The People Under the Stairs (1991)
Brandon Quintin Adams: Fool
Photos
Quotes
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Fool : Hey!
Man : [aims his gun at Fool, but stops when he sees Fool holding up two wires]
Fool : You shoot me, and you die too, man. And you better believe it. Don't be crazy now. There's enough dynamite back there to blow you sky high. Not the best place to store it, in my opinion. But there it was. Now just put the gun down.
Man : [aims at Fool again]
Fool : Put the gun down. I don't wanna kill you, but I will 'cuz I don't like you much anyway.
Man : [hesitates, but doesn't lower his weapon]
Fool : I'm tired of fucking around! So either put the gun down now, or kiss your ass goodbye, boy!
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Grandpa Booker : Meanwhile, you be careful. That brother and sister act you mess with are evil, plain and simple.
Fool : Wait a minute, brother and sister?
Grandpa Booker : Brother and sister. Tailend of the craziest family you ever heard of. Every generation more insane than the one before it. Started out as a family running a funeral home, selling cheap coffins for expensive prices. Then they got their fingers into real estate, started making a lot of money taking over people's homes. The more money they got, the greedier they got. The greedier they got, the crazier they got. All sorts of rumors about what's going on in that place. Never proved it because the police never took it serious. But believe me, when I was a kid, none of us ever walked past that house.
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Alice : People have tried.
Fool : You mean, the people in the cellar?
Alice : [nods]
Fool : Who are they?
Alice : Mommy and Daddy looked a long time to find the perfect boy child, but each one they found turned out bad. Some saw things they weren't supposed to, others heard too much, others talked back. Daddy cut out the bad parts, and put the boys in the cellar, one by one. They get flashlights and food of some kind. I suppose they're happy in their own way.
Fool : Yeah right. What about you? How come they haven't put you in the cellar?
Alice : I do not see, or hear, or speak evil. It's the only way.
Fool : [hears screaming from within the walls] What is that?
Alice : What?
Fool : That yelling! What is that?
Alice : Well, that's Roach.
Fool : Roach?
Alice : That's who Daddy's hunting. See, Daddy hates Roach because he got out of the cellar and into the walls, and now Daddy can't find him.
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Fool : My name is Fool. What's yours?
Alice : [shyly] Alice.
Fool : Don't be scared. You never seen a brother before?
Alice : Never had a brother.
Fool : No, I mean a black dude. There's black folks in this neighborhood.
Alice : Neighborhood?
Fool : The neighborhood. You know, outside.
Alice : Well, that's outside, not in here.
Fool : So you get outside, don't you?
Alice : [shakes her head]
Fool : You sayin' never?
Alice : Can't get out. No one ever has.
Fool : Well, I'm gonna get out. I'm a whole other thing.
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Ruby Williams : Now here's your card, Fool. See? That's where l got your nickname.
Fool : Don't remind me!
Ruby Williams : Here you go. Today. The golden-haired birthday boy is settin' off on life's big adventure.
Fool : I ain't no golden-haired nobody! All l'm goin' on to is seventh grade.
Ruby Williams : Well, you're the Fool, and you can't escape that. That ain't bad.
Fool : No?
Ruby Williams : No. Ain't the stupid kind of fool. The ignorant kind, cos you're just startin' out.
Fool : That's better, l guess.
Ruby Williams : Ah, but look here. Already he's got a problem, see? One step in front Fool: the drop-off.
Fool : What about the dog?
Ruby Williams : That's Fool's companion. See his spirit barking? "Fool! Don't go marching over that cliff, now! Do the smart thing. The high thing."
Fool : So what Fool gonna do if he ain't gonna go off the cliff? Fly?
Ruby Williams : He gonna do what he have to, Fool. Turn around and walk the other way, right through the fire of the sun.
Fool : He'll get burned up if he do that.
Ruby Williams : Just the boy part get burned up. The rest come out the other side a man. And no one calls him "Fool" again.
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Fool : That X-ray lady's back, she's out back right now by the van. She's got a man with her the size of Detroit.
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Fool : [after Roach rescues him from "Daddy"] Thanks.
Roach : [smiles and nods]
Fool : [to Alice] He doesn't talk much, does he?
Alice : His tongue's cut out.
Roach : [opens his mouth and shows a severed stump]
Alice : Mommy caught him trying to call for help one day, and Daddy had to teach him to...
Fool : Speak no evil, right?
Alice : [nods]
Fool : Your father's one sick mother, you know that? Actually, your mother's one sick mother, too!
Alice : Shhh! You're speaking evil! They'd kill you if they heard a word you just said.
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Fool : Listen Alice, they're not your real parents.
Alice : What?
Fool : They're not. They're not even husband and wife. They stole you, like they did Roach and all the others. They're a bunch of rotten baby snatchers.
Alice : You're just saying that...
Fool : My grandfather Booker told me. He wouldn't lie to me.
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Fool : No *wonder* there's no money in the ghetto!
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Fool : [Leroy is attempting to pry a door open with a crowbar to enter the house and find Spencer, who did not return after entering the house] Listen Leroy, this breaking and entering might not be so smart. It's the first day of my thirteenth birthday... could be unlucky.
Leroy : Thirteenth birthday is unlucky anyway. Too old to get tit, too young to get ass... fucked either way.
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Alice : Roach is my friend.
Fool : Roach? I'm Poindexter.
Roach : [tries to mumble his name]
Fool : Everybody calls me Fool.
Roach : Foo...?
Fool : You sure got the names, huh?
[notices Alice's basket of homemade dolls]
Fool : This Leroy? You did this? Why you make these?
Alice : To hold the souls of burglars when they died. Or salesmen, workmen, other people who saw too much.
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Fool : How did Spenser get past her? She's got X-Ray eyeballs!
