Ralph Taeger: Michael Halliday

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Michael Halliday : Hey! Captain says we land in the morning!

• [Goldie "accidentally" bumps into Michael] 

  Goldie : Oh, excuse me.

  Kathy O'Hara : That, friend Michael, is Goldie - companion of the most dangerous, back-shooting, soft-talking face in the Northwest.

  Michael Halliday : Well, it's been a pleasure, Miss O'Hara.

  [Mike turns to follow Goldie] 

  Kathy O'Hara : Watch your step, Mr. Halliday.

• [Michael is dazed after sipping the drugged drink Goldie gave him] 

  Michael Halliday : What happened?

  Kathy O'Hara : I understand your fortune is...

  Michael Halliday : Safe in the hands of a very lovely young lady.

  Kathy O'Hara : You mean her lord and master.

  Michael Halliday : Don't worry, he'll return it - with interest.

• Kathy O'Hara : You're up here to make a fortune, right?

  Michael Halliday : You answered the question.

  Kathy O'Hara : Forget about the gold fields. Only a few prospectors will make decent strikes and those that do will bring their gold back here.

  Michael Halliday : Where they'll be fleeced.

  Kathy O'Hara : By some. Durain plans to be a rich man. He'll cheat, lie, steal, anything. The saloon is a start.

  Michael Halliday : And your hotel?

  Kathy O'Hara : My start - the only place in Skagway where a prospector won't get rolled. That should make my fortune.

  Michael Halliday : A small one by Durain's standards.

  Kathy O'Hara : I hope so, or he'll make it his hotel.

• Michael Halliday : Durain holds all the cards - and all my money - but tonight I'm going to change that.

• Jefferson Durain : Well, are you enjoying your stay here in town?

  Michael Halliday : Well, not as much as I expected.

  Jefferson Durain : Oh. Well, I could introduce you to the federal marshal. He's a close friend of mine. In fact, he's a business associate.

  Michael Halliday : A young fellow like me learns every day.

• Jefferson Durain : I have something else in mind. Look, you handled Big Jack and you handled me. As far as I can see, about the only thing you couldn't handle was this young lady here.

  [indicates Goldie] 

  Michael Halliday : Now that's true, sir, but I intend to try again.

• Jefferson Durain : Why hesitate, Mike? You only have three choices - leave the town, stay here and probably get killed, or work for me.

  Michael Halliday : I don't like to make decisions. Besides, my mind is occupied with making money.

  Jefferson Durain : Oh, Mike, there's plenty of it here. Look, there will be thirty, maybe forty thousand men coming through this town - my town. And it will stay my town as long as there's a thin dime to be taken from these slick-haired, rainbow-chasing greenhorns.

  Michael Halliday : I'm thinking of the five hundred I started with and the three thousand dollars that was in the pot. Now anybody that plays poker like you do can just pull an ace right out of his sleeve.

  [Mike demonstrates] 

  Michael Halliday : Maybe you don't think I'm entitled to the entire three thousand dollars, but I'm sure you'll agree I'm entitled to my five hundred.

  [pulls a derringer from his pocket] 

  Jefferson Durain : Oh, Mike.

  [Jeff hands Mike five hundred dollar bills] 

  Michael Halliday : As for the rest of the money, I'll get that back, too, in cash, gold or trouble - you choose which.

• Michael Halliday : Where's your husband, honey?

  Kathy O'Hara : Where's your mother, lad?

  Michael Halliday : I'm sorry, but I'm a little bit older than I look. I surely didn't mean to pry.

  Kathy O'Hara : Well, I haven't got a husband... and I'm truly sorry if I spoke to sharply for your tender ears.

  Michael Halliday : That's all right, ma'am. I like your manner of speakin'. My name is Michael Halliday. Your servant.

  Kathy O'Hara : Kathy O'Hara, Mr. Halliday. If I seem short, it's because I have little time for a wet-nosed, over-grown greenhorns. Thank you for your unasked assistance.

• Goldie : Now tell me, Mr. Michael Halliday the Third, how you learned to play cards like that?

  Michael Halliday : I learned how to switch decks, fake cuts and deal seconds when I was eleven years old. Didn't do any good until I got in a game my daddy was in losin'. He's a fine engineer, but he couldn't tell a marked deck from a load of lumber.

  Goldie : What kind of engineer was he?

  Michael Halliday : Any kind. He could build a bridge or blow it up anywhere, and I went along - Siam, Japan, India, Mongolia, Tibet...

  Goldie : Miner? Engineer?

  Michael Halliday : Geologist and a fair country doctor. I can sew my own clothes, deliver a baby, speak five languages and call the faithful to prayer in three of 'em.

• Jefferson Durain : Well, what's it to be, Mike?

  Michael Halliday : Well, sir, it's like this. I don't mind that you've taken every cent I owned in the world and I don't mind that you confiscated all my supplies. I can even bear the fact that this lady has broken my heart, but I can't abide not knowin' what time it is, so if you'd give me back my watch, I would appreciate it.

  Jefferson Durain : [laughs]  You know, Mike, I've made it a practice to never give anything back to a sucker, but I'm going to make an exception this time.

• [Durain's thugs have hurled a stink-bomb in Kathy's hotel lobby and thown paint on her windows] 

  Michael Halliday : Kathy, I promise you nothing like this will ever happen again. I think this time I'm going to call on him.

  Kathy O'Hara : I'm about ready to admit you're a real skookum boy, but you're bucking a wild tiger in a fixed game.

  Michael Halliday : You rate Durain pretty high, don't you?

  Kathy O'Hara : Ha! He's high. He's going to own this town and everybody's going to have to pay to stay in it. If his dames and games don't get it, a lead pipe or a fixed drink will.

  Michael Halliday : Now, Kathy, I've been thinkin', where do you think Durain got the makin's for that sweet-smellin' bomb?

• Michael Halliday : Mr. Durain, you had Miss Goldie give me knockout drops. You've stolen all my money and you got your men to run me out of town. Now that's all straight forward and good business, but you went too far when you threw that foul-smellin' bottle into Miss O'Hara's hotel.

  Jefferson Durain : Why? I authorized my men to offer her a fair price for her hotel. She just wouldn't sell, that's all.

  Michael Halliday : Mr. Durain, would it do any good for me, to ask you to leave Miss O'Hara and her hotel alone?

  Jefferson Durain : No, you should have stopped with your watch.

  Michael Halliday : I regret that, Mr. Durain.

  Jefferson Durain : Yeah?

  Michael Halliday : When I was younger, I'd have come in here spoiling for a fight, thinkin' that a hard fist against a loose mouth would take care of what I was tryin' to do. And I'm still pretty young!

  [tosses a glass bottle full of foul-smelling liquid in the air] 

  Michael Halliday : How much gold do you take into this bar, Mr. Durain? Well, multiply that by the number of days it's going to take you to get rid of this lovely smell... and that's how much it's going to cost you every time you touch Miss O'Hara.

  Jefferson Durain : What do you want me to do?

  Michael Halliday : I want all these people here to hear you say that you'll leave Miss O'Hara and her hotel alone.

  [tosses the bottle in the air] 

  Michael Halliday : Now if there's still any doubt left in your mind...

  Jefferson Durain : No doubt.