116 quotes found
"[Opening lines] A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But, here, in our little village of Anatevka, every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask, why do we stay here if it's so dangerous? We stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: Tradition!"
"Because of our traditions, we have kept our balance for many, many years. Here in Anatevka, we have traditions for everything: how to how to eat, how to sleep, how to wear clothes. For instance, we always keep our heads covered, and always wear a little prayer-shawl. This shows our constant devotion to God. You may ask, how did this tradition start? I'll tell you. I don't know. But it's a tradition. And because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is, and what God expects him to do."
"Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as... as... as a fiddler on the roof!"
"[to God] Sometimes I wonder, when it gets too quiet up there, if You are thinking, "What kind of mischief can I play on My friend Tevye?""
"[to God] It may sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. After all, with Your help, I'm starving to death. Oh, dear Lord. You made many many poor people. I realize, of course, it's no shame to be poor... but it's no great honor either. So what would be so terrible... if I had a small fortune?"
"As the Good Book says, if you spit in the air, it lands in your face."
"[to God] I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can't You choose someone else?"
"[to Chava] As the Good Book says "Each shall seek his own kind". In other words, a bird may love a fish... but where would they build a home together?"
"When I get angry, even flies don't dare to fly!"
"Golde, I am the man in the family! I am the head of the house! And I want to see Motel's new machine now! [looks inside Motel's house for barely a second] Now let's go home!"
"[to God] Am I bothering You too much? I'm sorry. As the good book says... aaahh, why should I tell You what the Good Book says?"
"[Last lines] All right, children. Let's go."
"As the good book says, when a poor man eats a chicken, one of them is sick."
"On the other hand, how can I turn my back on my faith, my people? If I try and bend that far, I'll break. On the other hand... No. There is no other hand."
"If God lived on earth, people would break His windows."
"Ah, children, they are your blessing in your old age. But of course my Aaron couldn't give me children. Between you and me, Golde, he hardly tried."
"Not everyone is a man!"
"From such children, come other children!"
"Hodel: [to Tevye] The world is changing, Papa."
"Fyedka: [introducing himself to Chava] I'm a pleasant fellow - charming, honest, ambitious, quite bright, and very modest."
"Hodel: We only have one Rabbi, and he only has one son. Why shouldn't I want the best?"
"Motel: If the rich could hire others to die for them, we, the poor, would all make a nice living."
"Motel: Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness!"
"Motel: You'll all chatter yourselves away into the grave."
"A tradition"
"The screen's most magnificent entertainment returns... filled with joy, laughter, love and life."
"Shout It From The Rooftops!"
"Chaim Topol - Tevye"
"Norma Crane - Golde"
"Leonard Frey -Motel Kamzoil"
"Molly Picon - Yente"
"Paul Mann - Lazar Wolfe"
"Rosalind Harris - Tzeitel"
"Michele Marsh - Hodel"
"Michael Glaser - Perchik"
"At this point, I would just like to say that what this committee is doing in theory is highly commendable. However, in practice, it sucks... and I'm not going to answer any more questions."
"[about Judge Rayford] This is a man bent on killing himself! It's no secret; a guard found him in his chambers once trying to hang himself! This is a man who's making value decisions on people's lives!"
"Sorry, Your Honor. Let's get back to justice. What is justice? What is the intention of justice? The intention of justice is to see that the guilty people are proven guilty and that the innocent are freed. Simple, isn't it? Only it's not that simple. However, it is the defense counsel's duty to protect the rights of the individual, as it is the prosecution's duty to uphold and defend the laws of the State. Justice for all. Only we have a problem here. And you know what it is? Both sides wanna win. We wanna win. We wanna win regardless of the truth. And we wanna win regardless of justice, regardless of who's guilty or innocent. Winning is everything!"
"Sixteen years of marriage and my wife still won't eat Chinese food. It's crazy, especially since we met in a Chinese restaurant."
"[After he fires a gun in his courtroom, to stop an argument] Gentlemen, need I remind you we are in a court of law? [long pause] Now, let's proceed in an orderly fashion."
"Prison should be a frightening place. Let those criminals create their own hellhole....I tell you, Arthur, the idea of punishment to fit the crime doesn't work. We need unjust punishment. Hang somebody for armed robbery. Try it! We've got nothin' to lose. Do you understand what I'm sayin' to you, for God's sake? You don't, do you? Oh! You fellas with your fancy ideas of rehabilitation. I tell you that the concept of rehabilitation is a farce. Do you honestly think that, that bringing Johnny Cash into prisons to sing railroad songs is gonna rehabilitate anyone? Most people are sick and tired of mugging and crime in the streets...[Arthur leaves] Arthur? Arthur?"
"Jeff McCullaugh: If everybody agrees I'm innocent, how come I'm going BACK to jail?"
"Carl Travers: I haven't left the scene of the accident, I'm in it!"
