Paul Newman: William F. Cody
Photos
Quotes
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : My daddy was killed tryin' to keep slavery outta Kansas.
Oswald Dart : How'd he do that, sir?
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Well, my daddy hated slavery with such a passion, that rather than let the coloreds get in to becomin' slaves, he just fought to keep 'em all out of the state.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Tell me what you got on your mind.
William Halsey : [Speaking for Sitting Bull] Sitting Bull has said that he is here by the will of the Great Spirit, and by their will he is chief. His heart is red and sweet. Whatever passes near tries to lick him with its tongue, and the bears taste the honey, and the green leaves lick the sky. If the Great Spirit has chosen anyone to be leader of their land, it is Sitting Bull.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Halsey, you tell Sitting Bull that Buffalo Bill says his leaves can turn whichever way he wants as long as he knows which way the wind is blowing.
[Sits down. To his advisors]
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : I give him back the same kind of murky logic that he gave us. Whatya think, um?
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President Grover Cleveland : Where will you sleep, Buffalo Bill?
Ed Goodman : You can sleep with me, Uncle Will.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : No, Ed, I will sleep out on the prairie underneath the moon and listen to the lullaby of the coyotes. You see, I ain't always been a comfortable man.
President Grover Cleveland : You know, it's a man like that that made this country what it is today!
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Remember, son, the last thing that a man wants to do is the last thing he does.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Where were ya?
William Halsey : It's the first of the moon.
Nate Salisbury : That's not what Buffalo Bill asked ya! Now where in the hell have you been?
William Halsey : During the first day of the first moon, Sitting Bull visits the sun in the mountains while his squaws move the teepees to the moon path.
Nate Salisbury : Damn it, Halsey! Stop sunning and mooning us! Now where the hell have you been?
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : The difference between a white man and an injun in all situations is that an injun is red. And an injun is red for a very good reason. So we can tell us apart! We can tell us apart.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
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[to Sitting Bull's ghost]
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : My God, look at ya! Look at ya! You want to stay the same! Well, that's going backwards!
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Me and my staff are simply the best at what we do. And what we do is to make the best look better.
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Maj. John M. Burke : Gentlemen! In this moment, fraught with friendship, with history humming harmonic overtones, Bill, I have the distinct pleasure of presenting Chief Sitting Bull. Chief, it gives me pleasure to present to you the Honorable William F. Cody, Buffalo Bill!
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Well, I would just like to take this occasion to congratulate you on your safe journey, and to extend a titanically momentous welcome to Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Well, what does she have to say this time?
Ed Goodman : [reading a letter] "Dear husband, your deeds as a frontier hero are pale compared to your adventures with opera singers and milk maids."
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : I ain't gonna put up with it! You ain't gonna put up. *We* ain't gonna put up with it! It's bedlam in here. I can't think. I'm gonna lie down and take a nap.
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William Halsey : He will own his own photographs.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Hell he will! I got all photographic rights and historics!
William Halsey : Sitting Bull says a man may never let go of his face. Therefore, he will own his own photographs.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : My ass!
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : [waking up] What the hell are you doin' here?
William Halsey : Sitting Bull has come to tell you what he will do in your show.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Show? God, the sun ain't hardly up yet!
William Halsey : Sitting Bull's thoughts do not have a time schedule.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : I could expect disrespect from anybody except you.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Bull's gonna suffer a worse defeat than Custer ever did. Custer could die. Bull's just gonna get humiliated.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : [to Lucille DuCharme] Morning! You're up. Listen, I, eh, I'm really sorry about last night. It was the first show of the season, and the boys like to kick up a little dust. I don't like to have them drink alone. I must have been kind of a disappointment. You look awful pretty in that light. Actually, eh, I've become something of a morning man. Now, there's no pressure. You see, at night - and the whisky we get here is, eh, kinda dulls the...
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Ned Buntline : You ain't changed, Bill.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : I ain't supposed to. That's why people pay to see me.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : I'm curious, Chief. My friends are curious. My women are curious. My fans are curious. And they pay me for it. I give 'em what they expect. You can't live up to what you expect. And that makes you more make-believe than me, 'cause you don't even know if you're bluffin'!
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Bull! Bull! Damn you! You see, in a hundred years, I'm still gonna be Buffalo Bill, star! And you're gonna be the Injun. My God, look at you. Look at you. You wanna stay the same. Well, that's goin' backwards!
