John Forsythe credited as playing...
Sam Marlowe
- Miss Graveley: How old do you think I am young man?
- Sam Marlowe: Hmm... fifty. How old do you think you are?
- Miss Graveley: Forty-two! I can show you my birth certificate.
- Sam Marlowe: I'm afraid you're going to have to show more than your birth certificate to convince a man of that.
- Sam Marlowe: When I saw him, he was dead.
- Jennifer Rogers: He looked exactly the same when he was alive, only he was vertical.
- Capt. Wiles: Coming home from Madagascar once we had a fireman on board who hit his head on a brick wall and died two days later.
- Sam Marlowe: Where did he find a brick wall on board a ship?
- Capt. Wiles: Mmmm... that's what we always wondered.
- Sam Marlowe: I think, Captain Wiles, we're tangled up in a murder.
- Capt. Wiles: Murder. If it's murder who dunnit?
- Sam Marlowe: Who did it?
- Capt. Wiles: That's what I say, whodunnit?
- [Discussing Jennifer's recently deceased husband Harry]
- Jennifer Rogers: You can stuff him, for all I care. Stuff him and put him in a glass case, only I'd suggest frosted glass.
- Sam Marlowe: What did he do to you? Besides marry you.
- Sam Marlowe: Perharps I'll come back tomorrow.
- Arnie: When's that?
- Sam Marlowe: The day after today.
- Arnie: That's yesterday. Today's tomorrow.
- Sam Marlowe: It was.
- Arnie: When was tomorrow yesterday?
- Sam Marlowe: Today.
- Arnie: Oh, sure. Yesterday.
- Capt. Wiles: I fired three bullets. Three! One for the hunting sign, one for the tin can...
- Sam Marlowe: ...and one for the little man who's lying in the grave.
- Sam Marlowe: Didn't know you had such a pretty mother, Arnie.
- Arnie: You think she's pretty, you should see my slingshot.
- Sam Marlowe: You're beautiful. Wonderful! You're the most wonderful, beautiful thing I've ever seen. I'd like to paint you.
- Jennifer Rogers: Was there something else you wanted, Mr. - Marlow, isn't it?
- Sam Marlowe: You certainly are a lovely woman. I'd like to paint you nude.
- Jennifer Rogers: Some other time, Mr. Marlow. I was about to make Arnie some lemonade.
- Capt. Wiles: She was downright hysterical with delight.
- Sam Marlowe: What was she like?
- Capt. Wiles: Pretty as a rainbow. Wish I was two years younger.
- Sam Marlowe: Perhaps I've come at an awkward moment.
- Jennifer Rogers: If you want to undress me, you have.
- Capt. Wiles: [about Miss Gravely] She's a well-preserved woman.
- Sam Marlowe: I envy you.
- Capt. Wiles: Yes, very well preserved. And preserves have to be opened, some day.
- Arnie: How come you never came over to visit me before?
- Sam Marlowe: I didn't know you had such a pretty mother, Arnie.
- Arnie: You think she's pretty, you should see my slingshot.
- Deputy Sheriff Calvin Wiggs: Bullets and guns are dangerous. They kill things.
- Sam Marlowe: No one around here could hit a freight car with a cannon.
- Jennifer Rogers: This is what happened. I was in the hotel room alone. I put on my best nightie. You understand?
- Sam Marlowe: Perfectly.
- Jennifer Rogers: Although I had no true feeling for Harry, I had worked myself into a certain enthusiasm because I thought he loved me.
- Sam Marlowe: Must have been hard work.
- Jennifer Rogers: There was a full moon, and I sat by the window because I thought it would show off my new nightie to advantage.
- Sam Marlowe: Naturally.
- Jennifer Rogers: I don't know why I'm telling you all this.
- Jennifer Rogers: He was too good to live.
- Sam Marlowe: From his looks, he didn't appear to be the kind that was "too good."
- Jennifer Rogers: Well, he was. Horribly good.