Quantum Leap s03e09 Episode Script
Rebel Without a Clue - September 1, 1958
Dr Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished.
He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own.
And driven by an unknown force to change history for the better.
His only guide on this journey is Al - an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear.
And so Dr Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong.
And hoping each time that his next leap .
.
will be the leap home.
' Look, man, watch out! Hey, get away from me! What are you doing, dirtball?! Look out! Ooooooooh boy! Man, that stunt was crazy! Yeah, well, thanks.
Mad Dog, you should have seen your face! Yeah, was it a joke? You trying to kill me for a joke? Hey, he crashed, not you! Isn't he hurt enough already? It wasn't a joke.
(GROANS) Just lost control.
Oh, like you've never rode a bike before! Well, actually .
.
no.
(LAUGHTER) Dillon, stop him! Something you'll never do again! Hey, Mad Dog! Cool it! Cool it! Mad Dog Becky wants him to have a pass.
Oh, now she's the boss? No, I'm the boss.
You got a problem with that? Hm? Hm?! Get out of my way! MAN: Woo-hoo! WOMAN: Go, Becky! Thanks.
Come on, let's blow.
Hey! MAN: Oh, good shot, Mad Dog! (LAUGHTER) The guy rides with us a week, and this is the way you welcome him? Yeah.
Now he's stuck out here? He's a big boy.
There's a diner about 20 minutes down the coast.
We'll have some cold brew waiting for you.
(LAUGHTER AND WHOOPING) (ENGINES START) (WHOOPING) You mess with me again, you're gonna get jacked.
Jacked? You dig, dirtball? I dig.
(GROANS) Whoa! 'Quantum Leaping around in time, I've assumed many characters, but this was my first leap back as a dirtball.
' AL: Not exactly Brando.
But you kinda look like a wild one.
I'm a biker, Al.
Yeah, and somebody cut your fuel line.
I know.
Turn that petrol guard right there.
Right there, where your hand is.
Good.
Look at this.
This is a classic Harley Sportster 1957, Sam, you're styling.
Don't tell me you were a biker too? Er, well my first car was a bike.
I had a '48 Harley Knucklehead.
Named after you? I'll pretend you didn't say that.
I used to love to ride girls on the back of that thing.
Now, those were the days - and nights.
Is there anything you haven't done, Al? Well, there's one thing that's impossible to do on a bike.
Er, don't know.
Just heard that you leapt into a biker, so I rushed to check out your wheels.
What's that? Oh, that's nice.
You know, a good caricature can tell you really a lot about a person.
And I'd say that that person likes to be free.
Shane's pretty good.
Shane? Yeah, er Shane 'Funny Bone' Thomas, that's your name.
It's September 1st 1958, and you're somewhere about an hour south of Big Sur, California.
And according to Ziggy, you're the new kid on the block.
You joined the Cobras a week ago, and your MO is gang .
.
clown.
Gang clown.
Gang clown! That's kinda funny.
Al, I don't know how to ride this bike.
I don't have a clue.
I wrecked it in front of everybody.
There's nothing to it.
Your rear brake is with your foot over there.
Here's your front brake, throttle.
There's your clutch over there.
There's your gear shift - one down, three up.
Neutral's between one and two.
You kick start it with this thing here, only when it's in neutral and get it washed.
Al, I can't be a biker.
Where's your sense of adventure? Don't you know what it feels like? Yeah, like playing slip and slide on asphalt.
Look at my leg - I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about the way it feels when the sun blasts into your skin if you've got sunscreen on, and the wind waves by your face and you sail off into the blue on your chrome-plated candy coloured flaming red dream machine.
You never know what's around the next corner.
Probably a head-on with a semi.
(HORN BLARES) JUKEBOX: # ELVIS PRESLEY: Jailhouse Rock Get me one of those right now.
Right now all right?! We missed you, buddy! You know what you need right now? A shower? Some brew! (SHOUT OVER EACH OTHER) MEN CHANT: Bone! Bone! Bone! Bone! (CHEERING) No, no I gotta sit down and slip into a coma.
(LAUGHTER) What about more beer, old man? Let me see.
No.
Come on, let me see.
Come on! Come on, I like your stories.
I liked erThe Petrified Forest, the one where we met the Navajo Indians.
Yeah, I liked that one.
So come on! No, I'm not finished yet! Read it.
Come on! OK.
OK.
'Stirring the pool from its glassy sleep, I drank with cupped hands.
The ripples swirled and slipped away until at last I gazed into the still water and froze.
Drowning in the shadow of myself.
'Shadow of yourself.
' What does that mean? It means the reflection.
You know, like in a mirror? So why didn't you just say that? Why didn't you just say, 'She saw her own reflection'? If you don't like my writing, then - Hey, no, come on, baby.
Come on! I like your writing.
I'm just trying to figure out what it's all about.
That's all.
It's metaphoric.
Oh yeah, what's that, Bone? Yeah, like he knows! Well, it It means I think that sometimes the words have a meaning beyond what they're saying.
Right.
It's not just the words.
It's also what's behind the words.
What's behind the words.
Yeah.
Like when we were in Korea.
They told us it was police action.
It was actually war.
We were out there.
We were freezing our asses off and we were getting shot at.
That ain't metaphoric.
JUKEBOX: # THE PLATTERS: The Great Pretender (CLEARS THROAT) So, er you were in Korea? Not because I wanted to be.
Ah.
My son's a marine.
Won himself the Navy Cross fighting over there.
Got yourself a hero.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, man.
