Original subtitles

[theme music]

(Samuels) 'Line up, people.'

'Graduation rehearsal'

'starts in ten minutes.'

[indistinct chatter]

Hey, who are you?

ABC Wrecking.

What are you guys doin' here?

In 20 minutes, this place will be a parking lot.

[instrumental music]

[machine whirring]

What do you mean the school comes down today?

I got the work order from the school board, June 13th.

That must be a-a typo, uh, uh

it's supposed to say July the 13th.

I just do what it says on the work order.

Hey, we got a graduation here tomorrow.

Can't you come back next week?

Sorry, I got another job on Monday.

Just one second, my good chap.

You can't tear this building down.

It's placed directly on top

of an ancient Indian burial site.

- It is? - Uh?

Yes, it certainly is.

This structure is placed directly on top

of the hallowed ground used by the Manhattoes Indians

taken from Manor, Dutch word for island

to bury their dead!

No kiddin'. That's very interesting.

- Who are you? - I'm an archeologist.

- He's an archeologist. - Yes.

Reginald Smythe. How do you do?

I've be scouting these archeologic

for quite some time.

Could be the most interesting find since Machu Picchu.

Let me show you the school playground.

Most interesting, fascinating.

Extraordinary discoveries

quite unseen by previous generation.

"Dear, Jasper, in the sum

"molecular structure of friendship

we're like cute ions circling the nucleus of an atom."

Wow. That really makes my good-luck Arvid seem shallow.

Oh. Jasper, there's nothing wrong with being succinct.

After all, Albert Einstein even summed up the universe

with a simple E equals MC squared.

You're one hell of a nerd, Arvid.

Hey, live long and prosper, huh?

Yo, Aristotle, what's another word for patronizing?

- Mm, condescending. - Condescending is perfect.

Okay, now give me a nice way of saying, "You stupid, jerks."

T.J., what are you writing?

- My valedictory speech. - What?

Yeah, I'm gonna send a few tassels tomorrow.

You know what I'm saying?

You do this speech, they won't need a wrecking ball

to destroy the school. Why are you doing this?

You know why they voted me valedictorian?

Not because I deserved it, but because they thought

it would make me feel real good.

Well, I guess it makes 'em feel real good

giving poor little T.J. a pat on the head.

But anybody who gives T.J. a pat on the head

is gonna get a black eye. You know what I'm saying?

Alright, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, look.

Maybe you do have a right to be mad

but this speech is gonna hurt a lot of people.

I mean, think about it, you know, we came here late

we were worried that we wouldn't fit in.

I mean, and you're not the easiest person

to get along with, T.J.

So?

And I get off the wall a little bit myself sometimes.

Mm-hmm. I heard that.

But these people let us be ourselves.

They let us be a part of something

that's very, very special.

And I don't think you should hurt them for that, do you?

Aristotle, they hurt me.

Oh, you guys, what would I do without you, all of you?

You know, Viki, when you first came to this school

well, I guess I was a little jealous of you.

I mean, I was going out with Eric

but then Eric wanted to go out with you

which was okay, 'cause I wanted to go out with Alex.

But then Alex wanted to go out with you too.

But as it turned out, you wanted to go out with Arvid

and I never wanted to go out with Arvid.

No.

Well, I'm just glad it never got in the way of out friendship.

Me too.

And you two, Sarah and Darlene.

'We've shared everything.'

I mean, I've grown up with you.

With help from you and because of you..

...I just hope I've grown up enough to handle this.

Hey, Dennis.

I wanna show you something.

Alright, alright. I hate signing these things.

Wait a minute. This isn't a year book.

No, it's an account book.

I've been keeping track of all the money

that you've borrowed from me since first grade.

What?

A total of $326 and 92 cents

and a John Travolta lunch box.

Come on, Darlene, you gotta have a heart here.

I can't pay back that much money.

- We'll get to that. - Yeah, but you--

Shut up.

Remember the first day of third grade? Recess?

A bunch of kids were calling me names

and you came up and you sat on them.

Yeah.

And last year in biology class

I couldn't remove my frog's liver

and you did it for me?

Yeah.

Of course, then later you dropped it

on Arvid's shirt, but still..

...it was a nice thing to do.

Alright, now stop. You know how I hate being called nice.

