From Here to Eternity (1953)

Montgomery Clift: Robert E. Lee Prewitt

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Quotes 

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Nobody ever lies about being lonely.

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : I love the army.

  Alma : But it sure doesn't love you.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : A man loves a thing, that don't mean it's gotta love him back.

  Alma : Yeah, but a person can stand just so much.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : You love a thing, you've got to be grateful.

• Alma : Sit down and - and get comfortable. I'll make you a martini and see what's to cook for dinner.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Hey, this is like being married, ain't it?

  Alma : It's better.

• Alma : Prew, it's true we love each other now, we need each other, but back in the States it might be different.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : That ain't the real reason.

  Alma : You're right, it's not.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : What is the real reason?

  Alma : I - I won't marry you because I don't want to be the wife of a soldier.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Well, that... would be about the best I could ever do for you.

  Alma : Because nobody's going to stop me from my plan. Nobody, nothing. Because I want to be proper!

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Proper.

  Alma : Yes, proper! In another year I'll have enough money saved. Then I'm going to go back to my home town in Oregon, and I'm going to build a house for my mother and myself, and join the country club and take up golf. Then I'll meet the proper man with the proper position, to make a proper wife, and can run a proper home and raise proper children. And I'll be HAPPY because when you're PROPER you're SAFE!

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : You've got guts, honey. I hope you can pull that off.

  Alma : I do mean it when I say I need you. 'Cause I'm lonely. You think I'm lying, don't you?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Nobody ever lies about being lonely.

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : A man should be what he can do.

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : A man don't go his own way, he's nothing.

  Sergeant Milton Warden : Maybe back in the days of the pioneers a man could go his own way, but today you got to play ball.

• Alma : [Maggio offers her a drink]  No, thanks, I don't drink.

  [Maggio gives her a look] 

  Alma : I think it's a weakness.

  Angelo Maggio : I grant ya that.

  Alma : [to Prewitt]  You don't like weakness do you?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : No, I don't like weakness... but I like to drink!

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : You've been hoggin' the Whiskey Angelo...

  Angelo Maggio : Not me buddy. Its that Sandra, shes a nice girl, but she drinks like a fish!

  Angelo Maggio : [Picks up glass and tosses leftover outside the window]  Hope there's a cop under that!

  [Big laugh] 

• Sergeant Milton Warden : [Prewitt and Warden are sitting in the middle of a road, very drunk]  There's this girl, and she wants me to be... wants me to be...

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Be what?

  Sergeant Milton Warden : An officer! Can you believe that? Can you see *me* as an officer?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Well... yeah, I can see you as an officer. You'd be a good officer...

  Sergeant Milton Warden : Well, you can both see more than I can! I don' wanna be an officer! I'm happy where I am!

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Why do they call you Friday?

  Pvt. Friday Clark - Bugler : I don't know. I was born on a Wednesday.

• Sgt. James R. 'Fatso' Judson : Are you sore about something?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : I don't like the way you play the piano.

  [Fatso laughs] 

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Remember Maggio?

  Sgt. James R. 'Fatso' Judson : Oh, the wop? Yeah, real tough monkey.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : You killed him.

  Sgt. James R. 'Fatso' Judson : Did I? Well if I did, he asked for it.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : The Army's gonna get you sooner or later, Fatso. But before they do, I want a piece of you myself.

  [Fatso pulls out a switch blade] 

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : I figured that.

  [pulls out a switch blade] 

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : See this knife? This is the one you pulled on Maggio.

• Captain Dana Holmes : You know why you were assigned to G Company?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : No, sir.

  Captain Dana Holmes : I pulled a few strings. I'm the regimental boxing coach, you know.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Yes, sir.

  Captain Dana Holmes : I saw your fight with Connors in the Bowl, year before last. You should've won it.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Thank you, sir.

  Captain Dana Holmes : Our regiment got beaten in the finals last December, but I mean to win this year. All I've needed is a top middleweight.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : I'm sorry, sir. I quit fighting.

  Captain Dana Holmes : Quit fighting? When? What for?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Well, over a year ago. Maybe you heard about what happened with Dixie Wells?

  Captain Dana Holmes : You mean that fellow that got hurt?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Yes sir.

  Captain Dana Holmes : Yes, I heard about that. It's too bad. I can understand how you feel, but those things happen.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : That's WHY I decided I would quit, sir.

  Captain Dana Holmes : You might as well say stop war because one man got killed! Our fighting program is the best morale builder we have.

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Well, what am I? I'm a private no-class dogface. The way most civilians look at that, that's two steps up from nothin'.

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Put your clothes on, alright?

  Angelo Maggio : [drunk]  Give 'em back to the Indians. The Indians need the clothes. All they wear is G-strings.

• Annette : That'll be four bucks, babyface. Two for initiation fee, two for this month's dues.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : What do I get for it?

  Annette : Members are entitled to all privileges of the club, which includes dancing, snack bar, soft drink bar, and gentlemanly relaxation with the opposite gender - so long as they ARE gentlemen, and no liquor is permitted, got it?

• Sergeant Milton Warden : You'd better know how to soldier.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : I can soldier with any man.

• Angelo Maggio : You quit the Bugle Corps?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Yep

  Angelo Maggio : For here?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : I didn't pick it.

  Angelo Maggio : Oh, you made a very bad mistake. This outfit, they can give back to General Custer.

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : Ain't nothin' the matter with a soldier that ain't the matter with everyone else.

• Karen Holmes : I had a boyfriend. I was a waitress, and he was from the richest family in town. He just married a girl suitable for his position. After three years of going around with me. It's a pretty story, isn't it? Maybe they could write a book about it.

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : They did. Thousands of them.

• Alma : What do you think Mrs. Kipfer hires us for? She pays us to be nice to all the boys. You're all alike. Is it so important?

  Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : It is important. We may seem all alike. We ain't all alike.

• Robert E. Lee "Prew' Prewitt : What do you dames want? To tease a man to death?