Dark Passages

A nice selection of memorable quotes. But these lines did not just spontaneously spring unbidden from the mouths of the characters in these films. Someone wrote them. So... why weren't the screenwriters given the credit they so richly deserve? Now there's a whodunit for you.

Wonderful stuff, but who wrote it? I would like to find more of their work!

Otto--
I can think of so many writers now part of the canon who would not be so were it not for your persistent and gracious evangelism. (And I know you know my personal debt to you.) So it surprises me that you or your editors elided the names of the fine writers who penned the indelible lines above... Might you convince the LATimes to accept an emended version, with credits where credits are due?

I'm with Phil. Actors, despite what some may tell us, do not make up the great lines. Those come from the writers.

The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster.
- Oscar Wilde

Let's do Oscar proud. If we know who wrote these great lines, we can be a better audience -- and find the writers' other movies as well.

I agree that knowing the authors would be nice. Even better would be knowing the author and the inspiration. What would be best, though, would be to know the author, the inspiration, and some background on each film.

I took the time to look that stuff up for each of these 10 quotes. The info is posted on my blog, ReadHeavily.

Many thanks to Mr. Prenzler and LA Magazine for this list. There' so much junk in our modern culture that it's refreshing to discover great stuff from out of the past!

Out of The Past is 1947 not 1992

Touch of Evil has a lot of wonderful lines.Joseph Cotton as the coroner has just a short cameo role but it is memorable.The old whore,played by Marlene D gets a lot of good lines in a short role. I'm going to look up the writers,but I imagine Welles was responsible for a lot of it. I really like this movie,every time I see it I find something I had missed.

You forgot the immortal lines by Billy Wilder and IAL Diamond from "Double Indemnity" - it was a mistake leaving those out....

Double Indemnity --- Raymond Chandler

Lacking finesse, Reservoir Dogs is not Noir. Tarantino is mostly just gore.

Otherwise, great post.

Double Indemnity was not Billy Wilder, IAL Diamond or Raymond Chandler. It Was James M. Cain.

All time favourite: Bogart in Maltese Falcon "When your slapped, you'' take it and you'll like it"

http://www.amazon.com/b?_encoding=UTF8&site-redirect=&node=1000&tag=tabbooingcom-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325

I've been doing a lot of research on In A Lonely Place these past several weeks for my class. I was surprised to see the quote from it listed among these other great films. Proof that this contributor knows his cinema.

These are good quotes from fine movies. However, none of the movies subscribed to the genre of Film Noir. Most are just thrillers or mysteries. There *is* a significant difference, though it's somewhat difficult to spot.

This is vary informative and good post.

What about "What she's got, you can't spell" in The Narrow Margin written by Earl Felton, Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard

It would be wonderful if the writers of all these deathless lines were acknowledged.

"First is first and second is nobody" - The Big Combo

"I treated her like a pair of gloves, when I was cold, I called her up." - The Big Combo

"Let's use first names, you can call me Debbie, We're sisters under the mink, Bertha." - The Big Heat

"You want my life history well here it is in four words: Big ideas, small results." - Clash By Night

"What I like about you is you’re rock bottom. I wouldn’t expect you to understand this, but it’s a great comfort for a girl to know she could not possibly sink any lower."
-The Big Steal

"I know you like a book, ya little tramp. You’d sell your own mother for a piece of fudge. But you’re smart with it. Smart enough to know when to sell and when to sit tight. You’ve got a great big dollar sign there where most women have a heart."
-The Killing

"Personally, I’m convinced that alligators have the right idea. They eat their young."
-Mildred Pierce

" I don’t pray. Kneeling bags my nylons."
-Ace in the Hole

"“How I detest the dawn. The grass always looks like it's been left out all night.”
-The Dark Corner

"Claire Trevor: You can’t expect to dodge the police indefinitely, George. Wouldn’t it be smarter to go to Cochrane and get this thing out in the open?
Pat O’Brien: Just about as smart as cutting my throat to get some fresh air.
- Crack Up

"Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman. Just when you think one's all right, he turns legit."
-The Asphalt Jungle

"She was a charming middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud. I gave her a drink. She was a gal who'd take a drink, if she had to knock you down to get the bottle."

-Murder My Sweet

Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), at their first meeting: "There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour."
Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray): "How fast was I going, officer?"
Stanwyck: "I'd say around 90."
Neff: "Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket."
Phyllis: "Suppose I let you off with a warning this time"
Neff: "Suppose it doesn't take."
Phyllis: "Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles."
Neff: "Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder."
Phyllis: "Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder."
Neff: "That tears it."
-Double Indemnity

Noir ended with Touch of Evil. All color films noir are frauds. Tarantino is a thief and a hack. One exception...

"She's my sister and my daughter..."
-Chinatown

I could go on singing, but Neo-Noir is for dead birds. Pick a color and stay there. Only make mine black and white.

The aux-tourists should jump trains, It's a writer's world.