Going Nomad (1998) - full transcript
El Cid Rivera is 33 and has never left Manhattan Island; neither have his childhood friends, whom he meets every day at the same bar around the same table. He's tired of his humdrum life and a going-nowhere career. And he's been saddled with the name of an epic hero played on-screen by Charlton Heston (his mother's favorite). Bouncing between dead-end jobs, El Cid struggles to find his calling, yet fears he'll never succeed on the epic scale his mother expects. To find escape, El Cid takes to the empty streets of New York at night - as part of a group who call themselves Asphalt Nomads. He and his fellow travelers cruise Manhattan's 900 miles of open blacktop after midnight in boat-like '70s Buicks and Lincolns to find a sense of control, serenity and briefly, freedom. A tale of self-discovery and the search for purpose.
[upbeat music]
- [Cid] My name
is El Cid Rivera.
And things are getting a
little tight around here.
[jazzy music]
Like my friends,
I was born in this town and
have lived here all my life.
We work.
We eat.
We sleep.
And after that,
we do it all some more.
But just to make sure nothing
exciting slips
through the cracks,
me and the boys,
we compare notes,
regularly.
[group chatter]
- That was a game,
that was a game.
- Another fucking Independence
Day on our hands, huh.
Feeling independent?
- It's too hot out
to be independent.
- Not if you just stay in
one place and don't move.
- Where else you gonna go
when you got it all right here?
- It's a no man's land
outside this town.
- That's the key,
Tully, stay here.
Just go nowhere.
- Cid, that's really
not quite the spirit.
[laughter]
- Am I missing
something, Chuckles?
Cause nothing I heard should
be bringing the house down.
- [Chuckles] It just so
happens that I have--
- [Cid] A healthy friendship
needs a caring sense of give
and take.
You can say what's on your mind,
and no one goes home angry.
Chuckles probably
knows that best.
These days, he's the
local apartment broker,
renting space to one and all.
- Look, don't say fire trap.
The word you're looking
for to describe this place
is palace.
Repeat that.
Palace.
- [Cid] Tully there,
he's working on some
business degree by day
while moonlighting
to pay his way.
- Alright, let me
get this straight.
You're gonna give
me an extra 50 bucks
if I finish this guy off
with a swinging neck breaker?
Count me in.
- [Cid] Our local
reverend over there,
Rev, takes tolls at
the Midtown Tunnel.
He dropped out of
the priesthood due to
personal habits
he could not kick.
- I love chicks.
And the times I've truly
felt the presence of God
was when I was rolling
around with a babe.
I need a drink.
- [Cid] And then
there's Eddie.
[laughter]
Sometimes I look at these guys
and I see the old
men they're gonna be,
sitting at the same table,
swigging the same beer
until they're carted away.
- Look, look, today,
you let everybody else
clear out of this town,
leaving the place to yourself.
- Nothing going on
outside this town anyway.
New York is tops.
- Yeah.
- I'll drink to that.
- But hey, these are
my pals, the boys
hanging together
through thick and thin
since grammar school,
day in, day out,
week after week,
year after year.
Currently in our
fourth decade together.
The way it ought to be.
[birds chirping]
The worst thing
about a July Fourth
is that there is a July fifth
clamoring right in after it.
No room to breathe.
Time to get your bearings,
especially when you're
trying to plant your flag
in this world.
I've always wanted to
get up in the morning
with a sense of purpose.
And these days, I think
I'm on to something.
Life as a bounty hunter
is very compelling.
Mr. Flynn, this is
Manhattan Electric and Gas.
You're bill of 129 dollars
is now three months due.
Cough up the dough
you little twerp.
Thanks so much.
Yeah that's right, 239
dollars and 91 cents
or we
shut down your business.
Yes, you owe 43 dollars.
Now I can send someone around
to kneecap you on Friday
if you're available.
Please, ma'am, I'm very busy.
No, it's a big job
lighting the world.
Yes, Mrs. Bernstein,
my name is El Cid Rivera.
Well yes of course.
Yeah, you were my ninth
grade science teacher.
Wow, I thought you were dead.
No, I guess I never did
turn in that lab report.
Momentum equals
mass times velocity.
So you're saying
you're not paying until
I hand it in.
I see your point ma'am.
It wasn't long before my
sense of dedication dwarfed
the mission at hand.
[upbeat music]
I've become what you
might call a journeyman,
applying my trade
wherever it's needed
and moving on when
the job is done.
But what would it be like
to be so good at one thing
that there's no question about
what to do with your life?
Like playing the saxophone or
figure skating.
I could deal with
the Ice Capades.
[speaking foreign language]
Hey fellas.
How you doing?
[speaking foreign language]
- Hey Cid.
[speaking foreign language]
Oh, that's right.
I forgot.
You don't speak Spanish.
[speaking foreign language]
I'll get it.
What can I get you?
- Actually, Jose, I just,
just want a cup of coffee.
- Cup of coffee,
coming right up.
[speaking foreign language]
You want milk with that?
- Yeah, please.
[speaking foreign language]
- [Cid] Some people
draw a lot of strength
from their ethnic heritage.
It's that important
sense of belonging.
My mother raised me
after we lost my father.
She spoke Spanish beautifully,
but with me, she'd
only speak English.
She was going to raise
a little American.
She said she wanted
me to succeed
and didn't want me
speaking with an accent.
[speaking foreign language]
When maybe the thing I need most
is a little accent.
- Come on, yeah, that's it.
You got it.
El Gringo's coming out.
That's it.
Alright man, it looks good,
looks good brother, it
looks really, really good.
[speaking foreign language]
- Hey, how about that
cup of coffee, you know?
[speaking foreign language]
- Take it.
- Yeah.
Thanks a lot fellas.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, wait a minute.
[speaking foreign language]
Dinero, remember.
- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry.
Here you go, Jose.
Just keep the change.
Split it amongst
yourselves, alright.
[speaking foreign language]
So long fellas.
[speaking foreign language]
- [Man] I can't
believe this man.
[group chatter]
- [Man] He's the best.
- Hey, what's up?
- Hey, Cid.
- How you doing?
- Look, I don't care
if the guy holds
a dick continental title belt,
he shouldn't go
busting your glasses.
- Look, I laid in
a couple of shots,
but then blackjack,
he whips me into the ring ropes
and bam, launches me skyward.
- It was beautiful.
- Where'd you land?
- [Tully] Third row.
Some fat guy and his fat family.
- Get to the punishing
finish, Tully.
- Alright, so anyway,
Blackjack, he's got to improvise
some final move, right.
- And creative genius he is--
- Smacks me over the
head with a metal chair.
- Hence the alterations
in the glasses.
- What a closer.
- Hey, Blackjack is a
very gifted individual.
[door slams]
- When you wrestling again?
- Um,
Friday night.
My pal Jumbo requesting me
for his title warmup match.
- Hello Chuckles,
Eddie.
- Hello, Geraldine.
- Tully,
Theodore.
- Rev, Officer
Fusco, Rev will do.
- I'll make a note
of that, Theodore.
- Why she gotta go and do that?
- Hey, Cid, you ever
notice that Fusco
never mentions your name
when she says hello?
- Oh she knows him alright.
- Who could forget?
- What's that supposed to mean?
- It just means that ever since
you punched Geraldine
Fusco in the mouth
in fourth grade,
she's not forgotten.
- It's like she's got a
score to settle or something.
- If I were you, I'd watch
your ass at all times.
No, no, she patrols
this neighborhood.
She's everywhere and nowhere
when you least expect it.
- Yeah, and she packs that
nine millimeter cannon
with a badge to back it up.
- You still think she
remembers the fourth grade?
- It's fresh.
Still very fresh.
- It wasn't that bad.
- It all started with
one very specific
dodge ball incident.
- Yeah, could we change
the subject please?
- [Rev] Yeah, yeah, let it be.
- No, she had to rub it in.
- No, no, drop it man.
- No, no, go on laughing boy.
Let's hear it.
- Well, Fusco struts up to Cid
and get this,
she says how you gonna
play when no one wants you
on their fucking team?
[laughter]
- Yeah, well she
was the first one
to use the word "fucking"
in a complete sentence.
- No one wants you on
their fucking team.
- Yeah, I'd a punched
her lights out.
- I saw red and I swung.
I swung on her.
And the next thing I know,
I'm fist deep in molars.
- Cid,
I was wrong.
There's no way she's
gotten over that.
- Hey, which tooth was it?
- Lower lateral incisor.
- Oh geeze.
Not that one.
- Cid, you got Geraldine
Fusco on your ass,
in perpetuity.
PS 109's greatest
dodge ball player ever.
- Track and field star.
- Olympic hopeful.
- Now she's bigger, faster,
stronger,
shaped by an elite law
enforcement agency,
fueled by a blood
thirsty need for revenge.
- [Chuckles] You are dead, Cid.
- [Eddie] Dead meat, pal.
- It was the fourth grade.
- Sure, that's
the way to play it
when you're being stalked
by a killing machine.
- You are dead, Cid.
- Yeah, I think we
covered that Chuckles.
- [Tully] Poor bastard.
- Yeah.
I'd be lying if I said
I enjoy being stalked.
Why the hell didn't
my parents teach me
to stand up to this shit?
My father kicked the bucket,
and my mother dies too early,
and all I get is
the name, El Cid.
El Cid Rivera.
But how can I blame
my mother for it,
especially when it's
Charlton Heston's fault.
- [Mama] My Cid,
Charlton is a beautiful man.
A man who's been Michelangelo,
John the Baptist,
Ben Hur,
and Moses.
- [Cid] Yeah, well,
Charlton finally had to go
and give her an epic hero
with a Spanish name.
1961, the big screen,
El Cid, the champion of Spain.
El Cid, [speaking
foreign language].
Charlton wouldn't put up
with a Geraldine Fusco.
He'd go biblical and
kick ass in sandals.
Why this name, mama?
Charlton's a god
damned epic hero.
He united Spain
for Christ's sake.
How the fuck am I supposed
to compete with that?
- [Mama] Watch your
tongue, my son.
Make mama proud
and concentrate on succeeding.
- [Cid] I can't, mama.
It's too late to be succeeding.
There's no one to triumph
over at this hour.
- [Mama] Then get
up bright and early
and begin succeeding my Cid.
- [Cid] I'll try mama.
[soft music]
- So what's up with
Cid these days?
- Probably drank some
bad hops or something.
He'll work it out on the road.
[soft music]
- You ask me, he's
better off going to bed.
- Nah, miles to go
before he sleeps.
- [Cid] My name
is El Cid Rivera,
and nighttime's my
favorite time of day.
At this hour, the
streets are your own,
waiting for you to take them
and make them into something.
[soft music]
- New York at night,
it's the best time of all.
It's when a blanket of
sleep falls over this city.
I mean New York rejoins
the planet at night,
reclaimed by nature,
this city's rush hour pulse
turns to normal.
Now by day, this
city's all revved up.
It's a marching
band on the wack,
blaring and wailing,
a crush of sound and motion.
But by night, the
bands gone home,
confused and tuckered out.
There's an opening up
in the streets again.
And you know while
most people sleep,
tucked away between
comfy sheets,
we the nomads take
command of the streets.
Our tribe of nocturnal drifters
ride in this wide open city.
- What do they call us?
Not many people know we exist.
- Asphalt nomads.
That's what I call us.
- Asphalt nomads.
Blacktop rovers.
- Peggy Fleming.
I call us Peggy Fleming.
- You can't just send
in box tops to join,
you gotta keep something
this personal quite,
otherwise everybody wants in
and before you know it,
it's armature hour.
- Peggy Fleming.
- There's no secret hand
shake or grand poo bah,
you just put in here
every once in a while,
catch up with friends,
be yourself.
We call it the Oasis.
- You're standing in it.
It's like a pit stop.
The Oasis.
- It's the one fixed point.
It's the one port
of call for a nomad.
It's where paths,
stories crisscross
in a night of a
thousand journeys.
- You have over
5,000 miles of road
in the five boroughs
of New York City.
That is a lot of
country to cover.
- 900 miles of road
in Manhattan alone.
900 miles.
Why the hell you gonna
go driving cross country?
You never have to
leave this island.
- Peggy Fleming.
- This ain't your
Hell's Angels or
lady's garden club.
Just by looking at the way
someone handles
themselves on the road,
you know who belongs.
[soft music]
- Hey, hey, Chuckles.
- Oh, hey, thanks
for meeting me.
- Yeah.
- How do I explain this?
You know how I spent
all my time downtown?
- Yeah.
- I always say that
downtown's where it's at.
It's a total wasteland uptown.
- Yeah.
- Well there's this movie
playing on 19th Street.
- Sounds good.
- No, it's not good.
It's not good at all.
You see, to get there I have to,
- What?
- I've never crossed 14th Street
in my life.
- [Cid] Wow.
Your own personal Berlin Wall.
- Let's face it Cid,
the world ends
above 14th Street,
until now.
- Until this movie.
Come on, it'll be easy.
- We're talking about
14th Street here man.
Big dividing line
on this island.
I cross this border,
and I'm breaking
all my own rules.
- Hey, you got your
ideals to uphold.
- I got a movie to see.
- I'll make the
crossing with you.
- Okay,
you gotta shield
me along the way
so that no one spots me.
