[Petey and Jeff watch Meta walking away]

Petey: Nice!

Jeff: Awfully cold around the heart.
Jeff: How big a chump can you get to be? I was finding out.
Jeff: You say to yourself, "How hot can it get?" Then, in Acapulco, you find out.
Fisher: You know, a dame with a rod is like a guy with a knitting needle.
Jeff: You know, maybe I was wrong and luck is like love. You have to go all the way to find it.

Ann: You do to keep it.
Jeff: I sell gasoline, I make a small profit. With that I buy groceries. The grocer makes a profit. We call it earning a living. You may have heard of it somewhere.
Whit: My feelings? About ten years ago, I hid them somewhere and haven't been able to find them.
Jeff: You can never help anything, can you? You're like a leaf that the wind blows from one gutter to another.
Jeff: It was the bottom of the barrel, and I was scraping it.
Whit: Joe couldn't find a prayer in the Bible.
Kathie: Don't you see? You've only me to make deals with now.

Jeff: Well, build my gallows high, baby.
Ann: She can't be all bad. No one is.

Jeff: Well, she comes the closest.
Jeff: I never saw her in the daytime. We seemed to live by night. What was left of the day went away like a pack of cigarettes you smoked. I didn't know where she lived. I never followed her. All I ever had to go on was a place and time to see her again. I don't know what we were waiting for. Maybe we thought the world would end.
Ann: They say the day you die your name is written in the clouds.
Kathie: I didn't know what I was doing. I, I didn't know anything except how much I hated him. But I didn't take anything. I didn't, Jeff. Don't you believe me?

Jeff: Baby, I don't care.
[Kathie is playing roulette]

Jeff: That's not the way to win.

Kathie: Is there a way to win?

Jeff: There's a way to lose more slowly.
Kathie: I think we deserve a break.

Jeff: We deserve each other.
Eels: All women are wonders, because they reduce all men to the obvious.

Meta Carson: So do martinis.
Jeff: [answering the door] Well, the last guy in the world...

Whit: I hate surprises myself. You wanna just shut the door and forget it?
Jeff: Now, do you wanna talk business, or do you wanna play house?
Whit: You just sit and stay inside yourself. You wait for me to talk. I like that.

Jeff: I never found out much listening to myself.
Kathie: Can't you even feel sorry for me?

Jeff: I'm not going to try.

Kathie: Jeff...

Jeff: Just get out, will you? I have to sleep in this room.
Kathie: Oh Jeff, you ought to have killed me for what I did a moment ago.

Jeff: [dryly] There's time.
Jeff: [allowing one slap but blocking a second] That evens us. Now fold your hands or I'll fold 'em for you!
Joe: I often wondered what happened to him. Then one day I'm breezing through here, and there's his name up on a sign.

Marney - Diner Owner: It's a small world.

Joe: Yeah. Or a big sign.
Marney - Diner Owner: Two things I can smell inside a hundred feet: a burnin' hamburger and a romance.

Jim: You got a customer.

Marney - Diner Owner: [to Joe] What'll ya have?

Joe: [not bothering to take the cigarette out of his mouth] Coffee.

Marney - Diner Owner: Nothing else?

Joe: Cream.
Jeff: Why me?

Whit: Well, I know a lot of smart guys, and a few honest ones. And you're both.
Eels: Your uh... cousin is a very charming young lady.

Jeff: No he isn't. His name is Norman, and he's a bookmaker in Cleveland, Ohio.
Jeff: Nothing in the world is any good unless you can share it.
Whit: You're gonna take the rap and play along. You're gonna make every exact move I tell you. If you don't, I'll kill you. And I'll promise you one thing: it won't be quick. I'll break you first. You won't be able to answer a telephone or open a door without thinking, 'This is it.' And it when it comes, it still won't be quick. And it won't be pretty. You can take your choice.
Kathie: I don't want to die.

Jeff: Neither do I, baby, but if I have to, I'm going to die last.
Kathie: I'm sorry he didn't die.

Jeff: Give him time.
Jeff: Let's go down to the bar. We can cool off while we try to impress each other.
Kathie: Did you miss me?

