1 00:01:48,692 --> 00:01:51,486 So, what am I supposed to do with you, professor? 2 00:01:53,947 --> 00:01:55,948 Why are you supposed to do anything? 3 00:01:56,116 --> 00:01:58,493 Well, like I said, this ain't none of my doing. 4 00:01:58,660 --> 00:02:00,745 When I left out of here going to work this morning... 5 00:02:00,913 --> 00:02:03,831 ...you wasn't no part of my plans, but here you is. 6 00:02:03,999 --> 00:02:09,921 Doesn't mean anything. Everything that happened doesn't mean something else. 7 00:02:10,506 --> 00:02:12,381 - What's it mean, then? - Doesn't mean anything. 8 00:02:12,549 --> 00:02:15,426 You run into people and maybe some of them are in trouble or whatever... 9 00:02:15,594 --> 00:02:17,595 ...but it doesn't mean you're responsible for them. 10 00:02:17,763 --> 00:02:19,013 Mm-hm. 11 00:02:19,306 --> 00:02:21,891 Anyway, people who are always looking out for perfect strangers... 12 00:02:22,059 --> 00:02:24,435 ...are very often people who won't look out for the ones... 13 00:02:24,603 --> 00:02:26,604 ...they're supposed to look out for, in my opinion. 14 00:02:26,772 --> 00:02:31,818 If you're just doing what you're supposed to, you don't get to be a hero. 15 00:02:31,985 --> 00:02:34,612 - And that would be me? - I don't know. Would it? 16 00:02:34,780 --> 00:02:37,907 I can see how there might be some truth in that, but in this particular case... 17 00:02:38,075 --> 00:02:41,536 ...I didn't know what sort of person I was supposed to be on the lookout for... 18 00:02:41,703 --> 00:02:44,455 ...or what I was supposed to do when I found them. 19 00:02:44,623 --> 00:02:47,500 In this particular case but one thing to go by. 20 00:02:47,668 --> 00:02:51,003 - And that was...? - That was that they is standing there... 21 00:02:51,171 --> 00:02:54,173 ...and I have to look at them and say, "Now, he don't look like my brother... 22 00:02:54,341 --> 00:02:57,426 ...but there he is, so maybe you'd better look again." 23 00:02:57,594 --> 00:02:59,470 And that's what you did? 24 00:02:59,638 --> 00:03:03,099 Well, I got to say, uh, you was kind of hard to ignore. 25 00:03:03,267 --> 00:03:05,560 Your approach was pretty direct. 26 00:03:06,061 --> 00:03:08,020 I didn't approach you. I didn't even see you. 27 00:03:08,188 --> 00:03:11,732 What I don't understand is how you come to get yourself in such a fix. 28 00:03:11,900 --> 00:03:13,109 Yeah. 29 00:03:13,610 --> 00:03:15,403 Are you all right? Did you sleep last night? 30 00:03:15,571 --> 00:03:16,696 No. 31 00:03:17,781 --> 00:03:21,325 Well, when did you decide that today was the day? 32 00:03:21,493 --> 00:03:24,453 - Was there something special about it? - No. 33 00:03:24,621 --> 00:03:27,456 Well, today is my birthday, but I certainly don't regard that as special. 34 00:03:27,624 --> 00:03:30,459 - Well, happy birthday, professor. - Thank you. 35 00:03:30,627 --> 00:03:34,380 So you seen your birthday was coming and that seemed like a good day? 36 00:03:34,548 --> 00:03:38,551 Who knows? Maybe birthdays are dangerous, like Christmas. 37 00:03:38,719 --> 00:03:41,387 Ornaments hanging from the trees, wreaths from the doors... 38 00:03:41,555 --> 00:03:43,973 ...and bodies from the steam pipes all over America. 39 00:03:44,141 --> 00:03:45,933 That don't say much for Christmas, do it? 40 00:03:46,101 --> 00:03:47,768 Christmas is not what it used to be. 41 00:03:47,936 --> 00:03:51,147 Now I believe that to be a true statement. I surely do. 42 00:03:51,315 --> 00:03:53,149 I've gotta go. 43 00:03:57,154 --> 00:03:58,654 You always put your coat on like that? 44 00:03:58,822 --> 00:04:00,489 What's wrong with the way I put my coat on? 45 00:04:00,657 --> 00:04:03,743 I ain't said nothing was wrong. I'm asking if that's your regular method. 46 00:04:03,911 --> 00:04:05,578 I don't have a regular method. I put it on. 47 00:04:05,746 --> 00:04:09,081 - Mm-hm. - It's, what, effeminate? What? 48 00:04:09,249 --> 00:04:11,500 I'm just studying the ways of professors. 49 00:04:11,710 --> 00:04:13,961 Well, I've gotta go. 50 00:04:14,129 --> 00:04:16,297 Let me get my coat. 51 00:04:16,465 --> 00:04:17,840 - Get your coat? - Yeah. 52 00:04:18,008 --> 00:04:19,675 - Where are you going? - Going with you. 53 00:04:19,843 --> 00:04:21,344 What do you mean? Going with me where? 54 00:04:21,511 --> 00:04:23,888 - Going with you wherever it is you're going. - No, you're not. 55 00:04:24,056 --> 00:04:25,556 - Yeah, I am. - I'm going home. 56 00:04:25,724 --> 00:04:28,434 - All right. - All right? You're not going home with me. 57 00:04:28,602 --> 00:04:31,020 Sure I am. Let me get my coat. 58 00:04:32,606 --> 00:04:33,856 - You can't go home with me. - Why? 59 00:04:34,024 --> 00:04:35,983 - You can't. - Oh, what... 60 00:04:36,151 --> 00:04:38,861 ...you can go home with me, but I can't go home with you? 61 00:04:39,029 --> 00:04:41,238 No. I mean, no, that's not it. 62 00:04:41,406 --> 00:04:42,531 I just need to go home. 63 00:04:42,699 --> 00:04:44,158 - You live in an apartment? - Yes. 64 00:04:44,326 --> 00:04:46,160 - What, they don't let black folk in there? - No. 65 00:04:46,328 --> 00:04:48,162 I mean, yes, of course they do. 66 00:04:48,330 --> 00:04:50,873 Look, no more jokes. I've got to go. I'm very tired. 67 00:04:51,041 --> 00:04:54,001 All right, long as you don't run into no hassle about getting me in there. 68 00:04:54,169 --> 00:04:56,712 - You're serious. - Oh, I think you know I'm serious. 69 00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:58,839 - You can't be serious. - Serious as a heart attack. 70 00:04:59,007 --> 00:05:01,092 - Why are you doing this? - Me? I ain't got no choice. 71 00:05:01,259 --> 00:05:02,927 - Of course you have a choice. - No, I ain't. 72 00:05:03,095 --> 00:05:04,595 Who appointed you my guardian angel? 73 00:05:04,763 --> 00:05:06,681 You know who appointed me your guardian angel. 74 00:05:06,848 --> 00:05:09,850 I ain't ask for you to jump into my arms down at the subway this morning. 75 00:05:10,018 --> 00:05:11,727 - I didn't jump into your arms. - You didn't? 76 00:05:11,895 --> 00:05:13,354 - No. - Well, how'd you get there then? 77 00:05:28,620 --> 00:05:30,621 What? Now we ain't going? 78 00:05:34,292 --> 00:05:37,920 Do you really think Jesus is in this room? 79 00:05:39,339 --> 00:05:40,881 No. 80 00:05:42,300 --> 00:05:44,510 I don't think he's in this room. 81 00:05:47,556 --> 00:05:50,474 I know he's in this room. 82 00:05:54,730 --> 00:05:56,564 It's the way you put it, professor. 83 00:05:56,732 --> 00:05:59,233 It'd be like me asking you if you think you got your coat on. 84 00:05:59,401 --> 00:06:01,819 It's not the same thing. It's a matter of agreement. 85 00:06:01,987 --> 00:06:04,447 If you and I say that I have my coat on... 86 00:06:04,614 --> 00:06:08,034 ...and Cecil says that I'm naked and have green skin and a tail... 87 00:06:08,201 --> 00:06:12,705 ...we might want to think about where we should put Cecil so he doesn't hurt himself. 88 00:06:12,873 --> 00:06:16,125 - Who's Cecil? - He's not anybody. He's just a hypothetical. 89 00:06:16,293 --> 00:06:21,422 There's not any Cecil. He's just a character I made up to illustrate a point. 90 00:06:21,590 --> 00:06:22,882 - Made up? - Yes. 91 00:06:23,050 --> 00:06:26,343 - So his view of things don't count? - No. That's why I made him up. 92 00:06:26,511 --> 00:06:27,928 I could have changed things around. 93 00:06:28,096 --> 00:06:30,806 I could have made you the one who didn't think I was wearing a coat. 94 00:06:30,974 --> 00:06:32,767 And was green and that other shit you said? 95 00:06:32,934 --> 00:06:34,310 - Yes. - But you didn't. 96 00:06:34,478 --> 00:06:36,520 - No. - You load it all off on Cecil. 97 00:06:36,688 --> 00:06:37,730 Yes. 98 00:06:37,898 --> 00:06:39,231 But Cecil can't defend himself... 99 00:06:39,399 --> 00:06:41,859 ...on account that he ain't in agreement with everybody else... 100 00:06:42,027 --> 00:06:43,235 ...so his word don't count... 101 00:06:43,403 --> 00:06:47,323 ...aside from the fact that you made him up and he's green and everything. 102 00:06:47,491 --> 00:06:49,658 He's not the one who's green. I am. Where is this going? 103 00:06:49,868 --> 00:06:53,162 - I'm just trying to find out about Cecil. - I don't think so. 104 00:06:53,789 --> 00:06:57,625 - Can you see Jesus? - No, I can't see him. 105 00:06:57,793 --> 00:06:59,794 - But you talk to him. - Don't miss a day. 106 00:06:59,961 --> 00:07:03,130 - And he talks to you. - I have heard him, yes. 107 00:07:03,298 --> 00:07:07,009 - Do you hear him, like, out loud? - No, no, not out loud. I don't hear a voice. 108 00:07:07,177 --> 00:07:10,638 I don't hear my own, for that matter. But I have heard him. 109 00:07:10,806 --> 00:07:12,640 But why couldn't Jesus just be in your head? 110 00:07:13,350 --> 00:07:14,809 He is in my head. 111 00:07:14,976 --> 00:07:18,104 Well, then I don't understand what it is you're trying to tell me. 112 00:07:18,271 --> 00:07:20,272 I know you don't, honey. Look... 113 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:22,274 ...the first thing you got to understand... 114 00:07:22,442 --> 00:07:24,360 ...is I ain't got an original thought in my head. 115 00:07:24,528 --> 00:07:28,864 If it ain't got the lingering scent of divinity to it, I ain't interested in it. 116 00:07:29,032 --> 00:07:31,325 - The lingering scent of divinity. - Yeah, you like that? 117 00:07:31,493 --> 00:07:34,036 - It's not bad. - Heard it on the radio. Black preacher. 118 00:07:34,204 --> 00:07:36,747 The point is, is I done tried it the other way. 119 00:07:36,915 --> 00:07:38,749 I don't mean no chipping, neither. 120 00:07:38,917 --> 00:07:42,378 I mean blindfold, running through the woods, bit in my teeth-- 121 00:07:42,546 --> 00:07:44,380 Lord, didn't I try it! 122 00:07:44,548 --> 00:07:47,216 If you can find somebody gave it a better shot than me... 123 00:07:47,384 --> 00:07:49,468 ...I'd like to meet him, I surely would. 124 00:07:49,636 --> 00:07:52,054 - What you think that got me? - I don't know. What did it? 125 00:07:52,222 --> 00:07:55,307 - Life in death is what it got me. - Life in death. 126 00:07:55,475 --> 00:07:57,476 Too dead to even know enough to lay down. 127 00:07:58,728 --> 00:08:00,271 I see. 128 00:08:01,731 --> 00:08:03,482 I don't think so. 129 00:08:04,192 --> 00:08:06,944 - Let me ask you a question. - All right. 130 00:08:07,445 --> 00:08:10,990 - You ever read this book? - I've read parts of it. I've read in it. 131 00:08:11,158 --> 00:08:13,951 - Have you ever read it? - Read the Book of Job. 132 00:08:14,119 --> 00:08:17,454 Have you ever read it? 133 00:08:17,622 --> 00:08:18,664 No. 134 00:08:18,832 --> 00:08:20,666 - But you is read a lot of books? - Yes. 135 00:08:20,834 --> 00:08:23,127 - How many, you say? - I have no idea. 136 00:08:23,295 --> 00:08:25,296 - Ballpark. - Mm. 137 00:08:26,506 --> 00:08:30,676 Two a week, maybe 100 a year, for close to 40 years. 138 00:08:30,844 --> 00:08:32,803 Two a week.... 139 00:08:34,347 --> 00:08:36,348 Forty times 100 is 4000. 140 00:08:38,310 --> 00:08:40,644 I'm just messing with you, professor. 141 00:08:40,812 --> 00:08:43,189 Tell you what. Give me a number, any number you like... 142 00:08:43,356 --> 00:08:44,899 ...and I'll give you 40 times it back. 143 00:08:45,066 --> 00:08:46,442 - 26. - 1040. 144 00:08:46,610 --> 00:08:48,736 - 118. - 4720. 145 00:08:48,904 --> 00:08:51,280 - 4720. - Yep. 146 00:08:51,448 --> 00:08:53,240 - The answer is the question. - Say what? 147 00:08:53,408 --> 00:08:55,576 - That's your new number. - 4720? 148 00:08:55,744 --> 00:08:57,578 - That's a big number, professor. - Yes, it is. 149 00:08:57,746 --> 00:08:59,371 - You know the answer? - No, I don't. 150 00:08:59,539 --> 00:09:02,041 188,800. 151 00:09:04,544 --> 00:09:06,503 Let me see that. 152 00:09:18,099 --> 00:09:19,433 How do you do that? 153 00:09:19,601 --> 00:09:23,103 Numbers are the black man's friend. Butter and eggs, crap table. 154 00:09:23,271 --> 00:09:25,814 You quick with numbers, you can work the mojo on your brother... 155 00:09:25,982 --> 00:09:28,359 ...confiscate the contents of his pocketbook. 156 00:09:28,526 --> 00:09:31,278 You get a lot of time to practice that shit in the jailhouse. 157 00:09:31,947 --> 00:09:33,030 I see. 158 00:09:33,198 --> 00:09:35,658 Let's get back to you and all these books you read. 159 00:09:35,825 --> 00:09:38,911 You say you done read 4000 books? 160 00:09:39,079 --> 00:09:41,997 - Probably, maybe more than that. - But not this book. 161 00:09:42,207 --> 00:09:43,958 - No, not the whole-- - Why is that? 162 00:09:44,125 --> 00:09:45,668 I don't know. 163 00:09:45,835 --> 00:09:48,170 Well, what would you say is the best book ever wrote? 164 00:09:48,338 --> 00:09:51,340 - I have no idea. - Well, take a shot. 165 00:09:52,092 --> 00:09:54,969 - There are a lot of good books. - Pick one. 166 00:09:55,345 --> 00:09:57,263 - Maybe War and Peace. - All right. 167 00:09:57,430 --> 00:09:59,390 Do you think that book's as good as this one? 168 00:09:59,557 --> 00:10:01,392 I don't know. They're different kinds of books. 169 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,353 This War and Peace book, it's a book somebody made up, right? 170 00:10:04,521 --> 00:10:05,688 Well, yes. 171 00:10:05,855 --> 00:10:07,606 So is that what makes it different from this? 172 00:10:07,774 --> 00:10:09,733 No, in my view they're both made up. 173 00:10:10,735 --> 00:10:13,696 - Ain't neither one of them true? - Not in the historical sense, no. 174 00:10:13,863 --> 00:10:15,531 Hmm, hmm. 175 00:10:15,740 --> 00:10:19,660 - Well, what would be a true book? - I suppose maybe a history book. 176 00:10:19,828 --> 00:10:22,329 Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire might be one. 177 00:10:22,497 --> 00:10:24,331 At least the events would be actual events. 178 00:10:24,499 --> 00:10:26,208 They would be things that had happened. 179 00:10:26,376 --> 00:10:30,587 Hmm. So you think that book is as good a book as this book? 180 00:10:30,755 --> 00:10:32,548 - The Bible? - The Bible. 181 00:10:32,716 --> 00:10:35,175 I don't know. Gibbon's is a cornerstone. It's a major book. 182 00:10:35,343 --> 00:10:37,886 - And a true book. Don't forget that. - And a true book, yes. 183 00:10:38,054 --> 00:10:39,388 But is it as good a book? 184 00:10:41,766 --> 00:10:44,518 I don't know. I don't know as you can make a comparison. 185 00:10:44,686 --> 00:10:46,103 We're talking about apples and pears. 186 00:10:46,271 --> 00:10:49,273 We ain't talking about no apples and pears. We're talking about books. 187 00:10:49,441 --> 00:10:53,193 Is that Decline and Fall book as good a book as this here book? 188 00:10:53,361 --> 00:10:54,987 Answer the question. 189 00:10:55,155 --> 00:10:56,572 I'm gonna have to say no. 190 00:10:57,782 --> 00:11:01,368 Used to say right here on the cover, before it got wore down: 191 00:11:01,536 --> 00:11:03,245 "The greatest book ever written." 192 00:11:03,747 --> 00:11:05,581 - Think that might be true? - It might. 193 00:11:06,708 --> 00:11:08,876 - You read good books. - I try to, yes. 194 00:11:09,044 --> 00:11:10,878 But you ain't read the best book. 195 00:11:12,339 --> 00:11:13,547 - Why is that? - I've gotta go. 196 00:11:13,715 --> 00:11:16,592 You don't need to go, professor. Just stay here and visit with me. 197 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:18,594 You're afraid I'll go back to the train station. 198 00:11:18,762 --> 00:11:21,972 - You might, so just stay here with me. - What if I promised I wouldn't? 199 00:11:22,140 --> 00:11:24,475 - You might anyway. - Don't you need to go to work? 200 00:11:24,642 --> 00:11:26,852 Ha, ha. I was on my way to work. 201 00:11:27,020 --> 00:11:28,896 Funny thing happened to you on the way to work. 202 00:11:29,064 --> 00:11:31,690 - Yes, it did. - Will they fire you? 203 00:11:31,858 --> 00:11:33,609 No, they ain't gonna fire me. 204 00:11:33,777 --> 00:11:35,778 - You could call in. - Ain't got no phone. 