Original subtitles

She likes you.

Don't you get taken in 'cause she's a flyer.

You see, Melanie,

she's every bit as pretty.

You've been very nice.

Now you can have what you want.

Hey, you!

Birdboy!

Mrs Angelucci said them feathers can give you asthma.

I've got a great idea.

Let's enlist.

Kids got to play, honey.

Go tell that to your son.

Birdy! Birdy!

Are you all right?

Switch shifts on Thursday?

How come they didn't change the bandages?

No, ma'am. Dr O'Brien is unavailable right now.

Can I have him call you?

That's Doctor Moore.

How long do I wear these things?

We should be able to take 'em off

when you get back from seeing your friend.

Then I get to see if you got everything back in the right place, huh, Doc?

Should be okay, give or take an ear or two.

I think the graft is going to be just fine, Al.

After a while, it's gonna start itching,

but you can't scratch it.

- Okay? - Okay.

This ought to hold you.

How do you feel?

Like the Invisible Man.

Come see me when you get back, okay?

Sure thing.

Don't worry.

Boo!

Don't stare, honey. It's rude.

Shit, Birdy.

The things you put me through.

They always said you were weird. Even my kid brother.

Do you remember the time with the knife?

Shit.

Jesus Christ! These damn kids!

Way to go, Al! Now we'll never get it back. Lady's a fuckin' witch.

You stay out of my yard, you hear?

Come on, lady, it's our ball.

We don't have another one. How else we going to play?

By not hitting it over my fence. Go somewhere else and play.

This ain't no ballpark. This is my yard.

Why don't you do something about it?

Kids gotta play, honey.

You tell that to your own boy.

Uh-uh. I don't want to.

Come on, why not?

I just don't feel like it.

Sure you feel like it.

Well, if I let you,

can I wear your leather jacket?

Yes.

Hey, Al.

- Al! - What?

He's just down the street. The weird kid.

Later, Mario. Will you get lost?

- Come on, you promised. - Shit.

Hey, you!

Hey, birdboy!

Yeah?

What's your name?

This is like talking to the air.

Got a knife I can borrow, kid? Got a splinter.

This it, Mario?

Yeah, that's my knife!

You thieving son of a bitch! My brother says this is his knife.

Back off, kid! You don't wanna mess with me!

Don't mess with my brother, weirdo!

He's a wrestling champion!

Now you're in trouble! This really better be your knife, Mario.

It is. Ziegenfuss stole it from me.

I thought you said this guy stole it?

No! I just said he had it.

Jesus, Mario.

I bought it from Ziegenfuss.

But if he stole it from you, you can have it.

Don't touch that knife.

- It's mine. - We'll get you another.

Here.

Thanks.

Where'd you learn all that stuff? You wrestle or something?

No.

You should.

You like pigeons?

What's to like?

They fly.

They fly. So what?

That's enough.

Come on, Al. Are we going, or what?

I'm training these to be carrier pigeons.

Oh, yeah, you mean with the notes, like in a war?

Al, I got a class. I've gotta go.

So go.

Up yours!

Pretty ugly birds.

You know, Al, if he really can train them to carry notes, I'd buy one.

- You would? - Sure. A lot of kids would.

Hey!

Wait a minute!

How about if I help you catch some?

It's funny how they do that.

As if it hadn't happened every five minutes for the last 50 years.

Dumb.

And they always come back to the same place.

You see?

Same exact spot every time, and just carry on with their business.

- Come on. - Where are you going?

Higher.

We gotta get up amongst 'em so we can talk to 'em.

Are you kidding me?

- Hey, are we allowed up here? - No.

Looks awful high to me.

Fuck you!

It worked!

Birdy, where are you?

Okay, very funny. Now where the fuck are you?

Come the hell out. I know you're in here, birdbrain.

What the hell's that?

It's a pigeon suit I'm making for you, Al.

See, this way, the pigeons'll think you're one of them.

But I don't want the pigeons to think I'm one of them, Birdy.

Come on, Al. Just try it.

No... no way would I even be caught dead in that.

I feel ridiculous.

You look terrific.

Come on, Al. It's over here.

I want to go back and change. I look stupid!

Not to a bird, Al.

Gee, that's some view.

Can you see the Tower Theater?

And that must be City Hall over there.

The stars, Al.

Look at the stars.

What stars?

We should come back one night and just look at the stars.

Whoo-hoo!

Birdy, what are you doing? For Chrissakes, get down!

- Hold my legs, will you, Al? - Okay.

You'll like this one, Al.

She looks like your dad.

I got to get a little bit lower. Let me down a bit more.

Jesus, Birdy!

Give me a bag.

Ah, fuck!

No! Birdy! No!

Birdy! Birdy!

Just hold on, I'll go get help.

I can't hold on that long, Al.

What's so funny?

You.

- You look so serious. - It is fucking serious!

Oh, fuck!

Oh, shit!

Look, this isn't going to work, Al.

I'll try to make it to that sand pile over there.

- What are you talking about? - It's easy, Al.

You're gonna jump?

No, Al, I'm going to fly.

No, don't jump, Birdy!

- Let go! - No, don't! Birdy!

Birdy!

Birdy!

Birdy, are you all right?

Birdy?

Birdy, are you all right?

I flew, Al.

Sure, you flew.

It was beautiful.

It was...

It was like...

You look awful pale, Birdy.

You think I should I go get somebody?

I think you might have busted something inside.

You're gonna break your crazy neck one of these days.

God, Birdy! Don't ever do anything like that again.

What do you think, Sergeant?

Sir?

Your friend.

How does he look to you?

It's hard to say. I'm not sure I understand your question.

It's a simple question.

How does your friend look?

- Are you his doctor? - Yes.

Why are you asking me?

Obviously, because I want to hear what you have to say.

Well, he sure doesn't look good.

Is that all he does, just sit there like that?

Oh, for the most part.

Was he wounded?

Yes, but his wounds were relatively minor.

This is not a physiological condition.

Then how'd he get like this?

All we know is that he was missing in action for a month.

For a while, we didn't even know who he was.

Does he know who he is?

I don't know.

He hasn't talked since he was found.