Jeff: No more than I would my eyes.
Jeff: Very difficult girl.

Jose Rodriguez: Is there one who is *not* so, Señor?
Jeff: I didn't know you were so little.

Kathie: I'm taller than Napoleon.

Jeff: You're prettier, too.
Meta Carson: You are an idiot.

Jeff: So's he.

Meta Carson: You think so?

Jeff: Why not? He's in love with you.
Kathie: If it gets too lonely, there's a little cantina down the street called Pablo's. It's nice and quiet. The man there plays American music for a dollar. Sip bourbon and shut your eyes... it's like a little place on 56th Street.

Jeff: I'll wear my earrings.

Kathie: I sometimes go there.
Kathie: You don't know Whit. He won't forget.

Jeff: Everybody forgets.

Kathie: Not Whit.

Jeff: So we'll send him a postcard every Christmas.

Kathie: Jeff, I'm glad you're not afraid of him.

Jeff: I've been afraid of half the things I ever did.

Kathie: And this time?

Jeff: I'm only afraid you might not go.

Kathie: Don't be. I'll be there tomorrow.
Jeff: I like surprises. When I was a kid, we were so busted that if we got anything at all for Christmas it was a big surprise.
Kathie: Oh, Jeff. I've missed you. I've wondered about you and prayed you'd understand. Can you understand?

Jeff: You prayed, Kathie?
Jeff: If you'll drop this Junior League patter we may get the conversation down where it belongs.

Meta Carson: You worried about something?

Jeff: I don't know. Should I be?

Meta Carson: Not if you do what you're told.

Jeff: That's why I'm here. I do what I'm told. People trust me. Whit even trusts me twice. Do you?

Meta Carson: Just as far as I have to.
Meta Carson: I was expecting you.

Jeff: Well... I wasn't expecting you.

Meta Carson: Should I take that as a compliment?
Jeff: We got a call to come over and see a big Op.

Ann: A what?

Jeff: An operator. A gambler. He didn't come to see us because he was too high-powered a character. Also because some dame had taken four shots at him with his own 38. Made one of 'em good.
Joe: Newspaper guys. Wise guys! Who do they think they're kidding? So, he shot himself cleaning a cap pistol. So, I shot the ace of spades out of a sleeve during a gin game. A guy can't even get shot in his own apartment by a dame without the whole town starting to buzz like a, like a...

Whit: Like you? Smoke a cigarette, Joe.
Fisher: She must be quite a dame. A wild goose with 40 Gs.
Jeff: [voice-over] Near the Plaza was a little cafe called La Mar Azul, next to a movie house. I sat there in the afternoons and drank beer. I used to sit there half asleep with a beer in the darkness, only the music from the movie next door kept jarring me awake. And then I saw her - coming out of the sun. And I knew why Whit didn't care about that 40 grand.
Jeff: I could go down to the cliff and look at the sea like a good tourist. But, it's no good if there isn't somebody you can turn to and say, "Nice view there." It's the same with the churches, the relics, the moonlight or a Cuba Libre.
Jeff: [voice-over] I went to Pablo's that night. I knew I'd go every night until she showed up and I knew she knew it.
Jeff: [voice-over] She waited until it was late. Then, she walked in out of the moonlight, smiling.
Kathie: You know, you're a curious man.

Jeff: You're going to make every guy you meet a little bit curious.

Kathie: It's not what I mean.
Kathie: You don't ask questions. You don't even ask me what my name is.

Jeff: All right, what's your name?

Kathie: Kathie.

Jeff: I like it.

Kathie: Or where I come from?

Jeff: I'm thinking about where we're going.
Kathie: You know, I'm a much better guide than Jose Rodriguez. Want to try me?
Jeff: I don't like playing games when I'm the fall guy. You might remember that, Whit.
Jeff: You get your five grand back and Stephanos can take over from here.

Whit: You're wrong. I fire people but nobody quits me. You started this an you'll end it.
Jeff: [voice-over] I went alone to LA and I made it easy for him to follow me. He was a good gumshoe. It was the one thing he could really do.
Jeff: You wanna lift, baby?

Kathie: You know, I really hadn't ought.

