♪ Sign on the window says, "Lonely" ♪
♪ Sign on the door said, "No company allowed" ♪
Sign on the street says, you don't own me.
♪ Sign on the porch says, "Three's a crowd" ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Looks like nothing but rain ♪
♪ Sure gonna be wet tonight on Main Street ♪
♪ Hope that it don't sleet ♪
(light country-folk music)
Good evening.
Tonight's story begins and ends
at a guesthouse in Duluth, Minnesota,
in November/December 1934.
Duluth is an iron ore shipping town built on a rocky cliff
that tumbles down into Lake Superior,
where each and every winter feels seven months long.
Back here, some of the guests we'll meet along the way.
This is Nick Laine.
That's his wife there, Elizabeth.
Nick inherited this house from his granddaddy,
but he never had no head for business.
First, he lost the stables and stud, then all the stocks.
Managed to remortgage the house long enough for Elizabeth
to turn it into decent boarding rooms.
But she hasn't been so good lately,
and Nick's tryna take care of everything. (Chuckles)
Trying real hard.
Like a man tryna run through a wall tries real hard.
But the bank has only given him two months' grace.
My name is George Arthur Walker.
I'm a doctor.
At least, I was, back when this was our world.
I healed some bodies in pain.
But as we know, pain comes in all kinds.
Physical, spiritual.
Indescribable.
I'll come in the story later.
But right now, all you need to know
is Nick's made some chicken stew for his family,
for the guests.
Keep everybody alive another day.
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
Elizabeth?
(bright gentle piano music) Elizabeth?
Elizabeth?
Elizabeth, sit down, I'll give you something to eat.
Sit down. Come on, supper.
All right. All right!
All right, well...
Well, all right.
I can hear it.
What?
The girl down the hole.
(bright gentle piano music)
What?
[Elizabeth] Girl down the hole.
- Hello? - What?
Oh, what are you doing scratching around like that?
What? I'm hungry!
- You know what time it is? - You're only coming in?
- I was working late. - Working my ass.
I was working!
You were drinking.
Yeah, well, you have to drink if you want to sit at the bar.
Who works in a bar?
You can't write in your room?
No, I can't write in my room!
- Why? - Too stultifying.
Oh, excuse me, Mr. Hemingway!
(Nick chuckles)
So you got a letter, huh?
- Yeah. - New York postmark.
Yeah, it was nothing.
- Yeah? - Yeah, nothing, you know?
You should let me read, you know,
some of your short stories, sometime.
- (laughs) Yeah? - Hey, I've been around.
- Yeah. - Yeah. I've lived.
You can't see it 'cause as far as you're concerned,
I'm just the old dumbbell around here.
I could read 'em, tell ya where you might need a little...
You know, a little life!
Little real life.
Maybe we could turn some of those rejection slips
into paychecks, huh?
Yeah, well, now I know you're desperate.
Desperate? Well.
Two minutes ago, it wasn't even work,
and now you wanna do it for me?
Hey, don't ambush me with my own double standards.
You don't even know what work is.
You get a job, you'll know all about it,
what it does to you.
Get a job where?
[Nick] Scribbling in a book
- isn't work. - Get a job where?
- What? - Get a job where?
What are you asking me for?
The Twin Cities!
I don't know!
You and your sister are too damn spoiled.
You wanna give me some help here?
What do you want?
Set the table.
Feed your mother.
[Nick] She doesn't want me feeding her.
You do it too fast!
Let her chew for Christ's sake!
You let it all go down her chin,
of course she doesn't like it.
She doesn't like me doing it.
It's 'cause you don't pay attention!
What's up your nose all of a sudden?
- What? - Why you so on edge?
- I'm not on edge. - Oh, no, huh?
♪ Went to see the gypsy ♪
♪ Staying in a big hotel ♪
♪ He smiled when he saw me coming ♪
♪ And he said, "Well, well, well" ♪
♪ The room was dark and crowded ♪
♪ The lights were low and dim ♪
♪ "How are you?" he said to me ♪
♪ And I said it back to him ♪
♪ I went down to the lobby ♪
♪ To make a small call out ♪
♪ A pretty dancing girl was there ♪
♪ And she began to shout ♪
♪ "Go on back to see the gypsy ♪
♪ He can move you from the rear ♪
♪ Drive you from your fear ♪
♪ Bring you through the mirror ♪
♪ He did it in Las Vegas ♪
♪ And he can do it here" ♪
♪ Outside the lights were shining ♪
(plates clattering)
♪ On the river of tears ♪
♪ I watched them from the distance ♪
♪ With music in my ears ♪
Mrs. Neilsen.
Mr. Laine.
How are you all this evening?
All fine, thanks.
- Gene. - Mrs. Neilsen.
We have chicken stew if you're hungry.
Mm. Smells very good.
Oh, I fixed that window was banging in your room.
I saw that.
Thank you.
Wind's picking up.
Yeah, there's a storm due.
It's making it rattle a little.
Oh?
Wanna come and fix it tonight?
I don't know. I'm.
Fix it again?
No, no, no! Not in front of Elizabeth, all right?
Oh, she's not watching. (Chuckles)
Yeah.
You see this one?
You could afford that?
Depends, I guess. But look at it.
It's got a real restaurant.
22 rooms.
We can whip this into shape.
22 rooms?
We can handle it!
With your experience and my charisma and my good looks.
Yeah. Up in Bismarck.
You don't like Bismarck?
Three guys I knew from Bismarck
always cheated at cards.
Oh, right. What was I thinking?
Hey, don't get sore!
It's a great idea.
I just wish I could think straight.
What is there to think about?
You got some other plan?
Your money comes through, I'll be full of plans.
- It'll come through. - Don't be so pessimistic.
Yeah, I know.
Just Bismarck.
(Elizabeth stomping and clapping)
You're such a knucklehead, Nick.
(audience laughing)
And you got it all going on.
What are you up to?
I'm not up to nothing.
Why do you keep looking at your watch?
- Do I? - Yes.
Just wondering where Marianne is.
She's a grown woman.
She has a baby inside...
She can't be traipsing up and down the streets in the cold.
Mr. Perry's calling by.
The shoe mender?
- Mm-hm. - For what?
He's a good man, Mr. Perry.
So?
[Nick] So...
He must be 70 years old
- if he's a day! - He's not 70!
So what is he? 69 3/4?
The girl is 19.
She needs a husband!
What for?
Take care of her.
The father of the baby jumped on a damn lake boat!
Probably down in Toledo by now.
Maybe she doesn't need a husband.
- Oh, yeah? - Well, where's she gonna go?
Why does she have to go anywhere?
'Cause the bank's gonna foreclose on my ass here.
They're saying that to everyone.
Just tell them I got money coming.
- Let me get them a letter. - Oh, you'd invest in this place?
[Mrs. Neilsen] Sure!
Yeah, sure.
When your probate comes through, you know what you'll do?
You'll just get back on the train
and go back to Minneapolis.
And why shouldn't you?
Well, I can't live in a boarding house forever, can I?
With your wife!
With my what?
She was finished with me, anyway.
So you say.
Before she got sick, she told me straight out.
[Mrs. Neilsen] Hm, yeah.
Now she's just forgotten.
When someone turns round, just says,
"I don't love you anymore," you know what the shock is?
There ain't nothing you can do! That's it.
You can't make 'em love you.
People love dirtbags all over the world.
Hm. Tell me about it.
[Nick] Even name the damn children after 'em.
Marriage is a sacrament.
Doesn't mean anyone's gotta love you.
Well, maybe someone does, Nick.
You ever thought of that?
♪ I went back to see the gypsy ♪
♪ It was nearly early dawn ♪
♪ The gypsy's door was open wide ♪
♪ But the gypsy was gone ♪
♪ And that pretty dancing girl ♪
♪ She could not be found ♪
♪ So I watched that sun come rising ♪
♪ From that little Minnesota town ♪
♪ From that little Minnesota ♪
You ain't done with her yet, Nick.
Yeah?
You don't know it?
I don't know nothing no more.
Behold!
And an angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a dream.
[Nick] Mr. Perry!
Mr. Laine!
Come in! Come in!
- Why thank you! - Come in!
Oh!
You know Mrs. Neilsen.
- Yes, we've- - Mrs. Neilsen's a guest here.
She has business here.
When her business is done, she'll be.
Well, I hope you find Duluth to be as hospitable
as we suppose it to be.
It's a fine, beautiful city.
Yes, well, we like to think so.
Gene, of course, you know.
- And Elizabeth. - Of course.
How are you this evening, Mrs. Laine?
And I, uh...
Gene, where's Marianne?
I don't know.
Well, will you see if maybe she came in, please?
Will you look in her room?
Such a great kid.
(audience laughing) (Mr. Perry chuckles)
Well, there's a stormy night, huh?
Yes. (Nick laughs)
I swore I'd make it up that hill. (Chuckles)
(laughs) Good one, Popeye.
It's a blowing! (Chuckles)
You take a drink?
Glass of beer?
- A glass of milk would be- - Glass of milk! Right.
- I'll get it. - Not too cold.
No, not too cold.
You want me to warm it up?
No. Room temperature's fine.
Room temperature.
Any particular room?
(audience laughing)
This one's okay.
All right.
Uh, uh, how's the...
How's things in the shoe-mending business?
If that's not a personal question?
Not at all.
My store is full of shoes.
I'm occupied from daybreak till dark.
- You're occupied. - Thank the Lord.
- Yes, sir. - And how long's it been
since your wife passed?
12 years.
12 years?
- That's right. - Whoa, that's, uh.
Yeah, it's a long time, I guess.
12 years is a long time.
That's a chunk of change.
- Oh, Jesus! - Oh! What are you doing?
What? It's room temperature.
Oh. Thank you.
(clapping) You're welcome.
Uh, now, you know how Marianne came to be our...
How she came to live here, right?
I heard something.
This couple checked out, left a bag in the room,
and you know what was inside?
Marianne!
She was only a baby.
Tiny little thing.
I mean, we tried to find the parents, but
Nick stuck her in an orphanage while I was sleeping,
- didn't ya? - Well, I.
Oh. He stuck her in a home.
20 little kids in cots in one room.
There was no glass in the window,
no one taking care of 'em.
I went straight down there, I took her back out.
- I had to! - There was glass in the windows.
He'd already lost one baby girl.
Ah, it seemed the best thing was to let her stay
and work here, right?
No one ever came back.
I mean, she works here.
You're good people.
She works here.
So, Mrs. Neilsen is a widow.
[Mr. Perry] Oh, I am sorry.
[Nick] Her husband's dead.
- (audience laughing) - Thank you.
She was down in St. Paul when her husband died.
[Mr. Perry] I see.
Husband died three years ago,
left her $10,000 in the bank account,
she's still waiting on his will to be cleared.
Charles St. Clair, here in Duluth,
- he's doing the paperwork. - Yes, thank you, Nick.
Your husband have ties here?
He was in the railroad business.
He had shares in the line.
Right.
They have all the right paperwork now.
- It won't take long. - You'll buy a house
here in Duluth.
No, I'm actually thinking of investing in.
She'll spread her wings.
[Elizabeth] Are those flowers for me?
- Oh, now, Elizabeth. - They're pretty.
Well, they're for, uh...
Why, well, yes, they're-they're for you.
Can you remember when you asked me
and asked me and asked me
to come with you to the Cook County fair?
Oh, well, now, Elizabeth, I'm sure that wasn't Mr. Perry.
Do you remember?
Hm? The lights?
And how dark it was afterwards walking home together
and what you said to me?
Begging me to touch it?
Elizabeth, now, please!
[Elizabeth] "For the love of mercy",
"please just hold it, Elizabeth," you said.
[Mr. Perry] Well, now, I.
"Just hold it. Just touch it.
I'm begging you."
For Christ's sake,
- Elizabeth. - Do you remember?
I'm sorry, Mr. Perry.
And I said, "Why, it's just like a tiny Vienna sausage."
I am so sorry.
How I cried afterwards!
I was only a girl!
- Goodnight! - Goodnight, honey. (Laughs)
Oh! Elizabeth!
