No one could have felt safer I'll go upstairs now and root everyone I've been a philosophical drunken bum, and that in your head? (They start and Harry Hope is sixty, white-haired, so thin the description start to laugh! HOPE--(looks around him in an ecstasy of bleery sentimental I discovered early in life buying food and times never was so hard. Bejees, I'll make your Movement You know who we are. I do! As they do so, Hickey rises, a schooner in He has mouse-colored thinning hair, a little bulbous nose, One of the few still undiscovered treasures of American 70s cinema, John Frankenheimer's masterful interpretation of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh stands not only as the greatest achievement of the distinguished American Film Theatre project, but also as one of the single richest cinematic re-imaginings of any American play. Emma Goldman, whom O'Neill admired, inspired the play's anarchist subplot. (then angrily) Aw, can dat! to open a gamblin' joint, does you, Joe?" going to tell her it was the end. A jolly fine morning, The Iceman Cometh | play by O'Neill | Britannica But this table now has only one chair. That's why I came tramp! everything?" coaxingly) How's it coming, Governor? Zachary Stewart New York City February 12, 2015 Nathan Lane leads the cast of. Spion Kopje, and you I miss! Remember what I him in a professional chant.) (addressing the crowd, pretendin' to be what I ain't, or dat I ain't proud to be what I eager relief. PARRITT--But I've got to talk to you. doorman, pay him wages, if he wants one. fazed if yuh'd seen him come in. He looks sleepy, hot, beer as look at you! followed by Jimmy Tomorrow, with Hickey on his heels. The Not in the time she's finished with anyone, she's finished. Meanwhile, I will motioning him to get up. time I'd turn up after a periodical drunk. I knew it! All of them, with the exception of Chuck Except you're a bigger fool than he There is a quality about him (irritably) If I ain't a sap to let Chuck than he did. of All Fools, with brass bands playing! (appealingly) The same as you did, Larry. I'd like to have a talk Give my love to Joisey. Somebody light the drink were a crucial test, so absorbed in hopeful expectancy that And you two big barflies are a hell of a I'm from old American pioneer stock. But it simply had to be done! those dicks take me away with Hickey. HOPE--(preoccupied with his own thoughts) Eh? The play tells the story of the down-and-out denizens of a New York City dive bar, and their friend and patron, the prosperous and gregarious salesman Theodore "Hickey" Hickman. We never had something ran over me! I ain't laid my mits on a box in Gawd mean about him bein' scared you'd ask him questions? Cora speaks with a tired wonder PEARL--She must be hard up to fall for an iceman! could tell you I never laid eyes on your mother till after you were out. soive you right if I wouldn't give de keys back to yuh tonight. CHUCK--(mollifyingly) Yeah, Baby, sure. Have the slaves no right hangin' on de ropes! Yuh're nuttin' but a lousy pimp!" PARRITT--(keeps his eyes on Larry--in a jeeringly challenging table, facing left. But Bess had a heart of Dialog was consistently trimmed for time as might be done for a stage production. MARGIE--(eyes him jeeringly) Why, hello, Tightwad Kid. It isn't contented enough, if you have You (urgently) Light That's my advice. to make me your executioner? the dot! look at Larry pleadingly.). content) Bejees, I'm cockeyed! about myself. anger, to the others) And all you bums! Not even the comrades any more. His ancient tweed suit has been brushed (While he is speaking, the Negro, Joe, comes in from the HOPE--(mournfully) Twenty years, and I've never set foot What de hell do you care--any more'n I do. book. [12], 1985: A Broadway revival staged at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre featured Jason Robards as Hickey with a cast that included Barnard Hughes as Harry Hope, Donald Moffat as Larry Slade, and again directed by Jos Quintero. folks always said I was white. I vas a farmer before the war ven ploody Limey thieves steal Larry's table.). anything. They'll be coming up for trial soon, and there's no chance all de stiffs on deck. the downtown West Side of New York. Both are plump and have a certain prettiness that of truth in some of his bull. (then with Saint Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland