Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986): Season 1, Episode 9 - The Fight - full transcript

♪ Now the world don't move
to the beat of just one drum

♪ What might be right for
you may not be right for some

♪ A man is born
he's a man of means

♪ Then along come two

♪ They got nothin'
but their jeans

♪ But they got Diff'rent Strokes

♪ It takes Diff'rent Strokes

♪ It takes Diff'rent
Strokes to move the world

♪ Everybody's got
a special kind of story

♪ Everybody finds a way to shine

♪ It don't matter that you got



♪ Not a lot, so what?

♪ They'll have
theirs you'll have yours

♪ And I'll have mine

♪ And together we'll be fine

♪ 'Cause it takes

♪ Diff'rent Strokes to
move the world, yes, it does

♪ It takes Diff'rent Strokes
to move the world! ♪

Hi. Bye.

Arnold, what are you doing?

I'm hiding from Willis.

Please don't tell
him where I am.

Are you playing hide-and-seek?

No, I'm playing
hide-and-survive.

Please don't tell
him where I am.



All right. Where's Arnold?

Arnold who?

No use protecting him,
Mr. Drummond, 'cause I'll find him.

Arnold, come on out.

Willis, what's the matter?

This is somethin' between
me and Arnold. Where is he?

I think he went up the stairs.

No, I think he's in the kitchen.

No, I think he's on the patio.

Next, you two will be tellin'
me he don't live here anymore.

Who don't live here anymore?

Uh-huh. So, there
you are. Come on.

Oh, hi, Willis.

When did you get home?

Come on, Arnold.

Will you excuse us,
please? This is private.

I'll stay here, then you
can have it real private.

Come on.

Hey, I don't know what's going
on here, but no rough stuff, huh?

Don't worry, Mr. Drummond.

I want to talk to
Arnold. Honest.

All right, so what do you
got to say for yourself?

About what?

About why you let that dude
push you around the schoolyard.

About why you
wouldn't fight him back.

About why you ran
like a scared chicken.

You'd run, too, if a
guy bigger than you

tried to screw you
into the ground.

Look, Arnold, Stuart the Gooch
has been pushin' you around

for the last two weeks.

You gotta fight that
bully and make him afraid.

Yeah, afraid he'll kill me.

Look, Arnold, you
got two choices.

A. You'll be pushed around
by bullies for the rest of your life.

Or B. Tomorrow
you fight like a man.

I'd like to talk about C.

What's C? See you later.

I'm not gonna fight
that monster, Willis.

Monster? He's only two
inches taller than you.

Not when you're layin' on
the ground lookin' up, he ain't.

Arnold, everybody has to fight
a bully sometimes in their life.

You gotta take a stand.

It's all part of growing up.

Okay, that's when
I'll fight the Gooch.

After I've grown up.

All right, Arnold.

Then I'll just tell Mr. Drummond
what a coward you are.

He'll talk some sense into you.

You think he wants
a coward for a son?

Oh, Willis, please don't
say anything to him.

Well, somebody's gotta
make a man out of you.

What's the rush? I'm
barely out of toilet training.

Well, I won't tell Mr. Drummond
under one condition.

That you fight the
Gooch tomorrow.

I'm gonna be too busy tomorrow.

Doin' what? Lookin'
for a place to hide.

Well, that's the only
deal you're gonna get.

It's important
that you fight him.

You promise, I promise.

Well, can we use
something besides my fists?

Like what? Your fists.

Arnold, it's gotta be my way.

Now, you fight the Gooch,
and I won't tell Mr. Drummond.

Is it a deal?

Well, it's a deal.

All right. What's a deal?

Oh, somethin' we got goin'
after school, Mr. Drummond.

Wow. You guys must be involved
in something very important.

Oh, it's not that important.

Yes, it is.

Like I said, yes, it is.

Why do I get the feeling that
there's a lot more going on here

than you guys want to tell me?

'Cause it's personal,
Mr. Drummond.

Well, you're entitled
to your own secrets.

So I'll get out of your way.

I'll see you guys later.
I'll be down at my office.

Look, Arnold.

Now, I didn't say
anything to Mr. Drummond

about you runnin'
from the Gooch.

Now, I kept my part
of the deal. Right.

Now, you gotta fight the Gooch
tomorrow to keep your part.

You took the best part.

Look, Arnold, I know how you
feel, and I know you're scared,

but this is somethin'
you gotta do to save face.

Well, if you really
want to save my face,

keep it away from the Gooch.

Get up, Arnold. It's a
big day today. Fight day.

Ouch.

Come on, Kimberly. I
gotta use the bathroom!

Just a minute.

Oh, come on. Open up.

It's all yours.

Good morning. Time to comb
your locks and grab your socks.

What's the matter, Arnold?

Arnold, are you sick?

Oh, Arnold.

