Carl Denham Quotes in King Kong (2005)

[last lines]

Carl Denham: It wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.

Carl Denham: And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty, and beauty stayed his hand. And from that day forward, he was as one dead."

Carl Denham: [filming the dinosaurs] Walk forward, Bruce.

Bruce Baxter: What?

Carl Denham: You're the star of this picture. Get into character and head towards the animals.

Bruce Baxter: What the hell kind of place is this? Are you sure about this, Denham? Don't we have a stand-in for this type of thing?

Carl Denham: I need you in the shot, or people will say they're fake.

Bruce Baxter: Oh nobody's gonna think these are fake.

Captain Englehorn: That's the thing about cockroaches. No matter how many times you flushed them down the toilet, they always crawl back up the bowl.

Carl Denham: Hey buddy, I'm out of the bowl. I'm drying off my wings and trekking across the lid.

Carl Denham: Ladies and Gentlemen... I give you... KONG! THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD!

Carl Denham: Monsters belong in B movies.

Carl Denham: Oh! Ann, this is... uh... Ann?

Ann Darrow: That's all right Mr. Denham. I know who this is. Thrilled to meet you. It's an honor to be a part of this.

[shakes hands with Mike]

Mike: [confused] Gee, thanks.

Ann Darrow: Actually, I'm quite familiar with your work.

Mike: [very confused] Really?

Ann Darrow: Yes, and what I most admire is the way you've captured the voice of the common people.

Mike: [smiling now] Well, uh, that's my job.

Ann Darrow: I'm sure you've heard this before, Mr. Driscoll, if you don't mind me saying, but, you don't look at all like your photograph.

[Jack Driscoll looks over]

Mike: [smile disappears] I'm sorry...

Carl Denham: Wait a minute, Ann.

Ann Darrow: [to Carl] He's so much younger in person. And much better looking.

Carl Denham: [as Jack approaches Ann from behind] Ann, stop. Stop right there.

Ann Darrow: [to Mike again] You see. I was just afraid that you might be one of those self-obsessed, literary types.

Mike: I'm sorry. I'm not...

Ann Darrow: You know, the tweedy twerp with his nose in his book and his head up his a...

[Jack snaps his book shut just behind her head. She turns around]

Jack Driscoll: It's nice to meet you too, Miss Darrow.

Captain Englehorn: There's nothing out there!

Carl Denham: Then you have nothing to lose...

Hayes: If someone were to tell you this ship was headed for Singapore, what would you say?

Lumpy the Cook: I'd say they're full of it Mr. Hayes. I mean we turned Southwest last night.

Carl Denham: Fellas, we're not looking for any trouble...

Jimmy: No. You're looking for somethin' else.

Carl Denham: $2,000. It's a deal. Will you take a check?

Captain Englehorn: Do I have a choice?

Carl Denham: Ann, I'm not that kind of person.

Ann Darrow: Oh really, then what kind of person are you Mr.Denham?

Carl Denham: I'm someone you can trust, I'm a movie producer.

Carl Denham: God damn it, Preston, all you had to do was look her in the eye and lie!

Carl Denham: Don't worry, Preston. I've had a lot of practice at this. I'm real good at crapping the crappers.

Carl Denham: [Before climbing to the top of the bug-pit] Just as you go down... for the third and final time... as your head disappears beneath the waves... and your lungs fill with water... do you know what happens in those last precious seconds before you drown?

Bruce Baxter: [pushing Denham towards the rope] Come on, buddy. Get up the rope. Come on. Get out of here. Come on.

Carl Denham: [continuing] Your whole life passes before your eyes. And if you've lived as a true American... you get to watch it all in color.

[smiles]

Bruce Baxter: Oh, and you will. Now why don't you climb up the rope, huh? Come on.

[calling out to Jack]

Bruce Baxter: Come on, Driscoll. Let's go!

[after a studio executive has suggested nude film shots]

Carl Denham: What are you, an idiot? Do you think they ever asked Cecil B. DeMille if he wasted his time on nudie shots? No! They respected the filmmaker! They showed some class! Not that YOU would know what class is, you cheap lowlife!

Ann Darrow: Is this the moving picture ship?

Carl Denham: Not exactly. It's actually this one over here.

Carl Denham: Ann, I'm telling you - you're perfect. Look at you. You're the saddest girl I've ever met. You're gonna make them weep, Ann. You're gonna break their hearts.

