King Kong (1933)

Robert Armstrong: Carl Denham

Photos 

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Police Lieutenant : Well, Denham, the airplanes got him.

  Carl Denham : Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.

• [Captain translates Native Chief's comments on Ann Darrow] 

  Captain Englehorn : He says, "Look at the golden woman."

  Carl Denham : Yeah, blondes are scarce around here.

• Carl Denham : Don't be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen. Those chains are made of chrome steel.

• Carl Denham : [warning Jack about women]  Some big, hardboiled egg gets a look at a pretty face and bang, he cracks up and goes sappy!

• [Kong has been knocked out by gas bombs] 

  Carl Denham : Why, the whole world will pay to see this.

  Captain Englehorn : No chains will ever hold that.

  Carl Denham : We'll give him more than chains. He's always been king of his world, but we'll teach him fear. We're millionaires, boys. I'll share it with all of you. Why, in a few months, it'll be up in lights on Broadway: Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.

• Ann Darrow : Do you always take the pictures yourself?

  Carl Denham : Ever since a trip I made to Africa. I'd have got a swell picture of a charging rhino, but the cameraman got scared. The darn fool, I was right there with a rifle! Seems he didn't trust me to get the rhino before it got him. I haven't fooled with a cameraman since; I do it myself.

• Carl Denham : It's money and adventure and fame. It's the thrill of a lifetime and a long sea voyage that starts at six o'clock tomorrow morning.

• Carl Denham : Listen, there are dozens of girls in this town tonight that are in more danger than they'll ever see with me.

  Jack Driscoll : Yeah, but they know that kind of danger.

• Carl Denham : And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I tell you any more, I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive - a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.

• Charles Weston : You never had a woman in any of your other pictures. Why do you want one in this?

  Carl Denham : Holy mackerel, do you think I want to haul a woman around?

  Charles Weston : Then why?

  Carl Denham : Because the public, bless 'em, must have a pretty face.

• Carl Denham : I'm gonna go out and find a girl for my picture - even if I hafta' *marry* one.

• Carl Denham : [protesting the agent's lack of confidence in the safety of Denham's voyage]  You act as if I've never brought anybody back alive! Look at the Captain and first mate - - they've gone on several of my last missions, and they don't look any the worse for wear.

  Jack Driscoll : [sarcastically, in wary half-hearted agreement with Denham's assertions]  Yeah - - we're healthy!

• Carl Denham : Wait a minute, what about Kong?

  Jack Driscoll : Well, what about him?

  Carl Denham : We can here to get a moving picture, and we've found something worth more than all the movies in the world!

  Captain Englehorn : [incredulous]  What?

  Carl Denham : We've got those gas bombs. If we can capture him alive...

  Jack Driscoll : Why, you're crazy. Besides that, he's on a cliff where a whole army couldn't get at him.

  Carl Denham : Yeah, if he stays there...

  [looks at Ann] 

  Carl Denham : but we've got something he wants.

  Jack Driscoll : [holds Ann]  Yeah. Something he won't get again.

• Carl Denham : Throw your arms across your eyes and scream, Ann. Scream for your life!

• Carl Denham : [observing the natives dancing]  Holy mackerel! What a show!

• Carl Denham : Listen - I'm going out and make the greatest picture in the world. Something that nobody's ever seen or heard of. They'll have to think up a lot of new adjectives when I come back.

• Carl Denham : [Kong frantically shakes his chains]  Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute; he thinks you're attacking the girl...

  Reporter : Aw, let him roar, it's a swell picture...

• Carl Denham : Hey, wouldja' look at that...

  Captain Englehorn : Natives running through the village.

  Carl Denham : Yeah... looks like the night before election.

• Carl Denham : [just before he instructs Ann on how to act in front of the camera]  I see you've put on the "Beauty and the Beast" costume!

  Ann Darrow : Uh, huh... it's the prettiest!

• Jack Driscoll : What do you call that thing?

  Carl Denham : Something from the dinosaur family.

  Jack Driscoll : Dinosaur, eh?

  Carl Denham : Yes, Jack; a prehistoric beast.

• Captain Englehorn : And you expect to photograph it?

  Carl Denham : If it's there, you bet I'll photograph it!

  Jack Driscoll : Suppose it doesn't like having its picture taken?

  Carl Denham : Well, now you know why I brought along those cases of gas bombs

• Carl Denham : Whaddaya think of that wall, Skipper?

  Captain Englehorn : Colossal; might almost be Egyptian.

  Carl Denham : Yeah, but what's on the other side of that wall; that's what I wanna find out.

• Carl Denham : [seeing the island for the first time]  Well, Skipper, there she is... Skull Mountain, the wall... everything just like on my funny little map.

• Carl Denham : [talking to Jack across the ravine]  Why, you wouldn't follow that beast alone?

  Jack Driscoll : Someone's got to stay on his trail while it's hot!

• Carl Denham : [after discovering a huge footprint of Kong]  Keep those guns cocked.

  Crew member : He's tellin' us.

  Crew member : I'd hate to have that thing wrapped around me.

• Carl Denham : [chasing after sailor]  Hey, come back with those bombs, you s...

• Carl Denham : [the witch doctor has complained to the Chief]  What's that?

  Captain Englehorn : Must be the Witch Doctor. He says the ceremony is spoiled because we've seen it.

  Carl Denham : Well, calm the old boy down! What's the word for friend?

  Captain Englehorn : Bala.

  Captain Englehorn : [moving toward the Chief, arms out and palms up]  Bala; bala.

  Skull Island nation leader : Punya!

• Carl Denham : Oh, don't worry; we've knocked some of the fight out of him since the last time you saw him.