(MUTED SOUND OF RAIN, CROWD)
I know a place where the purse is much bigger.
Thanks, but I've got a day job.
♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
ROSALITA: If you're looking to prove something to yourself,
there's no better place to do it.
You don't know me.
MAYOR BLAKE: I can't imagine anyone buying you out at this point.
It'll be good to have you at home again.
AH SAHM: I came as soon as I heard.
PENELOPE BLAKE: That makes sense,
considering the amount of opium you had stored here.
It's gone, by the way.
All of it.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He doesn't know anything.
Father Jun may be checked out, but you better believe
he watches the fucking books.
MAN: All roads lead to some kind of major fuckery.
I'm not looking to sink your ship,
I just want to help.
AH TOY: Pitting father against son.
You're going to tear apart the only tong
that can stand up to Mai Ling.
-(GRUNTING) -(CROWD YELLS)
Vega, that tournament you told me about,
you still need a fighter?
(GRUNTS)
(CROWD YELLS)
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
[engine revs]
[train whistle blows]
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Did we cross into Mexico?
- Not exactly. Rooker's Mill is a border town.
It's not even a town, really.
It's all private property owned by one man.
- And that's, uh, Rooker, right?
- Elijah Rooker.
- Rich guy. - Yes.
And like I said, obsessed with fighters.
I guess he gets off on watching men beat each other to death.
He hosts this tournament every year.
Fighters come from all over the country.
[roosters squawking]
The cash prize is a hell of a lot more
than you could earn fighting at my boat.
- You said that's $2,500, right?
- Less my cut.
- Of course.
[indistinct chatter]
♪ ♪
- [giggles] - Goddamn.
I think I'm gonna like it here after all.
So that does nothing for you, huh?
- Not a thing.
- And you really like men?
- Certain men, yes.
- Do you like me?
- No.
- Why the fuck not?
- Would you fuck your sister?
- I don't have a sister.
- But if you did.
- Of course not.
Wait a minute.
- So this Rooker really owns all of this?
- The land, the buildings,
everything from the tavern to the tannery.
Even the cops are his.
There'll be less of this riffraff
once we're inside the gates.
- I'm used to being the riffraff.
- Today you're on the guest list.
- Open your fucking coat.
- No weapons allowed on Rooker's ranch.
You get them back when you leave.
- Move along. - Wait here.
- All right, step up, amigo. Open your coat.
- What's the deal? - No weapons inside.
- I don't give up my blades for anyone.
- One of these days, you should learn to fight with your fists.
- Fuck off.
- Uh...I think you should probably just give them up.
- [grunts]
- I'll get them through.
[gunshot]
[people screaming and gasping]
- Next.
- Not a fucking word.
[dramatic spaghetti western music]
♪ ♪
[blade swishes]
- Señores.
- Get some rest.
I'll see you all at the welcome dinner in a few hours.
- Señorita.
- Look at this shit hole.
- It's not so bad.
- I'm glad you feel that way,
because you'll be sleeping on the floor.
- Slept on a lot worse.
- But enough about your sex life.
- Oh. [chuckles]
Speaking of which...
What is the deal with you and Vega?
- Purely professional.
- She is very attractive.
- You hear that? Even Hong is hot for her.
- She's our ticket to the show, that's all.
- Bullshit.
You're either in there, or you're about to be.
I have a nose for these things.
- To a man with a hammer,
everything looks like a nail.
It's a business arrangement,
and I keep my dick out of my business.
- Says the guy who fucked the duck lady who hid our opium.
- Wait, what? - Long story.
- We've got hours until dinner.
- Good point.
- Where you going?
- Just going for a walk.
Get centered.
- He's a complicated man.
- [sighs] That he is, Hong. That he is.
- Hmm.
[sighs]
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[indistinct chatter]
[chicken clucking]
♪ ♪
[dramatic guitar music playing]
♪ ♪
- Watch where the fuck you're going, mate.
- Oh, shit, he's throwing you the evil eye.
- Is he? - [laughs]
- You got a problem with me?
- No, no problem.
- You sure about that?
