Thunder in the City (1937)

Edward G. Robinson: Dan Armstrong

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lady Patricia : Do hunches ever fail?

  Dan Armstrong : Not more than nine times out of ten.

• Lady Patricia , Dan Armstrong : You think I'm pretty contemptible, don't you?

  Dan Armstrong : Yes, in a way. But I like you.

  Lady Patricia : That is decent of you.

  Dan Armstrong : I've met many gold-diggers in my life, but you happen to be the first one to have the courage to admit it.

• Dan Armstrong : Save yourself the trouble, Mr. Manningdale, but I won't sell. You think I'm playing this game solely for money. But you're wrong.

  Manningdale : May I ask what stakes you are playing for?

  Dan Armstrong : Excitement. Thrills. The thrill of doing something that can't possibly be done.

  Manningdale : Oh, ho, I see. Magnalite on land. Magnalite on sea.

• Dan Armstrong : Look at that girl. She must be crazy.

  The Duchess : She's our daughter.

  Dan Armstrong : Ohhh, I beg your pardon.

  The Duke : Oh, you needn't - she is crazy.

• Dan Armstrong : My favorite horses are those that can't possibly win.

• Snyderling : It's undignified.

  Dan Armstrong : Well, certainly it is. But what's dignity got to do with salesmanship?

• Dan Armstrong : Hey, uh, where's the bathroom?

  Jenkins, the butler : Up two flights of stairs, sir. Through the armory to the West wing, bear left, and at the farthest end of the long corridor, sir.

  Dan Armstrong : Very convenient.

  Jenkins, the butler : Uh, yes, sir.

  Dan Armstrong : You think I can make the bathroom and shave in one day?

  Jenkins, the butler : Well, why, why of course, sir.

• Dan Armstrong : [to his new sales force for Magnalite]  And I want you to approach your new work with the conviction that salesmanship is the most important function of the human race.

• James : I'm trying to play the family to get rid of our old Rolls and buy one of your Snyderling Straight As - oh, it's a lovely car.

  Dan Armstrong : Oh, don't you believe it. It's a phony. All snappy lines, but no endurance. You stick to your Rolls.

• Dan Armstrong : Say, I've got relations there. My grandfather was the black sheep of one of England's best families. Maybe they can teach me how to sell automatic egg-beaters.

• Lady Patricia : Yes, I am thinking of marrying him.

  Dan Armstrong : What, just for his money?

  Lady Patricia : Can you suggest a better reason?

  Dan Armstrong : Well, do you think that's a nice way to look at marriage?

  Lady Patricia : It's the only way. We learned that from you Americans.

  Dan Armstrong : Cold-bloodedness?

  Lady Patricia : Yes. We used to laugh at you because you glorified money, but that was when we had so much we didn't need to worry about it. Now, we have to go out and struggle for it, just as you did. And so, we appreciate it very well.

  Dan Armstrong : I seeee... Well, so maybe, if you found a man who was even richer than Manningdale, you might change your plans about marrying him?

  Lady Patricia : I might.

• Dan Armstrong : [Discussing his grandfather with his English cousins]  Well, he certainly had a great career in the U.S.A.

  Lady Challoner : Oh, what did he do?

  Dan Armstrong : He investigated jails.

  Lady Challoner : Oh?

  Dan Armstrong : That is, as an inmate. It was his ambition to serve time in every state of the union. But he died before he got to South Dakota.

• Dan Armstrong : I happen to have kind of, uh, old-fashioned ideas about love.

  Lady Patricia : This has nothing to do with love. I'm marrying into the Manningdale bank because it stands for strength, power. Because it understands the infinite, indescribable beauty of money.

• Dan Armstrong : Tell me, Duke, is she gonna marry that fellow, Manningdale?

  The Duchess : If she knows what's good for her, she will.

  Dan Armstrong : But does she know what's good for her?

  The Duchess : Heh, heh.

  The Duke : No.

  Dan Armstrong : Oh, that's fine.

• Dan Armstrong : From the looks of your faces, I can see that this is somebody's funeral. What I wanna know is, am I the corpse?

• Dan Armstrong : Twenty generations? Boy, that's an awful lot of time. You know, over in New York we begin to get restless after we've been in an apartment as long as two weeks.

• Lady Patricia : Do you ride, Mr. Armstrong?

  Dan Armstrong : Not horses -- I ride hunches.

  Lady Patricia : Hunches?

  Dan Armstrong : Mm hmm.

  Lady Patricia : Oh, are they some kind of American animal, like, uh, buffalo?

  Dan Armstrong : Oh, you find 'em everywhere. They're, uh, guesses, feelings that something improbable is going to happen.

• Dan Armstrong : Go ahead with the song, Edna. It's, uh, 'She Was Poor, But She Was Honest.'

• Dan Armstrong : From the looks on your faces I can see that this is somebody's funeral. All I want to know is, am I the corpse?