(big band music playing over radio)
(song ends)
DISC JOCKEY: And that was a real big hit from 1954.
Remember those days?
Ike was in office,
the Lone Ranger was on the tube and...
(tuning radio)
...and my brother Ray was only a bun in the oven.
You sure about that, Archie?
Ah... look at the picture.
See?
That's this car.
And that's you
in Mama's belly.
I don't remember that.
Well, how could you remember?
I mean, you wasn't even born yet!
Ah, you're making this up. Look.
That's Daddy.
That's me.
That's Mama.
That's you.
No. Yeah!
Mama, tell him the picture's real.
It's real, all right.
Here's your coffee.
And stop tormenting him.
I thought I asked you to put this picture away.
You sure was pretty, Mama.
And Archie,
don't stay up too late.
You got work in the morning.
"The Pierce family.
"Larksburg, Mississippi.
May 17, 1954."
Black Monday.
What's that?
The day Daddy got in trouble?
That's the day all white folks got in trouble.
You remember that day, Archie.
You remember that our daddy had no choice.
Someone had to teach them coloreds a lesson.
BOY: Whoa, a '54 Chevy.
Cool.
Hey, Elliot, how's it going?
Archie, you never told me you had a car like this.
ARCHIE: I don't got one. This is my brother's-- Ray.
I don't even got a license.
Boy, is it beautiful.
What you doin' in here, boy?
Oh, we're raising money for our school band.
Here, want to buy a candy bar?
RAY: You get the hell out of my garage.
Hey, if you don't want one,
you don't have to... (grunts angrily)
I'll get you another time...
boy.
(thunder crashing)
(phonograph powers up)
(slow ragtime jazz playing)
(mechanical creaking)
(chimes tinkling)
(thunder crashes)
WOMAN: And Paris, Istanbul.
A lifetime of travel.
All right in that box.
In other words, the things
that your grandchildren didn't want?
Exactly. Okay.
Now, let's talk price.
I don't know much about antiques.
Antiques? It's junk!
I just want to get rid of it.
20 bucks.
Forty.
Twenty-five.
Thirty.
Twenty-five.
(sighs)
Sold.
Yeah.
Here you go.
Pleasure.
(door bells jingling)
Oh, I'm sorry.
(chuckling): Excuse me.
Be with you in a sec.
Oh, that's okay.
That's okay.
(siren wailing in distance)
You from the South?
Oh, you mean Dixie?
(chuckling)
That's from...
a '54 Chevy.
Right.
I just bought it.
ARCHIE: It's a... it's a...
a factory model.
How do you know?
My brother used to have one,
but it got busted.
We got a '54 Chevy.
Used to belong to my daddy, but...
Ray works on it every day.
(chuckles)
What's your name?
Johnny.
Oh, mine's Archie.
I just cashed my paycheck this morning,
and I think I should...
buy this radio.
I think it'd make my brother happy.
How much do you think it's worth?
Oh, I... I know how much it's worth.
I... I got to tell you, though,
I-I-I don't think that I can afford it.
How much do you have?
Uh...
...hundred dollars.
(sighs)
I'll tell you what.
I'll take $25, and I'll
throw in the flag.
Deal.
Hey, Archie.
Yeah.
I really appreciate this, you know.
This is going to make the car
just like when Daddy drove it.
Well, he never, uh...
he never drove it very much.
He went away 'cause he killed a man.
He killed a colored sharecropper.
Right. And no one would have thought twice
about it, if it hadn't been
for an uppity black lawyer.
Right, Ray.
He found a witness who put a noose around our daddy's neck.
Right.
I, uh... I got to tell you, Ray,
I don't like it when you... when you
talk like that, and...
I don't like what you did
to my friend Elliot the other day, either.
I do not want him hanging around.
Now, you may be slow, Archie,
but you don't have to be stupid.
Look at this.
That is your daddy, Steve Pierce
doing what needed doing.
He would turn in his grave
if he knew you was friendly with a colored.
So, you stay away from him.
You hear?
Right, Ray.
