Live by Night

Synopsis: Boston, 1926. The '20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out to make his mark on the world. Prohibition has given rise to an endless network of underground distilleries, speakeasies, gangsters, and corrupt cops. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent Boston police captain, has long since turned his back on his strict and proper upbringing. Now having graduated from a childhood of petty theft to a career in the pay of the city's most fearsome mobsters, Joe enjoys the spoils, thrills, and notoriety of being an outlaw. But life on the dark side carries a heavy price. In a time when ruthless men of ambition, armed with cash, illegal booze, and guns, battle for control, no one-neither family nor friend, enemy nor lover-can be trusted. Beyond money and power, even the threat of prison, one fate seems most likely for men like Joe: an early death. But until that day, he and his friends are determined to live life to the hilt. Joe embarks on a dizzying
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Director(s): Ben Affleck
Production: Warner Bros. Pictures
  2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.4
Metacritic:
49
Rotten Tomatoes:
35%
R
Year:
2016
129 min
$10,377,558
Website
1,110 Views


In 1917, I signed up to

fight the Huns in France.

Good men died all around me.

And I saw no reason for it.

The rules we lived by were lies.

and they didn't apply

to those who made them.

I swore If I made it home,

I would never follow orders again.

I left a soldier.

I came home an outlaw.

I lived one robbery to the next.

A good day was filled by sleep...

and a good night spent

running too hard to look back.

I lived that life for 10 years.

Until it caught up to me

It all started with an inside man.

The Albert White crew was

playing a high stakes poker game.

...and our inside man left

the back door open for us.

Three, two, one.

Where's the f***in' money?

You know whose

f***in' place this is?

Give it.

Well, you know whose f***in' card

game this is, you f***in' dunce?

You heard of Albert White?

Keep talkin', dead brother!

Miss, come here, come here.

Do you want a drink to

go with your robbery?

No, just the money,

put it in the bag..

In the bag, right here.

What's your name?

Emma Gould. What's yours?

You gonna put a sock in my mouth?

That's right. A sock? In my mouth?

Never been used before

and I wouldn't lie to you.

- That's what all the liars say.

- Open up.

Great!

Alright boys, Let's go!

You got some balls.

Slow down and stop driving

like we did something. Relax.

Made out pretty good.

It was a nice hit.

Yeah, it's all mine.

Very funny. Look forward!

Drive the car!

Good afternoon, I'm Albert White.

You must be Joe.

- Coughlin.

- Good to put a face to the name.

This is Brandon

Lumas...friend of mine

How are you?

You're too smart for the

stuff you been pullin'.

Nickel and dimin'

with two dumb guineas.

They're your friends but

they're stupid and they're Whops

And they won't live to see forty.

Take your time.

But you can't work on your own.

Not in this town.

Albert was rounding up the troops.

They was a war going on over rum.

- Dermott, go and have a word.

- Albert White ran the Irish mob.

...and Maso Pescatore

ran the Italians.

It was tit for tat.

The deadliest year in

the history of Boston.

White's gang set fire to rum trucks.

And a guy on Maso's

payroll went home

with a girl no one

had seen before.

The winner...disorder mess.

I wanted nothing to do with

Albert White and his war.

But I didn't have a choice.

His girlfriend was my inside man.

And I was in love with her.

He'd kill her if she

tried to leave him...

and he'd kill us both, 10 times over

if he found out we were together

But we were in love

and we were stupid..

And every time he was out of town,

we were together.

The fit was perfect.

Mind if I join you?

Sorry father,

but I've been waiting for someone.

No!

Emma, this is my father,

Tom Coughlin.

Dad, this is my friend Emma Gould.

Pleasure, Ms. Gould.

Mind if I sit down?

- Where are you from, Miss Gould?

- Dorchester.

No, I meant before.

You're clearly Irish.

On my mother's favor from Cork.

- Really? What's her maiden name?

- I don't know.

- You don't know?

