Original subtitles

[music playing]

JOHNNY WILLIAMS: I am the River Niger.

Hear my waters.

A big, old, big-time first lieutenant

in the Air Force of America, Strategic Air Command,

navigator.

Aw, Johnny Williams, you know you're the biggest

fool in God's Creation.

[phone ringing]

Now how in hell can you get so worked up

over the white man's air force?

Well, I don't like white folks either,

but I sure do loves their war machines.

War machines?

Killing machines, there's no heroism in that, Johnny.

It's just death-- dirty, nasty death.

The fact remains, monkey-chasing son of a bitch,

the fact remains that I've got a son coming

home from the Air Force tomorrow,

and you ain't got nobody--

--but me.

I am the last of my line, and I ain't

about to bring no innocent children

into this pile of horse shit.

It's presumptuous as hell for you

to think you can figure this shit out.

Then what have we got brains for, huh?

It's for thinking, stupid.

My advice to you, monkey chaser, is fart,

piss, screw, eat, run, fight, beat your meat.

Criticize, sympathize, but for God sakes,

stop thinking-- the white man's sickness.

I got to go to the bathroom.

Words, words, words.

Yeah, in the beginning was the word,

and the word was God, my Jamaican tree climber.

I need $190.

You what?

Loan me $190.

You mean you drank all your money away?

Hell, yes.

You were a big shot, setting up everybody at the bar,

and now you come to me.

Right, nigger, now do I get the bread or not?

I ain't required to give you my life

story for a measly handout.

A measly handout of $190?

Right.

You already owe me $340.

How am I gonna explain to Mattie?

Now, dude, are you gonna loan me the money or not?

Well, well, well, look at the great African warrior

now, about to get his ass kicked.

Hello, uh, excuse me, but I'm a friend of Jeff Williams,

and this is where he lives, isn't it?

When he is home, yes, but, uh, he won't

be here till noon tomorrow.

Oh, um, would you help me with my suitcases?

Yes, ma'am.

So you are Jeff's intended?

Oh, well, not exactly, sir, but we're

very good friends, though.

Ah, but, uh, you intend to make him

you-- your intended, am I right?

Huh?

Then I am right, what a lovely smile, miss, uh?

Uh, Vanderguild, Ann Vanderguild.

Jeff never wrote us about you.

Well, he doesn't exactly know I'm here, sir.

Say, where are you from, little lad?

Canada, I mean originally I am from South Africa.

Oh, this, uh, gentleman here is Dudley

Stanton, Dr. Dudley Stanton.

Oh, I-- I am a nurse.

Perhaps you could help me find a job.

You see, young lady, your perspective father-in-law

here is a philosopher-poet.

A poet.

Philosopher-poet.

Uh, no, I'm just-- I'm just a poet, uh, a house

painter and a-- and a poet.

Then read us one of your masterpieces, eh?

Do I have to, Dudley?

$190 worth, hell yes, hmm?

Then give it to me.

You see, young lady, he doesn't have sense

enough to collect them for himself,

so I have to do it for him.

Then one day I'm going to publish them.

Probably in your own name.

Read us the poem.

I am the River Niger.

Hear my waters.

Uh, no, no, that, uh, that one is, uh, not quite ready yet.

Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, lord, I

ain't nowhere near tired.

And my soul seeks not to be flabby.

Peace is a muscle-less word, a vacuum, a hole in space.

In my dreams, I struggle and slash and crash and cry.

Damn you, you wilderness.

I will cut my way through, and the wilderness

shouts back, go around me.

And I answer, hell, no.

The joke's on both of us, and I will have the last laugh.

The wilderness sighs and grows stronger as I, too, round out

my biceps in this ageless, endless due,

hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

I don't feel no ways tired.

I want a musclebound spirit.

I say, I want a musclebound soul because I

don't feel no ways tired.

I feel like dancing through the valley of the shadow of death.

I don't feel no ways tired, yeah.

That's beautiful.

Thank you.

Give me the damn money.

Hey, this is a blank sheet of paper.

Yeah, I know.

I just made it up as I went along.

Oh, hell, I'll write it down for you.

Mama, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Mom.

Hello, my dear.

Would you like me to help you with them?

Yes, dear, [inaudible].

Who is that [inaudible]?

Just a friend of the family.

How are you feeling, daughter?

You look a bit peaked to me.

Not too well, Mama, not too well.

You should come to the office, Mattie.

Let me have a look at you.

He's a quack.

Don't go.

Well, I guess that's my cue to go home.

I'll be God damned, uh-huh, huh-uh, Mrs. Wilhelmina

Brown is going to apologize.

Over my dead husband's grave.

Would you like me to fix dinner for you, Mrs. Williams?

Who is this child?

This is Ann Velde-- Vander--

Vanderguild.

Vanderguild, sweetheart, uh, from South Africa.

She's a friend of Jeff's, just passing through so I

asked her to spend the night.

Where is she gonna spend it, the bathroom?

Mama, what is wrong with you tonight?

She had a little too much.

That's all.

Come here, dear.

You can stay the night.

You know, Jeff will be here tomorrow, God, [inaudible].

Yes, mom, and I'll be so happy to see him again.

Say, why don't you and me take a little run

and leave these black beauties to themselves

to get acquainted.

Hold on there, Johnny Williams.

Where is it?

Where is what?

Don't play games with me, Johnny Williams.

It's mortgage payment week, remember?

Come on.

Give it to me.

All right, great African warrior, do your stuff.

Oh, oh, oh.

Oh, yeah, uh-huh.

Oh, leave me with $5, woman.

That's all I ask.

Promise you won't be out too late tonight.

I got this chick, you see, warm as gingerbread

in the wintertime.

Johnny, there's a young girl sitting over there.

Tender, oven-ready sweet 16 year old stuff what can shake

her some tail feathers like the leaves in March,

and we're gonna stay in the saddle all night.

Get out of here.

Go on.

Go on, Johnny.

Get out.

What a warrior.

Come on, sickle head.

[humming]

[knocking]

OK, OK, OK, just a minute, just a minute.

Jeff in, baby.

Come in.

Come in?

Hey, Mama, I am already in.

Look, I'm Chips.

What's your name?

Ann.

Ann, huh, not bad, Ann, not bad at all, baby.

Jeff won't be here until noon tomorrow.

I know that.

That's what he wrote to family.

But he wrote Moe that he might be here tonight.

