Bite the Bullet (1975)

James Coburn: Luke Matthews

Photos 

Quotes 

• Luke Matthews : How far is it to town?

  The Wood Cutter : Don't know. Never seem to have made it.

  Luke Matthews : Well, you don't know much.

  The Wood Cutter : Huh?

  Luke Matthews : I said you don't know much.

  The Wood Cutter : Mister, I don't know a damned thing about nothin'... but I ain't the one who's lost.

• Luke Matthews : You certainly have a knack of provoking a man to violence.

  Carbo : All I said was she...

  Luke Matthews : It was the way you said it - like it was an insult.

  Carbo : Hell, yeah, when a woman does it for money...

  Luke Matthews : A man always gets the best of the bargain. Before you take her to bed, she's a thing of beauty. In bed, an angel of mercy. And afterwards, she's a...

  Carbo : Whore!

  Luke Matthews : ...a pillow piece.

• Carbo : That sonofabitch tried to kill me.

  Luke Matthews : Oh, he couldn't'a tried very hard.

• Sam Clayton : Just like old times.

  Luke Matthews : Yeah. You start trouble and I start bleedin'.

• Sam Clayton : You know, I'm un-American.

  Luke Matthews : What's that?

  Sam Clayton : Well, I don't know exactly, except if you're not the best, the first and the greatest - if you don't win, then you're not American.

• Norfolk : And how was the shorter route?

  Luke Matthews : [chuckles]  Longer.

• Luke Matthews : I want you to tell me the story of your life. Just skip everything up till the last fifteen minutes.

• Luke Matthews : [handing Rosie money for prostitutes]  Two of the best for two of the best.

• Luke Matthews : [hugging Rosie]  I forgot how good a bad woman feels.

  Rosie : Flattery and money will get you anything.

• Luke Matthews : [to young toughs]  Don't you know Sam Clayton? Defender of dumb animals? Damsels in distress? Champion of lost causes?

  Sam Clayton : How ya' been?

  Luke Matthews : Fine, till *you* showed up.

• Luke Matthews : [referring to the motorcycle]  How do you start it, how do you make it go, and how do you stop it?

• Luke Matthews : [counting out money from a roll]  You're gonna need moving money.

  Sam Clayton : [tending to his horse]  Who says I'm movin'?

  Luke Matthews : Stayin' takes even more... costs ten dollars just to get drunk.

  Sam Clayton : I'm gonna stay sober.

  Luke Matthews : Fifteen dollars for a hot bath.

  Sam Clayton : Guess I just won't bathe.

  Luke Matthews : Thirty dollars for an all-night woman.

  [Clayton stops, pauses, sticks out his hand for the money] 

• Sam Clayton : Aw,who wants the easy life?

  Luke Matthews : *I* do.

• Sam Clayton : Who won the Gans - Nelson fight?

  Luke Matthews : Gans, by knockout in the 42nd round. Greatest fight I ever saw.

  Sam Clayton : [to Norfolk, referring to a previous conversation]  Gans! In the 42nd round!