Original subtitles

BERT LEONARD: Ladies and gentlemen,

you are about to see the Naked City.

I'm Bert Leonard, the producer.

As you see, we're flying over an island.

A city, a particular city.

And this is a story of a number of people,

It was not photographed in a studio.

Quite the contrary.

The actors played out their roles in Times Square, the Public Baths on Allen Street,

and around the Orphanage of St. Francis in Lower Manhattan.

Gio Bartolo is a fisherman. A sidewalk fisherman.

A man who can retrieve dropped coins from the bottom of subway gratings

more efficiently than anyone else in the business.

Once, grate fishing was a primitive art,

just something that bums dabbled with for beer money.

Gio has made it an exact science, and he earns a living by it.

If Jocko sees us taking drops before 6:00, he'll pound our ears right down to our ankles.

[IN AN ITALIAN ACCENT] Whatever Jocko knows about fishing, I taught him.

Since he was a little boy, I taught him.

-But... -That's all right, Shellshock. Don't worry.

Look, you work the one street, okay?

-Yeah, okay! -Okay!

If you say so, okay.

All right. You know better, Bobbo. Tell him, Laddie.

It's 3:00, Gio. We take the grates till 6:00, you take 'em after 6:00. That's it.

Now, you've been warned before, Bobbo. Laddie, whatcha say?

I say he's been warned before.

Let's make it out of here.

[GRUNTING]

Hey, hold it!

It's a family affair, officer. No call for a gun.

Well, I'm making it the sergeant's affair, see, and I figure it calls for a gun.

Pick up the old man!

And he'd better be breathing.

[GIO SPEAKING ITALIAN]

All right, come out of there with your hands high!

If your father would've put you on a carpet when you were a kid,

I wouldn't have to put you on a police blotter now.

So why don't you arrest my old man?

Fill out this complaint, Gio.

No, no, no, no. I don't want no trouble.

I'm swearing out a complaint against this one.

Nobody gets his skull cracked on my beat.

Not unless you crack it yourself, eh, Murray?

I guess you figure you got nothing to lose, except a little time off the streets.

Now, you three, clear out. I mean clear out, see?

What'd you do to 'em, Gio?

I was pulling the drops in the afternoon.

You were fishing in the afternoon?

Look, lieutenant, I know I don't got the right, but I got reasons.

All right, Gio, but if Jocko gets you in a corner, don't be too proud to yell for help.

We just docked about an hour ago, and I come right away.

Bet you caught loads. All kinds, I bet! Tuna, sea bass, whitefish.

Yeah, it was pretty good, pretty good.

Do you think I'll be any good when I go, Gio?

Good? My kid, you gonna be the best in the fleet!

-I asked the sister to get me some books. -Uh huh?

And I learned all about the Grand Banks, and Gloucester,

and I even got a book on knots.

-Oh, that's good. -Look, Gio! See?

A bowline on a bight!

[EXCLAIMING IN ITALIAN]

That's nice, eh?

You know, that's much better than our first mate can make.

How was Mr. Shellshock this trip, Gio? Is he still mean as ever to the crew?

No, no, he was much better, but he's still strong and tough like anything.

And he's not afraid of nothing. Man, whale, mackerel, shark, nothing!

Look, Paulie, I gonna go now and talk to Mother Superior again.

Maybe she doesn't know how important you are, Gio.

Do you really tell her how important you are?

Well, sure I tell her.

Maybe if you tell her again, she'll break the rules.

Oh, Paulie, one does not pray for Mother Superior to break the rules.

Stretch a little bit, maybe, but not to break the rules. Look, I gonna go now.

You keep on practicing with the knots, okay?

Okay, Gio.

No, Gio, you may not see Mother today. She's very busy, and besides,

she told you herself, it's pointless.

But who else wants the boy? How long he was here? How long?

Who knows better than you?

Six years. Six years, and nobody wants him. Six years he don't even come close.

SISTER: There was that family last year. They almost took him.

You forget about them.

Oh, sure, that does Paulie a lot of good, that family last year that almost took him.

One little chance in six years, why? Because he's not pretty.

Because he's not strong enough to pull up the devil grass on some rich man's lawn

in Long Island. What about me?

I love him.

I love Paulie.

I'm sorry, Gio, it's not enough.

I told him there was no point in...

Please, please Mother. Please.

Very well. Come in.

Thank you.

GIO: Look, I just want to... MOTHER SUPERIOR: Gio.

You must stop all this. It's not good for the boy.

His head is spinning with dreams you've put there. Sea voyages, high adventure.

You can't go on lying to him. About yourself, Gio.

You're right, Mother. I'm gonna stop lying.

But tell me something, it's the will of God I don't have Paulie?

What God wills, Gio, will be.

The adoption board meet tomorrow, no?

Yes. Why do you mention it?

Let me talk to them.

Absolutely not! They'd think I was quite out of my mind to authorize such an appearance.

Just a chance, Mother, just a chance.

Apparently, Gio, there's no other way to discourage you.

Frankly, I've been trying to spare hurting you.

Just a chance, that's all.

Will you promise to abide by their decision?

For him...

[SPEAKING ITALIAN]

What do you mean, abide?

Do what they say. Agree to what they tell you.

Well, sure! I promise anything, anything they say!

Very well. The hearing's at 1:00. Here.

GIO: Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you!

BERT: When there's been a good fight card the previous night,

a fast worker like Gio can fish all the way from two dollars up to five,

working north on 8th Avenue from 47th.

Hey, can you imagine what it'd be like to fish up a silver dollar?

I never seen a whole dollar in silver.

A western guy showed me one once from Denver.

He says everybody in Denver got silver dollars!

That's a fisherman's paradise, no?

You know, maybe someday you and me and little Paulie, we take a trip there, huh?

You think you'll ever get the kid?

Well, sure. You think no?

Well, it's a couple of years now, you can't say they're begging you to take him.

Don't worry. They're gonna give him to me. And the hearing is today, 1:00.

Hey, you sure you tell the lieutenant I want to see him early this morning?

He said he'd look you up. He's okay. He says so, he will.

Yeah, but maybe he don't know where we work so early.

Cops know everything.

That's right!

Hiya, fishermen. How's luck?

Bad. All bad.

We wanna see you, Bobbo. Just you and us, family style.

Do you know what they hung on Ernie just because he tapped you on the head?

Laddie, tell him.

LADDIE: Six months.

Yeah.

Hey now, how about that? Six months for trying to beat a little sense into that

hard head of yours. Come on now, Bobbo, get up.

You leave Gio alone!

You wanna cut a piece of his troubles, big brain?

-You touch Shellshock... -Whoa, whoa, easy!

You won't do that, Bobbo.

-Yes I... -Tell him, Laddie.

-No, Bobbo, don't... -Yes!

Hey, look!

Well, uh, uh, we been having a nice run on the Lex side of Grand Central.

See you 'round.

There goes a lad should carry his own bondsman with him.

The only thing he doesn't know about assassination is how to spell it.

Lieutenant, what I don't tell you yesterday when you ask why I fish in the afternoon

and not just at night, a double shift, you know. I'm saving my money.

I can support Paulie all year 'round now.

Thought you gave all that up, Gio.

I want you to stand up for me, 1:00 this afternoon, you no forget!

Mother Superior says I can go before the board and ask for Paulie!

Mother Superior said that?

Oh, they listen to you! And you tell them Gio's a good man.

All right, Gio. Remember, she only said you could ask.

But the board...

Now, remember that today, okay?

Oh, man, the board, they smart people. Doctors, lawyers and priests.

And when I talk to them, they gonna understand. I'm no worried.

Gentlemen, this is Mr. Bartolo.

CHAIR: I think we can handle this pretty quickly. Where do you live, Mr. Bartolo?

I, I live at the Barnwell Hotel at 23rd Street.

Well, when I have a good night at the grates.

If I have a bad night, I sleep at the Mission House.

CHAIR: The rooms at the Barnwell are 50 cents a night, is that right?

That's right, that's right. They gone up, they used to be 40 cents.

CHAIR: Hardly the place for a child, would you say?

Oh, no! That's no place for boy. No, no, no.

A boy gotta have a place of his own.

The Barnwell Hotel, they don't even give you a towel with your room!

It's no place for boy.

Why do you want to adopt this particular boy out of all the boys in the world?

All my life, I want a little boy of my own.

Years ago, I had a wife, but she died.

When it was time for our baby to come, she died with the baby.

Was the will of God.

And then, each day was just,

another day.

I, I don't know what happened to all the years.

But three years ago, I came to try the grates.

One day I was walking down the street here by the orphanage,

and I look, and I see this little boy by the fence. He was looking out.

All of the other boys was playing, but not this boy.

He was just sitting by the fence, look through the fence. And I got a funny thought.

I said to myself, "Gio, this little boy is just like,

"like a penny at the bottom of the grate. You gotta fish him out."

CHAIR: Mr. Bartolo, how would you propose to support a child on your income?

I want to show you something. Mother, I gotta surprise for you. Look inside, please.

Nineteen hundred dollars.

Tell me, how many people in the world got $1,900 saved up, eh?

