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Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012)
CROWD: We don't want
your fucking war! One, two, three, four, we don't need your fucking war! - What do you think? - What do you want to eat? - Hell, I don't care. - Let's get some salmon patties. Well, shit. - MAN: When do we want it? - CROWD: Now! No more war! No more war! - MAN: When do we want it? - Now! - What do we want? - Peace. - When do we want it? - Now. - What do we want? - Peace. - When do we want it? - Now. Assholes. MAN: You should be ashamed of yourself, Caldwell. - My cousin's over there now. - Come on, come on. We don't want your fucking war. - Hey, smile for the camera. - One, two, three, four. We don't want your fucking war. One, two, three, four. We don't want your fucking war. Let's go. I hear Tate Scott might run for Sheriff if Orville Allen retires. Goddamn Tate Scott. The whole damn bunch is Yankees got nothing running through their veins but Cincinnati blood from Ohio. They're from Ohio. You ought to have to be from here to run for office, the way I see it. Well, they've been here some 40-odd years though, Jim. I don't give a shit. - Born and bred a Yankee. - MAN: Okay. - And plus... - Yeah, yeah, bye. ...he got the grin of a queer. Jim, there's a riot going on down the street. The police force has arrested a bunch of hippies. Your boy's the ringleader. Oh. Would you do the same thing if we were the Klan? You think the Klan would let a bunch of dopeheads like y'all in? Seriously, man. That's not what I'm saying. What in God's name's going on here? You, get up. Come on. Get up. Get up here. Come on. Come on, come on, come on. Come on. Come on. What the hell do you think you're doing? Get up here. God damn it. You're making me look bad. You un-American son of a bitch, you're making me look bad - out there on the street. - That's bullshit, Daddy. No, it's not bullshit. Hey. Hey. Well, that's real brave, hitting me when I'm handcuffed. Yeah? Well, I'll un-handcuff you, you little bastard, then I'll beat the living dogshit out of you. I'm tired of getting you bailed out of all your monkey business. Now you go to the jailhouse, act like a human being and apologize. And I'll come post your bail and I'll try to straighten it out, if that's possible. All right? - You're a sad old man. - Yeah? Oh. - I'll bail myself out. - All right. You go your way and I'll go mine. Right. Then you go your way right to the jail. - Take him away. - Come on, Carroll. - Take him away. - Let's go. Go on, arrest his ass. Bastard. What's up, baby? What's up? Hey. Daddy feed you all right? Daddy feed you? Daddy feed you, huh? Did Daddy feed you? Come on. Come on. What's the word, Jimbo? JIMBO: Shit, I don't know. Where's Daddy? Shit, I don't know. He took off in his truck. He's been acting weird lately like everybody else in this fucking family. Skip, the salad dressing's mixed. Oh, Skip, if you're gonna be up all night, you're gonna have to cut down the radio. I've been listening to underground music. Carroll got me to doing it, yeah. It's real different kind of music. But the program don't start till midnight, so that's how come I had to be listening so late. Well, it don't sound like it's underground. It sounds like it's right in the room with me. Carroll says if you listen to underground music, it'll open your mind up. That means just take LSD... opening your mind. Goddamn Carroll. That's all this town needs... a damn hippie peace march. A bunch of filth lying around the park in their own shit. Carroll says we got no business being in Vietnam. He says it's in vain or something. That's easy for Carroll to say. He ain't fighting the little bastards. Somebody's got to fight the bastards. You know, Carroll actually did his fighting, Jimbo. What's that supposed to mean? Tell me, Skip. Uncle Carroll says that he's fighting for freedom and peace. Shut up. In a peaceful way. Shut up. Jimbo, come on, honey. You ain't one to talk. You're 50 years old, still living at home, driving up and down the road in them sports cars like a damn teenager. You got no kind of life, no kind of job, chasing after any old wore-out whore who will talk to you. You're nearly 50 and you live here too, Dad. I thought I told you to shut up. Take it easy, honey. JIMBO: At least I didn't turn out to be some freak like you and him did. Why don't you go live with him, polish each other's medals... while you're protesting the damn war? They say Tate Scott might run for Sheriff. If that damn Yankee gets in, we're all screwed. We'll be eating Cincinnati chili full of cinnamon in it. - How would you like that? - A phone call, Mr. Caldwell. Well, I'm eating my supper. Tell them I'll call them back. It's long-distance from England. - From where? - England. England? Hmm. Uh-huh. England? Hello. MAN: Mr. James Caldwell? Yeah. Yeah, this is Jim Caldwell. This is Phillip Bedford, Mr. Caldwell. Well... that was Phillip Bedford... that son of a bitch's son. JIMBO: What the hell did he want? Your mama's dead, son. Died today of cancer. Yeah. Wants to be buried here with her people, so they're bringing her back. Who's bringing her back? That English bastard and his kids. Well, they can't come here. They ain't welcome. Well, I ain't happy about it neither, but we got to put up with it. She deserves to be with her people. It don't matter what she done to us. So... I believe the funeral's on Saturday. All right? Tell your brothers and call your sister. Yeah. JIMBO: Yes, sir. Lord have mercy. Yeah. Yeah. DOROTHY: Poor Miss Naomi, dying all the way over there in England. I only met her that one time when I was little. She was a free-spirited woman. How come her to leave Mr. Caldwell like that? I love Jim Caldwell, but he ain't the most romantic man in the world. And Miss Naomi... she wanted to travel, see new things. And he wouldn't take her. So one time she just up and went by herself. Met that man over there. Then she come back over here, divorced Mr. Caldwell, went back over there and married Mr. Bedford. I think he thought she'd come back to him one day. Not like this. JD, JD. Mm. Yeah, bud? I had some strawberry mescaline go missing. It wouldn't happen to be in your brain now, would it? - JD: Got to be. - Hang on, hang on. Mm-hmm, I got all that good shit traveling around my brain. Just play nice next time, partner, and ask. - What, baby? What? - Look. You will bear someone else's Fertile seed... Well, okay. Evil woman, don't play your games with me... Hey, buddy. What's going on? Are you okay, buddy? When did Mama visit us last time? Was it last 4th of July? No. No, it was, like, six, seven years ago when Aunt Mary Beth died. Remember, she brought you that hat... that Scottish hat? Mama died, Carroll. They called from England. Mama's name is gonna say "Bedford" on her grave. Yeah. Do you have any medicine, Carroll? Yeah, buddy. I got some medicine. Are you all right, Father? Yes, yes, I'm all right. Please stop asking me if I'm all right. - Bloody fool. - Good damn it, Neal. One of these days your luck is gonna run out. Hey, girls, before my luck runs out, why don't y'all hand me one of those beers back there? - There you go, Daddy. - Thank you, baby. That's just what you need. Y'all got another one? Well, this looks like it will do fine. Now everybody stay here and I'll go and register. - Hello. - Hi. Can I help you? Yes, yes. Uh, I have a reservation. The name's Bedford. DISPATCH: We got an accident on 271, one vehicle. Looks like there's one fatality... one more car... Let's go see that wreck before we