Maverick (TV Series)

The Quick and the Dead (1957)

James Garner: Bret Maverick

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ponca : Hey, ain't I seen you someplace?

  Bret Maverick : It's possible, I've been there.

  Ponca : Sure, Ponca City, that's where it was. You was the customer that didn't drink.

  Bret Maverick : And you're the bartender who did.

• Doc Holliday : My mistake, sir.

  Bret Maverick : We all make 'em... that's why we have erasers, huh?

• Bret Maverick : [narrating]  One hour later, I let myself into Cora's office. She was asleep by now. Looking as sweet and innocent as a newborn vulture.

• [last lines] 

  Doc Holliday : Which way?

  Bret Maverick : Well, I figured I'd ride on toward Dodge City.

  Doc Holliday : I hear they got a pretty good game going on up there. Mind if I ride along with you?

• [first lines] 

  Bret Maverick : His name was Parker. I didn't know much about him except that he could lose a poker game with good cards and pay off with bad money.

• Parker : All right, I did know it was stolen money, but I didn't steal it.

  Bret Maverick : I hope you can prove that. But all you have to do is prove that I didn't.

• Parker : Look, you don't want me, you want them three men. They're the ones you're after.

  Bret Maverick : Look, I'm not trying to solve the crime. I'm just trying to get out from under it.

• Ponca : Hey, you're a gambling man. There's an opening for a dealer at the Red Front Casino.

  Bret Maverick : What happened to the old dealer?

  [Ponca points at a passing hearse] 

  Ponca : He found a new opening.

  Bret Maverick : Too bad.

  Ponca : Uh-uh. Too slow.

• Cora : What are you looking for, then?

  Bret Maverick : A game.

  Cora : Well, if you change your mind, come and see me.

  Bret Maverick : Do I have to change my mind?

• Bret Maverick : Well, when do I start?

  Cora : Right now. Go tell Johnny he's relieved.

  Bret Maverick : Do you really think he will be?

• [discussing Doc Holliday] 

  Stacey Johnson : Looking for trouble, huh?

  Bret Maverick : Not looking for, he brought it with him.

• Bret Maverick : [narrating]  Doc Holliday's particular brand of poison was double deadly, 'cause Doc himself really wanted to die. To die quick instead of slow from a sickness that had no cure. Doc hated the world because he knew it'd go on living after he was gone, and it made him mad to see anybody healthy.

• Doc Holliday : Never kill time, friend. Or it'll end up kill you.

  Bret Maverick : Well, there's a difference between wasting it and spending it. Who knows, a few minutes here might even be an investment.

  Doc Holliday : Not for me.

  Bret Maverick : Might make a killing.

  [looking towards the room Stacey Johnson entered] 

  Doc Holliday : How true.

• [Maverick is posing as Bret Martin] 

  Doc Holliday : Why didn't you kill him?

  Bret Maverick : Well, he's kind of a friend of mine.

  Doc Holliday : You're wrong. You have no friends. There are only two kinds of people in the West, Mr. Martin. The quick and the dead.

• Doc Holliday : You seemed to have saved my life. Why?

  Bret Maverick : Well, I was afraid he might miss you and hit me.

• Bret Maverick : You see, the marshal in Qualary didn't like my having those bright new bills around. Didn't like my story either. Won 'em in a poker game.

  Parker : How'd you get away?

  Bret Maverick : Glad you asked. Hand's quicker than the eye. Showed the marshal a card trick: while he's takin' a card, I'm takin' his gun, this one.

• Doc Holliday : Careless talk, gossip mostly. But it's invidious. Distasteful. Depressing.

  Bret Maverick : I think I know what you're talkin' about, but...

  Doc Holliday : Then you do see my point? The most precious thing to a man is his reputation. If he loses that, he loses everything including sleep.

• Bret Maverick : I take it we're talkin' about the same Doc Holliday?

  Ponca Brown : You know him?

  Bret Maverick : Well, I played cards with him once in Wichita... didn't figure he'd back down from anybody, doesn't care that much about livin'.

• Doc Holliday : I'm very disappointed in you.

  Bret Maverick : Disappointed, Doc?

  Doc Holliday : Yes. It isn't often I think enough of anyone to be disappointed in 'em - but you've done it... You're a very dishonest man. You've been cheating me, Mr. Martin - with marked cards!

  Bret Maverick : Cheating you? Doc, you've been winning all night.

  Doc Holliday : That's how you've been cheating me.

• Ponca Brown : [as Bret watches Cora walk away]  Hey, don't look like that.

  Bret Maverick : Like what?

  Bret Maverick : Like you're lookin'. That's the way the other dealer started lookin', the one that left town in the box.

• Doc Holliday : You know, it really doesn't matter why a man cheats me.

  Bret Maverick : Does it matter that he saved your life?

  Doc Holliday : For that dubious favor, I'll grant one small bonus. I'm gonna leave town in the morning - but before I do, I'm gonna complete the business I came here to transact. And if, Mr. Martin, I happen to see you here, on the street... or anywhere I happen to be, I'll deal with you exactly as I intend to deal with your friend. If, on the other hand, I don't happen to see you, I'll just ride out of town and forget you. And that, Mr. Martin, is a better deal than the one you've been giving me here tonight.