The Misfits (1961)

Marilyn Monroe: Roslyn Taber

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Quotes 

• Roslyn : Horse killers! Killers! Murderers! You're liars! All of you, liars! You're only happy when you can see something die! Why don't you kill yourself to be happy? You and your God's country! Freedom! I pity you! You're three dear, sweet, dead men!

• Gay : What makes you so sad? I think you're the saddest girl I ever met.

  Roslyn : You're the first man that ever said that. I'm usually told how happy I am.

  Gay : That's because you make a man feel happy.

  [He tries to kiss her, but she demurs] 

  Roslyn : I don't feel that way about you, Gay.

  Gay : Well, don't get discouraged girl, you might.

• Roslyn : If I'm going to be alone, I want to be by myself.

• [Last lines] 

  Roslyn : I'll leave tomorrow, okay?

  Gay : God bless you, girl.

  Roslyn : Gay, if there could be one person in the world, a child who could be brave from the beginning. I was scared to, when you asked me. But, I'm not so much now, are you?

  Gay : No.

  Roslyn : How do you find your way back in the dark?

  Gay : Just head for that big star straight on. The highway's under it. It'll take us right home.

• Guido : Have you ever been outside Reno, Ms. Taber?

  Roslyn : Once I walked to the edge of town; doesn't look like there's much out there.

  Gay : Everything's there!

  Roslyn : Like what?

  Gay : The country!

  Roslyn : Well, what do you do with yourself?

  Gay : Just live.

  Roslyn : How does anyone "just live"?

  Gay : Well, you start by going to sleep. You get up when you feel like it. You scratch yourself. You fry yourself some eggs. You see what kind of a day it is; throw stones at a can, whistle.

• Roslyn : You have to get something to be human? You never felt anything for anybody in your life. All you know is the sad words. You could blow up the world and all you would feel is sorry for yourself!

• Perce : So what I want to know... what I want to know is: who do you depend on?

  Roslyn : I don't know. Maybe all there really is is just the next thing. The next thing that happens. Maybe you're not supposed to remember anybody's promises.

• Roslyn : We're all dying aren't we. All the husbands and all the wives. Every minute. And we're not teaching each other what we really know, are we?

• Roslyn : Did you ever think about gettin' married again?

  Gay : Oh, I think about it; never in daylight.

• Perce : How come you got such trust in your eyes?

  Roslyn : I do?

  Perce : Like you was just born.

• Guido : She wasn't like any other woman. Stood by me 100%, uncomplaining as a tree.

  Roslyn : Maybe that's what killed her.

• Roslyn : [to Guido, who is driving drunkenly at breakneck speed]  Please, Guido! Don't kill us!

  Guido : How do you get to know somebody, kid? I can't make a landing, and I... can't get up to God, either. Help me. I never said "help me" in my life. I don't know anybody. So how do I land, honey? Will you give me a little time? Say yes.

  [Sourly] 

  Guido : At least say, "Hello, Guido".

  Roslyn : [Nervously]  Yes, Guido. Hello, Guido.

  Guido : [a pause between the two]  Hello, Roslyn.

• Roslyn : I've known of so-called happily married couples. One time, the wife was in the hospital - to have the baby. And the husband calling me up. I mean, he was calling - *me*. They're still supposed to be happily married.

  Gay : I guess you believe in true love.

• Roslyn : How quiet it is. You can hear your skin against your clothes.

• Guido : Listen, do you want me to stop this? I know how you feel, Roslyn. I never liked this part myself. Truthfully, the only part I enjoyed is the flying. You want me to stop it?

  Roslyn : You would?

  Guido : You're through with Gay now, right? Well, tell me. He doesn't know what you're all about. He'll never know. Tell me, Roslyn. I been waitin'. I'm goin' out of my mind with waitin'. Come back with me. Give me a week, two weeks. Let me show you what I am. Tell me, Roslyn. Give me a reason and I'll stop it. There'll be hell to pay, but give me a reason and I'll do it.

  Roslyn : A reason? You, a sensitive fellow. So sad for his wife. Crying about the bombs you dropped and the people you killed. You have to get something to be human? You never felt anything for anybody in your life. All you know is the sad words. You could blow up the world, and all you'd feel is sorry for yourself!

• Roslyn : [to Perce]  Didn't anyone ever cry for you before?

• Roslyn : Why can't I just say he wasn't there. He - I mean you could touch him, but he wasn't there.

  Isabelle Steers : Darling, girl, if that was grounds for divorce, there'd only be about 11 marriages left in the United States.

• Roslyn : You're a mechanic too?

  Isabelle Steers : Him? He's a cowboy!

  Gay : How'd you know?

  Isabelle Steers : I can smell, can't I.

  Gay : Hey, you can't smell cows on me.

  Isabelle Steers : I can smell the look on your face, cowboy. But, I love every miserable one of you. Of course, you're all good for nothin' as you well know.

• Gay : Hey, you really go all out, don't cha? Even the way you eat. I like that. Women generally pick.

  Roslyn : [smiles]  You like me, huh?

• Roslyn : Listen, if you want to go somewhere, I don't mind being alone.

  Gay : Do I look like I want to leave?

  Roslyn : I just mean I want you to do what you feel like.

  Gay : You ain't kiddin'. Even when you're kiddin' you ain't kiddin'. No. You make me feel peaceful.

• Roslyn : I never really saw anything grow before. How tiny those seeds were and yet they know they were supposed to be lettuces.

  Gay : [laughs]  You say the darnedest things. You know that, don't you?

• Guido : What kind of dancin' you do?

