This part of my life is called "Internship."
The 1200 building is Medley Industrial and Sanko Oil.
The building across the street is Lee-Ray Shipping.
In a couple weeks, you'll get call sheets...
...with the phone numbers of employees...
...from every Fortune 500 company in the financial district.
You will be pooling from 60 Fortune companies.
You will mainly be cold-calling potential clients.
But if you have to have lunch with them, have breakfast with them...
...even baby-sit for them, do whatever it takes to familiarize them...
...with our packages. We need you to match their needs and goals...
...to one of our many financial plans. In essence, you reel them in...
...we'll cook the fish.
Some of you are here because you know somebody.
Some of you are here because you think you're somebody.
There's one guy in here who's gonna be somebody.
That persors gonna be the guy...
...who can turn this into this.
Eight hundred thousand in commission dollars.
You, you, help me hand these out.
This is going to be your bible.
You'll eat with it.
- You'll drink with it. - It was simple.
X number of calls equals X number of prospects.
X number of prospects equals X number of customers.
X number of customers equals X number of dollars...
...in the company' pocket. - Your board exam.
Last year, we had an intern score a 96.4 percent on the written exam.
He wasrt chosen. It's not a simple passlfail.
It's an evaluation tool we use to separate applicants.
Be safe, score a hundred.
Okay, let's take a break. Be back in 10.
- Hey, Mr. Frohm. Chris. - Hi.
- Chris, how are you? - I'm good. How you doing?
- Fine, thank you for asking. - First day in there. It was exciting.
You're not quitting on us yet, are you?
No, sir. Ten-minute break.
Pop out, get a quick bite and then back in there for board prep.
Oh, man, I remember mine.
And ours were only an hour, not three like yours.
We didn't do world markets, didn't bother with taxes...
...and it was still a pain in the ass. Funny what you remember.
There was a beautiful girl in that class.
I can't remember her name, but her face was so...
I've seen an old friend of mine. Do you mind?
- No, go ahead. - Good talking to you, sir.
Hey, asshole. Are you all right, asshole?
Are you okay? What were you thinking?
What are you doing? I could've killed you.
I'm trying to cross the street.
- Well, you're all right? - Yeah, yeah.
- Where's my shoe? - What?
- You knocked off my shoe! - I don't know where your shoe is.
- Where's my damn shoe? - I don't know.
Hey.
- Did you see it? I lost my shoe. - No, I'm sorry.
Hey. Hey, where are you going?
- We should wait for the police. - I gotta go to work.
Hey, you just got hit by a car. Go to the hospital.
I'm in a competitive internship at Dean Witter.
Hey, man, you're missing a shoe.
Oh, yeah, thanks. Thank you.
Dad.
- You don't have a shoe. - Yeah, I know.
- Wanna know what happened? - Yeah.
I got hit by a car.
- You got hit by a car? - Yep.
- Where? - Just right by the office.
- No, where in your body? - Like, the back of my legs.
- Hey, goodbye, Mrs. Chu. - Goodbye.
- Where you on the street? - Yeah, I was running in the street.
Don't do that. You can get hurt.
Yeah, thanks.
I'll remember that next time.
And here I was again.
- Show up early. - While qualified persons...
...qualified persons are interested in investing and have money to invest.
- Now, Chris. - Yes, sir.
Would you get me some coffee, please?
Favors for Frakesh, our office manager. All day.
My name is Chris Gardner calling for Mr. Michael Anderson.
Yes, sir, we're having a lunch actually this Thursday.
Okay, next time. All right, I'm gonna hold you to that.
Okay, yes, thank you.
Who wants to get me a doughnut?
- Chris? - Yes, sir.
Feeling underrated and unappreciated.
Hello, Mr. Ronald fryer.
Good morning to you, sir. My name is Chris Gardner.
I'm calling from Dean Witter.
Yes, I have some very, very valuable information on what's called a tax...
Okay, thank you, sir.
Then catch the bus by 4 to the place where they can't spell "happiness."
Then the cross-town.
The 22 home.
- Hey, Chris! - Hey. Hi, Ralph.
- I'm waiting. - All right, I got that for you, Ralph.
I'm gonna get that for you.
Whoever brought in the most money after six months was usually hired.
