♪ dramatic music ♪
I want you to repeat after me.
"Things are going incredibly well."
- It is a win-win, my friend.
[laughs]
Things are going incredibly well.
IRENE: "My company was just featured on national television."
STEVE: My company was just featured on national television.
- It will be ugly, Steve. Blood will spill.
Everything you've worked so hard to build will be in jeopardy.
"Business is booming."
STEVE: Business is booming.
[light switch clunks]
RAY: When you the king, there's gonna be snakes in the grass.
People wanna take you down.
I, Ray Colon, offering my everlasting oath of loyalty.
IRENE: "I live in a big, beautiful house.
And I'm not gonna blow it on some silly little slight."
- I'm not going blow it on some silly little slight.
♪ suspenseful music ♪
[gunshots]
BRADFORD: Nick! Nick!
What did you do with that money?
GARRIOLA: He's guilty. RICK: Sure as hell seems that way.
- Just one problem. There's not a shred of hard evidence.
- Oh, don't worry about that. Any of that.
♪ upbeat theme music ♪
♪
[lighter clicks]
[dial clicking]
♪
[traffic rumbling]
[pedestrians chattering]
[group chattering]
[gun clicks]
♪ tense music ♪
♪
[bell tolling]
[pedestrians chattering]
[moped rumbling]
[moped rumbles]
♪ upbeat polka music ♪
[patrons chattering]
[waitress and patrons speaking]
Steve!
Steve Banerjee in the house, man!
[chuckles]
It's good to see you. [laughs]
[Ray chuckles]
Oh, man, it's good to see you. Have a seat.
It's very good to see you.
- It's been too long. You look good, though.
- STEVE: You look good, too. - Yeah?
[waitress speaking foreign language]
English menu?
And how'd you know? Huh?
[waitress and Ray laughing]
Thank you very much, love.
WAITRESS: Mm.
[Ray laughs]
RAY: I see why you wanted to meet here.
You know, this town, it's charming.
It's charming as fuck.
I feel like I'm in that movie.
- Wha-what movie?
RAY: The one with the kids and the British lady
running around the mountain and singing and shit.
[laughs]
Anyway, how's everything? How's, how's life?
Uh, fine.
- RAY: Fine? - Yes.
- Man, the things you must be seeing.
Huh?
- What do you mean? - Chippendales.
World tour.
You been to Italy yet?
Uh, next month, Milan, Naples.
[Ray laughs] Three nights in Rome.
RAY: Oh, Italy, man.
I hear the ladies there,
there's like half a million Sophia Lorens.
[patron laughing]
You okay?
You keep looking around like you're waiting for somebody.
No.
[water pouring]
Where did that lady go?
The lady who gave us the menu.
Shouldn't she be giving us the water, too?
You need to chill, man.
- Why is there a different man giving us-- RAY: You need to chill.
Yeah.
[shaky breaths]
I think someone is following me.
- Who? STEVE: I don't know.
- You seen someone? - Not--
[patrons chattering]
- If you ain't see nobody follow you,
how you know somebody follow you?
It's just a feeling, man.
Strange things are happening.
I saw the same man three times today. Three times!
In my hotel room, the power went out for two hours.
I ordered butterscotch gelato, and they gave me peach.
RAY: Hmm.
Could be culture shock.
- Culture shock? - Yeah, man, things are different here.
They call shampoo "shampooing."
[glass clinking]
Ladies and gentlemen, we are unfortunately experiencing
a mechanical issue with our kitchen.
If you've just arrived
or have ordered and not yet received your meal,
I'm afraid we will not be able to accommodate you.
Our sincerest apologies.
What just happened?
- I guess we gotta go. STEVE: Someone is fucking with me.
Nobody's fucking with you.
Nobody ever shuts down a restaurant
while people are sitting there.
[stammers] I got a menu.
Why would they shut it down? This doesn't make se--
- If they ain't got no power, how they gonna cook the food, huh?
- I don't like this. I have to go. I should not have met you.
Look, let's go to my hotel, man.
It's right across the street.
There's a minibar, we have some beers, right?
Keep talking, you know, total privacy, man, just you and me.
Let's keep talking, man.
Be nice to catch up.
[siren wailing in distance]
[can opens]
Mm!
Shit.
Beer in Europe is crisp, man!
[laughs]
This whole city is crisp.
Like, how they keep it so clean?
You know, I'm not complaining, you know.
I, I enjoy discovering new lands and shit, you know.
I don't understand why I had to schlep this far, but--
Schlep?
- Schlep, it, it's, uh, Yiddish or Jewish
for, like, drag ya ass somewhere.
