Grand Prix (1966)
Toshirô Mifune: Izo Yamura
Photos
Quotes
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Izo Yamura : Why do you drive racing cars, or do you not think about it?
Pete Aron : Oh, Mr. Yamura, I don't think there's one of us who doesn't ask himself at least once in the middle of a race, "What the hell am I doing here?" Of course, when it's over, we conveniently forget that we asked ourselves that question. I think about it and a lot of reasons I don't know. Maybe to do something that brings you so close to the possibility of death and to survive it is to feel life and living so much more intensely.
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Pete Aron : Ah, were you in the war?
Izo Yamura : Yes, and you?
Pete Aron : No, I missed it by a year.
Izo Yamura : In the war, I was a fighter pilot. I shot down 17 American planes.
Pete Aron : Okay.
Izo Yamura : I believe that some things must not be left unsaid. There will come a time when you will ask yourself, "What did he do in the war, this man, Yamura?"
Pete Aron : Mr. Yamura, I like you.
Izo Yamura : Why?
Pete Aron : Well, because... because you come right to the point.
Izo Yamura : In a sense, you are here because you drive a car the way I conduct my business. You come right to the point.
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Izo Yamura : Right after the war, my house in Tokyo was used by an American general and his family. When it was returned to me, it had: flowered wallpaper, three new bathrooms, and four new closets. Americans, I think, are over-devoted to bathrooms and closets.
Pete Aron : Well, we accumulate things.
Izo Yamura : And then you lock them away in closets. And the bathrooms?
Pete Aron : No, no, you don't get me on that one.
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Izo Yamura : Some years ago, when I decided to race cars, I tried to buy the Jordan-BRM company.
Pete Aron : Oh yes, I had heard that.
Izo Yamura : Impatience on my part. I also manufacture radios and sewing machines. In order to save time, I wanted a proven product. That was not to be, however. Racing cars are not merely another product. They require great attention if any success is to be hoped for.
Pete Aron : Then that's why you're here.
Izo Yamura : I have been racing my cars in Formula One for two years, and have yet to win my first Grand Prix. I intend to win, by whatever means are open to me.
Pete Aron : That's the right attitude. All you have to do is go fast enough and long enough.
Izo Yamura : And with the best drivers! Do you want a job with me?
Pete Aron : Driving?
Izo Yamura : Driving, of course.
Pete Aron : Who are you dumping?
Izo Yamura : Dumping?
Pete Aron : Ah, which one of your drivers are you getting rid of?
Izo Yamura : Neither one. I am entering a third car.
Pete Aron : That'll be expensive.
Izo Yamura : Yes.
Pete Aron : You've got a driver.
Izo Yamura : My racing headquarters is at Silverstone, in England. Can you be there next week?
Pete Aron : Yes, sir.
Izo Yamura : We must begin to think about - Spa!
Pete Aron : Next week, then.
Izo Yamura : By the way, you are a terrible broadcaster!
[Aron turns and starts heading for the door]
Izo Yamura : Oh, Mr. Aron, if giving you the job would have meant firing one of the other drivers, would you still have taken it?
[Aron glares at Yamura]
Izo Yamura : Good!