Death Takes a Holiday (1971 TV Movie)

Melvyn Douglas: Judge Earl Chapman

Quotes 

• David Smith : [Judge Chapman has realized who David really is]  You know, don't you?

  Judge Earl Chapman : I know I'd seen you before... but I couldn't quite remember. Each time... each time I had a stroke, it was you waiting. Every time I thought the pain was so bad that it was all over, you were there, weren't you? Standing off a way.

  [he chuckles] 

  Judge Earl Chapman : Waiting... but you were always so dim, so... so vague.

• Judge Earl Chapman : Giving up is not something I do easily.

• Judge Earl Chapman : [to his wife]  Your daughter may walk out of here on Death's arm and you just sit there saying "Let's wish her well!"

• Selena Chapman : For you, Death has been the enemy, the destroyer, the arch-villain.

  Judge Earl Chapman : He's your friend, I suppose? After all that you've... that this family has suffered?

  Selena Chapman : No... he's not my friend. But if I couldn't accept his existence by now, my mind would have been in pieces years ago. No, to me he's just a fact like night or clouds or quiet. How could there be anything so terrifying about anything so common, so inevitable? I don't mean that we should just lie back and accept death like another rainy day, but when it comes to that last moment, who's to say that it's a tragedy... except for those of us who may survive? But no one can speak for those who have left us.

• Judge Earl Chapman : Peggy's hardly even been here yet! In the day of her life, this is only mid-morning!

• Judge Earl Chapman : [He has realized]  3:45 on Friday... when all death stopped everywhere! When Peggy-...

  David Smith : Drowned. When Peggy accidentally drowned.

  Judge Earl Chapman : [grabs hold of David's arm]  No! Not Peggy! Please!

  David Smith : It's done. It happened. 3:45 Friday her body washed up on the beach.

  Judge Earl Chapman : But you let her live!

  David Smith : I extended her time a little.

  Judge Earl Chapman : [pause, then]  How long?

  David Smith : Tomorrow. When the weekend is over, I'll take her with me.

• Judge Earl Chapman : What happens in some other life doesn't interest me... why we were put here in the first place doesn't interest me. We're here and every second of it has meaning, and to throw away even one little second is wrong.

• Judge Earl Chapman : Was falling in love with my daughter part of your study?

  David Smith : [long pause, then]  No... that wasn't planned.

• David Smith : [Judge Chapman has realized who David really is]  You know, don't you?

  Judge Earl Chapman : I knew I'd seen you before... but I couldn't quite remember. Each time... each time I had a stroke, it was you waiting. Every time I thought the pain was so bad that it was all over, you were there, weren't you? Standing off a way.

  [he chuckles] 

  Judge Earl Chapman : Waiting... but you were always so dim, so... so vague.