[laughs]
My sister-in-law is from Long Island.
- Okay. [sniffles]
[Steve exhales]
I appreciate you coming all this way.
The phone lines, you know.
They're not safe.
- You think they tapped your phone?
- I can't rule it out. [Ray scoffs]
- So... I guess the million-dollar question is,
you still want me to go through with it?
Tell me what happened.
You mean in London?
Yes, in London.
What happened? What went wrong?
You really want to know?
- I'm asking. - Yeah, well, uh--
Yeah.
So, I go to the theater, right?
And I got everything set up.
I got everything with me,
a gun, bullets,
a brick just in case, right?
Okay.
RAY: I was gonna do it just like you told me to.
Wait in the shadows, by the side exit
until the dancers come out.
And then--
♪ festive music ♪
There was a parade!
♪ festive music ♪
[parade goer shouts]
- A parade? - Yeah. You know, a, a parade!
♪ festive music ♪ [parade goer shouts]
Yes, I know what a parade is, Ray.
- Yeah, and somewhere amidst all that chaos--
♪ festive music ♪ [parade goers laughing]
[screams, cackles]
I lost it.
You lost what?
The gun.
You lost the gun?
- RAY: There was a parade! - How do you lose a gun?
- 'Cause I was getting knocked around, right, and you don't know--
What is wrong with you?
I just got off the plane!
- I got jet lag! - Jet lag, what are you talking about?
How do you lose a gun in a fucking parade?
Alright, I'm sorry, okay?
STEVE: Do you get anything right?
- I'm trying, here. - You failed!
- Look. I'm gonna make it up to you, alright?
I promise. I'm gonna make this right.
I will not accept the other half of the money
until I finish the job.
Obviously.
And if I fail,
I'll give you back every cent you've given me.
That's right.
That is $37,500.
Half of the 75 K you offered
to take out the three Adonis dancers,
the other half payable upon completion of the job, right?
Huh?
[fire crackling]
[wind whistling]
Right?
[phone ringing]
[ringing continues]
- Who is calling you? - I don't know.
- You don't know anyone in Switzerland.
- I know. - So then who could be calling you?
- I don't know. - Are you going to answer it?
I don't know.
Answer it.
[Ray exhales sharply]
[ringing continues]
Hello?
No, no one by that name. [chuckles]
[Ray chuckles]
Yeah, it's okay, no problem.
[phone clicks] STEVE: Who was that?
- Front desk got our room confused with another room.
[phone ringing in distance]
- What the fuck is going on? - Nothing.
[phone ringing]
Why are all these phones ringing?
- The front desk, they're looking for someone.
- In multiple rooms? - I don't know.
I don't care, and it's whatever.
- They're onto us. - No one's onto us.
STEVE: They can hear us.
- No one can hear us. These walls are thick. Okay.
Did you know Switzerland has the thickest walls in the world?
It's fucking cold, man. Look at this.
STEVE: I don't like this. I'm leaving.
- Hey, hey. You need to relax, okay.
Have a beer.
I don't drink beer.
Well, a whiskey, then.
I don't want whiskey.
- Come on, we always drink whiskey.
No, we don't.
- You and me, we drank whiskey together.
We don't drink whiskey together.
♪ tense music ♪
Yes, we did, at the club.
We had whiskey together on more than one occasion.
I don't remember that.
We drank whiskey together.
- No. - Yes, we did, after the calendar.
After the time I committed arson for you,
we drank whiskey together!
We shared a fellowship, Steve!
I mean, what the shit, man?
You and I drank whiskey every so often,
and I liked that we did, I fucking did.
I wouldn't have done all the dirty shit I did for you
if I didn't fucking like you.
Do you see that?
Do you understand what I am trying to tell you?
♪ tense music ♪
Let's have a drink, man, like, like the old days,
like the good old fuckin' days, man.
♪ tense music ♪
Okay.
There you go.
[Ray laughs]
To the good old days.
[glasses clink]
[Steve exhales softly]
- We did have some good times. RAY: Hmm.
Yeah.
We did.
I miss it.
Remember that time the sprinkler broke
right in the middle of It's Raining Men?
[chuckling]
Yeah, I do remember that.
- They all thought it was part of the show.
They loved it.
RAY: Yo, I gotta be honest,
when it first happened,
I thought it was part of the show, too. [laughs]
STEVE: You did? [laughs]
RAY: The timing? It was too perfect.
STEVE: That's right!
It was just as the dancers popped their umbrellas.
RAY: But when the alarm started going off, and I was like--
STEVE: The women went crazy! RAY: Wait a second.
