November ,
John Mellencamp "Jack and Diane"
[ Happy Birthday Baby!
I Love You! Joe ]
[ JOHNSTONE CARPET CO. ]
Monty. Butch.
Hey, Joe.
Coffee?
Hot chocolate.
Come on, Ham!
You big-boned bastard!
I'm freezing my ass off here!
Stick it, Butchie.
Hey, can I get uh...
two coffees and uh...
a cocoa?
- Put your money away.
- I've got it.
No, no, this one's on me
on account of Joe's promotion.
Yeah?
- You're the new straw boss?
- Dunno yet.
- We'll see.
- Hey, wait a minute.
I thought you wanted that job.
I withdrew my application.
Come on, Johnstone hasn't made up his
mind yet maybe I'm gonna throw my hat in.
He's gonna hire you over Joe?
Sure. / Oh yeah, so that's
why it is that you wussy'd out.
Hey, I'll pay.
Hey, take it easy, straw boss.
Now your money's
better than mine?
I'm just trying to
get my motor running.
It's Mary's birthday.
I don't call up the full tilt and boogie
tonight, I'll be sleeping on the couch.
Hey, check it out.
Boss man o'clock.
What's he doing here today?
Maybe the rumors are true.
All the other textile mills
seem to be closing down.
Shift change! Ten minutes.
Punch in.
Don't worry,
we're going to be A-okay.
[ AUG CONTENTS:
YOUNG, J. H - ]
I hope this is worth the two hour trip.
I checked the H-records.
There was a Joe Young, k*lled .
Well, this James Hogan,
he's uh, dead guy's nephew?
Heard something about the case.
You two are pretty close, huh?
Oh, close?
I put him away for his
grandma's m*rder last year.
Yeah, but uh...
you got a soft spot for him.
Why do you say that?
Desk drawer full of love
letters he's written you?
They're not love letters.
Just saying, maybe Jimbo roped you
out here to have himself a smile.
How you making out, James?
Didn't know you'd
be bringing someone.
My partner.
Scotty Valens.
I could step out if
you wanna be alone.
Let's just get down to it.
James?
Uh...well, it's something
I heard during counselling.
Guys admitting to the group,
the lowest thing they've ever done.
And uh...this older fella Ham Dun starts in,
he says he's from the old neighborhood.
Kensington.
Back in ' he says he came across
a dead body at a local filling station.
Which you realized was
your uncle, Joe Young?
Goes on to say, instead of reporting
m*rder to the police he cleaned Joe out.
Snaked away with twenty bucks.
That's low, alright.
Back then, cops thought he
was m*rder*d in a petty stick-up.
But you're hearing that he was already dead
when Ham came by and took the dough.
So the motive was
something other than robbery.
What you say about grabbing
Ham out his cell, have a chat?
He's not here.
He got released.
Last week.
I'll find out where he went.
So...
How you getting along?
Okay, I guess.
Have you been
getting my letters?
Yes, um...thank you.
They didn't come
off creepy, did they?
No, no. They were...
Nice, James.
Sweet.
Then why didn't
you ever write back?
M.E. report says Joe was stabbed once
in the chest by a serrated double edge blade.
That's a pretty specific Kn*fe.
Any suspects first time around?
None. Job reads pretty
much like James said.
They thought Joe got aced
for whatever was in his wallet.
Well, Kensington was the industrial
heart of the city until the mid s.
Then the textile mills closed down.
Yeah, downward slide after that.
Gas attendent on duty called it in?
Was more like off duty.
Says here guy was sawing logs behind
the resgister when the m*rder happened.
The assigned has down here,
"He wasn't a whole
hell of a lot of help."
Job went cold fast.
You locate this guy James
told you about? What was it...
Ham Dun?
Yeah, he's in
a halfway house in Yeadon.
How about next of kin?
Well, Joe's wife
Mary lives in Bristol.
Let's spread out.
Let them know that Joe's
case just warmed up.
living a life of leisure
since being released, Ham.
Aren't you supposed to be proving
that you can hold down a job?
I don't start until next week.
