On December 1, 1935, Mrs. William Starkwell, the wife of a New Jersey handyman, gives birth to her first and only child.
It is a boy, and they name it Virgil. He is an exceptionally cute baby with a sweet disposition.
Before he is 25 years old, he will be wanted by police in six states for assault, armed robbery, and illegal possession of a wart.
Growing up in a slum neighborhood where the crime rate is amongst the highest in the nation is not easy, particularly for Virgil, who is small and frail compared to the other children.
Will attend this school, where he scores well on an IQ test, although his behavior disturbs the teachers.
We interviewed Mrs. Dorothy Lowry, a school teacher who remembered Virgil.
I remember one time he stole a fountain pen. I didn't want to embarrass him, so you know teachers have ways of doing things, so I said to the class,
we will all close our eyes, and will the one who took the pen please return it.
Well, while our eyes were closed, he returned the pen, but he took the opportunity of feeling all the girls.
Can I say feel?
Spending most of his time in the streets, Virgil takes to crime at an early age.
He is an immediate failure, and barely manages to escape with a gumball machine stuck on his hand.
With both parents working to make ends meet, Virgil becomes closest to his grandfather.
A 60-year-old German immigrant who takes the boy to movies and baseball games.
Then tragedy strikes. At a Washington senator's game, Virgil's grandfather is struck in the head by a foul ball.
The blow causes permanent injury to his mind, and he becomes convinced he is Kaiser Wilhelm.
Here are some rare photos of him with other patients on the sanatorium grounds.
When he is 15 years old, amidst the violence and poverty of the slums, Virgil receives a cello as a gift.
He is fascinated by the instrument, and for the first time in the Starkwell house, music is heard.
We spoke to Mr. Torgman, his first and only cello teacher.
And there is not very much to tell because his cello playing was just terrible.
He had no idea about tone production. He would just saw it back and forth, just scratched the instrument to such a point that it would drive everyone to listen to it, absolutely insane.
He had no conception of the instrument. He was blowing into it. He loved his cello, and I think he stole to pay for his lessons, but he would not apply himself one Yorta.
Virgil steals to pay for cello lessons, and although he does not achieve greatness on the instrument, he is soon good enough to play in a local band.
And Virgil soon learns the facts of life. Seeing Virgil is lonely and confused. Unable to concentrate in school, he has long since dropped out.
He wants nothing more than to belong, if only to a street gang. It is here he thinks he will prove his manhood.
Instant economic pressure. Virgil turns to the local pool hall as a means of making a living.
I'm going to be a pool hustler, he tells his friends. Tries to join the Navy, but is psychologically unfit.
That looks to me like two elephants making love to a men's glee club.
Mr. T.S. Foster, Virgil's first probation officer remembers him vividly.
He was a trustworthy kind of person. I mean, you had to remember certainty of secrecy that he had?
Like what?
Well, like not always telling the truth. He didn't always tell the truth. Sometimes he exaggerated the truth.
Sometimes he, you know, just plain lies. He does have a criminal record, yes, but that doesn't mean that the boy was all bad.
Unable to fit in with any aspect of his environment, Virgil strikes out on his own.
He had some light on this period of his life. We spoke with his father and mother.
They are ashamed of their son's criminal record and so wear disguises.
He was a good boy. He was old.
Oh, come on. If he was a good boy, why are we wearing these? He's rotten. He's a gangster.
Oh, oh, oh, this is what he is.
He was, he was so bright and he was so talented.
Well, bright and talented.
And he loved music.
He was an atheist. I tried to be God into him, but it was too tough.
He was trying to get away from us and be independent and make his own life and be a human being on his own.
I mean, you're a very dominating person.
What?
You are. And he was trying to find himself.
Me? I'm, all right. Let's, look, I'll talk to you later about the whole thing.
What do you mean later?
Vowing that he will never serve his full term,
Virgil plans an elaborate escape using a bar of soap and some shoe polish.
Take me to the infirmary.
What's the matter?
Don't ask.
After the escape is dealt with harshly,
his sentence is extended an additional two years.
1956 is a happy-go-lucky year for most people.
These none of it from his tiny cell.
He marks time by reading until one day a new opportunity arises.
We need volunteers for an experiment.
The doctors want someone to be inoculated with the new vaccine.
It's never been tried on humans before,
so we don't know what the side effects may be.
To be honest, you'll be taken a chance.
As reward, there's a parole.
I'm sure there are some among you brave enough to take the risk.