So you really don't know anything.

Well, I think I know a few things, Sergeant.

It was my idea to bring you here.

Why am I here?

The patient's mother thought you might be...

well, of some help.

Quite frankly, I'm willing to try anything.

- And I'm it? - For now.

When I found out about your condition, I...

well, it seemed like it might be an interesting therapy.

For him or for me?

I hope for both of you.

Come with me, Sergeant. There's something I want you to see.

No, tuna salad, not chicken salad.

Lots of mayonnaise and none of those little celery chunks.

Two of 'em.

Do you want anything?

- No. - Coffee?

Two coffees, cream and sugar.

Okay, yeah, that's it.

Strange, huh?

Jumping and twisting, like he was trying to escape.

Well, you sure as hell can't blame him for that.

No-one is, Sergeant.

He wouldn't like being cooped up here.

What do you suppose impels him into these strange positions?

Like what?

Like this cringing position, for instance.

Was there any psychological trouble before he was in the military?

- No. - How close were you?

We was real good buddies. Pretty close.

Very close?

Well, we weren't queer for one another or anything like that, sir.

We were a couple of normal, crazy Philly kids.

How crazy?

You ever been to Philly, sir?

You have to be pretty crazy to live there.

I don't understand yet what's brought him to this.

You got any ideas?

Well...

He got drafted.

All wars have their casualties, Sergeant,

and the Army takes care of their own.

Certainly took care of me, Doctor.

Major, Sergeant.

Major, sir.

Look, I know that this is difficult for you at this time,

and I know it's hard for you to come here like this.

How does your face feel?

It's okay.

No problems?

Well, the bandages are a little hard to get used to, sir.

You know, when the doctor, the major,

told me that one of the things they had to do was give me a steel jaw,

I thought, "Great! Wow, a steel jaw!

"Maybe I'll be the next LaMotta or something."

Turns out a punch could knock the pins into my brain,

so actually it's worse than a glass jaw.

It's pretty funny, huh?

A lot of people wouldn't think so. Aren't you concerned?

Well, yeah. Sure, kind of.

You know what would be a good idea, Alfonso?

Al.

It might be helpful if you visited your friend now.

Yes, sir.

It's important that I make some progress soon.

Ronsky? Send Renaldi in here.

You'll like Renaldi, Alfonso. He's Italian too.

What's going on here?

This is occupational therapy. Some genius at Boeing thought it up.

Who better to sort out the nuts than nuts, right?

- What do you do here? - Pretty much everything.

Mostly I help take care of the patients.

I take them for walks, read them the funny papers,

blow their noses, change the bedpans,

wheel them into the TV room. Stuff like that.

How'd you get stuck with that shitty job? They bust you or something?

No, I'm a conscientious objector.

- You're kidding. - No.

An Italian conscientious objector?

That's right.

Hi, Ned. Nice day.

Ned's elevator doesn't go all the way up to the top floor.

Combat stress. He's quiet today.

Normally, he's throwing shit against the walls.

Well, here he is.

I'll come back in a little while, and I'm gonna take you to your bunk.

They have you in with me.

Take it easy.

Hey, Birdy.

Is this for real, or what?

If this is some act you cooked up to get out of 'Nam, it worked.

You can stop now.

Come on, Birdy.

It's me under all these bandages.

It's Al.

Maybe I'll get into something crazy myself.

Can't you see it?

"Neighbourhood Boy Turned a Lunatic by the Horrors of War."

All I'd have to do for a big pension is growl every now and then,

or go beat somebody up on Market Street.

So much for that.

God, this place gives me the creeps.

It's awful quiet for a loony bin.

You know, they keep saying I'll be fine.

I keep hearing them.

"Quit worrying how you look, Columbato."

But I saw a guy at Dix who they also said would be fine.

And he had a face like a medium-rare cheeseburger.

I'm a little scared I won't recognise who I'm shaving in the morning, you know?

Jesus, Birdy, what happened to you?

You know that fat-gut shrink? He wants me to jog up your brain

by getting you to remember the things we did together.

Did we jack one another off? Stuff like that.

I don't trust that guy.

Everything's too interesting to him.

So what do you want to talk about?

Maybe we should talk about one of the 85 million times

we tried to find where your mother hid the goddamn baseballs.

Okay, you don't like that one.

Remember that statue of Billy Penn on top of City Hall?

How, from certain angles, it looked like he had a hard-on?

And how we used to stand there with the pigeons?

And every time some old lady'd go walking by,

we'd start pointing up at Billy Penn.

They'd look up, and they'd see old Billy with his dong sticking up.

Shit!

Do you need a hand?

What are you doing in here?

I'm his friend. The doctor brought me here.

Oh, right. Yeah.

Now I remember.

- What's your name? - Columbato, Al.

You know, I'm not in the Army.

You can tell me your name frontways if you want to.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

- I'm Hannah. - Hi.

He eats that?

Looks horrible, doesn't it? It's all he'll let me feed him.

You have to feed him?

Can't he feed himself?

I don't know.

He doesn't.

The orderlies are supposed to do this, but he won't let them.

For some reason, he lets me.

Shit, maybe I'll stop talking.

You know, I like your friend,

but I wish he wouldn't do this.

Listen, I'm going to go.

You can stay if you want.

No, that's all right. Think I'll go bunk out for a while.

Okay, hang on. I'll unlock you.

Hi there. Let me take a look at your back, hmm?

Tell me where it hurts.

My buddy's broken his leg.

Maybe his back.

I hope not his back, because that can make you crazy.

He is a little crazy. Thinks he can fly.

Thinks he's a bird.

It's all here, the whole thing, how he fell off the gas tank.

There's a picture with a dot line showing where he jumped from,

and an "X" where he landed!

I don't want to hear any more of it! You hear me?

Not birds, not nothing!

And you can start now, by cleaning

the pigeon shit off the front porch.

You gotta face up to it, Birdy. We're out of the pigeon business.

- They ain't coming back. - Sure they'll come back, they were homed.

For Christ's sake, what kind of a home is it

when your witch of a mom chops it up for firewood

and chases the birds away with a fucking broom?

It's home to them, Al. They always come back.

