Bite the Bullet (1975)

Gene Hackman: Sam Clayton

Photos 

Quotes 

• Sam Clayton : We came out of the jungle and there it was - San Juan Hill. The Spanish guns lookin' right down our throat, the sharpshooters pickin' us off and we just charged right up that hill!

  [starts to ride off, but returns] 

  Sam Clayton : That's not the way it happened at all. It wasn't anything like it was in San Antoine where we did our trainin'. That's where I ran into Luke and a lot of other men from every other country who wanted to be Roughriders. Bakers and barbers and Congressman, cattlemen, ballplayers, farmers and porters... cowboys. No, we didn't rough ride up that hill, 'cause we didn't have any horses. We didn't charge up there, either. We crawled up there on our scared bellies. There was only one horse and one rider - that was Colonel Teddy. He went chargin' up that damn hill and they shot his glasses off. He put on another pair and they nipped him in the elbow, and he said, "Follow me!" And we did, 'cause we was too damned ashamed not to.

• [Carbo's abusive riding tactics have killed his horse] 

  Sam Clayton : Bury him.

  Carbo : What with?

  Sam Clayton : Your god-damned hands!

  [to reporter] 

  Sam Clayton : See he does it. You see to it!

  Carbo : What he said, is it that important?

  Reporter : Must be, he said it twice.

• Sam Clayton : The people some people marry. I wasn't worth her spit.

• Sam Clayton : No family?

  Mister : Him

  [indicates his horse] 

  Mister : . Oh, you know saddle tramps. They sign on, drive the beef a thousand miles, make your mark, draw your pay and move on to the next ranch. Another roundup and another drive. Hired... fired... and move on.

  Sam Clayton : Well, it's never bothered me none.

  Mister : No, me neither when I was thirty years lighter.

• Prostitute : Mister? How do you like it, Mister?

  Sam Clayton : Without conversation.

• Norfolk : How much does Parker pay you? Fifty dollars a month? Sixty? Win this race and you could have three years' salary!

  Sam Clayton : Mister, did you ever see a horse run himself to death just to please the man on his back? What's the horse get out of it? Cracked bones? Colic? See his picture in the paper? Horse doesn't give a damn who wins a race. Me neither.

• Sam Clayton : [after hitting Carbo on the side of the head]  Hurts, don't it?

• Boy : [after receiving a foal from Clayton]  Do I have to pay somethin'?

  Sam Clayton : Yeah... don't ever treat her bad.

• 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.

• Mexican : The father of your father, he was truly Mexicano?

  Sam Clayton : Nah

  Mexican : But you are simpatico?

  Sam Clayton : [rides away]  Had a toothache once.

• Sam Clayton : [holding up heroin tablets]  You ever try this?

  Prostitute : Mister, I've tried everything but confession.

• 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.

• Sam Clayton : [showing the newspaper to the horse]  Well, you're in the papers... and I'm in the shithouse.

• 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!

• Sam Clayton : [the newspaper reporter has finished taking photos of the race start and is trying to start his motorcycle. Sam Clayton rides up to him]  Hey, get a horse!