♪ Good times Any time you meet a payment ♪
♪ Good times Any time you need a friend ♪
♪ Good times
♪ Any time you're out From under ♪
♪ Not gettin' hassled Not gettin' hustled ♪
♪ Keepin' your head Above water ♪
♪ Makin' a wave when you can
♪ Temporary layoffs Good times ♪
♪ Easy credit ripoffs Good times ♪
♪ Scratchin' and survivin' Good times ♪
♪ Hangin' in a chow line Good times ♪
♪ Ain't we lucky we got 'em
♪ Good times
All done, Ma.
Ooh, Thelma!
The cake is beautiful!
Thank you.
Oh... Hey, wait a minute.
Thelma made this cake?
She sure did.
This cake's supposed to make Dad happy, not sick.
Well, then, we better figure a way to cover up your face!
Ma!
You got some nerve...
All right, all right, all right, children.
Now, I don't want any of that fighting tonight.
Gee, Thelma, this icing sure is good.
Thanks.
Hey, Ma, how you like my sign?
I spared none of my ebony genius.
Hey, J.J., that looks great.
Oh, I'm getting so excited.
It's hard to believe
that your daddy is graduating from trade school.
Well, just in case he don't make it,
I got that covered too.
What you talkin' about, J.J.?
Daddy can't miss. He's the highest in his class.
I know, Michael. Just jivin', just jivin'.
Just think, children,
when your daddy walks through that door,
he's gonna be a licensed heavy equipment operator.
Ooh, yeah.
Driving all those big machines,
working on all those fancy construction projects...
Whoo!
Yeah, I probably might feel a little weird
walking up to Dad
and asking him for the keys to the bulldozer.
Oh, J.J.
With 16 on the floor,
my main woman Delilah is gonna be beggin' for more!
I've seen Delilah,
and you need a bulldozer to lift her.
You calling my girlfriend fat?
Yeah, I'm calling her fat.
Hey, Michael, come on down here.
Now, you done seen Delilah.
Do you think she's fat?
Well, J.J., let me put it to you this way.
When you and Delilah stand next to each other,
y'all look like the number 10.
All right, all right. Shh.
All right, children.
Michael, I'm surprised at you.
You're never in these hassles.
Mama, I've been in the sidelines
for 13 years.
I think it's about time for me
to get into the game.
Lord, have mercy.
Now, I got three shouters and only two ears.
Whoo-ee!
Flo, honey,
did you see a guy running down the hall,
about 6-foot-2, looking like Harry Belafonte?
No.
Neither did I.
Y'all, now, go on.
Hey, here you go.
I had it gift-wrapped for you kids at the boutique.
Your father's gonna love your present!
Thanks, Willona.
Speaking of fathers, where is the graduate?
He ain't back from school yet.
Oh, Flo, you gotta be proud.Yep.
There ain't many guys as old as James that could turn around
and start over, going to school at his age.
Wait a minute, Willona.
You are exactly the same age he is.
I never knew that.
Willona, you mean you're for... Fortunate!
Fortunate enough to be
to be as young as your father, honey.
I'm still in the Pepsi generation.
I intend to keep those flip-tops popping
till the day I die.
Can you dig it?
James, honey, what happened?
Did you graduate?
Has a pig got knuckles?
[SCREAMING]
But it's supposed to be a party.
Let's get it on!
Oh, James, it's beautiful.
Ain't it?
You are now looking at a skilled laborer.
No more busting my back on the loading dock at Brady's.
This means good pay, good jobs, and goodbye 79-cent muscatel,
and hello $1.50 champagne!
Well, hello, hello, hello.
Champagne.
Honey, that's nice, but can we afford it?
Well, it's cheaper than gasoline.
Every time I go out with a dude now,
instead of using perfume,
I put two drops of high-tech behind each ear.
[J.J. LAUGHS]
Now, what you think you doing? You ain't old enough to drink.
I'm 18.
I'm old enough to die for my country.
You don't put that glass down,
you gonna die in your living room.
Get some Kool-Aid with Thelma and Michael.
Oh, don't feel bad, J.J.