head to the house, all right? Grandpa, I got to shit pretty bad. You can shit after a while. MAN: It don't look good, does it? Well, looky here. There's Jim Caldwell. I reckon that son of a bitch shows up at every wreck there is. OFFICER: Rich folks ain't never got nothing else to do. - OFFICER #2: Hey, Jim. - Hey. - OFFICER: Jim. - Hey, Peyton, what happened? Hey, Jim. I guess he just didn't make that curve, hit that concrete mile marker, I figure... - Yeah. - ...as far as I can tell. Yeah, he's dead all right. Nothing we can do till the coroner gets here, but he's over at the steakhouse. All right, let's take a look. PEYTON: They're down there now trying to figure ways prize him out. - PEYTON: Jim, watch your step. - DEPUTY: Look right here. You think you can get in there? MAN #2: Come on, Jim. Let me take a look. Yeah, you see, if you could just go to the other side and we could wedge his foot out. If he was a smaller man. Move over a minute. Move over. Let me in there. O Lord. Yep. Broke his neck, looks like. Probably didn't know what was going on. Deader than Woodrow Wilson. Grandpa, I gotta go. I'm serious. Well, go shit in the woods. They're all around here. All right? I'm trying to figure this wreck out here. He might have been headed to get some pussy or something, maybe looked up at the trees for just a second too long. Yeah. There was a soul in this Volkswagen a little while ago thinking about something. Now there ain't nothing more than a voice-thrower's dummy laying there. Now it's trying to figure out... ...why he didn't make it. CARROLL: I want you to enroll in college next semester. MICKEY: I don't want to go to college, Dad. It's a waste of time. You gotta get that student deferment, son. They're drafting guys left and right your age. - Hello. - Carroll. Hey, Donna, what's up? When did you get in? DONNA: Now come on over here and eat. Daddy's having a cookout. No, Daddy don't want me out there. DONNA: Don't be stupid. - I got arrested. - Are you shitting me? - Yeah. - Oh my God. I'll tell you about it when I... DONNA: Come on. - Okay. - All right. - Okay, yeah. - All right. - I'll see you later. - Bye. That was your Aunt Donna. They just got in. Neal wants us to come out to the house and eat with them. Do I have to go? Yeah, you do. Skip. Hey. Hey, buddy. Hey, come on, Skip. - God damn. - Get up, buddy. Why don't they just get all of it while they're in there? Hey, hey, hey, hey. How are you doing, buddy? - Oh, hi, man. - Are you okay? - Yeah, I'm all right. - All right, all right. We're heading over to the house to get something to eat, okay? - Okay. - Okay, so get yourself good. - All right. - Okay. Yeah, looks like we're gonna set another sales record - this year. - DONNA: All right. Of course we set sales records every year. DONNA: Bye. It looked like we weren't last year, and then in that fourth quarter we just started moving Cadillacs off that lot, man. - I'm telling you... - Phillip Bedford just called. - What did he want? - He just wanted to let us know they're here. They're staying at the Pines Motel. They're coming over to eat with us. I don't believe my goddamn ears. You invited them bastards over to our house? NEAL: Damn, Donna, what's the matter with you? They took your mama away from you. Ls this your goddamn business, Neal? What's going on? JIMBO: Donna invited them English people over here. Now she's gonna call them back and un-invite them. DONNA: Like hell I will. This isn't just about you, Jimbo. Mama's dead. She's got another family and we gotta deal with that. The world don't revolve around you. VICKY: Oh, I guess it's too busy revolving around you, ain't it, Donna? Oh, go make a doily, Vicky. I wish Donna hadn't shot off her mouth, but now we're stuck with it. Hard to believe I'm fixing to meet that man face to face. I'm furious with you, Phillip. You put me in an impossible situation. We're actually going to go to this man's house? I'm sorry, Father. She took me by surprise. She was very insistent and I thought it very rude to say no. You know how much I detest excuses. I wasn't making an excuse. What if he attacks me? Oh, please. Naomi told me some terrible stories about his mood swings, temper... violent temper. Hello. I've come to compare notes on the bug situation. I found the most enormous bug racing around the loo. You must come and see it. We've been invited to the Caldwell ranch, Camilla, for a cookout. I wonder if I've brought the proper clothes. What does one wear to a cookout? It is so dreadfully hot. I feel as though I'm swimming in treacle. Are we just gonna have to sit here all day? APRIL: Yeah, can we go swimming or something? DONNA: Well, why don't y'all wait for Uncle Carroll and Mickey to get here? Uncle Carroll always loves to swim with y'all. - Hey, y'all. - Hey, baby. Hey. They're here. Fantastic. It's like "Gone with the Wind." Hi, everybody. Are you Phillip? Yes, yes. Donna? That's right. And this is my brother Skip. God damn, he's a good-looking son of a bitch. You have any trouble finding the place? Oh, no. No, no, no. Your directions were impeccable. Well, y'all come on in, meet everybody. Hi, guys. Come on. This is my brother Jim, Junior... everybody calls him Jimbo... his wife Vicky, my husband Neal, our daughters Autumn and April. And, let's see, Jimbo's son Alan is somewhere around here. My son too... me and Jimbo. Yep, came right out of me. Well, I suppose it's my turn. My name is Phillip. This is my father Kingsley and my sister Camilla. Where'd Daddy go? This is Daddy... well, Jim, Senior. Daddy, this is Kingsley... I mean, Mr. Bedford. Mm-hmm. How do you do, Mr. Caldwell? Fine. Just fine. KINGSLEY: Well... you have a lovely house. DONNA: Oh, hi, guys. This is my brother Carroll and his son Mickey. - JIM: Yeah. Yeah. - How are y'all doing? A good picture of you in the paper... a nice, big picture, front page. Hey there. Phillip, isn't it? Yes. And you're Neal, Donna's husband. Neal Baron. I'm Donna's husband. She's the daughter, Jim and Mrs. Caldwell's daughter... or Belford, I guess it is, or was. Boy, it's a shame about her moving on. She's in a better place now, better than England anyway, from what I know of it. I'm just fucking with you, son. But not really. God damn, it's miserable over there. I went over there once on business and, God damn, I don't see how y'all do it. You can't get so much as one good meal over there. They wouldn't know a grill if one bit them on the ass. And musty, God damn, cold, shitty. Boil everything. They boil a goddamn Clark Bar. Anyway, I don't mean to be running your place down. Well, that's quite all right. The... the food can be a challenge. I'd rather live in West Virginia as there. Well, listen, pleasure talking to you. I'm gonna grab a drink, if you'll excuse me. Hell yeah, let's get a cocktail. I'm in the car business. I got six lots in the greater Atlanta area, new and used. Of course, I don't know what they've told you about me. Nothing actually, but you're doing a fine job. I'm a two-time pro baller, defensive end. I played six seasons with the Lions. I got drafted by Baltimore, but when I got traded, I come into my own with the Lions. I had two pretty bad knee injuries. That's what did me in. I'll show you the operation scars later. They're monster. Hey, Neal, don't you talk poor Phillip's ear off. Now Donna was Miss Alabama back in the day. Boy, you ought to have seen her. She looked real good back then. DONNA: Are you doing all right? Of course she had the kids, and that's hard on them... childbirth. Yeah, I robbed the cradle. I got her barefoot