MAN: Need something, officer?
OFFICER: Exercise.
We just gotta bring money.
This isn't the time to lose your nerve.
Welcome, new recruits.
Just happy to be here, you know? America, man.
(GRUNTING)
AH SAHM: So, the new guy's crazy?
We can work with crazy.
MAN 2: It's just a map.
With all the factories that hire coolie labor circled.
Not something you want the wrong person to see.
And are you the wrong person?
MAI LING: The next time you go against another Tong
without consulting me,
I'll consider you in breach of our agreement.
I don't want Zing anywhere near my shop.
Be thankful for your pain, Chao. It means you're still alive.
Dad?
Whatever he wants, I'll do it.
(GRUNTING)
(YELLING)
(GUNSHOT)
(PANTING)
[engine revs]
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[shutters banging]
♪ ♪
[wheels clattering]
- Christ. Everyone all right?
- Scared, but alive. You alone?
- The boys are on their way. - Let's go, lads.
You'll be safe at your sister's for a while
till I get this sorted.
[grunts]
Hey, boy, come here.
Good lad. Here you go.
You'll be okay, love.
I promise.
- They came to our home, Bill.
Why would they do that? - I don't know,
but none of that matters now.
The kids--they need you.
You understand? They need you strong.
- You're right.
We need to leave.
We need to get as far from you as possible.
- Hey, hey-- - Don't.
You did this.
You brought this here
to our children.
[baby fusses]
I just killed a man.
- Lucy--
- You made me a murderer.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- Hey.
♪ ♪
Hey, Ethan, come here.
Come here.
Hey, you take care of your ma, yeah?
- Yeah. - Yeah?
And your brothers and sisters.
Okay.
♪ ♪
Be a good boy.
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
Hey, don't...
- I've got him, Dad.
♪ ♪
- I'll send for you.
- Don't.
- Don't stop, not for anything.
- Hiyah!
♪ ♪
- I thought you quit gambling.
- I did.
- Then why were the Fung Hai here?
- [breathes heavily]
The fuck are you looking at?
- Yeah, it's one thing to start a fight in Chinatown,
but here, it doesn't make any sense.
- Do I look like a chink mind reader?
I don't know what the fuck they were thinking.
- You're lying to me,
and we both know it.
But even if you didn't owe me the truth,
which God knows you do,
we just killed three of their men.
They're gonna keep coming.
If this is about money, then maybe I can help you out.
- I was working for them.
- Working for who?
- The Fung Hai.
[dramatic music]
Collecting.
♪ ♪
They had me by the fucking balls.
I couldn't...
They threatened my family.
I had to protect them.
♪ ♪
- H-how long has this been going on?
- I don't know.
A couple of months.
♪ ♪
- The night they attacked me...
♪ ♪
- They were sending me a message.
Listen--
fuck.
♪ ♪
Lee.
Hey!
♪ ♪
- [panting]
You get away from me!
♪ ♪
[dramatic spaghetti western music]
♪ ♪
[blade swishes]
[ragtime piano music playing]
♪ ♪
- So what do you think?
- I think maybe we made a wrong turn somewhere.
- Hey, watch it!
♪ ♪
- So why are we here, exactly?
- You hounded my sister for weeks
for permission to call on me, didn't you?
- Yes, of course, but-- - So this is where I want
to go. [glass breaks]
- All right. - You gonna buy me a drink
or not?
♪ ♪
Two beers!
♪ ♪
So, um...
Penny tells me you were quite the athlete.
- There you are. - Played rugby at Yale.
Full back. - Ooh.
Kind of a vicious game, isn't it?
- Yeah, well, like my coach always said,
if you don't see blood, you didn't come to play.
- [laughs]
And your father?
Wasn't he worried you'd ruin that pretty face of yours?
- Well, it might surprise you to learn
I don't do everything my father says.
- That would surprise me.
Cheers.
