The Saint of Fort Washington (1993) Movie Script
1
Let's go! Let's go!
We got the building coming down!
Everybody move it out!
We got the building coming down!
Everybody out! Let's go!
Move it out!
If you're in there,
you better get out!
Let's go, folks! Move it out!
Move it out!
We got five minutes!
Outside! Get those boxes out!
This building's coming down!
We got to move! Come on now!
Let's go, folks! Move it out!
Bobby...
Come back over here.
This here's the story
of that little black boy
who go into the jungle...
What's his name?
Sambo.
Little black Sambo,
only not particularly black,
nor he white,
'cause this not the story
you're accustomed to,
understand?
This here the honest to god,
up to date,
unexpurgated version.
Now, Sambo,
he go into the jungle
wearing this brand new
red jacket
and his brand new
blue pants and purple shoes,
and he carrying his
brand new green umbrella
to protect himself
from the fierce jungle sun.
And one by one,
them tigers come and steal away
each of them
various items of clothing
until Sambo,
he got nothing left.
Then they begin to fighting
amongst themselves
to see who is the grandest
tiger of them all.
Now, this here
where the story diverts,
'cause Sambo, he not interested
in putting back on
any of them clothes
the tigers threw off.
No, siree.
This Sambo, he walked out
of that jungle 100% naked.
But he got something
even more precious
than that red jacket
and them blue pants
and his purple shoes.
What he got is
his own naked self,
and no one, no way,
going to take that
away from him.
That's my story.
Shine you up real fine, my man.
This window going to be positively
radiant 'fore I'm through.
Yeah, it makes my heart
jump for joy
to see such radiance.
What about you, mister?
Your little heart going
pitty-pat, pitty-pat?
You under no obligation
whatsoever, my man...
But we do accept gratuities.
Thank you kindly.
Is that your baby?
Is he yours?
Yeah, he mine, only he not a he.
It's a she.
I'll hold her.
The following prepare to board
a bus for Roberto clemente...
Gloria wise and children.
Bus Van 24 for transportation
to Roberto clemente.
Thank you.
Watch yourself.
This say Gloria wise
and two children.
You a member of the family?
No. I'm a friend.
You're in the wrong place.
This is a family shelter.
You got to go back downtown to ft.
Washington.
I heard that!
That look like my blanket.
What the hell you do, boy?
Hey, you take my picture?
Yeah.
You got no common sense,
tuning in on a man like that?
I ain't no fly
on no fucking wall!
My image ain't for sale!
Let me have it!
What, what, what?
That film!
There's no film.
There's no film.
Hand it over.
It's empty. See?
What do you mean?
There's no film in this camera.
How come you take a
picture that have no film?
I'm a photographer.
Yeah, and I'm the lone ranger,
only I got no horse.
Next!
Put your bag up.
You never been in here before?
I was a pharmacist.
I ran into some difficulty.
Sign in over here.
Hey!
You hard of hearing?
Hard, but not of hearin'.
Empty out your pockets.
Nothing in my pockets.
Nothing up my sleeves.
Turn around.
Haven't we been through
this routine?
You know the story.
I don't know no story.
Turn around.
I was in nam.
I got shrapnel in my legs.
O.k. Move along.
Thank you kindly, brother.
Don't need no help.
Son of a bitch ball buster.
He knows it's shrapnel.
Son of a...
Thank you kindly.
You don't mind if I
save it for a rainy day?
I don't mind.
Good.
'Cause I got something
better just now.
I'm holding on to a little
piece of the universe.
You believe in god, boy?
Sometimes.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Sometime he here.
Sometime he not.
Right now... He here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This here is the
closest thing to god
you'll find in this place, boy.
Want to touch him?
Nah.
You never know.
You might get struck dumb
with religious faith.
It ain't in the touch anyhow.
Boy, it's... It's in the taste.
This here little pill
made by Mr. Johnson & Johnson,
they god's true
representative on earth.
It ain't the churches or
them synagogues or the pope.
That's just propaganda.
It's the pharmaceutical
companies.
Yeah... Mr. Johnson & Johnson
separating this
black man from his pain.
Hallelujah!
Don't get me wrong, boy.
I seen worse.
Seen a lot of misery in nam.
This is child's play
compared to that.
What's your name?
Matthew.
I'm Jerry.
Where you from, Matthew?
I'm from... The Bronx.
Belt parkway.
Yeah.
I'm from bed stuy.
You never been in one of these
shelters, have you?
No, I'm...
Best take care of your property,
otherwise you going
to come up short, boy.
First thing they do,
once you close your eyes,
is creep up
and remove the sneakers.
Next thing they do is
jiggle your pockets,
see if you got anything
valuable inside.
This place filled
with bull daggers,
knife orders... Junkies...
All sort of weirdoes.
Drifting off now, boy.
Yeah.
Sweet little old painkiller
working its magic.
Aroo!
Aroo!
They're holding on
to their dreams, Matthew.
Only thing they got left.
You sweet meat, boy?
Hey, you're the fucking watch.
Hold out on old Leroy, man.
Next time things be worse.
Oof!
Kitty cat,
I'm always where the money's at.
Meow!
Hey, Matthew!
Hey, Matthew!
Come here. Take my picture!
Come over here. Take my picture!
Come on, Matthew!
Get over here.
Let me see that fucking camera.
That better be
American made, now.
Let me see that. Nah, nah.
Come on, man.
Come on. How you guys doing?
Hey, John, how you doing?
Let's look.
How you doing, Matthew?
Good. How you doing, John?
Me, I'm good, man.
I'm working for my uncle.
Driving his limo.
My sister asked me
about you the other day.
How's she doing?
Cindy? She's doing good, man.
She got engaged.
Some motherfucker down in sheepshead bay.
You know,
I wrote her some letters,
but she never got back to me.
Something happened with my mail.
Yeah, I don't know. Something...
Hey, Matthew.
When you were in the hospital,
did they give you
shock treatment?
Or like drugs?
Some.
No, I don't take drugs.
This dude in school...
When he gave away his overcoat.
Gave away his money,
his mother's jewelry.
Do you need some money?
You guys need some cash?
No, no, no.
Matthew, Matthew,
I don't need it.
I don't want your...
I was just asking...
I don't have much money on me,
but I know where
you could get some.
I don't have much,
but I know guys that do, and...
Yeah.
I'll see you guys around.
Yo. Take care, man.
Take it easy, Matthew.
Thanks for the advice, Matthew.
Mom?
Mom?
She's not home.
Do you know where she went?
Florida.
Won't be back till spring.
This key doesn't fit.
She changed the lock.
Why did she do that?
I wouldn't know.
She asked me to water the plants
and pick up the papers.
Can you let me in?
Can't.
Why? I'm her son.
I'm her son.
I got no authority.
We have you residing
at the Jefferson arms
on west 44th street, Manhattan?
There's no hotel there,
just rubble.
Well, then the checks will
eventually be returned here.
Why can't I be given
the check directly
to find another apartment?
That's against state policy.
Find an apartment. Notify us.
We'll send the checks
directly to your new landlord.
I got to find a place tonight.
I'm not going back to the
fort Washington armory.
The computer needs
to be reprogrammed
once the checks are sent
here, and that takes time.
I'm not going back!
Then there's the question
of documentation.
What kind of documentation?
We need verification from the
Jefferson arms management.
There is no Jefferson arms
management!
I'm trying to tell you there's
no Jefferson arms management.
There's no Jefferson arms!
It doesn't exit!
You owe me a check for $408.
I mean, I'm not crazy.
You owe me a check, you know.
Hey, hey, hey,
the sandwich man is back, y'all.
The sandwich man is back.
Check this out, man.
50 cent apiece.
Check one out, man.
No. No, thanks.
I got Danish, man.
A quarter apiece, man.
Yo, sandwiches, man!
Yo, sandwiches, man!
Liverwurst and danishes.
Hey, y'all pay attention.
You got an extra smoke
on you, bro?
Cigarette?
Yeah, cigarette.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Meow, kitty cat.
I'm always where the money's at.
