High Fidelity (film) Quotes

High Fidelity (film) is a TV program that first aired in 1970 . High Fidelity completed its run in 1970.

It features Tim Bevan as producer, Howard Shore in charge of musical score, and Seamus McGarvey as head of cinematography.

High Fidelity (film) is recorded in English and originally aired in United States. Each episode of High Fidelity (film) is 113 minutes long. High Fidelity (film) is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

The cast includes: John Cusack as Rob, Iben Hjejle as Laura, Todd Louiso as Dick, John Cusack as Rob Gordon, Jack Black as Barry, Joelle Carter as Penny Hardwick, Joan Cusack as Liz, Chris Rehmann as Vince, Lisa Bonet as Marie De Salle, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Charlie Nicholson, and Natasha Gregson Wagner as Caroline Fortis.

High Fidelity (film) Quotes

Joelle Carter as Penny Hardwick

• (Joelle Carter) "I -- I was crazy about you. I wanted to sleep with you, one day, but not when I was 16. When you broke up with me; YOU broke up with ME; because I was, to use your charming expression, "tight," I cried, and I cried, and I hated you, and when that little s***bag asked me out and I was too tired to fight him off, it wasn't rape, because I said "OK," but it wasn't far off. Do you know I couldn't have sex until after college because I hated it so much? That's when you're supposed to have sex, Rob; in college. And now you want to have a little chat about rejection, well f*** you, Rob."
• (John Cusack) "God, she's right. I broke up with her, I rejected her -- that's ANOTHER one I don't have to worry about. I should have done this years ago."

John Cusack as Rob

• (John Cusack) "John Dillinger was killed behind that theater in a hale of FBI gunfire. And do you know who tipped them off? His f***ing girlfriend. All he wanted to do was go to the movies."

• (John Cusack) "Just c'mon. What would it mean to you, that sentence; "I haven't seen Evil Dead II, yet"?"
• (Jack Black) "Well, to me it would mean you were a liar. You've seen it twice: once with Laura; Oops.; and once with me and Dick, remember? We had that conversation about the guy making Beretta shotgun ammunition offscreen in the 14th century."

• (John Cusack) "It was as if breasts were little pieces of property that had been unlawfully annexed by the opposite sex. They were rightfully ours and we wanted them back."

• (John Cusack) "I'm okay if that's what's upsetting you --"
• (Rob's Mom) "That is NOT what's upsetting me."
• (John Cusack) "Well it f***in' should be, shouldn't it?"

• (John Cusack) "I just want to know where I stand here. What chance?"
• (Iben Hjejle) "What; I don't know what chance we have."
• (John Cusack) "You can tell me roughly."
• (Iben Hjejle) "Alright, we have a nine percent chance of getting back together."
• (John Cusack) "Nine?"
• (Iben Hjejle) "Nine."
• (John Cusack) "Great."

• (John Cusack) "Hey, I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm certainly not the dumbest. I mean, I've read books like "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and "Love in the Time of Cholera", and I think I've understood them. They're about girls, right? Just kidding. But I have to say my all-time favorite book is Johnny Cash's autobiography "Cash" by Johnny Cash."

• (John Cusack) "I'll give you ten percent of the door if you don't play."
• (Jack Black) "Rob, we're getting that anyway. No."
• (John Cusack) "Twenty."
• (Jack Black) "No."
• (John Cusack) "Twenty percent."
• (Jack Black) "Come on, Rob. We need the gig."
• (John Cusack) "A hundred and ten percent. That's how much it means to me, not to hear you play."
• (Jack Black) "Rob, we're called Sonic Death Monkey."
• (John Cusack) "Sonic Death Monkey?"
• (Jack Black) "Yeah. And if Laura and her bourgeois lawyer friends can't handle it; f*** them. Let 'em riot. We're Sonic-f***in'-Death Monkey."

• (John Cusack) "I own this store called Champions Vinyl. It's located in a neighborhood that attracts the bare minimum of window shoppers. I get by because of the people who make a special effort to shop here; mostly young men; who spend all their time looking for deleted Smiths singles and original, not rereleased; underlined; Frank Zappa albums. Fetish properties are not unlike porn. I'd feel guilty taking their money, if I wasn't -- well -- kinda one of them."

