All language subtitles for Street Scenes (1970)

Student films and radical newsreel films
are useless from the revolutionary point

of view for many reasons, because
Americans are, on the whole,

ideologically immature still.

And they simply are very casual about
aesthetics in cinema, in the sense that

they don't want to work. They think they
can just press the button and shoot.

No, really. In other words, to express
the contradictions and the sentiments

and the real existential changes which
revolution should bring about.

One has to speak through living
characters, through the subjective

existential realities, and not only in
terms of objective slogans.

In other words, one has to film, one has
to be proleptic, as I said, one has to

film the invisible.

and six that to keep a people out for a
year not to ride buses and to take all

the economic and other hardships
including criminal charges that go along

with that and the broken heads is a very
difficult thing it's people do waver and

i think students are no different than
other human beings they have all the

fears and the aspirations and the hopes
of everybody else they want to go to law

school they want to go to medical school
they're imbued with the the virtues of

this society in subliminal ways which
maybe they even don't recognize.

And when an older man like myself says,
go out, I'm not doing it in some blind

sort of a way. I'm not doing it in a way
unconscious of the realities.

But there do come times when people have
to do it or the world will never change.

I think all of us want something far
more than just a few broken windows and

a few broken heads.

We want the world that Abby talked
about. We want a new world. We want to

end a corrupt and immoral society.

Two days ago when I spoke at Columbia, a
student from Kent State, after outlining

what happened on the commons there, said
as he left the stage, this

is a sad country we are living in.

And it is terribly true.

This is a sad country we are living in.

Could you tell us what you think of
this?

What? Could you tell us what you think?
I don't even want to talk to you. Don't

bother me.

I don't want to talk.

No, you don't have to take my picture.

Why not? Because I wouldn't be seen in
your publication.

I don't sign anything unless I talk to
my lawyer.

I don't want to appear in one of your
underground movies.

Do you think the war is more important
than your work?

Absolutely.

Do you think it's worth one day taking
off to protest it? Not even one day.

Yes, I think so.

But do you feel you couldn't do it?

I wouldn't be able.

I still have to eat. I still have to
make a living.

You're an hour late.

I'll still make a living.

Are you going to get fired for an hour?

I don't have to answer to anybody.

I mean, it's my business, okay?

But believe me, I completely sympathize
with it, and I've only been out of

college for just a year.

with President Kennedy when he sent
advisers over to South Vietnam.

Right? But I didn't protest on the
street. And I

protested when President Johnson sent
more advisers and then passed

the Tompkins Resolution, right? But
still and all, here's our president and

the majority.

Because if you don't agree with your...
No, I don't. For what purpose?

Then you have a right... Why shouldn't
my brother go over there? Are you old

enough to vote? Huh? Am I what?

I'm a man. That makes me old enough to
vote anywhere.

Are you old enough to vote? I'm a man.
Are you over 21?

Are you registered? No, he's not.

I'm a registered voter.

Good. Then you go to the polls and...

elected representatives to Congress. And
every four years, we have a presidential

election. Four years? Man, that's a
lifetime.

Now,

now. If you wish to change. We did.

They're not seem to be listening to you.
They're not listening to us? I don't

think so, no.

That's all right.

Can you do something more constructive?
Can I? Yes. Sure, I'm an architect.

Oh, I mean about the war.

Oh, about the war?

do something constructive?

Yes, because I mean, I don't think this
is constructive because the people

aren't listening to you.

People are not listening to us? Sure.
The people who work on Wall Street. They

never thought of it. You see, they've
got to see that there's a lot of people

like them, you know?

They think they're the only ones having
these bad dreams at night.

So this way, we just let them know
they're not alone, you know?

Solidarity. But they don't seem to like
you.

They don't?

at NYU Law School, of all places, got
together. We decided we got to move

beyond the rhetoric. It took us two or
three days to shut down the law school.

We shut it down.

There are no classes and no exams.

The law school faculty is actually
working with us to try and do whatever

we can to stop this war.

The question is, what are we going to
do? We've got to figure out positive

actions.

We worked up a proposal and this is what
we want to do. We want to come back here

tomorrow and shut the Wall Street area
down.

war. We're tired of asking people to end
the war in Asia. We're tired of asking

the people to end the war in the United
States.

Those are our demands.

Those wars, both of them, at home and
abroad, have got to end.

All right, so we're not asking anymore.
We're demanding.

