American Graffiti (1973)

Richard Dreyfuss: Curt

Photos 

Quotes 

• Curt Henderson : You're the most beautiful, exciting thing I've ever seen in my life and I don't know anything about you.

• Curt Henderson : Someone wants me. Someone roaming the streets, wants ME... Will you turn the corner?

• Joe : [wearing sunglasses at night with two other members of the Pharoh's gang]  Whadaya doin' creep?

  Curt Henderson : Who, me?

  Joe : No, I'm talkin' to the other fifty creeps here. You know Gil Gonzales?

  Curt Henderson : Gil Gonzales? No. No, I don't.

  Joe : Don't know Gil huh? Well you oughta. He's a friend of ours and that's his car you got your butt parked on.

• [last lines] 

  John Milner : I know, uh... you probably think you're a big shot, goin' off like this...

  John Milner : [he slaps Curt]  ... but you're still a punk.

  Curt Henderson : OK, John... So long... So long!

  [Steve, Terry, Laurie and John wish Curt goodbye] 

  Terry Fields : Have a good trip!

  Laurie Henderson : Bye, Curt. Good-bye!

• Curt Henderson : Stand by for justice!

• Joe : [waves for Curt to come over]  Get down! OK now, you got it? I'm staying here, you're on your own.

  Curt Henderson : Wait a minute, wait a minute, Joe... wait a minute. What if he hears me?

  Joe : Shhh. Listen, listen! Look at it this way. Now, you got three choices. One, you chicken out and in that case I let Ants tie you to the car and drag you around a little bit and you don't want that. Right?

  Curt Henderson : No.

  Joe : Two, you foul up and Holstein hears you and, well uh... you don't want that, right?

  Curt Henderson : No, I don't.

  Joe : Three, you are successful and you join the Pharaohs with a car coat and a blood initiation and all that, huh?

  [Joe pats Curt on the shoulder and runs back to the car] 

  Curt Henderson : What? Wait a minute, wait a minute! What blood initiation?

• Curt Henderson : You know Toby Juarez? Toby Juarez, he's a Pharaoh isn't he?

  Joe : Toby Juarez? Sure, we know Toby. We killed him last night. Tied him to a car and dragged him.

• Steve Bolander : Where are you going? It's awfully early in the morning.

  Curt Henderson : [pause]  I have a dentist appointment.

• Curt Henderson : [to the mysterious blonde, driving off after mouthing "I love you" to him]  What did you say? Wait, what did you say?

• Curt Henderson : Are you the Wolfman?

  XERB Disc Jockey : No, man. I'm not the Wolfman. Wait a minute.

  [puts in a tape] 

  Wolfman Recording : "Who is this on the Wolfman Telephone?".

  Diane : "Diane".

  Wolfman Recording : "How you doing, Diane?".

  XERB Disc Jockey : That's the Wolfman.

• Laurie Henderson : Come on, Curt. We can't be spending half the night chasing girls after you.

  Curt Henderson : Laurie, I'm telling you, this was the most perfect, dazzling creature I've ever seen!

  Steve Bolander : She's gone. Forget it.

  Curt Henderson : She spoke to me! She spoke to me, right through the window! I think she said, "I love you." That means nothing to you people? You have no romance, no soul? She - someone wants me. Someone roaming the streets wants me! Will you turn the corner?

• Wendy : I gotta go.

  Curt Henderson : Where are you going?

  Wendy : Nowhere.

  Curt Henderson : Well, do you mind if I come along?

• Joe : There's that badass Chevy again. Look at the snatch he's got with him.

  Ants : Hey, man, he looks like a wimp.

  Curt Henderson : Probably is. Wimps get all the snatch.

  Carlos : Milner ain't gonna beat that. His time has come. He's getting old. He ain't as fast as he used to be.

• [first lines] 

  Terry Fields : Hey, what do you say, Curt? Last night in town... you guys gonna have a little bash before you leave?

  Steve Bolander : The Moose have been looking for you all day.

  [hands a check to Curt] 

  Steve Bolander : They got worried... thought you were trying to avoid them or something.

  Terry Fields : What is it? What do ya got?

  Curt Henderson : Oh, great.

  Terry Fields : That's $2,000 man! Two thousand dollars!

  Steve Bolander : Mr. Jennings gave it to me to give to you. He says he's sorry it's so late, but it's the first scholarship the Moose Lodge has given out. And he, uh, says they're all very proud of you back at the lodge.

  Curt Henderson : Cute. Why don't you hold it for me for awhile?

