ON THE WATERFRONT
by Budd Schulberg
FADE IN
EXT—ESTABLISHING SHOT—WATERFRONT—NIGHT
Shooting toward a small building (Hoboken Yacht Club) set upon a wharf
floating about twenty-five yards off shore. A long, narrow gangplank
leads from the wharf to the shore, and on either side of the wharf are
large ocean liners which are being unloaded by arc light. In the B.G.
is the glittering New York skyline. A great liner, blazing with light,
is headed down river. A ferry chugs across to Manhattan. There is a
counterpoint of ships' whistles, some shrill, others hauntingly muted.
CLOSER SHOT—SMALL BUILDING—ON WHARF—NIGHT
It is the office of the longshoremen's local for this section of
waterfront. Coming along the gangplank toward the shore is an isolated
figure. He is TERRY MALLOY, a wiry, jaunty, waterfront hanger-on in his
late twenties. He wears a turtleneck sweater, a windbreaker and a cap.
He whistles a familiar Irish song.
A SERIES OF WALKING SHOTS—TERRY MALLOY—WATERFRONT—NIGHT
Reaching the shore and turning away from the union office. Passing the
burned-out piers.
Turning up a waterfront tenement street lit by a dim street lamp that
throws an eerie beam. He is holding something inside his jacket but we
cannot see what it is.
NOTE: MAIN TITLES TO BE SUPERIMPOSED OVER THIS SERIES OF SHOTS
EXT—WATERFRONT STREET—NIGHT
Terry walks along until he reaches an ancient tenement where he stops,
hesitates, looks up toward the top of the building, and putting his
fingers to his mouth lets out a shrill, effective whistle that echoes
up the quiet street. Then he cups his hands to his mouth and shouts:
TERRY
Hey Joey! Joey Doyle!
MEDIUM SHOT—TENEMENT WINDOW—NIGHT
The window of a third-story room, from Terry's POV. JOEY DOYLE, a
youthful, rather sensitive and clean-cut Irish boy, pokes his head out
the window.
JOEY
Terry?
(then a little suspiciously)
What do you want?
REVERSE ANGLE—WATERFRONT STREET—NIGHT
TERRY
Hey look-
He reaches into his windbreaker in a gesture associated with drawing a
gun from a shoulder holster. But instead he draws out a live racing
pigeon. As he does so the bird makes an effort to escape and flaps its
wings, but Terry subdues it expertly and holds it up for Joey to see.
TERRY
(somewhat uneasily)
—one of yours. I recognized the band.
CLOSE—ON JOEY AT WINDOW—NIGHT
There is a fire escape in front of it.
JOEY
Yeah? Must be Danny-boy. I lost him in the
last race.
TERRY
He followed my birds into their coop.
Here, you want him?
JOEY
(cautiously)
Well I got to watch myself these days.
Know what I mean?
TERRY
I'll bring him up to your loft.
JOEY
(some what reassured)
I'll see you on the roof.
Joey closes the window and turns away.
EXT—MEDIUM CLOSE—TENEMENT—ON TERRY —NIGHT
Tensely, as if going through something he wishes he could avoid, Terry
looks in the direction of the tenement stoop and nods. Now for the
first time we see two men standing there under the doorway so that Joey
was unable to see them from his window. When Terry nods they enter the
tenement hallway; he takes a few steps forward so as to be out of sight
from Joey's widow. Then Terry raises the pigeon into the air and,
inexplicably, releases it. As it wings out of sight he turns and starts
up the street in the direction from which he came, walking crabwise as
if trying to see the effect of what he has just done. A soddenly drunk,
one-armed longshoreman, MUTT MURPHY, staggers toward him, singing in a
hoarse voice... .
MUTT
(as if it were a dirge)
Tippi-tippi-tim, tippi-tim,
Tippi-tippi-tan, tippi-tan...
(He stumbles into Terry.)
Gotta dime for a crippled-up docker?
TERRY
Go on, beat it!
MUTT
A dime, Terry, a dime for a cup of coffee?
TERRY
Don't give me that coffee, you rummy.
Now blow!
MUTT
Thanks for nothing, you bum.
With a certain battered dignity, Mutt moves off, picking up his song,
"Tippi-tippi-tan, tippi-tan... ." Terry takes an anxious glance back
toward the tenement.
EXT—TENEMENT ROOFTOP—NIGHT
In the B.G. on the far shore is the New York skyline. In the M.G. a
ship is being unloaded on this side of the river. In the F.G. is a coop
of racing pigeons. Joey comes out on the roof and looks around. The
door f rom the tenement stairway creaks open and Joey turns.
JOEY
Terry?
There is no answer. Joey is surprised.
JOEY
That you, Terry?
Two men step out upon the roof, their faces hidden in shadows. Joey
looks startled and retreats a few steps.
JOEY
Where's Terry?
The two men (BARNEY and SPECS) advance, silently.
JOEY (continued)
He said he'd meet me up here.
CLOSE SHOT—JOEY—ROOFTOP—NIGHT
Now he realizes the intentions of the two men. He looks around for some
means of escape.
MEDIUM CLOSE—BARNEY AND SPECS—ROOFTOP—NIGHT
From Joey's angle. Moving in.
MEDIUM CLOSE—JOEY—ROOFTOP—NIGHT
He makes a wild dash for the fire escape which leads him to the roof.
But when he reaches it, another goon, SLIM, appears, cutting off this
escape.
LONG SHOT—ROOFTOP—NIGHT
Joey turns and runs along the edge of the roof, the illuminated skyline
in the B.G. He
disappears from view as if he has jumped o ff the roof.
MEDIUM SHOT—LOWER ROOFTOP LEVEL—NIGHT
This rooftop is one floor lower than the rooftops on either side of it,
forming a trough between the two and providing no further avenue of
escape for Joey. As Joey looks around desperately, Barney appears on
upper level and another goon, SONNY, appears on the other. Now Joey is
trapped between them. As they move forward he retreats backward toward
the edge of the roof.
JOEY (defiantly)
You want me to jump so it looks
like an accident?
The assailants close in silently. Joey gestures them on.
JOEY
Come on. I'll take one of you with me.
The goons edge in still closer, poker-faced, knowing they have him.
EXT—FRIENDLY BAR—NIGHT
An old-fashioned corner saloon with swinging doors. Standing on the
corner, fl anked by a goon aptly named the TRUCK is CHARLEY, THE GENT,
Terry's older brother, rather handsome if a little too smooth, in his
late thirties, a snappy dresser in his camel hair coat and snap brim
hat. He is quick-witted and affable, more politician than mobster.
Terry enters to him.
CHARLEY
(gently)
How goes?
TERRY
(tightly)
He's on the roof.
CHARLEY
The pigeon?
TERRY
(resentfully)
Like you said. It worked.
TRUCK
(to Terry, tapping his own temple)
That brother of yours is thinkin' alla time.
TERRY
(tense)
All the time.
There is a short, shrill, almost human cry of a boat whistle. It
changes slightly in pitch and we are hearing an actual cry.
CLOSE SHOT—BODY OF JOEY
Hurtling off roof, with a bloodcurdling shriek.
INT—CLOSE SHOT—WOMAN AT WINDOW (MRS. COLLINS)
She screams.
EXT—FRIENDLY BAR—FAVORING TERRY—NIGHT
Worried as he begins to wonder what happened.
TRUCK
I'm afraid somebody fell off a roof.
Terry stares at him. Longshoremen come running out of the bar toward
the sound of the scream. Terry has to struggle not to be carried along
with them. He works his way toward Charley, standing on the curb with
Truck, calmly watching the Friendly Bar customers excitedly running
past him. (Calls and commotion in the distance O.S.)
TRUCK
He thought he was gonna sing for the
Crime Commission. He won't.
Truck winks at Charley significantly. Terry catches the meaning and is
horrified.
TERRY
(accusingly)
You said they was only going to talk to him.
CHARLEY
That was the idea.
TERRY
I thought they'd talk to him. Try to get
him to dummy up.
CHARLEY
Maybe he gave them an argument.
TERRY
I figured the worst they'd do is work him
over a little.
CHARLEY
He probably gave 'em an argument.
TRUCK
(almost primly)
He's been giving our boss a lot of trouble.
TERRY
He wasn't a bad little fella, that Joey.
CHARLEY
No he wasn't.
TRUCK
Except for his mouth.
CHARLEY
Talkative.
TERRY
(muttering to himself)
Wasn't a bad little fella ...
TRUCK
(chuckling)
Maybe he could sing, but he couldn't fly.
Terry looks at Truck, stricken.
CHARLEY
(sympathetically, nodding toward bar)
Come on, kid. I'll buy you a drink.
TERRY
(bewildered)
In a minute.
Charley looks at him, slightly concerned, and goes in with Truck. Terry
watches the longshoremen hurrying past him, in the direction of—
EXT—LANDING BELOW TENEMENT ROOF—NIGHT
Forming a circle around Joey are KAYO NOLAN, a hard little nut of a
man; TOMMY COLLINS, a young longshoreman friend of Joey's; LUKE, a
giant Negro; MOOSE, a good-natured, hulking longshoreman; and others.
The shot favors POP DOYLE, a short , stocky man with a small potbelly.
POP
(to someone running up)
I kept tellin' him: don't say nothin',
keep quiet, you'll live longer.
POLICE SERGEANT
(to another cop)
Tell the ambulance to hurry.
SHOT OF ONLOOKERS—ROOFTOP—NIGHT
Including a hard-faced longshoreman, a careworn woman in her middle
thirties (Mrs. Collins) and Mutt.
LONGSHOREMAN
He ain't gonna need no ambulance.
FATHER BARRY, a lean, tough, West Side priest, climbs a wooden fence
and approaches the crowd.
FATHER BARRY
(roughly)
One side. Le'me through!
MEDIUM SHOT—MRS. COLLINS, MUTT—ROOFTOP—NIGHT
MRS. COLLINS
(to Father Barry as he passes)
Same thing they did to my Andy five years ago.
CLOSE ON BODY OF JOEY—TENEMENT LANDING—NIGHT
Father Barry prays. A police sergeant turns to Pop.
SERGEANT
You're Pop Doyle, aren't you, the boy's father?
POP
(angrily)
That's right.
SERGEANT
He fell over backward from the roof—
like he was pushed. Any ideas?
POP
(aggressively)
None.
MRS. COLLINS
(coming forward)
He was the one longshoreman with guts
enough to talk to them crime investigators.
Everybody knows that.
POP
(wheeling angrily and pushing her away)
Who asked you. Shut your trap.
If Joey'd taken that advice he wouldn't be—
(starts to crack up)
MRS. COLLINS
(protesting)
Everybody know that...?
POP
I said shut up!
SERGEANT
Look, I'm an honest cop. Give me
some leads and I'll...
Pop stands silently, choked with grief.
KAYO NOLAN
Listen— don't bother him. Right, Moose?
MOOSE
(nodding)
One thing I learned— all my life on the waterfront—
dont ask no questions— don't answer no questions.
Unless you... .
(looks at the body and stops)
LUKE
(reverently)
He was all heart, that boy.
Enough guts for a regiment.
POP
(in a bitter rage)
Guts— I'm sick of guts. He gets a book in the pistol
local and right away he's gonna be a hero. Gonna
push the mob off the dock singlehanded... .
FATHER BARRY
(comfortingly)
Take it easy, Pop. I know it's rough
but time and faith are great healers... .
CLOSE—ON EDIE—TENEMENT LANDING—NIGHT
Joey's sister, a fresh-faced, sensitive young Irish girl who has been
kneeling over the body. She looks up and around at the Father in bitter
grief.
EDIE
Time and faith... . My brother's dead and you
stand there talking drivel about time and faith.
FATHER BARRY
(taken aback)
Why Edie, I—
EDIE
(plunging on)
How could anyone do this to Joey. The best in the
neighborhood... . everybody said it, not only me.
Who'd want to harm Joey? Tell me— who? -- who?
FATHER BARRY
(embarrassed)
I wish I knew, Edie,
But—
(starts to turn away as if appealing to the others)
EDIE
Don't turn away! Look at it! You're in this too—
don't you see, don't you see? You're in this too, Father.
FATHER BARRY
(defensively, sincerely)
Edie, I do what I can. I'm in the church when you need me.
EDIE
(bitingly)
"In the church when you need me."
Was there ever a saint who hid in the Church?
She turns from him angrily, toward the covered form of Joey.
CLOSE SHOT—FATHER BARRY
Father Barry stands there jolted and troubled.
MRS. COLLINS
(moves in to him)
Forgive her, Father. Them two was as close as twins.
Father Barry nods. Thinking hard.
MRS. COLLINS
(continued)
Whoever was in on this'll burn in hell until
kingdom come... .
DISSOLVE
INT—FRIENDLY BAR—NIGHT
The atmosphere is the sharpest possible contrast to the scene above. It
is a rough waterfront bar full of half-gassed longshoremen and pistol
boys. They are all watching a fight on TV above the bar, and there is
much hoarse laughter and ad lib jokes at the fight. The only one not
watching
is Terry, who sits at a table by himself staring at a half-finished
glass of beer. Mutt is wandering around in the B.G.
VOICE (O.S.)
Hey, Terry, Riley's makin' a bum outa that Solari—
Terry looks off and sees—
MEDIUM SHOT—BARNEY AND SPECS—AT BAR—NIGHT
Unconcernedly drinking and enjoying the fight. SPECS Come on over and
have a shot.
Still disturbed and preoccupied, Terry shakes his head and goes on
through the bar toward the
back room. Others call to him but he keeps going.
INT—BACK ROOM OF BAR—NIGHT
A partition separates this room from the main bar, and a small corner
of the bar extends through the partition. On the wall are old fight
posters and some pictures of fighters, ball players and horses. At a
table, flanked by Charley and a tall, muscular bodyguard, SONNY, is
JOHNNY FRIENDLY. He is not tough in a conventional way, but with a
sinister intent, a humorless sense of domination that is really
dangerous. The boxing match can be seen on a smaller TV set.
JOHNNY FRIENDLY
Turn it off. Them clowns can't fight. There's nobody
tough anymore.
JOCKO, the bartender, pokes his head through the archway behind the
bar.
JOCKO
Hey, boss, Packy wants another one on
the cuff?
JOHNNY
(with a generous wave of his hand)
Give it to him!
As Johnny finishes off a bottle of beer, BIG MAC, the bullnecked hiring
boss, comes up to the table with a thick roll of bills.
BIG MAC
Here's the cut from the shape-up. Eight hundred
and ninety-one men at three bucks a head makes—
puts on glasses, incongruous on his beefy face
--twenty-six seventy-three.
JOHNNY
(to Charley)
Here, you count it. Countin' makes me sleepy.
Terry enters during the above and sits at the bar, brooding. Johnny is
glad to see him.
JOHNNY
(continued)
H'ya, slugger, how they hangin'?
TERRY
(subdued)
So-so, Johnny.
JOHNNY
(pantomiming, defending against blows)
Don't hit me, now, don't hit me!
BIG MAC
We got a banana boat at forty-six tomorra.
If we pull a walkout it might be a few bucks
from the shippers. Them bananas go bad
in a hurry.
JOHNNY
We'll ask ten G.
(looks around)
Where's Morgan? Where's that big banker of mine?
As Johnny talks he holds on to Terry, and fondles him casually. MORGAN,
a big-eared, large-nosed little weasel of a man, pokes his head in the
door as if he were waiting just outside.
MORGAN
Right here, boss.
JOHNNY
(mockingly — Morgan is sort of court jester)
Well, J.P., how's business?
J.P.
Havin' trouble with Kelly again, boss. He
Won't take no loans and Big Mac puts him to
work anyway.
BIG MAC
(shouting at J.P.)
He's my wife's nephew.
J.P.
(right back at Big Mac)
But he don't take no loans.
BIG MAC
I got to give him work. She'd murda me... .
J.P.
(shakes his head)
That's why I stay single.
(turns to Johnny)
Here's the interest on the day, boss.
Five thirty two.
JOHNNY
(taking it from him and handing it to Sonny)
Count it.
Now Sonny and Charley are both counting. SKINS, another runner for the
mob, a nervous, pasty-faced man, enters.
JOHNNY
(continued)
Hey, Skins—
(as Skins approaches Johnny lowers his voice)
--get away with that sheet metal all right?
SKINS
Easy, that new checker faked the receipt.
Here it is, boss.
(offers receipt)
JOHNNY
Stow the receipt. I'll take the cash.
SKINS
(producing another roll of bills)
Forty-five bills.
JOHNNY
(to Terry, sulking at the bar)
Hey, Terry, front and center.
Terry comes over reluctantly and Johnny hands him the bills.
JOHNNY
(continued)
Count this.
TERRY
Aw, you know I don't like to count, Johnny.
JOHNNY
It's good for you. Develops your mind.
SKINS
What mind?
He starts to laugh but Johnny stops him with a look.
JOHNNY
Shut up. I like the kid.
(tweaks Terry's cheek fondly)
Remember the night he took Farella
at St. Nick's, Charley. We won a bundle.
Real tough. A big try.
TERRY
(stops counting and taps his nose proudly)
Not a dent.
(tweaks his nose)
Perfect
JOHNNY
(laughs, rubs Terry's head)
My favorite little cousin.
TERRY
(disconcerted as he tries to count)
Thirty-six— sev— aah I lost the count.
JOHNNY
(tolerantly)
OK— skip it, Einstein. How come you never got
no education like the rest of us?
BIG MAC
(good-naturedly)
Only arithmetic he got was hearing the referee count up to
ten.
TERRY
(hot-tempered, starting to attack Big Mac)
Now listen, Mac—
Johnny laughs and pulls Terry back.
JOHNNY
(amused)
What gives with our boy tonight, Charley?
He ain't himself.
CHARLEY
(as if Terry were not there)
The Joey Doyle thing. You know how he is.
Things like that— he exaggerates them.
Too much Marquis of Queensbury. It softens 'em up.
JOHNNY
(taking the money from Sonny, Skins and J.P. and
dealing out some bills to each of them as if the money
werecards,
while Charley goes on counting)
Listen kid, I'm a soft tough too. Ask any rummy on the
dock
if I'm not good for a fin any time they put the arm on me.
(then more harshly)
But my old lady raised us ten kids on a stinkin'
watchman's pension. When I was sixteen I had
to beg for work in the hold. I didn't work my way up
out of there for nuthin'.
TERRY
(sorry to have aroused Johnny— who speaks loud and
with frightening force when stung)
I know, Johnny, I know... .
