The Bad Seed (1956)
Patty McCormack: Rhoda Penmark
Photos
Quotes
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Christine Penmark : Rhoda, what happened to old Mrs. Post in Wichita?
Rhoda : There was ice on the steps and I slipped and fell against her, and that was all.
Christine Penmark : That was all?
Rhoda : No. I slipped on purpose.
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Rhoda : Claude was dead. He wouldn't know if he had the medal pinned on him or not.
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Christine Penmark : This is my daughter, Rhoda.
Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : Hello, Rhoda. Well, isn't she a little sweetheart!
Rhoda : Thank you.
[she curtsies]
Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : That's the kind of thing that makes an old bachelor wish he were married.
Rhoda : Oh, you like little girls to curtsy?
Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : The best thing left out of the Middle Ages.
Rhoda : I'm having dinner upstairs.
Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : The loss is ours. All ours.
Christine Penmark : You may go now, Rhoda.
Rhoda : Yes, Mommy. It's been a pleasure to have met you, Mr. Tasker.
[She exits]
Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : Now there's a little ray of sunshine.
Christine Penmark : Oooh, I've seen her stormy.
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Rhoda : I don't know what you're talking about. I don't feel ANY way at all.
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Leroy : You want to know what you done after you hit him? You jerked the medal off his shirt and then you rolled that sweet little boy off that wharf from under them pilings.
Rhoda : You don't know anything. None of what you've said is true.
Leroy : You know I'm telling the gospel truth. You know I got it figured out.
Rhoda : You've figured out something that never happened. And so it's all lies. Now take your excelsior to the basement and put it where you can sleep on it when you are supposed to be working.
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Rhoda : What will you give me for a basket of kisses?
Col. Kenneth Penmark : A basket of kisses? Why, I'll give you a basket of hugs!
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Christine Penmark : [End credits scene; Christine Penmark marches over towards Rhoda angrily] And as for you...!
[Christine bends Rhoda over one knee and begins spanking her repeatedly]
Rhoda Penmark : No! NO! AHH, NO! Ooh, ow! No...
[the End text fades in on the screen]
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Rhoda : You tell lies like that, you won't go to Heaven when you die!
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Rhoda : I like apricot juice, it doesn't even need ice.
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Rhoda : You figured out something that never happened and so it's all lies!
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Rhoda : Mother, when we move into our new house, can we have a scuppernong arbor?
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Rhoda : Swallowing pills is just a trick.
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Rhoda : Mother, we didn't really have our lunch, because Claude Daigle was drowned.
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Rhoda : Oh, I've got the prettiest mother. I've got the nicest mother. That's what I tell everybody. I say I've got the sweetest mother in the world. If she wants a little boy that bad, why doesn't she take one out of the orphans' home?
Christine Penmark : Get away from me. Don't talk to me! We have nothing to say to each other.
Rhoda : Okay, mother. Okay.
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Christine Penmark : All right. All right now, we're gonna... We're gonna start at the beginning and you're gonna tell me the truth. I know you killed him, so there's no sense lying. Rhoda, I want you to tell me the truth!
Rhoda : I can't tell you, mother! I want you to...
Christine Penmark : I'm waiting for your *answer*.
Rhoda : He wouldn't give me the medal like I told him to, that's all. So then he ran away from me and hid on the wharf. But I found him there and I told him I'd hit him with my shoe if he didn't give me the medal! But he shook his head and said no. So I hit him the first time. Then he took off the medal and gave it to me.
Christine Penmark : And then what happened?
Rhoda : Tried to run away from me. So I hit him with my shoe again! But he kept on crying and making a noise and I was afraid somebody would hear him... So I kept on hitting him, mother! I hit him harder that time and he fell in the water.
