Al Pacino Takes The Stage In "Hughie"
"Hughie" is about a small time con man/gambler named Eerie (Al Pacino) who hangs around the fringes of Broadway. His only friend Hughie, a night clerk at a hotel, has died. Eerie comes home to the hotel late one night and can't sleep. He believes he lost his luck when Hughie died and can't get it back. The new night clerk (Paul Benedict) also happens to be named Hughes, though he is no relation. Eerie tries to strike up a conversation with the new clerk but he is not interested. He just wants him to go to bed so he can go back to listening to the traffic. He doesn't really listen to a word Eerie says as he goes on and on about Hughie and about himself, boasting and trying to build himself up to the new guy.
It is the story of two people very much alone in the world and unable to make any connections with others. The night clerk is resigned to his lot in life and spends his hours listening to the traffic of the people outside. Eerie has built up an illusion of himself as a big time gambler, a tough guy who can con anyone. Of course he is really a smalltime nobody, far too sentimental to be a genuine hood. But he could keep this illusion intact as long as he had Hughie, his only real friend, who looked up to him and bought his crazy stories about his adventures with women and gambling. But Hughie has died and the realization has hit Eerie that he is alone in the world and hasn't got much of a life. It has broken his confidence and he is desperate to get it back.
The best moment for me was at the end of the play when Eerie hits bottom. He finally gives up on the clerk and starts talking to himself. He's got no friends, no one to give him confidence. It is a heartbreaking moment when Eerie finally breaks down, overwhelmed with loneliness, on the verge of crying.
He is about to go to bed when the clerk decides to make an effort to have a real conversation with him since it is his job, and it might pass the time. He asks Eerie about a famous gambler named Rothstein. At first Eerie is
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