Bad Day at Black Rock quotes

View Quote Macreedy: Wouldn't it have been easier to wait until I turned my back? Or are there too many witnesses present?
Smith: You're still in trouble.
Macreedy: You're in trouble. Whatever happens, you're sunk.
Smith: You got things a big twisted.
Macreedy: You killed Komoko, Smith, and sooner or later you're gonna go up for it. Not because you killed him, because I think in a town like this, you can get away with it. But because you didn't have guts enough to do it alone. You put your trust in guys like this - and Hector here - not the most dependable of God's creatures. And one of these days, they're gonna catch on that you're playin' 'em for a sap. And then what are ya gonna do? Peel 'em off, one by one? And in the meantime, one of 'em's gonna crack and when they do, you're gonna go down - but hard. 'Cause they got somethin' on ya, Smith. Something to use when the goin' gets tough. And it's gettin' tougher every minute.

View Quote Pete: My memories are so pleasant as it is...
Macreedy: It's gonna take an awful lot of whiskey to wash out your guts. Go on, go on! Swill it! What is there left for you to do? You're as dead as Komoko and you don't know it....
Pete: You don't have to remind me. I've never forgotten.
Macreedy: Oh, isn't that noble of you. You haven't forgotten. And you're ashamed. That's really noble of you. I suppose four years from now, you'll be sittin' around here tellin' people you haven't forgotten me either. That's real progress. In the meantime, I'll be as dead as a - WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED? [To Doc] What happened?
Doc: Why did you come here, Mr. Macreedy?
Macreedy: Did Komoko have any other family besides his son Joe?
Doc: Son? Nobody around here ever knew he had a son.
Macreedy: Yes, he had a son. He's dead too. He's buried in Italy...Why, this Komoko boy died trying to save my life. They gave him a medal. I came here to give it to his old man. I figured the least I could do was give him one day out of my life.

View Quote Pete: You're in such a hurry, you should've never got off here.
Macreedy: I'm inclined to agree with you.

View Quote Sheriff: Let Smith find himself a new boy. I can't take it another day. Four years ago, if I'd of done my job, if I'd of checked up and found out what happened. But I didn't! It was just like Smith figured...I didn't even try to find out. Don't you understand? You know, when you wear this badge, you're the Law. And when somebody does something against the Law, then you're supposed to do something about it. Me - I did nothin'. That's what's eatin' me. What kind of prescription you got for that?
Doc: I don't know. I haven't found one for myself. But there's one thing, Tim, don't quit.
Sheriff: Why not?
Doc: Because maybe this feller Macreedy's got the prescription.

View Quote Smith: [after Liz provided directions to Macreedy, who gave her $10] You shouldn't have done that.
Liz: I thought it would be better if he went out there and got done with it. What can he find out? I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, Reno, you know that.
Smith: This is liable to be the hardest ten dollars you ever earned in your life.

View Quote Smith: I want to apologize for some of the people in town.
Macreedy: They act like they're sittin' on a keg.
Smith: A keg...? Of what?
Macreedy: I don't know. Diamonds? Gunpowder?
Smith: Oh, it's nothing like that. We're suspicious of strangers is all. Hangover from the old days. The Old West.
Macreedy: I thought the tradition of the Old West was hospitality.
Smith: I'm trying to be hospitable, Mr. Macreedy. You going to be around long?
Macreedy: Could be.

View Quote Smith: Just a few more steps, honey.
Liz: Get him. Get him now.
Smith: First things first, honey.
Liz: Help me up, Smitty.
Smith: You were gonna help me, Liz. I still need your help.
Liz: I did everything you said.
Smith: You two started out in a car and that's the way you're gonna end up. Over a cliff - burning. You can blame Macreedy for that. He said I had too many witnesses.
Liz: But why me? Why start with me?
Smith: I gotta start with somebody.

