Nobody's Fool (1994 film)

Nobody's Fool is a 1994 film about an aging man whose estranged son comes back into his life at the same time that he faces challenges in his home and in his employment.
 * Directed by Robert Benton. Written by Robert Benton, based on the novel by Richard Russo.

In a town where nothing ever happens... everything is about to happen to Sully.taglines

Sully

 * Boy, a guy goes to jail for a couple of days and the whole town goes to hell!

Others

 * Toby: [to Sully] Go ahead, steal our snowblower. You're the slowest goddamn thief that I ever saw.
 * Judge Flatt: Ollie, you know my feelings about arming morons: you arm one, you've got to arm them all, otherwise it wouldn't be good sport.
 * Miss Beryl: Mr. Sullivan, you're wearing a necktie. Are you in trouble with the law again?
 * Wirf: Damn, Sully, when your luck turns... it turns.

Dialogue

 * [running joke]
 * Miss Beryl: Can I interest you in a cup of tea?
 * Sully: No. Not now. Not ever.


 * [Wirf and Sully bet on the People's Court]
 * Sully: Okay, Shyster, who do you like?
 * Wirf: The plaintiff. It's a lock.
 * Sully: I'll take the defendant.
 * Birdy: You weren't even here for the stories.
 * Sully: Yeah, but I know my lawyer.


 * Wirf: Sooner or later we'll wear the bastards down. The court is already starting to get pissed. You heard the judge.
 * Sully: He's pissed at you, Wirf!
 * Wirf: Only because he knows I won't go away.
 * Sully: I know how he feels.


 * Sully: [about Toby] Don't tell me she's pregnant.
 * Carl: Knocked up like a cheerleader. Eh, I suppose now you're gonna to want to be godfather.
 * Sully: Hey... I can't be the father and the godfather. You got to goddamn do something.


 * Toby: Did you come to steal our new snowblower?
 * Sully: I've already done it, just about.
 * Toby: I could legally shoot you, you know.
 * Sully: Not unless I'm breaking and entering.
 * Toby: ARE you gonna break and enter?
 * Sully: What's happening with Dummy?
 * Toby: I don't know. He took my threat to shoot him a lot more seriously than you just did.


 * Sully: Poor guy just had a bypass. Maybe he's trying to cram everything he can do into six months. When he realizes he's going to live until he's seventy, he'll slow down.
 * Toby: If I had my way, he wouldn't live to Thanksgiving.


 * Toby: Oh, you're a man among men, Sully.
 * Sully: Well, thanks.
 * Toby: That wasn't a compliment!


 * Carl: Sixty years old and still getting crushes on other men's wives. I would hope by the time I'm your age, I'm a little smarter than that.
 * Sully: Can't hurt to hope. You sure are off to a slow start.


 * Peter: Mom's greatest fear is that your life was fun.
 * Sully: Tell her not to worry.


 * Peter: It's not gonna be easy being you, is it?
 * Sully: Don't expect much from yourself at the beginning. I couldn't do everything at first, either.


 * Miss Beryl: Do you still bet on that horse race of yours?
 * Sully: What, the trifecta?
 * Miss Beryl: Yes. Has it ever come in?
 * Sully: Not yet.
 * Miss Beryl: But you still bet on it.
 * Sully: Well, sure. I mean, the odds have gotta kick in sooner or later.
 * Miss Beryl: Fine. That's exactly the way I feel about you.


 * Peter: [as Sully buys raw hamburger] You want some buns?
 * Sully: Dogs don't eat buns.
 * Peter: You're buying ground beef for your dog?
 * Sully: I don't own a dog.


 * Peter: Oh, God. I don't believe this. I'm a member of Greenpeace and I just helped poison a dog.
 * Sully: Well for one thing, it ain't poison. For another, you didn't help much.


 * Sully: You ain't naked or anything, are ya?
 * Toby: No, but I can be in about 2 seconds.
 * Sully: Well, take your time. I need a cup of coffee. [on phone] Ace Towing? Sullivan. I'm just around the corner. 313 Harvin. Pick me up. Charge it. Tip Top Construction Company. Thanks. [hangs up phone] Horace?...
 * Horace Yaney: Hi, Sully. I ain't naked either.
 * Sully: Thank God for that!


 * Sully: Go home, you jerk. You're married to the best-looking woman in Bath.
 * Carl: Who was it that said, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp?"


 * Charlotte: How can you live in a town this size and not see your ex-wife all the time?
 * Sully: That's easy, dolly. Peter's mom and I don't exactly travel in the same circles. As a matter of fact, Vera pretty much travels in a straight line.
 * Peter: SOMEBODY in this family had to.


 * Sully: I should have known better than to hire a one-legged lawyer.
 * Wirf: You can't afford a two-legged lawyer.

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 * Sully: A condemned man has a right to a last request doesn't he? I got my truck out back whaddya say we get in the back get naked and see where it goes from there?
 * Birdy: Ok
 * Sully: Haven't you got any pride?
 * Birdy: Go to jail, Sully, it's where you belong.

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 * Sully: I can't believe it's gonna take you that long to get me out of jail.
 * Wirf: Don't blame me, I'm a Jew. They're not my holidays.
 * Sully: A Jew? Really? I didn't know that. How come you ain't smart?
 * Wirf: How can I start getting you out of jail when you won't go in?

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 * Peter: So if you're not a father to me, how come you're a grandfather to Will?
 * Sully: 'Cause you gotta start someplace.

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 * Sully: What's the matter with you?
 * Wirf: I'm trying to communicate with you telepathically.
 * Carl: Forget about it. The only way to communicate with Sully's to whack him in the head with a shovel.

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 * Sully: I want to thank you for thinking of me.
 * Toby: Yeah.
 * Sully: I, uh... You know, until a while ago, I could've... I could've... but... I just found out I'm somebody's grandfather. I'm somebody's father, and... and maybe... I'm somebody's friend in the bargain. So...
 * Toby: Yeah. You are a man among men.
 * Sully: I know, it's not a compliment.
 * Toby: No, this time it is.

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 * Wirf: You'd keep my leg, wouldn't you?
 * Sully: You don't need a leg, you need a parrot.

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 * Sully: How about that? Intelligence, hard work and good looks finally pay off.
 * Peter: And to think we were here to see it.

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 * Miss Beryl: Doesn't it bother you that you haven't done more with the life God gave you?
 * Sully: Not often. Now and then.

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 * Sully: [about Miss Beryl's paying Sully's back taxes on his family house] There's a rumor going around that you did a good deed. You stuck your nose where it didn't belong.
 * Miss Beryl: I know it. I'm an old woman, though. I'm entitled.
 * Sully: Well, you're forgiven.

Cast

 * Paul Newman - Donald 'Sully' Sullivan
 * Jessica Tandy - Beryl Peoples
 * Bruce Willis - Carl Roebuck
 * Melanie Griffith - Toby Roebuck
 * Dylan Walsh - Peter Sullivan
 * Pruitt Taylor Vince - Rub Squeers
 * Gene Saks - Wirf Wirfley
 * Josef Sommer - Clive Peoples Jr.
 * Philip Seymour Hoffman - Officer Raymer
 * Philip Bosco - Judge Flatt

Taglines

 * In a town where nothing ever happens... everything is about to happen to Sully.
 * Worn to perfection