Fought the enemy single-handed when his battalion got surrounded at the Chosin Reservoir.
Probably get the Congressional Medal Of Honour when he comes home.
The war's been over for five years.
Oh, well.
He's still missing.
But I got his '49 Vincent Black Shadow waiting for him.
Man, that's quite a bike.
Uh-huh.
Hey, you mind we come by, we check it out? Sorry, man.
It's in storage at his uncle's.
How much you want for it? Hey, that bike's not for sale.
Anybody still over there is either dead or a commie turncoat.
His son's not a communist.
Don't matter, old man.
He ain't coming back, he's dead.
No, he's not.
He's dead! Hey, shut up.
I'm talking about the old man's son, OK? My Darrell is not dead.
And he ain't no commie.
(LAUGHTER) Hey, what's this? Oh, it's nothing.
No, no, what's that? Supposed to be Dillon's old lady, huh? Dillon, Bone drew a picture of your old lady.
It's not bad.
Do me.
I can't.
Why not? MAN: Do it! MAN: It's gonna be good! WOMAN: Yeah! MAN: Come on, Bone, let's see it! (LAUGHTER) (LAUGHS) MAN: Woof woof! Woof woof! It's your spitting image, Mad Dog.
Come on, man.
Let's - Dillon, stop him! Easy, easy! Easy, easy, easy, easy! Save it, Sam.
MAD DOG: Get off! Hey, hey, hey, hey! Come on, come on.
We came here to down a few brews.
You want to blow the gig or what? Come on, Mad Dog.
Mad Dog! Mad Dog! Mad Dog! Why don't you clean some of the dirt off, make me feel better? Er, here.
Here's a towel.
The sink's in the kitchen.
You OK, Sam? Yeah, I mean, aside from almost getting in a shuffle, with some guy who wanted to jack me, I'm great (!) Would you mind telling me what I'm here to do, so I can get out of here, because so far, Al, this leap has not been a whole - You're here to prevent a murder.
Oh great, I've got to save 'My son is not a communist!' Don't tell me it's Becky? One of those creeps is gonna kill her? She's found stabbed to death on a beach about 30 miles north of here.
Ziggy says it's gonna take place in the next 24 hours.
You OK? Hey, you look like you did that before.
Oh, it was in another life.
MAN: Get some more beer over here, old man! Here, let me help you.
Boy, your buddies are gonna be a pain in the behind.
They're not my buddies.
MAN: Beer! Beer, beer, beer! I bet that Black Shadow's cherry.
And that old coot can dance, dash around here somewhere.
Hey, hey.
Check out the new waitress! Hey, baby! I'm gonna go for a walk.
Not bad.
Hm.
Hey, where you going, man? I lost my appetite.
Come on, suddenly Bone ain't so funny! If he can get her, he can have her.
BECKY: Oh, I never realised how beautiful the ocean is.
SAM: You've never seen the ocean? Well, there isn't much beachfront in Wichita.
So Dillon came around and .
.
saved you from a boring life in nowhere's-ville, huh? Something like that.
How about your folks? Well, my mom took the easy way out.
She died when I was seven.
Your dad? My dad died too.
He just never sobered up long enough to realise it.
(SIGHS) Becky Hey, hey.
I got out.
And riding with Dillon Now I'm as free as he is.
I'm not sure that you can call being with Dillon free.
Jack Kerouac would.
I'm on the road like Kerouac was.
Living life, seeing what's out there.
I don't think that that means you have to follow Dillon.
Don't you see? Dillon's one of the mad ones.
He's living life on the edge.
He's just gonna take you down with him.
How do you know? Because I've known types like Dillon before.
Becky you gotta get away from him.
Don't go.
Hey.
Shane Shane Well, looks like you two had a little heart-to-heart.
That's right.
I want her to stay here.
Is that right, cowboy? (CHUCKLES) That's right, Martial Dillon! She's my girl now! Well, well.
Looks like you belong to cowboy Bone now.
Is that right, Miss Becky? BECKY: Dillon, stop him! Stop Mad Dog, why? Cowboy Bone's trying to steal my girl.
This isn't funny any more, OK? Let's go, Dillon.
Drop him, Mad Dog! You crack me up, man.
You crack me up.
(WHOOPING) ERNIE: You gotta go after her.
I got some spare few lines in here somewhere.
There you go.
All righty.
Now, hold on.
I want you to see something.
(CHUCKLES) (WHISTLES) Vincent Black Shadow, she's beautiful! I keep her cleaned and polished for when Darrell comes home.
You must be real proud of him.
Oh, man.
Now let me take care of you.
Thanks a lot.
You ain't like them other boys.
How in the world did you get hooked up with them? I just sorta fell into it.
I'll tell you what, I don't trust 'em.
Well, that's OK because I don't either.
Strange, ain't it? Hm? I mean, how boys like that come back from Korea and my son's still there.
And, look, I don't wish harm on nobody in this world.
But that just don't seem right.
(SIGHS) You ever lost anybody? Yeah.
But I got 'em back.
Yeah, I want you to listen to this.
See, er See, this is about where an American boy came back from Korea that they thought was dead.
Now, there's still some boys over there too.
Sure, some of them stayed because they was young and brainwashed.
AL: It's true, Sam.
Some American POWs stayed over there after the war ended.
What about Darrell? Ah, no, no, no.
Not my Darrell.
He wouldn't do anything like that.
He's smart, the boy's honest.
Besides, until I see him one way or another I gotta believe he's coming back alive.
