that is one hell of a shirt. i bet you paid a pretty price for it, am i right?
more goddam faggots in this town.
enrico rizzo from the bronx. don't mind if i do.
for what?
for money for what?
how would i know? you gotta tell a person these things a hustler? picking up trade on the street like that -- baby, believe me -- you need management.
my friend o'daniel. that's who you need. operates the biggest stable in town. in the whole goddam metropolitan area. a stud like you - paying! -- not that i blame you -- a dame starts crying, i cut my heart for her.
the name is rizzo.
that's okay, joe. i'm used to these types that like to pick on cripples. sewers're full of 'em.
look, with these chicks that want to buy it, most of 'em are older, dignified, right? social register types. they can't be trotting down to times square to pick out the merchandise. they need a middleman, right? that's o'daniel.
it is a crime, a stud like you passing out double sawbucks to a chick like that. with proper management you should be taking home fifty, a hundred bucks a day. more if you wanta moonlight.
him i placed with o'daniel just two weeks ago. and look. not much of a stud either, what i hear.
well, joe, you're a nice guy, and i'd be doing you both a favor, but why? what'm i dragging my bum leg all over town for? it's no picnic and what for, for me myself, what?
tomorrow when some piece like that's scratching your back in a fifth avenue townhouse, where'll your pal rizzo be? nedicks.
joe, please. you know what i'd ask anyone else? oh hell, tell you what i'll do, i'll take the ten.  .  but when i hand you over to mr. o'daniel, i'll have to have another ten, joe; just to like cover expenses.
this boy is just your meat, mr. o'daniel, believe it, i'm telling you -- what? -- enrico rizzo from the bronx. the point is he needs you. right now. tonight.  i got his tongue hanging out.
hold it a second.
nine-oh-one, got it?
let's see how you look. fine. you look fine. now i'm gonna have to have that other ten.
oh hell, forget it.
forget it.
sherry-netherlands hotel. now get your ass in there. he's waiting!
don't hit me, i'm a cripple.
not a cent, i swear to god, i swear on my mother's eyes.
you keep the sixty-four cents. i want you to have it.
how do you like that o'daniel, flipping out like that? i wanted to get in touch with you when i heard, but i been laid up with this cold.
okay, right, right, okay. another subject. where you living? still at the hotel?
i'm inviting you. i mean if you're not located, i got a place. i'm inviting you, goddamit.
i got no heat, but by that time, you know, cold weather, hey, i'll be in florida. stretch out. make yourself comfortable. you hungry? i'll put up some water for coffee.
whatsa matter now?
what's that supposed to mean?
for crissake!
i took 'em off.
so you could sleep! i mean christ!
i drug in a cot, if you want to stay.
i ain't forcing you, like, i mean, who's forcing you?
i want you to stay, okay? i goddam invited you, didn't i?
i'm impressed. you're a killer.
joe -- do me one favor -- this is my place, am i wrong? you know, in my own place my name ain't ratso. i mean it so happens my name is enrico salvatore rizzo.
rico then, at least call me rico in my own goddam place.
the two basic items necessary to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk. that's a known fact. if i can find the goddam hole the milk squirts out.
i been sick. hold this, will ya?
in florida, they come smooth, ready to eat. down there, your only problem is, diet-wise, you gotta lift an arm to wipe warm milk off your chin. tough, hey?
miami beach is the only place for a real hustler. florida has more rich chicks per square yard than any resort spot in the world. they lie out in their pagodas and pergolas waiting to grab the first jockstrap that passes.
cowboy killers! break my finger, christ! i got news for you, baby, no chick with any class buys that big dumb cowboy crap.
 the cowboy bit's out, except among fags of a certain type, which take a certain, type hustler to exploit. like i could handle it -- being a stealing operation basically -- but take your average fag, very few of them want a cripple.
look at yourself, joe, no offense, but frankly, you're beginning to smell. for a stud in this town that's a handicap.
you ain't got a chance in hell. you need threads and glitter, baby. a front, hey?
a woman in your condition shouldn't do that. let me help.
what did it cost her? the laundromat syndicate lost a couple coins. i'm crying.
