Bloody Mama (1970) Movie Script
- Get her.
- Got her.
(KATE CRYING) I don't wanna!
Please, Papa!
I don't wanna! Papa!
(HENRY GRUNTING) Pipe down.
I don't wanna, Papa! I don't wanna!
Please, Papa!
You're a stubborn little bitch, Kate.
You ain't hospitable.
FATHER: Kate, don't you have
no respect for your pa?
HENRY: Don't mean to hurry you up, Pa,
but why don't you just hurry up and hurry?
FATHER: You just shut up, Henry.
Hold your sister down.
(KATE CONTINUES CRYING)
Blood, Kate.
- Thicker than water.
- KATE: I don't want to!
Gonna have me some boys.
And there wasn't any one of them
who wouldn't kill for me,
and didn't kill for me.
Or me for them.
That's what you call family.
Mama's boys.
Ma Barker loved her sons.
She loved them every one.
And she raised them all
to be a mother's child.
She took them from their pa.
It was down towards Arkansas.
Bloody mama.
And her sons were goin ' wild.
Mama, bloody mama.
Sing me a lullaby.
Mama, bloody mama.
We'll all meet in that sweet by-and-by.
Ma Barker was her name.
She lived up to her fame.
As the one and only pistol-packin ' ma.
She taught her sons to shoot.
Some other things to boot.
Bloody mama and her sons
ha ve fought the law.
Mama, bloody mama.
Sing me a lullaby.
Mama, bloody mama.
We'll all meet in that sweet by-and-by.
Ma Barker taught her boys.
To play with guns, not toys.
But she overlooked
one plain and simple fact.
With the law around the bend.
Dyin ' is the end
'cause when you shoot at people.
They're gonna shoot right back.
Mama, bloody mama.
Sing me a lullaby.
Mama, bloody mama.
We'll all meet in that sweet by-and-by
(ALL SHOUTING)
- Ma!
- Herman, you gonna fry me to death!
Oh, Freddie, stop being a baby!
Hot water never did hurt your vital parts.
Taking a bath every Saturday
is disgusting.
FRED: Turner boys don't have
to take a bath all winter long.
Yeah. They're too nervous.
Yeah. And that's why, my sweet lamb,
that's why the Turner boys stink.
They stink all winter long.
Hey, Ma,
Herman stole a pie
from Mrs. Turner's kitchen.
Oh, big mouth.
(WATER SPLASHING)
Did you do that?
Yeah, Ma, I did.
You must've been powerful hungry, huh?
Only ate half of it.
Threw the rest away.
That's good, baby.
Mrs. Turner's dogs
couldn't keep her pies down.
They'd have to puke them up.
(DOG BARKING)
Ma!
Damn little tattletale bastard!
I told you, and I told you, and I told you!
You're not to curse in my house!
What does that bastard want over here?
GEORGE: We don't need a sheriff,
Mr. Sheriff.
Just wanna talk to you
about your boys, George.
GEORGE: Well, Ma takes care of the boys.
You gotta talk to Ma about the boys.
KATE: Hello, Sheriff. Talk!
Come on! Come on!
Want me to talk to you
with the boys here?
All of them?
Sure, unless you're scared
of my boys, Sheriff.
Herman, give me that soap over there.
And if you're scared of them, Sheriff,
then I think I would
keep my mouth shut if I was you.
Wanna tell your ma
what you did to the Turner girl?
SHERIFF: Herman? Lloyd?
Wanna tell your ma before Mrs. Turner
finds a man with a shotgun
to come up here and blow your heads off?
KATE: Now, come on, Sheriff.
Why don't you stop pestering my boys?
All they done was swipe
one of Mrs. Turner's pies.
(LAUGHING) They got definitely sick on it.
LLOYD: That Suzie Turner's a smart ass.
She's awful pretty.
Suzie Turner does it with everybody.
She don't do it with nobody.
And if she does,
she don't get her arm broke doing it.
Now, come on, Sheriff.
You know my boys ain't touched no gal,
and may God rip out the guts
of anybody who says that they did.
Who tattletaled this lie?
Sheriff, come on, who said this lie?
Who said it?
Suzie Turner said so.
All right, then, you
just spit on her for me.
You understand?
You just spit on her for me. She's a liar.
You get him off our place.
George, get him off our place!
My boys is my boys, you understand?
They're my boys. They're my babies!
Understand?
KATE: She's white trash!
And probably filthy with disease,
like all the other gals in this town!
You understand?
A smart boy, a smart boy
stays with his equals!
You understand that?
The trouble is, my boys,
my boys ain't got no equals
in Joplin, Missouri.
Come on, boys. Come on.
Get moving. We're going.
If the damn deputies left my boys alone,
they'd be good.
They'd be the best.
Herman, where did you get that car?
I didn't know there was a car
that good in this crummy town.
- Whose is it?
- The Sheriff's.
Good boy!
Good boy.
Thank you, George.
Why don't I go along, Kate?
I told you, you can't.
You gotta stay here
and scare off anybody tonight,
shoot 'em up.
Why don't I go along?
You can't. Now, come on, I told you, you...
You gotta tell everybody that me
and the boys is gone forever.
- How will I find you, Kate?
- You're gonna find me.
You're gonna find me someday in a palace.
And if you don't find me in a palace,
George, you ain't gonna find me.
And when you find me
and the boys in that palace,
you come in through the kitchen door.
And you remember, wipe your feet.
Kate, I'm the father.
You're a good man. You made good sons.
You've got all the equipment.
But, you know,
you never could make a decent living.
You never did mount me proper.
I guess your heart wasn't in it.
Did you see his eyes, Ma?
I couldn't stand it.
You gonna divorce him, Ma?
Shut up, Herman.
There ain't no divorces
in the Barker family. Never was.
He's your pa and you love him, remember?
You always love him, boys.
You love your pa.
Sure, Ma.
It was only just that...
George did everything
the way he was supposed to do it.
He was a born loser, and I ain't,
and you boys ain't.
You gotta fight the bastards always, boys.
You gotta remember you gotta fight 'em.
KA TE: The world was sure changing
from when I was a little gal.
Women was showing
their bodies in public,
smoking, doing God knows what else.
I'm sure glad I didn't raise me any girls.
Who knows how they'd ha ve turned out?
You know, some people
even tried to put through
an anti-lynching bill in Congress?
But a lot of folks
went to Washington to help defeat it.
Anyway, my boys and me
were never much for politics.
If we had to steal, we did it our way.
- Morning.
- MAN: Morning.
How much is it?
- 50 cents.
- 50 cents?
What, are you crazy?
50 cents just to cross over
to the other side?
It won't cost you nothing
to stay on this side.
- Stupid!
- KATE: Damn fool.
I need a quarter.
A quarter? How we gonna buy gasoline
if we give old skinny a quarter?
HERMAN: Shut up, Freddie.
How much you got?
Come on!
Dime.
Seven pennies, Herman.
So, three buffaloes and one penny.
How much is that?
How's business, Captain?
$17, Herman.
$18.23.
Good.
Come on.
HERMAN: Come on, old man, open up.
Come on.
(BOYS WHOOPING)
HERMAN: Come on. Come on.
(SCREAMS)
(GRUNTS)
HERMAN: Get him! Let's get him.
(ALL YELLING)
HERMAN: Son of a bitch!
(ALL GRUNTING)
HERMAN: God damn it!
- Get him. Help!
- I can't...
Get on the ferry!
Let's go! Come on!
Hell! Move over, Freddie.
Herman, grab him! Grab him, Herman.
HERMAN: Push him up! Push him up!
(MAN GROANING)
(MAN EXCLAIMING)
Look inside his wallet, Arthur.
- Come on, get it.
- How much you got?
- $2.
- $2?
Get over here and take his arm.
Go ahead.
He thinks you're gonna
put your foot down, Herman.
(MAN GROANING)
Maybe I am gonna
put my foot down, Lloyd.
Ma wouldn't like it.
You don't know
what Ma would like, Freddie.
Ma wouldn't like it.
God damn it, don't tell me
what Ma would like!
(MAN CHOKING)
(GASPS)
Herman had one of his bad moments.
KATE: Didn't you, Herman?
That's what I had, Ma.
Baby?
Herman, tonight you'll sleep with Ma.
You'll sleep with Ma.
She'll keep away all the dreams.
I didn't mean to kill him, Ma.
I know that you didn't, baby.
I know that.
In this world, we can't always
do what we wanna do, Herman.
(SOBBING)
We can't always have
what we wanna have.
But, baby, we got each other.
Now, come on.
Come on, now. We're gonna sing,
we're gonna sing a hymn.
We're gonna sing something sweet,
like the Barker family does. Come on.
Ok, we're gonna sing The Battle Hymn of
The Republic, all right? Sing.
ALL: (SINGING) Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Our troops was marching on.
KATE: Once again!
He has sounded forth the trumpet.
That shall never call retreat.
KA TE: We listened to Billy Sunday
and Aimee Semple McPherson
and put a little something extra
in the plate at church.
I knew if God got his,
he'd see to it that we got ours.
We were all happy
when Lindy made it to Paris.
I liked a man who took things
in his own hands.
My Herman was a lot like that.
(TRAIN HORN BLOWING)
(PANTING)
Do you like me?
- What kind of dumb question is that?
- Do you like me at all?
(SIGHING)
You're a customer, baby.
I fucked you.
But you're a freak.
What do you mean, I'm a freak?
Tell me what you want me to do.
You wanna marry me?
Or you want me to fix him up?
Oh, hell, everyone knows what she can do.
Ask if she can cook as good as Ma.
You should taste my pie crusts, little boy.
They'd melt in your mouth.
Tell you what you can do for me.
Buy me a diamond ring.
Never expected anyone to marry me.
Still, I kind of dream
about a diamond ring.
I cut my finger on your freaking glass.
Anything we take out of
this store is glass,
I'll be back to shove a few splinters
through your head.
Maybe I ought to just
take out one of your eyes for good luck.
No. Please, don't.
Put it in a ring. Maybe sell it.
- Leave him alone, Herman.
- Come on, let's get out of here, Herman.
He got eyes like Pa, Herman.
Leave him alone.
- Come on.
- LLOYD: Come on, come on.
Yeah.
HERMAN: You got eyes like my old man.
Come on.
You lucky son of a bitch.
- Come on, Herman.
- I'm sorry.
Come on. Come on!
Let's get out of here.
(CAR DOOR CLOSING)
(CAR ENGINE STARTING)
KATE: That's the most beautiful
darn thing I ever saw.
That's...
Thank you, sweetheart.
From me to you, Ma.
Thank you, baby.
Gee, Ma.
We hardly got anything
from that damn jewelry store.
Well, don't you fuss.
Don't you fuss no more. Come on.
Don't fuss no more.
Mama's here.
(CRYING)
Another day, another dollar.
(PLAYING LIVELY COUNTRY MUSIC)
(MAN WHOOPING)
(WOMAN LAUGHING)
Hi, there. I'm Charity.
Would you like to take me on a walk?
No, thanks.
I think you'd better.