Darrell Tyler was listed missing in action.
His remains are gonna be returned to the United States in two years.
And Ernie dies a few months after that.
Maybe I should have told him the truth, Al.
No.
Believing his boy is gonna come back is his whole reason for living.
Where you going? Dillon took Becky to some place called 'Carrilo'.
That must be Carrillo.
Carrillo! That's where she gets murdered.
(ENGINE STARTS) That bike belongs to his son! Who's dead.
You don't know that! Hey, I was over there, OK? I saw guys blown apart around me, all right? So don't you talk to me about it! Stop it! Hey, hey, hey! I just don't want to see a cherry bike like that robbed while some old coot waits for a ghost, OK? You're drunk! Come on, baby, let's play, huh? You're drunk! You don't even know what's happening! Write about it.
I'll read it in the morning.
Stop it! You're hurting me! Hey Go ahead.
What's the matter, man? Your old lady turning you to mush? (LAUGHTER) Dillon, no.
Do it, man.
BIKERS: Do it! Stop! God! (GROANS) (MOTORBIKE ENGINE) Come here.
Get on! Come here.
Come here! Come back here! (SHOUTING) Let's go! What a bunch of geniuses I got (!) They're both dead.
(COUGHING) They're both dead.
Get the hell out of here! Whoa! Get the hell out of here unless you want to take some buckshot.
Hold on, old man.
I called the Sheriff, and they're gonna be here soon.
For what? To arrest all of you for stealing my boy's bike.
We didn't steal it.
No, you sent that sprawny one to go and do it for you.
Bone stole the Black Shadow? Boy, don't play no fool with me.
Listen, I don't know anything about it.
I want them as bad as you do.
(LAUGHS) Well, you ain't never gonna catch him, cos he's halfway to the border by now.
I will catch him, don't you worry.
I will get your bike, too.
Come on, let's go.
(ENGINES START) All right.
They're gone? They're gone, they're headed south.
Guess you and her'll be heading north, huh? Yeah.
Listen, thanks from me.
My pleasure.
And you take care of yourself, honey, all right? Let's go.
I can't.
What? You go.
Becky, if Dillon comes back - He'll hurt you.
He'll hurt you.
He was just drunk.
I mean, he'll sober up, he'll be OK tomorrow.
Sooner or later he's gonna hurt you.
It's just a matter of time.
I told you, I'm not going.
Well, if you ain't going, I guess you're staying.
I got this spare room above my garage, it's yours for the night.
And maybe if you get some sleep you'll wake up with some sense.
But I doubt it.
Someone's birthday? And Christmas.
My God! He's saved his son's gifts all these years.
He's probably dead.
Listen.
You can't go back out with Dillon, you know? I have to.
Becky, come on.
He was gonna rape you.
No, it was my fault.
I embarrassed him in front of all his friends.
Shane, Dillon needs me.
Yeah, he needs you all right.
He needs to own you.
No, he doesn't.
You don't know him the way I do.
The war, it did things to him.
You know, sometimes in the middle of the night, he wakes up crying lost.
And it scares me.
And all I can do is just hold him until he feels safe again.
Shane, they hurt him.
That doesn't give him the right to hurt you.
Don't you see what's happening to you? Your father abused you, and Dillon is abusing you, and if you're not careful, the next guy is gonna be some jerk who drinks too much, and beats you and then what are you going to do? Good night, Shane.
She talks about 'On The Road' like it'slike it's the Bible.
Well hey, it's a great book.
That book changed my life.
You too? Yeah.
Sam, you're too young to remember the 50s, but let me tell you.
The 50s wereconformist, materialistic, repressive, boring and stupid.
And 'On The Road' rebelled against all of that.
For a lot of us, Kerouac started a whole new world.
It was a world of adventure and spirituality, jazz in the coffee shops and then rock 'n' roll.
And then free love.
Free love? I can see why he was your hero.
Yeah, andlike I knew Kerouac.
OK, all right, I didn't really know him.
Er, it was 58, Plebe year at Annapolis, and he gave a reading at St John's College.
A bunch of us went and we partied with him afterwards.
Well, what was he like? Well, he was a little sad, he was very drunk.
But when he talked, he lit up the room.
He had a charisma that comes along once in a generation.
I think that Kerouac's probably the only guy who could get her to change her mind right now, or at least get her to think about things.
Well, he's just 10 miles up the road.
What? Yeah, I looked it up.
All his biographies mention this cabin where he used to write, and there's even a letter from there to Allen Ginsberg, dated September 1st 1958.
(DOG BARKS) (JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS INSIDE) (KNOCKS) MAN: Who's that? Er, another guy on the road.
You want me to talk to her? Speak out against the road.
Well, yeah, if that's what it takes.
Man, I can't lie.
I speak for it.
I speak out for freedom.
I speak out for experience.
I speak out for life.
I speak out for all the roads criss-crossing America, in one immense, infinite dream that glides in one infinitesimal holy honey of creation.
That vast sea of the brotherhood that underlies the essence, the unborn essence of everything.
I speak out for the road .
.
zen, apple pie, hustlers, pimps, crazy jazz truck stops, cops, criminals, and all the things that blast past you while you're beedy-bopping down that old highway to heaven and hell.
Yeah, well, listen.
She She bought that, she bought all that and she ran away cos she was in trouble.
And see, now she's in bigger trouble.
And I-I I just need you to talk to her.
She's not my problem, man.
Well, no, yeah, she is.
Why? When did every kid become my problem? You wrote that book.
Dig it.
