The Front Page (1974)

Vincent Gardenia: Sheriff

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dr. Max J. Eggelhofer : Tell me, Mr. Williams, were you unhappy as a child?

  Earl Williams : Not really. I had a perfectly normal childhood.

  Dr. Max J. Eggelhofer : I see. You wanted to kill your father and sleep with you mother.

  Earl Williams : [to Sheriff Hartman]  If he's gonna talk dirty ...

  Dr. Max J. Eggelhofer : When you were in grammar school, did you practice self-abuse?

  Earl Williams : No, sir. I don't believe in it. I would never abuse myself or anybody else. I love people. I love all people.

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : I suppose that cop committed suicide!

  Dr. Max J. Eggelhofer : Let us get back to masturbation. Did your father ever catch you in the act?

  Earl Williams : Oh, my father was - was never home. He was a conductor on the Chicago-Northwestern.

  Dr. Max J. Eggelhofer : Very significant. Your father wore a uniform, just like that policeman. And when he pulled out that gun, an obvious phallic symbol, you thought he was your father, and he was going to use it to hurt your mother.

  Earl Williams : [to Sheriff Hartman]  He's crazy.

• 'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : [holding up his phone]  He's waiting for instructions. What are we gonna do?

  The Mayor : Tell him to shoot to kill.

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : What?

  The Mayor : Shoot to kill, I said.

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : I - I don't know, Herbie. What about that reprieve? I-if it ever comes out ...

  The Mayor : Nobody reprieved that policeman he shot. There was no clemency, either. Do what I tell you!

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : [on phone]  Jacobi, you there? Listen. Shoot to kill! You heard me!

• 'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : The bolsheviks are everywhere! They're taking over. They're coming out of the sewers like rats! They're climbing up the flagpole and gnawing away at our stars and stripes!

• 'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : [walks into the press room to see the reporters drinking liquor]  Ah, what's the idea, fellas? You know better than that. This is a government building!

  Kruger : Uh, hi, sheriff.

  Endicott : What'll ya have?

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : I got a good mind to have you all locked up!

  Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson : The state's attorney wouldn't like it, because I bought that stuff from his brother.

• 'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : [the sheriff is passing out tickets to the execution]  Daily News. Examiner.

  Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson : Here you are, Rudy. The new man.

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : Oh, what happened? They finally fire you?

  Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson : I'm retiring to my country estate outside Philadelphia.

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : Well, in that case, I will have a drink!

  Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson : No, you won't. Not my liquor!

  Rudy Keppler of the Chicago Examiner : What should I do with the second ticket?

  Hildebrand 'Hildy' Johnson : Sell it to a scalper, like the sheriff does.

• The Mayor : Pete, get the Governor on the phone.

  Plunkett : Oh, you can't.

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : What do you mean, we can't?

  Plunkett : He's gone fishing. Just him, and an Indian guide, and a canoe. No phone, no nothin'.

  The Mayor : He sure picked a hell of a time to go fishing.

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : [phone rings]  Excuse me.

  [exits] 

  Plunkett : Uh, just between us, it's not really fishing, because that Indian guide is really a girl. She' isn't even Indian. She's from New Jersey.

• 'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : Sorry to break in, Sheriff, but we've located Williams. This time, for real.

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : Where?

  Officer Jacobi : On North Wabash, at the offices of the Friends of American Liberty. One of our patrols spotted him in the alley.

  'Honest Pete' Hartman Sheriff of Clark County : All right. Get every available man. Seal off the whole area. But remember, God damn it, I want him taken alive!

  Officer Jacobi : Check.