"Getting shot's never easy." "Bullets tend to hurt, a lot." "If they go straight through, fine." "That you can deal." "It's messy, and it's over soon." "Sometimes they take care of themselves." "Sometimes they need a hand." "But if they glance off a bone, get up in the ribcage, they tend to bounce around your insides like dice in a backgammon cup." "Getting knifed isn't any better." "Even if you're dealing with a pro." "Someone who severs a carotid artery." "Punches one through the heart." "You'll be lucky if the lights go out inside three minutes." "Funny thing is, sometimes these punks take care of my business for me." "Without even knowing it." "My name's Malone." "In my line of work you have to knife before you're punched and shoot before you're knifed, because there's one golden rule that can never be broken." "Once you're dead, you stay that way." "Oh, fuck!" "Okay, okay, okay!" "You win!" "All right?" "!" "Hey, look." "There's my gun, all right?" "!" "You can have it." "I'm coming out now, so don't shoot!" "So, don't shoot!" "Look, there's my gun." "So, you can take it." "I'm cool, man." "All right?" "I'm cool." "Cool, huh?" "Mine." "See you in hell." "Shit!" "I got the case!" "I got the case!" "Fuck!" "Some men are harder to kill than others." "Fortunately, I'm one of the hard ones." "Woah!" "Fuck me." "Shit." "Hey!" "Walk away, wino!" "Fucking drunk!" "Ow!" "Walk it off!" "Pink?" "Goddamn, Pink." "Ta-da!" "God, Malone!" "Whoa!" "Don't worry, kid." "I'll get your keys back." "Thank you." "Here's your keys, kid." "Try to keep the screaming down." "It upsets the other guests." "Listen, I know there are millions of women out there watching right now." "They get asked out by that guy, they're afraid to say no." "But they're just all so terrified they're gonna get stuck on a two-hour long date with somebody that's just really creepy." "What is proper etiquette for, you know, giving someone a brush off these days?" "Wow." "Well, the proper etiquette is..." "Mom?" "Why, why are you yelling?" "I'm right here." "Hey, Ma." "Malone!" "Hey, Ma." "Ow, ow, ow!" "Not so hard, Ma." "You were supposed to come by last week." "Esther's granddaughter was here." "She looks fertile, Malone." "Wow." "You got a hell of a way of selling a gal." "Maybe you should start writing personals." "Maybe I will." "Not that I could sell you." "You look like hell." "What did you do?" "Get in another fight?" "Ugh." "Fight's when the other guy has a chance." "Oh, ever since you were 6, you were fighting with the other boys." "Fights at the playground." "Fights at the bike racks." " Ah, to do no harm." " Oh, no, no, no." " Easy." "Whoa, Mom." " What's step one?" "What's step...?" "Buckle your shoe." "Hey, Ma." "Come on." "I deserve it." "You deserve a smack across the face." "That's what you deserve." "Now, say it with me." "I admit I'm powerless over alcohol." "I admit I'm powerless over alcohol." "And my life has become unmanageable." "See how unmanageable your life has become." "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, Malone." "If you weren't so hardheaded, you'd know that by now." "Say it again, Ma." "You're hardheaded." "It's a family curse." "Oh, no." "Before that." "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?" "Right now, I've got it." "What the hell were those guys killing themselves over?" "Don't mumble, Malone." "It makes you sound uneducated." "What the hell would you throw yourself out a window for?" "You threw yourself out a window?" "No, Ma." "A guy with a mustache." "Oh, please don't grow a mustache!" "Your father did, and it looked like a rat curled up and died under his nostrils." "You know, weaker men than you have dealt with tragedy without the booze." "How many bullets do I have to pull out of you before you live again?" "You know, you can quit the booze." "You just need support." "Someone to prop you up and help keep you on your feet." "Malone?" "Well, I guess I should be grateful." "If it wasn't for these lovely shoot-outs, I wouldn't see you at all." "It's her birthday tomorrow." "Buy her something nice." "Sir, I'm gonna need to see some I.D." "Ugh!" "Next time there's a new guy, tell him let the big, bad, black motherfucker go." "There's a blot on this city." "It's as if God came along, hiked up his robe, and took a big holy shit right on top of downtown." "Or, maybe it was you, Boulder." "You're nearly as big as, you know..." "Ah, it wasn't me, Boss." "Well, the point is the city has lost its sense of structure, and without structure, without order, it's hard to be king." "I heard Stache's little pick up turned into a blood bath." "We had some uninvited party-goers, and he didn't get the case." "No." "Who did?" "Malone." "Malone?" "Just one guy?" "Well, go get him, Boulder." "Go crush him." "Well, it's not that easy, Boss." "Malone's hard." "Real hard." "Word is he turned from private dick to gun-for-hire after what they did to his family." "They killed his wife his son, his brother his brother's family tried to stamp his gene pool into extinction." "Personally, I can't wait to hurt him." "Boulder, do you have any idea what Malone's probably done, now that he has that case?" "Opened it." "Goddamn right he's opened it." "And now that he's seen what's inside, I want Matchstick in on this." "You got a problem with that?" "Boss, the guy's a sadist." "Little sadism might come in handy." "Speaking of sadism, call in The Mauler, as well." "The Mauler?" "Have