Shane (1953)

Alan Ladd: Shane

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Quotes 

• Shane : I gotta be going on.

  Joey : Why, Shane?

  Shane : A man has to be what he is, Joey. Can't break the mould. I tried it and it didn't work for me.

  Joey : We want you, Shane.

  Shane : Joey, there's no living with... with a killing. There's no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. There's no going back. Now you run on home to your mother, and tell her... tell her everything's all right. And there aren't any more guns in the valley.

  Joey : Shane...

  [Joey notices that Shane is wounded] 

  Joey : It's bloody! You're hurt!

  Shane : [Shane starts to stroke Joey's hair]  I'm all right, Joey. You go home to your mother and father and grow up to be strong and straight. And, Joey... take care of them, both of them.

  Joey : Yes, Shane.

  [Shane rides off] 

• Marian Starrett : Guns aren't going to be my boy's life!

  Joey : Why do you always have to spoil everything?

  Shane : A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.

  Marian Starrett : We'd all be much better off if there wasn't a single gun left in this valley - including yours.

• Shane : So you're Jack Wilson.

  Jack Wilson : What's that mean to you, Shane?

  Shane : I've heard about you.

  Jack Wilson : What have you heard, Shane?

  Shane : I've heard that you're a low-down Yankee liar.

  Jack Wilson : Prove it.

• [after Shane enters the bar and asks for a soda pop, Chris tries to bully him] 

  Chris Calloway : Well, what'll it be? Lemon, strawberry or lilac, sodbuster?

  Shane : You speakin' to me?

  Chris Calloway : I don't see nobody else standin' there.

  [throws his drink on Shane] 

  Chris Calloway : Here, have some of this. Smell like a man.

  Morgan Ryker : Don't it smell better in here, Grafton? Chris just fumigated a sodbuster.

  Sam Grafton : Just take it easy.

  Chris Calloway : I was just askin' about sody pop... pigs and taters and one thing and another.

  [to Shane] 

  Chris Calloway : Say, which one of them tater-pickers are you workin' for? Or are you just squattin' on the range?

  Shane : Joe Starrett, if it's any of your business.

  Chris Calloway : Supposin' I make it my business?

• Shane : I came to get your offer, Ryker.

  Rufus Ryker : I'm not dealing with you. Where's Starrett?

  Shane : You're dealing with me, Ryker.

  Rufus Ryker : I got no quarrel with you, Shane. You walk out now and no hard feelings.

  Shane : What's your offer, Ryker?

  Rufus Ryker : To you, not a thing!

  Shane : That's too bad.

  Rufus Ryker : Too bad?

  Shane : Yeah, you've lived too long. Your kind of days are over.

  Rufus Ryker : My days! What about yours, gunfighter?

  Shane : The difference is I know it.

  Rufus Ryker : All right. So we'll all turn in our six-guns to the bartender. We'll all start hoeing spuds. Is that it?

  Shane : Not quite yet.

• Shane : Do you mind putting down that gun? Then I'll leave.

  Joe Starrett : What difference does it make, you're leaving anyway?

  Shane : I'd like it to be my idea.

• Shane : I like working for Starrett.

  Rufus Ryker : Whatever he's payin', I'll double.

  Shane : It's no use.

  Rufus Ryker : What are you lookin' for?

  Shane : Nothin'.

  Rufus Ryker : Pretty wife, Starrett's got.

  Shane : Why, you dirty, stinkin' old man!

  Rufus Ryker : People don't usually talk to me that way!

  Shane : I'm talkin' to you that way!

• Shane : You were watchin' me down it for quite a spell, weren't you?

  Joey : Yes I was.

  Shane : You know, I... I like a man who watches things go on around. It means he'll make his mark someday.

• Joey : Was that him? Was that Wilson?

  Shane : That was him. That was Wilson, all right, and he was fast, fast on the draw.

• Marian Starrett : You were through with gun-fighting?

  Shane : I changed my mind.

  Marian Starrett : [softly]  Are you doing this just for me?

  Shane : For you, Marian... for Joe, and little Joe.

  Marian Starrett : Then we'll never see you again?

  Shane : Never's a long time, Marian.

  [looks at Joe, who he knocked out] 

  Marian Starrett : Tell him... tell him I was sorry.

  Shane : No need to tell him that.

• Joe Starrett : I wouldn't ask you where you're bound.

  Shane : One place or another. Someplace I've never been.

• [after the meal that the Starretts share with Shane] 

  Shane : That was an elegant dinner, Mrs. Starrett.

• Joe Starrett : Now, wait a minute. Let's not be in a hurry. There's one more thing. Torrey was a pretty brave man, and I figure we'd be doin' wrong if we wasn't the same.

