Original subtitles

Good time, any time you need a payment. Good time, any time you need a break.

Good time, any time you're up and under.

Not getting hassled, not getting hustled. Keeping your head up for water.

Making a way when you can.

Temporary layoffs. Good time.

private hey Henrietta you know I'm glad you called because I was trying to get

in contact with you last night but what you went out with Leroy Dobson

well what's he got that I ain't got and what else

a date together for the IK's concert tonight, right?

No, I don't have the tickets yet, but I'm about to get the bread.

And here come the baker now.

Summer, where's your mother? She's not home yet. She said she'll be a little

late from work.

Oh, that's too bad. I got some news for her, some good news.

Hey, Dad, it's so good to have you home.

Yeah, this news is the best this family's heard ever, boy. Oh, yeah.

Looking at the new assistant foreman of shipping and receiving for the Brady

Manufacturing Company.

What about the car wash? What about the car wash? Michael already gave my

notice. I've dried my last Dodge, buffed my last Buick, and shined my last

Chevy.

This is the only kind of suds I want to see.

Boy, I can't wait to see the expression on your mother's face when I give her

the news.

And speaking of news, Dad, and the high cost of dating Henrietta, you know, I

think it's time we had one of our man -to -man talks.

Don't you think we're man -shot?

But seriously, Dad, you know, there comes a time in every boy's life when he

to ask his father for $5. Yeah.

Well, Junior, there comes a time in every dad's life when he's got to say

I ain't got paid yet.

Oh, what am I going to do now?

Our relationship hasn't progressed to the point that it should.

Forget it. Even though it is chump change, you're not getting none, chump.

And the primary reason why, Thelma, is that you're a deadbeat.

I just came back from an appointment at the high school principal.

Florida got a job, a good job.

Oh, James, that's wonderful. I'm so happy for you. And I'm going to get my

school diploma.

I just enrolled in night school.

I'm going to study for my graduate equivalency test, you know, the G .E .T.

anyone who passes it gets their diploma no matter how long.

Oh, James, I'm sorry.

I got carried away with myself.

Tell me all about your job.

Well, baby, it's an assistant foreman job. I really got lucky.

Honey, that is so wonderful. And I got lucky, too.

Florida, it's a good job. I mean, I got a chance to work my way up. It's got a

future. Me, too.

With a high school diploma, I'm bound to do better.

Florida, your listening ain't caught up with your talking yet.

I'm trying to tell you I got the best job I ever had, and you ain't even

excited. But, James, I am excited.

You're getting the break you've always deserved, but so am I.

Yeah, but where do you come off making a big decision like that without talking

to me about it first?

James, I never thought you'd be against me going to school.

Well, it's not that, Florida. It's just that in this family, we always talk

things over before we make a big decision like that.

You're right, James.

I should have asked you first, and I'm sorry.

So I'm going to ask you now.

I'd like to go back to school.

Is it okay with you?

No.

No? No. No, we done talked about it and made a decision.

James, what's wrong with me going to school?

You won't be seeing me for three nights a week. But when you see me, I'll be a

better me.

I don't need no better you, baby. I like you just the way you are now.

Why don't you let Ma go back?

You're always telling us that a good education is the most important thing

can have. Well, that's true, Thelma, but... You haven't changed your mind,

you? No, Micah, but look, at y 'all's age, I mean, going to school makes

But your mother's school days are long behind her now.

You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Who's an old dog?

You know I didn't mean that. I didn't mean it that way. Daddy, you're never

old to learn. Yeah, we can help Ma with the...

How come you never made me that offer?

Because you can't teach a dumb dog nothing.

James, I'm only trying to improve myself. Give me one good reason why I

shouldn't go.

Because I say no.

That's the one that always stops me.

You know, Dad, maybe you should let Ma go to school.

She'd have it knocked. She wouldn't even have to study.

What do you mean, my dear Jason?

Well, why do you study?

to get good grades so your parents will sign your report card.