(whistling)
(door opens, door bells tinkling)
Where's Jack?
Oh, his flight was delayed.
He won't be in for another couple of hours.
Oh.
So, did you sell anything yet?
A car radio.
I didn't know we had a car radio.
Oh, we didn't.
I bought a box of junk for 25 bucks.
Guy comes in here, gives me $25
for the car radio alone.
Not bad, huh?
(sighs)
Did you check the manifest first?
Why?
What?
A 1954 Chevrolet radio.
Oh, my God.
(door creaking open)
(door bells jingling)
Hi, I'm back.
Should I go out and try again?
All right, what happened?
Jack, I bought a car radio,
and I resold it without looking it up.
And it's listed.
Who bought it?
Some retarded guy named Archie.
Hey, Jack, maybe it's okay.
I mean, this guy wouldn't hurt a fly.
Archie.
Did you get his last name?
But he was wearing a shirt with a car wash patch on it.
Yeah. Um, Acme...
ABC... Ace!
Ace Car Wash-- that was it.
Let's go see if we can find him.
Call me as soon as you learn something.
I'll see if we've got a file on this thing.
Hey, Jack... I'm sorry.
Just go. If we move fast,
there may not be anything to be sorry about.
Well, look who's here.
It's the chocolate salesman.
Let me shoot a few, huh?
(Ray chuckling)
(Ray cackling)
Said I wanted to shoot a few.
You're nuts, man.
Don't you walk away from me, boy.
Now, where do you get off
talking to a white man like that, huh?
This here basketball court make you something special?
(anxious gasping): No, sir.
All you people was ever good for
was, uh, basketball and dancing.
You got that natural rhythm, boy?
(gasping) I don't want no trouble, sir.
No trouble at all.
(chuckling)
Attaboy.
Keep it up.
(gun firing) Dance.
(Ray chuckling)
Dance,
monkey!
(siren wailing in distance)
(whistles)
(static crackling)
¶ And the rules of desire... ¶
(static crackling)
(groans)
(static crackling)
(thunder cracks)
DISC JOCKEY: We got us one of them sweet
Mississippi nights,
so y'all sit back, relax
and let us take care of you.
(country music playing)
(engine stops, music fades out)
(country ballad playing over radio in distance)
(laughter)
(conversation and laughter inside diner)
(country music playing inside diner)
¶ ...And it scares me ¶
¶ To see how far I fell... ¶
(song continues indistinctly in background)
I'll be right with you, darling.
Grab a stool.
Oh, we're out of meatloaf.
¶ Lord, take me ¶
(watch alarm beeps) ¶ Out of this hell ¶
(beeping faster, muffled)
Here you go.
Now, what can I do for you?
What town is this?
Larksburg.
Prettiest town in Mississippi.
Larksburg? Yeah.
"We might be small, but we got a big heart."
Now, like I said, meatloaf's gone.
You want chicken or the pork chops?
Do you know a family named Pierce?
Steve and Margie?
Why, sure.
You turn right at the sheriff's office,
then you go up the hill and...
¶ And one heart ¶
¶ Taking its toll ¶
¶ Oh, yesterday passed... ¶
Pardon me, ma'am.
What are you doing in here, boy?
The general store is closed, and I was wondering
if I could buy a loaf of bread from you.
You can't read?
Sign says, "No coloreds."
Please.
My wife is in the hospital,
and I just want to make sure
my kids got something to eat.
It ain't up to me to feed your kids.
Now, get on your way.
Get out of here-- go on!
Please!
You!
Boy.
You deaf?
I heard you.
Well, you look at me when I'm talking.
Thank you.
You touched a white woman, boy.
It was an accident.
Yeah.
Or maybe you think crowding white women
is another one of your constitutional rights.
Answer me.
No, sir.
Good.
That's good... 'cause
we might have to let you into our schools,
but you'll be dead
before we let you start pawing our women.
(patrons gasping)
(patrons screaming)
MAN: That's it-- let's get him, boys.
MAN: Get him, get him! Come on!
All right, break it up.
MAN: Break it up.
