“Ironweed” quotes

“What if I did drink too much wine? Whose business is that anyway? Who knows how much I didn't drink?”

Meryl Streep - Helen

“You know, a great poet once said that love enters through the eyes. You must be very careful not to see too much.”

Margaret Whitton - Katrina

“- Francis Phelan: How are you doing, Margaret?
- Peg: I'm doing fine. No thanks to you.
- Francis Phelan: Yep.
- Billy Phelan: Let's give the man a break, for chrissake. He just got here.
- Peg: What break did he ever give me? Or you? You don't just pop up here one day and all is forgiven.”
Jack Nicholson - Francis Phelan
Diane Venora - Peg
Michael O'Keefe - Billy

“By God, Helen, that's as good as it gets. You were born to be a star.”

Jack Nicholson - Francis Phelan

“- Francis Phelan: She is a bum, or just a plain drunk?
- Rudy: She's been a bum all her life.
- Francis Phelan: No, nobody... 'been a bum all her life'. She had to be somethin' else before she was a bum.”

Jack Nicholson - Francis Phelan
Tom Waits - Rudy

“- Francis Phelan: She was gonna die anyway. Her time was up.
- Helen: I don't believe that. I believe you die when you can't stand it any more. Take as much as you can, then you... You die when you can.”

Jack Nicholson - Francis Phelan
Meryl Streep - Helen

“- Francis Phelan: I don't think about it that much anymore. To tell you the truth, I'm over the hill.
- Rosskam: Over the hill? How old are you, 62?
- Francis Phelan: I'm not that old.
- Rosskam: 71 here. I don't go over no hills. Four, five times a night, I get it with the old woman, and in the daylight I go house to house, I get offers. I...” (continue)(continue reading)

Jack Nicholson - Francis Phelan
Hy Anzell - Rosskam

“Forgive me, for I have sinned. If you must call them sins, you know, I call them decisions.”

Meryl Streep - Helen

“- Rudy: What happened?
- Francis Phelan: He fell.
- Rudy: Fell where?
- Francis Phelan: On the floor.
- Rudy: Fell on the floor? I fall on the floor about twice a day. I ain't dead yet.”

Tom Waits - Rudy
Jack Nicholson - Francis Phelan

“- Hooverville Resident: What did you say to my wife?
- Francis Phelan: I asked her where I could get a turkey.
- Hooverville Resident: What for?
- Francis Phelan: Well, my duck died.”
Michael Trout - Hooverville Resident
Jack Nicholson - Francis Phelan

“- Francis Phelan: I'd like to buy this shirt from you. Will you take two bits for it?
- Rosskam: Why does a bum need a clean shirt?
- Francis Phelan: Clothes make the man, they say.
- Rosskam: Tidy bum. Sensitive, tidy bum I got on my wagon.”
Jack Nicholson - Francis Phelan
Hy Anzell - Rosskam

“- Rudy: You know why people call you a bum? Because it makes them feel better when they say it.
- Francis Phelan: Well, the truth can't hurt you. If you're a bum, you're a bum.”
Tom Waits - Rudy
Jack Nicholson - Francis Phelan

“Doc says I got cancer. First thing I ever got.”
Tom Waits - Rudy