I don't remember this here interstate. Weren't nothin' but a dirt road once.
It ain't been here about a year.
just long enough for everybody to drive off on it.
There ain't practically nobody left in Eastrod or Melsy.
They all done took out for the city.
Let me off here.
I'm obliged.
...before he casts you down into the burning pit of hell...
like stones into a lake of fire.
Like stones. You're all like stones. But Jesus died to redeem ya.
Can you understand that Jesus was so soul hungry that, for each soul... -
Are you fixin' to work the farm, Haze?
Uh, no. No, I ain't.
What you gonna do?
I'm gonna do some things... -
I'm gonna do some things I ain't never done before.
Hardly anyone left around here anymore.
Everybody done left or... died.
- Can you cash this army check for me? - Sure.
Was you wounded, Haze?
Yes, I was.
How come you wasn't wearin' no Purple Heart?
Well, I got one, but... -
I didn't want people to know where I was wounded.
[Train Whistle Blowing]
Oh.
[Quietly Clears Throat]
Well, there's no place quite like home, is there?
Are you going home?
I'm goin' to the city... - Taulkinham.
I don't know nobody in Taulkinham.
I'm gonna do some things there.
I know Georne Sparks in Taulkinham.
I'm gonna do some things I ain't never done before.
Oh.
Well, time does fly, don't it?
I haven't seen my sister's children in about five years now.
I don't know if I'd know 'em if I saw 'em.
There's Roy and Jimmy Jay and John Wesley.
[Singing] Oh, they call me "Mama doll"...
and they call my husband "Papa doll.' '
I reckon you think you been redeemed.
Why... - Why, yes.
Life is an inspiration, don't you think?
[Whistle Blows]
[Man On P.A., Indistinct]
Sixty Buckley Road.
- You ain't no friend of hers, are you? - I never saw her before.
She don't usually have no preacher for company.
I ain't a preacher.
I only seen her name on... in a toilet.
Well, you look like a preacher. Your hat looks like a preacher's hat.
It ain't. It's... - It's just a hat.
Well, it ain't only the hat. It's the look on your face somewheres.
Look a-here, I ain't no preacher.
Now I understand it ain't anybody perfect on this green earth... -
not preachers, not nobody.
And you can tell folks better how terrible sin is...
if you know from your own experience.
Listen, get this.
There ain't but one thing that I want you to understand...
and that's that I don't believe in anything.
- Nothin' at all? - Nothin'.
Well, that's the problem with you preachers.
You've all got too damn good to believe in anything.
You huntin' somethin'?
- Somethin' on your mind? - The usual business.
- Make yourself at home. - [Scissors Snipping]
Uh, the thing that I mean to have you know is... -
is that I ain't no goddamn preacher.
That's okay, son. Mama don't mind if you ain't no preacher...
as long as you got four dollars.
[Man] Okay, folks, gather round. Look at this miracle peeler here, folks.
I'm gonna give away a half a dozen... - a half a dozen peeled potatoes...
to the first one that buys one of these here miracle machines.
Who's gonna be first now? Okay, folks, who's gonna be number one?
What about you back there? You can't afford to pass up a bargain like this.
- What's your name, boy? - Name? Enoch Emory.
Oh-ho. A boy with a pretty name like that oughta have one of these machines.
Okay, folks, let's go. Who'll be the first one here?
Who'll be the first one to get one of these?
- [Girl] Jesus calls. - [Man] Help a blind preacher.
- Help a blind... Thank you, Jesus. - He's talkin' to you. He's talkin' to you.
Help a blind preacher and his daughter spread the word of Jesus here.
- [Salesman] Who'll be first now? - [Preacher] Give up a dollar. I'm gonna start preachin' here.
[Salesman] What the hell do you think you're doin'? I got this crowd together.
- Who the hell do you think you are? - I'm gonna start preachin' if you don't give up a dollar here.
- What the hell do you think you're doin'? I got these people together. - Jesus calls.
Help a blind, unemployed preacher. I need it worse than you all do.
[Continue Shouting Over Each Other]
Help a blind, unemployed preacher here.
These goddamn communist foreigners! I got this crowd together!
Pay no attention to him, folks. Who'll be number one?
Who'll be the first one to buy one of these?
- I seen you. - Folks, step up here.
[Preacher] No use savin' your money when your soul ain't saved.
[Salesman] $ 1.50. $ 1.50.
Come on. Give up a dollar for Jesus. A dollar for Jesus.
Is it too much to ask for a dollar for Jesus?
Give me one of those. I got a dollar.
just add 50 cents to that dollar and you got yourself a deal, okay?
Okay, folks, who's gonna be the first one?
- [Preacher] Any more quarters? Any more dollars? - [Salesman] Don't crowd in, folks.
- Help a blind preacher. - Okay, folks, who'll be first?
- Come on, Papa. - Help a blind preacher here.
Free potatoes to the first one buyin' one of these here miracles.
Who's gonna be the first one to buy one of these here machi... Thank you, sir.
There goes the first sale, folks. Next sale.
Who'll be the next one to buy one of these here miracles?
See? All they wanna do is knock you down.
I ain't never been in such a unfriendly place before.
There's too many people on the streets.
- How long you been here? - Two days.
I been here two months.
I work at the zoo. [Sniffles]
- I didn't catch your name good. - Hazel Motes.
Hazel Motes. You look like you might be follerin' them hicks.
- [Whistle Blows] - Stop! Don't you see that... -
Now, what do you think that thing is up there for?
Maybe you thought that red was for white folks and green ones was for niggers, huh?
- That's what I thought. - You tell all your friends about these lights.
Red is for stop. Green is for go.
Men and women, white folks and niggers... - all go on the same light.
Now, you tell all your friends about that now, you hear?
So that when they come to town, they'll know.
I'll look after him. He ain't been here but two days.
- I'm obliged. - Wasn't nothin'.
I reckon I'll go along and keep you company for a while.
Sure wouldn't wanna get messed up with no hicks...
particularly the Jesus kind.
I know. I done a lot of that myself.
I was 12 years old, and I could sing some hymns good I learned off this nigger.
So this here welfare woman traded me from my daddy...
took me off to Boonville to live with her.
She had a brick house, but it was Jesus all day long.
Reckon she was 40 years old, and she was ugly.
Her hair was so thin, it looked like ham gravy tricklin' down her skull.
I got out though. Wanna know how?
I scared the hell out of that woman. That's how.
I studied and I studied on it. I even prayed.
I said, " Jesus, show me a way to get outta here."
Durned if he didn't.
[Laughs] I got up one mornin' just before daylight.
I went into her room without my pants on...
and pulled up the sheet and give her a heart attack.
[Laughing]
Your jaw just crawls, don't it? Don't you never laugh?
It's that boy, Papa.
I can smell the sin on his breath.
- What'd you foller me for? - I never follered you.
- She said you was follerin' me. - I ain't follered you nowheres.
I follered her.
I don't want that thing. Take it. I don't want it.
You take it and you shut up before I hit you.
I won't have it.
You take it like I told you!
He never follered you.
I got it, but it ain't mine.
I follered her to say I wasn't beholdin' to none of her fast eye...
like she give me back there.
What do you mean? I never looked at you with no fast eye.
I only watched you tearin' up that tract.
Papa, he tore it up in little pieces.
- He tore it up and sprinkled it all over the ground like salt! - Shut up!
He follered me. Nobody could foller you.
I can hear the urge of Jesus in his voice.
Jesus. [Spits]
Now you listen to me, boy. Jesus is a fact!
- You can't run away from Jesus. - No. You listen.
I come a long way since I believe in anything.
I come halfway around the world.
You ain't come so far that you could keep from follerin' me, though, have you, boy?
Some preacher's left his mark on you.
Did you follow me for me to take it off or to give you another one?
I hear 'em scrapin' their feet inside.
Get out the tracts. They're fixin' to come out.
- What we gonna do? What's inside that there building? - [Girl] Program lettin' out.
Here, take this, boy, and go up to the other side and give out.
I'll stay here with the one that follered me.
Now you go to the top of them stairs and repent, boy, and renounce your sins...
and distribute these tracts to the people.
I'm as clean as you are.
Fornication, blasphemy. What else?
If I was in sin, I was in it before I ever committed any.
There ain't no change come in me.
I don't believe in sin!
Nothin' matters but that Jesus don't exist!
Go distribute them tracts to the people.
I'll take 'em up there and throw 'em in the bushes.
You be watchin'. See can you see.
[Wheezing Laugh]
Jesus calls you. Jesus calls you.
Hey! Lookee down yonder.
Do you see that blind man down there?
He's givin' out tracts and benign. Jesus! You ought to see him.
And he's got this here ugly child.
Now you better get on the other side, lady.
There's a fool down there givin' out tracts.
Don't pay no attention to that fanatic up there.
Don't I know what exists and what don't?
Ain't I got eyes in my head?
Am I a blind man?
Let me tell you somethin'.
Maybe you think that you ain't clean because you don't believe.
Every one of you are clean, and I'll tell you why.
If you think it's because of Jesus Christ crucified, you're wrong.
I ain't saying he wasn't crucified, but I say it wasn't for you.
I'm gonna start a new church...
the Church of Truth Without Jesus Christ Crucified.
And it won't cost you nothin' to join my church.
- Blind preacher here, folks. - It ain't started yet, but it's gonna be.
I don't need Jesus.
What do I need Jesus for? I got Leora Watts.
Hawks. Asa Hawks's the name when you go to follerin' me again.
Sin is a trick on niggers.
Sin ain't on my books.
Hey.
Now we got shut of them, why don't we go someplace and have us some fun?
Heard about there's this house we can go and have us some fun.
I could pay you back next week.
I got business of my own. I seen just about all of you I want.
I been here two months, and I don't know nobody.
People ain't friendly here.
I think I seen you someplace before.
- You ain't from Stockwell, are you? - No.
Looked like you had a kind of familiar face.
Good-bye.
I'm goin' thisaway too.
My daddy made me come.
I ain't but 18 years old, and he made me come here.
And I don't know nobody, and nobody here will have nothin' to do with me.
They ain't friendly.
Look a-here. You want a woman, you don't have to go follerin' nothin' ugly...
like that kid you give a peeler to.
Look, get away from me.
People here ain't friendly.
You ain't from here, but you ain't friendly neither.
And you don't know nobody neither.
I knew when I first seen you that you didn't have nobody or nothin' but Jesus.
I seen you. Yeah, I knew it.
That's right.
Standin' around actin' like you got wiser blood than anybody else.
But you ain't, 'cause I'm the one that has it. Not you. Me.
What are you talkin' about?
About I know things I ain't never learned... -
how I can see signs.
It's somethin' that just happens, and I got to do some things sometimes.
I got to do some things sometimes I don't even wanna do.
And sometimes inside me, I can feel it.
I can feel it pullin' and tunnin' at me and pushin'...
and I can feel my blood beatin', and I got to do this thing right now.
[Sniffles] It's... - It's wise blood.
It ain't everybody has it. See, it's a gift.
It's a gift like, uh, the gift of the prophets.
Now, I ain't sayin' I'm a prophet. No, it ain't like that, but it's like that.
You're crazy, boy.
You get away from me, and you stay away.
I'm goin' where I'm goin'.
I got a woman. I got a woman, see?
And that's where I'm goin'... - to visit her.
She told me where they live.
That girl you give a peeler to... she said to visit 'em and to bring you there.
[Toilet Flushing]
[Clicks Tonnue]
[Leora] Ray.
