Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) Robert Wagner, Terry Moore | Movie, Subtitles

This is the world beneath the sea. Beautiful, mysterious… and, for the most pan, unexplored by man. These are the waters of the Gulf of Mexico… off the west coast of Florida. This is a sponge fisherman, a special breed of man… dedicated to the most dangerous of all occupations. Net coming up. Hey, Socrates, where are you going? I wear this suit. I go down. No, you’re not. We’re going home. We can’t go home with an empty boat, Pop. I can hear them laugh when we bring this garbage in the auction market. You know what we need?

We need a diver who’s got eyes like an eel, a nose like a shark so he can smell sponges a mile away, a diver who will go down and he won’t come up… until the boat’s loaded with $100 strings. And you got him. He’s right here on board. Oh. Hmm. Where? – Hmm? Who? – Me. Who else? Hey, it’s Penny. Hey, Pop, look. It’s Mom and Penny. There they are. Over there, Mama. And look who else. Sofotes. Sofotes with a big smile on his face… and the itching hand. Hey, Pop. Look at Sinan’s boat, the

Helios. – Hello, baby! – Oh, Papa, we missed you so! How are you, sweetheart? – You miss me? – Oh, you don’t know how much. Oh,

you’re adorable! Adorable! – How are you? – Give your papa a big kiss. Penny saw you down the river. It’s good you’re back. Did the boys bother her very much while I was away? Papa. What are you doing here, woman? Why aren’t you home in your kitchen, cooking? Who should I cook for, empty house? Listen how she talk. For a long time you no see each other. Cute kids, huh?

– Say big hello. – Ha. He lends you money. Now he wants to run your life. Hey, Tony, bring me one of those sponges. When we’re alone, I’ll, uh… loll say big hello. Right, Mama? Hmm? Say, what you trying to do here, huh? Oh, let him have it. We got plenty. Thanks. Hey, Pop, look. Wool sponges. A whole loaf. – Light. Best wool I ever see. – $100 strings. They come out of deep water. Hey, Mike, they’re reading out the bids. Come on. Go ahead. I go back to my kitchen and cook. Go. Yeah, she’s

trying to get rid of you. How do you like that’? The bids on the cargo sponge from the boat Helios. Ajax Sponge Company, 17,500. Whoo-hoo! Ah, okay. My sweet brother. Hey. Where did you get that sponge? Where did you get it? That’s what we wanna know. You seen what I brought. You like, huh? Huh? – Ah, sweet sponge. Whoo-hoo! – Okay, okay, sport. How about letting us in on the big secret? We’d like to dance too. Hey, Sinan, where did you get it? We went to the 12-mile reef. Nobody’s been out to the 12-mile reef,

– not since it killed my brother Pete. – That’s where we went. Right out to Pete’s marker, where it’s still in the water. We went way down, over 20 fathoms down. Talk, talk. Big talk. These pants fit loose on you. You lose your feet in the shoes. And you too scared to go down. I went down, all right. If you went down, you saw the reef. What does it look like? Oh… Oh… Oh… You’re looking at a ghost. I died down there. That coral is beautiful, but sharp like a razor… and cuts your suit to

ribbons. There are caves everywhere. Your air line gets tangled up… until you think you never gonna get out of there. Cliffs that drop I don’t know how deep. There’s an undersea tide that runs just like a river. Keeps pushing you off. I wouldn’t go down there again… for all the sponges in the world. You spend your money, you go broke, you’ll go down again. Now ready to announce the winning bid. Mr. Carson… of the New York Sponge Company… bids 22,500. Everybody! Parr/ores! Come on! I buy the drinks! Whoo-hoo! What’s on your mind? – You wanna

sell your sponges? – Sure. I’ll give you $600 for them. $600? Are you kidding? – Sold. They’re yours. – What are you doing, Pop? After all the work we did bringing ’em in, you’re giving ’em away. Tony, the man wants to buy, we sell. We’re lucky to get stuff like this off our hands. Okay, Pop. Eh-eh-eh-eh. You borrow money, you pay. A little for you, little for me. My hand still itch. Then scratch it. That’s all you get. – Come on, Tony. – Nickel, nickel, nickel. If you don’t be careful, I’m gonna get your boat.