you seen where she keeps her knives?" "Boulder, you're a killer." "You're the bloodiest son-of-a-bitch I know, and I pay you very well too, don't I?" "Yes, sir." "But that's not why you do what you do, is it?" "My wife's gonna pull out of it." "I'm sure." "Then as long as you keep working for me," "I'll keep floating her medical bills." "I learned something early on in my career, and I've never forgotten." "Men will work very hard for good money." "But they will absolutely kill themselves for love." "I'll find The Mauler." "And put Malone's face on a baseball card." "Wake up every thug in this entire city." "I want everyone to know I'm paying big money." "Five million dollars." "But, most importantly, get me that case." "Yes, sir." "And, Boulder... ripped out a man's heart and ate it?" "The physics of punching through a man's sternum alone make that an impossibility." "Next time, spare me the hyperbole." "Yes, sir." "Son of a bitch!" "Don't you ever knock?" "What's this?" "Was it just me, or were we paid a hundred grand to recover what was inside the case, not just the case?" "It was a set-up, Murph." "They knew I was coming." "No way." "No way." "Not possible." "I checked it all out." "I did my homework." "It was legit." "It was quiet." "Just you and the client." "I need to know who hired me, Murph." "Now, you know we follow a formula around here." "Don't ask." "Don't tell." "Nobody's the wiser." "What's a couple of bullet holes over a sound financial future, huh?" "What was in the case?" "You miss the part about it being a set-up?" "What's wrong with you?" "I never seen you like this before." "What was in the case?" "It was the meaning of love, Murph." "Now, cry me a name." "You're looking at her." "Evelyn, Malone, Malone, Evelyn." "He's a swell guy." "When he's not roughing people up." "I hope your man's better at delivering goods than looking pretty, 'cause he sure as hell ain't much of a looker." "Yeah, well, Evelyn, Malone was just telling me that he, uh, ran into a little speed bump when he was picking up the case." "Said it was some sort of a set-up." "You were paid to get the case, not open it." "What did you do with what was inside?" "Never mind about that." "I had ten goons trying to make me dead over that damn thing." "So, let's skip to the part where you explain, sister." "I'm not your sister." "You ain't the client either." "Talk." "Or I'll make like you're my daughter and bend you over my knee." "Promises, promises." "You think a dime-store hussy like that came up with this much cash?" "No way." "Um, my apologies, Evelyn." "He's not accustomed to polite conversation." "Can it." "That's all right, Murph." "I don't expect manners from a talking animal." "Yeah, I'm much better at biting and scratching." "And hunting and killing, I suppose." "That's why they pay me." "Okay, the gorilla wins." "I'm not the client." "What?" "So much for the job being legit." "Look, all I know is that I'm supposed to pick up the case and deliver it." "Tonight." "To who, lady?" "Who wants it?" "I need a name, goddamn it." "A gorilla wouldn't understand." "Something I said?" "Look..." "They have my brother, Sammy." "I got a letter saying if I don't deliver the case tonight, they're gonna kill him." "Where?" "Hey, darlin', we're closed for the night." "You lost?" "Where's your parents?" "Parents?" "Guess they left me here." "All by my lonesome." "Are you lollipop69?" "I got your e-mail." "At first, I thought it was a joke, you know, spam." "But you're here." "You're really here." "Now, what are you going to do about it?" "If they find out there's nothing in the case, they'll kill him." "I'll have your brother before it gets that far." "Just keep it closed." "When we get a little closer, I'm gonna have you drive." "Okay." "This one turns on the sound." "This one turns on the lights." "And this one makes the horsies go up and down." "I thought that's what this one was for." "This might be easier if you took that lollipop out of your mouth." "It might get in the way." "You know?" "Agreed." "Ah, pretty, pretty, moist and pretty..." "I've got your case!" "I've got your case!" "Where's my brother?" "!" "Oh, my God!" "Sammy!" "I like to cut the soft ones." "Please." "Malone!" "Sammy!" "Sammy!" "Shit!" "Who grabbed you?" "Who grabbed you?" "Huh?" "Who?" "Sister." "Talk to me, damn it!" "Who grabbed you?" "Damn it." "I'm watching you." "Malone?" "!" "Ring around the rosie" "Malone?" "!" "Evelyn?" "!" "Malone?" " Where the hell is she?" " I don't know." "Help me." "Which way?" "!" "If you see yourself, turn." "Let's get the hell out of here." "Two questions, sister." "You say you were told to deliver a case tonight, or they'd kill your brother." "And now he's dead, thanks to you." "How'd you know where the case would be in the first place?" "The letter." "And how'd you find Murph, huh?" "He shoot you out of the sky?" "Also in the letter." "Where'd you get this goddamn letter?" "From my goddamn mail box." "Please, slow down!" "Listen up, lady." "Not only did you almost get me killed tonight, you also blew any chance of me finding out who hired me." "Let alone who killed your brother." "So, unless you've got some helpful bit of information in that overwrought hairdo of yours," "I suggest you get the hell out of my life." "Out of your life?" "You told me you'd save my brother, you son-of-a-bitch." "Get out." "Get out." "Where am I supposed to go?" "Here." "Take a cab." "Wait." "I've got the