♪ ♪
- [coughs]
You're a very unusual woman.
- So tell me, Spencer,
do you still enjoy the sight of blood?
- [laughs]
[fighters grunting]
- Isn't there some kind of referee?
- God, no. Where's the fun in that?
- Well, how do they know when it's over?
- Ooh! [grunts]
It's over.
[crowd cheering]
- Miss Mercer? Back so soon?
- I was thirsty.
And my date was hoping to go a few rounds in the ring.
- She's joking, of course.
Uh, Spencer Thornhill.
Pleased to meet you.
- Dylan Leary.
You a fan of the fights, then?
- I enjoy a good bout.
Without rules, it's not really a sport, is it?
- I don't know.
You get rid of those rules,
you wind up with something more honest,
like nature intended,
and find out what kind of a man you are,
or if you're even a man at all.
- I suppose. I mean, I hadn't really con--
- Tell me, Mr. Thornhill,
do you ever know the sweet pain
of slamming your knuckles against another man's skull,
feeling the warm wetness of his blood
running down your fist?
Because I tell you what.
You could spend your whole life fucking
and not know a pleasure like that.
- It's getting late.
We should go.
- I'll stay a while, if it's all the same to you.
- I should see you home.
- Don't worry, I can find my own way back.
- I'm sure you can.
[smacking and grunting]
[moody guitar music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
♪ ♪
[both panting]
- Everyone needs clean clothes,
and the location we've chosen off Clay Street
would be the first business encountered by ducks
coming north from Portsmouth Square.
- And my loan of...
- $300.
- Would do what exactly?
- Help us buy supplies, hire employees.
I mean, given the business we anticipate,
we'll need to work in shifts to keep up.
- It seems you've thought of everything.
I'll give you $1,000.
[uneasy music]
♪ ♪
- That's more than generous, Mai Ling,
but we don't need that much.
- And I don't need a one-time interest payment
on an insignificant loan.
My $1,000 is an investment,
and in exchange for 40% of your monthly revenue,
you'll receive protection,
a guarantee that no harm will come to your business,
as well as the opportunity to expand operations
when the time is right.
- We were just asking for a small advance.
- And instead, you got a partner.
I'd say that's quite a result.
My men will make arrangements.
Congratulations on the new venture.
♪ ♪
- I told Liu Wei we could give him a loan...
not a buyout.
- The more legitimate businesses we own,
the less risk we expose ourselves to.
- We are warriors,
not washers.
- We are whatever we need to be to survive.
One day, the duck government
may decide to put an end to the tongs,
and if all of our eggs are in this basket,
we'll be left with nothing.
I've had nothing before,
and I've sacrificed too much
to ever have nothing again.
♪ ♪
- They attack Big Bill in his own fucking home.
If we don't answer in kind,
none of us who wear the blue is safe.
[policemen muttering angrily]
We go in like thunder,
and we don't stop
until every one of those slant-eyed fucks
is coughing blood.
[policemen chattering]
- Pardon, Bill,
but that fancy little fucker, Chao, is at your desk.
Says it's important.
♪ ♪
- Chao, this is not a good time.
- Sergeant, I hear about Fung Hai.
Your family, they are safe?
- I doubt you came all the way down here
to check on my kids, Chao. What do you want?
- You cannot attack Fung Hai, not today.
- And why the fuck not?
- They expect attack.
Also, you want Zing. He not there.
- Then where the fuck is he?
This is not the day to play games with me, Chao.
If you have something to say, say it.
- You look for swordsman.
Zing.
Maybe he is this swordsman.
- Is he?
- Good for you if he is, no?
- Hmm.
[quiet string music]
Good for you too, I imagine.
- Good for everyone.
- Saying it and proving it are two different things.
- Let Chao handle proof. Two days.
I send you word. You come with police.
- Two days?
I'll be lucky if I can get them to wait for two hours.
They want blood, and so do I.
- You'll get your blood. Two days.