  Roslyn : Oh, interpretive dancing. You know, nightclubs and that sort of thing.

  Perce : I was in a nightclub once. I was in a nightclub in Kansas City called: The Naked Truth. And they wasn't kiddin'!

• Roslyn : That star is so far away, that by the time the light from it reaches us here on Earth, it might not even be up there anymore.

  Perce : Boy, you sure know a lot, don't you, pilot?

  Guido : Astronomy is in all the library books, Perce. Nothin' to it but readin'.

  Roslyn : Still, it's wonderful to know things.

  Guido : Knowing things don't matter much. You got somethin' a lot more important.

  Roslyn : What?

  Guido : You care. Whatever happens to anybody, it happens to you. You're really hooked into the whole thing, Roslyn. It's a blessing.

  Roslyn : People say I'm just nervous.

• Perce : Do you belong to Gay?

  Roslyn : I don't know where I belong.

• Guido : Boy, am I in the right place?

  Roslyn : Have you seen the vegetable garden? It took Gay about a week just to get the soil turned over.

  Gay : Yeah, I moved the grass. Sprayed them flowers too. Oh, I got your windows unstuck. Fireplace don't smoke anymore.

  Guido : Roslyn, you must be a magician. The only thing this boy ever did for a woman was get out the ice cubes.

• Roslyn : I can't memorize this. It's not the way it was.

  Isabelle Steers : Just say it. It doesn't have to be true. This isn't a quiz show, it's only a court.

• Isabelle Steers : Look, here girl, I think I better tell you somethin' about cowboys.

  Roslyn : You really worry about me, don't you.

  Isabelle Steers : Well, you're too believin'! Cowboys are the last real men left in the world and they're about as reliable as jackrabbits.

• Roslyn : That's what I can't get used to. Everything keeps changing.

• Perce : I don't like to see the way they grind up women around here. Although, I guess, a lot of them don't mind, do they?

  Roslyn : Some do.

  Perce : Don't you, don't you let them grind you up here.

• Roslyn : What if, someday, you suddenly turn around and you don't like me anymore? Like before, when Perce got hurt, you started to give me a look. I know that look and it scares me, Gay. I couldn't be with strangers anymore.

  Gay : [Drunkenly]  Honey, honey, I got a little mad, that's all. That don't mean I didn't like ya. Didn't your Papa ever spank you and then pick you up and give you a big kiss? He did, didn't he?

  Roslyn : He was never there long enough. Strangers spanked me for kicks. Oh, Gay, love me, love me!

• Roslyn : uh, you never had any idea, huh?

  Gay : Nah, you know in those days I thought you got married and that was it, but nothing is it, not forever.

• [first lines] 

  Isabelle Steers : Young man, do you have the time? I got six clocks in the house and none of them work.

  Guido : Twenty after nine.

  Isabelle Steers : After? It's twenty after, dear. Dahlin'. Five minutes.

  Roslyn : What about you?

  Isabelle Steers : I'm all set, I just tyin' my sling. The lawyer said nine thirty sharp, dahlin'.

  Roslyn : Okay.

• Isabelle Steers : This'll be my 77th time I've witnessed for a divorce. Two 7s! That's lucky, darling!

  Roslyn : Oh, Is, I hope.

• Guido : Listen, now, if you're not going back East right away, I'd be glad to take you out and show you the country. Beautiful country around here, you know.

  Roslyn : Well, I don't know were I'll be, but, okay. Thanks, again.

  Isabelle Steers : My name is Isabelle Steers.

  Guido : Isabelle. Well, okay, you come along too.

  Isabelle Steers : That's a sweet afterthought. You Reno men!

• Roslyn : Me, I never finished high school.

  Gay : Well, that's real good news.

  Roslyn : You don't like educated women?

  Gay : They're alright. Always wantin' to know what you're thinkin', that's all.

• Roslyn : Who was he? Maybe they know him.

  Isabelle Steers : Darling, you can't go around lookin' for a man

  Gay : What'd - he take off?

  Isabelle Steers : No. Not exactly.

  [laughs] 

  Isabelle Steers : He just never came back.

• Roslyn : Let's go out in the sunshine. Come on. - - Let's just live, like you said in the bar. I don't know where I am yet.

• Gay : Honey, a kind man can kill.

  Roslyn : No! He can't.

• Raymond Taber : I just got off the plane. I'm not too late, am I?

  Roslyn Taber : I don't want to hear anything. My mind is made up. I want a divorce...

  Raymond Taber : Just give me five minutes. After two years of marriage, five minutes is all I ask...

  Roslyn Taber : [interrupting]  You can't have me just so you can want me, that's all. Please, I'm not blaming you. It's just... I never looked at it any different. I just don't believe in the whole thing anymore. You left your pregnant wife for me, but you never gave me any attention.

  Raymond Taber : Kid, I understand. I understand.

  Roslyn Taber : You don't understand. You're not there, Raymond. If I'm going to be alone, I want be all by myself. Go back. You're not going to make me feel sorry for you anymore.

• Roslyn : Come on, let's have lots of drinks.

• Gay : Honey, a kind man can kill.

  Roslyn : No, he can't.

• Roslyn : How do you feel?

  Perce : [after riding and being thrown by a rode bull]  How do I feel? Well, like I was kicked by a bull.

  Gay : Oh, I want no part of that bull except on a plate, medium rare.

• [Saying their goodbyes before Roslyn leaves with Gaylord] 

  Perce : Um, I'm pleased to have met you, Roslyn.

  Roslyn : Don't get hurt anymore, will you, Perce?

  [Perce smiles wistfully and slowly walks away]