Mister Roberts Quotes
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Source: Mister Roberts
Speaker: Frank Pulver
Captain, it is I, Ensign Pulver, and I just threw your stinking palm tree overboard. Now, what's all this crud about no movie tonight?
Context
This line is spoken by Frank Pulver, played by Jack Lemmon, in the film Mister Roberts, directed by John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy (1955).
The U.S.S. Reluctant isn't the finest ship to sail the Pacific Ocean in the twilight days of World War II, but it does have a star-studded cast of actors to play its crew, including Henry Fonda, James Cagney, and Jack Lemmon in the role that gave him his first Oscar. The movie follows the misadventures of the super strict Captain Morton and the disgruntled crew.
This quote falls near the end, during a big outburst from Pulver, who has spent most of the movie being a lazy bum. He takes his anger out on Morton in a kind of pathetic way by throwing a palm tree in the water and complaining about not getting to see a movie.
What? Isn't that how you handle bad days?
Where you've heard it
The classic movie buff at your work might have quoted this one as a sign of insubordination. Also, there's a special hell for people who cancel movie night.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
Don't mess with movie night.