Elizabeth! Elizabeth!
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Drop the knife. Drop the knife.
Elizabeth, drop it. Drop it.
Oh, Marianne! You're...
Oh, look who's here.
Good evening, Marianne.
[Marianne] Mr. Perry.
Should really start getting Elizabeth to bed.
Uh, Mrs. Neilsen, would you mind?
I hate to impinge.
Not at all.
Come on Elizabeth, I'll brush your teeth.
- And sing? - Sure.
Okay. Then that's fine, then, yes.
Goodnight, honey.
Goodnight, Elizabeth.
Goodnight, Ding-Dong!
(audience laughing)
(door clunking)
Marianne, you'll...
Would you like some supper?
No, I'm fine, thank you. (Chuckles)
I've gotta go fix the commode.
He broke it.
(audience laughing) (Mr. Perry chuckles)
- Are you sure? - Yeah.
Do you mind if I eat?
No! (Chuckles)
Is it good?
My pa can't cook for shit.
I can cook.
I'll bet.
You are finished your schooling now, I believe.
Yes, sir.
Marianne, I'm gonna be frank with you.
Your father has spoken with me
and I am aware of your condition.
My house is warm, it's centrally located.
My habits are regular.
I know we can't do it legally, but in word and deed,
I will wed you, Marianne, and parent the child.
What?
I will marry you.
Mr. Perry, your offer is very
I'm a good deal older than you.
I may not look it, but it's true.
(audience laughing)
The doctor says I won't be around forever.
Time comes, you'll have the whole place.
Child to be reared, and you'll be free
and still a relatively young woman.
Now, there's a deal,
and if I ever heard better, it's gone from my mind.
- Mr. Perry, I can't- - It's a lot to take in.
I get it. I really do.
But you sleep on it.
- Mr. Perry. - You sleep on it!
Inspiration comes in dreams.
(gentle contemplative ballad music)
♪ Well, I had to move fast ♪
♪ And I couldn't with you around my neck ♪
♪ You said you'd send for him and you did ♪
♪ What did I expect ♪
♪ My hands are sweating ♪
♪ And we haven't even started yet ♪
♪ I'll go along with the charade ♪
♪ Until I can think my way out ♪
♪ I know it was all a big joke ♪
♪ Whatever it was about ♪
♪ Someday maybe I'll remember ♪
♪ To forget ♪
♪ I'm gonna get my coat ♪
♪ I feel the breath of a storm ♪
♪ There's something I've gotta do tonight ♪
♪ You go inside and stay warm ♪
♪ Has anybody seen my love ♪
♪ Anybody seen my love ♪
♪ Has anybody seen my love ♪
♪ Anybody seen my love ♪
♪ Has anybody seen my love ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Anybody seen my love ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ Has anybody seen my love ♪
♪ My love ♪
♪ You wanna talk to me ♪
♪ Go ahead and talk ♪
♪ Whatever you gotta say to me ♪
♪ Won't come as any shock ♪
♪ I must be guilty of something ♪
♪ You just whisper it into my ear ♪
♪ Oh, whoa ♪
♪ Madame Butterfly ♪
♪ She lulled me to sleep ♪
♪ In a town without pity ♪
♪ Where the water runs deep ♪
♪ She said, "Be easy, baby ♪"
♪ There ain't nothing worth stealing in here" ♪
♪ Oh, whoa, whoa ♪
♪ You're the one I've been looking for ♪
♪ You're the one that's got the key ♪
♪ But I can't figure out whether I'm too good for you ♪
♪ Or you're too good for me ♪
♪ Has anybody seen my love ♪
♪ Anybody seen my love? ? Has anybody seen my love ♪
♪ Oh, no ♪
♪ Anybody seen my love ♪
♪ Has anybody seen my love ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Anybody seen my love?? Oh ♪
♪ My love ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ Has anybody seen my love? ♪
(thunder crashing)
Sir!
I'm the Reverend James Marlowe.
This young man is Joseph Scott Esquire.
The Spalding has no vacancies.
They recommended your fine house.
Well, come in out of the rain, let's see what we can do.
- Come on. - Thank you!
I have a small room, it'll do one of ya.
And someone can bunk on...
This settle in here makes a decent cot, if you don't mind?
I'll sleep anywhere.
A chair is fine for me, sir.
Oh, no, you can stretch on out there.
I'll charge you half dollar.
Let's say a $1.50 for the room in back for yourself.
- $1.50? - That's right.
It's normally $2.
But considering it's 3:30 in the morning,
I'll give you a discount.
And a half a dollar for the settle here.
(coins clinking)
And there's the change.
Now what do you say you gents have a glass of whiskey?
Well, that would be a godsend!
Thank you, sir.
You can hang those wet coats up yonder.
So, no room at the inn over at the Spalding, huh?
That's correct, sir.
[Nick] Mm.
The 11 o'clock from St. Paul was delayed.
You boys travelling together?
No, sir. We are thrown together by circumstance.
Decided to walk on up here together.
You say you're a reverend?
[James] That's correct, sir.
You planning to preach the word?
I don't preach the word, sir.
I sell it. (Audience laughing)
A devil pursues me, his name is commerce.
Oh, you're a Bible salesman.
In its crudest terms, yes.
Yeah. Been selling much?
If I sell two Bibles a day, three, I can live.
Mind if you don't go selling 'em in here?
Beneath your roof, the word is free!
That's two bits for the whiskey.
You'll find it's the highest quality.
As the price suggests.
(coin clinks)
What's the most you ever owed anybody?
Excuse me?
What's the most money you ever had to pay back to someone?
$20,000?
No, sir! (Laughs)
I have made it a principle
- never to borrow money. - You try walking round
with that kind of money, you see what it's like.
You try it for a day, see what it's like.
You try it for a lifetime.
(laughs) Sir, I just told you.
Never ever invest in the fairground business.
Those people are.
Clowns?
(audience laughing)
(James laughs)
How about you?
- Sir? - What's your business?
I have an appointment here.
An appointment?
Well, all right.
Uh, there's more blankets in the box.
Come on, Reverend, I'll show you.
Goodnight.
[Joseph] Goodnight, sir.
Goodnight, Mr. Scott.
Goodnight, Reverend.
(Joseph breathing heavily) (rain pattering)
(Joseph coughing)
(thunder rumbles)
- (door slams) - Ah!
Who's there?
[Gene] What?
Who's there?
- What? - Are you all right?
What'd you do?
I don't know!
Who is that?
I'm Joseph P. Scott, sir.
You asking me who I am?
Who are you, boy?
I'm Joe Scott, sir.
- Uh-huh. - Easy, my man.
What are you doing in here, boy?
I'm just staying the night.
The boss man admitted me himself.
Oh. (Laughs)
Did he, did he, did he?
You tryna start something?
No, sir.
I just want a night's sleep I paid for.
You think something's funny?
[Joseph] No, sir!
Well, you sound like you had some schooling?
- Yes, sir. - Where?
Harvard? (Chuckles)
No, sir. Miss Hemming's schoolhouse, sir.
219 Washington Street in Brainerd.
Well, you come on, you hit me now.
Sir?
Hit me.
I said, hit me.
No, sir.
You get your Black ass up out of that bed,
you stand up and you hit me now.
You get up and you hit me!
- Come on! - I ain't gonna hit you.
It's all right. You can do it.
I ain't gonna do it!
(both grunting)
Now, I say
I say, you come and you hit me now.
Or I'm gonna
I'm gonna-I'm gonna take this poker
and I'm gonna stick it through your goddamn eye!
(poker rattles) (audience laughing)
[Joseph] I said, I ain't gonna hit you.
I say-I say you do as you're told, boy,
or you give me one good reason why I don't make you do it.
If I hit you, I'll likely kill you.
What you say?
You heard me.
Well, you've done it now.
(fist slams) (Gene grunts)
You want me to hit you?
[Gene] No! No!
You want me to hit you some more, boy?
- No! - "No" what?
- No, sir! - "No" what?
No, I don't want you to hit me anymore!
Now, there's a man looks like he could use a Bible.
(audience laughing)
James Marlowe.
Reverend Jim, they call me.
[Gene] Right.
[James] You live here?
[Gene] (laughs) I try.
Where's the convenience?
Goddamn, man!
What the hell?
[Gene] Oh, God.
I just saw you stroke a cat out there
on your way in through the backyard.
Cat rubbed its fur around your legs
like he's the only friend you've got in the world.
And you know what? I thought to myself,
"What are you gonna do when that cat dies?"
(audience laughing)
Have you thought about it?
Have you considered death?
What you say? You're a reverend?
Yes, sir.
The word of God, sir.
Cloth-bound, gold-embossed,
extra fine print for a mere $2.
Jesus makes his lifetime of light eminently affordable.
There's a big storm coming, my boy.
Here. Europe.
Everywhere.
You ever wonder what would've happened
if the Vikings met the Jews?
Huh?
The Vikings!
You know what they would've done to the Jews?
I ain't got $2.
A fine young man like you?
Something's wrong somewhere when a fine young man like you
ain't got two damn dollars.
Don't ya feel it?
♪ Sometimes, I feel so low-down and disgusted ♪
♪ I can't help but wonder what's happening to my companions ♪
(groovy R&B music)
♪ Are they lost or are they found ♪
♪ Have they counted the cost it'll take to bring down ♪
♪ All their earthly principles ♪
♪ They're gonna have to abandon ♪
♪ 'Cause there's a slow ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ A slow train comin' ♪
♪ Train ♪
♪ Up around the bend ♪
♪ I had a woman down in Alabama ♪
♪ She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic ♪
♪ She said, "Boy, without a doubt ♪"
♪ Have to quit your mess and straighten out ♪
♪ You could die down here ♪
♪ Be just another accident statistic" ♪
♪ Cause there's a slow ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ Slow train comin' ♪
♪ Train ♪
♪ Up around the bend ♪
♪ A slow train coming ♪
♪ Well, my baby went to Illinois ♪
♪ With some bad-talking boy she could destroy ♪
♪ A real suicide case ♪
♪ But there was nothing I could do to stop it ♪
♪ Hey ♪
♪ I don't care about economy ♪
♪ I don't care about astronomy ♪
♪ But it sure do bother me ♪
♪ To see my loved ones turning into puppets ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
♪ 'Cause there's a slow ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ Slow train coming ♪
♪ Train comin'?? Up around the bend ♪
♪ A slow train comin' ♪
♪ There's a slow ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ Slow train comin' ♪
♪ Train ♪
♪ Up around the bend, yeah ♪
♪ A slow train comin' ♪
♪ There's a woman ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ On my block ♪
♪ Train ♪
♪ She just sit there ♪
♪ Slow?? As the night grows still ♪
♪ Train ♪
♪ She say, "Who gonna take away his licence to kill" ♪
♪ Now, they take him and they teach him ♪
♪ And they groom him for life ♪
♪ And they set him on a path ♪
♪ Where he's bound to get ill ♪
♪ Hey, hey ♪
♪ Then they bury him with stars ♪
♪ Sell his body like they do used cars ♪
♪ There's a woman ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ On my block ♪
♪ Train ♪
♪ She just sit there ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ Facing the hill ♪
♪ Train ♪
♪ She say, "Who gonna take away his licence to kill" ♪
♪ You may be a noisemaker, spirit maker, heartbreaker ♪
♪ Backbreaker, leave no stone unturned. ♪
♪ You may be an actor in a plot ♪
♪ That might be all that you got ♪
♪ Till your error you clearly learned ♪
♪ There's a slow ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ Slow train comin' ♪
♪ Train?? Up around the bend ♪
♪ Comin' ♪
♪ A slow train comin' ♪
♪ There's a slow ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ Slow train comin' ♪
♪ Train?? Up around the bend ♪
♪ Comin' ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ A slow train comin' ♪
♪ There's a slow, there's a slow ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ There's a slow, there's a slow ♪
♪ Train comin' ♪
♪ A slow train comin' ♪
♪ There's a slow ♪
♪ Slow ♪
♪ Slow train comin' ♪
♪ Train?? Up around the bend ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Slow train comin' ♪
(tray slams)
Would you like some breakast?
