Quantum Leap (1989–1993): Season 3, Episode 9 - Rebel Without a Clue - September 1, 1958 - full transcript

Theorizing that one could
time-travel within his own lifetime,

Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into
the Quantum Leap Accelerator

and vanished.

He woke to find himself
trapped in the past

facing mirror images
that were not his own

and driven by an unknown force

to change history
for the better.

His only guide
on this journey is Al,

an observer from his own time,

who appears in the form
of a hologram

that only Sam can see and hear.

And so Dr. Beckett finds himself
leaping from life to life

striving to put right
what once went wrong

and hoping each time
that his next leap

will be the leap home.

Hey, man, watch out!

Hey, get away from me!

What're you doin', dirtball?
Look out.

Oh, boy.

Man, that stunt was crazy.

Yeah, well. Thanks.

Mad Dog, you should've
seen your face.

A joke? You trying
to kill me for a joke?

Hey, he crashed, not you.
Isn't he hurt enough already?

It wasn't a joke.
I just lost control.

Oh, like you never
rode a bike before.

Well, actually, no.

I'm gonna make sure
you never do it again.

Hey, Mad Dog, cool it.

Cool it!

Mad Dog, Becky wants him
to have a pass.

Oh, now she's the boss?

No, I'm the boss.

You got a problem with that?

Hmm? Hmm?

Get out of my way.

Here.

Thanks.

Come on, let's blow.

Oh, yeah, come on.

Hey.

The guy rides with us a week,
and this is the way you welcome him?

Yeah.

Now he's stuck out here.

He's a big boy.

There's a diner about 20
minutes down the Coast.

We'll have some cold brew
waiting for you.

You mess with me again,
you're gonna get jacked.

Japped?

You dig, dirtball?

Dig.

Quantum leaping around in time,
I've assumed many characters,

but this was my first leap
back as a dirtball.

Not exactly Brando.

But you kind of
look like a wild one.

I'm a biker, Al.

Yeah, and somebody
cut your fuel line.

I know.

Turn that petcock right there
to stop it from...

Right there,
where your hand is. Good.

Look at this.

This is a classic
Harley Sportster 1957,

55 cubic inches, overhead valves.
Sam, you are stylin'.

Don't tell me
you were a biker, too?

Uh, my first car was a bike.

I had a '48 Harley Knucklehead.

Named after you?

I'll pretend
you didn't say that.

I used to love to ride girls
on the back of that thing.

Those were the days, and nights.

Is there anything
you haven't done, Al?

Well, there's one thing that's
impossible to do on a bike.

What am I doin' here?

Uh, don't know.

Just heard that
you leapt into a biker,

so I rushed
to check out your wheels.

What's that? Oh, that's nice.

You know, a good caricature can tell
you really a lot about a person.

And I'd say that
that person likes to be free.

- Shane's pretty good.
- Shane?

Yeah, uh, Shane "Funny Bone"
Thomas, that's your name.

It's September 1, 1958,

and you're somewhere about an
hour south of Big Sur, California.

And, according to Ziggy,
you're the new kid on the block.

You joined the Cobras
a week ago,

and your M.O. is gang...

Clown. Gang clown.

Oh, gang clown.
That's kind of funny.

Al, I don't know
how to ride this bike.

I don't have a clue.
I just wrecked it in front of everybody.

Well, there's nothing to it.

Your rear brake is
with your foot over there.

Uh, here's your
front brake, throttle,

there's your clutch over
there, there's your gear shift.

One down, three up,
neutral's between one and two,

you kick-start it
with this thing right here

only when it's in neutral.
And get it washed.

Al, I can't be a biker.

Where's your sense of adventure?

Don't you know
what it feels like?

Yeah, like playing
Slip 'N Slide on asphalt?

- I mean, look at my legs...
- No, I'm not talkin' about that.

I'm talkin'
about the way it feels

when the... the sun blasts into your
skin, if you got sunscreen on,

and wind waves by your face,

and you sail off into the blue

on your chrome-plated, candy-colored,
flaming-red dream machine.

You never know what's
around the next corner.

Probably a head-on with a semi.

Hey, pop, step on it, will you?

Right now. Right now.
All right.

We missed you, buddy.

You know what
you need right now?

A shower.

No man, some brew.

Come on, slam some with us.

Go.

Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.
Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.

Go. Go. Go!

All right!

I've got to sit down
and slip into a coma.

What about more beer, old man?

Let me see.

No.

Come on, let me see.
Come on, I like your stories.

I like, uh, The Petrified Forest

when we met the Navajo Indians.

- Yeah.
- I like that one. Come on.

