Paris Blues (1961)

Sidney Poitier: Eddie Cook

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Quotes 

• Eddie Cook : Look. Here, nobody says, "Eddie Cook, negro musician." They say, "Eddie Cook, musician," period. And that's all I want to be.

  Connie Lampson : And that's what you are here.

  Eddie Cook : That's what I am here. Musician, period. And I don't have to prove anything else.

  Connie Lampson : Like what?

  Eddie Cook : Like: Because I'm negro I'm different. Because I'm negro I'm not different. I'm different. I'm not different. Who cares? Look, I don't have to prove either case. Can you understand that?

  Connie Lampson : There isn't a place on the face of the Earth that isn't hell for somebody. Some race, some color, some sex.

  Eddie Cook : For me, Paris is just fine.

• Connie Lampson : What's that?

  Eddie Cook : Notre Dame.

  Connie Lampson : You didn't even look.

  Eddie Cook : Well, I didn't think they'd moved it.

• Ram Bowen : If you don't like it, why don't you say so?

  Eddie Cook : I said I liked it.

  Ram Bowen : Yeah, I heard the way you said it.

  Eddie Cook : What do you want me to say? It's great? All right, you're Gershwin, you're Ravel and Debussy.

  Ram Bowen : What's wrong with that?

  Eddie Cook : Look, you're Ram Bowen. You write a piece of music, I listen to it, and that's what it says. Ram Bowen, all by itself. Now, what more than that do you want?

• Eddie Cook : No sleep, no dames, no nothing.

• Connie Lampson : You in the band?

  Eddie Cook : Come on, I'll take you down.

• Connie Lampson : Don't you need to sleep?

  Eddie Cook : No, I - I like to walk. And I like the way you walk. And Paris is a city to walk in.

• Eddie Cook : That sure is a cute little devil you tried to pick up in the station today, big daddy.

  Ram Bowen : Tried? Looks like I have. Come on, man, let's play. Ah, "Mood Indigo."

• Eddie Cook : Look at it. And not just what you see, but the way the place makes you feel. I'll never forget the first day I walked down Avenue Champs-Élysées. Just like that, I knew I was here to stay.

  Connie Lampson : How long have you been away from home?

  Eddie Cook : Five years.

  Connie Lampson : You've never wanted to go back?

  Eddie Cook : No! You stick around Paris for a while and stretch a bit. Sit down for lunch somewhere without getting clubbed for it and you'll wake up one day, look across the ocean and you'll say, "Who needs it?" Who needs it.

• Eddie Cook : You know, if I had a teacher like you when I went to school, boy, I would've learned something.

  Connie Lampson : I think you've learned enough.

  Eddie Cook : Not in school.

• Connie Lampson : We do need our roots, don't we? And where our roots are, our home is. Wouldn't you say?

  Eddie Cook : I would say that you're one of them socially conscious chicks, right?

  Connie Lampson : Home, to me, is home. And my family is my family. And whatever problems they've got, I've got them, too.

  Eddie Cook : Of all the beautiful girls who come to Paris every year, I get a swinger for the cause.

• Eddie Cook : Do you want to have fun or do you want to discuss the race question?

• Eddie Cook : It's the City of Love, doll.

• Lillian Corning : It's such a crazy life.

  Eddie Cook : Yeah, well, that's because you're one of the day people. We are the night people and it's a whole different world.

• Lillian Corning : You'd think he'd be exhausted after working all night.

  Eddie Cook : Not him. I've seen him go like this for a week. Ten days, just balling it up. And then.

  [collapses] 

• Eddie Cook : Connie, you know, every time, I could belt you for reminding me of all the things I've tried five years to forget.

• Eddie Cook : He's a longhair and he doesn't always know what he's talking about.

• Eddie Cook : You're interested in a cause. I'm not interested in a cause. I'm only interested in us.

  Connie Lampson : You're not interested in us. You're interested in you.

• Eddie Cook : It sure won't be easy watching you all go tomorrow on that sad old train.