and pregnant right off the bat. - That gave her something to do. - Well, she's lovely. Yeah, she's a good gal sometimes... Donna. Hey, listen, me and the girls are headed back after the funeral. Donna's gonna stick around for a couple of days. But there's a big Falcons pre-season game on Sunday. I know everybody in the organization, being an ex-player, and I'm kind of a big deal around there. Do you want to go? 40-yard line. You want to? I'm not really familiar with American football, but thank you. Oh, that's right, y'all call kickball "football" over there. Well, you ought to come with me, watch some real football where people don't wear short britches. I'm told that you are quite the expert of the barbecue grill. What did you do to your hoof? My hoof? Yeah. You're on that walking stick. Oh. Yes. It's been my constant companion since the Great War. - I was wounded in France. - Oh. I fixed up a lot of soldiers in France. Some of them just got a snort of whisky and a prayer though. So... I was a medic over there, served under Pershing. Yes, well, you all did. Yes, sir, we all did, yeah. Grandpa, can we go swimming? Do what? Can we go swimming? Just so you don't go half-naked. Eh? Eh? Whoo! What are you doing? Eating corn? - Mm-hmm. - Yeah. I'm Skip, the one that met you on the porch a while ago. I remember. - I got three airplanes. - Really? - Yeah. Yeah. - Wow. I got a GTO, a Corvette and a Chevelle. Got a lot of lung cancer and gall bladder trouble in England, is what I read. Your thoughts are so random. I am a thinker, always have been. Funny. Very funny. - Do you want to go see my cars? - Absolutely. ALAN: There you go, brother. CAMILLA: Mm. Oh, it's lovely. Shit, somebody's in my damn shop. - CAMILLA: Hmm? - I hear music in there. - Somebody's in my damn shop. - Oh. Hi. What are y'all doing? Smoking? - Smoking a little reefer? - Yeah. Sorry, Uncle Skip. We'll get out of here. We ain't messing with nothing. Just, you know, take your time, have fun. Just don't let Jimbo and Daddy catch you, all right? - All right? - You got it. - SKIP: All right. - CAMILLA: Ciao. Maybe turn the music down or something. - All right. - CAMILLA: Not too much. Can you turn the music down? Oh, man, Grandpa would kill us if he caught us. I mean, really kill us probably. Yeah, your old man and Grandpa are both real uptight. One time Grandpa sees me lighting up is when he's dragging my ass off to a car wreck or a drowning. That's some weird shit, man. He brought me out to see when... when Floyd Carver shot that guy from the employment office in the belly. Oh, yeah. Did he die? I can't remember. The dude killed the shit out of him. I saw his guts and everything. Daddy says Grandpa needs a trip. He says it might loosen him up some. He don't even know what acid is probably. Imagine that... Grandpa tripping? That's some funny shit right there. You know, I got some acid, you know. If you want some, if you want to try. Okay. Yeah. Here we are. Oh! I feel as if I went to an art opening for automobile lovers. Oh. Automobile lovers? I like the way that sounds. The fact of the business, I like the way everything you say sounds. I wish I could speak English. Anyhow, this here is the Wildcat, United States Navy. That's what I flew in the war. The car's name is GTO, nicknamed Goat. Why do you compare your cars to airplanes? Oh, I cook up missions all over the county... keeps my head in the clouds. Anyhow, the Wildcat... the thing about this plane was, it was the very first American fighter in the Pacific, which is where I fought in the war. Oh. Anyhow, right here... step on over here. - CAMILLA: Oh, look at this one. - Oh, yeah. That's your Hellcat. The car's name is Chevelle. You see it right there. Chevelle's a little quicker than GTO, handles better too. And the grand finale over here... Oh, I love this one. Oh. It's something. - Does it go fast? - Yeah, it does. - I bet it does. - They all do. Mm. Now the Corsair had 11:1 kill ratio. - This... don't sit on it. - Oh. - Don't sit on it. - Terribly sorry. It's okay. Anyhow, the Corsair had 11: 1 kill ratio and the Corvette... 11: 1 compression ratio. - Isn't that something else? - It is, it really is. It's a beautiful, beautiful machine. I'll tell you what: I love this thing. Now see, notice how the hood's so long, that pretty hood, longer than the ass end so much, see? Well, in a Corsair, from the cockpit to the propeller... 14 feet. See there? I do. Do you know you're like a little child when you talk about them? What do you mean? A kid can't fly these things. Well, it's just not any son of a bitch that can handle them. I mean, you can make a mistake pretty easy, believe me. Have I upset you? They're beautiful. Yes, they are. I feel real strange about Mama. Dear Naomi... what an eccentric creature she was. I wonder why she didn't tell us she was sick. She just didn't want you to worry. There was nothing you could do. Your accent sure is pretty. I could listen to you talk all day long. I need to smoke a reefer with my nephews. You want to go with me? Yes, I do. Thank you. I noticed you didn't eat much. You don't like Daddy's cooking? Oh, no, no, no. It's... it's not that. Um, I'm sure it's wonderful, but I can only eat a very bland diet. How come? I was a prisoner during the war, of the Japanese. The culinary skills of the Jap cooks left a lot to be desired. My insides were left a bit of a wreck. Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be nosy. No, that's quite all right. All three of my brothers were in the war. Carroll was in the marines. He was a medic. Skip was a pilot in the navy. They both got decorated. Jimbo was in the army, but he don't talk about it much. He ran the laundry at Fort Polk. He's so damn jealous of the other boys' medals, you'd think he was in high school. Well, he shouldn't feel that way. He did his bit. Yeah, try telling Jimbo that. Try telling Jimbo anything. He's Daddy's boy all right. Families can be difficult. They sure can. So are you married? Divorced. Oh. You got any kids? No. Is she pestering the shit out of you, Phil? No, no, no, not at all. Neal, get me a beer. Well, shit, you got legs. Well, may I thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Caldwell? The barbecue was superb. Yeah, well, see you tomorrow. Hey, sweet ass. Hey, come here a minute. Come here a minute. Yeah. CAMILLA: Hey, you're blotto. Hey, listen, there's something I was thinking about. I just want to ask you... This English accent of yours... there's something about it. There's just something about it. Now, uh, I know we don't know each other that good yet. And I'm sure that you're not gonna just actually do it with me yet, but... But I was wondering sometime can we just slip off and you get naked and talk English and recite something, I don't know, and just let me beat off to you? Beat off? Um... beat... beat off. What, have a wank? See? That's what I'm talking about... that damned English. Makes me hornier than Frank Sinatra. "Have a wank?" You're mad as a March hare. I ain't mad. I just get real focused on things. - Think about it. - Okay. Goodbye. SKIP: Hey, think about it. DISPATCH: S.O. to 44A. MAN OVER RADIO: 44A. Go ahead. DISPATCH: Sheriff, are you still out at Good Frank's? Give me a 10-84 to Mr. Meyer's. JIM: Mm-hmm, yeah. He's making threatening phone calls to neighbors, telling them he's gonna kill their cat. Caller advised of a possible 10-96. SHERIFF: All right. DISPATCH: Unit 59, 10-20? - Hey. - Hey, Daddy. - Hey. - How are you holding up? Well... all right so far. - Yeah. - Yeah. It's all kind of hard to think about, huh? What? Are you gonna be okay tomorrow, you think? Tomorrow? Well, what about it? The funeral. DISPATCH: All units, we have a three-car accident - up on Lance highway... - Yeah. - Yeah. - Four fatalities confirmed, several injuries, not real sure how many. It's a shame about ol' Naomi, you know, it really is. Yeah. You ain't fooling me. Yeah? I gotta go. There's a big wreck right down the road. - See you later. - Okay, Daddy. MAN OVER RADIO: In five minutes. Lance highway - and Scott Ranch Road. Over. - DISPATCH: 10-4. Let's bring in that new mystery challenger. WOMAN: God bless you. Go on in. There you go. Well, yeah. Yeah. There you go. DOROTHY: Mr. Caldwell. - How are you doing, Pops? - Please. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Naomi. I forgive you this time. Bye-bye. There you go, Mama. Go on, buddy. Mama? - Da... Daddy? - Hey, buddy, hey. - Daddy? - Hey, it's okay, it's okay. Go on. Go get with Dad. PHILLIP: Father. - CAMILLA: Father. Oh my God. - PHILLIP: Okay. DONNA: What...? - CARROLL: Yeah, loosen his tie. - Father. Somebody get a doctor. - Give him some air. - DONNA: Where's your phone? CAMILLA: Father. CARROLL: Hey, get some water. MAN: There you go. DONNA: Well, somebody ought to go with them. They're in a strange town. They don't know anybody. Donna, we're all headed over to the church now for your mama's funeral. All right? CARROLL: She's right, Daddy. Somebody ought to go with them. Yeah. DONNA: Oh my God, I hope he's all right. What if he's dead? Thank you. NEAL: Broken teeth and bones and hair and shit... I mean, it's the hardest fought game... He's gonna pinch my last nerve. NEAL: We got one point with one second to go - and you know what happens? - I- I don't know. They missed the dang extra point! Oh, hey, babe, did they get your mama buried all right? - Yeah. - Hey, listen, I gotta get something else to eat. This thing tastes like shit. - How's your daddy doing? - He's doing well. Thank you. He had a heart attack about three years ago, so of course we were worried about that. But the doctor said he just fainted because of the stress and exhaustion. He's resting now. And Camilla's with him. Oh, thank God. How long are they gonna keep him? They said they'd release him in... in... in a bit. But they don't want him to travel for a day or two, which means we... we won't be leaving tomorrow. Well, he can't stay at the Pines Motel. I mean, none of y'all should be there in the first place. That ain't nothing but an after-prom fuck joint. No telling whose jizz y'all are sleeping on. Y'all are staying at Daddy's. That's very kind, but we couldn't possibly. Oh, yes, you could possibly. I think it's a great idea. Daddy would insist. NEAL: All right, girls, let's go. We got shit to do. PHILLIP: Neal, thank you so much for your help at the hospital. NEAL: Hey, no sweat, slick. Take care of yourself, all right? DONNA: Y'all drive safe. Call me when you get there. Hey, Neal, keep it on the road. Bye, babies. NEAL: Hand me one of those beers back there. - Aunt Donna. - Yeah? Uh, Connell's band's playing tonight. Really? Yeah, at the main dollar store parking lot. And I'm doing the sound and the lights. Uh, you ought to come. - All right. - All right? - Okay, I'll see you later then. - I'll see you there. Okay. I feel like dancing anyway. Let's go dance. I should stay here with my father. You need to relax. There's a whole house full of people to take care of your daddy. Well, I'm not really a dancer. Well, you will be when I get through with you. Hey, what's going on? Any gruesome car crashes? Any homicides? No, doesn't appear to be, no. Too bad. Hey, let me ask you a question. How cold can it be in there? Is it really that dark and cold inside you that you can't even hug your own son on the day of his mama's funeral? You're drunk. Go home. Yeah. Hey, let me ask you another question. You remember when I was wounded on Saipan, I was in the hospital for three months? JIM: Of course I do. Yeah, I wrote you a letter from that hospital. I spilled my guts out to you. I told you everything you ever meant to me, about how when I signed up, I became a medic 'cause you were a medic in World War I and... and... and how I didn't mind getting shot because... 'cause I figured that you was finally, you know, proud of me and how I admired you more than anybody else in the world, even President Roosevelt. And you never wrote me back. I mean, you never said one word about that letter, not to this day. I never got a letter like that. You're lying, Pops. Donna told me she saw you reading that letter. Your sister must be mixed up or something. Your letter must have got lost, lost in the mail. You know, I used to think that you were seven feet tall. I spent my whole childhood just trying to be just... just like you. God damn, I'm glad I didn't succeed. Hmm. Yeah. You turned out real good. MAN: I came I saw He said He fled... "'Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!' he said: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred." "Cannons to the right of them, Cannons to the left of them, Cannons in front of them Volley'd and thunder'd; Storm'd at with shot and shell, Boldly..." I'm glad you came and loosened up a little. Me too. I actually had fun. "Cossack and Russian Reel'd from the sabre-stroke Shatter'd and sunder'd." "Then they rode back, but not the six hundred." CONNELL: Man, I gotta tell you something, but you can't tell a soul, especially my grandmother. MICKEY: All right, man. CONNELL: I got a problem, man. What is it? I mean, I really got a problem right now. All right. I got this in the mail today, thought you should check it out. Well, shit, man. What are you gonna do? What do you think I'm gonna do? Yeah. Come in. May I? Oh, Mr. Caldwell. Yeah. I just wanted to see how you were feeling. A great deal better, thank you. Well, that's... that's good. Good to hear. Yeah. Good night. Good night, Mr. Caldwell. Uh... I got a question for you. Yes? How did y'all meet... you and Naomi? Well... I was taking my dog Molly for a walk in Hyde Park one morning... a border terrier, a wonderful dog. And my wife had died a year previously. Molly had become my constant companion, always trying to lift my spirits. I noticed... a very attractive woman standing by the bronze statue of St. George slaying the dragon. And she had a camera, obviously a tourist. And she spotted me and she asked me in a very attractive Southern American accent if I'd care to take her picture. Of course I said I'd be delighted. So she gave me the camera. And I was expecting her to stand in front of the statue and smile. I'd take a snapshot of her, I'd give her the camera back and we'd go our separate ways, but not a bit of it. Not a bit of it. No, instead she absolutely astonished me by climbing on the back of the horse, sitting astride it behind St. George as quickly... and as nimbly as a monkey. Sounds like her, yeah. I was laughing so much, I had difficulty in taking the picture properly. Anyway... that's how I met Naomi. I just always wondered about it. Always wondered. Yeah. Hey, kid. What's up? Just going outside for a smoke. You? Just having my cereal. You're up early. Not really. I ain't been to bed yet. How come? Connell and me were up all night talking. Connell got drafted. Shit. Does Dorothy know yet? No, he ain't told her yet. Man. Poor thing. She loves that kid to death. It's weird, Daddy. How can government just come and tell you what to do like that? He was gonna go to California, get in the music scene. - It's fucked up. - I know, it ain't right. I mean, that's why I'm telling you you gotta get in college. That's why I'm against it, you know? So a kid like Connell that has a dream gets a chance to live it. But, you know, there is something cool about it though... Connell being a soldier. No, son. There's nothing cool about it. JIMBO: Well, looky there. Here we go. Nobody else is going to church. Why do we have to? 