letter." "Who gave it to you?" "Eddie the Cheese." "Right after they grabbed Sammy." "After who grabbed Sammy?" "I asked Eddie." "I even said please." "Maybe you can be more persuasive." "Lady, you ain't got to persuade a fella." "If you know how to push." " What?" " Go on." "Here." "Don't leave me." "Please." "Please!" "Malone!" "Matchstick." "You gotta burn every place you rob?" "Disco should have died when ABBA broke up." "I'm just helping it along." "Damn." "They killed Sammy." "Look, um, I'm sorry as hell about Sammy." "But you can't stay here." "I need Malone." "If they killed Sammy, who do you think's next?" "Please, Murph." "Where is he?" "I can't tell you where he is." "You know, we have a simple formula around here." "Don't ask, don't tell." "Nobody's the wiser." "Malone." "No, he doesn't knock." "Upstairs." "Uh, what are you doing here?" "Up awfully late, Murph." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Well, I was just, uh, cataloging my stamp collection, you know." "Hell of a Friday night, Boulder." "I don't see any stamps." "You always were the astute one, man." "Never could get a nickel by you." "Still for the life of me can't remember why I fired you." "You didn't fire me." "I quit." " Oh, really?" " Really." "Is that right?" "'Cause I seem to remember you sitting me down one day and saying, "Murph, I got trouble paying my bills,"" "and I said, "Yeah, of course you do, pal, because you're fired!"" "Is that antique?" "Uh-huh." "I quit!" "Where's Malone?" "Malone?" "Never heard of him." "Can I get you a cup of tea?" "Ugh!" "Next time, it's your face." "Now, me and Malone used to work together." "Just like you do now." "So, I'm willing to bet you know where he is." "Where is he?" "Huh?" "What?" "Where is he?" "!" "Unlike my genetically malfunctioned associate," "I would like to take this opportunity not to wage war, but to play nice." "You see, life hasn't always been kind to me, Murph." "Yet, still I've always made it a moral prerogative to turn the other cheek, so to speak." "You know?" "To look at the bright side." "Especially when life is at its worst." "Or, in your case, most stubborn." "Now, before things start getting heated up in here," "I think it would be very nice of you to give us Malone's whereabouts." "Okay." "There's no need for that here, all right?" "We're all businessmen, right?" "Let's just do a little business, shall we?" "Okay." "Let's do a little business, Murph." "How 'bout the business of kerosene?" "You see, it's a very deceptive substance." "It looks like water, and it feels like water." "The only difference is when kerosene is kissed with flame, Murph, then it burns like hell." "Okay, I don't know anything, all right?" "He came in here screaming about the meaning of love being in that case, and then he beat the hell out of here, that's all I know, okay?" "The meaning of love." "Like in a fairy tale?" "Once upon a time, there was a bad little boy who loved playing with matches, you see, because fire was his only and best friend, but then after the accident, he learned to respect fire, Murph," "because fire, though it's beautiful, it's consumptive, you see." "It's powerful, and if you're not careful, Murph, fire will hurt you." "Do you understand what I'm saying?" "So, as the house was burning down, the little boy's Mommy and Daddy scream." "They sounded like music to his ears because now there was nothing to get between the bad little boy and his heart's desire." "Fire." "Okay, corner of Compton and Sycamore, Apartment 318." "Sycamore and Compton. 318." "Let's go, Matchstick." "Thanks, Murph." "Oh, now that we're friends, can we...?" "Can we just forget about this whole, uh, torching-the-parents episode?" "I miss Mom and Dad dearly, I really do." "And, uh, tell you the truth, I'm still working it out in therapy." "Therapy?" "You should be in a dog kennel, you fucking freak!" "All right." "Where are you?" "Come here." "Doc says you gotta take your medicine, or else..." "Little fucker." "Come here." "Ow." "Don't hit me again, okay?" "Whatever's left of my good looks can't take it." "You know who I am?" "You're Malone." "Your family was murdered, and now you rip out people's hearts with your bare hands." "Sometimes." "Sometimes I weld their eyelids together." "Depends on my mood." "Today's been pretty shitty, so I'm gonna ask you one more time." "Who pinched Sammy Smalls?" "Where'd you get that fucking letter?" "They'll kill me." "They'll kill me, Malone, you know..." "Huh?" "What was that, you say?" "It's Jerry." "He runs a hooker joint called The Trade Winds Motel." "Okay?" "He sent the money." "He wrote your letter." "Jerry?" "I didn't know he was literate." "Malone!" "?" "No." "I can't breathe." "I can't..." "Quiet." "No talking." "Come on!" "If somebody ever got to me or Murph, we had a plan." "Give up the address of our neighbor, see?" "That way, there'd be time enough to even the odds." "Put up the gun, doll." "I'm in a mood." "Okay." "Come on." "That's a good girl." "Wait a minute." "This is Murph's gun." "I gave it to him." "How the hell did you...?" "Aw, hell." "That's right, Malone." "They killed him." "They killed him because they were looking for you." "I can't stop seeing Sammy with that knife in his chest." "Everybody dies." "It was just his turn." "Those men who killed Murph, that girl who killed Sammy, they think I'm with you." "You have to help me, Malone." "Scotch." "Good scotch like this you're supposed to