Sayonara Movie Quotes
Major Gruver
[at a traditional tea ceremony: watching, as a Japanese man spends a lot of time carefully making a cup of tea]
He makes such a production of everything.
Hana-ogi
The pleasure does not lie in the end itself... it's the pleasurable steps *to* that end.
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Major Gruver
You know what I saw yesterday? I saw two rocks that just got married.
Major Gruver
I saw two rocks that got married. And they looked very happy together, too.
Captain Bailey
Oh, I'll bet they did.
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Major Gruver
If you were going to be smart, l'll tell you what you do. You get your little shoes shined and you go out tonight - because tonight is gonna be Tanabata.
Captain Bailey
Okay, what's Tanabata?
Major Gruver
You're gonna sit with your bare face hanging out and tell me you don't know what Tanabata is?
Captain Bailey
Yeah.
Major Gruver
Well, my word, boy. l'm ashamed of you. l thought everybody knew what Tanabata was. Tanabata is the night of love!
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Hana-ogi
I'm so frightened and confused. I cannot think. I cannot even understand your thinking.
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Nakamura
What are you really afraid of, Miss Webster? You don't think it would enter Major Gruver's mind to marry a Japanese girl?
Eileen Webster
I don't know.
Nakamura
Then permit me to reassure you. I think Major Gruver is brave, but, uh, not so brave enough to face the censure that would result from such a marriage. As for our famous, honored Hana-ogi, there are many Japanese - most of them, in fact - who look upon marriage to an Occidental with as much distaste as your people do to one of us.
Nakamura
[continues]
I do not feel that way, but then I have had the privilege of traveling in your country and knowing some great people there. And I am especially conscious at this moment that beauty is not confined to any one race.
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Hana-ogi
[watching a traditional Japanese puppet performance about two doomed lovers]
It is custom for lovers to die together when they can no longer face life.
Katsumi
[dreamily]
It is so beautiful.
Joe Kelly
"Beautiful"? They're gonna' die, aren't they?
Katsumi
[dreamily]
They will live in another world, on a beautiful lake, floating always together - like water lily.
Joe Kelly
Sure.
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Fumiko-San
It is very bad of me! But I cannot help myself! He's so tall!
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Joe Kelly
[Major Gruver is entering Joe Kelly's Japanese home for the first time]
Hey, off with the shoes. You don't wear shoes in a Japanese house.
Major Gruver
Okay, comin' off... What about the pants?
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Hana-ogi
[pointing to some large rocks right off the seashore]
You see the rope between the rocks?
Major Gruver
Yeah?
Hana-ogi
That is a Shinto sign, showing they are married.
Hana-ogi
Yes... they've been together so long, our people thought it was time they should get married. They look well together, don't you think?
Major Gruver
Yeah, they make a handsome little couple!
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Eileen Webster
No woman wants to live anywhere except body and soul with the man she loves.
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Major Gruver
That dress, l think it's terrible. lt just goes in and out and - that's awful.
Eileen Webster
lt's meant to go in and out. l go in and out.
Major Gruver
Well, we'll talk about that later.
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Eileen Webster
Oh, Lloyd, it's me you've got to love. Oh, Lloyd, haven't you ever felt like - like - like grabbing me and - and hauling me off to a shack somewhere?
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Major Gruver
Everybody acting like nobody ever kisses a woman.
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Eileen Webster
Hi, Lloyd.
Major Gruver
You devil. Come here.
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Major Gruver
Gonna be fun. Come on, baby.
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Major Gruver
Kabuki - isn't that the place where there are no dames and the men play all the women's parts?
Mrs. Webster
Oh, that's right. The way they do at Princeton.
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Major Gruver
Oh, Kelly, you stupid ignorant slob! l mean, go ahead and marry this slant-eyed runt if you want to. lt'll serve you right.
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Nakamura
You - did not enjoy the evening so much, l fear, Maj. Gruver.
Major Gruver
Oh, yeah, l thought it was a fine play. l thought maybe you could use a Marilyn Monroe here and there, you know.
Nakamura
Unfortunately, Miss Monroes were barred from Kabuki in the 17th century.
Major Gruver
Well, l didn't mean to sound corny. l just didn't know what to say about it.
Nakamura
Oh, please, do not apologize. l am great admirer of Miss Monroe - myself.
Major Gruver
Well, that's two of us. That's you and me, boy
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General Mark Webster
You're lost. You're confused. Don't you think it's time you got back to the main stream of your life? Back to your roots? What you were born for, and raised for?
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Captain Bailey
I hate to be stuffy about this son, but, you Air Force men just wouldn't understand.
Major Gruver
Ho, ho! Lawd!
