They Live by Night

I knew that tire had to go.

You talk too much.

- Please, mister. Please. - Uh-uh.

Yeah.

Now what?

Now to get to that brother of yours and get that dough you got stashed away.

Let's go, let's go. Come on.

- Let's go, let's go, let's go. - It's his foot.

- How far we gotta go? - Ten, 15 miles.

- You two go on. - You hole up in here, back of the sign.

One of us will come back for you tonight. We'll blink the headlights on the car.

- At least you got company. - Take it easy, son.

I'll take it easy.

I got a lawyer in Tulsa to see.

- You having trouble? - Could be.

Who are you?

- You live around here? - Could be.

You haven't had a couple of visitors lately, have you?

That wouldn't be a sore foot making you limp, would it?

Could be.

I got some other stuff to pick up. Get in, or we'll both get pneumonia.

They took their own sweet time sending for me.

Who are you?

They sent this for you. Get in.

I'll take that stuff.

You go around the shed through the trees. A cabin back there.

Look who's here.

- Hello, son. - You took your time getting here.

What you and that gal been doing, swimming?

Say hello to Mobley, Chickamaw's brother.

I told you she'd find him.

- She's a weasel, that daughter of mine. - Tired?

Sorry we had to keep you waiting, son. It had to be that way.

Here, kid. This will fit better over that bandage.

You're welcome.

A thousand dollars. That enough for a used car?

Could be. You can't tell though.

The way things are, you could...

Oh, that'd be my daughter.

Hello, Miss Keechie.

Here's 500 more. That's 1,500 for the car.

Can't have you coming back in no rattletrap, not for this trick.

1,500 bucks for a second-hand car?

That's right.

Whoever sells them for that — That's worse than robbing a bank.

They're thieves, just like us.

Now don't forget the clothes.

And tell Mattie the first big dough goes to get her man out of jail.

- Yeah. - Tell her that, or she won't come.

Oh, I'll tell her for sure.

Well, so long, fellas. I...

I'll try to get back here with Mattie before tomorrow night.

Hey, big brother, stay sober.

- Me? - Yeah, you.

Oh, I won't touch a drop. Not a drop.

Of course he won't.

We take care of our friends, Mobley.

I know. I know that, T-Dub.

Keechie, you'll take care of the station, won't you?

So long.

"You'll take care of the station."

He never did a lick of work in his life, that brother of mine.

Did you catch that look on his face?

He's still trying to figure out where I had that dough hid.

Can't you make that stove work?

He'd have grabbed it too. Wouldn't he, Keechie?

You show him how, Miss Keechie.

That's one machine he don't know nothin' about.

Here.

Thanks.

That boy's some gallant, ain't he, Miss Keechie?

He's got a soft heart... and a head to match.

His head looks all right to me.

That little girl don't think any too much of us, I'm here to tell you.

Her ma was just the same way. Always acting like she was the queen of Romania.

- Keechie's mom? - Yeah. You know what she did?

She ran off with a fella, and now they're running a medicine show.

No matter how I turn it, we're short. We need another thousand dollars.

Hey! We're in it.

"Prison farm break.

The escape of three lifers was announced today by Warden E. Gaylord of...

of the state prison farm.

The fugitives, who kidnapped a farmer in their flight, are Elm"...

"Elmo 'One-Eye' Mobley."

Always that one-eye stuff. They always gotta mention that.

"R.T. Waters, farmer of Akota, gave a description of the three men

who commandeered his car at the point of a gun."

I should've blasted his head off with that shotgun.

- Chickamaw. - That stuff's all they can talk about.

Come here.

This dance hall, the Meadowbrook, you know it?

Sure, I know it. Used to be my old stomping ground.

They're having themselves a little dance tomorrow night.

Enough we could take there for a small cushion for the Zelton job?

Sunday night? Yeah, that could...

That "one-eye."

They didn't print a very big piece about us either.

Wish it was only two lines.

Newspapers raise more heat than anything.

In a few days, they'll really have something to print about us.

- Yeah. - Three boys like us?

We can charge any bank in the country, any bank.

- How many you knocked over, T-Dub? - Enough.

I've done a few myself.

You're in luck, kid. You're traveling with real people.

Takes three to charge a bank, and we're the Three Mosquitoes.

We move fast. Can you take it?

- Me? - You.

Sure. I can rib myself up to anything.

Maybe.

You ribbed yourself up once to killin' a man, didn't you?

Didn't you?

Yeah. I sure did.

Get in there.

Close the door.

And get down.

Highway patrol, this time every night.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13.

Okay.

Thanks.

I don't guess I know much about talking to women, or how to talk. I...

- How old are you? - Twenty-three.

- How long were you in that prison? - Seven years.

What'd that Chickamaw tell you about me?

Patrol back?

Well, you ought to be happy now. You finally hit something.

Shut up.

I thought I told you to stay sober.

- Aw, I had a tough time. - He had a tough time.

- The way you was drivin'. - Aw, shut up!

- Hello, Mattie. - Is that the best you could send?

Shut up!

I had a tough time.

I got everything done, though, just like you told me.

It's good to see you, Mattie.

We got planning and figuring to do.

You're lucky he didn't bust up something before we got here.

The way that guy was driving, I was ready to jump.

Shut up!

Bowie, you better fix this tire and check the car.

How's my brother?

- He's still in there. - I know.

- Did you see him? - Yep.

Chickamaw.

Had a tough time.

Come on.

Slippery.

I can handle him.

She's my daughter.

Keechie.

Keechie?

Oh, where's my daughter?

Keechie?

You like your old man?

Do you like yours?

Not much.

- Is it true your ma ran off with a guy? - Yes.

My ma took up with a guy who ran a pool hall.

Pa used to take me there.

One night, he and this guy were having an argument.

I thought it was part of the game.

Never did see a pool game that didn't have an argument.

Pa raised his cue and...

The other guy had a gun.

Pa turned to me like he was trying to say something.

I saw his face — white.

Like he was gonna cry.

And the blood running into his eyes.

My ma went to live with the guy that killed him.

Got a cigarette?

You smoke a lot.

I don't want one.

Haven't got one.

- How's it coming? - All right.

I just wanted to make sure you were okay, the two of you.

Nothing for you to worry about.

Chickamaw.

Better get a move on. We got some traveling to do.

Fine company you're running with.

I suppose you thought you had to get out of that prison.

Didn't see any use doing any more time.

Wasn't getting me nowhere.

- Out here, even the air smells different. - Where do you think you'll get with them?

That Chickamaw, he lives for trouble, even if he is my uncle.

Aw, he's wild all right, but T-Dub's steady.

Maybe.

- If I wasn't so hot, you know what I'd like? - What?

Like to have me a filling station. A garage along with it maybe.

That'd be too slow for you.

You wanna live your life fast.

You don't know what you want.

You got me down wrong, Miss Keechie.

T-Dub saw it in the paper back there in the prison, see?

It's what the Supreme Court of the United States itself said.

This fella it writes about,

he was tried, convicted of murder, sentenced — All the same day.

The same as me.

Then the Supreme Court itself said let that man out.

No due process of law.

That fella was 16, too, when he done his murder. Same as me.