- She died. She's dead, me mamso

So, what is it you do?

It's a really swank place this,

isn't it?

I know well how my

son earns a living..

I can only assume that if you've

come into contact with him,

It was either during a crime...

or in an establishment

populated by rough characters.

Are my questions making

you feel uncomfortable?

I don't know what you're on about.

and to be honest,

I don't really care.

I'm on about you being the type of

lassie who consorts with criminals.

The fact that the criminal

is my son isn't the issue.

It is that my son is still my son.

and I have feelings that

cause me to question

the wisdom of consorting

with the type of woman..

who knowingly consorts

with criminals.

Did you follow all that?

Enough, Dad. Enough, ok?

My uncle mentioned a cop run

his payroll, name of Coughlin.

Is that you?

This uncle would be

your Uncle Robert?

Who everyone knows as Bobo?

The police officer you

refer to is Elmer Conklin.

He is stationed in Savin Hill.

He collects shakedowns from illegal

establishments such as Bobo's.

I rarely get out of Dorchester.

Still,

as Deputy Superintendent,

I'd be happy to take a

greater interest in BoBo..

I need to powder.

Was that necessary?

I didn't start the fight, Joseph...

...so don't criticize me

for how I finished it.

I've been a police officer

for 37 years and I've learned

one thing above all.

Do you know what it is?

It's going to be another

yarn from the old country?

No.

What you put out in the world

will always come back to you.

But never how you predict.

I'm sure it doesn't.

Unearned confidence of that

about which one is ignorant,

always has the brightest glow.

I think I've heard enough.

She's quite easy on the eyes.

Yeah, she is.

Apart from that,

I fail to grasp what you see in her.

She's from Dorchester?

Well, that doesn't help.

Her father's a pimp.

Her uncle killed two men.

I could overlook all that,

Joseph, if she wasn't...

She just doesn't pretend

to be something she's not.

Maybe she's just asleep.

Thanks for stopping by.

Maybe you should climb

under his covers tonight.

- What?

- He looked at me like I'm trash!

We're not people, We're just

the Goulds from Dorchester.

We tat the lace for your f***in'

carpets. Jesus.

Don't f***in' touch me!

My whole life,

I got the high hat

and the icy mitt from

people like your father.

We're not less than you.

- I never said you were..

- Oh, well, he did.

F*** him! Ok? I love you.

You can glow so easy.

It can be.

- Come here.

- I don't want to. Leave me.

- I'm sorry.

- I'm sorry..Let go.

Spare two bits?

Thanks a lot.

Joe Coughlin.

I Got an invitation.

I gotta check you.

Go ahead.

Joseph?

Joe Coughlin, yeah.

Do you know who I am?

I know enough to show

up here when I'm asked..

My name is Maso Pescatore.

I run the North End and

liquor coming up from Florida.

I'm the man with the power

over mens' lives in my hand

but the truth is...

...I'm just a simple wop

from the old country.

Today,

my only true rival is Albert White.

When that is no

longer the case...

we can see an end to the fighting

that has plagued this town.

Well, I got no beef with you.

But I don't truck with gangsters.

not even a sheik like you..

You do soup jobs and stickups,

but you're not a gangster.

- What does that make you?

- I don't know.

An outlaw, I guess. I just don't

want any part of that life.

How many things, good or bad,

come to us whether we

ask for them or not?

For example, one of my men

saw you with a young lady...

Well, not so much a lady,

but 'puttana moll'...

whose date is Albert White.

So, it no longer matters

so much what you want.

You're in this life and

it can only end two ways.

One. You get to Albert

and put an end to him.

Two. I tell Albert about the girl.

and he gets to you first.

Like I said, I ain't a gangster.

I've done enough killin'

in this life.

If you want to tell your enemy

some rumor you heard, go ahead.

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Ben Affleck

Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educational series The Voyage of the Mimi. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Live by Night" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/live_by_night_12700>.

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