MAN 2: Get him, get him, get him!
That's enough.
Get on out of here, Ben.
He touched Edna.
Oh, he hurt you?
What difference does that make?
SHERIFF: Now, I understand folks
is all hot up about what they're writing
in the papers, but this ain't no way to deal with it.
What's your name, son?
Ray... Smith.
I don't know where you're from, Ray... Smith,
but around here, when one of our coloreds
gets out of place, we let the sheriff deal with it.
Yes, sir.
Now, you folks get on with what you were doing.
Fun's over.
All right. Thank you, Sheriff.
You watch yourself, you hear?
You fix me one of those milkshakes there, Edna.
Joe Nelson.
Got yourself a good punch there, Ray.
Thank you, Joe.
Edna...
I need a vanilla shake for my friend Ray.
(door opening, door bells jangling)
Johnny was right.
The guy works at the car wash,
but he won't be back until morning.
Did you get his last name?
Pierce, Archie Pierce.
He's got a brother, Ray Pierce.
A brother, too-- terrific.
Hey, Jack, why don't you just
get it over with and rip my head off.
JACK: If I thought it would solve anything...
I would. MICKI: Jack!
I'm sorry-- how many times do I have to say it?
When it comes to people's lives, sorry isn't good enough.
Fine, then I'll look for that damn radio myself.
Johnny.
Johnny, wait.
I'm not angry with you.
I'm angry with the situation.
We sold hundreds of objects
before we found out what they really could do.
You haven't done anything worse than we have.
But it just keeps on happening.
JACK: Mmm.
RAY: Everything here is so clean.
Pure.
This is how it should be.
This ain't ever going to change.
We'll see to it.
Oh, it's going to change, all right.
And not just with them coloreds, neither.
We're gonna have spics, Jews,
slanty-eyes from Vietnam.
Viet-who?
(chuckling): You're talking mush.
Today is just the beginning.
Coloreds will ride in the front of the bus.
They'll marry our women, even run for president.
(laughing)
You got yourself a wild imagination, boy.
(sighs)
Steve's not too keen on strangers joining up,
but, uh... I think you'll fit right in.
Come on.
(laughing) Mind the grass.
Damn Supreme Court.
Who asked them anyway?
(sighs)
I don't hear no coloreds around here
complaining.
I mean, most of these people know their place,
and those that don't,
we have to shove right back.
MAN: That's right.
But hell,
that's kind of fun, isn't it, huh?
Won't be fun if our kids have to go to school with them.
STEVE: No kid of mine's going to school with coloreds.
That may be fine for them up north,
but not here, right, son?
No, sir, I ain't going to school with coloreds.
(men laughing)
STEVE: You see that?
Even Archie here knows what's right.
And what about this little one
in here?
ARCHIE: No, sir.
Not them, neither.
"No, sir, not them, neither!"
(chuckling)
What?
Hush.
JOE: Steve...
this is Ray Smith.
Steve Pierce.
That sharecropper, Wilten,
got out of line with Edna, and...
old Ray here worked on him a little.
Is that so?
Yes, sir.
He'd like to come along tonight.
Margie...
get these boys a beer.
We got some thirsty work tonight.
MAN: All right! Thank you.
Joe.
Archie.
Hi, Archie.
Remember me?
You're Johnny.
You work at that store
that sells all the... all the old stuff.
That's right.
And this is Micki.
Hi. She's sort of my boss.
You know that radio that you bought?
Turns out I wasn't supposed to sell it to you.
Yeah, I had promised it
to one of our other customers.
Oh, no.
And now it's in Ray's car.
(sighs)
Any idea where he is?
MARGIE: Sometimes, he just goes driving,
doesn't come back for days.
Well, whenever you do hear from him,
would you ask him to give us a call?
Oh.
Sure, of course.
JOHNNY: Thanks a lot, Archie.
Thank you very much.
We wait for him?
You read my mind.
The Supreme Court says no more segregation.
(men murmuring)
Them judges in black robes
say we gotta mix with black folk.
Are we going to let the Yankees tell us what to do?
