Subtitles by explosiveskull Sync by GoldenBeard
You ready for this?
I never been more ready for anything in my whole life.
I hope that nobody has ever had to look
at anybody they love...
through glass.
I need to tell...
- Hey. - Hey.
Alonzo?
Alonzo, we...
We're gonna have a baby.
I should have said already, we're not married.
That means more to him than it does to me,
but I understand how he feel.
Fonny is 22.
I'm 19.
I'm glad, Fonny.
I'm glad. Don't you worry.
You tell my daddy?
- Not yet. - You tell your folks?
Not yet, but don't worry about them.
I just wanted to tell you first.
A baby.
What you gonna do?
I'm gonna do just like I've been doin'.
I'm gonna work up to just about the last month
and then Mama and Sis will take care for me.
You ain't got to worry.
And, anyway, we'll have you out of here before then.
Are you sure about that?
I'm always sure about that.
I love you.
I love you, too.
Fonny used to go to a vocational school,
where they teach kids to mae all kinds of shitty things,
like card tables and hassocs and chest of drawers,
which nobody's ever gonna bu.
But Fonny didn't go for it at all, and he split,
takin' most of the tools from the workshop with him.
He started workin' as a short - o rder cook so he could eat.
And he found a basement where he could work on his wood,
and he was at our house more than he was at his.
It was all so simple.
Learn this, build that,
get a job and work it until the job became you.
But Fonny had decided on a whole new view.
You see, he had found somethig that he wanted to do.
And this saved him from the death that awaited the children of our age.
And though it took many form,
the death itself was very simple.
The cause was simple, too.
The kids had been told that they weren't worth shit.
And everything they saw around them...
proved it.
Hey. How you doin', li'l bit?
How is he?
He's just the same.
He's fine.
He sends his love.
That's good.
Did you see the lawyer?
Not today. I have to go on Monday.
He been to see Fonny?
No.
Mama?
Yeah, baby.
Mama...
Sing, mama, sing.
Get the good glasses.
- What you doin' with that? - What's it look like?
What's the special occasion?
You the man of the house, start pouring.
Oh, but of course, madame.
All right.
I wonder what all this is for.
Not too much for Tish.
All right.
What's goin' on?
Ooh.
This...
is a sacrament.
And, no, I ain't lost my mind.
We are drinkin' to new life.
Tish gonna have Fonny's baby.
Drink.
Uh...
Uh, well...
That's... That's one hell of a note.
Aren't you gonna drink to the little one, Tish?
How long has this been goin' on?
About three months.
- Yeah, that's what I figured. - Three months?
You mean, while you two was runnin' around here lookin' at places?
All right.
Tish...
you sure you want this baby?
Yes.
And Fonny wants it, too.
It's our baby,
and, a-and it's not his fault that he's in jail.
It's not like he ran away.
And we've always been best friends
ever since we were little, Daddy, you know that.
And we'd be married now if it wasn't for that lady...
Tish, he knows it. He knows it.
Your daddy knows it. He's just...
He's just worried about you, that's all.
Hey, don't you go thinkin' I think you're some bad girl
or any other foolishness like that.
I just asked you because you're so young,
that's all. And...
Unbow your head, sister.
To the newborn.
I hope it's a boy.
Oh, Daddy.
That will tickle old Frank to pieces, I bet.
Tish, do you mind
if, if I break the news to him?
No, Daddy. I don't mind.
I sure would like to be the one to tell them sisters.
Uh-uh, uh-uh.
You know what?
Joe, call 'em all over here.
- Oh, no... - No, no, I'm serious...
- Ma. - It's Saturday night.
We got a whole lot left in that bottle. It's not late.
As I think about it, that's the best way to do this.
Go on, call their asses on over here.
All right, look, all right. I think you're right, love.
Let's get them on over here.
All right. All right!
Woo!
- My baby sister's havin' a baby. - Mm-hmm.
Hey, hey, Nipsey Russell.
Hey, what's up? What y'all doin'? Hey, honey...
- What you wanna have? - A boy.
- Fonny. - Fonny.
What?
The day I realized Fonny was in love with me
was strange.
It was the day he gave Mama that sculpture.
I dumped water over Fonny's head
and scrubbed Fonny's back in the bathtub,
in a time that seems so long ago.
I don't remember that we ever had any curiosiy
concerning each other's bodies.
Fonny loved me too much.
And that meant that there had never been any occasion
for shame between us.
We were a part of each othe,
flesh of each other's flesh,
which we so took for granted
that we never thought of the flesh.
And yet, it was no surprise to me
when I finally understood...
that he was the most beautiful person
I had seen in all my life.
You know, I've slept in this park sometimes.
Nah, it's... it's not a good idea.
Why'd you sleep in the park?
It was late.
I didn't wanna go home.
I didn't wanna wake none of y'all up neither.
But I got me a pad down here now.
So you wanna eat down here
or you wanna wait till we get uptown?
Or, uh, do you wanna go to the movies?
Or do you want a little wine
or a little pot
or a little beer?
Or a cup of coffee?
Maybe you just wanna walk around a little bit more
till you make up your mind?
Come on.
Yeah.
Yeah. Ooh.
