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Marathon Man (1976)
Fritz Weaver: Professor Biesenthal
Quotes
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[addressing his class]
Professor Biesenthal : Well, you four have the dubious honor of having been picked from over two hundred applicants for this seminar. Well, let me just say this. There's a shortage of natural resources. There's a shortage of breathable air, there's even a shortage of adequate claret. But there is no shortage of historians. We grind you out like link sausages. That's called progress. Manufacturing doctorates is called progress. Well, I say, "Let us hush this cry of progress until ten thousand years have passed." That's a quote. Who said that? Come on, who said that? Well, somebody must know the answer.
[none of the students answer, but Babe Levy writes "Tennyson"]
Professor Biesenthal : Tennyson! Alfred, Lord Tennyson. My God, but you can't compete on a doctoral level and not know "Locksley Hall" and "Locksley Hall 60 Years Later"! I hope you all flunk. Dismissed.
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Professor Biesenthal : How am I to fathom your mind if you continue to hide it from me? If you persist, I'll conclude you're a drone.
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Professor Biesenthal : Would you tell us the subject of your dissertation, please?
Babe : Tyranny, sir. The use of tyranny in American political life.
Professor Biesenthal : Such as?
Babe : Maybe, uh, Coolidge breaking up the Boston police strike. Uh, Roosevelt putting Japanese Americans into concentration camps.
Professor Biesenthal : You might consider the McCarthy business?
Babe : Sir?
Professor Biesenthal : McCarthy. Senator Joseph from Wisconsin, ran a series of tyrannical purges in the fifties.
Babe : Yes, I'm aware of that, sir. I was planning a chapter on him.
Professor Biesenthal : [sarcastically] Oh, a chapter. I see. Yes. Interesting.