Original subtitles

* Good times Any time you meet a payment *

* Good times Any time you need a friend *

* Good times *

* Any time you're Out from under *

* Not gettin' hassled Not gettin' hustled *

* Keepin' your head Above water *

* Makin' a wave when you can *

* Temporary layoffs Good times *

* Easy credit ripoffs Good times *

* Scratchin' and survivin' Good times *

* Hangin' in a chow line Good times *

* Ain't we lucky we got 'em *

* Good times **

Is it straight now, Michael?

No, bring it up on your side a little bit, Thelma.

All right. Okay, now...

No, it's too low on your side, Willona.

Bring it up about three inches.

WILLONA: Okay.

Michael, we been up here five minutes.

It's not straight yet?

It's been straight three times. I just dig giving orders.

Willona, let's beat him up.

You looking at the pint size Kid Dy-no-mite.

You're sure in a good mood. Why shouldn't I be?

J.J.'s coming home and he's all right.

Sure was a relief

when the doctors said it was only a flesh wound.

And a surprise too, because we never knew he had flesh.

Aw.

Yea, but if I know J.J.,

even though they only kept him overnight,

he'll act like he came out of major surgery.

Don't you know? I remember when he had his tonsils out.

Talking about suffering,

he ran that longer than a fatal disease on As the World Turns.

[INDISTINCT VOICES]

Oh, he's home!

J.J., hey!

WILLONA: Welcome home. Welcome home.

There he is.

Are you all right, J.J.?

Maybe.

I think I can make it by myself now.

Oh, I think it was a little bit too premature.

Oh, really?

Dad, I think I'm gonna fall. Catch me.

Which way you gonna fall, Junior?

Are you on my left?

I'm on your left. Here I come.

Come on.

Son, I think you'd better sit down.

Yeah, Mom.

Come on. There you are. Okay.

Could y'all help me bend?

THELMA: Lord!

Well, sure, honey. I burped you when you were a year old.

I guess I can bend you at 18 years from now.

There you go. Ah.

All right.

Junior, I want to say thank you for saving my life.

I'm proud of you.

It wasn't nothing, Dad.

Michael! Yeah?

Is that you?

Sure it's me, J.J.

My, how you have grown since I've been away.

Sweetheart, you've only been gone since yesterday.

Sure feels like a long time

when you're wounded, don't it son?

Like an eternity.

Here, J.J.

I got you a nice tall glass of Kool Aid. I made it myself.

Thanks, Michael.

Maybe we ought to feed it to him intravenously.

No, why don't we just pour it through the hole in his head.

Now I know I'm home.

And we are glad to have you home too, character.

Amen.

I shake when I think what could have happened.

I'm still thanking the Lord that J.J. is home and he's safe.

It's all over.

Yea, I'm thanking the Lord he got his health too, baby.

But it ain't all over.

Now, James, not that again. Yeah, that again.

It ain't gonna be over till I get my hands

on that gang leader that shot him, Mad Dog.

James, don't say things like that. Don't even think it.

The law is gonna take care of Mad Dog.

The law can take care of him the way they want.

I'm gonna take care of him the way I want to.

James, I don't want no more fighting.

So let's don't talk about it anymore.

We got J.J. to look after.

That's right. I'm out of Kool Aid.

I need some banana cream pie.

I hear it builds the blood.

The first thing we're gonna do is get you into bed.

Thelma, give me a hand. Michael, get the front.

WILLONA: Can you handle it?

J.J., you gonna be recuperating in style.

I got you that fancy pair of pajamas you always wanted.

Ha, ha! Dy-no-mite!

Yeah, these are them.

The ones I saw in the store there.

The man said, "Jack, you got to have these, man." Ha, ha--

Aww, the package is too heavy for my shoulder.

Hey, Michael? Yeah?

Could you help me into the bathroom

where I could change into these things?

Sure, J.J. Come on, I'll take that.

Oh, I'll show where the bullet knicked me.

It was pretty close. Almost wiped out my beauty mark.

J.J., I'd like to buy you something to read.

Anything particular you want?

Well, since I had such a close brush with death,

something deep and serious with a lot of meaning.

Like what?

Like this month's issue of Black Bunnies.

Now, ain't that nothing?

I'm gonna see y'all later, hear?

Okay, Willona, thank you, honey.

Thanks, Willona.

Oh, dear Lord.

Boy that J.J.'s really something.

Oh, he more than something, Thelma. He's special.

And I likely got him killed

when he tried to save my life.

But when I saw he was all right,

I'd like to jump for joy.

Now, baby, all I need is five minutes alone with that Mad Dog.

Just five minutes with him.

