This is J.J. Burden, New York City.
[piano playing]
FREDDIE: Cowboy back yet, Solly?
JIM: Well, go, man.
LEACH: I'm hungry.
Like, uh, this is my pad, why shouldn't I eat, huh?
These creeps never eat. Don't they know it's nutritious?
Come on, Ernie, move over.
Ow! My boil!
Dream word, huh?
Narcotics...
Look here, I live comfortable.
I'm no junkie bum.
Just look at my pad; it's clean.
Yeah, it's clean except for these creeps that come here
and call themselves my friends.
My friends, wow.
Like, they come here with a little money, see.
And then they expect me to use my hard-earned connections
to furnish them with heroin, see.
But then when I take just a little for myself,
they cry and they scream, the bastards.
Come on, man!
They just wait here, making me nervous.
Sleeping.
That's all they do is sleep.
[ship horn blows]
JIM: Um, Leach, will you please just say who you are?
LEACH: All right, man.
Me?
I'm Leach.
[knock on door]
Jackie and Larry, man.
What do you say, baby?
JACKIE: is Cowboy here? LEACH: No, man, he's not here.
LARRY: Hey, have they just started jammin'?
LEACH: What do you think, baby, huh?
LARRY: Hey, Jackie.
[indistinct greetings]
LEACH: This is Mike.
MIKE: Cowboy back yet?
LEACH: Ah, come on, man.
Freddie, turn around.
And over here is Sam.
Ah, come on, man, wake up, come on.
You're in the movies, baby.
Sam: Oh.
Uh... Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes.
LEACH: Solly, say something.
All right, don't say something.
And last but not least, Ernest.
[plays fanfare on mouthpiece]
JIM: The light bulb!
LEACH: All right.
You see that light bulb?
Do you realize that light travels
at 186,000 miles per second per second?
Come on, Solly, wake up, baby, I want you to hear this.
SOLLY: I haven't slept since that night I met you,
two years ago.
But for once pretend that I'm asleep, huh?
LEACH: Yeah.
So light travels at 186,000 miles per second per second.
Now, we, the human race,
is constantly being bombarded with light particles.
MAN OUTSIDE: I'm gonna cut you up, you son of a bitch!
[man shouting]
LEACH: And now the question is,
like, why aren't we dead, you know?
I mean, man, at 186,000 miles per second per second,
we should all be annihilated!
But we aren't.
Why?
I'll tell you why.
Dig.
Man is transparent.
You know what I mean, transparent?
And that's why the light flows through them,
and it doesn't hurt me or you.
And now for the interesting part.
Look, if man is transparent,
then how do you account for his shadow?
Okay, man, to tell you the truth
I don't have the whole answer yet.
What do you think about it, Solly?
[Solly yawns]
LEACH: Yeah.
Hey, Freddie?
Pineapple.
Freddie?
Oh, come on, man, wake up!
FREDDIE: Hey, what's happening, Leach?
LEACH: Oh, no...
FREDDIE: Jackie, what tune are we playing, baby?
What tune are we playing? Is Cowboy back yet?
MIKE: Is Cowboy back?
LEACH: No, Cowboy's not back, man.
JACKIE: Man, Cowboy went to cop and got copped.
LEACH: That's good, Jackie, eat it.
JACKIE: Ah, man, no, I can't, man.
LEACH: Thanks a lot, pal.
Come on, Larry, here you go, baby.
Come on, it's good, baby.
LARRY: I'm sick.
SOLLY: I'm hungry, Leach.
[children playing outside]
LEACH: Go on, man, take it all, will you?
SOLLY: Sweet.
LEACH: Come on, take it.
SOLLY: Hey, Ernie?
ERNIE: Yeah.
SOLLY: Ernie, don't you see where you make your mistake?
Ask and you shall receive.
ERNIE: I'm not much for tact. I guess I never will be.
[sirens and bells]
SOLLY: A fire.
Well, Ernie, it's a very rotting black shadow
that seeps through your body.
LEACH: Oww!
Boil!
So you were listening, Solly, eh?
Man, I guess you know now that you're not the only person
who thinks about things like that.
Oh, my neck.
SOLLY: Put some hot water on it.
LEACH: Yeah, I guess I should.
Maybe I ought to shave, too.
ERNIE: Cut your throat.
LEACH: Oh, yeah look.
I've invited a couple of chicks over.
Our boy there thinks it'd be a swell idea
to have a little battle of the sexes.
Oh, man, where do you get your ideas?
Oh, yeah, Solly. SOLLY: What?
LEACH: If anybody knocks on the door,
answer it for me, will you?
I don't feel like getting busted today.
I haven't had dinner yet.
Or my fix.
[urinating]
SAM: Solly, now, I used to think that the people
who walked the streets every day-
the aspirin addict and the vitamin pill addict-
those people are hooked worse than me.
Worse than me, hooked.
SOLLY: They are.
Man, they sure are.
You happen to have a vice that's illegal.
SAM: Yeah, I guess so.
SOLLY: You're fed up with everything for the moment.
And like the rest of us,
you're a little hungry for a little hope.
So you wait and worry.
"Fix of hope."
A fix to forget, to remember, to be happy, to be sad...
to be...
To be.
So we wait for the trustworthy cowboy
to gallop in on a white horse.
Gallant white powder.
SAM: Man, there ain't nothing gallant about heroin!
ERNIE: Why don't you cats stop talking about it?
You know you're a drag, huh?
SAM: Why don't you talk about it, man?
ERNIE: It's tough enough I got a gig tomorrow.
I got to get straight.
What happened to that bastard, anyway?
He could have took all that bread
and burned us, anyway, right?
J.J.: Hold it, Ernie, come on, Ernie, hold it!
[cymbal crash]
JIM: All right, all right!
Oh, I'm sorry, Larry.
Sorry, man.
Uh, uh, uh, I just-
let it run for a while, J.J.,
because this will only take a minute.
All right, now, gentlemen, gentlemen,
let's not get hostile.
Huh, you see?
I mean, the minute I put a camera on you, you change.
Now for instance, Leach, where is he?
Where's Leach?
Leach, would you come out of the toilet, please?
Leach?
ERNIE: What do you want, man?
JIM: That's fine, that's fine.
You see, we haven't been using any lights yet,
because we didn't want you to stiffen up.
[taps on microphone] Testing, testing.
SAM: Testing, testing.
JIM: Ha, thanks.
But that's what you're doing now.
You see, you're stiffening.
Just act naturally.
The stuff that you do every day is just fine.
See, I've told you over and over again,
I'm not interested in making a Hollywood picture.
LEACH: Yeah, that's very nice of you.
JACKIE: ♪ We're going Hollywood! ♪
JIM: Come on, now, will you stop that?
Will you please just, uh, just stop that?
See, I know something about Eisenstein and Flaherty.
LEACH: Go on, drop those names, man.
JIM: Oh, no, man, well, J.J., you better cut,
because this has got to be settled right now.
