Cool and Lam (1958 TV Movie)

Billy Pearson: Donald Lam

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Thatcher : Mr. Lam...

  Donald Lam : Yes?

  Thatcher : Remember me, Conway Thatcher? Two years ago, my partner disappeared. I was accused of murder.

  Donald Lam : Of course! Your partner was Frazier Dunlap. I found him in Bakersfield and brought him back. How's everything now?

  Thatcher : Oh, he ran off again - with my wife and all my money. Thanks for bringing him back.

  [Thatcher slugs Lam in the jaw knocking Lam against Bertha's secretary's desk] 

  Elsie Brand : Are you all right, Mr. Lam?

  Donald Lam : Yeah... if you like starting your day with a punch in the jaw.

  Elsie Brand : At least this time you bounced.

• Donald Lam : Where do you think Mrs. Lintig could be?

  Dr. Lintig : I don't know. She left Oakview in 1937.

  Bertha Cool : After twenty years, who cares if she remarried?

  Dr. Lintig : I'm paying you to answer *my* questions.

• [Donald is pouring over back issues of the Oakview newspaper] 

  Marion Dunton : Here you are, Mr. Lam, the 1935 file.

  Donald Lam : Thanks!

  Marion Dunton : And the '34. You'll need it.

  Donald Lam : Who says so?

  Marion Dunton : More background on the Lintig scandal.

  Donald Lam : Lintig? Never heard of Lintig.

  Marion Dunton : Twenty years go by. No one's ever mentioned the Lintigs. So she boosted it up with the boys while the doc slaved away. That was twenty years ago. All of a sudden, BAM, it's a hot item. Any questions?

  Donald Lam : Yeah. Where can you get a decent meal in this town?

• Donald Lam : You're a real gold mine of information, but for the wrong guy.

  Marion Dunton : A girl gets tired of working for a small-town newspaper for her uncle. Maybe a girl would like to get a job in a big city like L.A.

  Donald Lam : Big city? Try San Francisco - L.A.'s just a village with gland trouble.

  Marion Dunton : Okay, so go eat at Murphy's diner. Order anything - it all comes out pot roast.

  Donald Lam : Thanks - Murphy's Diner.

  Marion Dunton : My name is Dunton - Marian Dunton. Ms. Dell is in Room 5, Oakview Beach Motel. And the next time you want to look uninterested, don't squint while you memorize.

• John Harbet : My friends tell me you're little but smart.

  Donald Lam : I had a chance to be tall and stupid. I blew it.

• Donald Lam : ...I wake up on the beach outside of Oakview. My car is parked off the road. It takes both my hands to carry my achin' head to the car.

  Bertha Cool : I wonder if bandages are deductible?

• Bertha Cool : The medical association says Dr. James Lintig got his name changed legally to Charles Altmont. He's moved to Santa Carlotta.

  Donald Lam : Santa Carlotta? There's a wide-open little town. They've invented some new vices and kept all the old ones.

• [last lines] 

  Bertha Cool : Doc Lintig was very grateful for keeping his name out of the whole mess. He sent us a lovely bouquet of money.

  Donald Lam : Good! I'm taking Marion to dinner to celebrate.

  Bertha Cool : I know a joint - 65 cent meals, real nice paper napkins. They got a jukebox next door; you can hear the music through the walls. It's on Pico!

  Donald Lam : We're going to dinner at Chasen's for real champagne. I'm bringing my own gypsy violinist. I'll charge it to expenses!