MEET JOE BLACK [1998]

He's Expecting You

William: Do you love Drew?

Susan: You mean, like you loved Mom?

William: Forget about me and Mom.

Are you gonna marry him?

Susan: I'm probably.

William: Listen, I'm crazy about the guy.

He's smart, he's aggressive, he could carry Parrish Communications into the 21st century and me along with it.

Susan: Mm-hmmm, so, what's wrong with that?

William: That's for me. I'm talking about you.

It's not what you say about Drew, it's what you don't say.

Susan: Maybe you're not listening.

William: Oh, yes, I am.

There's not an ounce of excitement, not a... whisper of a thrill.

And this relationship has all the passion of a pair of titmice.

I want you to get swept away out there.

I want you to levitate.

I want you to... sing with rapture and dance like a dervish.

Susan: Oh, that's all?

William: Yeah. Be deliriously happy or at least leave yourself open to be.

Susan: Give it to me again, but the short version this time.

William: Okay, stay open. 

Who knows, lightning could strike.

Susan: Wow, give up what you want for the woman you marry.

Man in the coffee shop: Yeah, you know what, I would, gladly.

Cause you make your choices, you know?

Say, you and I, if we were married, I would... [Susan giggles]

No, for an example, okay?

If you and I were married, I would want to give you what you need, that's all.

I'm talking about taking care of each other the best you can.

What's wrong with taking care of a woman?

She takes care of you.

Susan: You'll have a hard time finding a woman like that these days.

Man in the coffee shop: Shoot, you think so?

Susan: Mm-hmmm.

Man in the coffee shop: I don't know. Lightning could strike.

Man in the coffee shop: I was thinking, I don't want you to be my doctor.

I don't want you to... examine me and...

Susan: Why?

Man in the coffee shop: Because I like you so much.

Susan, blushing: And I don't want to examine you.

Man in the coffee shop: You don't? Why not?

Susan: Because I like you so much.

William: Who are you?

Joe Black: Just think of millenniums multiplied by eons compunded by time without end.

I've been around that long.

But it's only recently that your affairs here have piqued my interest.

Call it boredom.

The natural curiousity of me, 

the most lasting and significant element in existence, has come to see you.

William: About what?

Joe Black: I want to have a look around before I take you.

William: Take me where?

Joe Black: It requires competence, wisdom and experience.

All those things they say about you in testimonials.

And you are the one.

William: The one to do what?

Joe Black: Show me around, be my guide.

And in return, you get...

William: I get what?

Joe Black: Time.

Minutes, days, weeks.

Let's not get encumbured by detail.

What matters is that I stay interested.

Yes...

William: Yes what?

Joe Black: Yes, is the answer to your question.

William: What question?

Joe Black: Oh, Bill, come on... The question.

The question you've been asking yourself with increased regularity,

at odd moments, panting through the extra game of handball,

when you ran for the plane in Delhi,

when you sat up in bed last night and hit the floor in the office this morning.

The question that is in the back of your throat,

choking the blood to your brain,

ringing in your ears over and over as you put it to yourself.

William: The question.

Joe Black: Yes, Bill. The question.

William: Am I going to die?

Joe Black: Yes.

William: You are...

Joe Black: Yes? Who am I?

William: Death? You're Death?

Joe Black: Yes.

William: Death.

Joe Black: That's me.

William: You're not Death.

You're just a kid in a suit.

Joe Black: The suit came with the body I took.

William: How is it that you happened to meet my daughter?

Joe Black: I didn't meet her.

The young man I took met her.

That is, the fellow she encountered in the coffee shop this morning.

William: What happened to him?

Joe Black: I needed a body, Bill.

Susan: You must have something very big going on with my father.

Joe Black: Big?

Susan: Yeah. You appear at his side out of the blue,

stay at his house, have dinner with his family.

That's practically a first.

You're in the red-hot center of big business, and I thought you were just a regular Joe.

Joe Black: I am Joe.

Susan: Not the one that I met this morning.

Hitting on me in as nice a way as I've been hit on in a long time.

The second that you found out I was my father's daughter, you acted like a stranger.

Joe Black: That is not my intention.

Joe Black: Bill, why at this juncture are you letting yourself be so concerned by business matters?

William: Cause I don't want anybody buying up my life's work!

Turning it into something it wasn't meant to be.

A man wants to leave something behind.

He wants it left behind the way he made it.

He wants it to be run the way he ran it, with a sense of honor, of dedication, of truth.

Joe Balck: Easy, Bill.

You'll give yourself a heart attack and ruin my vacation.

I know you're down.

But when you're down, there's no place to go but up.

~Quince

William: Why don't we all have dinner again tomorrow night, okay?

Allison: Dinner again?

William: Yeah...

Susan: You haven't had enough of us yet, Dad?

William: Mmmm... no.

[kissing Susan and Allison]

Susan: We'll be here.

Quince: You bet we'll be here.

Susan: You don't want to disappoint Dad.

Drew: Daddy will do fine.

Besides, he's got Joe.

And it seems you do too.

Susan: You're out of line.

Drew: Well, that maybe, but I don't like the ubiquitous creep.

I don't like the way he looks at you,

I don't like the way he talks to you.

And vice versa.

Susan: I'm sorry... cause I like the way he looks and talks to me.

And vice versa.