My brother, Herman, he's...
Thief! This boy's stealing the clothes!
MAN: Thief!
(CHARITY SCREAMS)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
- Get him!
- MAN 2: Get him!
(ALL SHOUTING)
(HERMAN EXCLAIMING)
Give me my dress. Give me my dress.
(EXCLAIMING)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
You stupid idiot.
KATE: 1929 was a bad year
for a lot offolks.
The rich men was jumping
out of the windows,
and, as usual, they fell on the poor.
Well, at least my Herman
and Freddie had a roof over their heads
and three square meals a day.
Let me know if it hurts, now.
KEVIN: Hey, that hurt.
But it hurts good.
(MOANING)
Ma taught us how to walk a back.
Ain't no Barker boy
can't take out any pain you got.
Did your mom walk your back a lot?
Yeah. Ozark massage, she calls it.
Like when you're nervous before a big job,
Ma'll walk your back and sing.
She sings,
What an Army ofBoys We'd Have
if We'd Ever Draft the Girls.
Everybody would feel
so goddamn easy inside,
you could kill 20 cops and not even blink.
What did you say?
You have three brothers, Fred?
Yeah.
Are they all just as good as you are?
Well, Herman, he's the oldest,
Herman's a little rough.
When Herman walks your back,
it's kind of a beating.
I mean, Herman
would just kill a guy, just like that.
Or beat him up.
Yeah, or beat him up.
Like...
'Cause he enjoys it.
What's the matter?
You don't...
- You don't like to beat a guy up, do you?
- No.
Not unless I have to.
Tell me something.
What?
You like to get beat up?
Oh, Jesus!
I got an idea.
What you gonna do?
(WHIMPERING)
What you gonna do?
I'm not gonna hurt you.
(WHIMPERING)
(PANTING)
I really like you.
(SINGING) It's a-me, it's a-me
it's a-me, O Lord.
Standing in the need ofprayer.
Not my brother, not my mother.
It's a-me, O Lord.
Standing in the need ofprayer.
It's a-me, it's a-me
it's a-me, O Lord.
Standing in the need ofprayer.
HERMAN: And God bless Freddie.
And God bless Lloyd.
And God bless Arthur.
And God bless Ma.
God damn it!
And God bless Pa.
Wherever my blessed Papa is,
God damn it!
You bless him.
Hey, that guy's a creep!
Oh, shut up.
What the hell's the matter with you?
That guy's a creep!
(HERMAN SCREAMING)
(lNMATE GROANS)
(SCREAMING)
They did this to my Herman.
They did this to my little Freddie.
Oh, hell, Ma, they just got caught.
Don't curse in my house.
John Wilkes Booth just got caught.
Jesus H. Christ just got caught.
You with all your book learning.
I'm not Mary, mother of God,
so I'm gonna see that they get sprung.
How you gonna do that, Ma?
I'm gonna raise me a heap of money
and I'm gonna hire the smartest
and the slickest lawyer.
You know the trouble
with Jesus H. Christ, Lloyd?
The trouble with our Lord was that
he didn't have no smart, slick lawyer.
Ma,
you are dark.
And what's that supposed to mean?
Oh, well, I just mean you're very deep.
Deep like a well.
You know, Mama, sometimes I look at you
and I see a ring
of bright glory all around you,
thick, inky black.
And deep, dark.
Thank you, Arthur.
My eyes have seen the glory.
KATE: Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!
Lloyd, when you're all working
on those model airplanes,
you get to acting awful silly.
No, Ma. It's just that mine eyes
have seen the glory. Hallelujah.
Hey, Ma, how you gonna
raise yourself a heap of money?
We are going to do a big job.
And this time,
I am gonna go on it with you.
- Hallelujah.
- KATE: Lloyd!
Here you are, Ma.
All right, now, everybody,
reach for the nightgown of the Lord.
Reach.
Anybody moves, you're dead.
All right, now,
we're all gonna play a game.
I'm sure you all know it.
It's called Simon Says.
And this here is Simon.
ARTHUR: Open the safe.
KATE: Simon says,
"Everybody down on the floor."
(CAR HORN HONKING)
MAN: Hey!
(GLASS SHATTERING)
(CAR HORN HONKING)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
Look, buddy...
(TIRES SCREECHING)
KATE: Come on, hurry up, baby.
All right.
Simon says that you,
you, you, and you stand up.
Now, come on, Simon says,
"Get up as fast as you can."
Come on, come on.
Reach!
All right, now, you.
You two fat ladies, you come here.
You come here and this nice
little boy's gonna hug you.
All right, now, you two fat ladies,
come forward, Simon says.
Come on. Turn around, back up.
You back up with me now.
Everyone on the floor,
Simon says you count to 100 slowly,
or Simon might get awful mad.
Now, come on, ladies, back up.
Come on, fast. Let's go, fast.
Go, come on. Baby, let's go.
(ALARM RINGING)
ALL: Six, seven, eight,
nine, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14...
(GUNS FIRING)
It looks like those policemen
don't think that we mean business.
Well, we just gotta show them we do.
Sweethearts, it looks like
they just don't care a damn about you.
Well, I'm gonna have to
show them they better!
Let go, you bitch, let go!
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
KATE: Let go, you silly bitch!
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
They're gone! We did it!
We did it, boys, we did it!
KATE: Yeah!
(ALL WHOOPING)
- LLOYD: There you go!
- We're gonna get those boys out!
We did it! We did it!
(ALL CHEERING)
Now, ladies, there's nothing here for you
to be bashful about.
My boys is farm boys.
They're used to seeing
pigs puckering around in the mud.
Come on, you give me that there!
All right. Now, boys, you see anything
here at all that shames you?
But Ma, you sure didn't
pick any pretty ones, that's for sure.
Now, Lloyd, I wouldn't
mind a piece of that plump little pink 'un.
KATE: Now, you just stop that.
You just stop that there talking dirty.
And come on, come on, get in the car.
Come on!
I ain't exactly gonna
curl up and die if I don't get her.
Come on, get, get, get.
Ladies, I want you
to understand something.
We is not sex preverts, you understand?
I undressed you 'cause I don't want you
running around
too fast looking for help.
Come on, kids, let's go!
We've got to lose them! Let's go!
KA TE: It was God's will.
Ifhe didn't want us
to have that there money,
he wouldn't have left
it for us in that bank.
And I got my boys
out ofjail and back together again.
Freddie brought his new friend
Kevin Dirkman along,
but Herman brought
that there Mona Gibson.
It's just plain nasty,
taking that gal with us.
Nasty and sort of sick,
and it's just plain ungodly.
FRED: Mona's all right, Ma.
No, she ain't. She ain't country folk.
She ain't Ozark.
Neither is Kevin, Ma.
That's right, Ma. Neither am l.
As a matter of fact,
you know, the only thing I am
is about the 1907 Mumbly Peg
champion of Cairo, lllinois.
Well, you're different.
You're a friend of Freddie.
Freddie likes you, and I'm aiming
to pleasure myself with you.
Ma don't wear no painting pencils.
You wanna lay her
in the backseat of the car?
Be my guest, baby.
You getting ready for me, ain't you, Mona?
You want it again?
Now, what would your Ma say, tiger?
She'd say it's a long way to Memphis.
She'd say a hell of a lot more than that!
Do I get it or not?
MONA: Ask big brother Herman.
Herman, look, do I get her or don't I?
Now you do.
But when I marry Mona,
and I'm gonna marry her,
nobody touches her.
Do you understand?
Help her over.
My pleasure.
Mona, don't you feel like a silly ass?
MONA: You mean, like,
who do I gotta screw
to get out of this happy, happy time?
Like Ma says, another day, another dollar.
Mona, do you really love Herman?
That's funny.
Who do you think I'm doing this for, then?
For what, Mona?
Well, it gives me
a sense of belonging, wise guy.
Even Ma's hating.
Even with Ma hating me, see,
see, that's more than I ever had before.
I love you, Arthur.
I love you, I love you. I love you!
Sweet damn!
HERMAN: Now, the idea of the game
is we play 5 bucks a stick.
Throw the knife,
keep moving your foot out,
the first man to fall is the loser.
I move it to where you stick it?
You know, sort of like that.
Move it to there.
- All right.
- Good.
- Ten bucks a stick.
- What, are you out of your skull?
Come on, 10 bucks a stick.
You know, Alice Joyce
has one blue eye and one brown eye.
Yeah, so what?
So, Rene Adore is cross-eyed.
HERMAN: Yeah, so what?
And Pearl White has really big feet.
I mean, you can see it.
What, are you crazy?
Oh, she's very beautiful.
See, like, you gotta have something ugly
about you to be really beautiful.
I mean, like, to attract the fans,
don't you know?
Herman, what do I got that's ugly?
Mona, you are a true beauty.
You do not need anything ugly at all.
I mean, some little flaw
to make you really beautiful.
So, bitch.
When's Ma coming back?
I'm fixing up the biggest
goddamn deal in the business.
Come on, doper, move out of the way.
Clara Bow. She's not even pretty at all.
Some of the things she says
are really dirty.
Thank you, my friends.
You know what's ugly about you, Mona?
Is your fat ass, your bow legs,
and your goddamn fat lip!
(EXCLAIMING)
Hi, there, honey doll.
(GIGGLING)
- You nuts or something?
- Why?
You got your shoes on.
(GIGGLING)
- And where'd you come from?
- I swam.
Clear across the lake.
I'm gonna swim back.
Oh, I bet you could swim
the English Channel.
I bet I could.
My name is Rembrandt.
Rembrandt? Oh, boy.
That's my first name.
- Oh.
- I'm very artistic.
Jesus, lover of my soul.
Hey, why have you got
your feet in the water?
I mean, with your shoes on.
I guess I'm just artistic.
(GIGGLING)
Go on.
Is...
Is this your first summer at Bearskin Lake?
Huh?
Hey, why don't you give me
a little kiss, huh?
- No.
- Oh...
No! I think you're out of your mind.
- Come on.
- No, no, I wouldn't.
(GIGGLING)
Stop!
You must be drunk.
Oh, no. No, ma'am, no. No, I'm high.
I'm high. Yeah.
I take lots of dope.
- Oh, come on.
- Nope.
And I'd love to love you up...
If I can make it.
I think you're crazy.
No, I like it.
I really like it, even if I can't make it.
Sometimes I can make it,
sometimes I can't, honey-honey.
You know.
I mean, shove a lot of stuff in your arm,
well, it makes you just
want someone you can just
be loving around, that's all.
You know, you don't need
to hit the jackpot every time.
Why don't you just... You just let me...
You just let me go now, okay?
You let go, please.
Would you please just let me go, huh?
Oh, no, no. No.
Don't you see? Everything frightens me.
I see a doll cross the street,
I cross the street.
I'm gonna have to go now.
You don't understand?
I'm not people, see?
None of us Barkers is people.
Oh, I shouldn't have told you
we was Barkers.
You know what Barkers are? Huh?
- Huh?
- I wanna go swimming now.
- Let's go swimming.
- What are Barkers?