– You’ll never get my boat, Sofotes. – You old skinflint. Hey, Tony, please. You don’t call me bad name, huh? He’s right. You are a skinflint. Always you pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch. Don’t get the idea y0u’re gonna get our boat. It belongs in the family. If you don’t pay, it’s going to belong in my family. Tony. There. There’s Tony and Mike. – Where? – There. – How you feel, Tony? – Fine, Pop. Ah. – Do you see him, Socrates? – No. Tony! He’s got it, Mama! Tony’s got the cross! Come on! Tony, my boy! That’s

my Tony! Mama! Mama! My Tony! Come on, boys! Petrakis. Mitelli. Hey, Tony, you find cross, huh? You bring blessing. I gonna touch you for good luck. No. You no touch for free. Is gonna cost you five dollars. – All right. Take it off the bill. – Okay. Okay. Wait. I’m gonna make a toast. For you, Sofotes. To Tony, who got the cross. – Tony! – Good luck, Tony! – Cheers, Tony. – Thank you. Hey, Socrates, now you got the cross, where you going next trip, huh? Well, we’re going up north. Anyplace we go now, we’re

gonna get the sponge. Up north. I don’t know. If I was Mike, I’d be pretty sick bringing empty boat. Oh, wait, wait. You gonna see. Next time we go out, we’re gonna come home with a full load. Ah, he’s right. Where we’re going, we’ll get a full load. Hey, Mike. Wait. Wait, Mike. Full load of sponges. What you mean? You mean we go to 12-mile reef? Is that what you say? Who said 12-mile reef? We’re going to pick the Glades. Mike, what’s the matter with you, Mike? You forget the hook boats. – Who’s scared of

hook boats? – Me. Socrates Houlis. I’m scared. We don’t belong in the Glades. Who said so? Tony, you don’t understand. Long time ago, before you born, your papa, me, plenty other Greeks, we come to Tarpon. The Englishmen go to Key West. And they worked the Glades. The conch heads. In old days, there’s plenty sponges. Anyplace you go, enough for everybody. We don’t have no trouble. But now all the beds are picked. Is no sponge left except in deep water, like 12-mile reef or Glades. But the conchs, Englishmen, whatever you call them, he say, “No.” We

are going to pick the Glades. But, Mike, if they catch us… They’re not going to catch us. Why do you worry so much? There are 10,000 little keys in the Glades. We start before the sun comes up. By noon, we have finished a day’s work… and then we hide like a little mouse in his hole. Two weeks, we come home. – If we’re lucky. – If we’re lucky? – Tony got the cross, didn’t he? – Yeah. The bishop blessed the boat, didn’t he? How much more luck do we need? I’m gonna work bottom, Pop. Don’t

forget. You promised. I’m going to find the most beautiful sponges you ever saw, all wool, $200 strings. And you’re going to pay me, and my hand gonna stop itch. The first thing we’re gonna do when we get home is kiss you off. – How do you like that, you old skinflint? – Oh, Tony! Tony! Card, stop the engine. It’s too much noise. Pop, it’s my turn to go down. Shallow water’s the safest place to break in. No place safe, Tony. I remember up north, 33 feet I go down, stay too long, I get the bends.

If they don’t pack me in ice to freeze my blood, I’d be dead right now. – You can’t scare me. I’m going down. – We’ll see. What do you mean we’ll see? You promised. Tony, we got to get out of here fast. We got no time to fool around. Who’s gonna fool around? I’m gonna work bottom, same as you. – You promised me, Pop. – I know. I know. I keep my promise. You can go down when we work up north. You can’t do that to me. You gave me your word. You said… Shh, shh,

shh. Every sound like a bullet. Hey, Mike. Mike, look over there. Oh, Mike, I no like. – What you no like? – Crane. He don’t fly just because he like to fly. Something scare him. Oh, he just finished feeding. He’s going home. Come on. Rig me. I go down. Okay, all right. Card, don’t start engine for compressor. Use hand. Okay. Net coming up. Tony, Tony! Look! What they do? Ah, take it easy, will ya? Just one little dinghy with two guys working. See, what I tell ya? They don’t care about us. How far out Mike