sip, but in light of the circumstances," "I don't think history will judge you too harshly if you shoot it." "The meaning of love." "Murph said something about it before they burned him like a bad steak." "What is it?" "It's a lonely thing, killing a man." "Once you start, once you kill somebody someone cares about pulling that trigger becomes a way of life." "No one cares about you." "You sure about that?" "You pull that trigger, you start to build a wall of corpses around." "The higher you stack 'em, the safer you feel." "So you just keep pulling that trigger." "Bang." "Bang." "Bang." "It's a cold world, Evelyn." "But at least I know how to stay warm in it." "Scotch is far easier, trust me." "I'm powerless over alcohol." "My life has become unmanageable." "Just finished cleaning it." "It's a good thing you didn't pull the trigger," "I wouldn't have wanted you to embarrass yourself." "My guess is when Murph spilled that address, there were more ears listening than just yours." "Damn it." "No bullets." "Open it." "Don't be stupid." "Think it's gonna do us any good?" "Buy me some time." "Go on!" "Damn it." "Who is it?" "Okay." "Okay." "Okay." "Can I help you?" "Malone." "Boulder, what are you doing here?" "I thought Murph fired you." "For the last time, I told you, I quit." "I see you're still on the rot-gut, huh?" "Yeah." "I would never start what you can't finish." "Before I surrendered, I did a lot of bad things." "Terrible things." "But I've managed to mend a lot of emotional fences since then." "You could, too." "We have a meeting at the "Y" every night of the week." "I already got a mother." "Where's the case?" "Mother, mother, mother." "Oh, how I wish I still had a mother." "Mother would have loved you, sweetheart." "Yum-yum." "Hey, easy, Sparky." "Save that book for the bedroom." "The name's Matchstick." "I'm surprised you haven't heard of me, seeing as how we're both wayward souls, wrought in the ashes of our respective families' demise." "Take a seat, pussycat." "You see, the story I heard was you had to decide who would die." "Your wife or your son." "Hell's bells, Malone." "What a dilemma." "And then, after you chose the wife, they killed both of them." "Oh, Hell's Bells, what a tragedy." "Kiss my ass." "Oh, Malone." "I doubt that would be pleasurable for either of us." "You see, I have precious little sensation in these "smackeroonies."" "Where'd you get Psycho Boy?" "Whose payroll you on anyway?" "I'm in business for myself, Malone." "Just like you." "I'm my own man, captain of my own ship." "What, Murph wasn't good enough for ya?" "Hard to be good for anyone when you're dead." "That wasn't smart, Boulder." "Killing Murph." "Now I'm gonna have to rip out your heart." "Now, let's not confuse the facts, gentlemen." "It wasn't the oversized baggage that did your friend Murph in." "No." "It was flames." "Smoke." "Heat." "Immolation." "We're here for the case, Malone." "Where is it?" "Yeah?" "Who wants it?" "Doesn't matter who wants it." "All that matters is who gets it." "Murph said it was the "meaning of love."" "It is." "We know you opened that case, and we know you have what's inside of it." "Now, where is it?" "Why don't you ask him?" "Easy, big man." "That way." "Come on." "Back up." "Go on." "You mind?" "I just had that area waxed, it's pretty sensitive." "Sorry to cause you discomfort." "Go on." "That's it." "Come on." "Go ahead." "Go ahead." "You gonna shoot?" "Shoot." "Go." "Go." "Go ahead." "You gonna shoot?" "Shoot me." "Yeah." "I would, but I'm all out of bullets." "Here!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Oh, shit." "Shit!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Sorry if I don't know how to load guns and shoot people." " Come on!" " Freeze!" "Police!" "Against the wall." "All right." " She's the crazy one!" " Back inside, sir!" "What is that?" "You're not gonna like what's gonna come through that door." "Hey, hey, hey!" "You stop right..." "Here." "I want you to go to the liquor store on 5th Street." "Buy me a pint of whiskey." "They give you any trouble, tell them you're with me." "You coming?" "These guys aren't gonna quit 'til they're dead." "I'm gonna make them that way." "Go on." "I'll meet you at the Tradewinds Motel." "On 5th, all right?" "Where is it, huh?" "Where is it?" "!" "Closed." "It's for Malone." "I'm Malone's girl." "Malone?" "Yes, Malone." "Whiskey." "Yes." "Whiskey." "Oh, God!" "Not the booze!" "Come on, Malone!" "Come on!" "Malone!" "Who put out the reward on the case, who wants it?" "Go blow, Malone." "Why do they want it?" "!" "Goddamn it!" "Go blow, Malone!" "Come on!" "I'll be back for that thing in your chest." "Why aren't you at the hotel?" "You didn't notice, they were about to kill you." "When I tell you to do something, you do it." "Are you nuts?" "!" "I need a drink." "Be right back." "Come on!" "Boulder, you had one job." "Get Malone." "What?" "Slow down." "I don't care if he's got a bad attitude." "I'm not asking you to invite him to a coffee klatch." "I'm telling you to jam him in the boot of your car and haul his ass in!" "No, no, I didn't realize that a '69 Mustang has limited trunk space." "Hold on." "Yeah?" "What?" "What?" "What do you mean, they're gonna kick her out of the country?" "Doesn't she have her visa?" "She never got one?" "None of the girls got their visas?" "You're goddamned right it's bad!" "Take an awfully long dick to fuck one of them from across the Atlantic!" "Who is