- Dogs?
- Dogs?
- Yes.
- Dogs.
That's right, "dog."
Yeah, dogs do it. Yeah.
A dog eats dog.
(WHIMPERING)
No, please, don't do this.
(CRYING) No. No!
No!
It's all right.
No, no, don't cry, little girl. It's...
- No!
- L...
Please let me go!
KATE: Oh, Jesus.
Lloyd, you don't remember, son?
Now, I told you and I told you.
I told you that up here,
we're not the Barkers.
We are the decent, respectable,
law-abiding hunters of Bearskin Lake.
You don't remember?
I know I forgot, Ma,
but...
She was just so cute,
I had to take a shot at her.
All right.
You just keep this pretty little gal here,
and you don't dare untie those knots,
maybe sometime
we'll all have a shot at her.
Herman!
Herman!
Herman, I got 300,000 bucks
all set up for us just to take.
Just to take it.
Then your dumbbell of a brother,
he brings that silly
goon of a girl up here.
She ain't no goon, Ma.
Lloyd's the goon.
We gotta kill her, baby.
We gotta.
Herman, we gotta...
We gotta drown her and dump the body
in that bottomless lake.
We ought to dump Lloyd's body
in that bottomless lake, Ma.
That's immoral.
That's beneath my contempt.
Lloyd is your brother.
So?
We'll have Mona kill him for us.
That way
we'll keep it all outside the family.
Scrub my back, Ma.
Ma,
you reckon Dillinger's
more famous than we are,
or we're more famous than Dillinger?
Come on, honey.
Baby, you're not concentrating.
We're in trouble.
Don't you understand that?
We're in real trouble.
You know something, Mama?
There's a new song out.
Mona heard it on the radio.
It's called Murderin'Ma from Arkansas.
That ain't funny, Herman.
Sing it, Mona. Sing it for Mama.
Go ahead, Mona.
You sing it. Sing it.
And then I'll have to do to you
what I gotta do to that other little whore.
Oh, Mama!
(GRUNTING) Mona!
KATE: Come on, Herman.
Mama needs chores done.
In a minute.
(SCREAMING)
LLOYD: Her name is Rembrandt.
(REMBRANDT SCREAMING)
Her name is Rembrandt.
(GROANING)
(REMBRANDT SCREAMING)
Herman! Herman!
Can't you do it yourself?
There's nothing you won't do,
is there, Ma?
It's supposed to be a free country, Mona,
but unless you're rich,
you ain't free, and you know that.
So I aim to be freer
than the rest of the people.
I don't wanna sleep alone tonight.
Ma, I can't.
Freddie, I don't wanna
cuddle with you tonight, baby.
Kevin, I want you.
Well, we're all feeling
kind of weird tonight, Ma.
What the hell kind of a name
for a gal is Rembrandt?
That's a mighty peculiar name.
Kevin, I've been
promising myself you for a long time,
and I want you tonight.
Well, honey, I'm ready.
(GROANING)
Lloyd.
What we had to do
to that little gal last night, baby,
we had to do it.
We weren't bothering her none.
She swam clear across that lake
to come over here and mess us up, honey.
Now, we gotta get out of here quick.
Now, come on.
Come on, I wanna hear a sweet song
like only the Barker boys can sing.
I wanna hear some sweet singing.
Let's have a song. I got a song
from that there war where they killed
all those innocent boys, remember?
(PLAYING)
(SINGING) Ten million soldiers
to the war have gone.
Who may never return again.
Ten million mothers ' hearts must break.
For the ones who died in vain.
Let each mother answer in the years to be.
Remember that my boys belong to me!
KATE: Now, come on. Freddie, everybody.
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier.
KATE: Arthur.
I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
Who dares to place a musket
on his shoulder.
To shoot some other
mother's darling boy?
Herman!
Let nations arbitrate their future trouble.
It's time to lay the sword and gun away.
ALL: There'd be no war today.
Ifmothers all would say
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier.
KA TE: The cops were so busy
shooting down the strikers
during the Depression,
I guess they just didn't ha ve much time
to pay attention to us.
Everybody was trying
to make a buck any way they could.
I told my boys, "You just rob banks"
"and stay out of trouble."
And then I got this here idea
concerning a Memphis cotton broker
named Samuel Adams Pendlebury,
a nice, respectable family man
with three kids and three million bucks.
Jesus, Dirkman!
You almost killed the poor guy.
You never said anything
about being gentle.
Ma wanted him whole.
Ma wanted him well.
Since when did the sight of blood
make you so panicky, boy, huh?
- Did you see his eyes?
- What's the matter with his eyes?
Yeah, I saw his eyes.
What the hell y'all talking about?
You dumbbells, you dang near killed him.
You dumbbells, you dang near killed him.
If you wanna keep this man alive,
you better get a doctor.
That's right.
For once, Mona is right.
You nitwits! We gotta keep him alive!
We gotta keep him alive!
'Cause we gotta prove that we got him.
All right, Mona,
you're gonna take care of him.
No, but first,
nobody ever takes those goggles off.
Understand me?
This here hunk of meat
is worth $300,000 on the hoof,
and this time we're gonna get it.
We've been planning this
a long, long time, and we're gonna get it.
No, now, Mrs. Pendlebury,
you will be hearing from us
about where and when we want
the ransom delivered. You understand?
Mrs. Pendlebury,
we need to know the name of his doctor.
No, no, no, ma'am! He's
perfectly fit, he...
He has to have a doctor, that's all.
Hell, we even like him, Mrs... Yeah.
Ok, go ahead, shoot. I mean...
Okay.
And he's just fine now, ma'am.
Now, you listen to me
real close, Mrs. Pendlebury. Listen.
I don't want you going doing
nothing dumb like calling the cops
or talking to nobody.
You understand? You hear me?
Mr. Pendlebury is just fine.
But if you go do something like that,
he won't be just fine.
We'll kill him.
DR. ROTH: Sam's a good man.
He's a good father.
He took his boy
on a camping trip up Kentucky.
Boy fell out of a tree.
Way the hell out in the wilderness.
Broke his arm.
Sam's no doctor.
He set that boy's arm.
That boy's got the best father
in Tennessee.
I'm finished. He's gonna be all right.
God bless him and take care of him.
And you take care of him, too.
SAM: Listen, are you bastards
gonna let me get up
and take a leak? Huh?
Well, are you?
Just let us figure it out
and we will do something.
- Can you hold it just a second now?
- Yes, yes, yes.
HERMAN: Only so much
you can expect of a man.
I know it. I know it.
I know it.
HERMAN: Come on.
- Nice and slow.
- Take it easy, take it easy.
Nice and slow.
Don't you try nothing, now, you hear?
Straight ahead.
Do you think they'll raise the $300,000?
We don't know.
So far they screwed up everything.
Made contacts with your jerk lawyer.
He screwed up everything.
He called the cops.
How do you know he called the cops?
- We know, buddy. We know.
- My name is not Buddy!
- What are you, a wise guy?
- My name isn't Buddy.
Jesus!
I could put a bullet through your brain...
That still wouldn't make my name Buddy,
sonny boy.
You're right out of your mind, ain't you?
I don't make my living the way you do,
if that's what you mean,
but either way,
my name is Samuel Adams Pendlebury.
But since you've seen fit to place me
in fairly intimate circumstances,
you have my permission to call me Sam.
But not buddy.
You're a real hot number
from the loony bin, ain't you?
Maybe.
Now, why'd you call me sonny boy?
Because you sound like a kid.
I ain't no kid.
All right. I'm sorry. How old are you?
None of your damn business.
- Ain't you scared, Mister?
- Not "Mister," sonny boy. Sam.
Jesus lover!
Okay.
Okay, okay.
Ain't you scared, Sam?
I have a wife, two sons and a daughter,
all of whom I love very much,
so I'm not entirely without fear, no.
What's more to the point, they need me.
Yeah, they'd better need you,
$300,000 worth.
Why, hell, even if they got up the money,
sons of bitches like you
might just kill me anyway.
We brought your own damn doctor.
You just did that to prove
you really had me.
You really ain't grateful for anything,
are you?
(COUGHING)
All right! All right! I'm grateful.
Thank you.
- What color are your eyes?
- What?
What color are your eyes?
What difference does that make?
My old man had blue eyes.
Really blue.
Why don't you take these goggles off
and see what color my eyes are,
sonny boy?
I can't.
Yeah, it's a hell of a thing
to be without power, isn't it?
Memphis is crawling
with those lousy G-men.
KATE: Somebody must have
called the damn President.
- Still gonna send the ransom note?
- KATE: No.
Arthur here is gonna phone
that dumb Mrs. Samuel Pendlebury.
But I want you
to all understand something.
We may still have to kill him.
- I don't wanna hear it.
- You sit there, you little bitch!
Ma, Jesus.
Mama, it is time to feed him.
All right. When I'm here, I feed him,
you understand?
- You understand?
- I understand.
Mona, just 'cause I told you
to take care of him
doesn't mean that he belongs to you.
All right, Mama.
If I left him alone
with you very long, you'd probably...
Probably what?
I know whores, Kevin.
She'd probably turn him
every way but loose.
Well, that ain't gonna hurt nobody.
And she might even do that.
And from now on, you shut up
and go play your Mumbly Peg.
KATE: Now, I told your lawyer
not to call the cops.
He done called the cops.
And I told your wife not to call anyone.
She calls in the whole damn FBI.
- What kind of wife you got, Sam?
- She's a good wife. She's a good mother.
Sure easy, with all your damn millions.
I don't have damn millions.
I got maybe two, three million,
and it's not in cash, lady.
Sam, if she's such a good woman,
why is she calling in the whole country?
Sam?
Don't she realize
she's painting us into a corner?
I'm sorry.
Well, she better be sorry.
Here.
- What... What am I eating tonight?
- Come on, it's your supper.
I bet with all your money,
she can't even cook a decent meal.
Yeah, she can cook better than you can.
Listen, when I had the vittles,
I was the best cook in our county.
I just don't have time now,
buster, to bake you a pie.
- I'm sorry.
- "I'm sorry."
My... My man said that
for so many years...
You just damn well
don't say that no more, understand?
I don't like for ladies to swear.
It's not right.
Some things better left to men.
Now, you should try to control yourself.
If his partner gets the cash,
there'll be three NRA
posters in the window.
That's a really swell signal.
Who thought of that really swell signal?
- Ma did.
- Peachy keen.
If we get the money, you gonna marry me?
Sure I'm gonna marry you, Mona.
- We gonna live with your mama?
- Ma's the boss.
Peachy keen.
HERMAN: Now, what the hell
is that supposed to mean?
One-and-a-half posters
means they only got half the money.
I'm pregnant.
(CRASHING)
Jesus Christ!
MONA: That car over there.
Hey!
You love me, Mona?
Here, take care of that.
(GUN FIRING)
That's a hell of a way to tell a guy, baby.
- Didn't know you'd carry on so.
- Oh, shut up.
Sam?
They've gotta come up
with that other 150,000 bucks.
Don't they know?
