Drunken Angel Quotes

  • Dr. Sanada: Martyrdom is out of style.

  • Dr. Sanada: The Japanese love to sacrifice themselves for stupid things.

  • Dr. Sanada: He tormented you, made you sick, and then deserted you like a puppy. And you still wag your tail and follow him.

  • Dr. Sanada: Fall in love for someone like me, I may be scruffy but you get free medical care.

  • [Matsunaga staggers drunkenly to Dr. Sanada's office]

    Matsunaga: Hey, old man! You home?

    [Dr. Sanada comes out in his kimono]

    Matsunaga: You told me to come here, so, I'm here. A yakuza never breaks 'is word. When I make a promise, I keep it.

  • [Dr. Sanada pulls Matsunaga, who is drunk and almost unconscious, onto his lap so that his assistant can fetch water for him. Matsunaga looks up at him, confused]

    Matsunaga: Who the hell are you? Oh, the quack. Hey, old man, that Takahama guy laid it on pretty thick about how great you are. But I don't buy one bit of it. Can't fool me!

    [He gestures emphatically, almost kicking Dr. Sanada]

    Matsunaga: You guys have some kind of conspiracy going.

    Dr. Sanada: Never mind that. Let me see that X-ray!

    Matsunaga: What? X-ray? I tore that thing to shreds. So up yours, asshole!

    [He collapses on the floor again]

    Dr. Sanada: Tore it up? You fool!

    [He pushes Matsunaga, who grunts loudly]

    Matsunaga: [defiantly] I'm not scared of dying. I'll die any old time... any old time...

    [He passes out]

  • [Matsunaga is slumped in a chair, his hand bandaged up. The doctor brings him a glass of water. Matsunaga drinks and starts coughing. The doctor looks at him, but goes back to what he was doing]

    Matsunaga: Gimme something for my cold, too. Can't seem to shake it.

    Dr. Sanada: Your high living substantially increases your risk of tuberculosis.

    Matsunaga: I'm hardly the type.

    Dr. Sanada: There's no type. Don't kid yourself into thinking there is. Athletes get it all the time. TB can creep up on anyone. Trouble with tuberculosis is that you don't feel a thing. By the time the fever and coughing start, it's too late.

    [He studies Matsunaga, who is lighting a cigarette]

    Dr. Sanada: You scared?

    Matsunaga: Scared? You talking about me?

    [He scoffs and flicks his cigarette away]

    Matsunaga: I'm no coward! You're really full of yourself. I hate doctors! All you do is exaggerate to make more money.

    Dr. Sanada: Oh, yeah. A doctor with five TB patients is riding a gravy train.

    [Matsunaga coughs again. Dr. Sanada scoffs. Matsunaga storms over to the doctor]

    Matsunaga: Fine. Let's have a look, then. See if it's TB or not.

    Dr. Sanada: But with what?

    Matsunaga: What?

    Dr. Sanada: It's pointless to use a stethoscope. That's all mumbo jumbo. Doctors only do that to look professional. But I'm happy to set your mind at ease.

    [He throws back Matsunaga's shirt, and thumps on his chest. He puts on a stethoscope]

    Dr. Sanada: But if anything shows up in this exam, you've had it.

    [He turns Matsunaga around and listens from his back. Sanada's eyes look serious and he looks at Matsunaga's back, then drops his eyes and takes off the stethoscope]

    Matsunaga: [impatiently] How am I?

    Dr. Sanada: Get some X-Rays.

    Matsunaga: I asked you how I am.

    Dr. Sanada: I need to see an X-ray to be sure, but you've got a hole this size.

    [Matsunaga is stunned]

    Dr. Sanada: Ignore it, and you can't last this long.

    [Matsunaga leaps to his feet and grabs the doctor]

    Matsunaga: I'll kick your ass if you're lying!

    [He throws Dr. Sanada onto the table and tries strangling him]

    Dr. Sanada: I'm not lying. Cut it out.

