Sign here, son. Or make your mark.
# To America sailed o'er #
# Our fortunes to be made, We were thinkin' #
# When we got to Yankee land #
# They shoved a gun Into our hands #
# Saying, "Paddy, you must go And fight for Lincoln" #
There's your musket. Make sure you keep it dry on the boat.
Same for the cartridge case.
- MAN: Where are we going? - MAN #2: I heard Tennessee.
Where's that?
# There is nothing here But war #
# Where the murderin' Cannons roar #
# And I wish I was at home In dear old Dublin #
MAN: Do they feed us now, do you think?
[Mid-tempo Irish music plays]
My children!
My children...
we must heal the divisions between us.
This war must cease.
North and South must stand united!
[Booing, jeering]
MAGGIE: You're a liar!
Rubbish!
[Booing, jeering continue]
What happens at the finish, then?
Then we have ourselves a rowdy-dow.
Ain't you never been to the theater before?
Nah.
Mr. Legree, lay down your whip.
Miss Eliza, join hands with Mr. Shelby.
And, Topsy, dear little Topsy,
cradle Uncle Tom's head.
Aw, leave the nigger dead!
[Booing, jeering]
Get me down!
Down with the Union!
For the blood of the Irish!
Bill, get down!
[Crowd shouting]
Somebody's popped the Butcher!
Get back!
Uhh!
[Shouting stops]
Aaaaaaaaaaaah!
[People screaming]
McGLOIN: Stifle that rat bastard down!
[Groans]
[Breathing raggedly]
God, forgive me.
[Speaking indistinctly]
[Groans]
[Coughs]
[Groans]
[Coughs] Ohhh!
[Coughs] Aaaaaaah!
Whose man are you?
Speak smart and speak up.
[Speaking Gaelic]
What's he saying, boy?
[Speaking Gaelic]
I think he's making his peace with God.
The hell with that. He makes his peace with me.
I'm hearing confession tonight, you mother-whoring Irish nigger!
Whose man are you?
We speak English in this country! Whose man are you?
You see this knife?
I'm gonna teach you to speak English with this fucking knife!
Whose man are you?!
[Groaning]
[Groaning stops]
[Breathing heavily]
[Groaning]
Well, that didn't tell us very much.
[Laughter]
Fine waistcoat.
Shame about it. I don't think it can be mended.
Will I keep it as a souvenir?
ALL: Yeah!
[Crowd cheering]
[Cheering fades]
BILL: Where's Legree? Where's Mopsy?
Tragedians, let's continue.
Intermission is over!
ALL: Yeah!
[Crowd cheering]
[Crying]
[Sniffles]
Now, that was bloody Shakespearean.
What?
Do you know who Shakespeare was, sonny?
He was the fellow who wrote the King James Bible.
Mister, I don't know what in the hell you're talking about.
That's because you're a thick, ignorant, barbarous Irish whelp,
just like your father.
[Breathing heavily]
That's it! That's it!
Tear my head off and destruct the world,
just like the rest of the stupid Irish in this country.
That's why I never ran with your dad.
Get off me, you crazy bastard!
[Speaking Gaelic]
It means, "If you're not strong,
you'd better be smart."
Now, I don't know if you're being too clever or too dumb,
but whichever it is, just remember this much...
for all his faults,
your father was a man who loved his people.
[Crowd cheering]
[Crying]
BILL: Amsterdam! Amsterdam!
New York is calling you!
[Lively Irish music plays]
[Giggles]
Look at that.
What in Christ's name is that?
Rhythms of the Dark Continent
thrown into the kettle with an Irish shindig.
Stir it around a few times, pull it out,
it's a fine American mess.
A jig doing a jig.
Little keepsake.
[Laughs]
Good on you, sir.
Come upstairs with me, Bill.
Have I ever had you before?
So you don't call me by my Christian name.
[Music continues]
Bill! Thank God you're all right!