205 00:11:35,987 --> 00:11:38,614 Anyhow, they know if I ain't there by now, I ain't coming. 206 00:11:38,782 --> 00:11:41,033 - Ain't a late sort of person. - Why don't you have a phone? 207 00:11:41,201 --> 00:11:43,869 Don't need one. Junkies would steal it anyway. 208 00:11:44,371 --> 00:11:48,999 - Get a cheap one. - Don't get too cheap for a junkie. 209 00:11:49,417 --> 00:11:50,959 Let's get back to you. 210 00:11:51,795 --> 00:11:54,296 Let's stick with you for a minute. 211 00:11:59,594 --> 00:12:01,678 - Can I ask you something? - Sure you can. 212 00:12:01,846 --> 00:12:04,598 Where were you standing? I never saw you. 213 00:12:04,933 --> 00:12:06,642 You mean when you took your amazing leap? 214 00:12:06,851 --> 00:12:09,311 - Yes. - I was on the platform. 215 00:12:09,479 --> 00:12:10,896 - On the platform? - Yeah. 216 00:12:11,064 --> 00:12:12,439 Well, I didn't see you. 217 00:12:12,607 --> 00:12:15,109 I was standing on the platform, minding my own business. 218 00:12:15,276 --> 00:12:17,111 Here you come hauling ass. 219 00:12:17,278 --> 00:12:21,740 I looked all around to make sure there was no one there, particularly no children. 220 00:12:21,908 --> 00:12:25,160 - There was nobody around. - No, just me. 221 00:12:25,328 --> 00:12:27,830 Well, I don't know where you could have been. 222 00:12:28,373 --> 00:12:30,916 Fixing to get spooky on me here, professor? 223 00:12:31,084 --> 00:12:33,961 - Maybe I was behind a post or something. - There wasn't any post. 224 00:12:34,129 --> 00:12:36,463 What you saying, you're looking at some big, black angel... 225 00:12:36,631 --> 00:12:39,049 ...got sent down here to snatch your honky ass out of there... 226 00:12:39,217 --> 00:12:41,593 ...at the last possible minute and save you from destruction? 227 00:12:41,761 --> 00:12:43,971 - No, I don't think that. - Such a thing ain't possible? 228 00:12:44,139 --> 00:12:46,181 - No, it isn't. - Well, you're the one suggested it. 229 00:12:46,349 --> 00:12:49,768 I never suggested any such thing. You're the one who put in the stuff about angels. 230 00:12:49,936 --> 00:12:52,771 I never said anything about angels. I don't believe in angels. 231 00:12:53,815 --> 00:12:56,650 - Well, what is it you believe in? - A lot of things. 232 00:12:56,818 --> 00:12:58,485 All right. 233 00:12:58,945 --> 00:13:01,113 - All right what? - All right, what things? 234 00:13:01,281 --> 00:13:04,783 - I believe in things. - Give me a for instance. 235 00:13:04,951 --> 00:13:10,581 Um, cultural things, for instance, books, music, art, things like that. 236 00:13:10,748 --> 00:13:12,291 All right. 237 00:13:13,168 --> 00:13:16,170 Those are the things that have value to me. 238 00:13:16,379 --> 00:13:18,213 They're the foundations of civilization. 239 00:13:18,381 --> 00:13:19,882 Well, they used to have value to me. 240 00:13:20,049 --> 00:13:22,676 They don't have so much value anymore, I guess. 241 00:13:22,844 --> 00:13:23,886 What happened to them? 242 00:13:24,053 --> 00:13:29,349 People stopped valuing them. I stopped valuing them to a certain extent. 243 00:13:29,517 --> 00:13:31,101 I'm not sure I can tell you why. 244 00:13:31,269 --> 00:13:34,438 That world is largely gone now. 245 00:13:34,606 --> 00:13:36,565 Soon it will be wholly gone. 246 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,151 I'm not sure I'm following you, professor. 247 00:13:39,319 --> 00:13:41,403 There's nothing to follow. It's all right. 248 00:13:41,905 --> 00:13:46,200 The things I loved were very frail, very fragile. 249 00:13:46,367 --> 00:13:48,952 I didn't know that. I thought they were indestructible. 250 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:50,370 They weren't. 251 00:13:50,538 --> 00:13:53,916 And that's what sent you off the edge of the platform? It wasn't nothing personal? 252 00:13:54,083 --> 00:13:56,084 Oh, it's personal. That's what an education does. 253 00:13:56,252 --> 00:13:58,879 It makes the world personal. 254 00:13:59,047 --> 00:14:01,715 Well, them's some very powerful words, professor. 255 00:14:01,883 --> 00:14:04,801 And I can't say that I got an answer to none of that. 256 00:14:04,969 --> 00:14:07,346 And it might be that there ain't no answer. 257 00:14:07,514 --> 00:14:09,932 But still I got to ask. 258 00:14:10,099 --> 00:14:12,518 What's the use of having notions such as them... 259 00:14:12,685 --> 00:14:14,937 ...if they won't keep you glued down to the platform... 260 00:14:15,104 --> 00:14:17,523 ...when the Sunset Limited is coming through at 80 mph? 261 00:14:17,690 --> 00:14:19,608 - Good question. - I thought so. 262 00:14:19,776 --> 00:14:22,194 I don't have an answer to any of that either. 263 00:14:22,362 --> 00:14:24,947 Maybe it's not logical. I don't know. I don't care. 264 00:14:25,114 --> 00:14:26,907 I've been asked, didn't I think it odd... 265 00:14:27,075 --> 00:14:29,868 ...that I should be around to witness the death of everything? 266 00:14:30,036 --> 00:14:31,912 I do think it's odd. 267 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:34,790 But that doesn't mean it isn't so. 268 00:14:34,958 --> 00:14:36,583 Somebody has to be here. 269 00:14:37,293 --> 00:14:39,044 But you don't intend to hang around for it? 270 00:14:39,212 --> 00:14:40,587 No, I don't. 271 00:14:42,257 --> 00:14:44,258 Let me see if I got this straight. 272 00:14:44,425 --> 00:14:47,386 You saying that all this culture stuff... 273 00:14:47,554 --> 00:14:50,597 ...is the only thing between you and the Sunset Limited. 274 00:14:50,765 --> 00:14:53,058 - It's a lot. - But it busted out on you. 275 00:14:53,226 --> 00:14:56,186 - Yes. - You a culture junkie. 276 00:14:59,399 --> 00:15:04,820 Maybe you're right. Maybe I have no beliefs. 277 00:15:05,697 --> 00:15:08,615 I believe in the Sunset Limited. 278 00:15:09,117 --> 00:15:10,826 Damn, professor. 279 00:15:10,994 --> 00:15:12,452 Damn indeed. 280 00:15:13,371 --> 00:15:14,705 No beliefs? 281 00:15:16,082 --> 00:15:18,417 The things I believed in... 282 00:15:19,127 --> 00:15:21,587 ...no longer exist. 283 00:15:22,088 --> 00:15:24,339 It's foolish to pretend they do. 284 00:15:24,507 --> 00:15:27,676 Western civilization finally went up in smoke... 285 00:15:27,844 --> 00:15:32,931 ...in the chimneys of Dachau, and I was too infatuated to see it. 286 00:15:33,224 --> 00:15:34,933 I see it now. 287 00:15:39,522 --> 00:15:42,941 Whoo. You're a challenge, professor, you know that? 288 00:15:43,109 --> 00:15:47,070 Well, there's no reason for you to become involved in my problems. 289 00:15:48,865 --> 00:15:50,616 I should go. 290 00:15:54,621 --> 00:15:56,872 - Have you got any friends? - No. 291 00:15:57,081 --> 00:15:58,957 - Come on, professor, not one? - Not really, no. 292 00:15:59,125 --> 00:16:00,876 - Tell me about that one. - What one? 293 00:16:01,044 --> 00:16:04,171 - The "not really" one. - I have a friend at the university-- 294 00:16:04,339 --> 00:16:07,215 Not a close friend. We have lunch from time to time. 295 00:16:07,925 --> 00:16:10,052 But that's about as good as it gets? 296 00:16:10,678 --> 00:16:13,263 - Yes. - What'd you do to him? 297 00:16:13,890 --> 00:16:15,766 - What'd I do to him? - Yeah. 298 00:16:15,933 --> 00:16:19,144 I didn't do anything to him. What makes you think I did something to him? 299 00:16:19,312 --> 00:16:22,064 - I don't know. Did you? - No. 300 00:16:22,649 --> 00:16:25,359 - What is it you think I did to him? - I'm waiting on you to tell me. 301 00:16:25,526 --> 00:16:26,652 There's nothing to tell. 302 00:16:28,780 --> 00:16:31,990 You didn't leave him a note or nothing to tell him you was taking the train? 303 00:16:32,158 --> 00:16:33,283 - No. - Your best friend? 304 00:16:33,451 --> 00:16:36,161 - He's not my best friend. - We just got done deciding he was. 305 00:16:36,329 --> 00:16:39,247 You just got done deciding he.... 306 00:16:40,667 --> 00:16:43,168 - You tell him you was thinking about this? - No, why should I? 307 00:16:43,336 --> 00:16:44,419 He's your best friend. 308 00:16:44,587 --> 00:16:46,380 He's-- I told you, we're not all that close. 309 00:16:46,547 --> 00:16:47,756 - You're not all that close? - No. 310 00:16:47,924 --> 00:16:49,925 Your best friend, only you ain't all that close? 311 00:16:50,093 --> 00:16:51,134 If you'd like. 312 00:16:51,302 --> 00:16:55,806 Not the way you'd want to bother him with a little thing like suicide? 313 00:16:57,308 --> 00:16:59,101 Look... 314 00:16:59,852 --> 00:17:04,564 ...suppose I were to give you my word... 315 00:17:04,732 --> 00:17:07,067 ...that I would just go home... 316 00:17:07,235 --> 00:17:10,904 ...and I wouldn't try to kill myself en route. 317 00:17:25,044 --> 00:17:28,171 Suppose I was to give you my word... 318 00:17:28,339 --> 00:17:31,633 ...that I wouldn't listen to none of your bullshit. 319 00:17:34,345 --> 00:17:36,972 So, what am I, a prisoner here? 320 00:17:37,140 --> 00:17:39,182 You know better than that. 321 00:17:40,768 --> 00:17:43,854 You was a prisoner before you got here. 322 00:17:46,023 --> 00:17:47,107 A death-row prisoner. 323 00:17:52,071 --> 00:17:54,030 - What did your daddy do? - What? 324 00:17:54,198 --> 00:17:58,744 I said, what did your daddy do? What kind of work? 325 00:18:03,374 --> 00:18:04,499 He was a lawyer. 326 00:18:04,667 --> 00:18:05,834 - A lawyer? - Yeah. 327 00:18:06,002 --> 00:18:07,836 What kind of law did he do? 328 00:18:08,004 --> 00:18:11,173 He was a government lawyer. He didn't do criminal law or anything like that. 329 00:18:11,340 --> 00:18:13,258 What would be a thing like criminal law? 330 00:18:13,426 --> 00:18:17,179 - I don't know. Divorce law, maybe. - Mm-hm. 331 00:18:17,472 --> 00:18:19,473 Maybe you got a point. 332 00:18:20,475 --> 00:18:21,516 What'd he die of? 333 00:18:21,684 --> 00:18:23,226 Who said he was dead? 334 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:25,729 - ls he dead? - Yes. 335 00:18:25,897 --> 00:18:28,690 - What did he die of? - Cancer. 336 00:18:28,858 --> 00:18:32,360 - Cancer. So he was sick for a while? - Yes, he was. 337 00:18:32,528 --> 00:18:34,362 - Did you go see him? - No. 338 00:18:34,530 --> 00:18:37,282 - How come? - I didn't want to. 339 00:18:37,450 --> 00:18:38,867 How come you didn't want to? 340 00:18:39,577 --> 00:18:42,329 I don't know. I just didn't. I.... 341 00:18:42,497 --> 00:18:45,040 Maybe I didn't want to remember him that way. 342 00:18:45,208 --> 00:18:46,750 Bullshit. 343 00:18:46,918 --> 00:18:49,544 - Did he ask you to come? - No. 344 00:18:49,712 --> 00:18:51,922 - But your mama did. - She may have. I don't remember. 345 00:18:52,089 --> 00:18:53,882 Come on. You know she asked you to come. 346 00:18:54,050 --> 00:18:55,592 Okay, yes. 347 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:57,928 - What did you tell her? - I said I would. 348 00:18:58,095 --> 00:18:59,930 - But you didn't? - No. 349 00:19:00,097 --> 00:19:02,516 - How come? - He died. 350 00:19:02,683 --> 00:19:04,643 No, no, that ain't it. 351 00:19:04,811 --> 00:19:07,103 You had time to go see him, but you didn't do it. 352 00:19:07,271 --> 00:19:09,940 - I suppose. - You waited till he was dead. 353 00:19:10,107 --> 00:19:13,485 Okay, so I didn't go see my father. 354 00:19:15,154 --> 00:19:18,490 Your father is laying on his deathbed dying of cancer. 355 00:19:18,658 --> 00:19:22,077 Your mama's sitting there with him, holding his hand. He in all kind of pain. 356 00:19:22,245 --> 00:19:25,413 They ask you to come see him one last time before he died. 357 00:19:25,581 --> 00:19:27,582 And you tell them, "No, I ain't coming." 358 00:19:27,792 --> 00:19:30,085 Please tell me I got some part of this wrong. 359 00:19:30,253 --> 00:19:31,711 If that's the way you want to put it. 360 00:19:31,879 --> 00:19:33,755 - Well, how would you put it? - I don't know. 361 00:19:33,923 --> 00:19:35,423 That's the way it is then, ain't it? 362 00:19:35,591 --> 00:19:37,884 - I suppose. - No, ain't no suppose. 363 00:19:38,052 --> 00:19:40,846 - ls it or ain't it? - Yes. 364 00:19:43,891 --> 00:19:47,394 Whoo! Let me see if I can find my train schedule... 365 00:19:47,562 --> 00:19:51,064 ...see when that next uptown express is due. 366 00:19:54,277 --> 00:19:56,278 I'm not sure I see the humor. 367 00:19:57,530 --> 00:20:00,615 I'm glad to hear you say that, professor, because I ain't sure either. 368 00:20:00,783 --> 00:20:03,994 I get more amazed by the minute. 369 00:20:08,499 --> 00:20:10,667 How come you can't see yourself, honey? 370 00:20:10,835 --> 00:20:12,085 You're clear as glass. 371 00:20:12,253 --> 00:20:14,796 I can see the wheels in there turning, the gears. 372 00:20:14,964 --> 00:20:19,843 I can see light too. Good light, true light. Can't you see it? 373 00:20:20,011 --> 00:20:22,721 No, I can't. 374 00:20:24,015 --> 00:20:26,600 Well, bless you, brother. 375 00:20:26,767 --> 00:20:30,061 Bless and keep you, because it's there. 376 00:20:43,367 --> 00:20:45,285 When were you in the penitentiary? 377 00:20:48,247 --> 00:20:50,373 - A long time ago. - What were you in for? 378 00:20:50,541 --> 00:20:52,584 - Murder. - Really? 379 00:20:54,003 --> 00:20:57,881 Now, who would claim to be a murderer that wasn't one? 380 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:09,309 - You called it the jailhouse. - Yeah. 381 00:21:09,477 --> 00:21:13,688 Do most black people call the penitentiary the jailhouse? 382 00:21:13,856 --> 00:21:17,192 No, just us old country niggers. 383 00:21:18,736 --> 00:21:21,738 We make a point to call things what they is. 384 00:21:21,906 --> 00:21:24,616 I'd hate to think how many names there is for the jailhouse. 385 00:21:27,745 --> 00:21:28,954 I'd hate to have to count them. 386 00:21:29,121 --> 00:21:31,414 Do you have a lot of jail house stories? 387 00:21:31,582 --> 00:21:34,125 - Jailhouse stories? - Yeah. 388 00:21:35,169 --> 00:21:38,755 I don't know. Uh, I used to tell jailhouse stories... 389 00:21:38,923 --> 00:21:42,008 ...but they kind of lost their charm. 390 00:21:43,552 --> 00:21:45,804 Why don't we talk about something a little more cheerful? 391 00:21:45,972 --> 00:21:47,681 You ever been married? 392 00:21:48,432 --> 00:21:50,225 - Married? - Yeah. 393 00:21:50,393 --> 00:21:52,018 - Oh, man. - What? 394 00:21:54,647 --> 00:21:55,772 Oh. 395 00:21:56,899 --> 00:21:59,776 Maybe we ought to take another look at them jailhouse stories. 396 00:21:59,944 --> 00:22:02,070 Oh, my. 397 00:22:02,905 --> 00:22:05,240 - Whoo. - Do you have any children? 398 00:22:05,408 --> 00:22:07,492 No, professor. I ain't got nobody. 399 00:22:07,660 --> 00:22:09,536 Everybody in my family's dead. 400 00:22:09,704 --> 00:22:13,373 I had two boys, but they died a long time ago. 401 00:22:13,541 --> 00:22:16,918 Just about everybody I ever knowed has died, for that matter. 402 00:22:17,086 --> 00:22:18,461 You ought to think about that. 403 00:22:18,629 --> 00:22:20,380 I might be a hazard to your health. 404 00:22:20,881 --> 00:22:22,465 Were you always in a lot of trouble? 405 00:22:22,633 --> 00:22:26,803 Yeah, I was. I liked it. 406 00:22:27,179 --> 00:22:28,972 I think I still do. 407 00:22:29,140 --> 00:22:33,101 I done seven years hard time. Could have done a lot more. Hurt a lot of people. 408 00:22:33,269 --> 00:22:36,021 I used to smack them around, and they wouldn't get up no more. 409 00:22:36,188 --> 00:22:38,314 - But you don't get in trouble now? - No. 410 00:22:38,482 --> 00:22:40,066 But you still like it? 411 00:22:40,234 --> 00:22:44,904 Well, maybe I'm just condemned to it, bit in the ass by my own karma. 412 00:22:45,072 --> 00:22:46,865 But I'm on the other side now. 413 00:22:47,033 --> 00:22:48,783 You want to help folk that's in trouble... 