JACKIE: Hey, J.J., you sure have changed since Harlem, man.
J.J.: So have you, Jackie.
JACKIE: I'm my own man.
Is your name going to be on this film?
JIM: See, I don't want you to be worried
about anything, because...
LEACH: What are you doing, man?
JIM: See, I don't want you to be frightened of anything
because, you see, you know how I...
SAM: It's collapsible, man. [laughter]
JIM: You see, we don't want anything extraordinary, you see.
LEACH: Yeah, good.
JIM: I mean just get up there and say who you are
and how you came to be here.
ERNIE: You really expect us to do that, huh?
You know something, if your cameraman and Jackie
hadn't gone to school together,
we wouldn't even let you come up here.
JIM: Oh, come on, man.
LEACH: Hey, Jim. Come here, man.
You're not giving us that much bread for this movie, see?
I mean, the camera, baby, they're taking pictures of us.
What happens if the fuzz sees, huh, man?
Not doing us any favors, baby.
Just relax and take it easy and take what you get.
JIM: Come on, now, you guys have got me all wrong.
J.J., explain to them.
What are you... what?
What are you doing?
Are you still shooting?
J.J.: You told me to.
[Ernie laughs]
JIM: I told you to stop shooting!
Now, dammit, I'm not gonna put up with this!
I mean, I've given you a real break.
We were going to make a great picture together, right?
Anybody would be ecstatic to work with me on this
and take my direction.
I haven't pushed you around, have I?
Just remember I can always get another cameraman.
[laughter]
All right, all right.
Um, I'm sorry, J.J.,
but this thing was getting out of hand, you see.
Well, I shouldn't take it out on you.
J.J.: Okay, don't worry about it.
JIM: Okay, but just keep me out of it, okay?
J.J.: Check!
SOLLY: You are out of it.
J.J.: Check!
SOLLY: You know, that's right. Get the freaks, but not you.
Some humanitarian.
JIM: Ah, come on, now, what are you worrying about?
Look, I gave Cowboy enough money
to keep you high for a week, right?
I'm giving you what you want, you give me what I want, huh?
[knock on door]
JIM: Who the hell is that now?
SOLLY: It's Harry.
I saw him coming down the alley.
He's got a suitcase.
JIM: Tell him to wait a minute.
LEACH: Wait a minute, Harry.
JIM: You see, all I'm trying to do-
LEACH: I hope he doesn't want to flop here, you know?
SOLLY: Come off it. JIM: I'm just trying to...
LEACH: Come on, man.
JIM: I'm just trying to make a honest, human document.
ERNIE: Oh, yeah, excellent: New York Times.
JIM: Aw...
J.J., would you- No, no, no!
J.J.: Hold it, hold it!
Can't shoot the door from here.
Let me get on the other side of the room.
JIM: Well, all right.
J.J.: Okay, you can go on.
JIM: Wait a minute, wait a minute, man.
Does this cat know we're making a movie?
LEACH: No, man, he hasn't been on the scene
since you've been around.
[Jim snaps fingers]
JIM: All right, we'll use it, huh?
We'll use it!
Okay, let's go to work, everybody,
we haven't got all day.
You can open the door.
[jazz record playing]
[record skipping]
ERNIE: Man, that needle's gonna ruin that record.
JACKIE: I sure wish I could have heard that Bird record.
FREDDIE: Yeah, me, too. I feel like playing.
SOLLY: Give our guest a little background music.
[band starts playing]
LEACH: Come on, man, will you?
SAM: Go away, go away from me, huh?
Come on, I don't like that.
J.J.: Come on, Jim, we're running out of film!
JIM: Just hold it.
Damn thing is falling apart.
I'll set up the other camera for you.
[music concludes]
JACKIE: Man, you know something, you shouldn't do that, man.
We're trying to rehearse these tunes.
FREDDIE: Look, man, If Jim Dunn doesn't pay us off,
let's hock his camera, you dig?
JACKIE: Good idea.
JIM: What is so tough about being photographed?
SOLLY: Mr. Dunn...
You know, I admire your attitude.
So why don't you get in the movie with us?
JIM: All right, take it easy.
J.J., it's all right, just let it roll.
It doesn't do any harm.
Now, gentlemen.
LEACH: Hey, man, you call these peeps gentlemen?
JIM: All right, all right... junkies, huh?
LEACH: Yeah, very funny, very funny.
JIM: You happy?
Look, you junkies don't seem to understand, see,
that when a hand is photographed
it becomes something other than just a hand.
See, it's a matter of cinematic selection.
JACKIE: Hey, man, don't speak Spanish, I don't understand.
JIM: Oh, come on, now, baby, just act natural, huh?
I mean, it's not like you're talking to someone
who doesn't dig you, you know?
I read you cats.
Solly, Solly, come on, baby, where's all your philosophy?
SOLLY: It went up in smoke!
JIM: Come on, Ernie, man, come on now, where's your story?
Your capsule comments.
ERNIE: Where's my... capsules?
[laughter]
SAM: You've been telling us to act natural,
and now we don't even own our own hands.
JIM: Now, look, you cats may know more about junk, see,
but let me swing with this movie, huh?
LEACH: Hey, baby, you want to swing with this movie?
JIM: Yeah.
LEACH: Then swing your ass in back of the camera, will you?
JIM: Listen, I want those chicks that you were going to invite
to show up.
I was even hoping that the big connection
would get wind of this and make it down here.
You know what I mean? The man behind the man.
LEACH: Hey, baby, you want to see the big connection,
the man behind the man?
JIM: Yeah, is he gonna be here?
ERNIE: Sure.
LEACH: No, baby, he will not be here.
Now, look, why don't you just sit down and relax?
Be quiet and relax. Dig.
[Jim laughs]
LEACH: You will not see the man...
the man behind the man, because there is no such man.
JIM: Ah, now, wait a minute, if there's an organization, see,
there's got to be a head.
ERNIE: We don't think it's got a head.
[Leach laughs]
SAM: How many times do I have to tell you?
I'm the man, if you come to me.
You're the man if I go to you.
JIM: I don't understand that.
SAM: Because you're simple.
SOLLY: That's all right, nobody understands that.
Anyone coming to Leach
feels that he's the central actor in his own drama.
An artificial and melodramatic organization,
but that's the set-up.
Surely, it starts in the ground and grows up as a poppy.
But after that it's a mundane game, that is, for me.
Come on, Larry, you don't have to do that, now, baby.
J.J.: Come on, out of the way.
SOLLY: The man is you.
You are the man.
You are your own connection.
It starts and it stops here.
You come here to make a movie,
and now you're getting involved at your own risk.
LEACH: Hey, Solly? SOLLY: Yeah.
LEACH: What do you say when Cowboy gets back
we turn Jim and J.J. on?
SAM: I'm not donating a thing.
LEACH: Nobody's asking you for nothing, man.