It's not the lumber and nails. It's the place.

Listen, Birdy, I gotta tell you something.

But before I do, you have to promise not to go apeshit on me.

What?

Do you promise?

What?

Well, you're right. Those birds kept coming back.

So first your mom puts down poison and knocks off half of them.

But some of those blue bars get smart to it, and still keep coming back.

So she calls Mr Solari from the market.

Mr Solari, the poultry guy?

Yeah, the butcher.

That guy would dress his mother as a chicken

if he thought he could get 69 cents a pound.

Anyway, he must've taken them all, 'cause they ain't been back since.

No, you don't get it, Al.

Those blue bars saw Solari hanging around,

and that's why they didn't come back. They'll never come back now.

You're wrong, Birdy! Solari bagged 'em.

They're dead! Plucked and fucked!

You don't understand birds, Al.

Listen, I got an idea for something else we can go partners on.

You know that old Ford at the junkyard?

Yeah, okay.

Well, it's a good thing those blue bars recognised Solari, huh?

Pigeons ain't stupid, Al!

Remember that statue of Billy Penn on top of City Hall?

How, from certain angles, it looked like he had a hard-on?

If I'm going to learn, I'll have to watch them closer.

Be there when they fly.

I want them to be as free as possible.

Nobody wants to be in a cage.

Keep ahold of it!

- How are you doing back there? - What?

- You okay? - Yeah. This is great.

That is some piece of shit.

Does it go?

Not yet.

But it will.

- How'd it get here? - We pushed it.

- It's a piece of shit. - Thank you.

Hey!

Don't use any of my tools, you hear me?

No, sir.

You know that you're gonna have to register that

before you sell it, right?

How do we do that, Mr Columbato?

You wait till you're old enough.

- Maybe I'll do it for you. - That'd be great, Dad.

Fucking garbageman!

Come on, sister!

All right.

Yahoo! Yeah!

Well, now!

The top. I'll take the top down.

There she goes!

We're doing eighty on the Schuylkill Expressway.

Look for 76 and the Walt Whitman. And keep an eye out for cops.

Quarters, Al. We need quarters for the toll.

No, I don't need them. I'll drive straight through head down.

Aaaaaah!

Excuse me? It's not my fault you left the gate down!

- That's right! - Yeah, you too, motherfucker!

Watch out for the truck, Al!

That was a close one.

Tailspin.

Well, we're just driving.

Where we going, Al?

Where else? The ocean.

I've never been to the ocean.

You're kidding.

No.

Damn!

Hey, Al! This is great! It's like flying in thick air!

Yeah, great.

Now are we gonna go see the boardwalk,

pick up some chicks or what?

Yeah, okay, just one more time, all right?

You ready?

- On your mark. - No, not...!

Goddamn it!

One Mississippi, two Mississippi,

three Mississippi, four Mississippi,

five Mississippi,

six Mississippi, seven Mississippi, eight Mississippi,

nine Mississippi, ten... Ten Mississippi, Birdy!

Er... Birdy?

Thirteen Mississippi.

It's a fifteen Mississippi, Birdy!

Sixteen Mississippi!

Birdy!

Birdy!

Gah! I don't know how to swim!

Now don't go do anything stupid, Birdy.

I know what's going through that goddamned fool mind of yours.

You know what? Right down here, on this same street, they got this ride...

...expectant mothers, the young,

go see the greatest attraction in the world today.

See Atasha, the Gorilla Girl.

See her change from a woman to an ape. A gorilla!

Oh, it's gross!

- Horrible! - Do you think he was born like this?

No way, it's a gyp. Look, his legs are stuck.

- It's a false bottom. - Isn't it amazing?

Introducing Zimmy, the Human Fish.

Folks, let's hear it for Zimmy.

- How do you think he does it? - Does what?

Hold his breath so long.

I have to keep coming up for air too much.

We've been here for four minutes, and the guy hasn't come up for air.

Think he has a wife?

You okay?

Hey.

I can hold my breath for two minutes, 40 seconds now.

Do you want to try?

Uh-uh.

So...

- You play sports? - No.

Of course not.

Al and I throw the discus sometimes.

- Oh yeah? So you play on the team? - No.

We just throw it to see how far it'll go.

Oh.

Al used to be on a team. He, er...

he used to be a wrestling champ.

Are you guys finished yet?

Shirley, I'm leaving!

I ain't hanging around with that creep no more!

Shirley!

Bye.

Shirley!

Claire, why do you always do this?

- You stuck me with... - Shut up!

What are you going to do now, huh?

- Move it! - Shut up!

What?

You have got to learn

to be more sociable!

I don't think that girl liked me, Al.

You gotta make 'em like you.

You gotta talk to 'em like you're interested

in all that crap they go on about.

You just gotta talk more.

I don't care about what, as long as it's not flying and birds!

What if that's what I'm really thinking about?

Well, that's the first thing you got to understand

in your dealings with women, Birdy.

Never let them know what you're thinking.

But I'm not thinking about them.

Well then, just lie, for God sakes!

You know, you're the best goddamn liar I ever met.

Don't you know your chick had great jugs on her?

See, that's what I don't understand. What's the big deal?

- They're just overgrown mammary glands. - Mammary glands?

Mammary glands?

No!

We're talking tits here!

Big tits!

Round tits.

Fleshy tits.

- Seemed like a lot of dumb development to me. - Full tits.

I mean, women have to carry them around their whole lives.

- Flapping around, getting in the way. - No, they don't get in the way, Birdy.

They're needed. They're necessary.

I seen a picture in National Geographic, Al.

They're just like on a cow, but in a more stupid place.

No, it's not like a cow at all.

I'm telling you for your own good, Birdy.

You don't know what you're missing.

That girl, Shirley,

I didn't even have to ask her.

She just lifted her shirt and put my hand under it.

And then she undoes her bra for me,

and I start feeling the whole tit, nipple and all.

- Al. - She's poking her tongue down my throat.

And then, I'm reaching down with my hand.

- Al! - I'm working my way down. She's work...

- That your '53 Ford back there? - Sure, why?

Birdy?

Birdy, could you stop walking around like that?

You're making me nervous.