- Stand beside me man.
We are going to
make the crossing.
[slow suspenseful music]
- Hey didn't you hear
me, you gotta shadow me.
- This is it.
We got a meeting
on the other side.
- Hey, slow down.
- Spare me your lip man.
- Easy.
Easy.
[horns honking]
Easy.
- Use your fear.
use your fear.
- Easy.
- Surging.
Hug the wall, hug the wall.
- What are you doing?
- Stay with me.
Stay with me, move, move, move.
The glorious must not rest
upon the laurels of
their achievements.
- Let go of my arm you jerk.
- Oh hey, come on.
- I'm sure I've been spotted.
- Oh no, no, it's
only a small crowd.
Come on, this is gonna
bring us closer together,
you watch.
- Jerk.
[slow rock music]
- [Tully] Big day at work pal?
- The biggest.
- [Tully] You still
at the stake pit?
- Jack's Steak Pit.
- How long have you been there?
- Three days tops.
- No, I'm deep into my fifth.
It's called commitment.
You should try it sometime.
- Ooh.
- You work the grill.
- No, see that's how it
would look to you, Edward.
But it's not your fault.
When I signed on at Jack's,
I saw beyond the grill.
- You're standing at the grill.
- No, I've completely
redefined the position, Tully.
- To what?
- Keeper
of the flame.
No, I've chosen to work
with the earth's
most basic elements,
wind, water,
meat and fire.
Fire providing light and
warmth to earliest man.
Fire, which consumed Joan of Ark
and gutted Little
Pete Topless in 1985.
- Little Pete, the poor bastard.
- Now it's my turn to
keep the flames in check
because somewhere between
the slabs of T-bone
and the chopped chuck
hides that dancing flicker
that aims to take
the whole place down.
- Cid, Cid,
crank the fucking flame down.
You're turning good meat
into hockey pucks man.
- Hey, I am harnessing flames
for the good of people,
but you turn your
back on 'em Jack.
- I ain't Jack!
The name's Stanley.
- What happened to Jack?
- Look, keep the dance low
and cut the Smokey
the Bear shit.
- Alright.
The man is obviously not
in tune with my mission.
- Nor could you
expect him to be.
- Get back.
The meat has got to breathe.
Back, damn you.
I am the master.
- Hey, hey, hey.
Hey, cut that shit out.
- I had to show the
flames who was boss,
establish respect
from the get go.
But I promise you next time--
- No, no, no, no.
There won't be a next time.
I'm busting your ass down to
salad bar.
- Oh man.
- Stay off the ladder.
Stay away from the
fire extinguisher.
- Yeah, what if the
flames get out of control?
- No, no, no, no, no, no,
if a fire breaks out,
you grab the lettuce
and haul ass out with me.
You got that loco?
- Yeah.
It's a setback.
It's nothing I can't handle.
- Sounds like they took you
out of the play all together.
- Not before I saw the light.
They can't take that from me.
Staring deep into the flames,
I connected with the fire
that roars deep inside myself
and I received my
marching orders.
- To do what?
- I'm joining the
fire department.
- The fire department?
- A union job is good.
- Yeah.
- You know how long it takes
to get into the fire department?
- Yeah, I stand ready, Chuckles.
Yesterday I actually
applied for the exams.
- Pray for a fat envelope.
- [Cid] A what?
- A fat envelope.
My cousin did it.
At the end, they
send you an envelope,
thin one says sorry sap,
you're rejected.
Fat one means
they're sending you
the join the club booklets.
- Don't worry about envelopes.
- Hey, it's not like we're
not supportive or anything,
it's just--
- Nah, it's just the day is
let's be Surgeon General day,
tomorrow's French
Foreign Legion day,
and Friday,
Friday is Fireman day.
- Why wait until Friday.
To El Cid,
the keeper of the flame.
- Yeah.
- I don't know about you,
I'm just stretching my arm.
[slow music]
- What does a nomad drive?
Something that hugs
a lane and a half,
guaranteeing a
lions share respect.
- A car with heft.
Anything that
weighs several tons.
- The cabbies
bounce right off it.
Drives them crazy.
But what the cabbies gonna do?
You gonna need the coast
guard to haul me in.
- There what the
uncultured laymen
might call a boat.
Say from the early to mid 70s,
the LTD,
the Marquis.
- You got your basic
Lincoln Mark four,
or any of the early 70s
continentals for that matter.
- Buick Lesaber,
the Electra 225,
the big cars.
The kind that say
I may not know where I'm going,
but you better
believe I'm on my way.
- The Regency.
The Cutlass.
The Olds 88.
- These glorious tubs
are chariots, I tell ya.
A symbol of the last time
America was truly free.
- It's a kind of car
that a 30 miles an hour,
you can take out
a telephone pole
without spilling your coffee.
- I tell you what, why don't
we split the difference.
We'll call 12:15.
- That's a good point.
Hey, we should give Cid a call.
- Let it be.
[inaudible] out there
driving around in circles.
[laughter]
- Lay off, that's his thing.
[laughter]
[soft music]
- What do you want
to know about El Cid?
- Rivera?
He's one of the greats.
- Cid River's got a
few head problems.
But it doesn't seem
to effect his driving.
- I love Cid,
but I hear he doesn't
speak Spanish.
What's up with that?
How are you gonna express
your passion to me?
- That Cid guy,
he ain't so hot.
He's a punk.
[speaking foreign language]
It's his car that makes
that guy anything.
I should know,
I sold it to him.
- I have no idea what
he does during the day,
but it's got to be something
big, all that talent.
[upbeat music]
[traffic rumbling]
[group chatter]
- [Cid] Gotta stay in the open.
- For to be a--
- [Cid] She can't take me
out if there are witnesses.
Play it cool.
Stay very cool.
Alright, fuck cool.
Run like hell.
- Well Rev, that's cause
we haven't done enough
grooming together lately.
Tonight, I was in the
thick of a dynamite lather,
making love to the
much overlooked scalp.
[laughter]
Creamer, conditioner,
and bring it on home
with a towel dry.
- Wow.
- Cleanliness is
next to godliness.
[soft music]
Is that right, Tully?
You like rolling
around with fat guys
in spangled tights?
- Hey, hey, hey, hey.
I'm part of a very proud
sporting tradition.
Playing high school gyms
and run down armories
with cigar chomping,
beer guzzling,
thugs at ringside.
- Tell 'em Tully.
- Am I rolling at all?
Wrestlers come to me
to improve their records.
You see I'm the booster.
I send contenders to the top.
Nothing like it.
The beauty of 300
pound bodies soaring
high in the air,
colliding,
without a scratch.
Huge bodies
never meant to fly
spinning like ballerinas.
- [Mama] Cid, El Cid.
- [Cid] Yes mama.
- [Mama] El Cid,
are you succeeding?
- Dammit mama,
you made me miss a light.
I'm on the trail
of a perfect ride
and you go block my flow.
- [Mama] You can flow
tomorrow, my precious one.
How are you going
to make mama proud
with your ass
planted in that car?
- I'm just relaxing out here.
- [Mama] When are
you going to become
mama's little lawyer?
- Mama, the world isn't
the way you remember it.
Everyone hates lawyers today.
- [Mama] But you are my Cid.
People will love when you
because a Supreme Court Justice.
- Yeah, I'll get right
on that tomorrow.
- I like your idea about
being a booster, Tully.
I'm kind of a booster myself.
- Oh, geeze.
- Hey, I actively
support this community
by settling good people
in our humble town.
- Now look, I'm not
renting this fire trap.
It's a goddamn hole.
- Everybody's got a place
in this town cause of me.
I keep things flowing.
- Flow.
You're gonna talk about flow.
- [Chuckles] That's just
what transpired, Rev.
- Well it's just that
I'm the holy man of flow.
- Yeah, flowed right
out of the priesthood.
[laughter]
- And into a tollbooth
where I belong.
I was called to take tolls at
the Queens' Midtown Tunnel.
- One of God's more
mysterious plans, huh.
- Almost biblical, Eddie,
cause now I'm the gate keeper.
I mean let the priest
help the faithful
in the gates of Heaven.
If you want in in this town,
you come to me
and you pay the price.
If I don't deem you worthy,
I pull the alarm,
like you're trying
to beat the toll
and the cops swarm
all over your ass,
tying you up in bullshit.
Meanwhile, I take a powder
and a very well
timed coffee break.
- Wow.
[soft music]
- [Cid] Block after block
after neighborhood
after mile in search
of the perfect ride,
keeping my sweeps wide,
keeping my turns tight,
hoping to come
around fast enough
so that I might catch
a glimpse of myself.
- Do you know what
it's like to float
to Third Avenue at
seven miles an hour?
To own Fifth Avenue?
To take Sixth Avenue
and all its six lane glory,
massaging blacktop
that's usually
choked by traffic.
- Graceful moves,
floating arcs,
rolling through this town
like a magic carpet.
- Going nowhere fast.
- Just going.
- Just getting out and going.
The sheer power
of going.
- Never getting lost.
Hey, you're bounded by rivers.
You can only go so far
before you hit water.
- Midnight to 5:30.
- I have to let him in,
but before Good Morning America.
- Late at night
when midnight strikes.
It's when the nomads
take back the city,
blazing trails
and making waves and
leaving behind a chain
city in our wake.
[slow music]
- You know--
[suspenseful music]
Whoa.
[suspenseful music]
Okay, okay, say you got me.
You got me.
Sure, more than 22
years have passed
since I assaulted you
on the playground,
but you know,
a tooth's a tooth.
So go ahead.
Apply excessive force
or whatever's evoked
down at the station house.
Wield your sword of justice.
Take it to me, woman.
Mend my ways.
Hello up there.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, could we get the
beating underway, please?
- Well I'm not sure what to do.
- Well, they must have covered
this down at the academy.
I mean--
- It's just that I've been
waiting for this moment
for so long, I,
I never imagined--
- Imagined what?
- I never thought about
what I'd actually do
when I got to it.
- Okay.
How about we,
we skip the bruising and
we move straight into some
low intensity shoving?
- Would you like to
go to dinner sometime?
- Ah,
I'm gonna repeat what
I just heard, because--
- I'm asking you if you'd
like to go to dinner.
- Sure, why not.
- Oh that's great.
That's really great.
- You're not pissed
about the tooth?
- Not as much anymore.
- Oh good, that's a
weight off my shoulders.
- Wow.
This really does feel good.
- Yeah, everything
out in the open.
- And speaking your feelings.
- So when you want
to get together?
- How about Friday night?
You know that I've liked
you for such a long time,
I just
didn't know how to show you.
- Here we are.
- You always had that cute
wayward look about you.
- I bet you say that
to all your callers.
- So, Friday night.
[jazzy music]
- [Cid] My name
is El Cid Rivera.
Today will be different.
Today I am dressed for success.
Clad in the footwear
of champions,
I will walk the
walk of Charlton,
endorsed by Moses,
torture tested by Ben Hur,
these babies send a message.
I will show all
that I am serious.
Big things happen
in these shoes.
[traffic rumbling]
[group chatter]
- Okay, one more.
- One more,
on the floor.
On the floor.
- Oh, that's mine.
That's my scene.
If I can keep working my moves,
then I'm happy.
- You just keep doing
what your doing.
- That's right.
- And that's enough.
- Oh, come on, Cid.
Nothing's ever enough
for you, is it?
- No, it's not.
- [Eddie] What the
hell is it you want?
- I want to feel like
I'm part of something
bigger than myself.
- [Tully] So join something.
- Join where, Tully?
All the big causes
have already happened.
- Hey, keep hanging out with us
and you'll make history, eh.
- How are we making
history here?
- I think you're
struggling too hard.
- Cid,
there's no room today
for the epic hero.
Epic gets in the way.
Now you go to pull some
miracle on 14th Street,
you'll tie up traffic,
fuck up the whole city.
[laughter]
- Clearly you guys
don't understand.
- Hey,
the greats are
always misunderstood.
- Yeah.
- Hey, see you tomorrow night.
- Same time,
same place,
same pals.
- Give me the quarter.
- Right, reverential one,
here you go.
- Let me see that one.
[slow jazzy music]
- [Cid] When all else fails,
count on gravity.
Once you're on the floor,
you can't fall any further.
Things get to be
too much up there,
take the hit,
hit the deck.
And when the dust clears,
you try getting to your knees.
You make your stand again.
On the floor, it's
only up from here.
- Hey Cid,
I came as fast as I could.
- Really, thanks for meeting me.
- Hey, you were there for
me on 14th Street, you know.
Not that you helped much,
but you were there.
- Chuckles, I've come
to a very important decision,
but I have to know
that I can trust you.
- Who else you gonna trust?
- I've decided that I must lead.
- You don't have
to go anywhere pal.
- No, lead.
I must lead.
But before I do, I must
ask a special favor.
- Yes, my Cid.
- If I should die,
these are my writings.
- Hey, I didn't know you wrote.
You talked about
writing, but I never
figured you'd do
anything about it.
- No, no I write,
you know, when I have
something to say,
I write.
- Okay.
- If I should die,
take the word to my people.
- Who are your people?
- I don't know.
- Huh.
- And they don't know either.
My people are called
those who don't know,
and they know who they are.
- What's this again?
