Original subtitles

You animals are going to learn how to behave or have you both sing in soprano.

What are we doing, man? A scene from The Godfather or something?

Enemy?

No.

I don't believe in enemies.

You've got big dreams.

You want fame.

Fame comes.

And right here is where you...

Okay, come on, Billy Hall, same combination, front and center. No way.

Oh, come on, kids, wake up and live. Now I'm getting tired of looking at Leroy

Johnson's face. He's the only one cutting it this morning. I said no way.

Dear, dear, I know that I am a kind and benevolent ruler, but I am the ruler,

and I demand some respect.

Okay.

No way, Your Highness.

Come on, man.

Do the dance. Why bother? You're dancing in the lead. You rehearse. I haven't

announced who's dancing the lead in this concert yet. You don't have to announce

it. Everybody knows it.

Yeah, well, I sure don't know it.

Yeah, and I don't know it either. So what are you talking about, Billy? Just

the dance. Don't push me. I wasn't pushing you. I was giving you some fish.

gonna make me? Yeah, I'll make you.

Hey, Roy, you better talk to that boy. I have my limits and he's heading towards

them at a high rate of speed.

Well, Billy's surely in touch with his feelings, I'll say that much for him.

How did he ever get into this school, anyway?

I got him.

Oh, that's real bright.

You got a problem with that, Mr. Donlan? Yeah, I do. What are we doing, man?

It's seen from the Godfather.

Why don't we talk to each other like human beings, all right?

Yeah, well, I think Billy's all right.

And I helped him get in here for the same reason that we're here.

He just might be a dancer.

You see, communication, that's what it's about, man. See, that's better.

Better. Duh.

Better.

Anyway, man, next time you help somebody get an audition, just make sure they're

a little more together, okay?

Get out of my face.

You mark my words, Billy's gonna be all right.

Yo, Mama, Billy's gonna be all right.

Come on.

Yo, Don.

Hey. Yo, I met this guy last night. He said you'd remember who he was. He told

me to say hello to you.

Yeah? Who?

Um, Kirsch Howard.

Keech Howard? Yeah, that's him, Keech Howard.

Yeah, I know him.

Well, that's what he said. He said you'd remember him.

I'll see you later.

Hey, hold it. Hey, man, I'll be late. Then you be late.

Tell me about this Howard.

You know something? You got too much hair on your head to be Kojak, all

So just give it up.

Howard, come on, tell me. All right, I was at Crusoe's last night. I was

out Bruno with his lyrics, right?

And we mentioned our school.

And some guy overheard us. And he came over to us. And he said he knew someone

from the school. And he mentioned your name.

He said that, um, say hello to you. He said you'd remember who he was.

Yeah, I remember him, all right.

See what I tell you.

Hey, Armatul. Hey, I'm gonna be late.

Hey, is this guy like a regular Caruso's or what? I don't know, man. Why don't

you just go there and find out for yourself?

Well, well, well.

Christopher Donovan.

I'm gonna have to write you up for being in the halls without a permit.

I thought I had this corner here.

Beg pardon?

I thought I was the hall monitor assigned to this corner.

No, I'm always here at third period.

Where the heck am I supposed to be then? You're not on hall patrol.

What? You're kicking me off hall patrol?

Oh, great.

Make one little mistake and the guy kicks me off hall patrol.

You're not on hall patrol. Trust my hump trying to fit in around here and be a

good guy.

And I make one little lousy mistake like showing up at the wrong place and the

guy kicks me off the stinking hall patrol.

Guy thinks he's Patton or Napoleon or something.

Talk about tough.

This place is like the army.

Could anyone tell me what in Hades is going on around here? If gutter language

is going to be used, I, for one, am leaving the room.

Sorry.

Can anyone tell me how this boy got into this school?

Oh, Billy Hall.

Well, Billy is sort of a special case.

Well, I should hope so. How'd he get in?

Well, actually, Leroy Johnson found him and arranged an audition.

Leroy Johnson vouched for him. That's right. And you should see him dance.

fierce. Well, he'd have to levitate to impress me.

What we have here is one screwed up young man.

Which is exactly why he belongs in this school.