414 00:22:48,951 --> 00:22:50,952 ...you pretty much got to go where the trouble's at. 415 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:53,079 You ain't got a lot of choice. 416 00:22:53,914 --> 00:22:57,709 - How long have you been here? - Oh, six, going on seven years. 417 00:22:57,877 --> 00:23:01,254 - I don't understand why you live here. - As opposed to where? 418 00:23:01,422 --> 00:23:06,593 - Anywhere. - Well, this pretty much is anywhere. 419 00:23:06,761 --> 00:23:12,098 I could live in another building, I suppose, but it's all right. 420 00:23:12,641 --> 00:23:16,186 I got my bedroom over yonder where I can get away. 421 00:23:16,353 --> 00:23:18,480 Got a sofa where folk can crash. 422 00:23:18,647 --> 00:23:21,483 Junkies and crackheads, mostly. 423 00:23:21,650 --> 00:23:25,528 Of course they're gonna walk off with all your portables, so you can't own nothing. 424 00:23:25,696 --> 00:23:28,573 But that's good. You hang out with the right crowd... 425 00:23:28,741 --> 00:23:31,367 ...you pretty much get over all your worldly cravings. 426 00:23:31,535 --> 00:23:34,120 They took the refrigerator one time, but somebody caught them... 427 00:23:34,288 --> 00:23:36,706 ...out there on the stairs and made them bring it back up. 428 00:23:36,874 --> 00:23:40,752 Now I got that big sucker over yonder. Traded up. 429 00:23:43,798 --> 00:23:47,509 Only thing I miss is the music. 430 00:23:48,094 --> 00:23:50,678 I aim to get me a steel door. 431 00:23:50,846 --> 00:23:53,264 Then I can have me some music in here. 432 00:23:53,432 --> 00:23:57,560 But you got to buy the door and the frame at the same time. 433 00:23:57,728 --> 00:23:59,813 I'm working on that. 434 00:24:00,981 --> 00:24:03,983 I don't care nothing about television... 435 00:24:04,860 --> 00:24:07,070 ...but I sure do miss the music. 436 00:24:08,572 --> 00:24:11,658 You don't think this is a terrible place? 437 00:24:12,326 --> 00:24:14,828 - A terrible place? - Yes. 438 00:24:15,287 --> 00:24:17,205 - What are you talking about? - This place. 439 00:24:17,373 --> 00:24:19,290 It's a horrible place full of horrible people. 440 00:24:19,458 --> 00:24:20,708 Oh, my. 441 00:24:20,876 --> 00:24:22,669 You know these people are not worth saving... 442 00:24:22,837 --> 00:24:24,796 ...even if they could be saved, which they can't. 443 00:24:24,964 --> 00:24:26,005 You must know that. 444 00:24:26,215 --> 00:24:29,217 Well, I like a challenge. 445 00:24:29,385 --> 00:24:31,302 I started a ministry before I got out of prison. 446 00:24:31,470 --> 00:24:34,848 Now that was a challenge. There was a lot of brothers who showed up. 447 00:24:35,015 --> 00:24:36,391 They ain't care nothing about it. 448 00:24:36,559 --> 00:24:38,935 They ain't really care nothing about the word of God. 449 00:24:39,103 --> 00:24:40,562 They just wanted it on the résumé. 450 00:24:40,729 --> 00:24:42,230 - Résumé? - Résumé. 451 00:24:42,398 --> 00:24:45,358 You got some brothers in there had done some real bad shit. 452 00:24:45,526 --> 00:24:48,194 And they weren't sorry about a damn thing except getting caught. 453 00:24:48,362 --> 00:24:52,365 But the funny thing was a lot of them did believe in God... 454 00:24:52,533 --> 00:24:55,368 ...even more so than a lot of these people out here on the outside. 455 00:24:55,536 --> 00:24:58,872 I know I did. You ought to think about that, professor. 456 00:24:59,039 --> 00:25:01,249 - I think I'd better go. - Oh, hey, hey. 457 00:25:01,458 --> 00:25:04,961 You ain't got to go, professor. Let me ask you something. 458 00:25:05,421 --> 00:25:10,008 You ever had one of them days where everything was just weird... 459 00:25:10,176 --> 00:25:13,720 ...all the way around when things just kind of fell into place? 460 00:25:13,888 --> 00:25:15,263 I'm not sure what you mean. 461 00:25:15,431 --> 00:25:18,433 Just one of them days, kind of magic. 462 00:25:18,601 --> 00:25:21,728 One of them days where everything turned out right. 463 00:25:21,896 --> 00:25:23,688 I don't know. Maybe. Why? 464 00:25:23,856 --> 00:25:29,694 Well, I'm just wondering if it ain't been maybe sort of long dry spell for you... 465 00:25:29,862 --> 00:25:33,239 ...till you took up with the notion that that's the way the world is. 466 00:25:33,407 --> 00:25:34,574 - The way the world is? - Yeah. 467 00:25:34,742 --> 00:25:37,952 - And how is that? - You know, long and dry. 468 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:41,247 But the point is that even if you feel that way... 469 00:25:41,415 --> 00:25:42,832 ...what you got to understand... 470 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,752 ...is that the sun don't shine up the same dog's ass every day. 471 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:47,545 You understand what I'm saying? 472 00:25:47,713 --> 00:25:50,256 If you're saying I'm simply having a bad day, that's ridiculous. 473 00:25:50,424 --> 00:25:52,425 I ain't saying you're having a bad day, professor. 474 00:25:52,593 --> 00:25:55,762 - I'm saying you're having a bad life. - You think I should change my life? 475 00:25:55,930 --> 00:25:57,889 - What, you shitting me? - Ha, ha. I have to go. 476 00:25:58,057 --> 00:26:01,142 Look, just hang with me a little while longer. 477 00:26:02,561 --> 00:26:04,646 What about my jailhouse story? 478 00:26:04,813 --> 00:26:07,190 You don't need no jailhouse story. 479 00:26:07,358 --> 00:26:08,524 Why not? 480 00:26:08,692 --> 00:26:11,361 Well, you're suspicious about everything already. 481 00:26:11,528 --> 00:26:13,529 You think I'm trying to put you in the trick bag. 482 00:26:13,697 --> 00:26:14,739 And you're not? 483 00:26:14,907 --> 00:26:17,075 Well, yeah, but I don't want you to know it. 484 00:26:17,243 --> 00:26:18,493 Well, in any case, I have to go. 485 00:26:18,661 --> 00:26:20,536 You ain't ready to go back out on them streets. 486 00:26:20,704 --> 00:26:23,748 - I have to. - I know you ain't got nothing you got to do. 487 00:26:23,916 --> 00:26:25,041 How do you know that? 488 00:26:25,209 --> 00:26:26,918 Because you ain't even supposed to be here. 489 00:26:27,836 --> 00:26:29,629 I see your point. 490 00:26:30,798 --> 00:26:34,050 What if I tell you a jailhouse story? Will you stay then? 491 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,514 All right. I'll stay a while. 492 00:26:39,682 --> 00:26:42,892 All right! The man says all right. 493 00:26:43,060 --> 00:26:45,144 Okay, here go my jailhouse story. 494 00:26:45,354 --> 00:26:46,813 ls it a true story? 495 00:26:46,981 --> 00:26:50,233 Oh, yeah, it's a true story. I don't know no other kind. 496 00:26:50,401 --> 00:26:53,653 One day I'm in the chow line and I'm getting my chow... 497 00:26:53,821 --> 00:26:56,197 ...when the nigger behind me gets into it with the server. 498 00:26:56,365 --> 00:26:58,116 Said the beans is cold. 499 00:26:58,284 --> 00:27:00,702 So he throws the ladle down in the beans. 500 00:27:00,869 --> 00:27:04,372 Well, when he done that there was beans splashed up on me. 501 00:27:04,540 --> 00:27:09,127 I didn't want to get into it over no beans, but it did kind of piss me off some. 502 00:27:09,295 --> 00:27:13,673 I'd just put on a clean uniform. You know, khakis, shirt and trousers. 503 00:27:13,841 --> 00:27:15,633 And you only get two a week. 504 00:27:15,801 --> 00:27:17,802 So I said something to him, like: 505 00:27:17,970 --> 00:27:20,179 "Hey, man, watch it." Or something like that. 506 00:27:20,347 --> 00:27:25,601 But I went on. I'm telling myself, "Just let it go. Just let it go." 507 00:27:25,769 --> 00:27:28,271 But then the nigger said something. 508 00:27:28,439 --> 00:27:30,773 So I turned back. 509 00:27:30,941 --> 00:27:34,193 And when I done that, he stuck a knife in me. 510 00:27:34,361 --> 00:27:37,196 I ain't even see it coming. Blood just flying everywhere. 511 00:27:37,406 --> 00:27:39,324 This wasn't no jailhouse shiv, neither. 512 00:27:39,491 --> 00:27:41,868 This was one of them Italian switchblades. 513 00:27:42,036 --> 00:27:43,911 One of them black-and-silver jobs. 514 00:27:44,079 --> 00:27:47,957 Well, I ain't do a thing but duck and step back under the rail. 515 00:27:48,125 --> 00:27:51,085 And I reached out and I got hold of this table leg. 516 00:27:51,253 --> 00:27:54,547 And it come off in my hand just as easy. 517 00:27:54,715 --> 00:27:58,176 It had this long screw sticking out the end of it. 518 00:27:58,344 --> 00:28:01,846 And I went to wailing on that nigger's head! 519 00:28:02,014 --> 00:28:03,598 And I ain't quit! 520 00:28:03,766 --> 00:28:08,019 I ain't quit till you couldn't tell it was a head no more! 521 00:28:08,187 --> 00:28:12,982 That screw was stick in his head and I'd have to put my foot on him to pull it out. 522 00:28:17,821 --> 00:28:19,989 - What'd he say? - What'd he say? 523 00:28:20,157 --> 00:28:21,324 In the line, what did he say? 524 00:28:21,492 --> 00:28:23,451 - I ain't gonna repeat it. - That doesn't seem fair. 525 00:28:23,619 --> 00:28:24,827 - Don't seem fair? - No. 526 00:28:24,995 --> 00:28:29,374 Here I am telling you a bona fide blood-and-guts tale from the big house... 527 00:28:29,541 --> 00:28:30,583 ...the genuine article... 528 00:28:30,751 --> 00:28:33,461 ...and I can't get you to fill in the blanks what the nigger said? 529 00:28:33,629 --> 00:28:35,463 - Do you have to use that word? - Use that word? 530 00:28:35,631 --> 00:28:38,007 - Yes. - We ain't making much progress here? 531 00:28:38,175 --> 00:28:39,759 It just seems unnecessary. 532 00:28:40,260 --> 00:28:42,220 You don't wanna hear "nigger," but you about to bail... 533 00:28:42,388 --> 00:28:44,722 ...because I won't tell you some ugly shit the nigger said? 534 00:28:44,890 --> 00:28:47,517 - You sure about this? - I don't see why you have to use that word. 535 00:28:47,684 --> 00:28:49,685 It's my story, ain't it? 536 00:28:49,853 --> 00:28:52,188 Anyway, I don't remember there being no African-Americans... 537 00:28:52,356 --> 00:28:53,689 ...or people of color in there. 538 00:28:53,857 --> 00:28:58,319 To my recollection, there was only a bunch of niggers! 539 00:28:59,488 --> 00:29:00,655 Go ahead. 540 00:29:02,533 --> 00:29:06,119 Now, at some point I must have pulled the knife out... 541 00:29:06,286 --> 00:29:08,454 ...and dropped it on the floor somewhere. 542 00:29:08,622 --> 00:29:11,958 Meanwhile, I'm still wailing on this nigger's head... 543 00:29:12,167 --> 00:29:14,794 ...but his friend has got ahold of me from behind. 544 00:29:14,962 --> 00:29:19,507 But I got one hand on the rail, so I ain't going nowhere. 545 00:29:19,675 --> 00:29:23,636 But what I don't know is that this dude must have picked up the knife... 546 00:29:23,804 --> 00:29:25,805 ...and he's trying to gut me. 547 00:29:25,973 --> 00:29:30,059 I felt the blood. I turned around and I bust him in the head. 548 00:29:30,227 --> 00:29:32,437 And he went skittering off across the floor. 549 00:29:32,604 --> 00:29:36,983 And by now somebody done pushed the button and the alarm is going. 550 00:29:37,151 --> 00:29:41,028 Everybody's down on the floor and we in lockdown. 551 00:29:41,196 --> 00:29:45,867 The guard, up on the rail? He got his shotgun pointed at me... 552 00:29:46,034 --> 00:29:47,410 ...and he's hollering: 553 00:29:47,619 --> 00:29:50,621 "You! Get on the floor and drop the weapon!" 554 00:29:50,789 --> 00:29:53,499 He's about to shoot me when the lieutenant tells him: 555 00:29:53,667 --> 00:29:57,962 "Hold your fire! You! Throw down that club!" 556 00:29:58,130 --> 00:30:00,256 I looked around... 557 00:30:00,424 --> 00:30:02,592 ...and I was the only one standing. 558 00:30:02,759 --> 00:30:06,137 I see the nigger's feet sticking out from under the counter where he'd done crawled. 559 00:30:06,305 --> 00:30:10,558 So I throwed the thing down. 560 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,228 I don't remember much after that. They, um.... 561 00:30:14,980 --> 00:30:19,567 They told me I had lost almost half my blood. 562 00:30:21,069 --> 00:30:27,074 I remember slipping around in it, but I thought it was the other dude's. 563 00:30:32,206 --> 00:30:36,125 - Did the man die? - No, he didn't. 564 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:39,545 Everybody lived. 565 00:30:39,713 --> 00:30:42,381 They thought he was dead, but he wasn't. 566 00:30:42,716 --> 00:30:45,635 He wasn't right after that... 567 00:30:45,802 --> 00:30:49,096 ...so I ain't really had no more trouble out of him. 568 00:30:49,264 --> 00:30:51,974 He walked around with his head kind of to the side... 569 00:30:52,142 --> 00:30:53,392 ...lost one eye... 570 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,854 ...arm's hanging down, didn't talk right. 571 00:30:58,148 --> 00:31:00,358 They shipped him off to another facility. 572 00:31:00,526 --> 00:31:02,401 But that's not the whole story. 573 00:31:02,569 --> 00:31:05,112 - No, it ain't. - So, what happened? 574 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,658 I woke up in the infirmary. They had already done operated on me. 575 00:31:08,825 --> 00:31:13,538 My spleen was cut open, liver, I don't know what all. 576 00:31:13,705 --> 00:31:15,623 I come pretty close to dying. 577 00:31:15,791 --> 00:31:19,085 I had 280 stitches holding me together... 578 00:31:19,253 --> 00:31:23,422 ...and, whoo, I was hurting. 579 00:31:23,590 --> 00:31:25,216 I didn't know you could hurt that much. 580 00:31:25,384 --> 00:31:29,095 And still they had me in leg irons and had me handcuffed to the bed... 581 00:31:29,263 --> 00:31:30,596 ...if you can believe that. 582 00:31:30,764 --> 00:31:35,726 Now, as I lay there, I heard this voice just as clear... 583 00:31:35,894 --> 00:31:37,395 ...couldn't have been no clearer. 584 00:31:37,563 --> 00:31:39,564 And the voice said: 585 00:31:40,399 --> 00:31:45,861 "If it was not for the grace of God you would not be here." 586 00:31:46,029 --> 00:31:51,117 Man, I tried to sit up and look around, but I couldn't. 587 00:31:51,285 --> 00:31:53,494 Wasn't no need to no how, because wasn't nobody there. 588 00:31:53,662 --> 00:31:56,414 I mean, there was somebody there, all right... 589 00:31:56,582 --> 00:31:59,375 ...but wasn't no need for me looking around to see if I could see him. 590 00:31:59,543 --> 00:32:01,544 You don't think this is a strange kind of story? 591 00:32:02,504 --> 00:32:04,630 Yeah, I do think it's a strange kind of story. 592 00:32:04,798 --> 00:32:08,009 No, what I mean is that you didn't feel sorry for this man. 593 00:32:08,176 --> 00:32:09,969 Oh, you getting ahead of the story. 594 00:32:10,178 --> 00:32:13,222 The story of how a fellow inmate became a crippled one-eyed halfwit... 595 00:32:13,390 --> 00:32:14,974 ...so that you could find God. 596 00:32:15,183 --> 00:32:16,851 - Oh. - Well, isn't it? 597 00:32:17,019 --> 00:32:19,020 - I don't know. - You hadn't thought of it that way? 598 00:32:19,187 --> 00:32:21,439 Oh, yeah, hell, I thought of it that way. 599 00:32:21,607 --> 00:32:24,275 Well, isn't that the true story? 600 00:32:24,568 --> 00:32:27,028 Look, professor, I don't want to get on the wrong side of you. 601 00:32:27,195 --> 00:32:31,282 And you seem to have a powerful wish for that to be the story... 602 00:32:31,450 --> 00:32:34,577 ...so I got to say that is one way of looking at it. 603 00:32:34,745 --> 00:32:37,580 I gotta concede that. Gotta keep you interested. 604 00:32:37,748 --> 00:32:40,041 - String me along. - You all right with that? 605 00:32:40,208 --> 00:32:43,336 And then put me in the, uh-- What is it? The trick bag? 606 00:32:43,503 --> 00:32:45,087 - Yeah. - Right. 607 00:32:45,255 --> 00:32:46,922 You got to remember. 608 00:32:47,090 --> 00:32:48,716 - This is a jailhouse story. - All right. 609 00:32:48,884 --> 00:32:51,177 - Which you specifically asked for. - All right. 610 00:32:52,012 --> 00:32:55,264 The point is, professor, I ain't got the first notion in the world... 