- My writings,
my tome,
the word.
[laughter]
- The word?
- Laugh not chuckling one.
If I should not return
safely to my home tonight,
you must take the word
and bring it to my people
and let them carry on.
Bankers who don't want to bank,
but do.
Software engineers who
want to design cities,
but don't.
Old timers
tortured by
opportunities not seized.
Waiters wanting out.
Temps seeking permanence.
These are people wanting change
but they know not
where or how to do it.
These are my people.
- All this is in here?
- It will be,
as soon as I know what to say.
Don't rush me, Chuckles.
- I better get going.
My beeper just went off, and I--
- You don't carry a beeper.
- No, I do now.
- Oh well then, off you go.
- Yes, my Cid.
[soft music]
- [Cid] Geraldine Fusco,
what a babe.
At first glance,
a volatile girl with
the stopping power
of a small battalion.
But now, now she's
just so much more
than a terminator to me.
My sweet Geraldine,
she wakes up in the morning
and knows exactly which
way she's heading.
Sturdy steel shanked boots,
thighs of an olympian
sheathed in a striking
poly cotton blend.
And check out the chest,
the arms all at once
capable of a loving embrace,
or a crippling submission hold.
And oh, that angel's face.
All with a smile that
bathes you in light
and reassures you it's not you
she'll be tossing into
the back of the squad car.
And every man's dream,
a woman with a bat utility belt.
Imagine the adventures.
This relationship could
have real possibilities.
- [Eddie] Dipping and dodging.
- Dipping and dodging,
right Chuckles?
[laughter]
- Yeah, right.
Dipping and dodging.
I know what dipping
and dodging is.
- [Rev] You know what it is?
- [Chuckles] I've always known.
- Boys.
I've been thinking.
- And what's that?
- Well I'd kind of
like to switch chairs.
- Now why would you want
to do a thing like that?
- Well, it'd shake up
the perspective a little.
Well Chuckles here,
he's got the perfect
view of the windows.
And Rev, he gets the
chicks at the door.
And me, I'm tired
of looking at our
ravaging barkeep, Leo.
- Now you're mine.
- Look, Tully,
that's all fine and good, but a,
this is the way it's been
for years.
- I vote no.
- Look, Tully, people are
accustomed to seeing me
in this chair.
Now if we suddenly change seats,
they may see you,
which could upset them.
I don't want those people upset.
- So stay where you are, Edward.
Maybe me and
Chuckles can switch.
Hey Chuckles,
you'd like it over here.
- Fat chance.
Look Tully,
you just don't go swapping--
- [Cid] It's funny, isn't it?
Romance blossoms in ways
you never see coming.
Me and Geraldine,
our courtship was
fast and furious.
We could while away the hours,
reliving the magic of our
first romantic encounters.
Day by day, our feelings grew.
She loved it when
I resisted arrest.
She loved it even more
when I watched her in action.
- Book 'em honey.
- I said spread 'em, fuckwad.
So, are we still on
for Wednesday night?
- You got it baby.
My Geraldine was alive.
By day, she walked a
world of heightened drama.
By night, officer Fusco
took my world by storm.
We could talk about
anything from sex
to capital punishment,
to troop strength
in Latin America.
I had dreams.
She had dreams.
I'd like to lead a nation or
join the fire department,
be a figure skater.
- Ever since I
was a little girl,
I've always dreamed of
becoming a Texas Ranger.
Oh, you got to be one
tough bitch for that.
- That's so nice.
The fact was, we connected.
She knew where the
lines were drawn and I,
I have always been
a big fan of lines.
- So you want me to
start it up killer?
Is that what you want?
- Yeah, baby, that'd be great.
And my Geraldine,
only my tender Geraldine,
could turn the Miranda
into a passionate act of love.
- You have the right
to remain silent.
Anything you say,
see,
and feel
can and will be
held against you.
[soft music]
- [Cid] That was order
in the world again.
I was dating the rule book.
And it's name was
Geraldine Fusco.
- You just don't go
swapping seats.
- What we got here is kind
of like Meet the Press.
You don't see them
swapping seats.
- Isn't that right Cid?
- Oh you got it baby.
[soft music]
- Ray's the night.
And at night,
Ray holds sway.
By day, my time is their time,
boss bitching at me,
family riding my ass,
pressures that would
kill the ordinary mortal.
But at night,
it's Ray's road.
And I will this car
like a sword,
slicing through the
night with a steady hand.
Oh come closer taxi cab,
I beckon thee.
Cross my path so I may
broadside thee.
Feel my girth.
Taste my essence.
Back the fuck off
cause it's Ray's road tonight.
And I'll release it
as fast as I can
pump the accelerator
and make higher ground.
It's all so
Ray.
- [Mama] Cid, El Cid.
- [Cid] Yes mama.
- [Mama] Are you
ready to talk now?
- [Cid] Yes mama.
- [Mama] El Cid,
are you succeeding?
- [Cid] I'm trying mama.
- [Mama] Is this why
I slaved day and night
so that you could become some
night riding [speaking
foreign language]?
[speaking foreign language]
Clown.
Night riding clown.
Repeat that back for mama.
- Mama.
- [Mama] Yes, my beautiful one.
- I can't do this now.
I'm gonna crash the car.
- [Mama] Well,
you go park it and
I'll come back.
- Whatever, mama.
While all was not perfect
on the career front,
I was learning to
strike a balance.
Life with Geraldine was
getting better and better.
She helped me get in
touch with my feelings,
and she was right there
to help me sort them out.
- Who is in charge?
- Come on, lay off.
- Answer the question.
Who's in control?
- Would you get the hell off.
I run the show, dammit.
- Wrong answer, fuckwad.
Now, I want to hear your
true feelings for me.
- Get the fuck off me, Fusco.
- Who do you love?
- You're breaking my arm, Fusco.
- I'll snap it
right off, Rivera.
Now who's in love?
- You gotta be fucking kidding.
- Do you see me smiling, boy?
Huh?
So say it.
Love, right.
Love.
- Alright, alright,
I have feelings and
I call it like.
- You what?
- I'm in like with
you, you know.
We got a really strong
like on our hands, pookey.
- It's a tough world out there,
and you and I are not
gonna make it on like.
So say it.
Love.
- I've never felt like
like this before.
- Alright.
That'll do for now.
You're free to go.
- It's my fucking place.
- Okay, at ease then.
Look, sometimes I get caught
up in the heat of the moment.
My adrenaline starts pumping
and boom, my head explodes.
It's got to be the
academy training.
- What we got is
special, Geraldine.
[soft music]
With every moment,
I believed even
more strongly in us.
Here was a woman willing
to fight for love.
And I, El Cid Rivera,
was part of the struggle.
- The streaming of
light and sound,
she goes and goes
like a river flows,
like the mighty Mississippi.
Broadway's a river,
as great as any of
the American greats.
The Hudson, the Ohio,
the Colorado,
flowing down Manhattan Island,
landing at the battery,
emptying to the sea.
This mighty river of black top
transverses this
phrenetic strip of rock,
a giant brace for a city
that might
otherwise spin out of control,
fed by tributaries,
feeding neighborhoods,
connecting all.
Broadway is the mighty carrier
rolling through the
plains of Harlem
and the canyons of Midtown
down through the un-tamable
lands of Greenwich Village.
Broadway,
carrying the city on it's back,
dropping off,
picking up,
breathing in and
out at it's banks.
If asked,
I'd say that I
like Broadway best
in the thick of night
when it's waters are darkest,
blacktop beckoning,
opening up wide and
promising mysteries.
I answer the call.
I push off.
And I pilot my Grand
Marquis downstream.
I steer but
in its grip,
I surrender to the current,
riding high,
letting go.
And it's goes
and goes.
Broadway.
Mighty as the Mississippi,
mysterious as the Nile
and hallowed as the Ganges.
Keeper of the nomad faith,
lifeblood of the perfect ride.
- Clear.
Yes,
all clear.
[traffic rushing]
[slow jazzy music]
- You keep saying
that word fire trap,
and it's really
beginning to bug me.
- [Cid] Your runway,
increase throttle.
- The work of God is this,
to believe in the
one he has sent.
Enter my gates.
- Ready.
Oh yes.
Prepare for takeoff.
- Oh yeah.
Love it.
Love the do.
[upbeat music]
We're breaking out,
we're lifting off.
[wind blowing]
[metal crashing]
[knock on door]
It's open, come on in.
- I'm not bothering you, am I?
- No, no, no, definitely not.
[laughter]
- Cid, I just had
to talk to you.
I can't believe it.
I can't believe all
this is happening to me.
- Yeah, well I'm happy too.
You shout it to the world.
We're an item pookey.
- That too.
But what I'm talking
about is this letter.
It just came in the mail today.
- Well the postal service
is wonderful, honey.
It's something we
should all be proud of.
- Cid.
I've been accepted.
- Accepted to what?
- I am going to be
a Texas Ranger.
- A Texas Ranger?
How you gonna pull
that off from here?
- You knucklehead,
I'm gonna be a Texas Ranger
in Texas.
I've had the application
in for over two years.
- I thought you were just
talking about your dream.
- Yeah, but why talk
about it when I can do it?
- Because talking's enough.
There's less chance
of getting injured.
- Oh Cid,
when I first started
to think about Texas--
- [Cid] This isn't happening.
I'm alone again.
I'm facing the
world alone again.
Man does this suck.
- But think about it Cid.
Me in Texas bagging
chain saw murderers.
- God, how can she
throw away what we have?
Alright, steady now.
Steady.
Just check to see if she's
still using that word leaving.
- Do you know they don't wait?
So I'll be leaving next Tuesday.
- Oh God Dammit! There it is.
- I know this is sudden
and it's really
gonna be hard for me
to say goodbye to you, but--
- Oh just wrap it up,
wrap it up baby,
you're ruining my life.
Oh, she's got to stop
talking sometime,
her mouth is just
gonna seize up.
- So, I've got to.
- Oh goddammit,
please don't say it.
Please don't say it.
- I mean, I've got to.
- Incoming boy, take cover.
- Cid, we've got
to break it off.
- [Cid] Oh goddammit,
there it is.
This is not happening.
She's, she's emotional.
She's deranged.
- Wow.
You're so composed.
Obviously, this
isn't effecting you
like it's hurting me.
- [Cid] Just pray for
the building to collapse.
A year in traction
will bring her around.
- Man, I'm beat.
I think I'm gonna
be heading home.
- This isn't happening.
- You know,
you've helped me.
You've shown me that it's
okay to go after what I want.
- [Cid] Oh lips, man,
move you're goddamned lips.
Show her you're still alive.
- Bye Cid.
[somber music]
- Hey, um,
if I let you chase
me down the block,
would you stay?
- You are gonna make some woman
really happy.
- Goodbye Fusco.
She loved the
thrill of the chase.
She caught me, made me confess.
And once she had me,
the thrill was gone.
Anyone at the precinct
could have told me.
Fusco always gets her man.
- Come on Cid,
what's the point?
- I'm jumping.
I gotta jump.
There's no other way.
- Why's he gotta jump?
- He hasn't said.
- Hey Cid,
why you gotta jump?
- Geraldine.
- I thought the
stalking was over?
- Yeah, that ended Tully,
but so did the love.
- I didn't hear about the love.
- We gotta get some
experts on the scene.
- Good idea,
you keep talking to him,
I'll get some help.
- Hey Cid,
you've always been
there to help me.
Why don't you get the fuck down
so you can help me some more.
- Yeah Chuckles, how
have I helped you?
- Remember 14th Street?
You were there for me when I
needed to make the crossing.
- Oh come on.
It was your big moment,
you wanted to keep it low key.
I turned it into a circus.
- Maybe you should
take the leap.
- And then there was that
time in seventh grade when
I set your hair on fire.
- Definitely jump, you fuck.
- What the hell's going on here?
- She left me to
become a Texas Ranger.
She was my pillar.
She was my calm in the storm.
- So you're gonna jump?
- Yeah, that's right.
I'm gonna jump.
I'm gonna jump.
I m gonna taste life
hanging in the balance.
- Charlton Heston
would not be up there.
- Oh you leave him out of this.
- Fuck it.
Go ahead and jump.
- Ignore this man.
- Go higher.
A few more floors up,
then jump.
- Silence.
- Yeah, how will you
know the difference
if you never make a move?
- Eddie, this is nowhere to go.
- It's the only way.
Make the jump, Cid.
Make it dramatic and push
off like you want it.
And pull a jackknife
with a double twist.
Own it.
- Eddie, I gotta tell you
about what happened
Thursday night.
- Alright, now's the time.
Tell me now.
- Okay.
Okay.
A man in the
tollbooth right on me,
and I'm pushing him through.
I'm making change
when all of a sudden
this beautiful blonde pulls up.
Bang, I cut her loose.
Next up, dynamite redhead.
She's winking.
She's smiling.
She's doing everything
but marry me.
[birds chirping]
- Oh Fusco.
You were supposed to save me.
Whoa.
[soft music]
- How you supposed
to strike a balance
in this goddamned world?
You got a job, a family.
You work your ass off.
Then you have it reattached
and you work it off again.
You feel trapped,
you poor bastard.
You once had the
backbone and the legs
to get the fuck out.
But escaping is too easy.