is? – Couple hundred feet. – Too far. Signal to come up. – What for? – Because I no like it. Give the signal. He’s got Mike’s air hose. No, Tony, don’t shoot. Don’t shoot. Don’t try any tricks, or I’ll chop her in two. Do like he say. That’s right. Just do what I tell you, and everything will be fine. We want your sponges. – All of ’em. – Why, you… No, Tony. Put down the gun. Put it down. You pick the Glades, and this is what you get. You Greeks ought to know better than to

come into our waters. Where do you get that stuff, your waters? You conchs don’t own the Glades. There’s no law says we can’t work here. Tradition makes its own laws. Keep out of the Glades. The next time we burn you down to the waterline. You and Arnold bring the Gwyneth in. Let’s go. Anytime you pick the Glades, you get the same thing. Hey, Long Arm! Come here! Look what Thomas has got. Jemmy. Jemmy. I wonder where Thomas got that load. Dad! Where’d you get ’em? Griff picked ’em for us. They were poaching in the Glades.

Help us get ’em out. There’s a drink in it for everyone. All right, guys, to the sponge exchange. When they see us coming, their eyeballs will stick out a foot. After we sell the sponges, you know what I’m going to do with my share’? – Going to throw a party. – Nah. I’m gonna buy a house. A house and some furniture. Tables, chairs, stove, a bed. – Then you know what? – What’? No, don’t tell me. Let me guess. – You’re gonna move in. – We’re gonna move in. – We’re gonna get married. – You

and me? – Uh-huh. – Oh, how thrilling. But wait a minute. Maybe I’d forgotten and I can’t remember. – Have you asked me yet? – I’m asking now. Why don’t you take my hand and say it? “Gwyneth, will you marry me?” Gwyneth, will you marry me? – Suppose I say no? – You won’t. Tell me, Arnold. Do you love me? – You know I do. – Yes, I know you do, and I love you too. – Like I love one of my brothers. – Well, I’m not your brother. – You don’t have to tell me.

– Gwyneth, stop fooling. Will you marry me or won’t you? Arnold, if I said yes, I’d feel no. And if I said no, I’d feel yes. I-I don’t know what to say. But maybe if I get acquainted with lots and lots of boys, it would help me make up my mind. Yeah, and what do I do while you’re being helped? You can get acquainted with lots and lots of girls. I don’t want lots of girls. I just want you. Me? Marriage would be nice. A husband, babies. But I think I’m too young. Don’t you think

so, Arnold? No. I don’t wanna get married, not just yet. I guess a girl has to be hard to get. Makes it all the nicer when you get her. Hey, Arnold, better lend a hand before you spend that share. Eyes open, ears listen. Keep watch. We come back. Hey, Pop, why don’t we tell the Coast Guard they swiped our sponges? It won’t do any good. We can’t prove anything. We got to take care of this ourselves. This is the boat. The sponges are here somewhere. They hide them someplace. Mike, what are you gonna do? Open

every door, look in every place? The sponges, they lost. They gone. – Hey, where you go now? – I’m going to find that fellow. I’m going to see how brave he is without the ax. You go back to the boat. Go on. Okay, but maybe you gonna need somebody to carry you. You like to collect conchs. We’d like to collect some too. Okay. We go together. All right. Such a big place. So many streets. How you gonna find? What would we do if we got home with all those sponges? What we do? We celebrate. That’s

just what they’re doing. Celebrating. We try here first. Aha! Thieves! Robbers! Crooks! We have come to measure you for your coffins. Operator, let me have the police quick. What’s the matter? You never seen Greeks before? Sure. Look how scared they are. A roomful of conchs scared of three Greeks. Two Greeks. I’m not counting him. Well, what about it? Can a man get a drink around here? Why not? Jamison. Whiskey for the Greeks. Yes, Mr. Rhys. You sure we don’t spoil the party, huh? Sit down. Hey, Tony. Well, we might as well get acquainted. This is

my pop, Mike Petrakis. – Socrates Houlis, Greek. – And I’m Tony. I’m Thomas Rhys. These are my two sons. This is David. That’s Griff. This is Arnold Dix. Oh. The man with the ax. I’m his daughter, Gwyneth Rhys. Gwyneth. Hey, that’s a pretty name. Young Greek looks at a pretty girl, he gets hot blood. – What’s on your mind, Greek? – What’s on my mind? Sponges. What do you think? Ah, how you fooled us. We work and we work and you take everything away. But no hard feelings, huh? No. This time you win. Next time