But Daddy, that's only gonna cause more trouble.

And besides, after the court hearing,

they'll put Mad Dog away where he belongs.

Yea, the same as Neckbone and that other character.

They still walking the street.

Now, James, before you do anything you'll be sorry for,

remember what the Good Book said,

"Turn the other cheek."

Well you let Mad Dog turn the other cheek,

because he ain't gonna wanna watch

when I get finished doing my number on him.

Oh, but James--

Now, Florida, if you gonna keep quoting that scripture at me,

how about, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"?

Now don't keep it up now.

I'm liable to go after them parts.

Ma, what are we gonna do with Daddy?

Weain't gonna do nothing about him.

I've got to go in there and try and cool him down.

Ain't these something?

They so sexy, they almost turn me on.

Suddenly you don't seem so sick.

Ohh.

The pain in my shoulder's hurting real bad.

I thought it was the other shoulder, J.J.

See how sick I am?

I'm so delirious, I keep forgetting.

Michael, help me over there to the bed, will you?

Come on.

Aw, thanks, Michael. What a brother.

Oh, man, yeah. Aooah.

Yeah, thanks. Oh.

Hey, Thelma, could you pull up the blankets?

Okay. Thanks.

Hey!

You covered the best part.

Next time you better be more careful,

Otherwise, I'll tell Ma and Dad

you're not taking tender loving care

of the man of the hour.

J.J., don't take it too far.

The hour's gonna be up before you know it.

I would have an answer for that,

but I feel another weak spell coming on.

I think I need a strawberry shake and some French fries.

J.J., you're not wounded. You're pregnant.

JAMES: I don't wanna talk about it no more, woman.

I mean it. I don't wanna talk about it no more.

FLORIDA: James, we got to talk about it.

Just leave me be, hear, Florida? Just leave me be!

I'm trying to say that revenge never helped nobody.

It's gonna help me as soon as I get my hands

on that Mad Dog for five minutes.

James, we were raised to love one another.

There you go with the Bible again.

Always with that Bible.

You want some Bible? I'll give you some Bible.

Now, I'm not gonna kill him with the jawbone of an ass,

but I'm gonna bust that ass's jawbone.

James, don't you go misusing the Good Book

for your own purposes.

Baby, I ain't gonna misuse the Good Book.

I'm gonna use a good left hook.

James, how long we been married?

Getting on towards 21 years now.

That's right.

And we had alot of arguments in them 21 years, right?

Yeah, we having a pretty good one right now.

Yeah. That's true.

But remember, James, we never settle no arguments

by yelling at one another.

We always talk quietly and reason with one another.

And in the end, we always agreed, didn't we?

Yeah, that's because you usually won.

Nobody won, James.

It's just that most of the time

we agreed that I was right.

Don't start with that sweet talk again, now, Florida.

Don't try and trick me.

James, you know, every time you lose your temper

you get into trouble.

When did losing my temper cause me to get in trouble?! When?!

Do you remember when we was engaged,

and I was walking with that nice-looking fellow?

You got so jealous.

You didn't even ask him no questions.

You just picked him up

and threw him into the fish pond.

And didn't you feel silly

when you found out it was Reverend Henderson...

and I was asking him to perform our wedding ceremony?

I still remember his words. Mm.

"Florida, marry him quick before he kills somebody."

Well, you gotta admit,

it did help move our wedding date up some, didn't it?

Yeah.

You've been known to blow your cool a few times too.

Me?! When did I ever blow my cool?

Remember the time I was walking with Sarah Hines?

Now all I was doing was asking the woman

what would be a nice surprise gift

for my wife on her birthday.

Right away, you jumped to conclusions,

start scratching the woman's eyes, tore out all her hair.

Yeah, and I regretted it for months.

You might have regretted it for months.

She walked around damn near baldheaded for a year.

Didn't she?

James, we have had our flare-ups,

but at night we always made up.

Yes, Lord.

And some of them makeups was worth the flare-ups.

I got a confession to make. Huh?

I faked a couple of them flare-ups

in order to get to the makeups.

I figured as much.

Ah, but James, that's what make our marriage work.

We talk nice to each other

and we settle things peaceably.

And in the end, we always been together.

Yea, but we ain't gonna be together on this, baby.

And we ain't gonna be together on it

till I get my five minutes with that Mad Dog.

James, you can't change what has already happened.

Yeah, but maybe to make it better

for the next kid on the next go round.

Let the law handle Mad Dog. The law!

James, please, honey. For my sake.

For our whole family's sake, put it out of your mind.

Forget it happened.

Well, Florida, you know something?

