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Bright Lights, Big City (film)
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Bright Lights, Big City is a 1988 American drama film about a disillusioned young writer living in New York City who turns to drugs and drinking to block out the memories of his dead mother and estranged wife.
Directed by James Bridges. Written by Jay McInerney, based on his novel of the same name.
All that glitters is not gold.taglines
Jamie Conway
There's a certain shabby nobility in failing all by myself.
[voiceover] You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning and, though the details are fuzzy. You cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar.
I hear rabies shots are really painful. They put needles in your dick or something.
This man calls. He said he was her lawyer. Easiest thing all the way around, he said was for me to sue her for sexual abandonment. A legal term, he said.
You have to go slowly. You'll have to learn everything all over again.
Tad Allagash
I, believe it or not, took this bimbo back to her place on Fifth Avenue. Did some of her off-the-boat-quality drugs. We scooped it out of these tall Ming vases - did it off each other's naked bodies. Fucking beautiful, man.
She's an Allagash. She has Allagash genes. She's a very attractive lady. She'll also inherit a little of the Allagash money.
Alex Hardy
[rambling on aimlessly to himself] ...Siamese fighting fish in the water cooler... the old crew in the golden days of this magazine would have thought of it.
Pygmies. I'm surrounded by pygmies.
Dialogue
Ferret Man: Want to buy a ferret?
Jamie: No, thanks.
Ferret Man: Loose joints. Genuine Hawaiian sens. His name is Fred...
Tad Allagash: Speaking of drugs, are you in possession?
Jamie Conway: Negative.
Tad Allagash: Not even a single line for young Tad?
Jamie Conway: Sorry.
Tad Allagash: Not even a mirror to lick?
Tad Allagash: Doing a little writing, are we? [reads paper in typewriter] Yeah! "Dead Amanda"! I told ya, you get more nookie than you can shake a fucking stick at if you just told people your wife was dead.
Jamie Conway: I hit the wrong key.
Tad Allagash: Ready to roll? The girls are waiting.
Jamie Conway: Right. Where are we rolling to?
Tad Allagash: Into the heart of the night! Wherever there are dances to be danced, drugs to be hoovered, women to be Allagashed. It's a dirty job, Jamie, but somebody's got to do it.
Jamie Conway: We sort of split up.
Theresa: Too bad for you. She was yummy! Sort of the slinky girl-next-door look. Very ingenuous.
Walter Tyler: So how's Clara behaving?
Jamie Conway: Same as usual. Like a fourth-grade tyrant.
Walter Tyler: I've always wanted to ask somebody in Fact - does Clara piss in the men's room or the ladies'?
Jamie Conway: I don't believe she pisses.
Alex Hardy: I started off as an office boy at the magazine - got published every so often. I used to write satirical sketches on Manhattan highlife.
Jamie Conway: I know, I used to read that stuff. Amazing.
Alex Hardy: Yeah. A lot more fun than being an editor. All I do as an editor is read a lot of undisciplined, untalented crap.
Vicky: Are you sure you're all right?
Jamie Conway: Well, my brain is trying to find a way out of its skull - and I'm afraid of just about everything; but, I'm okay.
Taglines
All that glitters is not gold.
It's 6.00am. Do you know where you are?
He's a long way from Kansas.
Cast
Michael J. Fox - Jamie Conway
Kiefer Sutherland - Tad Allagash
Phoebe Cates - Amanda
Swoosie Kurtz - Megan
Frances Sternhagen - Clara
Tracy Pollan - Vicky
John Houseman - Mr. Vogel
Charlie Schlatter - Michael
David Warrilow - Rittenhouse
Dianne Wiest - Mother (Mrs. Conway)
Alec Mapa - Yasu Wade
William Hickey - Ferret Man
Gina Belafonte - Kathy
Sam Robards - Rich Vanier
Jessica Lundy - Theresa
Kelly Lynch - Elaine
Annabelle Gurwitch - Barbara
Maria Pitillo - Pony Tail Girl
David Hyde Pierce - Bartender at Fashion Show
Peg Murray - Receptionist
Jason Robards - Alex Hardy
External links
0094799 Bright Lights, Big City
bright_lights_big_city Bright Lights, Big City
7127 Bright Lights, Big City
brightlightsbigcity Bright Lights, Big City
Category:Films about drugs
Category:Films set in Manhattan
Category:Films directed by James Bridges
Category:Films about alcoholism
Category:1988 American films
Category:1988 English-language films
Category:American drama films
Category:Films about euthanasia
Category:Films based on American novels