I told them.
It takes time to get
that much cash together.
Yeah.
Sam, I didn't mean to keep you here
this long.
I know that it's rotten for you.
I just have to roll with the punches,
don't I?
- Would you like a drink?
- Yeah.
- Here.
- Where?
- Thank you.
- Welcome.
Sam, I gotta roll with the punches, too.
My goddamn teeth are hurting me,
and I got a damn stupid gal
running around the place pregnant.
- Shouldn't have said that, should I?
- No. You shouldn't swear, either.
It's funny,
I don't mean to do that around you.
I guess I can't seem
to help myself no more.
Your apology's accepted.
Sam, would you make love with me?
Three weeks is a long time,
but I'm a married man.
Come on.
We being outside the law,
as you would say,
and us being gangsters,
we got certain advantages.
We don't have to pay no mind
to those respectable, nice people rules.
How could I make love to you,
tied up like this?
Supposing you just had
on those goggles, and...
And you could imagine I was anybody,
even your lily-sweet wife,
and you could do
whatever you wanted to?
Supposing, though,
I was to hold you down,
rip these goggles off,
and gag you and tie you,
make my escape?
And supposing I had my boys
sitting over there with a machine gun,
you just so much as
reach for those goggles
and they'd blow your brains out?
That'd be one sorry way to make love,
wouldn't you say that?
Don't you get so damn uppity with me,
Samuel Pendlebury.
I know what all
you proper bastards really think.
You wish you could be more like us.
But you're scared of your neighbors,
and you ain't got the guts.
So you buy all those newspapers
and you just spend your time
reading about us,
and you turn on your radios
and you listen about us.
Sam, you just got it all bass-ackwards.
I'm important people in this country now.
I bet I'd have more fan mail than
Eleanor Roosevelt if they could find us,
and I'm prettier than she is.
God bless her all the same.
You're a proper, growed-up man, Sam.
You's getting to us.
But we is getting to you, too.
We don't want Mrs. Pendlebury
seeing you look like a real mess,
do we, Mr. Pendlebury?
We bought you a brand-new white shirt
with French cuffs.
$300,000.
She thinks an awful lot of you, boy.
LLOYD: I mean, God, what a price.
Half the time from the beginning,
I didn't think we was gonna get it.
And, Mr. Pendlebury,
I bought you a pair of real black specs,
and if you want my advice,
you'd wear them.
At least for a couple of weeks.
FRED: We're gonna leave you
some sandwiches,
then you hike to the nearest farmhouse
and phone.
Boy, your kids are gonna
be real, real glad to see you.
And remember, now, Mr. Pendlebury,
if there's ever anything we can do for you,
you just get in touch. Anything.
How would I get in touch with you boys?
Well, hell.
No way.
Isn't this a dumb damn world?
I wanna see his eyes.
Are you crazy, Herman? He'd recognize us.
I don't think he'll be able
to see us in the light.
- Now the rest of you get over there.
- No.
Gonna look at his eyes.
LLOYD: You knew it.
I think I'm going right out of my mind.
He's got Pa's eyes.
I can't see you. You take my word for that.
But before I leave here,
I want to say just one thing to you fellas.
You are a strange pack of young men,
and if I were your father,
I'd take each one of you boys
across my knee
and I'd wail the living
daylights out of you.
We can take the goggles off.
For Pete's sake, Ma, he can't see.
- How do you know he can't see?
- He can't. He can't.
He can't see, Ma.
All right, Arthur.
You, with your smart aleck lip,
you get to kill him.
You made so damn sure
we can't turn him loose now.
We can turn him loose, Ma.
- No, we can't!
- We got the money, Ma!
- We got it all set up.
- What's money?
We need him walking around alive,
broadcasting about us?
He don't know, Ma, he don't know.
When they start asking him questions,
when they start showing him
your pictures,
he'll make one hell of a good guess.
KATE: Pull over, Herman. Right here.
All right, Herman. Turn off the ignition.
All right, Arthur, you.
Go on.
Arthur, you don't pray over him,
you understand? You just kill him.
Where you going, Lloyd?
Lloyd, where you going?
Lloyd!
Damn it, Ma!
I'm going down to see what they're doing.
I'm gonna see what they're doing, Ma!
Herman, they're buggy.
Herman, now, you listen to your mama.
Baby, you was my firstborn
when I still was a little gal
and I had to tie off your belly button
with my own two hands.
There isn't nothing
I wouldn't do for you, baby.
There isn't nothing
I wouldn't protect you from.
There's nobody I wouldn't kill for you.
Your brothers are standing out there
with their hands in their pockets,
waiting on the electric chair.
Now you get, baby.
You understand your mama? You get.
I love you, Mama.
(GUN FIRING)
(SINGING) Poor butterfly
'neath the blossoms waiting.
Poor butterfly.
For she loved him so.
The moments pass into hours.
The hours pass into years.
He's not dead, Mama.
We didn't kill him.
- What'd you say, Herman?
- He's not dead. We didn't kill him.
Who's not dead, baby?
Sam. Sam Pendlebury.
We didn't want to kill him, Ma.
Now, Ma, like you say,
this ain't gonna be a safe place.
His whole territory.
Sure ain't gonna be, Ma.
We gotta move, quick.
No, no.
- You're joshing your mama.
- No, Mama.
You're joking.
You're joking with your mama!
(SCREAMS)
You're an old lady, Mama.
You just can't go beating up
on full-grown men
like they was little babies.
HERMAN: Just ain't ladylike.
Now, you listen to me!
I'm taking over now!
We're gonna move south.
Going down to Florida.
You understand?
Do you understand, Mama?
Herman. Not you, Herman. Not you.
(WHIMPERING)
Not you.
- Morning, sir.
- Morning.
- Morning, ma'am.
- Morning.
Mr. Hanson sent word for me
to make you folks comfortable as can be.
Boy, that wide spot down the road,
is that the closest town?
Yes, ma'am. Sure is.
That's Owensby's Park.
Nice little old town.
- Real nice little town?
- Yes, sir.
- Nice little town.
- MOSES: Yes, sir.
(MIMICKING MOSES) Yes, sir.
- Moses?
- Yes, sir?
What y'all do around here for kicks?
Well, sir, there's an engine boat
Mr. Hanson likes to play with
when he comes down here on a visit.
He takes it out there
and tries to catch Old Joe.
Thank you, sir.
My furs are dragging, son.
That's an... A nice little house...
- Who is Old Joe?
- Ma'am, Old Joe's a gator.
Biggest gator you ever seen.
- Biggest gator you ever seen?
- Yes, sir.
Hear that, Arthur?
Let's do us a little gator hunting.
Biggest gator you ever seen.
(MUMBLING)
Lloyd?
Son? What's ailing you?
Lloyd?
Ma, he's been sticking himself
with that needle.
(STAMMERING) God damn you, Lloyd!
What are you... Why do you do that?
Leave me alone, old lady.
Leave me alone, old lady, old lady.
Leave me alone, old lady.
More and more and more, Ma!
- Lloyd...
- Ever since that little girl.
Why don't you take care of your brother?
Why don't you, Lloyd?
Lloyd, listen to your mama. Listen.
That... That little girl...
That little girl was no good for you.
Your mama's good for you, Lloyd.
When you're sick,
your mama's good for you. Lloyd!
Lloyd...
Lloyd?
Hey, Dirk. What do you reckon gators eat?
Well, I don't know.
Lot of people say they like chicken.
Oh, boy!
- Look at this right here.
- Oink, oink.
I'm thinking...
Too bad, little boy.
I'm gonna get your little brown brother.
Come here! Come here!
HERMAN: Take that son of a bitch, Dirk!
Oh, boy, I got you, brownie.
(EXCLAIMING)
No, you old baby.
I'm gonna feed you to a gator.
(PIGLET SQUEALING)
Let's go.
MONA: This place is like
the end of the world.
FRED: You mean
you don't like it here, Mona?
- It's okay, if you're a Barker.
- Well, you're a Barker now.
Lloyd?
What are you doing down there? Lloyd?
ARTHUR: Lloyd?
(LAUGHING)
He looks just like Moses in the bulrushes.
You just playing gator, Lloyd, huh?
He's dead.
ARTHUR: Get Ma.
(SQUEALS)
(SQUEALING)
KATE: No. No!
No! No! Not one of mine!
Not one of my boys! No!
(WAILING) No! No, no! No! No! No!
God! This is Lloyd!
Bright, beautiful one, Lloyd!
(STAMMERING) I know he's got...
Everybody's got faults, God!
God, let me add to your blood, bastard!
- Let me add to your...
- No!
Mama!
Lloyd! No, God!
- No, he won't hurt my baby...
- Come on, Mama. Come on.
- Come on, Mama. Come on.
- He wouldn't do that! He wouldn't!
- Come on, Mama.
- He wouldn't! No, Fred!
He wouldn't take my baby! He wouldn't...
Here!
KATE: Herman, boy! Son Herman!
Herman!
- Herman!
- What?
Your brother's dead, Herman!
You're playing with gators.
Your brother's dead!
They're burying your brother!
How did it happen?
Herman, it was the dope stuff,
he put it in his arm!
- Your brother's dead!
- Just bury him deep.
Lot of animals around here.
That's right, Sheriff. They killed my pig.
And they killed Old Joe.
And they did it with a chatter gun, too.
The kind they had in the war.
License plates?
It just could have been Tennessee plates.
Do you want anything before I go?
- Where you going?
- Miami.
Yeah?
Drop me a line
when you get settled down there.
- I'll be down that way pretty soon.
- Okay.
Okay.
AGENT MCCELLAN: Kate Barker!
We have the house surrounded!
Kate Barker!
Arthur!
Wake up the other ones! They're here!
(GRUNTS)
Hold it! Hold it!
- KEVIN: Hold your fire!
- Hold your fire!
Hold your fire!
I'm not a Barker!
You bet your sweet ass you ain't.
(WAILING) Ma!
(SCREAMING)
Back, baby, back!
(SCREAMING)
No!
(GRUNTING)
(INAUDIBLE)
(CROWD EXCLAIMING)
WOMAN: Oh, my God!
(GROANING)
Look at that.
My son's dead.
(KATE SCREAMING)
Arthur, it's Mama. Mama loves you.
I love you! I love you!
(GUNFIRE CONTINUES)
They're dead!
(KATE CRYING) They're dead. Herman.
Herman!
They're dead. All your...
All your brothers is dead.
Dead!
Kevin's dead.
He's dead. Dead. Dead.
Kevin's dead.
Honey, I've been thinking
and wondering, you know, what...
What you said, you know, about Lloyd.
Lloyd's been buried too... Too shallow.
My baby. You know?
The... The way it is, any animal...
Any animal can get at him.
(STAMMERING) All the damn animals,
they can get at him.
Herman, my...
(SCREAMING)
No!
Please, no, no!
Stand back!
The best one.
The best! The best one! You bastards!
He'll never get his chance! You bastards!
(GUNS FIRING)
You bastards! You always had everything!
We never had nothing!
Lord.
They're gone! My children!