Y'all know we can see y'all, right?
Yeah. Don't be lookin'. Keep your eyes in there.
Oh, y'all nasty.
Yeah.
- Oh. That old rattle. - Oh!
- All right. - All right.
I got it.
- Hey! - Hi.
- Ernestine. - Adrienne.
- How you doin'? - Miss Sheila.
Hey, it's so nice to see you.
Gotta call an emergency or somethin' to see you?
- Great to see you. - Good to see you.
Fonny's mother didn't like me.
She just didn't think I was good enough for Fonny.
Which really means that she didn't think
I was good enough for her.
And in another way, she felt that I was maybe
just exactly what Fonny deserved.
- Young lady. - Daddy, I got it.
So you saw my big-headed boy today?
Yeah. He's fine. He sends his love.
Now, they ain't bein' too hard on him, is they?
Now I ask you like that because, you know,
he may say things to you he won't say to me.
Lovers' secrets?
Well, he hates it, you can see that.
- And he should. - Come on.
But... he's strong.
He'll be all right.
But we gotta get him out of there.
If he'd done his reading and his studying when he should have,
he wouldn't be in there in the first place.
- Girl, what you know about it? - Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
I got some gin and we got some whisky
and we got some cognac.
We ain't got no Thunderbird, though.
- I hope you ladies don't mind. - Mind?
Frank does not care if we mind.
Well, Mrs. Hunt, what can I get you, sugar?
I can offer you coffee, tea...
ice cream, Coca-Cola.
- Coca-Cola. - I got it, Mama.
How about an ice cream soda, Mrs. Hunt?
I can do that for you.
Sheila, why don't you help me?
Come on.
- Oh, Lord! Time flies. - Yeah.
I haven't seen you since all this trouble started.
Girl, don't say a word.
I've been runnin' myself sick all up and down the Bronx,
trying to get the very best legal advice I can find.
I just pray and I pray and I pray
that the Lord will bring my boy to the light.
- That's all I pray for. - Mm.
Every day and every night.
And then sometimes,
sometimes I think this might be the Lord's plan
to get my boy to think on his sins...
and surrender his soul to Jesus.
Yeah, you might be right.
The Lord sure works in mysterious ways.
Oh, yes, He does.
Now, He may try you,
but He ain't never left none of His children alone.
What do you think about that lawyer Ernestine found?
Um, that boy Hayward?
I ain't met him yet.
I just ain't had time to get downtown yet.
I know Frank saw him.
What do you think about him, Frank?
He's a white boy, been to law school, got them degrees.
I ain't got to tell you what that mean. It don't mean shit.
You're talkin' to a woman.
I'm hip.
And it's a mighty welcome change.
- Uh... - Like I was sayin'...
It don't mean shit. I ain't sure we gonna stay with him.
On the other hand, as white boys go, he's not so bad.
He's young and hungry,
so he's not as full of shit now as he may be when he's full.
- Hmm. - That's what I keep tryin' to tell you.
It's that negative attitude. You so full of hate.
If you give people hatred, they give it back to you.
Every time I hear you talk like that, it breaks my heart
knowin' my boy is locked up in some dungeon
that only the love of God will get him out of.
Now, Alice, I don't think that Frank was talkin' about hate.
He was just speakin' on the truth.
Well, I trust in God.
I know He cares for me.
Mr. Rivers, what exactly is the purpose of this meeting?
You didn't call us all the way over here
just to watch my father insult my mother.
Why not?
It's Saturday night.
Can't tell what folks won't do if they get bored enough.
Maybe we just invited you over to liven things up.
I can believe you're that malicious,
but I can't believe you're that stupid.
Uh, um...
Let me go check on that, um, ice cream float.
Uh-huh. Pedrocito.
Good to see you.
How can I help you, senorita?
I'm sorry your company tonight is less than desirable,
but, sadly, that cannot be helped.
I had never seen Fonny
outside the world in which I moved.
I had seen him with his father and his mother,
and I had seen him with us.
I had certainly never seen him in the world in which he move.
Perhaps it was only now I was able to see him with me...
because even though he was turned away from me laughing...
he was holdin' my hand.
Good night.
Tish?
Yeah?
Come and see my place, won't you?
But it's late.
It ain't far.
Okay, Fonny.
Okay.
Hey.
Happy landings.
Here, Daddy.
Oh.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey. - That's enough for you.
I called this meeting.
I had Daddy ask you all to come over so I could tell you
what I had to tell Fonny today.
What I had to tell Fonny today is...
Fonny's gonna be a father.
We're gonna have a baby.
You and me, we fixin' to go out and get drunk.
All right.
Oh, I'm glad. Don't worry, I-I'm mighty glad.
And who's gonna be responsible for this baby?
The father and the mother.
You can bet it won't be the Holy damn Ghost.
I guess you call your lustful action love.
I don't.
I always knew you'd be the destruction of my son.
The Bible says, "Put to death, therefore,
all that is earthly in you."
"Sexual immorality,
"impurity, passion,
evil desire, covetousness."
That child was born of sin,
and the Holy Ghost is gonna cause it
to shrivel in your womb.
But my son, my son will be forgiven.
- My prayers... - Oh!
- Oh. - Mama.
