Original subtitles

Good time, anytime you need a payment. Good time, anytime you need a friend.

Good time, anytime 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.

Don't you know the words? Sure, Ma.

How did I forget?

Mrs. Hampton, here we come.

Oh,

Ma.

What's the matter?

Ma, you wrapped a gravy bowl in Clifton Davis.

I was going to frame it. Why would you want to frame a gravy bowl?

Oh, Ma, you know what I mean.

Now look at it. Clifton's all wrinkled.

Well, now you know what he's going to look like when he gets old.

Ike and Tina Turner.

I'm going to use the Help Wanted section.

You know, we won't be needing that anymore.

Amen to that.

I knew your daddy would do it for us. I just knew it.

When I got that letter from James telling us that his uncle had offered

half interest in the garage business, it was like Martin Luther King saying,

Why don't we buy new dishes there instead of taking these old ones?

Oh, Thelma, these dishes are precious to me.

I served your daddy his first breakfast on them the morning after we got

married. Was he hungry enough?

Have mercy.

He was hungry.

Mississippi, here I come.

Hey, Ma, this is the only box I could find.

Well, you sure couldn't have looked too hard.

I looked and I asked everybody for empty boxes, including Mr. Ferguson.

The mortician? Yeah, but he said he didn't have any empties.

You know it's not easy moving on two days' notice. I know, Michael, but your

daddy is getting impatient.

The last letter I got from James was so full of love, it could have steamed

itself open.

And we're going to party tonight and goodbye telegrams are coming in. Yeah, I

wrote three of them myself.

Oh, I wonder what it's going to be like being rich. Now, wait a minute. We're

not going to be rich, but we will be better off than we are now.

We can be poor and still be better off than we are now.

we were traveling light, I didn't mean your head.

Looks like you got cornrows only the crop failed.

Are you going to talk that way to Otis Sistrunk, Kojak, Isaac Hayes? For your

information, little girl, this flip side of an afro has a certain daring, a

certain presumption, a certain baldness.

What is that?

JJ, you're not wearing earrings.

Because one is a sign of macho.

Two is a sign of latida.

I think it's silly.

Now his head is perfect all around. Empty on the outside and empty inside.

Hey, that's my earring.

That's right. That's right.

All right, JJ, give Thelma her earring.

Yeah, you goldfish.

Tell me you're going to pack those dishes.

And JJ, do something about your head.

All right, y 'all ask me to do something about my head? Check this out.

There you go.

fun and games. Now come on and help us with the movie.

Saved by the bell!

I'll get that. It's probably your daddy.

Hello?

Who do you want to speak to?

Mr.

Goosebumps.

That's for me.

Partonois.

Mr. Goosebumps here.

Oh, uh, that Mr.

Goosebumps.

Thanks,

turkey.

Hey, did you want to mind your business? This is private.

Hello?

Oh, hi, Luann.

Well, I'm helping around the house right now.

Well, I'm the only one here who's working.

What?

Oh, okay. All right. See ya.

Ma, Luann wants to see me. She got to tell me something. Thanks, bye.

Our little brother is growing up, J .J. We're going to have to teach him about

the birds and the bees.

Well, I'll deal with the birds and you'll deal with the bees.

You deal with anything, you get those paintings off the wall.

I don't know if I should trust my life's work to those moving men, you know?

They're always dropping things, breaking things, bumping into things.

You think President Ford started out as a moving man?

Just put them in a cart.

As long as you don't mark it fragile, they'll be all right.

This apartment has so many memories.

You think I'm going to miss it?

Not me.

The way Daddy writes about Mississippi sounds like the promised land.

Oh, yeah? If that's the promised land, what are all those Jewish folks doing in

Tel Aviv?

I remember when my folks left the South to come here.

Chicago was going to be the golden opportunity.

I guess a lot of black people felt that way when they came up north, huh, Ma?

Well, it seems the only right move at the time. Do you know when we left

Mississippi, they still had separate facilities for blacks and whites?

Yeah, but all that's changed now. Now when you got to go, all you got to do is

raise your hand and they bust you to another John.

Wouldn't it be awful if on our way down to Mississippi, we met some sisters and

brothers on their way to Chicago, and we both said, go back, go back.

Well, have no fear, because once J .J. gets there, the South shall rise again.

Bookman up here.

Hi, y 'all. Hi, Lorna.

Here's the suitcase I said lend you.

