Decision For Mike (1974)

Morning, a time of natural sounds. >> Mike, it's getting late. Breakfast is ready. [music] >> And of course, morning's a time of natural habits. Mike's father has his natural morning cigarette habit. Mike's [music] mother and her natural morning habit. >> Mike better put on a sweater. It's cold today. Mike, like everybody, is a mixture of all the sounds and habits that surround him. Hurry. >> But Mike, like everybody, can choose what [music] he wants to be. >> So long, guys. Okay, Mike. Have a good day. >> Okay. >> Good morning, Mom. >> Good morning. Did you finish your schoolwork? >> I did. >> Good. >> Mike hasn't caught this habit. Not yet. >> Mom, I won't have time for breakfast. You got everything? >> Yes, I do. >> Got your money? >> Mike's decided this is his morning to choose. The choice [music] he makes can affect all the rest of Mike's mornings. [music] >> Morning time of more natural sound. Mike's girlfriend, Ellen, and her natural morning habit. Yeah, Mike's morning. To face the pressures, to face the facts, to get into his own head, to explore the land inhabited by those people called grown-ups. Mike's morning to find out what kind of adult he might become >> if he starts to smoke. >> Mike. >> Hey, Mike. Still trying to decide whether to start smoking or not, huh? >> Yep. >> Well, maybe you came to the right place. I think we can help you out. >> Right, Mike. We'd like to show you some of the things that happen to people who start smoking. Uh people who smoke and the people who try to stop. >> [music] >> During World War I, American men began smoking cigarettes. And as the rates of men smoking began to climb up, up up, sometime later, the incidence of lung cancer in men began to climb up up. In the 1930s, movies and advertising began to make cigarette smoking glamorous, romantic, adventuresome. Women began to smoke. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> soon the incidence of women smoking began to climb up up and now we see the incidence of lung cancer in women climbing up up. [music] What time is it, Fred? >> 6:00. >> 6:00. I got two hours before the party. I'm all excited. >> You going to go like that? >> No, no, no. This formula wearing a tuxedo. >> Oh, no. >> Tuxedos. >> This is high society. You kidding? >> Tuxedos are out. They're p. >> Oh, come on. Everybody's going to be there dressed up. >> Sophisticated people today go relaxed. They enjoy themselves. Yeah. >> Now, let's see. Um, I'd suggest maybe a jumpsuit. >> Jumpsuit? >> Yeah. On you, I think a jumpsuit. >> Okay. Zip it up, >> right? Gucci loafers. They're okay. >> Good. >> Little touch of color here. Maybe a a poochie scarf. Poochie and a Gucci. >> Kind of right. Loosely tied, right? >> Now I'm dressed for society, huh? >> Something's [music] missing. >> Uh, what? >> Oh, drink. >> Got a drink in my hand. >> Oh, you got a drink. Really sophisticated. >> Everybody's going to have a drink in there. >> Okay. Here I am at the party. How's that? >> Let me see. Strike a pose. >> Okay. >> Hi, Skylar. Hi, Phyllis. >> No, something's missing. >> No >> cigarette. Well, I don't smoke. >> Oh, you got to smoke. >> Really? >> I mean, you're going to a sophisticated party, right? >> Well, I want to look right now. >> There'll be a lot of sophisticates there. >> Okay. >> They'll all be smoking. >> Okay. >> You got to smoke. >> Okay. Here we go. >> Hello, Skyler. Hi, fellas. >> No, you you put the other end in your mouth. That's filter. >> Oh, I see. Okay. >> Backwards, right? >> All right. Here I am at a party. >> Okay. I'm holding the cigarette like this. Hi, fellas. Hello, Skyler. >> No, wrong. >> It's got to be Skyler and Phillips. >> No, it's got to be lit. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize. >> Cigarette. >> I don't really like to do that. >> Do it again. I'll show you what happens. Just do that and I'll show you what happens at a party. >> Hi, Skyler. Hello, Phyllis. I'm here long. You come to the season old. >> Keep it. Hold it. Let those rich tobacco things go down there and do what they do. >> I don't like it. I don't think I want to be this sophisticated. >> Oh, no. You got to do it. >> Got to do it. >> You got to keep smoking. >> That's right. >> Smoke all evening with those people. >> That's right. >> Oh, that's really sophisticated. >> You mean I'll be exclusive if I do that? >> You're right. >> Fit in there with the group, huh? >> With the uh >> That's fantastic. The 400. Here I am with the 400. >> And you keep on smoking. Next year you'll be a member of the 200. >> 200. >> Keep on smoking and there'll be 100. >> I think I'll try it. >> You may not even have to go out IF YOU KEEP SMOKING. >> That's right. [music] [music] Honey, your mother thought that I should sit down with you and have a very serious talk about something very important. >> Oh, Daddy, I know about boys. >> No, it has nothing to do with boys. This is something much more important. >> I take driver safety. [music] >> No, it's not the car or driving. Your mother caught you smoking the other day in the bathroom. That's very serious. >> Yeah, well, I opened the window. All the smoke was out and >> Well, it's not that. It's that smoking itself can be very dangerous. Now, many of your schoolmates and and many young ladies today are smoking and it's very dangerous. >> Remember your daddy smoked. I started out smoking when I was very young. >> I know. >> I Yes. I've told you many times. Remember? >> Oh, I remember. >> Remember when I was smoking like two and three packs a day? >> Oh boy. >> Honey, your breath smell terrible, Daddy. >> Not only that, I found out a lot of important things and I stopped. I found out that smoking can cause infyma. >> What's that? >> Well, that's when you can't breathe very well. You can take the air in, but you can't release it. >> Oh, >> I found out that smoking can cause heart trouble. >> Oh, >> and I found out that smoking [music] can cause cancer. >> Oh, >> well, that's very serious. >> I know. >> But this is more important. It stunts your growth. >> Oh, daddy. >> No, darling. [laughter] It's true. It's true. Now, you have to believe, daddy. This is very serious. Now, you believed me when I said it can cause cancer, didn't you? >> Yes. >> You believed me when I said it can cause heart trouble. >> Yes. >> And you believed me when I said it can cause emphyma. >> Yes. Now that I know what it is. Mhm. Well, then you have to believe your daddy when he says it can stunt your growth. >> Dinner's ready. >> All right, let's go into dinner. >> Okay, [music] maybe [music] guard. Bring in the condemned prisoner. Where's the guard? >> He's eating my last meal. >> Would you like to have a blindfold? Save it to blow your nose on. >> Do you have a last request? >> Yes. I want to see Paris, France before I die. >> That's impossible. >> Philadelphia will do. >> Please. >> Kansas. >> All right. >> Detroit, Pittsburgh. >> All right. >> New York. >> Do you have a real last request? >> Yes. I want one last cigarette before I die. >> Cigarette? >> That's right. Make it a 100. >> You want to smoke? >> One of those long ones. >> Do you know smoking can be injurious to your health? >> I didn't know that. >> Oh, yes. A surgeon general has proven it. >> It's incredible. >> Oh, statistics show it's very bad for Why wasn't I told? I've been smoking for years. >> Um, well, I I >> I think you'll think it over. >> Well, can Yeah, give me a minute. >> Consideration. >> Give me a few days. >> Just step out of here. You think it over. >> Oh, thank you very much. No, you saved my life. I'll remember that as long as I live. >> Miss Perkins. >> I'm Mr. Baskin. >> Hello, Mr. Baskin. >> Hello. How are you today? >> I'm so glad to see you. >> Well, I think we've probably uh at last solved your problem here with the computer dating service. >> You know, you've been so worried. You've been coming here for months and months and months. >> Years almost. >> We've taken all your statistics, fed them into our computer. >> All of them. >> Finally found all of them. >> Finally found a man. We think a mate, a match who is just perfect for you. >> Match as me, >> right? Everything in common. He has your same social background, your same religious background, your same educational background. Did