With parole as inducement, Virgil submits to the vaccine test.
It is a success, except for one temporary side effect.
For several hours, he is turned into a rabbi.
And so, the reason we celebrate the Passover holidays
by eating matzo is to commemorate the time
that Moses led the children of Israel from Egypt.
He has so many good qualities.
Name, name, name.
He had all sorts of mechanical abilities.
He was artistic.
Do you remember the painting he did for you on your birthday?
He used to be what he was.
I used to and try to teach him about God.
Would he listen? No.
Virgil leaves prison apprehensive,
but with some hope that he can begin a new life.
Instead, he finds a world difficult to cope with.
For shame to go home, he rents a cheap room in a strange city.
Virgil tries to support himself with small crimes.
Here, he attempts to rob a local pet shop.
I hope you haven't been watching me. I'm not very good.
Oh.
I was strolling down here just now
and I noticed that you were drawing something
and I thought that I would...
You can look at it if you want to.
It's not very good.
Oh, I wouldn't say that.
I think that's wonderful.
It's not very good.
Well, I think that's very good, actually.
I would have... I think you could probably make cash.
Are you an artist?
No. No, of course I'm not an artist.
No? Well, what do you do?
I'm a laundress.
Laundress?
I...
Laundry?
Yeah, I wash clothes.
No, it isn't.
I like it, but it's not particularly nice.
What's your name?
Louise.
It's yours.
Virgil.
Stockwell. Virgil Stockwell.
What do you do?
What do I do?
Um, I'm a...
I'm a cello.
Oh, that's... that's fantastic.
Yes, I'm a cellist.
That's a wonderful job.
Are you a cello-monic?
Yes, I am, actually.
Oh, that's fantastic.
Yes, I'm a cello-monic.
Quite a good group.
Yeah, well, I dress like this, because I'm just...
working out.
Say, if you want to, uh...
Can I just even go for a walk at all?
Okay.
I, uh...
I know I was in love, but...
for first of all, I was very nauseous.
You know, I never met such a pretty girl, and, uh...
I guess I'm sensitive, because, you know, real beauty
makes me want to, uh, gag.
Plus, I don't know how to act with girls.
You know, I'm shy, and I'm just nervous around women.
I have a tendency to dribble.
And, um...
You know, the only girl that I had known was a girl
in my neighborhood, and, uh...
who was not an attractive girl.
I used to make obscene phone calls to her collect,
and, you know, she used to accept the charges all the time.
Nothing ever happened.
And here I'm lying through my teeth.
I mean, I can't tell Louise that I was in jail,
and that I robbed and steal,
and never did an honest day's work in my life,
because, you know, a lot of people hold those things against you.
But she was so sweet.
We just walked in the park, and I was so touched by her that...
I don't know, after 15 minutes, I wanted to marry her.
And after a half hour, I completely gave up the idea
of snatching her purse.
I wanted to tell her, actually, that I wasn't with the Philharmonic,
but she was so impressed by it.
She asked me some questions about Mozart,
and she got suspicious, because for a minute,
I couldn't place the name.
I don't know any...
When it comes to women in prison,
I remember this psychiatrist asked me if I had a girl,
and I said, no.
And he said, well, do I think that sex is dirty?
And I said, it is if you're doing it right.
All I know is my heart was really pounding,
and I felt a funny tingling all over.
You know, and I don't know, I was either in love
or I had smallpox.
Have dinner tonight?
Sure.
I'm embarrassed to see what I...
That's a pretty hat.
Thank you.
Yeah, I see them all over town.
Do you?
Mm-hmm.
You know, feather in the white.
I haven't seen anything.
Oh, yeah, they're on sale downtown.
I passed them.
I was walking around the streets.
I passed them.
I have millions of them in that one of those bins.
You know, we went for a walk.
I asked her for a lock of her hair, you know,
and we didn't have a scissors,
so I tried pulling it out.
And she was a good sport, I tell you.
She was...
You know, when she got excited, she stuttered.
I...
She was so cute that way.
I like a girl who stutters, you know.
They turn red, and they're always gasping for breath.
You know, it's really sweet-looking.
And she, um...
She was an expert on laundry, you know.
She was fantastic.
I offered to, uh, to let her do my shorts,
and she was very moved by that, I think.
She just knew everything about undo.
I never saw anybody knew so much about socks and T-shirts.
She was some kind of, you know, genius that way.
Virgil sees Louise more frequently.
When she questions him about his cello playing,
he avoids the subject.
In order to better understand Louise,
let us examine her background briefly.