SOLLY: Well, don't look at me.
Ask them.
LEACH: What do you say, baby?
JIM: Well, they say one shot and you're hooked, huh?
ERNIE: It's horrible, man.
LEACH: Is that what they say, man?
JIM: J.J., is that camera still rolling?
I mean, film is expensive.
J.J.: You say hooked.
You've been talking about being hooked every day.
Why don't you try something that's not habit-forming like pot?
JIM: What's pot?
J.J.: You know, mari-juana. JIM: Oh.
LEACH: Yeah, mari-juana, yeah.
JIM: Okay, yeah, you got any pot?
LEACH: No, baby, I don't have any mari-juana.
But how quaint of you to ask.
JIM: Well, they say that marijuana
leads to the stronger stuff, huh?
J.J.: For a guy who's making a movie about drugs,
you don't know very much about it.
JIM: Okay, then what do you say we go back to work, huh?
I'll use the handheld camera.
LEACH: Why don't you try a little taste, baby.
SAM: Don't you just want a little bit?
LEACH: Hey, Ernie, we got to turn Jim on, man.
Like he'd be crazy, you know? I got to see that.
ERNIE: Man, I want to turn the other one on-the hip one.
[Leach laughs]
ERNIE: He'd be helpless, at first, that is.
SAM: You certainly are a mean bunch of boys.
LEACH: Just mind your own business, Sam.
Ow, my neck!
Oh.
ERNIE: Solly, can't we, like, make something happen?
You know I'm sick and tired of sitting around and waiting.
[train passes]
SOLLY: Gentlemen, gentlemen.
Do you realize that there isn't a day that-
J.J.: Okay, Jim, I'm going to stop shooting.
SOLLY: Hardly a day goes by
without some item in the daily press
concerning narcotics?
Now, in order to do right
by this little authentic slice of life,
we've gone out and bribed a few natives.
[whispering] Actually I'm the only white man
the natives trust.
LEACH: Cool it, Solly.
He might take his bread back, man.
SOLLY: You have a point there, Leach.
But imagine anyone wanting to use real junkies
just to make a movie.
Wow, believe me, we're not here for the money.
ERNIE: Why don't you just talk to yourself, man?
SOLLY: Come on, it's not that much.
We're waiting.
We've waited before- the connection is coming.
He's always coming.
But, so is education.
For example, the man who will whisper the truth in your ear.
What do you want to hear?
That we're a petty, miserable, self-annihilating microcosm?
That's what you want to hear.
Dope fiends!
Hurry, hurry, hurry, the circus is here!
Suicide is not uncommon among us.
The overdose of heroin
is where that frail line of life and death swings
in a silent breeze of ecstatic summer.
Who else can make so much out of passing out?
But existence on another plane is sought,
whether to alleviate the suffering from this one
or to wish for death.
Doesn't matter.
Ah, I hate oversimplification.
Sam.
Sam is, Sam is simple.
Sam?
Someone?
Come on, say something.
Say something for posterity.
SAM: I ain't much for that sort of stuff, Solly.
SOLLY: Pay your dues.
Pay your dues.
SAM: Okay.
But who's to say?
I mean, who's there to squeeze the ball into his own shape
and tell me this is right?
You know that.
What do you want, Jim Dunn?
A soft shoe dance?
I don't need burnt cork, you know.
[band starts playing]
SAM: Now, Solly, you know Leach.
I remember you slept here.
Leach is a queer without being queer.
LEACH: Come on, man, will you?
SAM: He even thinks like a chick.
You know, sometime I wish he would stop fighting it
and make the homosexual scene.
That's right, it would be a lot easier on all of us,
and he would swing more himself.
But, nah, he's undependable.
Just like a woman.
Cowboy treats him like a woman and everything is fine,
but I can't do it.
I just look at him!
I can't do it.
Solly. Now there's a cat that's hard to figure.
Educated?
Shit, he knows an awful lot.
But yet he's here waiting for the same stuff I am,
and he ain't rich.
He only gets high when he's happy.
Most cats get high when they're down.
Not him.
I can never figure that out.
You know, I see him in my mind as dancing on the street.
You know, dancing through the people.
Yelling, sometime whispering in people's ear.
Always with his book.
And he watches everything.
Like I was playing with this hoop here,
and he comes talking about the Roman symbol of death
or some crap like that.
[laughs]
He cracks me up!
But I like him, though. Stand-up cat.
Ernie, you don't want much.
Your horn, a little dope.
I don't trust you.
ERNIE: Well, the same, Sam!
LEACH: Come on, Ernie.
Your confession is next, man.
SAM: You know, as long as Ernie is straight with me,
I'm with him.
You see, I hold back, but he has no willpower
when it comes to not having anything to get high with.
Hey, Jackie, you got any beer?
JACKIE: No, man.
LEACH: My boil is killing me.
I'm going to put some hot water on it.
SAM: Yeah, you do that little thing now.
You know, they got a saying in this word:
"It isn't the shit that will do you in,
it's the lack of it."
Now, I steal.
But I only steal from people I don't like.
You see, I wouldn't take a matchstick
from a friend of mine.
Look, Mr. Dunn.
Mr. Dunn.
I like telling stories best.
But, well, right now I'm kind of sick.
I mean, you can understand.
You've seen a lot of movies of fellas like me.
It's torturous.
Look, I could use five more bucks.
Only until I get paid.
I'm supposed to see this fella about a job next week.
Solly introduced me. Hey, didn't you, Solly?
Well, anyhow, I'm going to be rolling in the bread then.
But now I'm sort of down.
I got some powerful stories in me
when that shit is flowing through my vein.
So, how about it, huh, Mr. Dunn?
JIM: Not now, Sam, I'm busy.
See me later.
SAM: Oh. Yeah, okay.
Well, I'm going to go and lay down a while, I guess.
[music continues]
[footsteps]
[band stops playing]
JACKIE: It's cool, man.
SOLLY: Want a drag, Ernie?
ERNIE: Not me.
SOLLY: What's the matter, Ernie?
ERNIE: I don't want to say.
SOLLY: Ernie, I know you, baby.
ERNIE: Did you hear what he said?
SOLLY: I'm in this gig, too. Nothing's going to happen.
Why don't you just take it easy? Look, you want to cop out?
ERNIE: All right, uh, all right, listen, Sam.
Sam.
Well, Sam is right about me, in his own way.
I mean, like...
like, I only care to play.
A little dope makes life enjoyable.
Well, I play the same with or without it, that's the truth.
And no jive mother is gonna change me, either, man.
Yeah, well, I've had to hock my horn.
Do you know what that feels like?
Well, that's where the horn is now, in a pawn shop,
I got a job tomorrow, no horn.
Maybe somebody will borrow me theirs.
I don't know, I guess...
Let's see, I guess you could say I'm lonely.
Well, not for you or anybody on this scene.
Listen, I know these people.
I've known them for a long time, too long.