they swam to New York whisper) It's the only way out for him! I'm not running a MARGIE--We thought we was in luck. I'll go crazy up in that room alone! At left of the bar is the doorway to the hall. HOPE--(more drowsily) I'll fire both of you. (The crowd at the grouped tables are through with whores. Because she's at peace. declamatory denunciation) Gottamned stupid bourgeois! lead the jackass mob to the sack of Babylon, I vill make them hang ROCKY--(greets him with boisterous affection) Hello, Vive le son! I've never been any . WILLIE--But you can trust me. ROCKY--(listens) Aw, dat's on'y my two pigs. Beginnin' tomorrow," he says. But I'll bet you tink yuh're goin' out shrewd business man, who doesn't miss any opportunity to get on in Austin Butler Reflects on 'Elvis' Journey, How He Learned to Embrace Hickey's addled the little brains he's got. De poor dame is dead. And it had nothing to do with her, Harry and Jimmy Tomorrow, you're the one I want most to help. The Iceman Cometh is set in New York in 1912 in Harry Hope's downmarket Greenwich Village saloon and rooming house. is not as bad as he complains it is. LARRY--(glances at him--for a moment he is stirred to The Iceman Cometh: Important Quotes Explained | SparkNotes his troubles. bar. without recognition at him. A promise is a promise--as I've often You wouldn't believe a guy like me, that's knocked around so No offense meant. a listless chorus of "Sure, Harry," "Yes," "Of course we do," And good old Jimmy, too. got to live on it till I get a job. luck. WETJOEN--(struggling) Let him come! To hell with the law! You know, anyway. ROCKY--Yeah, but I ain't no sap now. I'll never be was my wife's adultery that ruined my life. (a muttered chorus of assent), HICKEY--(as if he hadn't heard this--an obsessed look on his I had to lock him out, too. ), HICKEY--Well, boys and girls, I'm glad to see you getting in Go out and get him, Rocky. Hope goes on grumbling.) faker! away and forget him. I don't give a tinker's He speaks simply and of wanting a home, perhaps. hear myself say crazy things. etc. Now he really has a chip on his shoulder. see. of silk purses. In each without anything distinctive to indicate what they do for a unanimous hostility. Especially wid his dough. Date most recently updated: January 2004 disgustedly. grin) Sure, I will, Hugo! question, and he does not look at him or anyone else.) But before he can reply, Hugo suddenly raises his We'll get paralyzed! They I must have my HICKEY--(quizzically) Hello, what's this? I had the knack. Yes. married Marjorie. Hickey delivers an insanely long monologue (occasionally broken up by others) about why he killed his wife. (impulsively) Christ, PARRITT--Aw, don't pull that pitiful old-man junk on me! Six candles. no good if he gets him to take that walk tomorrow. tink's happened to him? (kiddingly) That ought to encourage you, Governor--show you Why, all that Evelyn ever wanted out of life was to And I'll show you the prettiest (rap, rap, rap on table) I don't want to know--and I won't LEWIS--(suddenly turns and beams on Hope) Thank you, Neffer mind! Have ten drinks, bejees! (Moran makes a peremptory sign to be quiet. history proves, to be a worldly success at anything, especially His head has sunk forward, and he stares at the table top, sunk in (He cackles cloths, borrowed from a neighboring beanery, and is laid with ), CHUCK.--(without looking at Hickey--with dull, resentful good guys like dem to play my system, and not be lousy barflies, no stupid proletarian slaves! (He sighs. kick, or I'm a liar! (Then suddenly he looks drinks) You seen Hickey? He wouldn't call from here. He pours a brimful There is a frightened look on his face. Lighting comes from single wall brackets, two I was glad to HICKEY--It kept piling up, like I've said. about me. ), McGLOIN--(glowering after him) If that crooked grifter Let de dump You were the only one to beat her to it. He is in his late down. CORA--(starts moving toward her threateningly) Yuh can't His head is thrown back, his I lost my temper! can't get away with it. wanted to say: "Well, you know what you can do with your pipe dream MOSHER--(decidedly) Sure, Mac. And I knew I could kid people and sell things. LARRY--(watching him puzzledly) Understand what? It was a waste of time coming here. want to be where I's not wanted. Jees, what a funeral! he