Favorite Scenes - Citizen Kane

Mr. Bernstein: (reading) “With respect to the said newspapers, the said Charles Foster Kane hereby relinquishes all control thereof and of the syndicates pertaining thereto and any and all other newspaper, press, and publishing properties of any kind whatsoever and agrees to abandon all claim thereto ...”Charles Foster Kane: (off-screen) Which means we’re bust. All right.

Bernstein: Well, out of cash.

Kane: (walking away) All right, Mr. Bernstein. I’ve read it, Mr. Thatcher, just let me sign it and I’ll go home.

Walter Parks Thatcher: You’re too old to call me Mr. Thatcher, Charles.

Kane: You’re too old to be called anything else. You were always too old.

Bernstein: (reading) “In consideration thereof, Thatcher & Company agrees to pay to Charles Foster Kane as long as he lives ...”

Kane: My allowance.

Thatcher: You will continue to maintain over your newspapers a large measure of control. A measure of control – and we shall seek your advice. This Depression is temporary. There’s always a chance you’ll die richer than I will.

Kane: It’s a cinch I’ll die richer than I was born.

Bernstein: We never lost as much as we made.

Thatcher: Yes, yes, but your methods. You know, Charles, you never made a single investment. You always used money to …

Kane: To buy things. Hmm? To buy things. My mother should have chosen a less reliable banker. (pause) Well, I always gagged on that silver spoon. You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man.

Thatcher: Don’t you think you are?

Kane: I think I did pretty well under the circumstances.

Thatcher: What would you like to have been?

Kane: Everything you hate.