No, I'm not finished yet.

Read it. Come on.

Okay.

"Stirring the pool from its glassy
sleep, I drank with cupped hands

"the ripples swirled
and slipped away.

"Until, at last I gazed into
the still water, and froze.

"Drowning in a shadow
of myself."

"A shadow of myself."
What does that mean?

That means a reflection,
you know, like in a mirror.

So, why don't you just say that?

Why don't you say
"she saw her own reflection"?

If you don't like
my writing, then...

Now, come on, baby.
Come on.

I like your writing,

I'm just trying to figure out
what it's all about. That's all.

It's metaphoric.

Oh, yeah?
What's that, Bone?

Yeah, like he knows.

Well, it, ahem, it means, I
think, that sometimes the words

have a meaning beyond
what they're saying.

Right.

It's not just the words.

It's also
what's behind the words.

What's behind the words?

Yeah.

Like when we were in Korea.

They told us
it was a police action.

It was actually a war.

We were out there.

We were freezin' our asses off
and we were gettin' shot at.

That ain't metaphoric.

So, uh, you were in Korea?

Not 'cause I wanted to be.

My son's a Marine.

Won himself the Navy Cross
fightin' over there.

- Got yourself a hero.
- Oh, yeah, yeah, man.

Fought the enemy single-handed

when his battalion got surrounded
at the Chosin Reservoir.

Probably get himself the Congressional
Medal of Honor when he comes home.

The war's been over
for five years.

Oh, well, he's still missin'.

But I got his '49 Vincent
Black Shadow waitin' for him.

Man, that's quite a bike.

Uh-huh.

Hey, you mind we come by,
we check it out?

Sorry, man, it's in storage
at his uncle's.

- How much you want for it?
- Hey, that bike's not for sale.

Anybody's still over there is
either dead or a commie turncoat.

His son's not a communist.

Don't matter, old man,
he ain't comin' back. He's dead.

- No, he's not.
- He's dead.

Hey, shut up.

You're talkin' about
the old man's son, okay?

My Daryl is not dead
and he ain't no commie.

Hey, what's this?

Oh.

Dillon. No, no, no.
What's that?

Supposed to be
Dillon's old lady, huh?

Dillon.

Bone drew a picture
of your old lady.

It's not bad.

Do me.

I can't.

- Why not?
- Do him.

- It's gonna be good.
- Yeah.

- All right, draw him, Bone.
- Come on, Bone.

It's your spittin' image,
Mad Dog.

Come on, man.

Dillon. Stop him.

Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy. Easy.

Lay off! Lay off, man!

Save it, Sam.

Come on, come on,
we came here to down a few brews.

You want to blow
the gig or what?

Come on, Mad Dog.

Mad Dog.

Mad Dog.

Down, Mad Dog.

Why don't you clean some of the dirt off.
Maybe you'll feel better.

Here's a towel.
The sink's in the kitchen.

You okay, Sam?

Yeah. I mean,
aside from almost getting in a shuffle

with some guy who wanted to jack
me, I'm great.

Would you mind just tellin' me what
I'm here to do so I can get out of here

because so far this leap has
not been a heck of a lot of fun.

You're here to prevent a murder.

Oh, great, I've got to save...

Don't tell me it's Becky?

One of those creeps
is gonna kill her?

She's found stabbed to death on a
beach about 30 miles north of here.

Ziggy says it's gonna take
place in the next 24 hours.

Hey, Ernie, where's our burgers man?

You okay?

Hey, you look like
you did that before.

Oh, it was in another life.

Get some more beer
over here, old man.

Here, let me help you.

Boy, your buddies can be
a pain in the behind.

They're not my buddies.

Beer. Beer. Beer.

I bet that
Black Shadow's cherry.

I bet that old coon's got it
stashed around here somewhere.

Hey, check out the new waitress.

Hey, sweetie.

Well, sweetie?

I'm going for a walk.

That's good grub.

Hmm.

Hey, where are you goin', man?

I lost my appetite.

Funny Bone isn't so funny.

If he can get her,
he can have her.

Oh, I never realized
how beautiful the ocean is.

You've never seen the ocean?

Well, there isn't much
beachfront in Wichita.

So Dillon came around

and saved you from a boring
life in Nowheresville, huh?

Something like that.

How about your folks?

Well, my mom
took the easy way out.

She died when I was seven.

- Your dad?
- My dad died, too.

He just never sobered up
long enough to realize it.

Becky...

Hey, I got out.

I'm riding with Dillon.

Now I'm as free as he is.

I'm not sure that you can
call being with Dillon "free."

Jack Kerouac would.