Ann Darrow: See, that's where you're wrong, Mr. Denham. I make people laugh, that's what I do. Good luck with your picture.

Carl Denham: Ann? Miss Darrow, please! I'm offering you money. Adventure, fame, the thrill of a lifetime, and a long sea voyage. You want to read a script? Jack Driscoll's turning in a draft as we speak.

Ann Darrow: Jack Driscoll?

Carl Denham: Sure, why? Wait. You know him?

Ann Darrow: No, not personally. I've seen his plays.

Carl Denham: What a writer, huh? And let me tell you, Ann. Jack Driscoll does not want just anyone starring in this picture. He said to me, "Carl, somewhere out there is a woman born to play this role." And as soon as I saw you, I knew.

Ann Darrow: Knew what?

Carl Denham: It was always going to be you.

Carl Denham: [to aboriginal girl] Look, chocolate! Here, take it. Go ahead, take it.

[through clenched teeth]

Carl Denham: Here, put it in you hand and take it.

Carl Denham: Fay's a size four.

Preston: Yes, she is, but she's doing a picture with RKO.

Carl Denham: Cooper, huh? I might've known.

Carl Denham: Defeat is always momentary!

Carl Denham: I'm not gonna let them kill my film!

Carl Denham: I'll give you another thousand if we leave right now.

Captain Englehorn: You haven't given me the first thousand yet.

Carl Denham: Can we talk about this later? Can't you see we are in the company of a VIP guest?

Captain Englehorn: Ma'am.

Ann Darrow: Ann Darrow.

[after already promising to dedicate the film to Mike]

Carl Denham: Goddamn it Preston we're gonna finish this film for Herb. And We'll donate the proceeds to his wife and kids.

[the boat is leaving the dock, and Carl made Jack stay because he hasn't finished the script]

Carl Denham: I keep telling you, Jack, there's no money in theater. That's why you should stick with film.

Jack Driscoll: No Carl, it's not about the money. I love theater.

Carl Denham: No you don't. If you really loved it, you would've jumped.

Carl Denham: I've risked everything I had on this film.

Captain Englehorn: No Denham, you risked everything I have.

Carl Denham: I'll give you another thousand to leave right now.

Captain Englehorn: You haven't given me the first thousand yet.

Carl Denham: I'm finished.

Jack Driscoll: How did you think this would end, Carl?

Carl Denham: [Denham stalls as the ship prepares to depart] Alright. We might as well settle up.

Jack Driscoll: You're gonna pay me?

Carl Denham: I'm not gonna stiff a friend.

Jack Driscoll: I've never known you to volunteer cash before.

Carl Denham: How does two grand sound?

Jack Driscoll: That sounds great... sounds great.

Carl Denham: Here ya go.

Jack Driscoll: Carl, you... you've written, "two grand".

Carl Denham: Thought I did. I'm sorry, let's just do this from the beginning.

Carl Denham: She's standing at the railing. She doesn't know it yet, but they are sailing toward disaster. You got that?

Jack Driscoll: Okay, so she turns and the first mate is staggering toward her. There's a knife sticking out of his back.

Carl Denham: Wait a second... We're killing off the first mate?

Jack Driscoll: Well that's assuming she knows who the first mate is.

Carl Denham: Come on, Jack. It was an honest mistake. Anne is near-sighted. It could'a happened to anyone.

Jack Driscoll: I was joking, Carl.

Jack Driscoll: [looking at map] What is that?

Carl Denham: What?

Jack Driscoll: That. That right there.

Carl Denham: I don't know. What is it? A coffee stain?

Carl Denham: Bring the tripod and all of the film.

Herb: Want to switch to the six-inch lens?

Carl Denham: [considering Kong, who only he has seen] The wide-angle will do just fine.

Carl Denham: I'm touching the beast.

Captain Englehorn: There's a warrant out for your arrest. Did you know that? I have been ordered to divert to Rangoon.

Carl Denham: Another week. I haven't got a film yet. Please I have risked everything.

Captain Englehorn: No Denham. You risked everything I have.

Carl Denham: What do you want? Tell me what you want. I will do anything.

Captain Englehorn: I want you off my ship.

Carl Denham: [running from the stampeding long necks while carrying his camera] RUN JACK!

[last lines]

Police Lieutenant: Well, Denham, the airplanes got him.

Carl Denham: Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.