Wall Street, the stock market, is going
to be closed tomorrow.

We're asking people who work down here
to join us. Our faculty, the law

faculty, came around and joined us. Why
don't you people join us? When is enough

enough?

Let me just say one thing about
violence.

I'm not sure where I stand on violence,
whether I'm for or against it. But one

thing I'm against, coming down here with
our bodies, when the cops got the sticks

and the guns, then violence is crazy.

That's suicide.

I don't know about violence in general,
but that's bullshit. When they got the

guns and the clubs, and we're just down
here with our bodies.

So when we come down here tomorrow with
our bodies, we're just going to sit

around that building, and we're not
going to let people go to work.

I'm going to stop Wall Street tomorrow.

We're going to stop New York City on
Monday, and we're going to bring the

whole country down with us next week.

And then Nixon's going to have to
respond.

And he's going to respond in two ways.

He's either going to come around to our
corner and shut this war down, both at

home and abroad, or he's going to come
down with his fifth.

I don't know. Maybe he's going to come
down with his fifth. A lot of people

probably think so. But let's find out
now.

No more shit. We want to find out where
it's at now.

I want to tell you Wall Street workers,
we're all out now.

I want all you Wall Street workers to
come out.

Three cheers for Nixon!

Let's hear it! Nixon!

Action workers have ties with the mafia
on the one hand and with the government

on the other hand.

And I consider it, there's a lot of
evidence that this was a highly

organized and planned action.

It's a little hard to say whether it was
planned and organized out

of the federal government or out of the
mafia.

If one wants to be realistic about it,
the connections between the two and the

reliance of the one upon the other are
sufficient that it may not make that

much difference.

Well, we're getting these voids for
defense against the construction

workers.

Why do you think the construction
workers are going to do?

They'll probably come out here and tear
up the place.

Where'd you hear it from?

A lot of people. A lot of rumors all
over that they're heading this way.

Just in case, like, before they were
throwing rocks over here, the

construction workers, and, like, there's
rumors they're coming down here, and

we're just taking a chance, just in
case.

What about the rest of the people
inside? Are they prepared to do

anything? Like, they don't know yet.
Like, we don't want to get everybody,

because, like, we might get out of hand.
You know, they might start, you know,

like, somebody, like, a gun crew might
come along with a stick and march around

outside with sticks.

Yeah. Any other defenses beside...

Wood.

We've got a fire hose up there.

And if anything comes to anything, we
can throw these chairs and tables off

the balcony.

And in a sense, that was the appearance
of the brown shirts on American streets.

So we're really on the verge of the most
serious disasters that have ever...

ever struck our country.

Hang on.

Before we break up to do the rest of our
organizing for today, and your

job is not finished because you've got
to go out and organize, just like

we're going to Union Square, we're going
to be talking with shoppers

and workers.

Now, I notice there are some people from
my union, District 65.

Why don't they just leave?

Try to demonstrate some of themselves.

Put that down, why don't you?

I've done my bit. I don't think you
people have.

And all the bums for work.

What did he say?

You don't really think you're bums?
That's right.

Why is that?

Why? I'm going to work.

I don't feel it's right to go try to
destroy this country, building things

down, stoning cops and national guards.

Have I stoned anybody?

Your type is.

Why am I coming?

What is my type?

Sympathizing with a margin. Because I
have long hair and I'm a commie star?

You're involved in demonstrations like
this. Am I demonstrating or am I taking

a picture?

Fine, take it.

Am I demonstrating or am I taking a
picture?

What are you going to use your pictures
for? Commie propaganda?

Send him back to Moscow.

Go to Moscow, you bum!

Send him back.

You rat bum!

You are, you bum!

Get a haircut and clean up!

I'm going to talk to Harry about going
down to Wall Street yesterday and

meeting some construction fellas.

Harry, once more, and probably finally
and forever, would you tell us a little

bit about Friday on Wall Street?

We were filming a returning...

A band of marauders, marauding... God,
what is this?

A band of returning marauding
construction workers, and we were

filming them on the sidewalk, and we
thought that it was going to be safe,

but it turned out not to be. You're
bothering wild state workers, that's

your problem. I'm not, I'm here for you.

And who are you? Are you the
representative of all these people? I am

my own representative, and I'm...

It was said that there were guys in
suits running the thing.

Oh, man. I don't know.

Let's go on. Did it ever strike you that
they might be organized?

