Original subtitles

♪ One two ♪

♪ A one two three and... ♪

[theme song]

♪ Chico don't be discouraged ♪

♪ The Man he ain't so hard to understand ♪

♪ Chico if you try now ♪

♪ I know that you can lend a helping hand ♪

♪ Because there's good in every one ♪

♪ And a new day has begun ♪

♪ You can see the morning sun if you try ♪

♪ And I know things will be better ♪

♪ Oh yes they will for Chico and The Man ♪

♪ Yes they will for Chico and The Man ♪♪

Chico?

Chico!

Chico, where are the paper towels?

[air hisses]

Good lord!

Good morning, my main pain.

What is that, the new uniform for the garbage collectors?

No, these are my picket line clothes.

You see we on the strike here.

Strike? For what? Free air wicks on your trucks?

No, Ed, it's not the stink of the trash.

It's the clink of the cash.

Now what we want is 22,000 a year.

$22,000 a year?

Boy! I should've gone into garbage.

Well, you've come as close as you could.

Excuse me, gentlemen.

Yeah, what can we do for you?

Which one of you is Brown?

We both are.

He's Ed Brown, I'm dark brown.

I, uh, I was told that you could be

of some help to me, Mr. Brown.

Yes, I'm looking for a kid.

Well, keep your eye on the alley because in a minute

there'll be six of them stripping your car.

Oh, no, no, I'm a private investigator.

My name is Maynard Jennings. Here's my card.

- Oh, thank you. - Yes.

I'm trying to locate a Francisco Rodriguez

known as Chico.

Uh-uh, I've never heard of him.

Well, I'd like to have you take a good look at this photo.

It was taken of course some years ago.

Uh-huh.

Small boy in a sailor suit.

No, I've never seen anybody like that around here.

Yeah, take it back.

You know something, Ed...

...if you put a mustache on him--

Yes, he'd then be a 3-year-old Chicano kid

with a fuzzy lip.

Ah, why are you looking for this... What's his name?

Well, I'm not at liberty to say.

But is he here?

No, no, no. You have a the wrong garage.

You see, I do employee a Pancho Rodriguez.

Yeah, yes.

Hey, Ed, Louie.

Got the paper towels.

Paper towels?

Wow! Thank you very much, Pancho!

This boy is hard of hearing.

See, I told him to get some flowers

he came in here with some towels.

I said flowers, Pancho.

Pancho? What's playing here--

Well, you see this man here?

He's a detective and he's looking for a guy

with a name Chico Rodriguez

who probably got himself in some bad trouble.

Maybe Pancho can help.

No, he can't help, he never saw this kid before in his life.

There, take a look. No, he doesn't recognize him.

Let me see, man.

Hey mister, where did you get this picture?

Why do you know him?

Don't shout, I got 20-20 hearing.

This is me.

How can it be you?

That kid's wearing a sailor suit

you were in the infantry.

And you admit, you are Francisco Rodriguez?

You bet your sweet dunkie, I am.

Where'd you get my baby picture?

Well, I'm not at liberty to discuss that right now

until I talk to my client.

May I use your telephone?

- It's in the office. - Yeah.

- And now long distance calls. - Right.

Don't worry, Chico, we'll get you out of it.

We'll get a lawyer, who'll plead temporary insanity.

Yeah, and I know the judge who'll buy that

knowing you worked for Ed Brown.

- Yeah. - I don't know, man.

I don't remember doing anything wrong...

...lately.

When I was this age the worst thing I did was

snatch a hubcaps off a baby buggy.

Well, uh, maybe it might be something simple.

Like what, Kojak?

No, Blackjack.

All right, young man.

I can now divulge the identity of my client.

The gentleman who engaged me to locate you

is Gilberto Rodriguez.

That was my father's name.

My client is your father.

Hey, what kinda scam is this, man?

My father's been dead for 20 years.

No, no, your father is very much alive

and he's anxious to see you.

Look, I don't know what kinda game this is

but I ain't playing. You got the wrong Rodriguez.

There's no mistake.

Now look, I gave your father this address

and he's coming over here before the day is out.

Gentlemen, I bid you good day.

J-just a minute, just a minute.

What is this Gilberto Rodriguez like?

Well, I've never met him face to face

but, uh, his checks don't bounce.

- What... - Woo-wee!

You can say that again.

Is this for real?

You know when I was a little kid

I always dreamed this might happen.

That I'd find out my father was alive.

