Robert Forster credited as playing...
Detective Slatten
- [Marvin is in the hospital after being shot]
- Gracie Bookman: Marvin Bookman you're a damn fool.
- Lisa Bookman: You just lie still, Pop, and don't pay any attention to her.
- [John enters the room]
- John Bookman: Hello, Moms. How is he?
- Gracie Bookman: He was shot in the shoulder, but the doctor said he'd live.
- John Bookman: And how are you holding up?
- Gracie Bookman: I'm doin' fine now.
- [Hugs his sister]
- John Bookman: Sis.
- Marvin Bookman: Come here, John.
- John Bookman: How you doin, Pops?
- Marvin Bookman: Well, not goin' into the store today.
- John Bookman: I should have made you leave here a long time ago.
- Lisa Bookman: Made him? When's the last time anybody made him do anything?
- John Bookman: Pops, this place is just not...
- Marvin Bookman: This place was a good place. I come here with nothin', got a job US Steel.
- John Bookman: Yeah, yeah, I remember. The day the war ended you quit the mill with 9,500 in the bank.
- Marvin Bookman: Married your mother, bought the store. If I'd stayed in the mill I might've made foreman, but I'd be out of work by now. Maybe living on the streets like some of my friends. People work all their lives and wind up sleepin' in a cardboard box in a doorway. Is it any wonder these kids today don't want to work? They don't even want to live to grow old.
- John Bookman: I'm gonna get you out of here, so this can never happen to you again.
- Marvin Bookman: You should come back more. Your mother misses you.
- John Bookman: Yeah. Get some rest, okay? I got a friend in L.A. she's lookin' for an apartment close to me.
- Gracie Bookman: What are you talkin' about?
- John Bookman: You and Pops can't stay here anymore.
- Gracie Bookman: Well, you're just like them. Always trying to tell us what to do.
- John Bookman: But there ain't nothing here, Mom. You're living in the past.
- Gracie Bookman: My Johnny wouldn't talk like that.
- John Bookman: Come on, Mom, let's talk about this over a cup of coffee, okay?
- Gracie Bookman: All right.
- John Bookman: Good.
- [to his sister]
- John Bookman: Let me borrow your car.
- [They go outside where the detective is waiting]
- Detective Slatten: Mrs. Bookman.
- Gracie Bookman: Oh, stay the hell away from me. My husband had to go and do the right thing. Where were you? You knew what those animals could do.
- Detective Slatten: Mistakes were made. We got there too late.
- Gracie Bookman: Marvin made the mistake. Trusting you people.
- Detective Slatten: I know you won't believe this, but I'm gonna find the one that did this to your husband.
- Gracie Bookman: Oh, you're just a waste of time.
- Detective Slatten: [shows a picture of a dead body] Is this the man that shot you? We found him today.
- Marvin Bookman: That's him. He said he was God. But he couldn't bring himself to kill me.
- Detective Slatten: And the gun checks out. Looks like you win this one, coach.
- John Bookman: No, no, not yet.
- Detective Slatten: You got what you negotiated for. They gave you this kid Bobby. Law of the jungle, life for a life.
- John Bookman: Suppose I want more. Suppose I want all of them. Damien and Spyro included.
- Detective Slatten: I'd walk away a winner if I were you, coach. They made the gesture. I'd say accept it and walk away.
- John Bookman: The kid was murdered. Executed. Doesn't that bother you?
- Detective Slatten: We couldn't do better than that.
- Detective Waits: Bookman, you got a conviction, a sentence and an execution. What is your problem?
- John Bookman: My problem is you're in my father's room. You want to get out?
- Marvin Bookman: It's unreal. We practically raised that boy's mother. These are good people. It's a damn tragedy.
- Detective Waits: Do you know if he was in a gang?
- Marvin Bookman: Oh, not Kenny Thompson! Marcus, was Kenny in some kind of trouble with the gangs?
- Marcus: I don't know.
- Detective Slatten: Guess it would be a waste of time to ask whether you saw anything?
- Marvin Bookman: Why do you say that?
- Detective Slatten: Nobody ever sees anything around here. They bury their dead and nobody ever sees anything.
- Marvin Bookman: Is that so?
- Gracie Bookman: Marvin.
- Marvin Bookman: I'm talkin' to this detective.
- Detective Slatten: So talk to me. Anything you say is between us. Nobody else has to know.
- Marvin Bookman: Suppose I didn't see the gunmen, but I did get the license number of the car. Blue coupe. Broken right tail light.
- Detective Slatten: Looks to me like you had in mind to give me this.
- Marvin Bookman: These are good people. The boy's mother, she's never been in any trouble. She runs the beauty parlor across the street there.
- [the detectives leave]
- Gracie Bookman: Was that the smart thing to do, Mr. Bookman?
- Marvin Bookman: Probably not, Mrs. Bookman. You think I was wrong?
- Gracie Bookman: It's got to be you, doesn't it, Marvin?
- Marvin Bookman: Finally, it's got to be me. And you know something? I feel damn good about it.
- [Marcus gets angry]
- Marvin Bookman: Now, son, don't go tryin' to get your own justice. It just ain't right.
- Marcus: Yeah, we'll see.
- [he leaves]
- Gracie Bookman: Well, aren't you going after him?
- Marvin Bookman: And do what, honey? Lock him up until he cools down? He's a good kid, he'll come to his senses. He just needs a little time.