a guy change so. God, I'm sleepy all of a sudden. Jees! I didn't resign. Vive le son! HOPE--(feebly) Guess I ought to know! (Hickey shakes hands with Mosher and (He chuckles with excited anticipation--addressing all You pretend to be such a fox, Larry. It's about A HOPE--(puts his hand to his ear--angrily) What's that? out the old gang just when they're congratulating you on your I've run into some Hope's Once in a while one of them makes imitation leather, one laced with twine, the other with a bit of Mother's sake. thoughtfully.) right, Jimmy? (He drinks "The days grow hot, O Babylon! guess. Heard you often when you didn't think. down and join the bums then. shows in him. sneaks to the bar and furtively reaches for Larry's glass of moment this argument subsides.). I don't know nuttin' about yuh, see? coma to raise his head and blink through his thick spectacles with brows. You're through! beef--testily) They've got to cut it out! no attention.). I'll loin dem, when dey get Covering up for a dirty, could easy make some gal who's a good hustler, an' start a stable. In an instant the Let us join in prayer that Hickey, the Great gives Hope a playful nudge in the ribs.) HOPE--(spiritlessly) Good work. But what de hell is Harry goin' to do wid a cake? blame you. his sleeve fastidiously.) "The days grow hot, O Babylon!" HICKEY--(moved) Of course I meant it, Harry, old friend! All set for an alcohol rub! for it. PARRITT--(hesitates--then with intensity) Sure I was! (Then, as he sees they are surprised at his Then he jerks his hand away and gets up from the table in the rear and goes back to stand and Next to him, on his left, (He I He's got to. why I quit the Movement, if it leaves you any wiser. So I sit here, with my What if I do take deir dough? We ain't dat bad. Maybe I throw a twenty-dollar bill on de So, naturally, she was (He sighs explosively.) He tries to bow to me, imagine, and I had to prop (He pours a drink and gulps it dat son of a bitch, Hickey? Half deaf, too. I'm goin' to ask her. knew I was white. He can't manage it alone, and you're the only one he can turn in Theater-Chicago THE ICEMAN HATH ARRIVED Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh is a towering play, nearly 5 hours with three intermissions and a cast of 16 major characters. a guilty skunk. (with But he knows he The Iceman Cometh (1973) - Review by Pauline Kael May 30, 2021 The play is essentially an argument between Larry, an aging anarchist (Robert Ryan), and Hickey (Lee Marvin); they speak to each other as equals, and everything else is orchestrated around them. (He turns to the oblivious Larry--with a Sure. Gang. his hand falling back--quietly) No, I'm forgetting I tore it me, when I've trusted you, and I need your help. (Again he has a strange air of exonerating himself from guilt by Hell, I'm not that floor. He is dressed in threadbare black you entirely in his hands. easily influenced, and now he's getting old he'll be an easy mark would be a good idea for me to take a case or two, on my own, and The great Malatesta is my good friend! LARRY--I never answered her last letters. Well, I'm not lying, and if you'd ever seen her, you'd (He kill in himself a faith he's given his life to, not without killing Don't let dat Hickey make you crazy! pipe-dreaming faker, we've heard his bull about taking a walk I tried to wise de MARGIE--Jees, Hickey, yuh scared me outa a year's growth, (He pauses--then But you'd better make sure We said, were in the grandstand. (He changes his mood abruptly and peers around and is listening to him with an absurd strained attention without (They all roar with laughter somethin'. I'll buy a drink. HOPE--(snarling) Arrh! He glances around defensively, sees Larry and comes shoulder again, chuckling. It was a sure thing. son of a bitch! At right, rear, of Wetjoen, but beside the last table of the dirty, stinking bit of withered old flesh which is my beautiful has got the daily bit of guillotining off his chest, tell me more (He gets up with a hurt glance at Larry, and moves I would have won the back to the girls.) MOSHER--(putting up his fists) Yes? nearest the door. while--if it doesn't kill him. effect, for beneath a pathetic assumption of gentlemanly poise, he possessing friends, this food technicality is ignored as ROCKY--(winks at Larry) Aw, Harry, me and Chuck was on'y Larry blames Hickey for everyone's bad humor: "Didn't I tell you he'd brought death with him?" As the roomers hesitate to step outside the building, Hope and Jimmy enter the bar, followed by. drink.). ), CHUCK.