"Up to now, only one man had seen the bird and lived. Among those who knew of it, its existence was a closely guarded secret. But even as arrangements were made for an emergency meeting of the President, the Cabinet, the National Defense Board and the Joint Chiefs of Staff - even then, the bird revealed itself to the world at large, and complacency quickly turned to panic! Panic, terror and horror! No corner of the earth was spared the terror of looking up into God's blue sky and seeing not peace and security, but the feathered nightmare on wings."

"Once the world was big, and no man in his lifetime could circle it. But through the centuries, science has made man's lifetime bigger and the world smaller. Now the farthest corner of the Earth is as close as a pushbutton, and time has lost all meaning as manmade devices speed many, many times faster than sound itself. Here, near the top of the world, free men struggle with the elements to create some measure of defense to protect that selfsame freedom."

"Sheila Robbins — Dr. Hockstader's Secretary"

"Maria Britneva — Lucy"

"Joan Young — Sister Felicity"

"Patricia Marmont — Nurse Benson"

"Mavis Villiers — Miss Foxhill"

"Gary Raymond — George Holly"

"Mercedes McCambridge — Mrs. Grace Holly"

"Albert Dekker — Dr. Lawrence J. Hockstader"

"Montgomery Clift — Dr. Cukrowicz"

"Elizabeth Taylor — Catherine Holly"

"Katharine Hepburn — Mrs. Venable"

"Nature is not made in the image of man's compassion."

"My son, Sebastian and I constructed our days. Each day we would carve each day like a piece of sculpture, leaving behind us a trail of days like a gallery of sculpture until suddenly, last summer."

"Is that what love is? Using people? And maybe that's what hate is - not being able to use people."

"Sebastian said, 'Truth is the bottom of a bottomless well.'"

"Most people's lives, what are they but trails of debris - each day more debris, more debris... long, long trails of debris, with nothing to clean it all up but death."

"Strictly speaking, his life was his occupation. Yes, yes, Sebastian was a poet. That's what I meant when I said his life was his work because the work of a poet is the life of a poet, and vice versa, the life of a poet is the work of a poet. I mean, you can't separate them. I mean, a poet's life is his work, and his work is his life in a special sense."

"I've buried a husband and a son. I'm a widow and a... Funny, there's no word. Lose your parents, you're an orphan. Lose your only son and you are... Nothing."

"[being sedated] Who was it that said we were all a bunch of kindergarteners trying to spell God's name with the wrong alphabet blocks?"

"Lee Van Cleef - Fante"

"Helene Stanton - Rita"

"Ted de Corsia - Bettini"

"John Hoyt - Nils Dreyer"

"Jay Adler - Sam Hill"

"Helen Walker - Alicia Brown"

"Earl Holliman - Mingo"

"Robert Middleton - Police Capt. Peterson"

"Jean Wallace - Susan Lowell"

"Brian Donlevy - Joe McClure"

"Richard Conte - Mr. Brown"

"Cornel Wilde - Police Lt. Leonard Diamond"

"Alicia Brown: I'd rather be insane and alive, than sane... and dead."

"Police Capt. Peterson: You're a cop, Leonard. There's 17,000 laws on the books to be enforced. You haven't got time to reform wayward girls. She's been with Brown three and a half years. That's a lot of days... and nights."

"A woman doesn't care how a guy makes a living, just how he makes love."

"People tell me all sorts of things. I don't listen."

"If they take you to police headquarters, shoot yourself in the head. It'll make everything a lot simpler."

"I'm gonna give you a break. I'm gonna fix it, so you don't hear the bullets. [Removes McClure's hearing aid]"

"So you lost. Next time you'll win. I'll show you how. Take a look at Joe McClure here. He used to be my boss, now I'm his. What's the difference between me and him? We breathe the same air, sleep in the same hotel. He used to own it! [yelling into McClure's sound magnifier in his ear] Now it belongs to me. We eat the same steaks, drink the same bourbon. Look, same manicure. [lifting and pointing at McClure's hand] Same cufflinks. But there's only one difference. We don't get the same girls. Why? Because women know the difference. They got instinct. First is first, and second is nobody."

"I know his name. The name of a man who will pick up a phone and call Chicago and New Orleans and say "Hey Bill, Joe is coming down for the weekend. Advance him fifty thousand," and he hangs up the phone and the money's advanced, protection money. A new all night bar opens, with gambling outside city limits. A bunch of high school kids come in for a good time. They get loaded, they get irresponsible, they lose their shirts. Then they get a gun, cause they're worried, they want to make up their losses. And a filling station attendant is dead with a bullet in his liver. I have to see four kids on trial for first degree murder. Look at it. First degree murder, because a certain Mr. Brown picked up a phone."

"Raymond Massey - Adam Trask"

"Lony Chapman - Car instructor"

"Barbara Baxley - Adam's nurse"

"Harold Gordon - Gustav Albrecht"

"Timoth Carey - Joe, Kate's henchman"

"Lois Smith - Anne, Kate's servant"

"Albert Dekker - Will Hamilton"

"Jo Van Fleet - Kate"

"Burl Ives - Sam the Sheriff"