I cannot stand this much longer, Al.

I hope your old man gets here soon.

Well, I don't.

Hi, Dad.

Hi, Mom.

Ah!

Ever wonder what our lives down here must seem like to a bird, Al?

No.

You two shut up!

Fucking fuck! Always fucked!

- Good luck. - Thanks.

Hi, Al. How are you?

I'm pretty good, Birdy, thanks.

You know, Al,

I'm glad you came to see me.

I know we haven't seen each other in a while,

and there's a lot of water under the bridge.

But it's good just to sit here and not talk with you.

Yeah, Birdy, it's a real blast. But, you know...

Come on, Birdy!

Talk to me.

Okay, don't talk to me.

You think I don't know what you're doing,

with all this squatting and sideways staring stuff?

So you're finally a bird. Big deal!

If Weiss finds out, he's gonna put you in a display case.

He's gonna write papers on you forever.

These damn cats are driving me crazy!

I swear I'm gonna get a BB gun and pop 'em off.

They're gonna give the birds a heart attack. They've been scaring 'em all day.

Let's get this door closed so they don't get out here.

That's it.

You know my mother.

And that's Mr Tate.

He's deaf, you know. He doesn't hear anything.

He loves the birds singing, like Beethoven.

I said you're like Beethoven, Mr Tate.

You like that one, huh?

Yeah, she's a good-looker, all right.

But don't go for flyers when you're looking for a good breeder.

Oh, come on, honey.

Come here.

Don't you want to eat?

Well, see, she's a pretty one,

but she won't take notice of any of the daddies.

She's a heartbreaker, that one. So particular!

Rhett and Ashley can't get near her.

It sure ain't like in the movie.

You know, and I don't hold with letting them mate

more than one at a time.

No brothers and sisters.

It ain't right. Says so in the Bible.

Mr Tate over there

lets them all in together, like a Roman orgy.

Ain't natural.

Ah, here's Melanie.

Come here, Melanie.

The first day I saw Perta,

I knew she was special.

The way she took to the air

like it was hers.

Oh, she likes you.

But don't get taken in just 'cause she's a flyer.

Now Melanie here, she's a darling bird,

who's every bit as pretty.

No, I'll take this one.

You can't do anything about it, Birdy.

He sold it before he ever told me about it.

At least we got what we paid for the car.

I'll give you my share, and we can use it for your ornithopter.

I don't care about the money.

It's the principle of the thing.

The only principle is my old man does whatever the hell he wants.

Well, what do you want me to do? Pin him?

I wish I could, but I can't!

We're going to get it back.

What are you, crazy? This is suicide!

My old man doesn't even like you. He'll break your neck, believe me.

I don't care.

It's our car.

You can't do this. You know what he's like.

I'm telling you for nothing, he will kill you!

Jesus, Al, sometimes you're so full of shit!

All right, but you're on your own, Birdy.

I'm not going with you.

I don't want blood splattered all over me.

Shit!

I want the car back.

What do you mean, you want the car back?

You got your money.

You had no right to sell the car, Mr Columbato.

It's worth more than the money you gave us.

It belongs to Al and me, and we didn't want it sold.

That car's in my name. I can sell the car to whoever I want.

Now would you get out of here? I'm trying to read my paper.

Mr Columbato!

Would you please just give me the name of the man who thinks he bought our car,

- and I'll get it back. - Get out of here. I'll call the cops!

Thank you, Mr Columbato, I was about to do that myself!

I'd like to report a stolen car!

Are you calling me a crook in my own house?!

What, are you crazy?!

Are you trying to say I stole that junk heap?!

Get outta here!

Don't embarrass me in front of my own family!

You sold something that wasn't yours!

If you just give me the name of the man who thinks he bought it,

I'll tell him you made a mistake.

I sold the car to a friend of my brother-in-law Nicky!

This guy is not giving you the car back!

You mess around with him and you'll wind up in a concrete shirt

at the bottom of the Schuylkill River!

I don't want to go to the police, Mr Columbato,

but Al and I got a signed receipt of purchase from Mr Russo at the...

at the junkyard!

Now you might think that it's your car because you registered it for us,

but it's legally our property because you don't got no proof-of-purchase!

What do you want to be a hard-nose for, huh?

I can't get you the car back,

- even if I wanted to! - So tell me the man's name,

- and I'll get it back. - Shut up, you skinny bucket of piss!

You're not worth going to jail for, for murder. You understand?

So here's what we'll do.

- I'm gonna give you back your money. - I don't want your money.

- That's all I got for... - It wasn't your car to sell!

Take the fucking money!

He's gonna take it. Come on, honey.

Go read your paper, honey. Please. Come on. He's gonna take the money.

Come on, boy, you're gonna take the money, okay?

I'm gonna get you more from my brother if you want.

But please, come on. Take it here.

Don't make no trouble. Please!

- Here. - I don't want it.

Half of it's yours. You deserve it.

It was our car, Al.

I could never stand up to my old man like that.

Maybe life is shitty.

It is shitty.

Tell you something, Birdy.

I'm not trying to pin life anymore.

I don't even fucking understand it.

I just want to make it through with some dignity, like everybody else.

Of course, if there was any real dignity,

then there wouldn't be any sex.

Listen, I'm gonna go now, all right?

All right?

All right.

But I'll be back.

Hey, Renaldi!

Renaldi! Renaldi!

Renaldi, let me out! Let me out!

Birdy?

Birdy?

Birdy!

- You okay, Al? - Yeah.

You were moaning like you were in pain or something.

- Is your face bothering you? - No.

Listen, you won't tell anyone about this, will you?

No, of course not.

No, sir, not yet.

Yeah, he's here right now.

Okay.

His file came in this morning.

Okay.

Would you come over here, please?

Is your serial number 10107003 or 10107008?

It's 003. Why?

I want to get it right.

And it's C-O-L-U-M-B-A-T-O, Sergeant Alfonso?

What is this? Am I being taken prisoner here, or what?

The major wants some more information on you.

- What you got there, my file? - Yeah.

Everything about you.

Okay...

there we go.

Is there any history of insanity in your family?

No.

Why are you asking me?

Suicides?

