Nickel Boys

Elwood.

Elwood?

El.

Mama, you see El?

He's out back, looking like he fell out.

Damn, Evelyn.

You just gonna lay 'em all out?

Gin is gin.

Y'all know Percy can't count and drink at the same time.

- -

-You too tired, Percy? -

After this next loss, I'm gonna have to hear

your mouth all the way to Cali.

No, look, she knows she ain't driving.

She complaining already.

You know what I'm sayin'? She... Look.

- -

She knows she ain't driving, she complaining already.

What you need to do is put that boy to bed.

No, what you need to do is mind your business

and get what's coming to you.

What's coming to me?

All right, Elwood. Get on down now.

- -

Knock knock.

I'm gonna get what's coming to me.

I'll clean it, Mama.

Come back and help me win, Evelyn.

You hear?

I said I'd do the washing up, Mama.

At least let the child know you're leaving.

Mmm-hmm.

[Evelyn's mom humming "O Come, All Ye Faithful"]

[Evelyn's mom and Elwood laughing]

[children chattering indistinctly]

- - Ow.

Ow!

Hey, Elwood.

Oh, I'm making me a Elwood bed sandwich.

Oh, Elwood.

Elwood.

Baby, I'm not going anywhere.

I'm not going anywhere.

Come here. Come on.

Nana's not going nowhere.

Come here.

Hattie, don't you look mod.

Nobody gonna call her grandma.

I'd be glad to have a grandson

-that would carry my shopping. -

You raised a fine young boy, Hattie.

Well, Elwood didn't need much rightin'.

He spends more time reading than anything else.

Uh-huh.

You hear about all the goings-on in Selma?

Mmm-hmm.

Mr. Parker telling us not to talk

about political things on the clock.

Said, "That don't got nothing to do with you all."

Hell it don't. Long as we working,

I don't see how it makes a difference.

And we work hard, too.

Well, Jim Crow just ain't gonna slink off his wicked self.

...however difficult the moment...

Yes, sir.

...however frustrating the hour,

-it will not be long. - No, sir.

Because truth crushed to earth

-will rise again. - Yes, sir.

-How long? Not long. - Yes, sir.

Because no lie can live forever.

Yes, sir.

-How long? Not long. - How long?

Because you shall reap what you sow.

Yes, sir.

-How long? Not long. - How long?

The first order of business in my class will be

to strike out all the latest epithets of white youths,

which are quite imaginative.

Mr. Hill, you a Freedom Rider?

That's how you got that scar over your eye?

Nashville.

White man slugged me with a tire iron.

Hello.

Where'd you come from?

Two of the 850-pound satellites

have orbited the Moon,

photographing and mapping wide areas,

sometimes sweeping as low as 25 miles above the surface.

Here are some of the pictures.

Pictures helping to determine

the height and slope of lunar mountains,

and the depth of craters.

These remarkable views show the crater Copernicus.

Pictures too of the back side of the Moon.

And a view of Earth from 240,000 miles in space.

- -

- Mr. Marconi? - Yes.

Very nice to finally meet you, sir.

-Oh, thank you. -I've heard a lot about you.

Oh, well.

I'm, uh... I'm looking for Elwood.

-I'm his teacher. -Oh. Uh...

Right there.

- Mr. Hill. - Mr. Elwood.

Don't worry. Good news.

You know that colored college just south of Tallahassee?

Melvin Griggs Technical School?

They've just opened up courses

to high-achieving high-school students.

And I thought of you right off the bat.

Well, that sounds great, Mr. Hill.

But I... I don't think we have the money

to pay for classes like that.

Oh. Well, that's the thing.

- -They're free.

They are?

This fall, at least.

So word gets out in the community.

Imagine a textbook with nothing to cross out.

Here you go, sir.

[students chattering indistinctly]

We pass on the expressway

going to the airport in Atlanta,

we pass by what is known as Funtown.

-I didn't wanna... -

...have to tell my little daughter

that she couldn't go to Funtown

because of the color of her skin.

- -To make us feel

that we do not count.

We must believe in our souls that we are somebody,

that we are significant...

- -...that we are worthful,

and we must walk the streets of life every day

with this sense of dignity

and this sense of somebody-ness.

For the ninth consecutive day,

those students continued their protests

against segregation and...

You can't pull us apart.

Yeah.

Mr. Hill said you might come.

We're organizing bail. Can we count on you, Elwood?

Yes.

-I can give half my paycheck. -

I'll be back next week.

Glad you felt the need to stand up.

[woman speaking indistinctly on phone]

Well, it was a good photograph of him at least.

Now, ain't you proud of your Elwood for steppin' up.

Of course I'm proud he was there.

His mama would be proud of him, too.

- - Yeah,

she came back now, she wouldn't recognize her boy.

That theater was showing The Ugly American

and Invaders from Mars.

Has everyone in Leon County gone crazy?

All right, yeah, I'll tell him.