- Frank! - Her heart!
I think you'll find it's still pumpin',
but I wouldn't call it no heart!
Help me, help her. Come on, Mama, come on.
Joe, let the women take care of her, man. Come on!
Joseph. Joseph, go on. Go on, we don't need you here.
- All right, all right. - Come on.
It's okay, you got it. I got you.
Frank. Frank!
Okay. You're okay.
That was a terrible thing you said to me.
That was the most terrible thing I've heard in all my life.
My father didn't have to slap her.
- She's got a weak heart. - She got a weak head.
The Holy Ghost must have softened your brain, child.
Did she forget that that was
Frank's grandchild she was cursin'?
I don't think you have the right to sneer at my mother's faith.
Oh, don't give me that bullshit.
You so ashamed to have a Holy Roller for a mother,
you don't know what to do. Y'all make me sick!
And who do you funky niggers think you are?
She only asked one question.
Who is going to raise this baby? And who is?
Tish ain't got no education,
and God knows, she ain't got nothin' else.
Fonny ain't never been worth a damn.
So who is going to raise this baby?
I am, you dried-up, yellow cunt!
And you keep on talkin', I'll take mighty good care of you.
Adrienne, baby!
Can I tell you somethin', sweetie?
Ever since the first day I laid eyes
on your very fine person,
I got caught up in your Adam's apple.
Oh, I've been dreamin' about it.
And I can't tell whether I wanna tear it out
with my fingers or my teeth.
And if you touch my baby sister,
I'm gonna have to make up my mind real quick.
So touch her.
I knew we shouldn't have come.
Oh, Sheila. I didn't even know you could say that word.
Ernestine.
Come on, Sheila. Let's go.
- Come on, Mama. - Come on, Mama.
Just grab her purse. Come on.
Just come on, Mama. We got you.
Hold her purse. Come on.
Come on, Mama.
I hope you're proud
of how you raised your daughters.
My girls ain't gonna think of bringing no bastards home
to feed!
I can tell you that!
- That's 'cause won't nobody fuck 'em. - Ernestine.
That child that's comin'...
is your grandchild.
I don't understand you.
It's your grandchild.
What difference does it make how it gets here?
The child ain't got nothin' to do with that.
Ain't none of us got nothin' to do with that.
That child...
- That child... - Come on, let's go, Mama.
- Go on home. - That child...
; That child, that child...
Get your shit!
Take your shit with you.
Don't be scared.
Just remember that I belong to you.
Just remember that I wouldn't hurt you
for anything in this world.
You're just gonna have to get used to me.
And we got all the time in the world.
Hold on to me.
...Salowski,
please report to station master's office.
I like lying here like this.
I do, too.
That was my first time.
Did you know?
Do you like me?
I mean...
When I make love to you...
do you like it?
You just wanna hear me say it.
- So? - So what?
So why don't you go ahead and say it?
I just know that I love you.
Mrs. Victoria Rogers,
née Victoria Maria San Felipe Sanchez,
declares that on the evening of October 5th,
between the hours of 11:00 and 12:00,
in the vestibule of her hom,
she was criminally assaulted by a man
she now claims to have been Alonzo "Fonny" Hunt,
and was used by the aforesaid Hunt
in the most extreme and abominable sexual manne,
and forced to undergo the most unimaginable
sexual perversions.
I've never seen her, I know only
that an American-born Irishmn
went to Puerto Rico six years ago
and there met Victoria who was then 18.
He married her and brought her to New York.
Having pumped three children out of her, he left.
Her home is on Orchard Stree.
Orchard Street, if you know New York,
is a very long way from Bank Street.
Orchard Street is damn near in the East River,
and Bank Street is practically in the Hudso.
It is not possible to run from Orchard to Bank Street,
particularly not with the police behind you.
Yet Officer Bell swears he saw Fonny
run from the scene of the crime.
This is only possible if Officer Bell were off dut,
for his beat is on the West Side, not the East.
And yet, it is now up to the accused to prove, and pay for proving,
the irregularity and improbability of this sequence of events.
I'm doing everything I can to get him
back to you just as fast as I can.
But Mrs. Rogers' refusal to reconsider her testimony
has left us in a very tough place.
- And now she's disappeared. - Disappeared?
Well, how can she just disappear?
I don't think she's gone very far.
They certainly don't have the means for that.
But her family may have returned her to Puerto Rico.
In any case, in order to find her,
I'll need special investigators and...
- That means more money. - Unfortunately.
But doesn't it make it look bad for her case,
for her to just disappear like that? She's the key witness.
She's only one of the key witnesses in this case.
You have to remember this Officer Bell.
His was the authoritative identification of the rapis.
It's Bell who swears he saw
Alonzo running away from the scene of the crime.
If he saw Fonny run from the scene of the crime,
then why did he have to wait and come and get him out of the house?
Wait. Tish, Tish, wait... Let me get you straight now.
You're sayin' that that Officer Bell
tells her what to say.
- Exactly. - So you're sayin'...
There's no gettin' at the truth in this case?
Look.
If I didn't believe in Alonzo's innocence,
- I would never have taken this case. - Call him Fonny.
Excuse me?
Call him Fonny.
