Mean Streets

You don't make up for your sins in church.

You do it in the streets. You do it at home.

The rest is bullshit and you know it.

Hey, what the hell is this?

Not in my fucking place!

Keep out of my place! I know your face!

And you, scumbag!

Man, I told you about passing that shit in my place.

I-I didn't do nothing!

George, what do you do here? You're supposed to be the bouncer.

- I didn't do nothin'. - That's it! You didn't do nothin'!

Come on, hurry up with that shit, huh?

Come on, come on!

- What's this? More shit? - No, that ain't shit.

That's a German lens. That's... I've got two shipments of those.

That's good stuff.

Can't use it.

What do you mean, you can't use it? That's a, that's a telescopic one.

- That's the best one they make. - It's not German, it's Jap.

This is an adaptor. It's not a lens.

You bought two shipments of Jap adaptors, not lenses.

Jap adaptors?

Lord, I'm not worthy to eat your flesh, not worthy to drink your blood.

Not worthy to drink your blood.

Okay. Okay, I just come out of confession, right? Right.

And the priest gives me the usual penance, right?

Ten Hail Marys, ten Our Fathers, ten whatever.

Now you know that next week I'm gonna come back

and he's gonna just give me another ten Hail Marys

and another ten Our Fathers and...

I mean, you know how I feel about that shit.

Those things, th-they don't mean anything to me.

They're just words.

Now that might be okay for the others, but it just doesn't work for me.

I mean, if I do something wrong, I just wanna pay for it my way.

So I do my own penance for my own sins.

What do you say, huh?

That it's all bullshit except the pain, right?

The pain of hell.

The burn from a lighted match increased a million times.

Infinite.

Now you don't fuck around with the infinite.

There's no way you do that.

Pain in hell has two sides.

The kind you can touch with your hand,

the kind you can feel in your heart, your soul, the spiritual side.

And you know, the worst of the two is the spiritual.

- Hey, Charlie, you're crazy. - The priest taught me that.

Terrific. You know any other tricks?

Yeah, but I'll show 'em to you when I learn this one.

You know something? She is really good-looking.

I gotta say that again. She is really good-looking.

But she's Black.

You can see that real plain, right?

Well, look, there's not much of a difference anyway, is there?

Well, is there?

- Oh, great. - Great.

Hey, Marlboro?

For these prices, Charlie, you shouldn't complain.

That's the best I could do. Maybe next week I can do better.

Okay, okay.

If you can't smoke 'em, maybe you can sell 'em.

- No, I'll be okay for a week. - Oh, bless you.

- You seen Johnny Boy? - No.

He's supposed to be here.

But who knows what goes on in that kid's head, right?

I'd like to know, Charlie. I think the kid's trying to duck me.

Don't you think you ought to care a little more

about Johnny's payments to me?

I think you should. You know that.

Michael, Michael, nobody's out to screw you.

Hey, I guarantee that.

Well, you're not looking at it from my side.

You vouched for the kid. What happens if he doesn't pay?

I gotta collect from you? I don't wanna do that.

You're right.

I made a deal with him, not you, right?

You're right, Mike. I'm not going to, uh, pay his debts.

Believe me. I'll talk to him. I'll straighten him out.

Straighten him out? The bum owes money left and right.

Don't worry, Michael.

Hey! Hey, come on!

- Get out of here, you bum! - Come on.

- Come on, sit down. - Hey, take it easy.

What's the matter with you? Everybody's friends here, right?

Hey, hold on. Miss, miss, hold...

Come on, sit down.

You know, Charlie, I don't understand you.

What?

I don't understand why you hang around with a punk kid.

I mean, he's the biggest jerk-off around.

Don't say that, Michael. Don't call him that, will ya?

- What's the matter? - It's...

Family things. It's complicated. I can't explain it, alright?

But really, he's a good kid.

Alright, sure.

- I'll see you. - Right, later. Be well.

Come on, girls. Give her your coats. Give her your coats.

If you don't mind, uh, young lady, I would like to check these.

But I'm keeping my skin pants.

- Hey! - Hey, here he is.

Hey. Hey. Whoo!

