Phenomenon (1996)

What kind of earthqueakes can you predict in your life?
What are you learning today to let your dreams come true?
What changes have you experieced or want to experience?

Memorable Quotes
Bonnie: George Malley! You learned the Portuguese language in 20 minutes?
George Malley: Not all of it.
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Dr. Bob Niedorf: All right, I’ll start the questions, and I’ll be timing your responses, and we’ll be recording. Any questions?
George Malley: What’s your first name?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: Uh, my first name is Bob.
[George reaches across the wide table to shake hands]
George Malley: Shoot, Bob.
Dr. Bob Niedorf: Right. Name as many mammals as you can in 60 seconds. Ready? Go.
[Starts stopwatch]
George Malley: Hmm. 60 seconds. Well, how would you like that? How about alphabetical? Aardvark, baboon, caribou, dolphin, eohippus, fox, gorilla, hyena, ibex, jackal, kangaroo, lion, marmoset, Newfoundland, ocelot, panda, rat, sloth, tiger, unicorn, varmint, whale, yak, zebra. Now “varmint” is a stretch; so is “Newfoundland” (that’s a dog breed); “unicorn” is mythical; “eohippus” is prehistoric. But you weren’t being very specific, now, were you, Bob?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [pauses, then stops watch and laughs] Well! Ahh, I’ll, uh – I’ll try to be more specific. You ready for the next one?
George Malley: Shoot.
Dr. Bob Niedorf: Answer as quickly as you can… how old is a person born in 1928?
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: Man or a woman?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops stopwatch and pauses] Why?
George Malley: Specifics, Bob.
Dr. Bob Niedorf: Okay, one more time. How old is a MAN born in 1928?
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: Still alive?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops watch, pauses, nods] If a man is born in 1928, and he’s still alive, how old is he?
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: What month?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops stopwatch] If a man was born October 3rd, 1928, and he’s still alive, how old is he?
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: What time?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops stopwatch] 10 o’clock… PM!
[starts stopwatch]
George Malley: Where?
Dr. Bob Niedorf: [stops stopwatch; now impatient] Anywhere!
George Malley: Well, let’s get specific, Bob! I mean, if the guy’s still alive, born in California, October 3rd, 1928, 10 PM, he’s 67 years, 9 months, 22 days, 14 hours, and…
[takes Bob’s hand to see his wristwatch]
George Malley: … and 12 minutes. If he was born in New York, he’s 3 hours older, now isn’t he?
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Doc: Let’s see, uh… George… George… there’s a tumor in your brain, that’s spread out like a hand, threads of it, you know, everywhere. But instead of dysfunction – now here’s the mystery, George. Instead of destroying brain function, so far it’s been stimulating it. We can’t understand that. You have more area of active brain use than anybody ever tested – ever – because of those tentacles. I mean, we’ve seen tumors like this before, it’s called astrocytoma. And it explains, uh, the dizziness, and… the illusion of light. But the way it’s in there, waking up areas of the brain, it’s a… big mystery. So…
George Malley: And it’s killing me.
—————————————————
George Malley: Now, uh… he didn’t say how long.
Lace Pennamin: Days, or weeks… they don’t, they don’t know.
George Malley: I’m so sorry, Lace. I know how you hate surprises.
Lace Pennamin: I tried so hard not to love you.
George Malley: How’d you make out?
Lace Pennamin: Terrible.
[they chuckle]
George Malley: Hey, would you, uh, love me the rest of my life?
Lace Pennamin: No. I’m gonna love you for the rest of mine.
—————————————————
Lace Pennamin: So, let me ask you something, George. When a man comes over with a basket full of tomatoes, what is he expecting? Dinner?
George Malley: Nah, no, no. Just hoping.
—————————————————
Banes: [speaking about George’s transformation] He never really changed at all. Isn’t that right Doc? I mean he never really got any smarter. Doc?
Doc: Banes… how’s your lady love?
Banes: We… um… we broke up.
Doc: Really? That’s too bad, yeah. Now George has a love at his side and she is sticking with him. You know why? Because he bought her chairs. That’s pretty smart to me. You ever buy Lisa’s chairs?’
Banes: Doc’s real drunk tonight.
Doc: Every woman has her chair, something she needs to put herself into, Banes. You ever figure out what Lisa’s chairs were and buy ’em?
[pause]
Doc: Nope. But, you’re right about one thing, George never changed.
—————————————————
George Malley: Everything is on its way to somewhere.
—————————————————
George Malley: [this is from a scene cut from the normal version, after George has escaped from the hospital] … and this I wrote for you, Nate. This is about soils and some of my own thoughts.
Nate Pope: Your thoughts?
George Malley: Yea.
Nate Pope: You write down the secret to life in here, George?
George Malley: Ahh Nate, you think I know that?
Nate Pope: I think you know something. What? You sum it up in this book here? Or maybe you didn’t sum it up. Maybe you think I wouldn’t get it, or that I wouldn’t understand it.
George Malley: Ahh Nate, you already know it.
Nate Pope: I want you to tell me George.
George Malley: All right.
[pulls out an eraser]
George Malley: Here you go.
Nate Pope: That’s a dumb eraser, George.
George Malley: Come here. Now Nate, everything that we need is already in us, we just got to clear away the crap that it’s buried under. Now I want you to erase something.
[Nate erases]
George Malley: OK. There you go.
[pointing at the eraser]
George Malley: See that? That’s the crap. Love is buried under fear, and partnership, is right there under competition, and there’s compassion underneath the greed. Nate, you gotta take your eraser and do the work. It’s hard work and nobody can do it for you. There’s no drug. That’s the sum of it.
—————————————————
Doc: [after hearing several of the townsfolk openly disparage George in the Bar] Why do ya have to tear him down? What are ya so afraid of? What have you got to lose? He wasn’t selling anything! He didn’t want anything from anybody! He wanted nothing from nobody! Nothing! And you people have to tear him down so you can sleep better tonight! So ya can prove that the world is flat and ya can sleep better tonite! Am I right? Am I right?… I’m right… The Hell with all of ya. The Hell with everyone of ya.
—————————————————
Doc: George, how did you manage to get your pressure to come down?
George Malley: Oh… I found my pace. Simple thing really. Hard to explain.
—————————————————
Doc: [George has just made a pen move across the table] Th-that’s telekinesis!
George Malley: Yeah… is that O.K?

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