Carol for Another Christmas (1964 TV Movie)

Ben Gazzara: Fred

Quotes 

• Fred : [just before walking out the front door and leaving his uncle's home]  'Peace on earth, good will to men' - to *all* men, by the way.

• Daniel Grudge : [not wanting to allow a Polish literature professor come to the United States as part of a foreign exchange program]  Get smart, boy. We've been diggin' his kind out of the woodwork for years. You don't really expect *me* to be a party to inviting one of them in here, now do you? Hahaha, nah. No, he stays on his side of the fence, and Harris stays on ours. Get used to the idea.

  Fred : When you finally go, that'll be your epitaph, won't it?: 'Here lies Daniel Grudge - on his side of the fence.' Well, get used to this idea, uncle: There are certain fences the world can no longer afford.

  Daniel Grudge : Quite a wall through Berlin, I've heard tell.

  Fred : Exactly - a fence. And who put it there? You think it's right?

  Daniel Grudge : [as he intimidatingly approaches Fred]  Alright, Fred, turn it off - right now. There's only one side I'm on; first, last, and always: Our side. Don't you ever forget that, and spread it around. I want all the various members of your domestic and international orders of the bleeding hearts to know precisely where Daniel Grudge stands. 'Cause anytime you, or one of your fuzzy fellow do-gooders tries to get me, or friends of mine - or my city, state, or country - involved in any of your so-called causes, then I intend to be there everytime with a body block that'll throw all of you flat on your... involved butts.

• Daniel Grudge : [bitterly noting the loss of his son's life in war]  I give them a son, and they give me back his affects. That, I submit to you, is a lousy bargain.

  Fred : Nobody could argue that. The point is, that kind of bargaining has got to stop.

• Daniel Grudge : Get out.

  Fred : Merry Christmas, by the way.

  Daniel Grudge : Yes, so it is. And tonight, especially tonight, I'm in no mood for the brotherhood of man. Do you mind? I've heard that speech - and heard it. Oh, I've had it with you, Fred. With all of you, I've had it - right up to here.

  [brings his hand up to his neck] 

  Daniel Grudge : Mind your own business - and let everybody else mind their's! Your responsibility happens to be your classroom. *Not* classrooms in Cracow, Poland; Butte, Montana; or Johannesburg, South Africa. Do you insist upon making it a better world? Won't you die happy until you do? Do you insist on helping the needy and oppressed? Is that some kind of an itch that you can't stop scratching? Then, tell them to help themselves. Let 'em know the cash drawers closed and make 'em believe it! You'll be surprised how much less needy and oppressed, the needy and oppressed turn out to be. But, you've heard that one before - and heard it! No, I can't change you. And you can't change me. So just, stay out of my way, Fred. Out of my house - and out of my life.

• Fred : Do you know what he teaches? Do you know what Kozinofski and Harris both teach? Eighteenth Century European Literature. What's that got to do with politics?

  Daniel Grudge : I don't know - and I'm not interested in finding out.

• Daniel Grudge : It wasn't his war.

  Fred : No war is anybody's war!

  Daniel Grudge : I'm not talking about anybody. How do we stay out? By getting ourselves involved with the same people, the same problems, the same places? None of them our business. Is that your answer? Involvement? A hop head's pipe dream in which everybody, yellow, black, and white, gets thrown into one pot - and out comes a stew called world brotherhood - which mankind lives forever in peace and putrefaction. Is that your answer?

• Daniel Grudge : I have a Christmas present for you, Fred. Call it a contribution, if you like. To all your causes, involvements, exchanges, cultural and otherwise, whatever terms you apply to international freeloading on our pocketbook. If you have this overpowering concern for everybody, everywhere in the world, here's your answer: Just you put your efforts, sweat, and faith into developing the fastest bombers and the most powerful missiles on earth. They'll provide a lot more security for our young, and for the rest of the world's young, than all your debating societies, forums, treaties, pacts and other forms of surrender and handout.

  Fred : That's quite an answer, Uncle Dan, for today. But, what about tomorrow? Of course, you'll grant all other nations an equal right to put their faith and sweat and effort in trying to make their bombs faster and more powerful than ours.

  Daniel Grudge : Just let 'em try it.

  Fred : Each behind its own fence. Each capable, eventually, of destroying everything and everybody else. And each uninvolved with the other.

  Daniel Grudge : Uninvolved with us? I'll settle for that. Just let 'em know we have the biggest and the fastest. Just let 'em know we're not too chicken to use 'em.

• Daniel Grudge : So long as there are children, I suppose there are possibilities.

  Fred : So long as there are children, there has to be possibilities.