And more, it is obvious that you are old enough to sign your own report card.

You have maleminated the middleman.

You don't get out of here, I'm going to maleminate you.

James, I don't understand you.

You dropped out of school in the 6th grade, I dropped out in the 10th. Now,

both know how hard it is to get a decent job.

Well, I got it worst of all.

to have a high school diploma.

Now, in the job market, that makes me the low -priced spread.

You ain't got time to go to school. You got a family to raise.

James, have you looked at your family recently?

They're practically grown.

Well, if you go to school at night, who's going to do the cooking and the

cleaning? Maybe we can get a white woman to come in twice a week.

mouth for nothing because i still say the answer is no that's it the case is

closed now what's for dinner one hell of a fight you kids go study i'll call you

when we get ready to eat go in the room and study like i said i

ain't

gonna argue with you about this but i do want to know one thing who put this

idea in your head nobody we'll only told me about that course that they are

offering in the school.

Walona, Walona, I should have known the galloping gossip of the ghetto.

Now, James, you shouldn't say things like that about Walona. She's

family. Yeah, baby, tell me something.

You've been knowing Walona longer than me.

What does she look like with her mouth shut?

Well,

I guess I'll never know.

You know, you hear the news? The cops just caught a mugger in the laundry

What was it?

Where do you get off filling Florida's head full of this school garbage?

Now, what's wrong with Florida going back to school? I don't know, but it

whole lot of good reasons why.

Oh, James, don't stop her now. Going back to school is her chance to get

underway. You know, as usual, Walona, your mouth is working overtime, but your

brain done took the day off.

I give up.

Hey, wait a minute, Walona. Tell me something. If you're so hot on Florida

to school, how come you ain't signed up for these courses? Because I already

have my diploma.

How do you think I got the job at the boutique?

I figured you was just working off your clothing bill.

James.

Okay, Master James, sir.

If you don't want me on the plantation no more, I squine.

I squine out there where the snow is falling and I sit on the river.

But it's a hundred degrees warmer than it is in here.

Begging your pardon, sir.

I think I'll be saying goodbye now, sir.

You won't have to see this cotton -picking, cotton -picker -picking cotton

more.

If you go to school at night, baby, we ain't gonna never get a chance to do

of the things we used to do.

What do you mean, James?

You know, like playing cards or checkers.

Checkers? We played checkers once 12 years ago.

Well, I'm ready to play again.

James, you're just making up reasons.

What is there about... me going back to school that can possibly upset you this

much. Does it threaten you in some way? What are you talking about?

How's something like that going to threaten me?

Well, you had to drop out of school in the sixth grade to support your family.

just thought that maybe if I went back and got my high school diploma.

Lord, it ain't got nothing to do with me. I just don't like this foolishness.

Okay, James.

Tell me no and I'll drop the whole thing.

But I want to hear it from your mouth.

You tell me no.

I can't improve myself.

No, you don't want me to get ahead.

No, I can't be anything more than I am right now.

All right, Florida, go on, go to school. I don't care. Go to college, damn it.

Get a PhD if you want to. Just leave me alone.

Ma, you still studying?

You haven't looked up from those books since I came home from school.

I haven't looked up for two weeks.

You know, it was kind of hard getting back into this stuff, but I think I'm

finally getting the hang of it. Oh, that's good, Ma.

You know, Ma, if you want to cut your study time in half, I think I'll start

off with the J .J. Evans speed reading technique.

This I got to see.

Now, I have never read this book before, right?

No, Angel.

I'd say that's a safe bet.

Watch closely.

There you go.

Finish studying.

You mean you know everything in that book?

No, I don't know anything.

But if a teacher asks me, I can say I lay the eye on every page.

You fool, you!

Hey, now, come on.

Mom! Hey, come on with that talk.

No.

Junior, I thought I asked you to take the garbage out.

Oh, I will, Dad.

That's what you said a half hour ago, Junior.

Oh, don't worry, Dad. I got it covered. Now, Junior!