Look what's under the Christmas tree.
I see it.
The guests like oatmeal.
You like it?
Yes, ma'am.
Coffee's on the way.
Come on, Mama.
[Joseph] What's your name?
Marianne Laine.
(grunts) I'm-I'm Joe Scott.
Joe Scott, ma'am.
Uh, this is my mama.
She might say something, she mightn't.
She's, uh...
Oh, Ma!
(audience laughing)
Pleased to meet you, ma'am.
Mama.
Hey.
(lively jazz music)
You in Duluth for long?
Uh, no. Couple days, then I head down to Chicago.
Chicago, huh?
[Joseph] You been there?
No, I've never been anywhere,
except Pelican Rapids. (Laughs)
Pelican Rapids?
- Yeah, you know? - Over there, by the dam.
It's fun.
You can swim.
Yeah, I might do that when the ice melts.
(chuckles) Well, I've never been to Chicago.
- Well, you should go someday. - It's worth seeing.
I will.
Ooh!
Morning, Nick. How are ya?
You're the doctor, you tell me, right?
[George] You're okay.
[Nick] Oh, Look who it is, Elizabeth.
Doc coming by to see you.
(audience laughing) (Elizabeth humming)
Well, there's a welcome you don't get every day.
Ah, she can still spot a good 'un.
- Breakfast? - No, thank you.
[Nick] Oh, come on down for coffee.
No, I just wanted to drop in Elizabeth's prescription.
I'da come by to get it.
You didn't need to do that.
Come in, have a coffee.
Well, all right.
[Franklin] Good morning, good morning, good morning!
- Good morning! - Morning!
Good morning, Marianne.
- Good morning, Elias. - Morning, Doc.
Folks.
Morning, sir.
Morning.
Franklin W. H. Burke II.
But you can call me Frank.
Uh, I'm Joe Scott... the first.
(audience laughing)
Well, this is my wife, Laura.
My son, Elias.
Joe Scott. Pleased to meet you.
- Good morning. - Dr. Walker.
Mrs. Neilsen.
Mommy, my scarecrow.
Ah, ah, oh...
My scarecrow, ah, ah...
My scarecrow wears a hat.
Oh, what the fuck is wrong with him?
Marianne, get some coffee for Dr. Walker.
Now, Mr. Laine, do you hear that?
Elias's scarecrow wears a hat, no less. (Chuckles)
I did hear that, yes.
And I saw your scarecrow this morning, Elias.
He's looking fine and hardy.
Correct me if I'm wrong, sir.
Haven't I seen you fight?
Oh?
Yeah, I saw you knock out Frazier Fitch,
Hubertsville, May 1928, am I right?
That's correct, sir.
(laughs) You're quite a talent.
I lost a lot of money that night.
Now, Francis, that's your own fault.
I'm paying the man a compliment, my dear.
Thank you, sir.
You fight much?
Not so much.
And God said to Abraham, "You kill me a son."
Good morning, all.
Good morning.
James Marlowe.
Franklin William Horace Burke II.
You can call me Frank.
Pleased to meet you.
Yeah. (Chuckles)
My wife, Laura, my son, Elias.
And this young man is Jungle Jug, Joe Jones.
You know who he is?
Why, yes! We've been acquainted since last night.
Very talented young man.
Oh?
Not that I'm surprised.
Rising young man of the pugilistic arts.
(hand slapping)
- Been fighting much? - Not so much.
Well, that's a shame.
You really should.
- I wasn't really able to. - [Franklin] You injured?
- Uh, no, I- - 'Cause a talent like yours
shouldn't go to waste.
No talent should.
Well, a man can lose his nerve.
Well, that is true.
You travel around, you lose your bearings,
you lose the hunger.
(chuckles) You lose the hunger, Mr. Scott?
- No, I- - You get hurt?
No.
It's all right to run away.
I don't wanna pry.
I admire you, sir.
No, it's all right. I can tell you.
I was incarcerated
down in the Stillwater penitentiary for three years.
Oh, well, that's, uh.
A convicted con artist, name of Rudolph St. James,
claimed he saw me running away from a felony there,
April 15th, 1929.
I was asked to walk up and down the courtroom,
and he said I had the same walk as the man he'd seen.
The same walk?
However, his testimony was withdrawn in January this year
before a court, who declared my conviction to be unsound.
Well, congratulations.
Thank you, sir.
Well, hallelujah!
What an ordeal.
Yes, ma'am.
For a man who never smoked, to be stuck inside with men
who just burned cigarettes all night.
Beat up on each other over nothing.
I saw a man get killed in there
(audience laughing)
For nothing.
That was maybe the worst part.
And the shame, of course, for my family.
It's terrible.
You must be itching to get back in the game.
You get compensation?
No, sir.
I've been living under a bridge down in St. Paul.
A newspaper gentleman named Mose McCabe
forwarded me a little money,
recommended I talk to a man out here named Mr. Murphy,
might invest in a comeback.
But now I hear he's down in Chicago,
so I'll make my way down there.
Sir, I admire your initiative and your tenacity,
and goddamn if it doesn't bring a tear to my eye.
Now, I don't know who this Mr. Murphy is,
but I would like to offer you, right here, right now,
my services as a manager or a partner.
- Francis! - What? It's business.
If there's one thing I know, it's business.
Yes, you know it too well.
What's that supposed to mean?
Well, let's just say it's an acquaintanceship
that has not treated you and business equally.
(audience laughing) (Franklin laughs)
Woman, a man walks in here,
and I decide to discuss an opportunity,
you cannot wait two moments before you deride me!
You can't manage your own son or provide for your wife
and you want to tell a stranger
you're gonna manage his affairs?
With what?
From where?
Working out of a closet in a two-bit flophouse?
An operation like this?
That's the beauty of it!
Beauty's in the eye of the beholder!
It is beautiful.
It is beautiful! Elias!
Jesus Christ! Not at the table!
Marianne had a lonely upbringing.
To say it wasn't fashionable in Minnesota
to raise a Black child in a white family
would be an understatement.
The Ku Klux Klan had a healthy resurgence
right across the state after the Great War.
Tensions in Duluth were running particularly high
when Southern Blacks were trucked in
to remind the unions that cheap labor was always an option.
In 1920, when Marianne was just five years old,
three Black men, named Isaac McGhie, Elmer Jackson,
and Elias Clayton, were lynched
by a mob who broke into the jail,
right here in the middle of Duluth.
Hanged 'em down on the corner of 1st Street
for a crime they hadn't committed.
10,000 people crowded in the street to watch,
and no one was ever even prosecuted for it.
Nick didn't wanna be seen
holding a little Black girl's hand
going down to school,
so Elizabeth taught her everything she knew
right here in the house.
Nick didn't like it one bit when Marianne grew up a little
and started going around other parts of the town,
looking for music, for life.
When Nick was 10 years old,
he was asked to mind his little sister for the day.
She was six.
Her name was Leonora.
This was up in Rocheleau; a lot of mining up there.
Nick had arranged with his friends
to fight another gang of boys up in the woods.
He took Leonora with him, she fell down a taconite hole.
Fell 40 feet.
The boys could hear her down there, calling out for Nick.
But by the time help came
Nick was sent down here to live with his granddaddy.
It was one of those stories you hear about people
you think about it every time you look in their face.
Hey.
- Hey. - Whatcha doing?
Watching the birds.
What birds?
The mama and the baby.
There are no babies in November.
She's got one.
Yeah, well, maybe it never grew.
Maybe.
No, that is good.
That is very good.
"The Bird That Never Grew?"
Yeah. "The Bird That Never Grew."
Just call it "The Egg."
(audience laughing)
You wanna see a movie?
You know, those things you should be writing.
Ah. Movies.
They're so commercial.
Right. Not like those poems, I guess, huh?
I don't write poems.
What do you write?
I write short stories and novellas.
What's a novella?
It's an extremely long short story.
(audience laughing) (Gene chuckles)
Right.
What's on?
Uh, you see "It Happened One Night?"
Who's in it?
Claudette Colbert.
- Ooh! - (laughs) It's goofy.
This guy is tryna help this girl
run away from getting married.
- You'd go and see it again? - Sure, if you wanna?
I got nothing to wear.
You can wear my sweater.
Oh! Right.
Who's looking at you?
Nobody, I guess!
Oh! I'm
I'm kidding! (Laughs)
- Hey. - (laughs) What?
You ever gonna tell me?
What?
You know.
Don't ask me, Gene, all right?
Okay.
[Nick] Here, take this down to Maroutha's.
I can't.
He says you owe him $90.
Jesus Christ!
All right, here.
So Gene.
This is $7.
I'll get him the rest later.
Jesus!
The hell happened to your face?
Someone thought I had their lottery ticket.
Did you?
(laughs) I wish!
What's this?
- Read it! - What is it?
Appointment for an interview!
Interview for what?
Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad.
Right here!
Yeah, what is it? Punching tickets?
What do you care?
You know what other guys'd do just to get in the door?
Just to sweep the damn platform?
I ain't gonna tell you the favours I had to pull.
Had to sweet-talk an old girlfriend.
- Ugh, Pa! - I don't wanna hear that!
You kids don't think I was young once?
You think I was born like this?
Like an old man?
I never even considered it.
Of course.
Well, you have no idea, my friends.
(laughs) Yeah!
- Okay. - Well, that's got nothin'
to do with me.
No, and I got nothing to do with you?
Mostly you don't!
What? I don't have nothing to do with you?
Why the sudden interest?
I can't take an interest in you?
Yeah, sure, I guess.
Well, there you go.
- What you up to? - I'm not up to nothing.
I don't get it.
I want for you to make money!
All right!
- Now you get it? - Yeah, kinda.
You do this for me, okay?
You do it for your mother, you do it for your sister,
you do it for your writing.
Do it for your poems.
What?
- Nothing. - Huh?
- Nothing. - What?
[Both] Nothing!
- What? - Nothing!
You go to that interview.
Morning, Kate.
Morning, Mr. Laine.
Morning, Marianne.
Morning.
How's your mother?
Well, thank you.
[Nick] How's your father?
Not so good.
Oh, I'm sorry-I'm sorry to hear that.
Uh, you excuse me one moment.
Do it for Kate!
Do it for Kate.
(Gene laughs)
Do what?
Nothing. Kate, I'm
I hope it's all right calling by like this.
No! Hey!
- Come in. - Oh, I can't stay.
Hey, that's all right.
- You want some breakast? - No, thank you, I'm fine.
- Cup of coffee? - I can't.
I have a ticket for the nine o'clock Greyhound to Boston.
[Gene] You're going to Boston?
I got a job. Teaching.
For a family. It's kind of a governess.
- Great! - Three girls.
- And they have goats. - Wow! That's terrific!
Jed Simons has asked me to marry him, Gene.
I've said yes.
Wow.
Wow, that's, uh... That's great.
I wanted to tell you myself.
You know how these things- Yeah, I know. That's, uh...
That can be really...
- Thank you. - Are you okay?
- I'm great. Yeah, why wouldn't I- - What happened to your face?
This?
Oh, no. Um...
A damn branch on that sycamore tree
sprung back and hit me while I was tryna chop it down.
It looks so rugged. Did you clean it?
(laughs) No, no, no. I know.
- (stammering) - If I had time, I'd.
No, no, no. I know.
I'll do it. I know.
So, uh, Boston!
Yeah.
(laughs) That's-That's great.
Yeah. You know, Jed's gonna be working out there, so.
Yeah. Yeah, I heard something.
Gene, I'm sorry about what I said to you.
- When? - You know.
Oh, hey, no.
Don't.
I deserved it.
I do admire you, Gene.
I always have.
And you know nobody loves your stories like I do.
It's just when I read that really long one
and the thing about that girl, I guess I got angry
and I said something I didn't really mean.
And when nobody could find you, I thought you were
Kate.
I was drunk.
- Okay. - I was drunk, and I...
(laughing) You know what?
When we're old and we're, like, 50 years old
(audience laughing)
And we look back at this whole thing, you know what?
I bet we're just gonna laugh our damn asses off
about the whole thing.
I'm even laughing right now.
It's funny.
