MovieChat Forums > Little Big Man (1970) Discussion > Best lines

Best lines

posted 17 years ago by Skragg
51 replies | jump to latest

One of the best (already mentioned here) is "You are not worth the reversal of a Custer order." Ususally his ego is blamed for getting people killed (on BOTH sides), but here, his ego SAVED someone!
Another one (though I don't remember just how it goes) is when the con man played by Martin Balsam tells Jack that he lived with the chief too long, because after living with him, he isn't cynical enough to be a good con man. In other words, he's criticizing an Indian for being philosophical, instead of criticizing him for being a savage!

[–] Lightning-Rose 17 years ago

My favorite line from the film is after Old Lodge Skins fails to die on top of the mountain and says,

"Well, sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn't."

As a software engineer, I've used that line on many occasions. :)

[–] privettricker 17 years ago

My favorite is: "I wasn't just playin' Indians, I was livin' Indians."

[–] Lightning-Rose 17 years ago

Another good one. :)

[–] MystMoonstruck 17 years ago

"This is a house of ill-fame, and I am a fallen flower."~Lulu/Mrs. Pendrake (Faye Dunaway) to Jack (Dustin Hoffman)

"Might I ask who I are addressin'?"~Jack to Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Corey)

"It was a great copulation."~Old Lodgeskins (Chief Dan George) to Little Big Man/Jack of a vision of him with several wives

I love the magic quotation, too! Chief Dan George guarantees a wonderful performance. Just the other night, I saw him in "Harry & Tonto". One of his best is in "The Outlaw Josey Wales". I'm trying to recall the quote about the piece of sugar candy: "It's not for eatin'. It's for lookin' through." *giggle* He was always a delight. After his death, his family admitted that they wished they had let him act more but had been concerned about his health.

[–] TongueFu 12 years ago

Actually, it was: "I wasn't just playin' Indian, I was livin' Indian."

[–] KingVidor 12 years ago

"Well, sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn't."

When I saw the movie in the theater as a kid, that line got the biggest laugh from the audience of any of the lines in the movie.

[–] cineaste1939 17 years ago

My favorite line is Crabb's in the guise of the "mule skinner" to Custer: "You go down thar."

[–] NubomTrk 17 years ago

"Best bath I ever had..."

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] boure1952 17 years ago

"Any damn fool can drink himself to death" - Wild Bill

[–] mr_rosewater 17 years ago

"That was the end of my religion period."
I say that everytime I see hypocrisy.

[–] lukas-foughman 13 years ago

One of my favourites is at the end: "Thank You for my vision, and the blindness in which I saw further!"

[–] thepartydjz 13 years ago

I believe it was Younger Bear that was referred to as a "Contrary"

[–] crazyanglo 17 years ago

"There is an endless supply of white men, but there has always been a limited number of Human Beings"--Old Lodge Skins

[–] Ramonesgirl707 17 years ago

Mine are:
Louise: And not only is this life sinful and wrong...it isn't even any fun!
and of course, Jack's cry of SUNSHINE!! is one of my favorites...it's so sad.

Fourth rule is: Eat Kosher Salami
Gabba Gabba Hey!

[–] bj-doyle 17 years ago

Ol' Lodgeskins:

"We must SMOKE to your return..."

[–] Brucewmcl 17 years ago

I have often used Allardyce Merriweather's statement that "Every occupation has a partical of risk."

[–] davidch-2 17 years ago

One of my many favourites was;

Old Lodge Skins: "Yes, the "black" white man; I have heard of them. It is said that a "black" white man once became a Human Being. They are a very strange creatures. Not as ugly as the white man true; but they are just as crazy!"

I also loved Old Lodge Skins' monologue about the native indian seeing that everything in nature is alive, whereas the white man sees everything as dead and kills anything that is alive. I was hoping to find the full quote on this site, as it randomly came up in my mind today. Anyone out there can help with that?

If yu can't hear, YU WILL FEEL! [Jamaican proverb]

[–] cletus-6 17 years ago

It's the celibacy of the saddle... the poison from the Goonads... that's medical terminology.
- Custer

[–] mstanley-1 11 years ago

@Davidch-2: actually, the quote is in the quotation section. It's a GREAT quote, especially the bit about "if things keep trying to live, white man will rub them out." How true that one is.....

Jack Crabb: Do you hate them? Do you hate the White man now?

Old Lodge Skins: Do you see this fine thing? Do you admire the humanity of it? Because the human beings, my son, they believe everything is alive. Not only man and animals. But also water, earth, stone. And also the things from them... like that hair. The man from whom this hair came, he's bald on the other side, because I now own his scalp! That is the way things are. But the white man, they believe EVERYTHING is dead. Stone, earth, animals. And people! Even their own people! If things keep trying to live, white man will rub them out. That is the difference.