Original subtitles

Good times. Any time you need a payment. Good times. Any time you need a break.

Good times. Any time you're up and under.

Not getting hassled. Not getting hustled.

Keeping your head above water.

Making a way when you can.

Temporary layoffs.

Good times. Easy credit ripoffs.

Good times.

Scratching ass.

study, go to bed, get up again. I just can't keep it up anymore, Mama. This rat

race is killing me.

Well, that's the problems you older men have to face.

Here's your lunch, and here's a quarter for milk. Thanks, Ma.

Have a nice day.

Thank you, sweetheart.

Okay.

Just get in here. Man, you better be cool.

Hand it over, man.

Hand what over? Come on, come on.

Hey, man, Eddie, you know it's against the rules to stop the elevator like

Give me that. Yeah, well, rules are made to be broken like your fingers.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah. Hey, man, Eddie, shut it off. Get off my lunch. Come on, Eddie, this is

the third time this week you're taking my lunch. I'm getting sick and tired. If

you're so hungry, why don't you join a free lunch program?

I already have, Evans, and you are it.

Hey, man, I get hungry, too. What am I supposed to do?

Why don't you sign up for the free lunch program?

Oh, you really funny, Eddie.

Yeah, well, don't complain, man. It's harder on me than it is on you. How do

figure? This is the third day in a row you've had meatloaf.

Well, that's just too tough. Give it back. Look out, Evans.

And don't think I forgot about that quarter. Now you give. I don't have one

today.

You think I'm real dumb. Don't you, Mr. Straight -A student?

Take it out of your shoe.

Oldest trick in the world.

Only a child turkey would try to pull that kind of con.

And starting tomorrow, the price goes up to 35 cents.

Why?

Inflation, man.

And stuff on the small businessmen, too.

And I wouldn't tell anybody about this.

The tooth fairy is going to be working overtime at your house tonight.

Oh, no.

For once, I'd like to see a button roll out into the middle of the floor instead

of under the sofa.

If you carry any... thing about someone who's been working since six o 'clock

this morning come out from under there please hey bud

look here if your point is nine i got two dollars since you can't make it

hi james hey honey i lost a button can

you help me sure be glad to how can you see a monopoly

Can't you see that Ma and Dad are praying?

Here, I found your button, baby.

Oh, thanks, honey.

Look what I found.

Hey. Water.

Hey, that must be mine.

Probably fell in my pajamas last night when I was sleeping.

What were you doing with money in your pajamas?

I take out Diana Ross a lot in my dreams, and I don't want to think I'm a

cheapskate.

It's never been used.

You ought to leave your face to science. They come up with a new bride of

Frankenstein.

All right, all right, stop it. Now get out of my way.

All right, where's all the food in this refrigerator?

Ain't nothing here but some cold air and a lonesome light bulb.

What's wrong with the price of food today? The only way that thing's going

look full is if we get a smaller refrigerator.

Might as well unplug it then. This ain't nothing but a 500 -pound ice maker.

still planning to eat in there yeah but what happened to that piece of sweet

potato pie i was saving who would do something like that junior don't look at

dad the same thing happened to me i wanted to make my favorite sandwich

peanut butter and jelly but there wasn't no peanut butter and there wasn't no

jelly so i was forced to make a ghetto jam sandwich two pieces of white bread

jam

in the house is a phantom nibbler. Unless the roaches learn how to open a

refrigerator.

There ain't no phantom, James.

It's Michael.

Michael? Mm -hmm.

Every day this week, he's been coming home and running straight to that

refrigerator. And then, he eats a full dinner a half hour later.

I'm glad the boy is eating good, but why such a big appetite all of a sudden?

He's a growing boy, James.

Yeah, what's he growing? Will Chamberlain?

kind of touchy lately.

Maybe he's not feeling well.

He looks fine to me.

Well, the answer is obvious.

That's right. He's been touchy. He's been eating twice as much.

That's it.

What's it?

Michael's pregnant.

Do you ever get the feeling like I do sometimes that we might have brought the

wrong baby home from the hospital?

talk with you, mister.

Sure, daddy.

Are you feeling all right?

Yeah, great.