Hello, Chris Gardner calling for Mr. Walter Hobb.
We were all working our way up call sheets to sign clients.
- From the bottom to the top. - Yes, sir.
- From the doorman to the CEO. - Okay.
They'd stay till 7, but I had Christopher.
I had to do in six hours what they do in nine.
Good afternoon, my name is Chris Gardner. I'm calling from Dean Witter.
In order not to waste any time...
...I wasrt hanging up the phone in between calls.
Okay, thank you very much.
I realized that by not hanging up the phone...
...I gained another eight minutes a day.
Why, good morning to you, my name is Chris Gardner.
- I'm calling from Dean Witter. - I wasrt drinking water...
...so I didn't ' waste any time in the bathroom.
Yes, I'd love to have the opportunity...
Okay, no problem at all, sir. Thank you very much.
But even doing all this...
...after two months, I still didn't have time to work my way up a sheet.
We're feeling really confident about that one as well.
Walter Ribbor office.
Yes, hello, my name is Chris Gardner. I'm calling for Mr. Walter Ribbon.
- Concerning? - Yes, ma'am.
I'm calling from Dean Witter.
Just a moment.
- Hello? - Mr. Ribbon.
Hello, sir. My name's Chris Gardner. I'm calling from Dean Witter.
- Yeah, Chris. - Yes, Mr. Ribbon...
...I would love to have the opportunity to discuss some of our products.
I'm certain that I could be of some assistance to you.
Can you be here in 20 minutes?
- Twenty minutes. Absolutely. - Just had someone cancel.
I can give you a few minutes before the 49ers.
- Monday Night football, buddy. - Yes, sir. Thank you very much.
- See you soon. - Bye-bye.
Excuse me. Thank you.
- Chris, what's up? - Hey, Mr. Frakesh.
Hey, do you have five minutes?
I got a green light from Walter Ribbon...
I'm supposed to present commodities to Bromer. Could you move my car?
That'd really help me out. It's on Samson, half block, silver Caprice.
Just move it to the other side. They're street sweeping. There's spaces.
Hang on to these. I have backups in my desk.
And you have to jimmy that.
- Jimmy what? - You have to jimmy the key.
And the other doors don't unlock. You have to jimmy it.
Come on, I'm jimmying it.
Oh, no!
Come on.
- Here's the file, Mr. Ribbon. - Thank you.
- Thanks a lot. - Oh, yeah, thanks. Great idea.
No, no, no!
Rachel, get Ristuccia on the phone for me, please.
- Hi. - Hi.
I'm Chris Gardner. I have an appointment with Mr. Ribbon.
Oh, you just missed him.
Thank you.
- What's that? - Just filling out a check...
...paying some bills...
...and a parking ticket.
We don't have a car anymore.
Yep, I know.
I'm gonna need to take you with me this weekend.
A couple of doctors' offices.
- On sales calls, okay? - Okay.
Then, possibly, we'll go to the football game.
- Really? - Possibly.
- All right? - All right.
Come on, finish up.
- Are you sure? - Possibly.
Really?
- Are you bringing it to the game? - Yeah, I don't wanna leave it.
And maybe we're going to the game.
- Where are we going now? - To see someone about my job.
I don't understand.
- You don't understand what? - Are we going to the game?
I said possibly we're going to the game.
- You know what "possibly" means? - Like probably.
No, "probably" means there's a good chance that we're going.
"Possibly" means we might, we might not.
- What does "probably" mean? - It means we have a good chance.
And what does "possibly" mean?
- I know what it means. - What does it mean?
It means that we're not going to the game.
- How did you get so smart? - Because you're smart.
- Are we there? - Yeah.
- Mr. Ribbon. - Yes?
How are you, sir? Chris Gardner. Dean Witter.
- Oh, hi. Hi. - This is my son, Christopher.
- Hi. - Hey, Christopher.
- What are you doing up here? - I came to apologize...
...for missing our appointment. - You didn't need to come up.
We were in the neighborhood visiting a very close friend...
...and I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for your time.
- I know you probably waited for me. - Little bit.
I want you to know that I do not take that for granted.
Oh, come on. What's that?
Oh, it's an Osteo National bone-density scanner.