Besides I'm owed some good times
after what was taken from me.
What was taken from you?
You ripped off an ATM
from the minimart.
Then buried the machine
in your backyard.
That wasn't my fault,
I had no choice.
It was Kensington.
Not me.
Talk about that last night
at the gas station, Ham.
I pulled in to fill up, saw Joe,
saw he was dead,
so I stole the twenty dollars.
- That's it?
- Yeah.
- Didn't see anyone?
- No.
I mean, hell all those
street lamps were broken out.
It's been night months
since the mill closed.
Whole damn area was falling apart.
So you ripping off a dead guy,
gonna blame that on Kensington too?
Doing that was harder
than you'll ever know.
I worked with Joe, every day!
For ten years.
That can't be good.
There's some mumble-grumble going
on around here that I need to put an end to.
You all know how the
non-union factories in the south
are running our mills
out of business.
I heard you're gonna
retire some old timers.
You could lay some of us off too.
Not retiring anybody, Butch.
But with the peanut wage
they're paying in the south,
we're being undersold,
out-produced.
Mean you're gonna
cut back our hours?
I'm not saying that either.
Then Mr. Johnstone.
I know one thing they're
not doing down south.
Is making better carpets
than we are.
Yeah!
That's true, Joe.
So this mill's not closing down?
Look, I know you all.
Sweepers, bobbin-pullers,
weavers, yarn men.
None of you are going anywhere.
Because I'm not going anywhere.
I'm staying right here in Kensington.
That's a promise.
I ain't buying it guys.
You heard the man,
he gave his word!
I'm telling you, Joe.
Get out in front of this
before there are no jobs.
I had a gut feeling
the place was going down.
A month later it did.
Lucky I could carve a side of beef.
Got a job at the grocery.
But those three were out of luck.
So, forget the dead part.
The guy with the job is taking
money off the guy without one.
How does that work?
I wasn't supposed to but I was
extending credits to almost everyone.
So in the end?
I was broke too.
When I was pregnant
I couldn't sleep at night.
So Joe would drive us
out to look at the stars.
Sounds like nice times.
So where is your son?
In Iowa.
At school.
He wants to be a writer.
Mary, thinking back...
Did you know anyone
who wanted to hurt Joe?
Everyone loved Joe.
Wanted to be
around him not hut him.
You did hit some
pretty hard times, though?
Oh, for sure.
We couldn't pay our bills.
Lived off macaroni and bologna.
And what about Joe?
When that mill closed?
You see any change in him?
Yeah.
But not the one you'd think.
I drove out as soon
as I heard the news.
Found Joe in a good mood.
Joe, I just heard.
It's okay, it's okay.
Monty's come to the rescue.
Yep.
Monty's got this cap company idea and
he's been yapping about it for years.
Idea's a winner, Hon.
Monty says the word, we're all set
to go on a business together.
All three of you?
Monty's got the ideas and
I got a car we can use.
If everything's so rosy, why are
you looking so spooked, Monty?
A lot has to go right.
Starting with the hack up fee for
converting Butchie's car into a taxi.
We're gonna need
a down payment.
- By tomorrow.
- How much?
Eleven hundred.
I told him that you and me got , dollars
in savings that we've been wanting to invest.
What do you think?
You really think this can work?
It'd better work.
Monty's Plan B is to go
rip off Johnstone's house.
Hon, Monty's done his homework.
He's just afraid to pull the trigger.
Yeah, like always.
Well, you have Joe's vote,
you have mine.
Monty, you decide you
want to shake on this.
I'm willing.
But in the end that taxi business
never got off the ground.
How come?
Joe told me it was his fault.
Said he messed up on the payments...
something about not reading the fine print.
That must've been a big blow.
How did Monty and Butch take it?
Bad.
I think they really hated
him for screwing up.
Why do you say that?
The summer my Joe d*ed,
everyone we knew walked the streets
of Kensington behind his casket.
Everyone that is,
except his two best friends.
Lily Rush?
Who are you?
Mark Phillips.
NYPD.
I'm gonna have to come in.
Uh, I don't think so.
