I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang Page #2

- Yeah.

I took to walking the ties

when my Rolls-Royce broke down.

- What's your name?

- James Allen.

James Allen? That'll do, I guess.

Mine's Pete.

- Glad to know you, Pete.

- Glad to know you, Allen.

I'm hungry.

What would you say to a hamburger?

What would I say to a hamburger?

I'd shake Mr. Hamburger by the hand

and say:

''Pal, I haven't seen you

in a long, long time.''

I think I can mooch a couple

in the lunch wagon down the street.

The guy who runs it is a pretty soft egg.

What do you say?

Boy, I hope you ain't fooling.

How about giving

me and my friend a handout?

I was hoping you'd left town.

No, I've incorporated. Meet my partner.

Say, I've been laying off you

for a couple of days. Come on, be a sport.

All right. You guys sit over there.

What do I owe you?

Fifteen cents.

Business is pretty good?

Yeah, pretty good.

How good?

Hey, what is this?

Put your hands on that counter

and lean over like we're talking.

Get that dough out of the register.

- Listen...

- Go on, do as I say.

Go on.

How much is it?

Around $5.

There ought to be more. Where is it?

No, that's all.

Put it in your pocket and come on. Move!

And don't start yelling for the cops.

You don't have to yell, Mike.

Put them up.

Thought you'd get away?

I didn't do nothing.

- Oh, no?

- No.

I see no reason for leniency since

the money was found on your person.

Furthermore, upon detection,

you attempted to escape...

which would, of necessity,

increase the seriousness of your offence.

I therefore,

in accordance with the laws of this state...

sentence you to 10 years of hard labor.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6...

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

A nice lucky number.

What's this for?

To put in your nose.

All right.

Follow me.

All right, pick them up.

Come on, pull them through.

All right, turn off.

That'll learn you to sit up

and hold on to this.

All right, you guys, get going there.

Get those shoes on and get up.

All right, come and get it.

Come on, hurry it up.

Pick up that chain.

Come on, move on.

Here, take that.

Grease, fried dough, pig fat and sorghum.

And you better get to like it...

because you're going to get

the same thing every morning, every year.

You can't get better food

on any chain gang in the state.

Yeah, and you can go all over the world

and you won't find worse.

How can anybody eat a mess like this?

Why do you take that slime

if you're going to spit it out?

I'm practicing.

The last day of my year here,

I'll spit it right in the warden's kisser.

Yeah? You'll blind him for life.

Hurry up, come on, let's go.

Come on, move on!

- Come on, there. You, get in there.

- Get in that line.

Hurry up. Come on, by me.

Line up, there. Come on.

All right, load the trucks.

Come on.

Hurry up.

Get your rings up.

Put them up.

All right.

Come on, get that ring up.

All right, take them out.

Are you up here for murder, kid?

No.

I heard that a guy that killed four people

was being sent up here.

Nordine's always worrying

about losing his spot here as high man.

He only killed three.

More than anyone else

in this here chain gang.

His wife, his sister-in-law,

and his mother-in-law.

Killed them in one night with an ax...

so as not to disturb the neighbors.

What are you taking the rap for, kid?

For looking at a hamburger.

Come on, tell us. You're among friends.

All right, let's go.

On your feet. Come on.

Stick them up.

Hey, come on.

Hey, you, get to work.

Getting out here.

All right, get out in there.

What's the idea?

He gets two minutes to brush his teeth.

Look at that big buck swing that sledge.

He never misses.

You can lay down a nickel...

and he'd knock the buffalo's right eye out.

They like his work so much...

they're gonna keep him here

the rest of his life.

Come on, get up, quit your stalling.

I was just wiping the sweat off my face.

Well, you got it knocked off.

That won't do no good.

You got to ask their permission

to wipe the sweat off.

Wiping it off!

All right, Bomber, wipe it off.

Like that.

In the first place, you've got

to get their permission to sweat.

Come on, get to work there.

I gotta quit. My stomach is...

You get to work or I'll kick that bellyache

up around your ears.

Come on. Move on, there.

Come on, get up.

Pull it through.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Spread them out.

Twelve.

Come on, get out of here.

So this is the washroom?

Yeah, come on, there's plenty of room.

No, thanks. I forgot my bath salts.

All right, boys, show me the men

that didn't give us a good day's work.

Ackerman hasn't been

on the job today, Warden.

Is that so?

Come on.

Anybody else?

This guy, Red,

tried to pull a faint on us today.

Pulling a faint?

I don't care what you do to me.

It doesn't matter.

So that's the way you feel about it?

Take a look at that.

The skunk.

You're next.

Take his stinking shirt off.

A loudmouth?

All right, let him out.

Stand over there.

Well, Barney's gone.

Goodbye, Barney, old boy.

Don't forget to write, kid.

I'll see you in two or three years.

Goodbye, kid.

Don't forget to write, Barney.

- So long.

- So long.

See you soon.

- Good luck.

- You need it.

The lucky rat.

At least it proves something.

You really can get out of here.

Sure you can. And I'm counting the days.

They ain't gonna cheat me out of nothing.

- When is your time up?

- I got it figured out exactly.

Four days, two weeks, seven months

and 12 years.

Let me see. Four weeks from 10 years.

Nine years and 48 weeks.

You can't count those away.

Red's leaving today, too.

All right, hurry it up.

Let's go.

Well, there's just two ways

to get out of here.

Work out, and die out.

Might as well grab a ride into town

with us.

Yeah, I can't walk very good

without them chains on.

Doesn't a man ever break loose?

You mean, hang it on the limb?

There's too many breaks against you.

You've got to beat the chains,

the bloodhounds...

and a bunch of guards

who'd just as soon bring you back dead.

It's been done...

but you got to figure out

some perfect scheme.

You gotta watch.

You gotta wait.

Maybe one year, maybe two.

Then...

hang it on the limb.

- Sebastian.

- Yes?

Can you hit my shackles

hard enough to bend them?

- You thinking about...

- Been thinking about it for months.

If you can bend my shackles

just so I can slide them off my foot...

I don't want to get in no trouble,

but I'd like to see you get away.

The heat's got the guards down.

- All right, you keep an eye on them.

- I am.

I'll keep my foot here,

and you hit it whenever you can.

You gotta promise not to yell,

no matter how it hurts...

- or they'll give me the works for it.

- I promise.

Hold still. If I hurt your leg,

your foot will drop off with the shackle.

Again.

Now the other one.

Again.

Once more.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

When you gonna do it?

- Monday.

- That's good.

You can rest up for it on Sunday.

- Got any dough?

- A little.

Rate this script:4.3 / 3 votes