The Winner

Hey, Frankie. Here it comes.

Here comes what? The bus. Here it is.

I can see the bus, Paulie.

Thank you. Let's go! Sometime today.

What... Joey!

He ain't here. What do you mean, "he ain't here"?

Joey!

Welcome to Vegas. You look good. You look good.

Hey, Joey. How ya doin'?

Get the bags.

Joey, look, uh, you gotta believe me.

This guy has been winning for five straight weeks.

It's like he's the luckiest man in the history of north America.

It all started in a casino called the pair-a-dice.

He came from nothin'. He looked like any bum on the street.

When he got near that roulette wheel, he was like he was blessed with something.

He's been on a winning streak for five weeks, Joey.

He's been playing every Sunday, and he hasn't lost once.

You've never seen anything like it.

Here's a coffee with cream. Do you mind?

I'm in the middle of somethin'. I'm sorry.

Okay, so, look, all we gotta do is get Paulie to pretend he's sick or somethin'.

Like he's chokin' on a chicken bone. Like that.

Philip will take pity on him right away and give him money for a doctor,

because that's the kind of guy he is.

Every Sunday when he wins, he gives almost all his money away.

I'm telling you, Joey, there's a real opportunity here.

I'm not doubting you. Don't get me wrong.

Crazy things happen every day.

But what we're talkin' about here is a guy...

With the name Philip.

Philip.

All right, Philip. I mean... what's wrong with Philip?

Philip. Yeah, Philip.

Come on! What? You don't like his name?

All I'm sayin' is it would be nice...

If his name was, say... Jesus.

Yeah, sure... yeah, but...

the problem is, see, I need a sign.

If his name was, say, Jesus or, say, Moses...

Or even, say... Joshua,

I would have that sign.

Take me to Philip.

Stupid son of a bitch! Get outta here!

Goddamn you! Here! Take this goddamn...

thanks... for the ride!

Well, I gotta run, baby.

So, run.

I just want to finish my cigarette before I go home.

It's kind of cold out here. You cold?

Cold feels good when you know you're gonna be rich.

I feel good, Jack.

I don't see us gettin' rich off this guy.

Maybe he won you a car, and he might buy you a goddamn necklace,

but the guy doesn't care enough about money to make anybody rich.

He doesn't bet enough, and then he gives it all away.

Your eyes must be goin' in your old age.

You're gonna have to sell this car, Louise. Don't nag me about the car.

It's not like I'm asking you to take out the garbage or cut the grass.

I'm just reminding you, you need to come up with cash, like yesterday.

Can't keep the sharks away forever. I'm not asking for forever.

I never do. I'm asking for a week. Just 'til Sunday.

You know what they're talkin' about when it comes to you?

They're ready to beat on your pretty face.

I've seen Kingman kill people for much less, honey.

Kill me for a lousy 50 grand? Come on.

Worse comes to worse, I sell the car, okay?

I met somebody just the other day willing to give me $20,000 cash.

Next week, on the spot, a French guy.

Runs a, uh, bank in France. International finance stuff.

You know how those guys are.

Yeah. I know 'em like you know 'em.

Well, it's not gonna come to that anyway.

Look, Jack, you gotta back me up on this one.

I'm gettin' tired.

I'd be lyin' to you if I didn't tell you how tired I'm gettin'...

Of livin' the way that we do.

I'm gonna pay Kingman back, but I want more than that.

Don't you, Jack?

Now is our time.

We are gonna be rich.

We are gonna be so rich that we already are.

That it's spilling over into the past.

We're gonna be so fucking goddamn rich.

Oh, yeah? How's that?

All we have to do is wait for those magic words.

What are those magic words, baby?

I... love... you.

'Cause if a person loves you,

really loves you,

they'll do anything for you.

You ever notice that?

I gotta run.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Frank Kingman's pair-a-dice...

Presents Louise.