It looked like it was organized in the
treasury. I don't see how they could

have gotten like 2,000 guys or whatever.
It wasn't 2,000. 200, 300 guys there

just spontaneously with...

Huge American flags. I mean you don't go
to work with a huge American flag We

were just now on the TV listening to
somebody who said that we shouldn't take

those fellows as an example of the
typical American working man Do you

agree with that?

It's probably true, but I'm very nervous
around the typical American working man

these days

When you go up to people and use the
vilest language you can right to their

face and tell them your mother's a whore
and your mother does this and your

mother does that. See, Connie, don't
make faces because I saw it with my own

eyes out here yesterday. Did you see
construction workers at the top of a

building throwing cans at people that
were walking in the city? I don't say

they're right. I don't say they're
right. But I don't say you're right

either. I say this is not the way to do
it.

At least the construction workers know
what they're doing.

because they went all the way down, up
and down three times, and they say, all

the way, all the way.

Now, you tell me what these kids meant
by red, red, red.

That's all I could hear from them.

Okay. Yeah, and that's what they were
saying. But that's maybe all you could

hear. I can understand why the
construction workers were saying only

one thing, too.

And they were saying all the way, all
the way.

Right. They meant the United States all
the way.

They're for the United States, too, the
other people.

Huh? They're for the United States, Jay.

I know that, but they don't act like it.

You pay your taxes. Where the hell does
your tax money go, huh? You don't have

to use such obscene words.

I'm sorry. The time has passed for
liberal bullshit because that's exactly

what it is. I'm concerned with where
that money goes.

Vulgar language.

I understand the point. I don't even
want to get into it.

What do you think I can do about it?
What do you think I can personally do

about it?

Don't pay my taxes?

Well, why not?

I'm only too happy to pay my taxes.

I'm not copping out at all.

No, I'm not. No, I'm not.

And I pay a small price for freedom.

You people are supposed to be going to
college, which is a privilege.

That's right. It's not granted,
everyone.

We're not striking for the right to go
to college. What are you striking for?

So you don't have to study the rest of
the year?

You get pushed through?

If you couldn't come out of here and
shovel shit in an alley. What were you

striking for?

We were striking for a living wage.

And we agreed with you. You were three
cheers.

Because we have to pay taxes to support
the likes of you in college.

And we're striking for peace.

What peace?

You never fought for anything.

What the hell did you ever fight for?

What did you ever fight for? For my
country.

What did you ever fight for? We're
fighting for our country. You are like

hell. I mean, you don't agree with us,
right?

Is that what you're trying to say? You
don't agree with us? No, don't distort

words.

What do you mean? Are you telling me I'm
wrong?

That's right. I think you people are a
bunch of scum. Okay, and you're telling

me, and I'm telling you, that the reason
that you think we're scum is because you

don't agree with us, not because we're
wrong.

You are wrong.

Oh, why? Because we don't agree with
you? No.

Anytime you back up your country, which
you people have learned to do. We are

the country.

You are.

God help it.

God help it to hear the language.

You people come down Broadway chanting,
one, two, three, four.

What's that? And the language that went
with it?

What's that, huh? The kind of language
you use in church and around your

mother.

And you people are supposed to be
educated?

Why, you couldn't shovel fertilizer.

I think we're a little angry, though,
because four of us just got shot, see?

What for have you got shot?

Your goddamn badges didn't get more.

You like people getting shot?

Why? What the hell? In other words, you
people can go to college, set fire to

buildings, right?

What are you just doing? Why don't you
pick out a policeman to get

an unbiased opinion?

You're picking out the most obvious
person to say the kind of thing you

expect them to say.

I have to say that no one could make a
decision on what you see here. You pick

out somebody who obviously has a
preconditioned idea of what they're

doing. And that stinks to use somebody
like that. What is your idea?

I couldn't even make a judgment.

Nobody here could make a judgment on
what's going on.

And you know what kind of a judgment
he's going to make, and that's why

you're picking him out of the pack.

But a judgment about, we're talking
about Vietnam, we're talking about...

the students who were killed.

Obviously. And you could tell in a
second what he's going to tell you. And

he's going to tell you just what you
want to hear. Just what you want to use

for your end of the... You're speaking
now, sir.

I'm speaking without even a decision.

That's right. We're asking you. We're
asking you now.

