The Petrified Forest

Gramp Maple:
But let me tell you one thing, Mr. Squier. The woman don't live or ever did live that's worth five thousand dollars!

Alan Squier:
Well, let me tell you something. You're a forgetful old fool. Any woman's worth everything that any man has to give: anguish, ecstasy, faith, jealousy, love, hatred, life or death. Don't you see that's the whole excuse for our existence? It's what makes the whole thing possible and tolerable.

Alan Squier:
The trouble with me, Gabrielle, is I, I belong to a vanishing race. I'm one of the intellectuals.

Gabrielle Maple:
That, that means you've got brains!

Alan Squier:
Hmmm. Yes. Brains without purpose. Noise without sound, shape without substance.

Gabrielle Maple:
Petrified forest is a lot of dead trees in the desert that have turned to stone. Here's a good specimen.

Alan Squier:
So that was once a tree? Hmmm. Petrified forest, eh? Suitable haven for me. Well, perhaps that's what I'm destined to become, an interesting fossil for future study.

Alan Squier:
Let there be killing. All this evening I've had a feeling of destiny closing in.

[Talking about signing his $5,000.00 life insurance policy over to Gabby]

Mrs. Edith Chisholm:
You're in love with her, aren't you?

Alan Squier:
Yes, I suppose I am. And not unreasonably. She has heroic stuff in her. She may be one of the immortal women of France. Another Joan of Arc, George Sand, Madame Curie, or Du Barry. I want to show her that I believe in her, and how else can I do it? Living, I'm worth nothing to her. Dead, I can buy her the tallest cathedrals, golden vineyards, and dancing in the streets. One well-directed bullet will accomplish all that, and it'll earn a measure of reflected glory for him that fired it and him that stopped it. This document will be my ticket to immortality. It'll inspire people to say of me, "There was an artist who died before his time." Will you do it, Duke?

Duke Mantee:
I'll be glad to.

Jackie Cooper:
Now, just behave yourself and nobody'll get hurt. This is Duke Mantee, the world-famous killer, and he's hungry!

Duke Mantee:
Maybe you're right, pal.

Alan Squier:
Oh, I'm eternally right. But what good does it do me?

Alan Squier:
Tell us, Duke, what kind of a life have you had?

Duke Mantee:
What do you think? I spend most of my time since I grew up in jail - it looks like I'll spend the rest of my life dead

Alan Squier:
So tell us Duke, what has your life been like?

Duke Mantee:
You know the story.

Duke Mantee:
Since I've been a grown up, I've spent most of my life in prison... I'll probably spend the rest of it dead.

Duke Mantee:
You can talk sitting down; I seen ya' doing it.

Duke Mantee:
Here is to happy days.

Gramp Maple:
Say Duke... Did you mean to hit him in the hand, or was that just a bad shot?

Duke Mantee:
It was a bad shot Pop. I had to get off fast. Now I let that mug make a mug out of me, but don't let anybody try it again. Just keep in mind that I and the boys is candidates for hangin'. And the first time any one of ya makes a wrong move, I'm gonna kill the whole lot of ya!

Mrs. Edith Chisholm:
I was married to this pillar of the mortage loan and trust... he took my soul and stenciled on a card and filed. And that's where I've been ever since, in an odd metal cabinet.