San Francisco (1936)
Clark Gable: Blackie Norton
Photos
Quotes
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Blackie Norton : That process server is the meanest man west of the Rocky Mountains. He'd push his mother off a ferry boat for half a dollar. Yeah, he'd turn the air off in a baby's incubator just to watch the little sucker squirm.
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Blackie Norton : [after Mary finishes singing for her informal impromptu audition for Blackie] Well you got a pretty fair set-a pipes kid. Whaddya say to $75 a week?
[she faints]
Blackie Norton : Well I guess she fainted.
Mat : Yeah. Give me 75 bucks a week and I'll drop dead.
[scene fades out]
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Blackie Norton : Well sister, what's your racket?
Mary Blake : I'm a singer!
Blackie Norton : Let's see your legs!
Mary Blake : I said, I'm a singer!
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[pointing at necklace]
Blackie Norton : Hey. I thought I told you not to wear that thing.
Trixie : Ah gee, honey, I think it's nice.
Blackie Norton : Yeah? Well I think it makes you look cheap!
[Rips it off of her]
Blackie Norton : Now don't wear it anymore. Blackie doesn't like it.
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Jack Burley : Did you ever hear of Puccini, Norton?
Blackie Norton : Yeah. Didn't he run a joint down on Dupont Street?
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Blackie Norton : [referring to her skittishness at his romantic advances] How does it feel to feel like a woman and be afraid of of it?
Mary Blake : Oh Blackie, listen...
Blackie Norton : If you're going to preach Mary, please sing. That's what I believe in: your voice, the way you move, the way you stand on those pretty little feet of yours - that's what I believe in.
Mary Blake : Don't you believe in anything more than that?
Blackie Norton : What more is there?
Mary Blake : [sweetly] God?
Blackie Norton : God? Huh huh, hey isn't he supposed to be taking care of the suckers coming out of the missions looking for something to eat and a place to sleep? I've seen 'em down on their knees you should stand up and fight for. I don't see God coming down and giving the suckers a shortcut. That's not what I want. I want to push over the mugs that stand in my way before they push me over. What I believe in's not up in the air, it's in here
[points to his head]
Blackie Norton : and in here
[points to his heart]
Blackie Norton : . But maybe that's not right. Maybe it's not right to feel alive, like you and I feel this minute.
[she turns away toward the door as he holds her gently from behind]
Blackie Norton : But I think it's right. You know Mary, I want to get a kick outta things I can see - like lights on the harbor, or a good fight, or a woman worth looking at. Did you ever taste the fog in your mouth like it was salt, or take hold of someone and feel their blood rushing up like a river? What more does a man need, or a woman either? You know I never tried to kid you Mary
[she turns back toward him]
Blackie Norton : - you take me as I am or you don't take me. Tim doesn't try to change me because he knows he can't, and you can't either... nothing can. You know what I've been waiting for? I've been waiting to hear you say that I'm alright with you the way I am. Maybe you're ready to say it now. Are ya?
Mary Blake : [softly and somewhat apprehensively] I don't know.
Blackie Norton : [confidently taking that as a positive sign] Well it's about time.
[smiles and kisses her]
Blackie Norton : Oh it's gonna be swell baby. I'll make ya queen of the coast. You'll ride through town on your own carriage and everybody'll know who you are. I'll plaster your name and face clear to the Golden Gate. Oh, you and I together Mary are gonna find out that we don't need anything else but us.
[kisses her again]
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Blackie Norton : [congratulating Mary after her opera performance] Say, I never caught this opera racquet up-ta now. How long's that been goin' on?
Mary Blake : Oh-ho, only about a hundred and fifty years.
Blackie Norton : No foolin'?
Mary Blake : Mmhmm.
Blackie Norton : Huh, well it's alright!
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Blackie Norton : I want to thank God. What do I have to say?
Father Mullin : Just say what's on your heart.
Blackie Norton : [steps away and kneels] Thanks, God, thanks! I really mean it.
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Jack Burley : One never knows where one's gonna find talent.
Blackie Norton : No, no, one never does, does one?
