Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Anne Revere: Mrs. Green

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Quotes 

• Mrs. Green : You know something, Phil? I suddenly want to live to be very old. Very. I want to be around to see what happens. The world is stirring in very strange ways. Maybe this is the century for it. Maybe that's why it's so troubled. Other centuries had their driving forces. What will ours have been when men look back? Maybe it won't be the American century after all... or the Russian century or the atomic century. Wouldn't it be wonderful... if it turned out to be everybody's century... when people all over the world - free people - found a way to live together? I'd like to be around to see some of that... even the beginning. I may stick around for quite a while.

• Mrs. Green : Are you very disappointed, Phil?

  Phil Green : Yes, I am. I was almost sure he'd hand me the Stassen story or Washington. Oh, I wasn't looking for an easy one, Ma, but I did want something I could make good on. I'd so like the first one here to be a natural. Something I know they would read.

  Mrs. Green : Oh, you mean, there's enough anti-Semitism in real life without people reading about it?

  Phil Green : No, but this one's doomed before I start. What can I say that hasn't been said before?

  Mrs. Green : I don't know. Maybe it hasn't been said well enough. If it had, you wouldn't have had to explain it to Tommy just now, or you father and I to you. It would be nice sometime, not to have to explain it to someone like Tommy. Kids are so decent to start with.

• Phil Green : Funny thing, that girl, Mr. Minify's niece suggested the series on antisemitism. Funny.

  Mrs. Green : You don't say? Why, women will be thinking next, Phil.

• Mrs. Green : I never realized pain could be so... sharp.

• Phil Green : Ma, I've got it! I've got the idea, the angle, the lead. I'll be Jewish! Why, all I've got to do is just say it! No one around here knows me. I can live with myself for six weeks, eight weeks, nine months. Ma, this is it!

  Mrs. Green : It must be. It always is when you're this sure.

  Phil Green : Ma, listen, I've even got the title. "I Was Jewish for Six Months."

  Mrs. Green : It's right, Phil.

  Phil Green : Ma, it's like this click just happened inside me. It won't be the same, sure, but it'll be close. I can just tell them I'm Jewish and see what happens.

  Mrs. Green : It'll work fine, Phil.

  Phil Green : Dark hair, dark eyes. Just like Dave. Just like a lot of guys who aren't Jewish. No accent, no mannerisms. Neither has Dave.