Gunmen’s Blues

A mysterious middle-aged man sits alone in a Hoboken bar, studying a photo of a woman tucked in his wallet. He keeps to himself and exchanges only brief words with the bartender. He hints that he is passing through on business as a traveling salesman, and that his past is something he’s trying to leave behind.

During the exchange, the man explains he once lived in Hoboken years ago and is now passing through on business. He hints at a life of danger rather than ordinary travel, underscoring that his stop is only temporary.

From the bar's restroom, a teenage boy named Lake bursts in, dressed as a cowboy and brandishing a gun. He declares that the middle-aged man is the infamous 'Man with No Name,' a hitman on the FBI's most-wanted list. The bar lurches into chaos as tension spikes.

Using a makeshift silencer, Lake shoots and kills the bartender, turning the bar into chaos. He then ambushes the man with a gun as the older man returns to pay his bill. The encounter sets the stage for a brutal confrontation.

Lake holds the older man at gunpoint, boasting that killing him will boost his own criminal reputation. The hitman remains calm, studying the boy and not reacting with panic. The moment teeters on the edge of deadly consequence.

Calmly, the hitman lulls the boy into a false sense of security and then lands a decisive punch, knocking Lake to the floor. He overpowers the intruder and regains control of the situation. The outcome hints at a hidden past between the two.

Lake recovers and they struggle again, with Lake pinning the hitman to the floor and preparing to shoot him in cold blood. The hitman proposes a different contest: a fair test of their skills—a fast draw. The tension remains high as both men weigh each other’s capabilities.

They agree to the test, and the hitman demonstrates deadly precision by shooting the gun out of Lake's hand. Rather than killing the boy, he shoots the boy's other hand, leaving him wounded and defeated. The bar falls quiet as the truth of their abilities sinks in.

With the boy defeated and in pain, the man reveals that he is Lake's father. He pulls out his wallet and shows Lake a photo of the woman he loved—the boy's mother.

He explains that years earlier he fell in love with Lake's mother and married her, but when Lake was a baby, a challenger killed his wife. Unable to care for Lake, he abandoned the boy and resumed his criminal life.

They embrace as police arrive outside, but the hitman quickly rearranges the crime scene to make it look like a botched robbery rather than a deliberate murder. His quick thinking buys Lake time while defusing any immediate suspicion.

As the police break in, he hands Lake his wallet and tells him that he can be anything he wants to be, but warns against becoming a gunman. He winks at Lake and is shot dead by the approaching officer, ending their uneasy reunion.