JOHNNY
Takin' over this local, you know it took a little doin'.
Some pretty tough fellas were in the way.
They left me this—
(suddenly holds up chin to show a long ugly scar on
neck)
—to remember them by.
CHARLEY
(admiringly)
When he got up and chased them they thought
it was a dead man coming after them.
JOHNNY
(to Terry)
I know what's eatin' you, kid. But I got two thousand
dues-payin' members in my local— that's seventy-two
thousand a year legitimate and when each one of 'em
puts in a couple of bucks a day to make sure they work
steady— well, you figure it out. And that's just for
openers.
We got the fattest piers in the fattest harbor in the
world.
Everything that moves in and out— we take our cut.
CHARLEY
Why shouldn't we? If we c'n get it we're entitled to it.
JOHNNY
(nods)
We ain't robbin' pennies from beggars. We cuttin'
ourselves in for five-six million a year just on our
half a dozen piers— a drop in the bucket compared
to the traffic in the harbor. But a mighty sweet little
drop,
eh, Charley?
CHARLEY
(wisely)
It'll do.
JOHNNY
So look, kid, you don't think we c'n afford to be boxed out
of a deal like this— a deal I sweated and bled for—
on account of one lousy little cheese-eater, that Doyle
bum,
who thought he c'd go squealin' to the Crime Commission?
Do you?—
Terry is uncomfortably silent. Johnny raises his voice.
JOHNNY
—Do you?
TERRY
Well, no, Johnny, I just thought I should've been told if—
CHARLEY
(handing back the money)
I make it twentysix twenty-three. You're fifty short,
Skins.
JOHNNY
(turning darkly on Skins)
Gimme.
SKINS
(frightened)
I— I musta counted wrong, boss, I—
JOHNNY
Gimme.
He reaches over and takes money out of Skins's pockets, stripping him.
JOHNNY
(continued)
You come from Green Point? Go back to Green Point.
You don't work here no more.
(impulsively he hands the bill to Terry— smiling)
Here, kid, here's half a bill. Go get your load on.
TERRY
(still troubled)
Naw, thanks, Johnny, I don't want it, I—
JOHNNY
(roughly)
Go on— a little present from
your Uncle Johnny.
(He pushes the bill into the breast pocket of Terry's
jacket, then
turns to Big Mac)
And Mac, tomorra mornin' when you shape the men put
Terry in the loft. Number one. Every day.
(to Terry)
Nice easy work. Check in and goof off on the coffee
bags. O.K.?
TERRY
(frowning)
Thanks, Johnny... .
CHARLEY
(a kind of warning)
You got a real friend here, kid. Don't forget it.
JOHNNY
(smiling)
Why should he forget it?
As Terry turns away, toward the bar,
DISSOLVE
EXT—TENEMENT ROOF—DAYBREAK
Terry, darkly troubled, is watching the pigeons he has just fed when
JIMMY CONNERS,
a freckle-faced fourteen-year-old boy, approaches along the same
stretch of roof seen in the mugging of Joey.
JIMMY
Hi!
Terry turns around startled, as Jimmy comes climbing up out of the
trough where Joey was trapped.
JIMMY
—I was gonna feed 'em, Terry.
TERRY
's all right, kid. I took care of 'em myself
this morning.
JIMMY
Boy, you must've been up early.
TERRY
(as if he hardly slept)
Yeah, yeah, I was awake anyway so I figured—
(gesturestoward feeding pigeons; then with
admiration)
They got it made. Eat all they want— fly around like crazy—
sleep side by side— and raise gobs of squabs.
O.S. or in B.G. a ship coming into port sounds its whistle, bringing
him back to reality.
TERRY
I better get over there.
(O.S. sound of ship whistle again. Terry answers the
ship irritably)
O.K., O.K., I'm coming.
(starts off)
Don't spill no water on the floor now. I
Don't want them birds to catch cold.
Jimmy signals the Golden Warrior salute— the first two fingers raised
together. Terry answers with the same salute as he goes o ff,
disturbed.
DISSOLVE
EXT—LONG SHOT—PIER—DAY
Some three hundred men are standing around, men of all sizes and ages,
some in dungarees, some in baggy denims, wearing battered windbreakers
or service discards, and either caps or woolen pullovers. A sprinkling
of Negroes. A ship is berthing in the B.G. The mood is somber and
restless.
CLOSER SHOTS—LONGSHOREMEN
Muttering to each other.
AD LIBS He was a good boy, the Doyle kid. Sure he was, that's why he
got it in the head. Couldn't learn to keep his mouth shut.
MEDIUM CLOSE—ON TERRY
With his chum, JACKIE, as another pal, CHICK, comes up. Terry looks
around as if t rying to hear what the men are muttering behind him.
CHICK
(to Jackie but really to Terry)
Hey Jackie, what D'ya think of this privileged character?
Don't have to shape up no more. Got himself a soft touch
up in the loft.
(mimics sound of snoring)
TERRY
(defensively)
Who told you that?
CHICK
(winks at Jackie)
Waterfront Western Union.
(business of putting his hand to his mouth)
Terry looks around at the restless men
again.
JACKIE
You're doin' lovely, Terry, very lovely.
TERRY
(hotly)
O.K., O.K., That's enough.
In the B.G. Pop can be seen approaching Nolan, Moose, Tommy, and
Luke with a windbreaker jacket over his arm.
JACKIE
(a little hurt)
What's the matter wit' you,
success gone to ya head?
TERRY
I told you lay off.
JACKIE
(to Chick in a falsetto)
My ain't we touchy this morning?
MEDIUM CLOSE—MEN BEHIND TERRY AT PIER ENTRANCE—DAY
Nolan, Moose, Tommy, Luke, and others are muttering about Joey. Pop
comes up to them. The men quickly drop the subject of Joey.
NOLAN
Go home, Pop. The lads who get work
Today'll be chippin' in gladly.
TOMMY
Sure, we'll take care of ya.
LUKE
That's the truth, Pop.
Others mutter expressions of bitter sympathy. "Tough about Joey," etc.
POP
Thanks, boys, but I'm gonna shape. Who do
you think's gonna pay for the funeral— Johnny
Friendly and the boss stevedore?
CLOSE SHOT—TERRY
Reacting. Sonny, a few feet away, also hears and we follow him back to
Pop and group.
SONNY
Hey, watch that talk. What you say?
NOLAN
He was just tellin' me how proud he was
to belong to a fine honest local run by such an
outstandin' labor leader as Johnny Friendly.
SONNY
Don't get wise now, you.
NOLAN
Wise! If I was wise I wouldn't be no longshoreman
for thirty years and poorer now than when I started.
Sonny looks at him threateningly. Nolan holds his ground and Sonny goes
on.
POP
Here— I brought you Joey's windbreaker—
Wear it, Kayo. Yours is more full of holes than
The Pittsburgh infield.
CLOSE SHOT—NOLAN
He is affected, but largely hiding his feelings.
GROUP SHOT—POP, NOLAN, MOOSE, TOMMY
J.P. Morgan pops up right behind Pop.
J.P.
Condolences. How you fixed for cabbage this mornin'?
NOLAN
Oh me and my chum are just rolling in
the stuff. We only work down here for a hobby, J.P.
(Pop's cronies chuckle.)
MOOSE
Haw, haw, haw— that's a good one.
J.P.
(undaunted, to Pop)
You'll be needing a few dollars for your extras,
Won't you, Pop? You're three weeks behind
on the last twenty-five, but I'm willing to take
a chance.
NOLAN
Some chance at ten percent a week!
And if he don't borrow, he don't work.
J.P.
(to Pop)
You'll work.
NOLAN
I ought to belt you one, J.P.
J.P.
(retreating slightly)
Raise a hand to me and... .
NOLAN
... .and you'll tell Johnny Friendly.
J.P.
You'd be off the pier for good.
POP
(ashamed)
All right, slip me a bill— and may
you rot in hell, J.P.
J.P.
When I'm dead 'n gone you'll know what a
friend I was.
NOLAN
Drop dead now, why don't you, so we c'n
test your theory?
Moose leads the laughter. J.P. looks at them sourly.
J.P.
Condolences.
J.P. goes off with his shoulders bent over and his head down, like some
mournful bird, and Nolan walks behind him, mimicking. Nolan notices
Pop isn't laughing and stops. CAMERA FOLLOWS J.P. toward Terry, Chick,
and Jackie and holds on them. Two men in business suits—one of them
carrying a briefcase, looking decidedly out of place on the waterfront—
approach.
GLOVER
(larger, more good-natured of the two)
Do any of you men know Terry Malloy?
JACKIE
Malloy? Never heard of 'im.
CHICK
(quickly)
Me neither
They both turn away sullenly. Glover and his colleague, GILLETTE, look
at Terry carefully. Gillette is scrappy and tough.
GLOVER
You're Terry Malloy, aren't you?
TERRY
(suspiciously)
What about it?
GLOVER
I thought I recognized you. Saw you
fight in St. Nick's a couple of years ago.
TERRY
(impatiently)
O.K. O.K. Without the bird seed. What do you want?
GLOVER
Our identification.
He snaps out his wallet and holds it open for Terry's inspection.
TERRY
Waterfront— Crime— Commission— ?
(pushes wallet back indignantly)
What's that?
GLOVER
We're getting ready to hold public hearings
on waterfront crime and underworld infiltration
of longshore unions.
TERRY
(automatically)
I don't know nothing.
GILLETTE
You haven't heard the questions yet.
GLOVER
(pleasantly)
There's a rumor that you're one of the last
people to see Joey Doyle alive.
TERRY
And I still say— I don't know nothing.
GILLETTE
We're not accusing you of anything, Mr. Malloy.
GLOVER
I hope you understand that.
GILLETTE
We only want to ask you a few things
about people you may know.
TERRY
People I— You mean sing for you. Get out
of here before I—
GILLETTE
(with a slight but confident smile)
I wouldn't advise that, Mr. Malloy. Unless you want to be
booked for assaulting an officer of the law.
TERRY
Listen, I don't know nothing, I didn't see
nothing, I ain't saying nothing. So why don't you
and your girlfriend get lost.
GLOVER
(gently)
All right, Mr. Malloy, you have a right not to talk,
if that's what you choose to do. But the public
has a right to know the facts, too.
GILLETTE
(nodding in agreement)
We may be seeing you again.
TERRY
Never will be much too soon.
GLOVER
(almost like a friend)
Take it easy.
The two men nod and turn away. Jackie and Chick, a few paces off, have
been taking it in. Terry swaggers for their benefit .
TERRY
How do you like them jokers? Taking me
for a pigeon.
JACKIE
(mimicking the investigators, in a falsetto)
Gimme the names, I'll write 'em down in me little book.
Chick laughs and punches Terry's arm with rough affection.
TERRY
(responding to the praise)
One more word 'n I would've belted the two of 'em,
badge or no badge!
They nod and laugh approvingly. There is a blast from the ship in the
B.G. which is just docking.
MEDIUM CLOSE—ON BIG MAC
The hiring boss. A stevedore official comes up to him with a box of
slips.
STEVEDORE
Here's the tabs for two hundred banana carriers.
Big Mac blows his whistle.
MEDIUM CLOSE—POP, NOLAN, ETC.—PIER—DAY
NOLAN
(trying to cheer Pop up)
A banana boat. It would be bananas. One of these days
me ship's comin' in from Ireland, God love 'er,
loaded to the gunnels with sweet Irish whiskey!
POP
Nolan, me lad, ye're dreamin' again.
They laugh, then Pop looks O.S. and frowns.
POP
—Edie?
LONG SHOT—EDIE—PIER—DAY
From Pop's POV. Talking to a pier guard.
CLOSE—ON POP
Standing with Kayo. About to start forward when the shape-up whistle
blows, restraining him.
POP
(to Kayo)
What the devil is she doin' down here?
CLOSE ON EDIE AND PIER GUARD—PIER—DAY
GUARD
(with a brogue)
Edie, I know your father well, and I'm sorry for
your troubles. But there's been hundreds of
murders down here and practically no convictions—
hardly any arrests.
EDIE
Why, Mr. Rourke? Why?
GUARD
The last fellow who talked was awful dead
when they pulled him out of the river. I guess
the Sisters don't teach you things like that
up at your school in Tarrytown.
(with a gesture of futility)
That's the waterfront.
He shrugs his helplessness and turns away. Edie stands crestfallen.
Then she turns in the opposite direction away from the pier.
EXT—MEDIUM SHOT—FATHER BARRY—OUTSIDE PIER—DAY
Father Barry is approaching.
EDIE
(surprised)
Father Barry.
FATHER BARRY
Hello, Edie.
EDIE
I'm afraid I spoke out of turn last night.
FATHER BARRY
You think I'm just a gravy-train rider in
a turned-around collar?
She says nothing.
FATHER BARRY
Don't you?
(with humor)
I see the Sisters taught you not to lie.
She smiles in spite of herself.
FATHER BARRY
I've been thinking about your question and
the answer come up and hit me— bang.
This is my parish. I don't know how much I
can do but you're right, Edie— I'll never find out if
I don't come down here and take a good look for
myself.
She looks at him hopefully. O.S. a whistle blows again, shrilly. They
turn in its direction.
MEDIUM CLOSE—BIG MAC—AT PIER ENTRANCE—DAY
Putting his whistle away.
GROUP SHOT—LONGSHOREMEN—PIER—DAY
Waiting silently, hopefully.
BIG MAC
The following men report to the loft—
CLOSER SHOT—FAVORING TERRY
BIG MAC
Malloy.
Terry steps forward.
Hendricks, Krajowski. Now, two hundred banana carriers.
He approaches the men.
CLOSE—ON FATHER BARRY AND EDIE
Watching from the slip.
EDIE
Pop never talks about this.
Father Barry watches interestedly.
GROUP SHOT—SHAPE-UP—DAY
The men press closer to Big Mac, each one trying to attract his
attention.
BIG MAC
Don't crowd me. Stand back.
AN OLD MAN
(seedy, toothless)
Give me a break, Mac. I been two weeks
out of work.
MOOSE
I got five kids. I need a day bad.
A BEEFY LONGSHOREMAN
(old-fashioned looking in his knit stocking cap
and heavy wool sweater)
How about me, Mac? I knew your old man.
BIG MAC
(roughly)
Come on, you bums, push back.
I'll do the pickin'.
CLOSE SHOTS—LONGSHOREMEN
From Big Mac's angle. One touches an ear—another strokes his chin—
another begs with his yes—hungry, pleading, desperate faces.
CLOSE—ON BIG MAC
Angrily trying to clear the way.
THE OLD MAN
I'll give four bucks for the job.
BEEFY LONGSHOREMAN
I'll kick in five.
BIG MAC
(shoving them hard)
Back! Get back!
The beefy longshoreman actually makes a grab for one of the tabs. The
men begin to surround and engulf Mac. He is jostled and pushed. The
beefy longshoreman, slightly behind Mac, suddenly knocks the box of
tabs out of his hand.
BIG MAC
(desperately over his shoulder)
Hey, Sonny! Truck!
FULL SHOT—LONGSHOREMEN MELEE
Two hundred and fifty men scrambling on the ground, fighting for the
tabs like animals.
CLOSE—ON FATHER BARRY AND EDIE
Horrified, as they watch the struggle.
A SERIES OF SHOTS DETAILING BATTLE CLOSE SHOT—KAYO NOLAN
As he begins to rise, tab in hand, a big longshoreman at least a head
taller swings a vicious punch at him. Kayo, with old-time boxing skill,
"slips" it by a fraction of an inch. The effect could be a moment of
comedy relief.
CLOSE SHOT—MOOSE
On the ground—as he is about to pick up a tab, a heavy shoe steps on
his hand and the tab is grabbed away from him.
CLOSE—ON FATHER BARRY AND EDIE
Watching helplessly.
EDIE
Pop!
FREE-FOR-ALL FAVORING POP & TERRY
Pop is battling near the edge of the free-for- all, in view of Edie and
Father Barry. He sees a tab on the ground and is about to pick it up
when another man only slightly younger and bigger punches him in the
nose. He retaliates with a looping punch that knocks his adversary
back; but he is unable to scoop up the tab because meanwhile a crony of
Terry's has called over.
JACKIE
Hey, Terry. Grab me on!
Terry reaches for it with one hand while blocking Pop off with his leg.
He calls over to a crony.
TERRY
Here you go, Jackie boy.
As he hands it over to his chum, Pop comes charging in at Terry.
POP
Hey, give me that.
He swings wild punches at Terry. Just then Luke, the burly Negro
longshoreman, sees a tab behind Pop, hurls himself toward it, carrying
Pop with him, and back into the battle royal.
CLOSE SHOT—EDIE
She has seen the above action and makes a beeline for Terry. She is
furious!
EDIE
Give me that. It belongs to Pop. He saw it first.
Terry is enjoying himself. Unconsciously Edie is pressing herself
against him to get the tab and her rage is a kind of passion that
pleases him.
TERRY
Oh, I thought you was gonna go to
work— with all them muscles.
(winks at Jackie, who laughs)
EDIE
Give it to me— my Pop's job—
TERRY
What makes him so special?
EDIE
None of your business.
TERRY
(to Jackie; handing him the tab)
Things 're lookin' up on the docks, huh, Jackie?
JACKIE
Didn't you recognize him, dopey. That's
Old Man Doyle.
TERRY
(losing his bravado)
Doyle.
(looks around at Pop, the identity hitting him)
Joey Doyle's... .?
(stares at Edie)
... .You're his... .
EDIE
(firmly)
Sister. Yes I am.
He runs his hand over his face and then, with a sudden impulse:
TERRY
You don't want to lug bananas in the rain
anyway, do you, Jackie?
He reaches over and takes the tab back from Jackie.
JACKIE
Aah, give it to 'im.
Terry hands the slip to Edie and adds, for the benefit of his pals:
TERRY
Here you go, muscles. Nice wrastlin' with
you.
He flexes his forearm and throws two quick jabs at an imaginary
opponent, a characteristic gesture. He sets his cap at a jaunty angle
and winks at his chums but we feel his manner is forced, barely hiding
his guilt.
Edie looks after him with smoldering anger.
She turns as Father Barry comes into view, leading Pop. Pop's nose is
bleeding and he is pretty thoroughly battered. Nolan joins him.
FATHER BARRY
Pop, you all right?
POP
(brusquely)
Sure, just the beak—
(taps his nose)
It's been busted before.
Edie hands him the tab.
EDIE
Here—I got it for you.
Pop takes it, but he is humiliated, and bitter that she should see him
in this moment of weakness.