• (Louis) "I don't have that record -- I'll buy it for forty."
• (John Cusack) "Sold."
• (Louis) "Now why would you sell it to me and not to him?"
• (Jack Black) "Because you're not a geek, Louis."
• (Louis) "You guys are snobs."
• (Todd Louiso) "No, we're not."
• (Louis) "Yeah, seriously, you're totally elitist. You feel like the unappreciated scholars, so you s*** onto people who know lesser than you."
• (Todd Louiso) "No."
• (Louis) "Which is everybody --"
• (Todd Louiso) "Yeah --"
• (Louis) "That's so sad."

• (John Cusack) "Look at these. I used to dream I'd be surrounded by exotic women's underwear forever and ever. Now I know they just save their best pairs for the nights they know they're going to sleep with somebody."

• (John Cusack) "What if I was doing something that can't be cancelled?"
• (Iben Hjejle) "Rob, what are you ever doing that can't be cancelled?"

• (John Cusack) "I lost it. I lost it all- faith, dignity -- about 15 pounds."

• (John Cusack) "My desert island, all-time, top-five most memorable breakups, in chronological order, are as follows: Alison Ashmore; Penny Hardwick; Jackie Alden; Charlie Nicholson; and Sarah Kendrew. Those were the ones that really hurt. Can you see your name on that list, Laura? Maybe you'd sneak into the top ten. But there's just no room for you in the top five, sorry. Those places are reserved for the kind of humiliation and heartbreak you're just not capable of delivering."

• (John Cusack) "She didn't make me miserable, or anxious, or ill at ease. You know, it sounds boring, but it wasn't. It wasn't spectacular either. It was just good. But really good."

• (John Cusack) "Why'd you have to tell her about the store?"
• (Jack Black) "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was classified information. I mean, I know we don't have any customers, but I thought that was a bad thing, not like, a business strategy"

• (John Cusack) "To be honest, I hadn't met anyone as promising as Laura since I started DJing. I mean, promising women is kind of what the DJ thing's supposed to be about."

• (John Cusack) "I used to hate this song."
• (Todd Louiso) "Yeah."
• (John Cusack) "Now I kinda like it."
• (Todd Louiso) "Yeah."

• (John Cusack) "I can't go on apologizing my whole life."
• (Joan Cusack) "I think just the once would do."

• (John Cusack) "And then we made love. It was great. That's it. I'm not going to go into all that other stuff, you know, the who did what to whom stuff. You know that song, "Behind Closed Doors," by Charlie Rich? It's one of my favorite songs. I can say we had a good time. I can say that."

• (John Cusack) "I can see now I never really committed to Laura. I always had one foot out the door, and that prevented me from doing a lot of things, like thinking about my future and -- I guess it made more sense to commit to nothing, keep my options open. And that's suicide. By tiny, tiny increments."

• (John Cusack) "Do you want to get married; to me?"
• (John Cusack) "I'm serious."
• (Iben Hjejle) "Yes, I know."
• (John Cusack) "Well, thanks a frickin' bunch."
• (Iben Hjejle) "I'm sorry, it's just two days ago you were making tapes for that girl from the Reader. Well, forgive me if I don't think of you as the world's safest bet."
• (John Cusack) "Would you marry me if I was?"
• (Iben Hjejle) "What brought all this on?"
• (John Cusack) "I don't know. I'm just sick of thinking about it all the time."
• (Iben Hjejle) "About what?"
• (John Cusack) "This stuff. Love and settling down and marriage, you know. I want to think about something else."
• (Iben Hjejle) "I change my mind. That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard. I do. I will."

• (John Cusack) "All three of us writers, we all experience music autobiographically."
• (John Cusack) "I think a lot of people do."
• (John Cusack) "So I'll have certain songs that mark certain times in our life and I think we're not rare that way."
• (John Cusack) "Like I'll use music as fuel, you know?"
• (John Cusack) "Not like as inspiration but as fuel like if I need to get into a certain mindset I know there's certain songs that I can turn on that'll just -- that's the gas and that'll get me right where I need to go."
• (John Cusack) "Or if I need to get out of a certain state put on this song or that song and it just propels you."

