Pennies from Heaven (1981)

Steve Martin: Arthur Parker

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Arthur Parker : You're doing worse than me. Here. Here's a quarter. Go on, take it, Rockefeller. Feel rich.

  The Accordion Man : God bless you. Bless you.

  [kisses Arthur's hand] 

  Arthur Parker : Cut it out! What are you, a goddamn pansy?

• Joan Parker : Oh, thank God you've come back.

  Arthur Parker : You trying to be funny?

  Joan Parker : I thought you'd gone forever.

  Arthur Parker : I have. I've gone. What do I get here in that bed of nails?

  Joan Parker : I'll try again, Arthur. I'll try harder. I've even - I've even put lipstick on.

  Arthur Parker : What do you mean? You always put lipstick on.

  Joan Parker : No, I mean, l - I put it on my...

  Arthur Parker : What, on your - ? What? On your nipples, Joanie? Have you?

  Joan Parker : You said you wanted me to.

  Arthur Parker : How'd you know I was coming back tonight?

  Joan Parker : I've been putting it on every night, Arthur - hoping, praying that you'd come back to me.

  Arthur Parker : Let me see. Show me, angel.

• A Prostitute : Hi, sweetie. Want a nice time, honey?

  Arthur Parker : No, I like feeling miserable.

  A Prostitute : Just around the corner, honey. Show you a real good time.

• [last lines] 

  Arthur Parker : [voice-over]  I'm Arthur... and I love you.

• Arthur Parker : You don't give me a chance. You gotta give me a chance.

  Joan Parker : I don't know what you mean, Arthur.

  Arthur Parker : [mime singing a song performed by Connee Boswell]  If I should wake and find your arms around me, I know I'll never have to dream again, If I should wake and feel your lips surrender to mine...

• Joan Parker : I wouldn't go all that way without breakfast, Arthur. You must eat, sweetie.

  Arthur Parker : I like feeling empty.

• Arthur Parker : I'm empty, Joan. Nothin' inside me. Nothin' at all.

  Joan Parker : Oh, what, is there not even a song? Not a teeny-weeny little tune?

  Arthur Parker : I keep them songs in my bag, not in my heart.

  Joan Parker : And in your head.

• Arthur Parker : Honey, I'm a good salesman. I can pick the right songs. Jesus Christ almighty!

  Joan Parker : Don't blaspheme, Arthur.

  Arthur Parker : Corn to the left of ya, corn to the right - and the storekeepers are dumb and windy as my old granny's asshole.

  Joan Parker : Arthur!

  Arthur Parker : Well, your hick storekeeper cusses a lot, believe me.

  Joan Parker : My daddy didn't. Not ever.

• Arthur Parker : Your daddy used to sing in the church choir. He was more a Christian than a storekeeper. He might overcharge you, but he said his prayers. Honey, he would want you to use that money he left you.

  Joan Parker : Money he worked hard for all his life to save for a rainy day?

  Arthur Parker : It's raining. Pouring.

  Joan Parker : Oh, cheer up, Arthur. You won't sell anything without a smile.

• Arthur Parker : Make me happy, Joan. It'd really be nice, huh? Down here on the floor?

  Joan Parker : Arthur!

  Arthur Parker : Joan. Joan, look.

  Joan Parker : Arthur!

  Arthur Parker : I want to show you something, Joan.

  Joan Parker : Arthur, it isn't funny. Stop! Arthur!

  Arthur Parker : Birds do I! Bees do it! Little birdies in the trees do it! - - Well, it was just a thought.

  Joan Parker : A very peculiar thought, Arthur.

• Arthur Parker : Don't you ever listen to the words - in the songs? In these songs?

  Joan Parker : That's not real life.

  Arthur Parker : Real life? You tell me what real life is. It's a bowl of dog biscuits.

  Joan Parker : Well, there's nothing wrong with that, if you're a dog.

  Arthur Parker : That's what you want. You want a goddamn poodle! Not a man. Not a real man!

• Arthur Parker : It was salesmanship that made this country great and it will be salesmanship that'll keep us great.

• Arthur Parker : [mime singing a song performed by Sam Browne]  So ga-ga, We're gonna go ga-ga, My baby loves ga-ga, She told me so. Yes, yes! My baby said yes, yes, I'm glad she said yes, yes, Instead of no, no.

• Arthur Parker : [mime singing a song performed by Bing Crosby]  Did you ever see a dream dancing? Well, I did, Did you a ever see a dream romancing? Well, I did, Did you ever see heaven right in your arms...

• Mr. Barrett : [Miss Eileen Everson exits his store]  You know what she needs, don't you?

  Arthur Parker : Just sign for what you have ordered. Don't talk about a lady like that.

• Arthur Parker : Good luck to you, buddy.