James, you don't have to yell at the boy.

You know, in that child psychology course I'm taking, they say that most

either reason with their children...

or yell at them.

You are a yeller.

Well, I don't need none of them fancy school books to tell me how to raise

kids. We've been doing it this way for a long time now.

Yeah, but if you reason with them, it makes them feel more responsible.

All right, baby.

All right.

Junior.

Yes, Senator?

Stop here a minute, please, son.

You know why old Dad asked you to take the garbage out right now? Why, Dad?

Because if you didn't, I was going to yell my head off!

You're right, baby.

It does work.

Hey, what's going on here? Is everything all right? Nothing. Go on back in your

room and study. Go on. Come on, Michael.

You know, it wouldn't hurt you to try a little patience.

Well, ain't you become the expert on child raising after just two weeks of

school? Oh, no, I never said that. Good, because I ain't about to let no

textbook run my life. Ain't no way.

That sounds terrible.

I don't care, Florida. That's the way I feel.

No, no, no. I'm talking about the way you're talking. Do you realize you just

use three eights in a row?

So what?

Well, I do it all the time, too.

But it's wrong.

We're setting a bad example for the children.

There is no such word as ain't.

No, it's in the dictionary.

No, it ain't.

But it is.

You're wrong, Florida.

Look it up.

Can't. Why not?

Ain't got no dictionary.

I'm telling you, James, that's bad grammar.

I know, but it's happening. It's happening. What's happening? The school

Florida, is just changing you.

First you tell me I ain't talking right, then you tell me I ain't raising the

kids right. Oh, James, I didn't mean nothing by it. How long is it going to

before you come home from school and tell me I isn't doing nothing right?

I knew the school foolishness wasn't going to work out. I just knew it.

James, honey, you don't understand.

No, Florida, you don't understand.

See, we're going in different directions now.

Right now you're going that way and I'm going this way, and my way is this way.

Hey, James Evans!

Big Willie!

What you know good, man?

Hey, sit down, man. Yeah, thank you. Say, how that new job of yours coming

Oh, I can't complain, Willie. Man, we showed you a mission down at the car

Yeah? You know, they replaced you with a sister.

You jiving.

You mean to say they got a woman working down there? Yeah, man, and she ain't

nothing but trouble. She used to be a maid.

What's wrong with that?

She don't do no windows.

I have one of those, too, please.

Yes, Lord.

Yes.

Hey, James, you want to play me for the beer? Yeah, why not? Okay.

It's been a long time since I beat you at pinball.

Hey, where you been keeping yourself, man? I don't see you around here much

anymore. What's the occasion?

There ain't no occasion, man. I mean, can't a man have a beer in peace?

Wouldn't have nothing to do with Florida going back to school now, would it?

Now, where'd you hear that?

Oh, where it gets around.

I could have warned you. Take it from Willie J. Washington.

You give your woman a little education, and you get yourself in a whole lot of

trouble. Yeah, well, Willie, take it from James Evans. It's cooler than that

here. Yes, sir. If the good Lord had warned a woman to go to school, he would

have given them brains.

Hey, man, you can't use your hands. You're about to beat the machine to

This machine is just like a woman. Every once in a while, you got to set them

straight.

Come on, now. No hands, man.

Thank you, man.

Oh, okay. Okay, man.

Hey! You ain't said nothing about hips.

I ain't say nothing about forklifts either, but you ain't allowed to use

I'm done anyway. See if you can beat that score, man. Go ahead. Beat it.

Well, it's going to be hard to beat a man on a pinball machine that uses hips,

his mouth, and his hands all at the same time.

But I believe I can do it.

Say, man, you never should have let her start that school business in the first

place. You should have stopped her. Now, you know you got to keep a woman in her

place. Yeah.

That's hip talk.

And a whole lot of soul.

I do believe you owe me a beer, my brother.

Yeah, you ain't nothing but an old pinball hustler. Well, it takes one to

one. Yeah, you dug me out pretty good.