STEVE: [over radio] Rain is coming down from the sky.
RAY: In the middle of the fucking club.
How long is this gonna go on?
GARRIOLA: Patience.
He's getting there.
We've come this far.
I mean, what's another couple hours?
♪ pensive music ♪
♪
♪ Howard Jones' Things Can Only Get Better playing ♪
♪
[door closes]
You him?
Yeah. Yeah.
Come on, come on.
♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa ♪
♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa ♪
Get out. I gotta go.
- [gun cocks] - You're under arrest, motherfucker!
UNDERCOVER COP 1: You fucking prick! [Louie grunts]
UNDERCOVER COP 2: I'll blow your fucking head off!
DETECTIVE 1: You're looking at 15 to 20, easy.
DETECTIVE 2: Unless you give us something.
DETECTIVE 1: Something fuckin' good.
♪ Success or failure will not alter it ♪
♪ And do you feel scared ♪
Garriola.
♪ But I won't stop and falter ♪
- [handcuffs rattling] - I don't even know that guy!
Really? Then explain this.
Thirteen calls to him in the weeks leading up to Nick's murder?
- That is a hell of a lot of wrong numbers.
Isn't it?
GARRIOLA: You want to tell us something about Steve Banerjee,
or you want to rot in jail forever?
GARRIOLA: He's a handyman for the club
whose services apparently include arranging hits.
RICK: And the occasional arson job.
SHIELDS: That still doesn't solve your problem.
GARRIOLA: What problem is that?
SHIELDS: Hard evidence linking Banerjee to the De Noia murder.
Without a smoking gun or a taped confession--
Well, funny you should mention it.
What, you got the murder weapon?
- The other one. - You have him on tape?
- No, but we will. - The dancer hit.
He wants Colon to try again.
- He's flying him to Switzerland to talk it over.
We just want to tag along.
- I don't like this. I don't like any of this.
I should not have agreed to meet you.
- Look, Steve, let's go to my hotel, man.
- It's right across the street, - They're on the move.
There's a minibar, we have some beers, right?
Keep talking, you know, total privacy, man,
just you and me.
Let's keep talking, man.
Be nice to catch up.
[bell tolling]
RAY: Can I tell you something?
Sure.
Those early years.
Best years of my life, man.
You and me.
Mrs. Banerjee.
Denise.
Nick.
It's better now.
Revenue has never been higher.
Double-digit growth for four years straight.
I have clubs in four cities, tours spanning three continents.
Next year, we're going to Asia.
Tokyo, Singapore, maybe even China.
RAY: But don't you ever get lonely?
Lonely?
- Back then it was all of us. Now--
- Mm, that's what makes it even more impressive,
the fact that I'm doing it all by myself.
- That's true, yeah. - That's how it started, right?
With just me.
I thought of it. Without me, there is no Chippendales.
You ever hear from Irene?
♪ somber music ♪
What does she have to do with it?
RAY: I was just wondering.
It has been some time.
RAY: How's your daughter? You see her much?
♪ somber music ♪
- She's seven years old. - Wow!
Seven already.
STEVE: She's crazy about horses.
[laughs]
Daddy gonna buy her one?
[chuckles]
You know you got nothing to apologize for.
- What? RAY: The stuff you did.
You had your reasons.
- Of course, I did. RAY: Steve.
You can talk to me.
I'm your friend.
What do you mean?
- I can see that things are weighing on you.
Nothing is weighing on me.
- Come on, man, I refuse to believe that.
A man's gotta have a conscience.
You ever done therapy?
- Therapy? RAY: Yeah.
I've done it a few times. It really works.
I know nothing about therapy.
It's incredible.
All you do is you take what you're feeling, right,
whatever's weighing on you,
and you say it out loud.
Why would you do that?
[Ray laughs]
- Because the act of saying it out loud makes it go away.
It's like this. [Steve scoffs]
It's like a magic trick. Right?
You say it out loud and poof,
it's gone, off your chest forever.
You don't feel it anymore, ever again.
- So silly. RAY: It's not.
I'm telling you, bro, it works. Try it.
- What? - Right now, try it.
- What are you talking about? - I'm talking about saying the stuff
you feel bad about out loud.
That's okay.
- What's the harm? - No, thanks.
It's just me, man.
It's not like you're gonna say something I don't already--
No!
[Ray sniffs]
Okay.
I'ma go.
I'ma do therapy because I got some things
I gotta get off of my chest.
So, back in London.
Yes?
I didn't lose the gun.
What?
And there was no parade.