Don't you know the bowery
rate of exchange, boy?
No.
We here in Washington heights...
That's on the northern tip
of the island of Manhattan...
But we still operate
at the bowery rate.
I don't know it.
20 cents, baby.
Two thin dimes a smoke.
These are my loosies.
I the loosie representative
around here,
you understand?
Now you're setting
a bad example.
Are you taking unfair
advantage of this black man?
How can a man compete?
You giving it away for nothing.
It takes years to establish
a rate of exchange,
and you destroying it
in one night.
Now you declare
economic war on me,
I declare it right back.
You strike first,
now it's my turn.
Leave him alone, little Leroy.
Who the fuck said that?
It's Jerry.
It's none of your
business, old man.
Anything reaches my ears,
that touches my eyes is my
business, Leroy.
The man's entitled
to give away his goods
if the man wants to.
He's nothing to you.
What you butting in for?
He's something to me.
He a relative.
What the fuck you mean?
You full of shit.
He's my son.
He white.
You talking skin tone?
You mother fucking right
I'm talking skin tone.
What the fuck you think?
Skin tone mean shit,
little Leroy.
He blacker than you,
matter of fact.
He's my son.
His name's Matthew.
Come on, Matthew.
We got to go now.
You've seen enough TV.
O.k.
How come you said that?
How come I said what?
You know, you said
that I was your son.
It come to me in a...
Dream the other night, boy.
We were in Africa
a couple of hundred years ago.
Slave traders
burned down our village.
They tried
to take you from me...
Only we fight them.
Yeah... You get shot...
Die in my arms.
Don't worry, boy.
It was only a dream.
Hot.
Don't you know anything, boy?
You got to test the water
before you step in.
The last thing a homeless
man can afford to be
is conspicuous.
Now, if you're inconspicuous,
sit in the dunkin donut
or Wendy's
or Roy Rogers,
nurse a cup of coffee
for an hour or two...
That a lifesaver
come inclement weather.
What's your story, boy?
I don't have a story.
Hey, every man got a story.
You born on this planet,
ain't ya?
Yeah.
Then you got a story.
There the story.
Hey.
What's the matter?
I embarrass you?
No.
Homeless men can't
afford to be embarrassed.
I show you something.
This... My story.
This here called
the American dream.
Is this your family?
Wife, little girls,
only they ain't
so little anymore.
They 13 and 14, respectively.
Where are they?
Are they... Queens.
She remarried.
That... that my house and cars
in the background.
Arthur and I had
a produce market.
He a Vietnam vet, same as me,
only he sell, I buy.
I traveled through
all five boroughs,
parts of Jersey.
Buy big, red, juicy,
beefsteak tomatoes,
sweet bean cherries.
Meantime, he pissing
everything away
on the horses.
Lose the business,
house, cars, my family,
everything inside of two months.
Hey, you see
that fellow over there?
He think everything okey-dokey.
Check don't come in,
he only a couple of months
short of homelessness.
Hey, I, I do have a story.
I imagine so.
I had four breakdowns,
one after the other.
Yeah?
Yeah, I was, I was hospitalized
between the ages of 17 and, 20.
I was hospitalized
between the ages of 17 and 20.
That ain't a crime.
No, I'm, schizophrenic.
Who call you that?
Doctors. Doctors.
Why'd they say that?
Because, I don't know.
Because... I...
I hear voices, you know?
There's nothing wrong
with hearing voices.
Yeah?
What about Joan?
She hear voices.
Joan? That Saint Joan.
They don't call her
schizophrenic.
They call her a Saint.
What about Moses?
What about him?
He hear voices.
He hear a voice.
He don't hear that voice,
there'd be no
judeo-Christian tradition.
Honest to god, Matthew.
Moses come down that mountain,
doctors asked him
what'd he hear?
He say... "Thou shalt not kill!"
"Thou shalt not
commit adultery!"
They say, "yeah, Moses?"
You hear that? Voices say that?"
They shoot him full
of thorazine,
lock him up, throw away the key.
If it wasn't for voices,
we'd still be pagans, Matthew.
Still be sacrificing
lamb, sheep,
even human beings.
We'd be a race of sacrificers.
Maybe you ain't schizophrenic.
Maybe you're just... A Saint.
Hey, rosario!
How's it going, my man?
Going good, man. What's up?
Can't complain, can't complain.
I'm going to get busy, Matthew.
Go on in.
How come you fine-looking ladies
are hiding your beauty
behind a dirty windshield?
That's no good.
The world needs beauty.
It's starving for beauty.
Am I right, rosario?
You right, Jerry.
Gracias.
A rolls.
Roll, roll.
Yeah, roll.
Hey, Arthur!
You been in touch
with your broker recently?
No, I haven't seen the man.
I understand the stock market
is going to take a nosedive.
We could lose everything we got!
Could end up on the streets.
If we're not careful.
Maybe we should diversify.
What do you think?
That makes good sense.
Yeah... Mutual funds.
Hondo!
I see. I see. See you later.
We're just trying
to make a buck.
Come on, fellas.
Get off the bridge.
Get out of here! Get moving.
Next time we haul you in.
Let's get out of here.
What, are you funny
or something?
What, are you funny?
Get out of here! Get moving!
Take your friend
with you, all right?
Don't come back!
I'm gonna take
a load off, Matthew.
Achin'...deep.
You wanna try?
Go ahead, boy.
Nothing to it.
Come on! Come on!
Don't use that shit.
Use this shit.
Yeah. This is good.
Hey, you got a cigarette?
Yeah, I got a smoke.
I'm sorry.
You got to be nice, polite.
Like I do.
You're under no
obligation whatsoever,
but... We do take gratuities.
Hey, thanks a lot.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
And it's a body
Though the war has gone
Them lights of death
You will find him
His father's sword
He has girded on
And his white hat
Slung behind him...
I bring home 24 bucks
today, Matthew.
How'd you do?
I don't know.
I lost count.
Well, start again.
I get distracted. You do it.
Your money, Matthew.
A man got to take responsibility
for his own money.
I can't do it.
What do you mean,
you can't do it?
That money ain't goin'
to bite you, boy.
It made of inanimate matter.
Something gets in the way.
What gets in the way?
Thoughts...
Voices, I don't know.
Something always
in the way, Matthew.
No such thing as clear sailing.
You just don't know
how to navigate.
I'm going to show you.
No, no. I can't.
Go ahead. Start again.
It's just anxiety, boy.
Ain't no goddamn schizophrenia.
Ain't nothing gonna snatch
you away from yourself.
I promise you that.
It'd have to get past
one badass black man.
Go ahead. Count.
16.50.
16.50, and, this.
16.50.
Good.
Drink up, boy.
You earned it.
You passed your first hurdle.
16.50... not bad.
First day on the job.
A homeless man can do okay...
If he works 7 to 12 hours
a day washing windshields.
I know a lady
willing to rent me
a railroad flat
on the lower east side.
It's not bad.
In fact, it livable.
It's only, 350 bucks a month.
How about it?
We can go our separate
ways or we can...
Pool our resources
and rent us an apartment.
Where are we going to get
that kind of money?
We'll work hard, boy.
In a month and a half,
we have ourself
a down payment. Promise.
Honest to god.
What do you say?
Yeah, okay, alright.
Yeah.
We get a roof over our head,
we're on the first rung
of the economic ladder.
Yeah...
Lift up your shirt.
This is our first deposit, boy.
Meow.
Kitty cat.
I'm always where the money's at.
Come and run your eyes
up and down my body
like that, boy.
Your white eyes
against my black skin
send chills up my spine.
I'm talking to you,
motherfucker.
Now ain't you got no manners,
turning your back
on me like that?
Nobody turns his back
on little Leroy, boy...
Nobody.
Now, the way I figure it,
your white eyes on my black body
has got to cost you something.
I say maybe... 2 or 3 bucks.
What you say, Caesar?
I say at least 5, little Leroy.
I think you're
selling yourself short.
Yeah, I say you're
right, Caesar.
Maybe more.
Maybe 10.
We got a problem here?
You fucked up.
