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To: Darth Republican

"Morons... I've got morons on my team."

I've always really enjoyed Strother Martin.  Of course the thing most people know him for is "What we have here is a failure to communicate" from Cool Hand Luke.  I really enjoyed what he did in True Grit as the horse trader.  His confrontation (which he loses) with Mattie Ross is one of the great two character dialogues on film.

from IMDB

[Mattie is arguing with Col. Stonehill]
Col. G. Stonehill: I'll take it up with my attorney.
Mattie Ross: And I will take it up with mine - Lawyer Daggett. And he will make money and I will make money and your lawyer will make money... and you, Mr. Licensed Auctioneer, you will foot the bill.


[Col. Stonehill is frustrated at Mattie's bargaining]
Col. G. Stonehill: I will pay a total of two hundred dollars to your father's estate when I have in my hand a letter absolving me of all liability from the beginning of the world to date!

Mattie Ross: Now I'm sure you'll find a buyer for those ponies very soon.
Col. G. Stonehill: I have a tentative offer of ten dollars a head from the soapworks at Little Rock.
Mattie Ross: It seems such a shame to render such spirited horseflesh into soap.
Col. G. Stonehill: I'm confident the deal will fall through.

Mattie Ross: Do you know a Marshal Rooster Cogburn?
Col. G. Stonehill: Most people around here have heard of Rooster Cogburn and some people live to regret it. I would not be surprised to learn that he's a relative of yours.

[Mattie returns later to buy a pony from Col. Stonehill]
Col. G. Stonehill: Do you entertain plans of ever leaving this city?
Mattie Ross: Yes, I'm off early tomorrow morning for the Indian nation. Marshal Rooster Cogburn and I are going after the murderer, Tom Chaney.
Col. G. Stonehill: Cogburn. How did you light on that greasy vagabond?
Mattie Ross: They say he has grit. I wanted a man with grit.
Col. G. Stonehill: Well, I suppose he has that. He's a notorious thumper. He's not a man I would care to share a bed with.
Mattie Ross: Nor would I. 

and from another source

Col. G. Stonehill: Lawyer Daggett, Lawyer Daggett who is this famous pleader whose name I was happily ignorant of ten minutes ago?

Mattie Ross: Have you ever heard of The Great Arkansas River Vicksburg and Gulf and Steamship Company?

Col. G. Stonehill: I have done business with the G.A.V. & G, yes.

Mattie Ross: Well he's the one who forced them into receivership.

Col. G. Stonehill: Oh

After all that it turns out that Lawyer Daggett is played by the little guy (John Fiedler) from Newhart's psychiatrist show who also did the voice of Piglet in the Winnie the Pooh cartoons.

814 posted on 10/22/2006 1:52:43 PM PDT by Phsstpok (Often wrong, but never in doubt)
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To: Phsstpok

Josh, that is one of my favorites, too. The dialog between Mattie and the Col is perfect; just the way you'd expect civilized people from the 19th Century, even in the Old West, to speak.

I love the scene when Lawyer Dagget pays off Rooster in the end, too.


885 posted on 10/22/2006 3:32:18 PM PDT by Alas Babylon!
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To: Phsstpok
I'm pleased and surprised to find another Strother Martin fan in FR, and one who knows to esteem that great scene in True Grit. I thought the Colonel's line on his and Mattie's second meeting is a movie classic. The one that goes (I paraphrase):

Col. Stonehill: "I heard this morning that a girl had fallen head-first into a well on the _______ Road. I had thought that it might be you."

Mattie Ross: "......no?"</clueless>

1,022 posted on 10/22/2006 11:26:07 PM PDT by lentulusgracchus ("Whatever." -- sinkspur)
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