"[addressing the 918th for the first time at 0800] There will be a briefing for a practice mission at 1100 this morning. That's right, practice. I've been sent here to take over what has come to be known as a hard luck group. Well, I don't believe in hard luck. So we're going to find out what the trouble is. Maybe part of it's your flying, so we're going back to fundamentals. But I can tell you now one reason I think you've been having hard luck. I saw it in your faces last night. I can see it there now. You've been looking at a lot of air lately... and you think you ought to have a rest. In short, you're sorry for yourselves. I don't have a lot of patience with this, "What are we fighting for?" stuff. We're in a war, a shooting war. We've got to fight. And some of us have got to die. I'm not trying to tell you not to be afraid. Fear is normal. But stop worrying about it and about yourselves. Stop making plans. Forget about going home. Consider yourselves already dead. Once you accept that idea, it won't be so tough. Now if any man here can't buy that... if he rates himself as something special, with a special kind of hide to be saved... he'd better make up his mind about it right now. Because I don't want him in this group. I'll be in my office in five minutes. You can see me there."

"James Craig - Tom Spangler"

"You must remember always to give, of everything you have. You must give foolishly even. You must be extravagant. You must give to all who come into your life. Then nothing and no one shall have power to cheat you of anything, for if you give to a thief, he cannot steal from you, and he himself is then no longer a thief. And the more you give, the more you will have to give."

"Rights, Gately? You've got a right to explain to General Pritchard cowardice, desertion of your post, a yellow streak a mile wide! And maybe he can explain it to your father so that they'll both be proud of you! You can tell him right now."

"[to his fellow soldier Tobey, while they're on KP duty] Oh, we're poor. Always have been. My father was a great man. Not a success. Didn't make any more money than what we needed, ever... He worked in the vineyards, in the packing houses and wineries. If you saw him in the street you'd think he was nobody. But he was a great man. The only thing he cared about was his family. Ma and his kids. He saved up and made a down payment on a harp. Ha! Yeah, nobody plays a harp anymore, but that's what ma wanted, so he got her one. Took him five years to pay for it. We used to think every house had a harp just because we had one. And I thought everybody was great like him, until I got out and met some of them. Oh, they're all right, but they're not great."

"Robert Arthur - Sgt. McIllhenny"

"John Kellogg - Major Joe Cobb"

"Robert Patten - Lt. Bishop"

"Jack Roper - Eddie Burns"

"Ralph Theodore - Dutch Enright"

"George Watts - Joseph Hopper"

"Rita Hayworth - Nina Barona"

"Douglas Fairbanks Jr. - Bill O'Brien"

"Thomas Mitchell - Eugene 'Gene' Gibbons"

"They'll deal you hope off the bottom."

"John Qualen - Charles Engle"

"Yesterday's pain is tomorrow's joke. And you'll always end up laughing if you can manage not to cut your throat first."

"Eddie Foster - Louie Artino"

"I'm pretending there's something swell about you. This delusion came over me while we were dancing. You know, when you look into a girl's eyes and you think you see someone that isn't there... well that's what I saw."

"[seeing a waiter put two drinks on the table] Fine, fine! I no longer have to order drinks. I just attract them. He shall have liquor wherever he goes! [to Engle] As I understand from your communication, Mr. Engle, you're on the brink of self-destruction. May I shake your hand? A brilliant idea! I speak as one who has destroyed himself a score of times. I am, Mr. Engle, a veteran corpse. We are all corpses here! This rendezvous is one of the musical graveyards of the town. Caters to zombies hopping around with dead hearts and price tags for souls. Hmmmp! [offering him one of the drinks] Will you join me, sir? It is the custom here for the dead to drink - heavily! [drinks] Allow me to present my credentials as a fellow cadaver. I'm being divorced by my wife whom I love dearly in my own nasty way. I was disemboweled by another woman. I have written three bad plays in a row, and next year I'll write a worse one. I have neither a home, a single hope, nor a shred of curiosity left. Bankrupt and broke, I've destroyed myself, sir, in becoming famous. I am no longer a man, Mr. Engle, I'm an epitaph over an ash can! And now, sir, what's your story?"

"Oh, if only I had my slave costume and my chains!"

"[to Bill O'Brien] I'll remember this night for a long time. When things don't seem so good, I'll remember Mr. Gibbons, and Mr. Engle... and you."

"Stage Doorman: [looking out into the darkened, empty theater] Shhh! Hear that noise? That's the rats - always performing! If I left this scenery here, they'd eat it up - eat the whole theater up if it wasn't for the actors! The hollering frightens them."

"Constance Worth - Sylvia Marbe"

"[on the telephone] Hello, Dutch? Bill O'Brien! Say listen, I'm over at the Pigeon Club takin' in the sights, and, uh, I ran into somethin' that I thought might be of mutual interest to us. An out-of-town job came shoo-shooing in here a while ago and throwin' away money like birdseed."

"Tamed by a brunette - framed by a blonde - blamed by the cops!"

"Walter Sande - Heath"

"[sitting with Johnny in a convertible in the hills overlooking Los Angeles] It takes a lot of lights to make a city, doesn't it?"

"[to the partygoers] Seems I've lost my manners or would anyone here know the difference?"

"I know I've got lots of faults, but being in love with you isn't one of them, is it?"

"Helen Morrison: I take all the drinks I like, any time, any place. I go where I want to with anybody I want. I just happen to be that kind of a girl."

"Hugh Beaumont - George Copeland"

"Doris Dowling - Helen Morrison"

"Tom Powers - Captain Hendrickson"

"William Bendix - Buzz Wanchek"

"Howard da Silva - Eddie Harwood"

"Howard Freeman - Corelli"

"Double dame trouble! Double-barrelled action!"

"Leo: Just don't get too complicated, Eddie. When a man gets too complicated, he's unhappy. And when he's unhappy, his luck runs out."

"Alan Ladd - Johnny Morrison"

"Veronica Lake - Joyce Harwood"

"Don Costello - Leo"

"[discovering his wife in close proximity to Eddie Harwood] You've got the wrong lipstick on, Mister."

"Frank Faylen - man recommending motel"

"Will Wright - "Dad" Newell"

"Barry Kelley - Judge Drake"

"Allene Roberts - Emma"

"George Macready - Dist. Atty. Kerman"

"Candy Toxton - Adele Morton (credited as Susan Perry)"

"Humphrey Bogart - Andrew Morton"