The Shootist Movie Quotes
Gillom Rogers
[first lines, voiceover]
His name was J.B. Books, and he had a matching pair of 45's with antique ivory grips that were something to behold. He wasn't an outlaw. The fact is for a while he was a lawman. Long before I met Mr. Books, he was a famous man. I guess his fame was why somebody or other was always after him. The wild country had taught him to survive. He lived his life and herded by himself. He had a credo that went:
John Bernard Books
I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.
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Gillom Rogers
[Books has just given Gillom a shooting lesson]
But how could you get into so many fights and always come out on top? I nearly tied you shooting.
John Bernard Books
Friend, there's nobody up there shooting back at you. It isn't always being fast or even accurate that counts. It's being willing. I found out early that most men, regardless of cause or need, aren't willing. They blink an eye or draw a breath before they pull the trigger. I won't.
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Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
The day they lay you away, what I'll do on your grave won't pass for flowers.
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Dr. E.W. Hostetler
There - there's one more thing I'd say. Both of us have had a lot to do with death. I'm not a brave man, but you must be. Now, now, now, this is not advice. It's not even a suggestion. It's just something for you to reflect on while your mind's still clear.
John Bernard Books
What?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
I would not die a death like I just described.
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
Not if I had your courage.
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John Bernard Books
I'm a dying man, scared of the dark.
Mrs. Rogers
Damn you! Damn you for the pain you brought into this house.
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John Bernard Books
[Clearly depressed when Hostetler tells him his cancer is fatal]
You told me I was strong as an ox!
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
Well, even an ox dies.
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John Bernard Books
[to the bumbling bandit who attempts to rob him in the first scene]
Friend, you better get another line of work; this one sure don't fit your pistol.
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John Bernard Books
Mike Sweeney?
Mike Sweeney
John Bernard Books, now I'm flattered that you remembered me.
John Bernard Books
Well, you look just how I remembered the Sweeneys - mean and ugly.
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John Bernard Books
First things, first, Doc. I almost forgot to ask you. How much do I owe you?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
You're a man after my own heart, Books. Most of them ask that last, if at all. Well, let's see. We'll make it four dollars for the two visits plus one dollar for that.
John Bernard Books
What's that.?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
They call that laudanum, a solution of opium and alcohol.
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Pulford confidante
Pulford, J.B. Books over at Mrs. Rogers'...
Jack Pulford
- is yesterday's news.
Pulford confidante
Yeah, but I just heard he's dyin'.
Jack Pulford
Dyin'?
Pulford confidante
A friend a' mine got it from Marshal Thibido himself. Ol' Books is cashin' in.
Jack Pulford
That's hard news. That's a man I coulda taken.
Gambler
[laughs]
My ass.
Jack Pulford
You have two ways of leaving this establishment, my friend. Immediately or dead.
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John Bernard Books
Damn.
Bond Rogers
John Bernard, you swear too much.
John Bernard Books
The hell I do.
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Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
You wouldn't gun down a police officer.
John Bernard Books
What'd stop me? Fear of dying?
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Moses Brown
Mr. Books, you're the most famous man I ever knew, and the second bes' haggler.
John Bernard Books
Who's the best?
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John Bernard Books
Whoa.
Moses Brown
Two ninety - you mean I can - why Mr. Books, that makes me the bes' haggler!
John Bernard Books
Best in the world, Moses.
[Moses laughs]
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Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
To put it in a nutshell, you've plum wore us out.
John Bernard Books
Put it in a nutshell? You couldn't put it in a barrel without a bottom. You're the longest winded bastard I've ever known.
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Bond Rogers
Where are you from, Mr. Hickock?
John Bernard Books
Abilene, Texas
Bond Rogers
And what do you do there?
John Bernard Books
United States Marshall
Bond Rogers
That's nice.
John Bernard Books
No it isn't.
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Dr. E.W. Hostetler
[pointing to Books' pillow]
Well if I wanted to go around town unnoticed, I wouldn't carry *that* around with me.
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[Books has just had a conversation with Mike Sweeney]
Mrs. Rogers
How do you know him?
John Bernard Books
I don't. I had some dealings with his brother Albert once.
Mrs. Rogers
What happened?
[Books looks at her]
Mrs. Rogers
Oh.
