-(MEN GRUNTING) -(KNIVES RINGING)
(SCREAMS)
RICHARD LEE: Seven of the deceased are Long Zii,
only four are Hop Wei. Whatever's going on here,
it's more complicated than a gang fight.
WALTER BUCKLEY: The Exclusion Act is the solution,
and Crestwood is the man to deliver it.
I think it's time you took a stand, don't you?
And with patriots like him, we're gonna take back our city!
(CHEERING)
PENNY BLAKE: We don't exist outside this apartment,
and we never will. Don't come back.
MAN: Two fighters. The best from each of your tongs.
A duel. If the Long Zii agree to the terms, so do we.
Who the hell are you?
You take my money. I take back.
BIG BILL O'HARA: Why would a real estate tycoon be targeted by the Chinese?
I guess you can ask him that when you catch him.
JACK DAMON: No one escapes a Fung Hai debt.
(GRUNTS)
You don't stand up to a cop like that.
This is new.
(YELLS)
Ah Sahm will be our champion against the Long Zii.
Will you do this for your brothers?
I will.
[engine revs]
- Now, in stamping,
we'll be doing three shifts a day.
Twelve workers per shift.
- Thirty-six.
Good. Skills?
- Just some strong backs.
No drunks or we'll be pulling fingers
out of the presses.
- Can't have that, can we?
- Eight strong backs in carting.
- I was thinking 12.
- I only need eight.
- Twelve makes everyone more efficient.
- Ten.
- Ten it is.
- Now, who are these four men
you have listed as supervisors?
- I'm glad you asked.
[fading conversation]
- Cheers, Mr. Mercer.
[glasses clink]
[percussive music]
♪ ♪
[flames roaring]
[steam train whistles]
[men shouting, hammers clanging]
[men grunting]
[blows landing]
[indistinct chatter]
[foreboding music]
♪ ♪
[flames whooshing]
[dramatic spaghetti Western music]
♪ ♪
[blade swishes]
[footsteps approach]
- Jacob.
You're back late.
- Sorry, Missus.
- What is it?
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Where is everybody?
- I don't know.
But I'm not complaining.
♪ ♪
[door closes, keys jangle]
[dark music]
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
♪ ♪
What the hell is this?
- Looks like a street fair of some kind.
- [speaking Cantonese]
[crunching]
[indistinct chatter]
- I suppose you're thinking maybe we should go in.
- No, I'm thinking we should definitely go in.
- Do you know why you're here, Lee?
Because God is punishing me.
- I'm pretty sure he's not.
- And how would you know?
- 'Cause He's not there.
[beating drums]
[crowd chattering]
Did you have any idea this was down here?
- Not a fucking clue.
♪ ♪
[distant chatter]
- [breathing deeply]
- You ready for this?
- Yeah.
- I know Father Jun won't say it.
And I'll forget later, so...
I just want to say thanks.
You didn't have to do this.
- I didn't?
- We're having a moment here, man.
Don't fuck it up with the truth.
[rhythmic breathing]
- Are you sure about this?
- What do you mean?
- He's your brother.
Only one of us is going to walk out of there.
- Sergeant O'Hara. Officer Lee. Welcome.
- What's going on, Chao?
- Uh, just some neighborhood entertainment.
A prize fight, yes?
♪ ♪
- A lot of tongs here.
- Everything peaceful.
People want to have good time.
Forget troubles.
Come, I take you to good seats.
- No, no, no. We'll stand.
- Okay.
But you need anything, you call Chao.
Ah. [speaking Cantonese]
- [speaking Cantonese]
- Hey.
Shouldn't you guys be on your beat?
- Streets are empty. Everyone's here.
- Well, stay sharp, eh?
- It's time.
[drum roll]
[steady drumbeats]
[drums cease]
- Good evening and welcome.
Tonight
is about something more than simple competition.
This is a sacred ritual of our ancestors,
a means for the tongs to settle their disputes
while maintaining peace in the region.
[speaking Cantonese]
[crowd roars]
[cheers and applause]
all chanting: Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm!
Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm!
[cheers and applause]
- Hey.
Isn't that our boy?
- Yes, it is.
- Well, this should be interesting.
[drum roll]
[steady drumbeats]
crowd chanting: Li Yong! Li Yong! Li Yong!
Li Yong! Li Yong!
[cheers and applause]
- [chanting in Cantonese]
[slow, steady drumbeats]
- Some beer for you, gentlemen.
With my compliments.
- No thanks.
- You don't drink?
- Not here.
- More for me.
- What are the sashes for?
- Winner take sash from loser to claim victory.
- That's the whole game?
Five bills on the tall one.