If it gets people to get up and live, then I did what I was supposed to.
The rest is on her.
But she's 18.
She's just a kid.
And she She believes every word you wrote.
And she's gonna destroy herself trying to live your life.
And all I want you to do, is just tell her to find her own.
I can't help her.
I am not a hero.
INSIDE: # THE PLATTERS: The Great Pretender Ernie? Ernie? I'm playing your song, Bone.
Get in! Get in there! Why? Why, Ernie? Why did you lie to us? I don't I don't know what you're talking about.
Yeah, right, old man (!) I made him.
I forced him to put us up here last night.
He didn't want to, and I I made him.
Bone.
Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone.
You should be halfway to Mexico by now, Bone.
What happened, huh? What happened? Did .
.
you lose your sense of direction? Yeah, I er We got a little I got turned around, and er I erm It was just, kind of a boneheaded thing to do.
You know.
Kind of boneheaded.
Why don't I find you funny any more? Come on, Dillon.
Let's get outta here.
What? And skip the morning coffee? (LAUGHTER) Particularly, I mean, now that I'm here .
.
with all my friends, and all my loved ones? MAN: That's us! Come on, Becky, don't you think that would be a little rude? Hey look, why don't you take everything that's in the cash register and just go, OK? Crushed me.
You crushed me, Ernie.
Do you think we would rip this place off after you had been so nice to us? Hm? That would be inhuman, Ernie.
Don't do that.
Huh? Yeah.
MAN: Sweeten him up! But lying is too, and you haven't been totally honest with us.
Not my stuff! Stop! What? Oh, sweetie.
What? What, hm? What? Just listen, all right? Hey, hey! You, Bone, not only lost your sense of direction, youyou lost your sense of respect.
Hm? Hm? Just let 'em go.
That's an option, isn't it? I say we waste him.
(LAUGHS) BECKY: Come on, baby, I'm sorry.
I'll never do it again, I promise.
I don't know what got into me.
I think I do, maybe who got into you.
(SMASHING) Look, listen to me, nobody did anything to anybody, OK? Why? Why would I believe a single thing you say now? Because it's the truth! Oh, no, it's not the truth.
(MOTORBIKE ENGINE OUTSIDE) That is the truth.
MAN: Yeah, Dog! MAN: Mad Dog! Hey! Hey, you get off that bike! That's my boy's bike.
That's Darrell's bike! You get off that bike! That's my son's bike! What did you say? I said, please get off my son's bike! Stay there, old man.
You're a tough guy, aren't you, picking on an old man? Come on! How about you? Come on.
Come on, buddy.
It's time.
Let him go.
Come on.
Come on.
(SHOUTING / JEERING) Come on.
MAN: Oh, Mad Dog.
MAN: Get up, Mad Dog! Damn, sir! You OK? Yeah.
Get him out of here! SoBone knows a little taekwondo.
BECKY: Don't fight him! He won't hurt you if you don't fight back.
Come on, Bone, let's see what you got.
If you don't fight, he can't do it.
Shut up.
Can't even do it in bed unless you fight him! Shut up! AL: Sam! Al! Come on! Duck! Kick! Uh-oh.
Come on, Sam, you can take this guy.
MAN: Let's go! MAN: Get outta here! You know, Sam, I hate to say it, but this doesn't look like it's working out right.
What? Well, they put Mad Dog in the hospital for three weeks and then he got out.
Then he hooked up with his buddy Dillon again.
Oh, in jail.
Hooked up with him in jail.
What about Becky? What about Becky? Er I guess you'll be going home now, huh? No.
I can't go home.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
Well, Ziggydon't have any information on Becky.
She just, kind of, disappeared.
Ernie, er Didn't you say something about needing an extra hand around here? Me? Uh-huh.
Oh yeah, I did, I did.
You know, I got that spare room over my garage, and it's piled full of books.
Ernie, I can't.
I've got to live life if I'm gonna be a writer.
I've got to stay on the road.
Being on the road doesn't mean that you literally have to be on the road, I don't think.
I mean, I think it's more about the journey of life, maybe, and you can start that right here.
No.
No, I've got to see, I've got to do.
I've got to move, I've got the groove .
.
away from the rumbling hooves of suffocating mediocrity.
That's what you were thinking, wasn't it? Oh my God! You're Jack Kerouac.
It's Jack Kerouac.
I was talking to a friend the other day about this very subject.
He was illuminating .
.
like a thunderstorm at midnight.
And when I overheard your dilemma, on my quest for a cup of coffee, I couldn't help but be reminded of it and other things.
On the wheel of life we all go around, we are many people, at many times.
We all go through phases of motion, devotion of the notion, of living on the edge .
.
of life, or of a continent.
But the road is not made of asphalt, but of the people we meet.
And each of us is on a different journey, and that's OK.
So sometimes it's OK to get off the road we ride on wheels, and just stay.
Something will come of it.
Cos that's a world worth writing about too.
ERNIE: Say, my man, how about that er cup of coffee? Oh, I'll come back later, when it's hot.
Bye.
What did you say to him last night? I guess, more than I thought I did.
What? I was just thinking, when he said coffee, it reminded me that I wanted a cup of coffee more than I thought I did.
Which reminded me, that Ernie still has a job opening here for someone.
Yes indeedy.
I mean, I I really like having young folks here again.
Go on, take it.
OK.
You've got yourself a waitress.
All right! She's got a friend, too.
Ernie's still alive, she probably helped him through the news of his son's death.
And she makes it as a novelist.