responsible?" "Frankie the Crooner?" "You sure?" "Well, find out!" "Boulder, call me back in five minutes." "No!" "He couldn't actually rip your heart out." "Christ!" "Can't you see the sign, man?" "I'm out to lunch." "Malone?" "Malone!" "How the hell are you?" "What's it called when you're out to lunch at two in the morning?" "Munchies?" "You're sweating, Jerry." "What's the matter?" "It's just me, your ol' pal from the neighborhood looking for a room." "With two beds." "You mean, she's not a...?" "I don't know." "Are you?" "What does your cheek say?" "My cheek?" "Hey, I can see you've got needs, and you're in luck!" "I got the best room in the house." "Complete with complimentary prophylactics and earplugs." "What's my ol' pal from the neighborhood doing packing his dirty laundry?" "Does he know Eddie the Cheese got pinched?" "If Eddie got pinched, then he might rat him out about a letter sent to a girl named Evelyn." "Huh?" "Whose payroll are you on, Jerry?" "Whitmore." "Okay?" "Christ!" "I got paid to write the letter by Whitmore!" "Whitmore." "Here." "Watch something a little less confusing." "Come on." "Christ, I'm aroused." "Too bad there's not a man around." "I'll be sure to call if I see one." "Why bother?" "You finally got what you wanted." "Earplugs?" "Me." "In your room." "With a bed." "We don't have time to sleep." "Jerry's working for Whitmore, which means Whitmore hired me to get that damn case, means Whitmore killed your brother." "Problem is, nobody knows where he lives." "He went underground years ago." "Goddamn mole." "We gotta dig him out." "What about what was in that case?" "Why do you think he wants it so badly?" "Forget about that." "Whitmore went through a lot of trouble to make sure it ended up in my hands." "Not yours." "Don't confuse yourself." "Whitmore used you to get that case for him." "Not to keep it for yourself." "Now, what was in it?" "I told you, it was the meaning of..." "Of love?" "Bullshit." "Why don't you just give it to Whitmore before someone else gets hurt?" "A lot of people got hurt in this town, lady." "I just happened to be first." "Do you think you want it rough, Malone, but you don't." "You want it soft." "Just like the rest of us." "Now, if you don't mind, I feel sticky." "It's been a dirtier night than I expected." "Get some rest!" "No one knows where we are." "Few hours now won't kill us." "Oh, ladies, with a performance like that, you more than earned your stay in these great United States." "You deserve what I usually reserve for panty-dropping moments, but since yours have all ready fallen, consider those desserts." "Huh?" "Ah-la-la-la-la-la-la!" "Hu-hu-hu!" "Hey!" "Here's the fun." "Yeah!" "Ooo!" "Well, well, well." "Good evening." "Welcome, everyone." "Son of a bitch." "Sorry about that." "Good-looking crowd." "All right!" "Let's get down." "And let's get sexy." "Huh?" "Oh, yeah." "Well, good night, ladies" "That's right Ladies, good night" "It's time..." "I'm just gonna..." "All right, you know what?" "This had better be good, because I'm right in the middle of entertaining the people." "My visas." "Mr. Whitmore?" "Oh!" "Hi, Mr. Whitmore." "Hi." "Yeah." "Um, what?" "Where the fuck are my visas?" "Uh." "Well, uh." "I don't, uh, I don't really know, uh, Mr. Whitmore." "This is the first I've heard about this." "Well, I just found out that they disappeared from our warehouse last night." "Meanwhile, I got some tramp from Brazil claiming you gave her one for a blowjob." "Uh, well, I mean, you know, I mean, don't insult me, uh, Mr. Whitmore." "You know." "It's not like I need to, uh, bribe hookers to get pussy, you know?" "I mean, I'm a working musician." "Got the, got the ladies falling from the trees, as they say." "I have to wear special wading pants just to wade through them." "Working?" "The only paying gig you've got is singing at fucking nursing homes." "Well, if you didn't steal them, you better fucking find them." "Or you're gonna get your nuts jerked out through your asshole." "Okay." "All right, well, then, I will play at your birthday party, Mr. Whitmore." "It would be my pleasure." "Get off your knees." "All circuits are busy now." "If you would like to make a call, please try again later." "Okay." "Just contact my agent." "All right, bye-bye." "Good night, ladies" "Ladies, good night" "It's times like these I'd much rather be drowning in a sea of sex." "Look at those happy shmucks." "Three hundred dollars, and they're king for an hour." "Meanwhile, I'm a paying out millions of dollars a year in payroll to a bunch of two-bit crooks who make me feel like a fucking court jester." "Present company excluded, of course." "What the hell's wrong with you?" "Don't tell me I hurt your feelings." "I've been mending a lot of emotional fences lately." "I can't work for you anymore." "I have to be my own man." "Captain of my ship." "Now, I need you to give me a loan for medical expenses, and I'll pay you back, with interest." "Can you believe this guy?" "He's a sap." "And he's terrified of fire." "Aren't you, Leslie?" "Name is Boulder." "Oh." "Leslie." "Boulder." "Whatever the hell your name is." "We got a mutually beneficially situation here, remember?" "You do what I tell you, and I make sure that your wife's life-support machines keep pumping." "You should be more gracious." "Murph sure as hell wasn't floating her bill." "You lose me, and she blinks out." "Like a light." "Ah!" "I, I heard the doctors say that there's