You may not be old enough to drink yet,
but they can always use you
as a swizzle stick.
[ALL TALKING AT ONCE]
All right, quiet. Quiet, everybody.
Listen, I want to make a toast
to my husband, the graduate.
ALL: Hey!
Now, there are not many men
who has his love and courage and devotion.
And good looks.
And modesty.
Here's to it.
Wait a minute! Hold it. Hold it. Hold it.
I wanna make a toast here.
Oh, no. Oh, no.
Oh, please, J.J., short and sweet, honey.
Dad, until recently, we just been getting by,
and getting by without getting a taste
starts getting to you.
Get me?
But starting tomorrow,
we gonna be starting getting more,
so we can start getting over,
so we can start getting to the business of getting down.
Oh, boy!
Junior... MICHAEL: Let me, Daddy.
ALL: Shut up, J.J.!
J.J., if I were you,
I wouldn't get too carried away.
Your daddy don't have that construction job yet.
Oh, Florida, with that diploma, there ain't gonna be no problem.
That school practically promised me a job.
Oh, Daddy, we all made this for you.
Yeah.
What you got there, baby?
Surprise. Surprise.
Let me see here.
Well, look at this.
Well, I bet you ain't nobody in the city
got one like this.
Let me try it on you.
[EVERYBODY CHEERING]
Hail to King James...
a man of courage, a man of might,
and the proud father of Kid Dyn-o-mite!
Oh, James...
Honey, it looks fine, just fine.
Yeah, baby, looks like we gonna finally grab ahold
of some of the things we been dreaming about.
Yeah, and Dad,
why don't you start the ball rolling
by giving me a raise in my allowance?
That's a good idea, Junior.
How much you getting now?
Nothing.
Well starting tomorrow, I'm gonna double it.
Y'all hear that? He's gonna double it!
[LAUGHING]
Wait a minute.
I'm just jiving, Junior.
Look here.
In honor of this special occasion,
you can have some champagne.
Thanks, Dad.
Looks like you got double nothing again.
Ah-ooh!
[ALL TALKING AT ONCE]
Well, Ma, how do I look?
Kind of like a skinny brown mushroom.
I think it looks good, Ma:
a hard hat for a soft head.
Ah, Thelma, why don't you go tickle yourself
with a collard green.
All done, Michael.
Hey. Great, Ma.
Why don't you try it on.
Okay.
Now I have a club jacket like all the other guys.
Hey, Michael, what's that emblem stand for?
You don't know what Black Action is, J.J.?
Sure. It's J.J.'s mouth running.
Thelma, please, don't start that again.
Black Action is a club.
We try to hip young brothers to black pride,
awareness, and get them into self-respect.
Mama, can you fix this zipper? It seems to be stuck.
Hmm, I'll rub a little wax on it
so it could move easier.
Come on, go in the bedroom.
All right.
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
Will one of you kids get the door, please?
Sure, Ma.
The eldest will get it.
Hello. Are you Mr. James Evans, the man of the house?
I'm James Evans, Jr.
The freak of the house.
Well, is your father in?
No, he isn't, but my mother will be out in a minute.
Good, good, good. I...
My company likes to keep an eye
on trade school grads in the area.
We have a fine investment opportunity
for people like your parents who are moving up in the world.
Well, then, uh, you want to talk to me.
Sit down there, man. Go ahead, sit down.
Well, thank you. Thank you.
Now, uh...
What kind of investments are you talking about here?
Stocks, bonds, dream books?
No, no, land.
Land? What kind of land?
Cemetery plots.
Ma!
Oh, hello.
Hello, Mrs. Evans.
I was just telling your children
about something that I know you'll be interested in,
my company's new project.
It's called Eternal Estates.
Eternal Estates. Mm-hmm.
Is that one of those retirement communities?
No, Ma, it's the next step.
Well, if my husband gets a job,
we just might consider making that move.
Ma, you don't understand...
Is it in a nice, quiet area?
Don't worry, Ma,
you won't hear a peep out of the neighbors.
Mrs. Evans, I really think I should explain.
