MovieChat Forums > The Shootist (1976) Discussion > Question about a line...

Question about a line...


Can someone tell me what exactly Books tells the young girl on the trolley? It's when he refers to the weather and uses the line Bond says earlier about it being a false or fall spring?
I have tried for years to hear exactly what he said and as usual the caption setting on the tv comes up with something totally different.
Many thanks.

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He says: "It's what we call a false spring" the exact same line told to him by Bond during their last conversation.

I've always thought it was meant to join the characters of JB and Bond together. As he rides the trolley to what he thinks is almost certain death he is thinking of her.

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Thank you for the info. I never could tell which way the line went when either Books or Bond said it.

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It could also be a reference to spring being a time of renewal and new life. A "false spring" could be unfulfilled hope; it would be appropriate for Books, who knows he could have just arranged his own death.

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I believe "False Spring" is specific to an unusually nice winter day (remember the dates are mentioned - early January as I recall).

This term might be a kissing-cousin to "Indian Summer", but I am only guessing.

"False Spring", from a weather standpoint, is a symbol for a dying man who summons his last energies to be vibrant.

That is who I view it.....





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I believe what John Wayne and Mrs. Gillum said was that the day seemed " like a Fall Spring ". In other words it felt like a combination of a Fall (Autumn) and a Spring day.

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No, it was false spring.

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There are innumerable references to "false spring" throughout Wikipedia and Google, but none to "fall spring".

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Yes the term is a False Spring, meaning some unseasonably warm weather in winter that might seem like spring had come very early. However it is only a temporary respite before the cold winter weather returns.

Also as he exits the trolley, Books says something to the girl like, I hope the right young man will come along for you.

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I have watched this film a half a dozen times and always assumed it was "False spring". But I just now listened to it paying full atention after reading this thread, and Bond definitely says "FALL Spring" So does J.B. when talking to the girl in the trolley....

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