ALL: No, sir!
It's time
we let those coloreds understand that.
And I ain't talkin' about burning no more crosses.
Now come on.
(men whooping, murmuring)
All right. Come on.
(whispers): It's Steve. What?
Y'all ready?
We're gonna kill that sharecropper.
You're gonna be arrested.
Ah, for what?
For murder!
You gotta kill a human being to be arrested for that, son.
No, no. Listen to me!
There's this colored lawyer, see,
and he's just dyin' for a case like this. So what?
We have to, we'll kill him, too.
RAY: No, wait!
There's a witness.
A woman-- I don't know her name--
they kept it quiet.
What are you talking about?
When you kill him,
there'll be a witness around.
If you want to stay out of jail,
you make sure she dies, too!
You best keep an eye peeled for her then.
(laughing) Fellas!
Okay.
(coughing)
(groans)
(weakly): I'm gonna kill you sons of bitches...
You take what's coming to you like a man,
we'll leave your kiddies alone.
You ain't got no right to do this!
STEVE: We got a right to defend our race!
For God's sakes.
The penalty for assaulting a white woman
is 30 lashes.
Brother Knight.
(whip cracking) (groans)
(whip cracking)
Tie him down!
Finish him off!
(whip cracking)
Jack, what're you doing here?
I thought you might be hungry.
What's going on?
Ray's still not back yet.
You find anything out?
Yeah, it took a while, but I think so.
You know, Lewis used to keep some clipping files
on several of the objects.
What I found on this one is like a whole history of 1954.
What are you talking about?
I can't be sure yet,
but we may be dealing with time travel.
If the owner has a good reason
and really wants to go back...
Then the car
will drive him into 1954.
JACK: Could be.
(men whooping, cheering)
That ought to make them coloreds think twice!
We should've strung him up so they could all see him!
GRAND DRAGON: You boys take the back roads.
And make sure you clean the blood off everything, you hear?
Yes, sir.
(whooping and laughter)
I told you there was nothing to worry about.
Yeah.
Well, maybe my being here changed things, huh?
(laughing): Yeah. Sure.
(cackling)
(cheering)
(engine revving)
(laughter and cheering)
(country music playing over radio)
ANNOUNCER: We got us a lovely morning
for all you Larksburg listeners.
Looking forward to a bright, sunny day.
And here's something to get you started right.
(song begins)
(static crackles)
(screams)
(thunder crashes)
Whoa! Look at that!
Where the hell did he come from?
(pop music playing on radio)
¶ ...There's a fire ragin' out of control... ¶
No!
No! No!
¶ The heat gets hotter... ¶
¶ The heat gets... ¶
Johnny, no.
He-He just came out of nowhere.
Or 1954.
I think he's just figured out how to use that radio.
We better be very careful.
Hi, Ray.
Don't bother me right now, Archie.
Ma, where's Daddy?
What?
RAY: Daddy-- what's happened to him?
What're you talking about, Ray?
State of Mississippi hung your daddy. No!
RAY: No one saw the murder.
Something else happened.
Will you let this thing go.
It happened before you were born.
Ma, there was no witness.
We can't change history.
You just got to accept it.
Nothing's changed.
Ray, I have to tell you something.
Not now, Archie.
Let it go!
What's happened did this family enough damage.
Don't you let it keep holding you back!
Ray, you know that guy Johnny, at the store, sold me the radio?
Well, he wasn't supposed to
and he wants it back.
Yeah, well, he can't have it.
What are you lookin' for?
RAY: For a picture of that black lawyer.
MARGARET: Why?
Because I have got to find him
before he can get Daddy. Ray!
He's coming.
ARCHIE: Ray! Ray!
Ray!
Ray, how can you help Daddy?
He's dead.
Not where I'm going, he ain't.
Ray... Ray.
I got to kill another one of your little black friends.
Oh, my God, Ray.
You killed Elliot.
Ray!
You keep your stupid mouth shut, Archie.
Archie!
(Ray grunting)
(sighs) Bastard.