611 00:32:55,432 --> 00:32:58,309 ...about what makes God tick. I don't know why he spoke to me. 612 00:32:58,518 --> 00:33:00,478 - I know I wouldn't have. - But you listened. 613 00:33:00,687 --> 00:33:03,856 - What choice would you have? - I don't know. Um.... 614 00:33:04,024 --> 00:33:05,107 Not listen. 615 00:33:05,942 --> 00:33:08,986 You think he goes around talking to people... 616 00:33:09,154 --> 00:33:12,031 ...he knows ain't gonna listen to him in the first place? 617 00:33:15,202 --> 00:33:17,870 You think he got that kind of free time? 618 00:33:19,706 --> 00:33:21,540 Why is it you people can't just accept it... 619 00:33:21,708 --> 00:33:23,918 ...that some people don't even want to believe in God? 620 00:33:24,086 --> 00:33:26,337 - I can accept that. - You can? 621 00:33:26,505 --> 00:33:29,590 Sure I can. Meaning I believe that to be a fact. 622 00:33:29,758 --> 00:33:33,594 I mean, I'm looking at it every day, so I'd better accept it. 623 00:33:33,762 --> 00:33:35,179 Then why can't you leave us alone? 624 00:33:35,347 --> 00:33:37,932 Oh, to be hanging from steam pipes and all that? 625 00:33:38,100 --> 00:33:40,726 If that's what we want to do, yes. 626 00:33:42,270 --> 00:33:45,815 Because he said not to. 627 00:33:49,069 --> 00:33:50,569 It's in here. 628 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,493 - Don't you want to be happy? - Happy? 629 00:33:57,661 --> 00:33:59,578 What, you got something against being happy? 630 00:33:59,746 --> 00:34:02,331 - Ha, ha. God help us. - What, I done opened up a can of worms? 631 00:34:02,499 --> 00:34:05,459 - What you got against being happy? - It's contrary to the human condition. 632 00:34:05,627 --> 00:34:07,878 Contrary to your condition. I gotta agree with that. 633 00:34:08,088 --> 00:34:12,466 - Happy? Ha, ha. - What, like there ain't no such thing? 634 00:34:12,634 --> 00:34:14,385 - Not for nobody? - No. 635 00:34:14,553 --> 00:34:16,470 How did we get ourselves in such a fix as this? 636 00:34:16,638 --> 00:34:19,014 We were born in such a fix as this. 637 00:34:19,182 --> 00:34:21,934 Suffering and human destiny are the same thing. 638 00:34:22,102 --> 00:34:23,686 Each is a description of the other. 639 00:34:23,854 --> 00:34:27,022 We ain't talking about no suffering. We're talking about being happy. 640 00:34:27,190 --> 00:34:29,442 - You can't be happy if you're in pain. - Why not? 641 00:34:29,609 --> 00:34:30,776 You're not making any sense. 642 00:34:30,944 --> 00:34:33,988 Oh, them is some hard words from the professor. 643 00:34:34,197 --> 00:34:37,783 The preacher has fell back. He's clutching his heart. 644 00:34:37,951 --> 00:34:41,120 His eyes is rolled back in his head. 645 00:34:41,288 --> 00:34:44,415 Wait a minute. Wait a minute, folks. 646 00:34:44,583 --> 00:34:48,544 The preacher's blinking. He's coming back. 647 00:34:48,712 --> 00:34:51,380 He's coming back. 648 00:34:51,548 --> 00:34:55,634 The point is, professor, that if you ain't got no pain in your life... 649 00:34:55,844 --> 00:34:58,137 ...how would you even know when you was happy? 650 00:34:58,346 --> 00:34:59,388 As compared to what? 651 00:34:59,556 --> 00:35:02,433 You don't have anything to drink around here, do you? 652 00:35:02,601 --> 00:35:04,393 No, I don't. 653 00:35:04,561 --> 00:35:06,187 ls you a drinking man? 654 00:35:06,354 --> 00:35:09,023 - We about to get the temperance lecture? - Not from me. 655 00:35:09,191 --> 00:35:11,358 It's been a difficult day. 656 00:35:11,526 --> 00:35:13,611 I take it you don't drink. 657 00:35:13,904 --> 00:35:15,946 No, I don't. 658 00:35:16,114 --> 00:35:18,073 I've done my share of it in my time, though. 659 00:35:18,283 --> 00:35:23,329 - Are you in A.A.? - No, no, no A.A. I just quit. 660 00:35:23,497 --> 00:35:25,539 I've had a lot of friends who was drinkers though. 661 00:35:25,707 --> 00:35:28,250 Most of them for that matter. Most of them dead too. 662 00:35:28,418 --> 00:35:29,460 From drinking? 663 00:35:29,628 --> 00:35:32,797 Well, from drinking or reasons not too far from it. 664 00:35:32,964 --> 00:35:36,425 I had a friend get run down not too long ago by a taxicab. 665 00:35:36,593 --> 00:35:38,969 Now where you think he was headed drunk? 666 00:35:39,137 --> 00:35:40,721 I don't know. Where was he going? 667 00:35:40,889 --> 00:35:43,182 Ha, ha. To get more whiskey. 668 00:35:43,350 --> 00:35:47,561 He had plenty at the house, but drunks are always scared they're gonna run out. 669 00:35:47,729 --> 00:35:50,940 - Was he killed? - I hope so. We buried him. 670 00:35:51,441 --> 00:35:53,317 I suppose there's a moral to this story. 671 00:35:55,529 --> 00:35:59,073 Just a story about what you get and what you want. 672 00:35:59,241 --> 00:36:00,741 Pain, happiness. 673 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:06,914 Let me tell you another one. 674 00:36:08,124 --> 00:36:09,750 One Sunday... 675 00:36:10,293 --> 00:36:14,421 ...we's all sitting around the house drinking. Sunday morning. 676 00:36:14,589 --> 00:36:16,966 Well, here come this friend of ours with this girl, Evelyn. 677 00:36:17,133 --> 00:36:20,886 Now Evelyn was drunk when she got there, but we told her: 678 00:36:21,054 --> 00:36:23,430 "Go on in the kitchen, fix yourself a drink." 679 00:36:23,598 --> 00:36:26,934 Well, directly, my buddy Reg... 680 00:36:27,102 --> 00:36:30,354 ...he goes in the kitchen to fix himself a drink. 681 00:36:31,231 --> 00:36:34,733 Only now the bottle is gone. 682 00:36:34,901 --> 00:36:37,444 Now, Reg having been around a few drinking people in his time... 683 00:36:37,612 --> 00:36:39,363 ...commences to hunt for the bottle. 684 00:36:39,531 --> 00:36:43,284 He looks in the cabinet, looks behind everything, but he can't find it. 685 00:36:43,451 --> 00:36:45,744 Of course he knows what's happened to it. 686 00:36:45,912 --> 00:36:48,664 So he comes back in the living room, sits down... 687 00:36:48,832 --> 00:36:51,375 ...looks at Evelyn sitting there on the sofa drunk as a goat. 688 00:36:51,543 --> 00:36:55,337 And he says, "Evelyn, where you put the whiskey?" 689 00:36:55,505 --> 00:36:56,881 Evelyn says: 690 00:37:01,219 --> 00:37:05,681 He says, "Evelyn, where did you hide the whiskey?" 691 00:37:05,849 --> 00:37:06,891 And she says: 692 00:37:10,729 --> 00:37:13,856 Well, Reg is sitting there and this is beginning to piss him off a little... 693 00:37:14,024 --> 00:37:15,733 ...so he gets in her face and he says: 694 00:37:19,571 --> 00:37:23,157 And she says, "I hid it in the toilet." 695 00:37:30,749 --> 00:37:33,417 - That's pretty funny. - Oh, I thought you'd like that. 696 00:37:33,627 --> 00:37:35,294 - ls that where the whiskey was? - Oh, yeah. 697 00:37:35,462 --> 00:37:38,464 Yeah, that's a favorite place for drunks to hide a bottle. 698 00:37:38,632 --> 00:37:41,800 But the point is that the drunk's concern... 699 00:37:41,968 --> 00:37:45,054 ...ain't that he's going to die from drinking, which he is... 700 00:37:45,263 --> 00:37:49,516 ...but that he's going to run out of whiskey before he get a chance to do it. 701 00:37:50,477 --> 00:37:52,311 ls you hungry? Because I can come back to this. 702 00:37:52,479 --> 00:37:55,022 - I ain't gonna lose my place. - No, I'm all right. Go ahead. 703 00:37:55,857 --> 00:37:58,317 If you hand a drunk a drink and tell him he don't want it... 704 00:37:58,485 --> 00:37:59,693 ...what do you think he'd say? 705 00:37:59,861 --> 00:38:02,655 - I think I know what he would say. - Sure you do. You would be right. 706 00:38:02,822 --> 00:38:04,615 - About him not really wanting it? - Yes. 707 00:38:04,783 --> 00:38:07,451 Because what he wants he can't get, or thinks he can't get... 708 00:38:07,619 --> 00:38:11,246 ...so, what he really don't want he can't get enough of. 709 00:38:11,414 --> 00:38:13,082 So, what is it he really wants? 710 00:38:13,249 --> 00:38:14,541 You know what he really wants. 711 00:38:14,709 --> 00:38:15,876 - No, I don't. - Yes, you do. 712 00:38:16,086 --> 00:38:17,294 No, I don't. 713 00:38:18,213 --> 00:38:21,006 - You don't know what he wants? - No, I do not. 714 00:38:21,174 --> 00:38:23,425 He wants what everybody wants. 715 00:38:23,593 --> 00:38:26,428 - And that is? - He wants to be loved by God. 716 00:38:26,596 --> 00:38:28,305 Ha, ha. I don't want to be loved by God. 717 00:38:28,473 --> 00:38:30,641 See, I love that. I love the way you cut right to it. 718 00:38:30,850 --> 00:38:32,810 See, he don't either, according to him. 719 00:38:33,019 --> 00:38:35,938 All he wants is a drink of whiskey. 720 00:38:36,106 --> 00:38:37,314 You're a smart man, professor. 721 00:38:37,482 --> 00:38:39,441 Tell me which one makes sense and which one don't. 722 00:38:39,609 --> 00:38:42,778 - I don't want a drink of whiskey. - I thought you just got done asking for one. 723 00:38:42,946 --> 00:38:44,196 I mean as a general proposition. 724 00:38:44,364 --> 00:38:46,740 We ain't talking general proposition. We're talking about a drink. 725 00:38:46,908 --> 00:38:49,827 - I don't have a drinking problem. - You got some kind of problem. 726 00:38:49,995 --> 00:38:52,329 Whatever kind of problem I have, it is not something... 727 00:38:52,497 --> 00:38:55,332 ...that I imagine can be addressed with a drink of liquor. 728 00:38:55,500 --> 00:38:58,627 Mm. I love the way you put that. 729 00:38:59,129 --> 00:39:00,587 Well, what can it be addressed with? 730 00:39:00,755 --> 00:39:03,757 I think you know what it can be addressed with. 731 00:39:04,259 --> 00:39:05,718 The Sunset Limited. 732 00:39:06,428 --> 00:39:09,430 - Yes. - That's what you really want. 733 00:39:09,597 --> 00:39:12,099 That is what I want, yes. 734 00:39:13,393 --> 00:39:16,145 Well, that's a mighty big drink of whiskey, professor. 735 00:39:16,354 --> 00:39:19,023 - That I don't really want? - That you don't really want, yes. 736 00:39:19,190 --> 00:39:21,567 - Well, I think I do want it. - Of course you do, honey. 737 00:39:21,735 --> 00:39:24,361 - If you didn't, we wouldn't be sitting here. - I disagree with you. 738 00:39:24,529 --> 00:39:26,655 All right, but that's the hand I'm playing. 739 00:39:26,823 --> 00:39:29,158 I don't think you understand that people such as myself... 740 00:39:29,325 --> 00:39:32,578 ...look upon this yearning for God as something lacking in these people. 741 00:39:32,746 --> 00:39:35,372 - Sure I do. I couldn't agree more. - You agree with that? 742 00:39:35,540 --> 00:39:39,460 Yes. What's lacking is God. 743 00:39:39,627 --> 00:39:42,504 I am sorry, but to me this whole idea of God is just a load of crap. 744 00:39:42,714 --> 00:39:45,132 Oh, Lord have mercy! 745 00:39:45,300 --> 00:39:46,884 Jesus help us. 746 00:39:47,052 --> 00:39:49,928 The professor's done gone and blasphemed all over us. 747 00:39:50,096 --> 00:39:53,640 We ain't never gonna be saved now. 748 00:39:54,684 --> 00:39:59,229 - You don't find that an evil thing to say? - No, professor, I don't. But you does. 749 00:39:59,397 --> 00:40:02,524 - No, I don't. It's simply a fact. - No, it ain't simply no fact. 750 00:40:02,692 --> 00:40:06,695 Now, that's the biggest fact about you. In fact, it might just be the only fact. 751 00:40:06,863 --> 00:40:11,575 - But you don't seem to think it's so bad. - No, because I know it to be curable. 752 00:40:11,743 --> 00:40:15,454 Now if you're asking me what the man up there thinks about it... 753 00:40:15,622 --> 00:40:18,665 ...well, I imagine he done heard it so much... 754 00:40:18,833 --> 00:40:21,502 ...that it don't bother him all that much. 755 00:40:21,669 --> 00:40:23,295 I mean... 756 00:40:23,463 --> 00:40:26,256 ...what if somebody told you you didn't exist... 757 00:40:26,424 --> 00:40:30,052 ...and you was sitting right there listening to him say it? 758 00:40:30,637 --> 00:40:33,806 - That wouldn't piss you off, would it? - No, you'd just feel sorry for them. 759 00:40:33,973 --> 00:40:36,266 Right, and you might even try to get some help for them. 760 00:40:36,476 --> 00:40:39,686 Now, in my case he had to holler out loud... 761 00:40:39,854 --> 00:40:42,689 ...me laying on a slab in two pieces... 762 00:40:42,857 --> 00:40:46,735 ...sewed back together where some nigger done tried to core me like an apple. 763 00:40:46,903 --> 00:40:50,823 But God being God... 764 00:40:50,990 --> 00:40:54,159 ...he can speak to your heart at any time. 765 00:40:54,327 --> 00:40:56,703 And furthermore, if he spoke to me... 766 00:40:56,871 --> 00:40:58,580 ...which he did... 767 00:40:59,624 --> 00:41:01,875 ...he can speak to anybody. 768 00:41:18,476 --> 00:41:22,896 "Wonder what this crazy nigger's fixing to do now. 769 00:41:23,064 --> 00:41:25,858 He's liable to put the mojo on me. 770 00:41:26,025 --> 00:41:29,153 He'll be speaking in tongues here directly. 771 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:32,197 I need to get my ass out of here. 772 00:41:32,365 --> 00:41:34,908 He's liable to steal my pocketbook. 773 00:41:35,577 --> 00:41:38,328 I need to get my ass on down to that depot... 774 00:41:38,496 --> 00:41:41,540 ...before something bad happens to me." 775 00:41:43,084 --> 00:41:44,751 Hey! 776 00:41:46,754 --> 00:41:48,797 What are we gonna do with you, professor? 777 00:41:49,382 --> 00:41:54,011 Look, I know I owe you a great deal, at least in the eyes of the world. 778 00:41:54,179 --> 00:41:57,097 Couldn't I just give you something and we could call it square? 779 00:41:58,141 --> 00:42:01,268 I'll give you some money, something like that. 780 00:42:01,436 --> 00:42:02,895 I can give you $1000. 781 00:42:03,062 --> 00:42:05,939 Well, that's not very much, I guess. I can give you $3000, say. 782 00:42:06,149 --> 00:42:08,358 You ain't got no notion of the trouble you're in, do you? 783 00:42:08,526 --> 00:42:10,360 - I don't know what you mean. - I know you don't. 784 00:42:10,528 --> 00:42:12,654 I'd just like to settle this in some way. 785 00:42:12,864 --> 00:42:14,740 Ain't me you got to settle with. 786 00:42:14,908 --> 00:42:17,743 Do you really think I was sent to you by God? 787 00:42:17,911 --> 00:42:19,912 No, it's worse than that. 788 00:42:21,706 --> 00:42:22,748 How do you mean? 789 00:42:23,291 --> 00:42:28,253 Belief ain't like unbelief. 790 00:42:28,504 --> 00:42:33,175 If you're a believer and you finally got to come to the well of belief itself... 791 00:42:33,384 --> 00:42:36,470 ...then you ain't got to look no further. There ain't no further. 792 00:42:36,679 --> 00:42:38,597 But the unbeliever's got a problem. 793 00:42:38,765 --> 00:42:40,641 He's set out to unravel the world. 794 00:42:40,808 --> 00:42:43,310 For everything he can point to that ain't true... 795 00:42:43,478 --> 00:42:45,938 ...he leaves two things laying there. 796 00:42:54,864 --> 00:42:57,658 Do you really believe everything that's in there, the Bible? 797 00:42:59,077 --> 00:43:01,245 - The literal truth? - Yes. 798 00:43:01,412 --> 00:43:05,540 Uh, probably not, but then you already know I'm an outlaw. 799 00:43:05,708 --> 00:43:07,125 What is it you would disagree with? 800 00:43:09,420 --> 00:43:12,089 Probably the notion of original sin. 801 00:43:12,257 --> 00:43:15,676 You know, when Eve ate the apple, turned everybody bad. 802 00:43:15,843 --> 00:43:17,719 I don't see people that way. 803 00:43:17,887 --> 00:43:22,140 I think for the most part people was good to begin with. 804 00:43:22,308 --> 00:43:25,185 I think evil is something you bring on your own self... 805 00:43:25,353 --> 00:43:27,562 ...mostly from wanting things you ain't supposed to have. 806 00:43:27,730 --> 00:43:29,982 I ain't gonna tell you about me being a heretic... 807 00:43:30,149 --> 00:43:31,984 ...when I'm trying to get you to quit being one. 808 00:43:32,151 --> 00:43:34,027 Are you a heretic? 