Then you'll also get your swordsman.
- And what do you get out of it?
- All my weapons.
Everything your police take.
- We'll talk about that if you deliver.
- No talk.
Weapons now,
or no Zing.
I take big risk, Bill.
I need to know you be there.
♪ ♪
Do we have deal or not?
[gentle guitar music]
♪ ♪
- Here, thought you might be hungry.
- Ravenous. Someone kept me up all night.
So, um...
why haven't you targeted my sister's factory?
Is it because of me?
- You have a mighty high opinion of yourself.
- I think just high enough.
- Let me tell you something about me, then,
as long as we're sharing.
If I let my feelings get in the way
of what needs doing,
I'd be rotting in a grave back in Ireland.
- You didn't answer my question.
- Word is, your sister has chink gangsters
guarding her place.
There are plenty other targets that won't cost me men,
but don't you worry.
As long as she continues to feed this plague,
Mercer Steel is on the list.
- You could just say you like me, you know.
Thanks for breakfast.
- Hey, Hong...
Is it true, what they say about duck dick?
Long, white, skinny like a chicken leg.
[laughs]
- Any cock would look long
next to your little knob, Shan.
- Yeah?
I bet you'd still suck it, though.
- You seem very interested in cock, Shan.
- What?
- Just saying.
- Shut the fuck up, Hong.
- So Hong likes cock, huh?
- Oh, yeah,
in every fucking hole.
[laughter]
- He's like a swordfighter!
[laughter]
You fuck with him,
you're fucking with me,
and it would be a very bad idea
to fuck with me.
Get me?
That goes for all you salty fucks.
- What the fuck is going on here?
- Breakfast.
- We know which tong it was,
and we're planning an appropriate response,
by which I mean we're gonna wipe them
off the goddamn map.
- Yes, of course.
This sort of violence cannot be tolerated.
[door clatters open]
Sergeant...O'Hara,
the chief was just filling us in
on the details of your assault.
Thank God you're okay.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
- Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
- Are your men ready?
- I gave the order to stand down.
I just got word from an informant
that the Fung Hai are expecting retaliation.
We'd be walking into a fucking trap.
- We won't be intimidated by a pack of goddamn chinks.
We're the San Francisco Police, for fuck's sake.
- With all due respect, sir,
you don't know this tong like I do.
They're happy to die
as long as they take a few of us with them.
- Any hesitation will be seen as weakness
on the part of this administration.
Think of the headlines.
- I'm thinking of my men and their families.
What will your damn headlines say
when we lose ten cops?
We wait a couple of days.
The Fung Hai will lower their guard.
Then we go in hard and clean house.
- I see.
Well, you're our man in Chinatown.
I assume you know best.
Keep us posted as the situation develops,
Sergeant.
- You're gonna have to address this.
- I just did.
- I mean with your constituents.
The ranking officer of the Chinatown squad
was attacked in his own home.
How you react now
will define your tenure as mayor.
There's no political upside to standing by the Chinese,
not anymore.
- Jesus Christ.
What a mess.
- Between you and me,
Senator Crestwood is growing concerned
with your soft position on this issue.
He knows about your wife's factory,
and when he finds out about this...
- How does the senator know about my wife?
God damn you, Buckley.
- I felt the need to tell him
before he found out on his own, for your sake.
- [laughs]
- He already staked his position.
If you don't follow suit,
he'll almost certainly back a candidate who does.
[tense music]
You're just a few months away from the election.
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Ah Toy.
♪ ♪
I've heard so much about you.
It feels like we've already met.
- I've heard a lot about you, too, Mai Ling.
- Then you do know who I am.
- Of course.
Everyone does.
- Most of them offer a greeting when they see me.
Everyone but you.
Have I offended you somehow?
Or maybe you just think you're better than me.
- Of course not.
I was distracted by the exhibition.
Please accept my deepest apologies.
I meant no disrespect.
