# Mo' Better Blues

Mo' Better Blues is a 1990 drama film that follows a period in the life of a jazz trumpeter as a series of bad decisions result in his jeopardizing both his relationships and his playing career.
    Directed and written by Spike Lee.

## Bleek Gilliam

* I may have been born yesterday, but I stayed up all night.
* I want more money. Okay? I'm not happy. When I'm not happy, I don't play good. When I don't play good, the music doesn't sound good. If the music doesn't sound good, nobody comes. We all lose our money.

## Clarke Bentancourt

* Because mo better makes it mo better.
* Everybody's a teacher. People can teach you two things, what to do and what not to do.

## Indigo Downes

* You always avoid direct eye contact, you know that? Are you afraid of something? Are you afraid that I might see the real you? Huh? Answer me. Come on, answer me.

## Butterbean Jones

* Ugly woman easy to get along with. They don't want no trouble. You can tell an ugly woman anything, can't you? Hey, bitch, I'm going to the moon. I'll be back in a couple of days. "Well, you be careful. I don't want nothin' to happen to you now, cause you know I - cause I love you. Oh, I love you. Please don't call me a bitch in front of the kids." All right, whore, I'll be back in a couple of days. Goddamn.
* I'm from Mississippi and I love it! I like bein' country. I ain't lyin'. Ain't nothin' like a good country lady. Yeah, a girl the other day, I was messin' around with her breast. She got hot. She said, "Oh, wouldn't you like something to go with this good ol' breast milk?" I said, "A good piece of cornbread would go just fine."
* There's some good-lookin' women in here and some good-lookin' fellas. How you doin', sir? I'm a trisexual. I'll try your little ass tonight.
* I like women with big asses. Why do brothers drive Cadillacs? Cause you can't get all that ass in a Volkswagen. The first thing they be sayin', "Kiss my ass." Some ugly women in here, too, tonight. How you doin'? I didn't - when I said ugly, I was lookin' at your ass.
* I ain't lyin'. I'm lookin' for a woman. Cause I'm horny enough to fuck the crack of dawn.

## Moe Flatbush

* Trust. You can't buy trust, right? l trust my mother - sometimes.

## Dialogue

    Bleek: Who asked you?
    Left Hand Lacey: Nobody asked me, man.
    Bleek, Shadow Henderson: [in unison] Then shut the hell up!
    Bleek: Here we are. This is our music, right? Jazz is our music. It'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, you know if we had to dep... if we had to depend upon black people to eat, we would starve to death. I mean, you've been out there, you're on the bandstand, you look out into the audience, what do you see? You see Japanese, you see, you see West Germans, you see, you know, Slabobic, anything except our people - it makes no sense. It incenses me that our own people don't realize our own heritage, our own culture, this is our music, man.
    Shadow: That's bullshit.
    Bleek: Why?
    Shadow: [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 t- to play their own music, you complain about...
    Bleek: I'm talking about the audience.
    Shadow: 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!
    Shadow: You're supposed to be taking care of me. I'm the artist, midget rat bastard.
    Giant: What does size have to do with it?
    Shadow: A lot. You keep coming up short.
    Bleek: How many times do I have to tell you? I have a certain time allotted for daily practice. You know this, yet you consistently overlook my program.
    Clarke: I 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? I need it like this to get everything done. I like order.
    Clarke: Order's fine, but you're ridiculous.
    Indigo: 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 I'd be inviting grief and pain and tears and heartbreak to my doorstep.
    Bleek: Your mother wasn't talking about me.
    Indigo: 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: 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 I say? I'm not going to argue the point. You know how I am.
    Bleek: What do you want?
    Clarke: I 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: I know what I want. My music. Everything else is secondary.
    Clarke: Say something.
    Bleek: Let's make love.
    Clarke: For once, let's be real. What you and I do is not make love.
    Bleek: What would you call it then?
    Clarke: It'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: I'll settle for some of that mo' better.
    Bleek: Yeah, I knew you would.
    Moe: Nobody - can be trusted.
    Josh: Nobody.
    Moe: Everyone steals. Everyone is crooked.
    Josh: Everyone.
    Moe: The thing is to walk out of the deal with as much of your shirt on as possible.

## Tagline

* A Spike Lee joint.

## Cast

* Denzel Washington - Bleek Gilliam
* Spike Lee - "Giant"
* Wesley Snipes - Shadow Henderson
* Joie Lee - Indigo Downes
* Cynda Williams - Clarke Bentancourt
* Giancarlo Esposit - Left Hand Lacey
* Bill Nunn - Bottom Hammer
* Jeff "Tain" Watts - Rhythm Jones
* Dick Anthony Williams - Big Stop Williams
* John Turturro - Moe Flatbush
* Nicholas Turturro - Josh Flatbush
* Robin Harris - Butterbean Jones
* Samuel L. Jackson - Madlock
* Leonard L. Thomas - Rod
* Charlie Murphy - Eggy
* Coati Mundi - Roberto

## External links

* Mo' Better Blues quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Mo' Better Blues at Allmovie
* Mo' Better Blues at Rotten Tomatoes
* Mo' Better Blues at Mojo