Two Seconds (1932)

Edward G. Robinson: John Allen

Photos 

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Quotes 

• John Allen : Listen, Bud, I don't think I'm gonna horn in on your party tonight.

  Bud Clark : Gettin' stuck up, all of the sudden, are you? Me and Annie ain't good enough for you any more?

  John Allen : It ain't that and you know it. It's only that, well, I don't know who the dame is Annie's going to bring along for me. I ain't so keen about a blind date.

  Bud Clark : Aw, she'll be all right. Annie knows you're particular about dames! She'll get ya a good number.

  John Allen : Yeah? Well, how about that truck horse she picked out for me last time?

  Bud Clark : I give her the devil for it, didn't I?

  John Allen : Yeah, a lot of good it did me. I was stuck with her for a whole evenin'. Boy, all that dame wanted to do was eat - eat and dance. I felt like I was handlin' the rear end of a fire truck.

• John Allen : Do you girls have to dance with everybody who has a ticket?

  Shirley Day : Why not?

  John Allen : Well, it must be sort of tough lettin' every guy paw you.

  Shirley Day : They don't paw me! Not if they know what's good for 'em.

• Shirley Day : What do you do for a living?

  John Allen : Well, I'm a riveter.

  Shirley Day : Oh, that's where you get such a big muscle, ain't it. You make good money at it too, don't you?

  John Allen : Sixty-two fifty per!

  Shirley Day : Boy! You and Rockefeller!

• John Allen : I think education is the biggest thing in the world.

  Shirley Day : Oh, not that I'm against education. I got a good one myself.

  John Allen : You have?

  Shirley Day : Yeah. I went a year to high school.

• Bud Clark : What are you hanging around her so much for then?

  John Allen : Well, she's good company. She knows things. She goes to school.

  Bud Clark : She goes to school.

  John Allen : Yeah.

  Bud Clark : I'll say she's a wise hen! She's found out your nuts about that education stuff and she's tryin' to hook you with that bait!

• Bud Clark : She was born crooked! It ain't in her nature to play square.

  John Allen : Now, don't say that. She's on the level, in that way, with men, I mean. I know she is.

  Bud Clark : Yeah? Where'd she get all them glad rags she was dolled up in when she come to ya? From dancin'? She only made five cents a dance. There's a limit to how much you can make addin' up pennies in a night. Why, she wouldn't have made enough to buy them clothes even if she was a - a - merry-go-round!

  John Allen : She's worked hard!

  Bud Clark : Sure, she has. And I'll tell you where she did it too. The same place she still goes every afternoon.

  John Allen : She goes to the movies!

  Bud Clark : Yeah?

• John Allen : I don't know what keeps me from killing you.

  Shirley Day : If you did, the goose would stop layin' the golden eggs!

• John Allen : It ain't fair! It ain't fair to let a rat live and kill a man! No! It ain't reasonable. It don't make sense!

• Shirley Day : [Getting ready to leave for the dance hall in a tight-fitting dress]  Well, Big Boy, what do I look like now?

  John Allen : [Contemptuously]  Just like what you are!

• John Allen : [Referring to Bud's racetrack winnings]  Say, you ain't gonna blow him the whole 38?

  Bud Clark : Well, I sure am! You don't spend easy money fast, no more will ever come to you.

  John Allen : Oh, yeah, but, it seems crazy to spend all that jack on a couple-a dumb dames!

• John Allen : [to Bud]  Yeah, now look here, anytime I take a dame out, she knows what it is to be out. I satisfy!

• Bud Clark : You're in a bad way. Better take some aspirin. First thing I know you'll be goin' sourer on me, you'll be clippin' some of those coupons and gettin' yourself a study book to carry around!

  John Allen : Well, that mightin' be a bad idea, at that!

  Bud Clark : Oh, no. Not while you're bunkin' with me. I ain't gonna live with no lily!

• John Allen : The girl I'm gonna fall for is gonna have real class.

  Bud Clark : Yeah? I ain't seen no poodle dogs chasin' ya.

  John Allen : Yeah, well she's gonna have an education. A girl you can learn somethin' from. Ain't no use in both of us bein' dumb.

• Bud Clark : No wonder the girls don't like ya.

  John Allen : Oh, they like me well enough. Say, didn't that fire wagon slobber all over me?

  Bud Clark : That's because you was feedin' her good. If Annie's got you a thin one this time, I bet she won't even give you a tumble.

  John Allen : Yeah, well that'll be her tough luck.

• John Allen : Well, I'm certainly glad you've decided to quit playin' Santi Claus to them bookies.