POP
Okay, I can use it—
(glares at her)
Now go back to the Sisters where you belong.
(His anger mounting with his need to regain
his self-respect, he turns on Father Barry.)
I'm surprised with you, Father, if you don't
mind my sayin' so. Lettin' her see things ain't fit
for the eyes of a decent girl.
Just then Big Mac shouts from the pier opening.
BIG MAC
Hey, Doyle, you got a tab?
POP
(holding it up angrily)
Yeah!
BIG MAC
Then get in there. Number three gang,
number one hatch, puh-ronto.
Pop jumps and hurries.
NOLAN
(following Pop)
Our welfare officer. He's been away
three times for assault and battery.
MEDIUM CLOSE—EDIE AND FATHER BARRY
Watching him go. Around them are at least one hundred rejected men who
linger in resentful silence. Some of them are rubbing hands bruised in
the melee. A truck, hurrying into the pier, sounds its horn loudly. The
men barely avoid being run down.
BIG MAC
(angrily, to the rejected group)
Outa the way. Come back tomorra.
Father Barry looks at all this in amazement.
FATHER BARRY
(to one rejected man)
What do you do now?
The man shrugs, too beaten down to answer. Father Barry asks Luke:
What are you gonna do?
LUKE
(bitterly)
Like he says. Come back tomorra.
Luke goes along with Father Barry, who approaches Moose and Tommy, who
have also been rejected.
FATHER BARRY
Is this what you do, just take it like this?
MOOSE
(carefully looking around and lowering his voice
matter-of-factly)
Five straight mornin's I been
Standin' here and the bum looks right through
me. There's always a couple hundred left standin'
in the street.
TOMMY
(undertone)
Shh. Sonny's over there.
FATHER BARRY
And there's nothing you can do?
How about your union?
MOOSE
(in an undertone)
You know how a blackjack
local works, Father. Get up in a meetin', make a
motion, the lights go out, you go out.
TOMMY
If three guys talk on a corner, Johnny's—
(He takes a careful look around.)
—boys break us up. Look at 'em.
FATHER BARRY
Didn't the miners— sailors—
garment workers— get rid of this years ago?
TOMMY
The waterfront's tougher— like it ain't
part of America. Anywhere else you got the law
protectin' ya. Here ya just get knocked off and
forgotten. Like—
(He stops.)
LUKE
(frightened)
Shh, not here, across the street.
MOOSE
River Street, you might as well be in—
Sonny and Truck move in.
SONNY
What is this, a church picnic? Get outa
here. Excuse me, Father.
They all start away from the pier.
MOOSE
(looking to see if he is out of earshot)
That's how it's been ever since Johnny and
his cowboys took over the local.
TOMMY
Name one place where it's even safe to
talk.
FATHER BARRY
(impulsively)
Use the church.
LUKE
What?
FATHER
(after a significant pause)
The bottom of the church.
Father Barry has spoken in a normal voice,as contrasted with the
whispering of the others, and they all look off toward Sonny and Truck
to see if they have heard.
CLOSE—ON SONNY
Watching them suspiciously.
BACK TO FATHER BARRY, EDIE AND GROUP
MOOSE
(still in an undertone)
You know what you're letting yourself
in for, Father?
FATHER BARRY
Got a cigarette on you?
(As he is given one, he looks off)
MEDIUM SHOT—SONNY
From Father Barry's angle.
MEDIUM CLOSE—FATHER BARRY
FATHER BARRY
(his voice decisive)
You heard me boys. Use the bottom of the church.
Father Barry looks at Edie.
DISSOLVE
INT—MEDIUM SHOT—PIER LOFT—DAY
In this long area atop the working pier various articles of cargo are
stored. Elderly men work at a leisurely pace.
CLOSE SHOT—PILE OF COFFEE BAGS—DAY
On top of which Terry is lying comfortably reading a comic book.
Charley enters to him.
CHARLEY
Working hard?
TERRY
It's a living.
He wriggles himself deeper into the coffee bags.
CHARLEY
(looking up at him)
You don't mind working
once in a while to justify this lofty position?
TERRY
I just fnished work. I counted the bags.
CHARLEY
We got a little extra detail for you. The
local priest and this Doyle girl are getting up a
meeting in the church. We'd like a rundown on it.
You know, names and numbers of all the players.
You're nominated.
TERRY
(frowns)
Why me, Charley? I'd feel funny
going in there.
CHARLEY
(indicating this job)
Johnny does you favors, kid. You got to
do a little one for him once in a while.
TERRY
But going in that church, I'd be stooling
for you, Charley. You make a pigeon out of me.
CHARLEY
(tolerantly)
Let me explain you something, kid.
Stooling is when you rat on your friends, on
the guys you're with.
(sees Terry frown)
When Johnny needs a favor, don't try to figure it out,
just do it. Now go ahead, join the congregation.
DISSOLVE
INT—ENTRANCEWAY TO LOWER LEVEL—CHURCH—EVENING
This is an overflow chapel for the church above. There are stained-
glass windows, an altar, pews and the figures of saints, but all is
utter simplicity; it has not lost its basement feeling, and the
unadorned walls and low lighting may suggest the catacombs.
The above is seen from the POV of Terry as he approaches. Inside Father
Barry faces a small group of longshoremen still in their work clothes,
including Nolan, Moose, Tommy, and Luke; Edie sits behind them. A thin-
faced, rather ascetic-looking priest, FATHER VINCENT, sits
disapprovingly in the rear. As Terry stands in the rear, not anxious to
enter, Father Barry is saying:
FATHER BARRY
(rapidly, with a cigarette in his mouth)
I thought there'd be more of you here, but— the
Romans found out what a handful could do, if it's
the right handful. And the same goes for you and
the mob that's got their foot on your neck. I'm
just a potato-eater but isn't it simple as one - two three?
One— The working conditions are bad.
Two— They're bad because the mob does the hiring.
Three— The only way to break the mob is to
stop letting them get away with murder.
(He looks around at them. Everybody is silent,
waiting.)
If just one of you would answer one question, we'd have a
start.
(pause)
And that question is— Who killed Joey Doyle?
REVERSE—ON GROUP
Silence. Moose looks down at the floor. Nolan works his left fist into
the palm of his right hand. Tommy runs his hand over his face,
embarrassed. Luke stares straight ahead of him. Terry sets his jaw
stubbornly. Edie looks at all of them with a hopeful, pleading
intensity. Father Barry waits, and then asks again—
FATHER BARRY
Not one of you has a line on—
who killed Joey Doyle?
Silence.
I've got a hunch every one of you could tell us
something about it.
Silence.
Then answer this one— How can we call ourselves
Christians and protect these murderers
with our silence?
Silence. The Father looks from one to the other, hoping for some break
in the ranks. Terry starts down the aisle, just as Edie turns on Tommy.
EDIE
Tommy Collins, you were Joey's best friend.
How can you just sit there and not be saying anything?
TOMMY
(miserably)
I'll always think of him as my best friend, but—
He falls silent and shakes his head. Next to him, Nolan notices Terry.
NOLAN
(muttering to Moose)
Who asked him here?
FATHER BARRY
(to Terry)
Have a seat. I'm trying to find out just what
happened to Joey Doyle. Maybe you can help.
Terry is tight-lipped.
NOLAN
(whispering loudly to Moose)
The brother of Charley the Gent. They'll help us get to the
bottom
of the river.
TERRY
(turnsaround angrily)
Keep Charley out of this.
NOLAN
(spunkily)
You don't think he'd be— helpful?
TERRY
(insolently)
Go ask him, why don't you ? Ask
him yourself.
NOLAN
Maybe I will— one of these days.
TERRY
(laughs scornfully)
One of these days.
They glare at each other. Edie regards Terry with curiosity.
FATHER BARRY
(cutting through)
Now listen, if you know who the pistols are,
if you see them on the dock every day, are
you going to keep still until they cut you
down one by one?
(turns from one to the other)
Are you? Are you? How about you, Nolan?
NOLAN
Father, one thing you got to understand.
On the dock we've always been D 'n D.
FATHER BARRY
(puzzled)
D 'n D?
NOLAN
(nodding)
Deef 'n dumb. Somethin' c'n
happen right in front of our noses and we don't
see nothin'. You know what I mean. No matter
how much we hate the torpedoes we don't rat.
Moose, Luke, and others mutter agreement.
FATHER BARRY
Boys, get smart. I know you're
Getting' pushed around but one thing we got in
this country is ways of fightin' back. Getting' the
facts to the public. Testifyin' for what you know is
right against what you know is wrong. What's ratting
to them is telling the truth for you. Can't you
see that?
(turns from one to another)
Huh? Huh?
The men do not respond. A few look back at Terry apprehensively. Father
Barry subsides, feeling defeated. Father Vincent comes forward and
takes over the meeting.
FATHER VINCENT
(dismissing them)
This seems to be just about all we can
do at this time, I think you'll agree, Father,
and so I'd like to close with a few words from
St. Paul, "Come unto me... ."
He is interrupted by the shattering of glass as a rock comes hurtling
through the long
narrow stained-glass window. Everyone looks at each other in alarm.
Some jump up.
NOLAN
(thumbing toward the window)
That's our friends.
CLOSE UP—TERRY
Looking at Edie; then he cases the room for other exits.
MEDIUM CLOSE—FATHER BARRY AND FATHER VINCENT
FATHER VINCENT
What did I tell you about
sticking your neck out?
FATHER BARRY
These fellers need help, Vince.
FATHER VINCENT
(striding off)
Okay. Don't blame me when they pack
you off to Abyssinia.
FATHER BARRY
I'll take my chances.
(turnstoward the group, picking up the rock)
We must be on the right track or they wouldn't
be sending us this little calling card.
(pause)
Who's got a cigarette?
(as he takes one)
You better go home in pairs.
They all start out tensely, Father Barry helping to pair them off at
the door. Edie lingers behind them, frightened. As she starts forward,
Terry suddenly approaches.
TERRY
Not that way.
She looks at him in surprise. Terry pulls her back with rough
solicitousness.
TERRY
Come on, I'll get you out.
Before she has time to protest he is leading her rapidly to another
exit.
DISSOLVE
EXT—LONG SHOT—CHURCH EXIT—DAY
Moose and Nolan come down the steps of the church. They do not realize
they are being ambushed but the audience does. The goons leap out at
them, and we see the effect of this action in the giant shadows across
the face of the church, the flailing bats looming as large as telephone
poles. We hear the cries of pain, then groans.
EXT—MEDIUM CLOSE—STREET—DUSK
As Father Barry runs up, Sonny and Truck are working Nolan over with
baseball bats. Father Barry wrestles with them, taking a glancing blow
in consequence, and the goons take off. Nolan sinks to the sidewalk
with blood streaming from his head and Father Barry kneels beside him.
FATHER BARRY
You all right, Nolan?
NOLAN
(furiously)
Yeah, considerin' they was usin'
my head for a baseball!
FATHER BARRY
(taking a handkerchief to blot the blood on
Nolan's face)
Nice fellows.
NOLAN
(rubbing his head angrily)
Those blood suckers. How I'd love to fix
those babies but—
FATHER BARRY
But you still hold out for silence?
Nolan hesitates.
FATHER BARRY
You still call it ratting?
NOLAN
Are you on the level, Father?
FATHER BARRY
What do you think?
NOLAN
If I stick my neck out, and they chopped
it off, would that be the end of it? Or are you
ready to go all the way?
FATHER BARRY
I'll go down the line, Kayo, believe me.
NOLAN
Baseball bats— that's just for openers.
They'll put the muscle on you, turned-around collar
or no turned-around collar.
FATHER BARRY
And I still say you stand up and I'll stand up with you.
NOLAN
Down to the wire?
FATHER BARRY
So help me God!
NOLAN
Well, I had my fun, I've drunk my fill and I
tickled some good-lookin' fillies— I'm on borried
time.
Nolan says this with a slight smile as he makes an effort to rise.
FATHER BARRY
(as he helps Nolan to his feet with a grin)
We're off and running, Kayo.
MEDIUM CLOSE—AT CHURCH ENTRANCE—DUSK
Father Vincent is nervously closing the doors.
EXT—RECTORY—FIRE ESCAPE—DAY
Leading down to a dark side street. Terry pulls Edie along at a flying
pace. He jumps down from the bottom landing, then looks up to catch
her, for whom the height is too great. He holds her for a moment. Then
he stops and listens. Heavy rapid footsteps approach. It is Moose and
Luke, closely followed by goons wielding baseball bats. Terry pulls
Edie back against the wall into the
shadows. The goons run past and Terry starts racing with Edie down a
narrow alley
in the opposite direction.
MEDIUM CLOSE—WATERFRONT STREET—NIGHT
The one that meets the alley at the other end. As Terry reaches the
street with Edie, he looks around to be sure all's quiet.
TERRY
(looking back)
I think we're O.K.
EDIE
(catching her breath)
Thanks.
(shakes her head)
Steel pipes and baseball bats.
TERRY
They play pretty rough.
EDIE
(puzzled)
Which side are you with?
TERRY
(pointing to himself)
I'm with Terry.
EDIE
(straightening her dress)
I'll get home all right now.
TERRY
I better see you get there.
She looks at him wonderingly. The rummy longshoreman, Mutt Murphy,
shuffles over toward Edie with his hand out, frightening her closer to
Terry.
MUTT
A dime. One thin dime for a cup of coffee.
TERRY
Coffee, that's a laugh. His belly is used to
nothing but rotgut whiskey.
MUTT
(ignoring Terry and coming closer to Edie)
One little dime you don't need.
(He brings his whiskered, sodden
face very close to Edie's and stares at her as if
througha
dense fog.)
I know you— you're Edie Doyle. Your
Brother's a saint—
(crosses himself quickly)
–only one ever tried to get me my compensation.
He points a wavering (unconsciously accusing) finger at Terry.
MUTT
Remember, Terry, you was there the night he
was'?
CLOSE UP—EDIE—STREET—NIGHT
Looking at Terry in surprise.
TERRY
(nervously reaching into his pocket)
Yeah, yeah—
Here's half a buck, go have yourself a ball.
MUTT
I can't believe it— a small fortune.
(He kisses the coin, then pulls from
his shirt a small tobacco pouchful of
coins in which he deposits this one.) (then turns on
Terry again)
You can't buy me— you're still a bum!
(raises his cap to Edie with unexpected formality)
'Bye, Edie. Lord have mercy on Joey.
(crosses himself quickly and he goes off)
TERRY
(sourly)
Look who says bum!
EDIE
(looking after Mutt)
Everybody loved Joey. From the little kids to
the old rummies.
(looks up at Terry)
Did you know him very well?
TERRY
(evasively)
Everybody knew him. He got around.
EDIE
(looking after Mutt)
What did that man mean when he said you were... .?
TERRY
(quickly)
Aah, he's a bottlebaby, he talks to
himself, the joke of the neighborhood.
EDIE
(glancing at him and then hurrying her steps)
I better get home.
She gives Terry as wide a berth as possible.
TERRY
Don't be afraid of me. I ain't going to bite
you.
She continues to walk apart from him.
What's the matter, they don't let you walk with
fellers where you've been?
EDIE
You know how the Sisters are.
TERRY
You training to be a nun or something?
EDIE
(smiles)
It's a regular college. It's just run by
the nuns. The Sisters of St. Anne.
TERRY
And you spend all your time just learning
stuff, huh?
EDIE
(smiling at the way he puts it)
I want to be a teacher.
TERRY
A teacher! Dong!!!
(He's impressed)
You know I admire brains. Take my brother Charley.
He's very brainy. Very.
EDIE
(quietly)
It isn't brains. It's how you use them.
TERRY
(increasingly impressed, almost awestruck)
Yeah.
Yeah. I get your thought. You know I seen you
lots of times before. Parochial school on Pulaski
Street? Seven, eight years ago? Your hair come down in—
EDIE
In braids? That's right.
TERRY
Looked like two pieces of rope. And your
teeth were—
EDIE
(smiling)
I know. I thought I'd never get those
braces off.
TERRY
(laughs)
Man, you were a mess!
EDIE
I can get home all right from here—
TERRY
The thought I'm tryin' to get over is you
grew up beauteeful. Remember me?
EDIE
(nodding)
The moment I saw you.
TERRY
(strutting)
Some people got faces that stick in your mind.
EDIE
(tenderly)
I remember you were in trouble all the time.
TERRY
Now you got me! It's a wonder I wasn't punchy by
the time I was twelve. The rulers those Sisters used
to whack me with!
(cracks himself on the head and laughs)
They thought they could beat an education into me—I foxed
'em.
EDIE
Maybe they just didn't know how to handle
you.
TERRY
(warming to the subject)
How would you've done it?
EDIE
With a little more patience and kindness.
That's what makes people mean and difficult.
Nobody cares enough about them.
Terry plays "Hearts and Flowers" on an imaginary violin. Edie watches
curiously.
EDIE
What's that?
TERRY
Pardon me while I reach for my beads.
EDIE
What?
TERRY
What-what? Where you been the last four
five years? Outer space?
EDIE
When Mother died Pop sent me out to
school in the country. He was afraid with no one
home I'd— get into bad company.
TERRY
(righteously)
Well he played it smart. Too many good-for-nothin's
around here. All they got on their mind's a little beer,
a little pool, a little—
(looks at her and catches himself, his face
registering: I'm
with a Nice Girl)
I better get you home.
DISSOLVE
EXT TENEMENT SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Overhead a flock of pigeons sweep by, close enough for the flapping of
their wings to be heard.
Terry and Edie approach the stoop.
TERRY
(looking up)
Boy, they sure fly nice, don't they?
EDIE
(surprised)
Do you like pigeons?
TERRY
That's my own flock up there, getting
their evening workout. I won plenty of races with 'em.
(impulsively)
Listen, you want to see them?
Come up on the roof with me and I'll show 'em to you.
They have reached the stoop of Edie's tenement.
EDIE
I'd better go in.
TERRY
(not wanting to let go of her)
I only live up there and across the roof.
EDIE
(going in)
Thanks anyway.
TERRY
(following her)
Listen, Edie, am I going to see you again?
EDIE
(simply)
What for?
TERRY
(suddenly bewildered)
I don't know.
EDIE
I really don't know.
Then she goes in abruptly. Terry is left standing there, staring after
her, confused by the unfamiliar emotion he is feeling for her. Suddenly
his thoughts are interrupted by—
MEDIUM CLOSE—MRS. COLLINS
The sound of a lower- floor window opening as Mrs. Collins sticks her
head out.