  The Accordion Man : [mime singing a song performed by Arthur Tracy]  So A long time ago, A million years BC, The best things in life, Were absolutely free, But no one appreciated, A sky that was always blue, And no one congratulated, A moon that was always new, So it was planned that they would vanish now and then, And you must pay before you get them back again, That's what storms were made for, And you shouldn't be afraid for, Every time it rains it rains, Pennies from heaven, Don't you know each cloud contains, Pennies from heaven...

• Arthur Parker : I overheard you say you were a teacher and I asked some of the kids where you lived.

  Eileen : Why?

  Arthur Parker : I've been looking for you. All my life, I've been looking for you, Miss Everson.

  Eileen : I don't understand.

  Arthur Parker : You've been in my head, Eileen, and in my heart, in my soul.

• Arthur Parker : There's a song. Like in the song.

  Eileen : What?

  Arthur Parker : They tell the truth. Songs do!

• Eileen : I don't even know who you are.

  Arthur Parker : Arthur. I'm Arthur - and I love you.

• Arthur Parker : That's the trouble with you guys. You walk around with dirt and ash in your eyeballs. You just can't begin to see what a fantastic world it is we live in. Come on, get your goddamn chins up off the floor. It's beautiful. It is. Shining. The whole place is shining. Can't you see it? Don't you feel it?

• Arthur Parker : I haven't offended you, I hope.

  Eileen : I'm not very at ease with people. Men, I mean.

  Arthur Parker : That's all right, honey. I got enough moxie for both of us.

• Eileen : You won't tell lies, will you? Arthur?

  Arthur Parker : Not if I can help it.

  Eileen : And you're not married, are you?

  Arthur Parker : Do I look like a married man? I even got a hole in my sock.

• Eileen : No, I'm scared. Arthur. I never - I never - Arthur.

  Arthur Parker : Oh, Eileen, take the pain away. Oh, please. Take the pain away, Eileen. Please. Please.

  Eileen : Oh, I'll try. I'll try. I'll try, Arthur. I'll try. Arthur. Oh! Oh! Poor Arthur. Poor...

• Arthur Parker : You was listening. All the time. Oh, jeepers, Joanie. What lovely, lovely little rosebuds.

  Joan Parker : Are they - ? Are they as nice as hers?

• Arthur Parker : You know, I heard a true story the other day. In a band, a dance band they were - this man and this woman singer, they...

  Joan Parker : Arthur.

  Arthur Parker : Well, they gave the elevator operator a $20 bill to stop the elevator between floors and turn his back.

  Joan Parker : Why?

  Arthur Parker : So they could make love in the elevator.

  Joan Parker : Well, then they are animals, Arthur, and you know they are.

  Arthur Parker : Are they, Joan? Are they?

• Joan Parker : What are you doing, Arthur?

  Arthur Parker : I was pretending.

  Joan Parker : But what? And why?

  Arthur Parker : That I got my own dance band.

• Eileen : I wanted you, you see.

  Arthur Parker : Did you?

  Eileen : Oh, yes.

  Arthur Parker : And you still do, don't you? You still do.

  Eileen : I still do.

  Arthur Parker : I never in all my life! I've never heard a woman talk like that! Just like that.

  Eileen : It's not decent, is it?

  Arthur Parker : God, it's - it's marvelous!

• Arthur Parker : In a band, this man and woman singer, they...

  Eileen : Arthur, what has this got to do with being married?

  Arthur Parker : Just a minute. A minute. At the hotel where they were playing, see, they gave the elevator operator a $20 bill to stop the elevator between floors and turn his back.

  Eileen : Do people do things like that?

  Arthur Parker : Like what, Eileen?

  Eileen : Make love in an elevator.

  Arthur Parker : You mean, like kissing, do you?

  Eileen : Oh, is that all?

  Arthur Parker : Oh, Eileen! Eileen! That's a good girl! You knew what I was talking about. Would you ever do that? What they did?

  Eileen : Between which floors, Arthur?

  [mime singing a song performed by Helen Kane] 

  Eileen : If it's naughty to rouge your lips, Shake your shoulders and shake your hips, Let a lady confess, I want to be bad!

• Eileen : [mime singing a song performed by Walter S. Harsh, Gene Merlino, Vern Rowe, Robert Tebow and Al Vescovo]  People are queer, they're always crowing, scrambling and rushing about...

  Eileen , Arthur Parker , Joan Parker : Why don't they stop someday, address themselves this way? Why are we here? Where are we going? It's time that we found out, We're not here to stay; we're on a short holiday...

  Eileen , Arthur Parker : Life is just a bowl of cherries, Don't take it serious; it's too mysterious...

  Eileen , Arthur Parker , Joan Parker : You work, you save, you worry so, But you can't take your dough when you go, go, go...

  Eileen , Arthur Parker : So keep repeating it's the berries...

  Eileen , Arthur Parker , Joan Parker : The strongest oak must fall...

  Joan Parker : Must fall...

  Eileen , Arthur Parker , Joan Parker : The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned...

