Vertigo (1958)

James Stewart: John 'Scottie' Ferguson

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Scottie : Don't you think its kind of a waste for the two of us...

  Madeleine : To wander separately? But, only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere.

• Scottie : You shouldn't keep souvenirs of a killing. You shouldn't have been that sentimental.

• Scottie : One final thing I have to do... and then I'll be free of the past.

• Scottie : I hope we will, too.

  Madeleine : What?

  Scottie : Meet again sometime.

  Madeleine : We have.

• Scottie : And then what did he do? Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do, what to say? You were a very apt pupil too, weren't you? You were a very apt pupil! Well, why did you pick on me? Why me?

• Judy : If I let you change me, will that do it? If I do what you tell me, will you love me?

  Scottie : Yes. Yes.

  Judy : All right. All right then, I'll do it. I don't care anymore about me.

• Judy : Couldn't you like me, just me the way I am? When we first started out, it was so good; w-we had fun. And... and then you started in on the clothes. Well, I'll wear the darn clothes if you want me to, if, if you'll just, just like me.

  Scottie : The color of your hair...

  Judy : Oh, no!

  Scottie : Judy, please, it can't matter to you.

• Scottie : Midge, who do you know that's an authority on San Francisco history?

  Midge : That's the kind of greeting a girl likes! Not this "Hello-you-look-wonderful" stuff, just a good straight "Who do you know that's an authority on San Francisco his - -"

  [interrupted] 

• Scottie : I love you, Madeleine.

  Madeleine : I love you, too. It's too late.

  Scottie : No, no, we're together.

  Madeleine : It's too late. There's something I must do...

  Scottie : [kisses her passionately]  No, there is nothing you must do. There is nothing you must do. No one possesses you. You're safe with me.

  Madeleine : [frantically]  No, it's too late

  [Madeleine breaks free and runs across the courtyard. Scottie trails behind her, eventually catching up to her. He holds her tightly] 

  Madeleine : Look, it's not fair. It's too late. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. It *shouldn't* have happened...

  Scottie : But it had to happen. We're in love. That's all that counts!

  Madeleine : [struggling]  Look. Let me go! Please let me go!

  Scottie : Listen to me. Listen to me.

  Madeleine : [calmly]  You believe I love you?

  Scottie : Yes.

  Madeleine : And if you lose me, then you'll know I, I loved you. And I wanted to go on loving you.

  Scottie : I won't lose you.

  Madeleine : Let me go into the church - alone.

  Scottie : Why?

  [they kiss for the last time. Scottie releases his grip and Madeleine walks away towards the bell tower] 

• Scottie : Anyone could become obsessed with the past with a background like that!

• Scottie : [to Judy, after being taken to the scene of Madeline's death]  No, no. I have to tell you about Madeleine now. Right there.

  [Pointing] 

  Scottie : We stood there and I kissed her for the last time, and she said, 'If you lose me you'll know that I loved you and wanted to keep on loving you.' And I said, 'I won't lose you.' But I did.

  [pause] 

  Scottie : And then she turned and ran into the church. I tried to follow, but it was too late.

• Gavin Elster : She'll be talking to me about something. Suddenly the words fade into silence. A cloud comes into her eyes and they go blank. She's somewhere else, away from me, someone I don't know. I call to her, she doesn't even hear me. Then, with a long sigh, she's back. Looks at me brightly, doesn't even know she's been away, can't tell me where or when.

  Scottie : How often does this happen?

  Gavin Elster : More and more in the past few weeks. And she wanders. God knows where she wanders. I followed her one day, watched her coming out of the apartment, someone I didn't know. She even walked a different way. Got into her car and drove off to Golden Gate Park. Five miles. Sat by the lake, staring across the water at the pillars that stand on the far shore. You know, Portals of the Past. Sat there a long time without moving. I had to leave, get back to the office. When I got home that evening, I asked her what she'd done all day. She said she'd driven out to Golden Gate Park and sat by the lake, that's all.

  Scottie : Well?

  Gavin Elster : The speedometer on her car showed that she'd driven ninety-four miles. Where did she go? I've got to know, Scottie, where she goes and what she does before I get involved with doctors.

• Madeleine : Oh Scottie. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I don't want to die. There's someone within me and she says I must die. Oh Scottie, don't let me go.

  Scottie : I'm here. I've got you.

  Madeleine : I'm so afraid.

  [Scottie and Madeleine kiss] 

  Madeleine : Don't leave me. Stay with me.

  Scottie : All the time.

• Scottie : What's this doohickey?

  Midge : It's a brassiere! You know about those things, you're a big boy now.

  Scottie : I've never run across one like that.

  Midge : It's brand new. Revolutionary up-lift: No shoulder straps, no back straps, but it does everything a brassiere should do. Works on the principle of the cantilevered bridge.

  Scottie : It does?

  Midge : An aircraft engineer down the peninsula designed it; he worked it out in his spare time.

  Scottie : Kind of a hobby, a do-it-yourself kind of thing!

• Madeleine : There is something I must do, there is something I must do.