Hey, Jackie?
JACKIE: What?
ERNIE: Why don't you let me use your horn tonight.
JACKIE: Man, why don't you dig yourself.
ERNIE: You see what I mean?
JACKIE: Everybody's looking at you.
ERNIE: Well, Sam...
Sam isn't too bad, you know?
I mean, like... he could have told
some really rotten bits that people tell about me.
Yeah, thanks.
Listen, these people say I threw a kid out the window once
after I took an overdose.
Don't believe it.
Hey, man, J.J.
J.J.: Hey! What are you doing?
ERNIE: Make a speech. Help me with this thing.
J.J.: Like this is your life.
Like.
ERNIE: You're a very funny cat.
Leach, Leach...
Leach is an orphan.
Yeah, the poor kid, huh?
You know, he always pretends to be so hip.
But you know what his real story is,
he's nothing but a petty, conniving businessman.
How about that, Leach?
Yeah, well, get this straight anyway.
You know, like me, I admit when I've sinned.
And that's more than you get from most.
LEACH: Come off it.
ERNIE: Oh, yeah, you know, Leach?
You know, sexually speaking...
Sexually speaking, Leach,
Leach can't be with a girl for more than one night.
What he likes is the courtship and the playing up
and the making out, not it itself.
You don't like hearing the truth, do you, Leach?
Yeah, and he uses junk that way, too.
Leach doesn't enjoy junk, ever.
I'm suspicious of people who never enjoy getting high, man.
What he likes is the excitement of getting it.
SAM: Oh, come off it, man.
ERNIE: Uh, yeah,
well, Solly, uh...
Solly and Sam are very much alike.
I mean, they're really different people.
Like Solly can read Greek and Hebrew,
and I don't think Sam can read English.
But they are alike.
They both swing with being high,
and as for Solly, Solly was born hip.
You know, he don't even act like a junkie,
God knows what he's doing on this scene.
Sam...
Sam is going to be around a junkie,
and junkies the rest of his life,
he don't have no choice.
I really don't feel that way about Solly, though,
but they're alike.
They both dig music, in the same way.
They dig music, they have a kind of emotional digging, you dig?
[Jackie playing saxophone]
ERNIE: Which brings us to finding out the Cowboy.
Yeah.
Where is he, huh?
The Cowboy, what can you say about him?
He's a good businessman, I mean, uh, he's a good businessman.
Sure.
These cats say...
These cats call him a sweetheart,
I mean, they say, like, he's noted for his honesty.
Personally I hope he gets back here soon.
Because chances are that he is the one cat that won't run out.
The thing to remember about the Cowboy
is that with him...
with him, it's like it's good business.
Not a kind heart.
And Cowboy used to play alto like me.
JACKIE: Ah, man.
ERNIE: I mean, I still play alto, but he used to.
I don't have a horn anymore.
You know, I've got the horrors, what are you trying to say.
Solly.
Listen, I don't trust any one of these bastards anyways,
you know that?
All right, listen.
I've tied everything up in nice small packages for you.
Why did you all go out and mouth?
And tell everybody, like "Ernie really knows,
he really ripped things apart."
I was shit.
Because I don't trust one son of bitch here in this pad.
Why did you want to come here in the first place,
you know you're stupid?
You want to see somebody suffer,
like you want to make a movie, you want to laugh at me.
You don't want to know me.
These people-Sam don't care about me or my music.
He's for number one: himself.
Solly wouldn't even be on the scene.
Solly's going to be so proud of himself
that he would never have to listen
to all the rotten stories being told about him,
by thieves and misfits.
Cowboy wants to screw me, it's his business to screw me.
Leach... Leach wants me begging.
He wants my guts out.
What am I supposed to do?
[mumbling]
All right, listen... listen, my father...
You know, my father made me work on his farm,
every day until I was 17.
And he never paid me a dime.
Like all I ever got was like a slap in the face.
Thanks, Solly, I can't cut this shit.
What am I supposed to do?
I'm supposed to get high before this happens.
SOLLY: Come on, take it easy.
ERNIE: Jim, come here, man.
Listen, I want my bread now. I done it already.
Bullshit, I talked for 20 minutes, man!
You're looking at me, you're laughing at me,
you son of a bitch!
I'll kill you!
He's leaving, Solly, we'll never get-
That's what the confession was for.
Listen, man, they make movies, what am I supposed to...
[muttering]
[band continues playing]
You guys got a match?
[music continues]
JACKIE: Freddie, let's split, man.
I don't want to get hung on a hanger.
He probably got copped.
FREDDIE: Look, man, let's stick around,
Cowboy's got to show up.
JACKIE: Is Leach still in here?
Man, how about giving somebody else a break?
LEACH: All right, man.
Turn the light out when you leave, will you?
JACKIE: Yeah, yeah.
[urinating]
LEACH: Okay.
Who threw that match on my floor, huh?
What do you creeps think I'm running here anyhow,
a hotel for slobs?
I feed you, I even give you my clothes.
And what do you do?
Look at this place, it's a pigsty!
It's a pigsty!
What else can I expect from you pigs anyhow?
My neck!
Solly?
Solly, what do you think I ought to do?
Ernie?
Ernie, be a good boy and take a look at this for me, will you?
What do you think I ought to do, baby?
Easy!
ERNIE: Ah, poor Leachy, that looks bad.
LEACH: Yeah?
ERNIE: Yeah, I'd see a doctor. Does that hurt?
LEACH: Yeah!
ERNIE: You know something? I threw the match on the floor.
LEACH: Let go! ERNIE: I want my money back.
LEACH: Ow!
Oh, man!
SOLLY: Now what did you do that for?
ERNIE: He did it himself.
LEACH: All right, all right.
SAM: Lay him down.
Just lay down.
LEACH: You squeeze it, Fred.
JACKIE: I'm going to squeeze it.
SAM: Yeah, you squeeze it. I'll get a towel.
J.J.: What are you fellas doing here?
SOLLY: All right, all right, come on.
J.J.: You think your doctors ought to wash their hands?
SOLLY: Go back to your peephole, go ahead.
LEACH: Easy!
Ow!
JACKIE: This is disgusting stuff coming out of here.
SOLLY: Don't throw it around.
FREDDIE: Out of him it may be anything.
LEACH: Come on, that's enough, man.
Eek!
SAM: Squeeze it hard. FREDDIE: It's wide open.
LEACH: Ow! JACKIE: One more time now.
LEACH: No, man, that's enough!
SAM: Oh, man, that looks bad.
JACKIE: This cat is corroded, man.
SOLLY: Go wash up, Jackie, come on.
LARRY: Solly, when it pops, what is that?
SOLLY: I don't know, baby,
it's in the blood, it's internal.
Imagine if it's spiked.
SAM: Well, it couldn't happen to a nicer fella.
So, look.
LEACH: Ernie...
Ernie, I'm a man of principle.
