Somebody Up There Likes Me Page #2

Twenty years and I never

laid a hand on one of my boys.

Maybe you guys will learn,

ain't no place I can't lick.

Send him to the reformatory.

Get rid of him.

Come on.

- Come on, dig.

- Just one mouthful. Just one.

Dig.

- Why don't you give him a drink, geezer?

- Sure.

Sure, you have one first, huh?

- Why you...

- Start something.

Just give me an excuse.

Come on, let's get out of here.

Come on, let's make a break.

- Give me the gun. Give me the gun!

- Will you come on?

- Give me the gun.

- You wanna get the chair?

No. No, don't. Don't.

You ever think of putting

a glove on that lead pipe?

Not a chance.

On the outside, I owned little pieces

of two fighters. Good boys.

Sometimes they win,

sometimes they dive like swans.

- Either way, there's money in it.

- I ain't putting gloves on.

- Not for money. Not for nothing.

- Why not?

Because the only glove fighter I ever

knew was a bigger bum than I am.

Well, if you ever need quick money,

just look me up at Stillman's Gym.

- Ask for Frankie Peppo, that's me.

- Yeah, Rocky Barbella.

- I'm pleased to meet you.

- No, that's my pleasure.

Welcome to Rikers Island.

They couldn't handle you dumb

little punks at the reform school.

Well, this is no reform school.

We run a good penitentiary here,

and a tough one.

You pull here what you pulled up there...

...and our men would just as soon

put a bullet through your head as not.

- Now, you got that straight?

- Yes, sir.

You don't believe that, do you?

Thirty days in the hole.

Let him spit in the dark.

I don't know why anybody

would wanna see you, Barbella...

...but you got a visitor. Special privilege.

Come on.

Hey, Ma.

Don't worry about me, Ma. I'm gonna

have this joint licked in no time.

Why don't you ask me why I haven't

come to see you for six months?

Why don't you ask me where I've been?

County Hospital, that's where.

Tied to a bed.

Electric-shock treatment. Trying to

save me from going out of my mind.

- Ma.

- You, Rocky.

You're the one keeps me up all night

with worry, so as I can't sleep.

Going out of my mind.

I can't go on.

- Ma, cut it out. Will you stop it?

- I'm through, Rocky.

I can't fight your fights.

I can't raise my hand for you no more.

- Who you been talking to? The priest?

- What am I going to do with you, Rocky?

Don't worry, huh? Just don't worry.

All you ever say is "don't worry."

You think I talked to the priest?

Yes, I talked to the father and he

told me I'm doing the right thing.

He said nobody can help you,

Rocky, but you yourself.

That's what the father said to me.

Maybe you think I'm hardhearted,

your own mother...

...but what I'm gonna do

is the only thing I can think of.

Gonna do what?

I am the last person on Earth who cares

whether you live or die or rot in jail.

But if you turn your back on me, and

go back to that scum you call friends...

...I turn my back on you.

You are no longer my son.

Ma, I try to turn the leaf,

but I can't make it.

It's something inside of me.

I try, but I can't make it.

I pray to God you'll try.

If you don't, I'll be through.

I don't wanna be,

but I don't know what else to do.

Look, Ma, just don't worry.

Just don't worry about a thing.

Don't worry about a thing.

Don't worry about a thing.

Ma?

Ma?

You got three minutes to go.

You're gonna serve every second of it.

Anything you say, sir.

Only thing good I can say

is I'll never have to see you again.

The next time up,

you go to state or federal pen.

No, sir. There ain't gonna be

no next time. I mean, I'm all paid up.

Six years out of 10

I been in one can or another.

I'm never gonna get locked up again.

- No?

- No.

One thing you and this lousy place

give me...

...is a big taste

for being on the outside.

Definitely.

- Get out, Barbella.

- Thanks.

What do you know?

Two minutes off for good behavior.

- Rocco Barbella?

- Yeah.

Look, you guys ain't got nothing on me.

I'm clean. I'm gonna stay clean.

That's nice, because you got a date.

We're here to make sure you keep it.

Date? What are you talking about?

Barbella, you're about to volunteer to

be drafted into the United States Army.

What? Back in stir again?

You're kidding.

No, we're not kidding.

Neither is Hitler.

Hey, look, I can't make it right now.

I got a little living to catch up with.

Look me up in about six months.

We talk over this Army deal again. Okay?

All right, fall in.

- Yeah, who is it?

- Corporal Quinbury.

- Am I disturbing you, Barbella?

- Well, what time is it?

Five minutes past 11.

- Well, good morning, private.

- Yeah, what do you say?

I trust you found everything

satisfactory, private?

I don't know, where do you get

something to eat around this joint?

Where were you at roll call?

Don't you know you're in the Army?

- Well, yeah, sure.

- Stand at attention and say, "Yes, sir."

Why don't you just knock it off, Mac?

Barbella, you're on permanent company

detail as long as you stay in my outfit.

You can start now by policing

every inch of the area around this tent.

Now pick up that cigarette butt.

- What did you say?

- I said, "Pick up that butt and move."

Listen, I'm running this tent

and don't forget it.

Sleeping late, staying up as late as

I want, I'm eating when I feel like it.

Now, you rat on me to the warden,

I'll bust your skull.

Pick up that butt and move.

Oh, anybody bothers you guys

just let me know, huh?

Hundreds of them. Thousands of them

marching around in circles.

Not one lousy face that I know.

Not from the East Side, not from any

can I ever been in, not from nowhere.

Never seen so many square creeps.

Come on, let's go into town, huh?

Schmooze. Shoot pool.

What do you say?

Stop trying to get us into trouble.

What are you talking about?

You seen what I done.

No trouble so long

as I'm running this tent.

They can court-martial you

for going into town without a pass.

- What's this court-martial?

- You'll find out.

Come on, buddy boy. Let's go, huh?

Let's you and me go into town.

We'll go into town,

have a lot of laughs.

In the first place,

I'm not your buddy boy.

And second, I'm not gonna break

regulations because you want company.

Neither is anybody else.

We don't like being drafted

any more than you...

...but we got put in the Army,

we're gonna do the best we can.

- Do you think you can understand that?

- You little creep.

Go ahead. Hit me.

The only thing it'll prove is

you're a common criminal.

We know you've got a record

so go ahead, knock me out...

...if you think it'll make

you feel any better.

Here he is.

That's the one.

All right, soldier, let's go.

You sure don't seem to have

much regard for rules and regulations.

You don't have much regard

for anything.

What is all this talk about rules

and training and stuff?

Put me someplace

where I can fight them Hitler soldiers.

Let's get it over with.

We ain't gonna win hanging

around this camp.

I see by your records you're from

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