What?

Any suicides?

Not yet.

You can finish that later. Just bring me what you've got.

Come on in.

Excuse me, Major.

Is something wrong with your secretary?

Oh, you mean the spitting.

Ever since he was in combat, he's had a bad taste in his mouth.

Don't worry, Sergeant. We're working on him. Have a seat.

Why was he asking me all those questions?

I'm not a patient here.

I like to know who I'm dealing with.

How do you think the Army's treated you, Sergeant?

Not bad. Okay, I guess.

It says here that you attacked a superior officer

just after your arrival in Saigon.

We were in a bar.

I just hit him.

You knocked out four of his teeth and broke his nose.

I hit him hard. He was dogging me.

- You think you might have overreacted? - Maybe.

Listen, sir, we all make mistakes.

Of course, but the important thing is to learn from our mistakes.

Don't you think?

So shouldn't we be talking about the patient here?

Whose idea was it to steal that car? Yours or the patient's?

Steal a car?

Yes, I believe it was in Atlantic City.

Oh, that!

No, that was just a misunderstanding.

You see, my father had it registered in his name.

- We were having a good time, you know. - Mm-hmm.

Is that how your father saw it?

No, not exactly.

What did he do?

He took away my allowance.

Listen, you little wise guy.

I've got better things to do than to play games with you!

I should probably send you back where you came from!

You don't have to do that, sir.

Maybe you haven't noticed

what happens to men like your friend, who don't get such special attention.

What do you mean?

They stay here for the rest of their lives.

They rot. Sometimes they just die.

Listen, sir, I'm sure I can get through to him.

I just have to have some more time.

All right, Sergeant.

This is not an indefinite stay for you.

You can go.

One more thing.

Did you or your friend resent your father

for that misunderstanding about the car?

No, sir.

We both really liked my father.

He was a heck of a guy.

Not so bad, right?

No.

Oh, shit! I should be done with him by now.

Would you feed him while I go finish up on the ward?

- Yeah, sure. - Thanks.

Take this.

I'll be right back.

I saw that cockeyed look of yours, Birdy.

That look always means something.

You think I was hitting on her, don't you?

You think maybe she likes me?

You know, you really got to quit it with this crap.

I gotta get out of here.

That shrink of yours is giving me the eye like I'm crazy.

It's not a great feeling.

Not that it ever seemed to bother you.

Come on, Birdy, eat it.

This is ridiculous. If you could see yourself squatting here

and me trying to shovel this crap down your throat,

you'd probably laugh yourself to death.

What?

Look, I'm not gonna have another

talking-to-the-wall conversation with you, Birdy.

Could you decide if you're listening or not?

All right, we'll do it your way.

We'll sit here and commune like goddamn birds.

Queep queep. Hey, pretty.

Come here.

Queep queep queep.

How do you do that?

Queep queep queeeeeep.

Your mother said enough for tonight, son.

It's almost three o'clock in the morning.

Yeah, I'm working on my ornithop...

Come on, come on! Enough's enough!

We're supposed to be asleep!

You tell him, Walt. You're his father.

Come on, son.

Leave the bird alone.

Then the... the bird's feather.

It has a hollow shaft, with... with feeders for circulation of blood.

On either side of the shaft are branches, called barbs,

which branch into barbules,

which have little barbicels on 'em, with hooks on the end of 'em.

It can all be pulled apart, like a zipper.

And then re-zipped.

That's what a bird's doing, when it runs its beak through its feather,

re-zipping feathers that have come apart.

But flying is much more than flapping wings.

A bird can flap its wings and not move an inch,

and then, when it wants to fly,

the slightest flick of its wings sends it up against the sky.

You have to feel that air has substance and can hold you up.

It's mostly a matter of confidence.

Fuck 'em. What do they know, anyway?

But did you notice Doris Robinson giving you the eye in there?

She must be hot for mad-scientist types or something.

- You ought to ask her out. - I don't think so, Al.

I can't afford to take her anyplace anyway.

It doesn't cost anything.

You think Cheryl's charging me for it?

Look, I'm gonna go up to the cafeteria to get some mystery meat. You wanna come?

No, I want to go down and talk to my dad.

Dad?

Dad!

Yo! I'm in here.

Come on in.

You had lunch yet?

- No, I'm not hungry. - You gotta eat.

Grab a sandwich and sit down.

Dad...

I wanna ask you a question.

Shoot.

I want another canary, a male for mating.

I thought maybe you could talk to Mom about it.

I don't know. We don't want to antagonise her.

I had a heck of a time getting her to let you build that aviary.

She's worried,

about what must be costing for the feed,

the lumber and whatnot.

Tell her not to worry. I mean, birdseed's cheap.

- and Al and I swipe the lumber. - I sure won't tell her that.

Already she's convinced that your friend is Al Capone.

Yeah, I know.

Don't think your mom doesn't want what's best.

She's concerned that you develop interesting friends

that'll help you... you know, fit in.

- Here. - Fit into what?

Whatever. You know, life.

She thinks I won't fit into life with Al and a canary?

No, it's not that. It's just, well...

Take me.

I've always had an interest in wicker.

When I met your mom, I could make a better wicker chair

than any man in Philadelphia.

I still could, if anybody wanted one.

But nobody cares about wicker anymore.

So I don't fit into the scheme of things.

You see what I'm saying?

Your mother just wants you to wind up better than me.

Every parent wants that.

I'm just saying you should be interested in something practical too.

I guess it's kinda hard to be good at something nobody wants, huh?

Yeah.

- You really want this, don't you? - Yeah.

Okay.

I'll talk with your mom.

Don't worry, Perta, I won't let him out till you're sure of him.

I think he's mostly bluff.

I'm here, Birdy.

- Hi. - Hi. How you doing?

- Okay. - Oh, you got another one!

- His name's Alfonso. - What?

Yeah.

He likes to fight and show off a lot.

So you named after me. Thanks a lot.

- Well, it's not really his real name. - What's his real name?

I don't know. I don't speak canary yet.

Yet?

Queep!

Queep!

- Queep! - Fuck!

Queep!

- This is getting weird. - Queep!

Didn't I tell you to stop that?