Michael, did you eat your lunch today?

Um, yeah, mama, I ate it.

You sure you ate everything?

Even that apple I put in there? Uh -huh.

That's strange.

I haven't put an apple in his lunch for two weeks now.

Excuse me, I gotta go to bed.

have you?

Um, no. I've been giving it away to a poor kid. To a poor kid? Well, we just

decided to cat package ourselves.

Now, Michael, it's nice of you to care about someone else, but skipping your

lunch isn't healthy for you.

In this case, it is, Mama.

Now, wait a minute, Michael. I want to hear about all of this, and I want to

hear it right now. I can't tell you, Daddy. I'll get it beaten.

Oh, Michael.

Now, you know your daddy wouldn't hit you for telling the truth.

Daddy's not the one I'm worried about.

Wait a minute, son.

Have you been giving your lunch away or has somebody just been taking it?

I demand to plead the Fifth Amendment.

Some jive -time junior flip been ripping off Michael's lunch.

He's been taking your milk money too, huh?

I'll kill him.

Michael, why didn't you tell us about this before?

Because Michael's smart.

The dude's probably some eight -foot monster make mean Joe Green look like

Bo Peep.

Eddie's my size, but he's tough.

Wait a minute, Michael. You say Eddie's your size, huh?

Yeah. All right, then Daddy's gonna tell you how to deal with him. Now,

tomorrow, when Eddie comes and try to take your lunch from you, say, hey, look

here, man, I can't give you my lunch because I get hungry later myself.

If he don't go for that, then you drive on his face!

thing to teach your child.

You know violence only begets violence. Well, that's all right, baby, because in

this case, Michael's going to be giving and Eddie's going to be getting.

Daddy, I don't think I have to fight if I use my head.

You know, Michael, I think you're right. There must be a lot of ways to avoid

that bully.

Sure. You could have someone sneak your lunch into school and hide your quarter

in your shoe.

Hide my quarter in my heart.

Thelma, that's the oldest trick in the world.

Only a giant turkey would try to pull a car out.

kidding yourself.

Either you stand up to a bloodsucker like this or he bleeds you for the rest

your life.

That's right, Michael. You can hang on this.

If you need any tips, I'll help you.

You're going to have the lightweight champion of the ghetto.

You're only lightweight from the neck up.

Come on, JJ.

Nobody's teaching him how to fight.

Well, Ma, I can help him.

Because ain't nobody going to pick a fight with the brother of kid.

You just got to start bouncing up, moving on demand.

Give him a right, right, right, right, left, follow him, right, right,

uppercut. Get out of there. Come on, move on.

Move on. Keep your body moving. If all this don't work, use your legs. To kick?

No, to run.

Thanks, JJ, but I don't plan on fighting.

You're right, Michael.

It never does any good.

Oh, now, wait a minute. Let me hit both of y 'all to the facts of life.

Now, to some people out there, ain't nothing but animals.

And they make you fight them to survive.

And if you don't fight them, they just keep picking at you and picking at you

till you ain't got nothing left.

Now, you can do one of two things, son.

You can either talk to them or you can run from them.

But it ain't gonna do no good.

You got to handle yourself like a man.

James, the boy is only 12 years old.

Florida, that ain't all that young in this neighborhood.

And you can't baby this child forever.

See, Michael, sometimes you got to make your stand right up front.

That's how you get by.

And that's why you're going to make your stand right up front because you're

going to stand up to this punk tomorrow.

Florida, you've been working on the same sleeve for the last 20 minutes. Now,

what are you going to do to this shirt? I ain't in a fright.

I'm worried, James.

Michael should have been home a half hour ago.

I just know that bully has beat him up and he's laying down in a gutter

somewhere all alone.

He won't be alone, Ma. Not around here.

Probably some wino lying right next to him.

Shut up, Ma. Michael can take care of himself.

Yeah, baby. I mean, even if he gets messed up a little bit, he's still doing

what he had to do. James, don't say that.

Hi, everybody.

Oh, stop babyfying him. Sure he's all right.

It's my turn.

Ain't got a mark on him.

I hate to see what that Eddie looks like now.

You can see for yourself, Dad.

I invited him to stay the weekend with us.