I'm gonna teach you a lesson
once and for all, Mr. Jerry.
I'm always interested
in lessons, little Leroy.
This gonna be readin',
writin', or arithmetic?
Arithmetic, motherfucker?
Get some of this.
Come on. You want it?
Get that!
God bless you, motherfucker.
Play pussy... Get fucked!
You fucked up my arm, man!
Shit!
I'm going to fuck you up, man!
I'm going to fuck you two up!
Hey...
Hey, this here my truck, boy.
J and t produce market.
I told you.
This is where I used
to carry my produce.
It's alright. Come on.
Get in. Come on.
Come on.
Yeah.
Hey, this ain't no setback.
I promise you that, boy.
Hey, hey.
We're safer on the streets.
Matter of fact,
we're a thousand times safer
than in one of those shelters.
No, I'm not gonna...
I'm not gonna do that.
What, like if I don't do it...?
What's the matter?
What's the matter with you, boy?
You listening to
them voices again,
is that it?
You listening to them pill-white
fucking anglo-Saxon voices?
What are they telling you to do?
What are they talking about?
He's gonna track us
down, you know, and...
I can't go see
my mother, you know?
She's in Florida.
You hearing me? Where are you?
I can see poison fruit.
Poison fruit?
Yeah.
You come back here, Matthew.
Don't you disappear on me.
I need you.
No, no!
You're mad at me.
I ain't just Jerry's voice...
Talking...
You understand?
We're partners, ain't we?
I need you.
Stop.
Just Jerry's voice
talking to you,
you understand?
Is my voice calling you?
I need you. Where are you?
Jerry?
Yeah.
I'm here. Yeah?
Yeah, I'm here. Yeah, I'm here.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Morning.
This service better
than the Hyatt regency.
I figure...
I'll extend my vacation...
Stay here a few more weeks,
Matthew.
This fella's name
is Billy Sweetwater.
He half-black, half cherokee.
We were in nam together.
Billy got a sweet
old station wagon.
Maybe he'll rent it by the day.
What are we going to do with it?
Buy some produce, Matthew.
Bing cherries, green
beans, iceberg lettuce.
All we got to do
is pull up to any
corner in Manhattan
and sell it out of
the back of the wagon.
Hey... He calls it esmeraldo.
He treat her like a woman
though he spell her name
like a man,
that account he high
on that loco weed.
Billy can fix a car
faster than you can take a piss.
You stay here.
He's suspicious
of strangers, okay?
What did he say?
He say soon as we got
a roof over our head
or a legitimate apartment,
he willing to do
business with us.
I tell him we're back
inside of six weeks.
Matthew, traffic jam.
We strike gold, Matthew.
A dime, Matthew.
A dime.
Why, that's no better
than slave labor.
I thought we fought
the civil war
to escape these wages.
Thank you kindly, ma'am.
May all your children be white!
No, no!
I don't want you to. Don't.
I'm working my way
through school.
I'll bet. What school is that?
The school of hard knocks.
Very funny.
Sometimes we call it
the school of hard yucks.
Hey, tell her your joke.
My joke?
The one about the fish.
The fish?
Yeah.
Where do fish keep their money?
I have no idea.
In river banks.
Alright, alright. Here.
Th-thanks.
I got a... and I said the joke
right. It's river banks, right?
Thanks a lot.
May all your children be white.
That's it for today.
Yeah. We'll wait it out.
Make no money today.
The gem is, all ye citizens
The system's a curse...
I got almost $17.
That's good.
Not bad,
considering the weather.
Yeah.
Got a surprise for you.
For me?
What is it?
Open it.
What is this?
It's film, boy.
It's the real thing.
I know what it is.
I didn't ask for it.
I figured if you're
a photographer, you'd want some.
Jerry, I don't want any film.
It's none of your business.
Where the hell you going, boy?
I don't know.
I'm going somewhere.
I don't know where.
Hey, I didn't mean
nothing by it, boy.
You don't want
the film, get rid of it.
Flush it down the toilet
as far as I'm concerned.
We ain't going to let a roll
of film get between us.
Come on, Matthew.
One of my pictures was in
a national photo magazine.
That don't surprise
me none, boy.
You got a genuine talent.
How do you know?
You never saw my pictures.
Don't need to see them.
Got an instinct.
Once I got sick,
started hearing voices...
Nothing came out right.
You're young yet, boy.
Give it time.
You okay?
Fine. It's nothing.
It's the weather, that's it.
S-Son of a bitch.
What's the matter?
Run out of pills.
Run out of these
little god damn painkillers.
Got to go to the v.A...
And get some more pills.
Appreciate it, boy. Here.
Yeah, that feels good.
Yeah.
Once we get us an
apartment of our own,
we're going to rent
that station wagon.
I know a fella on staten island
sells green beans by the bushel.
Know another fella
this side of the verazano bridge
that sells iceberg lettuce.
All we got to do, boy,
is pull up on any street corner
in Manhattan,
sell that produce right
out of the back of the wagon.
One, two, three loads a day.
Honest to god.
Hey, we going to make us
an economic recovery, Matthew.
Yeah.
That's better.
Yeah. This feels great.
I'm not going back
to the shelter.
We never going back there.
Let's ride
the "a" train all night.
How's fort Washington?
We can't go back there anymore.
Run into some trouble.
You on the streets?
Yeah. Been sleeping
in the truck,
only they tow it away.
Listen, man,
why don't you shack up my place?
We wouldn't want to inconvenience
you, rosario.
Fuck that.
Tamsen and I, we going to be in
galveston in a couple of days.
Something smells good.
What you cooking, spits?
Cooking hoppin' John.
Red beans and rice is very nice.
You're going to want some twice.
It ready when you be, rosario.
I always ready.
You got enough for my friends
Matthew and Jerry?
Yeah. Got plenty. Plenty.
This here's spits.
He share the place with us.
Actually, he here before us.
Been here ever since they
condemned the building.
Hey, it's okay my friends stay
a couple of days?
Sure.
Make yourself to home.
I'll go get
a couple of more bowls.
Appreciate that.
How's tamsen doing?
She's sleeping soundly.
Hey, where you
fellas been hanging out?
Fort Washington,
but we on the streets just now.
I was at the Atlantic
shelter before here.
Biffin Avenue?
Wake up one morning,
got nothing in my mouth.
Can you imagine some
fella walking around
with my old teeth in his mouth?
That's cold.
You got to be real bad off
to steal a man's choppers.
Hey, young blood.
Come on, get some
of this good stuff here.
No. Don't be shy.
Got more than enough
to get through the winter.
All a body need is
a sack of rice
and some wild horses.
Who's smoking?
Eat some of this, mamita.
Give me a drag.
That's my limit.
Trying to keep her
safe and sound.
Who are you?
Matthew.
If I'd known
you was inviting company over,
I would've put out
the clean linen.
Tamsen from buffalo.
That's why she got
a sense of humor.
There's nothing funny
about buffalo.
Ran away from buffalo.
My sister did before me, too.
We met on the street.
Yeah, in front of the 42nd
street library.
He come up to me and say,
"want to see my tattoo?"
And I say, "not particularly."
You say worse than that,
but I show it to you anyhow.
Yeah. We was really close.
We spent the whole summer
in battery park.
Remember, rosario?
I remember.
We saw a shooting star
fall from the sky one night.
Yeah. I made a wish
on that star.
Pretty soon,
it's gonna come true.
Picking up the tickets
tomorrow, mamita.
We going to be working the
24-hour shift at Teddy's place.
It's a 24-hour
truck stop and diner.
Tamsen gonna cook. I pump gas.
That's the arrangement.
What's the matter?
The baby moved.
It moved?
Yeah.
Again. Feel it?
No.
There.
That's it?
Yes.
That's my baby?
Like to give you a going-away
present, rosario.
Like to give you
the best damn spit shine ever.
The spirit willing,
but the flesh say
no go, rosario.
It's okay, spits.
You've done enough already.
Why don't you lay on
your hands, Matthew?
Maybe it'll help.
What you mean?
My leg hurting me
on account of shrapnel.