Adopted at age two from a cruel and impoverished orphanage
by a career military man and his wife,
she was subjected to an upbringing of extreme discipline,
which left her shy and withdrawn.
Never having a real home, she lived on army bases,
while her father pursued a brilliant military career
that after 30 years catapulted him to the rank of corporal.
Her mother, an alcoholic, turns to religion for comfort
and quickly becomes a fanatic.
She responds to Louise's need for love by beating the child
and claims to have conversations with God
in which they discuss salvation and interior decorating.
Destitute and in love, Virgil attempts to change his life
with one bold stroke.
Can't you read that?
I can't read this. What's this?
Act natural?
No, it's just, please put $50,000 into this bag
and act natural.
It does say act natural.
Uh, so I am pointing a gun at you.
That looks like a gun. That doesn't look like a gun.
No, it's a gun.
No, that's a gun. That's a bee.
No, see, that's an N. It's a G-U-N. It's a gun.
George, would you step over here a moment, please?
What does this say?
Please put $50,000 into this bag and act natural.
What's that? Act.
Does this look like a gun?
Gun. See?
But what's that mean?
Act. Act natural. Please put $50,000 into this bag.
Act natural.
Oh, I see. This is a holder.
Yes.
May I see your gun?
You'll have to have this note initialed by one of our vice presidents
before I can give you any money.
See, he's able to rush.
What? I'm able to rush.
I'm sorry, but that's our policy.
In the gray suit.
That's G-U-N. I'm pointing a gun at you.
That's a bee. That's a gun.
That's G-U-N. That's a bee. That's a gun.
No, excuse me. That's an N.
Miss Frank.
I am pointing a gun at you.
Act natural. What is act?
That's act.
Oh, it couldn't be. That's a plain bee.
No, no, no, no. I'm afraid not.
That's act natural. I'm pointing a gun at you.
Mr. Miller.
I am pointing a gup.
No, that's gun. That's G-U-N.
That's gun. I am pointing a gun at you.
It looks like a bee, but it's an N.
Of course it is.
It's a gun.
No, no, it isn't.
It is a gun.
It has to be a gun.
I'm sorry, but I just...
We were there in the window, and it's gunned.
No, no, I wouldn't...
Hello, Louise.
Uh, listen, I can't make our date today.
I've got to go up to Boston and give a concert.
Well, look, why don't I give you a call in about, um...
About 10 years.
Virgil Starquell is apprehended in the act of bank robbery.
He has given 10 years in the state's strictest
maximum security prison.
It is here that he mingles with hardened criminals
for the first time.
The prison has not been built that can hold me.
Virgil tells another inmate,
and I'll get out of this one if it means
spending my entire life here.
According to what is in the armadillo's...
You know, I... I knew...
Would you let a man say a word or two?
I knew there was a day when I said,
this kid is rotten.
You know the expression of rotten kid?
That's what this kid is.
Whose jeans did he have?
What jeans?
I'm chromosome.
What jeans?
What, what, what?
Don't talk fancy in front of the man,
because, you know, you make an impression.
The time passes slowly for Virgil.
He works hard and tries to adjust to prison life.
He becomes a model prisoner.
He's put to work in the laundry.
You don't mind that I came to see you, do you?
No, I'm happy to see you.
How did you find out I was here?
I called up your landlady.
She told me where you were.
She said that...
Virgil, did you rob a bank?
I did not rob a bank.
If I had robbed a bank, everything would be great.
Well, what did you do?
I tried to rob a bank, is what happened,
and they got me.
I misspelled a note.
Virgil.
Can you bank?
Virgil, you don't...
You're allergic to chocolate.
I need a cake with a gun in it.
I'll bake you a cake.
I won't put the gun in.
I'll put a dozen chocolate chip cookies
with a bullet in each.
How long are you going to be here?
Oh, well, um,
I estimate in the neighborhood of, um...
What's today? On Monday?
Uh, Tuesday, Wednesday?
Extra?
Ten years.
In fact, yeah.
Is it possible that you could wait for me?
Yes, if you want me to.
With Louise to inspire him,
Virgil works hard and becomes more optimistic.
She comes frequently for the next few months.
He complains about the food,
and she brings him home-cooked meals.
Louise's impact on Virgil
is discussed here by Dr. Julius Epstein,
a one-time prison psychiatrist who recalls Virgil.
Well, Louise meant a great deal to Virgil.
From a psychiatric point of view.
His love for her was the healthiest thing in his life.
It was genuine and clean.
Not like some patients, I know.
She ain't gonna wait for Virgil.
They think they can, but they never do.
You know, I've become eligible for parole in a year and a half.
Yeah, well, that's nice.
With any luck, maybe two or three years,
you'll get out of here, huh?
Could be a lot shorter.
What do you mean?
He means we've got this proposition we want to talk over with you.
What kind of proposition?
Like, next week, five of us are gonna make it out of here.
Now, we need an extra man.
It's all set.
By next week, we could be miles away from this zoo.
You guys gotta be kidding. We never get out of here.
They kill us.
We got out of rougher places than this.
Hey, look, why don't you just think about it, huh?
Ain't no broad gonna wait around for years for you.
No matter what she tells you in that visiting hall.
Well, I think the conflict in this personality disorder
started from his formative years.
I think that gave evidence in his choice of the cello.
For instance, studying the cello at the age of six,
which is just coming out of the formative years,
but the conflict is there within the choice
because it's generally assumed that the cello is a phallic symbol.
I mean, with the grasp and what the lower structural forms
are certainly feminine.
If anything, motherly.
In fact, the utilization of the bow, I would imagine,
is the sublimation of stroking a torso.
So between the grasping of the phallic
and the stroking of the torso would create,
I would imagine, great conflict even at the age of six.
Virgil's stark well becomes part of an escape plot.
His every move becomes tense and strained.
The guards on our floor with us
will be ready in case there's some trouble.
I still don't understand how we're gonna get past the main tower.
We're gonna be dressed as guards.
That's why Friday at noon.
Because you work in a laundry.
You're gonna steal the guards' underwear.
What?
Yes, we already got some uniforms dashed in the dark room.
I don't understand.
If you got the guards' uniforms,
what do you need their underwear?
We wanna do this as realistically as possible.
I'm known for my detail work.
Sir, we can't find our underwear.
I think something's up.
We better keep our eyes open.
Next convict and one of the leaders of the break
describes that fateful day.
I told all the other guys that the break was off.
But I forgot to tell Virgil.
I don't know why I forgot.
Nobody ever told him.
There's a break in the north cell block.
Notify the warden immediately.
The happiest moment of my life,
I just wish my parents could have been there.
We weren't aware of this.
Am I right? Am I right?
You know, say, be honest.
He turned out to be...
These are small savings.
They move into a cheaply furnished flat.
His innocent pictures were taken.
They were both unaware of the incredible series of events
that were to come.
He secures a little work selling encyclopedias door to door.
But the job proves too much for him.
He is forced to take to the streets.
And for a while, he earns a meager living selling meagres.
We're going to have a baby.
Get out of here.
No. No, we're going to have a baby.
I went to the doctor. We're going to have a baby.
That's my present for Christmas.
Well, all I needed was a tie.
I don't believe it.
Virgil, really.
Well, how did it happen?
What do you mean, how did it happen?
Well, I'm...
You mean because...
At night, the two of us...
And that's what happened.
In the spring, Virgil and Louise are blessed with a son.
They name the boy Jonathan Ralph Starquo after Virgil's mother.
Move to a new state and try to start over.
Virgil has the usual trouble finding work.
Finally, he hears of an opening in an insurance office
and is back against the wall.
He attempts to lie his way into the job.
Please sit down. Name, please.
John Q. Public.
It's P-U-B-L-I-C.
Mr. Public, have you had any experience working in an office before?
Yes, I have.
What kind of office was it?
Rectangular.
Have you ever had any experience in running a high-speed digital electronic computer?
Yes, I have.
Where?
What does your aunt do?
I can't recall.
You said before you worked in an office.
Did you deal in products or services?
Products.
Is this something found in the home?
No, it's not. It's one down and nine to go.
Is this product edible?
No, I'm afraid it wasn't.
I think our time has run out,
and I'm sorry to say you haven't guessed my occupation,
so I'm going to flip all the cards and tell you exactly what I used to do.
I used to manufacture escalator shoes
for people who were nauseous in elevator shoes.
I'm sorry you didn't actually get my occupation,
but you did win $10,
and I want to thank you very much.
Better luck next time.
You're a good sport.
Hiding his past from his fellow employees,
Virgil does well at his first decent job, the mailroom.
His past catches up with him, however,
as a fellow employee learns of his criminal record.
What are you doing for dinner, Mr. Public?
Oh, Miss Blair, I'm having dinner with my wife. Why?
We're having dinner, Mr. Public.