we win. What’s the difference, huh? You mind if I dance with your daughter? Don’t ask me. Ask him. Go ahead. Ask me. You might have better luck if you ask me. – Dance? – Sure. Why not? That guy acts like he owns you. Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn’t. – What kind of an answer do you call that? – Why don’t you find out? – Maybe I will. – You better be careful. He might eat you up alive. He won’t even bother to take off your hat. I got a pretty good appetite myself. Yeah? You

let him take away your sponges. I’m dancing with his girl. Tony. The records still playing. We’re making our own music. No, Arnold! Two is a company, three is a crowd. I’m gonna be the biggest crowd that kid ever saw. I don’t know why I’m running. He’s not after me. No, he’s after me. I’m after you. Cut it out, Greek. Sure. – And give me back my hand too. – Sure. Do you always do what people tell you to? Sure. Ask me to kiss you, see what happens. Crazy Greek. Hey, you wanna know what my real

name is? Adonis. My mama named me after a Greek God. I’m a very beautiful young man. Why, the whole bunch of you must be crazy coming here. You know how conchs feel about Greeks. Want me to tell you how Greeks feel about conchs? You’re always poaching in the Glades. Why don’t you stay over the line where you belong? Where do you get that line stuff? The Glades belong to everybody. You’ve got a lot of nerve. I know one Greek that’s got a lot of nerve. Oh, I don’t wanna fight. All I wanna do is hold

hands. Hey, you’re pretty. Anybody ever tell you you were pretty? Ah, you don’t need that. Come on. Ask me to kiss you. I’ll be glad to oblige. – Do I have to ask? – No. Hey, I wanna know what’s with you and that guy. He just wants to marry me, that’s all. Him? He’s too old for a kid like you. He must be at least 27. He’s gonna buy a house with his share of your sponges. We’re gonna move in, have lots of kids. – Hey, you like blue eyes? – Yes, I do. Marry me

and all your kids will have blue eyes. I’ll guarantee it. – Personally. – You’re real crazy. Cut it out, Greek. It’s all right. We’ve been properly introduced. You’re sure you don’t wanna be kissed? You don’t know what you’re missing. Let me know if you change your mind. Hey. You smell prettier than any flower. You’re absolutely crazy. Greek? Yeah? – Tony! – Don’t hit him. Tony, don’t hit him. He’s mine. He’s all mine. Okay, now I’ll see how big a man you are without the ax. How you wanna fight? Conch style, Greek style? Hey, stop him.

You don’t know Arnold. He’ll hurt your father. You don’t know my pop. All right. Now we fight Greek style. Don’t! He’s had enough. Oh, I won’t hurt him. I’m just going to make him eat this cigar. Now, you be a good boy and open your mouth. Come on. Come on. Come on. Open your mouth. Open it. That’s a good boy. There. How does it taste, huh? Go on. That’s a boy. Well, what do you think of your fellow now, huh? Not a very good fighter without the ax, huh? Hey, Tony, you kiss the girl good-bye.

We go. Hey, Tony, that’s enough good-bye. I’ll be seeing you, honey. Tonight in my dreams, honey. Fresh Greek. Where you been? You been gone so long. I gave that fellow a taste of my fist. All right, okay, now we go home. We’re not going home. We’re going out to the 12-mile reef. Mike. Mike, what you say? I’m sick of going home with an empty boat. When we go home, we’re gonna have sponges. A full load. More than Sinan. We’re gonna have money. We’re gonna pay Sofotes. A man has to do his work. He can’t be

scared all the time. Card, pull ‘er back! Pete’s marker. What you thinking, Mike? I think about Tony. I promise he would work bottom. Aye. Tony. Hey, Tony. Are you asleep? That noise. Like water frying. You hear it? That sound. That’s the reef breathing. I tell you true, Tony. It’s beautiful down there. Way down is the reef. There’s lots of fish. All kinds of fish. All the life is in the reef. Prettiest thing you’ve ever seen. There’s grass down there, grass like in a forest. And when the tide runs, it makes that grass move like the

wind. Oh, it’s beautiful. There are caves down there full of sponges. You have never seen so many sponges. You go in, you pick all you want. Millions of sponges. First time you go down in deep water, you get scared. Oh. You don’t know how scared you can be. After a while, you forget. But the reef… the reef never forgets. It waits. It waits all the time. Then one day when you are not looking… it grabs you. Tony, I’ve been thinking about a lot of things, and… I’m going to work tomorrow. You can’t. Pop, you promised