It's too complicated for somebody to
stand in this corner and give you a

valid opinion on this subject. Hundreds
of thousands of people are being killed

while you're waiting to make a decision.
Right, but you know what he's going to

say and that's why you asked him. You're
talking now and we're filming you.

You've got a chance to speak.

Go ahead. I wouldn't say anything. I
couldn't say anything in five minutes

that would mean anything. That would
even be indicative of the situation. And

you know it. And to use something like
that is the dirtiest, cheapest kind of

politics. Sir, are you interested in
politics?

Childish question.

He's afraid of the truth.

That isn't the case at all. I'm probably
pretty much on your side in the way you

feel about the situation.

To use an obvious case like that is
very... You're using you now, though.

You're not going to use me now. I'm not
going to give you an opinion. What do

you argue with the dilettante middle
class revolution? Don't say that. They

have a right. Forget about them.

They go back to their little middle
class home. Yeah, that protects me. Oh,

that's another challenge for you. It's a
completely middle class and upper middle

class movement. It has nothing to do
with working people. You can't even make

contact. You can't even make a contact
with the working class in this country.

And you know damn well I'm right.

Where is your revolution?

No place. Why don't you find a truck
driver and ask him, too? He'll give you

the exact answers that you want to get.
No place. Why don't you give him an

answer? Because it's not that simple.
Your revolution is confined to the

campus, and that's where it's going to
be confined.

Tell us how complicated it is. You know
how complicated it is. Try to reach the

average person. You can't do it. If you
have firm convictions on a subject, why

don't you give them some opinions?

I approve of what you're doing, because
it's going to cause a revolution, but

not your kind, my kind.

What is your kind? I'll leave that to
you. I don't have to leave you by the

hand. But I don't know you, brother. I
don't know whether I want to be part of

your revolution.

Oh, I know you don't want to be part of
my revolution.

Think!

Think is your revolution?

Think of what I said.

Meditate on what I say.

Meditate on what I say.

There'll be a revolution, but not your
revolution.

Maybe you and Jimmy have
counter-revolutions.

You're making it for me. Keep it up.

We feel justified in demanding the
following from the network.

A, an immediate cessation of all regular
programming for the duration of the

current crisis. B, continuous live
coverage of the March on

Washington and all events which
represent the dissenting voices against

government policy.

C, a continuing opportunity for all
dissenting spokesmen to represent their

positions vis-a-vis the government, with
which we find ourselves in principled

disagreement. Only by meeting these
demands will you fulfill your

responsibility to the American people.

Yeah, I work for CBS, and I'm glad
you're here.

Right, good.

Right. I'm with ABC.

Good. You got the phone.

No, really.

There's been a couple idle petitions.
The young kids are figuring out.

how to stop the war.

Nobody's ever stopped the war.

If they keep on doing the crazy things
very creatively, there's more creativity

in a youth movement than there is in
this building.

You say that everything that we

have done today has been something
against something. We are for something.

We are for the truth. We are for using
the public airways to...

to inform this nation about the truth. I
would like to know who the enemy is that

we continually talk about. I would like
to know where the figures come from,

these death ratios that we get all of
the time. I would like to know, we

really would like to clear up all... All
of the vague nature of the reporting

that's done on the public airways. And
as far as I'm concerned, as far as I'm

concerned, the public broadcasting
companies in this country have been

extremely instrumental in perpetuating
the situation as far as it's gone today

because they have not really gone into
it as they should have. And they owe it

to us. We know more about moon
trajectories, lunar modules, the

baldness of some...

some man sitting in front of a
television. We know more about crying

and praying women than we have any idea
of what's going over in Vietnam, and I

think we have a right to know it.

You're so good at informing us about
funerals of presidents, about...

problems with moon shots, but when it
comes right down to the problem of

Vietnam, we just skirt, skirt, and
skirt. And I think it is a, I really

think it's a crime against the public.

Sit home with me in two cases.

Two nephews, 19 years old, lost their
lives in Vietnam.

I know, I'm talking from experience.

I don't want those kids to go down the
drain. Maybe they were there. They

didn't have to go there. They were
drafted. Well, that's what they're

trying to stop. Right. Well, that's
trying to stop. I don't condone the war.

All right, let's stay on that point.
Let's get out. Yeah, right. Stay on

that. I'm saying these people are
infringing on other people's benefits.

Look, the first benefit is to be alive,
and we're killing people like mad all

over the world.

Let's stay on that point.

But survival of the fittest, right? No.

