The Last Words of Dutch Schultz is a screenplay by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs, first published in 1970. Based upon the life of 1930s German-Jewish-American gangster Dutch Schultz, the novel uses as its springboard Schultz's surreal last words, which were delivered in the midst of high-fever delirium after being mortally shot while urinating in the men's room of a Newark bar. Phrases such as "French-Canadian bean soup" took on a different meaning for Burroughs as he invented stories to go along with some of the nonsensical statements made by Schultz in his dying hours.... Despite the title, very little of the screenplay deals with Schultz's cryptic words. Although Burroughs specifies that a recording of Schultz's dying words should be playing throughout the film as the soundtrack, virtually nothing which is actually depicted onscreen has anything to do with the real Schultz's dying monologue. Burroughs creates his own dying words for Schultz to actually speak, and which reflect Burrough's narrative; occasionally, these made-up snippets of speech include Schultz's actual words.
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