me. You gave me your word. I know, and I know how you feel. Now, you will dive when the right time comes. But you see, I promised your mama too. I promised that I would take care of you. That’s why you’re going to stay here this time. You understand, boy. Pop’s signaling. Net coming up. Soc! Soc! Soc! The line paid out. All the way. Like he dropped off the reef. – Soc! Soc! – Hold him, Tony! Try to hold him with the lifeline! The lifeline broke. He’s not controlling his air! Stop… Stop the compressor. Stop

the compressor, Tony. He cannot work the valve. It is stuck. Give him no more air. He’s gonna blow up. He’s gonna blow up. Soc! Help me! Help me, Soc! All right, let’s get him up! Quick! Quick! Quick! Tony, we got to pack him in ice. Start the engine, quick. Pop! Pop! He’s alive! He’s alive. I don’t know why he not be dead. God watch him. Mike. Mike, we’re gonna pack you in ice. We pack you in ice so you don’t hurt too bad. Quick! Hurry up! Everybody! Full speed, Tony! Full speed! All right, Mike. All

right, Mike. All right. All right, Mike. All right, Mike. All right, Mike. Captain, we got man hurt bad. We need ice. You give some ice? Sure. Cut her off. Hey! You give them some ice over there. Over there. What’s the matter with him? He’s got the bends. He’s my pop. We gotta pack in the ice, take him to Tarpon. From the looks of him, he’ll never make it. Lots quicker to take him to Key West. Hey, radio the port captain. Tell him the sponge boat, uh… – How do you say her name? – Aegri. Sponge

boat Aegri out of Tarpon’s putting in with an injured man. He’s got the bends bad. Tell him to have an ambulance waiting at the fish dock. All right. Plenty enough ice. If you go to Key West to the fish dock, they’ll have an ambulance waiting for ya. All right. You hear, Mike? We gonna hurry, Mike. Please, how much we owe? We like to pay. – Aw, let ‘er go. – Thank you. Tony, start the engine. Quickly. It’s gonna be all right, Mike. It’s gonna be all right. All right, Mike. Good luck! Bring him over there.

Put it down there. That Greek boat just came in. Must’ve had an accident. Man on board looks like he was hurt pretty bad. – Was it the boy? – Couldn’t tell. Whoever it was, they had him packed in ice. So the ambulance come down, and a big crowd. Coast Guard was there too. He slip off the reef. Line pay out. All the line. All the hose. Look like valve stick. He come up fast, fast. Suit fill up. – How he is, Doc? – He’s dead. Y0u’ll have to file a report with the Coast Guard. We

want to know how this happened. Bring along a couple of members of your crew. All right. We go with you. George, Card, come with me. You watch the boat. Tony. Lad. I’m sorry. Tony. Oh, Pop! Pop. It couldn’t have been me. It couldn’t have been Soc. It had to be Pop. Hey, Arnold! That Greek boat’s back. Look what she’s got. Fishin’ the Glades again, huh? – They’ll never learn. – All right, we’ll teach ’em. No, no, no! Don’t steal sponge! Hey, wait a minute. You got your share last week. Tonight they’re picked for us. These

are our sponge. Sure. We’ll be glad to buy you a drink. All right, let’s get ’em unloaded. No! Oh! Fire! Let’s put ’em out! Hey! There’s a fire on pier 3. – A Greek boat’s burning. – We’ll go right over. Stand by to get under way. Anybody see how this fire started? – Paul. – Paul, did you see who did it? I work. They come. Paul, tell the man who burned the boat. – Two, three, four… – Didn’t you see who it was? – I’m sorry. – He is old man. Tony, what you gonna do

now, huh? Lieutenant, can you help tow our boat home to Tarpon? Sure, son. That’s what we’re here for. We’ll give you a tow. Take Pop home, Uncle Soc. Hey, Tony. Tony, where are you goin’? They’re not gonna get away with it. All alone, what you can do, Tony? You come with us. Think Pop would take it, or Pete? I’m gonna find out who did it, and I’m gonna get our sponges back. I tell you, no, you comin’ with us, Tony, because you mom and… All right, Tony. You shouldn’t be walking around like this. These people