You know, Dennis

the thing that I'm gonna remember most about you

is that you never let me take myself too seriously.

I mean, just when I was about to get too pompous

there you were puncturing my balloon.

And, God, I can't believe that I'm saying this

but I am really, really, really gonna miss you.

Come on, Darlene, don't sat that.

And I'm forgiving your debt.

That you can say.

[laughing]

Hey! What happened to all the trophies?

Ah, yeah, I gotta see you later.

Well, Dennis, uh, well

what did you write?

- Where? - Where? In my year book.

Oh, yeah.

Hey, I hope you remembered to write something

about our trip to the Soviet Union.

Oh, and about the time we took Home Ec together

and you ate my pop quiz.

I couldn't forget that.

Oh, and I can't wait to see what you wrote about

us taking the same girl to the prom.

You kiddin'? I-I needed an extra page for that one.

So, let's see it.

I lost it.

You-you lost it?

You-you lost my year book?

- It-it'll turn up. - I-it's irreplaceable.

A-a-all my friends' signatures are in there.

I'll find it, alright? Arvid, grow up. They're just pictures.

Of my life, which I see mean nothing to you.

Arvid--

Or our friendship for that matter.

Arvid, you're over reacting, little buddy.

I-I'm not your little buddy anymore.

Hey, Billy, how's it going?

Are they gonna demolish the building?

Oh, I think I managed to squeeze us one extra day.

Yeah, I managed to convince the foreman

that our playground just about ancient tribal war council.

Fortunately, it just seemed dancers were wolves

and was feeling really guilty.

Billy, could I talk to you for a minute?

Yeah. Oh, excuse me, darling.

Sure. What is it?

I've been trying to apologize to my classmates

for all my past misdeeds

and it seems that every time I do

they wind up even madder at me

than they ever were before.

- What am I doing wrong? - Mm.

Alan, come here.

Now, look, I realize that you're captain of the debate team

and all that sort of stuff, right?

But when you apologize to somebody

don't elaborate, keep it simple, alright?

For instance.

Hey, whoever, I'm sorry I, whatever..

Whatever last, whenever. Right?

And then, if you feel the urge to add something to your own

just to make them feel better, don't.

[instrumental music]

Guys, I, I want to apologize--

Alan, please, don't.

(Alan) 'No.'

I wanna apologize for apologizing to all of you.

And I also wanna say..

...I know you think that..

...I felt that I was smarter than any of you.

And it's true.

It's true that I felt that way.

But the real truth is..

...you're all intelligent..

...and you're gifted..

...and you're wonderful.

And I'm proud to call you my friends.

And I'll tell you something, I'm..

I'm gonna miss each and everyone of you.

I knew it. Check him out.

- Guys, it's not what you think. - I'll tell you what we think.

We think your locker's full of stolen goods

taken from the school, which rightly belong to all of us.

Okay, it is what you think.

Dennis, I am shocked. How could you..

[gasps] Look, Darlene, this is the model heart

that I made for the state science fair.

- Look. - Yeah.

You see, guys, everything here reminds me

some special that happened here at school

and-and I just couldn't stand by and watch it

all gets bulldozed and tossed into a dumpster.

Hey, hey, guys, remember the time that I

I rigged this PA system with Helium

so the Dr. Samuel sounded like a chipmunk?

- 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' - Yeah.

Hey, Dennis.

Is this from the time I answered the winning question

at the buzzer that put us at the New York State finals?

- Yeah, you guys remember that? - Oh, my God!

Hey, oh, and this picture here

I used to stare at this picture

every time Dr. Samuels called me in his office to scream at me.

I was in his office when he did that.

Hey, guys, look.

This is our academic trophy from last year.

Uh-huh, a-and this is all gonna be on display

in the Blunden family rumpus room.

- 'Yeah.' - 'Aww.'

Who would have thought, of all people

Dennis would be the most sentimental.

(Darlene) 'I know.'

Okay, everybody. Come on, come on.

Hey, come on.

How about that?

It's always, uh, always the last place you look.

You wanted to keep this, too, didn't you?

No. No, I didn't wanna keep it.

I was, uh, I was gonna Xerox it, 'cause I didn't buy one

but, uh, I was gonna give it back to you.

Hey-hey, h-how come you have to be like this?

I mean, why can't you just say what you feel?