I told you, Mom. It's for gym.

I don't know. It looks kinda crazy.

She's calling you crazy.

Ask her what she's been doing with our baseballs all these years!

You know, I think she buries 'em. Just have to find out where.

I think she burns 'em, Al. We're never gonna find 'em.

Yeah, probably.

How long?

Same.

An hour.

But now I'm up to ten pounds.

Jesus, with that and all the weight you lost,

you could really clean up in wrestling.

Do you realise...

Do you realise that's forty pounds of flapping power, Al?

You ain't gonna fly any more than I could, Birdy.

The reason you couldn't fly, Al,

is 'cause you don't believe you could fly.

It's a snake, Al!

- Damn snake! - What?

Got its whole foot in its mouth.

It must have been two feet long.

- I think it was a rat snake. - I don't believe you.

- It was that long! - Yeah, right.

Are we getting started or what?

Patience, Al. You just gotta have patience.

This place is a garbage dump.

Four, five, six...

It smells!

Nine, ten, eleven...

You sure this is gonna work?

- Sixteen... - Yeah.

You just make sure you stop at the edge.

I don't want you or my bike going in the water.

Well, how about you?

I've been practising off my roof.

I can fall twenty feet now without hurting myself.

That's got to be a forty-foot drop out there, Birdy.

It's all a matter of weight versus density, Al.

At my weight, travelling at thirty-two feet a second,

my downward velocity isn't going to increase

after I've fallen twenty feet or so.

What does that mean?

It means the worst thing that can happen

- is I get the wind knocked out of me. - Oh, yeah?

Yeah, but it's not gonna happen anyway,

'cause I'm gonna fly.

How do I look?

Dumb.

- Okay. - Okay!

Ready.

- ♪ Para bailar La Bamba ♪ - Faster, Al!

- ♪ Para bailar La Bamba ♪ - Faster!

♪ Se necessita una poca de gracia

♪ Una poca de gracia, para mi, para ti ♪

♪ Ay arriba, ay arriba

♪ Ay, arriba arriba

- ♪ Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere ♪ - Oh, shit!

♪ Yo no soy... ♪

Birdy!

Birdy!

I'm coming!

Just hold on!

Fuck.

Are you okay?

Yeah.

Are you?

Sure.

I don't know what happened. I was going really good and I just...

fell out of the sky.

Gesundheit.

How come every time I tried to save your ass,

I ended up getting sick?

You thought that was funny, huh?

Who are you supposed to be, the Mona Lisa or what?

That is a smile, isn't it?

What do you mean, "dissociative behaviour"?

- A smile's a smile. - Not necessarily.

It might be an involuntary manifestation of some unconnected emotion.

In order for it to be significant, it has to be reactionary.

- He was reacting! - To what?

- A joke. - What joke?

It was how I used to always get sick when he was hurt.

Do you think he smiled at that?

Yeah, it's kind of a private joke.

Why don't you explain it to me?

I don't know if I can. It's complicated.

I wish this was giving me some hope,

but there's no concrete progress.

The patient is more responsive to drug therapy than...

Yeah, right! You assholes pumped him up so full of shit

he doesn't know who he is!

Who the fuck do you think you are, anyway?

I'm his doctor and your superior officer!

Now, I am familiar with your anti-authoritarian tendencies, Sergeant,

and I don't care to see them here!

Why do you think it's so difficult for you to control your violent impulses?

It's not.

Then why do they keep recurring?

Look...

I'm sorry.

I'm frustrated.

I just want to help my friend.

I don't think you can anymore.

I can. I know it.

I'm sorry, I don't see any point to this, Sergeant.

I think it's time you returned to Fort Dix.

I understand it's time for your bandages to come off.

Now, if you'll excuse me.

Ronsky, see Sergeant Columbato out, would you?

Sir?

I know you wanted me to remember something

about the patient's past that might help.

Well, there is one thing.

- Maybe it sounds a little crazy, but... - What is it?

You see, he lived just over the left field fence

of our local baseball park.

And whenever anybody would hit a homer,

his mother would hide the balls.

She wouldn't give them up for anything. It's weird,

but it's almost like he felt guilty about it.

I don't think a day went by when he wasn't apologising to somebody,

swearing he'd get their balls back.

It was kind of an obsession.

I mean, he'd spent hours looking for them.

We figured maybe she buried them.

Anyway, he never found them, and I was just wondering

maybe if you could get her to send them here,

that might do something.

How long ago was this, Alfonso?

It went on all through high school, sir.

There must be an awful lot of baseballs in that collection.

Okay, I'll extend your visit until I can find out about these baseballs.

- I hope this works. - Me too.

- How's it going? - How you doing?

- Oh, pretty good. Just shooting some hoops. - Fucking A!

Funny, any other war, we would've been heroes.

Oh, man!

We didn't know what we were getting into with this John Wayne shit, did we?

Boy, were we dumb!

We were always dumb.

Before the government, it was some asshole on a street corner in Philly.

Remember with Sagessa and the dogs, Birdy?

So somebody buys a cute puppy for Christmas.

Then, once they find out how much it eats, and how much it shits,

they dump it cross-town.

Pretty soon you got packs of wild dogs, that are big and hungry and not so cute.

Some people are so upset they wanna shoot 'em.

How do you find homes for all the dogs, Sagessa?

Huh, if I tell you that, you don't need old Joe Sagessa.

You forget my dollar-a-day, dollar-a-dog proposition.

You go into business for yourself, right?

This ain't like you, Sagessa.

Since when were you out to make the world a better place?

Hey, you never heard of enlightened self-interest?

The way I got it figured,

we're doing a good deed, and making a buck besides.

There's one!

These dogs can really bite.

Ah, there she is! Watch this.

Go slow.

Okay, watch me now.

Slow and dangerous.

You gotta let 'em know just who you are.

Okay now.

Watch me.

Shit!

Dollar a dog.

All right, we got 'em all now.

I'll take this mean one. He's the leader.

Damn it!

♪ Para bailar La Bamba

♪ Para bailar La Bamba

♪ Se necessita una poca de gracia

♪ Una poca de gracia

♪ Para mi, para ti, ay arriba, ay arriba

♪ Ay, arriba arriba

- ♪ Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere ♪ - Shit!