where's mine? the black homburg? i brought it in the same time.
and end up a hunchback like my old man? you think i'm crippled? you shoulda caught him the end of a day.
stupid bastard coughed his lungs out breathing that resin all day. they buried him with gloves on. even the fag undertaker couldn't get his nails clean.
you like it? take a look.
not bad -- for a cowboy -- you're okay, you're okay.
how do you like that? cheap bastard.  i think we struck gold. this is one high-class chick. the barbizon for women!
mr. mcneill, i'm calling for miss beecham at the barbizon hotel for women. she won't need you tonight.
score once in that setup, the way chicks talk, christ.
get the money! remember cass trehune? cash! these rich bitches write a check at night, call the bank and stop payment in the morning. get the cash!
the coat? a guy i did a favor once gave it to me. christ.
where'd that come from?
you wanna know the truth? you dumb bastard, i got it for you. look at it. goddam thing's ten sizes too big for me.
goddamned if i'll wear it!
the name's rico, at my own father's grave, a man deserves some respect.
can he smell the difference, eh?
he can't read. even dumber than you. couldn't write his own name. x -- that's what it ought to say there on that goddam headstone. one big lousy x like our flat. condemned. by order of city hall.
just keep your hat on and cry a little. they tip you when it's over.
you and my old man. same kinda mind. putting me down till the day he died.  .  why can't you be like your brothers? sons a father could be proud of. yeah, sure. my brothers. too goddam busy making something of themselves to show up when the old man's dying!
what was that all about?
so?
yeah, well, so?
what you're driving at, you want me to get lost so you can go to your fancy-ass party.
don't say nothing about you either.
well, what the hell, i got nothing better to do.
don't need a comb.
okay? i look okay?
rico. rico rizzo.
if you want the word on that brother and sister act, i'll give you the word. that hansel's a fag and gretel's got the hots for herself. so who cares, right? load up on the salami.
 i'd say she was good for ten bucks, but i'll ask for twenty.
you really want to do business?
a very expensive stud. and i happen to be his manager.
twenty bucks.
 and taxi fare for me.
i agree. and for that service i charge one dollar taxi fare.
is he all right!
walk? naturally i can walk.
i said yeah! yeah, yeah, yeah!
no. but while you was buying the underwear, i could have lifted the socks.
but thanks. hey, joe, don't get sore about this or anything. you promise?
well, i don't think i can walk. i mean, i been falling down a lot and, uh.
i'm scared.
what'll happen. i mean what they do to, you know, do with you -- if you can't -- ah, christ!
i don't know. cops. or the -- how should i know?
no doctors. no, sir. not me. doctors are like goddam auto mechanics. fix one-thing, unplug another. operate for piles and while they're there, they unscrew your liver. my old man, for god's sake, wasn't any sicker'n i am when he went to the doctor.
i'm going to florida, that's my only chance.
i'll find the money. if you just get me on the bus, that's all i ask.
i don't even want you to go. whaddya think of that? i got other plans for my life than dragging around some dumb cowboy that thinks he's god's gift to women. one twenty-buck trick and he's already the biggest stud in new york city. it's laughable.
thirty-one hours.
the trip is. nine-thirty in the morning we get there. not this morning but the next one at nine thirty.
they gotta be.
you get your first palm tree in south carolina.
i read it.
i been thinking. i hope we're not gonna have a lotta trouble about my name down there. because like what's the whole point of this trip anyway?
i mean new york's one thing, but can you see this guy, imagine it, running around the goddam beach all suntan and he's going in swimming, like, and then somebody yells 'hey, ratso' -- how does that sound to you?
sounds like crap, admit it. and i'm not gonna have it. i'm rico all the time, okay, do you blame me? that's agreed, okay? we're gonna tell all these new people my name's rico?
i'm wet.
i wet my pants! my seat's all wet.
here i am going to florida and my leg hurts, my butt hurts, my chest hurts, my face hurts, and like that ain't enough, i gotta pee all over myself.
i'm falling apart, that's funny?
hey, what the hell you doing?
thanks, joe.