The Fisher King (film)

I only knew that you were thirsty.

The Fisher King is a comedy-drama film made in 1991, written by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Terry Gilliam. It starred Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer and Michael Jeter. The film is about a radio shock-jock who tries to find redemption by helping a homeless man whose life he inadvertently shattered.

Parry

• I'm a knight on a special quest.

• It begins with the king as a boy, having to spend the night alone in the forest to prove his courage so he can become king. Now while he is spending the night alone he's visited by a sacred vision. Out of the fire appears the Holy Grail, symbol of God's divine grace. And a voice said to the boy, "You shall be keeper of the grail so that it may heal the hearts of men." But the boy was blinded by greater visions of a life filled with power and glory and beauty. And in this state of radical amazement he felt for a brief moment not like a boy, but invincible, like God, so he reached into the fire to take the grail, and the grail vanished, leaving him with his hand in the fire to be terribly wounded. Now as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper. Until one day, life for him lost its reason. He had no faith in any man, not even himself. He couldn't love or feel loved. He was sick with experience. He began to die. One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn't see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king, "What ails you friend?" The king replied, "I'm thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat". So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king. As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the holy grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, "How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?" And the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty."

• Jack, I may be going out on a limb here, but you don't seem like a happy camper.

• What were the crusades? The pope's publicity stunt?

• (singing) Lydia, Oh Lydia. Say have you met Lydia? Lydia that Tattooed Lady!

Jack

• It's important to think. It's what separates us from lentils.

• I told you about these people. They're evil, Edwin. They must be stopped.
  • Advice to a disturbed listener on his Radio program.

• You ever read any Nietzsche? Nietzsche says there's two kinds of people in the world: people who are destined for greatness like Walt Disney... and Hitler. Then there's the rest of us, he called us "the bungled and the botched." We get teased. We sometimes get close to greatness, but we never get there. We're the expendable masses. We get pushed in front of trains, take poison aspirin... get gunned down in Dairy Queens.
  • Drunk, and talking to a Pinocchio doll, reminiscing about the attack on diners in a Dairy Queen which his words provoked.

• I wish there was some way I could just pay the fine and go home.

• Some billionaire's got the Holy Grail in his library on Fifth Avenue.

• I'm hearing horses! Parry will be so pleased!

Anne Napolitano

• I don't believe that God made man in his image. 'Cause most of the shit that happens comes from man. No, I think man was made in the Devil's image. And women were created out of God. 'Cause after all, women can have babies, which is kind of like creating. And which also accounts for the fact that women are so attracted to men... 'cause let's face it... the Devil is a hell of a lot more interesting! Believe me, I've slept with some saints in my day, I know what I'm talking about. So the whole point in life is for men and women to get married... so that God and the Devil can get together and work it out. Not that we have to get married. God forbid.

Dialogue

Jack Lucas: Where would King Arthur be without Guinevere?

Parry: Happily married, probably.

Jack Lucas: Well, that's a bad... that's a bad example.

---

Jack Lucas: I don't mean to be flippant or to enrage you or anything, but you're a psychotic man.

Parry: I know.

Jack Lucas: A very nice psychotic man.

Parry: Thank you.

---

Lydia: I have never been through a dating period.

Anne Napolitano: It's a disgusting process. You haven't missed a thing.

Quotes about The Fisher King

• The film's about redemption, about healing wounds and how giving and getting are really pretty much the same thing. My character really gets the ultimate gift by his giving, not by his receiving.
  • Jeff Bridges, as quoted in "Dreams: The Fisher King" edited by Phil Stubbs

• However funny it is, however outrageous it is, is based on pain, on a tragedy, on loss.
  • Terry Gilliam, as quoted in "Dreams: The Fisher King" edited by Phil Stubbs

• Parry is a man with a previous life that was so damaged that he had to create another personality. ... It's like post-traumatic stress syndrome: Some people respond to traumatic or tragic events by withdrawal; some even create other personalities. Parry is a creation — somewhat Don Quixote, somewhat Groucho Marx — but he's a creation designed to avoid a past event.
  • Robin Williams, as quoted in "Dreams: The Fisher King" edited by Phil Stubbs

External links

• The Fisher King quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Dreams: The Fisher King