A Star Is Born (1954)
James Mason: Norman Maine
Photos
Quotes
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Norman Maine : Do you ever go fishing?
[Esther looks confused]
Norman Maine : Well, do you like prizefi--have you ever watched a great fighter?
Esther Blodgett : I-I uh--
Norman Maine : I'm trying to tell you how you sing.
Esther Blodgett : Do you mean like a prizefighter or a fish?
Norman Maine : Look...em--
[leads her into a kitchen]
Norman Maine : There are certain pleasures that you get--
[realizes that the sound of clanging dishes is intolerable and they depart for the outside]
Norman Maine : There are certain pleasures you get, little-little jabs of pleasure when a swordfish take a hook, or-or when you see a great fighter get in right for the kill, see?
[Esther still looks confused]
Norman Maine : You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?
Esther Blodgett : No, not yet. Why don't you try bullfights?
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Vicki Lester : [Norman has finished looking through her scrapbook] You know as much about me as I do myself. But... you see how long it's taken me to get this far. Now, all I need is just a little luck.
Norman Maine : What kind of luck?
Vicki Lester : Oh, the kind of luck that every girl singer with a band dreams of - one night a big talent scout from a big record company might come in and he'll let me make a record.
Norman Maine : Yes, and then?
Vicki Lester : Well, the record will become number one on the Hit Parade, it'll be played on the jukeboxes all over the country... and I'll be made
[laughs self-deprecatingly at the implausibility]
Vicki Lester : End of dream.
Norman Maine : There's only one thing wrong with that.
Vicki Lester : I know - it won't happen!
Norman Maine : No, it might happen pretty easily - but the dream isn't big enough.
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Judge George J. Barnes : Were you Norman Maine the actor?
Norman Maine : Yes.
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Vicki Lester : [Norman has returned to find her in a nightclub. She walks over to him with a small laugh] Hello, Mr. Maine. You turn up in the strangest places.
Norman Maine : Don't I now?
Vicki Lester : [stops laughing, suddenly shocked] And you're cold sober.
Norman Maine : Well, you'd better make the most of it!
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Norman Maine : Of course you're scared! We all are! What makes you think you wouldn't be?