Hey, pretty.
Come here.
How do you do that?
Your mother said enough for tonight. It's almost 3 o'clock.
I'm working on my ornithop...
Come on, enough's enough! We're supposed to be asleep!
Tell him. You're his father.
Come on, son.
Leave the bird alone.
Then the bird's feather.
It has a hollow shaft, with feeders for blood circulation.
On either side are branches, barbs...
...which branch into barbules...
...which have little barbicels with hooks on the end of them.
It can all be pulled apart, like a zipper.
And then re-zipped.
A bird runs its beak through its feather...
...re-zipping feathers that have come apart.
Flying is much more than flapping wings.
A bird can flap its wings and not move an inch.
When it wants to fly...
...the slightest flicker sends it up to the sky.
You must feel that air has substance and can hold you up.
It's mostly a matter of confidence.
Fuck them. What do they know, anyway?
Did you notice Doris Robinson giving you the eye?
She must be hot for mad-scientist types.
- You ought to ask her out. - I don't think so.
I can't afford to take her out.
It doesn't cost anything.
You think Cheryl's charging me for it?
I'll go to the cafeteria. You want to come?
I want to go down and talk to my dad.
Dad?
Dad!
I'm in here.
Come on in.
You had lunch yet?
- I'm not hungry. - You got to eat.
Grab a sandwich and sit down.
Dad...
...I want to ask you a question.
Shoot.
I want another canary, a male for mating.
Maybe you can talk to Mom.
I don't know. We don't want to antagonize her.
I had a heck of a time getting her to let you build the aviary.
She's worried...
...about what it's costing for the feed...
...the lumber and whatnot.
The birdseed's cheap.
- AI and I swipe the lumber. - I sure won't tell her that.
She's convinced your friend is Al Capone.
I know.
Don't think your mom doesn't want what's best.
She's concerned that you develop interests and friends...
...that'll help you fit in.
Fit into what?
Whatever. You know, life.
She thinks I won't fit in with Al and a canary?
It's not that. It's just, well...
Take me.
I've always had an interest in wicker.
When I met your mom, I could make a better wicker chair...
...than any man in Philadelphia.
I still could, if anybody wanted one.
But nobody cares about wicker anymore.
So I don't fit into the scheme of things.
You see what I'm saying?
Your mother just wants you to wind up better than me.
Every parent wants that.
I'm just saying you should be interested in something practical too.
It's hard to be good at something nobody wants, huh?
You really want this, don't you?
I'll talk with your mom.
Don't worry, I won't let him out till you're sure of him.
I think he's mostly bluff.
How you doing?
You got another one!
- His name's Alfonso. - What?
He likes to fight and show off a lot.
You named him after me. Thanks a lot.
- It's not really his real name. - What's his real name?
I don't know. I don't speak canary yet.
Fuck!
This is getting weird.
Didn't I tell you to stop that?
I told you, Mom. It's for gym.
I don't know. It looks crazy.
She's calling you crazy.
Ask her what she's been doing with our baseballs all these years!
I think she buries them. We just have to find out where.
I think she burns them. We'll never find them.
Yeah, probably.
How long?
Same.
An hour.
I'm up to 10 pounds.
With that and all the weight you lost, you could really clean up in wrestling.
Do you realize that's 40 pounds of flapping power?
You won't fly any more than I could.
You couldn't fly because you don't believe you could fly.
It's a snake!
Damn snake!
Got its whole foot in its mouth.
It must have been two feet long.
- I think it was a rat snake. - I don't believe you.
- It was that long! - Yeah, right.
Are we getting started or what?
Patience, Al. You just got to have patience.
This place is a garbage dump.
Four, five, six...
It smells.
Nine, ten, eleven...
You sure this is going to work?
Sixteen.
Stop at the edge. I don't want you or my bike in the water.
How about you?
I've been practising off my roof.
I can fall 20 feet without hurting myself.
That's got to be a 40-foot drop out there.
It's all a matter of weight versus density.
At my weight, travelling at 32 feet a second...
...my downward velocity won't increase after I fall 20 feet.
What does that mean?
The worst thing that can happen is I get the wind knocked out of me.
It won't happen. I'm going to fly.
How do I look?
Dumb.
Ready.
Faster!
Birdy!
I'm coming!
Just hold on!
Are you okay?
Yeah.
Are you?
Sure.
