Don't Bother to Knock (1952)

Anne Bancroft: Lyn Lesley

Photos 

Quotes 

• Jed Towers : I said: "Look, I believe in a drink, a kiss, and a laugh now and then." That's the way it'd be. "Fine," she said, I can hear her saying it now. "Fine, I like to laugh."

  Lyn Lesley : I still like to laugh... but not at myself. I just don't want it any more. Life's too long.

  Jed Towers : All right, I'll send you a valentine. What *do* you want? Hearts and flowers? Forever and ever? Love?

  Lyn Lesley : Don't be afraid to say it; it's not a dirty word.

• Jed Towers : What am I supposed to do about it?

  Lyn Lesley : Fly back to Chicago. Find another bar. Find another girl.

  Jed Towers : Or find a wedding ring? Marriage isn't always the answer to everything, you know.

  Lyn Lesley : Who's talking about marriage?

  Jed Towers : Weren't you?

  Lyn Lesley : No. But I'm sure that's all you thought I had on my mind. That's where you're wrong. That's just the point. I wouldn't want to marry you.

  Jed Towers : Why not?

  Lyn Lesley : It's something to do with the way you are.

  Janey : They're all finished, Mister. We got a new process that develops them right away; instantaneous. The patent is pending. You can take your choice. There's the postcard, the folder, the matches, the handkerchief, and the ashtray. A dollar per each, except the ashtray; he's $2.

  Jed Towers : I'll take one "per each".

  Janey : Oh, thanks. Thanks a lot! He's a doll!

• Lyn Lesley : I'm not angry; I'm just furious.

• [Last lines] 

  Lyn Lesley : [Watching Nell being led away]  Jed, you care what happens to that girl, don't you.

  Jed Towers : She didn't want to hurt the kid. She didn't wanna hurt anybody.

  Lyn Lesley : [Lyn taking Jed by the arm]  You do care.

  Lyn Lesley : [Walking slowly arm in arm]  Come on, I'd like to buy you that drink now.

• Lyn Lesley : [singing]  I like New York in June, How about you? I like a Gershwin tune, How about you? I love a fireside when a storm is due, I like potato chips, moonlight and motor trips, How about you? I'm mad about good books, Can't get my fill, And Tyrone Power's looks, Give me a thrill, Holding hands in the movie show, When all the lights are low May not be new, But I like it, How about you?

• Lyn Lesley : [singing]  We'll have Manhattan, The Bronx and Staten Island too, It's lovely going through, The zoo...

• Lyn Lesley : I've just been thinking.

  Joe the Bartender : Thinking? That's serious.

• Lyn Lesley : [singing]  Oh, I'm a rollin' stone, Just a-rolli-olli-ollin' on and on, I'm a rollin' stone, That's just been here and gone, Gotta move on...

• Lyn Lesley : [singing]  Oh, there's a lull in my life, It's just a void, an empty space, When you are not in my embrace...

• Jed Towers : What's been wrong with it?

  Lyn Lesley : Nothing much. It's what was going to be wrong with it. Call it the old blank wall. The future without a future.

• Jed Towers : Little Miss Larceny.

  Lyn Lesley : She's a nice kid, Jed.

  Jed Towers : Reminds me of a chicken thief I used to know.

• Lyn Lesley : [singing]  How blue the night, How long the day, How blue the night, With you away, How strange it seems, Just living in dreams, And left in the moon glow...

• Lyn Lesley : Let's make this the sweet end of it.

• Lyn Lesley : All you can focus on is the cold outside of things. The simple facts. Not any causes or whys or wherefores. Oh, you're sweet - and you're fun. And you're *hard*. You lack something I ask for in a man.

  Jed Towers : And what's that?

  Lyn Lesley : An understanding heart.

• Jed Towers : Here. I'll buy you a drink.

  Lyn Lesley : I'm not thirsty.

  Jed Towers : All right, then buy me one.

• Lyn Lesley : Why'd you leave her?

  Jed Towers : Because, comes a time in the affairs of man when he's had too many.