Deadfall (1993)

Michael Biehn: Joe

Photos 

Quotes 

• Joe Donan : [voiceover]  Looked like I had to pay my dues by wilding with Uncle Lou's flunky.

  Eddie : [trying to start the car]  Fucker fucker fucked!

  Joe Donan : [voiceover]  Well, at least he was a lively fellow.

• Joe Donan : There's more to life than just passing the time, isn't there, Diane?

  Diane : Maybe we're just both running around in circles, and just happen to touch. The sun and the moon do that. They call it an eclipse.

• Lou Donan : How's your pool game?

  Joe Donan : Not so good.

  Lou Donan : Ah, perfect. Perfect.

• [first lines] 

  Joe Donan : Most people like to think they have some degree of control over their lives. The truth is we're subject to the influence of others. Those who appreciate this can make a lot of money from those who don't. But any small-time grifter who ever dealt off the bottom of a deck can tell you that. What I can tell you about is the price one pays for peddling confidence. How every mark you fleece takes away a piece of your soul, and what happens when you try to pick up the pieces.

• Joe Donan : When thing's fall apart is when people stagger to whatever is familiar. Same way a bull charges a red cape after being stabbed a dozen times or so.

• [last lines] 

  Joe Donan : Most people never feel the strings that gently tug them day-in and day-out. Mine had been jerked every which way before I cut 'em loose and left the tangled mess going round in circles with my pop and all that cash I wanted no part of. It was a colorful world I was walking away from, but nothing in it was real. Not my pop, not the bastards who'd help dupe me. Not Diane who almost broke my heart. All I took from them were memories - images really. They're worth more than any take from any con. They keep me honest.

• Dr. Lyme : Deep. Flawless.

  Joe Donan : Yep, five carats.

  Dr. Lyme : Did you know that in many lands it is believed that a spirit lives inside the diamond. That is why it has such... sparkle.

  Joe Donan : There're a lot more spirits where that one came from.