Death of a Salesman

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Boy, oh boy, oh boy.

Willy?

It's all right.

I came back.

Why, what happened?

Did something happen, Willy?

- Nothing happened.

- You didn't smash the car?

I said nothing happened!

- Didn't you hear me?

- Don't you feel well?

I'm tired to the death.

I, uh, I couldn't make it.

I just couldn't make it, Linda.

Where were you all day?

You look terrible.

Oh, I got as far

as a little above Yonkers.

I stopped for a cup of coffee.

- Maybe it was the coffee.

- What?

I suddenly couldn't drive anymore.

The car kept going off

onto the shoulder.

Maybe it's the steering.

I don't think

Angelo knows the Studebaker.

No, it's me. Suddenly I realise

I'm going 60 miles an hour

and I don't remember

the last five minutes.

I can't seem to keep my mind to it.

Maybe it's your glasses.

You never went for new glasses.

I see everything.

I came back ten miles an hour.

It took me nearly four hours

from Yonkers.

You just gotta take a rest.

You can't continue like this.

Aw, I just got back from Florida.

But you didn't rest your mind.

Your mind is overactive

and the mind is what counts, dear.

I'll start out in the morning.

Maybe I'll feel better in the morning.

Oh, these... these arch supports

are killing me.

Take an aspirin.

Should I get you an aspirin?

Lt'll soothe you.

I was driving along, understand?

I was fine.

I was even observing the scenery.

You can imagine me looking at scenery

on the road every week of my life.

But it's so beautiful up there, Linda.

The trees are thick and the sun is warm.

I just open the windshield

and let the warm air bathe over me.

And then all of a sudden I'm...

...l'm going off the road.

I'm telling you,

I absolutely forgot I was driving.

If I'd have gone the other way

over the white line

I might have killed somebody.

So, I went on again and five minutes

later I'm dreaming again and I nearly...

I have such thoughts.

I have such strange thoughts.

Talk to them again, Willy.

There's no reason

why you can't work in New York.

I'm the New England man.

I'm vital in New England.

You're 60 years old. They can't expect

you to keep driving every week.

I'll have to send a wire to Portland.

I'm supposed to see Brown and Morrison

tomorrow morning to show the line.

- Oh, I could sell them.

- Now, Willy.

Go down to that place again.

Talk to Howard.

Tell him you gotta work in New York.

You're too accommodating.

If old man Wagner was alive,

I'd have been in charge of New York now.

That man was a prince.

He was a masterful man.

That boy of his, Howard,

he don't appreciate.

When I went north the first time,

the Wagner Company didn't know

where New England was.

Why don't you

tell these things to Howard?

Oh, I will. I definitely will.

- Oh, is there any cheese?

- I'll make you a sandwich.

Go to sleep. I'll take some milk.

Geez.

Maybe he smashed up the car again.

He's gonna get his licence taken away

if he keeps that up.

I'm getting nervous about him, you know.

- His eyes are gone.

- No, I've driven with him.

He sees all right.

Just, he doesn't keep his mind on it.

I drove into the city

with him last week.

He stops at a green light.

It turns red and he goes.

- Maybe he's colour blind.

- Pop?

He's got the finest eye for colour

in the business.

- The boys in?

- They're sleeping.

- Happy took Biff on a date tonight.

- Is that so?

It was so thrilling,

seeing them shaving together,

one behind the other in the bathroom

and going out together.

- Did you notice?

- Hm?

The whole house smells

of shaving lotion.

Figure it out.

Work a lifetime to pay off a house.

You finally own it.

There's nobody to live in it.

Life's a casting off.

It's always that way.

No, no, some people

accomplish something.

Did Biff say anything

after I went this morning?

You shouldn't have criticised him,

after he just got off the train.

- You must not lose your temper at him.

- When did I lose my temper?

I simply asked him

if he was making any money.

- Is that criticism?

- Willy, how could he make any money?

There's such an undercurrent in him.

He became a moody man. Did he apologise

when I left this morning?

He was crestfallen, Willy.

Now, you know how he admires you.

I think when he finds himself you'll

both be happier and you won't fight.

How can he find himself on a farm?

Is that a life?

A farmhand in the beginning

when he was young,

I thought, a young man, it's good

for him to travel, take differentjobs.

It's more than ten years and

he has yet to make 35 dollars a week.

He is finding himself, Willy.

Not finding yourself at the age of 34

is a disgrace.

- Shh!

- The trouble is, he's lazy!

- Willy, please, they are sleeping.

- Biff is a lazy...

...bum!

- Go down!

Get yourself something to eat

and be quiet.

Why did he come home?

I would like to know

what brought him home.

Well, I don't know.

I think he's still lost, Willy.

I think he's very lost.

Biff Loman is lost

in the greatest country in the world.

A young man with such

personal attractiveness gets lost?

And such a hard worker.

There's one thing about Biff.

He's not lazy.

Never.

I'll see him in the morning, have

a talk with him, get him a job selling.

He'd be big in no time.

Remember the way they used to

follow him around in high school?

Oh, when he just smiled at them

their faces lit up.

When he walked down the

street with a crowd of kids behind him.

Will you ever forget that?

- You smoking?

- You want one?

I can never sleep when I smell it.

It's funny, Biff, you know... us.

Sleeping in here again, huh?

The old beds.

All the talk that went across

those two beds, huh?

- Our whole lives.

- Yeah.

A lotta dreams and plans.

About 500 women would like to know

what was said in this room.

- Remember that big Betsy something?

- Mm-hmm.

What the hell was her name?

Over on Bushwick Avenue.

- With the collie dog.

- Yeah, that's the one.

- I got you in there, man.

- That was my first time, I think.

Boy, there was a pig.

You taught me everything I know

about women. Don't forget that.

I bet you forgot how bashful

you used to be, especially with girls.

Oh, I still am, Biff.

I just control it, that's all.

I think I got less bashful.

You got more so.

What happened, Biff?

Where's your old humour?

The old confidence?

What's the matter?

- Why does Dad mock me all the time?

- He's not mocking you, Biff.

Everything I say there's mockery

on his face. I can't get near him.

I think the fact

that you're not settled,

that you're still up in the air.

I think there's other things

depressing him.

- What do you mean?

- Never mind. Don't lay it all to me.

But I think if you just got started...

I mean, is there any future

for you out there?

I don't know what the future is.

I don't know what I'm supposed to want.

What do you mean?

I spent six or seven years after

high school trying to work myself up.

Shipping clerk, salesman,

business of one kind or another.

It's a measly manner of existence.

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