Picture Snatcher

Goodbye, Danny. It's been nice having you here with us.

You're the best head keeper of a big house in the country.

But if it's all the same to you, I wish we'd never met.

You've been a pretty good prisoner. I only wish we had more like you.

- I know, I know. Just one big happy family. - Drop me a line once in a while.

I'll get you a nice new padlock for your birthday.

So long.

Well, well, Danny Kean, this is funny.

- What's funny about it? - I sent you up. I meet you coming out.

If I never met you that would be a pleasure.

Don't be sure. It'll be a pleasure when I bring you back.

Well, don't bet any dough on that.

- Vinegar Puss. - What?

LEo: Oh, look there. By golly. Hello, Danny, go right in here.

How are you? Hi, baby.

Open those windows, will you? Open them up.

You know olive, don't you? - Yeah, sure.

- You ain't changed in three years. - Meet connie Rowland.

I brought her along for you. She's been dying to know you.

Can you blame me, honey?

Mmm. Perfume.

The first break this schnoz has had in three years.

- What kind is that? - Honey De Amor.

It's still good.

I gotta get some of that.

Ha-ha-ha! They'll be throwing a big feed for you when we get back.

You should see your old apartment. We dolled it up. New beds and everything.

Mm-hm.

Hey, wait, wait.

Is that the same stuff, the De Amor the dame uses?

- Yeah, I checked with her. Okay.

Mmm!

That gets it.

That little touch of lavender.

Am I gonna stink pretty.

Don't forget the left armpit.

Say, you telling me my business? I'm making garments for the best people.

- Never mind the armory. - How are you gonna pack a rod?

I'll take it up with you later. Make it fit me.

Don't worry. You'll be the best-dressed ganef in America.

I heard you when you said it, Maxie.

Oh, they don't care. I'll get you in...

There's the old throne, Danny.

And here's something we kept in the vault for you.

Your share plus three years' interest.

And we got a new job lined up too. Just waiting for you to get out.

Hold on to it a minute, Jerry. I got a few words I wanna say too.

I don't know how you guys are gonna take it, but whatever I say stands.

- I'm quitting. Quitting?

Oh, yeah, you heard me, quitting. I'm going legitimate.

Quit your stalling, Danny. What's the big idea?

- Ever been in stir, Leo? - No.

- Have you? - No, and they'll never send me either.

Well, I have and I'm not going back.

I'm carrying six slugs, and I know they're there.

See those mitts? Blisters. From swinging a sledge in a rock pile.

And I wanna say something. Half my scars belong to you.

- Don't be a sap. - We are both in the same pot.

You took it on the lam and left me holding a bag.

- That's the last rap I take for anybody. - You crack and I turn canary.

- You know that better than anybody. LEo: Wait.

Shut up. Come on.

I don't want any arguments.

I'm washed up.

Taking my cut because I earned it.

What you gonna do, open a flower shop?

Gonna do something I wanted to do all my life.

A newspaper guy sent me a letter when I was in stir.

- Said he'd get me a job. - Working at what?

As a newspaper reporter on the Graphic News.

That ain't no newspaper.

It's a 10th-rate rag that makes its living off of dirty pictures.

- It's a job on the up and up. - Other papers don't think so.

I've got a cousin on the Herald.

He said the big papers been trying to put the Graphic News out of business.

- Gives journalism a black eye. - They're still in business, ain't they?

And I think I'm smart enough to be their star reporter.

Did you ever hear of the morgue?

- What was that crack? - Now don't get excited.

I'm talking about the morgue in a newspaper office.

Where they file old pictures and stuff.

I don't like the word.

And if I was you, I wouldn't use it when I'm around, see?

What's wrong with him? LEo: What do you think?

Don't you remember? I took you to the baseball game?

And to the garden, you like the... You liked the geraniums.

- Me? - Yeah.

And then we went to the shirt factory.

Hey, where was this?

Sing Sing.

Oh, Sing Sing.

Yeah, you gave me this letter.

Oh, sure. Danny Kean, I remember now. What can I do for you, Danny?

- I want a job as a reporter. - You're no reporter.

I didn't say I was.

All I want is a chance. I know I got what it takes.

This isn't the mob. You can't write with what it takes.

Gotta carry a dictionary in your head, know people.

- I know every mug and cop in this town. - That's the trouble.

We can't use notorious characters around here.

Except on page one. There's no money in this racket, Danny.

It ain't the dough. I've got enough of that.

