Us (1991 TV Movie)

Michael Landon: Jeff Hayes

Quotes 

• Jack Hayes : [answers the door to see Jeff standing there]  What? Did you forget something?

  Jeff Hayes : No, I wanted to talk to you. Can I come in?

  Jack Hayes : Suit yourself.

  [Jeff enters] 

  Jack Hayes : You picked a bad time. I'm kind of busy.

  [He notices Jack vacuuming the floor] 

  Jeff Hayes : Dad, it's 12:30 at night. Now, that's a bad time to talk, but a great time to vacuum the rug, huh?

  Jack Hayes : We said everything we had to say to each other, tonight. You made it pretty clear. You don't want to be around me, that's fine.

  Jeff Hayes : Look, will you stop for a minute and listen?

  Jack Hayes : No, you listen. This is my place and if I want to clean it in the middle of the night, that is my business.

  Jeff Hayes : You're always cleaning this place. You could eat off the floor in here.

  Jack Hayes : Oh, and I suppose that's another thing you want to argue about. I guess there's something wrong, in your opinion, about wanting to keep a place neat.

  Jeff Hayes : You clean it all the time because you got nothing else to do.

  Jack Hayes : What? What the hell are you talking about?

  Jeff Hayes : Who are your friends, then?

  Jack Hayes : I got lots of friends.

  Jeff Hayes : Well, who are they? Give me the list!

  Jack Hayes : That's my business!

  [walks away] 

  Jack Hayes : Look, I don't want to argue, anymore!

  Jeff Hayes : No, of course you don't! You're not used to it! You don't have anyone to argue with!

• Jack Hayes : [notices Ellen called Jeff in Jack's apartment]  What's she calling here for?

  Jeff Hayes : [washing his hands]  Huh?

  Jack Hayes : What's she calling here for? It's over. It's been over. You gotta get on your life.

  Jeff Hayes : [drying his hands]  What are you talking about? She's having a problem with our boy.

  Jack Hayes : He's not your kid.

  Jeff Hayes : What do you mean, he's not my kid? She had to tell him the truth, now. He knows he's got a father. He's my kid.

  Jack Hayes : SHE raised him. If she's got a problem, it's HER fault. Look, you're just getting started again, Jeff. Why do you need her problems...

  Jeff Hayes : Just drop it, Dad. I don't want to talk about it.

  Jack Hayes : Oh, sure, don't listen to your father. What the hell does he know? If you'd listen to me in the first place, you wouldn't have screwed up your life.

  Jeff Hayes : All right, that's it, I'm out of here.

  [leaves the kitchen] 

  Jack Hayes : Oh, sure. Run away! Just like when you were a kid.

  Jeff Hayes : [starts packing his suitcase]  I didn't run away when I was a kid, Dad, you drove me away. There's a difference, you know?

  Jack Hayes : I drove you away?

  [chuckles] 

  Jack Hayes : I tried to give you good advice. Is that driving you away? You could've gone to college, Jeff. You had the grades, but no, not you. You get a girl pregnant, you gotta marry her.

  Jeff Hayes : I married Ellen cause I loved her. I'd marry her if she couldn't have a kid. What the hell am I doing this for? We had the same stupid argument nineteen years ago. Nineteen years and nothing changes with you.

  Jack Hayes : Oh, and with you, something changes, huh? She's gonna dump that kid's problems all over you. You'll see!

  Jeff Hayes : Don't put that kid on me, huh? You know what books I used to read when I was in prison, Dad? Books about raising kids. And from year one about how you hold them, and look at them, and how quick they get to know you. From their terrible twos, and the potty training, and the first days in school, about their joys and their fears. And I used to lie on my bunk, at night, and try to get myself to dream I was doing those things with my kid. Teaching him how to swim and throw a ball. And you know what, Dad? In my dreams, my kid loved me. Just the same I love him and his mom.

• Jeff Hayes : [at an overlook with Cary, he is trying to make sense what Cary preferred doing]  Okay, let's say they didn't catch this guy and I spend the rest of my life in prison. Are you trying to tell me that you would have been better off spending the fourth Saturday of every month talking to me through a pane of glass?

  Cary Hayes : At least, I would have known you. I would have come. I would have come every Saturday.

  Jeff Hayes : Well, I maybe didn't want you to come, okay? Same reason I didn't want your mother coming anymore. Hey, you know what it's like in there? It's like dying. It's like spending your life dying. Then, once a month, the people that you love have to come and watch you die. Well, I didn't want that. I made the decision. I didn't want it anymore. Can't you understand that?

  Jeff Hayes : When Mom told me about you. I got so angry--I don't know, it was like-- Paul didn't want me and I find out I have a real father and he didn't want me.

  Jeff Hayes : So, you wrote a rotten letter and took off? That was a lousy thing to do to your mom. She deserves better than that. She took care of you alone for a lot of years.

  Cary Hayes : She should've stayed alone. She shouldn't have married him. We were getting along fine.

  Jeff Hayes : Oh, no, YOU were getting along fine! What, your mother doesn't have a life?

  Cary Hayes : We had a life, a good life. I took care of her.

  Jeff Hayes : [sarcastically]  Oh, come on! Oh, you were the man of the house, huh?

  Cary Hayes : I was... 'til she met him.

  Jeff Hayes : And what happens when you move out? What happens when you move out, you get married, you got a family of your own? What happens to your mother, then, huh? Come on, what happens to her? Or maybe she gets lucky that she gets to visit you the fourth Saturday of every month? Come on, kid, it's time to start thinking about somebody besides yourself. Now, come on, I'm taking you home.

  Cary Hayes : I'm not going back.

  Jeff Hayes : Hey, look, this isn't Paul you're talking to! I don't wanna be your buddy, I don't want to be your pal! I'm your father and you're gonna do what I tell you because I spent eighteen years of my life loving a kid I never--

  [he stops to preventing himself from bursting into tears] 

  Jeff Hayes : Get in the car.

  [Cary stands there totally shocked] 

  Jeff Hayes : Get in the car!