no chance of the poor woman's recovery." "No, she's gonna pull out of it." "No." "I heard she's brain dead." "Don't look at me like that." "I mean, I'm not the one who wrecked that car." "Children!" "Enough!" "The case." "Did you find it?" "The Mauler found it at the amusement park, but it was empty." "Well, then, go find Malone." "Bring him back to me." "We'll beat it out of him." "Malone!" "You have to get to the hospital." "You're bleeding really bad." "Come on." "Brockwood." " Malone?" " Brockwood Retirement Home." "Where?" "Brockwood Retirement Home." "Take me there." "Okay." "Fa la la la la la la Hup hup hup" "Hey, here's the fun." "Yeah!" "Woo!" "Oh, my goodness!" "Yes!" "What a good-looking crowd, huh?" "Thank you." "Yeah, thank you, thank you." "It's good to be young, huh?" "Well, I mean, to be vital." "You know?" "Well, hey, to be alive." "Actually, it's probably not good." "Little hot?" "Hey, you could probably, uh, just stop with the light show." "It's not Pink Floyd." "Enough with the lights!" "Deaf motherfucker." "Okay, let's get this going." "Which way?" "So, let's swap pills." "Crank up the oxygen." "Let's get down." "And let's get... sexy." "Well, good night, ladies" "Oh!" "Oh!" "Are you feeling it?" "Ladies, good night" "Ha, ha!" "How!" "Oh, you've got to be shitting me." "Excuse me." "Yeah, get me Whitmore." "Don't you got a retired anesthesiologist around here?" "You finished?" "Oh!" "Is she with you?" "Yeah, she's a client, Ma." "That's all." "Come in, come in." "Thank you." "You've changed." "Yeah, so has your underwear, if you wear any." "How do you know my boy?" "I told you." "Mom, Mom!" "She's a client." "Murphy's client." "Was Murph's client." "Anyway, we're not really supposed to know each other." "It's complicated." "I think she's perfect!" "You've been drinking?" "What's the matter with you?" "It's a special day." "Not that you'd remember." "Oh." "Oh." "You shouldn't have." "I didn't." "That's the sweetest, nicest thing that anybody ever did for me." "Oh, you love your Mommy." "Say it with me!" "You love your Mommy!" "Keep her inside." "Lock the door." "Hey." "Where's the squawker?" "I don't know." "Made a phone call and took off out of here real fast." "Still trying to breastfeed in kindergarten." "I felt like the only cow in Switzerland." "Oh, Malone!" "Your friend here's been asking all about your childhood." "Sounds so idyllic." "I'm green with envy, Malone-sy." "Put the gun down." "That's it." "Now, give me the meaning of love, or I make "she" as pretty as me." "She's a pretty as she needs to be, you creep!" "Ow!" "Okay, Mom." "Let's go." "Come on." "Malone!" "You just lit that man on fire!" "Come on, Mom!" "Malone." "Oh, wow." "You're big." "Wouldn't hit a guy in front of his mom, now, would ya?" "Get in the car!" "Give 'em hell, Malone!" "I need the meaning of love!" "Where is it?" "What is it?" "Ask your mother." "Are you all right?" "Start the car!" "Start the fucking car!" "Okay!" "Okay, let's go!" "Go!" "Go!" "Come on." "You know Poco Rio, about 60 miles south of here." "Here." "Poco Rio?" "!" "I don't want to go to some place I've never heard of!" "Ma, here." "Find a nice spa." "Treat yourself like a queen." "I'll see you in a week." " What the hell was that for?" " Just in case you don't..." "Get in the car." "Watch your head, watch your head." "Come on." "Here." "Go!" "Go!" "Yeah, no, don't worry about it, Maurice." "I got it, you lazy motherfucker." "Tony Bennett didn't have to do it like this." "I have to do it." "Oh, my goodness." "Hey, there, dollface." "I haven't seen you around here before." "Frankie the Crooner, right?" "Yeah, born and raised, except for the crooner part." "You know?" "That you gotta earn." "So, ah, look, five grand gets you a free stay in these great United States for a year." "Or if you don't have the cash, we could work out something a little more..." "Malone." "Hey." "Oh, I, uh, isn't she a?" "I dunno." "Why don't you ask her?" "Aren't you a?" "What does your nose say?" "My nose?" "Yeah." " Who did you call, Frankie?" " Suck my Sinatra." "Fuck!" "Okay!" "Okay!" "Stop the car, you motherfucker!" "Hey!" "Stop the car!" "Fucker!" "I'll talk!" "Whitmore!" "All right?" "Whitmore!" "God!" "Unbelievable!" "You know, I gotta tell you, Malone, there is a lot of money out there on that case, all right?" "And I hate to bruise your ego, but it's not even about that anymore." "I mean, Whitmore is up to his gills in shit water from his own guys, stolen visas, lieutenants skimming off the top." "All right, it is unreasonable." "So he called a meeting at the carnival tonight." "But the fucked up thing is, is that Pencil, they're gonna double cross him." "You lying to me, Frankie?" "Let me tell you something." "Whitmore only travels one way, in style." "You can see his limo coming from a mile away." "If it don't cross over that bridge, you come back and kill me." "All right, you know where I sing, and you keep the princess away from me." "Uh, oh, it must be a hell of a thing to be an only child, ooh, every day is yours." "She's not an only child." "Whitmore killed her brother, Sammy Smalls." "Sammy ain't got no sister." "What?" "I played at every one of his birthdays for the past ten years." "He sure as shit ain't got no sister." "Someone taking you for a ride, pal." "You got a goldfish." "What did he say?" "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "Driving fast." "Malone, stop!" "Oh, my God!" "I take