I say keep the normal life.
Trim your hedges.
Recycle your aluminum.
Win the bread.
You gotta eat, right?
But if you feel
like blowing town,
don't.
Blow in town.
Blow all around town.
Get inside your ship of steel
and open the fucker up.
Make your jailbreak every
day until the sun goes down
and go man, go.
Cause a life of the
Asphalt Nomads
says you can roam,
you can be free,
and still be home in time
for breakfast with the kids.
- Hey, hey.
Ray, what's going on?
- Hey, my Cid.
Say man, you mind if I
ride with you tonight?
My car's out of commission.
- Yeah, hop in.
- So how's the driving been?
- Nice and quite.
- Yeah, well that's
the way it aught to be.
- What happened to your car man?
- Yeah, well man it's like this.
You know, I'm gliding up
8th Avenue the other night,
you know, riding oh
so high on the hog.
And then I swerved
off course a little,
you know, jumped the curb
and bam, buried the fucker
deep inside a newsstand.
Boom.
Took the whole shack down.
Now I was setting up for
an easy double Hudson,
and the next thing I know,
oh Red's plowing his
way into the headlines.
- Jesus Christ.
- You know, it's a true pleasure
to watch you at the wheel.
- I'm just steering, two hands.
- No, no, that's bullshit.
Hey, you'll find your pocket
and float your boat.
It's automatic.
- I do that?
- [Ray] Yes you do.
- Yeah, well you should see
some of the other nomads.
- No, fuck that and
take the compliment man.
What you got is gold.
Gold.
[laughter]
Oh man, this boat
rides so damn smooth.
[soft music]
Damn, what a move.
Hey, you put it on slow release
and then bam, we're in the
thick of a triple axle.
- Yeah, that's one
of my favorites.
[laughter]
- Expect nothing
less from El Cid.
You know only a few have
even tried a flying Melinda.
Anybody ever watch you do it?
- Yeah, I don't
think anybody cares.
- No, no, save the
modesty bullshit.
Now I need to know.
I mean now that I'm riding
in your inner sanctum.
Give me the scoop on
that Rivera magic.
- Come on.
- No, no, come on now
you can't hold out on me.
This is Ray, okay.
Ray.
- What, you really want to know?
- [Ray] I want to know.
- You're not ready.
- Yes I am, I'm ready.
- Ballet slippers.
- What you say?
- Ballet slippers on my
feet to work the pedals.
- That's bullshit.
- No, no, look in the
glove compartment.
- No fucking way.
[laughter]
Well shit.
I'm riding with
Ball shore Rivera.
- Light on the touch,
light on the pedals.
Now I'm floating into
a smooth stretch,
I slip them on,
tickle the pedals.
I can turn this boat around
like a trained dolphin.
- Man you are one
different motherfucker.
[laughter]
Hey y'all,
this is El Cid Rivera
behind the wheel.
Yeah, El Cid
[speaking foreign language]
Take notice motherfuckers.
[laughter]
[soft music]
You know Cid, you got
all of this going on
and you still running
around this town
trying to find your thing.
- I'm just sweeping
the grid here.
- Yeah, but you take a
corner like you hoping
to arrive somewhere.
- No, there's no harm
in looking for a sign.
- The sign is here dammit.
When you feel the pull
of a five lane sweep.
When you hurdle through space,
cradling the natural forces,
you're in the thick of it baby.
Well take your throne
behind the wheel, El Cid.
Inherit what's yours man.
Own it.
Look, drop me off
at the next corner.
Big Red's gotta
get his beauty rest
before work starts.
- [Cid] It was good
seeing you Ray.
- You go ahead and
take it lightly, Cid.
But you get back
out on that road
and you feel it for
even an instant,
then you tell me I'm lying.
[slow jazzy music]
- [Cid] My name
is El Cid Rivera.
Today I am 33 years old.
Since I landed on this earth,
the world has made
12,045 rotations
and completed 33
total revolutions,
and I'm still standing still.
- [Tully] I think
I wrestled him.
[laughter]
- No.
I don't think you wrestled
flesh eating disease
or you wouldn't
be here right now.
- That's a real name
of some wrestler guy?
- Flesh Eating Disease.
- Is he big?
- Yeah, he's big, he's huge.
- He's not as big
as he was, though.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey.
- Hey Eddie.
- Hey, happy birthday,
El Cid Rivera.
Did you think we'd forget?
- Oh no, all the
hoopla gave it away.
- [Tully] Well let's get the
festivities underway, Edward.
Take your seat.
- I would, but then I
wouldn't be able to bring in
a very special surprise guest.
- How about some good news?
- [Eddie] You could say that.
- Some good news from
the fire academy,
maybe hand delivered?
- It's gotta be
the fat envelope.
Fat envelope says you're
gonna be a fireman, baby.
- Better than that.
Come on, pal.
Who'd you like to meet most?
- Holy shit.
You've really come through.
- Oh don't tell me you got--
- You brought Heston to the bar?
- Oh god, dear god.
- Well,
no.
But almost as good.
El Cid Rivera,
celebrating 33 years
since your official
launch from the womb,
meet the one,
the only,
Ralphie Dodd.
- This is it?
- This is it.
- So who's the birthday boy?
Happy birthday.
Hey, somebody
bring me a bourbon.
- Funny, you don't look
like Charlton Heston.
- It's Ralphie Dodd.
- What's a Ralphie Dobs?
- I tried to get Heston,
but his personal
secretary suggested
that Cid get a life of his own.
- Is somebody
getting me a bourbon?
- I never dreamed I'd
be meeting Ralphie Dodd.
- Who the hell is Ralphie Dodd?
- Come on, Cid.
Ever heard of a little
film called Ben Hur?
- Faint recollection.
- [Eddie] Remember the
great chariot race?
- Only one of the
greatest moments
in silver screen history.
- Ralphie Dodd,
you directed Ben Hur?
- No.
Ralphie here is the
guy who actually
painted the wheels
on Ben Hur's chariot.
- In the flesh.
[laughter]
- Well, well, pull
up a chair, Ralphie.
- No, no, no, Tully, do not
mock this man,
for he is the genuine article.
He has walked
amongst the sacred.
He has tasted from the cup.
- Where the fuck is my bourbon?
- [Barkeep] Here's your bourbon.
- [Eddie] Alright,
let's kick off this
joyous celebration.
- I don't know where to begin.
- Hey, hey, look champ.
I mean no offense, but
you strike me as
kind of a fruitcake.
Hey Eddie,
I don't know how safe it is
sitting next to this guy.
- No, Ralphie, stay.
Make it special.
- Well now they say that you
served alongside the
man called Heston.
Now you heard his words,
you saw him in action.
- Hey, hey, back off will you.
You're beginning to make
me a little nervous.
- Ralphie, he's harmless.
He's just so excited.
- Yeah, that's what they
said about Jack Ruby.
- Alright, well let me,
let me rephrase the question.
- Hey, ceasefire, will ya?
Obviously you're the one that
Eddie's been telling me about,
the big Chuck Heston fan.
- Yeah, you could say that.
I mean I don't know if
Eddie told you about--
- Okay, okay.
I know where you're
going with this thing
so don't strain yourself because
this is your special
day, you know.
Yes, I painted the
wheels on his chariot,
and yes, I knew Heston.
I worked with him
on many pictures.
- Wait, you actually knew him?
- I think I made that pretty
clear in my previous statement.
- Very clear Ralphie.
- Well what was he like?
I mean--
- What was he like?
He was a regular
guy like you and me.
Well like me.
I mean he caught colds,
occasionally got a paper cut.
Hey look, if you met the guy--
- It would be the
proudest day of my life.
- You would meet a
regular, nice guy.
He paid his dues.
He reaped his rewards.
- Yes he did.
- But he did it with a lot
of help from guys like me.
- You?
- Yeah.
- No, no, no, no.
Different league, pal.
He is the anointed one.
He is the man of Soylent Green.
The Omega man.
- Hey, cool off Cid.
- If Sophia Loren were here,
she'd slap you.
- Hey.
Back to the party.
Back to the party.
- Alright, no,
alright, no everything's cool.
Everything's--
- I just.
- No go on.
Go on, I want to
hear more about,
about how you
helped Heston, you rat bastard.
- [Group] Hey, Cid.
- Hey, we all helped Heston.
Me and a cast of thousands
behind the scenes.
We put the epic in epic.
Let me tell you something.
The skies I painted
for his pictures,
you've never seen skies so blue
until I painted them.
- Ah, the modesty.
- There's nothing
modest about it.
They called me Mr. Magic.
I made dreams come true.
- Scenic backdrops do not make
an epic hero.
It takes courage and
vision to lead a people.
- And a very good script
written by fat little
four eyed writers,
writing lines about
liberty and justice.
Writers who then drive home,
kick the dog, hit the kids,
and down a fifth of scotch.
[laughter]
- Uh huh.
- Hey, don't get me
wrong birthday boy.
Heston was a great actor,
but the armies he led
followed his every command
because page 98 of the script
told them to.
[slow jazzy music]
- Is this guy inspirational
or what?
- Hey you know Eddie,
this wasn't so bad after all.
- Hey, it's a party
for Christ's sakes.
- I'll tell ya,
I worked with the best.
The Duke.
Brando.
Elizabeth Taylor
and her two magnificent tits.
Now they were epic.
Ho ho, what jugs.
[laughter]
- Hey, Ralphie, thanks
a lot for coming.
- Yeah sure, Eddie, sure.
I'll see you guys.
- Take it easy Ralphie.
[slow jazzy music]
Now this
was a birthday to remember.
- Liz Taylor,
I think she's got the
flesh eating disease.
National Enquirer.
[soft music]
- [Mama] Cid, El Cid.
- [Cid] Yes mama.
- [Mama] El Cid,
are you succeeding?
- [Cid] I don't know.
What's it mean to
be succeeding, mama?
- [Mama] We covered that
when you were five, my Cid.
- Tell me again.
- [Mama] Don't mess
with the basics, my son.
- I can't be sure, mama.
- [Mama] El Cid,
are you succeeding?
- I don't know, mama.
[soft music]
- All great art boils
down to geometry,
weight and gravity.
Now let the motorists
avoid the dips and rises
in the pavement.
It's the nomad that
dares to ride them out,
see what they got to offer
when it pops you up
and sets you airborne.
See, the nomad
respects and wrestles
with the forces
to create something greater.
All the forces,
the ones you slept through
in 11th grade physics,
well they back baby.
So cuddle up.
The G forces, the centripetals,
the centrifugals.
Now how many can you
get working for you
when the night holds
you in it's grip?
Now pay homage, nomad,
you fight the natural forces,
and they'll break you.
Make friends,
and they'll set you free.
[soft music]
- Boys, I'd like
to make a proposal.
- I hope it's not that thing
about switching seats again.
- Edward, all I want
is a little change.
- It's a dead issue, pal.
- Now Cid would understand
my desire for change.
- You don't start playing
with natural laws.
- Unspeakable.
- The nerve.
[soft music]
- [Tully] Come on, come on.
- Beg all you want, Tully,
but it ain't happening.
Besides, we don't have a quorum.
You need a quorum.
- Hell, we have a quorum.
- There's no quorum.
[soft music]
- [Poetic Nomad] A streaming
of light and sound,
she goes and goes
like a river flows.
[soft music]
Mysterious as the Nile,
and hollowed as the Ganges.
Keeper of the nomad faith.
Lifeblood of the perfect ride.
[soft music]
[dramatic music]
- Hey.
Yeah.
- Have you seen this stick ball
that used to be like
everywhere, you know.
Every day.
- I never see it anymore.
- You kids don't play.
[dramatic music]
- Take a load off
the floor, Tully.
- Yeah, deal with the
horrible truth, pal.
That's your seat.
Tonight and every night.
- Goddamn it.
[soft music]
- [Tully] Anybody
seen Cid today?
- He'll be here.
It's our usual night.
- Every night's our usual night.
- That's why he'll be here.
Where else is he gonna go?
- [Mama] Cid, El Cid.
- [Cid] Yes mamma?
- [Mama] What's going on here?
- [Mama] I'm taking
a sabbatical, mama.
- [Mama] You can't be
succeeding in sabbaticing
at the same time.
Now turn this bucket
of rust around and
[speaking foreign language]
- [Cid] Mama.
- [Mama] Yes, my golden child.
- [Cid] I want you to listen.
I love you very much,
but I want you to shut up.
[speaking foreign language]
- [Mama] I have raised
the Devil's child.
- [Cid] Now mama,
you've got to listen.
You've been with
me for a long time.
I think you must be very tired
of raising me for so long.
- [Mama] It is a great
challenge, yes, but I'm--
- [Cid] I think after
all these years,
you really deserve
some time for yourself.
You must be a little tired
from looking after your child.
You've paid your dues.
- [Mama] Yes, my son.
I have.
- [Cid] You've done a
really good job, mama.
- [Mama] Thank
you my lovely one.
- [Cid] So let me go,
for a little while.
If you stay with me,
I may ware you out.
- [Mama] And you're
gonna be okay?
- [Cid] You prepared me well.
[laughter]
- [Mama] Well, this is
a whole new ballgame.
Maybe I will take a little
vacation with the girls.
That would be nice.
- [Cid] You deserve it mama.