[Captain translates Native Chief's comments on Ann Darrow]

Captain Englehorn: He says, "Look at the golden woman."

Carl Denham: Yeah, blondes are scarce around here.

Carl Denham: [warning Jack about women] Some big, hardboiled egg gets a look at a pretty face and bang, he cracks up and goes sappy!

[Kong has been knocked out by gas bombs]

Carl Denham: Why, the whole world will pay to see this.

Captain Englehorn: No chains will ever hold that.

Carl Denham: We'll give him more than chains. He's always been king of his world, but we'll teach him fear. We're millionaires, boys. I'll share it with all of you. Why, in a few months, it'll be up in lights on Broadway: Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Carl Denham: Don't be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen. Those chains are made of chrome steel.

Ann Darrow: Do you always take the pictures yourself?

Carl Denham: Ever since a trip I made to Africa. I'd have got a swell picture of a charging rhino, but the cameraman got scared. The darn fool, I was right there with a rifle! Seems he didn't trust me to get the rhino before it got him. I haven't fooled with a cameraman since; I do it myself.

Carl Denham: [protesting the agent's lack of confidence in the safety of Denham's voyage] You act as if I've never brought anybody back alive! Look at the Captain and first mate - - they've gone on several of my last missions, and they don't look any the worse for wear.

Jack Driscoll: [sarcastically, in wary half-hearted agreement with Denham's assertions] Yeah - - we're healthy!

Carl Denham: Listen, there are dozens of girls in this town tonight that are in more danger than they'll ever see with me.

Jack Driscoll: Yeah, but they know that kind of danger.

Carl Denham: [observing the natives dancing] Holy mackerel! What a show!

Carl Denham: Listen - I'm going out and make the greatest picture in the world. Something that nobody's ever seen or heard of. They'll have to think up a lot of new adjectives when I come back.

Carl Denham: It's money and adventure and fame. It's the thrill of a lifetime and a long sea voyage that starts at six o'clock tomorrow morning.

Carl Denham: Holy mackrel, do you think I want to take a woman along?

Charles Weston: Then why?

Carl Denham: Because the public - bless 'em - must have a pretty face.

Carl Denham: Wait a minute, what about Kong?

Jack Driscoll: Well, what about him?

Carl Denham: We can here to get a moving picture, and we've found something worth more than all the movies in the world!

Captain Englehorn: [incredulous] What?

Carl Denham: We've got those gas bombs. If we can capture him alive...

Jack Driscoll: Why, you're crazy. Besides that, he's on a cliff where a whole army couldn't get at him.

Carl Denham: Yeah, if he stays there...

[looks at Ann]

Carl Denham: but we've got something he wants.

Jack Driscoll: [holds Ann] Yeah. Something he won't get again.

Carl Denham: Hey, wouldja' look at that...

Captain Englehorn: Natives running through the village.

Carl Denham: Yeah... looks like the night before election.

Carl Denham: And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I tell you any more, I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive - a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Carl Denham: [just before he instructs Ann on how to act in front of the camera] I see you've put on the "Beauty and the Beast" costume!

Ann Darrow: Uh, huh... it's the prettiest!

Jack Driscoll: What do you call that thing?

Carl Denham: Something from the dinosaur family.

Jack Driscoll: Dinosaur, eh?

Carl Denham: Yes, Jack; a prehistoric beast.

Carl Denham: Throw your arms across your eyes and scream, Ann. Scream for your life!

Carl Denham: [Kong frantically shakes his chains] Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute; he thinks you're attacking the girl...

Reporter: Aw, let him roar, it's a swell picture...

Carl Denham: I'm gonna go out and find a girl for my picture - even if I hafta' *marry* one.

Carl Denham: Whaddaya think of that wall, Skipper?

Captain Englehorn: Colossal; might almost be Egyptian.

Carl Denham: Yeah, but what's on the other side of that wall; that's what I wanna find out.

Carl Denham: [seeing the island for the first time] Well, Skipper, there she is... Skull Mountain, the wall... everything just like on my funny little map.

Carl Denham: [talking to Jack across the ravine] Why, you wouldn't follow that beast alone?

Jack Driscoll: Someone's got to stay on his trail while it's hot!

Carl Denham: [after discovering a huge footprint of Kong] Keep those guns cocked.

Crew member: He's tellin' us.

Crew member: I'd hate to have that thing wrapped around me.

Captain Englehorn: And you expect to photograph it?

