Michael O'Hara I've always found it very... sanitary to be broke.
Most-quoted character in The Lady from Shanghai (1947): in 23 of its 38 quotes
Most scenes with: Elsa (6)
I went to call the cops, but I knew she'd be dead before they got there and I'd be free. Bannister's note to the DA would fix it. I'd be innocent officially, but that's a big word - innocence. Stupid's more like it. Well, everybody is somebody's fool. The only way to stay out of trouble is to grow old, so I guess I'll concentrate on that. Maybe I'll live so long that I'll forget her. Maybe I'll die trying.
More lines from Michael O'Hara
13 quotes Michael O'Hara Michael O'Hara New York is not as big a city as it pretends to be.
Michael O'Hara When I start out to make a fool of myself, there's very little can stop me. If I'd known where it would end, I'd never let anything start, if I'd been in my right mind, that is. But once I'd seen her, once I'd seen her, I was not in my right mind for quite some time...me, with plenty of time and nothing to do but get myself in trouble. Some people can smell danger, not me.
Michael O'Hara That's how I found her, and from that moment on, I did not use my head very much, except to be thinking of her.
Michael O'Hara Personally, I don't like a girlfriend to have a husband. If she'll fool her husband, I figure she'll fool me.
Michael O'Hara Talk of money and murder. I must be insane, or else all these people are lunatics.
Michael O'Hara I never make up my mind about anything at all until it's over and done with.
Michael O'Hara Once, off the hump of Brazil I saw the ocean so darkened with blood it was black and the sun fainting away over the lip of the sky.We'd put in at Fortaleza, and a few of us had lines out for a bit of idle fishing. It was me had the first strike. A shark it was. Then there was another, and another shark again, 'till all about, the sea was made of sharks and more sharks still, and no water at all. My shark had torn himself from the hook, and the scent, or maybe the stain it was, and him bleeding his life away drove the rest of them mad. Then the beasts to to eating each other.In their frenzy, they ate at themselves.You could feel the lust of murder like a wind stinging your eyes, and you could smell the death, reeking up out of the sea. I never saw anything worse... until this little picnic tonight.And you know, there wasn't one of them sharks in the whole crazy pack that survived.
Michael O'Hara [describing Acapulco]
There's a fair face to the land, surely, but you can't hide the hunger and guilt. It's a bright, guilty world.
Michael O'Hara [voiceover]
It was early October when we made San Francisco, and dropped anchor across the bay from the city in Sausalito. It had been a most interesting cruise, all very rich and rare and strange. But I had had no stomach for it. To begin with, living on a hook takes away your appetite. You have no taste for any pleasure at all but the one that's burnin' in you. But even without an appetite, I had heard it's quite amazing how much a fool like me can swallow.
Michael O'Hara [Michael's pre-signed confession note]
I, Michael O'Hara, in order to live in peace with my God, do freely make the following confession...We arrived at the boat landing at approximately 10:20. Mr. Grisby said he heard a sound, something suspicious. He said he was frightened of a hold-up and asked me to get the gun out of the side pocket of the car just in case. I reached in and got the gun, but I had hardly taken hold of it when the gun went off by accident in my hand, and I saw that Mr. Grisby was all covered with blood. It took me a minute to realize that Mr. Grisby was dead, to realize that I, Michael O'Hara, had killed him.
Michael O'Hara [voiceover]
I began to ask myself if I wasn't out of my head entirely. The wrong man was arrested. The wrong man was shot. Grisby was dead and so was Broome. And what about Bannister? He was going to defend me in a trial for my life. And me, charged with a couple of murders I did not commit. Either me or the rest of the whole world is absolutely insane.
Michael O'Hara I was right. She was the killer. She killed Grisby. Now she was going to kill me. Her servant Li and his friends smuggled me out into the darkness and hid me where I'd be safe from the cops, not safe from her. One of the Chinese worked in an amusement park. It was closed for the season. An empty amusement park makes a good hide-out and she wanted me hidden. Well, I came to in the Crazy House and for a while there, I thought it was me that was crazy. After what I'd been through, anything crazy at all seemed natural. But now I was sane on one subject - her. I knew about her. She planned to kill Bannister, she and Grisby. Grisby was to do it for a share of Bannister's money. That's what Grisby thought, but of course, she meant to kill Grisby too after he'd served his purpose. Poor howling idiot, he never even did that. He went and shot Broome, and that was not part of the plan. Broome might have got to the police before he died. And if the cops traced it to Grisby, and the cops made Grisby talk, he'd spill everything and she'd be finished. So she had to shut up Grisby but quick. And I was the fall guy.
