Memorable quotes for
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) More at IMDbPro »C'era una volta il West (original title)

Cheyenne: [of Harmonica] He not only plays. He can shoot too.
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Morton: Not bad. Congratulations. Tell me, was it necessary that you kill all of them? I only told you to scare them.
Frank: People scare better when they're dying.
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Harmonica: Your friends have a high mortality rate Frank. First three, then two.
Frank: So, you're the one who makes appointments.
Harmonica: And you're the one who doesn't keep them.
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Frank: How can you trust a man who wears both a belt and suspenders? The man can't even trust his own pants.
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Harmonica: The reward for this man is 5000 dollars, is that right?
Cheyenne: Judas was content for 4970 dollars less.
Harmonica: There were no dollars in them days.
Cheyenne: But sons of bitches... yeah.
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Harmonica: And Frank?
Snaky: Frank sent us.
Harmonica: Did you bring a horse for me?
Snaky: Well... looks like we're...
[snickers]
Snaky: ...looks like we're shy one horse.
Harmonica: You brought two too many.
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Cheyenne: Do you know anything about a guy going around playing the harmonica? He's someone you'd remember. Instead of talking, he plays. And when he better play, he talks.
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Cheyenne: Harmonica, a town built around a railroad.
[laughs]
Cheyenne: You could make a fortune. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hey, more than that. Thousands of thousands.
Harmonica: They call them "millions."
Cheyenne: "Millions." Hmm.
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Harmonica: I saw three of these dusters a short time ago, they were waiting for a train. Inside the dusters, there were three men.
Cheyenne: So?
Harmonica: Inside the men, there were three bullets.
Cheyenne: That's a crazy story, Harmonica, for two reasons. One, nobody around these part's got the guts to wear those dusters except Cheyenne's men. Two, Cheyenne's men don't get killed.
Harmonica: Well, you know music, and you can count - all the way up to two.
[Cheyenne spins the magazine of his revolver]
Cheyenne: All the way up to six if I have to...
[gestures to Harmonica's wound]
Cheyenne: And maybe faster than you.
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Cheyenne: You know, Jill, you remind me of my mother. She was the biggest whore in Alameda and the finest woman that ever lived. Whoever my father was, for an hour or for a month - he must have been a happy man.
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Jill: What's he waiting for out there? What's he doing?
Cheyenne: He's whittlin' on a piece of wood. I've got a feeling when he stops whittlin'... Somethin's gonna happen.
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Frank: Keep your lovin' brother happy.
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Jill: But... but those were his men.
Harmonica: Yeah.
Jill: And they tried to kill him.
Harmonica: They must've found someone who pays better.
Jill: And you... You saved his life!
Harmonica: I didn't let them kill him, and that's not the same thing.
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Cheyenne: Yeah, go on. Play, Harmonica. Play, so you can't bullshit.
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Harmonica: You know, Wobbles... I'm kinda mad at you.
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Jill: If you want to, you can lay me over the table and amuse yourself. And even call in your men. Well. No woman ever died from that. When you're finished, all I'll need will be a tub of boiling water, and I'll be exactly what I was before - with just another filthy memory.
Cheyenne: [sighs] You make good coffee, at least?
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Cheyenne's Lieutenant: Cheyenne. We thought we'd never make it.
Cheyenne: It's all right. You're right on time... to bury my escort.
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Cheyenne: They wanna hang me. The big, black crows. Idiots. What the hell? I'll kill anything. Never a kid. Be like killin' a priest. Catholic priest, that is.
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Morton: There are many things you'll never understand.
[Frank draws on Morton as he pulls out money to show him]
Morton: This is one of them. You see, Frank, there are many kinds of weapons. And the only one that can stop that is this.
[Morton's train stops as Frank's men ride up to it]
Morton: Now, shall we get back to our little problem?
Frank: My weapons might look simple to you, Mr. Morton, but they can still shoot holes big enough for our little problems.
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[last lines]
Cheyenne: Hey, Harmonica - when they do you in, pray it's somebody who knows *where* to shoot... Go away... go away... go away, I don't want you to see me die.
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Harmonica: When you hear a strange sound, drop to the ground.
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[Frank and his gang are standing in front of Timmy McBain, after killing the other family members]
Gang member: What are we going to do with this one, Frank?
Frank: Now that you've called me by name?
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[Frank sits at Morton's desk]
Morton: How does it feel sitting behind that desk, Frank?
Frank: Almost like holding a gun... only much more powerful.
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Frank: What do you want? Who are you?
Harmonica: Dave Jenkins.
Frank: Dave Jenkins is dead a long time ago.
Harmonica: Calder Benson.
Frank: What's your name? Benson's dead, too.
Harmonica: You should know, Frank, better than anyone. You killed them.
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Frank: You've made a big mistake, Morton. When you're not on that train, you look like a turtle out of its shell. Just funny. Poor cripple talking big so nobody'll know how scared you are.
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Frank: Who are you?
Harmonica: Jim Cooper, Chuck Youngblood.
Frank: More dead men.