809 00:43:35,321 --> 00:43:39,616 - ls you trying to put me in the trick bag? - No, I'm not. Are you? 810 00:43:44,455 --> 00:43:47,249 No more than what a man ought to be... 811 00:43:47,417 --> 00:43:50,836 ...even a man with a powerful belief. 812 00:43:51,170 --> 00:43:54,923 I ain't a doubter, but I am a questioner. 813 00:43:55,133 --> 00:43:56,341 What's the difference? 814 00:43:56,509 --> 00:44:00,387 A questioner wants the truth. 815 00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:04,391 A doubter wants to be told there ain't no such thing. 816 00:44:04,559 --> 00:44:07,644 You don't think you have to believe everything in there in order to be saved? 817 00:44:07,812 --> 00:44:11,398 No. No, I don't. I don't even think you have to read it. 818 00:44:11,566 --> 00:44:14,735 I ain't even for sure you even got to know there is such a book. 819 00:44:14,902 --> 00:44:17,738 I think whatever truth is wrote in the pages of this book... 820 00:44:17,905 --> 00:44:20,741 ...is wrote in the human heart, and was wrote there a long time ago... 821 00:44:20,908 --> 00:44:23,285 ...and will be wrote there a long time hence... 822 00:44:23,453 --> 00:44:26,330 ...even if every copy of this book is burned. Every copy of it. 823 00:44:26,497 --> 00:44:29,374 And what Jesus said, I don't think he made up a word of it. 824 00:44:29,542 --> 00:44:30,709 He just told it. 825 00:44:30,877 --> 00:44:34,796 This book is a guide for the ignorant and sick at heart. 826 00:44:34,964 --> 00:44:36,923 A whole man wouldn't need it at all. 827 00:44:37,091 --> 00:44:38,800 And if you was to read this book... 828 00:44:38,968 --> 00:44:42,095 ...you're gonna find there's more talk in here about the wrong way... 829 00:44:42,263 --> 00:44:44,473 ...than there is the right way. Why is that? 830 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:47,225 - I don't know. Why is it? - Why don't you tell me? 831 00:44:48,227 --> 00:44:50,145 - I'll have to think about that. - Okay. 832 00:44:50,313 --> 00:44:52,647 - Okay what? - Okay, go on and think about it. 833 00:44:52,815 --> 00:44:55,400 Might take me a little longer than you to think about something. 834 00:44:55,610 --> 00:44:57,861 - That's all right. - That's all right? 835 00:44:58,029 --> 00:45:00,530 Yeah. I mean, I can take that statement in one or two ways. 836 00:45:00,698 --> 00:45:02,866 I'm going to take it the good way. That's my nature. 837 00:45:03,034 --> 00:45:04,910 That way I get to live in my world, not yours. 838 00:45:05,078 --> 00:45:06,912 What makes you think mine is so bad? 839 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:09,915 I don't think it's so bad. I just know it's brief. 840 00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,835 All right. I think the answer to your question... 841 00:45:14,003 --> 00:45:18,215 ...is that the dialectic of the homily always presupposes a ground of evil. 842 00:45:18,383 --> 00:45:20,175 - Man. - How's that? 843 00:45:20,385 --> 00:45:22,761 That's strong as a mare's breath, professor. 844 00:45:22,929 --> 00:45:27,015 Whoo! Wouldn't I love to lay some shit like that on the brothers. Whoa. 845 00:45:27,183 --> 00:45:30,936 It's just the two of us sitting here in private, talking. 846 00:45:31,729 --> 00:45:33,146 What'd you just say? 847 00:45:33,731 --> 00:45:35,315 Your question. 848 00:45:35,483 --> 00:45:39,986 The Bible is full of cautionary tales-- All of literature, for that matter. 849 00:45:40,154 --> 00:45:42,572 - -telling us to be careful. Careful of what? 850 00:45:42,740 --> 00:45:44,950 Taking the wrong turn, the wrong path. 851 00:45:45,118 --> 00:45:46,952 How many wrong paths are there? 852 00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:48,453 Their number is legion. 853 00:45:48,621 --> 00:45:51,415 How many right paths? Just one. 854 00:45:51,582 --> 00:45:54,501 Hence the imbalance that you spoke of. 855 00:45:55,044 --> 00:45:56,420 Man. 856 00:45:56,587 --> 00:45:59,506 You know, you could go on TV, professor, a good-looking man like yourself. 857 00:45:59,674 --> 00:46:01,383 - You know that? - Stop. 858 00:46:01,551 --> 00:46:04,261 I'm serious. I wasn't even sure you was a professor... 859 00:46:04,429 --> 00:46:05,804 ...till you laid that shit on me. 860 00:46:05,972 --> 00:46:07,597 I think you're having fun at my expense. 861 00:46:07,765 --> 00:46:09,850 - No, I ain't. - Well, I think you are. 862 00:46:10,017 --> 00:46:15,730 Honey, I swear I ain't. I couldn't say a thing like you just got done saying. 863 00:46:15,898 --> 00:46:18,358 - I admire that. - And why do you keep calling me "honey"? 864 00:46:18,568 --> 00:46:21,153 That's just the old south talking. It don't mean nothing. 865 00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:23,947 - I'll try and stop if it bothers you. - I'm not sure what it means. 866 00:46:24,115 --> 00:46:26,032 It means you're among friends. 867 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:27,868 It means quit worrying about everything. 868 00:46:28,077 --> 00:46:30,120 That might be easier said than done. 869 00:46:30,288 --> 00:46:31,830 Yeah, you're right. It might. 870 00:46:31,998 --> 00:46:33,415 But we're just talking. Talking. 871 00:46:37,503 --> 00:46:39,212 - Tell me something. - Sure. 872 00:46:39,380 --> 00:46:42,132 Why are you here? What do you get out of this? 873 00:46:42,300 --> 00:46:45,427 - You seem like a smart man. - Me? Ha, a. 874 00:46:45,595 --> 00:46:48,138 I'm just a dumb country nigger from Louisiana. 875 00:46:48,306 --> 00:46:50,891 I done told you, I ain't never had the first thought in my head. 876 00:46:51,058 --> 00:46:54,186 If it ain't in here, I don't know it. 877 00:46:55,188 --> 00:46:56,897 Sometimes I think you're having fun with me. 878 00:46:58,524 --> 00:47:02,194 You are an asshole! A-S-S hole! Asshole! 879 00:47:02,361 --> 00:47:03,904 Come on now. 880 00:47:04,071 --> 00:47:07,949 Now, what the fuck are you doing in my motherfucking bed? 881 00:47:10,536 --> 00:47:13,038 I don't see how you can live here, how you can feel safe. 882 00:47:13,206 --> 00:47:16,041 Well, you got a point, professor, about being safe anyway. 883 00:47:16,209 --> 00:47:18,376 You ever stopped any of these people from taking drugs? 884 00:47:18,544 --> 00:47:22,589 - Not that I know of. - Then what is the point? I don't get it. 885 00:47:22,757 --> 00:47:26,426 I mean, it's hopeless. This places is a moral leper colony. 886 00:47:26,594 --> 00:47:31,056 Damn. "Moral leper colony." Where's my pencil at? 887 00:47:31,224 --> 00:47:33,934 I ain't never gonna want you to leave. Put this in my book. 888 00:47:34,477 --> 00:47:36,978 "In the moral leper colony." 889 00:47:37,146 --> 00:47:38,313 I like the sound of that. 890 00:47:40,942 --> 00:47:43,360 I still don't see how you can live here. 891 00:47:43,528 --> 00:47:46,821 Why not go someplace where you can do the world some good? 892 00:47:46,989 --> 00:47:49,533 As opposed to someplace where good is needed? 893 00:47:49,700 --> 00:47:53,370 Even God gives up at some point. There's no ministry in hell that I ever heard of. 894 00:47:53,538 --> 00:47:56,414 No, there ain't. And that's well put. 895 00:47:56,582 --> 00:47:58,333 Ministry is for the living. 896 00:47:58,501 --> 00:48:00,544 That's why you're responsible for your brother. 897 00:48:00,711 --> 00:48:02,837 Once he quit breathing you can't help him no more. 898 00:48:03,005 --> 00:48:06,550 He's in the hands of other parties. So you got to look after him now. 899 00:48:06,717 --> 00:48:09,261 You might even want to monitor his train schedule. 900 00:48:09,428 --> 00:48:11,012 You think you are your brother's keeper? 901 00:48:11,180 --> 00:48:12,764 I don't believe "think" quite covers it. 902 00:48:12,932 --> 00:48:15,767 - And Jesus is part of this enterprise? - That all right with you? 903 00:48:15,935 --> 00:48:19,145 And he's interested in coming here to this cesspool... 904 00:48:19,313 --> 00:48:21,606 ...and salvaging what everybody knows is unsalvageable. 905 00:48:21,774 --> 00:48:24,734 Why would he do that? You said he didn't have a lot of free time. 906 00:48:24,902 --> 00:48:26,570 Why would he come here? 907 00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:29,322 What would the difference be to him... 908 00:48:29,490 --> 00:48:31,992 ...between a building that was spiritually and morally vacant... 909 00:48:32,159 --> 00:48:33,577 ...and one that was just empty? 910 00:48:33,744 --> 00:48:37,539 Mm. Professor, you're a theologian here and I ain't even know it. 911 00:48:37,707 --> 00:48:39,499 You're being facetious. 912 00:48:39,875 --> 00:48:42,043 I don't know that word. 913 00:48:42,211 --> 00:48:45,255 But don't be afraid to talk down to me. You ain't gonna hurt my feelings. 914 00:48:45,423 --> 00:48:48,466 It means, uh-- I guess it means you're not being sincere... 915 00:48:48,634 --> 00:48:52,137 ...that you're being-- You don't mean what you're saying in a cynical sort of way. 916 00:48:52,471 --> 00:48:53,972 Mm. You don't think I mean what I say? 917 00:48:54,140 --> 00:48:56,641 I think you say things for effect sometimes. 918 00:48:56,809 --> 00:49:00,687 - Mm. Well, let me say this for effect. - Go ahead. 919 00:49:00,855 --> 00:49:03,940 Suppose I was to tell you that if you could bring yourself... 920 00:49:04,108 --> 00:49:07,861 ...to unlatch your hands from around your brother's throat... 921 00:49:08,029 --> 00:49:10,322 ...you could have life everlasting? 922 00:49:10,489 --> 00:49:13,700 - There's no such thing. Everybody dies. - That ain't what he said. 923 00:49:14,243 --> 00:49:18,955 - Ha, ha. - He said you could have life everlasting... 924 00:49:19,123 --> 00:49:21,666 ...have it now, today... 925 00:49:21,834 --> 00:49:25,462 ...hold it in your hands, see it. 926 00:49:25,630 --> 00:49:31,509 It gives off a light, got a little weight to it. Not much. 927 00:49:31,677 --> 00:49:36,181 Warm to the touch just a little. 928 00:49:36,349 --> 00:49:39,726 Life, and it's forever. 929 00:49:40,436 --> 00:49:42,187 And you can have it... 930 00:49:42,355 --> 00:49:45,148 ...now, today. 931 00:49:45,941 --> 00:49:47,150 But you don't want it. 932 00:49:47,318 --> 00:49:51,529 You don't want it because to get it you gotta let your brother off the hook. 933 00:49:51,697 --> 00:49:55,533 You got to actually take him in your arms and hold him... 934 00:49:55,701 --> 00:49:58,453 ...and it don't matter what color he is or what he smells like... 935 00:49:58,621 --> 00:50:00,455 ...or even if he don't want to be held. 936 00:50:00,623 --> 00:50:04,751 And you won't do it because you don't think he deserves it. 937 00:50:04,919 --> 00:50:08,463 And about that, there ain't no argument. He don't. 938 00:50:08,631 --> 00:50:11,341 You won't do it because it ain't just. 939 00:50:11,509 --> 00:50:13,510 Ain't that so? 940 00:50:14,053 --> 00:50:15,261 Ain't it? 941 00:50:15,429 --> 00:50:19,140 - I don't think in those terms. - Just answer the question, professor. 942 00:50:20,893 --> 00:50:23,144 - I don't believe in that sort of thing. - I know you don't. 943 00:50:23,312 --> 00:50:25,563 Just answer the question. 944 00:50:26,607 --> 00:50:29,818 There may be some truth in what you say. 945 00:50:30,611 --> 00:50:32,779 - That's all I'm going to get? - Yes. 946 00:50:32,947 --> 00:50:34,823 All right, all right. I'll take it. 947 00:50:34,990 --> 00:50:37,742 Some is a lot. We down to breadcrumbs here. 948 00:50:37,910 --> 00:50:41,788 - I really have to go home. - No, no, no, just stay. Just a little. 949 00:50:41,956 --> 00:50:44,666 We can talk about something else. Um, you like baseball? 950 00:50:46,419 --> 00:50:49,045 Tell you what. Why don't I fix us something to eat? 951 00:50:49,213 --> 00:50:52,215 - I'm not hungry. - How about some coffee? 952 00:50:52,383 --> 00:50:54,968 All right, but then I really have to go. 953 00:50:55,136 --> 00:50:58,680 All right. The man says all right. 954 00:51:05,479 --> 00:51:09,023 You know, ordinarily I wouldn't be this rude... 955 00:51:09,191 --> 00:51:11,359 ...a man come in my house, sit at my table... 956 00:51:11,527 --> 00:51:13,820 ...and me not offering nothing. 957 00:51:13,988 --> 00:51:16,990 But with you I got to strategize... 958 00:51:17,199 --> 00:51:19,117 ...play the cards right... 959 00:51:19,285 --> 00:51:21,119 ...keep you from slipping off into the night. 960 00:51:21,287 --> 00:51:23,163 It's not night. 961 00:51:23,330 --> 00:51:25,874 Depends on what kind of night you're talking about. 962 00:51:26,041 --> 00:51:27,625 Let me ask you a personal question. 963 00:51:27,793 --> 00:51:29,586 This will be good. 964 00:51:31,213 --> 00:51:33,173 What you think is wrong with you... 965 00:51:33,340 --> 00:51:36,551 ...that you finally narrowed all your choices down to the Sunset Limited? 966 00:51:36,802 --> 00:51:38,595 I don't think there's anything wrong with me. 967 00:51:38,763 --> 00:51:40,555 I've been driven to finally face the truth. 968 00:51:40,723 --> 00:51:42,432 If I'm different, it doesn't mean I'm crazy. 969 00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:44,934 - Different? Different from who? - Yeah. Anybody. 970 00:51:45,102 --> 00:51:47,103 What about them other folk trying to off themself? 971 00:51:47,271 --> 00:51:49,481 - What about them? - Maybe them's the folk you is like. 972 00:51:49,648 --> 00:51:52,484 Maybe they're your natural kin, only y'all don't get together that much. 973 00:51:52,651 --> 00:51:54,235 - I don't think so. - Don't think so? 974 00:51:54,403 --> 00:51:56,488 No, I've been in group therapy with those people. 975 00:51:56,655 --> 00:51:59,240 I've never found anyone there that I felt any kinship with. 976 00:51:59,408 --> 00:52:02,660 Hmm. What about all them professors? There ain't no kinship there? 977 00:52:02,828 --> 00:52:04,746 - Good God. - I'll take that as a no. 978 00:52:04,914 --> 00:52:06,998 I loathe them and they loathe me. 979 00:52:07,166 --> 00:52:11,753 Well, just because you don't like them don't mean you ain't like them. 980 00:52:11,921 --> 00:52:13,505 And what's that word, "loathe"? 981 00:52:13,672 --> 00:52:15,632 - Loathe. - That's a pretty powerful word, ain't it? 982 00:52:15,800 --> 00:52:17,383 Not powerful enough, I'm afraid. 983 00:52:17,551 --> 00:52:19,511 How come you be loathing these other professors? 984 00:52:19,678 --> 00:52:21,679 - I know what you're thinking. - What am I thinking? 985 00:52:21,847 --> 00:52:24,265 You're thinking that I loathe them because I'm like them... 986 00:52:24,433 --> 00:52:25,725 ...and I loathe myself. 987 00:52:25,893 --> 00:52:29,854 Let me ask you this, is you on any kind of medication? 988 00:52:30,022 --> 00:52:31,064 No. 989 00:52:31,232 --> 00:52:33,858 There ain't no medication for pilgrims waiting to take the Limited? 990 00:52:34,026 --> 00:52:35,735 - For suicidal depression? - Yeah. 991 00:52:35,903 --> 00:52:38,071 - Yeah, there is. I've tried them. - And what happened? 992 00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:39,614 - Nothing. - You ain't get no relief? 993 00:52:39,782 --> 00:52:42,408 - No. Your coffee's percolated. - Yeah, I know. 994 00:52:42,576 --> 00:52:45,370 Does these drugs work for other people? 995 00:52:45,538 --> 00:52:46,955 Yes, for most. 996 00:52:47,122 --> 00:52:49,833 - But not for you? - Not for me, no. 997 00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:51,459 - What you make of that? - I don't know. 998 00:52:51,627 --> 00:52:52,961 What am I supposed to make of it? 999 00:52:53,128 --> 00:52:55,088 I don't know, professor. I'm just trying to see... 1000 00:52:55,256 --> 00:52:57,173 ...if we can find you some constituents out here. 1001 00:52:57,341 --> 00:52:59,634 - Constituents? - Yeah, you like that? 1002 00:52:59,802 --> 00:53:01,469 ls that a word they use on the streets? 1003 00:53:01,637 --> 00:53:04,055 No, I learned that word in jailhouse. 1004 00:53:04,223 --> 00:53:08,768 You hear things from these jailhouse lawyers and then it gets used around. 