She's got a nice house in Carmel with an incredible ocean view.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
And welcome home.
He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own.
And driven by an unknown force to change history for the better.
His only guide on this journey is Al - an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear.
And so Dr Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong.
And hoping each time that his next leap .
.
will be the leap home.
' Look, man, watch out! Hey, get away from me! What are you doing, dirtball?! Look out! Ooooooooh boy! Man, that stunt was crazy! Yeah, well, thanks.
Mad Dog, you should have seen your face! Yeah, was it a joke? You trying to kill me for a joke? Hey, he crashed, not you! Isn't he hurt enough already? It wasn't a joke.
(GROANS) Just lost control.
Oh, like you've never rode a bike before! Well, actually .
.
no.
(LAUGHTER) Dillon, stop him! Something you'll never do again! Hey, Mad Dog! Cool it! Cool it! Mad Dog Becky wants him to have a pass.
Oh, now she's the boss? No, I'm the boss.
You got a problem with that? Hm? Hm?! Get out of my way! MAN: Woo-hoo! WOMAN: Go, Becky! Thanks.
Come on, let's blow.
Hey! MAN: Oh, good shot, Mad Dog! (LAUGHTER) The guy rides with us a week, and this is the way you welcome him? Yeah.
Now he's stuck out here? He's a big boy.
There's a diner about 20 minutes down the coast.
We'll have some cold brew waiting for you.
(LAUGHTER AND WHOOPING) (ENGINES START) (WHOOPING) You mess with me again, you're gonna get jacked.
Jacked? You dig, dirtball? I dig.
(GROANS) Whoa! 'Quantum Leaping around in time, I've assumed many characters, but this was my first leap back as a dirtball.
' AL: Not exactly Brando.
But you kinda look like a wild one.
I'm a biker, Al.
Yeah, and somebody cut your fuel line.
I know.
Turn that petrol guard right there.
Right there, where your hand is.
Good.
Look at this.
This is a classic Harley Sportster 1957, Sam, you're styling.
Don't tell me you were a biker too? Er, well my first car was a bike.
I had a '48 Harley Knucklehead.
Named after you? I'll pretend you didn't say that.
I used to love to ride girls on the back of that thing.
Now, those were the days - and nights.
Is there anything you haven't done, Al? Well, there's one thing that's impossible to do on a bike.
Er, don't know.
Just heard that you leapt into a biker, so I rushed to check out your wheels.
What's that? Oh, that's nice.
You know, a good caricature can tell you really a lot about a person.
And I'd say that that person likes to be free.
Shane's pretty good.
Shane? Yeah, er Shane 'Funny Bone' Thomas, that's your name.
It's September 1st 1958, and you're somewhere about an hour south of Big Sur, California.
And according to Ziggy, you're the new kid on the block.
You joined the Cobras a week ago, and your MO is gang .
.
clown.
Gang clown.
Gang clown! That's kinda funny.
Al, I don't know how to ride this bike.
I don't have a clue.
I wrecked it in front of everybody.
There's nothing to it.
Your rear brake is with your foot over there.
Here's your front brake, throttle.
There's your clutch over there.
There's your gear shift - one down, three up.
Neutral's between one and two.
You kick start it with this thing here, only when it's in neutral and get it washed.
Al, I can't be a biker.
Where's your sense of adventure? Don't you know what it feels like? Yeah, like playing slip and slide on asphalt.
Look at my leg - I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about the way it feels when the sun blasts into your skin if you've got sunscreen on, and the wind waves by your face and you sail off into the blue on your chrome-plated candy coloured flaming red dream machine.
You never know what's around the next corner.
Probably a head-on with a semi.
(HORN BLARES) JUKEBOX: # ELVIS PRESLEY: Jailhouse Rock Get me one of those right now.
Right now all right?! We missed you, buddy! You know what you need right now? A shower? Some brew! (SHOUT OVER EACH OTHER) MEN CHANT: Bone! Bone! Bone! Bone! (CHEERING) No, no I gotta sit down and slip into a coma.
(LAUGHTER) What about more beer, old man? Let me see.
No.
Come on, let me see.
Come on! Come on, I like your stories.
I liked erThe Petrified Forest, the one where we met the Navajo Indians.
Yeah, I liked that one.
So come on! No, I'm not finished yet! Read it.
Come on! OK.
OK.
'Stirring the pool from its glassy sleep, I drank with cupped hands.
The ripples swirled and slipped away until at last I gazed into the still water and froze.
Drowning in the shadow of myself.
'Shadow of yourself.
' What does that mean? It means the reflection.
You know, like in a mirror? So why didn't you just say that? Why didn't you just say, 'She saw her own reflection'? If you don't like my writing, then - Hey, no, come on, baby.
Come on! I like your writing.
I'm just trying to figure out what it's all about.
That's all.
It's metaphoric.
Oh yeah, what's that, Bone? Yeah, like he knows! Well, it It means I think that sometimes the words have a meaning beyond what they're saying.
Right.
It's not just the words.
It's also what's behind the words.
What's behind the words.
Yeah.
Like when we were in Korea.
They told us it was police action.
It was actually war.
We were out there.
We were freezing our asses off and we were getting shot at.
That ain't metaphoric.
JUKEBOX: # THE PLATTERS: The Great Pretender (CLEARS THROAT) So, er you were in Korea? Not because I wanted to be.
Ah.
My son's a marine.
Won himself the Navy Cross fighting over there.
Got yourself a hero.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, man.
Fought the enemy single-handed when his battalion got surrounded at the Chosin Reservoir.