• (John Cusack) "Marvin Gaye."
• (Iben Hjejle) "I know."
• (John Cusack) "Let's get it on. That's our song. Marvin Gaye is responsible for our entire relationship."
• (Iben Hjejle) "Oh, is that so? I'd like a word with him then."

• (John Cusack) "Hey, Liz."
• (Joan Cusack) "Hi, Rob --"
• (Joan Cusack) "You f***ing asshole."
• (Joan Cusack) "Hi, Barry."

• (John Cusack) "Alison married Kevin. I am fine now. Married her junior high school sweetheart: kissed me on the bench, kissed Kevin on the bench; MARRIED Kevin. This is great. This has got nothing to do with me. This is fate, this is destiny; it is beyond my control, beyond my fault. I love this."

• (John Cusack) "Sometimes I got so bored of trying to touch her breast that I would try to touch her between her legs. It was like trying to borrow a dollar, getting turned down, and asking for 50 grand instead."

• (John Cusack) "Laura didn't even want to get married. That's not what happens now."
• (Rob's Mom) "Oh, I don't know what happens now, except you meet a girl, you move in, she goes. You meet a girl, you move in, SHE GOES."
• (John Cusack) "Aw, SHUT UP, MOM."
• (John Cusack) "God damn, that's some cold s***."

• (John Cusack) "It would be nice to think that since I was 14, times have changed. Relationships have become more sophisticated. Females less cruel. Skins thicker. Instincts more developed. But there seems to be an element of that afternoon in everything that's happened to me since. All my romantic stories are a scrambled version of that first one."

• (John Cusack) "She LIKED me. She liked ME. SHE like me -- At least I think she did."

• (John Cusack) "If you really wanted to screw me up, you should've gotten to me earlier."

• (John Cusack) "That other girl, or other women, whatever -- I mean, I was thinking that they're just fantasies. You know? And they always seem really great because there's never any problems. And if there are, they're cute problems like, you know, we bought each other the same Christmas present, or she wants to go see a movie that I've already seen, you know? And then I come home, and you and I have real problems -- and you don't even want to see the movie I want to see, period. There's no lingerie and --"
• (Iben Hjejle) "I have lingerie."
• (John Cusack) "Yes, you do. You have great lingerie, but you also have the cotton underwear that's been washed a thousand times, and it's hanging on the thing and, and they have it too. It's just I don't have to see it because it's not in the fantasy. Do you understand? I'm tired of the fantasy because it doesn't really exist. And there are never really any surprises, and it never really --"
• (Iben Hjejle) "Delivers?"
• (John Cusack) "Delivers. Right. And I'm tired of it. And I'm tired of everything else, for that matter. But I don't ever seem to get tired of you."

• (John Cusack) "The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules. Anyway -- I've started to make a tape -- in my head -- for Laura. Full of stuff she likes. Full of stuff that make her happy. For the first time I can sort of see how that is done."

• (John Cusack) "How does he do it, you ask. How does"
• (John Cusack) "how does an average guy like me become the number one lover-man in his particular postal district? He's grumpy, he's broke, he hangs out with the musical moron twins --"

• (John Cusack) "So, what am I gonna do now? Just keep jumping from rock to rock, for the rest of my life, until they're not any rocks left? Should I bolt every time I get that feeling in my gut when I meet someone new? Well, I've been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I've come to the conclusion that my guts have s*** for brains."

• (John Cusack) "The two to on my top five all-time break up list was Penny Hardwick."
• (John Cusack) "Penny was great looking and her top five recording artists were Carly Simon, Carole King, James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Elton John."

