Pauline Kael Quotes

A book might be written on the injustice of the just.

Citizen Kane is perhaps the one American talking picture that seems as fresh now as the day it opened. It may seem even fresher.

Her only flair is in her nostrils.

I see little of more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

In the arts, the critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising.

One of the surest signs of the Philistine is his reverence for the superior tastes of those who put him down.

The critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising.

The words "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," which I saw on an Italian movie poster, are perhaps the briefest statement imaginable of the basic appeal of movies. This appeal is what attracts us, and ultimately what makes us despair when we begin to understand how seldom movies are more than this.

This movie is a toupee made up to look like honest baldness.

Where there is a will, there is a way. If there is a chance in a million that you can do something, anything, to keep what you want from ending, do it. Pry the door open or, if need be, wedge your foot in that door and keep it open.