JACK: Don't let him get away!
(car starts) Get out of there, Pierce!
(static crackles)
JOHNNY: Get out of the car!
(thunder crashes)
Jack. (grunts)
Jack.
Jack, you okay?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(groans)
Jack, where the hell are we?
Hey...
Welcome to 1954.
Come on.
(persistent knocking) RAY: Steve!
Yeah, yeah! Come on in! Come on in!
I gotta talk to you.
Make it quick. I got to get to the dairy.
No, you have to get out of town.
STEVE: You and your doomsday talk.
What have you got, some kind of crystal ball
or somethin'? No, here, look.
His name is Henry Emmett.
And he's going to use this new civil rights law
to bring you to trial. For killin' a Negro?
Steve.
Margie, it ain't never gonna happen.
It is gonna happen.
Look, we are fightin' a war here
and I got no plans to surrender.
You are gonna be convicted and hung.
You are talking trash, son.
(singsongy): ¶ Daddy killed a Negro ¶
¶ Daddy killed a Negro... ¶
That baby you are waiting for,
¶ Daddy killed a Negro ¶ is going to grow up
without a father. ¶ Daddy killed a Negro... ¶
Your wife is going to spend the rest of her days
scraping to make ends meet.
¶ Daddy killed a Negro ¶
¶ Daddy killed a Negro. ¶ Shut up, Archie!
Hush, son.
Look, you have got to listen to me.
Because of this, nothing good
is ever going to happen to your family again.
Oh... so...
What am I supposed to do?
You get the Klan together.
Now, I know I can find this man.
And without him, there can't be no trial.
All right, you...
You go find this Negro lawyer,
and I'll talk to the Grand Dragon.
You're not going to regret this.
¶ Daddy killed a Negro ¶
Archie, shut the hell up! ¶ Daddy killed a Negro ¶
Archie. ¶ Daddy killed a Negro. ¶
Archie, shut up! (Archie cries)
(Archie wailing)
STEVE (in distance): I said, shut up!
(crying stops)
(bystanders murmuring, whispering)
I can't believe it.
How'd we get here?
I saw him smear some of Archie's blood
on the radio just before that flash.
I'm pretty sure that's what did it.
Why would he want to come back to 1954?
Well, you know, his mother said that, uh,
his father had been hung for murder.
Maybe this was the time and place,
and he wants to come back and change history.
(men shouting angrily)
MAN: The sooner you people realize,
I don't want to hear about Mississippi!
You talk to me about the United States of America!
MAN 2: I can talk it!
(loud arguing continues)
Come on.
...Mississippi! I don't care! I'm not going anywhere!
We're here to see justice done!
Take yourselves back up north! No!
Absolutely not!
The sooner you people realize
that the Supreme Court of America has spoken!
Shut your mouth! I ain't shutting nothing!
You make me shut it!
Not here, buddy. Who are you?
You can't run your law in this town!
(siren wails, then stops)
We're gonna see justice done!
You are gonna see justice done!
The killer of Ben Wilten is going to be brought!
You're going to be hanging from this tree!
(angry chatter continues)
Now, what are you folks doin' out in all this heat?
Havin' ourselves a little bit of fun, Sheriff.
That so?
You boys enjoying yourselves?
This here colored lawyer's lookin' to stir up trouble.
My name's Henry Emmett, Sheriff.
I want someone arrested for the murder of Ben Wilten.
Well, so do I, Mr. Emmett.
So do I.
But, you see, before I go botherin'
upstanding citizens, I need some evidence.
He was murdered by the Klan.
SHERIFF: Yeah.
His kids told us that much.
You got someone who's seen some faces?
I'll find someone who's seen faces.
Well, you do that.
And you make sure that witness will testify.
What's that supposed to mean?
(Sheriff chuckles)
What that means is that
they won't live long after pointing
a colored finger at a white man.
You see, they know that.
Is that a threat?
(laughs)
No, sir.
It's a fact of life.
Okay, folks, go on home
before you get sunstroke or somethin'.
(sighs)
This place is unbelievable.