MRS. COLLINS
You got some nerve.
TERRY
What do you mean?
CLOSE SHOT—EDIE
Overhearing, as she enters the house.
MEDIUM CLOSE—TERRY AND MRS. COLLINS
MRS. COLLINS
You know what I mean. Leave her alone.
TERRY
(apologetically)
I was only talkin' to her.
MRS. COLLINS
She's off limits for bums like you. Leave her alone.
TERRY
I can look at her, can't I? It's a free country.
MRS. COLLINS
(as she goes)
Not that free.
She closes window.
EDIE—INTERIOR—ON STAIRS
She mounts the stairs, thinking about what she has just heard. We are
close on her face, as she approaches the door to their place.
INT—EDIE'S BEDROOM—EVENING
As Edie enters, Pop, in his undershirt, favorite attire, is just
putting the last articles into Edie's suitcase. He snaps the suitcase
shut. There is an old cat on the bed.
POP
You're all packed.
(reaches into his pocket)
And here's your bus ticket. You're on your way back to
St. Anne's.
EDIE
Pop, I'm not ready to go back yet.
POP
Edie, for years we pushed quarters into a
cookie jar, to keep you up there with the Sisters,
and to keep you from things like I just seen out
the window. My own daughter arm-in-arm with
Terry Malloy. You know who Terry Malloy is?
EDIE
(simply)
Who is he, Pop?
POP
(mimics)
Who is he! Edie, you're so softhearted
and soft-headed you wouldn't recognize
the devil if he had you by the throat. You know
who this Terry Malloy is? The kid brother of Charlie
the Gent, Johnny Friendly's right hand, a
butcher in a camel hair coat.
EDIE
Are you trying to tell me Terry is too?
POP
(shouting)
I'm not trying to tell you he's Little
Lord Fauntleroy.
EDIE
He tries to act tough, but there's a look in
his eyes that... .
POP
A look in his eyes! Hold your hats, brother,
here we go again. You think he's one of those
cases you're always draggin' in and feelin' sorry
for. Like the litter of kittens you had—the only
one she wants to keep has six toes and it's cockeyed
to boot. Look at him. The bum! And the
crush you had on that little Abyssinian... .
EDIE
He wasn't Abyssinian, Pop, Assyrian... .
POP
Six-toed cats. Assyrians. Abyssinians. It's
the same difference. Well don't think this Terry
Malloy is any six-toed cockeyed Assyrian. He's a
bum. Charley and Johnny Friendly owned him
when he was a fighter and when they ring the bell
he still goes into action.
EDIE
(musing)
He wanted to see me again.
POP
You think we kept you out in Tarrytown just
to have you go walkin' with a corner saloon
hoodlum like Terry Malloy? Now get back to Tarrytown,
before I put a strap to you.
EDIE
(flaring)
And learn about charity and justice
and all the other things people would rather talk
about than practice?
Pop goes up to her and holds out his two
arms, his right one closer to Edie; he trembles
with emotion.
POP
See this arm? It's two inches longer 'n the
other one. That's years of workin' and sweatin',
liftin' and swingin' a hook. And every time I heisted
a box or a coffee bag I says to myself—this is
for Edie, so she can be a teacher or somethin'
decent. I promised your mother. You better not
let her down.
Suddenly touched, Edie goes up to Pop and kisses him.
EDIE
Pop, don't think I'm not feeling grateful for
all you've done to get me an education and shelter
me from this.
(becoming aroused)
But now my eyes are open. I see things I know are
so wrong how can I go back and keep my mind on things
that are only in books and that people aren't living?
I'm staying, Pop. And I'm going to keep on
trying to find out who's guilty for Joey. I'd walk
home with a dozen Terry Malloys if I thought they
could help me. I tell you I'm staying, Pop.
Pop starts to pull his belt out of his trousers.
POP
You are like—
EDIE
(with regret and affection)
Pop!
She turns and runs out. Pop with his belt in one hand, takes a few
steps after her and then stops and stares at the unused bus ticket.
POP
(shaking his head as he mutters)
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, keep an eye on her.
EXT—TENEMENT ROOFTOP—EVENING
Autumn on the roof. It is not particularly romantic—there are
clotheslines, wooden boxes, etc. But to the people of this neighborhood
it is a luxurious terrace. Terry's birds are aloft, flying in a great
circle, nicely silhouetted against the sun-drenched evening sky. Jimmy
Conners is with him.
Terry has a long pole with which he keeps the birds circling. Moose is
leaning against the wall, playing an Irish melody on his harmonica. His
wife, a heavyset woman, sits beside him.
MOOSE'S WIFE
(Moving her feet)
My feet feels like dancin'. But the rest of me just
feels like settin' here.
MEDIUM SHOT—TERRY
As he swings his pole he looks off and sees—
LONG SHOT—EDIE—ROOFTOP—EVENING
Hurrying toward him across the rooftops.
MEDIUM CLOSE—TERRY—ROOFTOP—EVENING
Catching sight of her, and stopping to admire her as she comes toward
him.
TERRY
(to Jimmy)
Okay— I guess they got enough exercise. Let 'em come in.
He puts down the pole and the birds start flying down toward the coop.
He sees Edie approach.
JIMMY
I wonder how long she's goin' to hang
around, huh, Terry?
TERRY
(indicating the pigeons)
Be sure they got enough water.
And he turns to await Edie.
SHOT—BRINGING EDIE TO TERRY
EDIE
I changed my mind. I feel real mean
tonight.
TERRY
(pleased)
Good. So do I.
As Jimmy goes off to fetch some water, Edie reads the fancy lettering
on the back of his jacket.
EDIE
The Golden Warriors.
TERRY
I started them Golden Warriors. I was
their first Supreme Commander.
Now Jimmy starts back toward them.
TERRY
My shadow. He follows me around like I was
Mickey Mantle. Thinks I'm a big man because I
boxed pro for a while.
(throws a few quick jabs)
Several pigeons swoop down and enter the coop. He nods towards her.
TERRY
Here they come! The champion flock of the neighborhood.
EDIE
You don't mind yourself at all, do you.
(turns to the birds)
Joey used to race pigeons.
TERRY
(darkening)
He had a few birds.
(pauses, nods toward Joey's coop across the roof)
I got up and fed 'em this morning.
EDIE
That was nice of you.
TERRY
(disconcerted, needing to talk)
I like pigeons. You send a bird five hundred miles
away he won't stop for food or water until he's back
in his own coop.
EDIE
I wouldn't have thought you'd be so interested
—in pigeons.
TERRY
I go for this stuff. You know this city's full
of hawks? There must be twenty thousand of 'em.
They perch on top of the big hotels and swoop
down on the pigeons in the park.
EDIE
(slightly horrified)
The things that go on.
TERRY
(proudly indicating a large pigeon in the coop)
How do you like that one?
EDIE
Oh she's a beauty.
JIMMY
(critically)
She's a he. His name is Swifty.
TERRY
My lead bird. He's always on that top
perch.
EDIE
He looks awful proud of himself.
JIMMY
Why shouldn't he? He's the boss.
TERRY
If another fella tries to take that perch
away from him, he lets him have it.
EDIE
Even pigeons aren't peaceful.
TERRY
One thing about them though, they're
faithful. They get married just like people.
JIMMY
Better.
TERRY
Yeah, once they're mated they stay
together all their lives until one of 'em dies.
EDIE
That's nice.
They look at each other, both strangely upset.
TERRY
(suddenly)
Listen, you like beer?
EDIE
I don't know.
TERRY
Want to go out and have one with me?
EDIE
In a saloon?
TERRY
(imploring)
Come on, I know a quiet one,
with a special entrance for ladies... .
DISSOLVE
INT—SALOON—LADIES' SIDE—NIGHT
Perhaps a sign can emphasize Ladies' Entrance. As Terry leads Edie in,
a tipsy Irish biddy is noisily protesting her enforced departure.
WOMAN
—I'm only after havin' one more wee bit—
BARTENDER
You and your one-mores. Now beat it.
As Terry and Edie reach the bar, the radio blares a baseball game. A
roar goes up from the speaker. Bartender nods to Terry. In the corner a
small well-oiled longshoreman sings "I'll Take You Home Again,
Kathleen" in a plaintive, cracking voice.
BARTENDER
Well, what do you know—Jackie
just stole home.
TERRY
(glancing at Edie with a mischievous wink at the
bartender)
I wouldn't mind doing that myself.
The bartender grins. Terry guides Edie to a small table.
BARTENDER
(to Edie)
What're you drinking?
Edie hesitates, obviously not knowing what to ask for. A customer at
the bar says, loudly—
SINGER OF "KATHLEEN"
(B.G.)
Give me a Glockenheimer.
EDIE
(it could be root beer for all she knows)
I'll try a— Glockenheimer.
TERRY
(to bartender)
Likewise. And draw two for chasers.
(to Edie)
Now you're beginning to live.
EDIE
(as the drinks are poured)
I am?
Edie picks up her glass, sniffs the contents with some distaste and
then sips it tentatively. Terry watches with amusement.
TERRY
(still swaggering)
Not that way— like this.
(holds glass up)
Down the hatch!
(gulps it down)
Wham!
Edie takes her drink and does likewise. She gasps and her eyes pop.
EDIE
(with soft amazement)
Wham... .
TERRY
(grinning at her)
How do you like it?
EDIE
It's quite—
(gulps)
–nice.
TERRY
How about another one?
EDIE
(already feeling this one)
No thanks... .
TERRY
(to bartender)
Hit me again, Mac.
BARTENDER
(as he pours drink)
See the fight last night? That Riley—both hands.
Little bit on your style.
TERRY
Hope he has better luck.
EDIE
Were you really a prize fighter?
TERRY
(nods)
I went pretty good for a while, didn't I, Al?
But— I didn't stay in shape— and—
(a little ashamed)
—I had to take a few dives.
EDIE
A dive? You mean, into the water?
TERRY
(laughs harshly)
Naw, in the ring, a dive is-
He stops, shakes his head and with his finger draws an invisible square
in the air.
EDIE
(mystified)
Now what are you doing?
TERRY
Describing you. A square from out there.
I mean you're nowhere.
(draws it again)
Miss Four Corners.
EDIE
(smiles, but persistent)
What made you want to be a fighter?
TERRY
I had to scrap all my life. Figured I might
as well get paid for it. When I was a kid my old
man got killed—never mind how. Charley and I
was put in a place—they called it a Children's
Home. Some home! I run away and peddled
papers, fought in club smokers and—
(catches himself)
But what am I runnin' off at the mouth for?
What do you care?
EDIE
Shouldn't we care about everybody?
TERRY
What a fruitcake you are!
EDIE
Isn't everybody part of everybody else?
TERRY
Gee, thoughts! Alla time thoughts!
(then)
You really believe that drool?
EDIE
(deeply shocked)
Terry!
TERRY
Want to hear my philosophy? Do it to
him before he does it to you.
EDIE
(aroused)
Our Lord said just the opposite.
TERRY
I'm not lookin' to get crucified. I'm lookin'
to stay in one piece.
EDIE
(flaring up) I never met such a person. Not a
spark of romance or sentiment or— or human
kindness in your whole body.
TERRY
What do they do for you, except get in
your way?
EDIE
And when things get in your way— or people
—you just knock them aside— get rid of
Them— is that your idea?
TERRY
(defensive— stung)
Listen— get this straight— don't look at me
when you say them things. It wasn't my fault
what happened to your brother. Fixing Joey
wasn't my idea... .
EDIE
(gently)
Why, Terry, who said it was?
TERRY
(lamely)
Well, nobody, I guess. But that Father Barry,
I didn't like the way he kept lookin' at me.
EDIE
He was looking at everybody the same way.
Asking the same question.
TERRY
(troubled, not convinced)
Yeah, yeah... .
(suddenly)
This Father Barry, what's his racket?
EDIE
(shocked)
His— racket?
TERRY
(trying to regain his bravado)
You've been off in daisyland, honey.
Everybody's got a racket.
EDIE
But a priest...?
With his finger he again describes a square in the air and then points
through it to Edie. This time it angers her.
EDIE
You don't believe in anything, do you?
TERRY
Edie, down here it's every man for himself.
It's keepin' alive! It's standin' in with the
right people so you can keep a little loose change
jinglin' in your pocket.
EDIE
And if you don't?
TERRY
If you don't
(points downward with a descending whistle)
Keep your neck in and your nose clean and
You'll never have no trouble down here.
EDIE
But that's living like an animal—
Terry seems almost to illustrate this by the way he drains off his beer
and wipes his mouth with his sleeve.
TERRY
I'd rather live like an animal than end up
like—
He hesitates.
EDIE
Like Joey? Are you afraid to mention his
name?
TERRY
(challenged—defensive)
Why keep harpin' on it?
(looks at her unfinished beer)
Come on, drink up. You
got to get a little fun out of life. What's the matter
with you?
(nods toward juke box)
I'll play you some music.
He starts toward the juke box. She turns with him. Suddenly something
cries out in her, almost as if she didn't know she was going to say it—
EDIE
Help me, if you can— for God's sakes help me!
CLOSE—ON TERRY
For the first time the edge is knocked off his swagger. He feels the
purity of her grief. He'd like to help—that's his immediate reaction.
But there's his brother Charley and his steady work and his loyalties
to the mob and its code. All this runs through his mind, confusing him,
tearing him... .
CLOSE—ON TERRY AND EDIE
Terry turns back to her, with a helpless gesture.
TERRY
I— I'd like to, Edie, but—
(shakes his head)
—there's nothin' I can do.
Edie feels subdued, ashamed at breaking down. She rises,
and in a low
voice says—
EDIE
All right, all right.. I shouldn't 've asked you.
TERRY
You haven't finished your beer.
EDIE
I don't want it. But why don't you stay and
finish your drink.
TERRY
(swinging off the stool)
I got my whole life to drink.
As if magnetized by her, he follows her out.
EXT—LADIES' BAR—NIGHT
As Terry comes up alongside her.
TERRY
You're not sore at me?
EDIE
(with complete innocence)
What for?
TERRY
For— not being any help?
She looks at him with disturbing simplicity.
EDIE
Why no— I think you would if you could... .
CLOSE UP—TERRY
Struck. Her faith in him and in human nature becomes the most painful
kind of accusation.
TWO-SHOT—EDIE AND TERRY—STREET—NIGHT
Softly, silently, she begins to cry.
TERRY
(gently)
What are you crying for?
EDIE
(shaking her head)
I thought I felt mean tonight. But I'm not—
I'm just— all mixed up... .
Ahead of them down the block is an outdoor neighborhood party. The
rhythm of a small band reaches out to them. Edie hangs back and Terry
takes her hand.
TERRY
Come on, I'll walk you through. It's the
shortest way home.
He takes her hand and she walks along with him passively. The street is
illuminated with colored lights and bright paper streamers. There are
several gaily decorated counters serving drinks and sandwiches. There
are balloons and colored paper hats. Neighbors are dancing in the
street. Children look on, a few mimicking their elders f rom the
sidelines. Above the street is a homemade banner inscribed: JUST
MARRIED— JOHNNY AND MARY O'DAY! We catch a glimpse of the happy young
bridal couple, as Terry and Edie reach the edge of the celebrants. Her
eyes light up. She has passed into a dreamlike forgetfulness.
TERRY
You like music?
Edie nods dreamily.
—and dancing?
Edie nods again.
TERRY
(pulling her to him before she realizes what has
happened)
We're on!
At first Edie dances somewhat clumsily and stiffly but gradually begins
to dance with zest and surprising skill, as if a whole suppressed side
of her nature were suddenly being released. Terry is light on his feet
and they do some intricate steps together.
TERRY
Hey, we're good!
(grins at her)
The Sisters should see you now, huh?
She laughs, out of her youth and embarrassment and unexpected enjoyment
of a stolen moment.
Now Terry draws her to him and they dance a more conventional half-time
foxtrot to the music.
TERRY
(awkwardly)
I— I never knew a girl like you,
Edie. I always knew the kind you just grab 'em
And— I never knew a girl like you, Edie.
EDIE
It's fun dancing with your eyes closed. I'm
floating. I'm floating... .
They have danced off to a darker, less populated section of the street,
away from the bar and the bandstand. Behind them people are dancing and
laughing. Terry's lips brush her cheek as they dance, and move on to
her mouth.
TERRY
(breathlessly)
Edie... .
Carried away, she allows him to kiss her and even responds. Then Terry
feels someone tapping him on the shoulder. He wheels around to see—
CLOSE SHOT—BARNEY—STREET—NIGHT
Barney wears a colored paper hat.
BARNEY
I been looking for you, Terry. The boss wants you.
THREE-SHOT—TERRY, EDIE AND BARNEY— STREET—NIGHT
While the music and dancing continue around them.
TERRY
Right now?
BARNEY
(nods)
He just got a call from "Mr. Upstairs." Something's
gone wrong. He's plenty hot.
TERRY
I'm gonna take her home first.
BARNEY
I'd get over there, Terry. I'll take the little lady home.
TERRY
(for Edie's benefit)
I'll come over when I'm ready.
BARNEY
You know Johnny when he gets mad.
As suddenly as Barney arrived, he ducks off .
CLOSE—ON TERRY AND EDIE—STREET—NIGHT
Edie senses Terry's distraction.
EDIE
(puzzled)
Who was that?
She is about to move away; Terry puts his hand on her arm.
TERRY
(impulsively)
Edie, listen, stay out of this mess. Quit tryin'
to ask things about Joey. It ain't safe for you.
EDIE
Why worry about me? You're the one who
says only look out for yourself.
TERRY
(pent up with his guilt and his frustrated feeling
for her)
Okay, get in hot water. But don't come hollerin' to
me when you get burned.
EDIE
Why should I come hollering to you at all?
TERRY
Because... because...
(apologetically, as if this were a sign of weakness)
Listen Edie, don't get sore now—
but I think we're getting in love with each other.
EDIE
(really fighting against it)
I can't let myself fall in love with you.
TERRY
(fervently)
That goes double for me.
As they stare at each other in entangled hostility and love, a man
turns from the food counter behind them, just finishing a hot dog and
steps into Terry's path. It is Mr. Glover, the Commission investigator.
In the B.G. is Gillette.
GLOVER
Mr. Malloy, I was hoping I might find you here.
Terry turns as if to dart off. Glover puts a restraining hand on his
arm.
GLOVER
You're being served with a subpoena, Mr. Malloy.
TERRY
What?