Matthew lay on his
hands, pain go away.
It go away?
Not entirely, you understand.
It go away temporarily though.
That good enough for me.
I... i can't do that.
It... it don't hurt to try, boy.
Something's happening.
My hands.
I can bend them.
They don't hurt.
Let me see that.
It's like a miracle.
Let me see.
It worked.
Spits, man, that's unbelievable.
We're not gonna wait
till after you're dead, Matthew,
like the rest of them saints.
You understand?
We'll take care of you now.
You're Saint Matthew.
You're Saint of all
the homeless people.
Two tickets to galveston.
Hey, hey, let me take a picture.
You finished the roll.
That's good, boy.
Hey, w-what do you say,
you want to get them developed?
Come on.
Pop, pop, pop
That cold gets in
your body, it never leaves.
I'm bleeding.
What?
My god, spits.
I'm... I'm bleeding.
My god.
Come on. You lie down here.
I'll go get somebody.
I don't wanna lose the baby.
You're not gonna lose the baby.
Now you just stay here. You hear?
I'll be right back.
Spits!
God.
Spits!
Tamsen. I... I'm
looking for tamsen.
Come on.
It was a boy, rosario.
It was a baby boy.
Hey, rosario, take
a load off, man.
I tell you we take care of you.
You're in no condition to work.
I got to work, man.
You don't understand, man.
I got to do something.
Take your hands off my car.
It's okay. I clean it up nice.
I don't want you touching
the car. You hear me?
I hear you. You don't have to
pay. It's your lucky day.
I do it for free.
Why don't you get a
job, you fucking bum?
What did you say?
What did you call me?
I'm trying to make a living,
and you call me a bum!
I'm a bum!
A bum!
Hey! Hey, rosario!
Get out of there, rosario!
Rosario, get your ass
out of here!
Get out of here.
Get out of here!
Alright.
Get out of here!
You guys come and see us.
Maybe we'll do that, rosario.
I'll come out and see you and
your babies one of these days.
I imagine you're going
to have two or three.
What do you imagine, Matthew?
I imagine, like, five.
Yeah. He got a better
imagination.
We going to miss you guys.
My hand's stopped working, boy.
I don't believe no...
Doing no good.
Where you going, Jerry?
Somewhere.
I got to keep moving, boy.
I got to keep moving.
I can't... I can't stay still.
Don't make it through
the night like this, boy.
I need something.
What do you need?
I'm burning up, buddy.
I'm...
I need, damn pain killers.
Jerry.
Where you going?
You son of a bitch.
You son of a bitch!
No, Jerry.
Let me go.
Let me go.
Let me go!
You're crazy.
It's alright, boy.
Okay, it's alright.
What are you doing, boy?
Come on, Jerry. Get up.
It's rush hour.
I'm tired. Leave me alone.
Come on, Jerry. Get up.
We're losing money.
Go away, Matthew!
One day more or less
don't matter.
It matters, Jerry.
We don't want
to lose the apartment.
The woman's waiting.
She's got the keys.
What apartment? It was
just a pipe dream anyhow.
What are you talking about?
Come on, Jerry.
What are you talking about?
This our reality.
What you see is what you get.
What about the station wagon
with the fruits and vegetables?
We're almost there.
I'm going to sleep.
You're just going to lie
down there and die, Jerry?
You're giving up.
You... you're giving up, Jerry.
I ain't up to it.
I'm telling you
something. Go away.
No, I'm not going away.
I'm never going away.
Get up.
Why can't you...
Are you crazy or something?
What's wrong with you?
We're going to work,
get some money,
and get that apartment.
You out of your fucking mind?
Come on. Let's go,
Jerry. Come on.
God damn, boy.
You're a fucking
slave driver. Come on!
Fucking slave driver!
Come on, Jerry.
Just trying to make it,
not take it.
Hey, thanks a lot.
This is your world.
We just live in it.
How you doing, Jerry?
I'm doing alright now, boy.
I... i appreciate it.
I saved your ass.
You saved mine.
That's the way
it's going to be. Yeah.
I've got to get back
to the park!
I've got to feed the pigeons.
Walk yourself in there.
I've got to feed the pigeons.
The pigeons are going to starve
if I don't feed them.
We'll feed them tonight.
Relax. No!
Let go of me!
I am not going!
Let go of me!
You have any I.D.?
I.d.? Yeah. Identification.
Where you live?
We don't have
an address just yet.
We're working on it, though.
Where are you going
to sleep tonight?
Wherever.
In the streets?
Just now.
Get in that Van. There's
a cold weather alert.
We're just going to take you
a shelter for tonight.
I don't want to go to a shelter.
Listen, the men go to the
fort Washington armory.
I'm not going.
You can't stay out here.
It's below freezing.
You can't stay out here.
We're okay. Let's go.
Wait a minute.
I'm talking to you.
We ain't broken no law.
We can do this easy,
or we'll use force.
We ain't going to no shelter.
This is a free country, okay?
This is a free country, hear?
Take it easy.
Take it easy.
Jerry.
Hey.
Jerry.
Jerry.
Matthew!
I don't want to go.
Get him up there.
Jerry.
Jerry!
Cuff him.
I'll get the radio car.
He's not a criminal.
Alright, guys. Let's go.
Come on.
Move it.
Let's get on in there.
Inside, fellas.
Let's go.
Where your daddy, boy?
He desert you?
I got to go.
You don't want out of this.
I got to go.
It's cold out there.
Come on, now.
You want to keep your sneaks,
put them away,
or somebody's going
to come calling.
What's your name?
Jason.
I'm Matthew.
This place is no picnic.
Watch your things.
Meow!
What the fuck, man?
Kitty cat, I'm always
where the money's at.
That's a mighty fine ring
you got there, boy.
It's going to look
nice on my pinkie.
Take your shit off,
or I'm going to cut it off.
Take it off, boy.
Help!
Who you fucking with,
motherfucker?
Who the fuck you fucking with?
Help! Help!
Help!
What the fuck is this?
I'm going to take
your shit now, motherfucker.
Leave him alone!
Get the fuck back
to your cot, Leroy.
Why you fronting
for his white ass?
I'm doing what I'm
supposed to do.
Do what I say.
Get back to your cot.
You made a big mistake, boy.
You fucker.
Chill.
Going somewhere, boy?
You ain't going nowhere.
Meow!
No. Hey, man.
That's it.
Are these babies?
Yep. Little homeless babies.
How come there's so many?
We wait a few days until
there's a good-sized load.
Otherwise, it ain't
worthwhile going over.
Where you taking them?
Potter's field over
on hart island,
just off long island sound.
There anyone you know?
Yes.
A relative?
My son.
I'm sorry.
I'd like to see the funeral.
There is no funeral.
We just place them in the ground
and cover them up with earth.
I'd like to be there.
I wish you could take you,
but it's against
city regulations.
You mean I can
never visit the grave?
I'm sorry.
There are not words
To speak of
There are not words
To say
There are not songs
To sing on
These days like today
There's only time
To carry
These darkest hours
Far away
There's only hope
To cling to
On days
Like
Today
Should hang
our heads in shame
What we've done
in god's name
Should hang our heads
in shame
Only ourselves to blame
Don't you worry, boy.
I'm right here now.
Yeah.
I'll never forget you.
We a team.
Right, Matthew?
My sweet Matthew.
I'll remember you, boy.
I... i got...
I got something for you.
Hey, your pictures come back.
Nice and sharp.
You take a real beauty.
Here's... Tamsen.
Hee hee!
It's just... sorry.
It's... ...spits.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Here me.
Yeah.
Nice talent.
I'm moving on now, boy.
Nothing's going
to stop me, Matthew.
Not god nor man.
I promise you that.
Going to miss you... Son.
My own.
My very own.
I'm starting over now, boy.
Have a nice evening.
Nothing's going
to stop me, Matthew...
Man nor god.
I get by 'cause you with me.
So long I be, you be...
And that our story.
Why a lovely lady like you
hide behind a dirty windshield?
The world needs beauty,
lots of beauty, ma'am.