Well, I yield the floor to the liberal from Fantasyland.

Billy Hall belongs in this school because we might, I said might, get him

take some of that anger and put it into a dance or a song or a play rather than

taking it out on the local liquor store.

Where do you think Leroy Johnson would be without this school?

Out of my hair.

Which ain't much.

What? Uh, I wouldn't, I wouldn't...

Count on it.

Even if you were right, and you're not, but even if you were, how do you talk to

this kid?

I had him in the office twice, and I couldn't understand a word he said. He

speaks some kind of street language.

Mr. Morlock, we all speak the language of the streets.

There are just a lot of different streets out there.

Yeah, Mr. Caruso, what do you say if I go behind the bar and make two double

espressos for me and my buddy here?

I'll break both your legs off at the shoulders.

Two double espressos, please, Mr. Caruso.

My pleasure.

So, uh, was this about the time of night he was in here or what?

What's his name, Howard? Yeah, I guess.

What's the big deal?

It's not a big deal.

I know the guy and just wondered what he's been up to.

Why, what are you guys, friends or buddies or something?

Not exactly.

You know, Bruno's on a break. I'm going to run over there and show him this new

bridge, all right? He'll love it.

Get him.

What was it, something I said?

Oh, no, he's just checking something out with Bruno.

They're working on some song together.

Oh, whoopee.

What am I supposed to do with these?

I see you got my message.

All I got was say hello to Don.

Between you and me, that's a message.

Let's talk.

Danny, I have to tell you about this lyric.

Your love knocks me out like Agent Orange.

I don't think it's going to work.

Why not?

For one thing, it's in poor taste.

Another thing is, there's no rhyme for orange.

Sure there is. Think of one.

Yeah,

look, I finished work in five hours.

Hey, I can think of one.

See, I don't have a whole bunch going on for me like you do.

And it's your fault.

No way, man.

Don't phone me, Donovan.

I'm working as an apprentice hot carrier in Jersey.

We both know you put me there.

I don't know that at all.

Then why are you here?

How come all I have to do is tell a guy to say hello, and you're here?

I'll tell you why.

Because you know you screwed me over.

That's why.

Hey, uh, my name's Amatulo.

We met last night.

Yeah, I know.

Delivered your message pretty good, huh?

Yeah, real good.

So where are you guys from? The same school, same neighborhood, or what?

Same weight class.

Golden Gloves, two years ago.

Him and me.

In the finals. He decides that two -fifths isn't enough.

He decides that two -fifths and a thumb is better odds.

Ref didn't call anything about you being thumb, man. That ref couldn't find

stink on a skunk, man.

You know, with the music and everything that goes on in this place, you'd think

the acoustics would be a lot better.

Hey, the acoustics are fine, man, so what are you talking about?

I haven't heard your buddy here say that he didn't thumb me, have you?

You owe me, Donovan.

Yeah, now, what do you figure he owes you, man?

What he owes me is a rematch.

And real soon.

I'll get us a couple more of these.

Do not despair.

There will be other tests.

With higher scores, progress is a possibility.

Thank you, sir. Would that help?

I was talking to myself.

Holly, very nice. B plus.

B plus. Great.

Coco, you can do better.

I'm working on it. Not hard enough.

Billy?

Gee, Pluck, you have got to be jiving. I wired this one, and if I'm lying, I'm

dying. Now, Billy, now just try to be cool and laid out.

Back? What?

Laid back.

Say what?

Uh, let's just try to mellow out here, and together we'll have this one taped.

What is this woman talking about?

Leroy? Yes?

What am I doing wrong?

About what?

Your friend, Billy.

I'm not getting through to him.

I understand both you and Miss Grant think he's talented.

Yeah, he might be. Why, you think about giving up on him?

It's tempting.

I don't give up that easily.

However, he's got me to the point I'm going to ask you something I never

I'd ask.

Which is?

Leroy, can you teach me how to talk jive?

Well, I could say yes.

Or I could say no.

But either one is going to get me in a whole mess of trouble.

Hey. What's up, man?

Hey, I don't understand it. Why don't you just cream this guy?