STEVE: There was no parade?
I made it up.
All of it.
I never went to the theater.
I never even left the hotel.
Is this some kind of joke?
I chickened out, man.
I didn't have the balls to do it.
- So you--
You just lied to me.
RAY: That's what I'm confessing.
How could you do this to me?
I'm baring my soul here, man!
STEVE: You idiot!
I trusted you, and you betrayed me
- Betrayed you? STEVE: Yes!
- I didn't wanna do that shit in the first place!
- You forced me into it! - I didn't force you.
I was scared if I said no,
you'd kill me just like you killed Nick De Noia!
♪ tense music ♪ [tape whirring]
Come on, Steve. Acknowledge.
♪ tense music ♪
[Ray shudders]
Give me back my money.
- What money? - The half.
For the hit on the three dancers?
STEVE: Yes, you idiot.
- Don't call me that. - That's what you are.
You're an idiot who can't get anything right.
I got the Nick De Noia hit right.
- No, you were just the middleman. Anybody could have done that.
- That's not true. - That's true.
I had the money, he had the gun and the balls,
- you had nothing. - So what, you just needed someone
- to get the money from you to him? - Yes.
- So the murder couldn't be traced back to you.
- Yes! - So they wouldn't know
that you're the one who ordered the hit
on Nick De Noia!
Yes, you idiot, yes!
Yes!
♪ tense music ♪
♪
[Ray whispering]
[shaky breaths]
- What are you doing? [Ray whispering]
- Come on, y'all. STEVE: Ray?
Ray, what are you doing?
- Don't leave me hanging here, yo. Is that it?
♪ tense music ♪
♪
RAY: Steve.
Steve, what are you doing, man?
Steve!
You're going straight-up crazy, a'ight?
♪ tense music ♪
What are you doing?
[clattering]
Steve, I wouldn't do that to you.
You're freaking me out already. Would you stop?
Steve!
♪ tense music ♪
♪
I'm sorry, boss.
[door bursts open]
DETECTIVE 1: Freeze! DETECTIVE 2: Get on the fucking ground!
Let me see your fucking hands!
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪
[inaudible]
♪
[sobs] I'm sorry.
[Ray sobbing]
Shit. I mean, this is bad.
I mean, you're facing charges
that could put you away for life.
- But, but you'll defend me. You'll get me out of this.
CHERYL: No, you, you don't want me defending you, not on this.
You need a top criminal defense attorney.
- Who? CHERYL: I'll get you some names.
[Steve sniffs] [alarm buzzes]
[Steve whimpers]
- Have you, have you spoken with Irene?
CHERYL: Have you?
No, she, uh,
she doesn't want to know me.
If, uh, things don't go well for me, you'll take care of her?
I'll do my best.
You haven't exactly left her in the best position, though.
She'll have the company.
[Cheryl scoffs]
What?
CHERYL: You're being charged under RICO.
RICO?
- Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
STEVE: What does that mean?
- It means that Chippendales is being classified
as a criminal organization.
What?
CHERYL: Which means that the government has the right to seize
all assets upon your sentencing,
including the business itself.
They're going to take my company?
- Down to the drink coasters and the thongs.
- But, but, uh, in the divorce settlement, I said, Irene,
if anything happens to me, Irene gets the company.
That's what it says in the divorce settlement.
That is all out the window now.
- But, but she did nothing wrong! She didn't even know about this.
I did this. She, she, she didn't know about this.
I did this! This was me!
She didn't know about this!
[fading] She didn't do anything wrong!
♪ melancholic music ♪
[inaudible]
♪
♪ foreboding music ♪
♪
[lighter strikes]
[lighter closes]
- Oh, stop it. You deserve everything you got.
Oh, that's right.
You never saw this.
That's why we had to do a closed casket.
[Nick inhales]
[Nick exhales]
Here's the thing I don't get, Steve.
You know, I get killing me.
I mean, I don't get it, but I get it.
You were jealous, I was taking your spotlight,
your money, standard stuff.
But those dancers in London?
- Come on. - They were ripping me off.
NICK: Well, yeah, there's always gonna be competitors.
They were ripping me off!
NICK: Like the Electric Tomato?
[chuckles]
Oh God,
you don't even know what that is.
The club that you burned down
because they were doing some stupid male stripper night.
You won, Steve! You fucking won!
The war was over, you conquered your rivals,
you vanquished your foes,
but somehow, somehow you didn't get the memo.
- When you're someone like me, you can't stop fighting.
NICK: Oh.
Someone like you.
Outsider, underdog, immigrant.
NICK: I see.