Probably get the Congressional Medal Of Honour when he comes home.
The war's been over for five years.
Oh, well.
He's still missing.
But I got his '49 Vincent Black Shadow waiting for him.
Man, that's quite a bike.
Uh-huh.
Hey, you mind we come by, we check it out? Sorry, man.
It's in storage at his uncle's.
How much you want for it? Hey, that bike's not for sale.
Anybody still over there is either dead or a commie turncoat.
His son's not a communist.
Don't matter, old man.
He ain't coming back, he's dead.
No, he's not.
He's dead! Hey, shut up.
I'm talking about the old man's son, OK? My Darrell is not dead.
And he ain't no commie.
(LAUGHTER) Hey, what's this? Oh, it's nothing.
No, no, what's that? Supposed to be Dillon's old lady, huh? Dillon, Bone drew a picture of your old lady.
It's not bad.
Do me.
I can't.
Why not? MAN: Do it! MAN: It's gonna be good! WOMAN: Yeah! MAN: Come on, Bone, let's see it! (LAUGHTER) (LAUGHS) MAN: Woof woof! Woof woof! It's your spitting image, Mad Dog.
Come on, man.
Let's - Dillon, stop him! Easy, easy! Easy, easy, easy, easy! Save it, Sam.
MAD DOG: Get off! Hey, hey, hey, hey! Come on, come on.
We came here to down a few brews.
You want to blow the gig or what? Come on, Mad Dog.
Mad Dog! Mad Dog! Mad Dog! Why don't you clean some of the dirt off, make me feel better? Er, here.
Here's a towel.
The sink's in the kitchen.
You OK, Sam? Yeah, I mean, aside from almost getting in a shuffle, with some guy who wanted to jack me, I'm great (!) Would you mind telling me what I'm here to do, so I can get out of here, because so far, Al, this leap has not been a whole - You're here to prevent a murder.
Oh great, I've got to save 'My son is not a communist!' Don't tell me it's Becky? One of those creeps is gonna kill her? She's found stabbed to death on a beach about 30 miles north of here.
Ziggy says it's gonna take place in the next 24 hours.
You OK? Hey, you look like you did that before.
Oh, it was in another life.
MAN: Get some more beer over here, old man! Here, let me help you.
Boy, your buddies are gonna be a pain in the behind.
They're not my buddies.
MAN: Beer! Beer, beer, beer! I bet that Black Shadow's cherry.
And that old coot can dance, dash around here somewhere.
Hey, hey.
Check out the new waitress! Hey, baby! I'm gonna go for a walk.
Not bad.
Hm.
Hey, where you going, man? I lost my appetite.
Come on, suddenly Bone ain't so funny! If he can get her, he can have her.
BECKY: Oh, I never realised how beautiful the ocean is.
SAM: You've never seen the ocean? Well, there isn't much beachfront in Wichita.
So Dillon came around and .
.
saved you from a boring life in nowhere's-ville, huh? Something like that.
How about your folks? Well, my mom took the easy way out.
She died when I was seven.
Your dad? My dad died too.
He just never sobered up long enough to realise it.
(SIGHS) Becky Hey, hey.
I got out.
And riding with Dillon Now I'm as free as he is.
I'm not sure that you can call being with Dillon free.
Jack Kerouac would.
I'm on the road like Kerouac was.
Living life, seeing what's out there.
I don't think that that means you have to follow Dillon.
Don't you see? Dillon's one of the mad ones.
He's living life on the edge.
He's just gonna take you down with him.
How do you know? Because I've known types like Dillon before.
Becky you gotta get away from him.
Don't go.
Hey.
Shane Shane Well, looks like you two had a little heart-to-heart.
That's right.
I want her to stay here.
Is that right, cowboy? (CHUCKLES) That's right, Martial Dillon! She's my girl now! Well, well.
Looks like you belong to cowboy Bone now.
Is that right, Miss Becky? BECKY: Dillon, stop him! Stop Mad Dog, why? Cowboy Bone's trying to steal my girl.
This isn't funny any more, OK? Let's go, Dillon.
Drop him, Mad Dog! You crack me up, man.
You crack me up.
(WHOOPING) ERNIE: You gotta go after her.
I got some spare few lines in here somewhere.
There you go.
All righty.
Now, hold on.
I want you to see something.
(CHUCKLES) (WHISTLES) Vincent Black Shadow, she's beautiful! I keep her cleaned and polished for when Darrell comes home.
You must be real proud of him.
Oh, man.
Now let me take care of you.
Thanks a lot.
You ain't like them other boys.
How in the world did you get hooked up with them? I just sorta fell into it.
I'll tell you what, I don't trust 'em.
Well, that's OK because I don't either.
Strange, ain't it? Hm? I mean, how boys like that come back from Korea and my son's still there.
And, look, I don't wish harm on nobody in this world.
But that just don't seem right.
(SIGHS) You ever lost anybody? Yeah.
But I got 'em back.
Yeah, I want you to listen to this.
See, er See, this is about where an American boy came back from Korea that they thought was dead.
Now, there's still some boys over there too.
Sure, some of them stayed because they was young and brainwashed.
AL: It's true, Sam.
Some American POWs stayed over there after the war ended.
What about Darrell? Ah, no, no, no.
Not my Darrell.
He wouldn't do anything like that.
He's smart, the boy's honest.
Besides, until I see him one way or another I gotta believe he's coming back alive.
Darrell Tyler was listed missing in action.
His remains are gonna be returned to the United States in two years.