Oh, it's nothin'.
I'll be all right,

if I live.

Your temperature's normal.

Don't let that fool you.

I got... I got headaches,
stomachaches,

and I'm seein' spots.

What kind of spots?

Mmm. The worst kind. Round ones.

I think I ought to
call Mr. Drummond.

Hi, Mrs. Garrett.
Good morning, Willis.

Come on, Arnold, out of bed.

Oh, I'm real sick, Willis.

Please bring my goldfish
so I can say goodbye.

If I ever heard a phony...

You're just fakin' 'cause you're
afraid to go fight the Gooch today.

Did you say something, Willis?

I think I'm getting delirious.

Arnold. I hear you're not
feeling well. What's the matter?

I think he has yellow fever.

I don't think so.

But he may have that
Russian flu that's going around.

Hey, that's it.

Somethin' that looked
Russian flew right by me.

Your head feels cool,
but you never know.

You just take it easy, son. I'm
gonna call the doctor, just to be sure.

Doctor? I don't need no doctor.

Sure you do.

No tellin' what they'll find
when they look inside of you.

Where they gonna look?

Now, don't frighten him, Willis.

Maybe all Arnold
needs is a shot.

Mr. Drummond, don't shoot me.

Look, I'm cured.

What's going on here?

I've heard of miracle
cures, but this is ridiculous.

Arnold, I think I might
have to tell Mr. Drummond.

He's a man. He'll understand.

No, don't.

Understand what?

There's a bully
in the playground

who's been pushin'
Arnold around.

Yesterday, Arnold ran home
'cause he was too chicken to fight.

I knew there was something
going on between you two yesterday.

The bully's a lot
bigger than me.

Where I stop,
he's just beginnin'.

Oh, come on, Arnold.
He's a normal-sized bully.

Arnold was pretendin' to be sick

'cause he was
too chicken to fight.

Arnold, is that true?

Well, kind of.

Well, then this is
a serious matter.

That's what I've
been tellin' him.

This isn't something you can
just run away and hide from.

You listen to Mr. D.

Now the only way
to handle this is

man-to-man and face-to-face.

Tell it like it is.

I want you to call up that boy,

arrange to meet him,
and talk this thing out.

Right on. That's the same...

Say what?

Listen, Willis.

Fighting rarely
settles anything.

Come here.

I remember once
when I was a little boy,

this other kid and I were
standing nose-to-nose,

both of us scared stiff,

and praying that somebody would
stop us from hitting each other.

But Mr. Drummond...

Don't interrupt. He's
makin' a lot of sense.

Continue, please.

Mr. Drummond, how's
my little brother gonna talk

when Stuart the Gooch
is tap dancin' on his head?

Stuart the Gooch?

Yeah.

And don't call him that
unless you're ridin' by on a bus.

Mr. Drummond, Arnold's
got to fight that dude,

or people'll call him a coward.

No, Willis. Anyone can
fight, but it takes real courage

to talk things out.

Especially when you got
a mouthful of loose teeth.

Willis, I know that you
mean well for Arnold.

But fighting won't
necessarily solve anything.

Well, I say it will. 'Cause if
Arnold keeps running away,

people are gonna pick
on him and laugh at him.

Now, I'm not asking him to run.

I'm asking him to talk.

Now, Arnold, promise me
that you'll talk this thing out

with, what's his
name, the Gurch.

Gooch.

Do I have your promise?

Yes, sir. And I
say it with feeling.

Thank you.

And I'm very proud of you, 'cause
you have the courage not to fight.

I've had it all my life.

All right, I'll see you
guys at breakfast.

Arnold, you should be
hangin' your head in shame.

I don't care how it hangs,

just as long as
it stays attached.

Arnold, you gotta
fight the Gooch.

I can't. I just gave my promise.

Arnold, Mr. Drummond
don't understand.

Talkin' might work
in his fancy world,

but it don't work in the
streets where we come from.

Like Papa said, we
got a name to live up to.

And the key word
there is "live."

Arnold, you got
nothin' to worry about,

'cause the Gooch
is the one in trouble.

What you talkin' about, Willis?

Arnold, ain't I your big brother

who loves you and
worries about you,

and takes care of you?
"And takes care of you?"

Yes, Willis.

Well, it's the truth.

And you know I wouldn't want
to see you get hurt in any way.

I suppose so.
I'm scared, Willis.

Well, you don't have to be.

Because I'm gonna teach you
how to fight and whip the Gooch.

I'm gonna be behind
you all the way.

Well, if you really love
me, you'd get in front of me.

Arnold, I can't.

This is something you
have to do by yourself.

I knew there was a catch.

Now, what we're gonna do,

we're gonna phone the Gooch

and make him think
that you're crazy.

If I phone him,
he'll know I'm crazy.

That's our whole strategy.

