♪ 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
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Oh my goodness I can't believe this.
Willona, It is colder in here than it is outside.
And it's zero degrees out there.
You telling me?
It's so cold in here,
when I shake my head, my eyeballs rattle.
I better not make any mistakes in my homework,
'cause my eraser's frozen.
I'll make some coffee. Good idea.
Willona, will you look at this.
We're shivering and shaking,
and he comes out dressed like a fool.
Girl, you're only as warm as you feel.
Simply a case of mind over matter.
Well, I think you better stick with matter,
'cause your mind ain't together, brother.
Will you look at this, Willona.
Thelma,
either the water's rusty, or you burnt it.
Oh, this is getting to be too much.
Now we gotta deal with rusty water.
I'm calling Bookman right now, honey.
Willona, it won't do any good, we've already tried,
and Bookman hasn't shown up.
Oh, it's the same old song.
When things break down and nothing goes right,
good old Bookman is out of sight.
I'm gonna get some action here this time.
That's right.
It takes a man to get results around here,
and I'm determined to get results.
You know what I mean? I had enough...
Wow, speaking of results.
Welcome to the igloo, there, Nanook of the ghetto.
How you doin', honey?
Where you been?
I'll tell you where she's been.
Up and down the halls, defacing the property.
Booga, what are you flappin' about now?
Miss Woods, Penny's been writing all over the floor with chalk.
Is that true, honey?
Yes, Mama.
Penny.
You haven't been writing naughty words,
have you, Penny?
Of course not.
What have you been writin'?
Numbers.
Writing naughty numbers?
We were playing hopscotch,
and Mr. Bookman's just mad 'cause I beat him.
Oh, Booga,
I know you're not wrapped too tight,
but don't you have anything better to do
than play hopscotch with the little kiddies?
Yeah, like fixin' the water pipes.
Yeah Bookman, what about getting us some heat?
Look, it ain't cold in here. I feel comfortable.
That's because you got enough blubber on you
to keep a bear in hibernation.
Look, I'd like to help you out, but I ain't got time.
Mrs. Bookman and I are going to visit her mother.
Oh, come on, Bookman.
Anything to get out of work.
Hey, young lady, if you got a complaint,
put it in writing.
That's cool, old man,
but who's gonna read it to you?
Look, I'd like to chitchat with you,
but I ain't got time.
See, Mrs. Bookman's waiting,
and when she's kept waiting,
she becomes a fire-breathing dragon.
So why don't you put her in the furnace?
Maybe then we'll get some heat.
I see you made some coffee.
Don't mind if I do.
Ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha.
Like some cream and sugar in that?
No, thank you.
Mm-mm.
Thelma, this sure is delicious.
I sure wish you'd show Mrs. Bookman
how to make coffee.
Hers always come out like rusty water.
[KNOCKING]
I'll get it.
Hi, Mrs. Bookman.
I was just leaving, Violet.
Good.
Mother's waiting,
and you know how mother hates to be kept waiting.
Is she a dragon too?
What does she mean "too"?
Just childish prattle, my pet.
Mrs. Bookman, would you like.
Thelma to show you how she makes her coffee?
And what is wrong with my coffee?
Pure nectar, my sweet.
Nectar.
Oh, is that anything like rusty water?
I can explain everything, Violet.
We'll discuss it at Mother's.
Violet, we are slowly but surely freezing to death.
Now, that's more important than going to your mother's.
More important than going to see my mother?
Miss Woods, Yes, Violet.
All tenants have their little problems,
but Mr. Bookman and I have our personal lives too.
So let's try to be a little more considerate of others,
shall we?
Otherwise, I'll have Nathan evict all of you so fast,
your butts will hit the street before your feet.
Do I make myself clear?
Coming, Nathan?
Yes, dear.
Hey, Bookman,
in the meantime, man, what are we gonna do for heat?
Get another stick and rub it up against your brother, J.J.
That does it. That does it!
It's time for some action.