• (John Cusack) "I want more, I wanna see the others on the big top-five. I want to see Penny and Charlie and Sarah, all of them. You know? Just see 'em and talk to 'em. You know, like a Bruce Springsteen song."
• (Bruce Springsteen) "You call, you ask them how they are and see if they've forgiven you."
• (John Cusack) "Yeah, and then I feel good. And they feel good."
• (Bruce Springsteen) "They'd feel good, maybe. But you feel better."
• (John Cusack) "I'd feel clean and calm."
• (Bruce Springsteen) "That's what you're looking for, you know, get ready to start again. It'd be good for you."
• (John Cusack) "Great, even."
• (Bruce Springsteen) "Give that big final good luck and goodbye to your all time top-five and just move on down the road."
• (John Cusack) "Good luck, Goodbye. Thanks, Boss."

• (John Cusack) "You are as abandoned and noisy as any character in a porn film, Laura. You are Ian's plaything, responding to his touch with shrieks of orgasmic delight. No woman in the history of the world is having better sex than sex you are having with Ian -- in my head."

• (John Cusack) "Barry, you're over 30 years old. You owe it to yourself, to your friends, to your parents, NOT to play in a band called Sonic Death Monkey."
• (Jack Black) "I owe it to myself to go RIGHT to the edge, Rob. And this band does exactly that. Over the edge, in fact."
• (John Cusack) "Well, you'll be going right over the f***ing edge if you come anywhere near me on Friday night."
• (Jack Black) "That's what we want: reaction. Hey, this was Laura's idea, not mine, buddy. And if Laura's bourgeois lawyer friends can't take it, f*** them. Let 'em riot, we can take it. We're f***in' Sonic Death Monkey."

• (John Cusack) "I could've wound up having sex back there. And what better way to exorcise rejection demons than to screw the person who rejected you, right? But you wouldn't be sleeping with a person, you'd be sleeping with the whole sad, single-person culture. It'd be like sleeping with Talia Shire in Rocky if you weren't Rocky. I feel guilty enough as it is."

• (John Cusack) "I was jealous of other men in her design department. I became convinced that she was going to leave me for one of them. Then she left me for one of them."

• (John Cusack) "Get your patchouli stink; outta my store. Move it, lard ass."

• (John Cusack) "Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians."
• (Iben Hjejle) "No, it's really not, Rob. You know why? Because Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel make pop records."
• (John Cusack) "Made. Made. Marvin Gaye is dead. His father shot him."

• (John Cusack) "It made sense to pool our collective loathing for the opposite sex, and while we were at it, you get to share a bed with somebody at the same time. We were frightened of being left alone for the rest of our lives. Only people of a certain disposition are frightened of being alone for the rest of their lives at the age of 26, and we were of that disposition."

• (John Cusack) "What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

• (John Cusack) "Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do's and don'ts. First of all you're using someone else's poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing."

• (John Cusack) "Charlie, you f***ing bitch. Let's work it out."

• (John Cusack) "I will now sell five copies of "The Three EPs" by The Beta Band."
• (Todd Louiso) "Go for it."
• (Beta Band Customer) "Who is this?"
• (John Cusack) "The Beta Band."
• (Beta Band Customer) "It's good."
• (John Cusack) "I know."

Todd Louiso as Dick

• (Todd Louiso) "I guess it looks as if you're reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological?"
• (John Cusack) "No --"
• (Todd Louiso) "Not alphabetical --"
• (John Cusack) "Nope --"
• (Todd Louiso) "What?"
• (John Cusack) "Autobiographical."
• (Todd Louiso) "No f***ing way."
• (John Cusack) "Yep. Let me tell ya how I got from Deep Purple to Howlin' Wolf in just 25 moods. And, if I want to find the song "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac, I have to remember that I bought it for someone in the Fall of 1983 pile; but, didn't give it to them for personal reasons."
• (Todd Louiso) "That sounds --"
• (John Cusack) "Comforting."
• (Todd Louiso) "Yes."
• (John Cusack) "It is."

Jack Black as Barry

• (Jack Black) "I wanna date a musician."
• (John Cusack) "I wanna live with a musician. She'd write songs at home and ask me what I thought of them, and maybe even include one of our little private jokes in the liner notes."
• (Jack Black) "Maybe a little picture of me in the liner notes."
• (Todd Louiso) "Just in the background somewhere."