Who is Moe?

Who-- who's Moe?

Man, Moe is the leader.

The leader of what?

He's the leader.

Now are you trying to be funny or something?

Now he wrote him he will be here tonight.

You tell him we'll be back round about midnight, fine ass.

Hey, girl, now one thing I can't stand

is a rambunctious black bitch.

You hear me?

You get the hell out of here.

Hey, if I wanted to, I can go and cut

your drawers off without touching your pants

and take what I want.

You hear, take what I want?

Over my dead body.

[shouting]

[laughter]

Ain't no big thing, baby.

I even made it with a cop before,

and she was pretty, too, looked something just like you.

It wasn't bad.

Once I got off on two.

You damn dog, you get the hell out of here!

[laughter]

Be cool, girl.

Be cool, and, oh, look here.

You tell Jeff that, uh, Moe and I will be back

round about midnight, hear?

Oh, shit, man.

[music playing]

[knocking]

Just a minute.

[knocking]

Just a minute, Mr. Williams?

Mrs. Williams, is that you?

Hey, Ms. Ann.

Ms. Ann, I want you to meet Big Moe.

Big Moe, this is Ms. Ann.

-Hey, Ann. -Ain't she fine?

Come on.

Let me see that [inaudible], baby.

Don't you touch her, [inaudible].

Hey, hey, cool it. Cool it.

Now get yourself together, Chips.

Get yourself together, nigger.

[arguing]

Hey, hey, lighten up.

Lighten up.

Is Jeff here?

No.

No, what do you mean, no?

Just what I said, no.

Ain't she a smart ass?

Just like I told you.

Be quiet.

Man, well, she seems like she's for real anyway.

Oh, Moe, Ms. Ann [inaudible], uh-huh, ain't you, baby?

Hey, why don't you shut the fuck up and sit down?

All right, Moe, all right.

I'm-- I'm sorry, uh, Ann.

Skeeter, man, if you fall asleep, I will break your head.

Do you hear me?

I-- I'm just meditating.

Ann, just excuse all this dumb-- look.

All we want to do is wait for Jeff.

I think you understand.

You know what I think?

I think you are all a bunch of very rude bastards.

That's what I think.

Oh, Moe, please, just let me squeeze up on her chest

once, please.

Now look, we ain't got time for no--

[door opening]

Mr. Williams, Mr. Williams.

Oh, shit, huh?

Mr. Williams.

Huh?

Uh-oh, hmm, company, I see.

Unwanted company, sir.

Uh, we just wanted to see Jeff, Mr. Williams.

Ain't that Little Moe, Little Moe Hayes?

[laughter]

Ain't that what we used to call you, Little Moe?

Boy, I ain't seen you since [inaudible].

Hey, how you doing, Mr. Williams?

Good to see you, son, yeah, who are your friends?

Oh, uh, this is, uh, my girl, Gail, and this is old Chips.

And then you remember Skeet, and this is the new guy, Al.

This is Mr. Williams and Dr. Stanton.

Nice to meet you, now, gentlemen, go home.

It's the wee hours of the morning.

Well, uh, we're gonna wait for Jeff, sir.

Moe--

What did you say?

I said we're gonna wait for Jeff.

Well, uh, we're gonna have a celebration for Jeff noon

tomorrow, and you're welcome to come, all of y'all, but, uh,

that's noon tomorrow.

No, no, we can't leave until we see Jeff.

Now I'm sorry.

Hmm, you sorry, huh?

All right, you wait till I get back,

then you're gonna see how sorry I am, OK?

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Yeah, well, father may forgive them,

but I don't, not worth a God damn.

Say, baby, you ain't the only one in here with no

smoke machine, and this mother fucker will pop,

you know, when I'm--

Put that thing up, man.

Ann, Dudley, I don't know if this old hand grenade will work

or not, but when I pull the pin and throw it at them

niggers, you jump in the kitchen, OK?

Hey, Moe, uh, this old man is crazy.

Uh, just don't move.

Oh, Moe, he's just faking.

Uh, uh, yeah, OK, uh, Mr. Williams, uh, you win,

noon tomorrow.

Let's go.

I gotta give it to you, Mr. Williams,

you got some real stuff going for you.

I know.

Impressive, presumptuous as hell, but impressive.

Yeah, and if I don't get this pin back in this mother fucker,

it's gonna get impressive.

Come on, Dudley.

[humming]

The old bag is dreaming.

What?

Dudley, I've been waiting for this a solid week.

What?

I said, you're gonna have one for the road.

Be patient, nigger.

Be patient.

[humming continues]

Pot ain't nothing but a big wreck.

I used to tell that, uh, big Ben Brown.

That big, old black man of mine sure

could hunt him some possums.

Here's to Grandmammy.

Here's to us.

Here's to Jeff.

Here's to his daddy.

Here's to his sweet mommy.

Here's to Jesus Christ, one of the baddest dudes

that ever dropped.

[music playing]

Hey, baby.

Jeff, oh, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, I promised your mother.

Jeff, oh, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, I promised your mother.

Oh, you did?

Well, she won't know, and what she don't know--

Well?

I don't know for sure, Mattie.

I mean, it's obvious you've got some growths on your ribcage,

but, uh--

You mean you don't know whether or not they're

malignant or not, right?

I want Dr. Charles to take a look at you.

He'll probably recommended a biopsy.

I've just finished talking to him on the phone.

He's expecting you.

Is he the one that operated on me before?

Yeah.

11 years, I thought I was cured.

He's a good man.

Did I ever tell you how beautiful your hands are?

Mattie, dear Mattie.

Promise me you're gonna tell him, Dudley, at least

after a while.

I promise.

Hear my waters, rushing and popping with muffled finger

drum staccato.

It is life.

It is life.

It is life.

It is life.

It is life you hear, stretching its limbs in my waters, yeah.

It is life you hear, stretching its limbs in my waters, yeah.

You're just in time.

For what?

Do you know that I, me, lightning, Johnny Williams,

more powerful than a speeding locomotive,

I have just fixed up this whole yard all by myself.

And now I am making it.

Without telling the captain.

What's that supposed to mean?

Johnny, Mattie came by my office this morning, early.

I examined her, and, well, I discovered

a lot of irregularities.

Well, what are you quacks gonna do now, remove her other tit?

Johnny, I don't want to alarm her until I'm sure.