[Door Opens, Closes]
[Man's Voice] This way out. This way out.
Eighty-five cents. Don't buy nothin' for the lady.
[Man #2] Exclusive show. Miss Eve herself in person.
Only 15 at a time.
So "sinsational," it'll cost you 85 cents to see it.
Exclusive show. Miss Eve herself in person.
Only 15 at a time.
So sinsational, it'll cost you 85 cents to see it.
[Voices Continue, Echoing]
[Laughing]
- [Laughing Continues] - So sinsational.
[Preacher] ... repent to the Lord and burn your eyes clean.
You'll see yourselves for what you was... filth.
A generation of blasphemers and whoremongers, every one of you.
There ain't one of you is a clean man or woman or child.
I tell you there ain't no finer act than God's judgment.
Repent before he casts you down into the burning pit of hell...
like stones into a lake of fire.
- [Voice Echoes, Fades] - [Bedsprings Creaking]
You don't just walk in here like that.
I'll show you what we've got to show.
- Let me see Slade. - What you want to see him for?
I want to see him about this here car.
- I'm him. - Well, how much it cost?
How much do you finure? Give us an estimate.
- What do you want? - I want this here car.
- I might take $300 for it. - I wouldn't pay no more than 200 for it.
That car, you can't buy like that every day. It's got new tires on it.
They was new when it was built.
They built good cars several years ano. They don't build good cars no more.
- You wanna get underneath it and look at it? - No.
- [Kicks Tire] - Told you you wouldn't bust them tires.
What'll you give me for it?
I'll take two and a half.
That wouldn't be worth what it'd cost to cart it off.
I won't argue with you about that.
This car wasn't built by a bunch of niggers.
If you don't want this one, there's plenty more you can look at just the same price.
What do you want for it?
I'll take two and a quarter, and you can pay me when you leave.
- Two and a quarter and some gas. - Tank's full.
I wanted this car mostly to be a house for me.
I ain't got no place to be.
You got to switch it on with them two wires right there.
[Engine Shrieks, Rattles]
You gotta let the hand brake down.
[Clattering, Rattling]
- [Brakes Screeching] - [Horn Honking]
[Man Shouting]
[Engine Backfires, Sputters]
[Backfiring, Sputtering]
[Engine Stops]
[Exhales]
[Preacher's Voice] He would die 10 million times...
have his arms and his legs stretched out on the cross and nailed...
10 million times for just one soul.
Even for that boy there, he would die 10 million times.
He will chase him over the waters of sin.
If you doubt that Jesus walks over the waters of sin...
This boy has been chastened, and he will be redeemed.
Jesus will never leave him ever.
Jesus will have you in the end.
What are you doin' parked in the middle of the road, son?
Take your hand off my shoulder. I'm readin' that sign.
There ain't a person or whoremonger who wasn't somethin' worse first.
- That ain't the sin nor the blasphemy. - [Vehicle Horns Honking]
The sin came before 'em.
Jesus is a trick on niggers.
Well, will you get this goddamn outhouse out of the middle of the road?
I don't have to run away from anything, 'cause I don't believe in anything.
- What direction's the zoo in? - Back the other way.
That where you escaped from?
- [Engine Starts, Rattles] - [Horns Honking]
[Honking Continues]
- [Screeching] - [Children Laughing]
[Enoch] You're so ugly, I can't stand it.
Shoot! Shoot, if I had a face like that, I'd sit on it and never get up.
[Pounding]
Hi, Haze. How are you?
Guard said I'd find you here. Said you liked to talk to the monkeys.
Well, just look at 'im.
He acts like he thinks he's as good as me or you.
just like some niggers I've seen.
Shoot! I had a face like that, I'd put a paper bag on it.
Look. I'm lookin' for that blind preacher named Hawks.
Now, do you know where they live?
- Hawks? - Hawks.
Yeah, him and his girl.
Right. Now, did she tell you where they live?
Hazel, listen here. I got to show you somethin'.
Oh, look, I got to see that man.
This thing, Hazel, I got to show it to you. Now. Here. This afternoon.
What thing? I don't want to see any thing of yours.
- I want that-that address. - Come on.
"Muv-se-vum."
Walk easy. I don't wanna wake the old guard.
He ain't very friendly with me.
[Snoring]
You see that there notice?
It says he was once as tall as you or me.
Some A-rabs done it to him in six months.
Took all the blood out of him. Then they done it to him.
Must've sewed up his mouth to keep him from yellin' while they was doin' it.
You can count his eyelashes.
- Is this what you wanted to show me? - Yeah.
Well, I seen it. Now, where do they live?
Do you know where they live?
Yeah. Yeah, sure. I know where they live.
[Engine Rattling]
[Hazel] All right, where is it? Which one of them houses is it?
Well, she... - she said it was on Plum Tree Drive.
Wait. I... - I know where it's at. I remember the number she give to me.
You're lyin'. You don't know where they live.
- You're lyin' to me. - No, I couldn't lie.
It's one of these here houses. I swear to you.
Wait. I think that's it.
[No Audible Dialonue]
[Engine Stops]
- [Knocking] - [Dogs Barking]
[Footsteps Running]
I'm trying to help you find it, Hazel, but...
I can't use none of your help! You lied to me.
You ain't not any better idea where they live than I do.
- No, it ain't true. She told me... - - You lied to me!
You been runnin' up and down this city...
just to show me some kind of dried-up dead man...
and a cane of monkeys and a... - and a hoot owl.
And now you can't find 'em because you don't know where they live.
Uh, if a room's free, I'd like to rent it.
Room's for rent, all right.
What do you do?
I'm a preacher.
- What church? - Church of Truth Without Christ.
Protestant... or-or somethin' foreign?
Oh, no, ma'am. It's Protestant.
You can look at the room.
