The African Queen (1951)
Katharine Hepburn: Rose Sayer
Photos
Quotes
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Charlie Allnut : What are you being so mean for, Miss? A man takes a drop too much once in a while, it's only human nature.
Rose Sayer : Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.
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Charlie Allnut : How'd you like it?
Rose Sayer : Like it?
Charlie Allnut : White water rapids!
Rose Sayer : I never dreamed...
Charlie Allnut : I don't blame you for being scared - not one bit. Nobody with good sense ain't scared of white water...
Rose Sayer : I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!
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Rose : Dear?... Dear?... What is your first name?
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Charlie Allnut : You know why did the chicken cross the road.
Rose Sayer : [missing the joke] I beg your pardon.
Charlie Allnut : Nevermind, miss.
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[last lines]
Charlie Allnutt : You all right, Mrs. Allnut?
Rose Sayer : Wonderful, simply wonderful. And you, Mr. Allnut?
Charlie Allnutt : Pretty good for an old married man.
Rose Sayer : I'm all twisted around, Charlie? Which way is the East Shore?
Charlie Allnutt : The way we're swimming, old girl.
Charlie Allnutt : [singing] There was an old fisherman / Set sail from off Pimlico / To catch the bold picky / And the gay mackerel...
Charlie Allnutt , Rose Sayer : [Rose joins in singing] But when he got off Pimlico / The wind did begin to blow...
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Charlie Allnut : I don't know why the Germans would want this God-forsaken place.
Rose Sayer : God has not forsaken this place, Mr. Allnut, as my brother's presence here bears witness.
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Charlie : All this foolish talk about The Louisa. Goin' down the river...
Rose : What do you mean?
Charlie : I mean we ain't goin' to do nothin' of the sort.
Rose : Of course we are! What an absurd idea!
Charlie : "What an absurd idea! What an absurd idea!" Lady, you got ten absurd ideas for my one!
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Rose Sayer : Mr. Allnut! Mr. Allnut, you may come in out of the rain!
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Rose Sayer : Dear Lord, we've come to the end of our journey. In a little while, we will stand before you. I pray for you to be merciful. Judge us not for our weakness, but for our love, and open the doors of heaven for Charlie and me.
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Rose Sayer : Who do you think you are ordering me about?
Charlie Allnut : I'm the captain, that's what!
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Charlie Allnut : Fine specimen of a man, ain't I?
Rose Sayer : You're the bravest man that ever lived. You just over-do, that's all. What you need is a few hours' sleep. There, now you're all comfortable. Go to sleep, dear. When you wake up we'll be on our way again.
Charlie Allnut : Rosie?
Rose Sayer : Yes, darling.
Charlie Allnut : You want to know the truth, dont you? Even if we had all our strength we'd never get her off this mud. We're finished.
Rose Sayer : I know it.
Charlie Allnut : But Rosie, I'm not one bit sorry I came. What I mean is, it was worth it.
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Rose Sayer : [after travelling through the rapids] Now that I've had a taste of it I don't wonder why you love boating.
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Rose : [as Charlie tries to stop her from revealing their plan] Oh stop it, Charlie, we've been through all that. I'm certainly not going to outlive you and that's all there is to it!
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[Charlie and Rose tread water after the Louisa sank when it struck one of the African Queen's torpedoes]
Charlie Allnutt : Hey, what happened?
Charlie Allnutt : We did it, Charlie! We did it!
Rose Sayer : But how?
[Rose points to the African Queen's name plate as it floats by]
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Captain of Louisa : What were you doing on the lake?
Rose : We were boating.
Captain of Louisa : Last night? In such weather?
Rose : We were not responsible for the weather.
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Rose Sayer : Don't be worried, Mr. Allnut.
Charlie Allnut : Oh, I ain't worried, miss. Gave myself up for dead back when we started.
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Rose : And when it's smooth and flat like that over there...
[she points at the river ahead of them]
Rose : ...does that mean a rock, Mr Allnut?
Charlie Allnut : Rock or hippo, miss. But don't go bumping into no hippo. Makes them awful mad. This boat's only big enough for the two of us.
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Charlie Allnut : Ah, pinch me, Rosie. Here we are going down the river like Antony and Cleopatra on their barge. If it hadn't been for you, this couldn't be. Don't you feel proud of yourself?
Rose : Certainly not. Look at the way you kept the engine going. Look at how you mended the propeller. It wasn't me at all. I don't think there's another man alive who could have done it.
Charlie Allnut : How right you are, Rosie, 'cause no other man alive's got you. I'll never forget the way you looked going over the falls: head up, chin out, hair blowing in the wind. The living picture of the heroine!
Rose : Fancy me, a heroine. Oh Charlie, you've lost your mind.