- I don't know; you sure you won't
be needing that hand anymore?
- Listen to this one.
Your English is pretty good.
- Thanks, I thought so too, you know,
but for some reason, your hand is still there.
- Yeah, it is. - Mm.
- So what you gonna do about it?
[both grunting]
- Come any closer, and I'll break his arm.
- [grunts]
[panting]
All right, let's do this, boy.
- I let you out of my sight for one minute...
You're Dolph Jagger, right?
- Who the fuck are you?
- Someone who'd much rather see him
take you apart for the money.
- Is there a problem here?
- Hey, just, uh, stretch out the arm.
Maybe you'll get the feeling back in an hour or two.
- You're a dead man.
- Yeah, I get that a lot.
- All right, move along. - Come on, boys.
Let's get a drink.
- I'm gonna have to keep a close eye on you, aren't I?
- Definitely.
- Can I at least trust you to stay
inside the gates until the tournament?
- Sure.
Where are you going?
- A little business in town.
- You want company?
- What I want is for you to stay out of trouble
and get some rest.
- [chuckles] - Think you can do that?
- Stay out of trouble or rest?
- See you later.
[bright mariachi music playing]
♪ ♪
[crowd chattering excitedly]
- Damn, someone cleans up nice.
- Shut the fuck up.
- Strictly business, right? - Strictly business.
- Good evening, boys.
Thought I'd come a bit early, get the lay of the land.
- Interesting crowd.
- You can relax. I saw the roster.
You're not fighting until tomorrow.
I hope you're hungry.
- [speaking Cantonese]
- Have either of you had Mexican food before?
- No Mexican in Chinatown.
- Well, you're in for a treat.
Take this, and you dip it in.
♪ ♪
- [speaking Cantonese]
♪ ♪
- That our host?
- Yes, that's Rooker.
♪ ♪
[glass clinking]
[music and chatter stop]
- Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,
and welcome to Rooker's Mill.
I'm Elijah Rooker, and I thank y'all for coming.
Now, I came out West 20 years ago,
looking to make my mark.
When I settled on this land, it wasn't much to look at...
- Mm-hmm. - But I saw an opportunity.
I knew that with a little vision and some hard work,
I would find my fortune here.
And now you have all come to find a fortune of your own.
[cheers and applause]
About a hundred years ago,
the gun replaced the sword
as the civilized man's weapon of choice.
God knows, it's how the West was won.
It's how this great country was won.
Without gunpowder, there would be no America.
But something was lost...
The intimacy and the honesty of hand-to-hand combat,
men fighting the way nature intended,
with nothing but the weapons they were born with.
You men are the last of the true warriors.
I started this tournament to celebrate all of you.
And one of you is gonna go home
a lot richer than when you came.
[cheers and applause]
And that's what America is, isn't it?
A place where every day is another chance
to go to sleep richer than when you woke up!
[cheers and applause]
Ladies and gentlemen...
my wife, Marisol.
- Yeah. [men whistle]
- Now, I've been living on the border with the Mexicans
so long that I actually left my wife for one.
[laughter]
And today we celebrate our anniversary.
And since you're all here,
we invite you to celebrate it with us.
Happy anniversary, darling.
Enjoy your dinner. And may the best man win!
[cheers and applause]
[mariachi music resumes]
- [speaking Spanish]
♪ ♪
- Something wrong?
- Not at all.
You should eat. You'll need your strength.
[gong clangs]
[cheers and applause]
- [panting]
- You ready?
Ready?
- And...fight!
- [grunts]
- Come on, pendejo!
Come on!
- Ooh!
[crowd yelling]
[both grunting]
[dramatic music]
- Let's go, come on!
[both grunt]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Did I miss something?
- We had a moment.
- [roars]
[cheers and applause]
[glasses clink]
- [coughs]
Damn, this tequila is something else.
- You know you gotta eat the worm too, right?
- Mm-mm.
- Come on, man, eat it. It's part of the culture.
You gotta eat it. It's bad luck if you don't.
[chuckles] - [spluttering]
There we go.
[soft music]
♪ ♪
- You disappeared.
- I'm just enjoying the quiet.