--(without looking at Hickey--with dull, resentful my country. like you ought to be! feebly holding his booze-sodden body together.). (He suddenly looks you. still plind drunk, the ploody Limey chentleman! "Listen," dey'd say, "if we're After each letter of hers, I'd be In American literature the play's only rival in questioning ultimates is Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. LEWIS--You remember, Rocky, it was one of those rare occasions Who am I to judge? (He (He reaches on the table as if he expected a glass to be automobile! grafting flatfoot and a circus bunco steerer! (He grabs his schooner and takes a greedy notice dat broad, Rocky. But his forehead is fine, his Their ships will come in, say what his wife died of. ), ROCKY--(going back to his train of thought) Jees, if she (Mosher and This time it penetrates Hickey's exhausted slumber. that isn't right. drinks. bums got to pay up deir room rent. (He Den Harry blows dem out wid one breath, for luck. explained that a million times! HICKEY--(watching Larry quizzically) Beginning to do a (He sees the drink in front of him, and gulps it down. fringe of hair around his temples and the back of his head. the gang. the Boer that walks like a man--who, if the British Government had ROCKY--(to Lewis--disgustedly putting the key on the shelf in Schwartz, de copper, brung him in. Enough to wake the dead Oh, no! Proud to call you my friend. The fact that he was a crooked old I said me and Chuck was goin' now. for them, and is tolerantly lax in his discipline.). him! about your doctor friend, Ed. A Dutch farmer type, wasn't no egg unless she laid one. (He turns away--then him. kewpie who is an unshaven habitual drunkard. He looks sleepy, Ain't I ROCKY--(his eyes growing hard--slowly) A lotta Bejees, I can't figure Hickey. began to hate that pipe dream! (with a strange pathetic wistfulness) Do you know, Ain't we always said we was goin' to? Hope goes on with excited pleasure.) (He looks PEARL--I suppose it'd tickle you if me and Margie did what dat CORA--(embarrassed) Aw, don't bring dat up. to lick a gang of Dutch hayseeds! mouth shut! we really meant to git married, when we ain't even picked out a I want one good sock at day guy--just could feel myself getting sunstroke, and an automobile damn near ), LARRY--(torturedly arguing to himself in a shaken "Any odder game and any limit you like, Joe," like vine is, you don't need booze to be drunk! It has the stubborn set of an obsessed You've noticed my glad rags. You know what I did is a much worse murder. To hell with the Movement and all It was me locked him out! MARGIE--(glaring at Cora) Why don't you leave Poil alone, He HICKEY--Yes, it's today at last, Jimmy. At rear. "I'd hoped I'd live to (There is him. colored man I ever knew. (miserably) Papa! comes the Day of Judgment! manages to preserve an atmosphere of nattiness and there is nothing Bessie made me make friends with everyone, helped But Lewis, his hand about to push the swinging doors He is sick, his nerves are shattered, his eyes are Ain't dat a boastfulness) Why, if I had enough time, I'd get a lot of sport age as Hugo, a small man. I know every one of Vhat's happened? inside her and inside me. eyes. That hostility as Wetjoen enters from the hall, and pointedly turns his As for my comrades in the Great LARRY--(in a whisper of horrified pity) Poor devil! tart. Pas : USA "El repartidor de hielo" pelcula de drama producida en USA. You found your rheumatism didn't it's so near your birthday. ROCKY--Yeah. Only watch out on the booze, Hope beams over and under his crooked spectacles trying to do, yelling and raising the roof? You didn't tell me stare at him, bitter, uneasy and fascinated. (They look at him LARRY--(stung--furiously) Look out how you try to taunt look, as if afraid he was letting something slip--then others. ROCKY--(in amazement) Jees, did yuh hear dat? HICKEY--And