  Eileen : So tell me...

  Eileen , Arthur Parker , Joan Parker : How can you lose what you've never owned? Life is just a bowl of cherries, So live and laugh at it all...

• Arthur Parker : God, why is it so - ? Why can't the world - ?

  Eileen : Because that's the way it is.

  Arthur Parker : But I want to live in a world where the songs come true. There must be someplace where them songs are for real.

  Eileen : "Happy Days Are Here Again." Is that it, Arthur?

• Eileen : Dance tunes don't help, Arthur. What am I gonna do?

  Arthur Parker : Can't you go back home?

  Eileen : No. I was already dead there. This way feels like dying, but I can see everything, feel everything. Do you understand?

• Arthur Parker : Did you - ? Did you like doing it - for money?

  Eileen : It wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be.

  Arthur Parker : My God, you're something. We're the same sort, you and me.

• Eileen : Arthur, you'll never be satisfied. Not somebody like you.

  Arthur Parker : Don't say that.

  Eileen : You're like the children in my class.

  Arthur Parker : But you're still sweet on me, ain't you? You still want me. Huh, Eileen? Tell the truth.

  Eileen : Yes, I do.

• Arthur Parker : Jesus Christ, Eileen, you're beginning to sound like my wife.

  Eileen : I'm not surprised, poor woman.

  Arthur Parker : What is it about women? Do your mothers teach it to you or what?

  Eileen : I hardly ever knew my mother, poor soul. She worked her fingers to the bone, and for what? Life with a stove and a washtub and - oh, what's the use? She was dead at 45.

• Arthur Parker : Where are you going?

  Eileen : Are the seams on my stockings straight?

  Arthur Parker : You got terrific legs, baby.

  Eileen : Let's hope so.

  Arthur Parker : Hey, what are you gonna do?

  Eileen : Get some dough!

• Arthur Parker : Hey, you're not gonna cry, are you? There's gotta be something on the other side of the rainbow.

  Eileen : There always is.

• Arthur Parker : [mime singing a song performed by Fred Astaire]  Dance! Let's face the music and dance.

• Arthur Parker : Always the same.

  Eileen : What is?

  Arthur Parker : Come out of the movies, the goddamn world has changed. Goddamn rain.

  Eileen : Forget it! We'll be "Singin' In the rain, Just singing' in the rain."

  Newsboy : Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Chicago song salesman hunted in blind-girl murder! Chicago song salesman hunted in blind-girl murder! Song salesman hunted in blind-girl murder!

• Eileen : We've only got one life, Arthur. We both know we made a mess of ours. It doesn't seem to matter much how it ends, does it?

  Arthur Parker : Doesn't it?

  Eileen : No.

• Arthur Parker : I want you. I want you now.

  Eileen : What, here?

  Arthur Parker : It's the only way I can keep going. Besides, we ain't never done it in a car, have we?

  Eileen : We must be crazy.

• Arthur Parker : I tell you, Eileen, salesmen got no goddamn morals!

• Eileen : Do you have any idea where we are?

  Arthur Parker : We're in the middle of nothing! Just where I always wanted to be.

• Warden : Arthur Parker, do you have anything to say?

  Arthur Parker : A long time ago, A million years BC, The best things in life, Was absolutely free, But no one appreciated, A sky that was always blue, No one congratulated, A moon that was always new, So it was planned that they would vanish now and then, And you must pay before you get them back again, That's what storms were made for, And you shouldn't be afraid - for

  [singing] 

  Arthur Parker : Every time it rains it rains, Pennies from heaven, Don't you know each cloud contains, Pennies from heaven, You'll find your fortune falling, All over town, Be sure that your umbrella is upside down, Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers, If you want the things you love, You must have showers, So when you hear it thunder, Don't run under a tree, There'll be - pennies from heaven - for you and me

• Eileen : Arthur, what are you doing here?

  Arthur Parker : Whoever said you could stop a dream?

• Arthur Parker : [singing]  As long as there's the two of us, We've got the world and all it's charms...

  Eileen : When the world is through with us, We've got each others arms.

• [first lines] 

  Arthur Parker : Joan... Joanie? Sugar? C'mon, Joan... sugar... wake up, baby.

  Joan Parker : No, Arthur, don't.

  Arthur Parker : Oh, baby... come on, sugar.

  Joan Parker : No, it's too early, Arthur.

  Arthur Parker : Oh, Joan.

  Joan Parker : Arthur, there isn't time.

  Arthur Parker : Oh, there's always time for this. Joan, come on.

  Joan Parker : Stop it, Arthur! No, don't!

  Joan Parker : [getting out of bed]  No... I said no!

  Arthur Parker : Why not? Why not, Joan?

  Joan Parker : You said you wanted to get away early; that's what you said.

  Arthur Parker : You never want to, do you? Never.

• Arthur Parker : My wife says...

  Eileen : Arthur...

  Arthur Parker : God rest her soul!