GLOVER
(reaching quickly into his briefcase)
Be at the State House, Courtroom Nine, at ten o'clock
tomorrow.
TERRY
I told you I don't know nothin' and I ain't
saying nothin'.
GLOVER
You can bring a lawyer if you wish. And you're privileged
under the Constitution to protect yourself against
questions
that might implicate you in any crimes.
TERRY
(more in pain than anger now)
You know what you're askin'? You're askin'—
GILLETTE
(stepping in from B.G.) (sternly)
Mr. Malloy, all we're asking you to do is tell the truth.
GLOVER
(more gently)
Goodnight, kid.
Terry looks at the subpoena in tortured confusion.
EDIE
(softly)
What are you going to do?
TERRY
(viciously reverting to type)
I won't eat cheese for no cops, that's for sure.
EDIE
(with sudden intuition)
It was Johnny Friendly who killed Joey, wasn't it?
Terry looks off and then looks down, unable to speak.
EDIE
He had him killed or had something to do with it,
Didn't he? He and your brother Charley?
Terry drops his eyes again; he can say nothing.
You can't tell me, can you? Because you're a part
of it. You're as bad as the worst of them, aren't
you, Terry? Aren't you? Tell me the truth!
TERRY
Edie, your old man's right, go back to
that school out in daisyland. You're driving yourself
nuts— you're driving me nuts— stop worrying
about the truth— worry about yourself.
EDIE
Look out for number one. Always number
one.
(her voice rising in anger)
I should've known you wouldn't tell me.
Pop said Johnny Friendly used
to own you. I think he still owns you.
(then gently, and hating to have to say it)
No wonder everybody calls you a bum.
TERRY
(as if struck)
Don't say that, Edie, don't...
Edie is crying softly, without sobs.
EDIE
(with a half-sob)
It's true.
TERRY
I'm tryin' to keep you from being hurt—
What more do you want?
EDIE
Much more, Terry. Much, much more!
She runs off. Terry looks after her, pained; the subpoena weighs in his
hand. He stares at it in agony, while the party swirls around him. Then
the blare of an auto horn cuts through the music.
VOICE OF JOHNNY
(O.S.)
Hey, genius.
Terry looks up.
MEDIUM LONG SHOT
Johnny Friendly's black Cadillac parked across the street. A driver,
Sonny, Truck, Big Mac, and Charley are in it. Terry hurries up to them.
TERRY
(lamely)
I— I was just on my way up, Johnny.
JOHNNY
By way of Chicago?
Sonny starts to laugh but Johnny cuts him short .
How many times you been knocked out, Terry?
TERRY
(surprised)
Only two times, why, Johnny?
Throughout the following tirade, Charley would like to intervene in
Terry's behalf, but Johnny roughly nudges him into silence.
JOHNNY
It must have been once too often. I
think your brains come apart. What you got up
there, Chinese bells?
TERRY
Aw, Johnny... .
JOHNNY
I thought you were gonna keep an eye
on that church meeting.
TERRY
Nothing happened, Johnny.
JOHNNY
Nothing happened, he says. Some operator
you got yourself there, Charley. One more
like him and we'll all be wearing striped pajamas.
TERRY
(turning to Charley for help)
It was a big nothing! The Father did all the talking.
JOHNNY
Oh, he did. Half an hour later a certain
Timothy J. Nolan went into secret session with
the Commission and he did all the talking.
TERRY
You mean Kayo Nolan, the old timer? He
doesn't know much.
JOHNNY
He don't, huh?
(produces a bound folder of testimony
from his pocket and slams it on the fender)
Well, he knows thirty-nine pages worth of our operation.
TERRY
How'd you get that.
JOHNNY
(thumbing 'upstairs)
I got it. Hot off the press.
CHARLEY
The complete works of Timothy J. Nolan.
TERRY
Nolan? I knew he had guts but—
JOHNNY
Guts! A crummy pigeon who's looking
to get his neck wrung! (to Charley) You should have
(to Charley)
You should have known better than to trust this
punched out brother of yours.
He was all right hanging around
for laughs. But this is business. I don't like goofoffs
messing in our business.
TERRY
Now just a minute, I—
CHARLEY
(suddenly)
What the hell are you doing with his sister?
(then turning to Johnny)
It's that girl, Johnny, the little Doyle broad has him out
on his
feet. An unhealthy relationship.
SONNY
Definitely!
JOHNNY
Don't see her no more. Unless you're
both tired of living. Barney, you got her address?
(then to others, businesslike)
Now listen, if we don't muzzle Nolan, we're into the
biggest stink this town ever seen. We got the best
muscle on the waterfront. The time to use it is now—
pronto— if not sooner.
(to Terry, as he climbs in the car)
And you know where you're going? Back in the hold—
no more cushy job in the loft. It's down the hold
with the sweat gang till you learn your lesson.
Johnny twists Terry's cheek, but not in fun this time, as he has often
done before. Now it is hard enough to draw blood. Then he turns to the
driver.
JOHNNY
Let's go!
The car drives off fast, almost running Terry down. He stands there
looking after it, alone in the street, feeling his wounded cheek and
then scowling as he looks down at the subpoena in his hand.
DISSOLVE
EXT—FREIGHTER—DAY
The ship is being unloaded. An empty pallet is swung from the pier and
lowered into the open hatch by the up-and-down-fall tackle. Our CAMERA
rides the pallet down into the hatch, to the second level, where Terry
is working. A little removed from him are Pop, Moose and Nolan. They
are unloading Irish whiskey.
NOLAN
(lifting a case onto the pallet joyously)
An Ir-rish ship loaded to the gunnels with foine Ir-rish
whiskey!
He does a little jig and kisses the case as he sets it on the pallet.
Pop and Moose laugh. But Terry looks over at Nolan tensely. Then he
looks up out of the hatch.
EXT—DOCK—DAY
Johnny Friendly comes up to the edge of the dock with Sonny and Truck.
Johnny mumbles something under his hand to Sonny and Sonny nods and
jumps down onto the deck of the ship.
MEDIUM CLOSE—ON DECK—NEAR HATCH—DAY
Sonny motions to Specs Donahue, glimpsed as Joey's killer at the
opening. Specs nods and goes over to the winchman guiding the tackle
over the hatch. He nods to him, and takes his place. Then he catches
the eye of—
MEDIUM CLOSE—BIG MAC
Standing on the deck just above the open hatch. A wordless message
passes between him and Specs. Then he looks down into the hatch.
INT—HATCH—DAY
Terry works grimly, glancing up anxiously at Nolan, Pop and Moose whose
mood, in contrast, is a whiskey-inspired euphoria.
POP
You see, Kayo, the good Lord watches over
us after all.
NOLAN
(in an undertone, gaily)
When we knock off let's have a bit of a party.
We'll drink to God and Ireland, its whiskey and its women,
to Joey and Edie— and death to tyrants everywhere... .!
As he finishes this he reveals surreptitiously the neck of a whiskey
bottle concealed in his deep-pocketed jacket.
POP
(with mock concern)
You think one bottle's enough for all
them toasts?
NOLAN
(grins)
Patrick, me lad, I'm ahead of you.
With a wink he reaches into his other pocket and draws up the neck of
another bottle.
NOLAN
I was afraid one bottle might get lonely by itself.
(reaching into still another pocket and revealing
still more bottles)
Now you see the advantage of a little man in
a big coat.
POP
(laughing)
Definitely! Nolan, my boy, you're a
walkin' distillery.
NOLAN
I wonder how many Hail Marys the
Father'll make me say at confession.
(reflects)
It'll be worth it!
The pallet is loaded now. Terry turns and approaches Nolan.
TERRY
(with a nervous glance upward)
Listen— Nolan—
NOLAN
(backing away suspiciously)
What are you down here for— to see we don't make
off with any of Mister Friendly's precious cargo?
TERRY
(miserably)
Nolan... .
MEDIUM CLOSE—BIG MAC
Looking down into the hatch. Above him we can see Specs at the winch
controls.
BIG MAC
Come on, Kayo, get it up!
INT—HATCH—DAY
Nolan and Pop look up at him and then back to their work with
mischievous resentment.
BIG MAC
(continuing to bellow)
And don't be walking off with any of that.
You know how the boss feels about individual pilferage.
INT—HATCH—DAY
NOLAN
(pretending to clean out his ears)
Talk louder. I can't hear you.
BIG MAC
If you kept your ears wide open instead
of your mouth—
NOLAN
(shouting back)
If I talk too loud it's the fault of the nuns.
BIG MAC
And what in blazes have the nuns got
to do with it?
NOLAN
(lowers his voice and confides in the hatch gang)
When I was a mere spit of a lad on Ferry Street in
Dublin the nuns used to say to me, "Nolan, don't
be swallowin' ye words like fishballs. When you
got something to say—
(Now he shouts up at Big Mac.)
—Talk with your mouth wide open," so if I'm loud
don't blame me— it's the fault of the nuns!
Pop laughs, at Big Mac's expense. The laughter is infectious and sweeps
the hatch. Moose lets go with his loud "haw haw." Everyone laughs
except Terry, who watches in a cold sweat.
BIG MAC
(furiously, from above)
Come on, knock it off!
The men laugh even louder.
MOOSE
Haw haw— that's a good one, Kayo.
BIG MAC
(able to shout above their laughter)
Knock it off! Stand clear.
(to Specs, the winchman, above the hatch)
All right, take it away.
Big Mac looks at Specs, touches his cap in a signaling gesture and
nods.
CLOSE—ON SPECS AT WINCH ABOVE HATCH
He catches the signal. From below the laughter of the men can be heard
O.S.
CLOSE—ON CARGO SLING
Full of whiskey cases, from angle of Kayo Nolan, Pop, Terry, and
others, watching it rise out of the hatch. The general laughter
continues. Terry is stiff with fear.
CLOSE SHOT—SPECS
Suddenly he appears to lose control of the winch, guiding the up-and-
down fall.
CLOSE—ON NOLAN
Standing in the middle of the hatch, looking up, as the cargo net
begins to plunge downward. The general laughter stops. From farther
back in the hold Terry cries:
TERRY
(horrified)
Nolan...!
And tries to pull him back out of danger. Too late. The overloaded
cargo net crashes down on Nolan. Wood splinters—glass shatters—and
whiskey sprays. Kayo Nolan is pinned under the broken pile of cases.
TOMMY
(shouting up)
Get a doctor.
POP
(hard, flat tone)
A doctor— he needs a priest
QUICK DISSOLVE
INT—HATCH—DAY
CLOSE—ON FATHER BARRY
He stands over the body of Kayo Nolan, which lies on the pallet and has
been covered by a tarpaulin.
GROUP SHOT—HATCH
Pop, Moose, Luke and the others stand near him. On the deck around the
hold some seventy-five longshoremen have gathered, including Big Mac.
Others look down from the dock and the loft. Terry is in the same
position we left him.
FATHER BARRY
(aroused)
I came down here to keep a promise.
I gave Kayo my word that if he stood up to the
mob I'd stand up with him all the way. Now
Kayo Nolan is dead. He was one of those fellows
who had the gift of getting up. But this time they fixed
him good— unless it was an accident like Big Mac says.
Pop, Moose, and some of the others glare at Big Mac, who chews his
tobacco sullenly. Some of the others snicker "accident."
FATHER BARRY
Some people think the Crucifixion
only took place on Calvary. They better wise
up. Taking Joey Doyle's life to stop him from
testifying is a crucifixion— Dropping a sling on Kayo
Nolan because he was ready to spill his guts
tomorrow— that's a crucifixion. Every time the
mob puts the crusher on a good man— tries to
stop him from doing his duty as a citizen— it's a
crucifixion.
CLOSE—ON TERRY
Voice of Father Barry continues.
FATHER BARRY
And anybody who sits around and lets it happen,
keeps silent about something he knows has happened—
shares the guilt of it just as much as the Roman soldier
who pierced the flesh of Our Lord to see if He was dead.
SHOT OF EDIE—ON DOCK
Listening, moved. Terry has come up behind her and stands nearby. She
notices
him but barely reacts. He listens intently to the Father's words.
(NOTE: I am not indicating in detail the other necessary reactions—
those of Pop, Moose, the Negro Luke, the watchful hostility of Sonny
and Truck, the murderous arrogance of Johnny Friendly, and the
sophisticated cynicism of Charley Malloy.
But most important of all is the impression being made on Terry.)
CLOSE—ON TRUCK
TRUCK
Go back to your church, Father.
INT—HATCH—DAY
FATHER BARRY
(looking up at Truck and pointing to the ship)
Boys, this is my church. If you don't think
Christ is here on the waterfront, you got another
guess coming. And who do you think He lines up
with—
CLOSE—ON SONNY
SONNY
Get off the dock, Father.
Sonny reaches for a box of rotten bananas on the dock and flings one
down into the hatch.
CLOSE—ON FATHER BARRY
The banana splatters him, but he ignores it.
BACK TO SONNY—ON DOCK
Terry turns to him. Edie notices this and watches with approval.
TERRY
Do that again and I'll flatten you.
SONNY
What're you doing. Joining them—
TERRY
Let him finish.
SONNY
Johnny ain't going to like that, Terry.
TERRY
Let him finish.
Edie looks at him amazed. Terry catches her eye, and then looks down,
embarrassed at his good deed. They both turn to watch Father Barry.
CLOSE SHOT—CHARLEY
Near Johnny, watching Terry and then looking at Johnny apprehensively.
INT—HATCH—DAY
FATHER BARRY
Every morning when the hiring boss blows his
whistle, Jesus stands alongside you in the shape-up.
More missiles fly, some hitting the Father, but he continues:
FATHER BARRY
He sees why some of you get picked and some
of you get passed over. He sees the family men
worrying about getting their rent and getting food
in the house for the wife and kids. He sees them
selling their souls to the mob for a day's pay.
CLOSE—ON JOHNNY FRIENDLY
Nodding to Barney. Barney picks up an empty beer can and hurls it down
into the hatch.
INT—HATCH—DAY
It strikes Father Barry and blood etches his forehead. Pop jumps
forward and shakes his fist.
POP
By Christ, the next bum who throws something
deals with me. I don't care if he's twice my
size.
Some of the other longshoremen grumble approval.
FATHER BARRY
What does Christ think of the easy-money boys
who do none of the work and take all of the gravy?
What does He think of these fellows wearing
hundred-and-fifty-dollar suits and diamond rings—
on your union dues and your kickback money?
How does He feel about bloodsuckers picking
up a longshoreman's work tab and grabbing
twenty percent interest at the end of a week?
CLOSE—ON J.P.
J.P.
Never mind about that!
CLOSE—OF SONNY—ON DOCK
Scowling. Terry, nearby, is increasingly moved by the Father's
challenge.
FATHER BARRY
How does He, who spoke up without fear
against evil, feel about your silence?
SONNY
Shut up about that!
He reaches for another rotten banana and is poised to throw it. Almost
simultaneously, Terry throws a short hard right that flattens Sonny
neatly. Edie is watching, a deeply felt gratitude in her eyes.
CLOSE—ON JOHNNY FRIENDLY AND TRUCK
A little way off .
TRUCK
You see that?
Johnny presses his lips together but makes
no sign.
CLOSE—ON TERRY AND EDIE
She moves closer to him. He barely glances at her, then continues
listening to Father Barry.
INT—HATCH—DAY
FATHER BARRY
You want to know what's wrong
with our waterfront? It's love of a lousy buck. It's
making love of a buck— the cushy job— more
important than the love of man. It's forgetting
that every fellow down here is your brother in
Christ.
CLOSE—ON POP—MOOSE—LUKE—TERRY AND EDIE
As Father Barry's voice rises to a climax—
FATHER BARRY
But remember, fellows, Christ is always with you—
Christ is in the shape-up, He's in the hatch—
He's in the union hall— He's kneeling
here beside NolanÑand He's saying with all
of you—
CLOSE—ON FATHER BARRY
FATHER BARRY
If you do it to the least of mine,
you do it to me! What they did to Joey, what they
did to Nolan, they're doing to you. And you. And
YOU. And only you, with God's help, have the
power to knock 'em off for good!
(turns to Nolan's corpse)
Okay, Kayo?
(then looks up and says, harshly)
Amen.
He makes the sign of the cross. Pop, Moose, Tommy, Luke, and the others
do likewise. Big Mac and Specs, seeing the others, reluctantly follow
suit. Then, disgruntled, Big Mac climbs up out of the hatch and
bellows:
BIG MAC
All right, fellows— break it up! Let's go!
Strongly moved, the longshoremen glare at Big Mac and then silently
start back to their places on the deck, in the hatches, on the dock,
etc.
MOVING SHOT
The pallet rises out of the hatch with the body on it. Pop sits
casually on the edge with Father Barry who, in pantomime, is cadging a
cigarette.
CLOSE—ON EDIE AND TERRY
Edie crosses herself. Then she looks at Terry. They look at each other
and the feeling
in both of them is some terrible hunger beyond their control. For a
moment it seems as if Terry must go to her, but instead he turns away,
slowly, as if this were the most diffi cult thing he was ever asked to
do. Edie looks after him and we feel that she will yield to impulse and
call out to him. But she looks down instead, finally, and closes her
eyes, imperceptibly trembling against desire. Luke comes up to her,
but she is lost in her own most private thoughts and does not
see him. He carries Joey's jacket, the one Nolan has been wearing.
LUKE
Edie... .
(nudges her)
Edie—
EDIE
(startled)
Oh— Luke.
LUKE
(quietly)
Joey's jacket. I thought maybe
Kayo'd like you to have it back.
Edie looks at him, and takes it silently. She hugs it to her, whispers,
"Thank you," and, in a kind of sleepwalking, starts toward the entrance
of the pier. Luke watches her anxiously.
LUKE
Sure you're okay?
She nods and continues on alone.
QUICK DISSOLVE
EXT—ROOFTOP—NIGHT
At the pigeon coop near Terry's rooftop window. Under the window is the
mattress he uses as outdoor sleeping quarters on hot summer nights.
Terry is staring in at the pigeons, full of his own troubled,
bestirring thoughts. Edie comes up behind him almost silently, carrying
the jacket.
TERRY
(turning)
Edie!
EDIE
(holding the coat out to him)
I— I brought this for you, Terry.
It was Joey's.
(her conscious self trying to conceal
3t4the real meaning)
Yours is coming out at the elbows.
TERRY
(close to her— and not really caring what he is
saying)
I don't rate it.
EDIE
Go ahead, wear it.
From the pigeon coop comes the soft sound of pigeons cooing as if
upset.
EDIE
(under her breath)
Pigeons... .