(SCREAMING)
- Got her.
(KATE CRYING) I don't wanna!
Please, Papa!
I don't wanna! Papa!
(HENRY GRUNTING) Pipe down.
I don't wanna, Papa! I don't wanna!
Please, Papa!
You're a stubborn little bitch, Kate.
You ain't hospitable.
FATHER: Kate, don't you have
no respect for your pa?
HENRY: Don't mean to hurry you up, Pa,
but why don't you just hurry up and hurry?
FATHER: You just shut up, Henry.
Hold your sister down.
(KATE CONTINUES CRYING)
Blood, Kate.
- Thicker than water.
- KATE: I don't want to!
Gonna have me some boys.
And there wasn't any one of them
who wouldn't kill for me,
and didn't kill for me.
Or me for them.
That's what you call family.
Mama's boys.
Ma Barker loved her sons.
She loved them every one.
And she raised them all
to be a mother's child.
She took them from their pa.
It was down towards Arkansas.
Bloody mama.
And her sons were goin ' wild.
Mama, bloody mama.
Sing me a lullaby.
Mama, bloody mama.
We'll all meet in that sweet by-and-by.
Ma Barker was her name.
She lived up to her fame.
As the one and only pistol-packin ' ma.
She taught her sons to shoot.
Some other things to boot.
Bloody mama and her sons
ha ve fought the law.
Mama, bloody mama.
Sing me a lullaby.
Mama, bloody mama.
We'll all meet in that sweet by-and-by.
Ma Barker taught her boys.
To play with guns, not toys.
But she overlooked
one plain and simple fact.
With the law around the bend.
Dyin ' is the end
'cause when you shoot at people.
They're gonna shoot right back.
Mama, bloody mama.
Sing me a lullaby.
Mama, bloody mama.
We'll all meet in that sweet by-and-by
(ALL SHOUTING)
- Ma!
- Herman, you gonna fry me to death!
Oh, Freddie, stop being a baby!
Hot water never did hurt your vital parts.
Taking a bath every Saturday
is disgusting.
FRED: Turner boys don't have
to take a bath all winter long.
Yeah. They're too nervous.
Yeah. And that's why, my sweet lamb,
that's why the Turner boys stink.
They stink all winter long.
Hey, Ma,
Herman stole a pie
from Mrs. Turner's kitchen.
Oh, big mouth.
(WATER SPLASHING)
Did you do that?
Yeah, Ma, I did.
You must've been powerful hungry, huh?
Only ate half of it.
Threw the rest away.
That's good, baby.
Mrs. Turner's dogs
couldn't keep her pies down.
They'd have to puke them up.
(DOG BARKING)
Ma!
Damn little tattletale bastard!
I told you, and I told you, and I told you!
You're not to curse in my house!
What does that bastard want over here?
GEORGE: We don't need a sheriff,
Mr. Sheriff.
Just wanna talk to you
about your boys, George.
GEORGE: Well, Ma takes care of the boys.
You gotta talk to Ma about the boys.
KATE: Hello, Sheriff. Talk!
Come on! Come on!
Want me to talk to you
with the boys here?
All of them?
Sure, unless you're scared
of my boys, Sheriff.
Herman, give me that soap over there.
And if you're scared of them, Sheriff,
then I think I would
keep my mouth shut if I was you.
Wanna tell your ma
what you did to the Turner girl?
SHERIFF: Herman? Lloyd?
Wanna tell your ma before Mrs. Turner
finds a man with a shotgun
to come up here and blow your heads off?
KATE: Now, come on, Sheriff.
Why don't you stop pestering my boys?
All they done was swipe
one of Mrs. Turner's pies.
(LAUGHING) They got definitely sick on it.
LLOYD: That Suzie Turner's a smart ass.
She's awful pretty.
Suzie Turner does it with everybody.
She don't do it with nobody.
And if she does,
she don't get her arm broke doing it.
Now, come on, Sheriff.
You know my boys ain't touched no gal,
and may God rip out the guts
of anybody who says that they did.
Who tattletaled this lie?
Sheriff, come on, who said this lie?
Who said it?
Suzie Turner said so.
All right, then, you
just spit on her for me.
You understand?
You just spit on her for me. She's a liar.
You get him off our place.
George, get him off our place!
My boys is my boys, you understand?
They're my boys. They're my babies!
Understand?
KATE: She's white trash!
And probably filthy with disease,
like all the other gals in this town!
You understand?
A smart boy, a smart boy
stays with his equals!
You understand that?
The trouble is, my boys,
my boys ain't got no equals
in Joplin, Missouri.
Come on, boys. Come on.
Get moving. We're going.
If the damn deputies left my boys alone,
they'd be good.
They'd be the best.
Herman, where did you get that car?
I didn't know there was a car
that good in this crummy town.
- Whose is it?
- The Sheriff's.
Good boy!
Good boy.
Thank you, George.
Why don't I go along, Kate?
I told you, you can't.
You gotta stay here
and scare off anybody tonight,
shoot 'em up.
Why don't I go along?
You can't. Now, come on, I told you, you...
You gotta tell everybody that me
and the boys is gone forever.
- How will I find you, Kate?
- You're gonna find me.
You're gonna find me someday in a palace.
And if you don't find me in a palace,
George, you ain't gonna find me.
And when you find me
and the boys in that palace,
you come in through the kitchen door.
And you remember, wipe your feet.
Kate, I'm the father.
You're a good man. You made good sons.
You've got all the equipment.
But, you know,
you never could make a decent living.
You never did mount me proper.
I guess your heart wasn't in it.
Did you see his eyes, Ma?
I couldn't stand it.
You gonna divorce him, Ma?
Shut up, Herman.
There ain't no divorces
in the Barker family. Never was.
He's your pa and you love him, remember?
You always love him, boys.
You love your pa.
Sure, Ma.
It was only just that...
George did everything
the way he was supposed to do it.
He was a born loser, and I ain't,
and you boys ain't.
You gotta fight the bastards always, boys.
You gotta remember you gotta fight 'em.
KA TE: The world was sure changing
from when I was a little gal.
Women was showing
their bodies in public,
smoking, doing God knows what else.
I'm sure glad I didn't raise me any girls.
Who knows how they'd ha ve turned out?
You know, some people
even tried to put through
an anti-lynching bill in Congress?
But a lot of folks
went to Washington to help defeat it.
Anyway, my boys and me
were never much for politics.
If we had to steal, we did it our way.
- Morning.
- MAN: Morning.
How much is it?
- 50 cents.
- 50 cents?
What, are you crazy?
50 cents just to cross over
to the other side?
It won't cost you nothing
to stay on this side.
- Stupid!
- KATE: Damn fool.
I need a quarter.
A quarter? How we gonna buy gasoline
if we give old skinny a quarter?
HERMAN: Shut up, Freddie.
How much you got?
Come on!
Dime.
Seven pennies, Herman.
So, three buffaloes and one penny.
How much is that?
How's business, Captain?
$17, Herman.
$18.23.
Good.
Come on.
HERMAN: Come on, old man, open up.
Come on.
(BOYS WHOOPING)
HERMAN: Come on. Come on.
(SCREAMS)
(GRUNTS)
HERMAN: Get him! Let's get him.
(ALL YELLING)
HERMAN: Son of a bitch!
(ALL GRUNTING)
HERMAN: God damn it!
- Get him. Help!
- I can't...
Get on the ferry!
Let's go! Come on!
Hell! Move over, Freddie.
Herman, grab him! Grab him, Herman.
HERMAN: Push him up! Push him up!
(MAN GROANING)
(MAN EXCLAIMING)
Look inside his wallet, Arthur.
- Come on, get it.
- How much you got?
- $2.
- $2?
Get over here and take his arm.
Go ahead.
He thinks you're gonna
put your foot down, Herman.
(MAN GROANING)
Maybe I am gonna
put my foot down, Lloyd.
Ma wouldn't like it.
You don't know
what Ma would like, Freddie.
Ma wouldn't like it.
God damn it, don't tell me
what Ma would like!
(MAN CHOKING)
(GASPS)
Herman had one of his bad moments.
KATE: Didn't you, Herman?
That's what I had, Ma.
Baby?
Herman, tonight you'll sleep with Ma.
You'll sleep with Ma.
She'll keep away all the dreams.
I didn't mean to kill him, Ma.
I know that you didn't, baby.
I know that.
In this world, we can't always
do what we wanna do, Herman.
(SOBBING)
We can't always have
what we wanna have.
But, baby, we got each other.
Now, come on.
Come on, now. We're gonna sing,
we're gonna sing a hymn.
We're gonna sing something sweet,
like the Barker family does. Come on.
Ok, we're gonna sing The Battle Hymn of
The Republic, all right? Sing.
ALL: (SINGING) Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Our troops was marching on.
KATE: Once again!
He has sounded forth the trumpet.
That shall never call retreat.
KA TE: We listened to Billy Sunday
and Aimee Semple McPherson
and put a little something extra
in the plate at church.
I knew if God got his,
he'd see to it that we got ours.
We were all happy
when Lindy made it to Paris.
I liked a man who took things
in his own hands.
My Herman was a lot like that.
(TRAIN HORN BLOWING)
(PANTING)
Do you like me?
- What kind of dumb question is that?
- Do you like me at all?
(SIGHING)
You're a customer, baby.
I fucked you.
But you're a freak.
What do you mean, I'm a freak?
Tell me what you want me to do.
You wanna marry me?
Or you want me to fix him up?
Oh, hell, everyone knows what she can do.
Ask if she can cook as good as Ma.
You should taste my pie crusts, little boy.
They'd melt in your mouth.
Tell you what you can do for me.
Buy me a diamond ring.
Never expected anyone to marry me.
Still, I kind of dream
about a diamond ring.
I cut my finger on your freaking glass.
Anything we take out of
this store is glass,
I'll be back to shove a few splinters
through your head.
Maybe I ought to just
take out one of your eyes for good luck.
No. Please, don't.
Put it in a ring. Maybe sell it.
- Leave him alone, Herman.
- Come on, let's get out of here, Herman.
He got eyes like Pa, Herman.
Leave him alone.
- Come on.
- LLOYD: Come on, come on.
Yeah.
HERMAN: You got eyes like my old man.
Come on.
You lucky son of a bitch.
- Come on, Herman.
- I'm sorry.
Come on. Come on!
Let's get out of here.
(CAR DOOR CLOSING)
(CAR ENGINE STARTING)
KATE: That's the most beautiful
darn thing I ever saw.
That's...
Thank you, sweetheart.
From me to you, Ma.
Thank you, baby.
Gee, Ma.
We hardly got anything
from that damn jewelry store.
Well, don't you fuss.
Don't you fuss no more. Come on.
Don't fuss no more.
Mama's here.
(CRYING)
Another day, another dollar.
(PLAYING LIVELY COUNTRY MUSIC)
(MAN WHOOPING)
(WOMAN LAUGHING)
Hi, there. I'm Charity.
Would you like to take me on a walk?
No, thanks.
I think you'd better.
My brother, Herman, he's...