I want you to pick up that match
or whatever else you threw on my floor
or cut out of here.
ERNIE: Listen, you know, I'm a musician, man.
I blow my horn, I'm no goddamn housekeeper,
not for you or anybody.
LEACH: Well, you better just get out of here.
ERNIE: I'm waiting on the Cowboy, you know that!
I got my money in his pocket.
I'm not leaving until I get my fix.
LEACH: Yeah?
Now, look, man, how many times
have I turned you on for nothing?
ERNIE: Ah, yeah.
LEACH: How many times did I let you flop here,
did I ever throw you out in the cold?
You're selfish, you're ungrateful, and don't forget it, man.
Now, come on, get out of here.
ERNIE: I'm just going to vomit.
Why don't you get my money back and I'll leave.
LEACH: Look, buster, I haven't got any money.
Besides, you didn't give me any money.
ERNIE: You've got enough on you, though.
You've always got enough on you, you miserly bastard.
And whatever happened to the dollar caps
you used to push, anyway?
The three-dollar bags? That was good shit, too.
LEACH: Now, look here, buster,
you've been living in another time, you know.
That was years ago, huh, Mike?
Now don't go on blaming me for what it cost.
ERNIE: Who else is there to blame?
As far as I'm concerned, you ain't nothing but a creep
who's playing the small businessman.
LEACH: All right, come on, get out of here, man!
ERNIE: Why don't you give me my money?
LEACH: Now, look, man, what do you keep on pretending
that you're a musician for, huh?
What do you keep on carrying that stupid mouthpiece for, man?
You're never going to use it no more, you can't play anymore.
You've got to practice, now get out of here!
Come on!
ERNIE: What am I supposed to do, drop my pants and bend over?
I'm waiting on the Cowboy. I'm not leaving until he gets back.
LEACH: Get out! SAM: Fellas! Fellas!
LEACH: What did you do, man?
[horn honking, man shouting outside]
SOLLY: I hate petty arguments.
Besides, Cowboy's coming.
LEACH: What do you mean?
SOLLY: Cowboy's coming!
LEACH: Who's that he's got with him?
I can't make it out, Solly, what is it?
Somebody in uniform. It's the fuzz!
SOLLY: Some kind of Salvation sister.
LEACH: You don't think he's going to bring her
up here, do you?
JIM: How far away is Cowboy?
SOLLY: He's here. JIM: Huh?
SOLLY: He's here, he just came in.
JIM: This is it, what we've been waiting for.
J.J.: You going to turn on, too?
JIM: [laughs] That would be interesting.
No.
No, of course not.
SOLLY: About time you got here.
LEACH: Where you been, baby?
We've been waiting all day for you, man.
SAM: Hey, Where's Leonard, man?
JACKIE: All right, man, let him up.
J.J.: Hold it.
Camera's jammed.
JIM: Okay, J.J., I'm shooting now.
JACKIE: Cool, just cool, wait for your turn, man,
you know I'm first, man.
You know I'm first.
SAM: I know you're first.
LEACH: Ma'am.
Sister, uh...
why don't you sit down over there, baby?
SISTER: I'm waiting for Brother Cowboy.
LEACH: Okay, sister.
[band starts playing]
JIM: J.J., get her out of the way and keep her quiet.
Get these bathroom shots.
J.J.: Sister Salvation?
I'm J.J. Burden,
I'm going to tell you what it is we're doing here.
We're making some home movies, you see?
That's Mr. Dunn over there.
Right, right, right.
Come over and meet some of the boys.
SISTER: Thank you.
J.J.: This is Freddie, playing the piano here.
And there's Mike, over there on the bass.
That's Larry, Sam.
Why don't you sit over here right next to Solly?
Have a seat.
Comfortable there?
SISTER: Very, thank you.
J.J.: Tell me, where did you meet Brother Cowboy?
SISTER: He asked me up to the apartment for a cup of tea.
J.J.: Yes, to meet all his friends.
How do you like this place?
SISTER: Very much. Very much.
J.J.: Isn't it pleasant, isn't it pleasant?
SISTER: Very pretty.
J.J.: And did Brother Cowboy join you
in one of the street corner services?
SISTER: Yes.
JIM: Hey, J.J.
J.J.: Well, I've got to go. Bye-bye.
[music continues]
JIM: Hey, J.J., follow them as they come out
and I'll stick with the bathroom.
J.J.: Check.
[music concludes]
COWBOY: Sam.
SAM: Coming right now!
SISTER: Shh!
One can say things in a tiny voice as well as a big one.
COWBOY: Thank you, Sister Salvation.
You're a great help to all of us.
SISTER: Thank you, Brother Cowboy.
Brother Cowboy, is there a bathroom?
COWBOY: Yes, ma'am,
but Sam hasn't had a bath in a long time.
I thought I'd help him wash away those sins of his,
you understand?
SISTER: Surely, Brother Cowboy, surely.
You look very pale, son.
Is something the matter?
Are you hungry, son?
ERNIE: Why don't you leave me alone?
I'm in no mood for conversation.
SISTER: The soul, my dear child.
The soul, I'm sure of it.
ERNIE: Listen, Sister, you know you've invited yourself
to a den of vipers?
There will be enough sinners crossing your path today.
Leave me alone.
COWBOY: You understand this.
Brother Rat...
Brother Eel...
Brother Sun.
Now, yes, Sister.
I'm going to sit you down.
You're welcome, Sister.
Now, Leonard the Locomotive and I
met this fine woman not too far from my house.
You know where the central police station is.
Well, not far from there.
Alone.
A single voice in the wilderness.
Under a flag symbolizing the American freedom
of speech and religion.
I stopped...
to hear the word of the Lord.
SISTER: Amen.
COWBOY: Amen, Sister, amen.
SISTER: Amen.
COWBOY: A few gentlemen we all know
began a conversation with me.
And they asked the all-important questions.
Where were you, what have you been doing?
And how was the rodeo and horse tricks?
Leonard the Locomotive succeeded in attracting some attention
with his famous locomotive yell.
And this worker of the Lord.
SISTER: Amen!
COWBOY: Amen, Sister.
This good worker and I engaged
in the most enlightening discussion.
We took a quiet walk here,
and then, men, I invited her up for a little tea.
LEACH: Orange Pekoe.
SOLLY: Come off.
LEACH: Shut up, will you, man?
COWBOY: Now, possibly she, Leonard the Locomotive
and the power of the Lord saved us all.
For the moment, that is.
SISTER: Amen, devout Brother Cowboy!
COWBOY: Amen, Sister Salvation!
Now excuse me a moment.
SOLLY: Uh, Sister Salvation?
Why don't you make yourself comfortable?
Sister Salvation,
just when did your record of saving souls start?
LEACH: Cool it, Solly.
SOLLY: Have a little faith in the Lord, friend.
SISTER: Brother, I began in the service of the Lord
14 years ago.
But I've only been active for the past 7.