Are those the shorts with the hearts on 'em?

Girls, after you.

Alright, okay. Thanks a lot, Lord.

Thanks a lot for opening my eyes.

We talk about penance and you send this through the door.

Well, we play by your rules, don't we?

Well, don't we?

- Hey. Giovannino. - Hey.

- Charlie, how are you? - Alright. How are you?

I want you to meet two beautiful young ladies here.

This is my good friend, Charlie.

This is my good friend, Tony. He owns the joint.

This is, uh... What's your name again, darlin'?

- Sarah. - Sarah. Sarah Kline, right?

- Yes. - Sarah Kline.

This is Tony. And this is...

- Wh-what's your name? - Heather.

Heather. Heather Weintraub, right?

- I met them in the Village. - Bohemian?

Yeah, you know, at the Cafe Bizarre.

So what do youse want to drink, girls?

Tequila.

- You got tequila? - No.

Never mind, never mind. Listen...

Listen, have a 7 and 7. It's good for both of youse.

Give, uh, Tony, give yourself a drink.

Give Charlie and me a J&B, will you, please?

- What's this? - What's what?

- This. - What?

That. What does this look like, huh?

- What? - Where'd you get this?

- What? What? - Where did you get this?

- This. - What?

- This? - Yeah. In the back, come on.

- Hey, hey, hey. - Come on.

What are you doing?

Hey, hey, hey, you're making me look bad, Charlie.

In front of the girls over here.

Oh, excuse me. Hey, I didn't mean to be rude, girls.

Uh, Mr. Civello, I'd like your presence in the back room,

if you got a moment or two.

What, you mean, you request my presence for a moment or two in the back room?

I most certainly do.

Well, uh, after you.

- No, after you. - No, after you.

- Hey, Mr. Civello, after you. - No, after you.

- In the back! - Okay.

Tony, give the, uh, whatever they want.

Hey, girls. Hey, girls, excuse me.

Hey, uh, Tony, keep an eye on these, uh, nice girls here.

Don't let none of the vultures look, okay?

What are you doing?

What do you mean, what am I doing?

- What are you doing to me, huh? - What do you mean?

Michael's been on my back all night. He's bothering me.

Why didn't you make your payment last Tuesday?

What do you mean? I made my payment last Tuesday.

- What are you talking about? - You paid him last week?

Yeah, I paid him last week. Well, what did he say?

He said I didn't pay him? He's a fucking liar. Where is he?

- You paid him? - Yeah, I paid him.

- Last week? - Yeah!

- Last Tuesday? - Yeah.

- Charlie, you don't know-- - He's here.

- Where? - Out front.

- He's here? - Yeah.

- So what do I care? - Alright, let me go get him.

We'll straighten this thing out, alright?

Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute, Charlie.

- What? - Well, you're right.

- I'm right? - Yeah, was it last Tuesday?

Yeah, that's the Tuesday that was last week

that's before the one that's about to come up.

My mistake, I'm sorry. Forgive me.

It was last week, the week before that I was thinking of.

- Oh, yeah. It was, huh? - That's right. That's right.

What's the matter with you, Johnny?

You can't go around bullshitting people that way.

You give your word about something, you gotta keep it.

Hey, you don't know what happened to me. I'm so depressed about other things.

I can't worry about payments. You know what I mean?

I come home last Tuesday. I had my money in cash, you know?

Blah-blah, bing-bing. Coming home, I ran into Jimmy Sparks.

I owe Jimmy Sparks 700, like, for four months.

I gotta pay the guy. He lives in my building.

He hangs out across the street. I gotta pay the guy, right?

- Yeah. - So what happened?

I had to give some to my mother and then I was wound up with 25

at the end of the week.

And then what happened today, you ain't gonna believe

'cause it's just incredible, I can't believe it myself.

- What? - I was in a game.

I was ahead, like, $600, $700, right?

- You gotta be kidding me. - Yeah, on Esther Street.

- You know, you know Joey Clams? - Yeah.

Joey Scala, yeah.

- I know him too, yeah. - No, Joey Scala is Joey Clams.

- Right. - Right.