I'm on the road
like Kerouac was.

Livin' life.
Seein' what's out there.

I don't think that means that
you have to follow Dillon.

Don't you see?

Dillon's one of the mad ones.

He's living life on the edge.

He's just gonna
take you down with him.

How do you know?

Because I've known types
like Dillon before.

Becky, you've got
to get away from him.

Don't go.

Shane?

Well, looks like you two
had a little heart-to-heart?

That's right
and I want her to stay here.

Is that right, cowboy?

That's right, Marshal Dillon.

She's my girl now.

Well, well, looks like you
belong to Cowboy Bone now.

Is that right, Ms. Becky?

Dillon, stop him.

Stop Mad Dog? Why?

Cowboy Bone's tryin'
to steal my girl.

It's not funny anymore, okay?

Let's go, Dillon.

All right, drop it, Mad Dog.

You crack me up, man.
You crack me up.

You gotta go after her.

I've got some spare fuel lines
in here somewhere.

Right.

Now, hold on,
I want you to see somethin'.

Vincent Black Shadow,
she's beautiful.

Yeah, I keep her cleaned and
polished for when Daryl comes home.

He must be real proud of her.

Oh, man.

- Now let me take care of you.
- Thanks a lot.

You ain't like them other boys.

How in the world did you
get hooked up with them?

I just sort of fell into it.

I tell you what,
I don't trust 'em.

Well, that's okay,
'cause I don't either.

Strange, ain't it?

Hmm.

I mean, how boys like that
come back from Korea.

And my son's still there.

Now, look, I don't wish harm
on nobody in this world

but that just don't seem right.

You ever lost anybody?

Yeah, but I got him back.

Here, I want you
to listen to this.

See here.

This is about where an American
boy came back from Korea

that they thought was dead.

There's still some boys
over there, too.

Sure, some of them stayed because
they was young and brainwashed.

It's true, Sam. Some American P.O.W.s
stayed over there after the war ended.

What about Daryl?

Oh, no, no, no.
Not my Daryl.

He wouldn't do
anything like that.

He's smart, the boy's honest.

Besides, until I see him
one way or another,

I gotta believe
he's coming back alive.

Daryl Tyler was listed
missing in action.

His remains are
going to be returned

to the United States
in two years.

And Ernie dies
a few months after that.

Maybe I should have
told him the truth, Al.

No.

Believing his boy is going to come
back is his whole reason for living.

Where are you going?

Dillon took Becky to some
place called Carrillo.

That must be Carrillo.

Carrillo, that's where
she gets murdered.

That bike belongs to his son!

- Who's dead.
- You don't know that!

Hey, I was over there, okay!

I saw guys blown apart
around me, all right!

So don't you
talk to me about it!

Stop it.

Hey. Hey. Hey.

I just don't want to see
a cherry bike like that rot

while some old coot
waits for a ghost, okay?

You're drunk.

Come on baby, let's play, huh.

You're drunk!

You don't even know
what's happening.

Hey, write about it.
I'll read it in the morning.

Stop it. You're hurting me.

Hey.

Go ahead.

What's the matter, man?
Your old lady turned you to mush?

Dillon, no.

Come on, do it, man.

Hey, do it! Do it! Do it!
Do it! Do it! Do it!

No!

Becky, come here.

Get on.

Come back here.
Come here!

Come back here! Come back!

Let's go!

What a bunch of geniuses
I've got.

They're both dead.

They're both dead.

Get the hell out of here!
Get the hell out of here.

Unless you wanna
taste some buckshot.

Hold on, old man.

Now, look, I called the sheriff.

- They're gonna be here soon.
- For what?

To arrest all of you
for stealin' my boy's bike.

We didn't steal it.

No, you sent that scrawny one
to go and do it for you.

Bone stole the Black Shadow?

Boy, don't play no fool with me.

Listen, I don't know
anything about it.

I want him as bad as you do.

Well, you ain't never
gonna catch him,

'cause he's halfway
to the border by now.

We'll catch him,
don't you worry.

We'll get your bike, too.

Come on, let's go.

All right.

- They're gone?
- They're gone.

They're headed south.

Guess you and her
will be headin' north, huh.

Yeah. Listen, thanks, Ernie.

Oh, my pleasure.

Now, you take care of
yourself, honey, all right?

- Let's go.
- I can't.

What?

You go.

- Becky, if Dillon comes back...
- He'll hurt you.

He'll hurt you.

He was just drunk.

I mean, he'll sober up and
he'll be okay tomorrow.

Sooner or later
he's gonna hurt you.

It's just a matter of time.