• (Jack Black) "Top 5 songs about death. A Laura's Dad tribute list, okay? Okay. Leader of the Pack. The guy f***in' beefs it on his motorcycle and dies, right? Dead Man's Curve. Jan & Dean."
• (Todd Louiso) "Do you know that right after they recorded that song Jan himself crashed his car --"
• (Jack Black) "It was Dean you f***in' idiot --"
• (John Cusack) "It was Jan. It was a long time after the song."
• (Jack Black) "Okay, whatever. Tell Laura I Love Her. That would bring the house down; Laura's Mom could sing it. You know what I'd want? One Step Beyond by Madness. And, uh, You Can't Always Get What You Want."
• (Todd Louiso) "No. Immediate disqualification because of its involvement with The Big Chill."
• (Jack Black) "Oh God. You're right."
• (Todd Louiso) "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald; Gordon Lightfoot."
• (Jack Black) "You bastard. That's so good; that should have been mine -- The night Laura's daddy died. Sha na na na na na na na na. Brother what a night it really was. Mother what a night it really -- angina's tough. Glory be."

• (Jack Black) "You don't have it? That is perverse. Don't tell anybody you don't own f***ing "Blonde on Blonde". It's gonna be okay."

• (Jack Black) "Rob, top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the '80s and '90s. Go. Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?"

• (Jack Black) "OK, buddy, uh, I was just tryin' to cheer us up so go ahead. Put on some old sad bastard music, see if I care."
• (John Cusack) "I don't wanna hear old sad bastard music, Barry, I just want something I can ignore."
• (Jack Black) "Here's the thing. I made that tape special for today. My special Monday morning for you -- special."
• (John Cusack) "Well, it's f***in' Monday afternoon. You should get out of bed earlier."

• (Jack Black) "Oh, that's not obvious enough Rob. How about the Beatles? Or f***ing -- f***ing Beethoven? Side one, Track one of the Fifth Symphony -- How can someone with no interest in music own a record store?"

• (Jack Black) "Oh, "The Killing Moon" EP; it's almost impossible to find; especially on CD. Yet another cool trick they played on all the dumbasses who got rid of their turntables. But, every other Echo and the Bunnymen album --"
• (Barry's Customer) "Yeah, I have all the other ones."
• (Jack Black) "Oh, you do? Well, how about the Jesus and Mary Chain?"
• (Barry's Customer) "They always seemed --"
• (Jack Black) "They always seemed what? They always seemed really great is what they always seemed. They picked up where your precious Echo left off and you're sitting around complaining about no more Echo albums. I can't believe you don't own this f***ing record."
• (Jack Black) "That's insane. Jesus."

• (Jack Black) "Rob, I'm telling you this for your own good, that's the worst f***in' sweater I've ever seen, that's a Cosby sweater."
• (Jack Black) "A Cosssssssby sweater. Did Laura let you leave the house like that?"

• (Jack Black) "Hey, it's half past a monkey's ass, let's go."
• (Todd Louiso) "Oh, I can't meet you guys at the club tonight."
• (Jack Black) "Why?"
• (Jack Black) "Who are you going to see?"
• (Todd Louiso) "Nobody."
• (Jack Black) "Rob. Loooky-looky. Dick, are you gettin' some?"
• (Jack Black) "Oh-ho-ho. Un-f***ing-believable. Dick's got a hot date. How did this happen, Dick? What rational explanation can there possibly be? What's her name?"
• (Todd Louiso) "Anaugh."
• (Jack Black) "Anna? Anaconda?"
• (Todd Louiso) "Anaugh Moss."
• (Jack Black) "Anna M-ha-ha-oss? Is she all green and fuzzy and mossy? And you met this bruiser where exactly? The home for the mentally challenged or the blind or the bus station?"
• (Todd Louiso) "Um, here. She asked me about the new Green Day album, and I told her --"
• (Jack Black) "Oh, man, finally. Anna. That's great, Dick. Really. Smoke that ass."

