Boardwalk Empire

(ORCHESTRA PLAYING SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)

Six minutes and 30 seconds.

Is it meant to take this long?

Not as far as I'm concerned.

Get his brother!

What's with you?

Makes me nervous is all.

You're not the one tied up, baby.

Bravo!

You're off somewhere again.

Was I? Sorry.

Thinking about what?

I don't know if I'm thinking about anything.

You don't know if you were thinking?

Isn't that possible?

Hello.

What do you want me to do about it?

Okay. Okay.

I'm doing this for you.

Tomorrow. All right. Bye.

It was my mother.

My father's dying.

You're quite adept with those.

It's easy once you get the hang of it.

And when did that occur?

- What? - How did you get the hang of it?

I was a clerk for an importer on White Street,

Black & Geddes in Manhattan. Ate in Chinatown a lot.

- It was cheap. - You craved more excitement,

joined the Bureau.

- Isuppose. - And you found it, didn't you,

in mortal combat with our witness?

I don't really like to talk about it, sir.

Self-defense in the line of duty is no crime.

I know. It's just...

I wish it'd turned out differently.

With you dead instead of him?

Of course not.

He set upon you unexpectedly,

under the pretense of his need to micturate.

Assaulted you with a stone.

That's right.

- And you shot him? - I had to.

- In the forehead? - The chest.

He hit you in the forehead?

Yes.

Hmm.

So he was facing you while he unsheathed himself.

And yet he had a stone that you did not see

until he hit you With it.

He grabbed for it, I don't know. He scrambled.

It all happened so quickly.

Aren't you gonna eat anything?

The thought of what ingredients might constitute this filth repulses me.

Where is it?

Look.

- Bravo. - I didn't feel a thing.

I knew you were misleading me, yet you managed it anyway.

Deception requires complicity, however subconscious.

We want to be deceived.

Do I have to give it back?

I'm a magician, Miss, not a thief.

There's an excuse that might come in handy someday.

Thank you.

I saw your brother do that straitjacket gag once.

Hanging from the top of the garden pier.

Five feet or 50, the principle is the same.

Until the rope breaks.

Erik, Houdini as you know him,

used to do that escape behind the ghost box,

where no one could see him.

Playing it out in the open was my idea.

Oh, yes. Well, that's much better.

And the Milk Can Escape, my innovation as well.

It's no small feat for a grown man to slip himself inside a tin container.

Try a corset and heels.

I'm sure Mr. Hardeen has had occasion to help many women escape from those.

The most challenging trick of all.

Jesus Christ!

Doesn't anybody here read a goddamn newspaper?

I do.

Then you know I'm fucking ruined.

There are ladies present, sir.

I don't give a cunt's hair, you fucking boob.

My investment.

The Italian fellow I told you about up in Boston, he was arrested.

Charles Ponzi?

It was a swindle from start to finish.

I was in up to the limit and he took me like some out-of-town jasper.

Every shell game needs a mark.

Nobody legit can guarantee a return like that, Harry.

I don't have a nickel.

I'm dead.

I'm sitting here right now, but...

I'm dead.

You're totally broke?

We'll be okay, doll.

Won't we?

Sure we will. We'll pull through. You'll see.

You fat, worthless fool.

Belle, wait.

Well, what other tricks do you know?

You know I've never sought notoriety.

Well, it's about to be seeking you, my friend.

Half the team's indicted.

These players,

Cicotte, Gandil, where would I have met them?

You've met Sport Sullivan.

And Abe Attell, obviously. They're named, too.

Poor Abe. One too many haymakers to the head.

If he hits the mat on this, he could very well take you with him.

A girl goes to bed with 10 fellows,

who's gonna believe her when she says the eleventh is the father?

Arnold, I admire your sangfroid,

but I'm not the person you need to convince.

You were concerned enough to retain my services,

and I'm telling you now your concerns were justified.

What do you propose?

Come here, to Chicago.

Into the lion's den?

Yes. But before you do that,

I want you to think hard about who in this town

is willing to do you a favor.

Commodore, sir.

Jesus.

What is it?

Your visitor, he's here.

Oh.

Good.

Show him in.

There's the boy.

May I get you something, sir?

No, I'm fine. Thank you.

Nonsense. Get him a drink.

No, no, you go on. I'll do it.

Leave that there, for Christ's sake.

So...

Look at you.

A proper gentleman.

My mother raised me well.

Biscuit?

Yeah, he passed last night.

Whimpering, vomiting, couldn't find a place to settle.

I couldn't do a damn thing.

It's a fucking dog.

You're a stony little bastard.

I'm what time and circumstance have made me.

Your mother keeps me informed.

Those must be pleasant conversations.

You have no concept of the ways that people can be close.

I have a pretty good idea. You were 54. She was 13.

You'd have done the same thing.

You don't know me very well.

Oh, I know you backwards and forwards.

You want anything you can lay your hands on,

and nothing's gonna stop you from getting it.

I expect nothing less from my son, though.

This reunion over?

I'm dying, boy.

Well, then I will call you a priest.

You know what this town was before I came here?

A fucking swamp.

Sand blowing through shitty boarding houses.

Nobody wanted to come here.

But I drained that swamp.

I paved those streets. I put up those hotels.

I made this fucking city.

You and your giant blue ox, right?

Don't sass me, boy.

I'm just trying to tell you something.

What are you trying to tell me?

The wrong man is running this town.

- Where are you going? - I don't feel well.

He knows I'm unhappy, but he'd never dream I'd leave.

Neither would Robert.

Pack lightly. One suitcase for you and Tommy both.

We can buy whatever we need once we're abroad.

I'd like afresh start anyway.

The man from Cunard says we're to be at the dock an hour early.

- We'll meet here, and then go to... -(CRASHING)

God damn it!

Dearest?

Hello?

I'm helpless on these damned things.

I spilled developer on my trousers.

- It's all over the floor. I'll get it later. Sit.

I'll see you later, Mary.

What were you two conspiring about?

What?

I heard hushed voices.

Oh. Just girl talk.

Well, you do like your little games, don't you?

You seem to enjoy them yourself.

Very wicked, my love.

Where are you calling from?

The lobby.

Are you out of your fucking mind?

I couldn't call from the post office. It wasn't safe.

You were cleared, weren't you?

There's nothing he can do.