Niagara (1953)

Joseph Cotten: George Loomis

Photos 

Quotes 

• [First line, voiceover as we watch him at the base of the Falls] 

  George Loomis : Why should the Falls drag me down here at 5 o'clock in the morning? To show me how big they are and how small I am? To remind me they can get along without any help? All right, so they've proved it. But why not? They've had ten thousand years to get independent. What's so wonderful about that? I suppose I could too, only it might take a little more time.

• George Loomis : Let me tell you something. You're young, you're in love. Well, I'll give you a warning. Don't let it get out of hand, like those falls out there. Up above... d'you ever see the river up above the falls? It's calm, and easy, and you throw in a log, it just floats around. Let it move a little further down and it gets going faster, hits some rocks, and... in a minute it's in the lower rapids, and... nothing in the world - including God himself, I suppose - can keep it from going over the edge. It just - goes!

  Polly Cutler : Don't worry. I'm one of those logs that just hang around in the calm.

• George Loomis : I loved you, Rose. You know that.

• George Loomis : Parading around, showing herself off in that dress, cut down so low in front you can see her kneecaps.

  Polly Cutler : It's a stunning dress.

  George Loomis : Would you wear it?

  Polly Cutler : Well, I'm not the kneecap type. She's a pretty girl. Why hide it?

  George Loomis : Don't worry about that. She'd like to wear that dress where everybody could see her, right in the middle of Yankee Stadium. She's a tramp!

• George Loomis : Too bad, they can't play it for you now, Rose.

• George Loomis : When we get to Chicago you know what we're gonna do?

  Rose Loomis : No.

  George Loomis : We're going straight to Marshall Field. I'm gonna buy you the slinkiest, meanest, laciest evening gown they've got. Price no object.

• George Loomis : You smell like a dime store. I know what that means.

  Rose Loomis : Sure. I'm meeting somebody. Just anybody handy, as long as he's a man. How about the ticket seller himself? I could grab him on my way out. Or one of the kids with the phonograph. Anybody suits me. Take your pick.

• George Loomis : I met her in a big beer hall. She was the most popular waitress they had. I guess it was the way she put the beer on the tables.

• Polly Cutler : Didn't do any good to fix that hand. You like to suffer.

  George Loomis : Maybe.