A company I bought into prior to going to work at Witter.
- I have a meeting after the game. - You're going to the game?
- Yeah. - Possibly.
- We're going too.
I'm taking my son, Tim. My 12-year-old.
We were just leaving. Tim!
Listen, we'll get out of your way.
Again, thank you very much, and I'm sorry about the other day.
And I hope that we can reschedule for later.
- You got it. - Thank you very much.
You take care. Here, come on.
- Say bye-bye, Chris. - Bye.
Bye, Christopher.
Hey, you guys wanna come with us?
- What...? To Candlestick? - We're going now. Come with us.
- Where are your seats? - We've... We're upper deck.
We got a box. Come on.
- You wanna sit in the box? - No.
It's not actually a box. It's, you know, a private section.
It's more comfortable. You wanna go?
- Okay. - Okay, kids in the back.
Hey, why don't you just put that in your car?
- Yeah, okay. Sure, sure. - We don't have a car.
- Oh, my... - What happened?
I think I got stung by a bee.
- You all right? - Oh, yeah. Goodness. I'm fine.
- You're not allergic or anything? - No, no, no.
- Where'd he get you? - Just right at the back of my head.
- Are you okay? - Yeah, I'm fine, Christopher.
- Does it hurt? - Christopher, I'm fine.
- Let me see. - Christopher, sit back. Sit back.
Thomas Jefferson mentions happiness a couple times...
...in the Declaration of Independence.
May seem like a strange word to be in that document...
...but he was sort of... He was an artist.
He called the English "the disturbers of our harmony."
And I remember standing there that day...
...thinking about the disturbers of mine.
Questions I had: Whether all this was good.
Whether I'd make it.
And Walter Ribbon and his Pacific Bell pension money...
...which was millions.
Yeah!
It was a way to another place.
Wow, this is...
This is the way to watch a football game here.
- Thank you very much for this, really. - Hey, it's my pleasure, Chris.
And, Mr. Ribbon, I also wanna thank you for giving me the opportunity...
...to discuss the asset management capabilities of Dean Witter...
...which we believe to be far superior...
...to anything you got going over at Morgan Stanley.
Really, I think you're gonna be blown away.
Point blank, Dean Witter needs to be managing your retirement portfolio.
You know, I didn't have any notion that you were new there.
I like you, but there's not a chance I'm gonna let you direct our fund.
That's just not gonna happen anytime soon, buddy.
So, you know, come on, relax. Let's play the game. Go, go, go!
Yes!
Yes! Yeah!
- Here you go. - All right.
I've had a few ideas already, absolutely.
- Chris, I'll talk to you later. - I'm gonna give you a call.
Nice to meet you, Chris. Give me a call.
Yes, absolutely. Thank you.
- Bye. - Bye, Christopher.
After four months, we had sold all our scanners.
It seemed we were making it.
What's the...
...fastest animal in the world? - Jackrabbit.
It seemed we were doing good.
Till one day...
...that day...
...that letter brought me back to earth.
This part of my life is called "Paying Taxes."
If you didn't pay them...
...the government could stick their hands into your bank account...
...and take your money.
Dad.
No warning. Nothing.
It can't be too late. That's my money.
How is somebody just gonna just take my money?
I was... I was...
Listen, l... That's all the money that I have.
You cannot go into my bank acc... No...
It was the 25th of September.
I remember that day.
Because that' the day that I found out...
...there was only 21 dollars and 33 cents left in my bank account.
I was broke.
- Dressed yet? - No.
Chris! Chris! Don't jerk me around, okay, Chris?
I'm not jerking you around, Ralph, all right? I'm gonna get it.
- I need that money now, not later. - When I get it, you get it, Ralph.
Now!
Hey, what's happening, man?
Wayne, I need to get that $ 14 from you.
I thought I didn't owe you that now.
- What? Why? - Why what?
Why would you think you don't owe me my money?
I helped you move.
You drove me two blocks, Wayne.
That's 200 yards.
It's been four months, Wayne.
I need my money. I need my money. I need my money right now.
- I don't have it, man. I'm sorry. - Go get my money.
- Wayne, get my mo... - I really don't, man. It's $ 14.
It's my $ 14! Go get my money!