Because I already creamed him once. Yeah, well, it looks like he needs to

creamed again.

Maybe, maybe not.

You saw?

So maybe he had it right, man. Maybe I'm chicken.

Yeah, and maybe that ain't your style.

Maybe that's not the reason.

I don't follow.

It's that whole fight thing, Danny. That whole world.

Listen, could you imagine being the lead in a Broadway show?

No problem.

Now, imagine that it's a hit. It's a smash.

And overnight, you're a star. Name in, like, money.

Like I said, no problem.

Okay.

Now you wake up the next morning and you decide you have to get out of the

business.

What, am I crazy?

Maybe. Why do I gotta get out of the business for?

Because of doing bad things to your head.

Real bad things.

Like what? Give me a for instance.

I, uh, I got me a temper, you know?

When I was fighting, that was okay.

When I fought Howard,

You lost control, you thumbed him in the eye.

I don't know.

What do you mean you don't know?

Because I don't remember the last round of the fight.

Not because I got my bow wrong or anything like that.

Because I was so mad, so pumped up.

I remember the buzzer and getting off the stool and looking across at him.

And the next thing I remembered...

It was the ref holding up my hand when they made the decision.

That must be pretty scary, man, just blacking out like that.

Yeah, it scared me, man.

It scared me enough to get out of that racket for good.

You see, if I got all that much anger inside me, I got to watch it, that's

I got to watch it real close.

Don, you were not on hall patrol yesterday.

I know you kicked me off, remember?

It's not going to work two days in a row, Don.

It's not?

No, it's not.

I should have written you up yesterday, and that's precisely what I'm going to

do today.

Fight! Come on, man.

or I'll have you both sing him soprano. Don't blame it on me, damn it. I just

bumped into him with Berserk. Is that right? Did you start this? Yeah, I

it. I'll finish it, too, if you just take a hike.

No. You take a hike. You come into the office right now.

Christopher Donovan.

Do I remember something in your file about boxing, golden gloves, something

that? Yeah.

File almost into the office. I got a job for you.

Give me a minute.

Donovan. I couldn't go in here.

More like very upset.

Ready? When you are.

I'm hungry.

Translation.

I'm starving like Marvin.

No, no. It's I'm starving like Marvin.

Who's Marvin?

Sure, but it don't make no difference who Marvin is. Marvin rhymes with

starving. It makes it kind of like music.

I don't understand.

Say you worked on a hamburger joint.

You got two customers up at your counter.

One of them says, excuse me, I'm hungry.

And the other one says, hey, lady, I'm over here starving like Marvin.

Which one are you going to serve first?

Gotcha.

Okay.

Hello, lady, I'm over here starving like Marvin.

I'm not going to lie to you, Miss Sherwood. It needs work. Did I give up

No.

You really got a thing about getting through to Billy, huh?

You think I'm wasting my time?

Would I be here if I thought you was wasting your time? Now, come on, let's

back to work.

I'm starving like Marvin.

Good. Why, George, I think she's got it.

Almost.

Damn, damn.

Looked at cab.

Looked at cab.

A wave in the right hand. A wave in the right hand.

Now back off. You got him hurt.

Gordy. Yeah.

Gordy, this is Billy Hall, the guy I've been telling you about.

Keep an eye on these guys.

How you doing, man?

Billy, this is Gordy Mason.

Gordy's gonna take you around, show you some of the equipment, so next time

you're here, we could put you in the ring with one of those monsters.

You got no problem with that, do you, Will?

Uh, no.

No problem.

Go on and get to the locker.

Take good care of him, Gordy.

And Billy, be a good boy, okay?

Hey, I know it's none of my business, but how come you're so hot to get away

from boxing and you're getting Billy into it?

Because Billy's got a chip on his shoulder.

And Morlock thinks when you're angry, the ring's not a bad place to be.

So you think that stain on Morlock's good side makes sense?

I didn't know Morlock had a good side. He does, but he's sick on it a lot.

Hey, what have you got here?

What'd you do?

Go out and get a new backbone or something?

You're reading it wrong, Howie. That's not why I'm here. Then why are you here?

What do I got to do to get you in here, huh?

