The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Tim Holt: Curtin

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Quotes 

• Curtin : You know, the worst ain't so bad when it finally happens. Not half as bad as you figure it'll be before it's happened.

• Dobbs : You're sure he was trailin' you are ya?

  Curtin : Absolutely.

  Dobbs : How come?

  Curtin : Cuz there he is.

• Howard : We've wounded this mountain. It's our duty to close her wounds. It's the least we can do to show our gratitude for all the wealth she's given us. If you guys don't want to help me, I'll do it alone.

  Curtin : You talk about that mountain like it was a real woman.

  Dobbs : She's been a lot better to me than any woman I ever knew. Keep your shirt on, old-timer. Sure, I'll help ya.

• Curtin : Remember what you said back in Tampico about having to carry that old man on our backs?

  Dobbs : That was when I took him for an ordinary human being, not part goat.

• [last lines] 

  Howard : Well, goodbye Curtin.

  Curtin : Goodbye, Howard.

  Howard : Good luck.

  Curtin : Same to you.

• Dobbs : You know what I'm thinkin'. I'm thinkin' we ought to give up. Leave the whole outfit - everything behind and go back to civilization.

  Howard : What's that you say? Go back? Ha, ha. Well, tell my old grandmother! I've got two very elegant bedfellows who kick at the first drop of rain and hide in the closet when thunder rumbles. My, my, my, what great prospectors, two shoe clerks readin' a magazine about prospectin' for gold in the land of the midnight sun, south of the border, or west of the Rockies, ha, ha, ha...

  Dobbs : [picking up a rock]  Shut your trap! Shut up or I'll smash your head flat.

  Howard : Go ahead, go ahead, throw it. If you did, you'd never leave this wilderness alive. Without me, you two would die here more miserable than rats.

  Curtin : [to Dobbs]  Aw, leave him alone. Can't you see the old man's nuts?

  Howard : Let me tell you something, my two fine bedfellows, you're so dumb, there's nothin' to compare ya with, you're dumber than the dumbest jackass. Look at each other, will ya? Did you ever see anything like yourself for bein' dumb specimens. You're so dumb, you don't even see the riches you're treadin' on with your own feet. Yeah, don't expect to find nuggets of molten gold. It's rich but not that rich. And here ain't the place to dig. It comes from someplace further up. Up there, up there's where we've got to go. UP THERE!

• Curtin : Wouldn't it be better, the way things are, to separate tomorrow, or even tonight?

  Dobbs : That would suit you fine, wouldn't it?

  Curtin : Why me more than you?

  Dobbs : So you could fall on me from behind, sneak up and shoot me in the back.

  Curtin : All right, I'll go first.

  Dobbs : And wait for me on the trail to ambush me?

• Dobbs : What a town. Tampico.

  Curtin : You said it, brother. If I could just get me a job that would bring in enough to buy passage, I'd shake its dust off my feet soon enough, you bet.

• Dobbs : You know, if I was a native, I'd get me a can of shoe polish and I'd be in business. They'd never let a gringo. You can sit on a bench 'til you're three-quarters starved... you can beg from another gringo... you can even commit burglary. You try shinin' shoes in the street, peddlin' lemonade out of a bucket, and your hash is settled. You'll never get another job from an American.

  Curtin : Yeah, and the natives would hound and pester you to death.

  Dobbs : Some town to be broke in.

  Curtin : What town isn't?