Ralph Lockhart Quotes in White Hunter Black Heart (1990)

Ralph Lockhart: No Hollywood safaris for me.

John Wilson: That word has crept into the conversation quite a few times, hasn't it?

Ralph Lockhart: Which word is that, sir?

John Wilson: Hollywood. I realize it's the name of a place, but the way you say it has an added meaning. Like an insult.

Ralph Lockhart: Well, l didn't mean it like that.

John Wilson: Don't contradict me, Ralph. I've heard it all before. In the Army, in New York in the theater. Hell, l've heard it everywhere. People say Hollywood when they want to insult you. Well, really Hollywood is just a place where they make a profit. It's a factory town like Detroit or Birmingham or Schaffhausen. Because the cheap element of the town has been so overly advertised it becomes an insult to remind a man he's from there. They're not talking about the people who work there and that try to do something worthwhile. They're talking about the whores when they mention Hollywood. You know what that word means, don't you, Ralph?

Ralph Lockhart: Sure.

John Wilson: Sure. Whores have to sell the one thing that shouldn't be for sale in the world. And that's love. Of course, there are other kinds of whores than the floozies you frequent. There are whores who sell words and ideas and melodies. I know what l'm talking about because l've done a little hustling in my time. A hell of a lot more than l'd like to admit to. And what l sold when l was whoring l'll never get back. What l'm trying to say, it's the whores who put Hollywood up as a big target. Sure.