View Quote Smith: Why would a man like you be looking for a lousy Jap farmer?...I believe a man is as big as what'll make him mad. Nobody around here seems big enough to get you mad.
Macreedy: What makes you mad, Mr. Smith?...The Japanese make you mad, don't they?
Smith: Well, that's different. After that sneak attack on Pearl Harbor - Bataan
Macreedy: Komoko made you mad.
Smith: It's the same thing. Loyal Japanese-Americans, that's a laugh. They're all mad dogs. What about Corregidor, the death march?
Macreedy: What did Komoko have to do with Corregidor?
Smith: He was a Jap, wasn't he? Look, Mr. Macreedy, there's a law in this county about shootin' dogs. But when I see a mad dog, I don't wait for him to bite me. I swear, you're beginning to make me mad.
Macreedy: All strangers do.
Smith: No they don't. Not all of 'em. Some do when they come around snooping.
Macreedy: Snooping for what?
Smith: I don't know. Outsiders coming in looking for something.
Macreedy: Looking for what?
Smith: I don't know. Somebody's always looking for something in this part of the West. To the historians, it's the "Old West." To the book writers, it's the "Wild West." To the businessman, it's the "Undeveloped West." They say we're all poor and backward and I guess we are. We don't even have enough water. But to us, this place is our West. And I wish they'd leave us alone.
Macreedy: Leave you alone to do what?
Smith: I don't know what you mean.
Macreedy: What happened to Komoko?
Smith: He went away, I told you. Shortly after he left, some kids went out there. They got foolin' around and burned his place down. That's how it was. You know how kids are. I don't believe you. There's somethin' buried up there....[He pulls the wildflowers from his pocket] That means a grave. I suppose you knew that. I saw a lot of it, you know, overseas. I figured it wasn't a human grave because it wasn't marked. Kind of a mystery, isn't it?

View Quote Smith: You don't know anything about Komoko, now do you, Tim?
Sheriff: I do not. That's the point.
Smith: The point is, what you don't know won't hurt you.
Sheriff: Maybe there's something that I ought to know. Maybe there's something that I ought to ask you before the stranger comes back here and starts breathing down my neck.
Smith: Tim! You're just a lost ball in the high weeds. I told you a long time ago, nothing happened for you to worry about.
Sheriff: Thing is, I do worry. Maybe I ain't much else, but I'm sure a worrier. And I'm still the law.
Smith: Then do your job, Tim.
Sheriff: What is my job, Mr. Smith? Maybe I'd better find out before Macreedy does it for me.
Smith: Macreedy'll do nothing - and neither will you, Tim.
Sheriff: Suppose I decide to try?
Smith: That might be dangerous. Tim, you got the body of a hippo but the brain of a rabbit. Now don't overtax it.
Sheriff: [He lowers his eyes and looks away] Yes, Mr. Smith.

View Quote [to Macreedy] These rooms here is for us cowboys...when I'm in town. And I'm in town, as any fool can see.

View Quote [to Macreedy] Well, you got at least till dark. They'd be afraid to see each other's faces.

View Quote [to Macreedy] You might be a potential customer...Everybody is - I get 'em comin' and goin'.

View Quote First, I sell 'em a piece of land. Do you think they farm it? They do not. They dig for gold. They rip off the topsoil of ten winding hills, then sprint in here all fog-heaved with excitement, lugging nuggets - big, bright, and shiny. Is it gold? It is not. Do they quit? They do not. Then they decide to farm, farm in a country so dry that you have to prime a man before he can spit. Before you can say 'Fat Sam,' they're stalled, stranded, and starving. They become weevil-brained and buttsprung. So - I bury 'em. But why bore you with my triumphs?

View Quote Four years ago, something terrible happened here. We did nothing about it. Nothing! The whole town fell into a sort of settled melancholy, and all the people in it closed their eyes, and held their tongues, and failed the test with a whimper. And now something terrible's going to happen again. And, in a way, we're lucky because we've been given a second chance.

View Quote I wanna know everything he does, Pete. Phone calls, mail...In the meantime, I'll crowd him a little, see if he's got any iron in his blood.