And if it's true, I don't know whether I should be...

...happy or sad.

I feel like laughing and crying and I don't know what else.

What else is there? You just about covered everything.

All my life I believed what my family told me

that my father was dead.

My Uncle Ramon told me, he said

"Chico, your poor father, he died from a terrible fever."

Then my grandmother told me,

"Pobrecito, Chico, your father

went down in a ship wreck."

So when I called them on it

they put their two stories together and said

"Oh, yeah, your father caught a terrible fever

while the ship was sinking."

Well, he's got some nerve showing up now.

Where was he when I needed him?

When Mama died?

Or when I was 9 years old and that street gang

"The Cobra Kissers" were using me for a soccer ball?

Or when I was 14 and I needed some advice

'cause Rita Melendez said she could clear up my pimples.

Now he thinks he can just hustle his way in here

and have a readymade grown up sonny boy to take care of him.

Well, no way, Jose.

Oh, now listen to me, son.

I'm not your son.

I'm not nobody's son, especially Gilberto's.

Ah, he just passed judgment on a man he's never even met.

Is that my fault?

I didn't cut out on him.

It's kinda hard to hit the road

when your diapers are tangled up in your ankles.

Well, how do you know he wanted to leave?

Maybe your mommy tossed him out.

You know, a lot of mamas do that.

Yeah, maybe he was tired of your mother's nutty relatives.

Oh, they weren't nutty, they were colorful.

- They're Latinos, you know. - Yeah?

What about your uncle who thought he was a Greyhound?

What he do, chase rabbits?

No, he didn't chase rabbits, he thought he was a Greyhound bus.

He used to open his raincoat and holler

"All aboard for San Diego."

Well, you know, Ed, every family a Cuckoo bird.

Now, you take my cousin.

He thinks he's a vacuum cleaner.

His room is spotless, but his lungs are filthy.

[laughs]

Guys, I know you're trying to cheer me up

but this is kind of a personal thing, okay.

Yeah, well, we're just trying to help you.

Don't be too harsh on him.

Maybe he's sorry for all the things that had happen

and he wants to make it up to you.

Yeah, give the creep a chance.

Well, old buddy, how'd you enjoy the lunch?

What lunch? You promised me soul food.

That was fried fish.

That's right.

Fillet of soul food.

Hey, Chico, I brought some for you too, son.

Thanks, Louie.

Hey, Ed, how does he do that?

Let me explain.

I suppose you're gonna tell me this is your half brother.

See, in case my old man does show up

I wanna get a good look at him

before I decide if I wanna face him.

[horn honks]

[Louie] Oh-oh, lookie here!

[car door opens]

Oh, no, that can't be his father.

Is there a Chico Rodriguez here?

[Chico] Yeah.

What can I do for you?

Your father asked me to drive you to his hotel.

- Hotel? - The Beverly Royal, sir.

He decided it be best for you two

to meet privately in his suite.

- Oh, he decided? - Yes. Shall I wait outside?

Do what you want, I just decided I ain't going.

Chico, what's the matter with you?

All my life he was never around to decide anything for me

he's not gonna start deciding now. Just a minute.

Listen, you tell that old man that if he wants to see me

he better haul himself down here to the body

and that's my decision.

Hold on, come on, wait a minute, Chico.

Now-now think this over and give it a little...

Well...

...I'm sorry.

My Mr. Rodriguez isn't gonna like this.

Oh, my Mr. Rodriguez isn't too happy about it either.

Well, looks what we got here is a Mexican standoff.

Look at that face.

Those eyes.

How could any man in his right mind

walk out on a woman like that?

Chico, your mommy sure was beautiful.

You must took after your father.

Thanks, Louie.

I don't even know what my father looked like.

Well, don't you have a picture of him?

No, my family got rid of all of them.

Even their wedding picture was torn in half.

All I saw was my mother in a wedding dress

with a hand around the hip.

Okay, Chico, Garcia's transmission's all finished.

So put on a suit and tie and take it out for a road test.

You want me to put on a suit and tie to road test a '68 Plymouth?

Right, then drive it to Beverly Hills.

When you get to your father's hotel, stop,

park the car and go in.

Ed, don't you ever give up?

I told you I'm not going over there.

Chico, get wise to yourself.

Your old man must be loaded.

Yeah, Chico.

You saw that great big old limousine

he sent to pick you up in.

That is a champagne flight to easy street.

Well, both of you just get off my back, okay.

