Occupation: Screenwriter Birth: August 12, 1912 Death: October 30, 1997
I don't care if it's a mystery story, a Western, or the story of Julius Caesar. To me it's the emotion, the lies, the double-cross, whether it's Brut….
We got a right to climb out of the sewer and live like other people. We could start from scratch. Make every minute count twice for the one we lost..
Film is a battleground..
I hate violence. That has never prevented me from using it in my films..
If your first scene doesn't give you a hard on, throw it out!.
Mark Twain didn't psychoanalyze Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer. Dickens didn't put Oliver Twist on the couch because he was hungry! Good copy comes out of p….
Surviving is the only glory in war..
Being a hooker does not mean being evil. The same with a pick-pocket, or even a thief. You do what you do out of necessity..
A woman is just a script, but a cigar is a motion picture..
You know how you smoke out a sniper? You send a guy out in the open, and you see if he gets shot. They thought that one up at West Point.
We'll build a democracy here, even if it's with Nazi bricks..
Heroes? Don't believe in them..
We have too many intellectuals who are afraid to use the pistol of common sense.
If a story doesn't give you a hard-on in the first couple of scenes, throw it in the goddamned garbage..
We don't murder, we kill.... You don't murder animals, you kill them..
A film is like a battleground. It's love, hate, action, violence, death—In one word, emotions..
When I was making these damned pictures, I never knew about film noir. If you had asked me about it then, I probably would have pointed to something ….
Ninety-five per cent of films are born of frustration, of self despair, of ambition for survival, for money, for fattening bank accounts. Five per ce….
Movement should be a counter, whether in action scenes or dialogue or whatever. It counters where your eye is going. This style thing, for me it's al….
Life is in color, but black and white is more realistic..
When you're at the end of your rope, all you have to do is make one foot move out in front of the other. Just take the next step. That's all there is….