[blows landing]
[crowd cheering]
[both grunting]
- [grunts]
[grunting]
- [groaning]
Come on.
Come on!
[crowd shouting]
- I don't know what the hell kind of boxing this is,
but if they could all fight like this,
we'd be in some deep shit.
[blows landing, grunting]
[both grunting]
[blows landing]
[crowd jeering]
[tense music builds]
♪ ♪
[both grunting]
- [grunting]
[blows landing]
[both grunting]
- [groaning]
[groaning]
[blows landing]
[grunting, blows landing]
- Get up, Ah Sahm!
Get up!
[heavy blow lands]
- Yeah! Yeah!
[crowd cheering]
[blows land]
[grunting, blows landing]
- [cheering]
[heavy blow lands]
[all cheering]
all chanting: Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm!
Ah Sahm! Ah Sahm!
- Get up! Get up! Get up!
[tense music]
- Take it!
- [gasps]
[both grunting]
[blow lands]
- [grunting]
[crowd jeering]
[drumbeats]
♪ ♪
[heavy blow lands]
[distorted shouting]
[rasping, breathing heavily]
[blow lands]
[both groaning]
[crowd shouting]
[breathing heavily]
[blows land]
[blow lands]
[heavy blow lands]
[gasping]
- Where are you going?
- He's finished.
- No, he's not. He'll get up.
Come on, Ah Sahm! Get up!
- [breathing heavily]
[blow lands, crowd roars]
- [wheezing]
[screams]
[panting]
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[both wheezing]
- [labored breathing]
[grunting]
- [screams] No!
- Wait, what the hell is this?
- He's gonna break his neck!
[gunshot]
[people screaming]
[shouting]
- Time to go, Mrs. Blake.
[gasping, coughing]
[eerie music]
♪ ♪
[wheezing, gasping]
[erhu playing]
♪ ♪
- Will he be okay, do you think?
The man who lost?
- I don't know.
He took one hell of a beating.
Excuse my French.
I'm sure it didn't escape you that, um...
this is the same man you got tangled up with
a few weeks ago.
Did you think I wouldn't recognize him?
- I don't know, Sergeant.
Don't they all look the same to you?
- Look, uh,
it's none of my business, but--
- No, it's not.
- You have a real way with people.
Has anyone ever told you that?
- I'm sorry.
Why did you save him?
- I didn't save anyone.
- I saw you.
You fired your gun
just as that other fighter
was gonna snap his neck.
- Look, um...
Chinatown is no place for a lady like you.
Being the mayor's wife means nothing down here.
- It doesn't mean very much anywhere, I'm afraid.
Sergeant, I'd rather my husband didn't know
I was in Chinatown.
- That's fine.
I didn't vote for him anyway.
- I don't give a shit about a fucking tournament!
There is no way we're cutting the Long Zii
into our business!
- I gave my word.
- Yeah, and they broke the treaty.
So why should you have to be the one who keeps his word?
I told you we never should have agreed to this.
- You also told me Ah Sahm would win.
For now, we'll keep our word.
But believe me.
Mai Ling is gonna find
that buying into the molasses business
can be a costly proposition.
- What about Ah Sahm?
He fought for us.
- And he lost.
He's of no use to us anymore.
[dark music]
♪ ♪
- [groans softly]
[panting]
[groaning, panting]
♪ ♪
[gasping]
[grunting]
- [gently shushing]
[men shouting, hammers clanging]
[horses nickering]
- Mr. Buckley.
This is an unexpected visit.
- You've ramped up very quickly.
- It's a big job.
- That it is.
- So to what do I owe the pleasure?
- Economics, Mr. Mercer.
- How come when you say that it sounds like a disease?
- A late bidder has come in.
A dark horse, if you will.
But his pricing is very attractive.
- You can't go rejiggering the numbers after the fact.
I was awarded the contract.
- You were awarded the first purchase order,
of which there will be many.
This is a job of unprecedented scale,
and the stakes for the mayor couldn't be higher.
Putting all the city's business with a single vendor
has always been a somewhat questionable move.
And when a second vendor comes in a good 15% below you--
- 15%? Who the hell is bidding that?
- I'm not at liberty to say.
- It's impossible to do the job at that price
with premium steel.
- Well, the specifications have been checked.
They're using the same steel you are.
- So how are they cutting down on their cost?
They're using Chinese labor.
- $27 per month per worker.
- Jesus Christ, I can't compete with that.
- Oh, of course you can.
It's just...
economics.
[tense music builds]
♪ ♪
[soft music]
♪ ♪
- [rasps]
Xiaojing...
Thank you.