TERRY
There's a hawk around. They're scared
tonight.
She looks up and huddles a little closer to him. Now he reaches out for
her—groping with an unfamiliar inexorable emotion.
TERRY
Edie— I— I— never said this to a girl
before, I never knew a girl worth trying to say it
for, but you— you're... .
EDIE
(whispering and suddenly wiser than he)
I know... I know... .
He kisses her at last, with pent-up violence and hunger. The sound of a
deep-throated ship's whistle rolls across the river but they do not
hear it. There is a tremendous sense of release and relief as their
mouths and bodies press together.
FADE OUT
FADE IN
INT—CONFESSION BOOTH—DAY
Terry waits in anguish for the shutter of the confessional to open.
When it does, Father Barry is glimpsed from within.
TERRY
(blurting it out)
Father, help me, I've got blood on my hands.
Father Barry looks at him.
TERRY
Bless me, Father, for I have—
To Terry's amazement the shutter closes abruptly.
INT—CHURCH—OUTSIDE CONFESSION BOOTH—DAY
As Father Barry steps out of the booth, Terry hurries from his side of
the booth and clasps Father Barry's arms violently. Father Barry keeps
on walking and Terry follows him.
TERRY
What's the matter? I've got something
That's chokin' me. I've gotta get it out.
FATHER BARRY
Someone else c'n take your confession.
TERRY
(following him)
But you're the one I want to tell—
what you said over Nolan— about keepin'
silent when you know the score— I'm guilty— you
hear me? I'm guilty... .
FATHER BARRY
(trying to move on)
I don't want to hear it in there.
TERRY
I don't get it!
FATHER BARRY
(rapidly)
Tell it to me in there and
my lips are sealed. But if I dig it out myself I can
use it where it'll do the most good.
TERRY
But you've got to listen to me.
FATHER BARRY
I'll find you a priest.
Father Barry starts off again. Terry follows him desperately, under a
terrible compulsion to bare himself to Father Barry. He grabs the
Father by the arm fiercely, half spinning him around.
TERRY
(with relief, as he gets it out)
Listen, it was me who set Joey Doyle up for the muggers.
Father Barry stops and stares at him, realizing Terry is ready at last.
FATHER BARRY
Come take a walk with me, kid,
and give it to me straight. There's nothing I
haven't heard.
They turn toward the exit of the church.
EXT—LONG SHOT—CHURCH
They enter the park, on rise overlooking the docks, Terry talking to
him eagerly.
CLOSE SHOT—TERRY AND FATHER BARRY
TERRY
(pouring it out)
—It started as a favor— for
my brother— you know they'd ask me things and
it's hard to say no— a favor— Who am I kiddin'?
They call it a favor but it's do it or else. And this
time the favor turned out to be helping them
knock off Joey. I just thought they'd lean on him a
little but— Last night with Edie I wanted to tell
her only it— stuck in my throat. I guess I was
scared of drivin' her away— and I love her, Father.
She's the first thing I ever loved.
FATHER BARRY
(almost brusquely)
What are you going to do?
TERRY
About Edie?
FATHER BARRY
Edie. The Commission. Your subpoena.
I know you got a subpoena.
TERRY
It's like carrying a monkey around on your back.
FATHER BARRY
(agreeing)
A question of who rides who.
TERRY
If I spill, my life won't be worth a nickel.
FATHER BARRY
How much is your soul worth if you don't?
TERRY
But it's my own brother they're askin' me
to finger— and Johnny Friendly. His mother and
my mother was first cousins. When I was this
high he took me to the ball games... .
FATHER BARRY
(violently)
Ball games! Don't break my heart!
I wouldn't care if he gave you a life
pass to the Polo Grounds. So you
got a brother. Well, let me tell you something
you got some other brothers— and they're all getting the
short
end while your cousin Johnny gets mustard on
his face at the Polo Grounds. If I was you—
(He catches himself and drops his voice.)
— Listen, I'm not asking you to do anything,
Terry. It's your own conscience that's got
to do the asking.
TERRY
Conscience... .
(shakes his head ruefully)
I didn't even know I had one until I met you and
Edie... this conscience stuff can drive you nuts.
FATHER BARRY
(sharply)
Good luck.
TERRY
(waiting for someone to do it for him)
Is that all you've got to say to me, Father?
Father Barry looks off .
LONG SHOT—PIER WALL—DAY
Edie coming toward them in the distance.
MEDIUM CLOSE—FATHER BARRY AND TERRY
FATHER BARRY
It's up to you. Just one more thing. You better tell Edie.
Terry turns in Edie's direction, reluctantly. He goes off toward her.
Father Barry stands looking after him.
CLOSER SHOT—EDIE AND TERRY—AT BURNED PIERS—DAY
TERRY
Edie... Edie... ..
EDIE
(turning to him)
Terry, what's wrong?
TERRY
I've been sittin' in the church.
EDIE
You?
TERRY
(almost inarticulate)
Yeah, yeah, it's up to me, it's up to me—
he says it's up to me.
EDIE
Who says?
TERRY
The Father. The Father.
He is trembling.
EDIE
Terry— what's happening to you?
TERRY
I just told the Father.
EDIE
Told him what?
TERRY
What I did to Joey.
EDIE
(whispered)
You... .
TERRY
(louder)
What I did to Joey.
EDIE
Don't tell me— don't tell me!
TERRY
(plunging in)
Edie— it's—
What he starts to say is drowned out by an immense, prolonged blast of
the whistle from the departing ocean liner. Terry shouts his story out
to Edie compulsively but we cannot hear it over the rasping sound of
the whistle. Edie is horrified as she catches enough words to realize
what Terry is trying to say. The whistle pauses a moment, giving us
just enough to hear Terry shout—
TERRY
Didn't know—
Then the blast of the boat whistle drowns him out again. When it
finally stops, Terry is finishing—
TERRY
—but don't you see, Edie, I never thought they'd—
(then hysterically as he feels her turning away from
him)
I don't know what to do, Edie, I don't know
what to do! I swear to God I—
She looks at him, turns and strides off .
TERRY
(calling, desperately)
Edie... Edie... What'll I do, Edie, what'll I do?
She doesn't look back. Terry watches her go, with mounting anguish;
then he lurches on in drunken confusion.
QUICK DISSOLVE
EXT—ROOFTOP—DAY
As Terry, still dazed, enters onto the roof, Jimmy Conners, in his
Golden Warrior blazer,
is exercising the pigeons. He sees Terry and runs up to him. Jimmy
talks in a whisper.
JIMMY
Hey, Terry, guess who's here... that joker
from the Commission... .
TERRY
Looking for me?
JIMMY
He's got his nerve, gum-shoeing around
here after what you told him.
TERRY
(grabs Jimmy)
Jimmy, suppose I knew something,
say a mug somebody put on somebody... .
(violent gesture illustrates what he means)
You think I should turn him in?
JIMMY
A cheese-eater! You're kidding!
TERRY
Yeah, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. You don't
think I should turn him in... .
JIMMY
(gives him a look)
You was a Golden Warrior.
TERRY
Yeah— us Golden Warriors.
(grabs Jimmy)
You're a good kid, Jimmy, a good tough kid. We
stick together, huh, kid?
JIMMY
You was our first Supreme Commander,
Terry. Keep out of sight and I'll tell him you're
out.
TERRY
But I ain't out. I'm in. I'm in. Who's lying
to who?
ROOFTOP—ANOTHER ANGLE
Terry walks over to where Glover is sitting, rubbing his feet.
TERRY
You looking for me?
GLOVER
Not exactly. Just thought I'd sit down
and rest my dogs a minute.
(smiles and rubs his ankle)
You know the next investigation we get into I hope
it's got buildings with elevators in them. This one
has been nothing but climbing stairs. And when
we hit the top ßoor the folks are usually out.
Jimmy gestures behind him as if to say "Get a load of this square."
TERRY
(distractedly)
I guess it's pretty tough work at that.
GLOVER
(casually)
Well, it'll be worth it if we can
tell the waterfront story the way the people have
a right to hear it. Don't you think?
Terry shrugs. Glover studies him.
GLOVER
Didn't I see you fight in the Garden one night
three or four years ago? With a fellow called Wilson?
TERRY
(still preoccupied)
Wilson— yeah— yeah— I fought Wilson.
GLOVER
I thought you were going to take him that night but...
TERRY
(this is the key that unlocks him)
You want to know something— I would have taken Wilson—
GLOVER
I think you could have.
TERRY
If I licked him I would have had the title
shot instead of him— boy, I was ready that night.
GLOVER
You sure looked it. Something go wrong?
Terry has been growing more and more animated but now he becomes
sullen.
TERRY
Yeah. Johnny Friendly and my brother
had other ideas.
GLOVER
Such as what?
TERRY
(suspiciously)
Listen, this ain't for publication.
GLOVER
(amused)
I'm just resting my feet.
TERRY
Remember the first round how I had him
against the ropes, and—
GLOVER
I'll never forget it. I thought it was all
over.
TERRY
Yeah. My own blood— and they sell me out
for a lousy bet— I had it in me to hit the top and—
(sighs)
Boy, if I wanted to, the things I could tell you
about them guys—
(then catches himself and pauses)
GLOVER
(expectantly)
Yeah?
Terry is silent.
GLOVER
(rises)
Well, I better get going. Hit those
stairs again.
(turns casually)
Was that a looping right or an uppercut the
first time you caught him?
TERRY
(insulted)
Looping right! I never swung wild. I was strictly
a short puncher— hooks— over 'n under—
(pantomimes, with violent short breath-releases)
— whop-whop!
GLOVER
Really?
TERRY
Yeah, really!
As Glover reaches the door, Terry keeps following him.
TERRY
Where you going? I'll walk along with you.
GLOVER
(grins warmly)
Sure... .
Terry follows Glover out, continuing to pantomime punches. Jimmy looks
after them and frowns.
QUICK DISSOLVE
INT—FRIENDLY BAR—NIGHT
Back room. It is set up as an informal kangaroo court . Jocko is
pointing at Charley Malloy, who is
on the hot seat. Johnny Friendly is the judge, flanked by Big Mac,
Truck, Sonny, Barney, Specs, J.P. Morgan and others.
J.P.
I didn't hear them, boss, but I sure seen them,
walking along and smiling like a pair of lovers.
Charley looks uncomfortable. He hasn't finished his drink.
JOHNNY
(watching him carefully)
Drink up, Charley. We're ahead of you.
CHARLEY
(disturbed)
I'm not thirsty.
JOHNNY
(drinking)
After what we been hearing about your brother,
I thought your throat'd be kind of dry.
CHARLEY
So they're walking along and smiling.
That doesn't mean he's going to talk. There's no
evidence until he gives public testimony.
JOHNNY
Thanks for the legal advice, Charley.
That's what we always kept you around for.
(smiles wisely)
Now how do we keep him from giving this
testimony? Isn't that the— er— as you put it—
main order of business?
CHARLEY
(nervously)
He was always a good kid. You know that.
BIG MAC
He'sa bum. After all the days I give
him in the loft— he got no gratitude.
JOHNNY
(offended)
Please, Mac, I'm conducting this—
(nodding to Charley)
—investigation.
CHARLEY
This girl and the Father got their hooks
in him so deep he doesn't know which end is up
anymore.
JOHNNY
I ain't interested in his mental condition.
All I want to know is, is he D 'n D or is he a
canary?
CHARLEY
I wish I knew.
JOHNNY
So do I, Charley. For your sake.
CHARLEY
What do you want me to do, Johnny?
JOHNNY
Very simple. Just bring him to... that
place we been using. Mac, you take care of the
details. Call Gerry G. in if you think you need
him.
CHARLEY
Gerry G!! You don't want to do that,
Johnny! Sure the boy's outa line, but he's just a
confused kid.
JOHNNY
Confused kid? First he crosses me in
public and gets away with it and then the next
joker, and pretty soon I'm just another fellow
down here.
CHARLEY
(horrified)
Johnny, I can't do that. I can't do that, Johnny.
JOHNNY
(coldly)
Then don't.
CHARLEY
But my own kid bro—
JOHNNY
(cutting in)
This is for you to figure out. You can have it your
way or you can have it his way.
(gestures with his palms up and his palms down)
But you can't have it both ways.
(turns to Sonny)
Am I right, Sonny?
SONNY
Definitely!
JOHNNY
(thumbing Charley to his feet)
Okay, on your horse, you deep thinker.
Charley rises reluctantly, his confident, springy manner now gone.
DISSOLVE
INT—TAXICAB—EVENING—(N.Y.B.G.)
Charley and Terry have just entered the cab.
TERRY
Gee, Charley, I'm sure glad you stopped
by for me. I needed to talk to you. What's it they
say about blood, it's—
(falters)
CHARLEY
(looking away coldly)
Thicker than water.
DRIVER
(gravel voice, without turning around)
Where to?
CHARLEY
Four thirty-seven River Street.
TERRY
River Street? I thought we was going to
the Garden.
CHARLEY
I've got to cover a bet there on the way
over. Anyway, it gives us a chance to talk.
TERRY
(good-naturedly)
Nothing ever stops you from talking, Charley.
CHARLEY
The grapevine says you picked up a subpoena.
TERRY
(Noncommittal, Sullen.)
That's right... .
CHARLEY
(watching for his reaction)
Of course, the boys know you too well to mark
you down for a cheese-eater.
TERRY
Mm—hmm.
CHARLEY
You know, the boys are getting rather
interested in your future.
TERRY
Mm—hmmm.
CHARLEY
They feel you've been sort of left out of
things, Terry. They think it's time you had a few
little things going for you on the docks.
TERRY
A steady job and a few bucks extra, that's
all I wanted.
CHARLEY
Sure, that's all right when you're a kid,
but you'll be pushing thirty pretty soon, slugger.
It's time you got some ambition.
TERRY
I always figured I'd live longer without it.
CHARLEY
Maybe.
Terry looks at him.
CHARLEY
There's a slot for a boss loader on the
new pier we're opening up.
TERRY
(interested)
Boss loader!
CHARLEY
Ten cents a hundred pounds on everything
that moves in and out. And you don't have
to lift a finger. It'll be three-four hundred a week
just for openers.
TERRY
And for all that dough I don't do nothin'?
CHARLEY
Absolutely nothing. You do nothing and you
say nothing. You understand, don't you, kid?
TERRY
(struggling with an unfamiliar problem of conscience
and loyalties)
Yeah— yeah— I guess I do— but there's
a lot more to this whole thing than I thought,
Charley.
CHARLEY
You don't mean you're thinking of testifying
against—
(turns a thumb in toward himself)
TERRY
I don't know— I don't know! I tell you I
ain't made up my mind yet. That's what I wanted
to talk to you about.
CHARLEY
(patiently, as to a stubborn child)
Listen, Terry, these piers we handle through
the locals— you know what they're worth to us?
TERRY
I know. I know.
CHARLEY
Well, then, you know Cousin Johnny
isn't going to jeopardize a setup like that for one
rubber-lipped—
TERRY
(simultaneous)
Don't say that!
CHARLEY
(continuing)
—ex-tanker who's walking on his heels— ?
TERRY
Don't say that!
CHARLEY
What the hell!!!
TERRY
I could have been better!
CHARLEY
The point is— there isn't much time, kid.
There is a painful pause, as they appraise each other.
TERRY
(desperately)
I tell you, Charley, I haven't made up my mind!
CHARLEY
Make up your mind, kid, I beg you, before we get
to four thirty-seven River... .
TERRY
(stunned)
Four thirty-seven— that isn't where Gerry G...?
Charley nods solemnly. Terry grows more agitated.
TERRY
Charley... you wouldn't take me to Gerry G... .?
Charley continues looking at him. He does not deny it. They stare at
each other for a moment. Then suddenly Terry starts out of the cab.
Charley pulls a pistol. Terry is motionless, now, looking
at Charley.
CHARLEY
Take the boss loading, kid. For God's
sake. I don't want to hurt you.
TERRY
(hushed, gently guiding the gun down toward
Charley's lap)
Charley... . Charley... . Wow... .
CHARLEY
(genuinely)
I wish I didn't have to do this, Terry.
Terry eyes him, beaten. Charley leans back and looks at Terry
strangely. Terry raises his hands above his head, somewhat in the
manner of a prizefighter mitting the crowd. The image nicks Charley's
memory.
TERRY
(an accusing sigh)
Wow... .
CHARLEY
(gently)
What do you weigh these days, slugger?
TERRY
(shrugs)
...eight-seven, eighty-eight.
What's it to you?
CHARLEY
(nostalgically)
Gee, when you tipped one seventy-five
you were beautiful. You should've
been another Billy Conn. That skunk I got to
manage you brought you along too fast.
TERRY
It wasn't him!
(years of abuse crying out in him)
It was you, Charley. You and Johnny. Like the
night the two of youse come in the dressing
room and says, "Kid, this ain't your night— we're
going for the price on Wilson." It ain't my night.
I'd of taken Wilson apart that night! I was ready—
remember the early rounds throwing them combinations.
So what happens— This bum Wilson
he gets the title shot— outdoors in the ballpark!
– and what do I get— a couple of bucks and
a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
(more and more aroused as he relives it)
It was you, Charley. You was
my brother. You should of looked out for me.
Instead of making me take them dives for the
short-end money.
CHARLEY
(defensively)
I always had a bet down for
you. You saw some money.
TERRY
(agonized)
See! You don't understand!
CHARLEY
I tried to keep you in good with Johnny.
TERRY
You don't understand! I could've been a
contender. I could've had class and been somebody.
Real class. Instead of a bum, let's face it,
which is what I am. It was you, Charley.
Charley takes a long, fond look at Terry. Then he glances quickly out
the window.
MEDIUM SHOT—WATERFRONT—NIGHT
From Charley's angle. A gloomy light reflects the street numbers—433—
435—
INT—CLOSE—CAB—ON CHARLEY AND TERRY — NIGHT
TERRY
It was you, Charley... .
CHARLEY
(turning back to Terry, his tone suddenly changed)
Okay— I'll tell him I couldn't bring you in.
Ten to one they won't believe it, but— go ahead,
blow. Jump out, quick, and keep going... and God
help you from here on in.
LONGER ANGLE—CAB—NIGHT
As Terry jumps out. A bus is just starting up a little further along
the street.
EXT—MEDIUM LONG SHOT—RIVER STREET—NIGHT
Running, Terry leaps onto the back of the moving bus.
INT—CAB—RIVER ST.—NIGHT
CHARLEY
(to driver as he watches Terry go)
Now take me to the Garden.
