Nevada Smith (1966)

Brian Keith: Jonas Cord

Photos 

Quotes 

• Jonas Cord : [Cord teaches Max to play poker]  Now the lowest hand you can get is a pair, that's two of a kind. Then two pair, then three of a kind, and then a straight.

  Nevada Smith : Three of what kind?

  Jonas Cord : Three of anything. Three nines, three tens, three jacks.

  Nevada Smith : Which ones are the tens?

  Jonas Cord : Don't you know how to read?

  Nevada Smith : I never went to school.

  Jonas Cord : Or write?

  Nevada Smith : Well, if I knew how to write, I'd know how to read.

• Jonas Cord : It ain't that easy, kid. Findin' em's one thing. Killin' em's another.

  Nevada Smith : I'll figure out ways.

  Jonas Cord : Ah! Well, I've been sellin' guns and ammunition to men like that for 15 years, and they got more ways to cripple and kill a man than you ever dreamed about. They'll shoot you in the back. They'll ambush you. They'll cut your throat while you're layin' asleep. All you got on your side is some blind Indian revenge.

  Nevada Smith : I'm half-white.

  Jonas Cord : And you're all-helpless!

• Jonas Cord : I sure can't tell you which way to go, but you want to catch 'em, you best go where the money is. If they got it, they're goin' to head for where they can spend it. If they ain't got it, they'll go where they can steal it.

• Jonas Cord : [Max misses a plate Cord throws in the air]  Go on home, boy. Take the shortcut.

  Nevada Smith : The sun was in my eyes and I wasn't expecting it!

  Jonas Cord : Do you expect a man's gonna hold still for you with the sun at your back, and give you warning so you can stand there and shoot at him?

  Nevada Smith : I can hit a rabbit at 80 yards with a rifle.

  Jonas Cord : A rabbit don't shoot back. And how you think you're gonna swing a rifle in a barroom.

  Nevada Smith : I never been *in* a barroom!

  Jonas Cord : Look, just to find them, you're gonna have to comb out every saloon, gambling hall, hog farm, and whore house between here and Mexico. What do you think you're after, three preachers? You gonna gun 'em down at 80 yards when they're coming out of a church social? You're hunting three men who steal because they're too damn lazy to work, and they kill because they love to, and they hide out like rats in the garbage. So if you're gonna get 'em, you're gonna have to eat, drink, and wallow in that garbage right with 'em, 'til you get so you think like 'em and smell like 'em.

  Nevada Smith : I'll do what I have to do.

• Jonas Cord : [Cord shoots a bottle out of the air]  Now you get so you can do that with either hand, when you're half-drunk, or half-awake, or inside of a dark room, off the back of a running horse, you might stand a chance. A small chance.

  Nevada Smith : Would you teach me?

  Jonas Cord : I sell guns, I don't teach killing.

  Nevada Smith : Then I'll learn myself.

  Jonas Cord : You won't live that long.

  Nevada Smith : Well thank you for the food and advice, Mr. Cord. I guess I'll be on my way.

  Jonas Cord : Where to? How? What with? Even if I did teach you something, that's only half of it. When you're looking for them three men, you gotta live, don't you? You gotta eat. You need clothes, food, horses, saddles, guns, ammunition, money. How you gonna get that? Tracking beaver on Sundays? I'll tell you how you'll get it. You'll wind up stealing, and killing, and turn yourself into the same kind of animal you're trying to track down. Can't you see that?

  Nevada Smith : I don't see nothing, except my father laying on a blood-covered floor, all burnt and cut, with the top of his head blown to pieces! And my mother, split up the middle, and every square inch of her skin ripped off.

• Jonas Cord : A little poker suit you?

  Nevada Smith : Well, not too much.

  Jonas Cord : You know how to play cards, don't you?

  Nevada Smith : No.

  Jonas Cord : I guess I can teach you. Have a drink.

  Nevada Smith : Well, I ...

  Jonas Cord : You don't drink either?

  Nevada Smith : No.

  Jonas Cord : Where you're going, you best study up on it.