Goin' South (1978)

Jack Nicholson: Henry Moon

Photos 

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Quotes 

• [to a homely woman who's sizing him up for matrimony] 

  Henry Moon : I wouldn't take you to a dog-fight if you was the defendin' champ!

• Deputy Towfield : [of Moon's marriage]  It's bad, huh?

  Henry Moon : Like eggs rolled in sand.

• Henry Moon : Well, I ain't no slab of meat to be auctioned off, but, what the hell. Fine by me.

• Henry Moon : I'll never forget you, Hermine. You's the first woman I didn't have to pay for. Adiós.

• Henry Moon : Well! Anybody hungry?

  Big Abe : [deadpan]  Hungry! Shit, I could eat a frozen dog.

  Henry Moon : Well, we'll go on out to the kitchen and see if we got one already froze.

• Sheriff Andrew Kyle : Julia, are you drunk?

  Julia Tate : Sheriff Kyle, you know I don't drink.

  Henry Moon : 'Course she don't drink!

• Henry Moon : Well, honey, at least we had some good old times together.

  Hermine, Moon's Old Gang : You was the best I ever had - except maybe that circus fella.

• Henry Moon : We was just sayin' how much we needed a figurine!

• Polty, Rail Road Manager : Unless I am advised otherwise, I'll be out to survey.

  Henry Moon : You know, Polty's just another way of sayin' chicken.

• Henry Moon : Take it easy, Towfield, you're wrinklin' my good luck ban-dan-na.

• Henry Moon : What? What? Towfield, I told you to keep these buzzards outta here.

  Deputy Towfield : Take it easy, Moon. You're lucky you're getting a decent hanging. I'd a done it out there on a scrub oak.

  Henry Moon : Goddamn vultures hangin' around here all morning.

  Deputy Towfield : They just want to take a gander at the man of the hour.

  Henry Moon : Yeah. Well, I'm flattered as hell.

• Henry Moon : Big Abe, they're gonna send me to the bone orchard.

  [Big Abe spits] 

• Henry Moon : You can't touch me! You thought you'd get the old man on the Moon? You Texas clown buzzards are a disgrace to the Confederacy.

• Parson Weems : "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

  Henry Moon : Bull shit!

• Parson Weems : Hello, son.

  Henry Moon : Go to hell.

• Sheriff Andrew Kyle : We got this ordinance here, it was passed after the Civil War, on account that a lot of our boys didn't come home - and the women was beginnin' to chew up the grass.

  Henry Moon : I feel sorry for the grass.

  Sheriff Andrew Kyle : I feel sorry for the women. Anyhow, this ordinance states that any man, short of a murderer, can be saved from the gallows by any property-holdin' female, providin' she decides to marry 'im. And they done that in Roman times too, as I recollect.

  Henry Moon : Sweet Jesus H. Christ Almighty!

• Henry Moon : I wanna tell you good people of Longhorn, especially you lovely ladies, that the old sayin', "You can't judge a book by its cover", it's true. It's true! Some books is all scruffed up on the outside, but when you turn around and look inside, why, the words is just - wonderful.

• Henry Moon : You always this quiet?

  Julia Tate : When I have something to say, you'll hear it.

• Henry Moon : Well, look, I can get off right here as far as I'm concerned. Of course, a good husband's hard to find.

  Julia Tate : You weren't hard to find. You were standing in front of the whole town with a rope around your neck.

  Henry Moon : Yeah. You sure are a smart woman. I like smart women.

  Julia Tate : Sure you do.

• Henry Moon : [entering Julia's house]  Well, it looks like the Opera House.

  Julia Tate : Please take your clothes off, Mr Moon.

• Henry Moon : God damn, I should've known. You can always tell a virgin on account of the whites of the eyes ain't clear. You see, I got this theory on virgins, that they always look peaked and grouchy on account of they're going against nature. I don't want to get calluses pattin' myself on the back, but, in my time I have put a gal or two in tune with nature.

  Julia Tate : I'm sure nature is *very* grateful.

• Henry Moon : How's about a little dessert? I said, how's about a little dessert?

  Julia Tate : I heard you the first time.

  Henry Moon : You didn't answer me the first time. Can I ask you a personal question? When was the last time you had a man?

  Julia Tate : I hope you don't mind confined spaces; because, tomorrow we start tunneling.

• Julia Tate : First, you'll begin crevassing, then cross-cut using the singular jacking method.

  Henry Moon : I ain't familiar with that particular method.

  Julia Tate : You pry away any loose rocks. Are you watching? Then you insert the drill. Like this. Then you use the sledgehammer. Simple.

  Henry Moon : Where's the gloves? My hands blister easy.

  Julia Tate : Better blisters than neck burns.

• Henry Moon : I just got married.

  Julia Tate : Don't count on that too much.

• Henry Moon : I'll do all I can do; but, that's all I can do.

• Henry Moon : You just go on trimmin' your wicks. I can do this all day long. I'm talkin' about *all* day long. All day long!

• Henry Moon : She sure is full of piss and vinegar today, ain't she?

• Henry Moon : I like it down there in Mexico. Pace suits me better. Slow days and fast nights.