Captain Bailey
Well, the Marines have got l'amour...
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Major Gruver
lsn't that a nice-looking bridge?
Captain Bailey
Yeah, that's the Bitchi-Bashi.
Major Gruver
Say what?
Captain Bailey
The Bitchi-Bashi. Bashi is Japanese for ''bridge.'' We call this particular one the Bitchi-Bashi because there's so much lovely stuff that goes over it.
Major Gruver
Did you say stuff?
Captain Bailey
Brother, l said stuff.
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Captain Bailey
[sarcastically]
Well, what does it all mean? Eternal struggle, sex, New York Yankees...
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Major Gruver
l was all set to take the exams at West Point and there was a teacher there who made me take a part in a school play. They were doing one of those Hungarian things by Molnár. You never did hear a Hungarian play played in a Southern accent, did you?
Captain Bailey
No, l'm afraid l missed that.
Major Gruver
That's a shame, because l was awful good in it. Anyhow, l suddenly didn't want to go to West Point.
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Hana-ogi
l realized the hate was of my own making. That is why l came to ask you to forgive me for what l have been feeling. Gruver-san, will you forgive me?
Major Gruver
Well, you make me feel like an awful fool, Miss Ogi. l really feel that l ought to - ask you to forgive me for some of the things that - l've been thinking.
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Major Gruver
How come she's dressed like that?
Captain Bailey
The tall ones play men's parts, mostly. They play women's parts, too.
Major Gruver
How do you do?
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Hana-ogi
My life is planned. l am dedicated to Matsubayashi, as you are dedicated to American military life. l have never been in love. But l have dreamed - and thought about it - and waited. The danger that lies ahead of us - we must face now. The danger of discovery, for both of us. Danger of weakness - when it is over. l will never fall in love again. But l will love you, Ace-san, if that is your desire.
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Colonel Crawford
My men have been watching a troublemaker named Kelly. He shacked up with another native girl.
General Mark Webster
"Shacked up," Colonel? Kelly's married to a Japanese girl.
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Major Gruver
l'm not up too good on Japanese ways of doing things and maybe l'm saying the wrong thing. l mean, maybe my American manners are embarrassing. But l figure, if you've come over here tonight maybe you were interested a little bit in meeting me, too. Now, maybe l'm wrong, but if l'm wrong, then you've got to tell me. Where do we go from here? Because l don't know what to say. l'm running out of things to say.
Hana-ogi
My father was killed - by American bomb dropped on my country. You have been my enemy. l have hated Americans. l have thought they are savages. There's been nothing but vengeance in my heart.
Major Gruver
Miss Ogi, there were an awful lot of Americans that were killed, too. And l think it would be best if we forgot about that.
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Major Gruver
Did anyone ever tell you, Miss Ogi, that you're a fine-lookin' woman? l mean, real *fine*.
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Joe Kelly
How about playing poker with Katsumi and me?
Major Gruver
Oh, l'll be delighted to take your money *and* your pants.
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Hana-ogi
Are you going back to the officer's quarters tonight?
Major Gruver
No, l think l'm going to just fool around here.
Hana-ogi
What will you do all evening?
Major Gruver
What am l going to do? l'm going to get some beer and some pretzels and bring girls up here. I'm going to have a little fun, for a change.
Hana-ogi
Good. l don't like you to be lonely.
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Joe Kelly
[Katsumi giving Joe a bath]
Just a little lower. I little lower, Katsumi. You always seem to be a little above it. Yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Hana-ogi
[singing]
Sayonara, Japanese goodbye, Whisper sayonara, Lover, don't you cry, No more we stop to see pretty cherry blossom, No more we 'neath the tree looking at the sky, Sayonara, Sayonara...
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Joe Kelly
Is Hana-ogi coming over tonight?
Major Gruver
Yeah, if she can get away. We're going to cook up some fine St. Louis goulash - with a little Memphis greens in there.
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Eileen Webster
Lloyd, they'll do anything to hang something on you - to keep you in line. After all, you're the Air Force's pinup boy, you know.
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Eileen Webster
I better go before I lose all my charm.
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Colonel Crawford
General, is it all right with you if l post an order to keep these officers from bein' seen with indigenous personnel? Then if they are seen, there's somethin' we can do about it.
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Colonel Crawford
It concerns Maj. Gruver. Now, we think he's hooked on to a Japanese dame.
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Major Gruver
l just been lying here - thinking about myself. You know, l can't believe l'm really here. It's hard to believe that, you know, it's hard to believe me being the same Lloyd Gruver that came over from Korea just a little bit ago. You know, l been thinking that - all my life l been so busy snapping to and giving orders and taking orders and being a general's son and doing the job and - all that. l just never took time to sit right down and, you know, think about what my reason for living is. And l been spending some afternoons here just - being peaceful and - easy and thinking. And l believe for the first time l'm just beginning to understand what it's all about, what l really am, what l really want. It's a nice feeling.