I better go, Eugene.
Yeah, you better go, Kate.
And you know what?
Yeah?
[Gene] Nothing.
Oh.
I wanted to give you back this, Gene.
I nearly forgot.
It's your mother's St. Christopher medal.
Keep it!
- I couldn't. - Really?
- It's your mother's. - No, really, keep it.
- She won't care! - No.
I said keep it!
I- I said keep it!
I don't want it! You understand me?
(laughs) I don't want it!
(gentle contemplative piano music)
I'll see you, Kate. You take care.
Okay.
[Gene] I have an interview.
Oh?
Yeah, Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad.
[Kate] Oh, that's wonderful.
(laughs) Yeah.
Yeah.
They say I should be making $3,000 by this time next year.
- Really? - Sure.
You wanna see the letter?
No. That's fine.
You tell Jed.
I will.
♪ The guilty undertaker sighs ♪
♪ The lonesome organ grinder cries ♪
♪ The silver saxophones say I should refuse you ♪
♪ The cracked bells and washed-out horns ♪
♪ Blow into my face with scorn ♪
♪ But it's not that way ♪
♪ I wasn't born to lose you ♪
♪ I want you ♪
♪ I want you so bad ♪
♪ Honey, I want you ♪
♪ Drunken politician leaps ♪
♪ Upon the streets where mothers weep ♪
♪ And the saviours who are fast asleep, they wait for you ♪
♪ And while I'll wait for them to interrupt ♪
♪ Drinking from my broken cup ♪
♪ And ask me to open up the gate for you ♪
♪ I want you ♪
♪ I want you so bad ♪
♪ Honey, I want you ♪
♪ How all my fathers, they've gone down ♪
♪ True love, they've been without it ♪
♪ But all their daughters put me down ♪
♪ 'Cause I don't think about it ♪
♪ Well, I return to the Queen of Spades ♪
♪ And talk with my chambermaid ♪
♪ She knows that I'm not afraid to look at her ♪
♪ She is good to me ♪
♪ And there's nothing she doesn't see ♪
♪ She knows where I'd like to be ♪
♪ But it doesn't matter ♪
♪ I want you ♪
♪ So bad ♪
♪ Honey, I want you ♪
♪ I want you ♪
♪ So bad ♪
♪ Honey, I want you ♪
♪ I want you ♪
♪ So bad ♪
♪ Honey, I want you ♪
♪ I want you ♪
So you're God's representative on Earth, huh?
(laughs) No, no.
I'm a mere servant of the servant.
Can I serve you?
(laughs) You can't scratch this itch, padre.
(audience laughing)
I've been a long time on the prairie.
Well, you let me know.
Say, what you keep all down in here, huh?
Under your seat there?
It's an escape hatch.
- I see. - The day's gonna come
we all gotta blow.
Well, maybe you'll show me the way out!
Everybody gotta go a different door, Monsignor.
Maybe that's so.
You get a wash this morning?
Of course.
You might need to go another rinse.
It don't smell so sweet down here in the downwind.
(audience laughing)
Perhaps I need to find a laundry.
Yeah, well, you find a good one.
'Cause I don't need no louses.
I seen one, walking down the parting in my hair
when I was fixing myself one day.
There he was, just strolling along the white line partin',
like it was a nice country lane, as peaceful and serene.
I knew it then, Lord Jesus.
I knew it then, I wasn't coming back.
I can see a louse.
I can see 'em.
(laughs) Can you now?
[Elizabeth] Why, yes, I can.
Let me show you something.
Hello, Elias.
I farm out where the crippled voices heal.
Watch this now.
(train horn blaring) (clock ticking)
(both chuckle)
You're making me nervous.
Sweet Jesus.
♪ When we see Jesus ♪
Sweet, sweet Jesus.
♪ Coming in glory ♪
Sweet Lord Jesus!
♪ When he comes down ♪
- Lord Jesus, give it to me! - ? From his home in the sky?
- Sweet Lord Jesus! - Give it to me, Jesus!
- Are you doing me? - No!
Yeah, you were doing me!
I don't need doing.
I don't need your stinky Jesus.
All right, Elias! Come on.
Those fish are jumping.
What, you going fishing?
[Franklin] Mm.
Looks cold out there!
Well, (laughs) Elias likes to try.
We hardly ever catch anything.
Once or twice we had some supper out of it.
That's a fine boy you got there, Mr. Burke!
Well, thank you.
He's a handful, aren't you?
You gotta, ah, ah, ah, put seaweed in the jar
so the fish can breathe.
That's what we do anyway.
Bits of grass, you know?
(laughs) That is sweet!
That is. That is very sweet.
So, you putting roots down here,
or just passing through?
- I guess we'll be moving on. - (audience laughing)
Came down chasing a debtor, gave me the runaround.
You know how it is.
Everybody chasing everybody else.
You got creditors on your heels, too?
Everybody gotta get in line, just like everybody else.
What direction you blowing in from?
North.
North?
Northwest.
Lotta nice places up there: Wolf Point, Medina.
Medina.
Medina, Medina.
Up in Vagina.
Vageena, Vageena.
(Franklin chuckles)
Spent time up in that neck of the woods.
Wasn't much hunger for the word,
but by Christ,
they were ravenous for something just the same.
I guess.
Yes.
That was last spring.
Terrible story going around about a poor girl
getting attacked up in the woods.
Suspicion fell here and there.
Some said this, some said that.
Someone even said maybe it was a man
or child didn't know his own strength.
Maybe a little feeble in his mind.
Who can say?
But (sighs) you know how it is with rumours.
Family by the name of Shepherd.
You hear anything about that?
Can't say I have.
Ah, these things can happen so easily.
I once officiated at a funeral for an infant
whose own mother had crushed him to death
with an overly fervent embrace.
Can you imagine?
That's terrible.
Life is terrible.
Sure can be.
But you and your wife seem united.
That's the main thing, I guess.
What are you driving at?
I ain't out to cause trouble.
World's already full of trouble.
But, like they say, a man's going around with his wife
and his grown son, saying he lost his business.
Well, maybe that's just what he's saying.
Maybe he's moving around
because he's got something to hide.
[Franklin] You're in the wrong garden, preacher.
That might be.
But I gotta be where I am, just like the next man.
Train's about to leave, Elias.
Couple up. Whoo-whoo!
$500 should do it.
Let's say 12 o'clock tomorrow.
You meet me here, fine.
If not, I'll just call by the precinct,
tell 'em what I know.
Look at that!
Hey, the sun's coming out.
Now, you listen to me, you son of a bitch.
You wanna threaten people, get your due;
I'll give it to you.
You so much as say a goddamn word about me to anyone,
I will cut your fucking throat.
Now, you keep your lies to yourself.
I don't know a damn thing.
(James screams) Hey!
What you getting so riled up for, huh?
Good day.
Man, I'm famished!
12 o'clock tomorrow.
May your catch be bountiful, Elias.
Elias, come on.
Come on, Elias, let's go.
What did you do, huh?
You pulled 'em all off!
Goddamn it!
(Elias yells) Hey, hey, hey!
(Elias sobs) (Frank gasping)
It's okay! It's okay!
No, fishing!
Fish...
Daddy didn't mean to yell.
I love you. I love you.
I love you. Come on, we'll go fishing.
We'll go fishing.
♪ Once upon a time, you dressed so fine ♪
♪ You threw the bums a dime in your prime ♪
♪ Didn't you ♪
♪ People call, say, "Beware, doll, you're bound to fall" ♪
♪ You thought they were all kidding you ♪
♪ You used to laugh about ♪
♪ Everybody that was hanging out ♪
♪ Now you don't talk so loud ♪
♪ Now you don't seem so proud ♪
♪ About having to be scrounging ♪
♪ For your next meal ♪
♪ How does it feel ♪
♪ To be without a home ♪
♪ A complete unknown ♪
♪ Like a rolling stone ♪
(upbeat rock music)
(lively percussive music)
♪ You've gone to the finest schools all right, Miss Lonely ♪
♪ But you know you only used to get juiced in it ♪
(upbeat rock music)
♪ Nobody has ever taught you how to live out on the street ♪
♪ And now you find you're gonna have to get used to it ♪
♪ You said you'd never compromise ♪
♪ With the mystery tramp, but now you realise ♪
♪ He's not selling any alibis ♪
♪ As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes ♪
♪ And ask him do you want to ♪
♪ Make a deal ♪
♪ Oh, but how does it feel ♪
♪ How does it feel ♪
♪ To be on your own ♪
♪ How does it feel ♪
♪ With no direction home ♪
♪ How does it feel ♪
♪ A complete unknown ♪
♪ How does it feel ♪
♪ Like a rolling stone ♪
♪ You're like a rolling stone ♪
♪ Just like a rolling stone ♪
♪ Like a rolling stone ♪
♪ The storms are raging on the rolling sea ♪
♪ And on the highway of regret ♪
♪ The winds of change are blowing wild and free ♪
♪ You ain't seen nothing like me yet ♪
♪ I could make you happy, make your dreams come true ♪
♪ There is nothing that I wouldn't do ♪
♪ Go to the ends of the earth for you ♪
♪ To make you feel my ♪
Hey, tough guy.
I saw you fighting.
You saw me get beat.
I thought you had him.
Me too. That's how he got me.
At least you got beat by a gentleman.
He shook your hand after.
That handshake hurt me more than all the times he hit me.
He knew it, too.
(Marianne laughs)
How'd you know about the fight?
My friend, Ria.
She saw a poster, but you had a different name.
They let us stand in the back.
I wish you hadn't.
(laughs) Look at you.
Boxing is so foolish.
They say that in the Bible, you know?
Yeah?
[Marianne] Leviticus 3:4.
[Joseph] What?
I'm making it up.
(audience laughing)
You can say anything is in Leviticus.
(audience laughing)
I like boxing.
- Ma. - I like boxers.
I like you.
(audience laughing)
This might sting a little.
- Argh! - Oh, stop fussing!
I'm nursing you back to health, goddammit.
Goddammit. (Chuckles)
How far you along?
4 1/2 months.
Say five.
- Where's the daddy? - Working the boats.
You gonna get married?
You believe in marriage?
Sure. You don't?
You either love somebody or you don't.
Marriage ain't got nothing to do with it.
Well, it's not too late.
I mean, you don't have to have it.
- At five months? - It depends on who you ask.
- Where you go. - No.
- Well, you raise it. - Somebody else raises it.
When you going to Chicago?
Tomorrow.
(groans) Day after.
Soon as I get me some dough.
You do a deal with the pier man,
he'll find you somewhere on board.
You just...
Just stay out of the way.
It's all right.
You think I'd like Chicago, huh?
Well, Chicago rises up off the plain
like a magical kingdom when you see it first, I swear.
(Marianne chuckles)
And then you go inside, and they'll rob you,
kill you if you don't mind your business.
But you stay with somebody
who knows what they're doing. (Winces)
Like you?
Yeah. That's how you box?
I don't box.
I never have to fight.
Oh, you always get everything you ask for?
It's better than looking like you.
(audience laughing)
Well, come here.
(laughs) Come on. Stand right here.
Okay.
(sighs) Give me a nice wide stance like this.
All right.
Nah, a little bit wider.
Get grounded. There you go.
Arms up, chin down, close the barn doors.
I can't see.
[Joseph] You've gotta protect your face.
You right-handed?
Uh-huh.
You twist the right foot.
You come from the hip.
Gimme one jab right here.
(Marianne grunts) (audience laughing)
- What? - That's amazing.
That's really good.
Let's try your left.
Gimme two, right here.
(Marianne grunting) Yeah.
(both laughing) (audience laughing)
Do it like you hate me.
That won't be very hard.
(audience laughing)
(Marianne grunts)
- Oh! - Ha-ha!
That's how you got beat, Mr. Chicago!
(audience laughs)
You're too nice.
You're dangerous.
She is.
She was born dangerous.
(audience laughing)
I'll show you who to talk to down on the pier,
you wanna go?
Uh, think about it.
You-You let me know.
Are you married, Joe?
- Ma! - Excuse me, ma'am?
It's a simple question.
