The Last Unicorn (1982)
Jeff Bridges: Prince Lir
Photos
Quotes
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Prince Lir : Unicorn, mermaid, sorceress... no name you could give her would surprise OR frighten me. I love whom I love.
Schmendrick : Well, that's a very nice sentiment, but when I change her back into her true self...
Prince Lir : I love whom I love.
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Prince Lir : [singing] I've had time to write a book about the way you act and look, / But I haven't got a paragraph. / Words are always getting in my way. / Anyway, I love you. That's all I have to tell you. / That's all I've got to say. / And now I'd like to make a speech about the love that touches each, / But stumbling I would make you laugh. / I feel as though my tongue were made of clay. Anyway, I love you. That's all I have to tell you...
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Schmendrick : If we run away then all the unicorns of the world will remain prisoners forever except one. And she will grow old and die.
Amalthea : Everything dies! I want to die when you die.
[looks at Lir]
Amalthea : I'm no unicorn, no magical creature. I'm a woman, and I love you, Lir. Don't let him change me! Lir, I will not love you when I'm a unicorn.
Prince Lir : Amalthea, don't...
Schmendrick : Then let the quest end here! I don't think I could change you back, even if you wished it. Marry the prince, and live happily ever after.
Amalthea : Yes, that is my wish.
Prince Lir : No. My lady, I am a hero. Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever. A happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.
Molly Grue : But what if there isn't a happy ending?
Schmendrick : There are no happy endings, because nothing ends.
Molly Grue : Schmendrick, let her stay the way she is. Let her be...
Schmendrick : That's not in the story. Lir know that, and so does she.
Molly Grue : You don't care! You don't care what happens to her or to the others, just so you're a real magician at last. You don't care-"
Schmendrick : Well I wish I didn't care! I wish to God I didn't care about anything but my magic! But I do! I do.
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Prince Lir : I wish you would ask something of me.
Almathea : Drown out my dreams! Keep me from remembering whatever wants me to remember it!
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Prince Lir : [after the Unicorn brings him back to life] Father? Father, I had that dream again...
[holds his head]
Prince Lir : No... I was DEAD...
Unicorn : [standing on a hill looking down at Lir] I remember you... I remember...
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Prince Lir : Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.
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[Lir is trying to compose a poem]
Prince Lir : The lift of longing / The crash of loss / The bitterness of... cross? boss? moss? Damn!