Pittsburgh

Synopsis: Charles 'Pittsburgh' Markham rides roughshod over his friends, his lovers, and his ideals in his trek toward financial success in the Pittsburgh steel industry, only to find himself deserted and lonely at the top. When his crash comes, he finds that fate has dealt him a second chance.
Genre: Drama
Director(s): Lewis Seiler
Production: Universal
 
IMDB:
6.7
APPROVED
Year:
1942
92 min
68 Views


Not so many months ago,

the president asked the nation...

for 60,000 planes, 45,000 tanks

and 8 million tons of ships.

He asked this from the hearts,

minds and hands...

of 130 million free men,

women and children.

He asked us to evolve the greatest and most

efficient industrial system in history;

to turn our workshops

into mighty forges of war;

to out-build the aggressors

in every category of modern arms.

In his very words...

"Only by this accomplishment

can we build the arsenal of democracy. "

Planes, guns, tanks and ships have begun

to flow from our factories and yards.

The flow is accelerating from day to day.

The stream is becoming a river.

The river will become a torrent,

a torrent that will engulf...

the totalitarian tyranny which

seeks to destroy the world.

Our answer to the request of the president

flies from atop our flagpole today.

The credit for

its flying there...

belongs to each

and every one of you.

To my partner,

Pittsburgh Markham.

To your friend and mine,

a man, who many years ago...

saw more in a lump of coal than anybody

else in the world, Doc Powers.

To your union leader,

as much responsible for the maintenance...

of our production schedule

as any executive of this firm, Joe Malneck.

But most of all,

it belongs to you.

For you are the partners of our American

boys who are shedding their blood...

on the stormy waters of the North Atlantic,

the desert wastes of Africa...

the rocky crags of the Aleutians,

the steaming jungles of the South Pacific.

For all over the world our partners are

fighting because they know as we know...

that America is more

than a country; it's a cause.

A way of life that is given

even to the poorest man...

more than he could dream of

anywhere else in the world.

What do you say we show

those boys we're behind them...

and get back to work?

To the three of us.

The four of us.

Don't forget Hunky.

To Hunky.

You boys might've

spent your lives in darkness...

if it hadn't been for that girl.

I give her credit for my success too,

for I came up with you.

Remember those days when I was an

old nut with ideas about coal...

and you two were gay young blades

of Coal Town?

Coal Town was your oyster then,

filled with black pearls...

but you couldn't see them.

Maybe it was the sooty mist hanging over the

shabby streets that hid them from you...

as you marched with the daily swarm of

other men up the hill to Wilson's colliery.

A man does not see well when he lives

too long away from the sun.

But like the power in the coal you dug, locked

deep in the earth for a million years...

the force in you

still awaited release.

And the stench and grime of Shaft

Number 7 was part of your heritage.

Hey, that's awful!

- I ran into Joe Malneck this morning, that guy from the union.

- Yeah?

- He's gonna make a deal for us with Wilson.

- What kind of a deal, Johnny?

- Startin' next week, we get six cents more a ton.

- Six cents?

- We'll never get fat on that kinda dough.

- Well, it adds up to around...

- 12 to 15 bucks a month.

- That'll put a lot more grub on our table.

- What're ya gonna do with yours, Johnny? Buy a yacht?

- Aw, go on and laugh.

It ain't much,

but it's a starter.

You guys have been shinin' them bug

torches in your eyes so long you're dizzy.

What're you doin', Pittsburgh?

Pickin' coal or posin' for a statue?

Come on,

get hot on that banjo.

- How'd ya like to have me play a

tune around your ears with it?

- Hello, fellas.

- Hiya, Joe. - Hello.

- You hear about the deal we put over with the company?

- You're doin' a swell job...

- since you threw away your pick.

- First thing you know, we'll be millionaires.

- We'll be rollin' in dough. Lend me five bucks, will ya?

- Can't hear ya.

- I said, five clankers.

- I got coal dust in my ears.

You were flush when we left

the room this morning.

Aw, all right.

Here's two bucks. It's all I got.

- How do ya expect me to get anywhere on two bucks?

- I don't.

Don't even expect to get it back. All you

do is spend my dough on your hunky gal.

I'm through with those bo-hunk babes.

This one's a classy, long-legged dame...

that's got everything...

and a Model "T".

- I wonder where we can get a drink?

- Over at Barney's Speak.

I didn't say "buy a drink. "

- Hey, Doc, where are ya?

- Quiet!

He usually keeps that

prescription stuff in here.

What's that?

They still must be working on

Number 5 down there.

The tunnel's underneath. If they aren't

careful, they'll completely undermine the house.

Hello, boys.

- Hello, Doc. - Hiya,

Doc. - Somebody sick?

- Uh... yeah, it's Cash's stomach.

- My stomach?

Look at him, he's all bent over. We didn't

wanna bother ya, knowin' how busy ya are.

Well, I'm never too busy

to look out for my patients.

However, I don't

keep the whisky...

in that cabinet any more.

- Come in here, Cash.

- He don't keep the whisky in that cabinet any more.

You know, Doc,

I'm not feelin' so good myself.

- You boys know Dr. Grazlich, my junior partner.

- Hi, Junior.

- I'm feelin' sicker than Cash.

- Here, down this.

I'll be glad when

Prohibition's over.

- That stuff tastes like coal tar.

- It is coal tar.

At least it's a derivative

of coal tar. Cash?

Mm, not for me.

I feel all right now.

Go on, take it.

It's good for your stomach.

Mm. No, thanks, Doc.

- Much better for you than whisky.

- I'll take whisky.

A hundred years ago, they threw the

coal tar away when they made coke.

Then they realized it was good for

everything from munitions to medicine.

We have barely scratched

its possibilities.

- What are you lookin' for now?

- We don't exactly know.

- How do you know if you find it?

- Because it'll be something new...

something we haven't found.

You see, when scientists find a waste in

nature's gifts, they accept that as a challenge.

And no gifts have been lavished

more profusely than in coal.

- Now, you take that one little piece.

- Mm-hmm.

That's composed of several elements that

have been combined and changed by nature...

over thousands of years into a mixture

of very complex compounds.

Our job is to split those compounds and

then recombine them to suit our needs.

Hundreds of compounds have been made,

but many others are still possible.

A hundred and 50 years ago,

a man put lumps of coal in water...

and had

the sick drink it.

He was burned at the stake. The methods

employed then were very primitive.

But ever since then, scientists

have followed the same principle.

Dr. Grazlich and I are only two men out of

thousands who are going on with the work.

You can have that bottle, Pittsburgh.

You'd talk me out of it, anyway.

I love ya, Doc.

So help me, I love ya.

Well, a pint of whisky, two bucks and a date.

Now all I need's a decent suit of clothes.

- Come on, Cash. So long Doc.

- Goodbye, Doc. So long, Junior.

For a ready-made suit, he looks just like

a "Breau Bummel!" Such style, such class.

- Believe me, I wouldn't know my own merchandise.

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Kenneth Gamet

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Pittsburgh" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/pittsburgh_15937>.

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