Original subtitles

I didn't hustle.

Keeping your head up for water.

Making a wave when you can.

Temporary layoffs.

Thanks for your help. Florida, when you do laundry, you do laundry.

Only mostly James's clothes.

You know, in his kind of work, he not only got ring around the collar, he got

ring around everything.

Yeah, and JJ's long johns ain't easy to do.

If James gets this job at Foreman, I'm going to do like the rich folks and send

my laundry out.

If you do, send them out to me.

I want to feel like the rich folks, too.

Any news about James' promotion?

No, we'll be just keeping our fingers crossed. Well, don't worry about it. I

know it's going to turn out all right. I had a dream last night that James got

the job.

And you all moved out to Lakeshore Drive.

And you were driving down in this... Fancy car.

And I was hitchhiking a ride.

And you just drove right on past me.

And you didn't even give me a lift.

Now, that's a fine way to treat a neighbor.

What's that car, Cadillac? Yes.

Then that wasn't me.

In my dreams, I'm driving a Rolls Royce.

Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if James gets that promotion?

You know, there's a three -bedroom apartment downstairs that's vacant, and

just might be able to afford it.

Oh, think of it, Wanda.

Two bathrooms.

Yeah. If you had a gas pump, then you could open a service station.

Oh, it sure would be good if Michael and JJ could have their own bedroom.

They've been sleeping in the same bed for 14 years.

Well, most kids have their cuddly teddy bears to sleep with. But poor Michael,

all he's ever slept with is a shank bone.

Oh.

Hi,

JJ. Hi, Tiger.

Hi, Wanda. Hi, Ma.

JJ, what's wrong?

Today hasn't been a good day in the chicken delivering business.

What happened?

Somebody rip off your coleslaw?

No, worse than that. I lost my job.

You lost your job? Oh, honey, what happened?

Well, they catch your finger licking again.

No, the boss said he had it cut down. The chicken business is chickening out.

Tomorrow's my last day.

I got to turn in my bird.

Oh, J .J., that's a shame.

Yeah, I don't know what I'm going to do without her. I mean, every time I said

yes, she said yes.

Every time I said no, she said no.

Oh, Ma, I still don't know why they fired me. I was their top delivery man.

Every time I brought an order, I made sure I had the biscuits, the napkins,

honey, the plastic forks, and always had that little side of barbecue sauce.

Oh, boy, whenever I left, I always said, bone appetit and don't choke on the

neck bone.

I can't.

It's too bad, J .J., but you said business was slow.

Yeah, Ma, but I... I had seniority.

I mean, I was there almost four months.

I was the dean of legs.

Cheer up, J .J. You still have your art school at night. You'll find another

job. Oh, no, Wanda, it ain't that easy.

I feel like the world has passed me by.

I feel as useless as a pet rock.

Hang in there, pet rock.

This is the year of the bicentennial.

and we are going to celebrate 100 years of freedom.

100 years? I thought it was 200.

Oh, it's 200 for them.

100 for us.

Oh, Ma, I really feel down about this whole thing.

Say, do you think a homemade sweet potato pie can lift your spirits?

Could be.

Well, it's in the icebox.

Hey, I may be unemployed, but my stomach's still working.

Sanjay, where did this come from?

Where did what come from?

This pamphlet.

The Glorious Cuban Revolution.

Cuba?

Ain't that where they had the bell pigs?

Oh, Ma, don't be bringing up pigs to me now.

I got enough trouble with chickens.

I'm not joking.

This is all about how wonderful everything is in Cuba right now and how

the Cuban people are.

And it's full of pictures of Castro and stuff about his philosophy.

Does this belong to you?

Are you kidding, Ma? The only pictures I know about are the ones that fold out

from the centerfold.

And I don't care about her philosophy at all.

If this doesn't belong to you... How'd you get in your drawer?

Somebody hid it there. Who, J .J.? Maybe Ned the Wino.

J .J., you know Ned the Wino does not come into this house.

Yes, he did, Ma. At Halloween time, trick -or -treating with Muscatel.

J .J., I told you this is not funny.