Come on in, Eddie.

Hey.

Hey, this don't look like a bad setup to kill a weekend.

You got anything around here to eat, man? Not for you, Jack.

We ain't been here long enough to gum a grape.

Who's that old dude?

Who's that guy?

This is my mother, my sister Thelma, and my brother JJ. And that's the door. Use

it.

Is this guy going to be here all weekend?

Sure he is.

You mean you got a living father?

That's right, as long as I'm in, you out.

Man, you didn't tell me about him.

That's right. Keep walking while you still can. Wait a minute, wait a minute.

Daddy, I asked him to come. And I'm telling him to go. Yeah, I don't need no

hassle. There won't be any, Annie.

Nobody's going to hurt you.

Believe me.

Now, why don't you go into our bedroom for a while?

James and I would like to discuss this.

Michael, show him the bedroom.

Okay, come on, Eddie.

Florida, there ain't no way in the world that boy gonna stand here one more

minute. He is going.

Maybe, James, but after we discuss it.

Michael, what you mean bringing that hoodlum in here?

Why don't you punch his lights out like I told you to?

Daddy, I think I have a better idea.

Yeah, let me fight him. I'll rearrange his face.

I got to thinking about Eddie. He gets the lowest grades in the whole class,

teacher makes fun of him, and all the kids laugh at him. Now, that ought to

anybody feel bad.

So I told him I could help him pass his final test if he could stay the weekend

with us. Oh, Michael, that's a wonderful idea. Oh, Michael, it's a lousy idea.

Eddie's not a dumb kid.

If he just take the time to study, he could pass the sixth grade.

Yeah, but son, I don't understand why you want to help somebody that's ripping

off your lunches.

Dad, the answer's obvious.

If Eddie goes into the seventh grade, he'd be ripping off somebody else's gun.

No, J .J., that's not it.

Daddy, I figured, how can you steal from somebody who helps you?

Michael, I am proud of you.

James, he handled that like a man.

And he didn't have to use violence, either.

Oh, look, I can appreciate all that, but that boy didn't come here to study.

That child is an animal.

That's right, and I don't want him in the house. Let his probation officer

him for the weekend.

He's just a little boy. We can keep an eye on him. I'd like to put my hands on

him. Eddie, what harm can he do?

Tell him I have seen kids like Eddie before, and they ain't no good.

James, I have seen kids like Eddie, too.

Now, for some reason, they fall behind in school, and things keep going from

to worse, and before you know it, they just give up on themselves.

Well, baby, what do you want me to do about it? Give him a chance, Daddy.

If we don't, who will?

Please keep going the way they are for him. Before he's 18, he's going to end

in jail or dead on the street somewhere.

Come on, Dad. It's just for a weekend.

Yeah, Dad.

Don't worry about it.

We can handle him.

I don't like that.

James, if Michael is willing to help a kid who has been bullying, the least we

can do is let him try.

All right.

Now, he can stay for the weekend, but I'm telling you, if the boy caused any

trouble in this house, out.

I agree.

Probably in the bedroom right now, ripping off everything we own.

Don't worry about it, Dad.

If anything's missing, I'll spot it in a second.

In ghetto detective circles, I'm known as the Nappy Kojak.

I can't take it anymore in there.

Can't take what?

Hey, what you looking at?

Oh, I get it. Okay, fuzz, you got me. Come on, here.

Brace me, search me.

Just jive it, Eddie.

Just jive it. Should I dance?

Eddie, you're welcome to stay the weekend with us.

No more hassles from that undercover toothpick.

or your broomstick with teeth?

Oh, that's it, man.

Get them dead.

Shut up.

Eddie, did you ask your mother if it's all right for you to stay over the

weekend? Nah, she don't care.

I stay out for days sometime if I want.

So does she.

Eddie, you can share the couch with JJ and I.

What?

That's if you don't mind sleeping three in a bed.

Why? At my house, that's a room to my own. We sleep six to a bed.

Hey, when do we eat?

Pretty soon. I hope you like what we have for dinner.

Ain't no reason they shouldn't. He loves what we have for lunch.

Eddie is here to study now.

Right, Eddie?

Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm thinking of letting Michael show me some of them straight -A

student tricks.

Yeah.

You got a real sharp crib here.

Come on, get your feet up.

Hey, Eddie, you want to do some studying before dinner, man?

No, I think I'll just relax.

Come on, everybody.

Dinner's ready.

Hey, all right.

No, no, no, Eddie. You sit over there.

Eddie, in this house, we pray before we eat. Go on.

I don't know none. Besides, it's dumb.

Well, we don't think so. It makes us feel good.

Besides, it's the only time of day that the whole family shares the same

thought.

Okay, Michael.

Would you like to say the blessing?

We thank the Lord for the food we're about to receive and for all our

Bless those both near and far.

We thank thee for our homes and for all the people who are at the table tonight.

Amen. Amen.

My baby, you make the best chocolate cake in the whole world.

Yeah, Ma, you should enter Pillsbury Bake Off and put it under the mmm, mmm,

mmm, good category.

Thank you.

Did everybody have enough?

Yeah, I'm about to bust.

I think even Eddie got enough.

Compared to the way he ate the rest of us, then he's just picking at the cake.

Do you have any more?

I'm sorry, Eddie, that's it.

How about another biscuit?

Sure, help yourself.

Minnie, honey, you don't have to do that.

You can have as many as you want. I'll leave them on the table if you want me

to.

Come on.

Nobody's going to take it away from you.

Mama, may Annie and I get the excuse from the table, please? Sure.

Come on, Minnie. It's time to hit the books, man.

Okay, man, show me them straight -A student tricks to pass tests.

There are no tricks, man. You have to study.

You mean you really study, Evans?

Sure. Man, you're weird.

Come on, man. Let's start on page 73, chapter 6.

Now.

Why don't you go on without me?

Studying's for suckers anyway.

Hey.

Where do you think you're going?

Hey, man.

Mike's studying. I don't want to bother him.

Yeah, well, you get back in there and finish, man.

Now, see, in this house, people study when they're supposed to. Good thing I'm

not a member of this house.

Well, you are this weekend.

What's that supposed to mean?

Well, you heard of the extended family?

Well, this weekend you parted one, which gives me the right to extend this belt

to your behind if I feel like it.

Oh, I'd like to see that. Oh, you would, huh, with anything to oblige your

guests, mister.

Oh, man, you've got to be kidding me. Now, come on in here. Oh, you must be

crazy. I don't believe this. I'm going to make a believer out of you. Man!

Huh? No, you know the boy got it. Come on, now, get your behind in here.

I hope your father doesn't go overboard.

Mama, you think Daddy's really going to give Eddie a spanking?

It's a bean green.

Question is, which beating did he get?

Well, as we all know, Dad has three in his repertoire.

The regular, the super, and the Big Mac.

The Big Mac is right.

It can really warm your butt.

That make you feel good?

Didn't make me feel bad.

spiked me before.

Yeah, that's because we just met.

Somebody should have a long time ago.

I got news for you. I held back on you, mister.

That's holding back. I hate to be around when you let go.

Yeah, my own kids would have got a lot worse.

They would?

You know it.

Well, one thing we know for sure, he didn't get the Big Mac.

He laid it on you, huh?

Yeah, he laid it on. I thought stuff like this only happened in the movies.

Are you kidding, man?

One time I didn't do my homework, and my father did some homework on me.

I don't get that.

Ooh.

Looks like he got the Big Mac after all.

What you want, man? Another piece of me? Don't worry, I'm split.

You ain't got to go ready.

You can stay if you want.

There's something you've got to understand.

Now, we discipline our kids because we love them.

If we didn't love them, we wouldn't take the time.

You don't love me.

How do you know?

Come on.

Loving is caring, Eddie.

You don't have to be a member of this family for us to care about you.

That's right. My father could have thrown you out a long time ago.

Sure could have.

How come you didn't?

You could save me from running out.

Might be because I do care a little.

You what?

I said it might be because I do care a little.

I didn't know somebody could beat on you and care at the same time.

Michael, what page did you say we was on again?

73, chapter 6, ma 'am.

Just looking out of the window, watching the asphalt grow,

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 recorded on tape before a live audience.