You know I was saving it for my next honeymoon, but the hinges are getting

rusty, and so am I.

Lorna, we gonna miss you.

I'm gonna miss you and James and Thelma and Michael.

Something wrong?

You almost forgot the unforgettable me.

Oh, you know I was just jiving.

Honey, if you was just 20 years older... Then you'd be 20 years older, too,

Malona. Wrong.

Wrong. I'd only be 10 years older.

Malona, you got a lot to learn about arithmetic.

J .J., you got a lot to learn about women.

Well, then how come I got coming to the party tonight Samantha the Human

Panther, Wendy the Wonder Woman, and Olivia the Octopus?

That ain't no guest list. That's roll call at a circus.

You're going to have the biggest, bumpinest, foot -stoppinest splash I

threw. Hey!

Oh, by the way, Wilona, thanks for holding the party at our apartment.

Wilona, don't make the party too terrific, or we won't want to leave.

That's the general idea.

You'll make friends with the people who move in here.

How am I going to make friends with people I hate?

Wilona, you don't even know the people. It don't matter.

I'm not going to like anybody that tries to take your place.

Oh, Ilona.

I'm so happy for you.

I don't know what I'm going to do without you.

Who is it?

Me. Me who?

Me, the janitor.

Oh, good. I finally get a chance to tell this dude off. J .J., if Hookman finds

out we're moving, he'll find a way to get us out of here before we're ready to

get us out of here. You mean I can't get even with this dude for ripping us off

for all these years? Later. Now get these boxes out of sight.

Coming.

Good afternoon, folks.

Well, it was good till you got here. What do you want, Bookman?

Do I detect a note of hostility?

You detect a whole symphony.

Yeah, well, um, you'll change your mind when you hear the good news. You're

going to Angola as a mercenary.

The hot water's coming on again the first thing in the morning.

What do you mean, again?

Well, it's being turned off again tonight.

Oh. Hey, what are we going to do about bathing?

Why don't you folks learn to take cold showers like me?

Because we're not married to Mrs.

Bookman.

I'll remember that remark the next time your old man asks for a

favor. Look here, Bookman. I've had the final straw. Not now, J .J.

Bookman is just leaving.

Arrivederci. Arrividerci, Lardo.

Who do you think you're calling Arrividerci? I was born right here in

Oh, Mark, I mean, let me tell that dude off. Because we still got two more days

to live here.

So unless you want to sleep on a concrete mattress, don't make waves.

And when I get my chance, I'm going to make a typhoon.

Typhoon what?

Michael, are you all right?

Michael,

wait a minute now. What happened with you and Luann out there?

Because if I think what happened happened, this calls for a celebration.

Wait a minute. Could it be that Graham's got his nose open?

I don't care what anybody says. I'm not leaving Chicago.

Michael, if this is supposed to be some kind of joke like J .J.'s wig, I don't

think it's funny. And you're upsetting Ma.

Michael, you can't stay here by yourself. Where would you live?

I can stay with Walona. You can't stay with Walona. I can still stay with

Walona. Doesn't anyone want to ask Walona?

What's this all about?

Well, Mom, I'm in love with Luann, and she's in love with me.

That's what she had to tell me.

Oh, Michael, don't you think you're a little young for all this?

Romeo and Juliet were young.

Michael, you want to end up OD'd like them?

J .J., please don't make jokes.

You've had many girlfriends before, but this is the first one for me.

Michael, don't be juvenile. Now, there are a lot of... pebbles on the beach.

Except all the beaches are closed because of pollution.

Well, I don't care. I'm not going.

Oh, I don't believe this.

Everything's set for us to go. The party is tonight.

Telegrams are coming in. And Michael's worrying about his Little League

Now, stop that. I'll tell them.

This is important to Michael.

That's right. It's the first time I've ever been in love. And it took me 14

years to get to it.

I'm going to wait another 14 years for the next one.

Michael, nothing will ever again be as sweet as your first love.

But you're going to fall in love so many times, you won't be able to keep up

count with it.

Michael, sweetheart, the reason your father went down to Mississippi is to

a new and better life for his family.

Now, I know how important Luann is, but your father wants us in Mississippi.

And where your daddy wants us to go is where we're going.

So you're just going to have to tell Luann.

Mama, I don't know how.

Oh, the words will come.

You'll see.

Don't worry, Michael. I'll help you. We can tell her and Olivia the octopus at

the party tonight.