I heard the news and came over as quick as I could.
You're as timely as the Angel of Death.
Bill, you're not suggesting
that I would stoop to... what you're suggesting?
Stop slabbering.
If I thought it was you, you'd be in a wooden coat.
But I got a hole in my shoulder, and it hurts,
so have a drink and shut up, or shut up and get out.
I believe I'll have a drink.
Careful, Tweedy. The mort's frenchified.
[Laughter]
No! I'm clean.
Come on. Let's go to the bar.
[Music continues]
[Sighs]
Jenny.
Bill.
[Sniffs]
[Grunts]
JENNY: I best wrap you up.
Ohhhhh!
[Groans]
It's got to be tight.
She loves to make me cry.
[Laughs]
You can take it.
[Music continues]
[Tape ripping]
There's my boy.
Mmm...
It's all right. It's all right.
To the Butcher.
[Sniffs]
We're all much obliged.
Forever.
- To the Butcher. - To the Butcher.
Why don't you get out of here, Johnny.
[Man chanting indistinctly]
Go on. Go.
[Chanting continues]
[Door opens]
[Door slams]
Is there anyone in the Five Points you haven't fucked?!
Yes! You!
Why, you little...
[Growls]
Aaaah!
[Both grunting]
Calm down!
Aaaah!
[Gasps]
[Both breathing heavily]
Try it and I'll bite you!
If you were gonna bite me...
I don't think you'd warn me, huh?
Find out!
[Breathing heavily]
[Both breathing heavily]
[Gasps]
[Both moaning]
[Sighs]
[Coughs]
[Clears throat]
[Inhales, exhales deeply]
I can't sleep.
[Exhales sharply]
I, uh...
I hope you don't mind us, uh...
laying out tonight here, sir.
[Clears throat]
Whatever takes your fancy, my young friend.
[Inhales, exhales deeply]
Is it your, uh... shoulder that's keeping you up?
No, I don't never sleep too much.
I have to sleep with one eye open.
And I only got one eye, right?
Hmm.
How old are you, Amsterdam?
[Sighs]
Uh...
I'm not too sure.
I never did figure it.
I'm 47.
47 years old.
You know how I stayed alive this long?
All these years?
Fear.
The spectacle of fearsome acts.
Somebody steals from me, I cut off his hands.
He offends me, I cut out his tongue.
He rises against me,
I cut off his head, stick it on a pike...
raise it high up so all on the streets can see.
That's what preserves the order of things.
Fear.
That one tonight... who was he?
A nobody.
A coward.
What an ignominious end that would have been.
I killed the last honorable man 15 years ago.
Since then, it's...
You've seen his portrait downstairs?
Mm-hmm.
Is your mouth all glued up with cunny juice?
I asked you a question.
I said I seen it, sir.
[Chuckles]
Oh, you got a murderous rage in you, and I like it.
It's life boiling up inside of you.
It's good.
The Priest and me, we lived by the same principles.
It was only faith divided us.
He give me this, you know.
That was the finest beating I ever took.
My face was pulp, my guts was pierced,
and my ribs was all mashed up.
[Sighs]
And when he came to finish me...
...I couldn't look him in the eye.
He spared me because...
he wanted me to live in shame.
This was a great man.
A great man.
So I cut out the eye that looked away.
Sent it to him wrapped in blue paper.
I would have cut 'em both out if I could have fought him blind.
Then I rose back up again with a full heart
and buried him in his own blood.
Well done.
He was the only man I ever killed worth remembering.
[Inhales deeply]
[Exhales deeply]
I never had a son.
Civilization is crumbling.
[Groans]
[Sighs]
[Smooches]
God bless you.
[Door closes]
[Sniffles]
If you got anything to say...
now is the time to say it.
Who is he to you, Jenny?
I was 12 years old.
My mother was dead, I was living in a doorway.
He took me in, took care of me...
...in his own way.
After they cut out the baby...
