Places in the Heart (1984)

Sally Field: Edna Spalding

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Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Edna Spalding : [seeing her daughter's doll at the dinner table]  Possum, put that up now.

  Royce Spalding : Our Heavenly Father, bless this meal and all those who are about to receive it. Make us thankful for Your generous bounty, and Your unceasing love. Please remind us, in these hard times, to be grateful for what we have been given, and not to ask for what we can not have. And make us mindful of those less fortunate among us, as we sit at this table with all of Thy bounty. Amen.

• Edna Spalding : We'll start right now!

  Mr. Will : Well, you got 30 acres to pick.

  Edna Spalding : Frank and Possum can help.

  Mr. Will : Well, that's not going to be nearly enough.

  Edna Spalding : Then, I'll pick 24 hours a day.

  Moze : Did you ever pick cotton? After an hour, the hulls start cuttin' your fingers. Then by noon both of your hands is bleedin'. And later on your fingers start to swell. And after a little more time, they ain't no feelin' in your hands whatsoever. And I ain't even speakin' about what it does to your knees and I ain't even talkin' about what it does to your back. Now, we can't do it. Now, get that through your head. Once and for all, we can't do it. Now, you best stop thinkin' about it before you end up killin' yourself!

  Edna Spalding : Now you listen to me. If we lose this place, then you're goin' back to beggin' for every single meal. Mr. Will, They're gonna put you in a state home. And I'm gonna lose what's left of my family. I'm not gonna let that happen. I don't care what it takes. I don't care if it kills me. I don't care if it kills you. I'm not gonna give up. And if the two of you do, you can go straight to Hell!

• Edna Spalding : Mr. Simmons, I want 4 and a half cents a pound for my cotton.

  W.E. Simmons : God Almighty, lady, you don't want me, you want Santa Claus.

• Mr. Will : Mrs. Spalding, can I ask you a question?

  Edna Spalding : Yes.

  Mr. Will : What do you look like?

  Edna Spalding : I have long hair and I tie it up in the back. And I have brown eyes. I always wanted to have blue eyes, like my Mama, but, Margaret got those. And my teeth stick out in front, a little, because I sucked my thumb a long time when I was a little girl. I'm no real beauty. I'm all right.

• Edna Spalding : You took a no-account piece of land and a bunch of people that didn't know what they were doin' and you farmed that land better than anybody could - colored or white. You're the one that brought in the first bale of cotton this year. Don't you ever forget that.

• Edna Spalding : [Moze caught with her silver in hand]  You ever try and steal anything from me again, I'll shoot you myself, You understand that?

  Moze : nods

• Edna Spalding : I was thinking, if I was to plant cotton...

  Albert Denby : Mrs. Spalding, you don't know a thing about cotton farming.

  Edna Spalding : Yes, I know, but Moses says...

  Albert Denby : Moses? Who's Moses?

  Edna Spalding : He's this Negro man.

  Albert Denby : I don't know any Negro around here named Moses.

  Edna Spalding : He was just passing through, and I gave him a job doing some chores.

  Albert Denby : You mean to tell me you're lettin' some Negro hobo talk you into plantin' cotton? Did you ever hear of anything called The Depression? Now, you see these? These are all foreclosures. And that's just in the last three months. And that's white men who've cotton-farmin' all their lives and can't make a go of it. And you listenin' to some no-account nigger. You'll excuse me, Mrs. Spalding, but that's just about the most ignorant thing I've ever heard.

  Edna Spalding : Mr. Denby, I'm not ignorant - and I'm not selling my land.

• Moze : [whispering to Edna]  That ain't the seed you're paying for. He's charging you for grade-A seed, but that's gin-run quality.

  Edna Spalding : Somethin' wrong, ma'am?

  Edna Spalding : Mr. Simmons, I think maybe you gave us the wrong seed?

  W.E. Simmons : Well, so I did. That's just an honest mistake, idn't it, boy? Idn't it, boy?

  Moze : Yes, sah.

  W.E. Simmons : Now you idiots give Mrs. Spalding the wrong seed. We're lucky her nigger caught it. That's a smart nigger you got there, Mrs. Spalding. He's a credit to his race.

• Edna Spalding : Forgot to tell you, we got a letter from your Aunt Gladys. She was hoping we could come to Oklahoma and visit them... during your vacation. But, I don't know. I was hoping we could paint the house.

• Albert Denby : Now then, Mrs. Spalding... in spite of the fact that I have great doubts about... this misguided attempt of yours to hold on to this place... as a Christian and deacon of the church, it's my beholden duty to... reach out the hand of charity to a human being in need. And I got to thinking, now what better way to help out this poor woman... than if she took in a boarder. Someone who could move in here, and by paying a modest rent, help her out. What if my brother-in-law was to move in here and rent a room from you?

  Edna Spalding : Move in here?

• Mr. Will : Mrs. Spalding, I don't want me to be here any more than you want me to be. Now, I won't be any more trouble than is necessary. And all I'll ask in return is to be left alone in peace and quiet.

  Edna Spalding : Well, I just thought...

  Mr. Will : I know what you just thought. But I don't need your help, and I don't need you to feel sorry for me.