The Tall Men (1955)

Jane Russell: Nella Turner

Photos 

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Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Nella Turner : Ben, it was a long walk out here and my feet are killing me. Will you take my boots off?

• Colonel Ben Allison : [after eating rabbit cooked by Nella, then kissing her]  You sure give a honey and molassas flavor to this rabbit.

  Nella Turner : That's not honey and molassas - that's just girl.

• Maria the Dressmaker : [Spraying Nella with perfume]  When Señor Stark smells you - ooh la la Señorita, he go wild!

  [giggles] 

  Nella Turner : Then take it away, because I'm not much in the mood for runnin'!

  Maria the Dressmaker : Ah, you run a little and *then* you stop a little - and when you *want* Señor Stark to catch you, *then* you sit down in a big chair!

• Nella Turner : Go ahead, I ain't gonna bite ya.

  Colonel Ben Allison : I don't know. Those teeth look pretty sharp to me.

  Nella Turner : They oughta be. They haven't had anything to eat in three days.

• Nella Turner : [singing]  I wish I was a peach tree, A-growin' in the ground, And every time my sweetie passed by, I'd shake some peaches down. But, he's an ornery cowpoke, And bashful as can be, And if he wants them peaches of mine, He'll have to climb the tree. All I want is a tall man, Don't want a small man, As long as he is all man, That's good enough for me.

• Colonel Ben Allison : You know somethin'? When a woman looks pretty at sun up, then she's really pretty.

  Nella Turner : Didn't think you could spout so elegant.

  Colonel Ben Allison : I got words I ain't ever used.

• Nella Turner : When I take a bath, I surround myself with water and the tub. Nothin' and nobody else.

• Nathan Stark : Hot water and a tub go well together; especially when they surround a beautiful woman.

  Nella Turner : Well, you may waste the words; but, you sure don't waste much time.

• Nella Turner : I wear a size 7 1/2 boot. You can guess about the rest.

• Nella Turner : How do you say that word again?

  Nathan Stark : Connoisseur.

  Nella Turner : Connoisewer.

  Nathan Stark : It means a person of taste. Can we drink a toast?

  Nella Turner : Might as well go whole hog.

• Nella Turner : I came down here for just one reason, Mr. Allison.

  Colonel Ben Allison : Peek-a-boo clothes and everything.

  Nella Turner : And I got no more use for you or your insults.

• Nella Turner : You're gonna have to bend down a little with them words if you want me to understand.

  Nathan Stark : Why don't you try reaching up instead?

• Nella Turner : You ain't thinkin' of butcherin' one of our mules?

  Colonel Ben Allison : That's no mule, Grandma. That's the Missouri Elk.

• Nella Turner : You know, for a fella that don't do much talkin', you got real busy eyes. It's not that I mind being stared at, that's part of being a female; but, what I don't like is being weighed, measured and counted.

  Nathan Stark : I call it a 130 pounds. Pure gold in the rough, just needs a little refinin'.

  Nella Turner : Don't short change me. It's 135. Just to show you how unrefined I am, why don't you get off your dead end and go out and get us some firewood.

  Nathan Stark : Your servant, ma'am.

• Clint Allison : Things are perkin' up again. Ben's my brother. I'm Clint. Clint Allison, ma'am. Free and single as a skunk at a Sunday school picnic.

  Nella Turner : Probably for the same reason.

  Clint Allison : Now, don't go on and fussin' me, ma'am, just cause I'm rich and handsome.

• Nella Turner : Make yourselves to home. I reckon we have a little coffee left.

  Colonel Ben Allison : Thanks, Grandma.

  Nella Turner : Grandma?

• Nella Turner : Hey, cowboy, you better come and get it!

• Nella Turner : I wish you'd rub my feet some more.

  Colonel Ben Allison : Here, put 'em on my back.

  Nella Turner : Ooo...

• Colonel Ben Allison : I was about to go off and leave you. Only, I - haven't had my breakfast.

  [gives Nella a long kiss, starts to give her another one] 

  Nella Turner : Whoa! Short rations.

• Colonel Ben Allison : You do remind me of my Grandma.

  Nella Turner : Yeah?

  Colonel Ben Allison : The way she must have looked when Grandpa Allison bought her from Old Stone Bear. It cost him six horses, a musket, and his fancy gold snuff box. You know, that's a heap to pay for a woman.

• Nella Turner : Oh, you dirty, sod-bustin', woman-chasin' connoisewer!

• Nella Turner : [singing]  That cowpoke he ain't human, He says that he prefers, To go to bed with his six-gun on, And never take off his spurs. That cowpoke's had no learnin', There's bone between his ears, And he ain't much of a Romeo, Cause he sleeps with a herd of steers...

• Nella Turner : Hey, leave me out of this. If there's any trouble, I'll handle my share.

• Nella Turner : You miserable groundhog! Why didn't you give me a hand? You saw me out there stuck in the mud.

  Colonel Ben Allison : Mud? I thought that was quicksand.

  Nella Turner : Ah, you dirty son of a coyote.

• Nella Turner : [singing]  Tall men are no good, Small men are no good, All men are no good, But he's the worst of all.

• Colonel Ben Allison : It's too late for wishin'.

  Nella Turner : It always is. For dreamin' too.

  Colonel Ben Allison : Yeah, especially that.