Author: Dell Deaton

Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.

Said after his own retirement from film, in his later years. Perhaps reflecting an appreciation that he, himself, must now be counted among those who envied the iconic “Cary Grant persona” of His Girl Friday. And that this was a character that he, then, could no longer portray?

Ironically, by virtue of having made this observation, himself, I think he evidences an ongoing command of that very thing he claims to have lost.

Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart):

If you kill me, how are you gonna get the bird? And if I know you can’t afford to kill me, how are you gonna scare me into giving it to you?

Kasper Gutman, “the Fat Man” (Sydney Greenstreet):

Well, sir, there are other means of persuasion besides killing and threatening to kill,

Sam Spade:

Yes, … that’s true. But they’re none of ’em any good unless the threat of death is behind them. Do you see what I mean? If you start something, I’ll make it a matter of your having to kill me or call it off.

Kasper Gutman:

That’s an attitude, sir, that calls for the most delicate judgment on both sides. ‘Cause as you know, sir, in the heat of action, men are likely to forget where their interests lie and that their emotions carry them away,

Sam Spade:

Then the trick from my angle is to make my play strong enough to tie you up, but not make you mad enough to bump me off against your better judgment,

— John Huston, director