The future isn't much more comforting.
Ah, come on, Jack, we've come a long way.
The rules may have changed,
but some of the feelings haven't.
You look for Ray.
I'm going to try and warn that lawyer.
Sure.
Oh, uh, excuse me.
I-I just wanted a word with Mr. Emmett.
What do you want?
I guess I shouldn't have expected a welcome.
I came to warn you, Mr. Emmett.
The men in town are...
Well, they're pretty angry about this investigation of yours.
I expected that.
JACK: Well, please be very careful.
Someone may try and harm you, probably very soon.
Thank you, sir.
I have to say that
I've never been intimidated so politely.
Now, you tell your Klan friends
that nothing you do will stop us.
We've been denied our rights long enough.
(indistinct chatter, distant siren wails)
And then, um,
Mr. Pierce just drove off.
That's all I saw.
Would you excuse me a minute?
Mrs. Pierce, I'm really sorry.
I always knew something like this would happen.
I just knew it.
(knocking)
Come in.
I'm sorry to bother you, ma'am.
I need to speak with your husband.
He's not back from work yet.
Can I wait?
I found the man we were looking for.
I just want you to know...
that everything's going to be okay from now on.
Is that because you and my husband
are going to get rid of all the coloreds?
If we have to.
When are you gonna realize that they're just people like us?
Killing them won't get rid of the anger
that's inside of you.
You'll just need somebody else to take it out on.
RAY: What's wrong with him?
His daddy hits him.
And sometimes I think he might hit him just once too often.
Anything?
I looked into the car.
We'll need a screwdriver to get that radio out.
No, no, no-- we leave it right where it is.
That's our ticket back to the present.
You want to steal the car? No!
No, we can't leave him here.
He might do what he came for.
If he did change history,
who knows what chaos that might cause.
What's this?
I lifted it.
I thought it might tell us something.
Johnny, look at this.
These men were in that crowd.
You stay here.
Make sure he doesn't get away from you, hm?
I appreciate your help, Mr. Marshak.
I think I'm going to have me a long chat
with some of these here boys.
I'm sure that, uh,
Steve Pierce is your man, Sheriff.
I sure wish you could testify to that.
I wasn't even there. Yeah.
(tires squealing)
No!
JACK: Get your hands off him, you...!
Put him in!
Let's get out of here.
Back up.
I get to do the white boy!
GRAND DRAGON: We have other business first.
We have a spy in our midst;
a man who says he's one of us.
But he's lyin'.
And he has been since he first came here!
A concerned citizen brought me this evidence of betrayal!
Wait...
You're making a mistake!
Tie him up!
We trusted you, but you tried to destroy our way of life!
He got pictures of some of you men!
There's only one thing worse than a Negro,
and that's a Negro lover.
Who are you, boy?
A Negro lover or just the FBI?
I would never do that.
Liar! No! Please! No!
I swear to you!
You look at me!
Burn him, too! I'm one of you!
Aah!
You gotta believe me! (electrical crackling)
RAY: I am one of you!
(engine cranks, then starts)
Get in the car! Come on!
In the car?
Let's go after 'em!
Forget it. They're gone.
We'll finish here first. (Ray spits)
It seems a shame to waste that cross.
We won't.
What the hell is this?!
You brought him here!
Burn him, too.
I'm telling you. It's a mistake.
I-I came here to save you.
A Southern man don't need saving.
We look after our own.
(Ray gasps)
Burn that other Negro lover, too.
RAY: Please!
Daddy!
Daddy, please!
(screaming)
Please!
RAY: Daddy!
There's a witness, a woman--
I don't know her name-- they kept it quiet.
RAY: Daddy! Please!
No! Daddy!
Daddy!
(screaming)
You think that lawyer will say anything?
I think he will just be happy that
two strangers saved his life.
God, I can't imagine what it must have been like
to be black here.
What gets me is that it was only 35 years ago.
This is about the place where we arrived.
Wipe the blood off.
(static crackling)
(thunder crashes)
(gasps happily)
Johnny...
(relieved sigh)