back all those mean things I said about you." "I was just trying to be smart." "Yeah, you're smart, all right." "Try physics, specifically inertia." "Why did you hire me to get that case?" "He was gonna kill my brother." "Sammy's last words were "sister", as in "not my sister"." "You know why?" "'Cuz you ain't." "I might survive." "You definitely won't." "Come clean." "Huh?" "!" "Come clean!" "Come clean!" "I'm pregnant!" "Okay, lady, spill." "Whitmore picks his girls from overseas." "He keeps his favorites for himself." "But if you ever lose enthusiasm, or you get pregnant, you're out." "That means he sends you to work the alleys, the back-rooms, the sex clubs." "I did it until I decided it was bad." "Bad." "For what?" "Whitmore's baby." "Sammy Small wasn't my brother." "He was my lover." "When Whitmore kicked me out, Sammy took me in." "Whitmore didn't know." "So Sammy's working for Whitmore?" "Sammy told me Whitmore was gonna blackmail you with that case." "Why?" "Huh?" "What's he want with me?" "Sammy didn't know, but he said once you got the case, you'd run straight to Whitmore, so I convinced him to let me get the case from you." "Whitmore found out, so he had Sammy killed." "I made up the brother story to try and save him." "Where the hell is he?" "Where do I find this son of a bitch?" "Christ, Malone, I was his trick, not his date." "How should I know?" "Why did you do it?" "To meet you." "Like it or not, you've got a reputation." "No, I mean, really, why?" "'Cuz I'm gonna kill Whitmore." "I'm gonna put a bullet through his filthy, rotten heart, and I need you to get me to him." " Nobody kills Whitmore." " Why?" " 'Cuz they need him alive." " No, Malone, I mean, really, why?" "Is it the meaning of love?" "Huh?" "What?" "Think a lady like me wouldn't understand?" "Well..." "That was special." "I'd go with you, but your seat belt's broken." "I couldn't live with myself if you get a traffic violation." "What are you doing?" "!" "Come here." "Get away from me!" "Get away from me, you creep!" "Malone, put me down!" "Put me down, you dumb, ugly ox!" "Put me down!" "What about the cops?" "Huh?" "This seal means they're done investigating." "Get your hands off of me!" "Easy, sweetheart." "Whitmore's men might not be stupid enough to come back to the scene of a crime." "But a damsel in distress might change their mind." "Come on." "Happy?" "It's too tight." "It hurts." "What if I have to go to the bathroom?" "Fertilize." "Come on!" "Quiet." "I never heard of Poco Rio." "Hey." "I hate carnivals." "Check it out!" "Whitmore wants to have a talk about how we're running our operations." "Might help if he made an appearance." "Well, maybe he's still miffed about you losing that case to Malone." "Fuck Malone and fuck that case." "Whitmore's got no respect for the men I lost." "49% of me wants to show him just how sorry I am, so he better do nothing to push it into the majority." "You were mean about as well as that ridiculous mustache of yours." "Shortchanging Whitmore's the flavor of the week, and you're the only one out here who hasn't had the spine to do it." "We're not alone." "Gee, you think, pretty boy?" "Hey, you schmoes, check out..." "Where the hell are you two going?" "It might be Malone!" " Whitmore's here." " What?" "You two look for Malone!" "I gotta talk to Whitmore!" "Whoa, Stache, are you fucking with us?" "Only when I'm on top." "Hey!" "Whitmore!" "Where the hell's Whitmore?" "Okay, first of all, let me just say that I didn't want to double cross you." "He caught me with the visas." "Okay, he made me." "He..." "I don't like violence." "I'm a singer." "Sure you are, Frankie." "Where the hell is he?" "Sometimes I like to go tribal." "Tired already?" "What the hell?" "Who the hell's back there?" "It's just the meaning of love The meaning of love" "It's just the meaning of love The meaning of love" "Do you know how I learned how to count?" "Tallying up elementary school rejection slips." "You've killed a lot of dangerous men, Malone." "Did that give you pleasure?" "You're gonna give me a rash, lady." "Did you finally get your revenge for what they did to your family?" "I heard you like fairy tales." "Once upon a time, this guy had a gorgeous wife and the most adorable little boy." "But one night while Malone thought he was on the job, the job was in his home." "They had a good time taking turns with his boy and then taking turns on top of her." "Then when they were all spent..." "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "It's not fair!" "You had such a happy family and I can't even get a date." "Do you think it's my personality?" "Nah, it's probably your face." "Girls..." "You know what they say about fire?" "It's cozy." "Ah, Malone, so pathetic." "You still haven't learned the lessons of fire." "It's rebirth, the phoenix rising from the ashes." "Don't give me the poetic crap." "The only lesson you should have learned is don't play with matches." "Oh, but then, I wouldn't have had any friends as a child." "And that would have been a lonely existence." "Ho, ho, ha, ha." "Wow, Sparky, went a little heavy on the skin peel there, pal." "Let's play nice, Malone-sy, okay?" "I'll give you the name of my plastic surgeon." "You give me what was in that case." "Yes." "Yes..." "What do you say, Malone-sy?" "You hand over the meaning of love, or it's Mauler's turn again." "Why don't you invite Boulder, too?" "If I had known the three of you were working for