It's $20 a week, in advance.
Man named Hawks lives here, don't he?
Downstairs in the front room... - him and his child.
It used to be a fire escape there, but I don't know what happened to it.
Well, I'll take the room.
[Knocking]
[Lock Turning]
It's that boy, Papa... - that one that keeps follerin' me.
Get away.
What do you want?
I live here now.
I thought if your girl give me so much eye back there...
I just might return some of it.
What I give you the other day was of a look of indignation...
for what I seen you do.
It was you give me the eye.
You should've seen him, Papa. He looked me up and down.
I started my own church.
I'm gonna be preachin' it on the streets.
You can't leave me alone, can you, boy?
I didn't ask you to come here, and I ain't askin' you to hang around.
What the hell kind of-of a preacher are you not to see if you can save my soul?
Goddamn Jesus hog.
Well, look what you used to be.
Look what you tried to do. You got over it.
- [Engine Sputtering] - So will he.
I don't want him around here. He makes me nervous.
Listen here. You help me to get him.
Then you go away and do what you please, and I can live with him.
He don't even know you exist.
Even if he don't, that's all right.
That's how come I can get him easy.
I want him, and you oughta help. Then you can go off like you want to.
All right, but you better make it work if you want to eat after I'm gone.
- I'll get him. - [Chuckles]
That might be just fine.
Might be the oil on Aaron's beard.
[Laughing] Listen here. It would be the nuts.
I'm just crazy about him.
I never seen a boy I liked the looks of any better.
Don't run him off.
Tell him how you blinded yourself for Jesus and show him that clipping you got.
The clipping.
[Vehicles Passing]
My church is the Church Without Christ.
I am a member and a preacher to that church...
where the blind don't see and the lame don't walk...
and what's dead stays that way.
What church you belong to? You, boy. There.
- I said, what church you belong to? - Church of Christ.
Well, ask me about my church, and I'll tell you...
it's the church that the blood of Jesus don't foul with redemption.
Listen here. I'm gonna take the truth with me wherever I go.
I'm gonna preach it to whoever will listen.
I'm gonna preach that there was no fall...
'cause there was nothin' to fall from.
No redemption 'cause there was no Fall...
and no Judgment because there wasn't the first two.
Nothin' matters but that Jesus Christ was a liar!
- Hazel? Listen here, Hazel. I found it. - What do you want?
I found it... - the house where they live. You shouldn't have oughta hit me, Hazel.
It weren't nothin' I done that you should've hit me.
I only thought it was a three. But I found it, and I'll take you there if you want.
I know where they live.
- I live there now, see? - You know where they live?
But if you didn't know and I told you, then you'd know now.
Oh, get outta here.
All he can do is hang around and make a fool out of himself.
He don't know whether he's comin' or goin'.
He-He ain't nothin' but a shiftless, crazy boy.
If Jesus Christ had redeemed you, what difference would it make to you?
What difference would it make to that crazy boy?
There's no peace for the redeemed.
If there was three crosses there...
and Jesus Christ hung on the middle one...
that wouldn't mean no more to you or me than the other two.
What you need is somethin' to take the place of Jesus...
somethin' that would speak plain.
Now, the Church Without Christ don't have a Jesus.
But it needs one. It needs a new Jesus...
one that's all man, without blood to waste...
that don't look like any other man, so you'll look at him.
- Give me such a Jesus. - I got him!
I mean, I can get him. Him... - you seen him yourself.
Him that I showed to you... the new Jesus.
I'll get him. I'll get him for you, Hazel.
You look at me and you look at a peaceful man...
peaceful because my blood has set me free.
[Knocking]
- Who is it? - [Hazel] It's me.
- Come in. - [Door Opens]
What do you want?
lf Jesus Christ cured blind men...
how come you don't get him to cure you?
He blinded Paul.
Where did you get them scars under your eyes?
Get me that clipping.
Here. Read that. That's how I got the scars.
[Girl] He done it with lime. And there was hundreds converted.
Anybody that blinded hisself for justification oughta be able to save you...
or even somebody of his blood.
Nobody with a good car...
needs to be justified.
The bastard got away with my clipping. Go get it.
Well, you not another clipping, ain't ya?
The one that says, "Evannelist's Nerve Fails."
[Snoring]
[Glass Shatters]
[Guard] Thief! Thief!
I been here all the time, and you never known it.
[Giggles]
What do you want to hide in my car for?
I got business before me. I ain't not time for any foolishness.
Let's drive a bit.
[Engine Rattling]
My name is Sabbath... - Sabbath Lily Hawks.
My mother named me that just after I was born...
because I was born on the Sabbath.
And then she turned over in her bed and died, and I never seen her.
- Uh-huh. - Him and her wasn't married.
And that makes me a bastard, but I can't help it.
It was what he done to me and not what I done to myself.
- Bastard? - A real bastard.
Do you know what?
"A bastard shall not enter the kingdom of heaven."
- How could you be a bastard when... - - Do you read the papers?
No.
Well, there's this woman in it named Mary Brittle...
that tells you what to do when you don't know.
- You couldn't... - - I wrote her a letter and asked what I was to do.
- You couldn't be a bastard when... - - I said, "Dear Mary, I am a bastard...
"and a bastard shall not enter the kingdom of heaven, as we all know.
"But I have this personality that makes boys follow me.
"Do you think I should neck or not?
"I shall not enter the kingdom of heaven anyway...
so I don't see what difference it makes."
- Listen here. If your daddy was... - - Then she answered my letter in the paper.
She said, "Dear Sabbath, light necking is acceptable...
"but I think your real problem is one of adjustment to the modern world.
"Perhaps you ought to reexamine your religious values...
"to see if they meet your needs in life.
"A religious experience can be a beautiful addition to living...
"if you put it in the proper perspective and do not let it warp you.