Because I don't wanna say what I feel.

I only wanna feel what I feel.

Ah, you know..

Arvid, I..

It just, it just hurts too much and..

I-I knew that if I tried to say something to somebody, uh

especially you that, oh, I'd probably start to cry and--

Well, don't you start to cry, Dennis

'cause I'll start to cry.

Hey, come on, I'm not gonna..

I'm not gonna cry.

Alright, come on, we got to get out of here. Huh?

"Dear Arvid.

"Well, little buddy, I-I guess this is it.

'"I'm off to MIT and you'll be at Caltech'

"and it just hit me, we're gonna be in a

"be a continent apart.

"But in my heart, we're only nano seconds away.

"I wish I could say this to your face

"but I know if I did, I'd start to cry.

[sniffling] I love you, little bud."

[sniffling]

- I'm gonna miss you, Arv. - I'm gonna miss you too.

[both sniffling]

Alright, come on.

Let's go.

T.J., i-it's me, Jackie from remedial class.

- Remember? - Yeah, sure.

I-I just wanted to tell you somethin'

in case we don't see each other afterwards.

Um, when you got out of remedial

and you started doin' so good, so well..

[chuckles] ...it just made me think that maybe I could do it too.

You know, and..

That's the only reason I'm graduating today.

Because of you.

Anyway, way to go!

And thanks.

[instrumental music]

Hey, T.J.

Word has it that you're gonna dis us

in your valedictory speech.

[chuckles] Yeah. Well, funny thing happened to me

on the way from the hallway to the podium.

Well, what I really wanted to say, you know, was thanks.

You know, like, thanks, Sarah, for being my peer counselor.

'Because if it wasn't for you'

I never would've made it to the IHP.

But I don't deserve to be valedictorian.

But maybe none of us do.

'Because we're all valedictorians.'

And I've really learned a lot here.

But more than what I've learned

are the friends that I've made.

And I just want to say thanks, and I love you all. Word.

[chuckles]

I'm back!

- Janice! Oh, my God! - 'Janice! Janice!'

- Oh! - Oh, Janice!

- 'Janice!' - 'Oh!'

(Sarah) 'Oh, Janice!'

You look great.

Oh, Janice, I don't believe you.

You came back to see us graduate, huh, kid?

No, num-nums. I'm here because I never picked up

my high-school diploma.

And you still owe me 30 bucks.

Hmm.

[indistinct chatter]

Hey, Janice, I'm goin' to Harvard, too.

- Tell me what it's like. - Oh, don't worry, Alan.

Harvard isn't nearly as rough as you probably think it is.

In fact, I just graduated yesterday.

What?

- Are you kidding me? - Oh, Janice!

So, are we gonna graduate or what?

I've got a job interview with IBM.

- Wow! - Wow!

[laughing]

Uh, Dr. Samuels, I got a little surprise for you

if you'd walk this way.

Dennis Blunden.

For crying out loud, won't you ever give up?

Dr. Samuels, I think you're gonna like the surprise.

Are you ready?

Right?

Ta-da!

This is all memorabilia from Fillmore.

I stole all these things for you.

(female #1) 'Yep.'

[chuckles] Well, this is the nicest gift anyone has ever given me.

No, I take that back.

You kids are.

When I went to the board of education with the idea

that honor students could monitor their own studies

they told me I was crazy.

But you kids proved them wrong.

'The IHP was my dream.'

'And you kids made it come true.'

'Well, anyway..'

'...it's time for you to go out into the world'

'in search of your own dreams.'

And, believe me, you'll meet people

who'll tell you they won't come true.

But when they do

I hope you think about me

and prove them wrong.

Oh, yeah.

So where's the funeral?

Huh? You look like it's your last day on Earth.

Come on!

It's graduation!

Today's the day you grab that diploma

in your sweaty palm

and set off to conquer the world!

Mind you, around September, the world's gonna be mounting

a sort of counter attack.

[chuckling]

But I've got great faith in you.

Let me tell you.

You know..

...you kids have travelled more within the confines of this room

than I have by trekkin' all over the bloody globe

looking for answers.

And believe this or believe it not

I think I've learned more from you than you have from me.

And I'm gonna follow in your footsteps.

I'm gonna settle down and do a little travelling in here.

I can only hope I don't lose my luggage.