Jeff: You're a cute little package to be out walking alone at night.

Kathie: You're kinda cute yourself.
Fisher: Your picture don't do you justice, baby.

Kathie: Why don't you break his head, Jeff?

Fisher: Cute.
Jeff: I can give you a tip. You tell Whit where we are, he might slip you a sawbuck.
Fisher: Just pay me off and I'm quiet. But use cash. Don't try to pay me off with a pitch handed to you by this cheap piece of baggage!
Jeff: Well, I told you it wasn't a nice story.

Ann: And I told you once that whatever happened was done.

Jeff: Yeah, but you should have known about it long ago.

Ann: It's all right. I understand. But, it's all past.

Jeff: Maybe it isn't.
Whit: Well, you told me about your business. Mine is a little more precarious and I earn considerably more.

Jeff: So I've heard.

Whit: So has the government.

Jeff: Well, this may sound ridiculous, but you could pay 'em.

Whit: Oh, that would be against my nature.
Whit: You know San Francisco, don't you?

Jeff: Yeah, I was there once for a party.

Whit: And you got around?

Jeff: Like the monkey and the weasel.
Meta Carson: Would you like a gin and tonic?

Jeff: That'd be nice.

Meta Carson: You may have whiskey if you like.

Jeff: That'd be even nicer.
Jeff: Just remember, I'm coming out of this in one piece, Miss Carson.

Meta Carson: Do you always go around leaving your fingerprints on a girl's shoulder? Not that I mind, particularly. You've got nice strong hands.
Jeff: Keep the martinis dry. I'll be back.
Meta Carson: For a man who appears to be clever, you can certainly act like an idiot.

Jeff: That's one way to be clever! Look like an idiot.

Meta Carson: You look like an underweight ghost.
Jeff: Was there a slip up, baby?
Jeff: I'm the fall guy. There's only one thing missing. The plant. What was it that gives me a motive? I wouldn't kill a guy for a martini.
Kathie: I've never stopped loving you. I was afraid and no good, but, I've never stopped. Even if you'd hated me - did you?

Jeff: Yes.
Jeff: You know, sometimes a bad memory is like what they call an ill wind - it can blow somebody luck.
Jeff: Well, we meet in in all kinds of places.
Kathie: You can't make deals with a dead man, Joe.
Kathie: I never told you I was anything but what I am. You just wanted to imagine I was. That's why I left you.
Kathie: We're starting all over. I want to go back to Mexico. I want to walk out of the sun again and find you waiting. I want to sit in the same moonlight and tell you all things I never told you - until you don't hate me, until sometime you love again.
Kathie: If you'e thinking of anyone else, don't. It wouldn't work. You're no good for anyone but me. You're no good and neither am I. That's why we deserve each other.
Kathie: I'm running the show, don't forget it.

Jeff: I doubt you'll ever let me.
Jeff: Remember La Mar Azul?

Kathie: I remember you were a very clumsy flirt - but I like that.
Kathie: Dirty double-crossing rat!
[last lines]

Ann: Was he going away with her? I have to know. Was he going away with her?
Jeff: [to Kathie, when they first meet, in Mexico] My name is Jeff Markham, and I haven't talked to anybody who hasn't tried to sell me something in ten days. If I don't talk, I think. It's too late in life for me to start thinking.
Kathie: [In Mexico, at a roulette table] Don't you like to gamble?

Jeff: Not against a wheel.
Jim: I was going to kill you.

Jeff: Who isn't?
Jeff: Love me?

Kathie: Poco.

Jeff: What's that?

Kathie: Little.

Jeff: Mucho.
Marney - Diner Owner: Seems like everything people ought to know, they just don't want to hear. I guess that's the big problem with the world.

Out of the Past Quotes

Extended Reading

Out of the Past short comments

Lee 2022-03-25 09:01:14

Dumb nodded slowly, and the next shot is of true love in the distant view getting farther and farther. ——The subtext is: "Let him go completely black, and hope will always exist in the hearts of human beings." This is really the standard ending of a Gu Long novel.
Nils 2022-04-21 09:02:54

What a femme fatale, looks like Gene Tierney, but the ending is a bit sad