Master Harold ... And the Boys Page #2

[Indistinct]

Boet Sam!

You make me

make mistakes.

No, you are too stiff.

You must try to glide

through it.

Glide?

Ja, give it more style.

You must look like you

are enjoying yourself.

I wasn't.

Exactly.

[Thunder rolling]

Willie... tell

me something.

When did you last

give H ilda a hiding?

Sunday night.

Aah, hiding

on Sunday night

then Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday she doesn't

come to practice.

And you are

asking me why.

One day she's

going to leave

you for good.

So, she makes

me the hell in.

You had the same

trouble with Eunice.

Because she also

made me the hell

In, Boet Sam.

Willie...

She never got the steps

right, even the waltz.

Beating her up every time

she makes a mistake

in the waltz

no, Willie, that takes

the pleasure out of

ballroom dancing.

[Mumbles]

[Schoolyard chatter]

[Sigh]

Look and learn

don't worry about making

mistakes or the judges

or the other competitors.

It's just you, H ilda,

and the music.

And you are

going to have

a good time.

Okay, Sam.

What Count Basie

do you play?

U m, "You the cream

on my cupcake

you're the salt

in my soup."

[Humming]

Mm-hm, right, right.

Give it to me in

strict tempo.

Okay.

Ready?

Ready.

[Singing]

D And you're the

cream on my cupcake d

d You're the salt

in my soup d

d You will always

be right here for me d

d I'm a mess without

you, bam-bam I dd

Great, Boet Sam.

Bravo. No question

about it.

First place,

M r. Sam Semela.

Ohhh!

Howzit, chaps?

Okay, Hally.

At your service,

Master Harold.

Not long to the

big event, hey?

Two weeks' time.

You think you

stand a chance?

Let's just say I'm ready

to go out there and dance.

Ahhh.

Ahhh.

You look like it.

What about you, Willie?

He's got leg trouble.

Boet Sam!

Ah, sorry to hear

that, Willie.

Oh, God, what a

lousy bloody day.

Bad day for business,

chaps, but...

it leaves room for

a nice quiet afternoon.

Ah. Where's my

mom? Shopping?

The hospital.

But it's Thursday.

There's no visiting on

Thursday afternoons.

Is Dad okay?

I'm not sure, Halley,

the hospital phoned.

Maybe he's coming home.

What makes you say that?

Oh, I don't know,

I just heard your

mom talking.

She said

she'd phone you.

You want to eat?

Halley, do you want lunch?

Ja, just soup.

Kempston?

Mental pollution.

Take them away.

[Sighing]

They can't be

discharging him.

They said he'd need at

least another three

weeks of treatment!

No, Willie, Sam's

definitely made

a mistake!

H uh.

[Crashing thunder]

[Willie, humming]

[Stops humming]

So, Willie!

[Both imitating gunfire]

[Both groaning]

[Grunting]

[Both chuckling]

So, Willie, which

leg is sore?

Boet Sam is only

making jokes.

So you'll be

in the competition?

Only if I find

myself a partner.

What about H ilda?

She's the one

with leg trouble.

I think the lady's

gone a bit lame.

Boet Sam I

Have you taken her

to see a doctor, Willie?

I think a vet

would be better.

What the hell do you

think you're doing, Willie!

Act your bloody age!

Get on with your work.

You, too, Sam.

Stop fooling around.

No. Hang on. Tell me

exactly what my

mom said.

I have.

"When Hally comes,

tell him I've gone

to the hospital

and I'll phone him."

So she didn't say anything

about taking my dad home?

- No, it's just when she was...

- No, Sam, it's just...

We saw him last night

and he wasn't in

good shape at all.

And now suddenly

today he's better?

You've definitely

got it wrong.

Okay, Hally.

[Imitates gunshot]

(Sam)

Who Is this

supposed to be?

(Hally)

Old fart-face Prentice.

Teacher?

He thinks

he is.

- Has he seen it?

- Ja.

Said I was no

Leonardo da Vinci

and that bad art

had to be punished.

Six of the best?

And his are bloody good.

With your trousers down!

No. He's not

quite that barbaric.

Ja. That's the way

they do it in jail.

Really?

Ja. When the magistrate

sentences you to "strokes

with a light cane."

Go on.

Come, Willie!

First you have

to lie on a bench

one policeman pulls

your trousers down

and holds your ankles.

(male voice)

It's not fair,

Is it, Hally?

Akafflr's black ass.

The other policeman pulls

your shirt over your head

and holds your arms.

[Willie laughing]

Thank you,

that's enough.

Then the one who's

about to give you

the strokes...

I've heard enough, Sam!

Jesus!

It's a bloody

awful world when you

come to think of it.

That's the way

it is, Hally.

Well, it doesn't

have to be.

You'll see, somebody's

going to get up one

of these days and...

They're called

social reformers.

My history book's

full of them.

So where is ours?

I don't know, Sam.

Napoleon and the

Principle of Equality.

[Sam, reading]

"Napoleon regarded all

people as equal under the law

"and wanted them to have

equal opportunities

for advancement.

All ves-ti-ges"...

All that's

remaining.

"All vestiges of

the feudal system

with its oppression of

the poor were abolished."

Aha! There's the social

reformer that we've

been waiting for.

No, sure, Hally.

He sounds like

somebody who Is big.

big and important.

What would you call it?

A man of... magnitude.

Magnitude. Aha.

I don't know, Sam.

Well, who would

you say was?

(Sam)

Abraham Lincoln.

No, Sam, now

you're confusing

historical significances

with greatness.

Try turning it

the other way.

I know what

I'm doing.

[Grunts]

How did it happen?

Stop interfering

with my work, Sam.

Wait a minute... I got it!

Darwin! Charles Darwin.

The Origin of the Species.

Remember?

He's your man

of magnitude?

Ja, precisely. For his

theory of evolution.

Who's yours?

Jesus.

Oh, come on, Sam.

Jesus Christ.

(Sam)

The Messiah.

(Hally)

Sam.

The Savior!

Ja, but still...

No, Sam.

Don't let's get

started on religion.

I'm not going to waste

my time again arguing

with you

about the

existence of God!

You know perfectly well

I'm an atheist

and I've got

homework to do!

Okay, Hally,

okay, I take him back.

You have time

for one more name.

[Cheerful music

over radio]

Willie, what

are you doing?

Singing with God,

Master Harold.

Ohh.

Hally! I've got one.

I doubt it.

Think moldy

apricot jam.

Penicillin and

Sir Alexander Fleming!

Splendid, Sam! Splendid!

It's deeply gratifying

to know that I haven't

been wasting my time

in talking to you.

Tolstoy may have

educated his peasants

but I've educated you.

My first lesson

was geography.

Geography? God, ja, the

Jubilee Boarding House.

That's how it all started.

nothing but bloody

misery wherever you went.

Somebody was always

complaining about

the food

or my mother was

having a fight

with M icky Nash

because she'd caught her

with a petty officer

In her room.

Maude Meiring

was another one.

Do you remember

those two?

There were prostitutes,

you know. Ja.

Soldiers and sailors

from the troopships.

Bottom fell out of

the business when

the war ended.

God, the flotsam and

jetsam that life

washed up on

our shores, eh?

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