[laughs]

So, without any further ado, go forth!

The world awaits!

[chuckles]

- Thanks, Billy. - Thanks, Billy.

Get outta here! Go. Go.

[sighs] These kids are gonna be okay.

Well, after today, they're not kids anymore, Dr. Samuels.

Yeah, well, after today

I'm not a principal anymore.

Come on. Just because they're tearin' the school down

doesn't mean they can tear you down with it.

Yeah, well, what's the point?

I have no place to go.

- Who told you that? - Yeah.

Come on!

Go for that principal's job at that new school.

Come on! Stand up to the board. I'll stand with you.

- Yeah? - Yeah.

Well, maybe I will.

- Yeah! - Right.

Yeah, I'll jump back into the scholastic saddle

and round up a new herd of nerds

and brand them IHP.

Heh. Even if the only job the school board offers me is

uh, principal of the nursery school.

Go on now.

[chuckling]

Hey, Eric. Come on, the ceremony is about to start.

- Yeah, I was just thinking. - About our wedding?

- Yeah. - Me, too.

There's so much to think about.

I mean, we have to decide how we're gonna pay for college.

You know, I was thinking, I could get a job

and put you through school, and then in four years

you could do the same for me.

Of course, I don't know what kind of a job

I'm going to be able to get, so I guess we have to find

a really cheap apartment.

I suppose we should start looking soon.

Is that what you were thinking about?

Sort of.

Um, I was just thinkin'

what do I call your mom now?

I mean, "Mother, Maurine.

Mother foster?"

Man! Kinda lot of stuff to think about.

This isn't gonna work out, is it, Eric?

[sighs] Look, Simone

I proposed...and I meant it.

But this just isn't practical.

Well, what about us?

What about being apart for four years?

Aren't you worried about that?

Look, it's like I said.

[sighs]

If we...love each other

then it's gonna work out.

And four years from now

there's nothin' in the world that's gonna keeps us apart.

Do you really believe that?

Yes.

So do I.

Simone, I..

I meant what I said about..

- You know.. - I know.

I love you, too, Eric.

[instrumental music]

Hi.

- Oh, hi. - What're you doin' in here?

Oh, I just thought I'd have a last look around, you know.

Nothing much to see, though, in front of me.

Oh!

Mr. Nixon.

What's wrong? Is it me?

It's Nixon.

Look, the risk is sound and cynical.

Don't you think it's time you go over Watergate by now?

[chuckles] It's not that, Billy.

It was August, 9th..

...1974.

The day that Nixon resigned that I first came to New York.

Oh, God!

Have I really been here 16 years?

[sighs] Bernadette..

...you don't want to stay here, do you?

I don't know.

You just, you get the feelin'

you've done it all before.

You've seen it all before.

If somethin' doesn't happen to change anythin' soon

well, you'll suffocate then?

That's exactly how I feel. How did you know that?

Because I've felt it myself a hundred times before.

And I've packed my little backpack a hundred times before.

And at 3 o'clock in the mornin' I've found myself

sittin' in bus stations a hundred time before.

I don't want to do it anymore.

See, I've learnt something since I came to America.

I like havin' a job I care about.

I like to sleep lyin' down.

[chuckles]

I like havin' a home.

- I like those things too. - Hmm.

You make it very tempting to wanna stay here with you.

But you think you should go while you get the chance?

- Yeah. - So do it.

[laughs]

- Go! - Yeah?

Yeah.

Okay.

So long, geniuses.

And now I'd like to call on the senior graduating class

led by the students of the Individualized Honors Program

'to receive their diplomas.'

"Viki Amory."

[audience applauding]

'"Dennis Blunden."'

"Arvid Engen."

"Simone Foster."

[audience applauding]

'"Theola June Jones."'

'"Jasper Kwong."'

[audience applauding]

'"Janice Lazarotto."'

"Eric Mardian."

[audience applauding]

"Aristotle McKenzie."

"Darlene Merriman."

[audience applauding]

'"Sarah Nevins"'

"Alan Pinkard."

[audience cheering]

'"Alex Torres."'

Ladies and gentlemen, the IHP.

[cheering]

...and Monica Zimmern.

Ladies and gentlemen

the graduating class of Fillmore High School.

[all cheering]

[theme music]

[music continues]