Hammett
- PG
- Year:
- 1982
- 97 min
- 250 Views
- [Dog barking]
- [Car engine revving]
[Children shouting]
[Dog barking, howling]
[Typewriter keys clicking]
[Clicking continues]
[Trolley bell ringing]
[Children yelling]
[Dog barking]
[Breathing deeply]
[Whispering]
Oh, jesus.
[Typewriter keys clicking]
[Clicking continues]
[Man]
The pearls were insured for 100,000.
So when the thief offered
to sell them back for five...
the insurance company
came to us.
There was just one hitch:
The thief insisted
on a woman go-between.
The old man suggested sue alabama,
who worked for us a few years back.
When he asked me
what i thought, i said i thought
she'd be perfect, just perfect.
That'll stop a kitten,
if you're lucky.
- [Clicking]
- It'll stop a tiger,
if you know how to point it.
[Man] her name
wasn't really sue alabama.
It was sue something greek
and unpronounceable.
But all of us called her alabama,
so she had it changed back in '25.
- [Car door closing]
- That was just after she and i
took nowhere nickelton...
at the biltmore in l.a.
She primed him,
and i went in on the cleanup.
Sex was nearly all
sue alabama ever needed.
And she could use it the way
some guys use a blackjack.
I still think she was probably
the best i ever worked with.
[Gunshot]
- 5,000 bucks?
- Inside coat pocket.
He needed one hand for the money
and the other for the gun.
He wasn't good enough
to handle both.
If it isn't pen pal morrison.
Hello, pen pal.
- At least you didn't hit the money.
- I didn't aim at the money.
I can't figure him
for a cannon.
- [Foghorn blaring]
- The only thing pen pal
would ever use is the u.s. Mail.
Extortion.
That's why they parked him
Maybe he just
got ambitious.
Maybe he did.
- No pearls, though?
- No pearls. It was
a cute heist, that's all.
Just one small step up
from extortion.
Where were you gonna
fence 'em? Chicago?
- Cincinnati.
- If you still want 'em, you're
gonna have to use that shooter.
- Give me two hours.
- Why?
- For old times' sake.
- I'll give you one.
Okay. One.
[Man] i didn't give her an hour.
I didn't even give her 15 minutes.
[Typewriter keys clicking]
They picked her up at the union station
with a ticket for chicago in her bag.
I was almost sorry
she didn't make it.
Back in '26, sue alabama and i
nearly got married.
I suppose it's just as well
we didn't.
[Man coughing]
[Gagging]
[Coughing continues]
[Breathing heavily]
[Water running]
[Sighs]
[Breathing heavily]
[Papers shuffling]
Ryan.
Jesus, ryan.
- Himself.
Look at you, kid.
You're whiter than i am.
[Chuckles]
Clean living.
- You still a lunger?
- Cured. Almost, anyway. Thirsty?
Always.
I looked at this
while i was waiting...
except her name
wasn't sue alabama.
It was betty philadelphia,
and i did marry her. Worst luck.
- Ever hear from her?
- You ever hear from yours?
[Chuckling]
- Let me ask you a literary question.
- Sure.
I'll be sittin' around
with nothin' to do...
and i'll pick up one of those pulp rags
just to see if you've got a story in it.
When you do, it's usually
about this tough old bird...
who's about two and a half hops
ahead of everybody else.
How come he hasn't got a name?
Are names hard to write?
Shoot, i can write names.
Foxfire mccabe,
bitsy glass...
- [chuckles]
- Joe pickles.
- You think he's you, right?
- I know he is.
He goes around doin'
everything i used to do.
Half the time i don't know whether to be
flattered or embarrassed as hell.
What brings you to town?
That's what i want to talk to you about.
I got an m.p. Thing goin'.
- Who's missing?
about 16 or 17... pretty.
Her name's crystal...
crystal ling.
I need some help, sam.
- You know this burg and i don't.
- I'm out of it.
Once in, never out.
Hell, i'll bet you're still half snoop.
I taught you good.
I bet you read other people's
mail, poke around their
medicine cabinets, eavesdrop...
when i walk down the street,
you know what i still look at?
Earlobes, noses, eyebrows, scars,
if there are any.
- See what i mean?
- Yeah, but you're trying
to put them in jail.
- I'm just trying
to put 'em in a magazine.
- Like i said, i need some help...
especially in chinatown.
- I want you for my tin mittens.
- No chance.
the cops anymore. Not in this town.
- Let's go get some booze.
- In a minute.
Let me tell you
a story first.
You like stories, don't ya?
Sure you do.
It seems this old bird is up
in some place that sounds a hell
of a lot like butte, montana.
He got a sidekick this time...
kid the agency sent.
Green as grass.
Somehow they get themselves
in a soup...
and the old guy takes a slug
in the shoulder that by rights...
should have taken the kid
in the left eye.
himself, tellin'the old guy
no matter what he wants...
no matter when,
no matter where, just holler.
You remember that story.
Anywhere, anytime
is now, hammett.
I'm callin' it in.
Let's go get
that whiskey.
[Knocking]
[Woman] hi, neighbor.
Can you spare a cup of booze?
[Hammett]
Hello, kit. I'm all out.
Oh, sorry.
I didn't know you had company.
- Miss conger, mr. Ryan.
- How are you?
Kit's a librarian downtown.
We werejust going out to mail this.
- I'll bring you back some booze.
- Okay. Let me give you the money.
[Kit]
So where are you from, mr. Ryan?
[Ryan]
Baltimore, birmingham,
butte... you name it.
Anyplace that begins
with a "b," huh?
I left out biloxi.
Your new story set
in any of those places, sam?
[Hammett]
Yeah, maybe... maybe not.
- Sounded like baltimore to me.
- Did you make a carbon?
- No.
- One of these days, you're...
is that what you wear
to the library?
That's what i wear underneath
what i wear to the library.
- Never seen any before?
- Couple of times... maybe three.
Four, counting the redheaded
contortionist from yakima.
- Cute dish.
- Yeah, very.
I hear you left pinkerton's.
- Yeah, three or four years ago.
Long hours, short dough.
- [Cat meowing]
- Any money in the writing racket?
- Penny a word.
- Write a million words, you'd be set.
- Like war and peace.
- Bring you back some gin.
- Gin's for old ladies.
Make it scotch.
[man singing, indistinct]
[Hammett]
Christ, you're sure looking flush...
somewhere between
a bootlegger and a banker.
Got my own little agency
up in tacoma now.
Lot of divorces in tacoma.
No wonder. Hell, it rains
350 days of the year.
What's your town like, anyway?
Free and easy?
Yeah. More so than most.
- Who runs things?
- Same people who run
things everywhere.
The cops, the crooks
and the big rich, huh?
[Chuckles]
Who else?
- Where?
- A little to your right
and back six yards.
I'd sort of like to lose him.
You still know how?
Yeah, i think i might remember.
A corkscrew or splitaway?
Corkscrew. Looks like i taught you
somethin' after all.
[Women talking, indistinct]
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"Hammett" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/hammett_9531>.
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