CHAIR: Not many.

That's right!

This, I pledge for Paulie. For his education. I want you to take and set up a fund.

And when he's ready, he go to the best college.

In the meantime, I work every day, and save up more money for him.

We're all aware of how much you love the boy, Gio.

But we, we don't see how you can spend the proper time with him.

[STAMMERING] Look, I go to work at 6:00 in the night,

and I work until pretty late, no? So all day long I can spend with Paulie.

I make his breakfast, I take him to school, I bring him his lunch,

and when school is over, I pick him up, and I take him back,

and I spend the whole afternoon!

And I help him study what he learned that day.

How many hours do other fathers spend with their kids? Not too many.

And why? Because they're too busy.

They all, they go to the office and they work all day,

and when they get through with the office, they rush home. I see them!

They rush, tired, bent over, and when they get home,

they gotta no time for the poor kids.

They just gotta time for drink, something to eat, the newspaper, the slippers,

that's all, and then they gotta go to sleep. But not me!

Not Gio!

I spend every day to teach Paulie how to hold his head up.

And to find something good for every day in his life.

What about nights, Mr. Bartolo? Who'll stay with him then?

My friend, Shellshock!

Mr. Bartolo, frankly, all of us are moved by your plea, but,

sentiment alone cannot change the balance in a decision of public responsibility.

It's my unpleasant duty to tell you that

we cannot possibly consider your application.

You may not have the boy.

I'm sorry.

Thank you.

[CLEARS THROAT]

May I say something?

PAULIE: They said no.

It's no good, Paulie.

In there, I told them I was honest man, but I not been honest with you.

Everything I said about the Grand Banks, the fishing fleet,

the storm on the Atlantic, it's not true. It's not true.

Look, you see that man there? That's Shellshock.

He's no big, strong first mate, he's just my friend.

And I'm afraid of boats. Even if I get a little rowboat in Central Park, I get sick.

I'm just a bum, Paulie.

[WEEPING] I'm a sidewalk fisherman, that's all.

I fish for pennies, nickels, dimes, sometimes if I'm lucky, quarters.

But you're still a fisherman, Gio. What do I care what you fish for?

Honest, Gio, I don't care. I don't care, I don't care!

I'll go now.

When are you coming back, Gio?

I never gonna lie to you again, Paulie. Never.

I'll come back.

I'll come back.

BERT: In the Naked City, there are such ordered steps in the lives of every man

that even dying has become routine, and, of course, bathing.

To men who sleep wherever they can,

whose luggage consists of yesterday's newspaper wrapped around a razor blade and

a bar of soap and a toothbrush, to men like Shellshock and Gio,

the Public Bath on Allen Street is a place to go at a certain time each week.

A place of refuge and repair. As though the plunging water of the free shower

could even wash away despair.

Gio?

[WHISTLING]

Gio?

How's about that, now? A clean bum!

How's that read, that sign they got down at the Mission?

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness."

Yeah, yeah, that's it. Ain't that an old proverb?

Sounds like an old proverb to me if you say so, Jocko.

And so how's about you, big brain, what you say it sounds like?

Gio!

Hey, Gio.

[GIO CRYING IN PAIN]

Feel all clean now, right Laddie?

Real clean.

They did it, they killed Gio!

They all got knives, them boys. They all got knives, you hear?

They'll kill you like they killed Gio!

Nobody's gonna get killed, now will you stop with it already?

-You run this place? -Yes, sir.

-Call the precinct. -Yes, sir, I will.

Uh, the officer, he's inside there!

Three of them back in there. Supposed to have knives.

Frank, see what they done to that old man.

Come with me.

Jocko, we know you're in there.

Now, why not make it easy for us, okay?

I guess we're not supposed to do that, huh?

I ain't good public relations.

Gio, I've been looking for you.

Gio, the board at the St. Francis Orphanage is a group of fine, learned men.

Men like yourself, I'd say. So, after you left, they took another look at things,

and I had a word or two with them. That offer you made for Paulie's education?

They like it, Gio. They like it so well, they've accepted.

Accept?

And a trust fund's been set up so that when the time comes, the lad may go to college.

College?

And something else was decided. Every Sunday, after Mass,

they'll let Paulie visit with you outside the orphanage.

And you don't have to bring him back till 6:00.

6:00.

You start this Sunday, if you wish.

I'll go tell Paulie! I'll get my clothes.

BERT: Each person finds his own meaning in the Naked City.

A police lieutenant, a young detective, an orphan boy,

even a sidewalk fisherman. He does what he can about it, and what he must.

There are eight million stories in the Naked City.

This has been one of them.