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Words of Wisdom from the Movies
“As a lawyer, I’ve had to learn that people aren’t just good or bad. People are many things.”
This line is spoken by Paul Beigler, a fictional small-town lawyer brilliantly played by Jimmy Stewart in the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder. I don’t want to have to summarize the whole movie (if you haven’t seen it, though, please make sure to do so; it’s a great flick and also features George C. Scott in what I believe was his film debut), so I’m going to oversimplify the context of the scene.
Basically, Beigler is trying to convince a woman named Mary Pliant to help him gain testimony from another person that her old friend and benefactor, Barney Quill, raped a woman. Mary Pliant is reluctant to believe or help prove this accusation about a man who was always so kind and loving to her, which is what leads to Beigler speaking the line I just quoted.
It’s a line that has always stuck with me and comes to my mind from time to time when I learn of respected figures who are then revealed to have committed awful crimes. I thought of the line during the recent news stories involving Bill Cosby, and again this evening when talking on the phone with my sister. My sister just learned that a member of her ward (the Mormon term for a congregation), a seemingly very spiritual and kind family man who had only a few weeks earlier delivered a very moving talk in church, has just been arrested for molesting his daughter. He had been molesting her for the past five years and had threatened his family that he would kill them if any of them reported it, but (thank God) the daughter finally went to the authorities.
My sister’s understandably shaken by the news. I think most if not all adults understand that you never really know for certain whether someone you know is leading a double life, but it’s always shocking to learn that a seemingly decent person can in fact commit and hide such monstrous crimes. I mentioned the line from Anatomy of a Murder to my sister as we talked.
It’s a quote that I really do believe. While it can be easy to sort people as “good” or “bad,” the fact is that everyone is a mix of both. An individual can be sincere in doing good towards others in many aspects of their life, yet also do some despicable things to others in other aspects of their life. The good a person does does not excuse their crimes or pardon them from the justice they must face, but neither does one’s crimes invalidate the value of the good that they do either, or their sincerity in doing so.
In the simplest terms, people are complicated. This is not a new or earth-shattering observation, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard or read that little nugget of truth expressed as affectingly (to me personally) as in that scene from Anatomy of a Murder.
Which brings me to the topic of this post. As much as I love movies, generally I don’t look to them as fonts of wisdom. The primary goal of movie producers are, after all, to just make an entertaining and popular product for their audience. And when movies do attempt to impart some moral lesson, observation on life, or inspirational creed, the words they use often don’t rise above the cliche or even banal (“Follow your heart,” “All you have to do is believe in yourself,” “On our own, we can’t beat [the big bad], but together we can!”). However, a screenwriter sometimes writes a line of dialogue that really is profound or eloquent and can change, or at least help clarify, the way we think about something.
So I wanted to ask the Ricochetti: What are lines from movies that you think are true words of wisdom to remember? I’m not talking about just favorite lines of dialogue, but specifically the ones you found to be powerful/insightful and that have stuck with you through the years.
Published in Entertainment
I know you’re being facetious, but I’ll answer seriously anyways. When it comes to betraying our deepest morals, any amount of money is “a little money”.
Must admit, I don’t know who Umberto Eco is.
Some cooking quotes
and
and finally
Here’s one that I find has a lot of utility in life.
“I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure”.
Is that from Ratatouille?
Yes. On the chef message boards Mr. Amy frequents, the montage is often posted in response to people saying “I just started my first job in a kitchen. What do I need to know?”
From Jaws:
“Don’t you tell me my business again.”
Quint
“Pink Bunkadoo! Now that was a tree! Six hundred feet tall, bright red, and smelled terrible!”
Sorry. It’s a great question, and I’m just too tired I guess to think of a serious one.
I’ve always wondered about that attitude towards the sabbath. Jesus said, as I recall, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.”
Bob is (at least partially) incorrect in this scene.
The word “graduate” comes from the Latin word “gradus”, which means “step”.
Whether one should celebrate every step is, of course, open for debate, but going from fourth to fifth grade is a graduation.
Can do – From my favorite movie: In Harm’s Way
Captain Rockwell Torrey: Nice work, Harding! You did a 4-0 job on that sub!
LTJG ‘Mac’ McConnel: Thank you, sir, I’m not Commander Harding, sir.
Captain Rockwell Torrey: Well, where is he?
LTJG ‘Mac’ McConnel: Ashore, sir!
Captain Rockwell Torrey: Well, who’s in command?
LTJG ‘Mac’ McConnel: I am, sir! Lt. j.g. McConnell, sir!
Captain Rockwell Torrey: Did I hear Lieutenant junior grade?
LTJG ‘Mac’ McConnel: William McConnell; Class of ’38, sir!