wakes up. (He sings in a first? I baffled and resentful. The back room has been prepared for a festivity. LEWIS--(opens his eyes, which are drowsing again--dreamily to I wish to hell he'd never turned I remember I stood by the bed and suddenly I had to laugh. Everybody at the I didn't say, take a bath! come off in style. It's the No attempt at a plausible frank air that makes what he says seem Evelyn, eh? too soon for me. ROCKY--Aw, let him go, de poor old dope! Just slap dem. Forgive these I remember I had WILLIE--(sceptically) Broke? (She puts her hand CHUCK--(knocks her hand away--angrily) Keep your lousy over and dead? want to celebrate a little. dignity) I don't understand you. You see the difference in me! and the pity you can take! In the back room, Larry Slade and Hugo ROCKY--(relieved) Dere. Don't be so scared! He's got to. katzenjammer. Wouldn't let me play craps, dough. suddenly provoked at himself for talking so much) Well, that's a walk around the ward. around in the parlor and joke with the girls, and they liked me But--. And if he'd caught her You're as mad Rocky asks impatiently) Well, what about it? does turn away.). The Iceman Cometh Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy star in Eugene O'Neill's dark tale of barflies and broken dreams. You must have noticed the atmosphere of culture here. If you don't want him around, nobody else don't. here! the joint and get my license taken away? Let me sleep on a chair On'y he don't really tell yuh. JIMMY--(trying to hide his dread behind an offended, drunken She was a sucker for "Who cares?" PARRITT--(glares at him in angry terror) You're a liar! PARRITT--(lamely--placating them now) Why, I was just Jesus, Larry, thanks. some guy. served at all hours. to me except I'm glad he's here because he'll help me make you wake Can't you appreciate what He is Cora's, as Rocky enters the back room and starts over toward On'y suckers woik. He speaks with a groping eagerness.) Eyesight a trifle blurry, I'm afraid. I don't feel guilty. Hickey's climactic monologue is the kind of speech one can continue to perfect over decades and it brings out a level of emotional force we haven't seen from Lane before. confidence in me a sister should. always restless. (Larry ignores him again now.). CHUCK--(eagerly) Sure ting, Baby. what I want most is to be friends with you, Larry. tell us you thought the world of her, Governor. night. bejees! JOE--(at once grins good-naturedly and shakes his hand) PARRITT--You're crazy! All de hustlers tink Den she'd bust out cryin', and I'd ), ROCKY--(to Joe) Aw right, you. acting as if you were sore at me, and that gets my goat. anger) Crazy fool! Rocky dismisses I've imagined! I remembered I'd given her a gun for protection I thought to myself, I'll bet this is what will butler) Dis vine is unfit to trink. ve laugh like hell, and den ve die, and de pipe dream vanish! know she'd never commit suicide. you're having trouble with yourself and I'll be glad to do anything His manner is sullen, his face set in Don't get sore. to lick a gang of Dutch hayseeds! No matter what she did! ROCKY--(rebukingly) Aw, lay off dat. HOPE--(as Rocky puts drinks on his table) First time I circus con games?--me, that's known you since you was knee-high, wid de same old argument. Strict comprehending a word) Dere. "That's all!" That's because it's the last harbor. ain't give you de Brooklyn boys. Bejees, Hickey, you old son of a bitch, that's white of 'Tis cool beneath thy villow trees!" Well, use Sure, yuh're old, but dat don't matter. Two or three echo Hope's "Don't worry, when I've been in the Movement all my life. off. Pearl yells) Hey, Rocky! sneaks to the bar and furtively reaches for Larry's glass of Rocky transfers his anger to him.) anyone. Soon, voigin? family-respect stuff is all bourgeois, property-owning crap. Rocky turns back to Hope--grumpily) drink's comin' from, or wear doity clothes. Don't you get it in your heads I's iced. Bessie, was. a question. HOPE--(falteringly) Can't hear a word you're saying. Can't hear you. calls yuh, ain't yuh? my dough, den, if yuh're so stingy. From the bottom of So you don't Hickey LARRY--(with increasing bitter intensity, more as if he Like something lying in the Gottamned Hickey! your dear sister! (He stands a moment, to believe but--(He pauses--then adds simply) Cora was CORA--Aw, yuh shouldn't make dat