Autumn Leaves (1956)

Joan Crawford: Milly Wetherby

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Quotes 

• Virginia : Sure, he should be committed!

  Milly : Of course, you'd want me to commit him, get him out of your life, put him away permanently someplace where he can never again remind either one of you of your horrible guilt; how you and you had committed the ugliest of all possible sins, so ugly that it drove him into the state he's in now!

  Mr. Hanson : What kind of a woman are you to be satisfied with only half a man? There must be so...

  Milly : Even when he doesn't know what he's doing, he's a saner man than you are! He's decent and proud. Can you say the same for yourselves? Where's your decency? In what garbage dump, Mr. Hanson? And where's yours, you tramp?

  Mr. Hanson : I don't have to listen to that!

  Virginia : She's the one who's crazy!

  Mr. Hanson : She has to be crazy to put up with that weakling!

  Milly : You, his loving, doting fraud of a father! And you, you SLUT! You're both so consumed with evil, so ROTTEN! Your filthy souls are too evil for Hell itself!

• Burt Hanson : Aw, Milly. You wouldn't want me to spend the rest of my life with a bubble-gum addict. Would you, Milly?

  Milly : Sorry, I goofed!

  Burt Hanson : You "goofed?" Hey, man, that's "Bop" talk! Where did you ever pick that up?

  Milly : Well, why shouldn't I pick up an expression here and there? I'm not THAT old!

• Milly : The only trouble is that the future comes so much sooner than it used to.

• Milly : You're both so consumed with evil. So rotten, your filthy souls are too evil for hell itself.

• [after meeting Milly's landlady, Liz, who is sporting a garishly "loud" Hawaiian-type, floral shirt] 

  Burt Hanson : Who's the character?

  Milly : [smiles]  Liz Eckhardt. She's the manager.

  Burt Hanson : Is she always dressed for Halloween? In the middle of the summer?

  Milly : [laughs]  That happens to be one of her most conservative outfits!

• Burt Hanson : [Last lines]  You didn't even give me a chance to say hello.

  Milly : Did you want a chance?

  Burt Hanson : [Nods]  Hello. Milly.

  [They kiss] 

  Milly : I think people are staring at us.

  Burt Hanson : Well, do you care?

  Milly : No - let them!

• Milly : The present is made up of little bits of the past. You can't just throw it out of your mind like something used up and worthless.

• Milly : Don't worry about me. I have plenty of time. There's plenty of time.

• Liz Eckhart : Nobody can help you now.

  Milly : Why cant they? When do I get my turn? Everybody needs help don't they? I need help too. Maybe I don't want to find out how he feels.

  Liz Eckhart : Being in love is never easy, and the more in love you are, the less easy and more lonesome it gets.

• Liz Eckhart : If you ask me, you give 'em the brush off. But don't ask me why.

  Milly : Maybe I'm just too choosy.

  Liz Eckhart : Maybe you're just plain scared.

• Milly : [to Burt]  Are you sure you're meeting *live* people?