Nothing. Because I ain't getting in there, man.

I got no beef with you. Well, I've got one with you, buddy.

Gordy said he set me up with something good if I can show him that Golden

thing was a bum call.

Anyway, save it.

This guy's got a one -track mind. Or he would have if he had a mind.

So let's just get out of here. Let's go back to Cruzhold and let him do his

thing. That's all.

Yeah. Leave the boxing to the man, huh?

Oh, where, oh, where can my baby be? I'm hanging like a cat on a too tall tree.

She knows, she knows who she's gotta see.

Nobody, nobody to tell on me. Oh, back at the waiting room, Caroline.

Got a hole in her pocket in the very left side.

Waiting on her corner to make some time.

Waiting, waiting for Caroline.

Away from Jack's corner and another man's fly.

Caroline wouldn't have to welcome me.

It's real good.

Look, like, Kylo's around.

All you guys need to do is come up with a different arrangement. A little more M

.O .R. for this place, okay?

Good.

You charge extra for those lessons or is that on the cuff?

They're my friends. I mean, they asked me my opinion. I gave it to them.

Everybody in here lately is your friend.

That's not true. They're not all my friends. It's an exaggeration.

You'll do no things.

Timing is everything.

Don't make any noise. Don't go to the bandstand and touch the drums or the

microphone. I don't want to get into any more trouble than I am, all right? Come

on. Stick with it, all right?

Honey, looks like it's gonna be.

Hello?

Is anybody in here?

Hello?

My name's Dwight.

I was looking for Chris Donlon.

Really?

You were friends with him?

No, I don't think you could say that.

We both go to the same school.

You his enemy?

Enemy?

No.

I don't believe in enemies.

I think if people just communicate and talk, there's always a way to work

out without anyone being anyone's enemy.

Well, Dwight, you seem like a really nice guy. I wish I could say the same

for you.

Gee, isn't it a shame you had to go off and say something like that?

Why is that a shame?

It's a shame because I have a nice lady in Jersey who's eight months pregnant.

And it's a shame because my kid ain't going to have a hot carrier for a

And it's a shame because Donalyn's going for a ride.

And you're paying for the ticket.

Troubles and problems and noise?

Okay, now, okay, don't brag.

Modesty is part of your charm.

Can I have your attention, please, everybody?

A little respect for the performing artist.

Performing artist?

Maybe he's going to draw something.

Seems that the fuse blew, so the instruments are out. If the instruments

in, what you'd be hearing would be great.

But since it's not working, it won't be great now.

It'll be wonderful.

It's going to be special.

It's going to be a once in a lifetime experience for everybody.

But like I said, it's not going to be great.

Danny. Oh, yeah, right. Thank you.

Bruno's trying to remind me to introduce myself.

You see, I always seem to forget to introduce myself. My name is Danny

And like I said, it's a shame that the instruments aren't working. But yet it's

not a total tragedy because we got all of us.

And I think that's what it's all about.

When the world around.

When my burdens get so heavy that I can't stand up all alone,

I'm gonna lay my head down on one strong shoulder. I can't stand up all

alone. Oh, you can't stand up all by yourself. You can't stand up alone.

You need the touch of a mighty hand.

You can't stand up alone.

In trouble, I've seen trouble.

Trouble. All around my door. I've seen trouble.

Run away and leave me on my troubles. I don't want your trouble no more.

Oh, you can't stand up.

All by yourself, you can't stand up alone.

Give me a touch of my hand.

You can't stand up alone.

And the voice comes down just like thunder. And the light all around me

It said, get on up and grab hold.

Cause you can't stand up alone.

No, you can't stand up. Oh, you can't stand up all by yourself.

You can't stand up alone.

You need a touch of my hand.

You can't stand up alone.

No, you can't stand up. Oh, you can't stand up all by yourself. You can't

up alone.

You can't stand up alone Don't you fool yourself You can't stand up alone No way

You can't stand up alone You need somebody You can't stand up alone You've

no time You can't stand

First things first.

This is your summons for being illegally in the halls without a hall permit

yesterday.

You came all the way down here to give me this?

