Fire Down Below

Hey, Tony?

- A friendly word?

- What?

If youd been more flexible

with that lady...

...shed have kept on hiring this boat

at 100 bucks a day tI'll next Christmas.

- StI'll not too late, you know.

- No.

- All I said was 'fflexible. "'

- I'mm not in that line of business.

I have to be cursed

with a fastidious partner?

Youll keep me a poor man

all my life.

If youre so anxious, why don't you

do something about it yourself.

Dont think I wouldn't

if I thought it would work, man.

The lady just aint interested.

Whats she gonna do with a beat-up

old bum like me?

Shes blond, she's pretty,

comes from a good family...

...and shes got a rich husband.

She wants only the best.

Tall, blue-eyed, straight-limbed boys

with curly hair and pearly teeth.

If you played your cards right, we

could have had a new cabin cruiser...

- ... by the time she left.

- Stop dreaming.

But youre driving us

to a life of crime.

Okay, lets not waste

any time about it.

That lady sure was icy.

Yeah, but just not icy enough,

Jimmy Jean. Not icy enough.

Well, on to crime.

Next time we smuggle anything onto

this island, we ought to wear tuxedos.

What wI'll it be?

- Brandy.

- Beer.

Theres Miguel.

You have to walk right up to the bar?

Make yourselves conspicuous

like two elephants in a ballroom?

Do you find it impossible

to wear jackets?

Miguel, be polite to your colleagues.

- Its all delivered?

- All delivered.

A friend left this note for you.

Our friend didnt have

much to say, did he?

- What do you mean by that?

- I mean, he wasnt very generous.

There are many expenses,

you know that as well as I do.

Palms to be greased and

people paid to turn the other way.

Tell our friend if he cant be more

communicative, this is the last trip.

- Come on, Tony...

- Please take your money.

This drinks on the house.

- My heart is softened.

- Listen...

...I can put a little easy money

your way.

- How easy?

- Without so many questions.

Do you or dont you want

to make some money?

No.

I'll talk to you, you'rre reasonable.

Your friend is a barbarian.

Youll sit here and hear your friend

called a barbarian?

Miguel, I forbid you to call

this barbarian a barbarian.

Youre a true friend.

Once again, I'll disregard the jokes.

I'mm talking of a small act of kindness.

All you have to do is take a passenger

from here to Santa Nada.

The American line runs a good boat.

Tell him to try the American line.

Youre so clever and so rich.

It isn't a him.

- Her.

- A woman on a little boat like ours?

You dont think she'd find it

a trifle restrictive?

She cant afford to worry

whether it's restrictive.

- Police?

- I know nothing of police.

Im trying to compose myself.

Theres a rich American patron

making inquiries for her...

...and with infinite generosity,

I thought of you.

And Im rewarded with contempt.

- Yeah, how rich an American?

- I have not asked to see his tax return.

Lets get out of here.

I don't like the smell of this.

- Money doesnt smell.

- How much?

- Five hundred dollars.

- And for you?

Me, I merely seek to oblige a friend.

Yeah, but how many dollars do you

seek to oblige yourself, 1000?

Thats enough. You demean me.

Leave my bar.

Five hundred has a nice, wholesome

ring to it, doesnt it, 500?

Yeah, 700 rings even better.

Its too risky.

A couple of cases of brandy

or cigarettes, thats one thing...

...but an I'llegal dame...

If they catch us, theyll take the boat,

lock us up and throw the key away.

They wont catch us.

Ive got a hunch.

I don't feel so lucky.

I feel lucky. Well use my luck.

The markets rising.

My last offer, 600. Im disgusted.

Well, be disgusted for 700.

Very well.

Wait here.

Two boys in caps

at the end of the bar.

- Shes not impressed.

- I am.

- I dont like this. Let's get out of here.

- Wait. Nobody's fired a shot yet.

- Ask if theyll have a drink with me.

- Sure.

The gentleman invites you

to his table for a drink.

Is it beyond the limits of possibility

to take off your hats?

You make too many conditions.

Im changing my mind.

Youre driving me mad,

authentically mad.

Now, let him suffer, Felix. Come on.

Here they are.

Wont you sit down?

Have a drink?

- Brandy.

- Beer.

Did Miguel explain

the situation to you?

Yeah, a little.

- Not enough.

- How much do you have to know?

Everything. Slipping passengers

past Immigrations is no joke.

Tell them everything

they want to know.

Incidentally, how much money

was mentioned?

Twelve hundred dollars.

Well, some days you win,

some days you lose.

I think theyre calling for me

at the bar.

The lady a relation?

No.

A friend.

- And she has no papers, huh?

- No.

No papers, no passport, nothing.

Shes stateless.

Its a long, confused story.

I imagine we could spend a number

of long, confused months in prison.

Why no papers?

- Irena, maybe you had better...

- I'll tell you all that's necessary.

Im coming from nowhere I'llegally.

Im on my way to nowhere

equally I'llegally.

- Are you satisfied?

- No.

- Theres no need for you to...

- Don't be delicate about my dignity.

- Tell him what he wants to know.

- Come on over to the bar.

Where did you meet her?

Here, about a month ago.

I feel sorry for her. I want to help.

- Yeah, whered she come from?

- Havana.

Oh, another rich friend?

I guess so.

- And before that?

- Florida.

Some Army sergeant smuggled her

over from Europe in a bomber.

Naturally, they caught up with him.

She moved on.

Speaks awful good English.

Shes been around Americans

for 10 years.

This stuff is kI'lling me.

Look, this is the picture.

She came originally from Lithuania...

...or Estonia or someplace.

The story changes.

The Germans

transported her to Berlin.

mother, father, brothers, the usual.

She got mixed up

in the black market.

There was a holdup.

The police say she had a gun.

She swears she didnt.

It was a frame-up, she says.

And so far, shes always managed

to find somebody to take care of her.

I dont doubt that.

Look, I want to do all I can for her,

but Ive got to get back to Detroit.

Twelve hundred bucks,

take it or leave it, thats all.

Actually, I dont...

I dont like it.

What have we got to lose?

Now, you know, I do not make

Immigration officers very happy.

An Immigration officer presumes

that a woman who looks like me...

...should be kept.

And they prefer citizens

of other countries to do the keeping.

You understand, Irena,

that this is not the Queen Mary?

There wI'll be no steward aboard

to bring you your morning tea.

Ive put up with worse.

Youll be alone on a not very

large boat with three men...

...with low, brutish manners.

- One man with low, brutish manners.

- All right.

Twelve hundred dollars.

A thousand for us, 200 for him.

You know No. 3 Pier

by San Antonio?

- I can find it.

- Okay.

Be there at sunup.

Come on, lets go.

Im sorry, Irena.

Sometimes you wonder

what God had in mind...

...when he invented the male sex.

Well...

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