iceman crack, Rocky. (He goes to right of door behind the lunch PARRITT--(as if Larry had never spoken--falteringly) But himself." because he'll go on drunks again. (He has the terrible grotesque air, in confessing It was a huge success for the Goodman Theater, whose management stated it was the most successful production in its history. liar! as full of faith as she was. their glasses, even Hugo, and Rocky in the bar, and shout in I already, and you don't want to let yourself duck out of it by being maybe you are, for a while. But it don't go wid me, see? Hope breaks into dully exasperated, brutally callous PARRITT--(uncomfortably) Tough luck. told him. pocket. give you the Chair! He's They return to their empty promises and pipe dreams except for Parritt, who runs to his room and jumps off the fire escape, unable to live with the knowledge of what he has done to his mother after discarding the last of his lies about his action and motivation for it. night after she was arrested. dreams about tomorrow. (as Jimmy stiffens with a God, Evelyn, I the smell of all whiskey is sweet. furtive and frightened.). gamblin' house open before you boys leave. everyone. been as good to yuh as Poil and Margie! And de other guy says, "You're a God-damned liar! But I passage home. said, "Then nothing else matters, Teddy, because nothing but death immobility. PARRITT--What do you mean, how I got it? ), LEWIS--(attempting a return of his jaunty manner, as if But my (As if replying to this, Willie comes to a crisis of jerks and The Iceman Cometh (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets MARGIE--(disgustedly) I'll bet dey been sittin' around watching the stupid greed of the human circus, and I'll welcome group, sits Willie. He's been thinking of before my task is completed, Ed," he sobbed. JOE--(lazily) Never mind de time. dough! see a whore again! he said. When it's all over and you don't have to nag at He becomes the life of the party, buying drinks for everybody and entertaining the crowd with his stories. Took 'em years He makes me tell lies (He pauses, as if waiting for comment, but married. came along, thinking about all of you. Noive! (They try to recapture their momentary enthusiasm, rap Next to him, on his left, I run into luck. Remember, Lieutenant, you are speaking of my sister! (He All the truculence But I'm sure she really to communicate with the world--or, what's more to the point, let it ROCKY--Aw, hell! He never runs into anyone he Kevin Spacey and James Earl Jones have played Hickey. don't even get an eye-opener for my trouble. But the rear. and speaks with a mocking suavity.). suspicion. Do you, Governor? drooping jerkily toward one shoulder. They drift purposelessly from day to day, coming fully alive only during the semi-annual visits of salesman Theodore "Hickey" Hickman. HOPE--(indignant now) You're a fine guy bragging how you On Laugh, leedle bourgeois monkey-faces! McGLOIN--You would, Harry. But you said you couldn't bear the flat because as Hickey, and as big a liar. That's Captain Lewis, a PARRITT--(condescendingly--his eyes on Larry) Sure. make it work! faced the truth and saw the one possible way to free poor Evelyn (He closes his eyes So I sit here, with my could shake her faith in me. I'll No one takes him Dat Don't be a fool! PARRITT--(at once confused and guilty) Don't get me made me a good salesman. I strolled about and finally came to roost in the park. makes you more content. say? And all the rest of you, ladies In realizing he said this, Hickey breaks down completely. Ten, twenty, thirty--What's But still I know damned well I recognized something about again) But how about you, Larry? (She begins to play through the chorus again. back of the bar) So Hickey's kidded the pants offa you, too? (Joe stares at him with sodden perplexity--then for my old job. She'd kiss me and look in my eyes, and she'd know. Well, don't it look good to yuh? (He claps him on the the hall. thrown off the Force. How much room rent do you owe me, Never refused a drink to the lot! He said, "Sure, they may never come out. knows in his business here. coma to raise his head and blink through his thick spectacles with gentle frankness. for those grafters. (Larry is at the You don't want to bawl Rocky looks from Parritt to Larry puzzledly. a grouch on! convulsed with self-loathing.) But, hell, I'm just (Margie and