MATTIE: Johnny.

She just keeps on going, Dudley.

I don't know how in the hell, but she

just keeps on keeping on.

When are you gonna know for sure?

This Friday evening.

Johnny, Johnny?

She just keeps on keeping on.

[music playing]

Hey, Jeff, you little jive-ass turkey, when did you get home?

That ain't nice, Jeff.

Hey, listen, Big Moe is looking for you.

Stop being so obvious.

If Moe ever finds out about your sweet shit--

He won't, sweet baby.

Then don't give me that sweet baby jive.

Look, man, have you got it?

Well, fuck you.

I hate smart-ass dope fiends.

Look, man, you-- you don't have to catch an attitude.

I'll catch a 'tude if I so desire.

Now I got the shit, and you want it.

So you walk soft, or you go to center now, nigger man.

Come on.

Look, come on man.

I'm sorry.

I know.

That's your problem.

You're the sorriest mother fucker I have ever come across.

Finish telling me about Buckley, man.

Oh, why do you always want to know about Buckley?

You sure they sent you from the home office, nigger?

Ever since they sent you here, you've

been bugging me about Buckley.

Hey, look, man, if there is a single man on the team,

I want to know who it is.

That's all, and why are you getting

so heated up about a little party gossip, huh?

I mean, you're getting so heated up,

baby, you clean forget about that deep-freeze chill

that's slipping and sliding through your bones, sugar baby.

Don't you make a mistake and think

a sissy can't play that Gary Cooper shit if he wants

to, nigger man.

I hate your guts.

Yeah, well, that's cool.

But I got what it takes to get your guts together,

and don't you forget it.

I got all the hole cards, baby.

I can even pull this trigger quicker than you can

because I stay in shape and you are a dope fiend.

Give me the shit, Al.

Just answer me one teeny, tiny, little question.

That's all.

Who killed Buckley?

Was it you?

No.

Chips?

It was-- it was out.

It was outside, dude.

Who?

Who?

He didn't leave his name.

He just-- he just did it and split.

Hey, man, the last I he-- the last I heard, man, the dude was

in-- was in Frisco.

Frisco?

Honest, man.

Why did y'all hate Buckley so anyway, huh?

He-- he was on a narco squad, and he used to raid it

and steal the scag and push it to the school kids,

always little girls.

He'd get 'em hooked and strung out and make

'em do freaky shit for a fix.

Any one of us would have blown him away.

I seen you trying to fill up on Chips.

You're lying, nigger.

You mean to tell me you don't know about Chips?

He mated with an embalmed corpse, and he brags about it.

Do you know what Moe calls him when he really gets mad at him?

Formaldehyde dick.

That shit you're snorting is not gonna last you forever.

We ought to call you formaldehyde brown eye.

Say, here come Formaldehyde himself.

You flake off, nigger boy.

I'm warning you.

Do you hear?

And you want to know something else, Alfreda?

That shit I told you about an outside dude ripping

off Buckley, I made that up.

You know something, boy?

Your ass is gonna be mine.

Do you hear?

You wait and see.

And you want to know something else?

I'm getting some good stuff as soon as we

get through rapping with Jeff.

I really don't need your shit, nigger.

[laughter]

Hey, wait, man.

What's this fool laughing about?

Old Gary Cooper here just got some lemon in his sucker.

[knocking]

Oh, bless my soul if it ain't foxy mama herself.

What's happening, baby, huh?

Hey, why don't you come over here and give me

a hug and a squeeze?

Oh, no?

Is Jeff back, huh?

He'll be here any minute.

Well, who else is here?

Uh-oh, you mean nothing but us chickens?

You mean little old Ms. Ann is in this big, old house

by herself, huh?

Like I said, he'll be here any minute.

Then we got to, ooh, get it on before he

gets back, right, mama?

Now why don't you, uh, show me just--

Eddie, come on, man.

[arguing]

It's all right.

Huh, the Chips.

He wants to see Jeff's room.

Well, I am going to show it to him.

All right, now you tow just take it easy and relax.

Make yourself at home, and call me if you see Big Moe coming.

Hey, he who hesitates is lost, right, mama?

All I want is just a hug and a squeeze.

You know where I'm coming from.

Show me Jeff's room.

There goes Formaldehyde.

I'll show you about the American brothers, huh, huh?

Oh, oh, yeah, this is gonna be sweet.

Lay your ass down.

I said, lay down now, because I got something for you.

What I got to do for you, they don't do in Africa, baby.

Look at that chocolate.

I'm gonna wear you out.

Hey, hey, what?

Jeff is here.

You OK, baby?

[frightened shouting]

Oh, please, don't do me, man.

She was [inaudible] on me, man.

Wait a minute.

Cool, nigger, be cool.

She don't mean that.

When I got the dough, she was feeling my balls.

Here comes Formaldehyde.

Nigger, look here.

Now, baby, you stay right here.

I'll be right back, hear?

Jeff, I didn't do anything, man.

I just looking at the house.

That's for real, brother.

Listen to me. -Move it.

Move it.

Hey, Jeff, I don't want to [inaudible]

your romance. [inaudible].

What's wrong with you, Jeff?

Don't be pulling on me.

That was a joke, yeah?

That was a joke, huh?

That's a joke, man.

That ain't even loaded, baby. -This ain't loaded?

Yeah.

Then if I pull the trigger, it won't matter then, right?

Oh, shit, don't do that.

Huh, right?

[interposing voices]

One of your generals, Moe.

Oh, get this fool off me.

Please, get him off me, man.

The next time I catch you looking cross eyed at my woman,

I'm gonna rid the world of one jive-ass nigger.

Moe, Moe, stop, fool.

He'd better become shy, quiet, and very unassuming,

'cause that's the only kind of nigger I tolerate.

You dig, huh?

Is, uh, that your steel, Joe?

It-- it's Chips'.

Shut up.

I'm Gail.

Oh, yeah, uh, uh, Jeff, this is my woman, Gail.

Hi, this is Ann, my woman, Moe, Gail.

Hello.

Oh, hey, man.

We are some viable machine.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

---and the more ferocious the survival machine,

the better his chance of getting back to God, who is

the supreme survival machine.

[agreeing]

--because he walks in, on, and in between air,

and that's why black folks are so magnificent,

you magnificent survival machine.

You know why Chips, uh, chowed down on your lady like he did?

'Cause he's a nigger.

