dead or something.
He just looks.
Maybe he didn't know who you were.
Well, then what was he staring for?
He was probably wondering
who does your hair.
- You hear what she said?
- Yes.
- What's the idea?
- I would've give her a shot.
- That certainly would have helped.
- Hello.
- Hi, Mommy.
A fine babysitter you are. Hi.
Who taught her how to cheat at casino?
She beat me for $3.
Who do you think? Wait till you see
how good she takes a dive...
...in a game of jacks.
Come, darling, kiss Uncle Irving
good night, huh?
- Good night, cards and spades.
- Good night, Uncle Irving.
- Say good night to Daddy. Good night.
- Good night, Daddy.
- Yeah, good night.
- I'll tuck you in in a few minutes.
- So how was the movie tonight, Rocky?
- Tell him what that dame said.
- Tell him what I had to listen to.
- What's the difference what she said?
Maybe there are people who are never
gonna forget who you were.
Maybe it's the only way they have of
getting any pleasure out of life.
Doesn't mean you have to dance
when they look at you sideways.
- Now, wait...
- Wait a minute, Norma.
That isn't why we brought you along,
to make Rocky worse.
- She didn't mean it, kid.
- I meant every word of it.
He has got a past, you know,
and it's time he learned to live with it.
It's time you and I
stop looking the other way...
...every time he gets mad at the world
for the trouble he gets into.
It was Rocky who broke a regulation,
not the commissioner...
...not the district attorney.
To listen to him, you'd think he was
just an innocent bystander.
Please, Norma, I thought
you were gonna help.
- I thought you wanted Rocky to win.
- All right.
But what about all the fights
after that one?
What about the years after
he has to give up fighting?
- But, Norma...
- I'm his wife, not his manager.
I'm gonna be living with him long after
you stopped worrying...
...about his weight and his footwork...
...and whether or not
he's getting enough sleep.
Rocky.
Rocky.
- Rocky.
- Yeah, yeah, I know.
What am I doing here?
I'm supposed to be in Chicago.
Mix a black and white.
Don't ask questions.
Sure, sure, Rocky.
The trouble with the phone book
is you always know...
...how it's going to come
out in the end: Z ybysky.
Frankie Peppo, please.
Well, when he comes back,
tell him to call...
You got a pencil?
Yeah, Bowling Green, 39970.
Yeah, tell him to ask for Rocky.
Tell him...
Tell him...
...if he still wants to talk...
...I'm willing to listen.
Yeah.
You don't know how good
it is to have you around, Rocky.
Oh, yeah, yeah, come on.
Many of the old 10th Street gang
are gone.
Fidel killed in a holdup.
Sammy doing 30 years.
And Shorty the Greek broke his spine...
...driving a getaway car.
- Put more seltzer in this.
Sure, sure, sure, Rocky, sure.
And Frenchy they put away for life.
Remember little Frenchy?
And Lou Parisi...
...he got the chair, you know.
And so did Tony
and Willy Esposito. Yep.
It gets so quiet in here some nights,
you can hear the ice cream melt.
You can make it a lot more quiet
if you force yourself.
A prison cell is quieter.
A grave has no sound at all.
But I'm just a two-cent seltzer schlepper.
What do I know? Nothing.
Only that the whole world is not
so different from my candy store.
Someone comes in, sits down
at the fountain, asks for a soda.
I give him a soda. He drinks the soda.
I give him a check.
He's got to pay for it.
It's the same out there.
He who wants a soda must be willing
to pay the check.
You do something wrong, Rocky,
you got to pay the check.
It's a very simple truth, yet some
men find it difficult to understand.
They get angry
when time for payment comes.
"Who me?" they cry.
"For what?" For the soda.
That's for what, Rocky.
Never ask for a soda unless you are
prepared to pay the check.
- Rocky.
- lf a guy calls...
...tell him I'll call him back.
- Where are you going, Rock?
Rocky. Hey, Rocky.
Hey, Romolo.
What happened to you?
I ain't feeling so sharp,
it's a temporary condition.
You okay, Rocky?
Been worried about you.
- Hey, what's the matter? You hot?