- [Mama] Then,
it is settled.
So I talk to you
in a few months,
my beautiful Cid.
- [Cid] Take your time, mama.
[soft music]
- No sign of him.
- Maybe he's out drinking
with the Asphalt Nomad types.
- Hey, he's free to
do as he pleases.
- Hey, you can't get
any freer in this town.
[uplifting music]
[jazzy music]
- [Cid] My name
is El Cid Rivera.
And things are getting a
little tight around here.
[jazzy music]
Like my friends,
I was born in this town and
have lived here all my life.
We work.
We eat.
We sleep.
And after that,
we do it all some more.
But just to make sure nothing
exciting slips
through the cracks,
me and the boys,
we compare notes,
regularly.
[group chatter]
- That was a game,
that was a game.
- Another fucking Independence
Day on our hands, huh.
Feeling independent?
- It's too hot out
to be independent.
- Not if you just stay in
one place and don't move.
- Where else you gonna go
when you got it all right here?
- It's a no man's land
outside this town.
- That's the key,
Tully, stay here.
Just go nowhere.
- Cid, that's really
not quite the spirit.
[laughter]
- Am I missing
something, Chuckles?
Cause nothing I heard should
be bringing the house down.
- [Chuckles] It just so
happens that I have--
- [Cid] A healthy friendship
needs a caring sense of give
and take.
You can say what's on your mind,
and no one goes home angry.
Chuckles probably
knows that best.
These days, he's the
local apartment broker,
renting space to one and all.
- Look, don't say fire trap.
The word you're looking
for to describe this place
is palace.
Repeat that.
Palace.
- [Cid] Tully there,
he's working on some
business degree by day
while moonlighting
to pay his way.
- Alright, let me
get this straight.
You're gonna give
me an extra 50 bucks
if I finish this guy off
with a swinging neck breaker?
Count me in.
- [Cid] Our local
reverend over there,
Rev, takes tolls at
the Midtown Tunnel.
He dropped out of
the priesthood due to
personal habits
he could not kick.
- I love chicks.
And the times I've truly
felt the presence of God
was when I was rolling
around with a babe.
I need a drink.
- [Cid] And then
there's Eddie.
[laughter]
Sometimes I look at these guys
and I see the old
men they're gonna be,
sitting at the same table,
swigging the same beer
until they're carted away.
- Look, look, today,
you let everybody else
clear out of this town,
leaving the place to yourself.
- Nothing going on
outside this town anyway.
New York is tops.
- Yeah.
- I'll drink to that.
- But hey, these are
my pals, the boys
hanging together
through thick and thin
since grammar school,
day in, day out,
week after week,
year after year.
Currently in our
fourth decade together.
The way it ought to be.
[birds chirping]
The worst thing
about a July Fourth
is that there is a July fifth
clamoring right in after it.
No room to breathe.
Time to get your bearings,
especially when you're
trying to plant your flag
in this world.
I've always wanted to
get up in the morning
with a sense of purpose.
And these days, I think
I'm on to something.
Life as a bounty hunter
is very compelling.
Mr. Flynn, this is
Manhattan Electric and Gas.
You're bill of 129 dollars
is now three months due.
Cough up the dough
you little twerp.
Thanks so much.
Yeah that's right, 239
dollars and 91 cents
or we
shut down your business.
Yes, you owe 43 dollars.
Now I can send someone around
to kneecap you on Friday
if you're available.
Please, ma'am, I'm very busy.
No, it's a big job
lighting the world.
Yes, Mrs. Bernstein,
my name is El Cid Rivera.
Well yes of course.
Yeah, you were my ninth
grade science teacher.
Wow, I thought you were dead.
No, I guess I never did
turn in that lab report.
Momentum equals
mass times velocity.
So you're saying
you're not paying until
I hand it in.
I see your point ma'am.
It wasn't long before my
sense of dedication dwarfed
the mission at hand.
[upbeat music]
I've become what you
might call a journeyman,
applying my trade
wherever it's needed
and moving on when
the job is done.
But what would it be like
to be so good at one thing
that there's no question about
what to do with your life?
Like playing the saxophone or
figure skating.
I could deal with
the Ice Capades.
[speaking foreign language]
Hey fellas.
How you doing?
[speaking foreign language]
- Hey Cid.
[speaking foreign language]
Oh, that's right.
I forgot.
You don't speak Spanish.
[speaking foreign language]
I'll get it.
What can I get you?
- Actually, Jose, I just,
just want a cup of coffee.
- Cup of coffee,
coming right up.
[speaking foreign language]
You want milk with that?
- Yeah, please.
[speaking foreign language]
- [Cid] Some people
draw a lot of strength
from their ethnic heritage.
It's that important
sense of belonging.
My mother raised me
after we lost my father.
She spoke Spanish beautifully,
but with me, she'd
only speak English.
She was going to raise
a little American.
She said she wanted
me to succeed
and didn't want me
speaking with an accent.
[speaking foreign language]
When maybe the thing I need most
is a little accent.
- Come on, yeah, that's it.
You got it.
El Gringo's coming out.
That's it.
Alright man, it looks good,
looks good brother, it
looks really, really good.
[speaking foreign language]
- Hey, how about that
cup of coffee, you know?
[speaking foreign language]
- Take it.
- Yeah.
Thanks a lot fellas.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, wait a minute.
[speaking foreign language]
Dinero, remember.
- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry.
Here you go, Jose.
Just keep the change.
Split it amongst
yourselves, alright.
[speaking foreign language]
So long fellas.
[speaking foreign language]
- [Man] I can't
believe this man.
[group chatter]
- [Man] He's the best.
- Hey, what's up?
- Hey, Cid.
- How you doing?
- Look, I don't care
if the guy holds
a dick continental title belt,
he shouldn't go
busting your glasses.
- Look, I laid in
a couple of shots,
but then blackjack,
he whips me into the ring ropes
and bam, launches me skyward.
- It was beautiful.
- Where'd you land?
- [Tully] Third row.
Some fat guy and his fat family.
- Get to the punishing
finish, Tully.
- Alright, so anyway,
Blackjack, he's got to improvise
some final move, right.
- And creative genius he is--
- Smacks me over the
head with a metal chair.
- Hence the alterations
in the glasses.
- What a closer.
- Hey, Blackjack is a
very gifted individual.
[door slams]
- When you wrestling again?
- Um,
Friday night.
My pal Jumbo requesting me
for his title warmup match.
- Hello Chuckles,
Eddie.
- Hello, Geraldine.
- Tully,
Theodore.
- Rev, Officer
Fusco, Rev will do.
- I'll make a note
of that, Theodore.
- Why she gotta go and do that?
- Hey, Cid, you ever
notice that Fusco
never mentions your name
when she says hello?
- Oh she knows him alright.
- Who could forget?
- What's that supposed to mean?
- It just means that ever since
you punched Geraldine
Fusco in the mouth
in fourth grade,
she's not forgotten.
- It's like she's got a
score to settle or something.
- If I were you, I'd watch
your ass at all times.
No, no, she patrols
this neighborhood.
She's everywhere and nowhere
when you least expect it.
- Yeah, and she packs that
nine millimeter cannon
with a badge to back it up.
- You still think she
remembers the fourth grade?
- It's fresh.
Still very fresh.
- It wasn't that bad.
- It all started with
one very specific
dodge ball incident.
- Yeah, could we change
the subject please?
- [Rev] Yeah, yeah, let it be.
- No, she had to rub it in.
- No, no, drop it man.
- No, no, go on laughing boy.
Let's hear it.
- Well, Fusco struts up to Cid
and get this,
she says how you gonna
play when no one wants you
on their fucking team?
[laughter]
- Yeah, well she
was the first one
to use the word "fucking"
in a complete sentence.
- No one wants you on
their fucking team.
- Yeah, I'd a punched
her lights out.
- I saw red and I swung.
I swung on her.
And the next thing I know,
I'm fist deep in molars.
- Cid,
I was wrong.
There's no way she's
gotten over that.
- Hey, which tooth was it?
- Lower lateral incisor.
- Oh geeze.
Not that one.
- Cid, you got Geraldine
Fusco on your ass,
in perpetuity.
PS 109's greatest
dodge ball player ever.
- Track and field star.
- Olympic hopeful.
- Now she's bigger, faster,
stronger,
shaped by an elite law
enforcement agency,
fueled by a blood
thirsty need for revenge.
- [Chuckles] You are dead, Cid.
- [Eddie] Dead meat, pal.
- It was the fourth grade.
- Sure, that's
the way to play it
when you're being stalked
by a killing machine.
- You are dead, Cid.
- Yeah, I think we
covered that Chuckles.
- [Tully] Poor bastard.
- Yeah.
I'd be lying if I said
I enjoy being stalked.
Why the hell didn't
my parents teach me
to stand up to this shit?
My father kicked the bucket,
and my mother dies too early,
and all I get is
the name, El Cid.
El Cid Rivera.
But how can I blame
my mother for it,
especially when it's
Charlton Heston's fault.
- [Mama] My Cid,
Charlton is a beautiful man.
A man who's been Michelangelo,
John the Baptist,
Ben Hur,
and Moses.
- [Cid] Yeah, well,
Charlton finally had to go
and give her an epic hero
with a Spanish name.
1961, the big screen,
El Cid, the champion of Spain.
El Cid, [speaking
foreign language].
Charlton wouldn't put up
with a Geraldine Fusco.
He'd go biblical and
kick ass in sandals.
Why this name, mama?
Charlton's a god
damned epic hero.
He united Spain
for Christ's sake.
How the fuck am I supposed
to compete with that?
- [Mama] Watch your
tongue, my son.
Make mama proud
and concentrate on succeeding.
- [Cid] I can't, mama.
It's too late to be succeeding.
There's no one to triumph
over at this hour.
- [Mama] Then get
up bright and early
and begin succeeding my Cid.
- [Cid] I'll try mama.
[soft music]
- So what's up with
Cid these days?
- Probably drank some
bad hops or something.
He'll work it out on the road.
[soft music]
- You ask me, he's
better off going to bed.
- Nah, miles to go
before he sleeps.
- [Cid] My name
is El Cid Rivera,
and nighttime's my
favorite time of day.
At this hour, the
streets are your own,
waiting for you to take them
and make them into something.
[soft music]
- New York at night,
it's the best time of all.
It's when a blanket of
sleep falls over this city.
I mean New York rejoins
the planet at night,
reclaimed by nature,
this city's rush hour pulse
turns to normal.
Now by day, this
city's all revved up.
It's a marching
band on the wack,
blaring and wailing,
a crush of sound and motion.
But by night, the
bands gone home,
confused and tuckered out.
There's an opening up
in the streets again.
And you know while
most people sleep,
tucked away between
comfy sheets,
we the nomads take
command of the streets.
Our tribe of nocturnal drifters
ride in this wide open city.
- What do they call us?
Not many people know we exist.
- Asphalt nomads.
That's what I call us.
- Asphalt nomads.
Blacktop rovers.
- Peggy Fleming.
I call us Peggy Fleming.
- You can't just send
in box tops to join,
you gotta keep something
this personal quite,
otherwise everybody wants in
and before you know it,
it's armature hour.
- Peggy Fleming.
- There's no secret hand
shake or grand poo bah,
you just put in here
every once in a while,
catch up with friends,
be yourself.
We call it the Oasis.
- You're standing in it.
It's like a pit stop.
The Oasis.
- It's the one fixed point.
It's the one port
of call for a nomad.
It's where paths,
stories crisscross
in a night of a
thousand journeys.
- You have over
5,000 miles of road
in the five boroughs
of New York City.
That is a lot of
country to cover.
- 900 miles of road
in Manhattan alone.
900 miles.
Why the hell you gonna
go driving cross country?
You never have to
leave this island.
- Peggy Fleming.
- This ain't your
Hell's Angels or
lady's garden club.
Just by looking at the way
someone handles
themselves on the road,
you know who belongs.
[soft music]
- Hey, hey, Chuckles.
- Oh, hey, thanks
for meeting me.
- Yeah.
- How do I explain this?
You know how I spent
all my time downtown?
- Yeah.
- I always say that
downtown's where it's at.
It's a total wasteland uptown.
- Yeah.
- Well there's this movie
playing on 19th Street.
- Sounds good.
- No, it's not good.
It's not good at all.
You see, to get there I have to,
- What?
- I've never crossed 14th Street
in my life.
- [Cid] Wow.
Your own personal Berlin Wall.
- Let's face it Cid,
the world ends
above 14th Street,
until now.
- Until this movie.
Come on, it'll be easy.
- We're talking about
14th Street here man.
Big dividing line
on this island.
I cross this border,
and I'm breaking
all my own rules.
- Hey, you got your
ideals to uphold.
- I got a movie to see.
- I'll make the
crossing with you.
- Okay,
you gotta shield
me along the way
so that no one spots me.
- Stand beside me man.
We are going to
make the crossing.
[slow suspenseful music]
- Hey didn't you hear
me, you gotta shadow me.
- This is it.
We got a meeting
on the other side.
- Hey, slow down.
- Spare me your lip man.
- Easy.
Easy.
[horns honking]
Easy.
- Use your fear.
use your fear.
- Easy.
- Surging.
Hug the wall, hug the wall.