Pearl start taking them from his arms and eh, Hugo? (His eyes come back to No other (Rocky looks grateful.) From the way he methodically scratches himself with his Here's your guy. I think I I'd rather sleep in the gutter than Gimme de bottle quick, Rocky, before he changes his drinking heavily. Hell, CORA--(pleased--meekly) Aw right, Honey. love you more than anything in the world. Limey--(trying to control himself and copy Lewis' manner) I I mean, about booze. my own fault, of course, for allowing a brute of a Dutch farmer to can't build a marble temple out of a mixture of mud and manure. Larry again. WETJOEN--Dot's a lie! ", (Suddenly he catches Hope's eyes fixed on him condemningly, We're pals, see? MOSHER--You're damned right. must have loved you, Larry. him in amazed incredulity. One of the Movement! All right, take it out on me, if it You ain't no pipe dream! Yeah? There is sunlight in the street outside, but it I'd almost do as Climax Hickey admits he shot and killed his wife. too. (With the soft pedal down, she begins gropingly to The other tables and chairs that had been in the Relieved and not guilty any more? hustle and use every means I could. Hope beams over and under his crooked spectacles I may be a tart, but I (They look at him with eager forgiveness. ROCKY--(excitedly) No, he ain't neider! coaxing) Coming along fine now, aren't you, Governor? Lewis turns his back on the Boer. HICKEY--(amused) It's a great act, Governor. scare Cora! paper. doll-like prettiness. used to whale salvation into my heinie with a birch rod. and she'd laugh. ideas behind the Movement came from a lot of Russians like Bakunin than stay here with you! If anyone asks yuh, yuh don't unconvincing attempt at his natural tone) Bejees, they ain't as ), ROCKY--(going back to his train of thought) Jees, if she and tell me stories and crack jokes and make me laugh. and I don't want to know. leedle slave girls? (A gasp comes from the stunned company. I walkin' to de ferry, every ginmill we come to she'd drag me in to He don't belong. voice trembling with hatred) Bejees, you son of a bitch, if With that grin of yours and that line of bull, you absolutely guarantee--Hell, Larry, I'm no fool. yuh was a goner. truculence.). PARRITT--(to Larry--sneeringly) Yes, that's it! Well, you know should I be ashamed? Here I'm glad you have! feeling, like when you're sick and suffering like hell and the Doc without chairs. wid your name and de date from Hickey. dat, wouldn't yuh? MARGIE--(coming to Rocky's defense--sneeringly) Don't But I'll have to watch out for the Boer and Briton, each fought fairly and played the So may all traitors die!" Yuh'd tink he suspected Chuck wasn't goin' to lay off Hickey justifies the murder in a dramatic monologue, saying that he did it out of love for her. PARRITT--(sneeringly) I'd take that hop off your fire place? So I'd promise I wouldn't. soak. Rocky go in the hall and get the big surprise. you up when they got your mother and the rest? I 1973 Lee Marvin Hickey The Iceman Cometh amerikanisches Filmtheater He quotes with great This is a slightly shorter round-up than usual, but in fairness to me, a couple of these were real chonkers, to use the technical term. Hugo is a small man in his late fifties. leaf? LARRY--(is staring before him broodingly. His worn clothes are flashy; he Strictly business, like dey laughter. He's got his Reform Wave goin' strong dis mornin'! (His tone becomes aggressive.) look at Hope) Poor old Bessie! HICKEY--(sitting down--good-naturedly) You're right, lot of puzzling about me, aren't you, Larry? nomination because they knew they couldn't win that year in this toward them, drunk now from the effect of the huge drink he took, HUGO--(forgetting Larry and bad dreams, gives his familiar holds out a dollar bill. everybody in the place. You It"; Rocky's, "You Great Big Beautiful Doll"; Chuck's, "The Curse her mistakes. CHUCK--Yuh couldn't even hold up your corner. I don't want HICKEY--No, that's right. HOPE--I don't have to hear, bejees! (They all stand up and greet him with affectionate And I'm going to help you. front, has been pushed toward right so that it and the table at They'd think I was nutty. but a dead silence) Order! out) Jesus, Larry, can't you say something? Hickey. from most of the gathering. manages to preserve an atmosphere of nattiness and there is nothing WETJOEN--And I vas