Rehearsal for Murder (1982 TV Movie)

Robert Preston: Alex Dennison

Photos 

Quotes 

• Alex : [to Lloyd]  Permit me my element of surprise, Lloyd. In a mystery, the audience should never know what's coming next.

• Alex : It's essential they stay here, all of them. If even one of them walks out, it won't work.

  Frank Heller : It may not work anyway.

  Alex : You still think this is a mistake, don't you?

  Frank Heller : Like I said before, Mr. Dennison; this is your show. I'm just here to watch.

• Alex : Oh and by the way, it's something new for me; a mystery.

  Walter : Good. They do well.

  Alex : Unusual form, a mystery. You take the audience by the hand, and you lead them... in the wrong direction. They trust you, and you betray them! All in the name of surprise.

• David : [Referring to the format of a mystery]  All those characters are cardboard. I like... I like roles with flesh and blood!

  Alex : I don't know about the flesh, David. But I can guarantee you the blood.

• Lloyd : What are you going for? What's the point of the scene?

  Alex : Well, the point, Lloyd, is that in a mystery, everyone must have a motive.

• Walter : Alex, we've known each other for a long time, so I'm entitled to be blunt. Why are we here?

  Alex : You know why, Walter. To read my new play.

  Walter : It's not a play. It's just a bunch of unrelated scenes, all of them uncomfortably close to the truth.

  David : The hell they are!

• Alex : Might as well get to the point. Well, it's really very simple. When we finish here, we'll know something we didn't know before.

  David : And what's that?

  Alex : Which one of you killed Monica Welles.

• Walter : The woman killed herself! Do you understand? Whether you want to believe it or not, she was depressed, and she jumped out of her bedroom window!

  Alex : How can you be so certain, Walter? Were you there?

• Alex : [to the group]  Surely you don't want to miss the ending.

• Ernie : Some of those junkies and winos from Broadway, they try to bed down in the lobby overnight.

  Alex : Encourage them, Ernie. The theater was meant for the common man.

• Walter : Well, now what?

  Alex : Alibis, Walter.

  Walter : I was wondering when you would get around to that.

  Alex : I've established that you all had motives...

  David : Like hell we had.

  Alex : But motives are nullified by a legitimate alibi.

• Walter : What are you talking about? Monica wasn't murdered. She committed suicide. And to suggest that one of us is involved...

  Alex : It isn't a suggestion; it's a statement of fact.

  Karen : They investigated, the police...

  Alex : The police were wrong.

  Walter : Alex! We all know you suffered a terrible loss. We understand your grief. But what you're doing here, it won't change anything. It won't bring her back.

  Alex : Then you've nothing to lose by indulging me.

• [first lines] 

  Ernie : Who's there? Who's out there? Is that you Mr. Dennison?

  Alex : Hello, Ernie, how you been?

• [last lines] 

  Karen : Alex, are you coming?

  Alex : Save me a place.