Oh, no, I said I was having dinner with my wife.
I found this picture in a magazine.
One word for me, and you're back in prison.
Okay?
What do you feel like, either?
Virgil Stark well becomes the victim of a blackmail plot.
Miss Blair, confident of her power to expose him,
begins making small demands for money.
These increase as time goes on.
Everything that he holds dear to him is in jeopardy.
His life and family hang on the whim of an unstable woman.
He is driven to desperation,
but with the responsibility of a wife and child to protect,
Virgil Stark well contemplates murder.
What would you like to drink?
Oh, what do you have?
How about some sherry? I have some very fine sherry.
Do you heard your hand?
Clumsy.
I'll be right here.
Disguising two sticks of dynamite as candles,
he sends Miss Blair an anonymous gift.
The plot fails, however, as he makes the dynamite too thick
to fit into the candlesticks.
Determined to rid himself of the blackmailer,
he rents a car and attempts to run her over.
There must be your imagination.
Who'd try and kill you?
I don't know. I have no enemies.
You didn't tell anybody, did you?
No. You can do the carving.
Cut your ways.
I mean, you eat like an animal.
It's delicious, really.
I'll get the salad dressing, we'll make a toast,
and then you start on that turkey leg.
I'm just creating the proper atmosphere, dear.
I'm a sucker, Fred.
Why don't you call up the turkey?
Yes, of course, my darling.
Someone sent these as a gift,
but they were too big to use, so I shaved off the bottom.
Enforcement agency's on his trail.
Virgil takes his family and heads south.
Here they manage to secure a cheap lodging temporarily.
This was really a desperate time in my life.
You know, we had no money.
I tried mugging old ladies,
but, uh, I got hit in the groin with a crutch.
I don't know what to do.
I tried counterfeiting for a while, you know.
I just got the plates all fouled up and everything.
Lincoln came out smoking a cigarette,
and I, uh, I robbed a butcher shop.
That was the best I could do.
I got away with 116 veal cutlets,
and I had to go out and rob a tremendous amount of breading.
They're money gone, and with food scarce,
the stark-wells live like hunted animals.
You weren't very happy then.
Oh, no, this was the low point in my existence.
I was thinking of getting out of crime altogether,
maybe becoming a singer or something.
Must have been a very tough decision for you to make.
Uh, yeah, it was, uh, it was really tough,
but, uh, my family was starving,
and I had, uh, I'd already filed for bankruptcy, you know.
I see.
Well, uh, what prompted you to go on?
Oh, well, I came up with an idea for a robbery
that was, uh, that was so fantastic and so brilliant
that when it was over, it was considered a real work of art
by all the guys in my cell block.
They must have looked up to you.
Well, you know, those guys are mugs.
I, uh, am gonna rob a bank.
Oh, no, Virgil, not again.
Yes. I think so.
I think that's our only way out of this mess
is for me to, there's a little dinky bank in Ross County,
and I think if I could get two or three good men,
I could get in there and get it
and we could go down to Mexico or up to Canada or, uh...
But Virgil, what if you got killed?
No, don't worry, nothing to worry about.
I know how to use a gub.
No, it's gun, Virgil.
A gun? I'm sorry.
Can I say gub again?
Yes.
I want to speak to you about a business proposition.
It's a bank job.
A couple of guys and myself are gonna get together
about four weeks from now.
A quarter of a million dollars.
We walk in and take it like that.
It's an easy job.
I think we just pull up, take it.
How long, uh...
What, because I said the part about the bank,
the bank is...
You...
You're looking...
You guys are dressing alike again.
I, uh...
Yeah, I just...
I just broke it myself.
It's just...
All the boys in the neighborhood went wrong.
It wasn't his fault.
We just didn't have time for a little working so hard.
Would you like to see my stamp collection?
I have a collection of stamps.
First, he selects an appropriate bank.
Next, he cases the bank by cleverly concealing a camera
in an unsuspected place.
It takes place.
Among the ones chosen are some of the most
sinister names in the underworld.
William Hummers,
wanted by the police for bank robbery,
assault with a deadly weapon,
murder, and getting naked in front of his in-laws.
Frankie Wolf, wanted by federal authorities
for dancing with a mailman.
A.D. Armstrong, wanted all over the country
for arson, robbery, assault with intent to kill,
and marrying a horse.
The Union Fidelity Bank.
June 16th,
10 a.m.
What you're about to see are films of the Union Fidelity Bank.
We're gonna see them just once.
