“You were nice enough to recommend my mortuary to some of your friends.”
Why it's great
Thanks phrased as politeness turns a murder into a chilling compliment.
Register
Formal
Use it yourself
You were nice enough to tell the boss about my mistake.
00:00 / 03:03
00:00 / 03:03
Spats Wipes Out Toothpick Charlie, Explained
Some Like It Hot · 1959
Chapter 3 of 19 · 3'03"
Spats Colombo walks into a garage, greets Toothpick Charlie with "Long time no see," and has him and his men shot. Joe and Jerry, hiding on the floor, become the only witnesses. When they promise, "We won't breathe a word," the reply is simple: Spats doesn't like witnesses. It is a gangland execution staged as dark comedy.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 1:24–1:55
Spats Says Goodbye to Charlie
31s
Spats Wipes Out Toothpick Charlie, explained
What happens
In a Chicago garage, Spats Colombo's gang corners Toothpick Charlie and his men, forces them against the wall, and guns them down. Joe and Jerry, hiding on the floor, witness the whole thing. Spats's men find them, hear their promise of silence, and decide the safest option is to remove the witnesses too — until Joe and Jerry talk their way toward a getaway.
What's really going on
The comedy comes from the gap between what is happening and how it is said. Spats does not storm in shouting; he walks up like an old acquaintance — "Long time no see" — and turns the killing into a bit of bookkeeping. Charlie's coffin business becomes the excuse: "Now I got all those coffins on my hands and I hate to see 'em go to waste." The men being executed are still trading poker talk about "three eights." Joe and Jerry's panic is played for laughs, but it names the rule they have just broken. Their one hope is to be forgotten, and the reply — "You won't breathe nothin'." — is funnier because it is so calm.
Key lines & what they mean
- “You were nice enough to recommend my mortuary to some of your friends.”
- Spats's way of accusing Charlie of sending men to their deaths at his funeral home, turning a compliment into a threat.
- “Now I got all those coffins on my hands and I hate to see 'em go to waste.”
- The joke that carries the threat: since the coffins are already paid for, he might as well put Charlie's gang in them.
- “Besides, it's none of our business if you guys want to bump each other off. We don't...”
- Joe and Jerry's attempt to talk their way out: they pretend the gang war is a private matter and that they will stay out of it.
- “I just dropped in to pay my respects.”
- Spats announces himself like a polite visitor, a line that sounds courteous until you notice who is holding the gun.
- “- You don't owe me no nothin'. - I wouldn't say that.”
- Charlie insists he owes Spats nothing; Spats politely disagrees, which is the moment the scene turns lethal.
Theme
- Power — Spats settles a score with a calm visit and a gun; the scene runs on the gangster's power to decide who lives.
- Dark humor — An execution is staged as a polite call and a funeral joke, letting the film laugh at death without softening it.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
Review right after watchingMy level2/7
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“Now I got all those coffins on my hands and I hate to see 'em go to waste.”
Why it's great
Framing murder as avoiding waste makes the threat land with dark humor.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
We have extra tickets on our hands and I hate to see them go to waste.
“Besides, it's none of our business if you guys want to bump each other off. We don't...”
Why it's great
Trying to stay out of it only names the killing out loud, which seals their fate.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
It's none of our business if the two teams want to argue.
“I just dropped in to pay my respects.”
Why it's great
Polite condolence language becomes a threat because everyone knows the real purpose.
Register
Formal
Use it yourself
I just stopped by to see how you were doing.
“- You don't owe me no nothin'. - I wouldn't say that.”
Why it's great
A double negative brush-off meets a soft rebuttal that quietly says the debt stands.
Register
Informal
Use it yourself
I wouldn't say that after you paid last time.
Up next · 04get away with itThe scene: Joe and Jerry Dress as WomenTakeaways
What you walk away with- Politeness here is a threat, not a greeting.
- Keeping silent is the only survival skill in the scene.
- Gangster slang makes violence sound almost casual.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWho is Spats Colombo and why is he there?
Spats is the gang boss. He believes Charlie's gang set up the deaths of some of his men, so he visits the garage to settle the score, with the whole hit staged as a friendly call.
Why do Joe and Jerry survive the scene?
They are not the targets — they just happen to be in the garage picking up a car. Once they are seen, Spats decides they are witnesses to silence, but the two men talk fast enough to stay alive for now.
What does "bump someone off" mean?
It is gangster slang for killing someone. Joe uses it when he claims the mob war is not his business: if the gangs want to bump each other off, that is their problem.
Why does Spats mention Charlie's mortuary?
Because it is his cover story for the hit. He claims Charlie sent him business by recommending the mortuary to friends, so the coffins he now has "on his hands" are the excuse for the killings.