A character in The Third Man (1949)

Harry quotes from The Third Man (1949)

Orson Welles

Scenes with Harry

3 scenes
Harry
[on the ferris wheel]

What do you want me to do? Be reasonable. You didn't expect me to give myself up.

Martins

Why not?

Harry

'It's a far, far better thing that I do.' The old limelight. The fall of the curtain. Oh, Holly, you and I aren't heroes. The world doesn't make any heroes outside of your stories.

Martins

Have you ever seen any of your victims?

Harry

You know, I never feel comfortable on these sort of things. Victims? Don't be melodramatic. [gestures to people far below] Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax - the only way you can save money nowadays.

Martins

Lot of good your money'll do you in jail.

Harry

That jail's in another zone. There's no proof against me...besides you.

Martins
[holding onto the window ledge]

I should be pretty easy to get rid of.

Harry

Pretty easy.

Martins

I wouldn't be too sure.

Harry

I carry a gun. You don't think they'd look for a bullet wound after you hit that ground.

Harry
[chuckling]

Oh Holly, what fools we are, talking to each other this way. As though I would do anything to you, or you to me. You're just mixed up about things in general. Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't. Why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs - it's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, so have I.

Martins

You used to believe in God.

Harry

Oh, I still do believe in God, old man. I believe in God and Mercy and all that. But the dead are happier dead. They don't miss much here, poor devils. What do you believe in? Oh, if you ever get Anna out of this mess, be kind to her. You'll find she's worth it. I wish I had asked you to bring me some of those tablets from home. Holly, I would like to cut you in, old man. There’s nobody left in Vienna I can really trust, and we have always done everything together. When you make up your mind, send me a message. I’ll meet you any place, any time. And when we do meet, old man, it is you I want to see, not the police. Remember that, won’t you? And don’t be so gloomy. After all, it’s not that awful. You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
Note: The passage in bold was written by Orson Welles.

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