When you call him Alonzo, I see the judge
and the bars and the chains and the...
I know you're doin' my sister a favor,
and this is a very fancy law office,
but if you're gonna do this, you gotta be family.
So call him Fonny... please.
I understand.
Now, you and... Fonny insist that you were together
in the room on Bank Street with an old friend, Daniel Carty.
That's the alibi.
But your testimony, as you can imagine,
counts for nothing.
And Daniel Carty has just been arrested by the DA's office,
and I've not been allowed to see him.
What they're doing is really against the law,
but Daniel has a record.
They obviously intend to make him change his testimony,
and..., I don't know this,
but I'm willing to bet that that's why
Mrs. Rogers has disappeared.
So you see, I will do everything I can.
How soon do you need the money?
We're already tracing Mrs. Rogers.
I'll just need the money...
uh, as soon as you can get it.
I'll also force the DA's office to allow me to see Daniel Carty,
but they'll throw every conceivable obstacle in my way.
Don't you cry. Don't you cry, baby.
- Don't you cry. - Here.
Here you go. Wipe your face.
Hey.
You see Hayward?
Yeah.
What the fuck happened to Mrs. Rogers?
Where the fuck did she go?
I don't know, but we'll find her.
How we gonna find her?
We're sending people to Puerto Rico.
- We think that's where she went. - Yeah?
Suppose she went to... to Argentina, hmm?
- Or-or Chile or China? - How's she gonna get that far?
They can give her the money to go anywhere.
- Who? - The DA's office, that's who.
- Fonny, I don't think... - Oh, what, you don't believe me?
- Huh? You don't think they could do it? - I...
I don't think they have.
How are we gonna get the money to find her?
We're all workin', all of us.
Yeah, my daddy's working at the garment center,
you're working at the department store,
- and your daddy's workin' at the waterfront... - Fonny, you need to listen.
Listen to what?
That lawyer don't give a shit about me.
He don't give a shit about nobody!
You want me to die in here?
You know what's happenin' to me, to me in here?
I'm sorry, baby.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean none of that for you.
I love you.
You know that.
I do.
And I understand what you're goin' through...
because I'm with you.
You take care of yourself out there.
Fonny had been walking down Lenox Avenue
- when he ran into Daniel. - Fonny!
Time had not improved Daniel.
He was still big, black and loud.
At the age of 28, a little older than Fonny,
but he was already runnin' ot of familiar faces.
So they grabbed each other on the avenue.
- What's happenin', baby? - Why you askin' me, man?
Oh, because like the man say about Mount Everest,
- "You there." - Oh, come on.
What's goin' on with these threads, though, man?
Hey, you know, I'm out here lookin' for a job, man.
Oh, I can dig it, man. All right.
Yeah. Come on back to the pad.
We'll get some beer. Tish'll fix us somethin' to eat.
And though he certainly shouldn't be spending the money,
he pushes Daniel into a cab and they roll on down to Bank Street,
where I am not expecting the.
But I could not be indifferent to Daniel,
because I realized from Fonny's face
how marvelous it was for him to have scooped up
from the swamp waters of his past an old friend.
Oh, my God.
I get this, man.
No, Fonny, I'm serious, man. I-I get this shit.
This is, uh...
the abstract, right? Like, kind of that Negro...
- It will be something one day. - Yeah, I know, man.
Like, I mean... it's solid.
I mean, keep doing your thing, man.
This is...
It's got weight to it.
- You wanna smoke, man? - Hell, yeah.
Thanks, man.
They got lofts standin' empty all over the East Side, man.
They all firetraps, too.
And some of them ain't even got no toilets.
So you figure, finding a loft ain't gonna be no sweat, right?
But, man...
this country really do not like niggers, man.
They don't like niggers so bad, man,
they'll rent to a leper before they rent to a nigger.
Sometimes, Tish and I'll go together,
sometimes, she'll go by herself, sometimes I go by myself,
but it's always the same story, man.
And now I can't even let her go by herself.
Dig this, right?
Last week we thought we had ourselves a loft.
Cat had promised it to her.
- Okay. - But he hadn't seen me.
Oh...
You know, so he figures, a black chick way downtown,
looking for a loft all by herself,
- he think he gonna make it with her. - Really?
He thinks she's propositionin' him.
I mean, that's what he really thinks.
She come back to tell me, all happy and proud.
We go down there, and sure enough, when that cat sees me...
he says, "Oh, there's been some great misunderstanding.
"I can't rent you the loft 'cause, 'cause I got
"all this family coming in from Romania
in, like, a half-hour and I gotta give it to 'em."
Shit. I told him he was full of shit.
Yeah.
And then he threatened to call the cops on my ass.
I'm really gonna have to figure out a way of getting
some bread together and getting the fuck out of this country.
Oh, yeah? How you gonna do that?
I don't know yet.
Tish can't swim.
Come on, man.
- You all right? - Yeah.
Fuckin' wrong...
You wrong for that. Yo, man.
And, look...
Maybe you can go first.
Nah, man.
I don't think I could do that.
I'd be too scared.
Scared of what?
I'd just be scared, man.
You scared of what might happen to Tish?
I'd be scared of what might happen to the both of us...
without each other.
