The Gangster

Shubunka:
[Opening lines of first person narration as the camera dollies back from an ugly expressionistic painting] That was what I was. I work the rackets... dirty rackets... ugly rackets. I was no hypocrite. I knew everything I did was low and rotten. I knew what people thought of me. What difference did it make? What did I care? [Lying in bed looking at his face in a mirror] I got scarred - sure! It can hurt a little when you fight your way out of a gutter.

Shubunka:
[to Dorothy] You understood nothing. You're sweet, lovely, and good. You're also very young. Pay for my sins? You know what my sins were? I'll tell you. That I wasn't rotten enough. I wasn't mean and low and dirty enough. That's right, I should have smahed Cornell first. I should have hounded Jammy, kept after him, killed him myself. I should have trusted no one, never had a friend. I should have never loved a womann. That's the way the world is. Wait, live, find out yourself that's the way you have to be... the only way!

Shorty:
Your wife called. What should I tell her?

Nick Jammey:
Tell her I dropped dead.

Dorothy's Father:
Give him time, Dorothy. It just came over the radio. They might still be on the streets looking for him. THey'll shoot him!

Dorothy:
I hope they do! I hope they kill him!

Dorothy's Father:
[Shocked] Dorothy!

Dorothy:
No, let him pay for his sins! You don't know him... the way he lives... the things he did. He's rotten! He's no-good!

Nick Jammey:
My advice to you is 'get out!' They'll jump you when you least expect it. Get out of town, Shubunka. They're killers!

Shubunka:
Jammey, what did you do? What are you talking about? Did you sell me out?

Nick Jammey:
Who me?

Shubunka:
Did you go over to them?

Nick Jammey:
I wish I did! I wish I could! The trouble with me is I've got a conscience!