Original subtitles

It's like they came from Mars or someplace.

They have no idea what we're doing. Wrong.

Is teacher being too hard on you, Coco, baby?

I can take it. I hate anything that stifles freedom and anyone that stifles

creativity. First thing they teach you at that survival course, and that's not

to let the person that you're trying to save pull you under.

You're pulling me under, man.

Man, throw him out. The man is out of prison less than a week, and he has a

You want fame?

Well, fame comes.

And right here is where you start paying.

This way.

A lot of pain.

A little pain.

Hey, Bruno!

Bruno! There he is! Hey, Bruno!

Check it out!

Hey, you know that guy from Chicken Biology?

Hi there. I, uh, thought you were somebody else.

Obviously.

You excuse us.

Alex! Beverly!

Up here! Hector! Come on in!

I don't know no names, but I know who.

Man,

those people are the man.

You'll note for the upcoming weeks there'll be some visitors, observers,

the school.

They're representing the State Board of Education, and I guess you could say

they're here to check us out. Now, as far as you people are concerned, it's

business as usual. You don't need any additional mouthing off or clowning or

showboating from anybody.

If they ask you a question, tell them the answer.

without embellishment or comment. In addition, certain students will be

for private question and answer sessions with Mr. Tipton. Mr. Tipton is well

-grounded in conducting studies of this nature in order to establish a profile

of the student body attitude toward the school and its curriculum.

Mr. Sharofsky, what does all that mean?

It means we've got three snoops, Mr. Martelli. That's what it means.

boots but you should consider the fact we ain't got wings sprouting out our

backs either meaning meaning that it's legal for a dancer to have their feet on

the ground once in a while oh poor child it's teacher being too hard on you coco

baby i can take it no you can't none of you can you can't take it and you can't

fake it not from what i've seen and until you can do one or the other or

you're gonna be a day late and a dime short

May I ask why?

I'm just wondering if it's wise, that's all.

Why is studying Gregorian chant in a class dealing with musical history

unwise? Well, because the music is religious in nature. It might be

misunderstood. By whom? By the parents of some of the Jewish students, for

example. Let me get this straight. You, Mr. Melendez, are explaining to me, Mr.

Sharofsky, the Jewish parental position.

That's right.

Genius. Two minutes, people.

Don't you think all this music and noise must distract them?

They're used to it. Can't imagine how they could get used to that racket all

time.

Maybe so but there isn't much that can be done about it. What about earplugs?

It's hard to teach English to a class of students wearing earplugs.

Point well taken.

Very good. You all are dismissed.

I want you all to get in here a little bit early tomorrow so you can warm up

stretch before we get started on this new repertory. We're going to work on

Scheherazade. I don't want any pulled and overstretched muscles.

All right.

Good to see you.

Bye -bye.

And where do they go now? Is there some sort of shower facility?

Yes, second floor.

Oh, that's unusual, isn't it?

To shower after dance class?

Do you have a gymnasium located on the second floor?

The showers are on the second floor. There isn't any gymnasium. No gymnasium?

No.

That's yours?

No, it belongs to Moscow. He asked me to check it out for him.

It's really something.

You could program it.

play it wherever you want how old do i look you look i'd say you look about

16 with splotches and black lines on your face very funny and waka waka

you a little old to go trick -or -treating waka waka waka and aren't you

lunch in a weird place these are here in the cafeteria and those three um

inspectors or whatever they're called they're in there now i don't want to be

around them any more than i have to let's have an interview with one of

guys right after lunch Mr. Nylon Hair?

Yeah, his head looks like a flying squirrel trying to mate with a bowling

Shh.

Quiet. Listen.

Someone out in there.

Yeah.

Oh.

Wee. You people didn't pay your electric bill or something.

inside of a peach pit out here.

You're not supposed to be there anyway, man. Security guard finds you, he'll

call the cops.

Why don't you crash someplace else?

Ain't no place else, man.

It's got to be it.

I just, uh, I just got all turned around in the halls out there.

I'm just sort of lost, that's all.

But I'm in the right place.