- All of this for $ 14. - Get my money, Wayne.
Dad, look at me!
Dad.
- Should I go? - Sure, man. Why not?
- Stay here. - Dad, look.
- No, no. Stay right here. - Dad.
Did you hear what I said? Did you hear me?
- Dad, where you going? - Hey, what did I say?
Dad!
Dad, wait! Dad!
- Dad. - I gotta...
I gotta get back to the '60s, man. That's what I wanna do.
When I was younger. I wanna see Jimi Hendrix do that guitar on fire.
Bring back my time machine!
Bring my time machine back!
- Dad, where are we going? - Just be quiet.
Go get your things. Go.
- Chris? - Yes.
Dr. Telm can't get back to meet you. I'm sorry.
Where are we going now?
Gotta... We gotta see somebody else.
I'm tired.
I know.
Doesrt seem to be functioning right now.
- I have to go now, Chris. - No, no, no.
Just give me a second. I'm sure I'm gonna be able to figure it out.
Chris. Chris, just come back when it's working.
- No, no. I have to fix it now. - No.
Look, I'll still be putting money in the office, then, all right?
I really have to go, Chris.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
I'll see you soon.
Why are our things here?
Dad.
- Let's go. Come on. - Where?
- Just out of here. - Why?
- We can't stay here tonight. - Yes, we can. Open the door!
- Did you hear what I said? Let's go. - Open the door!
Hey, did you hear what I said? Stop it.
Come on.
Wayne!
Get up. Stand up. Come on.
Where are we going?
- Dad, where are we going? - I don't know.
It's not a time machine.
Dad.
It's not a time machine.
The guy said it was a time machine. It's not a time machine. He was wrong.
- What guy? - The guy. He was at the park.
He said it was a time machine.
Yes, it is.
No, it's not.
- It is. - No, it's not.
All we gotta do is push this black button right here.
Wanna push it?
Okay.
Come on.
Come on, man.
Right here.
Wait a minute. Where you wanna go?
I don't know. Some place from before.
You gotta close your eyes.
You close your eyes. I wanna see.
All right, come on. We'll push it together.
You gotta close your eyes. Close your eyes.
It takes a few seconds.
Oh, my goodness.
Open, open, open!
- What is it? - Dinosaurs.
- Where? - You don't see all these dinosaurs?
Look around. Look at all these dinosaurs.
- Can you see them? - Yeah.
Wait. Come on, come on.
- Wait, watch out. - What is it?
Don't step in the fire. We're cavemen.
We need this fire, because there's no electricity...
...and it's cold out here, okay?
- Watch out! - Whoa! Oh, my good... A T. Rex.
Get your stuff. Get your stuff. Get it.
- We gotta find someplace safe. - Like what?
We need a cave.
A cave?
- We gotta find a cave. Come on. - Okay.
Come on, come on.
Watch your back! Look out.
Here it is. Here's a cave. Come on.
Right here, right here. Go, go, go.
Go ahead. Get in.
Hurry, hurry, hurry.
- Are we safe? - Yeah, I think so.
Hey.
- How you doing, Jay? - I'm doing good.
How are you getting along?
- Good. I'm good. - You doing good?
- How you doing? - I'm doing great.
Where you going?
L... Sacramento.
Because I'm trying to move a couple guys from...
They're at PacBell, and I'm trying to bring them over...
Get them over to us.
So they got me going out there golfing.
Awesome.
Hey, let them win a round.
Deborah, someone's asking for you.
- Where? - He's outside. Please come with me.
Hi.
- Can I ask you a question? - Sure.
We need a room.
Just until I can fix this and sell it.
- There's just some glass work. - Let me stop you right there.
- I wish I could help you... - This is my son, Christopher.
- He's 5 years old. - Hi, baby.
- We need some place to stay. - Okay, and I would love to help you...
...but we don't take men here. It's only women and children.
He can stay here, but you have to find someplace else to go.
We gotta stay together.
We got... We're...
- Okay, listen. - You gotta have some place...
Try Glide Memorial. The building books up at 5.
So you hurry up. There's a line.
- And where is it? Come on. - Ellis and Jones.
Hey, everybody. We have four spots left, and that's all.