Harmonica: They were all alive until they met you, Frank.
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Frank: Morton once told me I could never be like him. Now I understand why. Wouldn't have bothered him, knowing you were around somewhere alive.
Harmonica: So, you found out you're not a businessman after all.
Frank: Just a man.
Harmonica: An ancient race. Other Mortons will be along, and they'll kill it off.
Frank: The future don't matter to us. Nothing matters now - not the land, not the money, not the woman. I came here to see you. 'Cause I know that now, you'll tell me what you're after.
Harmonica: ...Only at the point of dyin'.
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Cheyenne: You don't understand, Jill. People like that have something inside... something to do with death.
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[Frank just knocked Morton off of his crutches]
Morton: Is that sufficient to make you feel stronger?
Frank: I could squash you like a wormy apple!
Morton: Sure. But you won't do it... because it's... not to your advantage...
Frank: Hmm. Who knows how far you'd have gone with two good legs, huh?
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Frank: [Frank is trying to convince Harmonica to sell him the land Harmonica just won] Just hurry up and make the deal!
Harmonica: Which deal Frank? We've got more than one to settle you and me.
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Frank's lieutenant: [Morton just passed out 500 dollars each to four of Frank's men] How do you, uh - how do you play this game, Mr. Morton?
Morton: It's very simple. As long as you use your head, you'll never lose.
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Morton: [to Wobbles] You should learn to live as if you didn't exist!
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Harmonica: [to Frank, spotting a gunman above a painted clock] Time sure flies! It's already past twelve.
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Cheyenne: [to Jill] You know what? If I was you, I'd go down there and give those boys a drink. Can't imagine how happy it makes a man to see a woman like you. Just to look at her. And if one of them should pat your behind, just make believe it's nothing. They earned it.
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Cheyenne: You deserve better.
Jill: The last man who told me that... is buried out there.
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[first lines]
Station agent: Hey - hey hey hey hey, if you want any tickets, you'll have to go around to, eh, to, eh, the front of the, eh... oooh, well, I s'pose it'll be all right.
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Cheyenne: Hey what in the hell are you standing around for!
Cheyenne's Lieutenant: But chief, what are we supposed to do?
Cheyenne: What are you supposed to do? Build a station! Idiots!
[tosses them pickaxes and other tools]
Cheyenne: I figure it ain't gonna look like much, but it'll be the first thing she sees, when she gets back.
Harmonica: [looks up] If she gets back.
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Cheyenne: Make believe it's nothing.
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Jill: You wake up one morning and say "World, I know you! From now on there are no more surprises!".
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Frank: You paid five thousand dollars for something that belongs to me!
[puts down a bunch of dollar bills]
Frank: Five thousand...
[pulls out a silver dollar]
Frank: Plus one!
[puts the dollar on the table]
Frank: You got a right to make a profit too.
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Cheyenne: [drinking coffee] Good. My mother used to make it this way. Hot, strong, and good.
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Jill: [stares at Harmonica from her window] Cheyenne. What's he waiting for out there? What's he doing?
Cheyenne: He's whittling on a piece of wood. I got a feeling that when he stops whittling, something's gonna happen.
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Frank: Surprised to see me here?
Harmonica: I knew you'd come.
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Jill: Hey, you know you're kind of a handsome man.
Cheyenne: But I'm not the right man.
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Cheyenne: [points his gun at Morton] Hey, Mr. Choo Choo!
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Cheyenne: What the hell is this?
Harmonica: [off screen] Can't you see?
[emerges from behind a pile of wood]
Harmonica: It's a station. And all around it a town. Brett McBain's town.
Cheyenne: [starts to laugh] Was he crazy, heh!
Harmonica: Yeah in a very special way. An Irishman.
[starts measuring out a square and hammers wood spikes into the ground]
Harmonica: He knew someday or another that railroad through Flagstone would continue on west. So he looked over all this county here. Until he found this hunk of desert. Nobody wanted it! But he bought it.
[continues with work]
Harmonica: Then he tightened his belt, and for years he waited.
Cheyenne: Waited for what?
Harmonica: For the railroad to reach this point.
Cheyenne: Ah, but how in the hell did he know the railroad would pass through his property?
Harmonica: Them steam engines can't roll without water. And the only water within fifty miles west of Flagstone is right here. Under this land!
Cheyenne: Ah ha, he was no fool, our dead friend, ah?
[chuckles]
Cheyenne: He was gonna sell this piece of desert for his weight in gold, wasn't he?
Harmonica: [looks at Cheyenne] You don't sell the dream of a lifetime! Brett McBain wanted his station: he got the rights to build it.
Cheyenne: How do you know all this?
Harmonica: I saw a document. It was all in order, seals, signatures, everything! One thing though, in very small print, there is a short clause. Which says that McBain or his heirs lose all rights, if by the time the railroad reaches this point...
[turns to Cheyenne again]
Harmonica: ...the station ain't built yet.
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Harmonica: Now I gotta go. Gonna be a beautiful town, Sweet water.
Jill: [with tears] I hope you'll come back someday.
Harmonica: Someday!
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