Bad for Each Other (1953)

Charlton Heston: Dr. Tom Owen

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Quotes 

• Dr. Tom Owen : [on the phone with his wife]  Oh, I'm interviewing nurses, of course. Don't be silly, darling, of course she'll be fat and ugly. I do insist on good legs though.

• Dr. Tom Owen : What are you looking for? Another moose head on your wall?

  Helen Curtis : [laughs]  You might be a good looking moose head at that!

  Dr. Tom Owen : Nobody's gonna collect me and hang me on any wall.

  Helen Curtis : Any experienced collector will tell you, Colonel, that prized items are always given special treatment.

  Dr. Tom Owen : Just how much experience have you had?

  Helen Curtis : A great deal. Perhaps too much. Twice married, twice divorced.

• Dr. Tom Owen : I've met women like you in half the capitols of the world. You've been everywhere, done everything, seen everything, had everything, and that's still not good enough.

  Helen Curtis : I'm not interested in your diagnosis.

  [She starts to leave, he grabs her and they kiss] 

• Dr. Tom Owen : [Showing her his new doctor's office]  What do you think?

  Mrs. Mary Owen : I was in an office like this once before. Floyd's. It ruined him.

  Dr. Tom Owen : What ruined Floyd was that he forgot he came out of a hole in the ground. He wanted a social career. I want only one thing. Money. Look, Mom. I've got a chance at a jackpot. A lot of people with a lot of money think I'm a colorful character. Because I have the right sponsorship, they think I'm more than average.

  Mrs. Mary Owen : You are more than average.

  Dr. Tom Owen : Well, I'm not. But by the time they find that out I'll have the security I want, then it won't matter.

  Mrs. Mary Owen : You don't mean that. You're just saying it.

  Dr. Tom Owen : How do you know what I mean?

  Mrs. Mary Owen : I'm your mother.

• Dr. Tom Owen : [Looking around his old home]  It feels like I've been gone about two days.

  Mrs. Mary Owen : Ten years! I can't believe it. All the places you've been and all the things you've done. You look bigger.

  Dr. Tom Owen : [laughs]  It's the uniform.

  [Looking at his hands] 

  Dr. Tom Owen : Look, no coal dirt under the fingernails. Pop's scrubbing brush and you're laundry soap finally paid off. Clean.

  Mrs. Mary Owen : They're good hands. You're a good doctor.

• Dr. Tom Owen : It's been my experience that women who drink too much aren't silly, they're frustrated.

• Helen Curtis : I don't like to be kept waiting.

  Dr. Tom Owen : You'll learn if you hang around doctors long enough.

• Helen Curtis : Colonel, all I'm suggesting is that you take off your uniform and accept Dr. Gleeson's offer.

  Dr. Tom Owen : His offer to do what? Patch up a bunch of neurotics and rich alcoholics like Rita Thornberg? In the army, I'm a doctor treating real patients. Here?

  Helen Curtis : The rich get just as sick as the poor.

  Dr. Tom Owen : Of course they do. When they're really sick, not developing imaginary illnesses.

• Helen Curtis : May I pay you a small compliment?

  Dr. Tom Owen : If it's not too small.

  Helen Curtis : I didn't get much sleep this morning because of you. There were four calls. All women. Asking about Colonel Tom Owen.

  Dr. Tom Owen : Did you take their numbers?

  Helen Curtis : I told them I saw you first. Occupied territory.

  Dr. Tom Owen : You know, that might be fun. Being occupied.

  Helen Curtis : It could be.

• Dr. Tom Owen : I asked you to marry me. I'd still like you to.

  Helen Curtis : [laugh]  Are you sure you want to marry a girl who can't do anything except write checks?

  Dr. Tom Owen : You'll have a chance to learn a lot more than that. I'm quitting Gleeson.

  Helen Curtis : You're going back to Coalville?

  Dr. Tom Owen : 'm going back to medicine. There was no ghost surgery down in that mine tonight. I wasn't standing in for Gleeson or anybody else. I was on my own. That's the way it's got to be from now on. A man had to die to drive that into me.