I don't know what happened. I was going really good and just...
...fell out of the sky.
Gesundheit.
How come every time I tried to save your ass...
...I ended up getting sick?
You thought that was funny, huh?
Who are you supposed to be, the Mona Lisa or what?
That is a smile, isn't it?
" Dissociative behaviour"?
- A smile's a smile. - Not necessarily.
It might be an involuntary manifestation of some unconnected emotion.
To be significant, it must be reactionary.
He was reacting.
To what?
- The joke. - What joke?
I always got sick when he was hurt.
Do you think he smiled at that?
It's a private joke.
Why don't you explain it to me?
I don't know if I can. It's complicated.
I wish this gave me hope, but there's no concrete progress.
He's more responsive to drug therapy...
Yeah, right!
You pump him up so full of shit, he doesn't know who he is!
Who do you think you are?
I'm his doctor and your superior officer!
I am familiar with your anti-authoritarian tendencies!
And I don't care to see them here!
Why do you think it's difficult for you to control your violent impulses?
It's not.
Then why do they keep recurring?
Look...
...l'm sorry.
I'm frustrated.
I just want to help my friend.
I don't think you can anymore.
I can. I know it.
Sorry, I don't see any point to this.
It's time you return to Fort Dix.
It's time for your bandages to come off.
Excuse me.
Ronsky, see Sergeant Columbato out, would you?
You wanted me to remember something about his past that might help.
Well, there is one thing.
It sounds a little crazy, but...
He lived just over the field fence of our baseball park.
When anyone hit a homer, his mother hid the balls.
She wouldn't give them up. It's weird.
It's almost like he felt guilty about it.
He was always apologizing to somebody, swearing he'd get their balls back.
It was an obsession. He spent hours looking for them.
We figured maybe she buried them.
He never found them. I was wondering...
...if she sends them here, that might do something.
How long ago was this?
All through high school, sir.
There must be a lot of baseballs in that collection.
I'll extend your visit till I find out about these baseballs.
- I hope this works. - Me too.
- How's it going? - How you doing?
- Just shooting some hoops. - Fucking A!
Funny, any other war, we would've been heroes.
Oh, man!
We didn't know what we were getting into with this John Wayne shit.
Boy, were we dumb!
We were always dumb.
Before the government, it was some asshole on a street corner.
Remember with Sagessa and the dogs?
Somebody buys a cute puppy for Christmas.
Once they find out how much it eats and shits, they dump it cross-town.
Soon you got packs of wild dogs, big, hungry and not so cute.
- People want to shoot them. - How do you find homes for the dogs?
If I tell you that, you don't need me.
You forget my dollar-a-dog proposition. You go into business for yourself.
This ain't like you, Sagessa.
Since when were you out to make the world better?
You never heard of enlightened self-interest?
The way I got it figured...
...we're doing a good deed and making a buck besides.
There's one!
These dogs can really bite.
There she is! Watch this.
Go slow.
Okay, watch me now.
Slow and dangerous.
You got to let them know who you are.
Okay now.
Watch me.
Shit!
Dollar a dog.
All right, we got them now.
I'll take this mean one. He's the leader.
Damn it!
Shit!
Lift him up!
Grab that one.
Where we going?
That's my department. Do you want to get out of here or what?
I just thought this was some...
You sons of bitches! You got my dog!
My dog is in the goddamn truck!
He's crazy!
You got my dog!
What's your problem?
You got my dog in the back of your truck, you little shit!
If it's his dog, you should stop and give it to him.
- Bullshit, we're almost there. - Where?
Jesus!
What is this place?
I've never seen so many flies.
What's going on here?
They're electrocuting them, morons! Where's my dog?
Are they electrocuting these dogs?
It's humane, ain't it? What do you want them to do?
Hit them over the head?
Get off my truck! Your goddamn dog ain't here!
- What the fuck is going on here?! - Get the dogs out!
They're killing them to make dog food!
Dogs got to eat too.
Chico, come here!
Run, Birdy!
What is it?
The cat.
I'm starting to worry I'll never fly the way I've been going.
As scary as a bird's life must be...
... at least they have that.
They can always fly away.
Do you know them damn birds attract mice?
Mrs. Angelucci said them feathers can give you asthma.
Time's running out. I'm not giving up on you.
I'm going to get you to talk, even if I have to punch you out.
