Four Friends

My father left Yugoslavia

shortly after I was born.

We were introduced to each other...

for the first time in a train station

in Gary, Indiana...

America.

It's Chicago, Indiana, America!

America.

Hey, Prozor, is that your family?

Yes, my woman, my son, my family.

Welcome to the US of A!

Danilo.

That makes a total of 60 miles.

Have you ever been there?

Come on, Gergley!

I'll sock him.

It's a great way to get in shape.

- It develops your lungs like nothing else.

- A moving concert.

And if the audience wants to listen,

they have to keep up.

We'd have to face the audience,

so we'd have to run backwards, right?

That's a good point.

Come on, you guys.

Tom? Danny?

David, Tom, and Danilo

were the best of friends...

and they loved the same girl, Georgia.

She lived next door to me

on Aberdeen Lane.

And I loved to watch the boys come to call.

They always came together.

It kept me young, trying to guess

which one she would choose.

Wonderful kids, all four.

Good evening, boys.

- Hello, Mrs. Zoldos.

- Good evening, Mrs. Zoldos.

Is it time for

the Senior Class Concert already?

Yes, it is, Mrs. Zoldos.

Wait till you see the dress Georgia made

for the occasion.

It's so lovely.

She was dancing out on the porch earlier.

Good evening, kiddos.

That is no way to behave at a concert,

Georgia Miles.

Swear to God, Mr. Lucas, when I hear music

something happens to me...

and I either have to move,

or scream my head off or something.

Something's in my blood, sir...

and I don't know what it is.

But I do know if I can't dance, I'd die.

Maybe you should see a doctor.

A doctor! These middle-class minds...

they don't know what passion is...

what ecstasy is,

what it's like to be possessed.

I'm gonna be a famous dancer.

I am, I just know it.

- She's gonna be a dancer.

- Listen to my heart.

It doesn't just beat, David. It keeps a beat.

Here, go ahead and listen. Come on.

Do you hear it?

Listen. Go ahead. Do you believe me?

I'm going home. I'll see you around.

I was born on the very day

and the very hour...

that Isadora Duncan died.

Her soul is inside of me.

If you don't believe me,

I never want to see you again...

any of you again. Never.

- But she died in 1927.

- So what?

It took her soul 15 years

to find somebody like me.

It's so beautiful!

It's standing and it seems to move.

- I told you I'd see you around.

- Style, that's what it is.

Without style you're dead ducks, kiddos.

Allow me to introduce myself:

Dead Duck Levine.

- I got to get glasses on Monday.

- So what?

- My dad wears glasses.

- So what?

I'm getting to be more and more like him.

And my hair is getting thinner...

my ass is getting fatter.

It's like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

- Pretty soon, I'll be just like him.

- Not if you don't want to.

I don't want to. You think I want to? I don't!

- Ever hear of genes and chromosomes?

- They don't matter.

Jewish chromosomes matter.

He wants me to take over his business

when I get out of school.

- David, you don't wanna be a mortician.

- No, I don't wanna be a mortician.

You think I wanna be a mortician? I don't.

- Between chromosomes and traditions...

- You know what? We have to think, David.

- Please.

- Hypnosis.

Please. Short of conversion, I'll do anything.

- Let's give him a word.

- No, two words.

And whenever you feel

the evil influence of the middle class...

muddling your soul, just say these

two words and you'll be a free spirit again:

Isadora Duncan.

- Who's Isadora Duncan?

- "Who's Isadora Duncan?"

She was the greatest dancer who ever lived.

- And she was killed in just such a car.

- Actually, it was a Bugatti.

You and your facts.

I can't understand how you can write poems

to me and still cling to facts.

Poems?

Recite it for them, Danilo.

Come on, Danny.

"I love you

like the Pilgrim loves the Holy Land

"Like the wayfarer loves his wayward ways

"Like the immigrant that I am loves America

"And the blind man

the memory of his sighted days"

Our Danilo will maybe

be a famous poet someday.

And I will definitely be a famous dancer.

And we're all gonna do wonderful things.

And if anyone disagrees, they can leave.

School's ending, kiddos...

and it's out into this world with us all.

We are poised and ready to fly.

Isadora Duncan!

So, no more school after this year.

- There is college.

- Not for you.

We are people who work.

- In America, you...

- I am in America. I work.

Your mother cleans floors. She works.

What country are you in? Tell me.

You make fun of my life

with your dreams of...

I'm tired and I have to go to work.

That is America.

Last night, I dreamed

I danced with Isadora Duncan.

Those things I saw while I danced...

Wild, wild things.

And I never did those steps before.

They were just coming to me

in the last second.

Just when I thought there was no place

to go, something would...

come to me and off I went!

And she went with me.

I think I could ravage all three of you.

I'm starved.

- Here's a tender young morsel.

- Get him, Isadora. Get him.

- Hey, play fair.

- Dora.

I think my glasses are broken.

- I got a new car!

- It's beautiful!

My dad bought me a new car.

It's got push buttons. It's got a radio.

The whole thing!

- Come on. Hit it!

- Listen to what's playing.

Hurry!

Turn up the radio.

- Where to?

- Let's find somewhere so beautiful...

we have to stop.

And if we can't find it, let's just keep going.

We can hardly do that.

Then why did you ask me, kiddo?

And what kind of funeral arrangements...

did you make with your father

to get this car, kiddo?

I made a decision.

My days as a virgin are drawing to a close.

And away we go.

Danilo.

Hi. Look at the moon, Danilo.

- It's nice.

- "Nice"? Puppy dogs are nice.

A moon like this is... beautiful.

"And I, like the tide, am moved by the moon

"moaning with desire"

I wrote that.

That's real nice. Beautiful.

I feel inspired.

I can't finish my poem

till I know what love is...

and I came here to find out.

Help me in.

No, we can't. My father's room

is right next to mine and he's asleep.

Let him sleep. We'll do it quietly.

It's a big step.

I love big steps, love them.

That word "love" keeps coming up.

No, Georgia. We can't do this.

We can't. Not now, not like this.

We're not even...

Not with you.

No.

I felt like Christmas all the way here.

I was bringing you a gift

and you don't want it.

- Well, I...

- You'll be sorry, Danilo.

The moment's gone.

- No.

- Lower your shade more.

Damn!

Since we are justifiably proud to be called

the Steel Capital of the Nation...

it gives me great pride to present

Mr. Jack Bellknap...

representing the steel companies

of America.

Thank you.

I don't think it's an exaggeration at all...

to begin by saying that

America was built by steel.

That is not an exaggeration, it's a lie.

America was not built!

It grew out of a dream. This is a school!

It's an institution of learning!

It is not an employment agency!

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