Susan: Tell me about yourself, Joe. Who are you?
What are you doing here with my father?
[Joe Black keep in silence]
You're not going to tell me?
[He still in silence]
You're married, aren't you?
Joe Black: Why?
Susan: Because men who never say anything about themselves, they're always married.
So, you're married?
Joe Black: No, I'm not.
Susan: But you have a girlfriend.
Joe Black: No.
Susan: Gay?
Joe Black: No.
Susan: So, tell me, Joe,
how come a man as attractive, intelligent, well-spoken, 
diffident in the most seductive way, and yet, powerful, is all alone in this world?

William: What is the nature of your interest in Joe?
Susan: Remember how you told me about lightning striking?
The nature of it's in there somewhere.
William: I won't say you're on the wrong track, but...
Susan: Then what will you say?
William: I don't think this is the lightning you're looking for.

I loved making love to you.
It was like making love with someone making love for the first time.
~Susan Parrish

Susan: Where are you going?
Joe Black: Nowhere, I'm here.
Susan: For how long?
Joe Black: I hope a long, long time.
Susan: Me too.

William: I saw you kiss Susan.
Joe Black: Yes, I saw you see me.
William: You're at the wrong place at the wrong time and the wrong woman.
Joe Black: I'll be the judge of that.
William: I'm her father.
Joe Black: With all due respect, Bill, I'm not asking your permission.
William: YOU GODDAMN WELL SHOULD!!!
You walk into my life, you give me the worst news a guy can get.
You have me dancing on heads of pins with my business, my family,
now you're spooning with my daughter?
Joe Black: Spooning?
William: YES!
And stop repeating everything I say and turning it into a question.
Spooning. Fooling around and God knows what.
You arrive on the scene...
Why you picked me?
I still don't understand.
Joe Black: I chose you for your verve, your excellence, and your ability to instruct.
You've lived a first-rate life, and I find it eminently usable.

Jamaican Woman: You're in love? [Joe Black nodded]
You're loved back? [Joe Back nodded]
She know your real self?
Joe Black: She know how she feel.
Jamaican Woman: Backside!
What the hell kind of business this is?

Can't do no right by people.
Come to take you, you want to stay.
Leave you stay, you want to go.
Rahtid!
~Joe Black

Quince: It's like you know each other's secrets,
your deepest, darkest secrets.
Joe Black: Deepest, darkest secrets?
Quince: Yeah, and then you... you're free.
Joe Black: Free?
Quince: You're free!
You're free to love each other completely, totally. Just no fear.
So there's nothing you don't know about each other, and it's okay.

William: You're looking at a man who is not walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
He's galloping into it.
At the same time, the business he built with his own hands and head
has been commandeered by a couple of cheap pirates.
Oh yes, I almost forgot.
My daughter's fallen in love with Death.
Joe Black: And I'm in love with your daughter.
William: Say again?
Joe Black: I'm in love with your daughter, and I'm taking her with me tonight.
William: You what?
Joe Black: I think you heard me, Bill.
William: You're not taking Susan anywhere.
What does that mean, anyway? We had a deal.
Joe Black: And I'm sorry.
William: Susan's my daughter.
She has a wonderful life ahead of her.
You're gonna deprive her of it, and you're telling me you're sorry?
Joe Black: I'm sorry.
William: Apology not accepted.
Joe Black: I don't care, Bill. I love her.
William: How perfect for you tot ake whatever you want because it pleases you.
That's not love.
Joe Black: Then what is it?
William: Some aimless infatuation which, for the moment, you feel like indulging.
It's missing everything that matters.
Joe Black: Which is what?
William: Trust, responsibility, taking the weight for your choices and feelings...
and spending the rest of your life living up to them.
And above all, not hurting the object of your love.
Joe Black: So that's love according to William Parrish?
William: Multiply it by infinity and take it to the depth of forever,
and you will still have barely a glimpse of what I'm talking about.
Joe Black: Those were my words.
William: They're mine now.

Susan went for that poor son of a bitch whose body you took,
and everything since has been aftermath.
You don't know what love is.
She doesn't know who you are.
You make a deal, you're breaking it.
Bottom line is, Joe,
you're swindling her soul, and you're doing it with your eyes wide open.
~William Parrish

I loved Susan from the moment she was born,
and I love her now and every minute in between.
And what I dream of is a man who will discover her,
and she will discover a man who will love her,
who is worthy of her,
who is of this world, this time...
and has the grace, compassion and fortitude to walk beside her
as she makes her way through life.
~William Parrish

How can this be love?
She doesn't know who you are.
Why don't you tell her?
Try out, see what happens.
Reveal everything there is to know about yourself and let the chips fall where they may.
~William Parrish

Susan, thank you for loving me.
~Joe Black

I want you to know how much I love you,
that you've given a meaning to my life that I had no right to expect,
that no one can ever take from me.
I love you so much.
And I want you to promise me something.
I don't want you to ever worry about me.
And if anything should happen, I'm gonna be okay, and everything's gonna be alright.
And I have no regrets.
And I want you to feel the same way.
~William Parrish

William: Now that we have a moment,
would you mind if I expressed my gratitude for what you did for Susan?
I've never heard her speak of any man as she spoke of you.
That's what I always wanted for her.
But what happens to her now?
Joe Black: I wouldn't worry about it, Bill.
These things have a way of working out.
Would you mind if I expressed my gratitude?
For you, for the time you've given me, for the person you are.

William: Should I be afraid?
Joe Black: Not a man like you.

Susan: What do we do now?
Man from the coffee shop: It'll come to us.


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