Read some books on ethical culture."
You couldn't be a bastard when... - You must be mixed up.
Your daddy blinded hisself for Jesus Christ... -
Then I wrote another letter.
I says, "Dear Mary, what I really want to know...
"is should I go the whole hog or not.
That's my real problem. I've adjusted okay to the modern world."
- But your daddy blinded hisself for Jes... - - He wasn't always as holy as he is now.
She never answered my second letter.
You mean in his youth, your daddy didn't believe, but he come to.
- Is that what you mean, or ain't it? - That's right.
You quit feelin' that... - my leg with yours.
Can you turn down that dirt road?
Ho-How did he come to believe?
What channed him to a preacher of Jesus?
Why don't we get out and sit under the trees where we can get better acquainted?
Was he always such an evil-seemin' man before he came to believe...
or just part-way evil seemin'?
All-the-way evil. Stop the car.
Let's get out here.
[Door Closes]
Let's sit down for a while.
I gotta be goin' back to town. I ain't not time to set in any woods.
I suppose, before he came to believe, he didn't believe at all.
I can save you.
I've not a church in my heart where Jesus is king.
I believe in the new kind of Jesus... -
the one that can't waste his blood redeeming people with it...
'cause he's all man and ain't not any God in him.
My church is the Church Without Christ.
Well, can a bastard be saved in it?
They ain't any such a thing as a bastard in the Church Without Christ.
Everything is all one.
Bastard wouldn't be any different from anybody else.
That's good.
There was this child once that nobody cared if It lived or died.
Its kin sent it around from one to another of them...
and finally to its grandmother, who was a very evil woman.
And she couldn't stand to have it around...
'cause the least good thing made her break out in these welts.
She'd get all itchin' and swole.
Even her eyes would itch her and swell up.
And there wasn't nothing she could do but run up and down the road...
shakin' her hands and cursin'.
And it was twice as bad when this child was there...
so she kept the child locked up in a chicken crate.
It seen its granny in hellfire...
swole and burnin'...
and it told her everything it seen.
And she not so swole until finally she went to the well...
and wrapped the well rope around her neck...
and let down the bucket and broke her neck.
Would you guess me to be 17 years old?
Wouldn't be any sense to the word "bastard" in the Church Without Christ.
[Sighs] Ain't my feet white though?
Why don't you lie down and rest yourself?
Don't make any difference to me how much you like me.
I see you. I see you.
Get away from me!
Come on, if you don't want to get left.
[Engine Cranks]
[Exhales]
What'd you do to my car?
[Engine Cranks]
What's wrong in there?
It's a good car, ain't it?
Look, mister. That's a good car.
That car'll get me anywhere I want to go.
[Engine Cranking]
[Engine Starts]
I told you this car'll get me anywhere I want to go.
She may stop every once in a while, but she won't stop permanent.
- How much do I owe you? - Not a thing.
- [Hazel] What about the gas? - Nothin'.
- Not a thing. - All right. Thank you.
Told you this car'll get me anywhere I want to go.
[Engine Starts]
It's a grand auto. Goes as smooth as honey.
Wasn't built by a bunch of foreigners or niggers, nor one-armed men.
It was built by people with their eyes open...
who knew where they was at.
[Hazel] Some folks is- is- is always disputin' everything.
Some folks thinks that they... that they owe...
everything that they not to Jesus Christ crucified.
Well, in my economy, there ain't nobody that owes nothin' to nobody.
Are you gonna stay and listen, or you... -
are you gonna walk away like everybody else?
Well, go on and go.
But remember, the truth don't lurk around every street corner.
Folks. Folks Come on. Come on. Come on, you folks.
Stay now. Come back here. Come on. Come on back here.
Yes, ma'am. Just come on.
Come on now. Stay. I was just fixin' to tell you all about me.
I wisht I had my guitar. [Chuckles]
Somehow it's just easier for me...
to say something sweet with music, rather than just... - just plain.
Listen to me, friends.
Before I met this prophet here...
I didn't have a friend in this world.
Do any of you know what it means...
not to have a friend in the world?
Ain't no worse than nobody who wouldn't stick a knife in your back when you wasn't lookin'.
You said a mouthful when you said that, friend.
Everybody, friends, I want to introduce myself to you.
My name is Onnie Jay Holy...
and I am a preacher.
I don't... - I don't mind you knowing that.
But I don't... - I don't want you to believe anything.
And I wouldn't ask you to believe anything...
that you did not feel right in your own hearts.
Friends, everybody that's born onto this earth...
is full of sweetness and love.
You know that when a child gets bigger...
that sweetness just doesn't show so good, does it?
I mean, troubles come to perplext him, folks.
I mean, the sweetness gets driven inside.
Then he becomes miserable and lonesome and... and sick...
and, you know, he starts to say...
"Now, where's my sweetness gone?"
If somebody's sweetness, friends, they might just despair completely.
Huh? I mean, despair.
Now that... - that's the way it was with me, friends.
I know what of I speak here. Before I met the prophet.
Before I found out he was out here to help me.
I mean, he's out here preaching the Church of Christ Without Christ.
Now I want you all to listen to him.
I want you to listen to him and to me, and I want you to join our church.
The holy Church...
of Jesus Christ Without Christ.
That... - That man ain't true.
- I never seen him before tonight. - I wasn't true, friends.
I wasn't true before I met this prophet here. I want you to know that. I wasn't true.
I didn't preach the truth. But I'm gonna give you some reasons right now...
why you can join this church, why it's best for you.
The first thing is there's just nothing foreign about it.
- No. Nothing foreign about it. - No. No, listen.
Blasphemy ain't the way to the truth, whether you understand it or not.
- Hear the prophet! Hear the prophet! - This... - This man is a liar.
- I never seen him before tonight. - I lied before I met this prophet.
I'm gonna give you some more reasons why you ought to join this church, friends.