You sure about that?

Uh, ain't this the school for the arts?

Huh? Is there a Leroy Johnson goes here? Why you want to talk to Leroy?

Hey, man.

That little dude is my brother.

Yo, wish me luck. I have my interview today.

Oh, wish yourself luck, girl. I got problems on my own.

He's in there.

Well, well, well.

Look who went and grew up on me.

So, uh, what are you studying here? You gonna be Gene Kelly or somebody like

that? What do you want, Willie?

Now, that ain't no kind of a tone to use for family.

We ain't much of a family. What you want?

Boy, last time I saw you, you weren't big enough to understand what happened

me.

Oh, you could understand that I robbed a place, that I had to go to jail, but

you couldn't understand the why, the how come.

Three years in the Army, a lot of pain, a lot of...

Dope. A lot of booze. Takes a big toll on a man.

Makes him get... desperate.

You couldn't understand that then.

I'm banking on you being able to understand that now.

You and me, we're just about the only people each other's got in this whole

blessed world, Leroy.

I got a place you can bunk at till you get it together.

I guess.

Mr.

Tipton? Yes?

It's my first time in this office, in this school. You know, we never get to

in here that much.

Well, that's a good sign.

You're, uh, relaxed you know what we're going to do here.

Well, I heard that it was an evaluation interview, but I don't, you know... What

are you going to talk to me about?

Well, I have a few questions that I must ask you, and we'll put them here on

tape. And if you would just answer me as simply, straightforwardly as possible,

we'll have you out of here in no time.

Is that all right?

Yeah.

Do you enjoy the school?

Yeah, I really do. I enjoy the school. You know, I like coming to school. That

says a lot, you know.

Well, is it the academic part of the school that you enjoy, or is it the fun

part, the dancing and the singing and being with a lot of people who share

interests? Well, you know, dancing ain't all fun. I hope you know that. I mean,

there's a lot of work that goes along with it. Are you bilingual?

Well, I'm not bilingual according to the school. They say I speak Spanglish,

which is English and Spanish.

Yeah, they say street Spanish, you know, so I'm taking Spanish here, so they say

that I'm going to improve, you know, I'm going to improve, yeah.

Another question that I'd like to ask. you is uh if you could change something

about the school what is the one thing or two things that you might change well

i think i want to change the showers you know because i'm telling you man those

showers sometimes after dance we go upstairs you know when we take a shower

sometimes they don't work you know and i'm all hot and everything and then we

can't take a shower we all complain you know because we don't want to walk

around sticky and everything

for an audience.

Now, Langston Hughes is not talking about a girl named Joy.

He's talking about happiness.

He's saying you can find happiness... Because there's no X, Y here.

But don't be fooled.

As soon as we multiply X plus Y times... By yourself, honey. Come on. Five,

six, seven, eight, and one, and two, and three, and four. That's it. Come on.

Get up. You don't weigh but two pounds.

Like they came from Mars or someplace.

They have no idea what we're doing.

Wrong. We're the ones who come from Mars as far as they're concerned.

All their questions, all their suggestions make perfect sense in a

school. They make me ashamed.

Of what?

Of me. You?

Why, for heaven's sakes? Because they're nemesis and fools, and I should be a

bigger person than to hate such people. You don't hate them, Mr. Shirovsky. I

hate anything that stifles freedom and anyone that stifles creativity.

These people are pencil pushers and adder -uppers, and they have no place in

school. Don't you just want to take him home and put him on your mantle?

But we must be careful about how we conduct ourselves.

We should appear to go along. We should try to appear friendly and cooperative.

That's the only way we can... Mr.

Melendez, how are you? Let me get you a cup of coffee.

Oh, never mind. I'll make a fresh pot. It won't take a minute. Sit down. Take

your shoes off. Enjoy.

Well...

I think maybe I have some good news for you all.

Um, what good news is that?

We're going to recommend that the budget include monies for a gymnasium.

A gymnasium? That's right.

You've looked around, and of all the things you could have picked, you

we need a gymnasium?