No, I think it's a little bit more than that.

I think it's because of your letters, man.

You mean, uh, you showed my personal letters

to you to them, huh?

I mean, the last thing we expected,

come back talking about going to law school

and rapping about the Constitution and a whole lot

of upside the wall shit.

What's the point, man?

I'm talking about revolution, man.

Yeah, revolution, Moe, Moe, this ain't the '60s, man.

And the revolution ain't nothing but-- but talk, talk, talk.

Go into law, it's something, uh, it's concrete.

Yeah, it's concrete, man, and it's something that I

can do, not just talk about.

Hey, man, and we ain't just talking, either.

And we are about to serve notice on whitey,

and we want you with us.

JEFF: You already got it all figured out, Moe.

You don't need me.

Oh, no, we don't need nothing.

We want you with us.

Yeah.

Yeah, Jeff.

Uh, I hear you, man, and I'm still for whatever advances

the cause of the black folks.

[happy chatter]

But I reserve the right to choose my own weapons.

Now, gentlemen, um, my folks-- my folks-- yeah, my folks

are throwing me a homecoming party,

and you're all invited, all of you, even you, nigger.

But that's only if you're gonna help make the atmosphere stay

warm and groovy.

You can dig it, right, about 12:00?

Is that an order, Lieutenant, sir?

Yeah, well, I don't play that lieutenant shit.

You're talking about my house, nigger.

Hey, and I don't play that nigger word, either,

and you throw it around just a little bit too much.

Well, then, pat your foot while I play it.

Well, hey, we can make you do anything we want you to.

How are you gonna do that, man?

We might just have to work on your mama and your daddy.

You jive-ass nigger, Mr. Zero trying to becoming Malcolm X,

huh?

See him sitting here in his Captain America uniform, huh,

surrounded by all his generals?

There's Skeeter, Skeeter the dope fiend, huh, and old Chips

here, yeah, Chips, Chips the sex pervert, Moe the magnificent,

still playing cowboys and Indians, huh, cops and robbers

in your mid-20s, man, trying to be somebody and don't know how.

Don't you talk to him like that.

It's all right, baby.

It's all right.

Yeah, you been thinking this shit for a long time,

ain't you, brother Jeff?

Yeah, man, and all that shit about laying something

on my folks, if you tried something like that,

man, your ass would be mine.

You know that, don't you?

Or have you forgotten what a mean, evil black

bastard I can be?

I got more determination in my toenail

than you got in your whole soul, nigger.

Well, at least you still talk bad.

Oh, God damn, Moe, I ain't bad.

I'm crazy, motherfucker.

Now I don't want to see you or your-- your Marquis de

Sade or your dope fiend friend within a hundred miles

of my house, and don't call me.

I'll call you, huh?

[music playing]

No.

Yeah, oh, oh.

I think it's cute.

Baby, if my grandmother-- if my grandmother only knew.

Can I talk to you?

What?

What?

Can I talk to you?

Of course.

Moe thinks I started [inaudible].

The organization has gotten to be a real hassle, Jeff.

Mm-hmm, how could it be anything else

with them nothings at his back?

Well, that's why he needs you.

Moe thinks in time the movement will straighten them all out.

Yeah, baby, Moe is a saint.

I'm a realist.

Then help him, Jeff.

Help him.

He don't need my help.

He's confident about where he's going

and how he's gonna get there.

That's not true.

That jive about, uh, threatening me and my folks,

I'd jump in an elephant's chest behind that jive.

GAIL: He was only saying that for them.

Why crucify me for a bunch of nothings?

Do you know Moe, Jeff?

JEFF: I thought I did.

He's a desperate guy, Jeff.

Everything is all mixed up, but a few years ago everything was

straight up and down, you know?

Ride on for the people.

And now everybody is splitting up, going every which way.

We learned that [inaudible] front.

Moe is about to snap, Jeff.

Do you hear me?

He is about to snap.

To hell with the movement, Jeff.

Help us.

Please, help us.

Help him before he falls apart, please, Jeff.

He'll help you, Gail.

I know he will.

[music playing]

Ann, my love, let's get married, baby.

Are you serious?

I glory for you, woman.

Besides, you got the bossest dogs in town.

Oh, Jeff.

Boo.

You big, old, good-for-nothing thing, you, oh, bless God.

Ben Brown, the spitting image of Ben Brown.

You know, you weren't supposed to come until noon.

Until noon?

Well, then, I'll go back, and I'll come at noon, all right?

Oh, come on back here with your simple self.

Hey, now, Mama, Mama, Mama, you know what I want

for dinner, huh, hmm, yeah?

Some cornbread, uh-huh, and-- and some

of Grandma's mustard greens.

[inaudible].

And some black-eyed peas and some of Grandma's

candied sweet yams with some, uh, lemon and some

raisins all over. -[inaudible].

[inaudible]?

And don't tell me you don't like lemonade no more.

[inaudible]

And what about some sassafras tea, huh?

Got it straight from that new health store.

You did?

Aw, Mama, Mama, Mama, do you realize

that I am home for good, huh?

Thank God.

Yeah?

Thank God, Jeff.

And this is Ann.

We've met, hmm.

Well, I'm glad because this foxy mama and your son, me,

the baddest dude to catch an attitude, hmm,

God's gift to the female race--

Now wait.

I know you don't want me to take off my shoe

and go upside your head.

Oh, well, Mama, what I'm trying to tell you--

You're gonna marry this here brazen gal?

Oh, Mama.

Indubitably.

Dub, Jesus, Uncle Sam done turned

him into a cockeyed ignoramus.

You're too young to fart good, talking about getting married.

I'm 25, Grandma.

Well, that still don't make no difference.

You're too young to saddle yourself with a wife.

Where's my medicine?

Where is my pocket book?

Is this what you've been putting up with, baby?

In my personal opinion, if y'all would have asked me, I,

uh, I would think that you would wait a little while,

at least until, uh, Jeff finished law school.

Mama, ever since I come home, people have been telling me

what to do and what not to do.

Now I want to marry Ann because she's a fine girl, Mama,

something rare.

When I come home and I seen my sweet baby here,

it was like God was telling me, son, this is your woman.

I made her for you.

And God damn it, Mama--

Jeff.

I'm following what I feel inside my soul.

Then you do that, sweet baby.

You follow the lord.

As mad as he makes me sometimes, I-- I don't think he

ever really steered me wrong.