- I'm relieved to hear it.
Enjoy your day.
- An attack on one of our policemen,
in his own home, no less,
is an attack on all of us,
an attack on law and order itself.
For too long, the Chinese have taken advantage
of our goodwill.
For too long, they've flouted our laws
and endangered our children.
I have long championed
the economic advantages of immigration,
but the simple fact is,
the citizens of San Francisco must come first.
Americans must come first,
which is why I'm conducting a thorough review
of the city's labor laws
to insist on proper and comprehensive enforcement
and to ensure that we put good American men
back to work.
Thank you, gentlemen. [reporters clamoring]
- You don't trust me?
- You drive a hard bargain.
I just want to make sure you're not still negotiating.
- Your men earned it.
There haven't been any more attacks.
In fact, Leary's thugs haven't shown their faces
since you started.
So...
How are you these days?
- Uh, you know, same old shit.
- I wasn't sure you'd ever fully recover
after that fight.
Is this really what you want to be doing?
- Not forever.
I've got bigger plans.
- Really?
Like what?
- Building something for myself,
same as you.
- You haven't changed at all.
- You have.
But you're still you.
[tender music]
♪ ♪
[door opens]
- Mrs. Blake.
Oh, sorry.
I didn't know you had company.
- That's perfectly all right.
This gentleman is from
the Chinese Business Association.
He helped to provide the security
that's been protecting our workers.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thank you for you pay.
Goodbye.
- Yes, goodbye.
[moody music]
♪ ♪
- Stay here.
♪ ♪
You get around, don't you, chink?
One day, you're a coolie, the next, a hatchet man.
- America:
land of opportunity.
- For Americans.
You'll never fucking be one.
The sad thing is,
you chinks don't see it.
It doesn't matter what fancy fucking suits you wear,
or even if you can speak English.
You don't belong here.
Your kind never will.
- Okay. Good talk.
- But if you keep taking our jobs--
- Do I look like I want your fucking job?
[dramatic musical tone]
If you're so damn American...
[tense music]
Maybe you should ask your people
why they keep fucking you over to hire us.
[dramatic western music]
♪ ♪
Maybe it's you that doesn't belong here.
♪ ♪
[hatchets ring]
♪ ♪
Come on.
You know you want to.
♪ ♪
- What's your name?
- Ah Sahm.
- You and me,
we have some unfinished business,
Ah Sahm.
- Well, when you're ready,
come and find me.
I'll be the chink in the fancy fucking suit.
♪ ♪
[uneasy music]
♪ ♪
- Miss Davenport.
- I was surprised to hear from you so soon.
Is this our girl?
- Pai Lin.
[speaking Cantonese]
She wish to leave with you.
- [speaking Cantonese]
Why the change of heart?
- No change.
I told you,
I force no one.
My girls only stay if they choose.
- Because they believe there is nothing better
out there for them.
- Because I take care of them.
[speaking Cantonese]
What?
- I wish I understood you better.
- I wish too.
- One day, maybe.
- Where you take her?
- I have some land in Sonoma, a vineyard.
- You make her work?
- It's not what you imagine.
The girls work the land they live on
so they can build something of their own,
so they can find a connection with this place.
It's not perfect, but it's honest.
Why don't you come with us?
- Come to...Sonoma?
- Yes.
So you can see it for yourself.
- We open soon.
Too much work.
- Tomorrow morning, then.
Please?
[speaking Cantonese]
- I hear you gave quite the statement today.
- It was well received.
I expect Senator Crestwood and the labor movement
will announce their support for my reelection imminently.
- Meanwhile, you've alienated the industrialists
who backed your first campaign.
How do you suppose they'll respond?
- They'll adapt,
just like the rest of us.
- Or they might say you've broken your promise
to your constituents,
lied, even,
and call for your head.
- And you,
who were so concerned
with the dignity of the Chinese immigrant,
now exploits him for cheap labor.
