Fred Derry [to Peggy]
I think they ought to put you in mass production.
Played by Dana Andrews 
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) · 50 quotes
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) · 50 quotes
Most-quoted character in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946): in 24 of its 50 quotes
Most scenes with: Peggy (6), Al Stephenson (5), Homer (4)
Take her in your arms, and kiss her. Ask her to marry you. Then marry her. Tomorrow if you can get a license that fast. If you want anybody to stand up for you at your wedding...
More lines from Fred Derry
3 quotes Fred Derry Fred Derry [to Marie]
I don't want to be right back where we started. We can never be back there again. We never want to be back there.
Fred Derry You know what it'll be, don't you, Peggy? It may take us years to get anywhere. We'll have no money, no decent place to live. We'll have to work - get kicked around.
Scenes with Fred Derry
20 scenes
Boy, oh boy, hey, look at that. Look at those automobiles down there. You can see them so plain, you can even see the people in them.
Fred Yeah, it looks like we're flying by a roadmap.
I didn't see much of the war...I was stationed in a repair shop below decks. Oh, I was in plenty of battles, but I never saw a Jap or heard a shell coming at me. When we were sunk, all I know is there was a lot of fire and explosions. And I was on the topsides and overboard. And I was burned. When I came to, I was on a cruiser. My hands were off. After that, I had it easy...That's what I said. They took care of me fine. They trained me to use these things. I can dial telephones, I can drive a car, I can even put nickels in the jukebox. I'm all right, but...well, you see, I've got a girl.
Fred She knows what happened to ya, doesn't she?
Sure, they all know. They don't know what these things look like.
What's your girl's name, Homer?
Wilma. She and I went to high school together.
I'll bet Wilma's a swell girl.
She is.
Fred Then it will be all right, sailor. You wait and see.
Yeah, wait and see. Wilma's only a kid. She's never seen anything like these hooks.
Fred Do you remember what it felt like when we went overseas?
As well as I remember my own name.
Fred I feel the same way now - only more so.
I know what you mean.
Fred Just nervous out of the service, I guess.
The thing that scares me most is that everybody is gonna try to rehabilitate me.
Fred All I want's a good job, a mild future, a little house big enough for me and my wife. Give me that much and I'm rehabilitated [he clicks his fingers] like that.
Well, I'd say that's not too much to ask.
Fred Are you married, Al?
Yup.
Fred How long?
Twenty years.
Fred Twenty years?! Holy smoke! We didn't even have twenty days before I went over. I married a girl I met when I was in training in Texas.
Well, now you and your wife will have a chance to get acquainted.
Fred There's the golf course, people playing golf just as if nothing had ever happened.
Hey, there's Jackson High football field. Boy, I sure would like to have a dollar for every forward pass I threw down there. Good ol' Jackson High. Say, that must be the new airport.
Fred We're turning into her now.
Holy smoke. [They view an airfield graveyard]
I never knew there was so many planes.
Fred And they're junking them...Boy, oh boy, what we could have done with those in '43!...Some of 'em look brand new, factory to the scrap heap. That's all they're good for now.
Fred Some barracks you got here. Hey what are you, a retired bootlegger?
Nothing as dignified as that. I'm a banker. '[to the cab driver] How much do I owe ya?
Fred Take your hand out of your pocket, Sergeant. You're outranked.
Hortense [about Fred's wife Marie]
Well, she's not living with us anymore, Freddy. She took an apartment downtown.
Fred Why didn't anybody write me about it?
Hortense Well, we were afraid it might worry you, you being so far away and everything. And it was kinda inconvenient for Marie living in this place after she took that job.
Pat But we forwarded all your letters and the allotment checks.
Fred She took a job? Where?
Pat Uh, some nightclub, I don't know just which one.
Hortense Oh the poor girl works 'til all hours.
Fred Where does she live?
Pat Uhm, Grandview Arms, on Pine Street.
Hortense But there's nothing to worry about, Freddy. Marie's fine. We saw her last, last Christmas. She brought us some beautiful presents.
Pat Marie's a good-hearted girl.
Fred Do you know what time she goes out to work?
Pat Uhm, 'long about supper time, I imagine.
Fred You don't seem like Al's daughter.
Actually, I'm not. He's my son by a previous marriage.
Fred [laughing]
What did you say your name was?
What d'ya do before the war, Fred?
Fred I was a fountain attendant...soda jerk...Surprised?
Yes, a little. I betcha you mixed up a fine ice cream soda.
Fred You're darn right. I was an expert behind that fountain. I used to toss a scoop of ice cream in the air, adjust for wind drift, velocity, altitude. Then wham, in the cone every time. I figured that's where I really learned to drop bombs.
What do you think you'll do now?
Fred I'm not going back to that drugstore. Somehow or other, I can't figure myself getting excited about a root beer float. I don't know just what I will do. I'm gonna take plenty of time looking around.
I guess after all the places you've been, Boone City looks pretty dreary to you.
Fred Not from where I'm sitting right now. That's not just a line. I really meant it.
Fred [about his lack of managerial experience]
I didn't do any of that. I just dropped bombs...I was only responsible for getting the bombs on the target. I didn't command anybody.
Mr. Thorpe Unfortunately, we've no opportunities for that with Midway Drugs. However, we might be able to provide an opening for you as an assistant to Mr. Merkle, the floor manager...Incidentally, your work would require part-time duties at the soda fountain.
Fred At what salary?
Mr. Thorpe Thirty-two fifty per week.