It was Miss Poldorfer that pointed it out, actually.

Bless her.

How do you like your coffee?

Black. Mr. Melendez, I'm no expert on budgets and things, but is this money

you're recommending us to get, is that in addition to our regular budget, or

will it come out of programs already established?

Probably a little bit of both.

Mr. Melendez, we don't need a gymnasium.

State regulations call for an hour of PE every day. Mr. Melendez, I can assure

you my dance classes are a workout and a half.

And the other students?

All the students are required to take some kind of movement class.

Movement, stretching, whatever.

It's not the same as an hour of P .E. No, it's more.

Miss Grant. Mr.

Melendez, there isn't a football or basketball player in this city who could

make it through one of my classes.

You think so? I know so.

It has a ton of cream and sugar in it.

Billy and me, I must have forgotten.

I gotta get going.

I'll meet you out front.

In Grand Rapids, all my friends were preparing for college. That's like what

they were doing. Here, everyone's preparing for life, for what they want

for the rest of their life. I think that's the difference.

You play the cello, is that correct?

Yeah. Why did you choose that instrument? It's not what we would call

instrument. You take, uh...

A good deal of teasing about that?

Cello is a now, is a yesterday, is a tomorrow instrument. It's here forever.

May I ask you a personal question about your parents?

Sure. I understand that they're divorced.

Would you like to talk about that for a moment?

Well... It's kind of rough because... Well, we were

a family. Now I feel like...

It's just my mom and me, and it's not the same.

But they just kind of grew apart.

Was that a big adjustment for you?

Yeah, it was really big because my mom has a friend here. Her name's Alla, and

she helped my mom find an apartment and stuff. But it was really lonely. And

even now, she doesn't even have a job yet. And she's trying, she's looking for

one, but it's really rough.

If you could not be the wonderful cellist that you want to be,

What would you do with your life?

Well, I think I really want to be performer.

Well, suppose life throws you a curve, and for some unknown reason you find you

are unable to perform, to become a performer. What would you do with your

In any way, I can't perform. I can't dance. I can't act. I can't do that.

Uh,

that'd be some curve.

Wanted to check up.

That young man who was here this afternoon, that was your brother, wasn't

How come you got to check up?

Well, two reasons.

A, there is this phrase in black slang about so -and -so being a brother, and I

wasn't sure whether he was that kind of brother to you or if he was a brother

-brother. What's the second? The second reason is he was drunk, and that

concerns me.

Why does that concern you?

Because as maddening and as arrogant as you can be sometimes, I care about you.

I don't want to see you getting into trouble.

The man is my brother. He's not trouble.

Leroy.

Look, with that evaluation team around here, we have to be especially careful.

I thought you were so worried about poor little me.

Leroy!

Look, the man was drunk. Look, he was celebrating seeing me. That's all he was

doing. Now, if your tight little ears can't take that, then that's just too

You're so pleased about seeing him? Yes.

Then how come you're hanging out here doing everything you can not to go home?

Well, my kids, you...

Leave me alone.

but compared to where I've been the past six years, I'll take it hands down.

I'm heading downtown to get myself reestablished with the people to count.

See if I can get me some kind of gig that'll put a little jingle in my jeans.

I emptied out one of the dresser drawers and put my stuff in it.

Hope that's okay.

If I ain't back tonight, don't sweat it.

I got me some howling to do yet, and I just might get lucky.

Take care, little brother.

I'll pick up on you tomorrow.

Welcome home, brother.

Doris Schwartz.

Do you have a middle name?

Yeah.

Would you like to tell me what it is?

Renee.

Doris Renee Schwartz? Yes.

What is your major?

Drama. Drama, I see.

Is there a theatrical background in your family?

Well... My mother was an actress before she married my father. She was in the

original company on Broadway of Music Man. She was in the chorus. That's where

she met my father.

Are your parents together?

Yeah, they're back together now. Oh, they're back together now.

They've been separated for a little while.

And what is the general tenor of your home now?

It's good.

Are you happy with what's happening now? Yeah.

Do you have any doubt that you'll eventually achieve your goal?

