The Boost (1988)

James Woods: Lenny Brown

Photos 

Quotes 

• Max : [Max has discovered that Lenny put a check in Max's safety-deposit box, after "borrowing" $20,000 from the Century West Maintenance account, so that Lenny could treat Linda to a night in Las Vegas]  A worthless goddamn CHECK?

  Lenny : What are you getting hysterical about? It was just a LOAN.

  Max : In all my life, I never treated ANYONE like I treated you! You were POOR; I made you RICH. You were DROWNING; I gave you a YACHT! And then you STOLE from me. After I treated you like a son. TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!

  Lenny : You want another check? I'll write you another check right now.

  Max : A check is no damn good. You want to be a liar as well as a thief?

  Lenny : Then tell me what to do. Just tell me, Max.

  Max : [hugs Lenny, then speaks softly]  You gotta go. I can't have you around here anymore.

• Linda : [at Joel's first party]  I feel a little out of place here.

  Lenny : You are. You're the best-looking woman here.

  Linda : ...People here are a little strange.

  Lenny : Talented people usually ARE a little strange... They were ALL on something; MONEY'S the real drug around here, okay?

• Lenny : I'm making money so fast over at Max's, they can't keep track of it. Everybody in town thinks I'm a firecracker. And even after all this, my own WIFE still thinks I'm a BUM!

  Linda : I think you're a GENIUS. I just don't want you to feel like you're on a treadmill... having to make more and more money to pay for things we bought but don't need.

  Lenny : The way things are going, the money going out won't be missed if it NEVER comes back. When you get to where we are, NOTHING can touch you.

• Lenny : Selling's more important to me than money. Because every time I sell, it means somebody believes in me.

• Lenny : [to Linda]  I swear to God, people here can't WAIT to lay off their money. It's not to be believed! God, why did we take so long to find this place? We're gonna be RICH, you hear me? RICH!

• Man in Venice : ...I'll put in $75,000.

  Lenny : Great. I'll need a check.

  Man in Venice : I'll pay cash.

  Lenny : Cash...? What kind of business are you in, Bob?

  Man in Venice : Leisure activities.

• Lenny : [on Linda's birthday]  I got you a $40,000 car and a $2 mutt. Go figure.

• Joel : [at his first party]  Welcome. Eat, drink, and make contacts.

  Linda : Joel throws a nice party, doesn't he?

  Lenny : What's REALLY nice is that Uncle Sam pays for half. And HE wasn't even invited.

• Linda : [at dinner with Ned]  I'm a little too old to be a PROFESSIONAL ballerina.

  Lenny : Now, I bet you never heard a beautiful girl admit to THAT.

• Lenny : [to Ned]  ... Funny way to start a friendship, me thinking you were someone else... I leave a piece of my soul on the floor every time I do this song-and-dance. "Go out like a battleship, come back like a raft."

• Linda : Maybe we're going too fast. We should just take this a step at a time.

  Lenny : To hell with that. You don't STEP through life. "Teacher, may I?" It goes too quick for that. You gotta LEAP through life!

• Max : I live where the money is. You don't think this NYC crowd would have anything to do with me unless I could move millions of bucks around, do you...? Does your wife work?

  Lenny : Yeah, she has a great job.

  Max : Lucky for you.

  Lenny : I do all right. Everything I do is just a lot chancier, that's all.

  Max : You just probably haven't found the right products yet, the right territory.

• Lenny : I wonder what they're all doing tonight. The poor people of the world, I mean.

• Max : [at Morton's Restaurant]  ... This is my table. Everybody knows where I sit: waiters, guests, the whole bit... Look around you. A lot of tables, right? Wrong. Five tables. All the rest of the people come here to eat... Ray Tucker. Manages the money for half the Rams, all the Raiders, and anybody you ever saw on TV. Five percent off the top... Carter Davis, oil... Ricky Holt, builds airports... David Gertz, calls himself Doc. He used to be a chiropractor; now he produces movies... And me. The five of us don't come here to eat.

  Lenny : So what are you saying, I shouldn't order any food?

  Max : Oh, no. Eat. Just don't look hungry.

• Ned : [over lunch]  Lenny, you're a lucky man.

  Lenny : I know that. I keep reminding myself. You got a wife or anything? No? You'd have to take second best anyhow. If you saw Linda and me at a restaurant like this, you'd say, "There's a mismatch." I've seen it in people's eyes: "How did a guy like HIM get a girl like HER? He must be rich."... Not that I'm not trying.

• Linda : [at dinner with Ned]  ... Lenny told me about the mistake today. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was sort of counting on that sale to break into the business.

  Lenny : [to Linda]  That doesn't mean anything to Ned.

  Ned : What doesn't mean anything?

  Lenny : Hustling for money. You're above all that.

  Ned : I worry about money, just like everybody else.

  Lenny : But you got some backstops. You start falling down that well, you got some slats across to catch yourself, right? You got your professor-father. You got an education. You got the Financial Journal. You can't fall too far. My old man's an ex-printer on disability! My mother is a secretary for the Ladies Garment Workers Union! I'VE GOT A HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION!

• Lenny : [at the board meeting where he first meets Max]  Gentlemen, I won't bore you with the reading of my resume, some of which is actually true... We're born again with each new project. And all your past successes don't cut much ice when it comes to the Big Question: Will It Sell?... Sure, it'll sell. Over the life of the partnership, everyone will enjoy some small tax benefits... realize a nice, safe-though-modest return on their investment. You don't need me for that. But will it SOAR? That's another question... People struggle against smallness all their lives. Let them identify with something BIG!

• Lenny : [responding to Mark's job offer]  Mark, I don't sell drugs. I'm in real estate.

  Mark : I don't sell drugs, either. I'm a screenwriter. But until the ship comes in, you gotta cover the waterfront.

• Lenny : You fucked him for dinner, and then brought me the leftovers?