The Hurricane

And just a reminder, ladies and gentlemen...

this fine young fighter will be right here in Pittsburgh...

on the boxing card this Monday night.

Time now for the main event of the evening!

In this corner, from Paterson, New Jersey...

wearing the white trunks with the black stripe...

the winner of 18 of his last 21 fights...

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter!

And in the left corner...

in the dark trunks with the white stripe...

from St Thomas, Virgin Islands...

the welterweight champion of the world, Emile Griffith!

Fighters, let's go.

All right.

All right. Keep your punches up. It's gonna be a good, clean fight...

all right?

All right. Let's touch gloves. Good luck. Okay, go to your corners.

Hurricane, blow yourself outta here!

Go get 'im, Rubin.

Let's get 'im.

Come on and get me! I'm in here!

I'll tell you what. First one through that door is gonna die!

And the second one, and the third one after that! So come on!

Room in here for everybody.

Collins! Becker! Klein on the platform!

- Kelly, lock everything down! - Go!

It's Carter, tier one!

Got room in here for everybody! So come on!

Three times life! That's what I got! Three times life!

And for what? For murders I didn't even commit?

I ain't got nothin' but time, so come on! I'm ready for ya!

Come on in and get me!

Y'all wanna know who's talking? Hurricane is talking!

You wanna see The Hurricane? Come on up in here and see him!

Come on up in here and see him!

Did you see that punch?

Oh, no!

Lucky punch!

You got him, Rubin boy!

Three, four...

five, six...

- You all right? - Yeah, I'm all right.

All right. Let's go.

Knock him out! Come on!

He's in your corner! Get out of the corner!

Another left to the body. Another right to the head.

- A vicious combination! - Yeah! Yeah! - Yeah! Yeah!

And he looks like he's going down! He hits the canvas.

Four, five...

It doesn't look like he's gonna get up.

- Five... - He's up!

- You all right? - The referee is checking him.

And that's it! It's over!

At two minutes and 13 seconds of the first round...

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter has defeated...

the welterweight champion of the world.

Come on, come on, come on! Come on!

- Come on! Who wants some? - Where's the key?

- Who's first? - Shut up!

- Relax there, Carter! - What the hell's goin' on?

- I'm goin' in there. - Are you nuts? You wanna get yourself killed?

Everybody stand down! Stand down!

- Come on in here. - Back off!

- Talk to 'em, Jimmy. - Rubin... - Talk to them!

- Talk to them! - Rubin.

- Tell me what's goin' on. - I ain't takin' no shit!

- Rubin, calm down! It's me, Jimmy. Come here and talk to me. - You can talk to 'em! I ain't no animal!

- I ain't takin' no shit in here! - Rubin, calm down! Calm down!

Take it easy, champ. Now, tell me what's goin' on.

Tell me what's happenin'. Come on!

- Hurricane done killed 'em! - Clear... Clear the... Clear the tier!

Get outta here! Everybody!

They wanna toss my cell, Jimmy. They're gonna find my manuscript.

That book is the only thing I got left in here.

You understand me? That's the only chance I got to get out of here.

I lose that, they gonna lose too.

Rubin, who do you think the first man through this door has gotta be now?

It's me.

- Listen... - All right. Tell 'em to come on in here.

- And line 'em up. - What if... - Line 'em up, Jimmy.

Rubin, listen to me now. What if that manuscript...

wasn't in this cell when we tossed it?

What if it was stuffed down your pants or something...

stuffed in your crotch, and we couldn't see it?

I can make sure you weren't strip-searched, okay?

Don't bullshit me.

No bullshit. You have my word.

Ain't nobody putting their hands on me, Jimmy.

Ain't nobody gonna touch me.

All right.

Nobody touches you.

You think I killed them people?

I don't know, Rubin.

I don't know.

Shit. Motherfuckers.

1- 10. Suspect at 1059...