Charley sinks back in his seat, his hand covering his face. The driver
turns around, gives him a withering look, steps on the gas, and guns
the car into—
EXT—MEDIUM LONG SHOT—RIVER STREET—NIGHT
They have reached a garage, and now the car zooms through the entrance.
We catch a glimpse of Truck, Sonny and Big Mac.
MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT—EXT—JOHNNY'S LIMOUSINE —NIGHT
Johnny is watching from across the street.
MEDIUM CLOSE—ON GARAGE DOOR—NIGHT
Big Mac and Sonny pull the big black sliding door shut until the screen
itself is blacked out. Inside there is the roaring sound of a motor
racing.
QUICK DISSOLVE
INT—EDIE'S BEDROOM—NIGHT
Edie is in bed. There is a pounding on the door.
EDIE
(frightened)
Who is it?
INT—HALLWAY OUTSIDE DOYLE DOOR—NIGHT
Terry, in a wild state after his escape, is pounding on the door.
TERRY
Edie, it's me— let me in— it's me!
He pounds on the door even harder.
CLOSE—ON EDIE
The pounding continues.
EDIE
(Fiercely)
Stop it! Stop it! Get away from here!
VOICE OF TERRY
(muffled)
I've got to see you. Got to talk to you.
EDIE
Leave me alone. I want you to leave me alone!
ANGLE ON DOOR
The pounding grows louder. Suddenly there is the sound of the door
being broken open. Edie draws back against the head of her bed, pulling
the covers around her. Terry runs in wild-eyed.
TERRY
I had to, Edie. I had to see you.
EDIE
Lucky Pop isn't home, he'd kill you.
TERRY
You think I stink, don't you? You think I
stink for what I told you?
EDIE
I don't want to talk about it. I want you to
go.
TERRY
(grabbing her)
Edie, listen to me! I want you
to believe me. I want to be with you.
EDIE
(wrenching herself free)
How can you be with Charley and Johnny
Friendly and still be with me? Either way it's a lie.
It's like there were two different people inside of you.
You've got to be one or the other.
TERRY
(in pain)
I don't want to hurt Charley— I don't want to hurt you...
EDIE
It's you who's being hurt. By keeping it
inside you, like a poison. Sooner or later it's got
to come out.
TERRY
I know what you want me to do!
EDIE
I don't want you to do anything. Let your
conscience tell you what to do.
TERRY
(pounding his fist on the bed)
That—
(pound! pound!)
—word again! Why do you keep saying
conscience, conscience... .
EDIE
I never mentioned the word before.
In his agony he grips a glass standing on
the night table.
TERRY
I keep hearing it and I don't know what to
do..I don't know what to do... .
Without realizing what he is doing, he squeezes the glass in his
powerful fist until it breaks. The glass cuts his hand. He draws back
in pain.
TERRY
My hand.
EDIE
It's just a scratch. You won't die.
She turns away from him.
TERRY
Edie...
EDIE
Get away from me.
TERRY
Edie, I need you to love me. Tell me you
love me.
EDIE
I didn't say I didn't love you. I said stay
away from me.
TERRY
(groping for her)
Edie, Edie, I...
His arms move around her. Her reaction is convulsive. Her hands move
over him in anger and love.
EDIE
Stay away from me
(her face close to his)
Stay away from me—
(closer)
Stay—
They kiss, lying across the bed, and the fever seizes them again.
EDIE
—away from me!
Then, after some moments, they are distracted by—
VOICE FROM THE STREET
Hey, Terry, come on down. I got something to show you,
Terry.
Startled, they cling to each other. The voice calls again—
VOICE FROM THE STREET
Hey, Terry, your brother's down here.
TERRY
(more curious)
Charley?
VOICE
Charley's waitin' for ya. Come on down
and see him.
EDIE
(whispers)
Don't go. Don't go.
TERRY
But Charley— maybe Charley needs me. I
better see what he wants.
He goes.
EDIE
(calling after him)
Terry...
She rises and calls toward the door—
Terry...
Then she runs to the window.
EXT—EDIE AT WINDOW—NIGHT
EDIE
(calling)
Terry... .
WOMAN'S VOICE (O.S.)
You hear what I heard?
Edie looks up and to one side.
CLOSE—ON MRS. COLLINS
Looking out another window of the tenement.
MRS. COLLINS
That's the same way they called Andy out
the night I lost him.
CLOSE—ON EDIE—AT WINDOW
Horrified. Looking for Terry. She runs from the window.
CLOSE—ON FIRE ESCAPE—NIGHT
As Edie runs out onto it. She looks down wildly, searching for Terry. A
ship's whistle makes a mournful sound. A great luxury liner is heading
out to the harbor. Fog is drifting in over the roof. She peers down but
can see nothing. She hears a wild shriek from the street and runs to
the railing again. It is only a teenager whooping it up below. Then she
hears shots—Bang—Bang—
Bang—and the sound of a police siren. She raises her hands to her head
and cries.
EDIE
Terry.
Then she hears the follow-up of the police siren. It is only a TV set
near the open window of the floor below.
TV ANNOUNCER
And now for your weekly dramatic
thrill straight from the files of the City's
Finest— Police Patrol... .
("Dragnet"-type music)
Edie turns away in exasperation. She calls down the fire escape into
the fog.
EDIE
Terry!
There is no answer. Mrs. Collins appears on the fire escape in her
kimono.
MRS. COLLINS
Don't go down!
Mrs. Collins tries to restrain her but Edie wrenches away—
EDIE
Terry!
She starts to run hysterically down the fire escape.
EXT—LANDING UNDER FIRE ESCAPE—NIGHT
As Edie is coming down the outside metal steps, Mutt is wandering along
singing mournfully—
MUTT
Tippi-tippi-tin, tippi-Tin... .
A window opens and an angry voice cries:
LOUD VOICE
Drop dead!
An old shoe is hurled at Mutt, just as Edie turns toward him.
MUTT
(to the angrywindow)
Spit on me, curse me and stone me, but I suffer
for your sins... .
LOUD VOICE
Go suffer somewhere else, you bum.
The window bangs shut. Mutt sees Edie and turns his attention to her.
MUTT
I seen it. I seen them put him to death! I
heard him cry out.
EDIE
(impatiently— almost hysterically)
Who. Who did you see?
MUTT
His executioners. They was stabbing him
in his side. And his soft eyes was looking down at
them.
EDIE
(desperately) Tell me who.
MUTT
(lifting his head from his hands)
Our Lord Jesus. When He died to save us...
He gropes toward her as if to paw her.
EDIE
(with loathing)
Oh get away— get away!
She runs on. Mutt goes staggering off in the opposite direction,
singing his song. Edie runs on until she sees Terry in the mist.
EDIE
Terry!
She runs into his arms.
EDIE
(continued)
Terry, I'm frightened. More and more frightened.
TERRY
I'm looking for Charley. I heard Charley
was waiting for me.
(calls)
Charley?
There is no answer. Terry frowns. Edie points through the darkness.
SAME VOICE IN FOG
Wanna see Charley? He's over here.
TERRY
(as they hurry forward)
Hey, Charley... .
EXT—MEDIUM CLOSE—WHITE WALL—NIGHT
The headlights of a car suddenly illuminate Charley against the wall.
Charley is leaning against the lamp post, in a very casual attitude,
looking as dapper as usual. Terry and Edie run to him. The car drives
off .
TERRY
Looking for me, Charley?
Charley seems to study them silently. Terry nudges him.
TERRY
Hey Charley.
Charley slides down the wall and crumples to the ground. Dead. Edie
screams. Terry drops beside the body.
TERRY
He's dead. He's dead. Those scummy,
good-for-nuthin' butchers!.
The lights of an approaching car catch them in its beam. Terry reacts
quickly, cowering against the wall and pulling Edie down behind him
protectively.
TERRY
Behind me. Behind me. It may be them
coming back!
They huddle in fear as the car comes closer; then it turns and the
lights are no longer on them. Terry lets out a soft whistle of relief
as the car drives off. Edie is completely panicked now.
EDIE
(in a horrified whisper)
Terry, let's go away.
Terry takes Charley's arm, which is twisted behind him, and straightens
it tenderly.
TERRY
Charley.
EDIE
(hysterically)
I mean it, let's get away from
here, first Joey then Nolan, now Charley—
and any minute... .
(stares at him, almost saying "you")
...I'm frightened— I'm frightened.
Terry seems not to hear. There are tears in his eyes but fury in his
voice as he mutters to himself.
TERRY
I'll take it out of their skulls.
EDIE
I don't want to see you killed. I want to live
with you. Live with you. Any place it's safe to walk
the streets without... .
TERRY
(in a terrible mutter to himself)
I'll take it out of their skulls.
He rises, in a dangerous, animal rage.
EDIE
Terry, no, no... .
TERRY
Don't hang on to me. And don't follow
me. Don't follow me.
(turns)
Call the Father. Ask him to take care of Charley for me. My
brother.
There's something I got to do.
He looks around, takes note of and strides toward—
MEDIUM SHOT—PAWN SHOP—NIGHT
A little way down the block. An iron grille protects the windows. Terry
goes up to the grille and looks in. Edie follows him anxiously.
CLOSE SHOT—PAWN SHOP WINDOW—THROUGH GRILLE—NIGHT
There are watches, rings, fishing rods, guitars, cameras, musical
instruments, suits, furs, bowler hats, and—about two feet back from the
window—a .45 revolver in a holster and a belt of cartridges.
TERRY
(muttering)
They put a hole in Charley. I'll
put holes in them.
Edie sees what Terry is after and tries to restrain him.
EDIE
Terry, go home. There's nothing you can do
now. It's locked up.
Terry looks at her unseeingly, then drives the toe of his shoe through
the diamond shaped opening in the grille, and through the glass behind
it.
INT—PAWN SHOP WINDOW—NIGHT
Shooting toward Terry, the coveted revolver in the F.G. Terry's fingers
cannot quite reach it. He has to press his shoulder painfully against
the jagged glass in order to inch closer to it. He contorts his face in
pain as the glass cuts through his jacket into his flesh. Blood begins
to dampen his shoulder but with a final effort he gets his fingers
around the gun.
EXT—PAWN SHOP—NIGHT
As Terry draws the gun from the window and slips it into his pocket,
Edie sees the blood dripping from the rip in his jacket.
EDIE
Terry, you're bleeding.
TERRY
(in a flat tone)
Do what I told you. Take care of Charley.
EDIE
Terry, for God's sake.
TERRY
Get out of my way.
EDIE
No, I can't let you. I can't, you're—
She clings to him sobbing.
TERRY
(violently)
I don't want to hurt you, but... out of my way!
He flings her from him and goes on loading the gun, as she sobbingly
watches him go off .
INT—FRIENDLY BAR—NIGHT
As Terry enters. The usual crowd are present: Barney, Specs, Sonny,
Truck, J.P., etc. There is a comedian on TV and everyone is laughing
but the laughter dies at the sight of Terry. He goes up to the bar
tensely. Everyone watches in silence. There is a suggestion of men
feeling for their guns but nobody moves.
TERRY
(to bartender)
Is Johnny in?
JOCKO
No.
TERRY
(suspiciously)
No?
To see for himself, Terry strides through to the back room and throws
open the door. The back room is empty. Then he takes a seat at the bar
so he can watch the room and the entrance. The customers eye him
carefully.
TERRY
(to Jocko)
Give me a double.
JOCKO
Take it easy now, Terry.
TERRY
Keep the advice. Give me the whiskey.
Jocko sets the drink up. He notices the jagged tear in Terry's jacket
and the spreading stain of blood from the shoulder.
JOCKO
What's wrong with your shoulder?
TERRY
(draining his glass)
Hit me again.
JOCKO
(in an undertone)
Listen, kid, why don't you go home before Johnny... .
Terry pushes his empty pony glass forward for another one.
TERRY
(sharply)
No advice. Just whiskey.
JOCKO
(pouring it)
Easy. Easy, boy.
ANOTHER ANGLE—TOWARD ENTRANCE
Footsteps are heard outside the swinging doors. Terry turns to face the
entrance, his hand going to the gun in his pocket. Sonny, Truck,
Barney, and others all watch him, ready for the draw. Jocko
automatically crosses himself and turns off the TV, which is now only
an irritant. The swinging doors open, but it's not Johnny. Just a
couple of happy waterf ront barfl ies. But the moment they enter their
grins vanish as they are made to feel the tension. They look at Terry,
then they look at the goons watching Terry.
JOCKO
(to the newcomers)
What'll you have?
NEWCOMER
Thanks just the same.
The two men bolt out the doorway. In the silence we hear the creaking
of the ancient swinging doors. The silence is oppressive. Terry works
his hand over his bleeding shoulder.
JOCKO
You ought to go home and take care of that—
TERRY
(watching the doorway, growls)
First things first.
Once more steps are heard on the sidewalk outside the bar. Once more
everyone is on edge for the showdown between Terry and Johnny. All
eyes are on the swinging doors.
MEDIUM CLOSE—SWINGING DOORS—NIGHT
Father Barry enters, followed by Moose, Tommy, Luke. CAMERA goes with
Father Barry as he walks right up to Terry.
FATHER BARRY
I want to see you, Terry.
TERRY
You got eyes. I'm right in front of you.
FATHER BARRY
Now don't give me a hard time.
TERRY
What do you want from me, Father.
FATHER BARRY
(putting out his hand)
Your gun.
TERRY
Mind your own business, Father.
FATHER BARRY
This is my business.
TERRY
Why don't you go and chase yourself?
FATHER BARRY
(slowly) Give me that gun.
TERRY
You go to hell.
FATHER BARRY
(advancing)
What did you say?
TERRY
(just a trifle disconcerted)
You go to—
Father Barry throws a good right hand punch that catches Terry by
surprise and knocks him down. Terry rises, feeling his shoulder, which
is oozing blood now and weakening him. He charges Father Barry like a
tormented animal.
TERRY
Why you... .
Moose and Luke grab him, although Father Barry waits calmly.
TOMMY
(to Terry)
Get wise to yourself, you bum.
The word hits him. Terry drops his hands slowly, weaving as if weak
from loss of blood.
TERRY
(chastened)
Take your hands off me. What you call me?
FATHER BARRY
(to Terry)
A bum. Look what you're doing. You want to be brave?
Firing lead into another man's flesh isn't brave. Any bum
who picks up a .45 in a pawn shop can be that
brave. You want to hurt Johnny Friendly? You
want to fix him for what he did to Charley— and a
dozen men who were better than Charley? Don't
fight him like a hoodlum down here in the jungle.
That's just what he wants. He'll hit you in the
head and plead self-defense. Fight him tomorrow
in the courtroom— with the truth as you know
it— Truth is the gun— Drop that thing and tell the
truth— a more dangerous weapon than this little —
(reaches into Terry's pocket and removes the gun as
he talks)
—cap pistol.
The two men look at each other. Father Barry's words cut him.
FATHER BARRY
That is, if you've got the guts. If you haven't, you
better hang on to this.
Father Barry offers the gun back to Terry contemptuously. Terry takes
the gun, and holds it self-consciously.
FATHER BARRY
You want a beer?
(to Jocko)
Two beers.
Jocko sets them up and Father Barry and Terry drink them off, looking
at each other. The drink seems to refresh Terry. He turns around to
Jocko and slams the gun down on the bar.
Behind the bar is a large picture, in the place of honor, showing
Johnny Friendly arm-in-arm with "Mr. Upstairs," beaming with self-
confidence.
TERRY
Father, there is one thing I'd like to do.
So saying, he takes his revolver and hurls it into the face of the
picture.
TERRY
(feeling better)
Tell Johnny I was here.
Terry looks around defiantly at the tense gunmen—and starts out with
Father Barry and the group.
MEDIUM CLOSE—JOCKO—BEHIND BAR
Watching Terry leave. Breathing a sigh of relief as he picks up the
gun.
JOCKO
(inadvertently)
... nice boy... .
Then he catches the dark looks of Sonny, Truck, Barney, etc., and
busies himself at the bar.
FADE OUT
FADE IN
INT—TRAVELING SHOT—COURTROOM—DAY
A court room door opens. It is the door out of which the witnesses are
brought to testify for hearings of the Waterf ront Crime Commission. A
counsel is just finishing questioning Big Mac...We don't photograph
this.
We show Terry walking slowly towards his seat. Edie and Father Barry
are in the audience. Also Johnny and some of the mob. We hear the
dialogue (O.S.)
COUNSEL (O.S.)
You mean to sit there and tell
me that your local takes in sixty-five thousand,
five hundred dollars every year and keeps no
financial records?
BIG MAC (O.S.)
Sure we keep records!
COUNSEL (O.S.)
Well, where are they?
BIG MAC
(indignantly)
We was robbed last night and we can't find no books.
CLOSER SHOT—COUNSEL AND BIG MAC
COUNSEL
Doesn't it seem odd to you that five
different waterfront locals were broken into last
night and the only articles removed were financial
records?
BIG MAC
(steadfastly)
What do you mean, odd? We was robbed like I told you.
COUNSEL
(waving him aside)
That's all. Next witness!
Big Mac steps down, mopping his brow. Terry steps up to the stand. They
glare at each other as they pass. We CUT to Edie looking on anxiously
from the spectators' section, to Father Barry, Pop, Moose, Tommy, and
Luke sitting together leaning forward.
CLERK
Name?
TERRY
Terrence Francis Malloy.
CLERK
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
There is a momentary pause.
CLOSE SHOT—EDIE, FATHER BARRY
Sitting with Pop, Moose, Luke, and Tommy. Waiting for his answer.
CLOSE—ON TERRY
His hand raised for the oath. When he answers, it seems more than a
mere judicial formality.
TERRY
(firmly)
Right... I do.
COUNSEL
(rising)
Mr. Malloy, is it true that on the
night Joey Doyle was found...
CLOSE—ON LARGE TV SET IN AN ELEGANT STUDY
We see Terry testifying on the TV screen.
COUNSEL
...dead you were the last person to see him before he
was pushed off the roof, and that you went immediately
to the Friendly Bar where you expressed your feelings
about the murder to Mr. Johnny Friendly?
TERRY
That's right.
During the above a butler's hand sets a highball glass down beside a
rich leather chair, and a strong, manicured hand wearing an expensive
ring picks up the glass.
VOICE OF BUTLER
Will there be anything else, sir?
VOICE OF "MR. UPSTAIRS"
(an impressive, heavy voice)
Yes, Sidney, if Mr. Friendly calls, I'm out, and
you don't know when I'll be back.