What? Not the survival of the fittest.
At the moment, you think you're the

fittest. No, no, no.

The survival of the fittest. No, I don't
believe in that. Why not?

What happened two years ago? Then you're
saying you're openly a gangster. What

happened two years ago? Right now, are
you the fittest man in this crowd?

windows on the left. That's the big news
here. I can go in there.

down.

Oh, you got telegrams and the statements
and it's over 300 universities in

support.

Has everybody got a statement?

Go ahead. It says students and faculty
from the city's major schools of

communication demonstrated outside the
headquarters of three major television

networks today in protest over media
coverage.

Get out. You're not supposed to be in
there.

I'll call him.

That must be the newspaper.

Okay. Thank you.

I'll call him anyway.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Sounds like a memory, I see.

Are you Mr. Corbin? No, he's coming.

Is Mr. Gordon the director of news? He's
the general manager of news operations.

I see.

And Mr. World?

He's vice president of news.

We're top heading with establishment.

Uh-huh, I see that.

Good.

Mr. Gordon, wait a minute. Not this law.

Right now.

Please.

No camera.

No, we're not recording.

Hey, you know you got to have that
boogie in you, baby. I'll come out.

You know that?

I was walking down the street, you know.

And I bumped into an old friend of mine.

There were three demands made that this
track is based on, and one of them was

freeing all political prisoners.

And these were demands that were made by
the students, and the university belongs

to the students, and all property that's
university property is used to meet

these demands.

And holding Quran Institute is one of
the ways.

I understand there's been a threat on
the computer, bail money is not raised.

What's the university's position about
that, or has there in fact been a real

threat? Well, there was the rally at
Loeb this evening, I gather. They didn't

say they were going to hold it hostage.

They've been saying so all day, and
we've taken it, I think, in reasonably

good humor so far.

The computer had been timed to blow up.

We got in there in time to remove the
fuses from the weapon.

From the Molotov cocktails and the
plastic bombs that were there, just

barely.

And at the present time, the police and
the FBI are reported to the Senate

today.

other magazine turn around let's sink it
i'll sink which problem

the brakes are lost on the car is it all
worth it i mean like is it worth the

hassle yeah what do you think's gonna
happen with this strike i mean it's

gonna go on is everyone gonna come back
from washington and uh say gee it's

summertime and start having a good time
or what no i don't think so we're from

madison and we just closed down our
drift board in Morristown.

I don't know. It's against the war in
Vietnam.

Do you have any opinion on that?

Definitely. Okay, what's your opinion?

Come on. You wouldn't want us to tell
you that you were fighting. No,

you wouldn't. I'm an old veteran from
World War II, honey. You wouldn't want

me to tell you what I feel about that.

Yes, I would.

Are you actually calling the war in
Vietnam a war?

Well, what do you think it is?

Cowboys and Indians.

Excuse us, Lieutenant. Would you care to
make any kind of statement about the

upcoming march in Washington?

Lieutenant? Lieutenant?

But if your parents won't protect you,
then of course you have to. It's up to

the parents to see that boys don't dash
into adventure that's going to be

dangerous. How can we get the parents to
go out and demonstrate? Well, after

talking to them, I'm sure you can, so
you've got to do it yourselves.

They won't go.

They've raised you.

They don't like the results.

And they say, the heck with them. Let
them go and get killed. I don't like

them. I'm sick of them.

All right, this is Ed Sumner.

Ed Summer.

Ed Summer.

Excuse me, sir. Could I use your
bathroom?

Sir, could I use your bathroom? I have
to go to the bathroom.

There's a public bathroom about 130 feet
down the road. Turn to your left.

Where are you people from?

We're from Cleveland, Ohio.

How many of you came down here today?

Well, we're a family, my husband and our
son and my sister, myself.

Is your son in the armed forces?

No, no, he goes to college.

Is your husband over here? Yes.

Hello. How do you do, sir? Why did you
come down here today?

Just to show the young people that some
of us older folks are concerned also.

We think that this protest is a sincere
form of patriotism.

It's only those people in the
administration who think there's

something wrong with it.

Is your son here today?

Is your son down here today? Yes.

Yes, he's here. Participating in the
rally?

Yes, he's standing there taking pictures
at the moment.

I see.

Who is this lady?

My sister, Dorothy Barton. And I came
down here because I'm very concerned

about the young people. I think they're
our finest youth.

I think they're so well educated.