Thank you kindly.
Let's go! Let's go!
We got the building coming down!
Everybody move it out!
We got the building coming down!
Everybody out! Let's go!
Move it out!
If you're in there,
you better get out!
Let's go, folks! Move it out!
Move it out!
We got five minutes!
Outside! Get those boxes out!
This building's coming down!
We got to move! Come on now!
Let's go, folks! Move it out!
Bobby...
Come back over here.
This here's the story
of that little black boy
who go into the jungle...
What's his name?
Sambo.
Little black Sambo,
only not particularly black,
nor he white,
'cause this not the story
you're accustomed to,
understand?
This here the honest to god,
up to date,
unexpurgated version.
Now, Sambo,
he go into the jungle
wearing this brand new
red jacket
and his brand new
blue pants and purple shoes,
and he carrying his
brand new green umbrella
to protect himself
from the fierce jungle sun.
And one by one,
them tigers come and steal away
each of them
various items of clothing
until Sambo,
he got nothing left.
Then they begin to fighting
amongst themselves
to see who is the grandest
tiger of them all.
Now, this here
where the story diverts,
'cause Sambo, he not interested
in putting back on
any of them clothes
the tigers threw off.
No, siree.
This Sambo, he walked out
of that jungle 100% naked.
But he got something
even more precious
than that red jacket
and them blue pants
and his purple shoes.
What he got is
his own naked self,
and no one, no way,
going to take that
away from him.
That's my story.
Shine you up real fine, my man.
This window going to be positively
radiant 'fore I'm through.
Yeah, it makes my heart
jump for joy
to see such radiance.
What about you, mister?
Your little heart going
pitty-pat, pitty-pat?
You under no obligation
whatsoever, my man...
But we do accept gratuities.
Thank you kindly.
Is that your baby?
Is he yours?
Yeah, he mine, only he not a he.
It's a she.
I'll hold her.
The following prepare to board
a bus for Roberto clemente...
Gloria wise and children.
Bus Van 24 for transportation
to Roberto clemente.
Thank you.
Watch yourself.
This say Gloria wise
and two children.
You a member of the family?
No. I'm a friend.
You're in the wrong place.
This is a family shelter.
You got to go back downtown to ft.
Washington.
I heard that!
That look like my blanket.
What the hell you do, boy?
Hey, you take my picture?
Yeah.
You got no common sense,
tuning in on a man like that?
I ain't no fly
on no fucking wall!
My image ain't for sale!
Let me have it!
What, what, what?
That film!
There's no film.
There's no film.
Hand it over.
It's empty. See?
What do you mean?
There's no film in this camera.
How come you take a
picture that have no film?
I'm a photographer.
Yeah, and I'm the lone ranger,
only I got no horse.
Next!
Put your bag up.
You never been in here before?
I was a pharmacist.
I ran into some difficulty.
Sign in over here.
Hey!
You hard of hearing?
Hard, but not of hearin'.
Empty out your pockets.
Nothing in my pockets.
Nothing up my sleeves.
Turn around.
Haven't we been through
this routine?
You know the story.
I don't know no story.
Turn around.
I was in nam.
I got shrapnel in my legs.
O.k. Move along.
Thank you kindly, brother.
Don't need no help.
Son of a bitch ball buster.
He knows it's shrapnel.
Son of a...
Thank you kindly.
You don't mind if I
save it for a rainy day?
I don't mind.
Good.
'Cause I got something
better just now.
I'm holding on to a little
piece of the universe.
You believe in god, boy?
Sometimes.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Sometime he here.
Sometime he not.
Right now... He here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This here is the
closest thing to god
you'll find in this place, boy.
Want to touch him?
Nah.
You never know.
You might get struck dumb
with religious faith.
It ain't in the touch anyhow.
Boy, it's... It's in the taste.
This here little pill
made by Mr. Johnson & Johnson,
they god's true
representative on earth.
It ain't the churches or
them synagogues or the pope.
That's just propaganda.
It's the pharmaceutical
companies.
Yeah... Mr. Johnson & Johnson
separating this
black man from his pain.
Hallelujah!
Don't get me wrong, boy.
I seen worse.
Seen a lot of misery in nam.
This is child's play
compared to that.
What's your name?
Matthew.
I'm Jerry.
Where you from, Matthew?
I'm from... The Bronx.
Belt parkway.
Yeah.
I'm from bed stuy.
You never been in one of these
shelters, have you?
No, I'm...
Best take care of your property,
otherwise you going
to come up short, boy.
First thing they do,
once you close your eyes,
is creep up
and remove the sneakers.
Next thing they do is
jiggle your pockets,
see if you got anything
valuable inside.
This place filled
with bull daggers,
knife orders... Junkies...
All sort of weirdoes.
Drifting off now, boy.
Yeah.
Sweet little old painkiller
working its magic.
Aroo!
Aroo!
They're holding on
to their dreams, Matthew.
Only thing they got left.
You sweet meat, boy?
Hey, you're the fucking watch.
Hold out on old Leroy, man.
Next time things be worse.
Oof!
Kitty cat,
I'm always where the money's at.
Meow!
Hey, Matthew!
Hey, Matthew!
Come here. Take my picture!
Come over here. Take my picture!
Come on, Matthew!
Get over here.
Let me see that fucking camera.
That better be
American made, now.
Let me see that. Nah, nah.
Come on, man.
Come on. How you guys doing?
Hey, John, how you doing?
Let's look.
How you doing, Matthew?
Good. How you doing, John?
Me, I'm good, man.
I'm working for my uncle.
Driving his limo.
My sister asked me
about you the other day.
How's she doing?
Cindy? She's doing good, man.
She got engaged.
Some motherfucker down in sheepshead bay.
You know,
I wrote her some letters,
but she never got back to me.
Something happened with my mail.
Yeah, I don't know. Something...
Hey, Matthew.
When you were in the hospital,
did they give you
shock treatment?
Or like drugs?
Some.
No, I don't take drugs.
This dude in school...
When he gave away his overcoat.
Gave away his money,
his mother's jewelry.
Do you need some money?
You guys need some cash?
No, no, no.
Matthew, Matthew,
I don't need it.
I don't want your...
I was just asking...
I don't have much money on me,
but I know where
you could get some.
I don't have much,
but I know guys that do, and...
Yeah.
I'll see you guys around.
Yo. Take care, man.
Take it easy, Matthew.
Thanks for the advice, Matthew.
Mom?
Mom?
She's not home.
Do you know where she went?
Florida.
Won't be back till spring.
This key doesn't fit.
She changed the lock.
Why did she do that?
I wouldn't know.
She asked me to water the plants
and pick up the papers.
Can you let me in?
Can't.
Why? I'm her son.
I'm her son.
I got no authority.
We have you residing
at the Jefferson arms
on west 44th street, Manhattan?
There's no hotel there,
just rubble.
Well, then the checks will
eventually be returned here.
Why can't I be given
the check directly
to find another apartment?
That's against state policy.
Find an apartment. Notify us.
We'll send the checks
directly to your new landlord.
I got to find a place tonight.
I'm not going back to the
fort Washington armory.
The computer needs
to be reprogrammed
once the checks are sent
here, and that takes time.
I'm not going back!
Then there's the question
of documentation.
What kind of documentation?
We need verification from the
Jefferson arms management.
There is no Jefferson arms
management!
I'm trying to tell you there's
no Jefferson arms management.
There's no Jefferson arms!
It doesn't exit!
You owe me a check for $408.
I mean, I'm not crazy.
You owe me a check, you know.
Hey, hey, hey,
the sandwich man is back, y'all.
The sandwich man is back.
Check this out, man.
50 cent apiece.
Check one out, man.
No. No, thanks.
I got Danish, man.
A quarter apiece, man.
Yo, sandwiches, man!
Yo, sandwiches, man!
Liverwurst and danishes.
Hey, y'all pay attention.
You got an extra smoke
on you, bro?
Cigarette?
Yeah, cigarette.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Meow, kitty cat.
I'm always where the money's at.
Don't you know the bowery
rate of exchange, boy?