- What are you doing?
- Stay with me.
Stay with me, move, move, move.
The glorious must not rest
upon the laurels of
their achievements.
- Let go of my arm you jerk.
- Oh hey, come on.
- I'm sure I've been spotted.
- Oh no, no, it's
only a small crowd.
Come on, this is gonna
bring us closer together,
you watch.
- Jerk.
[slow rock music]
- [Tully] Big day at work pal?
- The biggest.
- [Tully] You still
at the stake pit?
- Jack's Steak Pit.
- How long have you been there?
- Three days tops.
- No, I'm deep into my fifth.
It's called commitment.
You should try it sometime.
- Ooh.
- You work the grill.
- No, see that's how it
would look to you, Edward.
But it's not your fault.
When I signed on at Jack's,
I saw beyond the grill.
- You're standing at the grill.
- No, I've completely
redefined the position, Tully.
- To what?
- Keeper
of the flame.
No, I've chosen to work
with the earth's
most basic elements,
wind, water,
meat and fire.
Fire providing light and
warmth to earliest man.
Fire, which consumed Joan of Ark
and gutted Little
Pete Topless in 1985.
- Little Pete, the poor bastard.
- Now it's my turn to
keep the flames in check
because somewhere between
the slabs of T-bone
and the chopped chuck
hides that dancing flicker
that aims to take
the whole place down.
- Cid, Cid,
crank the fucking flame down.
You're turning good meat
into hockey pucks man.
- Hey, I am harnessing flames
for the good of people,
but you turn your
back on 'em Jack.
- I ain't Jack!
The name's Stanley.
- What happened to Jack?
- Look, keep the dance low
and cut the Smokey
the Bear shit.
- Alright.
The man is obviously not
in tune with my mission.
- Nor could you
expect him to be.
- Get back.
The meat has got to breathe.
Back, damn you.
I am the master.
- Hey, hey, hey.
Hey, cut that shit out.
- I had to show the
flames who was boss,
establish respect
from the get go.
But I promise you next time--
- No, no, no, no.
There won't be a next time.
I'm busting your ass down to
salad bar.
- Oh man.
- Stay off the ladder.
Stay away from the
fire extinguisher.
- Yeah, what if the
flames get out of control?
- No, no, no, no, no, no,
if a fire breaks out,
you grab the lettuce
and haul ass out with me.
You got that loco?
- Yeah.
It's a setback.
It's nothing I can't handle.
- Sounds like they took you
out of the play all together.
- Not before I saw the light.
They can't take that from me.
Staring deep into the flames,
I connected with the fire
that roars deep inside myself
and I received my
marching orders.
- To do what?
- I'm joining the
fire department.
- The fire department?
- A union job is good.
- Yeah.
- You know how long it takes
to get into the fire department?
- Yeah, I stand ready, Chuckles.
Yesterday I actually
applied for the exams.
- Pray for a fat envelope.
- [Cid] A what?
- A fat envelope.
My cousin did it.
At the end, they
send you an envelope,
thin one says sorry sap,
you're rejected.
Fat one means
they're sending you
the join the club booklets.
- Don't worry about envelopes.
- Hey, it's not like we're
not supportive or anything,
it's just--
- Nah, it's just the day is
let's be Surgeon General day,
tomorrow's French
Foreign Legion day,
and Friday,
Friday is Fireman day.
- Why wait until Friday.
To El Cid,
the keeper of the flame.
- Yeah.
- I don't know about you,
I'm just stretching my arm.
[slow music]
- What does a nomad drive?
Something that hugs
a lane and a half,
guaranteeing a
lions share respect.
- A car with heft.
Anything that
weighs several tons.
- The cabbies
bounce right off it.
Drives them crazy.
But what the cabbies gonna do?
You gonna need the coast
guard to haul me in.
- There what the
uncultured laymen
might call a boat.
Say from the early to mid 70s,
the LTD,
the Marquis.
- You got your basic
Lincoln Mark four,
or any of the early 70s
continentals for that matter.
- Buick Lesaber,
the Electra 225,
the big cars.
The kind that say
I may not know where I'm going,
but you better
believe I'm on my way.
- The Regency.
The Cutlass.
The Olds 88.
- These glorious tubs
are chariots, I tell ya.
A symbol of the last time
America was truly free.
- It's a kind of car
that a 30 miles an hour,
you can take out
a telephone pole
without spilling your coffee.
- I tell you what, why don't
we split the difference.
We'll call 12:15.
- That's a good point.
Hey, we should give Cid a call.
- Let it be.
[inaudible] out there
driving around in circles.
[laughter]
- Lay off, that's his thing.
[laughter]
[soft music]
- What do you want
to know about El Cid?
- Rivera?
He's one of the greats.
- Cid River's got a
few head problems.
But it doesn't seem
to effect his driving.
- I love Cid,
but I hear he doesn't
speak Spanish.
What's up with that?
How are you gonna express
your passion to me?
- That Cid guy,
he ain't so hot.
He's a punk.
[speaking foreign language]
It's his car that makes
that guy anything.
I should know,
I sold it to him.
- I have no idea what
he does during the day,
but it's got to be something
big, all that talent.
[upbeat music]
[traffic rumbling]
[group chatter]
- [Cid] Gotta stay in the open.
- For to be a--
- [Cid] She can't take me
out if there are witnesses.
Play it cool.
Stay very cool.
Alright, fuck cool.
Run like hell.
- Well Rev, that's cause
we haven't done enough
grooming together lately.
Tonight, I was in the
thick of a dynamite lather,
making love to the
much overlooked scalp.
[laughter]
Creamer, conditioner,
and bring it on home
with a towel dry.
- Wow.
- Cleanliness is
next to godliness.
[soft music]
Is that right, Tully?
You like rolling
around with fat guys
in spangled tights?
- Hey, hey, hey, hey.
I'm part of a very proud
sporting tradition.
Playing high school gyms
and run down armories
with cigar chomping,
beer guzzling,
thugs at ringside.
- Tell 'em Tully.
- Am I rolling at all?
Wrestlers come to me
to improve their records.
You see I'm the booster.
I send contenders to the top.
Nothing like it.
The beauty of 300
pound bodies soaring
high in the air,
colliding,
without a scratch.
Huge bodies
never meant to fly
spinning like ballerinas.
- [Mama] Cid, El Cid.
- [Cid] Yes mama.
- [Mama] El Cid,
are you succeeding?
- Dammit mama,
you made me miss a light.
I'm on the trail
of a perfect ride
and you go block my flow.
- [Mama] You can flow
tomorrow, my precious one.
How are you going
to make mama proud
with your ass
planted in that car?
- I'm just relaxing out here.
- [Mama] When are
you going to become
mama's little lawyer?
- Mama, the world isn't
the way you remember it.
Everyone hates lawyers today.
- [Mama] But you are my Cid.
People will love when you
because a Supreme Court Justice.
- Yeah, I'll get right
on that tomorrow.
- I like your idea about
being a booster, Tully.
I'm kind of a booster myself.
- Oh, geeze.
- Hey, I actively
support this community
by settling good people
in our humble town.
- Now look, I'm not
renting this fire trap.
It's a goddamn hole.
- Everybody's got a place
in this town cause of me.
I keep things flowing.
- Flow.
You're gonna talk about flow.
- [Chuckles] That's just
what transpired, Rev.
- Well it's just that
I'm the holy man of flow.
- Yeah, flowed right
out of the priesthood.
[laughter]
- And into a tollbooth
where I belong.
I was called to take tolls at
the Queens' Midtown Tunnel.
- One of God's more
mysterious plans, huh.
- Almost biblical, Eddie,
cause now I'm the gate keeper.
I mean let the priest
help the faithful
in the gates of Heaven.
If you want in in this town,
you come to me
and you pay the price.
If I don't deem you worthy,
I pull the alarm,
like you're trying
to beat the toll
and the cops swarm
all over your ass,
tying you up in bullshit.
Meanwhile, I take a powder
and a very well
timed coffee break.
- Wow.
[soft music]
- [Cid] Block after block
after neighborhood
after mile in search
of the perfect ride,
keeping my sweeps wide,
keeping my turns tight,
hoping to come
around fast enough
so that I might catch
a glimpse of myself.
- Do you know what
it's like to float
to Third Avenue at
seven miles an hour?
To own Fifth Avenue?
To take Sixth Avenue
and all its six lane glory,
massaging blacktop
that's usually
choked by traffic.
- Graceful moves,
floating arcs,
rolling through this town
like a magic carpet.
- Going nowhere fast.
- Just going.
- Just getting out and going.
The sheer power
of going.
- Never getting lost.
Hey, you're bounded by rivers.
You can only go so far
before you hit water.
- Midnight to 5:30.
- I have to let him in,
but before Good Morning America.
- Late at night
when midnight strikes.
It's when the nomads
take back the city,
blazing trails
and making waves and
leaving behind a chain
city in our wake.
[slow music]
- You know--
[suspenseful music]
Whoa.
[suspenseful music]
Okay, okay, say you got me.
You got me.
Sure, more than 22
years have passed
since I assaulted you
on the playground,
but you know,
a tooth's a tooth.
So go ahead.
Apply excessive force
or whatever's evoked
down at the station house.
Wield your sword of justice.
Take it to me, woman.
Mend my ways.
Hello up there.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, could we get the
beating underway, please?
- Well I'm not sure what to do.
- Well, they must have covered
this down at the academy.
I mean--
- It's just that I've been
waiting for this moment
for so long, I,
I never imagined--
- Imagined what?
- I never thought about
what I'd actually do
when I got to it.
- Okay.
How about we,
we skip the bruising and
we move straight into some
low intensity shoving?
- Would you like to
go to dinner sometime?
- Ah,
I'm gonna repeat what
I just heard, because--
- I'm asking you if you'd
like to go to dinner.
- Sure, why not.
- Oh that's great.
That's really great.
- You're not pissed
about the tooth?
- Not as much anymore.
- Oh good, that's a
weight off my shoulders.
- Wow.
This really does feel good.
- Yeah, everything
out in the open.
- And speaking your feelings.
- So when you want
to get together?
- How about Friday night?
You know that I've liked
you for such a long time,
I just
didn't know how to show you.
- Here we are.
- You always had that cute
wayward look about you.
- I bet you say that
to all your callers.
- So, Friday night.
[jazzy music]
- [Cid] My name
is El Cid Rivera.
Today will be different.
Today I am dressed for success.
Clad in the footwear
of champions,
I will walk the
walk of Charlton,
endorsed by Moses,
torture tested by Ben Hur,
these babies send a message.
I will show all
that I am serious.
Big things happen
in these shoes.
[traffic rumbling]
[group chatter]
- Okay, one more.
- One more,
on the floor.
On the floor.
- Oh, that's mine.
That's my scene.
If I can keep working my moves,
then I'm happy.
- You just keep doing
what your doing.
- That's right.
- And that's enough.
- Oh, come on, Cid.
Nothing's ever enough
for you, is it?
- No, it's not.
- [Eddie] What the
hell is it you want?
- I want to feel like
I'm part of something
bigger than myself.
- [Tully] So join something.
- Join where, Tully?
All the big causes
have already happened.
- Hey, keep hanging out with us
and you'll make history, eh.
- How are we making
history here?
- I think you're
struggling too hard.
- Cid,
there's no room today
for the epic hero.
Epic gets in the way.
Now you go to pull some
miracle on 14th Street,
you'll tie up traffic,
fuck up the whole city.
[laughter]
- Clearly you guys
don't understand.
- Hey,
the greats are
always misunderstood.
- Yeah.
- Hey, see you tomorrow night.
- Same time,
same place,
same pals.
- Give me the quarter.
- Right, reverential one,
here you go.
- Let me see that one.
[slow jazzy music]
- [Cid] When all else fails,
count on gravity.
Once you're on the floor,
you can't fall any further.
Things get to be
too much up there,
take the hit,
hit the deck.
And when the dust clears,
you try getting to your knees.
You make your stand again.
On the floor, it's
only up from here.
- Hey Cid,
I came as fast as I could.
- Really, thanks for meeting me.
- Hey, you were there for
me on 14th Street, you know.
Not that you helped much,
but you were there.
- Chuckles, I've come
to a very important decision,
but I have to know
that I can trust you.
- Who else you gonna trust?
- I've decided that I must lead.
- You don't have
to go anywhere pal.
- No, lead.
I must lead.
But before I do, I must
ask a special favor.
- Yes, my Cid.
- If I should die,
these are my writings.
- Hey, I didn't know you wrote.
You talked about
writing, but I never
figured you'd do
anything about it.
- No, no I write,
you know, when I have
something to say,
I write.
- Okay.
- If I should die,
take the word to my people.
- Who are your people?
- I don't know.
- Huh.
- And they don't know either.
My people are called
those who don't know,
and they know who they are.
- What's this again?
- My writings,
my tome,
the word.
[laughter]
- The word?
- Laugh not chuckling one.
If I should not return
safely to my home tonight,
you must take the word
and bring it to my people
and let them carry on.
Bankers who don't want to bank,
but do.
Software engineers who
want to design cities,
but don't.
Old timers
tortured by
opportunities not seized.
Waiters wanting out.
Temps seeking permanence.
These are people wanting change
but they know not
where or how to do it.
