The Last Tycoon (1976)

Robert De Niro: Monroe Stahr

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Quotes 

• Monroe Stahr : Listen.

  [He comes out from behind his desk] 

  Monroe Stahr : Has your office got a stove in it that lights with a match?

  Boxley : I think so.

  Monroe Stahr : Suppose you're in your office. You've been "fighting duels" all day.

  [He throws up his hands wildly] 

  Monroe Stahr : You're exhausted.

  [He throws himself down at a table] 

  Monroe Stahr : This is you.

  [Stahr points to the door] 

  Monroe Stahr : A girl comes in. She doesn't see you. She takes off her gloves. She opens her purse. She dumps it out on the table.

  [Stahr pantomimes the action] 

  Monroe Stahr : You watch her. This is you.

  [He looks out of the corner of his eye] 

  Monroe Stahr : Now... She has two dimes, a matchbox, and a nickel.

  [He bounces nickel on the tabletop] 

  Monroe Stahr : She leaves the nickel on the table. She puts the two dimes back into her purse. She takes the gloves... they're black.

  [Stahr kneels on the floor] 

  Monroe Stahr : Puts them into the stove. Lights a match.

  [He blows out an imaginary match] 

  Monroe Stahr : Suddenly, the telephone rings. She picks it up. She listens. She says, "l've never owned a pair of black gloves in my life!"

  [Stahr slams down the receiver] 

  Monroe Stahr : She hangs up. Kneels by the stove. Lights another match. Suddenly, you notice...

  [He abruptly points] 

  Monroe Stahr : There's another man in the room! Watching every move the girl makes.

  [Stahr sits back down, behind his desk once more, and smiles triumphantly] 

  Boxley : [asking as if against his will]  What happens?

  Monroe Stahr : l don't know. l was just making pictures.

  Boxley : What... what was the nickel for?

  Monroe Stahr : Jane, what was the nickel for?

  Stahr's Secretary : The nickel was for the movies.

  Boxley : What do you pay me for? I don't understand the damn stuff.

  Monroe Stahr : Yes, you do. Or you wouldn't have asked about the nickel.

• Cecilia Brady : [about returning to school]  Oh, I don't know. I'm pretty well educated.

  [flirtatiously] 

  Cecilia Brady : Maybe I should get married.

  Monroe Stahr : [lightly]  Well, I'd marry you, I'm lonely, but I'm too old and tired to undertake anything.

  Cecilia Brady : [seriously]  Undertake me.

• Seal Trainer : [about the seal]  See? He remembers you.

  Monroe Stahr : This seal has the memory of an elephant.

  Seal Trainer : He likes him because he's such a charming guy.

  Kathleen Moore : Does he respond to affection?

  Seal Trainer : He responds to *fish*. This seal's got taste.

• Monroe Stahr : [after watching the rough cut of a film]  Who ever heard anyone say, "Nor I you"? Has anyone ever said "Nor I you" to you? Nor I you. Nor I you. We'll have to rewrite the scene and reshoot it. It's absolute crap. People don't speak like that. Do I have any writers around here who understand the way people talk?

• Kathleen : How old are you?

  Monroe Stahr : I've lost track, about thirty-five I think.

• Monroe Stahr : I don't think I have more brains than a writer, I just think that his brains belong to me.

• Pat Brady : I was just saying, they'll never get the writers unionized. You know why? Because they hate each other's guts. They'd sell each other out for a nickel.

  Monroe Stahr : This man from New York seems pretty set on doing it, the one who's coming out to see me. What's his name?

  Fleishacker : Brimmer.

  Monroe Stahr : Brimmer.

  Pat Brady : Communist, yeah?

  Popolos : You mean a *real* communist?

  Pat Brady : Yeah, sure, a real one.

  Popolos : I mean, some of these guys are just jokers who call themselves communists. And mostly they are fairies, too.

• Fleishacker : You know, I'm fairly new out here. Do I understand you to say you expect to gross a half a million *short* of your budget?

  Monroe Stahr : It's a quality picture.

  Fleishacker : Quality picture? What the hell are we?

  Monroe Stahr : We've played safe for two years now. It's time we made a picture that isn't meant to *make* money. Pat Brady is always saying at Academy dinners that we have a certain duty to the public. Okay. It's a good thing for the company to slip in a picture that will lose money. Write it off as good will.

• Monroe Stahr : I don't want to lose you.

• Monroe Stahr : Your name's well-known here.

  Brimmer : And yours is well-known in New York, Mr. Stahr.

  Cecilia Brady : [serving Monroe and Brimmer]  You have done well by water and you by land.

  Monroe Stahr : What?

  Cecilia Brady : Anthony and Cleopatra, didn't you recognize it?

  Monroe Stahr : Shakespeare? No, l didn't get any Shakespeare at school. How about you, Mr. Brimmer?

  Brimmer : Oh, a bit.

  Monroe Stahr : Where do you come from?

  Brimmer : Tennessee. Baptist.

  Monroe Stahr : l'm New York. Jewish.

  Brimmer : l know.

  Monroe Stahr : Oh, at least we're all Americans.

  Brimmer : We sure are, Mr. Stahr.

  [Monroe smiles and nods; Brimmer takes a sip from his coffee; Cecilia smiles and looks on the both men] 

  Brimmer : Well?

  Monroe Stahr : Well, l'm glad you came out here. l wanted to talk to you. You've got my writers all upset.

  Brimmer : Keeps them from going to sleep, doesn't it?

  Monroe Stahr : l want them awake, but l don't want them crazy.

  [Brimmer stretches himself comfortably on his chair] 

  Brimmer : Well, we're simply concerned that they have the proper protection, that's all.

  Monroe Stahr : [eyeing Brimmer irritably]  Who from, me?

  Brimmer : You're a very good employer, Mr. Stahr, but, uh... we still think that the position can be... rationalized.

  [smiles] 

  Monroe Stahr : l'll tell you three things: All writers are children. Fifty percent are drunks. And up till very recently, writers in Hollywood were gag-men; most of them are still gag-men, but we call them writers.

  Brimmer : [nods and smiles]  Uh-huh. But they're still the farmers in this business. They grow the grain, but they're not in at the feast.

  Monroe Stahr : This looks to me like a try for power, Mr. Brimmer, and I will not give them power. I'll give them money, I won't give them power. Anyway, they're not equipped for authority.

  [Cecilia continues to look on the two; Brimmer laughes] 

  Cecilia Brady : More coffee, Mr. Brimmer?

  Brimmer : No, thank you.

• Pat Brady : You know who first told him you were a genius? Guess.

  Monroe Stahr : You.

  Pat Brady : Right.

  Monroe Stahr : Damn good of you, Pat.

  Pat Brady : Oh, no. If I admire a man, I say so. I want the whole world to know. Perhaps that's because I'm Irish. The Irish are a very warm-hearted people.

  Popolos : The Greeks are warm, too. I mean, try to find me a Greek communist. You couldn't find one.