'Cause we always go to church. Because we love the Lord. Well, we went to church yesterday. No, we didn't, God damn it. We went to a funeral. It's different. Hello. Hello. Good morning. And then the hydrogen atom, and good things are gone... - Hi. - What are you doing? Getting the car on? I'm just fiddling around in here. What are you doing? Oh. It's hot. - SKIP: Yeah. - Very hot. So when are you gonna get naked and recite something to me in your accent, hmm? Come on, tit for tat. No is not an acceptable response. - Listen, uh... - Hmm? Yes? - Hop in. - Okay. Yeah. Kingsley, you heard of Jayne Mansfield? - Jayne Mansfield? - Yeah. Yeah, the film star, blonde with those... Titties. That's right. That's right. Well, she was killed a couple of years back in a car wreck in Louisiana. And a friend of mine just called from town. They have the very car she was killed in out at the discount store. And they're selling tickets. And it's a big deal. And I darn near forgot it was today. Would you like to come with me? Come on. All right? - Oh. - Let's go. All right. How grotesque. It's a good spot. I come out here to do my thinking. I used to bring Patty Overton out here and just wear her ass out. That was before the war. She married a Primitive Baptist preacher. She was hare-lipped and you needed Grandpa's bifocals to see her titties, but, you know, she had a $900 ass and, God damn, she could take it right up to the gills without so much as a hiccup. Oh, I think she sounds like a lovely girl. Yeah. Right, enough beating about the bush. Let's get on with it, fly boy. I think a little Tennessee Williams would be appropriate. Do you know "A Streetcar Named Desire"? You hear that? No. I don't. Birds? Silence. That's what was hard to get used to. It still is sometimes. It's kind of like floating on a peaceful lake with a tornado in your head or something. I never did want to see wrecks. I didn't want to know what somebody's last thought was before they died. I never wanted to see dead faces looking at nothing. I just wanted to fly. When I was a kid, I read books on it. Once in a blue moon one would fly over and I'd watch it till it disappeared. So that's how come I joined in 1940. We weren't even in the war at that point. I just wanted to fly up there in the quiet and the still. I was a navy pilot. How about that? It wasn't quiet and still though. It was loud and crazy and scary. But you went up every time you were supposed to, did what you were supposed to do. And I went up with three minds. One mind was always thinking, "One way or the other, I'm gonna get back. I'm gonna make it back." And then another mind was always thinking, "This is probably gonna be the last day of my life." And then your third mind was right down the middle and didn't think about anything. It wouldn't let the other two in. You know, people say they don't like to talk about war because it brings up the bad memories and the nightmares and everything. I don't believe that. I believe they don't talk about it because nobody wants to hear it. See, in the early part of the war the Japanese were good pilots, better than we were really. Later on we got better, but... I made a mistake that day. It was a clear blue day and he got in behind me and I got hit right here and back up there in the back. And I couldn't believe I'd been shot. And at the same time I'd been expecting it all the time, you know? I... one way or another... I bailed out. I didn't want to. I was scared to. But I didn't want to burn to death. That's what we were mostly worried about up there. Yeah. You know how lucky I am? No. I landed right in the middle of the goddamn US marines. It knocked me out. I broke my right leg, collarbone, a few ribs, pelvis, both hands. I don't remember a lot about it, to tell you the truth. November the 12th, 1942, Guadalcanal. I woke up in a hospital, had both my hands in casts and my right leg, just tore to pieces. And... the hospital got hit. And I nearly burned to death. I saw a guy coming at me with a big ol' wet blanket or something and he threw it over my head. I thought he was trying to kill me. But he saved my face, as Jimbo says, for what that's worth, and got me out of there. Carroll got to come visit me a couple of times. That's real special. And that was the end of the war for me. I mean, God damn, honey, you can't get out of your own skin no matter what it is. Anyhow, it takes five kills to become an ace. And I got six. I'm an ace. Skip. Uh, I didn't beat off. Come on, I know a place. JIM: Her and her boyfriend and her chauffeur... they all got killed in Louisiana in the middle of the night. The kids was in the back seat, didn't hardly even get hurt. A little ol' dog of hers... ...deader than Rin Tin Tin. KINGSLEY: Yes, I can remember when it happened. It's always shocking when the rich and famous die. There's no reason for us to believe that they should have immunity, - but we seem to. - Yeah. Yeah. You reckon how many people would live to ripe old age if we didn't go anywhere, 'cause transportation kills a lot of people. Yeah. What if the last thought in the world was, "God damn it, here comes a car across the center line about to kill me, 'cause I had to get out at 10:00 at night for a roll of toilet paper. Well, I wish I would have just wiped my ass with a sweetgum leaf." Yes, I've been thinking a lot about last thoughts recently. I hope I don't have one. Yeah? I'd rather go in my sleep so there wouldn't be any conscious thoughts... - Oh, that's good. - ...just a dream instead... Yeah. - ...hopefully a good one. - Yeah. Yeah. Three, please. Whew. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Move over, son, so we get a better look. Yeah. Mm. There it is. Whew. Mm. Yeah. What they said was, there was... the car was headed through a road in the swamps. And there was a mosquito truck on the road spraying pesticide. And it comes drifting across the road like a cloud, just this fog of poison. And this tractor trailer rig slowed down when it hit the fog. And Jayne Mansfield's car slid right under it. That was it. That was all she wrote. Yeah. Mm. She was decapitated, wasn't she? A lot of people think that, but it wasn't the whole head. No, it was just the top of it. Yeah. Mm. Kingsley, you spend a lot of your time figuring things out? You know, Jim, these days I think I spend more time accepting things. Not me. I spend all of my time figuring things out. Yeah. BOY: That ain't her real head. Shit, don't you think I know that? My daddy says it's probably not even really her car. Ain't you got anything better to do than to pester me? Huh? Huh? That's right. Yeah. - I'll be in the truck. - Yeah. Well, mm, seen enough? Just about. Just about. Whew. Mm. Mm. JIM: Yeah. A dead man's stare ain't any different than that plastic head's stare. Ain't nothing in either one of them. I saw it on the battlefield many times. I'm sure you did too. Yes, I'm afraid I did. The fact is we all have a crash of some sort awaiting us. Yeah. Hey, you hear that? Yeah. Yeah. I put pieces together all the time and they all fall apart. Before I can ever get it all put together, they all fall apart. JIM: That's it exactly. Everything's been turned upside