The Shootist (1976)
James Stewart: Dr. Hostetler
Photos
Quotes
-
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : There - there's one more thing I'd say. Both of us have had a lot to do with death. I'm not a brave man, but you must be. Now, now, now, this is not advice. It's not even a suggestion. It's just something for you to reflect on while your mind's still clear.
John Bernard Books : What?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : I would not die a death like I just described.
John Bernard Books : No?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : Not if I had your courage.
-
John Bernard Books : [Clearly depressed when Hostetler tells him his cancer is fatal] You told me I was strong as an ox!
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : Well, even an ox dies.
-
John Bernard Books : First things, first, Doc. I almost forgot to ask you. How much do I owe you?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : You're a man after my own heart, Books. Most of them ask that last, if at all. Well, let's see. We'll make it four dollars for the two visits plus one dollar for that.
John Bernard Books : What's that.?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : They call that laudanum, a solution of opium and alcohol.
-
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : Books, every few days I have to tell a man or a woman something I don't want to. I've been practicing medicine for 29 years, and I still don't know how to do it well.
John Bernard Books : Why don't you just say it flat out?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : All right. You have a cancer - advanced. Is that what that fella up in Creed told you?
John Bernard Books : Yeah.
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : And you didn't believe him.
John Bernard Books : No.
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : Do you believe me?
John Bernard Books : Can't you cut it out, Doc?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : I'd have to gut you like a fish.
John Bernard Books : Well, what *can* you do?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : There's... just, uh... very little I can do. Uh, if... when the pain gets too bad, I can give you something.
John Bernard Books : What you're trying to tell me is that I...
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : Yeah.
John Bernard Books : Damn.
-
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : [pointing to Books' pillow] Well if I wanted to go around town unnoticed, I wouldn't carry *that* around with me.
John Bernard Books : [smiling] Stole it from a whore house in Creed.
-
John Bernard Books : [referring to the laudanum] How does it taste?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler : Oh, just... just awful.