The Tall T (1957)

Maureen O'Sullivan: Doretta Mims

Photos 

Quotes 

• Doretta Mims : Well, what about you?

  Pat Brennan : I'm going to finish this. If they come, I'm going to finish this once and for all.

  Doretta Mims : Oh, but why?

  Pat Brennan : Some things a man can't ride around.

• Doretta Mims : Terrible things have happened these past two days, yet all I can do is think of myself. All I can do is look at myself and feel foolish. And do you know why? Because I know now he never cared for me! That he married me for his own interests!

  [She cries] 

  Doretta Mims : I saw him killed just now, and I couldn't even feel sorry for him. all I could do was think that he didn't love me. That he didn't care that...

  Pat Brennan : Now you listen to me, Mrs. Mims.

  [She sobs] 

  Pat Brennan : Your husband married you for money. You know it, and I know it. But you're alive, and he's dead, and that makes a difference. You can cry and moon about being a fool until they shoot us tomorrow, or you can start thinkin' about savin' your skin, but I'll tell you this

  [He turns her arounf to face her] 

  Pat Brennan : It'll take both of us working together to stay alive.

• Pat Brennan : Did you love him?

  Doretta Mims : I married him.

  Pat Brennan : That's not what I asked.

  Doretta Mims : Yes! Yes, I did.

  Pat Brennan : Mrs. Mims, you're a liar. You didn't love him, and never for one minute thought he loved you. That's true, isn't it?

  Doretta Mims : Do you know what it's like to be alone in a camp full of roughneck miners, and a father who holds a quiet hatred for you because you're not the son he's always wanted? Yes, I married Willard Mims because I couldn't stand being alone anymore. I know all the time he didn't love me, but I didn't care. I thought I'd make him love me... by the time that he asked me to marry him, I'd told myself inside for so long that I believed it was me he cared for and not the money.