You could wear the rock of Gibraltar down to a pebble.

All right, baby, I said I was gonna break

every bone in Mad Dog's body.

I take it back.

I promise I will not break every bone in Mad Dog's body.

Good, James. Just the trigger finger.

Just that finger, Florida.

I'm gonna break it so it's pointing

North, South, East, and West all at the same time!

James, you're yelling again.

I thought we promised we were gonna talk about it

nice and quiet-like.

You're right baby.

You ready to talk about it nice and quiet-like?

Mm-hm. Me too.

I'm gonna break his damn finger.

"Vengeance is mine," said the Lord.

Baby, all I wanna do is the Lord's work.

James.

Nah, Mad Dog, it's between me and you, man.

Not so tough now, huh?

Uh-huh. Get up from there, you chicken.

Nah, man. You crying on my shoelaces. You getting them wet.

Come on man! Let's go!

J.J.! J.J.! Huh? What?

Huh?

Come on. It's time for breakfast.

Oh, great. I'm starved.

I made the oatmeal myself.

I ain't that starved.

Good morning, children.

THELMA: Good morning, Mom.

How are you, son? I feel fine, Ma.

Well, that's good.

That means you'll be able to go to school real soon.

Do you really think I could?

Do you really think I could get back into--?

Ahh! The pain in my shoulder is terrible.

J.J., stop acting.

It's been coming and going for a week now.

And put on your robe.

I can't stand to look at them pajamas without sunglasses.

Thanks for making the oatmeal, honey.

I would have done it myself,

but I was trying to help your daddy get dressed for court.

He's still going through with it, huh, Ma?

Well, now, Thelma, I'm not against pressing charges.

Boys like Mad Dog should not be allowed to walk the street.

And they deserve anything the courts decide.

But your father wants to get ahead of the law

and punish the boy himself.

If Daddy does that, he's liable to end up in jail too.

Yeah, he better not hit him in front of the judge.

Lord, I hope not.

He should wait until they call a recess.

THELMA: Good morning, Daddy.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

[WHISTLING]

James, isn't there anything I can do

to make you change your mind.

Nope.

Well at least let me go to court with you.

Baby, I done told you,

you ain't got nothing to do with this no more.

This between me and Mad Dog. One on one.

[WHISTLING]

What are you doing eating pretzels for breakfast?

Baby, don't think of these as pretzels.

Think of them as Mad Dog's finger.

Oh, James.

Aren't you gonna have some breakfast?

I ain't hungry.

Well, at least have a cup of coffee.

I ain't thirsty.

James! Huh?

At least you can kiss me goodbye.

Ain't that either.

You're in a courtroom, Cleon. Sit up straight.

The name is Mad Dog, dig it?

What you doing here, old man?

Oh, Mr. Mad Dog.

I just come to watch the due process of the law.

Excuse me, do you want to move your feet, Mr. Mad Dog?

What feet? These feet.

Best be cool, turkey.

Everybody rise. Judge Daniels presiding.

Young man, did you hear the bailiff?

You talking to me?

I don't hear too good sometimes.

Some of the law beat me upside my head.

What they call police brutality.

Get up, please.

Anything you say, man.

Refer to me as Your Honor. Don't call me "Man."

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt.

With that dress you got on, who can tell?

Gonna be another one of those days, huh?

You may be seated.

I wish you'd make up your mind, man.

Get up. Sit down. Get up. Sit down.

Remove the gum.

You heard what the man said.

Ain't you got no respect for the law?

Remove the gum.

I'm referring to you.

Me?

Anything you say, Your Highness.

Bailiff, give me the aspirin, will you?

Hey. Hey there, Your Majesty.

You shouldn't be pill-popping in court.

Young man, I've had just about enough out of you.

Mr. Connors, as his probation officer,

haven't you impressed upon him the seriousness of this charge?

I did, Your Honor.

I have more than 15 cases

to dispose of this morning and I'm not gonna put up with

any more of your childish nonsense.

I'm just a juvenile, Your Ecstasy.

I don't know how to act. I'm underprivileged.

Sometimes I think this court is underprivileged.

Are you this young man's father?

Lord, no.

Your Honor, this is the gentleman

who's pressing charges.

You already have his deposition.

The young man does not have a father.

His father left home when he was a child.

Wise choice.

Is he represented by counsel?

The Office of the Public Defender

assigned counsel, Your Honor.

The defendant refuses to speak to him.

Well, is there a mother or a guardian?

A mother, Your Honor. She works.

She should be here any moment.

Well, we're pressed for time. Let's get on with it.

Frank Jefferson, you're charged

with holding up the Lakeside Supermarket.