  Helen Curtis : What difference does it matter where you practice? A few hours ago right here in this house you told my aunt that a doctor's business was saving lives no matter whose they were.

  Dr. Tom Owen : A few hours ago I was still looking for guarantees. I thought that's what I wanted. Security. I just learned that the only security, the only guarantees, the only chance a man's got to win is the way he uses what is given to work with. That's why I'm quitting Gleeson and going back to Coalville.

  Helen Curtis : I could never get use to Coalville.

• Dan Reasonover : [Reading the engagement notice in the newspaper]  Is this true?

  Dr. Tom Owen : There's no reason to sound like a district attorney, Dan. Of course it's true. We were going to tell ya tonight.

  Dan Reasonover : I'd better tell you a few things first. You know what Helen means to me. I'd do anything in the world to make her happy. You don't know what you're stepping into.

  Dr. Tom Owen : I'll take my chances on her.

  Dan Reasonover : You'll never get a chance. It's not easy for a man to say things like this about his own daughter, but she'll destroy you the same way she destroyed the others. Her backyard is full of the bones of explorers.

• Joan Lasher : I haven't seen all the surgery in the world, but I know the best when I see it. And surgeons like you come along only once in a long, long while. You are a fine doctor. All you need is your hands. Keep them clean.

  Dr. Tom Owen : I intend to.

  Joan Lasher : You can't. Not the way you've been going. Good night, doctor!

• Dr. Tom Owen : [Following his examination]  I'm afraid you'll have to cut down on cigarettes.

  Lucille Grellett : [Coyly]  No, seriously. Am I alright?

  Dr. Tom Owen : You just need something to quiet your nerves.

  Lucille Grellett : Well, I'm sorry to have caused you all this trouble, Tom.

  Dr. Tom Owen : No trouble at all, Lucille. As long as you feel relief.

  Lucille Grellett : I certainly do.

  Dr. Tom Owen : Glad I was able to help. You can get dressed now, Lucille.

  Lucille Grellett : Will I be seeing you at the Sutton's party Friday night?

  Dr. Tom Owen : Helen did say something about it, yes.

  Lucille Grellett : Good! I hope you'll recognize me with my clothes on!

• Mrs. Roger Nelson : I've waited six weeks to say this to you. Thank you for saving my life.

  Dr. Tom Owen : Dr. Gleeson did that.

  Mrs. Roger Nelson : You've already demonstrated that you're a brilliant surgeon. Now don't try to prove you're a bad liar.

• Dr. Tom Owen : You've been around long enough to know that a doctor's success depend on who he treats not how well.

  Joan Lasher : [Angrily]  I'm sorry, doctor. I haven't been around that long.

  Dr. Tom Owen : Well, what have we here? A nurse with ideals?

  Joan Lasher : My father taught me to believe that everybody had them.

• Dr. Tom Owen : Small towns are just like big ones. Except in one way. They have less of everything.

  Joan Lasher : They have enough for me.

  Dr. Tom Owen : The only difference between Crowley's patients and mine is that mine pay more.

  Joan Lasher : I'm sorry you see it that way.

• Dr. Homer Gleeson : Did you find anything wrong with Miss Grellett?

  Dr. Tom Owen : There was nothing to find.

  Dr. Homer Gleeson : I figured that. The lengths to which that type of girl will go to get attention.

  Dr. Tom Owen : [Smiles]  She got attention. $250 worth.

• Dan Reasonover : When she was 21, I gave her a fortune. Parasites of two continents trusted around her like bees around a honeypot.

  Dr. Tom Owen : I'm interested in your daughter. Not her money.

  Dan Reasonover : Maybe right now you're not. Funny thing about money. It's very easy to get use to. I don't want you to be like the others, Tom. I want you to be a man with a profession. Not just the husband of a rich husband.

  Dr. Tom Owen : Look. I'm a doctor. I'll always be a doctor. No matter whom I marry.

  Dan Reasonover : Are you sure?

• Dr. Tom Owen : You know, you were beginning to impress me - money, style, honesty; I might have known there'd be something wrong with you.