Wake in Fright (1971)

Donald Pleasence: Doc Tydon

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Quotes 

• John Grant : Why did you say that?

  'Doc' Tydon : Say what?

  John Grant : About them being proud of hell.

  'Doc' Tydon : Discontent is the luxury of the well-to-do. If you've got to live here, you might as well like it. Why don't you like Crawford?

  John Grant : Jock?

  'Doc' Tydon : The touch of his hairy hand offended you.

  John Grant : I'm bored with it. The aggressive hospitality, the arrogance of stupid people who insist you should be as stupid as they are.

  'Doc' Tydon : It's death to farm out here. It's worse than death in the mines. You want them to sing opera as well?

• 'Doc' Tydon : [to a semi-conscious John Grant]  I cannot accept your premise, Socrates. Affectability... progress... are vanities spawned by fear. A vanity spawned by fear. The aim of what you call civilisation is a man in a smokin' jacket, whiskey and soda, pressing a bottom... button, to destroy a planet a billion miles away, kill a billion people he's never seen.

• 'Doc' Tydon : All the little devils are proud of hell.

  John Grant : You mean... you don't think The Yabba is the greatest little place on Earth?

  'Doc' Tydon : Could be worse.

  John Grant : How?

  'Doc' Tydon : [drinking]  Supply of beer could run out.

• John Grant : And what do you do?

  'Doc' Tydon : I drink.

• 'Doc' Tydon : Shall I satisfy your curiosity? I'm a doctor of medicine, and a tramp by temperament. I'm also an alcoholic. My disease prevented me from practicing in Sydney. But out here it's scarcely noticeable. Certainly doesn't stop people from coming to see me. I charge no fees because I'm not interested in money. Anyway, I'm unreliable. But I'm accepted socially because I'm an educated man... or character. I get my food from my friends... my requirements in beer. Which, with some measure of self-control, is the only alcohol I allow myself.

  John Grant : And you get along without money altogether.

  'Doc' Tydon : It's possible to live forever in The Yabba without money. As you probably noticed, some of the natives are very... hospitable. Take Janette, for instance. Now, there's a very interesting biological case. If she were a man, she'd be in jail for rape.

• 'Doc' Tydon : If I were ever to marry, Janette's the sort of girl I'd like to marry. She likes sex. She likes experiment and, er, she likes variety. We thought about getting married once, but neither of us could live with one person for very long. Still, she visits me from time to time. When I want her. And when she gets bored, with them. Beer?

  [hands John a bottle, who drinks] 

  'Doc' Tydon : What's wrong with a woman taking a man because she feels like it?

  John Grant : I really don't know.

  'Doc' Tydon : Because there's nothing wrong with it. Sex is just like eating: it's a thing you do because you have to. Not 'cause you want to, but most people are afraid of it. You seem offended by my little discussion of Janette. In the circumstances, I thought you'd be interested.

  John Grant : Well, I'm not.

  'Doc' Tydon : You're probably a little puritan, like the rest of these people. They think Janette's a slut... the women who'd like to act like her, and the men she has given a tumble to. Janette and I are alike. We break the rules. But we know more about ourselves than most people.

• Doc Tydon : The aim of what you call civilisation is a man in a smokin' jacket, whiskey and soda, pressing a bottom... button, to destroy a planet a billion miles away, and kill a billion people he's never seen.