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Dr. E.W. Hostetler
Books, every few days I have to tell a man or a woman something I don't want to. I've been practicing medicine for 29 years, and I still don't know how to do it well.
John Bernard Books
Why don't you just say it flat out?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
All right. You have a cancer - advanced. Is that what that fella up in Creed told you?
John Bernard Books
Yeah.
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
And you didn't believe him.
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
Do you believe me?
John Bernard Books
Can't you cut it out, Doc?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
I'd have to gut you like a fish.
John Bernard Books
Well, what *can* you do?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
There's... just, uh... very little I can do. Uh, if... when the pain gets too bad, I can give you something.
John Bernard Books
What you're trying to tell me is that I...
Dr. E.W. Hostetler
Yeah.
John Bernard Books
Damn.
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Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
How are you feeling? A little more poorly everyday?
John Bernard Books
You have a streak of kindness a mile wide.
Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
That I do.
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John Bernard Books
Bond, I don't believe I ever killed a man that didn't deserve it.
Bond Rogers
Surely only the Lord can judge that.
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John Bernard Books
Where's Gillom?
Bond Rogers
In the woodshed.
John Bernard Books
That's appropriate.
Bond Rogers
Why?
John Bernard Books
You stay outta this.
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Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
Now, I checked my bulletins before I come over and didn't find nothing I can hold you for, but I want you out of town - directly, today.
John Bernard Books
Maybe I'm not so inclined.
Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
The, by God, I will incline you. I can badge as many men as I need. We'll smoke you out or carry you out feet first, so you say which, Mr. Gunman. It's your funeral.
John Bernard Books
Soon, yes.
Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
Huh?
John Bernard Books
I can't go.
Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
Can't?
John Bernard Books
I'm going to die right here in this room.
Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
Heh! That's too thin.
John Bernard Books
I wish you were right. Would you believe Doc Hostetler? That's his verdict.
Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
You don't say? You don't sa - goddamn! Whoo! Whooee! I tell you the damn truth, when I come through that door, I was scared. 'Cause I know what a man like you is capable of. I wondered who'd get my job, if the council would give my wife a pension and if it would snow the day they put me under. Whooee! Excuse me if I don't pull a long face. I can't.
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[last lines]
Gillom Rogers
LOOK OUT!
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John Bernard Books
[after Gillom tells him that Pulford and Cobb will be at the Metropole the next day]
What about the other one, Mike Sweeney?
Gillom Rogers
Now you watch out for him, Mr. Books. He's mean, and he hates you.
John Bernard Books
Well, we'll see if we can't clear that up tomorrow.
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Gillom Rogers
[Gillom is dusting off a carriage as Books and Mrs. Rogers prepare for a drive to Lake Tahoe]
Moses says he don't rent out this buggy too often.
Mrs. Rogers
Doesn't.
Gillom Rogers
'Doesn't'... except for funerals.
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John Bernard Books
I want to go out in the world again and see the trees and the lakes and the hills and the sky.
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John Bernard Books
[addressing the barman after entering the bar where his last gunfight will take place]
Mister, this is my birthday. Gimme the best in the house.
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John Bernard Books
[to Gillam]
Would you tell Mrs. Rogers that a tuckered out old man would like a room?
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Dr. E.W. Hostetler
Oh, just... just awful.
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Unknown
[attempts to rob Books] Just throw me your wallet!
John Bernard Books
[smiling] Yes, sir.
[produces a gun hidden under the wallet and shoots]
John Bernard Books
Little something extra!
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Gillom Rogers
Bat Masterson told Cobb...
Gillom Rogers
Yeah, he said that a man has to have guts, deliberation and a proficiency with fire arms.
John Bernard Books
Did he mention that third eye you better have?
Gillom Rogers
Third eye?
John Bernard Books
For that dumbass amateur. There's always some six-fingered bustard that couldn't hit a cow in the tit with a tin cup. That's the one who usually does you in. But Masterson always was full of... sheep-dip.
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Bond Rogers
I'm glad you won't be staying long. I don't think I like you.
John Bernard Books
Not many do, Mrs. Rogers.
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Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
Did you read about the shooting the night before last at the Metropole?
Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
Whoee! That was some shooting. Pulford, he's the faro dealer, got off one round under fire. Straight through the heart., and it measured 84 feet 3 inches. Maybe I'll just send him here, let him deal you a little faro.
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