It's my life, and if I want to spend it with him,
- I will spend it with him. - All right, all right.
- [Joseph] (laughs) - What-What did she say?
Are you married, Mr. Scott?
Yes, I am.
I got me a wife and two children.
But I ain't seen 'em in a long time.
My wife is with another man.
I don't wanna cause 'em all no trouble.
All right.
You know, you wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth.
[Joseph] About what?
About my baby.
You don't have to tell me a damn thing.
Whatcha doing?
Cleaning up.
Get your momma some supper.
Come on, Momma.
- We going to the movies? - Sure.
You okay?
- Yes, sir. - Huh?
- I'm fine! - All right.
You speak with Mr. Perry last night?
You know he came all the way up here for that talk.
You talk with him?
Sure.
What did he say? He say anything?
- Sure. - Well, that...
Did you? What did you say?
- Nothing. - "Nothing?"
What do you mean, "Nothing?"
He brought you up them nice flowers,
you didn't say nothing to him?
Were those flowers for me?
- Yeah! - Well, he took 'em with him.
What you mean?
If they were for me, he never said.
He took them with him.
Well, that...
Were you civil to him?
What do you think I am?
That's a question.
I'm not sure I rightly know.
You stand still for one second!
What you discuss?
You didn't discuss nothing?
Looks like all the discussin's already been done.
- What are you talking about? - He told me
that you and him already got it all planned out!
Well, we may have spoke
I may have answered some.
I spoke with him, but it's...
No one is saying you ain't gotta want this for yourself.
What could possibly make you think
that this is something I want?
What you wanna make me go for, huh?
You think this is what I want?
Ma, hey.
When I went down to Burnsville for my uncle's funeral,
people living in tents, Marianne!
Kids with no clothes on.
Mama.
All along the whole street into the town.
People lining up for a bowl of soup,
sitting out in the rain.
There ain't no net to catch us!
Why don't you let me help you?
It'll be fine! We'll figure it out!
When I needed your help
was when I needed you to be a good girl.
No, Daddy, I didn't.
Don't give me that cock and bull story!
You gotta go carrying on with some goddamn boatman
like some little whore?
What the hell are you doing wasting your life in here for?
I gotta waste it somewhere.
(audience laughs)
♪ How does it feel ♪
(gentle contemplative ballad music)
♪ How does it feel ♪
♪ I want you ♪
♪ I want you?? How does it feel ♪
♪ So bad ♪
♪ How does it feel ♪
♪ I want you ♪
♪ I want you?? To be on your own ♪
♪ So bad ♪
♪ Like a rolling stone ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ Ah ♪
(audience applauding) (audience cheering)
(footsteps tapping)
♪ You have given everything to me ♪
♪ What can I do for you ♪
♪ You have given me eyes to see ♪
♪ What can I do for you ♪
♪ Pulled me out of bondage, made me renewed inside ♪
♪ You filled up a hunger that had always been denied ♪
♪ You opened up a door no man can shut ♪
♪ And you opened it up so wide ♪
♪ And you've chosen me to be among the few ♪
♪ What can I do for you ♪
♪ I know all about poison ♪
♪ I know all about fiery darts ♪
♪ I don't care how rough the road is ♪
♪ Show me where it starts ♪
♪ Whatever pleases you ♪
♪ Tell it to my heart ♪
♪ I don't deserve it but I sure did make it through ♪
♪ What can I do for you ♪
(gentle gospel ballad music)
♪ Ooh ♪
(lively bluegrass music) (group chattering)
♪ Clouds so swift ♪
♪ Rain won't lift ♪
♪ Gates won't close ♪
♪ Railings froze ♪
♪ Get your mind off wintertime ♪
♪ You ain't going nowhere ♪
♪ Whoo-ee ♪
♪ Ride me high ♪
♪ Tomorrow's the day my bride's gonna come ♪
♪ Oh, oh, are we gonna fly ♪
♪ Down in the easy chair ♪
♪ I don't care how many letters they sent ♪
♪ Morning came and morning went ♪
♪ Pick up your money and pack up your tent ♪
♪ You ain't going nowhere. ♪
♪ Whoo-ee ♪
♪ Ride me high ♪
♪ Tomorrow's the day my bride's gonna come ♪
♪ Oh, oh, are we gonna fly ♪
♪ Down in the easy chair ♪
♪ Well, Genghis Khan, he could not keep ♪
♪ All his kings supplied with sleep ♪
♪ Climb that hill, no matter how steep ♪
♪ When we get up to it ♪
♪ Whoo-ee ♪
♪ Ride me high ♪
♪ Tomorrow's the day my bride's gonna come ♪
♪ Oh, oh, are we gonna fly ♪
♪ Down in the easy chair ♪
♪ Whoo-ee ♪
♪ Ride me high ♪
♪ Tomorrow's the day my bride's gonna come ♪
♪ Oh, oh, are we gonna fly ♪
♪ Down in the easy chair ♪
♪ Standing on the waters, casting your bread ♪
♪ While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing ♪
(light R&B ballad music)
♪ Distant ships sailing into the mist ♪
♪ You were born with a snake in both of your fists ♪
♪ While a hurricane was blowing ♪
♪ Freedom just around the corner for you ♪
♪ But with the truth so far off, what good will it do? ♪
♪ Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune ♪
♪ Bird fly high by the light of the moon ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
It's Wednesday, November 28th, 1934.
The night before Thanksgiving.
The last one we ever celebrated together.
You got any more drops?
Mrs. B!
You used up all that other bottle?
Oh, I can't relax.
You can't relax?
Well, let me see what I can do! (chuckles)
Magic!
♪ When we were young and foolish ♪
♪ We had no need for gold ♪
♪ The treasure of our tender love could not be ♪
No, keep it.
You sure?
Well, happy Thanksgiving.
Six drops a day maximum.
Thank you!
[George] You don't want to become addicted.
Too late! (Audience laughing)
I'm only kidding! Of course not.
Six drops.
(laughs) You must have a nice house, Doctor.
I have a nice house, but I only live in two rooms.
I eat in one, I sleep in the other.
You what in the other?
I sleep.
I sleep!
We had a house bigger than this one, you know?
I'm sure you did.
Oh, how would it be, do you think,
if I came to your house one day,
and you gave me a tour
of those two rooms?
Oh, I only say this for conversation.
(audience laughs)
Well, I'm sure that would be very pleasant.
You think?
You know what I think?
I think it would be really sad.
- Oh? - If we coupled, I mean.
We'd be like two lonely beasts in the field!
And yet...
Yes!
Well, we wouldn't be lonely.
No, you'd still be lonely.
You'll always be lonely.
But you should still do it.
(audience laughing)
This time of year,
a lost soul could always find a welcome up here.
Suicides had increased 100% in the years after the crash.
Single men led the way, followed closely by divorced women.
My own marriage had failed in the years before.
I say it failed, but really, I failed.
A little morphine helped.
Until it didn't.
I weaned myself off of it.
Mostly.
- Mostly. - Hey, Doc!
I heard your good buddy, Franklin Ding-a-Ling Roosevelt,
on the wireless this evening.
I thought you might!
You do know what it is what we need, don'tcha?
In the White House?
A strong man.
Yes, like FDR.
FDR!
I am so sick of hearing, "FDR's a good man this,
FDR's a good man that."
Well, sorry to hear that, Frank.
I couldn't care less if he's yay, nay
or rolling in the hay.
As long as the head man is strong,
I couldn't care two sausages if he's any good or not.
'Cause what we need is energy.
- Energy! - Energy!
That's right, Mrs. Laine.
Not morals.
- Woo-hoo! - That's my hand. $2.
You want another game? Double or nothing?
Jesus, no.
Energy!
Energy! That's right.
Somebody doing something, even if it's the wrong thing.
You know, then you got people getting ideas
and then putting those ideas to work.
That's-That's what you need to get things rolling!
I don't know about that.
People say there can't be no more wars now
because we all know it's no good.
We don't know shit if you ask me.
Excuse my language.
(laughing) I like your language.
Everybody's gotta make their own mistakes,
and anyone who thinks we don't is a fucking banana.
(laughing) "Anyone who thinks we don't
is a fucking banana."
You're a fucking banana!
Ow!
Jesus, Elias. Come on.
Well, how are you this evening, Mrs. Burke?
Nick, I have to ask you if we can extend our credit.
In which direction?
Oh, Francis has got an old partner down in Rush City
who's got $600 that he's just waiting to pay him.
And it's just a question of the weather, you see?
It's really tricky getting down there.
The weather, huh? And when do you think it's gonna.
Oh, Nick. I know we owe ya.
- It's all right. - Oh, if my mother
saw me now, she'd die!
- She'd be so ashamed! - Come on now.
No, you can't be worried about your mother.
Is your mother still alive, Nick?
- I hope not. - Why?
'Cause we buried her 15 years ago.
- Hey, Doc. Hey, Doc. - Yeah?
Yeah, yeah?
Latest is she says she hears stuff.
Hears what?
A girl down a hole.
Okay.
And you know who it is.
And that's the...
That's the
Nick, look at me. You were a kid!
You were just a kid.
Uh, um...
[Marianne] Sorry.
Nick.
You know what pseudocyesis is?
Pseudo what?
Cyesis.
What is it?
Well, sometimes if a girl feels an intense need to connect
or, well, to have a baby,
her body can manifest all the signs of a real pregnancy.
Dr. Walker.
Uh, Mr. Perry, right.
Well, I'll, uh...
What?
I didn't say anything.
What?
Nothing.
I can feel it!
- What? - No.
(all cheering) (fireworks popping)
- Yeah? - I just feel like I'm...
It's almost like I'm getting to where you're making me beg.
- Beg? - Yet I'm the one
doing you a favour!
I'm not asking you to do a damn thing!
What do you want me to do?
Maybe ask her to come down to my store, will ya?
But she won't go down to your store!
Then what am I doing here?
No, wait, wait, wait!
You know, you just say...
You just say, "Let's go and talk."
We've talked. I've talked to her.
Well, talk to her again.
- Lay it out! - You lay it out.
I've laid it out!
Now you lay it out!
Jesus!
What the fuck is happening to me?
How do we ever think any of the crazy shit we do
is a good idea?
I mean, how does that happen?
Who's pulling the strings?
Then find someone your own age.
You old goat.
(audience laughing)
You don't think I've tried?
You don't think I want that?
How do you do it?
Where do you go?
I talk to women who come in my store, in that way,
what would people say?
Just be friendly.
I'm friendly!
I'm friendly, Nick.
I'm too friendly, people always take it the wrong way.
Well, that's why this gives you an advantage.
How?
'Cause you're helping her!
You're helping me.
Feel good, Mr. Perry.
Joe. Can I call you Joe?
No!
Feel good, Mr. Perry.
May I use your water closet?
My what?
Water closet.
Your honey bucket.
Oh, sure! Yeah, right around there.
- Through the kitchen. - Thank you.
[Nick] Just be careful.
- You know what? - I'm gonna go for a walk
and look at the fireworks.
Oh, yeah! You-You do that, Mr. Perry.
And don't hurry back, all right?
Well, Nick.
[Nick] What?
[Elizabeth] Just well, Nick.
- Mm-hm. - You think I don't see?
(scoffs) You think I don't give a good goddamn?
You don't think I give a good wocky woo?
Elizabeth, I don't know what you give or what you get.
Yeah, whadya, whadya, whadya, whadya, whadya.
What?
[Elizabeth] Shut up.
You have to be rude?
You think this is rude?
You ain't seen rude.
You think I care, huh?
About your little lady woman up in your attic.
It's all right, Nicky Wicky.
Animals got to feel the warm, huh?
I'm a not care one way or tother nother.
You-You don't think I do enough?
You don't think I couldn't get you put away
in some old lady's home like that? (Clicks fingers)
You're too cheap!
They'd take you away, and nobody'd say I haven't put up
with enough fucking crap.
Off you!
- Off everybody! - Oh, boo-boo-boo-boo-boo,
- boo, boo, boo, boo, boo. - Ooh, Elizabeth,
I swear to God, I'll knock your damn teeth in.
Oh, knock my teeth in.
