The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)

Richard Libertini: Ed Rifkin

Quotes 

• Ed Rifkin : Henry Lamb. Who's that?

  Peter Fallow : He was a student of yours at Ruppert High. In your English class.

  Ed Rifkin : He was? What's he done?

  Peter Fallow : He hasn't done anything. He's been seriously injured. I'm a reporter, I work for a newspaper.

  Ed Rifkin : Well, I don't remember him.

  Peter Fallow : I'm trying to find what kind of student he was?

  Ed Rifkin : If I don't remember him, I guess he was okay.

  Peter Fallow : You say he was a good student?

  Ed Rifkin : Good doesn't really apply at Ruppert High. They're either cooperative or life-threatening.

  Peter Fallow : Well they say he was going to college.

  Ed Rifkin : You mean City College. That... they got to open admission policies so if you live in the city, graduate high school, and still breathing, they're gonna take you.

  Peter Fallow : What can you tell me about his performance in class? Any aptitude, special skills?

  Ed Rifkin : Mr. uh...

  Peter Fallow : Fallow. Peter Fallow.

  Ed Rifkin : Mr. Fallow, I got 65 students in every class.

  Peter Fallow : Tests, homework, any written work he might have turn now?

  Ed Rifkin : Shit, there hasn't been any written work at Ruppert High since 15, maybe 20 years.

  Peter Fallow : Really? And how the hell you keep track of these kids? I mean, Jesus Christ, there must be some record of how this boy measures up to the other students at class.

  Ed Rifkin : You're thinking about honor students and grades.

  Peter Fallow : Attendance records. Grades. Yeah.

  Ed Rifkin : High achievements. We don't make those kind of comparisons. We just try to keep them off the streets. At Ruppert High, an honor student is somebody who comes to class and doesn't piss on the teacher.

  Peter Fallow : Well, by that standard then, would you say Henry Lamb was an honor student?

  Ed Rifkin : Well, uh, he never pissed on me.