It's nice to get out of the city
every once in a while,
go somewhere where you can actually breathe.
- I guess, in the city, you tend to forget
how beautiful America can be.
- Actually, this used to be Mexico.
Everything you see here, even where we're standing,
long before they drew their invisible lines
and decided it was California.
So...you, uh,
come to my fight club.
You win. You leave.
I don't know anything else about you.
I feel a little cheated.
- Oh.
Well, there's not much to know.
I grew up in China.
My sister came here a few years before me.
I came to find her,
to bring her home.
Turns out, she wasn't interested.
- But you stayed.
- Yeah, she was my only family.
- I have a sister too.
- Really?
- Like you, we're all that's left of our family.
You and me, we're both strangers in this land.
They say we're welcome, but by that, they mean
we're tolerated, and just barely.
They take away our rights, our land, our money.
Whatever we have left over,
they can take that away tomorrow too.
So really, all we have are the people we love,
our family.
- And what if you don't have one?
- Then you find one
and hold on to them as tight as you can.
- You make it sound so easy.
- I guess it is if you find the right people
or...person.
♪ ♪
We're not gonna do this.
- I'm sorry.
For a moment, it kind of felt like we were.
[sighs]
[chuckles softly]
Okay, come on.
I'll walk you to your room.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
[cheers and applause]
[gong clangs]
- Oh!
- Yeah!
[both grunt]
♪ ♪
[crowd shouting]
- [laughs]
Ah.
Let's go. Come on!
Come on!
[both grunting]
♪ ♪
[crowd shouting]
- He's strong.
- You think you can take him?
- [shouts] [bone crunches]
- Yeah. - Good.
'Cause you're fighting him next.
Come.
- Guess I'm up.
♪ ♪
- You ready?
- I'm ready.
- 'Cause the last time I bet the fucking farm on you,
you whiffed it.
I need that fucking prize money--bad.
So...
Whatever you do...
Don't lose.
- That's good advice.
- Okay, he's got the power. You use your speed.
By that, I mean finish him fast.
You know, before he kills you.
[gong clangs]
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- I'm gonna fucking enjoy this.
- Agree to disagree.
♪ ♪
- Ready.
And...fight!
[cheers and applause]
- [grunts]
[crowd exclaims]
- Finished.
[cheers and applause]
[gong clangs]
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
[both grunting]
- [roars]
[nails scratching]
- Yeah!
- [yells] [bones crunch]
[cheers and applause]
[panting]
- Watch his left hook.
♪ ♪
[both grunting]
- [shouts]
- [shouting]
[yells] [bones crunch]
[panting]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
- [whispering indistinctly]
- You okay? [both grunting]
- Never better.
- You can relax.
No more fights today.
- Oh, I was just getting warmed up.
- Good afternoon.
You speak English?
- Yeah.
- I'm Smits.
I work for Mr. Rooker.
He was very impressed with your skills.
He'd like to invite the two of you to join
him and his wife for lunch tomorrow in the main house.
- Thanks, we'd love to.
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
- Are you sure you're okay?
- Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it.
- You took some strong hits.
- I know.
After a while, you get used to it.
- [chuckles] I thought the point was not to get hit.
- [chuckles] Well, the point is just
to hit harder than you get hit.
♪ ♪
- [whistles]
♪ ♪
- You see, that's the damn problem with these Chinese.
It's that they're everywhere these days.
[suspenseful rock music]
♪ ♪
[all grunting]
♪ ♪
- Well, uh, this is where I leave you.
- Today went well.
- Yeah, I guess it did.
[chuckles]
You have a good night.
I thought we're not gonna do this.
- Sorry, for a moment there, it felt like we were.
[soft music]
♪ ♪
[both moaning softly]
♪ ♪
[moans]
[indistinct chatter]
[bright mariachi music playing]
- [clears throat]
♪ ♪
- Where the fuck did you go?
- Too much wine. Needed to get some fresh air.
- This is Ana. I'm teaching her Chinese.
- How's that going? - Terrible.
Took her half an hour to learn my name.
But now that you're back,
I was thinking I might take her back to see our room.
