1776 (1972)
William Duell: Andrew McNair, Congressional Custodian
Quotes
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[first lines]
McNair : [Adams stands with the Liberty Bell, lost in thought] Mr. Adams? Mr. Adams? Mr. Adams! Well, there you are. Didn't you hear me calling, Mr. Adams? You could have shouted down something, save me climbing up four flights. A man that likes to talk as much as you do, I think...
[Adams turns and gives McNair a hard stare]
McNair : What do you keep coming up here for, Mr. Adams? Afraid someone's gonna steal our bell?
[he chortles]
McNair : Well, no worry. Been here more than fourteen years and it ain't been carried off once.
[he laughs, but Adams is not in the mood]
McNair : You'd better get yourself back down to Congress, Mr. Adams. They're getting ready to vote, and they said they couldn't settle such an important question without Massachusetts being there.
John Adams : [sarcastic] I can just imagine. All right, what burning issue are we voting on this time?
McNair : On whether or not to grant General Washington's request that all members of the Rhode Island militia be required to wear matching uniforms.
John Adams : Oh, good god.
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[repeated line]
McNair : Awww Sweet Jesus!
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Col. Thomas McKean : [to Read] Sit down ya scurvy louse or I'll knock ya down!
Hancock : [to the Delaware delagates] Sit down all three of you!
[dog starts barking]
Hancock : McNair! Do something about that damn dog!
Hopkins : McNair, fetch me a rum!
Hancock : Get the dog first!
Hopkins : No! A rum!
[both start shouting at once]
McNair : I only got two hands!
Hancock : [screaming] Christ, it's hot!
[silence]
Hancock : Do go on, gentlemen, you're making the only breeze in Philadelphia.
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McNair : Seen any fighting?
Courier : Sure did. I seen my two best friends get shot dead on the very same day. And at Lexington it was, too. Right on the village green it was. And when they didn't come home for supper their mamas went out looking for 'em. Mrs. Lowell, she found Timothy right off. But Mrs. Pickett looked near half the night for William. Seems he crawled off the green before he died.
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McNair : I can't say I'm very fond of the United States of America as a name for a new country.
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Dr. Lyman Hall : Excuse me.
McNair : Uh, yes?
Dr. Lyman Hall : I'm Dr. Lyman Hall, the new delegate from Georgia.
McNair : I'm Andrew McNair, Congressional custodian. If you'll be wanting anything at all, just holler out "McNair" as all the others do, and there won't be too long to wait.
Dr. Lyman Hall : Uh, where does the Georgia delegation belong?
McNair : Oh, they mill about over in that corner, near the two Carolinas.
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Charles Thomson : Rhode Island. Second call Rhode Island.
McNair : Rhode Island!
Hopkins : I'm coming, I'm coming, hold your damn horses.
Charles Thomson : We're waiting on you, Mr. Hopkins.
Hopkins : Well, it won't kill you. You'd think the Congress would have its own privy. All right, where's she stand?
Charles Thomson : Five for debate, five for postponement, one abstention and one absence.
Hopkins : So it's up to me, huh? Well, I'll tell you, in all my years, I never seen, heard, nor smelled an issue that was so dangerous it couldn't be talked about. Hell yes, I'm for debating anything! Rhode Island says yea.
[Indistinguishable cheers and shouts]
John Hancock : McNair, get Mr. Hopkins a rum.
McNair : But you said...
John Hancock : Get him a whole damned barrel if he wants.
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Courier : Hey, who sits here?
McNair : Caesar Rodney of Delaware. Where are you from, General?
Courier : Watertown.
McNair : Where's that?
Courier : Massachusetts.
McNair : [indicating Adams' seat] Well, then you belong over there.
[the Courier moves to said seat]
McNair : But be careful. There's something about that chair that makes a man awful noisy.
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Dr. Lyman Hall : It's after 10:00. I was told Congress convenes at ten.
McNair : Well, they'll be wandering in any time now, sir, with old Grape 'n' Guts leading the pack.