It's about your sister Christina.
- What about her?
- I'm looking for her.
Why?
'Cause I'm looking for her.
Mind if I come in now?
I understand I'm making
you a little nervous,
But, it will behoove you and
your sister if you cooperate.
Behoove us, huh?
See,
this little guy knows
there's nothing to be afraid of.
Look, I can't help you.
You got a permit for that?
Yeah, same one you got.
I work h*m*, Philly PD.
You could've offered that up.
Well, you could've asked.
So, 'detective'.
Are you gonna tell me
where your sister is or what?
You gonna tell me
what this is about?
No can do.
Me neither.
I know you must've sworn
an oath to uphold the law.
Same as you.
Right.
But sometimes, with family...
I know what I gotta do.
Those climbing spikes are pretty bad ass.
More like a pain in my ass.
I'm not cut out for this.
Not to mention too old.
So, Monty.
I'm looking back at Joe's m*rder.
Wasn't robbery?
We got a new angle
from James Hogan.
Joe's nephew?
Oh yeah, I remember
that kid from Joe's wedding.
Back when you were on better terms?
- What do you mean?
- You and Joe at the wedding.
Word is you were a no-show
for his funeral.
Yeah, right.
You wanna tell me why?
Not particularly.
Joe's wife thinks it was over
a taxi service idea that didn't fly.
That have anything to do with it?
Yeah.
Everything.
Hey, Joe.
Here you go, last check.
That means, me too.
Any jobs come in?
And don't start talking about
any of that training stuff either.
There is one new listing.
- What's it for?
- A constable.
What the hell's that?
Serving eviction notices?
Oh, thank you.
You see me doing that, take a ball
peen hammer to the back of my head.
Where have you been, huh?
We got a boatload of stuff to do.
I was telling Butch,
if everything goes right we can
be running fares by top of next week.
What?
I got bad news.
And good.
I guess.
Spill it.
My Uncle Samuel said he would make
room for me at his shoe repair shop.
No way.
No way.
You're not chickening out.
I already started.
This morning.
Monty, everything's riding on this.
It's bone dry out there.
- Guys, I got a family to feed.
- We all do.
Joe's gonna lose
his twelve hundred.
Mary's having the baby
next month, I gotta have cash!
Screw your chicken ass outta here.
I would,
I need my check.
I'm gonna come back,
I'm gonna burn this place down!
Butch was the one
who did all the yelling.
But Joe's silence,
that's what said the most.
It was the end of your friendship.
When he d*ed,
I knew he wouldn't have
wanted me at his funeral.
I had to respect that.
What about you and Butch?
Can't say that, uh-
he was all that forgiving either.
Okay, Monty.
That's all for now.
Guess I'm going up now.
Butch is here. The other
missing friend at Joe's funeral.
Rush, your boyfriend.
Again.
Why don't you go tie that up.
Nick and I can talk to Butch.
Hello?
It's me.
James, there's boundries I have to keep.
That goes for the letters, and the phone.
I just, I forgot to ask you
something when you were here.
Okay.
Who hurt you?
What?
You seem different than a year ago.
I'm not.
Yeah, you are.
Look, James.
We can't do this.
So, did you find anything
about my uncle's m*rder?
Ah, we're just now
tracking down his pals.
Monty?
Yeah.
You know him?
Yeah, when I was fourteen Joe and
Monty showed me around the mill.
I thought it was neat but,
Monty said not to be like him.
Said he was born in the mills,
was going to die in the mills.
Said I'd be happier
if I kept my nose in the books.
Probably should've took his advice.
Alright, James. I have to run.
Last year at the train stop?
You said you were my girl?
I know.
Was that just a trick?
No.
So what'd you mean by that?
That we were friends, James.
But that's all.
Your hearts good,
you know that?
And if it's not going to be me,
I hope you find someone you can talk to.
That's the one.
Sharp looking shirt, Butch.
Thanks.
Always loved Italian fabrics.
Just could never afford'em.
So, Butch.
We hear Monty blew
your cabbie deal.
He sure did.
Which put him on
the outs with you and Joe.