• Henry Moon : Well, I guess I'll go on out and see how the squaws are doin'.

• Henry Moon : Well, how's about a little snort?

• Henry Moon : Well, you know what they say: "Lady love an outlaw like a little boy love a stray dog."

• Henry Moon : I know exactly how they felt. What's the matter, honey? You look whiter than an albino.

• Julia Tate : The railroad's taking over my land under eminent domain.

  Henry Moon : Eminent domain. Ain't that where somebody bribes a state legislature to take away some poor folks' land?

  Polty, Rail Road Manager : I won't dignify that with an answer.

  Henry Moon : I ain't askin' for no dignification.

• Henry Moon : Why'd you stop laughin'?

  Julia Tate : Oh, I don't know. Get to work.

  Henry Moon : I'd rather laugh.

  Julia Tate : That's all you like to do.

  Henry Moon : No. That ain't all I like to do.

  Julia Tate : I'm not in the mood. Huh-eh.

  Henry Moon : Uh-huh. Ooh-oh, nasty!

• Henry Moon : I'd better put you to bed, darlin'.

  Julia Tate : I just got *out* of bed, darling.

• Julia Tate : [tied to the bed]  You wouldn't dare!

  Henry Moon : Well, I hadn't thought of it, but now you mention it, up in San Francisco, I seen some Chinese that done it this way. The Chinese is an old civilization. They understand things about pleasure that I've never even thought of. One thing for sure: we ain't had a borin' marriage.

• Henry Moon : Sonofabitch! I was right! All these years, them painted ladies knows how to 'ppreciate a man. They don't got unnatural questions. "How did it feel?" God dammit! I feel sorry for the poor sonofabitch - sonofabitch that winds up with you!

• Henry Moon : God damn! Oh, goddamn! Look at that, gold. Gold. It's all over everything.

  Julia Tate : Moon, I told you! Didn't I tell you?

  Henry Moon : Oh, honey, kiss me. I'm rich. God damn, I am rich! You wait long enough, and pretty soon down it's gonna come right on you. Like a wall full of Mexican teeth.

• Henry Moon : It's been quite a day. I'm a bit tuckered out. I think I'll take a poco siesta.

  Julia Tate : Oh, you don't have to sleep in the barn.

• Henry Moon : That's it - for me. I'm too young to die.

  Julia Tate : You don't understand.

  Henry Moon : I understand about dreams. I understand about wakin' up, too. Didn't I want to ride with the Younger Gang and they wouldn't have me? Claimed I wasn't cut out to be a Younger. My feelin's was hurt, but I accepted it.

  Julia Tate : You know, for an outlaw, you've been a pretty good friend.

• Henry Moon : You know, I'm gonna get my initials put on my saddle in gold. They like it that way down there in Mexico.

• Henry Moon : Sorry to keep you all waitin', but, me and the missus was just playin' a little game of fish.

  Big Abe : Thought we'd stop by and bring you a little shivaree, Moon.

• Hermine, Moon's Old Gang : Shit! This ain't no real marriage. Come on. Meet me tonight, huh? I'll give you my old coyote call. Remember? Ooooohhhhhhh!

  Henry Moon : Not now.

• Henry Moon : Well, I was just tryin' to get information off of Hermine.

  Julia Tate : That wasn't all you were trying to get off of her.

• Hermine, Moon's Old Gang : You're wife's actin' terrible, ain't she?

  Henry Moon : No, she's just had a little too much bug juice.

  Hermine, Moon's Old Gang : Now I figure you ain't had much of anything of anything in a *long* time.

• Henry Moon : Didn't I tell you to watch what you was doin'? You don't understand outlaws!

  Julia Tate : I understood you when you told me to act foolish.

  Henry Moon : I didn't tell you to get drunk and singin' your damn fool head off!

  Julia Tate : Hog liked my singing.

  Henry Moon : That's why they call him Hog!

• Henry Moon : If I was monkeyin' around, would I still have my clothes on?

• Hermine, Moon's Old Gang : Crawl in, Henry. See what I got.

  Henry Moon : Hermine, you ain't hearin' me. I seen what you got. It was swell. We had some times together that I'll never forget. But Hermine, now I'm took.

• Henry Moon : We're gonna hit the Longhorn bank.

  Big Abe : Why, there ain't nothin' in that God damn, chickenfeed bank but sun-filled windows.

• Henry Moon : You stay right here. When I get back, we'll take us a little Spanish pause.

• Julia Tate : Are you always this quiet?

  Henry Moon : I got nothin' to say.

• Julia Tate : You care more about that damn gold than you do about me.

  Henry Moon : That ain't true. I could've done what you think I done, but I didn't.

• Julia Tate : I'm not sure I'll ever get used to Mexico.

  Henry Moon : Why, sure you will, honey pie. You got used to me, didn't you?

• Henry Moon : Burn the breeze, Kyle, or I'm gonna blow everybody in sight into feathers.

  Sheriff Andrew Kyle : We don't desert our women out here, Mr Moon.

  Julia Tate : It's all right, Sheriff. You go on ahead. He's just trying to impress me.

• Whitey Haber : I would've never figured you doin' this to Julia.

  Henry Moon : It's the only way to save my marriage, Whitey.