Can you hang here for a bit?
- Sure.
What do you think, ten minutes?
- Fuck you.
[laughter]
Universal language of love.
- For a price. - Mm.
We all pay for love...
One way or another.
[laughs]
♪ ♪
- I was thinking...
- Hmm?
- When you win tomorrow...
- When I win?
- Mm-hmm.
- I like your confidence.
- Well, I didn't get this far by picking losers.
I was just thinking...
You don't have to go back, you know?
To San Francisco.
Dealing opium, fighting for the tong.
I've known my share of gangsters,
and you're no gangster.
You'll have money, time, options.
- What about loyalty?
- To the tong?
Do you really believe that's a two-way street?
- [sighs]
[soft music]
♪ ♪
Where would I even go?
[sighs]
- You never think about going back home?
♪ ♪
- There's nothing there for me anymore.
[sighs] How about you?
- Every day.
- Well, we've had other fighters
from the Orient here before, of course, but...
none with your level of skill.
And none that I could really talk to, which is--
is truly a gift.
You trained in China?
- Yeah.
- What discipline did you study?
- Gung fu.
- The martial art of monks.
- Something like that.
- Sahm, you're too good to be fighting
in Barbary Coast fight pits.
Now, my guess is,
maybe you weren't there for the competition at all.
Huh? You were there for the girl.
[laughs]
You know, I think it's interesting.
You know, I'm American and you're Chinese,
and we both have a taste
for Mexican women, hmm?
Of course, beauty will transcend race every time.
I think we can all agree on that.
So how long did you have to train
to learn to fight like you do?
- Uh, well, you know, I started pretty young.
- Sahm, I'm gonna make my pitch.
Okay, I could use a man with your skills.
Well, I was hoping that maybe I could persuade you
to stay on with us for a while and teach some of my boys
those gung fu moves of yours, huh?
- [sighs]
- I mean, make no mistake, my bodyguards are good,
and Smits here, he's as tough as they come,
but I think they could all stand to learn something
from a man with your skills.
- I appreciate it.
- Make it worth your while.
What do you think, Smits?
Couldn't hurt for your men to add a little
Chinese boxing to their repertoire.
- Out here, it's bullets that'll kill you
or a fast blade.
You got a move to stop a bullet?
- [laughs]
[laughter]
- No, no, I don't.
I'm also not a teacher.
Uh, thank you for the offer,
but I'm gonna have to respectfully decline.
- Oh, I get it. I get it. Take the money and run.
But I warn you,
I can be very persuasive.
Took me a while to grind this one down, but...
I won her over in the end.
Didn't I, honey?
- Yes, you did.
- That pistol you carry, it's beautiful.
- Hmm? Oh.
Yeah...
she's one of a kind.
Made for me by Juan de la Estacion,
the master gunsmith in Northern Mexico.
It's the last gun he ever made.
See that...flying serpent?
- Mm-hmm.
- Quetzalcoatl, ancient god of the Aztecs.
- The barrel looks wider than most.
- [chuckles] Well, you know your guns.
Yeah, she's a larger caliber than your basic Colt.
I gotta make the bullets myself.
- Mm. How's the weight?
- Well, see for yourself. Go on.
Don't take it personally.
Smits has been in charge of my personal security for years.
You don't get to make as much money as I have
without making a few enemies.
My survival is his life's work.
And he takes his job very seriously.
- You can't be too careful.
- It really is something.
You know, I saw a gun
just like this once before.
- I doubt it. She's one of a kind.
- My family was from these parts when it was still Mexico.
And then the Americans came, insisting we sell them land
that had been in our family for generations.
My father refused to sell.
But there was one man who wouldn't take no for an answer.
[tense music]
He and his men slaughtered
our farmhands and their children while they slept.
- Well, that's a terrible story.
Perhaps for another time.
- Then they forced my father to his knees at gunpoint
and made him sign the deed of sale.
Then this man shot him
in the head
right in front of his daughters.
With a gun...
just like this.
♪ ♪
- Why don't you give that back now?
♪ ♪
- Put the gun down! Now!