I'm not kidding around. I can't hold Weiss off.
I almost told him about the flying yesterday.
Goddamn it! Why can't you listen to me?!
You want to fly?
He'll send you air freight to a cage in a nut house!
He'll probably send me too!
We'll have perches, cups, the whole fucking deal!
Maybe your mom can dig up your pigeon suit!
Weiss can sell you to a sideshow!
You can double bill with Zimmy the Fish!
All right, Birdy.
It's time to start flapping your wings and peeping.
I don't believe it, you know.
If you want to spend your life as a bird, at least be consistent.
Look at you. You don't hop like a bird.
You don't really sit like one.
And you sure as hell can't fly like one.
If you don't like what I'm saying, why don't you tell me to shut up?
You always were hard to hurt, Birdy.
Real losers never hurt.
Here you go! Here comes Hannah to feed you.
You like that, don't you?
- What are you doing? - I'm going to watch you.
It's fun, watching him be fed. He's cute when he's fed.
Stop taunting him.
He's reacting to me!
He's giving me that look. You're pissed!
Stop it! It isn't working.
- How do you know? - It's obvious.
You fucked it up! Why did you come in?
I work here. He's part of my job.
Yeah? Well, he's part of my goddamn life!
Come on. Look up.
Look up. Open your eyes.
Can I talk to you?
Back there...
...I didn't mean to make you feel worse.
I know he means a lot to you.
It's all right.
What?
I'm sorry.
- I didn't mean to do that to you. - Don't be.
I haven't touched a woman in a long time.
Al, it's all right.
Really.
I got to go.
Come here.
What do you want?
You want to go outside?
Want to go outside and play with the other birds?
You going to give me a kiss?
In a dream...
... I'm trying to decide what I am.
When I sleep, I'm giving myself strength.
I'm reaching for the force to fly.
Perta waits...
... cups herself to receive me.
I hover...
... then lower myself into her.
Perta and I become one.
I see through her eyes.
Fly on her wings.
I am no longer alone.
It occurs to me...
... that all I did was put two birds in the aviary.
Food and water and nothing else, and now there are four of them.
I know this is perfectly natural.
It's one of the things life is about.
But to see it happen in my bedroom...
... under my own eyes...
... is magic.
All I want to do now is watch the birds.
I don't care about the things that happen in the outside world.
I feel turned upside down.
Somehow the babies seem to know their place is in the air.
It must be the knowing...
... not the flapping of wings.
Are you sleeping or what?
Doris is on the phone. She wants to talk about the prom.
Don't give me that look. I swear to you...
...if you don't go to the prom like other kids...
...l'm getting rid of these birds!
- Hi, Dad. - Hello, son.
Kind of a mess in here, with these boys drinking.
Can't hold their liquor.
I was looking for you.
I didn't want to embarrass you with your date.
You wouldn't embarrass me.
I wanted to give you this, so you could go someplace afterwards.
Your girl there is real pretty.
She's not really my girl.
Thanks.
Well, here we are.
I'd like to keep it as a souvenir.
I know you didn't want to take me.
You've been very nice about it...
...and now you can have what you want.
I'm sorry.
What?
I'm not very good at this.
It's okay.
It doesn't matter.
How do they do it?
I don't know.
We should go.
Will I see you again?
I'll see you in school on Monday.
The dream is as real to me now as my waking life.
I don't know where one begins...
... and the other ends.
I wish I could tell Al.
But I'm afraid to.
In my dreams...
... nothing holds me down.
Everything is out and away.
There's nothing in my life to keep me here anymore.
I wish I could die and be born again as a bird.
Here you go.
Come on, go ahead.
I'm sorry about before.
You got to eat.
I'll just leave it here for you.
You got to come back, Birdy.
Help! Help!
Medics! Smitty's been hit.
He's been hit!
Jesus, Birdy!
I'm losing it.
Here comes Santa Claus Here comes Santa Claus
Right down Santa Claus Lane How you doing, Al?
- What's this? - I don't know.
- His mother sent it to you. - You're kidding!
No, it couldn't be!
I don't believe this!
Okay, I got you now.
Just wait till you see this.
Direct from their endless engagement in South Philadelphia.
You thought you'd never see them, but here they are!
It's the baseballs!
Your mom sent them. Can you believe it?
Come on! This is it!
This is your last chance!
You got to give me some kind of reaction!