"Al Pacino - Arthur Kirkland"
"Jack Warden - Judge Francis Rayford"
"John Forsythe - Judge Henry T. Fleming"
"Lee Strasberg - Sam Kirkland"
"Jeffrey Tambor - Jay Porter"
"Christine Lahti - Gail Packer"
"Sam Levene - Arnie"
"Robert Christian - Ralph Agee"
"Thomas Waites - Jeff McCullaugh"
"Larry Bryggman - Warren Fresnell"
"Dominic Chianese - Carl Travers"
"Craig T. Nelson - Frank Bowers"
"That woman didn't leave you, OK. You can't see what you are, and I see everything... You are a wolf!... That woman was a trap for you. She caught you and you couldn't get away. So you, you chewed off your own foot. That was the price you had to pay for your freedom... And now, now you're afraid because you know the big part of you is a wolf that has the courage to bite off its own hand to save itself from the trap of the wrong love. That's why there's been no woman since that wrong woman. OK? You're scared to death of what the wolf would do if you try and make that mistake again!"
"Bring me the big knife, I'm gonna cut my throat."
"I lost my hand! I lost my bride! Johnny has his hand! Johnny has his bride!"
"Everything seems like nothing to me now, 'cause I want you in my bed. I don't care if I burn in hell. I don't care if you burn in hell. The past and the future is a joke to me now. I see that they're nothing. I see they ain't here. The only thing that's here is you - and me."
"Cher - Loretta Castorini"
"Nicolas Cage - Ronny Cammareri"
"Olympia Dukakis - Rose Castorini"
"Vincent Gardenia - Cosmo Castorini"
"Danny Aiello - Mr. Johnny Cammareri"
"Julie Bovasso - Rita Cappomaggi"
"Louis Guss - Raymond Cappomaggi"
"John Mahoney - Perry"
"Feodor Chaliapin - Loretta's grandfather"
"Anita Gillette - Mona"
"I was born to kiss you."
"I hope you're happy! I hope you're very happy! I don't believe in anything anymore! I don’t believe in the moon or the stars, or the sun … or destiny or magic — or MEN!"
"I'm Damon Bradley."
"I can't believe you're gonna let a few little letters of the alphabet keep us apart. It is a detail! Just — look, just call me Damon, okay? It'll be like a nickname."
"I married a liar. Why? Because I married a man."
"Only you can make this world seem right Only you can make the darkness bright Only you and you alone can thrill me like you do and fill my heart with love for only you."
"Only you can make this change in me for it's true, you are my destiny When you hold my hand I understand the magic that you do You're my dream come true my one and only you."
"It is total fantasy, light as a feather, contrary to all notions of common sense, it features a couple of stars who are really good kissers — and it takes place mostly in Venice, Rome, and the glorious Italian hillside town of Positano. What more do you want? Movies like this were once written for Katharine Hepburn (Summertime), Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday) and Rossano Brazzi (Three Coins in the Fountain). Or remember Clark Gable and Sophia Loren in It Happened in Naples? There is a case to be made that no modern actors have quite the innocence or the faith to play such heedless lovers, but Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. somehow manage to lose all the baggage of our realistic, cynical age, and give us a couple of fools in love."
"Only You gives us two people who should fall in love and live happily together for the rest of their days. They know it, we know it, and all of their friends know it. We also know with a confidence bordering on certainty that they will fall in love. And so there is a special kind of movie pleasure in watching them pigheadedly postpone their bliss — especially when they do it on Italian locations lovingly photographed by Sven Nykvist. I can think of many angst-laden young Hollywood stars, many of them accomplished actors, who could not have come within miles of the work done by Downey and Tomei in this movie. There is craft involved, yes, and even a certain inspiration, but what I reacted to more strongly was an ineffable sense of good nature: Tomei and Downey seem happy in their being here, and happier together than apart. That it what must be present if we're to respond to a story like this."
"Marisa Tomei as Faith Corvatch"
"Robert Downey Jr. as Peter Wright"
"Bonnie Hunt as Kate Corvatch"
"Tammy Minoff as young Faith"
"Jessica Hertel as young Kate"
"Joaquim de Almeida as Giovanni"
"Fisher Stevens as Larry Corvatch"
"Harry Barandes as young Larry"
"Billy Zane as Harry, the false Damon Bradley"
"Siobhan Fallon as Leslie"
"John Benjamin Hickey as Dwayne, Faith's fiancé"
"Adam LeFevre as the real Damon Bradley"
"Antonia Rey as Fortune teller"
"Phyllis Newman as Faith's mother"
"Denise Du Maurier as Dwayne's mother"
"Dina Morrone as Shoe Show Announcer"
"Women are a universal problem in our business. Of course, uh, it's purely an academic question with me now, but, looking back, I think it's best not to look for a fixed thing. Just tie into something nice when you're away from the action and let it wear itself out."
"He'd take on anyone, at anything, anytime ....it was only a matter of who came first!"
"A RAMBLING - GAMBLING MAN!"
"HIGH FURY AND GNAWING FEAR!!"
"Steve McQueen - Eric "The Kid" Stoner"
"Edward G. Robinson - Lancey "The Man" Howard"
"Ann-Margret - Melba"
"Karl Malden - Shooter"
"Tuesday Weld - Christian Rudd"
"Joan Blondell - Lady Fingers"
"Rip Torn - Slade"
"Jack Weston - Pig"
"Cab Calloway - Yeller"
"Jeff Corey - Hoban"
"Theodore Marcuse - Felix"
"Milton Selzer - Sokal"
"Karl Swenson - Mr. Rudd"
"Émile Genest - Cajun"
"Ron Soble - Danny"
"Irene Tedrow - Mrs. Rudd"
"Midge Ware - Mrs. Slade"
"Dub Taylor - the First Dealer"