True.
Monty says 'out of respect'.
That's why he chose not
to go to Joe's funeral.
I can see that.
So what about you?
Pretty opposite for me.
Meaning you lost respect for Joe?
He turned out to be
a bigger fink than Monty!
What he did to my sister!
Janie! Hey!
What the hell's goin' on?
Janie!
Janie, what's goin' on?
We fell behind on rent.
Joe, what are you doin' here?
He's the one's who's evicting us.
What?
I know, I'm scum, I'm sorry.
You're sorry?
I took that job.
Tell me you're putting
a joke on me, Joe.
Butch, my wife can't buy bread,
soap, noodles.
Neither can my wife.
But I'm out there, and
I am pounding the pavement.
Looking for something decent to do.
The baby's doctor bills...
Get your ass out of here, Joe!
- Tom, Tom.
- No, Tom!
- Where's my Winchester?
- In the pantry.
So Joe was ousting
your sister and her husband.
You can see why I wasn't
that interested in going to his funeral.
So did your
brother-in-law get evicted?
Out on the street, that night.
Man's home is his castle.
Take it from him.
You got a pissed off king.
Thirty five years,
I never had a problem.
And then the mills closed.
Then I went in a dumper
like everyone else.
But not everyone else
threatened Joe with a Winchester.
That, plus two months
you did at overbook hospital.
Makes us worry you
did something rash.
I didn't.
- I swear it.
- But you were having moods?
One day I'd want to sh**t you,
the next day I was sobbing in my car listening
to David Lee Roth singing 'California Girls'.
They give you something for that?
Yeah.
Take the meds regular.
Keeps me even keel.
So, you ever see Joe again?
After the eviction?
Sure.
Every Wednesday.
What was Wednesdays?
We had a regular poker game.
You wanna k*ll Joe but
you play cards with him?
Everyone there, had
a reason to hate someone else.
Me, Ham, all the guys.
But that was our life.
We were the only people we knew.
All that bad blood in one room?
That ever get ugly?
Game took on a whole new tone.
Heard your shoe job
was a bust, Monty.
Store closed. I'm on the street,
same as you guys.
Yeah, but not Joe.
He's a constable.
You know I quit that racket.
You in or out?
I fold.
Yeah, of course you do.
Me and you, Ham.
I see your two dollars,
and uh,
I raise a hundred.
Hey, this is dime-ante game.
Don't go flashing
your money around.
I ain't flashing.
I got troubles, too.
And we never made
a rule about limits.
I've got bucks upstairs
on my dresser.
- Thirty ain't a hundred.
- how much you guys got?
What, you wanna get bankrolled?
Go ahead.
We win, we split it three ways.
I, I, I got uh- thirty plus Joe's...
we need forty more.
This was supposed
to last till next friday.
Not that it ever does.
You owe a lot of credits at the store.
Yeah, I know I do!
Alright? Stop talking about it!
What do you say, Butch?
Alright, fine. Forty.
Plus upstairs, makes a hundred.
Call.
Flush.
Jack high.
Full boat.
Sevens and threes.
No, No, No way!
Put your hands
off the money, Ham!
You cheated!
That's a conspiracy!
Conspiracy?
Yeah! 'Cause I'm the
only one that's got a job!
I want my money back.
No!
You're a goner, Joe!
Mark that!
Following weekend,
Joe was dead.
You think that was
a real thr*at from Ham?
It was desperate times.
None of us were ourselves.
Hi.
Hi.
So what was so urgent?
There's a New York detective
Phillips, looking for you.
Why?
You tell me.
I don't know.
Chris, I made some calls,
I'm hearing credit card fraud.
- It wasn't me.
- No?
It was my boss.
At the flower shop
where I worked in SoHo.
The owner Greg had a scam.
So is Greg the dangerous
New York guy?
Actually I don't wanna know.
I'm just passing on information.
So what did you tell him?
This detective.
Nothing.
Lil, what should I do?
Whatever you want.
I just don't want any more early
morning visits from the NYPD, okay?
Ham.
You pushed Joe
into making that bet.