Thief! This boy's stealing the clothes!
MAN: Thief!
(CHARITY SCREAMS)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
- Get him!
- MAN 2: Get him!
(ALL SHOUTING)
(HERMAN EXCLAIMING)
Give me my dress. Give me my dress.
(EXCLAIMING)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
You stupid idiot.
KATE: 1929 was a bad year
for a lot offolks.
The rich men was jumping
out of the windows,
and, as usual, they fell on the poor.
Well, at least my Herman
and Freddie had a roof over their heads
and three square meals a day.
Let me know if it hurts, now.
KEVIN: Hey, that hurt.
But it hurts good.
(MOANING)
Ma taught us how to walk a back.
Ain't no Barker boy
can't take out any pain you got.
Did your mom walk your back a lot?
Yeah. Ozark massage, she calls it.
Like when you're nervous before a big job,
Ma'll walk your back and sing.
She sings,
What an Army ofBoys We'd Have
if We'd Ever Draft the Girls.
Everybody would feel
so goddamn easy inside,
you could kill 20 cops and not even blink.
What did you say?
You have three brothers, Fred?
Yeah.
Are they all just as good as you are?
Well, Herman, he's the oldest,
Herman's a little rough.
When Herman walks your back,
it's kind of a beating.
I mean, Herman
would just kill a guy, just like that.
Or beat him up.
Yeah, or beat him up.
Like...
'Cause he enjoys it.
What's the matter?
You don't...
- You don't like to beat a guy up, do you?
- No.
Not unless I have to.
Tell me something.
What?
You like to get beat up?
Oh, Jesus!
I got an idea.
What you gonna do?
(WHIMPERING)
What you gonna do?
I'm not gonna hurt you.
(WHIMPERING)
(PANTING)
I really like you.
(SINGING) It's a-me, it's a-me
it's a-me, O Lord.
Standing in the need ofprayer.
Not my brother, not my mother.
It's a-me, O Lord.
Standing in the need ofprayer.
It's a-me, it's a-me
it's a-me, O Lord.
Standing in the need ofprayer.
HERMAN: And God bless Freddie.
And God bless Lloyd.
And God bless Arthur.
And God bless Ma.
God damn it!
And God bless Pa.
Wherever my blessed Papa is,
God damn it!
You bless him.
Hey, that guy's a creep!
Oh, shut up.
What the hell's the matter with you?
That guy's a creep!
(HERMAN SCREAMING)
(lNMATE GROANS)
(SCREAMING)
They did this to my Herman.
They did this to my little Freddie.
Oh, hell, Ma, they just got caught.
Don't curse in my house.
John Wilkes Booth just got caught.
Jesus H. Christ just got caught.
You with all your book learning.
I'm not Mary, mother of God,
so I'm gonna see that they get sprung.
How you gonna do that, Ma?
I'm gonna raise me a heap of money
and I'm gonna hire the smartest
and the slickest lawyer.
You know the trouble
with Jesus H. Christ, Lloyd?
The trouble with our Lord was that
he didn't have no smart, slick lawyer.
Ma,
you are dark.
And what's that supposed to mean?
Oh, well, I just mean you're very deep.
Deep like a well.
You know, Mama, sometimes I look at you
and I see a ring
of bright glory all around you,
thick, inky black.
And deep, dark.
Thank you, Arthur.
My eyes have seen the glory.
KATE: Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!
Lloyd, when you're all working
on those model airplanes,
you get to acting awful silly.
No, Ma. It's just that mine eyes
have seen the glory. Hallelujah.
Hey, Ma, how you gonna
raise yourself a heap of money?
We are going to do a big job.
And this time,
I am gonna go on it with you.
- Hallelujah.
- KATE: Lloyd!
Here you are, Ma.
All right, now, everybody,
reach for the nightgown of the Lord.
Reach.
Anybody moves, you're dead.
All right, now,
we're all gonna play a game.
I'm sure you all know it.
It's called Simon Says.
And this here is Simon.
ARTHUR: Open the safe.
KATE: Simon says,
"Everybody down on the floor."
(CAR HORN HONKING)
MAN: Hey!
(GLASS SHATTERING)
(CAR HORN HONKING)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
Look, buddy...
(TIRES SCREECHING)
KATE: Come on, hurry up, baby.
All right.
Simon says that you,
you, you, and you stand up.
Now, come on, Simon says,
"Get up as fast as you can."
Come on, come on.
Reach!
All right, now, you.
You two fat ladies, you come here.
You come here and this nice
little boy's gonna hug you.
All right, now, you two fat ladies,
come forward, Simon says.
Come on. Turn around, back up.
You back up with me now.
Everyone on the floor,
Simon says you count to 100 slowly,
or Simon might get awful mad.
Now, come on, ladies, back up.
Come on, fast. Let's go, fast.
Go, come on. Baby, let's go.
(ALARM RINGING)
ALL: Six, seven, eight,
nine, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14...
(GUNS FIRING)
It looks like those policemen
don't think that we mean business.
Well, we just gotta show them we do.
Sweethearts, it looks like
they just don't care a damn about you.
Well, I'm gonna have to
show them they better!
Let go, you bitch, let go!
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
KATE: Let go, you silly bitch!
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
They're gone! We did it!
We did it, boys, we did it!
KATE: Yeah!
(ALL WHOOPING)
- LLOYD: There you go!
- We're gonna get those boys out!
We did it! We did it!
(ALL CHEERING)
Now, ladies, there's nothing here for you
to be bashful about.
My boys is farm boys.
They're used to seeing
pigs puckering around in the mud.
Come on, you give me that there!
All right. Now, boys, you see anything
here at all that shames you?
But Ma, you sure didn't
pick any pretty ones, that's for sure.
Now, Lloyd, I wouldn't
mind a piece of that plump little pink 'un.
KATE: Now, you just stop that.
You just stop that there talking dirty.
And come on, come on, get in the car.
Come on!
I ain't exactly gonna
curl up and die if I don't get her.
Come on, get, get, get.
Ladies, I want you
to understand something.
We is not sex preverts, you understand?
I undressed you 'cause I don't want you
running around
too fast looking for help.
Come on, kids, let's go!
We've got to lose them! Let's go!
KA TE: It was God's will.
Ifhe didn't want us
to have that there money,
he wouldn't have left
it for us in that bank.
And I got my boys
out ofjail and back together again.
Freddie brought his new friend
Kevin Dirkman along,
but Herman brought
that there Mona Gibson.
It's just plain nasty,
taking that gal with us.
Nasty and sort of sick,
and it's just plain ungodly.
FRED: Mona's all right, Ma.
No, she ain't. She ain't country folk.
She ain't Ozark.
Neither is Kevin, Ma.
That's right, Ma. Neither am l.
As a matter of fact,
you know, the only thing I am
is about the 1907 Mumbly Peg
champion of Cairo, lllinois.
Well, you're different.
You're a friend of Freddie.
Freddie likes you, and I'm aiming
to pleasure myself with you.
Ma don't wear no painting pencils.
You wanna lay her
in the backseat of the car?
Be my guest, baby.
You getting ready for me, ain't you, Mona?
You want it again?
Now, what would your Ma say, tiger?
She'd say it's a long way to Memphis.
She'd say a hell of a lot more than that!
Do I get it or not?
MONA: Ask big brother Herman.
Herman, look, do I get her or don't I?
Now you do.
But when I marry Mona,
and I'm gonna marry her,
nobody touches her.
Do you understand?
Help her over.
My pleasure.
Mona, don't you feel like a silly ass?
MONA: You mean, like,
who do I gotta screw
to get out of this happy, happy time?
Like Ma says, another day, another dollar.
Mona, do you really love Herman?
That's funny.
Who do you think I'm doing this for, then?
For what, Mona?
Well, it gives me
a sense of belonging, wise guy.
Even Ma's hating.
Even with Ma hating me, see,
see, that's more than I ever had before.
I love you, Arthur.
I love you, I love you. I love you!
Sweet damn!
HERMAN: Now, the idea of the game
is we play 5 bucks a stick.
Throw the knife,
keep moving your foot out,
the first man to fall is the loser.
I move it to where you stick it?
You know, sort of like that.
Move it to there.
- All right.
- Good.
- Ten bucks a stick.
- What, are you out of your skull?
Come on, 10 bucks a stick.
You know, Alice Joyce
has one blue eye and one brown eye.
Yeah, so what?
So, Rene Adore is cross-eyed.
HERMAN: Yeah, so what?
And Pearl White has really big feet.
I mean, you can see it.
What, are you crazy?
Oh, she's very beautiful.
See, like, you gotta have something ugly
about you to be really beautiful.
I mean, like, to attract the fans,
don't you know?
Herman, what do I got that's ugly?
Mona, you are a true beauty.
You do not need anything ugly at all.
I mean, some little flaw
to make you really beautiful.
So, bitch.
When's Ma coming back?
I'm fixing up the biggest
goddamn deal in the business.
Come on, doper, move out of the way.
Clara Bow. She's not even pretty at all.
Some of the things she says
are really dirty.
Thank you, my friends.
You know what's ugly about you, Mona?
Is your fat ass, your bow legs,
and your goddamn fat lip!
(EXCLAIMING)
Hi, there, honey doll.
(GIGGLING)
- You nuts or something?
- Why?
You got your shoes on.
(GIGGLING)
- And where'd you come from?
- I swam.
Clear across the lake.
I'm gonna swim back.
Oh, I bet you could swim
the English Channel.
I bet I could.
My name is Rembrandt.
Rembrandt? Oh, boy.
That's my first name.
- Oh.
- I'm very artistic.
Jesus, lover of my soul.
Hey, why have you got
your feet in the water?
I mean, with your shoes on.
I guess I'm just artistic.
(GIGGLING)
Go on.
Is...
Is this your first summer at Bearskin Lake?
Huh?
Hey, why don't you give me
a little kiss, huh?
- No.
- Oh...
No! I think you're out of your mind.
- Come on.
- No, no, I wouldn't.
(GIGGLING)
Stop!
You must be drunk.
Oh, no. No, ma'am, no. No, I'm high.
I'm high. Yeah.
I take lots of dope.
- Oh, come on.
- Nope.
And I'd love to love you up...
If I can make it.
I think you're crazy.
No, I like it.
I really like it, even if I can't make it.
Sometimes I can make it,
sometimes I can't, honey-honey.
You know.
I mean, shove a lot of stuff in your arm,
well, it makes you just
want someone you can just
be loving around, that's all.
You know, you don't need
to hit the jackpot every time.
Why don't you just... You just let me...
You just let me go now, okay?
You let go, please.
Would you please just let me go, huh?
Oh, no, no. No.
Don't you see? Everything frightens me.
I see a doll cross the street,
I cross the street.
I'm gonna have to go now.
You don't understand?
I'm not people, see?
None of us Barkers is people.
Oh, I shouldn't have told you
we was Barkers.
You know what Barkers are? Huh?
- Huh?
- I wanna go swimming now.
- Let's go swimming.
- What are Barkers?
- Dogs?
