Edward G. Robinson Quotes

Lancey Howard Gets down to what it's all about, doesn't it? Making the wrong move at the right time.

Cincinnati Kid Is that what it's all about?

Lancey Howard Like life, I guess. You're good, kid, but as long as I'm around you're second best. You might as well learn to live with it.

Johnny Rocco Nothing to stop me from wiping you all out!

Slade How the hell did you know I didn't have the king or the ace?

Lancey Howard I recollect a young man putting the same question to Eddie the Dude. "Son," Eddie told him, "all you paid was the looking price. Lessons are extra.

Johnny Rocco Thousands of guys have got guns. There's only one Johnny Rocco.

James Temple How do you account for it?

Frank McCloud He knows what he wants. Don't you, Rocco?

Johnny Rocco Sure.

James Temple What's that?

Frank McCloud Tell him, Rocco.

Johnny Rocco Well, I want uh ...

Frank McCloud He wants more, don't you, Rocco?

Johnny Rocco Yeah. That's it. More. That's right! I want more!

James Temple Will you ever get enough?

Frank McCloud Will you, Rocco?

Johnny Rocco Well, I never have. No, I guess I won't. You, do you know what you want?

Frank McCloud Yes, I had hopes once, but I gave them up.

Johnny Rocco Hopes for what?

Frank McCloud A world in which there's no place for Johnny Rocco.

Kitty March How long does it take you to paint a picture?

Christopher Cross Sometimes a day, sometimes a year. You can't tell. It has to grow.

Kitty March I never knew paint could grow.

Christopher Cross Feeling grows. You know, that's the important thing, feeling. You take me. No one ever taught me how to draw, so I just put a line around what I feel when I look at things.

Kitty March Yeah I see.

Christopher Cross It's like falling in love I guess. You know... first you see someone, then it keeps growing, until you can't think of anyone else.

Kitty March That's interesting.

Christopher Cross The way I think of things, that all art is. Every painting, if it's any good, is a love affair.

Kitty March I never heard anyone talk like that before.

Christopher Cross There aren't many people you can talk to this way. So you keep it to yourself. You walk around with everything bottled up.

Johnny Rocco You'd give your left arm to nail me wouldn't you? I could see the headlines now, Local Deputy Captures Johnny Rocco'. Your picture'd be in all the papers. You might even get to tell on the newsreels how you pulled if off, yeah. Listen hick, I was too much for any big city police force to handle. It took the United States Government to pin a rap on me. And they won't make it stick. You hick! I'll be back pulling strings to get guys elected mayor and governor before you ever get a 10-buck raise. Yeah, how many of those guys in office owe everything to me. I made them. Yeah, I made em, just like a-like a tailor makes a suit of clothes. I take a nobody, see? Teach him what to say. Get his name in the papers and pay for his campaign expenses. Dish out a lotta groceries and coal. Get my boys to bring the voters out. And then count the votes over and over again till they added up right and he was elected. Yeah- then what happens? Did he remember when the going got tough, when the heat was on? No, he didn't wanna. All he wanted was to save his own dirty neck. . . . Yeah, `Public Enemy, he calls me. Me, who gave him his `Public all wrapped up with a fancy bow on it.

Gaye Dawn Give me that drink now, Johnny.

Johnny Rocco No.

Gaye Dawn Johnny!

Johnny Rocco No.

Gaye Dawn But you promised!

Johnny Rocco So what?

Gaye Dawn You said that...

Johnny Rocco But you were rotten.

Lancey Howard Women are a universal problem in our business. Of course, uh, it's purely an academic question with me now, but, looking back, I think it's best not to look for a fixed thing. Just tie into something nice when you're away from the action and let it wear itself out.

Barton Keyes This Dietrichson business. It's murder, and murders don't come any neater. As fancy a piece of homicide as anybody ever ran into. Smart, tricky, almost perfect - but...I think Papa has it all figured out. It's beginning to come apart at the seams already. Murder is never perfect. It always comes apart sooner or later. When two people are involved, it's usually sooner. Now we know the Dietrichson dame is in it and the somebody else. Pretty soon, we'll know who that somebody else is. He'll show. He's got to show. Sometime, somewhere, they've got to meet. Their emotions are all kicked up. Whether it's love or hate, it doesn't matter. They can't keep away from each other. They may think it's twice as safe because there are two of them. But it isn't twice as safe. It's ten times twice as dangerous. They've committed a murder. And it's not like taking a trolley ride together where they can get off at different stops. They're stuck with each other and they've got to ride all the way to the end of the line and it's a one-way trip and the last stop is the cemetery.

Johnny Rocco After living in the USA for more than thirty-five years they called me an undesirable alien. Me. Johnny Rocco. Like I was a dirty Red or something!

Adele Cross Next thing you'll be painting women without clothes.

Christopher Cross I never saw a woman without any clothes.

Adele Cross I should hope not!

Kitty March You know those art galleries on Fifth Avenue? The prices they charge! I saw one little picture that cost fifty-thousand dollars. They call it, uh, Seezan'.

Christopher Cross ]? Oh, he was a great French painter. I'd like to own that painting.

Kitty March You would? For fifty-thousand dollars?

Christopher Cross You can't put any price on masterpieces like that. They're worth, well, whatever you can afford to pay for them.

Kitty March You know what, Chris? I bet I saw some of your pictures there and didn't know it. Next time I'll look for your name.

Christopher Cross Oh no no no no no. I, uh... I don't sell my pictures.

Kitty March Well not in New York you mean.

Christopher Cross No, I-...

Kitty March I know. I bet your sell your pictures in Europe, France or someplace like that. I don't know much about painting, but I bet your get as much for your pictures in France as those Frenchman get right here in New York. You're never appreciated in your own country.

Christopher Cross Well that's one way of looking at it. But you know when I paint, I don't think of money. I just paint for fun.

Kitty March Fun?

Christopher Cross Yes. I think it's the most fun I know, painting. I wish I had all the time to paint.

Kitty March But don't you have time?

Christopher Cross Well you know... business takes a lot of time.

Kitty March I wonder when you get all that money.

Lady Fingers How you holdin up, Lancey?

Lancey Howard Lady Fingers, that young man is a stud poker playing son of a...

Lady Fingers He's gettin to you, ain't he?

Lancey Howard No, Lady, he hasn't gotten to me. Not yet; but he might, he just might.

Christopher Cross Hey, did you read this?

Adele Cross Read what?

Christopher Cross This murder in Queens. A man killed his wife with the window weight, put her body in the trunk, shipped her to California. It says here...

Adele Cross I've read the paper, thank you. He didn't get away with it, did he? He'll go to the chair, as he should.

Christopher Cross Yeah, a man hasn't got a chance with these New York detectives.

Slade Six stacks, is that right, Shooter?

Shooter Six.

Slade Well, we've been playing 30 hours... uh, that rate, six thousand, that makes roughly, uh, $200 an hour. Thank you for the entertainment, gentlemen. I am particularly grateful to Lancey, here; it's been a rewarding experience to watch a great artist at work. Thank you for the privilege, sir.

Lancey Howard Well now, you're quite welcome, son. It's a pleasure to meet someone who understands that to the true gambler, money is never an end in itself, it's simply a tool, as a language is to thought. Good evening, uh... Mr. Slade.

Slade Good evening, Mr. Howard.

Johnny Rocco If you want to find out how good you are at taking it, we'll accommodate you. But let me warn you. Toots is a little rusty. Might slip. And that'd be tooo baaad.