Scenes with Michael O'Hara
9 scenesMrs. Elsa Bannister: I don't know how to shoot.
Michael O'Hara It's easy, you just pull the trigger.
Will you help me? Give me a cigarette? I'm learning to smoke now. Ever since that night in the park, I've been getting the habit.
Michael Do all rich women play games like this?
[He slaps her] [She sticks the cigarette between her trembling lips and lights it. She draws a puff.]
I didn't think you would do that.
Michael I didn't either.
You're scared, aren't you? You're scared. I'm scared too.
Michael You think you're needing me to help you. You're not that kind. If you need anything, you help yourself.
I'm not what you think I am. I just try to be like that.
Michael Keep on trying. You might make it.
Oh, Michael, what are we scared of?
[They kiss]
Are you independently wealthy?
Michael I'm independent.
Of money. Before you start that novel Elsa says you're going to write, you'd better learn something. You've been traveling around the world too much to find out anything about it....
Michael I've always found it very sanitary to be broke.
...Money cannot bring you health and happiness, etc. Is that it? Without money, I'd be flat on my back in the ward of a county hospital...Each man has his own idea of happiness, of course, but money is what all of us have in common...You call yourself independent. Come around and see me five years from now.
Michael Love. Do you believe in love at all, Mrs. Bannister?
I was taught to think about love in Chinese.
Michael The way a Frenchman thinks about laughter in French?
The Chinese say, it is difficult for love to last long. Therefore, one who loves passionately is cured of love, in the end.
Michael Sure, that's a hard way of thinking.
There's more to the proverb: Human nature is eternal. Therefore, one who follows his nature keeps his original nature, in the end.
He isn't really a steward...He's a detective, Michael. My husband hires him to watch me. He wants to fix it so I'll never be able to divorce him...I haven't a cent, Michael. He wants to cut me off without a cent.
Michael Does that matter so much, I shouldn't think it would?
Oh, I told you, sweet, you don't know anything about the world.
Michael Well lately, I've been rounding out my education.
That's what I need you for, Michael. To see to it that I'm not around. How'd you like $5,000?...I'll fill in the details later...It's yours. All you have to do is kill somebody.
Michael Who, Mr. Grisby? I'm particular who I murder...You know, I wouldn't like to kill just anybody. Is it someone I know?
Oh, yeah, but you'll never guess...It's me...I want you to kill me!
Michael Sure, I'm gonna take you where there aren't any spies.
Michael, where?
Michael A long way off. Somewhere in the far places.
Far places? We're in one of them now. Anyway, it doesn't work. I tried it. Everything's bad, Michael, everything. You can't escape it or fight it. You've got to get along with it. Deal with it, make terms. You're such a foolish knight errant, Michael. You're big and strong, but you just don't know how to take care of yourself. So how could you take care of me?
Why don't you try and understand? George was supposed to take care of Arthur, but he lost his silly head and shot Broome. After that, I knew I couldn't trust him. He was mad. He had to be shot.
Michael And what about me?
We could have gone off together.
Michael Into the sunrise? You and me, or you and Grisby?
I love you.
Michael One who follows his nature keeps his original nature in the end. But haven't you heard ever of something better to follow?
No.
Michael Like the sharks, mad with their own blood. Chewing away at their own selves.
It's true. I made a lot of mistakes.
Michael You said the world's bad. We can't run away from the badness. And you're right there. But you said we can't fight it. We must deal with the badness, make terms. And then the badness'll deal with you, and make its own terms, in the end, surely.
You can fight, but what good is it? Goodbye.
Michael You mean we can't win?
No, we can't win. Give my love to the sunrise.
Michael We can't lose, either. Only if we quit.
And you're not going to.
Michael Not again!
Oh Michael, I'm afraid. [He strolls away] Michael, come back here. Michael! Please! I don't want to die! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!
Other characters in The Lady from Shanghai
More Orson Welles characters
Charles Foster Kane
Police Captain Hank Quinlan
Narrator
Unicron
Professor Charles Rankin
Jonathan Wilk
Albert Hastler
Harry