A little every day.

A little doubt every day?

Yeah. Do you have from time to time a feeling that you will succeed?

Yeah. When do you have the feeling you will succeed and when do you have the

doubts?

Well, I know I'll succeed when I do a good scene or when I get a part or when

everything just clicks, when it feels right.

Then I know it's all going to be okay.

In your acting, do you feel that you must live the part?

Yeah.

And at your age, which is quite young now, do you feel you must go through

the characters you portray go through?

I think I should try and do as much of it as I can so I can learn what it's all

about. Hypothetical question, young lady.

If you were playing a woman who was pregnant, how would you go about

for that?

I'd get pregnant. That's ridiculous.

You want some advice?

No.

Man, throw him out.

I said I didn't want any advice.

You don't always get what you want out of life. Would you lay off, all right?

You're gonna look the other way, is that it? Yes, that is it.

It's on the money here.

Leroy, the man is out of prison less than a week, and he has a gun.

Man, that's trouble. Don't buy into that.

Could be a lot of reasons he got a gun.

Yeah, you name me one reason. Just one.

Isn't he on parole?

Mm -hmm.

And if they find out that he has a gun, he's gonna go right back to prison.

Girl, will you let it be? Nah, if you can tell me why you're acting so flat

dumb. Because Willard is the only family that I have on this earth, damn it.

I'm not gonna give him a big hassle and see him head on down the road.

That's all there is to it. I understand that.

But he's a lot older than you, isn't he?

Ten years.

And how old were you when he was sent off to jail?

Nine or ten, I don't know.

Sounds like to me he's your brother, but that you hardly don't even know him,

Leroy. He's more like a... stranger he is my blood that's all i know from what

you told me he ain't treating you like blood he's treating you like dirt he

ain't moving in with you he's moving in on you girl do you ever run out of

advice leave or make him get rid of the gun how am i supposed to make him i

don't know that but you might not admit it but it's trouble and i know it's so

and so do you

The jocks from Buchanan hire you. Go get the dancers we talked about yesterday.

Mr. Melendez needs to see how physically fit we are.

Let's start off with some simple jumping jacks at first.

We'll get to it.

One, two, three, then one, two, three, stretch. One, two, three, then one, two,

three, stretch. One, two, three, then one, two, three, stretch. One, two,

then one. Come on.

One, two, three, stretch. Let's move it.

One, two, three, stretch. All right, boys, you can do it. One, two, three,

stretch. Put your body into it.

Now let's really move it.

Smoke, feel my thunder.

You'll be fading in the distance.

I'll be leaving you under my spell tonight.

But you'll be all right.

And only to Jim, after all.

Do you think there's any art in making people laugh?

I think there's a lot of art in making people laugh. I mean, you could have ten

people say the same joke, and, I mean, only one would make you laugh.

That's true, but I don't understand what difference that would make.

Well, um, making people laugh, I mean, it's something you have to be born with.

It's not just an everyday thing.

Do you think you have the gift?

Yes, I do.

Where do you live, Danny?

In the South Bronx.

Do you find a lot of things in the South Bronx to laugh about?

I mean, everybody thinks the South Bronx is just killings and murders.

I mean, there's a lot of love there, and there's a lot of funny things that

happen there, just like probably where you live.

Do you have a favorite comedian?

Yes, I do.

Richard Pryor. What is it about him you like?

I think he's a natural at what he does. I think he's the best. He's an original.

You get along with your family well?

Okay. Are they helping you in this endeavor?

They have mixed feelings.

I mean, they think it's, you know, a school for the young, you know.

But otherwise,

they think this is the best way for me to follow up my career.

I've been told that you can't go to school to be a comedian or an actor.

You're a natural. You do it or you don't do it.

Dream of dreams now for you.

You could have any kind of success imaginable.

Tell me what you would like for yourself.

I would like to win the lottery for a million dollars so I could just retire

never work in my whole life. That would have nothing to do with the school.

My question is then, why are you here?

Because I don't think I'm going to win the lottery for a million dollars, so I

have to follow up my career.