Mm-hmm.
You know, I know I might seem like a weird kind of cat, but...
I got two things in my life, man.
I got my wood and stone...
and I got Tish.
Without them, I'm lost.
I know that.
You know, whatever's in me, I ain't put it there.
I damn sure can't take it out.
I don't know if you're so weird, man.
I mean, I know you lucky.
I mean, I ain't got nothin' like that.
Can I have another beer, man?
- Hell, yeah, you can. - Mm.
- Here you go, big fella. - All right. Appreciate it.
- Yeah. - Hey, cheers.
Cheers.
I just got out the slammer, baby.
Two years.
They said, uh...
They still say that I stole a car.
I mean, yeah, I had a little bit of pot on me
when they grabbed me, but, man, I...
I don't even know how to drive a car, Fonny.
But then it sounded a whole lot better
than a marijuana charge, you dig?
By the balls, huh?
By the balls.
I've been smokin' up all your smokes, man.
Should have got Tish to get you some more.
Shit. You already made of money?
- There she go. - Hey.
- You need help in there, baby?
No, I'm fine. Y'all all right?
Yeah, we good. We just sittin' here starvin' as always.
I'm movin'. I'm movin'.
I'm... Tish, I'm playin'. I'm-I'm jokin'.
I gonna put somethin' real special on your plate.
She's takin' her jacket off, man.
She gonna put the dukes up.
Thank you, Tish.
Mm-hmm. - Mm-hmm.
- You got a good one, man. - Mm-hmm.
How long you been out, man?
Hmm.
About three months.
It was bad, man.
Very bad. I mean, it's bad now.
Maybe I'd feel different
if I had done something and got caught,
but... I ain't do nothin'.
They were just playing with me 'cause they knew they could.
And, look, I'm lucky that I only got two years 'cause...
when you in there, they can do with you...
whatever they want. You hear me?
What...
ever they want.
And they dogs, man.
Mm.
You know, I found out in the slammer
what Malcolm and them cats was talkin' about.
The white man
has got to be the devil.
Because he sure ain't a man.
Some of the things I've seen...
be dreaming about it until the day I die.
Hey.
It's all right, man.
You out now.
And you young.
Man, I hear what you're sayin'...
and I appreciate it, but...
you don't know.
The worst thing...
The worst thing is that they can make you so...
fucking scared, Fonny.
Just...
scared, man.
- You cats hungry? - Yeah.
- Yeah, we starvin'.
Tish, you didn't happen to bring back no beer with you, did you?
Um, I think we got some left.
- If y'all ain't drink 'em up. - Never.
Mm.
Tish, come on. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Tish. Seriously.
I'm not gonna cry.
God is good, God is great,
and we thank Him for this food,
and we thank Him to help Daniel at our table tonight.
Sounds like you got it all figured out.
I mean, who you learn that from, Fonny?
Get me out of here!
Get me out of here, baby, please!
Hey.
I know I can't help you very much right now.
Lord knows what I wouldn't give if I could.
But I know about sufferin'...
and I know that it ends.
And when you lyin' in this bed,
you not by yourself.
You got this child right here beneath your heart.
And we all countin' on you.
Fonny countin' on you...
to bring this baby here safe and well and...
You the only one that can do it.
You understand?
Yes, Mama.
Okay.
I don't wanna sound foolish...
but remember, love is what brought you here.
And if you trusted love this far,
don't panic now.
Trust it all the way.
I love you, baby girl.
I love you, too.
Hey, Jezebel.
Sis started calling me Jezebel after I got my job
at the perfume counter. She said...
You smell like a Louisiana whore.
The store thought that it was very progressive
to give this job to a colored girl.
I stand behind that counter all day long...
smilin' till my back teeth ache.
And it isn't only old white ladies
who come to that counter to smell the back of my han.
Very rarely does a black cat come
anywhere near this counter.
And if he does, his intentios are often more generous
and always more precise.
Perhaps for a black cat, I look like a helpless baby sister
and he doesn't wanna see me turn into a whore.
And yet, some black cats come closer,
just to look into my eyes to check out what's happenin,
and they never smell the back of my hand.
A black cat puts out his had and you spray it,
and he carries the back of his own hand
to his own nostrils.
But a white man?
A white man will take your hand,
he will carry your flesh to his nostrils...
...and he will hold it ther.
He will hold it there for a lifetime.
Thank you.
All right.
You want the good news or the bad news first?
Bad news.
See, that's how I know we family.
Okay.
The bad news is...
they found Mrs. Rogers, but she's in Puerto Rico.
Somebody's gotta go and talk to her.
Which we'll have to pay for.
- Okay. - Hmm.
So what's the good news?
You smell nice.
That they found her, baby.
But how did she get to Puerto Rico?
I can't go to Puerto Rico.
Mama and Daddy don't know.
I haven't talked to them yet
because I wanted to talk to you first.
Do you think she was really raped?
Baby sis.
I actually do think she was raped...
and that she has absolutely no idea who did it,
that the man could pass her on the street
and she wouldn't even recognize him.
But why Fonny?
Because he was presented to her as the rapist,
and it was much easier for her to say yes
than to try to relive the whole damn thing.
