Solitary Man Quotes

Ben Kalmen: You got your little jokes, you know, the Spanish thing, interests are the same, and the studying. But, um, are you getting it, you know, where it counts?

Maureen: Oh, Ben. Cheston thinks you care about him.

Ben Kalmen: This has nothing to do with him. He's never gonna know about this. Never.

Maureen: Aren't you a little old for all this?

Ben Kalmen: You're still standing here, aren't you?

Maureen: Yeah, 'cause I'm contemplating throwing this drink in your face. But I'm not going to, because I don't want Cheston to know what you just tried. So you can just walk away. Please.

Ben Kalmen: Nothing personal.

Maureen: Hey. That is it, actually. Since you asked, that's what I get from him. Something personal. Besides getting it done where it counts, which he does. Cheston and I reach each other. He's tender and sweet and smart and funny and a million things that you aren't.

Ben Kalmen: I was once, honey. It doesn't last.

[last lines]

Nancy Kalmen: When was the first time that a doctor sent you for a heart scan? Hospital called you. Called your daughter.

Ben Kalmen: Uh, Dr. Steinberg ordered up that test about six and a half years ago.

Nancy Kalmen: And how long after that did you start cheating?

Ben Kalmen: That day.

Nancy Kalmen: And you never went back to have the test done, did you?

Ben Kalmen: No. Cant use that as an excuse though. It was a factor. But, uh, you know, things were building up.

Nancy Kalmen: Building up?

Ben Kalmen: Yeah. I was becoming invisible.

Nancy Kalmen: [confused] Invisible?

Ben Kalmen: Look, thirty years ago I would walk into a room, that room would change just because I was there. It was, you know, I was a graduate, self-made man, great shape. I had the TV commercials, all that stuff. I remember. I was right next to the camera when you shot them. You know what it was like back then, I was a lion. That's how people looked at me. But then, you know, things started to change. And over the, uh, past ten or twelve years, I'd walk into a room and only old people noticed me, they knew who I am. And to everybody else Im invisible.

Nancy Kalmen: You were never invisible to me.

Ben Kalmen: Well, that doesnt count because you were my wife.

Nancy Kalmen: Oh? Well. You know what, Benny? If you're lucky, that's what happens. You get old.

Ben Kalmen: No, I accept it's biological. I just don't accept that it happened to me. So, when, uh, Steinberg said he thought he saw something on the EKG, I got nervous. And when he called up the heart scan, uh, to see if there was any blockage. I had every intention of walking out of his office and going right there to check on it. But instead? Instead I went into a bar and grill on Lexington Avenue had a couple of pops to calm down and, uh, I picked up the first young girl who said yes and took her back to a suite at the Carlyle.

Nancy Kalmen: And what did that do for you?

Ben Kalmen: The truth...? It did plenty. See, I figured you'd see it on my face, you'd know straight off. But you didnt. You didn't say anything, you know. So, I kept right on going. And then, uh, you know, awhile after that Im up in my shop at white plains looking at the books. And I say to myself, why should I be New York's honest car dealer? Then again, nobody said anything. Nothing for years. But you know, I, I still don't understand why you... you didn't go back and have the test just to make sure. I'm gonna go to a doctor and give him that kind of power? The, the when, the where and the how? There's no, theres no way. You know what its like when we get our age. The best thing a doctor can say is, uh, well, "Oh, the survival rate is high"... or, uh, "it''s a good cancer", or... uh, hey, you know, no problem. "We got it early." I dont wanna hear any of that. And I wasn't gonna go get some of those, uh... those, those beta blockers and all that crap that slow you down and level you out. I was gonna live my life the way I wanted to until the fucking thing in my heart exploded.

Nancy Kalmen: But you cant cheat death, Benny. Nobody can, no matter how many 19-year-olds you talk into your bed.

Ben Kalmen: I know that. I know that now.

Nancy Kalmen: Well... my car's parked over there. And I'd be happy to drive you back to New York City... if you're ready. Take a few minutes and you decide what you really want.

Susan Porter: You're gonna be okay.

Ben Kalmen: You came to see me?

Susan Porter: Yeah.

Ben Kalmen: You're gold, Suse. You're... pure gold.