I think then that makes you one of the family.

Dead louts that I want to throw destruction.

I just want to weed out the bullshit,

change the value system so that Beverly Hills has as many

welfare residents as whites.

Well how in hell are you going to do that, fool?

By finding the battlefield, like

I've been telling you all along, like I've

been telling everybody.

Every motherfucker that dropped from a pretty black poontang

has got to find his battlefield and go to war.

All hail to the philosopher-poet.

I'm a poet!

You philosopher poet!

I am a poet!

Philosopher-poet.

I'm just-- man, I'm just a poet.

When this country, when this world recognizes

the true meaning of hope, poetry is what

the revolution is all about.

We must never lose sight of the true purpose

of the revolution, which is to restore poetry to the Godhead.

Poetry is religion, the alpha and the omega,

the cement of the universe, the super eye that scrutinizes

all other eyes, and it stretches from one

to infinity, from bullshit to the beatific, the rocking horse

of the human spirit.

God-- God-- God himself is pure, unadulterated poetry.

[laughter]

DUDLEY: Bravo, bravissimo.

Jeff, I'll be damned.

How you-- how you been?

Where's your uniform?

Dr. Stanton.

Hey, Jeff, boy, you're looking fine, just fine,

a little skinny, but fine.

Mattie, get Jeff's uniform.

John, are you drunk?

Yes, my love.

[inaudible].

[SINGING] Jesus going on before.

Mrs. Brown, I have never hit an old lady in my life.

Well, you hit this old lady--

And what?

She's gonna jump down your throat.

And what?

And batter your gizzard.

And what?

And gallop your brains out.

You're the biggest fool in the world,

but I sure do love me some Grandmama

Geneva Wilhelmena Brown.

Stinking wino, you.

Yeah, yeah, I-- I love you, too, Dudley.

Don't you kiss me.

Oh, Dr. Dudley Stanton, [inaudible], you

walk through life with a broomstick up your ass.

Although we just met, I also love me some Ann, sweet fire.

[mumbling]

Oh, hey, Jeff.

You met-- you got yourself a mama.

Mama is gonna protect your flame.

She's a fighting lady.

I know, Pop.

Yeah, oh, so thank you, good looking.

And my son, who I loves more than I love myself,

my big-time big, old United States

of America Air Force first lieutenant

son whose coming home today.

No, I'm here, Pop.

No, you ain't.

Oh, no, you ain't here yet because if you were,

you'd have your uniform on.

Yeah, well, I don't like to wear it, Daddy.

-Why not? -Well, I guess--

Come on. Spill it out.

I guess it's because I feel ashamed of it.

I don't really believe in this country anymore.

Have I been waiting here, waiting

to see you in that God-damned uni-- put it on.

I made a vow with myself, Daddy J.

Well, God knows this country ought to be torn down,

but shouldn't we make sure it's torn

down for the right to become an officer if you're able?

It's an accomplishment.

When I see you in that uniform with them bars

on your shoulder and wings on your chest,

it's, uh, it's a kind of a--

Heresy.

Poetry, Jeff, black poetry.

I didn't make it through navigator school, Pop.

I washed out.

I flunked out, whatever.

My son flunked out?

Oh, no, huh-uh, you didn't write us nothing about flunking out.

Were you lying?

Now put it on.

I didn't write you because every letter I got from you

and Mama was telling me about how proud

you were of your navigator son.

We thought you was doing all right.

You thought that because that's what you wanted to think.

Well, what else were we supposed to think?

You could have thought about me, huh?

You could have thought about, uh, uh, uh, Jeff Williams.

Damn your pride, Pop.

You could have thought about me.

Pop, I hated navigation school.

I never liked figures, Pop.

Oh, you-- you didn't work hard enough.

No, no, not at the math, Pop, that was you, not me.

See, I don't like math, Pop.

Don't you see that?

Well, no, you flunked out, my son, and that's all I can see.

Y'all had a piece of my toe.

Yeah, everybody had a piece of my toe.

Pop, there were only eight black officers out of 300

at that school, and they kept telling

me, man, you've got to make it.

You've got to be a credit to your race.

JOHNNY: What's wrong with that?

And then there was this chick I was shacking up with,

and she kept telling me, Jeff, honey, we need that extra $130

a month to keep me in the style to which

you have made me accustomed.

Get to the point.

But don't you see the point, Pop?

Everybody had a piece of my toe but me.

My fine fox, my fellow black officers, the pig instructors,

you, Mama, everybody had a piece of my toe but Jeff Williams.

Jeff Williams is Johnny Williams' son, God damn it.

You mean, none of me belongs to me?

I want to see you in that God-damned uniform.

Now go put it on.

Shh.

Pop, don't you see?

All this talk is about you and about me

and about the battlefields you always been talking about.

Pop, who is Jeff Williams?

Hey, hey, who is he?

He is a dude who hated navigation school

and to the point to where he got migraine headaches

on every flight.

Oh, my--

No, don't baby me, Mama.

Don't baby me, hmm?

I'm still the baddest.

But I ain't now, nor do I ever want to be a super nigger,

'cause that's all a super nigger is, a super nigger, somebody

who spends his whole life trying to prove he's

as good as the man.

On my last flight exam, a night celestial.

I was circling the field.

I tear off a piece of my flight log

and started writing me a poem.

But anyway, along comes the [inaudible], hmm,

a Texas cracker whose-- whose one

joke repeated over and over again is, uh, he, ha, students.

Never worry about being lost.

At least you all know you're in an airplane, yuck, yuck.

Well, this-- this orangutan caught sight of my poem

and started laughing, and that did it, Pop.

I says to myself, what am I doing this shit for?

This navigator job ain't for me.

So they sent me-- they sent me to a board of senior officers.

You see, this was not the first time

I had failed my night-flying celestial exam, you see.

So they give me, Pop, they give me

a white, all-American lieutenant for counsel,

and do you know what he told me?

He told me to cop a plea, to express love

and dedication to my country and to the Air Force,

to lick ass, Pop.

But I told that board to let go of my toe,

and they said, what, you know, you know,

the way white folks can do when they--

when they can't believe their ears?

So I screamed at the top of my voice, let go of my nigger toe

so I can stand up and be a man.

And they must have thought I was insane 'cause they hemmed

and they hawed, but they let go of my toe.

Mama, I had cut loose the man.