Then whined about wanting
your money back when you lost.
I don't feel bad about that.
He owed me money.
They all did.
I told you that.
He owed.
Which still bugs you to this day.
- So?
- So?
That brings us to you
having motive, to k*ll Joe.
You know, maybe
I should just muzzle myself.
Yeah, do that.
But you're coming with us.
Oh, have a heart!
I'm just breathing the air again.
You'd better give us a reason
to believe you didn't hunt Joe down.
I can give you a reason.
I just don't wanna.
Why not?
Because,
it's embarrassing.
- Patty?
- I want my money back.
- What money?
- From poker, Joe cheated!
Joe would never cheat!
Oh, that's right. Joe the saint
he'd never do anything wrong.
- Pat, let's just go.
- You want our gas shut off tomorrow?
You'd better get Joe.
'Cause we're not leaving.
What the hell's goin' on, Ham?
We need that hundred back.
- A hundred?
- Yes.
No, no. That's ours now.
My baby needs his sh*ts this week.
Jenny's plugging the holes
in her keds with cardboard
and Micheal needs his workbooks.
You'd better tell your wife here and
now I didn't cheat anybody, Ham.
Did he or didn't he?
Ham, answer me.
Oh, crap.
Crap.
You should've quit the mill when
Ham told you about the contracts.
Told me what?
Well, not in so many words but...
Look, Joe I knew
Johnstone was selling.
In his office I saw the paper work.
When?
The day before
he made his big speech.
Saying Johnstone lied that day?
To all of us guys?
Without so much as a flinch.
Think it's time for Plan B.
He looked like someone
had hit him in the gut.
Becuase Johnstone
had betrayed him?
If Joe had one fault, it's that he trusted
people when they gave their word.
Never crossed his mind
the boss man would lie.
You know what Plan B was?
Nah.
I do.
I got nothing to hide.
Then let's talk about Plan B.
I don't know what that is.
Butch, we know about the robbery.
That you and Monty and Joe were
planning to stick it to Johnstone.
So maybe we talked about a plan.
Guys can talk.
We also checked
police logs from ' .
Joe's truck was seen in the area.
Neighbor of Johnstone called it in.
Two guys in a cab with him.
Got a feeling one of'em was you.
We get why you're lying.
Admitting you did the robbery would
put you with Joe at the night of the m*rder.
But if that's all you did,
a robbery years ago.
You don't have much to worry about.
- No?
- No.
But you gotta talk, Butch.
Maybe we trespassed.
Trespassed?
Nothing more.
college.
This is it.
I know there's
a Hi-Fi Pioneer turntable, receiver,
speakers that gotta be worth a grand.
That's two mortgage
payments right there.
I'll hit the bedroom,
get whatever jewelry they've got.
You said there was a china cabinet?
First room on the left.
Mary's never had
a nice set of dishes.
Oh, man...
- What?
- I don't know about this.
Hey! Don't start pulling
that crap, chicken man.
It's unlocked.
Ok, let's spread out.
- Oh, no...
- What?
He's gone.
Son of a bitch!
- Keep it down!
- Why?
What's it matter now?
He's right, Monty.
Who the hell cares?
There's not a thing here.
Which makes me the biggest turkey in town
because I believed everything he said!
Damn it!
Hey!
That's gotta be worth something.
- How do we get it down?- We'll pull it.
Alright, boost me up.
He promised he'd
stay at Kensington.
Promised to keep the mill open.
Trying to steal a light fixture.
It's pitiful.
Monty and me went off drinking.
That's the last
we ever saw of joe.
And that's your story?
Yeah.
Then Monty will
say the same thing?
To the letter.
Monty's wife called.
She found a note from
him on their kitchen table.
Said he was going off to die.
Not exactly a road map.
Where does a guy
like Monty go to end it?
Live and die in the mills.
What was that?
When I was on the phone with
James that's what Monty said he'd do.
Easy does it there, Monty.
I'm not doing nothing.
Show us what you
got in your hands.
Double edge serrated blade?
Guess we found our m*rder w*apon.
Wanna dry shave, son?