he go to Prinour? >> Two years. Yes. Didn't graduate, but he went. Now, in addition to that, he likes long walks in the country. Uh he likes pets >> and he's crazy about smoking. >> Just like you. Isn't that wonderful? >> I love him already. >> Yes. He's a very heavy smoker. No filters at all. He's been smoking three packs a day. Three packs a day for the last 15 years. >> My Oh, that's wonderful. Oh, at last. >> Oh, my mother's going to be so happy if she would arrive. Now then, let's start over. You'll have to find someone, I think, uh, who doesn't smoke, or you'll just have to give up. >> Do you smoke? >> No, >> I give up. >> Do that again. >> Lefty Williams. >> Right. >> Yes. Don't you recognize me? >> No. Who are you? >> I'm Scott Thorngood Jones. >> Dinky Jones. That's right. >> Thank goodness. I never >> I haven't seen you since grade school. >> That's right. We played ball together. >> Oh, I'll say. Oh, you were the best pitcher little league ever had. Oh, you used to sit there on the You were so confident on the bench. You would be smoking away and relaxed and >> I started at nine. >> 9 years old, I remember. Oh, what a fast one. You used to burn that fast one in there. >> I didn't pitch that fast. >> Oh, no. Your cigarettes used to burn them up. Remember? >> Burn them up in there. Yeah. >> Lefty, what happened to you? You used to have such a great left arm. Well, I still got the left arm, but I can't pitch no more. I dropped out of baseball. I dropped out of high school. I never went on to college, and I'm just here broken down. >> You mean after little league, it was just all downhill? >> That's right. What happened to you, by the way? >> Well, nothing much. I finished high school, went on to college, and went into industry, and now I'm head of my corporation. I never smoked. >> But, uh, well, what can I do for you? >> 1350. >> Still a left-handed, huh? >> Yeah. Could you give me 1350? >> 1350? >> Got to have 1350. >> $13.50? >> That's my habit. I got to have it every day. >> You mean you're drinking? >> No, it isn't drinking. >> Not drinking? You mean it's It's No wonder your arm went bad. It's the hard stuff. >> No, no, it's not that. >> What is it? >> Cigarettes? Cigarettes? >> Right. I get 11 packs a day. >> Oh, 11 packs a day. 1350? >> Well, I get them from a machine over here. >> 11 packs a day. >> That's right. 1350 every day. >> You've really got a monkey on your back. >> Yeah. And he smokes two packs a day. >> Oh, yeah. What's his name? I'm smoking [cough] >> doesn't make much sense, does it, Mike? >> No, not really. >> You know how long it takes a cigarette to harm you and you begin to smoke it? The instant you inhale, the chemicals in that smoke start to work on your heart, your lungs, your whole body. If you smoke one half pack a day, you stand five times greater chance of getting lung cancer than a non-smoker. >> Still want to smoke, Mike? [music] If you smoke two packs a day, you've got 17 times greater chance of dying of lung cancer than a non-smoker. 100,000 doctors have given up cigarettes. They know something we ought to know. >> Regular cigarette smoking can shorten your life by years. >> As a rule, the longer you smoke and the more you smoke, the harder it is to quit. So, the time to quit is now or don't start. >> You still want to smoke? I never really think about the health, you know, problems. I guess that's because I do smoke and I don't want to think about it because I know that it's probably true. >> Well, I don't smoke and I don't really see any sense in spending money for a pack of cigarettes, which I know can hurt my health. >> You know, when you see mothers holding the baby and they've got this, you know, blowing the smoke in the baby's face, that's kind of disgusting. I don't smoke myself because I think I would look really stupid if I smoked [music] because when I have a cigarette in my hand, the few times that I've tried smoking, I look like a real idiot. >> Nobody can tell anybody like, you know, they can't be told to stop. You know, [music] nobody can do that. >> How about it, Mike? Have you figured out which way you'll go? >> [music]