will kill you. You shouldn’t have stayed here. You should have gone home. I’d like to talk to your father. I’ve got a feeling he’s a reasonable man. Look, he’s my father, but he’s a conch too. – I’m afraid he’d just… – He’s a big shot. Everybody around here looks up to him. He can make ’em give back our sponges. Where do you live? Over on Frangipani Street. Here, I’ll take you. – Dad, Tony… – Come in. It was a terrible thing about your father. Would you like something to eat? Oh, no, thank you, sir. I

didn’t come here to eat. Mr. Rhys, I came here because I think you’re a fair man. I used to think that Greeks and conchs, there wasn’t much difference between us. The house we live in is… is like this house. The work we do is the same as the work you do. When one of us dies, you understand because it’s the same as if one of you dies. – But now I’m beginning to wonder. – What do you mean? Somebody stole the sponges that his father brought up from the 12-mile reef. They burned his boat. Who

did? He doesn’t know. He wants you to help him. What kind of people live here, anyway? Don’t they have any respect for the dead? Who-Who’s dead? Didn’t you see? Where were you? We were out in the harbor. His father was killed bringing up those sponges. It was like robbing a dead man. We didn’t know. We saw the boat, but we didn’t know… – You stole the sponges! – We didn’t know. – You’ll give ’em back. – We haven’t got ’em to give back. When Long Arm and the others saw us raiding the boat, they all

came. All we got was one string. When Arnold saw the boat, he thought that… He thought… What did you think, Arnold? Lad. Where are you going? I’m going to find Long Arm. Long Arm’s the kind that keeps what he gets. You’ll just make more trouble for yourself. If you want to help him, you’ll give him the money you got from the Glades. What for? If we had the sponges, we’d give them back. If it wasn’t for you, they wouldn’t have raided the boat. He will have an accounting. Won’t he, David? Yes, Father. Griff? – Griff!

– Yes, Father. Arnold? Well? He wants to keep what he’s got. Well, he doesn’t matter anyway. We’re three against one, and tomorrow morning I’ll put the money in your hand. – Thanks, Mr. Rhys. – You don’t owe us any thanks. – The money’s due you. – I’ll see you in the morning, sir. If you haven’t any place to stay, why don’t you sleep here tonight? I’ll be okay. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night. You better not be here tomorrow morning, you hear? You better clear out. Hi, Arnold. I’m glad you came back. It’s

not the money that’s important. It’s what you do to yourself and to Gwyneth. – Where is she? – She’s in the house. Arnold, you’ve got to remember that you’re a man and that Greek is only a boy. A woman has a soft spot in her heart for a boy. It’s pity that Gwyneth feels for him, but your jealousy makes something else out of that pity. Now, when the Greek comes tomorrow morning, we’ll give him an accounting. You can hand him the money yourself. Gwyneth will like that. Won’t be here tomorrow morning. We had a little

talk. I convinced him he ought to go home. Gwyneth! Gwyneth! What did he do to you? What did he do? Burned our boat. Boats burned. Gwyneth! I told you you’d get into trouble trying to help me. I don’t care. They burned your boat. Well, now you’ve got a boat. I don’t know how to work a hook boat. Oh, it’s not hard. You can learn. No, that’s no good. You gotta go deep for good sponges. You mean with a diving suit and an air pump? Hey! Sure. We could haywire the equipment mid-deck. It’ll crowd her a

bit, but it’ll work. All we need is one load off the reef, and we could fix up the Aegri. – Twelve-mile reef? – Sure. Where else, the Glades? The reefs our only chance. – Have you ever been down before? – Sure. Pop taught me how to wear the suit in a bay near Tarpon. Oh, Tony, I’m scared. The reef’s too dangerous. I’m scared too. You don’t know how scared you can be, but you forget. Gwyneth, you can’t ever imagine how beautiful it is down there. There’s all kinds of fish, and when they get used to

you, they come right up to your face window and look in. You can feed ’em just like they were pets. They-They even nibble right at your fingers. And then there’s the reef. Bright coral, like a garden full of flowers. The deeper you go, the more beautiful it is. The light gets dim, like in a church, almost. It gets so you don’t want to come up. Hey, I almost forgot we’re hungry. Okay, come on. Scare a person half to death. Oh, that was nothin’. Just a little stingray. – Hey, how long since you used this sail?