If you could see the hundreds of faces lined up
when one holds out a helping hand,
it would warm your heart.
Do you know Harry McNulty?
LEACH: Baby, we don't know anyone.
COWBOY: Solly, you're next!
SISTER: Something strange going on here.
SAM: Save yourself, you sinners!
Brother Cowboy has a potent medicine.
Brewed from the rarest, finest witch doctor white flower
that ever grew, shit!
SISTER: Ooh!
LEACH: Come on, man. [laughter]
SAM: Oh, excuse me, Sister Salvation.
COWBOY: Wow, man.
Leach, why don't you make Sister Salvation
a nice cup of tea while you're waiting?
LEACH: I'm waiting to get on, man, I'm sick.
SOLLY: I don't take long.
You start the tea, I'll finish it.
LEACH: Yeah, sure, man, hurry up, will you?
COWBOY: He'll make it for you, Sister.
LEACH: Why don't you make the tea, man?
[Ernie playing mouthpiece]
Come on, man.
Come on, Ernie, will you, man?
SISTER: ♪ There is a fountain filled with blood ♪
♪ Drawn from Emmanuel's veins ♪
♪ And sinners plunged beneath that flood ♪
♪ Lose all their guilty stains ♪
SISTER: Oh, but you boys are too high for me.
SAM: You too, Brother Eel, shall be saved by Brother Cow
in just one...
You see before your very eyes Brother Sol.
How you feeling, Brother Sol?
SOLLY: You weren't kidding, Sam. That sure is powerful medicine.
SAM: Mm-hmm.
SISTER: Brother Cowboy, have you finished in the bathroom?
COWBOY: Well, there's just Brother Leach, ma'am.
LEACH: Excuse me, Sister.
COWBOY: And then our little baptism will be all over.
SISTER: All right, Brother Cowboy,
you just keep working.
COWBOY: Thank you, ma'am.
Come on.
SISTER: Where do you-
Where do you come from, son?
ERNIE: Uh, yeah.
SISTER: Are you all right?
ERNIE: Oh, yeah, baby, sure, I'm all right.
Where do I come from?
See, I can remember.
SISTER: Yes, where do you come from?
ERNIE: Huh? California.
SISTER: Oh, that's marvelous.
ERNIE: What's so marvelous about that?
SISTER: No, it's so clean and healthy there.
The trees and everything are so green.
ERNIE: Oh, that's ridiculous.
All right, it's green.
I want to sleep... a while.
All right, that chick is too much.
COWBOY: Poor boy hasn't slept in days, Sister.
SISTER: Perhaps we should leave him alone, Cowboy.
He looks like a good prospect to save.
COWBOY: Why don't you go in the kitchen
and get yourself a nice cup of tea?
SISTER: Oh, I'd like that, Cowboy, thank you.
LEACH: Cowboy?
I'm not high, man, I don't feel a thing, baby,
I really don't feel a thing.
SAM: Well, if you don't feel a thing, man,
you're higher than the rest of us.
LEACH: How much did you give Ernie, man?
He's zonked out, and I don't feel a thing!
COWBOY: Ah, cool it, man.
I gave him the same as you,
you just got a higher tolerance, you dig?
LEACH: Nothing's happening, man.
COWBOY: Hey, Mr. Dunn.
You never made it, huh?
Why don't you see what it's all about: jazz.
Eh, Mr. Dunn?
LEACH: You're like, uh, baby,
you're supposed to know all about it.
I mean, I mean don't be afraid, man.
This is just your movie, it's not real.
I mean, really real.
COWBOY: Ha.
JIM: I just...
I just don't know.
COWBOY: Don't know about what?
JIM: About...
about drugs.
LEACH: What about you, baby?
J.J.: No, I know all about that scene.
LEACH: Yeah.
JIM: There is something dirty
about just peeking into people's lives.
Huh!
SAM: You don't have to make up your mind right now.
JIM: What, will you stop just...
looking at me.
[Ernie laughs]
LEACH: Hey, I want to watch.
COWBOY: Stay, Leach.
SISTER: Do you know Harry McNulty?
SOLLY: There are some questions I can't answer.
That's one of them.
SISTER: He's got a bald head, and he doesn't eat well.
SOLLY: What makes you think I would know him?
SISTER: Oh, Harry loves jazz music.
[Freddie bangs piano] I was sure he'd be here.
I guess I was mistaken, God willing, that is.
[thud]
SAM: Oh, man, Jackie.
JACKIE: Sam, why you playing around?
Don't push me over like that.
Don't do that no more, man.
SAM: Yeah, okay.
[bell tolling outside]
Speaking of religion...
That remind me of one that happened not so long ago.
Hey, Larry?
LARRY: Hmm?
SAM: You remember Abdul, the drummer?
LARRY: Yeah, he played the drums?
Yeah.
SAM: Abdul is from Harlem.
He recently had taken up the Muslim faith.
A religious man, if there ever was one.
[Solly snaps]
SOLLY: Hey, what's happening, Sam, where's your story, baby?
SAM: Huh?
SOLLY: Come on.
SAM: Hey, yeah.
Hey...
[thump]
Hey, dig Mr. Dunn.
SOLLY: Welcome back, Jim.
COWBOY: Sister Salvation, the bathroom is all yours.
SISTER: Thank you, Brother Cowboy.
COWBOY: Man, what have you been doing to that woman?
JIM: What... have you... been doing?
COWBOY: I don't want her to leave here
with a suspicious thought in her head!
LEACH: Look, Cowboy,
you shouldn't have brought her here, baby.
COWBOY: Man, don't you tell me what to do.
LEACH: It's my pad, man.
JIM: It's his pad, man.
Huh?
LEACH: Hey, Jim.
JIM: Huh?
LEACH: What's happening, man?
JIM: Don't be a drag, man.
[laughter]
LEACH: Yeah.
[Jim retching]
He's sick! Come on, man, in the john!
Come on, get in there!
SISTER: They are heathens!
[Jim vomiting]
SISTER: Drink! That's what you've been doing in there.
COWBOY: What do you mean, Sister Salvation?
SISTER: What do you mean, Brother Cowboy?
There are at least 10 bottles of wine in that bathroom,
all of them empty.
Oh, Lord, before my very own eyes,
I've been deceived.
JACKIE: Hey, J, what about that party?
J.J.: Come on, Jackie, out of the way!
SISTER: Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging,
whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
SOLLY: A false balance
is an abomination to the Lord,
but a just weight is His delight.
SAM: I swing, baby.
SISTER: Be not among winebibbers,
for the drunken and the glutton shall come to poverty.
Who hath woe?
Who hath sorrow?
They that tarry long at the wine.
They that go to seek out the mixed wine.
At last it biteth like a serpent
and stingeth like an adder.
SOLLY: Who hath invented that uniform?
SISTER: What?
SOLLY: Ah, come on, baby, who invented
that very pretty little uniform you're wearing.