♪ Yo no soy marinero

♪ Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan... ♪

Lift him up!

♪ Soy capitan

♪ Bamba, bamba

Grab that one.

♪ Bamba, bamba

♪ Bamba, bamba

♪ Bamba, bamba

♪ Bamba, bamba... ♪

Where are we going, anyway?

Hey, I told you, that's my department.

Do you wanna get out of here or what?

Listen, Sagessa, I just thought this was some...

Hey, you sons of bitches! You got my dog!

My dog is in the back of the goddamn truck!

What?

Christ, he's crazy!

- Fuck off! Son of a bitch! - You got my dog!

What's your problem?

You got my dog in the back of your truck, you little shit!

Stop! I think you should give the guy his dog!

If it's his dog, you should stop and give it to him.

- Bullshit, we're almost there. - Where?

Jesus!

What is this place?

I've never seen so many flies.

What's going on here, Birdy?

They're electrocuting them, you morons!

Where's my dog?

- If anything happens to my dog, I'll kill you! - Are they electrocuting these dogs?

It's humane, ain't it? What do you want them to do?

Hit 'em over the head with a tyre iron?

Hey, get off my truck, you son of a bitch!

Your goddamn dog ain't in my truck! Your goddamn dog ain't here!

- What the fuck is going on here?! - Get the dogs out, Al!

You assholes, they're killing 'em to make dog food!

Dogs gotta eat too, ain't they?

Chico, come here!

Run, Birdy!

What is it, sweetie?

What is it?

I'm starting to worry

that I'll never really fly, the way I've been going.

As scary as a bird's life must be,

at least they have that.

They can always fly away.

You know them damn birds attract mice?

Mrs Angelucci said them feathers can give you asthma.

Get out of here! Get!

Time's running out. I'm not giving up on you.

I'm going to get you to talk to me, even if I have to punch you out.

I'm not kidding around, Birdy. I can't hold Weiss off.

I almost told him about the flying yesterday.

Goddamn it! Why can't you listen to me?!

You want to fly? He'll let you fly!

He's going to send you air freight

to some giant cage in a full-time nut house!

Shit, he'll probably send me, too!

We'll have feeding perches, cups, the whole fucking deal!

Maybe your mom will even dig up your pigeon suit!

Then Weiss can sell you to a sideshow in Atlantic City!

You can double bill with Zimmy the Fish!

All right, Birdy.

It's time to start flapping your wings and peeping.

I don't believe it, you know.

If you really want to spend the rest of your life as a bird,

then at least be consistent. Look at you.

You don't hop like a bird.

You don't really sit like one.

And you sure as hell can't fly like one.

If you don't like what I'm saying, Birdy, why don't you tell me to shut up?

You always were hard to hurt, Birdy.

Real losers never hurt.

Oh, here you go! Here comes Hannah to feed you.

You like that, don't you?

- What are you doing, Al? - I'm going to watch you feed him.

It's fun, watching him be fed. He's cute when he's fed.

Will you stop taunting him?

Look, he's reacting to me!

He's giving me that pissed-off look. You're pissed, aren't you!

Will you stop it? It isn't working.

- How do you know? - It's obvious, isn't it?

You fucked it up! Why'd you have to come in here?

Because I work here. He's part of my job.

Yeah? Well, he's part of my goddamn life!

Come on. Look up. Look up.

Look up. Open your eyes. Open your eyes.

Al?

Can I talk to you?

Hey.

Back there...

I didn't mean to make you feel worse.

I know he means a lot to you.

But, Al...

It's all right.

What?

I'm sorry.

- I didn't mean to do that to you. - Don't be.

It's just that I haven't touched a woman in a long time.

Al, it's all right.

Really.

I gotta go.

Come here.

What do you want?

You want to go outside?

You want to go outside?

Want to go outside and play with the rest of the birds?

No?

You going to give me a kiss?

Hmm?

In a dream,

I'm trying to decide what I am.

When I sleep, I'm giving myself strength.

I'm reaching for the force to fly.

Perta waits,

cups herself to receive me.

I hover,

then lower myself into her.

Perta and I become one.

I see through her eyes,

fly on her wings.

I am no longer alone.

It occurs to me

that all I did was put two birds in the aviary,

with some food and water and nothing else,

and now there are four of them.

I know this is perfectly natural.

It's one of the things life is about.

But to see it happen in my bedroom,

under my own eyes,

is magic.

All I want to do now is watch the birds.

I'm getting so I don't care

about the things that happen in the outside world.

I feel turned upside down.

Somehow the babies seem to know their place is in the air.

It must be the knowing,

not the flapping of wings.

Are you sleeping or what?

Doris Robinson's on the phone.

She wants to talk with you about the prom.

Oh, don't give me that look. I swear to you,

if you don't get out of this room and go to the prom like all the other kids,

I'm getting rid of these birds. Every last one of them!

- Hi, Dad. - Hello, son.

Kind of a mess in here, with all these boys drinking.

Can't hold their liquor.

I was looking for you before.

Yeah, well, I didn't want to embarrass you with your date.

You wouldn't embarrass me.

I, er... I wanted to give you this, so you could go someplace afterwards.

Your girl there's real pretty.

She's not really my girl.

Thanks.

Well, here we are.

I'd like to keep it as a souvenir.

I know you didn't want to take me, but...

you've been very nice about it,

and now you can have what you want.

I'm sorry.

What?

I'm not very good at this.

It's okay.

It doesn't matter.

How do they do it?

I don't know.

We should go.

Will I see you again?

Sure, I'll see you in school on Monday.

The dream is as real to me now as my waking life.

I don't know where one begins

and the other ends.

I wish I could tell Al.

But I'm afraid to.

In my dreams,

nothing holds me down.

Everything's out and away.

There's nothing in my life to keep me here anymore.

I wish I could die and be born again as a bird.

Okay, here you go.

Come on, Birdy, go ahead.

I'm sorry about before.

Birdy?

You gotta eat.

Okay.

I'll just leave it here for you.

You gotta come back, Birdy.

Help! Help!

