Derek the Director |
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If you’re familiar with films which fall into the "noir" category, you have a pretty good idea of the genre. One thing that the films are noted for is the sharp and crisp dialogue between the characters or the haunting narrations often used. Here’s a few favorites from some great films.
Hollow Triumph
Paul Henereid: You’re a bitter little lady.
Joan Bennett: It’s a bitter little world.
Farewell, My Lovely
Dick Powell: I caught the blackjack right behind my ear. A black pool opened up at my
feet. I dived in. It had no bottom.
Phantom Lady
Fay Helm: No names, no addresses. Just companions for the evening.
Impact
Brian Donleavy: I’ll never think of our moments together without nausea.
The Big Sleep
Humphrey Bogart regarding Lauren Bacall: She was worth a stare. She was trouble.
The Big Combo
Cornell Wilde: I treated her like a pair of gloves. When I was cold, I called her up.
Cape Fear
Barrie Chase: What do you know about scenery? Or beauty? Or any of the things that
really make life worth living? You’re just an animal-coarse, muscled, barbaric.
Robert Mitchum: You keep right on talking, honey. I like the way you run me down like
that.
The Big Steal
Jane Greet: Stop calling me Chiquita. You don’t say that to girls you don’t
even know.
Robert Mitchum: Where I learned Spanish, you do.
Clash by Night
Barbara Stanwyck: Last time I looked, you had a wife.
Robert Ryan: Maybe next time you look, I won’t.
Barbara Stanwyck: That’s what they all say.
Detour
Tom Neal: Money. You know what that is. The stuff you never have enough of. Little
green things with George Washington’s picture that men slave for, commit crimes for,
die for. It’s the stuff that has caused more trouble in the world than anything else
ever invented. simply because there’s too little of it.
The Big Steal
Jane Greer to Robert Mitchum: What I like about you is you’re rock bottom. I
wouldn’t expect you to understand this, but it’s a great comfort for a girl to
know she could not possibly sink any lower.
Clash by Night
Barbara Stanwych to Keith Andes: What do you want, Joe, my life history? Here it is in
four words: big ideas, small results.
The Woman in the Window
Edward G. Robinson to Joan Bennett: There are only three ways to deal with a
blackmailer. You can pay him and pay him and pay him until you’re penniless. Or you
can call the police yourself and let your secret be known to the world. Or you can kill
him.
The Big Combo
Cornell Wilde: It happens to be against two laws. God’s and man’s. I’m
booking her on the second.
Strangers on a Train
Leo G. Carroll: She was a tramp.
Patricia Hitchcock: She was a human being. And let me remind you that even the most
unworthy of us has a right to life and the pursuit of happiness.
Leo G. Carroll: From what I hear, she pursued it in all directions.
The Killing
Sterling Hayden talking to Marie Windsor: I know you like a book, ya little tramp.
You’d sell your own mother for a piece of fudge. But you’re smart with it. Smart
enough to know when to sell and when to sit tight. You’ve got a great big dollar sign
there where most women have a heart.
Clash by Night
Keith Anders: Why didn’t you come home before?
Barbara Stanwyck: Why didn’t I go to China? Some things you do, some things you
don’t.
The Big Steal
Robert Mitchum: I don’t usually make it a habit to butt into women’s affairs,
but what’s this guy Fisk to you?
Jane Greer: Don’t change your habits on my account.
Mildred Pierce
Eve Arden: Personally, I’m convinced that alligators have the right idea. They eat
their young.
Casablanca
Humphrey Bogart: I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Claude Rains: But we’re in the middle of the desert.
Humphrey Bogart: I was misinformed.
Double Indemnity
Fred MacMurray’s narration: She liked me. I could feel that. The way you feel when
the cards are falling right for you, with a nice little pile of blue and yellow chips in
the middle of the table. Only what I didn’t know then was that I wasn’t playing
her. She was playing me, with a deck of marked cards and the stakes weren’t any blue
and yellow chips. They were dynamite.
Ace in the Hole
Jan Sterling: I don’t pray. Kneeling bags my nylons.
Laura
Clifton Webb talking about how Laura felt about him: Laura considered me the wisest,
the wittiest, the most interesting man she’d ever meet. I was in complete accord with
her.
The Big Heat
Sid Klute about the bargirls: They’re floaters. Not much more than a suitcase full
of nothing between them and the gutters.
Crack-up
Claire Trevor: You can’t expect to dodge the police indefinitely, George.
Wouldn’t it be smarter to go to Cochrane and this thing out in the open?
Pat O’Brien: Just about as smart as cutting my throat to get some fresh air.