- Dogs?
- Yes.
- Dogs.
That's right, "dog."
Yeah, dogs do it. Yeah.
A dog eats dog.
(WHIMPERING)
No, please, don't do this.
(CRYING) No. No!
No!
It's all right.
No, no, don't cry, little girl. It's...
- No!
- L...
Please let me go!
KATE: Oh, Jesus.
Lloyd, you don't remember, son?
Now, I told you and I told you.
I told you that up here,
we're not the Barkers.
We are the decent, respectable,
law-abiding hunters of Bearskin Lake.
You don't remember?
I know I forgot, Ma,
but...
She was just so cute,
I had to take a shot at her.
All right.
You just keep this pretty little gal here,
and you don't dare untie those knots,
maybe sometime
we'll all have a shot at her.
Herman!
Herman!
Herman, I got 300,000 bucks
all set up for us just to take.
Just to take it.
Then your dumbbell of a brother,
he brings that silly
goon of a girl up here.
She ain't no goon, Ma.
Lloyd's the goon.
We gotta kill her, baby.
We gotta.
Herman, we gotta...
We gotta drown her and dump the body
in that bottomless lake.
We ought to dump Lloyd's body
in that bottomless lake, Ma.
That's immoral.
That's beneath my contempt.
Lloyd is your brother.
So?
We'll have Mona kill him for us.
That way
we'll keep it all outside the family.
Scrub my back, Ma.
Ma,
you reckon Dillinger's
more famous than we are,
or we're more famous than Dillinger?
Come on, honey.
Baby, you're not concentrating.
We're in trouble.
Don't you understand that?
We're in real trouble.
You know something, Mama?
There's a new song out.
Mona heard it on the radio.
It's called Murderin'Ma from Arkansas.
That ain't funny, Herman.
Sing it, Mona. Sing it for Mama.
Go ahead, Mona.
You sing it. Sing it.
And then I'll have to do to you
what I gotta do to that other little whore.
Oh, Mama!
(GRUNTING) Mona!
KATE: Come on, Herman.
Mama needs chores done.
In a minute.
(SCREAMING)
LLOYD: Her name is Rembrandt.
(REMBRANDT SCREAMING)
Her name is Rembrandt.
(GROANING)
(REMBRANDT SCREAMING)
Herman! Herman!
Can't you do it yourself?
There's nothing you won't do,
is there, Ma?
It's supposed to be a free country, Mona,
but unless you're rich,
you ain't free, and you know that.
So I aim to be freer
than the rest of the people.
I don't wanna sleep alone tonight.
Ma, I can't.
Freddie, I don't wanna
cuddle with you tonight, baby.
Kevin, I want you.
Well, we're all feeling
kind of weird tonight, Ma.
What the hell kind of a name
for a gal is Rembrandt?
That's a mighty peculiar name.
Kevin, I've been
promising myself you for a long time,
and I want you tonight.
Well, honey, I'm ready.
(GROANING)
Lloyd.
What we had to do
to that little gal last night, baby,
we had to do it.
We weren't bothering her none.
She swam clear across that lake
to come over here and mess us up, honey.
Now, we gotta get out of here quick.
Now, come on.
Come on, I wanna hear a sweet song
like only the Barker boys can sing.
I wanna hear some sweet singing.
Let's have a song. I got a song
from that there war where they killed
all those innocent boys, remember?
(PLAYING)
(SINGING) Ten million soldiers
to the war have gone.
Who may never return again.
Ten million mothers ' hearts must break.
For the ones who died in vain.
Let each mother answer in the years to be.
Remember that my boys belong to me!
KATE: Now, come on. Freddie, everybody.
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier.
KATE: Arthur.
I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
Who dares to place a musket
on his shoulder.
To shoot some other
mother's darling boy?
Herman!
Let nations arbitrate their future trouble.
It's time to lay the sword and gun away.
ALL: There'd be no war today.
Ifmothers all would say
I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier.
KA TE: The cops were so busy
shooting down the strikers
during the Depression,
I guess they just didn't ha ve much time
to pay attention to us.
Everybody was trying
to make a buck any way they could.
I told my boys, "You just rob banks"
"and stay out of trouble."
And then I got this here idea
concerning a Memphis cotton broker
named Samuel Adams Pendlebury,
a nice, respectable family man
with three kids and three million bucks.
Jesus, Dirkman!
You almost killed the poor guy.
You never said anything
about being gentle.
Ma wanted him whole.
Ma wanted him well.
Since when did the sight of blood
make you so panicky, boy, huh?
- Did you see his eyes?
- What's the matter with his eyes?
Yeah, I saw his eyes.
What the hell y'all talking about?
You dumbbells, you dang near killed him.
You dumbbells, you dang near killed him.
If you wanna keep this man alive,
you better get a doctor.
That's right.
For once, Mona is right.
You nitwits! We gotta keep him alive!
We gotta keep him alive!
'Cause we gotta prove that we got him.
All right, Mona,
you're gonna take care of him.
No, but first,
nobody ever takes those goggles off.
Understand me?
This here hunk of meat
is worth $300,000 on the hoof,
and this time we're gonna get it.
We've been planning this
a long, long time, and we're gonna get it.
No, now, Mrs. Pendlebury,
you will be hearing from us
about where and when we want
the ransom delivered. You understand?
Mrs. Pendlebury,
we need to know the name of his doctor.
No, no, no, ma'am! He's
perfectly fit, he...
He has to have a doctor, that's all.
Hell, we even like him, Mrs... Yeah.
Ok, go ahead, shoot. I mean...
Okay.
And he's just fine now, ma'am.
Now, you listen to me
real close, Mrs. Pendlebury. Listen.
I don't want you going doing
nothing dumb like calling the cops
or talking to nobody.
You understand? You hear me?
Mr. Pendlebury is just fine.
But if you go do something like that,
he won't be just fine.
We'll kill him.
DR. ROTH: Sam's a good man.
He's a good father.
He took his boy
on a camping trip up Kentucky.
Boy fell out of a tree.
Way the hell out in the wilderness.
Broke his arm.
Sam's no doctor.
He set that boy's arm.
That boy's got the best father
in Tennessee.
I'm finished. He's gonna be all right.
God bless him and take care of him.
And you take care of him, too.
SAM: Listen, are you bastards
gonna let me get up
and take a leak? Huh?
Well, are you?
Just let us figure it out
and we will do something.
- Can you hold it just a second now?
- Yes, yes, yes.
HERMAN: Only so much
you can expect of a man.
I know it. I know it.
I know it.
HERMAN: Come on.
- Nice and slow.
- Take it easy, take it easy.
Nice and slow.
Don't you try nothing, now, you hear?
Straight ahead.
Do you think they'll raise the $300,000?
We don't know.
So far they screwed up everything.
Made contacts with your jerk lawyer.
He screwed up everything.
He called the cops.
How do you know he called the cops?
- We know, buddy. We know.
- My name is not Buddy!
- What are you, a wise guy?
- My name isn't Buddy.
Jesus!
I could put a bullet through your brain...
That still wouldn't make my name Buddy,
sonny boy.
You're right out of your mind, ain't you?
I don't make my living the way you do,
if that's what you mean,
but either way,
my name is Samuel Adams Pendlebury.
But since you've seen fit to place me
in fairly intimate circumstances,
you have my permission to call me Sam.
But not buddy.
You're a real hot number
from the loony bin, ain't you?
Maybe.
Now, why'd you call me sonny boy?
Because you sound like a kid.
I ain't no kid.
All right. I'm sorry. How old are you?
None of your damn business.
- Ain't you scared, Mister?
- Not "Mister," sonny boy. Sam.
Jesus lover!
Okay.
Okay, okay.
Ain't you scared, Sam?
I have a wife, two sons and a daughter,
all of whom I love very much,
so I'm not entirely without fear, no.
What's more to the point, they need me.
Yeah, they'd better need you,
$300,000 worth.
Why, hell, even if they got up the money,
sons of bitches like you
might just kill me anyway.
We brought your own damn doctor.
You just did that to prove
you really had me.
You really ain't grateful for anything,
are you?
(COUGHING)
All right! All right! I'm grateful.
Thank you.
- What color are your eyes?
- What?
What color are your eyes?
What difference does that make?
My old man had blue eyes.
Really blue.
Why don't you take these goggles off
and see what color my eyes are,
sonny boy?
I can't.
Yeah, it's a hell of a thing
to be without power, isn't it?
Memphis is crawling
with those lousy G-men.
KATE: Somebody must have
called the damn President.
- Still gonna send the ransom note?
- KATE: No.
Arthur here is gonna phone
that dumb Mrs. Samuel Pendlebury.
But I want you
to all understand something.
We may still have to kill him.
- I don't wanna hear it.
- You sit there, you little bitch!
Ma, Jesus.
Mama, it is time to feed him.
All right. When I'm here, I feed him,
you understand?
- You understand?
- I understand.
Mona, just 'cause I told you
to take care of him
doesn't mean that he belongs to you.
All right, Mama.
If I left him alone
with you very long, you'd probably...
Probably what?
I know whores, Kevin.
She'd probably turn him
every way but loose.
Well, that ain't gonna hurt nobody.
And she might even do that.
And from now on, you shut up
and go play your Mumbly Peg.
KATE: Now, I told your lawyer
not to call the cops.
He done called the cops.
And I told your wife not to call anyone.
She calls in the whole damn FBI.
- What kind of wife you got, Sam?
- She's a good wife. She's a good mother.
Sure easy, with all your damn millions.
I don't have damn millions.
I got maybe two, three million,
and it's not in cash, lady.
Sam, if she's such a good woman,
why is she calling in the whole country?
Sam?
Don't she realize
she's painting us into a corner?
I'm sorry.
Well, she better be sorry.
Here.
- What... What am I eating tonight?
- Come on, it's your supper.
I bet with all your money,
she can't even cook a decent meal.
Yeah, she can cook better than you can.
Listen, when I had the vittles,
I was the best cook in our county.
I just don't have time now,
buster, to bake you a pie.
- I'm sorry.
- "I'm sorry."
My... My man said that
for so many years...
You just damn well
don't say that no more, understand?
I don't like for ladies to swear.
It's not right.
Some things better left to men.
Now, you should try to control yourself.
If his partner gets the cash,
there'll be three NRA
posters in the window.
That's a really swell signal.
Who thought of that really swell signal?
- Ma did.
- Peachy keen.
If we get the money, you gonna marry me?
Sure I'm gonna marry you, Mona.
- We gonna live with your mama?
- Ma's the boss.
Peachy keen.
HERMAN: Now, what the hell
is that supposed to mean?
One-and-a-half posters
means they only got half the money.
I'm pregnant.
(CRASHING)
Jesus Christ!
MONA: That car over there.
Hey!
You love me, Mona?
Here, take care of that.
(GUN FIRING)
That's a hell of a way to tell a guy, baby.
- Didn't know you'd carry on so.
- Oh, shut up.
Sam?
They've gotta come up
with that other 150,000 bucks.
Don't they know?
I told them.