And to destroy the evidence, we're gonna eat the film.
It'll be buffet style.
You can just help yourself, take plates,
this potato salad over there, and my wife made coffee.
These films could save your lives.
You'd have the gang over for meetings,
and I'd put out little trays of pretzels and bullets.
I had to. He's my husband.
We got this film camera.
We got lights. We got a truck.
And the idea is, we pull up in front of the bank
and we look like we're making a movie.
We play the actors.
Or we need somebody to be the director.
Grudge, I got the perfect guy.
An ex-con I did some time with by the name of, um...
Fritz.
I will be the director.
I once was a film director many years ago
before movies had sound.
I worked with John Gilbert,
wrote a Valentino with Ruth and Geerich.
Ruth and Geerich were baseball players.
I was also bad.
The fools in Hollywood didn't recognize genius.
But now I shall wear the uniform of the director once again.
And you will be my actor.
You will enter the bank and say,
up with your hands, this is a stick-up, thereby announcing our theme,
men's creed.
Now say it and let me hear the line.
Up with your hands. This is a stick-up.
No, no, no. More feeling. Again now.
Fritz, Fritz, this is a bank robbery, not a movie.
Oh, yes. Of course.
Oh, forgive me.
I will be fine when the time comes.
Thank you all. Everybody, take five.
Don't tell me you're going to use the shower now.
Virgil, why do you do this to me every morning?
I just got in here.
Well, I'm going to be late for the robbery.
So you'll be five minutes late. They can start without me.
They can't start without me. I'm the leader.
I made you some coffee.
Oh, Jesus. Every day I have trouble getting in the bathroom
for crying out loud.
What'd you say?
I said, what shirt do you want to wear?
I'm going to wear my light blue.
No, you're not. It was dirty. I washed it last night.
Why did you wash it? I was going to wear it today.
I washed it because it was dirty.
Well, so what? I'm just going to rob a bank.
I happen to have ironed your beige shirt. Do you want to wear that?
No, I can't wear a beige shirt to a bank robbery.
Because it's light. I'll be an easy target.
I think it's a perfectly good shirt to wear.
No, it isn't a good shirt. It's beige.
Well, who wears beige to a bank robbery?
What are the other guys wearing?
I don't know. For crying out loud.
Well, why don't you call them up and ask them?
Oh, nobody's going to be wearing beige to a bank robbery.
It's in poor taste.
June 16th, 9 a.m.
The days of planning are over.
Virgil and his accomplices depart from his hideout
and proceed toward their destination.
Oh, no, I'm sorry. We're holding up the bank.
We're holding up the bank.
Oh, no, no. We were here first.
Look, could you come back tomorrow? We'll be finished by then.
We've been planning this for months.
We're not going to have it ruined by a jackass.
All right, we'll take a vote.
How many people here would like to be held up by this group?
Now, how many people would like to be held up by our group?
The number of the gang gets 5 years for his part in the crime.
Virgil gets 10.
He is taken not to prison this time,
but to a road gang
where his criminal behavior will cost him dearly.
You men come here
because you committed crimes
rendering you unfit to live in decent society.
That's too bad.
I think you're going to find you made a mistake
you're going to regret.
Our job, men and the boys,
is to see that you get some civilization in you
so that when you leave here,
you're going to think twice
about performing antisocial acts.
My advice to you
is to obey the rules and do your job.
You got any complaints, you come to me.
There ain't nobody in the outside going to help you.
Now, we don't like complainers
and we don't like troublemakers.
If things get a little too rough for you in here,
you're just free to take off for Florida.
Sean, which direction Florida is, boys?
Any questions?
Do you think a girl should pet on the first date?
What?
I mean if both parties involved are mature and liberal.
Gonna see Miss Liza.
Gonna go to Mississippi.
Gonna see Miss Liza.
Gonna go to Mississippi.
Gonna see Miss Liza.
Gonna go to Mississippi.
Gonna see Miss Liza.
Gonna go to Mississippi.
Gonna see Miss Liza.
You think you got a good enough aim
with that hammer to knock these bracelets off me?
Look, man, I don't want no trouble.
Nothing's gonna happen.
You think you can do it?
Never missed yet.
All right, go ahead.
Sorry, man, first time.
Food on a chain gang is scarce and not very nourishing.
The men get one hot meal a day, a bowl of steam.
James, work.
You taking?
Come on, I want you to see this
so you'll know what you got to look forward to.
What do you mean?
Don't beat the shout of your damn food.
Be him.
Oh, him?