Charlie Allnut : Lost my heart, too.
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Rose : [after Charlie checks the boat for damage after going down a rather rough set of rapids] Could you see anything, dear?
Charlie Allnut : Yeah. The shaft's twisted like a corkscrew and there's a blade gone off the prop.
Rose : We'll have to mend it, then.
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Rose : I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!
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Captain of Louisa : And where is the African Queen?
Rose : She sank in the storm.
Captain of Louisa : But how did you get onto the lake?
Rose : We came down the Ulanga, the Bora you call it down here.
Captain of Louisa : That's impossible.
Rose : Nevertheless.
Captain of Louisa : But everyone knows it's unnavigable.
Rose : That may be, but we came down it though, didn't we, Charlie? And in the African Queen.
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Rose Sayer : Charlie, let me help you.
Charlie Allnut : How do you mean? What you think you're gonna do?
Rose Sayer : I'm going to go down there too.
Charlie Allnut : Rosie, are you cracked? The currents down there are fierce! I don't want a drownded woman on my hands! What will you be thinking of next?
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Rose Sayer : Oh Charlie, we're having our first quarrel.
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Captain of Louisa : Who are you?
Rose : [drawing herself up to her full height] Miss Rose Sayer.
Captain of Louisa : English?
Rose : Of course!
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Rose Sayer : Fancy me a heroine.
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Charlie Allnut : You know, Rosie, I been thinkin'.
Rose Sayer : Yes, Charlie?
Charlie Allnut : Well, there ain't no use in us both going to do it. Now that I've had time to study it, I can plainly see it's a one-man job.
Rose Sayer : You couldn't be more right, Charlie dear.
Charlie Allnut : Well now, Rosie, I'm glad you agree with me. When the time comes I'll put you off on the east shore. You'll wait there while i attend to the Louisa.
Rose Sayer : Certainly not. You're the the one to be put ashore.
Charlie Allnut : Me?
Rose Sayer : This whole thing was my idea. I'm the logical one to carry it out.
Charlie Allnut : What! Rosie, you're a very sensible woman as a rule. Now we won't have any more talk about along those lines.
Rose Sayer : Now, look here, Charlie Allnut, I can manage this boat every bit as well as you can, and you know it!
Charlie Allnut : Rosie, you're cracked!
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[first lines]
[singing hymn, "God of Grace and God of Glory]
The Brother , Rose Sayer , African Parishioners of the First Methodist Church of Kungdu : Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven
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Rose : What a curious feeling, to have people shooting at you.
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Rose : What brought you to Africa, Mr. Allnut?
Charlie : The Zambezi Bridge, miss. A whole boatload of us Canucks came over to work on it. Don't know yet what they wanted a bridge for, both sides of the river being the same, but why does a chicken cross the road?
Rose : I beg your pardon?
Charlie : Nothing, miss.
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Rose Sayer : What was the matter, Mr. Allnut?
Charlie Allnut : Feed pump. Full of scum and rust. She gets clogged up. Kickin' her starts it to workin' again. I gotta act fast because one of my boys dropped a screwdriver down the safety valve.
Rose Sayer : What would happen if you didn't kick her?
Charlie Allnut : [laughing] Whole boiler'd blow up!
Rose Sayer : But if we're going downstream, Mr. Allnut, why did we need the engine at all?
Charlie Allnut : Boat's gotta go faster than the water. You can't steer. If I was to let the engine die going down the rapids, we'd be goners!
Rose Sayer : Mr. Allnut?
Charlie Allnut : Yes, miss?
Rose Sayer : Why don't you dismantle the safety valve and remove the screwdriver?
Charlie Allnut : You know, I'm gonna do that one of these days. The only reason I ain't done it up to now is I kinda like kickin' her. She's all I've got.
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Rose Sayer : If we were to fill those cylinders with that blasting gelatin, and then fix them so they would stick out over the end of the boat, then run the boat against the side of a ship, they would go off just like a torpedo, wouldn't they?
Charlie Allnut : Yeah, yeah, if there were detonators in the end... .
Rose Sayer : We could -- what do you call it? -- get a good head of steam up, then point the launch toward a ship, then just before she hits we could dive off, couldn't we?
Charlie Allnut : Sure, miss, sure, absolutely. There's only one thing wrong with your idea. There ain't nothing to torpedo.
Rose Sayer : Oh yes there is.
Charlie Allnut : Is what?
Rose Sayer : Something to torpedo.
Charlie Allnut : What's that?
Rose Sayer : The Luise.
Charlie Allnut : [stunned disbelief] The Luise!
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Charlie Allnut : The trouble with you, Miss, is you don't know anything about boats.
Rose Sayer : In other words, you are refusing to help your country in her hour of need, Mr. Allnut?
