What have you against Tom?
Charlie Black Just one thing: He's not a good person.
Played by Taylor Nichols 
Metropolitan (1990) · 38 quotes
Metropolitan (1990) · 38 quotes
3rd most-quoted character in Metropolitan (1990): in 8 of its 38 quotes
Most scenes with: Nick Smith (3), Tom Townsend (2), Cynthia McLean (2)
We hear a lot about the great social mobility in America, with the focus usually on the comparative ease of moving upwards. What's less discussed is how easy it is to go down. I think that's the direction that we're all heading in. And I think that the downward fall is going to be very fast—not just for us as individuals—but for the entire Preppie Class.
Scenes with Charlie Black
7 scenes Charlie Black Charlie Black Fourierism was tried in the late nineteenth century... and it failed. Wasn't Brook Farm Fourierist? It failed.
That's debatable.
Charlie Black Whether Brook Farm failed?
That it ceased to exist, I'll grant you, but whether or not it failed cannot be definitively said.
Charlie Black Well, for me, ceasing to exist is — is failure. I mean, that's pretty definitive.
Well, everyone ceases to exist. Doesn't mean everyone's a failure.
Charlie Black Well, I don't think "preppy" is a very useful term. I mean, it might be descriptive for someone who is still in school or college; but, it's ridiculous to refer to a man in his 70s, like Averell Harriman, as a "preppy". And none of the other terms people use - WASP, P.L.U., et cetera - are of much use either. And that's why I prefer the term "U.H.B."
What?
Charlie Black U.H.B. It's an acronym for Urban Haute Bourgeoisie.
Is our language so impoverished that we have to use acronyms or French phrases to make ourselves understood?
Charlie Black Yes.
Charlie Black Of course there is a God. We all basically know there is.
I know no such thing.
Charlie Black Of course you do. When you think to yourself, and most of our waking life is taken up thinking to ourselves, you must have that feeling that your thoughts aren't entirely wasted, that in some sense they are being heard. Rationally, they aren't. You're entirely alone. Even the people to whom we are closest can have no real idea of what is going on in our minds. We aren't devastated by loneliness because, at a hardly conscious level, we don't accept that we're entirely alone. I think this sensation of being silently listened to with total comprehension... something you never find in real life... represents our innate belief in a supreme being, some all-comprehending intelligence.
Charlie Black The term 'bourgeois' has almost always been - been one of contempt. Yet it is precisely the - the bourgeoisie which is responsible for - well, for nearly everything good that has happened in our civilization over the past four centuries. You know the French film, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie? When I first heard that title I thought, "Finally, someone's gonna tell the truth about the bourgeoisie." What a disappointment. It would be hard to imagine a less fair or accurate portrait.
Well, of course. Buñuel's a surrealist. Despising the bourgeoisie is part of their credo.
Where do they get off?
Charlie Black But the truth is, the bourgeoisie does have a lot of charm.
Of course it does. The surrealists were just a lot of social climbers.
Charlie Black Where do you get off, "you're surprised"? At what? You were Audrey's escort, yet you blithely left her stranded in the middle of the dance so you can try to work things out with Serena! And then you try to shirk the whole thing off on Fred.
I'm not trying to shirk it off on Fred. And I was not Audrey's escort. We were all there as a group. In any case, I'm very sorry there was a mixup.
Charlie Black There was no mixup.
I'm sorry I left. But it wasn't intentional.
Charlie Black When you're an egoist, none of the harm you do is intentional!
Charlie Black I don't see how you can stand him. You're always complaining about people being frauds and phoneys. This guy is the phoney of the decade, yet you act as he were your long-lost best friend.
Tom's hardly a phoney. Just mildly deluded. He's a perfectly nice guy.
Charlie Black That's just another aspect of his phoniness. He's a terrible phoney, and when he's not being a phoney, he's a bastard.
Oh, come on.
Charlie Black You saw how he treated Audrey last night.
Well, Audrey seems to have forgotten it.
Charlie Black She has to act that way. Otherwise it would be even more humiliating. But I don't have to pretend Tom Townsend is a nice guy.
You're really gaga about Audrey, aren't you?
Charlie Black If by "gaga" you mean, do I like her? Yes, I do.
Well, why don't you do something about it, instead of just going on and on about what a bastard Tom Townsend is.
Charlie Black What do I do? Declare myself? That would be an absolute disaster. I don't think I haven't thought about these things. But I think if the situation could just continue as it has been, they gradually, over time, it'd grow into something more. That, at least, is what I've been hoping for.