1005 00:53:08,936 --> 00:53:13,940 Be talking about your constituents, some other cat's constituents... 1006 00:53:14,108 --> 00:53:16,276 ...your wife's constituents. 1007 00:53:16,443 --> 00:53:18,027 You take cream and sugar? 1008 00:53:18,195 --> 00:53:21,030 - No, just black. - Just black. 1009 00:53:25,286 --> 00:53:27,662 Why do I have to have constituents? 1010 00:53:30,583 --> 00:53:33,042 I ain't saying you got to. I'm wondering if maybe you do... 1011 00:53:33,210 --> 00:53:35,211 ...and we just ain't looked hard enough for them. 1012 00:53:35,379 --> 00:53:37,714 They could be out there. There could be some other... 1013 00:53:37,882 --> 00:53:40,425 ...drug-proof terminal commuters out there could be your friends. 1014 00:53:40,593 --> 00:53:42,719 - Terminal commuters? - You like the sound of that? 1015 00:53:42,887 --> 00:53:44,721 It's all right. 1016 00:53:45,639 --> 00:53:47,348 - Nobody? - Nobody, no. 1017 00:53:47,516 --> 00:53:48,766 Mm. 1018 00:53:48,934 --> 00:53:51,352 I'm not a member. Never wanted to be, and never was. 1019 00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:53,730 - Not a member? - No. 1020 00:53:53,898 --> 00:53:57,901 Look, I could eat a bite. And I think you could too. 1021 00:54:02,156 --> 00:54:04,157 You break bread with a man... 1022 00:54:04,325 --> 00:54:07,285 ...you've moved on to another level of friendship. 1023 00:54:07,703 --> 00:54:09,662 I heard that's true the world over. 1024 00:54:09,830 --> 00:54:12,498 - Probably. - Probably? 1025 00:54:12,666 --> 00:54:14,250 I like probably. 1026 00:54:14,418 --> 00:54:17,921 Probably from you is worth a couple of damn rights anywhere else. 1027 00:54:18,088 --> 00:54:20,089 Why? Because I don't believe in anything? 1028 00:54:20,257 --> 00:54:23,551 Well, I don't think that's the problem. 1029 00:54:24,303 --> 00:54:28,681 I think, uh, it's what you do believe that's carrying you off... 1030 00:54:28,849 --> 00:54:30,808 ...not what you don't. 1031 00:54:32,227 --> 00:54:33,728 Let me ask you this. 1032 00:54:33,896 --> 00:54:35,521 Go ahead. 1033 00:54:36,023 --> 00:54:38,441 - You ever think about Jesus? - Here we go. 1034 00:54:38,609 --> 00:54:40,693 Well, do you? 1035 00:54:42,529 --> 00:54:43,905 What makes you think I'm not Jewish? 1036 00:54:44,657 --> 00:54:46,282 Jews ain't allowed to think about Jesus? 1037 00:54:46,450 --> 00:54:48,451 No, but they might think about him differently. 1038 00:54:48,619 --> 00:54:49,994 Oh. 1039 00:54:50,412 --> 00:54:52,830 - ls you Jewish? - No, as it happens I'm not. 1040 00:54:52,998 --> 00:54:56,584 - Ha, ha. Had me going there for a minute. - What, you don't like Jews? 1041 00:54:56,752 --> 00:55:01,464 I'm just pulling your chain, professor. Just pulling your chain. 1042 00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:05,760 I don't know why I like to mess with you, but I do. 1043 00:55:07,429 --> 00:55:11,724 Now, you need to listen or you need to believe what you're hearing... 1044 00:55:11,892 --> 00:55:13,643 ...because the point of where this is going-- 1045 00:55:13,852 --> 00:55:15,103 Which you wanted to know. 1046 00:55:15,270 --> 00:55:18,022 - -is that there ain't no Jews, there ain't no whites... 1047 00:55:18,190 --> 00:55:20,733 ...there ain't no niggers-- People of color. 1048 00:55:20,901 --> 00:55:23,861 There ain't none of that. At the deep bottom of the mine... 1049 00:55:24,029 --> 00:55:27,156 ...where the gold is at, there ain't none of that. 1050 00:55:27,324 --> 00:55:31,327 It's just the pure ore, that forever thing... 1051 00:55:31,495 --> 00:55:32,912 ...that you don't think is there... 1052 00:55:33,080 --> 00:55:35,665 ...that thing that keeps people nailed down to the platform... 1053 00:55:35,833 --> 00:55:37,667 ...when the Sunset Limited is coming through... 1054 00:55:37,835 --> 00:55:39,836 ...even if they think they want to get aboard... 1055 00:55:40,004 --> 00:55:44,132 ...that thing that allows you to ladle out benediction... 1056 00:55:44,299 --> 00:55:48,469 ...on the heads of strangers instead of curses. 1057 00:55:48,637 --> 00:55:50,179 And it's all one thing. 1058 00:55:50,347 --> 00:55:53,266 And it ain't but one thing, just one. 1059 00:55:53,434 --> 00:55:55,059 And that would be Jesus. 1060 00:55:56,061 --> 00:55:58,604 I got to think about how to answer that. 1061 00:56:04,570 --> 00:56:06,904 Maybe one more heresy won't hurt you. 1062 00:56:07,072 --> 00:56:09,907 Pretty loaded up on them already. 1063 00:56:10,451 --> 00:56:12,577 Here's what I would say. 1064 00:56:12,953 --> 00:56:15,913 I would say-- Mm. 1065 00:56:16,707 --> 00:56:20,168 I would say that thing we're talking about is Jesus... 1066 00:56:20,335 --> 00:56:24,797 ...but Jesus as understood as that gold at the bottom of the mine. 1067 00:56:25,007 --> 00:56:28,926 He could not come down here and assume the shape of a man... 1068 00:56:29,094 --> 00:56:32,889 ...if that form was not done shaped to accommodate him. 1069 00:56:33,057 --> 00:56:35,266 And if I said ain't no way for Jesus to be every man... 1070 00:56:35,434 --> 00:56:36,893 ...without every man being Jesus... 1071 00:56:37,061 --> 00:56:40,188 ...well, now, I think that would be a pretty big heresy. 1072 00:56:40,355 --> 00:56:42,273 But that's all right. It ain't as big a heresy... 1073 00:56:42,441 --> 00:56:45,234 ...as saying, like, man ain't no different from a rock... 1074 00:56:45,402 --> 00:56:47,361 ...which is how I see your point of view. 1075 00:56:47,529 --> 00:56:50,406 It's not my point of view. I believe in the primacy of the intellect. 1076 00:56:50,574 --> 00:56:51,824 And what's that word? 1077 00:56:51,992 --> 00:56:54,702 Primacy? It means first. It means what you put first. 1078 00:56:54,870 --> 00:56:57,371 Mm. And that would be, uh, intellect? 1079 00:56:57,539 --> 00:56:59,123 Yes. 1080 00:56:59,291 --> 00:57:01,250 What about the primacy of the Sunset Limited? 1081 00:57:01,418 --> 00:57:02,543 Yes, that too. 1082 00:57:02,711 --> 00:57:05,838 But not the primacy of the people waiting on a later train? 1083 00:57:06,006 --> 00:57:09,217 - No, no primacy there. - Hmm. 1084 00:57:12,554 --> 00:57:14,806 You tough, professor. Ha, ha. 1085 00:57:16,100 --> 00:57:17,725 You tough. 1086 00:57:20,479 --> 00:57:23,523 You see yourself as a questioner. 1087 00:57:23,732 --> 00:57:26,526 But about that I got my doubts. 1088 00:57:27,486 --> 00:57:30,530 The quest of your life is your quest. 1089 00:57:30,697 --> 00:57:32,698 And you're on a road that you laid. 1090 00:57:32,866 --> 00:57:36,285 And that fact alone might be all the reason you need for sticking to it. 1091 00:57:36,995 --> 00:57:38,955 As long as you're on that road you can't get lost. 1092 00:57:39,123 --> 00:57:41,874 I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. 1093 00:57:42,084 --> 00:57:46,796 Oh, I got my doubts about you not understanding anything I say, professor. 1094 00:57:46,964 --> 00:57:49,006 I'm fixing to say grace. 1095 00:57:49,758 --> 00:57:52,301 Lord, we thank you for this food... 1096 00:57:52,469 --> 00:57:55,263 ...and for the many blessings we have received from your hand. 1097 00:57:55,430 --> 00:57:58,432 We thank you for the life of the professor which you have returned to us... 1098 00:57:58,600 --> 00:58:01,936 ...and ask that you would look after him, because we need him. 1099 00:58:02,104 --> 00:58:05,565 Now, I don't know why we need him. I just know we do. 1100 00:58:05,732 --> 00:58:07,733 Amen. 1101 00:58:08,610 --> 00:58:10,153 Tell me how you like this. 1102 00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:12,029 It looks good. 1103 00:58:16,285 --> 00:58:17,660 This is good. 1104 00:58:22,207 --> 00:58:23,416 This is very good. 1105 00:58:23,584 --> 00:58:25,543 Supposed to be good. It's soul food, my man. 1106 00:58:25,752 --> 00:58:27,837 It's got what in it? Molasses? 1107 00:58:28,005 --> 00:58:29,422 - You a chef, professor? - Not really. 1108 00:58:29,590 --> 00:58:31,174 - But some? - Some, yes. 1109 00:58:31,341 --> 00:58:34,719 Bananas, of course. Mangos? 1110 00:58:34,887 --> 00:58:37,597 - Got a mango or two in it, rutabagas. - Rutabagas? 1111 00:58:37,764 --> 00:58:39,891 Rutabagas. Them's hard to find. 1112 00:58:40,058 --> 00:58:41,851 It's very good. 1113 00:58:42,811 --> 00:58:45,271 You know, it gets better after a day or two. 1114 00:58:45,439 --> 00:58:46,981 I just fixed this last night. 1115 00:58:47,149 --> 00:58:49,734 You gotta heat it up a few times to get the flavors right. 1116 00:58:49,902 --> 00:58:53,070 - Like chili. - Like chili. Yeah, that's right. 1117 00:58:53,238 --> 00:58:55,281 - You know where I learned to fix this? - In Louisiana? 1118 00:58:55,449 --> 00:58:59,535 Mm-mm. Right here in the ghettos of New York City. 1119 00:58:59,703 --> 00:59:02,872 There's a lot of different influences in a dish like this. 1120 00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:06,459 Many parts of the world in that pot. Lot of different countries, different people. 1121 00:59:06,627 --> 00:59:09,670 - Any white people? - Ha, ha. Not if you can help it. 1122 00:59:09,880 --> 00:59:12,548 - Really? - I'm just messing with you, professor. 1123 00:59:12,716 --> 00:59:14,634 Just messing with you. 1124 00:59:14,801 --> 00:59:16,802 You know them, uh, chefs in them uptown restaurants? 1125 00:59:17,012 --> 00:59:19,222 - Not personally, no. - You know what they like to fix? 1126 00:59:19,389 --> 00:59:20,806 - No. - Sweetbreads. 1127 00:59:21,016 --> 00:59:24,143 Brains, tripe, all that shit don't nobody like to eat. 1128 00:59:24,311 --> 00:59:27,021 - You know why that is? - Because, uh, it's a challenge. 1129 00:59:27,189 --> 00:59:29,357 - You have to innovate. - You're pretty smart for a honky. 1130 00:59:29,524 --> 00:59:33,069 That's right. It's a challenge. The stuff they fix, dead cheap. 1131 00:59:33,278 --> 00:59:36,197 Most folks throw it out, give it to the cat. 1132 00:59:36,365 --> 00:59:38,157 But poor folks, they don't throw nothing out. 1133 00:59:38,325 --> 00:59:39,492 I guess that's right. 1134 00:59:39,660 --> 00:59:41,535 Anybody can make a porterhouse steak taste good. 1135 00:59:41,703 --> 00:59:43,537 But if you can't buy no porterhouse steak... 1136 00:59:43,705 --> 00:59:46,207 ...and you wants to eat something good, what do you do? 1137 00:59:46,375 --> 00:59:48,042 - Innovate. - Innovate. That's right. 1138 00:59:48,252 --> 00:59:49,877 And who is it that's got to innovate? 1139 00:59:50,087 --> 00:59:52,505 - Poor people. - That's right. Poor people. 1140 00:59:52,714 --> 00:59:55,049 Mm. You fixing to get an A-plus. 1141 00:59:55,217 --> 00:59:57,051 So how you like this? 1142 00:59:57,803 --> 00:59:59,470 It's very good. 1143 01:00:03,934 --> 01:00:06,394 You don't think a glass of wine would have been good with this? 1144 01:00:06,561 --> 01:00:08,813 I do think a glass of wine would have been good with it. 1145 01:00:08,981 --> 01:00:13,109 - But you wouldn't drink it? - Oh, I might. Just one glass. 1146 01:00:13,277 --> 01:00:16,153 Jesus drank wine, he and his disciples. 1147 01:00:16,321 --> 01:00:18,531 Yes, he did. Says so right here in the Bible. 1148 01:00:18,699 --> 01:00:20,866 It don't say nothing about him hiding it in the toilet. 1149 01:00:21,034 --> 01:00:23,786 - ls that really a favorite hiding place? - Oh, yeah. 1150 01:00:23,954 --> 01:00:27,999 I've known drunks to lift the lids off toilets in strange places just on the off chance. 1151 01:00:28,166 --> 01:00:30,293 - ls that true? - No. 1152 01:00:30,460 --> 01:00:32,795 It could be, though. Wouldn't surprise me none. 1153 01:00:35,382 --> 01:00:37,633 What's the worst thing you ever did? 1154 01:00:42,222 --> 01:00:44,390 - More jailhouse stories? - Why not? 1155 01:00:44,558 --> 01:00:45,933 Which why not you want to hear? 1156 01:00:46,101 --> 01:00:49,478 ls bludgeoning the man in the prison cafeteria the worst thing you ever did? 1157 01:00:49,646 --> 01:00:53,482 - No, it ain't. - It isn't? What's the worst? 1158 01:00:53,650 --> 01:00:55,401 - I ain't gonna tell you. - Why not? 1159 01:00:55,569 --> 01:00:58,362 Because you'll jump up, run out the door hollering. 1160 01:00:58,530 --> 01:00:59,947 It must be pretty bad. 1161 01:01:00,741 --> 01:01:03,034 - That's why I ain't telling you. - Now I'm afraid to ask. 1162 01:01:03,201 --> 01:01:05,077 No, you ain't. 1163 01:01:05,245 --> 01:01:06,454 Did you ever tell anyone? 1164 01:01:07,706 --> 01:01:08,956 Yeah. 1165 01:01:09,166 --> 01:01:12,084 - It wouldn't leave me alone. - Who did you tell it to? 1166 01:01:12,252 --> 01:01:14,420 I told it to a man of God who was my friend. 1167 01:01:14,588 --> 01:01:17,131 - What did he say? - He didn't say a word. 1168 01:01:17,341 --> 01:01:19,925 But you're not curious about the worst thing I ever did. 1169 01:01:20,093 --> 01:01:22,887 - Yeah, I am. - But you won't ask me what it is. 1170 01:01:23,055 --> 01:01:24,889 - I don't have to. - Why is that? 1171 01:01:25,098 --> 01:01:27,433 Because I was there. I seen it. 1172 01:01:28,268 --> 01:01:30,394 Well, I might have a different view. 1173 01:01:30,604 --> 01:01:32,605 Yeah, you might. 1174 01:01:34,441 --> 01:01:38,110 - You want some more? - No, I'm stuffed. 1175 01:01:38,278 --> 01:01:40,821 - Hungrier than you thought? - Yes, I was. 1176 01:01:40,989 --> 01:01:42,490 Good. 1177 01:01:51,541 --> 01:01:53,876 ls this some kind of test of your faith? 1178 01:01:54,044 --> 01:01:57,296 - What, you? - Me, yes. 1179 01:01:57,464 --> 01:02:00,091 It ain't my faith you're testing. 1180 01:02:00,675 --> 01:02:02,343 You see everything in black and white. 1181 01:02:02,511 --> 01:02:03,803 It is black and white. 1182 01:02:03,970 --> 01:02:06,889 I suppose that makes the world easier to understand. 1183 01:02:07,057 --> 01:02:10,101 You'd be surprised how little time I spend trying to understand the world. 1184 01:02:10,310 --> 01:02:14,271 - You try to understand God. - No, I don't. 1185 01:02:14,439 --> 01:02:16,524 I try to understand what he wants from me. 1186 01:02:16,691 --> 01:02:18,234 And that's everything you need? 1187 01:02:20,237 --> 01:02:23,697 If God ain't everything you need, then you in a world of trouble. 1188 01:02:23,865 --> 01:02:25,825 I don't make a move without Jesus. 1189 01:02:25,992 --> 01:02:31,038 When I get up in the morning, I try to grab ahold to his belt. 1190 01:02:31,206 --> 01:02:34,583 Sometime I go into a manual override. I catch myself. 1191 01:02:34,751 --> 01:02:37,128 - Manual override? - Yeah, you like that? 1192 01:02:37,295 --> 01:02:40,339 - It's okay. - I thought it was pretty good. 1193 01:02:40,507 --> 01:02:42,883 So you come to the end of your rope... 1194 01:02:43,051 --> 01:02:45,136 ...and you admit defeat and you're in despair. 1195 01:02:45,303 --> 01:02:48,597 And in this state you seize upon this, whatever it is... 1196 01:02:48,765 --> 01:02:50,516 ...that has neither sense nor substance... 1197 01:02:50,684 --> 01:02:54,395 ...and you grab hold of it and hang on for dear life. 1198 01:02:54,563 --> 01:02:57,022 - ls that a fair portrayal? - That might be one way to say it. 1199 01:02:57,190 --> 01:02:58,566 It doesn't make any sense. 1200 01:03:00,318 --> 01:03:02,194 Well, I thought when we was talking earlier... 1201 01:03:02,362 --> 01:03:04,655 ...you was saying that there was none of it made no sense. 1202 01:03:04,823 --> 01:03:06,198 About the history of the world. 1203 01:03:06,366 --> 01:03:08,451 Well, it doesn't on a larger scale. 1204 01:03:08,618 --> 01:03:11,120 But what you're telling me is not a view of things. 1205 01:03:11,288 --> 01:03:13,831 It's a view of one thing and I find it nonsensical. 1206 01:03:13,999 --> 01:03:15,833 What would you do if Jesus was to speak to you? 1207 01:03:16,001 --> 01:03:19,587 - Ha, ha. Do you imagine that he might? - No, I don't. But I don't know. 1208 01:03:19,754 --> 01:03:21,255 I'm not virtuous enough. 