Last Man Standing (1996)

Bruce Willis: John Smith

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Quotes 

• Capt. Tom Pickett : Things in this town are out of control. Two gangs is just one too many. I'm not an idealist. I know a lot of things that people do are awful low, but that's between them and God. Do you believe in God? I believe in God, son. But what I'm concerned with is keeping a lid on things, and what we got here in Jericho is just way out of hand, and Sheriff Galt here can't do much about it, right? Matter of fact, it might be fair to say that he's part of the problem, right? Now you been going back and forth playing both sides according to Mr. Galt, here, making yourself a lot of money out of all this. Well, it's over, son. I'm coming back here in ten days, and I'm gonna bring about 20 rangers with me. I will tolerate one gang because that is the nature of things. A certain amount of corruption is inevitable. But if I find two gangs here when I get back, then in a couple of hours there will be no gangs here. So it's simple. One gang quits and goes home. You boys work it out. I don't give a damn which one.

  John Smith : Just so long as one side leaves or maybe one side loses.

  Capt. Tom Pickett : That's fine, too, son. Kill as many as you want. Just don't kill no innocent people around here. I wouldn't like that.

• Felina : My fear is my curse. What's yours?

  John Smith : I was born without a conscience.

• Hickey : I heard you got Finn. That was Doyle's best shooter.

  John Smith : I thought you were the best.

  Hickey : Nah, just the best lookin'.

• Hickey : You're scared.

  John Smith : [in bathtub]  The water's gettin' cold.

• Joe Monday : Last I heard you were gonna have a talk with some fellas. Next thing I hear one of them's dead.

  John Smith : The conversation kind of went downhill...

• [last lines] 

  John Smith : And that was it. It ended about the same place where it started, out in the desert on the road to Mexico. I was just as broke as when I arrived, but something would turn up. It always does.

• John Smith : The funny thing about people, one time out of a hundred they turn out better than you expect.

• John Smith : It's not your fault Giorgio's a halfwit Strozzi. You wanna die for a halfwit?

• Finn : I guess you'll just have to kill me.

  John Smith : It'll hurt if I do.

• John Smith : [narrating]  Strozzi said he had brought the girl along to keep up his "morale." That's the first time I had ever heard it called that.

• John Smith : What about Prohibition?

  Joe Monday : We don't pay too much attention to it here.

• Finn : It's not a good idea to be looking at Mr. Doyle's girl that way.

  John Smith : I remember a guy once told me this is a free country.

  Finn : Jacko, this guy thinks it's a free country.

  Jacko the Giant : [puts his fist through the windshield] 

  Finn : Now you're free to go.

  Doyle Gang Member : [slashes his tire] 

  Finn : Sheriff's office is right over there in case you want to complain about anything.

• John Smith : Does your boss have a first name?

  Lucy Kolinski : Only in the bedroom.

• John Smith : [after the final shootout]  I can't say it all went exactly the way I'd planned, but I was right about one thing: they were all better off dead.

• John Smith : I'm surprised you aren't mad at me... I thought you might hold it against me for killing 3 of your guys.

  Doyle : It's the only cure I know for being stupid.

• Jack McCool : Mr. Doyle wants you to come work for us full time.

  John Smith : I'm not sure he can afford it.

  Doyle : Try me.

  John Smith : A thousand dollars.

  Doyle : A week... or a day?

• John Smith : [narrating]  For most of my life I made my own rules. You don't do any favors, you don't ask for any. Watch the percentages. But you can know the rules and still do the wrong thing. The only thing I knew for sure was this: Strozzi, Doyle, and every son of a bitch that worked for them... they were all going to be better off dead.

• Jack McCool : You sitting out in the open might not be such a good idea for a fella that has as many enemies as you got.

  John Smith : I thought everybody liked me. I am such a nice guy.

• Sheriff Ed Galt : [about Doyle]  If he sends Hickey after me, he's coming straight after you.

  John Smith : Yeah, Hickey. I've heard he's a real scary guy.

  [he starts to open the door, Galt shuts it] 

  Sheriff Ed Galt : Let me tell you just how scary. It goes that when Hickey was ten years old, he took a butcher knife and cut his own father's throat ear to ear. So they put him in an orphanage. Fifteen years old, he burned it to the ground!

• [first lines] 

  John Smith : It's a funny thing. No matter how low you sink, there's still a right and wrong. You always end up choosing. You go one way so you can try to live with yourself. You go the other, you'd still be walkin' around, but you're dead and you don't even know it.

• John Smith : You tell Mr. Doyle if he'da hired smarter guys none of this woulda happened.

• John Smith : I always like sinners a lot better than saints. She was real easy to look at, but I'm glad I never saw her again.

• John Smith : [crawling bloodied]  After a while you stop hearing your bones break, your teeth rattle. You just concentrate on holding tight to that little part right at the center. The rest doesn't matter. They're gonna take the rest anyway.

• Lucy Kolinski : You try and keep it down up here, okay? My room is right underneath.

  John Smith : I'll try not to make too much noise when I'm jumpin' up and down on the bed.

• John Smith : [narrating]  It was a slaughter. The ones who came out got shot. The ones who stayed inside got cooked. None of them were gonna make it back home to Chicago.

• John Smith : Somehow I had the feeling the walls were moving in on me. It's funny how it all works out. One little second you feel like you're gonna get away free and clear. But you end up paying the price. No exceptions, everyone pays the price. Even a bum like me.