You can't make an American Dream omelet
without breaking a few eggs.
Yes. Yes.
[laughs]
- You know, I've said it before and I'll say it again.
You, Steve Banerjee, are one fucked-up dude.
I am sorry you feel that way.
NICK: Oh, everyone feels that way.
Everyone who's ever met you.
Including Irene.
[Steve crying]
NICK: Irene, Irene,
Irene, Irene.
Leave her out of this.
NICK: You know, she's gonna be left with nothing.
All because you needed everything.
- She'll be fine. [Nick laughs]
NICK: Oh, in what fucking universe?
[Steve sniffles]
Oh, I'm sorry, it's upsetting.
We don't have to talk about her.
The reality is... [exhales]
you fucked her.
Oh, man, you fucked her good.
- She'll be fine. NICK: Single mother,
business empire snatched away,
all because you had to take out three random-ass strippers?
[laughs]
- I will take care of her. I will handle it.
NICK: No, there's no handling this one, Stevie boy.
I mean, you can't put out a hit on the American criminal justice system.
[sobbing]
The moment you're sentenced, the government takes it all.
She'll be left with nothing.
Please go.
[sobbing]
Just go.
I'm already gone.
[sobbing]
[water running]
[brushing]
[water running]
♪ gentle piano music ♪
GUARD 1: How was your weekend?
Fantastic. Did absolutely nothing.
GUARD 1: That's my kind of weekend. [guard 2 chuckles]
When the wife lets me get away with it. [guard 2 chuckles]
Hear that.
[door slams]
♪ gentle piano music continues ♪
♪
[alarm blaring]
[door rattling]
GUARD 3: Hurry!
Okay, got it.
Dammit, give me a little more slack, a little more slack.
GUARD 4: Ah, shit. Jesus Christ.
♪ gentle piano music continues ♪
[crowd chattering]
[camera shutters clicking]
EMT 1: Who the hell is this guy?
EMT 2: Steve Banerjee.
EMT 1: No.
EMT 2: He invented Chippendales.
EMT 1: That guy? [chuckles]
Chippendales?
Man, Dorine, [sighs]
she fucking loved that place.
[audience cheering] ♪ Billy Squier's The Stroke playing ♪
♪ Now everybody ♪
♪ Have you heard ♪
♪ If you're in the game ♪
♪ Then the stroke's the word ♪
[audience screaming]
♪ Don't take no rhythm ♪
♪ Don't take no style ♪
♪ Got a thirst for killin' ♪
♪ Grab your vial ♪
[audience cheering]
♪ Put your right hand out ♪
♪ Give a firm handshake ♪
- STEVE: Well done tonight! - Thanks, boss.
♪ About that one big break ♪
Bobby! One Coke!
[audience cheering]
♪ Both far and wide ♪
♪ Keep your contributions ♪
♪ By your side and ♪
♪ Stroke me, stroke me ♪
- BOBBY: One Coke, boss. - Thank you, Bobby.
♪ Stroke me, stroke me ♪
Hey, fantastic work!
I know!
♪ Stroke me, stroke me ♪
♪ You got your number down ♪
♪ Stroke me, stroke me ♪
♪ Say you're a winner but, man, you're just a sinner now ♪
[audience cheering]
STEVE: Irene.
♪ Put your left foot out ♪
IRENE: Hey.
♪ Keep it all in place ♪
[Irene laughs] Thank you.
- You know I'll always take care of you.
♪ First you try to bet me ♪
♪ You make my backbone slide ♪
♪ But when you find you bled me ♪
♪ Step on by keep on ♪
♪ Stroke me, stroke me ♪
♪ Give me the business all night long ♪
♪ Stroke me, stroke me ♪
♪ Stroke ♪
♪ Stroke me, stroke me ♪
♪ You're so together, boy ♪
♪ Stroke me, stroke me ♪
[audience cheering]
♪ Say you're a winner but, man, you're just a sinner now ♪
[audience cheering]
♪ upbeat dance music ♪
♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ How do you like your love? ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ How do you like your love? ♪
♪ But if you want to know ♪
♪ How I really feel ♪
♪ Get the cameras rolling ♪
♪ Get the action going ♪
♪ Baby, you know ♪
♪ My love for you is real ♪
♪ So take me where you want to ♪
♪ Me and my heart, you steal ♪
♪ More, more, more ♪
♪ How do you like it? How do you like it? ♪
♪ More, more, more ♪
♪ How do you like it? How do you like it? ♪
♪ More, more, more ♪
♪ How do you like it? How do you like it? ♪
♪ Ooh ♪