1209 01:03:21,423 --> 01:03:25,050 No, professor, it ain't nothing like that. You ain't got to be virtuous. 1210 01:03:25,218 --> 01:03:27,344 You just has to be quiet. 1211 01:03:27,512 --> 01:03:31,849 Now, I can't speak for the Lord, but it has been my experience... 1212 01:03:32,017 --> 01:03:35,186 ...that he will talk to anybody who will listen. 1213 01:03:35,353 --> 01:03:37,021 You damn sure ain't got to be virtuous. 1214 01:03:37,189 --> 01:03:38,481 If I heard God talking to me... 1215 01:03:38,648 --> 01:03:42,485 ...I would be ready for you to take me up to Bellevue as you suggested. 1216 01:03:42,652 --> 01:03:44,153 What if what he said made sense? 1217 01:03:44,321 --> 01:03:46,530 Wouldn't make any difference. Craziness is craziness. 1218 01:03:46,698 --> 01:03:49,658 - Don't make no difference if it makes sense? - No. 1219 01:03:50,660 --> 01:03:53,370 Well, that's about as big a case of the primacy as I ever heard. 1220 01:03:53,538 --> 01:03:56,290 I've always gone my own way. 1221 01:03:57,667 --> 01:04:00,044 - What's that you talking? - It's German. 1222 01:04:00,212 --> 01:04:01,253 You talk German? 1223 01:04:01,421 --> 01:04:03,422 Not really. A little. It's a quotation. 1224 01:04:03,590 --> 01:04:06,217 Well, it didn't do them Germans much good though, did it? 1225 01:04:06,384 --> 01:04:10,888 I don't know. The Germans contributed a great deal to civilization before Hitler. 1226 01:04:11,056 --> 01:04:13,015 And then they contributed Hitler. 1227 01:04:13,183 --> 01:04:15,184 Yeah, if you like. 1228 01:04:15,352 --> 01:04:18,646 I gather it to be your belief... 1229 01:04:18,813 --> 01:04:21,941 ...that culture tends to contribute to human misery... 1230 01:04:22,108 --> 01:04:25,903 ...that the more one knows, the unhappier one is likely to be. 1231 01:04:26,112 --> 01:04:28,489 As in the case of certain parties known to us. 1232 01:04:28,698 --> 01:04:31,784 - As in the case. - Well, I don't believe I said that. 1233 01:04:31,952 --> 01:04:33,369 I think it was you who said it. 1234 01:04:33,537 --> 01:04:35,120 - I never said it. - Do you believe it? 1235 01:04:35,288 --> 01:04:36,580 - No. - No? 1236 01:04:36,748 --> 01:04:38,791 I don't know. It could be true. 1237 01:04:38,959 --> 01:04:41,043 Well, why is that? That don't seem right, do it? 1238 01:04:41,211 --> 01:04:43,379 It's the first thing in that book there. 1239 01:04:43,588 --> 01:04:46,757 The Garden of Eden. Knowledge as destructive to the spirit... 1240 01:04:46,925 --> 01:04:49,802 - ...destructive to goodness. - I thought you ain't read that book. 1241 01:04:49,970 --> 01:04:52,471 Everyone knows that story. It's the most famous story in there. 1242 01:04:52,639 --> 01:04:54,014 Hmm. Why you think that is? 1243 01:04:54,182 --> 01:04:57,476 I suppose from the God point of view all knowledge is vanity. 1244 01:04:57,644 --> 01:05:02,773 Or maybe it just gives people the unhealthy illusion that they can outwit the devil. 1245 01:05:03,233 --> 01:05:06,026 Damn, professor. Where was you when I needed you? 1246 01:05:06,194 --> 01:05:08,404 You'd better be careful. You see where it's gotten me. 1247 01:05:08,572 --> 01:05:12,866 Oh, I see. That's the topic of discussion here. 1248 01:05:15,120 --> 01:05:18,330 The darker picture is always the correct one. 1249 01:05:18,498 --> 01:05:20,416 When you read the history of the world... 1250 01:05:20,584 --> 01:05:23,252 ...you are reading a saga of bloodshed and greed and folly... 1251 01:05:23,420 --> 01:05:26,380 ...the import of which is impossible to ignore. 1252 01:05:26,548 --> 01:05:29,341 And yet we imagine... 1253 01:05:29,509 --> 01:05:31,802 ...that the future will somehow be different. 1254 01:05:31,970 --> 01:05:34,054 I've no idea why we are even still here. 1255 01:05:34,222 --> 01:05:37,099 In all probability, we won't be here much longer. 1256 01:05:37,267 --> 01:05:39,059 Them's some pretty powerful words, professor. 1257 01:05:39,227 --> 01:05:41,395 - Mm. - That's what's in your heart, ain't it? 1258 01:05:41,563 --> 01:05:43,022 Yes. 1259 01:05:44,441 --> 01:05:46,609 All right, well, I can relate to them thoughts. 1260 01:05:46,776 --> 01:05:48,152 - You can? - Sure I can. 1261 01:05:48,361 --> 01:05:52,615 - That surprises me. - But you could be wrong, you know. 1262 01:05:52,782 --> 01:05:54,158 I don't think so. 1263 01:05:54,326 --> 01:05:56,327 That ain't something you have a lot of in your life. 1264 01:05:56,494 --> 01:05:57,536 - What isn't? - Being wrong. 1265 01:05:57,704 --> 01:06:02,249 - I admit it when I'm wrong. - Oh, I don't know about that. 1266 01:06:03,084 --> 01:06:05,836 Well, you're entitled to your own opinion. 1267 01:06:10,925 --> 01:06:13,594 Oh, yeah, here it is. Story on Page 3. 1268 01:06:14,679 --> 01:06:15,846 Ah. 1269 01:06:16,473 --> 01:06:21,518 "Friends reported that the man had ignored all advice... 1270 01:06:21,686 --> 01:06:26,231 ...and stated that he intended to pursue his own course. 1271 01:06:26,399 --> 01:06:28,859 A close confidant stated--" 1272 01:06:29,027 --> 01:06:31,236 And this here is in quotations. 1273 01:06:31,404 --> 01:06:36,200 - -"'You couldn't tell that son of a bitch nothing."' 1274 01:06:36,868 --> 01:06:40,829 Now, can you say that in the paper? "Son of a bitch"? 1275 01:06:45,418 --> 01:06:49,088 "Blood-spattered spectators at the 155th street station-- 1276 01:06:49,255 --> 01:06:52,758 Continued on Page 4." 1277 01:06:52,926 --> 01:06:55,844 155th street station. 1278 01:06:56,012 --> 01:07:02,393 - -"who were interviewed at the scene said that the man's last words... 1279 01:07:02,560 --> 01:07:07,272 ...as he hurtled toward the oncoming commuter train were: 1280 01:07:07,440 --> 01:07:11,402 'I am right."' 1281 01:07:16,408 --> 01:07:18,117 Very funny. 1282 01:07:19,953 --> 01:07:24,373 Oh, professor, you an amazing man. 1283 01:07:24,541 --> 01:07:26,125 I'm glad you find me entertaining. 1284 01:07:26,334 --> 01:07:28,585 - Oh, I think you're special. - I don't think I'm special. 1285 01:07:29,087 --> 01:07:30,504 - You don't? - No, I don't. 1286 01:07:30,672 --> 01:07:34,466 You don't think you view those other commuters from a certain height? 1287 01:07:34,634 --> 01:07:37,094 I view those other commuters as fellow occupants... 1288 01:07:37,262 --> 01:07:39,638 ...of the same abyssal pit in which I find myself. 1289 01:07:39,806 --> 01:07:43,517 And if they see it as something different, I don't know how that makes me special. 1290 01:07:43,685 --> 01:07:44,935 Mm. 1291 01:07:50,316 --> 01:07:52,151 I hear what you're saying. 1292 01:07:52,318 --> 01:07:54,528 But still I keep coming back to these commuters... 1293 01:07:54,696 --> 01:07:57,322 ...them that's waiting on the Sunset. 1294 01:07:57,866 --> 01:08:02,995 I can't help but think there's gotta be something a little special about theirselves. 1295 01:08:03,163 --> 01:08:07,124 I mean, they got to be in a deeper pit than us day travelers. 1296 01:08:07,292 --> 01:08:08,459 Deeper and darker. 1297 01:08:08,626 --> 01:08:10,461 I ain't saying they down as deep as you... 1298 01:08:10,628 --> 01:08:12,463 - ...but pretty deep maybe. - So? 1299 01:08:12,630 --> 01:08:19,303 So maybe they your brothers in self-destruction and despair. 1300 01:08:19,471 --> 01:08:21,346 I thought misery loved company. 1301 01:08:21,514 --> 01:08:23,640 I'm sure I don't know. 1302 01:08:23,975 --> 01:08:26,101 Let me take a shot at it. 1303 01:08:27,228 --> 01:08:31,523 What I think is that you got better reasons than them. 1304 01:08:31,691 --> 01:08:34,401 See, their reasons is that they just don't like it here. 1305 01:08:34,569 --> 01:08:39,490 But yours says what it is not to like and why not to like it. 1306 01:08:39,657 --> 01:08:42,868 You got more intelligent reasons, more elegant reasons. 1307 01:08:43,036 --> 01:08:44,745 - You making fun of me? - No, I ain't. 1308 01:08:44,913 --> 01:08:47,873 - But you think I'm full of shit? - No, I don't think that. 1309 01:08:48,041 --> 01:08:50,793 But I don't doubt that it's possible to die from being full of shit. 1310 01:08:50,960 --> 01:08:54,129 - I don't think that's what we're looking at. - What do you think we're looking at? 1311 01:08:54,297 --> 01:08:58,884 I don't know. You got me in uncharted territory. Uh.... 1312 01:08:59,427 --> 01:09:04,097 You got these world-class reasons for taking the Limited... 1313 01:09:04,265 --> 01:09:06,225 ...where these other dudes, all they got is... 1314 01:09:06,392 --> 01:09:08,310 ...well, maybe they just don't feel good. 1315 01:09:08,478 --> 01:09:10,979 It might could be that you ain't even all that unhappy. 1316 01:09:11,147 --> 01:09:13,524 You think my education is driving me to suicide? 1317 01:09:13,691 --> 01:09:18,195 No, I'm just posing the question. Well, wait a minute before you answer. 1318 01:09:24,410 --> 01:09:25,452 Okay, go ahead. 1319 01:09:25,620 --> 01:09:28,497 I think that's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. 1320 01:09:31,584 --> 01:09:33,919 "I think that's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard." 1321 01:09:34,087 --> 01:09:36,505 Very clever. What's the point? 1322 01:09:36,673 --> 01:09:41,176 The light is all around you, but you don't see nothing but shadow. 1323 01:09:41,344 --> 01:09:42,845 And you're the one causing it. 1324 01:09:43,012 --> 01:09:45,180 It's you. You're the shadow. 1325 01:09:45,348 --> 01:09:46,557 That's the point. 1326 01:09:46,724 --> 01:09:50,227 Well, I don't have your faith. Why don't we just leave it at that? 1327 01:09:50,395 --> 01:09:52,145 You ain't never thought about starting over? 1328 01:09:52,313 --> 01:09:54,022 I did at one time. I don't anymore. 1329 01:09:54,190 --> 01:09:59,736 Well, maybe faith is just a case of not having nothing else left. 1330 01:10:00,238 --> 01:10:04,074 Well, I do have something else. 1331 01:10:04,284 --> 01:10:07,119 Well, why don't you just keep that in reserve? 1332 01:10:07,328 --> 01:10:10,789 Just take a shot at starting over. 1333 01:10:10,957 --> 01:10:13,250 I don't mean starting again. Everybody's done that. 1334 01:10:13,418 --> 01:10:17,129 Over means over. Just walk away. 1335 01:10:18,047 --> 01:10:23,510 I mean, if everything you are and everything you have and everything you done... 1336 01:10:23,678 --> 01:10:26,430 ...has brought you at last to the bottom of a whiskey bottle... 1337 01:10:26,598 --> 01:10:29,683 ...or bought you a one-way ticket on the Sunset Limited... 1338 01:10:29,851 --> 01:10:33,478 ...you can't give me one good reason on God's green earth... 1339 01:10:33,646 --> 01:10:37,024 ...for salvaging none of it, because there ain't none. 1340 01:10:38,276 --> 01:10:43,196 If you can bring yourself to close the door on all of that... 1341 01:10:43,364 --> 01:10:46,658 ...it will be cold and it will be lonely... 1342 01:10:46,826 --> 01:10:50,662 ...and there will be a fierce wind blowing. 1343 01:10:50,830 --> 01:10:54,583 But you don't say nothing. 1344 01:10:54,751 --> 01:10:58,921 You just turn your collar up and keep walking. 1345 01:10:59,797 --> 01:11:02,424 I can't. I can't. 1346 01:11:07,138 --> 01:11:10,057 - You want some more coffee? - No, thank you. 1347 01:11:14,437 --> 01:11:16,396 Why do you think it is folks take their own lives? 1348 01:11:16,564 --> 01:11:18,023 I don't know. Different reasons. 1349 01:11:18,524 --> 01:11:20,943 ls there anything these different reasons has got in common? 1350 01:11:21,152 --> 01:11:22,736 I can't speak for others. 1351 01:11:22,904 --> 01:11:26,573 My own reasons center around a gradual loss of make-believe... 1352 01:11:26,741 --> 01:11:31,161 ...a gradual enlightenment as to the nature of reality... 1353 01:11:31,329 --> 01:11:32,621 ...of the world. 1354 01:11:32,789 --> 01:11:35,332 - Them worldly reasons. - If you like. 1355 01:11:35,500 --> 01:11:38,168 - Them elegant reasons. - That was your description. 1356 01:11:38,336 --> 01:11:39,920 You ain't disagreed with it. 1357 01:11:40,421 --> 01:11:43,423 It's them reasons that your brother don't know nothing about... 1358 01:11:43,591 --> 01:11:47,052 ...hanging from his necktie from a steam pipe down in the basement. 1359 01:11:47,220 --> 01:11:49,346 He's got his own dumb-ass reasons. 1360 01:11:49,514 --> 01:11:54,393 But if we could find a way to educate him to them more elegant reasons... 1361 01:11:54,560 --> 01:11:57,020 ...and make them available to him and his buddies... 1362 01:11:57,188 --> 01:11:59,481 ...then there'd be a lot of folk out there... 1363 01:11:59,649 --> 01:12:02,651 ...could off themselves with more joy in their hearts. What you think? 1364 01:12:02,819 --> 01:12:04,987 Now I know you're being facetious. 1365 01:12:06,114 --> 01:12:08,824 I think you're right. I think you done finally drove me to it. 1366 01:12:08,992 --> 01:12:10,117 Mm-hm. 1367 01:12:11,494 --> 01:12:15,163 Professor done gone to laying mm-hms on me. I guess I'd better watch my step. 1368 01:12:15,331 --> 01:12:17,541 You better had. I might be warming up the trick bag. 1369 01:12:17,709 --> 01:12:22,671 You think your reasons is about the world. And his is mostly about him. 1370 01:12:23,172 --> 01:12:24,965 I think that's probably true. 1371 01:12:25,508 --> 01:12:28,260 I think I see a different truth sitting across the table from me. 1372 01:12:28,428 --> 01:12:32,639 - Which is? - That you must love your brother or die. 1373 01:12:32,807 --> 01:12:36,977 I don't know what that means. It's another world from anything I know. 1374 01:12:37,145 --> 01:12:41,314 - Well, well, tell me how your world is. - You don't want to hear it. 1375 01:12:41,482 --> 01:12:42,941 - Sure I do. - I don't think so. 1376 01:12:43,109 --> 01:12:45,902 Yeah, go ahead. 1377 01:12:46,654 --> 01:12:48,488 All right. 1378 01:12:48,656 --> 01:12:51,450 It's that the world is basically a forced labor camp... 1379 01:12:51,617 --> 01:12:53,618 ...from which the workers, perfectly innocent... 1380 01:12:53,786 --> 01:12:58,081 ...are led forth by lottery, a few each day, to be executed. 1381 01:12:58,249 --> 01:13:02,627 I don't think that's just the way I see it. I think that's the way it is. 1382 01:13:02,795 --> 01:13:05,047 Are there alternative views? Yes. 1383 01:13:05,214 --> 01:13:08,884 Will any of them stand close scrutiny? No. 1384 01:13:10,470 --> 01:13:15,223 So do you want to take a look at that train schedule again? 1385 01:13:23,691 --> 01:13:25,942 If this ain't the life you wanted, what was? 1386 01:13:26,110 --> 01:13:28,612 I don't know. Not this. 1387 01:13:29,238 --> 01:13:32,741 - Are you living the life you had planned? - No, it ain't. 1388 01:13:32,909 --> 01:13:35,077 But I got what I needed instead of what I wanted. 1389 01:13:35,244 --> 01:13:37,162 Sometimes that's the best kind of luck to have. 1390 01:13:37,330 --> 01:13:39,289 Yeah, well.... 1391 01:13:40,833 --> 01:13:44,002 You can't compare your life to mine though, can you? 1392 01:13:44,170 --> 01:13:46,296 No, I can't. Ha, ha. 1393 01:13:46,714 --> 01:13:48,715 - Mm. - I just can't. 1394 01:13:52,220 --> 01:13:53,804 Oh, I'm sorry. I should go. 1395 01:13:53,971 --> 01:13:56,014 - You don't have to go. - I've offended you. 1396 01:13:56,224 --> 01:13:59,434 Look, my hide is thicker than that. Don't go. You ain't hurt my feelings. 1397 01:13:59,602 --> 01:14:01,978 I know you think I should be thankful. I'm sorry not to be. 1398 01:14:02,146 --> 01:14:03,939 - I don't think no such thing. - I should go. 1399 01:14:04,107 --> 01:14:06,817 - I'm digging a dry hole here, ain't I? - I admire your persistence. 1400 01:14:06,984 --> 01:14:09,277 What can I do to get you to just stay just a bit? 1401 01:14:09,445 --> 01:14:12,531 Why? Are you hoping that if I stay long enough, God might talk to me? 1402 01:14:12,740 --> 01:14:14,616 No, I'm hoping he'll speak to me. 1403 01:14:14,784 --> 01:14:18,495 I know you think I at least owe you a little more of my time. 1404 01:14:18,663 --> 01:14:20,163 I know I'm ungrateful. 