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Nakamura
Do not turn away, Miss Webster. l am not - necessarily making love to you. l am only stating a very - obvious fact. May l see you again, Miss Webster -and acquaint you with more Japan?
Eileen Webster
Of course. l need to know more, much more - about everything.
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Major Gruver
You were telling me about Harry Truman and New York Yankees and sex and New York Yankees and Harry Truman and sex...
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Hana-ogi
What have l done to deserve such happiness? l have seen this night of Tanabata come and go many times - but never before have l understood what it meant. Tanabata. Oh, my heart is so full of love for you.
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Major Gruver
Hello there, Double Ugly. How are you?
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Hana-ogi
l am tempted. With you, l could become a woman. And a mother. And l could love you.
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Hana-ogi
l cannot think. l cannot even understand your thinking.
Major Gruver
I'm not thinking! I'm not thinking. For the first time in my life, I'm not thinking and I don't care.
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Joe Kelly
Hana-ogi, will you tell that stupid dame l love her the way she is? l don't want her changed! Will you tell her l love her mouth and her nose and her ears and her eyes *just* the way they are?
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Major Gruver
l don't want you to tell me anything more or anything less than you feel in the very deepest part of you; because what you answer to me now is going to affect us for the rest of our lives. Do you love me, Hana-ogi, or don't you love me?
Hana-ogi
l'm so frightened and confused.
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General Mark Webster
If you're important to those who hate us, don't you see how important you are to us?
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Major Gruver
Don't give up on it. l think there's gonna be a way out of it. There's got to be.
Captain Bailey
You think so?
Major Gruver
Yes, I do.
Captain Bailey
I don't.
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Hana-ogi
Please, Lloyd, can't we talk about this later?
Major Gruver
There isn't going to be any later. There's only going to be right now.
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Hana-ogi
But, Lloyd, we must do the right thing.
Major Gruver
What are you talking about, the right thing? We've been wasting two good lives trying to do the right thing - the right thing for Matsubayashi, the right thing for my father, the right thing for the military, the right thing for Japanese tradition, the right thing for the great white race.
Hana-ogi
But we have duties and obligations.
Major Gruver
That's right, we do! We do have duties and obligations - and the first obligation we have is to love each other.
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Hana-ogi
What would happen to our children? What would they be?
Major Gruver
What would they be? They'd be half Japanese, half American. They'd be half yellow and half white. They'd be half you, they'd be half me. That's all they're going to be.
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[last lines]
Major Gruver
Tell them we said, "Sayonara."
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Katsumi
When gong sound, it is done.
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Eileen Webster
He's a male actress. lt says here they've been trained since childhood to have the grace of a woman, and yet the power of a man.
Major Gruver
Oh, my word.
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Joe Kelly
She says that Hana-ogi will not speak to an American.
Major Gruver
Well, why not?
Joe Kelly
We shot her brother and killed her father with our bombs.
Major Gruver
Oh, shoot. l didn't do it.
Captain Bailey
Sure you did, Ace. We all did.
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Eileen Webster
You do a lot of wondering in Tulsa.
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Major Gruver
Say, boy, give me a martini, will you? Nope, make it lemonade. No, dawg! Give me a scotch and soda.
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Major Gruver
You know, l was surprised to find that they make that stuff out of rice. We have rice back home in America. Of course, we just make rice puddin' out of it and we don't drink it. Eh, this is the first liquid rice l ever ran into.
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Major Gruver
Nothing wrong with me a little bottle of beer isn't going to fix up
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Joe Kelly
Boy, she sure does something wicked to a bathing suit.
Major Gruver
She has an enormous capacity to fulfill a bathing suit.
Joe Kelly
l can see that.
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Major Gruver
l'm gonna show you a picture of a girl. lt happens to be my girl, but she's American. And l want you to take a long, long look at her, because l believe that maybe you've forgot what an American girl looks like. And this girl l'm going to show to you, is first of all an American girl, a girl with fine character, a girl with good background, good education, good family, good blood.
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Doctor
Wouldn't you like to tango with one of those beautiful Japanese dolls?
Major Gruver
Well, if it's your prescription, Doc, then l'll certainly work at it the best l can.
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Joe Kelly
Generals for the officers, congressmen for the peasants.
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Eileen Webster
l'm sorry. l guess l've been thinking too much.
Major Gruver
Yeah, l think you have been thinking too much.
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