Mo' Better Blues (1990)

Denzel Washington: Bleek Gilliam

Photos 

9 more photos

Quotes 

• Bleek : I may have been born yesterday, but I stayed up all night.

• Giant : Shut up! Who asked you, Left Hand?

  Left Hand Lacey : Nobody asked me, man.

  Giant , Bleek : [in unison]  Then shut the fuck up!

• Bleek : Here we are. This is our music, right? Jazz is our music. lt's black music. We will go and watch some crossover stuff that's created by other people, but we don't come to see our own, man. But the jazz - if we had to depend upon on black people to eat, we would starve to death. You look out into the audience, and what do you see? You see Japanese, West Germans, you see Slabovic, anything, except our people, man. lt makes no sense. lt incenses me that our own people don't realize our own heritage, culture. This is our music, man.

  Shadow Henderson : That's bullshit.

  Bleek : Why?

  Shadow Henderson : [slurred]  It's all bullshit. Everything, everything you just said is bullshit. Out of all the people in the world, you never gave anybody else, and look, I love you like a step-brother, but you never gave nobody else a chance to - to play their own music, you complain about...

  Bleek : l'm talking about the audience.

  Shadow Henderson : That's right! The people don't come because you grandiose motherfuckers don't play shit that they like. If you played the shit that they like, then people would come. Simple as that!

• Bleek : What do you want?

  Clarke : l want a man who knows what he wants. Decisive. You don't know what you want. Make up your mind to be a man and don't be wishy-washy on me.

  Bleek : l know what l want. My music. Everything else is secondary.

• Bleek : Thank you for coming. But, you didn't have to come. You could have stayed home and watched Arsenio Hall or something. No, hey listen, l got nothing against the brother, you know. God bless him. But, eh, thank you again for coming.

• Bleek : Why you buzzing my buzzer?

• Bleek : How many times do l have to tell you? l have a certain time allotted for daily practice. You know this, yet you consistently overlook my program.

  Clarke : l get the times mixed up. Everything with you is so damn regulated. A certain time to do this, a certain time to do that. Everything's on a schedule, a timetable. Loosen up, tight ass.

  Bleek : Let me explain something to you. Life is short, okay? l need it like this to get everything done. l like order.

  Clarke : Order's fine, but you're ridiculous.

• Bleek : Bleek, you know what my mother used to tell me? She used to say, ''Don't ever marry a musician, let alone go out with one.'' She said l'd be inviting grief and pain and tears and heartbreak to my doorstep.

  Bleek : Your mother wasn't talking about me.

  Indigo Downes : Maybe not. You're a good brother, Bleek, but you still don't know what you want.

  Bleek : Guess it's time for confessions of a modern-day dog, huh?

  Indigo Downes : Well, like it or not, you're a dog. You are a dog. You're a good doggy, a nice dog, but you're a dog nonetheless.

  Bleek : What can l say? l'm not going to argue the point. You know how l am.

• Bleek : Ow!

  Clarke : l'm sorry.

  Bleek : Baby, I think you bit my lip. Oh, shit. ls it bleeding? What you laughing at?

  Clarke : l was playin'.

  Bleek : Well, don't play with my lips!

  Clarke : l'm sorry. Jesus Christ, l said l'm sorry.

  Bleek : Damn! She done cut my - you're nuts!

  Clarke : Want me to kiss it to make it mo' better?

  Bleek : This shit ain't funny, man.

  Clarke : l was joking. All right, l won't ever kiss you again.

  Bleek : That's good. l make my living with my lips.

  Clarke : l make my living with my lips.

• Clarke : Say something.

  Bleek : Let's make love.

  Clarke : For once, let's be real. What you and l do is not ''make love''.

  Bleek : What would you call it then?

  Clarke : lt's definitely not making love.

  Bleek : Bonin'?

  Clarke : You've been more imaginative.

  Bleek : Oh, I got a million of 'em. You ever heard of the mo' better?

  Clarke : Mo' what?

  Bleek : Mo' better makes it mo' better. Mo' better makes it mo' better.

  Clarke : Yeah, that's what we do. We don't make love because you don't love me. But in the meantime...

  Clarke , Bleek : l'll settle for some of that mo' better.

  Bleek : Yeah, I knew you would.

• Bleek : Shall we go upstairs? Would you like to talk about it upstairs?

  Indigo Downes : We might, could.

  Bleek : We might, could? Oh!

  Indigo Downes : Come on, now. l'm not waitin' anymore.

  Bleek : We might, could! You know, l used coulda, woulda, shoulda, woulda, would. That sounds like a good song.

• Bleek : Black queen. l mean, my slice of pie. The apple of my eye. My chicken thigh, extra spicy. Ham, Spam. Eggs and bacon, chicken and waffles. From Wilsons. How you doing, baby? You're looking good to me.

  Indigo Downes : What happened to you, Bleek?

  Bleek : What happened to me?

  Indigo Downes : l've been waiting for twenty years.

  Bleek : Twenty? My watch must be going slow, lt says 15 years, but l'll get it fixed.

• Bleek : [singing]  lt came as a surprlse, You opened my eyes, Why? Because l love you, Let me spend the rest of my life with you - tonight, If you don't, l'll just roll up into a ball and just die, Won't wash, won't eat, Won't even go to work, If you don't love me do l'll even give up my four season tickets, To the New York Knicks! Court side, And you know, How l feel about basketball, That's gotta be L-O-V-E, Let me call you my own, Shower me with your cones, Let lt rain down on me like a monsoon! Let your love come down, Flow down, Drown me in that stuff, l want to swim in it, Do 20 laps, The breast stroke is my specialty, L-O-V-E, L-O-V-E, L--O--V--E

• Bleek : l want more money. Okay? l'm not happy. When l'm not happy, l don't play good. When l don't play good, the music doesn't sound good. lf the music doesn't sound good, nobody comes. We all lose our money.

• Bleek : Most of the stuff on the radio is so sad. lt's a drag. One of the reasons could be because every song is about - oh, you guessed it, huh? Love. Love. Love. L-O-V-E. "What the world needs now..." is not another love song. Now, dig. Check this out. The love that's professed in these songs is shaky anyway. lt's a lustful, selfish, end-of-the-world love. And the lyrics - have you tried to listen to the lyrics? You heard them all before.

  [singing] 

  Bleek : My love ls higher, Fire and desire, Let's stay together forever, Despite all types of weather, Even a hurricane, In fact, l'd spend a winter in Chi-town, And you know that's cold, Ain't no mountain high enough, Ain't no river wide enough, To keep me from gettin' to your good stuff, You know it's rough...

• Bleek : Let me ask y'all something. How many of y'all out there know about the blues?

• Bleek : The light. Truth is the light. Prophetic, right? Truth is light, though, that's the truth, isn't it? Lighten up.