You'll knock my teeth in.
How much money you gonna get, huh?
Money? Where?
Off of the...
(groans) The money man.
- The shoe man. - What money?
He's sick!
He ain't gonna last a year.
Whatcha have to stick her in his old dirty bed for, huh?
Girl needs help. Whatcha want?
You want her going around the roads?
Dragging her baby?
Tramping in the dirt?
I ain't got nothing for her!
It'd be like sleeping in a damn grave!
His cold feet like clay coming round her. (Winces)
At least in a whorehouse, she can name her own price.
Yeah. (Audience laughs)
You hear the girl down the hole?
What?
I know you hear it.
Why don't you shut your fucking mouth?
I know you do.
- And you hear it more than me! - I don't hear nothing!
Yeah, you do!
- Yeah, you do! - Shut up! You hear me?
You shut up! (Elizabeth screams)
(Elizabeth sobs) I'm sorry.
Elizabeth...
(light soft-rock ballad music)
♪ Well, the pressure's down, the boss ain't here ♪
♪ He went North, he ain't around ♪
♪ They say that vanity got the best of him ♪
♪ But he sure left here in style ♪
♪ By the way, that's a cute hat ♪
♪ And that smile's so hard to resist ♪
♪ But what's a sweetheart like you ♪
♪ Doing in a dump like this ♪
♪ But I once knew a woman who looked like you ♪
♪ She wanted a whole man, not just a half ♪
♪ She used to call me sweet daddy when I was just a child ♪
♪ You remind me of her when you laugh ♪
♪ In order to deal in this game ♪
♪ You gotta make the queen disappear ♪
♪ It's done with a flick of the wrist ♪
♪ What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this ♪
♪ You know you can make a name for yourself ♪
♪ You can hear them tyres squeal ♪
♪ You can be known as the most beautiful woman ♪
♪ Who ever crawled across cut glass to make a deal ♪
♪ I'm getting weary ♪
♪ Looking in my baby's eyes ♪
♪ When he's near me ♪
♪ He's so hard to recognise ♪
♪ And I finally realise ♪
♪ That there's no room for regret ♪
♪ True love ♪
♪ True love tends to forget ♪
♪ Hold me ♪
♪ Baby, be near ♪
♪ You told me ♪
♪ That you'd be sincere ♪
♪ And every day of the year's ♪
♪ Like playing Russian roulette ♪
♪ True love ♪
♪ True love tends to forget ♪
♪ I was lying down in the reeds without any oxygen ♪
♪ I saw you in the wilderness among the men ♪
♪ I saw you drift into infinity and come back again ♪
♪ All you gotta do is wait and I'll tell you when ♪
I'm gonna go, Nick.
I can't pay you no more.
What are you talking about?
I went to see Mr. St. Clair about signing all the forms.
- When? - Today.
- Yeah? - Turns out I owe him money.
You'll pay him when you get your inheritance.
The legal fees ate it all up.
There's nothing left for me or anyone else.
You're kidding?
That goddamn crook!
I'm gonna go down there myself and I'll.
He showed me the figures, Nick.
It was all there in black and white.
Says if I want, I can take it up with the judge.
- You're kidding me? - (sighs)
I know you need the room. I'll clear out.
What? Where?
My sister.
In Minneapolis?
No, my twin sister in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma?
Are you nuts?
Oklahoma City.
She's married to a schoolteacher.
Oh, right!
She can put me up for a while.
- Right. - Maybe find me
- some work out there. - Uh-huh.
We ain't gonna buy no hotel, Nick!
Yeah, it's all over, I guess.
Do you love me?
What?
Can you love me?
What kind of question is that?
I can take it either way.
But you gotta tell me the truth.
You just said it's all bullshit!
Yeah, it's all bullshit!
But it's still all I got!
Well, we ain't spring chickens.
What does that have to do with it?
You live too long, see too much,
it chips away at ya.
How can you love someone who ain't got a soul?
You have a soul.
Well, I don't feel it.
I feel it.
Just say it!
Just say it to me.
I can't love anybody.
There it is!
There's the truth!
Can't or won't?
(lively gospel ballad music)
♪ I was lying down in the reeds without any oxygen ♪
♪ I saw you in the wilderness among the men ♪
♪ I saw you drift into infinity and come back again ♪
♪ All you gotta do is wait and I'll tell you when ♪
♪ You belong to me, baby ♪
♪ Without any doubt ♪
♪ Don't forsake me, baby ♪
♪ Don't sell me out ♪
♪ Don't keep me knocking about ♪
♪ From Mexico to Tibet ♪
♪ True love ♪
♪ Mm ♪
♪ True love ♪
♪ Mm, mm-mm ♪
♪ True love tends to forget ♪
♪ They say that patriotism is the last refuge ♪
♪ To which a scoundrel clings ♪
♪ Listen, steal a little and they throw you in jail ♪
♪ Steal a lot and they make you the king ♪
♪ There's only one step down from here, baby ♪
♪ It's called the land of permanent bliss ♪
♪ What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this ♪
♪ What's a sweetheart like you ♪
♪ Doing in a dump like this ♪
Happy Thanksgiving, Nick.
Yeah. Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. Perry.
Jesus Christ!
You been out there all night?
Look at you, you're freezing!
Get inside.
No, I'm perfect.
Happy Thanksgiving, Elizabeth.
Oh, get in here.
Well, look who's here.
So, let me, uh.
Well, Happy Thanksgiving, Marianne!
Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. Perry.
How are you?
Pretty much as well as I was when you saw me yesterday.
I can worry about you, can't I?
I guess.
But you don't know me all that much.
Would you believe me if I said I feel I do know you?
How?
I guess God's goodness shines down,
and it makes things happen.
Things you couldn't dream of, I guess.
- I guess. - Hm.
Maybe my whole life's been leading me right here
to give you and your child shelter.
Who can say? (Laughs)
I mean, that makes about as much sense as anything else
as far as I can make out!
Maybe you're just a predator.
(audience laughing)
A predator?
Sure.
I don't think so.
Well, how would you know?
I think I'd know if I was a predator, Marianne.
Maybe you wouldn't.
Maybe you have to believe
you're going around, doing good deeds
so as to enable you to go on the hunt.
You know, on the prowl.
I don't think so.
No, huh?
My pa didn't say nothing
about all the trouble we've had here?
Trouble is everywhere. I know.
Oh, I'm talking about trouble no one can explain.
Explain what?
That night.
The night I...
Well, the night the wind came into my room.
I woke up.
All I knew then was somebody was there.
A man came in your room?
It was deeper than a man.
Older than a man.
When I pressed my face in his tunic and I breathed in,
I could smell, like...
Like ancient water.
You know that smell like water under the ground?
Like stone?
And when I breathed in more and more,
it was like I was breathing through him.
And I could see through him
into an ancient past.
A figure in a boat.
Somebody was singing, and I...
That's how it happened.
Marianne, however it happened,
you got yourself in trouble.
All your daddy wants is to look at our options here.
You look like a weak man, Mr. Perry.
But you got some steel buried in there
keeps you cutting in the woods.
Hey!
I don't need to come down here and be told I'm weak!
You don't know what I've been going through
every day since your daddy came to me!
What would you know about it?
You haven't got a damned pot to piss in
and you subject me to this?
Let me tell you something!
Your daddy can't take care of you.
This house is gonna all be taken by the bank.
Your daddy's too old to work on a farm or a factory,
even if there was work.
Bottle's got your brother.
Who knows where your mama's gone?
Where you gonna go?
A Black girl with a Black baby?
You want me to tell you?
You're gonna be made give that baby away,
and then you can whistle your way down to St. Louis
or somewhere, work as a maid.
That's all you are.
Now, you and me both got a chance.
My wife came and told me in a dream, Marianne.
My wife!
You just get in under my roof, girl,
and I won't never touch you!
That's a promise.
Nobody chooses to get old.
Everybody fights it, but it kicks your ass.
You can't win.
You move slower and slower 'cause you can't go quicker!
It hurts!
Pain's got ya surrounded.
Your back and your legs and your hands,
in here, in your gut.
You wake in the night, there's no one there.
Only the cold and one way down.
You remember a warm light and a smile from long ago.
But it doesn't help.
It only hurts, 'cause in here,
you're still only a- So, how we doing, huh?
Oh, he's just been showing everybody his Vienna sausage.
Give me a date and I'll write you a check.
How about Christmas Eve?
Stay for lunch.
(light breezy piano music)
How you doing?
- Huh? - You go down the.
- Yeah. - Yeah?
- Yeah- - We're talking about
- the interview? - Yeah, I know.
- And? - Yeah.
- It's all good? - Yeah, yeah, all good.
Yeah, he says, uh...
Says the railroad's gonna lift all the boats around here.
Bright guy like me start in the office, working my way up.
- That's right. - Yeah.
Said it was just what he wanted to see.
- Didn't I tell you? - Yeah.
- Huh? - Yeah!
- You're a good boy. - Yeah.
Yeah, I'm a good boy.
(lively folk-rock music)
♪ Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night ♪
♪ Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall ♪
♪ She sees the bartender in a pool of blood ♪
♪ Cries out "My God, they've killed them all" ♪
♪ Here comes the story of the Hurricane ♪
♪ The man the authorities came to blame ♪
♪ For something that he never done ♪
♪ Put in a prison cell, but one time ♪
♪ He coulda been the champion of the world ♪
(group chattering)
♪ Three bodies lying there does Patty see ♪
♪ And another man named Bello, moving around mysteriously ♪
♪ "I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands ♪
♪ "I was only robbing the register, I hope you understand ♪
♪ I saw them leaving," he says, and he stops ♪
♪ "One of us had better call up the cops" ♪
♪ And so Patty calls the cops ♪
♪ And they arrive on the scene ♪
♪ With their red lights flashing in the hot New Jersey night ♪
♪ Ah ♪
(group chattering)
♪ All along the watchtower ♪
♪ Princes kept the view ♪
♪ While the women came and went ♪
♪ Barefoot servants too ♪
♪ Outside in the distance ♪
♪ A wildcat did growl ♪
♪ Two riders were approaching and the wind began to howl ♪
♪ When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road ♪
♪ Just like the time before and the time before that ♪
♪ In Paterson that's just the way things go ♪
♪ If you're Black ♪
♪ You might as well not show up on the street ♪
♪ 'Less you wanna draw the heat ♪
♪ It was gravity which pulled us down ♪
♪ And destiny which broke us apart ♪
(gentle contemplative ballad music)
♪ You tamed the lion in my cage ♪
♪ But it just wasn't enough to change my heart ♪
♪ Now everything's a little upside down ♪
♪ As a matter of fact, the wheels have stopped ♪
♪ What's good is bad, what's bad is good ♪
♪ You'll find out when you reach the top ♪
♪ You're on ♪
♪ The bottom ♪
♪ Idiot wind ♪
♪ Blowing every time you move your mouth ♪
♪ Blowing down the back roads, heading south ♪
♪ Idiot wind ♪
♪ Blowing every time you move your teeth ♪
♪ You're an idiot, babe ♪
♪ It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe ♪
♪ Idiot wind ♪
♪ Blowing through the flowers on your tomb ♪
♪ Blowing through the curtains in your room ♪
♪ Idiot wind ♪
♪ Blowing every time you move your teeth ♪
♪ I'm an idiot, babe ♪
♪ It's a wonder that I still know how to breathe ♪
Ooh!
Happy Thanksgiving, Nick!
Happy Thanksgiving, Mrs. Burke,
Mr. Scott.
Same to you, sir.
Where's Elias?
We had a walk. He's asleep.
Hey, look at all this!
Happy Thanksgiving, Nick!
To you, too.
Now, Marianne cooked the turkey.
Well, Marianne, you are a genius.
I wouldn't say all that.
You can make yourself a sandwich,
cranberries all in the bowl.
Holy-shamoly.
Yeah, we always do a sandwich,
then you don't have to do all that, you know,
sitting at the same table.
I know.
Everybody looking at each other.
I get it.
I am king of the sandwiches!
Here, let me make you one.
Oh, I always did like you, Mrs. Neilsen.
You got a way about you.
