Lucky Number Slevin

There's number five.

He's moving well through, between horses.

Number six is under a very hard...

Number four breaks in along the inside...

...and he's shooting on through. Number three...

Number one on the inside pokes a nose in front...

...and they're off in their separate races...

He's clean.

So,

why are you here, huh?

There was a time.

4:35.

You misunderstood.

I wasn't asking for the time. I was just saying there was a time.

"There was a time"?

Mmm-hmm.

Take Brown Sugar back there, for example.

She's pretty fucking foxy, right?

- She's 70. - If she's a day.

But there was a time.

- I don't follow. - The name's Smith.

I'm from out of town.

- Listen, Mr. Smith... - Just Smith.

The reason I'm in town, in case you're wondering,

is because of a Kansas City Shuffle.

What's a Kansas City Shuffle?

Kansas City Shuffle is when everybody looks right, and you go left.

Never heard of it.

It's not something people hear about.

Falls on deaf ears, mostly.

But this particular one's been over 20 years in the making.

Twenty years, huh?

No small matter.

Requires a lot of planning.

Involves a lot of people.

People connected only by the slightest of events,

like whispers in the night,

in that place that never forgets,

even when those people do.

It all starts with a horse.

It's what they called, back then, a drugstore handicap.

Aqueduct Racetrack, New York. 1979

A guy wants what the fellow calls "a sure thing",

so he schemes to make it so.

He calls in the Doc,

a nobbler from Antwerp known for his savvy

but not for his discretion.

Fuck me, baby. Fuck me, baby. Come on, baby.

The same could be said for Doc's jelly on the side, Gloria.

- Oh, God. Oh, God. - Almost there. Almost...

Hey, which horse did you say it was again, baby?

Which brings us to Abe,

because Gloria was too much jelly for one outfit.

Hey, baby. Is your wife around?

What do you want? Who is it, Abe?

- Seymour. - Sure.

Tell that bitch to open her eyes. Maybe then she'd see more.

Seymour says hello!

What are you doing calling me here?

Christmas came early this year, baby. I got a present for you.

Remember my friend Doc?

Now, Abe wasn't a nosy fellow, but he had a nose,

and right below his nose was his mouth.

Do you remember Gloria the hooker?

Well, Gloria's got this friend Doc, who's got a line on a doped-up racehorse.

The fix is in at Aqueduct. Seven horse, 1 Oth race.

- Doped up? - Yeah.

And then there was this joker who had ears...

Keep it under your hat, huh?

Let's get back.

...And who looked like he could be somebody's uncle.

Hey, Max, who's your favorite uncle?

Okay, who's your second-favorite uncle?

Just pay attention. I got something here.

And before you know it,

folks are getting a big dose of the gimmes,

and men start talking their hats off,

and that Manischewitz grapevine wine spills in your ear

and tells you, you got a sure thing,

and what's worse is, you start to believe it.

At least, that's how it went with old Max,

who wasn't so much old as he was tired.

Tired of being a dog without a day.

Tired of waking up and finding that his dreams were only dreams.

We're leaving.

But mostly, Max was tired of not having a front lawn.

- Make sure he doesn't come home late. - I will.

I was talking to your son.

- You think that's funny, do you? - Uh-huh.

Bye, Mom.

Yeah. Bye, Mom.

Love you.

All right, if your ma asks, where were we today?

Shea Stadium. - To see?

- Mets, Phillies. Good man.

Give me the post-game.

Stallard gave up six runs in the first five innings.

Ed Kranepool hit a line drive down right field,

but it hit the wall, fouled by a foot.

Jesse Gender hit a ground ball in the hole between first and second,

but the guy's so slow

that second baseman Tony Taylor tagged him out at first.

- Did you get all that from the radio? - Mmm-hmm.

You're good.

Okay, I'll be right back.

No, no, no, no. You gotta stay in the car.

Why?

Because they don't let little boys inside the track.

Saul's dad takes him to the track.

Yeah, well, Saul's dad is a degenerate gambler.

And if you're the son of a degenerate gambler,

they let you in.

It's economically viable.

Are you gonna be a degenerate gambler?

Hey. You know better than that.

Your old man's smart. He only plays a sure thing.

Look, this money's gonna get you through Harvard,

and you're gonna be a doctor.

But until then, you gotta stay in the car.

Hey.

Next weekend, you and me go to a ballgame.

' Okay, ' Okay?

- Love you, kiddo. - Love you, too, Dad.

Wait, watch. Watch, watch, watch.

Almost forgot.

Fifteen minutes. Start counting.

Our next race at Aqueduct is the 10th race.

It's at a distance of one mile, one furlong.

Come on, come on.

The final turn,

and number seven has moved into fifth position on the outside.

Number two takes the lead.

Come on, come on.

Number one is at the rail,

and number seven is beginning to pick up the pace on the outside.

Yes!

Yes! Come on, baby! Come on!

Go! Let's go!

And number seven goes all the way

- and takes the lead! - Yes! Yes!

Come on, come on!

Yeah!

Number seven has fallen!

And number one goes on and takes the lead to win it.

Max woke up to find that his dreams had just been the stuff of pipes.

I wanna place a bet.

- How much? -20 large.

Oh, you must feel real lucky.

I'll take your bet.

And lay it off.

I got a bookie's bookie.

I'll give you 2-to-1 on the horse.

Racing form says 9-to-1.

So you go to the ticket window with your 20 grand in hand,

and you get 9-to-1 if the spread sticks.

You come in here with your pockets turned out, you get 2-to-1.

The juice is 10.

That means if you lose, you're all in for 22 grand.

Twenty for the bet, two for the juice.

Can you pay these moneys?

Huh? Can you?

Yeah.

Just to be clear, if you lose,

you're gonna owe a lot of money

to the kind of men you do not want to owe

the smallest amount of money to.

Henry!

- Hey, buddy. - What?

- Got a light? - No.

Henry!

In that case, how about the 20 Gs you just blew on the seven horse?

- What have you done with my son? - He's on his way home.

Just like you.

Where am I?

Roth. He'll tell you everything. I swear.

He already has.

Please.

I have a family!

Please.

Please!

Where's my DOV?

Henry!

Where are they?

Henry!

Fuck.

Shit.

Jesus.

"Fuck. Shit. Jesus," is right.

I don't understand. Why did they kill Max's family?

New outfit in town.

They didn't want somebody else betting on a fixed horserace with them.

They're trying to make an impression.

That's a fucking story, man.

Charlie Chaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest in Monte Carlo

and came in third.

Now that's a story.

This...

This is something else.

- So that's a Kansas City Shuffle? - No.

It's just the inciting incident,