Some more reasons are is this church is right up to date.
Now you hear me. It's up to date.
You belong to this church, nothin' or nobody is ever gonna be ahead of you, right?
Nothin' or nobody will be ahead of you.
Nobody's gonna know something that you don't know.
No, sir! I mean, all the cards right out on the table, friends. That's a fact.
That's a natural fact. Now, it's gonna cost each and every one of you here a dollar.
- What's a dollar? A dollar's a few dimes. - Here's my dollar.
- That's not too much to unlock the little rose of sweetness inside you. - Listen.
- Just one dollar. - It don't cost you any money... -
- Hear the prophet! - to know the truth.
You can't know it from money.
You see? A dollar's not too much, friends.
You see? The prophet don't care nothin' about money.
It's not too much to know the truth, just one dollar.
Uh... - Uh, folks, I'm gonna have to leave you now.
But we're gonna meet here again tomorrow night in this very same spot.
- [Engine Sputtering] - Right in this same place. I gotta catch up with the prophet right now.
Where you goin'? There must be at least $10 out there.
What's the big hurry, friend?
Now listen. You and me have not to get together on this thing.
- You know what you put me in mind of when I first seen you? - [Engine Sputters]
Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln. You're... -
- Get out. - What are you sayin', friend?
Hey. I've been on the radio for three years.
I'm a real preacher, friend. You better listen to me now.
- Get out! - Listen. You want to get anywhere in the religion business...
you've not to keep it sweet.
Listen, friend!
Listen. You got some good ideas. You got good ideas.
All they need is a little promotion. That Jesus idea is a good one.
- All we gotta do is promote it. - Look. Look.
There ain't any such a thing as any new Jesus.
That wasn't nothin' but a way of sayin' something, Holy!
My name ain't Holy. My name is Hoover Shoates.
And you better remember it, friend, because I'm about to run you out of business.
I mean, I'm gonna be back here tomorrow night with a new prophet.
I can find prophets for peanuts, friend.
I'll do my own preachin', you understand me?
You better watch it, 'cause what you need is a little competition. You understand?
[Keys Jingle]
[Match Strikes]
Now, then, you can get out. Now you can leave me alone.
Hi, Hazel.
I don't care if you hit me.
I'm staying with you. I'm not goin'.
He ain't blind.
Your daddy ain't blind.
I thought anybody could have seen that.
He's just a crook.
I seen him. Just now.
Without his glasses. And...
And he saw me too.
Listen.
The minute I set eyes on you...
I said to myself...
that's what I gotta have.
just give me some of him.
I said, "Look at those pecan eyes and go crazy, girl.
"That innocent look don't hide a thing.
"He's just pure filthy...
"right to the guts, like me.
"The only difference is...
"I like being that way...
and he don't."
Yes, sir.
I like being that way, and I can teach you how to like it.
Don't you want to learn how to like it?
Yeah. Yeah, I want to.
Take off your hat, king of the beasts.
[Moans]
♪♪ [Instrumental Theme]
[Man] Gonga! Come shake the giant paw!
The royal paw of the monarch of the junnle.
Gonga! The mighty Gonga!
Before each showing, the great star himself...
will shake your tiny hand.
Come see Gonga live.
A personal appearance by the frightful beast before each presentation.
Afree pass to the first 10 brave enough to shake his hand.
At 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00 and 8:00.
[Door Opens]
[Breathing Heavily]
- Hazel Motes live here? - He does.
Is he around?
Upstairs.
First door.
My man is sick today and sleepin'...
'cause he didn't sleep none last night.
[Chuckles] What do you want?
I done brought him this here thing he needs.
He knows what it is. I run a awful risk, but I did what I had to.
You just give it to him. He'll know what to do with it.
- I'll take care of it. - For him, not you, hear?
- You just tell him I got it, now it's his, and I'm glad to get shut of it. - What's in it?
Something he gotta have.
Something that'll save those that sees it.
And he'll do something with it, 'cause it don't look like no other Jesus.
You just give it to him.
[Door Closes]
Well, I declare.
You're right cute, ain't ya?
Who's your mama and daddy?
Oh!
Well, let's go give him a jolt.
[Knocking]
Call me mama now.
[Sabbath Chuckles Softly]
You've broken him, and he was minel
[Gasps] You didn't have to do that. I might have fixed him.
I knew when I first seen you you were mean and evil.
I knew you were mean enough to slam a baby against the wall.
I seen you wouldn't have no fun nor let anybody help you...
because you didn't want nothin' but Jesus!
[Sobs]
[Crowd in Distance: Chattering, Laughing]
[Children Shout]
[Crowd Chattering, Laughing]
[Crowd Chattering]
- Gonga is comin' here now? - [All] Yeah.
- The real Gonga? - Yeah. He's comin'.
- You gonna shake his hand? - Yeah.
- Can... - Can anybody shake his hand? - Yeah. You gotta get in line first.
[Chattering Continues]
♪♪ [Instrumental Theme]
[All Shouting]
[Man On P.A.] Roaring Gonga, the great star.
Shake the great Gonga's hand for a free pass.
A free pass to the first 10 brave enough to shake his hand.
[All Shouting]
[Roaring]
- [Crowd Screams] - [Roaring]
Easy now. Back off. Back off. Back off.
[Screaming]
[Roaring]
- [Man] Get back. Get back. - [Grunting]
[Roars]
[Man] Hang on. Please back up. You see him? You see him?
- Have you ever seen... - - [Grunting]
- [Shouting] - [Chattering]
[Man] Stay back children. Stay back.
- Stay in line now. - How old are you anyhow?
Make it snappy. Okay. There's your pass.
Shake his hand and keep movin'.
There's your pass. Keep movin'.
Come on. Keep movin'. Keep movin'. Let's go.
There's your pass. Come on. Come on.