- John, you been drinkin'? - No. No.

All right. All right. Just relax. Let me handle this.

Okay.

- Licence and registration. - It's on the steering post.

What's goin' on?

Aw, shit, Hurricane. Didn't realize it was you.

Yeah, it's me. What's goin' on, Theo?

We're lookin' for two negroes in a white car.

- Any two will do? - No...

Oh, sh...

Okay, get out.

All right. Let's go.

Come on.

- Check his vitals. - It's clear.

- Air passage. - Heart rate has changed.

Keep the chin up. Keep the passage open.

Can he talk, Doc?

- Just for a moment. - Would you raise his head?

Can you make out these two men? Are these the two men who shot you?

Look carefully, sir. Are these the two men who did it?

- He said no. - Move closer.

- He said no. - Move closer!

Take another look, sir.

Son of a bitch.

Sir, look closer.

You sure these aren't the men?

- Dirty son of a bitch. - Watch your mouth!

- Same old shit, huh, Della Pesca? - Shut up!

Ask him again.

You been after me my whole life, Della Pesca.

Now you're trying to pin a murder jacket on me, huh?

Well, I got news for you. It don't fit.

I'm gonna take your black ass down...

Mr Fuckin' Champion of the World.

I got your black fuckin' champion right between my legs...

you short punk bitch.

You try me.

That's just what I'm gonna do.

Pistol shots ring out in the bar room night

Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall

She sees the bartender in a pool of blood

Cries out, My god they've killed them all

Here comes the story of The Hurricane

The man the authorities came to blame

For something that he never done

Put in a prison cell but one time

He could've been the champion of the world

Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties

Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise

While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell

An innocent man in a living hell

Yes, that's the story of The Hurricane

But it won't be over till they clear his name

And give him back the time he's done

Put in a prison cell but one time

He could've been the champion of the world

Hey, man, it's cold out here.

What are you talkin' about? It's like summer for us.

Yeah, well, I like the summers in Brooklyn better.

Is all these people out here freezing their butts off to buy books?

- That's right. - Lined up like this...

not for a movie or a ball game or somethin'?

- Ain't it great? - No, "isn't it." "Isn't it great?"

Very good. I stand corrected, Les.

Used books, books nobody wants any more.

Aw, that's the great thing about books, you know.

Once you use 'em, you can pass 'em along to somebody else like a torch...

or a football, you know, something you pass.

Okay, bring it on in.

Put it down. Good, good. Down.

Okay, young man, that'll be 25 cents.

- Jesus. - Twenty-five cent?

Mustn't be much of a book.

- Ah, listen, everybody - Everybody

Especially you, girl

So, Lesra, what'd you get?

Uh, this.

- What is it? - I don't know. It's about a boxer.

It's got like 337 pages, though, you know.

Well, it probably takes a lot of words to tell someone's life story, eh?

- Don't you think? - Yeah, well, this guy must be...

like 150 years old, you know, if he gon' use all these words.

You know what, Les? Sometimes we don't pick the books we read.

- They pick us. - Somebody, somewhere

- I tell you, it's unfair - Can I get some whisky

Can I get some whisky Yeah

Mr Broden, we've been home schooling this young man for eight months.

That's how it applies to us.

No, I'm not married. Mr Swinton, who you spoke with...

is one of the two men I live with.

No, Sam Chaiton is the other man I live with.

No, I don't think you do see, Mr Broden.

They are my business partners and my roommates.

And you're the Department of Education...

and you're telling me you're prepared to stop this young man's education...

because you can't find some goddam high school records?

Yep, that's exactly what I'm doing, Mr Broden.

No, no, I'm not asking you to make an exception.

I'm asking you to do your job, which is qualitatively different...

but I thank you for it anyway.

- Shit. - Political Science 101, the art of gentle persuasion.

Never mind 101. I need a smoke.

- So how was the book sale? - Great.

- There. - Did you get The Other America?