James Stewart: Charlie Anderson

Shenandoah

Charlie Anderson

Charlie Anderson: Do you like her?
Lt. Sam: Well, I just said I...
Charlie Anderson: No, no. You just said you loved her. There's some difference between lovin' and likin'. When I married Jennie's mother, I-I didn't love her - I liked her... I liked her a lot. I liked Martha for at least three years after we were married and then one day it just dawned on me I loved her. I still do... still do. You see, Sam, when you love a woman without likin' her, the night can be long and cold, and contempt comes up with the sun.

Charlie Anderson: It's no easy job, Sam, to take care of a woman.
Lt. Sam: No, sir.
Charlie Anderson: They expect things they never ask for. And when they don't get them, they ask you why. Sometimes they don't ask... and just go ahead and punish you for not doing something you didn't know you were supposed to do in the first place.

[the family is saying grace]
Charlie Anderson: Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvest it. We cook the harvest. It wouldn't be here and we wouldn't be eating it if we hadn't done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you Lord just the same for the food we're about to eat, amen.

Lt. Johnson: When are you going to take this war seriously, Anderson?
Charlie Anderson: Now let me tell you something, Johnson, before you get on my wrong side. My corn I take seriously, because it's mine. And my potatoes and tomatoes and my fence I take note of because they're mine. But this war is not mine and I don't take note of it.

[at the site of his wife's grave]
Charlie Anderson: I don't even know what to say to you any more, Martha. There's not much I can tell you about this war. It's like all wars, I guess. The undertakers are winning. And the politicians who talk about the glory of it. And the old men who talk about the need of it. And the soldiers, well, they just wanna go home. I guess you're not so lonely any more, with Ann and James and Jacob. And maybe the boy. You didn't know Ann, did you? Well, you'd like her. You'd like her, Martha. Why, she and James are so much alike, they're just like... no... no... we were never that much alike, were we Martha? We just sorta grew alike through the years. But I wish, I wish I could just know what you're thinking about it all, Martha. And maybe it wouldn't seem so bad to me if I knew what you thought about it.
[He notices the church bells are ringing]
Charlie Anderson: You never give up, do you?

Charlie Anderson: Can you give me one good reason why I should send my family, that took me a lifetime to raise, down that road like a bunch of damn fools to do somebody else's fightin'?
Lt. Johnson: Virginia needs all of her sons, Mr. Anderson.
Charlie Anderson: That might be so, Johnson - but these are *my* sons! They don't belong to the state. When they were babies, I never saw the state comin' around with a spare tit. We never asked anything of the state, and never expected anything. We do our own livin', and thanks to no man for the right.

Charlie Anderson: [a young Confederate picket has just shot one of Anderson's sons] Dead. Dead! How old are you? How old?
Young Picket on Road: Sixteen.
Charlie Anderson: [In a rage, but restraining himself] Six - Sixteen. I'm not gonna' kill you. I want you to live! I want you to live to be an old man. And I want you to have many... many, many children. And I want you to feel about your children then... the way I feel about mine now! And someday, when a man comes along and kills one of 'em, I want you to remember! I want you to remember.

Charlie Anderson: Jacob, you look like you got somthin' on your mind. Go ahead, say what you think.
Jacob Anderson: We've been through it all before.
Charlie Anderson: Now now, don't pat around with me. You were raised to say what you think. You were all raised to say what you think. If there's anything I can't stand, it's a lot of noisy silence. Now, come on, let's have some talkin' here.
[Jacob stands up]
Charlie Anderson: Well, if you're going to make a speech, I'm sorry I said it.

Charlie Anderson: I was talking to Henry.
Henry Anderson: Sir?
Charlie Anderson: Well, what do you think?
Henry Anderson: Well, no sir, I wouldn't.
Charlie Anderson: Why not?
Henry Anderson: I don't see any reason to fight for something I don't believe is right and I don't think a real friend would ask me to.

[pouring whiskey to celebrate the birth of his granddaughter]
Charlie Anderson: How old are you now, Boy?
Boy Anderson: Eighteen, sir.
Charlie Anderson: That means you'll be twenty in four years. Eighteen to you, sixteen to me.
Boy Anderson: Just a little bit, sir. I've never tasted it.
Charlie Anderson: Well, that's no good reason at all. I've known men who've been drinkin' hard and steady all their lives that have never tasted it, either.

[Sam has ordered his men to go home]
Lt. Sam: I had no right to tell him that, but these men can't go through another fight. We knew before we went into the last one we couldn't win.
Charlie Anderson: Then why'd you do it, Sam?
Lt. Sam: Easier than runnin', I gues.

Charlie Anderson: That fella, Tinkham - he's the only man I know that started at the bottom and went down in the world. He'd steal horses for nothing and now he gets paid for it.

Charlie Anderson: What about you, James? You ever think you might like to own a slave?
James Anderson: Well, I guess I never thought about it, Pa.
Charlie Anderson: Well, think about it! Think about it! If you had money would you go out and buy a slave?
James Anderson: No sir, I wouldn't.
Charlie Anderson: Why not?
James Anderson: Well, if I can't do my own work with my own hands it'd never get done.

[at the site of Charlie's wife's grave]
Jennie Anderson: You still miss her, don't you?
Charlie Anderson: Jennie, you don't know how I feel. Even after all these years, 16 years gone, 16 years. And even so, I somehow feel that she's not really dead but just resting. And it's as though I'm expecting her to get up and walk home with me.

Boy Anderson: What'd I do?
Charlie Anderson: It's what you haven't done, boy. A man who eats with his hat on is going nowhere in a hurry. Now, your mother wanted you all raised as good Christians, and I may not be able to do that thorny job as well as she could, but I can do something about your manners.

Pastor Bjoerling: Charlie Anderson, I wonder if you'd be good enough to tell me why you even bother coming to services. Meaning no disrespect, of course.
Charlie Anderson: It was my wife's last request, Pastor Bjoerling. Meaning no disrespect, of course.

Charlie Anderson: I'm glad you're here, Johnson. I've been meaning to have a word with your people about those cannons of yours. The chickens have stopped laying, the cows have dried up. Who do I send the bill to?