down. Yeah. Listen, I love my boys, but for the life of me I can't figure them out. Jimbo is a good hand around here, turned out normal, didn't even see combat. The other two was out-and-out heroes, turned out to be hardly naught but hobos. You think it'd be the other way around. Yeah. Yes, well, I have to say that Phillip has been a bit of a disappointment to me too. Yeah, well, times are changing. Good life's disappearing. Sometimes I pray I'm not here to see it go. Oh my God, do you believe them? They're acting like long-lost buddies. I know. I'm amazed. JIM: Let's go sit down a bit, all right? KINGSLEY: It's really quite a storm. JIM: Rest your bones. VICKY: Look at them. No telling what they was up to while we was at church. JIM: Yeah. PHILLIP: I'm gonna go freshen up. DONNA: Well, hey, sister Vicky. Let's take a walk. DONNA: We had fun riding. It's about my sister. - JIM: You what? - DONNA: We had fun riding. You need to leave her the fuck alone. Well, now, see here, I don't know what you're getting at. No, no, no, no, I'm... I'm not pissed off at you. I don't even like you. I only get pissed off at people I like. There's nothing in this for me. This is for your own damn good. Don't get mixed up with her. The power's out! JIM: See what I got to put up with? Like I was fixing to tell you, she ain't a bad gal sometimes. But she can suck you down in the hole you'll never be able to crawl out of. Neal used to be a slim, muscular, good-looking, humble guy. Now he runs his mouth off like a threshing machine just so he doesn't have to hear himself think. And if you look at him, he can't even hardly squeeze into a damn leisure suit, eats whatever you put in front of him, drinks two cases of beer a day. DONNA: Like all the shit you done. JIMBO: You want to have some spending money in your pocket... - JIM: Careful, careful. - ...and not to have to work like a slave, keep your sanity, let her be. She's tricky. She's as whiny as a two-week-old cat. JIMBO: I ain't even sure them's his daughters. JIM: ...stop and see what's going on now. - JIMBO: Get me? - JIM: Hippies, dope, laziness. JIM: They call it free love. It's a free ride is what it is. KINGSLEY: What astounds me is the lack of respect. You know, the people that we fought and that died next to us... if they were to see what was going on today, they would literally spin in their graves. It's just a crying shame. While our boys are fighting in the jungle, the hippies are... they're singing songs and pissing on our flag. Well, don't they realize that there is a rising tide of communism that's going to sweep up onto our shores and overwhelm us if it's not stopped in places like Southeast Asia. Exactly what I've been telling Carroll, word for word. PHILLIP: This war is not about communism. It's about nationalism. The Vietnamese people just want to be free of foreign domination... first the French, and now the Americans. JIM: We ain't trying to dominate anybody. We're just trying to bring freedom. PHILLIP: At the point of a gun? KINGSLEY: Yeah, well, sometimes violence is a necessary evil. That's right. That's right. It was my turn in '17. And then Carroll and Skip had to go off after Pearl Harbor. And pretty soon, well, it's gonna be Alan's turn. We need to keep Alan around here. We gotta groom him to take over one of these days. JIM: Well, now there's plenty of time for that. What, you want him to come home with a chest full of medals too, or get killed? Or both. Hey. Well, I'm just glad I got girls and not boys. PHILLIP: Don't you think you've had enough, Father? I mean, you're just a day out of hospital. I've had quite enough of you hectoring me about my drinking. It's one of the few pleasures that I have left. And also I've had quite enough of you posing as some sort of military expert. Well, I'm no expert, but I do know something about war. I was a soldier too. Oh, yes. I'd forgot. Yes, you fought in the glorious battle of Singapore. - The Nips surprised us. - Yeah? Our heavy artillery was pointed seaward and they came up behind us through the jungle. And we surrendered to a force a third the size of ours... the most disgraceful defeat in British history. And Phillip was a part of it. It was a botched business, I admit. Yes, well, coward Percival should have been court-marshaled, short. General Percival was a brave and honorable man. The situation was hopeless. The fact is, Phillip, you spent the war as a prisoner, as a mere slave of the Japs, not as a soldier. But I survived when a great many of us didn't. I think I should receive some credit for that. KINGSLEY: Oh, the will to live is very powerful even among the lower animals, insects... mere instinct. I surrendered because I was ordered to surrender. You didn't have to surrender! You could have gone off into the jungle and fought as a guerilla. You haven't the faintest bloody idea what you're talking about! Yeah. I am astonished. What makes you think that you can speak to me in this fashion? What makes you think you can sit there and spout drunken nonsense and not be called upon it? Well, face the truth, Phillip. You're lazy and you drift through life and then you blame everything on the war. You're insane. I've never blamed the war for anything. KINGSLEY: You really do live in a fantasy land. Fantasy? You are a pompous old dinosaur that's outlived his time. I think those Japanese guards kicked you too many times in the head. I really must apologize. I have behaved very poorly. Don't worry about it. I have busted a few glasses in my day. JIM: Yeah. Whatever happened to stiff upper lip? Yeah. What are you doing, Skip? I came to see you. Just go put a shirt on, get you some ice cream or something and go to bed. Yeah. You remember me being a kid? Well, hell yes, you was good one time, so I remember. Yeah. You remember when I was a little bitty kid? I just said, yes, I do. Now you're my damn kid but, God damn it, I'm going through some business papers. Just get you an ice cream now. Go to bed. You remember any stories about me when I was little? You remember anything, like one time when you and me had a conversation sometime, something like that? Anything? I mean, just some story about me when I was a little kid, you know? 'Cause, you know, Mama told me one or two last time I saw her. What did she tell you? Well... she told me one about a cousin of hers that was so wild, they used to tie him to a tree while they fed the chickens and put the wash up. JIM: Mm-hmm. They called him Precious. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The power's back up. Put your shirt on. Go find something to do. Yeah. All right. Turn that music down! Donna. Please, fantasy Please stay with me... I put a shirt on, Daddy. Boy, you sure did, didn't you? Mm-hmm. My reality Stay close to me Stay, fantasy Please stay... Boy, I must have been something else when I was a kid. Yeah. DONNA: What are you thinking about? PHILLIP: I'm not sure. Well, there's no way it wasn't gonna happen. Doesn't it feel good to live? Yes. Yes, it feels good to live. Well, you don't seem too happy about it. Don't get all English on me again. I mean, you can't tell me that wasn't good. No. No, I can't tell you that. Quit being so weird. You are thinking something bad, aren't you? It's not fair to be acting so weird and not tell me what it is. Talk to me. I'm just tired, just very tired. Don't make excuses. Tell me. Okay. Those things my father was saying about me, about the war... I was a prisoner, a slave, but I was still a soldier. God. That's what you were thinking about? Not about me or about just now... you know, about us? You wanted to know. Well, the war's over. And daddies are daddies. They're always yelling and saying shit. I don't want you to think about anything else tonight but me. I'm sorry, but you insisted. No way you could really understand anyway, there's really not. Hey, don't treat me like that. I'm not some idiot. Did you really spend the whole war as a prisoner? You didn't ever fight? It depends on what you mean by fighting. Fighting the enemy, shooting, jumping from foxhole to foxhole... not too much. Fighting to survive every crawling, filthy, miserable, horror-filled minute... yes. Yes, I fought. Where are you going? I just want a cigarette. The storm didn't last long. They never do. Probably way off in the next county by now. CAMILLA: My father's a monster. SKIP: Yeah, Daddy's a monster too. - SKIP: You watch much TV? - No. - Hey, Daddy. - Hey. I heard you and Kingsley are going hunting. Yeah. We're gonna go out... out around Ten Mile Creek. But it ain't hunting season. In my places it's always hunting season. I'm proud of you. How come? Wha...? Because of how nice you've been to Kingsley. Yeah, well, I hated that man for 20 years, blamed him for ruining my life. Yeah. - What changed? - Well... it started at the funeral home when they rolled him out to the ambulance. I looked at him on that stretcher... a strange town, a long way from home, just... his wife just died, he's thinking maybe he's fixing to die too... and I just thought, "Well..." "...that poor devil." it was like I wasn't mad no more. What is that? Ice tea, hon. I made some for your grandpa. He and Sir Kingsley are going hunting. Made some hot tea for Sir Kingsley. Want a sip of tea? Eh? Not yet. Not yet. I'm thirsty. There was a Civil War battle fought not far from here, called the Battle of Ten Mile Creek. - Really? - Yeah. See, the Yankees come swooping down off the high ground, killed just about all our boys. You haven't brought your dogs with you. No. We don't need any dogs. - Daddy. - What, Mickey? I'm trying to meditate. That was Alan. He's been tripping since last night and this morning put some in Grandpa's ice tea. Why would he do that? 'Cause I told him. I said it'd be a good idea. Fucking dude. Actually I've got a very funny hunting story about Phillip when he was a small... Hold on, hold on. Hold on. - Sorry? Beg your pardon? - Hold on. What's...? What's happening? What's happening? KINGSLEY: How do you mean? Yeah. Everything feels funny. A little wiggly. Do you feel a little wiggly? Jim, are you all right? Everything's changing... the ground, the trees, the sky. The leaves like a wave. And... I don't have any balance. I don't have any balance. Please tell me that you see that parade of trees, the one with waving leaves up yonder, see? 'Cause I don't know what... I don't know what's going on or where I'm at. Look, look, we've got to get you back home. Yeah. No, no, no, don't. Whew. Look, we've got to get you home. - Let me help you up. - No, no. - You can kiss my ass. - Eh? You'll have to kill me first. Yeah? How did you get behind... behind our lines? I got a whole company of men right behind that curtain over there, you sorry sack of Hun shit. Drop that weapon! Jim, have you... have you gone completely mad? - JIM: Yeah. - What? I'm not a German, Jim. It's Kingsley. German Jim Kingsley... good alias. Is that how you got back here, Mr. Alias? Let me see your orders now. Your orders. Who won the 1916 World Series? I haven't the faintest idea. Boston Red Sox in six. Ja, ja! All right, all right. All right. - Yeah. - Jim, calm down. Calm down. Who do you think you's fooling, you cabbage head? Open your mouth. No, I'm... I'm English. We fought on the same side. But it's not the Great War now. It's 1969. So please, please, please put the gun down. Oh my God. KINGSLEY: Heavens. Jim! Where's Daddy? Is he back yet? He's hunting with the old man Bedford. What's going on? Alan put LSD in Daddy's ice tea. - He fucking what? - DONNA: Where did Alan get LSD? Did he say where he was going? Yeah, they're out along Ten Mile Creek. Okay, come on, come on. Let's go. Let's go. - Get your truck. - Lord have mercy. Jim! Daddy! Hey, Daddy! Daddy! Hey, Daddy! - Daddy! - Daddy! - Daddy! - CARROLL: Hey, Daddy! - Father! - Daddy! Y'all, shut up. It ain't kindergarten. Daddy! All right, Carroll, you go this way. You go that way. CARROLL: Daddy! Donna, you get your ass over here. - Beautiful! - KINGSLEY: Jim. I never knew it was so beautiful. God, it's so beautiful. We really have to return to the truck. PHILLIP: Father! Phillip! - I found him! - JIMBO: Looky here. Hey! Come on! Come on, Kingsley. JIM: Get your skinny little ass in here! - Thank God. Are you all right? - Yes, yes, I'm all right. Poor Jim has completely lost his mind. JIM: Uh-oh, here comes the police. What are y'all looking at? PHILLIP: What on earth happened? KINGSLEY: I've been worried about Jim for the last hour and a half. JIM: Come on in. I love it. I love it. JIMBO: You got a 70-some-odd year old man out there! He could have hurt himself! ALAN: I didn't know he was gonna be going hunting. JIMBO: Son, he's out there running around the woods with a gun! He could have killed that goddamn Englishman! ALAN: Yeah, but he didn't, Dad. It's okay. God. JIMBO: Boy, it ain't about what he didn't do! It's about what it could have been! KINGSLEY: Oh, well. JIMBO: What the hell has gotten into you? I raised you better than this, boy. Did you think of me? Did you think of your mama? What do you think your mama's gonna think of this? How is he? ALAN: Exactly what I was thinking. - About the same. - ...you had to live with you. According to Carroll, it could take a long time for the drug to wear off. ALAN: You don't ever care about nobody but what you want. JIMBO: Son, I'm gonna tell you right now, I would never do that to my father! I'm glad you're safe though, Father. JIMBO: I would never do that to my father! I was worried about you. JIMBO: How the hell could you do that? Nothing to worry about. I've been in tighter spots. JIMBO: You're disrespecting me right now! You're gonna be grounded forever! - You understand? - Phillip... - ALAN: You can't ground me. - JIMBO: I sure as shit can! - Last night I... - ALAN: I'll just run away! I think I said some things I didn't really mean. - I didn't either, Father. - ALAN: You ain't gonna hit me! ALAN: You ain't gonna hit me! JIMBO: You ain't too big to spank, you understand me? ALAN: I'm going away to Carroll's. Let's just put it behind us and go on. JIMBO: You get your ass up to that room. Get your ass up to that... ALAN: You can't tell me what to do! - KINGSLEY: Oh, yes. - JIMBO: I sure as shit can. As long as you're in this house... - Go on. - ...you're mine! ALAN: Well, I hate this house! And I fucking hate you! JIMBO: Better don't come out till I tell you to come out! My billfold got wet in the creek. Take all the stuff out, spread it all out and dry it. - Okay? - Okay. - See? - Where is it? It were in there. Yeah. Just dry everything... my license and whatnot... and that damn letter of yours. - I don't understand. - What? All these years you've been carrying this around. Why not say it meant something to you? It's not gonna kill you to talk to your kids, Pops. You might be surprised what happens. What's the matter with your head? Huh? I can't! I can't breathe! I can't breathe! - Daddy, Daddy. - I can't breathe. Daddy, it's Jimbo. I'm right here. - I can't breathe. - I'm right here. Let's get you up. Come on. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Skip, don't just stand there. - It's swelling me up! - Get over here and help me. - I can't breathe! - Let's take him outside. Come on. It's pretty to look at, but it ain't good fire though! I can't breathe! Motherfucker! I can't breathe! Hey! I can't breathe! - Come on, Daddy. - I can't breathe! - Come on. - No! I can't! I can't breathe! - Come on. - I can't breathe! Watch that step, Daddy. - You steady him, Skip. - What's that? I'm gonna go make some more coffee. All right. Did you need me to hold you up, Daddy? Uh, hold yourself up. Skip. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there was a... there was a time when everybody I looked at looked like pigs with hollowed out eyes. And everything was kind of yellow. Yeah. Is that when you was in the war? No, about 10 minutes ago, or maybe it was yesterday. I'll be darned. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, you see down there where that fence goes along with the driveway, looks like a big rubber band, you know? Huh? No, sir. I can hardly see anything out there, to tell you the truth. Well, I was putting barbed wire up along there. You must have been about seven or eight. And I had you helping me. And I got all tangled up. I ended up falling, getting all rolled up in it. And it was all stuck in my hair even, my shirt and my pants. And I asked you to help me get out of it. And you started bawling and run off. I said, "Why, you little shit." And in a minute or two you come back just hauling ass, still crying, with a pair of wire cutters. I said, "God damn, Skip, I done got wire cutters right here. I just need you to help me get out of this." You... you always... you always panicked when somebody got hurt. You never could see anything get hurt, you never did. Yeah. You said I was about seven or eight? Yeah. - What are you doing? - Huh? What are you doing? I was just kind of putting my arm around you a little. Well, huh. Feels strange. - Yeah. - All right. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Are you wet? - Wet? - Yeah. No, sir. I'm... Do you feel wet? JIMBO: If we was Old West outlaws... I was thinking about this the other day... I'd be Jesse James, Carroll would be Pat Garrett... Skip, you'd be Billy the Kid. CARROLL: Pat Garrett wasn't an outlaw. JIMBO: Yeah, he was. He changed his mind and he switched over. How come I'd have to be Billy the Kid? JIMBO: 'Cause. Because he was just a dumb-ass who got lucky and killed a few. There's this one picture of him. I saw it. He's lopsided. Looks like he's licking the snot off his nose. What if I throw a low, hard one down there, bounce it up in your nuts? How would you like that? JIMBO: I don't think I'd like that too much. I was just kidding. I'm just fucking with you. Shit. CARROLL: Hey, can we take a break? 'Cause I'm tired of just standing here. I don't know about you. Hey. - What? - Hey. Oh. One of the dogs has been shitting on the porch. I think it's this damn Penelope. Where did everybody go? Well, Jimbo's out back someplace there. No, I mean, where's the Bedfords? Well, they left already about an hour ago. Yeah. - They left? - Yeah. Well, why didn't anybody wake me up? I reckon nobody thought about it. Good girl. Well, what did they say? They said, "Bye. We had a good time," you know, stuff like that. Dorothy gave them some chicken and biscuits to eat on the road. - Well... - Good girl. Did anybody say, "Tell Donna goodbye" - or something? - Not that I remember, no. No. Well... You're a good girl most of the time. Don't shit over there now. Uh, I'd better see what Jimbo's up to. Okay. JIM: Yeah. It'll be good to get home, hmm? Yes, Father. Well, Skip, you finally got some decent pussy, didn't you? Well, maybe I'm in love with her. What do you think of that? - What? - I'm sorry, buddy. I'm sorry, that's just funny for some reason. Hey... - Nah. - Shit, man, Daddy did acid. - No. - He said he figured out everything he ever wondered about. Then he said that when he puked he forgot all of it. Hey, Jimbo, what did you put in Mama's casket? I saw you put something in there. It's just something between me and her. Come on, man, what was it? It was a letter I wrote her and never sent her. Boy, this shit's strong. What? What, you don't think I never smoked dope before? What do you think I am, a caveman? Shit. I just don't like it. It ain't good for me. I start thinking the FBI is chasing after me. My heart starts racing so fast, I'm worried it's not gonna stop till I'm dead. Hey, Jimbo, me and Carroll... we don't care that you never did see combat, just so you know. We really don't. I mean, you're our brother and we love you to death and you're our flesh and blood, you know. And we're glad you didn't. There ain't no reason to be jealous about it. You don't have any idea. So, um... you ought to be happy about it. I mean, me and Carroll's proud of what we did and everything, but it's a goddamn nightmare, Jimbo. So you ought to just let it go. See, you can work and sleep and be thought of as normal. Me and him can't, you know. I mean, you see how Daddy treats us. What little sleep I get, I wake up thinking I'm on fire. Now how would you like that? God damn, buddy, I love you to death, but sometimes, man, you can really fuck up a free meal. Now what did you have to say that for? I mean, he was actually smoking with us and talking to us. Now why did you have to say that, man? It just felt right. Here. Put this on your face. Now that's why you'd be Billy the Kid. He got shot when he was 21 for being too big for his britches and not thinking. You just need to think sometimes before you open your mouth. I do think, Jimbo. No, you don't. I try not to. Hey, hey, let's go get some cheeseburgers and go hang out at my place. Let's go. All right. Let's go. You drive. You shitting me? No. Go ahead. CARROLL: Are you sure, buddy? Yeah. - You ready? - Yeah. Let's do it. SKIP: Jimbo, stop. Stop the car. Stop the car. God damn it. I c... I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Jimbo, it just don't feel right. JIMBO: Well, God damn it, Skip. Daddy. Hey. What's up? I went to the recruiting office yesterday when you were over at Grandpa's and I joined the army. The sergeant said they'll keep me and Connell together. Everybody in the family did it, Daddy. I saw this picture of some guys in 'Nam hanging out with some palm trees, with their shirts off and guns slung over their shoulders. Looked so fucking rock 'n' roll. I want to do something cool, Daddy. I don't want to rot here. I'm 18. I don't need your permission. What were they thinking? And what were they drinking? Were they leaving With any regrets? Were they achieving What they were believing? Did they pay off All of their debts? My head's in the clouds Anytime there's bad weather Wondering if storms Have a heart I spend all my time Putting pieces together But they all Fall apart Could he see through the fog? Was she petting the dog? Were the kids having dreams They could fly? Was the land in the truck Hauling clouds of bad luck? Are his hands full of tears That won't dry? The darkness is heavy But light as a feather The end is just really The start I spend all my time Putting pieces together But they all fall apart We'll all go through the portal Yeah, no one's immortal But the time and the place Puzzles me I'm a prisoner of the details My theory always fails To free me from this mystery My head's in the clouds Anytime there's bad weather Wondering if storms Have a heart I spend all my time Putting pieces together But they all fall apart Yeah, they all fall Apart. |
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