Wait a minute.

That's the wrong rap, Your Majesty.

There's been a mistake.

Frank Jefferson is the next case on the docket.

Well, then, who am I talking to?

Cleon Edwards. I thought I put his file on your desk.

There's so damn many cases, the backlog is unbelievable.

Here we go.

Nope, I'm sorry, Your Honor.

Your Honor, I'm sorry.

Our file clerk was just transferred

to the Sheriff's Department.

Uh, here we are.

Cleon Edwards.

No, this isn't it either.

This is your application for your transfer.

You're leaving us?

I'm sorry about this, Your Honor.

Cleon Edwards.

Cleon Edwards. Here we are.

All of the past violations, the home environment, etc.

I did the best I could with the time that I had.

Excuse me for being late.

Your Honor, this is Cleon's mother.

I'm sorry, Your Honor,

but I had to go straight home from work

and feed my other kids and get them off to school.

Be seated, please.

Over here, ma'am.

Well, Cleon, I see you've been a busy young man

in the past few years.

Been arrested five times.

Curfew violation, vandalism, drunkenness, petty theft,

assault...

and now assault with a deadly weapon

against one James Evans, Jr.

That's right. That's right.

That's the animal that shot my son.

I seen it myself. Mr. Evans, please.

What's all the jive, Your Worship?

I plead guilty and throw myself on the mercy of the court.

You know what you're waiving your right to?

Yeah, yeah, I know it. I've been here before, man.

Witnesses may be dismissed. Mr. Evans, thank you.

Oh, now wait a minute.

I wanna see what happens to this animal that shot my son.

He's thrown himself on the mercy of the court, Mr. Evans,

and we already have your deposition.

Well at least let me hang around

and see you throw the book at him.

I'm sorry. You're going to have to leave the court.

Wait a minute! I wanna see what happens

to this dog that shot my son.

The court will determine that.

Only the immediately family is needed.

Man, I don't dig it.

See you later, old man.

Yeah, outside. Outside.

The defendant will stand for sentencing.

Get up!

Cleon, I've decided on an indeterminate sentence

at St. Charles Reformatory for Boys

until you're 21 or otherwise discharged.

Your Honor, St. Charles is filled up. No vacancies.

Well, the county jail is no place for a juvenile,

but he'll have to go there temporarily.

They're even more crowded over there, Your Honor.

No vacancies.

No vacancies?

What the hell are we running here,

a jail system or a Holiday Inn?

You will be on probation until you're 21,

during which time you'll report to your probation officer

at least twice a week

and attend group rap sessions regularly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If I ever see you in this hearing room again,

you'll serve your full sentence,

even if it's in the county jail.

Later on, Your Magistration.

Oh!

Forgot my gum.

See there, Mama.

Nothing to it. I'm in the clear.

Everything is cool.

Don't you talk to me, boy. Don't you ever talk to me again.

What?

There ain't nothing can be done for you, Cleon.

You no good.

Lord knows I have done my best, but you just plain no good.

Is that any way to talk to your beloved son?

You was beloved once, a long time ago.

But no more.

And I give up on you, Cleon!

I pray to God every night

that none of my other kids turn out like you.

Oh, you ain't got to worry about them, Mama.

See, they got me.

I'm gonna see to it they get over.

See?

Look at you.

You're standing there smirking

and bringing all this grief on me.

I never thought I could feel this way

about my own child,

but I hate you.

Sometimes I wish you was never born!

If only your father was here.

What if he was? He'd be a wino in the gutter!

He ran out on you, didn't he?

Where was he when we needed him, Mama?

Where was he?

I don't need him. I don't need nobody.

You want me too? Huh? What you want? You wanna hit me?

Come on. Hit me, man. Hit me.

Hit me!

I don't want to hit you, son.

I don't want nothing.

Florida, what you doing here?

I thought I told you to stay home, baby.

James, I was so worried about what you might do,

I had to come.

They let him go, huh? Yeah.

Plenty of guns, but no places to put the kids who use them.

Lord.

Well, there ain't nothing we could do, James.

Yea, there was something I could have done.

I could have broke him in half, but...

Florida, what kind of father am I

to feel sorry for the man that shot my son?

The right kind, James.

The right kind.

[***]

* Mm-mm-mm *

* Just lookin' Out of the window *

* Watching the asphalt grow *

* Thinkin' how It all looks hand-me-down *

* Good times Good times *

* Keepin' your head Above water *

* Makin' a wave When you can *

* Temporary layoffs Good times *

ANNOUNCER: Good Times is recorded on tape

before a live audience.

* Ain't we lucky we got 'em *

* Good times **