Come on! Stay with us, Monty!
I'm with ya.
Just something we
used to say to each other.
goofing around.
Who? You and Joe?
What do you say we talk about him?
Last thing I wanna do.
So let's talk about Butch.
All these years...
you're still tight.
- Not really.
- No?
Why is that?
He's a ghost.
Reminder from my past.
Just like this place is.
Must've fixed this very loom
say, dozen times.
You were hard working.
I respect that.
I was tedious more than anything.
More so for the guy
who has dreams.
Yeah, everybody says,
have 'em, but, uh,
But uh, when they don't pan up,
that's a whole other story, right?
Pretty sure having
dreams is my curse.
See, I could fix a loom.
Weave as well as weavers.
It was a good life.
For all of us.
Wish I could've been like Joe.
He was content.
- But you weren't.
- No.
You know Joe told me
that was a good thing.
He said dreaming up stuff,
that was my gift.
But you put a dreamer and
a chicken in a same body and
mister, you've got problems.
No, Monty!
Don't take the easy way.
No! It's the perfect way!
I have been a bawking chicken
my whole life.
Than do it!
I wanna see.
No more.
I wanna witness it.
You wanna watch me k*ll myself?
No joke, Monty. I wanna see.
That, last step.
Off of the bridge.
Knowing you won't be
in this world anymore.
Why?
'Cause the ones you leave behind.
There's so many questions.
If I watch you,
maybe I'll be able
to help to your people.
Well, I don't want you
to help my family!
That is for me to do.
But you gotta choose, Monty.
It's up to you.
Hey,
that's the right thing.
Chicken thing you mean?
No.
You're facing up.
And now the rest, Monty.
Talk about that last night
with Joe and Butch.
It was the one time I wasn't chicken.
ended up being the worst thing
that ever happened to me.
- Where're you going?
- I go pay. I'm up.
I got it.
My money not
good enough for you?
We both know you don't
have five dollars to spare.
Oh, you do, huh?
Let's not any of us be heroes.
We split it three ways.
Show me.
You got money? Let's see it.
Up yours, Monty.
Forget it. It's my truck, I'm paying.
Yeah, you too, straw boss!
Up yours, too.
- Come again?
- Oh, you heard me.
What, you think just because you got
that job now you walk taller than me?
Johnstone never hired on that job.
The mill closed first.
Yeah, but you knew
you had it in the bag,
and so while none of us even got
two nickels to put together,
you had that knowledge, right?
No! No, that job was
still up for grabs.
My ass it was up for grabs!
Monty pulled out of that job
because he knew that it was yours.
I never pulled out of no job.
You pulled out of everything!
What's it matter!
We're fighting over something
that doesn't even exist!
Which means what?
Which means that you think
that having a bunch of big ideas
and no guts is
gonna feed your family?
You better press rewind
right now!
What?
Monty! Monty, put that thing away!
Straw boss is right.
Put it down.
You look like a jackass.
I'll cut that lippy
tongue out of your mouth!
Please! Do it, do it! Come on!
For once, do
something great! Do it!
Guys, guys.
We can't blow up!
We gotta hang together.
Right?
Pluck, pluck, pluck...
John Mellencamp 'Small Town'
Well I was born in a small town
And I live in a small town
Prob'ly die in a small town
Oh, those small communities
All my friends are so small town
My parents live
in the same small town
My job is so small town
Provides little opportunity
Educated in a small town
Taught the fear of
Jesus in a small town
Used to daydream
in that small town
Another boring
romantic that's me
But I've seen it
all in a small town
Had myself a ball
in a small town
Married an L.A. doll and
brought her to this small town
Now she's small
town just like me
No I cannot forget
where it is that I come from
I cannot forget
the people who love me
Yeah, I can be myself
here in this small town
And people let me
be just what I want to be
Got nothing against a big town
Still hay seed enough to say
Look who's in the big town
But my bed is in a small town
Oh, and that's
good enough for me
I was born in a small town
And I can breathe
in a small town
Gonna die in this small town
And that's prob'ly
where they'll bury me
"dear James"