Captain Rockwell Torrey: Oh. Well, can you rig for towing?
LTJG ‘Mac’ McConnel: Can do, sir!
Captain Rockwell Torrey: Can you pass some portable pumps to us?
LTJG ‘Mac’ McConnel: Can do, sir!
Captain Rockwell Torrey: Carry on, Mister!
Captain Rockwell Torrey: [Quietly, to himself, with admiration] Can do.
I was just going to post that one.
From Terminator 2:
Sarah Connor: [voiceover]
Yes, but the Sabbath should be treated as a special day, distinguished from other days of the week. If you do all the same stuff on the Sabbath as you would any other day of the week you’re doing it wrong. As to exactly how one distinguishes their routine for the Sabbath from other days, that’s up for individual conscience. There is the general rule of resting from our labors and to keep the day holy. For Eric Liddell, he believed that meant (among other things) that he shouldn’t run races on the Sabbath, and I applaud his conviction.
In keeping with the OP quote, Peter Lorre’s line “Who knows what it’s like to be me?” in M, although you need the whole speech (and preceding movie) to get the effect.
Ironically, M has the worst last lines imaginable just a few minutes later: “One has to keep closer watch over the children”. [screen to black] “All of you.” Which puts it in literary competition with Tale of Two Cities for best opening/worst closing ever.
Another from Ghost busters:
Personally, I like the University. They gave us money and facilities. We didn’t have to produce anything! You’ve never been out of college. You don’t know what it’s like out there. I’ve worked in the private sector. They expect results!
From Seven Samurai: “What do you think of farmers? You think they’re saints? Hah! They’re foxy beasts! They say, “We’ve got no rice, we’ve no wheat. We’ve got nothing!” But they have! They have everything! Dig under the floors! Or search the barns! You’ll find plenty! Beans, salt, rice, sake! Look in the valleys, they’ve got hidden warehouses! They pose as saints but are full of lies! If they smell a battle, they hunt the defeated! They’re nothing but stingy, greedy, blubbering, foxy, and mean! God damn it all! But then . . . who made them such beasts? You did! You samurai did it! You burn their villages! Destroy their farms! Steal their food! Force them to labour! Take their women! And kill them if they resist! So what should farmers do? Damn… damn… damn… ” “I didn’t know you were a farmer’s son.”
Also from In Harm’s Way: “Wars are fought by scared men who’d rather be somewhere else.”
From The Magnificent Seven. IMHO, one of the greatest speeches in all of the movies. I’d put it up with Mal’s speech in Serenity and Larry the Liquidator’s speech in Other People’s Money.
O’Reilly (Charles Bronson) ”
Don’t you ever say that again about your fathers, because they are not cowards. You think I am brave because I carry a gun; well, your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility, for you, your brothers, your sisters, and your mothers. And this responsibility is like a big rock that weighs a ton. It bends and it twists them until finally it buries them under the ground. And there’s nobody says they have to do this. They do it because they love you, and because they want to. I have never had this kind of courage. Running a farm, working like a mule every day with no guarantee anything will ever come of it. This is bravery. That’s why I never even started anything like that… that’s why I never will.”
In case no one knows the other references above:
Other People’s Money
Serenity
The entire opening scene dialogue should be presented, but it’s too long, so I’ll let this suffice:
From the 2003 Peter Pan:
Mrs. Darling: There are many different kinds of bravery. There’s the bravery of thinking of others before one’s self. Now, your father has never brandished a sword nor fired a pistol, thank heavens. But he has made many sacrifices for his family, and put away many dreams.
Michael: Where did he put them?
Mrs. Darling: He put them in a drawer. And sometimes, late at night, we take them out and admire them. But it gets harder and harder to close the drawer… He does. And that is why he is brave.
My only problem with that speech is that his buggy whip example is a terrible choice.
There’s a big market for horse whips these days. I’ve read it suggested that sales of horse whips are greater today than they were when the automobile was invented, because horses were expensive back then, and today way more people ride them as recreation.
There’s also the sexytimes market for horsewhips, but that’s a side issue.
So, yeah, today’s horsewhip manufacturers are doing just fine, thank you very much.
Now, I suppose there’s a technical difference between a horsewhip and a buggy whip, but I’d say the difference is mere semantics.
He’s making a point, and everyone understands it. Also, I think there is a difference between a horse whip and a buggy whip. Also, given the increase in population, I’d bet that per capita, the buggy whip business isn’t where you’d have wanted to have your money for the last 150 years.
You may be right.
On a completely unrelated topic, what’s the going price for copper wire right now?
I was curious about just how big the market for buggy whips could be, so I took out my slide rule and did a few computations. I’d have typed up the results for you but my ribbon is out of ink.