VOICE OF BUTLER
Very good, sir.
The CAMERA moves in on the TV screen, the court room image spins, and
when it fi nally stops, we are back to—
INT—MEDIUM CLOSE—COURTROOM—ON TERRY — DAY
COUNSEL
.. Thank you, Mr. Malloy, you've done
more than to break the case of Joey Doyle, you
have held up a lamp of truth in the dark cave of
waterfront crime. You may step down now.
As Terry steps down, he is quickly surrounded by police bodyguards, who
lead him toward the chamber behind the court-room. As he steps into the
aisle Johnny Friendly leaps up from a long bench facing the aisle.
JOHNNY
(struggling to get at Terry)
You're a walkin' dead man! You're dead on this waterfront
and
every other waterfront from Boston to New
Orleans. You won't go anywhere, drive a truck or
a cab or push a baggage rack without one of my
guys have the eye on you. You just dug your own
grave, dead man, go fall in it!
(spits in Terry's face)
Terry leaps at him instinctively. The gavel sounds repeatedly and there
are cries of "Order! Order!" Johnny wrestles with Terry, but they are
roughly separated by court room guards
who lead Terry off toward the door to the private chambers. Edie leaves
her seat and tries to get to Terry but is kept off by the guards.
GUARD
Sorry, Miss, our orders is to keep everybody
away.
They lead Terry off, as the voice of the clerk is saying—
VOICE (O.S.)
Next witness, Mr. Michael J. Skelly,
also known as Johnny Friendly... .
DISSOLVE
INT—CLOSE—COURTHOUSE LOBBY AND STAIRS ON HEAVY FOOTSTEPS—DAY
Terry's.
CLOSE ON TWO MORE PAIRS OF HEAVY FOOTSTEPS
Terry's police bodyguards.
MEDIUM CLOSE—TERRY AND POLICEMEN CROSSING COURTHOUSE LOBBY—DAY
Old men and bums are sitting on the park benches. Loitering outside are
two of Terry's old chums, Chick and Jackie. Terry has to go right past
them.
TERRY
(uncomfortably)
Hi Chick— Jackie...
They look at him coldly, and turn away. Terry goes on, unhappily, the
police guards just behind him.
TERRY
(half turning, irritably)
Have to walk right on top of me?
FIRST COP
Orders, Terry.
TERRY
You're stepping on my heels— you're
making me nervous.
SECOND COP
Terry, you're hot, you know that,
you should be glad we're this close to you.
TERRY
Trailing me like that, you make me feel
like a canary.
FIRST COP
(grins a little)
Well?
TERRY
Now beat it— go ahead— beat it.
SECOND COP
Take it easy, Terry, take it easy.
He looks at his colleague and winks—they understand and fall back,
allowing Terry to continue on down the stairs.
DISSOLVE
INT—TERRY'S ROOM
Edie is preparing coffee on a little stove in the corner as Terry
enters, drained and let down.
TERRY
Edie.
EDIE
I thought you might want some hot coffee.
TERRY
(shaking his head moodily)
Thanks just the same.
EDIE
Well, it's over.
TERRY
But I feel like— My friends won't talk to me.
EDIE
(bitingly)
Are you sure they're your friends?
Terry looks at her and then paces restlessly. He looks out and sees—
EXT—ROOFTOP—DAY
Jimmy, on the roof.
INT—TERRY'S ROOM—DAY
TERRY
(calling, halfheartedly)
Hey, Jimmy— how's the kid?
Jimmy doesn't answer. Terry goes to the window.
TERRY
Hey, Jimmy!
EXT—ROOFTOP—DAY
Jimmy Conners, near the pigeon coop. He looks up at Terry sullenly and
doesn't answer.
INT—TERRY'S ROOM—DAY
Terry draws back in defeat.
TERRY
Jimmy too.
JIMMY'S VOICE (O.S.)
A pigeon for a pigeon... !
Through the open window is flung the body of a dead pigeon. It falls at
Terry's feet. He looks down at it. Its neck has been wrung.
TERRY
(brokenly)
Swifty— my lead bird—
He looks out toward his coop—then climbs out the window and hurries
toward it. We hold on Edie who watches him, worried, and then follows
him.
EXT—ROOFTOP—DAY
Terry goes to his coop. On the floor are every one of his pigeons,
perhaps three dozen, all with their necks wrung. Terry picks one up.
Its head hangs limp.
TERRY
(looks off)
Jimmy...
EDIE
He's going to have to grow up too.
TERRY
(from deep inside him)
My pigeons... .
EDIE
Terry, you better stay in for a while. I'll
come and cook your meals. Be sure you keep the
door locked.
TERRY
(not seeming to hear her)
Every one of 'em... .
EDIE
You heard what Johnny said. No part of the
Waterfront'll be safe for you now. Maybe inland—
the Middle West somewhere— a job on a farm... .
TERRY
(mutters disgustedly)
Farm...
He turns and starts back toward his room. She follows desperately.
EDIE
Does it have to be the waterfront! Pop, he's
an old man, it's all he knows, but you— you could
do lots of things, get into something new, anything
as long as it's away from Johnny Friendly!
INT—TERRY'S ROOM
Terry enters. Edie's voice follows him as she trails behind him. He
sits on the bed and looks at the cargo hook hung on a peg on the wall.
EDIE
Doesn't that make sense!
Terry doesn't answer. He takes the cargo hook from the wall and jabs it
viciously into the floor.
EDIE
I don't think you're even listening to me!
He pulls the cargo hook out and jabs it into the floor again.
EDIE
...are you?
He looks up at her, frowns and then studies the cargo hook, tapping it
into his hand with pent-up feeling. The feeling is a strong and
infectious one. Edie senses it and accuses him—
EDIE
You're going down there!
He looks up at her again for a moment and then works his hand over the
handle of the hook.
EDIE
(her voice rising)
Just because Johnny warned you not to, you're
going down there, aren't you?
He doesn't say anything but the determination in him seems to be
constantly mounting.
EDIE
You think you've got to prove something to
them, don't you? That you are not afraid of them
and— you won't be satisfied until you walk right
into their trap, will you?
His silence maddens her. She seems on the verge of striking him out of
frustration and impotent rage. Her voice is hysterical—
EDIE
Then go ahead— go ahead! Go down to the
shape-up and get yourself killed, you stupid, pigheaded,
son of a—
(struggles to control herself)
What are you trying to prove?
With a decisive gesture Terry takes the hook and sticks it
through his
belt. Then he goes to the wall and lifts Joey's windbreaker
from the
nail on which it has been hanging. He puts the windbreaker
on in a
deliberate way, and grins at her as he does so; then he
walks to the
door with a sense of dignity he has never had before.
TERRY
(quietly)
You always said I was a bum. Well—
(points to himself)
—not anymore. I'm going down to the dock.
Don't worry, I'm not going to
shoot anybody. I'm just going to get my rights.
(rubs the sleeve of the jacket)
Joey's jacket. It's time I start wearing it.
He goes.
QUICK DISSOLVE
EXT—PIER—SHAPE-UP—MORNING
Big Mac facing the semicircle of several hundred men. Into this circle
walks Terry.
Other longshoremen instinctively move away from him as he approaches.
CLOSE—BIG MAC
BIG MAC
I need fifteen gangs today. Everybody works!
He picks men out very quickly and they move forward from the mass.
MEDIUM CLOSE—TERRY—PIER—DAY
He has taken his stand defiantly, with his hands in his pockets,
looking Big Mac in the eyes. Big Mac picks men all around Terry.
He makes it obvious by reaching over Terry's shoulder to pick men
behind him. Finally there are only a handful left around Terry,
and then they are chosen. Terry is left standing there along.
TERRY
(brazenly)
You're still a man short for that
last hatch gang, Mac.
BIG MAC
(without looking at Terry, calls to Sonny)
Hey, Sonny, go across to the bar and pick up the first
man you see.
Now Big Mac looks at Terry for the first time.
BIG MAC
Where are them cops of yours, stoolie?
You're gonna need 'em.
He turns away. Terry stands there seething. He looks around at Pop, and
the others ready to enter the pier. They look away, still fearful of
Big Mac and the power of the mob, and feeling guilty for their
passivity.
INT—JOHNNY FRIENDLY'S OFFICE ON WHARF—DAY
Johnny looks across at the isolated figure of Terry. Sonny, Truck, and
Specs are with Johnny. On the desk are tabloids with headlines
reading NAME JOHHNY FRIENDLY AS WATERFRONT MURDER BOSS. Under the
banner head is a large picture of Johnny.
TRUCK
That ain't a bad picture of you, boss.
Johnny glares at him and pushes the paper aside angrily.
SONNY
I wish you'd let us go to work on that
cheese-eater.
JOHNNY
(with both hands working)
After we get off the front page. Then he's mine.
I want him.
EXT—CLOSE—PIER ENTRANCE—ON TERRY AND BIG MAC—DAY
Sonny returns with "the first man he saw"—Mutt Murphy. Mutt and Terry
glance at each other.
SONNY
Here's your man, Mac.
MAC
Okay.
Mac nods Mutt on into the pier, the one armed derelict turning back
with an apologetic gesture. Terry's fury grows. Mac growls at him—
MAC
You want more of the same? Come back tomorrow.
Terry looks at him, and then across at Johnny's office on the wharf.
His hands begin to tremble.
He turns and starts walking slowly, resolutely, down the gangplank
leading to Johnny's headquarters.
INT—JOHNNY FRIENDLY'S OFFICE
SONNY
(seeing Terry through window)
He's comin' down!
JOHNNY
He's gotta be crazy!
TRUCK
(glancing out, growls)
Yeah, here comes the
bum now. I'll top 'im off lovely.
Behind Johnny's back the click of a revolver safety latch is heard.
Johnny whirls on him quickly
JOHNNY
Gimme that.
TRUCK
(offended)
How are we gonna protect ourselves?
JOHNNY
Ever hear of the Sullivan Law? Carrying
a gun without a permit? They'll be on us for anything
now. The slightest infraction. Give.
(turns to the other goons)
All of you? Give— give— give—
Sonny, Truck and the others reluctantly give up their guns. Johnny
turns to the safe and begins to open it.
JOHNNY
We're a law-abidin' union. Understand?
(As he puts the guns in the safe and slams the safe
door.)
A law-abidin' union!
EXT—UNION LOCAL OFFICE ON WHARF—DAY
Terry walks compulsively down the ramp to the office.
TERRY
(shouts)
Hey, Friendly! Johnny Friendly,
come out here!
Johnny comes out of his office followed by his goons.
JOHNNY
(shouts)
You want to know the trouble with you?
You think it makes you a big man if you
can give the answers.
TERRY
Listen, Johnny—
JOHNNY
Go on— beat it. Don't push your luck.
TERRY
You want to know somethin'—?
JOHNNY
I said beat it! At the right time I'll catch
up with you. Be thinkin' about it.
As he starts to turn back into his office, Terry advances, steaming
himself up.
TERRY
(louder)
You want to know something? Take
the heater away and you're nothin'— take the
good goods away, and the kickback and the
shakedown cabbage away and the pistoleros—
(indicating the others)
—away and you're a great big hunk of nothing—
(takes a deep breath as if relieved)
Your guts is all in your wallet and your trigger finger!
JOHNNY
(with fury)
Go on talkin'. You're talkin'
yourself right into the river. Go on, go on... .
TERRY
(voice rising defiantly)
I'm glad what I done today, see?
You give it to Joey, you give it to
Nolan, you give it to Charley who was one of your
own. You thought you was God Almighty instead
of a cheap— conniving—good-for-nothing bum!
So I'm glad what I done— you hear me? —glad
what I done!
JOHNNY
(coldly)
You ratted on us, Terry.
TERRY
(aware of fellow longshoremen watching the duel)
From where you stand, maybe. But I'm standing
over here now. I was rattin' on myself all them
years and didn't know it, helpin' punks like you
against people like Pop and Nolan an'... .
JOHNNY
(beckoning Terry with his hands, in a passion of
hate)
Come on. I want you. You're mine. You're
mine! Come on!
FIGHT ON UNION OFFICE DECK—SERIES OF SHOTS
As Johnny takes an aggressive step forward, Terry runs down the ramp
and hurls himself at him. They fight furiously on the deck of the
houseboat. A fight to the death. A violent brawl with no holds barred.
First one, then the other has the advantage. In B.G., longshoremen
we know creep forward and watchi n amazement.
LONGSHOREMEN WATCHING
LUKE
That kid fights like he useta!
Others nod but show no inclination to join in and face the goons.
BACK TO FIGHT
Which mounts in intensity as CAMERA FOLLOWS it around the narrow deck
bordering the union offi ce. Johnny knees Terry but Terry retaliates
with desperate combinations that begin to beat Johnny to the deck. Both
of their faces are bloody and hideously swollen
ANOTHER ANGLE—GOONS
At this point Sonny, Truck and the other goons jump in to save their
leader. Terry fights them off like a mad man, under vicious attack from
all angles.
LONGSHOREMEN WATCHING
They'll kill 'im! It's a massacre! etc.
But they still hang back, intimidated by Johnny Friendly and his
muscle.
TERRY FIGHTING
His face a bloody mask, being punched and kicked until he finally goes
down. Goons are ready to finish the job when a battered Johnny Friendly
mutters:
JOHNNY
That's enough. Let 'im lay there.
Terry is crumpled on the deck, senseless, in a pool of blood.
REVERSE—ON EDIE AND FATHER BARRY
Pushing their way anxiously through the crowd of longshoremen.
FATHER BARRY
(tight-lipped)
What happened? What happened?
EDIE
(to young longshoreman)
Tommy, what happened?
POP
Where you goin'?
EDIE
(fiercely)
Let me by.
BACK TO TERRY
Blood seeping from his many wounds as Father Barry and Edie run in and
kneel at his side. Johnny Friendly near by.
JOHNNY
You want 'im?
(as he goes)
You can have
'im. The little rat's yours.
FATHER BARRY
(to longshoreman)
Get some fresh water.
EDIE
Terry...?
FATHER BARRY
Terry... Terry... .
Terry groans, barely conscious.
ENTRANCE TO PIER—ON BOSS STEVEDORE
In felt hat and business suit, symbols of executive authority.
BOSS STEVEDORE
Who's in charge here? We
gotta get this ship going. It's costing us money.
The longshoremen hang back, glancing off toward the fallen Terry.
BOSS STEVEDORE
(waving them towardhim)
Come on! Let's get goin'!
The men don't move.
BOSS STEVEDORE
I said— c'mon!
TOMMY
How about Terry? If he don't work, we don't work.
Others around him murmur agreement.
JOHNNY
(from B.G.)
Work! He can't even walk!
JOHNNY ON RAMP
Surrounded by longshoremen ignoring Stevedore's command, tries to drive
them on.
JOHNNY
Come on! Get in there!
(grabbing Pop and shoving him forward)
Come on, you!
From force of habit, Pop begins to comply. Then he catches himself and
turns on Johnny.
POP
(sounding more sad than angry)
All my life you pushed me around.
Suddenly he shoves Johnny off the ramp into the water scummy with oil
slick and riverbank debris.
JOHNNY IN WATER
Cursing.
POP AND LONGSHOREMEN
Cheering Johnny Friendly's humiliation.
JOHNNY
(from water)
Come on, get me outa here.
BACK TO STEVEDORE
BOSS STEVEDORE
Let's go! Time is money!
MOOSE
You hoid 'im. Terry walk in, we walk in with 'im.
Others facing Stevedore mutter agreement.
TERRY,FATHER BARRY AND EDIE
Terry's eyes flutter as they bathe his wounds.
EDIE
(to Father Barry)
They're waiting for him to walk in.
FATHER BARRY
You hear that, Terry?
(as Terry fails to respond)
Terry, did you hear that?
(trying to penetrate Terry's batteredmind)
You lost the battle but you have a chance to win
the war. All you gotta do is walk.
TERRY
(slowly coming to)
...walk?
FATHER BARRY
Johnny Friendly is layin' odds
that you won't get up.
JOHNNY
(in B.G., shouts)
Come on, you guys!
Friendly's voice acts as a prod on Terry.
TERRY
(dazed)
Get me on my feet.
They make an effort to pick him up. He can barely stand. He looks
around unseeingly.
TERRY
Am I on my feet...?
EDIE
Terry...?
FATHER BARRY
You're on your feet. You can finish
what you started.
Blood oozing from his wounds, Terry sways, uncomprehendingly.
FATHER BARRY
You can!
TERRY
(mutters through bloody lips)
I can? Okay. Okay...
EDIE
(screams at Father Barry)
What are you trying to do?
ANGLE—ON RAMP
As the groggy Terry starts up the ramp, Edie reaches out to him. Father
Barry holds her back.
FATHER BARRY
Leave him alone. Take your hands off him—
Leave him alone.
Staggering, moving painfully forward, Terry starts up the ramp. Edie's
instinct is to help him but Father Barry, knowing the stakes of this
symbolic act, holds her back. Terry stumbles, but steadies himself and
moves forward as if driven on by Father Barry's will.
TERRY APPROACHING PIER ENTRANCE
As he staggers forward as if blinded, the longshoremen form a line on
either side of him, awed by his courage, waiting to see if he'll make
it. Terry keeps going.
REVERSE ANGLE—BOSS STEVEDORE—TERRY'S POV
Waiting at pier entrance as Terry approaches. Shot out of focus as
Terry would see him
through bloody haze.
TERRY
As the men who have formed a path for him watch intently, Terry
staggers up until he is face to face with the Stevedore. He gathers
himself as if to say, "I'm ready. Let's go."
STEVEDORE
(calls officially)
All right— let's go to work!
As Terry goes past him into the pier, the men with a sense of
inevitability fall in behind him.
JOHNNY FRIENDLY
Hurrying forward in a last desperate effort to stop the men from
following Terry in.
JOHNNY
(screams)
Where you guys goin'? Wait a minute!
As they stream past him.
JOHNNY
I'll be back! I'll be back! And I'll remember every
last one of ya!
He points at them accusingly. But they keep following Terry into the
pier.
WIDER ANGLE—PIER ENTRANCE
As Father Barry and Edie look on, Stevedore blows his whistle for work
to begin. Longshoremen
by the hundreds march into the pier behind Terry like a conquering
army. In the B.G. a frenzied Johnny Friendly is still screaming, "I'll
be back! I'll be back!" The threat, real as it is, is lost in the
forward progress of Terry and the ragtail army of dock workers he now
leads.
FADE OUT
THE END