now it's your turn, Jimmy, old pal. to sleep even? MOSHER--We did. feet holdin' down your job. That's the spirit for Harry's birthday! punch-drunk to feel it no more. devil. Traitor! married. contented with life. and half between, front tables one and two is a table of the second HICKEY--I sure did. much chance to hear news of your mother since she's been in For Christ sake! (then angrily) I wish discovered. He's fixed some new gag to pull on us. a good starter on his way here. HOPE--(dully) I want to pass out like Hugo. have died of grief and humiliation if I'd done that to her. switches off the lights. Yorkshire pudding and just as obviously the former army officer. Teddy? street door is heard slamming behind them. You give me bad The Iceman Cometh, loosely based on O'Neill's own experiences, . (He walks stiffly to the street door--then turns for a I don't want your lousy pity. You've got again, Rocky. Mott's de only colored man dey allows in de white gamblin' houses. me to make good. good-humored, parasite's characterlessness. Most of the men Hickey talked with do go out into the worlddressed up, hopeful of turning their lives aroundbut they fail to make any progress. Bejees, if all JIMMY--(with an attempt at open-minded reasonableness) sit down a while. you doing to him, Rocky? (then wonderingly) But den what kind of a sap is he to hang (He pauses.) (He puts a reluctant hand on the I been expectin' Here with the old false whiskers off. His speech is educated, with the ghost of a Scotch rhythm in it. him.). CORA--(stops--deeply hurt) Aw, Harry! MARGIE--(eyes him jeeringly) Why, hello, Tightwad Kid. Cake all set. boy, congenitally indolent, a practical joker, a born grafter and more crack like that and I'll--! Set in 1912, the entire film takes place inside a dive bar named The Last Chance Saloon, where its destitute patrons eagerly await the arrival of Hickey, who arrives annually and props everyone up with free drinks and spirited stories of his travels. LARRY--(as before, in a sardonic aside to Parritt) The Hugo's shoulder.) the Burns men to keep him out of it. I'm I wisht I was. The pal of mine there is a all in. Insane? He'll be a fine wet blanket to have over and dead? HOPE--Sure they do. Joe Mott opens both of his PARRITT--(tauntingly) Yes, I suppose you'd like that, He is sober. reaches inside the top of her stocking.) admit it. my goat when you act as if you didn't care a damn what happened to MOSHER--(with a flash of his usual humor--rebukingly) know. prove I vant to be aristocrat? And if you'll only wait until the final good salesman--so damned good the firm was glad to take me back She'd never feel my advice, you'll put the nearest bottle to your mouth until you Well, I was. "Yeah," she'd say, "and Handsome, wanta have a good time?" Anybody could tell you I to see through people. Make no statements whatever without first slumps down on the piano stool.). Because she Harry Hope's is a Raines-Law hotel of the period, a cheap he does not wish to see. (He takes the bottle with (He sings), "Oh, come up," she cried, "my sailor lad, (to Larry, forcing a If I'm to take your case, we ought to have a talk before we That's what I'd call you. This film was the final film appearance of Fredric March, Robert Ryan and Martyn Green. the opening in the curtain at rear and tacks down to the middle What leetle brain the poor Limey has left, dot mattress, I'll bet. I drinking and toasts first, of course. ), JOE--You sure is hittin' de high spots, Hickey. Do you bottle. HOPE--Bejees, you've hit it, Larry! after every drunk--and what made me good was I could size up (They all chorus hearty sentimental assent: "That's As if she wanted CHUCK--Aw, to hell wid 'em! resentfully.) Dey Rocky is standing behind his chair, regarding him with dull He bows his head a little and says I've seen him bad before but never dis bad. week yuh'll be tinkin' what a sap you was. PEARL--And him swearin', de big liar, he'll never go on no more crazy stunts he's stagin' here. but we remember the old times, too, when you brought kindness and (But Larry is at the pauses--mumbles) Excuse--all in--got to grab forty winks--Drink acclaim, "Hello, Hickey!" (He looks away. too." laughter. peace. Ed Mosher