So I cut loose of my black brother officers,

and I went right home and I cut loose my fine fox,

and I felt like there was no more glue

holding my shoes to the track.

I felt like I could almost fly, Pop, 'cause

I was a super nigger no more.

So I ain't proving nothing to nobody--

black, blue, white, polka dot, nobody,

not even to you, Daddy Johnny.

So, Mama, you can take that thing, that, uh, uniform thing,

and you can give it to the-- you can

give it to the Salvation Army.

You can give it to the Goodwill or whatever 'cause

it will never have the good fortune

of getting on my back again.

Bravissimo.

[music playing]

It's all about battlefields, Daddy Johnny,

just like you always said.

No, no, Johnny, wait, Johnny.

Johnny, Johnny, it's just coming home [inaudible].

[music playing]

Why didn't you tell him the truth?

Yes, yes, it's in reference to a missing person.

His name is Johnny Williams.

He's a black man.

No, I don't want to try the morgue.

The reason I asked to see you all here tonight

is, uh, well, Mattie and I have something very

serious to discuss with you.

Dudley, do they have to know?

I think it's only fair that they should know, Mattie.

Mattie is going to have to be, uh, hospitalized.

I guess that's why Johnny hasn't been home.

I guess he's, uh, somewhere, brooding.

Dudley, you promised not to tell him.

Somebody please tell me what's going on.

Jeff, we got the report today, and Mattie

has, uh, several growths, malignant growths.

Mattie has cancer.

Dudley, you're about as gentle as a sledgehammer.

How serious?

Very serious, but not hopeless, the location prevents removal,

however cobalt treatments might--

Jeff, Jeff, look at me.

I'm not upset, am I?

Look at me.

Come on, Jeff.

I'm just gonna die.

That's all.

Ain't no such thing.

You know Dudley here is just a cockeyed quack.

Mama, the only thing that worries me

is the whereabouts of my man.

Where is he, Mama?

Where is he?

Mama, you, uh, you can't talk negative about these things.

What negative?

[SINGING] And I know--

Mama, hush.

Look at me.

Look at me.

I've had a full life with an extraordinary man,

and you, where else would I get a stronger,

finer-looking, loving Jeff?

And I'll be around to see him marry Ann.

She's a gift to you, Jeff.

She's a gift, and don't you abuse her.

I still have my mother beside me, oh, yes, alive and kicking,

and Dudley, Dudley Stanton, a mainstay,

oh, Dudley, your father and my spiritual brother.

DUDLEY: Thank you, sweetheart.

No, Dudley, thank you, now what old nega-- negative thing, hmm?

Don't you know if Johnny was to walk through that door,

I'd be the happiest woman in God's creation?

And as old Johnny would say, lord, oh,

lord, I don't feel [inaudible].

I could go on for another-- another century.

JOHNNY [VOICEOVER]: [inaudible] slam the faceless [inaudible]

cold belly of the Atlantic, you are.

I am.

You are the Mother Earth.

Sleep.

Sleep, you Mother Earth.

I am the first sperm.

I see no, hear no, speak no-- I see no, hear no, speak no evil.

I am.

I am.

There's a stool pigeon in the organization.

Cool it, Gail, not now.

And if we don't find out who it is quick,

the whole thing is liable to blow up in our faces.

Remember what I told you all about that cop, Buckley.

What can Jeff do?

Moe's laying a trap with his--

I said, cool it, Gail.

Moe is laying a trip with the stool.

He's gonna have to phone his boss.

He's either gonna do it from the bowling alley

phone next to the headquarters or from the snack shop

down the street.

He's got the phones bugged and ready to be monitored.

Now I'll be covering the snack shop,

and we want Jeff to cover the bowling alley phones.

He's the only one we can trust.

All right, she put it out there, Jeff.

How about it?

Oh, man, uh, I ain't got time for this cloak and dagger shit.

My family is hurting.

Didn't you hear me?

No matter what you or I think of Moe's activities,

oh, no, I will not stand by and let him be betrayed.

I really could not live with myself, Jeff,

if I let that happen.

What makes you sure he's gonna make contact, man?

Oh, he's got to, man.

He's got-- look.

We're instituting a change of plan at the last minute,

and now, well, that rat has got to fink to the P's.

And when he does and everybody is going to the police station,

we're gonna be going--

Oh, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't want

to hear no more about it, man.

I'll monitor your phone for you, but that's all.

Now don't cry on me, Moe.

That-- that's cool.

That's cool, brother.

This is as far as I go, do you hear?

Hey, my man, where you been?

Hey, how you doing, Tootsie?

Same as ever.

[mumbling]

Hey, the man's been looking for you.

Hey, hey, boy, get out of my God-damned truck.

Stinking, old wino nigger.

Johnny, what are you trying to do, huh?

What are you trying to do?

Where you been, Johnny?

Where you been?

In the desert, out in the desert,

Mattie, like Christ, talking to myself.

Christ was talking to the devil, you old wino.

That's right, same difference, but I

took care of the old bastard.

I said, get thee behind me, prince of darkness.

And then I got thirsty and came home because I wanted to see

myself some-- some angels.

Pop, are you OK?

Yeah.

No, Pop, I mean, are you really OK?

Oh, yeah, welcome home, son.

My son is home, really home.

I'm glad he found his battlefield.

Don't do that again, Johnny.

If something is troubling you, let's talk about it, OK?

Oh, I was all right, Mattie, really.

Kelsey gave me a room over her bar,

and I was gonna write a love poem for you.

Words are precious jewels.

Don't you know that?

And I couldn't find none precious enough to match you,

so I started drinking and couldn't stop.

And then yesterday these-- these little men came to visit me.

That's the DTs, you know.

That's delirium tremens from not eating.

Oh, that's why they were so little.

Anyway, I-- anyway, I knew it was time to come home.

I also knew it was Friday, and Dudley

here, he was gonna have some information for us on Friday.

We all know, Pop.

You know what?

Mattie will be admitted on Monday morning.

[angry shouting]

You son of a bitch, why do you keep fucking with me?

What do you want from me, you bastard?

Oh, Johnny, Johnny, don't talk like that.

That's blasphemy.

He just keeps fucking with me, Mattie.

Even when I was a kid, all the other kids used to beat me up,

and I had to fight everyday because they

said I was a smart aleck.

Is that why, you bastard, because I'm a smart aleck?