Now, this pamphlet didn't get into this house by itself, and I want to know who

is into all this Cuban stuff.

Hi!

There she is, Ma. Miss Nikita Khrushchev.

Let's make this thing perfectly legal.

All right. You have the right to remain silent.

I know his head isn't wrapped tight, but I didn't think the package fell apart

completely. I found this pamphlet about Cuba.

That couldn't be yours by any chance, could it?

That's ridiculous.

Does that mean yes or no?

See that, Ma? She just pleaded the Fifth Amendment.

JJ, stop it.

JJ, you're always shooting off the mouth. The only trouble is it keeps

back and getting bigger.

Well, your mouth's so big you had to rent extra teeth to fill it.

Listen, I told you both to stop it.

Now, that still isn't answering my question.

If this thing doesn't belong to either one of you, whose is it?

Hi, Ma.

What you doing with my pamphlet?

belongs to you. Yeah, Mama, that's mine.

Boy, little bro, I'm really ashamed of you.

Turning against your country after all the advantages you've had of living

here in the ghetto.

J .J., I think you've been paying too long. The turpentine has affected your

brain.

Why did you hide this in J .J.'s drawer? I wasn't hiding it. I must have put it

there by mistake.

Hey, what are you doing with it in the first place?

Some research.

Uh -huh.

Trying to find out where our missile bases are, huh?

JJ, I don't know where our missile bases are, but I do know where our main fool

base is.

I'm still waiting for you to tell me what you're doing with this pamphlet.

our history teacher gave us an assignment to do on the bicentennial. So

thought I'd compare the American Revolution with the Cuban Revolution.

They're a dictatorship and we're a democracy.

Except for a couple of wars here in Chicago.

Thank heavens that's all there was to it.

You know, Mama, it was real interesting finding out about Cuba. Do you know,

come harvest time, everybody has to go out in the field and cut sugar cane.

Reminds you of when we had the chop cart?

Yeah, I know what you mean. But at least things have gotten a little better for

us in this country. We have black mayors, black congressmen, a black man

Supreme Court.

Hey, and maybe even one day we might have a black president. Oh, I don't know

about that, Michael.

Ain't too many black dudes that ski.

This information on Cuba at the library?

No, I wrote to the Cuban government.

Where'd you get a Cuban stamp from?

I used an American stamp, dum -dum.

Michael, you actually wrote to Cuba and they wrote you back?

Yeah, Ma.

Well, honey, I don't think that was such a good idea.

What do you mean?

Well, when you wrote to them, their security people might have opened the

letter. And when they sent you this pamphlet, our security people may have

opened it.

This has become a world of letter openers. Everybody is uptight.

Yeah, but a little kid like Michael, who would worry about him?

Yeah. Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

That's it!

That's it.

Well, you see, Michael's last name is Evans. And by unfortunate coincidence,

also has an older brother with the same name.

I bet that's why I lost my chicken delivery job.

My JJ lost his job?

Mm -hmm. Tomorrow's his last day.

That couldn't be why he lost it. I wouldn't exactly call delivering chicken

security risk.

That shows you how much you know, little girl.

There's a lot of places in a chicken where you can hide microfilm.

Oh, stop being silly.

Look, JJ, you probably lost that job because things are slow.

People are losing jobs every day, and I think we're letting our imaginations run

away with us. Now, if they did find out about Michael's letter, can you imagine

the government worrying about a little school kid and a chicken deliverer?

Come on, it's right. The whole thing is a coincidence.

Yeah.

Um, James?

Lordy, you ain't gonna believe what happened. I tell you, you just ain't

believe what happened to me.

You lost your job. Baby, I'm standing there working on a dock and I'm minding

own business and I'm working good and all...

Baby,

I don't get it. I mean, I just don't get it.

I'm doing a good job and then boom, all of a sudden I'm terminated.

Yeah, Dad, you ain't the only one. I've been terminated too.

I think we'd be the first father and son team to collect unemployment insurance.

Maybe he'll give us a family rate.

Junior lost his job, too. Will somebody tell me what is going on around here?

James. Oh, Floyd, I've been fired before, but, baby, I always knew the

why. Things were slow. The plant was moving.