I told you, I'm not going.

Well, if you ain't goin',
I guess you're stayin'.

I got this spare room
above my garage.

It's yours for the night.

And maybe if you get some sleep,
you'll wake up with some sense.

But I doubt it.

Someone's birthday?

And Christmas.

My God.

He's saved his son's gifts
all these years.

He's probably dead.

Listen,

you can't go back out
with Dillon, you know.

I have to.

Becky, come on,
he was going to rape you.

No, it was my fault.

I embarrassed him
in front of all his friends.

Shane, Dillon needs me.

Yeah, he needs you all right.

He needs to own you.

No, he doesn't.

You don't know him the way I do.

The war, it did things to him.

You know, sometimes, in the middle
of the night, he wakes up crying

and lost.

And it scares me.

All I can do is just hold him,
until he feels safe again.

Shane, they hurt him.

That doesn't give him
the right to hurt you.

Don't you see
what's happening to you?

Your father abused you,
and Dillon is abusing you

and if you're not careful,

the next guy's
gonna be some jerk

who drinks too much
and beats you

and then what are you gonna do?

Good night, Shane.

She talks about On the Road like
it's, like it's the Bible.

Well, hey, it's a great book.

That book changed my life.

- You, too?
- Yeah.

Sam, you're too young to remember the
'50s, but let me tell you.

The '50s were conformist,

materialistic, repressive,
boring, and stupid.

And On the Road
rebelled against all of that.

And for a lot of us,
Kerouac started a whole new world.

It was a world of adventure

and spirituality, jazz,
and the coffee shops.

And then rock and roll.

And then free love.

Free love?

I can see why he was your hero.

Yeah, and, like, I knew Kerouac.

Okay, all right,
I didn't really know him.

Uh, it was '58.

Plebe year at Annapolis.

And he gave a reading
at St. John's College.

A bunch of us went and we
partied with him afterwards.

What was he like?

Well, he was a little sad.

He was very drunk.

But when he talked,
he lit up the room.

He had a charisma like comes
along once in a generation.

I think that Kerouac's
probably the only guy

who could get her
to change her mind right now

or at least get her
to think about things.

Well, he's just 10 miles
up the road.

- What?
- Yeah, I looked it up.

All his biographies mention this
cabin where he used to write.

There's even a letter from there

to Allen Ginsberg,
dated September 1, 1958.

Who's that?

Uh, another guy on the road.

You want me to talk to her,

speak out against the road?

Well, yeah,
if... if that's what it takes.

Hey, man, I can't lie.

I speak for it.

I speak out for freedom.

I speak out for experience.

I speak out for life.

I speak out for all the roads
crisscrossing America

in one immense, infinite dream

that collides
in one infinitesimal,

holy honey of creation.

That vast sea of the brotherhood
that underlies the essence,

the unborn essence
of everything.

I speak out for the road,

Zen, apple pie,

hustlers, pimps, crazy jazz,

truck stops, cops, criminals,

and all the things
that blast past you

while you're bebopping down that
old highway to heaven and hell.

Yeah, well, listen,
she, she bought that.

She bought all that and she ran
away 'cause she was in trouble

and, see,
now she's in bigger trouble.

And I... I... I just need you
to talk to her.

She's not my problem, man.

Well, no, yeah, she is.

Why? When did every kid
become my problem?

When you wrote that book.

Dig it.

If it gets people
to get up and live,

then I did
what I was supposed to.

The rest is on her.

She's 18. She's just a kid.

She believes
every word you wrote.

And she's gonna destroy herself
trying to live your life.

And all I want you to do is
just tell her to find her own.

I can't help her.

I'm not a hero.

Ernie?

Ernie.

I'm playing your song, Bone.

- Get in.
- Get in there.

Here, Bone.

You wanted Bone?

Why? Why, Ernie?
Why did you lie to us?

I... I... I don't know
what you're talking about.

- Yeah, right, old man.
- I made him.

I forced him to put us
up here last night.

He didn't want to,
and I... I... I made him.

Bone.

Bone. Bone. Bone. Bone. Bone.
Bone. Bone. Bone. Bone.

You should be halfway
to Mexico by now, Bone.

What happened? Huh?

What happened?

Did you lose
your sense of direction?

Yeah, I, uh...

We got a little...
I got turned around and I, um...

I was just kind of boneheaded
thing to do, you know.

Kind of boneheaded.

Why don't I find you
funny anymore?

Come on, Dillon,
let's get out of here.

What? And skip
the morning coffee?

Particularly, I mean,
now that I'm here

with all my friends,
and all my loved ones?

Come on Becky, don't you think
that would be a little rude?