It takes time to get
that much cash together.
Yeah.
Sam, I didn't mean to keep you here
this long.
I know that it's rotten for you.
I just have to roll with the punches,
don't I?
- Would you like a drink?
- Yeah.
- Here.
- Where?
- Thank you.
- Welcome.
Sam, I gotta roll with the punches, too.
My goddamn teeth are hurting me,
and I got a damn stupid gal
running around the place pregnant.
- Shouldn't have said that, should I?
- No. You shouldn't swear, either.
It's funny,
I don't mean to do that around you.
I guess I can't seem
to help myself no more.
Your apology's accepted.
Sam, would you make love with me?
Three weeks is a long time,
but I'm a married man.
Come on.
We being outside the law,
as you would say,
and us being gangsters,
we got certain advantages.
We don't have to pay no mind
to those respectable, nice people rules.
How could I make love to you,
tied up like this?
Supposing you just had
on those goggles, and...
And you could imagine I was anybody,
even your lily-sweet wife,
and you could do
whatever you wanted to?
Supposing, though,
I was to hold you down,
rip these goggles off,
and gag you and tie you,
make my escape?
And supposing I had my boys
sitting over there with a machine gun,
you just so much as
reach for those goggles
and they'd blow your brains out?
That'd be one sorry way to make love,
wouldn't you say that?
Don't you get so damn uppity with me,
Samuel Pendlebury.
I know what all
you proper bastards really think.
You wish you could be more like us.
But you're scared of your neighbors,
and you ain't got the guts.
So you buy all those newspapers
and you just spend your time
reading about us,
and you turn on your radios
and you listen about us.
Sam, you just got it all bass-ackwards.
I'm important people in this country now.
I bet I'd have more fan mail than
Eleanor Roosevelt if they could find us,
and I'm prettier than she is.
God bless her all the same.
You're a proper, growed-up man, Sam.
You's getting to us.
But we is getting to you, too.
We don't want Mrs. Pendlebury
seeing you look like a real mess,
do we, Mr. Pendlebury?
We bought you a brand-new white shirt
with French cuffs.
$300,000.
She thinks an awful lot of you, boy.
LLOYD: I mean, God, what a price.
Half the time from the beginning,
I didn't think we was gonna get it.
And, Mr. Pendlebury,
I bought you a pair of real black specs,
and if you want my advice,
you'd wear them.
At least for a couple of weeks.
FRED: We're gonna leave you
some sandwiches,
then you hike to the nearest farmhouse
and phone.
Boy, your kids are gonna
be real, real glad to see you.
And remember, now, Mr. Pendlebury,
if there's ever anything we can do for you,
you just get in touch. Anything.
How would I get in touch with you boys?
Well, hell.
No way.
Isn't this a dumb damn world?
I wanna see his eyes.
Are you crazy, Herman? He'd recognize us.
I don't think he'll be able
to see us in the light.
- Now the rest of you get over there.
- No.
Gonna look at his eyes.
LLOYD: You knew it.
I think I'm going right out of my mind.
He's got Pa's eyes.
I can't see you. You take my word for that.
But before I leave here,
I want to say just one thing to you fellas.
You are a strange pack of young men,
and if I were your father,
I'd take each one of you boys
across my knee
and I'd wail the living
daylights out of you.
We can take the goggles off.
For Pete's sake, Ma, he can't see.
- How do you know he can't see?
- He can't. He can't.
He can't see, Ma.
All right, Arthur.
You, with your smart aleck lip,
you get to kill him.
You made so damn sure
we can't turn him loose now.
We can turn him loose, Ma.
- No, we can't!
- We got the money, Ma!
- We got it all set up.
- What's money?
We need him walking around alive,
broadcasting about us?
He don't know, Ma, he don't know.
When they start asking him questions,
when they start showing him
your pictures,
he'll make one hell of a good guess.
KATE: Pull over, Herman. Right here.
All right, Herman. Turn off the ignition.
All right, Arthur, you.
Go on.
Arthur, you don't pray over him,
you understand? You just kill him.
Where you going, Lloyd?
Lloyd, where you going?
Lloyd!
Damn it, Ma!
I'm going down to see what they're doing.
I'm gonna see what they're doing, Ma!
Herman, they're buggy.
Herman, now, you listen to your mama.
Baby, you was my firstborn
when I still was a little gal
and I had to tie off your belly button
with my own two hands.
There isn't nothing
I wouldn't do for you, baby.
There isn't nothing
I wouldn't protect you from.
There's nobody I wouldn't kill for you.
Your brothers are standing out there
with their hands in their pockets,
waiting on the electric chair.
Now you get, baby.
You understand your mama? You get.
I love you, Mama.
(GUN FIRING)
(SINGING) Poor butterfly
'neath the blossoms waiting.
Poor butterfly.
For she loved him so.
The moments pass into hours.
The hours pass into years.
He's not dead, Mama.
We didn't kill him.
- What'd you say, Herman?
- He's not dead. We didn't kill him.
Who's not dead, baby?
Sam. Sam Pendlebury.
We didn't want to kill him, Ma.
Now, Ma, like you say,
this ain't gonna be a safe place.
His whole territory.
Sure ain't gonna be, Ma.
We gotta move, quick.
No, no.
- You're joshing your mama.
- No, Mama.
You're joking.
You're joking with your mama!
(SCREAMS)
You're an old lady, Mama.
You just can't go beating up
on full-grown men
like they was little babies.
HERMAN: Just ain't ladylike.
Now, you listen to me!
I'm taking over now!
We're gonna move south.
Going down to Florida.
You understand?
Do you understand, Mama?
Herman. Not you, Herman. Not you.
(WHIMPERING)
Not you.
- Morning, sir.
- Morning.
- Morning, ma'am.
- Morning.
Mr. Hanson sent word for me
to make you folks comfortable as can be.
Boy, that wide spot down the road,
is that the closest town?
Yes, ma'am. Sure is.
That's Owensby's Park.
Nice little old town.
- Real nice little town?
- Yes, sir.
- Nice little town.
- MOSES: Yes, sir.
(MIMICKING MOSES) Yes, sir.
- Moses?
- Yes, sir?
What y'all do around here for kicks?
Well, sir, there's an engine boat
Mr. Hanson likes to play with
when he comes down here on a visit.
He takes it out there
and tries to catch Old Joe.
Thank you, sir.
My furs are dragging, son.
That's an... A nice little house...
- Who is Old Joe?
- Ma'am, Old Joe's a gator.
Biggest gator you ever seen.
- Biggest gator you ever seen?
- Yes, sir.
Hear that, Arthur?
Let's do us a little gator hunting.
Biggest gator you ever seen.
(MUMBLING)
Lloyd?
Son? What's ailing you?
Lloyd?
Ma, he's been sticking himself
with that needle.
(STAMMERING) God damn you, Lloyd!
What are you... Why do you do that?
Leave me alone, old lady.
Leave me alone, old lady, old lady.
Leave me alone, old lady.
More and more and more, Ma!
- Lloyd...
- Ever since that little girl.
Why don't you take care of your brother?
Why don't you, Lloyd?
Lloyd, listen to your mama. Listen.
That... That little girl...
That little girl was no good for you.
Your mama's good for you, Lloyd.
When you're sick,
your mama's good for you. Lloyd!
Lloyd...
Lloyd?
Hey, Dirk. What do you reckon gators eat?
Well, I don't know.
Lot of people say they like chicken.
Oh, boy!
- Look at this right here.
- Oink, oink.
I'm thinking...
Too bad, little boy.
I'm gonna get your little brown brother.
Come here! Come here!
HERMAN: Take that son of a bitch, Dirk!
Oh, boy, I got you, brownie.
(EXCLAIMING)
No, you old baby.
I'm gonna feed you to a gator.
(PIGLET SQUEALING)
Let's go.
MONA: This place is like
the end of the world.
FRED: You mean
you don't like it here, Mona?
- It's okay, if you're a Barker.
- Well, you're a Barker now.
Lloyd?
What are you doing down there? Lloyd?
ARTHUR: Lloyd?
(LAUGHING)
He looks just like Moses in the bulrushes.
You just playing gator, Lloyd, huh?
He's dead.
ARTHUR: Get Ma.
(SQUEALS)
(SQUEALING)
KATE: No. No!
No! No! Not one of mine!
Not one of my boys! No!
(WAILING) No! No, no! No! No! No!
God! This is Lloyd!
Bright, beautiful one, Lloyd!
(STAMMERING) I know he's got...
Everybody's got faults, God!
God, let me add to your blood, bastard!
- Let me add to your...
- No!
Mama!
Lloyd! No, God!
- No, he won't hurt my baby...
- Come on, Mama. Come on.
- Come on, Mama. Come on.
- He wouldn't do that! He wouldn't!
- Come on, Mama.
- He wouldn't! No, Fred!
He wouldn't take my baby! He wouldn't...
Here!
KATE: Herman, boy! Son Herman!
Herman!
- Herman!
- What?
Your brother's dead, Herman!
You're playing with gators.
Your brother's dead!
They're burying your brother!
How did it happen?
Herman, it was the dope stuff,
he put it in his arm!
- Your brother's dead!
- Just bury him deep.
Lot of animals around here.
That's right, Sheriff. They killed my pig.
And they killed Old Joe.
And they did it with a chatter gun, too.
The kind they had in the war.
License plates?
It just could have been Tennessee plates.
Do you want anything before I go?
- Where you going?
- Miami.
Yeah?
Drop me a line
when you get settled down there.
- I'll be down that way pretty soon.
- Okay.
Okay.
AGENT MCCELLAN: Kate Barker!
We have the house surrounded!
Kate Barker!
Arthur!
Wake up the other ones! They're here!
(GRUNTS)
Hold it! Hold it!
- KEVIN: Hold your fire!
- Hold your fire!
Hold your fire!
I'm not a Barker!
You bet your sweet ass you ain't.
(WAILING) Ma!
(SCREAMING)
Back, baby, back!
(SCREAMING)
No!
(GRUNTING)
(INAUDIBLE)
(CROWD EXCLAIMING)
WOMAN: Oh, my God!
(GROANING)
Look at that.
My son's dead.
(KATE SCREAMING)
Arthur, it's Mama. Mama loves you.
I love you! I love you!
(GUNFIRE CONTINUES)
They're dead!
(KATE CRYING) They're dead. Herman.
Herman!
They're dead. All your...
All your brothers is dead.
Dead!
Kevin's dead.
He's dead. Dead. Dead.
Kevin's dead.
Honey, I've been thinking
and wondering, you know, what...
What you said, you know, about Lloyd.
Lloyd's been buried too... Too shallow.
My baby. You know?
The... The way it is, any animal...
Any animal can get at him.
(STAMMERING) All the damn animals,
they can get at him.
Herman, my...
(SCREAMING)
No!
Please, no, no!
Stand back!
The best one.
The best! The best one! You bastards!
He'll never get his chance! You bastards!
(GUNS FIRING)
You bastards! You always had everything!
We never had nothing!
Lord.
They're gone! My children!
(SCREAMING)