You can't talk to him like that, baby.

He'll turn his back on you.

Well, you know what I'm gonna do on judgement day?

I'm gonna grab that motherfucker by the throat,

and I'm gonna squeeze and squeeze till I get an answer.

They don't have to give you an answer, Johnny.

You know, I thought you took care of it.

I thought you said, get thee behind me, Satan.

Well, I tried, God knows how fucking hard I tried.

I know, baby.

I see you every second.

You should've let me whip 'em out, Mattie.

You should have let me whoop out the bullshit.

But we're not made that way.

We're just not made that way.

You deserve so much more than this nothing.

I-- I wanted to give you so much.

Why, I got you, baby.

I got you.

I got the kindest, sweetest man in the world.

I've got the Rolls Royce, baby.

I could've done it, Mattie.

God knows I could've done it.

I know.

I put it on you, baby.

I stopped you, and I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Will you forgive me, sweet baby?

Please, forgive me.

You know, I-- I was just selfish, Johnny.

Oh, Johnny, I was so happy.

All I ever thought of was seeing you come to that door,

walk, stagger, stumble.

I only complained because I-- I felt I had to say something,

but I never meant a word of it, Johnny.

I never meant one word.

Oh, no, you couldn't have given me nothing more.

I would have just keeled over and died from too

much happiness, Johnny.

I would have just keeled over and died.

At 3:57 we're gonna all meet in front

of the empty furniture store down across from the police

station, all right?

And when we get there, we'll come in in pairs--

Chips and Al, Skeeter and me.

When we leave, we'll all go in separate directions.

You got it?

Fine, let's go.

Look here, I want to go and take a pee, man.

You stay right here, OK?

Yeah, OK, man.

Hey, hey, look, chief, I got-- I gotta make a call.

Man, come on.

[music playing]

1 able 7 to headquarters, Lieutenant,

inform the states that 77th Street

police station is the target.

Operation scheduled for 4:15.

Possible bomb threat.

What did you give me, Dudley?

It's so strong I can hardly hold my head up.

Do you feel any pain?

Hmm-mm.

Good, then it's doing its job.

You'll rest well when you take your nap.

Which can't be too long from now the way I'm feeling it.

What did you hear, Gail?

Nothing but Skeeter making a horse connection.

What about you?

Well, I heard something all right

but I couldn't identify the voice.

What did you hear?

Uh, plan B, then the voice on the other end

said, are you sure?

And then the caller said, yeah, plan B.

Is that all?

No, there was something about the time,

but I couldn't hear the thing because of all

the damn flushing going on.

Well, was the voice familiar at all?

Maybe it was just somebody [inaudible].

Hey, well, look, I'm gonna run downstairs

and get a paper, man, in case they fill it out, OK?

I'll be right back.

Hey, hey, now you hurry back because it's cold in here.

I finished it.

What?

The poem that I was working on.

It's for you, Mattie.

It's called "The River Niger."

It's not a love poem, but it's dedicated to you--

to Mattie Gene Williams.

Read us your poem, Nigger.

"I am the River Niger.

Hear my waters.

I wriggle and stream and run.

I am totally flexible.

I am the River Niger.

Hear my waters.

My waters are the first sperm of the world.

When the Earth was but a faceless, whistling embryo,

life burst from my liquid kernels like popcorn.

Hear my waters, rushing and popping in

muffled, finger-drum staccato.

It is life you here, stretching its limbs in my waters.

I am the River Niger.

Hear my waters.

When the Earth Mother cracked into continents,

I was vomited from the cold belly of the Atlantic

to slip slyly into Africa from the underside of her brow.

I see no, hear no, speak no evil, but I know.

I gossip with the crocodile and rub elbows

with the river horse.

I have swapped morbid jokes with the hyena

and heard his dry cackle at twilight.

I see no, hear no, speak no evil,

but I know I am the River Niger.

Hear my waters.

Hear, I say, hear my waters, men.

This is [inaudible].

I have laughed at the pugnacious hips of brown mamas,

have tapped on the doors of their honeydews, yeah.

I have shimmered like sequence as they sucked me

over their blueberry tongues, as they

sung me to sleep in the glittering afternoon here.

I have washed the red wounds of clay-decorated warriors,

but bad dudes who smirked at the leopard.

I have cast witches from gambling babies.

Here I have known the warm kiss from newly-circumcised boys,

have purified the saliva from sun-drenched lions.

Do you hear me talking?

I am the River Niger.

I came to the cloudy Mississippi over keels

of incomprehensible woe.

I ran away to the Henry Hudson on the sails or ragged hope,

transplanted to home when the Harlem River dries.

Hear me, my children.

Hear my waters.

I sleep in your veins.

I see no, hear no, speak no evil, but I know.

And I know that you know.

I flow to the end of your spirit.

Hold hands, my children, and I will

flow to the ends of the Earth.

And the whole world will hear my waters.

I am the River Niger.

Don't deny me.

Do you hear me?

Don't deny me.

Look, look, look, man.

It's OK.

I know you did it.

Just don't fall apart me on me right now.

Just be cool, and we'll get you out of this.

[loud knocking]

Jeff?

No, no.

[interposing voices]

Sit down.

Sit down.

What's going on here? Sit down.

I'll get the bag.

What went wrong?

Come on, man.

What the hell did you bring him here for?

Because I figured Doc Stanton would

be here, and as soon as he gets fixed up, we'll get out.

Why in the hell didn't you take him to your place?

I told you I didn't want my family implicated in this shit.

Because I live over at the field office,

and I figured that the pigs--

-What happened? -I don't know.

The whole thing is just stupid.

That's all.

It's just stupid.

I mean, I changed the plan like I said we was.

When we got to the construction site,

I mean, there were pigs all over the place.

They opened fire, and the next thing I knew,

everything just went wrong.

You mean they just started shooting?

You didn't shoot first?

Well, I didn't want to hurt anybody if I

could help it, Mr. Williams.

Did you kill the cop?

I don't know, but he hit the ground

so hard I could almost feel it.

Oh, Moe, you mean you come here after hitting a cop, man?

Well, if you call yourself a revolutionary,

you're supposed to know where you're gonna take your wounded.

It takes more than wearing a damn beret.

[knocking]

Hey, man, there are wall-to-wall pigs at the field

office, and Moe said to come over here,

man, if we get in trouble.

You mean you told them to come here if this happened, right?

