Quatermass and the Pit
1958
Dr Matthew Roney: It's a funny word... worn out before anything turned up to claim it: Martian.
Private West: It was... it was a kind of figure. ... It went through the wall!
(discussing the fossils Roney discovered) Prof. Quatermass: Well if you're wrong it won't matter. Dr Matthew Roney: No. I'll just retire. They'll stick me alongside the Piltdown forgeries as a horrid warning.
First Private: (watching Quatermass examine the capsule) What's the boffin up to? Cpl. Gibson: Gonna open it up with his little pocket knife.
The Minister: Do you know what you're implying? That we owe our human condition to the intervention of insects.
Sladden: Yeah, I reckon this'll cut through pretty well anything that exists. I did steel armor plate with it six inches thick, just like that! Oh, it was legal. Bloke shut in a strong room, I got him out. Secret job, like this one. Col Breen: Then I'm glad you don't talk about it.
Sladden: What's in behind here? Anything dangerous? Prof. Quatermass: Probably not. Sladden: Ah, it's all right, I'm insured. (to Breen) Are you insured sir? It's a good thing to be insured, at least it cheers you up.
First Journalist: Odd idea, this, calling a press conference. Second Journalist: What's odd about it? Third Journalist: I run from one to another. First Journalist: I take it you're the popular press. Third Journalist: Evening Gazette. What do you represent? First Journalist: The Palaeontologist. Third Journalist: (confused) Pal-? First Journalist: Ah. Not heard of it. It's a foremost scientific journal. The man you're going to interview is a palaeontologist. Third Journalist: Oh, this Roney. He's Canadian, isn't he? First Journalist: Possibly.
Dr Roney: (speaking at a press conference about the fossil apemen) We need time to do our work properly and I'm afraid we're not going to get it. The owners of the site want to get on with their building - now that's natural enough - and they're pressing us to get out. Museum Official: Uh, that was confidential. Dr Roney: Oh. All right, please keep it off the record gentlemen that they're trying to kick us out.
Dr Roney: (describing the ape men) He wasn't very tall. He had the face of an ape, but he had a big brain. And he stood like a man.