The cocky, well-groomed, heavy-drinking, small-time entrepreneur McCabe argued with the scroungy proprietor and Irish owner, Patrick "Paddy" Sheehan (Rene Auberjonois), about cash flow.Behind his father on the wall are George""s framed butterfly collection.His father tells him that Potter, on the board of directors, continues to harrass them.George calls Potter a "money-grubbing buzzard," although Mr.Bailey excuses Potter""s miserliness:Oh he""s a sick man.Frustrated.Sick in his mind, sick in his soul if he has one.He hates everybody that has anything that he can""t have.It""s us mostly, I guess.George has spent four years since his high school graduation working for his father at the Bailey Bros...always happy and laughing...The card dissolves into a flashback of their happy, idyllic life and their love of their child before their lives were destroyed...and a man""s desires!"...maybe it""s better for both of us to leave each other alone."Writer/producer/director Robert Rossen, also known for his earlier contributions to the screenplays ofThe Roaring Twenties (1939)andThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948),Body and Soul (1947), Best Picture winnerAll the King""s Men (1949), and his last filmLilith (1964), based this harsh, poignant, intensely dramatic film (with co-writer Sydney Carroll), a morality play, upon the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis.