Grand Canyon (1991)

Steve Martin: Davis

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Quotes 

• Davis : That's part of your problem: you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies.

• Davis : The point is there's a gulf in this country; an ever-widening abyss between the people who have stuff, and the people who don't have shit. It's like this big hole in the ground, as big as the fucking Grand Canyon, and what's come pouring out is an eruption of rage, and the rage creates violence, and the violence is real, Mack. Nothing's gonna make it go away, until someone changes something, which is not going to happen. And you may not like it, even I may not like it, but I can't pretend it isn't there because that it is a lie, and when art lies, it becomes worthless. So I gotta keep telling the truth, even if it scares the shit out of me, like it scares the shit out of you. Even if it means some motherfucker can blow a big hole in my leg for a watch, and I'm gonna walk with a fucking limp for the rest of my life and call myself lucky.

• Davis : Mack, you ever seen a movie called "Sullivan's Travels"?

  Mack : No.

  Davis : That's part of your problem, you know, you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies. It's a story about a man who loses his way. He's a filmmaker, like me, and he forgets for a moment just what he was set on earth to do. Fortunately he finds his way back. That can happen, Mack. Check it out.

• Davis : While we got a moment here, maybe you can explain something to me I never understood. What is the theory on this handkerchief thing? I mean, after you blow your nose in it, you put it back in your pocket and then you see someone in distress and you like give them this gift from your pocket and they are suppose to be grateful as they wipe it all over their face.

• [first lines] 

  Davis : You know what your problem is? You're always talking about X. But you're thinking about Y. You gotta learn to talk about Y. Forget about X. X is gonna take care of itself.

  Mack : What are you talking about?

  Davis : I'm just asking you to hear yourself. Listen to what you're really saying and under what you really saying: control, control, control. When are you gonna realise nothing can be controlled? We live in chaos. It's the central issue in everyone's life. Mack, look around you. Everyone in this parking lot is struggling for control. And you know what it is they're trying to control, each and every one of 'em? Fear. They're trying to control their fear.

• Davis : You think anyone can do what I do? You think anyone can make the crap I make?

• Davis : There's so much rage going around we're damn lucky we have the movies to help us vent it.

• Davis : We're talking about a religious experience here. I might say "doth" or "thou" or a lot of things.

• Davis : At the end of this long, torturous night, my head pounding in syncopation to my throbbing wound, there came a glorious, delicate dawn. And I knew... I knew I can't make those movies any more. I can't make another piece of art that glorifies violence and bloodshed and brutality. I can't contribute another stone to this landslide of dehumanising rage that has swept across this country like a pestilence.

• Davis : MY GOD, am I the only one around here who cares about the "writing"?

• Davis : This is life, pal. That's what I'm trying to get that through your thick, sanctimonious skull. There's always been violence. There will always be violence. Violence and evil and men with big guns. My movies reflect what's going on. They don't make what's going on. And if I happen to make 'em better than anyone, then I've got a bigger responsibility than anyone to serve it up.

• Davis : Where's the "money shot"?

• Morning Nurse : Well, look who's up and at 'em. Somebody leave your curtains open last night?

  Davis : I asked them to. I wanted to see this.

  Morning Nurse : City of the angels.

  Davis : I have seen the light.

  Morning Nurse : Mazel tov.

• Davis : I don't give a shit about money. I made more money this year than my father made in his entire life. At the rate I'm going, I'm not gonna run out of money for - well, 18 months, anyway.

• Davis : To try and understand just what exactly had been delivered unto me at the cost of flesh and bone and precious blood. What message was being delivered to me in a .38-calibre envelope for me to open and read and understand. And this problem, this difficulty, I was having in understanding, it grew on me like a fever. It buzzed around my brain till I could no longer sleep or eat or think about anything else. It was as painful and real as the physical wound I could see in my thigh.

• Davis : I'm done, kaput, fini. No more exploding bodies, exploding buildings, exploding anything. No more shit.