You're right, Willona. You are right.
Now, I hope you have something really dirty
and underhanded in mind.
No, I was thinking of something a little more subtle for Nathan.
How about a hitman from Detroit?
Hey, remember?
Bookman said that if we had any complaints,
to put them down in writing?
Right.
Well, that's just what we're going to do.
We'll put them down in a petition.
A petition?
Willona, it'll only end up in a pile of red tape
on some politician's desk.
You know, Michael's right.
A petition ain't strong enough for him.
I vote for the hitman from Detroit.
Honey, it will be strong enough
if we get every tenant in this building
to list their grievances and sign.
Yeah, that'd scare Bookman into doing something.
Well, let's stop talking about it,
and let's get on with it.
Oh, Michael, try to get that window open,
'cause this heat is killing me.
Yeah, Michael.
Let some of that Chicago hawk in here.
Hey, y'all, I'm trying, but it won't budge.
Wait a minute, Michael, let me handle that.
Obviously need some body English in there.
Whoo-hoo.
Lord have mercy.
We asked Bookman for heat, and he's about to kill us.
Boy, now I know what a TV dinner feels like
in a microwave oven.
Yeah, I tell you.
Our petition got results, all right.
But instead of freezing, we're frying.
J.J., try banging on it.
Maybe you'll loosen it.
Heh, heh. Penny, heh, heh.
See, you're just a little girl.
Obviously,
you don't understand the finer points
of mechanical engineering.
What the situation is here,
is that we've had a sudden climatic change,
which has added molecules to the wood,
which, therefore, has taken away
the unloosen-ness of the situation.
Let me try.
Go ahead, little girl, try.
Just a lucky punch.
Are you sure you're not a hitman from Detroit?
[KNOCKING]
I'll get it.
Hi, Penny. Is your mother in?
Yes.
[KNOCKING]
I'd like to talk to her.
Why didn't you say so?
Well, welcome to the steam bath, Bookman.
Booga, Booga, Booga.
What are you doing to the furnace?
It's over 90 degrees in this building.
Hey, look, I apologize, Miss Woods.
And as soon as I can get down to the basement,
I'll cut the heat down.
Yeah, well, we could lose
half the hot air in this room,
soon as you leave.
Well, is there anything else need repairing?
Is the water running clear now?
Yes, Yeah.
Uh-huh. How about the stove?
The pilot light working?
Yeah. Oh, that's good.
Nice of you to ask.
Well, you know, this apartment holds
such fond memories for me.
See this window? First window I ever replaced.
And probably your last.
You can still see my thumbprint,
right here, where the putty dried.
Oh, come on, Booga.
Enough of this, waddling down Memory Lane.
What is going on?
Well, I guess I'm not myself, after what happened.
What happened, Bookman?
You didn't make your eviction quota for the week?
I wish it was that simple, man.
Folks, I just got the word.
I'm being replaced.
You being replaced?
Uh, y-you mean, you got fired?
They call it terminated.
I think they gave him the axe.
Hey, uh, Bookman,
Did they give you any reason why they, uh, let you go?
City don't have to give you a reason.
Oh, this door's a little squeaky.
I'll just give it a little spritz.
Oh, thanks, Bookman,
but you really don't have to do that.
Yeah, Bookman.
Sit down here and have a piece of Thelma's cake.
At least that'll make you forget your other problems.
No thanks. I'm not really hungry.
Well, maybe just to be sociable.
Uh, Bookman, listen, uh,
Are you positive that they didn't give you any reason
for firing you?
Oh, I'm positive. But I can live with that.
It's my wife that I'm worried about.
I can't ever remember seeing her so upset.
Think back to your wedding night.
Bookman, uh, w-what are you gonna do now?
Well, I'll just have to remain positive.
I mean, you know, you fall off a horse,
and you just get back on again.
You're gonna become a jockey?
No. I'm gonna go out and find myself a new job.
Hey, that's the spirit, Bookman.
Yeah, as scarce as they are.
