The Purple Rose of Cairo

The Purple Rose of Cairo is a 1985 film set in 1930s New Jersey, when a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world.
 * Directed and written by Woody Allen.

She's finally met the man of her dreams. He's not real but you can't have everything.

Cecilia

 * I just met a wonderful new man. He's fictional but you can't have everything.

Tom Baxter

 * It's so impulsive, but... I'll come. Why not? What's life without a little risk taking? Who knows?
 * I don't get hurt or bleed, hair doesn't muss; it's one of the advantages of being imaginary.
 * Life's too short to spend time thinking about life. Let's just live it!

Others

 * Moviegoer: I want what happened in the movie last week to happen this week; otherwise, what's life all about anyway?

Dialogue

 * Tom Baxter: Cecilia, it's clear how miserable you are with your husband. And if he hits you again, you tell me. I'd be forced to knock his teeth out.
 * Cecilia: I don't think that'd be such a good idea. He's big.
 * Tom Baxter: I'm sorry. It's written into my character to do it, so I do it.


 * Tom Baxter: [after innocently being invited into a bordello] I was thinking about some very deep things. About God and his relation with Irving Saks and R.H. Levine. And I was thinking about life in general. The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death; how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows.
 * Hooker [to another hooker] Where did you FIND this clown?


 * Gil's Agent: Tom Baxter's come down off the screen and he's running around New Jersey!... Nobody knows how it happened, but he's done it.
 * Gil Shepherd: How can he do that? It's not physically possible!
 * Gil's Agent: In New Jersey anything can happen.


 * Tom Baxter: [to Cecilia] I love you. I'm honest, dependable, courageous, romantic, and a great kisser.
 * Gil Shepherd: And I'm real.


 * Tom Baxter: [pauses after kissing Cecilia] Where's the fade-out?
 * Cecilia: What?
 * Tom Baxter: Always when the kissing gets hot and heavy just before the lovemaking, there's a fadeout.
 * Cecilia: Then what?
 * Tom Baxter: Then we're making love in some private, perfect place.
 * Cecilia: That's not how it happens here.
 * Tom Baxter: What, there's no fade out?
 * Cecilia: No, but when you kissed me, I felt like my heart faded out. I closed my eyes, and I was in some private place.
 * Tom Baxter: How fascinating. You make love without fading out?
 * Cecilia: Yes.
 * Tom Baxter: Well, I can't wait to see this!


 * Tom Baxter: I guess I have to get a job.
 * Cecilia: That's not gonna be so easy either - right now the whole country's out of work.
 * Tom Baxter: Well, then, we'll live on love. We'll have to make some concessions, but so what? We'll have each other
 * Cecilia: That's movie talk.


 * Theater Manager: Cecilia, what are you doing here?
 * Cecilia: Meeting Gil Shepherd.
 * Theater Manager: They all gone.
 * Cecilia: Th - whaddaya, whaddaya mean?
 * Theater Manager: They went back to Hollywood.
 * Cecilia: Gil too?
 * Theater Manager: Mr Shepherd, yeah. Soon as Tom Baxter went back up on the movie screen - couldn't wait to get outta here. He said this was a close call for his career. I think he's gonna play Charles Lindbergh. [pause] Don't forget, Cecilia, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers start today.

Cast

 * Mia Farrow - Cecilia
 * Jeff Daniels - Tom Baxter/Gil Shepherd
 * Danny Aiello - Monk
 * Edward Herrmann - Henry
 * John Wood - Jason
 * Deborah Rush - Rita
 * Zoe Caldwell - The Countess
 * Van Johnson - Larry Wilde
 * Karen Akers - Kitty Haynes
 * Milo O'Shea - Father Donnelly
 * Dianne Wiest - Emma