• Shirley Day : Say, big boy, you sure are a swell little hoofer.

  John Allen : You ain't so bad, yourself.

• John Allen : That's what's the trouble with your job. You know, it makes a guy think you're - well, what he said you were. You hadn't ought to work there any more.

  Shirley Day : I don't.

  John Allen : Gee and it was my fault you got canned.

  Shirley Day : Oh, no! Nothing would have happened if I hadn't slapped him myself. But, then, I couldn't let him play around with me that way, could I?

  John Allen : No! Not if you're decent.

  Shirley Day : Well, that's one thing I am! I may work in a tough joint, but everybody that knows me, knows I'm on the level.

  John Allen : Well, that's the only way for a girl to be.

• Shirley Day : I'll speak to Tony myself. I'm sure he'll take me on again.

  John Allen : Oh, no, no. Say, that would give all those fellas a chance to get fresh with you again.

  Shirley Day : It'll only be for a short time.

  John Allen : It sure is tough on a pretty girl, ain't it.

  Shirley Day : You really think I'm pretty?

  John Allen : Why, yeah.

  Shirley Day : I'm glad you think so.

• John Allen : I get a big kick out of Shirley.

  Bud Clark : Aw, you could do better with a mule!

  John Allen : You think I'm stuck on her; but, I ain't. I got my eyes open. I know what I'm doing.

  Bud Clark : But, do you know what she's doing? That's what counts!

• Shirley Day : I know you don't care a rack about me.

  John Allen : [drunkenly]  Sure I do, Shirley. I like you a whole lot! I said I did.

  Shirley Day : You never kiss me.

  John Allen : Well, I did. Just awhile ago.

  Shirley Day : Oh, I don't mean like that. I mean kiss me because you must do it! Because you can't keep yourself back! Because your whole insides burn up just for me.

  John Allen : Oh, shucks, Shirley.

  Shirley Day : That's how I am with you.

  [passionate kiss] 

• John Allen : What she's done before we got married, that's off! See. You and me ain't been no lilies, ourselves.

• John Allen : Now, see here! I ain't standin' for this any longer. I stood for you payin' the rent because I couldn't help myself. But, if you go out with them things on, advertise what you brought me to, you can stay out!

  Shirley Day : You got it backwards, big boy! I'm feedin' the kitty now! See!

  John Allen : There ain't anybody gonna bring that kinda money into this house.

  Shirley Day : Aw, that kind of money. Since when did you begin to examine a dollar to see who its father was?

• John Allen : Oh, why do you want to stay here for, when you're doin' so well by yourself?

  Shirley Day : I found out that a Mrs. can get away with things that a Miss can't! That's why the girls all look up to me and try to get tips on how I do it.

• John Allen : Give me a cigarette, will ya? That'll steady me. No, no. Light it for me. Will ya?

• John Allen : Yeah, it was you that made a rat outta me. Made me ashamed so I couldn't hold my face up!

• John Allen : Workin' this way, 20, 25 stories up in the air, you know, it kinda gives a fella ideas. You know, you met a guy or a girl down there and they think they're hot stuff, they amount to somthin' in the world.

  Bud Clark : Well, they ain't nothin' wrong with bein' that, is it?

  John Allen : No, nothin' wrong, nothin' wrong, nothin' like that; but, I don't know, when ya, when ya get up here and look down on 'em, then you get a different slant on the whole thing. You know, they only seem like, like just a crawlin' bunch of little flies. Look at them. Look at 'em. Crawlin' down there. A banker and a lawyer and the fancy dame. All the rest of 'em, thinkin' they're doin' big things. Makin' speeches and gettin' into the papers and cheatin' and hatin' each other. Huh, I bet you God gets a big laugh out of this old world.

• Bud Clark : What do you wanna go botherin' your head about that education bunk for? Ain't you makin' 62.50 a week?

  John Allen : Yeah.

  Bud Clark : Well, what more do you want? A guy told me that 62.50 is more than what a college professor makes. Do you wanna be a college professor and not have any dough to blow in on a good time?

  John Allen : Aw, no, it ain't the money, Bud, it ain't that. It's only, gee, I don't know this - there's so much more in the world I don't know.

• Bud Clark : You and me, we ain't got no time to think. We got work to do!

  John Allen : Oh, you said it.

• Bud Clark : John. John!

  John Allen : [drunkenly]  What's the matter now?

  Bud Clark : Did you let this dirty little egg rope you in?

  Shirley Day : Hey! That's no way to talk about his wife.

  Bud Clark : You filthy little rat you!

  John Allen : What's the matter now?