Laura

McPherson: You said Harrington was rubbed out with a shotgun loaded with buckshot, the way Laura Hunt was murdered, the night before last. Lydecker: Did I? McPherson: Yeah. But he was really killed with a sash weight. Lydecker: How ordinary. My version was obviously superior. I never bother with details, you know. McPherson: I do.

Laura (1944 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

McPherson: Were you in love with Laura Hunt, Mr. Lydecker? Was she in love with you? Lydecker: Laura considered me the wisest, the wittiest, the most interesting man she'd ever met. And I was in complete accord with her on that point. She thought me also the kindest, the gentlest, the most sympathetic man in the world. McPherson: Did you agree with her there, too? Lydecker: McPherson, you won't understand this; but I tried to become the kindest, the gentlest, the most sympathetic man in the world. McPherson: Have any luck? Lydecker: Let me put it this way. I should be sincerely sorry to see my neighbors' children devoured by wolves.

Laura (1944 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Lydecker: Laura had not definitely made up her mind to marry him. She told me so herself, last Friday when she called up to cancel our dinner engagement. As a matter of fact, she was going to the country to think it over. She was extremely kind, but I was always sure she would never have thrown her life away on a male beauty in distress. Shelby: [To McPherson] I suppose you've heard losers whine before, especially in your profession, eh?

Laura (1944 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Lydecker: Have you ever been in love? McPherson: A doll in Washington Heights once got a fox fur out of me. Lydecker: Did you ever know a woman who wasn't a doll or a dame? McPherson: Yeah, one. But she kept walking me past furniture windows to look at the parlor suites. Lydecker: [about the music playing] Would you mind turning that off? McPherson: Why? Don't you like it? Shelby: It was one of Laura's favorites. Not exactly classical but sweet.

Laura (1944 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Lydecker: In my case, self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention. Laura: But you write about people with such real understanding and sentiment. That's what makes your column so good. Lydecker: The sentiment comes easy at 50 cents a word. Laura: Well, if that's the way you really feel, you must be very lonely. Lydecker: Will you kindly continue this character analysis elsewhere? You begin to bore me. Laura: You're a poor man. I'm very sorry for you.

Laura (1944 film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Lydecker: Haven't you any sense of privacy? McPherson: Murder victims have no claim to privacy. Lydecker: Have detectives who buy portraits of murder victims a claim to privacy?...McPherson, did it ever strike you that you're acting very strangely? It's a wonder you don't come here like a suitor with roses and a box of candy - drugstore candy, of course. Have you ever dreamed of Laura as your wife, by your side at the Policeman's Ball or in the bleachers? Or listening to the heroic story of how you got a silver shinbone from a gun battle with a gangster? I see you have. McPherson: Why don't you go home? I'm busy. Lydecker: You better watch out, McPherson, or you'll end up in a psychiatric ward. I don't think they've ever had a patient who fell in love with a corpse.

Laura (1944 film), CC BY-SA 4.0