Oh. Well, what about Daniel?
Daniel can vouch for us. Daniel knows Fonny was with him.
And Hayward's gonna talk to him tomorrow.
He might have been able to talk to him today.
Some shit.
Yeah.
But we in it now.
And you, uh, you showed her the ad, right?
All right, lady and gentleman, here we are.
Hey, I know it doesn't look like much right now,
but, um, well, we're not done, you see?
You gotta, you gotta imagine that there's like walls
all the way up and down here and...
I mean, yeah, it's a, it's a work in progress.
Yeah. See, Tish, it's, it's not done.
It's a work in progress.
Fonny, I'm sorry,
but how we gonna make this into a home?
Look. Look, imagine there are walls, right?
Over here and over here.
I mean, see, none of this is gonna be here.
It's gonna be like we got our own little space.
And maybe there'll be some other young folks, over there
and, and over there, like a community, right?
Uh, yeah, a community. Yeah, sure.
But... where are we gonna cook
and sleep and bathe? I mean...
Where are my mama and them gonna sit?
Easy.
Look, I'll put a couch right over here, huh?
Mama, Daddy, maybe even Ernestine, right?
And the bed, I'll put all the way back there,
right against the wall,
so I can see that pretty light on your face when the sun rises.
Some of my sculptures over here and, and over here.
Right?
As far as eatin' goes, I was thinkin'...
I was thinkin' we could put a table right here.
What you think?
I don't know, Fonny.
As far as I'm concerned,
the only thing we missin' is a fridge.
But I don't wanna throw my back out
before we even have a chance to make a kid.
Hey, Levy.
Come on, give me a, a hand with this fridge, man.
- What, you-you want me to... - Yeah, come on, help me out.
Okay.
All right, babe, I need you to get the door.
Get the door, come on.
- All right. All right. You ready? - Okay. Yeah, I'm ready.
- You ready? - I'm ready.
- Three, two, one. - Uh-huh.
Oh, okay, all right. You good?
- Yeah, I'm good. - All right.
- Slowly now. Careful. - Okay, okay.
All right. Why am I straining more than you?
I got you. I got you.
Right on back here. Right on back here. All right.
- Right here? - Yeah, right here. Perfect.
Right.
Whoo! Ha!
Hey, that sure took a load out of me.
Yeah... me, too.
But what a man wouldn't do for love, eh, Levy?
Amen.
Well, thank you for my fridge, boys,
but don't forget about my stove.
Oh! Oh, yeah, of course not.
Uh, you mind helpin' me out with the stove?
- Not at all, no. - Levy? All right.
We gotta make sure we get that.
You don't gotta worry about your neighbors.
All you got down here is sweatshops.
And the place on the ground floor, though, it's legit.
So other than it bein' a firetrap, what's the catch?
Catch?
I mean, no offense, Levy, but...
we've been looking for a long time.
Don't seem to me like there's a reason
to treat two Negros so nice like.
I mean, clearly, we ain't got a pot
nor much of a drink to make piss with.
Pardon my French.
Look, man, with me, it's, uh, it's pretty simple.
I... I dig people who love each other.
Black, white, green, purple, it doesn't really matter to me.
Just spread the love, you know?
- Oh, so you a hippie now? - No.
I ain't take you for no hippie, man.
No, man, I'm, uh...
I don't know, I'm just my mother's son.
You know, sometimes that's all that makes the difference between us and them.
All right, well, just, uh, just keep in touch
about gettin' that deposit together, yeah?
Will do.
Will do, Levy.
- Thank you. - Yeah.
Whoo!
You ready for this?
I've never been more ready for anything in my whole life.
I'm gonna grab some things for dinner.
I'm gonna grab me some smokes from across the street.
What we gonna do?
Well, the first thing we gotta do
is we gotta stop blaming ourselves.
If we can't do that, man, we'll never get the boy out
because we'll be so fucked up.
And we cannot fuck up now, baby,
and I know you hear where I'm comin' from.
Yeah, I hear that, man.
But what we gonna do about the money?
You ever have any money?
- You ever have any money? - No.
Then why are you worried about it now?
You raised them somehow.
You fed them somehow, didn't you?
If we start worryin' about the money now...
then we fucked, and we'll lose our children.
That white man, baby,
he want you to be worried about the money.
That, that's his whole game.
But if we got to where we are without the money,
we can get further.
I ain't worried about their money.
It don't belong to them anyhow.
They stole it from us.
They ain't never met nobody
that they didn't lie to and steal from.
Well, I can steal, too.
And rob.
How you think I raised my daughters?
Shit.
And what you think is gonna happen?
- What we make happen. - Man, that's easy to say.
Not if you mean it.
Man, I love Fonny more than I love anybody in this world.
Makes me ashamed, man, because he was a,
he was a real manly little boy who wasn't scared of nothin'.
Yeah, except, maybe, his mama.
And now he's in jail and it ain't his fault,
and I don't know how I'm gonna get him out.
I'm sure one hell of a man.
Well, he sure thinks you are.
He loves you and respects you.
Let me tell you somethin' else.
Your son is the father
of my daughter's child.
Now, how you gonna sit here
and act like can't nothin' be done?
We got a baby on the way here, man.
