The Big Country Quotes

The Big Country is a TV program that first aired in 1970 . The Big Country ended its run in 1970.

It features Gregory Peck as producer, Jerome Moross in charge of musical score, and Franz F. Planer, ASC as head of cinematography.

The Big Country is distributed by United Artists.

The cast includes: Chuck Connors as Buck Hannassey, Burl Ives as Rufus Hannassey, Carroll Baker as Patricia Terrill, Jean Simmons as Julie Maragon, Charles Bickford as Major Henry Terrill, Charlton Heston as Steve Leech, and Gregory Peck as James McKay.

The Big Country Quotes

Burl Ives as Rufus Hannassey

• (Burl Ives) "I'm a law-abiding man. That is, if there's any law to abide by."

• (Burl Ives) "He's going to be the most surprised dead man you ever saw."

• (Burl Ives) "If you ain't the mother and father of all liars."

• (Burl Ives) "Why ain't you dead? You let 'em run my cows off and you come back standing up."
• (Chuck Connors) "What could we do, Pa? There was twenty of them -- just a few of us."
• (Burl Ives) "Them cows is worth more than the whole lot of ya."

• (Burl Ives) "You don't shoot an unarmed man -- not while I'm around."

• (Burl Ives) "I told you. I told you I'd do it. I told you, but you wouldn't believe me. Damn your soul, I told you."

• (Burl Ives) "Crawl, you act like a dog, crawl like one. Crawl I said, crawl."

• (Burl Ives) "The Hannasseys will have no peace until the bones of Henry Terrill is bleaching in Blanco Canyon. Now he started this blood-spilling, and I aim to finish it."

• (Burl Ives) "Treat her right. Take a bath sometime."

• (Burl Ives) "These guns loaded?"
• (Gregory Peck) "All but the caps. They haven't been fired for a long time; the vents will have to be cleared out. I'll do it for you, if you like."
• (Burl Ives) "Teach your grandmother to suck eggs. I've been handling guns like this, flintlock and caplock, since before you were born."

Carroll Baker as Patricia Terrill

• (Carroll Baker) "Don't you care what people think of you?"
• (Gregory Peck) "I'm not responsible for what people think, Pat, only for what I am."

• (Carroll Baker) "But if he loved me, why would he let me think he was a coward?"
• (Jean Simmons) "If you love him, why would you think it? How many times does a man have to win you?"

• (Carroll Baker) "Well, even when you rode Old Thunder, everybody knew it. Ramon knew it. Julie knew it. But me? Not a word. Why? You know how much it meant to me -- with everybody laughing at me. And don't tell me they weren't. But you wouldn't do it for me. Why not? Why not for me?"
• (Gregory Peck) "There's some things a man has to prove to himself alone -- not to anyone else."
• (Carroll Baker) "Not even to the woman he loves."
• (Gregory Peck) "Least of all her -- if she loves him."

Gregory Peck as James McKay

• (Gregory Peck) "Any advice?"
• (Ramón Guiteras) "Yes. Don't do it."

• (Gregory Peck) "Tell me Leech, what did we prove?"

• (Gregory Peck) "I was just about finished if it's okay with you."

• (Gregory Peck) "If it's a fight you want, you've picked the right time for it, haven't you?"
• (Charlton Heston) "Yeah, I'm offering you a fight. Or ain't that a nice word back east?"
• (Gregory Peck) "You're gambling, Leech. You're gambling that if we fight, you can beat me. And you're gambling that if you beat me, Ms. Terrill will admire you for it."
• (Charlton Heston) "Out here, we leave a lady's name out of an argument."

• (Gregory Peck) "I'm not going to go on living in the middle of a civil war."

Chuck Connors as Buck Hannassey

• (Chuck Connors) "Remember, the Terrills ain't no friend of ours."
• (Jean Simmons) "I'll choose my own friends."
• (Chuck Connors) "Oh, that won't do. You got to be on one side or the other. You can't have it both ways."

Charles Bickford as Major Henry Terrill

• (Charles Bickford) "This is the west, Jim, a man is still expected to defend himself. If he allows people to think he won't, he's in trouble. Bad trouble."

• (Charles Bickford) "What do you want, Hannassey?"
• (Burl Ives) "I'm just payin' back the call you and your men made on my home this mornin'. Sorry I wasn't there to give you the proper welcome."
• (Charles Bickford) "Let him speak his piece."
• (Burl Ives) "Take it easy, boy. I've got me somethin' to say: it's about thirty years overdue. This is a mighty fine house, Major Terrill: a gentleman's house. Those are mighty fine clothes your wearin'. Well, maybe you've got some of these folks fooled, but you ain't got me fooled, not by a damn sight. The Hannassey's know and admire a real gentleman when they see one, and they recognize a high tone skunk when they smell one. Now, I'm not here complainin' about twenty of your brave men who beat three of my boys 'til they couldn't stand. Maybe they had it comin'. Anyways, they're full growed and can take their lickin's. And I'm not here complainin' because I know that you're tryin' to buy the Big Muddy to keep my cows from water. Though it galls me sore to see the granddaughter of a genuine gentleman like Glenn Maragon under this roof. I'll tell you why I'm here, Major Terrill. When you come a-ridin' roughshod over my land scarin' the kids and the women folks, when you invade my home, like you was the law or God Almighty, then I say to you, I've seen every kind of critter God ever made, and I ain't never seen a meaner, lower, more stinkin', yellow, hyprocrite than you. Now you can swallow up a lot of folks and make 'em like it, but you ain't swallowin' me. I'm stuck in your craw, Henry Terrill, and you can't spit me out. You hear me now. You rode into my place and beat my men for the last time and I give you warnin'. You set foot in Blanco Canyon once more and this country's gonna run red with blood 'til there ain't one of us left. Now I don't hold mine so precious, so if you want to start, here, start now. What's the matter? Can't you shoot a man a-facin' ya? I'll make it easy fer ya. Here's my back."

Charlton Heston as Steve Leech

• (Charlton Heston) "You know, McKay, you're a bigger fool than I thought you were. And to tell you the truth, that just didn't seem possible."

• (Charlton Heston) "I don't know that I would wear that hat too long around here, Mr. McKay."
• (Gregory Peck) "Oh, why not?"
• (Charlton Heston) "Oh, one of these wild cowboys might take it into their head to shoot it off ya."

Jean Simmons as Julie Maragon

• (Jean Simmons) "Any ranch that you can see on foot just isn't worth looking at."

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