  Fred Lewis : Joe, last time you argued us into stayin', Torrey was alive.

  Ed Howells : What do you want us to stay for? More of this?

  Joe Starrett : Because we can have a regular settlement here, we can have a town and churches and a school and...

  Fred Lewis : Graveyard.

  Joe Starrett : I-I don't know, we just got to, that's all.

  Shane : Know what you want to stay for? Something that means more to you than anything else - your families - your wives and kids. Like you, Lewis, your girls. Shipstead with his boys. They've got a right to stay here and grow up and be happy. That's up to you people to have - nerve enough to not give it up.

  Joe Starrett : That's right. That's - we can't give up this valley and we ain't gonna do it. This is farmin' country, a place where people can come and bring up their families. Who is Ruf Ryker or anyone else to run us away from our own homes? He only wants to grow his beef and what we want to grow up is families, to grow 'em good and grow 'em, grow 'em up strong, the way they was meant to be grown. God didn't make all this country just for one man like Ryker.

• Joe Starrett : Looks like your friends are a little late. What are the Ryker boys up to this time?

  [points a rifle at Shane] 

  Shane : Ryker?

  Joe Starrett : That's what I said.

  Shane : I wouldn't know a Ryker from your Jersey cow.

  Joe Starrett : Don't forget to close the gate on your way out.

• Chris Calloway : I guess you don't hear very well, sodbuster. I thought I told you if you wanted to keep healthy, to stay outta here. Now, get goin'. Look, pig farmer, you better get back inside with the women and kids where it's safe.

  Shane : Don't push it, Calloway.

• Joe Starrett : What do you make of him?

  Shane : He's no cowpuncher.

• Joe Starrett : If this don't beat all. My name is Starrett, Joe Starrett, and, um, this here is Joey. You heard what my little woman said. Come on in, please. I-I feel like eatin'.

  Shane : Call me Shane.

• Shane : [dozing under his hat]  Good morning, Joey.

  Joey : How'd you know it was me?

  Shane : Well, I figured the cow couldn't work that latch.

  [Joey grins] 

• Marian Starrett : [after he's been insulted by the homesteaders]  Shane?

  Joey : Shane, I know you ain't afraid.

  Shane : It's a long story, Joe.

  Marian Starrett : I think we know, Shane. Shane, don't just stand there in the rain, you'll catch your death of cold.

• Sam Grafton : Anything else I can do you for?

  Shane : Got any soda pop?

  Sam Grafton : [with rueful look]  I sure do. Wish more men around here would drink it. In my bar, in there.

• Sam Grafton : [as Shane comes out of the fitting room]  How is it?

  Shane : Good enough. How much do I owe you?

  Sam Grafton : Well, let's see: pants, a dollar. 2 shirts, 60 cents. Belt. Young man, you owe me 2 dollars and 2 bits.

  Fred Lewis : What's the matter, son? You look kinda pale.

  Shane : Been a long time since I got store-bought clothes.

• Shane : Been a long time since I've seen a Jersey cow.

  Joe Starrett : Well, you'll see a lot more: Jerseys and Holsteins and the like. Can I offer you some water?

  Shane : Thanks.

  [as Joey walks away in back of Shane, he cocks the rifle. Shane spins around ready to draw] 

  Joe Starrett : You're a little touchy, aren't ya?

  Marian Starrett : Joey, you know better than to point guns at people.

  Joey : I wasn't pointing at anybody, Mother.

  Shane : You had me snortin', son.

• Joey : [offering his gun for Shane to inspect]  Just wanted you to see my rifle. Bet you can shoot, can't you?

  Shane : Little bit.

• Chris Calloway : Shane! Shane.

  Shane : Who is it?

  Chris Calloway : Calloway. Chris Calloway.

  Shane : [draws his gun]  Stay where you are. I can drill ya.

  Chris Calloway : Hold it, Shane. Got something to tell ya.

  Shane : What do you want?

  Chris Calloway : Starrett's up against a stacked deck.

  Shane : Why you telling me?

  Chris Calloway : I don't know. I reckon something's come over me.

  Shane : I don't figure ya.

  Chris Calloway : I'm quitting Ryker! So long.

  Shane : Chris... thanks.

  [extends a hand] 

  Chris Calloway : Be seeing ya.

  [they shake and part as friends] 

• Morgan Ryker : [as Shane appears next to the menaced homesteaders]  Who are you, stranger?

  Shane : I'm a friend of Starrett's.

  Rufus Ryker : Well, Starrett, you can't say I didn't warn you.

  Joe Starrett : All right, you've told me. Now you get off my claim!