Come on, Chico, you've gotta face it sometime.

Now get out there and get it over with.

- Come on. - Okay, okay.

Anything to shut you two up.

Think I oughta shave off my mustache

and put on a little sailor's suit

so he'll recognize me?

- You know something, Ed. - What?

We gonna mess around and lose that boy forever.

What do you mean, "We"?

Just what I said, "We."

Look, Ed, don't tell, Chico but...

...deep down in my heart, man, I adopted that boy too.

Yeah?

Ah, let him go. So what?

I can save his salary.

At this rate I'll live twice as long before I go broke.

Look, let me tell you something.

You can fool all the people some of the time

and some of the people all of the time

but you ain't fooling this people none of the time!

Jive!

[horn honks]

Hey, Chico, that car is back!

Hey, hey, Chico, he's here, he's here!

- Where? - Let them come in.

- Ed... - What?

I didn't even get a chance to fix myself up.

- H-how do I look? - Stop worrying.

You're looking good.

- [Louie] Mr. Rodriguez? - Yes.

[Louie] Chico's right in there.

Ed, you go out, do whatever you have to do.

Stall him, okay. I'm just... I'm not ready.

Well, get ready, this man has waited 20 years for this.

I've waited all my life.

[Ed] Ah, good afternoon.

[Gilberto] Chico?

[Ed] No, no, no. I'm Ed Brown.

Your son is inside but, uh...

I think you oughta give him a couple of seconds.

You are Chico.

Yeah, and you are 24 years late.

You have your mother's eyes

but your grandmother's tongue.

Why didn't you come to my hotel?

Why didn't you come to my fourth birthday party?

Or my 14th or my 24th?

May I sit down, son?

Just don't call me "Son."

I understand your bitterness.

You come by it honestly.

It will you as long to forget and to forgive...

...as it has taken me.

It's too late now.

I don't want anything from you.

Nor I from you.

Then what are you doing here?

I wanted only to see you.

To, uh, discover the man you have become.

Isn't that natural?

Have you never wondered about me?

I stopped wondering about you when they told me you were dead.

In the eyes of your mother's family

I was dead the day we married.

Ah, excuse me, Chico.

I thought perhaps your father and I

could drink a little toast to your reunion.

- Well, thank you, Mr. Brown. - There you are.

Oh, but only two glasses?

Well, Louie had to go picket.

Yes, but Chico...

Chico doesn't drink.

Oh, well, then out of respect I won't either in his presence.

Oh, go ahead, that never stopped Ed.

Ed is not your father.

He's closer to it than you are.

- I will join you, Mr. Brown. - Oh, good.

Let us drink to compassion.

Chico's not making this easy for me.

Okay.

Well, that gives you rough idea

of what I'd had to put up with, the last three years.

You've been together three years, huh?

Ah, seems more like 30 years

since a punk kid walked into this garage

and conned me into giving him a job.

Oh, yeah, that punk kid has grown into a handsome caballero .

He certainly has.

Salud.

Guacamole.

Now, may we have a few moments alone?

Oh, by all means.

I'll be in my room, it's just upstairs.

And I, uh...

Oh, Chico...

...your father's a pretty nice guy.

Are you?

A nice guy?

Are you?

Well, you don't see any good conduct medals on me, do you?

Do you know what kinda kid I was?

A barrio street fighter, man. In gangs.

I could hot wire a car by the time I was 9.

Steal a tape deck in 7 seconds.

Roll a drunk in 5.

Pobrecito, you must've suffered.

No, I didn't suffer.

I talked myself out of it every time, suspended sentence.

[Chico] Used my mother's eyes.

Remember my mother's eyes?

Every time I'd see the judge, I'd just say

"Please, Your Honor, man.

Don't put me in jail.

I'm a poor orphan boy.

My father died in the pineapple factory in Mexico.

He fell into the machine and they had to bury him

and 600 cans of fruit salad."

How many times do you think that hokey story worked?

And where were you all that time, Gilberto Rodriguez?

Trying to make a life for you.

For me?

Looks like you did okay for yourself.

At your age I-I didn't even have as much as you.

Until I met your mother.

Maria was my inspiration.

She was a beautiful woman.

Yeah, even with her eyes red from crying every night.

In the eyes of your abuela,

your grandmother,

there was no man good enough for her Maria.

Her only daughter had to marry a prince.

- And she deserved one. - Hmm.

I was a pauper.

But we were deeply in love.

Maria had enough confidence in my future to elope with me.