¶¶

¶ baby ¶

¶ I'm gonna give you the lights of Las Vegas ¶

¶ baby ¶

¶ I'm gonna give you the sky ¶

¶ baby ¶

¶ I'm gonna promise you a better life ¶

¶ keep you dreaming ¶

¶ even after you die ¶

¶ 'cause here the lights burn into the night ¶

¶ here love is the same as a lie ¶

All right, no more bets. No more bets. Six is the number.

¶ Here they're gonna take everything from you ¶ six! Winner is six.

¶ But you feel hopeful for a while ¶

¶ a while ¶

¶ baby ¶

¶ I'm gonna give you the lights of Las Vegas ¶

¶ Baby, baby have mercy on me ¶

¶ 'cause we're all believers ¶

¶ trusting believers ¶

¶ even the desert ¶

¶ can feel like the sea ¶¶

Thank you.

The old man's gone, Kingman.

Well, uh, everything went really well.

Smooth as water, you might say.

That's good to hear.

You talk about water a lot. You like water?

Well, not particularly.

I was just saying, everything went smooth as water, you know.

You've made me very happy, Jack.

You talk to me about water, and you tell me things worked out.

When you do these things, it makes me feel connected.

You know that feeling? Feeling connected? Yeah, sure.

'Cause I'll tell you something.

After a while, it all just gets to you.

The chaos. The randomness of the world.

Violence, beauty, disease.

After a while, it all gets to you.

Can you see how that might happen?

Jack, you can't just go and kill a winner. Where's the sport in that?

Sometimes it does a man good to face a challenge, to fight a battle.

That brings out the best in you, brings out the best in him.

Otherwise, certain feelings of hostility build up,

certain feelings of... unpleasantness.

Come here.

Losers take care of themselves.

They lose.

Yeah, they lose.

But a winner, Jack, you have to destroy.

A winner you have to bring to their knees!

This is for you. Thank you, sir.

You get something for your wife too. Thank you very much, sir.

I love you, man. Buddy. I love this guy. My pleasure.

Did you see what he did? We should go.

He just kissed them, and I won. You are the best.

Sit down.

Yeah!

Hello. You are entering the liberace museum.

This was once the home of liberace,

ta-da. The highest paid and best loved pianist in the world.

I think of you, Louise. I think of you as heaven on earth.

It always seemed to me that when you have something beautiful,

it's a shame not to share it.

So, please, enjoy the beautiful home of America's greatest entertainer.

Don't forget to celebrate Liberace day...

I was Liberace's favourite piano.

My rhinestones were laid individually by hand.

It was on me that Liberace first played Chopin's "minute waltz" in 42 seconds.

Oh, baby!

As Mr. showmanship himself said once...

A fortune teller told me once never to get married...

That my wife would die a tragic death.

Is that funny to you? No.

Did she lean in close?

Did she whisper in your ear...?

"Please let me save you.

"Let me break the spell!

"I don't want you to be alone forever.

"No one should be alone forever."

Something like that.

And did she stick out her hand and say, "that'll be 500 bucks"?

Unfortunately, I didn't have the money at the time.

Say you'll marry me.

Say it's you and me from this moment on.

We're in this together.

Please, Philip. So I know.

I wanna know.

Yes, baby. I'll marry you.

We'd like to welcome all shriners...

Louise. Hey.

Where you been? I've been lookin' for you. That's where I've been.

What do you want? Here's what I need.

I need you to go to my place tonight and wreck it.

Why? I'm bringing Philip there. I want him to see it.

I'm gonna tell him the mob did it because I owe them money.

You do owe money. I'm gonna tell him I owe 150,000.

Philip is gonna want to save me, and he can win that money this Sunday.

One bet, he can win it all.

The odds are 36 to 1. He's never bet more than 1,000.

But this time he'll be doing it for me. He loves me, Jack.

Did you hear the magic words, honey?

How much cash has he got around?

He keeps some in a box under his bed.