Reds (1981) - Quotes

Conflict Over Creative Control and Financial Pressure

John Reed: You don't get to rewrite what I write! You don't get to rewrite what I write!

Pete Van Wherry: Stubborn son-of-a-bitch. How are you gonna pay your rent?

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

A Walk Home and Its Implications

Max Eastman: I'll walk you home.

Emma Goldman: Why? I won't hurt anyone.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Conflict of Love and Self-Interest

Jack Reed: Louise, I love you.

Louise Bryant: No, you love yourself! Me, you FUCK!

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Prioritizing Passion Over Practicality in Rehearsal

Louise Bryant: Would you rather I not smoke during rehearsal?

Eugene O'Neill: I'd rather you went up in flames than crush out your cigarette during a monologue about birth.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Nature of Decency and Belief

Lee Slater Overman: Are there no decent, God-fearing Christians among the Bolsheviks?

Louise Bryant: Does one have to be God-fearing and Christian to be decent?

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Memories of the Past and Forgotten Faces

Witness 1: [voice-over] Was that in 1913 or 17? I can't remember now. Uh, I'm, uh, beginning to forget all the people that I used to know, see?

Witness 2: [voice-over] Do I remember Louise Bryant? Why, of course, I couldn't forget her if I tried.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Burden of Humanity's Problems

Interviewee: I said, I think, that a guy who's always interested in the condition of the world and changing it either has no problems of his own or refuses to face them.

Interviewee: [[w:Alexander Kerensky|Kerensky; World War I] ] was anxious to conduct it , produce some battalions of women who were going to go and fight.

Interviewee: We all have problems, don't you know? But to take on the problem of all humanity, to save all humanity, my God, that was too big even for Jesus Christ.

A mujahid in Baku: [John Reed; [jihad|holy war; [Islamic; [Quran on infidels|infidels] They are supporting you for your call for a ] of ] people against the western ].

Witness: [voice-over] Of course, nobody goes with the idea of dying, everybody wants to live. I don't remember his exact words, but the meaning was that grand things are ahead, worth living and worth dying for. He himself said that.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Voting as a Distraction from Reality

Emma Goldman: I think voting is the opium of the masses in this country. Every four years you deaden the pain.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Revolutionary Conversations and Intimacy in Relationships

Eugene O'Neill: You dream that if you discuss the revolution with a man before you go to bed with him, it'll be missionary work rather than sex.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Conflict of Desire and Constraints

Eugene O'Neill: I'd like to kill you, but I can't. So you can do whatever you want to. Except not see me.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Dreams of Revolution and Wealth in America

Eugene O'Neill: Jack dreams that he can hustle the American working man, who's one dream is that he could be rich enough not to work, into a revolution led by his party.

Desire for Exclusivity in Love

Eugene O'Neill: If you were mine, I wouldn't share you with anybody or anything. It'd be just you and me. We'd be the center of it all. I know it would feel a lot more like love than being left alone with your work.

Louise Bryant's Bold Statement to Mr. Reed

Louise Bryant: I'd like to see you with your pants off, Mr. Reed.

Questioning Capitalism and Workers' Power

Jack Reed: Look, what does a capitalist do? Let me ask you that, Mike. Huh? Tell me. I mean, what does he make, besides money? I don't know what he makes. The workers do all the work, don't they? Well, what if they got organized?

Economic and Sexual Freedom for Women

Jack Reed: Economic freedom for women means sexual freedom, and sexual freedom means birth control...

Economic Interests Behind War Motives

Jack Reed: All right, Miss Bryant, do you want an interview? Write this down. Are you naïve enough to think containing German militarism has anything to do with this war? Don't you understand that England and France own the world economy and Germany just wants a piece of it? Keep writing, Miss Bryant. Miss Bryant, can't you grasp that J. P. Morgan has loaned England and France a billion dollars? And if Germany wins, he won't get it back! More coffee? America'd be entering the war to protect J. P. Morgan's money. If he loses, we'll have a depression. So the real question is, why do we have an economy where the poor have to pay so the rich won't lose money?