You eloped?

It was the only way.

We crossed the border.

By night I studied

by day I worked the fishing boat in Mazatlan.

Your mother taught English to the children of the fishermen.

Yeah, but I was born in California.

Ah, because your mother wanted you to be an American.

And I could refuse her nothing.

But that is when I made my big mistake.

What big mistake?

We were so poor I could not afford a bus ticket.

So, I borrowed a car to drive her across the border.

And just in time!

Unfortunately, I neglected to get

the owner's permission for the trip.

You mean, I was born in a stolen car?

[chuckles] Well...

You know, when your young, foolish and desperate

you don't consider the consequences.

And do you know the consequence for stealing

the only car in a Mexican village?

The police car?

[laughing]

You stole the police car for me?

Es tremendo, magnifico!

No...

¡Muy estúpido!

And when I returned the car I found out the consequences.

Two years in jail.

Well, your mother's family was disgraced.

They wanted no part of a criminal.

Oh, but mama must've understood.

No.

Every letter I wrote from jail

was returned, unopened.

But then when I was free again I came back looking for you.

But you had all disappeared.

Well, where did you get the picture of me

in the sailor suit?

Your Uncle Ramon sent it to me

with no return address.

It was then that I hired the first

of several detectives to find you.

And where did a fisherman get that kinda loot?

From fishing.

At the end of three years I had my own boat.

The next year I had two.

Today, Chico, I have a fleet.

Long liners, shrimpers, purse seiners.

Ah, congratulations.

Next time I eat a shrimp I'll think of you.

[chuckles] You can eat them out of silver bowls.

I have a home in Acapulco.

An entire wing is at your disposal.

Are you asking me to come live with you?

Well, a man needs someone to spend what he earns.

Mm.

The way I see it, a man's gotta earn it himself.

I'm not trying to buy you, Chico.

I'm merely offering you an opportunity for a better life.

Yeah, but it's your idea of a better life.

And thank you, but I, I got my own ideas.

I mean that old man up in that room has helped me a lot.

Helped me get my head together, finish school,

learn a trade.

Ed Brown's done a lot for me and I owe him a lot.

Loyalty's not the least of it.

Hey, Ed.

I just happen to be...

- Even if he is a snoop. - Yeah, well...

Chico, your father wants you.

Why don't you go with him?

You know, you-you deserve a good home and a

and a nice education and...

maybe someday a business of your own.

I'll get all those things.

If a fisherman can do it, so can a mechanic.

You helped me this far.

Oh, I didn't do anything.

He did it all himself.

We can both be proud of him.

I am.

Mr. Brown, our son is a man of honor and integrity.

Our son is also a pretty good mechanic.

Now, I'm sure...

...if there is ever anything I can do for either of you

please, just let me know.

No offense, but no thanks.

I understand.

Our son is also, uh, stupid.

Thank you, Chico, for seeing me.

I leave you, assured your future is in good hands.

Your own.

- Goodbye, Mr. Brown. - Goodbye.

Goodbye, Mr. Rodriguez.

Mm.

Yeah, he's a very handsome man.

And, uh...

...certainly is very distinguished looking.

Yeah.

Well, I guess, uh, this'll give you some idea

what you'll look like in a few years.

You really think so?

Well...

...since you won't look like me.

Chico!

♪ The garbage isn't clover ♪

♪ 'Cause our strike is over ♪♪

[laughing]

That's good.

Hey, you do me a favor, lend me $20.

$20? For what?

Well, Father's Day is comin' up.

Oh, so you gonna

spend 20 bucks on Ed Brown, huh?

Well, you see this year I'm buying presents for two fathers.

Oh, that's great, that's great, son.

All right, let's see if I got it here, I should have.

All right, here is 10...

...and 10 is 20.

- Thank you, Louie. - Sure.

Hey, what's going on here?

I don't pay you to sit around this room

associating with the local riff-raff.

Come on, get out there and earn your salary

you lazy good for nothing.

Go on! Outside!

Here, Louie. Ten will do it.

[narrator] "Chico And The Man" was recorded live

before a studio audience at NBC Studios

Burbank, California.

♪ Chico was born in El Barrio ♪

♪ Spent much of his time in the street ♪

♪ His mind was crazy for knowledge ♪

♪ His belly for something to eat ♪

♪ But times are hard ♪

♪ Chico and the Man ♪

♪ Times are hard ♪

♪ Chico and the Man ♪♪