No. I went down to that gym place after I heard that Morlock sent you there with

Billy. Is that where you got beat up?

The guy who did it said I could find you here.

Howard.

And he calls me chicken after doing that to you.

Actually, it was just before doing that to me.

That's it.

That's it. The fight's on.

Hey, but you... But nothing.

Remember I told you the ring's a pretty good place to be when you're angry?

Yeah. Well, I'm angry.

You know, I definitely think this kid Dodlin's the right guy to get Billy Hall

involved in sports.

Mr. Morlock, do you really consider two men getting into a ring and pounding on

each other to be sport?

You know, you're right.

When it's really done properly, I tend to think of it as an art.

Well, you'd better give Mr. Donlan a message.

That sport and life of his is going to cost him his role in the concert if he

misses any more rehearsals.

I'll let him know.

Miss Sherwood, how's Billy doing in your class?

Much improved, Mr. Morlock.

And if I'm lying, I'm dying.

And when you're late, you run the risk of destroying the creative moment, the

moment when everyone is ready to work.

And if that is not a capital crime, I don't know what is.

You hear that, Mr. Donovan?

Yes, ma 'am, I did.

And? And I think you're right.

I think you should give the part to somebody else.

If that's supposed to be a trick, it isn't going to work.

It's not a trick. It still isn't going to work.

Don't get me wrong, Miss Grant. I would love to do the show.

But, well, it wouldn't be fair to you.

Why do I feel like you're about to offer me a set of encyclopedias?

You see, I've got this outside commitment.

Oh, this fight that everybody's talking about.

Yeah. Something like that. Chris, I thought you were finished with all of

stuff. I thought all that was behind you. It is.

But this is something I have to do for a personal reason.

Well, I guess it's better that I know about it now than later.

But it's all right, because you're not dancing the lead anyway.

Leroy Johnson is.

What'd I tell you?

No, thank you, Miss Grant.

That wasn't an offer, Leroy. That was a decision.

Well, I just feel I have my fair share of dancing the leads around here.

Honey, is Rod Serling in the room? I mean, am I in the twilight zone? What is

going on around here?

I just feel Billy should dance the lead.

Well, I don't think Billy is ready.

Well, I'll make sure he's ready. You got my word on it, guaranteed.

Leroy, why are you doing this?

For personal reasons.

Mm -hmm.

Class, could you assume your opening positions, everyone, please?

Step out, Leroy Johnson.

Billy Hall, front and center, please.

Yes, ma 'am.

I hope you have a big dream, because you got a hell of a mountain to climb,

young man.

All right, class.

Let's mark this from the beginning without music.

Five, six, seven, and one, two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight.

And hold, hold.

Let's go again.

Billy Hall, you got to straighten that leg in the back, okay? Come on, baby.

Let's go. Let's go.

Five, six, seven, and...

Looking pretty good there.

Thanks. How long have you been away from it?

A year, a year and a half.

Stayed in shape.

Dancing, man.

What do you mean?

Disco, that kind of thing?

Started off like that, but getting a little more serious about it now.

Dancing. You think he can take you?

Took him before, didn't I?

So you did.

You looking to make any money off this thing, or are you still interested in

staying amateur?

I'm interested in getting it over and done with.

I don't know why Howard's got such a bug in his ear about this rematch anyway.

It's like he's crazy, you know?

Yeah, I think I got something to do with that. Me and a kid named Shannon.

Davey Shannon, the middleweight?

The black middleweight.

I told Howard we had a big payday to be paid if I could book a white fighter who

could hang in there against Shannon.

He's looking to be that fighter. That's why he's out to the rematch with you.

He ain't got a chance against Shannon.

Come on, I didn't say you had a chance.

I said it was a payday.

I beg you back to work. You cool off all sweated up like that, you just might

take a chill.

Hey.

Keep the elbow down.

You know, if this place was a business, we'd be bankrupt.

You do realize that, don't you?

I do.

Our deficiency is efficiency.

A filing is riling, the scheme is scum, no doubting, no shouting.

Miss Sherwood?

Hmm? Are you burning out on us? It's for you, Mr. Morlock.

Can't you see that I'm busy, Mrs. Bird? Just take the message, please.