Do you know that 34 percent of the Black community
is unemployed?
Hold on, I heard it was 25 percent.
Oh, no, no, no. That was last week.
But I ain't gonna let it get me down, baby.
I'm gonna be out pounding the pavement,
knocking on doors, till my knuckles ache.
[ALL CHEERING INDISTINCTLY]
Boy, it sure is nice to see you grow up
to a beautiful young woman, Thelma.
Aww, thanks, Bookman.
That's really nice of you to say that.
No matter how hard it is to believe.
Hey, you know something else?
This is the first time, the first time,
we've ever had a chance to sit down and talk.
I mean, I've always been so busy,
and I never got a chance to see what nice folks you really are.
We try, we try.
Listen, we'll see you around, though, Bookman, you know.
No, the apartment goes with the job.
And it goes when the job goes.
Oh, Bookman, I'm sorry to hear that.
Willona, Willona, please... Call me Booga.
I mean, when a man is down on his luck,
little things like that, mean a lot.
Oh, Bookman, you'll find some place.
Of course you will.
Yeah, shortage of housing and unemployment.
But these are my problems.
I got no business putting that on you.
Hey, hey, hey. Don't take it so hard, honey.
That's what friends are for.
Yeah, some friends we are, huh?
Well...
You ain't gonna have ol' Nathan Milhous Bookman
to kick around anymore.
Try not to blow your cool.
[BLOWS NOSE]
Well folks, we've just seen the final days of Bookman.
J.J., a man losing his job is no joke.
Yeah, and it was our petition that got him fired.
Yeah, and he was so sweet and nice to all of us.
He has no idea... we did it.
So, you think they fell for it, Nathan?
Violet, they don't have no idea.
I'm gonna lay so much guilt on them,
they'll never sign a petition again.
I'll have my job back in no time.
Sock it to them, Nathan!
I never thought Bookman would lose his job.
I just wanted to light a little fire under him.
That's the same thing they said to Joan of Arc,
and look what happened to her.
Oh, Willona, don't feel guilty.
It's not your fault.
Yes, it is.
The petition was my idea.
Yeah, but I drafted it.
I signed it.
We all signed it.
I didn't.
Willona, you shouldn't regret the past.
I mean, guilt only immobilizes you.
That's the same thing I say to all the chicks I go out with.
But that's the only way I can get 'em mobilized.
Oh, Mama, can't we do something about Mr. Bookman's job?
I like him.
When we play hide-and-go-seek,
he's a good place to hide behind.
And I can beat him in hopscotch too.
And he buys all us kids ice cream
when the truck comes around.
Hey, Willona, do you think Alderman Davis
could pull a few strings?
Ohh. Who's Alderman Davis?
Just look in the Yellow Pages under crooked politicians.
Pass on Alderman Davis.
I already made one mistake,
I am not about to make another.
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
But we ought to be doing something for Mr. Bookman.
Honey, we're thinking about that now. That...
Oh, Bookman, my good man.
We were just saying a few kind words
about the soon-to-be departed.
That's really nice of you, J.J.,
but what else can you expect
from such a warm-hearted bunch of people.
Hey, right now, there's somebody I want you to meet.
Hey, Stanley?
Folks this is Stanley Sifford, my replacement.
Hi, sure is nice to meet you folks.
Nathan here's been showing me the ropes.
And you know that's strange,
'cause most guys would have turned their back
on somebody who's taking their job.
It's not your fault, Stanley.
It's not anybody's fault.
You see what I mean?
He is one of a kind. Now, you know,
they broke the mold when they made him.
I think I know why it broke.
Well, now that I'm here,
is there anything that needs fixing?
The shower drips a little.
Well, I always say:
why put off until tomorrow what you can easily do today.
That's funny. Bookman always says:
why put off tomorrow what you can put off forever.
Hey, look, Stanley,
I know it's your first day at work and everything.
You don't wanna tire yourself out.
Well, I'll just take a look at the shower.
