Dodge City (1939)

Olivia de Havilland: Abbie Irving

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Abbie laughs at Wade after he falls in the newspaper office] 

  Wade Hatton : You know, there's an old saying in the British Army: "The law must always save its face in front of the natives."

  Abbie Irving : And what if the natives object to its face?

  Wade Hatton : We just put them across our knee... and spank them! Soundly!

  Abbie Irving : You're not suggesting that I'm a native?

  Wade Hatton : No. The only real native of Kansas is the buffalo. He's got a very hard head, a very uncertain temper and a very lonely future. Apart from that there's hardly any comparison between you.

• Abbie Irving : What's wrong with my working here?

  Wade Hatton : Well, it's undignified, it's unladylike. More than that, you oughta be home, doing needlework, things like that.

  Abbie Irving : Sewing buttons on for some man I suppose?

  Wade Hatton : Well, buttons come off. Someone's gotta sew 'em on.

  Abbie Irving : A fine career for an intelligent woman!

• Wade Hatton : You know, out here the trail boss has sometimes even got to take the law into his own hands.

  Abbie Irving : Oh, yes, pioneering I believe you call it, don't you?

• Abbie Irving : Tex! Tex, have you seen my brother?

  Tex Baird : Yes'm. He's over yonder somewheres hotfootin' it around. He swiped one of the boss's horses and I reckon he sure is drunk again.

  Abbie Irving : I consider that a very impertinent remark.

  Tex Baird : Yes'm, I guess maybe I shouldn't have said he's drunk - even if he is drunk.

• Wade Hatton : Miss Irving. I'll not be troubling you with any further apologies. But I would like you to know that if ever I can be of any service to you, I shall be only too happy.

  Abbie Irving : Thank you. The only way you can be of service to me is to keep out of my sight.

• Wade Hatton : Be sure you boil that water before you drink it.

  Abbie Irving : I'll wager two minutes after you were born, you were telling the doctor what to do.

• Wade Hatton : You don't seem to be enjoying it much.

  Abbie Irving : Enjoying it? Can anyone enjoy being jolted along week in and week out, through a nightmare of heat and dust, with sand in your teeth and sand in your eyes and sand in your hair?

• Abbie Irving : Isn't that the sweetest bonnet she's got on? It's brown moire. Moire. Moire? How do you spell "moire"? M-O-I-R---E?

  Joe Clemens : Who in tarnation gives a hoot what Mrs. Turner's wearing?

  Abbie Irving : Just about every blessed woman in town, that's all.

• Abbie Irving : Did you want something?

  Wade Hatton : Yes. I'd like to have my curiosity satisfied. What are you doing here?

  Abbie Irving : Well, obviously, I'm working.

  Wade Hatton : Obviously. But at what and why?

  Abbie Irving : Because the town happens to be growing by leaps and bounds, and the paper needed somebody who would write things that would interest its women readers.

  Wade Hatton : Oh, I see. Tell me, what are the vital interests of your women readers?

  Abbie Irving : What other women are wearing. How to make Lady Baltimore cake with two eggs. Who invited the minister to tea. And whose baby is going to be born and when!

  Wade Hatton : [sarcastically]  Fascinating.

• Wade Hatton : See that big herd of buffalo grazing away so peacefully down there? You know, the trouble with the buffalo is they had things too easy at the start. It works the other way around, too, you know. Take us, for example. We had such a bad beginning, that we're bound to have a wonderful future.

  Abbie Irving : That's typical Irish logic: totally unconnected.

• Abbie Irving : I envy you people who have kissed the Blarney Stone.

  Wade Hatton : You do? It's cold on the lips.

• Wade Hatton : The buffalo wouldn't be so badly off if the buffalo didn't have a one-track mind. But then the buffalo wouldn't be a buffalo, would it?

  Abbie Irving : I suppose not.

  Wade Hatton : You wouldn't be you unless you thought you might like that kiss.

  Abbie Irving : You seem very sure of my reactions.

  Wade Hatton : Oh, no. That's something you can never be sure about until you've tried it.

  [kiss] 

  Wade Hatton : Can you?

• Abbie Irving : I think we'd better be getting back. I'm afraid it'll be dark before we get there.

  Wade Hatton : Are you sure it's the dark you're afraid of?

  Abbie Irving : What do you mean?

  Wade Hatton : Maybe you're afraid I might kiss you.

  Abbie Irving : You wouldn't dare.

  Wade Hatton : Oh, now, I wish I were as sure of that as you are.