- If you're gonna keep picking fights,
the least you can do is win them once in a while.
- Father.
The kid who beat him up was bigger than him.
- Well, what kind of idiot starts up with a bigger kid?
- Why do you think I started it?
- Because you have a bigger mouth.
And this is the third time this month
that someone's punished you for it.
And now I have no one
to plow my damn fields.
Ever since your grandfather died,
you've been getting into trouble.
Do you think you're honoring his memory?
He would be ashamed.
- He didn't mean it.
- Yes he did.
[sighs]
- [grunting]
[panting]
[grunting]
[groaning]
[water trickling]
[winces]
[breathing heavily]
[grunting, wincing]
[grunting]
[labored breathing]
[breathing heavily, gurgling]
- Do you know where you are?
- Yeah.
- Where?
- Here.
- That's right.
[groans]
[wheezes]
[bone crunches, screaming]
- You're Sifu Li Qiang.
- The jade has healing powers.
It helps the flow of energy through your body.
Get up.
- Will you teach me how to fight?
- You can't fight if you can't breathe.
[ethereal music]
♪ ♪
- [breathing slowly]
[breathing together]
[soft string music]
♪ ♪
- [wheezes]
[groans]
♪ ♪
[grunting softly]
- Ah Sahm, wait!
If I had known that you were gonna leave,
I never would have brought the Sifu here.
- I'll come back to visit you every month.
- Promise?
- I promise.
♪ ♪
- Today we recognize that the leadership
of the Long Zii tong has been transferred,
along with the blood oaths we all swore...
to Mai Ling.
- This is absurd.
She single-handedly started a war with the Hop Wei
and endangered every single person in this tong.
- I moved with the full knowledge of Long Zii.
He knew, as many of you sitting here know,
that this day was inevitable.
- You manipulated him.
- Zhang. - Everyone at this table
knows it.
Long Zii lost his senses
when she climbed into his bed.
And yours.
- It's okay.
I understand you're angry, Zhang.
I mean, answering to a woman must be difficult.
Will a woman be strong enough?
Will she do what it takes?
What I need...
is a demonstration of some kind.
Something to prove that I won't allow anyone
to disrespect me in my own house.
[gunshot]
[thud]
I know for some of you it might be difficult
to accept a woman as your leader.
But I see a great and prosperous future
for the Long Zii.
And I can't do it without you.
So I ask this council.
Do I have your support?
- You not belong here.
- I just want to make sure he's going to be okay.
- You Mayor Blake's wife, yes?
- That's right. Yes.
[door closes]
[soft music]
♪ ♪
I miss you.
♪ ♪
- Buckley.
What's this I hear about you telling Mercer
to lower his pricing?
- We got in a lower bid.
- Why didn't I see it?
- Because it doesn't exist.
- Come again?
- There was no lower bidder.
I simply imputed the savings of using Chinese labor
and created a new bid.
- I think you misunderstand your job, Buckley.
- My job, as I understand it,
is to clean up your messes.
So when I'm not pulling your cock out of Chinese whores
or running interference with the governor's office,
I also keep track of your administrative budget,
which, in case you didn't know,
is in arrears.
Your political capital is on the decline
and if this project comes in one dime over budget,
the appropriations committee will be calling for your head.
- You still should have talked to me first.
- He's your father-in-law.
Do you know how this could look for you?
You cannot be perceived to have granted favors
in any way.
- How did he take it?
- Let me worry about Mercer.
You saved his business.
I'm gonna make sure he saves yours.
- I appreciate your zeal, Buckley.
But in the future, please tell me in advance.
I don't like feeling like an idiot.
- I understand.
I apologize.
- Yes, sir.
- [breathing deeply]
[soft guitar music]
♪ ♪
[groaning]
[panting]
- Hey.
You are not ready to start moving around yet.
- [grunting]
- I got you.
- [groans]
[labored breathing]
You were right.
He's better than me.
- He was fighting for something he believed in.
He had purpose.
You didn't.
There are 25,000 Chinese living in this city.
And more coming every day.
They were promised a better life.
But are treated like dogs.
Someone has to start fighting back.
- How are you fighting back?
- One day I'll show you.
- It's a fight you can't win.
- Of course we can't win.
But we can inspire others.
- For what?
We'll never belong here.
- No one belongs here.
This is a country of foreigners.
Why should we be any different?
One day Chinese people will own land here
and be citizens.
- [scoffs]
- What else do you have to fight for?
Why are you still here?
- I have my reasons.
- Mai Ling.
You know...
the tongs were at peace for a long time
before she married Long Zii.
She was prepared to let you die.
You need to accept
that she's not the sister you came to save anymore.
