Heart Beat (1980)

John Heard: Jack Kerouac

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mrs. Kerouac : I don't understand why you're doing this?

  Jack Kerouac : I don't either; but, I know I want to do it.

  Mrs. Kerouac : But, I thought you always wanted to be a writer?

  Jack Kerouac : I do. That's why I want to do it. I want to get him down on paper.

  Mrs. Kerouac : Can't he get himself down on paper?

• Neal Cassady : Hey, Jack. This little chick back here just wants to settle down and make me miserable.

  Jack Kerouac : You think she'll get away with it?

  Neal Cassady : Oh, well, I kinda doubt it.

• Stevie : What are you gonna do with that? TP the Cow Palace?

  Jack Kerouac : Nope. I'm gonna finish typin' my book. No foolin' around. I'm gonna play this thing like Charlie Parker.

  Stevie : Bennies!

  Jack Kerouac : Forget it. I need 'em.

• Stevie : You're in a hurry all of the sudden.

  Jack Kerouac : No hurry. Same hurry. You know, it's just fame, overnight success. A house in the hills. A little lady. A picket fence. A couple of kids. A station wagon.

  Stevie : Somethin' a little better than a flop house.

  Jack Kerouac : Yeah. A little bit better.

• Ira : I thought you needed order to write?

  Jack Kerouac : All I need to write is a pencil.

• Neal Cassady : Jack?

  Jack Kerouac : Yeah, Jack.

  Neal Cassady : By God, this is great. I can't bare to drink alone in my condition.

  Jack Kerouac : What condition?

  Neal Cassady : I'm broke!

• Jack Kerouac : Everything I want, I've got, right here. What you've got.

• Jack Kerouac : Just because it didn't work out for you, doesn't mean it's not gonna work out for me.

  Neal Cassady : What are you gonna do? You're gonna punch into a job, nine to five? Come home, rake leaves, take care of the kids, right?

  Jack Kerouac : Sure. That's that's the right idea.

  Neal Cassady : Bull shit! She doesn't believe that for a minute.

  Jack Kerouac : Yes she does.

  Carolyn Cassady : No I don't!

  Jack Kerouac : Ah, it doesn't make any difference. I'm gonna do it anyway.

  Carolyn Cassady : I don't want you to do it.

  Jack Kerouac : Well, Neal does.

  Carolyn Cassady : Is that who you're doin' it for?

  Jack Kerouac : I'm doin' it for you both. I'm doin' it for all three of us.

• Carolyn Cassady : God, I guess I just expected too much.

  Neal Cassady : Yeah, I know. We both expected too much. Do you think you can make her happy, Jack?

  Jack Kerouac : I don't know.

  Carolyn Cassady : Why not? He doesn't expect a thing anymore.

• Jack Kerouac : What's wrong with being famous?

  Neal Cassady : Oh, come on, Jack. Listen, here, you know, we all gotta serve. But, the famous - they have to serve as an example.

• Neal Cassady : Well, I'll miss you, Jack.

  Jack Kerouac : I'll miss you too.

  Neal Cassady : I love you, man.

  Jack Kerouac : I love you, too.

• Jack Kerouac : So, who would have guessed? I go for a ride with a guy and 10 years later they publish a novel about it.

• Jack Kerouac : I'll be back.

  Neal Cassady : When, Jack?

  Jack Kerouac : When, when? Why when?

• Neal Cassady : I've been holdin' down the fort for 10 years.

  Jack Kerouac : And I'll hold it down when I get back. You don't believe I'm comin' back. Do you believe I'm comin' back?

  Carolyn Cassady : Jack, it's alright if you're not comin' back.

• Jack Kerouac : Look, I don't know what I'm doin'. I mean, when did I ever know what I was doin'?

• TV Talk Show Host : Well, gee, I guess if you didn't bring your bongos, we'll just have to talk. For any of you folks who may have been out testing your bomb shelters for the last few months, missed the news. Jack's book, "On The Road", is a smash hit that's turning the literary world upside down. It spawned a whole new bohemian lifestyle overnight. I hope you didn't change your t-shirt just for us, Jack. Seriously, if you haven't read it, Jack's book is a pretty shocking yarn about a bunch of kooky characters running around looking for - in the argot of negro jazz musicians - kicks. It's kind of a free love sort of thing where everybody seems to spend most of there time taking drugs and avoiding work, razors and bath tubs. Jack calls these frantic characters: beatniks. Don't you Jack?

  Jack Kerouac : Eh, no, actually, that is some term some columnist made up.

• TV Talk Show Host : What is it *exactly* that you write about, Jack?

  Jack Kerouac : Well, I don't know. Friendship.

• Jack Kerouac : Hey, Neal, listen to this, don't tell Carolyn, okay, but these guys - these guys fixed me up with some tomato from Vogue magazine... She's on page 39. Look her up!

• Jack Kerouac : What'd he say?

  TV Talk Show Host : What do you think he said?

  Jack Kerouac : Beat's me.

  [laughs] 

• Jack Kerouac : What the hell did we do wrong?

  Carolyn Cassady : Oh, I don't think we did anything wrong. We just did it first.

• Jack Kerouac : Now, Neal's hangin' out with the zippy bippies, huh?

  Carolyn Cassady : Yeah. He's got a string of girls as long as your arm. He says we were born before our time.

  Jack Kerouac : Before our time?

  Carolyn Cassady : Yeah.

  Jack Kerouac : Well, the cat would say anything to get laid.