- I'm not looking for a fight, Samuel.
- [chuckles]
- I'm trying to warn you.
Merriweather and his cronies
have been talking about fielding a new candidate,
someone who they feel
can navigate these issues in their favor.
- And they've sent you to work on me.
- Nobody sent me.
- You think because you're running a factory,
you're suddenly a baron?
Do you know what they see when they look at you?
A deluded woman
who inherited a company that functions
only because her husband is the mayor.
- You bastard.
I can run that company as well as any man.
- We'll soon find out.
I'm pulling the cable car contract.
As of this moment, Mercer Steel will conduct no business
with the City of San Francisco.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
Go run your company now, dear.
♪ ♪
- You can't do that.
- What I can't do is have a wife
who contradicts my policies.
I just took a strong position against the Chinese,
and I intend to stand by it.
- No, I mean you actually can't do that.
Have you even read the contract?
Any cancelation of signed purchase orders
will not only leave you responsible
for payment in full,
it will incur penalties as well.
It will cost you more to pull my contract
than to see it through.
♪ ♪
- You sought legal counsel.
- Yes.
Perhaps you should do the same.
♪ ♪
- Why's that?
- To protect your interests.
One never knows what kind of evidence might come to light
in a public lawsuit,
what other kinds of Chinese labor
the mayor may be exploiting in his free time.
♪ ♪
- Trouble in paradise?
- Where have you been?
Spencer Thornhill sent his regards this morning.
- Ah. - Apparently, he saw you off
rather early last night.
What on Earth were you thinking,
dragging him to The Banshee Pub?
- I was thinking a few stiff drinks
might make him more tolerable.
- The Banshee is no place for a girl like you.
- [scoffs]
And what kind of girl is that?
- Sophie.
- Do you think you're better than the Irish?
Is that why you won't hire them at the factory?
- Of course not.
I can't afford them.
- There is enough marble in this house
to pay for hundreds of American workers.
- This is Samuel's house.
Everything you see here is his,
not mine, not yours.
You and I have nothing without that factory.
- I never asked you to run Daddy's business,
just as I never asked you
to marry that walrus! - Lower your voice.
- You two deserve each other.
You know that?
You sit here in this ivory tower
talking about poor people
like they're a different species.
Yeah, you make your sympathetic noises,
but you don't really care about them,
only what they can do for you.
- You entitled little bitch.
You've never worked a day in your life,
never finished a single thing you started.
Who are you helping?
How are you making the world a better place,
other than offering your unsolicited judgment
to those of us who are actually trying?
You have the nerve to look down your nose at me.
You do nothing.
You contribute nothing!
[uneasy music]
- [scoffs]
♪ ♪
- Yes, go...
to The Banshee Pub,
or wherever it is you spend your nights
feeling so goddamn superior.
♪ ♪
[door clanks] - Nichols!
You're sprung. [bangs on door]
- By who?
Well, if it isn't my guardian angel.
I suppose I should say thanks.
- I was concerned
when you didn't show up to our meeting.
- I had a small misunderstanding
with a rather large man.
I don't recall what the argument was about,
but the good news is,
I'm pretty sure I made my point.
- Is this something I can expect often?
Bailing you out?
- Well, define "often."
- I hired you to do a job.
- [laughs] A job no detective worth a shit
would even consider.
Something tells me you hired a drunk with debts
for a reason.
- Maybe it's because
no one would miss you if you disappeared.
- That's not true.
The people I owe money would miss me plenty.
- If you can't deliver,
I'll need to make other arrangements.
♪ ♪
- Your man Buckley is no fool.
He covers his tracks.
But I'm working an angle,
just need a little more time.
- And money, I'm guessing.
- Gonna need to take a little trip,
make sure this thing pans out.
- What is it?
- Apparently, there's a photograph,
and if it's what they say it is,
it'll be money well spent.
♪ ♪
- I'll drop you at the train station.