- It's a temporary condition.
Got big plans, Rocky.
Going into business for myself.
Gonna buy me a flower stand.
You wanna...? You wanna invest?
Oh, yeah, how much?
- A hundred.
- What? A flower stand for 100 bucks?
There's this warehouse
over on Avenue A...
...with an old grandpop
of a night watchman.
With a C-note I figure
I can buy me a heater...
...pay some slob to point it at
the old guy while I make a score inside.
- Then I'll have enough to get the stand.
- You gotta get off this kick.
- You're gonna wind up with a bullet.
- What are you talking?
It ain't worth it.
Don't you understand?
You can't make
any real dough selling flowers.
So who's gonna sell flowers?
That's just a front, Rocky.
I'm gonna have the prettiest...
...the sweetest- smelling bookie joint
in the East Side.
- All I need is a heater...
- I don't wanna lose you...
...you're gonna get killed
if you don't wise up and turn a leaf...
...you pathetic little jerk.
- What's the use?
Look at you. You tried it, didn't you?
They wouldn't let you
get away with it.
We ain't got a chance,
guys like us, do we?
Do we, Rocky?
Here.
Get in there. You no-good
little greaseball.
Come on.
I saw the light from downstairs,
and I figured maybe somebody's still up.
Your mother's at the seashore.
So how you been?
I mean, you look tired.
Why don't you ask me
how I've been, huh?
Why don't you ask me
what I'm doing here?
Come to see your mother.
She's not here now.
You don't ask nothing.
You never ask nothing.
You just tell things. Why don't
you ask me, like, " How's Norma?
How's...?" What am I doing here in
New York when I got a fight in Chicago?
If you don't like it,
why don't you get out?
Get out of here. Get out.
That's all you can do is talk tough,
but you ain't so tough.
You wasn't tough enough to take the
decision to hang up the gloves and quit.
And you been fighting that one in your
head ever since, haven't you?
Yeah, and you still ain't won it.
And you never will.
Because it's all over for you, no matter
how much booze you take.
But it ain't over for me.
I got a wife. I got a kid.
I got a home in Ocean Parkway.
And I'm fighting Tony Zale
for the championship of the world.
I ain't gonna be decisioned
out of nothing, especially by you.
Come on.
Hey, don't cry, will you?
Look, Pa, I was just talking.
You don't have
to take everything I say.
Look, I ain't so tough.
You wanna hit me?
Come on, hit me, will you?
Look, Pa, I was just talking.
I mean, look, you couldn't help
yourself none.
You had nothing but bad breaks.
Me, I been lucky.
Come on, what could I do for you, huh?
Let me do something for you?
Be a champ...
...like I never was.
Don't worry about a thing.
Pa, don't worry about a thing.
- Rocky. Rocky.
- Hi, baby.
We were so worried about you.
Where have you been all night?
I was thirsty. I went to get
an ice-cream soda.
- An ice-cream soda? Where?
- Well, Benny's, where else?
- Look, are you all right?
- Oh, yeah, I feel good.
What are you doing up so early?
We heard Chicago
had beautiful sunrises.
- Now, listen to me, Rocky.
- What?
- Do you realize that...?
- What? What?
Look, Norma, please. See that he gets
some sleep. Will you, please?
What's this?
I brought you some ice cream
from Benny's.
Maple walnut. He packed it in dry ice.
- How did you know?
- Well, how did I know what?
That right now, next to you,
the thing I want most...
...the thing I've been dying to have
all night is...
Norma...
...definitely?
Fifteen rounds for the middleweight
championship of the world.
Introducing, in black trunks...
... weighing 155 and a quarter...
...from New York City, the challenger...
...Rocky Graziano.
And in this corner,
wearing purple trunks...
...weighing 159 pounds...
...the finest piece of steel
ever to come out of Gary, Indiana...
...the middleweight champion
of the world, Tony Zale.
And in just a few moments,
two very big questions will be answered.
Can Rocky Graziano shake off
every roof that has caved in on him...
...during the past six months...
...and bounce back to take the title from
the only man to ever knock him out?