Jesus.
The time drags by in an endless grind
of backbreaking labor.
Brutal discipline is common under the hot sun.
The men are not even permitted to faint
without written permission.
Virgil complains, and he is severely tortured.
For several days, he is locked in a sweat box
with an insurance salesman.
Hi, I'm Joe Green.
I represent the Ajax Widgets Insurance Company.
I'd like to talk to you about your insurance.
You're about 30, right?
You know, I think the best thing to do
would be to get straight in life plus a little term.
And, uh...
How about dental and medical?
We've got this major medical. It's a good deal.
At the end of each workday,
the men are chained to each other by the ankle
in groups of six, making movements
slow and painful, and escape impossible.
Then, one day, the impossible is attempted.
See that feel?
When we make it across that field, we'd be out of here.
We could take them by surprise,
and we all suddenly made a break for it.
You're crazy.
That's right.
Well, a paranoid schizo-frenic,
but I say we try it.
Ain't that right, boys?
Try it.
All right.
We're supposed to get us out of these chains.
Answer it, or you're finished.
Who is it?
The trolman lynched.
Did I come in?
Well, not now.
It's an emergency. I'm afraid I'll have to.
You bet on Tyre.
Tell him that we're your cousins.
Tell him we're visiting you from out of town.
False move, and you're finished.
What is it?
I hear there's been some trouble up at the prison.
I'm checking the area for anything suspicious.
These are my cousins.
They're visiting me for the holiday.
What holiday?
Uh...
Did you ever hear of St. Abernathy's Day?
No.
That's what we're here for.
Come here, you.
Come here.
I think your cousin is safe living here all alone.
Look how close we are to the prison.
Look out here.
It's just a few miles down the road.
Did I see something move out there?
You couldn't have.
I'm sure I saw something move.
Quick, everybody take one window and check it.
If there's somebody out there, we're gonna have a chance to see him.
I guess it must have been my imagination.
Excuse us.
Thanks.
Really?
They've broken in.
Didn't you notice how they all moved together closely?
They're chained together at the ankles.
I thought they were just a close family.
Okay, boys.
The game's up.
The old lady must have told.
You're going back to that prison.
And this time, you're gonna stay there.
Let's get my wife. She'll help us out of this.
We needed the money and I robbed a bank.
Virgil, when are you going to stop doing that?
Don't you realize you're a father.
You have responsibilities.
She's my wife. I built her one.
Do you mind keeping out of this, please?
I don't want to discuss it unless we're alone.
Well, I want to discuss it now.
You don't want to discuss it alone.
I'm a young woman sleeping alone here every night.
Don't you think that means something to me?
How do you think I feel?
I think back to the days when you were in the Philharmonic.
I was never in the Philharmonic.
We used to lie in bed.
You used to make love to me.
You used to recite poetry and play with that doll.
Don't you know that no matter what happens,
you're always gonna mean the same to me.
You and you stop giggling.
You'll always mean the sun and the earth and the moon to me.
Oh, Christ.
With Louise's help, the chains are removed from Virgil's ankles.
Once more, the family takes flight,
feeling guilty about their son's education.
Louise tries tutoring him.
I'm very depressed.
I think...
I think if he had been a successful criminal,
he would have felt better.
You know, he never made the ten most wanted list.
It's very unfair voting.
It's who you know.
Virgil Stark well embarks on a series of crimes
that make him a wanted desperado.
Bob, the vault of a bank,
but finds a family of gypsies are living there.
By the end of six months,
the FBI regard Virgil as a menace.
Although he does not make the ten most wanted list,
he does win Gangster of the Year award
and is asked to speak at many luncheons and universities.
For the end of the story,
we spoke to Mr. Daniel Miller, an FBI agent
and an author of the book Mother was a Red.
The FBI actually wanted Virgil very badly.
Mr. Hoover was quite upset by Mr. Stark well and his activities.
In fact, he confided to me on several occasions.
I can remember one very well after a bowling match on Thursday night.
And when she said he couldn't sleep nights,
he was smoking a little too much.
And he thought that this...
this criminal, as he put it,
might very well be part of a subversive plot.
Obviously an atheist and a pink-o
and trying in general to disturb our society.
They finally traced him to a cheap neighborhood
down in Lower East Side from New York,
where he was living at the time
in a very sleazy run-down tenement house.
Verge, I remember him.
I used to live with him, as a matter of fact,
in the same rooming house that is.
One day he told me he was a gynecologist
and he couldn't speak no foreign languages.