Glad to.

Why is it that these actor types insist on being so bloody disorganized? Why

don't you check with the White House?

He wasn't an actor. You said it. I didn't. He was a star.

That was Mr.

Bobby the Bank Haney. Thank you, Mrs. Bird.

Now, wait just a minute. There's more. Thank you, Mrs.

Bird. Please, wait a minute, or I'm going to forget.

He said you were down for 50 on the Donlon fight.

But he'd better see the color of your money pretty darn quick. Only he didn't

say darn.

Thank you, Mrs. Burke.

My pleasure.

If I were a betting person, I'd bet that was your bookie.

Thank you. Leave your picture and resume. We'll be in touch.

Leroy, that's what you're doing in there, boy. Aren't you on your lunch

Yeah, but I'm not hungry.

No? No.

I got bad news.

What kind of bad news?

Billy Hall kind of bad news.

Talk to me.

Leroy, tell me what's going on.

This granny just gave up.

Quit.

Sounds like he gave up on himself.

I mean, there's got to be something I could have said.

I mean, the whole time he was leaving, I just kept thinking of you.

I said, now, what would Ms. Grant say to make him stay?

Everything I said out of my mouth came out wrong.

Leroy, listen to me.

You know what you did?

You gave Billy Hall a chance.

You didn't have to do that.

You know, somewhere underneath all that attitude, there's a lot of goodness.

You gave that boy a chance.

Now, what you can't give him is the good sense and strength to take it. Nobody

can.

You think you're still in this school because of something I said?

No way.

You're here because of you.

And you should be proud of that.

Really. Because for every Leroy Johnson, I get 50 Billy Halls. And believe me, I

know it hurts. It really hurts.

I mean, what are you going to do? Give up trying because there's somebody too

boneheaded to take advantage of what you're offering them?

Baby, you did everything that you could.

The rest is up to him.

Ms. Grant, can I ask you something?

Sure.

Are you going to eat the rest of this 21st sandwich? I am starving.

Compliments to Caruso.

Free victory celebrated.

You that sure I'm going to win?

Of course you should, man. I'm the one who's training you. How can you lose?

If I eat too much of that junk, that's how.

Then I'll make a sacrifice to eat your piece so you won't be tempted.

Oh, such a prince. All right, anyway, look, we can't be there, so this is like

pre -fight. Yeah.

Why can't you be there?

Hey, you got your show, we got ours, remember?

Yeah, but what I'm doing isn't exactly a show.

Well, it's real close, though.

No, it isn't, not really.

Well, how is it different?

Well, when you're performing, doing a number, and it works, that's like you've

won.

And you're taking everyone along with you.

The people on stage, the people watching.

Everyone's along for the ride.

When you win a fight, there's a bloody guy on the canvas who isn't going

anywhere for quite a while.

It almost sounds like you really don't want to win.

Yeah, that's what it sounds like, isn't it?

I'm the very young man on the flying trapeze.

The fool of the high ground.

I'm the one who can run the greatest of feats.

I'm my house on fire.

Watch me burn.

Watch me burn.

You see that star coming out of the sky.

Like it's shot from a cannon.

Just like me trying to fly.

I thought I'd get some of them cold packs from my dance class.

Got a couple of bruises.

More than a couple of bruises, actually.

How'd it go with you guys?

It went great.

My man delivered?

All right.

Yeah, still got a ways to go.

But after what I saw in the gym, well, I figured I got to sweat to make it here,

but you got to bleed to make it there.

And it's not a hard choice to make when you look at it like that.

How'd it go with you?

That got anchovies on it?

I asked you a question.

Decision. Three rounds.

I won.

Howard's gonna pack it in, though.

Best thing, man. It's a dead end for him.

What about you?

A guy who runs a gym wants to sign me.

Blackfighter wants me to try.

Says I can make a bundle, be the great White Hope.

And what'd you tell him?

Told them hope ain't got a cut.

Good.

No anchovies.

Oh, you can't stand up all by yourself.

Can't stand up alone.

You need the touch of a mighty hand.

You can't stand up alone.

You can't stand up alone.

You can't stand up.