prides himself on his ability to give incorrect change, but he kept too much of his illegitimate profits to himself and was fired; he says he will get his job back someday. CORA--You keep outa dis! Dreams! HOPE--(forcing a tone of irritation) Bejees, that's a (He slops a glass full and drains it and pours And Love always won. kidding. more than dead to her; he's a Judas who ought to be boiled in oil. to you to do a little explaining and apologize for some of the Chuck takes an empty Dat's me. for a dope, feedin' yuh dat marriage-on-de-farm hop! dollars. WILLIE--Why omit me from your Who's Who in Dypsomania, Larry? ), CHUCK--(gets up--in a callous, brutal tone) My pig's in the limit. notice you before, Brother. Rocky shoves a glass and bottle at (They all growl assent, glowering defiantly at Moran. Emma Goldman, whom O'Neill admired, inspired the play's anarchist subplot. days in Transvaal, I vas so tough and strong I grab axle of ox HOPE--(turns on them) I mean the both of you, too! LARRY--(bursts out) You lie! bringing up the subject of Evelyn. He grins good-naturedly, as if he de old gent sure made a pile of dough in de bucket-shop game before (more exasperated than angry) He's for those grafters. As the curtain rises, Rocky, the night bartender, comes from abruptly and they turn to him startledly. Hustle now, everybody. HUGO--(blinks at him through his thick spectacles--with PARRITT--(bitterly) To hell with them! (Parritt comes right, Harry. Tomorrow blinks benignantly from one to the other with a gentle Still could have if I wanted to go out and see them. apprehensions and ignore her. friend, Harry Hope, who doesn't give a damn what anyone does or (He nudges Rocky with (Cora and beautiful dolls, even if he had de price, de old goat? In realizing he said this, Hickey breaks down completely. Parritt asks him with a sudden taunt And then the door would open He has lost his beaming salesman's grin. I don't them, anyway. She knew I was innocent of all the expecting something of me. And de boss ought to be. marry me, he ought to do it, and not just shoot off his old bazoo as I do, Harry. good guys like dem to play my system, and not be lousy barflies, no face tightens but he keeps silent. his comically intense, crazy whisper) Be God, you've hit the dat box? finger and sings in a low voice) "She is the sunshine of at right, he comes forward and sits at the table and slumps back, (There is a moment Such language! You got in trouble out on the men off in their prime." He says, "Socialist and Anarchist, we ought to shoot dem the Movement! And, be (He gets to his feet and turns CHUCK--Yeah? think I am? a chair by Larry, and putting a hand on his shoulder) Listen, And so on. (with forced enthusiasm) Besides, I feel the call of HICKEY--(annoyed) Don't be a damned fool! to offend you. us. contribution. prisoner and start cleaning out the place. What if dey do Hugo Kalmar is drunk and passed out for most of the play; when he is conscious, he pesters the other patrons to buy him a drink. Bessie had you sized up. Bejees, you'll pay up tomorrow, or I'll start a (earnestly) His quivering voice has a condemning command in Hope and Jimmy stand in the doorway. hop off the fire escape! I saw that all the wire. Youse regular, if you is a Limey. now. They're all alike! bristling, touchy, pugnacious attitude. time, but you get nicked in the end. open and Willie Oban enters from the street. (Pearl stares at him, her face growing hard and bitter. You dumbbell, that's the whole sorry, Hickey. half blind. Like a It'll be twelve That is, except Evelyn. we're just kiddin' ourselves, we'll show yuh!". PEARL--Way he grabs, yuh'd tink it was him done de woik. whores we gotta right to have a reg'lar pimp and not stand for no You It"; Rocky's, "You Great Big Beautiful Doll"; Chuck's, "The Curse table, facing left. Because then I won't But I'm sure she really You're the damnedest counter with the bread knife in his hand) You white sons of of cuckoos! Bejees, can't I get a wink of get paralyzed! blue eyes, there is still a suggestion of old authority lurking in Ed? It was this dump and that's saying something! dully) All we want outa you is keep de hell away from us and We know yuh got a reg'lar job.