Dr. Lyman Hall : Old who?
Stephen Hopkins : [offscreen] McNair!
McNair : Grape 'n' Guts.
Stephen Hopkins : [entering] 'Nair, fetch me a rum.
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John Hancock : [the courier enters Independence Hall with a report from Washington; Thomson rings a bell to call the delegates to order] From the Commander, Army of the United Colonies, New York, dispatch number 1,137...
McNair : Aw, sweet Jesus!
John Hancock : [Hancock resumes reading] The honorable Congress, John Hancock president. "Dear Sirs: It is with great apprehension that I have learned this day of the sailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia, of a considerable force of British troops in the company of foreign mercenaries and under the command of General Sir William Howe. There can be no doubt that their destination is New York; for to take and hold this city and the Hudson Valley beyond would seriously separate New England from the rest of the colonies, permitting both sections to be crushed in turn. Sadly, I see no way of stopping them at the present time, as my army's absolutely falling apart. My military chest is totally exhausted. My commissary general has strained his credit to the last. My quartermaster has no food, no arms, no ammunition, and my troops are in a state of near mutiny. I pray God some relief arrives before the Armada but fear it will not. Your obedient..."
John Hancock : [drumroll] "G. Washington."
McNair : [bangs his desk and stands up] Mister President!
John Hancock : Colonel McKean.
Col. Thomas McKean : Sure, we have managed to promote the gloomiest man on this continent to the head of our troops. Those dispatches are the most depr-ressing accumulation of disaster, doom, and despair in the entire annals of human history!
John Hancock : [Hancock hits his desk with the gavel] Colonel McKean, please!
Col. Thomas McKean : What?
John Hancock : It's too hot.
Col. Thomas McKean : Okay, I suppose so.
John Hancock : [McKean sits down] General Washington will continue wording his dispatches as he sees fit; and I'm sure we he finds happier thoughts to convey in the near... future.
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John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , John Hancock : [Dickinson and theconservative anti-independence candidates dance a minuet and sing "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men"] What we do, we do rationally,
John Dickinson : We never, ever go off half-cocked, not we,
John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , John Hancock : Why begin, till we know that we can win,
John Dickinson : And if we cannot win, why bother to begin?
Edward Rutledge : We say this game's not of our choosing, why should we risk losing?
John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , John Hancock : We are cool men...
John Dickinson : [the song pauses] Mr. Hancock, you're a man of property, one of us, why don't you join us in our minuet? Why do you persist in dancing with John Adams? Good Lord, sir, you don't even like him!
John Hancock : [Hancock stands up and sings] That is true, he annoys me quite a lot, / But still, I'd rather trot to Adams' new gavotte
John Dickinson : [spoken] Why? For personal glory? For a place in history? Be careful, sir, history will brand him and his followers as traitors.
Edward Rutledge : Traitors, Mr. Dickinson, to what: The British Crown, or the British half-crown? Fortunately, there's not enough men with property in America to dictate policy.
John Dickinson : Perhaps not, but don't forget that most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor. And that is why they will follow us...
John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , Chorus : [singing resumes] To the right, ever to the right, never to the left, forever to the right, / We have gold, a market that will hold, tradition that is old, reluctance to be bold...
John Dickinson : [Dickinson leads the conservatives as they leave] I sing Hosanna, Ho-san-na,
John Dickinson : [angrily raises his voice] In a sane and lucid manner, we are cool!
John Dickinson , Edward Rutledge , Chorus : [Dickinson and the conservatives walk out to their carriages] Come ye cool, cool, considerate men, whose likes may never, ever be seen again, / With our land, cash in hand, self-command, future planned, / And we'll hold to our gold, tradition that is old, reluctant to be bold, / We say this game's not of our choosing, why should we risk losing? / We cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool men!
McNair : [McNair and his companions are watching the conservatives' carriages pass by as the song ends] How'd you like to try and borrow a dollar from one of them? You want some more rum, general?