No.
We here in Washington heights...
That's on the northern tip
of the island of Manhattan...
But we still operate
at the bowery rate.
I don't know it.
20 cents, baby.
Two thin dimes a smoke.
These are my loosies.
I the loosie representative
around here,
you understand?
Now you're setting
a bad example.
Are you taking unfair
advantage of this black man?
How can a man compete?
You giving it away for nothing.
It takes years to establish
a rate of exchange,
and you destroying it
in one night.
Now you declare
economic war on me,
I declare it right back.
You strike first,
now it's my turn.
Leave him alone, little Leroy.
Who the fuck said that?
It's Jerry.
It's none of your
business, old man.
Anything reaches my ears,
that touches my eyes is my
business, Leroy.
The man's entitled
to give away his goods
if the man wants to.
He's nothing to you.
What you butting in for?
He's something to me.
He a relative.
What the fuck you mean?
You full of shit.
He's my son.
He white.
You talking skin tone?
You mother fucking right
I'm talking skin tone.
What the fuck you think?
Skin tone mean shit,
little Leroy.
He blacker than you,
matter of fact.
He's my son.
His name's Matthew.
Come on, Matthew.
We got to go now.
You've seen enough TV.
O.k.
How come you said that?
How come I said what?
You know, you said
that I was your son.
It come to me in a...
Dream the other night, boy.
We were in Africa
a couple of hundred years ago.
Slave traders
burned down our village.
They tried
to take you from me...
Only we fight them.
Yeah... You get shot...
Die in my arms.
Don't worry, boy.
It was only a dream.
Hot.
Don't you know anything, boy?
You got to test the water
before you step in.
The last thing a homeless
man can afford to be
is conspicuous.
Now, if you're inconspicuous,
sit in the dunkin donut
or Wendy's
or Roy Rogers,
nurse a cup of coffee
for an hour or two...
That a lifesaver
come inclement weather.
What's your story, boy?
I don't have a story.
Hey, every man got a story.
You born on this planet,
ain't ya?
Yeah.
Then you got a story.
There the story.
Hey.
What's the matter?
I embarrass you?
No.
Homeless men can't
afford to be embarrassed.
I show you something.
This... My story.
This here called
the American dream.
Is this your family?
Wife, little girls,
only they ain't
so little anymore.
They 13 and 14, respectively.
Where are they?
Are they... Queens.
She remarried.
That... that my house and cars
in the background.
Arthur and I had
a produce market.
He a Vietnam vet, same as me,
only he sell, I buy.
I traveled through
all five boroughs,
parts of Jersey.
Buy big, red, juicy,
beefsteak tomatoes,
sweet bean cherries.
Meantime, he pissing
everything away
on the horses.
Lose the business,
house, cars, my family,
everything inside of two months.
Hey, you see
that fellow over there?
He think everything okey-dokey.
Check don't come in,
he only a couple of months
short of homelessness.
Hey, I, I do have a story.
I imagine so.
I had four breakdowns,
one after the other.
Yeah?
Yeah, I was, I was hospitalized
between the ages of 17 and, 20.
I was hospitalized
between the ages of 17 and 20.
That ain't a crime.
No, I'm, schizophrenic.
Who call you that?
Doctors. Doctors.
Why'd they say that?
Because, I don't know.
Because... I...
I hear voices, you know?
There's nothing wrong
with hearing voices.
Yeah?
What about Joan?
She hear voices.
Joan? That Saint Joan.
They don't call her
schizophrenic.
They call her a Saint.
What about Moses?
What about him?
He hear voices.
He hear a voice.
He don't hear that voice,
there'd be no
judeo-Christian tradition.
Honest to god, Matthew.
Moses come down that mountain,
doctors asked him
what'd he hear?
He say... "Thou shalt not kill!"
"Thou shalt not
commit adultery!"
They say, "yeah, Moses?"
You hear that? Voices say that?"
They shoot him full
of thorazine,
lock him up, throw away the key.
If it wasn't for voices,
we'd still be pagans, Matthew.
Still be sacrificing
lamb, sheep,
even human beings.
We'd be a race of sacrificers.
Maybe you ain't schizophrenic.
Maybe you're just... A Saint.
Hey, rosario!
How's it going, my man?
Going good, man. What's up?
Can't complain, can't complain.
I'm going to get busy, Matthew.
Go on in.
How come you fine-looking ladies
are hiding your beauty
behind a dirty windshield?
That's no good.
The world needs beauty.
It's starving for beauty.
Am I right, rosario?
You right, Jerry.
Gracias.
A rolls.
Roll, roll.
Yeah, roll.
Hey, Arthur!
You been in touch
with your broker recently?
No, I haven't seen the man.
I understand the stock market
is going to take a nosedive.
We could lose everything we got!
Could end up on the streets.
If we're not careful.
Maybe we should diversify.
What do you think?
That makes good sense.
Yeah... Mutual funds.
Hondo!
I see. I see. See you later.
We're just trying
to make a buck.
Come on, fellas.
Get off the bridge.
Get out of here! Get moving.
Next time we haul you in.
Let's get out of here.
What, are you funny
or something?
What, are you funny?
Get out of here! Get moving!
Take your friend
with you, all right?
Don't come back!
I'm gonna take
a load off, Matthew.
Achin'...deep.
You wanna try?
Go ahead, boy.
Nothing to it.
Come on! Come on!
Don't use that shit.
Use this shit.
Yeah. This is good.
Hey, you got a cigarette?
Yeah, I got a smoke.
I'm sorry.
You got to be nice, polite.
Like I do.
You're under no
obligation whatsoever,
but... We do take gratuities.
Hey, thanks a lot.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
And it's a body
Though the war has gone
Them lights of death
You will find him
His father's sword
He has girded on
And his white hat
Slung behind him...
I bring home 24 bucks
today, Matthew.
How'd you do?
I don't know.
I lost count.
Well, start again.
I get distracted. You do it.
Your money, Matthew.
A man got to take responsibility
for his own money.
I can't do it.
What do you mean,
you can't do it?
That money ain't goin'
to bite you, boy.
It made of inanimate matter.
Something gets in the way.
What gets in the way?
Thoughts...
Voices, I don't know.
Something always
in the way, Matthew.
No such thing as clear sailing.
You just don't know
how to navigate.
I'm going to show you.
No, no. I can't.
Go ahead. Start again.
It's just anxiety, boy.
Ain't no goddamn schizophrenia.
Ain't nothing gonna snatch
you away from yourself.
I promise you that.
It'd have to get past
one badass black man.
Go ahead. Count.
16.50.
16.50, and, this.
16.50.
Good.
Drink up, boy.
You earned it.
You passed your first hurdle.
16.50... not bad.
First day on the job.
A homeless man can do okay...
If he works 7 to 12 hours
a day washing windshields.
I know a lady
willing to rent me
a railroad flat
on the lower east side.
It's not bad.
In fact, it livable.
It's only, 350 bucks a month.
How about it?
We can go our separate
ways or we can...
Pool our resources
and rent us an apartment.
Where are we going to get
that kind of money?
We'll work hard, boy.
In a month and a half,
we have ourself
a down payment. Promise.
Honest to god.
What do you say?
Yeah, okay, alright.
Yeah.
We get a roof over our head,
we're on the first rung
of the economic ladder.
Yeah...
Lift up your shirt.
This is our first deposit, boy.
Meow.
Kitty cat.
I'm always where the money's at.
Come and run your eyes
up and down my body
like that, boy.
Your white eyes
against my black skin
send chills up my spine.
I'm talking to you,
motherfucker.
Now ain't you got no manners,
turning your back
on me like that?
Nobody turns his back
on little Leroy, boy...
Nobody.
Now, the way I figure it,
your white eyes on my black body
has got to cost you something.
I say maybe... 2 or 3 bucks.
What you say, Caesar?
I say at least 5, little Leroy.
I think you're
selling yourself short.
Yeah, I say you're
right, Caesar.
Maybe more.
Maybe 10.
We got a problem here?
You fucked up.
