Bird (1988)

Samuel E. Wright: Dizzy

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Quotes 

• Dizzy Gillespie : Here we are. Brothers. I'm a reformer, you trying to be a martyr. They always remember the martyrs longer. They gonna talk about you when you're dead, Bird. More than they do now. They gonna shovel you under like they love to do. They gonna talk about you. My secret. My secret is, if they kill me - it won't be because I helped them.

• Dizzy Gillespie : No, no... what you're really asking me is, how come when I'm supposed to hit at 9:30, I hit at 9:30... huh? How come I land on a cat I love almost as much as I love you and then fire his ass for showing up late or stoned... I can hold a group together... why I'm a leader.

  Charlie 'Bird' Parker : That's what I'm asking.

  Dizzy Gillespie : Because they don't expect me to be. Because deep down they like it if the nigger turns out to be unreliable. Because that's the way they think it's supposed to be. Because I won't give them the satisfaction of being right.

• Dizzy Gillespie : You got a woman in there?

  Red Rodney : Yeah, I got a woman in there. I married her so she'd stay in there with me.

• Dizzy Gillespie : Got a gig. I gotta go.

  Red Rodney : Yard, whenever you get to where you're going, call me. All right?

• Dizzy Gillespie : "Bebop tends to pervert young minds."

  Charlie 'Bird' Parker : Who said that?

  Dizzy Gillespie : Somebody with enough juice to get 12 radio stations to turn us off. So we going home tomorrow.

• Charlie 'Bird' Parker : Just tell me the secret.

  Dizzy Gillespie : What secret? I know my own secrets, just like you know yours. What you're really asking me is how come when I'm supposed to hit at 9: 30, I hit at 9:30? How can I land on a cat I love as much as I love you and then fire his ass for showing up late or stoned? Why I can hold a group together? Why I'm a leader?

  Charlie 'Bird' Parker : Yeah. That's what I'm asking.

  Dizzy Gillespie : Because they don't expect me to be. Because, deep down, they like it if the nigger turns out unreliable. Because that's the way they think it's supposed to be. And because I won't give them the satisfaction of being right.