Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)

Maggie McNamara: Maria Williams

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Walking down a street in Rome, Maria gets a pinch from a fresh young Italian man] 

  Maria Williams : Anita, somebody pinched me.

  Anita Hutchins : Don't look back. It's considered an encouragement. Just pretend you didn't notice.

  Anita Hutchins : Are you kidding? I'll kick him right in his antipasto!

• Maria Williams : He says we could fly there and be back by tonight.

  Miss Frances : Yeah, that's what he always says - and then he'll have trouble with his propeller and you'll have trouble with your reputation.

• Maria Williams : A pinch is a pinch in any man's language.

• Maria Williams : So, this is Rome. Where the pigeons eat caviar.

  Miss Frances : And the secretaries eat alone.

• Maria Williams : No wonder you're going home to be married.

  Anita Hutchins : I'm not even engaged. I just gave that as an excuse to the agency for leaving. But, at least I am going back to a country where I hope some nice guy will ask me. That's why I didn't throw a coin in the fountain of Trevi.

  Maria Williams : Oh, dear. It looks as though I've wasted a perfectly good penny.

• Maria Williams : Oh, when do I meet my boss?

  Anita Hutchins : After breakfast. We'll all drive to work together. You'll meet him in plenty of time. There's nothing rushed in Rome.

  Maria Williams : Oh, I'm going to like Rome!

• Miss Frances : Perhaps we better warn our friend about Dino, before she meets him.

  Anita Hutchins : He's known as the Predatory Prince.

  Miss Frances : And girls who are seen in his company more than once, are known as Venice Girls.

  Maria Williams : Why?

  Miss Frances : Well, the time always comes when he asks you to fly to Venice with him.

  Anita Hutchins : And once you're known as a Venice Girl, you might as well go home.

• Maria Williams : He's nice! Oh, I don't believe he's the wolf you say. Why, he looks as innocent as a little boy.

  Anita Hutchins : Oh, that he does. But, don't try taking him on your lap and mother him. You'll find yourself suddenly screaming for the police.

• Maria Williams : Except for that handsome Prince, not one attractive man came near us at the party.

  Anita Hutchins : Well, I guess now is as good time as any to disillusion you. If you're a romantic, Rome is not the city for you.

  Maria Williams : Why not?

  Anita Hutchins : Well, the wealthy Italians don't waste their time on secretaries and the Italians who work at the agency are too poor.

• Maria Williams : Hello. I'm Maria Williams. We met at the Burgoyne's, Mr. Shadwell, but I'm sure you don't remember me.

  John Frederick Shadwell : You're quite wrong. I remember you very well. It's the party I've forgotten.

• Prince Dino di Cessi : What does it tell you? What does it say?

  Maria Williams : Well, different pictures say different things to different people.

  Prince Dino di Cessi : But, the right paintings say the right things to the right people.

  Maria Williams : Yes and you're so right.

• Maria Williams : At the prospect of going to Venice, I could be ready in five minutes.

  Prince Dino di Cessi : Oh, I can promise you it will be a trip that you shall long remember. So, let us not waste any time.

  Maria Williams : Oh, you don't mind giving Miss Frances a lift, do you?

  Prince Dino di Cessi : Oh, not at all. Where shall I drop you, Miss Francis?

  Miss Frances : Venice.

• Maria Williams : Well, where were you?

  Anita Hutchins : [daydreaming]  I was just wondering how it would feel to ride to work on the handlebars of a bicycle.

• Miss Frances : You could discuss art with him.

  Maria Williams : Oh, that would be a change. Does he collect nudes?

  Miss Frances : No. As a matter of fact he's mad about modern paintings.

  Maria Williams : Oh, that's a side I'd never suspect.

  Miss Frances : Why don't you show him you have a side he'd never suspect. Show him you have a mind.

  Maria Williams : Oh, I love you; but, I couldn't fool a fool.

• John Frederick Shadwell : Dino, take the advice of an old friend. Don't treat a work of art as you do an automobile, turning it in for a new model every year.

  Maria Williams : Well, we can't keep in the past forever, Mr. Shadwell.

  Prince Dino di Cessi : Exactly!

  John Frederick Shadwell : Nonsense. We live in the past from the moment we're born.

• Maria Williams : [viewing a painting]  Now, this seems to have a feeling of space. Those lines that carry you off into the distance. Oh, infinity is - so lonely. Yes. It makes me want to cry.

  Prince Dino di Cessi : You surprise me. I could never put it better myself.

  Maria Williams : Oh, well, you must'n let me keep you. I'm just going to sit here awhile and absorb it.

  Prince Dino di Cessi : Well, if I may, I'll sit here and - absorb, also.

• Maria Williams : You play like an angel!

  Prince Dino di Cessi : Perhaps, someday, we - can play duets.

  Maria Williams : I should like that.

• Prince Dino di Cessi : Do you know what wine she likes? Lacryma Christi!

  Principessa : No.

  Prince Dino di Cessi : Yes!

  Principessa : Yes?

  Maria Williams : Yes.

  Principessa : No.

  Prince Dino di Cessi : Yes!

• Maria Williams : Look, I don't know opera from boogie. Or, Lacryma Christi from Corpus Christi.

• Maria Williams : What's that?

  Miss Frances : That's the fountain of Trevi.

  Anita Hutchins : Do you want to see it? If you throw a coin in the pool you're supposed to get your wish! Only the wish must always be the same thing: that you return again to Rome.

  Miss Frances : I tossed a coin into the fountain, every April, for the last 15 years. It's my Spring ritual. It's time to throw one in again.

  Anita Hutchins : Don't you want to wish?

  Maria Williams : Oh, yes. Keep me in Rome at least a year, Mr. Fountain.

  Anita Hutchins : No! No, no. You have to turn around, throw it over your shoulder.

• Maria Williams : Don't tempt fate.