JAMES: I went from long bread to short bread!
James, what's wrong?
What's wrong is
there ain't a construction job open in this town.
But your school practically guaranteed you a job.
Yeah, but they didn't check with President Ford.
Maybe the recession is over for him,
but it ain't for us.
He's swimming and we drowning.
Well, what the hell are you selling?
[CHUCKLES]
Cemetery plots.
What?
Cemetery plots?!
Oh, that's just great.
The economy done kill me, now this dude wants to bury me.
Well, forget it, man.
Mr. Evans, you're really making a mistake.
Out.
But Mr. Evans... Out!
All right, Mr. Evans, you know, it's your funeral.
You can either pay me now,
or you know you're gonna have to pay me later.
You want a down payment?
Honey, you're just gonna have to calm down.
Now, why should I calm down, Florida?
I invested a lot of time and money
in getting that diploma,
and it ain't worth a nickel,
because there ain't no jobs open.
I thought we was moving up.
Have you tried the union hall, Daddy?
Yeah.
They gave me the want ads
and a map of the city.
Well, James, there seem to be a lot of want ads there.
Yeah, that's because a lot of people want jobs.
Well, there must be some jobs in this paper.
Yeah, here's one: Wanted, fry cook.
Here's another one:
Wanted, Topless waitress.
Wait a minute.
They both for the same job.
Ah, you see what I mean, Florida?
James, honey,
there's still no need to get so upset.
You can't fight the economy.
Fight it? I ain't even laid a glove on it.
This diploma, I got a good mind to...
Oh, no, James, don't, please.
THELMA: Daddy, don't do that.
Oh, what's the use?
[TELEPHONE RINGS]
No, honey, I'll get it.
[SIGHS]
Hello?
Yes, he is.
[WHISPERS] James, it's for you.
[GRUMBLES]
Come on, honey, it's the union.
Come on.
Yeah?
Speaking.
What?
Oh, you jiving.
Really?
Yeah, I'll...
Wait a minute. How much does this job pay?
Wee! I'll take it, man. I'll take it.
[CHEERING]
Shh!
Now, where's the job located?
You want to say that again?
No, no, it don't matter. I'll take it anyhow.
I'll be down there tomorrow to sign up.
Right. [SCREAMS]
Get yourselves together, because this construction worker
is taking you out for dinner tonight, yeah!
[CHEERING]
The union got me a job.
Wow, J... And that ain't all, baby.
I got a contract for one year at $500 a week.
[ALL SCREAMING]
Five hundred greens a week?
We don't have a pot big enough
to hold that kind of cabbage!
Then we'll buy one!
Oh, James, that's fantastic.
Where's the job?
Uh, out of town.
Come on, all, let's go.
Where out of town, James?
Uh, out west. Come on.
Where out west, Peoria?
No, further west. Let's go, now.
Oh, Moon Socket, South Dakota?
Will you please?
I know, Daddy, Seattle, Washington?
No, but you getting warm.
Now, come on, let's go now.
James, where's the job?
Oh, baby, the good job is good for one year
at $500 a week.
Let's go eat. James!
Where is the job?
Alaska.
ALL: Alaska?
Yeah, that's right, baby, Alaska.
I'm gonna be working on the pipeline.
James, I don't know if I could just pick up and move
to such a godforsaken place.
Yeah, Daddy,
and I don't want to leave all my friends.
Neither do I, Daddy.
And what about me?
I'm gonna have to start going out with Eskimo chicks.
Rubbing noses don't exactly turn me on.
Try it, J.J.
You'll be the first nappy nanook of the north.
You got some nerve, your igloo...
All right, knock it off.
Daddy, where would we live?
Alaska's too new to have ghettos.
Look, there's something you all don't seem to understand.
We ain't going to Alaska.
I am.
James, what you mean?
Oh, baby, that pipeline
is out in the middle of nowhere.
Well, you just can't pick up and go off
and leave us for a year.
Well, what am I gonna do, Florida?
I can't find no good paying jobs around here.
You still got your job at Brady's.
You're assistant foreman.
Hmm, some assistant foreman.