Well, he doesn't fancy girls that scarred up.
[Inhales deeply]
You should know... in your own mind
that he never laid a hand on me until I asked him to.
[Sniffles]
[Exhales slowly]
Who are you?
[Thud]
[Thud, thud]
[Thud, thud, thud]
[Up-tempo Oriental music plays]
BARNUM: Gentlemen, fine gentlemen,
you are most welcome
to this palace of wonder and enchantment
with visions to rival
the finest imaginings of Scheherazade
and her tales from the perfumed nights of Arabia
will greet your famished eyes!
[Music continues]
[Man speaking indistinctly]
What am I bid for this flaxen-haired Teutonic beauty?
Feast your eyes on the magnificent plumage
of these exotic creatures.
Gentlemen, you've seen our caged birds.
Well, how'd you like to make them sing?
Let me see the color of your money,
and they could be singing for you!
[Shrieks]
No! Oh, no!
No! No!
AMSTERDAM: May God put the steel
of the Holy Spirit in my spine...
...and the love of the Blessed Virgin in my heart.
Amen.
Easy, now.
What did you say?
He's not who he says he is.
He's not who he says he is?
What am I bid? What am I bid?
Count your blessings he considers you a friend.
The only thing he considers, Bill,
every day and every night, is how best to kill you.
[Gasps]
You've got a loose tongue in that head of yours.
You want me to take it out for you, huh?!
I'll bury it right up your fundament, where it belongs.
I can read right through you.
You're empty.
His name is Vallon!
Don't do it, Bill.
His name's Vallon.
[Breathing heavily]
[Slow Oriental music plays]
[Woman singing in Chinese]
A curious people, these Celestials.
MAN: Don't touch...
You know why he wears short sleeves?
So as everyone can see he's got nothing stashed.
Jesus, let's hope that never becomes the fashion!
[Both laugh]
[Singing continues]
Johnny.
[Laughter, indistinct conversations]
[Indistinct shouting]
Get up.
[Singing continues]
BARNUM: Ladies and gentlemen,
if I may have your kind attention.
As some of you have surely noticed,
our friend and benefactor, Mr. William Cutting,
is tonight wearing a waistcoat of certain distinction!
[Cheering]
Might we...
[Man whistles]
Might we tonight appeal to him
to favor us with another exciting exhibition
of skill, courage, daring, and drama!
[Cheering]
[Slow Oriental music plays]
MAN: The Sword of Damascus!
MAN #2: The Tomahawk!
Bill is going up.
MAN: Come on, Bill!
Show us, Bill!
Show us your knives!
Strut your stuff, Billy boy!
[Woman singing in Chinese]
[Gasps]
[Light applause]
[Gasps]
[Crowd gasps]
The Spider's Kiss!
The River of Blood!
The Tomahawk!
The Morning Glory!
The Wheel of Death!
William Tell!
The Butterfly!
The Tomahawk!
Spider's Kiss!
The Butcher's Apprentice!
- Ah, the Butcher's Apprentice. - [Cheering]
Command performance!
[Laughs]
Command performance!
Where have you been?
A command performance, indeed!
I want you to get out of here, do you understand?
And for this, I must beg the indulgence
of my former assistant in matters of impalement...
the Butcher's original apprentice.
What do you say, Jen?
One more time for the sweet souvenir?
- Come on. - [Applause]
[Cheering, applause increases]
[Whistling]
Don't do it.
Good girl, Jenny.
Don't be afraid.
What a woman.
Jenny.
[Man laughs]
Good evening, Bill.
She'll be all right.
Remember this?
Of course.
[Crowd gasps]
You may feel more comfortable without that garment,
Miss Everdeane.
You'll have to filch me a new one, Bill.
[Laughter, applause]
Anything in your pockets tonight?
Oh, I ain't started working yet.
[Laughter]
What about that locket that I gave you?
[Crowd gasps]
Apologies, my dear. Pick it up.