Or will Tony Zale prove that he is
every inch a champion...
... and go on to give Graziano
the same type of savage beating...
... that he gave him
in Yankee Stadium last summer?
The betting fraternity
has made Zale the favorite.
Here comes the bell for the first round...
...and here is your blow-by-blow
reporter, Sam Taub.
Thank you, Harry Wismer.
And there's the bell for round one.
Come on, Tony. What's going on?
- Kill that bum, Tony.
- Hit him hard, Tony. Come on.
Come on, Tony boy. Hit him.
Straight to the guts, Tony. Come on.
Tony boy, you can do it.
Knock him out, knock him out.
Tony, come on, punch his left, Tony.
Go get him, Tony.
Come on. Last one, Tony.
A right to the head,
and another right to the head.
Graziano is hurt.
He takes a hard left to the body.
He tries to tie Zale up
but the champ steps back...
... comes in with another right
to the head. Once again.
And there's the bell ending round one.
And a very rocky round indeed
for Mr. Graziano.
- That guy hits hard.
- Well, hit him back. It's legal.
Keep your left up.
Shoot that left, shoot it up.
- Come on, Tony.
- Come on, Zale. Let him have it.
- Come on.
- Come on. Hit him.
Come on, Tony.
Kill that bum.
Kill the bum.
A hard right by Zale.
The referee looks closely
at Graziano 's eye.
The champ has him against the ropes.
He's bleeding badly.
His left eye is almost closed.
Another hard right
to the face by Zale.
Come on, Tony boy, hit him.
- Come on, Tony.
- Come on.
What's wrong, Tony?
Get up, get up.
I bet the 100 bucks on you.
He's up. There was no count.
Lucky he heard you.
Graziano is up. Zale follows him
to the ropes...
... drives a hard left to the body.
A left high to the head, another left.
- Fight him back.
- Graziano falls back against the ropes.
Graziano lands a left of his own.
- Takes a right and a left in return.
- Come on, fight back.
Rocky's eye is raw.
A hard right over the eye by Zale.
Another. Another. Rocky's in trouble.
He's really in trouble now.
Come on, Zale, let him have it.
Rocky. Rocky. Do you know who this is
talking to you?
Who am I, Rocky? Who am I?
Whitey, I'm ashamed of you.
I got him just where I want him.
If this wasn't a championship,
I'd stop it.
Don't worry, he's gonna be all right.
They give you the chair for murder in this
state, and if he don't come out of it...
You stop this fight,
I'll break every bone in your body.
- You hear me? I'll tear you apart.
- Not him. Not him. Him.
Keep the left up. Keep your left...
Keep this left up.
Get him, Tony. Come on.
Graziano misses
with a left to the head...
... takes a left jab to the face,
a hard right.
Come on, Rocky.
Zale keeps throwing, he doesn 't stop.
A right to the body
and a left to Graziano 's head.
Come on, Tony,
let's hurt this bum tonight.
Give it to him.
Way to go, kid. Keep going.
- Rocky, who am I? Who am I, Rocky?
- Give me a hint.
That's Irving.
Rocky, have you had it?
Have you had it?
What are you talking about?
He ain't got me. I got him.
He's wide open now.
I'm gonna go out...
...I'm gonna bust his head open.
This round.
You know something, kid?
I think I'm beginning to believe you.
Now, go out there and nail him.
Come on, Tony boy.
Come on, Zale, let him have it.
- Come on, Tony boy.
- Give it to him.
You can do it, Zale.
Come on, Tony. Come on.
- Come on, Rocky.
- Come on, Rocky. You can do it.
Come on, Rocky.
Baby.
Baby, your father is the champ.
I have to go to the bathroom.
The time, two minutes and 10 seconds...
... of the sixth round.
The winner and new middleweight
champion of the world...
... Rocky Graziano.
Well, drink it all in while it lasts, honey.
I'm gonna be losing this title someday.
Sure, I'm gonna be losing the punch
in this right hand too. It's gotta happen.
But it don't make no difference
because what I won...
...they can't take away from me
in no ring.
You know, I've been lucky.
Somebody up there likes me.
Somebody down here too.