It might be real interesting to know how you found the piece, too.

It was at the bottom of a drawer.

A closed drawer.

Well, it wasn't closed all the way.

That's how I found it when I tried to close the door.

A man of my kind of fix can't afford to pass up opportunities.

What kind of opportunities?

A guy told me when I got out of Stony Lonesome, where to find a piece.

All I was going to do was sell it to get some bread.

If I'm going to get anything going, I got to get me a steak. But you can't

it legal. The only place you can sell it is in the street.

And that don't meet with your approval, is that right?

All of a sudden, you're the commissioner of police or some such.

Look, I was just trying to look out for you, that's all.

Son, I don't need nobody looking out for me, especially not no tippy -toe

dancer. Yeah, you better not follow up on that, because you cannot handle what

you're going to find at the end of that street.

All I'm going to find is a baby brother who doesn't know what it takes to get

things done in this world.

You got to scratch and grab at what you can, man. Well, I don't go along with

that. Oh,

you got so much going for you? Is that it? I don't know about so much, but I

a place I can afford.

I got a job swapping out of here, and I got the school.

Your school gives me a pain. Me too sometimes, but if I can be something, if

can do something, it's likely to come out of that school, and I'm not going to

blow it on drugs, guns, and nothing else.

Just get rid of that piece, will it? Boy, you feel so strong about it.

You get rid of it.

Man, you carrying this thing around on you?

I know you must miss that prison, man. I don't miss prison at all, boy.

Because I'm right back in it. And it looks to me like you've just appointed

yourself my warden.

Police!

Hold it right there!

There's a kid coming out the other end. Collar him!

Look, I hear what you're telling me.

But he hasn't been charged with anything.

Not yet, no ma 'am.

Not yet. What does that mean?

I seen him throw something into that trash bin, but I couldn't testify with

gun I fished out of that junk.

Well, what were you doing in the alley anyway?

Somebody's been rolling winos.

I don't think I want to know why I got picked for this assignment.

Whatever.

Now, if the print turned out to be on the gun and we find the weapon was used

any prior crime, I think the DA's office might try to clear a few things off the

books. Did he say the gun was his?

No, he said his name was addressed and that his mother was out of town.

When we asked for the name of a responsible adult, he gave us your name.

Well, I am his faculty advisor, so I guess I qualify.

He's not charged with anything, so what is the purpose of all of this? I need an

adult to make sure he'll show up for questioning if we need him, that he'll

up for trial if we press charges.

I'm hoping that'll be you.

Listen, guaranteeing anything when it comes to Leroy... Can we go off the

a second?

Not sure what that means.

What it means, if you tell anyone what I'm about to say, I'll call you a liar.

Okay.

I can manufacture enough stuff to put the kid in jail long enough to make sure

he'll show up for a trial. I don't really want to do that.

He can get one kind of education here, the kind he's likely to get in a whole

different ballgame.

I don't want to put him through that. Neither do you.

I'll make sure Leroy stays available.

Thanks much.

Oh, uh...

This school?

Yes.

It's nice.

It's weird, but nice.

Most schools would give the kid a three -day suspension.

He hasn't been charged with anything.

That's because he was arrested by an overworked officer who doesn't want to

spend his days off on a meaningless case.

Most schools would give the kid a three -day suspension.

Look, we are not most schools.

You have little sub -prejudices here in the school.

I mean, it's not great, but it's funny because dance majors have a reputation

being a little snooty, you know, healing in the nose. Whereas acting drama

majors, dance majors don't go near the drama majors because drama majors are

loud and obnoxious, have this reputation of, you know, eating food and spitting

it out on the lunch table. And then you have the music majors, and nobody

understands them because...

For all anyone else, they could be writing hieroglyphics, Pluto, Cucamonga.

Well, young man, what is your kind of music?

I can't pigeonhole it. I like soul music. I like jazz. I like classical

like Stravinsky.

I like Bill Evans.

Do you have an idol, Bruno?

I have a few.

Might I know them?

I like Bartok.