[Crowd gasps]
Whoopsie daisy!
[Laughter]
Now it's good and broke.
I can't seem to get anything right tonight.
[Crowd gasps]
[Breathing heavily]
You got the sand to give them a grand finale?
[Cheers and applause]
Maybe when you're aiming a little straighter.
[Laughter and applause]
[Crowd gasps]
[Cheers and applause]
Still got some blood in you, Jen?!
Enough of this heathen music!
Get rid of these goddamn monkeys!
Strike up, boys!
Ready?
This is a night for Americans!
[Upbeat patriotic music plays]
Jenny!
Get your hands off me!
Get off!
Move!
Amsterdam!
[Drumroll]
[Crowd murmuring]
[Drumroll continues]
[Drumroll stops]
Hats off!
We hold in our hearts the memory of our fallen brothers
whose blood stains the very streets we walk today.
Also on this night
we pay tribute to the leader of our enemies...
...an honorable man...
who crossed over bravely,
fighting for what he believed in.
To defeat my enemy, I extinguish his life...
and consume him as I consume these flames.
In honor of Priest Vallon.
[Amsterdam shouting in Gaelic]
[Woman screams, gunshot]
That's a wound.
[Groans]
MAN: Hold him!
[Grunting]
I want youse all to meet the son of Priest Vallon.
[Grunting]
I took him under my wing...
and see how I'm repaid?
You bastard!
Saves my life one day
so he can kill me the next like a sneak thief
instead of fighting like a man.
[Groans]
A base defiler unworthy of a noble name.
Aaah!
Oh! Jesus!
[Grunting]
That'll do, McGloin. Splay him out.
[Grunting]
This show ain't for blackies.
You! You get to watch!
[Glass shatters]
Don't you hear, nigger?
Ahh.
This is fresh meat.
[Crowd gasps]
Know what I mean?
We need to tenderize this meat a little bit.
All right, let's kiss good night
to that pretty young face of yours.
[Spits]
Aah!
[Crowd gasps]
- [Thump, thump] - Aah!
- [Thump]
Uuhh!
No!!
What'll it be, then?
Rib or chop?
Loin or shank?
- The liver! - The spleen!
- The tongue! - Kidneys!
[Cheers and applause]
- The lungs! - The liver!
- His legs! - The tongue!
The kidneys!
The stomach!
The heart! The heart!
The heart?! This boy has no heart!
Then kill him!
- Kill him! - Kill him!
ALL: [Chanting] Kill him!
- Get back! - Aah!
He ain't earned a death!
He ain't earned a death at my hands!
No.
He'll walk amongst you marked with shame,
a freak worthy of Barnum's Museum of Wonders.
- [Sizzling] - God's only man...
spared by the Butcher.
- JENNY: No! - [Crowd cheering]
No! No! Aah!
No! No!
No-o-o! No!
No! No!
- [Crowd cheering] - No!
[Wind howling]
[Gun cocks]
Here.
Here. This way.
Come on. Come on!
No!
Aaah!
[Coughing]
[Woman vocalizing]
I want to show you something.
[Echoing] My mother's bones share this grave.
I've saved 10 cents
out of every dollar I've ever earned since I was 13.
It's $215...
It's $215 for bludgeting and the rest.
This is what I wanted to show you.
This is where we're gonna go as soon as you get well.
San Francisco...
California.
You can have anything you want out there.
These men are pulling gold right out of the river
with their own hands.
We're here.
We need to get there.
We start here...
go down 'round here...
...up to San Francisco.
Shortest way to go.
Would you go with me?
No need to fire that, miss, or even aim it.
An audience with your mangled friend is all I want.
[Sniffs]
I got 44 notches in my club.
Do you know what they're for?
To remind me what I owe God when I die.
My father was killed in battle, too...
in Ireland, in the streets...
[Sighs]
...fighting those who would take as their privilege
what could only be got and held by the decimation of a race.