- Sophie, I'm busy now. - I know.
I can help.
- Give us a minute.
[indistinct chatter]
What are you doing here?
- There is a back entrance to my father's factory.
- I told you,
Mercer Steel isn't our first choice.
- It's a small supply tunnel.
The guards won't be watching it
because they don't know about it.
We can go in that way.
- What's this "we" business?
- It's my plan.
I'm coming with you.
- We'll check out the tunnel.
- You don't have to check it out.
I know where it is.
We can go tonight.
- Do you always get your way
making demands like God on high?
- Not every time, but I play the odds.
- Ah.
Listen.
I can see you're going through something,
but turning against your own people--
that's no small thing.
You'll pay a price for it.
- So because I'm not Irish,
I can't fight for what's right?
- Are you sure you're not Irish?
Okay.
Tell me about this tunnel.
[hubbub]
- Cheers.
[gentle music playing]
♪ ♪
- Officer Lee, it's good to see you.
Is this a business matter?
- Uh, no, ma'am.
Nothing official.
- Very good.
We have all kind of girl here.
Take very good care of you.
- I'm...
I'm not here for that.
♪ ♪
- You have pain?
- Yes.
- You come with me.
♪ ♪
[quiet music]
♪ ♪
- Sit down, please.
♪ ♪
- Don't worry, Officer.
You're safe here.
We take pain away.
♪ ♪
- I didn't know the cop went for the sweet stuff.
He a regular?
- Not yet.
What are we celebrating?
- I'm about to do something
incredibly stupid.
- Congratulations.
[glasses clink]
Need me to talk you out of it?
- Actually, I need your help.
- You're right.
This is stupid.
Zing will know it was you.
- I want him to.
- Chao-- - Zing will be dead or worse
when the bulls are through with him.
- And then what?
We all go back to business as usual?
- I'm doing you a favor. I thought you'd see that.
- Is it really a favor
if it's designed to benefit you too?
- That's the best kind.
And in return, I'd ask one of you.
- Why am I not surprised?
- It's not for me.
It's something I should've done a long time ago.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
[man laughing]
♪ ♪
- Hannah?
♪ ♪
- Go!
♪ ♪
- I used to play in these tunnels as a girl.
My father hated it.
- How much further?
- There's a staircase up ahead.
That leads to a storeroom
just off the factory floor.
- How do you know the chinks won't be watching?
- Because there's nothing there to watch.
- All right, every 100 feet, yeah?
If you see the chinks coming, you cut bait, and you run.
- Right.
[grunts] - Fuck!
[dramatic music]
[men yelling]
♪ ♪
- You all right?
- I think so.
- Good girl. - Look out!
♪ ♪
[bone crunches, man screams]
[meaty thuds]
♪ ♪
- All right, come here.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
You and Dax need to get out of here.
Do you understand? We don't have much time.
Okay?
Sophie, are you listening?
- What about him?
♪ ♪
- He's gone.
He's gone.
I'll be right behind you, okay?
All right?
Okay. Go, go, go, go.
Go. Hey, come on.
Quick.
Go, go. Quick.
[panting]
[grunts]
♪ ♪
[roars]
♪ ♪
Run!
♪ ♪
[yells]
[explosion]
♪ ♪
[explosions]
[high-pitched ringing]
[muffled] Sophie! You all right?
Sophie! Sophie!
Are you all right? Sophie?
[melancholy music]
♪ ♪
- [breathes raggedly]
♪ ♪
[man rapping in Cantonese]
♪ ♪
[engine revs]
MAN: Be grateful for you pain...
it means you're still alive.
It's very possible I'm going to scream.
I'm not gonna kill you.
I'm just gonna destroy everything you care about.
So, we're finally gonna find out who's better.
I never really wondered.
MAN 2: Tonight's the night, boys.
We show these bastards what happens
when you fuck with San Francisco cops!
This city is gonna burn.