House Of Strangers Page #3

know where we stand right now.

A raise, huh?

When first I get married,

I make 15 dollars a week.

I have four kids.

How many kids do you got?

I wouldn't raise a child

in a two-room apartment.

Oh.

Well, we all live in a one room

in back of the barbershop.

I worked seven days a week,

You're sitting down now, Pa,

and we're all out of the barbershop.

All Joe wants is the few more bucks a week

you promised him.

- I promised you? When?

- Oh, don't you remember, Pa?

At the wedding.

Oh, the wedding. All of that vino.

I don't even remember

even who get married.

Joe, when I die,

you get all of the dollars.

The bank is for you.

For Tony, for Pietro,

all of the dollars.

When I die.

Ah!

Hey, Pietro, dumbhead,

answer the telephone.

For Mama.

- For you, Helena.

- Mama.

- For you.

- Max, telephone.

Excuse me.

Maria.

Hello.

Who?

It's all taken care of.

Something new?

Right now?

My fee is double for evening calls.

Be right over.

Tony, if I don't get back in time,

take Maria to the show.

- Sure, Max.

- Where you go, Max?

Business, Pa. Business.

But I'll get back in time.

Bon apptito.

Hey, Pietro, change the record, dumbhead.

Oh, Mama.

You didn't waste any time.

Looks like you can afford

a lot of trouble. What is it now?

I've got chairs for my lawyers to sit in.

Pick any one you like.

- I haven't had any dinner. I'm hungry.

- How about a drink?

You said you had to see me

right away. What about?

You know, you don't really talk to people.

You cross-examine them.

I'm a lawyer. Me, you give facts.

Sympathy you get from doctors and relatives.

- I don't want sympathy from anybody.

- Don't worry.

- You're not likely to get it.

- Thank you so much.

Look, Miss Bennett,

can we get to the point?

I'm here on an S.O.S., an emergency,

you said. Something very important.

- It is important.

- Well, let's have the facts.

They're not easy

to find words for.

Well, start looking.

I'm no good at reading minds.

You're a thoroughly

unpleasant young man.

- But a wonderful lawyer. The facts.

- Where's your briefcase?

I'm waiting for something to put in it.

- Well, it seems a friend of mine-

- Another friend?

- I have many friends.

- As long as your money holds out, why not?

- That's insulting.

- Maybe. I'm hungry.

- That's no excuse.

- What about your friend?

You and your insults.

Why don't you stop trying?

The friend.

It's a girlfriend this time,

believe it or not.

She's in San Francisco.

That's my home. And she just called.

It's a long involved mess.

You'd probably have to go out there.

San Francisco?

Did she ask you to get hold of me?

Oh, of course not.

That was my idea.

- She was desperate, and it occurred to me-

- What's the mess about?

Oh, I couldn't possibly explain it.

It's got to do with trust funds...

her father's estate,

all sorts of legal complications.

I'm supposed to hop a plane with a letter

of introduction from you to her, is that it?

Oh, no, nothing like that. After all,

she's my best friend. I'd wanna be there too.

- Oh, so we'd hop a plane together?

- If I can spare the time.

- Have you got an empty bottle?

- What for?

Spin the bottle. If we're gonna play like kids,

let's make it a kissing game.

- It's much more fun.

- The words were hard to find. I told you.

I don't belong to the California Bar.

You're smart enough to know that.

- But it is my home, or was.

- And the trust fund,

the father's estate, yours?

- But no legal complications.

- Then you don't need a lawyer.

I've got other complications.

Still no drink?

I still don't know why I'm here.

Now who's playing a kid game?

What goes with you anyway?

At the moment?

I'm lonesome.

I've resigned

from the Lonely Hearts Club.

Your fee is double at night.

You made that perfectly clear.

I'll get my wrap.

- You going someplace?

- We're going out.

Sit down.

Take off your wrap.

Take off your wrap

and sit down.

I'm gonna give you

a short history of Max Monetti.

Born on the East Side

in the back of my old man's barbershop.

Today he owns a bank.

Clips coupons instead of hair.

But I still like the smell

of garlic and red wine.

I'm engaged

to a beautiful Italian girl.

She can give me kids

and make me a home.

She knows only one man,

me, Max Monetti. Period.

- Don't you wanna know about me?

- I know about you. You're lonesome.

- What else?

- What do you want, lies?

What else is there?

You like to get hurt.

Always picking the wrong guy.

It's a sickness

with a lot of women.

Always looking for a new way

to get hurt by a new man.

Get smart. There hasn't been

a new man since Adam.

Maybe you're a great lawyer.

As a psychiatrist, you stink.

- One man's opinion.

- Nothing hurts me, Max.

That's one of

my complications.

Max. A good name. I like it.

It's not guaranteed

for long wear.

I don't wear anything for long.

- Let's go.

- Where?

Out.

All right, boys, you know the rules,

so watch your low punches.

- In case of a knockdown-

- That's my boy, Pietro.

What it says

on the bathrobe, that's me.

Give it to him, Pietro!

Now, in the belly!

- Hey, in the pancia. Pancia!

- Come on, Billy!

In the pancia!

Fight back!

Fight back!

- What happened?

- They stopped the fight.

- They what?

- Pancia. Pietro got too much in the pancia.

- Nice fatherly gesture.

- He lost, didn't he?

And the Monettis must never lose.

I suppose poor Pietro will now

blow his brains out in the dressing room.

He didn't lose so bad at that.

He never even got knocked off his feet.

It seems to be

a family characteristic.

You're throwing

a few punches yourself tonight.

Just light jabs.

I haven't thrown a real punch yet.

Let's go dance.

Later. This atmosphere's got me.

I like it here.

How's that beautiful

Italian girl you're engaged to?

- So, that's it.

- When do you see her?

She'll have me

the rest of her life.

That's quite a sentence.

No time off for good behavior?

She's none of your business.

Then what about

your time off for bad behavior?

That's my business, isn't it?

Come to think of it, that's me.

What are you suddenly

being sore about?

What did you expect me to be?

And it's not sudden.

Do you think women live in vacuum-sealed

containers like tennis balls?

I just thought

you were different, that's all.

You'd love to find one,

wouldn't you? Get smart.

There hasn't been a woman in love

different since Eve.

- So it's love?

- Yes, Max, it's love.

- Embarrassing, isn't it?

- I just don't like complications.

I'll simplify it for you.

Good-bye, Max.

It's a disgrace.

That's what it is, it's a disgrace.

Why, my Maria could have her pick

of the finest men around.

Doctors, bankers, big businessmen.

It's a disgrace.

Oh, Helena, Helena, why are you

getting so excited over nothing?

Nothing?

You call it nothing for Max...

engaged to my daughter and running

all over town with another woman?

Oh, it's no other woman. It's a client.

Max has got lots of clients.

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