Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Quotes

The Inevitability of Truth in Murder

Sol Rosenthal: Whether it's the Old Testament or Shakespeare, murder will out!

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Consequences of Choices and Relationships

Halley: [about Lester] : He wants to produce something of mine.

Clifford: Yeah. Your first child.

Ben: You fool around with her for your pleasure; then, when you think its enough, you want to sweep her under the rug.

Judah: There's no other solution, but Jack's men. I push one button and I can sleep again.

Ben: Could you sleep with that? Is that who you really are?

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Complicated Feelings About Marriage and Betrayal

Clifford: You must have had a pretty terrible marriage if you don't want to be asked out on any dates.

Halley: Well, no, I mean, he was great. You know, very brilliant. He's an architect. Real handsome and everything. But, if you're going to have an affair, not with my best friend, in my four poster bed, and they definitely didn't have to finish all my pistachio nuts.

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Reflections on Love and Regret

Halley: [on the philosopher Lewis Levy] He was very eloquent on the subject of love, didn't you think?

Clifford: I wish I had met him before I got married. It would've saved me a gall bladder operation.

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The Search for Meaning and Forgiveness

Ben: What choice do you have if the woman is going to tell her? You have to confess the wrong and hope for understanding. Maybe Miriam was responsible in some ways too. You have to discuss it and hope for the best. And maybe you and Miriam can never go back to the old life; but, maybe there's a new one with maturity and understanding; maybe - maybe even a richer one.

Judah: You know, it's funny, for our entire adult lives, you and I have been having this same conversation in one form or another.

Ben: Yes, I know. Its a fundamental difference in the way we view the world. You see it as harsh and empty of values and pitiless. And I couldn't go on living if I didn't feel it, with all my heart, a moral structure with real meaning and - forgiveness. And some kind of higher power; otherwise, their's no basis to know how to live.

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Manipulation and Uncertainty in Relationships

Lester: I told you I'm putty in your hands.

Halley: What am I gonna do with a handful of putty?

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American Phenomena in Conversation

Halley: [about Lester] After all, he is an American phenomenon.

Clifford: [[w:Acid rain|acid rain] Yeah, but so is ].

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Body for Science or Personal Gain?

Lester: If you play your cards right, you could have my body.

Halley: Wouldn't you rather leave it to science?

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The Relationship Between Comedy and Tragedy

Lester: Comedy is tragedy plus time.

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A Candid Admission of Preference

Lester: I'll be honest. You're not my first choice.

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A Documentary Journey of Self-Discovery

Lester: Idea for a farce. A poor...loser does a documentary of a great man and in the process learns some deep values.

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The Humor of Bending and Breaking

Lester: If it bends it's funny. If it breaks, it's not funny.

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The Need for Love in a Cold Universe

Professor Louis Levy: But we must always remember that when we are born we need a great deal of love in order to persuade us to stay in life. Once we get that love it usually lasts us. But the universe is a pretty cold place. It is we who invest it with our feelings. And under certain conditions, we feel the thing isn’t worth it any more.

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A Profound Departure from Reality

Professor Louis Levy: I've gone out the window.

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The Dual Nature of Love and Childhood

Professor Louis Levy: When we fall in love, we are seeking to re-find all or some of the people to whom you were attached as children. On the other hand, we ask our beloved to correct all the wrongs that these early parents or siblings inflicted on us. So, love contains in it the contradiction, the attempts to return to the past and the attempt to undo the past.

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The Weight of Choices and Human Experience

Professor Louis Levy: We're all faced throughout our lives with agonizing decisions, moral choices. Some are on a grand scale, most of these choices are on lesser points. But we define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly, Human happiness does not seem to be included in the design of creation. It is only we, with our capacity to love that give meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying and even find joy from simple things, like their family, their work, and from the hope that future generations might understand more.

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Teaching Responsibilities Amidst Challenging Circumstances

Wendy Stern: [[Emily Dickinson] We really do have to go. I have to get up at dawn and teach ] to a bunch of upper-middle class crack addicts.

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Frustration with life's contradictions and filmmaking

Clifford Stern: [after Levy's suicide] I got 600,000 feet of film on this guy. And he's telling how great life is and everything and now, you know. What am I gonna do? I'll cut it up and make it into guitar picks.

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A Year of Lost Intimacy

Clifford Stern: [[Hitler] Honey, you're the one who stopped sleeping with me, okay? It'll be a year come April 20th. I remember the date exactly, because it was ]'s birthday.

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Unexpected Incident Involving a Family Member

Clifford Stern: A strange man defecated on my sister.

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Reflection on Intimacy and Experience

Clifford Stern: [[Statue of Liberty] The last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the ].

On Comparisons and Human Reactions

Clifford Stern: [[Mussolini] What's the guy so upset about? You'd think nobody was ever compared to ] before.

Reflections on Unhappiness and Suicide

Clifford Stern: I don't know from suicide. Where I grew up in Brooklyn, nobody committed suicide - they were too unhappy.

A Plan to Secure a Cab

Clifford Stern: I think I see a cab. If we run quickly we can kick the crutch from that old lady and get it.

Lessons on Life and Observation

Clifford Stern: While we're waiting for a cab I'll give you your lesson for today. Don't listen to what your teachers tell ya, you know. Don't pay attention. Just, just see what they look like and that's how you'll know what life is really gonna be like.

The Harsh Realities of Show Business

Clifford Stern: Show business is, is dog-eat-dog. It's worse than dog-eat-dog. It's dog-doesn't-return-other-dog's-phone-calls. You know, it's just terrible. Which reminds me, I should really check my service. I don't know why, I haven't had a message in seven years! You know, I call up and I hear the girls on the other end giggling.

Hidden Motives Behind Intellectual Exchanges

Clifford Stern: When he tells you he wants to exchange ideas, what he really wants is to exchange fluids.

Confronting Reality and Idealism in Life

Judah Rosenthal: Jack lives in the real world. You live in the kingdom of heaven. I'd managed to keep free of that real world, but suddenly it's found me.

Reflection on God's Observing Presence

Judah Rosenthal: I remember my father telling me, "The eyes of God are on us always." The eyes of God. What a phrase to a young boy. What were God's eyes like? Unimaginably penetrating, intense eyes, I assumed. And I wonder if it was just a coincidence that I made my specialty ophthalmology.