Hey, hey, look,
why don't you just

take everything that's in the
cash register and just go? Okay?

Crush me, you crush me, Ernie.

You think we would
rip this place off

after you've been so nice to us?

Hmm?

Why,
that would be inhuman, Ernie.

Don't do that.

Huh?

Oh, sweeten him up.

But

lying is, too,

Yeah.

And, you haven't been
totally honest with me.

Dillon, Stop!

Oh, sweetie, what?

What, hmm, what?

You, Bone, not only lost
your sense of direction,

you, you lost your
sense of respect.

Hmm? Hmm?

- Just let them go.
- That's an option? Isn't it?

I say we waste them.

Come on, baby. I'm sorry.

I'll never do it again.
I promise.

I don't know what got into me.

I think I do.

Or maybe who got into you.

Look, listen to me,
nobody did anything to anybody. Okay?

Why, why,

why would I believe
a single thing you say now?

Because it's the truth.

Oh, no. It's not the truth.

That is the truth.

Hey, hey, you, you, get off that
bike, that's my boy's bike!

That's Daryl's bike!
You get off that bike!

That's my son's bike!

What'd you say?

I said please get off
my son's bike.

Stay there, old man.

You're a pretty tough guy,
aren't you, picking on an old man?

Come on.

How about you? Come on.

Come on, buddy, it's time.

- Let him go.
- Come on. Come on.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.

Mad Dog, Mad Dog, Mad Dog.

- Damn, son.
- You okay?

Get him out of here.

So...

The Bone knows
a little tae kwon do.

Don't fight him.

He won't hurt you
if you don't fight back.

Come on, Bone.
Let's see what you got.

- If you don't fight, he can't do it.
- Shut up.

He can't even do it in bed
unless you fight him.

Shut up.

Sam.

Al?

Come on, duck. Kick.

Uh-uh.

Come on, Sam,
you can take this guy.

Let's go.
Let's get out of here.

You know, Sam, I hate to say it,

but this doesn't look
like it's workin' out right.

What?

It put Mad Dog in the hospital for
three weeks and then he got out.

Then he hooked up
with his buddy Dillon again.

Oh, in jail.
Hooked up with him in jail.

What about Becky?

What about Becky?

Uh...

I guess
you'll be going home now, huh?

No, I can't go home.

I don't know what I'm gonna do.

See, it don't have
any information on Becky.

She just kind of disappeared.

Ernie, uh,

didn't you say somethin' about

needing an extra hand
around here?

Me? Oh, yeah, I did.
I did.

I got that spare room
over my garage,

and it's piled full of books.

Ernie, I can't.

I've got to live life
if I'm gonna be a writer.

I've got to stay on the road.

Being on the road

doesn't mean that you literally
have to be on the road,

I don't think.

I mean I think it's more about
the journey of life, maybe.

And... and you can start
that right here.

No.

No, I've got to see,
I've got to do.

I've got to move,
I've got to groove.

Away from the rumbling hooves

of suffocating mediocrity.

That's what you were thinking,
wasn't it?

Oh, my God.

You're Jack Kerouac.

It's Jack Kerouac.

I was talking to a friend the
other day about this very subject.

He was illuminating.

Like a thunderstorm at midnight.

And when I overheard
your dilemma,

on my quest for a cup of coffee,

I couldn't help but be reminded of
it, and other things.

On the wheel of life
we all go around,

we are many people
at many times.

We all go through
phases of motion,

of ocean, of the notion
of living on the edge.

Of life. Or of a continent.

But the road is not
made of asphalt,

but of the people we meet.

And each of us is
on a different journey.

And that's okay.

So sometimes it's okay to get
off the road we ride on wheels

and just stay.

Something will come of it.

'Cause that's a world
worth writing about, too.

Say... say, my man,
how about that cup of coffee?

Well, I'll come back later,
when it's hot.

Bye.

What did you say to him
last night?

I guess more than
I thought I did.

What?

I was just thinkin' that
when... when he said "coffee"

it reminded me

that I wanted a cup of coffee
more than I thought I did.

Which reminded me,

that Ernie still has a job
opening here for someone.

Yes, indeed.

I mean, I, I really like
having young folks here again.

Go on, take it.

Okay.

You got yourself a waitress.

All right.

A friend, too.

Ernie's still alive,
so she probably helped him

through the news
of his son's death.

She makes it as a novelist.

She's got a nice house in Carmel
with an incredible ocean view.

Thanks.

You're welcome.

And welcome home.

All right, just hold on
to your pants.

Thank God, I thought you were...

Oh, no, not you.