Here you go. There's your pass.
All right. Come on.
- My name's Enoch Emory. - I can't hear you.
My... - My name's Enoch Emory. I work at the... -
Okay. Keep it movin'. Keep it movin'.
[Grunting]
[Engine Rattling]
- [Engine Stops] - [Horn Honks]
[Horn Honks]
[Man] I'm comin'!
There's a leak in the gas tank I want you to plug up...
and, uh, make the starter work smoother.
Okay, open the hood.
Start it up.
[Hazel] Where's... - [Sighs]
- [Engine Cranking] - Give it some gas!
[Engine Sputters, Starts]
How long you finure it'll take you to fix it up?
Can't be done.
Oh, look, mister. This is a good car.
I knew, when I bought this car, it was a good car.
Now I got a place to be I can always get away in.
Plan on going someplace in this here car?
Yeah.
Another garage.
[Engine Revs, Sputters]
[Engine Stops]
- How much we gonna owe you? - Seven dollars.
[Chuckles]
All right, sir. Hmm.
- [Chattering] - [Man] He won't hurt you, as long as I hold him by the chain.
Shake hands with the star of the show.
Shake hands with Gonga.
- Come on. Shake hands. - [Man] Stay in line.
Fourth goddamn time this idiot showed up. Been following us around all goddamn day.
- Stay in line there. - Shake hands with Gonga.
Hi, Gonga. I'm only 18 years old, but I already work at the city zoo.
You idiot. Go to hell. Get lost.
- Just get out of here, will ya? - Shake the mighty Gonga's hand. Shake hands with the star himself.
Shake hands with Gonga. He won't hurt you as long as I hold him by the chain.
Where you come from is gone.
Where you thought you were going to...
weren't never there.
And where you are...
ain't no good unless you can get away from it.
Your conscience... is a trick.
It don't exist. And if you think it does...
then you had best get it out in the open...
- ♪♪ [Guitar Strums] - hunt it down...
and kill it.
- ♪♪ [Guitar Strums] - Friends, I want you to meet the new prophet, the true prophet here.
I want you to listen to what he says.
- ♪♪ [Guitar Strums] - Listen herel
I want you to listen to what he says, 'cause I think...
he's gonna make you as happy as he has made me.
- ♪♪ [Guitar Strums] - The unredeemed are redeeming theirselves...
and the new Jesus is at hand.
Watch for this miracle.
Help yourself to salvation...
in the Holy Church of Christ...
Without Christ.
- Amen! Amen! The prophet. - [Woman] Amen.
- Amen. Amen. - ♪♪ [Guitar Strumming]
- Those kids were murder today. - No kidding.
- Brat kids. - Shut up, man.
I'm pooped.
- There you go. - [Grunts]
[Truck Door Closes]
- [Engine Idling] - [Hoover Chattering]
The prophet blesses ya! Yes.
Come back tomorrow night, folks. Bring your friends.
You just earned yourself...
three dollars, friend.
Let's make it four. I want you back here tomorrow night.
[Train Whistle Blowing in Distance]
Come on, Josie.
[Chattering]
- [Growls] Shake hands with Gonga. - [Man Gasps]
[Enoch Laughs]
- [Man Shouts] - Watch it. Keep away.
Do you want to shake hands with Gonga?
[Crashing]
[Glass Shatters]
Now, what you done that for?
What you want?
I ain't done nothin' to you.
How come you done that?
Knocked my car in a ditchl
[Engine Stops]
Quit just lookin' at me.
Say what you want.
How come you stand on that car...
and say you don't believe in what you do believe in?
What's it to you what I do?
Well, how come you do it is what I asked.
Well, a man has to take care of hisself.
Take off the hat... and the suit.
Now look here. I ain't tryin' to mock you!
He bought me this suit...
and I thrown my other one away.
Take it off!
Take it all off!
[Grunts]
[Engine Starts]
[Engine Stops]
Two things that I just can't stand... -
a man that ain't true and one that mocks what is.
You should never have tempered with me if you didn't want what you got.
I gave my mother...
a lot of trouble.
Never gave her no rest. [Spits]
And I stole that there car.
And I never told the truth to my daddy.
I told them where his still was...
for five dollars.
[Groans]
Jesus.
Help me. [Groans]
[Car Door Opens, Closes]
Shake hands with Gonga.
- [Man Gasps] - [Woman Screaming]
- I don't wanna hurt you. - [Woman Screaming]
I only wanted to shake hands.
What are you doin'?
I'm goin' somewheres.
What do you mean you're going somewheres?
Where are you goin'?
I'm goin' to another city to preach the truth.
Hazel!
Hazel Motes!
Hazel.
[Engine Starts]
[Engine Rattling]
[Engine Stops]
Okay. I want you to fill the car with gas...
I want you to check the oil and the tires and the water.
I'm goin' on a trip.
[Steam Hissing]
- Where you goin'? - To another city.
In this car?
Look.
Nobody with a good car needs to worry about nothin'. You understand?
Yep.
You got two leaks in the radiator.
This here tire will last maybe 20 miles if you go slow.
This car is just beginning its life. A lightning bolt couldn't stop it.
Ain't no use putting water in. It won't hold it.
Well, put it in there just the same.
[Siren Wailing]
I wasn't speedin', was I?
No. You wasn't speedin'.
Well, I was drivin' on the right side of the road.
Yes. You was on the right side of the road.
That's right.
What'd you stop me for then?
I just don't like your face.
Well, I don't like yours either.
- Where is your license? - I don't need a license.
No. I don't reckon you do need one.
Well, I ain't not one if I do.
Look. Would you mind following me down the road just a little ways.
There's a view I want to show you there.
Prettiest view you ever did see.
Follow me.
[Engine Starts]
[Engine Stops]
I think you'd better get out.