They didn't like the color of my skin.

But this, right out of the blue, and just when I'm doing a good job with no

explanation... James, I think I may know the reason. Freeze, Michael. I gotta go

to the bathroom.

You stay right here.

Oh, Flordy, what does going to the bathroom got to do with me losing my

Honey, this may be a little hard for you to believe, but... Michael had a mate

pen pals with Fidel Castro.

Now, what's Fidel Castro got to do with this?

Well, I'm not sure about this, but I just got a feeling that maybe... Maybe

was because of what? Mom, that couldn't be it. The whole thing is crazy.

You're making me so nervous, I really got to go to bed tonight.

Will somebody please tell me what is going on around here? Maybe it couldn't

Castro.

James, Michael wrote an essay for school comparing the American Revolution to

the Cuban Revolution.

Yeah?

And... He wrote a letter to Cuba for information.

So Michael wrote to Cuba.

So President Ford has tea with Mao Zedong, and Kissinger has vodka with

and Lunchmeat Mumford eat a fat burger with anybody that comes along.

What the hell's all that got to do with me losing my job? Daddy, calm down.

Honey, you're gonna break a blood vessel. I broke a blood vessel when I

out that I got fired. Will somebody in here please get to the point?

Well, this is just a guess.

But it could... be that they find out about Michael's letter, and now they

we're some kind of security risk.

Security risk? Right.

Well, do you know Brady's manufactures women's clothes?

He spent all last month on the loading dock shipping out. You know what? You

know who he's shipping?

Ladies' nightgowns. Now, what kind of security risk is that?

What do you think Mata Hari used to wear?

Oh, there he goes again. He lost his chicken jaw, but he's still a bird

Yeah, I may be a bird brain, but you the whole turkey.

I don't want to hear no more yelling in here.

Strange. What do you think you're doing? Who, me?

All I know is the whole building is shaking and Chicago ain't earthquake

territory. I'm sorry, but it's just that this whole thing don't make no sense.

It don't make no sense at all. It's crazy. I'm telling you, it's just plain

crazy. Shh.

Shh.

There's something wrong.

Why do you ask? Why do you ask?

Well, it might have something to do with the way you came in and went out.

Can we get Wanda a glass of water? Okay, Mom.

Wanda, was somebody following you?

Following? Following?

What makes you say that? What makes you say that?

Well, you sure asked? Did like it. Did it? Did it?

No, I didn't. No, I didn't.

Somebody here echo around here?

Thank you, honey. Thank you, honey.

There it goes again.

Stop it. Did you see Wanda's outfit?

Come on, Wanda. What's going on now? What's wrong?

Well, a few minutes ago, a man came to see me.

So?

Who was the man?

Well, you won't believe this.

mouth was moving. Ain't nothing coming out.

The FBI.

I gotta go again.

Are you sure?

Yeah. And he asked a whole lot of questions. He did, huh?

What kind of questions were they asking? Well, he was asking about this whole

family. Your habits, what you do, where you go, and what kind of friends visit

you. What did you tell him? Oh, I didn't tell him anything.

I just said...

Japanese before.

Sayonara.

I think I know what's going on now, Florida.

Yeah, I think I see what's going on.

The FBI came to ask my boss a few questions. He got nervous and he fired

Oh, honey, Michael set off for that thing for a school project.

Yeah, and the school project is costing me my job.

Oh, let's face it. The man fired me. One more dock worker ain't all that

indispensable. Daddy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause all this trouble.

Oh, that's all right, son. It ain't your fault.

Let's face it, Michael. We're living in a crazy time.

JJ,

what are you doing?

Ma, uh, do you think we need an exterminator around here? I think we got

What are you talking about?

No, Ma, I don't mean those kind of bugs. I mean...

Bugs that bug.

Mama, JJ's probably right. This place could be bugged.

Oh, come on, Michael. Now how could the FBI get in here?

Thelma, how'd the CIA get into Italy?

Oh, come on and stop all this nonsense and let's get down to the real problem.

Honey, what you gonna do about the job?

I don't know, baby.

Hey, Daddy.