  Steve Bolander : Hey, I don't want it. Take it... it's yours.

  Terry Fields : I'll take it!

• Wendy : I thought you were going away to school.

  Curt Henderson : Ah, maybe. Maybe. What?

  Wendy : Same old Curt. All the time we were going together you never knew what you were doing.

• Curt Henderson : Listen, I still gotta find that blonde.

• Curt Henderson : Why is it every girl that comes around here is ugly? Or has a boyfriend? Where is the dazzling beauty I've been searching for all my life?

  John Milner : Yeah, I know what you mean. The pickin's are really gettin' slim. The whole strip is shrinking! Ah, you know, I remember about five years ago, take you a couple of hours and a tank full of gas just to make one circuit. It was really somethin.'

• Joe : Hey, where ya goin?

  Curt Henderson : Ah, nowhere.

  Joe : Ya must be going someplace. I mean ya left here, didn't ya?

• Curt Henderson : [to Bobbie, from the back seat with Wendy]  To the Opera, James.

  Bobbie : Drop dead!

  Curt Henderson : Unless you want to go to Gallo Dam and have a little orgy.

  Wendy : You wish!

  Curt Henderson : No. I could pick up some oleomargarine and we could roll around in it for awhile.

• XERB Disc Jockey : [on the radio]  Sneakin' around with the Wolfman, baby. Oh, this is gonna strike a raw nerve, mama. Here's the Platters.

  Curt Henderson : [singing]  Oh, yes, I'm the Great Pretender, O-wah! O-wah!

• Curt Henderson : Hey, any of you guys know a blonde in a white T-Bird?

  Joe : Yeah, I know her, what about it?

  Curt Henderson : I'm trying to find out, you know, who she is.

  Joe : She's outta your price range, man. My brother's been out with her. He clued me in.

  Curt Henderson : Price range? Are you trying to tell me that she's a prostitute?

  Joe : That's right. She's a thirty dollar Sheri. Jesus, can you imagine that? Thirty bucks for that broad.

  Curt Henderson : We got to be thinking about two different broads.

• Mr. Wolfe : I thought you'd left.

  Curt Henderson : No, not yet. I have no matches.

  Mr. Wolfe : That's all right.

  [strikes a match and lights his cigarette] 

  Mr. Wolfe : Brother, how do I get stuck with dance supervision? Will you tell me that? You going back east? Boy, I remember the day I went off. Got drunk as hell the night before, just...

  Curt Henderson : Blotto.

  Mr. Wolfe : Blotto, exactly. Barfed on the train all the next day, too.

  Curt Henderson : Cute, very cute. Where'd you go again?

  Mr. Wolfe : Middlebury, Vermont.

  Curt Henderson : Right.

  Mr. Wolfe : Got a scholarship.

  Curt Henderson : Only stayed a semester?

  Mr. Wolfe : One semester. After all that, I came back here.

  Curt Henderson : Why did you come back?

  Mr. Wolfe : I decided I wasn't the competitive type.

  [pauses] 

  Mr. Wolfe : I don't know, maybe I was scared.

  Curt Henderson : Well, I uh - I think I may find that I'm not the competitive type myself.

  Mr. Wolfe : What do you mean?

  Curt Henderson : Well, I'm not really sure that I'm

  [pauses] 

  Curt Henderson : going.

  Mr. Wolfe : Hey now, don't be stupid. Experience life! Have some fun, Curt! Anyway, good luck.

• Mr. Gordon : Hey, what are you punks doing? What's going on here?

  Joe : I'm just uh...

  Curt Henderson : Oh, hi, Mr. Gordon. What's up?

• Curt Henderson : You gonna go after him?

  John Milner : Hey, listen, Professor, if he can't find me, then he ain't worth racin', right?

  Curt Henderson : The big shot!

• Wendy : Did you know that my ex is going to become a presidential aide?

  Bobbie : Yeah?

  Wendy : And it's a secret, so don't tell anybody, but, his greatest ambition is to shake hands with President Kennedy. How do you suppose you're going to do that wishy-washy at J.C.?

  Curt Henderson : Well, maybe I've grown up. Maybe I changed my mind.

  Wendy , Bobbie : Doubt it.

• Joe : Listen, eh, Carl.

  Curt Henderson : Curt.

  Joe : Curt!

  Curt Henderson : Curt.

  Joe : Despite you scratching Gil's car, I like you. And I know what you'd like more than anything right now. Like every guy in town, you got the same secret dream, right? You want to be a Pharaoh. Huh? Go ahead, you can admit it.