1405 01:14:20,331 --> 01:14:24,417 But ingratitude is not the sin to a spiritual bankrupt... 1406 01:14:24,585 --> 01:14:26,336 ...that it is to a man of God. 1407 01:14:26,504 --> 01:14:27,879 I don't think you owe me nothing. 1408 01:14:28,047 --> 01:14:29,548 - You really think that? - Yeah, I do. 1409 01:14:29,757 --> 01:14:30,799 You're very kind. 1410 01:14:30,967 --> 01:14:33,635 I wish there was something I could do to repay you, but there isn't. 1411 01:14:33,803 --> 01:14:36,179 Why don't we say goodbye? You can get on with your life. 1412 01:14:36,347 --> 01:14:38,181 Suppose.... 1413 01:14:38,641 --> 01:14:40,475 Suppose I tell you you could wake up tomorrow... 1414 01:14:40,643 --> 01:14:42,644 ...and you wouldn't be jumping in front of no train. 1415 01:14:42,812 --> 01:14:44,563 Suppose all you had to do was ask. Would you? 1416 01:14:44,730 --> 01:14:47,107 That just depends on what I would have to give up. 1417 01:14:47,275 --> 01:14:49,025 See, I started to write that down on paper. 1418 01:14:49,193 --> 01:14:51,528 - What is it you think I'm holding on to? - I don't know! 1419 01:14:51,696 --> 01:14:55,699 What is it the terminal commuter cherishes that he would die for? 1420 01:14:55,867 --> 01:14:59,953 - I don't know. - No, no. 1421 01:15:00,746 --> 01:15:02,622 You don't. 1422 01:15:02,999 --> 01:15:04,916 You don't want to talk to me no more, do you? 1423 01:15:05,084 --> 01:15:06,459 I thought you had a thick skin. 1424 01:15:07,170 --> 01:15:09,379 It is, but it ain't hide to the bone. 1425 01:15:09,589 --> 01:15:13,884 Why do you think there is something that I won't give up? 1426 01:15:16,512 --> 01:15:18,221 I don't know. 1427 01:15:22,226 --> 01:15:23,685 I think... 1428 01:15:27,815 --> 01:15:30,025 ...has gotta have something on his mind. 1429 01:15:30,193 --> 01:15:34,237 I mean, most of us would just settle for maybe a slap upside the head. 1430 01:15:34,405 --> 01:15:37,824 You say you don't care about nothing, but I don't believe that. 1431 01:15:38,284 --> 01:15:41,828 I don't think death is ever about nothing. 1432 01:15:42,246 --> 01:15:46,666 You asked me what I think you're holding on to and I got to say I don't know. 1433 01:15:46,834 --> 01:15:49,169 Or maybe I just don't have the words to say it. 1434 01:15:49,337 --> 01:15:53,298 And maybe you know but you just ain't telling. 1435 01:15:54,091 --> 01:15:57,510 What I believe is that when you took your celebrated leap... 1436 01:15:57,678 --> 01:16:00,889 ...you was taking it with you and you was holding on to it... 1437 01:16:01,057 --> 01:16:04,517 ...holding on for grim death. 1438 01:16:05,853 --> 01:16:08,939 I'm just looking for the words, professor. 1439 01:16:09,232 --> 01:16:12,943 I'm looking for the words because I know the words is the way to your heart. 1440 01:16:14,820 --> 01:16:16,655 Well, I can't help you. 1441 01:16:16,822 --> 01:16:19,491 Letting it all go is the place I finally got to. 1442 01:16:19,659 --> 01:16:21,076 It took a lot of work to get there. 1443 01:16:21,244 --> 01:16:24,454 And if there's one thing I would be unwilling to give up, it is exactly that. 1444 01:16:24,622 --> 01:16:26,206 ls there another way you could say that? 1445 01:16:26,374 --> 01:16:29,376 The one thing I won't give up is giving up. 1446 01:16:29,543 --> 01:16:33,713 I expect that to carry me through. I'm depending on it. 1447 01:16:34,006 --> 01:16:37,634 The things I believe in were very frail, as I've said. 1448 01:16:37,802 --> 01:16:40,136 They won't be around very long and neither will I. 1449 01:16:40,638 --> 01:16:43,265 But I don't think that's really the reason for my decision. 1450 01:16:43,432 --> 01:16:45,976 I think it goes deeper than that. 1451 01:16:46,143 --> 01:16:47,978 You can acclimate yourself to loss. 1452 01:16:48,145 --> 01:16:50,522 You have to. I mean.... 1453 01:16:51,232 --> 01:16:52,607 You like music, right? 1454 01:16:53,234 --> 01:16:54,985 Yeah. Yeah, I do. 1455 01:16:55,152 --> 01:16:57,821 Who is the greatest composer that you know of? 1456 01:16:57,989 --> 01:17:01,533 - John Coltrane, hands down. - Do you think his work will last forever? 1457 01:17:02,576 --> 01:17:07,747 Well, forever's a long time, professor. So I got to say no. 1458 01:17:07,915 --> 01:17:09,624 That doesn't mean it's worthless, does it? 1459 01:17:09,792 --> 01:17:11,668 No, it don't. 1460 01:17:12,420 --> 01:17:15,171 You give up the world line by line. 1461 01:17:15,339 --> 01:17:18,425 You become an accomplice to your own annihilation. 1462 01:17:18,592 --> 01:17:20,051 There's nothing you can do about it. 1463 01:17:20,219 --> 01:17:24,055 Everything you do closes a door somewhere ahead of you. 1464 01:17:24,223 --> 01:17:27,392 Finally there's only one door left. 1465 01:17:27,560 --> 01:17:29,644 That's a dark world, professor. 1466 01:17:29,812 --> 01:17:33,815 Maybe you just need to admit that you're in over your head. 1467 01:17:33,983 --> 01:17:36,443 I do admit it, but that don't let me off the hook. 1468 01:17:37,486 --> 01:17:39,154 I got no choice. 1469 01:17:39,322 --> 01:17:40,864 Okay. 1470 01:17:41,032 --> 01:17:42,907 Maybe you're right. 1471 01:17:44,035 --> 01:17:48,288 Well, here is my news, Reverend. 1472 01:17:48,748 --> 01:17:50,623 I long for the darkness. 1473 01:17:50,791 --> 01:17:53,084 I pray for death, real death. 1474 01:17:53,252 --> 01:17:56,129 And if I thought that in death I would meet the people I knew in life... 1475 01:17:56,297 --> 01:17:59,799 ...I don't know what I would do. That would be the ultimate nightmare. 1476 01:17:59,967 --> 01:18:02,886 If I thought I was gonna meet my mother again and start that all over... 1477 01:18:03,054 --> 01:18:07,015 ...only this time without the prospect of death to look forward to... 1478 01:18:07,183 --> 01:18:11,644 ...that would be the final nightmare, Kafka on wheels. 1479 01:18:11,812 --> 01:18:14,064 Damn, professor. You don't want to see your own mama? 1480 01:18:14,231 --> 01:18:15,774 No, I don't. 1481 01:18:16,942 --> 01:18:19,235 I want the dead to be dead... 1482 01:18:19,403 --> 01:18:21,321 ...forever. 1483 01:18:21,489 --> 01:18:24,491 And I want to be one of them. Except, of course, you can't be one of them. 1484 01:18:24,658 --> 01:18:27,535 You can't be one of the dead because that which has no existence... 1485 01:18:27,703 --> 01:18:29,120 ...can have no community. 1486 01:18:29,288 --> 01:18:31,539 No community. 1487 01:18:31,707 --> 01:18:34,292 My heart warms just thinking about it. 1488 01:18:34,460 --> 01:18:36,753 Blackness, aloneness... 1489 01:18:36,921 --> 01:18:40,799 ...silence, peace... 1490 01:18:40,966 --> 01:18:43,051 ...and all of it only a heartbeat away. 1491 01:18:47,139 --> 01:18:50,141 I don't regard my state of mind... 1492 01:18:50,309 --> 01:18:52,477 ...as some pessimistic view of the world. 1493 01:18:52,645 --> 01:18:55,563 I regard it as the world itself. 1494 01:18:55,731 --> 01:18:59,984 Evolution cannot avoid bringing intelligent life... 1495 01:19:00,152 --> 01:19:02,487 ...ultimately to an awareness of one thing... 1496 01:19:02,655 --> 01:19:07,617 ...and one thing above all else. And that one thing is futility. 1497 01:19:08,702 --> 01:19:10,995 If I'm understanding you right... 1498 01:19:11,163 --> 01:19:14,165 ...you saying everybody that just ain't eat up with the dumb-ass... 1499 01:19:14,333 --> 01:19:15,834 ...ought to be suicidal. 1500 01:19:16,001 --> 01:19:18,002 - Yes. - You ain't shitting me? 1501 01:19:18,170 --> 01:19:21,756 No, I am not shitting you. 1502 01:19:21,924 --> 01:19:24,926 If people could see the world for what it truly is... 1503 01:19:25,094 --> 01:19:26,970 ...see their lives for what they truly are... 1504 01:19:27,138 --> 01:19:29,973 ...without dreams or illusions... 1505 01:19:30,141 --> 01:19:32,308 ...I don't believe they could offer the first reason... 1506 01:19:32,476 --> 01:19:35,478 ...why they should not elect to die as soon as possible. 1507 01:19:35,646 --> 01:19:38,106 I don't believe in God. Can you understand that? 1508 01:19:38,274 --> 01:19:40,150 Look around you, man. Can't you see? 1509 01:19:40,317 --> 01:19:42,610 The clamor and din of those in torment... 1510 01:19:42,778 --> 01:19:46,364 ...has to be the sound most pleasing to his ear. 1511 01:19:46,532 --> 01:19:50,493 And I loathe these discussions. The argument of the village atheist... 1512 01:19:50,661 --> 01:19:53,746 ...whose single passion is to revile endlessly... 1513 01:19:53,914 --> 01:19:57,542 ...that which he denies the existence of in the first place. 1514 01:19:57,710 --> 01:20:01,754 Your fellowship is a fellowship of pain and nothing more. 1515 01:20:01,922 --> 01:20:04,924 And if that pain were collective instead of merely reiterative... 1516 01:20:05,092 --> 01:20:07,510 ...the sheer weight of it would drag the world... 1517 01:20:07,678 --> 01:20:11,764 ...from the walls of the universe and send it crashing and burning down... 1518 01:20:11,932 --> 01:20:15,393 ...through whatever night it might yet be capable of engendering... 1519 01:20:15,561 --> 01:20:18,480 ...until it was not even ash. 1520 01:20:18,647 --> 01:20:22,192 And brotherhood... 1521 01:20:22,359 --> 01:20:25,278 ...justice, eternal life? 1522 01:20:25,446 --> 01:20:27,614 Good God, man. 1523 01:20:27,781 --> 01:20:32,076 Show me a religion that prepares one for nothingness, for death. 1524 01:20:32,244 --> 01:20:34,120 That's a church I might enter. 1525 01:20:34,288 --> 01:20:37,957 Yours prepares one only for more life... 1526 01:20:38,125 --> 01:20:42,253 ...for dreams and illusions and lies. 1527 01:20:42,421 --> 01:20:44,172 Banish the fear of death from men's hearts... 1528 01:20:44,340 --> 01:20:46,633 ...they wouldn't live a day. 1529 01:20:48,135 --> 01:20:52,430 Who would want this nightmare but for fear of the next? 1530 01:20:54,099 --> 01:20:59,521 The shadow of the ax hangs over every joy. 1531 01:20:59,688 --> 01:21:05,235 Every road ends in death, every friendship, every love. 1532 01:21:06,111 --> 01:21:09,781 Torment, loss, betrayal... 1533 01:21:09,949 --> 01:21:13,993 ...pain, suffering... 1534 01:21:14,161 --> 01:21:16,246 ...age... 1535 01:21:16,580 --> 01:21:18,540 ...indignity... 1536 01:21:18,958 --> 01:21:22,627 ...hideous lingering illness. 1537 01:21:24,672 --> 01:21:27,757 And all of it with a single conclusion... 1538 01:21:29,051 --> 01:21:31,970 ...for you and everyone... 1539 01:21:32,137 --> 01:21:36,140 ...and every thing you have ever chosen to care for. 1540 01:21:36,308 --> 01:21:38,434 That is the true brotherhood, the true fellowship. 1541 01:21:38,602 --> 01:21:40,895 And everybody is a member for life. 1542 01:21:42,022 --> 01:21:45,108 You tell me that my brother is my salvation? 1543 01:21:45,276 --> 01:21:49,070 My salvation? Well, then damn him. 1544 01:21:49,238 --> 01:21:52,532 Damn him in every shape and guise and form. 1545 01:21:52,700 --> 01:21:54,158 Do I see myself in him? Yes, I do. 1546 01:21:54,326 --> 01:21:57,537 And what I see sickens me. 1547 01:21:58,581 --> 01:22:00,540 Do you understand me? 1548 01:22:02,001 --> 01:22:04,210 Can you understand me? 1549 01:22:13,178 --> 01:22:14,470 I'm sorry. 1550 01:22:16,682 --> 01:22:18,224 How long you felt like this? 1551 01:22:18,726 --> 01:22:20,351 All my life. 1552 01:22:20,519 --> 01:22:22,437 - ls that true? - It's worse than that. 1553 01:22:22,646 --> 01:22:24,731 I don't see what could be worse than that. 1554 01:22:24,898 --> 01:22:28,192 Rage is really only for the good days. 1555 01:22:28,360 --> 01:22:31,195 The truth is there's little of that left. 1556 01:22:31,363 --> 01:22:36,784 The truth is that the forms I see have been slowly emptied out. 1557 01:22:36,952 --> 01:22:40,038 They no longer have any content. They're shapes only. 1558 01:22:40,205 --> 01:22:43,207 A train, a wall, a world... 1559 01:22:43,375 --> 01:22:46,544 ...a man, a thing... 1560 01:22:46,712 --> 01:22:49,881 ...dangling in senseless articulation in the howling void... 1561 01:22:50,049 --> 01:22:52,258 ...no meaning to its life... 1562 01:22:52,426 --> 01:22:55,053 ...its words. 1563 01:22:58,015 --> 01:23:01,184 Why would I seek out the company of such a thing? 1564 01:23:02,144 --> 01:23:03,186 Why? 1565 01:23:05,314 --> 01:23:06,898 Damn. 1566 01:23:07,566 --> 01:23:10,151 So you see what it is you've saved? 1567 01:23:10,319 --> 01:23:12,570 Tried to save. Still trying, trying hard. 1568 01:23:12,738 --> 01:23:15,406 - Who is your brother? - Who is my brother, yes. 1569 01:23:15,574 --> 01:23:17,659 ls that the reason I'm here in your apartment? 1570 01:23:18,160 --> 01:23:20,536 No, that's why I'm here. 1571 01:23:21,705 --> 01:23:23,247 You asked me what I'm a professor of. 1572 01:23:23,415 --> 01:23:28,628 I am a professor of darkness, the night in day's clothing. 1573 01:23:28,837 --> 01:23:33,883 And now I wish you all the very best, but I must go. 1574 01:23:34,635 --> 01:23:38,846 - Just stay a little while longer. - No, no more time. Goodbye. 1575 01:23:39,682 --> 01:23:41,849 We can talk about something else, I swear. 1576 01:23:42,017 --> 01:23:43,726 I don't want to talk about something else. 1577 01:23:43,894 --> 01:23:46,229 Don't go out there, professor! You know what's out there! 1578 01:23:46,397 --> 01:23:48,981 Oh, yes. Indeed I do. 1579 01:23:49,149 --> 01:23:51,609 I know what's out there and I know who is out there. 1580 01:23:51,777 --> 01:23:53,486 I rush to nuzzle his bony cheek. 1581 01:23:53,654 --> 01:23:56,781 No doubt he will be surprised to find himself so cherished. 1582 01:23:56,949 --> 01:24:00,952 And as I cling to his neck I will whisper in that dry and ancient ear: 1583 01:24:01,120 --> 01:24:02,662 "Here I am. Here I am." 1584 01:24:02,830 --> 01:24:05,248 - Now open the door! - Don't do this. 1585 01:24:05,416 --> 01:24:07,166 You're a kind man. 1586 01:24:07,334 --> 01:24:09,877 I've heard you out and you've heard me. There's no more to say. 1587 01:24:10,045 --> 01:24:15,216 Your God must once have stood at a dawn of infinite possibilities... 1588 01:24:15,384 --> 01:24:18,094 ...and that is what he's made of it. 1589 01:24:18,262 --> 01:24:21,431 You tell me that I want God's love. I don't. 1590 01:24:21,598 --> 01:24:24,600 Perhaps I want forgiveness, but there is no one to ask it of. 1591 01:24:24,768 --> 01:24:27,145 And there's no going back. There's no setting things right. 1592 01:24:27,312 --> 01:24:31,524 There's only the hope of nothingness. And I cling to that hope. 1593 01:24:31,692 --> 01:24:34,318 - Now open the door. - Don't do this. 1594 01:24:34,486 --> 01:24:36,779 Please open the door. 1595 01:25:14,985 --> 01:25:18,154 Thank you. Goodbye. 1596 01:25:22,785 --> 01:25:24,410 Professor? 1597 01:25:25,537 --> 01:25:28,372 I know you ain't mean them words. 1598 01:25:29,750 --> 01:25:32,335 I'm gonna be there in the morning. 1599 01:25:32,503 --> 01:25:35,046 I'm gonna be there, you hear? 1600 01:25:36,673 --> 01:25:38,966 I'm gonna be there! 1601 01:25:41,553 --> 01:25:43,805 I'm gonna be there. 1602 01:25:48,936 --> 01:25:51,562 You know he didn't mean them words. 1603 01:25:51,730 --> 01:25:57,276 You know he didn't. 1604 01:26:02,032 --> 01:26:05,034 I don't understand why you sent me down there. 1605 01:26:05,202 --> 01:26:07,161 I don't understand. 1606 01:26:07,329 --> 01:26:10,540 If you wanted me to help him, then how come you didn't give me the words? 1607 01:26:10,707 --> 01:26:13,793 You give them to him. What about me? 1608 01:26:22,970 --> 01:26:26,597 That's all right. That's all right. 1609 01:26:26,932 --> 01:26:29,559 If you don't never speak again... 1610 01:26:29,726 --> 01:26:33,020 ...you know I'll keep your word. 1611 01:26:34,189 --> 01:26:37,358 You know I will. You know I'm good for it. 1612 01:26:41,238 --> 01:26:43,238 ls that okay?