You want me to beat the shit out of you?
Now... I know some hustles,
and you know some hustles,
and these are our children, and we gotta set them free.
So, let's drink on up, man,
and let's go on in.
We got a whole lot of shit to deal with in a hurry.
The date for Fonny's trial keeps changing.
This fact, of course, forces me to realize
that Hayward's concern is genuine.
I don't think that he very much cared in the beginning.
He'd never taken a case like Fonny's before,
but once into it, the odor of shit rose too high.
He had no choice but to keep stirrin' it.
It became obvious at once, for example,
that the degree of his concen for his client
placed him at odds with the keepers
of the keys and seals.
He had not expected this,
and at first it bewildered,
then frightened and angered him.
It didn't help that I distrusted him,
Ernestine harangued him,
Mama was exhaustin' him.
For Joseph, he was just another white boy
with a college degree.
Fonny's actual trial...
And so, I start lettin' out my clothes
and go to work wearing dresss that fit like sacks.
Mama starts preparin' hersef for a journey
to save Fonny's soul.
And Joseph and Frank are coldly stealin'
from the docks and the garment center...
sellin' the hot goods in Harlem or in Brooklyn.
They don't tell me any of this, of course...
but I know it.
I know it.
Thank you.
Here she come.
Big as two houses.
Are you sure it ain't twins
or triplets?
Shit, we might make history.
Your daddy figure hisself a comedian.
You look good, baby.
Well, thank you, honey.
Better than anybody in here. I don't care how big you get.
Well, as soon as that ain't the truth,
somethin' wrong. You tell me 'cause I'm out of here then.
How you doin', husband?
I'm good, wife.
You here now. I'm okay now.
You know I love you.
No matter what happens with all this shit,
you know I...
Tish! Guard! Guard!
Tish!
I'm all right.
I'm okay.
I'm fine.
You all right?
Me?
I'm not the one who just got punched
by a midget inside they belly.
I remember the night the baby was conceived.
It was the day we saw our loft.
I can sure dig a tomato who digs tomatoes.
Hey, sweet tomato.
You know I dig tomatoes.
Come on, brown sugar, give me a smile. Come on, babe.
What the hell are you doin', man?
Hey! Shit!
- Get off me! - Fonny, wait!
Get off me!
Fonny! Fonny!
Oh, Fonny.
What happened?
That man there attacked me.
And where were you...
while, uh, while all this was goin' on
between junior there and your girl?
- He was around the corner... - I was buyin' smokes.
...buyin' cigarettes.
Is that so, boy?
He's not a boy, officer.
You live around here?
Yeah.
- Bank Street. - Uh-huh.
Hm, I'm taking you down...
- No! - ...for assault and battery.
No! Stop!
Oh, no, you're not. Oh, no, you're not.
No, you're not!
I know both these young people.
They shop here very often.
What the young lady has told you is the truth.
I saw exactly what happened.
That's a funny way to run a business, lady.
You're not gonna tell me how to run my business.
I was on this street before you got here,
and I will be here long after you are gone.
Okay.
Bye-bye.
Come on.
I'll be seein' you around.
You may.
Then again, you may not.
Tish.
Yes?
Don't you ever try and protect me.
But you were tryin' to protect me.
It is not the same... thing.
Fuck!
Look.
Don't ever think, don't ever think
that I don't know that you love me.
Do you believe we gon' make it?
- We have no money. - Ah.
But we are very hungry.
And I will have some money in a couple of days.
A couple of days?
That's what they all say.
And I guess you also wanna sit down
while you eat, right?
Well, yes, if you can arrange it, that'd be nice.
Ah, let me guess.
You need a margarita.
Caught me again.
Oh...
Oh, Tish.
We are beginning to have a somewhat acrid dialogue,
this thing and I.
It kicks and I smash an egg on the floor.
It kicks and suddenly the coffeepot
is upside down on the table.
It kicks and the perfume on the back of my hand
brings salt to the roof of my mouth
and my free hand weighs on the glass counter
with force enough to crack it in two.
Be patient.
I'm doin' the best that I can.
Please?
And then it hauls off again like Muhammad Ali,
and I'm on the ropes.
Come on, sweetheart. Right here.
I'll make some tea for you, all right? Come on.
All right, nice and easy, baby.
Nice and easy, baby girl. All right.
Come right here. Come here.
Come on, sit right up there.
Lean into Daddy's arms. Come on.
Come on, I got you, baby.
All right. All right.
Take some deep breaths with me, all right? Come on.
Inhale.
All right, come on, I got you, baby.
You're doin' good.
You're doin' good, baby.
Mama gets to Puerto Rico on an evening plane.
Senora Rivers, you waiting for me?
Gin and tonic.
Thank you.
So, what do you want to see me about?
I don't especially wanna see you.
I wanna see Victoria Rogers.
I'm the mother-in-law of the man who she accused of rape.
Well, I don't know anything about that.
That can't be true.
You come all the way down here just to call me a liar?
I came down here to prove a man's innocence.
And you have to drag Victoria to hell and back to do that, right?
Mm, she's been through enough, more than enough.
Leave her alone.
A man is about to die for somethin' he didn't do.