Come on!
I need you!
If Weiss gets a look inside my head, he's going to lock me up too.
I'm scared, Birdy.
I'm more scared now than I was in the war...
...and I was more scared there than anybody I knew.
Talk to me again.
Hey, Birdy, where are you?
Oh, no!
Well, now!
What happened to you?
You get so hot with Doris, you forgot to put your clothes on?
If your old lady saw you like this, she'd have a stroke.
Okay, lover-boy!
Tell me about Doris, with plenty of details.
There's nothing to tell.
Don't give me this gentleman-of-honour crap.
I want to hear about last night.
I'm not sure I can explain it to you.
I knew it! I knew she'd do it.
Tell me what happened.
Not with her. With me.
Last night I flew.
I know what it feels like to fly.
Oh, you flew? How you flew?
I'm not sure.
It's not something you can really take apart.
When I fly, it's like in a dream.
Only it's not a dream.
You can't put it into words. You kind of have to feel it.
You can fly like a bird?
When I fly...
...I am a bird.
This is getting too weird. You got to stop it.
I thought you would understand.
Well, I don't.
- I don't want to hear about it. - Why?
Because I'm tired of it!
We used to have fun together.
Now you're always off by yourself...
...flying around inside your goddamn head!
I hope this dream, or whatever it is, goes away.
I think it's bullshit.
I shouldn't have said that.
I shouldn't have left you then.
It's working. He just needs a little more time.
I'm not blind.
I'm sorry the baseballs didn't work.
There's no sense in going on with this.
His condition is deteriorating.
He hardly moves anymore. He's stopped eating.
We'll have to put him on an IV.
- I could stay and... - You should be back at Fort Dix.
There's nothing to keep you here any longer.
I just want to say goodbye.
Go ahead.
Alone.
I'll see you in my office afterwards.
Perta! Come back!
Don't worry.
I'm not leaving you again.
You all right?
Doctor Weiss asked me to come and get you.
I'm not leaving him.
- They're not going to let you stay. - Why not?
Don't you have to go back to the hospital?
I'm not going back.
Come outside and we can talk.
I don't want to talk.
That's all I've done since I've been here.
Besides, nobody listens to anybody anyway, even if they aren't crazy.
You go tell Weiss I'm staying with my friend.
Tell him!
Don't worry, they can't make me leave you.
I can't go out there.
I couldn't make it.
They got the best of us, Birdy.
We're both totally screwed up.
We haven't had anything to do with making our own lives. Fuck!
I was always so damned sure...
...about being myself...
...and how nobody was going to make me do anything I didn't want.
And now, here I am.
They finish you off with a discharge or put you on a casualty list.
It doesn't matter how special you are or were.
I feel like one of those dogs nobody wanted, remember?
You know, when that shell went off in my face...
...I could smell burning flesh.
And it was crazy...
...because the smell was so sweet...
...so familiar.
Then I realized that it was my own skin that was frying.
And I couldn't even touch the pain.
I don't even know what I look like anymore.
I don't know if it's me under these bandages...
...or what some Army meat-cutter thinks is me.
I don't want a patched-up, instant-pity excuse for a face.
I just want it to be Al under here.
Not some sewn-together freak mask.
Shit!
What's so great about their fucking world anyway?
We'll just stay here and keep the hell out of it.
I don't have to go get these bandages off.
I figured out what you're doing.
You're right.
We should just hide out and not talk with anybody.
And every so often...
...go crazy...
...and run up the wall...
...and spit!
And throw shit at them, like the loony across the hall!
That's what we can do.
Sometimes you're so full of shit.
Was that you?
It was!
You talked! It's really you!
I can't believe it. Say something else.
I can't believe it. It's really you!
How come you decided to talk?
I didn't decide.
It just happened. I don't know.
You needed me, didn't you?
They think we're both crazy.
What's going on?
He talked! Come on, say something.
Goddamn it, talk!
- He talked before. - This won't work.
I'm telling the truth! What are you doing, dumbshit?
Don't you know they'll keep you forever?!
Goddamn it, talk!
Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Birdy, talk!
- Come on, let's go. - No! Goddamn it!
I'm staying here with him!
This isn't a game anymore. Why wouldn't you talk?
I didn't have anything to say to him.
What are you, crazy?
We have to get out of here.
Come on!
Birdy, don't!
What?