And I feel that if there's any hope for
this country, it is our youth.

And we're here because we care about
them. We love them.

And we are only disappointed.

that more adults aren't here.

Right. And we walked through the crowd,
and it was the most stirring moment in

my life when the young people clapped
and acknowledged us and said, you're

right on, and they hoped that there
would be more adults among them. It was

the most touching moment in my life.

That's a very exciting thing, I'm sure.
Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Bruce Tabor, Global News.

May 9th, 1970, 7.45.

Four filmmakers went to see the
president today for an interview.

And they got bullshit and a runaround.

This is a warning.

Watch the skies.

Watch the skies.

And they said fine, so we sent them down
there. You know what they did? They took

their cameras and tape recorders away
from them.

Bought them cokes and sat them down to
watch television.

No, he was a nice guy because he got us
Coca-Colas.

And it was their condition there, so it
was very comfortable to sit there and

watch television, which is what the
other newsmen were doing.

They gave us a nice couch to rest the
car on. We were watching Captain Video.

You're demonstrating that you're just
working.

We're just filming right here. We want
to hear what you have to say.

I mean, this is what I'm talking about.
You're a demonstrator, just a filmer.

We're filming everything.

You're filming everything?

That's our demonstration.

That's your demonstration? That's it.
We're doing our thing to help.

You belong to the Peace Corps, Joe?

No.

Why not?

I applied. I didn't get in.

Ooh.

That's a terrible thing.

Well, this is like they're supposed to
have a tremendous thing trying to

condition the police force, you know, to
react to civil disturbances and things.

They take them out to Fort Meade and let
them practice.

Yeah. Look at that girl. Didn't you know
that? And they take the trainees and

things, and they pretend to be the
hippies.

And then the police try to contain them.

And this is practice, you know.

Everybody's a human being for openers. I
mean, actually, you can train people so

much, but then you can't take away the
human element. You're going to react.

Can you stand and just let somebody
throw rocks at you without reacting?

taking your thumbprints and everything.
The people eventually, like they're

freaked out, but they come together
again by the time they get out, usually.

The people are the workers.

If we're going to make it for the
people, let's remember who the people

are. Let's remember why we're here.

I was on the march,

one of the first marches on Washington
in 62 or 63 when Martin Luther King

spoke, and it was a...

extremely moving experience for me
personally.

hospital 23rd street and first avenue
patients there are not allowed to speak

their minds or say how they feel against
the war in vietnam we need a lot of

support from the outside because we
can't do it alone the patients are

scared that if they participate then
they might get discharged or might not

get no kind of medical help i was in
vietnam and i got wounded and i know how

it's like and i didn't want to go there
if i could do it in any way of my power

Stay together. It's a procession. Stay
together. It's important not to let too

much space between you because the power
of the peace is in the mass of blood

together. Don't keep distance between
yourselves.

Don't allow more than two feet between
each of you. That's important.

The important thing is to keep up the
chant.

Stop death.

Stop war. Stop murder. Stop atrocity.

Got it?

Say it loud, agonizingly.

Stop war, stop death, stop murder, stop
atrocity. That's what you're working

with.

No,

pick some of it, leave some, but try not
to lose all of it, okay?

Because we'd like to leave some in
different places, and if all of you drop

it in one place, that's it.

But remember, do not lose sight of the
fact that you are, in fact, atrocity.

You represent someone who has been
murdered.

Someone who has been slaughtered.

You understand?

You are speaking for those people.

because I thought when the tear gas came
from the front, I would be able to

quickly move away.

But when the tear gas did come from the
front, and it was very easy to see it,

and I was not near it, I would not have
been touched by the gas, policemen came

out of back buildings unseen before,
came out of these back buildings and

started firing tear gas at the back of
the crowd so that the whole crowd was

surrounded in tear gas.

You see, when they do it this way,
students start running in all

directions, and that's the danger.

Nobody really dies from tear gas, but
you can die from a mob.

Well, there was a church right there,
and I thought I would go into the

church, but as soon as the tear gas
started to come, the church boarded up

its doors and wouldn't let anybody in.

And then I ran to an apartment house,
and they were just coming to close their

doors and lock their doors.

Then there was a restaurant, and they
were also coming to lock their doors.

Somebody grabbed me and pulled me into a
shelter.

But we were kicked out of that shelter.

I guess no one was supposed to be near
the White House.

Let's get into it a little bit about how
you got into the White House to see the

president.

