The Narrow Margin (1952)

Charles McGraw: Det. Sgt. Walter Brown

Photos 

Quotes 

• Walter Brown : Pardon me, I'd like to get through.

  Jennings : Sorry, this train wasn't designed for my tonnage, heh. Nobody loves a fat man except his grocer and his tailor!

• [On bribes] 

  Walter Brown : I don't say I've never been tempted. Of course I've been tempted; I'm human like anybody else. But to spend the rest of my time worrying when I'll be caught up with by some hoodlum holding a first mortgage on my life, payable on demand...! Naah. No kind of money worth that.

• Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes : Bet you're wondering the same thing I am - what she looks like.

  Walter Brown : I don't have to wonder - I know.

  Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes : Why, that's wonderful, Walter, nobody's seen her but you know what she looks like. What a gift.

  Walter Brown : Aw, come off it, yer just makin' talk.

  Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes : Well, we get there just as fast, talkin'. What about this dame, Mr. Crystal Ball?

  Walter Brown : A dish.

  Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes : What kind of a dish?

  Walter Brown : Sixty-cent special. Cheap, flashy. Strictly poison under the gravy.

  Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes : How do you know all this?

  Walter Brown : Well, what kind of a dame would marry a hood?

  Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes : All kinds.

• Vincent Yost : We're ready to make a deal. You have her, we want her, how much? It's as simple as that.

  Walter Brown : You're under arrest.

  Vincent Yost : For what?

  Walter Brown : Attempted bribery.

  Vincent Yost : Bribery? Heh - you'd never make it stick. I'm a sales executive for the Midwest Equipment Company, Chicago. I've never even gotten as much as a parking ticket.

• Walter Brown : Sister, I've known some pretty hard cases in my time; you make 'em all look like putty. You're not talking about a sack of gumdrops that's gonna be smashed - you're talking about a dame's life! You may think it's a funny idea for a woman with a kid to stop a bullet for you, only I'm not laughing!

  Mrs. Neall : Where do you get off, being so superior? Why shouldn't I take advantage of her - I want to live! If you had to step on someone to get something you wanted real bad, would you think twice about it?

  Walter Brown : Shut up!

  Mrs. Neall : In a pig's eye you would! You're no different from me.

  Walter Brown : Shut up!

  Mrs. Neall : Not till I tell you something, you cheap badge-pusher! When we started on this safari, you made it plenty clear I was just a job, and no joy in it, remember?

  Walter Brown : Yeah, and it still goes, double!

  Mrs. Neall : Okay, keep it that way. I don't care whether you dreamed up this gag or not; you're going right along with it, so don't go soft on me. And once you handed out a line about poor Forbes getting killed, 'cause it was his duty. Well, it's your duty too! Even if this dame gets murdered.

  Walter Brown : You make me sick to my stomach.

  Mrs. Neall : Well, use your own sink. And let me know when the target practice starts!

• Walter Brown : You're off your stick - way off.

• Walter Brown : So far they haven't spotted you, and they don't know what you look like. But they've seen me. If they start shooting in my direction, I don't want you hit.

  Mrs. Neall : You're sure it isn't the other way around?

• Walter Brown : You're a pretty good judge of crooks, Mrs. Neall; the only place you slip up is with cops. I turned the deal down.

  Mrs. Neall : Then you're a bigger idiot than I thought! When are you going to get it through your square head that this is big business? And we're right in the middle.

  Walter Brown : Meaning you'd like to sell out?

  Mrs. Neall : With pleasure and profit, and so would you. What are the odds if we don't? I sing my song for the grand jury, and spend the rest of my life dodging bullets - -if I'm lucky! - -while you grow old and gray on the police force. Oh, wake up, Brown. This train's headed straight for the cemetery. But there's another one coming along, a gravy train. Let's get on it.

  Walter Brown : Mrs. Neall, I'd like to give you the same answer I gave that hood - but it would mean stepping on your face.

• Joseph Kemp : The name's Neil, but the name doesn't matter.

  Walter Brown : It matters plenty!

• Walter Brown : I know a woman who won't sleep for a lot of nights.

  Mrs. Neall : Who?

  Walter Brown : Forbes's wife.

• Joseph Kemp : Why don't ya get wise to yourself and give her a break? What's the use of makin' that kid an orphan? Or maybe you like trouble.

  Joseph Kemp : Give us the list and nobody gets hurt - no grief, no mess.

  Walter Brown : Except for Mrs. Neil, who gets double-crossed ten minutes later. What do ya take me for, a jumbo-sized sucker?

• Walter Brown : I love it - so get to the point.