Oh, come on, Thelma. You think the FBI gonna talk to me?

Hell no.

Instead, they talk to my boss.

Yeah, that's who they talk to, the jive turkeys.

Uh, in the ghetto, jive turkey is an expression of sincere affection.

is too obvious.

Well, you can really act a fool sometimes.

Hey, J .J., what you doing?

Well, on Get Smart, they always hide the mic inside of a shoe.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union...

Hey, don't stop that. They're gonna think you're the one that flew over the

cuckoo's nest.

Yeah, JJ, you're stupid talking into a shoe. If they wanted to bug anything, it

would be the telephone. And they don't have to come into the apartment to do

that.

You got a point there, Michael.

Huh?

That's right. Well, look, we ain't got nothing to hide. We ain't done nothing

wrong.

Hey! Hey, James!

What the hell are we standing here whispering for? We're in our own house.

I hope somebody is bugging this phone. I got something to tell them.

Whoever's bugging this phone, their mama's a pinboy at the boulder drone.

That's right.

If you got any questions to ask me and my family, come down here and ask them

person. I don't appreciate all this creeping around.

I'm scared to be Kate Smith.

The song I feel like singing is the Unemployment Blues.

Federal Agent Lloyd, may I come in?

Do we have a choice?

This is an unofficial visit.

We know what you're here for.

You're here to make sure our daughter loses her job as a babysitter, huh?

Now that's a real security risk, ain't it?

Reading Mother Goose to four -year -olds.

I'm glad you're here. I was right in the middle of my patriotic medley.

My country, tears of the sweet land.

Closing out the medley.

As I said, I'm here off the record, and I'd like to explain something to you.

Now, you ain't got to explain nothing. We know why you're here. You're looking

for your dangerous revolutionary, huh? Well, there he is. Look at him.

Castro's top secret agent.

He'd have grown a beard, but he's too young to shave.

Tell him my... Tell him how you plan to overthrow the country.

I only sent away for this pamphlet to do a school report.

I know.

You know? You know and you still kept creeping around here asking questions?

I'm sorry, but we were asked to find out who was receiving Cuban propaganda in

the mail. Just routine.

Routine, man. Y 'all got some kind of routine.

Causing people to lose their jobs.

I'm sorry about that, too.

We had to ask questions.

We never thought your boss would react this way. Well, how the hell did you

expect him to react, man? The FBI comes nosing around asking him questions.

He figures there's going to be trouble. He's got enough already, so goodbye,

James Evans.

Well, it's all straightened out now.

We talked to your boss.

You've got your job back.

Well, I got my job back. That's good.

But how about all them people that ain't so lucky, huh? How about them?

You have a right to their privacy, you know.

All this poking around makes folks uneasy.

It's an uneasy world, Mrs. Evans.

Well, thank you for your time, and goodbye.

Hey, uh, hold on there, man.

I lost my job, too. I got fired.

I'm afraid I can't do anything about that.

We never spoke with your boss.

Chicken deliverer. You ever thought about that?

Well, everything is going to be all right. At least you got your job back,

honey. I got my job back, baby. And I know everything is supposed to be

up now. But you know something, Florida?

I still got the feeling that somewhere, someplace, my name is still in

somebody's file.

Hey, Ma, I'm hungry. When are we going to eat?

Soon as my little hand gets on the stew and my big hand gets on the brand.

Hi, Daddy.

Hey, Dad. Hey, how did it go at Brady's? Everything straightened out now?

Well, it went kind of half and half.

What do you mean by half and half, Daddy? Well, the FBI man wasn't lying. I

get my job back.

But while all this commotion was going on, I lost that promotion to Pete

Johnson. Oh.

I mean, that's too bad, but... Oh, never mind. There'll be other chances.

I hope so, baby.

Gonna be ready soon? In a minute.

is at the Roundup Rib and Roast Beef place.

I may have lost my bird, but look what I got now.

Looking out of the window Watching the asphalt flow

Thinking how it all looks and it dies Good times, good

times Keeping your head above water Making a wave when you

can Temporary layoffs Good times, good times Good times is recorded on tape

before a live audience.

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