Who's he kidding?
I thought I saw his picture on a post office.
I didn't remember whether it was on the wall
or on a stamp.
You remember Virgil?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Well, I don't know. Now I think he's brilliant.
I mean, just absolutely brilliant.
Just when I found out that he was a criminal,
I just couldn't believe it.
I just thought I was gonna die,
because he just was the best cover-up job
I've ever seen in my life.
I mean, unbelievable acting job.
I actually believed that he was an idiot.
I mean, I really believed.
And I wasn't the only one, like everybody thought so.
Everyone just thought that he was such a schlamiel
and it turns out he's a criminal.
I just to think that that idiot was a criminal,
I just can't believe it.
I mean, you never met anybody like this in your life.
You've never met such a nothing.
I can't believe it.
There was a mind working in there
that could rob banks. It's phenomenal.
Phenomenal. You know it once, once.
I said to him, what do you do?
He said, uh, I rob banks.
Go know, right?
But we finally caught up to him.
And, oh, I think it was April 11th
we finally captured Virgil.
It was sort of a very odd circumstances.
Uh, an amateur photographer
happened to be there at the time.
And, uh, took the only known films of his capture.
I was coming down here.
This is a spot where it actually happened.
You see, as a matter of fact,
I had just brought my, uh, pants into the cleaners.
And I was sort of angry with them
because last time I brought them in,
I asked them to sell a button on and they hadn't.
Did you get that point?
Oh, yes. Well, uh,
I'll tell you exactly what happened this morning,
uh, with me.
And about the camera.
Well, uh, back to this, uh, thing in which, uh,
I became known merely because of what happened
and I had the camera.
Uh, I was having breakfast in the morning.
I think it was two fried eggs, a toast.
I don't know whether it was orange juice or grapefruit,
but I remember I had a juice. I don't remember what it was.
Uh, but at that time,
it was orange juice. That's right.
In fact, I've got them right here.
I'd like to show them to you.
The very last films of Virgil Stockwell
being captured by the FBI.
All right, get your hands up, Mr. Sticker.
Hey, I know you.
Virgil Stockwell. That's right.
Uh, oh, uh, Eddie.
What, what, Haynes? That's right.
We were in the marching band together, right?
You played a cello. You were always there.
I was trombone, first trombone.
Isn't that funny? Oh, my God.
Hey, what are you doing?
I'm with the Philharmonic.
Don't get it, that's great.
I was just talking to someone.
Ask a sunken about the great guys we used to have together.
They were hilarious.
You remember when we had a court taking a shower
and a big block on the wall?
I never saw anybody so embarrassed.
I didn't forget your face.
My face? You dropped the towel.
You dropped the towel, too?
Let me have your watch, will you?
Oh, yes, sure.
Uh, hey, hey, remember that?
We painted the car yellow.
Right, on Halloween, I remember that.
That's right, it was Halloween.
It was really funny. It was yellow striped.
That's right, like a barber pole.
They keep your hands up. I have to shoot you.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Oh, Jesus, remember the football game?
You fumbled the last player.
That's right, and then I ran the wrong way.
Everybody was yelling a little back up,
and I thought they were cheering.
All right, all right.
It can't be the good old days.
Or the good old nights.
Oh, Jesus.
Wallet.
Well, thank you. I didn't hear you.
Look, it's been great speaking to you, really.
Oh, it's so nice to see you, Virgil.
You, too. Take it easy. Let's see you again.
Best of luck to you. Okay.
Virgil, I just realized.
I'm a cop.
No kidding. How's it going?
Oh, it's a great job. I get a pension.
Do you remember when the ball went up?
Virgil Starkwell has tried on 52 counts of robbery
and is sentenced to 800 years in federal prison.
At the trial, he tells his lawyer confidently
that with good behavior, he can cut the sentence in half.
Virgil, now that you're caught
and they're facing a very long prison sentence,
do you have any regrets about choosing a life of crime?
I think that crime definitely pays
and that, you know, it's a great job
the hours are good and you're your own boss
and you travel a lot
and you get to meet interesting people
and I just think it's a good job in general.
What about your cohorts?
What has ever happened to them,
all of the many guys you've been associated with
and various gangs?
A great many of them have become homosexuals
and some of them have entered into politics and sports.
Well, how do you manage to spend your time in prison?
Do you have any hobbies or anything?
I do. I've been working on...
I've been doing a lot of stuff in shop, actually,
and I'm very skilled with my hands.
You know if it's raining out?