Raintree County (1957)
Montgomery Clift: John Wickliff Shawnessy
Photos
Quotes
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Susanna Drake : That 4th of July race... what happens when you win?
John Wickliff Shawnessy : Well, according to a friend of mine, if I win, a beautiful girl will place a garland of oak leaves on my sun-colored locks.
Susanna Drake : I'd like to be that girl.
John Wickliff Shawnessy : Maybe it can be arranged?
Susanna Drake : Oh, it can be arranged, all right. *I'll* arrange it.
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John Wickliff Shawnessy : To see the Raintree is not nearly as important as what you find looking for it.
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John Wickliff Shawnessy : [On the riverboat with Susanna, visiting the South for the first time] You were right, Mrs. Shawnessy, I like your river. I really do. It even smells good.
Susanna Drake : I knew that you'd understand it. Which is more than most Yankees do. Now, that's something I don't understand. 'Cause all you have to do is go South once and you LOVE it!
John Wickliff Shawnessy : Well, to us Yankees, the South is not too easy to understand... You ever read "Uncle Tom's Cabin"?
Susanna Drake : [Shocked] "Uncle Tom's Cabin"? Phoo... I haven't married an abolitionist, have I?
John Wickliff Shawnessy : That is the skeleton in my closet.
Susanna Drake : Now, you mustn't joke about it.
Susanna Drake : [Arranging a vast collection of dolls on her bed] Anyway, there's worse things than being an abolitionist.
John Wickliff Shawnessy : Like what?
Susanna Drake : Like having Negro blood in you. Isn't it funny? Just one little teeny drop and a person's all Negro. A person can't always tell, either.
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John Wickliff Shawnessy : My students seem to enjoy creepin' up on me.
Nell Gaither : They're all in love with you.
John Wickliff Shawnessy : Teachers get fallen in love with. It's an occupational hazard.
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Ellen Shawnessy : Did you ever hear your father's sermon on the evils of tobacco? Ends with a regular poem: "Some do it chew, and some do it smoke, while some it up their noses do poke."
John Wickliff Shawnessy : I do all three at the same time.
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John Wickliff Shawnessy : [People are gathering in the town center] What's going on here?
Ellen Shawnessy : You haven't heard? They've attacked Fort Sumter. It means war sure as anything.
T.D. Shawnessy : I'm not so sure. Now, say what you will, Americans will never fight each other. We'll settle our difficulties peacefully.
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Susanna Drake : John, don't go
[Susanna is upset, and doesn't want him to leave]
John Wickliff Shawnessy : Where would I go
[assuring her that he'd never leave her]