• (Jack Black) "Rob, thank you for the enthusiastic intro; but, we're no longer called Sonic Death Monkey. We're on the verge of being called Kathleen Turner Overdrive; however, this evening we will be: Barry Jive and the Uptown Five."
• (Jack Black) "I've been really tryin', baby, To hold onto this feeling for so long, And if you feel like I feel, sugar, Then, c'mon, oh, c'mon, Woo. Let's get it on, Let's get it on --"

• (Jack Black) "Holy s***e. What the f*** is that?"
• (Todd Louiso) "It's the new Belle and Sebastian --"
• (John Cusack) "It's a record we've been listening to and enjoying, Barry."
• (Jack Black) "Well, that's unfortunate, because it sucks ass."

• (Jack Black) "I never thought I'd say this, but can I go work now?"

Iben Hjejle as Laura

• (Iben Hjejle) "Listen, Rob, would you have sex with me? Because I want to feel something else than this. It either that, or I go home and put my hand in the fire. Unless you want to stub cigarettes out on my arm."
• (John Cusack) "No. I only have a few left, I've been saving them for later."
• (Iben Hjejle) "Right. It'll have to be sex, then."
• (John Cusack) "Right. Right."
• (Iben Hjejle) "I knew there was a reason I wore a skirt today."

• (Iben Hjejle) "I'm too tired not to be with you."
• (John Cusack) "What, so if you had a bit more energy we'd stay split up, but things being as they are, with you being wiped out and all, you want to get back together? Is that it?"
• (Iben Hjejle) "Yeah."

• (Iben Hjejle) "Look, I know it's not very romantic, Rob; but, there will be romance again at some stage."

• (Iben Hjejle) "Top Five Dream Jobs."
• (John Cusack) "Hey, that's private."
• (Iben Hjejle) "Number One: Journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. 1976-1979. Get to meet the Clash, Chrissie Hydne, Sex Pistols, David Byrne. Get tons of free records. Number Two: Producer. Atlantic Records. 1964-1971. Get to meet Aretha, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke --"
• (John Cusack) "More free records --"
• (Iben Hjejle) "And a s***load of money."
• (John Cusack) "Yeah."
• (Iben Hjejle) "Number Three: Any kind of musician."
• (John Cusack) "Besides classical or rap."
• (Iben Hjejle) "Settle for being one of the Memphis Horns or something. Not asking to be Jaggar or Hendricks or Otis Redding. Number Four: Film Director."
• (John Cusack) "Any kind except German or silent."
• (Iben Hjejle) "And Number Five: we have architect."
• (John Cusack) "Yeah."
• (Iben Hjejle) "Seven years training."
• (John Cusack) "I'm not sure I even want to be an architect."
• (Iben Hjejle) "So you've got a list here of five things you'd do if qualifications and time and history and salary were no object."
• (John Cusack) "Yeah."

• (Iben Hjejle) "All I'm saying is, you have to allow for things to happen to people, but most of all to yourself. And you don't Bob, so what's the use?"

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Charlie Nicholson

• (Catherine Zeta-Jones) "Hey, Jellybean."

Chris Rehmann as Vince

• (Chris Rehmann) "What's the name of your label?"
• (John Cusack) "Top Five Records."

Natasha Gregson Wagner as Caroline Fortis

• (Natasha Gregson Wagner) "Excuse me, is this Stereolab?"
• (John Cusack) "Yeah. Yeah, it is."
• (Natasha Gregson Wagner) "I haven't heard this one. It's really good."
• (John Cusack) "Yeah, I know"
• (Natasha Gregson Wagner) "Are you Bob?"
• (John Cusack) "Rob."

Lisa Bonet as Marie De Salle

• (Lisa Bonet) "I think its okay if you feel horny and f***ed-up at the same time. I mean, why should we be denied our basic human rights, just 'cause we messed up our relationships."
• (John Cusack) "You think sex is a basic human right?"
• (Lisa Bonet) "Hell, yeah. yeah."

Add or Update Quotes

If you have a quote to add or change and want to let us know, please fill in the form below. Include the time in the film/video if possible so we can find it.