That war is a thousand years old and more.
We never expected it to follow us here.
It didn't.
It was waiting for us when we landed.
Your father tried to carve out a corner in this country
for his tribe.
That was him. That was his Dead Rabbits.
I often wondered if he'd lived a bit longer...
would he have wanted a bit more?
[Grunts]
[Breathing heavily]
Why'd you rifle through his pockets, then?
[Inhales, exhales slowly]
For safekeeping.
Thought maybe you could do with it.
[Sniffles]
Blood stays on the blade.
[Indistinct conversations]
Look at him.
Hey, what happened to him?
[Indistinct conversations continue]
MAN: Hey!
BILL: That's a sorry-looking pelt.
And it's been so nice and quiet for the last three months.
Tell me, this charge, does it sit uneasy with you?
No. It's...
not uneasy, Bill.
No, I wouldn't say that.
But...
my allegiance is to the law.
I'm paid to uphold the law.
[Exhales slowly]
What in Heaven's name are you talking about?
You may have misgivings, but don't go believing that, Jack.
That way lies damnation.
I'm in no danger of damnation, Bill.
Here's the thing...
I don't give a tuppenny fuck about your moral conundrum,
you meat-headed shitsack.
That's more or less the thing.
And I want you to go out there...
you, nobody else, none of your little minions...
I want you to go out there...
and I want you... to punish...
[Sniffles] the person...
who's responsible...
[Sobs]
...for murdering this poor little rabbit.
[Sobbing]
Is that understood?
Right.
Help yourself to some decent meat on the way out.
[Wind howling]
[Clang]
Damn it!
[Sizzles]
Is that you, boy?!
I didn't mean nothing by that shot, you know.
You scared me, is all.
Sure you know I'd never do you harm.
Come out now, lad.
Remember your father and me?
[Pigeons cooing]
Are you too young to remember your old Uncle Jack?
Ah, the times we had.
You know I won't hurt you.
[Groaning, gagging]
[Indistinct conversations]
- Is he dead? - [Drumbeats]
I'm gonna get Andrew.
Andrew, come see!
Andrew, come see! Quick!
Everybody, quick!
TWEED: This is bad for everybody.
What's next, dead politicians?
I could spare half a dozen of you
easier than I can spare him.
Still, I think it shows dash.
Give the boy some time,
we'll settle with a good dust-up.
[Sighs]
[Speaking Gaelic]
There's more of us coming off these ships every day.
I heard 15,000 Irish a week.
[Scoffs]
And we're afraid of the Natives?
Get all of us together, and we ain't got a gang.
We got an army.
And all you need's a spark, right?
Just one spark, something to wake us all up.
[Knife drops]
JOHNNY: That was me played you false.
[Sighs]
I'd take it back if I could.
Take it back?!
Johnny, I gotta kill ya.
Get out of the Points and don't come back.
[Up-tempo music plays]
[Man chanting indistinctly]
Where you going, boyo?
Come along.
Tell us, John. What's the trouble?
No trouble, Bill.
Still hiding out with your friends?
No, I'm...
I'm not with them, Bill.
I'm with you. I'm... with the Natives.
[Men chuckle]
You always was a Native as far as I'm interested, John...
...till you became a stag.
You tell me you're a Native.
Do you want to know what a Native is?
A Native is a man...
what's willing to give his life...
for his country.
Like my father done.
Are you willing to do that, my young friend?
[Insects chirping]
[Dogs barking in distance]
John!
Johnny.
Johnny?
John...
Oww!
[Grunts]
[Gasps]
[Sighs]
It hurts too much.
[Sniffles]
Just kill me.
Please.
[Gun cocks]
Please.
[Exhales sharply]
[Inhales sharply]
I'm sorry, Johnny.
Aaaah!
[Scraping]
[Scraping stops]
[Crying]
McGLOIN: Holy Mary, Mother of God,