We go from cotton candy, ("Journey to Nineveh") to a nice thick steak. It's clearly based on Roger Touhy, the Chicago gangster who was released in 1959 after 26 years in jail and then murdered by the mob, his last words being "I've been expecting it. The bastards never forget!" (Wikipedia)
This one changes the narrative to make it poignant in a different way. The excellent Luther Adler plays the old crime boss being released in the Chicago of 1962. Tod and Buz are sharing a cab, Tod during the day and Buz at night. Adler hires them, (he wants the same cab because Tod was nice to him), to take him around to see the old sites and his old friends, most of which are gone. He's almost hit by a runaway warehouse truck and becomes convinced someone is trying to kill him. Now he wants to see his old enemies, (one of them is played by Bruce Gordon, who was playing Frank Nitti on The Untouchables in this same period). But they are either dead, reformed or incapable of planning any attack against him due to infirmity. Eventually, Tod and Buz witness Adler hearing a ringing telephone that isn't ringing, claiming that it's the killer wanting to frighten him. Sadly, the call the local mental hospital.
Tod and Buz have another one of their tiffs here. Tod naively views Adler as a colorful remnant from the past. Buz remembers what gangsters did to his friends in the old neighborhood and has nothing but contempt for Adler and Tod's fascination with him. Tod counters with a quote from a Nazi prison camp survivor about the need to forgive. Eventually even Buz softens when he sees what a pathetic figure Adler has become.
This one changes the narrative to make it poignant in a different way. The excellent Luther Adler plays the old crime boss being released in the Chicago of 1962. Tod and Buz are sharing a cab, Tod during the day and Buz at night. Adler hires them, (he wants the same cab because Tod was nice to him), to take him around to see the old sites and his old friends, most of which are gone. He's almost hit by a runaway warehouse truck and becomes convinced someone is trying to kill him. Now he wants to see his old enemies, (one of them is played by Bruce Gordon, who was playing Frank Nitti on The Untouchables in this same period). But they are either dead, reformed or incapable of planning any attack against him due to infirmity. Eventually, Tod and Buz witness Adler hearing a ringing telephone that isn't ringing, claiming that it's the killer wanting to frighten him. Sadly, the call the local mental hospital.
Tod and Buz have another one of their tiffs here. Tod naively views Adler as a colorful remnant from the past. Buz remembers what gangsters did to his friends in the old neighborhood and has nothing but contempt for Adler and Tod's fascination with him. Tod counters with a quote from a Nazi prison camp survivor about the need to forgive. Eventually even Buz softens when he sees what a pathetic figure Adler has become.
