Original subtitles

* Good Times *

* Anytime you meet a payment *

* Good Times *

* Anytime you feel free *

* Good Times *

* Anytime you're Out from under *

* Not getting hassled Not getting hustled *

* Keeping your head Above water *

* Making a wave when you can *

* Temporary layoffs *

* Good Times *

* Easy credit rip-offs *

* Good Times *

* Scratching and surviving *

* Good Times *

* Hanging in a chow line *

* Good Times *

* Ain't we lucky we got 'em *

* Good Times **

Hey, J.J.

What is it?

Come here.

What is it this time, gal?

My glass is getting a little empty.

So?

So? So fill it.

Hey, look here, girl.

I'm tired of you bossing me around like this.

Look, J.J., we made a deal

that whoever would break

their New Year's resolution first

would have to do what the other one said

for a week, right?

And you lost.

You resolved not to insult my boyfriends.

Hey, Thelma, I don't consider that an insult.

I consider that a compliment.

All I said

was that "I enjoyed your latest movie, Mr. Kong."

J.J., I don't think that's very funny at all.

Just fill this glass up now.

You want it filled, huh?

Yes, I do. That's what I called you in here for.

Okay. I'll fill it.

Oh, my good--

J.J., look what you did.

You messed up the floor.

You clean up this house immediately,

and start with Michael's drawer, right now.

[IN HIGH VOICE] Okay, Miss Scarlet,

but I don't know nothing about birthing no babies.

Oh, boy.

Boy, look at all this junk Michael's got in here.

His throwing away junk.

His keeping junk.

His future junk.

What's this?

It's a letter from Michael's school.

Addressed to Ma.

Addressed to Ma?

What is it doing in Michael's drawer?

Let me see this.

"Dear Mrs. Evans.

"We are sorry to inform you

"that your son, Michael Evans,

"has been replaced

"as leader of the honor assembly

because of the stance he has taken."

The militant midget strikes again.

J.J., this is very important.

Ma doesn't know about this letter, and she's downtown now,

buying him new clothes for the assembly.

Well, I hope she buys him

a suit with two pair of pants,

because she going to beat a hole in the other ones.

[FLORIDA CHATTING TO A NEIGHBOR]

Oh, no. Ma is coming now.

Oh, my goodness,

what are we going to do with this letter?

Do what all good spies do

when they're caught with incriminating evidence.

Eat it. Oh.

What--

I want my money.

Hi, kids.

I don't know why the president says the economy is suffering.

There must have been

at least 1500 people in that store today.

Mm, and they're all looking for jobs.

I'm sorry we're so late.

I guess I'd better get dinner started.

Willona, why don't you stay? We're having stew.

Oh, I had dinner with you last night,

and it was stew.

Uh, hey.

I sure appreciate that, Flo,

but I got a pressing engagement.

Uh, all the girls down at the shop

are having a meeting tonight.

We're thinking about forming a union now,

because we are sick and tired

of the exploitation, and the long working hours,

and the poor salary,

and something has got to be done about it immediately.

Tonight, the stew has meat in it.

Well, come to think of it, honey,

it can wait till tomorrow, can't it?

J.J., let me have my apron, please.

With monpleasure.

Monpleasure.

Thelma, what are you doing?

Nothing, Ma.

Well, I mean, what is all this about?

Oh, was I doing all that?

Uh, that's a new dance, Ma.

It's called the "Funky Finger."

See, you can do it like this,

or you can do it...

like that.

I can't keep up with these dances.

If it ain't the "Flaky Finger," it's the "Hustle Your Bustle."

Flo, that's, uh, "Shake Your Booty."

Whatever.

Michael isn't home yet?

Oh, he's probably working late. You know how excited he is

about his new job at the repair shop, right?

And his new boss.

Yeah.

I know.

Everything is "Mr. Dixon says this,

Mr. Dixon says that."

You got that right.

If Mr. Dixon told Grampa the world was flat,

he wouldn't go north of the loop for fear of falling off.

Well, I hope he gets here soon.

Thelma, will you stop your dance

and help Willona set the table?

Ma, you know,

you've been working too hard around here.

You know, it's up to the family members

to take the load off your apron--

I mean, your shoulders.

Thelma, you cook.

Thelma cook?

Honey, I'm going to the meeting.

J.J., stop your foolishness

and give me back my apron.

Hi, everybody.

Oh, hi, there, Michael.

I bought you a new sweater and a new pair of pants

to wear to the honor assembly.

Oh.

That's great, Ma.

Come here, man of the hour.

Oh, am I proud of you, Grampa.

We all are.

Um, thanks, Willona.

So many good things have been happening.