– Hardly ever. Got any fishing line? We’ll patch it. If you raise it, Arnold couldn’t help seeing it. Not tonight, he won’t see us. We’ll wait until dark. Well, there’s some line in that chest. Eat this and you’ll find out why they call us conchs. Hey, that’s really good. Your mama sure showed you. Oh, she didn’t show me. I never knew my mother. She died when I was born. Hey. Oh… Want some more? – What’s the matter? – Nothing. A minute ago you were thinking something. What were you thinking? About your father? Your brothers? That

when you helped me, you turned against them? Is that what you were thinking? I’m sorry. I’m acting like a baby. Well, that’s all you are. You’re just a kid. Oh, look who’s talking. You know, all I have to do is yell, and he’ll find you and take you home. You’re going home with me. What about your folks? Your mother? Maybe she won’t want me. They’ll want you… because I want you. I could always get off, and Arnold will pick me up. – Don’t you want to go home with me? – Oh, Tony! Penny! Hey, Penny!

Tony! Uncle Soc, it’s Tony. Ohh! Mama was awfully worried about you. We all were. Gwyneth, this is my sister Penny. – Hello. – Hello. Is about time you come back. Where you been? We afraid something happen to you. I got beat up. She brought me home. You know my Uncle Soc. Where’s Mama? She go to cemetery. Every day she goes to the cemetery. Honey, I’ve gotta go to her. Take care of her, Penny. Tony! Tony! Papa. Thank God. Mama. Oh, Mama, you don’t belong here. You’re not dead. You’re alive. You don’t belong here. You belong

home. I wait… all my life. Ever since I marry Papa, I wait for him to come home. I know he’s gone. He’s never come back. But still I wait. I wait. Pop wouldn’t like it if he knew you were out here, Mama. Oh, he’d get mad. You know how mad he’d get. He’d want us to go on, just like he did when Pete died, like we’ve got to. Come on, Mama. Let’s go home. Hey, Uncle Soc, where are they? – In there. – Hey, Penny. Penny. Mama, look what Tony brought home. Hey! You’re pretty. –

Who she is? – She’s Tony’s conch girl, from Key West. You want to hear her name, Mama? – Her name is Gwyneth. – Is pretty name. Hey, Tony, go ahead and tell your mama what you’re gonna do. No, wait. I’ll tell you. He’s get hook boat. He’s gonna work sponge, like the conch. Your little boy. We’ll bring in one load, and we’ll fix up the Aegri. Hear that? Listen how he talk, your little boy. How you gonna do this, Tony? All by yourself? – If Pete was here, if Papa was here… – So I’m here.

– So what’s the matter with me? – Don’t be angry, Tony. You love my Tony? Yes. I do. I like you. You good girl for my Tony. If you love him, you don’t let him do this. Every time he goes out, you’re going to die. Every night you’ll wait all by yourself, like I wait. You’re going to be scared, like me. You see my face? You see my hair, from being scared? He’ll listen to you. You tell him no. Sure, you’re scared. I’m scared too. But you can’t be scared all your life. We’ve got a

boat, and we’re going to work. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Or do you want me to sit around the house, hanging my head? He has to do what he wants to do. Can’t you understand? I can’t tell him what to do. Nobody can. You might as well make up your mind, Mama. – When we go? – Ohh. Right away. We’ll start rigging her tomorrow. Oh, Mama. Talk to me, honey. What you want me to say, honey? Say something nice, honey, like… What have we got to eat, honey? Oh, I forget. You come long way,

huh? I-I fix something for you. You wait. I fix. Wait’ll you taste my mama’s cookin’. Got no diving suit… Need new diving suit. New diving suit need money. Where you gonna get money? Why you look at Sofotes? He don’t lend you smoke from his cigarette. You wanna make a little bet? Hey, Sofotes. How much money do we owe you? Don’t owe me nothing, Tony. The boat burn, the debt burn too. When you papa die, I kiss everything good-bye. Where do you get that stuff, the debt is burned? I owe you a lot of money. I

