Time to Kill (1942)

Lloyd Nolan: Michael Shayne

Quotes 

• Mrs. Murdock : When I say 10 o'clock, I don't mean 9:50, not 9:59, I mean 10 o'clock!

  Michael Shayne : Well, Mrs. Murdoch, you know what the book says about the early bird.

  Mrs. Murdock : There are no worms here.

  Michael Shayne : Well, you can't tell what you're liable to find in an old barn like this.

• Mrs. Murdock : Oh, you're not quite what I expected, Mr. Shayne.

  Michael Shayne : Well, what did you expect - top hat, striped trousers and cutaway?

  Mrs. Murdock : Hardly - something fat and exported with dirty fingernails chewing on a filthy cigar butt and with its hat on its head.

• [Mrs. Murdoch suspects her gold-digging daughter-in-law of stealing and selling one of her most valuable coins] 

  Michael Shayne : So what's worrying you the most?

  Mrs. Murdock : Both. I'm hiring you to get the doubloon back and arrange for a divorce for my son without cost to me.

  Michael Shayne : Suppose she didn't take it?

  Mrs. Murdock : I expect you to prove that she did and I'm asking no questions.

• Michael Shayne : [to Murdoch]  Well, business is really picking up when the worm comes to the early bird.

• Michael Shayne : Is Mrs. Morny in?

  Morny's Houseboy : She's not home.

  Michael Shayne : Wait a minute. How do you know if you don't ask her?

  Morny's Houseboy : She already told me.

• Michael Shayne : Oh, by the way, what did she look like?

  Elisha Washburn : She?

  Michael Shayne : Well, all right then. What did *he* look like?

  Elisha Washburn : Oh, you mean the party that sold me the doubloon?

  Michael Shayne : Yeah.

  Elisha Washburn : Well, let me see... He was middle-aged, heavy set, about 5'7", weighing about 175 pounds. He wore a blue suit, black shoes, green tie and brown-bordered handkerchief. His hair was gray. There was a mole on his nose and a long scar...

  Michael Shayne : What about that hole in his right sock?

  Elisha Washburn : I neglected to remove his shoes.

• Ina Smithers, receptionist : Why are we whispering?

  Michael Shayne : We lost our voices.

• Lt. Breeze : And don't leave town. We want a statement!

  Michael Shayne : You can have the one the bank sent me. You'll get a great laugh out of that.

• Michael Shayne : There you are. All this extra service I throw in free.

  Linda Conquest Murdock : You know, you're not a bad brand of trouble, Mike. I'm sorry our friendship has to be so short.

  Michael Shayne : What do you mean short? As long as I think you have the doubloon, I have to keep an eye on you.

  Linda Conquest Murdock : Then you don't believe me?

  Michael Shayne : Nope. You see, my mama told me never to trust a beautiful woman any further than I could throw her and I don't know how far that is now.

• Lt. Breeze : All right. Come on, Shayne, I'm anxious to hear all about it.

  Michael Shayne : You better take a look in there.

  Lt. Breeze : Oh yeah? Sight unseen, I'll lay odds somebody's dead.

• [last lines] 

  Michael Shayne : Say, how long are you going to be in Reno?

  Linda Conquest Murdock : Just six weeks.

  Michael Shayne : That's swell. I'll give you a ring the moment you get back to town.

  Linda Conquest Murdock : You will? I may hold you to that.

  Michael Shayne : To what?

  Linda Conquest Murdock : I have a first class witness in Lieutenant Breeze that you're going to marry me. Driver, Union Depot, please.

  Michael Shayne : Hey, wait a minute. You can't do that to me!... Or can she?

• [first lines] 

  [Mike is speaking on the phone to a potential client with his feet propped on his desk revealing the holes in the soles of his shoes] 

  Michael Shayne : You want what? Oh, references. Well, sure, I'd glad to give you some references. You can call Senator Hugh Oglethorpe - no, no, no, you'd better not. I beat Hughie playing golf yesterday. You can call Sid Dreyfuss. Mm-hmm. That's Judge Sidney Dreyfuss, yeah - the State Supreme Court. Oh, that reminds me; I'm supposed to have dinner with him tonight. Pardon me while I make a note of that, will you?