They fired the one dude that was working under me.
Besides, baby,
this job in Alaska pays $500 a week.
You know what that means?
Honey, the money is good, but...
But nothing, baby. It's only gonna be for one year.
With that money,
we'll be able to save up money for the kids' college.
We'll be able to move outta here and start living good.
Oh, James, I don't wanna live good.
I want to live with you.
Huh?
You know what I mean.
Yeah, Daddy, we want to live with you too.
Yeah, Daddy, please don't go.
Yeah, Dad.
Now, look here, kids,
the seniority I get on this job, when I get back,
I'll be able to get jobs
I ain't got a chance at now.
Yeah, being black in Alaska has its definite advantages.
They'll never lose Dad in the snow.
James, I just can't believe you'd do this.
You're gonna leave three children
without a father for a whole year.
Now, wait a minute, Florida.
I thought about that.
But look at them. They ain't kids no more.
I mean, they're practically adults.
Michael is only 13.
A boy that age needs a father,
especially in this neighborhood.
Those streets are full of bad habits
just waiting to be picked up.
Now, look, baby, we didn't raise no ignorant kids.
I mean, they know right from wrong.
And if they forget while I'm gone,
just give them a refresher course.
That's the father's job.
Now, wait a minute.
You the one always telling me
a woman can do anything a man can do.
Well, I was wrong.
There ain't a woman on earth
as stubborn as you are.
Stubborn? Now, what makes you say I'm stubborn?
I ain't stubborn.
I'm just saying
ain't nobody gonna make me change my mind.
I'm going to Alaska.
Over my dead snowshoes.
Dad, you wanna know what I think about this?
No.
See, Thelma, I told you not to interrupt them
when they arguing.
I don't understand you sometimes.
All I'm trying to do is make a better life
for all of us.
James, is it worth it
leaving your family for a whole year?
Do we live that bad?
Well let's face it, Florida, we don't live that good.
I mean, we are poor,
and if you was to make a list of all the things
that people want to be, poor would be at the bottom.
Just above sick and dead.
So what?
We've been poor all our lives, and we always got through
without you leaving the family to do it.
James, why are you doing it?
I'm doing it for us.
It's the first time in my life
I had a chance to accomplish something.
Then you're not doing it for us.
You're doing it for you.
I'm doing it for us!
Well, "us" don't want you to do it.
Look, I'm taking the job,
and I don't wanna hear no more about it.
I'm going to Alaska!
Now, let's go out and celebrate the good news
and have some fun!
I'm going to a club meeting. See you later, Mom.
Okay, sweetie. Bye, bye.
Okay.
James still hasn't changed his mind, huh?
[DOOR CLOSES]
Well, I just wanna tell you
that whatever goes down, you can count on me.
What does that mean, Willona?
Now, if I tell you something, you promise you won't get upset?
Tell me.
You know Dwight Johnson.
The guy I used to go with? Yeah.
Well, honey, he used to work on a pipeline too,
for 18 months in Texas.
And those dudes were stranded so far out in the sticks,
the company flew in entertainment every weekend.
Entertainment? Mm-hmm.
What kind of entertainment?
♪ En-ter-tainment
L-i-v-e, live entertainment.
Okay, Willona, I get it.
All right.
J.J: Oh, come on now.
I told you, the answer's no! What's going on?
[DOOR CLOSES]
Ma, I told Daddy I can get a full-time job
at the county hospital.
And I'll sell my art supplies.
And Michael's trying to get a job
at the drug store delivering orders.
You hear that, James?
They're all willing to sacrifice
to keep you home.
What kind of home is it gonna be with everybody working?
There won't be nobody home.
The answer is no!
James, I tell you, we could do it...
Case closed, Florida. Oh!
[CRYING]
[DOOR SLAMS]
Well, it's so nice to see
you're keeping an open mind, James.
[SLAMS POT DOWN]
Or at least you're trying.
[DOOR OPENS]
Oh, now, come on, baby, stop crying.
It's gonna be just as tough on me
as it is on you.
I ain't gonna be doing nothing but working
and getting homesick.