Carl Denham: If it's there, you bet I'll photograph it!

Jack Driscoll: Suppose it doesn't like having its picture taken?

Carl Denham: Well, now you know why I brought along those cases of gas bombs

Carl Denham: [chasing after sailor] Hey, come back with those bombs, you s...

Carl Denham: [the witch doctor has complained to the Chief] What's that?

Captain Englehorn: Must be the Witch Doctor. He says the ceremony is spoiled because we've seen it.

Carl Denham: Well, calm the old boy down! What's the word for friend?

Captain Englehorn: Bala.

Captain Englehorn: [moving toward the Chief, arms out and palms up] Bala; bala.

Skull Island nation leader: Punya!

Carl Denham: Stick with me and you'll be wearing diamonds.

[Hilda sings Runaway Blues]

Carl Denham: Hey, she's got something there.

Englehorn: It certainly isn't a voice!

Hilda: [tries to coax her show's released monkeys out of the trees] Tony, won't you please come down? Tony? Tony?

Carl Denham: You'll never catch a monkey that way.

Hilda: Did you ever catch a monkey?

Carl Denham: Did *I* ever catch...?

[dry chuckle]

Carl Denham: Lady, you'd be surprised.

Carl Denham: Skipper, believe it or not, there's a little Kong!

Englehorn: What? A little K -... How little?

Carl Denham: Well, just a little one... about twelve feet high.

Helstrom: [sees Denham and Englehorn sitting in a Dakang bar] Carl Denham! Don't you remember me? Nils Helstrom.

Carl Denham: Why, for the love of Mike. Helstrom! Sure I remember you!

[indicates Englhorn]

Carl Denham: Oh, this is Captain Englehorn. Captain Helstrom.

[Englehorn and Helstrom shake hands]

Carl Denham: Sit down.

[to Englehorn]

Carl Denham: Say, do you know who this is? The man who gave me the map of Kong's Island. And he wants to know if I remember him?

[laughs]

Carl Denham: Have a drink.

[pours Helstrom a drink]

Helstrom: [to Englehorn] So, that was your ship came in last night?

Englehorn: Mine and Denham's.

Helstrom: [to Denham] I heard about you in Singapore. How you captured the biggest animal on earth and taken him back to New York.

Carl Denham: If you want me to, I'll give Helstrom a tip that he's too thick with the crew.

Englehorn: Go ahead. It's bad for discipline.

Carl Denham: [sees Charlie leading a procession of the crew] Ha. We must be in Russia. Here comes the Committee of the Workers.

Charlie, the Chinese Cook: Captain Englehorn!

Englehorn: Well?

Charlie, the Chinese Cook: Captain, I went down in the forward hold.

Englehorn: What of it?

Charlie, the Chinese Cook: Captain, I found something!

Englehorn: What's the matter? Found what?

Carl Denham: [sees Charlie reach into the crowd of sailors and pull out Hilda, who was stowing away in the forward hold] Holy mackerel!

Carl Denham: Skipper, believe it or not, there's a little Kong!

Englehorn: What? A little K -... How little?

Mrs. Hudson, Landlady: [peeking out door] There's a newsboy, and a peddler, and a taxi driver out there.

Carl Denham: I betcha a nickel they're all process servers.

Carl Denham: Say, that's no way to talk. "I wasn't very good. The show wasn't very good." Cut it out. You wanna tell everybody how good you are. Throw out your chest. Brag about yourself.

Helstrom: Yeah, you're broke too.

Carl Denham: Broke?

[chuckles]

Carl Denham: I'm shattered.

Carl Denham: If I don't get out of this house I'll bite someone.

Carl Denham: [excited] Boy, look at him scrap! Just like his Old Man!

Reporter: If I don't get a story I'll lose my job.

Carl Denham: Alright, tell 'em this: Carl Denham, the boy who was gonna make a million dollars off King Kong, is flat broke.

[repeated line]

Carl Denham: Stick to me, kid, and you'll wear diamonds.

Carl Denham: [after little Kong has broken the rifle] Now look what you've done, you big dummy!

Carl Denham: Do you think he knew he was saving me?

Carl Denham: [as Helstrom is clinging to the small boat] Aw, Skipper, do we *hafta* bring him aboard?

Carl Denham: [as Little Kong follows Denham and Hilda] Come on, Baby. Some baby.

Carl Denham: [when Hilda sneaks onboard] You ought to be beaten to a pulp!