I wanna show you and me and the world I can be something besides a gorilla.

McLEAN: Hey, what's the matter? - Fireman's got a shotgun.

- I set up my camera, he let me have it. - Hurt much?

- Ducked. Few pills in the arm. - Forget it. Lay in the hospital.

- We'll stand the expense. - Forget the picture?

I'm not killing any men for snapshots. Beat it, kid.

- What...? - We got the story covered.

The fireman goes off duty at night. There's a two-alarm fire in his neighborhood.

Takes a lift from the hook and ladder to find it's his home and his wife has been burned.

Not to mention the boyfriend found with her.

That's news, you say forget the picture.

- The life of this paper is pictures. - Dirtiest we can get.

The public demands to see what they're reading.

I'm not gonna serve a dead newspaperman.

That's your job. Say, I put up with about enough.

You've been fired from every job you ever had.

No sheet'll have you because of your drunkenness.

Lay off. You're getting your money's worth.

Get a picture of that fireman...

...or there'll be a new man in your chair tomorrow.

Oh, excuse me.

Mr. McLean.

- You still here? - Yeah.

- Let me get the picture of that fireman. - He's got a gun.

What's a gun? That's why I get the edge on all these guys here.

I'm playing with guns all my life.

Only, keep it under your hat.

Hold up. Wait here.

- Which one of you guys is Stacy? - I am, why?

I'm a new man. McLean sent me up here to get that picture.

Boy, you got some tough job.

This fireman's gone clean off his nut. None of us have been near him.

- He's ready to commit murder. - Yeah, I know, that's why they sent me.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Don't start anything. This guy's from another sheet.

- You got a job to do. - All right.

I'll see you later, mush mouth.

Your national anthem. Drive around the corner, up the alley.

Turn around, keep your motor running. You hear a shot, don't wait.

- Graphic News will pay you off. - Okay.

Bo Y 1: Hello, mister. Bo Y 2: Hello, mister.

Trying to persecute me, eh?

- Breaking in my house like this. I'll fix you. - What's wrong?

I'm the insurance man. National Insurance company.

What are the losses here?

- Oh, you're the insurance man. - Yeah, the claim adjuster.

Glad they put me on this job. It's a fireman's house.

A fireman saved my mother and father.

- Yeah? - Yeah, sure. I'm gonna give you a break.

You guys saved us a lot of money. Gonna treat you the same way.

- Uh, how about that chair? - Oh, how do I know?

She bought it. My wife.

- Now she's dead and l... - call it $ 10.

- How much for the bed? - I don't want nothing for that.

- Don't be a sap. You'll take something. - I told you, I don't want nothing for it.

Oh.

Well, the total is $2775.

Go outside, sit down. You look tired. I'll look. See if I can make it three grand.

I'll go in the other room and watch those reporters.

They're not gonna spread our picture on the front page for people to laugh at.

- I'll kill them, that's what I'll do. - Yeah.

- I'll kill them. - A pleasure.

- I'll see you on the way out. - Yeah.

All set. An even three grand.

Yeah, well, if you're finished, leave me alone.

Sure sorry to bother you at a time like this, but it's for your own good.

Yeah, a lot of good money'll do me now.

I'm even afraid to go back to the firehouse.

I was always bragging to the boys what a wonderful little wife I had.

Yeah.

I know how you feel.

Boys, look.

What's your name in case I wanna see you?

Jones. Johnny K. Jones.

That heel's got something. I'm going after him. Hey.

Hey, what do you got?

A yen to smack you on the kisser.

Come on, be a good sport. Split it with us, will you?

Sure, I'll split it wide open.

Get him, come on. Get him.

Come on, you rascal.

Graphic News, beat it. Quick.

Hey.

- You're a credit to Sing Sing. - I grabbed that picture. It was a pipe.

Mr. Grover may turn you loose in the galleries of Europe.

- He'd like to have you lift the Mona Lisa. - None of your high-brow wisecracks.

You've shown unusual enterprise.

I'm gonna give you a chance, 20 a week, starting today.

Careful, you'll knock the lad over with generosity.

I don't care about the dough. I want a job on a newspaper.

Report to Photographic. They issue a pocket camera, keep it with you.

Grab everything in sight that's hot. Things that the public would wanna see.

Yeah, sure. Thanks very much.

But, you know, I feel kind of sorry for that poor fireman.

But after all, I gotta make an honest living.

Danny.

Thanks for myself.

- You know what I mean. - Aw, forget it.