That Golden, Silver Screen Line.

I enjoy watching movies with characters who have one pointless line: "What kind of fucked up tour is this?" says a black man caged in a tiny jail cell while taking a tour of Alcatraz.

The movie is "The Rock." As the non-important man shouts this line in a most ignorant, sharp tone, I think of the actor's family, sitting in a middle-of-nowhere movie theater watching their son, brother or cousin while screaming with elated joy. It's more than likely that this will be the poor actor's only line in a movie today, tomorrow or ever.

While his family packs the first row of the Silver Screen theater, the actor waits tables in a less-than-stellar New York City restaurant, waiting impatiently for his next audition. No agent; no prospects. He has already taken on a second job to keep his studio apartment in Brooklyn. Every night, after work, he counts his meager tips and catches the subway home. It's at least an hour's journey, give or a take a 10 minutes. He's tired and depressed, but his mother and father are proud. Their one and only son is a true Hollywood star, rubbing elbows with the best of them, strolling down Sunset Blvd. with a woman on each arm. An Oscar will surely come, it's only a matter of time.

His life later passes, with an indie film role -- or two -- in the background. A failed TV pilot, and a few plays around the East Village. Toward the end of his long, storied career, the hard-working actor sits his grandchild on a tired knee. The now-retired actor tells the tiny tot of his glory years.

"Listen here, my boy. You've never made it in show business until you have a line in a movie that goes a little something like this: 'What kind of fucked up tour is this?'"