I like Miles Davis.

go on and on. How does your family feel about you pursuing a musical career?

Well, my father feels that it's something that I'm very passionate

something that I really want to do. It may not be the most stable of all

professions, but he's perfectly willing to give me all the support he can.

Tell me something.

What do you think happens when people hear your music?

Or better yet, what do you, Bruno Martelli, want to happen?

I think that if I could walk into a room with a tape or sit down at a piano,

there's maybe two or three people in the room, and one of them is feeling lousy

and another is feeling out of place. I could change their feeling.

I could make the one that feels lousy feel glad that they woke up.

Okay to come in?

Free country.

Just thought you might like to be alone because of what happened.

What do you mean, what happened? How do you know what happened? Everybody knows,

Leroy. The whole school knows.

Hey, the school's full of flakes. It's not the CIA.

What's everybody saying about me?

Everybody's not talking about you.

You're not that big a deal.

However, those that are talking about you, a third think that it's cool that

had a gun.

Another third think that it's a very heavy and courageous thing that you're

covering for your brother Another third think that anyone who goes to jail for

something he didn't do to protect someone he barely knows is a stone jerk

asked Which third you voting with I

asked

Another curve, another choice to make.

Which one the answer and which one should I take?

Sometimes I wonder if it's always been this way.

And I've got the feeling up and down is here to stay.

that brought it didn't mean me any harm.

Come what may, it won't really matter.

If it's got to be that way, it don't change.

the wind that brought it it didn't mean me any harm it

won't really matter

if it's got to be that way

bucks playing poker with federally thought you was out looking for a job

a job to pay 100 bucks for three hours working i'll take it you want to drink

i got 183

dollars in the saving account will it you can have 150 of it what for to find

yourself a place you're moving out of here oh

Yeah, I thought you were sending out my cleaning.

I'm serious, Willard.

You more than serious, boy.

You're one of the coldest people I've ever seen in my life.

Anybody who'd turn out as homegrown brother... Did you ever learn how to

What? Did you ever learn how to swim?

No.

Willard, before Mom went away, she took me down to that YMCA for some swimming

lessons. I didn't really want to go. She said I ought to learn.

That could be pretty good, too.

Thought I'd get me a summer job lifeguarding or something.

What is this all about, Leroy? Well, you know the first thing they teach you at

that survival course?

And that's not to let the person that you're trying to save pull you under.

You're pulling me under, man.

I'm swimming away.

Leroy, I'm your brother.

You're my mother's other son.

That ain't the same as my brother.

I'm dead to you, boy.

You ain't got no family no more.

You're alone in this.

You're wrong will it I got family we are just got different last name

Thought these things was run by the dude with the plastic hand of glass.

Mr. Tipton had an accident.

Asked me to fill in for him.

Sit down.

It's me.

That detective Kessler called.

Said they're dropping the gun investigation.

Thought you'd like to know.

I got my brother to move out.

Just thought you'd like to know.

That must have been hard.

It was.

And sad.

That too, I guess.

Well, let's get these questions out of the way.

See, the thing that hurts me most about Willard... Because Willard, he ain't

such a bad guy. Not really.

He ain't all that bad a guy.

He just ain't got no reason to get up in the morning.

I mean, all he...

All he know how to do is hustle and gain folks because that's all he ever got

taught.

That's all he ever learned how to do.

See, with him and me, we're a lot alike. Not a lot, but we're alike in a way.

Except when I get up in the morning, I'm coming in here not just to dance.

I'm not just coming in here.

The dancing and the working is not just something that I do.

It's something that I am.

See, and Wilder don't have nothing like that.

Get out of here, Leroy Johnson.

You just answered all the questions anyone could ask.

What kind of accident happened to that Mr. Tipson?

Take a look at the trophy case out in the lobby.

Can you feel it? Can you feel it? Can you feel it?

If you look around, the whole world coming together now.

Yeah. Can you feel it? Can you feel it? Can you feel it?

Feel it in the air.

The wind is taking it everywhere.

Yeah.

Cause the working and the dancing is something that I am.