Michael leading the Pledge of Allegiance

at the honor assembly.

Holding down a job.

You know, Michael,

you have hands just like your father's.

He had strong hands too.

Boy, did he have strong hands.

Michael.

Yeah?

This is your father's tool belt.

I think it's about time you should have it.

You can use it in the repair shop.

Yeah, Ma. This'll work great.

I'm going to go down to the shop

and show it to Carl.

Well, first, I want you to try on your new clothes.

I can try them on tomorrow.

I want you to do it now.

There may be some alterations.

I can do it later.

Oh, Michael.

You're going to look so good.

I might go to that assembly myself.

Hey, that's a good idea.

No, it isn't, Ma.

Why isn't it?

Because of the "No Mamas at the Assembly" rule.

See, what happens,

any Mamas caught at assembly

will have to get a note from their children.

Sure, sounds silly, Ma,

but that's the new law, you know.

Yeah, Michael here voted against it,

but he was outnumbered.

All right. Something's going on.

Thelma, you've been

doing strange things with your hands,

and, J.J., everything you do is strange.

Now, what's going on here?

Strange you should ask that question, Ma...

Especially when I don't have an answer.

Thelma?

Uh...

Well, you see, Ma, it's like this.

Uh...

Ma, what was the question again?

Now, look.

I want to know, and I want to know now.

Ma, it's not them.

They're trying to protect me.

Protect you from what?

Yeah, well, the letter in my drawer

will explain everything.

It's not in my drawer?

Where is it?

Oh, so that's what

the new dance craze is all about.

Michael.

It says here that you won't be leading the honor assembly.

Why?

And don't give me any fancy answers.

Ma, take it easy.

Hey, don't worry. Your mother will handle this.

I'm only trying to get some information from Michael.

Mm-hmm. All right.

And I'm asking in a nice, calm, gentle, motherly way.

All right. Okay.

Just what have you done to upset that assembly?

Well, um...

I'm waiting, Michael.

Well, Ma, they wanted me

to say something I didn't believe in.

You don't believe in the Pledge of Allegiance?

Michael, have you lost your mind?

Carl doesn't think so.

Carl?

Carl Dixon? Yeah.

What has he go to do with this?

Well, Ma, he says it's a hypocrisy to say one thing

when you know, in your guts, you feel something else.

All right, Michael. Let's pin this down.

Just what is it about the Pledge of Allegiance

that upsets you and your guts?

Probably that part about liberty and justice for all.

No. It's that mumbo jumbo about one nation under God.

What?

Yeah.

Carl says there is no God,

and I'm not going to say there is.

What did you say? I--

Michael, don't say anything till I have a chance to hide.

Maybe I can get out

of the lightning-striking place there.

Well, Ma, there is no God,

and I'm not going to say there is.

Michael, that's blasphemy.

What's gotten into you?

Flo, take it easy.

You know, just a kid with wild ideas.

Don't mean nothing, honey.

Yeah. Remember the time when he wrote to President Nixon,

and said that the south side of Chicago should become

an independent black nation? Remember that?

Yeah, and then Nixon wrote back and said, "Where is Chicago?"

No, no. This one is different.

Michael, you are my child and your father's child,

and we believe in God...

And so did you before you were brainwashed.

Now, is that clear?

But the way I feel is--

I don't want to hear anything except,

"Yes, Mama, I believe in God."

No, Mama.

Michael...

was it Carl Dixon

who told you to say there is no God?

Ma, Carl didn't tell me to say anything.

He just opened my eyes.

Well, look, we can talk about that later.

Let's have dinner now. Yeah!

We can't talk about it later, Willona.

Michael...

Carl Dixon is a stranger.

Now, you letting a stranger change everything

this family has always upheld.

Ma, Carl says if you can't see it,

hear it, feel it, or touch it,

it's not there.

God is everywhere, and you can feel it here.

How do you know it's not heartburn?

Just jiving, Numero Uno, just jiving.

Ma, I realize this is upsetting you,

but as far as I'm concerned,

I'm not going to say "One nation under God,"

and that's that.

Oh, Michael, baby.

Baby, there is a God.

A kind, loving, merciful God.

Ma, if he's so merciful,

how come we still living in the ghetto?

Hey, Carl, what do you want me to do with this?

Throw it away.

I spent 20 years in the army,

and I learned that whenever you have something left over,

throw it away.

Otherwise, they grind it up

and serve it to you on a shingle the next day.

Oh, hello there, Mr. Barnes.

How are you?

Can't complain.

Got a TV and a wife, and they both work.

You like that one, sonny?

There something I can do for you?

My hearing aid. Cuts off and on.

I have to keep hitting it.