And Ernie dies a few months after that.
Maybe I should have told him the truth, Al.
No.
Believing his boy is gonna come back is his whole reason for living.
Where you going? Dillon took Becky to some place called 'Carrilo'.
That must be Carrillo.
Carrillo! That's where she gets murdered.
(ENGINE STARTS) That bike belongs to his son! Who's dead.
You don't know that! Hey, I was over there, OK? I saw guys blown apart around me, all right? So don't you talk to me about it! Stop it! Hey, hey, hey! I just don't want to see a cherry bike like that robbed while some old coot waits for a ghost, OK? You're drunk! Come on, baby, let's play, huh? You're drunk! You don't even know what's happening! Write about it.
I'll read it in the morning.
Stop it! You're hurting me! Hey Go ahead.
What's the matter, man? Your old lady turning you to mush? (LAUGHTER) Dillon, no.
Do it, man.
BIKERS: Do it! Stop! God! (GROANS) (MOTORBIKE ENGINE) Come here.
Get on! Come here.
Come here! Come back here! (SHOUTING) Let's go! What a bunch of geniuses I got (!) They're both dead.
(COUGHING) They're both dead.
Get the hell out of here! Whoa! Get the hell out of here unless you want to take some buckshot.
Hold on, old man.
I called the Sheriff, and they're gonna be here soon.
For what? To arrest all of you for stealing my boy's bike.
We didn't steal it.
No, you sent that sprawny one to go and do it for you.
Bone stole the Black Shadow? Boy, don't play no fool with me.
Listen, I don't know anything about it.
I want them as bad as you do.
(LAUGHS) Well, you ain't never gonna catch him, cos he's halfway to the border by now.
I will catch him, don't you worry.
I will get your bike, too.
Come on, let's go.
(ENGINES START) All right.
They're gone? They're gone, they're headed south.
Guess you and her'll be heading north, huh? Yeah.
Listen, thanks from me.
My pleasure.
And you take care of yourself, honey, all right? Let's go.
I can't.
What? You go.
Becky, if Dillon comes back - He'll hurt you.
He'll hurt you.
He was just drunk.
I mean, he'll sober up, he'll be OK tomorrow.
Sooner or later he's gonna hurt you.
It's just a matter of time.
I told you, I'm not going.
Well, if you ain't going, I guess you're staying.
I got this spare room above my garage, it's yours for the night.
And maybe if you get some sleep you'll wake up with some sense.
But I doubt it.
Someone's birthday? And Christmas.
My God! He's saved his son's gifts all these years.
He's probably dead.
Listen.
You can't go back out with Dillon, you know? I have to.
Becky, come on.
He was gonna rape you.
No, it was my fault.
I embarrassed him in front of all his friends.
Shane, Dillon needs me.
Yeah, he needs you all right.
He needs to own you.
No, he doesn't.
You don't know him the way I do.
The war, it did things to him.
You know, sometimes in the middle of the night, he wakes up crying lost.
And it scares me.
And all I can do is just hold him until he feels safe again.
Shane, they hurt him.
That doesn't give him the right to hurt you.
Don't you see what's happening to you? Your father abused you, and Dillon is abusing you, and if you're not careful, the next guy is gonna be some jerk who drinks too much, and beats you and then what are you going to do? Good night, Shane.
She talks about 'On The Road' like it'slike it's the Bible.
Well hey, it's a great book.
That book changed my life.
You too? Yeah.
Sam, you're too young to remember the 50s, but let me tell you.
The 50s wereconformist, materialistic, repressive, boring and stupid.
And 'On The Road' rebelled against all of that.
For a lot of us, Kerouac started a whole new world.
It was a world of adventure and spirituality, jazz in the coffee shops and then rock 'n' roll.
And then free love.
Free love? I can see why he was your hero.
Yeah, andlike I knew Kerouac.
OK, all right, I didn't really know him.
Er, it was 58, Plebe year at Annapolis, and he gave a reading at St John's College.
A bunch of us went and we partied with him afterwards.
Well, what was he like? Well, he was a little sad, he was very drunk.
But when he talked, he lit up the room.
He had a charisma that comes along once in a generation.
I think that Kerouac's probably the only guy who could get her to change her mind right now, or at least get her to think about things.
Well, he's just 10 miles up the road.
What? Yeah, I looked it up.
All his biographies mention this cabin where he used to write, and there's even a letter from there to Allen Ginsberg, dated September 1st 1958.
(DOG BARKS) (JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS INSIDE) (KNOCKS) MAN: Who's that? Er, another guy on the road.
You want me to talk to her? Speak out against the road.
Well, yeah, if that's what it takes.
Man, I can't lie.
I speak for it.
I speak out for freedom.
I speak out for experience.
I speak out for life.
I speak out for all the roads criss-crossing America, in one immense, infinite dream that glides in one infinitesimal holy honey of creation.
That vast sea of the brotherhood that underlies the essence, the unborn essence of everything.
I speak out for the road .
.
zen, apple pie, hustlers, pimps, crazy jazz truck stops, cops, criminals, and all the things that blast past you while you're beedy-bopping down that old highway to heaven and hell.
Yeah, well, listen.
She She bought that, she bought all that and she ran away cos she was in trouble.
And see, now she's in bigger trouble.
And I-I I just need you to talk to her.
She's not my problem, man.
Well, no, yeah, she is.
Why? When did every kid become my problem? You wrote that book.
Dig it.
If it gets people to get up and live, then I did what I was supposed to.
The rest is on her.