And who she is is dangerous for Chinatown.
And for you.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- It's a simple question, Chao.
- Look around, Bill. Do you see sword?
I don't sell sword. Not worth it. No volume.
- Four white men gutted,
and you're telling me you never
sold a sword in Chinatown?
- Sword is very old-fashioned.
Chinatown is new world.
- Told you he wouldn't talk to us.
- I sell guns, knife, hatchet.
No one sell sword.
- Give us a minute, will you? Please?
- Your partner talk funny.
He ask too many questions. Stir up a lot of shit.
- You and me, we go back, Chao.
- Hmm.
- We have an understanding.
You help me out, I help you out.
Some crazy Chinaman is running around
slicing up people with a sword.
Maybe it's more than one guy.
I don't have a fucking clue.
So I need you to give me one.
This isn't a problem that goes away, Chao.
Not for me and not for you.
If we don't catch someone soon,
things are gonna get very ugly in Chinatown.
Especially for anyone who deals in black market weapons.
- Do you make threat to Chao, Sergeant?
- [sighs]
I'm just trying to look out for you.
- Okay. I look around.
- I'd appreciate that.
- But you're sure you're looking for Chinaman,
right, Bill?
Sometime white people kill white people, no?
♪ ♪
[footsteps approach]
- You gonna say something?
- I don't know what to say, man.
I didn't see things going this way.
- I'm sorry.
I thought I had him.
- Yeah.
I thought so too.
- What happens now?
- I think you know, man.
I tried to talk to Father Jun.
But he's not hearing it.
This probably goes without saying, but...
if you go to work for another tong,
there'll be a price on your head.
You get me?
- Yeah.
- This is the last time I can talk to you.
I've been thinking about
when we went out to Grass Valley a lot.
You ever think about that?
- [grunts softly]
- We never should have come back.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- Evening, boys.
- Any action?
- Just another day in paradise.
Stay sharp.
We'll see you boys at roll call in the morning.
- So.
Murdered tycoons, maniac swordsmen.
Any idea where to start?
- Well, Chao was our best bet.
And he either can't or he won't help us.
But I can tell you this.
We won't find him just walking our beat.
- No, I reckon we won't.
- Got any Southern wisdom for me here?
- A guilty fox hunts his own hole.
- Terrific.
What the hell does that mean?
- I don't know.
Never really understood that one.
[both chuckling]
- See you tomorrow. - Right.
[both grunting]
[blow lands]
[blows landing, grunting]
[blow lands]
- [grunting]
[blows landing, grunts]
- [grunting]
[grunting]
[baton clatters]
[blow lands, grunts]
[heavy blow lands, thud]
- ♪ Trying get squat I'm a ghost ♪
♪ Pumping don't stop, always aiming for the top ♪
♪ Put 'em in a drop-top but I pop shots ♪
♪ I'm a young guy, balling till the day I die ♪
- ♪ Trying get squat I'm a ghost ♪
♪ Pumping don't stop, always aiming for the top ♪
♪ Put 'em in a drop-top but I pop shots ♪
♪ I'm a young guy balling till the day I die ♪
[rapping in Cantonese]
♪ Always aiming for the top, eh ♪
♪ Put 'em in a drop-top never gon' stop ♪
♪ I'm a young guy, balling till the day I die ♪
[rapping in Cantonese]
[men rapping in Cantonese]
♪ ♪
♪ Trying get squat I'm a ghost ♪
♪ Pumping don't stop always aiming for the top ♪
♪ Put 'em in a drop-top but I pop shots ♪
♪ I'm a young guy, balling till the day I die ♪
♪ Trying get squat I'm a ghost ♪
♪ Pumping don't stop always aiming for the top ♪
♪ Put 'em in a drop-top but I pop shots ♪
♪ I'm a young guy, balling till the day I die ♪
[man rapping in Cantonese]
♪ Always aiming for the top, eh ♪
♪ Put 'em in a drop-top, never gon' stop ♪
♪ I'm a young guy, balling till the day I die ♪
♪ Till the day I die, till the day I die ♪
♪ ♪
[engine revs]
WANG CHAO: This is what it's come to.
AH SAHM: I'm no different than anyone else here.
I think we both know that's not true.
WOMAN: Any idea yet who did this to him?
BIG BILL O'HARA? I am gonna make them pay.
MAN: I won't stop until I have
your pretty little head on this table.
(GRUNTING)
PENELOPE BLAKE: We need protection.
I thought I might cut out the middleman.
MAN 2: The king is dead.
-(GRUNTS) -(GUNSHOT)
Long live the queen.
-(YELLING) -(GRUNTING)
♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYS) ♪