You know, I got a hearing aid, false teeth,

an electric pacemaker in my chest.

I'm a regular eight-million-dollar man.

Mr. Barnes, don't you mean a regular six-million-dollar man?

Oh, no, sonny.

Don't you know things in the ghetto cost more?

Well, Carl,

I'm going to go deliver this griddle.

See you later, Mr. Barnes.

What's the kid mumbling about?

I don't know.

I'm going to have to send it back to the factory.

I'll put a rush on it.

No hurry.

Starsky and Hutch

are just as funny without the sound.

Well, it's closing time.

* Closing time *

* Closing time... *

It's closing time, Mr. Barnes.

Time to go!

I don't have to go. I went at home.

[KNOCKS]

We're closed.

[INAUDIBLE]

Another one with a hearing problem.

Lady, I'm trying to tell you we're closed.

I'm sorry, but this is important.

Okay, what's so important?

I am Michael Evans' mother and we quit.

You can't quit. You don't work here.

Well, as of now, neither does Michael.

Oh, boy, I don't want to miss this.

Why don't you want Michael to work here?

Because you're a bad influence.

You've turned Michael into an atheist.

Oh, come on.

He made up his own mind about that God jazz.

Mr. Dixon, God exists,

and I don't like expressions like, "That God jazz."

That God rock 'n' roll?

You're not funny, Mr. Dixon.

God exists.

Where? Where is he?

He's everywhere. He's even in this shop.

Don't look at me, lady.

I may be old, but I ain't God.

Score: atheists, 1, believers, 0.

You want to take another shot at it, Mrs. Evans?

Now, give me some proof that God exists.

You.

You're here.

Of course, I'm here. It's my shop.

I mean, he created you.

And all these years,

I've been sending a tie to my dad on Father's Day.

Atheists, 2, believers, 0.

Look, lady.

"Bomb kills four in Belfast."

"Starvation in India."

"Two-week-old baby dies in its crib."

If God existed,

would he allow these things to happen?

And another thing...

Would he allow the Boston Celtics

to beat the Chicago Bulls 116-104?

Mr. Dixon, did you bet on the game?

Yeah.

Did you win? No.

Hah! There is a God.

Hot dog.

That's a two-pointer.

Score is tied. Score is tied.

[MOCKS LAUGH]

Lady, you want me

to believe in a god that plays favorites.

Tell me something,

who's he picking at Arlington in the fifth?

Look, I don't care what you believe, Mr. Dixon.

I just don't want you

changing anything my son believes,

and Michael believes in God.

If Michael believes in God,

he's the lousiest atheist in town,

and if there is one thing we atheists cannot abide,

it's a backslider.

Amen.

Well, it looks like this game

is running into overtime.

I am leaving.

I get a gracious plenty of God on Sunday.

Now, don't forget to fix this.

I won't.

Mrs. Evans, look.

I've had it up to here.

I'm a busy man.

If God exists,

I wish he'd make his presence known.

[TELEPHONE RINGS]

Hello.

Yeah.

What?

Okay.

That was the man upstairs.

Before you get carried away,

it wasn't your man upstairs.

It was my man upstairs.

Mr. Jennings.

He lives above the store,

and he wants to know if his radio is fixed.

Mr. Dixon,

Michael is at a very impressionable age.

Now, he was sure of his beliefs until he met you.

I haven't influenced him one way or the other.

Oh, yes, you have, and there's no need to yell.

I'm not yelling!

You are so yelling!

I guess I should know yelling

when I hear yelling.

Mrs. Evans, what do you see here?

Look, Mr. Dixon,

I'm in no mood to play games.

Come on. Come on. What do you see here?

Two screwdrivers.

Now what do you see?

Two screwdrivers.

Now what do you see?

Two screwdrivers.

I say there are three screwdrivers.

I'm sorry, Mr. Dixon,

but there are only two screwdrivers there.

You say there are two screwdrivers.

I say there are three screwdrivers.

Now, will you admit that I wasn't yelling if I'm wrong?

Why, certainly.

I'm wrong.

Okay, Mr. Dixon.

You flimflammed me.

You're right, Mrs. Evans.

That's just what I did.

Well, if you can do that to me,

don't you think you can influence Michael?

You made your point, Mrs. Evans,

and you did it without a screwdriver.

Mr. Dixon, I'm telling Michael

he can't work here any longer.

You're his mother,

and I can't stop you,

but do yourself a favor.

Let me do the dirty work.

If you lower the boom on Michael,

he's going to resent it.

If I do it, what the hell.

He doesn't have to see me again.

Thank you, Mr. Dixon.

You're very thoughtful.

For an atheist?

Good night, Mr. Dixon.

Good night, Mrs. Evans.