Or not see the president, as the case
may be. How far did you really get when

you went down to talk to him?

We got into the press room.

That's it.

They just kept insisting that there was
nothing for us to do there.

And they didn't want us around.

How are the other press people in the
building towards you? Were they groovy

about it?

The people who are interviewing us from
the Post, from the Star, and people from

the papers, these are the reporters,
like, are sitting around, and they're

being very groovy towards us. There was
one woman, that girl, I think she was

basically conservative, don't you think?

But she was, like, very, you know, she
was conservative, but on the other hand,

she was very sweet, you know, she was a
sweet little girl.

Liberal conservative.

Nice chick.

I

don't

want to change the subject from the film
or anything, but I would just like to

ask anyone here if they don't think
something strange is going on in this

country. I mean, it's strange, isn't it?

Very weird.

But I would...

I was just out on the streets, and I
would like to say that we own the

streets down there.

I did not see one octogenarian. I've
never had such fun walking down the

street in all my life.

I think it's here.

I miss octogenarians. I want to see
octogenarians around. What's the matter

with an octogenarian?

Octogenarians for supper?

I want to get in here and ask you a
question.

Because what do you think, as a member
of the working press, what's this strike

all about, and where the hell are we
going, and how long is it going to last?

What do you think about it? Look, we're
making a record, and we're trying to

watch it stay together.

And all we can do is keep making the
record and hope that it does stay

together. Because right now, it don't
look like it's going to hold together

much longer.

I don't think I can judge right now
because I'm just too tired.

But I see a lot of enthusiasm. Where do
you see the thing breaking up?

You sit and you listen to a lady in the
park talk about no women

going to work on Wednesday and Friday.
Thursday is okay to go to work.

Wednesday and Friday, bad.

Why, man? Do you honestly believe that
women en masse are going to walk out of

their jobs on Wednesday morning? Little
dinky secretaries in Peter Pan collars

and Mr. Kenneth hairdos, man, are going
to walk out of their jobs?

What? Come on. You think it's going to
fold up in three days, right?

It's going to fold up in three days. But
Bruce Tabor, Bruce Tabor feels, on the

other hand... We have just heard from
Martin Scorsese commenting

on the strife in the White House.

He's copping out.

Oh, he has copped out.

Oh, he's will cop out.

He's just a cop out.

Like,

like, like... The thing isn't going to,
the strike isn't going to work unless

people do something about it. I mean, I
know you're all tired and everything,

but sitting around laughing in a hotel
room isn't going to do anything. I mean,

like what David Dellinger said.

What can do it? What can do it? We all
have to go back and go back home and

try and do something like the man said,
you know?

like call up a friend or get involved in
whatever field that we're in and really

try and make people go out on strike.

Do you think making films is enough?

What do you mean enough? Do you think
making movies is enough?

I wasn't talking about that. I was
saying, look, when I get back... I'm

asking you if you think making movies is
enough to justify not going out on

strike. If you were a filmmaker, if you
were an artist, as an actress, Would you

go on strike?

If you were supposed to go and be in
your movie tomorrow, Verna, would you go

on strike and not go down to New Mexico?

You mean if I was the only one? No.

I said if it was a moral decision and
you had to leave tomorrow to go to New

Mexico to be in the hired hand, would
you not go?

You won't give me any qualifications.

I'm asking you the question.

Would you go?

I don't know.

I don't know.

Obviously, we all communicate through
making films and through acting. Now, I

don't know why you're hesitant about an
answer to that.

This is the way we communicate.

And one thing that is wrong with this
situation here right now, you folks up

here in the hotel room and I was
downstairs by the bus, and that bus that

you filmed rocking, I don't know if you
saw who was rocking the bus or not, but

that distressed me.

Because they were very young boys, about
four or five of them.

I say they must have been 18 years old,
19 years old.

And except for the fact that they have
long hair now, 10 years ago they would

have been wearing a motorcycle jacket
and black boots.

There's no leadership, unfortunately.

Because the responsible people were in
the back hollering, no, no, no.

But these other kids are very
aggressive, Jay. They're very

aggressive, you see. And you need
something to count to them. The question

I'm asking you is, why aren't we on
strike?

We're doing what we do, man. We're
working right here, man.

Because we have a message to give to the
people.

We're showing them what is happening.
That's why we're not on strike.