SISTER: No, I don't-
That has nothing to do with what we were talking about.
You can't get out of this that easily.
You'll pay for this.
SOLLY: Foggy day... in London, London, London...
[music playing]
[snaps]
The War Congress.
1878... winter.
The flock is assembling.
Coming back to you now, Sister Salvation.
Elijah Cadman stood up and said,
"We need a military-type uniform.
"War to the teeth...
"and salvation to the word!"
SISTER: I made this uniform myself.
[laughter]
SOLLY: The rest shall be according to climate.
And all-embracing salvation.
SISTER: But I'm not one of the Salvation Army.
SOLLY: Don't surrender now.
Or do.
It was just, just, just, just, just one of those things.
SISTER: This is always happening to me.
[laughter]
Where are they? I don't understand.
SOLLY: No more war.
You better leave
while the spirit of brotherhood prevails.
SISTER: I don't want to leave.
I know I'm a burden, Cowboy.
I...
I went to see about my funeral.
The man at Morgan's Funeral Parlor said
it would cost 300 dollars to open and close the grave.
85 dollars for the headstone.
I'm getting old, Cowboy.
My eyes... my eyes are going.
I've been in the hospital, and I...
I don't want to leave, Cowboy.
SOLLY: Cowboy.
Go ahead, Sister Salvation.
Before we tell you who Harry McNulty is.
SISTER: You are not alone.
You are not alone.
[band stops playing]
You are not alone.
LEACH: That's a bring-down, huh, baby?
Come on, Freddie.
Why don't you blow something, baby?
FREDDIE: Stay on it.
JACKIE: How about me?
[band playing]
[music concludes]
JIM: Hey, J.J.
What you been doing, man?
J.J.: Don't you want me to go on?
JIM: Yeah.
Yeah, I guess so.
I think you need more light, man.
J.J.: I could finish it.
JIM: No.
I don't feel nothing.
I, uh...
I shoot, too.
Where's my camera, man?
[laughs]
Where's my camera, man? Crazy.
LEACH: Keep your shirt on.
Cowboy, I'm not high, man.
COWBOY: Ah, take it easy, man.
Why don't you relax?
Enjoy it, baby.
LEACH: But I didn't get a flash, man.
COWBOY: Leach, it's 10 years since I got a flash.
Relax, man.
LEACH: Yeah, relax, that's all I got to do, man.
COWBOY: Take a look at a book, or something.
LEACH: Yeah.
[Ernie playing mouthpiece]
Come on, man, will you?
COWBOY: Nah, not while I'm here.
No, man, no, no, no.
ERNIE: I just put the kettle on, Cowboy.
COWBOY: Practice in your bathroom, will you?
ERNIE: Yeah, right.
COWBOY: Hey, Solly.
SOLLY: Yeah?
COWBOY: What happened to your White Sox today, man?
SOLLY: They made it, baby,
they're going to cop, man, you know that.
COWBOY: Yeah.
LEACH: Why, you bastards.
You square, daytime bastards.
You know baseball ain't hip.
SAM: What?
Well, I ain't hip.
You call it hip spending half of your time in jail?
LEACH: I haven't spent any time, man.
SAM: Good luck, you hear?
COWBOY: Well, you sure better expect it!
Besides, what's wrong
with a daytime scene of being square?
Man, I got nothing against it.
They got lousy squares, and they got lousy hipsters.
Personally, I couldn't make a daytime work scene.
I like my hours the way they are,
but that don't make me no better, man.
Nah.
LEACH: You know what I'd do if I had a daytime job, Cowboy?
COWBOY: What would you do, man?
LEACH: I'd work about six months,
just to establish credit, you dig?
And then I'd go out and get me
every type of charge card that there is.
Food, liquor, travel.
You know, man?
I could fly all over this word, baby, and what could they do?
Throw me in debtor's prison or something?
No, man.
Like, we're living in the United States of America, baby.
We're free here.
COWBOY: Oh, Leach, what movies you been seeing, huh?
LEACH: It's possible, man, it's possible.
COWBOY: Sounds like a lot of work, man.
An awful lot of work.
Besides, where could you work for six months, huh?
At what?
LEACH: Come on, man, I have some good gigs going for me.
COWBOY: Huh?
♪ I'm dreaming of a White Christmas ♪
♪ Just like the ones I used to know ♪
Ha ha, yeah.
Do you know we're living in a white society?
The man!
Now, have you ever seen black snow?
SAM: Snow?
[cup shatters]
Who said snow?
We gonna get high again, man?
LARRY: Sit down, man, sit down, sit down.
SOLLY: I've seen brown heroin from Mexico.
COWBOY: That's Mexico, baby, that's Mexico.
JIM: Ah, wait a minute, wait a minute!
Is this all there is to it?
Just sitting around and making jokes?
Why don't somebody do something?
COWBOY: You don't expect to learn everything in one day,
do you, man?
LEACH: Cowboy, I'm not high, man.
I really don't feel a thing, nothing, man.
COWBOY: Give it time, man.
Go in the kitchen and get something to eat, Leach.
SAM: Say, say, I got one!
Hey, this should be worth five dollars, Jimmy Dunn.
Listen, about three or four years ago...
Are you comfortable?
JIM: Go, man, swing with me.
SAM: Yeah, yeah.
Well, anyhow, me-
You remember when me and Cowboy and Leach
had this pad down near the waterfront?
JIM: Sam.
SAM: Yeah.
Well, last I remember when it first began, it-
Hey, you're interrupting my story, man.
JIM: I'm sorry, man.
Go.
SAM: Yeah.
Well, anyhow, it was-
What the hell was I going to say then?
Hey, you know something, Cowboy?
This is some powerful shit you got here.
Ooo-wee!
I'll tell you, it's talking.
Oh, I know.
Cowboy cooked that night. That's right.
Some collard greens and ham hock, you hear me?
JACKIE: Yes, yes! Yes, yes!
SAM: Collard greens and ham hock!
JACKIE: Man, stop it, man, stop it.
JIM: Sam, stand still.
SAM: Yeah.
The phone rings.
It's some chick that don't exactly knock Leach out,
but he makes a date
and tells us that he would be back at 11 o'clock sharp.
JIM: Come on, man, that's not what I meant.
SAM: Yeah, well, he leaves.
Cowboy pulls out some marijuana.
We get high and have a couple of laughs about Leach.
Well, I started sleeping.
JIM: So am I, man, I mean, there is nothing happening visually!
SAM: Visually?
Huh, visually.
Visually?
Huh?
Yeah, well, anyhow, wham!
The door was busted down
and two guys with guns are standing over Cowboy and me.
They throws us against the wall,
and a couple of whacks on the head and all that.
[sirens]
Ha!
Yeah, well, a funny thing happened.
Now they could have thrown us under the jail
for those long snakes of old needle marks.
But no, it seems they find out that Leach rented the apartment,
and they wanted him.