I'm gonna teach you a lesson
once and for all, Mr. Jerry.
I'm always interested
in lessons, little Leroy.
This gonna be readin',
writin', or arithmetic?
Arithmetic, motherfucker?
Get some of this.
Come on. You want it?
Get that!
God bless you, motherfucker.
Play pussy... Get fucked!
You fucked up my arm, man!
Shit!
I'm going to fuck you up, man!
I'm going to fuck you two up!
Hey...
Hey, this here my truck, boy.
J and t produce market.
I told you.
This is where I used
to carry my produce.
It's alright. Come on.
Get in. Come on.
Come on.
Yeah.
Hey, this ain't no setback.
I promise you that, boy.
Hey, hey.
We're safer on the streets.
Matter of fact,
we're a thousand times safer
than in one of those shelters.
No, I'm not gonna...
I'm not gonna do that.
What, like if I don't do it...?
What's the matter?
What's the matter with you, boy?
You listening to
them voices again,
is that it?
You listening to them pill-white
fucking anglo-Saxon voices?
What are they telling you to do?
What are they talking about?
He's gonna track us
down, you know, and...
I can't go see
my mother, you know?
She's in Florida.
You hearing me? Where are you?
I can see poison fruit.
Poison fruit?
Yeah.
You come back here, Matthew.
Don't you disappear on me.
I need you.
No, no!
You're mad at me.
I ain't just Jerry's voice...
Talking...
You understand?
We're partners, ain't we?
I need you.
Stop.
Just Jerry's voice
talking to you,
you understand?
Is my voice calling you?
I need you. Where are you?
Jerry?
Yeah.
I'm here. Yeah?
Yeah, I'm here. Yeah, I'm here.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Morning.
This service better
than the Hyatt regency.
I figure...
I'll extend my vacation...
Stay here a few more weeks,
Matthew.
This fella's name
is Billy Sweetwater.
He half-black, half cherokee.
We were in nam together.
Billy got a sweet
old station wagon.
Maybe he'll rent it by the day.
What are we going to do with it?
Buy some produce, Matthew.
Bing cherries, green
beans, iceberg lettuce.
All we got to do
is pull up to any
corner in Manhattan
and sell it out of
the back of the wagon.
Hey... He calls it esmeraldo.
He treat her like a woman
though he spell her name
like a man,
that account he high
on that loco weed.
Billy can fix a car
faster than you can take a piss.
You stay here.
He's suspicious
of strangers, okay?
What did he say?
He say soon as we got
a roof over our head
or a legitimate apartment,
he willing to do
business with us.
I tell him we're back
inside of six weeks.
Matthew, traffic jam.
We strike gold, Matthew.
A dime, Matthew.
A dime.
Why, that's no better
than slave labor.
I thought we fought
the civil war
to escape these wages.
Thank you kindly, ma'am.
May all your children be white!
No, no!
I don't want you to. Don't.
I'm working my way
through school.
I'll bet. What school is that?
The school of hard knocks.
Very funny.
Sometimes we call it
the school of hard yucks.
Hey, tell her your joke.
My joke?
The one about the fish.
The fish?
Yeah.
Where do fish keep their money?
I have no idea.
In river banks.
Alright, alright. Here.
Th-thanks.
I got a... and I said the joke
right. It's river banks, right?
Thanks a lot.
May all your children be white.
That's it for today.
Yeah. We'll wait it out.
Make no money today.
The gem is, all ye citizens
The system's a curse...
I got almost $17.
That's good.
Not bad,
considering the weather.
Yeah.
Got a surprise for you.
For me?
What is it?
Open it.
What is this?
It's film, boy.
It's the real thing.
I know what it is.
I didn't ask for it.
I figured if you're
a photographer, you'd want some.
Jerry, I don't want any film.
It's none of your business.
Where the hell you going, boy?
I don't know.
I'm going somewhere.
I don't know where.
Hey, I didn't mean
nothing by it, boy.
You don't want
the film, get rid of it.
Flush it down the toilet
as far as I'm concerned.
We ain't going to let a roll
of film get between us.
Come on, Matthew.
One of my pictures was in
a national photo magazine.
That don't surprise
me none, boy.
You got a genuine talent.
How do you know?
You never saw my pictures.
Don't need to see them.
Got an instinct.
Once I got sick,
started hearing voices...
Nothing came out right.
You're young yet, boy.
Give it time.
You okay?
Fine. It's nothing.
It's the weather, that's it.
S-Son of a bitch.
What's the matter?
Run out of pills.
Run out of these
little god damn painkillers.
Got to go to the v.A...
And get some more pills.
Appreciate it, boy. Here.
Yeah, that feels good.
Yeah.
Once we get us an
apartment of our own,
we're going to rent
that station wagon.
I know a fella on staten island
sells green beans by the bushel.
Know another fella
this side of the verazano bridge
that sells iceberg lettuce.
All we got to do, boy,
is pull up on any street corner
in Manhattan,
sell that produce right
out of the back of the wagon.
One, two, three loads a day.
Honest to god.
Hey, we going to make us
an economic recovery, Matthew.
Yeah.
That's better.
Yeah. This feels great.
I'm not going back
to the shelter.
We never going back there.
Let's ride
the "a" train all night.
How's fort Washington?
We can't go back there anymore.
Run into some trouble.
You on the streets?
Yeah. Been sleeping
in the truck,
only they tow it away.
Listen, man,
why don't you shack up my place?
We wouldn't want to inconvenience
you, rosario.
Fuck that.
Tamsen and I, we going to be in
galveston in a couple of days.
Something smells good.
What you cooking, spits?
Cooking hoppin' John.
Red beans and rice is very nice.
You're going to want some twice.
It ready when you be, rosario.
I always ready.
You got enough for my friends
Matthew and Jerry?
Yeah. Got plenty. Plenty.
This here's spits.
He share the place with us.
Actually, he here before us.
Been here ever since they
condemned the building.
Hey, it's okay my friends stay
a couple of days?
Sure.
Make yourself to home.
I'll go get
a couple of more bowls.
Appreciate that.
How's tamsen doing?
She's sleeping soundly.
Hey, where you
fellas been hanging out?
Fort Washington,
but we on the streets just now.
I was at the Atlantic
shelter before here.
Biffin Avenue?
Wake up one morning,
got nothing in my mouth.
Can you imagine some
fella walking around
with my old teeth in his mouth?
That's cold.
You got to be real bad off
to steal a man's choppers.
Hey, young blood.
Come on, get some
of this good stuff here.
No. Don't be shy.
Got more than enough
to get through the winter.
All a body need is
a sack of rice
and some wild horses.
Who's smoking?
Eat some of this, mamita.
Give me a drag.
That's my limit.
Trying to keep her
safe and sound.
Who are you?
Matthew.
If I'd known
you was inviting company over,
I would've put out
the clean linen.
Tamsen from buffalo.
That's why she got
a sense of humor.
There's nothing funny
about buffalo.
Ran away from buffalo.
My sister did before me, too.
We met on the street.
Yeah, in front of the 42nd
street library.
He come up to me and say,
"want to see my tattoo?"
And I say, "not particularly."
You say worse than that,
but I show it to you anyhow.
Yeah. We was really close.
We spent the whole summer
in battery park.
Remember, rosario?
I remember.
We saw a shooting star
fall from the sky one night.
Yeah. I made a wish
on that star.
Pretty soon,
it's gonna come true.
Picking up the tickets
tomorrow, mamita.
We going to be working the
24-hour shift at Teddy's place.
It's a 24-hour
truck stop and diner.
Tamsen gonna cook. I pump gas.
That's the arrangement.
What's the matter?
The baby moved.
It moved?
Yeah.
Again. Feel it?
No.
There.
That's it?
Yes.
That's my baby?
Like to give you a going-away
present, rosario.
Like to give you
the best damn spit shine ever.
The spirit willing,
but the flesh say
no go, rosario.
It's okay, spits.
You've done enough already.
Why don't you lay on
your hands, Matthew?
Maybe it'll help.
What you mean?
My leg hurting me
on account of shrapnel.