That's your answer. And also, you know,
if you're really going to be realistic

about it, I mean, the things that are,
the people that really should go on

strike are the people that could really
cripple the nation. I mean, you're not

going to cripple the nation. Don't you
think media people are people who

cripple the nation?

Yeah, but you're not involved. You're
not involved.

In the news media life. What good would
a strike do if the news media didn't go

out, if the telephone operators didn't
go out? That's what I'm talking about.

The telephone operators should go out
and the post office should go out and

people in the banks.

How are you going to go to people who
are poor?

All I said was that instead of sitting
around and saying it's not going to

work, the least people can do is try.

That's all I said.

to the people.

But I want to know how you're going to
make people that have been living a

certain way all their lives, people who
think that we are threatening their very

existence, follow us.

We're going to put your films on the
street. What are you going to say to

them? You don't have any reason with
them. No, look. Wait a minute. Wait a

minute. Wait a minute.

Look, I think the whole issue, you know,
like, gets down to the fact that either

you go on strike and you don't do
anything or you do whatever you can.

And, uh...

Like, it's pretty depressing both ways,
because you've probably tried both

things before in some way or another,
and it didn't work. And it just doesn't

look like it's going to work ever, and
that's why it's uptight. I think you're

right. It's better to go on strike and
do something else other than what you

do, right, than to go on strike and do
nothing, to just sit at home and do

nothing, right?

So what we're talking about when we say
go on strike is not work.

Go outside and talk to people.

What I'm saying, and what I said five
minutes ago, and what that lady says

over there is, do you honestly think
that by cornering 40-year-old people on

their way home from work or to work, or
on their way to the automat to grab a

sandwich before they go back to their
desk, that you're really going to get

them to walk out of the insurance
office?

Well, let me ask you a question. Do you
think you're going to get them to walk

out by saying, hey, you fucking dumb
construction worker, you fucking goon?

Is that going to help you? Nobody's
saying that, man.

But you are saying it, don't you
understand? No, no, no.

Wait a second. The same way I think in
my mind, the same way Mr. Nixon and his

crew, his advisors can't relate to us
and what we feel about ourselves, about

people today, the same way we're missing
something here and feeling what these

people who don't agree with us are like.

I'm not missing it. It's because he
knows what they feel and because she

knows what they feel that they question
whether or not they're going to really

want to know. What we're doing is we're
making the construction workers our

enemy. Instead of directing the enemy,
you know, who the real enemy is, we're

making the construction workers our
enemy.

You're right.

Look, nobody...

These are a bunch of guys, it seems to
me, it seems to me, because I just saw a

bunch of cops down the street here,
dressed in paratrooper boots, and

really, they looked like airborne
troops, but they were police officers.

And I guarantee you, nine out of ten of
them are Korean vets, probably some of

the leaders of World War II vets, you
see.

Now, they're not relating the same way
we are to America today. You see, they

fought in a...

We'll call it a just war, you know. I
mean, atrocities were being committed,

then whatever.

Anyway, that's the way they feel about
it. They really fought for America, you

see. And they feel that what we're doing
is somehow against America.

We've got a reason with them, somehow.

Listen, do you think if Jane Fonda had
gone down to Wall Street and asked the

guys to go out on strike that they would
have beat her up? I don't think so. They

apparently were beating up many girls.

No, what does that mean?

Well, because, no, it's what you said. I
mean...

You alienate those guys.

I'll tell you something. If they were
listening to Jane Fonda instead of

beating up Harry and Dan, I'd rather
have them snare at Jane Fonda because

maybe she'll get one little point
across.

Maybe. Then maybe next week another
point.

Yeah. Well, what's so threatening about
Harry and Dan?

Like, what threatens... No, not to you,
but to the construction workers.

What is so threatening about this whole
scene?

What... They've got everything they
want. Nothing changes for them.

What do they care?

They've got, you know, all their
material things.

They aren't fighting in Vietnam. Their
kids are, but, you know, where are their

heads at? We are threatening their
world, man, because we are saying to

them, no matter how nicely we say it,
Harvey, no matter we come and be real

gentle and be Quakers, we are still
saying to them, very basically, Hey,

man. From the time you started to think
about where you were at, you're wrong,

man. You were wrong fighting in that
war. You're wrong believing what you

believe about communists. You're wrong
in what you want for your kids. You're

just wrong, man. There's another way and
a better way. And no matter how sweet

and soft you make that, they're going to
hate your guts.