Medics! Smitty's been hit.

He's been hit!

Oh, Jesus, Birdy!

I'm losing it.

♪ Here comes Santa Claus Here comes Santa Claus

♪ Right down Santa Claus Lane ♪

How you doing, Al?

- What's this? - I don't know.

- Your friend's mother sent it to you. - You're kidding!

- No. - No, it couldn't be!

I don't believe this!

Okay, Birdy! I got you now!

Just wait till you see this!

And now, direct from their endless engagement in South Philadelphia,

you thought you'd never see them, but here they are!

Ta-da!

It's the baseballs!

Your mom sent them. Can you believe it?

Come on! This is it!

This is your last chance!

You gotta give me some kind of reaction!

Come on!

I need you!

If Weiss gets a look inside my head, he's going to lock me up too.

I'm scared, Birdy.

I'm more scared now than I was in the war,

and I was more scared there than anybody I knew.

Talk to me again, Birdy.

Birdy?

Hey, Birdy, where are you?

Oh, no!

Well, now!

What happened to you?

You get so hot with Doris, you forgot to put your clothes on?

Huh?

If your old lady saw you like this, she'd have a stroke.

Okay, lover-boy!

Tell me about Doris, with plenty of details.

There's nothing to tell.

Oh, no, don't give me this gentleman-of-honour crap.

I want to hear about last night.

I'm not sure I can explain it to you, Al.

Oh, I knew it! I knew she'd do it.

Tell me what happened.

Not with her. With me.

Last night I flew.

I really know what it feels like to fly.

Oh, you flew? How you flew?

I'm not sure.

It's not something you can really take apart.

When I fly, it's like in a dream.

Only it's not a dream.

Thing is, Al, you can't really put it into words.

You just kind of have to feel it.

You're telling me you can fly like a bird?

When I fly, Al,

I am a bird.

This is getting too weird, Birdy. You gotta stop it with this.

I thought if anybody would understand, it would be you, Al.

Well, I don't.

- I don't even want to hear about it. - Why?

Because I'm tired of it!

We used to have fun together.

Now you're always off by yourself,

flying around inside your goddamn head!

I hope this dream, or whatever it is, goes away.

I think it's bullshit.

I shouldn't have said that, Birdy.

I shouldn't have left you then.

It's working. He just needs a little more time.

I'm not blind, Sergeant.

I'm sorry the baseballs didn't work,

but there's no sense in going on with this.

And his condition is deteriorating.

He hardly moves anymore. He's stopped eating.

In fact, we're gonna have to put him on an IV.

- I could stay and I could... - You should be back at Fort Dix.

There's nothing to keep you here any longer.

I just want to say goodbye to him.

Go ahead.

Alone.

All right, I'll see you in my office afterwards.

Perta! Come back!

Perta!

Perta!

Come back!

No!

Stop! Stop! No!

Stand by. Stand by.

Don't worry, Birdy.

I'm not leaving you again.

Al? You all right?

Doctor Weiss asked me to come and get you.

I'm not leaving him.

- They're not going to let you stay. - Why not?

Don't you have to go back to the hospital?

I'm not going back.

Hey.

Why don't you come outside with me, and we can talk.

I don't want to talk.

That's all I've done since I've been here.

Besides, nobody listens to anybody anyway, even if they aren't crazy.

You go tell Weiss I'm staying with my friend.

Al...

Tell him!

Don't worry, Birdy, they can't make me leave you.

I can't go out there.

I couldn't make it.

They got the best of us, Birdy.

We're both totally screwed up.

I mean, we haven't had anything to do with making our own lives.

Fuck!

I was always so damned sure

about being myself,

and how nobody was going to make me do anything I didn't want.

And now, here I am.

They finish you off with a discharge or put you on a casualty list.

It doesn't matter how special you are or were.

I feel like one of those dogs nobody wanted, remember?

You know, when that shell went off in my face,

I could smell burning flesh,

and it was crazy,

because the smell was so sweet,

so familiar...

And then I realised that it was my own skin that was frying.

And I couldn't even touch the pain.

I don't even know what I look like anymore, Birdy.

I don't know if it's me under these bandages

or what some Army meat-cutter thinks is me.

Jesus Christ,

I don't want a patched-up, instant-pity excuse for a face.

I just want it to be Al under here.

Not some sewn-together freak mask.

Shit!

What's so great about their fucking world anyway?

We'll just stay here and keep the hell out of it.

I don't have to go get these bandages off.

You see, I figured out what you're doing, Birdy.

You're right.

We should just hide out and not talk with anybody.

And, every so often,

go crazy,

and run up the wall,

and spit!

And throw shit at them, like the loony across the hall!

Yeah, that's what we can do.

That's what we can do.

Al?

Sometimes you're so full of shit.

Was that you?

It was!

You talked! It's really you!

I can't believe it. Say something else.

Al...

I can't believe it. It's really you!

How come you decided to talk?

I didn't decide.

It just happened. I don't know.

- You needed me, didn't you? - Yeah!

They think we're both crazy, you know.

What's going on here?

He talked! Come on, Birdy, say something.

- Birdy? - Come on, goddamn it, talk!

- He talked before. - This isn't going to work.

I'm telling the truth! He did!

What are you doing, you dumb shit?

Don't you know they'll keep you forever?!

Goddamn it, Birdy, talk!

Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Birdy, talk!

- Come on, let's go. - No! Goddamn it!

I'm staying here with him!

This isn't a game anymore, Birdy. Why wouldn't you talk?

I didn't have anything to say to him.

What are you, crazy?

We have to get out of here.

Come on!

No! Birdy!

Birdy, don't!

No!

Birdy!

Birdy!

What?

♪ Para bailar La Bamba

♪ Para bailar La Bamba

♪ Se necessita una poca de gracia

♪ Una poca de gracia, para mi, para ti

♪ Ay arriba, ay arriba

♪ Ay, arriba arriba

♪ Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere

♪ Yo no soy marinero

♪ Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan

♪ Soy capitan, soy capitan

♪ Bamba, bamba

♪ Bamba, bamba

♪ Bamba, bamba... ♪

SUBTITLES BY POWERHOUSE FILMS LTD