    Matsunaga: You're lying!

    Dr. Sanada: You jerk, I'm not lying!

    [Dr. Sanada's nurse appears in the doorway. Matsunaga gets off the doctor and buttons up his shirt. He walks off]

    Dr. Sanada: Idiot!

    [He throws a pillow at the gangster]

  • Dr. Sanada: He's got a fever, but no umbrella. The poor fool.

  • Sanada: I'll drink yours for you. With that hole in your chest, drinking's suicide.

  • Matsunaga: Screw the x-rays!

  • Sanada: The whole medical profession's ridiculous. Doctors can't survive without patients. But all we ever try to do is cure them.

  • Sanada: You know Takahama's clinic? Takahama and I were classmates at med school. Looking back, he and I were like night and day even then. He was always buttoned-down. And what was I like? Pawned my clothes to pay for brothels. It was my nature, but if only I hadn't strayed back then. But strays always have their reasons.

  • Sanada: It's not just his lungs that are sick. It's like he's sick to the core. He acts tough and swaggers around, but in his heart, I know he's unbearably lonely. He's still got a conscience tormenting him. His heart hasn't frozen over with evil just yet.

  • Sanada: TB is a tricky old disease. It's a race between you and the bacteria. It's like - The Tortoise and the Hare. That doesn't mean you should run. Go like the tortoise, one step at a time. But it's good to sleep like a hare.

  • Sanada: Next. Oh, it's you. What do you want? You look like a ghost.

  • Sanada: We all have fears, we're human. But you're too ashamed to admit it. And you confuse that with courage. I'd say, you're all the worst kind of cowards. Otherwise, why the tattoos, the tough talk and the strutting around?

  • Sanada: Figured I'd drop in for a spin. No need to laugh at me. I'm actually quite the dancer. Right, that's a tango. I love tangos. Quick, quick, slow, huh.

    Matsunaga: Idiot, that's the blues.

    Sanada: Blues? A lousy band can make the blues sound like a tango.

    Matsunaga: Man, you're a drag.

  • Sanada: Here I am worried about a total stranger's health. Sometimes I have to admit I'm some kind of angel.

    Matsunaga: A dirty, stinking angel.

    Sanada: Huh! Your filthy minds always imagine angels come looking like dance hall girls, but they're like me.

    Matsunaga: Shut up, pain in the ass.

  • Nanae: Where'd you spend the night? Been up to something bad? Come over here. I'll spank you.

  • Barmaid: You've lost a lot of weight. Somebody been loving you too hard?

  • Okada: After that long stretch in the cooler, every girl is a dish.

  • Singer: [singing] Oo-wow-oo-wow-wow-oo, Oo-wow-oo-wow-wow-oo, I'm a she-panther, I was born, In a southern land, Oo-wow-oo-wow-wow-oo, Where volcanoes blow fire, On a night lit red by the moon, In the jungle, In a jungle, I had a love so wild, Made my very bones swoon...

  • Sanada: You still stink of booze! Huh! I'm not a veterinarian. My patients don't need leashes tied around their necks.

  • Sanada: You're surrounded by a bunch of scum. Rotten, maggot-infested bacteria. Until you break free of that, there's no hope for you.

  • Sanada: Yakuza power is nothing but a myth. They're just good at scaring people.

  • Miyo: You never did beat around the bush.

  • Sanada: You were blinded by love.

    Miyo: Love made everything clear.

  • Sanada: Yakuza will always do the wrong thing in the end. That's why they're so pointless. And so senseless.

  • [last lines]

    Schoolgirl: Doctor, if you approach it rationally, TB's no big deal.

    Sanada: It's not just TB. A rational approach is the best medicine for life!

    [singing]

    Sanada: The hilltop we climbed together.

    Schoolgirl: Doctor.

  • [first lines]

    Punk: The mosquitoes are killin' me.

Drunken Angel

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Language: Japanese Release date: December 30, 1959