And being... en-ter-tained!
Huh?
Oh, Willona told me what goes on
in them construction camps.
Oh, Willona. Princess Running Mouth.
Look, I heard all about them camps too.
But you don't think I'm gonna be involved
in none of that stuff, do you?
I know you wouldn't, James.
All I'm gonna be doing is marking on the calendar
and writing letters to you every night.
Like this?
What's that?
It's a letter I got a long time ago.
James, you know we only been apart one day
in all the 20 years of our marriage.
Yeah.
That was one day I went out of town
looking for work.
Mm-hmm.
You weren't even gone 24 hours,
and you wrote me a 10-page letter.
Yeah, every time I tried to fall asleep,
I had to add another page.
James, this is only for one day.
What you gonna do when you're gone
for a whole year?
Use up a hell of a lot of pencils.
You know,
this is the only love letter I ever got.
It better be. It's the only one I ever wrote.
"I didn't get the job, Florida,
"but I don't care.
"Being away from you hurts me too much.
I'll never leave you again."
Oh, Florida, that was a young boy talking.
Whatever happened to him?
He grew up.
Florida, we're talking about $500 a week!
James, I'm talking about you.
But, baby, when was the last time
anybody around here even seen $500 a week?
I've been knocked around enough to know
you just can't pass up a chance like this, baby.
Oh, now, come on, now.
Come on.
It's pretty quiet in there.
Maybe Ma gave in.
Not a chance.
Maybe Dad gave in.
Never!
Well, maybe I should go in there.
They probably need some advice
from a neutral party.
J.J., you go in there, and Dad will break you in half.
Just a thought that popped
inside of my head.
Hmm, it must have been awful lonesome.
Ooh, Michael! What happened to you?
Michael, what happened, man? I'm okay.
Mama, Daddy, come here! Michael's hurt.
I said I'm okay.
THELMA: Michael...
MICHAEL: I'm okay.Michael.
Honey, are you hurt?
No, Ma, I'm okay.
Michael, you been fighting?
Yeah, Daddy, I had to fight.
Keith got beat up and robbed.
And I don't know how bad Eddie's hurt,
but I barely got away myself.
Who is this dude? I'll tear him apart!
Well, there was six of them.
Sounds like a job for Dad.
Junior, shut up.
Now, I want to know what happened, Michael.
Well, Daddy, we were down the block selling The Defender,
trying to raise money for our club,
when these six cats from the Satan Knights came
and started pushing us around.
After they robbed Keith, one of them pulled a knife on me.
My God.
So I hit him with a stack of papers
and ran.
Michael... baby, you could have really been hurt.
Oh, now calm down, baby.
It's all over.
Yeah, for now.
But we gonna get back at those dudes.
Now you ain't getting back at nobody.
Daddy, what kind of club would we be
if we let everybody push us around?
That's what we stand for: black pride.
If you come down on a guy wearing one of these jackets,
you coming down on all of us.
Now, wait a minute, mister.
You just back up.
The only reason I let you join this club
is because you said it stood for self-pride
and awareness.
But if your club is talking about revenge,
then they become nothing but a gang,
and you just quit.
Hey, Daddy, you can't take my jacket from me.
Looks to me like I just did.
Now, you want to discuss it?
No.
But what about Black Pride?
What about it?
You don't need no gang for that.
You black. Just be proud.
James, where are you going?
I'm going down to the union hall,
see can I find me a job here in town.
James!
Well, Florida, I'm ashamed of you,
letting me go off to Alaska
knowing my son needs me here in this jungle.
For a woman, sometimes you really surprise me.
[♪♪♪]
♪ Mm-mm-mm
♪ Just lookin' Out of the window ♪
♪ Watching the asphalt grow
♪ Thinkin' how It all looks hand-me-down ♪
♪ Good times Good times ♪
♪ Keepin' your head Above water ♪
♪ Makin' a wave When you can ♪
♪ Temporary layoffs Good times ♪
ANNOUNCER: Good Times is recorded on tape
before a live audience.
♪ Ain't we lucky we got 'em
♪ Good times