Whitmore," "I'd have had you all over for tea." "Look, my hands, they're a little shaky." "Ooh, the loss of motor skills is rather debilitating." "Oopsy." "Oh." "Oh." "Apologies, Malone-sy on your nice, nice, beautiful suit." "It's just like they have a mind of their own." "Oops!" "Oopsy!" "Oops!" "Oh, Malone-sy!" "So sorry!" "Oopsy again, Malone-sy!" "And again!" "And again and again and again and again and again and again and again!" "Oh, how 'bout a drink, Malone-sy, huh?" "I know you're thirsty." "Parched." "Yeah." "There you go, Malone-sy." "How's that taste?" "Now... dah, dah, dah, dah." "Don't move." "Don't move." "In this light, you look just like Murph." "Always take the gun." "Toasty!" "Oh, oh, yes, yes!" "Nice, toasty!" "Oh!" "You think this looks painful, imagine what Whitmore is doing to your woman." "Burn in hell, you fucker." "Shit." "What the hell?" "Mom!" "Mom!" "What?" "!" "What?" "!" "Why are you yelling?" "I'm right here." "Where's Evelyn?" "The whole place has been tossed." "What happened?" "I dunno." "I had a little nap, and then I had a second nap, and then the third was pretty good, but I don't remember a fourth." "Anyway, I fed your cat his medicine." "How the hell'd you manage that?" "Well, I had to feed you, didn't I?" "I wonder if A.A. has a family discount." "And yet another reason why sobriety's overrated." "If you were still drinking, I would have never found out where you were." "Now, I want you to take me to Whitmore's cave." "Understand?" "His hovel." "His apartment." "They seem to know you here." "Hello, Malone." "I thought you were done living dangerously." "Hell, I thought you were done living." "So, this is it, huh?" "You were Whitmore's pigeon all along." "What did he promise you?" "Castle in the sand?" "Something more permanent." "Uh." "Not bad for someone who started off as his trick." "Come on, baby." "Put the gun down." "You came to kill Whitmore, not me." "Where is he?" "Buying flowers." "From the moment you sweet-talked your way into my life, you were playing double." "You lied about being the client, and that phony letter led me to Eddie the Cheese." "Being kidnapped when nobody else knew where you were." "And Sammy, he wasn't your lover, or your brother." "He was just a dupe, just like me." "Hell, there was no way to know I'd go after Whitmore unless you knew exactly what this was." "I didn't know it was your kid's toy." "I swear, Malone." "I never told you it was." "You set me up." "Lead me here." "To Whitmore." "Why?" "Maybe I haven't been straight with you." "Straight?" "Lady, you're a goddamn zigzag." "Now you're gonna help me get my family back, see." "I let you kiss me, didn't I?" "You're a hard man to kill." "My family." "Your family doesn't want anything to do with you." "But you already know that." "Don't you, Malone?" "Malone's family's dead, Boss." "Yes." "Let's talk about the elephant in the room, shall we?" "Let's talk about the meaning of love." "That's the meaning of love?" "Malone's family's not dead." "He made up those stories so no one could get to them." "See, he knows in our line of work, the best way to hurt a man is through the people that he loves, so he started moving them around years ago." "But then one day you showed up, and she was gone." "She didn't even bother to leave you a note, did she, Malone?" "Or were you just too drunk to read it?" "Truth is, they're worth a whole lot more to you than you'll ever be to them." "That may be." "But unless you prove my family's safe, your little carrier pigeon gets it." "Nobody's worth that much to me." "Wrap him up, Boulder." "Boulder, you hear me?" "!" "Okay, Whitmore, so you got me." "Why the runaround if all you were gonna do is kill me, huh?" "You've already done it." "You see, you've now murdered everyone who's ever worked for me, which means I'm finally free to take my business legit." "Fuck!" "You can't buy respectability, but you can kill everyone who knows you've ever been bad." "You murdered my entire syndicate, took my hapless, right-hand man hostage, forced your way into my humble abode, even murdered the love of my life." "Now your corpse is gonna take the fall." "You are a hard man to kill." "But lucky for me, hard is not the same as impossible." "My wife's no longer around, so you can't blackmail me anymore." "Boulder!" "I quit!" "Your son's favorite toy." "You wanna know where I got it?" "Huh?" "You wanna know where they are?" "They're safe, I swear." "I'll prove it to you." "I'll prove it." "Give you the rest of the number when you're out of the ZIP code." "You hear that?" "What?" "Hear what?" "Flies." "Blackmailing son of a bitch." "Well..." "To not being dead." " Huh?" " Nah, I got my reasons." "I don't." "See you, sweetheart." "Malone!" "So you never really ripped anyone's heart out?" "Let's hope you never find out, Boulder." "Please insert 25 cents for another minute." "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed." "Please check the number and dial again or call your operator to help you." "The number you have reached is not in service." "Please insert $1.25 for another eight minutes." "Please be sure you..." "Information, how may I help you?" "I'm sorry, there's no answer." "Please try your call again later." "Hello?" "Mom?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Who's this?" "Hello?" "Malone, is that you?" "Hello?" "Malone?" "Is that you?" "Please say something." "Is that you?" "Please, Malone." "Is that you?" "Hello?"