Somebody Up There Likes Me

Synopsis: The abuse Rocky Barbella endures at the hand of his father and subsequent run-ins with the law lead him in and out of detention centers and prisons. When it seems he has it together, Rocky is drafted but, refusing to adhere to Army rules, goes AWOL. He takes up boxing to earn quick money, but when he discovers he has a natural talent in the ring, he builds the confidence to pursue his love interest, Norma, and fulfill his potential as a fighter.
Director(s): Robert Wise
Production: MGM Home Entertainment
  Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.5
Rotten Tomatoes:
82%
PASSED
Year:
1956
113 min
640 Views


Hey, Nick, why don't you

give the kid a chance?

- Come on, use your left.

- Please, Pop.

- Use your left. Come on, fight me back.

- Please.

- Please, stop.

- Come on. Cover up.

- Stop.

- Come on, use the left. Cover up.

I seen guys get more action

just shadowboxing.

- Cover up.

- Please.

Hey, Nick, why don't you

give the kid a chance?

That's for leaving yourself wide open.

What's he trying to do?

Fan his old man to death?

Rocky ain't no more a fighter

than his old man was.

Good thing Ida made you hang

the gloves up, Nick.

I don't like cry babies. Get up.

Get up.

How do you expect

to learn the kid anything, Nick?

You was nothing

but a lousy prelim fighter yourself.

All right, you no-good little bum...

...let's walk nice and quiet

down to the station house.

Let me go, copper.

Save your shoe leather.

Well, there goes another

little greaseball on his way.

Ten years from now,

the Death House at Sing Sing.

Again, Rocky?

Hey, Ma, how'd you know

I was up here?

Like a homing pigeon.

I busted out of the protectory.

The bulls tell you?

- Me, Vinnie and Lou.

- Three times in two years.

Wait until the guys

find I'm on the lam again.

I bet the cops gave the flash to every

cop car from the Bronx to Brooklyn.

Maybe even the radio stations.

Let them try and find me.

They're not looking for you.

- What are you talking about?

- That's why the police come tonight...

...to tell me Brother Benedict's

given up on you.

They're through with you

at the protectory.

"Don't come back," they said.

They're trying to fool you.

That's a trick. I'm on the lam.

- They don't want you, Rocky, but I do.

- No.

No, leave me alone, leave me alone.

- Why don't you give up on me, Ma?

- I don't know how.

I ain't no good, I never will be.

Everybody knows it.

Why don't you give up on me, will you?

Sure, maybe tomorrow.

But tonight you're gonna

get some sleep. Come.

What am I gonna do with you,

you wild no-good devil?

Why you getting upset?

How much you think your mother

can take?

Twice she's been in the hospital,

sick with worry.

You're driving her to her grave.

Nobody can hold you,

even with iron bars.

You won't go to school or to work.

Pool rooms, stealing,

traveling with bums.

- Just don't worry about it, will you?

- That's all you ever say:

"Don't worry about it."

When are you gonna stop all this?

- When are you gonna be something?

- Like you, huh?

How much did you ever make?

So that I didn't have to go down

and rob bread...

...and steal coal from the blind man.

What did you ever give us around here?

Except your wine breath

and the back of your hand.

Why, you...

I look at you and I see the devil.

Get out of my sight.

- Hi, Rocky.

- Hi, Sis.

I got you some eggs for breakfast.

A celebration.

Never mind, Ma.

- Where you going?

- To be something.

Rocky.

Tomatoes. Tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes.

Hey, big man. Whose house

you gonna rob tonight, huh?

Who you gonna knock over,

huh, big man?

- Hey, Romolo.

- Hey, Rocky boy.

- When did you get home, huh?

- I didn't get home, I got out, that's all.

- Hey, what about my other shoe?

- Eat it.

Without you, I'm just nickels

and dimes, you know that?

Buddy boy, we find Fidel and Shorty

and then we make plans.

- What do you say, Fidel?

- Rocky.

- Come on.

- Hey, when did you get out, huh?

Hey, Shorty the Greek.

Come on, buddy boy,

we got work to do.

Hey, what you think you're doing?

Why you stinking little...

- What are you trying to do? Get killed?

- No.

I just wanted to see

whether your brakes worked.

Hey. Hey, I think I got a bite.

Look out below.

- Fifty?

- Come again. Come on.

Seventy-five tops.

My inventory's way overloaded.

How can you split 75

four ways, huh?

- It don't come out even.

- Eighty then.

Come on.

- What are you gonna do with the money?

- Buy some clothes. What do you say?

We don't want people

to think we're bums.

Wait a minute. Take a look.

Beautiful $ 100 suits.

For you guys, 20 bucks apiece.

Get out of here. Come on.

What are you...?

- Good morning.

- Oh, yeah, good morning.

- Breakfast.

- Oh, thanks.

- Hey, what's the program for today, huh?

- Pick up Fidel and Shorty the Greek.

Then what?

School.

- School?

- Yeah.

All my life I've been dreaming

of robbing a school.

- Thanks.

- Hey, you two. Get away from there.

- Come on.

- What do you think you're doing?

Come back here.

What do you think...?

I'll get you, guys.

How many times we gotta tell you

to stay out of Polack territory?

Nobody robs our schools but us.

The bulls. The bulls.

- I can't make it.

- Come on, jump.

Hold it, punk. Frisk him.

All right, who'd you

unload the stuff with this time?

What stuff?

Everything in the precinct

that wasn't nailed down.

- Come on, who was the fence?

- I don't know what you're talking about.

I'm talking about

who give you the money?

My old man give it to me.

Yeah, my old man give it to me.

Nick Barbella, huh?

Two hundred and 10 bucks,

Mr. Barbella.

If he can't account for it,

I have to put him in the lineup.

- He says you give it to him. Yes or no?

- Yeah. Yeah, Nick, you remember.

- Of course he give it to him.

- Mr. Barbella?

All I ever give him was a wine breath

and the back of my hand.

- Thanks.

- Come on.

All I could think of, Your Honor,

as I walked...

...into the cold, gray shadows

of the Tombs...

...and saw this little child crying...

Do you know that this little child once

attempted to burn down a police station?

It's against my better judgment,

but I'm gonna give him another chance.

I'm going to remand him to the custody

of his parents and the probation officers.

But this other fellow here,

his probation reports are a disgrace.

- True, Your Honor, but I thought...

- Are the parents in court?

Yes, Your Honor, the mother is here.

- Where's the father?

- He refused to come.

Rocco Barbella's been a burden...

...to his mother

during the whole of his life.

Ever since he was old enough to run,

he was a court problem.

They remanded him

to the Catholic protectory.

Three times he broke out...

...each time to join his gang

and terrorize the neighborhood.

Something has got to be done

to save this boy from a criminal career.

He has got to know that

if he is going to commit burglaries...

...and make of himself a thief,

he cannot be at large.

I am therefore committing him

to Mackinock...

...for an indeterminate sentence.

- No.

Maybe they will be able

to break his spirit.

- Next case.

- We'll see whose spirit gets broke.

Don't wreck the floor,

you're gonna have to sleep on it.

Shut up, you lousy screw.

You'll get over it, kid,

even if it takes 20 years.

Open 32.

- Now, what would you like for breakfast?

- Your cruddy head on a silver platter.

I'm George Niles.

Cigarette?

My men tell me you're giving yourself

a rough time here.

Maybe we ought to talk things over.

Why you... Hold it. Hold it.

All right, you licked me, Barbella.

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Ernest Lehman

Ernest Paul Lehman was an American screenwriter. He received six Academy Award nominations during his career, without a single win. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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