Don't you think she's got a way about her?
What kind of a way?
A way.
Well, Nick knows, right?
Am I right?
You just ignore him, Mrs. Neilsen.
You think Elias wants a sandwich?
He's asleep, leave him alone.
I don't know what it is,
it's the confluence between your eyes and your eyebrows
that somehow suggests a gateway to the eternal.
I'm just making you a sandwich!
Oh, what in God's name are you talking about?
You better watch yourself, Joe, she's got them talons.
She digs them into you, you'll never get away.
I don't know about that, but she sure can dance.
You mind not talking about me like I'm not here?
[Joseph] I'm sorry. Excuse me.
We're only saying good things.
We're only saying nice things!
- No, no, no, no, no! - You better watch it.
How much has she had to drink?
Oh, not as much as you, clearly.
Whoo!
I never felt shoulders like these!
Thank you, ma'am.
I mean it! Hey, Nick, you ever feel shoulders like that?
Not lately.
How are you, Marianne?
I'm fine, thank you.
You wanna call by next week?
Sure.
Unless you want to see someone else.
No, that's fine.
Should I go get Elias?
He's missing everything.
[Franklin] Leave him alone!
Anybody been outside?
Man, it's cold!
[George] Sure is!
You see the snow?
- Mm-hm. - That's how it starts.
With those dry flakes like that?
That's North Pole air.
Hey, Frank. Frank, sit down!
Oh, no, no. I'm good. I like to stand.
It's like swaying around on a ship.
You wanna go easy?
Hm?
(glass thuds)
Sick child gets inside of you somehow, Nick.
[Nick] What's that?
I guess you can't help it.
Just gets down underneath everything.
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
- Whoo! - Hey!
What about that wind, huh?
- It's like a knife! - Reverend.
Just the fella, huh?
Happy Thanksgiving.
Have a sandwich.
I was just saying, a sick child. (Laughs)
Oh, but of course.
There you are, you know, in the middle of your own life,
you know, kind of a child yourself.
- Oh, where is he? - Sure, you've got worries
and you've got responsibilities, mainly to yourself.
You know, your wife and your intended,
you know, a couple dollars in your pocket.
The normal stuff, you know?
And you're thinking, when the baby comes,
oh, how complete things will be.
But what they don't tell you is, Jesus Christ,
a child is hard work.
- For sure. - For sure.
Oh, oh!
Listen, I'm not saying I was there for the hardest part.
You know, I had my office to escape to.
I find peace and my own dreams.
And the hurly-burly and the fights and arguments,
which all men truly enjoy.
Where'd you say he was?
He's...
(Franklin speaking gibberish) (Franklin blows raspberry)
(Franklin laughs)
Well, you need to lie down.
- I-(chuckles) - I apologise.
She'll tell you.
I tried to put in the hours.
But the thing is, well, it'll...
It'll drive you crazy because a child is only learning.
They wanna do the same mundane thing over and over again,
it's torture.
And if you're not in the mood, well, ha, ha, ha!
And you think to yourself, "Well, it'll get easier
when he's older, but he never got any older."
He's a good boy.
Right!
He just got bigger and bigger! (Chuckles)
Oh, the nights I stood on that landing outside his door,
listening to the strange noises he made.
And, gee, Laura was inside in there with him.
I was afraid to go inside.
I could stand up to 80 men threatening to strike.
Righteous anger, lifting me up in a chariot of hatred.
Hey! Hey!
But a child's cries.
Big grown child crying in the night,
well, it'll rip the floor from right out underneath you!
- (Elizabeth laughs) - Are you okay?
And then the crash.
And the money's gone and the business is gone.
Then they say, "Hey! We're coming for your house!"
And, well, there you are, you're naked.
Uh-huh.
You're a father.
That's all you are.
That's all that's left.
But you're a father to this helpless creature.
Full of strength and-and-and.
- Francis! - And-And-And drives
that he doesn't understand.
- Francis! - And so if you turn your back
- for one second, he gets away! - Francis!
And you're frantically searching
- up and down the neighbors'- - Francis!
Yards for him!
And if the unthinkable should happen,
and he does something to someone,
well, it's beyond a nightmare because a nightmare ends.
Francis, where's Elias?
I told you, he's asleep.
We went for a walk is all.
One of our long ones.
We were down by the water.
Where is he, Francis?
I told you.
He's not here!
Elias!
Where is he, Frank?
- Elias! - The water was like iron.
- He's gone! - Where is he?
- Elias! - It was an accident.
Oh, where is he?
It was an accident.
- Where is he? - It was an accident!
I couldn't stop it!
What happened, Frank?
He's on the shore, Nick.
He's asleep.
(group murmuring)
Oh, Mrs. Burke.
Where's your God now, Reverend?
[James] He's everywhere.
(Franklin laughing)
Oh, are you crazy?
(Elizabeth and Franklin laughing)
Are you all fucking crazy?
Frank.
What happened?
- (hand thuds) - The water was like iron!
Are you kidding me?
Are you fucking kidding me?
Oh, you fucking...
You didn't even say nothing!
Never even said a goddamn thing!
You dirty bastard!
♪ Listen ♪
♪ To that Duquesne whistle ♪
♪ Blowing ♪
♪ Blowing like ♪
♪ It's gonna sweep my world away ♪
♪ I'm gonna stop at Carbondale ♪
♪ And keep on going ♪
♪ That Duquesne train gonna rock me ♪
♪ Night ♪
♪ And day ♪
♪ You say I'm a gambler ♪
♪ You say I'm a pimp ♪
♪ But I ain't neither one ♪
♪ No, no, no, no ♪
♪ Listen to that Duquesne whistle blowing ♪
♪ Sounding like it's on ♪
♪ A final run ♪
(groovy rock and roll music)
♪ Listen to that Duquesne whistle blowing ♪
♪ Blowing like she never blowed before ♪
♪ Little blue light blinking, red light glowing ♪
♪ Blowing like she's at my chamber door ♪
♪ Well, you smiling through the fence at me ♪
♪ Oh, yeah ♪
♪ Just like you always smiled before ♪
♪ Oh, listen to that Duquesne whistle blowing ♪
♪ Blowing like she ain't gonna blow no more ♪
♪ Hey ♪
(group chattering)
♪ Oh, can't you hear that Duquesne whistle blowing ♪
♪ Blowing like the sky's gonna blow apart ♪
♪ Yeah, you're the only thing alive that keeps me going ♪
♪ You're like a time bomb in my heart ♪
♪ And I can hear that sweet voice steadily calling ♪
♪ Must be the mother of our Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord ♪
♪ Listen to that Duquesne whistle blowing ♪
♪ Blowing like my woman's on board ♪
(gentle contemplative ballad music)
♪ Senor ♪
♪ Can you tell me where we're headin' ♪
♪ Lincoln County Road or Armageddon ♪
♪ Seems like I been down this way before ♪
♪ Is there any truth in that, senor ♪
♪ There's a wicked wind still blowing on that upper deck ♪
♪ There's an iron cross ♪
♪ Still hanging down from around her neck ♪
♪ There's a marching band still playing in that vacant lot ♪
♪ Where she held me in her arms one time ♪
♪ And said, "Forget me not" ♪
♪ Well, the last thing I remember ♪
♪ Before I stripped and kneeled ♪
♪ Was that trainload of fools ♪
♪ Bogged down in a magnetic field ♪
♪ A gypsy with a broken flag ♪
♪ And a flashing ring ♪
♪ He said, "Son, this ain't a dream no more ♪"
♪ It's the real thing" ♪
♪ Senor ♪
♪ Let's disconnect these cables ♪
♪ Overturn these tables ♪
♪ This place don't make sense to me no more ♪
♪ Can you tell me what we're waiting for ♪
♪ Do you love me ♪
♪ Or are you just extending goodwill ♪
♪ Do you need me half as much as you say ♪
♪ Or are you just feeling guilt ♪
♪ I've been burned before and I know the score ♪
♪ So you won't hear me complain ♪
♪ Are you willing to risk it all ♪
♪ Or is your love in vain ♪
♪ Are you so fast you cannot see ♪
♪ I must have solitude ♪
♪ When I am in the darkness ♪
♪ Why do you intrude ♪
♪ Do you know my world, do you know my kind ♪
♪ Or must I explain ♪
♪ Will you let me be myself ♪
♪ Or is your love in vain ♪
♪ Well, I've been to the mountain ♪
♪ And I've been in the wind ♪
♪ I've been in and out of happiness ♪
♪ I have dined with kings, I've been offered wings ♪
♪ But I've never been too impressed ♪
♪ I've been a noise-maker, spirit-maker ♪
♪ Heart-breaker, back-breaker ♪
♪ Left no stone unturned ♪
♪ Maybe an actor in a plot ♪
♪ That might be all that you got ♪
♪ Until your error you clearly learned ♪
♪ Can you cook and sew, make flowers grow ♪
♪ Can you understand my pain ♪
♪ Are you willing to risk it all ♪
♪ Or is your love in vain ♪
♪ Can you cook and sew ♪
♪ And make flowers grow ♪
♪ Do you understand my pain ♪
♪ Are you willing to risk it all ♪
♪ Or is your love in vain ♪
(thunder rumbling)
You give any more thought to what I said?
(tense thoughtful music)
You hear that storm?
I gotta be on that boat.
Leaves at 10 o'clock, else nobody be going anywhere.
(piano notes lightly chiming)
Are you gonna dignify me with an answer?
What do you care where I go?
I don't know. It just feels like I gotta take you.
And I just gotta go along?
I know you don't know me.
I know this is crazy.
But I keep waking up from these dreams.
I saw us, and your baby, and we had a life.
I know this is nuts, right?
But there's crazier things have happened.
In this house, as far as I can see.
(audience laughing)
It's a bad time, Mr. Scott.
It's always bad times.
You know, some coloreds tried to rob
a store in town last night.
I don't know a damn thing about that.
No, huh?
No. I just told you.
What, am I the only colored you ever seen?
You're the only colored I ever saw
says he's no money,
next day, he's all for jumping on a boat.
Take along a woman with him he only just met.
I'm tryna do you a good turn,
you wanna whip around, put this crap in my face?
(Marianne scoffs)
Don't you walk away from me.
Don't you walk away from me like that, all right?
If we gon' go down this road together,
even for a short while,
you best be able to look me in my eyes and know what I am!
At least gimme that!
I ain't got nothing else in it taking you on.
No, huh?
I ain't stupid!
- I never said you were! - I can read a paper!
- So what? - So I see
two convicts escaped outta Peytonville a week ago!
Who's the other one, huh?
That preacher?
(light jazz music)
♪ Time on my hands ♪
Goodbye, Mr. Scott.
♪ Nothing but love in view ♪
♪ Then if you fall ♪
♪ Once and for all ♪
Maybe I ain't never been no saviour,
but I ain't never killed no one neither.
And if I'm walking the streets right now,
and some judge says I gotta rot my life away
in some rat hole, maybe he's wrong!
You think I was the only nigger in the joint
serving somebody else's stretch?
Just look me in my eyes!
(sniffles)
If you don't believe me, that's all right, I'll go.
But if you can see me...
(Marianne sighs)
I'm saying, if...
(door slams)
♪ And love in my heart all for you ♪
(light jazz music continues)
Hey! Fix me, Marianne.
Fix me, will you?
Oh, I'm such a goddamn mess.
What happened?
I was outside. I was in the water.
And what time we going home?
Hey, Mama. Hey.
What if I told you I was going away?
You're not going away.
You're not going away,
- you just got here. - No, Mama. Listen.
I'm going away.
Well, all right. (Laughs)
Just don't play with knives.
(audience laughing)
You know, the devil's only trying to be your friend
'cause you give him your blood.
Evening.
Well, here he is, the word of the Lord,
to the walking word of Jesus Christ.
(audience laughing)
Hey!
You ready for the parade, padre?
- The parade? - The parade!
The parade!
All the holy saints parading up and down.
The nuns showed us at Jesus camp last summer.
Up at Camp Jesus.
They had all the children doing it.
Head up and shoulders back,
parading up and down all night long.
