Never So Few (1959)

Gina Lollobrigida: Carla Vesari

Photos 

Quotes 

• Carla Vesari : If I stay with you, Nikko, it won't be because I'm afraid of you.

  Nikko Regas : In this day and age, my dear, fear is a very good basis for a relationship.

• Capt. Tom Reynolds : What would you like for Christmas?

  Carla Vesari : [bored with his provincialism]  A twelve-foot statue of your grandfather.

• Carla Vesari : That's how I am, a lot of fun, with a heart as big as the Himalayas.

• Capt. Tom Reynolds : [while visiting at Regas' posh villa in northern India, noticing the mix of people present]  Europeans, Sikhs, Chinese... Doctors, lawyers, merchants and thieves.

  Carla Vesari : [Mockingly]  You're a terrible poet.

• Carla Vesari : Captain Reynolds, is this your first war?

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : It is definitely my last.

  Carla Vesari : I think you love it. Like most men, you relish war.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Miss Vesari, this may come as a shock to you, but I do not like war.

• Capt. Tom Reynolds : You live here with Nikko?

  Carla Vesari : I want to tell you something, Captain, and then perhaps you'll let me alone. I live here with Nikko. So why don't you go back to the hills and play with your popguns?

• Nikko Regas : Now, let me dwell just for one moment on the American male. They're absolutely insidious, Carla. They're full of the lonesome prairie and the smell of tumbleweed. They're sincere and dedicated, and your Tom Reynolds...

  Carla Vesari : Really, Nikko, he's not 'my Tom Reynolds.'

  Nikko Regas : Your Tom Reynolds is no exception. A regular Abe Lincoln in North Burma. A girl like you with a sophisticated palate... is a pushover for the type.

  Carla Vesari : What a terribly civilized man you are. You never lose your balance.

• Carla Vesari : Tell me about when you were a kid.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Well, I was a sneak and I was satanic.

  Carla Vesari : That's enough. Tell me about your grandfather.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : He was a sneak and he was satanic. And once he told me he could never trust a man who claimed that he never had a hankering for women.

  Carla Vesari : "Hankering"?

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Hankering. To hanker. It means to have a strong desire for something or someone. In this case, a girl.

  Carla Vesari : I see. You - hanker.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : I hanker - for you alone.

  Carla Vesari : Don't sweep me off my feet.

• Carla Vesari : When do you think it will be over? The war, I mean.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : I don't know. It may never be over.

  Carla Vesari : When it is over, what will you do back in America?

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : I've never thought about it. I may never go back to America... I better stay in the jungle. It's a lot simpler there.

• Capt. Tom Reynolds : [Having entered Carla's bathroom, in which she is bathing in a large bathtub]  Is that why you invited me in your bath?

  Carla Vesari : Don't be so provincial. In Japan, men and women bathe together.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : This is not Japan, and you well know it.

• Carla Vesari : [to Captain Reynolds]  Your stern Midwestern morality is so refreshing.

• Capt. Tom Reynolds : Relax.

  Carla Vesari : I beg your pardon?

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Let it go. I'm a mild-mannered, soft-spoken man, and I'm a gentleman and an officer. And I never make a sudden move.

  Carla Vesari : I'm very pleased to hear it.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : And what's your rank and serial number?

  Carla Vesari : I'm cautious, conventional, and very, very careful.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : And you're on the green side of 25. You're put together like a Christmas package. And you remind me of a pretty girl I once saw in a perfume ad before I became a lonely soldier.

• Carla Vesari : I'm always interested in improving myself. What could you offer me?

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Well, I could send you flowers, I could mow your lawn. I could buy you an ice cream soda. And we could hold hands in the movies.

  Carla Vesari : You tempt me.

• Capt. Tom Reynolds : Miss Vesari, can I see you again?

  Carla Vesari : Hell no.

• Carla Vesari : You are the most depressing seducer I ever fought off.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Then don't fight.

• Carla Vesari : What do you believe in?

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Live and let live. It's funny when you think of the business I'm in.

• Carla Vesari : Please, stop sniffing around me like an animal.

• Capt. Tom Reynolds : Nikko tells me you ride every morning.

  Carla Vesari : Not *every* morning.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Would you ride with me tomorrow?

  Carla Vesari : Perhaps.

• Capt. Tom Reynolds : All right, you wanted me to squirm, so I did. But there's another thing. I don't like striking out until I get to bat.

  Carla Vesari : You've got the wrong girl. Wrong place, wrong time.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Okay. I'll see you get a Good Conduct Medal to add to the rest of your loot. Meantime, let me pin this one on you.

  [kiss] 

  Carla Vesari : You're very sure of yourself.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : I am now. I kissed you, lady, and you kissed me back.

  Carla Vesari : You!

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : I got the message.

  [kiss] 

• Carla Vesari : Must it be like this just because I'm not in the market for an affair?

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Oh, you're in the market. It's just a matter of price.

  Carla Vesari : I know when I'm well off.

• Carla Vesari : I kiss you and the bells ring wildly in my temples. Temple bells.

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : Why do you suppose that is?

  Carla Vesari : Because you put me in a turmoil.

• Carla Vesari : Now I know what kind of man you are. So brave in battle, but so afraid of life. You talk of the future, but you won't take a chance on it. I won't plead with you, Tom. I can't. I don't know how.

• Carla Vesari : Can you sneak out the back door?

  Capt. Tom Reynolds : I don't like back doors, Carla.

  Carla Vesari : Whatever you say. I don't care, darling.