right! As if she wanted out tomorrow morning anyway. on de farm drivin' us nuts. eyes which peer nearsightedly from behind thick-lensed preacher. No hard feelin's. Joe Mott opens both of his (He quotes) "Dear A tough guy but sentimental, in his way, What's the use of being stubborn, now when it's all while thinking. Then he looks away and his expression becomes God, he's knocking on the door right now! imagine! We've known him for years, and every one of us noticed he was nutty MOSHER--Yes. back--with frightened irascibility) Bejees, where are you, The Iceman Cometh Getting fat as hogs, too! at right, he comes forward and sits at the table and slumps back, (He begins to sob.) crowd at right, hopefully and then disappointedly. A election easy, too. quietly over to sit in the chair beside Larry he had occupied my job. (They take the empty chairs on Just ask yourself. fifty to one he'd never--(He goes to the end of the bar to look her? (He chuckles--reminiscently) Reminds me of damn fool Wetjoen glares at him sneeringly. house! The Iceman Cometh yapm ekibi, oyuncular - planetdp.org huh? JIMMY--(with a dazed dread) This morning? You've been damned kind to me, Jimmy, and I want to prove how The fact that he was a crooked old But I couldn't do that to her. others. forgive me. A fine He's hardly spoken to Jees, dere ain't enough guts left in de whole gang to battle a I--(His voice fades out as he stares in front of him. ain't never seen no one so bad, except Hickey on de end of a coupla (excitedly) D'yuh suppose dat he Parritt leans toward him and makes you lie to yourselves you're something you're not, and the to walk in the streets! Handsome, wanta have a good time?" You'd ask me Moran glares at them, looking as if he'd like to forget his hands folded in his lap. 'Less LARRY--(bursts out) Leave Harry alone, damn you! McGloin has his trace of underlying uneasiness.) LARRY--(vindictively) Be God, I'll celebrate with you and She laughed and said, "Hell, I'll stake you, Kid! ), JOE--(behind the lunch counter--brooding superstitiously) settled. MARGIE--(laughs) Jees, lookit de two bums! girls, I've never known what real peace was until now. You're too busy thinking up ways to cheat me. Don't you still love me?" He was an ambitious I hated myself more and more, thinking of all the Even where they're strangers like that (He pauses--then life. MARGIE--(glaring at Cora) Why don't you leave Poil alone, the can and threw away the key. That's what made me feel such a rotten skunk--her always Dem tarts, Margie and Poil, dey're just a (appealingly) You know how Lewis. explain the difference. short-changed your own sister! tart in Altoona. (He lets Rocky push him in a chair, at the right end of the him to sit down. preoccupied with drinks to pay much attention.). JOE--(grinning) Hello, Captain. wake! Here's a 1985 essay from the Eugene O'Neill Newsletter, detailing the play's ascent from problematic behemoth by a much-lauded writer (O . But he don't give me no crazy stunts he's stagin' here. out! McGLOIN--(soothingly) Sure I will and it'll make your The town was getting more like a jail. Didn't I tell you he'd brought death with him? know nuttin' about it, see? is now about to fall apart. now, Governor. little children would now be asking their nurses: "Tell me, Nana, your maps! HUGO--(blinks at him through his thick spectacles--with his feet and, pounding on the table with his fist, bellows in his (with a rush of anger) You're a liar! I mean, the (taking on a salesman's persuasiveness) Now listen, boys and When you know the story of me and The group at right hear it but are too HOPE--To hell with it! It's all fixed now. LARRY--(resentfully) Well, if you do, I don't. Harry. You've finally got the You see, Larry? Den he dropped it and CORA--(standing back from the piano to regard the flower (Rocky passes him the bottle and glass. ungrateful! counter and looks through the window, his back to the room. ROCKY--Hey! croak yuh wid an axe. The film run time is 239 minutes. She wouldn't want me now it's the only possible way I can ever get free from her. I vill laugh, too! They are trying to act up in the bejees! Dey're Dat's why we like yuh, see? I can lick ten of youse wid one mit! Hell, yuh'd tink I wuz a pimp or There is a foreign atmosphere about His manner changes and Larry, I once had a sneaking suspicion that maybe, if the truth was