Fred Thirty-two fifty. I used to make over four hundred dollars a month in the Air Force.
Mr. Thorpe The war is over, Derry.
Fred We spent it, babe. That's what happened. I'm sorry it's so sudden. I didn't tell you the money was almost gone because every day I kept hoping I was going to land a good job. But at last, I've got it through my thick skull that I'm not going to get one so we'll just have to forget about Jackie's Hotspot and the Blue Devil and all the rest.
Can't you get those things out of your system?
Fred Oh sure.
Maybe that's what's holding you back. You know, the war's over. You won't get anyplace 'til you stop thinking about it. Come on, snap out of it.
Fred When we were married, babe, the Justice of the Peace said something about 'For richer, for poorer, for better, for worse.' Remember? Well, this is the 'worse.'
Well, when do we get going on the 'better?'
Fred Whenever I get wise to myself, I guess. Whenever I wake up and realize I'm not an officer and a gentleman anymore. I'm just another soda jerk out of a job.
I didn't really come in to buy anything. Dad told me you were working here and I just dropped in to say hello.
Fred [as he shows her a perfume]
Oh just a minute. I have - I have an hour off at one o'clock. Are you doing anything for lunch?
Why no.
Fred Thank you madam. [softly] I'll meet you outside in twenty minutes.
Fred I knew I'd never go back to that drugstore...I dreamed I was going to have my own home. Just a nice little house with my wife out in the country, in the suburbs anyway. That's the ****-eyed kind of dream you have when you're overseas.
You don't have to be overseas to have dreams like that.
Fred Yeah. You can get crazy ideas right here at home.
Fred [They kiss]
That shouldn't have happened, but I guess it had to.
Say, who is this Peggy Stephenson?
Fred She's a girl.
I didn't think she was a kangaroo. Where did you meet her?
Fred I told you. The night I got back when you weren't here. Al Stephenson and his wife took me home with them. She's their daughter. I'd never seen her before.
Or since?
Fred Listen, babe, if you think you're gonna make anything out of this, you're due for a big disappointment. I just don't like to be accepting handouts when we're broke.
Well, if that's it, you'd better get used to it, because I don't see how we're gonna get much fun on your thirty two fifty a week.
[explaining why she invited Fred and his wife]
I did it deliberately...to prove to myself that what happened this afternoon didn't really happen.
Fred But it did happen. It had to happen. And if we go on seeing each other, Peggy, it will happen again.
I happen to be quite fond of Peggy, and I, uh...
Fred ...don't want her to get mixed up with a heel like me.
I haven't called you a heel, yet. I just don't want to see her get into this mess...I don't like the idea of you sneaking around corners to see Peggy, taking her love on a bootleg basis. I give you fair warning. I'm going to do everything I can to keep her away from you, to help her forget about you, and get her married to some decent guy who can make her happy.
Fred Then, I guess that's it, Al. I don't see her anymore. I'll put that in the form of a guarantee. I won't see her anymore. I'll call her up and tell her so. Does that satisfy you?
What do you think I was doing all those years?
Fred I don't know, babe, but I can guess.
Go ahead. Guess your head off. I could do some guessing myself. What were you up to in London and Paris and all those places? I've given you every chance to make something of yourself. I gave up my own job when you asked me. I gave up the best years of my life, and what have you done? You flopped! Couldn't even hold that job at the drugstore. So I'm going back to work for myself and that means I'm gonna live for myself too. And in case you don't understand English, I'm gonna get a divorce. What have you got to say to that?
Fred Don't keep Cliff waiting.
What are you gonna do?
Fred I'm going away.
Where?
Fred As far away from Boone City as I can get.
That's a good idea. You'll get a good job someplace else. There are drugstores everywhere.
Fred [about his military citations]
They're just a lot of fancy words that don't mean anything. You can throw them away...Those things came in the packages of K-rations.
Pat Derry Well, we'll treasure them, my boy. How do you know it will be different anyplace else? There's a need here for fellas like yourself that fought and won the war. I know you haven't had the best of breaks since you got back, but well, it seems like you ought to stick here and slug it out a while longer on your own home ground.
Fred You're all right, Pop. But I know when it's time to bail out.
Foreman
Hey you, what are you doing in that airplane?
Fred I used to work in one of those.
Foreman
Reviving old memories, huh?
Fred Yeah, or maybe getting some of 'em out of my system.
Foreman
Well, you can take your last look at these crates. We're breakin' them up.
Fred Yeah, I know. You're the junkman. You get everything sooner or later.
Foreman
This is no junk. We're using this material for building pre-fabricated houses.
Fred You don't need any help, do ya?
Foreman
Out of a job?
Fred That's it.
Foreman
I see. One of the fallen angels of the Air Force. Well, pardon me if I show no sympathy. While you glamour boys were up in the wild blue yonder, I was down in a tank.
Fred Listen, chum. Sometime I'd be glad to hear the story of your war experiences. What I asked you for is a job? You got one?
Foreman
Do you know anything about building?
Fred No, but there's one thing I do know. I know how to learn, same as I learned that job up there.
I was afraid you wouldn't be able to stand up for me.
Fred I'd stand up for you, kid, 'til I drop.
Well, what have you been doing with yourself lately?
Fred Working.
Yes, uh, Dad told me he heard you were in some kind of building work.
Fred Well, that's a hopeful way of putting it. I'm really in the junk business - an occupation for which many people feel I'm well-qualified by temperament and training. It's fascinating work.
