Lolita

Quilty!

Quilty!

What, what? Who's there?

Are you Quilty?

No, I'm Spartacus.

Have you come to free the slaves or something?

Are you Quilty?

Yeah. I'm Quilty, yeah, sure.

Say, what you, uh...?

What you putting your gloves on for? Your hands cold or something?

Shall we have a little chat before we start?

Before we start?

Wow.

Alrighty.

Alrighty.

No, no. Listen, listen, listen...

...let's have a game, a little lovely game of Roman Ping-Pong...

...like two civilized senators.

Roman ping....

You're supposed to say, "Roman pong."

Okay, you serve. I don't mind.

I just don't mind.

Come on.

Ah....

Bet you didn't know I had that.

Roman Ping-Pong.

Kind of tricky serve to handle, eh, captain?

Kind of tricky. One of the champs taught me that.

My motto is "be prepared."

Say, you Jack Brewster? Are you?

You know who I am.

What's that? That's 3, 3-love.

Gee, I'm really winning. You want to get a rally going there.

You know, I'm not accusing you, captain, but it's sort of absurd...

...the way people invade this house, without even knocking.

Four-1.

Change service. I'll take the service again, if you don't mind.

I sort of like to have it up this end, you know.

They use the telephone.

Jeez.

What's that? That must be....

Gee, I'm really winning here. I'm really winning.

I hope I don't get overcome with power.

That's about, uh, 6-1 maybe.

Let's say 6-1. No, 6-2, I'll give you another point.

Six-2, but I'm still winning.

You really don't remember me, do you?

Have you ever noticed how the champs, different champs, use their bats?

You know, some of them hold them like this, and everything.

Do you recall a girl...

...called Dolores Haze?

I remember one guy didn't have a hand.

He had a bat instead of a hand. He was a real wacky--

Lolita!

Lolita, heh.

Yeah, yeah, I remember that name all right.

Maybe she made some telephone calls, who cares?

Gee.

Hey, you're a sort of bad loser, captain.

I never found a guy who'd sort of pull a gun on me when he lost a game.

Didn't anyone ever tell you...

...it's not really who wins, it's how you play, like the champs.

Listen, I don't think I want to play anymore. I wanna get a drink.

Gee, I'm just dying for a drink.

I'm just dying to have a drinkie.

You're dying anyway, Quilty.

Jeez.

All my friends always put their smokies out in the drink.

It's so unsanitary.

Quilty, I want you to concentrate.

You're going to die.

Try to understand what is happening to you.

You are either Australian...

...or a German refugee.

This is a gentile's house.

You'd better run along.

Think of what you did, Quilty, and think of what is happening to you now.

Say, that's a....

That's a darling little gun you got there.

That's a darling little thing.

How much a guy like you want for a darling little gun like that?

Read this.

What's this, the deed to the ranch?

It's your death sentence.

Read it.

I can't read, mister.

I never did none of that there book learning, you know.

Read it, Quilty.

Because you took advantage of a sinner

Because you took advantage

Because you took

Because you took advantage Of my disadvantage

Say, that's a dag-blasted darn good poem you done there.

When I stood Adam-naked--

Oh, Adam-naked!

You should be ashamed of yourself, captain.

Before a federal law And all its stinging stars

Tarnation! You old horn toad.

That's mighty pretty. That's a pretty poem.

Because you took advantage

It's getting a bit repetitious, isn't it?

Because-- Here's another one. Because you cheated me

Because you took her at an age

-When young lads-- -That's enough.

Say, what you took it away for, mister? That was getting kind of smutty there. Heh.

Do you have any last words before you die, Quilty?

Listen, Mac...

...you're drunk...

...and I'm a sick man.

This pistol-packing farce is becoming a sort of nuisance.

Why don't you and I sort of settle this like two civilized people...

...getting together and settling something? Instead of.... All right, put them up.

Do you want to die standing up or sitting down?

I want to die like a champion.

Gee.

Right in the boxing glove.

You ought to be more careful with that thing.

Listen, captain, why don't you stop trifling with life and death?

I'm a playwright, you know. I know all about this sort of tragedy...

...and comedy and fantasy and everything.

I've got 52 successful scenarios to my credit...

...added to which, my father's a policeman. You look like a music lover to me.

Why don't you let....

Why don't you let me play you a little thing...

...I wrote last week.

Nice sort of opening, that.

We could dream up some lyrics maybe. You and I dream them up together...

...you know, share the profits.

Do you think that'll make the hit parade?

"The moon was blue, and so are you, and I tonight...

...she's mine-- Yours.

She's yours tonight...

...and the moon is--"

Gee.

Gee, that hurt me, that.... You really hurt me.

If you're trying to scare me, you did a pretty swell job, all right.

My leg will be black and blue tomorrow.

You know, this house is roomy and cool. You see how cool it is.

I intend moving to England or Florence forever.

You can move in.

I've got some nice friends who could come and keep you company.

You could use them as pieces of furniture.

There's one guy who looks just like a bookcase.

I could fix for you to attend executions. How would you like that?

Just you there, nobody else, just watching. Watch.

Do you like watching, captain?

Because not many people know that....

That the chair is painted yellow.

You'd be the only guy in the know.

Imagine! Your friends, you could tell them....

Oh, that hurts!

Having recently arrived in America...

...where so many Europeans had found a haven before...

...I decided to spend a peaceful summer...

...in the attractive resort town of Ramsdale, New Hampshire.

Some English translations I had made of French poetry...

...had enjoyed some success and I had been appointed...

...to a lectureship at Beardsley College, Ohio, in the fall.

Friends had given me several addresses in Ramsdale...

...where lodgings were available for the summer.

Mr. Hofsteader said that you're going to be staying all summer.

Well, that was only a tentative plan.

Monsieur, if what you're needing is peace and quiet...

...I can assure you, you couldn't get more peace anywhere.

-Yes, it is very-- -Ha-ha-ha.

It is very peaceful.

Now, this would be your room.

It's, uh, what you might call a studio. Well, you know, a semi-studio affair.

It's very male, heh...

...and quiet.

We're really very fortunate here in West Ramsdale.

Culturally, we're a very advanced group...

...with lots of good Anglo-Dutch and Anglo-Scotch stock...

...and we're very progressive intellectually.

That is immediately apparent.

I do hope you'll want to address our club.

Uh, there's a nice view from this window...

...uh, of the front lawn.

And a good place for you to do your writing.

-Shelves for your books. -That's very nice, yes.

I am chairman of the Great Books Committee.

As a matter of fact, you know...

...one of the speakers that I had, um, last season...

...was Clare Quilty.

Clare Quilty?

The writer, TV?

-TV plays? -No, I wouldn't....

He's a very stimulating type of man.

He gave us a talk on a Dr. Schweitzer and Dr. Zhivago.

-Schweitzer and Zhivago. Very nice. -Uh-huh.

Oh, no, no, the bathroom's back here, right next door.

Well, we still have that good, old-fashioned quaint plumbing.

Should appeal to a European.

Oh! Excuse the soiled sock.

I see that you're interested in art. In that case....

In that case you really must see...

...uh, the collection of reproductions I have in my bedroom.

Voilà!

Oh, yes, that's....

A Dufy.