- Man. - Hey, come on, man.
- Come on. - Come on, what?
- Hey, that's my spot. - Back off.
Come on, don't do this to me. Don't...
Dad!
Stop it! Break it up! Break it up!
Stop! Stop!
Get out of the line, both of you. Both of you.
I was here first. They told me that we had to be on time.
I got here on time. I was in line.
I came from work, I got my son.
I was here on time. We were here on time!
He sliced in front of him in line.
- Who did? - He did.
Come on, come on, Rodney. Come on. Let's go. Get out of line.
That's it. No more.
- What's your favorite color? - Green.
Green?
- What do you like that's green? - Trees.
Trees. What else?
Holly.
- Holly. What's holly? - The Christmas stuff.
Christmas stuff.
What's that?
I guess they want us to go to sleep.
Here you go. We gotta make sure Captain America's warm in there.
Can you breathe?
- You're good? - Yeah.
- I gotta go work on the scanner... - Don't go.
No, no, no. I'm gonna be right outside the door.
All right? I'm just gonna be right there. I'll leave the door open a little bit.
And I'll be able to hear you if you call me.
I wanna go home.
But that's why I gotta work on the scanner.
All right?
I'm gonna go out there.
I'm gonna leave the door open. I'll be right up the stairs.
I'll be able to hear you if you call me.
- All right? - All right.
You gotta trust me, okay?
You gotta trust me.
I trust you. I trust you.
I trust you.
- I can't hear you. - I trust you. I trust you.
Give me a kiss.
- I'll just be a little while, okay? - All right.
- I'll be right here. - Okay.
- Can you still hear me? - Yeah.
- Can you hear me? - Yeah.
- Do you trust me? - Yeah.
- Like that?
- Yeah, put that... - Then you go like that.
- Is that okay? - I don't know. What do you think?
Good.
Let's go. Get your stuff.
- Hey, why don't you leave it? - We can't.
We're gonna have a different room later.
Go.
Hey, Chris.
- Hey, good morning, Mr. Frakesh. - What's up?
Work trip.
Your wife, Martha, works at PacBell also, correct?
- Yes, she does. - And you guys are both...
...Iooking to retire at the same time?
We'd like to retire and maintain our lifestyle...
...without paying a lot of taxes.
So basically, you want nobody's hands in your pockets but your own?
Are you familiar with tax-free municipal...
I learned to finish my work quickly.
I had to finish quickly.
To get in line at Glide by 5.
Come on.
Hold that bus! Hold the bus!
My Captain America!
Dad! Dad! Dad!
Stop it! Shut up! Shut up!
- Why don't you let the lady in? - Hey, back up.
- Hey, man, that's not cool. - Back up! Back up!
Come on.
Dad, we need to get it!
The important thing about that freedom train...
...is it' got to climb mountains.
We all have to deal with mountains.
You know, mountains that go way up high.
And mountains that go deep and low.
- Amen, preacher! - Yes.
We know what those mountains are, here at Glide.
We sing about them.
Lord, don't move that mountain
Give me strength to climb it
Please don't move That stumbling block
But lead me, Lord, around it
My burdens, they get so heavy
Seems hard to bear
But I won't give up No, no
Because you promised me
You'd meet me at the altar of prayer
- Lord don't move that mountain - Please don't move that mountain
But give me strength to climb it
Whers your test?
Tomorrow.
Are you ready?
Of course.
Thank you, sir.
- Hey. How you doing? - Hey.
So did you finish the whole thing, or you have to go somewhere...
I have to go somewhere.
- But I finished the whole thing too. - Oh, good.
- You? - Yeah.
- How'd you feel about the graphs? - Easy.
I struggled with the essay question on the back. What did you write?
- Essay question? - Yeah, on the back.
Hey, Chris.
- Hey. Jeff, right? 49ers game. - Yeah.
- Yeah, you were gonna give me a call? - I never actually got your number.
Here's my number. Call me, okay?
Yes, sir. Absolutely. Thank you very much.
Chris, you got five bucks? I left my wallet upstairs.
Let me run up and grab that for you, Mr. Frohm.
No, I gotta be at CAL Bank at 4, and I'm late.
- I'll pay you back, honest. - Five is good?