These are my people.
- All this is in here?
- It will be,
as soon as I know what to say.
Don't rush me, Chuckles.
- I better get going.
My beeper just went off, and I--
- You don't carry a beeper.
- No, I do now.
- Oh well then, off you go.
- Yes, my Cid.
[soft music]
- [Cid] Geraldine Fusco,
what a babe.
At first glance,
a volatile girl with
the stopping power
of a small battalion.
But now, now she's
just so much more
than a terminator to me.
My sweet Geraldine,
she wakes up in the morning
and knows exactly which
way she's heading.
Sturdy steel shanked boots,
thighs of an olympian
sheathed in a striking
poly cotton blend.
And check out the chest,
the arms all at once
capable of a loving embrace,
or a crippling submission hold.
And oh, that angel's face.
All with a smile that
bathes you in light
and reassures you it's not you
she'll be tossing into
the back of the squad car.
And every man's dream,
a woman with a bat utility belt.
Imagine the adventures.
This relationship could
have real possibilities.
- [Eddie] Dipping and dodging.
- Dipping and dodging,
right Chuckles?
[laughter]
- Yeah, right.
Dipping and dodging.
I know what dipping
and dodging is.
- [Rev] You know what it is?
- [Chuckles] I've always known.
- Boys.
I've been thinking.
- And what's that?
- Well I'd kind of
like to switch chairs.
- Now why would you want
to do a thing like that?
- Well, it'd shake up
the perspective a little.
Well Chuckles here,
he's got the perfect
view of the windows.
And Rev, he gets the
chicks at the door.
And me, I'm tired
of looking at our
ravaging barkeep, Leo.
- Now you're mine.
- Look, Tully,
that's all fine and good, but a,
this is the way it's been
for years.
- I vote no.
- Look, Tully, people are
accustomed to seeing me
in this chair.
Now if we suddenly change seats,
they may see you,
which could upset them.
I don't want those people upset.
- So stay where you are, Edward.
Maybe me and
Chuckles can switch.
Hey Chuckles,
you'd like it over here.
- Fat chance.
Look Tully,
you just don't go swapping--
- [Cid] It's funny, isn't it?
Romance blossoms in ways
you never see coming.
Me and Geraldine,
our courtship was
fast and furious.
We could while away the hours,
reliving the magic of our
first romantic encounters.
Day by day, our feelings grew.
She loved it when
I resisted arrest.
She loved it even more
when I watched her in action.
- Book 'em honey.
- I said spread 'em, fuckwad.
So, are we still on
for Wednesday night?
- You got it baby.
My Geraldine was alive.
By day, she walked a
world of heightened drama.
By night, officer Fusco
took my world by storm.
We could talk about
anything from sex
to capital punishment,
to troop strength
in Latin America.
I had dreams.
She had dreams.
I'd like to lead a nation or
join the fire department,
be a figure skater.
- Ever since I
was a little girl,
I've always dreamed of
becoming a Texas Ranger.
Oh, you got to be one
tough bitch for that.
- That's so nice.
The fact was, we connected.
She knew where the
lines were drawn and I,
I have always been
a big fan of lines.
- So you want me to
start it up killer?
Is that what you want?
- Yeah, baby, that'd be great.
And my Geraldine,
only my tender Geraldine,
could turn the Miranda
into a passionate act of love.
- You have the right
to remain silent.
Anything you say,
see,
and feel
can and will be
held against you.
[soft music]
- [Cid] That was order
in the world again.
I was dating the rule book.
And it's name was
Geraldine Fusco.
- You just don't go
swapping seats.
- What we got here is kind
of like Meet the Press.
You don't see them
swapping seats.
- Isn't that right Cid?
- Oh you got it baby.
[soft music]
- Ray's the night.
And at night,
Ray holds sway.
By day, my time is their time,
boss bitching at me,
family riding my ass,
pressures that would
kill the ordinary mortal.
But at night,
it's Ray's road.
And I will this car
like a sword,
slicing through the
night with a steady hand.
Oh come closer taxi cab,
I beckon thee.
Cross my path so I may
broadside thee.
Feel my girth.
Taste my essence.
Back the fuck off
cause it's Ray's road tonight.
And I'll release it
as fast as I can
pump the accelerator
and make higher ground.
It's all so
Ray.
- [Mama] Cid, El Cid.
- [Cid] Yes mama.
- [Mama] Are you
ready to talk now?
- [Cid] Yes mama.
- [Mama] El Cid,
are you succeeding?
- [Cid] I'm trying mama.
- [Mama] Is this why
I slaved day and night
so that you could become some
night riding [speaking
foreign language]?
[speaking foreign language]
Clown.
Night riding clown.
Repeat that back for mama.
- Mama.
- [Mama] Yes, my beautiful one.
- I can't do this now.
I'm gonna crash the car.
- [Mama] Well,
you go park it and
I'll come back.
- Whatever, mama.
While all was not perfect
on the career front,
I was learning to
strike a balance.
Life with Geraldine was
getting better and better.
She helped me get in
touch with my feelings,
and she was right there
to help me sort them out.
- Who is in charge?
- Come on, lay off.
- Answer the question.
Who's in control?
- Would you get the hell off.
I run the show, dammit.
- Wrong answer, fuckwad.
Now, I want to hear your
true feelings for me.
- Get the fuck off me, Fusco.
- Who do you love?
- You're breaking my arm, Fusco.
- I'll snap it
right off, Rivera.
Now who's in love?
- You gotta be fucking kidding.
- Do you see me smiling, boy?
Huh?
So say it.
Love, right.
Love.
- Alright, alright,
I have feelings and
I call it like.
- You what?
- I'm in like with
you, you know.
We got a really strong
like on our hands, pookey.
- It's a tough world out there,
and you and I are not
gonna make it on like.
So say it.
Love.
- I've never felt like
like this before.
- Alright.
That'll do for now.
You're free to go.
- It's my fucking place.
- Okay, at ease then.
Look, sometimes I get caught
up in the heat of the moment.
My adrenaline starts pumping
and boom, my head explodes.
It's got to be the
academy training.
- What we got is
special, Geraldine.
[soft music]
With every moment,
I believed even
more strongly in us.
Here was a woman willing
to fight for love.
And I, El Cid Rivera,
was part of the struggle.
- The streaming of
light and sound,
she goes and goes
like a river flows,
like the mighty Mississippi.
Broadway's a river,
as great as any of
the American greats.
The Hudson, the Ohio,
the Colorado,
flowing down Manhattan Island,
landing at the battery,
emptying to the sea.
This mighty river of black top
transverses this
phrenetic strip of rock,
a giant brace for a city
that might
otherwise spin out of control,
fed by tributaries,
feeding neighborhoods,
connecting all.
Broadway is the mighty carrier
rolling through the
plains of Harlem
and the canyons of Midtown
down through the un-tamable
lands of Greenwich Village.
Broadway,
carrying the city on it's back,
dropping off,
picking up,
breathing in and
out at it's banks.
If asked,
I'd say that I
like Broadway best
in the thick of night
when it's waters are darkest,
blacktop beckoning,
opening up wide and
promising mysteries.
I answer the call.
I push off.
And I pilot my Grand
Marquis downstream.
I steer but
in its grip,
I surrender to the current,
riding high,
letting go.
And it's goes
and goes.
Broadway.
Mighty as the Mississippi,
mysterious as the Nile
and hallowed as the Ganges.
Keeper of the nomad faith,
lifeblood of the perfect ride.
- Clear.
Yes,
all clear.
[traffic rushing]
[slow jazzy music]
- You keep saying
that word fire trap,
and it's really
beginning to bug me.
- [Cid] Your runway,
increase throttle.
- The work of God is this,
to believe in the
one he has sent.
Enter my gates.
- Ready.
Oh yes.
Prepare for takeoff.
- Oh yeah.
Love it.
Love the do.
[upbeat music]
We're breaking out,
we're lifting off.
[wind blowing]
[metal crashing]
[knock on door]
It's open, come on in.
- I'm not bothering you, am I?
- No, no, no, definitely not.
[laughter]
- Cid, I just had
to talk to you.
I can't believe it.
I can't believe all
this is happening to me.
- Yeah, well I'm happy too.
You shout it to the world.
We're an item pookey.
- That too.
But what I'm talking
about is this letter.
It just came in the mail today.
- Well the postal service
is wonderful, honey.
It's something we
should all be proud of.
- Cid.
I've been accepted.
- Accepted to what?
- I am going to be
a Texas Ranger.
- A Texas Ranger?
How you gonna pull
that off from here?
- You knucklehead,
I'm gonna be a Texas Ranger
in Texas.
I've had the application
in for over two years.
- I thought you were just
talking about your dream.
- Yeah, but why talk
about it when I can do it?
- Because talking's enough.
There's less chance
of getting injured.
- Oh Cid,
when I first started
to think about Texas--
- [Cid] This isn't happening.
I'm alone again.
I'm facing the
world alone again.
Man does this suck.
- But think about it Cid.
Me in Texas bagging
chain saw murderers.
- God, how can she
throw away what we have?
Alright, steady now.
Steady.
Just check to see if she's
still using that word leaving.
- Do you know they don't wait?
So I'll be leaving next Tuesday.
- Oh God Dammit! There it is.
- I know this is sudden
and it's really
gonna be hard for me
to say goodbye to you, but--
- Oh just wrap it up,
wrap it up baby,
you're ruining my life.
Oh, she's got to stop
talking sometime,
her mouth is just
gonna seize up.
- So, I've got to.
- Oh goddammit,
please don't say it.
Please don't say it.
- I mean, I've got to.
- Incoming boy, take cover.
- Cid, we've got
to break it off.
- [Cid] Oh goddammit,
there it is.
This is not happening.
She's, she's emotional.
She's deranged.
- Wow.
You're so composed.
Obviously, this
isn't effecting you
like it's hurting me.
- [Cid] Just pray for
the building to collapse.
A year in traction
will bring her around.
- Man, I'm beat.
I think I'm gonna
be heading home.
- This isn't happening.
- You know,
you've helped me.
You've shown me that it's
okay to go after what I want.
- [Cid] Oh lips, man,
move you're goddamned lips.
Show her you're still alive.
- Bye Cid.
[somber music]
- Hey, um,
if I let you chase
me down the block,
would you stay?
- You are gonna make some woman
really happy.
- Goodbye Fusco.
She loved the
thrill of the chase.
She caught me, made me confess.
And once she had me,
the thrill was gone.
Anyone at the precinct
could have told me.
Fusco always gets her man.
- Come on Cid,
what's the point?
- I'm jumping.
I gotta jump.
There's no other way.
- Why's he gotta jump?
- He hasn't said.
- Hey Cid,
why you gotta jump?
- Geraldine.
- I thought the
stalking was over?
- Yeah, that ended Tully,
but so did the love.
- I didn't hear about the love.
- We gotta get some
experts on the scene.
- Good idea,
you keep talking to him,
I'll get some help.
- Hey Cid,
you've always been
there to help me.
Why don't you get the fuck down
so you can help me some more.
- Yeah Chuckles, how
have I helped you?
- Remember 14th Street?
You were there for me when I
needed to make the crossing.
- Oh come on.
It was your big moment,
you wanted to keep it low key.
I turned it into a circus.
- Maybe you should
take the leap.
- And then there was that
time in seventh grade when
I set your hair on fire.
- Definitely jump, you fuck.
- What the hell's going on here?
- She left me to
become a Texas Ranger.
She was my pillar.
She was my calm in the storm.
- So you're gonna jump?
- Yeah, that's right.
I'm gonna jump.
I'm gonna jump.
I m gonna taste life
hanging in the balance.
- Charlton Heston
would not be up there.
- Oh you leave him out of this.
- Fuck it.
Go ahead and jump.
- Ignore this man.
- Go higher.
A few more floors up,
then jump.
- Silence.
- Yeah, how will you
know the difference
if you never make a move?
- Eddie, this is nowhere to go.
- It's the only way.
Make the jump, Cid.
Make it dramatic and push
off like you want it.
And pull a jackknife
with a double twist.
Own it.
- Eddie, I gotta tell you
about what happened
Thursday night.
- Alright, now's the time.
Tell me now.
- Okay.
Okay.
A man in the
tollbooth right on me,
and I'm pushing him through.
I'm making change
when all of a sudden
this beautiful blonde pulls up.
Bang, I cut her loose.
Next up, dynamite redhead.
She's winking.
She's smiling.
She's doing everything
but marry me.
[birds chirping]
- Oh Fusco.
You were supposed to save me.
Whoa.
[soft music]
- How you supposed
to strike a balance
in this goddamned world?
You got a job, a family.
You work your ass off.
Then you have it reattached
and you work it off again.
You feel trapped,
you poor bastard.
You once had the
backbone and the legs
to get the fuck out.
But escaping is too easy.
I say keep the normal life.
Trim your hedges.
Recycle your aluminum.
Win the bread.
You gotta eat, right?
But if you feel
like blowing town,
don't.
Blow in town.
Blow all around town.
Get inside your ship of steel
and open the fucker up.
Make your jailbreak every
day until the sun goes down
and go man, go.
Cause a life of the
Asphalt Nomads
says you can roam,
you can be free,
and still be home in time
for breakfast with the kids.
