Sam's Son (1984)

Eli Wallach: Sam Orowitz

Quotes 

• Jake Bellow : I'm sorry, Sam. I can't have an usher managing a theater.

  Sam Orowitz : Harold's been here three years. He knows how to run things.

  Jake Bellow : Sam, I'm paying you to manage the theater.

  [turns around to leave the theater] 

  Sam Orowitz : Well, you don't pay me enough to miss my son's track meet!

  Jake Bellow : [turns around]  What?

  Sam Orowitz : I work hard. I do a good job. I haven't asked for a raise in three years. If you can't let me take a couple hours off for something that's important to me, then I quit!

  Jake Bellow : You'd quit your job over a track meet?

  Sam Orowitz : I just told you that.

  [holds up the theater keys] 

  Sam Orowitz : You want the keys? Take 'em!

  Jake Bellow : All right, all right! Get the place ready and then take your two hours, but no more than two!

  [exits the theater] 

  Sam Orowitz : [proudly]  That felt good.

• Sam Orowitz : [Sam sits on the front steps, to cheer Gene up following the argument with Harriet, by taking off his hat, revealing his normal white hair]  Notice? My forehead's all white, again! Ho-ho!

  [knowing it did not help, he sighs] 

  Sam Orowitz : Look, son, I know how you feel.

  Gene Orowitz : No, you don't! You don't believe me. How can you know how I feel?

  Sam Orowitz : Gene, it's not that I don't believe you.

  Gene Orowitz : You're always telling me about stories in the Bible. Read the good book. You'll learn from it, then you tell something that happened in the Bible and they think you're crazy. Why bother reading something if you don't believe it, to begin with?

  Sam Orowitz : Gene, those things happened, a long, long time ago.

  Gene Orowitz : It's a long time ago to you. How do you know it's a long time to God?

  Sam Orowitz : I don't know. What I DO know is this: the school has got rules, just like that--what's his name, Collins told you, so, no matter what your mother and I feel, we can't change that. You gotta get your haircut or you can't compete, so you got to do it. Look, how you do know, I mean, for sure, but--I'll bet, tomorrow afternoon, haircut and all, you go out there and you throw that javelin and throw it like you never threw it before.

  Gene Orowitz : I won't.

  Sam Orowitz : How--how do you know?

  Gene Orowitz : [frustrated]  I know!

  Sam Orowitz : All right, all right. you know, but it still doesn't change the fact you got no choice.

  [he looks at his watch and puts his hat on] 

  Sam Orowitz : Well, I gotta get to work. Come on, I'll help you with the trash.

  [he and Gene walk to the back of the house to get the heavy trash cans] 

  Sam Orowitz : What's your mother throwing out, bricks? Here, you take this here.

  Gene Orowitz : I'll get them.

  [he lifts the heavy trash cans over his shoulder and carries them to the sidewalk, to Sam's shock and confusion] 

  Sam Orowitz : [to himself]  What the hell's going on here?

• Sam Orowitz : [He shines his flashlight on Robert, who has his foot up on the seat]  All right, get your foot off the seat.

  Robert Woods : I'm just resting, Pops.

  Sam Orowitz : You want to rest? Go to bed. Get your foot off the seat.

• Harriet Orowitz : I was never so embarrassed in all my life! I mean, even the principal couldn't believe that you would make up such a ridiculous story!

  Gene Orowitz : It's not ridiculous. I didn't make it up.

  Harriet Orowitz : Oh, well, God forgive us. He is crazy.

  Sam Orowitz : Oh, no, Harriet!

  Harriet Orowitz : What else would you call it? I mean, ask him. Ask him why he thinks he's getting stronger because his hair is getting longer. Is that what God said? Did God talk to you?

  Gene Orowitz : No. It was a feeling. It just came to me.

  Harriet Orowitz : It just came to you. Well, it just came to me that you will get your hair cut, tomorrow and that you'll ever bring up this--this Samson nonsense, again.

  [grabs Gene's arm] 

  Harriet Orowitz : Is that clear? Is--is that understood?

  Gene Orowitz : [annoyed]  Yes!

  [he gets up and walks outside] 

  Harriet Orowitz : And since you think you're so strong with that big head of hair yours, you can take out the trash tonight!

  [Sam gives Harriet a dirty look] 

  Harriet Orowitz : And don't look at me like that. I just want him to look normal.

• Sam Orowitz : [looking at Eugene's long hair after suffering a heart attack]  Look at that hair. Your grandfather would turn over in his grave. He was a barber, you know?

• Gene Orowitz : You shouldn't be forced to do all that work. Why doesn't Art help?

  Sam Orowitz : He's non-union.

• Sam Orowitz : Everybody's got a Bob Woods in his life. Mine happens to be called Jake Bellow.

  Gene Orowitz : Your boss?

  Sam Orowitz : Yeah.

  Gene Orowitz : But he's five feet tall.

  Sam Orowitz : He's the boss. Now when he begins to ridicule me in front of the cashier and the ushers, I have to take it because I don't wanna lose my job. Believe me, it's no different than if he outweighed me by eighty pounds.

  [His voice begins to crack] 

  Sam Orowitz : I do know how you feel, and it stinks. It stinks to high heaven. So, so you see? We're in the same boat. The only difference is, you don't have a black forehead.

  [Gene begins to smile. Sam ruefully smiles back] 

  Sam Orowitz : Now come on, finish the sandwiches.

• Gene Orowitz : Mom says I'm just a dreamer. But I feel that... it's not just a dream.

  [Sam pauses thoughtfully] 

  Sam Orowitz : [cracked voice]  Dreams are not so bad after all. Sometimes dreams are all that's left to keep you going.

  [He drinks a clear soda and sighs deeply] 

• Sam Orowitz : You nervous?

  Gene Orowitz : I didn't think I would be. I've got a lot riding on this chance for being in California. Where the movies are made.

  Sam Orowitz : I know where they make the movies.

  Gene Orowitz : It's like a dream. I'll have the best throw of my life tomorrow. It's all the pressure.

  Sam Orowitz : Oh, I know. Why do you think I'm sitting here instead of snoring away upstairs?