Ace in the Hole (1951)

Kirk Douglas: Chuck Tatum

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Charles Tatum : Bad news sells best. Cause good news is no news.

• Charles Tatum : I've done a lot of lying in my time. I've lied to men who wear belts. I've lied to men who wear suspenders. But I'd never be so stupid as to lie to a man who wears both belt and suspenders.

• [last lines] 

  Charles Tatum : How'd you like to make yourself a thousand dollars a day, Mr. Boot? I'm a thousand-dollar-a-day newspaperman. You can have me for nothing.

• Reporter : We're all in the same boat.

  Charles Tatum : I'm in the boat. You're in the water. Now let's see how you can swim.

• Herbie Cook : The old man sure looked bad. Did you see his face?

  Charles Tatum : Yeah.

  Herbie Cook : Like the faces of those folks you see outside a coal mine with maybe 84 men trapped inside.

  Charles Tatum : One man's better than 84. Didn't they teach you that?

  Herbie Cook : Teach me what?

  Charles Tatum : Human interest. You pick up the paper, you read about 84 men or 284, or a million men, like in a Chinese famine. You read it, but it doesn't say with you. One man's different, you want to know all about him. That's human interest.

• Charles Tatum : It's a good story today. Tomorrow, they'll wrap a fish in it.

• Charles Tatum : When they bleached your hair, they must have bleached your brain too.

• Jacob Q. Boot : Do you drink a lot?

  Charles Tatum : Not a lot - just frequently.

• Charles Tatum : Leo Minosa is dead. He died a quarter of an hour ago with the drill just ten feet away. There is nothing we can do anymore. There is nothing anybody can do anymore.

  [long pause] 

  Charles Tatum : No go home, all of you.

  [referring to the entire set up infront of the mountain metaphorically which also includes the display of the media and consumerism in general] 

  Charles Tatum : The circus is over!

• Charles Tatum : Mr. Boot, I was passing through Albuquerque; had breakfast here. I read your paper and thought you might be interested in my reaction.

  Jacob Q. Boot : Indeed I am.

  Charles Tatum : Well, to be honest, it made me throw up. I don't mean to tell you I was expecting the New York Times, but even for Albuquerque, this is pretty Albuquerque.

  Jacob Q. Boot : Alright, here's your nickel back.

• Charles Tatum : You know what's wrong with New Mexico, Mr. Wendel? Too much outdoors.

• Charles Tatum : I can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog.

• Charles Tatum : When the history of this sun-baked Siberia is written, these shameful words will live in infamy: No chopped chicken liver! No garlic pickles. No Lindys. No Madison Square Garden... no Yogi Berra! Whattya know about Yogi Berra, Miss Deverich?

  Miss Deverich : I beg your pardon?

  Charles Tatum : Yogi Berra!

  Miss Deverich : Yogi? Why, it's a sort of religion, isn't it?

  Charles Tatum : You bet it is! A belief in the New York Yankees!

• Charles Tatum : Where's my desk?

  Jacob Q. Boot : The one by the door. You may be out of here by Saturday.

  Charles Tatum : Sooner the better.

• Sheriff : You're that Tatum guy that was popping off over the phone last night!

  Charles Tatum : I wasn't popping off, Sheriff; I was threatening. "Play along with me and you'll get re-elected. Don't, and I'll crucify you," that's what I said, remember?

  Sheriff : I think I'll have my boys take you down to the county line and throw you out!

  Charles Tatum : Throw out your campaign manager? You need plenty of help.

  Sheriff : And maybe before I throw you out, I'll toss you into the clink for awhile!

• Charles Tatum : I don't belong in your office. Not with that embroidered sign on the wall; it gets in my way.

  Jacob Q. Boot : Then it does bother you a little.

  Charles Tatum : Not enough to stop me. I'm on my way back to the top, and if it takes a deal with a crooked sheriff, that's alright with me! And if I have to fancy it up with an Indian curse and a broken hearted wife for Leo, then that's alright too!

• Herbie Cook : [Looking at the unstable cliff-dwelling]  I don't like the looks of it, Chuck.

  Charles Tatum : Neither do I, fan, but I like the odds.

• Deputy Sheriff : Hey you! Sheriff wants to see you, down at the trading post. Don't waste any of his time 'cause he ain't staying around long. Maybe you ain't either.

  Charles Tatum : You don't say?

  Deputy Sheriff : You wanna know something? He don't like you.

  Charles Tatum : And I was going to propose to him.

• Charles Tatum : I don't make things happen, all I do is write about 'em.

• Charles Tatum : There's three of us buried here: Leo, me, and you. We all went to get out and we're going to, only I'm going back in style.

• [first lines] 

  Charles Tatum : Hey. Pull up at the corner.