I just hope with all that crying Olivia's going to be doing, she don't

down the Kool -Aid.

I don't know, Michael.

We can't pass up this opportunity to get out of the ghetto because it may never

come again.

Now, if you don't want to come along with us, that's tough because you're

anyway if I have to drag you back.

This sure is a nice little cotillion you all fixed up for us all, and us all

sure appreciate y 'all going through the problems.

JJ, are you high? Or is your mouth out of order?

No, well, I just brought it up on how to talk Southern. Oh, they don't talk like

that anymore.

Show you how much you know. I got that from Jimmy Carter's acceptance speech.

Luann ain't here yet.

Oh, she'll be here, Michael.

Girls like to make an entrance.

They sure do. In the meantime, I'm going to get me some ice cubes, okay? All

right, partner. And if Luann comes while I'm gone, you lay off J .J. and no

funny looks, Thelma. She can't help it. She was born with that face.

Watch how cool it is. I told her we were a nonviolent family.

How about you do that?

No, no, you show up and I'll spread.

Oh, thank you, sugar.

You just better be talking about that food.

This happens to slip my mind. Yes, that is funny.

Just give me the initials. I'll come right up with it.

I doubt it.

Hold on. Then just give me your name. I'll come up with the initials.

Nancy, Mary, Edie, Roxanne, Teresa,

Linda, Michelle.

Am I getting warm?

No, you're getting cold.

I'd come out with it.

Hey, want to dance?

All right. All right. Hey, J .J., when are we going to tell the girl? Later,

later.

Hey, Ralph, over here. Hey, J .J.

Hey. You have not danced with me all night.

Olivia, you see what's happened?

There's so many boxes here that I can dance with them in alphabetical order,

I'm only up to the G.

Well, just call me.

Hey, J .J., when we gonna tell the girls?

Later, bro. The night is young and I am so beautiful.

I've had some complaints about the music and the noise. What?

From as you are, unless you are the janitor.

Right.

You know, on top of all the other trouble you've caused around here,

top of all the trouble you've caused around here, now this.

You know, I've had complaints from two tenants.

Mrs. Evans, you know the rules. Three complaints and you're out.

You said you only had two complaints, Maxie. The third complaint was when Mrs.

Evans said she couldn't understand what I was saying. Oh, that's it. JJ, he's

all yours. Tell him.

Mr. Bookman, Mr.

Bookman, or as you more affectionately know, Buffalo Butt.

We read it. You are so dumb that if you tried to flush the toilet, you couldn't

even if the instructions were written on the handle.

Furthermore, your dumbness is only exceeded by your fatness.

Whenever you have to go to the movies, you have to get two tickets, one for

side.

Okay, that's all right.

You guys have had it. You're out. Spell O -U -T.

Evicted. Gone.

By. Oh, yeah? Well, you can't fire us because we quit.

What are you talking about? That's right. We're moving to Mississippi, and

know how that's spelled.

and stuff it in your furnace.

Maybe some of the other tenants will get some heat.

I'm appalled.

Oh, J .J., you were great.

You couldn't have done it better if you were James himself.

Hey, J .J., now do we tell the girls that we're leaving them?

Well, now's as good a time as any. Well, let me do the talking.

Ladies, me and...

Michael has something very, very, very important to tell you.

Yeah.

See how hard she's taking it, Michael? Yeah, I see.

See, our whole family, which encompasses Michael and myself, are moving to

Mississippi.

Check this out. She's in a state of shock.

She looks like she don't care to me.

Michael, that's the worst kind of shock.

If you don't want me to go, then I don't know what I'll do.

Michael, of course I don't want you to go. But I know you have to be with your

family.

I'll write to you every day.

And I'll come visit you when school's out.

Come visit me on Easter, too.

Hey, it's almost due.

on your sofa for me.

Signed, Grandpa.

Sounds like a great party, but wish it was somewhere else. Signed, the people

downstairs. I got one, I got one. It says here that

ten votes in your name have been stuffed in a ballot box in Chicago.

Signed, Alderman Fred Davis.

Now, this is a cute one.

Chicago's loss is Mississippi's gain. Signed,

Mississippi is mine.

Probably one of your daddies.

Have mercy.

Oh, Mrs. James Evans.

That's me.

We regret to inform you that your husband, James Evans, was

killed in an automobile.

Mmm, just looking out of the window, watching the asphalt roll,

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 is videotape in front of a studio audience.