You'll see the view better if you were outside.
[Dog Barking in Distance]
[Water Sloshes]
[Water Running]
What you gonna do with that, Mr. Motes?
[Door Closes]
[Screaming] He's done itl
[Screams] He's blinded hisself!
[Screams]
He blinded himselfl. [Sobbing]
[Screams]
He blinded himself! He gone and done it. He blinded himself!
[Sobbing]
[Screams]
[Landlady] Just t-take it easy.
That girl is gone, Mr. Motes, I'm happy to say.
She left right after you did what you did.
Said she hadn't counted on no honest-to- Jesus blind man...
and she run off to catch up with her daddy.
Real trash, Mr. Motes.
I run a orderly house, and that girl was trash if I ever saw it.
Now...
here we are.
Everything is just the same as before.
Tomorrow I'll bring your chair back up.
I'm obliged.
Not at all, Mr. Motes. I want you to be comfortable in my house.
Oh, here. Let me help you get out of these clothes.
Oh, no, no. I can... - I can take off my own clothes.
Uh, I don't need no more help.
Well, all right.
You just call me if you need me.
Welcome back, Mr. Motes.
- [Birds Chirping] - [Bells Chiming]
Why don't you start preaching again, Mr. Motes?
Being blind wouldn't be a hindrance. People like to see a blind preacher.
Could get you one of them seeing dogs.
You and him could get up quite a crowd.
People always pay to see a dog.
Certainly ought to start it again.
Give you something to do.
You haven't done a thing for months but walk.
Why don't you start preaching again?
I can't preach.
Why?
- [Chiming Continues] - I ain't got time.
[Bell Tolling in Distance]
[Object Slides]
[Rattling]
- [Cane Tapping] - [Door Opens]
[Screams]
Mr. Motes.
That wire.
What's that wire around you for?
What you do these things for?
- To pay. - Pay? Pay for what?
Mr. Motes, what do you walk on rocks for?
It don't make any difference what for.
- I- It's not natural. - It's... - It's natural.
Well, it's not normal.
I-It's like one of them gory stories...
that some people have quit doin'.
Like boiling in oil or being a saint or walling up cats.
Th-There's no reason to it. People have quit doin' it.
They... - They ain't quit doin' it...
as long as I'm doin' it.
People have quit doin' it. What do you do it for?
I ain't cl-clean.
I know it.
You got blood on that shirt...
and in the bed.
That ain't the kind of clean.
There's only one kind of clean, Mr. Motes.
You can't see.
I wouldn't be surprised if you wasn't some kind of a...
agent of the pope or...
g- got some connection with somethin' funny.
The way you live, Mr. Motes, is terrible.
You-You might as well be one of them monks.
You might as well live in a... - in a monkery.
It's not good for you, Mr. Motes.
I ain't arguing with you about this.
[Gulps, Shudders]
[Thunderclap]
Hear that wind, Mr. Motes?
It's fortunate for you to have this...
warm place to be and...
somebody to take care of you.
Every blind and sick man isn't so fortunate as to...
have somebody that cares for him.
Let me tell you, Mr. Motes...
few men are as fortunate as you.
But I... - I can't keep climbin' up and down those stairs.
It wears me out.
I've been thinkin' of what we could do about it.
I know you like it here, and you don't want to leave this house...
and you're a sick man and need somebody to take care of you, beside being blind.
So I been thinkin' how we could arrange it so...
you could have a home and somebody to take care of you and...
I wouldn't have to go up and down those stairs.
I've been thinkin, and...
I see only one thing for you and me to do.
Get married.
I- I cannot allow you...
to stay under no other circumstances.
Mr. Motes?
What are you d-dressing for?
You don't want to go out in this weather.
Nobody should be without a place of their own, and...
I'm offering you a home... -
a place here with me...
a place you can always stay, Mr. Motes...
and never worry yourself about.
I got a place for you in my heart, Mr. Motes.
I don't want a thing but to help you...
and if we don't help each other, there's nobody to help us.
[Sobs] Nobody.
The world's a empty place, Mr. Motes.
You got nobody to take care of you but me.
Nobody care if you live or die but me.
No place to be but mine.
Or were you thinking about finding you another rooming house?
Maybe you were thinking about going to some other city.
No. That ain't where I'm goin'.
There ain't no other house.
There ain't no other city.
There's nothin', Mr. Motes.
And time goes forward. It don't go backward.
Unless you take what's offered you...
you'll... - you'll find yourself out in the cold pitch black, and...
just how far you think you'll get?
You needn't return to a place you don't value, Mr. Motes.
The door won't be open to ya.
[Thunder Rumbles in Distance]
I want the police. Get me the police.
Hey. What's that over there?
[Engine Stops]
[Train Whistle Blowing in Distance]
Aren't we looking for one in a blue suit?
Blind and not a blue suit.
[Policeman #2] His suit ain't blue.
[Policeman #1] Yes, it is blue.
[Policeman #2] You think he's dead?
[Policeman #1] Ask him.
[Policeman #2] Hey, you. No, he's not dead. He's movin'.
[Policeman #1] Maybe he's just unconscious.
Uh, is it day or night?
It's day. We've gotta take you back to pay your rent.
I'm... - I'm goin' where I'm goin'.
[Policeman #2] We got to take you back anyway.
Got to pay your rent first... - every bit of it.
[Siren Wailing]
[Siren Stops]
Oh.
- [Policeman #1] Is this your man? - That's him.
We found him down by the railroad trestle.
In here.
I thank you.
[Door Closes]
[Car Doors Open]
Well, Mr. Motes, I see you've come home.
I knew you'd be back, and I've been waitin' for ya.
You can have it any way you like... - upstairs or down...
just however you want it... - and me to wait on you.
If you want to go on somewhere...
we'll both go.
Won't we, Mr. Motes?
Mr. Motes?