But she's 18.
She's just a kid.
And she She believes every word you wrote.
And she's gonna destroy herself trying to live your life.
And all I want you to do, is just tell her to find her own.
I can't help her.
I am not a hero.
INSIDE: # THE PLATTERS: The Great Pretender Ernie? Ernie? I'm playing your song, Bone.
Get in! Get in there! Why? Why, Ernie? Why did you lie to us? I don't I don't know what you're talking about.
Yeah, right, old man (!) I made him.
I forced him to put us up here last night.
He didn't want to, and I I made him.
Bone.
Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone, Bone.
You should be halfway to Mexico by now, Bone.
What happened, huh? What happened? Did .
.
you lose your sense of direction? Yeah, I er We got a little I got turned around, and er I erm It was just, kind of a boneheaded thing to do.
You know.
Kind of boneheaded.
Why don't I find you funny any more? Come on, Dillon.
Let's get outta here.
What? And skip the morning coffee? (LAUGHTER) Particularly, I mean, now that I'm here .
.
with all my friends, and all my loved ones? MAN: That's us! Come on, Becky, don't you think that would be a little rude? Hey look, why don't you take everything that's in the cash register and just go, OK? Crushed me.
You crushed me, Ernie.
Do you think we would rip this place off after you had been so nice to us? Hm? That would be inhuman, Ernie.
Don't do that.
Huh? Yeah.
MAN: Sweeten him up! But lying is too, and you haven't been totally honest with us.
Not my stuff! Stop! What? Oh, sweetie.
What? What, hm? What? Just listen, all right? Hey, hey! You, Bone, not only lost your sense of direction, youyou lost your sense of respect.
Hm? Hm? Just let 'em go.
That's an option, isn't it? I say we waste him.
(LAUGHS) BECKY: Come on, baby, I'm sorry.
I'll never do it again, I promise.
I don't know what got into me.
I think I do, maybe who got into you.
(SMASHING) Look, listen to me, nobody did anything to anybody, OK? Why? Why would I believe a single thing you say now? Because it's the truth! Oh, no, it's not the truth.
(MOTORBIKE ENGINE OUTSIDE) That is the truth.
MAN: Yeah, Dog! MAN: Mad Dog! Hey! Hey, you get off that bike! That's my boy's bike.
That's Darrell's bike! You get off that bike! That's my son's bike! What did you say? I said, please get off my son's bike! Stay there, old man.
You're a tough guy, aren't you, picking on an old man? Come on! How about you? Come on.
Come on, buddy.
It's time.
Let him go.
Come on.
Come on.
(SHOUTING / JEERING) Come on.
MAN: Oh, Mad Dog.
MAN: Get up, Mad Dog! Damn, sir! You OK? Yeah.
Get him out of here! SoBone knows a little taekwondo.
BECKY: Don't fight him! He won't hurt you if you don't fight back.
Come on, Bone, let's see what you got.
If you don't fight, he can't do it.
Shut up.
Can't even do it in bed unless you fight him! Shut up! AL: Sam! Al! Come on! Duck! Kick! Uh-oh.
Come on, Sam, you can take this guy.
MAN: Let's go! MAN: Get outta here! You know, Sam, I hate to say it, but this doesn't look like it's working out right.
What? Well, they put Mad Dog in the hospital for three weeks and then he got out.
Then he hooked up with his buddy Dillon again.
Oh, in jail.
Hooked up with him in jail.
What about Becky? What about Becky? Er I guess you'll be going home now, huh? No.
I can't go home.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
Well, Ziggydon't have any information on Becky.
She just, kind of, disappeared.
Ernie, er Didn't you say something about needing an extra hand around here? Me? Uh-huh.
Oh yeah, I did, I did.
You know, I got that spare room over my garage, and it's piled full of books.
Ernie, I can't.
I've got to live life if I'm gonna be a writer.
I've got to stay on the road.
Being on the road doesn't mean that you literally have to be on the road, I don't think.
I mean, I think it's more about the journey of life, maybe, and you can start that right here.
No.
No, I've got to see, I've got to do.
I've got to move, I've got the groove .
.
away from the rumbling hooves of suffocating mediocrity.
That's what you were thinking, wasn't it? Oh my God! You're Jack Kerouac.
It's Jack Kerouac.
I was talking to a friend the other day about this very subject.
He was illuminating .
.
like a thunderstorm at midnight.
And when I overheard your dilemma, on my quest for a cup of coffee, I couldn't help but be reminded of it and other things.
On the wheel of life we all go around, we are many people, at many times.
We all go through phases of motion, devotion of the notion, of living on the edge .
.
of life, or of a continent.
But the road is not made of asphalt, but of the people we meet.
And each of us is on a different journey, and that's OK.
So sometimes it's OK to get off the road we ride on wheels, and just stay.
Something will come of it.
Cos that's a world worth writing about too.
ERNIE: Say, my man, how about that er cup of coffee? Oh, I'll come back later, when it's hot.
Bye.
What did you say to him last night? I guess, more than I thought I did.
What? I was just thinking, when he said coffee, it reminded me that I wanted a cup of coffee more than I thought I did.
Which reminded me, that Ernie still has a job opening here for someone.
Yes indeedy.
I mean, I I really like having young folks here again.
Go on, take it.
OK.
You've got yourself a waitress.
All right! She's got a friend, too.
Ernie's still alive, she probably helped him through the news of his son's death.
And she makes it as a novelist.
She's got a nice house in Carmel with an incredible ocean view.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
And welcome home.