Well, Cowboy told them that we were supposed to meet Leach
in this bar, not too far.
[footsteps]
Well, it's nearing 11 o'clock.
They fall for it.
We leave, we're walking up the block,
arm in arm, of course.
When here comes Leach, straight towards us,
and he's got this chick with him.
Well, Cowboy drops his cigarette,
bend down to pick it up,
the cops step back to watch him, and I started coughing.
Leach gets the idea and kicked this chick
who's about to scream out "hello" to us.
Heh, they walk right on by.
You know, we didn't see Leach for two years.
Well, we go into this candlelit bar,
and Cowboy looks around very carefully.
The cops rushes him.
So Cowboy gets mad and picks out
a rather well-tailored-looking kid.
Bang!
[cymbal crash]
[sirens]
JIM: Oh, no, I mean, come on, man,
I just give up, this is impossible.
SAM: Well, they collared him
and takes him to the station with us.
That kid screamed all the way down to that station.
They had to put him in the observation room.
They let us go.
You know, I don't think they ever let that poor kid go.
JIM: Hey, Sam?
Did you ever think about becoming an actor?
COWBOY: You think we're acting, man?
JIM: No.
No, I don't.
But I've noticed that you cats
don't seem to like having the camera on you.
And I thought maybe you'd just take a little while,
you'd get used to it.
I guess nobody ever really gets used to it.
[Ernie plays Looney Tunes theme on mouthpiece]
LEACH: Come on, man.
COWBOY: I feel great, how about you, man?
ERNIE: Th-th-that's all.
COWBOY: Solid.
JIM: Man, I don't know.
I just don't know what happened to me.
[laughs]
You know something, Cowboy?
I was gonna make you the hero of this film.
Yeah, I was.
You see, when you make a film, you're supposed to have a hero.
But maybe it's still not too late.
J.J., what do you say, man,
what do you say we get some shots of Cowboy, huh?
I mean, I turned you on for something, didn't I?
Yeah, yeah, come on, J.J.,
let's get some shots of this hero here, Cowboy!
J.J.: You're in no shape to do anything.
JIM: Never mind that!
I'm the boss!
Go on... like, like say something.
COWBOY: It's too much risk!
To go out and score every night.
I mean, man, I'm followed every night!
And I have to scheme a way to get back here.
I'm tired!
Man, I've been moving my whole life.
Now, is that what you wanted, Jim?
Nothing more to say!
I'm sick of the sight of you fake beboppers!
Get out of here!
I'm sick of the sight of you, too!
Worrying about your precious camera!
Expect to learn anything about anything
by flirting with people, huh?
Man, what do you think we do, live in a freak show?
Now you be the hero!
Relax, baby.
Nobody's gonna run out on you, man.
Just high, man.
You're just high.
LEACH: I'm not high, Cowboy.
ERNIE: Oh, what?
LEACH: I'm not high at all, you know what I mean?
Look here, Cowboy.
Man, you got some left, and I want some more.
Like I mean, strictly speaking, it's mine, and I want more!
Everybody's high and I'm not!
You gave them more than you gave me.
COWBOY: Now why should I cheat you, Leach?
LEACH: I'm not high, Cowboy.
COWBOY: You are high.
That shit's in your system!
LEACH: I want more!
COWBOY: All right.
It's your life.
JACKIE: Hey, Freddie?
What was that tune you were playing yesterday, man?
Let's try it.
FREDDIE: I got the ivies, baby.
MIKE: I got the intro.
JACKIE: Okay, solid.
[starts playing]
[snapping]
[music abruptly ends]
COWBOY: That bitch. My last spike, Jackie.
JACKIE: I'll see if there's some salt, man,
give him a salt shot.
COWBOY: You can't, baby, that was my last spike.
Sam, come over.
SOLLY: Watch out, baby, watch out.
JACKIE: Hey, Cowboy, I'm cutting out, man.
COWBOY: Yeah, all right.
FREDDIE: See you tomorrow, Cowboy.
COWBOY: All right, Fred.
SOLLY: You think we can walk him, Sam?
SAM: Nah, this guy is snoring.
COWBOY: Sam, put him on the couch.
All right, Michael.
SAM: Take the chair. I got him.
LARRY: Cowboy, baby, I'm going to see you tomorrow.
COWBOY: Yeah, all right, Larry.
LARRY: Take care of yourself.
JACKIE: Hey, look, Cowboy, what can I do to help out?
Anything, man?
COWBOY: I got it, baby. Go on, Jackie.
JACKIE: I'll see you tomorrow, then, yeah?
COWBOY: All right.
JACKIE: Take it easy, brother.
ERNIE: Jackie.
Man, you know that's a drag.
It's like a bring-down, man, I don't dig this at all.
Yeah, well, listen I got a gig I got to make anyway,
I got to get uptown, get a horn, get my...
All right, listen, I got to make it anyway.
I got a meet.
I'll see you cats later on in the week.
I hope nothing happens with him.
I got to make it, I'll see you later.
SAM: Chicken shit bastard.
SOLLY: How is he?
COWBOY: Not too good.
SOLLY: Should I get a doctor?
COWBOY: No, not yet.
No use all of us getting in trouble.
SAM: That bastard Ernie turns my guts.
I remember when he threw a kid out the window
after taking an overdose,
without even looking to see whether he was dead or not.
SOLLY: We never found out for sure, Sam.
SAM: Well, I always believe he did it.
[Leach groaning]
COWBOY: Yeah, that's it.
Come on, now.
Yeah, come on, baby.
Come on, baby.
Atta baby, come on, now.
Atta baby, come on.
[Leach moans]
COWBOY: Yeah, come on.
LEACH: Three... eight... four.
Three eight four!
My number's up, I can see it!
Ahhh!
My God, they're coming!
Hide!
Please don't let them get me.
SOLLY: Don't worry, Sam, he'll probably live.
LEACH: Don't let them get me.
SOLLY: Whatever that means.
SAM: Hey, Solly?
When did they make heroin illegal?
SOLLY: 1928.
SAM: Why?
SOLLY: I really don't know.
To protect people from themselves.
Public opinion.
Maybe the liquor lobby.
I was once heard it was a plot of the rich.
SAM: I wish I knew.
COWBOY: Man, who cares, huh?
They got a bomb, don't they?
Protect us from ourselves.
Man, I bet those Japanese cats don't feel that way.
It's your theory, isn't it, Solly?
Just a theory, nothing to do with us.
SOLLY: Well, Leach doesn't need any theories,
if that's what you mean.
COWBOY: Man, I believe that anything that's illegal
is illegal because it makes more money
for more people that way.
SOLLY: That may be right.
But junk does take its effect.
COWBOY: Man, we all pay our dues, whatever we do.
[knock on door]
[jazz record playing]
JIM: It's all over.
Yeah...
it's all over.
It's all yours now.
[jazz record continues]
[jazz record concludes]
MAN: Okay, play that back, please.