Doggone it!

Carl, here's the money from the griddle.

Anything else you want me to do before we knock off?

How do you like that?

I worked all day and all I took in was $10.

Don't worry, Carl. You got a lot of work coming in.

Damn oil company.

Huh?

You know what they've done to the price of oil?

On a little can like that?

Look, Michael, on a little can like this,

you multiply it by eight more, and what do you get? Bankrupt.

Come on, Carl.

Michael, I mean it.

I'm going to have to cut down on expenses.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go.

Over a little can of oil?

Michael, Michael. You don't understand business.

It starts somewhere at the top

with some guy digging in the desert,

and it works itself down,

and it's always the little man

who gets it in the neck.

Yeah, but around here, I'm the little man.

There are only two of us, Michael.

Who am I going to fire?

Me?

Tell you what.

I don't have to come in every day.

I just come in three times a week.

I'll take a cut in my salary.

I'll work for nothing

until the price of oil goes down.

Damn.

Oh, come on, Michael. It's only a part-time job.

Look at J.J.

He's been fired more times than a Saturday-night special.

You got that right.

Just a part-time job. You'll get another one, honey.

Yeah, it's just a shame

it had to happen 50 years before retirement.

[KNOCKING]

Oh, it never fails.

Now, who could be so inconsiderate

as to come calling just at the dinner hour--?

Mr. Dixon.

MR. DIXON: I brought Michael's tool belt.

I thought he might need it.

Won't you come in?

Thank you.

Ma, may I be excused?

You certainly may not.

We have company.

Mr. Dixon, these are my children,

J.J., Thelma, and my neighbor, Willona Woods.

How are you?

Hello. How are you?

Hey, look here, Mr. Dixon,

there's word out on the street that you got a job open.

J.J., how could you?

It ain't for me, Ma.

It's for Thelma.

I figure we got to get her out here working.

Doing something.

Michael.

Michael, I thought you might want this.

Michael, you're being rude.

But he fired me.

He said he was my friend, then he fires me for no reason.

Michael.

Michael, Mr. Dixon didn't fire you.

I did.

I asked Mr. Dixon to let you go.

Ma, how could you?

Honey, I was trying to do it for your own good.

You had no right to do that.

Michael.

Halt, soldier.

About face.

Knock it off.

Michael, when I read that letter

about the honor assembly

and heard your newfound views on religion,

I had to do something about it.

Your mother was doing what she thought was best.

You're right, Mr. Dixon.

Well, she cost me a good job.

You're right, Michael.

Willona, how can Mr. Dixon and Michael be right?

Thelma, shut up.

I'm a peacemaker.

Ma, the way I see it,

you're trying to make me choose between you and Carl.

Oh, that's not true, Michael.

Michael, look me in the eye and tell me.

Do you believe in God?

Well, Ma...

Michael, you've lived in this house for 15 years.

There's no way you don't believe in God.

Michael.

I don't believe in God,

but you don't have to do my thing to be my friend.

I'm going to love you just as much anyway.

Is it okay if I lead the assembly tomorrow?

You got it.

What about my job?

You got it.

Hey, hey, right on.

Sit down, Mr. Moneymaker.

Sit right on down there.

Well, that's all cleared up.

Thank God.

Oh, gotcha.

Huh?

You said, "Thank God."

Madame, when I say, "Thank God,"

that does not mean I believe in a supreme being

any more than when you say, "Holy mackerel,"

you're going to kneel down to a fish.

Now look, Mr. Dixon.

Uh, Ma, please. No hassling on an empty stomach.

Let's eat.

ALL: Yeah!

Mrs. Evans, before I go...

there's something I want to say.

We've had our differences,

but I admire a woman

who can stand up to me the way you did.

Are you kidding?

Ma could stand up to Howard Cosell.

Well, that being the case,

and seeing the group

that is gathered into this room,

and knowing how much meat there is in the stew,

I would say...

won't you please stay to dinner?

Well, I-- Oh, we have plenty, and--

You talked me into it.

Come on.

I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse myself.

Knowing the meat at Borgan's Market,

your wish might come true. Oh, stop it.

You got enough room now? Thank you.

J.J., would you say grace? Okay.

Lord, for the food we are about to receive,

we thank you.

By a vote of five to one.

* Mmm *

* Just looking Out of the window *

* Watching the asphalt grow *

* Thinking how It all looks hand-me-down *

* Good Times, yeah, yeah *

* Good Times *

* Keeping your head Above water *

* Making a wave when you can *

* Temporary layoffs *

* Good Times *

* Easy credit rip-offs *

* Good times *

ANNOUNCER: Good Times is videotaped in front of a studio audience.

* Good Times **