  Scottie : There is nothing you must do. There is nothing you must do.

• Scottie : I got a call from Gavin today. It's funny. He sort of dropped out of sight during the war. Somebody said he went East. I guess he's back. It's a Mission number.

  Midge : That's Skid Row... isn't it?

  Scottie : Could be.

  Midge : He's probably on the bum and wants to set you for the price of a drink.

  Scottie : Well, I'm on the bum; I'll buy him a couple of drinks and tell him my troubles.

• Scottie : What's this do-hickey?

  Midge : It's a brassiere! You know about those things. You're a big boy, now.

  Scottie : I've never run across one like that.

  Midge : It's brand new. Revolutionary uplift. No shoulder straps, no back straps, but does everything a brassiere should do. It works on the principle of the cantilever bridge.

  Scottie : It does?

  Midge : Uh-hu. An aircraft engineer down the peninsula designed it. He worked it out in his spare time.

  Scottie : A kind of a hobby. A do-it-yourself type of thing.

• Midge : What have you been doing?

  Scottie : Wandering. What have you been doing?

  [Midge hands him a drink] 

  Scottie : Thanks, dear.

  Midge : Oh, I'm having a wonderful time. I've gone back to my first love: painting.

  Scottie : Well, good for you. I always said you were wasting your time in the underwear department.

• Scottie : I'm responsible for you now. You know, the Chinese say that once you have saved a person's life, you're responsible for it forever. And so I'm committed. And I have to know.

  Madeleine : So little do I know. It is as though I were walking down a long corridor that - that once was mirrored, and fragments of that mirror still hang there. And when I come to the end of the corridor, there's nothing but darkness. And I know that when I walk into the darkness, that I'll die.

• Scottie : Midge, do you suppose many men wear corsets?

  Midge : More than you think.

  Scottie : Really? Do you know that from personal experience? Or?

  Midge : Please!

• Midge : I thought you said no more aches and pains?

  Scottie : It's this darned corset. It binds.

  Midge : No three-way stretch? How very un-chic.

• Scottie : What is her name?

  Manager of McKittrick Hotel : Valdes. Miss Valdes. It's Spanish, you know.

  Scottie : Carlotta Valdes?

  Manager of McKittrick Hotel : Yes, that's it. Sweet name, isn't it? Foreign. But sweet.

• Scottie : I think I can lick it.

• Scottie : Can I ask you a couple of questions?

  Judy : What for? Who are you?

  Scottie : My name's John Ferguson.

  Judy : Is this some kind of Gallup poll?

• Scottie : You remind me of somebody.

  Judy : I heard that one before, too. I remind you of someone you used to be madly in love with, but she ditched you for another guy, and you've been carrying the torch ever since, and you saw me and something clicked. Huh?

  Scottie : You're not far wrong.

  Judy : Well, it's not going to work.

• Judy : Do you live here in the hotel?

  Scottie : No, I happened to see you when you came in, so, I thought I'd...

  Judy : Yeah, I thought so. A pick-up! Well, you've got a nerve. Follow me right into the hotel and up to my room! Now, you beat it! Go on and beat it!

• Judy : I warn you, I can yell awfully loud.

  Scottie : You won't have to.

  Judy : Well, you don't look very much like Jack the Ripper.

• Judy : I have to go to work. I've got a job.

  Scottie : Don't go to your job.

  Judy : And what'll I live on? My oil wells in Texas?

  Scottie : Let me take care of you, Judy.

  Judy : Thanks very much, but, no thanks.

  Scottie : No, Judy, you don't understand.

  Judy : Well, I understand, all right. I've been understanding since I was seventeen. And the next step is?

• Scottie : I need you.

  Judy : Why?

  Scottie : I need you to be Madeleine for awhile.

• Scottie : Come here.

  Judy : Oh, no. You'll muss me.

  Scottie : Well, that's what I had in mind. Come here.

  Judy : Too late. I got my face on.

• Scottie : Midge, don't be so motherly.

• Scottie : I'm supposed to be retired. I don't want to get mixed up in this darn thing.

• Scottie : I'm not telling you what I think! I'm telling you what *he* thinks!

• Scottie : What are you thinking?

  Madeleine : Of all the people who have been born and have died while the trees went on living.

  Scottie : Their true name is Sequoia Sempervirens: always green, ever- living.

  Madeleine : I don't like them.

  Scottie : Why?

  Madeleine : Knowing I have to die...

• Judy : Dinner and what else?

  Scottie : Just dinner.

  Judy : Cause I remind you of her?

  Scottie : Because I'd like to have dinner with you.

  Judy : Well, I've been on blind dates before. A matter of fact, to be honest, I've been picked up before. Okay.

• Scottie : We could just see a lot of each other.

  Judy : Why? Because I remind you of her? Not very complementary. And nothing else?

  Scottie : No.

  Judy : Not very complementary, either.

• Scottie : One doesn't often get a second chance. I want to stop being haunted. You're my second chance, Judy. You're my second chance.

• Judy : Scottie, why are we here?

  Scottie : I told you. I have to go back into the past once more. Just, once more. For the last time.