Honeydripper, a film by John Sayles

Alton Stokely has been disappointed in love. He’s been disappointed in a lot of things, but two different women leaving him has been the worst. A man like him, got a skill, got his own business, shouldn’t be done that way. Not only is he the best sign-painter in three counties, he can spell better than most the people who hire him, white or black, he went all the way to Hampton before the Depression forced him out. So he drinks a little and gets in a mood now and then. Any man who doesn’t, the way the white folks got this country rigged up against you, there’s something wrong with him. It’s like you’re way up on a ladder, trying to do your trade, and the man down there is shaking it all the time. You complain a little bit and he’ll yank it right out from under you. Nobody ought to work, to live under those conditions. And the women, they see the worst side of you and they’re gone. Well good riddance.

Three nights out of four he can’t face those empty rooms any more, can’t look at that empty bed, and he’ll end up in Tyrone’s place. Toussaint’s is too noisy, all the young trash in there trying to show off for each other, but Ty pours an honest drink and plays a mean piano and they sing the old songs, none of this new monkey jump you hear on the radio or the juke box. Pour you your scotch and leave you alone. If his women had only figured out that’s all he needed. At least now he knows not to try to climb too far up, that they’ll pull you down every time. There’s other ways to get high.