You go up, up, up, up, wave, turn round,
and you go down, hm?
Up, up, up, up, wave and turn.
And parade over this way
and acknowledge the saints. (Chuckles)
And then this way and acknowledge the damned.
Look at 'em all there. God help 'em.
(audience laughing)
And this way,
and you acknowledge all the babies who died unbaptized.
And then this way...
Wait a minute!
Now, you just wait one goddamn minute!
You gimme that!
Hey, get your hands off me!
Hey, take your hands off me!
No! Give me that!
What are you doing?
This woman is trying to rob me!
He took my dollars!
- Give them back! - I will call the police!
I will not stay in this madhouse a moment longer!
He put my dollars in his pocket!
Where are her dollars?
- I have no idea. - They're in his pocket, Aggie!
Oh, come on!
You can see 'em through the material.
Look at 'em there. They're bulging in his pants.
I have never been so insulted!
But this woman is so clearly unwell,
I'd fetch a lawman and have a case!
[Elizabeth] Oh!
Only I am a gentleman and I believe in God's grace.
Therefore, I will allow the matter to lie
and be about my way.
Did you take her dollars?
Madam, I'm warning you.
Do not join this accusation.
Good day.
Did you take her dollars, you panhandling son of a bitch?
Madam.
You best give her something from the church.
I have no church!
What a shocker. Then give her some alms then.
Ain't that what the Bible say?
I'm a poor man myself.
Show me your pockets.
I beg your pardon?
Show me your pockets.
And what would that prove?
Humor me.
Why don't you give her some alms, huh?
I know you're coming into some money.
- What's in your pocket? - Stay off me!
You wanna get into this?
- What's in your pocket, huh? - Don't touch me!
- What's in your pockets? - Don't touch me!
How's that old probate story working out for you?
Hey, preacher!
Jesus Christ! (Mrs. Neilsen screaming)
That's right!
(gun blasting) (Mrs. Neilsen screaming)
(audience laughing)
I don't have your money.
I don't!
(gun cocking)
Okay, here. You want some of my dollars?
Here, I'll give you some of my money.
Here. Okay? All right? There!
- Okay? There you go! - Thank you!
You see, good manners will always trump a scoundrel.
What about you, huh?
You wanna get paid?
This is a fucking madhouse!
[Elizabeth] Well then, get out, right?
I'm getting out.
Well then, go.
- I am. - Well, go then.
- I'm going! - Ma!
What the hell is going on?
- What happened? - Ask him!
I have been accused and degraded, sir,
here in this very room.
We've all been degraded in this very room.
Who was shooting?
It doesn't matter.
Thy last prayers will ye seek ye repentance!
Ah, fuck off!
(audience laughing)
[James] With pleasure!
Get a broom! See to your mother!
Okay.
Come on, Ma. Let's go.
- Let's go. - Ah!
- You can't- - What?
She's gonna kill someone!
Ah, water's pouring in up there.
Goddamn pipes have burst.
Only hope now is they'll freeze.
[Gene] Right?
You gonna go down the pier?
For what?
Well, Marianne told me that's where she's going.
You have any opinion about that?
That guy seems like a.
[Gene] Like a what?
[Nick] He seems strong.
Oh! (Laughs)
Well, that's all right then.
Too bad she didn't feel like saying goodbye, I guess.
- Well, that's- - It's what?
That's a pity.
Oh, it's a pity, huh?
- I think so. - Yeah.
- You don't give a damn.
I did my best.
[Gene] Yeah, you did your best.
What did you want me to do?
What would you do?
Kick her in the street?
She's in the street now.
Why couldn't you just let her stay here?
There is no here!
I don't own a here!
I only ever borrowed it, Gene.
You got a job, and that...
It's gonna be okay.
I don't have a job.
But you have the letter.
[Gene] It was too late. Job was gone.
And you just took that?
What else could I do?
You could have said something!
Jesus Christ!
You should have said something to...
What are you doing? Instead, you lied to me about it?
Didn't wanna embarrass you.
- Embarrass? - Yeah!
'Cause you're all, "This guy's my buddy.
She's my old girlfriend.
This is all gonna be terrific."
That's great, Gene.
(laughs) What are you so worried about?
My plans don't work out, they don't work out.
- What do you care? - Because...
Because me and your mother.
What?
We're not gonna be here.
What? When?
I figured a way out.
What? What is it?
[Nick] We're not going to be here.
[Gene] Where are you going?
We're going all the way.
[Gene] All the way where?
All the way.
(laughing) Don't joke like that, Dad.
There's no joke.
Your mother will go first.
Don't joke like that.
It's all right. It's okay.
It would happen sometime, right?
I've been flailing around, Gene.
I gotta stop.
Dad, don't-don't do that.
I'll-I'll get a job. I'll get one.
Yeah, get a job.
A few dollars ain't gonna get us out of this one.
- Gimme a chance! - Whatcha gonna do?
Suddenly write a masterpiece all of a sudden?
Maybe. Maybe I will.
You gotta go, Gene.
I'm sorry, son.
(gentle sombre music)
[Gene] (chuckles) What?
[Nick] Yeah.
Where am I gonna go?
Go wherever you...
This is $22.
It's everything I got.
Get yourself a drink.
(light ballad music)
♪ So swiftly the sun sets in the sky ♪
♪ You rise up and say goodbye to no one ♪
♪ Fools rush in where angels fear to tread ♪
♪ Both of their futures, so full of dread ♪
♪ You don't show why ♪
♪ Shedding off one more layer of skin ♪
♪ Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within ♪
♪ Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune ♪
♪ Bird fly high by the light of the moon ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
Last time I saw Nick Laine
was the morning of Friday, December 7th, 1934.
Why'd I call by?
Christ knows.
Just a feeling somewhere.
He seemed good when I saw him.
He seemed all right. That's the...
That's something I've come to recognise.
Once the decision is made...
Well, the hardest thing in life, right?
Making up your mind?
[Mrs. Neilsen] Your taxi's outside.
Thank you, Mrs. Neilsen.
Oh, Mrs. Neilsen, we are going to miss you, you know?
Oh, I will miss you.
I'm only sorry I won't be able to be with you
for the ceremony.
Oh, we wouldn't ask you to come
all the way back East with us.
We wouldn't expect it.
Is there anything I can do?
No.
No, once we get home, we'll, um...
It's only going to be small, necessity, but we'll, uh...
It's a pretty cemetery, Mrs. Neilsen.
It's, um...
Good and evil, it's all beyond them, isn't it?
Oh, entirely.
I was talking to a friend
of the coroner's assistant last night,
and he said that slipway is notorious where he, uh...
Well, you just turn around, someone's gone,
the current just.
It's not the first time.
They really need to, uh.
- It's crazy! - Fix.
Yes, it's terrible.
You've been a good friend to us, Mrs. Neilsen.
You make sure to write.
We should stay in touch.
Absolutely.
Let me walk you out.
You okay, Doc?
[George] Yeah.
Want some coffee?
No, I better go.
I've always admired you, Nick.
Are you fucking crazy?
No, I...
Well, you just keep on that road, all right?
What time's your bus?
11:00.
Want something to eat?
You look very pretty.
I got a child inside me, Nick.
What?
How'd that happen?
(audience laughing)
The way it usually happens.
I thought you was too old.
Why, thank you!
(audience laughing)
- I guess not. - Jesus Christ.
Well, you can't go now.
Why not?
Goodbye, Elizabeth.
You're too good for him, Mrs. Neilsen.
Well, mister. You done it.
You got 'em all out. (Chuckles)
I don't know how, but you did it.
I know.
You start out, it's a love story, huh?
You wait outside the drugstore
where you said you'd meet her,
searching in the eyes of everyone passing by.
You can't believe it when she steps out of the crowd.
Her face, perhaps plain to everybody else,
well, it uncloaks its beauty just for you,
and you know you're gone.
You're her hostage.
And she takes you down into a world of plans
and dreams you could never have sustained on your own.
And then, one day, in the midst of the exhilaration
and the worry and the children
and the fighting and the whole damn shebang,
you look up and you see her again,
and you may as well be looking at a baby giraffe in the zoo.
(audience laughing)
She's alive and she sees you,
but her world is not your world.
You don't wanna live in her world.
She doesn't want you there anyhow.
But you know you're too weak on your own.
The children look to you.
"What are you looking at me for?" you say.
And they hate ya, and you're glad they hate ya,
'cause they stop coming to you.
(Elizabeth stamps)
And then, one day, she turns round
and says, "I don't love you anymore either."
And you think, "What the fuck
does that have to do with anything?"
Except you know she's just knocked you out cold.
And you realise, "Oh, shit."
I'm really on my own here now.
Okay.
Okay, that's all right.
I can drink myself to death in some room somewhere.
"It's all right."
Until she loses her mind,
and then you have her forever.
You have her forever.
♪ May God bless and keep you always ♪
♪ May your wishes all come true ♪
♪ May you always do for others ♪
♪ And let others do for you ♪
(gentle contemplative ballad music)
♪ May you build a ladder to the stars ♪
♪ And climb on every rung ♪
♪ And may you stay ♪
♪ Forever young ♪
♪ May you grow up to be righteous ♪
♪ May you grow up to be true ♪
♪ May you always know the truth ♪
♪ And see the light surrounding you ♪
♪ May you always be courageous ♪
♪ Stand upright and be strong ♪
♪ And may you stay ♪
♪ Forever young ♪
♪ May you stay ♪
♪ Forever young ♪
When the bank foreclosed, Nick headed south.
He took Elizabeth with him.
He took care of her best he could.
Made it down as far as Sioux City
till bronchitis got her in a flophouse down there.
They took her into a home for women
on the banks of the Missouri.
Nick stayed nearby in a hostel for men.
Came down to see her every day.
He was with her the morning she passed.
Held her hand at the end, I heard.
I don't know where he went after that.
Word was he kept on heading south,
maybe down towards Oklahoma, but nobody really knew.
Old Mr. Perry gave Gene a place to stay
and a job working in his store.
He tried his hand at reporting for a local paper
then took the plunge and moved down to New York City.
He met a girl there, it didn't work out.
When the war came, he enlisted in the Marines,
and saw action in Italy and then at Okinawa,
where he stood on a mine
and was declared missing in action June '45.
But I had already left this world 11 years earlier,
on Christmas Eve 1934.
Set it all up.
It was just like stepping through a glass wall.
I could still see everything.
Saw the time come and go.
Saw Marianne and her Joseph come by the following winter,
and damn, if she didn't have a baby in her arms.
Yes, she had a baby.
They were well dressed in warm coats.
Came up and stood outside the old inn
with that baby in their arms.
They looked up at the windows a while,
then I watched them walk away.
I looked out on the water,
then I closed my eyes.
(audience applauding) (audience cheering)
(gentle thoughtful ballad music)
♪ Well, I'm pressing on ♪
♪ Yes, I'm pressing on ♪
♪ Well, I'm pressing on ♪
♪ To the higher ♪
♪ Calling of my Lord ♪
♪ Well, I'm pressing on ♪
♪ Pressing on ♪
♪ Oh, whoa ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Pressing on ♪
♪ To the higher calling of my Lord ♪
♪ Many try to stop me ♪
♪ Shake me up in my mind ♪
♪ Say, "Prove to me that he is Lord ♪"
♪ Show me a sign" ♪
♪ A sign ♪
♪ What kind of sign they need ♪
♪ When it all comes from within ♪
♪ When what's lost has been found ♪
♪ Has been found ♪
♪ What's to come has already been ♪
♪ And I just keep?? Pressing on ♪
♪ On and on and on and on ♪
♪ I keep on ♪
♪ Moving on?? Pressing on ♪
♪ Oh, whoa ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Pressing on ♪
♪ To the higher calling of my Lord ♪
♪ Pressing on ♪
♪ On and on and on and on ♪
♪ Pressing on ♪
♪ I keep on pressing on ♪
♪ To the higher calling ♪
♪ Of my Lord ♪
♪ And on and on and on and on ♪
(audience applauding) (audience cheering)
(light country-folk music)
(lively jazz music)
(cast speaking faintly)
(audience applauding)
(cast continues speaking faintly)