Five is lovely. Thank you. Thank you.
That's it. That's the room quota.
There's no more space. You gotta head out.
That's it for today. Come back tomorrow.
All the rooms are full. It's completely full.
That's it. Just keep heading out. Come back tomorrow.
You like it?
Twenty. One, two, three, four.
Now, here's your bulb, and there's your ferrite core inductor.
- How much? - Eight dollars.
- What's that? - It's to repair the light.
Can I see it?
Yeah, sure. Just don't break it.
Unless you wanna sleep in a room with me for the rest of your life.
I don't mind.
Yeah, you will.
Why don't you get some sleep, okay?
Okay.
- Warm enough? - Yeah.
All right.
Did Mom leave because of me?
- What? - Did Mom leave because of me?
Don't... Don't even think something like that.
Mom left because of Mom.
And you didn't have anything to do with that, okay?
Okay.
You're a good papa.
All right, go to sleep.
- I love you. - I love you too.
So far, so good, Chris.
- It works. - Thank you very much.
Two hundred and fifty dollars. Four more weeks of oxygen.
One hundred, 20, 40, 60, 80, 200.
Twenty, 30, 40, 50.
- Anything else? - No, sir.
Thank you. Thank you.
- You ready? - Yep.
- Are we going to the church place? - No.
Where are we going, then?
- Probably stay at a hotel. - A hotel?
Just for the night.
We can go back to the cave if you like.
No, thank you.
- Ever? - I hope not.
Why not?
Well, because some things are fun the first time you do them...
...and then not so much the next.
- Like the bus? - Yeah, like the bus.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh, should I?
Sometimes when we're moving at night...
...we pass houses with lights and people.
Sometimes you can hear them laugh.
The next day, after work...
...we just went to the beach.
Far away from anything.
Everything.
Just Christopher and me.
- Did you see me? - Yeah.
Far away from buses and noise...
...and a constant disappointment in my ten-gallon head...
...and myself.
- Chris, thank you very much. - Well, thank you, Dean.
- Take care. - You made all the right moves.
Thanks, Chris.
Because when I was young...
...and I'd get an A on a history test or whatever...
...I'd get this good feeling about all the things that I could be.
And then I never became any of them.
- Hey, Chris. - Hey.
- How you doing, Jay? - I'm doing fine.
Rumor has it you signed 31 accounts for us from Pacific Bell.
Yeah, yeah.
Met some guys at a ball game, got some cards. I've been working.
I guess.
So one more day.
Getting nervous?
- No, I'm okay. - Yeah?
Listen, whatever happens...
...you've done a fantastic job, Chris.
I mean that.
Take care of yourself.
Yes, Mr. Johnson. Chris Gardner, Dean Witter.
Yes, sir. Just calling to thank you very much...
...for your support at last month's seminar.
Yes, sir. Absolutely.
Yes, sir.
No, sir, that's it.
Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
Chris. Come.
- Hi, Chris. - Mr. Frohm, good to see you.
- Nice shirt. - Thank you, sir.
- Chris. - Hey, Jay.
- Chris. - Chris, sit down, please.
I thought I'd wear a shirt today.
You know, being the last day and all.
Well, thank you. Thank you. We appreciate that.
But...
...wear one tomorrow though, okay?
Because tomorrow's going to be your first day...
...if you'd like to work here as a broker.
Would you like that, Chris?
Yes, sir.
Good. We couldn't be happier.
So welcome.
- Was it as easy as it looked? - No, sir. No, sir, it wasrt.
- Good luck, Chris. - Thank you. Thank you.
Oh, Chris.
I almost forgot.
Thank you.
This part of my life...
...this little part...
...is called "Happiness."
Christopher. Christopher. Come here.
So how many...
...planets are there?
- Seven. - Seven?
Nine.
Who's the king of the jungle?
- Gorilla. - The gorilla?
The gorilla?
No. Lion.
Oh, yeah. Lion, lion, lion.
Hey, Dad, listen to this. Knock, knock.
- Who's there? - Shelby.
Shelby who?
Shelby coming around the mountain When she comes
- Knock knock. - Who's there?
- Nobody. - Nobody who?
Nobody who?
Now, that's funny. I like that one.