Crooks plan and execute a daring race-track robbery.

Maurice: You have my sympathies, then. You have not yet learned that in this life you have to be like everyone else - the perfect mediocrity; no better, no worse. Individuality's a monster and it must be strangled in it's cradle to make our friends feel confident. You know, I've often thought that the gangster and the artist are the same in the eyes of the masses. They are admired and hero-worshipped, but there is always present underlying wish to see them destroyed at the peak of their glory.
[last lines]
Fay: Johnny, you've got to run!
Johnny Clay: Eh, what's the difference?
Johnny Clay: You'd be killing a horse - that's not first degree murder, in fact it's not murder at all, in fact I don't know what it is.
Sherry Peatty: It isn't fair. I never had anybody but you. Not a real husband. Not even a man. Just a bad joke without a punch line.
Track Parking Attendant: Somethin' wrong?
Nikki Arcane: You're wrong, nigger!
Johnny Clay: You like money. You've got a great big dollar sign there where most women have a heart.
Randy Kennan: You jerk, you clown!
[strikes George Peatty]
Randy Kennan: Come on, clown, sing us a chorus from "Pagliacci"!
Johnny Clay: Alright sister, that's a mighty pretty head you got on your shoulders. You want to keep it there or start carrying it around in your hands?
Sherry Peatty: Maybe we could compromise and put it on your shoulder. I think that'd be nice, don't you?
Joe: Thank you, Randy. I was sure you'd see it my way. Take good care of yourself.
Randy Kennan: I'll take care of myself, mister. That's my specialty.
Johnny Clay: A friend of mine will be stopping by tomorrow to drop something off for me. He's a cop.
Joe Piano: A cop? That's a funny kind of a friend.
Johnny Clay: Well, he's a funny kind of a cop.
[first lines]
Narrator: At exactly 3:45 on that Saturday afternoon in the last week of September, Marvin Unger was, perhaps, the only one among the hundred thousand people at the track who felt no thrill at the running of the fifth race. He was totally disinterested in horse racing and held a lifelong contempt for gambling. Nevertheless, he had a $5 win bet on every horse in the fifth race. He knew, of course, that this rather unique system of betting would more than likely result in a loss, but he didn't care. For after all, he thought, what would the loss of twenty or thirty dollars mean in comparison to the vast sum of money ultimately at stake.
Maurice: I'd like you to call this number and ask for Mr. Stillman. Tell him that Maurice requires his services.
Fisher: Sounds pretty mysterious. What's it all about?
Maurice: There are some things, my dear Fisher, which bear not much looking into. You have undoubtedly heard of the Siberian goatherd who tried to discover the true nature of the sun; he stared up at the heavenly body until it made him blind. There are many things of this sort, including love, and death, and... maybe we'll discuss this later today. Please remember to make that call if I'm not back at 6:30.