Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939)

Barton MacLane: Police Lieutenant Steve McBride

Photos 

Quotes 

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Let's go into the other room so I can think.

  Torchy Blane : With what?

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : [to Torchy]  Are you trying to be sentimental in a cemetary? There's a time and a place for everything. Now keep quiet!

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : I've got an idea.

  Torchy Blane : Give it to me. I'll sew a button on it.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : What?

  Torchy Blane : I said you'd better get working on it.

• Torchy Blane : Oh, gee, Skipper. Listen. Aren't you going to stop by the apartment for just a few minutes? I get awful lonesome.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Well, you can read the funny papers.

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Take him down to the Station House and book him on suspicion until I have a chance the analyze these drinks.

  Detective Sergeant Gahagan : Oh, I feel I could animalize those drinks me-self. Well, that's better Scotch than they sell at Moriarty's. Well, it's a shame to turn those drinks over to a shemist.

• Torchy Blane : Steve, where's his head?

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : I don't know where his head is and I don't know who did it. And, once more, you're not going to gum things up by printing a line about this in the paper until I have a chance to find out.

• Detective Sergeant Gahagan : [picks up a drink]  I feel a poem comin' on: Scotch and Soda, I adore ye, I could drink ye, Till ye floor me.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Put that down.

  Detective Sergeant Gahagan : But to temptation, I won't yield, Because I might maybe, Lose my shield.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Yeah and you might maybe lose your life; because, there might maybe be poison in there.

• Senator Baldwin : Who is she? A burglar you know?

  Detective Sergeant Gahagan : No. She's a newspaper woman.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Well, it's practically the same thing!

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : What were you doing out on that balcony?

  Torchy Blane : Every time I see a balcony the Juliet comes out in me. But, I'm cured. You Romeos play too rough.

• Torchy Blane : What'd you do, bring your own suspects?

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : What do you mean?

  Torchy Blane : Look.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Chinamen!

  Torchy Blane : Yes, *oodles* of them.

• Detective Sergeant Gahagan : This is certainly a fascinatiin' case. I could write a poem about it.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Well, it's not that fascinating.

  Detective Sergeant Gahagan : Oh, yes it is. Listen to this: This is a fascinatin' case, Steve will solve with ease, We'll prove to Captain McTavish, they ain't so clever, these Chinese.

• Mr. Mansfield : They failed to keep their promise and they won't try again tonight because they'd lose face.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : What do you mean 'face'?

  Captain Condon : Dr. Mansfield means that when a Chinaman makes an appointment to kill you, he plans to keep it to the second. If there's some delay, for some reason, then, he'll try and make an appointment he can keep. It's a question of pride.

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Torchy, what are you doin' wanderin' around a graveyard?

  Torchy Blane : Oh, I'm a lost soul, Skipper, since you've been neglecting me.

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Will you stop being hysterical! What's the matter with you? These killings getting on your nerves?

  Torchy Blane : Maybe yes. Maybe no. You know, there's an old Chinese proverb that says the goose observes more than the gander.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Yes and it's a wise goose that knows when not to stick her neck out.

  Torchy Blane : Don't you worry about me. I can always duck.

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Now, what are you up to?

  Torchy Blane : I'm not up to anything, Skipper. This has been an exciting night and speaking man to man, I'm a woman after all.

• Torchy Blane : Oh, Skipper. I'm dizzy.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : That's nothing new.

• Senator Baldwin : Is there something wrong?

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Is there something wrong? You know we're looking for a mob of Chinese killers and here you got the whole party cluttered up with Orientals.

  Senator Baldwin : Come on now, Lieutenant. I don't like your tone. I offered to call the party off, you know. The fact that you weren't informed the entertainers were to be Orientals was merely an oversight.

  Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Yes and its oversights that get people killed.

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Now, me personally, the last time I was left holding a bag was on my 13th birthday when I went snipe hunting.

• Det. Lt. Steve 'Mac' McBride : Torchy you're a pal.

  Torchy Blane : That's me. Always a pal.