Matthew lay on his
hands, pain go away.
It go away?
Not entirely, you understand.
It go away temporarily though.
That good enough for me.
I... i can't do that.
It... it don't hurt to try, boy.
Something's happening.
My hands.
I can bend them.
They don't hurt.
Let me see that.
It's like a miracle.
Let me see.
It worked.
Spits, man, that's unbelievable.
We're not gonna wait
till after you're dead, Matthew,
like the rest of them saints.
You understand?
We'll take care of you now.
You're Saint Matthew.
You're Saint of all
the homeless people.
Two tickets to galveston.
Hey, hey, let me take a picture.
You finished the roll.
That's good, boy.
Hey, w-what do you say,
you want to get them developed?
Come on.
Pop, pop, pop
That cold gets in
your body, it never leaves.
I'm bleeding.
What?
My god, spits.
I'm... I'm bleeding.
My god.
Come on. You lie down here.
I'll go get somebody.
I don't wanna lose the baby.
You're not gonna lose the baby.
Now you just stay here. You hear?
I'll be right back.
Spits!
God.
Spits!
Tamsen. I... I'm
looking for tamsen.
Come on.
It was a boy, rosario.
It was a baby boy.
Hey, rosario, take
a load off, man.
I tell you we take care of you.
You're in no condition to work.
I got to work, man.
You don't understand, man.
I got to do something.
Take your hands off my car.
It's okay. I clean it up nice.
I don't want you touching
the car. You hear me?
I hear you. You don't have to
pay. It's your lucky day.
I do it for free.
Why don't you get a
job, you fucking bum?
What did you say?
What did you call me?
I'm trying to make a living,
and you call me a bum!
I'm a bum!
A bum!
Hey! Hey, rosario!
Get out of there, rosario!
Rosario, get your ass
out of here!
Get out of here.
Get out of here!
Alright.
Get out of here!
You guys come and see us.
Maybe we'll do that, rosario.
I'll come out and see you and
your babies one of these days.
I imagine you're going
to have two or three.
What do you imagine, Matthew?
I imagine, like, five.
Yeah. He got a better
imagination.
We going to miss you guys.
My hand's stopped working, boy.
I don't believe no...
Doing no good.
Where you going, Jerry?
Somewhere.
I got to keep moving, boy.
I got to keep moving.
I can't... I can't stay still.
Don't make it through
the night like this, boy.
I need something.
What do you need?
I'm burning up, buddy.
I'm...
I need, damn pain killers.
Jerry.
Where you going?
You son of a bitch.
You son of a bitch!
No, Jerry.
Let me go.
Let me go.
Let me go!
You're crazy.
It's alright, boy.
Okay, it's alright.
What are you doing, boy?
Come on, Jerry. Get up.
It's rush hour.
I'm tired. Leave me alone.
Come on, Jerry. Get up.
We're losing money.
Go away, Matthew!
One day more or less
don't matter.
It matters, Jerry.
We don't want
to lose the apartment.
The woman's waiting.
She's got the keys.
What apartment? It was
just a pipe dream anyhow.
What are you talking about?
Come on, Jerry.
What are you talking about?
This our reality.
What you see is what you get.
What about the station wagon
with the fruits and vegetables?
We're almost there.
I'm going to sleep.
You're just going to lie
down there and die, Jerry?
You're giving up.
You... you're giving up, Jerry.
I ain't up to it.
I'm telling you
something. Go away.
No, I'm not going away.
I'm never going away.
Get up.
Why can't you...
Are you crazy or something?
What's wrong with you?
We're going to work,
get some money,
and get that apartment.
You out of your fucking mind?
Come on. Let's go,
Jerry. Come on.
God damn, boy.
You're a fucking
slave driver. Come on!
Fucking slave driver!
Come on, Jerry.
Just trying to make it,
not take it.
Hey, thanks a lot.
This is your world.
We just live in it.
How you doing, Jerry?
I'm doing alright now, boy.
I... i appreciate it.
I saved your ass.
You saved mine.
That's the way
it's going to be. Yeah.
I've got to get back
to the park!
I've got to feed the pigeons.
Walk yourself in there.
I've got to feed the pigeons.
The pigeons are going to starve
if I don't feed them.
We'll feed them tonight.
Relax. No!
Let go of me!
I am not going!
Let go of me!
You have any I.D.?
I.d.? Yeah. Identification.
Where you live?
We don't have
an address just yet.
We're working on it, though.
Where are you going
to sleep tonight?
Wherever.
In the streets?
Just now.
Get in that Van. There's
a cold weather alert.
We're just going to take you
a shelter for tonight.
I don't want to go to a shelter.
Listen, the men go to the
fort Washington armory.
I'm not going.
You can't stay out here.
It's below freezing.
You can't stay out here.
We're okay. Let's go.
Wait a minute.
I'm talking to you.
We ain't broken no law.
We can do this easy,
or we'll use force.
We ain't going to no shelter.
This is a free country, okay?
This is a free country, hear?
Take it easy.
Take it easy.
Jerry.
Hey.
Jerry.
Jerry.
Matthew!
I don't want to go.
Get him up there.
Jerry.
Jerry!
Cuff him.
I'll get the radio car.
He's not a criminal.
Alright, guys. Let's go.
Come on.
Move it.
Let's get on in there.
Inside, fellas.
Let's go.
Where your daddy, boy?
He desert you?
I got to go.
You don't want out of this.
I got to go.
It's cold out there.
Come on, now.
You want to keep your sneaks,
put them away,
or somebody's going
to come calling.
What's your name?
Jason.
I'm Matthew.
This place is no picnic.
Watch your things.
Meow!
What the fuck, man?
Kitty cat, I'm always
where the money's at.
That's a mighty fine ring
you got there, boy.
It's going to look
nice on my pinkie.
Take your shit off,
or I'm going to cut it off.
Take it off, boy.
Help!
Who you fucking with,
motherfucker?
Who the fuck you fucking with?
Help! Help!
Help!
What the fuck is this?
I'm going to take
your shit now, motherfucker.
Leave him alone!
Get the fuck back
to your cot, Leroy.
Why you fronting
for his white ass?
I'm doing what I'm
supposed to do.
Do what I say.
Get back to your cot.
You made a big mistake, boy.
You fucker.
Chill.
Going somewhere, boy?
You ain't going nowhere.
Meow!
No. Hey, man.
That's it.
Are these babies?
Yep. Little homeless babies.
How come there's so many?
We wait a few days until
there's a good-sized load.
Otherwise, it ain't
worthwhile going over.
Where you taking them?
Potter's field over
on hart island,
just off long island sound.
There anyone you know?
Yes.
A relative?
My son.
I'm sorry.
I'd like to see the funeral.
There is no funeral.
We just place them in the ground
and cover them up with earth.
I'd like to be there.
I wish you could take you,
but it's against
city regulations.
You mean I can
never visit the grave?
I'm sorry.
There are not words
To speak of
There are not words
To say
There are not songs
To sing on
These days like today
There's only time
To carry
These darkest hours
Far away
There's only hope
To cling to
On days
Like
Today
Should hang
our heads in shame
What we've done
in god's name
Should hang our heads
in shame
Only ourselves to blame
Don't you worry, boy.
I'm right here now.
Yeah.
I'll never forget you.
We a team.
Right, Matthew?
My sweet Matthew.
I'll remember you, boy.
I... i got...
I got something for you.
Hey, your pictures come back.
Nice and sharp.
You take a real beauty.
Here's... Tamsen.
Hee hee!
It's just... sorry.
It's... ...spits.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Here me.
Yeah.
Nice talent.
I'm moving on now, boy.
Nothing's going
to stop me, Matthew.
Not god nor man.
I promise you that.
Going to miss you... Son.
My own.
My very own.
I'm starting over now, boy.
Have a nice evening.
Nothing's going
to stop me, Matthew...
Man nor god.
I get by 'cause you with me.
So long I be, you be...
And that our story.
Why a lovely lady like you
hide behind a dirty windshield?
The world needs beauty,
lots of beauty, ma'am.
Thank you kindly.