Karl Malden credited as playing...
Shooter
- Shooter: Well, Lancey, are we all set for Monday night?
- Lancey Howard: Uh-huh.
- Shooter: I can get Lady Fingers to come.
- Lancey Howard: Lady Fingers? I haven't seen that old bitch - oh, it must be at least ten years;long enough to think of her almost fondly.
- [Shooter's wife Melba is altering a jigsaw puzzle piece with a nail file]
- Shooter: Melba, why do you do that?
- Melba: So it'll fit, stupid.
- Shooter: No, I'm not talking about that. What I'm asking is... do you, uh, have to cheat at everything?
- Melba: At everything?
- Shooter: Yes. At... solitaire. I've yet to see you play one game of solitaire without cheating.
- Melba: So what?
- Shooter: Look, you're just cheating yourself, don't you understand? You'll be the loser, no one else but yourself!... You've ruined the puzzle, now, that doesn't go in there.
- [She forces the altered piece into place]
- Melba: Does now.
- Slade: Six stacks, is that right, Shooter?
- Shooter: Six.
- Slade: Well, we've been playing 30 hours... uh, that rate, six thousand, that makes roughly, uh, $200 an hour. Thank you for the entertainment, gentlemen. I am particularly grateful to Lancey, here; it's been a rewarding experience to watch a great artist at work. Thank you for the privilege, sir.
- Lancey Howard: Well now, you're quite welcome, son. It's a pleasure to meet someone who understands that to the true gambler, money is never an end in itself, it's simply a tool, as a language is to thought. Good evening, uh... Mr. Slade.
- Slade: Good evening, Mr. Howard.
- [Slade blackmails Shooter into cheating on his dealing so the Kid will beat Howard]
- Shooter: Hey, why are you doing this? It can't be for money.
- Slade: Yes, for my kind of money, gut money. I wanta to see that smug old bastard gutted. Gutted!
- Shooter: Like he gutted you.
- Slade: Yes, that's right, that's right!
- Shooter: You've been the man for a long time...
- Lancey Howard: That is undoubtedly true but don't let that fool you. I'm not ready to retire yet.
- Shooter: Gentlemen, this game is five-card stud poker. There's no limit. No string bets. You can check and raise. A dead man has one half-hour to raise his roll outside and get back in the game.
- [deals]
- Shooter: Ace. Seven. Nine. Nine. Trey. Dealer guns up a 10. Ace bets.
- Lancey Howard: Ten dollars.
- Sokal: Call the sawbuck.
- Yeller: I'll play.
- Cincinnati Kid: I'm in.
- Pig: Off and running.
- Shooter: Dealer folds.
- [deals]
- Shooter: Eight to the ace. King to the seven. Queen to the nine. Pair of nines. Deuce. Pair of nines bets.
- Cincinnati Kid: Double sawbuck.
- Pig: I don't chase the nines.
- Lancey Howard: Hold.
- Sokal: I fold.
- Shooter: [deals new game] Queen. Four. Ten. King. King. And an ace to the man.
- Lancey Howard: Ace bets $25.
- Yeller: And I can't get started.
- Slade: How's your Melba these days?
- Shooter: Melba? Well, she's fine. Just fine.
- Slade: Yeah, she's a nice girl, Melba. A girl with quality and taste. Expensive tastes, I would imagine.
- Shooter: Well, I guess you might say that, yes.
- Slade: Well, that's as it should be. That's one of the great feminine characteristics. Taste for fine things. Of course, we can't always afford to indulge their tastes. That's the tragedy of it. That's when they start to drift away.