Can we leave him alone?
Do you believe I love my daughter?
To be honest, lady, it's hard to believe
that you have a daughter.
Do you think I'd marry my child to a rapist?
You might not know.
Why are you coming to me?
I'm not an American.
You-you-you, you,
you called them lawyers up there, right?
I mean, look around. Shit.
I have my little thing here and Victoria, she's-she's...
She's putting herself back together.
And, lady, I don't need to put her through anymore shit, okay?
No. No, no, no, no. Buena noche.
Look at 'em.
Do you think I came here to make you suffer?
Look at me.
I'm looking at you.
Do you think I came here to make you suffer?
No. No.
Then take this to Victoria.
You take it to her and you ask her, you show her.
I'm a woman...
and I know what women know.
I know she was raped.
But I also know...
I know Fonny did not rape her.
When Mama wakes in the morning,
Pietro sends a boy to take her to Victoria.
She has become Pietro's responsibility
because like the man said about Mount Everest,
"You're there."
How long were you in New York?
Too long.
Children still there?
Listen.
Leave my children out of this.
Why did you come back here?
If it happened to you...
what would you do?
Daughter, I was a woman
long before you was a woman, remember that.
And I know...
I know you pay for the lies you tell.
You sent a man to jail,
one you ain't never even seen before.
Just 22 years old, young...
and he wants to marry my daughter.
I did see him.
You saw him in the police line-up.
That was the only time you saw him.
What makes you so sure?
I've known him all his life.
One thing I can tell, lady...
you ain't never been raped.
They took me down there...
and they told me to pick him out.
So that's what I did. I picked him out.
But it was...
It happened in the dark.
- You saw Alonzo in the light. - I saw enough.
Daughter, in the name of God...
Get off of me.
- Daughter, please... - Get off of me.
- Please listen... - Get off of me.
No, no, no. Get off of me!
Por favor. Por favo!
- Get off me! - Shh!
Get off!
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, no.
No.
Damn!
Fuck.
You all right?
Yeah, I'm all right.
The baby all right?
Baby's fine.
Gotta get some meat on your bones, hon.
Lord, have mercy.
Speak up. He can't hear you.
Look...
there's something I gotta tell you.
Mama came home from Puerto Rico.
She found Victoria, but the girl went crazy.
They don't know where she is now, so...
so the trial might be postponed.
Fonny?
- Fonny? - I'm fine.
Listen, I'm...
I'll be out soon.
I'm comin' home because I'm glad I came.
Can you dig that?
You see...
See, now, I'm an artisan.
I'm like a cat who makes tables.
I don't like the word artisan, I never have.
Guess I don't know what the fuck it means.
I'm a cat who... who works from his gut,
with his hands.
See, I know what it is now.
I mean, even if I go under, but I don't think I will now.
I know I won't.
Baby, I love you.
And I'm gonna build us a great, big table.
And our family's gonna eat off of it
for a long, long time to come.
Don't you worry.
I'll be home soon.
I'm comin' home to you.
I wanna be in your arms.
I wanna hold you in my arms.
I gotta hold our baby in my arms.
It's gotta be.
Don't you worry, I'm...
I'm comin' home.
I wanna be in your arms.
I wanna hold you in my arms.
I gotta hold our baby in my arms.
It's gotta be. It's gotta b.
Hi.
My little Fonny. My little Fonny.
I got you. I got you.
I got you.
I promise I got you. I promise I got you.
I got you.
I promise.
I promise I got you. I got you.
I got you.
Mommy's got you.
We're still not married.
After all this happened, neither of us cares
what that means.
Fonny was once 22, I was 19.
But neither of us is young anymore,
can't afford to be.
They say we gotta live the life we've been given...
and live it so our children can be free.
There aren't enough hours in the day or judges on the benh
to try all the cases brought against these men.
The game has been rigged and the courts see it throug.
A trial is their right,
but to bury you beneath the prison
for forcin' the judge and the DA to do their jobs
is the court's right, too.
And so, like many of these poor men..
Fonny took a plea.
Let's see.
I got something for you.
Here.
Yeah? Okay.
Wanna draw somethin' for Daddy? Yeah?
Hey, little man.
- Hey. - Hey.
I see you've been eating good.
Yeah, well...
Looks like I'm not the only one.
Nah, the apple don't fall too far from the tree.
Hey, who all this for?
- You. - For me?
Well, how'd you get the money to pay for all of this?
What, you got a job now, man?
Hmm? You runnin' numbers on me?
Mm-hmm.
Say dollar straight, dollar box.
Don't say that.
You gotta quit teaching him that mess.
Hey, what you drawin', Alonzo?
That's when you come home, Daddy.
Let me see.
Ever since I told him,
he just writes it everywhere.
Here, son.
Well...
I don't know about y'all, but I'm starvin'.
You gotta say grace.
Oh, we...
- Mm-hmm. - We gotta say grace?
All right.
You wanna say grace for us?
Thank you, God,
for the food we're about to eat
and for all of our blessing
and we have received
and for my daddy.
In Jesus' name, amen.
- Amen. - Amen.
Hey, Alonzo, you wanna help me with this, man?
Subtitles by explosiveskull Sync by GoldenBeard