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : I'm smart enough to know that the difference between a white man and an Injun, in a situation like this, is us whites are smart enough to know that an Injun always turns down your first offer.
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Ed Goodman : He must be the big one in the red blanket. Sure don't look like no ordinary Injun.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : I ain't buyin' no ordinary Injun.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Ah, listen. You go on over there now, and get rid of him without me tellin' him. And don't you tell me that you told him.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Margaret, I've been sittin' here thinkin' about us.
Margaret : I'm glad, Bill.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : The more I think about us, the less I think about Sittin' Bull, and that ain't good for the Wild West.
Margaret : I'd never interfere with the Wild West.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : The point bein', that little bastard ain't gonna make my life easy. I can't deal with him and deal with you, and be my best at the both; so, what I'm tryin' to say is, I think it's time for you to go.
Margaret : Oh, no, Bill, no.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : And the quicker you go, the quicker you can start missin' me.
Margaret : [sings] Alas, my love, You do me wrong, To cast me off, Discourteously...
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Oh, Chief, we got a colored standin' in place for you 'cause he's the closest thing on our staff to a real Injun.
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Lucille DuCharme : Why, what a shot you are! My second husband, Count Eggenweiler, was a champion trap shooter.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Trap shootin's a different thing, ma'am, not takin' anything away from your second, eh...
Lucille DuCharme : Deceased.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : [smiles] Husband. He used a shotgun that sprayed. The pistol's a more - exactin' weapon.
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Maj. John M. Burke : Buffalo Bill, monarch of the West, it delights me to present this compellingly cornucopias canary, this curvaceous cadenza in the compendium of classical chanson, this collation of champagne and columbine, this cultivated coloratura from Colorado - words fail me - Lucille DuCharme.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Of course. Handel's "Rinaldo".
Lucille DuCharme : [sings] Ah-*Ah*-Ahhh, Ah-Ah-Ah-*Ah*-Ah, Ah-*Ah*-*Ah*, Ah-Ah, Che crudel!
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Why is everything such a big problem around here?
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : [to Lucille DuCharme] You know, knowing that you're layin' there waitin' for me will only serve to stiffen my resolve.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : May the sun never set on this great nation, unless it comes up again in the mornin'.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : You know, it's too bad the Injuns can't learn from you coloreds. But then of course they'd have nothin' to fuss about and Injuns do like to fuss about.
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Ned Buntline : Well, I'll be damned! Buffalo Bill himself.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Hi, Ned.
Ned Buntline : Buy an old friend a drink, Bill?
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Another glass.
Ned Buntline : I was beginnin' to think you didn't exist. But here you are in the glorious flesh and what a sight for sore eyes! Oh, you sure passed me by. Like plantin' a seed and watchin' it grow into a tree, too tall to climb. You got everything you ever wanted, my friend. You even got the President of the United States sleepin' in your bed, right now.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Let's forget all that stuff, Ned, and get drunk.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Well, Mr. President, I - I know you're tired and wanna hit the hay. My personal bed is at your disposal.
Old Soldier : Oh, Buffalo Billy!
President Grover Cleveland : That's very nice.
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Ain't hardly even been used.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Mr. President, I now understand why you're our President. It's uncanny. That basic pioneer perception. You see, the difference between a President and a Chief in a situation like this, is the President always knows enough to retaliate before it's his turn.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : God meant for me to be white. God meant for me to be white. And it ain't easy. I got people with no lives - they're livin' through me. They're proud people, but they're people to worry about.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Listen, did I ever tell you that I hold the record for a continuous ride on the Pony Express? 322 miles in eighteen days.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : I'll see you around.
Ned Buntline : See you in hell, Bill!
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Custer was a star. Oh, he was a good man. Gave coffee and sugar to the... Oh, don't do that. He was a good man. He gave the Injuns reason to be famous.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : How come all of ya took him for a king?
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : You see, I ain't got nobody to talk to. Except you. And you ain't even there.
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William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : What did Bull ever do for you?
Annie Oakley : He wanted to show the truth to the people. Why can't you accept that just once?
William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody : Because I got a better sense of history than that. Besides, I say what goes on in this show, not some Goddamn Injun runt and his half-assed half-breed!