Here you go.

Thank you.

What's good you want anyway? Maybe it'll make you feel better. Now, I know what

you've been going through. No, Quilly, let's cool it on that, huh? No, listen.

About six months ago, my wife started complaining she wasn't satisfied with

herself. She thought she was wasting her life.

So she started going to the free clinic and seeing this head shrinker. And I let

her go.

Worst mistake I ever made in my life.

Yeah, what happened?

Well, she started coming home with all these new ideas. I couldn't figure it

out. Now, she was going there to find out what was wrong with her, but all she

could find out was what was wrong with me.

What was wrong with you?

Yeah. Before she got with that shrinker, she thought I was the whole enchilada.

After he finished with her, I was just down to the beans.

She left me, James.

She left you? Yeah. All of a sudden, she was going her way, and I was going my

way.

Mama, I still say you're making a big mistake by not going to school tonight.

I know what I'm doing, child.

Michael's right.

If you don't go to school, you're cheating yourself.

A woman has the right to go as far as her mind will take her.

And, Ma, once you make your mind up, I know you can do it.

That's right, Ma. And I ain't ashamed to admit that we're equal in brains as

well as in beauty.

Mama, Daddy will find out that you're right, and he'll get used to you going

school. That's right, Martha. Now listen, all of you.

What's right is my husband and my family.

What's wrong is anything that comes between us. And that's exactly what this

school has been doing.

So, to heck with the diploma.

Oh, Martha. For now.

From now on, I'll read these books at home and learn the same as if I'd gone

school. This way, I'll get an education and...

Keep my family happy, too.

Florida, I got something to tell you, baby. And I got something to tell you,

too, honey.

Now, look, I've been thinking about this school business, and I figured that...

You don't have to worry about that no more. That's what I want to talk to you

about. Well, me, too. Look, I... Honey, it ain't worth what we've been going

through. Right. So I made a decision.

Florida, will you just let me get one word inside? You don't have to worry

it. I'm not going to school anymore. I'm going to study at home. Damn it,

Florida, you're doing it again.

Well, look, if he ain't going to let me talk, at least let me show you

something, huh?

Hey, Mama, that's the book bag. All the kids in school have them.

Yeah, I got it for you.

But, James, I thought you didn't want me to go to school. Baby, I was wrong.

Look, I took a good, long, hard look at myself, and what I thought was a selfish

guy was just afraid of something he didn't understand.

That's why you're supposed to be in school. You're a smart woman. That's

you belong. All right, that's good, James.

Just when I think I know you, I find out something more wonderful all the time.

Like Michael said, baby, ain't never too old to learn.

And that ain't all. Look here.

Oh, two book bags?

Honey, I don't have that many books.

Well, that one ain't, that one isn't for you.

It's for me.

I'm going to sign up for the classes, too.

Oh, James.

Honey,

this is so wonderful.

Well, look, things have changed. I'm going to have to change with them. From

on, we're both going the same way.

Now, isn't that... I mean, ain't that...

Can I carry your books to school?

Hey, come on.

Hey,

Mom, Dad, how'd it go at school?

Yeah, tell us all about it. Well, things sure have changed since we went to

school. For one thing, the desk got smaller.

Yeah, and the girls got older.

teachers got younger.

Oh, by the way, J .J., your principal was there.

We had a nice long talk with him.

Oh, whatever he said, I deny it.

Well, he said he's seeing more of you than your teachers are. Matter of fact,

he's thinking about making the principal's office your homeroom.

Yeah, but how about you? Did you dig it? Oh, we both loved it. It's gonna be

tough, though, but we'll see it through, won't we, James? That's for sure, baby.

All right.

And another thing, Dad, now that you and Ma are going to school together, you

don't have to worry about a date for the senior prom.

Watching the asphalt road.

Thinking how it all looks. Can we die?

Good times.

Keeping your head above water.

Making a wave when you can.

Temporary layoffs. Good times.

Good times is recorded on tape before a live audience.