- Hey, hey.
Ray, what's going on?
- Hey, my Cid.
Say man, you mind if I
ride with you tonight?
My car's out of commission.
- Yeah, hop in.
- So how's the driving been?
- Nice and quite.
- Yeah, well that's
the way it aught to be.
- What happened to your car man?
- Yeah, well man it's like this.
You know, I'm gliding up
8th Avenue the other night,
you know, riding oh
so high on the hog.
And then I swerved
off course a little,
you know, jumped the curb
and bam, buried the fucker
deep inside a newsstand.
Boom.
Took the whole shack down.
Now I was setting up for
an easy double Hudson,
and the next thing I know,
oh Red's plowing his
way into the headlines.
- Jesus Christ.
- You know, it's a true pleasure
to watch you at the wheel.
- I'm just steering, two hands.
- No, no, that's bullshit.
Hey, you'll find your pocket
and float your boat.
It's automatic.
- I do that?
- [Ray] Yes you do.
- Yeah, well you should see
some of the other nomads.
- No, fuck that and
take the compliment man.
What you got is gold.
Gold.
[laughter]
Oh man, this boat
rides so damn smooth.
[soft music]
Damn, what a move.
Hey, you put it on slow release
and then bam, we're in the
thick of a triple axle.
- Yeah, that's one
of my favorites.
[laughter]
- Expect nothing
less from El Cid.
You know only a few have
even tried a flying Melinda.
Anybody ever watch you do it?
- Yeah, I don't
think anybody cares.
- No, no, save the
modesty bullshit.
Now I need to know.
I mean now that I'm riding
in your inner sanctum.
Give me the scoop on
that Rivera magic.
- Come on.
- No, no, come on now
you can't hold out on me.
This is Ray, okay.
Ray.
- What, you really want to know?
- [Ray] I want to know.
- You're not ready.
- Yes I am, I'm ready.
- Ballet slippers.
- What you say?
- Ballet slippers on my
feet to work the pedals.
- That's bullshit.
- No, no, look in the
glove compartment.
- No fucking way.
[laughter]
Well shit.
I'm riding with
Ball shore Rivera.
- Light on the touch,
light on the pedals.
Now I'm floating into
a smooth stretch,
I slip them on,
tickle the pedals.
I can turn this boat around
like a trained dolphin.
- Man you are one
different motherfucker.
[laughter]
Hey y'all,
this is El Cid Rivera
behind the wheel.
Yeah, El Cid
[speaking foreign language]
Take notice motherfuckers.
[laughter]
[soft music]
You know Cid, you got
all of this going on
and you still running
around this town
trying to find your thing.
- I'm just sweeping
the grid here.
- Yeah, but you take a
corner like you hoping
to arrive somewhere.
- No, there's no harm
in looking for a sign.
- The sign is here dammit.
When you feel the pull
of a five lane sweep.
When you hurdle through space,
cradling the natural forces,
you're in the thick of it baby.
Well take your throne
behind the wheel, El Cid.
Inherit what's yours man.
Own it.
Look, drop me off
at the next corner.
Big Red's gotta
get his beauty rest
before work starts.
- [Cid] It was good
seeing you Ray.
- You go ahead and
take it lightly, Cid.
But you get back
out on that road
and you feel it for
even an instant,
then you tell me I'm lying.
[slow jazzy music]
- [Cid] My name
is El Cid Rivera.
Today I am 33 years old.
Since I landed on this earth,
the world has made
12,045 rotations
and completed 33
total revolutions,
and I'm still standing still.
- [Tully] I think
I wrestled him.
[laughter]
- No.
I don't think you wrestled
flesh eating disease
or you wouldn't
be here right now.
- That's a real name
of some wrestler guy?
- Flesh Eating Disease.
- Is he big?
- Yeah, he's big, he's huge.
- He's not as big
as he was, though.
- Hey, hey, hey, hey.
- Hey Eddie.
- Hey, happy birthday,
El Cid Rivera.
Did you think we'd forget?
- Oh no, all the
hoopla gave it away.
- [Tully] Well let's get the
festivities underway, Edward.
Take your seat.
- I would, but then I
wouldn't be able to bring in
a very special surprise guest.
- How about some good news?
- [Eddie] You could say that.
- Some good news from
the fire academy,
maybe hand delivered?
- It's gotta be
the fat envelope.
Fat envelope says you're
gonna be a fireman, baby.
- Better than that.
Come on, pal.
Who'd you like to meet most?
- Holy shit.
You've really come through.
- Oh don't tell me you got--
- You brought Heston to the bar?
- Oh god, dear god.
- Well,
no.
But almost as good.
El Cid Rivera,
celebrating 33 years
since your official
launch from the womb,
meet the one,
the only,
Ralphie Dodd.
- This is it?
- This is it.
- So who's the birthday boy?
Happy birthday.
Hey, somebody
bring me a bourbon.
- Funny, you don't look
like Charlton Heston.
- It's Ralphie Dodd.
- What's a Ralphie Dobs?
- I tried to get Heston,
but his personal
secretary suggested
that Cid get a life of his own.
- Is somebody
getting me a bourbon?
- I never dreamed I'd
be meeting Ralphie Dodd.
- Who the hell is Ralphie Dodd?
- Come on, Cid.
Ever heard of a little
film called Ben Hur?
- Faint recollection.
- [Eddie] Remember the
great chariot race?
- Only one of the
greatest moments
in silver screen history.
- Ralphie Dodd,
you directed Ben Hur?
- No.
Ralphie here is the
guy who actually
painted the wheels
on Ben Hur's chariot.
- In the flesh.
[laughter]
- Well, well, pull
up a chair, Ralphie.
- No, no, no, Tully, do not
mock this man,
for he is the genuine article.
He has walked
amongst the sacred.
He has tasted from the cup.
- Where the fuck is my bourbon?
- [Barkeep] Here's your bourbon.
- [Eddie] Alright,
let's kick off this
joyous celebration.
- I don't know where to begin.
- Hey, hey, look champ.
I mean no offense, but
you strike me as
kind of a fruitcake.
Hey Eddie,
I don't know how safe it is
sitting next to this guy.
- No, Ralphie, stay.
Make it special.
- Well now they say that you
served alongside the
man called Heston.
Now you heard his words,
you saw him in action.
- Hey, hey, back off will you.
You're beginning to make
me a little nervous.
- Ralphie, he's harmless.
He's just so excited.
- Yeah, that's what they
said about Jack Ruby.
- Alright, well let me,
let me rephrase the question.
- Hey, ceasefire, will ya?
Obviously you're the one that
Eddie's been telling me about,
the big Chuck Heston fan.
- Yeah, you could say that.
I mean I don't know if
Eddie told you about--
- Okay, okay.
I know where you're
going with this thing
so don't strain yourself because
this is your special
day, you know.
Yes, I painted the
wheels on his chariot,
and yes, I knew Heston.
I worked with him
on many pictures.
- Wait, you actually knew him?
- I think I made that pretty
clear in my previous statement.
- Very clear Ralphie.
- Well what was he like?
I mean--
- What was he like?
He was a regular
guy like you and me.
Well like me.
I mean he caught colds,
occasionally got a paper cut.
Hey look, if you met the guy--
- It would be the
proudest day of my life.
- You would meet a
regular, nice guy.
He paid his dues.
He reaped his rewards.
- Yes he did.
- But he did it with a lot
of help from guys like me.
- You?
- Yeah.
- No, no, no, no.
Different league, pal.
He is the anointed one.
He is the man of Soylent Green.
The Omega man.
- Hey, cool off Cid.
- If Sophia Loren were here,
she'd slap you.
- Hey.
Back to the party.
Back to the party.
- Alright, no,
alright, no everything's cool.
Everything's--
- I just.
- No go on.
Go on, I want to
hear more about,
about how you
helped Heston, you rat bastard.
- [Group] Hey, Cid.
- Hey, we all helped Heston.
Me and a cast of thousands
behind the scenes.
We put the epic in epic.
Let me tell you something.
The skies I painted
for his pictures,
you've never seen skies so blue
until I painted them.
- Ah, the modesty.
- There's nothing
modest about it.
They called me Mr. Magic.
I made dreams come true.
- Scenic backdrops do not make
an epic hero.
It takes courage and
vision to lead a people.
- And a very good script
written by fat little
four eyed writers,
writing lines about
liberty and justice.
Writers who then drive home,
kick the dog, hit the kids,
and down a fifth of scotch.
[laughter]
- Uh huh.
- Hey, don't get me
wrong birthday boy.
Heston was a great actor,
but the armies he led
followed his every command
because page 98 of the script
told them to.
[slow jazzy music]
- Is this guy inspirational
or what?
- Hey you know Eddie,
this wasn't so bad after all.
- Hey, it's a party
for Christ's sakes.
- I'll tell ya,
I worked with the best.
The Duke.
Brando.
Elizabeth Taylor
and her two magnificent tits.
Now they were epic.
Ho ho, what jugs.
[laughter]
- Hey, Ralphie, thanks
a lot for coming.
- Yeah sure, Eddie, sure.
I'll see you guys.
- Take it easy Ralphie.
[slow jazzy music]
Now this
was a birthday to remember.
- Liz Taylor,
I think she's got the
flesh eating disease.
National Enquirer.
[soft music]
- [Mama] Cid, El Cid.
- [Cid] Yes mama.
- [Mama] El Cid,
are you succeeding?
- [Cid] I don't know.
What's it mean to
be succeeding, mama?
- [Mama] We covered that
when you were five, my Cid.
- Tell me again.
- [Mama] Don't mess
with the basics, my son.
- I can't be sure, mama.
- [Mama] El Cid,
are you succeeding?
- I don't know, mama.
[soft music]
- All great art boils
down to geometry,
weight and gravity.
Now let the motorists
avoid the dips and rises
in the pavement.
It's the nomad that
dares to ride them out,
see what they got to offer
when it pops you up
and sets you airborne.
See, the nomad
respects and wrestles
with the forces
to create something greater.
All the forces,
the ones you slept through
in 11th grade physics,
well they back baby.
So cuddle up.
The G forces, the centripetals,
the centrifugals.
Now how many can you
get working for you
when the night holds
you in it's grip?
Now pay homage, nomad,
you fight the natural forces,
and they'll break you.
Make friends,
and they'll set you free.
[soft music]
- Boys, I'd like
to make a proposal.
- I hope it's not that thing
about switching seats again.
- Edward, all I want
is a little change.
- It's a dead issue, pal.
- Now Cid would understand
my desire for change.
- You don't start playing
with natural laws.
- Unspeakable.
- The nerve.
[soft music]
- [Tully] Come on, come on.
- Beg all you want, Tully,
but it ain't happening.
Besides, we don't have a quorum.
You need a quorum.
- Hell, we have a quorum.
- There's no quorum.
[soft music]
- [Poetic Nomad] A streaming
of light and sound,
she goes and goes
like a river flows.
[soft music]
Mysterious as the Nile,
and hollowed as the Ganges.
Keeper of the nomad faith.
Lifeblood of the perfect ride.
[soft music]
[dramatic music]
- Hey.
Yeah.
- Have you seen this stick ball
that used to be like
everywhere, you know.
Every day.
- I never see it anymore.
- You kids don't play.
[dramatic music]
- Take a load off
the floor, Tully.
- Yeah, deal with the
horrible truth, pal.
That's your seat.
Tonight and every night.
- Goddamn it.
[soft music]
- [Tully] Anybody
seen Cid today?
- He'll be here.
It's our usual night.
- Every night's our usual night.
- That's why he'll be here.
Where else is he gonna go?
- [Mama] Cid, El Cid.
- [Cid] Yes mamma?
- [Mama] What's going on here?
- [Mama] I'm taking
a sabbatical, mama.
- [Mama] You can't be
succeeding in sabbaticing
at the same time.
Now turn this bucket
of rust around and
[speaking foreign language]
- [Cid] Mama.
- [Mama] Yes, my golden child.
- [Cid] I want you to listen.
I love you very much,
but I want you to shut up.
[speaking foreign language]
- [Mama] I have raised
the Devil's child.
- [Cid] Now mama,
you've got to listen.
You've been with
me for a long time.
I think you must be very tired
of raising me for so long.
- [Mama] It is a great
challenge, yes, but I'm--
- [Cid] I think after
all these years,
you really deserve
some time for yourself.
You must be a little tired
from looking after your child.
You've paid your dues.
- [Mama] Yes, my son.
I have.
- [Cid] You've done a
really good job, mama.
- [Mama] Thank
you my lovely one.
- [Cid] So let me go,
for a little while.
If you stay with me,
I may ware you out.
- [Mama] And you're
gonna be okay?
- [Cid] You prepared me well.
[laughter]
- [Mama] Well, this is
a whole new ballgame.
Maybe I will take a little
vacation with the girls.
That would be nice.
- [Cid] You deserve it mama.
- [Mama] Then,
it is settled.
So I talk to you
in a few months,
my beautiful Cid.
- [Cid] Take your time, mama.
[soft music]
- No sign of him.
- Maybe he's out drinking
with the Asphalt Nomad types.
- Hey, he's free to
do as he pleases.
- Hey, you can't get
any freer in this town.
[uplifting music]
[jazzy music]