can feel it cutting my neck. – How much? – $12,000 maybe. Little more, little less. $12,000. You hear that, Uncle Soc? Well, we’re gonna pay you back every cent. – What do you think of that? – Oh, I’m glad, Tony. You make me so happy. But before you pay, you want to borrow little more, huh? You need new deck, new engine, new suit. Forgive me, Tony. I have to say no. – Who said anything about money? – Oh, please. I am all Greek. I can smell when someone wants to borrow, huh? We don’t want any

money. Then what you want? Eh, don’t tell me. I don’t want to listen. This isn’t gonna cost you a nickel. – All we want is… – Yes, I see, huh? All we want is a diving suit. You got plenty. Just give us one. They don’t want nothing. All they want is little diving suit. That’s all they want. Hey, listen to me. How I talk. I must be crazy! They should lock me up. All right, I give you diving suit. That belt works okay. Sofotes, you got a big, kind heart. Look at the nice suit you

give to Tony. – What’d you expect for free? – From you, that’s what we expect. Thank you for nothing. – Hey. Hey. – What’s so funny? You go in deep water? You going dive? You’re going to work in that boat? Why don’t you go count your money? Just like his papa. He got answer for everything. Okay, Tony, we’re ready. Where have you been? We’re ready to leave. I’m going with you. No, honey. This is going to be a rough trip. Look, you don’t know how to handle a hook boat. – I do. I can help.

– You’d be in the way. Tony, take her. She’d be with you when you come up. Please, Tony. Okay, honey. Good-bye, Mama. Good-bye, Penny. Tony, take Papa’s hat, huh? For good luck? Sure, Mama. Good-bye. Bye, Mama. Bye, Penny. Little Tony… If he come back with boat full of sponges, we call him Big Tony. He wouldn’t have given me the slip if I hadn’t run low on gas. You stood up for him. You stood up for the Greek! Yeah, you tried to give him our money. Stole your boat, and now he’s got your daughter in the

Glades. All right! I was wrong. Wherever they are, we’ll find them. And we’ll bring Gwyneth back. And we’ll give that kid something he’ll never forget. Tony, it’s awfully rough. Don’t you think you ought to wait till the wind dies down? If your folks spot us, we won’t get another chance. Is too rough. Patched suit full of holes… – No good. Maybe no gonna work. – I’m goin’ down. I’m the captain. I say no. I’m the diver. I say yes. Come on. Finish rigging me. Come on, will ya? So many thing I want to tell you.

Everything I know, if I can only put in your head. I have to find out for myself. Too fast! He go down too fast. Net’s comin’ up. – He did it! Little Tony did it. – He’ll be Big Tony. That’s enough. He down too long. Signal to come up. Why he no come up? Signal again. Wait, wait. I do. I wonder why he don’t come up. Feels like hose is caught on something. All right, give more slack. More slack. Why you no come up when I give the signal, huh? You have trouble? You all right?

I got caught in a cave. But I got out. Tony, what’s that? It’s blood. Well, I… I guess I must have bumped my head… getting out of the cave. Were you scared? Scared? I was petrified. I bet. – Tony, what are you doing? – I’m ready to go down. See how is to be diver? You take rest. I tell you when is time. Take rest. Go on. Pop was right. You get scared. You don’t know how scared you can be. Soc! Hook boat coming. There’s your daughter. Take a look at her. Workin’ for the Greeks.

She’s a good girl. By now he knows how good she is. David, bring her in close. Come alongside and go aboard. Hit the deck! Everybody get down. – Get him, Arnold! – No, Arnold! Tony! I’ll help you, Tony. Come on, Soc. – Stay back, Greek. – Let him alone! Tony, Arnold’s still down there. Go after him! He’s all right. Come along, Gwyneth. Come along! Are you with us or with him? I’m with him. I’m his wife. Dad. Aw, don’t be mad, Mr. Rhys. You think she’s just a kid, that we’re both a couple of kids,

but we’re not kids anymore. Is no good to fight. No good. Maybe she is married to a Greek, but she’s still your daughter. He pulled me in. Could have let me drown. Aw, what’s the matter with you, Dad? She didn’t do so bad. Look who you got for a son-in-law. Me. Adonis Petrakis. I’m a very beautiful young man. It is Tony, Mama. It is! You should see the sponges, Mama. You should see! Hey, this time I gonna get paid, huh? Mama, look at Tony. My little Tony. He’s all right. Subtitled by Captions, Inc.

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