I always say:
an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Heh, heh, heh. We ain't never had the prevention or the cure,
But we sure had the pounds.
Ah! Just remembered.
I got something to take care of.
Listen, I'll be back later to say, um...
goodbye.
You know, J.J., it's really gonna be strange
living in a building where everything works.
Including the janitor.
Hey, hey, hey, wait just one minute,
This just might work out for the best after all.
You know, you're right, Willona.
We can't help it if Bookman didn't cut the mustard.
We had no idea and we had no intentions
of getting that man fired.
Right? Right.
But if he is fired, c'est la vie.
C'est la guerre.
C'est si bon.
Mama, you mean we don't want Mr. Bookman around anymore?
Honey, he'll find another job.
Yeah, but where do you put a man who's lazy, mouths off
and never keeps his promises?
Send him to Washington.
Well, but best of all, we don't have to see that jive,
Alderman Davis.
Yeah, you're right... You know, he could...
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
Oh, you're back.
Violet and I decided to make the final rounds together.
She's very upset.
This is her third box of Kleenex.
Oh, Mrs. Bookman, how are you?
These are hard times.
I don't know what Nathan's going to do.
Come on, now,
I told you to stop bothering people with our troubles.
[SOBBING]
Violet, you promised. No more crying.
I can't help it.
I'm not as strong as you are.
We've had rough times before.
I know, but never as bad as this.
Yeah, I know. I know.
Keep her away from the open window.
Charming J.J.
Sweet Thelma.
Darling Michael.
I'm sure you understand what I'm going through.
I know how bad I felt when your father lost his job.
I think it's time we should be leaving, Violet.
Yes, I need some fresh air.
Wait a minute, Mrs. Bookman!
Take it easy.
The door is this way, Mrs. Bookman.
The window's faster.
Take it easy, take it easy.
Miss Woods,
we'd like to ask you one last favor.
Anything.
We'd like for you to have this.
Oh, I... I couldn't take that.
It's an antique.
It's been in Violet's family for years.
Yes, handed down from generation to generation.
Careful, Nathan, don't be the generation that drops it.
I mean, this beautiful, expensive clock,
that's something you never let go of.
Knowing it's with you would make us feel so much better.
Dearest friend,
I'd rather see it on your table,
than in the window of some hock shop.
If I'm still here to see it.
Please?
Ok.
Let's go, Violet.
[WAILING]
I'll have to watch her like a hawk every minute.
Well, folks, your shower's all fixed.
All it needed was one little washer.
That's nice, Stanley. Thank you.
Oh, sure. And, Miss Woods, if you don't mind,
I'll go over and see if I can fix anything in your apartment.
Thanks a lot, Stanley.
We sure have a great new janitor, don't we?
Yeah, I tell you, that Stanley is something else.
You know, he really gets the job done.
Yeah, Stanley's my man.
Maybe Stanley would buy us double scoops of ice cream.
Oh, Stanley's a great guy.
I'm gonna miss Stanley.
Alderman Davis' office, please.
Well, hello there, Wilma.
Nice of you to drop by.
Usually it's me who pays you the visit.
Somebody always winds up paying when you stop by.
And the name is Willona.
It warms my heart
knowing my constituents feel free to come to me
for consultation and advice.
I wish I could be sure of the free.
Tell me, how are the Evans, my favorite project family?
Oh, they're fine.
And, of course, how are you too, Winnonie?
Could we just get down to the business at hand,
why I came here, please.
I think I know why you're here.
It's about Bookman being fired.
That's right.
And you came to thank me.
Well, you needn't.
You see, it's all part of being a faithful public servant.
Keeping in touch with the people.
You put the touch on the people, all right.
Your thanks isn't necessary.
You may, however, show your gratitude
by making a generous donation to my favorite charity.
The Alderman Fred C. Davis Clinic for Un-neutered Cats.
Alderman, I didn't...
My secretary will accept your check on the way out.