We get the Gooch
thinkin' that you're crazy,

'cause people are
afraid of crazy people,

you've won half the battle.

Hey, if we've already won half,

let's give Gooch the
other half and call it a draw.

Arnold, just trust me.

Now, let me see you act crazy.

I meant on the phone.

Oh. Hiya, Gooch.

This is crazy Arnold
Jackson callin' you.

What do I say?

Tell him you're bad and crazy.

Hi, Gooch, I'm bad and crazy.

Are you tryin' to
throw the phone call?

Now, tell him you're
loud and crazy. Go ahead.

Hi, Gooch. I'm loud and crazy!

That's it. Keep goin'.

Tell him you're bad and crazy.

Hey, Gooch. I'm bad and crazy.

That's it now. Keep
goin', keep goin'.

Now, listen here, Gooch.

Crazy Arnold Jackson's
gonna stomp all over you.

So you better watch it, turkey.

Now, hang up, hang up.

What'd he say?

He didn't say anything.
He just barked.

That's just a cover-up.
He's really scared.

Not as scared as I am.

See, if I fight, Mr. Drummond's
gonna get mad at me.

And if I don't fight, you're
gonna get mad at me.

Right.

Which brings us to the Gooch,

who can kill me without
even being mad at me.

All right now,
go faster, faster.

Come on, faster, go faster.

I can't go any faster.

If I go any faster, I may take a
nap in the middle of round one.

Arnold.

Let me just see
you throw your right.

That's not your
right, that's your left.

I know it. That's how
I'm gonna confuse him.

Come on, now, let me see
your Muhammad Ali shuffle.

Come on.

Hey, you got it.

Oh, man, when
the Gooch sees that,

he's gonna run all the way home.

If he don't, I'm gonna run
all the way to New Jersey.

Come on, keep it up, keep it
up. Keep it movin', come on.

All right now.
Throw a left. Right.

Left-right combination.

Don't close your eyes.

Because every time you throw a
combination, you close your eyes.

Well, I can't help it.

My fists want to fight, but my
eyes don't want to see me get hit.

Come on, keep it
movin'. Come on.

Now, get mean, real mean.

Tell me how mean you are.

I'm mean.

How mean?

I'm so mean I'm scarin' myself.

Hey, what are you boys doin'?

Willis is teachin' me to...

Dance. Right. To dance.

You're...

You're certainly light
on your feet, fella.

Thank you, honey.

Arnold, it looked more to me
like you were throwin' punches.

Yeah, that's the name of the
new dance, the Punch Shuffle.

Now, if Mr. Drummond
catches you practicin' fightin',

you're gonna switch from the Punch
Shuffle to the Bruised Bottom Blues.

Mrs. Garrett's right.

Don't worry about it.

Hey, can't we settle
this whole thing

by buying the Gooch
a nice present?

Listen, Arnold, man, you got the
moves, and you got the punches.

Now you can take that Gooch.

Now let's get goin', champ.

"Champ"? Me?

Well, that's what I
called you, champ.

Yeah, yeah.

That's me. Look
how I bulge all over.

Ooh! Like iron.

You know what?

Think I'll get me a T-shirt
with my picture on the front

and "Mean Dude" on the back.

Are you ready, champ? Yeah.

Let's go pluck that turkey.

Come on. Keep it up. Come
on. You gonna take him.

You're ready. Come on,
keep it up. Come on, let's go.

Let's go, champ. Let's go. Yes.

Hey, fellas. Where
are you off to?

Oh, we're goin' down to talk
to the Gooch, Mr. Drummond.

Wonderful. I'm glad you
took my advice. To talk.

Yeah. I'm gonna
talk all over him.

Are you ready, champ?

Am I ready?

♪ Float like a
butterfly, sting like a bee

♪ Muhammad Arnold,
the champ, that's me ♪

Yeah.

Come on.

If Mr. Drummond finds out we've
been fightin', we're gonna get it.

Don't worry, he won't. Trust me.

Is it still all swollen up?

No, it's nothin'.

"Nothin'"?

It hurts so bad, my shoes ache.

Well, it don't look that bad.

Hmm. How're we gonna
keep Mr. D from seein' it?

Well, we'll stay away from him
till the welt on your eye's okay.

Won't that take a while?

No, your eye only has
to go from black to brown.

I guess I didn't
do so good, huh?

Are you kiddin'? Man, you
stood up to the Gooch great.

I fell down even better.

Man, I'm proud of
you, Arnold. I really am.

Hey, don't do that.

My hand's connected to my eye.

Well, let's get going
before someone notices us.

Put your glasses
back on. Mrs. Garrett.

Arnold, why are you wearing
dark glasses in the house?

It keeps the sun out of my eyes.

There's no sun in your eyes.

See? It works.

Let's get going.

Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs.
Garrett. Very sorry.

Never happen again.
Happy birthday, too. Bye.

Hi, fellas.

Come here. I want to hear how
everything went down at the playground.

Oh, it went fine, Mr. Drummond.

Real cool.

Arnold, why are you
staring at the wall?

It's a new game.

A new game?

Yeah. You stare at the wall.

Mmm-hmm.

And if it don't fall
down, you win.

With my luck, it'll fall down.

Arnold, would you
come down here, please?

I said, come down here.

Yes, sir.

What is going on?

Why are you wearing sunglasses?

Oh, Arnold, what
happened to your eye?

Everything.

I'm afraid I know
exactly what happened.

You do?

Yes, and I just feel terrible
about it. This is all my fault.

I'm sure glad to hear that.

You took my advice, you
went down there to talk,

and the Gooch hit you. Right?

Well, sort of.

What do you mean, sort of?

What went on down there?

Come on, Arnold. I want to know.

Did you go down there
to talk or didn't you?

All right, Mr. Drummond.

Arnold went down
there to talk with his fists.

And my fists had nothing to say.

Man, he was great, Mr. Drummond.

You should have seen him.

Arnold was dancin' to the left,

then he was
dancin' to the right.

And then the music stopped.

Arnold never cried
once, Mr. Drummond.

Not really. I cried a
little bit out of this eye.

But there was no room for the
tears to come out of this one.

Arnold.

I am very disappointed in you.

You broke your promise to me.

No, he didn't. It was my idea.

You know, Arnold has to learn
to defend himself like a real man.

Oh, I see.

Unless a guy hits another human
being, he's not a real man, huh?

Well, let me tell you something.

Albert Einstein never
hit another human being,

and he was quite a man.

And when did you hear of Martin
Luther King fighting with his fists?

But, Mr. Drummond,
that's not the same.

And the thing that
really bugs me,

is that you knew how I
felt. We discussed this.

And you deliberately
disobeyed me.

Well, look, Mr. Drummond, I've
been livin' with Arnold all of his life,

and I think I know
what's best for him.

Well, I don't think so.

In this household, there's
only room for one father.

Is that clear, Willis?

Now, go to your room.

It wasn't all Willis'
fault, Mr. Drummond.

I helped.

Well, I'm mad at you, too.

Thanks.

Now, Arnold, I don't want you to
think that there's never a time to fight.

Sometimes,
unfortunately, there is.

But only after you've
tried every other possibility.

Do you understand that?

Mmm. Yes, sir.

Good boy.

How does that eye feel?

Like it ain't got a
friend in the world.

Okay, you go up with Willis

and I'll get Mrs. Garrett to
bring up something to put on it.

And work on Willis, will you?

Try and get him to see
things our way. Okay?

Okay.

Hey, what're you doin'?

I'm packin'. Me and Mr. Drummond
don't see things the same.

I'm going back to Harlem.

No, you ain't. I ain't
lettin' you go nowhere.

Give me that stuff! I'm leavin'.

No, you ain't. No one's
splittin' this family up.

Get out of my way.

You ain't leavin' without
a fight, you dummy.

You're my big
brother and I love you.

Would you knock it off?
Get out of my way, short stuff.

I mean it.

Mr. Drummond says there's a
time to talk and a time to fight.

And this is a time to fight.

You mean, you'd really fight me?

If I have to.

Even though we both know I'd end
up dustin' this room with your head,

you ain't afraid?

Not after what you
taught me today.

I need you and I ain't
lettin' you go no place.

Then I ain't goin', champ.

Hey, what's this?
Somebody going someplace?

Oh, no.

It's just something...

We're just cleaning out our
drawers, right, little brother?

Right, big brother.

Hey, that eye is really
something, isn't it? Mmm-hmm.

Did you at least
get in one good lick?

Mmm. I swung four times at
the Gooch, but I only hit him once.

Well, it's not too bad, huh?

The other three
times, I hit myself.

Well, I hope you guys learnt
your lesson about fighting.

Shoot, I sure have.

There's to be no more fightin',

unless it's
absolutely necessary.

Not even pillow fightin'. Right.

Oh, well, come on.
Let's not overdo it.

There's nothing wrong
with a little pillow fight.

Are you thinking
what I'm thinking?

You got that, champ. Let's go.

Oh, hey, come
on. That's not fair.

That's two against one.

Mrs. Garrett!

♪ Now the world don't move
to the beat of just one drum

♪ What might be right for
you may not be right for some

♪ A man is born
he's a man of means

♪ Then along come two

♪ They got nothin'
but their jeans

♪ But they got Diff'rent Strokes

♪ It takes Diff'rent Strokes

♪ It takes Diff'rent
Strokes to move the world

♪ Yes, it does

♪ It takes Diff'rent Strokes
to move the world! ♪