Rousing Affirmatives: Spencer Tracy in Keeper of the Flame (1942) George Cukor

Spencer Tracy on "Rousing Affirmatives" in Keeper of the Flame (1942) George Cukor.

Tough Talk 101: The Untouchables, "One Armed Bandits" (4 February 1960)

"You know, for some reason, I don't know why, I thought there was something more to you. Well, there isn't. You're just like every other hoodlum in those files other there. All they want out of life is a hundred-dollar suit and a roll of bills in their pocket. You give any one of them something longer than a menu to read and they'd be lost. Talk to them about god, or country, friendship, love, family, they don't even know what you're talking about. All they've got are their guns. No heart, no guts, just guns. If they had anything else, anything, they'd know that whatever you get from that roll of bills in your pocket you give twenty times as much back, right down to your soul. Did you ever have a family, Frank? A wife, child? Maybe that's what it takes to have a soul? Or maybe you haven't got a soul, maybe you never had one."

Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) lets Frank Odine (Harry Guardino) have it in The Untouchables, "One Armed Bandits" (4 February 1960).

Retro Remote #28: No Contract for Old Men: 5 'Old Folks' in Pop Culture That Are 5Xs Tougher Than You

Retro Remote #28: No Contract for Old Men: Five "Old Folks" in Pop Culture That are 5Xs Tougher Than You - PopMatters, 1 June 2012.

An old-folks follow-up to last column's "Go Play in Traffic" kid-list, that makes me seem like an old curmudgeon. Only half of which is true.