Good day, Wilhemina.
Willona. The name is Willona.
I didn't come here to thank you.
I came to see if you could get Bookman's job back.
Get his job back? Yeah.
But you're the one who started this petition.
I know, but we just wanted him to shape up, not ship out!
Well, I was only acting in your best interest.
After all, my people deserve the very best.
Then how come we got stuck with you?
I'm gonna let that one slide, Wyomia.
I realize your comments are an overstatement,
like your hips.
Well, it's better that an understatement,
like your hair.
Well, what you're asking me to do
is far more complicated than you could ever imagine.
What's so complicated about getting a man's job back?
You see,
the political bureaucracy is very complex.
One must adhere to certain channels and procedures.
Oh, channels and procedures.
I get it.
How much is it going to cost us?
Oh, now, if I didn't know better,
I would think you were suggesting a bribe.
Oh, ho, ho... How much?
I'll have you know, the word "bribe"
is not in my vocabulary.
Not in your vocabulary.
Well, how about political contribution?
That I've heard of.
But, now, if I'm going to go out on a limb for you,
there's something else I ask in return.
I never, never want to hear you complain about Bookman again.
You got it.
And, as far as your contribution,
I'm sure we can work out some arrangement, Winekta.
Perhaps some little token of your esteem for Mrs. Davis.
What kind of token, and how much esteem, baldy?
Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk.
One good thing about Alderman Davis,
he can't be bought... but he can be rented.
Ha ha ha. That's the price we had to pay, honey.
[KNOCKING]
Surprise! I'm back!
Good.
Now would you give us some heat?
Hey, Thelma, you should know better than that.
You can't teach an old buffalo new tricks.
Oh, by the way, I guess I owe you some thank-you
for getting me my job back.
You mean, you know about that, Bookman?
Yeah, and it's the least you can do,
considering your petition got me fired in the first place.
You knew about that too?
You betcha, little lady.
This whole thing was a hustle?
Yeah. Beautiful, wasn't it?
You lost me my job, and I used you to get it back.
Ha ha ha!
You mean, little Mrs. Bookman was in on it too?
Great little actress, isn't she?
Well, we ought to be on the stage.
We're a regular Farrah Fawcett, Lee Majors.
Yeah, Charlie's Devil and Six Dollar Man.
And you fell for it.
Now give me my clock back.
Clock?
The man say he want his clock back.
We thought it was a gift.
Loan, loan.
It was hard enough for me to convince Mrs. Bookman
to let me use it in the plan.
Now hand it over.
Come here, Booga, listen.
You have to understand the structure
of a political bureaucracy.
You see, there are certain procedures and channels
one must adhere to. And if you elect...
Hey wait a minute. Hold it.
I don't wanna hear all that stuff.
Just give me the clock back.
Bookman, I don't think you heard the lady.
You got to give a little to get a little.
I don't think you understand.
Give me my tick-tock back.
Uh, what they're trying to say, Bookman,
is that in order to get your job back,
they had to bribe Alderman Davis.
Oh, that's all behind us now.
I don't wanna know about sordid details.
I think you'll want to know about this detail, Mr. Bookman.
Don't tell me you gave that man my clock.
We gave him your clock.
I asked you not to tell me that.
You know, you had no right to give that clock away.
Neither did you.
But that's all behind us now, remember?
Look, I can't go home without it.
Bye-bye, Mr. Buffalo Butt.
ALL: Bye!
Violet will kill me.
ALL: We know.
[♪]
♪ Just lookin' Out of the window ♪
♪ Watchin' the asphalt grow
♪ Thinkin' how It all looks hand-me-down ♪
♪ Good times ♪ Hey, yeah
♪ Good times
♪ Keepin' your head Above water ♪
♪ Makin' a wave When you can ♪
♪ Temporary layoffs
♪ Good times
♪ Easy credit Ripoffs ♪
♪ Good times
ANNOUNCER: Good Times was videotaped in front of a studio audience.
♪ Good times