Operation Petticoat (1959)

Tony Curtis: Lt. JG Nicholas Holden

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lt. Nicholas Holden : You've gotta sneak up a few back alleys. What you need, sir, is a supply officer who can help you find those back alleys.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : You, Mr. Holden?

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Yes, sir.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : You'd ruin your manicure! Here.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Uh, don't let my manicure fool you, sir. I was born and raised in a neighborhood called Noah's Ark. If you didn't travel in pairs, you just didn't travel.

• Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : I don't want to bore you with the problems of command, Mr. Holden, because I doubt you'll ever have one. It's inconsistent with that philosophy of yours - every man for himself.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Dog eat dog.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Exactly! The unfortunate thing about command, though, Mr. Holden, is that the responsibilities outweigh the privileges! Now if it were just myself I was concerned with, I'd tell you what to do with that list. But my responsibility is this boat! And to get her out of here, I'd even make a pact with the devil!

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : That's where I come in.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : That's right.

• Lt. Nicholas Holden : As a kid, I was victim of the most vicious propaganda ever. People kept telling me that money wasn't everything, and I believed it. Until I found out that the people who were saying that "money wasn't everything," were the people that had all the money. So I figured they were trying to hide a good thing.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Mm-hmm.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Sir, please sit down.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Yeah.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Now there are two simple ways that you can get money. You can steal it, or you can marry it.

• Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Have you ever been to sea?

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Yes, Sir. Destroyer duty.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : How did you find time for it?

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : It was a mistake, Sir. About a week after I left Honolulu, they got it straightened out.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Who? The Admiral or the Admiral's wife? She must be awfully upset with you stranded out here. That'll probably cost her the rumba championship this year! Holy mackerel!

• Lt. Nicholas Holden : [Seeing Lt. Crandell and Sherman come out of the shower together]  Uh... Good morning.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Uh, good morning.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : That's a clever shower schedule you got worked out, sir. Conserves water too.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Lieutenant Crandell was having a little difficulty.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Sir, it's your boat.

• Lt. Nicholas Holden : The scuttlebutt is that we're going to try to submerge at daybreak, and I figured if you've got to go, you might as well go big.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Mr. Holden, it's past daybreak, and we are submerged.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : We are?

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : We are.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : You mean, we're under?

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Yes.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Well, it isn't a permanent situation, er... What I'm trying to say is, I mean, we can come up if we like to.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Well, I like to think we can, but then, I'm an incurable optimist.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : What happens, sir, if we, er... What happens if we can't...?

  [he motions upward] 

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Oh, well, if we can't, er...

  [he motions upward] 

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : , then, we, er...

  [he motions downward] 

• [Hunkle has revealed the picture of Gertie tattoed on his chest] 

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : [pointing to Gertie]  They oughtta to hang you in the Louvre.

• Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Tell me something. Why did you join the Navy?

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Because I needed an officer's uniform.

• Chief Mechanic's Mate Sam Tostin : [addressing the skipper]  Sir, sir... There's a woman in my engine room! You gotta' get that woman outta' my engine room.

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Well, who, Tostin?

  Chief Mechanic's Mate Sam Tostin : The Major. She washed her clothes and hung them up there to dry. *Stockings,* and everything! It's bad luck to have a woman in the engine room.

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Tostin, what harm can their clothes do?

  Chief Mechanic's Mate Sam Tostin : That's when they're the most dangerous. They're like snakes. When they shed their skin, look out!

• [finding water all over the floor] 

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Excuse me, sir, is this normal, or should I be nervous again?

• Filipino farmer : [seeing Holden's shoes]  Oh, sapatos!

  Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman : Oh, sapatos!

  Lt. Nicholas Holden : Oh, sir, not my sapatos! Please!

• Lt. Nicholas Holden : [to the captain]  Sir, in Las Vegas, the boys would say you're trying to make your point the hard way.