[Marisol yelps] [both grunting]
- What the fuck? [gunshot]
[Marisol screams]
♪ ♪
[both grunting]
- [yells]
- [panting] Ah Sahm.
♪ ♪
- [groaning]
[indistinct chatter]
[soft dramatic music]
- Here, have another drink.
- Hey, hey, we gotta go. Excuse me.
- Why? - We gotta get out of here.
Get up, come on. - Stop them!
- What the fuck did you do?
- They killed Rooker!
$2,000
to whoever kills them!
♪ ♪
- Any ideas?
- Just the usual.
♪ ♪
- Come on!
[gunshot]
[bottle shatters]
[all grunting and yelling]
[dramatic rock music]
♪ ♪
[gunshot]
[gunshots]
- Vámonos!
- [panting] [gunshot]
[all grunting]
[gunfire]
- Hold it right there.
[all panting]
- If it were up to me,
I'd have gutted the lot of you right here,
let the dogs clean up the mess.
But Mrs. Rooker doesn't have the stomach
for frontier justice, so the marshals here
will take you to Sacramento for trial.
And then you'll hang.
Be careful with them.
The Chinese guys, they fight like demons.
- Not in irons, they don't.
Don't you worry.
We'll get 'em where they're going.
[tense music]
Ha!
♪ ♪
- Fuck you!
- Ah Sahm.
- Don't.
You used me.
- He killed my parents right in front of me.
You would've done the exact same thing in my place.
- You threw our lives out like we were nothing.
- No, I didn't. - Do me a favor.
Just stop talking.
♪ ♪
I don't know why you're smiling.
They don't treat Mexicans any better than Chinese.
We're all dead when we get to Sacramento.
- We probably shouldn't go to Sacramento, then.
- Whoa!
- Okay, what the fuck is going on?
♪ ♪
- [crying]
[both speaking Spanish]
- So I guess you know each other.
- This is my sister, Marisol.
- Did she say sister?
- Thank you. You're every bit as good
as Rosie told me you'd be.
- Thanks. Can we get to the part
where you tell me what the hell just happened?
- Rooker's Mill was my father's land.
It's where we grew up...
until Rooker murdered our father
and claimed it as his own.
- Yeah, so you killed him. I got that part.
- We didn't just kill him. We took back our home.
As his wife, Marisol will now inherit all of it.
- So not just revenge?
- No, not just revenge.
- You still used me...
us.
- I'm sorry.
I just figured we'd both get what we wanted.
- The prize money.
- Ooh.
[exhales heavily] - [chuckles]
- Okay, now you all better get in the carriage and go.
You don't want to be anywhere near here
when the real marshals come.
Let's go.
- So I guess this is good-bye.
- It doesn't have to be.
You don't have to go back.
[gunshot]
- Rosie!
[unsettling music]
[sobbing]
- You ungrateful bitch.
He gave you everything.
- Hey! - What the fuck--
[grunts] [gunshot]
- [sobbing]
[gasping]
There's a doctor in town! Please go get him!
- There's no time, Marisol. - No.
[sobbing] No.
[crying]
- Would you have stayed?
- Yeah.
Of course. I would have.
- It's okay.
- [sighs]
[somber music]
- At least one of us gets to go home.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- You have some serious fucking explaining to do.
[hip-hop music]
♪ ♪
Turn me up.
Check it out.
[rapping in Spanish]
♪ ♪
- [rapping in a Chinese language]
♪ ♪
- [rapping in Spanish]
♪ ♪
- [rapping in a Chinese language]
♪ ♪
- [rapping in Spanish]
♪ ♪
- [singing in Spanish]
♪ No, no, I'll never stop ♪
♪ Until I reach the promised land ♪
♪ Brothers and sisters ♪
♪ Together we stand ♪
♪ ♪
[engine revs]
WANG CHAO: If you wait by the river long enough...
the bodies of your enemies will come floating by.
Just finish him.
Well you can't have a business partner you don't trust.
(GASPS)
BILL O'HARA: You trying to surprise me?
Never.
I am through indulging this fantasy!
♪ (MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪
No one ever just lets go.