All right, well, I made a mistake.

I'm sorry.

Made a mistake, you sack of shit?

I'll kill him.

[police sirens]

You people get the hell back.

Get the hell back.

There's a man in there barricaded.

This is Lieutenant Staples of the Los

Angeles Police Department.

We know you're in there.

We know who you are.

I am ordering you to leave the premises.

I'm giving you five minutes.

You are completely surrounded by the police.

If you do not give yourself up in five minutes,

we will be forced to remove you.

I'm giving you five minutes.

Come on.

Give me those God-damned guns.

Come on. Come on.

They can't prove a thing without those guns.

Now come on, Moe.

Give it to me.

Somebody get those kids out of there!

Wait, Moe. Wait.

Wait.

Al was a Judas man.

Oh, come on, man. You're lying.

All right, look.

There were-- there were cops swarming all over the place.

He gave some kind of excuse about a newspaper,

and I saw him run downstairs and deliberately

bumped into one of them.

Hey, Moe, you're not believing this shit, are you, huh?

Moe, Moe, I saw him whisper into one of their ears.

Whose ear?

A pig, a pig.

And then why you been questioning

me about Buckley, sucker?

Well, why didn't somebody tell me this before?

Hey, Moe, let me tell you something.

You want to know who your informant is?

Do you want to know who he is?

I'll tell you who he is.

Look right over here.

Let me tell you something.

The pigs will do anything for you if you do

something for them in return.

He is your informer.

He will do anything for some horse, Moe.

Let me tell you something.

He was the one that told the police to go

to the state office building.

He was the one.

But he was with me.

That phone call, that phone call,

[inaudible] and that's all.

Are-- are you sure?

Can you be sure, huh?

Suppose I was to tell you that I killed Buckley.

And suppose I was to ask you, what do you know about Buckley?

I did it, baby.

I killed him.

Oh, how did he die?

Slug to the forehead.

What caliber, Jeff, huh?

45, I stole it from the Air Force.

Jeff, come on.

Buckley was killed over a month ago.

You've only been here one week.

[helicopter flying]

Suppose I was to tell you that I got released from active duty

exactly one month ago last Friday.

Bullshit.

My release papers.

Well, what do you know, Moe?

Will you look at this?

Actually one month ago he was-- get up.

Get your hands up. Move over there.

Come on. Get up there, Moe.

What's wrong with yo?

Move, boy.

Come on, Skeeter. Get him up.

Get over there. Get over.

Get your hands up.

Get your hands up.

I took this assignment for one reason and for one reason

only, to find out who killed Buckley,

and now I know who killed him.

And let me tell you something.

He was worth all 10 of you Brillo-headed motherfuckers.

You hear me?

Don't move on me, boy, and now his friends

out there are gonna take this place apart.

Get your hands up, and every one of you fuckers are in trouble.

You motherfuckers, fucking up the country with your slogans

and your jive-ass threats.

Militants, ain't that a bomb, bitch?

Let me tell you something.

I hate the smell of you stinking--

get your hands up, fucker.

Can't you see Jeff is lying, man?

I killed Buckley.

I did it.

Hey, hey, listen.

I know where each and every one of you

were when Buckley was killed, and none of you

could have done it.

He did.

I don't know why I didn't think of good, old Jeff, big boy.

Don't be stupid, man.

It was an outside job.

You bet your sweet ass it was, him.

Jeff, what are you trying to do?

You know you were in Canada with me.

Drop it, son.

[gunfire]

[music playing]

The guns, Jeff, does Alister got his, Moe?

Oh, yes.

Good.

Pop.

Now hurry.

You don't want Daddy Jimmy to die for nothing, do you?

No, no, no, we need Moe's.

This here is yours, isn't it, Moe?

Yes.

Don't bother with that.

Just, they'll be in here any minute.

You're hurt [inaudible].

Go to the door and tell Lieutenant Staples to give us

five more minutes, just five more,

then he can come in and make his arrests.

Don't shoot.

I am a doctor.

I want to talk with you.

OFFICER: All right, men, hold your fire.

Come on out.

STAPLES: This is Lieutenant Staples.

What the hell is going on in there?

My name is Dr. Dudley Stanton.

I am the family doctor.

A man has been seriously wounded in here.

STAPLES: Throw out your weapons.

All weapons have been secured.

Just give us five minutes, and then you can come in.

STAPLES: If anyone tries to escape,

my men have orders to shoot.

Do you understand that?

DUDLEY: No one will.

You have my word, just five minutes.

STAPLES: All right, you got your five minutes.

Go on.

Good boy, Dudley, they don't care nothing about niggers

killing each other anyhow.

What's going on, Jeff?

It's OK.

What's going on?

It's all right, hear?

It's all right, you hear?

Jeff, come over here.

Come on.

All you all sit down and listen.

Oh, Johnny.

No, no, keep 'em away.

Dudley, keep-- keep Mattie away.

Wipe the handle off Moe's gun.

Now give it to me.

I don't want nobody's prints on this thing but mine.

Now--

Johnny, you're bleeding.

Mattie.

You're bleeding, Johnny.

I love you, Mattie.

Yes--

But I ain't got much left.

You-- you're-- you're bleeding.

Don't-- don't--

Now, I've got to get the children straightened out,

so just be my super bitch.

But you--

Shut up.

Now look, I am the real leader of the organization.

You got that?

I was with Skeeter when he got shot,

and I fired the shot that hit the cop at the office building.

Then I came back here, found out that Al was the Judas,

and we had a shoot out.

And don't nobody own a gun here but me--

No.

---your leader, now you got that?

[sobbing]

Oh, I'm so sorry.

What for?

I'm cheating you.

Oh, no.

Leaving you like this.

No, no, no, OK, don't say that, don't.

But don't suffer long, honey, just

give it up and take my hand.

The children will be all right now, OK.

Don't worry.

I don't feel nothing now.

Johnny, Johnny, listen.

Listen to me, baby.

Listen.

Two battlefields for the price of one, monkey chase.

Yeah, chief?

Oh.

[moaning]

JEFF: Oh, my God, oh, my God--

Shut up!

[music playing]

Do like Johnny told you to do.

He isn't gonna die for nothing 'cause you

all ain't gonna let him.

Jeff, son, go to the door.

Open it, and tell them to come on in.

Let them come on in.

OK, Mama.

And you'd better not fuck up.

[music playing]