King of the Underworld (1939)

Humphrey Bogart: Joe Gurney

Photos 

Quotes 

• Bill Stevens : What you want is a ghost writer.

  Joe Gurney : Nah no mystery stuff, just plain facts.

• Joe Gurney : [after receiving care for a gunshot wound]  Well, can I take it or can I take it?

  Dr. Carole Nelson : You can take it. Some people aren't sensitive to pain, especially moronic types.

  Joe Gurney : Hey, did you hear that, Slick? I'm a moronic type.

  Slick : Yeah? Hey, what's that?

  Joe Gurney : I don't know. Some type of medical name, ain't it doc?

• Dr. Carole Nelson : [sticking thermometer in Gurney's mouth]  Keep your mouth shut.

  Joe Gurney : Hey, d'ya hear that? That's a hot one. First time anybody ever told me to keep my mouth shut and got away with it.

  Dr. Carole Nelson : I suppose that's something to boast about.

  Joe Gurney : You bet it is! Hey Doc... anybody ever tell you that you're a pretty good lookin' doll? Ah, I'm not kiddin'. Y'know, I don't go for dolls as a rule. I mean, they're just something nice to have around the house like cats and dogs and pets and things. You got brains.

  Dr. Carole Nelson : Yeah, I'm different.

  Joe Gurney : Sure, we could get along swell together if you'd just relax.

• Joe Gurney : [after being shot]  Where's my writer?

  Bill Stevens : I'm here, Joe.

  Joe Gurney : I guess you'll have to finish my book without me.

  Bill Stevens : The finish was written long ago.

• Eddie : [after being told by Gurney to come back with a typewriter]  Hey, boss, where am I gonna pick up a typewriter at this time of the night? The stores are all closed!

  Joe Gurney : Well, open one!

• Bill Stevens : What do you want with me, Joe?

  Joe Gurney : Well, I tell yuh, me and the boys are takin' a bit of a layoff while the pressure's on, and I got thinkin' about that book you wrote, you know, on Napoleon. Figured that him and me bein' so much alike, you'd like to do a little job for me.

  Bill Stevens : What kind of job?

  Joe Gurney : Well, every big man, you know, oughta have somebody to write his auto... uh, auto...

  [unsure of the word] 

  Bill Stevens : Autobiography?

  Joe Gurney : Yeah, that's it.

  Bill Stevens : An autobiography is the story of a man's life written by himself.

  Joe Gurney : Well, I knew that, but I got too many things on my mind to write, so I thought maybe you'd front for me.

  Bill Stevens : What you want is a ghost writer.

  Joe Gurney : [Obviously misunderstanding]  No mystery stuff! Just plain facts. How does it sound to you?

• Joe Gurney : [Shocked that Gurney has shot one of his own men in the back]  What yuh wanna do that for?

  Joe Gurney : [as he looks dispassionately through the holes in his revolver and casually blows out dirt]  It says in the book that Napoleon said a good general has got to know when to be just, severe, - or mild.

• Joe Gurney : [Entering the doctor's office]  Dr. Nelson?

  Niles Nelson : That's right.

  Joe Gurney : [Taking in the doctor's shabby office]  I don't get it.

  Niles Nelson : Whatta yuh mean?

  Joe Gurney : A guy with a pair of million dollar hands in a dump like this!

  Niles Nelson : Oh?

  Joe Gurney : Yeah! You're wastin' your time down here. You oughta be uptown with the big dough.